What Did You Do In The Cold War, Daddy?
Cunning Artificer
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Spot on Pontius. Ground crew would be the first casualties. I remember the day when I was on QRA when High Wycombe changed the codes at an inopportune time. The crews down on
the runway refused to return to the pans and a pair of Lightnings flew over waggling their wings. Back on the empty pans we knew nothing of what was going on, but this was far from normal: we thought this might be IT and at that point we realised there were no standing orders for what to do next. Just stand there in the open and wait for the incoming air burst directly over the Station. I doubt if it would have hurt much.
the runway refused to return to the pans and a pair of Lightnings flew over waggling their wings. Back on the empty pans we knew nothing of what was going on, but this was far from normal: we thought this might be IT and at that point we realised there were no standing orders for what to do next. Just stand there in the open and wait for the incoming air burst directly over the Station. I doubt if it would have hurt much.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
BS, at that time we worked to a very thin document called BCARs, Bomber Command Alert and Readiness. It said simply what was required at each alert state and each change of readiness. The station had, I believe, a very short operation order for QRA; I don't think there was one for Mick, Micky Finn or the real thing. At the same time the full war plan OpOrd ran to about 7 pages and the SOP to 107 pages.
Then came flexible response and a STCAMs - Strike Command Alert Manual which was a rather more solid tome. I managed to get out from under before we had to write the enlarged station version though I did get lumbered with the door stop at ISK.
Oh for the simplicity of Armageddon.
Then came flexible response and a STCAMs - Strike Command Alert Manual which was a rather more solid tome. I managed to get out from under before we had to write the enlarged station version though I did get lumbered with the door stop at ISK.
Oh for the simplicity of Armageddon.
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@ thing
As an aside I think the world was a lot more stable when we faced off against the Russkis.
US and Russia Fight Proxy War in Syria As Nations Arm Opposite Sides - | Intellihub.com
happydaysarehereagain NOT!!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
GR, faced off against the Russkies is a said, a direct confrontation. Proxy wars bring a whole new world of hurt. Where the proxy is used by one side and not the other is one thing (Vietnam) but when neither side is engaged it just becomes a commercial killing field with each supplying weapons and abrogating responsibility.
Is that worse? Well for the guy in the middle, yes.
Is that worse? Well for the guy in the middle, yes.
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For WW3 we were very conscious that our ground crew life expectance was probably a couple of hours less than ours. Similarly our families on the base might have fared little better crouched in now empty nuclear weapons bunkers. I knew of no plans to provide rations, water or sanitation even though it was talked about housing families in them.
Last edited by NutLoose; 3rd Aug 2013 at 15:03.
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One of my greatest achievements was ending my 1st tour at Marham with a posting to Akrotiri and arriving there on 22nd Oct 1962!
What Cuban Crises?
What Cuban Crises?
Last edited by ian16th; 3rd Aug 2013 at 17:18.
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Cold War?
I was on nearly permanent "Battle Flight - QRA" at RAF Gutersloh, with 74 Squadron Lightnings. - We had LOTS of exercises too - It was great fun at the time. Our aircraft used to patrol the Berlin corridor.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
We were 5 months in to our nav training so it passed us by too however I do remember the instructors rubbing the dust off the go bags - the nav school Varsities were designated as SRMP. Now that was cannon fodder if ever there was any.
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Some of the best fun I have had with my clothes on was launching on the fairly regular operation Dragonflies in the 70s. We even got to wave at the men with snow on their boots from time to time. I would class that as genuine cold war action.
Diary of an SAC/Cpl Gunner
In this order:
April 1986 Arrived in RAFG (BRU)
Bomb scare in new BB the first day
Got drunk in Holland
Work
Point 1. Got drunk in Pigs Bar
Mineval
Got drunk in Pigs Bar
Maxeval
Got drunk in Pigs Bar
Maximash
Got drunk in Pigs Bar
Taceval
Got drunk in Pigs Bar met future wife
Various exercises and trips to Hebrides to fire Rapier missiles
Got drunk, courted future wife
Falklands
Revert to Point 1 and repeat including Falklands
Add in:
Get engaged
Fellow Gunners getting shot and blown up in Holland (very bad night)
Get promoted
Get posted to LBH
Get married
Buy tax free car
Buy a schrank (See Taceval thread)
Gain a daughter
Mixed in with getting drunk in many many locations, detachments, skullduggery and awesome times.
May 1992 Posted back to UK (BZN)
Let the crap times begin.
April 1986 Arrived in RAFG (BRU)
Bomb scare in new BB the first day
Got drunk in Holland
Work
Point 1. Got drunk in Pigs Bar
Mineval
Got drunk in Pigs Bar
Maxeval
Got drunk in Pigs Bar
Maximash
Got drunk in Pigs Bar
Taceval
Got drunk in Pigs Bar met future wife
Various exercises and trips to Hebrides to fire Rapier missiles
Got drunk, courted future wife
Falklands
Revert to Point 1 and repeat including Falklands
Add in:
Get engaged
Fellow Gunners getting shot and blown up in Holland (very bad night)
Get promoted
Get posted to LBH
Get married
Buy tax free car
Buy a schrank (See Taceval thread)
Gain a daughter
Mixed in with getting drunk in many many locations, detachments, skullduggery and awesome times.
May 1992 Posted back to UK (BZN)
Let the crap times begin.
Didn't Gut try a full size evacuation of families to the UK and the local populace thinking the World was about to blow up started to join in, so it had to be cancelled?
http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...stories-2.html
medals etc.,
Served from 58 to 68.Broke a toe when a comp air trolley arm dropped on it.Lost a chunk of bone when a Hunter radio bay panel dropped on my shin and have a scar from a stab from a Hunter starter fuel vent!Also suffered a trauna at seeing lots of Russian subs while on a jolly to Gib! Any Purple hearts for these wounds?!!!!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
I think the Cold War, as far as the RAF and Bomber Command especially, changed when the RN took over the immediate deterrence and flexible response became the order of the day.
Prior to that exercises were possibly more realistic and 'fought' with the real thing - pick axe handles and sheltering in barrack block basements. Everyone expected that the enemy forces would be ban the bomb protestors and not real intruders. We knew that there were no effective post-strike shelters so the best, especially on a prime target, was a basement.
Our lords and masters had fought in WW2 and knew the values of leadership and could take a realistic view of things - bars staying open, eating properly, no practice bleeding.
When things became more realistic and WW2 tin hats, masking tape and polythene sheeting became the protection of choice, then things turned to farce as even the dimmest could see how stupid some games were.
The dispersal and hardening programme added a proper layer of defence and showed how determined we really were - then the war ended.
Prior to that exercises were possibly more realistic and 'fought' with the real thing - pick axe handles and sheltering in barrack block basements. Everyone expected that the enemy forces would be ban the bomb protestors and not real intruders. We knew that there were no effective post-strike shelters so the best, especially on a prime target, was a basement.
Our lords and masters had fought in WW2 and knew the values of leadership and could take a realistic view of things - bars staying open, eating properly, no practice bleeding.
When things became more realistic and WW2 tin hats, masking tape and polythene sheeting became the protection of choice, then things turned to farce as even the dimmest could see how stupid some games were.
The dispersal and hardening programme added a proper layer of defence and showed how determined we really were - then the war ended.
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It was the idea of decontam centres with plastic sheeting, bodge tape, drip trays and fuller earth galore.... and then scrubbing Jags down to decontaminate them with a bucket of detergent and a brush, whilst wearing a bake in the bag plastic noddy suit over the top of ones NBC suit that made me see the futility of it all..
That and the film they showed which involved a near miss on a HAS where the narrator points out the aircraft would survive, but all the sheep in the HAS ( I think they were ) had died from the concussion ( which would have been us )
Sigh one hopes they no longer do that.
That and the film they showed which involved a near miss on a HAS where the narrator points out the aircraft would survive, but all the sheep in the HAS ( I think they were ) had died from the concussion ( which would have been us )
Sigh one hopes they no longer do that.
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Everyone expected that the enemy forces would be ban the bomb protestors and not real intruders.
).
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I never ever saw the point in wearing those bloody gas masks for hours at a time. Come a real event you would have trouble getting guys to take them off, no need to prove the point continually that they were a pain in the arse.
The more astute among us of course just went to the lavatory and sat there for two hours gas mask free reading a book; or if you were really lucky you had a boss who called 'masks off' five minutes after NBC black was declared.
The more astute among us of course just went to the lavatory and sat there for two hours gas mask free reading a book; or if you were really lucky you had a boss who called 'masks off' five minutes after NBC black was declared.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
I went in to the crew room where all the aircrew were sat around in NBC kit and masks. On the table were ashtrays, cigarettes smouldering away with over an inch of ash on each. Of course they might have been camouflage with other cigarettes being used for an illicit grasp.
Ah the joys of trying to operate in the AR5 kit. The futility of the whole business was well and truly demonstrated in GW1, despite the presence of the Czech decontam team.
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Pontius when they modded the HAS at Bruggen by tacking a bowser hut on the side for the incoming Tornado, they marked out on the Apron some CPX HAS and you were allowed to demask in them on the grounds they were slightly pressurised, though the blower did draw air in so no sense there then..
Last edited by NutLoose; 4th Aug 2013 at 12:00.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
NL, as I said, some weird and wonderful thinking. We knew that all we could afford was masking tape and polythene sheeting.
The other thing I loved was the practice of making safe a weapon before entering a building. Intruders would never enter a building would they? At least later you were able to reload with a magazine and not cocking it.
The other thing I loved was the practice of making safe a weapon before entering a building. Intruders would never enter a building would they? At least later you were able to reload with a magazine and not cocking it.
