A Cranwell education
Beags,
Yes it was a Thunderbird.
Also 98A had another Saudi ( Arif) , who allegedly responded to his instructor's criticism of his total disinterest in map reading with the remark;
'Why should I bother, it's all sand where I come from"
Old Bricks:
Biro? BIRO?!!!
Zut Alors ! Have you now abandoned even those few standards you once pretended you had?
Ball-point pen.
Life in the Mangrove Swamp continues at a steady pace, regardless of the native uprisings to the north.
H.
Yes it was a Thunderbird.
Also 98A had another Saudi ( Arif) , who allegedly responded to his instructor's criticism of his total disinterest in map reading with the remark;
'Why should I bother, it's all sand where I come from"
Old Bricks:
Biro? BIRO?!!!
Zut Alors ! Have you now abandoned even those few standards you once pretended you had?
Ball-point pen.
Life in the Mangrove Swamp continues at a steady pace, regardless of the native uprisings to the north.
H.
I once witnessed said Arif attempting to take off in a JP3 with the airbrakes out, whilst ignoring calls from the tower, caravan and us other ac waiting to go. He finally realised after about 3000ft of runway, brought in the airbrakes and managed to stagger into the air. Amazing!
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Foreign students
Yep, I second the views held of Omani students. The best of the foreign cohort in my opinion. The one on my course even did all his own coursework! Had been to Halton and a great footballer to boot.
Caribbean students used to brighten the PEd sessions clad in 3 layers, gloves and woolly hat whilst everyone else was in t-shirts and shorts!
Qataris were great fun - I think their entrance test was whether they were willing to stump up another annex to the camp!
To be honest, none of the courses would have been the same without all of the foreign students. They all added so much in their own way, and left some cracking memories.
Most disappointing thing about Cranditz was the quality of the Flt Cdrs! Too many never been in charge of 'troops' of a decent quantity before, and some even sent because they had been bad boys and needed to build up their profile again. A far cry from Sandhurst where the cream of Offrs and SNCOs are chosen from the British Army, generally with recent frontline experience. I know with the tempo of ops these days that this will all have changed now.
Caribbean students used to brighten the PEd sessions clad in 3 layers, gloves and woolly hat whilst everyone else was in t-shirts and shorts!
Qataris were great fun - I think their entrance test was whether they were willing to stump up another annex to the camp!
To be honest, none of the courses would have been the same without all of the foreign students. They all added so much in their own way, and left some cracking memories.
Most disappointing thing about Cranditz was the quality of the Flt Cdrs! Too many never been in charge of 'troops' of a decent quantity before, and some even sent because they had been bad boys and needed to build up their profile again. A far cry from Sandhurst where the cream of Offrs and SNCOs are chosen from the British Army, generally with recent frontline experience. I know with the tempo of ops these days that this will all have changed now.
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88 ASC
After a syndicate exercise at Bracknell, on the last RAF Advanced Staff Course, we were trying to gather the syndicate to go for a quick ‘team building’ beer before dinner. Our Zimbabwean colleague was having none of it – though we knew he wasn’t teetotal.
- Come on Bloggs, we’re off down to the Bar
- No
- Come on – it’s important that we get to know each other
- No
- Come on Bloggs, just a quick wet
- No
- Why not – we really want you to come?
- I’m going home for a shag
Most disappointing thing about Cranditz was the quality of the Flt Cdrs! Too many never been in charge of 'troops' of a decent quantity before, and some even sent because they had been bad boys and needed to build up their profile again.
However , once out in the Service at large, it did seem that a fair few "oddities" seemed to be sent to the Towers DS , seemingly as for some form of remedial treatment.
Most disappointing thing about Cranditz was the quality of the Flt Cdrs!
Haraka, back in those days, all the Flt Cdrs would have been ex-Cranwell themselves. Quite rightly so - one didn't wish to associate with Supplementary List Untermensch.
Whereas by the time I returned on 14 GE, there were a number of ex-Henlow oiks as Flt Cdrs
Bloody peasants, they had neither breeding nor style... One chap on 18GE had so much ante-dated seniority that he actually outranked his scribbly Flt Cdr!
Whereas by the time I returned on 14 GE, there were a number of ex-Henlow oiks as Flt Cdrs
Bloody peasants, they had neither breeding nor style... One chap on 18GE had so much ante-dated seniority that he actually outranked his scribbly Flt Cdr!
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I was on the "airfield" side of instructional staff when for some very strange reason someone decided that the QFIs should belong to the College staff which actually meant, in practice, they should use the bar. I can't help thinking that this was considered a bad decision in very short order, especially after someone drove between the soccer goal posts on the way home to MQ - unfortunately the nets were still in place.
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Beags
"SL Untermensch"? But BOING says in #68 that there were soccer goalposts at Cranwell - were these for use by the airmen? Surely not a sport for aspiring GL officers...although I do recall some V-Force guys talking about a sporting team called "Icarus" (one of them a goal keeper, so round ball and not an officer's sport). Untermensch indeed...hah!
Mister B
"SL Untermensch"? But BOING says in #68 that there were soccer goalposts at Cranwell - were these for use by the airmen? Surely not a sport for aspiring GL officers...although I do recall some V-Force guys talking about a sporting team called "Icarus" (one of them a goal keeper, so round ball and not an officer's sport). Untermensch indeed...hah!
Mister B
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Jenks
Thanks for that - goalie I referred to was a flt cdr on 27 sqn (Vulcan) - Mike "Harry" Radforth (nav) - the other V-Force guy was Pete Azzaro. I played soccer until I was about 16/17, then grew up and played rugger (which probably explains why I was SL rather than GL). I did go to Cranwell once, as a reserve for the Scampton team (rugby); Cranners had some asian looking bloke on the wing - Rory something - didn't like my touch calls much (that's what reserves are for...), but he was fairly quick on his feet.
Mister B
Thanks for that - goalie I referred to was a flt cdr on 27 sqn (Vulcan) - Mike "Harry" Radforth (nav) - the other V-Force guy was Pete Azzaro. I played soccer until I was about 16/17, then grew up and played rugger (which probably explains why I was SL rather than GL). I did go to Cranwell once, as a reserve for the Scampton team (rugby); Cranners had some asian looking bloke on the wing - Rory something - didn't like my touch calls much (that's what reserves are for...), but he was fairly quick on his feet.
Mister B
What year did Cranwell end the elite 3 Year Course and become an IOTS or whatever it was called these days?
YS
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YS
I've trawled my decaying memory cells and would guess that the last cadet entry for the long course - 1Ω1 - would have been about 1970, graduating in 1972 (based on our pilot officer co-pilot on 101 sqn who was a graduate ot that course - there's a coincidence [Ω = last letter of Greek alphabet]; the nav plotter and I were also plt offs).
I've trawled my decaying memory cells and would guess that the last cadet entry for the long course - 1Ω1 - would have been about 1970, graduating in 1972 (based on our pilot officer co-pilot on 101 sqn who was a graduate ot that course - there's a coincidence [Ω = last letter of Greek alphabet]; the nav plotter and I were also plt offs).
99 Entry was the last of the two and a half year entries that started twice a year, starting on 30 Sep 68 and graduating 26 Feb 71. 100 Entry started in Sep/Oct 69, thus graduating in Feb 72 and 101 started Sep/Oct 70, graduating Feb 73, by which time the GE scheme was well up and running, and the last flight cadets kept out of sight -and severely underpaid compared with the officers of the GEs
The two cadet entries post 99 came in yearly ( so 99 were junior entry for a year).
101 indeed graduated in early 1973 and went out in true Flight Cadet style.
Nobody who was there could forget their revue, marked by the total SOH failure and walk-out by the "Aristocracy" ( to the not so subdued glee of the rest of the audience).
That stripper was a very nice girl!
101 indeed graduated in early 1973 and went out in true Flight Cadet style.
Nobody who was there could forget their revue, marked by the total SOH failure and walk-out by the "Aristocracy" ( to the not so subdued glee of the rest of the audience).
That stripper was a very nice girl!
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Either 100 or 101 graduation. It was when GB, the Orange Job, joined us. Nobody vetted the "ladies" and one appeared for her routine in Gestapo uniform. Very embarrassing but G was a real gentleman and basically put the whole celebration back on track.
What happened to him, I expected him to go far back home?
What happened to him, I expected him to go far back home?