Calling all ex-Wessex personnel
TH You forgot to mention that this was all after Operation Headless Chicken, 72 deploy to Benson prior to embarking to go South. 33 deploy to NI with their Pumas to relieve us. OC 72 told by V senior Naval Officer, you can ''P*** O** back to NI I don't want anymore Crabs in my War'' Reverse above deployments and carry on. All in the space of the bank holiday weekend. And I too have those Mk5 sorties in my Logbook fine Cabs they were!!!!
Huge72
I wonder if it was the same Naval Officer (then not quite so senior) who told the controller at SRCC Plymouth that he could "p*** o**, this is a navy show" when he was offered a yellow Seaking, three Yellow Wessex (we had the Sqn spare) and a yellow Whirlwind during the '79 Fastnet tragedy? (I was on shift and offered the three Wessex btw).
told by V senior Naval Officer, you can ''P*** O** back to NI I don't want anymore Crabs in my War'
Last edited by Al-bert; 19th Mar 2017 at 17:29.
Gentleman Aviator
Ooooh! I've really stirred something up now haven't I
Shackman Pretty accurate recall! But 72 had only been out of Odiham for 6 months or so, so retained much "deployable" expertise among both air and ground crew. During the Benson hiatus, all the cabs were freshly serviced and ready to roll, and a number of "deployment whizz kids" had been recalled from postings out!
My favourite engineer story was about the recall from leave of an ASF computer diagnostician who was camping in the New Forest with his young lady. In the middle of the night (and quite possibly in the middle of something else!), a torch was shone into the tent by one of Hampshire Constabulary's finest.
Old Bill: Ere mate, are you J/T Bloggs from Benson?
J/T: Yes officer.
Old Bill: Thank f
for that, this is the 4th tent I've tried. Get yer ass back to work.
Personally I had a bad feeling when I left; walking out to the aircraft I got a firm handshake from the Padre
and a lingering kiss from OC WRAF . I thought - if this were a war movie I'd definitely be for the chop!!
Shackman Pretty accurate recall! But 72 had only been out of Odiham for 6 months or so, so retained much "deployable" expertise among both air and ground crew. During the Benson hiatus, all the cabs were freshly serviced and ready to roll, and a number of "deployment whizz kids" had been recalled from postings out!
My favourite engineer story was about the recall from leave of an ASF computer diagnostician who was camping in the New Forest with his young lady. In the middle of the night (and quite possibly in the middle of something else!), a torch was shone into the tent by one of Hampshire Constabulary's finest.
Old Bill: Ere mate, are you J/T Bloggs from Benson?
J/T: Yes officer.
Old Bill: Thank f
for that, this is the 4th tent I've tried. Get yer ass back to work.Personally I had a bad feeling when I left; walking out to the aircraft I got a firm handshake from the Padre
and a lingering kiss from OC WRAF . I thought - if this were a war movie I'd definitely be for the chop!!
I remember the first thing the Staish at Benson said on our arrival '' You haven't brought your Rocks have you?'' This was after the sqn regt flt had left a trail of broken furniture and airmen after their last night at Benson before we pulled out for NI in Nov 81. Benson were very helpful as we had handed in all our deployment kit when we went to Ireland. They opened stores on a SUNDAY and said help yourselves. Nobody signed for anything and when it was called off they didn't ask for it back!!!!! On our return to Aldergrove we found that our wives had had a party in our 3 day absence and drunk the place dry. Teetering we must know each other PM me but I guess you should be able to work who I am!!!
TH - That's funny, I had the same feeling walking out to the aircraft (although I missed the Padre's handshake!). As far as the crews were concerned though, I thought we had lost a lot of the 'old hands' and had to try to work up the NI only guys PDQ - the time scale for the recallees was outside our departure (which was to be the Thursday - the 6th) hence the rush to try to get some meaningful training.
TH and Huge - some things are probably better forgotten!
TH and Huge - some things are probably better forgotten!
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All true. I was there and for me it went from "mate your on a Herc tomorrow, no a Chinook tomorrow, no a Herc this afternoon, mate see that Chinook there - get you kit on now it's leaving in 5 mins." All that within one hour, the day after 5 Wessex of A Flight departed Aldergrove - all at MAUM 14,000 lbs running T/Os from dispersal and wazzing the wives and kids over the sqn on the way to fecking war!! Very emotional and I remember the look on the families faces as they departed that day.
On arrival at Benson by Chinook - the decision to deploy to the ships in Southampton had been reversed so off we went to the Bee Hive Pub somewhere near Benson where we first tourists got royally P***ed for the next 24 hours until poured back onto whatever aircraft could be found to return us to NI.
72 Sqn did contribute massively to the conflict however. We supported all the clearance work at West Freugh to get the Harriers release clearance for smart munitions completed in days rather than years. Winching scientists onto the target barges in the bay to see the strike results was brilliant fun - providing you only got them wet occasionally!
True about the RN "our show - **** off" attitude. That's why after the conflict and NI was the only operational show in town for years to come, SHFNI refused the offer of RN return to ops in NI.
Kbc
On arrival at Benson by Chinook - the decision to deploy to the ships in Southampton had been reversed so off we went to the Bee Hive Pub somewhere near Benson where we first tourists got royally P***ed for the next 24 hours until poured back onto whatever aircraft could be found to return us to NI.
72 Sqn did contribute massively to the conflict however. We supported all the clearance work at West Freugh to get the Harriers release clearance for smart munitions completed in days rather than years. Winching scientists onto the target barges in the bay to see the strike results was brilliant fun - providing you only got them wet occasionally!
True about the RN "our show - **** off" attitude. That's why after the conflict and NI was the only operational show in town for years to come, SHFNI refused the offer of RN return to ops in NI.
Kbc
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I remember the telegrams they sent out, as you paid per letter they simply had RTU on them ( Return to Unit for those that do not know )
If I remember correctly a couple were on a driving holiday in France and were flagged down by some gendarme who told them to RTU, getting to the ferry it was full, but they were expected and some poor family was offloaded to get them on.
I was heading home and getting to Waterloo Station there was a chalked sign at the platform gate and everyone was being turned round and sent back to whatever stations they came from.
An MT bod I think was sent to deliver a load and arriving at the dockside was told he was going, telling them he had only what he was wearing he was told wifie was packing his bags and they were following shortly.
If I remember correctly a couple were on a driving holiday in France and were flagged down by some gendarme who told them to RTU, getting to the ferry it was full, but they were expected and some poor family was offloaded to get them on.
I was heading home and getting to Waterloo Station there was a chalked sign at the platform gate and everyone was being turned round and sent back to whatever stations they came from.
An MT bod I think was sent to deliver a load and arriving at the dockside was told he was going, telling them he had only what he was wearing he was told wifie was packing his bags and they were following shortly.
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I should really try to get these scanned properly 72 leaving Odious, sorry for those that have seen them before.
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