Memories of RAFG
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Naa..... I always found eingang was the place to go... You couldn't beat pushing ahead and coming into eingang, even the missus enjoyed it.
Naa..... I always found eingang was the place to go... You couldn't beat pushing ahead and coming into eingang, even the missus enjoyed it.
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Told you...
A certain RAF Reg. Officer observing liquid oxygen replenishment "What causes this?" Says he, brushing his bare fingers over the delivery pipes... "Wouldn't do that if I were you..." "Really? Oh &@#$, my finger is stuck! What should I do?" "The recommended method is to p!ss on it, or ask someone else to oblige." "The alternative is to follow the advice of people who know what they are dealing with." Yes, he did speak to my boss, and I got the "official" bollocking with a grin... happy days😎
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Lox pot trolley turfs back up from filling with only about two Lox pots on it, "ahhh" he says, as he retraces his path back over the airfield collecting Lox pots as he goes.
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I towed a giraffe from 16 Sqn (I think) up Laarbruch's northern peritrack to CADF to fettle something on the canopy only to find the giraffe had almost rattled itself to bits. A quick call to ATC soon put the peritrack BLACK and I had my own private fod plod for the rest of the day.
Hi all
My only experiencing of RAFG assets apart from Mildenhall Air Fete , was a CCF cadet - RAF Section in easter camp at Church Fenton, where of Wildenwrath’s Andover and flown I . Both pilots popped into the Met Office where I was doing my day of work experience and had s good chat. Great guys think it was a squadron leader and flight Lt were crewing or could have been a wing commander.
I read somewhere there ware plans to base the Tornado F3 there? Also I recall reading a 1993 Flyer Magazone where one of the writers from a Flying club here in UK went to visit Laarbruch Flying Club and flew with a Tonka pinto in one of the Cessna. The author was giving a tour of what looked like an F3 ( grey )in one of Laarbruch HAS..I’m guessing this was a visiting F3?
Cheers
My only experiencing of RAFG assets apart from Mildenhall Air Fete , was a CCF cadet - RAF Section in easter camp at Church Fenton, where of Wildenwrath’s Andover and flown I . Both pilots popped into the Met Office where I was doing my day of work experience and had s good chat. Great guys think it was a squadron leader and flight Lt were crewing or could have been a wing commander.
I read somewhere there ware plans to base the Tornado F3 there? Also I recall reading a 1993 Flyer Magazone where one of the writers from a Flying club here in UK went to visit Laarbruch Flying Club and flew with a Tonka pinto in one of the Cessna. The author was giving a tour of what looked like an F3 ( grey )in one of Laarbruch HAS..I’m guessing this was a visiting F3?
Cheers
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Quite a few from my days...
This one's not RAFG, but I was on 19 Sqn RAF Regt (Rapier) at Upper Heyford when they bombed Libya. We were at end of runway when the F1-11s took off, what a noise they made, right impressive. The whole station was on lockdown with all the weirdo protesters outside, soon after this I got posted to Wildenrath on 16 Sqn RAF Regt.
Sometimes we had to deploy our kit at end of runway during daytime to test them etc, you'd see, then hear 2 x F4s coming at you and then take off, and I'm sure they stayed as low as possible screaming over us. We used to give them the finger, but it was an impressive roar.
Another we had was ex Iron Hammer in Nov 88, I'm not sure if anyone else on camp was involved, but we were out in the fields around Wilders for two of the coldest weeks I ever experienced in my life, snow, then temp plummeted to -13 before wind chill. We thought we were in Russia and all gonna die of cold.
1989, we had a call out, about 4am, what joy.
We then had to go to armoury and get warshot, normally we just loaded drill missiles on ex.
Then we were sent to a war site -- now you have to realise we were never deployed to war sites due to it would be compromised etc.
Next we were told to load warshot and attach firing lines, we were like, wtf, have the russkies invaded??.
All this of course, was communicated in BATCO on the radio.
A few blokes, myself included, were going, I don't believe this ****, we're going to war etc etc.
Then finally a land rover came round with junior rock officer telling us it was a mistake etc, to to unload and RTU.
Someone made a major mistake there, but I suppose back then nothing was advertised, so it was a bit of a laugh in the end.
This one's not RAFG, but I was on 19 Sqn RAF Regt (Rapier) at Upper Heyford when they bombed Libya. We were at end of runway when the F1-11s took off, what a noise they made, right impressive. The whole station was on lockdown with all the weirdo protesters outside, soon after this I got posted to Wildenrath on 16 Sqn RAF Regt.
Sometimes we had to deploy our kit at end of runway during daytime to test them etc, you'd see, then hear 2 x F4s coming at you and then take off, and I'm sure they stayed as low as possible screaming over us. We used to give them the finger, but it was an impressive roar.
Another we had was ex Iron Hammer in Nov 88, I'm not sure if anyone else on camp was involved, but we were out in the fields around Wilders for two of the coldest weeks I ever experienced in my life, snow, then temp plummeted to -13 before wind chill. We thought we were in Russia and all gonna die of cold.
1989, we had a call out, about 4am, what joy.
We then had to go to armoury and get warshot, normally we just loaded drill missiles on ex.
Then we were sent to a war site -- now you have to realise we were never deployed to war sites due to it would be compromised etc.
Next we were told to load warshot and attach firing lines, we were like, wtf, have the russkies invaded??.
All this of course, was communicated in BATCO on the radio.
A few blokes, myself included, were going, I don't believe this ****, we're going to war etc etc.
Then finally a land rover came round with junior rock officer telling us it was a mistake etc, to to unload and RTU.
Someone made a major mistake there, but I suppose back then nothing was advertised, so it was a bit of a laugh in the end.
Cold Germany.
blindfire.....
-13 plus wind chill.?
"Balmy" compared to middle Germany during winter of 62/63.
I was stationed in a small town in the American zone north of Frankfurt.
Part of a small detachment operating the southern tech. site of the Decca Nav. trials for the RAF.
First snows started in mid Nov. through to March.
In the town the temperature fell to -28C Day and Night for three weeks around Feb.
This combined with a wind chill from a gale force easterly wind dropped the temp. even more.
The Tech site was on a 1000' high hill outside the town, so the temp. was lower still , off the scale!!!!
We had no extra winter type clothes so we were allowed to wear what ever we could get on, to keep warm.
We had a "landy" for transport, with a 50/50 mix of water and anti freeze.
At night we had to run it every hour to operating temp. to avoid it freezing up.
The Tech equipment was in an air transportable container, each rack normally was quite warm when operating.
With the door sealed shut to keep as warm as possible there would be a frost covering the lower part of the racks in the mornings during the worst of the cold.
We had a small number of German men to look after odd jobs around the site during the day.
One of these men had been on the eastern front at Stalingrad, he said the cold during the worst of the 62/63 winter at the higher tech site was as bad as the Russian winter at Stalingrad.
You had to be there!!!!
OPF
-13 plus wind chill.?
"Balmy" compared to middle Germany during winter of 62/63.
I was stationed in a small town in the American zone north of Frankfurt.
Part of a small detachment operating the southern tech. site of the Decca Nav. trials for the RAF.
First snows started in mid Nov. through to March.
In the town the temperature fell to -28C Day and Night for three weeks around Feb.
This combined with a wind chill from a gale force easterly wind dropped the temp. even more.
The Tech site was on a 1000' high hill outside the town, so the temp. was lower still , off the scale!!!!
We had no extra winter type clothes so we were allowed to wear what ever we could get on, to keep warm.
We had a "landy" for transport, with a 50/50 mix of water and anti freeze.
At night we had to run it every hour to operating temp. to avoid it freezing up.
The Tech equipment was in an air transportable container, each rack normally was quite warm when operating.
With the door sealed shut to keep as warm as possible there would be a frost covering the lower part of the racks in the mornings during the worst of the cold.
We had a small number of German men to look after odd jobs around the site during the day.
One of these men had been on the eastern front at Stalingrad, he said the cold during the worst of the 62/63 winter at the higher tech site was as bad as the Russian winter at Stalingrad.
You had to be there!!!!
OPF
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By contrast I have a pic of me and some mates, taken in March '56, on the line, in just pe. shorts and plimsolls.
Sylt could be rather chilly in February. We were issued with ww2 flying suits made from canvas! Far too bulky to work in. Then we were given kapok filled jackets and trousers. Rumour had it they were from the Korean war.(Chinese?) they did keep one nice and warm.
Sylt could be rather chilly in February. We were issued with ww2 flying suits made from canvas! Far too bulky to work in. Then we were given kapok filled jackets and trousers. Rumour had it they were from the Korean war.(Chinese?) they did keep one nice and warm.
The depth of snow, as opposed to the coolth, could also be a major problem. Even as far west as JHQ the on-base MQs side-streets became sealed up every time snow clearance on the main roads was performed.
Then, once out [or into] the home straight, the deep frozen ruts decided where the car went, not the steering. Traction in rear-wheel drive was zilch, so I liberated a kerbstone and put it in the back of my big Vauxhall 2300 Estate.
Vodka in the windscreen washer tank of course.
A lot of people used bikes around the camp ......... although falling off in the ice and snow was common enough, we usually were cushioned by snow banks, even if dignity was bruised.
Then, once out [or into] the home straight, the deep frozen ruts decided where the car went, not the steering. Traction in rear-wheel drive was zilch, so I liberated a kerbstone and put it in the back of my big Vauxhall 2300 Estate.
Vodka in the windscreen washer tank of course.
A lot of people used bikes around the camp ......... although falling off in the ice and snow was common enough, we usually were cushioned by snow banks, even if dignity was bruised.
I towed a giraffe from 16 Sqn (I think) up Laarbruch's northern peritrack to CADF to fettle something on the canopy only to find the giraffe had almost rattled itself to bits. A quick call to ATC soon put the peritrack BLACK and I had my own private fod plod for the rest of the day.
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Off Topic 2,
I have watched the self propelled variety, Staging ( those big scaffolding towers on wheels about 70 foot high manually pushed around ) used to work on the DC9 tailplane, caught by the wind it trundled off on its own, luckily no one was hurt, one fell over, another managed to park itself deep into a Civi Hercs nose and another used a BAe 125 belonging to a famous digger company as a chock.
I have watched the self propelled variety, Staging ( those big scaffolding towers on wheels about 70 foot high manually pushed around ) used to work on the DC9 tailplane, caught by the wind it trundled off on its own, luckily no one was hurt, one fell over, another managed to park itself deep into a Civi Hercs nose and another used a BAe 125 belonging to a famous digger company as a chock.
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blindfire.....
-13 plus wind chill.?
"Balmy" compared to middle Germany during winter of 62/63.
I was stationed in a small town in the American zone north of Frankfurt.
Part of a small detachment operating the southern tech. site of the Decca Nav. trials for the RAF.
First snows started in mid Nov. through to March.
In the town the temperature fell to -28C Day and Night for three weeks around Feb.
This combined with a wind chill from a gale force easterly wind dropped the temp. even more.
The Tech site was on a 1000' high hill outside the town, so the temp. was lower still , off the scale!!!!
We had no extra winter type clothes so we were allowed to wear what ever we could get on, to keep warm.
We had a "landy" for transport, with a 50/50 mix of water and anti freeze.
At night we had to run it every hour to operating temp. to avoid it freezing up.
The Tech equipment was in an air transportable container, each rack normally was quite warm when operating.
With the door sealed shut to keep as warm as possible there would be a frost covering the lower part of the racks in the mornings during the worst of the cold.
We had a small number of German men to look after odd jobs around the site during the day.
One of these men had been on the eastern front at Stalingrad, he said the cold during the worst of the 62/63 winter at the higher tech site was as bad as the Russian winter at Stalingrad.
You had to be there!!!!
OPF
-13 plus wind chill.?
"Balmy" compared to middle Germany during winter of 62/63.
I was stationed in a small town in the American zone north of Frankfurt.
Part of a small detachment operating the southern tech. site of the Decca Nav. trials for the RAF.
First snows started in mid Nov. through to March.
In the town the temperature fell to -28C Day and Night for three weeks around Feb.
This combined with a wind chill from a gale force easterly wind dropped the temp. even more.
The Tech site was on a 1000' high hill outside the town, so the temp. was lower still , off the scale!!!!
We had no extra winter type clothes so we were allowed to wear what ever we could get on, to keep warm.
We had a "landy" for transport, with a 50/50 mix of water and anti freeze.
At night we had to run it every hour to operating temp. to avoid it freezing up.
The Tech equipment was in an air transportable container, each rack normally was quite warm when operating.
With the door sealed shut to keep as warm as possible there would be a frost covering the lower part of the racks in the mornings during the worst of the cold.
We had a small number of German men to look after odd jobs around the site during the day.
One of these men had been on the eastern front at Stalingrad, he said the cold during the worst of the 62/63 winter at the higher tech site was as bad as the Russian winter at Stalingrad.
You had to be there!!!!
OPF
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Talking of snow reminds me of the joys of sitting in a wooden hut with a pair of running Derwents either side of you and a bowser pushing you and the Derwents down the runway. One day at Laarbruch in the early 80's, I had the weld fail on one of the bowser attachment points. That was "interesting" 
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Absolutely. In my experience, the MRD was only effective if used in the right conditions. Sometimes they made things worse, simply turning the snow to liquid which immediately froze.
The MRDs were interesting to say the least, and [perhaps fortunately] I was NEVER consulted in a professional capacity as to whether using them was a good idea under the actual and [my] forecast conditions.
At was level was the decision made? i am guessing WingCo Flying/ Ops.
At was level was the decision made? i am guessing WingCo Flying/ Ops.
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Decision usually jointly OC Ops and OC Eng, but ISTR OC Eng was actually the OC Snow Clearance (using his Tech kit) on behalf of the Stn Cdr.