Operation El Dorado Canyon,15 April 1986
At the time, Brize Tanker Plans had just obtained, at my suggestion, a wide band receiver which was used both for monitoring trail departures and station comsec. The late Lord Percy of the Navbags agreed to me borrowing it over the weekend to program in the relevant frequencies for scanning. I was surprised at the volume of RT traffic on Fairford's frequencies, because at the time there was an agreement that they didn't normally fly at weekends. I mentioned it when I returned the radio on Monday, but Geoff had no idea why Fairford had been so active - or if he did know, he kept shtum!
Dozing the morning after the raid, I was even more surprised at the sound of so many jet engines, but it was only after turning on the TV that I heard what had happened!
Dozing the morning after the raid, I was even more surprised at the sound of so many jet engines, but it was only after turning on the TV that I heard what had happened!
Yes,I remember the Aggressor controllers,and the Puerto Rican,though I didn't know his name,I don't know if they were pilots or fighter controllers,but they always wore flying suits.I can still hear the shouts of "knock it off,Knock it off" coming from consoles 7A/B.
I can understand why you thought ER a dismal posting,I always thought of Watton as a one-horse town...without the horse.For myself,it was the best time of my life !
There was another small incident,that you may remember if you were on watch,when in the evening, when the entrance barrier wasn't manned,and the front door had to be unlocked by one of you airmen from the ops room,when one of our assistants,having made the request,wasn't prepared to wait,and snatched the keys from the desk,and let himself out.ISTR that caused some ripples.
The USAF liason officer at that time was Suzanne Heckinger,I think,having replaced Bill Shed.Her husband,John was an F111 driver at Lakenheath.Don't know if he was on the raid.
I can understand why you thought ER a dismal posting,I always thought of Watton as a one-horse town...without the horse.For myself,it was the best time of my life !
There was another small incident,that you may remember if you were on watch,when in the evening, when the entrance barrier wasn't manned,and the front door had to be unlocked by one of you airmen from the ops room,when one of our assistants,having made the request,wasn't prepared to wait,and snatched the keys from the desk,and let himself out.ISTR that caused some ripples.
The USAF liason officer at that time was Suzanne Heckinger,I think,having replaced Bill Shed.Her husband,John was an F111 driver at Lakenheath.Don't know if he was on the raid.
Watton still is a one horse town (horse still missing)and the High Street is virtually dead since Tesco moved in just out of the town centre. Full of take aways, charity shops, cafes and barbers now with hardly any footfall. They're buildin houses like they were going in a fire sale and no facilities to cater for all the new residents. Still nothing to do there. Glad I live out of town in one of the villages nearby.
