A Weather-Guesser's Memories with the RAF
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Observations on observations.
In an age when anything and everything can be measured to amazing accuracy, the work of a little cell in our Climatology Branch during the late 1950s must seem primitive if not pointless. I was there with one other assistant, led by the brilliant Hubert Horace Lamb. HH resigned from the Met Office on a matter of principal in 1940 to join the Irish service before returning in 1946 to do important work in the Antarctic. He was the epitome of the Agatha Christie eccentric gentleman; hairy but immaculate three-piece tweed suits, beautiful manners and a loud voice and laugh.
Our task was to construct ancient daily weather maps of Great Britain and Europe. HH invented the techniques for verifying [or otherwise] the accuracy of the observations made from about 1750 by enthusiastic amateurs, often clergy, physicists, alchemists and eccentrics. Their dusty records and diaries which survived were in libraries and collections in many countries, in many languages [including Latin] and using more than a few different measuring systems. [Try Wiki on the subject of Ancient French Feet]. The way to produce a chart of pressure or temperature or rainfall involved working backwards from quality “modern” charts and observations with some contemporary but ‘old-fashioned’ readings embedded. Allowing for units, if the old values fitted the modern pattern, they became ‘trusties’ to go further backwards, until the charts were back beyond the Battle of Waterloo. As confidence grew, we could detect when a trusted observer changed or died, and was replaced by an unenthusiastic successor.
In retrospect, such a project would be unthinkable in these results-driven days; it was pure science with no obvious benefit to man nor beast. But those old wiggly lines culled from neglected tomes, converted to modern measure standards, are a valuable tool for matters of moment, such as climate change. Lamb was the pioneer.
HH went on to a Professorship as a world leading authority. An Obit. can be found at
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/p...b-1249739.html
It was an immense privilege to serve such a brilliant and kind gentleman.
If there are no strong objections, at some future date I will offer a few words about two very important aviation variables, wind and air pressure.
In an age when anything and everything can be measured to amazing accuracy, the work of a little cell in our Climatology Branch during the late 1950s must seem primitive if not pointless. I was there with one other assistant, led by the brilliant Hubert Horace Lamb. HH resigned from the Met Office on a matter of principal in 1940 to join the Irish service before returning in 1946 to do important work in the Antarctic. He was the epitome of the Agatha Christie eccentric gentleman; hairy but immaculate three-piece tweed suits, beautiful manners and a loud voice and laugh.
Our task was to construct ancient daily weather maps of Great Britain and Europe. HH invented the techniques for verifying [or otherwise] the accuracy of the observations made from about 1750 by enthusiastic amateurs, often clergy, physicists, alchemists and eccentrics. Their dusty records and diaries which survived were in libraries and collections in many countries, in many languages [including Latin] and using more than a few different measuring systems. [Try Wiki on the subject of Ancient French Feet]. The way to produce a chart of pressure or temperature or rainfall involved working backwards from quality “modern” charts and observations with some contemporary but ‘old-fashioned’ readings embedded. Allowing for units, if the old values fitted the modern pattern, they became ‘trusties’ to go further backwards, until the charts were back beyond the Battle of Waterloo. As confidence grew, we could detect when a trusted observer changed or died, and was replaced by an unenthusiastic successor.
In retrospect, such a project would be unthinkable in these results-driven days; it was pure science with no obvious benefit to man nor beast. But those old wiggly lines culled from neglected tomes, converted to modern measure standards, are a valuable tool for matters of moment, such as climate change. Lamb was the pioneer.
HH went on to a Professorship as a world leading authority. An Obit. can be found at
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/p...b-1249739.html
It was an immense privilege to serve such a brilliant and kind gentleman.
If there are no strong objections, at some future date I will offer a few words about two very important aviation variables, wind and air pressure.
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Observations on observations.
In an age when anything and everything can be measured to amazing accuracy, the work of a little cell in our Climatology Branch during the late 1950s must seem primitive if not pointless. I was there with one other assistant, led by the brilliant Hubert Horace Lamb. HH resigned from the Met Office on a matter of principal in 1940 to join the Irish service before returning in 1946 to do important work in the Antarctic. He was the epitome of the Agatha Christie eccentric gentleman; hairy but immaculate three-piece tweed suits, beautiful manners and a loud voice and laugh.
Our task was to construct ancient daily weather maps of Great Britain and Europe. HH invented the techniques for verifying [or otherwise] the accuracy of the observations made from about 1750 by enthusiastic amateurs, often clergy, physicists, alchemists and eccentrics. Their dusty records and diaries which survived were in libraries and collections in many countries, in many languages [including Latin] and using more than a few different measuring systems. [Try Wiki on the subject of Ancient French Feet]. The way to produce a chart of pressure or temperature or rainfall involved working backwards from quality “modern” charts and observations with some contemporary but ‘old-fashioned’ readings embedded. Allowing for units, if the old values fitted the modern pattern, they became ‘trusties’ to go further backwards, until the charts were back beyond the Battle of Waterloo. As confidence grew, we could detect when a trusted observer changed or died, and was replaced by an unenthusiastic successor.
In retrospect, such a project would be unthinkable in these results-driven days; it was pure science with no obvious benefit to man nor beast. But those old wiggly lines culled from neglected tomes, converted to modern measure standards, are a valuable tool for matters of moment, such as climate change. Lamb was the pioneer.
HH went on to a Professorship as a world leading authority. An Obit. can be found at
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/p...b-1249739.html
It was an immense privilege to serve such a brilliant and kind gentleman.
If there are no strong objections, at some future date I will offer a few words about two very important aviation variables, wind and air pressure.
In an age when anything and everything can be measured to amazing accuracy, the work of a little cell in our Climatology Branch during the late 1950s must seem primitive if not pointless. I was there with one other assistant, led by the brilliant Hubert Horace Lamb. HH resigned from the Met Office on a matter of principal in 1940 to join the Irish service before returning in 1946 to do important work in the Antarctic. He was the epitome of the Agatha Christie eccentric gentleman; hairy but immaculate three-piece tweed suits, beautiful manners and a loud voice and laugh.
Our task was to construct ancient daily weather maps of Great Britain and Europe. HH invented the techniques for verifying [or otherwise] the accuracy of the observations made from about 1750 by enthusiastic amateurs, often clergy, physicists, alchemists and eccentrics. Their dusty records and diaries which survived were in libraries and collections in many countries, in many languages [including Latin] and using more than a few different measuring systems. [Try Wiki on the subject of Ancient French Feet]. The way to produce a chart of pressure or temperature or rainfall involved working backwards from quality “modern” charts and observations with some contemporary but ‘old-fashioned’ readings embedded. Allowing for units, if the old values fitted the modern pattern, they became ‘trusties’ to go further backwards, until the charts were back beyond the Battle of Waterloo. As confidence grew, we could detect when a trusted observer changed or died, and was replaced by an unenthusiastic successor.
In retrospect, such a project would be unthinkable in these results-driven days; it was pure science with no obvious benefit to man nor beast. But those old wiggly lines culled from neglected tomes, converted to modern measure standards, are a valuable tool for matters of moment, such as climate change. Lamb was the pioneer.
HH went on to a Professorship as a world leading authority. An Obit. can be found at
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/p...b-1249739.html
It was an immense privilege to serve such a brilliant and kind gentleman.
If there are no strong objections, at some future date I will offer a few words about two very important aviation variables, wind and air pressure.
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RAFG becomes 2 Group.
In 1993 there were several ceremonies to mark the end of an era. For me the most memorable was a vast group photo taken with the Big House grand entrance as background. I remember thinking that I had never been allowed on that piece of real estate before. Some time around then the RAF Mess was forcibly joined by the Army Mess and Christened Churchill. Before the dread day there was an auction of Mess silver and property, and there was more than enough to go round. The first joint Oktoberfest was not what we had been accustomed to.. The attitude was that ‘anything goes’, and the first things to go were the beer steins, pre-purchased as usual by members and for guests. They were stolen as soon as any were briefly unattended. That was just a warm up, as the tables were soon converted into little dance floors. On our table [we had guests including the fair sex] we had a major who fell off and briefly dozed. Whereas previously the older teenagers had attended, it was on the understanding that parents would curb excess. This time there was indeed excess; next morning the mess civilian staff were said to have resigned en masse [hearsay] because of the squalor around the place. Enough said.
Misbehaviour was not an army monopoly. I missed the Dance or Draw where a wing commander took considerable advantage of the tipsy wife of a junior officer on the dance floor. My reliable witnesses said there was soon blood and snot everywhere. Our Met offices were next to the RAF Police HQ folk, but, according to them next morning, nothing untoward had happened. Move along, nothing to see here. Both officers were disappeared within 24 hours. Hearsay again.
I remained C Met O even though the RAF was drawing down; the army responsibilities remained and seemed to increase. Sadly the lovely well-kept grounds of the garrison began to be neglected and facilities reduced or closed. One dim memory of those days is a chance encounter with either Black Robertson or Rocky Goodall in Hannover airport: they had seemingly arrived from somewhere and their MT had not shown. I suppose that I had taken Joyce there to fly out, so was about to drive back to JHQ. Thus my only VSO car passenger, but I wish I could remember which. Perhaps it was two other people, or somewhere else …………
In 1993 there were several ceremonies to mark the end of an era. For me the most memorable was a vast group photo taken with the Big House grand entrance as background. I remember thinking that I had never been allowed on that piece of real estate before. Some time around then the RAF Mess was forcibly joined by the Army Mess and Christened Churchill. Before the dread day there was an auction of Mess silver and property, and there was more than enough to go round. The first joint Oktoberfest was not what we had been accustomed to.. The attitude was that ‘anything goes’, and the first things to go were the beer steins, pre-purchased as usual by members and for guests. They were stolen as soon as any were briefly unattended. That was just a warm up, as the tables were soon converted into little dance floors. On our table [we had guests including the fair sex] we had a major who fell off and briefly dozed. Whereas previously the older teenagers had attended, it was on the understanding that parents would curb excess. This time there was indeed excess; next morning the mess civilian staff were said to have resigned en masse [hearsay] because of the squalor around the place. Enough said.
Misbehaviour was not an army monopoly. I missed the Dance or Draw where a wing commander took considerable advantage of the tipsy wife of a junior officer on the dance floor. My reliable witnesses said there was soon blood and snot everywhere. Our Met offices were next to the RAF Police HQ folk, but, according to them next morning, nothing untoward had happened. Move along, nothing to see here. Both officers were disappeared within 24 hours. Hearsay again.
I remained C Met O even though the RAF was drawing down; the army responsibilities remained and seemed to increase. Sadly the lovely well-kept grounds of the garrison began to be neglected and facilities reduced or closed. One dim memory of those days is a chance encounter with either Black Robertson or Rocky Goodall in Hannover airport: they had seemingly arrived from somewhere and their MT had not shown. I suppose that I had taken Joyce there to fly out, so was about to drive back to JHQ. Thus my only VSO car passenger, but I wish I could remember which. Perhaps it was two other people, or somewhere else …………
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Ah, memories of close-downs! Back in sunny Tengah, we spent a huge amount of Mess Funds on a Ball ... all entirely free at the point of consumption! The funds had been considered for building an Officers Mess swimming pool, but the intended rundown East of Suez rather scuppered that plan! So, on with Plan B ...
The Aussies flew in from Butterworth by Mirage, with wives travelling in the RAAF Dakotas. The croquet lawn was populated by assorted makan stalls from the City, imported for the occasion. The Dining Room fed the multitude more formally. Bands played in various corners, and the Gurkha Pipe Band demonstrated their skills with the Scottish Noise Device. I don't recall any misbehaviour, but then I might have been to pi**ed to notice!
The Aussies flew in from Butterworth by Mirage, with wives travelling in the RAAF Dakotas. The croquet lawn was populated by assorted makan stalls from the City, imported for the occasion. The Dining Room fed the multitude more formally. Bands played in various corners, and the Gurkha Pipe Band demonstrated their skills with the Scottish Noise Device. I don't recall any misbehaviour, but then I might have been to pi**ed to notice!
The 2 Group Years
Another part of the transition was a significant HQ RAFG disbandment parade - a grand event, plus Lunch, for which I was appointed escort to a charming female German politician. I'd not much to do for her attention was immediately taken up by several other German politicos, and I was told by a German officer that she was very highly regarded. That much was clear and, for the life of me, I cannot recall her name. (The Duke of Edinburgh was the Reviewing Officer that day, as I recall, and as there was to be a royal lunch, there had to be a practise version some days beforehand.). And thanks for mentioning that vast group photo as I'd quite forgotten about it, and never got a copy. (The closure of the HQ also meant the end of the CinC post being dual-hatted as Com2ATAF and, as I recall, that position then passed to a German officer.).
You mention the change of name for the RAF Officers' mess - something that had become inevitable with a reducing RAF presence. It was the largest of the Mess buildings at JHQ and to make it a joint Mess, negotiations with the Army were carried out at quite a high level, I believe, with the 'Churchill' name agreed upon as one that would offend neither Service. However, once it was known that was to happen, there was some pressure on the RAF side to find a portrait of the great man in RAF uniform and have it installed in the Mess foyer before the change took place - and that was duly accomplished. A few Army officers moved in, largely by choice, as there was still a second Army Mess that ran on for some time, I think, and I cannot possibly overlook the fact that, from 1 July 1993, the living-in officers of RAF Hospital, Wegberg, also joined us. The advent of lots of young PMRAFNS officers added considerably to Mess life, to put it mildly!
From 1 April 1993 we became HQ 2 Group within Strike Command but never quite forgot that we'd been a Command - and our demise was only ever a matter of time, particularly as we were reducing to just 2 main bases. In due course a LTC Savings Measure was proposed that would see the HQ close, and that was drafted at our end to ensure that a small civilian staff would remain to deal with Host Nation issues. How long that staff existed beyond April 1996, I've no idea.
You mention the change of name for the RAF Officers' mess - something that had become inevitable with a reducing RAF presence. It was the largest of the Mess buildings at JHQ and to make it a joint Mess, negotiations with the Army were carried out at quite a high level, I believe, with the 'Churchill' name agreed upon as one that would offend neither Service. However, once it was known that was to happen, there was some pressure on the RAF side to find a portrait of the great man in RAF uniform and have it installed in the Mess foyer before the change took place - and that was duly accomplished. A few Army officers moved in, largely by choice, as there was still a second Army Mess that ran on for some time, I think, and I cannot possibly overlook the fact that, from 1 July 1993, the living-in officers of RAF Hospital, Wegberg, also joined us. The advent of lots of young PMRAFNS officers added considerably to Mess life, to put it mildly!
From 1 April 1993 we became HQ 2 Group within Strike Command but never quite forgot that we'd been a Command - and our demise was only ever a matter of time, particularly as we were reducing to just 2 main bases. In due course a LTC Savings Measure was proposed that would see the HQ close, and that was drafted at our end to ensure that a small civilian staff would remain to deal with Host Nation issues. How long that staff existed beyond April 1996, I've no idea.
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ICM thank you. I know Wildenrath lost its MEDA status and then closed but cannot for the life of me remember the order of closing ....... was Bruggen last one standing?
LB, Please give us some more words about the brilliant HHL.
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I cannot add much to the Obit that I signposted. At Climat in Harrow he just had a couple of very young [and naughty] men to help him. DB, my oppo, had French and Latin, I had French and German. In later life DB went to a very high grade in the Office for National Statistics. HHL was easy to work for, he kept things interesting and could explain his thought processes very well. In retrospect my early career was greatly influenced by two outstanding men, HHL and JS Sawyer.
I read the grubby evasions and buck passing in the current Post Office scandal and give thanks that, in my formative years, I was surrounded by gentlemen.
I read the grubby evasions and buck passing in the current Post Office scandal and give thanks that, in my formative years, I was surrounded by gentlemen.
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Inspections and anemometers
There were no “Instructions for Inspecting Officers”; an inspection had to be performed annually and report made to Defence branch. The geography of the Bawtry group of responsibility suggested three areas: north, essentially Flying Training, central, which could be managed by day trips, and south including Wyton and Marham. My first foray in the summer of 1981 was northwards: Church Fenton to arrive for morning briefing and leave late afternoon for Linton for a night stop, repeat, and again to Leeming. I always went with an expert observer, preferably him acting as driver.
Church Fenton was a joy. S Met O was a young woman, very competent and not afraid to give me a hard time where we disagreed. The office was rather like a Scout Hut, wood clad such that if the door slammed the barograph received an involuntary time mark. The staff seemed happy and confident, the various formats for output were completed correctly, and she put up the most junior forecaster to do the morning brief. This was a tight ship, and remained so. When I went to Leeds to open a weather centre in 1984 I was delighted to have the same CF S Met O posted there on promotion.
Linton was a profound disappointment, right from arriving at the Mess to find that S Met O [Mr H] had made no effort to arrange suitable accommodation. The students’ huge cardboard replica of a JP instrument layout was not welcome. The Mess found me an appropriate room. I went straight to morning brief next day, and the young man did well enough. He took me to the office and things went vertically downhill: H. gave me a pair of felt pads [bumpers?] to slide around on the highly polished floor. He proudly explained that “we do our own cleaning!” Told where he could stick the pads the inspection began.
In those days cloud base was measured by a nodding beam and by estimation, but the back-up was by balloon [hydrogen!] with a known rate of climb and a stop watch. My observer expert demanded a demonstration. The key to the H2 shed could not be found for several hours. It mattered not, the H2 bottle was empty.
Our attention wandered to the anemometer mast, near [too near] to the buildings. The standard international height for the instrument is 10 metres above level ground but Linton’s was clearly vertically challenged. “What correction do you apply?” [A mast not-too dwarfish, although not ideal, can have small speed corrections applied]. Corrections were there none. H. offered the incendiary thought that no previous inspection had found fault, so the mast was clearly kosher.
Being only 43 [and a good ten years younger than H.] and being by this stage a tad irate, I made a poor decision and decided to climb the mast [safe enough, but not expected from an inspector]. Clutching one end of a ball of HMSO string, I ascended to the top, my observer pulled the other end tightly to ground and marked it. Safely back on Terra Firma, I invited H. to confirm that he was over a metre deficient.
RAF Linton-on-Ouse had for many years been offered dodgy winds and gusts and dodgy directions from an anemo. which was too short, very badly sited and a disgrace.
Inspectors are bidden to end their report with some-such “ ……… I certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief the arrangements for the supply of Met. information do not present a hazard to aviation”. It was a close-run thing but I took the view that the station had assimilated the unknown shortcomings and made the declaration with a caveat.
Linton was thereafter subjected to 3-monthly visits, with a call on OC Flying in the programme. A replacement full-size mast was located and installed asap. But that is another story involving a Chinook. The story of the mad mast-climber preceded me round the group, but it failed to save Wyton from being unsure where their mast actually was; it was out of sight, out of mind.
One last point about anemos. Whereas the mast might be in a technically ideal position when erected, the creep of extra buildings and the growth of trees can lead to problems. These show themselves with big “gust ratios” where the gusts caused by eddies can be more than double what is taken to be the steady wind. One large civil airport had such a problem that I once refused to sign the no-hazard statement, despite pressure from my hierarchy and the CAA.
To complete the northern perambulation, on to Leeming, my old love. Well-managed by Gwyllym [?], the customers were happy, but S Met O had an itch to scratch. Apparently the studes had taken to urinating in the rain-gauge after a bender. An early example of taking the p1$$ I suppose.
There were no “Instructions for Inspecting Officers”; an inspection had to be performed annually and report made to Defence branch. The geography of the Bawtry group of responsibility suggested three areas: north, essentially Flying Training, central, which could be managed by day trips, and south including Wyton and Marham. My first foray in the summer of 1981 was northwards: Church Fenton to arrive for morning briefing and leave late afternoon for Linton for a night stop, repeat, and again to Leeming. I always went with an expert observer, preferably him acting as driver.
Church Fenton was a joy. S Met O was a young woman, very competent and not afraid to give me a hard time where we disagreed. The office was rather like a Scout Hut, wood clad such that if the door slammed the barograph received an involuntary time mark. The staff seemed happy and confident, the various formats for output were completed correctly, and she put up the most junior forecaster to do the morning brief. This was a tight ship, and remained so. When I went to Leeds to open a weather centre in 1984 I was delighted to have the same CF S Met O posted there on promotion.
Linton was a profound disappointment, right from arriving at the Mess to find that S Met O [Mr H] had made no effort to arrange suitable accommodation. The students’ huge cardboard replica of a JP instrument layout was not welcome. The Mess found me an appropriate room. I went straight to morning brief next day, and the young man did well enough. He took me to the office and things went vertically downhill: H. gave me a pair of felt pads [bumpers?] to slide around on the highly polished floor. He proudly explained that “we do our own cleaning!” Told where he could stick the pads the inspection began.
In those days cloud base was measured by a nodding beam and by estimation, but the back-up was by balloon [hydrogen!] with a known rate of climb and a stop watch. My observer expert demanded a demonstration. The key to the H2 shed could not be found for several hours. It mattered not, the H2 bottle was empty.
Our attention wandered to the anemometer mast, near [too near] to the buildings. The standard international height for the instrument is 10 metres above level ground but Linton’s was clearly vertically challenged. “What correction do you apply?” [A mast not-too dwarfish, although not ideal, can have small speed corrections applied]. Corrections were there none. H. offered the incendiary thought that no previous inspection had found fault, so the mast was clearly kosher.
Being only 43 [and a good ten years younger than H.] and being by this stage a tad irate, I made a poor decision and decided to climb the mast [safe enough, but not expected from an inspector]. Clutching one end of a ball of HMSO string, I ascended to the top, my observer pulled the other end tightly to ground and marked it. Safely back on Terra Firma, I invited H. to confirm that he was over a metre deficient.
RAF Linton-on-Ouse had for many years been offered dodgy winds and gusts and dodgy directions from an anemo. which was too short, very badly sited and a disgrace.
Inspectors are bidden to end their report with some-such “ ……… I certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief the arrangements for the supply of Met. information do not present a hazard to aviation”. It was a close-run thing but I took the view that the station had assimilated the unknown shortcomings and made the declaration with a caveat.
Linton was thereafter subjected to 3-monthly visits, with a call on OC Flying in the programme. A replacement full-size mast was located and installed asap. But that is another story involving a Chinook. The story of the mad mast-climber preceded me round the group, but it failed to save Wyton from being unsure where their mast actually was; it was out of sight, out of mind.
One last point about anemos. Whereas the mast might be in a technically ideal position when erected, the creep of extra buildings and the growth of trees can lead to problems. These show themselves with big “gust ratios” where the gusts caused by eddies can be more than double what is taken to be the steady wind. One large civil airport had such a problem that I once refused to sign the no-hazard statement, despite pressure from my hierarchy and the CAA.
To complete the northern perambulation, on to Leeming, my old love. Well-managed by Gwyllym [?], the customers were happy, but S Met O had an itch to scratch. Apparently the studes had taken to urinating in the rain-gauge after a bender. An early example of taking the p1$$ I suppose.
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Observations on observations.
I was there with one other assistant, led by the brilliant Hubert Horace Lamb. HH resigned from the Met Office on a matter of principal in 1940 to join the Irish service before returning in 1946 to do important work in the Antarctic. He was the epitome of the Agatha Christie eccentric gentleman; hairy but immaculate three-piece tweed suits, beautiful manners and a loud voice and laugh..
I was there with one other assistant, led by the brilliant Hubert Horace Lamb. HH resigned from the Met Office on a matter of principal in 1940 to join the Irish service before returning in 1946 to do important work in the Antarctic. He was the epitome of the Agatha Christie eccentric gentleman; hairy but immaculate three-piece tweed suits, beautiful manners and a loud voice and laugh..
More please...!
LB: To be honest, I can't recall exactly which of the 4 RAFG bases closed first and last. I think Wildenrath was first and imagine that Bruggen was last, but there must be others out there who were involved and could put the record straight. Part of my trouble is that, at the outset, the MOD Working Group on Options for Change presented RAFG with a proposal to close 2 bases, and the HQ Air Staff disagreed strongly with one and had to make a case for another. I was aware of all this but was not directly involved in the associated work. All 30+ years ago now!
Thread Starter
On a matter of principal? You can't just offer us that tantalising morsel without expanding on it further, LB. He quits the UK just as the Phoney War is done only for it to become a real one, decamps to 'neutral' Ireland, and doesn't return until the whole unfortunate misunderstanding is behind us. Or do I have it wrong? We must always remember that not everyone was behind Churchill's pugnacious defiance of German might. Many in high places in the Establishment included. Was he such, or did he have a more personal objection? Was he a Conscientious Objector and saw the inevitable militarisation of his beloved profession as a step too far? Or had he no such scruples and simply favoured Germany rather than we? He obviously had a brilliant mind at a time when too much thinking was at variance with the need to just keep buggering on.
More please...!
More please...!
Thread Starter
LB: To be honest, I can't recall exactly which of the 4 RAFG bases closed first and last. I think Wildenrath was first and imagine that Bruggen was last, but there must be others out there who were involved and could put the record straight. Part of my trouble is that, at the outset, the MOD Working Group on Options for Change presented RAFG with a proposal to close 2 bases, and the HQ Air Staff disagreed strongly with one and had to make a case for another. I was aware of all this but was not directly involved in the associated work. All 30+ years ago now!
Thread Starter
We interrupt this diatribe to bring any readers still awake the first contribution from the ex- Chief Met Officer Strike Command. More promised after his impending holiday.
THE MOBILE MET UNIT Part 1
LB asked me to write a few words about my time in the Mobile Met Unit. After applying to join the MMU, I was interviewed by OC MMU, a Wg Cdr Hastings at RAF Benson and then taken to the mess for lunch. I soon came to realise that the lunch was mostly liquid and that it was my drinking capacity and not any forecasting skills that was the deciding factor in my admission to this enigmatic unit. There were only about twelve to fifteen members at that time and mostly senior in age. I was commissioned in the Royal Air Force Reserve of Officers (Class CC) in the rank of flight lieutenant on 31 January 1975. In distinct contrast to those entering the MMU in recent years, there was no formal training and, more importantly, no medical! I did attend two training exercises at RAF Sculthorpe and at Halfar, a disused airfield in Malta.
LB became my manager in about 1981 and I’m not sure he even knew that I was a member of the MMU. He was a true professional and I admired his firm yet fair management skills. He pushed me for promotion when I was well-settled as S Met O RAF Marham. I was posted to RAF Shawbury as S Met O on 8th March 1982. This role was different in that we were responsible for teaching meteorology to CFS(Helicopters), QHIs, Air traffic controllers and ATC assistants. The courses were comprehensive and time-consuming and I was enjoying this new challenge whilst my wife was trying to sell our house in Norfolk.
Only 25 days after starting this new job, Argentinian forces invaded the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and other British South Atlantic territories. Almost immediately, I was put on 24 hours standby for South Georgia. I can remember driving home for a long weekend after our house sale had fallen through with a few planned tasks. I wanted to apply for a bridging loan from the Bank; to see our solicitor to arrange a Power of Attorney for him so that he and my wife could complete any house sale and purchase, and to check with my life insurance companies whether my insurances were valid going into a war zone. I can remember feeling more concern for my family than any personal dangers.
I was told to report to an army base in southern England (can’t remember where) to pick up cold weather gear for my trip to South Georgia. I had just been issued with the kit when a call from Bracknell informed me that the trip was off. I sometimes wondered how I would have been able to achieve reliable forecasting in such a desolate, wild and mountainous island as the lone MMU member. My only military training had been with the school cadet force! I must point out that, in more recent years, newly-recruited MMU staff have had to pass the stiff RAF Cranwell courses and had medicals. I now know that I would have travelled on the British destroyer HMS Antrim with the SAS and Royal Marines.
Of course, I was still destined for the South Atlantic and, with speedy work from our solicitor, I managed to move Pam and daughter, Marie, to their new Shrewsbury home just six days before leaving them. My son had been left in Norfolk to take his ‘O’ levels. The war had just finished when I left for the South Atlantic, promoted to squadron leader. Marie was in a new school, Pam sorting out her new house and trying to find her way around a strange town.
And so started a long period of detachments as S Met O RAF Stanley and Ascension. From June 1982 to end of March 1986, I spent over half of my time in the South Atlantic - 5 detachments to RAF Stanley of about 3 months each and 3 detachments to Ascension of 2 months each. Despite some recruiting, the MMU had limited numbers (a total of 14 MMU staff in the early months to cover both airfields) and we worked very long hours, never having a day off. It is interesting to note that when RAF Mount Pleasant was opened and staffed by Met Office civilians, there was over double the staff of those MMU who had worked at the then-closed RAF Stanley.
THE MOBILE MET UNIT Part 1
LB asked me to write a few words about my time in the Mobile Met Unit. After applying to join the MMU, I was interviewed by OC MMU, a Wg Cdr Hastings at RAF Benson and then taken to the mess for lunch. I soon came to realise that the lunch was mostly liquid and that it was my drinking capacity and not any forecasting skills that was the deciding factor in my admission to this enigmatic unit. There were only about twelve to fifteen members at that time and mostly senior in age. I was commissioned in the Royal Air Force Reserve of Officers (Class CC) in the rank of flight lieutenant on 31 January 1975. In distinct contrast to those entering the MMU in recent years, there was no formal training and, more importantly, no medical! I did attend two training exercises at RAF Sculthorpe and at Halfar, a disused airfield in Malta.
LB became my manager in about 1981 and I’m not sure he even knew that I was a member of the MMU. He was a true professional and I admired his firm yet fair management skills. He pushed me for promotion when I was well-settled as S Met O RAF Marham. I was posted to RAF Shawbury as S Met O on 8th March 1982. This role was different in that we were responsible for teaching meteorology to CFS(Helicopters), QHIs, Air traffic controllers and ATC assistants. The courses were comprehensive and time-consuming and I was enjoying this new challenge whilst my wife was trying to sell our house in Norfolk.
Only 25 days after starting this new job, Argentinian forces invaded the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and other British South Atlantic territories. Almost immediately, I was put on 24 hours standby for South Georgia. I can remember driving home for a long weekend after our house sale had fallen through with a few planned tasks. I wanted to apply for a bridging loan from the Bank; to see our solicitor to arrange a Power of Attorney for him so that he and my wife could complete any house sale and purchase, and to check with my life insurance companies whether my insurances were valid going into a war zone. I can remember feeling more concern for my family than any personal dangers.
I was told to report to an army base in southern England (can’t remember where) to pick up cold weather gear for my trip to South Georgia. I had just been issued with the kit when a call from Bracknell informed me that the trip was off. I sometimes wondered how I would have been able to achieve reliable forecasting in such a desolate, wild and mountainous island as the lone MMU member. My only military training had been with the school cadet force! I must point out that, in more recent years, newly-recruited MMU staff have had to pass the stiff RAF Cranwell courses and had medicals. I now know that I would have travelled on the British destroyer HMS Antrim with the SAS and Royal Marines.
Of course, I was still destined for the South Atlantic and, with speedy work from our solicitor, I managed to move Pam and daughter, Marie, to their new Shrewsbury home just six days before leaving them. My son had been left in Norfolk to take his ‘O’ levels. The war had just finished when I left for the South Atlantic, promoted to squadron leader. Marie was in a new school, Pam sorting out her new house and trying to find her way around a strange town.
And so started a long period of detachments as S Met O RAF Stanley and Ascension. From June 1982 to end of March 1986, I spent over half of my time in the South Atlantic - 5 detachments to RAF Stanley of about 3 months each and 3 detachments to Ascension of 2 months each. Despite some recruiting, the MMU had limited numbers (a total of 14 MMU staff in the early months to cover both airfields) and we worked very long hours, never having a day off. It is interesting to note that when RAF Mount Pleasant was opened and staffed by Met Office civilians, there was over double the staff of those MMU who had worked at the then-closed RAF Stanley.
Last edited by langleybaston; 25th Apr 2024 at 13:48. Reason: for sh1t read shot
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I'd add that though there were strong feelings pro and con the war in those early years (there was a story in the WWII pilot brevet thread wherein a young man in civvies, awaiting the call to report to Lords prior to basic training and embarking for flying training in the USA, was waiting for a bus in war torn Liverpool. A woman spotted him from the other side of the street, crossed it, approached him, and spat in his face, accusing him of being a malingerer, despite the small button hole badge he had been given to signify his status. It wasn't Danny but it could so easily have happened to him too). There was tolerance too. No less a person than Butch Harris had as Bomber Command Chaplain one Canon Collins, he of CND fame. His sermons bordered on insurrection but he was allowed to continue regaling Harris's Staff at the height of the Bombing Offensive that he was so opposed to. Speaking of Danny, it is ironic in the circumstances that he was put in charge of a unit doing aerial spraying trials in India prior to what was expected to be the very bloody invasion of Japan. Same job as in 1940, though this time we were to be the invaders. Saved by the bell, or rather the Bomb!
Here is the obituary for Professor H H Lamb, a man ahead of his time who so brilliantly forecast global warming by the in depth study of the past. Like Allan Turing, there were giants around in those days :-
Obituary: Professor H. H. Lamb | The Independent | The Independent
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LB: To be honest, I can't recall exactly which of the 4 RAFG bases closed first and last. I think Wildenrath was first and imagine that Bruggen was last, but there must be others out there who were involved and could put the record straight. Part of my trouble is that, at the outset, the MOD Working Group on Options for Change presented RAFG with a proposal to close 2 bases, and the HQ Air Staff disagreed strongly with one and had to make a case for another. I was aware of all this but was not directly involved in the associated work. All 30+ years ago now!
The end of Wildenrath MEDA task was well celebrated there: I have the massive stein, surely 1 litre. [Yes, I have, but not recently].
Met RAFG wangled a coach to transport us. There was a disgraceful episode [my wife's version] or huge hilarity [all the blokes'] when, without a warning GAS GAS GAS! a very well-known and popular forecaster passed enough flatus to clear the back half of the bus.
The surviving men still wonder at the shock and awe when we meet to tell the same old tales.
As you do.
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