Merlin Sqns to Merge
 

Heard a bit of gossip on the grapevine that due to the lack of spares the two frontline Merlin Sqns at Culdrose may be merged!!

Apparently flying hrs have been capped and the training system is suspending training!!:{

All rumours to which I'm sure are learned HM1 colleagues can advise us!


And ....... box!

8 merlins being supported........i heard:confused:

Just to correct.

There are three front line Merlin units:

814 820 829

plus 700 OEU and 824 OCU.

Rumours of mergers are premature/untrue.

Worry more about how we get rid of the black hole in Lts and recruit.

:hmm:

I've got a brilliant idea...... :8

Why not have 3 front line Sqns of 8 aircraft each?

An OCU of 12 aircraft?

Reform 819 at Pwk with 4 aircraft.

4 aircraft in the inactive fleet.


........but then my alarm clock went off and I woke up.

What a stupid dream; you'd have to buy 44 aircraft to do that :mad:

Doh!!

:cool:

TOG

FRI
 

FRI and encouraging all our Lt's to opt for FTC/FTC(A) seems the easy answer!!

Stop promotions to Lt Cdr??

Alternatively we could get out on the streets and advertise - RAF and Army seem to do it well.

Went to the Armed Forces day at Plymouth last year and the Roger Nigel was piss poor. Really guts me to admit that the crab Harrier and Chinook put on a cracking display. As did the Army and its Challenger Tank demo.

What did we have - a stall giving away pens and posters!!

Bigtop,

You are quite right we have not got the recruiting thing right.

This year we are focused on improving and both DNR and Fleet are working together- first time for everything.

The problem for me is we need help from units in all areas, flexibility is the key (in true FAA fashion).

If we don't all pull together this time, get ready to wear a nice light blue suit.

:*

2 Questions:

1. How many Merlins did the FAA buy?

2. Are the FAA Merlins under command of JHC?

Well if there's a merger the Creche don't know about it!!

Some great rumours flying around though, keep them coming..:ok:

How Many??
 

AHQ......

Not enough!! 44 - but we smashed 2 of those up so we're down to 42.

VFTHC - its an adulteress relationship - everyone else will know about it before you!! And then the Command will say "well it hasn't been going to well for and while and we we're going to tell you but.... the time was never right!!!!"

AHQHI656SQN

1. Can't quite remember the exact number, but the second tranche was cancelled, IIRC.
2. Only the Junglies are under the JHC umbrella, which is why the UK amphib helos spend most of their time in deserts and other non amphib areas, and Fleet can never get them.

Si C

How many a/c and crews on each squadron?

Bagman

Me thinks you already know the answer to that.:*

On the subject of recruitment/advertising.

Maybe its just me, but I think the dark blue are streets ahead of the rubbish we normally turn out, although I have not yet seen the latest TV ad. Furthermore, although the RAF Presentation Team are good (saw them recently), the RN Presentation (seen Sep 04) are in a league above. Tip top.

kipper

What about the 51 crews being grounded?

Premature but not untrue. Premature as it will be later in the year when it happens.




what big black hole? Do we have too many Lt's or not enough? Can't possible be not enough as therefore we wouldn't be losing so many to the airlines, foreign jobs, broadening jobs. So it must be too many. And so with 51 Merlin crews hanging around and with no aircraft to fly is that going to help the situation of hinder it?

Maybe the 51 Merlin crews could fill the gapped jobs in the Lynx fleet. We could do with some Pinkies and some Observers if you have any spare...oh and a couple of greenie supe's would be nice. Thanks

H3F,


Once again, the voice of ignorance.................

Crossbow, I mean Hyd3failure

Surely if, as you insist, the Squadrons are to merge, then we would still need some of the 51 crews to fly what few Merlins are available?

:confused:

Why the voice of ignorance..???? Not really eh?

DB - I didnt say that the sqdns would be merged. Thats the thread thats doing that. All Im supporting is the grounding of a few Merlin which would allow us to fully support 8 aircraft. Leaving 34 in the Hangar. The crews who would be required to maintain the 8 in flying status have been identified and will remain in Cornwall. That leaves 52 crews to be divided up between the rest of the fleet. SKW/Lynx/SK4 will all benefit from that manpower flood as not aonly will it release a lot of aircrew but also a lot of maintainers who are badly needed elsewhere.

oh, and Im not Crossbow. He has been cert id'd as some bloke in warton and Im in Somerset.

Hyd3

Beg to differ. You said, of rumours of mergers being premature/unture...

"Premature but not untrue. Premature as it will be later in the year when it happens."

And do you think that any training system within the FAA at the moment could cope with 52 "crews" rocking up saying here we are, we'll do your flying for you? I don't think so. A merlin pilot may have similar skills to a Lynx pilot, but I don't think the Junglies will want a guy who has never even seen a set of goggs (may even be true of the lynx now!). Also Bag and Merlin Obs interchangeble - I don' think so. What of the highly trained sonar specialist Aircrewman?

The pilot thing isn't going to be a problem. If you can pole a Merlin then surely you can pole a Lynx / SK

The Observer thing won't be a snag either. Iin the Lynx world we have had many SK guys come through and so there is no reason to suspect that a Merlin guy wouldn't make it through. Aircrewman can go SK4.

Goggs - that doesn't take long. Part of the course in both SK and Lynx fleets so it will be a natural progression.

I'm not sure if the SKW world need any more Observers.

Cope, I think the Flying Training people would positively encourage it. It seems fairly straight forward to me....The Lynx fleet are short of Observers and the Merlin fleet have lots... easy peasy !

But at the end of the day there are not many Options. If they cannot fly the Merlin then what is to become of them? Retrain Lynx / SK or .....


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