RAF - the 'junior' service?
 

Why is it that the RAF is considered the junior of the three services?

Errr'm 'cos it's not been around as long as the other two dinosaurs?

Because it hasn't got traditions, it's got habits.:p

Or the "Cinderella" service because ........;)

The Royal Navy ceased to be the senior service the day captial ships became the ones that a/c flew off rather than the boats with all the big guns.:ok:

Winston was talking about the age of the guys serving. You know it's bad when you put a bunch of RN CPO Comms Techs into an RAF Mess and the average age only drops to 53.......

Nice try fish-boy but all your base are belong to us!

I know - baiting the crabs on their own turf is like loitering around papalsupremacy.com and advertising condoms........


(but it still has to be done!)

Pompey Sailor,

Perhaps you should do some research before you sound off. Bearing
in mind that he was "First Sea Lord" (and responsible for the Gallipoli fiasco) he was one of the first to see the advantages of Air Power. One must admit, however, that his support of the Tank Corps in 1918 in preferance to the RFC/RAF was an abberation.
Perhaps the fact that "Tank" trials had initially been undertaken by the Navy coloured his view!!

The sarcasm was lost in translation perhaps?:ugh:

lets face it, if it was up to the Navy we would still be living in caves. If it was up to the Army we would still live in mud huts.

It is only the RAF service that has embraced technology and move forward; the other two have merely just tried to keep up.:hmm:

Good lad! I couldn't agree more! The so called senior service, like there should be an order of seniority anyway. And based on age - if that was a worthy way in which to rate 'seniority' - then my 18 inch, half a ton, sanyo television that takes up a 1/4 of my living room and thats 2 metres deep is obviously better than my 32 inch, HD TV that is gloriously slim, light and good looking..... slim, light and good looking - just like most RAF servicemen in comparison to their navy counterparts - and worth more too! 'Senior Service' - :mad: off!

Did you know that we currently have 52% of the total manpower in Iraq? Plus we have just taken over Herrick with the RMs? Amazing, the public also assume that if it flies, it's RAF, if it wears combats, it's the Army.

Unappreciated, we are.

Winston did like his drink....perhaps he was a bit muddled that day!

...and currently only services a niche market, requiring constant updating and renewing to make it current!

How many HD-compliant channels are there at the moment? 4? 5?

Now Now
 

And can I just remind all you crabs that the only service to shoot another aircraft down since WWII is yes, that's right, the Navy. You Crabs have more resources then us fish heads and always have done. The Sea Harrier was the only true fighter aircraft for many many years and you ask any pongo or booty who has served in NI and they will tell you that if you ask the Jungly boys you can guarantee a lift home, you ask the crabs and it's a little foggy then forget it!!!

Ooooh it's all good inter-service banter!! I actually think we all do a bloody stirling job with the kit we are provided! Lets stop bickering at each other, grow up a bit and get on with the jobs we are all lucky enough to still have.:O

MFWF

Rubbish!!!!!!! In 1982 RAF Jaguar GR1 XX963/AL of 14 Sqn was Shot down 35 mile3s north east of Bruggen, West Germany by a sidewinder missile fired by a RAF Phantom. The pilot ejected. So you see the RAF have shot something down since WW2:E

Light blue on light blue...?

Anyone who has to actually tell you they are the Senior Service misses the point completely, it's a bit like people who have to tell you that they are in charge. It's either obvious or it's not.

And the only service also to run into Australia :\ But I guess that's another story :eek:

Hmm;

Air Force been around for 88 years.
I've done 22 years.

I'll be history soon!!!:rolleyes:

MOG

Didn't the Marines try to invade Spain a year or two ago...and were repelled by the local stazi???:D

MOG

A-4Q Skyhawk of CANA 3 Esc shot down near Swan Island in Falkland Sound by Flt Lt Leeming RAF
Two A-4B Skyhawks of FAA Grupo 5 shot down over Choiseul Sound by Flt Lt Morgan RAF



Just three of the FAA aircraft downed by the RAF in 1982. I think these qualify as post WWII kills.


Senior Service, aren't they FAGS.:)

Mustflywillfly

Quote:
And can I just remind all you crabs that the only service to shoot another aircraft down since WWII is yes, that's right, the Navy.

You need to do a little more research. The last RAF pilot to win a contested air-to-air engagement, that has been officially acknowledged, whilst flying an RAF plane was Fg Off Tim McElhaw of 208 Sqn flying a Spitfire FR18 when he shot down a Royal Egyptian Air Force Spitfire LF9 on 22 May 1948 near Ramat David airfield in Palestine.

www.spyflight.co.uk/iafvraf.htm

Heimdall

You do realise that some of those SHAR pilots were RAF!

As I've back-quoted to many of your persuasion over the years:

"We may not be many but thank God we are the right sort"

....Admiral Lord Nelson

Wind the crabs up and watch em go.....!!!! Ahhhh what fun.

Didn't a Buccaneer crew destroy an Iraqi Mig on its take-off run during GW1 and it was considered an air-to-air kill (though accomplished with an LGB)?

And also on 5 Sep...'' 5 years ago I was chopped from flying training at RAF Shawbury..''




Not still bitter are we old chap?? :p

I used to be young and fit. Drove a sports car. Sh**ged every nice young thing that came my way, drank ten pints at night and went to work as fresh as a daisy in the morning. I was junior and immature.

Then came marriage, a family and a mortgage. I drove a Humber. I wanted to sh*g anything that came my way but the wife would object. When I was allowed out at night, I'd drink eight pints and stagger off to work in the morning with a hangover. I was established and respectable.

Then came middle age. The children are married, the mortgage is paid off. I might admire a fine pair of ***s from afar but I can't be bothered to do anything about it. I have an occasional glass of wine and a fine meal - then suffer indigestion all next day. I'm senior and nearly past it.

Now, which would you rather be? Junior or Senior? Eh? ;)

Well done Blacksheep!
First bit of quality banter from a crab in ages.
Are you looking for an exchange?

Ahh the usual drivel from MFWF. When losing the argument in the face of superior knowledge he resorts to "It was all a wind up m'lud, and you all fell for it". T:mad:r Is this Southside back again to amuse us?

Don't know about that but I saw the video of the LGB attack on a Cub. It was taxying out between a couple of hangars. DH just behind the cockpit; that would have been in the bunk area. I was in an Iraqi one many years ago. The crew at Lyneham stayed in the aircraft and probably banked the per diem.

Also an F15E got an air-to-air with an LGB. A helicopter in the hover.

Keep it coming ladies

Actually Twopack, I was on a Naval Squadron and chopped by a Navy Standards pilot. Bitter? Possibly, but not with the RAF. Infact a very nice RAF chap suggested that I could transfer to them. Indeed quite recently a very decent RAF Officer has suggested that I could still transfer to them.

I like the RAF, I did an RAF Flying Scholarship and they helped me fly at 17 before I could drive.

It's all just good banter, but what I have been amazed by is the real venom that some of you have replied with. Especially that Roland chap, obviously a lovely bloke who drives a very long car. Do the RAF do banter or just take themselves far too seriously and get all upset and lash out? I am a little dissapointed the way this thread has gone actually.

The RAF is the Junior service and quite frankly who cares!!! And yes Blacksheep that was a superb comeback!!

Now shall we all just calm down?

MFWF,

Think it's about time for you to change your handle dude:E

Might I suggest WLTFBCAIACHAFTCSNIAJABF......

WouldliketoflybutcantasiamcackhandedandfailedthecuorsesonowI amjustanotherbluntfecker:p.....anyone else some thoughts on a new handle for our tame semen:E

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced

The trouble, mustflywillfly, is the use of the word junior in a perjorative sense (as you and others in this thread have done!). Inevtiably people who care - and love to banter as well - will bite.

I loathed being referred to as a junior officer when I was an old-time flight lieutenant. It's the same here, I suspect.

I couldn't care less, though, whether the RAF is junior or the Navy the senior (or for that matter, whether the Army is the in-the-middle service!), This Senior Service thing (as beloved by those who produce Navy News - it appears in almost every bloomin story!) is something the admirals perpetuate to give themselves a warm feeling of importance.

LOTA,

The Admirals warm feeling is not importance........... it's incontinence:E

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced

ABIW You owe me a new keyboard - haven't laughed so hard for a long time. Maybe it is time for the Senior Service to be pensioned off along with all the other senior citizens :}

Since we seem to now be saying that the 'Senior Service' is whichever is best, rather than the oldest, how do we measure it?
If you take value for money, the RAF needs 124 personnel for each of its frontline aircraft, while the FAA does the same with 31 people. So, for the taxpayer, the RAF offers much less bang per buck.
In the two world wars and one world cup line of thinking, the RAF saved this country from invasion and servitude 60 years ago, with RN people involved in the BoB and The RN acting as back-up in case Fighter Command dropped the ball. With the Spanish armada and Trafalgar, the RN is at least 2-1 up in the 'Saving the nation from tyranny' stakes.
We're all rightfully proud of the Service we chose to join, but some foolishly chose to join the one with a uniform of badly cut denim.