Fair one. But the overall circumstances were different. Rewind a few years and we had a short sighted recruitment drive obsessed RAF happy to portray Ops as a bit of a party. The Ramses thing was a bit of a one off, intended to show the reporter Clarksonesque. The Army is more firmly entrenched within the Nation's hearts and minds, certainly more than the RAF and the Navy, because the public is constantly exposed to the images of soul sapping land warfare that we haven't seen for decades.

I also said that the reality was different from the perspective, but whether we like it or not, the public perspective IS shaped by, and drawn to the easiest media fodder it is fed. Liam Fox made the point that the public might be more outraged at seeing cuts to those who were grafting the hardest, and the army isbearing the brunt of the fighting.

I meant no slight to any one Service (or element, and we all know how hard the SHF grafts in particular), but generally, the Army always seems to be so much better at fighting its corner in the PR battle and playing the long game to maximum effect. Coupled to that, it is the best and loudest champion of its own cause.. and that will probably pay dividends next month.

Standby for thread drift!

Al, you are of course, right in what you say. No one chringed more than I when watching argueably the biggest PR own goal the RAF has ever scored. Following on from 'Above Enemy Lines', which accurately portrayed the lives of the SHF, 'Holiday Kamp Kandahar' was a disaster and was thankfully pulled from our screens.

Good question...I've been in this position a few times. The brief is to throw it down by your feet ahead of ejection. Having it slam into your legs at 25g is not recommended for the legs or the arm that's holding it. Having said that you are told these things and then left to make your own arrangements, I did consider stuffing it into a bottom half flying suit pocket if time permitted.

The F-15 pilot should have treated the passenger better not tried to impress. It was totally unprofessional of BBC Look East to show the reporter being sick. It was when viewers were sitting down to their evening meal as well as humilating the reporter in public. It should have been edited out full stop. :mad: Spoilt the whole story,Look East must try again .

Being able to take lots of 'g' and not barf is surely a test of your 'cojones' size?

Bzzzzzzt, turn the telly off and dry your eyes?

You big bunch of girls :yuk:

Whatever was in the report, it would have been the reporter's choice.

I was the BBC TV reporter in the F15
 

Hi - That the broadcast film ended with me barfing was not meant to happen but a very annoying technical glitch in the studio, so you would have missed the second half which puts the report in context.


have a look at the full 3 min film here at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11405336\

Enjoy!


Have to say Ramses was a complete pro. Having been up in a Jag and Tornado in years past, I know he was actually very gentle with me and let me dictate the pace of the flight. The trip was great, having to film it was not.

Sorry it the barfing offended some - it was delicately done(!) But would have been dishonest of me to have left it out of the film.

Well done that man :ok:

No shame in barfing.......Most have done it....very few are honest enough to admit it.

I am greener than you were, but mine is with envy :D

Hear hear!
You haven't had a gash trip until you've filled a bag or two.

Subsequent conversation was coherent and walk away from F15 was steady, flight back from the land of sheep must have been restrained ..

Why not use a couple of fixed cameras rather than expect the intrepid media type to do anything other than sit tight?

I don't really understand the point of these sorts of stories. The report, as broadcast, was completely vacuous and does nothing for the US Air Force beyond showing them to have cool fast jets. In fact, if anything it damages their positive face needs.

As broadcast, there was seemingly no *reason* for the piece, no intelligent comment about the importance of the 48th FW being based here, and no mention of how the Wing benefits the local community - you know, the sort of stuff you'd want to hear on a local news programme. In fact, you could have taken any particular angle and it still would have been better than the asinine commentary we got (which, incidentally, has been done a million times before and so cannot even claim to be original).

You need only look at this thread to see that the focus of the comments are about whether the pilot was an idiot, because, well, there's not much else about the piece that you *can* talk about.

What a waste.

I thought it was an exciting, intersting report to watch and certainly the stand out report of that night. My impresssion of the USAF was very positive.

It's an insight behind the wire we don't usually get.