Ah yes, good old short-termism, lets sell something that both provides a vital London base and makes consistent money for the RAF for what most probably will be a paltry sum! Great idea. A bit like cancelling the MRA4.

As above, you have a dedicated in theatre command support Sqn. Please suggest a cheaper replacement (an available asset, without further Ops impact, with DASS please). Or am I to think you will suggest a Nimrod for the job?

Not to mention that it's a very handy place to park your car when you need to visit Town using the Central Line from Ruislip Gardens....:ok:

Not quite as handy as RAF West Drayton used to be for London Airport though!

A touch of 'pot calling the kettle black' perhaps Winco ........ ;)

Good God!

Close Northolt?

Politicians would have to drive out to LHR (whoops - no slots) or way down to Biggin to get a flight anywhere :eek:

Winco

Well, I did many such Casevac and Compassionate sorties in my time as an Aircraft Captain on 32 Sqn at Northolt. One I remember well was a Sunday Lunchtime when my Wife had invited a friend and her Husband for Lunch. Husband asked me if I was "Off Duty" and I said "Yes - well unless the phone rings"; right on cue the phone rang! It was STC Ops asking if we could do a casevac for bomb blast victims from NI as it would take at least 5 hours to generate a C130.

Its Sunday Lunch Time - the Airfield is closed - I don't have a crew or Groundcrew and the Mk1 Andover isn't in the correct role. There is only one answer - Yes. We were airborne within the hour.

I would estimate that we averaged 2 casevacs or Comp 'A's a month during my 14+ years on the Sqn.

I await your apology with interest.

PS If you want to check it was Sunday 10 June 1978 Andover C Mk1 XS 597.

PPS I see from your profile that you do not appear to have a Military background. If that is correct then I appreciate that that you may not comprehend the effort that is put into repatriating wounded Personnel from Active Service.

Winco,

You are being a bit of a kn0b. To be fair, the loss of the Nimrod and closure of Kinloss are emotive issues, so I can see why, but you need to put it behind you fella and move on.

Having a go at others is understandable, but incorrect.

Winco

I still await your apology but (while you compose it) perhaps you would like to inform us as to how much revenue would actually be generated by the sale of RAF Northolt given that Due Disclosure would apply and prospective Purchasers would have to be made aware of the fact that RAF Northolt is built on the site of a Burial Pit emanating from the Great Plague of London in 1665/6. This has always resulted in severe constraints on any ground works carried out at that Airfield.

PS There may also be undiscovered German Ordnance still buried there as it was a active Airfield in both World Wars.

Caz, we have disagreed on many issues. Not on this one. Go You (without sarcasm).

And I do agree, Winco, you are coming across as a bit of a Knob. Kindly stop it, that role is mine.

Huh! There was always a full ground crew available over the weekend when I was working there on the Mks I and II Andovers/Whirlwinds/Gazelles and we could (and sometimes did) pull off a role change within the hour while a crew came in and self-briefed. In fact those never-ending 60 hour weeks with only every other weekend off was the main reason I left for civvy street at the end of my engagement. When N.I. was full on, 32 Sqn never was (and with those sandy places, most probably still isn't) the cushy number that it seemed to outsiders. It was and is a serious business.

And every place I ever worked always had a nominated "stitched" crew of hardy spanner wielders for any eventuality.

If fact I was so conditioned to it I still have on call engineers in civvy street........

caz

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this, sim check rides I'm afraid. Firstly, I have no intention of apologising for replying to your stupid comment about me wanting to;

'see the end of emergency Casualty Evacuation for premature babies born overseas to Military Families - coupled with an end to Compassionate Evacuation for Serving Personnel overseas to enable them to visit dying loved ones before it is too late'

Accusing me of that was uncalled for and it really was a load of drivel frankly. Had you taken the time to read what I said, you will have seen that I simply asked the question about whether or not, in these cash-strapped times we needed 32 Sqn and Northolt. If we do, then fine, although I obviously feel that other front line stations are more valuable. So take a pill, calm down, have a glass of wine and get over it!

What you did on 32 Sqn is not in question but you should remember that, that was then and this is now. Yes, the Andover could be re-roled at fairly short notice into all sorts of things (just like a mini C-130) but we don't have that flex anymore do we? How long is it to re-role a 146? Can a 125 even be re-roled I wonder? Apart from that, our Royals don't do much flying with 'The Royal' Sqn anymore do they? and as has been pointed out, the helos are going soon.

So, in light of that, I don't think it was an unreasonable question and topic to raise, especially as so many front line assets are being chopped.

As for my time in the service; well, I shan't bore you with the details of it all, suffice to say that after 32 years of virtually non-stop front line ops flying, I don't need to tell everyone about how my sunday lunch was screwed up by a call out (I've lost count, along with hundreds of others, of how many sundays and complete w/e's were screwed up) or how we diverted to Akrotiri (we were out of Gib in a Nimrod on a medex) to pick up the wife of some Pongo who's Mum was poorly, and then fly her straight back to the UK, without calling in for our kit back in Gib!!. It's not such a big deal is it??

Anyway, 32 sqn are clearly a busy bunch by all accounts, and if they are providing a valuable asset in theatre to the services and not just a nice convenience for the airships, politicians and the odd Royal, then good luck to them.

Can't get rid of 32Sqn or Northolt. Excellent hosts for the Night Photo Shoots. :D

RAF Northolt Night Photo Shoot VII ~ 30th September 2010 :: Fotopic.Net

Brian

would that be the maternity ward or the ENT clinic? Do we really have a squadron whose role entails ferrying babies around? ...... And we got rid of the harrier and nimrod but opted to retain the mothercare squadron? Weird

vecvec, are ignorant all the time or is it just this thread?

Command Support Sqn...yes, babies command the in-theatre assets.

Now how about you go back to commanding Meccano from your armchair...

:ugh:

Winco, I am not criticising you in any way. Whoever tasked that flight should have been disciplined, as it was a gross misuse of tactical assets.. I cannot imagine that 'the Pongo's wife whose mother was poorly' could not have been flown on a scheduled flight from Larnaca.

Much that Comp A is valued by the armed forces, it shouldn't be used as the justification for a sqn and/or station. It seems to me that the UK no longer has a maritime patrol capability, limited ISTAR, no ability to operate offensive air from a ship and is still struggling with STRAT/TAC AT and SH.

To me, these are important capability gaps. Now if someone were to accurately describe the military role of 32(TR) Sqn then I think much of this argument would go away.

I don't think you'll find their would be any misuse of tactical assets. If you're really not aware of the system, the you'll probably be amazed at the lengths the Services go to so that all of our military family group can be there to support our families when they need it.

I can assure you that if the scheduled flight out of Larnaca met the bill, then it would have been used, but equally, if the captain of a passing MPA or any other type of service aircraft could help in anyway (and I've seen some extraordinary examples), my experience is that they would move heaven and earth to do so.

I applaud all of them.

Neptunus Rex

To the best of my knowledge, there was no action taken against the Ops staff (or whoever) that re-tasked us, and to be honest I don't think that there should have been. As Army Mover states, people in the services will go to some extraordinary lengths to achieve the task, and this was one of those cases.

But it wasn't a big deal to be honest with you, and I don't feel it was a gross misuse of a tactical asset either. There can surely be few things more important in life than getting someone back to a loved one in time of need. In this case we picked up the lady concerned, got auth' to fly her and landed at Leeming, which was the closest point to where her Mother was, and where a service car was waiting to take her (presumably) to the hospital. Then it was back to KSS for the night before going back to Gib the next morning to pick up our kit!!

I do seem to recall the case of a Cpl getting a lift back to the UK from somewhere in the back of an F-4! I'm sure someone will enlighten us about the details of that??

Happy days!!
Winco

That may be the case but if we so have a squadron whose role is to transfer babies and old people around then we need to chop them straight away

vec,

Best you chop 771 Sqn then......