RAAF in MALAYSIA in the 1970's
 

Those who were on the weekend bus trip to Hatyai from RAAF Butterworth sometime in 1977 will never forget Larry McG and his antics in the hotel lift and later the pool. Back in the office his forecasts were not always as near the mark as he was on the trip.

From the same era was Lance C who arrived without the benefit of a visit to OTS and took the uniform items as a mix and match fashion opportunity which made a serious inroad to the WOD's health.

Further south, in 1974, on the anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Bernie McE (not the ex USN chap) briefed the historic RAAF Amberley weather for that day and noted, after 25 minutes, "today will be the same". He was spot on.

MJG

One recalls a characteristically funny occasion with "Dave the Met" (can't recall real name) at Shawbury in (??) late 70s early 80s.

One of the CFS Flt Cdrs - known as FLUFF - had a weekend cottage or flat in France (Brittany?) and never lost an opportunity of reminding us all that he had it. So at the end of Friday's Met Brief he would invariably ask at "Any Questions" - "What's the weekend weather going to be like in Brittany?"

Dave puts lovingly prepared, gothic lettered Letraset OHP slide on with the immortal words:


...he never asked again....

Quote: George Stevenson was an absolute LEGEND.

One of the hairy old assistants at Topcliffe accepted a lift with G and his 6 year-old son to a football match.

He came in next day chastened, shocked even. The son was apparently conversant not only with Swahili and Urdu but also Anglo-Saxon. George lived two doors from me in Thirsk and we could sometimes catch the odd burst of invective on the wafting breezes.

Another Topcliffe character was Lol, an old old assistant, never shaven, never couth. Was marched to Guardroom in small hours by new snowdrop ..... Lol never bothered with his pass "they all know me" and so he was "found asleep by the radiator in the Met Office window and could not account for himself". Fortunately the other copper or his dog recognised this tramp-like figure, so back to "work".

Then there was Wiggy at St Mawgan. If he turned his head sharply, the wig stayed put with reference to spatial coordinates on the shiny underlay by virtue of inertia.

I'm sure there was a Nige the Wrong at Cranwell too. Or was it Fenton (in the 90s)

Or how about Johnny Holmes at Finningley??!! He never understood how we puerile student pilots giggled when he came in the class. Not knowing that his name-sake was the infamous porn star. Allegedly...
Told him on the last day of groundschool. He seemed quite pleased! Never told him how I pilfered the met exam, mind....

Ken the Met - still there early 80s!

Leon @ #29 ... I see your Scorchio! and raise you a nice occluded front :E

http://i55.tinypic.com/r1n24w.jpg

Officer Harvey doubled as a forecaster .................

Night shifts only.

And only when I was on duty.

Now, where were we?

In the not-too-distant past I had the pleasure of being on det with a charming Met lady rejoicing in the nickname of "Back Door B****", for reasons I've never fathomed....

Mr Langley Sir,

I suppose I had better nominate Glide Senior for the infamy side of the list. He only had one really important forecast to get right - my wedding - and, shall we say, 'twas not his finest hour!!!!! Seaweed and pine cones ignored that day!;)

regards

GOTG

CoffmanStarter. I would say that was a warm occlusion.Bert Marsden, Met instructor CATC Hurn '71 ish mentioned that it was the worst sort. He never exlained why, though.

Its the Anticyclops you need to watch out for.

My best Met story was told by a pilot as advice to sort out his nav.

The way he told it, if you were lost:

1. Find out where the Low is.

2. Stand with back to wind.

3. Deduce which hemisphere you are in.

Regarding garish ties and waistcoats, the current trophy holder is probably Eric Buckley, currently or recently SMeto Coningsby.

As an afterthought, in my time, we had amongst us a

Mr Flood

Mr Frost

Mr Gale

Mr Waterfall

and Mr Snow.

Not many appropriate surnames for aircrew ...... Mr Thrust I suppose, Mr Gear, Mrs Flap ...........

Thorney 1967; met instructor on the ground school, Mr Cruikshank IIRC, dished out notes for every leg, worldwide, a transport aircraft was likely to fly. So heavy you could hardly lift them!

No need to swot for the met exam as he allocated marks according to rank; so Plt Off (me ) got 65%,then increments up to Wg Cdr who got 90%!

At Gaydon in '66 the met instructor, whose name escapes me, was asked why he always walked,instead of running, from the tea room back to the classrooms even when it was teeming with rain. 'Ah' he replied,'You obviously haven't had the Doppler effect lecture yet'.

Eric Buckley! Used too, maybe still does, race nitro-fuel drag bikes! Respected forecaster, mad as a fish, but a top bloke! :ok:

I remember B***e S*****t giving met briefs one late summer on Op TELIC. The shamal was up every few days and the majority of his brief would be about 'dust' and 'sources of dust'. His lisp made this somewhat amusing, particularly as the Little Britain 'high in fat, low in fat, dust', 'anyone, anyone, dust?' was in currency at the time.

Had a great reunion this week .........

Dave Taylor ex Marham, Shawbury, St Mawgan, ex MMU Falklands, ex CMetO STC
Brian Wharton ex Wyton, Wildenrath, Detmold, Waddington
Dave Richardson ex Finningley, Shawbury and a lot of Civil
Tom Besford ex Coningsby, Leuchars, Bawtry,
Ian Smith ex Waddington admin
Tony Geordie Armstrong ex MMU just retired, Queen's Commendation
Maureen Phillips, George's widow [George ex STC, HQRAFG and Adjt MMU and Falklands] and wives where applicable.

Of corse these "ex-"s are a sample: most people in a 40 year career averaged a move every three years, never mind detachments, which came thick and fast in formative years, much as RAF but a tad slower.

All at Queen's Head A17 Sleaford, where we have our annual headcount. Many reputations trashed, world's problems sorted.
Great pub, great company.

And thanks to contributors above, a goodly number of memories out there.

And it's Dave Taylor who was the star of my post No 42 above ....

Do you know he denied it over a sherbet or two only yesterday!

Can't trust anybody these days!

1970's Middle Wallop - had to be Harold F Boardman! years later was issued with the great man's 'Met for twonks' book at RAF Lyneham.

RAF Northolt 2003 - bloody lovely dark haired lady working for Ian the Met (from RAF Odiham circa 1974), wow she made occluded fronts become warm fronts........:E

Brian 48Nav

Inspired!

I've been trying to remember that Cruickshank's name for years.
I clearly must have held the exhaulted rank of F/O given the 67% bestowed!

My story relates around a 65 Percenter in the front row who courageously fell asleep during Cruickshakies appalling, mind numbing, lecture delivery.
Our hero's great fortune was to uncontrollably slumber alongside the the fabulous " Bonzo" Von Haven. US exchange War veteran.

" Wake that man up" screeched the Cruickshank skull to Bonzo.

" You put the ****er to sleep- YOU wake him up!- was Bonzo's memorable response.

An early departure to the pub followed. What a class act was dear Bonzo , now sadly in the clouds, no doubt tweaking the Pantomime Cruickshank.

During my attempts to teach student pilots and, later, navigators, I came across a fair few characters, but I suspect that "my generation" of instructors were much nearer the pupil's ages and outlook and education than 10 years earlier. I can honestly say that I enjoyed the experience.
The likes of Chunky Chandler and Cloudy ?? were pretty dire as colleagues, never mind teachers. I took over from Cloudy, who gave me a pile of dusty, mouldering Visual aids and handouts and said I needed just to follow the script and no harm would come by me. Binned the lot.
The other thing was that we were GIT-trained: the short course at RAF Upwood was brilliantly good, and I often think that a similar facility would help many young school-teachers these days.

Crikey this is the last place I ever expected to turn up in !! What a nice thing to say. Shawbury was the best place I ever worked at and I miss it still. It's Gráinne btw...but I'll let you off :-)

Didn't this chap get remustered as a Met Man following a little whoopsie with a HS146 :suspect:

http://cdn.theguardian.tv/brightcove...er_6163198.jpg

A certain Mr. Gale was a Met Officer during one of my postings to RAF Odiham (can't recall exactly which one as I was posted there five times in all). His forecasts always used to be signed "I. C. Gale".

At first I thought it was a spoof, but apparently his forenames were Ian Charles. A more appropriate name for a met officer I couldn't imagine :ok: .

When I was an AATC in the tower at Odiham we had to ring Farnborough to pass on the met reports.
One of the guys had the habit of letting you think you had interrupted him reading, every time, every hour!
"His hand moved knowingly up her.....oh, hello Odiham" etc
Most engaging!

The only initials I can remember from those days were "Delta Whiskey".
But this was not the guy mentioned above.

lsh
:E

Going through flying training at Linton in 1971, I recall one met type who, for his sins, had been given the task of instructing the sprog pilots in the Mysteries of Meteorology. He was a fount of anecdote about the Atlantic weather ships, and would preface each anecdote by exclaiming "Swing the lamp!!" and suiting action to his words...

RAF Upwood...
 

...was a great course run by an absolute bloody genius of a schoolie. All the female studes swooned when he came in to the room and the chaps swooned when we went round to his quarter for supper and met his French wife. As a pair they were almost too perfect. Where are they now one wonders.
Later, much later, when I did the NATO comms course at Latina south of Rome the course was run by a German army major who had done the GIT at Upwood. He spoke beautiful English but "hammed it up" for the benefit of we studes.
"I am learning at the very wonderful RAF GIT course that in order to get the attention of the class it is a good idea to start the day with a joke; therefore we a joke will haf. And the smoke break will be for 5 minutes, or, to be more precise, 300 German seconds".

Back to metmen/women. Sorry.

The Ancient Mariner

UPWOOD GIT: first session.

1. instructor talks at students.
2. instructor writes on board
3. instructor writes on OHP
4. instructor projects B&W still photo at same time
5. ditto simultaneous colour still at same time, another screen
6. projects silent B&W film at same time
7. ditto colour[screens everywhere, all active]
8. ditto colour with sound.

Short break, follwed by CCTV film of class, showing us being brain washed into concentrating [unanimously, except the berk asleep or unconscious] on 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 in strict sequence.

Subject matter apparently irrelevant.

I learned a lot about teaching [never "lecturing!"] from that.

Best course ever.

This is the most entertaining thread I've read in a long while; hopefully my contribution won't diminish it.

Happy Four at Gioia del Colle, summer 1998. The Boss pitches up at Line Control for the next wave only to find the jets aren't fuelled. He is slightly miffed but understands that thunder and lightning go together and he can hear thunder too. He phones the Metman (exploding bosses are fun to watch when you're blameless) and after being assured that the nearest lightning is 60 miles away yells "You've got a f:mad:g window, open it".

R

The slightly built, bearded Metman at ASI circa '96 who took every opportunity to showcase his pins in the bar during the 'Male or Female Guess the Limb' game (never to be played sober or in above marginal light - actually, just never to be played at all).

Hopeless the Weathergirl at Lyneham (about '98) - always a delight especially at early morning multi-crew briefings before Her Maj's Armed Parachute Display and Orienteering Team went off on one of their spirited romps to finally capture Salisbury Plain.

The Met Instructors at Finningley in the mid 80s - how they managed to get through a day teaching the studes without resorting to extended use of fully automatic weapons will always be a mystery.

Each and every one a credit to the seaweed dangling profession - bless 'em all!

I can't remember if I have told the story of how my male member, such as it is, was nearly an RAFP Alsatian's midnight snack?

Nicosia Airfield c. 1962. The days of cloud searchlights for measuring cloud base by Pythagoras. The stratus rolled in and I rolled out to the alidade .... a medieval angle of dangle to use with the known baseline. The alidade was in the middle of the roundabout near Ops/Met/ATC, surrounded by bushes.

The stratus was patchy and I had to wait for a chunk to cross the vertical searchlight beam ......... and I needed a slash. Dark, bushes, slash, flies ........ ah! here's the cloud.

So there I was, mid-stream, squinting at the alidade, when I felt hot breath down below.

ID left in the office of course.

Half an hour later the snowdrop and his dog left the office, one full of Turkish coffee, still laughing, and one full of milk and biscuits [but NO MALE MEMBER].

And I went back outside to read and remember the angle this time ........ and the stratus had gone.

Morning Briefing Wattisham 1974.
S Met O very proudly announces to assembled Lightning pilots and execs that in the previous 12 months his personnel had got the forecast correct 49% of the time.
Failed to appreciate the laughter from the floor when someone pointed out that if they had taken the opposite view they would have been correct more often.:O

(Probably the same briefing when the ATCO stated that the station ident beacon was flashing steady red,)

There is another gathering of Metpersons soon. We hope to include the late dear George/Alan* Phillips's wife and also Tweedie's. Of last years gathering Ian Smith has handed his fircones and seaweed in for the last time ........ we will miss his anecdotes and funny voices. I once turned up for a Do in a navy blue chino suit "going for the crumpled look, are we?"

[George/Alan* P did a very long stint at JHQ, and was a long-time member of the Mobile Met Unit. The story of his two Christian names is a long one which I may tell some day].

MacCloud at Cranwell (1964 ish) forecasting a gin clear day as through the window behind him we watched fog roll across the airfield

2 Air Navigation School Gaydon 1969 - Charles Ripley who was known as Cu Nim Jim (just rhymed well). His favourite topic was unusual cloud formations, usually found in equatorial regions. As the Varsity had limited range, we we unlikely to encounter them. However, it pleased him that we stayed awake during his lessons.

242 OCU Thorney Is 1970 - Can't remember the name but his Met lesson always after lunch so difficult to stay awake. One question in the final met exam - 'Briefly describe the weather in Sydney in March'. Never made it to Sydney in 33 years of trucking.

6 Flying Training School - Finningley - Mr Gallagher (IIRC) was teaching the students and briefing the day's (or night's) flying. A rugged face to go with the Scottish accent. One day, a stream of 5 Varsity launched (shouldn't have) and all diverted to Leeming due to fog at FY. Frantic phone calls to FY and re-hashed the prog for the next day. Mounted another stream so as not to lose a trg day. Moi, as the instructor in the first ac had to give the Met brief! At least we all got back to FY.

Bill McQueen and the MMU staff on Ascension during Op Corporate - Recycled the Met Reporting Form I had assiduously compiled during the 26-hr flights South, for the crew departing 48 hours later. Something is better than nothing. Met up with Wg Cdr McQueen at Dining-In nights at Brize in the mid 90s

Richard Angwin was at Lyneham before seeking fame on BBC Points West. The crew faced the big windows in the Met office while the forecaster briefed. 'Dry and calm for departure', he said while we saw a thunderstorm open up behind him. He was a bit embarrassed. Ho hum! I believe he is with Al Jezeera now.

Scouse met man walks into morning brief at Colt in the early nineties. Places slide covered in fluffy stuff on ohp, says "the weather's ****e" and sits down again. Stunned silence from the Execs and giggles from assorted pilots.

McQueen and his boys [and a few girls] collected an impressive array of gongs, being sent into just about every operation/ war/ campaign of recent times.

I had lunch with one such, Tony "Geordie" A. a week ago. He has 10 gongs including Air Efficiency etc. and "I just missed the Falklands"!
I imagine few RAF people have as many, perhaps [from memory] Tac Comms Wing as was? One needed to be in a smallish and seemingly indispensible role to be omnipresent.

dagama
Not sure whether Mr Cruickshank was still around in 1970, but I remember doing the Beverley OCU groundschool in 64 when he taught Climatology. Remember that the Bev had no 'systems' as such to teach the Navs but the OCU still had to take one week under 6 months because that was the length of an OCU. Therefore we Navs filled our time with hours and hours of Climatology resulting in exam questions such as ' What is a typical landing forecast for Alice Springs at 1600 local in November'. Not many Beverleys in Alice Springs. When we got the Herc the climatology was much reduced as the Navs had more important things to learn about eg Nav Aids!

I do remember Mr Ripley, he was thinking about retiring as I was early in career, and yes, he was indeed into cloud formations and causes.

Anyone remember Chunky Chandler, Wilf Saunders or Norman Grandy at Manby?

The latter could not abide the office radio ["for listening to the shipping forecasts"] being tuned to music, and always turned it off as he entered.
So a bright spark doctored the radio so that the "off" switch/button/gizmo failed to work. Legend has it that it was capable of battery power, so when he turned it off at the mains socket, the band played on.
A temper tantrum ensued.

Best I can remember
 

Tall, slim, beautiful, brunette, at Leu. I helped her climb into the mess one night through the ante room window when I delivered her back after dinner at my place. I think we had rabbit pie but it was so long ago I can't really remember.

Rgds SOS

At Gan in 1958 we had no Met men or Women, just an Met Assistant who took the daily observations and measured the upper winds with a balloon and theodolite as seen here. The results were sent to the weather centre at RAF Katunayake (Sri Lanka) who issued the relevant forecasts.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r.../MetBaloon.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...n-Tracking.jpg

One of the Met Assistants was a bit of a wag and created a basic and early version of the "Weather Stone" forecasts for airman - which was on paper and pinned up in Gan's primitive 1958 ATC.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...pse978b0e6.jpg

I don't have a photo of the Gan version, but you can buy your own "Weather Stone" forecaster similar the the one above from the South American River place.