Special Memories
 

In the spirt of the season I was wondering - what are your absolute favourite memories from your time in military aviation? What made it so special? The jets? The mission? The noise? The burning avcat?

Despite being a WAFU I think mine probably begin in my first experiences of the North Sea ACMI, watching the light dim over either Coningsby or Waddo, feeling the air cool as you did the walk round, passing the Lincolnshire coast outbound, seeing the lights on the rigs in the North Sea, checking in with Freddy or one of the GCI chaps - and feeling the blood pressure go up as they called out the first picture as the other guys came out of Leeuwarden, Leeming and Leuchars - all with a bit of mischief up their sleeve.

Getting home to state of the art debrief - finding out that your SA was..errrr...incomplete...and then heading off to see if the Lincoln run ashore had changed significantly in the last twelve months.

I have fond memories of being sat on the back of a war canoe with all the cockpits crunched together, salt in the nostrils - watching the ship heel with a certain amount of trepidation. Wondering what everyone else was punching into the up front controller, suspecting that the ops room was listening into the aux frequency, hoping the f##king kit would align at some point and that Havequick would weave its magic.

And of course the thrill of watching the Afghan dawn in the winter months knowing that 'You are in support of TIC....etc' was only a matter of minutes away.

Anyone else care to share theirs?

Breakfast in the Mess after a night shift on ORP/QRA. A bunch of bleary-eyed, unshaven, scruffy louts being served the most ginormous breakfast by the guys behind the servery, who had gone to enormous lengths to provide the best they could. When the Station was in lock down, lineys were treated with admiration and respect. Even the SWO would look the other way when we were returning to our block.

There was sense of pride that all of our aircraft had been ready to launch if called upon. The ultimate accolade came from an old Chiefy, stating that we were of the same calibre as the guys who kept the Spits, Hurricanes and Lancasters flying during WWII. The Cold War was for real.

Lots of them. Night time cable engagements, spectacular to watch and a real sense of job satisfaction. Setting up Kingsfield Airstrip when a kind Major discovered we hadn't eaten for hours whistled up a bag of egg banjos, they really did taste good! Recently sitting out on the runway in the middle of a night time Barrier net change eating chicken and chips and even this morning, popping out of my office for a smoke and watching F15s and Typhoons taking off into the clear blue sky.

Of all the memories this one srings straight to mind:

IX(B) at Bruggen in the late '90s.

Real live this what Bruggen was here for stuff; long range sorties over the Former Yugoslavia.

First crews back in Rects Control after landing, first question - "is everybody back safely"

"yup" says the Boss (Baggers) - the masshosive sense of relief at that moment that enveloped the whole room made everything worthwhile.

'For your climb to FL320, Manchester Control would like your outbound heading'

'Vertical'

Sat in the borrowed crewroom at Muharraq International Airport on 27 Aug 1990 with the rest of the combined Bruggen/Marham wing after deploying the day before. DetCO (Rocky Goodall) walks in and gives us a decent speech about why we were there etc.

This was the (end of) the Cold War which had been our raison d'etre for so many years, driving all our extensive training and yet here we are in the Middle East. wtf???

Spent the next 3 months with no min height limit! :cool:


Then Afghanistan. Mostly flew the night shift and saw some beautiful sights, especially when the moon was out and reflected off the snow-capped peaks. Then having to fly a low-level search for a downed helo, bouncing between VMC & IMC and the jet just coped so well and it felt really.....not easy but comfortable as this was what she was designed to do. Oh, and the low-level was on a 15000ft high plain with surrounding mountain peaks over 20000ft! edit: Oh, and the FAC was 100+miles away so no comms with anyone!

Many, many others.

Good thread. :ok:

The first Victor / Vulcan Blackbuck launch from Ascension, awesome. The noise, the dust and the lights. Some of the dust is still hanging about every time I think about it.

It made 12 years of Micks and Mickey Finns seem worth it.

Being cheered by all of the det groundcrew after safely coming back from the first night of the first Gulf War.

The summer happy hours at Bruggen when all the sqns were at home: madness!

Later, rescuing 23 UNMOs in Sierra Leone (including the Brit that we were there for) after flying in the worst possible weather to get there.

As groundcrew it was the Vulcan landing after the first raid knowing that all I had been taught had been put into practice.

And for the take offs what a noise that was.unable to forget that in a hurry.

Listening to the elation in the JTAC's voice as the weapon hits the target, and the incoming fire from the individuals under the cross hair ceases. To me, it means that all that training beforehand worked and the guys on the ground get to go home to their families.

(METAR: 27, Calm, Red, QFE XYZ)

"On centreline, on centreline, over radar touchdown - NOW. Radar service terminated."

"Thanks Talkdown, diversion wasn't an option - buy you a beer for that"

and

"Ratch 25, London Mil, good evening. Identified, Radar Control flight level 250."

"London Mil, Ratch 25, you have no idea how good that sounds...."

It felt good when The Voices said 'thanks'.......

Walking back in from first E3D orbit over Albania and being told "no complaints about tanking tonight"
CQWI, from SHAR mate,"that was the best call I ever heard from a controller" just after the single Shar and 2xF3 had just shot the whole CQWI Blue force.
Last ever sortie controlled from Bunker. 25 Sqn in the bar and debrief on phone. "Mate that was exactly what we wanted can you control us tomorrow, you knew exactly what we wanted and made it happen."
What I thought was last trip on E3D recovering from LGPZ, seat 5 and going cloud surfing as we crossed FIR and started recovery to EGXW. Went back 2 years later as ERS WC.
The all day post trip beer in Pordenone after a particular busy trip in 99.

All the very good people who supported me during/after my (quite undeserved) GCM.

guilty as charged...

Watching the guys arriving back at Odious off the Conveyor and the outbreak of emotion from the families present, when they finally realised their loved ones were all back home and safe..... And realising in other parts of the Country the news would not be so good.

Standing on the deck of Intrepid at 2359 on 30th November 1967 and watching the fireworks of newly-independent South Yemen (Aden). Realising that none of us had to go back. All RAF rotary present and correct.

Famine relief operations in Ethiopia 1985...

Feeling as though you were actually making a difference for once, and some good flying to be had as well!

Like Biggus - Op Bushell as first time I felt I was making a difference.

Second memory was Ancona, April 1994, watching the Det armourer windsurfing using a palletiser truck and home made sail surfing in the prop wash of the reversing Herc. Crew were laughing so much they had to stop and return to the bay for him to have a second go.

Sitting in the jump seat of an E3 over the Alps one sunrise on my way to Aviano. Probably the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen up to then. One of those tiny speck in a ruthless universe moments.

:DSmashing thread orca and also Guys/Galls doing the business then and now :D

Watching Trap Ones E3's and tankers and others from underneath the orbits, when as one they pushed north and turned off the lights. Suddenly, my small bit in this whole show made sense. Still makes the hairs on my neck stand up.

Actually another one...

240 OCU RAF Upavon late 70's Night guard as the fleet were parked outside. Both of us walking along checking the aircraft on a glorious silent morning with a light surface mist in the valley and picking fresh mushrooms on the airfield in the early morning dew, collecting them up and frying them on a pan on top of the tent paraffin heater with a knob of butter scrounged from the mess, then sitting outside with my partner in crime eating them as we both watched the sun come up over the plain.

Bit banal I know but being a tech instructor at Cosford where I was also a life guard at the pool and being on the key list thus being able to take my wife and kids to a 25 metre pool on our own when we wanted. That was a bit special looking back on it although you sort of take it for granted at the time.

Also I was flying gliders from there and used to ring the UAS in the summer to see if there was a possibilty of a staff continuation ride in a Bulldog where I used to bend the wings off it in some spirited aeros. With instructor alongside of course.

Looking back it wasn't a bad life.

Watching the sun rise on the airfield at RAF Eastleigh, [about 5500 ASL if I recall!]and marvelling at the stunning beauty that was Africa, and this was Long before Robert Redford did his thing in the Tiger Moth in "Out of Africa!"

Putting a Two Star Army General into the Monsoon Ditch with the rotor wash from a Wokka......remembering the sight of his spit shined boots being the last part of him to enter the green slimy horrible smelling water! One of those "You had to have been there!" moments that one can treasure forever!

Cold War Memories. 1956 Germany.
 

The squadron had recently been re equipped with a new type of aircraft. We normally didn`t fly at high altitude - but today I was about 50 yards behind my leader in a climbing turn to port. I had just thought how beautiful our new aircraft looked against the clear blue high altitude sky. It now started to "contrail" - which added even greater beauty.

At that moment Porky called "Reheat, Reheat - GO !!"

I will never forget that moment, as his afterburner kicked in .... His contrail had now became Enormous by comparison !!

It was one of the most memorable & beautiful moments in my life as I flew close alongside his contrail - enjoying the awareness of our speed - & how Lucky I was to be there experiencing such Beauty & Excitement !!
Wonderful Days !!!

After struggling through the OCU with all kinds of personal and family problems I was finding A VC10 tanker captaincy a bit of a problem until one day, on taking my seat in the fun bus, everything fell into place, not quite with a flash, but with a very positive feeling and from then on all went well.

Best sight: Watching the wings glow green with St Elmo's Fire at 1000ft at night over sea in auto pilot.

Worst sight: The blinding flash, total electrical failure followed by a 4g closed-loop pull up in pitch black when we were struck by lightning watching the St Elmo's Fire - that'll learn me!

Best experience? Firing a 50Cal out the side of a Sea King :ok:

2 great memories (amongst a whole lifetime of them):

A split brain Jnr Tech was posted onto my flight at Church Fenton sometime in 1980 and I soon decided he was commissioning material; coached him and put him up to Biggin Hill. I was so proud when eventually he made Wg Cdr.

And:

24 December 1984 2345 Hrs, my first (of 2) daughter was born in TPMH at Akrotiri.

25 December 1984 1000 Hrs AOC turns up and tickles No, 1 daughter (still got the photo).

1300 Hrs, Christmas lunch in TPMH maternity ward, chief anaesthetist (Wg Cdr) turns up in full operating theatre dress with face mask and carves turkey with a v large scalpel.

And now both daughters brighten my life every minute of every day.

Rgds SOS

We'd been on an all nighter out of Ballykelly in a Shackleton MK2 shadowing a Kotlin SAM in the most horrendous weather with line squall after line squall, and we'd had a largish incident involving a massive down draught while passing through the line of least resistance of one such squall. We were only at the usual 1000ft and I don't know how low and close we went - and I don't want to know.
The inside of the aeroplane was total carnage with quite a lot of damage and with quite a few bruises amongst the chaps.
As a result we instantly gave up chasing the Russian ship and set course back to BK where the weather was the exact opposite -just beautiful -and I and a couple of others walked back from the aeroplane to flying clothing with a skylark whistling and twittering away overhead in calm winds and CAVOK. I felt quite good to be alive that morning and got out of my immersion suit and the thick green thermals and stood in the shower for what seemed about an hour.
I seem to recall that aeroplane didn't fly again and was stripped out and burned.
I left BK the same week destined for St Mawgan and the Nimrod OCU while the rest of my crew went to MDSU at Honington.

The sweetest moment? The pipe "Night flying for tonight is cancelled"

OK, nothing compared to the tales of daring do, but New Plymouth airfield 20,000 feet below through the upper periscope on the Vulcan.

Emerging into the Cyprus dawn in the mid 1970s, following a night shift at
280 SU Troodos, to find we were completely surrounded by pink-tinged cloud, a thousand feet below the summit. Breathtaking.

Invited to the local german fire brigades annual dance and fielding a question from the bandmaster about our providing a helicopter for their crash and rescue demonstration.

After a couple of minutes he returned with beers for all of us.
Then a tray of schnapps appeared followed by another tray of beer.
Repeated for the whole evening.

Appreciation for very little effort on our part but he said it had been the highlight of their day.

Night aerobatics over Leeds in a Linton based Piston Provost. I was a CCF cadet at the time.
The sensation reinforced my desire to become a pilot.
One year later, not only could I spell pilot, but I were one! Only a PPL at that stage, but Fighter Pilot was not far beyond that.

50th anniversary of first solo comes up in April.

Seasons greetings to all.

I remember the excitement of arriving on my first operational station and hearing the noise for the first time, then seeing the aircraft in full reheat as it took off and knowing that I'd soon be working on them.

40 years later, I can still spend hours watching aircraft take off and land (and I'm not a spotter by any means).

Early summer in the late '80's at Brize. Having been away from UK for 7 months, the moment the doors opened on the Tri* the smell of new mown grass from the airfield grass cutters swamped the atmosphere................I knew I was home.

Every time I fire up the Flymo now, it brings it all back.

Roll on summer.

Very small beer by comparison with the front line -- but flying a Vigilant out of Syerston a couple of weeks ago in crystal-clear bright blue sky over an incredibly beautiful frosty countryside was magic. Seeing an A4 Pacific at full bore hauling a charter train northbound on the East Coast Main Line with steam hanging above the railway for miles behind it made the trip even more memorable.

Somewhere near the German border on exercise with the Army in 1970-ish, heavy rain, deep trenches for infantry training. Us (RAF FAC section) in wet, muddy camouflage uniform trying to keep warm and relatively dry. Area received a visit by AOC RAFG and his ADC kitted out in their finest number ones plus greatcoat and very shiny shoes but sans sword. Watching them tip-toeing along duckboards which were slippery with mud. Squaddies and us trying to keep straight faces. Alas, neither AOC or ADC slipped on muddy duckboards.

Inner German Border patrol in a Puma not too long after the Wall came down. Our shadow seemed equally happy with his lot. :) Of course, it was too early for either of us to realize that the stability brought about by the Cold War was about to disappear.

Lightning low level shrouded in shock waves followed by the sound of reheated Avons.