Oh no! Have I been hooked? Have we all been hooked?

Rgds SOS

Finding a Walt
 

Tell him you are collecting the service numbers of ex service friends for comparison. If he doesn't spout it very fast he didn't have one.

If you meet his wife ask her, she will too. Service number was essential knowledge for every wife for all sorts of issues like medical treatment, station library, station nursery school etc.

There is a large service manual called "the retired officers list", we used to ink out the re, you could check his name in it or get a service chum to do so. There is one on most units so any serving person can help. You might be able to get access at one of the stationary office stores or even ebay

Tin, as Whenurhappy said, the Service ran out of money to keep the RAF List in print and the Retired List at all so any book on the station would date from no later than mid-2005 and may therefore have been binned by now.

You are joking, aren't you? My wife would have bitten your head off if you'd suggested that she should know my service number.

Mine too!

Rgds SOS

Well my wife still remembers my service number, and all the family know my 'last three' because it is used as the combination of all of our suitcases.

I did as posted in 2007 and disappears for 6 years and then come back digging for info. Probably on level but could also be a journalist.

BEagle
 

I congratulate myself on remembering my checks from one day to the next. 32years?! Good skills. Although I can claim to have ten times as many Hawk hours as your good self (and counting) so I really ought to remember.
Just to refresh your memory, pressing the relight button offloads all non-essential loads on the engine, such as the generator and HYD 2 system.
But I'm sure you could have remembered that if you thought hard enough.
Anyway, that's enough tech talk before I get the inevitable bead window call.
After all, the mechanics of the Hawk are one of our nation's most closely guarded secrets!
BV:oh:

Come on then Spim...
 

......today was going to be the day. Did you? Or did you not as someone else suggested "grow a pair" and tackle him head on? We're all agog -ish.

The Ancient Mariner

Set the lads over on ARRSE onto the case.... Soon be sorted :E

My dear chap, that sounds harse, perhaps


as Whenurhappy said, the Service ran out of money to keep the RAF List in print and the Retired List at all so any book on the station would date from no later than mid-2005 and may therefore have been RETIRED by now



Sounds better

:ok:

Service number?

I'd get a slap if I told my wife she should know mine.

Evening gents

Update: Our mystery man was confronted and now admits that he was UAS and the Hawk stick time was back seat and once only (apparently, it was the ride of a lifetime...)

I also (subtly) checked colleagues plus the on-file CV - no inflated RAF claims, so no risk to the wider project.

Our hero is chastened and knows that he is under scrutiny. Case closed.

Thank you all for your kind advice and PMs.

One is glad it has all been settled amicably with no detriment to your project, a win win situation one would say.

I once met a guy who said he'd had a backseat ride in a F16 off a USN carrier.

I was in a listed company who's Group Managing Director was the youngest pilot on the Berlin Airlift.
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Also , to a different audience, he was the youngest captain of an R.N. ship on D-day.

The Air Force List was last published in 2007 and the Retired List in 2006 (IIRC).

Although the Air Force List shows all officers and substantive warrant officers or master aircrew and also lists some senior public servants it is always just that little bit out of date, even when just printed.

The Retired List, however, only lists those commissioned officers who RETIRE; that is they - generally - held a permanent commission at the time of their leaving. An officer on a short service commission, who leaves at the end of that engagement, is not deemed to have retired but merely reached the end of their period of service. There are some variations, as with everything but not too many.

Perhaps an easy way to resolve the problem is to contact the Flying Wing Adj at Valley, explain the issue and just ask him to look at the course photos on the wall between dates A and B and let you know if P/O X's name appears. You can tell him that the info is essential to clinch a major commercial deal and if he wants you to write you can do so. Reassure him that you don't want to know anything else - just was this chap actually there! You'll probably get a blank reply but it's worth a try. They do have a community relations officer who might be a better bet.

Old Duffer

The London Gazette is a good source of reference. Amongst other things, it lists commissions, officers' promotions and honours and awards (excluding the special peoples').

One fine SCT day, the boss being away, the junta persuaded the system that some formation practice would be in order.

We had some studes lurking about, a couple of whom asked to come with us.

"Have you done any formation before?", I asked one of them.

"Not really - just half an hour in an F-16"

:hmm:

Which was actually true as he'd been selected for the exchange trip to the US which was available in those days, lucky blighter.

However, halfway through a rather sporting 'tailchase' came the call to knock it off - "Top Gun is serving lunch!" as my chum in the other aircraft described it.

BV, yes, that's what I remembered - attention getters, alternator and part of the hydraulics off line. Which would have been just great at unstick...:\

I gather that the brakes, anti-skid, relight, compass system and lateral stability were all improved in the years after my short time on the Hawk. But no offset TACAN, the Gnat student's friend...:uhoh:

Well if that's true, my recent search on the Gazette website seems to have thrown up a few anomalies. Colleagues promoted in the last year or two all seem to have been gazetted.

Still think the ridiculous decision to scrap the published version of the AFL (and army and navy lists) was stupidly mean spirited. Still find my copy of the last printed version (2007) a useful source of reference.