Ref post 25 &37- better that than " rh generator out, bus-tie-in-the-open-position-when-flying-at-night" at which gnd school instructor taps blackboard. (hint- its an exam question...):)

100 yard CPA on the Alpha buoy.

:E. Bearing in mind of course that a lot of the OCU jobs were twin stick. In fact I remember one of the US exchange instructors having to take control from the back when one of the studes pulled a ludicrous amount of G and his brain went sleepys. (did the F4 tuck when dropping back below Mach 1? Seem to remember he was pulling hard anyway and went subsonic.)

Just remembered another top moment for me. I was running around on one of those 'He might be officer stuff' courses that my boss got me onto. I used to like that sort of thing bizzarely enough. I had to lead a bunch of guys across Exmoor with some captured radar kit (a food box...) to rendevous with a Puma at a precise time at the top of a hill while avoiding capture by people who were of the capturing ilk. I did all the right stuff in the right order and as we hobbled and limped up to the top of this hill my heart was sinking by the moment as there was no sign of Puma shaped things, when...just like a scene from a war film this gorgeous bloody Puma appeared right on the dot from the other side of the hill and landed about 50 ft in front of me. We were bang on time and so was he. Absolute buzz city. Then he flew NOTE back to Bideford and dropped us off. Glowed for days after that.

Incidentally on the same course I did a beach assault from a landing craft (proper big job with the door that goes splash) and bearing in mind I was ultra fit and wearing only a light pack and carrying an SLR I was absolutely knackered by the time I got to the beach. I understand now how those poor buggers in Normandy drowned by the bus load.

Not so unusual on an OCU with a 'Staff' Nav in the back :) ?

It's a toss up.

First solo or beating a lot of very stiff competition to the Stn Cdr's daughter (no pun intended!). Being told I would never be a Fighter Controller comes in at a pretty close third!

Oh and MPN11, I wouldn't worry too much about your scroll, the signatures on mine weren't even signed in ink, merely printed on a pretty rubbish 90s printer.

I guess having my pilots brevet pinned on my No 1 at 2 FTS RAF Syerston in early 1964.

ACW

After 8 years in a ground job - the award of a brevet was the day for me. Ive had the FJ rides, saved lives, and had a crap day at Lockerbie, but a flying badge is for life. Or at least for the 125 working days I have left to do. Walking out of the gate at that time may not rank anywhere near the 'best', but it will be special - after 37 years.

My flying buddy finished today. Flight Eng, 11,000 hours, lifer, no probs. They can't take away memories. And he pretends that he can fly light aircraft as well which is hilarious....:):). Seriously best of luck to the big G. But your landings are still ****...:}

You will love it TM - Mr is the best rank in the Air Force - whether Civvy or W/O :)

To digress slightly from the pointy side, I did a trip out to California as a GE, mid GW1. I had never been anywhere near LA before (and was unlikely to again). Our task was to pick up some new variant Sidewinders as I remember. On arrival the Flight Eng gave me a few snags, but we had a 16 hour ground time and I thought around 4 hours should see me at the hotel. When the crew turned up to fly the next morning, I had just completed my tour of the base, trying to find the correct bleed air clamp to replace the broken one on our aircraft. Having fitted it, the Eng did the GTC run so that I could leak check the joint. In the process a huge wasp like thing decided to bite my arm. Moving on, we landed at Offutt AFB for a refuel en route to Gander. I awake from a slumber in my hammock with an arm looking like "the hulk" and being very "non compus mentis". The Nav took me to the flight surgeon who promptly grounded me. Now we come to a best moment in the military. The Captain spoke to Fatcock (ATFOC) and suggested leaving me at Offutt, there was bound to be a passing GE available at Gander, or the Flight Eng could do the flight servicing and refuel. Fatcock said no, stay with your GE, 24 hour delay we will instruct you further.

For once I took no part in the delights of night stopping "downtown USA" according to the crew, having sampled it, Offutt was the pits anyway (respects to ex V bomber crews). Next day the Flight Surgeon said I was clear to travel as a passenger ('twas ever thus) and we awaited orders. Flag Goose bay for Lyneham, was the plan from the heroes of Fatcock which put us back around 10 hours behind the original ETA. Now, why is this my best moment in the military ? On arrival back at Lyneham, we all went to the Bowl and had a few beers, I was very happy to buy the guys a beer for managing to hang on for me, waiting for the next ride home could have been purgatory. The lads though pointed out that I had done a none stop 34 hour work stint leading up to take off from Travis AFB. They felt I had done a good job, and that to me was a serious compliment from professional people who themselves took the rough with the smooth. To top it off they had a tee shirt printed up "I went to LA and never got there", a laugh for all involved. Sorry if it sounds sentimental, I have a great affection for my time as a GE which encompassed around a quarter of my service career.

Smudge:ok:

My best moments...

Winning the Sassoon Flying Award as a Halton Brat :)
Canberra T4 trip with 'Dusty' the 'trapper' on 231ocu
Lancaster ride (BA posn) with Jacko (Abingdon - 3 displays - coningsby)
Many engineering challenges over the last 40 odd years - been a civvy for 31 years and still working on RAF jets : )

Difficult to decide on a 'best'.
Going forward to observe an advance under a creeping barrage. As the HE shells from our regiment warbled overhead we looked forward and down upon the PBI crawling under live tracer fire from fixed MG positions. "Sod that!" I thought, and resolved never to become directly involved with infantry warfare.

Being given a little JP4 to play with. Trying, and failing, to perform an outside square loop. Stall turns ('Avalanches' for the Europeans). Generally chucking an indestructible little jet around the sky.

Social events various :E

I then went on to transport support and then electronic Argosies which was interesting but not stunningly amusing.

Final vote has to be playing with the little jet. No-one but a mil student pilot gets a go at that - totally FOC. Thank you Kruschev, Kennedy and the British taxpayer :ok:


Edit to mention a Yorkshire friend and colleague's reply when his flight commander asked what he was going to do when he left the RAF: "Cartwheels, up the A1!" :}
(I know you're reading this ;) )

. . . Best moment? . . . walking away from the vectored thrust thing for the final time after 19 years of Shennigans, looking over my shoulder and thinking, "thank f*ck I did it kill myself in that".

In no particular order

Being awarded my wings
Having a pair of F4s flying same way, same day with my Chinook
Carrying USL to and from MV St Brandon
Flood relief
Snow relief
Doing the Cresta Run in the Falklands...you need to be helicopter aircrew of a certain vintage to appreciate that one
Getting a guided tour of Babylon by Saddam Hussein's archeologist
3 years on exchange
Flying along the beaches of the Côte d'Azur at 50'
Any mountain flying
Flying in dreadful weather
Carrying loads that were heavier than my aircraft
Fighter affiliation....or whatever it's called these days
Flying 3 heads of state, a PM and a 5* in the back of my cab
Flying in Afghanistan
Preventing studes from being chopped by giving them some instruction instead of just assessing them
Coming close, but never actually having a major incident
Working with some of the best people I could ever have hoped to meet

To be honest scores more will come to mind once I press send....no question, SH aircrew has been the place to be for the last 30 years (and if you were very lucky you got to fly the best SH platform of them all...by a country mile!!!)

Yes one of the good things about being made repugnant from Hawker Squiddeley was that after doing 11 years penance on the effing things...I managed to avoid working on them ever again :)

Longeron..........was that the recently deceased ken Jackson........he sent me solo from sherburn flying club. What a giant of an aviator.......scary........but a giant nonetheless!

Sorry about the thread drift.:ok:

Yes I believe he was Ken (KR) Jackson...he was ok with me :) - but then again he was an ex brat as well ; ).
He certainly gave the young Nav a hard time during my 2.20 hrs of 4 merlin bliss...it was a chance in a million thanks to a weather diversion and spare seat due to dropping off a techie somewhere else...and I certainly was not about to let it go :)

rgds LR

Being half of the FAC team that won the FAC phase of "Bulls Eye 69" in Denmark, beating the other NATO teams (including the Danish FAC who set fire to his own truck). Have still got the cigarette lighter that was my "prize".
Thanks to FltLt Peter Maillard who did most of the work.
High spot was having General Darling (yes, that was his name) appear on the hillside in his British Warm and complementing us on going tactical, unaware that the only reason we had gone on foot was that our Land Rover was bogged down a couple of miles back

Oddly enough not any of the flying I did,

My lasting memories are of Brize Norton LSS night shifts, looking out over the Tens majestically protruding out from the early morning mist, those still quiet mornings, a chill in the air, dew on the ground and gin clear blue skies as dawn comes up and the station appeared to start to come alive with the sound of a Houchin starting in the distance.....

Perfection..

LR.........you must read his books in that case. I remember the evening he sent me solo......I always found him slightly intimidating. I remember asking him if he'd mixed it up with the Luftwaffe in ww2........his answer is unprintable! Like I said........he was a giant of an aviator.

Best

MD

My most memorable occured 23 years AFTER leaving. Leuchars Airshow 2006. Was on the Enthusiasts package, and on the Saturday morning before flying display, we had the bimble round the flyers. After doing the Mig, Typhoon etc. I walked over to the Lancaster.

Bomb bay doors were open and I stood alone with my thoughts in the bomb bay.

I t may seem stupid to some. But to me it was an amazing privelige to be able to do that. :O:O

Slightly scared to post here, but the OP was connected to the ATC so...

As a young spacer keen to join up properly (and destined to be turned down by the medics) I attended a summer camp at Wittering.

Highlights that I remember were visiting Holbeach and watched a Jag and some A10's on the range and also back seating in a Chipmunk out of Cambridge.

My previous experiences with Chipmunks (Filton) had always been in poor weather, so the good conditions on that day really made it stand out. After letting me fumble with the stick the pilot asked if I'd like to try some aerobatics...

As mentioned earlier, fairground rides were always tame after that.

I was on the OCU for Middy Hopper's last flight: told to go out the Line Hut and go see him in. As I walked out the back door there was a Mighty 'Toom about head height, flying along the taxi way at about walking pace, wheels up but in full BLC. Then as it got to the entrance to the ASP (it's not a PAN!) revved up and shot off !!

Not my Greatest RAF Moment but one I remember !

regards
Howie

Passing out at the Towers


First solo in the Gnat


In the front seat of same jet when B.b T....r practised his Wright Jubilee sequence "not below 200ft"


Flying the Canberra


(Worst- when the medics grounded me - by a country mile)

Gaining the authority to write my own, or at the very least massage existing, training route itineraries.

Many, many nights in Memphis ensued over the next 2 years.

That and the even more frequent occurrences when a 'plane went t*ts up Stateside.

Surplus

That will be completely lost on the vast majority here, although even better when 20 minutes earlier you were contemplating a Charlie buoy.

YS:ok:

I find many visually stunning moments coming back to me after 30 years, which I never had the time to appreciate when they happened - Seeing the Northern Lights from 40,000ft in a fighter cockpit, etc - but I have perfect recall now, and can enjoy them without the workload of operating the jet.

The best was probably leading a 4-ship LL escort when we came across a 4-ship of phantoms who were not part of our exercise, but had a go at us anyway. It was about 10 seconds into this low level fur-ball that I suddenly realised I knew what the f#ck I was doing - that all the years and years of exhausting training had worked. An epiphany.

That, and winning my first solo ACM 5-0. Wo-hoo!

No contest, watching the first Black Buck launch on Ascension. The middle of the night, the noise, the lights, the dust and the general pandemonium. 2 Vulcans and multiple Victors one after the other, absolutely breathtaking.

The second was parading on Churchill's funeral, tried my hardest to get out of it, but after the event wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Oh, and 12 months on an 18-30s holiday at Goose Bay wasn't too bad either !

Best moments from 31 years:

Successfully passing out from Halton despite the instructors who thought I did not have a snowballs chance in hell of successfully completing the two years training.

Working on the Vulcan for two years on the 230 OCU at Scampton.
Many weekend flights and having a go flying Chipmunks doing aerobatics that apparently they could not do with the Air cadets while working on the NMSU at RAF Kinloss.

Then the first flight in a Nimrod MR1 just out of a major servicing (aircrew and my mates thought I was nuts to want to fly in an aircraft that we had just serviced), had another that turned a bit frightening when the windscreen cracked and had to return to the galley seat and strap in as we fell out of the sky rapidly but in a controlled fashion.

All the Jet Provost flights I had while at RAF Cranwell, even being allowed to carry out a practice engine flame out approach to a field.

Low Level experience flight in Vulcan as groundcrew who was attempting to become an AEO.

My time on 18 Sqn at RAF Gutersloh and most of the flying/rotortuning flights in Germany, Falklands, Ireland especially picking up a Wessex from an army base, gulf War 91 and the Turkey relief operation amazing views from the back of the ramp as you flew over the edge of the mountain and the ground just dropped away under you, then hovering while throwing supplies to the people who needed it.

Flight down to Ascension, then on to the Falklands spent most of the time in the flight deck, with the best moment being the approach and landing in the falklands.

Flight in the last Hunter at RAF Honington, with the pilot asking had I flown in a fast jet before, to which I answered yes Jet Provost, it was a while before he stopped laughing and asked me since when had JP pilots worn anti G suits.

Three promotions and my time running the Hydraulic & Tyre Bay at RAF Cottesmore under TTTE before it went Harriers and I left the RAF.

Missed opportunities:

Trip in a Lightning when at RAF Luqa, trip in an F16, trip in the Lancaster when it completed its major at St Athan, 16 years of not getting a flight in any mark of Tornado.

Difficult to pick a single one: landing a Puma in an almost empty Patrol Base during a major riot, with petrol bombs sailing over the fence towards me and seeing the metal fence sheeting 10 feet in front of my rotors being peeled away by the friendly chaps outside desperately trying to get in. Or.....seeing the smoke from the reds come on as they opened the 2012 Olympics, as we carried out a role never done before by UK RW.

However, my favourite memory is of a single moment within a tri-service smorgasbord of 7 helicopters all flat out (for a helicopter :E) at 50' in a loose gaggle as we approached a choke point in a wood line over a ridge. As one and without a word said we all seamlessly slid into line astern and thundered through the gap in the woods, which was full of sightseers, my very own (almost! :8) Apocalypse Now moment.

Skinny dipping at Fort Walton Beach one July evening with the lovely Victoria who I'd met the weekend before in the wonderfully named Daddy's Money night club.

Running up and down the Brecons for four months seemed worth it :cool:

As with many posters here I have numerous 'best moments'... forgotten the worst ones!
Passing out as a J.Tech after a year long course, which started with 18 guys and finished with 4! The chop rate was severe, to say the least.
My first flight, in a Meteor NF 11, at Sylt.
Gazing in amazement at the food on offer at Goose Bay ('''two or three eggs on your steak?'')
Lying in the nose of a Canberra, flying over the Niagara Falls.
Arriving back home in Cyprus, to my wife and young children, after a three month Det in Singapore.
Sitting on the flight deck of a Brit as we landed at Kia Tak. Again on the flight deck, as we approached Kathmandu.
Handing out warm clothing, shoes and other goodies,(which we'd clubbed together and bought in Hong Kong,) to the little urchins that hung around the airport.

The best bits were the Jaguar back seat trips on 226 behind Lightning Mate and others who may frequent this forum. The ultimate was being asked if I wanted a back seat in a clean wing Jag but it might be "rough". Up to 8000 feet and 2 practice displays proved he was right. My reward for not revisiting my breakfast was being allowed to fly the curcuits we then did and his plaintiff cry of "your supposed to aim at the concrete and not the Rwy Caravan, useless, useless!" Live with me like it was yesterday. They also taught me I would never have made it as a FJ demi god.

Skeleton, I sympathise. I also had a backseat trip in a "clean Jag" which was painful for different reasons.

It was a post-major airtest with the test pilot being the only FJ pilot on the station. Only one pair of anti-g trousers available and the test pilot insisted in wearing them ;) I can only remember parts of the 6g turns performed as part of the airtest. I was also flying with blocked sinuses but hadn't declared it because I had waited years for the chance of the flight. The subsequent depressurisation at FL200 was excruciating. Wouldn't have missed it for anything though :ok:

I am suprised that I am only the 3rd to say having my pilot's brevet pinned on - this was the start of a great 16 yrs.

Best route; a recce for HMY Britannia:

Benson
Prestwick
Reykjavik
Sonderstrom
Goose Bay
Boston
Dulles
Nassau
St Kitts
Antigua
Dominica
St Lucia
St Vincent
Barbados
Grenada
Trinidad
Tobago
Trinidad
South Caicos
Grand Turk
Bermuda
Quebec
Goose Bay
Sonderstrom
Reykjavik
Benson

We did't rush it took 21 days :cool:

Three others in the "nostalgia and homage " box


Ushering at the BoB Service at Westminster Abbey


Helping organise the Pathfinders 50th Anniversary bash at Wyton and sitting next to Ken Batchelor at the dinner in St John's College


Being the RAF representative when Hamish Mahaddie unveiled the Pathfinder Memorial in Warboys Church

Vendee that sounds like fun, I did have a back seat wearing the afore mentioned g trousers only to realise as we reefed into the first turn the oxygen wasn't on, cue much merriment from my driver amid my desperate pleas on how to switch it on. The switch as I remember was down the side of the seat somewhere. Convinced to this day the intervening turns were not needed lol.

Fox 3
 

Vertical twin jet perchance?

Vendee, Skeleten, my back seater in a Jag was after a JT armourer and we only had one spare G suit, as he climbed down and handed it to me he said it had scared him sh*tlesd and the G suit was soaking with his cold clammy sweat..
I strapped it on...urgh


.

Being told by my AE Leader that i had been successful in tunnelling out of Kinloss to start pilot training...many fabulous memories ensued.