Your best moment in the military.
 

So what was your best moment during your service career and did it lead to anything else?

OK for me I can only recount events from a spell as an adult instructor with the cadets. But thats still service life to a degree.

For me with just a few annual camps and courses under my belt it was a flight in a Chipmunk at Wattisham just as their had changed over to the F-4. The pilot was an F-4 pilot who wanted to tried a four leaf clover, something he was unable to do with a cadet in the back but asked me if I would not mind. Silly question and so we tried, and tried, and tried just not quite grabbing the last stall turn as it should have been. I was happy as Larry in the back. Give the lad credit, after each try he asked if I was OK.

So if you flew WG308 on the 27th July 76. Thanks for a fun ride. :ok:

First solo in a single seat Lightning!

Briefed on what to do which included depart Colt, med level turns, climb to 36000 feet, more turns left and right, descent to Colt for GCA, overshoot for practice diversion to Marham, overshoot and return to Colt visual circuit to land! Forty eight minutes of fun!

Must admit I felt I was sitting on the fin until after the first overshoot! Caught up with the aeroplane halfway to Marham! Fairground rides were never the same after that!

Oh and much better than sex!:ok:

Her name was Sarah. ;)

I tricked the System into sending me back to Vietnam for a second tour (that in itself was a great story....watching the system work against its own self)...to discover I had to do all sorts of silly assed stuff to become POR (Primary Overseas Replacement) qualified....Counter Ambush training, Patrolling, Ambush Techniques, Rifle Qual, Pistol Qual, CBR Qual, and on and on and on.....not with standing it had been less than six months since returning from.....Overseas in a Chinook Helicopter Unit.

Never you mind that 90% of the POR Check List had absolutely nothing to do with an Aviator but was focused upon the Infantry Replacement.

As I am coming out of the POR Office having tried to plea my Case....to absolutely no avail....muttering all those nice kind words Army Warrant Officer Helicopter Pilots were known to use....a young Enlisted guy approaches me and renders a greeting...."Hey Mr. Sasless! How you doing today?"

Me being at a real disadvantage as I did not recognize him.....he explained he had been in a Chinook Unit with me very early in my first tour. Upon catching up on our paths to the chance meeting....he asked what I was doing at POR. I told him the entire story.

He smiled....said "No Problem, GI! Come on in with me....I work here.". A cup of Coffee and Twenty Minutes.....I exited with my POR Checklist signed off as complete and ready for Transport to my next Duty Station.

Proves if you are nice to your Seniors.....and especially your Juniors....it shall be rewarded.

Those Bonds you forge in Combat are special....even when it is only a very distant relationship you have.

Seeing old friends from those days.....is always a good thing.....no matter when or where!

Never got a ride in an FJ, was lined up for a run in a Canberra from Wyton but it suffered a bird strike on the sortie before and as it had entered the wing through the leading edge that cancelled my fun run. :{

I have flown some rather tasty aeroplanes..from Hunter to F4, Chippy to VC10. I think my best moment was getting airborne from Vancover in a VC10 in awful weather, then breaking out into a crystal blue sky at a mere 1000 ft AGL to see the entire snow capped mountain range laid before me in brilliant sunshine.

Probably my best fun sorties were the weather check in a Hawk from Chivenor with the entire Welsh low level flying area all mine (well apart from the Brawdy weather check) Were we naughty???

Good point Sasless about being nice.

In the cadets only came across one a-hole of an officer, a Flt Lt, at one time my squadron CO, who was more interested in himself and what he could get for himself rather than help the cadets. I left the cadets because this idiot was forever having a go at me for not attending every single parade. He just could not get his head round the fact that working shifts meant I was not able to do that.

Few months after I left I got a visit from some RAFP lads from Rudlow Manor. Appears he had some stuff nicked from a car following a breach of security and they wanted to know what he was like to work with etc. Think he might have tried to drag a couple of us down with him.

sharpend,

Were you ever on Harriers and were you the sod that flew over my car while I was resting in a layby near Holbeach range where you had just departed L/L?

Cos that sounds very likely your next posting. :E

yep I did wake up very quickly, afterwards taught me not to rest in laybys near airfields, ranges and the like.

Two.
18:00 7.12.64; signed on to start officer and pilot training, just short of 18
23:59 31.12.76; became a civilian again, just past 30.

Some serious good times in between, but it's a young man's life.

Flying a C130 down a chunk of Grand Canyon on the way to Red Flag (trash hauling not participating).

A very memorable moment was being picked up to go on exercise.

My very own Puma. All I had to do was stand out on the apron at Upavon with my gear and wait for the Puma. Landed on, picked me up and off we went. Just the crew and I.

It might not seem much, but it was a hell of a good way to get to Otterburn from Wiltshire vs Landrover. There I was, a 22yr old lancejack. Important enough to the exercise to have a heli pick me up. Very memorable.

Then there were the night medevacs. C130 into Lyneham with casualty, Puma from there to Woolwich, where we (MAOTs) would be waiting to marshal the Puma in. Not a particularly spectacular job, but I felt part of the team bringing some poor soul to get urgent treatment, knowing that one day it might be me. It never was, thank the Lord.

Many years of working in ATC, but highlighted by working in sqn ops for 16 during the Bucc days.
Finishing that tour with a trip in a T7 on a glorious sunny day with no north German haze and "doing" the Dams trips. In the days when 250ft areas were normal, gliding across from the Moehne to the Eder tentatively holding the stick whilst the map was being scrutinised by **** made me concentrate! No impression of speed but highly impressed at the thought that crews could fly, fight and navigate at this and lower heights just filled me with pride and admiration.
Numerous other flights in fixed and rotary were completed over the years, but that one was memorable. But then, 16 were the dogs wotsits!

It was Saturday and I was SDO at Leuchars.


Shortly after 1600 I happened to be in the guardroom talking to the Orderly Sgt when I noticed that there was a really stunning brunette asking questions of the Orderly Cpl at the guardroom window.


I gently moved over and said "Not to worry Cpl - I'll deal with this".


About 8 weeks later I married her.


Rgds SOS

sharpend wrote:Probably one of my best fun sorties was as wingman of a 2-ship low level tactical formation trip in a Hawk from Chivenor, with the entire South West England low level flying area all ours. And the leader? One Flt Lt sharpend.....:ok:

Hunter GT6 first solo was also pretty good!

Who says romance is dead!

I hope you are still together.

the best moment I ever had in the military, absolutely the very best moment, was walking out into the sunshine and getting into my car to drive away as a civilian again after 6 years of absolute bloody crap.

the military :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: are tossers.

And yet you choose to read and post on a military aircrew forum....:ugh:

My best moment? Too many to mention.
One that sticks out and is vaguely related to flying: returning from a night rescue on Seakings in the highlands and seeing the aurora borealis on NVGs. pretty impressive.

Sun.

Edited to add:

I also met my wife in the military (24 years ago). I threw peanuts at her in the NAAFI. She likes peanuts.;)

Sun.

Typical bl@@dy officer. :*

Wow........bit of a sweeping statement!

I can't compete with you guys, but for what it's worth.........for me it was exercise Lionheart/Spearpoint back in '84. I was a driver in the RCT/TA.....despite my lowly position, I've never forgotten the buzz I got from that. From picking my Bedford TM up in Minden........speeding through red traffic lights (with German police on duty at the lights of course), to being scrimmed up in forests and hearing the Jags and Tornado's screaming overhead. For a 20 year old office worker it was a total blast. I actually felt as though I'd made a miniscule contribution. I can only imagine the fun you guys had in Germany in the '80's........and before anyone says anything, yes, I know it was a deadly serious business, but they just felt like great times! :ok:

Cracking thread gents btw! :ok:

Best tour was instructing at Cosford; besides being a surprisingly interesting job I also learned to fly there which has kept me in poverty ever since. Best actual moments were two: flying over the Alps on a clear, full moon night in the jump seat of an E3 and just after I left the mob, grinning from ear to ear because I'd checked the ATM outside Sainsburys and my lump sum had gone in.

Receiving a document containing some very wonderful words ...

dubbleyew eight

On a military thread that's a very crass and insulting statement to make

With that attitude, the military were probably glad to see the back of you too!

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Had some very good moments but the first best one was going to Nellis in '59 as a techie on 617 sqdn. First time the Vulcan had been displayed in the States and they were mightily over awed by it. Lincoln City never seemed the same after Las Vegas!

Evanelpus
 

Sadly we're not together in that sense. She went out with some friends, slipped, fell into the Tay and drowned shortly after we were married.


But we are still together in every other sense. Even 30 years later.


Rgds SOS

Are we talking about the very best 'feel good' factor here, in which case I could relate one or two but at the very top of the list would be the night I attended a RTA involving three people known to me personally, two of whom were pilots, and one of whom and his passenger didn't survive.The other was removed from the wreck and transported to the nearest hospital. An hour or two later and still in the early hours , I was out running and the OC of that squadron pulled up alongside and 'invited' me to join him to visit the hospital. It appeared they needed my relatively rare blood for a donation to the chap I had helped remove.He survived, and some six months later I wandered into the Mess and he spotted me and came over: "I believe I owe you a pint" he said! He later returned to University and qualified as a Doctor, and specialised in aviation medicine for many years. Feel good? You betcha! This happened to me twice by the way, and somewher in Oz there is a soldier who doesn't know how lucky he was that I was the only B.Neg donor within hundreds of miles.

1st solo (nav, not pilot) in the back - Middy Hopper.

Got gen + bus-tie. Buggah.

Comp A into Dusseldorf in a late-evening snow-storm.

Other contenders would be each first 'solo' solo; TX3, Chipmunk, Gazelle, Lynx...

I'll add some highlights which said something about being provisionally selected for promotion, blah blah :cool:

Clicker,

No i was never on Harriers, but your lay-by story brings back memories. Many years ago, when on QRA at Wildenrath, we heard over the radio a Mayday from a F104 German Starfighter. Apparantly, flown by a very young German Sgt pilot who was rapidly running out of fuel.

He was offered the westerly runway but said he would not make it (he was IMC). We watched as he touched down at about 300 kts halfway up the runway and the barrier did not even flinch as his pointy jet went straight through it. After about a mile he flew over a lay-by at about 1 metre and then punched out. In the lay by was a courting couple! I think the earth moved for them.

The sequel to the story is that the young NCO pilot was taken to the Officers' Mess for sustenance, but the aircrew who took him there all got a major b*llocking by a representative from Handbrake House for taking a NCO to the Officers Mess'

Typical!

But was that event the pilot's best military moment or maybe the best moment for the couple?

Yes, still catch myself looking at that from time to time and thinking hey you did alright fella". In a similar vein the blue letter from the AVM at Innsworth, thanking me on behalf of our sovereign - well chuffed with that too and what a way to round of a fantastic period of one's life.

Steeping out of a Herc on the runway at Freetown Sierra Leonne, thinking bloody hell I'm part of something important here - then being scared as hell and praying that I didn't screw anything up. Do it all again in a heartbeat.

Are you implying that you are Midshipman Hopper (who was a nav and therefore unlikely to be flying an F4 with another nav) or were you the pilot with Middy giving you a workout?

Yup! Still have my original parchment, suitably framed and hanging in the Hall so that anyone visiting must see it!:ok:

Helping the skipper get it into Bastion in 200 metres vis, with a critically ill little afghan girl in the boot who desperately needed an MRI. Never saw what teamwork, professionalism and pure skill could properly achieve before that night.

104 at Wildenrath
 

Sharpend, re the 104 guess can confirm, I was stood on 60 Sqd pan when said 104 did its "fly by" down the runway, after young lad had banged out & landed I remember it took some time to catch him as he was running round the field just past the threshold shouting "Martin Baker, Martin Baker" at the top of his lungs, high as a kite on adrenaline, first man on the scene was Wg Cmdr Barnicote who had bundled him in the back of his Ferrari (330GTC 4 seater) to take him to SHQ, I for my sins of being quickly on the scene was to get lumbered for crash guard, said 104 had gone through barrier, through threshold fence, approach lights, over the road into a field, this down the Peterscholz end of the airfield, anyone any piccies ?, PH.

Best Days
 

Well----in no particular order--Lunch with the Queen at Marham --working with some amazing people like David Henderson(CO)-Chris Lampard (OC Eng)----the SD 814 Armourers ----The Korean war commeration service at Westmister Abbey with a Pretty ( and very smart) supply Officer by the name of Tracey Wilson---Back seat in a Hawk flown by Al Young-----and just so many very good professional staff of all ranks and ages who would do their best and just very very good to work with!!!!---And Of course Summer Balls

Must admit one of my teenage dreams was a low level flight through the welsh hills.

Thanks for the stories, it's excellent to see who many get a buzz from doing something to help others in need.

My main work before I retired was a police comms civvie and like others have recounted the knowledge that some thing had gone well and saved a life created a buzz you could never describe to anyone who didn't take part, either at the scene or remotely like I was.

Oh and when I started this thread I did wonder if a "leaving the service, whopee" would appear. Can't have put enough effort in to enjoy the chosen path. (or was it national service?).

Our parchments hang in the Study, but HM's rubber stamp signature on mine has faded into oblivion, which is annoying. The OH's survives, 'cos she's a bit younger than me. But they have never been 'exposed' to sunlight - a quiet corner of the Study has always been their home.

You would have thought that the ink used would be 'life-proof', like Registrar's/Coroner's ink. Poor show, Your Majesty or appropriate Lackey. I shall never vote for you again ;)

Sorry; badly written. Middy was my nav on my first solo and we suffered the L gen + bus tie.

I deserve a medal but got a kick in the slats instead for frightening him.

Top chap Mid. My lasting picture of him is reclining on his sofa with dressing gown, socks and slippers on with the permanent Dunhill hanging from his lips. They don't make them like that anymore.

"Solo" with a "Nav".....only the RAF could up with such a concept!:uhoh:

No stick no vote.