Cheap Watches
 

Just to be clear Boogie street cheep (yes that is the correct spelling):O or Changi Stores cheap?

Never brought a watch in Boogie street until it had been subjected to immersion in a pint of tiger till you finished said pint and checked the cockroach had not drowned:}

CR

Yes. :ok:

I'd like to be able to buy them today.

When you were young and fit !!
 

Remembering jumping out of bed pulling on your flying suit and being ready to take off in three minutes.

Not like today when you crawl out of bed catch your big toe in your yfronts and go arse over head !!

True story. 2004, flying a 737 charter into Akrotiri. Young lady controller asks if I am familiar with Akrotiri. "Not since 1975". Long silence... not surprising, since it was probably before the lady was even born.

Getting back to Fulton Block on Saturday morning after 24 + hrs in sick quarters curtesy of Doc 'arold after your 1st ever night on the p*ss and finding you still have a ten bob note and some change in your pocket out of 30 bob.

When apretty young lady smiles as she passes and you just know your fly is undone....again!

"All men would live long" (La Rochefoucald) "but none would be old".
 

.....when you come across that little copper plate that was used to emboss your Cards........

Thanks Danny, I had forgotten about that

Tiger Moth @ £4. 10s an hour at Fairoaks Aero Club.

Now £177 ph at Cambridge...

Just to be clear Boogie street cheep (yes that is the correct spelling):O or Changi Stores cheap?

Never brought a watch in Boogie street until it had been subjected to immersion in a pint of tiger till you finished said pint and checked the cockroach had not

Hmmm' When I was there it was called Bogis Street !

£4.00 p.h. solo, £4 10 shillngs dual at Redhill on Magisters, must have been about the same time.

The Good Old Days.
 

......£3 an hour (instruction inc) in a Gypsy Moth when I were a lad....

(not really feasible on my thirty bob a week. Actually, £3 would be a good week's wage for a man in those days; today's equivalent would be £530, so the Cambridge £177 is a steal !)

As long as the wings stay on.

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/20140321UKADG20140001E.pdf

Ah best beloved, you must be one of the newer (younger :() fellows.

To be really old (comme moi) you have to remember the 2 figure codes, so BBK was Red 85, Stan Jello was Green 10 etc.

The ones ending in 0 were (active or disused) airfields, while 01 was the HQ, so originally ALDZ was Violet 10, not to be confused with HQNI which was Violet 01.

Yes - of course it was confused, and with those two LSs in particular, it meant that a number of VIPs had their aircraft (never RAF - Scouts' Honour ;);)) waiting at the wrong place. So firstly V10 becomes V81, and then the proliferation of LSs there (again, a background of VVIP cock-ups), led to the third digit there and for neatness, everywhere else. (Mostly with just a 0 at the end.)

History lesson over, class dismissed ......:ok:

You know you're getting old when Squadron Leaders appear young on TV interviews. I suppose the meaning of "senior" NCO takes on a whole new meaning.

Smudge:ok:

Just for the youngsters.....and it was Bugis Street.

1950s-1980s


After World War II, hawkers gathered there to sell food and goods. There was initially also a small number of outdoor bars set up beside rat-infested drains.

When transvestites began to rendezvous in the area in the 1950s, they attracted increasing numbers of Western tourists who came for the booze, the food, the pasar malam shopping and the "girls". Business boomed and Bugis Street became an extremely lively and bustling area, forming the heart of Xiao Po. It was one of Singapore's most famous tourist meccas from the 1950s to the 1980s, renowned internationally for its nightly parade of flamboyantly-dressed transwomen and attracted hordes of Caucasian gawkers who had never before witnessed Asian queens in full regalia.

The latter would tease, cajole and sit on visitors' laps or pose for photographs for a fee.

Others would sashay up and down the street looking to hook half-drunk sailors, American GIs and other foreigners on R&R, for an hour of profitable intimacy. Not only would these clients get the thrill of sex with an exotic oriental, there would be the added spice of transgressing gender boundaries in a seamy hovel.

There was an adage amongst Westerners that one could easily tell who was a real female and who was not - the transvestites were drop-dead gorgeous, while the rest were real women. The amount of revenue that the transwomen of Bugis Street raked in was considerable, providing a booster shot in the arm for the tourism industry. Some Americans referred to it as "Boogie Street" in the wake of the 1970s disco craze.

Veterans recall that the notorious drinking section began from Victoria Street west to Queen Street. Halfway between Victoria and Queen Streets, there was an intersecting lane parallel to the main roads, also lined with al fresco bars. There was a well-patronised public toilet with a flat roof of which there are archival photos, complete with jubilant rooftop transwomen.

One of the "hallowed traditions" bestowed upon the area by sojourning sailors (usually from Britain, Australia and New Zealand), was the ritualistic "Dance Of The Flaming Arseholes" on top of the infamous toilet's roof. Compatriots on the ground would chant the signature "Haul 'em down you Zulu Warrior" song whilst the matelots performed their act.

Over the years this became almost a mandatory exercise and although it may seem to many to be a gross act of indecency, it was generally well received by the sometimes up to hundreds of tourists and locals. The Kai Tais or Beanie Boys, as the transwomen were referred to by Anglophone white visitors, certainly did not mind either. By the mid-70s Singapore started a crackdown on this type of lewd behaviour and sailors were arrested at gunpoint by the local authorities for upholding the tradition. By this time those sailors brave enough to try it were dealt with severely and even shipped home in disgrace. Though many locals accepted this part of Singaporean culture, many conservative Singaporeans felt that it was a disgrace and it defaced Singapore's image.

You know you're getting old when you remember....
 

1. Strait Street, Valletta, was known by a very different name to all servicemen!

2. When there more aerodromes on the left side of the 411H than on the right.....

3. You didn't even need to show your ID when driving onto nuclear bomber stations.

4. You could park outside the squadron without everyone assuming you were a terrorist.

5. If you weren't flying, the squadron closed for lunch and all officer aircrew spent an hour or so in the OM bar.

6. You could drive across the UK and guarantee seeing low flying military aeroplanes.

Khormaksar watch 1966, still going strong......as long as I wind it up every couple of days.

You know you are old when the cadet you taught to fly retires with the rank of Air Marshal. And you are still working as a flying instructor....

Last week it was spelt 'Bugis Street'... but it ain't what it was... ;)

G-AOAC ... and 'Wingco' Arthur (certifying your logbook as 'Royal Aero Club No. 100') was your instructor.
:ok:

I still have my slides of the transvestites of Bugis Street.
my mates have been in raptures at the beauty of the "women" and not one has believed me when I said they were men.

might scan a few.....

True story re. Bugis St. from the '60's.
Mrs G and I were spending the evening in Bugis St with friends. The six of us were sitting at a table enjoying the sights and sounds (Mrs G peed off 'cos the 'ladies' had nicer dresses than hers!) when a dozen or so Aussie matelots sat down at the next table, ordered beers and commenced to banter, well laced with the usual profanities.
Mrs G turns to me and says ''tell those young chaps to stop swearing!''
Survival instinct kicked in and I declined. ''Right, if you don't I will'', she cries. And with that she stands up and says to the guys '' would you mind not swearing in front of ladies. It's very bad manners you know.''
They all looked at her dumbfounded then one chap says ''sorry luv no bloody offence meant, wot's yer name sweetheart?
Somewhat mollified she replies ''Kathy.''
To a man they all stand up and commence to sing 'I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen''. This reduces her to tears and she then insists I buy them a drink, which I do. They joined our table and a cracking night ensued!

When you can remember a time before the letters were added to service numbers !


Aaron

Letters in service numbers? What will they think of next? Probably Lance Corporals in the RAF Regiment !!!

Service numbers? Surely they are now Alpha-Numerics?

You know when you are old when the RAF was 43 years old when you joined and 94 years old when you left!

When you still have the issued Flying Clothing of :
Gauntlets, Flying, Left, Each 1 and
Gauntlets, Flying, Right, Each 1. One was produced in Scotland and the other in Northern Ireland and only became a pair at Station Level to reduce "leakage" in the Stores system.

When you can add: Andover,AstonDown,Booker,Bovington,Colerne,Dishforth,Duxford ,Elvington,
Horsham St Faith,Hullavington,Manston,Newton,Oakington,Ouston,Swanton Morley,Swinderby,Tangmere,Thorney Island & Upavon to previous lists.

But I cannot beat Lightning 5's Troopship to Singapore- I had to make do with a British Eagle Brittania with hosties in stockings and suspenders.

Letters in service numbers ?...Never 'eard of 'em...When did they come in ?:confused:

'Twas Bugis Street in 1964 and we had the Happy World for the mud wrestling!

I joined my UAS as an APO in August 1981 and had no letter in my Service Number. By late 1981 / early 1982 I had a letter suffix added to my Service Number. At the same time the Cadet Pilots had a letter prefix added to their Service Numbers.

I was told it was something to do with the Pay Computer.

The letters were only introduced as a 'check' on the numeric number and limit typos when PSF et alia input your number. Somewhere in FZ Towers I have the gorillarithm (algorithm) for it ... v. v. sad :8

Letter in my number,joined 1978.

I seem to recall that the "check " digit ( expressed as a letter) was first around in the early 70's at least- if not a bit before. IIRC it then went away as far as we were concerned and then came back again some years later.

I was a Boy Entrant at St Athan between Sep '63 and April '65.

At some point in that time (my memory isn't THAT good) we were lined up in a hangar and given a piece of paper with our new prefix letters.

I would guess late '64.

Certainly had a letter pre-fix for some time before I left, in 'Jan 74

When I rejoined in 1980 they gave me my old "Towers" 608+++ number and then or shortly after gave me the suffix letter. ISTR the letter was a "check digit" to confirm the numerals were correct

ISTR the 'cheek digit' was used mainly for Pay & Allowances purposes, thus ensuring the wrong person couldn't accidentally receive £0/3/6 due to someone else ;)

When I joined as a Flt Cdt in 1968, my allocated number was S802****. Then, when I was commissioned as an APO a year later for University, it changed to 802****S.

Ditto of course Beags, but wasn't the check digit in a bracket at one stage? eg
802****(E)
It all seemed pretty irrelevant to our minds at the time!

I understand that the 'check character' was added in 1965. When the RAF was 'computerising' its personel records.

I commenced my demob leave in Feb 65 and I was apparantly one of the last people not to have one :{

But at that date I entered the computer industry and soon learnt what a 'check character' was.

Check characters are added to long numbers, such as account numbers, part numbers and service numbers, to aid verification, and highlight keying errors when being entered into computers.

The same calculation that creates the check character is repeated as the number is keyed in, and the newly generated check character is compared to the keyed in check character. If this compare is unequal, it is assumed that the operator has made an error when keying.

At this point most programs ask the operator to re-enter the number.

This function was also built into dumb data entry machines such as card punches, that indicated check character anomilies in other ways.