Thanks Coff, I attempted to post a photo before I received your pearls of wisdom!
This picture was taken at the end of a long day trip to Norway. I was holding on 47 Squadron awaiting my OCU. Way too much excitement for a newbie, having to circle the airfield, with a low pass over the tower and then assist in tying down the undercarriage.

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Smuj, re favourite places.

A route that was always popular was the "Bucket of Sunshine" to Almagordo in New Mexico.
I cannot remember the name of the hotel in Albuquerque but they had a "happy cocktail hour", we got very happy, the cocktails were free and the hour always stretched to two. They also put free "snacks" on which was practically a complete buffet, no need for dinner. Follow that with a free full breakfast buffet in the morning and you went home with dollars in your pocket from unused allowances. :ok:

Alcazares48,
thank you for the compliment my cheque is in the post !
Do I remember your wedding ? Who could forget it. Bert was in his finest form
and despite the hiccups it was a day to remember !
Do I recall right that you were with the 'K' in or near San Francisco during an earthquake ?
Coffman has coached me to put up pics etc so if I can do it ..........
You are so right about logbook entries. Some I stare at with no recollection at all and otheres trigger a load of memories. So I call it my faithful friend and my memory without log book my fallible friend.

smudge,
your invitation for us to recall our best loved places visited in the 'K'
occupied several pleasant hours perusing my log books.
Malaysia is high up there mainly because when I was on the Group EU we used to do a two week annual inspection visit. We stayed in KL but I have to confess a little infidelity here. I used to prefer to sneak away to Labuan to fly with the Caribou squadron.
Langkawi I visited when we supported the Red Arrows trip to the middle and Far East. It was such a nice place I told my wife about it. Result was we went there for several holidays always via KL. In KL we usually put up at the Traders close to the park and the Twin Towers. The exec floor gave nice views and a two hour cocktail and snacks event every evening.
Then she discovered the Maldives and snorkelling, despite my protestation of 'HMQ used to pay me to go there'.

Port Stanley, Queens Birthday Fly Past 21st April 1988 We were lead aircraft "Sir Matt" driving.

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Pic taken at Simpang airfield KL is of the Nav and myself on one of our annual inspection visits to the RAMF.
Someone had to suffer with fortitude these 'field trips.

What a memory AA62!

October 17th 1989, we had just spent the night in Las Vegas but were eager to get to our ultimate destination which was Alameda Naval Air station. We had “lucked in” big time and were due to spend three full days in San Francisco; I had excitedly prepared my tourist research.

For some reason we had been delayed by air traffic at Nellis AFB for about two to three hours. As we got closer to our destination we heard lots of chatter over the airwaves and one priceless comment “Wow that was a Biggy, what do reckon it was on the Richter scale?” For some reason no one else on the crew seemed to pick up on the comment, so I suggested to the captain that we should check with Air Traffic to see if there had been a problem at our destination.

It turns out San Francisco had just experienced the strongest earthquake to hit the area since 1906; it caused more than 60 deaths, thousands of injuries, and widespread property damage. There was so much pandemonium that ATC had just forgotten to tell us that Alameda airfield's two runways and two taxiways were significantly damaged and inoperable. We diverted to Travis AFB, 50 miles to the north, and spent three days practically confined to our hotel watching TV.

It was even more of an aftershock, and a relief, to later discover that the route to our hotel in San Fran would have been along the ill-fated double-deck Nimitz highway and across the Oakland Bay Bridge, both the scene of many of the fatalities. Thank you air traffic.

Favourite spots
 

I have to admit that despite the earthquakes, bush fires and tornadoes my favourite places are in the USA.


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Dougie M:
I'm guessing from the photo that the one with the biggest bag (to your immediate right) is the Co (big imprest...) and the LM is the one to your immediate left? (No self-respecting LM would be seen carrying a bag, unless it was purpose made for golf clubs...)
That just leaves the Skipper and Eng...:cool:

Alcazares48 ... Well played that man :D:D:D:D

Crikey I didn't think it was such difficult and hard work in the transport fleet. Just think what fun we had (not) in the V Force!

ACW

In answer to an earlier query by Smuj.

7th October 1987, I was on the call out crew tasked to fly to Canada with spares to rescue an aircraft on an OCU trainer. This was the unfortunate incident of the life-raft that self-ejaculated from its stowage on the wing somewhere over the Gulf of St Lawrence forcing an emergency landing in Sept-Isles in Quebec Province.

As was SOP we handed our aircraft to the other crew who quickly departed, and then checked into our hotel to await the verdict of the technical experts as to how quickly they could fix the damage.
First problem: the GE informs the captain that instead of (say) 10 big bolts and 30 small bolts we have 10 small and 30 large, I cannot remember the exact number.

After a quick phone call back to base, we are told the correct bolts will arrive at Quebec airport and to jump in a taxi and go get.
Problem: Quebec was 650 kilometres away, Sept Isle is in the back of beyond where the paved road stops!
Problem: we needed a scissors truck or cherry picker, there were none available.
Problem: Thanksgiving in Canada is celebrated on the second Monday of October, it's a statutory holiday, and everything will be closed.
Problem: Sept-Îles has a borderline sub-arctic climate, despite being located at around only 50 degrees latitude nobody had come prepared with appropriate clothing.

As if things could not get any worse our allowances were not enough to cover three square meals a day and everyone spoke French. This meant if you wanted to keep warm and save money by staying in your room TV was in a foreign language. Believe it or not we longed to be in Gander.
The captain was lucky he hired a light aircraft to fly him to Quebec where he HAD to spend the night and then returned with the spares. The Co-pilot meanwhile was ringing round trying to pay over the odds to hire the appropriate ground equipment.
We escaped after 6 days!

Dougie,
in # 2768 is that the Volant Rodeo scoreboard you are posing in front with some of the umpires ?

Alcazares48,
I well remeber those 'RLF' trips to Kirtland and the ASCOT heaven of a hotel. I suspect their hospitality has contributed to our forgetting the name. Whilst you were shivering in Scet Isle my log book informs me that I went to Kirtland via Nellis and other places. Mind you all the other entries for that month seem to be Banner trips of one sort or another so perhaps I felt I had earned it !

Airlift Rodeo
 

AA62
They had already changed the name to Airlift Rodeo by then and the girls were from the reception team. We had just squashed the DZSO's jeep and were so far ahead that only underhand skulduggery could wrest the trophy from us. I was prepared to sacrifice myself to a "honey trap" but sadly one was never offered. The little lady on my right did offer to come home with me though. She didn't and we lost.

The Jeep's Remains
 

MT at Pope had a sense of humour so they presented me with this.


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Dougie,
yes my log book does say Airlift Rodeo, the earlier one I did is recorded as Volant Rodeo. If that famous MSP drop was on May 7 1967, captain Graham F, then I was doing the airdrop check of your loadmaster on that trip.
As I recall there was constant goal post changing mainly to stop one of their reserve squadron teams beating the regulars. I think USAF careers were made and unmade in this competition !

I believe this is the other pic in Dougie's album to complement the 'Jeep Remains' pic above ;)

http://blogs.artinfo.com/cuttingroom...-targeting.jpg

Great story Dougie :D:D:D:D

I have only recently found this particular thread and I've enjoyed reading it from end to end. I too have extremely fond memories of my few years spent at Lyneham (1978 to 1986). Being fresh out of Finningley I 'held' with LXX for a month until my OCU started. During my first night in the Sgt's Mess I'd received a telephone call from one of the Sqn Eng's to ask if I'd like to accompany him on a trip to Bermuda, via Lages? Full of excitement, I hardly slept a wink that night! After the OCU, and back to LXX, the excitement continued for some years to come; the best years of my RAF career.


Two-years later, and with a Tac Course behind me, I found myself heading for Nepal on Op Khana Cascade. Dave Ferries (RIP) was one of the ALMs and a good mucker. Ray Beyer and Jim Hobbs were the two captains who, sadly, are also no longer with us.


Reading through this thread I learn of more folk who're no longer with us and so... let's raise a glass to all of those fabulous folk who're watching over us.


Cheers to you all... not forgotten.


TCF

The Rodeo
 

Flyer, Amen to that.


1987 was the 40th anniversary of the USAF and if they lost, heads would roll in good old USAF fashion. We were so far ahead on points that the DETCO and his deputy didn't bother to go to the DZ for the para. After the drop in light winds with 1 degree starboard drift we were given a score of 300 yards at 9 o'clock which just edged a Spam C141 crew into the lead. When confronted the umpire said "Well it could have been Brazil or Britain" We said that we were the United Kingdom and he replied "If you think that I am going to tell Gen. Dwayne H. Cassidy that I screwed up, you're wrong!" So we had our own celebration in Bennigans till ordered back to pick up our E.R.O. prize. We just let the MAMS boys go up for that. Too many long island iced teas to climb the stage. But it was fun.


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