More sad news RIP Dave

I thought about posting this on the Granby thread, but decided this thread was much more appropriate.

http://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZ...-bob-henderson

When I posted the above, I hadn't listened to the whole 1h45 talk. I now have and it is definitely worth listening to. A lot of detailed information about front-line operations and information about co-operation between the Kiwis and their RAF C-130 counterparts.

I like this picture. The skipper, the loadie in the front and the nav have Steyr AUG 5.56 bullpups, but the loadie at the back is seriously tooled-up with a Minimi (C6?) GPMG.
Be polite to your rear-crew! :E


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a95ce83748.png

We were fully tooled up too with the UK C130K. We were issued with the standard 9mm pistol and eight rounds of ammunition. Oh and we had to drag to useless AR5 kit into theatre with us.

But riding the trolley with the pallet of kit on it down the hill from the hangar was fun AA62 :)

ksimboy,
thanks, I had forgotten that !

It certainly was. And counting the number of pallets in the hangar to work out how many crews were there and thus the likelihood of a good time in the mess

Or ,3 to a room in Bl 101.....

Akrotiri-Granby
 

Or bonfires outside the blocks, AND, my field demotion as a Navigator to a new rank of Sgt to get into their mess.

Memories of my Captain Tex, telling the crew to go to bed - talk about pot-to-kettle

Having competitions in the early days in August / September 1990 seeing who could get into town quickest

Taking hire cars across the salt flats

I shared a room with the Station Commander and OC 30 one time. As someone said a grenade would have enhanced promotion prospects for a lucky few !

AR5?
I remember the ridiculous time in Gulf War 1 (c) when Saddam was kicking off again. LYE was in the middle of TACEVAL and we had to play, even as an operational route departure....,the upshot was that we left with 2 lots of the damn stuff, an exercise set that we had to wear for departure and the ‘real’ stuff in case Saddam got feisty again!

I fell off the slip pattern at Akroneli and was VC10’d back home. The last I saw of my big green bag was in the hangar at AKT

Sorry to break up the Granby tales, but once again i am the bearer of sad news. MALM John Banks ex 24, 242, 57(R), LXX Sqns passed away recently. I had the privilege of flying with John on many occasions and always thoroughly enjoyed both the tasks, but also the debriefs. RIP Mr Banks, the crew room in the sky has become richer again. A pint will be raised in the Bells when they reopen.

ksimboy,
thanks for letting us know the sad news the news about JB. I put him up for his first tour as an instructor on 242 OCU. As you say raising a pint would be appropriate.
Trust you are well.

I was on PRT, thought I’d successfully dodged most of the TACEVAL, we’d only done the groundschool on day 1 when we were told we were off to Kuwait in our crews. When I went to pickup my green bag I was told in no uncertain terms that it was ‘not to be used’.

We managed to spend most of the week away but were sent home for the end of TACEVAL, we ended up spending the final day on the pan in our ac before joining the survival scramble as EGDL was about to get ‘nuked’. After some time in the SORBIT over Devizes we were all diverted to Brize & parked over in the SE corner of the airfield. As the clock ticked down to the ENDEX we imagined all the blunties back in the mess drinking the barrel put on by the Staish saying ‘where are all the aircrew?’

Eventually someone came over and said ‘you can all go home now’- cue a ‘Le Mans’ style start as everyone dashed for their ac, taxying on 2 engines to get ahead in the queue whilst starting the remaining ones. We were off second as I recall, off Rwy 24, straight to Rwy18, 8 mins flying time, not quite quick enough to round down to 5 in the logbook.

AA 62 all is well at my end thanks , hope this lockdown is treating you and yours well also. I will update you on progress work wise by PM . I only spoke to John just after Christmas, and informed him of DWs passing, we had arranged to raise a glass for him in the 5 Bells when we could. Looks like 4 pints will now need to be raised given the losses to the former fleet over recent months.

Sad news indeed, had the great pleasure of working with John both on the OCU (under it's varied names) and LXX .. and then again after I left... he was Jury Officer at Swindon Crown Court for a good few years while I was a Crown Court Usher, so our paths crossed daily as we handed a jury back and forth to each other !! We had many good laughs both about our "previous lives" and the current state of things.

Another glass to be raised, getting to be too many of those at the moment ........

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....fc7848ec0d.jpg
Just a reminder for those who were there and an explanation for those who were not

Brings it all back. What a logistical nightmare. I still have one of those green bags in the loft full of kit. "And what" said Mrs M."do we need NBC kit and an S10 respirator for?""You never know" I said.

aa62,is that an approved JATE lashing on the pallet,or just a `lash-up...?

Don't be so modest, you saw Covid coming,