P/O KCS Dight
April 1956 DH Vampire 4FTS
(Student Pilot)

As ground crew on Nimrods I always felt quite isolated from the losses. Then we lost '66, but fortunately the crew survived. XV230 really brought it home to me and I will always remember the Flt Eng, Flt Sgt Ady Davies. RIP.

S-D

It's that time again.
 

When I started this thread last year I hoped my list would never get any bigger. Sadly I have one more person to think about on 11 Nov.

Once again apologies for being morbid and I promise this will not become an annual dredging up of the same thread. I just got to thinking once again and it bloody terrifies me.

Fly Lt Kev Donoghue. RIP.

BV

Walking past a local church today I was pleasantly surprised to see a cluster of about 30 ceramic poppies which appear to be the ones from the Tower of London exhibition, one can surmise that the church purchased enough to represent the fallen from the village as we come close to Remembrance Day. I intend to photograph them and will put a picture up.
On my walk there is a bench and a tree planted with plaques for a soldier lost in NI too, what a peaceful and restful area it is in, looking out over the village pond, a far cry from the troubles in NI.

As a native of Edingale, very near the National Memorial Arboretum, I often take the chance to pay a visit on my trips "home". So far my wife and myself have visited five or more times, and find the whole place somewhere that helps to put the losses of our friends in some perspective. It's good to have somewhere to go, where memories can be jogged and respects duly paid. I would always look to remember my mates Gary Nichokson and Mark Gibson who were lost on the shooting down of XV179 in Iraq 7 Feb 2005;

Squadron Leader Patrick Marshall, Headquarters Strike Command, aged 39
Flight Lieutenant David Stead, 47 Squadron, RAF Lyneham, aged 35, from Yorkshire
Flight Lieutenant Andrew Smith, 47 Squadron, RAF Lyneham, aged 25
Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, 47 Squadron, RAF Lyneham, aged 35
Master Air Engineer Gary Nicholson, 47 Squadron, RAF Lyneham, aged 42
Chief Technician Richard Brown, RAF Lyneham, aged 40
Flight Sergeant Mark Gibson, 47 Squadron, RAF Lyneham, aged 34
Sergeant Robert O’Connor, RAF Lyneham, aged 38
Corporal David Williams, RAF Lyneham, aged 37
Acting Lance Corporal Steven Jones, Royal Signals, aged 25, from Fareham

RIP all, you live in our memories.

Smudge

Although it was raining, I returned to take some photos today, I hope you do not mind me posting them, I will not name the Church unless asked by PM as they are accessible from the road and are frequently passed.


What a glorious and poignant reminder, especially as they were laid in London originally to symbolise all of those who died during the war in the service of their country and in a way it means the fallen few from the village have been repatriated home, so to speak.




http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/f...4.jpg~original


http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/f...j.jpg~original


Lest we forget....








..

Very moving indeed Nutty.

Thinking of my service mates who, due to those weird quirks of fate have passed, whilst I am still here.

I can't imagine them in their late 50's now: I will always rememberer them as spotty, scared AC's and "rebellious & mischievous" FT's at Halton and beyond...

Bless Lads.

The Jones brothers, Tom, Eddy & Leonard. At the going down of the sun......

Reading these posts regarding Herc XV179 reminds me of a spooky part of my own entry in my RAF form 414 (log book to those not in the know). I was only a ground tradesman and flew a mere 14 times in a ten year career but my first two RAF flights caught me by surprise on checking them a while back.
The first flight I had in the forces was 24Nov77 in XV179 to Decimomanu on detachment from Marham in this ill-fated aircraft later to be sadly shot down in Baghdad in 2005. Imagine my surprise when my second flight, a mere 6 days later on 30Nov , was in a Canberra WH667 also later lost after an engine failure in Cyprus in 1978 in which the two crew died. I remember the funerals at Marham , very sad all round. Respect and RIP to them all .

We remembered in our West Sussex town yesterday, along with every other town and village in the country. Evidently the largest ever contingent on parade this year, mainly of organised youth movements, from Beavers through to the various military cadet forces.

Once again though the timing of the two minutes silence seemed to take place simply when it was reached in the order of the service rather than being exactly at eleven o'clock, so that the church clock (recently overhauled and now keeping very good time) chimed at at the end and not the beginning of the silence. Was this intentional? No-one explained, but to me (bred on many time hacks and much synchronising of watches) it grated.

With that one proviso, it was a moving experience that involved the young and the old, the high and the low. We are an undemonstrative people on the whole, but when we do feel moved to show our feelings en masse it is all the more meaningful.

Finally, we used to have a Remembrance sticky put up here at this time of year by PPRuNe Pop. Whatever happened to it, mods, or to Pop for that matter?

As usual Mrs TTN and I attended the annual Remembrance Sunday service at Wendron Parish Church here in West Cornwall. It's a typical rural church with a small congregation, and the experience is a million miles away from Whitehall, but nevertheless very moving. A nice touch is the local police always stand by and close the road which passes the churchyard for the period of the two minutes silence out by the war memorial. Motorists had a longer than usual wait this year as the vicar got lost in contemplation and waited at least three minutes before giving the nod to the buglers to mark the end of the silence!

Landlocked - "I was only a ground tradesman"? No "only" about it - everybody had/has their job to do, from FJ pilot to cook!

Indeed so!!

I always remember the tale of Gus Grissom (IIRC) visiting a hangar (or NASA equivalent) at Cape Kennedy and talking to a bloke sweeping up.

GG: What do you do here?

Sweeper: I'm helping to put a man on the Moon! ......

...... and he was :ok:

I'd like to add 1/2R Mitchell, a true gent.

At 1430 local on 11 Nov, representing RAFA Sud Ouest France I will be laying the wreath on the memorial at Angles, Vendee, to those of the crew of a Halifax lost after a raid on La Pallice and thereafter we will place poppy crosses on the graves in Angles cemetery of those crew members who lost their lives


Site du crash du bombardier Halifax L.9527 TL-M du Sqn 35 le 24 juillet 1941, parti de Stanton Harcourt pour bombarder La Pallice.
Equipage : F/S C.A.Godwin, Sgt G.G.Esnouf, Sgt C.H.Newstead, P/O G.A.Eperon, Sgt E.O.T.Balcomb, Sgt R.T.Rudlin, F/S S.H.J.Shirley. Sgt E.O.T.Balcomb et P/O G.A.Eperon ont été faits prisonniers.

Wander00, thanks for that hope the event went well. Loads of people in Ely On Sunday for the service and parade. Cathedral service to its normal high standard.

BL - thanks, mine is tomorrow. Reminds me that when I was OC Admin at Wyton, early 90s, after the Station Remembrance service, I would set off with a boot full of poppy wreaths destined for the many RAF graves in small local churchyards. With me would be youngest W, then 4 or 5, and he would help me lay the wreaths - now at 27 he has a very firm idea of what Remembrance means.,

Wander, trying to do something of that sort this week as amongst the RAF graves in Ely graveyard there is an ATC Cadet under a CWG headstone. He was a London lad visiting RAF Witchford so I dont suppose he gets much by way of visitors these days.

BL - that I never knew - must look next time I am in Ely. Sadly may not be unique but certainly unusual

XV179
 

Saw Mrs Stead, Mrs Gibson and Mrs Williams on telly on Saturday night.

So dignified, but it must still hurt so much...

AK,

Same here, perhaps sometimes our memories of comrades who have passed cloud our view of those they left behind. Mrs G is a close neighbour of ours, though she doesn't know it, and I enjoyed some good trips with Mark. I wonder why ?

Smudge