Remembering the Fallen
 

Apologies for the tardiness of this post but I had meant to post it the other day and then began a self imposed exile from the forum to get some work done!
We often say how 'we will remember them' but I thought I'd go one step further. Please humour me for a few moments whilst I ramble!
I remember an ITV documentary from about 1995 following an F3 Sqn through Maple Flag. Top Guns I think it was called. Anyway a Sqn Ldr pilot told how he'd known several people, maybe a dozen, who'd died in service and I, at the time, found it hard to believe. However as I sit here now it is terrifying how many mates and acquaintances have fallen along the way. So to add a personal note to my Rememberance Day I thought I'd list them. Some I knew better than others but I wish they could all be with their families right now.

Gp Capt Mike Seares
Sqn Ldr Ant Downing
Sqn Ldr Rimon Than
Lt Rob Dunn
Flt Lt Jon Egging
Flt Lt Sean Cunningham
Flt Lt David Sale
Flt Lt Steven 'Baz' Barrett
Flt Lt Adam Sanders
Flt Lt Hywel Poole
Flt Lt Andy Smith
Flt Lt Al Squires
Flt Lt Rachel Clarke
Flt Lt Manu Akhouri
Plt Off Steve Lawrence
Cpl Nick Lock

Apologies for the morbid nature of my post but when I say 'we will remember them' these are the faces I see.

Stay safe everyone.

BV

Lieutenant Marcus Case.

Lest we forget.

P.S, a great thread Bob.

The Roll of Honour in St Clement Danes might reduce you to tears or at least to a dark mood of quiet reflection. For those who died on duty, the panels of the Armed Forces Memorial at Alrewas provide an even more stark reminder of loss.


At present, I am seeking to get a name added to the memorial. He was a Master Pilot who died of a heart attack on the sea survival course at Mountbatten in 1966. The rub seems to be 'heart attack' but as it was induced by the cold water when he was undergoing training and on duty, I don't see the problem - outcome awaited!


Old Duffer

I was on the A14 and decided to find somewhere to pull in well in advance, a task which still proved almost impossible. Thankfully, I was in a Volvo 4x4 and decided to put some driver training to good use. The lay-by was full of middle aged blokes who looked broadly similar to me and after the two minutes, we all politely gave way to each other, drove off together and kept formation for a couple of miles, maybe subconsciously.. who knows. I sensed we had a similar background and the same agenda.

Well remembered Bob.

I lit a candle for bullseye, amongst other friends and family, in St Clement Danes early on the morning of the 11th. Audax omnia perpetti.

Lest We Forget.
Great thread, Bob, and well remembered. :-(

T.

BV - the TV program you're looking for is here: this is a link to one of the episodes.

It's a pretty poor facimile of what actually happened on Maple Flag. The book on the exercise, by Hugh McManners (ex RM and SBS with a MiD from the FIs), is so much better (in my opinion).

LJ :ok:

Yes, the first time I realised that this fast jet flying business was not a game was when poor old Phil "PMAR" Martin copped it at Chivenor very early on when I just started flying Hawks. I can also remember in the mid 90s it felt like I was going to funerals of mates 2-3 times a year. When I look to remember I find these websites help me remember the dates and their faces - it's absolutely spot when they say "they do not grow old" and it makes me realise how very lucky I have been with 2000hrs+ on Martin-Baker's finest without pulling the handle.

Hawk ejections

TORNADO ejections

LJ

LJ
 

I had assumed that if the worst happened that it would be mates on FJs that were most likely to come to grief. Sadly the first two mates I lost were on a Lynx and a Hercules respectively. It makes you realise that we all do a (sometimes) dangerous job.

BV

During the two minutes I remember Cpl Dave Williams. We were friends for but a few months during trade training but his loss shocked the Squipping world.
I also indulge myself in remembering PC Tony Jinks. He also served, albeit in a darker hue of blue.

And let us not forget the likes of Anne Marie Noble and wallah (Nick), both from this forum who served and lost the battle to that insidious enemy, Cancer. Their bravery was an inspiration to us all.

My Thoughts
 

For me, it’s the crew and pax of XV179; I felt (and still feel) honoured to have served with them.

It may be sobering to look at the wider picture.


Between 8 May 1945 and 30 August 2009, the RAF lost, through flying accidents and occasional enemy action, 9300 aircraft written off and there were in excess of 6000 fatal casualties resulting. Included in this last number are the (mostly) RAF pax in a trooping York, which crashed in Malta, and the parachutists - British and Italian - lost in a Hastings and a Hercules. It also includes the occasional casualty on the ground. The figures do not include military and dependents lost in another trooping accident over the Atlantic, nor generally does it include casualties in Korea. Until 1957, most Army casualties and aircraft losses are included in the numbers I have quoted.


If one studies the accident rates, in 1945 the RAF was losing up to ten aircraft per day and on a single day in March 1946, for example, 10 Sqn lost three Dakotas with their crews and air despatchers. If one looks at the MOD and RAF Museum websites, there is a copy of the RAF Historical Society journal dealing with flight safety and one of the papers deals specifically with post-war losses.


Old Duffer

Mike Harland was a true gent who was never too busy to speak to us groundcrew folk.

Teetering Towers is not a million miles from the National Arboretum at Alrewas, which I most strongly recommend. Too many mates' names inscribed there on the main memorial though. :(

"Too full already is the grave
Of fellows who were good and brave;
And died because they were."

Much dust blowing in the air there too ..............

22 June 1979. Flt Lt John Skinner, he was duty pilot in the morning and I at 17 yrs old was the local assistant. He as usual was trying to help me with the weather etc and then his face lit up. "Got a trip this afternoon Ian, USAF exchange officer can't fly" He was so made up, as he left he said "Enjoy your afternoon off, one day I will put you in the back seat"

The back seat happened but it sadly was not with him, (Jaguar T2 XX142)

Still haunts me, but every year I remember him.

Great thread BV, of course a few names on your list I knew as well, tragic that they were taken so early. Mike Harland as well, I was chatting to him as they signed for that aircraft to test it on that horrible day (worst ever in my RAF career), also Baz Barwood, who I was working with on 903. RIP all.

During my 8 years in the RAF I was very fortunate not to lose many mates - obviously as a nav' who went to the transport world I was somewhat sheltered from the harsh realities of pilot training and I knew hardly any of the fighter and bomber fatalities in my time.


IIRC 4 Shacks' were lost around late '67/early '68 and Dave Love (2nd nav on 205 Sqn's loss over The Indian Ocean ) was the only one I knew.


From my nav' course, 88, Harry Pittard died in a Canberra crash near Marham in '70 or '71.


Of the 3 Herc' fatal crashes, I only knew Tony Barrett, skipper who died at Colerne in Sept' '73 - I knew who Colin Harrison ( the skipper who died in the sea off Pisa, Nov' '71 ) was, and sadly saw the fireball from our Herc' 2 behind in the formation.


An old mate, Graham Young, died in the '93 Herc' crash in Scotland.


RIP you all - I still remember you.


Bob V


My Jag mate off-spring will have known several of those in your list - a name not there and one of the saddest unnecessary deaths was his best-man, brother-in-law and confidante, Grp Capt Tom Barrett - killed on his cycle by a white-van man outside Northolt.

May I respectfully give my condolences for all your losses.
As for yourselves, may the good Lord watch over you in what you do.
Be safe.

Frank Whitehouse (F6)
Peter Thompson (F6)
Graham Southard (C-130)

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