I do wonder if the old boy from the NAAFI wagon ever caught up with his creditors before it shut, I remember him collaring one of our guys from Germany who had been posted away over 2 years earlier and he knew from memory who he was and what he still owed lol

Great station. Spent a few Happy Hours in the bar being baited by the Jag junta...I was an SH guy visiting mates on the SAR Flt...and before that my grandad was the Officers” Mess barman..for 29 yrs..he sometimes took me into work.

I would agree if he used an SA80, an SLR would have brought the tree down.

Recently a memorial to our local Regt has appeared in the town, showing a soldier stood at ease with an SLR. When the first automatic weapon you fired is now on a statue, one feels rather old ...... :sad:

The film set is in the former gymnasium, a place many of us stationed there had difficulty in finding for some unknown reason.

Erico retired long before the base closed.

Lots of people on here are before the time of "Start of Level One!" Of course the old Station Mortuary was a more favourable place. The Rugby Club bar.

It's alright for you, I cut my teeth on a LE #4.

Many moons ago, as a student at Valley in the heady days of Support Command, I was pinged to guard the Ops block on what was advertised as a TACEVAL, clutching a broomstick labelled "CPX RIFLE". I challenged OC Ops Wg as he arrived at the door and asked to see his ID. He was one of those unpleasant individuals who had unfortunately been born with an a**hole at both ends of his body, one clearly trying to function as a brain. As I agreed I knew who he was, he asked why I thought it was necessary to see his ID card. I told him it was in case he was an inflatable replica, which generated an instant and predictable rant from him. I still can't see a new broomstick without remembering the poisonous pillock going purple with rage.

Sorry for the thread drift, I have been enjoying learning a little about the Colt of yesteryear.

The old mortuary is being refurbished fortunately not for it's original use, there is however a covid temporary morgue in use in 3 hangar.

Cough.. cough.... semi automatic unless you had a packet of Swan Vesta's finest.. :)

Didn't some senior officer in Cyprus or the like get up close and personal with a stock?
I remember the tale that he had asked to see a guards weapon on exercise on some pretext to see if it was clean etc and then charged him for handing it over, naturally this got around and he tried it again on another exercise and as he went to grab it, he met the stock coming the other way and copped a face full. It may have been folk law but it did the rounds..

.... or a pop rivet! :E And two LMG mags back to back :)

Better than every aircraft that you flew being either a Gate Guardian, recycled cans or in a museum.:uhoh:

There were some walking corpses in that hangar during my time there. Mustha.

Sorry if you didn't see the place. Like a lot of places it was marmite. But a top flavoured marmite as a lot less people hating it than loving it. Small city 10 miles done the road with a load of pubs, the coast and the Broads (ditto), a small station that everyone knew each other and the empires you saw on the larger bases were few and far between. Certainly the Jet for the last 33 years of its existance helped as being an airframe that rarely interfered with social life due to its servicablity. More friction now between the blazer and the polo shirt societies. My first tour saw my wife, kids, house and some good projects sorted. Second stint saw more good stuff happen and off to the fens with the last Cats.

I had a SLR out at Dhahran in 91. I am getting old because I cannot remember the conversion date for the L85A1 that would have been during the mid 90s. Nor do I have the WHT card to tell me! Did do the LMG course at Bruggen in 87. Only time I fired off 3 round bursts. Fired LE#4 as an Air Cadet.

Never Volunteer
 

'You up for the first VRT conversion course onto SA80?' 'Where?' 'Regiment Flight St Athan' Thinks,.....never been to St Athan...might be interesting!
Oh the brain pain that followed. That nice Flt Sgt regiment bloke was a joy, boy did he work us hard for 5 days only letting on after that the final test had been the equivalent of the SAC trade test and they were given 2 weeks to assimilate it all. All but three of us failed.

Oh yes, the officers mess boiler room. I stand corrected, it was a SA80 rather than an SLR. The last stint I did on guard was with a lovely Waf and the warm boiler room was equipped with 2 chairs a pack of cards, small table, and as it was my last ever I provided a bottle of wine. Obviously didn't drink it as that would of been against the law?

And all the graffiti on the boiler. The Enterprise toliet joke always made me giggle.