A Weather-Guesser's Memories with the RAF
You were lucky to miss that trip. I did it once, a couple of hours in a Dormobile from Akrotiri then an eternity in the Hastings, Nicosia-El Adem- Khartoum- Aden.
As regular visitors to Aden there was always a long shopping list and pre SBA no customs. After independence a couple of UK Customs appeared at Akrotiri. It was funny how ATC were always quite slow to tell them of our arrival and there would be nothing to see when they made it to our dispersal.
We always had numerous large cans of undeveloped film with TS sortie numbers which had to go urgently to the photo section. Not all of them would contain film.
We would go on from Aden to Eastleigh where the locals looked after us very well. The SATCO asked us if we could get him a camera next time we were there.
Better than that you can get it yourself. By a pure coincidence we might find that film stocks here are running low so a quick day trip to Aden is necessary. Spare jump seat if you want it tomorrow. One very happy customer.
As regular visitors to Aden there was always a long shopping list and pre SBA no customs. After independence a couple of UK Customs appeared at Akrotiri. It was funny how ATC were always quite slow to tell them of our arrival and there would be nothing to see when they made it to our dispersal.
We always had numerous large cans of undeveloped film with TS sortie numbers which had to go urgently to the photo section. Not all of them would contain film.
We would go on from Aden to Eastleigh where the locals looked after us very well. The SATCO asked us if we could get him a camera next time we were there.
Better than that you can get it yourself. By a pure coincidence we might find that film stocks here are running low so a quick day trip to Aden is necessary. Spare jump seat if you want it tomorrow. One very happy customer.
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LB,
Thank you so much for a brilliant thread. Here is David Haig the writer and actor talking about writing the play 'Pressure'. Not only is it relevant to this subject but it is also revealing about the craft of writing. I think you will enjoy it.
Thank you so much for a brilliant thread. Here is David Haig the writer and actor talking about writing the play 'Pressure'. Not only is it relevant to this subject but it is also revealing about the craft of writing. I think you will enjoy it.
Tabs please !
Thread Starter
Brize, Southern England and BFG.
Be careful what you wish for!
Living in Lincolnshire and stationed at Brize for a couple of years was not ideal but I was granted very good accommodation in the Mess and often worked a four-day week by virtue of taking leave ........... major family holidays were put on hold pro tem, all four offspring had flown the nest.
I was never sure about the job title and I think settled for P Met O Brize Norton. The geographical fact was substantial. I expect I will forget one, but here goes:
St Mawgan, Boscombe Down, Larkhill, Lyneham, Brize Norton, Middle Wallop AAC, Benson, Odiham, Northolt, Manston, JHQ Rheindahlen, and the remaining RAFG plus Detmold AAC. There were a few additional commitments for such as Porton Down and Aldermarston.
I should have asked for a pay rise.
What I did get was a hire car whenever I was visiting anywhere.
There were three very good offices: Lyneham, Middle Wallop and Odiham, led by energetic S Met Os and with big tasks that they enjoyed achieving. Most weeks I managed at least one visit, some weeks two could be squeezed in. The staff reporting structure was such that every S Met O had to be reported on at length, and all of his/her forecasters needed to be interviewed as part of the second tier. To do the folk justice, at least two visits each year had to be arranged. This was over and above a formal inspection day. Satnav had NOT been introduced.
Germany was no problem, with an excellent deputy on site and a few AFCENT/NATO meetings in Berlin and SHAPE to attend it was manageable. Using the car, Asbach and Sekt stocks were kept up.
Just when I thought that I had seen everything, we had a paedophile discovered among us, which caused a lot of grief.
Mess life was comfortable other than the fact that heating was off on the last day of March, and not back on until November ....... if it was serviceable. Most residents bought an electric heater so the net saving was probably minimal.
Hitherto all Met. staff of officer status had been allowed military Mess facilities at advantageous rates. This benefitted the individual and surely also the service in terms of liaison and mutual understanding. However the rules changed at MOD level, attached civilians' Messing became much more costly, and the sums added up to claiming full subsistence for the first time and taking a room in a pub. Everyone was a loser. After a few weeks of this I attempted to resign, having achieved max pension but with a year to serve before being able to take it.
The law of unintended consequences
Be careful what you wish for!
Living in Lincolnshire and stationed at Brize for a couple of years was not ideal but I was granted very good accommodation in the Mess and often worked a four-day week by virtue of taking leave ........... major family holidays were put on hold pro tem, all four offspring had flown the nest.
I was never sure about the job title and I think settled for P Met O Brize Norton. The geographical fact was substantial. I expect I will forget one, but here goes:
St Mawgan, Boscombe Down, Larkhill, Lyneham, Brize Norton, Middle Wallop AAC, Benson, Odiham, Northolt, Manston, JHQ Rheindahlen, and the remaining RAFG plus Detmold AAC. There were a few additional commitments for such as Porton Down and Aldermarston.
I should have asked for a pay rise.
What I did get was a hire car whenever I was visiting anywhere.
There were three very good offices: Lyneham, Middle Wallop and Odiham, led by energetic S Met Os and with big tasks that they enjoyed achieving. Most weeks I managed at least one visit, some weeks two could be squeezed in. The staff reporting structure was such that every S Met O had to be reported on at length, and all of his/her forecasters needed to be interviewed as part of the second tier. To do the folk justice, at least two visits each year had to be arranged. This was over and above a formal inspection day. Satnav had NOT been introduced.
Germany was no problem, with an excellent deputy on site and a few AFCENT/NATO meetings in Berlin and SHAPE to attend it was manageable. Using the car, Asbach and Sekt stocks were kept up.
Just when I thought that I had seen everything, we had a paedophile discovered among us, which caused a lot of grief.
Mess life was comfortable other than the fact that heating was off on the last day of March, and not back on until November ....... if it was serviceable. Most residents bought an electric heater so the net saving was probably minimal.
Hitherto all Met. staff of officer status had been allowed military Mess facilities at advantageous rates. This benefitted the individual and surely also the service in terms of liaison and mutual understanding. However the rules changed at MOD level, attached civilians' Messing became much more costly, and the sums added up to claiming full subsistence for the first time and taking a room in a pub. Everyone was a loser. After a few weeks of this I attempted to resign, having achieved max pension but with a year to serve before being able to take it.
The law of unintended consequences
Last edited by langleybaston; 30th Apr 2024 at 18:17. Reason: for sh1t read shot
Thread Starter
Met Instruments - Transmissometers
Although several of the met instruments used in forecasting have been mentioned, another that might be recalled is the transmissometer, a device used to assist with the calculation of horizontal visual range. For anyone who hasn't seen this equipment, essentially it consists of two tubes mounted horizontally about two metres above the ground, each facing the other some 10 metres apart. Through one tube a beam of energy, usually a laser, is sent to be received by the opposing tube where the amount of energy that has been lost in transition (eg through mist, fog, precipitation, etc) can be measured and the results used in calculations.
In the mid 1970s I was involved with the Blind Landing Experimental Unit at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Bedford where we would fly an HS748, specially instrumented, in what was called "Fog Flying" in order to obtain results that could be used to assist with various experiments, one of which was the aim of finding an accurate means of determining slant visual range. This was where the horizontal visual range provided by the transmissometer played an essential part. And obviously our scientists needed accurate readings. Often during the season when fog was likely to form the equipment at Bedford would be left on overnight to obtain a record of visibilities arising on the aerodrome.
However, all too often an otherwise steady reading would precipitously drop to zero, and for no obvious reason. Anyway, one night an enthusiastic and inquisitive met officer stayed up to see if the cause could be determined, and his keen attention paid off. What he observed was the arrival in the middle of the night of a Little Owl that landed on the lower lip of the transmitting tube, inserted himself within it, and snuggled down such that he received a constant supply of warmth from the laser transmitter!
Problem solved!
Although several of the met instruments used in forecasting have been mentioned, another that might be recalled is the transmissometer, a device used to assist with the calculation of horizontal visual range. For anyone who hasn't seen this equipment, essentially it consists of two tubes mounted horizontally about two metres above the ground, each facing the other some 10 metres apart. Through one tube a beam of energy, usually a laser, is sent to be received by the opposing tube where the amount of energy that has been lost in transition (eg through mist, fog, precipitation, etc) can be measured and the results used in calculations.
In the mid 1970s I was involved with the Blind Landing Experimental Unit at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Bedford where we would fly an HS748, specially instrumented, in what was called "Fog Flying" in order to obtain results that could be used to assist with various experiments, one of which was the aim of finding an accurate means of determining slant visual range. This was where the horizontal visual range provided by the transmissometer played an essential part. And obviously our scientists needed accurate readings. Often during the season when fog was likely to form the equipment at Bedford would be left on overnight to obtain a record of visibilities arising on the aerodrome.
However, all too often an otherwise steady reading would precipitously drop to zero, and for no obvious reason. Anyway, one night an enthusiastic and inquisitive met officer stayed up to see if the cause could be determined, and his keen attention paid off. What he observed was the arrival in the middle of the night of a Little Owl that landed on the lower lip of the transmitting tube, inserted himself within it, and snuggled down such that he received a constant supply of warmth from the laser transmitter!
Problem solved!
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My last crowd allowed us to ignore transmissometer readings if we suspected them to be accurate which allowed me to get home one night watching a cat 2 hand flown approach.
In the mid 70s we were the last aircraft to depart Heathrow with a layer of fog which extended from ground level to about a foot above the instrument which we could see; gin clear above and no problem to see the runway lights but we needed a take off alternate as my then employer didn’t allowed us to ignore them.
In the mid 70s we were the last aircraft to depart Heathrow with a layer of fog which extended from ground level to about a foot above the instrument which we could see; gin clear above and no problem to see the runway lights but we needed a take off alternate as my then employer didn’t allowed us to ignore them.
Horizontal visual range finding takes me back to theheady 'Tankers Only' days at Marham in the mid-70s and the arrival of the 4 B-52s and accompanying staff for EXERCISE GIANT VOICE (B-52s vs Vulcans Bombing Competition). The accompanying staff included a small (uniformed?) met contingent who were shoe-horned into the met office and allocated a desk and a window. As I remember it, horizontal visual range was determined by looking out of the window and then consulting a panoramic photograph that ran the length of the windows where various local landmarks - church spires, masts, Wissington sugar beet factory etc, were annotated with the range from the met office. The keen USAF met team began setting up shop and one of the first things they decided to do was to clean their duty window inside and out until it gleamed, unlike the the rest of the met office windows. On arriving the following morning the USAF team were somewhat surprised to find their allocated window had been annotated in chinagraph top and bottom "FOR OFFICIAL USAF USE ONLY'!
As an aside, the tanker squadrons each hosted one of the B-52 crews - I assume the OCU may have hosted the fourth crew - and after landing 'our crew' were escorted to the crew room to meet 'the chaps'.
"How do you take your coffee?" Asked our co-pilot of the BUFF captain.
"Without cream." He replied.
Co-pilot opens fridge, peers inside and replies, "We haven't got any cream, will you take it without milk?"
It may have been the strange accent, but the question somehow went right over their heads, while the Brits politely kept a straight face.
As an aside, the tanker squadrons each hosted one of the B-52 crews - I assume the OCU may have hosted the fourth crew - and after landing 'our crew' were escorted to the crew room to meet 'the chaps'.
"How do you take your coffee?" Asked our co-pilot of the BUFF captain.
"Without cream." He replied.
Co-pilot opens fridge, peers inside and replies, "We haven't got any cream, will you take it without milk?"
It may have been the strange accent, but the question somehow went right over their heads, while the Brits politely kept a straight face.
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In the 70s the daily telegraph sponsored uk gliding..there was a character who was a member of airways gliding club, an organisation which was under the umbrella of the two corporations, who achieved a world record for gain of height. The telegraph carried the article which included his description of the flight and so called facial burns from the oxygen mask. He told the story of climbing in a thunderstorm then soaring in wave several thousand feet above its top in wave. I had flown up to Glasgow and back in a Trident that day and whilst there were thunderstorms they were nowhere as tall as he described.
Turned out it was a “tall” story as the barograph trace was examined by forensics and discovered he had used a divider to scratch the sooted aluminium graph. IIRC that sounded the death knolls for the sponsorship.
Turned out it was a “tall” story as the barograph trace was examined by forensics and discovered he had used a divider to scratch the sooted aluminium graph. IIRC that sounded the death knolls for the sponsorship.
Thread Starter
The BLEU films were shown as routine to all courses at Shinfield. Very very impressive ......... gasps from the audience as, at last, the runway was seen.
However I confess to being somewhat of a Luddite regarding transmissometers and Laser Cloud Base Recorders as the way to go. However, that ship has sailed and the future started 30 years ago.
I fear that in my case the perfect is the enemy of the good, and the modern standards for almost everything are "just good enough, and the lowest tender".
Every year the Met Office held a C and P Met O Conference ........ also a fair number at SPSO level and a few of the great and the good with THIS YEAR'S GREAT IDEA.. In my opinion PSO level is what really drives an organisation: young enough to remember what it was like, old enough to be wise, senior enough to push through reform. The Conference dealing with The Last Days of the Observer had the Director of Ops preaching the Gospel of transmissometers and Laser Cloud Base Recorders on every airfield, military and civil. I was senior enough to dare to be outspoken. Big White Chief in Red, as his face grew increasingly red.
"Please sir how many of each instrument would you use?"
"One of each!"
"Where would you put them?
"Probably near the threshold, in consultation"
"Which threshold?"
"Possibly one at each if needs be"
"A lot of airfields have a second runway"
"How about cloud amount in broken low cloud?
"Where would you put transmissometers?
"LB, its a matter of economy ........... a few instruments will pay for themselves many times over if we do not use observers."
[LB senses that his next posting might be Belfast or Stanley].
"Thank you". BOLLOCKS
There is no substitute for the trained, long-serving and diligent observer. He/she knows where fog lurks in the dips, knows where a little uplift will magic 4/8 very low stratus in no time at all, and is willing to nip upstairs to ATC for a better look. ATC in turn will delight in seeing a hazard before the observer.
To summarise, I know when I am beaten. If the service is good enough for the customer, and/or is all the customer is willing to pay for, that is the way to go.
Nostalgia is not what it used to be.
next: LB invents WFH
However I confess to being somewhat of a Luddite regarding transmissometers and Laser Cloud Base Recorders as the way to go. However, that ship has sailed and the future started 30 years ago.
I fear that in my case the perfect is the enemy of the good, and the modern standards for almost everything are "just good enough, and the lowest tender".
Every year the Met Office held a C and P Met O Conference ........ also a fair number at SPSO level and a few of the great and the good with THIS YEAR'S GREAT IDEA.. In my opinion PSO level is what really drives an organisation: young enough to remember what it was like, old enough to be wise, senior enough to push through reform. The Conference dealing with The Last Days of the Observer had the Director of Ops preaching the Gospel of transmissometers and Laser Cloud Base Recorders on every airfield, military and civil. I was senior enough to dare to be outspoken. Big White Chief in Red, as his face grew increasingly red.
"Please sir how many of each instrument would you use?"
"One of each!"
"Where would you put them?
"Probably near the threshold, in consultation"
"Which threshold?"
"Possibly one at each if needs be"
"A lot of airfields have a second runway"
"How about cloud amount in broken low cloud?
"Where would you put transmissometers?
"LB, its a matter of economy ........... a few instruments will pay for themselves many times over if we do not use observers."
[LB senses that his next posting might be Belfast or Stanley].
"Thank you". BOLLOCKS
There is no substitute for the trained, long-serving and diligent observer. He/she knows where fog lurks in the dips, knows where a little uplift will magic 4/8 very low stratus in no time at all, and is willing to nip upstairs to ATC for a better look. ATC in turn will delight in seeing a hazard before the observer.
To summarise, I know when I am beaten. If the service is good enough for the customer, and/or is all the customer is willing to pay for, that is the way to go.
Nostalgia is not what it used to be.
next: LB invents WFH
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LB
I don't know if your description of the sad demise of the Observers, ( 2 lovely retired observers live just round the corner) and the lack of forecasters on site, above relates to my experience. At BRS flying for easy, around 2007, main cloud base forecast 2500 with some Tempo Inters indicating a lowest cloud of 700, above our NDB or SRA limits on 09. Wind forecast was around 120/10 to 15. We were always wary of SE winds coming over the Mendips but this forecast, even allowing for our local knowledge looked usable.
Two approaches to 09, nothing seen, so divert to Exeter. The TW was 10 or more on 27 so no chance of an Autoland.
I can't remember the exact complaints but there were three strands. Exeter HQ managed to wriggle out of two of them using the Tempos and Inters but did admit that my third complaint was justified and instructions would be issued to forecasters to be aware of the local topography effects with SE winds. In the RAF days, rather than filing a formal complaint, we could have had a quiet phone call direct to the forecaster or visit the office to discuss what went wrong. As I think has been mentioned further back in this thread local offices became aware of the implications to flying operations of small changes in observations.
Colerne was another example of local knowledge being useful. Driving up the hill through the low cloud/fog to find the airfield bathed in sunshine you knew the airfield would fog out as soon as the temperature rose and the low cloud lifted onto the airfield.
Looking forward to your invention of WFH. Maybe something that will be only available for pilots if they are flying drones.
1066
I don't know if your description of the sad demise of the Observers, ( 2 lovely retired observers live just round the corner) and the lack of forecasters on site, above relates to my experience. At BRS flying for easy, around 2007, main cloud base forecast 2500 with some Tempo Inters indicating a lowest cloud of 700, above our NDB or SRA limits on 09. Wind forecast was around 120/10 to 15. We were always wary of SE winds coming over the Mendips but this forecast, even allowing for our local knowledge looked usable.
Two approaches to 09, nothing seen, so divert to Exeter. The TW was 10 or more on 27 so no chance of an Autoland.
I can't remember the exact complaints but there were three strands. Exeter HQ managed to wriggle out of two of them using the Tempos and Inters but did admit that my third complaint was justified and instructions would be issued to forecasters to be aware of the local topography effects with SE winds. In the RAF days, rather than filing a formal complaint, we could have had a quiet phone call direct to the forecaster or visit the office to discuss what went wrong. As I think has been mentioned further back in this thread local offices became aware of the implications to flying operations of small changes in observations.
Colerne was another example of local knowledge being useful. Driving up the hill through the low cloud/fog to find the airfield bathed in sunshine you knew the airfield would fog out as soon as the temperature rose and the low cloud lifted onto the airfield.
Looking forward to your invention of WFH. Maybe something that will be only available for pilots if they are flying drones.
1066
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Thread Starter
Resignation is a serious matter, not to be undertaken until the red mists clear. However, as a succession of dull digs and limited pub menus took toll, the initial thought prevailed. Having spent 40 years climbing the greasy pole, and having spent about a year in the comfortable Brize Mess among like-minded and interesting people, I decided not to tolerate the fall in living standards and told Assistant Director Defence I was off and away in one month's time.
He of course had dozens of LB equivalents, all faced by economics into leaving Messes up and down the country. A very bad deal for the services as well as the individuals.
Such was the usual lack of succession planning in the organisation that nobody could be found willing and able to do my job at short notice and foolish enough to live away from home under the new financial regime. After some running round in small circles and disappearing up the usual orifice, Defence Met. suggested that I should serve to age 60 by working from home, car provided, and all relevant comms wired in. Days on the road to attract full subsistence, and at least one day a fortnight at RAF Waddington Main Met. Office retaining currency, reading Orders and generally being available for ear-bashing from on high. Being a decent bloke, I very reluctantly accepted these harsh terms.
Fortunately the house was big enough for a study and the arrangements were quickly sorted. There were some awkward moments, such as having to take a phone call in the bath at 0930. My boss noted the strange acoustics but did not pursue the matter. When "my man in BFG" phoned, there was a long delay, as I had been cutting the grass at the end of a long garden, Joyce dropped me in it, so Germany suggested that Gardening Leave was in progress.
And then two military fuzz arrived on the door step, in the usual flashers' macs and Trilbys.
He of course had dozens of LB equivalents, all faced by economics into leaving Messes up and down the country. A very bad deal for the services as well as the individuals.
Such was the usual lack of succession planning in the organisation that nobody could be found willing and able to do my job at short notice and foolish enough to live away from home under the new financial regime. After some running round in small circles and disappearing up the usual orifice, Defence Met. suggested that I should serve to age 60 by working from home, car provided, and all relevant comms wired in. Days on the road to attract full subsistence, and at least one day a fortnight at RAF Waddington Main Met. Office retaining currency, reading Orders and generally being available for ear-bashing from on high. Being a decent bloke, I very reluctantly accepted these harsh terms.
Fortunately the house was big enough for a study and the arrangements were quickly sorted. There were some awkward moments, such as having to take a phone call in the bath at 0930. My boss noted the strange acoustics but did not pursue the matter. When "my man in BFG" phoned, there was a long delay, as I had been cutting the grass at the end of a long garden, Joyce dropped me in it, so Germany suggested that Gardening Leave was in progress.
And then two military fuzz arrived on the door step, in the usual flashers' macs and Trilbys.
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Tabs please !
I only ever visited and spent much time on the roof doing obs. Usually 747s
The gnomes were some distance away, probably installed by a ground ops chap with a sense of humour. Aircrew always knew where to look as did keen-eyed passengers.
I don’t remember the name of the camping site, but did take some photos of what it was like and remember it as being very well ordered with plenty of facilities...
...
A couple of photos recording our fist camping trip in Holland, sadly I cannot recall the name of the place.
...
A couple of photos recording our fist camping trip in Holland, sadly I cannot recall the name of the place.
Right, back to more interesting stuff now
Last edited by Jhieminga; 6th May 2024 at 08:36.
Thanks for the tip, but after all these years (51) I can't be 100% certain. However we had a good time there for our first camping trip outside Germany.
But the best camping site we visited regularly was Union Camping not far from Venice in Italy - absolutely brilliant!
WT
But the best camping site we visited regularly was Union Camping not far from Venice in Italy - absolutely brilliant!
WT
Thread Starter
Finally.
The plods turned up without prior notification and found me at home and actually working.
They were cagey about the reason so I decamped to the dining room and asked Joyce to take notes.
However, the thrust was regarding the date on which our gear was moved [Joyce keeps an engagement book / diary so life's little events like the dentist cannot be forgotten]. The removal firm [a minor player in the league of movers] were seemingly in the habit of charging M o D for journeys and jobs which owed more to the imagination than the truth. The Feds were offered a swift coffee and departed, never to be seen again.
WFH turned out to be rather hard, and threatened to become harder when I was asked to consider an extension of service to revise the Met Office War Book. The more we looked at it, the more unwise it seemed. There was no safe at home, thus it would have involved a tedious merry-go-round of Wittering for custody, London, Bracknell and Strike for consultations and an increasingly demob-happy family wanting a proper holiday.
Came the day when I became a nobody, having walked into RAF Waddington with a slack handful of passes and all sorts of clearances, and walked out with a list of countries not to visit for several years [countries that I had no desire to visit anyway.]
The DG sent me a nice letter on blue notepaper, and with one leap LB was free.
The plods turned up without prior notification and found me at home and actually working.
They were cagey about the reason so I decamped to the dining room and asked Joyce to take notes.
However, the thrust was regarding the date on which our gear was moved [Joyce keeps an engagement book / diary so life's little events like the dentist cannot be forgotten]. The removal firm [a minor player in the league of movers] were seemingly in the habit of charging M o D for journeys and jobs which owed more to the imagination than the truth. The Feds were offered a swift coffee and departed, never to be seen again.
WFH turned out to be rather hard, and threatened to become harder when I was asked to consider an extension of service to revise the Met Office War Book. The more we looked at it, the more unwise it seemed. There was no safe at home, thus it would have involved a tedious merry-go-round of Wittering for custody, London, Bracknell and Strike for consultations and an increasingly demob-happy family wanting a proper holiday.
Came the day when I became a nobody, having walked into RAF Waddington with a slack handful of passes and all sorts of clearances, and walked out with a list of countries not to visit for several years [countries that I had no desire to visit anyway.]
The DG sent me a nice letter on blue notepaper, and with one leap LB was free.
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Often in Jersey, but mainly in the past.
Age: 79
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All good/bad things have to come to an end! Thanks for taking us on the journey! 👍
I remember my last day (HQ MATO at RAF Uxbridge). Clearance already done by instalments, so just handed in my F1250 and drove home to Bracknell (my wife’s lovely OMQ at the RAF Staff College) and breathed a deep sigh of relief. My 30-year Military journey was over, with its pluses and minuses, and I was FREE!
Well, except for producing the Wives’ Club Newsletter, and going semi-full time as Secretary of the RAF Small Arms Association, and waited for my wife’s Redundancy to come through (which it did a year or so later!). It was a strange time, with RAF uniform largely retired to the back of the wardrobe … and it was many years before I would choose to wear anything blue!
I remember my last day (HQ MATO at RAF Uxbridge). Clearance already done by instalments, so just handed in my F1250 and drove home to Bracknell (my wife’s lovely OMQ at the RAF Staff College) and breathed a deep sigh of relief. My 30-year Military journey was over, with its pluses and minuses, and I was FREE!
Well, except for producing the Wives’ Club Newsletter, and going semi-full time as Secretary of the RAF Small Arms Association, and waited for my wife’s Redundancy to come through (which it did a year or so later!). It was a strange time, with RAF uniform largely retired to the back of the wardrobe … and it was many years before I would choose to wear anything blue!
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I still don't wear black socks!
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Thread Starter
My eccentricities are both below the knee [fortunately].
Garish proper woollen socks [wife is a prodigious sock-knitter] chosen to clash with trousers, and ..................
........................ very shiny shoes, the maintenance of which, on Sunday mornings, is said to be a form of occupational therapy.
PS Bondhu boots are not polished, madness only goes so far.
Garish proper woollen socks [wife is a prodigious sock-knitter] chosen to clash with trousers, and ..................
........................ very shiny shoes, the maintenance of which, on Sunday mornings, is said to be a form of occupational therapy.
PS Bondhu boots are not polished, madness only goes so far.
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I wonder how representative of clearing after an overseas tour my experience was? The closure of HQ 2 Gp in Germany aligned pretty neatly with my Terminal Leave. I'd asked for a holding posting 'to retire' at a major station nearest home and, come my 55th birthday, I drove there, went to the General Office for a clearance card .... and started a trek round sections I'd never used. And after a couple of hours or so, it was done, the card was returned and thus ended my 32 years or so. Happily, there had been a bit more ceremony at Rheindahlen.
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