Letter from the Squadron - 2004
RAF Valley's success had, effectively, overfilled the training pipeline somewhat and to avoid excessive delays in training student numbers would need to come down.
This issue was compounded by concerns over experience levels on the Front Line. After many high-level debates a decision was announced in April to reduce the number of new pilots entering the training system over the next few years. The net result for 208 Squadron will be a reduction in our ab-initio pilot training task of approximately 45%. This is a significant change but other factors will affect our overall tasking; the Squadron will have more refresher training flying to do as we take over the Senior Officer refresher training courses that were previously run at BAE Systems, Warton. Additionally we will have to do some refresher flying for students who have been holding for places on Operational Conversion Units. The biggest tasking change, however, will be the arrival of Indian Air Force (IAF) trainee pilots for fast-jet training at RAF Valley. The contract for India to buy the new Hawk was signed in March and, as part of the deal, up to 75 IAF pilots will be trained over the next 3 years. All training will be done at RAF Valley and will follow broadly similar lines to our current courses; the young IAF pilots will arrive with basic jet experience on an aircraft similar to the Jet Provost and will each stay at Valley for about a year. 208 Squadron will be conducting the initial Hawk conversion and basic jet training and this promises to be an exciting and rewarding time The overall effect of all these changes will, therefore, be only a modest reduction in our overall tasking and we should remain very busy!
In detailed news we closed out the 2003 Display Season; Flt Lt Steve Kenworthy completed his highly successful season, which has received much favourable comment both here in the UK and abroad. In September we conducted a flypast at Llangefni to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Britain as well as taking part in memorial parades at Llandudno and Llangefni. There was also a major Dining-In Night to pay tribute to the occasion with a Spitfire flypast and many officers in period dress. In October ten officers from the Squadron attended the Naval 8/208 Association Dinner in London at the RAF Club. This was a great occasion, much enjoyed by all the staff and students who attended. In my speech I highlighted the continuity that exists down the generations and across the types of aircraft the Squadron has flown. In the room we had previous Squadron members covering conflicts as far back as WWII and service throughout the Middle East. Pilots who had not long graduated from RAF Valley were on operational service in the recent Gulf War, Indeed, one of the RAF operational Squadron Commanders in the recent Iraq war who is now sewing at the Joint Services' Staff College made a point of seeking out Wg Cdr Meadows and praising the quality of the young aircrew he had served with in the Gulf. The place names so recently seen in the media are very familiar to 208 Squadron members: Mosul, Kirkuk and Habbaniya, to name just a few, strike a chord now with past and present Squadron personnel. Most of all the recent conflict has shown that the Squadron has continued to play its part by providing high calibre pilots inculcated with the spirit and ethos that is so important to any military unit.
Letter from the Squadron - 2004 Page 1 2 3
