Letter from the Squadron - 2014

In my last letter to the Association I informed you about several of the Sqn’s staff who had been selected for foreign exchange postings and as you can see from the photos, they are generally coping well with the hardships of life in North America flying the latest fast jets. In fact Lt Rob Hunt did so well during his USN Hawk training that he has been retained as a creamie instructor at NAS Meridian while Flt Lt Will Macdonald (pictured right) has recently flown his first solo on the Harrier AV8-B.

Unfortunately, there was no Hawk display during 2013 and this will remain the case for 2014 due to the limited number of staff on the Sqn, but hopefully we may gain permission for a display during the 2015 season. Despite the lack of a display there were still plenty of opportunities to take jets away from Valley, with the creamie instructors regularly seen departing the MATZ on a Friday afernoon for some far flung holiday destination. Highlights of the 2013 season were Malta, Silac in Slovakia and the Phantom Phlyout at Wittmund in Germany. The Sqn has also detached to Aalborg in Denmark for staff training and Lecce in southern Italy for student close formation training.  Along with all of this we are currently planning a Brandy Sours detachment to Cyprus for 2 weeks during July with some ACT thrown in for good measure.

With 2014 being the centenary of the start of the First World War, we are planning to apply a commemorative paint scheme to one of our aircraft which is due out of its major service in August. The paint scheme is based upon the colourings of the Shuttleworth Collection’s ex 208 Sqn Bristol Fighter and will hopefully have the name Geoffrey Bromet painted on the side. If the Shuttleworth Collection are agreeable, we hope to briefly fly in formation with the Bristol Fighter to produce some memorable photos. This year also marks the 40th Anniversary of the Hawk TMk1 and the accomplishment of 1.1 million flying hours for this hard-working jet. In order to mark this occasion, we are planning to conduct a series of adventure training days with the intention of climbing and descending a total of 1.1 million feet within the Snowdonia Mountain Range over the course of the summer.  

As you can see, the last 12 months has been crammed with activity on 208 Sqn and if our plans come to fruition, I should have plenty more to tell you about at the annual Dinner in October.  

All the best until then.

- Wing Commander Nick Gatenby

Back to
Hawk Articles

Letter from the Squadron - 2014 Page  1  2