So it had been a year where the Squadron and the Association had put 100 years (almost) to rest in a very fine style, and everyone could be pleased with what had happened over their time.


The President reiterated what the Chairman had said about the Website, which gave an extremely good perspective of the Squadron, what it had achieved and what was currently happening. The Association wanted to use this to good effect over the next few years, as it moved into an era where there was no Squadron. He also reiterated what had been said about Graham Pitchfork’s book: it was a superb book (but he would say that, wouldn’t he – he was Graham’s Deputy on the Squadron) but it’s was a very good book and he urged everyone not just to read it, but to buy it!


The Valley celebrations had been a very good example of what the Squadron spirit was all about, and encapsulated the spirit that all of the Squadron had been demonstrating over many years. He recalled the days of the first CO: he had met Sir Geoffrey Bromet, in the very room that everyone was now occupying, at some of the first events he had attended, and Sir Geoffrey’s Trophy was still present: the Association had reclaimed it from the Squadron, and it would be kept in good safekeeping in the RAF Club so it could be  displayed every year at the Reunion. It typified the Squadron spirit because it was commissioned, to enable the Association to present every year to a member of the Squadron who showed ‘Excellence in the Air’, and that fundamentally is what any fast-jet squadron, or any squadron, was all about.


The President quoted one of the 208 World War One ‘aces’:


“No idea can be successfully given of the affectionate mutual regard and esteem, which gave the Squadron its spirit and which made all of us, officers and men, anxious to do our best for fear of failing each other.”


He reflected on those words and what they meant to all of those who had flown with the Squadron through its history:  Meteor boys, Spitfire boys, Hurricane boys, Hunter boys, Buccaneer boys, Hawk boys. That meant a lot, even to those who had not flown with the Squadron, who would understand what had been said.


But the Association was now at the final chapter. It had spent ten years recounting tales of derring-do about the Squadron through a series of ‘Life on 208’ starting with Ken Pugh, a farmer in the Cotswolds, flying Spitfires, all the way through ‘Twinkle’ Storey, through the Gulf War years,

100th Anniversary Dinner 05

100th Anniversary Dinner Page  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

…... Continued

100th Anniversary Dinner 04 100th Anniversary Dinner 06
Home News Membership Chapters History Medals Galleries Contact Us
Home News Membership Chapters History Medals Galleries Contact Us
News Home Newsletter Reunion 100th Anniv