I went to the Buccaneer OCU, had a great time, finished the Course, and 3 days later was the tragic catastrophic structural failure of the XV Squadron aeroplane out at Nellis on Red Flag, when Ken Tait and Rusty Ruston were killed. The Buccaneer Fleet was then grounded for about 7 months after that. This is not an auspicious start to your first tour, when you finish the OCU and the Fleet is grounded. However, having made contact at Kemble, I went straight back to Kemble to the Maintenance Unit, and the decision was to get Hunters out of storage, and to deliver them to the Buccaneer squadrons at Laarbruch and Honington to maintain flying proficiency until the Buccaneer came back.  In that period, then, Graham (Pitchfork) was absolutely instrumental in driving very, very, very hard to keep 208 Squadron in existence, and succeeded well because there were lots of things stacked against him.


So I went back to Kemble, flew to deliver the Hunters, and then came back and started flying on 208 Squadron full time, having done that, in June 1980. So I joined 208 Squadron as a Hunter pilot and so I have half a foot in the Hunter Chapter table. On 1st September 1980, I did my arrival check on 208 Squadron, in the Buccaneer, with Graham. On the same day, I also flew a single-seat Hunter and a 2-seat Hunter, and this was one of the things that has really set me up for where I went from there on in. I went the whole way through my first tour flying at least 2 types of aeroplanes: the Buccaneer and the Hunter and, when we had Air Cadet summer camps, the Chipmunk, which was why Rob could never find me to give me all the SLJs (Silly Little Jobs) that junior pilots normally get, because I would disappear off to the far side of the airfield and fly the Chipmunk. But this is one of the things that set me up: throughout my first tour I always flew 2 or 3 types of aeroplanes which, even in those days, was actually quite unusual.


But still I am flying the Buccaneer. Now, there’s a couple of things to consider at this time. One is that you are arriving on your first Squadron and, in a 2-seat squadron, you are crewed up with a navigator. I was crewed up with Bobby Anderson, and Bobby was a fantastic nav, and it’s a great shame that he’s not here. I really enjoyed flying with Bobby. He had come off 809 Squadron, with the Navy, so there was nothing I could do in an aeroplane that he hadn’t seen before that was going to scare him or phase him, so that was easy. But, I was never 100% sure why this crewing had been done.


But, at the time, we had an Army Ground Liaison Officer, Gavin Anderson. Now Gavin had a corporal, as all Army majors do (Jim Law), and Jim had actually graduated from Durham University with an Arts Degree, and he is a very, very good cartoonist, and those of you who have seen the Squadron diaries and the cartoons of the era, then Jim did all of these.


100th Anniversary Dinner 09

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 08 100th Anniversary Dinner 10
Home News Membership Chapters History Medals Galleries Contact Us
Home News Membership Chapters History Medals Galleries Contact Us
News Home Newsletter Reunion 100th Anniv