98th Entry Halton Apprentices

Barry Owens sent me the advert above which included a photo taken at Akrotiri during my Lightning days and with which I was familiar - at least I thought I was. Some of you will have seen another version of the photograph which showed me standing on the Lightning by the canopy at position No 2. On [...]

For many years now, with startling regularity we hear news stories that tell us how the military has been so under funded that soldiers need to buy their own kit, lest they go into theatre without adequate equipment or protection. The long-running accusations were even said to be the catalyst for the mole that recently [...]

Hi Guys
We have been asked by Mike and Co to try to come with something that will steer the web site more towards an interactive mode and away from a simple blog site. It occurred to me that when this whole matter started up last year and a reunion mentioned a spider’s web of interaction [...]

The photo above was kindly sent to me by the 56 Squadron Association following the visit I made to their stand at the Waddington Air show last weekend. It was taken in 1968 on the Lightning dispersal (Golf) at Akrotiri. There are a number of familiar faces from the past I can recall and I can be found [...]

I am grateful to Jane Legge for sending in the photo above of Andy flying a Canberra. Its a pity, but I can’t quite see if he is smiling. Andy is flying a Canberra B2 at Bassingbourne in March 1968. Andy says: “the training was impecable in those days - the wheels are down”.

Another photo sent in by John Burgess taken at Finningley. In the cockpit of this Red Arrows Gnat is former Manager of the Team (1973-1974), Flt Lt Bob Joy, getting ready for departure. Although we traced Bob to his home in Ely, Cambridgeshire some considerable time ago we have yet to hear anything from him. I am sure [...]

Its amazing what you find when you look. I have come across some photo’s sent to me some time ago by John Burgess. They were taken during the summer of 1973 when Budge was at Finningley working on the Flight Simulator. The Herc pictured above was a support aircraft for the Red arrows prior to a European display [...]

David Molden’s recent memories of Dartmoor got me rummaging in the old photo collection again and I came up with the picture above. That’s me on the left and David on the right. The date 2nd May 1964. About 5 weeks after Passing Out from Halton. It was my wedding day and David was my [...]

I am taking a significant risk publishing the photo above and I am sure I will get some flack! It was taken Christmas 1995 at the Flamingo Theatre Club, Akrotiri during my last performance as the Pantomime Dame. I was the ‘Queen of Hearts’! My acting days are now over. Oh! yes they are!  The RAF theatre [...]

 
More problems were to be found on the Puma and a Royal Flight task added to the mounting workload prior to ‘D’ day. Part 3 of the Operation Granby story describes the final challenges and the eventual outcome of my visit to Saudi. On my return to ‘Strike’ there were more surprises in store for me. To [...]