98th Entry Halton Apprentices

I have just heard from Dave Davison. This is what he had to say:
Thanks for getting in touch, I remember your first day at Halton and your first RAF haircut. We met briefly in Cyprus in the 60s/70s. You were stationed there, I was a flight enginner on the Belfast, transitting Cyprus. I left in [...]

My grandson asked the other day: ‘What was your favourite ‘fast food’ when you were growing up grandad?’
‘We didn’t have fast food when I was growing up,’ I informed him.
‘All the food was slow.’
‘C’mon, seriously. Where did you eat?’
‘It was a place called ‘home,” I explained. !
‘Mum cooked every day and when Dad got home from [...]

Anomalies in the engine control software of Chinook Mk II helicopters could have been to blame for a crash which left 29 dead on the Mull of Kintyre, according to a document obtained by the BBC. I was very much involved in the Chinook Mk II introduction into service as the MOD Engineering Authority (EA) [...]

In my early service days I often heard the term “Hairy Old Chief” referring of course to the experienced Chief Tech who had been around a while and gained some credible experience. He had to be OLD, the hair was optional. I do not think that I ever wanted to be such a beast.
When I [...]

We know at home we are quite truly known,
As those who can and do obey, for that is what we do.
Also at home are they who send us here and they who know we must obey.
For we are their protectors and their way must so be ours.
For we obey.

So in the searing heat of all [...]

I have received the following message from Courtney Richards which I thought you may like to read:
….Sir, after a long long search, I’ve finally found my old College mate, Football Team mate, and close friend; only to find out he’s now dead. Chris Cho Young writes that he travelled to UK from British Guiana with Cyril [...]

Please find at the link below one of the articles I wrote for ‘Scubascope’ about diving in Scapa Flow while I was in the RAF. Just as background I started diving in Singapore, continued in UK, Cyprus, back to UK and finally back to Singapore before leaving the RAF there and travelling to Australia. I [...]

It was number one wife that started it. For my own part I had every intention of being ‘retained by HRH’ as long as it was her pleasure. The pension plan was good and the job spec varied, so why not?

Here is a nice photograph for all you Vulcan fans taken a few days ago at Brize Norton . An unusual formation resulting in a striking picture. Two old vetrans who have previously served together. When I was in Cyprus between 1967 and 1970 the VC10 and Vulcan both operated daily out of Akrotiri during this period. They were [...]

25 Years ago I was teaching at Cranwell and commuting to the College every day from my home in Doncaster. The miners strike started in June 1984 and a terrible period of unrest developed in and around my adopted home town. Daily battles between miners and the police took place and life long friends and families [...]