Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1839315
chevvron wrote:
PeteSpencer wrote:
chevvron wrote:and then another 7 as Wing Gliding Liaison Officer before I was booted out.


Must have been the screaming up and down in that souped up Zephyr Six (or was it a Zodiac?) that nobbed off the powers that be.................. :roll:

I would never drive a Ford; they're for commercial travellers.
The only 6 cyl engines I ever drove were on the twin drum winches at Halton; Bedford 6 cyl coach engines; ran on 'military' grade fuel (about 80 octane if you were lucky) .
We would start them up about 9am and they would run until it got dark.


Ah Apologies! You're not who I thought you were :oops:
#1839318
Adrian wrote:..

I fear some CCF units may have existed pretty much solely because of the "jollies"! ..


I met some CCF/RAF Cadets whose schools made CCF compulsory unless you declared a 'Conscientious' objection, in which case you had compulsory 'social service' of some sort (and schoolfellows' and staff implicit opprobrium) .. very wrong IMHO. Anyway, some had chosen RAF Section only because they knew that Army got muddy and RN got cold and seasick :?
#1839320
PeteSpencer wrote:
chevvron wrote:
PeteSpencer wrote:
Must have been the screaming up and down in that souped up Zephyr Six (or was it a Zodiac?) that nobbed off the powers that be.................. :roll:

I would never drive a Ford; they're for commercial travellers.
The only 6 cyl engines I ever drove were on the twin drum winches at Halton; Bedford 6 cyl coach engines; ran on 'military' grade fuel (about 80 octane if you were lucky) .
We would start them up about 9am and they would run until it got dark.


Ah Apologies! You're not who I thought you were :oops:

There was a guy at Halton with a 6 cyl Triumph Vitesse 2 litre which had had some work done on the engine.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1839325
No this was a then civvy gliding instructor at Henlow Easter/April 1962 called 'Pete'

I'm sure I've 'spoken' to him on here in years gone by:

Though I was not in his 'section' and didn't fly with him, I did get a ride in his Zephyr which he got up to 100mph on Henlow's grass.....

Sorry but I thought it was you ...... :roll:
#1839343
chevvron wrote:
oakworth wrote:I loved my 4 years in the ATC.

Only 4?
I did 36 including 7 years as a Squadron Commander and then another 7 as Wing Gliding Liaison Officer before I was booted out.
My Wing Commander was jealous of me for several reasons, one being I was invited by the Lord Chamberlain to attend Her Majesty at a Royal Garden Party at 'the Palace' and he wasn't.(I think the selection was done by the Regional Commandant ie over his head)


Became busy flying for a living, but always kept contact with my old Sqn. Was Chair of the Civ Committee of my kids Sqn, hence my jaundiced view of today’s ATC.
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By Human Factor
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1839670
Rjk983 wrote:The short answer would be yes, Chipmunk, 11AEF at Teesside in 1987. But that wouldn’t do justice to how important the ATC was to a young lad living on a council estate in the 80s.

I joined 346 Tynemouh Sqn in the mid 80s when I was 13. At 13yr9months and 3 days I had my first chippie flight. You had to be 13/9months to fly for some odd reason.

It was with 11AEF out of Teesside Airport due to Leeming being closed for resurfacing. Went there a couple of more times then settled into a routine of getting to go flying every 4 months or so at Leeming. Our Sqn had a couple of cops as officers/Civ Instructors so they always applied for mid week flying slots when they had days off. My school was very relaxed about letting the 15 or so of us who were in the ATC (spread across the year groups) missing days of school to go flying.

I just can’t imagine that being the case anymore.

As soon as I had a driving licence I applied to become a staff cadet at 11AEF and spent just about every Saturday driving 90mins each way for 2 years strapping eager cadets into parachutes and aircraft. Then getting a flight at the end of the day if the weather and aircraft slots were favourable.

I moved to 7AEF when I went to Uni as my first year course wasn’t suitable for joining the UAS. did another 18 months at Newton, flying almost exclusively in the front seat with Bill Purchase of round the world fame. I finished up with 44hours dual (plus another 15hrs or so AEF as pax) in the Chipmunk before I got into EMUAS and moved on to the Bulldog.

In my time I also blagged a JP5 trip at Linton, a Tucano trip at Linton. Numerous Sea King trips at Boulmer, chinook and puma rides across Germany. Nimrod patrols across the North Sea, Hercules touring the UK at low level, sitting behind the pilots at low level through Wales then going down the back and dangling my legs over the ramp as we flew down Windermere waving at the tourists below. Another interesting flight with Gurkhas being thrown out of the back over the Solent (the first one was literally thrown out by his Sgt Maj when he refused in the door). The day the Lynx from HMS Argonaut (called Jason naturally) came to our school to do a presentation to anyone interested in the Navy, then took all of the Air Cadets for 10 min flights to go and hover over each of our houses.

On top of the flying I did 9 summer camps in 6 years including Gutersloh and Gatow (Berlin) just after the wall came down but the four powers were still dividing the city and crossing to the east still had a bit of procedure to it. I also went on the international exchange to America, via a Herc ride to Ramstein. I got range qualified at 16 and was teaching and supervising 13 year olds on the rifle range at the back of our cadet hut. Plus many other adventure training weekends, duke of Edinburgh’s, sport, socials. It was a great time.

All in all a wonderful adolescence, and whilst the organisation today can’t offer these experiences as the world has changed, it does still offer the most it can to today’s youth. It will be all they have ever known of the organisation they will no doubt look back on it as fondly as I do when they are decrepit late forty year olds...


RJK, I wonder if our paths crossed. I was EMUAS in 93. I hurt myself quite badly not long after and couldn’t continue. Fortunately, civvy world was accommodating and the consolation prize turned out to be pretty good.

I never met Bill Purchase that I know of, despite most of my Air Cadet flying being at Newton but I was delighted to fly his “round the world” Chippie out of Flabob with its current owner in 2019 for a few circuits.
#1839680
PeteSpencer wrote:No this was a then civvy gliding instructor at Henlow Easter/April 1962 called 'Pete'

Sorry not me; I only joined as a 13 year old in 1962 (but a 'mistake' in my 3822 got my dob wrong by a year so according to that I was 14!)
My only connection with 616 at Henlow was when I was WGLO for 612 and 613 then both at Halton, 612 having been 'boltholed ' there when the closure of Abingdon as an RAF station and the AEF and UAS moving to Benson plus Puma Squadrons from Odiham also moving there meant they were booted out of Benson before moving back west to the Army base at Abingdon.
Wing HQ phoned and said they had a problem; the guy who was supposed to be WGLO for 616 wasn't answering phone or mail so could I help out temporarily supplying cadets for courses at Henlow; this meant liaising with all 29 Sqdns in my wing to find suitable candidates!
Transpired the guy who was supposed to be doing it, like me a commisioned officer in the RAFVR(T), had emigrated to Australia and hadn't had the decency to tell wing HQ let alone resign his commision!!
Well that's what I was told; could have been 'detained at Her Majesty's pleasure' for all I knew.
It happens. I know of a case in my profession where he was 'inside' for a short period when his managment thought he was on leave; got found out when the pay section were told not to pay his NI 'cos Her majesty would be paying it!
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By foxmoth
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1839688
PeteSpencer wrote:No this was a then civvy gliding instructor at Henlow Easter/April 1962 called 'Pete'

I'm sure I've 'spoken' to him on here in years gone by:

Though I was not in his 'section' and didn't fly with him, I did get a ride in his Zephyr which he got up to 100mph on Henlow's grass.....

Sorry but I thought it was you ...... :roll:


The car I remember was one of the guys at Tangmere, think it was a Jag that had speakers under the bonnet and he would drive around playing the sound of an Elephant charging or machine guns going!
#1839762
My first flight was in the back seat of a chipmunk out of Manston back in 1979 on a summer camp. I was with 468 (Hyde and Hattersley) squadron. It changed my life and 42 years later I’ve got several thousand hours in my logbook and currently flying Airbus A320 series aircraft. I’ve not flown a light aircraft for many years, but I will be changing that over the next few weeks when I renew my ppl.
JAFO, kanga liked this
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1839769
PeteSpencer wrote:No this was a then civvy gliding instructor at Henlow Easter/April 1962 called 'Pete'

I'm sure I've 'spoken' to him on here in years gone by:

Though I was not in his 'section' and didn't fly with him, I did get a ride in his Zephyr which he got up to 100mph on Henlow's grass.....

Sorry but I thought it was you ...... :roll:


Thanks to the unusual Ford name ‘Zephyr ‘ I was able quickly to search my 25000 odd posts and found the link in 10 posts:

The ‘Pete ‘ in question contacted me by email in 2015 and posts on here as ‘cooperman’, though I must admit I haven’t seen a post in recent years

Amazing asset this Forum :lol:

Peter
User avatar
By foxmoth
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1839810
A319 wrote: I’ve got several thousand hours in my logbook and currently flying Airbus A320 series aircraft. I’ve not flown a light aircraft for many years, but I will be changing that over the next few weeks when I renew my ppl.

I always kept my SEP and instructors rating going, I thought it such a shame that so many get into flying because of their love of it then give up “real” flying when they go commercial!
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