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The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Warbirds, Replicas and Nostalgic photos in here please.
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wizzair
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:02 pm

The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by wizzair » Thu May 19, 2022 7:41 am

Possibly my favourite image of all time, beating up the 617 Sqn Has Site at Marham very early on a frosty morning.

ImageOther0001 by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

Joining the pattern at Nellis during Exercise Green Flag, February 1986.

ImageEND1 by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

And the traffic on the ramp.

ImageEND2 by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

In March 1986 I moved on to the Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit at Honington where I taught ab initio students and also ran the Qualified Weapons Instructor's course. As I suddenly had responsibilities the photos virtually dried up.

This photo was sent to me by a member of the public. Taken as I ran in to Otterburn range on Exercise Mallet Blow, it was one of a set of 13 pics taken with a motor drive.

ImageEND3 by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

The BBC came along to make a documentary called "White Knights, Fiery Steeds" about low flying in the UK. There was twilight aerial filming of taxying and take-offs as well as filming from within the pattern at Holbeach range. All this was done from a Jetranger camera-ship and I persuaded the boss that they needed someone in the left seat as safety advisor.

Between passes at Holbeach I abused my position to get some photos as briefing material for my QWI students. In this case the strafe targets.

ImageEND4 by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

ImageEND5 by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

Next, two images from the terrible HUD film we had to debrief from. An AIM9 missile leaving the rail of my aircraft in Aberporth range filmed from our buddy in trail.

Image012 by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

And the latter stages of a live 1000lb retard drop on Garvie Island.

Image011 by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

I have no photos at all of my one year on 16 Sqn at Laarbruch and the only one of any interest from my time on Standards & Evaluation at Laarbruch comes from January 91 when the Station Commander and I ferried an aircraft from Bruggen to Tabuk just ahead of the Gulf War.

ImageEND6 by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

We had set off before sunrise and it was only as we approached the tanker for a test prod in the dark that he told me that not only was he not night current but that he had not done the tanking course yet. He completed the course in one sortie. The photo was taken as the sun rose and Sicily passed down the port side.

By the time my students had finished fighting the Gulf War without me and the Berlin Wall was firmly down it was back to Blighty for a couple of ground tours before leaving the RAF in 1996.
I did get back to Honington for a while as a civvie when the Station Commander, an old mate of mine, allowed me to keep a microlight there.

ImageEND7 by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

Even that came to an end in 2015 and I am now fully ground-bound but always looking up.

That’s the end of my hardware images but flying suit patch fans might be interested in the annex to my tale which I will put in the Military Aviation Memorabilia section.

Steve W

LM47
Posts: 456
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:35 am
Location: Dunoon,Argyll.

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by LM47 » Thu May 19, 2022 8:22 am

Thank you for posting those six parts Steve.
An era sadly gone now with the demise of the rear seat executive (as my cousin Bill referred to the trade)

Rob666
Posts: 590
Joined: Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:01 pm

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by Rob666 » Thu May 19, 2022 8:52 am

Steve thanks for the service and taking the time to show/tell your time in the RAF with some great images.

Look forward to seeing your patch collection.

Regards
Rob

Fibrous Freddie
Posts: 181
Joined: Mon Aug 19, 2019 2:24 pm

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by Fibrous Freddie » Thu May 19, 2022 8:55 am

Brilliant... thanks for your service and images.

NickB
Posts: 263
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:07 am
Location: Thatcham

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by NickB » Thu May 19, 2022 9:02 am

Excellent collection - thanks for sharing.

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Mike
Posts: 22274
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2009 6:18 pm

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by Mike » Thu May 19, 2022 9:20 am

Thanks for posting these excellent photos Steve, I'm so glad that you managed to regain access to your Flickr account. :) :thumb:
This season, I'll be mostly wearing........A THONG!

matt e
Posts: 1691
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 8:00 pm

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by matt e » Thu May 19, 2022 10:06 am

Great set especially 1,2,3 and 4

Sparts99
Posts: 2761
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 8:02 pm
Location: Kent

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by Sparts99 » Thu May 19, 2022 10:09 am

Excellent posts, thanks.
In this world there's two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.

Hunter49
Posts: 670
Joined: Sat Dec 19, 2009 7:46 pm

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by Hunter49 » Thu May 19, 2022 1:32 pm

Hi, very interesting shots all F\Cers will be very grateful for your input, all the best,Rob

Pauld339
Posts: 72
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2013 12:26 pm

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by Pauld339 » Thu May 19, 2022 2:27 pm

Thanks for posting those - fascinating

F3
Posts: 2966
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2015 9:06 am
Location: Rotherham

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by F3 » Thu May 19, 2022 2:56 pm

Another terrific set. Don't suppose you can recall the year of that Mallet Blow pic? I never saw the documentary mentioned more's the pity!

warthog56
Posts: 224
Joined: Sun May 22, 2011 11:33 am

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by warthog56 » Thu May 19, 2022 4:03 pm

I echo the "Thanks" for having served our country and for providing us enthusiasts with many happy memories. Hope you are still managing to fly - greatest feeling in the world. All the Best.

wizzair
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:02 pm

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by wizzair » Thu May 19, 2022 4:17 pm

F3 wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 2:56 pm
Another terrific set. Don't suppose you can recall the year of that Mallet Blow pic? I never saw the documentary mentioned more's the pity!
Looking more closely at the image the fuselage pylons are clean so that must be us after dropping 4 x concrete 1000lbers on the runway target on 14 March 1988.

Poor copy of the programme is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlX7PqyRRVM&t=2s

Fellow FCer Taff Evans appears at 0:25 by the way.

Steve

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The Phantom
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Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 7:16 pm

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by The Phantom » Thu May 19, 2022 7:46 pm

Very good and interesting again.

Has been an excellent series of posts :thumbs:

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teeonefixer
Posts: 789
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 10:39 pm
Location: East Yorkshire

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by teeonefixer » Thu May 19, 2022 11:26 pm

Thankyou for one of the best sets of posts on FC. Not only the terrific pics but also the associated story.

Mustang531
Posts: 2370
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2020 5:47 pm

Re: The Office - Part Six - Final Part

Post by Mustang531 » Fri May 20, 2022 9:34 am

Many thanks for sharing these and your other postings, all very interesting to see what you did as a day job.

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