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The Office Annex

Do you collect patches or challenge coins, bought an interesting t-shirt from a base, some rare airshow programmes or even parts from military aircraft? This is the forum section for you!
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wizzair
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:02 pm

The Office Annex

Post by wizzair » Thu May 19, 2022 11:26 am

This is a companion piece to my series ‘The Office’ in the nostalgia section.

With all the moving from flying unit to flying unit came the regular shelling out for new badges and the bribing of my wife to sew them onto my flying suit.

Northumbrian Universities Air Squadron

ImageUntitled by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

My generic name patch for post-Finningley training leading to the much derided Team Tornado badge awarded on graduation from the Tornado Trinational Training Establishment at Cottesmore. The F104 pilots used to unpick the ‘No1 in NATO’ bit.

ImageUntitled by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

617 Sqn went for the separate brevet and used the RAF’s Tornado patch which we were given on graduation from TWCU which I rather liked although it didn’t really catch on.

ImageUntitled by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

Then there were specials for Green Flag and the Toronto Airshow.

ImageUntitled by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

The Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit at Honington was 45(R) Sqn in my day. The Weapon Instructor badge was created after I left but they still sent me one.

ImageUntitled by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

While at TWCU I got to 1000 hours Tornado as well as running air combat training at Decimomannu and accounting for a lot of rounds from our Mauser cannons.

ImageUntitled by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

16 Sqn at Laarbruch also went for the separate brevet. One name for home, one for detachments. The tradition of Wiz as a nickname in the RAF originates with Private Eye’s use of the name ‘Wislon’ for Prime Minister Harold Wilson back in the day. For some of us Wiz stuck. (My use of the personal ID Wizzair on forums predates the airline by the way).

ImageUntitled by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

16 Sqn was where I did my only Red Flag. Our Cold War role involved lobbing LGBs from a very early stage in the potential conflict.

ImageUntitled by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

Next, as part of the Laarbruch Standards & Evaluation team my pilot and I had a war role as the supernumerary crew for XV Sqn.

ImageUntitled by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

But when the Gulf War broke out all the big boys went east while four Sqn Ldrs (2 pilots, 2 navs) were kept back to continue training the crews who were not yet combat ready. All activity concentrated onto one HAS site and the crews were formed into flights according to their squadrons: II(AC), XV, 16 and 20. I was made OC 20 Flight and had to buy yet more badges. Fortunately I could repurpose my old TWCU name patch.

ImageUntitled by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

My final two tours were on the ground. As a staff officer at Strike Command I had a secondary role in our NATO headquarters ‘UK Air.’ Finally at Marham I ran the Intelligence & Mission Planning Squadron and was considered to be part of the Wing recce effort.

ImageUntitled by Stephen Wilson, on Flickr

Thank you if you got this far and I do appreciate all your good wishes and kind comments.

Steve W

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phantom23
Posts: 235
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:15 pm

Re: The Office Annex

Post by phantom23 » Thu May 19, 2022 4:28 pm

Your Posts have been very interesting and the patches are the same, some really nice stuff in their to enjoy.Thanks for sharing!

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

Re: The Office Annex

Post by Fibrous Freddie » Thu May 19, 2022 4:54 pm

Thanks. Illuminating in a way that adds to your images of aeroplanes.

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Rich H
AeroResource Correspondent
Posts: 345
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2009 10:54 pm

Re: The Office Annex

Post by Rich H » Thu May 19, 2022 6:54 pm

Great post. Thanks for sharing.

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

Re: The Office Annex

Post by Rob666 » Fri May 20, 2022 10:35 pm

Love the collection thanks for posting, some great memories for you.
Cheers
Rob

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roughcutter
Posts: 2111
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 4:47 pm
Location: Widnes, Cheshire

Re: The Office Annex

Post by roughcutter » Sun May 22, 2022 3:39 pm

Your patches give us a fascinating insight to your flying career, thanks for sharing them. :thumb:

mikee115
Posts: 737
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:38 pm

Re: The Office Annex

Post by mikee115 » Mon Jun 13, 2022 2:05 pm

Thanks for sharing the photos and your story.

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