Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Model Boating => Topic started by: raflaunches on August 10, 2012, 02:59:48 pm
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Hi everyone
If you don't know by now, I am Nick Brown and I am currently in the Falklands, not through my own choice though! I have always been interested in the area but never thought I would end up here for 4months! :o
Apart from the War in 1982, the Islands have a long historical links to shipping (thanks to Ron Dean for informing me about the area before I flew down) the entire coast is covered in ship wrecks ranging from sailing ships to German cruisers from WW1, there is a pair of 12inch guns from HMS Canopus still used to this day but only for ceremonial use and when I return home in November I will upload as many pictures as possible. However, Port Stanley is a place full of strange sights (other than odd RAF/Army lad running around!) the strangest has to be the shoe camp where the islanders leave a shoe if they leave the island but intend to return, they leave a pair of shoes if they do not intend to return!
There is also a totem pole with all the places in the UK and their distances from Port Stanley, most are over 8000miles away :o
Reminders of the last war are all around us ranging from crashed helicopters to the most scary and most dangerous threat to us, minefields. We have been informed that there are still 113 minefields with over 25,000 mines still not accounted for!
Hope to continue my posts as I visit different parts of the islands, I have already seen the penguins at Volunteer Point, unfortunately Martin, I can't upload any pictures down here due to security reasons but I will do my best to keep everyone up to date.
Best regards
Nick B
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I for one will follow your reports with great interest, Nick.
I actually applied for a job as a woodwork teacher at Stanley high school way back in 1982.
My CV and application form including letter of application was sent from Fleetwood post office on Saturday 13th March 1982.
Strangely I never did hear anything about the post........wonder if it's still vacant???
neil
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Weather update... its above zero degrees Celsius {-) and its not snowing (yet {-)) forecast gusting winds reaching 40knots! (thats nothing compared to last week we had 50+kts!)
I have a sore head this morning spent too much time at the C.O.'s leaving party, so its my own fault :embarrassed:, hope I can see the aircraft this afternoon (when I mean afternoon it will be evening for everybody back in the UK).
Neil, its a shame you did not get a response regarding the job you will probably get a reply in a few years time informing that the post has been filled!
The people in Port Stanley are very friendly and don't mind guiding us poor RAF lads through the streets to find our barracks at 12am! However I will never complain about the condition of British roads ever again, apart from sticking to a speed limit of 40mph the roads are like driving on a mix of gravel and clay, the bits with tarmac have pot holes you could loose a wheel in and we saw numerous Land Rovers broken down by the road side!
What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger (or so I have been told)
Regards
Nick B
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lucky to have roads.so count your self lucky in oman we had sand sand and a bit more sand in our meals and not a six month tour. but 12 months we had a few mines as well trouble was some of our lorries went over them only once mind you ,were not worth. much left over from the war and you do have a proper runway every time a plane took off we filled the holes in but do not worry the good times will soon be here gordon ps ex cpl cook attached to no one sqdn raf regiment for a time now retired after 22 very good years do not grumble you will miss it when your time comes gordon
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HI Nick
I'll be interested in anything you have to post ................ and eventually the pics :-))
Dave
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Nick.....go back a bit and find my blog about 1982. Comes under "Nautical Strange But True". Then you can compare my pics as it was then, with yours as it is now. A lifetime and a different "life" then! Bryan.
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Been there (twice), done that, got the T-shirt (or rather a sweater %)) Mines are not nice, mind where you go.
Enjoy your tour :}
Pics from the 2nd time down mid 80's......
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Hi everyone
Thank you for the continueing support, I am entering the 1 month marker tomorrow one quarter through my tour already, I really must be enjoying myself!
Bryan, I had a look at the pictures posted on the Nautical Strange But True thread and it looks very similar to pictures I have of Port Stanley the only difference being the lack of snow in my pictures! I have walked the same 'roads' in your pictures and I am sure everybody will be pleased to know that there is a very strong sense of pride in the British Forces defending the islands past and present, but whilst Liberation Day has been and gone the next big event in the Islanders calander is their 180th annerversary of being in the Falklands something I will miss but I am sure it will be a sight to behold!
Weather update... Very strong gusting winds exceeding the RAF met reports finally reached 55kts! Very amazed to see the civilain airliner take off sideways from the runway :o
Still its better than when I first arrived with a foot of snow in places and bitterly cold its just cold and windy but we have been informed that this is just a calm before the storm and expect more snow to come over the following weeks.
Nick B
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Update: Weather- Strong gusting winds exceeding 40kts, air temp 6 deg C, wind chill makes it feel like -8 deg C %%
Working today has been a nightmare with regards to the wind, it was so bad with the low temperature that I actually got wind burn on my face!
The vehicles particularly the Land Rovers do not like this weather at all, our wagon suffers from starting problems especially in the mornings usually when we are in a hurry to pick up the jet as it lands, once again Murphy's Law is in force!
Apart from this though, the clear skies and bright sunshine allows us to see the mountains behind the airfield, the pictures we have got just goes to show the unspoilt landscape in the Falklands. We often get Turkey Vultures swooping quite low over us, I have tried to get a photo of one but they are quite fast and it is rumoured that they have a particular taste for berets!
See you soon
Nick B
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Greetings Nick,
Good to hear your regular report, very interesting reading! :-))
What season is it down there?
How much daylight do you get?
... hoper you took a small boat kit to build where your down there!
Martin
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Hi Martin
To answer your questions, at the moment its about mid winter but I have been informed that we are going through a nice patch in the weather much like a calm before the next storm!
It starts getting light about 8-9am at the moment but gets dark about 4-5pm so it varies between 6-8hours depending on how nice the weather is. At the moment we have bright blue skies and looks like a typical British winter's day but looks can be very deceiving the actual temperature is closer to -10 deg C than 0 deg C! When it gets dark the temperature really drops, quite noticeable in our barrack block rooms. We have a 1.5mile long corridor which connects all the building together so you don't have to go outside too often but there is no heating or insulation in the corridor, its often mentioned to the FNG (Falklands New Guy) that if he gets lost inside the rabbit warren of accommodation buildings to search for the coldest part of the passageway and keep following it and it will lead to you back to the main corridor! That has saved me the embarrassment of having to ask for directions back to my own room! :embarrassed:
Unfortunately due to baggage restrictions I could not take any model boat or any modelling equipment with me as I only had 55kg to play with, most of that went on clothes and RAF uniforms but I read the forum every day so I can at least see what everybody else is doing.
:-))
Nick B
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So good to read your reports hope all is well with you and hope you packed your thermal long johns LOL
Dave
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So good to read your reports hope all is well with you and hope you packed your thermal long johns LOL
Dave
I have these for the winters here in Finland lol
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Unisex-Battery-Powered-Heated-Fleece-Winter-Socks-Medium-UK-5-8-/290681810056?pt=UK_Men_s_Socks&hash=item43adfc6c88
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Weather update... not much change, still quite cold- ground temp 4 deg C wind chill takes it down to about -5 deg C, but at least its not blowing too hard!
I packed enough thermals to last a year down here (you never know with the RAF if they change their mind about where to post you!)
I started a fitness regime which most people like to do whilst they are in the Falklands, the Falklands Challenge. You have to run 574km and row/swim 62km all done in your time off! I have only been on it 3 days and I have achieved 70km running and 4km rowing. %%
I intend to finish the challenge in less than a month or die trying!
Whilst I visited Port Stanley I bought a book from the gift shop next to the Whalebone arch church, typically its all about the Falklands and the Royal Navy. Its called the Falklands and the Dwarf. Its about the cruise of HMS Dwarf, a British composite gunboat, sent to the Falklands in 1881 to enforce a seal hunting season as many seal skin traders chose to ignore the Falklands Government decision to impose a limit and a hunting season. The Captain, Commander William Wiseman sails to the Falklands and arrives on Christmas Day 1881 and sends a regular letter back to his wife back in England. Looking at the pictures in the book life is not that different from the 1880's as many of the buildings in the photos are exactly the same today! I am a third the way through the book, I'll tell everyone about what happens.
Brrr...
Nick B
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Can you get most of the comforts of home?
Tetley tea, sliced bread, bad kebabs?
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Can you get most of the comforts of home?
Tetley tea, sliced bread, bad kebabs?
NAAFI shop..... like ASDA, well almost.... {-) {-) {-)
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We can get some luxury goods like chocolate and tea/coffee but the milk is the UHT variety however the GE (Ground Engineer) on the Airbridge jet arrived from the UK this morning he kindly bought with him some real milk, best taste I've had for 4weeks. We often don't have any pork based products, even the sausages are beef! If we are very lucky we can get some bacon for breakfast but it runs out very fast!
Due to the food being shipped out here everything is usually out of date, most chocolate and crisps are often 2months out of date and its done nothing to effect me...yet :-))
The NAAFI shop (this ones probably closer to a SPAR shop {-)) supply most of the luxury goods at relatively cheap prices but if you go to Port Stanley you could say good bye to a lot of money for some Jaffa cakes or Pringles often selling for £3.00+ per tube! Luckily we have a local bakery so we can get fresh bread and cakes every day but the freshest food we are told to eat are fish and chicken since they do not have to be flown back to the UK for certification only to be returned several months later.
At least the beer is cheap but the bar closes at 10.30pm every night and you get kicked out by the MPs, so there are certain drawbacks to being down here but I am returning to Volunteer Point this afternoon to see some more penguins, hopefully I will return before the bad weather hits us, the storm clouds are gathering over MPA and the temperature is dropping very quickly.
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Always a bed to be found somewhere at East Cove.
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Had another trip back to Volunteer Point to visit the penguins again, this time we had to be more careful due to a particularly nasty bird circling around, a Skua.
For any one who does not what they are like they are very territorial and have a particular dis-like of humans, especially in the breeding season. They attack by flying into your head, trying to stun or knock out their intended target, some people have been critically injured from these aggressive flyers.
Whilst on this visit we met several members of the HMS Dauntless, the new super-destroyer. They are on a 7month tour of the Atlantic and have had to put up with some bad weather on the way to the Falklands, but they are all very happy to be here, especially to see some real penguins! On our way back to MPA we over flew Port Stanley and to our surprise in the harbour, not far from where almost 98 years ago the Invincible and Indomitable were anchored, was HMS Dauntless. We were flying at about 200ft in a Seaking but from this height the size of the ship was impressive!
We have had a change in the weather again... we have beautiful blue skies but the temperature is still quite cold, we actually had some proper rain on Friday night, I knew this because I was out on the pan servicing a jet in these conditions. It was actually quite pleasant as it reminded us of home, apart from it blowing in horizontally! :}
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Hi, oh chilled one.
In one of your recent despatches you mentioned a possible trip to South Georgia. In a Hercules. I know it's been a few years since I was there....but where can a Herc land? We had enough trouble finding a suitable spot for a Sea-King! Bryan.
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Hi Bryan
I don't think they intend to land at South Georgia in the Hercules, I think from what I have been told that they will fly around the island looking for icebergs, ironically the exercise is called Op Cold Stare. The Hercules is primarily used for maritime reccee in the Falklands but they allow some of the poor marooned airman (like me!) to see some of the sights that the air crew see on a regular basis.
It actually warmed up yesterday to a mild 10 deg C in the sunlight, it was almost a pleasure to go outside! To compare the inside temp of the corridor remained the freezing cold temp that it always seems to maintain, can anyone explain how that works, the same principle seems to work with aircraft hangars, it can be coldish outside but freezing cold inside the building, I know the building has to warm up but it can be ridiculously cold in the afternoon in the hangar compared to the outside air temp! I think its a RAF conspiracy to keep us under control {-).
For anyone who has never had the opportunity to visit the Falklands, the best way I can describe Mount Pleasant Airfield is remember what the 1980's were like. Whenever you go for a few drinks in the NAAFI the music playing when you first enter will most certainly something from the 80's, we think that most of MPA's population were born in the late 70's to the early 80's so it music we can all relate to. Some of the equipment we use is actually older than I am, the VC-10 certainly is! Such a shame that she is retiring next year, the queen of the skies will only been seen in a museum. The buildings down here are showing their age, they were originally built in 1984 and whilst the facility is maintainable some new projects are starting up to improve our barrack blocks, please let them make them with bricks this time not portacabins on blocks. You can hear who the next person is talking to 4 rooms away, the walls are that thin!
Only three months to go now... the penguins are coming...
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Hi Nick,
I didn't think that you had such big hangers down there, big enough to house a CV10.... the tail seem very tall when I stood under one at Duxford.
.... what a beautiful plane.
What do Penguin burgers taste like?
Martin
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Now Now Martin you will have the RSPB after you!!!
Geoff
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Hi Nick,
What do Penguin burgers taste like?
I don't know Martin - but there is a penguin in Spain that knows what I taste like - it bit my finger :o
........ yes, all my own fault.
Hey Nick - what's the night sky like - can't be much pollution down there?
Dave
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Penguin burgers? Tastes a bit fishy to me {-) that last burger served to me in the junior ranks mess did look rather dodgy!
I've heard that the locals have eaten penguin and their eggs recently but its nothing to write home about, apparently it tastes very similar to sea gull due to all the fish that they eat. Anyway you wouldn't want to eat such a fluffy pretty king penguin chick now would you? Mind you, like Norseman, I bet they know what we taste like!
The night sky is pretty amazing down here, unfortunately due to working on an active airfield the lights are on all the time but when I visited Port Stanley a few weeks ago the sky was the darkest blue and it was the most stars I have ever seen without a telescope! There were even some constellations I recognised the easiest was Orion the hunter which I forgot is visible in the Southern hemisphere at this time of the year. I will have to try to get a decent photo next time I go for a walk about in Stanley.
The aircraft hangar is big enough to house not just a VC10 but a Hercules too, often sharing the hangar for those long winter nights! We even had the Ground Engineer asking if his 767 could fit in, we estimated that he could just about fit if he came in perfectly straight! If you look on Google Earth you can spot it next to aircraft pan at the most Western point of the runway, when I looked last time I thought that there were two F3 Tornado's sitting on the pan, it was not until I zoomed in further that I realised my mistake. The two aircraft were a VC10 and a Hercules, it goes to show how big the area I have to work on really is!
Weather update: wind has continued to blow very hard 30-40mph gusts with a prediction of more wind and cold weather soon!
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Weather update: mixture of rain showers and winds upto 30mph gusts, still very cold due to wind chill, my room hasn't felt this cold for a little while!
Managed to see the stars on the darkest part of the airfield, even with the runway lights on I could make out several other constellations such as the Southern Cross and could even see the Milky Way!
We had fun yesterday trying to make the pilot and ground engineer understand what we needed them to do, a bit difficult considering they only spoke (or claimed) Spanish! Armed with our GCSE Spanish we managed to get through and tell them that they needed to turn left on the aircraft pan and not carry on travelling forwards towards the western approach, this would have ended in disaster due to the Hercules being parked in the way, I would not want to be the person filling out the paper work to explain how that happened! <*<
The Typhoon pilots were showing off last night putting on a excellent display of aerobatics, it never ceases to amaze me to see them do a vertical climb after takeoff and disappear into the blue sky and then a few minutes later seeing them screaming down the runway at 100ft!
Oh well back to work, got another jet coming in this afternoon hopefully there will be no problems...
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Nick, do you still get 747s coming in? I had the pleasure of flying out on the 1st one from there (First Class yet!) "Only" 18 hours to Brize...including a 3 hour stopover at Ascension. Beats the Herc hands down. Bryan.
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Almost anything beats a Herc!!!
Bob
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A Beverley takes some beating
Ned
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Wow this one brings back some memories of serving down there on 2 different ships 7 months on Leeds castle and 3 months on the Cardiff. Last time I flew back it was being done by a private company air Luxor I think as the tri-stars we tied up with afghan and Iraq missions.
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do not forget the argosy nice and quite way back 1960 s Aden to Oman
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do not forget the argosy nice and quite way back 1960 s Aden to Oman
I think RAF Steamer Point Aden was a tad warmer than MPA {-) {-) {-)
Ned
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At the moment we only have a 767-300 flying in twice a week, an Airbus A340-300 with two super Pumas (helicopters) every 2nd wednesday, a small Airbus (don't know which one!) every Saturday and once a month a C-17 pops its wheels down on the runway. We also have to deal with aero medical evacs and VIP visits. I have also had to see in the VC10, BNG Islander and a Learjet, but the one I am looking forward to is the huge Russian 'Antonov' transport which sometimes appears down here, I have not seen yet but the pictures of it down here are impressive!
Weather has been unkind to us on the VASS pan, we struggled to get power to our knackered Landie this morning due to its well known 'not liking the cold climate anymore' starter motor and glow plugs. Eventually when we turned up it was that cold the 767's apu wouldn't start and there was no electrical power to the aircraft! We had to nick one of the VC10's power sets (Houchin) to get enough power into the 767 before it would start its apu! The wind has blown down for now but the temperature this morning was very cold, we had to wait for the sun to rise for the frost and ice to melt off the 767! We also had to go on a wild goose run to chase some geese off the pan to avoid them being sucked down the jet intake!
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only a tad
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The antonov is good fun if you get a chance to fly on her a nice viewing window in the floor to watch the world go by.
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I only hope the Antonov does turn up, even if it's only to marshall it around our aircraft pan. :-))
Weather has gone down hill rapidly last night with snow/sleet showers before freezing to well below -10. I know this becasue I was standing out in it last night being duty doorman for the Timmy's Bar until 1130pm! Wish I had dressed a bit warmer for the weather! <:(
Whislt we are dicussing the type of aircraft we all flew down here in, how long did the flight or flights last? My 767 flight seemed to go on forever, 9 hours from RAF Brize Norton to Ascension and then (supposededly) 8 hours from Ascension to the Falklands, we had an hour stop at Wideawake on Ascension before reboarding and continue our long journey!
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The air Luxor flight was about the same, the c10 was about 10 hours from the uk 3 hour stop over 9 hour to Falklands really long ready to cry by the time we got off.
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VC10 then Herc....about 27 hours total. BY.
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Very interesting thread, Seen 66 knots on our ships anemometer whilst in the harbour in Fremantle.
Nick
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Hi Nick B, this is a great thread I am really enjoying it,I spent 7 years in the RAF (MT) & enjoyed it all but wander lust caught up with me & I just wanted to go when I wanted not when I was told I had to. Mick B.
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Guys.....66 knots is very fast for the wind........ {:-{
Many years ago .....I was onboard HMAS Brisbane [DDG - 4500 tons] ....150 km east of NSW in a force 9 gale = ~~~~ 45 knots
The only location to view the consequences was on the bridge :o ...an eye opener...... Derek.....
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There's a bit more to that story, maybe another thread %)
NicK
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I am glad everyone is finding my little exploits interesting, I thought that the winds were bad here on land but I don't like the idea of being on board a ship during those type of conditions!
I don't think I'll be complaining about the return trip so much knowing that how long it took everybody else to reach this wonderful little rock in the South Atlantic! :-))
The wind has gone away for now but the temperature has remained its usual 'brass monkey' condition, but I would be willing to put some good money down that the weather will get worse for the end of the week when I have to go on exercise down at Mare's Harbour for a day. Mare's Harbour is not far from Bertha's Beach where next colony of Gentoo penguins are located so I will be taking my camera with me.
I mentioned earlier in this thread that I was trying to get on a trip to South Georgia in a Herc... apart from the weather putting it the flight on hold I found out how far away the island is from the Falklands... in total it is 10 hour trip!!!, 4.5 hours to get there, 1 hour circling around, then another 4.5 hours to return!!! :o (and that's in perfect conditions!)
Our Landrover died last night and had to be towed away, I bet we don't get a decent replacement, we have had to borrow the Herc team's spare wagon which is nicer to sit in but an appalling drive (I take it all back VASS Landie I would prefer to have you back... once you are fixed!)
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Hi raflaunches, really interesting the thread. I enjoyed 4 years in the RAF, worst thing to happen to me was 6 weeks in a tent in Feb. in a turnip field in Germany in 1959. Apparently I was evacuated after a simulated nuclear attack! I "died" about 4 weeks into this.(Which meant I could get back to camp for a shower etc.)
regards Roy
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Regarding your 10/11 hour "trip" to S. Georgia....It would normally be a very uncomfortable 4 day trip to get there, followed by a 4 day calm interlude, followed by a really wild 5 day run "home".
The best part of the entire trip was always the fact that the conditions (seas and wind) meant that the Sea Kings were "confined to barracks" for a few days. Blessed peace! And many miffed Naval Aviators.
You (and somebody else) mentioned wind speeds.
45 knots of wind isn't very much. Add in perhaps 20knots of ship speed and then you could see 65knots of airspeed. Still not all that much.
In some parts of the world ...the N.Atlantic in winter, China Sea in "Typhoon" season, along the great Australian Bight, and the 800 mile stretch from the Falklands to S. Georgia ....I've regularly observed the anemometer hitting "the ton" (and that was with the ship virtually stopped). But the most "impressive" was the "Hurricane That Never Was" in the English Channel . No real seas to speak of, but the ships got blown backwards. Anemometer hit 120knots at one point. Happy days. BY.
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Hi raflaunches, really interesting the thread. I enjoyed 4 years in the RAF, worst thing to happen to me was 6 weeks in a tent in Feb. in a turnip field in Germany in 1959. Apparently I was evacuated after a simulated nuclear attack! I "died" about 4 weeks into this.(Which meant I could get back to camp for a shower etc.)
regards Roy
I rather wish that the same principle could be applied to Naval exercises. Sink a ship, and then remove that ship from the scene (for a few days, at least). That would teach the war-canoes of all nations that protecting their Fleet Train was quite important! BY.
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I can only hope that's what will happen this Friday, 'oops sorry you are dead you can go back the camp now!' (I wish, they just move you to another part of the exercise! <*<)
Either that or they could allow me to go for a walk down to Bertha's Beach for the penguins.
Yesterday was my day off, yes I know, time off would never have happened in my day I hear you say!, but for once its nice to have a proper day relaxing with your mates. We decided that we wanted to go the Karting club for a drive. When we arrived we found out that we were driving for the World's most southern go-kart club in an endurance race against each other. The day was going well and at one point my team was actually winning when the front sprocket gave out and the cart lost all drive, it took 20mins for it to be repaired but by then it was too late, oh well. <:(
The wind is getting up again and according to Sky News the temperature in Port Stanley is 7 deg C, we don't believe that here at MPA where it feels more like 7 below!
Hopefully my package from home will arrive sometime this week but since I am the one one marshalling the aircraft in to its parking bay I usually end up being the last one to get any mail! It looks like its going to be a busy week again with aircraft coming in everyday just hope the temperature does not go below freezing too much otherwise I'll be de-icing them on a regular basis!
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look on the bright side next posting could be cyprus cor all the loverly beaches to play on gordon ex raf 22 yrs
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Hi Regiment, I spent 2 years @ RAF Nicosia, it was a great posting & yes the beaches were first class, would go back in a heart beat. The worst thing about the island was the silly people fighting each other, not realising that they were living in a kind of paradise. When you get some pictures of the penguins it would be nice to see, also what model Karts were you racing ?, Mick B.
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went back to raf akrotiri to see my grand son cpl fire man at the base how it has changed iv 30 odd years could not get over that nobody was wearing blues- -had a nice time memories -gordon----------------------
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Hi everyone
The weather is terrible, especially yesterday, the winds exceeded our little wind measuring device (over 50mph!) which meant the serving of the 767 was shall I say very interesting. {-) Today the wind has slowed a little but the rain and sleet has come back instead- at least it was warmer yesterday, today is absolutely 'Baltic' conditions!
The carts were lawnmower engine powered and very small but fun- I don't know the class but I can find out the next time we go down there.
On Friday I am going on exercise to Mare Harbour which is where the current protector of the islands is anchored, HMS Dauntless, there is much rumour what we are going to be doing with her in such close company so watch this space- hopefully I can get some good pictures of her.
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"Baltic" ???? looks OK to me in Helsinki today ;D What about that 50mph wind indicator, not much use surely if it gets breezy ?
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Hi Nick
I was just thinking how different it must be for you with Mayhem, Facebook and maybe Skype on hand,
than it was for lads who went out there years earlier and were just cut off from home contacts.
I could even forgive Twitter if it helps you.
Dave ......... stay safe
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Not cut off... letters (remember those :o) and a phone call once a week O0
Brian and I must have been down at the same time as MPA opened during my tour. The 747 back sure beat the Hercules on the way down, still remember the strawberries :-))
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We are still cut off to a certain point! We have Wifi cards or phone cards (you can only have one per week, one or the other not both!) the phone card lasts about 30mins whilst the wifi card allows 100mins of internet use. So you have a choice of talking or emailing. We are allowed to use the computer suit for 45mins a day for personnel use but you have to book some of the terminals in advance. We still get a lot of blueys sent down here. So we more access to talk to home but still have the same restrictions of time allowed to use the facility! <:(
I forgot that it is summer in the northern hemisphere so suppose 'Baltic' is not appropriate at the moment, the wind indicator is only a small hand held item primarily for the use of pretending that we know what we are talking about :embarrassed: we get all our weather reports from the Station Met office!
I have heard a lot about the trips in a Herc and how bone rattling, noisy and boring the journey was, and that came from the aircrew flying it yesterday!
Weather has improved for the moment... remember you can get four seasons in a day (or sometimes less than an hour!)
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I thought the Baltic reference included monkeys one way or another but we want to see PENGUINS, penguins, penguins, more penguins >>:-( Picture IS the Baltic in winter, that is ice they are standing on ! Love the reports keep `em comin` :-))
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I have heard a lot about the trips in a Herc and how bone rattling, noisy and boring the journey was, and that came from the aircrew flying it yesterday!
You can have a similar experience flying Ryanair {-)
As for Baltic conditions it can be fun here... there is a temperature variation here between summer and winter of around 70C (at least -40 in winter and usually more than +30) in the summer. Tho this summer has been very wet and not that hot.
The snow can be an issue at times
(http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee322/Essex2Visuvesi/lahdenpera4.jpg)
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Don't worry when I get home in 2.75months time I will upload as many penguin pictures as possible! and maybe some more...
Yes the term should include a reference to brass monkeys too, I have never been to a place where just to go to work requires four layers of clothing just to keep warm- just!
Its strange but we think we are getting used to the cold, an example- we stepped out side in gym clothes (just t-shirt and shorts) and thought it felt quite warm the outside temperature was 6 deg C! %%
I am on exercise tomorrow so I will miss writing my daily thread, and I have been informed that Dauntless has moved from Mare Harbour back to Stanley so I have missed taking a picture of her again >>:-(
So until Saturday...
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Hi everyone, I survived yesterdays exercise!
It was a very strange experience because I have not had to do anything like this for almost 9 years! The patrolling was fine no problems but vehicle check points- how boring we all thought- within 10mins of setting up our check point two men jumped out of the ditch about 800yards in front of us and walked down the road, we realised that at least one of them was armed and we were about to challenge them when they opened fire! All of us jumped for cover and returned fire, after two minutes the assessors said that they were dead, so we were about to investigate the 'bodies' when two more men popped up to our left and fired at us. After another 2-3min firefight we 'killed' one and the other surrendered. Usual protocols were put into place to control the prisoner but the call came in that this part of the exercise was over!!!
After the excitement of the morning we found ourselves called out on a quick response alert to one of the look out positions overlooking the Harbour we were defending, one of the assessors had walked up the fence and dropped something, the lookouts had gone to investigate and discovered an unexploded mortar! We rushed out to cordon off the area and captured the assessor! After all that we were glad that the exercise was over.
I did notice that HMS Clyde was in harbour and her sister was sailing around, they are very imposing ships for their size and I can see why modellers like them. I got told by my mate who flies in the Hercules that they were scrambled to investigate a target just outside the national waters of the Falklands and discovered an Argentinian Frigate sitting there! They did some low fly bys and the frigate got the message and sailed home!
Weather has got a lot better, warmer by Falkland standards (not in double figures yet!) the wind has dropped again but I have learnt not to trust what the weather men say down here either because one side of the island is predicted to get nice weather whilst the other gets nasty weather- they don't seem to think that wind can move the rain and sleet from one side to the other!
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I have been reliably informed that the spring is here is the Falkland Islands!!! Because of this wonderful season has got here at last we can go walking and visiting other parts of the islands that are usually closed during winter. A few of us from my section at work are looking into a couple of battlefield tours around Stanley and a few other sites dotted around the East Falkland Island. If I had known earlier yesterday (I thought I had to go into work!!!) I could have had a battlefield tour at Mount Longdon but it was too late to put my name down on the list. <:(
Still having fun and a good laugh with my new mates down here, its amazing how quickly time flies when you are having fun, I discovered that I have less than 80 days left but I will miss the Warwick show by 5 days! >>:-( something I was looking forward to this year! Hopefully I will see some of you at the Mobile Marine Models Christmas Cracker this year, my first show since June!
Until tomorrow...
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Don't worry when I get home in 2.75months time I will upload as many penguin pictures as possible! and maybe some more...
Yes the term should include a reference to brass monkeys too, I have never been to a place where just to go to work requires four layers of clothing just to keep warm- just!
Its strange but we think we are getting used to the cold, an example- we stepped out side in gym clothes (just t-shirt and shorts) and thought it felt quite warm the outside temperature was 6 deg C! %%
I am on exercise tomorrow so I will miss writing my daily thread, and I have been informed that Dauntless has moved from Mare Harbour back to Stanley so I have missed taking a picture of her again >>:-(
So until Saturday...
When I was doing my FDO "bit" I had an elecritally heated suit. Don't you guys have them? BY.
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Hi Nick
I was just thinking about the mention of mines in post 6 - are they still in place there, and does anyone do anything about removing them?
Mines are one of the worst legacies of a war.
Dave
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In 2010 the BBC reported they were starting another pilot project to start clearing the estimated 20,000 mines still left in the
Falklands Islands - I assume it is a very slow business as so many of the modern mines are not metal or easily detectable.
Geoff
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This might seem a very stupid question to those with a military background - do the explosives/mines break down with age?
......... I have a big box of stupid questions so I don't mind wasting the odd one here {-)
Dave
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If they were made of metal then I suppose they would but as they are made of plastic ...I think ....well lets put it another way how long does it take for plastic to degenorate.And lets face it WW2 and earlier bombs and Mines are still being found intact and still alive so personally I think the last sentence will answer your question BUT i will stand corrected if I be wrong
Dave
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I was sort of wondering more about the modern explosive materials themselves Dave - sort of if they're shelf life is limited 30 40 50 years? I can see you are right that the plastic containers won't rot
Dave
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Wouldnt have thought t had a shelf life but who knows in this day and age lol
Dave
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This might seem a very stupid question to those with a military background - do the explosives/mines break down with age?
......... I have a big box of stupid questions so I don't mind wasting the odd one here {-)
Dave
Complicated question. Simply put, Yes they do, for example all WWII ammo should by now have been either dumped or expended.
Not being a chemist, it has to do with the chemical properties of the explosive, which circa WWII was TNT, Tri Nitro Tolulene.
With technological advances these days the explosive, etc, would have a longer shelf life, if stored and maintained correctly.
Also advances in technology for bigger and better, render some "ammunition" obsolete, such as artillery projectiles, which then need to be destroyed/dumped.
Not to mention depleted Uranium type projectiles which when expended have a life of......................................
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Hi everyone
To answer the question regarding the minefields, they are being cleared but at a slow pace. The problem is that the Argentinians were not kind enough to leave detailed maps of all the mines laid. So the entire area suspected of being a mine field is cordoned off and investigated for longer than normal. The landscape does not help either, most mines were laid around Port Stanley which has a layer of moor land type grasses and mosses but beneath is a layer of peat and peat bog. Over time the mines sink and can move around in the peat bog and resurface outside the known mine field! This happened to a good friend of mine who was brave enough to go for a swim in the sea, he ran out into the sea and got back out 10mins later to discover the tide had uncovered an unknown minefield on the beach! Luckily he had a radio with him and called for help!
The mines also seem to be a mixture of plastic and metal cases so they have degraded to different degrees of dangerousness. The locals claim they know where all the mines were laid and can often be seen taking short cuts through mine fields but as a member of the RAF I have been advised to keep away and ignore the locals if they suggest going through the minefields. %%
Curiously the penguins are light enough to walk over the mines without detonating them but sheep are not... there are lot of sheep in the Falklands and occasionly you can hear a bang <:(
The weather is worse today- gale force winds are back with rain showers inbetween what sunshine we have! Over all a very grey day with a 6 deg C ground temperature so God knows what the wind chill has knocked it down to >>:-(
BY- Unfortunately the electric suits are long gone we have to put up with long johns or thermals underneath our CS95 uniform with a fleece and thermal socks and occasionly when it gets very cold a wooly hat!
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"electric suits"..... what like in the film TRON?!?! %)
Sheep, mine filed, occasional bang,.... must be a joke in there somewhere! %)
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What, baaa baaa boom! I don't know what you are implying Martin are you suggesting something else :} :D?
Hope you enjoy your self on Friday and Saturday at Ron Deans open day, you might see my dad there on both days!
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"electric suits"..... what like in the film TRON?!?! %)
Sheep, mine filed, occasional bang,.... must be a joke in there somewhere! %)
No Joke Martin. Battery pack on a belt and plugged into the wired suit. Same with the gloves. Magic when standing for hours on a freezing flight deck. Cold (read freezing) feet though.
Did you know that the "de-icing" fluid used on flight decks was horse pee? Came in big drums. BY
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Now that's what we in OZ call Horsepower %) %) {-) {-)
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No Joke Martin. Battery pack on a belt and plugged into the wired suit. Same with the gloves. Magic when standing for hours on a freezing flight deck. Cold (read freezing) feet though.
You need some of these then...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Unisex-Battery-Powered-Heated-Fleece-Winter-Socks-Medium-UK-5-8-/290681810056?pt=UK_Men_s_Socks&hash=item43adfc6c88
The ladds from my local bought me a set when I moved to Finland lol
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We use pig urine on land airfields, very strange stuff, its mixed up in a large vat on the back of a 7tonne lorry and heated through. When it gets sprayed on the tarmac/concrete it works like magic removing the snow and ice, on the aircraft it get pumped through a spray gun, it comes out looking like some one has sneezed all over the jet! :o
I should know because I got a back wash from the spray a few weeks back whilst I was spraying the ice on the wing of a 767 airliner! It doesn't taste or smell very nice, sweet and sickly taste but with a raw after taste of something nasty!!!
Weather update- Rain through out the night and a few broken showers over MPA, 6 deg C ground temp but with gusty winds knocking it down to 0 deg C.
A Landie broke down again and was taken back to the garages- hope they actually fix it this time, the replacement is slightly better- the starter motor actually kicks the engine over but still not instantly >>:-( and what was worse whilst I was changing Landies I brushed past a post whilst reversing and got a telling off from a 'jobsworth' in MT for being the third person that day that had hit the same post, to which I replied that perhaps he should do something about it instead of telling me off! Needless to say he was not happy with a airman telling a corporal how to do his job and walked away in a huff!
Oh well, we won't be getting a decent Landie now!
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"We use pig urine on land airfields"
"Did you know that the "de-icing" fluid used on flight decks was horse pee? Came in big drums. BY"
... OK. OK! Very funny. No need to take the .... urine... just 'cause I'm thick. <*<
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Is sheeps urine no good.
How much is it costing me as a taxpayer
To fly those pigs down and train them to
fill the vat.
Ned
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Martin.....you'd better believe it. Look at the effect that human pee has when aimed at snow. And horses have more of it.
Can't comment about pigs though. Perhaps one is just more available than t'other. BY.
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OK, say I do believe you guys (and I don't) :P
... how do you collect pig pee?
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Very carefully O0
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OK, say I do believe you guys (and I don't) :P
... how do you collect pig pee?
Rubber gloves and a bucket. O0 O0 O0
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Urea is a byproduct of urine and is used for all sorts of things from explosives to flavour enhancers for tobacco
and including de-icers
You would not believe all its uses
have a look at the link - obviously taking the p-- is worth a small fortune
Geoff
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urea
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OK, say I do believe you guys (and I don't) :P
... how do you collect pig pee?
I am waiting to be told they now fly, Pigs that is. %) %) %) {-) {-) {-)
As we don't have that problem in Oz but if we did well I suppose kangaroos??????????????????????????
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Urea is a byproduct of urine and is used for all sorts of things from explosives to flavour enhancers for tobacco
and including de-icers
You would not believe all its uses
have a look at the link - obviously taking the p-- is worth a small fortune
Geoff
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urea
Not to mention the glue, Urea formaldahyde O0 O0 O0 O0
And on subject of horses, Animal glue, the oroiginal and still best glue for wood, is made from Horses hooves.
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I don't want to know how they collect it- as long as I don't have to do it myself! %%
All I know is that I don't like the smell or the taste.
Once again very cold by UK standards, rain/sleet and very gusty winds. Up at 4.30am this morning to see a jet in, not a brilliant way to start the day. Also got covered in diesel from the station fuel bowser and had negotiate with the Portuguese aircrew in our sub-standard Portuguese (talking English very slowly and pointing!).
Booked myself on to a welding course to make the evenings go quicker, and gives me something to do when I get back home (I have more than 6weeks of leave to use!!!) so I will be spending alot of time welding my old MG ZA Magnette back together!
Hopefully I might get off camp soon to visit the sights, probably battlefield touring or driving to San Carlos not entirely sure yet!
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And the worlds southern most suspension bridge! (goose Green way if I remember correctly).
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And on subject of horses, Animal glue, the oroiginal and still best glue for wood, is made from Horses hooves.
Not to glue a toy boat together, resulted in re-kitting in 1956.
Regards Ian.
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Hello everyone
Weather has improved to bright blue skies and a balmy 8 deg C, and more surprising that the wind has dropped but I am sure that as soon as the airbridge jet lands the weather will know and throw everything at us whilst we are servicing it!
I attended my first welding lesson last night, very interesting, learning a new skill is always a challenge but I think I have mastered Mig welding to a certain degree and will learn to use Tig welding tonight before moving on to Arc welding next week! At least it stops me spending my time in the NAAFI {-)
Hopefully this Saturday I will visit Port Stanley again so I can get some better pictures of the wrecks and local points of interest.
We had a panic on Wednesday morning whilst preparing for the big Airbus A340 arrival, we discovered all our aircraft chocks were missing from the VASS site. My mate and I went running around the Timmy's Hangar (what we call Tristars) to no avail and so we decided to get in the small aircraft tractor to go hunting! After 30mins we were driving by the VC-10 when I spotted that it had twice as many chocks as it needed, after a few swear words we nicked our chocks back- just in time, as we positioned the last chock into place the Airbus landed and was rolling onto our pan, needless to say there was a few words said to the VC-10 ground crew! <*<
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Do you get any type of recognised certificate with the welding course, welders are always in demand, you never know if/when you leave the RAF. At work when I have to weld anything I always use TIG least amount of mess with really good penetration of the weld.
Brian
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Hi Brian
As far as I know its just an experience course to get you started/interested in welding. I was talking to the instructor and he informed me that it takes 18months in RAF to get a welding qualification! I am quite happy with the experience I can practice for 4 nights over two weeks with a Mig/Tig/Arc welder and get my skills upto a reasonable standard before I dare touch my pride and joy car (when its restored anyway :embarrassed:). Got burnt fingers last night using the Tig welder- not a very nice sensation!
I might do the sheet metal bending course too just to get some experience.
I bought some stuffed penguins from the Bimble Shop today and to my shock found out that they were made any 5miles from my home in the UK, amazing to see how far they have travelled just to come back to within 5miles of the factory! :}
Received my second parcel from home (only takes a week to get out here!) with all my birthday cards, pictures of my next model boat project (HMS Protector 1965) and few Model Boat magazines, almost feels like home, apart from the weather which has got colder and windier again. >>:-(
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amazing to see how far they have travelled just to come back to within 5miles of the factory! :}
Oh you really should go that extra five miles to the factory when you get back - homing Penguins might become the new X'mas sales line.
Dave
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Hi, following your posts with great interests. Do they still have lots of trade groups in the RAF? I think there were 22 when I was in. I was wondering what trade training you had done. I used to work on air radar but got myself involved in instruments and electrics as well. We would do the after flights and turn rounds etc, I worked on Canberras and transport A/C. I was on a squadron and also 2nd. and 3rd. line repairs in the radio servicing flight.
The spare time activities you mention sound very useful. Having only been in Germany and UK we had to find our own pursuits. In Germany I joined the model aircraft club and built model boats! But I asked for all the bits off crashed model aircraft and after a while I built one from the remains and it flew very well. No one in the club had RC then, it was very expensive, we would go out on the airfield when closed at the weekend and fly there. On one occasion we were flying and a Canberra was circling trying to land and they sent a truck out to get us out of the way, but it was quite good natured.
We also had individual "chuff" numbers, this was a number produced from dividing time done over time to do. The number 1 meaning you were half way through.
regards Roy
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Oh you really should go that extra five miles to the factory when you get back - homing Penguins might become the new X'mas sales line.
I like that very much, I might just visit the factory to show them how far they have travelled! :-)) Who knows they might replace homing pigeons!
Hi Roy
Some of the trade groups have joined together and some have completely disappeared, the latest that might go is the chefs as everything in the Mess is going civilian!
I am in what is left of trade group 1 after the massacre of the cut-backs. I trained as an airframe technician (rigger) but due to cut-backs six years ago I was cross-trained to become an engine technician (fitter) too. Most aircraft jobs have become dual trades, aircraft electricians have joined forces with avionic techs, even aircrews are often dual trade!
Back in the UK I work in an aircraft servicing unit at Marham where I conduct the final part of the servicing, the final rebuild, functional testing, and flight testing. In the Falklands I am experiencing 1st Line maintenance for the first time doing Before Flights (B/Fs), turn arounds, and After Flights (A/Fs). I have also spent four years in the bays doing structural repairs on panels, tailerons, rudders, fins and wings.
At my home base in the UK there is a R/C model aircraft club but its in a decline, there are several model boat clubs in the area primarily at Kings Lynn but it is getting the time off to go to the meetings or meet some of the members, because I work in a civilian organised environment where I am contracted to work for BAe for 37.5 hours a week!
In the Falklands we have replaced the Chuff numbers with 'Penguin boards', where your time to do is marked out on a suitable decorated board on the wall and a homemade penguin made from double bond is moved along the board each day. In the VASS office I am approaching the half way point or Ascension Island as our board shows the flight back home!
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Hi RAFl... I visited RAF Marham as a cadet (CCF/RAF) while still at school and they had RAF Washingtons there (B-29's) Amazing aircraft to go in.
They were there to fly around the U.K. to counter Soviet incursions, before the Dew Line radar was built
Like yourself, I was in Trade group 1 and got extra trade pay and I also got an extra 6d (old pence) for being a marksman on rifle and Bren gun.
My promotion from LAC to SAC (the ones who really run the RAF) included showing some practical work. Mine was my just completed Veron Carribbean Coaster, model boat.
Sorry but must go out now and have a nice warm up in the sun!
regards Roy
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blimy roycey you must be nearly as old as me to remember b 29 s i joined when the raf still had spits hurrs and lancs my no was 4034853
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Hi Regiment, I did say I was at school!!! anyway 5011650 J/T at your service, in those days we had one stripe upside down for a J/T.
Visiting pongo officers (RAF Lyneham) would call you lance! I think it is a 4 bladed prop now.
When doing my training at RAF Yatesbury we had Lancs with sawn off wings to practice servicing in an aircraft. Eventually I worked on Canberras where there is a lot less room.
regards Roy
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Its amazing to see how little has changed in the RAF! I trained on Jet Provosts built in the late 50s and early 60s before moving on to Jaguar GR1 for advanced aircraft maintenance and even worked on Canberra wings/tailplanes for advanced structural repairs! The difference now is you do basic training as a recruit at Halton where learn how to be an airman before moving on to your trade training which for me was RAF Cosford.
The B-29s are still remembered at Marham with many paintings and models in the respective Messes. The J/T rank unfortunately is becoming redundant, the rank badge is a four bladed propeller, I joined up just as the decision to remove the rank from the service was agreed, so now the rank structure is AC2, AC1, LAC, SAC, SAC(T) the T stands for technician, and then CPL and SGT. You remember the good old days, which I can still remember (just), when techies got extra pay now we are paid the same as everyone else!
Nothing much has happened here recently apart from the wind getting up again and the temperature supposedly approaching double figures! My trip to Stanley was postponed because I was called into work 3 hours early <*< really boring hardly any work to do just guide a jet in and wait for an hour, but its enough to mess up the entire weekends plans!
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blimy roycey you must be nearly as old as me to remember b 29 s i joined when the raf still had spits hurrs and lancs my no was 4034853
Gordon
And I was in Her Majesty's Flying Club when Pontius was a pilot ! ex Locking brat saw the light and became a Rock (albeit a clever one)
Bill
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time flys i remember canberras of 39 sqdn at wyton 1961 cannot remember the other sqdn..but thay flew the one before the nimrod i was in charge of aircrew feeding couple of valiants now and again gordon
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but all rocks are clever well one sqdn were are gordon
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Pardon my ignorance but what is a rock?
As an aside - I am on Malta and the Germans have landed.
Dave
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ROYAL AIR FORCE REGIMENT a long story something to do with Gibraltar
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Here are some nick names used in the RAF for the uninitiated ;
Airframe Tech- Rigger/Heavy
Engine Tech- Fitter/Sootie/Sumpie
Aircraft Electrician- Leckie/Sparky/(a very rude name with dogs involved)
Avionic Tech- Fairey
Weapons Tech- Armourer/Bombhead/Plummer
Safety Equipment Tech- Squipper
RAF Regiment- Rocks
Suppliers- Stackers
All officers- Zobbits (I think I got the right spelling) Flt Lt- Flight Lieuies, Wing Cmdr- Wing Co's, Group Cpt- Groupie, and any officer below rank of Flt Lt- Baby officer!
We had a nice day yesterday at MPA, nice blue skies a really warm temperature of 9 deg C and no wind for a little while. We took our minds off being stuck on camp by going bowling again. Not bad but I must admit that I am not very good at it so I blamed the alley we were bowling down! {-)
Its going to be a quite week, or so I have been told, so I will be continuing my fitness challenge of running around the Falklands on the treadmill- less than 300km to go!
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I'm enjoying reading about your deployment.....but you "forgot" to mention "Crab" in your little lexicon.
You did refer to "Pongos" ....so it's only fair that a "fish-head" should reply!. BY.
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Sail Navy, Dig Army, Eat Crab.
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or walk sideways in Gib and say Hi to a Rock Ape.
Ned
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good to see that us exservice men can still laugh WITH each other
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Why Fairey with an e lads?
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Sail Navy, Dig Army, Eat Crab.
I always thought that the last one was "walk sideways"........BY.
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Hi Nick I am following your Falkland exploits with great interest. I too am ex RAF. Squarebashed at Bridgenorth & did my trade training at Weeton. Served @ Felixstowe with the Rock. Spent 3 years @ RAF Nicosia & a year in Aden.We had 70 squadron & 43 Squadron @ Nicosia when I was there. I finished my time @ RAF Locking before coming to Canada. The Pongo's called us penguins because 97% of us (RAF) could not or did not fly. I was in MT, trade group 5 then & #1 ground trade. In a previous post you mentioned Go Karts, what type & what engines are you using. I was a member of the RAF Kart team 67/68. Many years later I still miss the fun & the good friends we always seemed to have around & wonder where they all are now. Note to Norseman, have improved a bit. I would love to hear from any of my friends back then if they are reading this, I was the crazy Irishman & you all called me Paddy. Mick B.
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... Irishman & you all called me Paddy....
That narrows it down a bit {-) {-) {-)
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Fly Navy (for fun) Fly Army (for the L plates) Fly professionally with the Royal Air Force
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I'm enjoying reading about your deployment.....but you "forgot" to mention "Crab" in your little lexicon.
You did refer to "Pongos" ....so it's only fair that a "fish-head" should reply!. BY.
Well to be fair....if a person can't get into the RAF they have to go somewhere I guess !
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Fairey or Fairies are called so because the black boxes they claim to look after are so complicated, it appears that they are controlled by magic, so therefore all avionic/leckies are fairies. Also considered to be one of the laziest trade in all the techie groups because all they do is remove the black boxes and put a new one back in!
We are still called 'Penguins' or often shortened to 'Quins' or to anyone in the other services 'crabs' or 'land-crabs'! :-)) But I believe that the original meaning for crabs is a lot ruder than walking sideways!
We have a lot of fun (simply because if you didn't you would go mad!), we have a lot of nick-names for each other just to keep each other on our toes! I often respond to 'Chuckles' but others have crept in recently, like 'Victorian Dad' because of my knowledge of yesteryear compared to the kids who need to 'get some in'! (for those uninitiated- time in or years done!). {-) Bit unfair since I am only 27 pushing 28. <*<
The weather has attacked us today, high winds have pushed the cloud sown on to Mount Pleasant creating a fog over the airfield, the temperature dropped suddenly last night and feels like winter again, it was so bad the Landie didn't want to start again! At least we got some fresh milk yesterday, we are the envy of the camp!
Hopefully this Sunday I can go sight seeing at Port Stanley and Bertha's Beach providing I don't get 'volunteered' for some more pointless duties! We were going on Saturday but we have a parade for the Battle of Britain that we have to attend so we have had to postpone it again.
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Great post again Nick!
...... it's like having our own South Atlantic correspondent! :-))
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W3bby I know it is not very narrow but if you knew me then I was unforgettable LOL to the point that when I left Nicosia the pewter mug they gave me as a parting gift was engraved Paddy Burke. I still have it now. Mick B.
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Hi, I was a Fairy, there, after all these years I can admit it
What used to upset the NCO's was that if the black box went wrong they could never blame you for it! They went wrong quite a lot of the time.
I think I earned my upside down stripe one morning when a Canberra came in, stopped on the runway and the crew dashed out. There was a black box with smoke coming out of it. I did a lonely walk, went into the aircraft disconnected the box, and returned with it still smoking. It was part of GEE H, used for bombing, ironical in its' way.
That was on 59 sqdrn, one of those squadrons that came and went, After I left Germany I think it melded with 3 squadron.
Does the SAC Tech have a separate insignia for the tech bit?
I used to have the hand with the lightening badge, I found out years later that having this badge meant you could directly address an officer! Just in case you might have something important to tell him!
On the Squadron we hardly ever saw the officers / pilots, when you read about a squadron it is the pilots that are "the squadron". I reckon it took 5 workers to keep each and every aircrew in the air!
regards Roy
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Great post again Nick!
...... it's like having our own South Atlantic correspondent! :-))
LOL and if you see Kate Adie arrive. PANIC!
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Rock apes, crab fats and you haven't got round to Snowdrops yet.
Regards Ian.
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Don't get me started on Snowdrops! (RAF Police)
Oh well Roy, I think we can forgive you now for being a 'fairey' there are much worse things to be in the military! :-)) (PTI seems to spring to mind at the moment).
To distinguish the techies from the rest we have the SAC badge (three bladed propeller) and have a ring outside the blades- looks like a Kort nozzle, often described as the ring of power' because it took 18months to earn it! I had to go through a BTech, NVQ Level 3, and several other pointless qualifications to justify the ring of power!
'
Great post again Nick!
...... it's like having our own South Atlantic correspondent! :-))
Martin,
Hi Martin,
Whilst I am enjoying my time down here I hope you aren't expecting me to stay on down here as the Mayhems permanent SA correspondent are you? What's the going rate for that? :-)) {-)
Its my day off today so not much has happened, I finished my basic welding course last night and might learn the ancient techniques of metal bashing later on in the month! Weather is still over cast but dropped two degrees over night!! Now its back to 6 deg C. >>:-(
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"I hope you aren't expecting me to stay on down here as the Mayhems permanent SA correspondent"
Nope - we're asking for the frozen north - getting Santa airworthy for X'mas O0
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At recruiting at Cardington they told us that all you needed to be a Snowdrop was to be 5ft 8inches & have nasty disposition & boy were they right. Mick B.
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"I hope you aren't expecting me to stay on down here as the Mayhems permanent SA correspondent"
Nope - we're asking for the frozen north - getting Santa airworthy for X'mas O0
Already in hand ;)
Reindeers have been rounded up and are currently in training
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At recruiting at Cardington they told us that all you needed to be a Snowdrop was to be 5ft 8inches & have nasty disposition & boy were they right. Mick B.
Too true Mick, I have run a foul of the dreaded snowdrops a couple of times, and for such pointless things too.
The weather at the moment is amazing, it is actually in the double figures and I know this because I had to take my jacket off for the first time! {-) There is very little wind and it feels like a proper spring day.
We are very busy preparing for the Battle of Britain parade tomorrow, I have had to polish a cardboard spitfire for the Officers dining in night to commemorate this important date in the RAF calendar. As you can imagine we can't get much down here so we have to make most of the decorations ourselves, the cardboard spitfire being one of them!
Its been a very impressive day for flying, seeing the VC-10 and Hercules take off, and the Typhoons doing their power climb take off's! I presume its for the BoB day tomorrow.
The mountains are amazing at the moment, the other day it was like watching a waterfall of clouds pouring over Mount Pleasant! Just wish I had my camera with me at the time, would a fantastic picture of the clouds over the mountains with the VC10 and Hercules in the fore ground!
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The weather at the moment is amazing, it is actually in the double figures and I know this because I had to take my jacket off for the first time! There is very little wind and it feels like a proper spring day.
Beware perfick day for snowdrops to appear out of the ground... :police: :police: :police: in small clumps ;D
Ned
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I've never been a fan of redcaps or snowdrops either. One Sunday afternoon on duty on the Indomitable(Indom) in Mare Harbour on my own, when two young military policemen came aboard and asked me "who owns the land round here mate?". "Why?" says I. One says "well there's a sheep with its head caught in the barbed wire round the Rapier Battery". I said "whydon't you just pull it out then?". He looks a bit sheepish and says "it's a big one". I said "ok, show me where it is and I'll sort it". So we all piled in the landy and they drove me to the site. Sure enough, there's a big ewe well stuck. Now anyone who knows sheep will see this coming. A trapped or inverted sheep won't make much effort to save itself and will die if you leave it. However if you go to help it, when you get within about 10feet of it it will struggle like hell and and free itself and run off. With this in mind I told the two redcaps to follow me closely so the ewe couldn't see them and not to make a sound or she'll spook. You've got to picture this in your minds. At 10 feet I took a large pace towards her and simultaneously dropped the zip on my fly. As hoped she put up a big struggle 0and freed herself and ran off over the hill. I turned round and zipped up and two horrified young lads gaped at me. "That never fails", I said. I can't write what they said. However when we walked into the sargeants mess on wednesday evening for quiz night everyone pointed and chanted " dirty B, dirty!B
Jerry.
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Rather have the 'snowdrops' than the TSG Bananas....you must know the ones that are reputedly yellow, bent and hang round in bunches ?
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A good and funny little story.
On a more serious note....
May I presume that Mount Pleasant is still the only "airport" down there, or is the rough thing at port Stanley still in use?
I ask this because of the influx of both tourists and oil-rig workers.
If your field is used dual purpose (Mil and Civ) is there now a seperate reception area or is it all RAF controlled.
Also, who deals with the oil industry helo fights?
I realise that you (being an erudite crab) won't have much interest in the goings on at Mare Harbour made for one warship and one RFA), but do the "civvie" boats come in or are they stuck out at anchor in Stanley Sound. Regards. BY.
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The thought did occur to me some 120 posts ago that these letters do go out world wide. %)
regards
ken
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That is hilarious Jerry, I got caught jumping out a barrack block window with some rubbish, as I approached the the bin I heard someone shout 'Where's the fire?'. Turning around two snowdrops had pulled up in a RAF Landie and had watched me performing this act. Rather annoyed for myself being caught, I said 'what Fire?', to which he replied the one you were jumping out of the window to escape from!!! To which then he demanded to see my 1250 and demanded to know where I worked. Clutching my ID I flashed it to him, as trained by my Dad, I pulled back as he reached for it! He was not very happy demanding I had my ID over, to which I replied to 'get stuffed' as Queen's Regulations clearly stated that I could not hand over my ID to an unauthorized person, and since I did not know if the corporal snowdrop was authorized or not I demanded to see his! I was told to go away in so many words and not be so cocky as a AC 2 and that they would keep an eye on me! :police:
Today we remembered at MPA the men who fought in the Battle of Britain as September 15 1940 is the recognised day that the battle changed in favour for the RAF. Its hard to imagine that only a month before this date the RAF suffered it greatest losses as became ingrained in RAF history as the 'Hardest Day'. Even in this far outpost, the last British colony we still carry out the same parades that happen this weekend back in the UK.
Due to admin balls up we can't go for a sight seeing trip on Sunday because some little jobsworth in MT refused to sign our 'bimble' chit since we did not hand it in yesterday at 1200hrs! <*< >>:-( So we are reorganising it for next weekend instead! :-)) using the same piece of paper just to rub it a little- you can't beat a techie at this kind of game, we will always win in the end! :}
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Hi Bryan
Sent you a PM.
Hope you don't mind me not answering on the forum but Kenny is right about this being a world wide forum you never know who is reading this too... :police: :-))
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Don't worry Ken, "they" know a lot more about us than we do about ourselves. With the net there are no longer any secrets. Google even got the licence plate off one of our vehicles on their drive by "shooting". The words private & secret should be removed from the English language,what they applied to no longer exists.
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Cheers guys. :-))
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Hi everyone
Had some serious fun this morning, got woken up by my Corporal at 0900hrs (must point out that Sunday is our a day off duty) and shouted to get dressed we have to go into work! <:(
We found out that someone had hurt themselves in Stanley and they were being med evac to Chile but it quickly got confused as someone mentioned that an aircraft was en route but they didn't know what it was. We now looked at each other and said ' well this is it, if its an invasion we'll say our goodbyes now!' Running into work with the police with us we dicsovered that the 'someone' was looking at something else and the aircraft inbound was our jet! There was a few swear words and and our farewell and nice knowing yous were quickly retracted :embarrassed:!!! Utter idiots were mentioned a few times!
Been looking at several books in the library we have on camp and have a few ideas where we could go for our sight-seeing weekend, we are thinking of driving to Goose Green to have a look at the memorials and a crashed Harrier from HMS Hermes. We have been told that this is the reason why we are all taught how to drive off-road because the road between MPA and Goose Green/Darwin is almost non-existant! Shoould be fun :-))
Weather guys on Sky news got our weather completly wrong this morning, they said that the temp would be 11 deg C, we turned up this morning and it was freezing cold. The wind was blowing in from the South bringing the icy cold wind from the Antartic which dragged the temperature to almost zero. And to make it worse it started to rain too >>:-(
Like they say you shouldn't have joined if you couldn't take a joke! %% {-)
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Nick.
Thanks for the PM....nothing at all controversial in it.
I did 1(3 month) deployment in '82 followed by 3 x 6 month stints until 1984.
If you go back into the "Nautical But True" thingy you'l get my take (with pics) on South Georgia and a most terrifying "attack" on us (San Carlos) by a Phantom.
Another thing you might like to pass on to the Rotary lads is the trout fishing. All explained in the blog. Might keep you interested and get keen on fishing!. Regards. Bryan.
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Hi everyone
Missed a day out because I was on a 24hour duty- incredicably boring :(( spent all day sitting by a phone which didn't ring! Oh well one of those things sent to annoy us!
Winter hit back at us today, the wind once again brought with it the cold harsh temperature from the Antartic, once again the wooly hats and gloves came back out as we all froze on the aircraft pan this morning. On the up note I bought my camera with me to try to photograph the cloud effect over the mountains, I saw it forming as I walked upto work and decided to run back for the camera. Unfortunately the wind was blowing from the wrong direction so the spectacular effect I witnessed last week did not happen but I got a good picture of Mount Pleasant. I have heard a lot about the famous Falkland trout that everyone likes to fish down here but I don't always have the time to go fishing, the problem is that we are always on call just incase an aircraft diverts, so we have to book a weekend off in advance- not always possible! <:(
At the moment I am trying to learn Welsh. I was challenged by our local welshman to learn the language and he would try to understand me! Its not easy I have a CD and a book but I am perservering with it, who knows I might be able to master it! :-))
Finished readng about Fortress Falklands last night, wish I had read it before I came down it explained a lot about the people and what is going on at the moment. Its strange because some of the names of the locals and of the military personnel are familiar to me because I have met them. Its a good bokk if you want to understand what we have gone through down here- something that I am now part of- its truely amazing what life is like here compared to the UK, primarily the friendliness of them to complete strangers like me.
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Da Iawn fellu fyddai yn medru siarad cymraeg hefo chdi yn Wickestead flwyddyn nesa
Good I will be able to speak welsh with you next year in Wickstead
Dave
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Bore da, Stavros (Good Morning, well it's morning where I am!)
Sut mae! (Hello)
I look forward to try hold a conversation with you at Wicksteed next year, thats if I don't see you before then. :-))
Its absolutely terrible weather at the moment, the islands have been buffeted by gale force storms all night according to the Met boys up in the tower the winds exceeded 50mph, usually it gusts at this speed but it didn't stop. It was that bad that the aircraft due out last night was grounded, this is the first time this has happened whilst I have been down here. We were finding aircraft bungs and blanks (engine intake covers etc) all over the pan, quite worrying that this weekend they have predicted heavy snow in the mountains, which are next to us here at MPA so I am expecting a complete road shut down on the islands {:-{. Luckilly the winds have dropped and is only gusting this morning so hopefully the aircraft can take off.
On Tuesday we had an amazing sight as we saying goodbye to our resistant army lads who work with the Hercs, we lookedup to 26 Turkey Vultures swooping above us, they are not small birds of prey but they are quite ugly to see close up!
I have been keeping busy by studying the new pictures of HMS Gnat that I have been sent, got a lot of re-working to do when I get back! {-)
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The bad weather continues, raining and cold temperatures could mean we have to start de-icing aircraft again <:( and more seriously prevent us from bimbling around the glorious Falkland landscape.
Watched the C-17 take off this morning and it never ceases to impress me with its size and its ability to take off on such a short runway. We guided it in last night and I managed to get some panoramic pictures of the mountains with the 767, Globemaster, VC10 and the Hercules in the foreground, absolutely fantastic shots with the clouds tumbling down the mountains like the waterfalls as described in a previous post. I got my third package from home and to my surprise it included some fruit cake (thanks Mum!) the lads in the VASS office really enjoyed some home comforts. I don't think the C-17 crew were not very happy when we raided their supply locker onboard the aircraft and nicked some of thier milk, we did ask for it but they kept forgetting to give us it! %) Obviously the hints were not enough!
My Mum was also very kind to include my recent purchase of the Profile Morskie plans of HMS Cornwall for one of my future projects, I have the hull just need to start it some time! :D
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Shock and horror- the weather men at MPA were correct, we got a layer of snow yesterday and the temperature has dropped to below zero (just as we thought the worst was over!) I spent Saturday once again sitting beside a phone just waiting for it to ring which it never did, the only difference this time I was on for 30hours instead of 24hours, it just goes to show how much rubbish you can watch in 24hours on the TV! Luckily for me I borrowed several books from the library to pass the the time, ironically most of the books I read were about the Falklands- Through Fire and Water The story of the forgotten frigate HMS Ardent, Fortress Falklands, Scram! A Helicopter pilots experience in the Falklands, and Beyond Endurance. I had read a couple of these books several years ago but it was worth reading them again.
On Wednesday my team will be visiting Bertha's Beach to see the Gentoo penguins coming back from feeding at sea to return to their chicks, this happens in the evening at Bertha's so we will have a spectacular view of the setting sun and penguins jumping out of the sea- hopefully!
I am passed my half way point and counting down towards the final day- less than 60 days to go- not sure if I will be happy or sad when I go home, its such an amazing place to be deployed to. ok2
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you will be happy about going home.. and sad that you are leaving the best mates you will ever have in the raf . i spent one year in salalah oman and met the best mates i ever knew gordon (the worst thing to do.. and that is to mark the days off on a calendar )
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Problem is with marking off the days on a calender in my section is that it is compulsory unless you want to be fined (slabbed) with a round of drinks for every day you don't move your penguin %% %% :-)) good news for some, bad news for others!
I know what you mean though, this has to be one of the best places to meet fellow military personnel who know what the hell you are talking about, me and my dad speak in a strange way (according to my mum and sister) {-) whilst my dad thinks it fantastic that he has someone who understands his jokes about other trades in the RAF or the two senior services!
We have had fun once again last night with a few of the lads being bet that they couldn't spend one night away from the air hostesses from Titan Airways! Our boss (CO) bet that the worst offender in our group could hold his nerve and behave himself whilst our Warrant Officer knowing what a devious little ****** my mate is, bet against him, strangely enough the Warrant Officer had to pay up this morning! :D We have a feeling that he does not believe us!
Looking forward to tomorrow night to see the penguins again at Bertha's Beach but I have been warned that it smells ten times worse than Volunteer Point! I looked at the calender this morning and realised that I had only 7.5 weeks left, bit of a shock to see that.
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I have been warned that it smells ten times worse than Volunteer Point!
I have to report being very successfully bombed by a stationary pigeon in Malta last week - how one pigeon could carry such a very large and noxious payload is beyond me.
Don't walk under any penguins Nick.
Dave
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I have to report being very successfully bombed by a stationary pigeon in Malta last week - how one pigeon could carry such a very large and noxious payload is beyond me.
Don't walk under any penguins Nick.
Dave
Don't worry Dave I 'll try not to walk under over flying penguins! {-) :-))
It's a lovely bright blue day here at MPA but with a chilly wind blasting what would be a day with double figures back to 4-5 deg C. It's certainly a big difference to yesterday and its bleak and grey day. However my friends and I at 1312Flt had our Cheese and Wine night at the Timmy's Bar with hilarious outcomes. Each week a box in the flights tea bar is filled with letters detailing individual misdemeanour's of certain members of 1312Flt! Each letter starts in the same way
Dear Uncle Ray (Our Warrant Officer)
I wish to report a most heinous crime ('heinous crime' is repeated by the flight) committed at 1312Flt ('Whooosh' is shouted by the whole flight!) at MPA (**** MPA!).
Was is a member of 47AD? (Who?)
Was is a member of the Herc team? (Fabulous fighting freighter!)
Was is a member of VASS? (Plop Jockies)
Was is a member of the VC-10 team? (Queen of the Skies- often replaced with Scrap heap challenge or gate guardian!)
Or was it a member of the Execs? (Fun Police NEE-NAA- police siren!)
Then the individual is named and every one goes 'oooooh' and the most heinous crime is read out. The punishment is usually a spin of our unlucky wheel and the punishment lasts all night!
As you can see is all a bit of banter is keep us amused, the boss and the Warrant officer are very much part of this exercise and actively encourage us to report these 'misdemeanour's'. %) :o :}
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I have to report being very successfully bombed by a stationary pigeon in Malta last week - how one pigeon could carry such a very large and noxious payload is beyond me.
Don't walk under any penguins Nick.
Dave
Aah the famed Maltese Hovering Pigeon of Straight Street Valletta.
Nice place for a night out in the 60's
Ned
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Wildlife photographers paradise.
When the weather picks up, get yourself across to Sea Lion Island.
Also, when the weather get warmer you will have all the penguins coming ashore to nest. Lots to see on any beach (that isn't mined).
Sea Lion Island has one of the largest accessible colonies of King Penguins, macaronis, and rockhoppers, as well as elephant seals.
Away from Mt. Pleasant there are lots of birds of prey, including crested cara cara, and turkey buzzards. Make sure you have a long lens and bins.
If you get the chance, take a walk up Mt. Longden and Mt. Tumbledown. You will quickly appreciate how tough it was to take these hills, they are natural fortresses. This is a full day's stomp out of Stanley, so take your lunch.
Stanley races on Boxing Day was another good MINJO.
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Straight Street Valletta.
Nice place for a night out in the 60's
Very good restaurant down there - couldn't get in though - not made a reservation.
Dave
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I had my Beret taken from my head down the Gut in Valetta, I did not understand what it was about until one experienced airman explained to me that I was supposed to follow the lady of illrepute into her den to retrieve my beret at a price. You see Dave how the world changes, it was not about food then. How dumb could you be back in the sixties. Some would say a missed opportunity, LOL. Mick B.
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yes to the medical section by the transit hotel i was stationed at raf lluqa 1954 1960
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Morning All,
Just got back from our trek up Bertha's Beach, its a lot further than we thought to get near the penguins. We eventually walked 2.5miles up the beach just in time to see the Gentoo adults returning from their day's feeding. Managed to get a few pictures of them surfing to the shore line- very funny to see them go back out. Whilst we were walking up I took quite a few pictures of some of the other wild life on the beach, primarily two banded plovers (looks like a giant wagtail!), magellanic oystercatchers, White-rumped sandpipers, Long-tailed Meadowlarks, White bridled finches, and I think a Striated Caracara or locally known as a Johnny Rook!
On the return trip back to MPA we drove past Mare Harbour where we saw the local RFA tanker and the off shore protection vessel HMS Clyde, managed to get a picture of the tanker but Clyde was too far away to get a clear enough picture.
Once again a beautiful day at MPA with blue skies and a really pleasant temperature of 12 deg C, the wind has been gusting a little but when it dies down it really is quite nice :-))
My mate managed to get himself on to a winching trip aboard the locally based SAR Seaking he went to Mt Tumbledown and landed on a visiting fishing vessel near Stanley, I will try getting myself on this trip too, if I have enough time left!
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Good afternoon from the Falklands
The islands have returned to their natural weather conditions and we have an overcast miserable day with occasional rain. :((
But we have come to get to know that this is the way the islands work, we have a really nice day like yesterday when I could role up my shirts sleeves and enjoy the sunshine to back to wearing thermals and cold weather jackets today! We have just read in the local newspaper, The Penguin News, that HMS Edinburgh is on her way to our waters to replace the Dauntless so hopefully I can get a few pictures of her before I leave. :-))
On Sunday we have booked ourselves back onto a trip to Bertha's Beach but will turn right this time and walk up the beach towards Mare Harbour, the reason, because we found out that there is a Magallenic Penguin colony half a mile up the beach instead of walking 2.5 miles in the other direction through the sand dunes!
I have had just had to buy a survival knife from the West store on camp for up coming event, I hope it doesn't mean what I think it means...! :o
Looking forward to the pictures that I will see on the forum for the up coming International Model Boat Show at Warwick as this is the only way I will see it this year so get snapping and don't make me an unhappy airman stuck in the South Atlantic 8000 miles away from home!
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Hello again
Still enjoying myself, I think!, almost broke my toe this morning by dropping my iPad on it- you'll be relieved that the iPad is okay! :D
Once again the weather has changed and reversed from yesterday we now have bright blue skies and sunshine! The weather fore casters back in the UK would be panicking having to predict the weather in the Falklands.
However, Monday will be a sad day fro us on VASS 1312Flt at MPA as our good friends from Titan Airways are leaving for the last time <:(, they lost out on their contract with the MoD for the rights to provide the airbridge, we have enjoyed their company at work and in the NAAFI. Not too sure about the new contractor as we have had their aircraft land at MPA before but they operate very differently.
On a brighter note at least my ticket for home is confirmed so I definitely know I am returning home on November 16th (hopefully this year!) and will land back home on the Saturday, Dad not very happy as he will have to get up early to pick me up from Brize Norton because my flight lands at 7am! Only 6.75 weeks to go!!! How time flies.
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Morning All
As usual the weather has returned back to its miserable grey overcast skies :(( however yesterday the sunshine was that bright I had to wear my sunglasses for the first time, I think I actually got a bit of a sun tan too! 8)
As I was waiting for the LAN Chile jet to land I was talking to the aircraft servicing engineer from Port Stanley, the subject changed from aircraft to ships. He told me all about the fishery protection vessels based in the Falklands and what they had done in their careers. He told me of one ship called 'Persylla' or 'Presilla' (not too sure about the spelling) which sighted a fishing boat and ordered it to stop for inspection. It refused and sped away, the Persylla persued this boat all the way to South Africa ordering it to stop when they arrived. When the boat still refused to stop the captain of the Persylla swung the stern of his ship against the fishing boat which persuaded the fishing boat captain to stop! The captain of the fishing boat thought he had got away because he could cruise at 20-25 knots but he was unaware that the Persylla had corvette engines and could match her for speed and could catch her!
Hopefully I will go back to Bertha's Beach this afternoon but it all depends on the weather... :-))
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As some of may have suspected the weather put the trip back to Bertha's Beach on hold... again <:( However my corporal is trying his best to book a trip on a boat to one of the outer islands so all may not be lost! We have bright blue skies and its quite warm but the winds are getting up to speed again, when I first arrived the weather was quite stable- very cold and snowy- but as we move into spring the weather I am told is un-predictable and several seasons can happen in one day! Mind you the weather back home doesn't appear to be any better with all the flooding, at least that's one thing we don't get here.
The funny thing I forgot to mention a few posts back regarding our first visit to Bertha's was that our guide, who I should point out is a SAC(T) who works along side me in the VASS office, pointed out and said 'Look, there is a penguin!' in the dunes. We all looked and moved slowly towards the penguin (I got some very good pictures from a distance...) , however, my mate dave moved closer as I crawled up to the grassy dune in was sitting in, the 'penguin' suddenly (to our shock) took off! {-) {-) {-) :embarrassed:
I later identified it as a member of the caracara family but not a Johnny Rook as I first thought!
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I looked up Bertha's Beach (see Nick - what you write is interesting) and I found this about Bertha a shipwrecked Norwegian Barque of 500 tons
http://www.falklandislands.com/assets/documents/berthasbeach.pdf This mentions some of the Cedar cargo still remains there - Elsewhere I found out it also has a moss growing on it that is previously unknown to the scientists. I wonder if you will find any of that timber on the beach? You might even find some iron nails as in one of the two photos here http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?116465 I just got curious what Bertha actualy looked like ........ isn't the www. a wonderful thing.
Enjoy the time you have left down there Nick
Dave
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Hi Dave
We did find some large bits of timber on the beach but didn't know that they were from the the ship that run aground/sunk here all those years ago. Its a beautiful landscape that seems to go on for ever, I never tire of looking at the mountains from the VASS office window at MPA.
Yesterday I was on another mini exercise (something the Military never tire of!) and whilst patrolling the North end of MPA through the dense undergrowth of grass, scrubs and mosses (I must add 'struggling' rather than patrolling- the undergrowth goes up to my knees!) I spotted the prettiest little birds I have seen so far. I have recently read a book about the wild life of the Falklands and quickly identified them as Cobb Wrens. They look like a larger version of the UK wrens with the sticking up tail, we followed them for a good 2km before they finally got fed up of us! (and before anyone says it they weren't WRNS from the Navy either {-) {-)- even though we have a car park down year named after the WRVR affectionately nicknamed 'Weavers' there has not been any member of this service down here for over 50 years!
We patrolled for over 2 hours and we worked out we had struggled through this difficult ground for 10km- needless to say we were pretty shattered from this exhausting exercise- I have not felt this tired for ages especially considering that we were carrying a pack, helmet, webbing and gun for all that time!
At least I have today off in compensation even though I am still very tired.
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We patrolled for over 2 hours and we worked out we had struggled through this difficult ground for 10km- needless to say we were pretty shattered from this exhausting exercise- I have not felt this tired for ages especially considering that we were carrying a pack, helmet, webbing and gun for all that time!
At least I have today off in compensation even though I am still very tired.
You now have a better appreciation of yomping fully loaded all the way and fighting in that terrain.... Good to hear that you are still enjoying your tour and the countryside.
During my second tour (many years ago) the lads used the term of endearment "Bennys" for the locals (from Crossroads if you are old enough to remember) and got picked up on it. After that the new term of endearment was "Stills".
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You now have a better appreciation of yomping fully loaded all the way and fighting in that terrain.... Good to hear that you are still enjoying your tour and the countryside.
During my second tour (many years ago) the lads used the term of endearment "Bennys" for the locals (from Crossroads if you are old enough to remember) and got picked up on it. After that the new term of endearment was "Stills".
yep, still bennys.........................
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Only one thing more dangerous than a Fishead with a rifle and that's a Crab.
Re the "Bennies"..(Coronation St.reference?), I seem to recall the term "One Bagger" or "Two Bagger". I was assured by members of our esteemed Pongo class that these were terms of endearment. A bit like the sailors getting the "Last night you called me "dusky Maiden" ...today you call me "..... .......", Why? BY.
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Best not to get into one or two baggers Brian, could lead to "dog shows" and other things not really suitable for a family forum....
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Hi everyone
The locals are still referred to as 'Benny's' or 'Stills' (for the members who wonder why they are called 'Stills'- still called Benny!)- I have even seen a book in our library called 'Don't call them Benny's!
I am very dangerous with a rifle- I can actually hit the target compared to most, my best average was 5 rounds in a 17mm diameter to which I was awarded the best shot on flight. :-)) in fact the regiment offered me a trade change but I turned it down!
I certainly have a new appreciation for the regiment for yomping- my legs have only just stopped hurting, at least I won't be on that sector again (so I have been told) so I won't be suffering so much, I hope!
We went to the cinema last night to see the latest version of Dredd (the one with out Stallone), we all agreed that it could have been better and that we preferred the Alien prequel 'Prometheus' and laughed more at The Expendables 2.
We had a lovely warm 15 deg C day yesterday but as usual the weather has changed again to over cast and windy! <:( but I have only 6 weeks to go now- I still don't know where the time has gone, considering the weeks and weekends merge into one, I woke up the other week and thought it was a Saturday when it was a Wednesday! Very disappointing...
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Hi, I remember going to the cinema a lot when I was in't RAF. I used to put up the cinema posters and had a reserved free seat in the cinema. The audience invariably took part and had a good laugh.
In one dreadful SF film the Canberras went in to bomb the beast and came out as Meteors, well as these were the main a/c on camp even the cooks knew the difference.
Keep the daily diary going, we are all enjoying it.
regards Roy
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Hi everyone
The locals are still referred to as 'Benny's' or 'Stills' (for the members who wonder why they are called 'Stills'- still called Benny!)- I have even seen a book in our library called 'Don't call them Benny's!
I am very dangerous with a rifle- I can actually hit the target compared to most, my best average was 5 rounds in a 17mm diameter to which I was awarded the best shot on flight. :-)) in fact the regiment offered me a trade change but I turned it down!
I certainly have a new appreciation for the regiment for yomping- my legs have only just stopped hurting, at least I won't be on that sector again (so I have been told) so I won't be suffering so much, I hope!
We went to the cinema last night to see the latest version of Dredd (the one with out Stallone), we all agreed that it could have been better and that we preferred the Alien prequel 'Prometheus' and laughed more at The Expendables 2.
We had a lovely warm 15 deg C day yesterday but as usual the weather has changed again to over cast and windy! <:( but I have only 6 weeks to go now- I still don't know where the time has gone, considering the weeks and weekends merge into one, I woke up the other week and thought it was a Saturday when it was a Wednesday! Very disappointing...
At least you'll be accimatised to the cold. wind and wet when you come home!
I had 5 winters on the trot due to my comings and goings! BY.
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It will certainly feel like a 18 month Winter for us all I think, the Summer was barely warm when I left and it seems just as I will be leaving in less than 6 weeks time I will miss the best of the Falkland Summer! >>:-( <:(
Like you say at least I will be used to the cold weather the UK winter will have in store for us, I'll probably be wearing shorts and t-shirts on X-mas day whilst everybody else will be wrapped up.
I was not able to write anything yesterday due to a diary filled day with aircraft departing at mid morning but requiring fuel at 7am, shooting my rifle at 1pm and then back to work for 3pm to see off another jet. At least I proved my worth to the local RAF Regiment by scoring very well- my worst score being 5 rounds in 30mm, my personal best 5 rounds in 15mm! 8) very happy with that score.
We have beautiful blue skies today with winds so we are expecting a colder day than before- back into the single figures again :((
Watching the TV this morning and an interesting documentary was on about the Harland and Wolff ship building company in Belfast, giving an 1 hour's short history on the subject. It finished with the famous disaster of the Titanic but not before it showed the warships built for the Royal Navy, the first warship to be built by Harland and Wolff being the HMS Glorious (the Light Battlecruiser which was converted in to an aircraft carrier). It turns out the the BFBS have a lot of Republic of Ireland programmes as we see a lot of ROI adverts on BFBS2!
Back to work this afternoon but at least I am not on barb wire fence duties like some of my fellow 1312Flt colleagues!
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Sorry to rub it in but a very nice day here in Peterborough today! :kiss:
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The RRS John Biscoe used to spend the Summer in Grimsby to acclimatise the crew before she sailed South. :} :} :}
Ned
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Sorry to rub it in but a very nice day here in Peterborough today! :kiss:
I think the curse of Martin's shirts has been passed on to me then, we have just had a bad weather report indicating snow showers over the islands and a top temperature of 6 deg C (minus the wind chill of course) so I am not expecting the temperature to rise above 0 tomorrow! >>:-(
Its very ironic because of al the nice weather we have had all week (nice for the falklands) as soon as I am back on patrol duties for the camp the weather turns very nasty.
Today is my last day off for a week so unfortunately I won't be posting anything after today until Friday or Saturday, as they say in the mob 'that's life in a blue suit!' and 'you should not have joined if couldn't take a joke!'. Hopefully the bosses will be kind and allow us to finish early this week so I can give a account of the week.
Looking forward to two weeks time as we have a top table dinner for our W.O. who is leaving us for the 'warmer' climates of the UK. Should be a good laugh with all the improvised shirts and ties made from cardboard! :-))
Less than 6 weeks to go now then I am on 6 weeks of well deserved leave, don't have to be back at work until the New Year! My Flight Sergeant told me he didn't want to see me until then so I am very happy- at least I can catch up with all my projects I have not finished yet.
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Give the dog a biscuit and a cuddle Nick! :-
http://news.uk.msn.com/world/on-patrol-on-the-falkland-islands
Regards Ian.
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Well I am still waiting to be called in to patrol the airfield but nothing so far-still I am not complaining the weather is particularly nasty at the moment with snow showers, sleet, rain and hail with gale force winds thrown in (the temperature is pretty cold too!- 5 deg C). I am organising a trip to Stanley next weekend to visit the wreck of the SS Lady Elizabeth which was beached in Port Stanley in the 1900's. Then we will walk up to Gypsy Cove to see some more penguins before moving on to the airfield to see the coastal guns situated on the hill.
Give the dog a biscuit and a cuddle Nick! :-
http://news.uk.msn.com/world/on-patrol-on-the-falkland-islands
Regards Ian.
I will give the dog a biscuit, not sure about the cuddle as I know the dog (I think) as I saw him last week when I was on patrol!
We have a new member of team VASS who turned up on Friday, she has been here before but it was 10 years ago with Canberras of 39Sqn. She has unfortunately picked the short straw as she is stuck here over X-mas and the New Year. Could be worse- it could be me!!!
Spending a lot of our time in the Oasis cafe next to the church simply because it is the place to get the best coffee and cakes on MPA, meeting a lot of mates from Marham who have just arrived- feels like a small world when you meet old mates from your old camp in one of the smallest detachments in the RAF!
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It appears that the gremlins are hard at it again with the forum since I have lost the last three or four posts on here.
If I remember correctly we were talking about the things I have missed whilst I have been in the Falklands- one of them being real proper bacon. Well last night I feel like calling in the complaints officer in the mess regarding blatant mis-advertising, one of the meal options was 'chicken wrapped with bacon' what we actually got was a piece of chicken with a 1cm x 2cm piece of bacon- not what I would consider 'wrapped' around the chicken! <*< >>:-(
Been up since 5am (Falkland Time) waiting for a jet that was supposed to land at 6am but didn't bother turning up until almost 8am, don't know how they could possibly be that late? We had a flight photograph for the entire 1312Flt detachment just to prove that we had been to the Falklands!
For certain we can visit Stanley and Fitzroy on Sunday (unless the weather changes again!) which is something we are all looking forward to, hopefully I can get some good pictures of the wreck of the Lady Elizabeth and see the port and landing ground where the Sir Tristam and Sir Galahad were hit.
Weather keeps changing from good to worse but at least today we can see Mt Pleasant peak which is usually covered in snow and cloud!
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Well it is so so simple really why they were late....................................they went for a Mc Donalds {-) {-) {-) {-) {-) {-) {-) {-) {-)
Dave
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Well it is so so simple really why they were late....................................they went for a Mc Donalds {-) {-) {-) {-) {-) {-) {-) {-) {-)
Dave
{-) Some how I don't think so, when they landed the airline company were French along with some very French aircrew! Strange only the week before we had the Italians down here too, next time I am expecting the Spanish or the Germans to turn up to enjoy the Falkland weather! The French crew didn't seem to be very happy to be landing in such a cold place!
Time is flying very quick down here because tomorrow I have to book my return ticket back to the UK then I have to ring up my boss back in the UK to ask him to make sure the leave plot is up to date so I won't be called in when I get back- can't wait to have almost six weeks of leave, he did say he didn't want to see me until the New Year!
I have thought of another thing I won't miss about MPA, the cold corridors whilst transiting around the base, the entire complex has a nick-name due to its size and internal complexities- The Death Star, whilst the accommodation area is now affectionately called the rabbit warren! The problem at the moment is that the weather has decided to be nasty again and has plunged well below double figures again >>:-( Spring has no meaning down here- just more variations of weather!
Looking forward to seeing every one back home- only 4 weeks to go before my replacement turns up, hope he has a good sense of humour for working down here! {-)
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Hi Dave despite the fact your thread says little about boats I have read & enjoyed your daily reports, it has been a geography & history lesson all in one with a little bit of biology thrown in, thank you for that. However you never did answer my quesion on what Karts & motors you used down there, there is still time though LOL. Mick B.
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Hi Mick
Sorry I thought I had, the go-karts are powered by Honda engines and thats about as much as I know about them, I know that they could turn very tight around the corners, that they were rear wheel drive and I spun my kart several times because I was not used to drive a rear wheel vehicle! Hopefully there will be some more boat stuff coming soon when I come back from Stanley and Fitzroy, Fitzroy being the location of the landing ships Sir's Tristram and Galahad were hit by Argentinian aircraft 30 years ago. I will be getting some pictures of the SS Lady Elizabeth, Jheulm, and some of the other wrecks around the Port.
Last night we was asked by my boss if we could escort the pilot of the airbridge jet down to Bertha's Beach so he could see some penguins, looking at the weather it was likely to rain but we said okay. As we arrived we were told by some paras that there was no point as they had just walked up the beach and there were no penguins. We knew other wise and started to walk. About half way up the beach we spotted some unusual shapes on the shore line so we went in to get a better view, we realised that the objects were two seal lions which we managed to get some good pictures of before they went back into the icy sea. Thrilled at this we continued up the beach where to our surprise we were treated to a fantastic display of surfing and jumping out of the water by a pod of Comstoners Dolphins about 20ft off shore! :-) Unfortunately for me they were too fast for my camera and all I got were dorsal fins but you could see the white spots on their bodies as they surfed through the waves! As we continued we eventually met the Gentoo Penguins this time in greater numbers, we evntually returned the pilot to his room about 4.5 hours of wallkiing up the beach!
The beach is named after the 500ton barque SS Bertha which was mentioned in an earlier post but the information board on the car park area gave alittle more info on the ship and what happened- She was lost and the compass was not working due to a magnetic anomoly in the area and she turned down the wrong side of the island now named 'Direction Island' and was wrecked in 1952.
Nick B
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Nick.
Talking about "Tristram"....I was her Nav. Officer for about 8 months.
All the LSL bars had a different decor. Tristrams was Olde Worlde country pub. Mock beams and Hunting scenes. There was also a (cased) stuffed Fox with a ciggie in its mouth ..and its head used to vibrate with the ships vibrations.
It was on this ship that we got machine gunned in Famagusta when the Turks invaded Cyprus in 1974. Then we scooted around to the old jetty in Dekhelia to load up with wives and kids of the local garrison. Happy days. All on my earlier blog.
Cheers. Bryan.
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All the LSL bars had a different decor. Tristrams was Olde Worlde country pub. Mock beams and Hunting scenes. There was also a (cased) stuffed Fox with a ciggie in its mouth ..and its head used to vibrate with the ships vibrations.
Hi Bryan
Nice to see that even traditions set up all those years ago are still going strong in all three services in the present. On camp there are many bars other than the NAAFI owned areas, our bar is called Timmy's and is named after the Tristar aircraft that used to be a common sight in the Falklands. There is Shadies (Supplier bar), Sharkies, The Crab And Sproket (MT Drivers), Castaways (1435Flt), Brintels (1564Flt & British International bar) and finally Cat's Cradle which is the Chef's bar! They are not all open at the same time but allow a different choice for the personnel each week if you like your drink!
I finally got permission to go to Stanley tomorrow after everything was signed in triplicate! So hopefully some good pictures will be coming when I get back to the UK, I have a few now! I was absolutely soaked yesterday after waiting for the airbridge jet to leave, the passengers must have been a bit annoyed waiting on the ground for 30mins longer than necessary but I was very annoyed because we have to wait outside with it until it takes off! <*< The pilot will not be going back to Bertha's if he is going to do that every time! {-) I will report back on Monday because of the action packed day we will have tomorrow!
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Is the harbour lights still going at mare harbour and what about lot 22?
Jerry.
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Hi everyone
I know it has been more than a day since I said I would update my posts but I could not pass up the opportunity I was offered yesterday morning.
On Sunday two of the VASS team (me and Jemma) visited Port Stanley and had a very interesting time taking pictures of the wrecks, the first being the Jhelum a 500t wooden barque which is believed to be the last East Indiaman ship left in the entire world, the next being the SS Lady Elizabeth a 1000t iron barque which was beached in the 1930s and finally the Plym which was also beached but much earlier. We stayed in the town for the morning looking around the shops and buying the usual penguin souvenirs, I actually bought a book about the ships involved in the exploration of Antarctica called Ordeal By Ice. Opposite the town on the original Military harbour you can see ships names marked out in stones painted white, from my memory there was- Barracouta, Protector, Beagle, Endurance and Dumbarton Castle. We moved on to Surf Bay which was until recently an active mine field but if you didn't know any better you would have thought you were on a tropical island! We visited the Stanley airfield and saw the bomb craters from the famous Black Buck raid by the Vulcan bomber, before moving on to Gypsy Cove and Yorke Bay. From these locations you could see the entrance the harbour and the cove where the SS Great Britain was beached in the 1870s. From here we saw many birds and wildlife including the Magellanic penguins guarding their burrows, Sisikins, Falkland Thrushes, Red eyed Shags, cormorants and Turkey Vultures. Finally we reached the top and found the WW1 and WW2 coastal naval guns, two of them in turrets pointing out to sea.
On Monday, I was asked if I would like to go the British memorial on the West side of the East Falkland. This turned out to be at a place I have always wanted to go but never thought I would get the opportunity. Looking over the area from the mountains you would never have guessed what had happened there just over 30years ago. The stretch of water looked so calm and peaceful now but as we looked out across the water and looked up we realised where we were-we had all grown up seeing these images of Argentinian Skyhawks flying down the same route we had just taken, in front of us was a green marker buoy indicating the sunken HMS Ardent, we had looked out across San Carlos water and we all reflected what had happened and should not have happened. It really changed the mood for us on the trip after that.
We visited the museum and paid our respects to the men who didn't come back especially Colonel H Jones.
We returned via the North Camp road which is more of dirt track than a road.
As far as I know the harbour lights are still on at Mare harbour as we saw them from our positions on our exercise but I don't know anything about Lot 22.
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The Harbour Lights was the pub/bar run jointly by the crew of The tug Indomitable (Indom) and 460 Port Troop (the RLC dockers). Lot 22 was the RAF's night club made out of half a dozen containers which they bought at an auction after hostilities ended. The containers were listed as lot 22, hence the name. The club was ticket only due to its limited capacity. The helos practiced winching on Indom most Thursday afternoons and the crew always gave us tickets for the following weekend. It was always great fun. I considered it a great privilege to work (and play) alongside all of you young servicemen, you all had such great spirit and knew how to turn what could have been a tough 6 months into such a fun time. Respect peeps. After leaving The island I was fortunate to continue the connection with the services as my eldest daughter joined the ACF moving on to Welbeck, Shrivenham, Sandhurst and to a commission in the Logies before she laterally transferred to the Australian Defence Force. She married an Aussie soldier and is soon to get her Majority. She really loves it and is really well looked after down there. An really enjoying all your posts as they bring back so many happy memories, thankyou.
Jerry.
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Another interesting post.......
You mentioned "Brittania".....when I was last there her main yard was set up on the Stanley foreshore as a sort of bit of history. Is it still there? I hope so. BY.
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Morning everyone
I feel a bit rough today after our flight's top table dining in night, a bit too much beer and spirits served I think especially when our WO passed around a special bottle which we later found out to be whisky! ;)
Bryan- The mizzen mast of SS Great Britain still takes pride of place on Victory Green in Stanley and I have some good pictures with the mast and a few 19th century cannons, further down close to the Governor's House is the 1914 memorial to the Battle of the Falkland Islands which shows the carved images of the British battle-cruisers engaging the German armoured cruisers just off the Falklands.
Jerry C- I believe that the same containers are still at Mares Harbour but I don't know if they are still used in their original capacity as a bar! I know that there is a bar in the harbour primarily used by the crew of the Clyde and the RFA oil tanker but occasionally some of the camps personnel are invited to use the facility but like you say numbers are restricted and you need to find a way of getting down there since its 6 miles away!
I am glad that everyone is enjoying my posts as I am enjoying myself very much and will miss the islands when I eventually fly home in just over three weeks time! <:(
It seems every time the airbridge jet lands some one I know gets off, don't know if the RAF is getting smaller or everyone I know is visiting the islands at the same time! %%
Just glad that today is my day off as I think I have a hangover coming on! :embarrassed:
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A sut Mae y Cymraeg yn dwad wyt ti wedi dysgu mwy......How is your welsh comming along have you learnt any more
Dave
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Very slowly Stavros, the alcohol from Tuesday night is killing off my new memories!
I have learnt to count to 1000, and can greet and say good bye depending on the time of day, say the basics like what my name is and where I am from, and finally I have learnt certain food type such as milk, fish, fruit and veg. Not bad for someone who hasn't learnt another language for over 10 years! :-))
Hopefully I will be able to understand you by next year's mayhem meet.
I am still waiting for my return ticket so I know which date I am due to leave- the 'shinies' in the office (adminers to everyone else- because they sit down all day and have a shiny patch on their trousers) are as useless as a wet paper bag in the Falklands! So I am a bit miffed with them at the moment because Dad needs to know which day he needs to pick me up from Brize Norton as he has been looking after my car. I have been told my him that he has enjoyed the peace and quiet! He has recently got back from the engineers show at Warwick where he met Steamboat Phil, I swear that Phil doesn't leave the show area between the engineers show and the model boat show two weeks later!
I forgot to mention a few days ago we met the British Antarctic Survey team who were swapping with their counterparts who are already on the icy continent. They landed in their recognisable Dash-7 aircraft which is painted bright red. It was very funny watching the scientists trying to work out how to push a movers trolley with their bags on away from the aircraft, they didn't know about the brakes on the handle were on and it took all 12 of them to work this out! We wanted to show them but their guide told us to allow them to work it out because if they couldn't work out how a basic trolley worked they would need to buck up very quick since they would be spending 6months in the snow and ice!
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Hi everyone
I thought the worst of the weather was over but boy was I wrong! We had to go in to work for 2130 hrs to see in an aircraft flying in from Switzerland with some oil spares for the increasing interests from the likes of Rockhopper and Noble. It landed safely at about 2200 hrs but it took 4.5hours to off-load its cargo which weight 600 kg and was worth approx £500,000, the problem was with the aircraft being designed by a complete idiot! The cargo door for the Gulfstream is situated next to the engine cowling which meant we could not get a forklift near it. It took them 3 hours to shuffle the box from inside the jet to a low lifter then the box had to be dismantled and rebuilt when the cowling was in danger of being smashed to bits! Whilst all this was happening the temperature started to drop quickly and ice started to form on the wings, and it started to hail continuously, just as we finished and locked the jet up we suffered a complete white out as it start to snow heavily. We had to wait in the land rover for 10 minutes until it slowed down. Now since then we have had snow showers every night and its supposed to be half way through spring! But it doesn't look any better in the UK, 18 months of winter here I come! <*<
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Hi everyone
Luckily the snow has stopped but the overcast cloud is still hanging over us, the air temp dropped dramatically on Saturday afternoon whilst we were seeing off the Swiss jet, just as we were waving it off the heavens opened with a hail storm. The storm soaked me to my skin and I had to return to my room to dry off before returning to see in another jet from Chile- this time prepared for the worse with gortex jackets and waterproof trousers! Once again we had a VASS outing to the Phoenix cinema to watch 'The Sweeny', which was a bit strange to watch after seeing the original with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman! But it was a good film with some good humour which was an improvement over the Dredd film a few weeks ago. Hopefully we get to see the latest James Bond film before I go but it looks to be very tight schedule since I leave in 20 days time and the film is due to be shown half way through November.
Looking at the wind which has reached gale force again, it is nothing compared to the hurricane about to hit New York, hope everything turns out well for them. I will start to clear from the station on Thursday which was abit of a shock to see on the Chuff board! See you soon... I hope
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Hi Nick,
We're all going to come and meet you when you land.... [ Welcome Home! ] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB3NPNM4xgo&feature=player_detailpage#t=147s) :-))
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That's very nice Martin :-)) ,
in reality when I land all I will initially see some very miserable faces from some of my colleagues who will be jetting off to either Afghan or Falklands, however it will make me feel better knowing that feeling of dread is far behind me (about 4 months behind me! :} )
My parents will be there with my Lakeland terrier and I know that all the mayhemers will be there in spirit! :-))
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Thunder and lightning storms will hit the Falklands soon if the adminers from MPA don't pull their fingers out, they can't guarantee that I can go home on the Friday and have booked me for the Tuesday flight which is four days longer than I thought. Apparently as long as my replacement is here it doesn't matter when I leave, so it could mean me living in transit until I go home for four nights!
Not very happy with them! >>:-( >>:-(
Right rant over, breathing returning to normal, correct colour returning to face...
Hello every one, its a lovely day here today at MPA with brilliant sunshine, blue skies and virtually no wind, must be a first! :o It feels fantastic, and at the moment looks a lot better than some of the conditions we have seen on the news in the northern hemisphere. The outside air temp is at a record 14 deg C, the hottest it has been here since I arrived! Unfortunately because of the mess up with flight dates it means that I will miss the Warwick model boat show by 1.5 weeks instead of 5 days so it makes me feel a little better know that there was no chance of getting back early to visit the show. It at least gives me another weekend to explore the islands again for one last time, it just means that when I arrive back in the UK I will hit rush hour trying to get out of Oxford! :(( Oh well see you all soon.
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You're leaving soon and STILL no photos of the islands or penguins !!?! :((
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Perhaps he isnt there! just like the Moon landing was shot at Disney!, Ho Ho Ho {-) {-)
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All pictures are classified 'Confidential'
We can neither confirm nor deny that photo shoots of non flying avians took place on the archipelago during our holday.
Ned
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Yes they are very confidential so secret that I will have to shoot you all for viewing them! :} If they actually get uploaded.
They will be uploaded when I return home in three weeks time because I am not allowed to connect my camera to their computer network on pain of destruction of my prized digital camera!!!
And my iPad would take too long to upload the pictures because I am only allowed one wifi card a week which is used to contact home so I beg all to be patient the pictures are worth it, honest! :-))
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Hi Nick
Thought I would say many thanks for your interesting view of the south, and entertaining way you have presented it all, looking forward to those photo's, will be interesting to see how the place has changed since 86,
Regards
Mike
(Ex Siggies) !!!!
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Well Nick did you get any seatrout fishing in - this is the time of year when they are running up the rivers
and it is supposed to be some of the best seatrout fishing anywhere. Unfortunately when I visited there it was out of
season and we were only there for a few days en route to Chile (on HMS Leopard - many many moons ago)
You seem to have had an interesting time - enjoy your trip back, when it happens
Geoff
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Hi everyone
You'll be pleased to know after looking through my camera I have collected over 150 pictures of penguins alone, I hope you will like them! :} On the other hand I might start choosing now which ones I will upload, I think you all would get pretty fed up with that many penguin pictures!
Unfortunately I have not had the chance to go fishing yet although my mate has been checking out areas to go which we are allowed to go at this time of the year, so I might yet be able to tackle the might Falklands trout! We might be going to Mare Harbour to get some but to get to the other rivers will entail a 1-2 hour drive to the north camp road to the San Carlos river.
A French jet landed this morning, and whilst they were preparing to gives us sandwiches and magazines one of our team politely asked if they had any milk, looking through their fridge they bought out some real fresh milk. I don't know what they thought of us for asking but our expressions were enough to know that we were very happy. We had to explain later on that we are like an outpost- we can't get luxury goods, especially real milk and beg for it where ever we go! ;)
Weather is staying neutral again just a bit overcast but you can't have it all.
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no what you mean i was all ready to leave oman on the first of september 65 after a year away from my wife and children got to aden guess what off loaded untill the 3 longest 3 days i ever new stuck in transit red sea hotel no joke hope spelling is ok spell check not working
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no what you mean i was all ready to leave oman on the first of september 65 after a year away from my wife and children got to aden guess what off loaded untill the 3 longest 3 days i ever new stuck in transit red sea hotel no joke hope spelling is ok spell check not working
Interesting to see that after all these years the military hasn't changed much, RAF MT section dropped me off at RAF Uxbridge to attend the Lord Mayor's Procession and Remembrance parade in London on the Thursday and forgot to pick me up on the Sunday, they were rather surprised to get a phone call from me asking where they were! They got me a hire car but when I asked is there a map available for London, to which they questioned why I required said item, I said well since I don't come from London and Uxbridge is in London it would be nice to know how to get out without getting lost! In the end I gave up on them and bought a map from Uxbridge WH Smith store 2 miles away. <*<
I am rather tired today because I have been up since 0300hrs waiting to refuel and see off a jet airliner. The getting up at such an unearthly hour was bad enough but to discover at 0350hrs that some idiot had locked the door to our building from the inside and left the keys on the wall really annoyed us, but not as bad as the duty Sergeant who was called out with the spare set! >:-o
After all that we got away for 0700hrs to get breakfast, got a few hours off until the next aircraft is due in, as they say that's life in a blue suit! Its the first day of Movember and its starting to look like the late 1970s and 1980s in the Mess with all the taches being grown, I would grow mine but I have done for the past 3 years and I decided I would give it a rest. :-))
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Hi everyone
I am in a very good mood today, tomorrow I have a guided tour of HMS Edinburgh, the current Type 42 class destroyer defending the Falklands. :} :-)) Hopefully I will be allowed to take some pictures of the ship and some of the fittings/features of this particular class of destroyer. Also we managed to get some more fresh milk so two things to celebrate. :}
Managed to get one of the most important item that any RAF techie wants to get, a t-shirt to prove that I was here and not somewhere warm! As one of the many expressions we have down here, been there, seen that, got the t-shirt, and now the fridge magnet to prove it all. My fridge magnet is being collected on Monday when I buy it from the Bimble shop!
Weather is fantastic for the Falklands with bright blue skies and sunshine, with just a hint of a cold breeze. Lovely compared to last week!
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Hi Nick....have been reading all of your posts from that cold land mass ........ :D
An inspection of a Type 42 class destroyer ....would be great......the last naval work [I was involved with] was on the [US designed] HMAS Oliver Perry Class FFG's....many years ago
Keep up the postings......you will be home in a few weeks.......then have a few beers with your new T shirt on...... {-) .......Derek
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Its typical of the weather down here, after all that lovely sunshine and blue skies the gods of rain and gale force winds are stirring up the pot and given us a full blown force 8-9 gale with hail and rain mixed in! This in turn has meant that the Mare Harbour road is closed and all events are cancelled <:( , have to feel sorry for the HMS Edinburgh crew because today was their sports competition with MPA which has been postponed until tomorrow (provided that the weather improves!). One advantage to this though means that my name has been added to the list to sail with the Edinburgh to witness a sea exercise with guns blazing, etc, should be excellent to see from the bridge wings! And it appears that someone has been looking at my christmas list because the huge Antanov transporter will be arriving soon and I will be able to marshal it around! ;) That will be fantastic to see with its folding nose door! The weather is that bad that the poor old Dash-7 that the British Antarctic Survey team use was bouncing up and down with wind being buffeted so often that the nose wheels came off the ground! We had to position a fuel bowser in front of it to act as a wind break. :o I have not seen it as bad as this for a long while... I hope I can come home on time and not get 'Bennied' (stuck in the Falklands longer than what is desired!) {-)
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Hi Nick, this has been one of the best threads ever on the forum for me & it has had little to do with boat building, but what a lesson in history & geography. I hope you get to leave on time & enjoy a nice rest at home. I think a lot of us will miss this thread though. You could have a future in writing travelogues or any kind of writing or reporting for that matter, thank you, Mick B.
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I agree with all irishcarguy has said. Great thread. :-)) Looking forward to all the pics.
Alan.
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I agree with all irishcarguy has said. Great thread. :-)) Looking forward to all the pics.
Alan.
ditto :-))
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And I thought was having a hard time pulling a few (well a lot really) of unfortunate souls out of the mud with my landy at the Warwick ME show........oh and your Dad wasn't one of them.
Keep smiling Nick and continue the (and bl**dy) brave stuff you are doing down there :-))
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I've also really looked forward to your posts as they bring back memories. It's a bit like watching a film before reading the book, you can put faces to the characters. I don't suppose your relief could be persuaded to "take over". Did you get any enjoyment/benefit from writing them?
Have a safe passage home and enjoy your leave.
Jerry.
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Hi everyone
Its very emotional reading your replies, yes I am enjoying myself (still!!!) and I have enjoyed writing up my experiences and my sometimes silly mistakes (ok a lot of silly mistakes!) in an entertaining and interesting way. :-)) ;)
Sometimes the weather helps but a lot of the time it doesn't, as can be read in most of my posts, I will miss writing these posts and I would love to continue them but I have a feeling that not so much interest would be had learning about how much a pain the backside a Tornado jet bomber is to service!- even though there probably would be a lot of swearing involved and a lot of stupidity!
My replacement has not contacted me as yet so taking over where I finished is probably unlikely- I am considered strange in the RAF for building model boats, they all think I should be building model aircraft instead!
Phil- I heard about your exploits from my Dad, he knew not to get stuck because- 1, he had only just had the car cleaned, 2, it was my car he was driving!!! {-) Hope you both had fun at the ME show, I know that he is very happy with his new magnifying glasses that he got from the show, he can actually see what he is supposed to be making!
We have several big events coming up soon, one being the remembrance weekend, we were kindly volunteered to clear out the Timmy's Hangar so they can parade inside, and the other that the Duke of Kent will be visiting us, we have been told that we might have to wear white overalls when we marshal the aircraft in, not sure if thats a good idea or not wearing white down here! Only 15 days to go which means only 17 days until my pictures are uploaded... watch this space... :-))
Thanks for your support throughout my detachment, I could not have done it without you all.
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Nick,
I must say I have not commented on your posts so far but find them Fascinating.
Bob
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Yes I've looked forward to them too, great stuff Nick, and thanks for making the time for us.
"England expect each man to do his duty" - Mission accomplished Nick! :-))
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Nick....don't worry, more seafarers build model aircraft than they do boats. Even more of them make bits and pieces for a model railway layout. Cheers. Bryan.
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Hi everyone
Nick....don't worry, more seafarers build model aircraft than they do boats. Even more of them make bits and pieces for a model railway layout. Cheers. Bryan.
Strange how we build models of anything else other than the things we work on! Whilst I like making airfix models, I am not interested in making R/C versions, I think its something to do with 'I work on them so why would I want to build a smaller version!'
I have just said goodbye to the British Antarctic Survey team for the last time, you can't miss their aircraft as it is bright red, I managed to get several pictures of me next to it. I have a few hours off until the next airbridge is due in but at the moment the trip aboard HMS Edinburgh might be cancelled once again. My name has been handed in but I have not received any confirmation that I can go, and the team I was going with might have to cancel too because they are needed for an engine change on the VC-10. <:(
Oh well can't win them all, at least the Antonov is still coming so I can see this amazing piece of technology working!
Wednesday is the day I start 'clearing' from MPA and the jokes have already started about being 'bennied' or we'll see you this time next year same place! You never know because my VASS qualification is valid for 5 years so I could end up back here or knowing my luck either Afghanistan or Abu Dhabi or some other hot sandy place!
Its 14 days to go until my replacement arrives, I just hope he likes the cold and the wind...
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or he aint gone sick where ever he is regiment
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Hi everyone
What a fantastic 24 hours I have had! :} :}
Yesterday I was lucky enough to visit HMS Edinburgh at Mare Harbour and not only did I get a guided tour of the entire ship I went sailing with her too. At 0930L we set off in company with HMS Clyde and two tugs (Dindlestroom was one of the tugs names that I remember) in to Choisel Sound where at 1030L we witnessed what the Navy are capable of. Two Typhoon fighters were sighted and given the designation of exocet missiles, within seconds of radar contact the tannoy was screaming 'Excoet, Exocet, Exocet! Brace, Brace, Brace!' then the Type 42 swung violently to port as the Typhoons appeared and flew low over the Edinburgh! This happened twice and whilst we were hanging on for dear life on the flight deck we could see the Clyde conducting the same violent turns. I got some amazing pictures of this. Whilst we were at sea we got to visit the Bridge, sick bay, Ops room, Main Comms room, the magazine room, the gun room, the hangar, the ratings mess and bunks. I was quite surprised how many people you can cramp into one space. The female rating mess had 18 occupants in a space no bigger than an iso container! After lunch in the Junior ratings mess, which was very nice, it occurred to us how narrow the ship was, as we sat in in the mess we could see both sides of the ship! After this we went back to the bridge where a very lucky airman (not me unfortunately) got to steer the ship using the wheel and radar. Since the weather was not brilliant the Captain decided that the exercise would change into speed trials, he informed the engineers to start up the Olympus engines and within a minute the noise of two more jet turbines could be heard over the Tyne engines. He gave the word and the ship almost took off, an almost instant 30 knots! And to our surprise he signalled to the helmsman to turn to port and we all hung on again (I managed to get a few pictures of the angle of the ship during these turns!) After a few turns we turned back towards Mare Harbour and anchored off Pebble Island where we transferred to the tugs and returned to Mare Harbour. I got some good low pictures from the deck of the tug of the Edinburgh as we sailed away! And finally today I marshalled one of the biggest transport aircraft in the world- The Antonov An 124-100! It is a monster, got some very good pictures of the An 124 with my friend Jemma for scale! :-)) See you all soon less than two weeks to go!!![size=78%] [/size]
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Jealous, No not one bit. I look forward to seeing the photo's all I got to see in FI was penguins
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And you are getting paid for having a day out like that Nick. Enjoy them when they come round
as it isn't very often
Geoff
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Hi everyone
And you are getting paid for having a day out like that Nick. Enjoy them when they come round
as it isn't very often
Geoff
Perhaps its one of few remaining perks actually serving in the military these days, the Navy lads/lasses certainly enjoyed themselves during their stay at MPA. They got to go flying with the Hercules and climbed all over the VC-10 and Typhoons, and finally they drank all our beer in the NAAFI! They did apologise for this but they will be returning later on this year, so my replacement better be aware!
The funny thing is that during my trip nobody admitted to being or feeling sea sick, I certainly felt the motion of the ship and found that the best place to stand was the main deck particularly the flight deck! I think the threat of using the sick bags that my Chief bought with him and the stigma attached to it was enough to ensure none of us were sick!!!! :o
The surprising thing was the engine room controls and how basic it is compared to a modern jet aircraft, I always had the impression that warships were huge monsters but living on board for 8 hours really made us think how lucky we are to live in our tiny rooms at MPA and Marham and not having to share the space with 6 other people!
At the moment its raining cats and dogs so the our important visitor from the UK is probably going to get wet when he leaves the airbridge this afternoon, at least we don't have to wear the white overalls! :-))
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Hi everyone
Looks like we are in for some very nasty weather down here at MPA, we are watching the weather radar and keeping up with the regular weather reports and it looks like we are going to have heavy snow with gale force winds. The roads have been shut due to 60kt+ winds and blizzard conditions that are due to move in during the afternoon. The temperatures are thought to drop to -13 deg C and ice will build up on aircraft wings within minutes! And I have to go to work in these conditions at 11am to see off the airbridge jet, I just hope that it can take off in these conditions! {:-{
Yesterday I got invited to go to Fitzroy, Goose Green and Ajax Bay for next Thursday, hopefully I can go as this will probably be my last trip in the Falklands so I want to make it worth while. Don't like the look of the skies down here its turning black and its not night time yet! My fitness has improved dramatically during my stay, whilst I thought I was fit the fabulous gym on the complex is amazing and you can easily spend 2 hours a day in there! :-)) See you soon... I hope
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No sooner than I had posted my last post we have just had a whiteout!!! :(( Does not look pleasant.
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Had the first some of the winter here as well. Mornings are getting cold (-10c this morning)
Time for the big pants and wooly socks :)
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Hey Nick........a little off thread.....but your posting of ...November 07, 2012, 11:45:27 AM & your day on HMS Edinburgh bought back memories for me %)
12 hours into a gale force winds ..... <*< trying to understand electro hydraulic chart recordings of GMLS13 missile launcher issues on an HMAS DDG :embarrassed:
Same thing...the PO's mess was atwart ships......between hull plates.....
After 20 hours the issues [electronic... not mechanical {-) ] were resolved & the missiles .............fired........ %%
I wish you well when you return to home. :-)) ...........Derek
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We have very bad weather here too, right now -15c & the same overnight. We have had 30cm of snow too & lots of wind. I hate the winters, we wont see nice weather again until April if we are lucky. Mick B.
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Well it looks like the great storm must have just missed us because whilst the temperature dropped to about 4-5 degree C and we got a few blizzards, none of the snow settled. {-)
My flight went to our bar last night and invited members of our sister flight 1435 to join us. What followed was a brilliant night in Timmys where we had some friendly banter and competitions. We have a flight song which the rules are very simple, when it starts playing you have to get off the floor (by any means necessary!) and sing along with all the actions. Its called 'We've got to get out of this place!' and has some brilliant actions to go with it whilst you are balancing on a bar stool! This was followed by 1435 singing their song to which we would reply '1312! Whoosh!!', this would go on for about 5 minutes or until we were losing our voices! :} Last night I officially became the FOG or Falklands Old Guy, and given the power to punish people with drinking fines and the alike! This post is handed down to the next person who has the least amount of time to do in the Falklands (there are some other rules but I'm the longest in post and the the person next to go home).
Derek- Hope you enjoyed my post regarding the HMS Edinburgh, I have a serious amount of respect for anyone living aboard warships, it takes a lot to live in those cramped conditions. :-))
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Nick I know by modern standards the batch 3 type 42s are considered a bit crowded but 40 yrs ago
she would have been total luxury - my destroyer was 85 ft shorter than Edinburgh and 10 ft narrower in the beam
yet our crew was only 17 smaller and if you look at the cruiser HMS Arethusa they were only 40 ft longer and the crew was
over 200 more. Must say during my service my best accommodation and food (by a mile) was my berth at RAF Turnhouse,
where I lived whilst working at RAF Pitreavie Castle.
Geoff
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Nick I know by modern standards the batch 3 type 42s are considered a bit crowded but 40 yrs ago
she would have been total luxury - my destroyer was 85 ft shorter than Edinburgh and 10 ft narrower in the beam
yet our crew was only 17 smaller and if you look at the cruiser HMS Arethusa they were only 40 ft longer and the crew was
over 200 more. Must say during my service my best accommodation and food (by a mile) was my berth at RAF Turnhouse,
where I lived whilst working at RAF Pitreavie Castle.
Geoff
I have an even greater respect for you all now living in such small conditions on a smaller ship! You couldn't swing a cat in that mess without hitting the bulkheads!
Its been an annoying weekend, a commercial jet which visits each week somehow broke its radio and instead of being on the ground for 1-1.5hrs it was grounded for 24hrs and we had to try to assist with power sets, ladders and many other pieces of equipment. We started at 1330hrs and did not get back to the barrack block until 2240hrs! Needless to say we were pretty fed up because we had missed the mess and had to get up the next day to see it off >>:-(
I am starting my final clearances this week and then I am free (to a certain degree anyway!) it always amuses me in the military that when you leave a camp you have to sign out of some the strangest places (usually places that you have never been to either!). The other thing that really amused me was that I tried handing in my sleeping bag which I should mention has not been outside the original sealed see-through plastic bag it was given to me in 4 months ago to be told you are going to need to get that cleaned! Are the suppliers getting thicker or am I missing something here? Its in a sealed airtight bag how is it dirty?!! So I had to take it to the laundry section to get it 'cleaned', talk about a complete waste of my time!
It looks like everybody enjoyed the warwick show this weekend judging by the pictures on the thread, just wish I could have been there! Here's to next year...
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Hi everybody
Yesterday was a hectic day for the VASS team, after all the problems with a royal party boarding the airbridge jet (FOD checks, extra fuel, etc) we had a medical emergency so we had to stay until 12pm for the aeromed jet to arrive but the patient was stuck in Stanley. Instead of a Landrover ambulance they decided to call the SAR Seaking to pick them up, we got diverted to pick someone else up because the patient was not ready, which then delayed the entire flight, needless to say we were a bit annoyed that the jet had come in so early if they had known that the patient was not even out of the hospital yet. Eventually the jet took off at 6pm which was a relief because we had been in work since 5am and we had to be in today for 5-30am again!
We have had a beautiful week at MPA, the weather has been fantastic, bright blue skies, no wind (or virtually no wind!) and a record temperature of 19 deg C, I actually got sunburnt! I completely forgot that the ozone layer doesn't exist down here. :embarrassed:
I have managed to contact my parent unit at RAF Marham to ensure that 1, I have a job when I get back, and 2, they actually remember me! I have had to book extra leave in on top of my usual Christmas leave because of new buildings being built at Marham, so I am not complaining. :-)) just gives me more time to build my backpile of models!
Clearances are almost done and I am one step away from collecting my ticket home, its typical though, just as the weather is getting nice and I have to go back to the UK for what sounds to be the worst winter for a long time! <:(
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Hi everyone
I had my last road trip yesterday (if you can call a dirt track a road!), my mate Glen and his team of medics invited me to come along to Goose Green but we ended up going a lot further! We pulled up at Goose Green and visited the Argentine Cemetery before moving on to the Memorial to Col H Jones which is placed on the spot where he fell during the battle. We carried on to New Haven where the new ferry service operates between East Falkland and West Falkland, at this site we came across a Gentoo penguin 'rookery' where they had just laid their eggs. We returned to Goose Green and looked around the second biggest settlement on the island which only has about 10 houses and a pier. We spotted many interesting birds including a Southern Caracara, a variable hawk, rock shags and the strangest looking herons you could come across called black crowned night herons. We took a few pictures of the infamous village hall where the locals where locked up during the war. We moved on to Darwin where we visited Darwin House for Afternoon tea and cake, the family who run the house are extremely friendly and even though they were closed they put on a good spread for us. :-)) After saying our goodbyes we continued up the road towards Stanley and decided to stop at Fitzroy to visit the Memorials to the Sir Tristram and Sir Galahad. We finished our trip with a visit to Stanley where we visited Moody Brook barracks and the local shops where I bought some local Deedle-dee jam which is very nice. It was when we returned to MPA we discovered that Rex Hunt the Falkland Islander Governor during the war had died which todays front page news in the local newspaper the Penguin News has given a fitting tribute to a very brave man.
Only 4 days to go...
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"Southern Caracara, a variable hawk, rock shags and ......black crowned night herons."
...... I think Nick's finally flipped! {:-{
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Definitely been Benny'd :embarrassed: :embarrassed:
Ned
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what kind of jam {:-{ {:-{ {:-{ :o
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Deedle Dee Deedle Dee
Dundee Dundee
Ned
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Fancy me no kennin` that, jings :o {-) {-) {-)
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ferry service operates between East Falkland and West Falkland
Hi Nick
Did you by any chance happen to get a decent photo of the MV Concordia Bay?
Dave
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Hi everyone
I don't know what you're talking about Martin, its you lot who are the wrong way up on the flip side! :}
Worryingly I think Ned maybe right, I was looking through all my pictures last night and found a picture of myself wearing a woolly hat standing next to a penguin! Definitely been benny'd!!! I have even taken a liking to the 'Diddle-dee' which grows every where on the island, its the size of a red currant and the same colour but is very sweet.
I managed to get one photo of the MV Concordia Bay but its only of the superstructure- we could not get any closer because of the wire fence and the hill she was sitting behind.
This will be my third to last instalment from the glorious Falkland Islands, I have finally cleared from Mount Pleasant and I am waiting for my replacement to arrive on Monday so I can fly home on Tuesday and hopefully land at Brize Norton on the Wednesday morning, if there is no problems at Ascension of course! %)
I am now packing my bags in preparation to drop them off on Monday morning so they can be loaded very early Tuesday morning- its amazing how much I have acquired since I've been down here! I bought a map of the islands showing all the wreck sites- there are a lot!!! Diddle-Dee jam for everyone to try back in the UK, some very interesting books about Antarctica, lots of copies of the Penguin News, and lots and lots of Penguins :D :D :D !!!!
Interestingly, the locals are allowed to collect upto 3000 penguin eggs a year to eat, and it acts as a form of population control because who knows the penguins may rise up against us and take over the islands.... {-)
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I run a stamp site which gives details of ships featured on stamps if anyone is interested. The Concordia Bay stamp and detail can be seen here:
http://www.shipstamps.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12417&p=13427&hilit=concordia+bay#p13427
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Nick as your Falkland Islands journal is now nearing it close I must say I have enjoyed reading it -
and tend to look out for it most days.
I know it is a couple of days yet but have a nice if rather long flight home
Geoff
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I agree with Pugwash, dont forget the penguin (and other) pictures. Enjoy your trip home.
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Same here. :-)) Interesting posts.
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Hi everyone
It's my penultimate post from the Falklands which at the moment is suffering an un-natural heat wave, it reached 24 deg C on Wednesday, I have a sun tan and a wind tan but that could be wind burn!
I have almost completed my packing after a few swear words trying to get the bags to close, good thing I bought some extra straps just incase! It's been fun on my detachment but there have been some days which I would rather forget, especially the big exercise where I only got 10 hours sleep in 4 days, but I will miss the amazing wildlife and scenery, and the history of the islands. I have made a lot of friends on 1312Flt and in other trades on the station RAF, Navy and Army included and hope to keep in touch with most of them. My room is now neat and tidy for my replacement and this will be my last night in my Rome before I spent the last night in the dreaded transit room in my corridor. Looking forward to seeing everyone especially my Mum and Dad and start modelling again, after all there is a few corrections to be made on my gunboat! :embarrassed:
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Nick as your Falkland Islands journal is now nearing it close I must say I have enjoyed reading it -
and tend to look out for it most days.
I know it is a couple of days yet but have a nice if rather long flight home
Geoff
Here. Here!
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Have a safe flight Nick
See you Soon
Brian :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-))
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Safe journey home mate , i've really enjoyed reading your posts :-))
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Thank you Nick, you wrote so well that on many occasions I felt I was standing there next to you. You have a rare talent & it is one of those threads not soon to be forgotten. It is my hope that when you are home & settled in that you will give us all another look at the Falklands through your images & memories. It has been one beautiful trip reading your daily posts. Safe trip home my friend, thank you, Mick B.
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Hi Nick
Thank you very much for the daily reports - these are a very enjoyable read - it's like having a 'window' to another part of the world - SAFE JOURNEY HOME and look forward to the pics you post to complete the diary.
aye
john
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Nick,
As the others have said, thanks for your vivid depiction of life in the Falklands. I have very much enjoyed your posts and look forward to the pictures.
Colin
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Bon voyage and a good leave. Many thanks for your time and effort. Your thread will always be there to refresh your memories.
Jerry.
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Thank you very much for your interesting postings Nick. We all enjoyed your 'Diary of the Falklands'
Do have a pleasant journey back home and we're already looking forward to seeing some pictures. :-))
regards
ken
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Have a safe journey home looking fwd to meeting up in Wickki park thanks for all your daily ramblings most informative :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-))
Dave
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Hi everyone
If you don't know by now this will be final instalment from the cold/wet or is it sunny and hot Falkland Islands, the weather still hasn't made up its mind! I want to thank everyone who followed my progress from being the Falkland New Guy or FNG to the weather beaten wiser Falkland Old Guy (FOG), without your experiences and support there are many places I would not have had the pleasure to visit. I hope to reward everyone with the 1500 pictures I have saved to my lap top (and backed up on many discs!), there are a lot of penguins to see but there are quite a few ships and boats in-between too. :-)) :-)) :-))
Today I deliver my luggage to the RAF Movers who no doubt will endeavour to destroy it or loose it or send to another island or country! Hopefully my replacement turns up at approx 1400-1500 hours local time, he will certainly have learn fast because my guided tour of the complex is going to be quick, we have to cover 1.5 miles in half an hour. %%
Its going to be a long trip back taking 18 hours to reach the UK (if there are no delays in-between) flying on an Airbus A340, at least its got four engines compared to the twin engined Boeing 767 that dropped me off all those months ago so I feel a little bit safer.
So keep an eye out in two days time after its gone quiet from the South Atlantic, there will many many pictures for everyone to enjoy.
Best regards
Nick Brown, 1312Flt VASS signing off, hopefully... ;)
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Safe journey home, and thanks for the daily installments!
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Post script...
Update, one very annoyed airman sitting in his room! <*< >>:-(
I spent the entire afternoon waiting for my replacement to get off the jet to discover that he hadn't even got on in back in the UK! >>:-( No idea why he didn't get on but all his paper work said he was supposed to be here today but after checking the aircraft bookings I now find out that he will be getting on the next flight!
After being laughed at by my collegues the WO gave me the nod that I could still fly home tomorrow :-))
So I am very happy with this result, at least I don't have to spend the night in the transit room!
See you all soon... Fingers still crossed!!!
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Hi everyone
I made it back safely after an 18 hour flight on an Airbus A340 with really uncomfortable seats! As promised here are the first batch of photos of my detachment. Might take a while I am still getting used to the new image hosting software!
I landed at Wideawake airfield on Ascension Island just south of the equator, weather was strange with high winds but with fog everywhere initially before being blown away.
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My first shot of the view from my room at MPA, note the depth of the snow which is close to 1ft deep!
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Ah the cage at wideawake - some things don't change!
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More pics
Landing at Volunteer Point was made via the Sikorsky S53 helicopter (Sea King) as there is no road leading to the area. Volunteer Point is the furthest easterly point on the Falkland Islands and is exposed to the wind and snow-
it was the only place I have seen frozen sea water. %%
(http://i45.tinypic.com/rkahli.jpg)
The first penguins we met were the Gentoo colony which are easily identified by their orange bills.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/8wl2ls.jpg)
(http://i45.tinypic.com/17475w.jpg)
Ah the cage at wideawake - some things don't change!
Yes we are told we are not allowed to disappear from the cage, I know some tried but were quickly returned!
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Hooray :-)) Penquin pictures !!! Welcome home.
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Welcome back :-))
Yes we are told we are not allowed to disappear from the cage, I know some tried but were quickly returned!
We weren't caged first time down, we spent some time running around the place and having a swim, very pleasant after running round and round Canberra. Second time I don't remember being caged but that was MANY moons ago.... Penguin pictures, I have a few of those as well :}
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:-) [ Welcome Home 1312Flt VASS! ] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB3NPNM4xgo&feature=player_detailpage#t=147s) :-))
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Some more Gentoos...
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The mighty King Penguins walking up the beach, with the Gentoos it looked like a Mexican stand-off with the 'Kings' acting like they owned the beach!
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The first King Penguin chick we met at the King colony, they are certainly brave little birds with some attitude!
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Thank you all, its nice to be back but now I am suffering from a touch of jet lag and alcohol withdrawal! %%
I'll try to upload as many pictures as possible in one evening but I am still unpacking my bags and opening all my mail that arrived whilst I was away. There is a lot and some important stuff to respond to especially my driving licence!
More pics to come soon...
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welcome back :-))
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Welcome back
Do Crabair still have rear facing seats?
Get some decent beer down the neck, have a good kip and all will be well
Ned
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Hi Ned
Unfortunately so, the VC-10 still has the rear facing seats whilst the Hercules has side ways fitting jump seats for all the squadies! Beer is on its way, hopefully...
In the mean time here are some more pictures...
Volunteer Point beach with its white sands...
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(http://i48.tinypic.com/25r0dvc.jpg)
A Two Banded Plover
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One of the many strange sights on the beach, a giant jellyfish (we presume :} )
(http://i46.tinypic.com/balqe.jpg)
The info board at Volunteer Point
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With its warnings about Skuas!!! :o
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The view from my room when the snow melted, don't let the blue skies fool you it was still very, very cold outside!
(http://i48.tinypic.com/2ry27g3.jpg)
A solitary Hercules in the cold with some fantastic cloud formations over the mountains.
(http://i48.tinypic.com/10n6ubo.jpg)
What MPA is named after, Mount Pleasant peak.
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The old air bridge jet of Titan Airways, Boeing 767-300 G-POWD
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The famous Penguin chuff boards, in this picture my pengu is at Ascension Island.
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Last batch for this evening...
RAF sense of humour... :}
(http://i46.tinypic.com/263xb11.jpg)
One of the fishing vessels based at Port Stanley when we flew over Stanley on return from Volunteer Point.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/348fy34.jpg)
Stanley from the air.
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The mighty Queen of the Skies, The Vickers VC-10.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/rciqz8.jpg)
And finally, the SS Lady Elizabeth, the most intact wreck on the islands, it was rumoured that the SAS or SBS operated from the wreck during the Falkland war in 1982.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/afj47p.jpg)
More to come tomorrow... a lot more... :-))
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Croeso Adraf.....Welcome home Brill pics keep them comming
Stav
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Welcome back Nick, great to see you arrived safe and sound. The pictures are great keep them coming
Brian
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Hear Hear and ditto. :-)) Great stuff.
Alan.
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RAFlaunches aka 1312Flt VASS aka Nick aka the Man himself! :-))
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Hi everyone
Sorry I didn't carry on uploading my pictures, I have not been very well I think its called 'a stinking cold'! I am feeling better today so I will continue with some pictures of Port Stanley.
The white painted rocks on the hill side opposite Stanley, near the old Military Harbour, which spell out the guardships names from the 1890s to the present day.
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The Catholic Church with the famous whalebone arch, the only other town in the world with a whalebone arch is Whitby in Yorkshire which Stanley is twinned with!
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View from Ross Road looking up towards the West Store and the Victory Pub.
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The houses along Ross Road.
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The 'Pod'... (no, I don't know why its called the pod either!)
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Some of the oldest terrace houses in Stanley.
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the houses and roads look very clean and tidy. pride more than some british have
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More pictures form Stanley
The mizzen mast from the SS Great Britain, which sits on Victory Green
(http://i47.tinypic.com/2wbw3v8.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/2cwvd6u.jpg)
The view across Victory Green showing the 19th Century cannons and the 20th Century mountings for the saluting guns
(http://i47.tinypic.com/2zokd4x.jpg)
The only six trees in Stanley!!! {-)
(http://i45.tinypic.com/1410hev.jpg)
The last East Indiaman and in the best condition (supposedly), the SS Jhelum.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/2u4jv68.jpg)
The 1914 Memorial to the Battles of Coronel and the Falkland Islands
(http://i50.tinypic.com/2nh3xg5.jpg)
(http://i47.tinypic.com/es9f7k.jpg)
(http://i47.tinypic.com/2d6r47s.jpg)
(http://i47.tinypic.com/1zdq1z6.jpg)
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raflaunches
Welcome Back to the UK!
Many thanks for all your posts and photos from the Falklands
I've viewed them all with great interest.
Unfotunately the Argentinians are stirring things up again . . .
It wasn't you that upset them this time was it? ;D
From the Daily Mail . . .
/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238033/Foreign-Office-fury-Argentina-allows-thugs-smash-Falklands-tour-office-U-S-travel-firm-cancels-holidays.html (http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238033/Foreign-Office-fury-Argentina-allows-thugs-smash-Falklands-tour-office-U-S-travel-firm-cancels-holidays.html)
Britain has accused Argentina of trying to ‘strangle’ the Falklands economy after it
failed to stop a violent raid on a shipping office which handles cruises to the islands.
Two cruise ships cancelled scheduled stops at the islands last week, apparently as
the result of the ransacking of the shipping agent’s office in Buenos Aires.
Police were nowhere to be seen as masked thugs wielding clubs smashed plate glass windows,
scrawled graffiti and upturned dustbins in the Argentinian capital. No arrests were made.
Richard
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Nick,
The first time I set eyes on the red roofed terrace the hose furthest from the camera had the tail of a rocket stuck in it! And I still think those stone houses at the end of Ross Road by the same architect that designed many of the Uks railway buildings.
Stanley has sure grown since my last visit. As far as your comment about the trees is concerned, I was under the impression that a lot of experimentation was being done with tree planting on West Falkland. Perhaps it came to nothing.
Love the pics. Brings back a lot of memories. Regards. BY.
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Hi everyone
Sorry I didn't continue last night I was doing something that I have not done for 4 months, boat modelling, I got rather carried away and by the time I finished it was almost 1030pm and I had cut my finger open on the stanley knife!
Here are some more pictures of Stanley and the local area, below is Surf Bay beach where the Argentine invasion started from, they rolled ashore in AMTRACs on this amazing beach.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/206dht5.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/t540pe.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/2s8kc4n.jpg)
Our 'knackered' Land Rover parked in the sand dunes with the coastal defence guns behind on the hill side.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/5kepza.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/287q1hi.jpg)
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No doubt you picked up the Stanley knife while you were in the Falklands ! :D
O.K. O.K. . . I'll get me coat . . .
Richard
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You sure it wasn't a Port Stanley Knife!!!
Bob
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And the cut was not a Mount Pleasant Sight %%
Ned
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I don't know if its just me but until the last three posts I thought I was the mad one- I was waiting for the puns to come! {-) {-) %%
Some more pictures...
The hangar at Stanley airfield.
(http://i48.tinypic.com/2d2jeyv.jpg)
The landing strip
(http://i49.tinypic.com/wbrpk9.jpg)
At the end of the runway you can see the wreck of the SS Lady Elizabeth, a British 1208 ton iron barque built in Sunderland in 1879. Arrived at Stanley March 13th 1913 with lumber from Vancouver to Delegoa Bay, struck the Uranie Rock and proved to be too costly to repair, beached in Whalebone Bay. It is the best preserved wreck in the Falklands.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/11rue6r.jpg)
The view of the Lady Elizabeth from the road to Gypsy Cove.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/1zmzbjs.jpg)
The remains of the steam tug Plym, beached at North east end of Stanley harbour after many years of local work, built at Plymouth 1903 50ft long 10ft beam.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/qpp0zt.jpg)
Yorke Bay, off limits to tourists and visiting airmen because of land mines being washed ashore from other locations, the penguins are too light to set them off.
(http://i48.tinypic.com/15czo1x.jpg)
Magellanic Penguin, locally known as 'Jackass' penguins due to their braying sound in the breeding season. Here is one guarding its burrow.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/288th1g.jpg)
A Turkey Buzzard (Vulture), one of the carrion eaters and the most common raptor on the islands.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/mkyph5.jpg)
The 6 inch gun at Ordnance Point, above Gypsy Cove, which guards the entrance to Port Stanley harbour.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/2wggn5j.jpg)
A Magellanic Penguin who posed for us near Ordnance Point.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/20tnwi0.jpg)
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Hi everyone
Hope you are enjoying the pictures, we move on from Stanley to the other other side of East Falkland.
Can you guess the location from this photo?
(http://i48.tinypic.com/34eqmja.jpg)
What about now?
(http://i50.tinypic.com/1zly9om.jpg)
A view across the water, the inlet you can see is Ajax Bay, the location of the field hospital near Blue Beach, the stretch of water is San Carlos Sound, nick-named 'Bomb Alley'. In this peaceful looking water two RN ships were sunk, HMS Antelope and further out into Falkland Sound, HMS Ardent, both were Type 21 Frigates. Though they were fast ships they could not avoid the bombs in a confined stretch of water like San Carlos and the high mountain sides prevented defensive radars locking on to the attacking Sky Hawks and Daggers. HMS Ardent was hit 17 times in 22 minutes by 500kg and 1000kg bombs, the damage was horrific, killing and wounding one quarter of the her crew. Her Captain, Commander West gave the order to abandon ship, 8 hours later the ship exploded.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/igl2s6.jpg)
(http://i45.tinypic.com/307z3fa.jpg)
The British cemetery at San Carlos.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/2hn58qf.jpg)
(http://i46.tinypic.com/10hkkut.jpg)
Colonel H Jones' grave in the cemetery.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/15qz2u1.jpg)
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.....raflaunches...have enjoyed the past months posts as an eye opener on the Falkands thank you......& am happy for you after your long flight home O0
"The remains of the steam tug Plym, beached at North east end of Stanley harbour after many years of local work, built at Plymouth 1903 50ft long 10ft beam"
Could these dimensions [10ft beam] be questioned?..........Derek
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Hi Derek
Thanks for the welcome back, it was a very long flight I got very bored after 18 hours of being cooped up in an aircraft!
With regards to the dimensions of Plym, I can only go by the info on the wreck map I bought which gave the dimensions I posted, I couldn't get any closer to the hull to confirm the beam as the road leading up the left hand side of Gypsy Bay had collapsed and been shut off to the public!
Hope this helps.
Nick
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Nice interesting photo's Nick. :-)) Keep them coming.
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Hi everyone
Some more pictures from San Carlos.
The names of the fallen, this section dedicated to the crews of the HMS Ardent, Argonaut and Coventry.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/108eae0.jpg)
The view from the cemetery across 'Bomb Alley'.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/8wz62v.jpg)
(http://i46.tinypic.com/2njecnc.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/zkl45s.jpg)
The location of the fatal hits on HMS Ardent.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/4t3wvr.jpg)
Map of San Carlos Sound.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/34pjqdi.jpg)
The anti-aircraft missile Rapier Mk 1 used for the first time in the Falklands. There were no recorded kills.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/2i1lhsj.jpg)
The Warrah, a fox like creature now extinct, possible proof that man had landed on the Falklands long before any Europeans.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/2zhjpqv.jpg)
San Carlos settlement.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/kc04ew.jpg)
(http://i50.tinypic.com/qzgqc3.jpg)
The pier at San Carlos with Red eyed Rock Shags.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/65btvl.jpg)
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Hiya everyone, I'm back to post more pictures of the Falkland Islands,
Here we go...
The 'road' or the M25 as it was nicknamed since it runs around the North part of East Falkland. You think the roads are bad in the UK with the pot holes and damaged tarmac, these roads didn't have tarmac and they were made from gravel, granite chippings and clay (if you were lucky!) full of pot holes that you could loose a Land Rover wheel in.
The North Camp Road, I must point out that the word 'camp' on the Falklands applies to any settlement outside Stanley.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/fdzp7a.jpg)
The 'bailey bridge' which crosses the San Carlos river.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/2hq8axg.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/27x19qw.jpg)
(http://i46.tinypic.com/2mx2vf9.jpg)
The San Carlos River.
(http://i48.tinypic.com/okbfhl.jpg)
The next main settlement after San Carlos on the North Camp road, Teal Inlet.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/x2jxvq.jpg)
One of the many mountains that the Paras had to fight across, I believe this one is Longdon.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/21n402v.jpg)
A crashed Argentine Chinook helicopter at the base of Mount Kent, it was not shot down but believed to be pilot error. My mates from 1312flt, Yogi, Barney and Si investigate the crash site!
(http://i46.tinypic.com/34fbk3p.jpg)
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Some more pictures
My visit aboard HMS Edinburgh, a Type 42 Batch 3 destroyer, embarking from Mare Harbour to Choiseul Sound.
The flight deck.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/e0ixow.jpg)
(http://i46.tinypic.com/18yzid.jpg)
(http://i47.tinypic.com/2wefngi.jpg)
(http://i45.tinypic.com/2qnsdp3.jpg)
(http://i45.tinypic.com/dcxo9.jpg)
The diesel tug Dindlestroom, one of two tugs that pulled us away from the harbour side.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/34yaasp.jpg)
One of the many masts with radars, etc...
(http://i45.tinypic.com/10mr7zk.jpg)
One of the optical sights on the centre port wing.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/k9voyu.jpg)
The port Phalanx director.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/2ahek3b.jpg)
Looking forward towards the bridge.
(http://i48.tinypic.com/eqz7k8.jpg)
One of the many water tight doors.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/208bi2s.jpg)
The main radar.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/33c3gvt.jpg)
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Some more pictures from HMS Edinburgh.
Another view of the Dindelstroom.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/xg9b5.jpg)
The port torpedo tubes. Or are they chaff dispensers?
(http://i45.tinypic.com/xaqfzm.jpg)
The Sea Dart launcher.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/2egffyp.jpg)
The fore deck.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/nv46zk.jpg)
The forward superstructure detail.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/2cpfd3k.jpg)
The improved break water fitted to HMS Edinburgh.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/ncxf9y.jpg)
The forward superstructure and bridge.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/11lh3de.jpg)
The business end of the ship. The 4.5inch gun with the newish 'stealth turret'.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/xkx8jp.jpg)
The upper bridge with the Scot domes and other sensors.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/2j5ia87.jpg)
The hangar with the Westland Lynx folded up neatly inside.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/34t3alz.jpg)
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No pictures of the Golden Rivet :}
Ned
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No pictures of the Golden Rivet :}
Ned
So thats where the rumour started in the military!!! In the RAF we were told that every aircraft had a golden rivet somewhere in the fuselage to make up the true value of the jet! {-) {-) {-)
Some more pictures from the Falklands...
The current OPV in the Falklands, HMS Clyde.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/6z9af4.jpg)
HMS Clyde in company with the Dindelstroom following HMS Edinburgh.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/10fu8hu.jpg)
A close up of HMS Clyde.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/314cdgp.jpg)
Clyde from the other side!
(http://i45.tinypic.com/24pav5z.jpg)
The latest jet fighter in the RAF, the Typhoon F2, all the fighters at MPA are part of 1435Flt which were originally at Malta during WW2 flying three Gloster Sea Gladiators named 'Faith', 'Hope' and 'Charity'. The fourth aircraft is named 'Desperation' to continue the tradition. Here is one of them simulating a missile attack on HMS Edinburgh and HMS Clyde.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/29409c1.jpg)
HMS Clyde conducting emergency turns to avoid the 'missiles'.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/dn21s8.jpg)
Speed trials on the Edinburgh.
(http://i48.tinypic.com/2hycmee.jpg)
And faster...
(http://i49.tinypic.com/1zvq0w8.jpg)
And faster...
(http://i48.tinypic.com/339pq9f.jpg)
Until we were doing 30+ knots!
(http://i50.tinypic.com/2mq9rnn.jpg)
A view from the stern.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/33ctbg9.jpg)
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Hi Nick,
I've watched your reports from the South Atlantic with much interest - thank you for taking the trouble to post them, and all the recent photos. I have never been there but know a number of people who have - mostly in 1982 with no desire to return!
Anyone modelling a T42 has lots of good detail to work from - no excuses for getting it wrong now. Oh, and those tubes are for torpedoes - chaff dispensers look like this -
(http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b596/Greggyp99/chaffdispenser_zps56b97b4c.jpg)
Merry Christmas - and thanks again for a really interesting excursion away from all those model boats!
Greg
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Hi Greg
Merry Christmas, thanks for clearing up the torpedo/chaff launcher problem. I can see why so many people would not want to return to the islands after 1982 as it brings up many terrible memories or just maybe they didn't like the weather! It can be a harsh environment as I found out with horrific snow blizzards and awful winds, the first week was a shock to the mind and body with -20 deg C temperatures and snow 1ft deep!
Here is my final batch of pictures from HMS Edinburgh, these pictures show the ship from a rather unusual angle as I have just climbed down the hull on the Dindelstroom tug.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/2qn6smc.jpg)
(http://i49.tinypic.com/2ym8sxl.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/27zcepv.jpg)
(http://i46.tinypic.com/21bjcz6.jpg)
(http://i50.tinypic.com/nx5k43.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/357ik2o.jpg)
RFA Gold Rover at Mare Harbour.
(http://i47.tinypic.com/nx3x4n.jpg)
Now for something different, the massive Antanov An124-100 transporter.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/2v1uumr.jpg)
(http://i45.tinypic.com/wqox81.jpg)
My friend Jemma providing the scale! :o :o
(http://i48.tinypic.com/2evpzjk.jpg)
(http://i45.tinypic.com/2uy13lu.jpg)
(http://i45.tinypic.com/10xf3w9.jpg)
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Some GREAT photos Nick........ should I be expecting a visit from some big guys in dark glasses any night soon?!
(http://www.gencoupe.com/avatars/ibnzmonkey.gif?dateline=1345654967)
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Some GREAT photos Nick........ should I be expecting a visit from some big guys in dark glasses any night soon?!
(http://www.gencoupe.com/avatars/ibnzmonkey.gif?dateline=1345654967)
Only if you've been bad, Martin! :} :} {-)
Don't worry though, I have checked that there is nothing compromising in the back grounds, just some pictures of me that might be considered dodgy but the penguin was asking for it! {-)
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Some more aircraft pictures.
The un-mistakable red painted de Havilland Dash-7 of the British Antarctic Survey Team.
(http://i48.tinypic.com/b5031h.jpg)
Me standing next to the BAS Dash-7.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/ifbk9i.jpg)
The LAN Chile Airbus A320, the pilots were nutters often flying the aircraft in sideways in the gale force winds!
(http://i47.tinypic.com/4rclkh.jpg)
The Titan Airways Boeing 767.
(http://i45.tinypic.com/34qjzad.jpg)
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Some more pictures...
The Argentine Cemetery at Goose Green.
(http://i49.tinypic.com/2f0f8ue.jpg)
The location of the Battle of Goose Green and at the centre of the picture is where Colonel H Jones was killed.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/r76hs8.jpg)
The memorial to the fallen Colonel Jones.
(http://i48.tinypic.com/264l83q.jpg)
The memorial to the Army engineers.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/w7lp0.jpg)
The Gentoo penguin colony at New Haven, on the southern part of East Falkland.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/5xsdpz.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/jj41uf.jpg)
(http://i45.tinypic.com/35n9gz8.jpg)
The closest I could get to the MV Concordia Bay, the latest ferry connecting East and West Falkland.
(http://i50.tinypic.com/358yz3n.jpg)
Me at Goose Green, proof that I was there!!! :-))
(http://i45.tinypic.com/24ywfnl.jpg)
The infamous Village Hall where the Goose Green residents were locked up for over 30 days until rescued by the Paratroopers when the Argentine forces in the village surrendered.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/2iuxpi0.jpg)
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The LAN Chile Airbus A320, the pilots were nutters often flying the aircraft in sideways in the gale force winds!
Must have been trained by Aer Lingus.
Regards Ian
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Well doesn't time fly!
I realised on Friday as I stood on the pan having my section's last photo taken by the 'photogs' that the last time I had a section photo was during my time in the Falklands, and by amazing chance I realised that the 21st November was the day I landed back in the UK... two years ago!
Couldn't believe that my time in the Falklands was such a while back but it only feels like yesterday- the irony is that if I woke up tomorrow in the Falklands I could easily carry on as if the last two years hadn't have happened!
I would like to add once again- especially after I re-read this entire thread!!!- my thanks to everyone who kindly commented and kept my spirits up whilst I served during the cold months in one of the remotest island networks in the world. :-)
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Why do I get the distinct impression that the whole world loves a penguin & me too. A great post Nick & great photography thank you. Into my favorites right now, Mick B.
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Hi Mick
Good to hear from you again, loved my time in the Falklands and would willingly go again. I'm making a working model of a 1967 HMS Protector in 1/72 scale to remind me of my time there, the irony at the time that if I'd been delayed there for another week I could have had a trip on board the new Protector but I had a good time on the Edinburgh.
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I too also thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Falklands on the Indom. The sense of fun and the spirit of all the young service peeps will stay as a warm glow in my heart for ever.
Jerry.