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Post by beagle on Nov 20, 2006 19:30:36 GMT 12
We are all grown up now....
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
We had our Christmas function the other evening and it was a very civilised affair at a nice cafe. No stealing everything that wasn't bolted down. Or even things that were bolted down. We will even be allowed back there next year, that never used to happen!
sounds like S&S in the early days. I remember the chef coming out with his big meat cleaver towards 'CAM'
He was pissed again.
and yes we were not welcome back there either.
All the way back to base CAM had afull bottle of wine and wa sstanding up in the aisle shaking it and aiming it at people. Wives were ducking, the boys were cringing, nobody was big enough to do anything about him except for 6'4" Matt Hanly.
Back at Ed Sculleys MQ, CAM wa sseen to throw a young baggie into a tree.
I heard he wa sstill learning to behave, even as CMC of the OH Sgts mess, putting people in CAM Locks at dining ins etc
All the young guys seem to have grown up and haven't been replaced by more young guys.
When I joined there were heaps of young guys around 18-21, now the youngest AC at Ohakea is about 25 with a family. Most of the youngest guys are still those that were around when I joined, except they are now all around 30, with partners, kids and houses, and much more sensible.
Armourers shandies seem to be a thing of the past.
Although St. Barbaras day is coming up soon...
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 20, 2006 19:35:44 GMT 12
Wow that certainly sounds like testament to the recruitment crisis the RNZAF has then Phil. I really don'tthink they will combat it with the bullshit text message recruting and computer gaes they're wasting their money on. In my day people wanted to join up because of two things a) they loved the fast jets they saw at airshows, and/or b) they felt they would have a guaranteed long job-safe career with a good trade where they can really do something for their country. Now? Both of those things seem very far in the past.
Also, kids who spend all day text messaging and playing computer games are the opposite of the type the RNZAF used to recruit.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 20, 2006 20:48:27 GMT 12
OK, I just found JC Evan's email on OldFriends and emailed him. He has checked out the photos and kindly emailed be straight back with more names. Awesome, thanks JC. Here's an updated list then with red additions care of JC.  LAC Cristine NortonLAC Mitch Button LAC Chris ? LAC ? ?LAC Todd ? Cpl P.J. Smith LAC Sean Eccles Cpl Steve Leach Cpl Shawn "Nardo" ?? Second Group  Cpl Dean LyeLAC Dave Homewood LAC or Cpl Kerry Hibberd LAC Alastair Pilditch LAC Mark BainLAC Gary Barnes Cpl ? ?LAC Aaron Lyttle Sgt Steve HoltumLAC Phil StoddartThird Group  Sgt Steve HallF/Lt Tony 'TC' Webster Sgt John 'JC' Evans Sgt Dennis Gibbons Flight Sergeant Gary Curtiss Flight Sergeant Keith Scott Sgt Gus Pagett Cpl Evil CrabbThose names have really jogged the memories a bit. I had my doubts about the name Steve Bennett. Steve Holtum he is, I remember now thanks to JC. |
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Post by beagle on Nov 20, 2006 20:51:33 GMT 12
I can recall when each section got computer in say 2000 , the young guys spent their joe times on the computer sending e mails to other friends around the place, who was going to the bar that night, what WAAF did they score bla bla bla, then came the porn.
Ok they had the computer centre that checked messages of bigger sizes that would contain images and they checked them out but that was not done 24/7 so things got through.
I recieved a pornographic movie from one guy and after chatting to mates at the computer section had him charged, the first in AK.
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Post by phil82 on Nov 20, 2006 21:10:49 GMT 12
Ahh, sweet nostalgia. This is all very familiar; looking at photos and trying to recall who was in them, and recollecting the fun times. It's been going on since time immemorial, and while I don't want to piss on your parade, I can tell you that every generation of servicemen thinks exactly as you do: 'we had it tougher, rougher, we drank more, we had more characters, more fun, and thinks ain't what they used to be". All true , of course, but only in perception. The reality is that the service might effect changes, but it has always been and always will be a 'people-eating' machine It takes them in, uses them for whatever the current policy dicatates, then spits them out.
I served in two Royal Air Forces , over four vastly different decades,[the late 50s, the 60s, the 70s, and the early 80s] and it's great to see the comments here from Beags and others, but it's all been done before fellas. I would raise your hair with a few tales, and they wouldn't be that different,but no one is really interested in what went before, they're only interested in the 'now', and it's always been thus!
I can tell you however, that when I went to that Ohakea open day this year, and watched those young guys in uniform, and how confident they look, and how they are obviously good at what they do, and their demeanour shows it, and I think; "well, if I can see that , I'm sure there are a lot of others who can see it and be inspired to want to be a part of that team"
That's the way it is, and always will be I suspect.
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Post by beagle on Nov 20, 2006 21:17:06 GMT 12
yes i agree
when I was in I used to enjoy walking around in the public while in uniform, not to show off while in town etc , but I was going places it never bothered me that i wa swearing my uniform.
ok, there were te kids etc that were with mummy and pointed to me saying policeman, as they were very similar, but even walking say in a shopping mall, my lady friend used to hold on tight as she knew other women would be looking and be jealous she was with a man in uniform.
As to the tom foolery, we just got away with a lot of stuff in the old days as well.
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Post by phil82 on Nov 20, 2006 21:25:40 GMT 12
I came across a photo on another site, of four Spitfires in formation, and it was unique in that it was signed by all four pilots, and had a note pasted on the back which reads as follows: WAR RECORD OF “BLUE” SECTION These four pilots cost £10,000 each to train. During that time they wrote off or otherwise damaged £160,000 worth of aeroplane. On operations they wrote off completely 3 Spitfire V’s between them at a total cost of £300,000. Their pay amounted to about another £22,000 during their service. They burned up about £25,000 worth of hi-grade petrol, and fired off at least £30,000 worth of expensive ammunition. They gave their C.O. and their Flight leader a nervous breakdown necessitating expensive medical treatment. Two of them were sent to an equally expensive Air-Crew Punishment Camp which had to be maintained at great expense for the likes of them. They stole at LEAST £10,000 worth of gear from the Royal Air Force during the five or six years that it managed to tolerate them. Between them they were solely responsible for no less than SEVEN illegitimate births, the cost of which devolved on the State which employed them. Between them they caused the break-up of three marriages, resulting in expensive divorce cases. Between them they contracted two cases of venereal disease necessitating expensive and time-wasting medical treatment. One of them wounded one of the others in an air-to air firing exercise. Two baled out over England, losing their aircraft which caused considerable damage when crashing, and both stole their parachutes on landing. One caused the Portsmouth gun barrage to fire off a great deal of expensive ammunition at him by getting lost and straying over the D-Day fleet. One shot up an RAF Rescue Boat under the impression that it was an E-Boat. One shot a hangar at Tangmere full of holes and turned a Flight-Sargeant Fitter’s hair white, by fiddling with his gun button which SHOULD have been set to SAFE. Each of these four required the services of 32 skilled men to keep them in the air, and these 128 men had to be paid, clothed and fed. “Ah,” but you say. “But what did these heroes accomplish against the hordes of Nazi Germany when, smiling and gay they fearlessly (  ) flew against the Hun”. They shot down, or up, as the case may be, one F.W. 190, 3 gasometers (French), about 60 trains (all French), one church, about 200 lorries, one American Destroyer, at least one American Tank, a field latrine of doubtful nationality, and were only prevented from “having a bash” at the Eiffel Tower by the fear that their aircraft letters would be seen and reported. In view of this enviable record therefore, we have no hesitation in laying the claim that these four pilots did the greatest service to the Third Reich and should have been awarded the Iron Cross First Class by a grateful Fuhrer and Fatherland Signed Adolf Hitler They were all under 20-years of age at the time!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Not a lot has changed really! |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 20, 2006 22:37:24 GMT 12
Total crap of course. No-one joins the RAF at 14 to become a pilot.
Your point previous Colin is a good one, it has all been done before. That is why I love to hear the stories of the previous generations of airmen, yours espcially from an era that I know less of. And I love to hear the wartime stories of veterans. Mainly because all these old stories are interesting, but also because I can relate to them as similar things happened to me and my mates.
Just studying the wartime processes, courses, ways and protocls of the RNZAF I've realised it was virtually identical to when I was in, except there were more bases and people and more were getting killed. Small things have developed, like the language - like when some twit renamed stations to bases in an effort to Americanise our Air Force. But the spirit remains very similar, the hijinks, the fun, the comeradery.
I for one enjoy seeing Beagle's stories because though older than me we were in together so I know many of the people,he refers to. That does not diminsish the enjoyment I get from your stories and the generation before you though. I just relish reading and hearing about the social side of the air force, whatever the era.
It can be very nostalgic and remind us of our own time in the mob. So please, keep the great stories coming mate.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 27, 2006 19:46:04 GMT 12
I just got another update from JC Evans with more details, now in yellow: LAC Cristine Norton LAC Mitch Button LAC Chris LAC LAC Todd Cpl P.J. Smith LAC Sean Eccles Cpl Steve Leach Cpl Sean "Nardo" KitchenSecond Group Cpl Dean Lye LAC Dave Homewood Cpl Kerry Hibberd LAC Alastair Pilditch LAC Mark Bain LAC Gary Barnes Cpl Brent SomervilleLAC Aaron Lyttle Sgt Steve Holtum LAC Phil Stoddart Third Group Sgt Steve Hall F/Lt Tony 'TC' Webster Sgt John 'JC' Evans Sgt Dennis Gibbons Flight Sergeant Gary Curtiss Flight Sergeant Keith Scott Sgt Gus Pagett Cpl Evil Crabb So, only a few to get now. |
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Post by Radialicious on Nov 30, 2006 20:49:50 GMT 12
My thoughts in red.......
LAC ? ?
LAC Mitch Button
LAC ? ?
LAC Steve Phipps
LAC Todd ?
Cpl P.J. Smith
LAC Sean Eccles
Cpl Steve Leach
Cpl Sean "Nardo" Kitchen
Cpl ? ?
LAC Dave Homewood
LAC or Cpl Kerry Hibberd
LAC Alastair Pilditch
LAC Mark Bain
LAC Gary Barnes
Cpl ? ?
LAC Aaron Lyttle
Sgt Steve Holtum
CPL Phil Stoddart
Sgt Steve ??
F/Lt Tony 'TC' Webster
Sgt John 'JC' Evans
Sgt Dennis Gibbons
Flight Sergeant Gary Curtiss
Flight Sergeant Keith Scott
Sgt Gus Pagett
Cpl ? ?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 30, 2006 21:25:03 GMT 12
Hi Radialicious,
I haven't seen you here in a while. Welcome back. So, you're Air Force too then?
I guess you hadn't seen the second page before posting? All of your suggestions in red were confirmed by JC and others except Steve Phipps, and I'm sure you're spot on there, so thanks very much mate. Steve was ex-NATTS like several in the photo. Most of NATTS was absorbed into Tech Sqn when they were disbanded.
Are you still in the mob now?
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) flew against the Hun”.
