Where do I start

[Gord]

Born in Newcastle in 1944, moved to Pompey with my family at the age of four.

I only spent 5 1/2 yrs in the RAF beginning in Jan' 1960 and three of those were my apprenticeship as a rigger at RAF Halton. I became somewhat ****ed off at the way things were at St Athan which is where I was posted to following my graduation from Halton and after 2 1/2 years in that hell hole, commonly known as "The Riggers Graveyard" I must admit that I worked my ticket to get out. (No I did not wear frilly panties or bra's LOL)

I have often wondered what my life would have been like if I had taken the medical board up on their offer to give me a posting to anywhere the RAF had a base, and there were many back in '65, instead of deciding to take my leave from the RAF as by that time I had little or no trust in people of officer rank and believed that had I decided to take them up on their offer I would have been sent back to St Athan and still today tend to believe that would be the case.

After the RAF and I parted ways and following a short term working at Hawker Siddeley in Pompey I decided at the ripe old age of 21 to emigrate to Canada. This was the best decision I ever made, great country, good people, two seasons, winter and July. LOL

Following a variety of jobs and about 15 yrs of self employment I have spent the last 22 yrs as an AME (Aircraft Maintenance Engineer) in the aircraft structures trade with three airlines, Wardair, Canadian Airlines and finally Air Canada as each airline was bought up by the next. I retired in April of 2009 and am now a lazy bugger sitting at home with the wife, taking the dogs out to do their duties and pottering around doing odd jobs around the house and the back yard or tinkering around with various vehicles in the good weather then attempting to hibernate during the winter.


That's basically my history in a nutshell

 

[Stevienics]

Welcome in, fellow Appo; nice to have more intellect in the site.

Entry?

 

[Tin basher]

I became somewhat ****ed off at the way things were at St Athan

Welcome to the goat and your not alone with that sentiment about the boil on gods @rse that is/was sunny saints.

 

[fileeth]

Hello and welcome!!

St Athan - the place where you realise its time you left and got a proper job which is what most of the people who are/were there do!!!!

 

[Stevienics]

Curiously, and I am quite serious here, when I short toured from Germany, this is the place that I asked for, and (probably unsurprisingly) got.

I absolutely loved the place. Total engineering focus, without all the dancing around in greens with a gun nonsense.

 

[Gord]

Welcome in, fellow Appo; nice to have more intellect in the site.

Entry?

94th or perhaps I should write it 9T4th since that was generally the way it was expressed by entries in those days, a tad childish perhaps but true nonetheless.

Entry date January 1960 graduation date December 1962. Approximately 200 of us entered those hallowed halls and I believe there were 193 of us at the end. I have attended a couple of reunions but living in Canada poses a bit of a restriction at times on just how often I can attend, especially since I am now retired and therefore living on my pensions.

 

[Gord]

Curiously, and I am quite serious here, when I short toured from Germany, this is the place that I asked for, and (probably unsurprisingly) got.

I absolutely loved the place. Total engineering focus, without all the dancing around in greens with a gun nonsense.

Had I been posted to anywhere other than saints I would most likely have served out my full twelve and, given the opportunity, signed on for a further ten or so. The latter being somewhat speculative however as many of the lads I joined up with were given the order of the boot after the twelve non pensionable years that they signed on for, due to cutbacks in the number of RAF personnel considered required in the late 70's.

 

[Flybynight]

No I did not wear frilly panties or bra's

Why not?

I joined in 1960 but not as an appo or a rigger. I heard about St Athan - wooden huts, wasn't it? But you've done well since, eh?

On parade outside in two minutes with brooms, jockstraps and best boots!!!

DT_Xtremez_32:

 

[Gord]

Why not?

I joined in 1960 but not as an appo or a rigger. I heard about St Athan - wooden huts, wasn't it? But you've done well since, eh?

On parade outside in two minutes with brooms, jockstraps and best boots!!!

DT_Xtremez_32:

We regular aimen were housed in brick barrack blocks, I believe the wooden huts at Saints were primarily where the Boy Entrants were housed at one time, I don't know when they were pulled down or if indeed they were. There were parts of the base that we never visited so they may have still been in existence when I was posted there.

Our routine was primarily a 4 on 3 off, Monday to Thursday working in the hangar or 5 days/wk if you worked in the support shops. I spent my first six months in the APU testing bay then transferred to the hangar where we did the overhauls on Vulcans and one or two other types. I was on the 4 on 3 off nightshift from I believe 1600 to 0300 I could be mistaken on the start time but O300 was definitely the finishing time as I remember Radio Luxembourg was just shutting down as we left the hangar.

There was a w/o tech there called Brown nicknamed of course Bomber who was a great guy and who cared for the lads under his control, too bad the same couldn't be said for the officers who were more interested in gaining feathers for their caps than the welfare of those they were put in charge of. Mutinous thoughts and talk were not uncommon though of course kept very quiet during my spell at saints.

On the other hand, I loved and I do mean absolutely loved my time at Halton even with the square bashing and cross country runs we were put through on a more than regular basis but then I was a pretty fit young bar steward back then. The tech training was in my opinion second to none and although academics was not my strong point I managed to scrape through. I even enjoyed our visits to the rock ape menagerie so perhaps I was a little on the sick side and a glutton for punishment. LOL

As for doing well of late, yeah, I guess despite my waiting until 1987 to get back to working on aeroplanes, my training at Halton and whatever experience I gained at Saints did indeed allow me to make a pretty decent living once back in the saddle.