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Yorkshire
Eastern Region Meeting at
Royal
Air Force Linton-on-Ouse |
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The
Yorkshire Eastern Region meeting was held in the Officer's Mess at RAF Linton-on-Ouse on
Friday 23rd March 2001. The visitors were met by their RAFALO, Flt. Lt. Dick
Shuster, AFC, RAFVR, who had organised the venue and the afternoon tour which was to
follow. Dick was ably assisted by his deputy Flt Lt Nick Goodwyn and several
students.
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Left-A good RAF starting point - a welcome in
the bar by Dick Shuster
Left to right
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Bob
Hargreaves, Jack Kilvington, Dick Shuster, R.Holmes, C.Shreeve, J.Weldon-Thomas,
Stuart Thompson, Mauric Voase, Mrs Voase, Dave Taylor, John Sloan, Ken
Holmes. |
| Right -Before the meeting commenced,
the RAFA members were welcomed by the Station Commander, Group Captain
Ken Cornfield
In front of him are (left to right) Regional President
Maurice Voase,
Jack Kilvington and Regional Chairman Dave Dando |
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Left - Members get down to a
serious working lunch |
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| After the reports by the
president, the treasurer and the branches, the president presented the
Regional darts trophy to Ken Holmes of the Castleford Branch. It turned
out that Castleford had had to borrow Bob Hargreaves, so York had a
large part in Castleford's success.
Right - Dave Dando,
Ken Holmes & Bob Hargreaves |
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| Dick Shuster announced
that he had managed to secure 8 redundant RAF computers to be shared
between the various Branches throughout the Area. One spare
one would go to the York Club where Les Quigley had volunteered to give
lessons to any members throughout the area who wished to familiarise
themselves with computers in general, and the Internet in particular. |
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Left - Jack Kilvington viewing some
of the eight computers donated by RAF Linton to the branches |
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After the meeting the
members headed for the Memorial Museum where they were able to learn of
the history of Linton, and see many of the artifacts and photographs
dating back to before WWII |
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Flg.Off.
Steve Whalley showing some of the members WWII artifacts |
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Dick Shuster and Steve Simpson learning about WWII first hand from a veteran of 408 Squadron |
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Below -
Dave Dando & Jack Kilvington viewing some original "bumf" - the
leafets dropped on NAZI Germany by aircrews from Linton in WWII. It took
the youngest RAFA member present to explain why some "wag" had
put the "Bile Bean" advertisement in front of the leaflets......
The word
"bumf" originated at RAF Linton on Ouse and Dishforth in
1939-40. It was aircrew slang.... The aircrews considered
that the leaflets were a waste of time, and lives, and were
just being used by the Germans as toilet paper. As a result of this, the
aircrews christened the leaflets "bum fodder", which they then
shortened to "bumf" . This has now passed into the English
language to mean any paperwork which is considered a waste of time - i.e.
most of it!!! |
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The
Simulator
The
highlight for many was a flight in the simulator......
Right
- Dave Dando (ex Meteor & Canberra pilot) being briefed by Mike
Ashley Chief Simulator Instructor
Below
- Dave prepares for takeoff
Below
Right - After a fairly hairy takeoff, Dave was soon remembering his
skills of over 30 years ago and managed an excellent approach and
landing. He was able to review it on completion. Something
that he couldn't do 30 years ago. |
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| After visiting
the simulator, members went to see the real thing. Unfortunately
the weather had closed in with cloud down to 500 feet and visibility
down to 1000 yards, so the aerobatic display that had been organised had
to be cancelled. However members did get to clamber over a Tucarno
in the Hanger |
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A chance to compare modern instruments
with a Lancaster's - all those instruments and only one engine says the
WWII Flight Engineer!!! |
A superb afternoon's
visit was completed in true RAF style, back in the Bar were the veterans of
yesterday "shot a few lines" with the aircrews of
tomorrow.
In conclusion
the RAFA members of Yorkshire Eastern Region wish to thank Group Captain Ken
Cornfield, his staff and his students, especially Flt Lt Dick Shuster and his
team, for hosting us and organising such an interesting, entertaining and
didactic event.
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