RAF Station Cats (and other pets)

Although not RAF some great stories here : http://www.303rdbg.com/photo-animals.html

I saw a good one in a Fleet Air Arm squadron diary (No.778 Sqn). One of the dogs on the station wandered into the minefield with the inevitable consquence of a loud bag and lots of bits of dog.

It was the way it was written though.

“Mine-Fields, for information; yesterday afternoon a dog ran on to the mine-fields at Fife Ness and is now no more. May this be a further warning to those reckless persons who are in the habit of walking through the mine-fields.”

Below it is a doodle of a cross with “Wolf 27.9.43 RIP” and a puff of smoke / explosion.

Strange name for a dog… ‘Bleep???

When I last watched the film I thought he was called “Bleeeep”:diablo:

‘Nigger’

And, let’s not forget famous ‘Nigger’, Guy Gibson’s Labrador !

Aerovet(erinarian)

Other animals?

43Sqn have a few Cockerals, 92Sqn had a King Cobra, 74Sqn used to borrow a Tiger from the zoo and I remember 66Sqn having a Rattle snake!!

Any more out there??

Yeah and even he met a less than glorious end!

There’s the goat in my Spitfire goat thread. He’s my fave 😀

Part of my job is to keep animals off airfields and sometimes stations if an infestation has occurred.

My predecessor at Mawgan was a very keen chap, he was asked by the Stn Cdr one day if he could do anything about the damn cats around the messes as they were becoming a nuisace. He even described one of them perfectly. Aforementioned opo set himself up one evening to erradicate these mangy cats and was well pleased when about four of them had been culled.
The next day he proudly showed the CO the cat that had been described, a long slence was followed by ‘thats my wifes cat!’

Its got shades of Black Adders’ fur cape made from Tiddles and Mr Frisky complete with their collars about it.

Funny this should come up now, a couple of weeks ago I was showing a couple of people around St Athan, we were looking at the redundant airframes south side ad noticed a brillliant white moggy curled up inside one of the bays of the Jet Provost.

1312 Flight (Herks) at RAF Port Stanley we had the infamous ‘Trevor’ the cat. It was adopted as a kitten, named Trevor, then dropped a couple of kittens a few months later, name stuck though!. The little darling was well known for slashing police dogs noses if they got to close. It went with the flight when it moved to Mount Pleasant but I later heard that some a7se-hole ‘growbag’ drowned her – barsteward! 😡

Only slightly off-topic, there is a delightful novel called ‘Blitz Cat’ which, whilst fanciful in the extreme, passes a harmless couple of hours.

Moggy

At RAF Negombo [Sri Lanka] we had a billet Monkey called George, he was vicious to say the least, I myself had a pet Chipmunk [wish it was the real McCoy!], we also had a billet dog called Skipper, as these were open billets, Skipper would not let anyone in the place unless known by himself, photos courtesy of Jim Duncan

Whilst I was at Halton we had an official RAF Halton Mascot, Lewis the Goat, he was always on parade when official ceremonies took place complete with full regalia

A few years ago While visiting RAF Cosford I noticed a cat patrolling the hangars, albiet on the other side of the fence (air-side) near the museum. This got me thinking about the various cats my dad encountered during his time in the RAF. Does anyone have their own favourite story or pet while with the RAF?

I’m looking forward to seeing what gets contributed to this thread.

Meantime…..

My absolute fave’ story has a tenuous-link with an (‘Ex’) RAF Station.

RAF-Debden, in the Northern end of Essex, near Thaxted.

Arguably one of it’s most Famous (& yet troublesome) pilots was the American Ralph K Hofer, who as folks know, flew with the 4th Fighter-Group.

His “Razorback” P.51.B “Salem Representative” is well known.

Apparently, one of his fave’ pranks was to go up on “Air-Test” in his P.51.B with his Alsatian Dog, “Duke”

Whilst aloft, he would often single out local a/c traffic & make a point of flying his “Razorback” alongside; in close proximity, but ever so slightly-faster

The P.51 would slowly cruise past, with Hofer tucked down in his seat & the panting Alsatian on his lap, thereby giving the impression the (then) cutting edge U.S. Fighter was being flown by the Dog !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently there were numerous witnesses to this happening locally (presumably Bomber crews from nearby Ridgewell, etc)

I even spoke about this to James Goodson when I met him in person at North Weald, some 15 odd years ago !!!!!!!!!!!!

Cracking tale:diablo: (no ‘pun’ intended !):D

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