Can’t see the BBMF nose art at the mo but its doing circuits outside my office at Cranwell right now-Lovely!

Well it really must be 6 June 1944 as I have just seen a D-Day striped Dakota fly over my office here in deepest Cranditz 3 times! Very nice!

Thanks for your kind comments Inkworm. Here is what you are after – a colour close-up of the CFS crest on the nose of a Gnat. Actually XR534 at Little Rissington on 25th August 1968.

So what would you call this then?

“Little Rissington Badge” (Cannot work out how to attach the chuffing thing)

A fake. (Or more likely an unauthorised badge.)

Why do I think this? Because all the research I have undertaken over the years to find a unit badge for RAF Little Rissington has drawn a blank. Official records state that a badge was never authorised. However the badge shown purporting to be RAF Little Rissington is a striking likeness of the official badge of No 3 Flying Training School (the remains of which are now at Cranwell). The only difference being that the motto of 3 FTS is “Achieve” written in English whereas the motto of the “Little Rissington” Badge is in latin and translates (very roughly to me!) as “Atlas makes you ready.”
This link below describes RAF unit and sqn heraldry and shows the 3 FTS badge. Little Rissington’s lack of an authorised badge is also stated on the same site.
http://www.rafweb.org/FTS.htm

However, no research is infallible and it is quite possible that the official records and other references that I have consulted are wrong. I would be delighted if the badge you have illustrated is “gen.” Where did you find it?

After CFS arrived at Little Rissington in 1946 the CFS badge was omnipresent anyway and was displayed on aircraft, the main gates and on all correspondence.

Lovely to see this, especially the day after attending an RAF BofB Dining in Night!

This afternoon ITV1 was showing an old Bond movie (Dr. No the first one, from 1962). In between, there were the usual commercial breaks. In EVERY commercial break between 3pm and 6pm was an recruitment ad urging viewers to inquire about “a career in the RAF”

Two questions

One, if the RAF is making hundreds (if not thousands) redundant, why are they running recruitment ads?

Two, with unemployment currently at 2.5 million, a possible “double dip” recession going on, the stock market collapsing, surely the best “recruiting sargeant” is unemployment (or the threat of it)?

If you join the forces, then there is (or was) guaranteed employment for at least three years; a good thing to have in these uncertain times!

OK, back on topic: if we’re talking about keeping “historic postwar/cold war jets” flying, then surely there has to be a place for the HARRIER?

After all, if you argue that that Battle of Britain could not have been won without the Spitfire, then the Falklands War could not have been won without the Harrier. Doesn’t that make it an “historic” aircraft worthy of a RAF Memorial Flight?

I’m really sorry to stay off topic briefly but, as you might expect, the Armed Forces HAVE to keep recruiting for a number of reasons, not least that they promote from within, they require more young people than old people and many personnel do not stay until 55 (like I did). If recruiting stops, as it did briefly in the 90s in some branches and trades, then you end up with a “black hole” of seniority and experience. The training machine also needs a constant supply of punters as, if it stops, experience tails off rapidly. The latest course to join initial officer training at Cranwell is less than 30 strong (normally 120) but some branches aren’t recruiting at all until 2012. However, the RAF needs over 2000 new faces this FY and next year it might need more. Another problem is that of disbanded trades like Painter & Finisher; the trade has gone but P&Fs are still serving without a trade structure. Very complex, morale testing, frustrating times for anyone in the Armed Forces, working with the Armed Forces (like me) or supplying the Armed Forces. However, given the fact that a country will always have an air force, either its own or an occupying one, then the future is bright (or maybe not!).
Back on topic, the Lightning for me would be a worthy RAF historic type for “official” use a la BBMF but it will not happen, there is no money.

ita a disgrace, a freind told me she wanted to stay in the RAF as long as possible, its all she has ever known. She got her notice within weeks.

That’s most regrettable; but there is much more to life than the RAF even though I enjoyed it. Interestingly, most of the “blue suits” where I work at the moment can’t seem to wait to leave! They should know on 1 Sep. The world has changed of course and the idea of anyone working for the same organisation for any length of time in the 21st Century is becoming much more of an alien concept, although a military organisation is different from your avarage job, but in my view the RAF in recent years became very “civvy” with its “businessbolloxspeak” and it’s had to work hard on the “ethos and culture” stuff. The Battle of Britain Dining in Nights for example, are a relatively new idea (post 1992 for certain).

So was I…until I got news of possible redundancy the other week! It sure is a cold world out here…:(

Indeed, I’m now an MOD Civil Servant (lecturer) so I ain’t exactly secure! However, there is nothing certain, except change! Back on thread, an airworthy Lightning in the UK would be on most aviation buffs’ wish list I would think. I remember an Air Cadet Summer Camp at Wattisham in 1974 when the F3s were still in that polished metal finish – awesome!

I’m going tomorrow. I won’t be going to RIAT; too many compulsory attendances there previously and, like several others on this forum, I sadly have not the time or money to go to all of them. I think Duxford is the best but that is my opinion of course.