Regret to report that I am under the impression that “Ats” are a requirement for Lady Persons at Buck House on Investitures – whether Mrs Fluffy “does them”, or not!!
Time now, perhaps, for the more artistically minded of you to produce a design (with a BBMF theme) for the occasion!!!!!!!!!!!!
HTH
Resmoroh

Now I thought, in my naive ignorance, that swearwords and words of an offensive nature would be removed by the Mods (assuming the system had not deleted them anyway). How come, then, that the dreaded word “Taceval” is allowed on the Forum?
For those not ‘in the know’ a Taceval is an RAF Tactical Evaluation of a Base, or Unit. Extreme scenarios are dreamed up by the Distaff (Directing Staff – and it’s good fun to be one of them, rather than on the receiving end!) and then the Unit/Sqn/Base has to react as if they were on a War footing. There is – as many on this Forum will agree – a great deal of ‘foul play’, and ‘underhand dealings’. There are NO Queensberry Rules on Taceval!!!
HTH
Resmoroh
PS Only those who have been Tacevaled many, many, times ever rise to the Distaff level when you can inflict misery on others. Been there, done it!

Sky High, Hi(!!)
I agree with you. I spent a couple of years inspecting (inter alia) the meteorological instrumentation on oil/gas rigs/platforms (mainly for their insurance purposes). The “easy” fields are becoming exhausted, and the more difficult fields are having to be tapped. When they begin to run out then the “Very Difficult” fields will have to be attempted. As you say, the exploration/production firms will want to see some (a lot!) money back for their efforts. Then bring in the fact that a significant percentage of those “Difficult Fields” may be in areas of political instability (he said cautiously!) and even the entire Athabasca Tar Sands, etc, may not provide enough aviation avgas/paraffin to allow enthusiasts to fly their aeroplanes after their Govt’s senior persons have done a jolly, or two. Except at a horrendous price!!!
Price and Politics – what chance aviation enthusiasts? They have no political, financial, or economic clout. Therefore (3 dots), logically – and using reasoned argument – the pastime is doomed within the next 40 years (or even earlier!). I am not a doomsayer, but merely proposing a reasonable hypothesis!
HTH
Resmoroh

You have to put the year 2050 into perspective.
My father was born in 1896. No radio(or TV), cars were a novelty, and nobody had invented flying. If the same exponential rate of change from 1896 to now is continued to 2050 then I suspect there will absolutely no flying whatsoever of any sort (paper darts excepted!). Long distance transport will still be in aluminium tubes but propelled by magnetism in under-sea tunnels. Nuclear powered, it goes without saying. All the oil will have run out! If there are still any enthusiasts trying to fly Spitfires, etc, as a sport it will be deemed that they are enjoying themselves. That sort of antisocial behaviour will be taxed out of existence because we will still be paying the banker’s bonuses (paid now – and then!!).
Resmoroh

Ralph, Hi,
If the document was published by ‘Her Majesty’s Stationery Office’ (HMSO in them days!) then it was available to both the military and civilians. The military (mainly the RAF) got their copies “free” from No 1 AIDU (Air Information Documentation Unit?) at RAF Northolt. Civilian operators could buy such volumes as they might need on the open market from one of the HMSO commercial outlets. If it had been an ‘RAF only’ document then the likelihood is that it would have been an Air Ministry (or MoD) document.
Whilst I understand the physics behind astro-nav, I regret to have to admit that the maths are beyond me (or were, before computers!!)
HTH
Resmoroh

I was always told it was the length of the ammunition belts for the Vickers water-cooled machine gun used by the Army from WW1 days. Presumably that was the length of belted ammunition that would fit, when coiled, into the small ammo box?
HTH
Resmoroh

Can someone just clear up a minor point? The original #1 post was in the name of the RAF Benevolent Fund (RAFBF). At some stage down the line the RAF Association (RAFA) appears to have become involved. How has this happened?
Now I know the Lord High Chief Panjandrum at RAFA (AVM(Rtd) Grahame Jones) he was the most down-to-earth Air Officer I ever worked under (and he was my Boss on TCW for a few years before he got his Brass Hat!).
Has there been confusion here, or am I missing something?
Clarification requested!
Resmoroh

Park82,
It has GOT to be the ubiquitous ERK! Sat on a bomb trolley waiting to load it. Hair slightly too long; cap badge and shoes not well polished (keep out of the way of the SWO!!); not many creases in uniform (and those that were appeared to have been induced by sleeping in said uniform!!); grasping an Issue white, pint-pot, full of NAAFI tea in one hand and a “wad” in the other!! And, probably, with a fag tucked behind his ear (hopefully unlit on account of what he was sitting on!!).
Your Baders, Gibsons, et al, stole the headlines. Some, Portal, Harris, et al, may have Commanded and Engineered “great things” – but without the ERK none of it would have happened.
HTH
Resmoroh