The Continuing Adventures of...

by Adrian Gates

Return to South West Wales

My return to RAF Brawdy in 1989 was a bit of a surprise. I was expecting a 'desk job' in a Headquarters somewhere, so the prospect of yet another Station posting was good news, but why Brawdy again, especially as travel home was so difficult owing to the times of the Ferries and there being no Airport within 100 miles. Since my previous tour in 1976 -79, the Hunters had gone out of Service but the Hawks and Jet Provosts were still there. The roads had improved, but not the route to and from Holyhead. The Motor Way from London reached as far as Haverfordwest, thus making the escape east bearable. I was responsible for all Aircraft Scheduled Servicing and the Aircraft Servicing Bays, Station Flight, EP&R, Armament and Safety Equipment and the Adour Engine Bay. I found the post interesting and enjoyable and the direct involvement with aircraft most satisfying. Again I became involved with the Station Air Day and my previous experiences of such occasion proved invaluable.

My older twins were now at Universities in Glasgow and Liverpool and my daughter was working in London, so my family were well dispersed. Travelling home was tedious as it meant driving up to Holyhead to catch the Ferry to Dublin. The return Ferry docked at Holyhead at 0145 hrs and then there was the long and arduous drive back to Brawdy, arriving just in time for breakfast and work. Alternatively there was the Ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare, which occasionally arrived after the last train had left for Dublin, but the train from Dublin to Rosslare on the return journey left about lunch time.

In my spare time I played Squash and Table Tennis in the local leagues and resumed my interest in Aero Modelling, in particular flying gliders off the local cliffs. My faithful Renault 16 had to be 'put down' after 22 years faithful service owing to corrosion in the brake pipes hidden in the bodywork. For interests sake I removed the cylinder head to check on the condition of the engine and found negligible bore wear. Except for the travelling it was a pleasant tour. I had to visit RAF Chivenor and arranged with Lofty Russell (81st Armourer) for an evening in the Sgt's Mess, this turned out to be a much extended affair if my memory serves me well. My female Armament Flt Cdr wanted to be a Pilot and managed to fly back seat in the Hawk on numerous occasions. Eventually, after being selected for training as a pilot she flew one sortie in the front seat, the first and only time I have known it to happen in my 20 years of Hawk experience. Alas she was not the first female fast jet pilot, but 3 years later she was happily flying Transport aircraft. Although there were many interesting moments I will recall a couple. In return for my efforts on the Air Day, OC Ops rewarded me with a flight in a Hawk. The complete sortie was to be of my choosing and my selected route was 'filed'. After 30 minutes my excitement and anticipation evaporated as I began to feel ill, and then very ill, and to this day I rue the chance of a life time of being given such an opportunity and not being able to make the most of it. A fully armed (missiles and gun) American A10 aircraft, and the Wingman diverted to Brawdy after a 'hang up' of a practice bomb (PB). As the pair 'blacked' the Airfield I was asked by OC Eng Wing if I could do anything to enable them to return to base. As many of you will remember, unlike the good old days when it was normal to 'sort out such matters', it was a 'no no' to even investigate an incident of a visiting RAF aircraft, let alone fix it. I thought one of the reasons we spent 3 years training at Halton was to enable us to sort out the unexpected! The pilot assured me he knew how the 'hang up' was removed and made safe. It all made sense so I gave permission to the Sgt Weapons who was with me to go ahead, only to be told by him that such an action was against all regulations and I really should think about the consequences if any thing went wrong. I sent him off for a box full of sand to secure the PB and with the aid of the pilot removed the offending munitions. Twenty minutes later the two A 10s departed the airfield and the Station returned to normal. The Sgt returned and when I gave him the PB and ERU cartridge he asked what he was to do with them. You can guess my non-PC reply!

Towards the end of the tour I discussed with my 'Desk Officer' my final posting prior to leaving the Service. I elected for RAF Valley for obvious reason, only to be informed that such a posting was not possible, as I had already completed a tour there. Other equally 'silly 'reasons were given and I said that I would only accept Valley. In late 1991 I headed north to RAF Valley to assume a similar post to that I had left, but with the added bonus of being in charge of the Hawk Composite Servicing School and the SengO CFS, a semi autonomous Sqn of Hawk aircraft. RAF Brawdy and RAF Chivenor were scheduled to close and their Tactical Weapon Role task was to be carried out at Valley. The change over had to be planned and implemented, an interesting challenge, as the infrastructure at Valley to support a large Sqn of armed Hawks for such a task did not exist. As usual I thrived on the challenge.

Again squash and aero modelling were to the fore during the tour and during the next 13 years (not a misprint) I probably found nearly all possible slope soaring flying sites within 50 miles, and a few even further away. I reluctantly sold my home brewed motor caravan and considering I had toured Europe, the UK and Ireland with out any mechanical problems, I was well pleased. I went on a Detachment to Sardinia (a last swansong prior to leaving the Service) with 5 Hawks for a month, supporting a NATO exercise using the huge 'Air to Air Range' in the Area. Even though we flew 15 sorties a day there was little for me to do and so I 'helped' on the Flight Line for much of the day. After a few days the suspicion and novelty of seeing an elderly Sqn Ldr carrying out line tasks wore off, and my presence was accepted. I learned what made 'liney's' tick and much more that would prove invaluable a few years later. For a variety of reasons, during the tour I spent much of the time acting as OC Eng Wing during their often prolonged absence; again the benefit of this was to appear in later years.

As I was approaching my release date it was announced that RAF Valley was to be Contractorised and all the Engineering and Supply functions, and much of the Administration would be carried out by civilians working for the selected Contractor. Heated discussions occurred as very few believed that 'civilians' could possibly carry out the task at all, let alone effectively, especially owing to the location of Valley and the lack of trained personnel in the area. I was in the minority who believed it was possible. Owing to my extensive experience of the Hawk and associated second line support functions, and in particular knowledge of RAF Valley, I was approached by several firms who intended bidding for the Contract.