RAF News Edition 1555, 10.03.2023

RAF News Room 68

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Ukraine tank crews set sights on Challenger II

Staff Reporter

FRONTLINE UKRAINIAN tank crews are undergoing training at military sites in south west England following the announcement that the UK is to supply 14 Challenger II tanks to help defeat Russian forces.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace joined British military teams and Ukrainian troops during combat drills ahead of the delivery of UK heavy armour as the conflict passes its first anniversary.

Mr Wallace said: “It is hugely inspiring to witness Ukrainian soldiers being trained on British Challenger II tanks.

“Their resilience and determination to succeed for the liberation of their country sends a powerful message to Russia.

“Ukrainians will continue to fight and the UK, alongside our Allies, will not falter. We will continue to provide the capabilities needed to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

“Our support for Ukraine is more critical than ever”

saying ‘Sir’, which is quite funny”

“Shylock is reimagined as one of the tough, no-nonsense Jewish matriarchs I grew up around”

SUPPORT: Ben Wallace joins UK military training teams ahead of delivery of Challenger tanks to Ukraine

Atlantic Flyers hid stowaway to fundraise in name of Louise

Simon Mander GLOBETROTTING

GEOFFREY the Giraffe’s latest fundraising feat is being backed by a team of Top Gun pilots after he stowed away on their ocean-going rowing boat.

The cuddly charity champion, who has flown in nearly every RAF aircraft type including a Red Arrows Hawk, features in a new book that tells the inside story of the Atlantic Flyers’ epic voyage from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua.

As reported by RAF News, team members Wg Cdr Phil Holdcroft, Wg Cdr Sonny Roe, Flt Lt Si Berry, and Flt Lt Chris ‘CS’ CarringtonSmith were delighted to see dry land after 36 days and 24 minutes on the oars and beat two Army teams to come second in a field of 36 contestants.

“But what their competitors didn’t know was the team of four were in fact a team of five,” said 13 Sqn D Flt OC Sqn Ldr David ‘Benno’ Bennett, who was part of the Flyers’ support group.

“They had a stowaway in the form of a small toy named Geoffrey from the charity Giraffes on Tour.”

The Atlantic Flyers were formed by Wg Cdr Holdcroft, who was inspired by his daughter Isla’s battle with leukaemia and used the challenge to raise funds for Starlight, the charity that helped her

Chinook on target

CHINOOK CREWS were on target during recent live firing training at a range in Lincolnshire.

Onboard Weapons System

Operators fired twin M134 miniguns and single M60D general purpose machine guns at a mix of beached vessels and purposebuilt targets from the fastmoving battlefield workhorses.

The training included reacting to attacks when the aircraft is taking off and landing.

After completing daylight firing, the RAF Odiham-based

aircraft landed at Coningsby to refuel and rearm then completed the same training using night vision goggles.

Operating over the sea on a dark night 200 feet above the water requires exceptional skill as the crew have few references outside the aircraft with which to assess their height and position and fire red tracer rounds to gauge their accuracy. Chinooks recently returned from Estonia where they supported the UK-led NATO battlegroup in the region.

achieve her dream of visiting Lapland to meet Santa.

Giraffes on Tour was founded by Ian Conway to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital in the name of his daughter Louise (pictured left), who also had leukaemia and was promised a trip to Disneyland but didn’t survive her illness.

“Louise’s favourite toy in hospital was Geoffrey the Giraffe so Ian, a lifelong plane spotter, embraced the

ALL ABOARD FOR FUNDRAISING: Flyers row the Atlantic with stowaway Geoffrey, inset above, on board and celebrate finishing in Antigua, top

opportunity to raise awareness of his new charity by having him fly in military aircraft,” said Sqn Ldr Bennett.

“So far Geoffrey has flown in a USAF F-15, F-35, U2, and even attended Red Flag 23-1.”

Last year Geoffrey travelled around the world on HMS Queen Elizabeth and was shortlisted in the finals of ITV’s Pride of Britain Awards, walking the red carpet and

meeting celebrities including Frank Bruno, Philip Schofield, and Holly Willoughby.

His adventures were immortalised in the book Never Alone by Carrie Knight and illustrated by Lily Steel, whose latest volume The Stowaway describes some of the amazing things the Atlantic Flyers saw, from sea wildlife to spectacular meteor showers.

The book is being launched on April 29 at the Pip Beck Youth Centre in RAF Waddington.

Wg Cdr Phil Holdcroft said: “The entire team were delighted to help Geoffrey continue Louise’s story when he joined us on board.

“We’re beyond excited that this story is going to print and that much needed funds will reach the two fantastic charities – Starlight and Great Ormond Street Hospital.”

CHOP GUN: Chinook WSO lets rip PHOTOS: CPL LEE MATTHEWS

A YEAR OF BLOOD AND TERROR

UK steps up support for Ukraine’s frontline forces

Simon Mander

RAF GUNNERS have been in the frontline of training Ukrainian forces fighting on the frontline against the Russians.

One year on from Putin’s invasion that has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions of refugees, RAF News revisited II Sqn instructors who taught some of the troops and discovered the lessons the war has for Britain’s own defence.

Military chiefs believe teaching the Ukrainians to fight like a NATO army is the key to defeating the Russians.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace recently said Putin’s forces operating under Soviet doctrine would struggle to counter western military tactics.

But Brize Norton-based RAF Regiment personnel involved in training recruits on Operation Interflex say the students taught them some hard truths about warfighting at scale.

WO Roger Hopper said: “We have forgotten vital lessons of the Cold War. We must implement what the Ukrainians have learnt with their blood and cross-examine how we equip, train, and manage risk.”

He said UK forces currently lacked the ability to sustain a high casualty rate and material loss, particularly ammunition, and would struggle to rapidly transform and adapt as President Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops have.

WO Hopper described teaching the

rookies as an ‘honour’ and the ‘highlight of his career’ and said preparing people for a real war forced instructors to up their game.

“When the troops under your command have a real sense of purpose their professionalism becomes more energised,” he said.

“Effective communication is key to initial rapport and is most important when communicating with people whose first language isn’t English.

“My most memorable example is the reaction I got from our students, who said they thought that a Sgt Major like me only existed in films, not in real life.

“The result was whenever they saw me, they carried their weapons correctly with a genuine smile.”

He told how enterprising instructors built a model of Kyiv Cathedral and used toy tanks, strobe lights and blue tooth speakers to model the battlefield so students – some of whom survived the siege of Donetsk Airport – could discuss fighting in an urban environment

and operating at night.

He said a Russian trench system was eventually built to teach skills not learned in Britain for decades but which are now a deadly daily reality for Ukrainian troops.

Training team commander Fg Off Oz Iqbal was also struck by the dedication of the trainees.

“We have been extremely impressed by their relentless drive for self-development and knowledge. They are fast learners and have been quick to adopt new and complex tactics,” he said.

“They are extremely proud of their heritage and are ambassadors of their nation. We have as much to learn from them as we are teaching.”

Former soldier Flt Lt Luke Mowbray, who served 10 years in the Army before transferring to the RAF Regt, said the Ukrainians’ experience and ability was varied.

“Some had previous combat experience with little formal training which added an interesting dynamic in teaching them British tactics and doctrine.

“One of the Ukrainian NCOs had experience fighting in Crimea, during which time he had been shot,” he said.

“Some had no experience whatsoever. Some in my first platoon were screenwriters, sofa makers, accountants, or labourers, to name a few professions.

“Some spoke excellent English and were very articulate while others spoke no English at all.

“We need to stay the course with our help in supporting Ukraine, not only on behalf of the victims of war crimes and atrocities, but it is in our interests to show that acts of aggression will not continue unchecked or with impunity.”

A/Sgt Adam Jones, who helped train up to 1,000 soldiers over a six-month period, said the experience fostered close relationships with many Gunners being invited over to celebrate once

the invasion is over.

He added: “It is a time to reflect on what we achieved as a force, but it is also a reminder that a lot of people have lost their lives and many more will until the invasion is stopped.

“Our support is more crucial than ever, once the winter is over and offenses begin again we need to equip the Ukrainians as best we can.”

Flt Lt Colin Arthur, who was responsible for overseeing all elements of the training programme, said: “I believe that the UK’s commitment has been vital in assisting the people of Ukraine in fighting the Russian invasion.

“We gave them the skills to return to their country to survive, fight and ultimately win the war.

“The first anniversary of the invasion fills me with pride and respect for people who, for 365 days, fought with honour and ultimately held off the surge of Russia, which a lot of the world expected would be a short-lived war.”

TRAINING COMMANDER: Fg Off Oz Iqbal with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace during a visit to site

TRENCH WARFARE: Specially built to teach old infantry skills

GUNNER JONES

BLOOD

In the past year:

l The RAF with DE&S has overseen a huge logistical effort to source equipment and move it by road and air.

l Typhoon squadrons have flown 500 sorties in support of UK and NATO security while Rivet Joint has flown more than 125 intelligencegathering missions across the High North, Baltic and Black Seas.

l The MOD has committed £2.3 billion in support of Ukraine, including tanks, helicopters, drones, tens of thousands of anti-tank weapons and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition.

l Tri-Service instructors have trained more than 10,000 Ukrainian troops.

l Defence Intelligence was at the forefront of exposing Russia’s intentions and galvanising the international community behind Ukraine.

The fallen are honoured

UK MILITARY personnel stood shoulder to shoulder with Ukrainian recruits to commemorate the fallen on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Around 300 trainees were joined by their British, Canadian and Lithuanian instructors for a sunrise field service in the south of England, remembering those who have lost their lives in the past

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “As we look back on a year of conflict, now should be a time for reflection in Moscow, a reminder that they can end the suffering any time. There is nothing in Ukraine for Russia except dishonour and defeat.

“The UK and our Allies will not falter; we will continue to stand in solidarity with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

British and Canadian padres led more

than 450 Servicemen and women in a two-minute silence ended by a bugler from The Irish Guards who played The Last Post.

Recently Britain reached its target of training 10,000 Ukrainian troops in six months, with 20,000 more to be trained this year.

The course is 35 days long and teaches survivability and lethality – how to fight in a hostile environment and use deadly force against an enemy.

Most recruits have little or no military experience although some have already fought on the frontline.

They include cabbies and delivery drivers who aim to become fully-fledged infantry soldiers.

The UK-led training, dubbed Op Interflex, is supported by nine other countries.

President Zelensky with PM Rishi Sunak during recent visit to London

UP FOR THE FIGHT: Ukrainian recruit being trained by the RAF Regiment

PHOTO: AS1 AMBER MAYALL

The art of war

PAINTINGS FEATURING

wartime legends who flew from Scampton are to be auctioned for good causes.

Two works by York artist Shany Hagan, who attended the station’s recent closure parade and gala, have been donated to raise cash for the RAF Association, children’s charity Wish Upon a Star and mental health group MIND.

They pay tribute to the former base’s rich heritage including Dambuster Wg Cdr Guy Gibson and the iconic Lancaster bomber, the Red Arrows and the delta wing Vulcan.

The larger painting will be sold by Unique Auctions in Lincoln later this month.

l For details go to: unique-auctions.com

Vote on for Forces heroes

Staff Reporter

NOMINATIONS ARE open for the 2023 Soldiering On Awards to showcase the achievements of serving personnel, veterans, their families and members of the wider Armed Forces community.

There are 12 categories –with three open to public vote –including the Lifetime Achievement award, Business Start-Up award and

the Sporting Excellence award. Sponsors include GKN Aerospace, the Forces In Mind Trust, NatWest and technology giants Oracle. Minister of Veterans’ Affairs

Johnny Mercer said: “The recipients of these awards highlight the incredible values that our Armed Forces bring to civilian life.” lGo to: soldieringon.org/2023award-categories for more details.

Peak performance

Mountain rescue experts mark 80 years saving lives

Simon Mander

AIR FORCE rescue specialists have been tackling Britain’s toughest terrain during annual winter training.

Volunteers from the RAF’s unique unit tackled Aonach air Chrith on the Glen Shiel south ridge, near Fort William, to hone their life-saving skills.

So far this year, three teams at Leeming, Lossiemouth and Valley have responded to 10 call-outs proving their status as the ‘blue light’ emergency service of the mountains.

But to get there they need to practise winter gully scrambles –typically used to reach downed aircrew, avalanche probing and using snow anchors to lower a casualty to safety.

Leeming party leader Cpl Josh Hughes said: “History tells us that aircraft rarely crash on flat ground,

in perfect weather and next to a road only a short drive from a hospital.

“The training will allow me to safely lead troops to a crash site anywhere in the country in any weather conditions.

“Winter offers a whole other level of difficulties; navigation is made harder by white-outs, subzero temperatures threaten to take fingers and toes, and avalanches loom over us.”

Cpl Hughes has served six years in mountain rescue and is a qualified advanced leader, rock climbing instructor, rescue technician and casualty carer.

He said:“Mountaineering puts other areas of life into perspective and participation in rescues of missing or injured military personnel or members of the public gives a great sense of satisfaction and self-worth.”

Now celebrating its 80th anniversary, the mountain rescue service was born out of wartime necessity in 1943 at RAF LLanwrog, North Wales. Since then the service has saved countless lives and is Defence’s only all-weather, ground-based search and rescue organisation.

Volunteers train on UK peaks twice a month and practise their skills despite many having full-time jobs on stations. They also give up their free time to support civilian teams, often stretched by weekend call-outs from stricken hill walkers.

Valley deputy team leader Sgt Adam Betts has volunteered since 2013. He said: “Each year all three teams travel to the Scottish Highlands, where conditions are more reliable to practise winter techniques and skills.

“It’s about taking a new troop

and getting them accustomed to walking in crampons, using an axe, and refreshing avalanche skills and rescue lowers for the more

experienced. We’re also on call and so might have to go searching for missing personnel in 60mph winds and snow,” he added.

HIGH STAKES:

Members of the RAF Mountain Rescue team during a recent training exercise in North Wales. Bottom right, working alongside Cumbria Mountain Rescue during a New Year’s Eve call-out

Chop-Guns land Benson honour

Simon Mander

THREE TOP helicopter aircrew are celebrating being awarded badges of honour after completing a combined total of more than two years flying time.

Between them the trio of MAcr Andy Gillett, MAcr Simon Tomlinson and FS Dan Baxter have flown 20,000 hours – the equivalent of more than 833 days in the air.

Benson-based 28 Sqn’s FS David McCrindle said unit level badges are typically awarded for every thousand flying hours on a particular aircraft type up to 4,000, but more than that is exceptional.

“Six thousand-plus hours is relatively rare with only comparatively few individuals remaining in the Service long enough to amass these totals,” he said.

“These sorts of figures on Puma are perhaps particularly notable as, until the relatively recent introduction of the Mk 2, the aircraft in its Mk 1 guise had a much shorter endurance, which made high hours totals that much rarer.”

Former RN aircraft handler MAcr Gillett gained his wings in 1987 and served on four Fleet Air Arm units before transferring to the RAF in 2002 and joining 18 Sqn, 60 Sqn and 28 Sqn.

He has achieved 8,000 hours on

fixed wing and helicopter types after flying Chipmunk, Gazelle, Wessex, Sea King, MI-17, Griffin, and Chinook, with deployments to Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands, Norway, Yugoslavia, Sierra Leonne, Iraq and Afghanistan. He is currently a Qualified Helicopter Crewman Instructor on the Chinook.

Former RAF policeman MAcr Simon

Tomlinson began aircrew training in 1995 and flew Gazelle and Wessex.

A Puma pilot for most of his operational flying career, he converted to Chinook in 2021.

Now at 6,000 hours on all helicopter types, he is a veteran of operations in Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Iraq, and is a qualified tactics and air gunnery instructor. He said: “It took me seven years and five attempts to become aircrew after joining the RAF as a policeman

Gunners test Ghost drone

FORCE PROTECTION teams in Akrotiri are trialling an AIpowered ‘Ghost drone’ which can be operated over mobile networks.

The lightweight surveillance device uses algorithms to calculate its noise output and appearance at ground level, making it more difficult to detect.

15 Sqn RAF Regiment teams are currently trialling the drone alongside Royal Marines and US Army teams.

and serving mostly in Germany.

“The biggest highlight over the last 35 years was the Central Flying School Examinations Wing where I flew on over 26 different aircraft types and marks, spanning all three UK Services as well as civilian companies and foreign military.”

On 6,000 Chinook hours is FS Dan Baxter, who joined the RAF in 1998 and trained on Squirrel and Griffin. He is also a Qualified Helicopter Crewman and Air Gunnery Instructor.

FS David Shaw said: “You can be anywhere in the world, as long as you can get a telephone signal, you can fly it.

“So you can have somebody in a bunker in Norfolk, for example, flying this bit of kit in Akrotiri.”

The Ghost drone is designed to operate in any conditions and can fly for 55 minutes at altitudes of up to 12,000ft.

Award first for Stu

A TROPHY dedicated to the memory of an RAF officer killed last year in a mountaineering accident has been awarded for the first time.

Wg Cdr Gordon Henderson fell to his death on an expedition five miles from the second highest peak on Earth – K2.

AN

Waddington-based 51 Sqn personnel recently joined members of the USAF 55th Wing from Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska on intelligence gathering sorties during Red Flag – the biggest air combat training exercise in the Nato calendar.

Now Lossiemouth-based AS1 Stuart Godsman has become the first recipient of an accolade named in memory of the RAF climber.

Flt Lt Andy Cain said: “Wg Cdr Henderson characterised all the core values of the RAF – respect integrity, service before self, and excellence. He was a huge loss to the Service and to the world.”

The dad-of-two, from

July 2022.

ASI Godsman. Inset left, Wg Cdr Gordon Henderson who died during Forces climbing expedition

EYE IN THE SKY: Lightweight UAV can fly at 12,000 ft

MACR GILLETT

MACR TOMLINSON

FS BAXTER

BENSON BENCHMARK: Helicopter crew trio have clocked up more than 20,000 hours on Puma and Chinook (pictured).

PHOTO: CPL TIM LAURENCE

RAF Rivet Joint refuels with a USAF KC-135 Stratotanker with 91st Expeditionary Air Refuelling Sqn during a training sortie over the American Central Command area.

FS SHAW

Simon Mander

Dunfermline, vanished on Broad Peak, the world’s 12th highest mountain, in

NATO doubles down in Baltic UK and German Typhoons set to join forces for Estonia mission

Simon Mander

A 98-YEAR-OLD British war veteran cheekily volunteered to go solo in an F-16 on a VIP tour of Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. Former Swordfish pilot and World War II paratrooper Henry Ison offered to sign up for the USAF Thunderbirds display team after meeting an RAF Top Gun on the world’s largest air combat training mission.

BRITISH AND German

Typhoons are teaming up to conduct the first-ever integrated Nato Air Policing mission.

Luftwaffe jets currently in Estonia will hand over to Lossiemouth-based IX(Bomber) Sqn in April but before then both countries’ Typhoons will fly joint sorties during March.

Joint Nato sorties have been flown before, but the level and length of integration being planned is a first.

RAF operations chief Air Marshal Harv Smyth said: “What’s

different about this deployment is the fact that we are operating as a combined unit with our German counterparts.

“Nato is the cornerstone of Europe’s defence and proving our two nations can work seamlessly together in this way on our eastern flank proves to potential adversaries that the alliance is stronger than ever.”

The development means one jet from each air force will be able to

To our readers

DUE TO huge rises in the costs of producing and delivering the Forces’ favourite newspaper, we will next month unfortunately have to increase our cover price for the first time in more than 25 years.

The new price of £1.20 reflects the unprecedented inflation in printing and transport costs, but we are confident that it still represents superb value – and we are offering great deals on annual

subscriptions to our loyal readers.

We are committed to delivering the best Service news, features and sport coverage and hope you will stay with us.

Subscribers will still be able to enjoy RAF News at the old price until their subscription is due for renewal at the new discount rates. The RAF News team.

launch as a pair on a live intercept.

To prepare Luftwaffe 71 Tactical Air Wing ‘Richthofen’ personnel have conducted air and ground training with IX(B) Sqn on Quick Reaction Alert procedures and air-to-air refuelling from an RAF Voyager at Lossiemouth.

They included 18 engineers who studied the differences between German and RAF Typhoons.

IX(B) Sqn Commander Wg Cdr Richard Leask said: “Joint training

such as this gives us a better understanding of how we will operate ahead of our Combined Baltic Air Policing task in the coming weeks.”

Luftwaffe detachment commander Major Lars ‘Scarlett’ Hansen said: “The lessons we learnt in the air and on the ground will pay dividends when we meet again in Estonia.”

The RAF last carried out Nato Air Policing in the Baltic Region, codenamed Operation Azotize, in the summer of 2020 in Lithuania and since then has flown two similar missions from Romania.

Henry, who served in the Fleet Air Arm from 1942 then transferred to the Army to complete 29 jumps, lives in Las Vegas near where Exercise Red Flag is run several times a year.

A qualified commercial pilot, he became a flight instructor after emigrating with his wife Dorothy in the 1960s, and was the guest of USAF 414 Sqn’s Col Jared Hutchinson.

The US airman said: “There is a worldwide bond between aviators of all nations and generations, we have faced and overcome the same challenges.”

Mr Ison met II(AC) Sqn Typhoon crews before being driven along the flight line to see more than 100 fast jets and visit the Thunderbirds’ hangar to view the team’s F-16s in their iconic livery.

Asked if he would like to fly in one, he said: “Yes, but only if I am on my own.”

Thunderbirds are still go for veteran Henry

VEGAS VIP VET: WWII airman Henry Ison at Nellis Airbase

Simon Mander

SKY POLICE: IX Sqn and Richthofen crews prepare for a training sortie at Lossiemouth ahead of NATO mission in Estonia

Harv’s here for the Spear

Simon Mander

THE FIRST Protector technicians have graduated in America ahead of the arrival of the new remotely piloted air system at Waddington.

A total of 20 RAF engineers qualified as technicians at the General Atomics facility in El Mirage, California, following six weeks of training that included live operations.

ISR Assistant Chief of Staff Air Cdre Alex Hicks said: “The graduation of the first cohort of RAF technicians marks a transition in the Protector programme as we prepare to accept the first deliveries to Waddington later this year.

“These engineers are fundamental to our ability to safely

operate the RPAS capability and precede the start of aircrew training in the coming weeks.”

The role merges the traditional trades of Weapons, Avionics and Mechanical Technician and the graduates will undertake all tasks up to the point the aircraft’s chocks are removed and Waddingtonbased aircrew take control.

The technicians will return to the UK to prepare for the arrival of the first of 16 Protectors which will operate from the Lincolnshire station from next year. Equipped with precision strike weapons, Protector will provide an armed surveillance capability and can fly in civilian airspace due to ‘detect and avoid’ technology.

Protector team makes the grade Stateside All Hayle

Mental health crusader Cpl Hayley Court scoops fundraising title

Staff Reporter

CHARITY CRUSADER Hayley

Court has been named Fundraiser of the Year by Forces’ charity chiefs after smashing her own target with her mental health campaign.

The Oxfordshire-based 622 Sqn Reservist launched Healing Military Minds in 2021 hoping to raise £30,000 for Combat Stress, which supports military vets struggling with PTSD and depression.

Her high-profile campaign won backing from boxing champ Glenn McCrory and vets Minister Johnny Mercer, who joined Hayley and her team of volunteers on a fundraising trek up Snowdonia – the UK’s second highest peak.

Since then Cpl Court’s fundraising efforts have gathered pace, netting an estimated £65,000 – more than double her original target. Her most recent event, a charity auction, drew donations from business and individuals across the county, raising thousands for her cause.

During her 30-year RAF career the Reservist has served in Afghanistan and took part in Operation Pitting – helping more than 15,000 UK and Afghan nationals flee Kabul airport as the Taliban swept to power in 2021. She was named Oxfordshire Reservist of the Year in 2022 and won the Combat Stress Community Group award just 12 months after setting up HMM.

Last year she took part in The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Baton Relay, representing the RAF and her own charity.

Speaking after presenting Hayley with her

latest award, Combat Stress chairman Giles Peel said: “This event recognises the incredible support and dedication of our community of fundraisers.

“It means we can provide life-changing treatment to former Servicemen and women whose lives have been impacted beyond measure as a result of service to their country.

“Last year almost 18,000 veterans benefitted from our help – a number which truly demonstrates the continued need for our specialist services.

“No other charity does what we do, and we are so grateful for all that our fundraisers have done for us and the veterans who seek our help.

COMBAT TRAINING: DCom Ops Air Marshal Harv Smyth in Saudi Arabia

Hayley is named Oxfordshire’s top Reservist

WHO DARES WINS: Hayley

HAMMER TIME: Funds flood in for Hayley’s Healing Military Minds charity at auction

CAMPAIGNER: Cpl Court on Flying duties with 622 Sqn at Brize Norton

AIR MARSHAL Harv Smyth flew into Saudi to join Typhoon and Voyager crews currently taking part in the multi-national combat training drill Spears of Victory.

ON COURSE: UK engineers working on Protector graduate in California

Honoured after 70 years – the ‘sniffer crew’ volunteers who flew into the nuclear storm

WHEN FG OFF John Robinson volunteered for ‘special duties’ in Australia in 1955, he had no idea he would be involved in historic nuclear tests – including Operation Grapple, when the first British H-bomb was dropped.

The young Canberra pilot, with his two navigators, answered the call while flying Canberra B2s on Bomber Command’s Main Force in a three-man crew on 44 (Rhodesia) Sqn, based at RAF Honington.

He said: “I was 21 and liked flying my brand new, shiny Canberra bomber with my crew and the opportunity to go to Australia was too good to miss. We really didn’t know what we were letting ourselves in for.”

More than 70 years after the tests began in 1952, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that nuclear test veterans will receive a medal to recognise their service. Around 22,000 personnel took part in the tests, but just 1,500 survive today, with an estimated 155,000 descendants.

Last month the Office for Veterans’ Affairs revealed that charities and organisations across the UK are set to benefit from £200,000 in funding, as a scheme is opened to build community-led programmes to recognise and support nuclear test veterans and their families.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer said: “To this day the nuclear deterrent remains the cornerstone of our defence and that is substantially due to the service and contribution of the brilliant nuclear test veterans.

“It is only right that we support and recognise the experiences of our nuclear test veterans, so future generations can learn from their experiences.”

Mr Robinson (inset, right) said: “Recognition for the veterans is long overdue, waiting 70 years is a bit much. A lot of them suffered, and badly.”

He considers himself lucky – now 88, he said he’s had no health issues as a result of taking part in the tests, unlike many others who went on to develop serious medical problems, including cancers.

Mirror writer Susie Boniface, who has covered the subject since 2002, said nuclear test veterans’ families also reported high rates of miscarriage, and deformities, disability and deaths of their children and grandchildren.

Mr Robinson’s involvement in the nuclear tests started in October 1955 when he had just six months left of his four-year short service commission. After volunteering however, his commission became 12 years and John and his crew were posted to 76 Sqn at RAF Weston Zoyland in Somerset.

He explained: “All the pilots and navigators were Fg Offs except for my FS navigator and two Flt Lts who were to be the flight commanders, making 10 crews. Everyone was single, which was one of the requirements for the tasks ahead.

“This sounded a bit ominous but no one seemed too worried about it. We were all young guys and it was a bit of an adventure.”

He added: “It was leaked out that we were going to fly through nuclear clouds collecting samples following the detonation of nuclear devices; these were nicknamed ‘sniffer flights.’

[The samples were sent to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston to be analysed.]

“No one backed away from this revelation… the subsequent effects were unknown. There was speculation over how radiation would affect the body, protection we could expect and what would happen to the aircraft which would be heavily contaminated.

“The authorities were probably aware this was a dodgy thing to do but they tried to protect us as best they could with the equipment available. They enhanced the air conditioning airflow from the aircraft’s engines, putting in better filters, but, of course, unless you screen the whole cockpit in lead all round you can’t keep radiation from coming in.”

The Canberra was chosen for the task because, Mr Robinson explained, it was capable of much greater altitudes than any other aircraft built then.

“It was such an incredible aeroplane, it could do what the scientists really wanted it to – to fly forever higher – the bigger the bomb, the higher the cloud. They wanted us to go to the maximum altitude possible,” he said.

In July 1956, Mr Robinson and his crew took part in Operation Mosaic, carrying out sniffer duties in the Monte Bello Islands off the coast of north-western Australia.

He said: “We were well above the altitudes being flown by normal air transport traffic. The very low temperatures at altitude suited

the Canberra’s highlevel performance and, by using the cruise climb technique the aircraft could get above 50,000ft.”

The following month the squadron moved to RAAF Edinburgh, near Adelaide, for nuclear testing at Maralinga, in the remote western areas of South Australia.

John said: “For Operation Buffalo on October 11 we flew our first operational penetration of a nuclear cloud, remaining in the cloud for 12 and a half minutes. Flying through it was no different from flying through any cloud.

“After landing with the contaminated aircraft, the entrance door was sealed with strong paper by the ground crew. The crew unstrapped from their seats and, in turn, disconnected their oxygen supplies, which had been on 100 per cent for the duration of the flight. They then dived out of the aircraft, getting the hell out of it as quickly as they could.”

As the pilot, Mr Robinson was the last out, having made sure the aircraft was shut down completely and the brakes off so it could be towed to an isolated part of the airfield to ‘cool down’ from radiation before servicing could be carried out, he explained.

The crew were escorted quickly to a decontamination centre nearby. Mr Robinson said: “We stripped down completely and were scanned for any radiation adhered to the body. Several showers had to be taken to ensure the body was clear: that was the standard procedure throughout the nuclear tests for aircraft and crews.”

BACK IN COCKPIT: Mr Robinson in Duxford Spitfire in 2018

ROYAL ROLE: John Robinson teaching Prince Charles to fly the Jet Provost

BOMB SQUAD: Valiant BK.1s and crews of 49 Sqn, which deployed to Christmas Island to conduct the first series of British thermonuclear tests (Operation Grapple), gathered at Wittering on March 1, 1957 prior to their departure. The aircraft had reinforced airframes to withstand the blast and blinds in the cockpit to protect the pilot and co-pilot from the glare

DANGEROUS WORK: Canberra of 76 Sqn carrying out air sampling over the Pacific, off the north-west Australia coast, after ground-burst explosions on the Monte Bello Islands in 1956

ALL ARCHIVE PHOTOS: AIR HISTORICAL BRANCH (RAF)

For Operation Grapple the first British H-bomb was dropped on May 15 from a Valiant using Malden Island, 400 miles south of Christmas Island. John and his crew flew as a radio link between Christmas Island and the target area, carrying out the initial air survey of Malden Island after the explosion. They repeated the format for the third bomb on June 19.

John added: “The success of the first H-bomb test ensured that the UK became the third nation in the world to have the nuclear deterrent and so keep up its defences in the Cold War and beyond. We realised it was unique work.”

His final test was on October 9 on Operation Antler at Maralinga, tracking the nuclear cloud across Australia.

He said: “The medics then assessed that I had received the maximum allowable exposure to radiation and ended my tour with 76 Sqn.”

He had taken part in seven tests over about 18 months. He added: “As far as I’m aware, after decontamination the Canberras went back into service.”

The UK carried out 21 nuclear tests in Australia and Christmas Island (now Kirimati) in the Pacific between 1952 and 1967.

John served for 22 years in the RAF, leaving in 1974 as a Sqn Ldr, having led the Red Pelicans aerobatic team and, at Cranwell, instructed Prince Charles to fly the Jet Provost.

By Tracey Allen

H-BOMB HEROES

ALICE SPRINGS: Fg off John Robinson (centre) with navigators Fg Off Binky Wells (left) and Fg Off Alan Gardener at the Australian Armed Forces War Memorial

MUSHROOM CLOUD: The thermonuclear explosion of 'GRAPPLE X' photographed by a Canberra PR.7 of 58 Sqn after a drop by Valiant XD825 of 49 Sqn on November 8, 1957 during the second series of Grapple trials

By Tracey Allen

WHEN HOLLYWOOD

A-lister John Travolta was spotted in the small Norfolk town of Fakenham it caused quite a stir – not surprisingly.

The Pulp Fiction and Saturday Night Fever star was in the area filming at Raynham Hangar Studios at the former RAF West Raynham airfield last spring. He was working on The Shepherd, the movie adaptation for Disney+, rumoured to be released this Christmas, of the novella of the same name by bestselling author Frederick Forsyth.

It tells the story of an RAF Vampire pilot flying home solo on Christmas Eve in 1957, from RAF Celle in Germany to Lakenheath in Suffolk, who gets lost mid-flight over water and needs a miracle to land safely.

The film also stars Ben Radcliffe (Pandora) as the pilot and Steven Mackintosh (The Confessions of Frannie Langton), with a script by Iain Softley (Backbeat, Hackers).

Forsyth, who won an RAF scholarship aged 16 and trained to be a Vampire pilot, has written the foreword to Vampire Boys by Charlotte Bailey (grubstreet.co.uk), which features first-hand accounts from operators, including himself, of the Air Force’s first singleengined jet.

After it entered operational service with the RAF in 1946, the de Havilland Vampire achieved a number of impressive records: it was the first fighter to exceed 500mph, the first to set a world altitude record of almost 60,000 feet, the first jet to take off and land from an aircraft carrier and the first jet to cross the Atlantic.

George Cole flew five different marks of the Vampire in his flying career – the Mk.1, Mk.3, FB.5 and later on, while instructing, the FB.9 and T.11.

He said: “The Vampire was a lovely little aircraft with a fantastic view out of the cockpit, the best I’ve ever known. Whichever variant you flew it was such a tiny aircraft that your bottom was almost scraping the runway.

“Many years later, I was amazed to see an ex-Swiss FB.6 fitted with an ejection seat. I thought: how would you fit in there? Our emergency exit procedure was to jettison the canopy, roll inverted and simply fall out – or at least, that was the theory.”

As part of the RAF’s commitment to Europe’s defence during the Cold War’s early years, several air stations were maintained by the British presence in Germany, including RAF Celle, which became home to three Vampire-equipped squadrons.

In 1953 Mike Gallafent was posted to Celle as a member of 16 Sqn. The last Vampire retired from Celle in 1957.

Mike said: “In summer 1953, when I first arrived at Celle, we were still the occupying power. We even had our own military currency, ‘banknotes of the British Armed Forces’ which we’d spend at the officers’ club in the town.”

First blood to The Vampire Boys

WE HAVE copies of Vampire Boys to win. For your chance to own one, tell us:

When did the Vampire enter operational service with the RAF?

Email your answer, marked Vampire Boys book competition, to: tracey. allen@rafnews.co.uk or post it to: RAF News, Room 68, Lancaster Building, HQ Air Command, High Wycombe, HP14 4UE, to arrive by March 24.

He added: “In those days, most airlines were piston-powered, so we had a lot of free airspace we could fly through and even do aerobatics. At a time when political tensions were high, especially regarding Russia, maintaining a retaliatory airborne offensive capability was a must. We would sit parked at the end of the runway in a state of readiness, radio on, ready to go if any rogue aircraft came across the border.”

Author Charlotte Bailey explained: “As the National Service

requirement neared its inevitable conclusion, Frederick Forsyth lied about his age and overcame a gruelling selection process before finally coming face-to-face with the Vampire at RAF Worksop.

“However, the predictions of a pessimistic Warrant Officer would ring true as the excitement of the next nine months became tinged with tragedy.”

Forsyth was just 17 but told the RAF recruitment office he was 18. One of 12 National Service

Win!volunteers out of thousands of conscripts, he went through rigorous tests and training to achieve the chance to fly a single-seater jet fighter – the Vampire Mk.9.

He said: “We were bussed down to the flight ‘lines’ where were grouped the hangars and crew rooms. A seamy old Warrant Officer was our guide. He made plain on the bus that he would no more go airborne in one of those machines than sky-dive without a parachute.”

The T.11 trainer version the young airmen had been using had an ejector seat – the FB.9 didn’t.

The Warrant Officer told them: “Welcome to the de Havilland Vampire, gentlemen. You can fly in it or die in it.”

ever gone solo in a single-seat jet fighter at 18, nor ever would again.”

Tragically, instructor and pupil Jonah Jones and Derek Brett died in an accident in a T.11 trainer with ejector seats.

Forsyth said: “They simply flew into the Pennines. It was surmised later that they misread their altimeter, believing they were at 12,000ft while flying at 2,000ft, easy to do in thick cloud.”

After Derek’s funeral, where Forsyth was one of the bearers, he and colleagues went back to RAF Worksop. He said: “We went down to the crew room, changed into overalls, walked out to the waiting Vampires, strapped in and flew again. It was the way we were.”

E

ight weeks before his 19th birthday Forsyth’s instructor, in the T.11, said it was time to switch to the Mk.9.

Forsyth remembered: “Only later did I learn that no pupil had

The Vampire was retired from RAF service in 1966. One ex-RAF airframe, T.11 WZ507, remains airworthy and is operated by the Vampire Preservation Group, based at Coventry airport. Go to: vampireflight.co.uk for more details.

VAMPIRE BOYS: (from left) Frederick Forsyth, George Cole and Mike Gallafent all piloted the fighter COLD WAR: Vampire aircraft based in RAF Celle, Germany, as a deterrent

SOLE SURVIVOR: Of 526 RAF T.11s built, only WZ507 remains airworthy today

TRAVOLTA: Vampire film

The Forces Pension Societyis an independent, not-for-profit organisation which acts as a pension watchdog for the entire military community.

Government does ‘right thing’ on AF pension link

ANNOUNCING to its membership the Government’s 10.1% increase in Armed Forces pensions in payment, the Society stressed the importance of pensions in the contract with those serving their country.

Maj Gen Neil Marshall, CEO of the Forces Pension Society, said: “The Government has done the right thing by linking this pension increase to the Consumer Prices Index. It’s a decision we endorse entirely. For veterans and those serving, pensions represent a hugely significant element of their overall remuneration package. A decent pension provides a vital springboard for a second career outside the Services and, ultimately, the platform for a dignified retirement.

“From our vantage point on the representative bodies for Armed Forces and Public Services Pensions, we constantly remind those in positions of authority of the Armed Forces’ contribution to the defence of our nation and its values, and the role the pension plays in sustaining operational capability and retention.”

The Society also expressed its satisfaction with the award of 7% in line with Average Weekly Earnings applied to AFPS15 to increase (revalue) previous years of accrual for those still serving.

The Forces Pension Society recently announced record membership numbers of

From Maj Gen Neil Marshall,CEO of the Forces Pension Society

more than 65,000 and record numbers of Members’ pension enquiries dealt with by the experts in their Forces Pensions Consultants team. Maj Gen Marshall added: “It’s hugely gratifying to see such growth in our membership as more and more in the Serving community take an active interest in their Armed Forces pension for themselves and their families. Veterans too have increasingly come to appreciate the value of supporting the Society since issues such as the AFPS15 Remedy (McCloud) can have a significant impact on their retirement even after they’ve left.”

* If you would like to find out more about the Forces Pension Society’s work and how guidance from its Forces Pensions Consultants might support you, visit www.forcespensionsociety.org

● Neil Marshall, CEO, Forces Pension Society

By Tracey Allen

Museum PR chief Ajay’s got the Blues

THE RAF Museum’s public relations manager Ajay Srivastav’s latest single has scored a huge hit – reaching number 2 in the iTunes Blues charts and only beaten to number 1 by Blues legend Bonnie Raitt’s song Just Like That, awarded a Grammy in February for Song of the Year.

Ajay released the single Further Up The Road last month and has announced a series of live dates, starting this month. He’s also due to play a live session on BBC London’s Sunny and Shay show on March 26.

The talented singer-songwriter said: “I was overwhelmed by the response for my single. Getting to number 2 in the iTunes Blues charts was amazing, and being held off the top spot by Bonnie Raitt’s Grammywinning song is an honour.

“Most of all though I am looking forward to getting back to gigging. Last year was complicated to say the least for the live scene, due to Covid. This year seems to be more positive-looking and I’ve got some exciting gigs and festivals planned.”

His 10-date tour kicks off in Eastbourne on March 10 and includes gigs in London, Luton, Maidenhead and Tring, with

appearances at the Komedia 7 Hills Spring Festival in Bath on March 19 and Devizes Arts Festival on June 4.

A classically-trained sitar player who is also a guitarist, keyboard player, drummer and percussionist, London-based Ajay is currently working on his third album, provisionally titled Too Long – scheduled for release this autumn or winter.

for the

He worked at the Acid Jazz label’s recording studios before joining the RAF Museum in Hendon, and worked with artists including reggae star Gregory Isaacs, Jah Wobble, The Brand New Heavies and Jamiroquai. His rootsy guitar style, which merges scales and techniques from classical Indian music with slide guitar playing, has received plaudits from top industry names including Radio 2 and BBC

GUITAR ACE: RAF Museum’s PR boss Ajay Srivastav is making his own headlines

6 Music’s Cerys Matthews, fRoots magazine and Classic Rock magazine. He cites Blues musicians Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters as inspiring his sound.

So far Further Up The Road has clocked up more than 7,500 plays on Spotify and the single’s video

has had 23,000 views on YouTube.

Ajay added: “The lyrics are inspired by the Vedic concept of ‘Moksha’ – the idea of letting go of my worldly baggage in return for liberation. It’s not just material things, it could be my insecurities, past trauma and fears. I love bridging stories and imagery from the Blues just as much as I do the music, and the idea of walking the road is very much steeped in the Blues tradition.”

l Go to: ajayhq.com/gigs for a full list of tour dates.

Helping Paras stick it to ’em

ELITE PARATROOPERS have been honing their combat skills on board two C-130J Hercules. Soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade boarded the pair of veteran RAF Brize Nortonbased 47 Sqn transport aircraft on Exercise Pegasus Landing to practise jumping in simultaneous lines or ‘sticks’ on operations.

Flying at 900 feet, RAF instructors opened the doors, provided an update on the wind speed over the target, then gave timing signals, starting six minutes before the jump.

The training was conducted over a drop zone at RAF Westonon-the-Green, near Bicester in Oxfordshire.

on the Blues scene

LETTING GO: Scene from video for Ajay’s new single, Further Up The Road

Navigator won DFC for Malaya jungle air drops

Flt Lt served in FIVE air forces

FLIGHT LIEUTENANT

Francis Souness., who has died aged 92, served as a navigator on transport aircraft during Operation Firedog, the campaign in Malaya against communist terrorists. He also had the unique distinction of serving in no less than four other air forces.

In September 1946 he joined the RAF as an apprentice. For three years he was at Cranwell as a ‘Trenchard Brat’ training to be a radio fitter.

After completing his training, he was posted initially to RAF St Athan, where he met his future wife, an RAF telephonist, before heading for Kinloss in north Scotland where he serviced equipment in the base’s Lancaster aircraft.

In December 1950 he began training to be a navigator. After being commissioned, and the award of his flying brevet, he trained on Valetta aircraft before leaving for Kuala Lumpur in Malaya to join 110 Squadron.

By the middle of 1954, many terrorists had been eliminated but there remained a hard core of survivors of the Communist Terrorists (CT) organisation.

Initially, the security forces were able to mount patrols of only a few days, so the CTs felt safe whilst they remained in the jungle. However, with regular resupply from the air, the ground forces were able to penetrate much deeper and to remain there for up to three months.

In addition to supply drops, the RAF transport aircraft were able to insert special forces and broadcast surrender messages from a specially-equipped Valetta (the ‘howler’), all completed at very low level. Inevitably, there were losses from extreme weather conditions over inhospitable territory, some of it uncharted. Yet, Souness relished the challenge, conducting 10 ‘howler’ missions in one eight-day period, each up to three hours in duration.

Altogether, Souness had racked up more than 1,500 hours in Valetta transport aircraft on his tour with 110 Squadron, including no fewer than 29 operational supply drops from Kuala Lumpur between September 11 and October 8, 1954.

On his return from Malaya, Souness was training to become a navigation instructor when he was summoned to see his commanding officer “immediately”. Anticipating

that he had demurred in some way, he braced himself for a reprimand. Instead, he was congratulated on the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross for his “meticulous care and untiring energy” and for his “calm efficiency, courage and high sense of duty” having completed 148 operational sorties in Malaya “while locating dropping zones deep in the jungle often in foul and dangerous weather.”

After a period as a navigation instructor and a short time on 47 Squadron’s Beverleys, he returned to Malaya, this time on secondment to the new Royal Malayan Air Force based at Kuala Lumpur.

Back in the UK after three years,

he converted to the new Armstrong Whitworth Argosy, expecting a posting to 114 Squadron, only to be ‘poached’ as an instructor for 242 Operational Conversion Unit, now situated at Thorney Island. However, the fledgling Kenya Air Force, founded in 1964 after independence, needed professional help both in training navigators and supporting Army and police contingents who were fighting secessionists in the so-called ‘Shifta War’ in Kenya’s Northern Frontier District. Between 1965 and 1968, Souness put in over 800 hours, including flights with VicePresident Daniel Arap Moi on diplomatic missions.

After a period as an air traffic control officer, he was thinking of leaving the RAF to become a teacher when he received an approach from a senior British contact in the Zambian Air Force. He took early retirement for the RAF and was commissioned into the Ugandan Air Force at the end of 1969 and attached to the Presidential Flight, recording many journeys with the ‘VVIP’ on board.

Next came a non-flying role in Uganda, under United Nations auspices, followed by attachment to the Sultan of Oman’s Air Force, primarily in an air traffic control role (with a SOAF rank as Sqn Ldr),

until family demands required a return to the United Kingdom.

In June 1980, Souness was reinstated in the RAF to follow a career in air traffic control, at which he excelled. One 1982 assessment praised his “exceptional temperament for ATC”.

Ultimately, he served as deputy senior air traffic controller at RAF Leuchars in Fife, where his station commander described him as, “a tower of strength in the ATC squadron and an excellent example to all as a controller and as an officer.”

He retired to nearby Cupar in August 1987 after 41 years in aviation and 5,600 flying hours.

SKILLED: Top Nav Souness went on to become an accomplished air traffic controller

By Tracey Allen

IT WAS in 1941 that George VI awarded the title ‘Royal’ to the Observer Corps – for its outstanding performance during the Battle of Britain in 1940 when, along with radar, it became known as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the RAF.

The eyes of the RAF Royal Observer Corps saved 1000s of lives

than 7,000 aircraft – including many American – and countless aircrews were saved from certain destruction during WWII.

Formed in 1925 as an integral part of the then new British Air Defence system, the civil defence organisation’s task was to identify and track all aircraft entering British airspace in wartime and soon earned the motto ‘Forewarned is Forearmed’, explained Paddy Malone, Honorary Secretary of 31 Group ROC Association.

He said: “Experience during World War I showed the dominance of aircraft and the threat of mass air attacks in any future conflict. There had already been air attacks by German Zeppelin airships on London and Great Yarmouth in 1915 causing deaths and great damage.

“Observer Corps Posts were placed on high ground 10 miles apart and initially manned by reserve constables and volunteers with landlines to Ops Rooms. This was so successful that it was soon extended to many south and east coast counties.

“The Corps came under the control of the Air Ministry in 1929 and extended to cover most of Britain. The organisation was well placed geographically and was mobilised well in advance of World War II, keeping 24-hour lookout coverage across the nation.

“At the time, ground-based radar was blind overland and only looked out to sea – Chain Home radar towers were positioned along the south and east coasts.”

Women were recruited into the Corps in 1941, when a pay structure was put in place and RAF-style uniform was accepted. Joyce Stubbs, who died last year, joined the ROC aged 17 and rose to become its Assistant Commandant in the rank of Observer Captain –the only female officer to achieve the rare distinction.

Bestselling author Philip Pullman also joined the Corps as a teenager while living in Llanbedr, North Wales. He remembered: “I had a very bristly, hot, scratchy uniform. It was the height of the Cold War and we had to learn all the silhouettes of the Russian fighters and bombers.

“On one occasion we took part in an exercise simulating what would happen in a nuclear attack. We spent the night in a bunker just outside the village, sending off signals every 10 minutes to the headquarters. It was fun. I was a member for about four or five years.”

The ROC’s HQ was at RAF Bentley Priory and all 31 ROC Ops Rooms fed information into Bentley Priory’s Filter Rooms for Fighter Command as part of the Dowding System.

Mr Malone said: “RAF liaison officers at ROC Ops Rooms were soon able to direct fighter aircraft

from some ROC Ops table plots.

“On May 10, 1941 at 10.10pm, a lone Nazi Me 110 aircraft crossed the Northumberland coast and was correctly identified and tracked continuously by ROC Posts until it crashed near Glasgow. It carried the Deputy German Führer, Rudolf Hess. The RAF controller refused

Following D-Day the Air Ministry issued an order outlining an urgent need for a substantial number of ‘expert’ ROC Observers to work on recognition duties in defensively-equipped merchant ships.

Mr Malone added: “The Seaborne branch sent nearly 800 volunteers with the Allied Invasion Fleet to Normandy in 1944 (Operation Overlord) instructing the gunnery officers in aircraft identification and when to open fire, thus again saving a great many Allied aircraft and crews from destruction. Some 10 ROC Seaborne volunteers were later mentioned in dispatches.”

The Corps also identified and tracked V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets.

The ROC was temporarily stood down on May 12, 1945 when it was certain all Luftwaffe aircraft were grounded.

It was reformed in 1947 and extended to Northern Ireland in 1954. The Corps came under the control of RAF Fighter Command and assumed Fighter Group status.

Mr Malone explained: “In 1958 and the early 1960s a massive construction operation across the UK soon moved all ROC Posts deep underground and many Ops Rooms were semi-sunk to meet the threat of possible nuclear attack.

“31 Group ROC with its headquarters in Lisburn, Northern Ireland and underground monitoring posts every 10 miles, operated throughout the ‘Troubles’. Thousands of volunteers from all over the Province served with the Corps both at HQ 31 Group Operations and in Posts.”

He added: “In 1968 the Corps came under the control of RAF Strike Command. Subsequently, it became the field force of the UK Warning and Monitoring Organisation and would have warned citizens of an imminent air attack and plotted the location and size of nuclear bursts and prediction of the later arrival of deadly radioactive fallout plumes across the country.”

In July 1991 Queen Elizabeth II held a Royal Review of the ROC at RAF Bentley Priory and presented the Corps with a new Royal Banner.

to believe the accuracy of this report for quite some time thinking an Me 110 could not have flown so far north. Future ROC reports were never in doubt.”

It’s been estimated that through accurate ROC identification, tracking, reporting and guidance given to aircraft in distress, more

Mr Malone said: “The bulk of the Corps was stood down that year as the threat of nuclear attack receded, completing 66 years of dedicated service at the end of the Cold War.

“Some 257 ROC personnel remained to man nuclear reporting cells until final stand down in 1995.”

More than a quarter of a million volunteers served at some time in the Royal Observer Corps. HQ ROC at Bentley Priory closed down in 1996.

SPOTTERS: ROC personnel watch the skies from Post No. 17/K1 atop the Senate House, London University, Sept 1940

PLOTTERS: ROC staff process information passed from reporting posts at the Group HQ at Watford, November 10, 1950

CONINGSBY: ROC members of the 1960s familiarise themselves with some of the kit available for their use

ROYAL VISIT: HM Queen Elizabeth II at Bentley Priory in 1991

THE VERY definition of humiliation for any motoring journalist is to get a vehicle stuck in front of witnesses. With VW’s Tiguan Allspace, I not only managed to get it stuck, but I got it stuck on my own muddy driveway.

Now this was, in part, my own fault because I hadn’t had the opportunity to read the press pack before parking the Allspace but it’s such a convincing 4x4 that it lulls you into a false sense of security. Potentially enough security to get you into a right mess, if you’re not careful.

My first lesson therefore was ‘buy the 4Motion version.’

Outside

If you’re after a medium-sized SUV, the Tiguan Allspace ticks all the right boxes visually. It’s a stylish bit of kit that looks capable on and off-road, hence my initial point.

The sleek lights and chrome front grille help to give it a modern look, while the 18-inch ‘Frankfurt’ diamond-turned alloy wheels, with their self-sealing ‘AirStop’ tyres, seal the deal.

Inside

The cabin is solidly built, in true VW fashion. The Titanium Black cloth front seats in our test car were comfortable, with all the adjustment you could want to find the right driving position. There’s plenty of space in the back for three six footers, with an extra couple of fold-away seats in the boot for the children. This makes the Allspace a great all-rounder, with plenty to

That’s Life

offer the family.

‘Checker Flag Titanium’ inserts in the dash and door panels help to lift the interior feel, making it smarter than a basic workhorse,

but there are many trim levels to choose from.

A slight downside in the cabin is that the old climate control panel, which was super easy to use, has been replaced with a cumbersome touch-button panel. Not ideal.

The interior is otherwise well laid out however and the infotainment systems operate sharply, with crisp graphics.

On The Road

Unlike its smaller Tiguan sibling, the Allspace is a bulky family SUV, but that doesn’t mean it’s lost all of its agility. In fact, it rides very well for a car in this class. The suspension is firm enough to stop most of the body roll on undulating roads and it handles more like a conventional hatchback than many of its SUV rivals, making it a more engaged driving experience. The steering is light, possibly too light at times, but it’s accurate enough, with a fair amount of grip.

It’s not quite as comfortable as rivals, such as the Range Rover Evoque, but it’s a 7-seater that’s easy to live with. The 2.0 150 PS Turbo diesel engine fitted to our

Tiguan Allspace

Pros

l Drives well for its class

l Comfortable cabin

l Versatile

Cons

l The price will raise eyebrows

l Heavy enough to get you stuck on soft surfaces

l More dynamic rivals for price

Verdict

test car was a bit rattly at tick-over and under serious acceleration but settled down to a quiet murmur at cruising speed. On the motorway there was only a faint rumble of wind noise around the Allspace’s door mirrors, very little road noise.

The stats aren’t too shabby either, 0-62mph in 9.8 seconds and 124mph at the top end. Fuel economy weighs in at 53.3mpg, using official figures. If you want more economy, or more performance, there are variants available that nudge the figures favourably in your direction.

The Allspace shares many of the positive characteristics of the smaller, five-seat Tiguan, but with more space and a couple of extra fold-away seats. With prices starting at £35,975, it’s not cheap but it’s a solid bit of kit that should last. It’s not the most agile car in its class but it’s extremely versatile and will cope with most things that you can throw at it. Just remember to go for the 4Motion version if you plan on leaving the tarmac.

Livestreaming first for netball Inter-Services

Exciting times as the sport's profile grows

Daniel Abrahams

RAF NETBALL prepares to host the sport's first live streamed Inter-Service championships as the association finds itself at the crossroads of the most successful period since its inception.

IS aside, which will see England VIPs present for the tournament, the association will this season organise its first mixed tournament, have flag-bearing representation at the World Championships warmup clashes, while Sgt Kate Baldwin breaks further ground as the highest

Happy Valley at cycle camp

RAF VALLEY proved the perfect spot for the Service’s road cyclists at their annual Winter Training Camp.

Sgt Nick Munro said: “Overall it was a very successful camp, the first one since pre-Covid, which got lots of like-minded cyclists together to share knowledge and experiences. The scenic routes in Snowdonia National Park were a particular highlight for all riders.”

The camp was aimed at people of all abilities, from established road race team members to cyclists who had never ridden in groups before, with 28 attending the fiveday event.

It also focused on improving riders’ skills and confidence to participate in disciplines including circuit, road and time trial racing.

Held over challenging but achievable routes, fitness levels were tested, along with bunch riding and communication skills allowing riders to become comfortable in close proximity to others.

The week also featured coachled presentations on collating training plans and recovery and racing tactics.

l Follow RAF Cycling on Instagram @rafcycling.

qualified coach in association history.

RAF and UKAF chair Wg Cdr Dawn Murty said: “The televising of the Inters, which we are hosting at Cosford, is a huge step forward and the promotion of our game through it is another landmark moment.

“Flt Lt Hannah Fray, our club captain, has been working with BFBS to make the first-ever live streaming of the Inter-Services a reality. This partnership with BFBS is a great thing.

“It will be a great competition, last year we drew with the Navy and narrowly lost to the Army, the games were played at a high level, and we are hoping for the same again this year, although we are looking to take some silverware home this time.”

Murty believes showing Super League matches on Sky TV is all part and parcel of the pathway the Service is taking to raise its profile.

She said: “People are seeing the game more, for us to have a flag bearer at the Jamaica Internationals versus England in July along with the sections of UKAF players post the Inters – who will then play Wales, the Isle of Wight and Surrey Storm (Super League team) – shows our players elite netball.

“Through personnel like Sgt Kate Baldwin, who has reached the highest level in coaching qualifications and coaches Loughborough Lightning, we are exposing our players to what is possible.

“You can only be what you can see, our players may have that dream, so exposing them to this higher level is the start of the pathway to achieve those elite level dreams.”

The dreams start on March 8-10 at RAF Cosford, after RAF News goes to press.

Catch the matches live, or see reruns, on Forces TV’s YouTube channel: @forces_news.

CLOSE GAME: RAF narrowly lost to the Army in last year's Inter-Services competition but are hoping for better this time around

RAF ref is leading the way

Daniel Abrahams

THE FIRST RAF woman to referee a men’s Inter-Services rugby clash is aiming for even greater achievements this year.

Fg Off Rebecca Piddlesden, a Police Officer at Odiham, spoke to RAF News of her long journey in sport.

“I started playing rugby when I was five, at my local club Weybridge Vandals. I took a break to horse ride competitively, then I fell back into rugby, playing at Wasps, Teddington, Hove, Quins and so on. So, I suppose you could say I am an all-round sports person. I enjoy my sport, but definitely rugby.

“I didn’t take officiating seriously until about 15 months ago, when I was teaching PT and started refereeing games and I enjoyed it.

“I then started doing more, as I wasn’t playing much. I tried some coaching, but it was the refereeing that I found I really liked. If I don’t have a good game, it is down to me,

FOOTBALL

and vice versa, and I like that aspect of it.”

For Piddlesden last season produced some major highs –overseeing the 21/22 Gill Burns Division 2 Final between Eastern Counties and Hampshire in June at Twickenham, before the fogbound 44-3 Royal Navy IS win in November.

Having progressed up the ranks of England refereeing, she was also awarded an Advanced Match Official Award.

She added: “The women’s game is going in the right direction. The backing is superb. There is still a long way to go, but in the RAF we have 15 to 16 ladies ready to take up the roles.

“I think people like Sara Cox [the world's first professional female rugby union referee] have shown there is a pathway through to the top.”

Piddlesden says she has encountered only one issue as a female ref in the man’s game; how

players should address her.

“On the pitch the men do not see anything different, the only issue is what they call me, they are used to saying 'Sir', which is funny.

“The major challenge for me as a slower player is that I need to run more to keep up with the play. I now have a full-time running coach to combat that.

“I find the women’s game more skilful, the men are more into power, smashing into things, that’s

really the only difference on the pitch.”

She added: “I hope that I have shown there is nothing to fear and that more women will make the step.

“At London Welsh versus Banbury, I heard people saying they never thought they would see a female referee and they were genuinely interested in having a go, so if it takes one person like me to spark that, then brilliant.

“England rugby are doing so much, Claire Antcliffe, for example [RFU official development officer]. Since I joined her Facebook page, I have seen another 100 people join, so this is really building.”

And things are really building for the RAF referee too – this year she will be in the middle for the women’s Varsity game, Oxford v Cambridge, at Twickenham Stadium on March 25 and also for the England v Wales U18s international later in the year.

Rebecca's in charge: and that's official Things are heating up for reigning IS champs

A SIX-DAY intensive training camp in Spain will mark the final corner for the Service women’s footballers as they home in on this year’s Inter-Services title defence.

Cpl Chris Hamilton’s charges have had what he describes as a ‘good series of matches against quality opposition’, leaving him happy at the current position as they prepare for their trip abroad.

Hamilton said: “It’s a funny old set-up for the IS, you play six fixtures to prepare for two games, and of course you know that everyone will be up for it, no matter what.”

He added: “We are looking to successfully defend our title, and I am pretty happy with where we are in our bid to do that.”

The WRT recently finalised their new relationship with Midlands Division One side Leek Town FC, who will host the team for their home matches at their Harrison Park ground.

The two teams played out a 5-0 win for the RAF in their last warm-up match on UK soil having recorded wins against Stourbridge FC 6-0 and a 4-0 win over tier four side West Brom in February.

Hamilton said: “Leek Town have been great. They are a good tier four side, and their facilities are great. The 4G pitch they have, which has just been laid, really suits how we play. We will now be playing them in a yearly fixture, which is special to have.”

The WRT will play Spanish division two side Elche CF during the training week.

Hamilton added: “The squad are in a good place, we have the 20 we will enter the IS championship with. We have a great nucleus of players, the new ones who have come in have gelled really well and it’s great to have time together.”

PIDDLE IN THE MIDDLE: Fg Off Rebecca Piddleston officiates at Colchester v Sidcup, a Regional 1 South East fixture, last December

l Follow the team on Instagram @rafladiesfootball.

CHAMPIONS: WRT v Navy on their way to the title last season

RAF on a high after warm-up try bonanzas

Points piled on in pre-IS matches

AFTER CRASHING wins over Chinnor and British police (see below), the Service’s senior men’s rugby union team look to be hitting the Inters on a high.

With one warm-up match left, against Coventry, and his squad’s last training camp at Cosford, FS Justin Coleman found time to speak to RAF News Sport.

“I think we left a couple of tries out there against the Police, but overall, it was a marked improvement from the Chinnor game, but there are still areas to work on.

“We all feel there is another 10 to 15 per cent more in us to give, so we will be looking to raise things again and reach that level.

“We hadn’t beaten the British Police for a few years, so we are happy with that result, and there is definitely more to come.”

He added: “Ideally us coaches would always want more games and more time, losing the Cambridge game [cancelled due to poor weather], which is a benchmark game, was a blow, but we will face a well-organised side in Coventry and the two tough physical games against the last two opponents has proved to me where we are with certain aspects.

“We look at balancing both sides

of the game and testing us against that in various opponents. To have seen the Navy and Army play Cambridge, we wanted to have that, but despite it, we are not in a bad place, we now need to tie it all down and then go into our last game and training camp.

“The standard raises itself for the Inter-Services, that is normal, so you always need to factor that in.”

Even with two try-filled wins under his belt, Coleman and his coaching team are not settling, he added: “We have looked at

transition plays, to punish mistakes as and where teams are weakest, there is also a lot of multi-phase rugby, plus great support play, we probably missed a few against the Police, and we have a bit to improve on – that is always the situation, coaches are never happy with everything, there is always something you want to do better.”

l The first IS clash is against the Royal Navy at Brickfields Rec, Plymouth, on March 25, KO 3.15pm. The Army game is at Gloucester RFC, Kingsholme on April 15, KO 3.15pm.

Pace and power pays dividends

THE ADAPTATION of pace, power and passing must have warmed the cockles of RAF head coach FS Justin Coleman as his charges demolished back-to-back IS warm-up opponents.

Running in more than 10 tries and 74 points across the two games, there was some expansive passing play that was a delight to the eye.

The RAF started with a devastating first-half three-try blast that saw them lead 21-0 at the break against the Chinnor Falcons at Kingsley Road, Thame.

AS1(T) James Roberts sparked things with a touch down following an all-powerful rolling maul, while Cpl Jon Howard went over after a burst of pace from the Chinnor 20.

Sprinting the length of the field to touch down, vice-captain AS1(T) Ryan Crowley started his own score, breaking up a Chinnor attack deep in the RAF half.

A series of perfect passes between AS1 Connor Morris, Cpl Zack Taylor and Cpl Tom Windibank resulted in a Taylor score, before another two tries saw the military men halt the Chinnor fightback, for a final score of 38-31.

Next opponents British Police also suffered a three-try opening salvo from the RAF in their second

clash, a 24-36 win at Stourton Park. AS1 Kev Raqio set the scoreboard turning, touching down following a line-out and drive from the Police 20. This was quickly followed by Cpl Sam Breeze with a copycat try.

A brilliant kick and collect saw AS1 Kieran Prescott highlight the willingness of the RAF to play with flair and guile.

A second-half line-out and some dancing feet from Cpl Joe Parkin resulted in a fourth try, while a perfect collection, following a breakdown, saw AS1(T) Ryan Crowley sprint home out wide.

TOWERING

PRESENCE: Cpl

Sam Hutchinson collects line-out ball against British Police

KICK AND COLLECT: AS1 Kieron Prescott shows his class

PHOTOS: SBS

THE MARK: Cpl Joe Parkin leaves them all standing

Daniel Abrahams

Army kill off Inters hopes

A challenging time ahead for the RAF MDS, due to losing 11 players as a result of age, but it is a challenge we will face head on.”

IT WAS a tough and terminal day at the office for the RAF U23s’ footballing hopes, after they lost 3-0 to the Army at Aldershot.

Head coach Sgt Danny Bartley said: “A disappointing performance from the team today. Unfortunately, we didn’t get going at all, but credit to the Army.

“I thought they were very good and well-organised. The staff and I will reassess the season and I’m sure the players will come back stronger.

ICE HOCKEY

Victory at the double

THE VULCANS arrived at Planet Ice skating rink for the second game of their double-header against Peterborough Warriors brimming with confidence after an 8-4 victory in the first leg.

Vulcans OIC Flt Lt Tom Yeoman said: “After a few tough matches it felt good to secure a comfortable win. Games like this give us the well-earned breathing space to practise our systems and dial in the style of game we’re trying to play.

“Despite the animosity, the Vulcans kept a cool head and stayed focused – which is always commendable. We’ve got players who are developing fast and it’s going to be exciting to carry this momentum to the Inter-Services tournament in June.”

After a goalless draw with the Royal Navy in their home fixture, Bartley and his charges faced further frustration as a first half of intent produced very few goal chances.

It was the hosts who found the net first, but the chance was ruled out – minutes later a long ball to the edge of the RAF area was not handled well by team captain Cpl Connor Balment. Having failed to make proper contact with his

header, Balment saw the ball drop to L/Cpl Aaron Moore, who found PTE Owen James to smash home. The light blues, galvanised by their coach’s half-time words, came out firing for the second half, but further poor defending saw Moore turn from provider to poacher as he extended the host’s lead.

Two basic headers from an RAF clearance then saw the Army open their opponents again for their third and decisive strike, as substitute Spr Ryan Fagan picked up the ball and then the pockets of the light blues to make it 3-0.

The RAF tried to bounce back through AS1 Logan Buick and

AS1 Matt Hendry, but both missed good chances and the game was done.

Bartley added: “Although a poor Inter-Services, there is a positive in the development of U23 players with seven being called up to the Senior team over the course of the season.”

U23s hit by top players moving up the ladder Vulcans prove the real Warriors

BACK OF THE NET: Vulcans score another goal against Peterborough Warriors FACE OFF: Close-quarters combat at Planet Ice RinkPHOTOS: TRISH THOMPSON

Taking the full high-octane energy into the second of the two matches, they produced the goods with a smashing 12-1 domination of their opponents.

Despite considerable roster changes, which meant the fixture looked to be a closer matchup than it ended up being, the visitors opened the scoring inside four seconds through Vulcans

newbie Flt Lt Lewis Jobbling, with the official time being 3.24 seconds.

A hooking penalty against the Vulcans gave the Warriors an opportunity to claw back a goal halfway through the first period, and they duly did, meaning netminder Cheyanne Vogel gave away her only goal of the game.

From there the goals came thick

as the Vulcans stormed to a 5-1 lead, with goals from PO Chris Curchin, Flt Lt David Dodds, Cpl Chris Old and AS1 John Spencer.

The second period started with further goals, but with the Vulcans 7-1 up the game got increasingly heated with roughing and checking calls for both sides being doled out.

Nevertheless, the Vulcans

pushed forward with Cpl Hannah Beaumont finding the back of the net and Flt Lt Tom Yeoman slotting home another four, with assists from Curchin, Dodds and Old leading to a 12-1 final score.

Flt Lt Steven Gaskell took player of the match for the Vulcans with a solid performance throughout. l Follow the team on Instagram @rafvulcansihc.

INTERS WOE: U23s had plenty of fight but came off second best to a strong Army outfit

PHOTO: GRAEME MAIN, SOLDIER MAGAZINE

Too big a Challenge

Daniel Abrahams

“WE WERE unlucky, but to be truthful, I think the team that won just deserved it.”

Honesty was the name of the game from RAF men’s rugby league head coach Chf Tech Garry Dunn as he summed up his side’s 2-point Challenge Cup second round defeat to York Acorns.

He added: “What this game does, with the narrow defeat with nowhere near our strongest side, is set us up for the rest of the season.

“To come so close against a Conference Premier League team. If we add a couple of bodies to that side, we are not losing that game.

“There were some great performances on the day from the lads, but we just came up

Acorns prove mighty oaks

down, bringing his side right back into the game at 6-8.

short. The group is definitely stronger from the day though.”

The Service side hosted Acorns at Cranwell and, like their coach, gave an honest display throughout.

After a back and forth opening few minutes, the visitors took the lead with an unconverted try.

The remainder of the half was a tussle, with the visitors again scoring four points, on the stroke of half-time.

The RAF came out firing after the break and AS1 Kieron Prescott chased his own nudge from 10 metres to touch

The wind was taken out of the hosts’ sails though as Acorns nudged ahead 6-12 following a neat kick over the defensive line which was passed to George Hunt, who touched down.

The never say die attitude of Dunn’s men once again paid off as they brought themselves back into the game on 72 minutes.

Cpl Nick Slaney seemingly beat every York player on a barnstorming run down the left flank to make it 10-12.

With the conversion agonisingly missed and a handful of other chances going begging from the hosts, Acorns were through to round three.

NARROW DEFEAT: RAF went very close against YorkPHOTOS: SBS

RUGBY LEAGUE

New romantics

The

works of London's avant-garde Rossettis

AMAJOR exhibition charting the romance and radicalism of the Rossetti generation – moving through and beyond the Pre-Raphaelite years – opens at Tate Britain in London on April 6 and runs until September 24.

Showcasing the revolutionary approach to life, love and art of Dante Gabriel, Christina and Elizabeth (neé Siddal) Rossetti, it will feature 150 paintings and drawings as well as photography, design, poetry and more.

This will be the first retrospective of Dante Gabriel Rossetti at Tate Britain and the largest exhibition of his iconic pictures in two decades. It will also be the first full retrospective of Elizabeth Siddal for 30 years, featuring her rare surviving watercolours and important drawings.

A Tate Britain spokesperson said: “The Rossettis led a progressive counterculture, blending past and present to reinvent art and life for a fast-changing modern world. The children of an Italian revolutionary exile, they grew up in London in a scholarly family and began their artistic careers as teenagers.

“The exhibition will begin with a celebration of their young talent, opening with Dante Gabriel’s Ecce Ancilla Domine (The Annunciation) 1850, the stark and evocative painting for which his sister Christina and brother William Michael posed. This will be shown with an immersive installation of Christina’s poetry, as well as examples of Dante Gabriel’s

Competition

Father Brown (12)

On DVD, Blu-ray and download-to-own from March 13 (Dazzler Media)

Fr Brown's on the side of good

CRIME-FIGHTING priest

Father Brown (Mark Williams) returns in series 10 of the smash-hit TV show to solve more mysteries in the beautiful English countryside.

Based on the character created by GK Chesterton, the year is now 1954 and the sleepy Cotswold village of Kembleford sees new faces join Father Brown’s team of sleuths.

Dashing Chief Inspector Sullivan (Tom Chambers) is back and proves a pleasant distraction for Mrs Devine (Claudie Blakley), Father Brown’s lively new Parish Secretary, while plucky new housekeeper Brenda (Ruby-May Martinwood) helps the priest’s crime solving.

Nancy Carroll returns as the glamorous Lady Felicia Montagu.

With royal visits, kidnappings and notorious gangsters to contend with, Father Brown also faces his old adversary Flambeau (John Light), who returns to Kembleford after being accused of murder.

Father Brown risks his own life to prove his innocence – but is his faith in Flambeau misplaced?

We have copies of Father Brown Series 10 on DVD up for grabs.

To be in with a chance of winning one, simply answer this question correctly:

Who created the character of crime-fighting priest Father Brown?

Email your answer, marked Father Brown DVD competition, to: tracey.allen@rafnews.co.uk

or post it to: RAF News, Room 68, Lancaster Building, HQ Air Command, High Wycombe, HP14 4UE, to arrive by March 24. Don’t forget to add your full postal address to all competition entries.

teenage drawings, reflecting his precocious skill and his enthusiasm for original voices like William Blake and Edgar Allan Poe.

“Works from the Pre-Raphaelite years will demonstrate how the spirit of popular revolution inspired these artists to initiate the first British avant-garde movement, rebelling against the Royal Academy’s dominance over artistic style and content. More personal forms of revolution will be explored through the Rossettis’ refusal to abide by the constraints of Victorian society.”

The spokesperson added:

“Following new research, the surviving watercolours of Elizabeth

Music

Izo FitzRoy

A Good Woman

Siddal will also be shown in a twoway dialogue with contemporary works by Dante Gabriel, exploring modern love in jewel-like medieval settings.

“As a working-class artist who was largely self-taught, Siddal’s work was highly original and inventive, but has often been overshadowed by her mythologisation as a muse and her tragic early death.” Visitors will also be able to find out how the Rossettis’ trailblazing new lifestyles transformed the domestic interior through contemporary furniture, clothing and design.

l Go to: tate.org.uk for more details.

Izo bares her soul

SOUL SINGER-songwriter and pianist

Izo FitzRoy has just released the third single and the title track from her third album  A Good Woman, out on April 28.

A spokeswoman said: “The single sums up the essence of the album. It’s a playful take and questions what society defines as ‘a good woman’.”

Izo explained: “The song addresses the roles that women sometimes feel they need to perform, in order to be seen as ‘good’ or ‘acceptable’.”

She added: “The album is in part autobiographical and takes a wider look at being a woman in a maledominated industry and living in a patriarchal society. I tried to look at the myriad of ways that women (myself included), have given away their autonomy and power to institutions, labels and people.”

IZO: Releasing third single from new album

It features a cover of Joan Armatrading’s classic Love & Affection

Izo will be playing live in the UK in the next few months, including on April 22 at the Jazz Café in London, on May 18 at Manchester’s Blues Kitchen and Old Market in Brighton on June 3. l Go to: izofitzroy.com for more tour details.

SIBLINGS: Ecce Ancilla Domine (The Annunciation) 1850 © Tate

EXHIBITS: Monna Vanna, 1866; Prosperpine, 1874 (top right) and Goblin Market © Tate

BLESSED ARE WE: The series features the glorious English countryside, as well as crime

Theatre

The Merchant of Venice 1936

UK tour

Shylock takes on Mosley

FRIDAY NIGHT Dinner, Toast of London, EastEnders and Doctor

Who star Tracy-Ann Oberman stars as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice 1936 in what’s been hailed as a ground-breaking new production of the Shakespeare classic, which starts a UK tour this autumn.

Co-created by Oberman, who is also an acclaimed playwright, it was developed with support from the Royal Shakespeare Company and relocates the action to a new setting – London in 1936.

With the city on the brink of political unrest, fascism sweeping across Europe and Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists threatening a paramilitary march through the Jewish East End, strong-willed single mother Shylock runs a pawnbroking business from her house in Cable Street, where Mosley will march.

When charismatic, anti-Semitic aristocrat Antonio comes to her for a loan, a high-stakes deal is struck. Will Shylock take her revenge, and who will pay the ultimate price?

Oberman said: “‘It has a been a lifelong dream of mine to bring this play to the stage in a new way, reimagining Shylock as one of the tough, no-nonsense Jewish matriarchs I grew up around.

“I am delighted this project is finally happening, and look forward to sparking debate and enlightening people about a pivotal but largely forgotten part of British history – just how close the establishment were to Oswald

Mosley and his British Union Of Fascists.

“I started my career in the Swan RSC back in 1992 and so to play there again as Shylock is a ‘pinch me’ moment. I cannot wait to take this important, sharp, sexy and heartfelt production to theatres around the country.”

Before the tour, the production opened at Watford Palace Theatre

Competition

Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin ospreypublishing.com

at the end of February, and transfers to HOME in Manchester, where it runs from March 15-25.

The tour starts at the RSC Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon on September 21 and goes to High Wycombe, Malvern, Bromley, Cardiff and York. Further dates will be announced.

l Go to: merchantofvenice1936. co.uk for ticket details.

The heroes of WWII Flying Coffins

THEY WERE the forgotten heroes of World War II and now New York Times bestselling author Scott McGaugh has written their story.

Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin (ospreypublishing.com) is the first major history of the American glider pilots of WWII –a story of no guns, no engines and no second chances.

They were all volunteers, for a specialised duty that one senior officer projected could have a 75 per cent casualty rate. None faltered. In every major European invasion of the war they led the way.

They landed their gliders ahead of the troops who stormed Omaha Beach, and sometimes miles ahead of the invasion force bound for the far side of the Rhine River in Germany itself. From there, they had to hold their positions. They delivered medical

teams, supplies and gasoline to troops surrounded in the Battle of the Bulge, alongside leader of the United States’ Third Army Col

Donald G. Patton’s more famous supply truck convoy.

These all-volunteer glider pilots played a pivotal role in liberating the West from tyranny, yet the story of these anonymous heroes is virtually unknown.

Based on their after-action reports, oral histories and letters home, Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin reveals every terrifying minute of their missions.

We have copies of the book to win. For your chance to own one, tell us:

Who was the leader of the US Third Army at the Battle of the Bulge?

Email your answer, marked Forgotten Heroes book, to: tracey. allen@rafnews.co.uk or post it to: RAF News, Room 68, Lancaster Building, HQ Air Command, High Wycombe, HP14 4UE, to arrive by March 24. Please include your full postal address.

CORONATION STREET

star Faye Brookes has joined the cast of Strictly Ballroom: The Musical, now on a nationwide tour.

Musicals Faye's

She’s taken over from Maisie Smith, starring opposite Strictly Come Dancing legend Kevin Clifton in the show based on Baz Luhrmann’s award-winning film Strictly Ballroom

Directed and co-choreographed by SCD judge Craig Revel Horwood, the musical follows arrogant, rebellious young ballroom dancer Scott Hastings (Clifton). When his radical and daring dance style sees him fall out of favour with the Australian Federation, he must dance with beginner Fran (Brookes). Together they find the courage to defy tradition and discover that to win, your steps don’t need to be strictly ballroom.

The show features the hit songs Love is in the Air, Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps and Time After Time with new music by internationallyacclaimed artists including Sia, David Foster and Eddie Perfect.

When Kevin was 10 he watched the Strictly Ballroom film and, as a budding competitive dancer, immediately saw himself in the character of Scott, recalling: “He was a hero to me and such an inspiration.”

Young Kevin was being taught ballroom and Latin by his parents Keith and Judy. He told the four times British Latin American Champions: “I guarantee you that one day they’re going to make a musical out of this and I’m going to play Scott Hastings in it.”

Three decades later his dream has come true, headlining the UK & Ireland tour that is foxtrotting its way around the country before culminating in Bristol in July.

“I’m absolutely elated,” Faye said of playing fledgling hoofer Fran. “I love that she’s the underdog, which is something I’ve never played before. That’s the big challenge but bring it on.”

Best-known for the role of confident Kate Connor on Coronation Street, the Dancing on Ice finalist is no stranger to musical theatre, having been in the likes of Legally Blonde, Shrek and Chicago

“But Fran is unlike any of the characters I played in those shows. They were all self-assured women who are leading the pack, whereas Fran goes on such a journey and you really get to see her blossom. She turns into this absolute queen – owning her personality and who she is – and the audience roots for her all the way,” she said.

Thirty years since he first saw the movie, Kevin remembers relating to Scott’s desire to dance his own way rather than following the rulebook. “I’m not sure whether it was something in me or whether it was totally inspired by the movie but I always felt the same way,” he said.

He was on Strictly for seven years from 2013 and won in 2018 with celebrity partner Stacey Dooley. He added: “Even on the show I would always chase an audience reaction instead of a 10 from the judges.”

Strictly Ballroom began as a short stage play

CO-CREATOR: Tracy-Ann Oberman stars as Shylock

DIRECTOR: Revel Horwood

right up Faye's Street

Delia Balmer

New crime drama

'Morse' turns serial killer for new role

ITV HAS announced it has commissioned a new four-part crime drama, starring Shaun Evans (Endeavour, Vigil) and Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland, A Spy Among Friends) with the working title Delia Balmer

It tells the extraordinary true story of Balmer, who survived a near-fatal relationship with murderer John Sweeney. Based on Balmer’s book, Living with a Serial Killer, the drama is written by Nick Stevens (The Pembrokeshire Murders), and executive produced by multi-award-winning World Productions CEO Simon Heath (Line of Duty). It narrates the ordeal Delia suffered at the hands of Sweeney, and her traumatic journey through the police and criminal justice system as they attempt to prosecute him for his crimes.

Luhrmann and his classmates devised in 1984 when he was studying at Sydney’s National Institute of the Dramatic Arts. It was expanded into a longer version that caught the eye of Australian music executive Ted Albert, who offered to turn it into a film. Insisting that he helm it himself, Luhrmann, already an established theatre director, made his screen directorial debut critical acclaim and box office success. The movie became one of the most successful Australian films of Its central message of ‘A life lived in fear is a life halflived’ chimes with Clifton.

“I left my comfort zone of Strictly Come Dancing to do more theatre,” he said.

Since leaving Strictly he’s been in Singin’ in the Rain and Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds as well as endurance contest The Games on ITV.

“Training as an Olympian is something I never would have done a few years ago. Now I’m all about getting out of that comfort zone and doing new things. That’s the message of Strictly Ballroom –doing what you love and going after the life you want to live,” he added.

Growing up in Trafford, Faye was introduced to the Strictly Ballroom film by her elder sisters. “They were eight and 10 years older than me and I remember them dancing around, with one pretending to be Scott and the other pretending to be Fran,” she laughed.

She made her Coronation Street debut in 2015 for a four-year stint as Kate Connor.

She revealed that she missed the stage during her time on the soap.

“I want to do it all in my career but being on TV I missed the live aspect of performing and that instant gratification you get from an audience. Corrie was like this runaway train, where you had to jump on or you’d miss it, but I loved my time on the show.”

She returned to musicals in 2022 as Roxie Hart in the UK tour of Chicago and admitted: “I won’t lie; playing Roxie was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever taken on because Chicago is steeped in history and I didn’t want to just do a carbon copy of previous performances. I felt like I overcame a lot of hurdles doing the tour.

“Theatre has always been my bread and butter and I loved going back to my roots. I come alive when I’m on stage and I never take it for granted.”

l Go to: strictlyballroom.tour. co.uk for full tour details.

Evans said: “We have an excellent script from Nick Stevens and I couldn’t be more delighted to work with Anna.”

Maxwell Martin added: “Telling an important story with the excellent team from World Productions, producer Ken Horn, director Julia Ford and a brilliant cast is an exciting proposition. As it is brought to life by Nick Stevens, hopefully we will do Delia due diligence.”

NEIGHBOURS: Latimer Close residents meet up for tea and biscuits

In 1991 Delia leads an itinerant and solitary life in London working as an agency nurse and meets fellow free spirit John Sweeney in a local pub.

As the relationship develops, Sweeney’s artistic, antiestablishment persona gives way to a darker side, culminating in a series of violent attacks on Delia, during which he tells her he killed his former girlfriend and disposed of her body in an Amsterdam canal.

He is arrested but, due to a catastrophic failure by the court to realise how dangerous he is,

he’s granted bail. He immediately pursues Delia and subjects her to a horrific, near-fatal attack. She survives, but Sweeney evades capture and disappears. Shattered by the trauma and injuries inflicted by Sweeney, Delia bravely seeks to rebuild her life. But Sweeney returns seven years later and is arrested for the murder of another girlfriend in North London. Delia’s fragile recovery is shattered all over again as she has to face Sweeney in open court, her testimony vital to the prosecution case against him.

Two becomes One

THE

commissioned for a new six-part series. And, whilst the action continues to centre around the residents of Latimer Crescent, the show will have a new home as it transfers from BBC Two to BBC One. Production gets underway this summer with the series transmitting later this year, the channel announced.

The much-loved sitcom about neighbours living in a Glasgow suburb has steadily built a fanbase that has consistently grown with each series, added a BBC spokesperson.

Co-creators Gregor Sharp and Simon Carlyle said: “We’re excited to be spreading our wings and lowering the tone as we introduce BBC One audiences to life in Latimer Crescent.”

LEAD ROLE: Kevin Clifton with Agnes Pure in Strictly Ballroom

BOARDS: Faye Brookes is no musical theatre novice

EVANS: Plays serial killer John Sweeney MAXWELL MARTIN: Is Delia Balmer

MULTI-award-winning sitcom Two Doors Down has been

Deaths

Your Announcements

You can email photos for announcements on this page to: tracey.allen@rafnews.co.uk

MURRAY William

Chf Tech. We are sad to announce the death of Chf Tech William (Bill) Murray, retired 1985 at RAF St Mawgan having served 33 years as armourer/bomb disposal. Died February 27 at Norfolk Hospital. He is greatly missed by his family.

would remember him from 1965 Singapore, Brampton, Gutersloh, Coltishall, Swanton Morley and West Raynham. He served as a photographer.

In Singapore he was one of two Motor Sports Club photographers. On his return to the UK he was stationed at JARIC, Brampton and started entering motor car rallies. He was also the founder member of the Gütersloh Motor Sport Club.

Malcolm Flack, on: 01494 728562 or email: memsecchangi@outlook. com or please visit the website: www.rafchangi.com for more details.

welcome you to the RAFAA Association. See website: rafadappassn.org; or contact Membership Secretary on: 07866 085834 or the Chairman on: 01933 443673.

WHYTE, Bill. Ex Halton

Apprentice, armourer, 1950s. Funeral: Stafford Crematorium, 15.45 Friday March 10.

Seeking

SEEKING Leonard Stockall who was an old school friend of mine and joined the RAF in the 1960s and may have been a Warrant Officer at some time, possibly in Norfolk, though, like me, would have retired years ago. He would be in his late 70s by now. He came from Woolhope Road in Worcester, and had a sister called Marilyn. Please contact Keri Moreman via email: jokerclover4@gmail. com if you can help.

READER Michael (Mike) Evans, who served from 1962-1974 as an SAC and later a Cpl, is writing his memories of his 14 years’ RAF service and is appealing for former colleagues to contact him. He is seeking anyone who

How to use our service

In 1972 Mike was a member of the RAFMSA Service crew for the Rothmans Cyprus Rally and in 1973 a member (co-driver) of the RAFMSA 3 car entry to the Cyprus Rally. He was the Champion RAFMSA Navigator and Clerk of the Course for three RAFMSA-sponsored night rallies. He competed in the Mobile Economy Rally 1971, the Welsh Rally 1974 and the RAC Rally of GB 1975, all sponsored by the RAFMSA. Please contact Mike on: evansmr1@hotmail.com if you can help.

LOOKING for any members of the 47th entry TG19 Hereford 62-64. Any still about? Please contact Jim Cummins via email on: Carol_cummins@aol.com or call: 01302 532865, 07517 416702.

Reunions

RAF CHANGI – did you serve there between 1946 -72? The RAF Changi Association (inc. HQFEAF) would like to hear from you and a warm welcome awaits you. Membership is open to all ranks, ex RAF/WRAF/ WAAF also including civilian personnel who served there. Why not join us for our 25th Annual Reunion and AGM which has been booked for the weekend of May 12-14 at the Delta by Marriott Hotel, Warwick, CV34 6RE?

Please contact our Membership Secretary,

THE 60th anniversary reunion of the 49th Entry 2 Sqn Clerks Boy Entrants at RAF Hereford is to be held from May 15-17 at Thoresby Hall, Ollerton, Nottinghamshire. If you are interested in attending the reunion please contact Dave Beaumont on: 07538651712 or you can email: beaumont.d@sky.com or please contact Bob Cuss via email at: rbc324@john-lewis. com for more information.

RAF Bawdsey Reunion Association. Did you ever serve at RAF Bawdsey? If so, why not join us at our next annual reunion which will take place at Bawdsey Manor on June 3. For details please contact Doreen at: doreen. bawdseyreunion@btinternet. com or phone: 07513 301723.

223 Entry, 50 years since graduation reunion. To be held at Mount Pleasant Hotel, Great North Road, Doncaster, DN11 0HW June 15-17. All details can be found on our entry website at: http://223halton.hosting. idnet.net/reunion_2023.htm.

Associations

RAF Armourers past and present. Do you know that the Royal Air Forces Association has an Armourers Branch? The aim of the Branch is to provide welfare support and comradeship for all who have served or currently serve as an RAF Armourer. See website: www.rafaarmourers.co.uk or contact the committee via: plumbersrest@outlook.com for more information.

IF you trained as an RAF Administrative Apprentice (or are related to one) we would be delighted to

There is no charge for conventionally-worded birth, engagement, marriage, anniversary, death,in memoriam seeking and reunion notices. For commercial small ads contact Edwin Rodrigues on: 07482 571535. We cannot, under any circumstances, take announcements over the telephone. They can be sent by email to: tracey.allen@rafnews.co.uk. Please note that due to the coronavirus pandemic we are currently unable to accept notices submitted by post.

Important Notice

The publishers of RAF News cannot accept responsibility for the quality, safe delivery or operation of any products advertised or mentioned in this publication.

Reasonable precautions are taken before advertisements are accepted but such acceptance does not imply any form of approval or recommendation. Advertisements (or other inserted material) are accepted subject to the approval of the publishers and their current terms and conditions. The publishers will accept an advertisement or other inserted material only on the condition that the advertiser warrants that such advertisement does not in any way contravene the provisions of the Trade Descriptions Act. All copy is subject to the approval of the publishers, who reserve the right to refuse, amend, withdraw or otherwise deal with advertisements submitted to them at their absolute discretion and without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the British Code of Advertising Practice. Mail order advertisers are required to state in advertisements their true surname or full company name, together with an address from which the business is managed.

For sale

MESS Kit with waistcoat and cummerbund, Wg Cdr pilot (£90); No1, Sqn Ldr pilot (£55), SD hat, size 7 (£20), 36” chest, 30” waist. All in immaculate condition, Derby. Call: 07794 731061.

SGT'S Mess Dress Kit for sale, size 36 regular. Suit and tie and cummerbund, £100. Please call Thornton Cleveleys: 01253 854909 or: 07544 338869.

Charity concert

Dale plans Ireland odyssey for charity

RAF VETERAN Dale

Curson is taking on a major challenge in May to raise funds for life-changing mental health treatment for vets.

issues like trauma, anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Today, they provide support to veterans from every service and every conflict.

THE RAFA Cranwell Branch Bomber County charity concert featuring the Miller Magic Big Band takes place at Sleaford Masonic Rooms on Sunday, May 7 starting at 7pm. The concert has a 1940s-themed evening. The Miller Magic Big Band is a 17-piece swing orchestra formed in 2015 under the auspices of the Sleaford Concert Band. Rod Whiting, who hosts the Sunday morning breakfast show on national Boom Radio, will be Master of Ceremonies. He served 14 years in the RAF, and was at BBC Radio Lincolnshire for 25 years. There will be a licensed bar and a raffle with prizes donated by local shops and businesses. Concert tickets cost £10 each and will be available from Hockmeyer Motors, Holdingham, Sleaford, Moore & Scrupps, Sleaford, and Sleaford Jewellers.

He is gearing up to make a solo 1,800-mile motorcycle ride around the Republic of Ireland in 12 days, visiting sites of religious significance, and hopes to reach his fundraising goal of £5,000.

He said: “As a former member of the Armed Forces, I have encountered many people who have experienced difficulties because of their service.

“Combat Stress provides vital support to our veterans. For over a century, they’ve helped former Servicemen and women deal with

“I’m taking vital steps towards ensuring veterans can get the support they need,” the mental health first aider added.

Dale said he would add updates to his event webpage with blogs and photographs to keep followers up to date with the progress of his journey, which finishes on June 4.

Go to: events.combatstress. org.uk/fundraisers/ dalecurson/1-800-milemotorcycle-pilgrimage for more details and to sponsor him.

Save with the Service

DEFENCE DISCOUNT SERVICE has partnered with big-name brands to offer the UK’s Armed Forces, defence community, veterans and spouses a range of savings on household and utility purchases.

It’s joined forces with the likes of BT, BOXT, Sky and O2 to provide exclusive offers on everyday necessities, from boilers and broadband deals to home insurance and MOTs, to thank the defence community for their continued dedication and to help with the current economic situation.

A Defence Discount Card can also be bought for £4.99 for access to discounts in high street stores, restaurants and leisure venues and is valid for five years. Go to: defencediscountservice.co.uk to register or find out more.

Squadron marks landmark anniversary

2620 SQUADRON (County of Norfolk) RAF Regiment marks 40 years since its formation and 20 years since its deployment on Op Telic.

The squadron intends to hold an event at RAF Marham in the form of a family day and evening function, and a visit to the RAF Regiment Heritage Centre is

also planned. The event will be held at 2620 Sqn on March 31, 2023. If you wish to attend, please email the ProjO: philip. lister513@mod.gov.uk

This is unique for 2620 Sqn and for all other personnel who have served with or alongside the Squadron in the UK and on operations all over the world.

Chf Tech William Murray

Your Announcements

You can email photos for announcements on this page to: tracey.allen@rafnews.co.uk

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STUDENTS WITH a passion for STEM are being offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stay on base at RAF Cosford and immerse themselves in aerospace engineering and technology.

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The RAF Museum Midlands, in partnership with Northrop Grumman in the UK, is giving Year 9 students the chance to win a place on the fully-funded, awardwinning five-day Summer Time Advanced Aerospace Residency (STAAR) programme in July.

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THE BRITISH Motor Museum has opened a new exhibition collaboration with Triumph Motorcycles – History in the Making – that runs until the end of April.

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Jeff Coope, the museum’s managing director, said: “Triumph is an iconic British brand and this is a great opportunity to share the story of its continued evolution and the important role that British motor manufacturing still plays today.”

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The students must work together in teams of five to tackle four STEM challenges exploring aerospace concepts. Each challenge is aligned with the national curriculum and is to be completed by students together in the classroom, culminating in a final presentation.

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Teachers can register a team of students, who they feel have the ambition, aptitude and interest in STEM subjects, to take on the STAAR Challenge. The challenges must be

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“The schools who most successfully complete each task will win their place on the five-day STAAR residential camp at RAF Cosford in Shropshire, where they will develop their skills further,” said a museum spokeswoman. The residency will run over two weeks between July 1721 and July 24-28 for up to 20

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Go to: rafmuseum.org/ STAAR for further details.

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Prize Crossword No. 334

Solve the crossword, then rearrange the six letters in yellow squares to find an RAF station

1. After Los Angeles, mum met monk (4)

8. Spa Cromwell takes biscuit? (4,6)

9. Bases George or Andrew at Sion, maybe (8)

10. Dim Football Association of France (4)

12. Well said, almost moved (6)

14. Romantic doctor first enters army outright (6)

15. Honour communist embracing conflict (6)

17. A road our passion follows (6)

18. 100 join first half of 15 fliers (4)

19. Modus operandi’s to give up nothing for aircraft (8)

21. Duke’s type of bomber? (10)

22. Inferior so-and-so (2-2)

Down

2. He has lots to get rid of (10)

3. To help sailor is alien (4)

4. Musketeer almost gives me present (2,4)

5. Took oath without Royal Marines at the ready (6)

6. I lied about RAF landing-strip (8)

7. Oddly, force-fed without cost (4)

11.Beats drums irresponsibly during RAF raid (10)

13. Is one of 9 hundred sprinted impressively (8)

16. Outrageously damned command (6)

17. Gifts donkeys eating turnips initially (6)

18. Hood sounds like BGT presenter (4)

20. Vases Scottish poet loses head over (4)

Name

Address...............................................................................................................

RAF station:....................................................................

Music

Travis

The Invisible Band (Live)

The winners of our Prize Crossword and Prize Su Doku puzzles will receive a recent top aviation title – please send your entries to the address printed in the adjacent Su Doku panel, to arrive by March 24. Prize Crossword No. 332 winner is: Robert Manley, Exeter.

Prize Su Doku No. 344

Fill in all the squares in the grid so that each row, each column and each 3x3 square contains all the digits from 1 to 9.

Solutions should be sent in a sealed envelope marked 'Su Doku' with the number in the top left-hand corner to RAF News, Room 68, Lancaster Building, HQ Air Command, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP14 4UE, to arrive by March 24.

The winner of Su Doku No: 342 is: Tony Smith, Biggleswade.

Crossword No. 334

Solution to Crossword No 333:

Tompkinson & Lancel the wright stuff

SCOTTISH

Travis recorded the live album at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall

Travis classic album goes live

FOLLOWING THE 20th anniversary reissue of their critically-acclaimed album The Invisible Band, multi-platinum selling Scottish rockers Travis return with the release of a special one-off live album The Invisible Band (Live)

The album will be released on vinyl on April 22 as part of Record Store Day 2023 and across streaming services on April 21, via Craft Recordings.

Recorded live at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on May 22, 2022, the live album sees the band play the seminal work front to back for the first time ever.

“Playing The Invisible Band live was a lot of fun. There are so many memories folded into these songs for us and for everyone who came to the shows,” frontman Fran Healy said.

“The track listing on this album worked really great live so we decided to record and film the final show in Glasgow. There is always a chance I’ll get a sore throat when I know there is a taping coming up, but thankfully it all went without a hitch. I think it was the best we played the album that night.”

l Go to: travisonline.com for more information.

THE STAGE premiere of Shomit Dutta’s Stumped starring Stephen Tompkinson as Samuel Beckett and Andrew Lancel as Harold Pinter, opens at the Theatre Royal, Bath on May 23, running until May 27.

It then tours to the Cambridge Arts Theatre from June 5-10 and Hampstead Theatre, London from June 16 to July 22.

Both Tompkinson (Brassed Off, Drop The Dead Donkey, DCI Banks, Wild at Heart) and Lancel (Coronation Street, The Bill) appeared in a shorter digital version of the play which Original Theatre streamed online last year. Before Beckett became the playwright universally known for Waiting for Godot, he was a cricketer. He is still the only Nobel prize-winner to feature in the pages of Wisden as a first-class player. His friend and fellow Nobel prizewinner Pinter, whose best-known works include The Birthday Party and Betrayal, described cricket as

Solution to Su Doku No: 343

‘the greatest thing that God created on earth’. Stumped explores what the friendship between these two playwrights may have looked like.

Original Theatre’s artistic

director Alastair Whatley said: “I’m delighted that Stumped will make the transition from a digital to live performance with a short tour and then a run at London’s Hampstead Theatre.

“Hampstead is just a short hop from Lord’s cricket ground, where the show began its life last year. This once again highlights the potential for digital work to seed and feed live performance. After the success of our digital production, I cannot wait to finally see the show in front of live audiences.”

l Go to: originaltheatre.com/ourproductions for more details.

ROCKERS:

ANDREW LANCEL: Plays Pinter

'BECKETT': Stephen Tompkinson