RAF News Edition 1554, 24th Feb 2023

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Allies agree extra £200m aid package for Ukraine

UKRAINE WILL receive capabilities worth an estimated £200 million including tank spares, uncrewed air systems, electronic warfare and air defence, from the first package of multimillion pound funding from the International Fund for Ukraine

The first equipment package was agreed by the UK, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

The first package will include vital capabilities in the form of artillery ammunition, maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and spare parts for equipment, including Ukraine’s current tanks.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “This equipment package will provide a significant capability boost for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and will support their ability to defend their country.”

The announcement comes after President Zelenksy made a historic visit to the UK to meet Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and see firsthand how the UK was supporting Ukraine through military training and lethal aid donations.

“I hope I can inspire anyone with a complex injury who is going through a tough time at the moment”

“I couldn’t have hoped to

WWI film 7 BAFTAs

THE WORLD War I German war film All Quiet On The Western Front has scooped seven awards at the BAFTAs.

Adapted from the 1929 novel by Erich Maria Remarque, the Netflix movie won the best picture title and best director for Edward Berger.

The German-language epic also won best adapted screenplay, best cinematography, original score and best sound and broke the BAFTA record for garnering the most awards for a film not in English.

Medics mercy mission

Hundreds being treated

l From front page

The death toll is expected to climb, with an estimated 345,000 apartments destroyed and many people still missing.

The Nato team includes 12 personnel, four Land Rovers with trailers and pallets of equipment deployed ahead of a larger consignment of thousands of tents to shelter those affected.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “We are committed to helping our close partner Turkey following the devastating earthquakes and have deployed flights, medics and aid to support the recovery efforts.

“We will continue to explore options for further support.”

An RAF critical care air support

team and a Hercules has deployed to Turkey to transport patients from areas most impacted by the earthquake, and a UK Medical Treatment Facility has been set up in Turkoglu to treat hundreds of people.

The Royal Air Force has so far flown in more than 96 tonnes of aid including thousands of thermal blankets and medical supplies, with the latest loads collected at Bari, Italy and delivered to Turkey’s Incirlik air base.

The UK has also sent 77 search and rescue experts with specialist equipment, as well as four rescue dogs.

More UK flights are on standby should they be required by Nato.

True brew heroes are honoured

FORCES CHARITY SSAFA is toasting the 80th anniversary of the legendary Dambusters raid – with a commemorative mug.

It stars newcomer Felix Kammerer as naïve, patriotic teenager Paul who joins up with his schoolfriends to fight in a bloody and chaotic war.

The film is in the running for nine Oscars, to be announced on March 12.

The limited edition tribute features the names of all 133 members of the squadron, highlighting the 53 airmen who died during the mission to strike at the heart of the Nazi war machine in the Ruhr Valley.

A spokesman said: “With the 80th anniversary of the raid approaching, the 133 aircrew of that original 617 Sqn, men of the Royal Canadian

Air Force, The Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, as well as the RAF, have been reunited.

“Whether a collector’s piece to be cherished or

an everyday mug for a favourite brew, it will make an important addition to any display cabinet or breakfast table, but it is sure to sell fast.”

l Go to ssafastore.org.uk/thedambusters-raid-mug.

SUPPLIES: RAF C-17 transports aid and troops to Turkey as part of Nato mission

VITAL WORK: Medics carry out surgical procedure at the Turkoglu facility

PHOTOS: SGT ROBERT WEIDEMAN, RLC

GONGS: All Quiet On The Western Front

RELIEF: A400M is loaded up at Brize

Puma lift for Akrotiri SAR

South paw

Laura McGarvey

Simon Mander

PUMA HELICOPTERS have arrived in Cyprus to mark a new era in search and rescue operations on the Mediterranean island.

Three RAF Benson-based aircraft are now at Akrotiri to take over from the 84 Sqn Griffins that last year marked the unique feat of 50 years of non-stop flying operations.

Since 1972, 84 Sqn has fought massive wildfires, rescued downed aircrew and even delivered babies on board its Whirlwind, Wessex then Griffin helicopters.

But now it’s the turn of the bigger, faster 33 Sqn HC2 Pumas, which flew 3,500km from Oxfordshire to take up the challenge.

OC Wg Cdr Sam Fletcher said: “Over the course of the next six months 84 Sqn are

going to train us, teach us the way, teach us the island and help us to get to where we need to be. But we have trained at Benson and are ready for the challenge.”

84 Sqn prides itself on being the only current RAF squadron to have been based overseas for its entire Service history, having left the UK for the Western Front flying fighters in September 1917.

Since being equipped with Griffins in 2003, it has saved countless lives by providing a full daytime rescue cover 365 days a year, and, equipped with night vision goggles, a nighttime overland winching capability the Cypriot emergency services do not possess.

33 Sqn became the RAF’s first Puma unit in 1970 and took delivery of the HC2 in 2014 and has flown them around the world.

Runway revamp underway

WORK HAS begun on a nearly £7m project to extend the lifespan of the runway at the Mount Pleasant Complex airfield in the Falkland Islands.

The project includes repainting runway markings in reflective paint, replacing airfield signage and adding lights, and coating the runway asphalt with a layer of bitumen. This protective layer will extend the life of the runway until it can be fully relaid in the coming years.

Work by Gatwick Construction teams will be carried out at night to avoid disruption to flights to and from the South Atlantic airstrip used by Typhoons, Voyager and Atlas A400M transporters.

Defence project manager Robert Handford said: “Infrastructure projects in the Falkland Islands are complicated by the need to transport the necessary equipment by air or container ship, adding complexity to the preparations.”

Capable of carrying 16 passengers or two tonnes of freight it can be fitted with up to six stretchers for casualty evacuation operations or medical emergencies.

RAF MILITARY working dogs stationed with British Forces in the South Atlantic are set for a showdown at this year’s Falklands dog trials.

A team of 13 hounds and eight handlers will go head to head to decide who’s top dog during the contest, held at the Mount Pleasant Complex.

Dogs will take on exercises including arena work, bite work, night-time scenarios and windscenting exercises, showcasing their skills to the rest of the section.

RAF handler Cpl Bonser said: “We spend months training the dogs to complete the trials and enjoy showing off their efforts to the rest of the team.”

Falklands flexes UK firepower

Laura McGarvey

Mount Pleasant

MILITARY CREWS in the South Atlantic got up close and personnel with the islands’ stateof-the-art defences during an Air Power Day.

The tour included a visit to Poon Hill to see the Sky Sabre battery –Britain’s latest air defence system, which can detect a tennis ball travelling at the speed of sound.

Guests checked out 1435 Flt Typhoons guarding UK air space on 24-hour Quick Reaction Alert duties.

Other highlights included an Atlas A400M tour, although after being kitted out a planned flight was prevented by high winds.

There was also a Met office visit for a briefing on the South Atlantic’s ever-changing weather and a Fire Section demo of the engines’ blues and twos and fire hoses.

TOP DOGS: RAF handler in action at the Mount Pleasant base in the Falklands Islands

REPLACEMENT: 84 Sqn Griffin on firefighting duty

BENSON BOOST: Puma II helicopters arrived at RAF Akrotiri this month

PHOTO: AS1 IRELAND

RAMP IT UP: Military personnel check out the Atlas A400M

Off to a flier

FUTURE PILOTS got to grips with the controls of the RAF’s latest combat jet at Waddington.

Girls from Redwood Primary Academy visited the Lincolnshire station’s Air Battlespace Training Centre to try out an F-35 simulator.

Lightning landmark

A PAIR of F-35 Lightning stealth fighters performed a flypast over BAE’s Samlesbury site in Lancashire to mark the delivery of the 1000th rear fuselage for Lockheed Martin’s global F-35 programme.

To date more than 3,000

F-35s have been ordered by 17 customers and work on the programme will continue at Samlesbury for many years to come.

The RAF Lightning aircraft from 207 Sqn from RAF Marham included the flypast in a routine training sortie.

They were hosted by 41 Sqn Typhoon pilot Flt Lt Helen Seymour, who said: “I really enjoy helping to engender a ‘can-do’ attitude in girls from an early age. I want them to know that they are not limited by anything other than their own confidence.”

The event marked UN International Women and Girls in Science Day and challenged the visitors to build and fly their own model aircraft.

Headteacher Fiona Kent said: “Today gives the girls real-life role models that they can aspire to become.”

World at his feet Super-vet nets marathon world record hat-trick

Tracey Allen

INJURED RAF Regt veteran Luke Wigman has powered his way into the record books as the first runner to complete the World Marathon Challenge for the third time.

The former SAC, who battled back to fitness after his leg was shattered in an IED strike in Afghanistan, recently completed seven marathons in seven continents in seven days, finishing in second place and claiming a world first.

He made his World Marathon Challenge debut in 2017, setting a British record. Just after finishing the 2023 event he said: “It’s absolutely surreal, it’s hard to put into words quite what this means to me.

“It’s something I wanted to do for so many years so I couldn’t believe it when I got the opportunity to run my first event back in 2017.

“I remember reading about Ranulph Fiennes doing the Challenge when I was much younger and I was in complete awe, really inspired by him, so to be given the chance to do this myself three times is quite overwhelming really.”

Billed as the world’s toughest endurance running contest, the World Marathon Challenge also includes five ultra-marathons covering a

distance of 31 miles, braving searing desert heat in Africa and Australia and freezing conditions in Antarctica.

And Luke, 36, completed this year’s Challenge against the odds.

He said: “In South Africa the authorities wouldn’t sign the permit for our chartered aircraft to land so we lost 30 hours in Cape Town. That was a big blow – we ended up doing five marathons in three days and 20 hours without much time to sleep. It all added to the madness of the event.”

The RAF man was struck by an IED in 2011 while mentoring Afghan soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan.

The blast damaged the soft tissues around the lower part of his left leg and he needed 12 months of intensive hospital treatment

and clinical rehabilitation to help him regain the strength needed to walk and, ultimately, run.

His recovery suffered a setback in 2018 when skin grafts became so infected he was put on intravenous antibiotics for three weeks.

He added: “If someone who is going through a difficult time following a complex injury can follow my story or see what I’ve done, it gives them a bit of self-belief about what it is that’s possible out there and what their potential is.”

The talented endurance runner is also an Invictus Gold medallist and picked up a Millie award after inspiring judges with his determination on the track and with his fundraising efforts.

Luke became a RAF Benevolent Fund ambassador and has helped raise more than £1 million for the Defence Rehabilitation Centre, where he was treated after leaving the Royal Air Force.

Now a war pensions and compensation advisor for the Royal British Legion, he’s based in County Durham with his wife Nikki and their young son Wilf.

Luke is seriously thinking about taking on the World Marathon Challenge for a fourth time.

He said: “I would certainly consider it. Every time after the last one I say ‘never again’. After a week or two the pain passes but the memory of that special feeling of achievement is always there.”

TRAINING LIFT: RAF Air Cadets

Commandant Air Cdre Tony Keeling

Cadets net Aero offer

AIR FORCE Cadets hoping to take to the skies are to receive free membership to the Royal Aeronautical Society to give their career hopes a lift.

The agreement announced this month means youngsters on training scholarships will get access to careers advice from experts with the UK’s leading aviation body.

Under the agreement the two organisations will run aviation programmes at major public events such as the Royal International Air Tattoo and will strengthen support to the Combined Cadet Force and Volunteer Gliding Squadrons.

RAF Cadets Commandant Air Cdre Tony Keeling said: “This agreement will see many hundreds of senior Air Cadets each year being invited to be members of the Society, growing the body of young members and contributing to a range of the Society’s esteemed committees.

“I am hugely grateful to the Royal Aeronautical Society president, trustees and chief executive officer for their enthusiasm in embracing this opportunity for mutually beneficial collaboration.”

WWII Mosquito restoration takes off

Simon Mander

HOPES ARE high for a return to the skies by a legendary World War II fighter bomber not seen in Britain for more than 20 years.

Aviation heritage specialists say a De Havilland Mosquito FB.VI currently being restored in New Zealand will arrive in 2025 and the public will get the chance to fly in it.

Spitfire Restoration Company Ltd managing director Peter Monk said: “Upon completion the Mosquito will join our fleet of two-seat Spitfires and other WWII aircraft that are available for flight experiences here at Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar.

“The restoration is scheduled

to take three years and once completed the aircraft will complete a commemorative tour of New Zealand, Australia and then on to the UK.”

Dubbed the ‘Wooden Wonder,’ the veteran was powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin 73 in-line engines with a range of more than 1,370 miles and became one of the RAF’s most successful aircraft.

The last Mosquito to fly over the UK was operated by Rolls-Royce and crashed at an air show near Manchester Airport on July 21, 1996, killing its two occupants.

Since then, the only airworthy Mosquito flying was in New Zealand, where a team at AVSPECS are working on the Britain-bound

bomber – their fifth

Syn-ply the best CAS unveils new Gladiator facility at Waddington

YOUTH CHARITY the Jon Egging Trust has secured a funding boost from aerospace technology giants Northrop Grumman.

The funding will allow JET to support over 200 young people across the UK through its three-year Blue Skies programme which helps to build leadership skills, resilience and aspiration in disadvantaged and under-confident students.

Staff Reporter RAF Waddington

THE CHIEF of the Air Staff unveiled the RAF’s latest upgrade to synthetic training allowing military chiefs to network realtime combat drills with land and maritime forces worldwide.

The new Gladiator facility at Waddington will link training simulators to a central hub, allowing large-scale war fighting training without real world air space and environmental restrictions, a spokesman said.

The system, believed to be the largest of its kind in Europe, is currently configured for frontline Typhoon and F-35 Lightning

fighters, the Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft and the Joint Fires system and will be expanded to include other platforms as it develops.

Speaking at the opening of the facility, Chief of the Air Staff ACM Sir Mike Wigston said: “Gladiator will enable our forces to trial, test and practise their tactics in a secure environment, linked across all operational domains.

“It is an invaluable training tool for the next generation of warfighters across air, space, land, cyber and sea.”

Based at Waddington’s Air Battlespace Training Centre, Gladiator continues a shift towards synthetic training to reduce training costs and meet the

challenges of multi-dimensional warfare, cyber weapons and spacebased technology.

However RAF chiefs say there are no plans to replace live flying

training, such as the recent Red Flag exercise in Nevada.

Air Cdre Ian Townsend, Assistant Chief of Staff Combat Air, added: “Delivering this worldleading, technologically-advanced and innovative multi-domain integration capability has required significant development and collaboration between the MOD and industry partners.

“Gladiator will support sustainability initiatives by helping to reduce the environmental footprint of collective training. It will allow for more complex training to occur in a structured setting and reduce the cost of carrying out reallife training while helping to reduce carbon emissions.”

airframe restoration. Mosquito production during the war and after reached 7,781 aircraft and it

was widely used by the RAF’s Pathfinder Force to mark targets for night-time strategic bomber raids.

SIM-CITY: ACM Sir Mike Wigston at the new Gladiator facility at RAF Waddington

WOODEN WONDER: 571 Sqn Mosquito

NATO’s beasts from the East

Simon Mander

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NATO CHIEFS unleashed their dogs of war – as frontline forces hone their combat skills in Eastern Europe.

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The speciallytrained pooches showed their warfighting pedigree as they flew in on board a UK Chinook to support multinational war games in Estonia.

The pack of 13 military working dogs were definitely best-in-snow as they tackled sub-zero conditions during the exercise, dubbed Winter Camp.

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Estonia’s Prison Service, Military Police and Border Guard were just one of the loads transported by Odiham-based 18 Sqn personnel on Operation Peleda – the codename for UK involvement in Exercise Winter Camp.

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British, French, American and Estonian soldiers, along with military equipment, have been ferried by the battlefield workhorses across the frozen Baltic landscape while Challenger II tanks of the type recently pledged to Ukraine trained local troops in anti-armour tactics.

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Confused about your McCloud pension choices?

From October this year, all those affected by the AFPS15 Remedy (McCloud) will be faced with making complex choices about their pension entitlement. This will involve complicated calculations, the details of which the Government is still working through. Right now, this is the position.

The AFPS15 Remedy will be delivered in two stagesthe prospective remedy, followed by the retrospective remedy. The prospective stage saw all affected personnel still serving moved to AFPS15 on 1st April 2022. The retrospective remedy will allow personnel to choose their preferred benefits for the remedy period when they access their pension or Early Departure Payment.

Eligible members who have already left, or will leave between 1st April 2015 and 1st October 2023 with a pension payment or EDP, and eligible dependants, will be contacted by Veterans UK within 18 months from 1st October with details of remedy options.

But you can eliminate confusion. Join the Forces Pension Society and stay fully informed until you decide if you need the guidance of our Forces Pensions Consultants.

for Armed Forces and Public Sector Pensions.

We are funded by our Members’ subscriptions. Any surplus helps fund our outreach programmes of Roadshows, Webinars and our attendance at CTP Employment Fairs.

You’ll

range

membership benefits from discounts on new cars and white goods, to insurances (including our latest range of travel policies) plus a great deal more.

’PHOON FIGHTERS: Six Sqn pilots prepare for a combat training sortie alongside F-15s, F-16s and Tornados from 10 Allied nations

in Saudi Six of the best

Simon Mander

UK TYPHOONS have arrived in Saudi Arabia for multi-national air warfare training.

Fighters from Lossiemouth-based 6 Sqn and Akrotiri’s 903 Expeditionary Air Wing landed at King Abdulaziz Air Base to join jets from 10 nations taking part in Exercise Spears of Victory.

The UK Detachment Commander, Sqn Ldr Geraint Kingman, said: “This will be a busy deployment, operating at a high tempo alongside our international colleagues; I am confident the whole detachment will learn a great deal from the Exercise.”

British pilots, engineers, and support personnel join participants from Bahrain, Greece, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, the USA, Kuwait and the UAE, alongside the Saudi military.

Typhoons, Tornados, F-15s, F-16s and JF-17s will conduct defensive and offensive training against live and simulated threats in a variety of situations while Saudi C-130s, AWACS and helicopters carry out their own specific missions.

The exercise is designed to increase the ability of participating nations to plan and execute complex missions together in a testing desert environment.

UK Defence signs Greek pact

Simon Mander

BRITAIN AND Greece have signed a new Defence and security agreement pledging closer collaboration between each country’s Armed Forces.

The RAF has strong links with Greece, whose skies are regularly used by the Red Arrows to complete pre-season training.

Defence Ministers Nikos Panagiotopoulos and Ben Wallace signed the pact to work together against all security threats and

challenges in the Euro-Atlantic area.

Mr Wallace said: “Greece and the UK will look to exploit new opportunities for collaboration and improving capabilities provided to Nato, including high readiness forces such as the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.”

The allies will also work together on innovative solutions for future equipment needs, maximising military interoperability, and reducing acquisition and support costs.

Saudi Major General Khalid Al Harbi said: “Spears of Victory provides the opportunity for realistic training of intense aerial combat with your partners, where you can learn from each other, develop and exchange training tactics and procedures.”

Birthday boy Iain legs it for Forces’ charity

Staff Reporter

SUPER-FIT CIVVY Iain Leggat is marking his 26th birthday this month – by launching a gruelling ultra marathon bid to raise funds for Forces charity SSAFA.

The Scots-based athlete was inspired to support the military welfare group by his RAF veteran dad James and Army medic mum Penny, who served with the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps and who now volunteers for her local SSAFA branch.

It’s the first time the Edinburgh-based marketing executive has attempted the 36mile ultra marathon distance after completing a couple of

half-marathons. The keen cyclist will be swapping pedal power for running shoes to tackle the course near Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland.

He said: “It’s a cause I really want to support. Whatever they’re facing, our Armed Forces and their families can rely on SSAFA to help them through it, for as long as it takes to get that person’s life back to where they want it to be.”

l To support Iain go to: justgiving.com/fundraising/ ileggataround

PHOTOS: FLT LT CHRIS WARR

AGREEMENT: UK looks to strengthen Greek military links, which already see the Red Arrows complete winter training in Aegean skies

BRIZE NORTON personnel have been awarded the Firmin Sword of Peace for their humanitarian work at home and overseas.

The award recognises the station’s role during the Covid-19 pandemic that saw 200 staff deployed to testing and vaccination centres across the UK, and in the evacuation of more than 15,000 people from Afghanistan during Operation Pitting.

Air Mobility Force Commander, Air Cdre John Lyle, said: “The success of Operation Pitting in

particular highlights the dedication and professionalism of our people and the importance of what Defence delivers for the UK and beyond.

“The Firmin Sword of Peace is testament to the fantastic work that is undertaken across all areas of the Air Mobility Force and Brize Norton.”

During 2021 base personnel staged STEM events for 700 school students, worked with local police to tackle anti-social behaviour in the area and raised more than £100,000 for charity.

Station Commander Gp Capt Claire O’Grady said: “Throughout the year, whether it be charity work, community engagement or on operations, our people have gone far beyond what was expected of them.”

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, presented the sword to Sqn Ldr Ian Rees during a parade marked by a flypast by an Atlas C.1 transporter and a march-past to the sound of the Band of the RAF Regiment.

Brize nets sword honour Rivet Joint crew nail it in Nevada

VETERANS COUNT: Vets Minister Johnny Mercer rolls out new database

Vets go on the record

NEW DATA on Britain’s veterans has been brought together for the first time on an electronic database.

The system collates census and other information from different public bodies on more than 1.85 million former military personnel in the UK.

Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer said: “In order to step up services for veterans and standardise support across the country, we need a better picture of the community we’re serving.

“It’s a key part of our job to improve the data we have, and I encourage everyone to check out the new dashboard.”

The system allows the public to scroll through up-to-date details on the veteran population’s size, housing, mental health, and employment – which can be used to target government support.

It comes as the Office for National Statistics released findings from the 2021 Census –the first to ask about respondents’ military service – covering their age, health, gender, ethnic and religious breakdown.

It shows for example that of the total ex-Armed Forces population in England and Wales, 13.6 per cent were women and 86.4 per cent were men.

BRITISH AND American Rivet Joint aircrew teamed up for the first integrated training flight for several years on Exercise Red Flag.

Waddington-based 51 Sqn personnel joined members of the USAF 55th Wing from Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska on intelligence gathering sorties for fast jets simulating combat missions.

Fighters from the RAF, USAF, Royal Australian Air Force, United States Navy, and US Marine Corps are taking part in the largest-ever Red Flag, flying out of Nellis Air

Base in Nevada, and are incorporating widebodied aircraft into their sorties.

RAF detachment commander and navigator Flt Lt Dan Wilkes said: “The opportunity to conduct such high-intensity training is extremely valuable.”

The UK’s RC-135s are fully integrated with the USAF and both fleets are upgraded at the same time and can be flown by crews of either nation.

USAF detachment commander Major Marc ‘Dirty’ Ramos said: “The benefit of this integration is that we are all able to share our varied experiences from our collective

worldwide operations. The RAF bring with them their depth of operational experience in Europe. The Rivet Joint community is relatively small, and it is important we maintain this close partnership and open exchange of knowledge.”

The British Rivet Joint is known as the Airseeker with the RAF operating three aircraft to the USAF’s 20, each carrying up to 36 crew with two pilots and a navigator on the flight deck.

51 Sqn took delivery of the first RAF Rivet Joint in 2013.

AWARD: CAS, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston with Brize Norton personnel after presentation

ALLIES: RAF and USAF Rivet Joint crews join forces during combat training in Nevada

QUAKE MERCY

VITAL HUMANITARIAN aid has been delivered by RAF transporters to help earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.

A C-17 Globemaster airlifted lifesaving supplies destined for some of the estimated million people around Idlib forced to flee their homes due to the disaster and continuing bombing by the Syrian Assad regime.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace called on the Russianbacked dictatorship in Damascus to stop targeting schools, nurseries and hospitals to allow tents, blankets, water purification tablets, cooking equipment and lanterns to be distributed by the Turkish Red Cross.

He said: “The people of Idlib have suffered enormously during this conflict and these crucial supplies will provide shelter for hundreds of families in desperate need.

“For the sake of both Syria and Turkey, the ceasefire in Idlib must continue to be respected.”

Meanwhile, a Cyprus-based C-130 Hercules with a Critical Care Air Support Team on board has been sent to Turkey.

RAF Medical Officer Wg Cdr David Hall told Forces News: “We’ll be responsible for moving critically-ill and injured patients around Turkey between different medical treatment facilities.

“I’m very excited and very proud to be deploying with a great team from Tactical Medical Wing at Brize Norton and I think we can make a big difference to the disaster response.”

RAF Aeromed Nurse Flt Lt Sarah Coughlan added: “I think it’s great that RAF medical services can go and help. We’ve got some great clinicians that we can use to the best effect and

people who really need us.”

More than 41,000 people have so far died in Turkey and Syria following the earthquakes, with the number expected to rise.

Air Force personnel have also flown out on a C-17 to set up a field hospital in Turkoglu, close to the epicentre, with an emergency department and a 24/7 operating theatre to treat the critically injured.

Staffed by military clinicians, with a surgical capability, two intensive care beds, 16 low dependency beds, two GP-led primary healthcare teams and a field mental health nurse, the facility was set up and treating patients within hours of arriving in Turkey.

An Atlas A400M has also airlifted thousands of thermal blankets to Gazientep airport to keep survivors warm in sub-zero temperatures.

The earthquake, which registered as 7.8 magnitude, struck at 4.17am while most of its victims were sleeping near the city of Gazientep and occurred in a region that had not seen any major tremors for two centuries.

Fault line

It broke along a 62-milelong fault line and was followed by a second quake of 7.5 that flattened even the most recentlybuilt apartment blocks.

As the search and rescue operation becomes increasingly a recovery one, in Turkey specialist military planners with expertise in operational delivery, logistics and communications are helping diplomatic staff organise the UK’s aid effort.

Joint Force HQ commander Brigadier Dan Reeve said: “Our team is trained, equipped and configured to assist our Embassy in Ankara in coordinating the UK’s offer of humanitarian support to Turkey’s disaster response operation.”

Britain has been one of the largest donors to the Syria crisis, providing more than £3.1 billion since 2011 including 28 million food rations, 19 million medical check-ups and 12 million vaccines across the region.

Turkey is the largest refugee-hosting nation in the world with the UK supporting the education of more than 635,000 Syrian refugee children in the country and providing healthcare for the most vulnerable to help alleviate pressure on local communities.

MERCY MISSION

DEVASTATION: Turkey quake killed tens of thousands and affected millions of people

RESCUE: Child in rubble in Syria

By Tracey Allen

Hidden depths

Military medics digging deep for injured veterans

IT WASN’T just being able to observe sharks, manta rays and sea turtles in the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean that made Cpl Joseph Cannizzaro’s most recent diving expedition so memorable.

The RAF nurse was among a party of colleagues from the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM) who accompanied a group of veterans on an unforgettable trip to the Maldives with the organisation Diving With the Injured (DWI).

He said: “The whole reason we were there was for the injured guys. Having them tell us their stories and giving us advice about being in the military was moving and inspiring.One of the veterans at the start of week said ‘this has come at a perfect time; the last two years have been incredibly tough and this is the much-needed reset button’.

“It was an honour and a privilege to build rapport through diving with individuals who have gone through so much, sustaining lifealtering injuries in the service of their country.”

The 10 Tri-Service veterans, all experienced scuba divers, had various injuries – some had below or above the knee amputations, one had lost the use of his left arm, one had severe burns and some had psychological trauma.

Cpl Cannizzaro explained: “Most of them were a lot more qualified in diving than most of us from the RCDM, with 10 or 15 years’ diving experience. The Maldives trip was my first diving expedition abroad.”

Diving With The Injured takes wounded and injured Service personnel on diving trips around the world as part of their rehabilitation, building resilience and confidence. The military medical personnel joining them will have treated Armed Forces patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham where the RCDM is based.

The charity was set up by Col

Mark Foster from the Centre, the son of a Royal Navy diver. He aims to host a dive abroad annually and since 2013 trips have been organised to the Maldives, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Djibouti.

Cpl Lucy Whitehouse said:

“Col Foster says ‘water is a leveller’ for non-injured and injured personnel. Diving teaches you discipline and skills very similar to that of a basic military syllabus. With emphasis on the SEEDS (safety, exercise, equipment, discipline, signals) brief, followed by buddy

pair safety checks, this reinforces military thinking of duty of care for your team members.”

Joe and his RCDM colleagues paid for their own subsidised places on the trip and took part in fundraising to help cover the costs of the injured participants.

He said: “For the last trip we had three months to raise £30,000 and just about did it. DWI wants to return to the Maldives in December and we are planning more fundraising events this year.”

On the first day of diving the group saw fighting moray eels and a variety of fish, marble rays, an octopus and sharks on the second.

Cpl Kayleigh Appleby said: “We were treated to about 20 nurse

sharks swimming around with us, and a few black tips as well. There were some nestling down on the sand next to divers and escorting them back up to the boat when the air was getting low.”

Not long afterwards dolphins began playing at the front of the boat. The divers hooked onto the reef using reef hooks which allowed them to almost free float in the ocean to watch fascinating underwater activity.

The following day the group had a rare sighting of a sailfish and saw more black tip sharks, baby clownfish, moray eels, barracuda, shrimp and lionfish.

The week also included a dive onto the Kudi Maa wreck, an old shipping

boat that had been purposely sunk for marine life to grow and divers to explore.During a later dive on the same day the group saw some whale sharks, including, said Joe ‘a baby whale shark that was still bigger than all of us, swimming about five metres down.’

On the trip’s penultimate day, manta rays, devil rays, marble rays, a turtle and both whitetips and grey reef sharks were sighted.

During the final day of diving, the group added more varieties to their sightings including a large school of fusilier fish, snapper, pipe fish, an eagle ray, a stonefish, sweetlips, puffer fish and trevally.

l Go to: hospitalcharity.org/ divingwiththeinjured to find out more about DWI.

CHARITY FOUNDER: Col Mark Foster dives the Kudi Maa wreck

HOOKED: RAF Cpls Lucy Whitehouse, right, and Kayleigh Appleby, 2nd right

WATER THERAPY: Veteran ‘Bob’ Monkhouse spots a sea turtle, and RCDM staff, below, including RAF nurse Cpl Joe Cannizzaro, 2nd left

WHALE SHARK

WHITETIP SHARK

SPOTTED RAY

By Tracey Allen

Pilots’ need for speed

MOTORSPORT HAS had a long association with the military and it’s hardly surprising that the racing car’s roar has attracted pilots in their need for speed.

Fearless flyers were motor racing pioneers – none less than Capt Woolf Barnato who served with the Royal Field Artillery in World War I and as a Wg Cdr in WWII. He won the legendary Le Mans race three times and was one of the famous ‘Bentley Boys’. This was a group of racers, world-renowned in the 1920s and 30s, who dominated Le Mans with five wins in just eight years. It included Sir Tim Birkin and Sir Henry Segrave of the Royal Flying Corps.

Spitfire pilot Flt Lt Raymond Baxter, twice mentioned in dispatches in WWII, was a motorsport commentator, rally driver and well-known broadcaster, becoming a household name as presenter of the long-running BBC science and technology programme Tomorrow’s World

These men’s amazing stories –and those of two women – are told in Motorsport’s Military Heroes by Bryan Lightbody (pen-and-sword. co.uk).

When his father died in 1897, Joel Woolf Barnato inherited a fortune. He lived at Ardenrun Place, a 350-acre country estate in Surrey where he indulged his hobbies of shooting, horse-breeding, hunting and motor racing.

Lightbody explained that Ardenrun Place was ‘the de facto home of the Bentley Boys, the harddriving, hard-partying playboys who epitomised the cocktailfuelled decade-long party that was the roaring twenties.’

Barnato took up motor racing in 1921 and became a major investor in Bentley Motors. Lightbody said: “He poured money into Bentley’s racing programme and, thanks also to his skill as a driver, the winged ‘B’ of Bentley came to dominate the winner’s podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.”

Barnato won at Le Mans in 1928 with co-driver Glen Kidston, in 1929 with co-driver and fellow socialite Birkin driving for the Bentley team in a Bentley Speed Six and in 1930, again with Kidston.

In March 1940, Barnato was interviewed by AVM Keith Park at 11 Group’s Uxbridge HQ. Lightbody said: “The role he was offered was to coordinate the protection of the 25 airfields of 11 Group in the south of England, as they were vulnerable to attack, and also because they could be used as landing grounds by an invading force.”

He continued living at his flat in Mayfair during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, the author explained, sheltering when necessary at an air raid refuge at the nearby Connaught Hotel.

Barnato’s daughter, Diana Barnato Walker, joined the Air

Transport Auxiliary in November 1941. A pioneering aviator, in 1963 she became the first British woman to break the sound barrier. Barnato died in July 1948, aged just 52, after an operation for cancer.

RFC pilot Henry Ralph Stanley ‘Tim’ Birkin, probably met Woolf Barnato in the Middle East said Lightbody. He added: “They had much in common, both very rich, both keen sportsmen, and both interested in cars and racing.”

Birkin became a works Bentley driver in 1928, joining the high-profile Bentley Boys – all WWI veterans – Barnato, sailor Glen Kidston and soldier Bernard Rubin.

Birkin won at Le Mans in 1929,

with Barnato as co-driver. After a wealthy socialite withdrew her financial support for Birkin to drive supercharged Bentleys, he competed in other cars, winning Le Mans in 1931 in an Alfa Romeo. Lightbody revealed: “He received a telegram congratulating him from Benito Mussolini.”

Henry O’Neal de Hane Segrave gained his wings as an RFC pilot on January 1, 1916. His service as an active pilot was curtailed at 19, after he suffered a shattered ankle joint when shot down by anti-aircraft fire. He got involved with racing after investing in a car dealership in Knightsbridge when the war ended. In 1923 Segrave was the first British driver to win the French Grand Prix. Lightbody said: “He

had become a household name: if police officers caught motorists speeding they often used to say ‘Who do you think you are, Major Segrave?’”

He won the Spanish Grand Prix in 1924 and the French, again, in 1926. Retiring from motor racing the following year he took up motorboat racing, making a name for himself as a powerboat racer. He died in 1930 from serious injuries after his boat flipped over while attempting to set a new water speed record. As he lay dying his wife told him he had broken the record – his speed was given later as 98.76mph.

The Segrave Trophy was established in 1930 in tribute for outstanding accomplishments in land, sea, air or water transport.

Lt Cdr Glen Kidston raced as a Bentley Boy in the Le Mans 24hour races of 1929 and 1930. In 1929 he survived a terrible air crash at Croydon – the pilot became disorientated in thick fog, crashed into trees and his aircraft burst into flames. Kidston was able to drag out one of his fellow passengers, who later died. Kidston was the sole survivor.

Lightbody said: ‘He was hospitalised and wrapped in bandages. In hospital he could only ‘get a cigarette to my lips by opening a hole in the wadding.’”

He was killed in an air crash in South Africa in 1931, flying a Puss Moth during an aerial tour. His granddaughter is the designer Cath Kidston.

Raymond Baxter joined the RAF aged 17, underwent flying training in the USA, served with 65 (East India) Sqn, then 93 Sqn in North Africa and saw active service in Malta, Sicily, Salerno and Naples.

Keen to enter broadcasting after being demobbed, he worked for the British Forces Network in Hamburg in the winter of 1946-47.

Lightbody said: “There he witnessed people dying in the streets from hunger and exposure.”

Baxter joined the BBC in 1950 and was its motoring correspondent until 1966, reporting on Formula One races, the Le Mans 24-hour race and the Monte Carlo Rally. He provided radio commentary on the funerals of George VI and Winston Churchill and reported at Elizabeth II’s coronation and Princess Margaret’s wedding. From 1949 he competed in numerous rallies, including the Monte Carlo Rally 12 times.

Win the book

WE HAVE copies of Motorsport’s Military Heroes to win – for your chance to own one, tell us:

What was the name of Barnato’s famous aviator daughter?

Email your answer, marked Motorsport 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 10.

WINNERS OF LE MANS, 1930: Glen Kidston, 2nd left, and Woolf Barnato, 2nd right

SPITFIRE HERO: Beeb man Flt Lt Raymond Baxter TRAGEDY: Record-breaker Segrave

WEALTHY: Barnato, top, and with Bentley Boys including Birkin, below right, in 1929

FLIGHT LIEUTENANT

Guy Pease, who has died aged 100, was shot down over France. Although badly wounded, he made an audacious escape attempt from a hospital in Rouen before being recaptured and transferred to Stalag Luft III.

Old Etonian Pease was with his parents in Sudan when war broke out and, aged just 17, he escorted his two younger brothers to England when their convoy was unsuccessfully attacked by a U-boat.

He enlisted in the RAFVR and in June 1941 began training as a pilot in the USA under the US/UK bi-lateral ‘Arnold Scheme’. All his training was carried out in Georgia. Assessed as above average, he remained in the USA as a flying instructor until November 1942, when he returned to England and converted to the US-built Mustang.

In April 1943 he joined 268 Squadron and flew tactical reconnaissance sorties including low-level photographic recon flights along selected sections of the French Coast photographing the development of German coastal defences and other installations such as radar sites and military camps.

On June 18, he suffered an engine failure on the return from a sortie over France and had to bail out into the English Channel, south of the Isle of Wight. He ripped his Mae West life jacket as he exited the aircraft and lost his dinghy as he escaped from under

Survivor of The Long March was also Caterpillar Club & Goldfish Club member

his parachute shroud lines after landing in the water. So, he had to tread water to survive, dressed in full heavy flying kit. Fighters circled overhead as a Walrus airsea rescue amphibian headed to his rescue. The sea state prevented the Walrus landing to make a pickup, so it dropped a dinghy, which Pease managed to board before he was picked up by a Free French Navy Corvette a few hours later. His experiences qualified him for membership of both the Caterpillar Club and the Goldfish Club.

On September 26, 1943, he was the leader of a pair of Mustangs on an offensive patrol near Rouen. They strafed a number of trains

before coming across a station with another steam locomotive and its loaded goods wagons. The two made an attack and as they approached for a second attempt they were bounced by a flight of Focke-Wulf FW-190s. His wingman was shot down and killed.

Pease attempted to evade at high speed and low level, but was pursued. Cannon shells ripped into his aircraft and he crashed into an orchard. He was badly injured, suffering multiple fractures to his hands and wrists together with shrapnel wounds down one side of his body. French farmers pulled him clear of his wrecked Mustang before German troops arrived to

take him to the German Military Hospital in Rouen, where his wounds and injuries were treated without anaesthetic or pain relief. More operations followed over the coming months.

He found himself sharing an upper room with a New Zealand fighter pilot (Flying Officer ‘Mac’ Sutherland) whose right leg had been amputated. As they recovered, they decided to try to escape, as Pease put it, “with three good hands and three good legs between the pair of us”.

Using a nail file, they made a key from a spoon and picked the padlock locking their room before descending to the ground using a

‘rope’ made of bed sheets and blankets.

They made their escape on the night of December 21 with Pease descending second whilst carrying Sutherland’s crutches. They then had to negotiate a high wall, cutting their hands on spikes, before hobbling into Rouen. The weather was intensely cold, their hands became infected and, after four days, having failed to get help, they were forced to give up the attempt.

At the end of January 1944, they arrived at Stalag Luft III at Sagan, a few weeks before the Great Escape. A year later, with Soviet troops advancing from the east, the PoW camp was evacuated at short notice. The weather was extreme as the long column headed for a camp at Luckenwalde, south of Berlin, where the Russians eventually ‘liberated’ them –and promptly returned them to the camp ‘for their own protection’. Pease, and a New Zealand Lancaster pilot, escaped and reached American forces on the River Elbe.

After leaving the RAF in March 1946, he went to Beirut to learn Arabic at a British-run school before joining the Sudan Political Service, initially as a land’s inspector in Khartoum Province. He later became a district commissioner until independence in 1955. He was appointed MBE.

After returning to England in 1957, he served as a personnel manager before leaving for Australia in 1970, where he spent the rest of his life.

TALENTED PILOT: Flying Officer Guy Pease, Sudan, Africa

Graduations

Flying high at RAFC Cranwell

OFFICER CADETS from the RAF Officer Training Academy are flying high having graduated from RAF College Cranwell.

Air Vice-Marshal Chris Snaith, Director of MOD Saudi Armed Forces Projects, was the Reviewing Officer at the graduation of The King’s Squadron consisting of Officers of Modular Initial Officer Training Course No 17.

The Officer Cadets marched on to the parade square watched by their family and friends and were treated to a Typhoon flypast by 41 Squadron, RAF Coningsby.

The graduating Officers are as follows:

AIR OPERATIONS (CONTROL)

Fg Off C M S Wallace

Plt Off J A Hazzard

Plt Off A T Mckeown

Plt Off C R G Rust

Plt Off K Shingler

Plt Off T A Szucs

Plt Off A G R Tatters

AIR OPERATIONS (SYSTEMS)

Fg Off C F Ballard

Fg Off T J Chambers

Fg Off R P McQuillan

Plt Off K J S Ghala

ENGINEER (AEROSYSTEMS)

Fg Off T Ainscow

Fg Off M Hughes

INTELLIGENCE

Fg Off G E R Williams

Plt Off D D Cheedy

Plt Off E I J Crossley

Plt Off J S Holt BA

Plt Off Y J Martin

Plt Off S Y Nazif

Plt Off M J Tyrrell

LOGISTICS

Fg Off D J Inkley

Plt Off J D Collyer

MEDICAL SUPPORT OFFICER

Plt Off K Chedzey

PERSONAL SUPPORT

Fg Off S L Brierley

Fg Off D J Butler

Fg Off B Chilvers

Fg Off J R Meleady

Fg Off A Rosbottom

Fg Off C A Rudyk-Smith

Plt Off J M Orman

PERSONAL TRAINING

Fg Off R M Williamson

Plt Off M J Bullock

PILOT

Fg Off L J Bartlem

Force to be reckoned with

FIFTEEN NEW members of the RAF Regiment have graduated at RAF Honington.

They were accompanied with music by the Band of the RAF Regt, blessings from Chaplain Rev (Sqn Ldr) Josephine Critchley and joined by loved ones.

Reviewing Officer Gp Capt Fred Wigglesworth, Station Commander RAF Marham, congratulated the new recruits and said: “It’s a proud moment for the RAF Regiment as the newest batch of trainees graduate from 20 weeks of gruelling training to earn their ‘mudguards’; and an honour for

Honington

me to be their Reviewing Officer. What an achievement for these young Gunners.”

Further congratulations go to

the prize winners:

l Frank Sylvester Trophy: AS2 Marshall – best all-round Trainee Gunner.

l The RAF Regt Association Trophy for Drill and Deportment: AS2 Earl

l WO Ramsey Physical Development Cup: AS2 Scarlett

l LAC Beard Recruits’ Trophy: AS2 Christensen – most inspirational and supportive member of the Flight.

l SAC Luders Champion Shot Trophy: AS2 Scarlett

l Cpl Bradfield Trophy: Cpl Gill – top corporal instructor.

Cranwell

Fg Off G A Kenny

Fg Off C G Miller

Fg Off J M North

Fg Off O J Price

Fg Off Z M Tait

PROV

Plt Off D C Leach

Plt Off K D Tillotson

REGIMENT

Fg Off S L M Brown

Fg Off J R Burns

Fg Off R I Hay

Fg Off J R M Robinson

Plt Off L A Aitken-Fred

PRIZEWINNERS

l The Sword of Honour – Off Cdt S L M Brown, best cadet.

l The Hennessy Trophy and Philip Sassoon Memorial Prize –Off Cdt Y J Martin, outstanding cadet.

l The MacRobert Prize – Off Cdt S L M Brown, cadets’ choice.

l The BAE Systems Trophy – Off Cdt A Rosbottom, highest marks for professional studies on the course.

l The Gp Capt Williams Memorial Trophy – Off Cdt S Y Nazif, most improved.

l The Sarah Moland Memorial Prize – Off Cdt T Ainscow, for courage and fortitude.

Fg Off N S Brotheridge

Fg Off C A Dodsworth

Fg Off J R Forrest

Fg Off G Jones

l The WO Bill Torrance Trophy – Off Cdt Y J Martin, Physical Education.

l The RAF Club Prize – Off Cdt M Hughes, for grit and perseverance.

FLYPAST: 41 Sqn Typhoon. Inset right, Sword of Honour is presented to Off Cdt S L M Brown

AS2 MARSHALL: Top trainee

AS2 SCARLETT: Excels in PT

AS2 SCARLETT: Hot shot AS2 EARL: Best for drill

AS2 CHRISTENSEN: Inspirational CPL GILL: Great instructor

PARADE: The new recruits graduate at RAF Honington in front of family and friends

Luke-warm hatch

THIS WEEK’S car review started with me standing at the side of a windswept road in Somerset.

The car hadn’t broken down, far from it, Mazda’s reliability record takes some beating. No, I was taking a well-earned break during a long drive to stretch my legs.

Soon I decided that it was freezing and got back into the vehicle. It was time to point my car, a vehicle designed in the land of the rising sun, into the rising sun.

Interior

The 2’s interior is certainly a pleasant place to be, with soft-touch materials on top of the dashboard and some nice design cues dotted around. All versions come with a leatherwrapped steering wheel and gear knob, but our GT Sport Tech felt particularly classy. Stone leather inlays and nicely stitched sports seats set the tone. The instrument binnacle gives it a sporty feel, while the infotainment screen sits easily in your eyeline.

The touch-sensitive screen is a bit of an oddity, as it happens. When you’re stationary you can stab at the controls with your fingers, like any other modern system, but start

Mazda 2 GT

Pros

l Handles really well

l Great manual gearbox

l Good infotainment system

l Comes with lots of kit

l Cheap to run

Cons

l Coarse engine under load

l Plenty of hard plastic on display

l Average performance only achieved by giving it a SERIOUS thrashing

moving and you’re locked out, meaning you can only operate the system with a rotary controller on the centre console. Weird… Safer and less fiddly than rivals, but definitely weird.

The driving position is bang on and there’s plenty of adjustment on everything. It has a proper manual handbrake, nice chunky heater controls, USB ports and a handy phone tray.

Unfortunately there is still a fair amount

Verdict

The Mazda 2 has a great little chassis, a slick 6-speed manual gearbox and a smashing driving position. It has all the characteristics of a brilliant little hot hatch… Unfortunately, Mazda has decided not to give us a version with enough power to make that a reality, which I think is a big mistake. The 2 is undoubtedly a cracking little car to drive and it makes you want to drive. If the power delivery wasn’t so poor, it would be up there with the Fiesta ST. A missed opportunity in my book.

of low-rent scratchy plastic knocking around but on the upside there’s plenty of room in the front, the back’s not a disaster for 6footers and the boot is surprisingly spacious at 280 litres, or 950 litres with the backrests folded down.

On the road

Based on handling alone, the Mazda 2 is a fun little machine. Its steering is nicely weighted and it’s undeniably precise. I think

it’s one of the best handling cars in this segment, changing direction like a rat in a cattery. You can hurl it around like a lunatic and it will recover in a predictable way. There’s not a great deal of feedback through the wheel, but it has a nice firm, flat ride, with plenty of grip… I like that.

Moving on to performance, and this is where we hit a downside. The naturally aspirated engines require a massive amount of welly to coax any rapid acceleration. Even our 115ps GT Sport Tech test car only delivered 0-62mph in 9.1secs and a top end of 114mph.

This little beasty is not quick. Let’s not kid ourselves however, if you’re going drag racing you’re not going to be driving a Mazda 2. Context people.

It has a slick gear change, nice pedal weighting and better sound-deadening than previous models. It’s therefore more refined on a motorway and easy to live with around town.

Rivals such as the Polo may be better when it comes to serenity on a long journey, but you’re not going to be overly disappointed with a 2.

Tim Morris RAF Motors

CROSS COUNTRY

It's 13 titles in a row for RAF

IT WAS an unlucky 13 for the Army as the RAF men took the Inter-Services title for the 13th year in a row at Tedworth Park, Tidworth.

The association won all of the men’s races and the women’s seniors and masters secured impressive runner-up slots.

The U23 team used the event as a development opportunity, with Cpl Summer Benson winning bronze.

Men’s captain Sgt Rob Wood said: “A long winter with lots of XC racing had the team going into the race feeling confident. We had many great individual performances from old and new team members. The title has been retained for 13 years straight now, with hopefully many more to come.”

Wood was part of an early break away led

SWIMMING

by Cpl Conor Pacey, and eventual Army race runner-up Lt Max Walker and Wg Cdr Ben Livesey (inset), but the team captain left the group behind to come home in 30mins 5 secs with Walker, second in 30.12 and Cpl RM Dylan Naylor third. AS1 Max Hazell was fourth in 30.27.

Women’s team captain Cpl Helena Schofield said: “The ladies’ competition has never been so strong, with several females earning England vests. To have two of our RAF ladies in the top five just shows it won’t be long until we have another RAF ladies win.”

A battling fourth for AS1 Chloe Richardson in 26.56, with Cpl Gemma Holloway fifth in 27.19, saw the light blues secure second, despite the overall Army win. Lt Chelsea Baker was first home, for the Navy.

Schofield and Sgt Molly Betmead were eighth and 10th respectively.

A break with tradition saw all the men’s races run at the same time. Navy star L/Cpl RM Ben Di Salvo won the U23s race by 90 seconds, with last year’s winner AS1 Thomas Thayre second and AS1 Luke Williams third. The RAF and RN finished on 18 points, with the Airmen winning on count back, as AS1 Jack Clark finished fifth.

The Masters took all positions second to fifth, with a tally of 14 points, to win. Sqn Ldr Thomas Bailey, and Chf Tech Dan Lewis sprinted it out for second and third respectively, with Army runner Maj Paul Molyneux taking the top spot.

Chance to get on board with diving

EVER FANCIED making a splash with Service sport? Well, you can at the Swimming Association’s ‘Try It sessions’ at RAFC Cranwell next month.

This year the association will be holding dive Try It sessions, which proved a huge success when they were introduced last year. They will kick-off the association’s four-day Inter-Unit championships, which start on March 21.

Association spokesperson Cpl

Olivia Duckworth said: “The aim of this event is to promote the Royal Air Force Swimming Association to all serving personnel and civil servants at our units.

“We pride ourselves on

providing inclusive sports which are open to all abilities. The ‘Try It’ sessions are a great way for developing our newer athletes –allowing them to put into practice what they have learned, building their confidence within the water while also being able to provide a little bit of competition.”

Opening the event, the Try It sessions will see association divers and coaches on hand. The following day there will be swimming and water polo coaching. The final two days of the championships will feature a water polo and a swimming competition.

Duckworth added: “The championships allow our

CYCLING

more experienced athletes to experience some much-needed competition, as we look at building towards Inter-Services.”

l Follow the association on Instagram @rafswimming.

Richardson’s dream debut

SERVICE CYCLISTS launched a terrific early season attack on the top 10 spots at the first round of the Velo29 Winter Series at Croft Motor Racing Circuit.

The track, near RAF Leeming, forms part of a six-race series and saw a team of four RAF riders set down excellent sighters for the coming season.

AS1 Liam Richardson came home seventh, Cpl Jen Burns was 10th and A/Cpl Danny Hedley and Sgt Nick Munro finished just outside the top 10.

Richardson’s result in his first experience of racing was a stunning achievement, while Burns, looking to hit the ground running in 2023, also impressed with her women’s race position.

Hedley, who made the long journey from RAF Odiham to cram in some early season racing, took full advantage of the E1234 Handicap race, while Munro, kicking off the 2023 season as a Cat 2 rider following an upgrade in 2022, finished just outside the top 10 in the E1234 Handicap race and the all-important points positions.

Munro said: “The three races are aimed at all ability levels with Cat 4, Cat 234 Women’s and Handicap E1234 races. The handicap format is a staggered start with the Cat 4s setting off first, followed by the Cat 3s at 60 seconds, and Cat E12s following another 90 seconds later.

“The races are a perfect opportunity for novices to get involved in bunch racing on a safe, closed circuit and an early opportunity for experienced riders to shake the cobwebs off for the season ahead.”

MASTERSTROKE: RAF swimmer

TOP TEN: Cpl Jen Burns finished 10th in the women's race at Croft Motor Circuit (pic www.tonytodd.photography)

Daniel Abrahams

CAPTAIN: Cpl Helen Schofield (2069) leads Sgt Molly Betmead

KEEPING UP

THE PACE: Sqn Ldr Tom Bailey (3054) and Fg Off Ed Dyer PHOTOS: CPL CARL TUCKER

Going from strength to strength

Timeline

l 2018 – James and Roden begin training sessions at Brize.

l Early 2021 – becomes a recognised RAF sport, with the Royal Air Force hosting the first official Inter-Services championships at Cosford in November, narrowly losing to the Army.

l June 2022 – the championships are held at RAF Cosford for the second year running, establishing the station as the sport's home.

l November 2022 – RAF team of seven men and seven women win the Inter-Services Olympic weightlifting championships at HMS Temeraire in Portsmouth. The association prepares for the competition with its first overseas training camp, at Akrotiri.

AFTER A stellar year of achievement and success from the humblest of beginnings just five years ago, RAF weightlifting is gunning for further glory in 2023.

RAF News spoke with association members about the journey, which started in 2018 with a handful of training sessions and culminated in an unprecedented Inter-Services win last November.

Sgt Leighton James said: “It all started with Sqn Ldr Jim Roden and I in 2018, teaching a few people on the cricket pitches behind the gym at RAF Brize Norton. This quickly developed into monthly workshops held at Imjin Barracks, formerly RAF Innsworth, in Gloucestershire.

“As the years went by and the association grew, so did the committee and the members – to where we are today. We held the first unofficial competition in 2019, where we had roughly 10 lifters in both male and female categories.”

The association held its first official RAF Olympic weightlifting competition in June 2021, having become a recognised sport in the Service earlier that year.

James added: “In the coming months we

have workshops in the north and south of the country. There is also a development/masters’ competition in April, aimed at those who have never lifted within a competition environment, while in June we hold our championship –which is open to all levels of competition and is used as one of the qualifying events for RAF team selection.”

Even the association’s online membership scheme is on an upward curve, seeing an increase from 30 members to a further 96 personnel attending training workshops throughout 2022.

2IC RAFOWL Association Flt Lt Jonathon Evans said: “Last year was our best yet. We managed to grow, both in the committee and the athlete base, while providing increased opportunities at the grass roots levels.

“Successful events such as the novice and masters camp, and RAF Champs, meant we had a great momentum built-up for the InterServices.

“The hard work of the athletes, coaches, officials and committee members was shown with the IS win, so I am confident we will continue to flourish this year.”

l Follow the association on Instagram: @ raf_weight_lifting.

Daniel Abrahams

RAISING THE BAR: Team captain Cpl Mike Cutler (main picture), Cpl Stephanie Pye (top left) and Cpl Zak Revell at last year's Inter-Services

PHOTOS: TATE BUDGE

ADVICE: Head coach Sgt Leighton James with Flt Lt Lorren Clarke

Pierce in farewell

ONE OF Service and UKAF football’s most successful servants, FS Dyfan Pierce, has hung his boots up following the recent Tri-Service football camp.

Pierce, head coach of UKAFFC, who will be leaving the Service later in the year, bid farewell to his team at the recent training camp in Wales, which ended with a 5-1 win over the University of South Wales in Cardiff.

“It’s all a bit surreal really, I turned to my coaching team with about five minutes to go and said: ‘this is it then’. It has been a great camp; the lads were as professional as always and saw the thing out as we had discussed and planned.

“I left it until the morning of the game to tell the players. I did not want this to be about me, I wanted it to be about the team, the match and the future.”

Pierce (pictured) has been at the forefront of RAF and UKAF football during the most successful periods for both.

As a player he was part of the historic five IS wins in a row, taking on a role as coach for the next two triumphs, before winning four Kentish Cups in a row as assistant coach to Sgt (Ret’d) Nick de Long.

Having taken the role of head coach UKAF for the last three Covid-interrupted years, Pierce has overseen huge changes in playing staff, along with moving home matches from HMS Temeraire

Students given masterclass

in Portsmouth to National League South side Havant and Waterlooville’s home ground The Westleigh.

His playing record as coach is just as impressive as the rest of his Service football CV, being unbeaten in 90 minutes of play, with six wins and three draws, having wrestled back the Perpetual Friendship Cup from the Irish Defence Forces in incredible fashion with a 93rdminute winner, having seen the Irish level on 90.

He said: “I have left the side in as good a position as I could – I have had some fantastic support throughout, from the players, backroom staff and the single Service associations.

“I could not have wished or hoped to have achieved much more in my time in Service football.”

No announcement had been made on Pierce’s replacement as RAF News went to print.

University of South Wales 1 RAF 5

CORPORAL JAKE Gosling

netting the final goal of FS Dyfan Pierce’s tenure as head coach seemed more then apt as the UKAF team beat USW 5-1.

An unstoppable four-goal opening salvo saw the Service men sweep the students aside in the first 45 minutes at the Sport Park Campus ground, Cardiff, with goals from Sgt Sean Thomson, Gosling and Spr Scott McCarthy, before Thomson completed his brace.

Thomson’s opener was a thunderbolt from 18 yards. After a neat pass from Gosling, he ran to the edge of the USW area and, despite having two defenders on him, unleashed a right-footed shot into the far corner of the net.

McCarthy then set up Gosling with a delicious one-two to

slot home with his right from 12 yards, before finding the net himself with a bit of luck stumbling over the ball on the line following good build-up work. Thomson then repeated his heroics with another belter with a 25-yard blast.

The second period was a calmer affair, but there was a penalty, finally, after a lengthy period of UKAF possession. Peel was manhandled in the box and Gosling calmly chipped in a 'Panenka' kick, with his left from the spot.

The students, who had no chance of clawing the result back, were awarded a penalty which Haben Samson slotted home for the final score of the game.

The win was the perfect starting point for the UKAF team, who will face the Irish Defence Force and attempt to win back the Kentish Cup later in the year.

RUGBY LEAGUE

We're best Bar none

A LAST minute 80-metre AS1

Kieron Prescott try eased RAF nerves as they moved into the second round of the Challenge Cup with a 24-36 victory against Doncaster Toll Bar.

A terrific opening round saw the Servicemen prevail against the Yorkshire Men’s League side at their Prospect Road ground, Doncaster, as FS Garry Dunn’s charges set up a clash against York Acorn ARLFC at RAF Cranwell on February 25.

Dunn said: “The lads played well, I cannot question their attitude and professionalism. We reacted well to periods where we were behind and under the pump or lost Josh [AS1 Josh Caldwell] for 10 minutes.

“York Acorn are a National Conference side and should offer a higher level of opponent. They will be well drilled and will challenge us, as we only come together for these clashes. Squad-wise we will have a different look as the Service reacts to demands away from the field, but we will go in with our best foot forward.”

An early unconverted try saw

the hosts blast off, but the Service side replied through AS1 Lew Boyle, whose converted try saw them lead after 18 minutes.

Two minutes later AS1(T) Adam Potter crashed over the line for a 4-12 scoreline, but Toll fought back again with the half ending 14-12 in their favour after two tries.

Cpl Liam Bradley set up Prescott for the first of his hat-trick of tries, swiftly followed by an 80-metre effort to set the second half off in style for the RAF.

The hosts rolled the score back for 18-24 before Caldwell went off for a high tackle. It was 18-30 on 65 minutes after Cpl Nathan Barker touched down, but Toll came again making the score 24-30 in the 79th minute.

Prescott calmed things at the death, receiving a long kick, cutting inside the winger and running another 80 metres for a converted try and Challenge Cup win.

RAF U23s 0 Navy U23s 0

“I THOUGHT we were extremely unlucky not to win the game,” was the takeaway comment from U23s head coach Sgt Danny Bartley, after a tough 0-0 IS opener.

Even a red card late on for the Royal Navy captain Jack Wright, who impeded RAF winger AS1 Logan Buick in the 76th minute as he looked to be through on goal, could not lead to a breakthrough for the men in light blue. Bartley added: “I think if we take our chances in the first half we win the game comfortably, but we lacked a little bit of composure in the final third. Huge credit to the Navy, who showed great resilience in their defending, even more so when they went down to 10 men. We will take the positives from the game and implement them against the Army and hopefully we’ll get the right result.”

On any other day the RAF would have run away with this at Rayners Lane, but the chances came and went. Two gilt-edged ones in the 23rd and 37th minutes should have found the net, but a weak touch on both from Buick saw them cleared.

A third chance, just before the break, saw Buick go close again, but he failed to connect to AS1 Matt Hendry’s low cross in the 39th minute, meaning the sides went in goalless at the break.

A frustrating second 45 saw half chances created, but the Navy’s defence looked solid, until a long ball from the RAF half saw Buick and Wright give chase.

The Senior Service captain saw the threat of Buick bursting through and shoved the RAF winger to the ground, with the referee deciding the shove was a professional foul and brandished a red.

Doncaster Toll Bar 24

RAF 36

RAF Vulcans in eye of the Storm

Daniel Abrahams

IT’S WAS

RAF Vulcans ice hockey team as they slumped to an 11-2 defeat to a solid Grimsby Stormers side.

A mixed Service team, featuring players who have come through from the Learn To Play (LTP) scheme and some more experienced players, faced up to a Stormers side at Planet Ice Peterborough. From the start the Vulcans defended well, something they continued throughout the first and second periods, with Cpl Hannah Beaumont, Cpl Connor Phillips and Flt Lt Graeme Connell working well as a defensive line.

PO1 Chris Curchin lit up the second period with a goal, which was followed up with a second during the third period.

Cpl Matt Dunn, who recently took the role

of head coach, said: “I’ve been working alongside my coaching team to really develop the team from the Aces playbook.

“This will help push players into the Aces set-up.

“Grimsby had very strong players who had very good hand skills and puck control, but I felt the game showed the areas we had been working on.

“We have games coming up against opponents who will challenge us but allow the team to grow into the core structure we are looking to achieve.”

The Vulcans return to Planet Ice when they play Peterborough Warriors later this month.

The match will kick off a four-game series, which will give Dunn more time with his charges before the Inter-Services in June.

RAF backroom team behind rise in GB bob

Daniel Abrahams

RAF ICE sports was once again at the leading edge as GB bobsleigh made gold and silver medal history at the World and European Championships.

The first gold won in the European event, in Altenberg, Germany, was followed up by the first-ever GB World medal in St Moritz, Switzerland.

Brad Hall, Arran Gulliver, Greg Cackett and Taylor Lawrence beat hosts Germany to claim their historic gold, before ending an 84-year wait to medal on the world circuit.

The four GB hotshots may have the firepower to storm to victory, but a team of five RAF coaches played an integral part in the ongoing rise in the sport.

Co-director for GB bobsleigh Sqn Ldr Heather Ratnage-Black said: “While we didn’t have any athletes in the sled, the Performance Management Group at the BBSA is made up of serving or ex-RAF personnel

“We do all the stuff that the athletes don’t see to ensure they can produce their best times and win, as they’ve done recently.

“We’re an incredibly tight team and have all come through RAF Ice

Sports, albeit from different generations.

“To have an RAF team working at this level is a good news story we can sing about.”

The PMG team for the BBSA (British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association) is made up of co-directors for GB bobsleigh RatnageBlack and Chf Tech (Ret’d) Ian Richardson

– former RAF Eng AV who is Technical Project officer, FS Mark Silva – Performance Director, ex-RAF MT driver Cpl (Ret’d) Graham Richardson – Head Coach/Team Manager and former four-man bobsleigh Olympic bronze medallist Chf Tech Stu Benson – athlete advisor.

Benson said: “We are so proud of what Brad, Taylor, Arran and Greg have achieved. They have been exceeding performance targets all season and show no signs of “FS Silva [RAF elite athlete]has been vital to the BBSA this season in his role as performance director and is building on his experience gained working with the Jamaican team at Beijing 2022 to really bring the British program on.

“I have been fortunate enough to continue my role in the performance management group helping manage team selections, policies and other performance-related tasks. It’s great to have been able to continue to play a small part in helping a sport that is steeped in RAF history to make history again.” l Follow GB bobsleigh on Instagram @ Britishbobsleighandskeleton

the best of RAF Sport action

HISTORY MEN: (l-r) Brad Hall, Arran Gulliver, Greg Cacket and Taylor Lawrence  PHOTOS: VIESTURS LACIS

BOB CHIEF: Sqn Ldr Ratnage-Black provided to

PHOTOS: VIESTURS LACIS

Film Review

The Son (15)

In cinemas now

Son and (desp)heir

THERE WAS a distinct Oscar buzz around Hugh Jackman’s performance in The Son, based on Florian Zeller’s play of the same name – his follow-up to The Father, starring Anthony Hopkins, for which Hoskins won an Academy Award.

That Oscar talk wasn’t surprising as Jackman (X-Men, The Greatest Showman) delivers a dignified, moving interpretation as Peter, the divorced but happily remarried high-achieving father of Nicholas, his troubled older son, in Christopher Hampton’s adaption of the play.

The unhappy teenager –affectingly portrayed by young

Australian actor Zen McGrath – is playing truant from school, self-harming and seems deeply depressed. He begs to move out of his mother Kate’s (Laura Dern) apartment to stay with his father, new wife Beth (Vanessa Kirby, The Crown) and their baby son and, reluctantly, Beth agrees.

But high-flying New York lawyer Peter is caught up in his ambition to work at the White House and struggles to understand his increasingly perturbed son. And Beth shows her fear of the tortured Nicholas while Kate is weepy and despairing.

Hopkins appears in an insightful cameo as Peter’s wealthy, cold

Competition

This England (15)

and uncaring father who displays contempt for his son’s decision to choose helping Nicholas over pursuing a career in politics.

Flashback scenes that show Nicholas as a cheerful young boy, blissfully playing in the sea with his

Win!

On DVD and Blu-ray now (Dazzler Media)

Oh what a Carrie on, Johnson

KENNETH BRANAGH

underwent an amazing physical transformation – with the help of prosthetics – to star as Boris Johnson in the TV drama This England, based on Johnson’s first months as Prime Minister.

The series traces the impact of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, taking us inside the halls of power as Johnson grapples with Covid-19, Brexit and a controversial personal and political life.

Interwoven are stories from around the country: scientists racing to understand the virus; the doctors, nurses and care home workers on the frontline; and ordinary people whose lives were thrown into turmoil.

Co-written and directed

by BAFTA winner Michael Winterbottom (Greed, The Look of Love), it co-stars Ophelia Lovibond (Minx, The Thick of It) as Carrie Symonds, Andrew Buchan (The Crown, Broadchurch) as Matt Hancock and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) as Max Hastings.

We have copies of the series on DVD up for grabs – if you’d like the chance to win one to add to your collection, tell us:

Who stars as Carrie Symonds in This England?

Email your answer, marked This England 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 10. Remember to include your full postal address.

father on holiday, are heart-rending and poignant – they make you yearn for a happy ending for this disjointed family.

The shocking twist of The Son’s conclusion is a jolt, although not entirely unexpected, and tugs

Film Review

Saint Omer (12A)

In cinemas now

relentlessly at the heartstrings. The Son is an intense, compelling examination of the complications of mental illness and stays with you long after the film ends.

4 out of 5 roundels

Review by Tracey Allen

Charged with infanticide

THE LINE between the convict on the stand and the witness in the box is blurred in this contemplative courtroom drama.

Rama (Kayije Kagame), a celebrated author, is in the process of writing a book when she is drawn in to the local trial of Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda): a woman charged with the murder of her 15-month-old daughter. Like Coly, Rama is French and of Senegalese descent, and seems ambivalent about her pregnancy.

Based on a real trial, that director Alice Diop attended, we see the complexity of the characters presented through their testimonies, but also in reaction to the testimonies of others. The film is very deliberate in its voyeurism. Long takes focused on a single person allow you as the audience to become the jury. Avoiding theatricality, it is the nuance, the micro-actions and reactions, that make this film resonate so deeply.

Coly (played phenomenally by Malanda), is introduced as someone who has committed the most heinous crime of infanticide. Having left her child on a beach as the tide was coming in, she confesses that she is responsible, and yet bafflingly pleads ‘not guilty’. This is just the beginning of this difficult and contradictory series of revelations. As we listen to Coly speak in defence

of herself, she is eloquent, a gifted student of philosophy she has a way with language, and so is able to express a certain messiness that is ultimately human.

This spell is sometimes broken by the pointed questions of attorneys, like, for instance, after the testimony of the murdered child’s father (Xavier Maly), a more senior man whose sincerity is deconstructed swiftly by some perfectly aimed accusations.

As well as unpicking these personalities, the film throws into question larger ideas and

assumptions. The whole legal system is seen as a product of its culture when the defendant claims that ‘sorcery’ was involved, creating a debate around the validity of African mysticism in a Western court of law.

Saint Omer is slow-paced and purposeful; it does not pander but simply gives you room to observe. It is simple and confident filmmaking that will appeal to active watchers, who like to have their views challenged.

3 out of 5 roundels

Review by Sam Cooney

ELECTION EUPHORIA: Johnson (Branagh) and Symonds (Lovibond) in This England

THE ACCUSED: Coly (Guslagie Malanda) left her baby to the sea, but pleads not guilty

TROUBLED MAN: Peter (Hugh Jackman) and, inset, with his son when the boy was younger, and happier

Bent cop's trying to be Corrupt Lou has strayed on

BETTER, THE BBC’s new five-part drama from the duo responsible for the hits Human and Spooks – Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent – has been described by writer and executive producer Vincent as ‘a very dark thriller, full of high stakes’.

Bulgarian ballet tour of classics

THE PRESTIGIOUS

Bulgarian company the Varna International Ballet and Orchestra continues its first UK tour with performances of four hugely popular classical ballets: The Nutcracker, featuring an enchanted journey on Christmas Eve; the romantic Swan Lake, set to Tchaikovsky’s ravishing score; the comic Coppélia, about a doll brought to life; and the tragic Giselle, in which love continues after death.

The tour continues until March 15, and soloist Claire Gillard said: “They’re all the traditional ballets that people love – with great music, great stories and beautiful dancing. I’m performing [the lead roles of] Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Marie in The Nutcracker, Swanhilda in Coppélia, and Giselle in Giselle.

“We have four principal casts on tour, so we alternate shows between us. I really love Swan Lake, because you get to be elegant and soft in the first act, and then you play the dark swan in the second act, which is a big change of personality. It’s really fun to do.”

Her colleague Vittorio Scolè added: “I’m dancing the soloist roles, which is Albrecht in Giselle, Frantz in Coppélia, and the Princes in Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. I would say the Prince in Swan Lake is the most difficult, but you keep practising and every time you do something different with your movement or your face so it’s always getting better, better, better!”

Varna’s Artistic Director Daniela Ivanova-Dimova, explained: “It’s [Varna] the second town in Bulgaria, a beautiful pearl on the Black Sea Coast, and in 1964 we created the world’s first international ballet competition in Varna.

“Many famous ballet stars from around the world have come to compete – like Mikhail Baryshnikov and Sylvie Guillem. Now, our troupe is really revered in Bulgaria, and many young international ballet artists are eager to work with us.”

Gillard, who has been with Varna for two years, said: “It’s a really fun mix of dancers from different countries: Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Brazil, of course Bulgaria… we all connect through dance.”

“We’re completely international – it’s really cool. I started in August with the company and I really like the atmosphere. It’s like a family from all different places,” added Scolè.

l Go to: raymondgubbay.co.uk for more information about the tour.

INTERTWINED LIVES:

“Blood is spilled and not everybody makes it out, but those themes underneath that layer of drama touch everybody’s lives,” he said.

Set and shot entirely in Leeds and West Yorkshire, Better explores the complex and powerful bonds of loyalty and family, in a world where everyone has their own version of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.

It stars Leila Farzad (I Hate Suzie, Avenue 5) as corrupt

Lou Slack (Leila Farzad and gangster

Col McHugh (Andrew Buchan

SHE'S A DOLL: Coppélia is a doll brought to life by Varna International Ballet

ROMANTIC: Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake

be Better on to the dark side

policewoman DI Lou Slack and Andrew Buchan (Broadchurch, The Honourable Woman) as Col McHugh, the man she has come to love like a brother who she has helped place at the head of the city’s criminal underworld.

Vincent explained: “Lou has been working for Col, a very notable gangster, for 20 years. Something very traumatic happens in her family life and begins the process of a moral change for her. It leads to her realising that she wants to undo all the bad things she’s done and start to lead a better life. But this will mean coming into direct conflict with Col.”

Nineteen years ago, when Lou was a young police officer at her lowest ebb and Col a low-ranking but ambitious newcomer to the Leeds underworld, their paths crossed, and they struck a deal that changed their lives forever. The bargain allowed Col to become very rich and powerful, and Lou to turn around her failing career. A complex but special bond between the pair was forged, and so began Lou’s gradual slide into corruption.

Vincent said: “Better explores a few themes, but the topmost one is morality. It is about good and bad. It is the exploration of a bad person trying to become good and how difficult that is. And if that’s even possible, really, and what good and bad means.”

Farzad revealed: “I found the scripts

utterly compelling. I found the character of Lou to be a brilliant, well-rounded woman, written with humour, wit and humanity.

“Lou is incredibly complex because she has a completely ruthless, callous side to her. But she’s also a loving mother, a loving wife, and a loving friend, and is incredibly bright and good at her job. But she’s also a deceitful, manipulative, morally corrupt woman – she’s multi-layered.”

She added: “Lou has had a lot of positives come out of her relationship with Col. She’s risen in the ranks, she’s been able to do a lot of good stuff, as well as the bad stuff. As the years have gone on, he’s got her to do more and more dangerous favours, which she’s turned a blind eye to. I don’t know if you’d call it love but there’s something there that means that she’s not quite able to block him out of her life. He lives sort of dormant in her at all times.”

Buchan explained: “Better is a character piece. It’s neither a cop show nor a whodunnit. The two main characters are very intertwined. It makes the unravelling of their lives incredibly interesting.”

The actor described Col as “a very complex, flawed individual, who has had a childhood littered with deprivation and humiliation. He’s been raised by an alcoholic father, which has thrown fuel on his fire and given him a drive in life, because he doesn’t want to become his dad. So that’s what propels him forward; this reluctance to emulate or become part of the circle of his family. So, with all that in mind, I found him brilliantly challenging to play, and complex and difficult.”

Both Farzad and Buchan were delighted to be working in Leeds.

Farzad said: “It was an absolute treat. It’s such a beautiful city. Being able to see the town hall every day, filming in places like the Corn Exchange, there’s wonderful places to eat and being by the canal... it’s a real mixture of old and new. It was incredible to immerse myself in it for the time that I was shooting there.”

Buchan added: “I’ve worked there once before when I did the ABC Murders with John Malkovich and Rupert Grint. So, I was back there in the same hotel, I thought, ‘This is where I used to have pints with Rupert!’ It was surreal! Leeds is a brilliant place, it’s such an amazing city. It’s so vibrant and full of life with brilliant people and the banter’s class.”

l Better continues on BBC One at 9pm on Mondays. The full series can be streamed on BBC iPlayer.

Game of 2 halves for Carr

Competition

RAF Transport Aircraft

First

FROM THEIR modest origins with BE.2c and Vickers Victoria biplanes delivering food and ammunition in the Mesopotamian deserts, to the massive Globemasters delivering hardware in the same theatre a century later, transport aircraft have played a key role in Britain’s wars.

It was the Cold War that saw transport aircraft become necessary warfighting equipment. Operation Corporate in 1982 identified the need for large-capacity strategic transport aircraft, reinforced by Op Granby in 1990-91, and led to the acquisition of the Lockheed TriStar and Boeing C-17A Globemaster.

When the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq began, the RAF’s transport fleet was ready, and with the new model Hercules, and the Airbus Voyager and Atlas, Britain’s Armed Forces have a transport force second to none, said author Chris Gibson. His new book RAF Transport Aircraft (keypublishing.com) is a highly illustrated look at the transport aircraft of the Service.

‘First in, last out’ is a concise description of the

ILMING HAS started on Changing Ends, a new six-part autobiographical comedy for ITVX and ITV1 starring Alan Carr, made by the multi-awardwinning Baby Cow Productions (Chivalry, The Witchfinder, Gavin & Stacey, Alan Partridge).

F

Co-written by Carr and Simon Carlyle (Two Doors Down), the show is based on Alan’s own life in Northampton in the 1980s, growing up as the son of a Fourth Division football manager.

Carr will star in the series as himself in present day and rising star Oliver Savell (Belfast) takes on the role of young Alan. Also joining the cast are Shaun Dooley and Nancy Sullivan playing Alan’s parents Graham and Christine, with Taylor Fay as Alan’s younger brother Gary.

An ITV spokesperson said: “As showcased in many of Alan’s stand-up shows, his experience as a gay teenager in the East Midlands is a veritable treasure trove with a rich comedic seam, whether it’s his sexual awakenings, his daily battle with bullies or navigating the highs and lows of Fourth Division football.

“It’s about school and family, Kevin Keegan and George Michael, and figuring out who you are when your family are Match of the Day and you’re a bit Miss Marple.”

l The series will premiere first on ITVX, ITV’s new free streaming site.

Win!

in and the last out

operations of the RAF’s transport force. Since 1915, aircraft have supported troops on the ground, carried personnel to and from war zones, evacuated civilians and provided help to the needy.

RAF Transport Command’s motto, Ferio Ferendo, translates as ‘I strike by carrying’ – what transport aircraft have done for more than a century. Featuring more than 130 photographs, this book describes the evolution of the aircraft that provided the airlift capacity for the UK’s military wherever they served, and as Operation Pitting in 2021 showed, transport aircraft are still last out.

We have copies of RAF Transport Aircraft by Chris Gibson to win. For your chance to own one, answer this question correctly:

When was Operation Pitting?

Email your answer, marked Transport Aircraft 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 10. Please include your full postal address.

MINI ME: Carr will star as himself in present day, with Oliver Savell (above) as the young Alan

keypublishing.com

Deaths

Your Announcements

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

HOBDEN Derek Gerald MBE, Warrant Officer (Ret’d). Admin apprentices. Posted to Germany, Cyprus, Aden and Singapore. Passed away at home on January 21, aged 85.

MOSCROP Barbara Ann. Loving wife of Warrant Officer Derek Moscrop BEM RAF (deceased). Passed away peacefully, with her family by her side, on December 24, 2022.

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

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

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.

Associations

Charity concert returns

AFTER A three-year gap, the Royal Air Forces Association Cranwell Branch Bomber County charity concert is back.

Seeking

WERE you stationed at RAF High Wycombe? The station’s Media and Communications Officer, Laurence Parker, is looking for personnel based there, from 1940 to the present, who may have old photographs of the station (if the person is in them, that’s not a problem, says Laurence).

He is aiming to compile a history of RAF High Wycombe through the ages, and possibly use some in a social media campaign. He would also like to hear from people who have recollections of RAF High Wycombe when they were stationed there.

Please email him at: laurence. parker140@mod.gov.uk or write to: Laurence Parker –MCO, RAF High Wycombe SHQ, Walters Ash, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP14 4UE if you can help.

How to use our service

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

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

For sale

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.

Welbeck DSFC

THE Defence Academy is trying to reach students who attended Welbeck DSFC from 2005 to 2019 but who left without joining Defence. Parents or guardians who incurred the Default Event Recovery charge may have been overcharged and due a refund. Email enquiries to: DEFAC-DTOEES-HQ@ mod.gov.uk

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.

The event has moved to the Sleaford Masonic Rooms and the music will be provided by the Miller Magic Big Band, under the direction of Jim McQuade.

Steven Hanson, from the Cranwell branch, said: “There are some changes to the concert, however, the reasons for it remain the same – to provide a wonderful evening’s musical entertainment, raise funds for the RAFA Wings Appeal and remember the brave airmen lost and those taken prisoners of war on the night of March 30/31, 1944, during the disastrous Nuremburg bombing raid.

“On this single night 545 airmen perished. A further 154 were taken as POWs and a total of 109 aircraft were lost. There exists no official memorial to all of those

brave airmen who took part in the Nuremburg Raid.”

He added: “This year will be 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 our Master of Ceremonies.

He served 14 years in the RAF, and was at BBC Radio Lincolnshire for 25 years.”

The concert is on Sunday, May 7, starting at 7pm. 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.

Do you remember rally man Mike?

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 said: “Unfortunately, during several moves, including home and abroad, 99 per cent of my photographs and memorabilia have been lost.

“I am seeking anyone who would remember me from 1965 Singapore, Brampton, Gütersloh, Coltishall, Swanton Morley and West Raynham. I served as a photographer.

“In Singapore I was one of two Motor Sports Club photographers, our meeting place was the Singapore Cricket Club.”

On his return to the UK, he was stationed at JARIC, Brampton and started entering motor car rallies.

Mike explained: “Whilst stationed at Gütersloh I entered German rallies as a codriver/navigator. My driver (since deceased) was Ted Gresham (I am not certain I have spelt his surname correctly), he served on one of the Lightning squadrons.

“I was also the founder member of the Gütersloh Motor Sport Club. We had our own club room and bar. The officer in charge was a WO.

“Stationed at Coltishall, my involvement

in motor rallying really took off. From 1970 to 1974 my main driver was Mick Netherway, who took a commission about 1974.

“I navigated and co-drove for a few other RAF and civilian personnel.”

In 1972 Mike was a member of the RAFMSA Service crew for the Rothmans Cyprus Rally and in 1973 a member (codriver) of the RAFMSA 3 car entry to the Cyprus Rally. The RAFMSA was sponsored, on both occasions, by Mitsubishi and Fairbrothers of Cyprus.

He was the Champion RAFMSA Navigator and Clerk of the Course for three RAFMSASponsored night rallies, the first one a closed event.

Following that he was promoted to Clerk of the Course for two Restricted Night Rallies, 'RAFMSA Night Rally', both starting in Fakenham. He also competed in the Mobile Economy Rally 1971, the Welsh Rally 1974 and the RAC Rally of GB 1975, all sponsored by the RAFMSA.

He added: “In 1972 I was timekeeper for the RAFMSA-controlled and marshalled Yorkshire stage for the RAC Rally of GB. I competed in 1973 in a number of national and local stage rallies with a mix of RAF and civilian drivers.”

l Please contact Mike on: evansmr1@ hotmail.com if you can help.

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.

Barbara and Derek Moscrop

BIG BAND SOUND:

The Miller Magic band perform on May 7

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IN A new documentary Crash site detective: What happened to Halifax NP711? a crash site investigator is joined by Forces News as he attempts to locate the exact spot where a Halifax heavy bomber crashed in February 1945 during a mission over Nazi Germany.

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The annual memorial, attended by the Chief of the Air Staff, ACM Sir Mike Wigston, was hosted by the RAF Benevolent Fund.

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knowledge he acquired during his service, Erik Wieman, a Dutch Marine Corps veteran with a passion for archaeology, has discovered 11 long-forgotten WWII crash sites and located another 15 downed aircraft that he hopes to positively identify.

Seven men from 408 'Goose' Sqn, Royal Canadian Air Force, died in the devastating crash, including 20-year-old RAF airman Flight Engineer St James Wilson.

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A spokesperson for the charity said: “This year’s ceremony was the first of its kind in which both the Chief of the Air Staff and His Royal Highness together paid tribute to the Father of The Royal Air Force, Lord Hugh Trenchard.”

“His painstaking work brings to light the secrets surrounding the disappearance of Allied pilots, and some German aviators, who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

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HEAVY BOMBER: The Halifax Mk3

Across

Prize Crossword No. 333

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

7. Can fly in the ointment jump? (6)

8. Station with depression? (6)

10. Teacher sends back German food (7)

11. Noble Rod is working (5)

12.See 19 Down

13. Crosby may duck game (5)

17. Green jumpers (5)

18. RAF personnel like top French wine, by the sound of it (4)

22. Finally endless aircraft emerges (5)

23. Directors take in two beginners for short post (7)

24.And 25 Across. Flimsy glance disturbs 45 Sqn (6,6)

25.See 24 Across

Down

1. Cleaner help, we hear, is just a farce (7)

2. Divide tires up outside Connecticut (7)

3. First brightly illuminated last letter during aerial attack (5)

4. 100 join Swedish stars, say, back at plant (7)

5. Capone with gun causes consternation (5)

6. During anarchy enamoured by this creature (5)

9. Maybe consign heartless boy to station (9)

14. Polish leader may dislike what he’s given (7)

15. The German accepts 500 sheets: he’s idealistic (7)

16. South-west England beauty isn’t from there at all! (7)

19.And 12 Across. Eccentric cartoon character? (5,4)

20. Cunning plans pleased lots of you suckers at first (5)

21. Second disclosure was miserable (5)

He's not just clinging on

COMPOSED OVER the last two years, Riopy’s new album, Thrive, is scheduled for release on April 14.

The French pianistcomposer has just finished his first major UK tour and is now on the road in Europe. Riopy came to music after escaping to the UK following a childhood spent in an oppressive French cult. His fortunes changed when he was given an opportunity to study at Oxford Brookes University, and then gifted a Steinway piano by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who recognised his potential.

He has since channelled his troubled past – which included drug and alcohol abuse brought on by depression and anxiety – into his music.

Lana Del Rey has adapted one of Riopy’s compositions to feature on her next album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, out on March 10.

As well as new compositions for solo piano, the album features the composer-pianist’s take on

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 10. Prize Crossword No. 331 winner is: Michael Noble, Wellingborough.

Prize Su Doku No. 343

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 10.

The winner of Su Doku No: 341 is: Mr GJT Bean, Churchdown, Gloucester.

Tribute to the Hercules

RETIRED PILOT Gp Capt Ron Powell’s latest book is dedicated to the C-130 Hercules and the crews that have flown it during its long and distinguished RAF service.

The much-loved aircraft is due to retire from RAF service on March 31 this year.

Called Fat Albert after the affectionate nickname crews gave the aircraft, this third volume of Ron’s memoir, Shropshire Blue, chronicles his time at Lyneham.

He said: “I joined 24 Squadron just as the Falklands War started. It was all very exciting, not least because hardly anyone knew where the Falkland Islands were, or how we were going to support the Task Force sent to retake them.

“In the end, we flew most of the men and supplies they needed to Ascension Island, a tiny volcanic dot four thousand miles away in the South Atlantic between Africa and South America. The Task Force then picked up the kit and sailed on towards the Falklands, another four thousand miles distant.”

famous music which has most inspired him, including works by Satie, Pachelbel, Beethoven, Fauré, Debussy and Chopin. He has transformed their much-loved melodies into cinematic scores of his own, and composed arrangements for string orchestra. l Go to: riopymusic.com

Flying to Ascension dominated Ron’s first few months on the frontline. In his RAF career he flew over much of the rest of the world, visiting places as far apart as the western USA and New Zealand, Iceland and the Falklands. Highlights included flying into East Berlin, Beirut, the mountains of eastern Turkey near the Soviet border, Cape Canaveral at the time of a Space Shuttle launch and Ethiopia during the early stages of the 1984 famine relief operations.

He added: “What I remember most vividly are the camaraderie and the laughter, and I’ve tried to capture that, as well as providing a fitting tribute to Fat Albert and the crews that flew it, not only then, but in all the operations and wars since. It’s hard to believe we’re approaching a point where it will no longer be in service.”

Go to: ronpowell.co.uk for more information.

We have signed copies of Fat Albert to win. For

your chance to own one, simply answer this question correctly:

When does the C-130 Hercules cease operations for the RAF?

Email your answer, marked Fat Albert 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 10.