The Rock That Rocks - 2

…... depicting Spanish airspace – otherwise you were heading for a one-sided conversation following a diplomatic incident.


After touchdown, (which we obviously did) the trick was to try to stop before you reached the public road which had kindly been closed for us because even the best of us can’t deal with landing and avoiding moving traffic. As this was my first landing we didn’t try to stop quickly, which gave us plenty of time to get the wings folded (how I wished I’d done that during my first TACEVAL some months later – but that is definitely another story). Parked up, shut down and bags out the back, we were ready to party – or so I thought.


After our post-debrief beer, TLW leans over to me and says something along the lines of ‘so you’re doing the role demonstration tomorrow tiger, but I’m putting Stevie (Tait) in the backseat to keep an eye on you’. Maybe I banged my head getting the bags out or maybe this is another one of those wind-ups thinks I. But no, he was serious and on 1 Oct 88 I got to show the general public what a Buccaneer can really do! Well that’s not quite true, we took off, flew around the Rock once or twice, approached the runway from 2 different directions, and landed – safely! Now I could enjoy what Gib had to offer.


So what was the attraction with Gib? Well, there’s the fact that it’s 3 hours south of Lossiemouth and generally a lot warmer (actually sometimes in February it could be colder). Whilst the delights of the nightlife in Elgin have been tasted by many a Bucc-mate, there’s something holiday-like about being able to sit outside, in a bar, by the sea, watching the world go by. Then there’s the flying: some sorties the first time we climbed above 100ft was after the break and that was only to position to land.


Obviously, we didn’t just go to Gib to party, we were there to work too. Much of our time was spent supporting the Armilla patrol. This was the Royal Navy’s presence in the Persian Gulf; as the patrol transited through the Med and Suez, there was an ideal opportunity to work the crews up, which usually fell to one of the Bucc sqns. This generally involved attacking the ships and simulating some of the likely adversary tactics including attempting to shoot approaches to non-existent aircraft carriers using incredibly bad Arabic accents. All jolly good fun. Sometimes we would visit the ships when they were allowed ‘a run ashore’ and the RN should be complimented for their excellent hosting. Many a cockersP has led on to a boozy evening in town or La Linea, the Spanish ghetto that exists to block a free and easy exit from the Rock. On occasion, social events have led to extensive phone calls back to Lossie.



Buccaneer Articles (2)

Back to
Buccaneer Articles

…... Continued

The Rock That Rocks  Page  1  2  3  4

The Rock That Rocks 03 The Rock That Rocks 01