very first ‘proper’ Squadron. The new markings comprised of 3 elements. Firstly, the Eye of Horus emblazoned on the fin to reflect the Squadron’s heritage as a desert reconnaissance unit. Secondly, a new set of horizontal blue and yellow bands was added to either side of the fuselage roundel to reflect the ‘sky and the sand’ of the Meteor and Hunter chapters. Lastly, the Buccaneer era was also represented by the blue and yellow chevron painted on the nose.
Although a 
modern building, the walls of the Squadron accommodation at Valley were drab and uninspiring so, with the help of Flt Lt Keith Hildred and the Command Graphics Department, I set about creating a set of educational wall displays (6) that would illustrate the air power doctrine of the time with examples from 208 Squadron’s historic past. No-one walking through the building could fail to notice these high-quality graphic displays, and it was my hope that everyone wo
uld draw lessons on Air Power Doctrine and 208 Squadron history, just by absorption, if nothing else. The research and production of this series (7) of displays is a long story, which warrants an entire presentation on its own but, to save valuable time in the Bar, I have brought along reproduction copies of some of the originals, which I hope you will enjoy looking at later. The educational wall display project was a ground-breaking idea amongst RAF squadrons and has since been copied by many other units and organisations as an extremely effective way of using high-impact graphics to deliver educational output.
See a Photo Gallery of the Educational
Wall Displays at this link:
My efforts
to engage the students to design an appropriate replacement for the ‘Naked Lady’ 208 “Penetrate” badge of the Buccaneer era, to fully reflect the Squadron history, to reinforce their sense of pride and to properly reflect the Squadron’s training role, was less well received by the national press! (8). My ‘Andy Warhol’ ’15 Minutes of Fame’ was a 4-day personal attack by The Sun newspaper over my ‘bombshell decision’ to ‘ban’ the badge on the grounds of Political Correctness. Naturally the article had little basis in fact, but I suppose that you should not let fact get in the way of a good story!
