(without landing!) and the Air Base still bore the marks of the conflict as a reminder. Nonetheless, 208 Sqn pilots were made to feel truly welcome by our hosts, Serbia’s Advanced Flying Training sqn, enforcing the old mantra that fast jet pilots have plenty in 
common the world over. As the Sqn was fortunate to be reasonably well manned during my tenure, I was able to take the opportunity to take all the instructors abroad to Italy in 2008 to study 208 Sqn’s support to the Italian Campaign (1943-45), including visits to Anzio, Montecasino and Rome. As always, such a trip was great for morale and the Sqn fully immersed itself into all aspects of Italian culture...quite how we all made it home I’m not too sure…
But as one would expect, it’s not as much about the things that the Sqn did during my tenure as it was about the people that were on the Sqn at the time. The heart and soul of the Sqn was without doubt, in my view, the ‘Creamie’ fraternity. Around 5 new Creamies joined the Sqn each year and they never disappointed. Not only was the RAF able to capitalise on great talent at an early stage in their training, but it also proved to be a superb springboard for their careers after their short tours on the Sqn. Most made it to the Typhoon, and 2 of the team are serving on the Red Arrows today and performing brilliantly. Not all the pilots graduating from AFT were so fortunate though; in 2010 we were required to send the first 2 pilots direct from training to the posted to the Reaper, the RAF’s unmanned aircraft. Although a bitter pill to swallow at first, the 2 selectees cracked on with the task and were ultimately most successful. One even came back from the USA with an American bride! But of course, not all memories are good ones. In 2012, the news of a Tornado mid air collision in Scotland hit the Sqn hard as it became apparent that one of the pilots involved was Flt Lt Adam Sanders, a former 208 Creamie, and another was a recent 208 student, Hywel Poole. They will both always stay in our thoughts - perhaps we can raise a glass to them later on this evening…
…... the less experienced ‘Creamie’ pilots on the staff.
Other trips abroad included visiting Tanagra Air Base in Greece and Batajnica Air Base in Serbia for their international air shows. The latter was particularly poignant as it was the first time that Serbia had hosted the event since the Kosovo Crisis of 1998. 208 Sqn pilots had to be careful, especially since some had not visited the country since that very time
Hawk 2008-2010 Page 1 2 3 4 5
