Letter from the Squadron - 2001

For those who have not yet seen the new markings, they comprise 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 has been 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 is also represented by the blue and yellow chevron painted on the nose. In the next few weeks, I hope that the Squadron Print will be amended to reflect these changes and I am also hoping to invite RAF News to cover the new scheme in an historical article.

This historic theme will be pursued in a number of other ways. As part of the recent changes to the administration of flying training, each student must now be given a written arrival brief about the Squadron, its current operations and what is expected of them. In my view, a vital part of that brief will be a comprehensive Squadron history to encourage and reinforce the ethos of service. To reinforce that message and to bring it right up to date, I am also preparing a series of wall displays to illustrate 208 Squadron’s historic contribution to the generation of air power as reflected in modern doctrine (AP 3000). Integral to these displays will be an explanation of the various Squadron insignia, such as the Eye of Horus and the ‘Sky and the Sand.’ I have also asked the senior students to design an appropriate replacement for the ‘Naked Lady’ badge that the students are given on their arrival, to fully reflect the Squadron history, to reinforce their sense of pride in belonging, and to properly reflect the Squadron’s current training role.

I was somewhat bemused, therefore, to find myself the subject of a 4-day personal attack by The Sun newspaper over my ‘bombshell decision’ to ‘ban' the badge on the grounds of Political Correctness. Warhol did predict that in the future, everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes, but I did not think that my moment would be on Page 3 of The Sun. However, at the risk of introducing fact to this highly entertaining story, Association members may wish to know the following. For those who are unaware of recent practice, the ‘Naked Lady’ badge was given to student pilots on their arrival to differentiate them from the staff. The badge is not (and never has been) worn by the qualified Squadron pilots, who Wear the official 'Gizah Sphinx’ crest with pride. There has been no ‘ban’, although l have asked the Squadron Adjutant not to order any more stocks of the old badge in anticipation of the new design being ready for production in the next few weeks. Certainly, I did not ‘order all 80 fliers at RAF Valley to remove it’ (as The Sun claimed) as that would have been both churlish and impossible (there are only ever 3 dozen - currently 19 - students who would be likely to be wearing it, out of a total Squadron complement of some 70 aircrew). Nos 57 and 58 Courses continue to wear it but, now that stocks are depleted, it will go out of Circulation with the graduation of 58 Course on 27th July.

The Sun’s claim that ‘aircrew at the base begged for a copy of the poster’ (of the Page 3 model posed as the ‘Naked Lady’) is also highly dubious. Firstly, the reporter claims to have

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