Letter from the Squadron - 2015
LETTER FROM THE SQUADRON – 2015
After taking
command of 208 Sqn in Dec 2012, the unit has been through a period of growth and rejuvenation so it is with some sadness that I must move on to Staff College after handing over command to the new OC, Wg Cdr Chris Kidd. Wg Cdr Kidd arrived in January to begin his training and formally takes command in May.
Since my last letter to the Association, the Sqn has been hard at work completing 3350 flying hours over a roughly equal number of sorties. In order to achieve this total, we’ve had to work closely with our Sqn engineers and manage the hours and fatigue to obtain maximum utility from a limited fleet of the ‘classic’ Hawk T1. Despite low aircraft numbers the Sqn’s output has again matched that of the RAF’s flagship fast jet training system run by IV Sqn. Over the last twelve months, ten ab initio students have graduated from 208 Sqn.
The ten included six UK students and one Saudi student being role disposed to the Typhoon OCU, two UK students being role disposed to the Tornado GR4 OCU and one Royal Navy student being posted from the end of Advanced Flying Training (AFT) to complete Tactics and Weapons (TW) Training with the United States Navy at Meridian NAS in the USA. We currently have four Kuwaiti students and seven UK students on course, although by the time this newsletter is published the Kuwaiti students should have graduated to the F-18 OCU in Kuwait.
Along with the Sqn’s core task
of training ab initio students we’ve also refreshed four pilots for the Red Arrows, nine pilots for 100 Sqn, trained four AFT instructors and five TW instructors, introduced two foreign exchange pilots to UK procedures before sending them to the Tornado GR4 OCU, refreshed the new Stn Cdr of RAF Boscombe Down and refreshed a pilot destined for the F-35 programme in the USA. On top of all of this tasking there was also the need to refresh one of our creamie instructors. Flt Lt Kingman took a tumble off his bicycle on the way home from the pub and was grounded for six months due to concussion! Kingers swears he only had a couple, but either the bump on the head or the alcohol left him unconscious so the doctors were having none of it!
Letter from the Squadron - 2015 Page 1 2 3
