Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Stear
Naval 8 / 208 Association Reunion
24 October 2009 RAF Club
Hunter Chapter Part 2: 1965 - 1971
Once aga
in we are very grateful to the Boss and current Members of 208 Squadron and their ladies for making the long trek down from Valley to be with us at the Annual Reunion, and for bringing with them the Squadron Standard tonight [02]. It is a good opportunity to have a closer look at it and to note the impressive list of Battle Honours.
Last year Tim 
Webb 
opened the Hunter Chapter of the Squadron history, tracing 208's [03] many moves and exploits from the introduction of the Hunter F6, a brief reversion to the Venom to the Hunter Fighter/Ground Attack Mk 9, until its arrival, not for the first time, back in Bahrain in June 1964; this time “to take up residence” permanently on the rather rudimentary RAF Muharraq. Note the young, handsome, Tim Webb (second from the left) [04].
Tonight we continue the Hunter story from then until 1971 and the squadron's departure from Bahrain and the Middle East and the, thankfully, temporary disbandment.
I hope the ladies will be pleased to hear that there are plenty of pictures – and not all of aeroplanes – I find that pictures are always helpful – especially for navigators, and I am sure that any 'creamies' present will appreciate them too.
At this point I must say a warm 'thank you' for the great help provided by the Squadron in assembling this collage, especially the Boss, Wg Cdr Jamie Hunter and our recently appointed Association Liaison Officer, Flt Lt Tom Sawle, but most of all to Ben Laite for the enormous technical help and advice to this rather ancient Weapons Instructor, trained in the slide rule and Log Tables era!
