Turning to the Association, the President recalled some earlier reunions, beginning with one in the RAF Club's President's Room that had been attended by Sir Geoffrey Bromet, the Squadron's first CO, who was a marvellously gentle and very impressive man, accompanied by the very fearsome Humphrey Edwardes-Jones, who stood alongside him on the top table. There had been 120 members at that event, with no partners in those days. It had been a great gathering and really the end of an era.


In the last 10 years, the reunions had moved into a Chapter era, learning about life on 208, and the spirit of 208 through anecdotes from individuals. There had been some marvellous stories from Ken Pugh, a Cotswold farmer; 'Twinkle' Storey, who was the CO of Bahrain; Mike Stear, of course, talked about the Hunter; and many Squadron Commanders had talked about their various times on the Squadron. The theme had always been the same: terrific professionalism, terrific 'can-do'; and great fun for everyone, which is what the Association was trying to sustain. The President congratulated the Committee for all the work they had put in to making all this happen and their efforts to keep this spirit alive. It was extremely important to do that.


Unfortunately, the problem faced, like many organisations, was that the Association no longer had a 'heart' - an active Squadron - despite the lobbying that he and others had carried out. The reality was that there were only seven fast-jet squadrons in the RAF today, which was dreadful when you thought of the numbers of just 20 years ago. Regarding other squadron numbers, for example 1 through 20, all of which were illustrious squadrons, many of these also no longer existed, not to mention such famous squadrons as 56 or 74, and the President hadn't even got to the three-figure numbers. So there were very few left and therefore very little chance, frankly, of 208 being reformed, given the current state of the military. That's not to say, however, that the Association should not try to keep things going. The President regretted in many ways that the Squadron had to disband just three months before its 100th, in the same way that he regretted that Prince Phillip died three months before his 100th birthday. However, the Association had celebrated the Anniversary with Graham Pitchfork's very good book 'Forever Vigilant', which recounts all the tales of derring do, but it would be very sad if future reunions comprised just the Committee members supporting the memory of all that 208 Squadron had lived through.


2021 Reunion - 03

News Archive (1)

Back to
News Archive

…... Continued

2021 Reunion Page  1  2  3  4  5

2021 Reunion

Back to
2021 Reunion

20211024 - Reunion 2021 - 04 20211024 - Reunion 2021 - 02