The President t
herefore asked everyone to think about how the organisation might move forward: where should we meet; how should we meet up; what reunion type should we have? He had received some views already, but he asked everyone to reflect on what they had seen in the past, what they had seen today and how reunions might be taken forward in a more meaningful way. There's was a lot that could be done to continue to make it work.
Of course, as a result of having no 'active' Squadron, the Association could not attract any new, younger, members. The President recalled a visit by his daughter and three grandchildren to the Manston Museum from where his daughter had called him with a question: "Dad, the kids want to know if you've flown the Buccaneer that's here?" He replied: "Well, of course I've flown it, you know that, I only flew it for three years, but I have
flown it." They said: "No, we want to know if you flew this particular one." "OK, what's the number?" XV352 immediately rang a bell, and it was a 208 aeroplane, so he said "I'll call you back," rushed up, checked the log book and there it was. Interestingly, he had flown XV352 across The Pond, tanking on a 'Flag'. He had flown it many times into Norway down the fjords. He remembered a memorable trip leading eight 208 Buccaneers onto an airfield attack at Laarbruch, when he called up one minute out, and they said: "Well, you can't come in -
went across Laarbruch and carried on. There were other trips in XV352, to Ørland and so on and so forth. However, when he rang back and said "Yes, I've done this, this, this and this," his daughter said: "No, they know you've flown this Buccaneer, Grandad, but they want to know when you flew it, did it have wings?"
The question was, therefore, 'Have we got wings?' He encouraged everyone to get their wings on and find out how best to take the Naval Eight / 208 Squadron Association forward, because it meant a lot to everyone and, in reflection of that, the President concluded his address by asking everyone to raise a glass to 'Naval Eight / 208'.
'Naval EIGHT / 208'
2021 Reunion -
