Later that evening a certain One Striper was asked by the PMC to leave the meal; as I went into the bar and ordered a drink a voice behind me said “Better make that more than one” - I turned there was the Air Commodore and the other one Stripers; apparently the Air Commodore had said “One One Striper out all one stripers out”!
Some months later we had a very serious incident and we saw the other
side of this very popular officer. The Squadron, on detachment at Sharjah, had been invited by the Commander Land Forces Persian Gulf to attack the Para’s encampment as they broke camp following an exercise. This was done with great gusto and by the time the second four were “on task” the Paras were less than happy to the extent that they started firing air burst mortars at the aircraft! The Air Commodore had just flown in when the ‘4-ship’ landed and an extremely irate Commander was driven to meet the Para Colonel. By all accounts the subsequent discussion was very one-sided and extremely chilly!
On 1 April 1965, Sqn Ldr Dave Rhodes took over the Squadron from Gordon Lewis but soon thereafter was promoted to Wg Cdr. And the story will continue next year……