Oo great. Waddington. I’ve checked and P24 definitely contains a bit of the Waddington Air Base. This is good because I’ve been to Waddington Air Base a few times. To the Summer and Winter balls at the officers mess for one. Great doos. I did find it a little odd that you could tell how important someone was just by looking at their arms but that’s just my civilian perspective.
Very cheap drinks. I think i recall a bottle of moet being £14 and two pints of lager, a G & T and an OJ being something like £2.50. Was a while ago mind. We had a friend, Brad, who worked for Boeing and was able to invite us. V good.
The Waddington Airshow is a great day out. Been twice. Got complimentary tickets because the kids were playing in the school orchestra in hangar 4. It was particularly good because in order to deliver the musicians and their instruments we had a car pass that got us right in to the base with permission to park just next to the hangar.
Great organisation. We are in good hands with the Royal Air Force.
My other memory of Waddo is of taking off and landing there a few times. Our next door neighbour in Greetwell Gate was Flight Lieutenant Al Green. Al was a great lad and very hard working. For a time he ran the multi engined graining school at RAF Cranwell. The time came for Al to return to his unit in Brize Norton and as a bit of a farewell gestured he arranged to take me up in the jump seat when he was out with a new trainee pilot. They used twin engined jetstreams for the job and I sat there with headphones on listening to the two up front doing their stuff. We flew for an hour around Lincolnshire and returned via the cathedral so that I could take some photos of or house. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great but it didn’t detract from the occasion.
Anyway for while Al took over the controls and did a few approaches, landings and takeoffs at Waddington. I think he needed to do a certain amount every month to “maintain his ticket” or whatever the word is. It was quite a privilege to be allowed along on the ride.
Al lives near Oxford now. Must catch up sometime if you’re reading Al.
So that’s Waddington, the airbase at least. There is more to it, including a chippy and a takeaway curry house but that’s as far as my knowledge stretches.
Ciao amigos
Angels at 1 o’clock, or words to that effect.