As many of you are aware, today is the 30 anniversary of the invasion of the Falklands. I was serving at RAF Lyneham and although did not end up down there still had a pretty s****ty time. I am sure I am not the only one on this website. I also had some funny times - often the result of exhaustion.
Whilst the army trained, the navy made ready and the RAF worked out how to get stuff down there in a hurry and safely fly back again, I along with many others had to make as many aircraft ready for the conflict, speed up the servicing of the aircraft and fit inflight refuelling equipment to the Hercules. (They flew too slowly to safely refuel from the Victor tankers at the time). So a large number of us worked 12 hours for 5 days, followed immediately by 8 hours for 7 days followed by a weekend off. We often worked for upto 36 hours non stop. People forget, after the task force had left, we still needed to get equipment to Ascension ahead of them and that meant by air. This carried on throughout the campaign.
Whilst the task force sailed into danger and a lot of people lost their lives it must also be remembered that it could not have been done without the support of the people who stayed behind preparing and supplying the equipment required. Like all wars, there are far more people supporting the fighting force than actually on the front line.
So who else is there on this site with a story to tell?
Whilst the army trained, the navy made ready and the RAF worked out how to get stuff down there in a hurry and safely fly back again, I along with many others had to make as many aircraft ready for the conflict, speed up the servicing of the aircraft and fit inflight refuelling equipment to the Hercules. (They flew too slowly to safely refuel from the Victor tankers at the time). So a large number of us worked 12 hours for 5 days, followed immediately by 8 hours for 7 days followed by a weekend off. We often worked for upto 36 hours non stop. People forget, after the task force had left, we still needed to get equipment to Ascension ahead of them and that meant by air. This carried on throughout the campaign.
Whilst the task force sailed into danger and a lot of people lost their lives it must also be remembered that it could not have been done without the support of the people who stayed behind preparing and supplying the equipment required. Like all wars, there are far more people supporting the fighting force than actually on the front line.
So who else is there on this site with a story to tell?
Our Squadron leader - OC AES had to literally design a new system on the back of a fag packet and then expect us to build it. 
