BAOR/BFG medal

Gordon. wrote:

Hmmm..A bit of name dropping never did one any harm..

I don't think I ever actually "met" anyone famous while I was in the army. I tended to be one of those undesireables that were herded out of sight, until the luminary had left our presence.

Then you had the situation where, for example, Profumo came to visit us, in his capacity as Defence Minister. Addressing the Battery the BSM said "if he speaks to you, you will SHUT UP !"

So . . . I SAW plenty of famous people, if nothing else !

(I have spoken to The Duke of Westminster since demob. I tapped him for a couple of quid, to get the drinks in like but he told me to "naff off !").

ritter wrote:

Shelldrake, Jimsigs1, Les, Brum, et al
Chasing the thread further, I hope, but with some reservation because of my lack of understanding of Brit humour, I also had a casual meeting with another Royal persona, HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. It took place on 23 Oct 1969 at London, Ont when HRH presented new Queens Colours to the 1st and 3rd battalions of the Royal Canadian Regiment. It was an honour for my Regiment, 21 Field Artillery Regt RCA(M), to be selected to fire the 21 gun Royal Salute (one troop of 4-105mm howitzers).1st and3rd Battalions of the Royal Canadian Regiment.

HRH, wearing the blue dress uniform of the RCR, is shown arriving at London, Ont airport. Greeting him is Lt Col Tom Lawson honorary colonel of 3RCR

Now that's a nice picture.

It's great to see someone with a chest full of medals that he actually EARNED.

Is that a Duty-Free bag Phil is carrying, I wonder ?

Aircraft recognition time now. Aircraft in the background. My money's on a Britannia.

Any takers ?

Looks like a Brit, or could it be a VC 10?

Probably a VC 10 Shelldrake.They were all the go then...

from the exhast it looks like a turbo-prop , could be an andover
the vc10s engines ( 4 ) were on the tail

Gordon. wrote:

Probably a VC 10 Shelldrake.They were all the go then...

VC 10 ?

That was a jet, wasn't it ?

Definitely Turbo Prop by the look of the wing

I just spotted that John McMillan had remarked on the VC 10, sorry John.

When we flew to Libya, in '67 it was in a Britannia.

went to singapore in a brittania 1965 returned 68 in a VC10

John - Ditto but out in 1966, back in 1968.
The Britannia was flying under the flag of British Eagle. The return VC10 journey was via Gan Island, Akrotiri to RAF Stansted. All seats facing backwards RAF style.

Jimsigs1

Shelldrake et al,
Poor Prince Philip, upstaged by an airplane. I'm glad that I didn't try to crop more out of that picture.LOL
I'm not an authority on aircraft but my moneys on Brum with the Bristol(?) Britannia.
Bob

they took us from aldershot to somewere in london to book in ,there was a bar there and everyone got tanked-up, then onto a coach to go to ,,,,it could have been stansted, but it seemed to take hours everyone was bursting, on the way out we landed at kuwuit and then columbo , off at raf changi I think.
did some supply dropping from an andover and they are capable of kneeling to help with loading and the plane in the photo looks low

John.

Did you notice the wonderful aroma sifting its way across from Singapore City when you landed in probably around 2-3am. Can still smell it, and they say Singapore is one of the cleaness cities in the world. When I was there, you could go to work on the back of a monsoon rat.

Jimsigs1

you should have crossed from penang to butterworth on the ferry after a night on the tiger, the smell of drying fish ( ikan bilis ) would turn your stomach

What about that horrible grub being cooked up in dustbin lids in downtown Singapore.
together with the constant spit aimed at the opposite pavement.

Jimsigs1

the was before LEE KWAN YUE took charge ,lol

John,

Lee Kuan Yew was already in charge - 1966-68 when I was there.
Coincidentally, my family and I were put into LLoyds Hotel, just off Orchard Rd and a short distance from the Lee Yuan Yew family home.

Jimsigs1

did my air despatch training in raf seleta nov-dec 65 and went to raaf butterworth for christmas,
after christmas went to raf kuching for 3 months then back to butterworth till jan 69 went to raf changi til returned to uk in the april, seen in the paper about the clean up no chewing gum etc,

We could do with some of that it this country.

The chewing gum law has gone now..alas.

British Eagle departed from Gatwick in 65. and arrived at Stanstead in 68.Kuwait and Columbo were the staging posts,and sometimes KL was added.

Gordon,

I thought Singapore still had the chewing gum law in their supposidly sterile country alongside spitting and long hair.

Jimsigs1

No, a lot of the sanitization laws have been relaxed,but it is still a semi police state..

It's about time they brought some of those laws over here!!!!

Couldn't agree more. I see that the spitting by youths today seems to be the norm. what with teir baggy jeans & hoods etc. Run them around the square a few times.

Jimsigs1

Makes me feel like one of the Grumpy old Men, as on TV, now they are talking about throwing money at these people involved in riots etc, "must be something to do with their struggle" I just don't believe what I am hearing