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The trip to R.A.F. Leuchars was
one of these occasions which could be fraught [SNAFU] but resulted in a
grab bag of memories which, in turn, were the cause of much merriment and
head scratching in the days following the
visit. |
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We started by meeting at the car
park of the Royal British Legion, Cumbernauld, and were somewhat aghast
when a minibus arrived looking and sounding less healthy than any of the
intended passengers. Apparently all had arrived and we squashed aboard and
left Onto the ‘thru-way’ down the hill and up to the roundabout and we
entered the slip road to the motorway before grinding to a halt. The bus
could not move - we were well and truly in
trouble. |
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A knight errant in the shape of
another mini-bus appeared. Returning from a hire he saw our predicament
and took pity on us and uplifted the party and returned them to the car
park from whence we had not long departed. Divided up amongst four cars we
then left some choosing the route through Stirling and others the
alternative Kincardine Bridge road. Surprisingly all arrived with a very
short time frame and we were duly booked into the Station who took us for
a welcome cup of tea and biscuit and a warm welcome from the
Staff. |
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This latter was quite a professional production . As well as the welcome there was a short history of the Station all well illustrated by a carefully chosen set of photographs. This was to prove to be typical of all the sections which we visited. Whether it was the Duty Pilot or the S.A.C. In charge of the Safety Equipment Stores it was apparent that a lot of preparation had gone in to showing off the particular department in particular and Leuchars in general in a positive but not flamboyant manner. |
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The background of the various
visitors showed when on passing a derelict some comment was passed by our
guide about this museum piece and a member pointed out that this had been
his hut when doing his square bashing there in 1940 On another occasion e
had been treated to an excellent display of vintage aircraft which had all
flown out of Leuchars from the mid thirties. All bar one were identified
and the gap was filled by one of the group who gave a potted history of
the aircraft back to pre 1939 days. The staff were delighted we had filled
in a piece of information that had eluded them for some
time. |
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Meeting a couple of good looking;
indeed glamorous, fighter pilots was a new experience for all of us
especially so when we found out that one of the ladies was the gunnery
training officer to the squadron. Walking around the hangars certainly put
a new perspective on the fighter aircraft which showed none of the
flimsiness which so many of us knew. Basically two massive engines mounted
on a sheet of steel it was awe inspiring to see the sheer size of the
engine housing when the engine was out. It would have done as a home for
“Thomas the Tank” |
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Air Traffic Control was another
section which caused many to look and ponder. The tower itself was not
over busy but was well staffed having twin responsibilities for aircraft
movements as well as ground traffic. Immediately below the traffic was an
extensive radar centre which now seems to operate well beyond the confines
of the station itself. Well staffed it had all the modern radars with
aircraft computer identified and all the other tricks of the modern age.
Most impressive was the routine ability to show height finding radar on
one half of the screen whilst the [plan position was being shown on the
other half. Some of us had “itchy fingers”
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