Air Safety

The Good Old Days

Or Reflections of an Old Boggie

It was late in 1961 and there I was, a brand new Pilot Officer just graduated from a fighter OCU and posted to the premier fighter squadron in Australia – an outfit full of legendary ‘old hands’ which boasted of extraordinary skills . . . or so it was rumoured in the bar.

All were senior Flying Officers and Flight Lieutenants, all had at least 2 years in the squadron, all were Tigers and all-had the air of confidence which duly impressed a young unconfident fledgling fighter pilot like myself.

Not only was I about to learn from these masters of the air the art of aerial combat, precision air-to-ground weapons delivery, battle formation and formation aerobatics, but also the dubious art of drinking gallons of beer at a furious rate, holding the attention of the aghast patrons in the better restaurants and night clubs of Darwin and South East Asia and the subtle difference between the female species throughout both Asia and Australia. This was the life: ‘kick the tyres, light the fires, first in the air leads and we’ll brief on GUARD’- every man a Tiger.

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