Klaatu

Awesome Les!

The Zohan

Has the doubting Thomas posted an apology or even an acknowledgment of this thread, i hope so - as it takes a real man to admit their mistakes

Lee247

He's been made to look a bit of a clown, so I doubt he will have the bottle to apologise

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Right Ok, enough.

This is an internet forum, no one has to post up photographic evidence to substantiate claims about their past. How much you reveal about yourself is entirely at your discretion. As might happen in a conversation, some claims you make will be believed by those well known or disposed to you without evidence, others might be sceptical.

If you choose to provide evidence, it may be embraced or cast doubt upon: The claimaint knows the truth and, certainly in the context of an internet forum, that's all that matters!

Les has been kind enough to post up some really great pictures, those who believed him from the outset (like me) are greatful, those who don't will either now quietly accept Les's word or continue to doubt him. That is their perrogative! There is, however, no need to use this as an excuse to bait/troll or just be nasty. Sometimes, if you don't believe a word of what someone says, the best thing to do is just not talk to them!

Whilst there is an implicit element of "I told you so" in the nature of this thread, there is no need for it to descend into a witch hunt for the "doubters", especially when one is not referencing why they are making an accusation about someone.

I'm going to delete some of the comments that have emerged recently to prevent this from turning into a he said, she said bun fight. The relevant individuals know who they are.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

NS04, remember, there will be a day when you may have to prove to young and sceptical whippersnappers that you were once indeed a moderator on Scoobynet

JPL

I see no need at all for over policing of this type NS04. I am sure Lord Shrek can take as good as he gives... and he "gives" a lot. If he can't be bothered to comment on this thread then so be it, his choice.

It's a public internet forum, hardly a witch hunt... unless he's a friend of yours?

Lee247

Ns04, fair enough. But you can't really expect us who never doubted Les, to feel anything less than rather smug. The original comment made by the certain individual was totally unneccessary and it is shameful that Les was made to feel obliged to justify himself.

Saying that, I am really glad he did as I have enjoyed his pics

The Zohan

Absolutely - overkill really - few questions asked and a mod then comes in with this knee jerk reaction - bit OTT IMHO - TTFN!

Maybe 'we' mere SN users should be grateful you deemed not to lock it as well!

The story goes - aspursions cast - aspursions then fully flattened and all that is needed is a real man to stand up and admit he was wrong - come on no need for you comments really, is there?

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Before anyone starts jumping to (incorrect) conclusions there were a number of posts deleted. NS04's post above was aimed at those who made the deleted posts

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Over policing?!?

JPL Please get your facts straight before accusing me of nepotism! I was the one who warned and infracted Lord Shriek for his baiting comments directed at Les!

I intervened with a request on this thread, just that, no locked threads, no infractions, no warnings etc... just to try and stop a thread turning into a "he said, she said" fest.

We have a Vulcan Bomber pilot posting pics of his service on this thread, can't we, therefore, put it to better use than just going 'Ner ner na ner ner' at individuals who have already been reprimanded for their conduct?

If that means I'm guilty of over policing, so be it!

Or are some people just guilty of crying foul at the SN webteam without really thinking about it properly?

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

NS04, you aren't "Over Policing", just Policing, it's just sometimes we like to do it for ourselves, with a good old "ner ner ne ner ner", Leslie has proven his background, didn't need to for me and I didnt want to see Lord Shrek make a pillock of himself, in the past he has been funny and made some enjoyable posts, perhaps the attitude towards him at he moment is one of wanting him to come and hold his hands up and then move on ?

Bonehead

I never saw the comments that lead to this thread but if it brings more pics of the wonderful Vulcan then

I'm actually sat in Waddington village with a view of the southern end of the runway.
I've been around enough forces folks to know I've never doubted Les' recollections over his career.

When I first moved to Waddo in '87 my Dad ran a Royal Engineer unit that shared Hanger 4 with the Vulcan display flight and there were a number of times I'd get to wander around (and sometimes inside) XH558.
When the Victor that refuelled XM607 on its way to bomb the Falklands was brought to Waddo my Dads unit built the display area for it and positioned it behind XM607. Until some spoilsport said the airbase couldn't have more than one 'gateguard'
Good thing was I ended up getting some parts out of the Victors cockpit as momentos
Very

Les: Any chance you were around then?
Just curious in case either we met or you had any dealings with my old mans unit.

The Zohan

Cool, in which case my apologies to NS04 - it did seem a bit out of character, it seemed heavy handed and unnecessary and like so many things - not always what it seems

JPL

Not really, I just noticed that since you became a mod you seem to have policed more threads than I normally see "policed", and because of that I commented. Like Jacko says, sometimes this forum can be perfectly policed itself. That said, maybe I missed the posts you deleted... either way, I am not trying to hack at you, merely commenting. Let's move on.

Les, great pics!

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

JPL I was a bit curt with you, sorry bout that, but you can appreciate it was a bit rich when you suggested I might be showing favourtism to LS, when I was the one who infracted him!

As for policing, well, I think that some people interpret me giving an opinion on a thread or asking people to get back on topic as policing, but it's usually just me trying to take pre-emptive action to stop bun fights etc...which end up in warnings, infractions, thread closures...I tread quite lightly in that respect! I prefer having a word and reasoning with people than just waving the vape/infrfact sabre.

I also appreciate a laugh and everyone gets to have their opinion with me even if it's not popular, I just ask that people are decent to each other, and don't take the p&ss out of the site.

Paul- appreciate the apology!

Yep, lets move on with the thread.

Turbohot

Great pics, Leslie Thank you

Torquemada

Great stuff, Leslie!

+Doc+

Fantastic photos, just puts into perspective how insignificant our lives our at present, our war is if we buy Calvin Klein pants or Armani.
My step Grandfather flew in the Lancaster Bombers, his stories leave me wide jawed daily.

Dunk

iTrader: (1)

Great bit of history Les, hope you don't mind a blatant plug to the plane nuts for the Bomber Command Memorial Fund.

RAF BOMBER COMMAND

Some stunning pics if you want to contribute to the fund and get some history for your wall:

Artique Gallery

D

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

Leslie, were you at Waddington in 1979? I spent 4 months there during the summer of that year.
I was there completely by accident, as the job I was supposed to be doing was at Coningsby. If you were there at that time, I'm sure you'd remember the incident as it would probably have some affect on the flying.

coolangatta

Very interesting stuff Les

Question for you if you don't mind

As a kid (probably mid to late 1960's) I was staying with my Aunt in Lincolnshire, not far from Grimsby.
I distinctly remember Vulcans flying quite low, and very noisily, over the house. My memory is that they were painted completely white
Is my memory correct, could they have been white? They looked like huge swans
Also I assume they were taking off or landing (due to their altitude). Do you know where that would have been from/at?

Many thanks for the pics.

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

Awesome pictures!

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

I think the colour was called nuclear white and they were painted like that once. That's where my knowledge ends

Jamie

Chick the paint was called anti-flash white nice photos les

BOB.T

I think you'll find that it was actually called 'Anti-flash White' and was used to reflect thermal radiation from a nuclear explosions, Vulcan's being nuclear bombers. Some aircraft even had pale pink and blue RAF roundels, US aircraft had no insignia on their undersides.

Bob, without the aid of wikipedia, honest guv!

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

I got the 'white' bit right

XRS

Good pics Les - very evocative of the era.

Can I throw a couple of names of people who I knew who were in the RAF? One was connected with the Vs (but Victors, I believe):

David M Turner
Michael D Pugh
Brian A Sherlock

Cheers

coolangatta

Thanks Scoobychick/Bob.T and previously TelBoy (via PM) for confirming that my memory is not as bad as might be expected for someone of my advanced years
I can tell you that these aircraft were fantastic looking machines in the white livery. I remember sunny days in the garden watching them, short pants, jumpers as goal posts........

Lydia72

You can't have been in Grimsby then; your jumpers would have been nicked within seconds.
We've upgraded now in Lincs, it used to be Lightnings from Binbrook, these days we have UFO's come to look at the wind turbines.
UFO blamed for wrecking wind turbine after 65ft-long blade is ripped off | Mail Online

Leslie

Lots of questions again, thanks all for the kind comments.

I was at Waddo until the Vulcan went out of service as a bomber and I used to do most of the open day displays there up to then as well. I was also in the last public demo 4 plane scramble at Finningly Battle of Britain day and also did my own last display after the scramble.That was a sad day for me of course. No aircraft could take its place for me.

Scunners, I was there in '79 but you will have to give me a bit of a clue on the incident you mention.

It is true that the Vulcans were painted white originally, they would more likely be the Mk 1's which had straight leading edges on the wings and carried the "Blue Steel" stand off weapon. These aircraft flew high level trips and fired off the Blue Steel rocket a good distance from the target. I did not fly those. Later they were modified to Mk2 aircraft with the curly leading edge on the wings.

The Vulcan was modified to take the US Skybolt stand off missile, it was going to have one under each wing but the US cancelled it so we were left with Mk2 aicraft with very powerful engines, (great )

The Vulcan then changed to low level because the enemy had high level SAM missiles. They were then painted in camouflage and we changed to dropping buckets of sunshine from low level at the target. SSuP knows a good bit about those weapons by the way. Think he helped to design them from what he says. The Vulcan was the only V bomber which was structurely strong enough to fly continuously at low levels in the bumpy air. Brick built we used to call it

The original Mk 2's with the earlier engines were retained and the Vulcan Display Flight post 1981 had 558 which is of course the present display aircraft.

We were lucky enough to have the later Mk 2's with the more powerful engines. We had a switch which used to be wirelocked to reduce the power to the earlier engine power but the wire locking always got accidentally broken for an air display which meant we had about 4-6 tons more thrust! Much better.


I had nothing to do with the Vulcan Display Flight after the other aircraft were taken out of service after the Falklands unfortunately. I was "trucking" around in VC 10's at the time and then the Tornado Training School later.

Bonehead, I saw 607 a while ago where you remember it and it was beginning to get corroded as they do outside. Since then it has been refurbished I am glad to say and is now positioned close to the main road at 21 threshold end of the runway-easy for the public to see it now

I do have more pics, if anyone is interested I can scan and post them now I understand how to use Photobucket

Les