(formerly rafbepa) edition 48 autumn 2012 · besides jaric, he also served in gibralter, singapore,...
TRANSCRIPT
The Journal of the Royal Air ForcePhotographers Association
(Formerly RAFBEPA)Edition 48 Autumn 2012
CONTENTSEdition 48
Autumn 2012
Cover photo: Loading photoflashes into a Mosquito PR.With thanks to the Imperial War Museum.
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Chairman’s Chance
Comment
Obituaries
Can you help?
PPA 13
Malta…..a fairy story
A Rare Change of Scenery
Nil Lyncea…..going but not forgotten!
National Service in the RS Trade
My experience with Linescan
Book Review
Humour in Blue
New Recruits
And finally………
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What a busy quarter this has been.What with the Olympics – wasn’t itgreat and didn’t we do well – but ittook a lot of our spare time in compul-sive TV viewing; a trip down to Lon-don to see the Triathlon and theOlympic park to soak up the atmos-phere; add to this the JARIC ClosingParty and, the best of all, attendingthe Bomber Command Memorial ded-ication service. Not to mention ‘Mor-ganeering’ in Holland andgrand-parenting duties in between.
I cannot pass this opportunity withoutmentioning the outstanding visual dis-play shown during the opening andclosing Olympic ceremonies. What aspectacle, excellent timing, wonderfulcolours, superb resolution, great im-ages, we could have all been there –most impressive. The television cov-erage of the events should also becommended, I am sure that all of usphotographers marvelled at the imag-es collected of all the events, bothinside and out, but for me, the bestwas the coverage of the kayak sla-lom. Real drama – the images cap-tured every twist and turn as thecompetitors raced down the ragingstream, pin sharp and close cropped,you could feel the effort that was be-ing expended by Tim Baillie andEtienne Stott as they raced againstthe clock to eventually take the gold.Congratulations to them both and tothe superb camera team that capturethose wonderful ‘Kodak memories’.
Now I must say that all this televi-sion viewing was getting the betterof me and therefore I could notresist the temptation to go to Lon-don to see the Olympics for myself.A short train ride to Kings Cross,excellent guidance to Green Parkfrom the hundreds of Olympic‘game maker’ volunteers and wewere soon on the roadside watch-ing the Brownlee brothers do battlein the Triathlon on their way to Goldand Bronze medals for Team GB.Yes, a memorable moment and abiking ‘grab shot’ for the album. Theday was complete with a visit withfriends to the Olympic Park on thenew super Javelin train and a finalstop en-route for home via the fa-mous St Pancras Station longchampagne bar - a most memora-ble day.
The JARIC Closing party on 26th
July was conducted at a more se-date pace than the Olympics al-though I am sure that most of thosethat managed to attend will agree
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that the volume of the music in theevening was certainly trying to com-pete with the London scene – andprobably winning! The highlight of theday for most was the opportunity tovisit the JARIC building and to wanderdown the corridors that brought backmany memories of yesteryear – someeven waxed lyrical over the smell ofhypo! For the most part, it has nowreplaced by pixel generators. It wasgood to meet with old friends andmembers who had at some time intheir career served time at Brampton– our Editor Chris was there alongwith Bill Marshall, Pastie and BarbaraNile, Dot and Dave Derrick, and manyothers. Not a lot had changed on thebase, the buildings were basically thesame, though the entrance had beenmoved slightly to accommodate in-creased traffic and improve access.Those that had been in quarters atBelle Isle would have notice the great-est difference – it is now private ac-commodation and you would bepleased to know that prior to beingsold each house, at great expense,was completely refurbished to bring itup to a modern presentable standard.It says’ a lot for the standard thatservice families were expected to putup with during our time in the military!
It was a long time coming – theBomber Command Memorial. I mustsay that in the end it was worth it. Thememorial is breathtaking and I haveyet to see a photograph that can dojustice to the real thing. You just haveto be there. I was fortunate enough tobe invited by a colleague to join himfor the day in London on 28 June. Yesthere was a lot of security, as theQueen was leading the dedication
service, but that did not prevent usfrom joining in the moving ceremo-ny. I have been back since that dayand taken my wife Sandra, whosefather served in Bomber Commandduring the last war as an Air Gunnerand completed some 28 sortiesover Germany. The memorial de-picts a bomber crew of seven air-men, five looking to the sky and twoheads bowed in sorry. The classicmemorial is made of Portland stonewith the sides of the open roof, quitefittingly, made from the remains of aCanadian Lancaster bomber, thestatue is bronze. It is a memorialthat cannot fail to move anyone thathas served in the Royal Air Forceand I would definitely recommendthat you put a visit to Green Park ontop of your ‘bucket list’.
Look forward to seeing you ‘all atthe Reunion
Yours aye
John
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Comment!
Top left, Brenda and I enjoyingthe day at Cosford for Shropshireresidents to celebrate the Dia-mond Jubilee. Above, the Royalcouple on their way to lunch andfinally, Prince Philip spots me!
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Now that the Jubilee and the Olympics have passed, (great weren’t they?) wecan now look forward to the next big event of the year! Yes, it is nearly reuniontime again and I look forward to meeting old and new faces at Stourport.It is really pleasing to see that every time we produce a magazine there aresome new members. Welcome to those that have just found us! There must belots of ex WRAF out there somewhere as well and it would be good to see someof them joining. We now have a professionally printed joining leaflet, so if youthink anyone would like to join, we will be quite happy to send them a copy.
I was lucky enough last July to be part of a Shropshire wide celebration for theQueen’s Jubilee at RAF Cosford. An estimated 40,000 people attended thisgreat free event. I was lucky enough to be part of the Aerospace MuseumSociety and we had privileged access to the Museum site with uninterruptedviews of Her Majesty and Prince Philip. The Chairman was very lucky, as hewas invited to lunch with the Queen and several other dignitaries. A reallyfabulous day and a reminder, despite our moans and groans, how great thiscountry really is!Enjoy your read of this issue and for those that cannot be with us in October, Iwish you well and hope that you will be able to make it next year,Best wishes,
Editor.
Obituary
Wing Commander Gordon Hughes DFC, DSO
May 4 1918 - June 10 2012Wing Commander Gordon Hughes was one of the RAF’soutstanding photographic reconnaissance pilots, flyingunarmed Spitfires and Mosquitoes deep into enemy terri-tory.In February 1943 he was appointed flight commander ofthe newly formed 540 squadron at RAF Benson. Theyoperated the high flying Mosquito aircraft which enablethe RAF to extend the range of photo reconnaissanceoperations.His initial sortie was to recce Turin and then days later hewas off to Berlin. Despite very heavy anti-aircraft fire hemanaged to complete seven runs over bomb damagedareas for the photo interpretators back home.After his tour with 540 squadron he received promotionto Wing Commander and was Ops Officer of the wellknown 336(PR) Wing at San Severo in southern Italy.His service career is too full to mention here but can befound in the obituaries section of the Daily Telegraphonline.His wife, Jayne died in 1996 after 50 years of marriage.They have 3 surviving sons.
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Obituary‘Red’ Thurlow
April 1939 - April 2012
Many RAF photographers will remember ‘Red’ Thurlow.He always had a ready and genuine smile for everyoneand was always ready to help you if he could. I rememberhim best from JARIC between 1964 and 1967 and can stillsee his tallish frame bustling around the corridors of PhotoWing.From joining the Royal Air Force in February 1960,besides JARIC, he also served in Gibralter, Singapore,Wyton, Cosford, Cyprus, Swanton Morley and RAFGermany.He received AOC’s commendations in 1963 and in 1967,a BEM in 1970 and a long service and good conduct medalin 1977.
He left service in June 1982 as a Flight Sergeant.
Our sympathies go out to David, his son and all his family.
If you recognise anyone on the following 2 photos wouldyou please email his son David and let him know.
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Cyp
rus
1972
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PPA 13 course April 1970
Back row l to r: WHATLEY, JACKSON, MILES, FRIGGENS,FLANAGAN, SMITH
Middle row l to r: HARRISON, BODY, THURLOW, BATTY,CHADWICK, BURRELL
Front row l to r: COOPER, TAYLOR, SAYERS, THOMPSON,TOWNSEND, STEWART
NOTE: If you would like a copy of your group photo (if we have it onfile) it can be emailed to you. We do not possess Boy Entrant groupphotos, apart from a few that members have sent us. For those notonline, we can provide a hard copy but will have to charge to covercosts. Please note we can only do this if demand is reasonable. Pleaseapply to the Editor giving as much detail as possible about your course,i.e. dates, course number etc. and we will try and accommodate you.Editor.
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Once upon a time there werethree RAF Photographers,lets call them; Lewis, Desand John. They had beenselected to represent TradeGroup 14 at the annualbeer-drinking contest, tobe held in 1964 on thesunshine island of Maltaand it would be known asOperation Sunspot. Yourthree heroes worked (or atleast attended!) the flightline of number 58 Squadron,based at RAF Wyton wherethey tended Canberra PR7aircraft, not the mostmodern of aircraft but atleast they had jet engines.The trio were selected froma very short list of threeas they were the only mugs,sorry I mean enthusiasts onthe squadron who had anyidea how F97 cameras wereinstalled or functioned onthis aircraft, most‘linees’ reported sick assoon as night photography,or more importantly photoflashes (Danger-Danger-Dan-ger!!!) were mentioned.
On Wednesday 1st April (nojokes please!) this unlike-ly trio climbed aboard aHastings aircraft, which
was very old and it hadpiston engines! Ahead ofthem lay a very long tripto their sunshine isle ata steady 290 mph. For Desand John this would betheir first ever trip intothe unknown, which as weall know is what mostdetachments boiled downto, although Lewis had thebenefit of previous over-seas travel and had evencompleted a tour at Luqaplus he had stamps in hispassport for both theChisk and Blue Label brew-eries.
Of course it was not allto be beer drinking –sometimes they had to goand help the aeroplanesfly and when the aero-planes did fly they flewover the water to Libyaand dropped pyrotechnicson the natives. Hang on -there has just been anaction re-play of that,perhaps it happens every46 years, need it or not?
As this was the RAF therewas of course no flying atthe weekend and this gavethe trio the opportunity
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to explore Valetta, getsome essential beer drink-ing training in and visitthe island’s most famouspostal address – StraitStreet - ‘The Gut’! Theyarrived early and plannedto stay late for some dedi-cated training but had toshare their day out with theRoyal Navy (a destroyer wasin port, possibly carryingthe Navy’s Beer DrinkingTeam?) still it was not asbad as it appeared, the‘matelots’ only wanted tofight one another! A gour-met meal was taken at res-taurant above the bar at thebottom of The Gut (longsince gone presumably butit is sure that some of thereadership will rememberthe name), high class –trestle tables and benchseating and anything youwanted to eat as long as itwas fried!
Des and Lewis sat one sideJohn on the other, afterordering the meals andgetting a round of drinks a‘lady’ wandered up to thetable, the term lady is usedvery advisedly! She endeav-oured to engage your Teamin conversation; Lewis andJohn spoke determinedly twoone another, Des lost con-centration and was snared!She sat down next to him andstarted to run through herportfolio, although perhapsDes was a bit out of his
depth with some of theservices on offer or atleast well short in thefinance department. Hetried determinedly to ig-nore her, it was noticedthat her hands had fallenbelow the level of thetable – suddenly there wasa cry and Des rose verti-cally from the bench withhis ‘tackle’ in a firm gripof his new girl friend!
After dinner your BeerDrinking Team started aslow but purposeful ‘crawl’of all bars up the hill. By2100 hrs Des was legless,sitting at a table puffingon a fag and spilling hisbeer as he fought off theattentions of one of the‘ladies’ who plied hertrade at the Jippo Queen.Lewis was in deep discus-sion with a matelot aboutthe off side rule or some-thing similar, John haddifficulty in focusing hiseyes but they wanderedabout the room and hewatched Des flick his ash
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into a large ashtray on the table and then, after summoningall his available powers of concentration (somewhatlimited at that moment!) stubbed his fag out in the ashtray– good shot Des. But wait, similar ashtrays were on everytable and even more on the bar – bugger!
Lewis and John lifted Des, one under each arm and propelledhim backwards out of the bar, up Strait Street and to thenearest Taxi Rank – “Luqa Two Site” barked Lewis as allthree of your Team piled into the back seat. All found ithugely funny in the morning, hangovers and all but itruined the rest of the week for off-Camp training as therewas no way the Trade Group 14 Beer Drinking Team wereprepared to leave camp during the hours of darkness oruntil the visiting Royal Navy had left the Island. Onreflection, and with some luck it was that Des had not feltthe call of nature to help extinguish his dog-end in thematelot’s cap!
Evan after all these years Des and John are still about(but Lewis?) and possibly still drinking, although inJohn’s case he has migrated to red wine – “thanks I’ll havea large one”.
John Lewis – 43rd
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In September 1962 I was posted from81(PR) Squadron to take over a smallphotographic section at the Royal Na-vy shore base H.M.S. Sea Eagle lo-cated on the Waterside district ofLondonderry Northern Ireland. Al-though I was a member of the smallR.A.F. element resident there, primari-ly we were regarded as being aboarda Royal Navy ship with all its traditionsand service related jargon. To assistme, in the small converted brick andsteel armoury were two WRNS andone Leading Seaman Fleet Air ArmPhotographer. All the provided photo-graphic equipment and consumableswas from Navy origins, and apart fromone familiar M.P.P. 5”x4” camera, wascompletely different from what I hadbeen accustomed to. Indeed, even thestores procedures were totally differ-ent. The two main cameras were aPeckham-Wray 5”x4”, fitted with a 6shot Graphmatic back, and a Reid 2”f/2 35m/m. After a while I was suc-cessful in obtaining a standard issue120 roll film T3.5 Rollieflex, throughR.A.F channels, to compliment ourcamera equipment in the section.There seemed to be little, if any ac-countability of chemicals, film andprinting paper etc. A ‘C’ stores requi-sition entailed visiting the ‘ship’s on
board stores and asking the localcivilian store-man what was re-quired, and providing it was in stockwas just handed over in exchangefor a signature. Out-of-stock items,which were rare, would be availablewithin a few days and a telephonecall from the store-man remindedone that the items were ready forcollection. Only on one occasion didI experience a delay and that waswhen I required some out of theordinary chemicals needed to proc-ess a classified 16m/m cine B/Wreversal film I had taken on a sonarbuoy drop and recovery assignmentearlier.My immediate commanding officerwas an RA.F. Flight Lieutenant, butwe were all subordinate to theShip’s Captain, and subject to navaldisciplines too. This base was alsohome of the Joint Anti SubmarineSchool, which provided courses toN.A.T.O. personnel by means of arather sophisticated ship/submarineand aircraft combined simulator, inwhich war scenarios were playedout prior to live exercises. Visitingand resident aircraft participantswere based and accommodated atnearby R.A.F. Ballykelly.
A rare
change
Of
Scenery
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The main task of the ‘phot’ sectionwas to provide photographic supportfor J.A.S.S. by producing instructionalmedia aids at the request of the in-house simulator instructors. Therewas also on board a building, whichhoused a huge ‘Atlantic’ chart/plotthat displayed and updated all knowninternational military shipping move-ments. During periods of exercise orconflict this ‘plot’ had to be photo-graphed every few hours 24/7. With astaff of four we took turns to be onduty for 24 hours at a time, to meetthe photo commitment. The opportu-nity to fly, and go to sea by either thelocally based R.A.F. Marine CraftSection, or naval vessels was justpart of the job too. As I was the senior‘phot’ I tended to hog the flying as-signments, particularly as I am notgood sailor. I recall that during mytour of duty it was at the time whenthe ‘Cuban Crisis’ was at it’s mostcritical and anything concerning Rus-sian shipping was being feverishlyphotographed. We were soon madeaware that within our vicinity Russiantrawlers and even small freighterswere apparently displaying radio aer-ials that were designed for more thanjust communication. The acronymELINT (electronic intelligence) wasbeing used more and more frequentlythan hitherto, and had even beenapplied in reference to the small Rus-sian coasters, which regularly visitedthe small Londonderry dock area, onthe River Foyle, directly oppositeH.M.S. Sea Eagle. I assumed thatthere was a suspicion that they weremonitoring our radio/radar and tele-communication frequencies in the lo-cal area.
Whenever a Russian vesseldocked at Londonderry we re-ceived a phone call to go to photo-graph the complete ship initiallybroadside on from our locationacross the river from the docks,then afterwards take close-upsfrom the docks. The purpose wasto compile a ‘rogue’s gallery’ ofnamed Russian ships that visitedand compare like for like should aparticular vessel make a return vis-it. This was both interesting andexciting as we were, at short notice,provided with RN transport to takethe photographer to somewhere inthe vicinity of and close to thedocks. We were instructed to weara coat to conceal our service uni-forms. The camera to use was the5”x4” Peckham-Wray fitted with a9” telephoto lens and supplied withtwo Graphamatic backs, which per-mitted taking 12 numbered shots incomparatively quick succession.The idea was to pop out from be-hind one of the dock buildings andtake close-ups of all the visible aer-ials, and the ship’s bridge area ofthe Russian vessel as quickly aspossible, without drawing attentionto oneself. After a while these smallexcursions from the section be-came quite routine and only the
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urgency in processing and printing the results, as I recall, seem to cause anyinconvenience. However, after one of my Russian ship ‘snap’ runs I noticed,when printing an enlargement of the ship’s bridge area, that there was in finedetail an image of a guy with a small camera fitted with a long lens pointed inmy direction and obviously photographing me!
Maurice CooperWe will incorporate a bit of history from Maurice regarding thePeckham Wray Camera in the Christmas Issue, due out end of Novem-ber. Ed.
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A high altitude Mosquito Camera fit
I hope to publish a piece about the Mosquito in a future edition. Doesanyone out there have any first hand knowledge of working with ‘Mozzies’
Nil lyncea..Going but not forgotten!
BRAMPTON FAMILIESDAY AND JARIC
INFORMALCLOSURE PARTY26TH JULY 2012
It was a quite early morning start fora couple of old age pensioners onThursday the 26th July as it wassomething like a four hour trip fromBradford on Avon to the ex RAFBrampton now called BramptonCamp near Huntingdon and thehome, for a very short time longer,of JARIC, infamous with many pastRAF photographers.
Luckily the day was fine for thedrive up although the roads did seemparticularly busy - perhaps theywere all heading for Brampton - oraway from it!
Arrival at the guardroom meantjoining a queue of families andfriends being allowed in though ournames seem to be missing, until, thatis, I mentioned JARIC and showedthe supplied and paid for ticket.
"Ah Ha" says the Guard - separatelist - special attention, not quiteVIP but we did by-pass the book-ing in process. I must admit thatshowing an OAP bus pass is a bitdifferent to a 1250!
Driving through the entrance start-ed to bring back some of thosememories of past times eventhough, unlike many, I had beenback a couple of times whilst stillemployed, to interview RAF pho-tographers for possible recruit-ment into the MOD as professionalphotographers. A quick drivearound to get bearings and I even-tually found a car park next to theHeadquarters and near the fieldwhere everything was happening,with the RAF Falcons just landingwithin the arena area as we walkedin.
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All sorts of displays and fair rideswere taking place together with vehi-cles from military image exploitationusing satellite, to a mobile climbingwall for children.The usual fair rides and hot-dog sell-ers were there as well as a centralfield for three-legged races and otheractivities. A small layout of classiccars caught my attention so that wasthe first port of call.My main reason for visiting howeverwas to be able to look around JARICwhere I had worked in PhotographicReproduction Squadron from 1971 to1975 at which point I left the RAF.JARIC is moving to RAF Wyton bythe end of 2013 and to a superb new
facility under the "Joint ServicesCommand" (will all the Serviceseventually come under this?) atwhich point Brampton Camp, in-cluding the present JARIC buildingswill be handed over to builders, bull-dozed and something like 2,500homes added. Parts of the camp arealready closed and like the StationHeadquarters building, abandoned.Having booked a conducted tour ofJARIC for 1500hrs we continued towander around the stalls and took alook at the cameras on display by anRAF Mobile Surveillance team, alldigital of course and including UVlenses, Nikon cameras and othersuch goodies.1500hrs arrived and the two of usjoined others for our tour of JARICthat began in two display/waitingrooms opposite what once was theCO's. office, all cameras and mobilephones having first to be handed infor safe keeping.A total of about 20 were then escort-ed into what we knew as Exploita-tion Wing in the 1970s but throughrotating security doors rather thanthe large double spin-locked steel
Sorley Block
JARIC current entranceClassic Cars on the sports field
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doors of my time. It was a bitunusual for me to enter this placeas, during my period at JARIC Istayed throughout in PRS only vis-iting the Top Secret bit once.
Having passed the entry doors as along queue we climbed stairs andarrived at the first of a number ofdifferent venues to be shown a verysmall part of the work of JARICtoday. 3D and stereo is used exten-sively but unlike the days of filmwhere stereo glasses were requiredto produce the effect, today it is alldone via computer software onscreen including such very usefulimagery as "Line of Sight" fromalmost anywhere on an image toanywhere else on the same imageand from any angle. Moving on toanother room and we found out thatJARIC has always been involvedwith the investigation of both mili-tary and civilian aircraft accidentsby the use of photogrammetry andthe measurement of position andeffect by mathematical calculationthrough the suns position, shadows,markings and where parts of an
aircraft were lying. All very inter-esting and, with the use of comput-ers and digital imaging, somewhatmore accurate than in the past andcertainly a lot faster.
The final part of the visit took us intothe JARIC Museum in what wasPRS, in fact to what I remember asone of the printing areas. In herewere photographic prints with ster-eo glasses for viewing, a model ofthe present JARIC and both an F49and an F52 camera together withaircraft models and general photo-graphs. These included some coursephotos together with a group photooutside the "Tin Mines" though I didwonder if the present staff actuallyknew what the Tin Mines were.
Having been let loose in JARIC wecompleted our tour by walkingthrough part of PRS and passedroom 112, the ex-control room forthe work carried out in the Squadron.I did ask if there was any chance ofhaving a look inside, as it was whereI had spent about three years, ending
Morgue - Photo Section
Image Exploitation Vehicles
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up running the "Overseas Desk" thatincluded the Northern Ireland "Pho-tostrats". Unfortunately it was not tobe although the SAC directing us onour way was interested in what hap-pened in that area but to whom"Film" and "Prints" meant nothing.
Thus the short tour of JARIC wasover although the evening informalclosure party was still to happen.Therefore a coffee and a bite to eatwas on the cards whilst we watch aSpitfire display. Then a walk aroundthose parts of Brampton I frequentedwhen based in the Station Photo-graphic Section on 1969 and 70.Wandering behind what was the SickQuarters in the "Old days" and, yesthe old photo section building stillexisted. In fact it was the stationmorgue originally before it becamethe photo section. It was still therethough abandoned and locked whichwas a pity as I would have liked tosee if the cutting up slab was still inposition where we placed the printchemical dishes with the sluice beingthe print wash!
Leaving the old morgue the two of uswandered past other abandonedbuildings including the, quite modernlooking, ex Station Headquarters.Peering in the windows showed whatwas left, some desks, a couple ofink-jet printers and broken downshelves stacked awaiting removal -all a bit sad. The old Sergeants Messwas also abandoned, though I knowthat had happened some time ago
when they had taken over the JAR-IC Officers Mess, now long sincegone.
Sorley Block was still in use by theMedia Centre, so in I went and metthe photographers. I was given ashort tour of the Photo Sectionwhere parts of it were almost exact-ly the same as when I moved thesection there in 1970 from themorgue. Though little used a cou-ple of darkrooms still existed withsinks in place and the area, in part,looked little changed though, ofcourse, computers filled some ofthe rooms, no doubt using Pho-toshop. The photographers andmedia personnel work for Babcockunder contract, having previouslybeen subsumed into Serco from theMOD when Serco took over therunning of the support services be-fore Babcock in turn won the bid.The photographers and other mediastaff hope to move to RAF Wytonin due course.
By now it was 1800hrs and theevening festivities had started backon the main field. Unfortunatelythe music (a loose term) blasting
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out from the main tent stopped almost all conversation within a couple ofhundred yards and totally ruined the evening for many. Having paid our entryprice we were allowed a beefburger or sausage roll and chips, together with twoalcoholic drinks and an ice-cream. All ok but wrecked by the racket comingfrom the main tent, my attempt to quieten them having got nowhere. I didmanage to meet up with our editor and with Dave Humphrey but, by 1900 hourshad given up and we made our way home having become fed up with having toconstantly shout just to be heard. I gather quite a number of others did the same!
Was it a good day - yes it was, with the tour of JARIC the highlight, the lookaround the camp of great interest and the meeting of friends and ex JARICmembers a bonus. Unfortunately the final part of the day was ruined, a greatpity but nevertheless, a very worthwhile visit and much thanks must go toSquadron Leader Damien Todd, XO, Strategic Division, JARIC and his stafffor their hard work in looking after us oldies.
Geoff Parselle.Cpl. APO RAF Brampton Photo Section Nov 1969 - Dec 70and APO/PPA JARIC PRS Oct 1971 - May 75.Many thanks for that account Geoff, sums it all up very nicely!The museum is in the old Cintel printing darkrooms. Ed
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No.2 MFPU Gutersloh 1968Anyone you know?
Left: Royal Flush exerciseBelow: Magirus Deutz truck &
Ford Koln Office wagon
The official job description (vide A.M.Pamphlet 51.) read:Photographer (R.S.): Performs first-line servicing of aircraft cameras andancillary equipment. Diagnoses sim-ple camera faults and prepares rou-tine failure reports. etc. Later wewould discover just what that littleword etc. really meant!Thus, on 14 May 1952, a diversegroup of nine assembled at Welles-bourne Mountford as 161 Entry Pho-tographic Course RS (ReconnaissanceServicer). Eight were National Serviceplus one who, by his service number,had enlisted for the 3 year inducementof more pay than the rest of us erks.The group came mainly from a civil-ian life as press photographers andallied occupations, with two excep-tions. One was an orchid grower andthe other a railway operating officerwith a fetish for photographing trains,guess who? Mention has been madethat ACFs, which the RS trade laterbecame, were only trained in their ownaircraft camera disciplines; howeverthat was not my experience in 1952.
The course began with a general pho-tographic approach from chemistrytheory, exposure, processing, print-ing etc. (that little word again). Hoursspent on the airfield with a SpeedGraphic, photographing the AirspeedOxfords and Avro Ansons of No.9Advanced Flying Training Schoolwhich shared the base.Our course concluded on 30 July1952, with everyone being posted toCoastal Command; Kinloss, Bal-lykelly, St Mawgan, St Eval and oneto Calshott.Kinloss was host to 236OCU (AvroShackleton Mk1) and 217 Squadron(Lockheed Neptune P2V-5). Thestandard camera fit for a Shackletonwas an F24 with 5” Ross Xpress or8” Dallmeyer lens, while the Nep-tune sported a K24 with a 7” KodakAero Ektar. We had narrower lensesin the camera bay, but as most mari-time operations were conducted at500ft or thereabouts, I don’t recallthem having much use. Both aircraftcarried a K20, useful for shootingthrough a small hatch at the for’d -
NATIONAL SERVICE
In the photographer (RS) trade 1952
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that’s the front for non-maritimebods- end of the Shackleton bombbay. Just be quick to withdraw(more good advice) before the doorsclose and the oleo ram cuts off thefront of the camera!OK, that simple camera fit may notbe rocket science to those on thePhoto Recce squadrons, but we didour fair share of sortie processingand printing plus duty photographer.Fortunately the camera room waswell away from the Photo Sectionand you can hide for a long time ina Shack whilst the GS guys bulledthe lino for AOC inspection. Fre-quent flights in squadron aircraft ifyou wanted, plus deployments toBattle of Britain Days at otherCoastal Command bases, helped topass the time. Just don’t mention theaccommodation.We might not have been at the cut-ting edge of the Cold War, yet, ‘wedid our bit’.So where are those intrepid mem-bers of the Kinloss Camera Roomnow?I recently caught up with DanCampbell, now living in Canada,and he is in contact with Peter Suth-erst. The others? No idea. I just hopethey are, like me, enjoying retire-ment and pushing the odd shutterbutton.
Iain HillPhoto RS Kinloss 52-54New Zealand
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RAF Photographic Trade (TG14(Photo)) Update
Currently there are 26 “Ground”Photographic Sections, of which,7 are manned by civilian contract-ed photographers. A further 9Sections undertaking specialistphotographic duties, within thisgrouping are the Red Arrows, De-fence School of Photography andsingle SNCO Photographerbased within Main Building MOD.Overseas tours are limited to justGibraltar and Cyprus. In total asof January 2012 the trade had139 personnel in uniform.
Under the Governments plannedround of redundancies the Photo-graphic trade came under tranchê2. We will be losing 7 Sergeantsand 8 Corporals, of those; 3 havebeen “pushed” with the rest beingvolunteers. This reduction, alongwith those about to leave theService at the end of their careersis going to have a major impact onmanning levels. Plans are cur-rently being drawn up to ensurethat Photo Sections can maintain
their outputs in support of theirUnits/Stations. I think that wecan count ourselves lucky, afterspeaking to the Master NavyPhotographer, they could be los-ing up 40% of their branch andthey are a lot smaller than us!
Photographic Deployments
RAF Photographers deploy tothe currently theatre of opera-tions (6 month tour), Al Udeidand the Falkland Islands (both 4month tours). These posts arerank ranged, any of the photog-raphers between the rank of Cor-poral and Flight Sergeant can besent. In fact there are more vol-unteers than posts!
Also of note was the photograph-ic support during Op ELLAMYwhich produced stunning image-ry with the photographers cover-ing both a video and stillsrequirements. In the early stag-es, photographic personnel fromRAF Marham and Coningsbyalong with the Mobile NewsTeam, HQ Air Command weredeployed to theatre; later per-sonnel were deployed from vari-ous Units. Resulting imagerywas used in a number majornational, International and TVmedia outlets, all helping to en-hance the reputation of the RAF.
The State of play
?
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Photographic Equipment
On the equipment front, with theintroduction of digital in 2001 theRAF transferred the” risk” of sup-porting photographic equipmentto industry and as such, equip-ment provided to the Photograph-ic Sections is issued on afour-year lease arrangement withcivilian companies.
One of the four equipment tranch-es, soon to be reduced to three,is issued in Oct/Nov each yearand ensures that units are usinghighly specified and up-to-dateequipment. The lease covers notonly photographic equipment butalso the IT workstations and spe-cialist software like Photoshop.
Current non-leased procurementprogrammes include: purchasingcameras for use with the Ty-phoon QRA aircraft fleet, helmet-mounted HD video cameras forparachute drops and recently theintroduction of GPS receiverequipment for the current in-serv-ice cameras. These systemswere specifically for use at air-craft crash scenes, althoughthere is much scope to extend theuse of GPS into crime scene androad traffic accident photography.The GPS transmitter plugs intothe camera and, via a separateBluetooth or USB receiver, down-loads latitude and longitude datadirectly to the camera’s digitalcard.
With the digital revolution, theworking practices of the tradehave changed significantly; thishas already begun with the in-creasing focus on media opera-tions and satisfaction of Chiefof the Air Staff’s EngagementStrategy. Basic daily on-stationtask remains the same, cover-ing all areas from engineering,medical and Unit media events,with some Units now being alsothe Stations graphic centre. Asthe requirement for video prod-ucts increases, the use of videoin the RAF is expanding andequipment is issued to a rangeof units where the requirementexists. By the end of 2013, allRAF Photographic Sections willhave a video capability, be itwith a professional video cam-era system or that of the latestHybrid DSLR camera whichcan also shoot in HD video
Photographic Sections nowhave the capability of sendingbulk printing tasks, i.e. ATCsummer camp groups and thelike, directly to the RegionalPrinting Centre (RPC) at RAFMarham. The RPC is mannedby TG14 Photographers whocome under the control of theSNCO Photographic Section. Itis equipped with four Fuji Dry-labs and a 64 inch wide Epsonprinter. Imagery can be sent tothe RPC by the Photo Sectionsdirectly via email and once
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printing is completed, prints arereturned to the Sections via 24hour Royal Mail.
RAF Photographic Competition
The 2011 RAF Photographic Com-petition was a great success withimagery from the whole of the com-petition being used and displayedacross Defence and other nationaloutlets. The competition is an op-portunity in which RAF Photogra-phers and their civiliancounterparts can display their pro-fessionalism in the various disci-plines of military photography, andat the same time promote the im-age and reputation of the RAF.Preparations for this year’s compe-tition are under way with the judg-ing planned for September and thepresentations in October.
Possible future trade structure.
The ever insatiable demand for me-dia in differing mediums, such asTwitter, Facebook and YouTube,has placed an increasing demandon photographic services both inMain Operating Bases and on op-erations. Therefore, the efficiencyof the photographic sections need-ed to be improved to ensure theywere best placed to fulfil all tasks,including any current or future op-erational requirements and alongwith the increasing photographicoutput in support of media related
events. So back in 2009 a reviewwas carried out to determine thecurrent issues affecting TG14(Photo) and ways to improve thesituation for the future; mainlylooking at the deployable capabil-ity of the trade without the loss ofoutput on stations, this reviewwas named Project REFOCUS(The name was not my idea!!).
However, wider Defence initia-tives have impacted the proposedrecommendations of REFOCUSand so the Photographic Role Of-fice is initiating a second review ofTG14 (Photo) post redundancies,aiming to build on the good workthat was started under REFOCUSbut bringing this into line with wid-er Defence and Air transformationactivities and Future Force 2020.
Mick GladwinWO Photo PolicyHQ Air Command28 July 12
Many thanks Mick for thatuseful update on the decliningstate of our old trade! That’sprogress I guess!
Ed.
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From June 1966 to May 1969 I was thesole photographer serving with the AirSea Warfare Development Unit basedat RAF Ballykelly Northern Ireland.
ASWDU was an unusual unit for manyreasons. Firstly it was a self-con-tained unit within the host unit ofBallykelly and operated two ‘special’Avro Shackleton MR2 Phase 2’s, seri-al numbered WG556 and WL801,complete with two crews, it’s ownheadquarters, one exchange RoyalCanadian Air Force and one exchangeUnited States Navy officer. Within theHQ building was a technical work-shop, a drawing office, and a small
photographic section, complete withdarkroom facilities. ASWDU was al-so exempt from participating in theroutine Search and Rescue sorties,which was mainly the responsibilityof the three resident 203, 204 and210 Shackleton squadrons.
My experience withInfra red linescan
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Additionally, I too was exempt, byorders from my CO, of being placedon the Station Duty PhotographerRoster. The unit was engaged solely intrials, which were all too often of ahighly classified nature. My flightcommander was a lieutenant com-mander from the US navy who wasone of the two exchange officers. Alltrials’ documentation, illustrationsand results were kept very much in-house and also had some unusualclassification rubberstamps. ‘Top Se-cret’, ‘Secret’, ‘Secret UK Eyes Only’,and ‘Secret Can. UK Eyes Only’. Dueto my position as Unit Photographer Iwas privy to all classified material,particularly as I was often responsiblefor producing the trials’ images.
Although it was my pleasure, it wasexpected of me to fly whenever photo-graphic equipment flew on a trial. Thereasoning behind that was because ithad been decided that should any pho-tographer’s skills be required duringa flight it was deemed economical toproceed with the sortie rather thanabort and make another attempt later.The exception to this was when infra-red linescan sorties were flown be-cause if there was any failure of theequipment in flight only workshopfacilities could fix the problem.
The IRLS equipment that ASWDUtested was intended to provide results,which was hoped would benefit pro-posed future, and improved installa-tions in TSR2 and/ or Nimrod aircraft.
The scanner for the IRLS was locat-ed in the lower portion of the nose ofthe aircraft, whilst the singular com-bined display and processing equip-ment was positioned in rear of thefuselage on the port side close to theobservation blister. The photo-graphic results were printed contin-uously onto a 4” roll of paper anddeveloped seconds after exposure bymeans of the then unique IllfordStabilization process. This wasachieved by the paper, which con-tained the developing agents incor-porated within the emulsion, cominginto contact with a high alkalinesolution, which produced the imagealmost immediately, followed by arapid fixer/ stabilizer, which permit-ted viewing of the results in normallighting conditions very quickly.However, the damp after processingresults were not archival permanentbut could be rendered so later byconventional fixing, washing anddrying. The onboard equipment waspreloaded with two containers of
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each of the two baths plus a set ofspares. A conventional blue sensitiveprocess emulsion film could also beloaded, in place of the paper roll, intothe equipment, but it required it’sprocessing to be carried out back onthe ground. The produced images werebuilt up continuously one scan line ata time, resembling closely how the old405 line black and white TV imageswere assembled. It was possible toswitch and select a certain rangeswithin the infrared spectrum, thus pro-viding more precise results of particu-lar areas of interest. Right from thestart results were very satisfactory andI was kept busy copying chosen sec-tions, of the traces, for reports, andinstructional slides. As I recall most ofthe samples of greatest interest werethose taken of shipping in the AtlanticOcean. As skill in operating the equip-ment improved so did the quality of theimagery. So much so that some resultsappeared almost as clear as that whichmight be compared to those of earlydigital images.
On rare occasions I found it necessaryto visit the main station photographicsection to use some of their facilitiesnot available to me in ASWDU. Ulti-mately, it was my involvement withInfrared linescan that was lead to meinto some diplomatic problems fromboth within and outside the unit.
Having produced a quantity of highlyclassified prints, intended to illustratemany reports it became my task to visitthe station photographic section to usetheir dry-mounting press. I also to
assumed that my C.O. had request-ed, in advance that I was to under-take my tasks undisturbed in aclosed room in order to preservesecurity. Unfortunately, on one oc-casion I was summoned into theoffice of the Warrant Officer incharge where he demanded for meto explain what on earth was goingon, and what were my pictures allabout. The pity of it all was that hehad been my W.O. i/c at my previ-ous posting and I felt that in thepast we had got along OK. Howev-er, when I attempted to explain thatI was under strict orders not todiscuss anything pertaining to AS-WDU, resulted in a threat of beingdisciplined for insubordination.My C.O. was contacted immediate-ly, and was thus I ordered to return,and present myself to the C.O. inhis office without delay. Upon en-tering the C.O’s office I was toldthat I had done the right thing andgiven a ‘Good Show’ for preservingthe security of classified material inmy charge.
Fate, however, had another trick upit’s sleeve for me and it was notlong before I was put on-the spotonce again with an even more seri-ous scenario to deal with. It is myrecollection that only a few sortieswere flown with the IRLS equip-ment loaded with film, instead ofpaper. I presume that it was be-cause of the time delay before theresults were available for viewingthat influenced a fewer number ofthose trials.
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One sortie in particular sticks in mymemory more than anything else, asonce the photographic results werein the hands of the C.O. ‘all hellbroke loose’. What we had capturedaccidentally on IRLS film, taken inthe Atlantic, was a clear scannedimage of an unmistakable submergedUnited States nuclear submarine! Iwas ordered, together with our sci-entific officer in charge of trials tothe C.O’s office. We were orderedthat under no circumstances were weto divulge this information to our USNavy exchange officer as it justmight cause a stir stateside if it wasbelieved that another form of anti-submarine detection could compro-mise the security of their nuclearsubmarine fleet.
All photographic evidence of thisevent was rubber stamped ‘SECRETU.K. EYES ONLY’. and handed tothe C.O. for his retention. Addition-ally our Royal Canadian Air Forceexchange officer was also excludedfrom this knowledge.
As I worked in our compact HQ andin close proximity to all our commis-
sioned officers I found myself con-stantly on edge when attendingbriefings, and in particular whendrawn into discussion with my flightcommander about IRLS issues.
In due course we moved on to newtrials and I became involved in freshchallenges in their support. A bor-rowed Shackleton MR3 Phase 3WR974, which had two Viper jetsadded to permit heavier take-off loadsgave me some additional flying time,justified by a camera change and re-pair in the air whilst on detachment atLuqa Malta.
The Air Sea Warfare DevelopmentUnit was my last posting in the RAF,and it was Harry Furminger, Lieuten-ant Commander United States Navy,my flight commander, who wrote mywork reference in preparation for ci-vilian life, which led me to be subse-quently employed by the University ofSouthampton for the next 29 years.
Maurice Cooper
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The Ian Prendergast corner!
We hope to have a bit more soon, so ifanyone has any more info on line scanlet us know. Ed.
Bookreview
It has been a while since we last reviewed a book and I cameacross this gem in a low price bookstore, so you probably will nothave to pay as much as £20 for it if you look around.As the cover suggests it is all about photo reconnaissance andinterpretation during WW2. Taylor Downing is an accomplishedtelevision producer, has worked at the Imperial War Museum forseveral years and, ironically, runs an independent television com-pany called………Flashback Television !It is a very comprehensive account from just before the outbreakof WW2 when the powers that be were still not convinced of thevalue of photo intelligence, taking you right through WW2 mainlyconcentrating on Medmenham.It is also well illustrated with many photos I had not seen before butsome I had. The book ends by mentioning the start of JARIC atBrampton and even mentions the fact that JARIC is moving in2012 with a much broader remit. Brian Mockford and the Med-menham Club are spoken of as well.All in all a thoroughly enjoyable read, difficult to put down. I thinkthis book is a must for your Christmas present list if you have notalready got a copy. Ed.
‘Spies in the Sky’ by Taylor DowningISBN HB 978 1 4087 0280 2ISBN CF 978 1 4087 0362 5
Published by Lttle, Brown Book Group www.littlebrown.co.ukUK price £20 First published in 2011
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Humour in
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BLUE
NewrecruitsRon Bevan - PPAServed for 12 years from 62 -74 and was stationed at Wattisham,Episkopi, Seletar, Cosford, Wildenrath and Brampton.
Eric MorganStarted service as a Boy Entrant at Cosford 60 - 62. From 62 - 64he was at Leuchars in the Ground Section and 23 Squadron. In1964 he found himself in Tengah on 81 Sqaudron and in 1966 hemoved to the Ground Section at Binbrook until 1967. Eric thenspent 67 - 71 at Bruggen.
‘Whisky’ WalkerBrief and to the point he started his service career as an AC2 in1952 and retired as a Warrant Officer in 1984.
Terry WeaverTerry joined up in 1958 and became a Sgt PPA in 1969. He wascommissioned in 1970 into the Eng Photo Branch as a FlyingOfficer and retired in 1991 as a Flt. Lt.
Gerry LinsteadH. 01223 - 565244M. 07754 - 89184634
W E L C O M E
and finally…………..I told you we should not have worn black socks.JL
They are just showing off their ‘Koatmac’transparencies! MC.
I said buy a couple of see through umbrellas.CP
Captions pleaseto the
editorial office
Contributions for the next edition of Flashback (Christmas 2012)must be submitted by Monday the 12th November please. Text(‘word’) and photos (‘jpeg’) should be sent in separate files. Anyhard copy sent can be scanned and returned within a few days.Address is inside the front cover.
