The Flying Years
By Richard Boult
Merlin Massara Publishing, 17 Tovey Close, London Colney, Hertfordshire, AL2 1LF
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the memory of:-
Jimmy Aitken
David Blucke
Jeremy Hall
Terry McGrath
Norman Savory
Neil Thornton
Mike Withey
-and some of the others who did not come back.
***
Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi
1. Cranwell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3. Waterbeach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4. Upavon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5. Waterbeach II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
6. Ahlhorn and Gütersloh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
7. Farnborough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
8. Boscombe Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171
9. Bracknell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212
10. White Waltham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
11. Gan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .230
12. Singapore (Changi) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
13. Pitreavie Castle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .287
14. Henlow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294
15. Chivenor, Brawdy, MOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .332
16. Second Career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .346
Appendices
1. Aircraft Types Flown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .367
2. Record of Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
3. Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
4. Some Flying Technicalities . . . . . . . . . . . . .375
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .411
Foreword
by Air Vice-Marshal P A Latham CB AFC RAF
Richard Boult, known from his earliest days in the RAF as Bill, began
his career in 1950, and ended it, like many other very able Squadron
Leaders, with compulsory redundancy during the rank restructuring in
the mid 1970s. His service was divided almost equally between flying
and administration.
He flew fast jets in both No 63 and No 26 Day Fighter Squadrons
and later became a test pilot at Boscombe Down where he was amongst
the first RAF pilots to fly the English Electric Lightning. Following a
year at Staff College he completed twelve years in various ground
appointments the earliest of which brought him face to face with the
need to improve leadership skills within the RAF.
As the Station Administration Officer and Deputy Station Com-
mander of RAF Gan in the Maldive Islands he served in a senior posi-
tion in one of the few remaining remote outposts of the RAF. Later, as
the Assistant Defence Adviser to the British High Commission in
Singapore, he took part in organising the withdrawal of the British
military presence from South East Asia.
A year or so after returning to Britain in 1970 he commanded a
squadron at the Officer Cadet Training Unit at RAF Henlow. It was here
that he found himself in a position to influence the leadership training
which he believed the RAF needed to improve. The insight into the tech-
niques of such training which he acquired and his skill in using them led
to a very successful civilian career.
His passion for skiing enabled him to take a leading part in the pro-
motion of this adventurous sport within the RAF. It is through foster-
ing such activities that the Services maintain the spirit of endeavour and
excitement so necessary during times of peace.
The book contains a detailed and very readable account of what post
war RAF training and service was really like. There is a fascinating
description of life on the remote island of Gan just before we left South
East Asia and, while it contains several descriptions of insensitive
leadership throughout its narrative, it finishes with a constructive criti-
cism of leadership training in the RAF and the author's views on how
it could be improved.
For those readers with a desire to know more about the detail of day
to day life for a young fighter pilot it is invaluable. For those who know
it intimately from their own experience it is a happy reminder of their
own young days and will resurrect memories for so long dormant. It is
book with a tale to tell and a source of sound opinions and shared
memories.
Peter Latham October 2005
Preface
This is the story of my time in the Royal Air Force and during a shorter
second career. The story is in two parts. During the first part of the
story, which is mainly about flying, I joined the RAF, trained as an
officer and as a pilot at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, and then
learned to fly jets. I served two tours on front-line fighter squadrons
before reaching the high point of my flying career. This was my three
years as a development test pilot at the Aeroplane and Armament
Experimental Establishment, Boscombe Down.
During the second part, my years on the ground, there were two high
points. The first was my tour as a Squadron Commander at the Officer
Cadet Training Unit, the second, after I had left the service, was as a
Management Adviser with The Industrial Society.
My first two years on a front line fighter squadron fell into what has
become in many ways a forgotten era. The allied fighter aeroplanes of
the Second World War have passed into history and into legend. These
were firstly the Hurricanes and Spitfires of the Battle of Britain and
then the Tempests, Typhoons and Mustangs which defeated the
Luftwaffe and established air supremacy over the ground battles.
Equally the first aeroplanes capable of passing the speed of sound and
depositing sonic booms-initially Yeager's rocket powered Bell X1 and
then the jet-propelled, swept-wing fighters, the Hunters, Swifts and the
North American Sabres also caught the popular imagination and are
still well remembered. We flew Meteors. Although they were one of the
first jet-propelled aeroplanes in the world to enter squadron service,
and the Meteor was for a time holder of the World Air Speed Record,
they were not supersonic and so have been eclipsed by their successors.
However to us who flew them they remain memorable and an account
of the techniques and drills of those days may be of some interest.
Similarly, the work of the Officer Cadet Training Unit had, I believe,
relevance far wider than just to the RAF or to the military and so may
be of interest too.
Strictly my flying years were from the start of my Initial Flying
Training on the Percival Prentice in 1951 until the end of my tour at
Boscombe Down, mainly on the English Electric Lightning in 1963,
just thirteen years. But from my arrival at Cranwell to my final retire-
ment all the years seem to have flown by, so for that reason too they are
all included in this account.
Richard Boult September 2005
Beech Cottage
Denham
Acknowledgements
My thanks are due to Eric Jenkins, Chris Phillips, Peter Rose and Peter
Terrell for reading the manuscript and making many helpful sugges-
tions, but in particular to Gil Massara for his constant encouragement
and support as we prepared this book for publication. Without his help
it would never have seen the light of day.
Richard Boult
The publishers are grateful to Alison Renshaw for editorial and proof-reading
help. Also to Blackstar Studios and Amanda Massara for
diagram and photograph restoration work.
ISBN 0954390008
Message from Al Pollock:
Dear Mike and All,
Bill Boult has been off line for some time now, partly to do with his impending
move from his present home in Denham to his new pad down in or near Bosham -
I have been out of touch with him too for 10 days or so but I promised Bill
that I would fire out these updated flyers round and about for him concerning
his book, now hot off the press - what one does for a one time best man!
His most readable book is very thick with 417 pages plus 24 pages containing
54 photos, well laid out in clear Garamond print. There should be a fair amount of
interest in it for almost all who overlapped with Bill's years in the service and, since there
are only 1,000 copies out there on this printing, my advice, if you are interested, is not to
hang around too long.
These updated flyer images about Bill's book are from Bill Boult's friend and
publisher Gil Massara, a long term contact from their time working together at the
Industrial Society. Gil kept encouraging Bill to persist with this splendid effort,
which has the seal of approval also from Fred Daley and Martin Roberts, recovering
from an operation but almost back to normal again.
All the best,
Alan
PS I asked Gil for his UK and overseas postal charges for P&P as costs on Post Office,
Courier and Shipping Agents rates vary wildly. Gil's reply was: for any contacts
(service or civil past and present, old mates etc) on our lists, he offers this reduced P&P rate of:
£3.00 UK and all BFPO, for 1 book.
£3.50 EU, for 1 book.
£4.50 North America & Canada, for 1 book.
£5.00 Rest of World, for 1 book.
For 2 books add 50p and for 3 books or more (ordered and paid as one sale) post free. |
