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Normal Topic For those who have served at Buchan... (Read 8,585 times)
Richard Jenner
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For those who have served at Buchan...
08.10.2009 at 07:55:09
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Open this link for details of a new memorial:

http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive.cfm?storyid=28CF5A55-5056-A318-A83FD0541A2B1D...

Richard Jenner
  
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Dave Lowry
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Location: Kettering
Re: For those who have served at Buchan...
Reply #1 - 08.10.2009 at 09:19:54
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I have many happy memories of Buchan and Boddam Village. Our elder daughter started her education at the Village School in the early 80s. What a wonderful gesture and very much appreciated.

Thanks to Richard for letting us know.

Dave Lowry
  
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Tony Pleasant
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Re: For those who have served at Buchan...
Reply #2 - 10.10.2009 at 09:49:32
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I remember Buchan with mixed feelings.  On the up-side I met Maggie there, controlling Lightnings with the Type 80 a real challenge and very satisfying.
On the downside five and a half years of Mickey Mouse football!!!
Plez
  
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Paul Martin
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Raf Buchan - Back to the 80s
Reply #3 - 05.09.2011 at 16:51:31
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First of all - I was not a member of the Fighter Control Branch, I was a ' scribbly ' the lowest of the low in terms of the Commissioned branches !! I remember hearing the news when I found I was been posted to RAF Buchan - ' where is it ? ' I asked my scribbly Wing Commander from the comfort of the glorious officers mess at HQ Support Command Brampton. ' somewhere in Scotland ' came the reply. Not good news based on this very basic information. No ' google earth ' in those days but the location of an Atlas               ( remember them ! ) soon crumbled the world of a not long commissioned Pilot Officer. Back then Edinburgh seemed to me like driving to the moon but the road just seemed to go on and on. I thought Aberdeen was where it stayed dark for 6 months over winter !!

I remember calling the Officers Mess to book a ' room ' ( I use the word lightly - don't forget I had no idea of what awaited me back then ). ' Fit Like ' I think the girl on the other end of the phone said. When i tried to talk to her I think she said ' ah dunno ken ' which I later found out to mean ' I don't know '.

I booked my room - I told my then girlfriend what the score was and she shared my concerns. It would not be more than a 4 hour drive I thought.

Anyway, I set off to RAF Buchan from home in Bradford early in September 2006. It took around 8 hours including various stops to let what was happening sink in. I really was abroad when I hit Edinburgh, reality sinkling in that my girlfiend would soon be a distant memory. I rememebr hitting Dundee and almost crying when riddled with cramp from driving I saw a sign saying ' Aberdeen 70 miles '. The rain was coming down thick and fast, how much longer ?!! I got to Batmans second home AKA Aberdeen and still had 30 odd miles to go !!

EVENTUALLY arrived at the Guardroom at RAF Buchan - I think it was around 9.00pm on a Sunday night. I walked like an Egyptian through rain that seemed to come sideways on, up the steps to what looked like a caravan without wheels   ( the Guardroom mentioned ).

Completed the formalities and ' shown ' to my ' room '. The despair really was kicking in by now. I was going to be living in a Portakabin for the next 2 1/2 years. My room was near one end but I was told I actually had 2 rooms - was this special treatment I asked ? ' no ' I was told. My ' rooms ' were not connected. One had a sink in it and the other had a bed. I had to come out into the corridor to move between rooms. It tanspired that since my rooms had been empty all furniture that could be taken had been.

SO WHY AM I WRITING THIS ????!!!

Because the time I had at RAF Buchan was the best in my whole RAF career.

I settled in to what was a fantastic community - once the stigma of not been a Fighter Controller was forgotten ( by most people ) it was a non-stop party. The laughs I had and the company I enjoyed have been hard to replicate. Having to knock through my rooms to make one and then getting bollocked for covering the messy edges with black bin liner - priceless !! Dining in nights / Summer Balls decorating the mess - priceless !! Friday Happy Hour and then down to Peterhead - priceless !! If I felt lucky a nioght out to the gliz of Aberdeen and Union Street - priceless !! All Ranks nights and mixing with the whole camp - priceless !! Spontaneous room parties in the portakabins     ( usually in Scotties - very messy he was, had to wipe feet when leaving his room )

Special mention to my top muckers Clive Scott and Andy Greenwood - special memories and going on honeymoon with Clive after his fiancee had dumped him 2 weeks before the wedding. Magaluf was great !!

Thanks to Bob Rigby and Andy Watts for helping me out early doors, thanks to Sam Robertson who let me have his chair in Accounts when he moved to PSF. The likes of Rob Daft, Paul Dunn, Dave Knight, Archchie Mac, Andy McAleer, Alison Bishop ( ex of Andy G and Gilly the Mess barman ), Stotty,Viv Swift, Kath Hamper, Sean, Tim Parker, Matt Dolan, Bill Moffatt, JVOC, Jamie etc etc - can't remember all the names but can still picture the faces. Happy days !!

Can't believe my last look on Google earth just shows the outline of where the portakabins used to be.

Best wishes to everyone out there who was at Buchan in the late 80s.

Paul Martin   Grin
AKA Bon Jovi

PS. Having sent then Girlfriend photos of my room etc and told her that I would not be able to come home every weekend she dumped me - great result as it turned out !!
  
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