News Files


July 1999

29/7/99

Following requests from some of you, we now have pilot emblems. I have put these with other information on individual pilots. To view these, go to the Roster and click on the name of a pilot. This should take you to their info. At present, I only have Icepick and Destroyer done, as they're the only ones who've specified emblems. 'The London Butcher' (Pick's Plane) emblem was done by me, and if you give me the specs I'll happily do one for you, if you're someone who shows up regularly. Oz is next in line for a cartoon of his bunny ("mmmmmm....rabbit" -SSGF) and I'll do one for myself. Not too sure of the name yet...maybe 'Cock Sparrer'. (Cockney Sparrow to those of you North of Watford). By the way, 'The London Butcher' was the real mount of 609 Sqn Leader Mickey Robinson during 1941. Pick now has his actual serial no. 'PR(Roundel)-B'. I hear rumours of a new paint patch for EAW, and maybe...just maybe we'll be able to put serial Nos on our planes. I have several plates of colour schemes for 609, which'll go up on the history page soon.

New Skipper's corner, Diary and Red/Yellow Section stuff is up now.

I am afraid that due to vacation, musical commitments and moving house (to VA at the end of next month...whoopee!) I shan't be at training for a while. Consequently, the site may lag behind for a bit, but rest assured, I'll be back. I shall continue to fly as much as possible during the week. See you all soon. Get Kali!!!!!!!

Compy.

18/7/99

Quote of the week; "I don't know who does your training, but 609 are a special breed of EAW pilot"

-Goshawk.

S! all. Firstly, I apologise for the slowness of all updates, but there's been so many its taken me all weekend to do. First of all, and most importantly, we have had a drastic reorganisation of the Squadron. This was decided at the staff meeting on Saturday. Here are the minutes, kindly taken by Oz;

Minutes of Staff Meeting

We all bought a round of drinks;

Icepick: OOD will be posted in the HQ weekly.

The big shuffle is upon us. For organisational reasons and convenience it was decided that the three flights would be based on geographical location;

A flight is now the USA and Canadian flight (Flt ldr is Icepick).

B Flight is the European Flight (Flt ldr is Shap).

C Flight is the Australian and New Zealand flight (ANZAC flight). (Flt ldr is Destroyer).

We approached the problem of having no flight for Drecthit (USA pilot). It was decided that B flight would be consolidated into two sections -yellow and green. Orange section would move up to A flight. B flight section ldrs as follows;

Shap -Yellow section.

Fros -Green section.

A flight now has Red section, Blue section, Black section and Orange section. Compans was given the Orange Section Leader spot (good choice). In the ensuing shuffle Kos magnanimously stepped down as a Flight Ldr stating "I'm not on any ego trip": good attitude Kos. Drecthit will now be posted to A flight as Icepick's Wingman.

Training officer appointments :

As you know there is to be one TO per flight;

Relent is now TO for A flight.

Dupraidier is TO of B flight.

Oz (that's me) is TO of C flight.

Pyker, Methats and Rookie are listed as MIA.

ICQ number for each pilot is to be listed on the roster.

Recruiting has now openened again to fill in the blanks so to speak...some stipulations though;

1. Recruits must have kali after two weeks.

2. Recruits must be recruited/or have their application reviewed by a staff member or one of the TO's. So, if you have a mate that wants to join, send 'em to your helpful flight TO or a staff member.

3. I'm sure there was something else but I cant read my own chicken scratchings. Oh, by the way TO's...if we dont cut the mustard we are for the high jump.

Flight emblems were discussed. It was late and I was losing the plot, but as far as I could tell....emblems for the flight were a go. For example C flight would have a boomerang etc.

Promotion and medals. Well, from now on when I see someone doing good (like the Cas and Wolf team), these people won't be promoted (not usually). They will however get honourable mentions in dispatches and service medals. All the other medals such as military cross, DFC, VC etc will be reserved for outstanding performances in the wars (which scuttlebutt says are coming along).

Thats it I think.

Oz

Training was well attended on Saturday. Here are the attendees, also courtesy of Mr Zig;

Attendance

Blacksky, Cas, Compans, Deckard, Dest, Falcon, Flyguy, Heinzbaby, Icepick, Kosmik, Oz, Relent, SSGF, Stretch, Viper, Zorro, Frosby, Porter, Heat, Scarlet, Ghost (I thought I saw him ..anyone confirm this ?).

Pilots absent and accounted for;

Shap, Shredd, Regsomble, Methats, Pyker.

Not bad people...not bad at all.

Pilots who get wings

Heinzbaby.

Thankyou Oz. As regards the reshuffle here is the news;

Pyker, Rookie and Ghost have been posted as MIA. Shap is now Flt Ldr of B Flight. Deckard has been moved from Orange Section to Yellow Section as Shap's wingee. Minigotte has been promoted to Pilot Officer (although he has not been seen for a while...MIA, chaps?) and is Element Ldr of Yellow Section. Fros has been moved to Green Section as Flt Lt. Scarlet is now his wingee. DRecthit takes my post as IcePick's wingman (I'll miss this post) and I now head Orange Section which has been made a US Section. Heinzbaby now joins White Section after recieving his wings as Destroyer's wingman.

All this has mainly occured due to lack of interest and bad Section management amongst European Sections. Many new pilots have been left in the lurch along the way and I would suggest all European Officers get their act together immediately or there will be another Night of the Long Knives. I have placed pilots as best as I could. If you have any discrepencies with these, let me know.

New stuff;

Black, Grey and Red Section news is in. All should check this out. Scarlet sent in a report for Orange Section in Methat's absence. Good job Scarlet. Your initiative has been noted in the new Skipper's Report.

Oz has sent latest instalment of 'Letter Home'.

SSGF has a great set of guidelines for RW procedure in 'Element Comms'.

Rel sent in some more great stuff on the Spit XIV and Spit IX.

Lastly, a word of warning. I fought Anaconda last night, winning 3-0. However, Goshawk informed me the match had not been verified by him, and was subsequently disallowed. Lesson learned. Do all this by the book!

There's still some more stuff to do but I'm well Knackered, so it'll be up later this week. Never fear...Dr Compans is here.

14/7/99

New stuff in 'War room'. Pilot/Section/Flight kill statistics for EAW Ladder. It seems Kos and Rel are really potting 'em and I heard last night that Rel got his fifth kill, making him our second ace after Kos. Congratulations Rel and congratulations Blue Section. Any 2 v 2 contests happening?

Also, new pilot notes from Rel on the Tempest. Informative stuff as ever. Believe it or not I have no decent in-flight shots of the Spit IXc so...if anyone can help me out, I'd truly appreciate it. Comp.

13/7/99

It seems we're getting back on our feet after our little crisis, though there are still some rough edges to be smoothed out. The Skipper has sent me a new report along these lines so please check out this important stuff in Skipper's Corner. A staff meeting is to be held this Sunday at 20.00 EST at Kali. If you are staff or one of the two regular pilots chosen, you should try and make it, as important stuff is to be discussed.

The Skipper also mentioned to me that he would like all pilots to get Kali. The lag really is so much better than the Zone. Alright, its $20.00 but its a small price for the many hours of enjoyable flying this brings. Kali also attracts a more serious class of pilot...mostly other squads -so the competition is fierce. I have not seen one disruptive pilot all the time I've been on. I installed Roger Wilco yesterday and had a splendid series of flights with me and Oz going up against Llv 34 Snefens and Teufel. It really was great to hear those two communicating in German ( I think) whilst Oz shouted "Break Comp......break!". It felt very authentic. Also to hear Oz's victory yell and his stirring renditions of 'Advance Australia Fair' and 'Bridge Over the River Kwai'. Oz now has his own 'Letter Home' page for him to further explore his literary talents. Go to navigational list and scroll down to 'Diary' and you're there.

I have heard you all like the new animation on the homepage, but that it slows down scrolling somewhat. I have it set to repeat 15 times. I shall change it to 5 so this shouldn't last too long, and you can tell me what you think. How is the download now? I had to remove Pick's photo from homepage as this was slowing things down, but it'll go somewhere else soon. Download for me is slow from afternoon to early evening.

We now have kill scores up on the roster, which are based on the EAW Ladder scores. Mr Kosmik is ahead (theres a shocker), and indeed Blue Section are at present the premier Section in terms of kills with 14 victories all told. If you want to lose that ' 0 ' get on the ladder and pot one for your section. Anyway chaps, see you soon and good hunting. Comp.

11/7/99

Me and my big mouth! Following my previous complaints regarding your input, I recieved a spate of mail this weekend and have been working feverishly today to keep up;

For 'Mailbox' (in HQ), I recieved an excellent 'letter home' from Oz (can we make this a weekly or occasional diary of events Oz?), a great book review from Jungle Bunny (Oz's other half), and a really interesting set of organisational proposals from Dest.

Also from the Oz household, another instalment for T/O's report, this time on tangling with German energy fighters. This is much needed advice -as we've all discovered them German pilots are getting clever!

Finally, from good ol' Rel, a truly informative addition to our Tips Page. A very detailed piece on evasive maneuvers and tactics.

Excellent stuff from you all, and should hopefully inspire some of you quiet/modest pilots to write in. Remember, if you wish to comment about internal secret stuff like this, use the 'Mailbox' page. Send to me and address 'For Mailbox', and re-"...." if replying to a previous article.

This is the BBC....here is the news....

Congratulations to Flyguy, Stretch, Drecthit, Falcon and Deckard who all recieved their wings on Saturday.

Rookie notified us that his parents are unwell, and that regretfully he would have to step down as an active member of 609 for the timebeing. We all wish you and your family well Rookie, and hope you'll return to us soon. S!

Flyguy will take over Rookie's spot as Porter's wingman in Red Section. Stretch is posted to Brown Section as Munster's Wingman whilst Falcon joins same as Heat's Wingman. Deckard joins Orange Section as Methat's Wingman. (Any news of Methats chaps? If not we'll apoint a new section leader soon...so hang in there Deckard!). We are presently at a loss as to where to post Drecthit as there are no vacancies in any USA sections. I would suggest that he be temporarily assigned to Orange Section until a spot opens up. Sorry about this Drecthit, but rest assured-we'll sort something out for you.

Here is the TO's training report;

T.O.'s Report


Attendance;

Was not as good as the last two weeks, but the zone wasn't letting people on..and it was jumping in-jumping out city!

Deckard, Destroyer, Drechit, Falcon, Heat, Heinzbaby, Kos, Oz, Munster, Stretch, Porter, SSGF, Viper, Zorro, Compans (well ...when the zone would let him on), Frosby, Relent, Wolfman.

I apologise if I missed anyone...jumping in/out caused me major problems too!

Pilots who got wings;

Deckard, Drecthit, Falcon, Stretch, Flyguy.

Pilots who informed prior to absence;

Methats, Jade, Shap, Scarlet, Pyker and Gix (who is in hospital still?).


No609 Oz

Thanks Oz. Quite the busy bee these days. I think that's about it. If I've forgotten to mention anyone's report/article...let me know

And finally...in the shameless self-promotion department; your very own X.O. (me) won blue ribbon (first prize) in the Roxbury CT 'Pickin & Fiddlin' contest on Saturday in the Bluegrass Banjo catogory, and again in the Best Band catogory. So, I am at present a very happy camper and if you wish to try and get me to loan you money or promote you to Wingco, now would be the time to ask. All the best. Compans.

9/7/99

Following yesterday's news, I have updated the Roster to include new ranks as well as a Chain of Command page. Go to Roster/HQ panel and click on 'HQ'. I have detailed everyone's role within the Squadron. If anyone has any furthur additions/discrepecies with these, let me know.

Grey Section has outlined a new training schedule on their page. I have put up a training time below each section's banner on their respective pages so go and check on your times for training during the week.

Skippers report is up. This was sent to me a while ago, so apologies Mr P.

Shap, Icepick and Scarlet will not be at training on Saturday. Shap is on vacation for three weeks. Despite what I said on Kali last night, I can make it to training. We need to start rotating the O.O.D in some kind of organised way. As myself and Pick have now done this we'll start with Porter. This week's pet plane will be the Tempest.

Many of you have expressed irritation regarding those annoying ads that pop up when navigating our homepage. Don't remove the ad entirely, but click anywhere on screen when the first one appears. This will reduce into a pop up box at the bottom of your screen and furtur ads will not appear whilst its there. Thanks to Destroyer for info on Hurricane. I still need stuff on the Tiffie. As I don't think we need more training in the Spit IX, could someone send me pilot notes regarding this flying Chestnut. Also notyes on the Tempest'd be appreciated.

I need midweek training times for White/Brown/Yellow/Green and Orange sections. Thanks. Comp.

8/7/99

First of all, apologies for my very slow updates this week. There has been some discontent in the squadron of late, some of which surfaced last Saturday, and I've been dealing with this for the last five days. We have reached a point where organisation and attitude need to be stepped up a notch. This will have to come from YOU.

The Phoney War.

It has been brought to my attention that pilots are unhappy with our lack of a war, and feel training is becoming pointless if we have no conflict through which to test these skills out. As our Adjutant, Kos is now actively 'going to start a war' (a la Braveheart). There has been a war brewing since this squadron's conception and I agree, it is a bit ridiculous that this hasn't happened yet.

Meetings.

Many people are fed up with the amount, and length of meetings which eat into our Saturday training. A suggestion has been made to the effect that most of the issues discussed at these marathons could be better addressed if only attended by Sqn Top Brass, ie...Flight Leaders and up. Information could then be transmitted to everyone via the C of C. Decisions should be made by leaders regarding squadron policy.

Leadership.

Leaders need to start leading. This applies from the top downwards. Training policies/ rules and regs etc have been reitterated ad nauseum by me and, speaking personally, I am fed up with the lack of response. To this end, I intend to draw up a detailed command structure which will be accessed via the HQ panel in the roster. Everyone's role within the squadron can then be viewed and nobody will be left in any doubt as to whether they are doing their job properly. It is time for a shake up. We are a very large squadron, and we have reached one of those points which happen from time to time, whereby we all have to pull together and improve. If you are too busy to do your job, give it to someone else.

Post.

Training Officer/s, Adjutant's and Squadron leader's pages must be updated regularly. We have lost some of our momentum regarding this of late. In addition, we need more feedback and input from everyone. I thought that individual section pages were a good idea. However, they are mostly unused. It is very discouraging for me to put in all this time and energy, only to be met with apathy and laziness. Give me your training schedules please! Similarly, the 'Mailbox' page is there for you to post internal squadron queries and info that cannot be aired in the public domain of the forum. I have recieved one letter (from Destroyer) in the three months its been up. I will remove the page unless you start responding.

Section Training.

Sections need to meet regularly to train. From reading section reports, it appears that some leaders are pulling their weight. Others, as far as I know are not making the effort. To those of you, you will lose us valuable pilots in the long run. Blue and Black sections now have training schedules and I know Pick is arranging one for Red Section. C Flight are, as always, on top of things, and their organisation and enthusiasm are a credit to this squadron. Flight Leaders need to start taking an interest in their flights. I would like to suggest that we reorganise (sorry...that word again) A and B flights into full European and full USA (and Canadian) flights. C flight really seem to benefit from their geographical identity. I feel a healthy competetiveness and sense of identity would result from these changes.

I think that pretty much covers most general areas. I shall now get specific;

I heard that Cas and Wolfman were to be promoted. I asked for their new ranks so that I could change the info in the roster. Viper wrote back saying that he wasn't consulted at any point in this process and, it turns out, that if Wolfman gets promoted he will have to be made a Flt Lt, the same rank as Viper. Therefore, this may not now happen. To build someone up like this, only to subsequently let them down is both incompetant and unfair and illustrates neatly our lack of an effective chain of command.

I have not heard from Methats, and his whereabouts are vague. Scarlett is fairly new to the squadron and has, as far as I know been left high and dry. I would suggest we look for a new Orange Section leader.

Pyker is on a three week vacation, and transmitted to me last Saturday his unease with the size of No609. He said he may or may not leave when he returns. He has not posted any information regarding who is to run Green section whilst he is away. I would appreciate some feedback from the other members of Green Section regarding this matter.

I have not recieved any information from Shap regarding Yellow Section. When do you meet during the week? Have you made improvements to your training programme?

So, there you have it. Once again, we need to get more efficient. If things dont come up to scratch heads will roll. I periodically get discouraged with this whole deal, but intend to stick it out and, when I reach these points, I try to be constructive and do something about it. I feel sometimes though, that I carry an unfair amount of responsibility in this Sqn and I've had enough of doing other people's jobs for them. For instance, every Saturday I get asked 'Who is passing evaluation today?' That information is available to anyone who can find the Roster and solve some simple addition problems (date joined plus 21). If you need to know something, go and ask the person in charge of this area. If he isn't sure, he should be replaced. If you are a ranker and do not hear regularly from your section leader, we need to find you a new section leader. I don't want a witchhunt here chaps, but its time to shape up.

On a lighter note, please check out Oz's excellent information regarding rudder control in 'Training Officer's report'. Also we have a new page on the Typhoon in Aircraft Notes with some excellent comments from Rel, who incidently, is the only pilot that has responded to my request for these. Does anyone have any info on official climb rates for Typhoon and Hurricane? I need this info. We also need test pilots to check out the data.

Anyway my friends. See you soon in a sky near you. Comp.

5/7/99

Training on Saturday was both well-attended and a bit chaotic. Officers took part in the dismissal of 'E_Rommel', (see minutes below), and there followed a general meeting, which went on a bit long, largely due to constant interruptions from the floor. I am going to put something about meeting ettiquette in 'Rules and Regulations'. I suggest you all read it. Here are the minutes, kindly taken by Oz;

Minutes of General Meeting 3/7/99

"All rise". IcePick declares courts martial of trainee E_Rommel open. The gallery has to be hushed not once but four times...excitment was high.

"Be seated". No defense was heard, and no defense was appointed. Ice: let the record show the accused did not wish to be defended by himself or arepresentative of his majesty's armed forces from the officer staff of 609 sqn.

Diatribe of Rommel's actions leading to proceedings were recounted. Gallery had to be hushed again. Votes were called for on a verdict for the offense, by order of name, from officers convening the courts martial.

Compans = guilty

Destroyer = guilty

Kosmik= guilty

OzZiggy = guilty

Pyker =- guilty

Shap = guilty

Viper = guilty

Sentence was discharged by IcePick Sqn Ldr commanding 609 fighter sqn. Rommel's name is permanently struck off the honour roll, never to fly with directly or by association any 609 member. Courts martial called to an end

At this point I put my black armband on ...as a badge of shame that I should let such a trainee into our ranks before vetting him properly. On ceremonial dress now I shall wear a black lanyard.

Pyker anounced three week leave pass ( god knows how he wangled that one). Well, the front is quiet at the moment as the phoney war continues. Viper announced he will miss next training session: remind him to appoint his 2 IC as commander and organise him a replacement possibly flyguy to "pad out the section"

Maximun of fifty pilots was announced (Comp looks worried). Recruiting has ceased. At this point he meeting dragged on and on so I got disgruntled and stopped taking minutes because nothing was being achieved due to its haphazard nature.

Zig go fly now : no offense guys...but I'm usually very disciplined and patient ..but even I got sick of it.

Cheers. Ziggy

Training Attendance 3/7/99

Last week's total was 21.

Deckard, Destroyer, Dupraidier, Falcon, Flyguy, Heat, Ice, Kos, Munster, Oz, Porter, Pyker, Regsomble, Relent, Scarlet, Shap, SSGF, Viper, Stretch, Wolfman, Zorro.

Pilots who informed prior to absence; Mayday, Shredd, Methats,Minnigotte,Jade, Ghost and Gix (who is in hospital).

This week; 25 total

Destroyer, Icepick, Munster, Falcon, Hienzbaby, Oz, Regsomble, Shap,Stretch, Pyker, Heat, Cas, Porter, Viper, Kos, SSGF, Compans,Dupradier, Relent, Shredd, Flyguy, Wolfman, Deckard, Zorro, Scarlet.

Pilots whom informed prior to absence; Mayday, Methats, Jadeand Gix (who

is in hospital).

The Squadron is now very large and will only work if Section Leaders can organise their own sections. To be honest, I too am getting heartily sick of having to say this every week.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the following pilots who have been promoted; OzZiggy is promoted to Flt Lt of Grey Section. Regsomble is promoted to Pilot Officer of Grey Section, and becomes 2nd element Ldr. Munster is promoted to Flt Lt of Brown Section. Heat is promoted to Pilot Officer of Brown Section and becomes 2nd element leader. SSGF has been posted to Black Section as Viper's wingman. Congratulations chaps, and very well deserved.

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