Page 101 - Demo

97should all do some physical exercises each morning to keep sharp. This caused great hilarity as the thought of some of the aging siggies running around was mind blowing. Tengah was spruced up for the Royal Visitalthough they only started a day or so before she arrived. They painted everything white but only what she would be able to see as she was driven round and so some walls were just painted halfway along. She arrived mid-afternoon and so a reception was laid on in the bar with a nice afternoon tea laid out. When asked what she would like Princess Margaret immediately replied, %u201cA gin and tonic%u201d. Once the visit was over, we were able to go home, and we thought we would be on the next weekly VC10 as returning aircrew were always top priority. However, whoever decided these things thought otherwise. They said that we had to fill in a form requesting a journey home and how we wanted to do it. This was of course ridiculous. Some of the siggies said they were happy to stay there and as the suggested ways to get back included ship, train and overland I am not sure that some of these options were not requested. Indeed, if we hadn%u2019t already been there longer than we expected, I think several of us would have opted for overland. Driving back from Singapore would have been quite an adventure! A week later we were booked onto a VC10 and another nightmare journey began. We were met at Brize Norton by a coach and so we were very grateful for that until the driver said that he had only just arrived and would have to have a 10 hour break. Ben went off to one of the Hercules Squadrons and chatted them up. Having heard our tale of woe they agreed to put on a staff training trip and kindly flew us all back home. I flew 1 more sortie with Ben and then he was posted, and we got a new captain.Chapter 11The Kinloss Squadrons all converted to Nimrods as crews, as did 42 Sqn at St Mawgan. The Ballykelly and Singapore Squadrons were all