Home

News Archives

Success overseas for 609 Sqn

The Internationaler Monchengladbacher Milatarwettkampf or IMM for short is a Military Skills competition held every year in Germany and hosted by the German Army, and attracts regular and reservist competitors from across NATO. This year there were approx 60 teams taking part, and included teams from the emergency services.

609 Sqn Male Team

The competition is held over 2 days, and includes Navigation and map reading, an Assault course, stands on Vehicle/Aircraft and uniform recognition, first aid, Shooting, and many more.

609 Sqn Female Team

This year 609(WR) Sqn managed to enter 4 teams in the 2 day competition, 3 male teams, and 1 female team. The male teams were placed 26th, 32nd and 34th. Our female team won two 3rd place trophies, representing different classes in the competition! Well done to all concerned especially the girls

Lands End to John O'Groats

On Friday 17 August a team of four people from 609 (West Riding) Squadron comprising support and riders went down to RAF St Mawgan. This was the night stop before commencing a tandem bike ride from Lands End to John O'Groats. The idea was hatched back in March, so it could be linked to the Sqn's chosen charity for 2007, Multiple Sclerosis. Since then a lot of planning has taken place from borrowing a tandem to booking accommodation for the stops.

The ride began the following day from a wet and windy Lands End. Sgt Dave Fielding was fronting the machine and SAC Dave Lacy was the workhorse behind - during the event nothing changed! Fg Off Alfie Hall acted as support in the trusty Ford Transit. The route had been plotted as a West coast route crossing from Carlisle to Edinburgh and then through the Cairngorms and ever onwards. The first few days had us doing a tourist route of Cornwall and Devon - very pretty, but on a tandem in pouring rain you don't actually see much. After Bristol we continued northwards having modified the route to a more progressive one using more A roads. We did pick up one puncture and bent a rear sprocket but with assistance from a well sought out bike shop in Bristol it was not too time costly or pounds costly either. They put off 3 weeks of work just to deal with us!

609 Sqn Charity Bike Ride

As our fitness improved the daily distances became easier and we covered more. The weather got better, so much so we actually got some sun burn. A week after starting we had crossed the Scottish border and were heading for Edinburgh. Accommodation en-route was a mixture of camping, university halls and YHA's. It was all good enough to provide the mandatory rest and made even better with a fantastic service provided by Alfie Hall for the first week and AC Martin Patterson for the second. We ate mountains of pasta in the evenings, breakfasted on porridge and ate more energy bars than I care to think about. We also helped keep Lucazade in business with the amount of energy drinks we were going through. Some of the A roads in Scotland were murderous but the National Cycling Network has got some very good routes which we used and that limited the time on the faster A roads. Inverness came and went and that was our first sighting of a 'John O'Groats' sign, 120 miles. With stacks of time in hand and reasonable weather we continued Northwards and even with a detour to get off the A9 we reached the north coast 3 days ahead of schedule - leaving a quick 30 miler for the next and final day.

609 Sqn Charity Bike Ride

We set off at 0715 on that last day and were in JOG 2 hours later. It was an adventure that we all enjoyed. Not too painful on the rear end or at least when controlled with Ibuprofen and very worthwhile. The support staff were magnificent and so were our hosts at our various night stops. We only had one 'jobs worth' and he was a camp site manager from Cornwall and he objected to the wagon being anywhere near the tent and was not amused when he caught us loading up at silly o'clock in the morning! To summarize we completed 913.5 miles in 12 and a bit days and have so far raised about £1500 for Multiple Scelorosis. A big thank you also to Henshaw College in Harrogate. They loaned us the sturdy steel tandem which performed wonderfully.

Varied training for 609 Sqn

Over the past years the Squadron has visited Europe on many occasions and sunnier destinations such as Cyprus twice, last year we spent 2 weeks in not so sunny Barry Buddon on the outskirts of Dundee, so we were all hoping for somewhere nice, something special and maybe something with a hint of sun !! “No such luck Taff” I was told, we are going to spend it in 2 locations. The Gunners were going to stay at Leeming and the force protection element where going to spend 2 weeks at RAF Cottesmore !!! As it happens this year’s ACT turned out to be one of the best we have had for a long time.

ACT at RAF Cottesmore

With the new role of the Non-Gunners being in the trade of TG8 Force Protection, ACT was a mix of force development ( which included high ropes, a visit to the Battle of Britain memorial Flight, and some paintballing,) Fieldcraft, and range work to cover the training objectives that are needed to be a fully trained Force Protection (FP) asset. The range work was done within the Beckingham range complex which involved firing on a converted gallery range.

Range work

During our time spent at Beckingham, which is close to RAF Cottesmore we were blessed with the weather; unlike RAF Leeming during the same period. The first range shoot for them to pass was Live Firing 4, Grouping at 100 m in all positions, The Flight started the shoot with anticipation and uncertainty as it was the first time many of them had fired at that range, and with coaching and determination they managed to all achieve the standards that were required.

Within a 3 day range package, they managed to fire and pass, LF5, LF 7 and LF 9 with ease. What was learnt, even by the range staff was how useful the Dismounted Close Combat Trainer (DCCT) was in the evenings. This is an indoor facility which allows personnel to be coached and undertake simulated shooting exercises. Using this facility allowed them to undertake LF 6, LF8, which were shoots they had to pass, and precursors to live firing on the range. The flight also carried out a lot of pistol work and shoots for their role when working with FP training.

High and Low Ropes

High ropes

As part of our force development training, the force protection flight spent half a day on Cottesmore’s high and low ropes course. The thought of clambering on a wooden structure high above the ground was not helping breakfast stay down for some un-named members of the flight, but once we started on the equipment it was awesome, and even those members who where afraid of heights managed to have a go at something.

Visit to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight And RAF Cranwell

A morning visit to RAF Cranwell and its magnificent college was a sight to behold, with its history and splendid settings, and a chance to walk around its fantastic halls. Did you know that The Royal Air Force College at Cranwell, which was the first Military Air Academy in the world, was opened on 5 February 1920 under the command of Air Commodore C. A. H. Longcroft. The Chief of the Air Staff's message to the first entry of cadets left them in no doubt of his expectations for the College, it started off as a load of old naval huts, a new build was completed in 1933 at a cost of £321,000.

609 Sqn Mascot

609 Sqn Mascot

The afternoon was spent visiting the old and new, the new being the Typhoon. 609 (WR) Sqn flew the Typhoon during WWII, and it was good to see the new Typhoon and all its sophistication compared to its WWII name sake. The old being the Spitfire, which was also flown by 609 (WR) Sqn during the Battle of Britain, and 609 was the first to score 100 kills during that famous battle. We also visited the Lancaster bomber, and the C-47 Dakota.

Fieldcraft

Four sunny days where spent on Beckingham training area, three of which involved tactically patrolling between various fieldcraft stands, these included an Observation stand, which meant crawling under a camouflage net and trying to spot as many military type objects as possible in a given time whilst being sniffed by curious cows!!

casualty evacuation

Battlefield first aid was a challenge due to the fact that the casualties had to be evacuated using any equipment available as the picture shows, a casualty being evacuated using a hammock.

Vehicle anti-ambush drills also involved cows, because the training area was shared with the local farmers it meant that every time we set up an area for a lesson the curious cows would come along and try to join in the fun, the cows where not content with just running along with the vehicles as we set the ambushes, they wanted to leave their calling cards right next to where the guys had to take up fire positions!!

Day four was a navigation exercise day, which involved navigating the whole of the training area collecting clues from various checkpoints, and completing minor tactics and fieldcraft tasks at various stages along the route. A scoring system was in place, and the scores where put towards the scores from the shooting, so we ended up with the highest score for ACT, and this year the trophy went to Cpl Andy Marsh. The trophy for the best shot went to Sgt Dave Cripps.

Paintballing

The battle lines were drawn, the mission was simple. To transport a “human like” robot through enemy territory, over a deep canyon and on to a helicopter pick up point, friendly forces were 20 in number, enemy forces where only 4, not a problem you may think, but the enemy forces consisted of the Sqn training team, a highly trained, fit and professional force capable of taking out 20 Auxiliaries with ease!!

Paintball Team

The defeated training team.

Well that’s what we in the training team thought, wrong, we were quickly overwhelmed by the first wave, and had to withdraw, to a safe area, which was a big mistake, we were quickly surrounded and had to endure the pain and humiliation of being beat by a force that we trained.

Regiment Gunners ACT at RAF Leeming

During ACT 2007, a RAuxAF Regiment Trainee Gunner course was planned and conducted by Sgt Young, between the 9th and the 24th June. Phase 1, a Skill at Arms phase was conducted at RAF Leeming with stage 1-4 Live Firing Marksmanship Training (LFMT) and Transition to Live Firing Tactical Training (TLFTT) taking place at both Strensall Range complex near York and Bellerby Range complex Catterick. Phase 2, a Field craft phase took place at Catterick Training Area enabling the potential gunners to be taught the basic field craft and tactics lessons prior to participating in a series of Battle Lessons and Exercises. The final phase culminated with a 48 hour patrolling exercise to allow the students to practice the skills learned throughout the course whilst being assessed by the training team. Seven personnel including one from 504 SQN at RAF Cottesmore, successfully completed the course and are now ready to progress to stage 5, Live Firing Tactical Training (LFTT) being held in both July and August at Feldom.

The rest of the Squadron’s Regiment personnel successfully completed a 5 day GPMG training and live firing range package with Cpl Andy Lynch. Sgt Shaun Metcalfe from 2503 Sqn Royal Auxiliary Air Force Regiment based at RAF Waddington kindly volunteered and delivered a 2 day Bowman introductory signals package and Cpl Ollie Cohen from 34 SQN RAF Regiment delivered a 1 day training package covering the ISTAR assets. Shaun, Ollie and George, on behalf of 609 SQN Training team and the lads, thanks for all your help, gentlemen. During the period of ACT the lads successfully completed most of the Training Objectives of the Field Gunner course and were also able to support the Trainee Gunners whilst in the field for the last 4 days of the course.