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Welcome to the
FAA Buccaneer
Association web site
The
Association is open to all personnel who maintained, flew or
supported the Buccaneer aircraft during its service with the
Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy in the sixties and
seventies. Honorary President:
Rear Admiral
Scott
Lidbetter
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LATEST NEWS
-- New article from
Flight International of an interview with
Admiral Stanhope.
The Eight Acres Hotel is now filling up so
anyone who wishes to go and stay in the same
hotel as the function is advised to book asap.
See Fulmar Assn Page. |
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LETTER TO FAABA FROM ANDREW WEBBER |
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Update:
The Buccaneer Aviation
Group invite members of the F.A.A.B.A to
Bruntingthorpe for our roll out event on 24th
March,Admission is £10 per person and the gates open
at 2pm and will include a taxi run by XW544 and
XX894(servicability allowing) folllowed by a unique
opportunity to photograph 4 Buccaneers together in
the evening light, a sight not possible anywhere
else!
To book a place contact
Andrew Webber, Group secretary ---
thebuccaneeraviationgroup@gmail.com
My name is Andrew Webber and I'm the group
secretary for the Buccaneer Aviation Group based at
Bruntingthorpe, We have recently purchased
Buccaneer XX894 following its sale by Guy Hulme and
we also own and operate XW544, and assist in the
care of XX900 and XX889.
As an infant group formed in April 2011,we are
currently looking to extend the hand of friendship
to other Buccaneer related groups as we start out to
establish our group in the Buccaneer community. The
Buccaneer Aviation Group consists of 12 main members
who are the shareholding owners of both aircraft and
form the management committee. Many of whom are part
of the original/previous groups involved with 894
and 544 under their previous ownerships.
We have our own website and forums,
www.thebuccaneeraviationgroup.com which is
currently up and running but still under development
and we plan to offer a subscription membership
scheme to generate fuel funds and a web-shop selling
our own branded goods.
The group has been set up under a not for profit
basis and will hopefully be at the forefront of
Buccaneer preservation for years to come.
One of the major tasks ahead for this year, and the
main reason for my contacting you, is the roll out
of XW544 following its complete repaint after winter
servicing which will be held prior to the cold war
jets open day in May,
Where as I understand that 544 wasn't a naval
Buccaneer, it's still a Buccaneer and we would like
to extend an invitation to members of faaba to join
us on roll out day. The roll out is currently
pencilled in for the last weekend in march 2012
awaiting confirmation from the airfield owners.
Once the date is confirmed we will be able to
confirm the days schedule but i wanted to let you
know in advance to allow time for you to hopefully
advise your members and possibly generate some
interest.
Kind regards, Andrew Webber |
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NEW CARRIER
BUILD 2012 UPDATE |
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| Click on the Image above to read the
latest edition of Carrier Wave published in January
2012 |
Click image above to see larger
picture |
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VIDEO
SIMULATION
Click on the image to the left to
take you to the Aircraft Carrier Alliance's time
lapse video site where you can see various
simulations of the build including final assembly at
Rosyth. You can also click on this link
http://www.aircraftcarrieralliance.co.uk/media/video-library.aspx |
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JOHN STEVENS 'HMS ARK
ROYAL IV' MEMORIES WEBSITE |
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John Stevens who has
served on the Ark royal IV has asked us to
let people know where to find his memories
website.
Http://flightdeckmemories.yolasite.com/ |
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Those who wish to record their memories of
this Iconic Ship are asked to send them to
John, use the link above for more
information. |
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HMS FULMAR AND
FAABA
REUNION - ELGIN MAY 2012 |
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40th Anniversary of the
handover of RNAS Lossiemouth to the RAF |
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We
can finally announce the dates and prices of
the 2012 Reunion package which has finally
been put together and agreed between
ourselves and the hotel. It will be held at
the Eight Acres Hotel and Leisure Complex in
Elgin over the weekend of the 25-27th May
2012. I can confirm the fixed prices for May
2012 as £68 pp for 1 night, £105 pp for 2
nights and £138 pp for 3 nights. There will
be a £10 supplement for the weekend to cover
entertainment and drinks for the meet and
greet etc. (50% discount for full members).
Some of you will recognize these as the same
as for the 2011 RCH reunion so I believe we
have a good deal as the hotel is as good if
not better than the RCH. There is no hotel
in the Area with enough accommodation for
everyone so, like 5years ago some of you
will have to make your own arrangements. In
regards to accommodation breakdown the hotel
has offered the following: 18 Single, 11
Double, 7 Twin, 12 Twin/Double, 3 Triple and
2 Suites. More details are contained in the
the pdf attachment,
Arrangements & Booking Details |
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PETITION TO RESTORE PENSION RPI LINK |
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Public & Private Pension Increases - change from RPI
to CPI |
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Responsible department: Department for Work and
Pensions |
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Many workers in the Public and Private Sector have
contributed to their pensions on the understanding
that on retirement these Pensions would be increased
each April by the preceding September's Retail Price
Index (RPI) rate. From April 2011 the Government has
transferred these increases to the Consumer Price
Index (CPI) measure which in the Treasury's own
words "...is designed to take account of the fact
that consumers tend to shop around, switching to
cheaper alternatives when prices of similar goods
change." This change, which has been introduced in
most cases without any prior consultation, will mean
a steady reduction in spending power for pensioners
as they progress into their retirement. Given the
promises that have previously been made, the RPI
measure should be reintroduced without delay to
ensure that the spending power of these Public and
Private pensioners is maintained. |
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use the hyperlink below: |
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https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1535/signature/new |
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To
read/download the letter from Sir Peter Norriss of
the Buccaneer Aircrew Association giving details of
a recent Freedom of Information request he made |
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please click here |
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BOOTIES NEED YOUR HELP |
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From Mark Ormrod - Twitter:
@R4MM3R5
Please could you help me out by circulating this
around to as many people as possible.
As my
latest fundraising project I have spent the last 6
months tirelessly working with 11 other injured
Royal Marines to produce the first of its kind
injured soldier calendar. The calendar features 12
lads with a range of injuries and illnesses that are
not necessarily battlefield related but each one has
faced and overcome adversity in some shape or form
and has came out of the other side smiling. The idea
behind the calendar was to show that after having a
life changing incident it's not all doom and gloom
and that a lot of positives can come from one
negative. It is also to show the determination,
spirit & cheerfulness in the face of adversity that
has become world renowned with the Royal
Marines. All of the proceeds from this calendar are
going towards the start up costs of a new Royal
Marines Association Trading Company (once we have
gained approval of the trustees). The Trading
Company has been established to provide paid
employment and business experience for injured Royal
Marines, it will be 100% staffed by injured RM's and
will enable them to gain business experience &
skills, get a taste of civilian employment & employ
them as professional fundraisers. The Trading
Company is also the first of its kind due to it
being 100% manned by injured soldiers.
The
calendar can be purchased on-line at http://www.rmacalendar.co.uk/
for £9.99 plus p+p
I am hoping
to make this a real success so hopefully we can
finish the year within the Royal Marines Association
on a real high so please order your copy today and
spread the word far and wide within your individual
networks. |
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MEDAL PETITION |
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John Bryant who runs the HMS Eagle
website (www.hms-eagle.co.uk)
has forwarded a request for all ex-service folk to
sign the following
petition, 100,000 signatures and the government has
to listen!
Petition
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/3747
Next year the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal will be
presented to service personnel, emergency service
personnel and prison officers with more than five
years service. There are no plans to award the medal
to veterans, many of whom have given a lot more than
five years service during the reign of Her Majesty.
This petition asks that the medal should also be
awarded to veterans who served Her Majesty during
her 60 years on the throne.
Please sign it. |
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FAABA REUNION COVENTRY 2011 |
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Another successful reunion was held at the Royal Court Hotel
over the weekend 17th - 19th June. Don Cockle asked his son
Darren to give him a lift just to get a ride in the latest
model from the Lotus Factory. Steve McWilliams has just
discovered what the rest of us have known for 10 years, the
best reunions are held by the Buccaneer Association. Members
of the Sea Harrier and 892 Associations joined us this year
after we put out an invite to other Ark Royal units and
squadrons. To view all the photos
click on this link
or use the Photographs button on the Main Menu. If you have
photos from this reunion that you would like to share (or
other photos from the past) please contact Phil Glover at
philglover@faaba.co.uk |
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THE PHOENIX THINK TANK & THE
SAVE THE HARRIER CAMPAIGN |
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The Phoenix Think Tank |
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Informing
discussion and debate on the
future of the Royal Navy |
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At the recent Fly Navy
Federation Meeting we
were advised that a body
of professional ex
service and military
advisers has been formed
to plan and ensure the
future of the FAA. It is
known as the Phoenix
Think Tank and
information can be found
at the following Web
site
http://www.phoenixthinktank.org/
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The future of the FAA is
the foundation of the
very existence of the
Fly Navy Federation and
we are taking the
actions of Government
and of their “Advisers”
very seriously. The very
future of the FAA and
possibly the AAC as well
is at stake. Every one
is urged to do whatever
they can to promote the
ethos and history of the
FAA and petition
Government into a change
of mind-set. Further
information on the
campaign to promote the
FAA can be found on
http://www.savetheharriers.com/
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A perspective
of modern times - and
How/Why we need to change...click
here |
Sharky's World |
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Copy of Letter to the TIMES by the
FAAOA Chairman and FAABA Honorary
President
Date Posted - 01/12/2010
Fleet Air Arm.
1 December 2010 12:01AM.
Sir, Many of us who have flown jet
aircraft from previous British
aircraft carriers appreciate the
financial constraints placed on
defence spending in the present
economic climate; but also view with
dismay the decision entirely to
abandon fixed-wing flying from the
sea for at least the next ten years
and very possibly more. Despite the
reassurance from the likes of Nick
Harvey, the Armed Forces Minister
(letter, Nov 27), this is regarded
by many of us as an unacceptable
gamble in an unpredictable world.
In times of economic stringency, the
preferable policy should be to
retain core capabilities across the
military spectrum. Accordingly, the
associations of the Fleet Air Arm
urge the Government to adopt a mixed
solution involving the continued use
of reduced numbers of both Harriers
and Tornados at a substantially
lower cost than is currently planned
for the Tornado-only option.
Rear-admiral Scott Lidbetter
Chairman Fleet Air Arm Officers’
Association
UK Navy cuts
will put lives at risk, warn Forces
chiefs, Feb 25th 2011,
Click Here....
***** Latest
Link******
Link to the "Save the Harriers"
Website,
click here...
The RAF lose
two Lossiemouth based Tornados since
Jan 27th 2011, they will probably
need some Harriers soon to make up
the losses.
Click here to read more....
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THE ROYAL NAVY AND THE
BATTLE OF BRITAIN |
Those who will
have noted the
anniversary of
the Battle of
Britain,
celebrated in
September 2010,
will have also
observed that
the celebrations
studiously
avoided any
mention of the
many Fleet Air
Arm pilots who
took part (one
of whom was
Douglas Badar's
wingman), or of
the Naval
squadrons
allocated
specifically to
the battle and
whose
participation is
recorded on the
Battle of
Britain Memorial
on the
Embankment,
London.
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Just as overlooked were
members of the air forces of many allied
nations that took part in what has now
been termed the Battle of Britain.
Maritime Books at
Liskeard have kindly forwarded the
following book review, printed in their
publication Warship World (Volume 12
Number 2 November/December 2010).
THE ROYAL NAVY AND THE
BATTLE OF BRITAIN by Anthony J Cumming.
This important new book
from the Naval Institute Press was a
pleasure to review and thoroughly
deserves to be widely read and debated.
In it, Anthony Cumming
clearly drives home the point that
Fighter Command of the Royal Air Force
did not prevent the Germans from
invading Britain in the autumn of 1940,
nor could it have done so alone. The
myth that it did has continued to grow,
however, to the point where the majority
of the British population believe that
the gallant 'Few' in their Spitfires
were responsible for defeating an
immediate and credible threat of German
invasion with little help from the other
armed forces or the wider civilian
population.
The truth is that,
whatever the air situation, any serious
attempt at invasion would have to cross
the English Channel in requisitioned
canal barges towed slowly by tugs. The
Royal Navy, at the time the world's most
powerful fleet dominated the Channel and
would have annihilated the defenceless
German vessels.
German air power did not
stop the British Fleet from evacuating
troops from Norway, Dunkirk, Greece and
Crete; it could not have prevented the
Home Fleet from destroying the motley
collection of invasion shipping at
whatever cost to itself from air attack.
This fact was recognised
by the German War Staff who saw the
probability of defeat at sea all too
clearly. These self-evident facts lacked
sufficient propaganda appeal for Prime
Minister Churchill, however, as he
sought to manipulate American public
opinion with the colourful image of
Fighter Command pitched alone against
heavy odds rather than the 'silent
victory' of the Navy which was so vastly
superior to the few German warships that
survived the Norwegian Campaign that the
enemy would not even contemplate
fighting it.
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Without denigrating the
achievements of the fighter pilots, some
of which were lent to the RAF by the
Royal Navy, Cumming examines the Battle
of Britain from a number of aspects,
including the technical capabilities of
the forces involved and the characters
of RN and RAF Commanders.
Unlike previous works on
the subject he has researched
extensively into the way in which the PR
organisation portrayed the conflict at
the time, selecting its facts in an
attempt to get the USA to join the war
on Britain's side. A gallant fight
against superior numbers was more likely
to win support from 'grass-roots'
Americans than a factual portrayal of an
enemy held in check by the powerful
British Fleet.
The author explains the
interpretation of public opinion in the
USA through early polls by Mr Gallup; a
system with which we are all now very
familiar.
Cumming is a graduate of
Plymouth University and, in 2006, he won
the Julian Corbett Prize for Research in
Modern Naval History. He has produced an
excellent, scholarly and well-researched
work that draws our attention away from
the 'Few' to focus on the 'Many',
including all the armed forces and the
civilian population. This is a
fascinating study, not only of the
crisis in 1940 but of the way in which
facts were presented by politicians to
manipulate international opinion. It
provides us with the best analysis yet
written of the whole complex situation
in the autumn of 1940 and the difficulty
experienced in initiating joint
operations. It places the air battles
over Southern England in the wider
context of a global war and British
attempts to rally American support.
I recommend it most
highly.
THE ROYAL NAVY AND THE
BATTLE OF BRITAIN by Anthony J Cumming.
Naval Institute Press.
Reviewed by CCT for
Warship World.
Recommended retail price £19.99
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RAISE MONEY FOR THE FLY NAVY
HERITAGE TRUST WHEN YOU SHOP ONLINE |
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We are pleased to announce that you
can now raise money for the Trust at no cost to yourself
when you shop online. All the major on-line outlets,
Amazon, Currys, M & S, Tesco, John Lewis, Boots, Argos
etc etc have pledged to donate a percentage of all money
you spend through their websites to a charity/cause that
you nominate. All you have to do is register as a user
at
www.easyfundraising.org.uk and then find ‘Fly Navy
Heritage Trust’ as your cause. You then go straight to
whichever on-line store you wish and make your
purchase. We then receive a quarterly cheque for the
full amount that has been donated by the companies you
have used. It’s a simple as that...............please
use easyfundraising whenever you purchase anything
on-line; the money you help raise goes directly to keep
our Historic Aircraft in the air.
Join the FNHT Supporters Group for an annual subscription
of £20 (minimum) and help to sustain the Royal Navy Historic
Flight and thus perpetuate our living memorial to all who
have served in the Fleet Air Arm, particularly those who
gave their lives in the service of their country. More can
be pledged annually or monthly, of course. A single donation
is very welcome, or perhaps even a legacy in your will. We
sincerely hope that the sight and sound of our aeroplanes
provides a source of inspiration to the youth of today, and
may encourage them to rise to the challenges met by our
predecessors.
Click here to download the Standing Order Mandate.
To log on to the new Fly Navy Heritage Trust website
click here |
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FAABA MEMBERSHIP (REVISED) |
Membership. We now have well over
500 names on
the list, a substantial number having dropped off as their email
addresses have changed. This is why it is important to have
full contact details inc address, post code and a contact
telephone number in addition to an email address. Full
membership currently stands at 145. It is now £10 per year
payable by Bank transfer or £20 for a two year period if
paying by cheque, so please, if you are not a fully paid up
member please consider joining. It is getting increasingly
expensive to meet all our commitments to you the membership,
with magazines, newsletters and other communication briefs
etc and every penny counts with any excess being ploughed
back into the Association.
Join the FAABA now: Download the
membership form here, the price of membership changed to £10 in
January
2009
For applications to join or information contact:-
Scotland
and Overseas:
Dave
Clark 1 Hampton Close, Stoford, Somerset BA22 9UN
Email:
daveclark@faaba.co.uk
or Telephone - 01935 474862
Southern England (Below
M4 corridor):
Brian
Sharrock 26 Verlands Road,
Preston, Weymouth DT3 6BY
Email:
sharrockb@hotmail.co.uk or
Telephone 01305 834112
Northern England (above
M4 corridor) and Wales:
Brian
Stanley 25 Blenheim Road, Street,
Somerset BA16 0QD
Email:
defstan1@hotmail.com or
Telephone 01458 441440
Secretary FAABA:
Robin Harper, FAABA, Fleet Air Arm Museum, RNAS
Yeovilton, Ilchester, Somerset, BA22 8HT
Email:
robinharper@faaba.co.uk
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FAABA BANNER |
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The Association
has a dedicated FAABA banner which is used at all
FAABA and FNF events. It is a free standing banner
approx 6 foot by 2 foot and can be seen by clicking
on the link below
.It is
available for all to use for any function they see
fit, RNA or FAA dinners etc and is kept at the FAA
Museum in the FNHT Office. Anyone requiring this
banner is responsible for arranging delivery and
return and any costs associated with the loan. There
is also a FNF banner which we have access to, same
rules apply. Applications for requirements through
your Area Representative. |
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