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RAF Shawbury visit - by
Sgt
Gethin Davies
As we arrived at Shawbury we met up
with Christian and headed straight for 60 Squadron, as
he wanted to get us on a flight so we could experience
first hand flying in a Griffin. It’s been about three
years since I've flown in one, and being the first time
for Jon we walked into the op's room with gleaming
smiles.
We had a look at the weather
forecast and a quick tour of the Squadron before the
loadmaster arrived to brief us. Now being a bit last
minute we would have jumped at the chance of just a
quick taxi around Shawbury, but Christian didn't fail to
impress, getting us two back seats on a low level 90
minute sortie, and just to reinforce that, the height
was a set 100ft, at a speed of 120 knots. As you
can probably tell I thought Christmas had came early.
We had a safety brief and walked at
1030. The flight lived up to all its expectations with a
lot of tree skimming and shock-struck ramblers as we
shot off into southern Shropshire. We were able to look
and follow our movement on a 1:50000 map, and as you can
imagine the pace was of a higher tempo than D of E!
Flying into an American training ground the instructor
picked a spot in between some trees for the student to
land; personally I'd be surprised if I could get my car
in! As we lowered down beneath the tree line, the down
forces of the rotors almost made the area come alive and
the Griffin gently touched down. Two more impressive
landings and thundering low level flying later we were
on finals to land.. Well time does fly when you’re
having fun - if you pardon the pun!
After our ego's floated back down
to earth we sampled the delights of the mess for some
lunch, kindly paid for by Christian, followed by a look
at the basic simulator that the pilots use. Here he
started the griffin and ran through the checks at
lightning rate, where he makes it look as though he's
been flying the Griffin's for years. We both had a blast
on the simulator, which really put into perspective the
multi ability these Pilots need!
To conclude..
An amazing day had by both Jon and myself, and our
personal thanks go to 60 squadron, and Flg Off Wilkins
for making this possible. |
