The Freedom Years

"Its not like there's a war going on" Thats what my Mum said when I announced I wanted to join the Navy. The fact that I wasn't likely to get killed, sealed their approval and signature on the form from the RN Careers Office. However, less than a year later, ten months to be precise, we went to war with the 'Argies' in the South Atlantic all because of a small cluster of Islands called The Falklands. The months that followed the announcement on 2nd April 1982 are some of the most vivid memories of my life. Events and emotions, deeply engraved in my heart, never to be forgotten. I apologise now if my account isn't 100% accurate, but it was 30 years ago and my memory isn't what it was, but please feel free to correct me. I also want to point out that this is simply an account of my life at that time and not a political agenda, so please no comments on sovereignty or other political opinions. Thanks. I was based at RNAS Culdrose at the time,  working on...

The Fleet Air Arm of the 1980's used yellow tractors to carry out a variety of jobs on air bases, such as moving aircraft around, collecting parts and stores and towing the 'Houchin' used to start the aircraft to save the internal battery. Because there was a lot of responsibility when towing around large lumps of metal costing huge sums of money not everyone was able to do this job. On each squadron there would be several tractor drivers, at least one per watch. I was on my first squadron - 771 Search and Rescue at RNAS Culdrose when I was told I had to report to the Aircraft Handling section for tractor training. At the time I didn't drive a car, although I had done some driving with my Dad just before joining up so it was a little scary coming to terms with dual gears and big bouncy tyres. I spent a few days practicing driving in different conditions, round bollards and at different speeds before starting to use the towing arm which was then attached to an old Wes...