Paphos Life

Kili01 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 05, 2018 7:44 pm No I don’t think that I will go along...except to see inside the airbase normally closed to the public. No wonder a previous Mayor of Paphos found reasons to stop the RAF Red Arrows from holding an air display over the harbour area, over the sea. But the public would have been situated further away from the action for safety reasons than they were in the video at the airbase.
Was the mayors refusal to let the Arrows perform at Paphos because of jealousy, or the fear that young Cypriots might have been interested in joining the British forces instead of the National Guard?

Kili01 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 05, 2018 7:44 pm No I don’t think that I will go along...except to see inside the airbase normally closed to the public. No wonder a previous Mayor of Paphos found reasons to stop the RAF Red Arrows from holding an air display over the harbour area, over the sea. But the public would have been situated further away from the action for safety reasons than they were in the video at the airbase.
Was the mayors refusal to let the Arrows perform at Paphos because of jealousy, or the fear that young Cypriots might have been interested in joining the British forces instead of the National Guard?

Jimgward wrote: ↑Mon Nov 05, 2018 10:03 pm

Kili01 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 05, 2018 7:44 pm No I don’t think that I will go along...except to see inside the airbase normally closed to the public. No wonder a previous Mayor of Paphos found reasons to stop the RAF Red Arrows from holding an air display over the harbour area, over the sea. But the public would have been situated further away from the action for safety reasons than they were in the video at the airbase.
Was the mayors refusal to let the Arrows perform at Paphos because of jealousy, or the fear that young Cypriots might have been interested in joining the British forces instead of the National Guard?

I think the red arrows were possibly stopped, for the same reason a small air show in the Channel Islans, would not have invited a German team....

Hudswell wrote: ↑Mon Nov 05, 2018 9:11 pm Actually a primary reason for all the British Armed Forces "display" teams is recruitment, unfortunately most are fighting for survival due to cuts in funding. The Royal Corps of Signals Motor cycle display team, the "White Helmets" was the latest to go. And attracting recruits from Commonwealth countries is now, or will become soon, an aim for the Armed Forces, the requirement to have lived in the UK for,5 years is being scrapped, and potential recruits can enlist from their own countries.

Hudswell wrote: ↑Mon Nov 05, 2018 11:59 pm Farnborough is exactly that, a trade show...and yes designed to flog both commercial and military aircraft, but certainly not as a recruiting aid for the Armed forces!. The Forces display teams are primarily a vehicle for recruiting and each of the services have them, but of course some also serve to "advertise" our Armed Forces throughout the world. The Red Arrows, as magnificent as they are, are not "ring fenced" and I suspect will eventually go...they are often put up as a "savings measure" during the annual round of defence cuts, and the only thing that saves them is their prominence as probably the best Air Display Team in the world and Ambassadors of the United Kingdom. The Royal Yacht Britannia, which under the Conservative Government was due to be decommissioned and replaced of course succumbed to similar Defence Cuts under Labour, taken as a saving, despite its pre-eminence as an "Ambassador" for the country.

Kili01 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:22 pm But despite this our slim line forces are well equipped with ever more advanced equipment, what ever Dominic thinks!
Dee

Hudswell wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 9:24 am Oh Jim, that's rich, my politics? What on earth has my statement got to do so politics. You simply have to have a pop at anything that riles your republican, left wing socilist sensibilities. You just love to wallow in your perception of injustice, it must be torturous to be associated with the United Kingdom. Why on earth you have to drag you soapbox out at every single oppourtunity is simply beyond me. The United Kingdom, is exactly that, a kingdom and it always will be, and I for one are proud of its achievements, and that includes the Red Arrows, who by the way are piloted by experienced front line fighter pilots and can be converted to ground attack aircraft if needed. And the Britannia (the Britannica was a set of encyclopaedia's I believe) was designed to be converted into a hospital ship.

Paul & Lesley wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 10:53 am A little bit off topic about my farther in law.

My farther in law Arthur was part of the B E F at the start of World War 2, he was rescued at Dunkirk.

He was able to get on one of three boats that had come to Dunkirk, he boarded the middle boat and just after a German aircraft dropped 2 bombs hitting the boats each side of the boat he was on killing all on board.

He was later deployed to Malta for the full term of the siege of Malta.

He was an aircraft armourer loading bombs and ammo on to the planes.

One day standing with friends on the airfield a German aircraft came over and attacked the airfield fired his guns, Arthur ran one way and the men ran another, Arthur was the only one to survive attack.

A few weeks later he was about 20 feet from a new bloke on the airfield when another German aircraft attacked dropping a bomb; this bomb killed the new bloke and blew all of Arthur’s clothes off.

He did not get a scratch on him all the way through the war.

Sadly he passed away in 2005, we still have his RAF papers and medals.

The people of Malta are so proud of what the service men and woman did for their county during that time.