Blue Eagles

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Army Historic Aircraft Flight | The Museum of Army Flying | Army Air Corps Recruiting

Blue Eagles Team News #2

There’s quite a lot happening at the moment.

The big news is that the team formed up at Middle Wallop on Thursday 1st March. The day was spent in briefings and a measuring session over at Aviation Leathercraft at Thruxton. (They supply the team’s leather jackets). As in 2000, the team will be wearing the Slate Blue version of the standard military jacket, but this year and for the future it will be lined in a fetching blue rather than the more usual grey. For those of you who are interested we plan to include this outstanding jacket as part of the Blue Eagles range of merchandise. Due to the fact that the jackets are hand made to order only, there may be a 3-4 week delay in delivering the jackets but as they will come complete with your own individual name-tag on the inside, we are sure that the wait will be worth it. Prices and ordering details will be published on the shop page of the website in due course. I can promise you that they will be astonishingly good value.

During the briefing sessions the CFI of The School of Army Aviation, Lt Col Hugh Northam MBE AAC, welcomed all of the new members and expressed his strong support for the team. He also stressed the issue of safety, an issue that the team takes very seriously. The team manager then briefed the team in detail on all of the preparations that had already been made for the 2001 season.

There was then some very good news, we have three promotions within the team. The team leader SSgt Richie Robinson was promoted to Warrant Officer 2, LCpl Phil Costello the team’s longest serving member was promoted to Corporal and last but by no means least Eagle 2, WO 2 Kav Kavanagh has been selected for promotion this year to Warrant Officer 1. Warmest congratulations to all and we look forward to them celebrating by standing a few rounds in the traditional way.

At the end of the first day’s business the entire team retired to what is likely to become the team ‘local’, in a nearby village. Unfortunately for security reasons this cannot be named but we offer our warmest thanks to the ever-friendly landlord for his hospitality and excellent Steak sandwiches.

The clearance for the Lynx display was signed on 1st March, so the Manager was seen to be putting XZ203 through it’s paces in the sky over the airfield in preparation for training this year’s Lynx Pilot Captain Ray Turner. A former Blue Eagles Lynx pilot went along with Major Colin Dunscombe to offer support, WO1 Bob Lowis who flew the Lynx throughout the ’99 season kept his composure (and his lunch) and the pair will be out training together next week..

Maj Dunscombe has trained the Lynx Pilot since he returned to the AAC in 1998 following 3 years with the RAF flying Chinook. It is his responsibility to ensure that each new Lynx display pilot flies the manoeuvres in exactly the same way. This ensures that a common standard is maintained which enhances the safety of the display.

The two Squirrel instructors on the team WO2 Kav Kavanagh and WO2 Terry Campbell have also been very busy of late, they have undergone a concentrated refresher course in the Gazelle in preparation for the season, they are both experienced Gazelle pilots and have thoroughly enjoyed getting back at the controls of the “chicken-leg” as the Gazelle is often affectionately known.

Two of the team were unable to make the formation day, LCpl Sharon Cawley is at Headley Court undergoing physiotherapy for a knee injury and Atpr Annabel Christie is finishing a driving course. We look forward to seeing them both at ‘Wallop’ soon.

The final ‘outstanding’ news is that the team has had a very important donation from a supporter. Dr Andy Tate of Tates Consulting, very graciously donated the “blue-eagles.co.uk” internet domain name to the team. This was a hugely magnanimous gesture from a private individual and the Blue Eagles are extremely grateful. We are inviting Dr Tate to attend the team’s Press Day in April to receive our public thanks for his generosity.

So in future you can use the address http://www.blue-eagles.co.uk and go straight to the website.

To return to the current news page click on Team News at the head or foot of this page.

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