Page 62 - The Cormorant 2018

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RAF 100 Dinner Wing Commander Simon Nevin
IN PREVIOUS YEARS THE Annual JSCSC RAF Dinner is in celebration of The Dam Busters raid; however, an early decision was taken to
focus the 2018 dinner on the RAF Centenary. Planning was started as far back as October 2017 for what the committee was hoping, and
subsequently turned out to be, an outstanding event following the core RAF 100 themes of: Celebrate, Commemorate and Inspire. The evening commenced with a fascinating flying
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display by Richard Browning, aka ‘Rocket Man’, with his display also being overflown by a C130J and A400M.
A stunning drill display by the Queen’s Colour Squadron in the Forum was followed by a poignant recital of ‘High Flight’ by Wing Commander Dave Tait, before the call to dinner was conducted through the sketch of a Battle of Britain crewroom ‘call to cockpit’ scene. During the dinner, Air Training Corps (ATC) Cadet Warrant Officer Esme Webley delivered the ‘Inspire’ speech and discussed the many opportunities that the ATC had offered her, and how she had been inspired to join the RAF. The audience
The audience
were then privileged to
hear from 2 RAF Bomber Command veterans... ◆◆◆
were then privileged to hear from 2 RAF Bomber Command veterans, Flight Lieutenant (Ret’d) Russell Waughman and Squadron Leader (Ret’d) Lawrence Goodman. Throughout both of their speeches there was a mix of humour, nostalgia, pause-for-thought