ACA Woking News by Bill Bawden, PRO

20 September 2009

Battle of Britain Remembered

Standard bearers form up before the parade
Club house

Traditionally, the Woking branch of the Aircrew Association has marked the Battle of Britain celebration, by attending a public ceremony at the Brookwood, Military Cemetery.

John Thorburn, A.Cdr. Tom Bennett and Ron Houghton of Woking ACA prepare to join the parade
Club house
This year, on Sunday 20th September, the weather was bright and sunny and there was good public participation. Surrey Wing, Air Training Corps cadets, turned out in force and all three services were represented by veterans organisations.

The Mayor of Woking took the salute at the RAF memorial shelter, as the parade marched past.

copy and pictures by Eric Smith

 


22 September 2009

The Lighter Side of Flying

Stuart Stephenson
Club house

Members and guests of the AirCrew Association meeting at Fairoaks Airport were entertained by an illustrated talk given by Stuart Stephenson, a retired airline captain with BEA and British Airways.

Stuart told of his experiences flying Trident, Tristar, DC 10 and Boeing 777 aircraft and interspersed his narrative with many amusing anecdotes of life on the flight deck and, in more recent times, during his term as mayor of Surrey Heath.

Photographs of bizarre incidents produced laughter and a series of pictures of aircraft cockpits and unusual airports resulted in an impromptu quiz as members of the audience tried to identify the subjects.

ACA members are now looking forward to making a visit this month to Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, the home of the RAF's long-range transport and air-to-air tanker fleets.

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