Is anyone saying "Education! Education! Education! " this time?
No? What a pity. It was good to be in the limelight. Now we, like Cinderella, have been omitted from the invitation to the ball. What we will hear about this election is: the bulge in primary numbers and imperative to build new schools; the importance of high standards commensurate with those in places like Singapore, Finland or China; the role of Ofsted in holding institutions to those standards; and the debate about University funding.

So what of education for students at Barton Peveril, your former school/college? The Lib Dems and the Labour Party have said they will protect 16-18 year old education funding after the election (protect it at the level of funding it has fallen to following 5 years of cuts). The Conservatives will offer no such promise. On the curriculum, the Labour Party will return A levels to the system introduced in 2000, namely with an AS level in the first year which can be turned into a one year qualification or banked as the first year of A level. But apart from this, the parties say little about post 16 education other than the importance and growth in the demand for apprenticeships which, like motherhood and apple pie, we can all agree on!
How can we make an impact this election time? We will lobby the politicians we know, make noises about the quality of the College education and try to illustrate some of the threats to it. If you want to help us then do join the campaign to abolish VAT charged on College purchases. It is a quirk that VAT can be reclaimed by schools with sixth forms but not sixth form colleges. VAT costs us nearly £0.5 million each year. There are 14,000 signatories including many MPs and Colin Firth, our best known Barton Peveril alumni. Go to www.dropthelearningtax.org But hurry, the campaign closes at the end of March.

Another strategy is to turn out students who are politically aware, who understand the privilege of freedom of speech and having a vote, won for them by the anti-slavery campaigns of the 19 century, the work of the suffragettes and the bravery of generations before them who stood up against fascism. We hope in May those who are old enough to vote start a lifetime where they exercise their democratic rights and reflect on their civic responsibilities and what they can do to contribute to their communities. Our students make a significant voting force in a number of important and hotly contested constituencies:

263 in Eastleigh, 201 in Fareham, 102 in Southampton, Itchen, 91 in Winchester, 52 in Meon Valley, 47 in Romsey and 149 in a variety of other constituencies

Once parliament has been dissolved we will be holding a hustings with all the Eastleigh constituency candidates and we have invited our 18 year old students from the Eastleigh constituency and the students studying politics A level to ask questions. The whole event will be chaired, generously, by the BBC South Today political correspondent Peter Henley.
To engage all the students, regardless of voting age, we have arranged our own mock election where students and staff can vote for the party of their choice. We expect the walls of college to be plastered with campaigning and people to be arguing tax policy over their chicken nuggets or healthy salads! We will report back what colour the walls of Barton Peveril will be painted! I am sure were more Barton Peveril students to stand as MPs in the future our political system would be in a healthier state.

Jonathan Prest, Principal BP College.
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Letters to the Editor (a rare event these days, but a pleasure to receive). Ed.

Averil Cooper (nee Thomas) (1945 - 1952), writes from Louth……..”As promised, a few words to fill a space in our Magazine. Maybe this will stop naggiing me now ! I am writing this on the 70^th anniversary of the Dresden raid and Michael Arnold’s observations on “victor’s justice” in his very thought provoking article point out so much about the stupidity of war and how little mankind has learned from history.

Recent contributions have triggered memories, particularly Henry Lassiter’s recall of Eastleigh in the 40s and 50s. I have, like him, spent the majority of my adult life away from Eastleigh and applaud his comprehensive recollections, far better than mine,, but then I now have an 81 year old brain and have lived in 19 different places in my married life.

Bazeley’s shop was an outlet for their Nursery business, based on the bank of part of the Itchen River, near the junction of Twyford and Ruskin roads. I remember how pleased my mother was when I came home with 1lb of tomatoes, for which I had queued at Bazeley’s. That must have been after the war, because until I started in ECHS in September ‘45, I would never have been allowed into the town by myself. Rationing was to be with us into the 1950s. I think the last item to become coupon free was meat. Ayleys (?) was a forgotten name. My first bicycle, an Elswick with a multi patched inner tube was a frequent patient. Everything was in short supply, so make do and mend was the order of the day. Ruscillo’s was another blast from the past, where I thought their ice cream sodas were the bees knees. After years of deprivation we were easily pleased ! I still like ice cream sodas and a lifetime of loving bananas came from one precious fruit per child allocated from a rare delivery at Southampton Docks in wartime. I treasured the empty skin for weeks, until my mother threw it out.

Some Issues ago, Michael Arnold (isn’t he an example to us all for his articles ?), asked the question about old school ties. Well, you do see ties worn on occasions, but when TV presenters appear looking scruffy and minus a tie, it hardly sets a good example. However I am sure most Old Bartonians are not in that group, It was an OK tie, nothing elaborate, dark green background with white diagonal stripes. My brother still has his. But, where does that leave the lady OBs. ? Why not a pin badge, similar to the ones given on Bargain Hunt (TV) as the golden gavel award ? That would be OK for both sexes. The head of the pin could be our rose emblem and could be either a lapel pin or even a tie pin.

Yes, Mr. Editor, times have certainly changed since the 1940s. The numbers of students at today’s College compared to our modest 6^th Form is mind boggling. I hope today’s students appreciate their facilities, we had so little in comparison. Thank you Averil, keep your letters coming - you may even get a lapel badge . Ed.

Beverley White ( nee Gates) (1964 - 1971) writes from Northwood…..I started at BP in 1964. My father had died in the Summer holidays so money was scarce. My mother was given a £10 grant for my school uniform. As you can see, this did not cover the cost. Raincoat £5 14s.6d., Skirt £2 12s.11d., Blazer £2 11s. 6d., Blouses £1 15s 9d., Pullover 11s.6d., Tie 6s.3d., Scarf 7s.6d., Purse belt, 7s.11d., Beret 2s.11d., Overalls 18s.10d., Sportswear, £1 6s.11d. These were the prices paid to Smith Bradbeer & Co. Ltd., the one supplier. £10 was not enough ! My raincoat and blazer had to last for five years, so you can imagine that they were bought to “grow into” !!

Doug Hannah (1933 - 1938) writes to us from his home in Winchester……………..

I was interested in Henry Lassiter’s article but have very little to add and yet would like to make a few comments. Woolworths was the 3d.and 6d. store. How did it work ? Well if, for instance, you bought a child's scooter it would be 6d. for the handlebars ! It was a great place for buying sheet music if your pocket money allowed. Woolworths sold their own gramophone records, the 8 inch Eclipse label. These later became 9 inch Rex records. The artists thereon were mainly unknown but many were in fact stars of the day recording under fictitious names. On the other side of the road at the entrance to the Rec. two guns were placed after the end of the 1914-18 war. These disappeared during the second world war as part of the scrap metal drive.

The Railway Institute became the home of a Pupil Teacher Training Centre in 1904 with Miss Annie Smith as Principal. This was the origin of Barton Peveril College. During the second world war it housed a "British Restaurant". There were over 2000 of these intended originally for bombed out families. The name was given them by Winston Churchill. They lasted from 1940 to 1947. I recall using the one in Winchester before joining the R.A.F. On the opposite corner to the Institute was the splendid entrance to Lloyds Bank .I remember little about High Street except for the Post Office and Salvation Army but can picture Market Street with the cinemas, Burtons,etc. Incidentally

I believe Burtons had a standard shop design for all their branches with usually a billiard hall overhead. My parents did their Friday night { pay day } shopping in Liptons. At the top of the tiled wall in the shop were the words "FOOD FROM AN EMPIRE ON WHICH THE SUN NEVER SETS". I recall my father, when he could afford it, buying me Hornby Train accessories at a shop on the left hand side of Market Street. Was it Bowleys the stationers or was it Halfords. ? Almost opposite was Ruffs the jewellers. Dibbens was also in Market Street.

The two cinemas were owned by George Wright, a well known figure in Eastleigh. The Picture House was rather a barn of a place but the Regal, after the 1936 rebuild, was quite a delightful little place with a single central staircase leading to the balcony .or circle.

The original organ in the Regal was a two manual ( keyboard ), seven rank ( pipes ) built by Hill, Norman and Beard, known as a Christie organ.

The organ chambers were in the wall to one side of the stage. In 1936 the organ too was rebuilt becoming a 3C/9 and the enlarged organ chambers were over the proscenium arch - not a large organ by London standards but large for a small town like Eastleigh.

I believe that George Wright owned also the Plaza cinema in Romsey ( now a theatre ), one in Shirley and possibly the Abbey cinema in Netley ,only demolished a few years ago. As regards the organists I am told that none of the Wright family played although I have a photograph of Malcolm Wright ( George's son ) seated at the organ. The manager was also a Mr. Wright but he didn't play.

In the latter years of the cinema a friend of mine, Brian Padwick, was organist at the Regal.

As a schoolboy, enthralled by the sound of the cinema organ, I never dreamt that I would one day play one - but that's another story. ….which I hope you will relate in a future “Bartonian” ! It may interest Doug to know that I was the Office Boy in 1943 who opened the “splendid entrance” to Lloyds, promptly at 9am and closed daily at 3pm !!! Ed.

Henry Lassiter (1946 - 1950) gives us a flavour of life in the USA and his town, San Diego…

Recently I had the pleasure of showing John and Greta (Harris) Witt around my adoptive home town of San Diego, California. John and Rita were visiting from their adoptive home of Vancouver, British Columbia. We had not seen each other for at least twenty years.
Afterwards, I thought it a splendid opportunity of writing something about San Diego. I first moved to San Diego in 1975 so I have lived here now longer than anywhere else.
San Diego lies approximately 120 miles (190 km) south of Los Angeles. Its southern suburbs border with Mexico. The population of greater San Diego is about 1.5 million and it is the eighth-largest city in the United States. It is well known for its benign, year-round climate, natural deep-water harbour and extensive beaches, but also for much more.
By United States standards San Diego has a long history. There is numerous evidence of early native American presence throughout the region from time immemorial. What is now San Diego was the first site visited by Europeans on the west coast of what is now the United States of America. Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, the Portuguese mariner Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain. The Presidio (Spanish fort) and Mission de Alcala were founded in 1769, forming the first European settlement in what is now California. In 1821, San Diego became part of a newly independent Mexico, and in 1850 it became part of the United States following the Mexican-American War and the admission of California into the United States of America.
Since that time the city has grown to be an important military base being the headquarters of the the US Pacific naval fleet. It also has a large US marine presence at Miramar air field (the 1986 movie “Top Gun” was filmed there) and just to the north is the huge US marine base of Camp Pendleton. San Diego is also the centre of thriving industries including defence-related activities, health care, tourism, international trade, manufacturing and more recently it has become a hub of bio technology. These industries are largely fed by the presence of such higher education establishments as the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), San Diego State University (SDSU) and the University of San Diego (USD) as well as numerous other higher learning institutions.
The surrounding area also boasts a growing viniculture industry from the Temecula Valley wineries about an hour’s drive north to a growing area of small vineyards just on the northern edge of the city. In my township we even have our own century old Rancho Bernardo Winery - a delightful area expanded to include a tasting room, boutiques and a restaurant.
I always delight in showing visitors around San Diego since there is so much to show. John and Greta were staying in one of the many high rise hotels that grace our waterfront. By contrast I live about about twenty five miles north and east of the city centre, but still within the city limits.
The first day took us to the Old Town State Historic Park. Old Town is the preserved area of the original settlement with the old governor’s house and other historic buildings surrounding the town green. The area includes an early courthouse, school, newspaper office, theatre, stagecoach museum and several original adobe buildings. It is a delight to stroll around and imagine life back then and sample local Mexican food in one of several restaurants.
The next day we visited what I consider the gem of San Diego - Balboa Park. This is a 1,200-acre park in the centre of the city. As early as 1835 the city fathers set aside this area to be used as open space. It is now replete with natural vegetation zones, green belts, gardens, walking paths, museums, several theatres, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo. Altogether there are seventeen museums including the Museum of Man, the Natural History Museum, the Museum of Art, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Centre and many others. Noteworthy among the theatres are the Old Globe Theatre - a theatre in the round where Shakespeare and other theatre is performed on a regular basis. Also there is the Starlight Bowl open air amphitheatre. This theatre, built in 1935, holds 4,500 people. It presents regular performances of light musical theatre. Also there is the vast open air Spreckles Organ Pavilion. This was built in 1915 and houses the world’s largest
open air pipe organ. Interestingly, the current civic organist is Welsh, Dr. Carol Williams. Among other duties she gives regular Sunday afternoon organ recitals which are always very popular.
The park also houses a large semi enclosed botanical building with an imposing variety of tropical plants. The Botanical Building overlooks an immense lilly and goldfish pond.
Balboa Park hosted the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition and the 1935–36 California Pacific International Exposition, both of which left architectural landmarks including a series Spanish themed buildings flanking a long Prado or pedestrian walk leading to a plaza with a central fountain display. These buildings now house many of the seventeen museums of the Park.
The next day we visited The Hotel Del Coronado (known locally as “the Hotel Del”). The Hotel del Coronado is one of the few surviving examples of a uniquely American architectural genre - the wooden Victorian beach resort. It is the second largest wooden structure in the United States. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
Construction of the hotel began in 1887, "on a sand spit populated by jack rabbits and coyotes". When it opened in 1888, it was the largest resort hotel in the world. It has hosted presidents, royalty, and multiple celebrities through the years. The hotel has also been featured in numerous movies and books including the 1959 classic film, “Some Like It Hot” starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis.
Reputedly, it was at the Hotel Del Coronado on April 7, 1920 that Edward, Prince of Wales first met his future wife Wallis Spencer, later known as Wallis Simpson, who lived in the town of Coronado at the time. In fact the main restaurant at the hotel was once named the Prince of Wales restaurant.
The hotel presents a spectacular site - a great white, rambling, wooden structure seemingly built to no particular plan (supposedly it was built as it went along). It is graced by long balconies, towers, cupolas and is topped by a magnificent red tiled roof. The profile of the hotel - white and red -, set against the brilliant blue of the Californian sky and stretching alongside an equally beautiful sandy beach must surely be ranked as one of the most iconic views anywhere.
I could ramble on about the other virtues of my adoptive city such as the Mission de Alcala built in 1769 by the Spanish friar Junipero Serra - the first of 21 missions stretching along the California coast as far as San Francisco, built a day’s horse journey apart. Also there is the Cabrillo National Monument which commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. The site was designated as a California Historical Landmark in 1932. Finally, there are the miles of magnificent sandy beaches, stretching from the Mexican border in the south to Oceanside in the north and home to surfers, beach parties and sailing (the America’s Cup was held off San Diego in 1992).
For the sports minded the opportunities are almost limitless. Around San Diego there are reportedly 77 golf courses, several of which have hosted major tournaments. In fact, the only tournament in the US Professional Golf Tour held on a public course is the season opening tournament at Torrey Pines Golf Course every January or early February. The weather is also conducive to tennis. Tennis facilities exist throughout the area. San Diego was also the home of Maureen Connolly (Little Mo) of Wimbledon fame in the early 1950s. In addition San Diego has its own American Football team, the San Diego Chargers, who play in the 70,000+ seat Jack Murphy Stadium and its Major League baseball team, the San Diego Padres who play in PetCo Park (42,000+ seat capacity) in downtown San Diego. Association football is also very popular, particularly as a children’s participatory sport. Back in the 1970s and 1980s San Diego also pioneered the professional game
in the United States. Interestingly they were managed during their most successful period in the early 1980s by Ron Newman who was from Fareham and played for Portsmouth among other English teams.
Earlier I alluded to the San Diego waterfront. This is a beautiful stretch called the Embarcadero along which are lined on one side some magnificent high rise hotels, offices and other buildings as well as the impressive Convention Centre and the world famous harbour on the other. Lined along the harbour, permanently docked, are the USS Midway, a World War II aircraft carrier, now a museum; the Star of India, a fully rigged windjammer ship built in 1863 in the Isle of Man, now also a museum and the Berkeley, a ferry boat which plied the San Francisco Bay area from 1898 until 1958 between San Francisco and Oakland. These ships make up the San Diego Maritime Museum.
San Diego is also the centre of a burgeoning cruise ship industry. On any given day the harbour is graced by one or more magnificent cruise ships stopping briefly on their way along the Pacific coast of the United States, Canada, Mexico and other Latin American countries. Finally, from 1910 until the 1970s the port was the home of a flourishing tuna fishing and packing industry. This has now largely moved to other countries and has been replaced by an equally flourishing sport fishing industry. The tuna industry at its height attracted a large influx of Portuguese and Italian migrants who are now part of the rich ethnic culture of San Diego.
For those with children (and others of course), besides the world famous San Diego Zoo (including its annex, the 1,800 acre San Diego Zoo Safari Park, located near my home in the northern inland suburbs), San Diego also boasts Sea World, a marine theme park, as well as a Legoland leisure park located in the northern coastal suburbs.
Of course San Diego’s weather can hardly be challenged, the climate being a benign version of a true Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and mild, damp winters. (thanks Arthur Sainsbury for impressing on me the definition of a Mediterranean climate!). People say they miss the four seasons in San Diego. However, where my home is situated, in the winter we frequently have white frosts in the morning and we have snow in the nearby mountains - just an hour’s drive to the east. The dry semi desert air, tempered by the prevailing sea breezes make it, in my opinion, an ideal climate.
I am indeed fortunate to call San Diego my adoptive home city.

Tony Lawford (1948 - 1953) has sent us the following entitled……..School Memories……..

It is quite frightening to suddenly realise that it is over sixty years since I left school, but some of those days can be recalled with surprising ease. Even in my late 70's I recall a biology lesson with Mr Salter when we dissected a squirrel which one of the class had brought in. I think Mr Salter was quite intrigued by it, it was probably more interesting than the usual rabbit, but in the end not too much different. I remember being told why a rabbit's appendix was much larger than a human's, but I must admit that in later life I did not find that useful piece of information much use in a career in banking. Turning to mathematics, how many of us can still prove Pythagoras theorem? Much to my grand children’s surprise, I can still do it (although they can't). I also recall some of the other seven theorems we had to be able to prove. I have forgotten algebra and calculus, but when I joined the National Provincial Bank, the first thing I had to do was to learn to add and subtract quickly, and being able to do long division to do foreign exchange conversions was also an advantage in the days before calculators. We also had to contend with 12 pence to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound in those early days of my career. English lessons in my early days at Eastleigh County High were a bit of a chore, mainly because I was not very fond of Mrs Stone, and I do not think she was too fond of me either. What a change occurred when we graduated to the Lower Fifth, when our English lessons were taken over by “Percy.” English literature suddenly came alive, and Trollope's Barchester Towers is still one of my favourite books. I also enjoyed H.G.Wells's “History of Mr Polly,” which we studied for O levels. I also enjoyed Shakespeare for the first time, and recall “Macbeth” and “Julius Caesar.” In much later years I saw productions of both of these plays at Stratford, and recall the tension in Macbeth which caused me to sit on the edge of my seat. I also recall particularly waiting for Brutus's soliloquy when he is making up his mind whether or not to join the other conspirators plotting Caesar's death. The English lessons were also vividly recalled during Anthony's “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” speech, the actor could have been coached by Percy himself. The most memorable scene at Stratford was the death of Caesar when all the senators dressed in white plunged in their daggers, all their cloaks were spattered with blood, and the stage had to be cleaned in the interval. What other memories of school, there was Miss Grant who was determined to see I got a pass in French. Regrettably I was unable to practice my French until 23 years after I left school, but having visited France many times since, I manage to make myself understood and can manage to do the shopping and order a meal in a restaurant. Then there was Mr Barry who used to send us on cross country runs along Stoneham Lane and Greengrove, I seem to remember he accompanied us on his bicycle. There was “Sam” Bodey, what a lovely man, I remember going to his memorial service soon after I left school. I often wish I had worked harder with him, and not played around in class. I also recall having to write out lines for Mrs Porter, in fact I think most of the class did, as we had forgotten an important date, which had caused Mrs Porter displeasure. Who could forget our headmaster Mr Moore, I recall that you could see when he was in a bad mood or not by the colour of his neck (it used to go very red when he was annoyed). I got to see him from time to time when I worked at the bank in Eastleigh, and he was the other side of the counter, he was always the most cheerful of customers. I've gone waffling along a bit too long, but my meanderings might bring a few memories back to my contemporaries. I hope they have brought you a smile or two when you read them. It might also prompt one or two others to reminisce. I hope they do Tony, but thanks to you for now. I too, have memories of “Percy” - not for English - but he supervised our sport - mainly football - of course ! Ed.

Paul Goddard (1963 - 1968) and Mike Williams have sent the following “piece of history, “ but first let me update you on Paul since leaving College. He joined the RAF as an apprentice and was an engineer for eight years, then changing to aircrew where he flew Nimrod (Anti Submarine aircraft), Vulcan Bombers (during the Falklands War, but not in it). Then followed eight years on Tornado bombers flying 25 missions in the first Gulf War - a total of 27 years in the RAF. Following all that he went on to become a Business Director of a Defence manufacturing company (Chemring) in Salisbury but they also had a factory in Portsmouth…..Paul retires in April! Good luck from all “Old Barts”. Ed.

Mike became a Flight Commander not long before things started happening in the Gulf. We lost Gordon Graham, who was then OCB, in a mid-air collision that year, so it was through unfortunate circumstances that Mike took over in October, and we started preparing for the Gulf shortly afterwards.

We flew constituted formations and we stuck with those formations. We almost lived and breathed together. Everybody was involved in planning, and we were doing some very new things. The squadron had never air-to-air refuelled before. We had never, of course, had the Alarm missile before. These were completely new. But it was very basic on the Alarm Missile side this end; we were concentrating on getting people up to speed with the tactical side of things: air-to-air refuelling, low-flying, formation keeping, lookout, and evasion. We had done operational low-flying, but operational low-flying in peacetime is normally great fun. There is a little extra twist when you know the next time you do it, someone may be shooting at you. And we think that formations tended to draw together through the results of the individual four-ships. The crews knew that they were cracking a job and becoming quite proficient at things that they had never done before in their lives.

There was a lot of hard work. If they weren't flying they were in the books learning about new systems and new threats on the enemy equipment side. We were briefed almost to death by all sorts and sundry about what equipment they had. So by the time we left for the Gulf, people were very knowledgeable and knew what they were looking for, and quite confident they were going to crack the problem when we got out there. Which all boils down to personal pride and the feeling that, 'I can do it'.

We were going down there for what looked increasingly likely to turn into a war. Now, whether we actually believed that we were going to fight a war is by-the-by. We had to be ready for it. And I think we generally succeeded in that. It came as no surprise when we had to go to war.

We had our own Combat Survival Rescue Officer, who did an excellent job. He was involved quite heavily with the Americans, and we had bits of equipment from them that were quite new to us. He also knew the terrain that we might meet in Iraq and basic survival techniques. The fundamental difference that he put over was, when you bang out of an aircraft in peacetime, you want to get found. In war the exact opposite is true. Of course we have all this bright dayglo equipment that people supposedly can see from a long way off, but all of a sudden you don't want that So we had the sand-coloured flying-suits made. There was a lot of intensive briefing on what to do, in case anything unforeseen happened and we did end up on the ground. For example, when Rupert Clarke got shot down, his first thought was apparently to steer his aircraft out to bleak terrain, where he'd get away from everybody. For him to think like that, under that sort of stress and with a crippled aircraft, means the briefings must have got through, for normally you'd want a bit of civilisation around you. So it shows that people went out there knowing what they were going to do.

If or when we are captured we are trained to give initially number, rank, name. And once the tactical period has elapsed we can then, certainly under any sort of torture, start feeding bits of information that by this time are tactic-ally useless. Although that was not specifically briefed, it was understood. I mean, you don't want to die for the sake of 'What was your attack track?' when the attack finished four hours ago. It's pointless, dying for that. And there is always a chance that you may escape and live to fight another day, or when the war is over, get handed back. So people use common sense basically. But initially you have to keep your trap shut. As far as the men who were captured and tortured were concerned, it just galvanised the rest of us into firmer action. We vowed to hit them harder, deeper, more accurately than we ever had before.

On day one of the first mission we were No 2 to our formation leader. We were the first Alarm mission package in, and in fact we believe we were the first two RAF aircraft over the border. The JP233 - an airfield denial weapon package had also got airborne and gone for the tanker. We went direct to the border and straight for the first target, Al Assad - one of their newly constructed major airfields. It's a fair way away from Tabuk and we had a long transit before we actually crossed the border, but we remember that during the day, before the decision was made, we were just hoping and praying that we would go. We thought the element of surprise would be weakened the longer we delayed. So we were hoping that we would go on the night of 16 January or the morning of 17 January.

When we took off, just after midnight, we were very relieved. Once we did so, it was difficult to remember that this wasn't a training sortie. We'd done so many training sorties at night, by day, carrying Alarms, carrying. bombs, that everything initially seemed absolutely normal. But of course then came the border. The border is almost a physical barrier and, as you cross it, there is a mixture of relief, tension, you name it. A whole host of emotions emerge as you cross it - you're terrified, and it's really going on, and of course at the same time you've got all the operational calls of the AWACS aircraft and hundreds of other formations checking in. And you can see over on the Saudi side of the border the skies full of winking aircraft lights, but of course as soon as you cross the border, all the lights go out and you know that there are many other aircraft around you, completely unlit, apart from the dim cockpit lights, going over the border in pitch black. We flew up past Mudaysis airfield and all the runway approach and perimeter lights were on. We knew then that the element of surprise was complete. We went past Mudaysis up towards Al Assad. The lights were on there, too.

Trevor Roche fired his Alarm missiles a few seconds before us and two unfortunately hit the ground. We were flying at 200 feet and Mike initially thought that for some reason the missiles weren't coping with the low level, so we had time to disengage the autopilot and climb up slightly, and we fired from about 500-600 feet hoping that would give the missiles a chance. It worked, we managed to get all three off. All that we see of our missiles is that they come off the rails and there's quite a loud whoosh!, and they go forward of the aircraft for a few seconds and then just climb vertically. At that stage they haven't locked on to target. An Alarm does most of its searching once it reaches altitude. So it's effectively 'fire and forget'.

Then we turn to get out of the bombers' way. It's very difficult to know what the exact effect is of the missile, because the perceived threat from a missile is also vital. If they know that we have fired an anti-radiation missile and turn off their radars, then the missile has done its job, because they can't see without the radars. If they keep their radars on and we get a hard kill on that radar, we have no way of knowing. All we know is that the radar is not searching for us any more. But if nobody gets shot down by radar-laid missiles, to us that is sufficient proof that the missile did its job. On subsequent sorties, they knew that we were firing anti-radiation missiles. That had two effects: it meant that they switched off their radars, which was good; but it also brought up the flak immediately, and at low level you just see the airfield blossom into this big flower of flak. That was the disadvantage. However, we just turned at low level. This was what we had been practising - turning, without the autopilot at low level at night, using just the terrain-following radar. Of course in the pitch black we had to be very careful. Then back home. We were first down. The thing you ask straightaway when you come in, is has everyone checked in and they had! There was lots of back-slapping, hand-shaking and smiles all around, but inwardly one was quite reflective. It was difficult getting to sleep afterwards with a bucket full of adrenaline still rushing around the body. Everything kept coming and going in a whirling dervish of thoughts and emotions.

The second mission is worse, because you know what's coming. And certainly the worst period for us was sitting in the aircraft, engines running, before we went. The problem is everything is up and running, there's nothing going on, you're just waiting for the check-in time for the formation - and you've got time to think. That's probably the worst time, when you have to put some of the weirder thoughts out of your mind, and say to yourself 'Come on, let's just get on with it'. But once things start happening, once you start taxiing and taking off, you've got too many other things to think about. This is why all aircrew ought really to be born without imagination. Because you can imagine all sorts of things. The second sortie was slightly worse in that they were expecting us. War had been going on for twenty-four hours at this point. It was the first time that we’d seen flak and there is a cockpit tape of Mike saying, 'What the bloody hell is that?' It looks just like a fireworks display, and it seems a lot closer than it really is. From thirty miles away it looks as if it's almost underneath the wing tip. We were amazed at the density of it. With Alarm missiles we weren't going too close to it, although we came fairly close to another airfield that was also pushing it out, so we had to be a little careful. The flak was extremely thick. So we fired off our missiles, and then coming back again it was, you know, 'How fast will this thing go without falling apart?' Coming out the second time was a little different because we knew we were being fired at. And when there's something behind you that's going to kill you, you get away from it as quickly as you can. Everyone came back from that one as well.

We can remember the first two trips, and after that for the first week it was - sleep, fly, sleep, fly - and things become a little blurred. After about a week, we went up to the medium-level option. The only reason for going low-level is to avoid a perceived SAM threat. But there is also the fighter threat. At this time the SAM threat was not as great as anticipated, apart from what was known as SAM City which was the Baghdad area. The problems you have with the Tornado are that it's a low-level beast and at medium-level it's a ship out of water. The speed and manoeuvrability that we had were very limited. If we were fired at or locked on, our capability to break that lock was diminished.

We were fired at one night when we were going against a power station to the south-east of Baghdad. We'd seen SAM 8s come up and we'd then seen more missiles fired that seemed to curve over the top of the formation and down very low. We saw what appeared to be initially an explosion, but then we saw the old white light coming over, which is a missile. It goes from a long flame into a sort of pencil dot, which means, basically, it's coming towards you. That tends to concentrate your mind somewhat. I think we had five 1,000lb bombs on board and we were effectively still full of fuel. So we had to evade the missile: rolling inverted, pulling down initially, rolling back up. All the time the aircraft is shaking and juddering because you're basically taking a wing that's not designed to fly at that level, and putting it through its paces. We've got the bit on tape where Mike says to Paul, 'It's coming this way', and then there's a load of grunts and groans from both of us, and eventually the missile explodes behind us. Immediately then, we're concentrating on trying to get back on to the target run. We're lights out, we are only really about twenty seconds between aircraft and, although we've got maybe 1,000 feet between aircraft vertically, we've just descended down through those levels, so we are now very, very close to the guy behind us, on his bombing time and we're below him. Which means that he's somewhere up there, dropping his bombs.

Now, if he was on his planned attack track and on time we were about 5º off that, so we were happy to go ahead and bomb, hoping that his bombs would come somewhere down the left-hand side. We released the weapons and Mike then pulled off to the right, hoping he was left, and up and over. And as we pulled up on to the escape track we saw two after-burners light up about 100 feet beneath me - it was Glen Beresford trying to get out of it. If that had happened in peacetime, there would have been a lot of sweaty brows around. There was very little to say about it on the ground. We were avoiding a missile, we got the bombs off, we avoided everybody else and that was it.

We were told by the intelligence staff that we were not to go for the cracking plants of refineries. The cracking plant is the tall tower where the crude oil is cracked down to its components. Very complicated bits of kit, very difficult to rebuild afterwards, and we didn't want to destroy unnecessarily the infrastructure of the country. So we were told to go, for example, for the storage or the loading facilities. On one trip, we were going way up to the north to a refinery. We couldn't actually see the refinery because of a thin layer of cloud. We pulled down and did a dive attack - which is going in at high level, rolling on to your back, pulling about 30º nose down, and then diving down on the target. You mark the target visually and then pull the aircraft up, and the bomb computer sends the bombs off automatically. We came down through the clouds, saw the target, and aimed for the storage facilities. The bombs came off; Mike pulled off left and did a level turn, rather than a climbing turn to get back above cloud; a bit naughty, but like any pilot Mike wanted to see where our bombs had gone. And sure enough we hit smack on the cracking plant, the one place where we were told not to hit. That unfortunately is one of the penalties that you pay with this medium-level bombing: it is inherently slightly inaccurate.

The 'Hanging' Gardens of Babylon were something else we were supposed to stay away from. There was an oil refinery two miles away we had to hit, so the word was, whatever you do, don't drop your bomb short. This time, we were level bombing. One of the aircraft had his computer kit dumped so he was flying on the wing of another aircraft and was going to pickle the bombs off when the lead aircraft dropped his bomb. We dropped ours, the second lot dropped theirs, and then the third and fourth dropped together. Ours went effectively on target - and likewise the second aircraft's. With the third one we saw one bomb go off in the river, which was very close to the Gardens, and we thought, 'Oh dear!' but fortunately the rest fell on to a park, and a dual carriageway. So at least we missed the Gardens of Babylon! Later, Nick Wells, one of the cards on our formation, nicknamed two of the guys 'River Killer' and 'Road Driller' in honour of that episode. That’s typical of the aircrew mentality that if you can't make a joke of it, then something's wrong.

Once we went against a Scud storage site. The storage sheds went up a treat. An absolute treat! You get the initial explosion of the bomb going in and then there's just a shock wave that comes out and a huge mushroom and then these things going this way and that and screaming up -we reckon to several thousand feet. It's just like throwing a match into a box of fireworks. The accuracy we were getting with the medium-level bombing was not sufficient to go against point targets. We went against Kabala ammunition storage, which is a huge expanse of desert with bunkers quite well revetted and spaced out: there's about 300 or 400 metres between each bunker and they were giving us individual bunkers to go for. Individual targets. In such circumstances you can almost be guaranteed not to hit that bunker. But, for such a widespread military target there is no problem as, if we miss the target, we hope to hit some other part of the facility. In this case there was virtually no collateral damage: you either hit these bunkers or you miss them. If you miss them they just end up with a bit of sand thrown over them, even a close miss. And, sure enough, we got nowhere. Didn't hit a thing. This was very disappointing. The bombs didn't go anywhere near the targets.

After a couple of those trips the boys started to feel a bit disheartened - they needed results. That's why the laser bombs used in conjunction with the Buccaneer became so important. At one point we led and co-ordinated quite a large raid into Al Taqaddum, close to Baghdad. Looking back on it, we should have varied the lines of attack quite a bit more. But it's very difficult trying to co-ordinate forty aircraft and give everyone different attack tracks. Sometimes it's just not feasible with the support that you've got. Fortunately no-one was lost to SAMs on that attack.

Our blackest moments were worrying about what was going on at home. Trying to tell our wives that we were going to fly tonight but everything would be okay, knowing that she wasn't going to sleep that night. Our formation didn't suffer any losses. The only people we lost from Tabuk were Kev Weeks and Garry Lennox - both in the same aircraft. We knew both of them very well. Some of the younger guys had not lost any friends before and we think they were hard hit. Most of us who’d been around for a while had lost at least one friend in peacetime flying, and you have to learn to compartmentalise it. It was a very sad time. But it really strengthens resolve. Fortunately that trip that they were leading was a complete success, and the Iraqis had to evacuate one of their Air Defence centres. So something came of it. They didn’t die for nothing.

John Barron (1962 - 69) writes. You may not be aware that the Bartonian passes through my hands on its way to the printers. On receiving the draft copy from Cecil via email, I convert the document into a format which the printers can use, and if Cecil is happy with the finished article this is then forwarded to the printer. This also gives me the opportunity to act as an unofficial proof reader. Casting my eye over Beverley White’s article about the cost of her school uniform I thought I had better check that the pounds, shillings and pence were denoted correctly, and so I consulted a copy of “The Complete Self Educator” which was published in 1939 on the outbreak of WW2.

I know there was no place for our old currency in the modern world but it did have a certain charm. Have a go at answering the following question which appears under the section on “Factors and Multiples” in the chapter on Arithmetic:

What is the largest sum of money into which each of the following can be divided : £1 17s. 6d., £2 16s. 3d., £3 15s. ?

Changing the subject. I understand that many homes in Eastleigh did not get electricity until after WW2. Do you remember when electricity first arrived in your home?

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