make this day such a big suc-

cess.

The crowds were delighted

by displays by the Red Ar-

rows (pictured left), the

Breitling Wingwalkers and the

RV8ors aerobatic team. The-

se performers were joined by

a Hurricane, a Lancaster, a

Spitfire and a Typhoon,

among several other aircraft.

There was plenty to see on

the ground as well, including a

full-size replica of an RAF Red

Arrow Hawk (pictured be-

low). Visitors of all ages had a

great day, and it was fantastic

to get out there and meet so

many enthusiastic and sup-

portive members of the pub-

lic.

For more photos, see page 5.

On Saturday the 26th of July,

we joined the record 13,500

attendees of Scotland’s Na-

tional Airshow at the Na-

tional Museum of Flight, East

Fortune.

A busy RAF Association stall

in the heart of the RAF Vil-

lage was run by Area and

National staff and volunteers

from Leuchars Branch. Edin-

burgh, Lothians & Borders

Branch also had their own

stall next to the main one.

Overall, £3000 was raised

for the Association, not in-

cluding the total raised by

the Edinburgh, Lothians &

Borders Branch.

We’d like to give a big thank

you to all the members who

gave up their time to help

Aug 3 Highland Games, Aboyne

Aug 4 WWI Commemorations, Glasgow

Aug 7 Area Council Meeting, Edinburgh

Aug 9 Newcastle Festival of Flight, County Down

Aug 10 WWI Commemorations, Edinburgh

Sep 6/7 Scottish Airshow, Ayr & Prestwick

Sep 6/7 Portrush Airshow, Coleraine

Sep 14 Battle of Britain Service, St Andrews

Sep 20 NI Veterans’ Association Service, National Memorial Arboretum

Sep 21 Battle of Britain Parade, Aldergrove

Sep 24 Northern Region Welfare Seminar, Lossiemouth

Oct 22 Southern Region Welfare Seminar, Glasgow

Nov 9 Cenotaph Ceremony, London

East Fortune Airshow

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Scottish Airshow 2

National AFD 2

Peterhead

Branch News

3

Branch Member-

ship

3

National Presi-

dential Certifi-

3

Out & About in

the Area

4 & 5

RAF Exhibition 6

Contact Details 7

Branch Notices 7

Diary Dates

P A G E 2

National Armed Forces Day

Scottish Airshow We are very pleased that

the Scottish Airshow has

been revived after a 22

year gap and are sure

thousands will enjoy the

2014 format and the many

exciting things it will bring

to Ayrshire.

Over the next 5 years, the

planners intend to develop

the Airshow into Ayr-

shire’s biggest annual out-

door event. The RAF As-

sociation, as their nomi-

nated charity partner, will

play a big part in their en-

tertaining and interesting

weekends this year and in

the future.

The highlight of the 2014

weekend event will be the

free Airshow on Ayr’s

Low Green on Saturday

the 6th of September.

There will be a show site

on the Low Green where

attendees will be able to

enjoy a day of entertain-

ment and fun. There will

be events in the show ring

during the day. The Royal

Air Force, Royal Navy and

The Army will all be pre-

sent. The RAF Assocation

will have a major stall and

the Saturday airshow will

be nominated as their Bat-

tle of Britain charity collec-

tion day. There will be a

funfair to help create that

carnival atmosphere. They

will have aeroplane simula-

tors where people can

practice to be like the

amazing Airshow pilots

and there will be many

other great family attrac-

tions.

During the afternoon, they

will have a fabulous flying

display, which will start

with a truly unique for-

mation. The Battle of Brit-

ain Memorial flight will

bring their Hurricane and

Spitfire World War 2

fighters and their Lancas-

ter bomber. This summer

for the first (and probably

last) time, they will be

joined by the only other

flying Lancaster. The Cana-

dian Warplane Heritage

Museum Lancaster will

come across the Atlantic

Ocean from Canada for a

summer tour of Europe,

and the planners are de-

lighted that they have per-

suaded them to come to

Ayr on Saturday the 6th of

September.

The Airshow will continue

with another 8 flying acts.

If you want to see skill and

daring then The Blades

aerobatic team will thrill

you. All the pilots are ex

Red Arrows display pilots

and their close formations

are very, very close! The

Saturday airshow will finish

with the awesome Vulcan

bomber.

On Sunday the 7th of Sep-

tember, the doors at Glas-

gow Prestwick airport will

open to a fantastic static

aircraft display. The battle

of Britain Memorial Flight,

Canadian Lancaster, RN

Merlin, Tucano and the

Catalena will all be availa-

ble to view in the morning

static aircraft park. They

will be joined by an SE5

replica, the highly unusual

modified BAe owned 146-

301 large Atmospheric

Research Aircraft (the

ARA) and other interest-

ing aircraft. There will be a

short display by BBMF,

Merlin and Tucano before

they depart for other du-

ties.

It is sure to be a great

weekend. Hopefully we

will see you there!

Adapted from an article by

Scottish Airshow publicists.

As you’ll see on pages 4

and 5, it really has been a

busy month for staff and

volunteers who have been

out and about at events,

raising funds for and

awareness of the RAF As-

sociation. On Saturday the

28th of June, we made our

way to Stirling for National

Armed Forces Day. De-

spite the (at times near-

torrential) rain, over

35,000 people came out to

mark the contribution of

servicemen and women,

past and present.

Over £6000 was raised,

which will help the RAF

Association in supporting

members of the RAF Fami-

ly during times of need.

Caption describing picture

or graphic.

Peterhead Branch Holiday Trip P A G E 3

the Royal Air Forces Associa-

tion, and Janet certainly meets

this criteria.

Janet has been a member of

the Royal Air Forces Associa-

tion since 2004 and is current-

ly the Secretary for Lossie-

mouth Branch. In addition,

Congratulations are due to

Janet Payne of the Lossie-

mouth Branch, who has been

awarded a National Presiden-

tial Certificate to coincide with

the Queen’s Birthday Honours

List 2014 .

The NPC is awarded to recog-

nise outstanding support for

bers. Watch this space for the

final competition results.

Overall in the Area, 94% of

our members renewed.

Branch Secretaries and Mem-

bership Officers will have re-

ceived lists of lapsed members.

If you haven’t already done so,

we encourage you to reach

out to the individuals on those

lists. Remember that a mem-

ber who has not renewed may

need our help now more than

ever. It is important that we

remind them (and all mem-

bers) that the RAF Association

is here for them.

The competition is now com-

ing to a close for another year.

At the time of printing, 21

branches had achieved a 95%

renewal rate and 7 branches

had achieved a 100% renewal

rate. A few branches also

stand out as having recruited

large numbers of new mem-

Branch Membership Competition

Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2014 Janet is the Honorary Welfare

Officer for the Branch, and has

shown great commitment to

helping others in their times of

need.

Warm wishes to you, Janet, and

thank you for all you do for the

RAF Family.

Members of the Peterhead

Branch of the Royal Air Forces

Association recently enjoyed a

trip away together.

The group made their way

down to Carlisle, where they

were based at the Crown and

Mite Hotel from the 2nd until

the 6th of June.

As well as enjoying each oth-

er’s company and the beautiful

scenery on the journey, the

trippers took part in an excur-

sion on the scenic Settle-

Carlisle Railway.

Running through some of the

most attractive scenery in the

Yorkshire Dales and Cumbrian

Fells, the Settle-

Carlisle railway is

world famous for

its Victorian ar-

chitecture, huge

stone viaducts,

long tunnels and

remote wayside

station buildings. The Peter-

head members visited Winder-

mere and Keswick on this ex-

cursion.

The holiday-makers also en-

joyed a day out in vibrant Car-

lisle and even made a stop in

Moffat on their way home.

A good time was had by all

involved and the Branch mem-

bers are already looking for-

ward to next year’s trip!

Peterhead

Branch

members

looking

relaxed

P A G E 4

Dundee Armed Forces Day

Stalwart Dave Brewster and the

BSO attended this event on Sat-

urday the 5th of July; it was a

good turnout.

Out & About in the Area

Lossiemouth Torch

On Wednesday the 2nd of

July, the Commonwealth

torch visited RAF Lossie-

mouth as part of its tour of

Scotland. Representing

RAFA were the RAFALO

Daz Culley, Janet Payne

and Peter Martin from

Lossiemouth Branch, sup-

ported by the BSO.

Montrose Gala

Saturday the 19th

of July and it’s him,

again - Dave Brew-

ster! This time we

took the Spitfire,

but the rain won in

the end.

Stornoway Aird Point

A visit to Stornoway Branch by

the BSO led to an outing to

the Aird Point Show on Satur-

day the 12th of July. The

Branch was well represented

as was Leuchars with their

HWO present. The rain was

the winner here, once again!

Out & About in the Area (continued)

P A G E 5

Commonwealth Games

The Spitfire was again launched on

Wednesday the 23rd of July, this time

to Glasgow’s Cathcart Church in aid of

the celebrations of the Commonwealth

Games. Bob Chandler (pictured below)

took this opportunity to spread the

word about the Scottish Airshow (see

page 2).

East Fortune Airshow

One place where the rain definitely did

not win (although it did try!) was at

Scotland’s National Airshow. The sun

shone for most of the day and there

was just the right amount of wind to

keep all of those pinwheels (see above

left) happily spinning.

P A G E 6

RAF Exhibition The Royal Air Force and

the Royal Air Force Muse-

um London will be pre-

senting an exhibition enti-

tled ‘The RAF and The

Commonwealth’ at the

Mitchell Library, Glasgow,

from the 22nd of July until

the 27th of September,

2014.

The exhibition will tell the

largely unknown story of

the Asian, African and Car-

ibbean Commonwealth

contribution to the RAF,

from World War 1 to the

present day. This is a tale

of outstanding commit-

ment and individual brav-

ery, involving tens of thou-

sands of volunteers and

will include the stories of:

Sikh and Caribbean pilots

flying and fighting over the

trenches in World War

One; the outstanding ef-

forts of the Indian Air

Force (latterly the Royal

Indian Air Force just prior

to Partition in 1947) in

WW2; and, the African

and Caribbean airmen and

women who flew and

served in ground trades in

Western Europe in WW2.

The exhibition offers many

examples of selfless action

and sacrifice, service that

helped to maintain world

freedom in the face of

fascism and tyranny, and

which contributed signifi-

cantly, not only to the

foundation of the Com-

monwealth,

but also to the

Common-

wealth being

seen as the

force for good

that we know

it as today.

Stories will be

told of how

many of those

servicemen

and women

went on to

play important

roles in their

home coun-

tries following

their time in

uniform, some

even fighting

for independ-

ence against

the British in the late

1940s and 50s.

As part of the exhibition,

the story will also be told

of 602 Squadron (City of

Glasgow) Royal Auxiliary

Air Force - ‘Glasgow’s

Own’ - as that Squadron’s

experience highlights the

vitally important support

which the RAF received

from the Commonwealth

and several other nations

in protecting the United

Kingdom from the scourge

of fascism in WW2. The

Squadron started opera-

tions in WW2 with mainly

Scottish and English pilots.

By late 1942 there was

only one Scot on the

Squadron serving alongside

Canadians, New Zea-

landers, Australians, South

Africans, Caribbeans,

Frenchmen, Czechs, Poles,

Irishmen, Norwegians and

South Americans.

The exhibition will also

include details of how the

RAF draws personnel from

all areas of British society

today and how the Service

supports the needs of per-

sonnel from all races,

faiths and creeds.

Adapted from an article writ-

ten by Sam Warren.

20 Queen Street

EDINBURGH

EH2 1JX

Phone: 0131 225 5221

E-mail: scotland@rafa.org.uk

Follow us on:

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Let Shiela Laramore, our Area Administrator,

know what your branch is up to, so that it can

be included in next month’s newsletter. You

can contact Shiela by calling the office, or you

can email your updates and photographs to:

shiela.laramore@rafa.org.uk

HELP US TO STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOU

By far, the quickest and easiest way for us to

get in contact with our members is through

email. This method of communication also

saves money on postage – money that we can

instead spend on providing welfare support to

members of the RAF Family. Please update us

on your current email address by sending a

quick note to Shiela using the details above.

USEFUL CONTACT NUMBERS

Joe Stanfield, Area Director:

07585 508 016

Mike McCourt, Area Welfare Officer:

0131 225 5221

Dave Mowatt, Branch Support Officer:

07419 295 454

Royal Air Forces Association

THE BENEFITS BATTLE

Attached to this newsletter you

will find an interesting report

which highlights issues arising for

veterans upon leaving the armed

forces.

This research report was pro-

duced by a student volunteering

with Stirling CAB and it gives an

excellent insight to life after

‘demob’.

The information provided in this

report will be very useful to

Honorary Welfare Officers or

anyone else supporting new

veterans.

STANDARD BEARERS -

WEARING OF UNOFFI-

CAL MEDALS

The RAF Association has re-

cently received complaints about

Standard Bearers wearing unoffi-

cial medals whilst on pa-

rade. Branches and Standard

Bearers are reminded that,

when on parade, they are to

follow the guidance laid down in

Chapter 8 paragraph 8.3 of the

admin handbook, which states:

“When applicable, full sized med-

als should be worn on all parades

and ceremonies. Standard Bearers

should not wear commemorative or

other unofficial medals. No insignia

or badges should be worn except

that of the Association.”

P A G E 7

Notices for All Branches BIRMINGHAM INTERNA-

TIONAL TATTOO DIS-

COUNT TICKETS FOR

GROUPS

Special discounts are being made

available for groups of 10 or

more to this event, which will

take place on Saturday 29th No-

vember at 6pm and Sunday 30th

November at 2pm.

This is Britain’s biggest military

tattoo, with over 1000 perform-

ers. This year, it will commemo-

rate the centenary of WWI and

the 70th anniversary of D-Day

by bringing together military

bands and exciting displays.

For more information, contact

Shiela at the Area Office using

the details above.