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I THINK THAT OUR OLD ORACLE KEN ASHTON, WOULD BE THE KIDDIE ON HISTORY OF HAL-FAR, MALTA, I AM SURE HE WOULD BE ABLE TO FIND YOUR MATE. WAS HE MET ?

I am trying to contact a Louis Bowman who was based at the RNAS station in Malta in the early 60's I'd be grateful if anybody could help me. Thankyou

Re Pension my buddy JTC Bell, known as Jack Bell. was at Admiralty FWC. has spent a pretty penny trying to fight a Pension, apparently Tony Blair,s Mrs was fighting on their behalf, so say no more, I believe if one left before 1976, you dipped out , Those that left in 1975 must of really been miffed, I believe you only have to be in a short time and under the age of 26 which was the lower limit at one time, of course in our time we were not HEROES, showing the Flag and in the East keeping Tiger Brewery profits in the black.

Cleared up at last - didn't realise that there were two John Whiteheads! Perhaps John and Spud Murphy could give us a brief history of their time in the RN from little Met men to pilots. Would be very interesting, as I only went from little Ganges boy of 16 to P.O. at 32 - not much of a career ladder there.......and the worst part was that in 1974, when I left after 16 years, there were no pension rights at all. I distinctly remember getting a cheque for £480 which equated to £30 a year service; and NO transfer of any pension to my new career. It's been nearly 40 years now, so I'm just about getting over it.

Hi Ian it does clear up the Whitehead Saga, I believe Pete Rossington left, and didnt have a replacement. I do not think that the Hermes was a happy Ship, seem to break down rather a lot. I think we were on our way to Borneo but broke down, also deprived us of a run ashore in Japan due to repairs. I do remember ther joy of ringing the Bridge to alter course to let our baloons off, and watching the rest of the Fleet turning with us,had a rather over zealous Birthday on board.

John
The John Whitehead to whom you are referring was the ex Met. He hosted the reunion towards the end of the 80's on board HMS Victory he was the CO. I joined HMS Hermes in Nov 62 when you were the LA, the others were POA Pete Rossington, NA's John Randall, Pete Knowles and Tony Newrick.

Now I am really confused with the Whiteheads, one I remember was the Admin on the Victory when we had a reunion on board. this was late 1990,s . I remember asking him what time the Bar shut, he said as the Visitors were on at 0900 we should be off by then. It was a more informal affair, but very enjoyable, less senile I suppose.
Was he the Ex Met or the Ex Handler ???

Ray, we are not talking about the same guy,The John Whitehead to whom I refer was always a chockhead.We shared many hairy experiences both at Culdrose and on Victorious from where he went for pilot training.
I know that there was a Met guy with same name but I never knew him.

Johnny Whitehead was a Met man through and through - he was on the course before me at Culdrose. We both grew up together at HMS Ganges; in fact, we joined on the same day. He was never a chockhead, but the rest of what you say is quite right. He ended up as a Lt.Cdr. as did Spud Murphy, so I believe. Both were pilots of one sort or another, as far as I can remember.

For Johnny Whitfield, yes Johnny the John Whitehead who is now the honorary president of the AHA was with us at Culdrose, he was a handler, and was drafted to Victorious with me in 1960, he eventually got a commission and flew fixed wing and choppers and retired as a two and a half ringer.