Fire Engines Photos

Thanks for this Bob, the lads on Queens Flight were a very select bunch, I could say more but some folk might get upset....

Added by John Stott on 05 May 2009.

Say more John, I'm interested. I remember many years back when I was with the volunteer brigade in Kununurra, Western Australia, we had the Prince Charlie fly in for a two day visit to the Ord River irrigation system. Some hours prior to the flight arrival a chap flew in on a commercial flight to brief us on what we should do in the event of a mishap with Charlie's flight. He had full fire fighting kit and rode with us and his specific task was to get him out of the a/c. At the time we thought it was a bit of a joke because we had enough water on the pump for about 30 seconds of foam, if that! I can't remember where he came from but I believe he was one of the select few to whom you alude. I know we had to have the fire axe in the cab with him.

On that note I must add we turned out many times to the airport on genuine aircraft emergencies as we were the only airport for several hundred miles that could provide any fire and rescue protection. We use to practice/drill for such an event and took the role very seriously, especially after several near-misses. So much so that a year or so after I left in 1983 the brigade raised sufficient funding to purchase an old Thornycroft Nubian 6x6 capable of pumping out 5 tonne of foam per minute!

Added by Pav - West Aussie on 05 May 2009.

Thats a fascinating story Pav, he would be a QF fireman. To qualify your annual assessment "score" had to be 6 or above on all counts, for three years consecutivly. They had a variety of machines over the years and always travelled wherever the royals were going to land, with the exception of other MOD airfields or major civilian airports. The firemen were in charge of marshalling and general flight safety. All machines were blue to blend in as red would panic the punters. In my RAF time they were stationed at RAF Benson I believe. Standards of turnout were high for kit and personal appearance etc. And they had to use the correct knife and fork, which ruled most of us out! lol!
A lot of other firemen resented them as they seemed to make a lot of money on expenses and we were not well paid!
As the Royal Flight is to be disbanded next year an era of RAF history sadly ends, as to any firemen who served on there, comments would be appreciated on equipment etc.

Added by John Stott on 06 May 2009.

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