aviation - the past, present and future of flight

W

ith the RAF Shackleton AEW.2s

of 8 Squadron nearing the end

of their service the unit wanted

to host a spectacular event.

A piece of serendipity provided the perfect

opportunity for an impressive gathering of

aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.

“The interesting static display would put

most of this year’s open days to shame,”

was how the enthusiast publication British

Aviation Review described it.

What was that magic formula? It was

called ‘All the Eights’ and involved the officer

commanding (OC) 8 Sqn, Wg Cdr Dave

Hencken, inviting representatives of NATO

units with the number eight in their title. They

were asked to ‘associ-eight’ and ‘celebr-eight’

their common membership of NATO at eight

minutes past eight GMT, on the eighth day of

the eighth month, 1988.

Only by meticulous planning did all those

units with shared nomenclature gather in

the same place on a once-in-a-century date

of 8.8.88. This was largely the work of the

then Flt Lt Andrew Thomas, an aviation

historian and navigator who was serving as a

tactical co-ordinator (TACO) in the noisy and

cramped interior of a Shackleton ‘ ying radar

station’. Enthusiastically supported by his

OC, Thomas turned a mess ‘happy hour’ idea

from the previous year into reality.

With the basic plan in place, the next task

was to determine how many ‘eight’ squadrons

ALL THE EIGHTSALL THE EIGHTSALL THE EIGHTS

Thirty years ago, the Shackleton AEW.2-equipped 8 Squadron hosted a

memorable event on Monday 8-8-88 which drew aircraft from across NATO.

26 Aviation News incorporating Jets August 2018

A UP-3A Orion, 150527/JB-04, from the US Navy’s experimental

squadron VXN-8, based at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

ALL THE EIGHTSALL THE EIGHTS

EXCLUSIVE

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