FlyPast 02.2018

72 FLYPAST February 2018

THE MET

BALLOONBALLOON

A

s a young pilot, Roger

Dimmock survived a Sea Hawk

crash at the 1958 Farnborough

Air Show, and went on to become

a rear admiral. His death in 2014

brought back vivid memories for me

of 1970, when he was a Buccaneer

pilot and a senior naval officer at

Honington in Suffolk.

I was there as a recently qualified

Buccaneer navigator and a flight

commander on 12 Squadron. The

story of our involvement in the

infamous ‘Met Balloon Saga’ is best

recounted over several pints of beer.

However, I shall try to write as I

remember it, over 40 years on.

Honington was home to both

12 Squadron and the Buccaneer

Operational Conversion Unit, 237

OCU. In 1970, 809 NAS Buccaneers

and crews came ashore from Ark

Royal’s latest commission and joined

us. It was very much a gathering of

the Buccaneer brotherhood. The

welcome ashore was enthusiastic,

and the first joint ‘guest night’ in

the Mess was both outstanding and

outrageous. Every ‘wheeze’, perfected

over the years in ward rooms and

Messes was rolled out, right down to

‘exploding’ cabbages. Great fun, but

very messy.

The station commander

(nicknamed The Bear) called together

all officers and decreed, in his usual

manner, that the next Officers’ Mess

guest night was to see no horseplay

whatsoever. He also appointed Cdr

Roger Dimmock as President of the

Mess Committee (PMC).

Naturally, the ‘no horseplay’

decree had to be challenged, and

the task fell to 12 Squadron. I’d

heard that the act of inflating a huge

meteorology balloon underneath

a carpet could be impressive. We

acquired a balloon for ‘research

purposes’, promising that it would

not be released into the atmosphere.

It came folded in a long box packed

GP CAPT DAN NEEDHAM REMEMBERS A HILARIOUS ‘WHEEZE’ INVOLVING

UNORTHODOX USE OF A METEOROLOGY BALLOON AT A PRESTIGIOUS JOINT

SERVICE DINNER

1918 2018

not fully inflated when the pressure

became too much for its jury-rigged

sticky-taped connection to the trolley.

It burst through the curtains, over

the senior diners, and embarked on

a majestic, undulating flight over

the full length of the dining room.

As it did so, a dense cloud of talcum

powder filled the room and, despite

all uniforms now being a powder-

modified bluey-grey, the crowd went

wild.

The Bear did not look pleased;

in talcum powder (to keep it dry).

An examination of the Mess carpet

revealed that the heavy dining

tables would prevent a spectacular

carpet rise. Instead, the balloon

was placed behind the long velvet

curtains behind the top table. It was

connected to a trolley of multiple

cylinders of compressed air. The

timing of the inflation was vital, so a

reliable and fully qualified Buccaneer

pilot agreed to take on the duty.

The evening was most enjoyable,

and the large numbers present were

well behaved. The Bear, seated beside

his new PMC, watched fiercely for

any sign of trouble – there was none,

and, after a toast, he rose to speak.

There was a faint ‘flubba lubba’ noise

from the curtains directly behind

him. Undaunted, he continued.

As the valves of more air cylinders

were opened, the noise prevented

further speech and he sat down

looking less than delighted. Much

to the joy of the juniors, who were

beginning to work out the cause of

the disturbance, the curtains (literally

‘ballooning’) began pushing the

senior occupants of the top table over

their port glasses. The balloon was

Right

The author with a 12

Squadron Buccaneer

in the background. Met

balloon not pictured.

VIA DAN NEEDHAM

Right centre

Balloon infl ating

equipment being put to

more orthodox use. KEY

Below right

Rear Admiral Roger

Dimmock. NMRN