My final posting, after Cowden, was RAF Waddington, and into the tower at last.

The seed for that had actually been planted while I was still at Cowden. We had been called by a controller at Waddington to deconflict some traffic, and I recognised the voice straight away. It was Squadron Leader Mike Reep, one of the supervisors from West Drayton and a proper chap. I soon found out he was now the SATCO at Waddington, so that seemed as good an excuse as any to put Waddington down as my preferred final posting. I was very pleased when the RAF agreed.

Not long before I was due to arrive, I found out Waddington was closed for runway resurfacing, so everyone was operating from Coningsby instead. That suited me well enough because one of my long-time friends, Jim Mackenzie, was there. It was good fun working at Coningsby, but if I am honest, it was even better when Waddington finally reopened and we could get back to where we belonged.

One of the first jobs was sending the AEW Nimrods down to Abingdon to be broken up. That was a bit hairy because some of them had not flown for years, and nobody quite knew how gracefully they would take to the sky again. By then I was very experienced and found the job straightforward enough, but if I am honest it no longer really stretched me. I could do it, and do it well, but the challenge had gone.

I also knew my RAF career had probably reached its ceiling. Promotion was never likely. As you have probably gathered by now, I had been just a little too naughty over the years to look like ideal promotion material.

So I got in touch with Ross Williams, one of the chaps I had worked with in DYSIM, who had recently joined the CAA, still in that world. I asked if there were any jobs going. There were. I applied, got accepted, and did so well ahead of my RAF termination date. That meant I could take my last nine months fairly easily, with the next chapter already in sight, and I thoroughly enjoyed those final months in uniform.

Then came my last day in the tower.

After saying goodbye to everyone, I took my final call in the tower, booking in a practice diversion for an F111. A few hours later, as the bus was just pulling out of Waddington for the last time, I looked across and saw that same aircraft carrying out its PD. You could not script a better ending. A very fitting final scene to a brilliant time in the Royal Air Force.