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Flight Time
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JULY 2018
Real Life
Ron Waite first
donned the RAF’s blue
uniform when he was called up for
National Service in 1950. Today, aged
86, he continues to work part-time
at Cornwall’s RAF St Mawgan, near
Newquay, as a civilian bookkeeper, and
will soon begin working under his 32nd
Commanding Officer.
“Three weeks after being called up I
opted to become a regular and signed
for three years,” says Ron, originally from
Newport, Wales. “It gave me more money,
training on the job and extra leave, so I
gained a lot. I enjoyed it.”
After 16 years working his way up
the junior ranks, Ron became a Warrant
Officer – the highest non-officer rank in
the RAF – responsible for discipline. His
domestic life also changed: while he was
working at RAF Brampton he met Pam, a
WAAF in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force,
and they married in 1963. By the early
1970s the couple had five young children.
Ron took part in tours of Germany
and Cyprus, but it was the nine-month
unaccompanied tour of Yemen in
1966/7 which forms one of his stand-out
memories.
The climate in Aden was particularly
dangerous at that time. Part of Ron’s
role was to make weekly trips from RAF
Khormaksar to Steamer Point, the RAF’s
Middle East headquarters, to deliver
papers to lawyers. “The RAF provided a
Jeep and a driver, but I had to be both
passenger and guard. I was armed but
the regulations stipulated that we had to
keep the bullets in our pocket and the gun
out of sight, and shout warnings before we
used it.”
Fortunately he didn’t have to act.
He also has fond memories of Cyprus,
after a tour to RAF Akrotiri in 1973. “Cyprus
has a beautiful climate and lovely people.
At Christmas, you can swim in the morning
and ski in the afternoon. Pam and I went
back every year until she died in 2008.”
But it was his three years as Families
Officer at RAF St Mawgan between 1977
and 1980 that saw Cornwall win a place in
his heart. “I got to know the area very well
and it’s why we eventually came back.”
Ron planned to retire aged 55, but
two weeks beforehand he was called
for an interview with the Group Captain
in Command Accounts. He asked if Ron
would like to serve a period with the
inspection team, auditing RAF bases all
over the world. It was a role he enjoyed for
three years, visiting Canada, Hong Kong,
and the Ascension Islands, as well as
returning to RAF St Mawgan every year.
He eventually retired in 1989, aged 58.
Pam secured a job as a civil servant at
RAF St Mawgan, and the couple bought
a former married quarters in nearby St
Merryn, where Ron still lives. But any hopes
of retiring to sunny Cornwall to relax and
indulge his passion for gardening and
playing the keyboard proved fanciful.
“A fortnight after I retired I had a call
asking if I would like a part-time job in
accounts at RAF St Mawgan. I still have
the letter – it said, ‘There is no guarantee
that your appointment will be extended
beyond one year’. That was 28 years
ago. I’m still trying to retire, but not very
successfully!”
FEW PEOPLE CAN SAY THEY ’ VE
BEEN I NVOLVED I N THE RAF FOR
MORE THAN TWO-TH I RDS OF I TS
1 0 0 - YEAR EX I STENCE , YET ONE
MAN I S NOW CELEBRAT I NG H I S
6 8TH YEAR…
True Blue
N E WQ U AY
“A fortnight after I
retired I had a call
asking if I would
like a part-time job
in accounts at RAF
St Mawgan... That
was 28 years ago.
I’m still trying to
retire, but not very
successfully!”
F L I G H T D E TA I L S
Flybe has fights to Newquay from Aberdeen, Belfast City, Birmingham, Doncaster
Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, London Gatwick,
London Stansted, Manchester and Newcastle.
Ron Waite in
his garden
Below: In Aden
with the RAF,
receiving his
first AOC’s
Commendation
in 1955