A Royal collision at RAF Valley in 1968 - Tony Cunnane's Afterthoughts
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A Royal collision at RAF Valley in 1968
Written on 8 June 2011
As Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, reaches his 90th birthday tomorrow and after listening to the Loyal Address on BBC Parliament just now, I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you my favourite Duke of Edinburgh story – and I can vouch for this one because it happened to me 44 years ago in June 1967.
Prince Philip was making a formal visit to RAF Valley where, at the time, I was a student on my advanced flying training. As usual, prior to any visit by Royalty, there had been many rehearsals. Everything had to be just right because the Duke had a reputation for turning on senior officers and chastising them on the spot if something displeased him.
Since the weather was forecast to be poor, it had been decided that a selection of flying students should stand in front of a selection of aircraft in a hangar.
I was detailed to pose in front of a Hunter F6 aircraft, the aircraft on which I flew my solo training sorties. Accordingly I was issued with a brand new flying suit and ordered to polish my best black shoes – our standard issue flying boots were deemed unsuitable to appear before royalty. Quite why we had to wear our best SD hats, a lifesaving jacket and clutch our bone dome under our left arm, was a mystery.
On the walkabout Prince Phillip was closely followed, as was normal, by a long train of VIPs and hangars-
It’s a great pity the snapper did not take another photograph about 10 seconds later. Just as the entire procession moved on from me towards the next exhibit, the Prince suddenly did an abrupt about turn and returned to me with a quizzical look on his face. All those following him found they could not stop in time and there was an almighty kerfuffle as they all collided with each other in a very undignified manner. Completely ignoring the entourage as they tried to regain their positions and composure, HRH pointed to my rank badges.
"What’s a flight lieutenant doing as a student pilot?"
I had to explain that I was a re-
"That’s very interesting," he said. "Good luck to you." He turned to his left and barked, "Come along you lot, get yourselves sorted out." Then with a farewell grin at me, he marched on.
He knew exactly what he was doing. Incidentally, one of my teenage great nephews has just seen this picture for the first time. "Who's that man shaking hands with you?" he asked. I replied: "That's Prince Philip -
What do they teach them!
More about my Hunter flying on my RAF Years website starting here