End of the Valiants - Tony Cunnane's Life and Times

Whilst I was on temporary duty at Far East Air Force Headquarters in Singapore in 1964/5, the RAF's entire force of Valiant bombers was permanently grounded after one particular aircraft sustained a main spar failure whilst airborne from Gaydon. Several hundred Valiant aircrew and ground crew were suddenly out of a job and had to be re-trained for other duties. Although I could have continued with the duties that had taken me to Singapore, I was still basically a Valiant Air Electronics Officer (AEO) and so I was sent back to England in July 1965 and replaced in Singapore by a Vulcan-qualified officer. My job as an instructor at Gaydon had also disappeared with the demise of the Valiant. The powers-that-be decided I was due for a desk job

I was posted to the Headquarters of No 3 Group at RAF Mildenhall in the appointment known as P2, the Personnel Officer responsible for managing the careers of almost 700 junior officers – and I do mean 700. As well as pilots, navigators and ground branch officers, that number included many AEOs like me, all of whom were either currently employed on Victor bombers or had been employed on the Valiants before they were taken out of service. When I arrived in late 1965 there was one other P Staff officer: P1 who dealt with disciplinary matters concerning all ranks. The Air Officer Commanding the Group (AOC) was Air Vice-Marshal D F Spotswood but after a few weeks he was replaced by Air Vice-Marshal D G Smallwood – who eventually did something which changed my career for the better in a way that I could not possibly have foreseen.

It was pretty boring being a P Staff officer – mainly because there was so little work to do.  Although I had strip filing cards for the 700 junior officers, and much more interesting blue Staff-in-Confidence files for many of them, I was little more than a filing officer. Most of the decisions were taken at Bomber Command: a P2 officer there telephoned decisions through to me and I noted them and updated my strip-cards. However the officers ostensibly under my control did not know that; they thought I had power to make decisions about their future careers.

I soon discovered to my cost that if I paid a staff visit to any of the 3 group stations I had to inform the Station Commander in advance and get his permission. Most of them simply told their PA to telephone me and say the visit was approved, but two station commanders insisted on interviewing me as soon as I arrived on their station. At one station in particular, Honington, I once had to wait over three hours before the Station Commander deigned to see me. All any of them wanted to know was whether I was arriving just to chat informally to their junior officers or whether I was turning up to impart some policy decision that the Station Commander wanted, quite rightly, to know about first. In practice all I ever wanted to do was get out of my office at Mildenhall and chat to some old friends over a coffee or aircrew lunch. After a few months I stopped going to the stations because I eventually found a new way to occupy my time.