Royal Air Force Photographers Association
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Royal Air Force Photographers Association 1 RAFPA Contacts Chairman: John Barry, MBE [email protected] 01480 456 763 10 Church Road Brampton, PE28 4PW Royal Air Force Membership Secretary Photographers & Web Site Manager: Gerry Linstead Association [email protected] 01366 380143 (Formerly RAFBEPA) 75 Grimshoe Road Downham Market www.rafpa.org.uk PE38 9WF Treasurer: Edition 69 Paul Nile [email protected] Autumn 2017 16 Canberra Close Manby, LN11 8TU DEADLINE Photographic Competition: for contributions for Edition 70 Mick Muddiman must be received by: Details TBA nd Friday 2 March 2018 Merchandise Manager: Thank you Tony Story Details TBA THE SMALL PRINT – Flashback is published by the Events Coordinator: RAFPA and is for the benefit of paid-up members of Chris Twiner the RAFPA. Accreditation for text, images and logos [email protected] has been given where appropriate, however the RAFPA cannot be held liable for any omissions or 01283 299248 errors. If such omissions or errors are notified to the Editor they will be published in the next available Editor: edition of Flashback. If any person responds to an John Lewis advertisement or commercial supplier named in [email protected] Flashback they must satisfy themselves of the au- thenticity and honesty of any such advertiser or 01263 711 536 trader and the RAFPA cannot be held liable for any 7 Town Close loss, however incurred. Flashback is copyright and Holt, NR25 6JN requests to reproduce text, images or logos must be made to the Editor. 2 From your editors desk Greetings This edition of Flashback contains details of our recent AGM; should you have any questions regarding the Report or Accounts please address them to Secretary/Gerry or Treasurer/Paul. The following appeared in Air Mail, if you can assist please contact John Fraser. I have to say that I missed Dave Newham at the Reunion, although even after his passing he has managed to get me on to other tasks! Amongst items from his RAFPA box file were the 2015 Photographic Competition entries, including the nine I submitted, it was nice to have them back, I may re-use them! One print I did like and intend to use as a front cover of Flashback was taken at the Bomber Command Memorial in London. If it is yours please advise and I’ll give you credit. Also in Dave’s collection was a framed print of 17 Squadron aircrew (all named) taken in September 1964, may have been on Royal Flush, needs a good home. I am pleased to report that our annual Photographic Competition has been saved. Mick Muddiman (Competition winner: 2011, 2013 & 2014) has volunteered to take on the project. He announced that in 2018 it will be an Open Subject Competition but all prints should be in Black & White - another PhotoShop function to master! 3 The subject of Front Cover membership numbers of our Association has come Statue of three Pilots, through up in discussion and raised the ages of the RAF at the Royal at AGMs. Starting in Air Force Museum Cosford January 2018 I’ll be mailing out details of RAFPA via a Poster (see page 6), Flyer (included in this mailing) and a Press Release. I will send the mailing to all RAF Stations, addressed to the Photographic Section, to local newspapers in the areas indicated on the map, plus RBL Branches with their own premises. Any constructive ideas would be appreciated. If you have a location to display posters or flyers, please advise, we need locations with short odds, military themed museums with a high footfall are ideal. If it is really ‘hot spot’ we could arrange a dispenser for flyers if you could refresh regularly. The second good bit of news is that Tony Story has offered to take on the task of Merchandise Manager, but due to other commitments not until mid - 2018. So for the next few months things will be in abeyance, plus that will give him the opportunity to examine what we currently do and realign products and stock. John Barry has all existing stock. Message from Secretary/Gerry - the postage stamps retrieved from Members mail, subs letters etc have been donated to the RAFA Stamp Appeal - many thanks. https://www.rafa.org.uk/blog/2015/12/09/stamp-appeal/ 4 Yet again, we must congratulate Chris Twiner and Stan Leeds for organising another excellent association Reunion at Stourport Manor in October. Although smaller in numbers this year, all enjoyed the Friday night gathering for the 'Meet and Greet', with a successful trip to the National Arboretum at Alrewas to view the newly unveiled ‘Photographers Memorial Stone’ and to enjoy the new Visitors Centre the following Saturday morning. The Reunion Dinner was the social highlight of the weekend with new friends and old acquaintances enjoying good ‘banter’ and the excitement of the now familiar raffle to raise funds for the Association ‘wine cellar’. Congratulations must also go to our worthy winners of the Jack Eggleston award – Dave Derrick – for his outstanding work over many the years as our Regalia Officer, currently being handled by yours truly until our new volunteer Tony Story can take over in April 2018 when he relinquishes his official post as Mayor of Stamford (well done Tony!) and many thanks for taking over this more onerous task but equally important role for our members. 5 This year our worthy winner of the Joe Oliver Photography award went to Mike Steel – well done Mike, good to see a new name on the trophy. Talking of new names (and one not unfamiliar with the Joe Oliver award), Mick Mudiman has very kindly agreed to organise next year’s Photo Competition – most grateful Mick. He was quick off the mark at the AGM to set the subject matter for 2018 – any subject but images must be in Black and White ….. Now there’s nostalgia for you! As explained at our AGM I have only ever had two good ideas and I have used them both up! It cannot be that difficult to dream-up a suitably, dynamic A4 poster to attract RAF photogs out of hiding! Lets have your ideas but don’t hang about as we need to get into print in early January. It will give you something to do over Christmas! 6 envoy MAGAZINE The above is an extract from an article in the Autumn 2017 edition of Envoy magazine, produced by the RAF Families Federation. This and back-copies can be read at: www.raf-ff.org.uk/envoy.asp For those of you that are not digitally enabled, this and future copies can be requested by post, by telephoning: 01780 781 650 Ask to speak to Nick Crouch and mention the RAFPA. It’s a very well produced A4 magazine with lots of interesting articles and for the Scale-Es amongst you some of today's stuff will be truly amazing. 7 The RedIs here! Atlas Nearly thirty years after the end of the ColdWar, its legacy and the accompanying Russian - NATO tension continues to loom large. Russia’s access to detailed information of Europe and the USA may not seem so shocking in this day of data clouds and leaks, but long before we had satellite imagery of any neighbourhood at a finger’s reach, the amount the Soviet government knew about your family’s city, street, and even your home would astonish you. Revealing how this was possible, The Red Atlas is the never- before-told story of the most comprehensive mapping endeavour in history and the surprising maps that resulted. From 1950 to 1990, the Soviet Army conducted a global topographic mapping program, creating large-scale maps for much of the world that included a diversity of detail that would have supported a full range of military planning. For major allied city’s the Soviets gathered enough information to create street- level maps. What they chose to include on these maps can seem obvious like locations of factories and ports, or more surprising, such as building heights, road widths, and bridge capacities. Some of the detail suggests early satellite technology, while other specifics, like detailed depictions of depths and channels around rivers and 8 harbours, could only have been gained by actual Soviet feet on the ground. The Red Atlas includes over 350 extracts from these incredible Cold War maps, exploring their provenance and cartographic techniques as well as what they can tell us about their makers and the Soviet initiatives that were going on all around us. A fantastic historical document of an era that sometimes seems less distant, The Red Atlas offers an uncanny view of the world through the eyes of Soviet strategists and spies. Cloth Bound | 272 pages | 282 colour plates | 7” x 9” ISBN: 9780226389578 List price: £26.50 Or just £21.20 by using Promotion Code: 38957 and purchasing from John Wiley Limited before the end of 2017 Tel: 01243 779 777 - Email: [email protected] Recently ‘found’ at ex-RAF Coltishall Were you responsible for losing/hiding it? Dave Welsh at [email protected] Chairman, Spirit of Coltishall Association would like to hear from you. 9 The winning entry in this years competition was submitted by Mick Steel, a first time winner. I was particularly pleased as when I published a last minute appeal Mick responded by sending a ‘box-full’ of prints - thanks for saving the day. Mick with Gerry and John with the The Judging Panel was totally independent of the RAFPA, four ladies who were visiting the hotel for afternoon tea.