I was a member of the Royal Air Force from 1980 to 2002, and was an “Armourer”. In my time in the RAF I worked on the seats fitted to Buccaneer, Hunter, and Tornado Aircraft. My main type was the Tornado (Mk 10 seat) . I worked in the Seat Bay at RAF Honington back in the early 80s. We serviced at least 4 seats that had saved aircrew. The aircraft were part of TWCU at RAF Honington.
Later in my career, I was deployed to RAF Bruggen for the 1st Gulf war. And when I was there was part of ASF, removing and fitting seats as part of the prep and mod program for deployment.
I believe we had another 2 successful ejections during aircraft being shot down.
After leaving the RAF I moved to USA I now work in explosive Safety, and am indirectly in contact with seats on the legacy Hornet aircraft. I still try to stay up to date with the constant improvements.
I was told that I may be able to obtain a challenge coin for participation. I am now living in California, and would be more than willing to pay postage etc if indeed any “shiny items” are available!
I attached a photo of my time at Bruggen ASF in 1991 with one of the aircraft that returned post conflict. Not sure where the young man in the photo went!
