The weather always seems to be miserable when we visit Lincolnshire in March! This time last year we were here with 1 EFTS and Flt Lt Bill Ramsey on a day where the skies were grey and the wind was blowing hard and quite frankly it’s not that much better today. Winter clearly releases its icy grip a little later in this part of the world!
Still, we’re glad to be here at all in all honestly. A lot has changed in the last 12 months and we are now post SDSR and embroiled in a host of significant changes for all our armed forces, much of which sadly seems to entail aircraft retirements and redundancies. It certainly isn’t all doom and gloom however and one indicator of that fact is a near complete line-up of Royal Air Force display aircraft for the 2011 season. This, as usual, will encompass our most advanced combat aircraft at one end of the spectrum in the Eurofighter Typhoon and our elementary trainer at the other, the Grob Tutor.
This year’s Tutor display sees a new man in the cockpit after Bill’s two year stint, and that man is Flt Lt Shaun “Kimbo” Kimberley; like his predecessor an instructor on the CFS (Central Flying School) Tutor Squadron – an instructor of instructors basically!
Shaun’s career in the Royal Air Force has certainly been a varied one and it started with airman and trade training and a posting to 229 OCU at RAF Coningsby as a radar mechanic working on the Tornado F.3. Having completed his Avionics Technician course in 1994 Shaun was posted to RAF Brize Norton and there he remained until commissioned in 1997.
On completion of IOT Kimbo entered flying training via the JEFTS Firefly course, was streamed for fast jet and eventually posted to the Jaguar OCU at RAF Coltishall. Kimbo’s time on the Jaguar was relatively brief however and he was posted to XV(R) Squadron the Tornado GR.4 OCU and then on to 12(B) Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth.
During his time with 12(B) he participated in numerous overseas detachments and exercises including Red Flag, Torpedo Focus and Cope Thunder, graduated from the Tactical Leadership Programme and completed four operational tours over Iraq including both Reinstate South and Op TELIC. Shaun was awarded a Mention In Dispatches for his role during the early missions of the second Gulf War in 2003.
Next stop was RAF Linton-on-Ouse and a posting as a QFI on the Shorts Tucano where Shaun amassed some 1000 hours on the aircraft and became a Flight Commander on 207(R) Squadron before, in spring 2008, discovering that he had been selected for the RAAF CFS exchange at RAAF East Sale in Australia.
Arriving with his family in September 2008 Kimbo flew multiple aircraft types during his time in Australia including the CT-4B Airtrainer, Pilatus PC-9, Hawk 127 and F/A-18 Hornet. He then returned to the UK late last year to take up his current position at RAF Cranwell.
“I’ve designed my routine to be relentless; there are no pregnant pauses whatsoever,” Shaun explains as we sit in a briefing room at RAF Cranwell. “It’s been an evolutionary process I suppose but flying it and trying things out has been really interesting and that’s the only way to discover whether it actually works or not”.
Shaun’s fascination for display flying is long standing and the inspiration behind the display also goes back a fair distance.
“I’ve flown hang gliders since I was 16 and you can be a bit of a showman on those and I’ve always wanted to try display flying. I was short listed for the display job at Linton but didn’t get it so this was the next opportunity I suppose, although I did some of the work-up for the Roulettes in Australia as well which was an excellent experience.
“I was at Waddington a few years ago and saw a Mirage 2000 display and that guy just didn’t stop, there was always something going on and you could see that everyone was watching him. It was fantastic, a really well choreographed routine that in my opinion made all the other solos look like amateurs. I think a lot of displays since then have taken inspiration from that in terms of staying compact and in front of the crowd and I certainly have so I wanted my routine to have that same natural flow and hopefully I’ve achieved that. Feedback so far has been good!”
It certainly looks like an extraordinary routine and, as Shaun talks us through the slides, there are something like 24 individual manoeuvres all in all with plenty of flicks, clovers, stall turns, cubans and loops – at one point he even goes “ballistic” which naturally results in much laughter all round.
We all know what Shaun means, he’s talking about relaxing the pull on the stick over the top of a loop, it’s just not a word many of us would associate with the Tutor and surely must be added to his commentary notes, if only to hear his Display Manager try and explain it!
Joking aside, he is certainly trying to squeeze every last ounce of energy out of the aircraft and, with his routine now finalised, is working on refining the display down at regulation height ahead of his PDA display at the end of April. While Shaun maintains that it is not that tricky to fly it will also be five minutes or so of hard work for him with very little room for a breather or even the briefest look at the crowd.
Now, Shaun is a man who has flown a good number of basic trainers through his career to date so, as someone relatively new to the aircraft, I wonder what his appraisal is of the Tutor from piloting perspective?
“It’s a nice aircraft to fly actually, very benign. Firefly was a great aircraft which I probably appreciate more now than I did at the time and then I also flew the CT-4 in Australian and that was a different beast entirely – very much like a bad Bulldog! It has a pitiful rate of climb and, as another piston engine aircraft, didn’t fill me with much confidence when I came back here to fly the Tutor – but I’ve been pleasantly surprised however!
“It co-ordinates very well, needs very little in terms of rudder input and has a good deal of control authority in pitch and, while it is easy to land, it is challenging to land very well. The only thing I would say it doesn’t do especially well is roll which is a result of the Tutor’s fairly lengthy wing span – that’s why we use flicks so much in the display!”
Shaun is hopeful that the Tutor will see even more ground based support at airshows than it has done before and the intention is to produce some display boards to go alongside the various gizzits and posters which will be produced as a result of welcome support from the likes of Babcock, Breitling and Land Rover.
We all know just how important this kind of ground based engagement is and there’s little doubt that Shaun will embrace it and work very hard to make it succeed. He will also be braced for some of the tough questions the general public may want to ask following recent events but, as GAR discovers from a chat with Shaun’s immediate Boss, Sqn Ldr Nick Goodwyn, the Tutor’s 2011 display season still has much to promote
“It is true that there will be no pilot recruitment for this current financial year but that is only because we have already recruited enough candidates and quite simply don’t need anyone else. Beyond that the Royal Air Force will once again require approximately 100 pilots per annum and that is why Shaun’s display is so important.
"On top of that there are still many University Air Squadrons utilising the Tutor and we need to continue to promote that fact and attract new recruits to those as well. Despite the very difficult recent decisions it is very much business as usual.”
As we make our way outside to brave the chilly overcast conditions to grab some images of Shaun and his already named display mount (he’ll be using the same aircraft as those used by Bill incidentally) one can’t help but feel encouraged by Nick’s words. While we know that there are more redundancies on the way for the wider Royal Air Force it is certainly, from a flying training perspective at least, perhaps not quite as gloomy as some would have you believe.
Photos complete we head back inside and then across to the main RAF Cranwell site for lunch in the Mess and onwards for home. It’s certainly been nice to talk airshows and display flying again and, despite theweather, made me feel as if spring and the season are just around the corner. I can’t wait and I know Shaun can’t either - we look forward to seeing him fly this season and I’m sure you’ll join us in wishing him the very best of luck.
2011-03-28 - Shaun Kimberley
The two Display Aircraft already have stickers applied to them, which are unchanged from last season. This was decided because of a combination of the cost (initially very expensive!), man-hours required and aircraft suitability. I'm afraid it's not quite as simple as a quick lick of paint! Thanks for you interest.
Regards,
Shaun.
2011-03-28 - Peter Fleetwood
A comment and a question. Thanks for another well-written piece, which pulls together elements of a fascinating career with good material on the coming display routine. It is also great to see a pilot giving credit and praise to a (French) colleague; that sort of willingness to praise deserves respect. My question is superficial related to current concerns in the RAF community: will they ever paint a Tutor ins special display livery?
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