UK Chapter of the AOC - Newsletter July 2004

UK AOC Newsletter - July 2004

Obituary: Wg Cdr (Retd) Michael T Thurbon RAF CEng FIEE MRAeS MIMgt

It is with deep regret that we report that Wg Cdr Michael Thurbon died on 14th June 2004 after fighting a long and painful illness. Mike Thurbon joined the RAF in 1955. He served in a variety of engineering, intelligence and EW posts, his last appointment being Wg Cdr (EW) at HQ No 90(Signals) Gp.

He subsequently worked as a scientist at GCHQ Cheltenham and then for 13 years he held senior posts in industry. At the end of his career Mike became a part time member of staff at Cranfield University, lecturing on EW at Master’s level at the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, whilst simultaneously carrying out various consultancy studies for Mass Consultants in Cambridge.

Mike published many papers on the technical and operational aspects of EW as well as its history and origins. In 1998 he co-authored a Brassey’s textbook on EW with AVM John Browne. He was a founder member and former Vice President of the UK Chapter.

Many of us will remember Mike as a highly professional and valued colleague who was a real gentleman in everything he did; he was a joy to work with and is indeed a great loss to the EW community. The funeral took place at Cookham Holy Trinity Church on 23rd June and was attended by several AOC members. Our thoughts at this time go to his widow Kate and daughter Imogen. The family have expressed a wish that any donations go to the Thames Valley Hospice.

Peter Hill
25th June

Symposium

Our classified symposium “Emitter Location For Future Operations” was held on 8th July at the RAeS. Papers were presented by MoD, Dstl, QinetiQ, BAE Systems, TRL, Minerva Associates, Roke Manor and Northrop Grumman. Attendance was disappointing with only 51 attendees, which was less than half the number attending in 2002. However, I am sure that those attending had an enjoyable day.

We were privileged to have AVM Stuart Peach as our keynote speaker who had some interesting things to say concerning the interactions between IO and EW. Our thanks also go to the other speakers whose professionalism went towards making a successful day, and outstanding was only mentioned once. Finally, a big thank you to the Raven Alliance for sponsoring the post symposium reception where a good time was had by all.

It is unlikely that we will be able to hold a classified symposium in 2006, because we will be hosting the European Convention, but this will be dependent on the venue selected by AOC HQ.

Recent Events

Dave Adamy held a Fundamentals of EW Course at The RAF Club 5-7 July, immediately before our Symposium; it was well attended by 11 students.

Fleet Effectiveness Trophy

The Fleet Effectiveness Trophy has been won this year by HMS ALBION, with HMS CHATHAM as the runner up; also commended were HMSs KENT, St ALBANS, MONMOUTH, CUMBERLAND, FEWSG and WHSS Gibraltar. It hoped that our AOC award can be presented to ALBION during the proposed visit to HMS COLLINGWOOD.

Forthcoming Events

The IEE will be holding a Future Military Radar Conference at Shrivenham on 7th September; there will be papers on AI, Maritime and Ground based radar and coverage of Bistatic, SAR and Phased Array radar by presenters from the US, Italy and the UK. Further details from Mike Lewis m.b.lewis@cranfield.ac.uk.

The Defence Electronics History Society (DEHS) will hold its 2004 Summer Symposium at the Defence Academy, Shrivenham on 9th September. Further details at www.dehs.org.uk.

Visits are still a bit thin on the ground but we hope to visit those places detailed on this website. However, we now expect to visit HMS COLLINGWOOD in the week commencing 20th September and BAE Systems Warton in the middle of November.

360 Squadron Reunion

As stated in last month’s newsletter a 10th anniversary of the disbandment of 360 Squadron, reunion dinner will be held in the Officer’s Mess at RAF Wyton on 16th October 2004. For further details contact Lt Cdr Pat Broster e-mail waddle@retsorb.freeserve.co.uk or tel: 01480-413313.

Due to distribution difficulties, the June newsletter was not distributed to those who obtain it by snail mail. Hopefully, it has been included with this issue.

Website

There are now a few additional links on the website, so please visit it at ukaoc.org. Also please keep your e-mail address up to date.

Some of you seem to have difficulty accessing the site from your office; this is usually due to your company’s network firewall denying full access to the site. The site is not password protected and can be accessed easily by using a stand-alone internet machine. If you have recently visited the site, occasionally, you might have to press the refresh button to get updates.

Hotmail does not seem to like us, so I suggest that you check your junk e-mail box.