military connections Alan Dolding on his flying visit to Gibraltar last November
pirate in the sky At the age of 12, Alan Dolding watched the RAF aircraft from his home in Marina Court as they thundered out across the marina from the runway in Gibraltar. From then on he always wanted to be a pilot, but didn’t really expect the opportunity to come along.
“I originally applied to join the RAF as an Air Traffic Controller as I always thought you needed to be some sort of superman to be a pilot,” Alan told me as we stood on the chilly runway with the sun rising behind the Hawk aircraft from 100 Squadron. “It was when I went to take the assessments, that it was suggested I might just be pilot material, and would I like to apply? The obvious answer was ‘Yes’ and everything went from there.” The son of Mary and David (Mary is well known in Gibraltar for her work as a McMillan nurse), Alan, now Squadron Leader, is currently settled at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire where the squadron is based, although having served all over the world, he still considers Gibraltar his home. “I like to come over as much as I can, and 2009 was a particularly good year for me. I managed to come home three times — once on holiday and twice flying my own aircraft; thanks to the RAF.” Apart from his visit in early November, Alan
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was also screaming round the Rock in his British Aerospace Hawk when the Red Arrows visited a couple of months previous. Although he’s never actually been part of the Red squadron, he’s had his aerobatic stint too, although further afield. “I was lucky enough to be stationed in Australia for just over two years and was invited to join the RAAF Roulettes — the Australian equivalent to the Red Arrows,” he explained. “The Roulettes is not a full-time job as it is with the Red Arrows pilots and we fitted in the display flying with our regular duties too. So
“On this last visit we brought over five planes and around 75% of the squadron to take part in training excercises along with Tornados”
although we put on some great displays, the Roulettes aren’t quite up to the same standard as the Red Arrows, but more because of the time pilots have to dedicate themselves to the routines.” “It was a great way to see the continent as we regularly took part in displays right across Australia, and my family loved their time over there too.” Married with three children, Alan doesn’t see his job as a hindrance to family life. “The whole family has enjoyed my time in the RAF, and the children especially have been able to take advantage of much of the traveling,” he said. Today, 100 Squadron is a training facility, although it’s seen action since the First World War where pilots flew bombing sorties over the front lines. Formed in 1917, the squadron can be easily distinguished by the skull and crossbones on the tail and front side of the black Hawks. It is believed that the symbol was stolen from a French ‘house of disrepute’ during the First World War and adopted by the pilots, later it GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • JANUARY 2010