2025 – Petwood Hotel Woodhall Spa
The AGM and Formal Dinner for 2025 will be held at The Petwood Hotel, Woodhall Spa, which served as the Officers’ Mess for 617 Squadron (Dambusters) and is steeped in the history of our branch.
It will be held over the weekend 17-19 October 2025 starting with Meet and Greet on Friday 17th. We are in discussions with Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirby for a mass visit on Saturday 18th.
Accommodation can be booked at The Petwood as from now. There are a limited number of rooms available here, and some are already taken by the committee! To book at The Petwood call 01526 352411 quote the 17-19 Oct 2025 and “RAF Flight Engineers” . There will be a deposit of £50. There are several other local hotels close by, but the dinner will be at The Petwood. Book early to avoid disappointment.
This is the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII, and we should mark it accordingly. Those who attended the 2024 bash know it is definitely worth it! You really should make the effort, and mark this in your diary as taken so as not to find a clash with some other event which will not be as much fun.
We’ll be sending out details on how to sign up, and pay for the dinner in a separate email in the next few weeks.
2024 – Village Hotel, Swindon & former RAF Lyneham
Amongst the hours spent catching up with old friends we did manage to take a few photos for the record. Many thanks to Terry Hulmes for coordinating a highly successful weekend.
Full story here:
2023 – International Bomber Command Centre & Bentley Hotel
Full story here:

2022 – Tower of London & Victory Services Club
Full story here:

2021 – 80th Anniversary – Village Hotel Swindon
During the weekend of 1-3 Oct 21 the Association celebrated the 80th anniversary of the flight/air engineer. Full story here:

2019 – Remembrance Dinner – Victory Services Club, London

The FEAEA annual event for 2019 took place at the Victory Services Club near Marble Arch in London over the weekend of 25-27 October. An evening buffet reception was held in the Trafalgar room as guests arrived on the Friday evening, followed the next morning by a slightly delayed AGM having taken care of the small matter of a semi-final against the Kiwi’s. Once the AGM was out of the way, it was time for a short walk to pay our respects at the Bomber Command Memorial before visiting the RAF Club for some history and light refreshment.
As most of you are aware, past dinners have been held to mark the out of service dates of aircraft upon which Engineers have served. Now we are still waiting for Sentry to hang up its boots and no doubt it will be a long time before the Lancaster ever does, so on the subject of themes it was decided to mark this occasion by remembering those who have gone before us having served the Royal Air Force wearing the “E” brevet – A Remembrance Dinner. This year was our very first formal dinner where partners were invited and so it was extremely fitting that our two guests of honour were Mrs Shirleyanne Donald, daughter of Sgt Norman Jackson VC and Mrs Dorothy Bailey, daughter of Sgt Bill Radcliffe DFC. Speeches were made by Wg Cdr Nick Courtaux and Sqn Ldr Jim Stokes to commemorate and remember the contribution and service that their fathers had made.
In reply Shirleyanne Donald delivered a powerful speech, full of sincerity and emotion, an extract of which I have provided below;
What a fantastic evening and everything organised to perfection. It was a very humbling evening, an evening that I was very proud to attend and was made to feel very welcome by all.
My gratitude to you all is very difficult to express in words but please be assured I am eternally grateful for what you are doing, remembering the people who served and honouring them in the way you do and long may it continue.
WO Stanley Wilson, a Lancaster veteran who completed 30 operational missions with 626 sqn was to have been our third guest of honour, but sadly he was advised that some medical treatment should not be postponed and so MAcr Mark Fellows made a personal speech about Stanley and accepted a gift on his behalf – we wish Stanley a speedy recovery.
The dinner itself went without a hitch and the staff of the VSC were exemplary and nothing was too much trouble for them in providing us with a first class dinner and venue, the backdrop to which was a slideshow remembering colleagues and friends who are no longer with us – I hope to have this available soon on the website as a download from the members area.
And so I must close by extending heartfelt thanks to everyone involved with the FEAEA who through your membership and support on the night made this event possible, the only difficulty now of course, how do we top this next year or indeed the 80th Anniversary Dinner for 2021?
FEAEA Events Team
2018 – Stone 2 Dedication – National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas

After several years hard work from Ian Harvey who masterminded the design and construction our “Stone 2” memorial was unveiled at the NMA.
Full story here
2017 – Annual Dinner – Four Pillars Hotel, Witney
Organised by Martin Robb.
2016 – Stone 1 Dedication – National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas

On the 18 March, the association visited the National Memorial Arboretum. The visit, which was arranged by our Ex-Chairman Dave Kildea, was well attended by over 30 association members and wives. The day started with a small service in the Arboretum chapel and then a directed walk around the site, which is a continually growing site, currently 150 acres containing more than 300 memorials. Lunch was served in a private restaurant in the main building before an afternoon train ride (Just to keep Dave happy!) around the site. An hour of free time to peruse Heroes Square and the FEAEA stone was followed by an excruciating (for some!) late afternoon few pints in front of the rugby at the hotel.
It was a poignant visit for many, and the overall feeling was that many will return for another visit soon. Thanks once more to Dave for arranging a superb visit and great weekend for the association.
2016 – 75th Anniversary – Petwood Hotel, Woodhall Spa



Organised by Jim Stokes.
2015 – Nimrod Dinner – Regent Hotel, Doncaster

2014 – Tristar Dinner – Eynsham Hall Hotel, Witney
Full photo gallery

2013 – VC10 Dinner – Eynsham Hall Hotel, Witney
Full photo galley

2012 – Hercules Dinner – WOs & Sgts’ Mess, RAF Lyneham


2011 – 70th Anniversary Dinner – Bentley Hotel, Lincoln




1991 – 50th Anniversary of the Air Engineer – Doncaster
