an armourer’s tale in national service days by james jamieson

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An Armourerʼs Tale From National Service Days 4163873 S.A.C. Jamieson, J

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Experience of the service life in the National Service by James Jamieson

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Page 1: An Armourer’s Tale in National Service Days by James Jamieson

An Armourerʼs

Tale

From National Service Days

4163873 S.A.C. Jamieson, J

Page 2: An Armourer’s Tale in National Service Days by James Jamieson

PrologueThe National Service Act of 1948 made it mandatory for men aged between 17 and 21 years of age to be conscripted to serve in the armed forces for a period of 18 months but later extended to two years. 2.5 million people were called up, 6000 every two weeks.There were certain exceptions for people in reserved jobs such as miners and merchant navy personnel. Everyone was called up when they reached the age of 18 years but, if they were serving an apprenticeship, they were deferred until their apprenticeship was finished. In reality they were only called up to serve in the army or airforce.So when I reached the age of 18 I was called up but was deferred when I produced evidence that I was serving an apprenticeship which would end after I was 20. I was then called up again and told to report to Queensferry House in Edinburgh for a medical. I was looking forward to the experience of service life and had made up my mind to serve my time in the R.A.F. and, to make sure of this, I volunteered to sign on for three years and so became a regular. National servicemen were paid 28 shillings per week but regulars were paid £3.00.The morning of my medical I attended at the appointed place and was given a series of talks on various aspects of the armed forces and interviewed by two officers who asked me for my preferences. I stated I would like to sign on for three years. They said that would be OK and asked when my apprenticeship was finished. I said January 16th and they asked when I would like to join the R.A.F. to which I replied January 17th.The afternoon was taken up by medical examinations by various specialists and I was pleased when they passed me A1. I was told to expect to hear from them nearer January which I did and was told to report to the R.A.F. offices in Princes Street, Edinburgh.

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R.A.F. CardingtonIn late January 1955, I travelled by train with some other recruits to R.A.F. Cardington, a famous airfield in Bedfordshire where the airships R101 and R102 were built. The hangers where they were housed were still there and were immense. But we weren’t there to see the hangers, we were to be inducted into the R.A.F.We were there for about a week in which time we were given another medical, issued with our uniforms and given the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty. Surprisingly, care was taken that the uniforms actually fitted and some were altered by tailors to fit the individual. We were shown how to take care of the clothing and how to press them, etc. by an airman who was assigned to us as guide while we were there. He said the usual practice was for everyone to chip in and he would buy an electric iron for us to use while we were there and before we left it would be raffled among us. I was a bit suspicious about giving him money as we didn’t know how much the iron cost but we all chipped in as we needed an iron.Apart from pressing our uniforms, another use for the iron was to remove the raised dimples from the toecaps of our brand new boots so that we could start putting a high polish on them. Another method was to rub the toecaps with the heated handle of a toothbrush but it would be weeks before we achieved the result which would please the NCOs.The berets which accompanied our working blues had to be shrunk into shape so that they looked smart. So they were soaked in warm water for ages then pulled on to your head and pulled to one side so that it lay against the side of the head. Everyone had their own ideas for achieving the right effect and some were successful and others not.The buttons of our dress uniform were brass plated and had to be polished. Later in our service we could dispense with this by purchasing, quite legitimately, anodised buttons which did not need polishing. We also had to put blue blanco on all our webbing and pouches.

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We had to purchase all the polishes and blanco from our own money. The blanco had to be brushed on with one brush and polished off with another and care had to be taken not to get any blanco or polish on our uniforms. All this pressing, cleaning and polishing took up most of our spare time. By this time all our civilian clothes had been packed into a box and sent home.I had been warned by other ex-servicemen to watch my money as it was likely to be stolen so I purchased a money- belt. Unfortunately, the NCOs were not in favour of this addition to the uniform and it was duly sent home too. In all the time I was in the R.A.F. I didn’t hear of one case of money being stolen or indeed of anything being stolen. And this is among young men who didn’t have much money and were permanently broke. I was lucky in thatI didn’t smoke and my earnings were slightly more than the national servicemen. Some of the others played cards for money but I only did this once as it took me two weeks to collect my winnings of three shillings. The days at Cardington passed quickly as we were constantly on the move from one place to another and the time was divided by breakfast, lunch and teatime plus additional cups of tea in the Naafi. I thought the food was very good with plenty of it which was a blessing as we were always hungry.At meal times, the orderly officer always came round with his usual narrative of “Any complaints ?” to which the answer always was “No, sir”. When our time at Cardington was over, we were allocated to a training camp. In our case it was R.A.F. Padgate, infamous throughout the service as a nightmare but we had no knowledge at that time of what ‘square bashing’ was all about. So we were bussed down to the railway station and had our own private carriage which would take us on the next stage of our service training at RAF Padgate, near Warrington. 2

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R.A.F. Padgate

As 4163873 A/C2 Jamieson,J. along with about 100 others,I arrived at Padgate for 8 weeks of recruit training. We were to be No.6 Flight of “B” Squadron and we were split into billets of 20 and unpacked our kit. The billets were wooden huts with 20 beds plus 2 lockers in two rows down each side plus a separate room for the corporal drill instructor at one end. The ablutions were in another wooden hut at the back. Two coke stoves heated the billet but, as it was January, the temperature never rose very high. After getting marched to the mess for tea, we were introduced to our drill instructor N.C.O.s, one sergeant and four corporals. In fact, they were corporals in name only, their real rank was leading aircraftman acting corporal. The immediate aim of the N.C.O.s was to instill in the recruits a sense of fear and to reach a point where we would obey any order no matter how stupid it was. It was all a game and some of us realised this and as long as we played the game we would reach the end of our training without any problems. 3

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Unfortunately, some of the others tried to buck the system and argue with the N.C.O.s and there was only going to be one winner there. A few buckled under and had a very hard time but everyone eventually would pull through and pass out. Immediately the “bulling started” both on our kit and on the hut itself. The kit had to be blancoed and polished to the satisfaction of the N.C.O.s and eventually the officers. We had diagrams of how to lay our kit out for inspection on our bed and everything had to be exactly in the right place and folded as per the diagram. This took many days to get right and pass inspection. Each man was issued with an Lee Enfield .303 rifle for drill purposes only. These rifles had seen better days having been dropped on parade grounds for a few years, so it would have been quite dangerous to try to fire them but we had to keep them clean as if we were using them in battle. The rifles were stored in a rack just inside the front door and were available for inspection by an N.C.O at any time.The hut floor was highly polished linoleum and was polished regularly by the application of wax and then polished up with a heavy bumper. No one was allowed to walk on the floor with their boots of shoes. Thick pads of felt were used to slide around the billet except by senior N.C.O.s and officers.Other duties were allocated to each man and you might find yourself going for coke, cleaning the wash basins and toilets, cleaning the windows, scrubbing the two tables in the hut or many other housekeeping duties. The officers inspected each hut on each wing each week, a crest was awarded to the best hut and this was eagerly sought after.DrillQuite a lot of our time was taken up with learning how to march in time and learn all the various orders connected with this. Now there was little chance of the R.A.F. needing to use this drill training once they had reached their regular stations but it was a good enough method of teaching people how to work together.It was hard work at first learning how to quick march, about turn, right wheel, left wheel, etc. but gradually we were able to keep in time. 4

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A peculiar event was happening at this time. Most recruits will tell you that they hated marching and didn’t see the point of it but, after we had reached the stage of keeping in time with each other and keeping in line, if someone turned the wrong way or didn’t halt exactly at the right time, the others would berate him when they got back to the hut. He had let the side down and would have to try better next time. The orders from the sergeant was “put some swank into it” and this is what we did. We wanted to get praised from on high and we were starting to enjoy marching.When we had reached a certain stage of marching, we moved on to rifle drill. At first, these rifles were very heavy and after a few hours of marching with them on your shoulder and swinging them about, your arms were aching but we would gradually build up strength on our arms and it would get easier. As with our marching, we gradually acted as one unit.You might think that everyone in our flight had the same training but it was not so. Two recruits were professional football players, Stuart Leary of Charlton Athletic and Frank Upton of Derby County, and they had special arrangements for their training. They continued to play for their teams on Saturday and played and trained with the RAF team during the week. We never saw them from Monday to Friday but they would turn up on Friday afternoon, pack their bags and leave, not to be seen until Sunday evening. Frank Upton slept in the next bed to me and I always looked forward to him coming in on Sunday evenings as he usually had tins of fruit, etc. which he shared with me. Arrangements had been made for him to get access to the officers mess squash courts but he had no partner. He asked me to accompany him but I was uncertain of the welcome we would get so I declined. In the week prior to our passing out parade, they were taken out with two drill instructors and given individual training for a full day so that they could march with us on the parade. I suppose they spent the remainder of their service with the same arrangements.

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Tear GasOn one occasion we were exposed to tear gas. I don’t know why but it was deemed to be an important part of our training. We were taken to an isolated shed and put on our gas masks before entering the shed. We could feel the gas stinging round the edges of the gas mask and the room was filled with a white mist. Then we were told to take off our masks and immediately the gas had our eyes streaming and we were coughing and choking for about a minute before we were allowed outside. It was quite a while before the effects of the gas wore off.KitchensFor one day during our training we had to work in the kitchens. We were all assigned various jobs none of which involved cooking. I was sent to assist a civilian employee who was involved in washing up all the cooking pans and he showed me how I was to wash all the large trays in which the food was cooked. At first it was pretty quiet and then the dirty trays started to arrive in ever increasing numbers, They were firstly washed in a tank of hot soapy water then rinsed in colder clean water, dried and piled up ready for use again. But the cooks started coming for them faster and faster so the cycle was shorter until in the end the trays got a quick dunk in the hot soapy water then a quick rinse before being taken away again. There was a crisis during the morning. The kitchen floor was being washed when a delivery van arrived with a supply of pies. As the driver was carrying a board of pies through the kitchen, he slipped on the wet floor and all the pies landed on the floor. We were all issued with a clean dish towel and had to pick up the pies and wipe them dry so that none were lost. Needless to say we avoided the pies at tea time. The civilian told me that I could go in the early afternoon as they were paid time and a half for working in water but we couldn’t get paid that way so we worked shorter hours. But before I left, the head cook sent some of us round the empty tables to pick up all the half-eaten pieces of bread and these were the ingredients for bread and butter pudding for the next day. Our appetites did not suffer from our experiences in the kitchens. 6

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Cross Country TrekWe were taken out of the camp one day and driven about five miles into the country. At various times we were dropped off in groups of 6, shown the rudiments of reading a compass and, with this plus a map of the area, were told to find our way back to the camp. We had differences of opinions on what was the right direction but eventually started back to where we thought the camp was located. On the way we met up with some of the others who joined us. We found ourselves on a main road and were passed by a bus which was going through Padgate. We had a discussion on whether it was OK to take the bus and, as somebody pointed out, did not remember anyone saying we had to walk. So we got on the next bus which came along. Our party decided to get off the bus before it reached the camp but the others took it to the camp gates where they were seen getting off by the RAF police who reported them. They were given extra fatigues but our group had a seat for a while then walked in without comment being made.But a week later we again were taken out in trucks for another trek which this time would not be near any bus routes. We were all dropped off together in the wilds, issued with map and compass plus some food then made up into small groups and given a map reference where we would be met for the journey back to camp. This trek would take some hours and there would be staging points which we had to pass through. I really don’t know how we were ever seen again as we seemed to be lost most of the time and it was more by luck than good map reading that got us through. When we got to the finish we were that late that there was no time to eat and we had to wait until we got back to camp.We also had to go through the obstacle course another day but there was a heavy fall of snow which made the course too dangerous so we escaped that and had a snow fight instead.

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Instructional FilmsWe had various lectures and films about life in the forces and various health issues. The first film was an American forces film about the dangers of contracting VD which seemed to have been made by someone who had bottled out of stating the obvious. From their account, the most dangerous manner of contracting VD was by having a few puffs at someone’s cigarette. Anyway it all was greeted by a great many laughs and a round of cheers when it finished.The second film was quite horrendous. It was about pyorrhoea or diseases of the gums. It showed a close-up of someone grinning into the camera with perfect teeth and then a hand appeared which proceeded to remove all his teeth from the diseased gums. Quite sickening.

Sick ParadeRound about the fifth week of training, I had a very sore throat and reported sick one morning. With their customary good planning, sick parade was at the same time as breakfast was served so you had to miss one. On reflection, perhaps it was planned that way. The Medical Officer said I had pharyngitis and was put on light duties and medicine. This meant I had to report every morning for treatment. I reported back to the sergeant that I had been put on light duties and he told me to stay in the hut and keep it tidy. As this was the week in which we had been on fatigues, there was no drill taking place. So every morning I reported for treatment which consisted of swallowing some type of medicine then I just sat in front of the stove keeping warm all day. As the week went on I got steadily worse and when I went back to the M.O. on the Friday he sent me to the sick quarters. I reported there and was shown to a small side ward with two beds in it. There was another occupant there who also had pharyngitis, in fact quite a number of beds were occupied with this complaint.It was a great relief to get into bed as I was totally shattered. Shortly afterwards, a tea trolley appeared and I was offered a cup of hot chocolate which tasted like nectar. My companion started to inform me what was in store for me. It seemed that the treatment being used was injections of

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penicillin in your backside and he said he had been having these for a few days and he was in agony. Some time later, the M.O. arrived and said he was going to try something different with me. Instead of the injections I was given a small jar of some concoction and I had to brush this on the back of my throat three times per day. The other patient had to continue with the penicillin and he obviously was not pleased.Seemingly, according to him, we had to keep our small ward clean which meant getting up first thing in the morning and sweeping the floor then polishing it before giving everything a dust. I was in the process of sweeping under my bed when the sister appeared, she was an RAF officer, and asked what I was doing out of bed. She said I had to get complete bed rest for a few days and my companion would sweep my half too. He again was not pleased.The rule regarding stay in sick quarters was that, if you were in longer than a week, you were put back a flight and this meant that you would go in with total strangers. So after a few days, I knew I had to get better quickly. Actually I did feel much better so I was able to go outside for a walk during the day. and at the end of the week, when asked, I stated I was much better so was discharged back to my billet. The only drill I had missed was funeral drill. This was not very intricate and I was able to pick it up from the others. But the sergeant was under the impression that I had missed much more and the next morning was the C.O.s parade and, when we were assembled outside, he shouted, “Jamieson, back to the hut for housekeeping”, so I didn’t inform him otherwise and had a nice seat in the hut while the others marched about the parade ground.

Rifle RangeOnce we were taken to the camp rifle range to gain experience of firing live rounds. The instructor’s seemed quite nervous so there must have been some narrow squeaks in the past. We were allowed to fire five rounds with a .22 rifle, then five rounds with a .303 which had more of a kick and, finally, a burst with a Bren gun. This was our one and only time with live rounds in

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our rifles. Only airmen who had managed to get their five rounds within a certain small area on the target were able to get further instruction.

48 Hour PassAfter six weeks training we were given a 48 hour pass from the Friday evening until Sunday evening. I decided not to go home for this short time as we would be going home in two weeks. About six or seven of us didn’t go home and we went into Warrington for a few hours on Saturday. One of the airmen who had been made leading man in the billet wanted to be a drill instructor when he

passed out and was out to make a name for himself with the permanent staff. It is indicative of the “brain washing” that we were under that he persuaded us to paint the inside of the billet before the others came back and this would help us to get the coveted shield for being the best billet. So we set to and, with the paint he acquired from somewhere, we painted the inside of the hut. This strategy worked as we won the shield the next week.

ReligionOn the top of our lockers there was a label saying who you were and your service number and, in addition, what was your religion. If you said Protestant that was not allowed and would be changed

to Church of Scotland or Church of England. If you said Catholic, that was OK. But if you stated that you were an atheist you had to prove that and very few were accepted. There was one atheist in our flight and, when we went to padre’s hour, he had to go and sit in the camp library. The padre persuaded him to join the rest of us in his office but the padre’s hour then usually became a discussion between him and the padre which the padre seemed to enjoy more than instructing us. More about religion later.

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Guard DutyFor one night only during our training, each hut had to be on guard duty. We were assembled in the guard hut and told about our duties. The usual rota was two hours on and four hours off but, as it had been snowing and it was a bitter night, this was changed to

one hour on and two hours off. I was to stand guard at the back gate into the camp and check everyone for their identity card. We marched round to our posts and was left to stand guard. There was a sentry box but it was better to walk about and try to keep warm. There was little or no traffic through the gate but I heard a car approaching and a sports car appeared with the hood down. The driver was an officer and I signalled for him to stop but he put his foot down and I had to jump out of the road. Seemingly this was quite a regular occurrence and when I told the sergeant about it, he just laughed. After my first hour, I was relieved by

another airman and went back to the hut for a cup of tea. I tried to have a short nap but it was quite cold in the hut and I didn’t get any sleep. I was back on guard at 1am but nobody came through the gate. Again I didn’t get any sleep when I went back to the hut and was on duty again at 4am for the last time. It was snowing quite heavily and I sheltered inside the sentry box. To my horror I realised I had fallen asleep but didn’t know for how long. Luckily there was 15 minutes before I was relieved so nobody was aware of me sleeping. At 7am we were marched back to our hut but not to sleep, another day’s training awaited.

Pay ParadePay Parade took place every Friday when you lined up by flight in a hanger. The pay clerks and an officer sat at a table and as your name was called you marched up to the table, saluted, called out your name and the last three digits of your number. Your pay was

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placed on the table, you collected it, saluted and marched away. On the Friday of my first pay parade I still had a few pounds that I had brought with me and I asked someone if I could just leave the pay in my account as I didn’t want to have too much money on my

person as there was nothing really to spend it on. I was told that this was probably OK. So I didn’t go on pay parade. As a result a search party was sent out in case I had done a runner. It didn’t take them long to find me and I had to go up to the pay parade and wait until the end to collect my money and explain my absence.

Career InterviewsTowards the end of our training we were given another career

interview. The officers asked if I still wanted to join the RAF police but I had a change of heart mainly by watching the police in the camp. They were another group who wore two stripes but were only L.A.C. Acting Corporals and were universally disliked by the other airmen mainly because of their attitude to them. So I asked if could opt for another job and they said that would be OK. We had been shown films of all the various trades, etc. available to us and I had fancied working in the stores. They said I would be better off in a proper trade as I had been a tradesman in civvy street. They suggested becoming an armourer and said I would be trained

at Kirkham near Blackpool for three months during the summer. This appealed to me so I said OK. In retrospect, it might have been better to have learned a trade which would have been more useful after I left the RAF but I wasn’t thinking that far ahead. There isn’t much call for arming up aircraft in civvy street.

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The End Is In SightWe were now in our last week and my pharyngitis had come back but I was determined that I wasn’t reporting sick so I struggled on through the last week. We would finish on the Friday with a P.T test in the gym before the inspecting officers and for which a trophy was awarded. I had never been very good at gym work but was relieved that there were a few others like me. We couldn’t do some of the vaulting, etc. but the P.T.I. arranged for us to do easier exercises so that we didn’t look stupid. We were very surprised to win the trophy, much to the delight of the P.T.I.

Then it was the Passing Out Parade. Along with all the other flights who were passing out that day, we marched for the first time behind a military band. This is what we had been practising for over the past eight weeks and again we won the trophy. The D.I.s were nearly in tears, we had given them a lot of “brownie points” that day.We were on first name terms with them after that.We were given our travel passes for the journey home and told when to report to our next RAF station. I was surprised to learn I had three weeks leave before reporting to Kirkham. We boarded the buses which would take us to the railway station and caught

the train homewards. My pharyngitis was pretty bad and I think I slept all the way to Glasgow. I struggled up Buchanan Street with all my kit on and carrying my kitbag. I got on the bus home but had to walk the last two miles. My folks were surprised when I got home about 11pm.I stayed in over the next two days and my throat got a bit better. I met my old gaffer on the street and when I told him I was home for three weeks, he asked me if I would like to come back to the patternshop as they were very busy. I declined his offer but two days later I got a bit bored and agreed to come back for two

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weeks. I worked as many hours as I could as I knew I could reclaim all my income tax and bought an electric iron with some of my wages. Then my travel voucher arrived and I left to catch the train for Preston and then Kirkham for the next part of my training.

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INTERIORS OF LIVING QUARTERS PADGATE

DRILL INSTRUCTORS PADGATE

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FORMAL & INFORMAL PHOTOS No. 6 FLIGHTPADGATE 1955

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FULL COMPLIMENT OF No. 6 FLIGHT PADGATE 1955

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Stuart Leary of Charlton Athletic & Frank Upton of Derby County

Passing Out Parade Padgate 1955

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Kit Laid Out For Inspection On Bed

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R.A.F.KirkhamR.A.F. Kirkham was located between Preston and Blackpool and is adjacent to the small town of Kirkham. The camp is now an open prison but in the 1950s was a trade training camp mainly for armourers. All the accommodation was in the typical wooden huts of that period. During our eight weeks there we would be trained in all aspects of becoming an armourer. This would range from small arms such as rifles, sten guns and Bren guns up to 30mm Aden cannons for aircraft. We would learn how to strip them down for maintenance, make repairs and reassemble them ready for use.

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We would also go to lessons in English and Mathematics so that we could fill in forms and make reports.Our living accommodation was the same as Padgate but there was not so much emphasis on spit and polish although we were expected to keep the billet clean and polished. We were kept pretty busy with the various classes as there was a lot to be learned during our stay. One lesson we all learned quickly was to have a look up the barrel of the weapons we were stripping as it was often the place where any extra small screws, etc. which the previous trainee had left over when he had reassembled the weapon had been hidden away. I enjoyed learning about the various weapons and the pleasure of reassembling them correctly without having pieces left over.We had more time for a social life at Kirkham. There was a good Astra cinema in the camp which was the first camp cinema to have Cinemascope installed. At the end of each night the National Anthem was played and the R.A.F. police usually had someone standing outside the exit to catch anyone trying to get out before it was played. Most weekends we would venture into Blackpool and most of the theatres had their summer shows on from June but come the 1st of July the seat prices would shoot up for the visitors and we couldn’t afford them. We still visited Blackpool at the weekend and occasionally would meet someone we knew and have a drink with them.One of the good things I remember about Kirkham was the van that came round nightly selling mince pies. The company that made and sold the pies was owned by the famous Lancashire comedian, Al Read, and the pies were delicious although we couldn’t afford one every night. We always seemed to be hungry although the meals were quite good but my mother used to send me a parcel with biscuits, etc. and I could sit and eat a full packet of chocolate biscuits at one go.

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As we neared the end of our training, we had to sit an English test. This comprised mainly of filling in various service forms and making reports. One of the forms was an application to change our R.A.F. occupation and I decided to make this a bit controversial, so I stated I didn’t want to be an armourer as I had problems with arming up a plane with bombs and rockets which were being used to kill other human beings and elaborated about this at length. Actually, at that age I hadn’t given this much thought. A few days later I was told to report to an office and, when I got there, two officers said they wanted to talk to me about the exam. I thought it was about the job application but it wasn’t. They said I had scored too high in the exam and wanted to go over my previous education. I had stated I left school at 15 and started an apprenticeship but they asked if this was true as when the results were analysed, it would seem that I had further education. After further discussion, they said they would leave it at that for the present but I didn’t hear from them again although I was excused any further education tests. We were tested on our knowledge of weaponry and when we passed were upgraded to A/C1. Then we were allocated our new stations and I was hoping for somewhere exotic but at least overseas. I was not very happy when told I would be going to the Fighter Weapons School at Leconfield in East Yorkshire.

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AERIAL VIEW OF RAF KIRKHAM

METEOR USED FOR ARMOURER TRAINING AT KIRKHAM

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R.A.F. LECONFIELD Fighter Weapons School

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Gloster Meteor De Haviland Venom

Hawker Hunter

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RAF Leconfield situated near Beverley in East Yorkshire, was used in the 1950s as a Fighter Weapons School to train pilots in the use of armament on various aircraft. They fired the cannons at aerial targets and ground targets, dropped 25lb practice bombs and fired air to ground rockets. All this activity took place either over the sea or onto the ground at the bombing range on the coast. As such it was a busy station for armourers and there were a large number of them.I arrived there in the summer of 1955 along with another armourer from Kirkham. I came by train and he arrived on his motorcycle. We were given beds in the transit billet until we had b e e n allocated a bed space in the armourers’ building. The first two days were spent going round the various offices on the camp to report in and get a signature on our forms. This could be a lengthy procedure as we had to find the offices and then the person to report to and sometimes they weren’t there and we had to make a return visit. Eventually we could report back to the station armoury to hand in our completed forms.We were then told where we would be employed and where we would stay. The building consisted of 4 rooms each containing 20 beds and another small room for the corporal in charge. There was a washroom with showers and another small room for ironing. It was all central heated and quite comfortable.We ate all our meals in the mess and these consisted of breakfast at 8am, lunch around midday and a main meal from 5pm. Supper was also available at 9pm. The meals were substantial and usually quite good. My favourite was the chipolata sausages and I would get a large plate of these, a soup plate half filled with butter and half a loaf then proceed to make a big pile of sandwiches. We were usually quite hungry.

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FIRSTLINE SERVICING....VENOMSMy first assignment was on first line servicing on Venom fighters. Our first day at work was in the hut where ammunition was prepared for the aircraft. The rounds were fed into the belt feed mechanism which would be attached to the cannon when it was re-armed then other belts were made up with the number of rounds being fired on each sortie and, if they were firing air-to-air at a drogue being dragged behind another aircraft, the tips of the rounds were dipped in various coloured paints so that each pilot’s hits could be identified. It was a very warm day and we were working with our uniform on as we hadn’t been issued with overalls. The NAAFI van came round and everybody was buying cold orange juice which they collected in their own mugs. But we didn’t have a mug with us and nobody offered us the use of theirs. So we had to work on totally parched. We soon learned all the tricks of the trade.The armourers’ duties were divided into various sections. Some were on first line functions and they were engaged on the aircraft which were flying that day, either Venoms, Meteors or Hunters. They armed the planes with either shells, bombs or rockets before each flight and rearmed them on subsequent flights. The Venom flights were usually the busiest flights and two armourers usually worked together on the planes, about ten armourers in total. Venoms were uncomfortable to work on as the armourer had to lie under the plane to release the panels to allow him to work on the guns, not nice on a very wet day. If, for some reason one or more of the guns had jammed, the armourer had to insert a safety device into the gun to ensure it didn’t go off before the ammunition was removed. When the planes were firing practice rockets, the electrical circuit had to be tested before arming. One armourer would go into the cockpit and another would afix test bulbs to the connecting cables. The armourer in the cockpit would callout “Number 1” and the bulb on the outside of the two 20

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on the port wing should light up. If OK the other armourer would shout Ok and the cockpit armourer would click through number two and fire port number three and that should light the inner bulb. Then they would move to the starboard side and repeat the procedure. When the testing was complete, the main connection in each wheel well would be disconnected. Then they would load the rockets on to the slides and connect them up. When the pilot was ready to take off, an armourer would cycle down to the end of the runway and, when the plane arrived, he would direct the plane to a safe direction(for some peculiar reason, the safe direction was towards Arram village) then signal to the pilot to remove his hands from the controls and place them on the top of the cockpit where he could see them. Sometimes this could be a standoff when a particular pilot would not show his hands and ignore the order. When this happened to me, I would just lean on the wing and wait until he did so. There could only be one winner at this game. He had to eventually to give in and I would crawl under the wheel well and connect the socket then the other one and signal to him that he could take off. If, for any reason, he didn’t fire the rockets, the plugs had to be disconnected before he returned to the re- arming point . If everything was done by the book nothing could go wrong. But I will now relate how things could go wrong.For some reason, three men went to arm the plane with rockets. The rest of the armourers were lying in the grass on a lovely summers day when suddenly a rocket flew about four feet over our heads. The rocket flew across the airfield and embedded itself in the railway embankment on the Beverley to Driffield railway line. There was consternation everywhere and officers and NCO’s came pouring onto the airfield. The airfield was shut down and all flights stopped until the reason for this rogue rocket was discovered. Eventually,the official opinion was that a charge of static electricity from the fuel tanker which was refuelling the aircraft had caused the rocket to ignite and the airfield went operational again. The 21

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only damage suffered was a small tear on one of the armourer’s overalls as the fin on the rocket had torn it when it took off. So all was well again...........but the armourers knew the whole truth.This is what went wrong. The three armourers decided that three was quicker than two and they would get back to sunbathing again. First mistake, they unloaded the rockets from the trailer and placed them on the ground beneath each wing. Then one armourer got into the cockpit and he others got under each wing and fixed test bulbs to the sockets. As per the usual procedure, the man in the cockpit checked the port wing rocket circuits first. He called out “One” and when the bulb lit up, his partner called “OK”. Then he clicked through two on to three and repeated the signals. His partner called “OK”. Then he tested the starboard wing circuit. He pressed the firing button on two and that partner called out “OK”. But unbeknown to him, his partner under the port wing ahd connected up the rocket to number three circuit. So he clicked the firing button and the number three rocket ignited and took off. They were lucky nobody was killed and no action was taken against the three airmen. But the others who knew what had happened soon let them know how stupid they were. And a few quiet words was said to an NCO and he quietly arranged for them to be transferred to second line servicing, away from live ammunition.The fact that we were dealing each day with live ammunition did not seem to bother most of us although some were happier on second line duties. But there was even a few idiots in the workshops where the cannons, etc. were serviced. There was always someone looking for a memento of their time in the RAF and a popular keepsake was a 20mm or 30mm round complete with shell and cartridge but without the propellent. Now it was easy to get hold of a cartridge as some cannons were tested on a firing range before going back onto aircraft but it was not so

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easy to get an undamaged shell as they were deformed after they were fired into the sand. I went into a workshop one day and this armourer had a 30mm round in a vice and was hacksawing through the cartridge to remove it from the shell. He seemed to be unaware that he was causing heat to build up on the cartridge which was still full of gunpowder. I quickly warned him about the dangers then made a quick exit.When on first line duties, each trade had to sign the log book that the plane was ready to fly and we had done all the pre-flight checks including checking the ejector seat which was part of the armourer’s domain as it contained three cartridges to impel it out of the cockpit if the pilot got into trouble. So we signed this many times a day without worrying too much about what would happen if anything happened to the plane. Perhaps if we had been a bit older, we might have got stressed out but we were all in our late teens and early twenties so possibly this was a reason for our confidence.

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2ND LINE SERVICINGAfter being on 1st line servicing on Venoms for some months, I was transferred to second line servicing of Meteors. All the work was done in the hanger and all the trades worked on the aircraft at the same time except when it wasn’t possible.All the cannons would be removed and transferred to another workshop and replaced by a newly serviced set which were fitted into the plane. Once the new set of cannons had been fitted, the armourers would harmonise the four cannons and the gunsight. All the shells from the cannons should converge at about 250 yards ( I think) and the aircraft had to be jacked up until it was level, as it would be in flight. Then markers would be set up on a frame at a shorter distance to enable the cannons to be adjusted to the correct setting. The aircraft had to be aligned with the marker board. Then a special instrument, usually called a “shuftiscope” by the armourers was inserted into the mouth of the cannon and the gun mount was adjusted so that the crosshairs in the “shuftiscope” lined up with the appropriate marker for that cannon. This was repeated with the other three cannons. When they were all adjusted correctly, the gunsight in the cockpit was adjusted. This operation could take quite a long time and the armament would be tested after the plane servicing was complete.The armourers also had to service the ejection seat. This consisted of removing the three cartridges which fired the seat from the plane and replacing them. When the pilot enters the cockpit, he removes the safety pin from the top of the seat and places it in the container at the side of the seat, this pin had to be replaced at the top of the seat when the aircraft landed again. A shear pin now holds the seat in the aircraft. If the pilot has to activate the ejection seat, he has to jettison the cockpit cover and pull the blind above his head over his face, This operation activates the primary cartridge which releases a small explosive which starts the seat

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rising and in turn activates the secondary cartridge which ejects the seat from the aircraft. As the seat moves up, it activates the drogue gun which fires a drogue parachute which blows out along with the seat and causes the seat to remain vertical as it falls towards the ground. If the seat has been activated above a certain height, the seat will be allowed to fall until it reaches a safe altitude at which time a barometric sensor will push the main parachute and the pilot from the seat and the seat will fall away and the pilot will parachute to the ground. The reason for the last part is that the pilot would have difficulty breathing at high altitude so he is allowed to fall rapidly before the parachute is activated.At this service any modifications that were due to take place, would be done. This might be modifications to the bomb release mechanism, etc. When all the service schedule had been done, the armourers who carried out the various works, would sign them off in the armourer’s office and also in the main service office.Then, when all the others had finished their part of the service, the plane would be taken up for a test flight and any faults checked by the appropriate section. This was quite an interesting place tp work but there was no rush and no excitement as there was on 1st line servicing.

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TRIALS FLIGHTAnother area I had experience in was the Trials Flight where trials were carried out on any new modification or equipment. There were only a few aircraft in the flight but the one I enjoyed working the most was the Hawker Hunter. This plane was just coming into use as a fighter and had a unique armament system in the ADEN 30mm gun. Four cannons were fitted in a pod in the underside of the aircraft and this removable package, which also contained the ammunition, could be removed and replaced in a very short time with another pack ready to fire. the barrels of the cannons remained in the aircraft and were connected to the new package when fitted. The package was fully armed at another part of the station and delivered to the aircraft ready for fitting.I don’t know if we were the first station to fire the cannons but, if not, we were among the first and there was much excitement when the first package was delivered to us for the first firing trial and great pride when it returned after a successful flight.We also took part in a large trial involving planes from other stations coming to us for rearming and for this we had to be on the airfield from 6am. This was a big change for airmen who were used to working 9am-5pm five days a week. I often wondered what would happen if Britain was attacked at the weekends.I enjoyed my time on the trials flight but there was not a lot of activity for armourers and there was only myself and a corporal assigned there and he seemed to vanish for hours. Anyway I was told my presence was required back at the Venoms. There had been many changes since I was last there and only Robbie Robinson and myself were experienced. Most of the newer armourers wanted to work with their pals and Robbie & I were happy to let them and we carried working together until our time was up. I always thought there was a lack of NCO leadership among the armourers.

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BRUSHES WITH THE LAWThere was only one other incidence which was caused by the armourers and that was when another armourer and I were loading 25lb practice bombs on a Venom. We carried the bombs out to the plane with bomb hooks which carried two bombs and he attached them to the release mechanism under one wing and I did the other wing. We signed off the plane and a short time later the pilot took off. There was an alert from air traffic control to say that the pilot of the following plane had reported that one of the bombs had fallen off onto the runway. All flights were stopped until the bomb had been found. But it wasn’t a bomb that had fallen off but a bomb hook which had been left on the wing, not much difference but still dangerous. We were called into the flight office and asked which wing we each had connected our bombs to. I said the port wing and the other armourer agreed that he had done the starboard wing. The officers said that the following pilot had stated that the object had fallen from the starboard wing. The other armourer was put on a charge and he got a weeks’ “jankers” which meant he had to attend the guardroom each morning and evening with full kit on and was confined to camp for one week.One of the nearest times I came to getting into trouble was when I was billet orderly. The billet orderly stayed behind after everybody had gone to work and made sure everyone had completed their housekeeping duties. He then went to work 30 minutes later. One of the times I was the orderly coincided with the camp C.O.s inspection which only happened once a month. I had barely started my inspection when the Armoury Squadron Leader came into the room and told me to “f... off back to work”. I explained I was billet orderly and was in the middle of tidying up but he wouldn’t listen and I had to leave. Later, a corporal came and told me I was on a charge for leaving my bedspace in an untidy manner, namely one duster on top of my locker, my locker unlocked and the padlock lying on top of my bed. I was marched into the Squadron Leader’s 27

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office where a few other officers and NCOs were present. The charge was read out then I was asked if I had anything to say. I stated that I had been billet orderly and had been doing my inspection before leaving for work. The Squadron Leader had arrived early and had ordered me to “f... off”. At this there was many sharp intakes of breath from those present but I saw the beginnings of a smile coming to the face of the Squadron Leader. He just said “Admonished but that doesn’t mean you have got off”. The story went round the armourers later.The one other time I had a narrow escape was when I was helping at night in the camp close-circuit radio station which played music in the evening throughout the camp. There was a civilian tradesman employed by an outside company to make alterations to speakers, etc. throughout the camp. He was going to dispose of the equipment he had removed and asked me if I wanted one or two items and I said OK and put it in my locker. The next time I was going on leave I put it into a bag and was walking up to the gatehouse to get the bus to the railway station when a mate met me and said I was going to have a wait as the Camp Police were searching everyone’s bags as someone had been selling flying boots from the camp stores. I went back to the billet and put the equipment back into my locker then went back to the gatehouse and my bags were searched. I don’t know what would have happened if the equipment had been found in my bag as it did not exactly belong to the RAF. Incidently, the flying boot seller got off because quite a few officers had been among his customers.

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CAMP SECURITY MATTERSThe armourers along with all the other airmen did security and fire duties in addition to there normal duties. This entailed reporting to the guardroom at 5pm where we were assigned various activities such as security patrols, fire station duties. The fire station duties included one person being assigned to the camp cinema in case a fire broke out there but, if you were selected for this, you had to get down early as others would turn up stating they were the fire piquet so that they could get in free. Another part of the fire personnel duties was to light the fires in the R.C. church on Sunday mornings in the winter time.The security patrols did two hourly tours round the camp to make sure everything was secure and there was nobody there who shouldn’t be. We were given a police type baton in case we were attacked and on one occasion I thought we might need to use it. We patrolled in pairs and we were told to report to the guardroom where we learned that a man and a woman had asked for directions to one of the married quarters which were attached to the camp. they were told which direction to take but, after they had gone, one of the RAF police discovered that no-one of that name lived in the camp. So we were told to find them which we did and took them back to the guardroom. We went back on patrol but were informed that the police had allowed them to go and someone had seen them heading towards the hangers and we had to find them again. We went to the only hanger which was open and where the badminton club played in the evening surrounded by many fighter aircraft and saw them watching the badminton. We asked them to accompany us back to the guardroom as it was suspected they were part of the RAF police who checked on the security of stations. As we were walking back, the woman said I was holding the baton in a threatening manner and she might have to break it over my head. She carried on in this manner until we got back to the guardroom where we handed them over to the police. The RAF police in the guardroom got a very bad report about the incident but we were not mentioned.The patrols carried on all night and then we had to go to work as normal in the morning. 29

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STATION ARMOURY SECURITYin 1956, various armouries throughout Britain were being raided by the IRA looking for weapons and most of the RAF armouries contained many Lee Enfield rifles, Sten guns and revolvers. They also contained any personal weapons belonging to officers. It was decided that the armourers would do security duties in the armoury during the night instead of doing security patrols.Four of us were selected for the first night and reported to the armoury at 5pm where we were told we would be in the armoury from Friday evening until Monday morning. Four beds had been supplied for us in the main armoury and we were issued with a rifle but no ammunition. There was a rigid routine set up in case anyone wanted into the armoury after it had been made secure for the night. If an officer wanted entry, he had to go to the guardroom and telephone the armoury, identify himself and state his reason for wanting entry. We checked his RAF number against the check list and asked him to hang up. Then we phoned the guardroom and asked them to identify themselves then verify the identity of the officer. If everything matched he was told to come to the armoury and, when he rang the doorbell, one of the four armourers on duty would be locked out of the main armoury and go to the front door, open a small flap and check the identity of the officer against the photographs we had been issued with. If OK, he was admitted to the armoury but there was still further checks made at the door to the main armoury if he wanted to go in there.The first visitor we had was the Station Commander, Group Captain Deacon Elliot and he had to go through the procedure before entry to the armoury. He inspected the arrangements and decided that the rifles had to go as they served no purpose and would probably encourage any raiders to use their arms if they thought we were armed. So we were issued with brush shafts !Everything went OK and we had quite a comfortable stay punctuated

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by being allowed out two at a time to get our meals. The only thing we didn’t like was the fact that the armoury had a glass roof and it was impossible to see if anyone was up there but they would have good view of us. We had a very powerful radio in the armoury which been salvaged from a bomber and we spent many hours listening in to the messages being sent from the fishing boats which operated from the Humber. The fishermen obviously didn’t know we were listening in to their calls or didn’t care but the language used caused the port authorities to remind them that some decorum might be useful.Over the weekend further security measures were taken when a circle of trip wires connected to flares was set up round the armoury. I don’t know if the sergeant who set up the trip wires was chosen because of his civilian occupation as a rat catcher but, as he was setting them up, one of the trip wires was activated and a flare went off in his face. It was straight out of Dad’s Army as he came into the armoury with his face covered in black soot with everyone, including officers, trying to keep a straight face.There was a sad occasion when we were on duty during the Christmas holidays. Usually Scottish airmen were given the opportunity to stay at work over the Christmas period and they got leave over the New Year holidays. Someone who came to Leconfield at the same time as I did was Arthur Scott who came from Alexandria. Arthur was very quiet and doted on his BSA Golden Flash motorcycle. Somehow Arthur had met a girl from Hull and visited her quite often and one day going to Hull he was passing a long queue of cars when one of them drew out and he hit the side of it. He had all the protective gear on and managed to get on is feet. Someone asked if he was OK and he said he was then collapsed and died.The police found his identity card and contacted Leconfield to ask if he was from there. The telephone operator phoned the armoury and asked if we could confirm his identity. The RAF wanted to give him a military funeral but his family didn’t want it. Some of his mates were told they could go home two days early so about six of us attended his funeral at Alexandria cemetery.

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EXERCISES At intervals, security exercises were held to check the security of the station either from the air or land.One of the biggest involved most RAF stations and we were being attacked by bombers who supposedly were dropping nuclear bombs on the airfield. Areas had been marked off as being shelters and other areas as being first-aid posts, etc. We were all given instructions what to do when the alarms were sounded and we followed these instructions when the exercise took place. Various referees had arrived to monitor the exercise and we duly carried out our instructions when the time came but, somewhere along the line, someone had got it wrong and we were all standing in the shelter areas when one of the monitors decided we were all “dead”. So one up to the enemy.Another exercise saw members of the RAF Regiment, whose function was to defend airfields, try to infiltrate the station without being caught. The RAF Regiment officer who was permanently stationed at Leconfield was to use his local knowledge to lead the attack which was to be held in winter. So on the night of the attack the ground had quite a thick covering with snow and he lead his team onto the camp from the far side of the airfield. They crawled through the snow wearing white overalls but they had been seen from the control tower and defenders were waiting for them when they arrived at the hangers soaking wet and freezing. One up to the good guys.

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US VERSUS THEMRelationships between the officers, NCOs and other ranks were usually quite friendly but occasionally someone would pull rank and try to gain advantage. We were standing in the armoury office one day and there were a few NCOs and others. The Squadron Leader entered the office and the rat catcher sergeant jumped to attention and saluted while the rest of us just stood at attention.The sergeant immediately turned to us in front of the officer and said, “Don’t you know to salute an officer when he enters the room ?”. I replied, “ Only the senior rank present should salute the officer, the others are only required to stand at attention”. The officer smiled and left the room.It is well to know the regulations which apply to given situations. On one of the security exercises, everyone in the camp was required to carry a firearm for the full day and the armourers had to issue these to the appropriate people. Officers of air rank were to be issued with revolvers, other officers and senior NCOs had to get sten guns and other ranks, rifles. Along with others I was handing out weapons to officers when a non-flying officer decided he didn’t want a sten gun and demanded a revolver. I reminded him that he was not of air rank therefor he couldn’t get one. He started to get nasty so I called the armoury warrant officer and told him what had been said. He didn’t speak to the officer but turned to me and said “Give him a sten gun”. End of argument, young officers did not argue with older warrant officers.Some NCOs had been promoted during or just after WW2 although they had not passed the appropriate qualifying exams. This was probably because many airmen would have been demobbed at the end of the war. Some of the sergeants were suddenly faced with the prospect of having to pass an exam if they wanted to maintain their rank. If they couldn’t pass the exam, they could be demoted to the rank of corporal and the difference was quite substantial. Sergeants had their own mess with lodgings for single men. If someone was demoted to corporal he had to move into other rooms in their own blocks or into single rooms in the ordinary billets. It was obvious that some sergeants, not all, would never pass the RAF Test Pt. 1 but they had been promoted when the service 33

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needed them so it was a bit unfair to demote them years later.Officers who were doing their National Service were usually pilot officers, the lowest rank of commissioned officer, and were not well paid so had to have access to funds of their own to subsist in the officers’ mess with all the mess bills that meant. I believe the family circumstances were taken into consideration when they were interviewed.It must have been galling to some of the warrant officers to have to salute these young officers not long out of school but, of course, they were saluting the Queens commission, not the man !There were a few officers from other air forces at the Fighter Weapons School and they seemed to have a different attitude in their relations with the other ranks. There was an American officer in charge of the Trials Flight at one time and he would always use your first name when talking to you whereas none of the others would.PARADESThere was very little “bull” and parades at Leconfield but there was a C.O.s parade once a month. This was a long drawn out affair with long waits between inspections. The parade started with a church service which in itself was a revelation. The officer in charge of the parade, usually the station adjutant. calls out “Fall out the Roman Catholics and the Jews”, and anyone of that persuasion would march of to the edges of the parade ground and face away from the assembled airmen. I have asked various ministers why this came about and never got a feasible answer. One minister said that he was going to a camp with army cadets and heard about this, so he contacted the local R.C. priest and asked if he had any objections to his members taking part in the service and he said he had no objections. Anyway the short service took place within earshot of the R.C.s and the Jews and then they were ordered to fall in. The parade was then inspected by the various officers in charge before the C.O. arrived in his Standard Vanguard and he selected which part of the parade he wanted to 34

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inspect then proceeded to do so. This took an age and then we all marched past the saluting base and the parade was over. The camp Guard of Honour which fell in when any VIPs were coming were looking for a few more members and I was selected to join them. They did not take part in the main C.O.s parades as they had their own. We were mostly of the same height and could march well. On one of our get togethers, one of the members was congratulated on the high shine on his boots and we all knew how he had done it so waited for the row. He admitted that he had painted them with black lacquer from an aero modelling kit. The officer said, “Well done. Right everybody do your boots that way.” So that’s what happened. The guard of honour wore white webbing instead of the normal airforce blue but it wasn’t blancoed, instead after every parade we handed it into the workshops and the painter sprayed it with white paint and we collected them at the next parade. We also represented the station at any parade in Beverley and Hull and also at the funeral of two members of the station who had been killed in a plane crash. Beverley was the home of the East Yorkshire Regiment and we were in a church parade with them through the streets of the town. We were quite a crack team at this time and they were only young recruits and managed to keep losing the beat of the band. Eventually our officer called to their officer to shout out the beat which he did although was he very embarrassed.I quite liked the ceremonial in the services and was asked to join the main RAF Guard of Honour which travelled throughout the country at various ceremonies. This function I notice is now done by the RAF Regiment. I was to join the guard of honour at one of the Guards depots outside London but politics reared its ugly head and the Station Warrant Officer sent a pal of his instead.

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PHOTOGRAPHY AND “TWICKER”One of the other armourers in the room was Peter Harrison from Sheffield whose nickname was Twicker, he got the name from the well known part of Sheffield called The Wicker which is pronounced as his nickname.We got quite friendly and he got me interested in Traditional Jazz and photography. He invited me to his parents home in Sheffield one weekend and he introduced me into the art of developing and printing photographs. I bought a new camera and various accessories for it and went around Beverley and district taking photographs. I then proceeded to purchase developing and printing equipment and spent a lot of time with this in the ironing room in the billet when it was quiet at the weekend.I joined an evening class at the local high school which was run by a photographer who had a shop in Beverley. He was of the old school of photography and took all his photographs at weddings, etc. on a plate camera whereas I had a 35mm camera. he asked me to bring a roll of exposed film to the class and he would develop it. But he didn’t know enough about 35mm and handed me a roll of wet film at the end of the evening which was subsequently ruined by the time I got it dried.He asked if I would like to go with him on Saturdays when he had one or two weddings to photograph. The idea was that I would shoot a roll of film and, if he missed any shots, he would use mine. He had three weddings to take the next Saturday and it was planned like a battle and we sped from one to the other in his battered old Vauxhall. He supplied all the film but there was no payment involved. He said he developed the plate photos himself but, having seen his darkroom, I believe he got them processed with another company. I went out with him on another two occasions. Some years later I went back to see him but the shop had changed hands. 36

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Peter Harrison was a bit of an idiot, he would get up to all sorts of mischief without bothering about the consequencies. We had a days holiday and the armourers decided to have a day out in Bridlington. A bus was hired and we all went our various ways when we arrived there. We were to meet again at 10pm for the journey back to the camp and everyone was there except Peter. We went searching for him but 45 minutes later decided to leave without him and let him find his own way back. We all had a good laugh about his predicament but, when we reached camp, Peter was lying sleeping in his bed. I though he was going to get murdered. It seems he had met a young girl and got talking then went for a drink and a meal. She lived in Hull so he decided to accompany her back in the train and get off in Beverley. He didn’t think we would mind !

OTHER ROOMMATES Because most of the other armourers were mostly National Servicemen, there was always a turnaround of roommates and you had to get along with other airmen from time to time. But there were a few who were either short or long term regulars such as myself. Some of them had come in for three years but needed money for something or other and would sign on for another five years and get a bounty of a few hundred pounds. And this was repeated later. Most of the National Service personnel always seemed to be short of money. The starting pay for them was 28/- (shillings per week) or £1.40 in decimal currency. The starting pay for Regulars was app. £3 per week. Out of that you had to provide soap, razor blades, etc. plus all you required for cigarettes and beer. Most of the airmen went home at the weekends, i.e. from Friday evening until Monday morning which was a further cost to your pocket. Railway booking staff came to the camp on Friday lunchtime to sell tickets and their were special buses to take you to the railway station. 37

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I didn’t go home much for the weekend unless there was some special reason for doing so. I went home once with another four in a car. He dropped me off in Hamilton and I had to find my way home from there. Then on the Sunday evening, I had to get to Hamilton and meet up with them again and travel through the night to camp. It was arranged that we would all stay awake and keep the driver talking but somehow we all fell asleep, including the driver then had a rude awakening when the car was running along the grass verge. Thankfully, all the telegraph poles were on the other side of the road. After that. all the windows were opened wide and we froze all the way there. I didn’t think it was worth all the hassle.Those of us who didn’t go home at weekends got a bit fed up being wakened up by the others who arrived back at 2am and made tea then sat around talking about what they had done over the weekend. We asked them politely to go to bed but when this fell on deaf ears we had to use another strategy. The rooms were all centrally heated and were usually quite warm in the winter and they were arriving very cold and were glad of the warmth. All the stay-at-homes decided they were not going to enjoy the heat, we all got ready for bed, opened all the windows wide and then got under the blankets and waited for the cold homecoming. Sure enough, in they came, put all the lights on and then realised the room was freezing. When they saw the windows open they realised this was no heating defect. They were told in no uncertain terms that this would meet them every week until they realised we were not happy. They had to agree that they would be quiet when they arrived, only put one light on and go right to bed. And it worked.Another example of direct action concerned one of the armourers who didn’t want to have a bath very often. He slept on the top bunk of the bed right at the door and the smell hit you whenever you came in. Someone saw his feet and he had a chronic case of athlete’s foot. One of us who had reason to visit the M.O. 38

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mentioned this and he said we should take action ourselves to make him aware of his condition. So that night, one of the baths was filled with cold water then he was grabbed and flung into it fully clothed. He went berserk and when he was locked out of the billet he punched through a glass window. When he calmed down , the corporal in charge of the billet had a quiet word with him and said, that if he didn’t start taking showers and got treatment for his feet, he would be reported to the M.O. It seemed to work because he started showering regularly and the smell vanished. But they made him pay for the broken window.I didn’t smoke at that time and only went out to the pictures or had a drink in the local pubs or NAAFI at weekends, so I usually had money to spare but I did not encourage anyone borrowing money from me as it was too much trouble trying to get it back.I bought a record player and played records in the billet from time to time. Ella Fitzgerald had a record of a song called “Later” in which the same five or six words were sung all the time. I acquired a copy and Bob Robinson and I put it on repeat and tried to guess which of our roommates would crack up first. It was usually the same person. Later I bought a tape recorder and asked the sergeant in charge of the camp radio, “ Radio Leconfield”, if I could copy some of their records. He said OK so long as I would help to run the radio. At first I put the records on for one or two of the DJs but gradually some of them left and I had to put the records on plus announce them. My programmes sometimes had a Scottish theme as there were a lot of Scots in the camp but I also liked playing comedy records such as Spike Milligan, etc. I quite enjoyed doing it as I was getting to copy the top twenty which was supplied by a local record store each week. We also had to read the news from an East Yorkshire evening paper. Once or twice at weekends, I was only there myself and occasionally had to put on an LP while I set up the next batch.

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TRAINSWhen we were going home on leave or for the weekend, we either travelled through to Beverley and got the train to York or went on the special buses to York which connected with the train from London to Edinburgh/Glasgow. This train was continually packed and we seldom got a seat so travelled to Edinburgh either standing or sitting in the corridor. It was a very uncomfortable journey except on one occasion when we met someone who was going to Glasgow. He said to follow him and he would find us seats. So off we went and he led us into the first class carriage. We were not sure of this ploy but he assured us that it was OK so we got settled in. Inevitably along comes the ticket inspector who immediately knew we shouldn’t be there but politely asked to see our tickets and, when he saw they were third class, he asked us to leave the compartment. We protested that there were no seats anywhere but our protests fell on deaf ears. Then up speaks our friend from Glasgow. He assured the inspector that if he didn’t go away and leave us alone, he would punch his jaw. The inspector immediately withdrew, leaving us to wait for the police to come on further up the line but nobody ever came. I reckon the inspector decided he wasn’t getting paid enough to deal with this situation.Coming back off leave, I would get the train to York and there get the last train to Beverley. This was in the mid 1950s and most of the carriages were old stock and the trains were drawn by steam engines. The carriages was usually freezing and the heat did not come through until we were halfway to Beverley. Then one night I got off the train and walked to the Hull platform and there was a brand new diesel train purring at the platform. The luxury of it, I sat down in a comfortable seat in a warm carriage. But the problem was, I was afraid I would fall asleep and end up in Hull. 40

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SPORTING ACTIVITIESPlaying sport was encouraged in the RAF and some, as mentioned in the pages about Padgate, were practically engaged in sport as a full time job. At Leconfield, every Wednesday afternoon was designated as a time for sport and there were various activities available but most of the airmen used it as a time to relax and lie about doing nothing. A new sports officer came to the camp and decided that everyone was to report to him on Wednesday and tell him what activities they wanted to participate in. We all turned up and were duly signed in. I didn’t fancy running about or doing exercises all afternoon so I told him I was learning to throw the javelin, which I wasn’t. I had never thrown a javelin in my life but had seen them being thrown at the Olympics. He thought about this for a moment then gave me a javelin and told me to go into the farmer’s field next to the sports field and practice on my own. This field was hidden from view by a tall hedge so I just had to make sure that the javelin appeared above the hedge every so often to prove I was engaged in this activity.Later I got involved in the armourers’ football team and became captain of the second XI. This had difficulties as I had to wait until the captain of the first XI had selected his team before I got to pick my team from whoever was left. And some of these were unhappy at not being picked for the first XI and weren’t very enthusiastic. But we had matches most Saturday mornings against other teams in the camp with mixed results.I had played badminton for a number of years prior to joining up and this had appeared on my records. Soon the sergeant who ran the station badminton club contacted me and asked me to come along. We played in one of the hangers and we occasionally had to move a plane or two off the badminton court before we could play. We entered the RAF Badminton Cup competition and were drawn against Catterick Camp. But there was a petrol shortage at the time and an officer, who was our best player, got annoyed because they 41

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wouldn’t give him petrol to enable him to drive there, withdrew from the team. I had been on leave but came back a day early and got off the train at Catterick to meet the other members. When we arrived to play them, we discovered they had some Malaysian airmen who had been attached to Catterick and they were miles ahead of us and we were well beaten.

OTHER ACTIVITIESA few of the station instructors took part in a tour of Middle East squadrons to give demonstrations to the pilots stationed there and many of the armourers were keen to be selected to accompany them as part of the ground crew as they were visiting a few countries. One armourer was selected and the party flew of to their first destination which was to refuel in the South of France and a visit to a local town had been arranged but one of the Venoms had engine trouble and the ground crew had to spend the whole night replacing the engine. The next stopover was Cyprus but nobody was allowed to leave the airfield as there was a security problem so on they flew to Jordan and, again there was a problem , nobody got to do any sightseeing. So much for foreign travel.Apart from the flight in the Anson when I was at Padgate, I never flew again during my three years in the RAF. It was possible to request a flight in one of the training aircraft such as the Vampire T11 or the two seater Meteors when they were being tested after a service but I never felt inclined. One of the armourers did get a flight in a Meteor but, when the plane was circling the airfield ready to land, it slid sideways into the ground killing the pilot and the armourer. I don’t know what the subsequent inquiry decided was the cause of the accident but there were a lot of rumours going about. A military funeral was held and the two men were buried in Leconfield cemetery.Incidently, this was the same armourer who travelled to the Middle East.

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VOLUNTEERS ARE NEVER ACCEPTEDThere was a belief in the RAF ( and possibly in the other forces) that if you want to do something or go anywhere never answer the call to volunteer. The powers that be usually selected someone who didn’t volunteer.I had hoped to visit other places in the world when I joined up instead of being in Yorkshire for two and a half years. So, not knowing about not volunteering, I volunteered to go to the Christmas Islands for the nuclear bomb tests. I don’t know why armourers were needed but it seemed like a nice place to go. After a long wait I was told I wouldn’t be going as I was needed at Leconfield.Then volunteers were requested for the Woomera Rocket range tests in Australia so in goes my request again. One of the requirements was that the armourers had to be Senior Aircraftsmen and I was waiting for the results of the SAC tests to come through. I came back off leave in January and was told that I was now an SAC. I reported back to the armoury and the sergeant told me get all my gear packed. I asked him why and he said that as I was now an SAC I was qualified to go to Woomera. I felt great and started back to my billet when he shouted after me, “ Aye, that’ll be the day !” and started laughing. I was never nearer getting court- martialled for hitting an NCO.I felt quite depressed after this but just had to carry on. It was not until a great many years later that I heard that many of the personnel who had gone to Christmas Island and Woomera had been exposed to radioactivity and were possibly guinea pigs. Many of them contracted cancer and other crippling illnesses and died in their 50s. So someone must have been looking out for me.Somehow I got selected to have a day out at the seaside or, namely, the bombing range on the east coast. A squad of us were to search for unexploded 25lb practice bombs which had failed to go off on impact. We were told there was no danger and, as we were handling these on a daily basis, we were not concerned, until we arrived at the range and saw the long grass where the bombs

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were. Anyway we combed the area for some hours and gathered all the bombs in one place where they were destroyed by explosives. What worried us a little was that aircraft from the airfield was still flying over the range and we hoped that they were not going to drop bombs, which they didn’t. What a lovely day at the seaside !SOCIAL COMPANYA few females hung around the camp and they were allowed to come to the camp cinema and the Naafi. But not many airmen had made friends with them, mainly because they didn’t have much spare cash and quite a few of them had wives or girlfriends at home.Beverley town was the headquarters of the East Yorks Regiment in addition to being the nearest town to Leconfield. There were many pubs in the town and that is where most personnel from the camp went for a drink especially at weekends mostly in the company of a few of their mates. There was always plenty of female company in the pubs who were looking for someone to buy their drinks but we usually ignored them. Some of the East Yorks soldiers were customers of the same pubs but there was rarely any trouble and we seemed to get on quite well with them.One social custom which we noticed immediately about the English pubs were that women frequented them. Women were not very obvious in Scottish pubs for many years after the war but would go to them if on holiday in England and felt very daring for doing so.Hull was the nearest city and we occasionally went to the Cecil Cinema there but at that time Hull was still recovering from the WW2 bombing. Apart from London. Hull was the most bombed place in Britain.

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LEARNING TO DRIVEA local driving school in Beverley was advertising a special rate for airmen to take driving lessons and I decided to take advantage of this. I think the cost was either 10 shillings or fifteen shillings which is 50p or 75p nowadays.I arrived for my first driving lesson at the East Yorkshire School of Motoring on a Saturday and we took off in a Standard 8 with dual controls. The instructor then asked me if I minded if we took a different route from normal. Not knowing what the normal route was, I said OK. So we drove into the countryside and arrived a large house. He then explained that he was having an affair with another woman but his car would not start this morning so he had to get a taxi into Beverley. His girlfriend came out in her dressing gown and got into the other car while he attached a towline to the driving school car. He towed the other car until it started then disconnected the two cars and she drove off. We then continued with the driving lesson.I took about ten lessons then applied for my driving test. The test was through Hull and seemed to be at the busiest part of the day going by the amount of traffic on the roads. I was quite nervous and the Standard 8 seemed to needing a service. You never knew what it was going to do when you pressed the accelerator, it either jumped forward or suffered a delayed reaction. Anyway things went from bad to worse and I knew I had failed, so I said to the examiner, “I don’t know about you but I’ve had enough,” and turned round and made my way back to the centre.The driving instructor asked what had happened and I told him I was just too nervous. Just about this time the Suez crisis, when Egypt seized control of the Suez Canal, took place and there was a petrol shortage in Britain. All driving tests were suspended from November 1956-April 1957 and anyone who had a provisional driving licence was allowed to drive without having an experienced driver accompanying them. Our family had just bought a car and I was able to drive it about on my own when I was home on leave. 45

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When the tests were resumed, I applied for another test in Falkirk and this time I passed easily. Towards the end of my service I took the car back to camp with me so that I could take some of my belongings home. I kept it on camp for a week but had to apply for permission to do so then drove back on the Friday evening after work. Someone else was going home to Central Scotland but he usually thumbed lifts and it sometimes took him all night to get home. I offered to take him home if he shared the petrol costs with me, this was about 10 shillings. He refused but asked me to look out for him on the road. I said I would and would give him a wave as I passed !

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NEARING THE ENDWith about six months to go, the Fighter Weapons Schools was to move to RAF Driffield and those of us who were nearing demob were told we wouldn’t be moving there as there would be enough armourers on the station plus a few regulars from Leconfield. I had considered signing on for a further term but decided not to. The three years had been very enjoyable but I didn’t reckon a career there would continue to be so. I did consider studying to get enough qualifications to join the Customs but it was going to be a long slog.When everyone else had moved to Driffield, just up the road, we then were subjected to talks by NCOs on various subjects, visits to outside establishments and various other activities to pass the time but we were left on our own for some days. The most memorable visit was to Hull Brewery where we were let into the secrets of brewing beer. At the end of the tour, the officer accompanying us was taking away to the boardroom and we were shown into a small bar where we were given a glass of beer. One of the lads asked if he could have another glass and the barman indicated a large pile of crates in the corner and said they were for us. So a queue was formed and some of us would get our glass of beer and join the queue then drink the beer while waiting for the next one. By the end of the day we were all very cheerful and the officer seemed in a good mood too. When the bus arrived back at camp we all rolled out and waved to the police in the guardroom who were understandably not very happy but couldn’t say anything.I was interviewed by an officer about my plans after demob and I indicated that I would probably go back to the patternmaking and then consider my options at leisure. He did not try to encourage me to sign on again as I believe they had more airmen than they required at that time.

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DEMOBMany National Service men had a chart inside the door of their locker where they marked off each day towards the date of their demob and a great many moaned about their lot in having to spend two years of their life doing something they hated. They seemed to forget that if they had been a few years older they would have had to spend many more years than that and it would not have been so pleasant. The cruel fact for some of them was that they thought they had been missed somewhere along the way and that they wouldn’t have to do it. One person in the armourers had been selling coal-cutting machinery and had been making a high wage then was caught just months before the upper limit. He moaned for two years.I had signed on for three years service plus two years in the reserves and I was reminded that the two years in the reserves would be unpaid and that I would have to keep my uniform in good order in case I was called up again. I was assigned to a reserve squadron at RAF LeucharsI had a choice of either accepting £8 or getting a full outfit prior to my release. I decided to get the clothing as it must be worth more than £8. Unfortunately, I was then told that I would have to go down to Woking to get it.So the day came when I would have to reverse the procedure that I had to make when I arrived at camp. This entailed going round the various departments and getting removed from their files. It didn’t take long this time and I was soon on my way to Woking.I received my train tickets to take me there and then home. I travelled first of all to London and stayed overnight at the Union Jack Club near Waterloo Station. This was a temporary overnight accommodation for members of the forces and had at that time dormitory accommodation for a small fee. The club is still there and has been completely rebuilt to modern hotel standards. After breakfast, I caught the train to Woking which was mainly a Guards depot. The clothing distribution was in a large hall and you walked round and were asked what type of garments you required.

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You could have a cap or a soft hat, various types of coats, a suit and shirt with cuff links. All the clothes fitted but I suddenly realised that the £8 might have been a better decision. The clothes were all bundled up and I caught the train back to London and then home.Some time later I started to receive cheques as pay for my time in the reserves so somebody along the line got it wrong as I wasn’t supposed to get paid. I got a letter from someone reminding me that I should ensure that my uniform was kept in good order and that I could possibly be called up again in an emergency. Well, by this time my uniform was well gone as I had been wearing it to work, so I had a worrying time until my time in the reserve was past and they could forget about me.

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Neat & Tidy Living Quarters

and Later !

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C.O.s Parade on Parade Ground

Earlier Photograph of Parade Ground Naafi in Background

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Armourers Crew Room (Iʼve got the good chair !)

Peter Harrison & Barry Gwyther on Meteor (2nd Line Servicing)

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Armourers Crew Hut on Venoms

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Me, John & Keith...... Aden 2nd Line Servicingf

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Peter Harrison & Me

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Luxury bed in Station Armoury

Robbie in Venom 1st Line Servicing

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Transport of Visiting Squadrons

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Hunter at Hendon Air Museum with Aden Gun Pack

Air Traffic Control Tower at Leconfield ............Reputed to be haunted

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Jeffrey

Smith Brewis Townend

McAuleyWhitcombeGilford

HandysideJeffrey

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AND MORE ARMOURERS !

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Javelins and Hunters on the Pan

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TAYLOR B. DALY JOHN SMALL

E. LLOYDS. LUNN

GRAY

A. SEYMOUR

S DALY

ARTHUR SCOTT

M. LORDDALCHOWTUBY

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????????

KING GALLACHERSKINNER

SKINNER

BUFFHAM ????????

COLTARTKENYON & SPIN ?

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VENOM HEADING FOR RUNWAY

VISITING JAVELIN HEADING FOR RUNWAY

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ARMOURERS IN CREW HUT6AM NATO EXERCISE

HUNTER TAXYING TO RUNWAY

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METEOR & HUNTERS ON PAN

JAVELINS IN HANGER

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GLOSTER JAVELIN

GLOSTER JAVELIN

MOSQUITO

CANBERRA

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