An autobiographical account of 5 years of adventure (and often misadventure!) of my life in the service of the Royal Air Force
I joined the RAF on January 4th.1965 travelling by train from the RAFCIO in Manchester to Lincoln Railway Station and thence by RAF bus to No.7 School of Recruit Training based at RAF Swinderby [EGXS](53 N 09/000 W 41) which was to be my home for the next 7 weeks. I was assigned to No.1 Flight in "Jackson's Little Army".
The first stop was the hairdresser. Each recruit was given a free "short back and sides" which took the barber about 2 minutes. After that we had to pay 2s.0d (10p) on each subsequent visit. After being assigned to our various accommodation blocks we were then marched to the Airman's Mess for lunch, followed by kitting out at the Tailor's Shop. The uniforms (No.1 - Best Blue and No.2 - rough serge working blue) were issued along with underwear (Drawers, short, male.....), sports wear, RAF and Army pattern boots, RAF Airmen shoes, webbing belt, button-stick, blanco, yellow dusters, brush set, black polish, brasso, peak cap, beret, etc. By the time I left the RAF things had moved on apace with "Staybrite" buttons and cap badges. The original "shit-hawks" badges were sewn on each shoulder but although these were dropped by the time I left, they have since been reinstated for all airmen ranks.
We then had to march back, heavily laden, to our billet, where we were shown how to make a bed-pack. Indeed such was the pride it engendered I continued to make bed-packs for many years after leaving the service. I still have my original uniform though it no longer fits me as I have put on a lot of weight after developing diabetes, but I chose to keep it as a souvenir when I left, rather than opt for a civvy suit.
The early days at Swinderby included a comprehensive medical exam, X-ray at the WRAF Basic Training unit then based at Spitalgate about 6 miles from Swinderby, photo taken for our I.D. card (RAF Form 1250), having to remember our Service Number in order to collect our first issue of pay. By that time we had been taught how to and who to salute. Drill and P.T. played a big part in our lives over the coming weeks. " Saluting to the front, to the front, SALUTE! "....."Eyes, RIGHT "....."About - TURN - Check, T, L, V and off on the right". Oh happy days!
There was also a visit to the Padre, when we were classified as Protestant, Roman Catholic and "others". The "others" got to stand outside, guarding the rifles when on Church Parade. The Protestant Padre told us that when he had trained for the Ministry and become ordained he had been asked where he wanted to work, his first choice of posting as it were. He had told them he wanted to work in the prison service but as there were no vacancies there he chose the nearest alternative.....the RAF! We got to watch several films with a moral dimension and medical warning films regarding the dangers of smoking, loose sexual behaviour leading to V.D., illicit drugs and alcoholism.
Looking back on it, those first weeks at Recruit Training Camp were happy days. I was already fit when I joined and even fitter after 6 weeks. I had been a cadet in the Air Training Corps (318 Sale & Altrincham Squadron) since the age of 13, then staying on as a Civilian Instructor from the age of 16. I reached the rank of Senior Cadet after 18 months and represented the ATC at the "Teens and Twenties" Exhibition at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, where I had around 30 jumps in five days from "The Fan", a parachute simulator built on-site by the Parachute Regiment to practice PLF's (Parachute Landing Falls). You climb up to a height of 90ft. on to a platform then attach a harness before they open a gate and you launch yourself into space. The rate of descent is controlled by a fan so as you land at the same speed as if using a parachute. It turned out to be many years before I got to to do the real thing from an old RAF base at Shobdon, Herefordshire, in May 1985, at the age of 40. Despite a heavy landing, I was so impressed with the experience I bought my own 9-cell Ram-Air sports parachute from a follow-up contract in Saudi Arabia in Sep'85., which I still have.
In the ATC I had been very proud of my uniform and wore it at weekends to go out to Ringway Airport (now Manchester International). I hitch-hiked in it to London Heathrow where I was invited into Air Traffic Control and Flight Planning, before going on a free flight in a Viscount of British European Airways, back to Manchester, flying as supernumerary aircrew up-front in a jump seat. It set the scene for the way my RAF career was to go, starting out as an avionics mechanic on airborne navigation systems and then through intensive interest in seeing the equipment in use in the air, flying as supernumerary Navigator before training formally on the last SNCO intake at the No.1 School of Air Navigation, then based at RAF Stradishall. After I left the RAF it moved to become part of No.6 FTS, RAF Finningley[EGXI], then on to No.3 FTS, RAF Cranwell [EGYD] where it is still based. I also hitch-hiked out to RAF Woodvale [EGOW](53 N 35/003 W 03), near Southport, for additional Air-Experience flying in Chipmunks in exchange for strapping other cadets in and giving pre-flight briefings. I got to do a lot of that during my RAF service also, at Kinloss during summer camp and at RAF Turnhouse (Edinburgh) [EGPH](55 N 57/003 W 21). I stopped in the Sgt's Mess during my weekends at Turnhouse, often flying there as a "NAVEX" in a Chipmunk from Kinloss.
Apart from drill, P.T., medical, security and moral education programmes, one week was spent off-base at R&I camp (Reliability & Initiative). This involved completion of various tasks including building bridges, camp defence, night navigation and infiltration exercises, capture avoidance, etc. This was put to good use at the end of R&I because we had been issued with 48-hour passes, due to start on the Saturday morning at the end of Week 3. However, by tradition it was expected that those with a fair distance to travel would break out of camp late on Friday evening after the scheduled 2200 hrs."lights-out" inspection. They could then hitch-hike in uniform (it was allowed in those days) back home and return to camp on Sunday evening after the pubs shut! It meant putting a black boilersuit over the Best Blue, then cutting across an unlit grassed area to the hedge, then when safely clear of the camp, putting the boilersuit in a plastic carrier bag before hitch-hiking back home.
I missed the passing out parade, reviewed by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh because I had been back-flighted one week due to recovery from surgery to remove my wisdom teeth. When I did join the next graduation parade it was a very proud occasion, although my mother never came to see me. At all subsequent RAF Stations I was a volunteer on the Guard of Honour because I was so proud of the uniform I wore and what it meant. Indeed I still am.
After completing my basic training I was posted to RAF St.Athan [EGDX](No.4 School of Technical Training) to do a 20 week course in Avionics. One of my assignments was attendance as part of the Guard of Honour for the Queen's visit to open a new market at Cardiff with white nylon webbing belt in place of the blue cloth belt normally worn with the No.1 Dress. I kept the white webbing belt as part of my uniform when I left the R.A.F. During my time at St.Athan I was invited to commit myself to 27 years of service which would have meant an immediate pay rise and enhanced status, probably fast-tracking to a Fitter's Course and grooming for SNCO status. Although I knew that 24 to a billet wasn't the real Air Force, I had no experience of life on an operational station, so I declined. If I had been sent to Kinloss or Little Rissington on Jet Provosts for a week to assess what I thought of it I would have gladly signed. Regrettably I made the wrong decision because when I did ask to extend my service, the RAF said the trade was open to exit and closed to entry, in other words "Sod off!"
I got plenty of Chipmunk flying in aircraft of Cardiff University Air Squadron Air Experience Flight. There was one RAF pilot who was temporarily grounded because he flew a Folland Gnat between two power station chimneys to show that he was peeved at being rejected for fast-jet training. The RAF subsequently trusted him after about 3 months in the Sin-Bin. My first choice of posting following completion of my trade training was RAF Kinloss. On arrival I was assigned to 120 Squadron for 6 months of first-line experience. This involved acting on aircrew reports of faulty items of equipment on the Shackleton Mk.3 Phase 3 aircraft of Coastal Command.
I worked on the following types of equipment :
The C.O. at the time at Kinloss was Group Captain George Buckle. He was a good, practicing Christian and welcomed all new arrivals individually with tea or coffee and biscuits in his office. The welcome chat included an invitation to visit him at his home if we had any serious concerns which could not be resolved through the usual channels. I had occasion to take him up on this offer a couple of times. He was a keen cyclist and although having the use of a Zephyr 6 luxury car for official engagements he could regularly be seen making his way around the base on his racing bike, complete with pennant flying from the handlebars and he expected the customary salute as he passed.
During my time with 120 Sqn. I regularly put my name down to fly as supernumerary aircrew on training and rescue missions as I was intensely keen on seeing the equipment I was responsible for, in operational use. I learned from other qualified Navigator aircrew how to run an air plot, do position fixing and dead reckoning. It is something I do to this day whenever I'm on a civil flight, taking with me a map and compass, stop-watch and navigation log. On one flight from Inverness to Glasgow I was invited up front to chat with the pilot and co-pilot and monitor the course using VOR and NDB beacons.
I continued my studies when I was moved to the Instrument Section to carry out 3rd.line servicing to component level, including calibration and test. This new role included basic flight instrumentation including the pitot-static indicators such as altimeter, airspeed indicator and rate of climb & descent indicator. I took my SAC promotion exam which I passed at my first attempt after 3 months in the Instrument Section and continued to fly on sorties with one of three operational Squadrons, namely 120, 201 or 206.
There were several incidents of adventure and drama during my three years at Kinloss. On one occasion I was flying over the Moray Firth dropping sonobuoys to track Soviet submarines. The Soviet Navy would then take the sonobuoys on board, investigate them and then return them to Kinloss to claim the £75 reward, in hard cash! I started to smell something sulphurous coming from below the Nav table and thought someone had a bad case of flatulence. I reported this to the pilot on the intercom. Everyone denied it but the smell persisted and grew stronger. Investigation revealed that a battery had shorted and the hot acid had eaten through a plastic hydraulic fluid pipe. Hydraulic fluid was leaking out and soon left us with only manual control of the ailerons, elevators, rudder and undercarriage. We had to drop two 1000lb. bombs into the sea, alarming the Russian crews who probably thought we were "upping the anti". However it was not safe to land with live bombs and no brakes! Fire engines met us on arrival and we had to stop two engines in flight and the remaining two immediately on touch down, hoping that there was enough runway to allow us to coast to a stop with no brakes. Fortunately there was and we had to evacuate the stricken aircraft as soon as it stopped. The aircraft was towed back by tractor for repair.
In the course of 12 months the Station lost one third of its fleet of 18 Shackletons, all due to structural failure following the fitting of Viper jets underneath the outboard engine nacelles. These had been added to give additional speed for a bombing run and extra power to climb away from the target. Logic itself would dictate that the inboard engines, being closer to the wing root would be a stronger location. I saw one New Year in, on a Scottish mountainside, collecting pieces of wreckage and bodies. An inboard propeller had detached itself and sliced through the fuselage behind the pilot & co-pilot positions. The front end fell away but the severed throttle linkages meant that the engines went to full speed and were still fed by the wing tanks and booster pumps. The outcome was that the main body crashed to earth several miles away with bombs exploding on impact.
As a member of the Station Guard of Honour this meant an involvement on many funeral parades. On another occasion an airman marshaller walked, unthinking, between the spinning propeller blades between No.1 and No.2 engines. It CAN be done, with extreme caution, but in his case he was not decapitated but collapsed and died of a major heart attack when he realised how close he had been to death!
We also lost a Chipmunk pilot when he overstressed the propeller pulling out of a loop. He had taken a WRAF girl on her first flight and stopped the engine. In itself that should not have involved a crash but the aircraft hit a submerged rock in a bog and flipped over. The pilot smashed his head on to the instrument panel, knocking himself out, then died by drowning in his own vomit, with the intercom mike switched on. The aircraft was found by some Scouts out hiking who investigated and rescued the girl. After a medical checkup she was required to go up in another Chipmunk, including aerobatics. All groundcrew have to be willing to fly in any type of aircraft at a moments notice for operational reasons.
However all was not doom and gloom. At weekends I would involve myself either with gliding at RAF Milltown, (a diversionary airfield for both Kinloss and Lossiemouth), assisting on the Chipmunk A.E.F. at Kinloss or Turnhouse, mountaineering in the Cairngorms or the Highlands to the East of Oban. I used to regularly hitch-hike in uniform wherever I was going. Quite often if there was an aircraft overflying Kinloss airspace Air Traffic Control would ask if it had any spare seats and its destination. If they could offer any empty seats to RAF personnel going home on leave or even a weekend break, they would land and taxi to the area behind the Control Tower. Anyone wanting a lift was required to report to the Control Tower within 10 minutes, so it was necessary to have an overnight bag packed ready for immediate departure. About once a month, I'd get a flight to Manchester and be home by 1600 hrs., then in the pub at 2000 hrs!
There is an unwritten rule in the Armed Services,"Never volunteer", but it can have its perks. I volunteered for an unspecified exercise whilst working in the Instrument Section. After briefing we were sworn to secrecy until it was all over. Naturally my workmates knew what was involved but they kept quiet about it. The government wanted to test the security of RNAS Lossiemouth which was equipped with Buccaneers and was officially a top security station. I had volunteered to be on a team of 50 infiltrators, disguised as CND activists who were to attempt to breach their security.
The RAF arranged for a civilian to hire a 53 seater coach from somewhere in England to call at Kinloss to pick us all up and proceed to the gates of RNAS Lossiemouth. By arrangement with the coach company we had painted the coach with CND logos and anti-war slogans. Naturally we were refused permission to enter the base which was immediately put on full alert. Then all the infiltrators disembarked and attempted to walk in, round the barriers. Some were arrested and detained in cells whilst others sat down, blocking the road. We were manhandled by Naval personnel and dropped in a muddy ditch to begin with. Then they used fire-hoses on us. I got up and with two others broke away to try to breach the perimeter fence. One guy got in and sprayed "Ban the Navy" on a hangar door before being arrested. One R.N. police security man did a rugby tackle on me then turned me over, grabbed my collar and threatened to "plant me one" if I made one false move. We were under instruction to surrender if caught and produce our I.D. cards to prove our identity. This I did and was taken to a hangar where I was detained for questioning. The Navy were asked to play their part to expose any weakness in the system. I had one shoe removed to reduce the chance of me running away. After the questioning was over we were all taken to the C.P.O's Mess (their equivalent of the Sgt's Mess) for a good meal and several pints, before getting the coach back to Kinloss.
A few weeks later we had a Mk.2 Shackleton arrive on a visit from St.Mawgan, armed with a nuclear warhead. It was closely guarded night and day in a remote part of the airfield. The O.C. Admin, had instructions from the C.O. to try to throw a dummy grenade at the bomb-bay. He entered into the spirit of the exercise and got near the aircraft but was stopped at a road block. The RAF Police were under instructions to guard it with their life, LITERALLY! The O.C. Admin then tried to run over the guard and was rammed on each side by a fire engine. He was then dragged from a wrecked Mini by several armed guards, safety catches OFF and cuffed, lying prostrate on the taxiway. He was then driven to the Guardroom, desperately trying to pull rank to no avail. The C.O. had him released the following morning and was happy with the way things had gone. Regardless of who he was, he was not authorised to be in the vicinity of the visiting aircraft. Even the C.O. could have expected the same treatment as HE was not on the list of approved personnel.
One night whilst guarding this visitor, we had another unauthorised visit. This time from about 50 Royal Naval personnel from RNAS Lossiemouth who were tasked with trying to get into Kinloss while the base was on a state of high alert. Kinloss is a lot less secure and they had no problem. Nevertheless I still needed to arrest the visitors and take a shoe off them before marching them to the guardroom with their hands handcuffed behind their back. As with our earlier visit they were regally entertained in the Sgt's Mess after being released from custody.
I had occasion to make another visit to Lossiemouth, this time camping out, whilst guarding the wreckage of a Buccaneer which had been abandoned by a pilot who had thought his engine was on fire when in fact it was just the sun reflecting off the fire-warning light lens. I understand the farmer was told to claim on the insurance, that 60 of his finest Aberdeen Angus cattle had been gathered at the spot where the aircraft crashed and burst into flames.
On Sunday mornings if I was not gliding, flying or mountaineering I would go to the local Church of Scotland in Forres with the C.O. in the back of his chauffeur driven Zephyr-6. About once a month I would take the Evening Service, in uniform, as a well respected member of the congregation. I was particularly active in the local Christian community. However on Armistice Day one year, I was assigned as part of the Guard of Honour to attend the same church, bearing a bayonet in a scabbard on that Sunday morning service. I left my rifle outside the church but felt it was totally against all I believed in for me to bear an offensive weapon in the House of God. I decided to leave the parade and hitch-hike in uniform to a CND demonstration being held in Aberdeen that afternoon, where I was welcomed as an honoured guest. I carried a placard proclaiming the sancitity of all human life. I even got my photo in the "Aberdeen Press and Journal" of the following day. I then felt an urgent need to go and see the C.O. at his home that evening to express my concerns to him. He was very understanding and suggested I transfer to a non-combat unit. He said I would need to trust him on dealing with the inevitable charge (RAF Form 252). So I pleaded not guilty to progressively higher ranking officers when I was charged with "Absenting myself without due cause from a parade which I had been detailed to attend". When I got before the C.O.,I changed my plea to "Guilty" and he just admonished me!
This led to my posting to No.1 Air Navigation School, Stradishall (now HMP Highpoint). I was initially assigned to the DRT (Dead Reckoning Trainer) Section, then to Flight Planning/Ops before starting the 12 month Navigator Course the following May. It was the last SNCO course to be offered as all later courses were for Officers only. It meant accommodation in the Sgt's Mess and much more civilised conditions. I started my training on Varsity aircraft for low level DRT and visual navigation exercises, then progressed to the Dominie T.Mk.1 for higher level, high speed, airways and controlled airspace flight.
When the time came for me to leave RAF service at the end of my 5 years, allowing for resettlement leave, I applied to extend for up to 27 years but I think my pacifist rebellion at Kinloss had ruled me out as unsuitable material and they said "No".
I still look back fondly on my time in the mob and did 3 years as a volunteer at RAF Cosford Aerospace Museum until my heart attack on July 26th.2000, the day after the Concord crash in Paris.
