大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Bill Ross of the 鈥楢ction Desk 鈥� Sheffield鈥� Team on behalf of Jack Morley, and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr. Morley fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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The stories were transcribed from audio recordings made and supplied by Jack. When some of the foreign place names that are mentioned could not be found very easily in an atlas, they have been typed as they sounded, as have some of the technical and coded terms with which I was not familiar, therefore, they will probably be misspelled................. Bill Ross, 大象传媒 People鈥檚 War Story Editor.
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Other parts to this story can be found at:

Part 1: A5041397

Part 2: A5041531

Part 4: A6039722

Part 5: A6081257

Part 6: A6081301

Part 7: A6126077

Part 8: A6126167

Part 9: A6138010

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So, I said to him, 鈥淐ut it as short as you like, not shaven, but short.鈥� So he gave me what would be called a crew cut. I was nearly in tears when he cut all my lovely locks off. Alan said, 鈥淒o t鈥檚ame for me.鈥�
When we walked up the platform, we were both grinning; we thought. 鈥淗e can鈥檛 get at us now.鈥� He let us get back up to our position, and we were still grinning. He said, 鈥淵ou have just been awarded 7 days鈥� jankers for dumb insolence.鈥� That was because we鈥檇 grinned at him

We had to go and get kitted out for this jankers, so we marched down to Woolworth鈥檚 corner, where we had been allocated a space. The flight sergeant met us and he marched us round the corner to the bottom of Albert Road, and into a Mark鈥檚 and Spencer鈥檚 store. Here, we were issued with a rifle with a fixed bayonet. We were told, 鈥淚f anyone comes to this store, you challenge 鈥榚m with: 鈥楬alt, who goes there?鈥� If they don鈥檛 answer, shoot 鈥榚m. Well, no, you can鈥檛 shoot 鈥榚m yet, you鈥檝e got to challenge 鈥榚m three times, but, if they don鈥檛 show their I.D. cards, ask them to go away and come back with it. Now, you鈥檝e got one bullet each and if they don鈥檛 answer, shoot 鈥榚m! Just like that!鈥�

After about an hour or so, nobody had been by, then along came Flight Sergeant Frazer. 鈥淎h,鈥� he said, 鈥淲e鈥檝e got yer busy have we?鈥� 鈥淵es Flight.鈥� Then he started to go past us, and we both said, 鈥淗alt! Show your identity card.鈥� He said, 鈥淵ou know who I am, I鈥檓 Flight Sergeant Frazer.鈥� We said, 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to see your identity card.鈥� Well, strangely, he wasn鈥檛 carrying it, so we arrested him. We locked him into a very little room that was provided for the very purpose. We told out guard commander who said, 鈥淎lright, leave him in there.鈥�

The next minute, the squadron C.O. came down. He said, 鈥淚鈥檓 your course commanding officer.鈥� 鈥淪how us your identity card sir.鈥� 鈥淥h, I鈥檓 sorry,鈥� he said, 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 got it with me.鈥� 鈥淲ell, you can鈥檛 go in here without it.鈥� 鈥淚 want to see Flight Sergeant Frazer.鈥� I said, 鈥淣o sir, we鈥檝e got orders to shoot if yer don鈥檛 do as we tell yer.鈥� So off he went and came back with his card. He was furious, but we let him pass when we saw his card. He went in and spoke to the guard commander and then came out with Flight Sergeant Frazer who was absolutely fuming after being locked up. The officer said, 鈥淵ou did quite right chaps." The guard commander said, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e for it tomorra, Flight Sergeant Frazer is fuming.鈥�

As it happened, Flight Sergeant Frazer never came near us again, so really, it was a cushy job because we were only there for about 2陆 hours, then we were back to the billets.

Anyway, we were taken to various places for certain classes. The first one was Morse procedure, which I鈥檇 already done in the navy, but I had to learn it the RAF way now. I couldn鈥檛 do it, although I鈥檇 been doing almost 20 words a minute at the naval school, that was too slow, so I had to learn it all again. I got good practice at it whilst walking round Blackpool and telling my mates the names of shops etc., in Morse code, so most of the squad learnt Morse Code from me, rather than the instructors.

On some occasions, we went up to the rifle range at Bispham. It was a long walk and we were often tired before we got there, but we still had to get down and do target practice. All in all, it was a good grounding for the service life that was to come.

For about three months, we hadn鈥檛 had leave, then towards the end of the course we were told that we would be allowed to go on a 72 hour pass. When we got back, we were to be posted to Madely in Herefordshire along with some more. In Madely, we went to Number Four Radio School where we were checked off then allocated billets. Here, we were given corporals to be in charge of us, each had his own corporal. It was strange to know that some of the things I would be learning were about some of the things that would be happening on 101 Squadron, when I got there. 鈥楢lert G鈥� was a new invention at that time, and H2S was just coming out, so we learnt the rudiments of that. Then we were sent to learn the rudiments of gunnery by going clay pigeon shooting.

Eventually, it was announced that we鈥檇 passed our courses and were to be posted to various stations to learn more about wireless maintenance. Fred Jackson and I were posted to a place on the east coast, just above Bridlington. We reported to the Wireless Maintenance department there, and we were given a bicycle each. Our billet was to be at Bransburton and the maintenance section was at the far side of the aerodrome.

One of the wireless mechanics said to us, 鈥淚f you can get hold of a flying helmet, you鈥檒l be able to go flying if you get stationed on a dispersal site." So, we managed to get a flying helmet, and I got hold of a flying logbook, but I was told that I would have to hand it in when I left the station because I wasn鈥檛 supposed to have it.

On the very first day, I reported to the hut on the dispersal site and there were three aircraft there, all Bowfighters. I checked the wirelesses on each one, then I went back into the hut. A pilot came in and asked, 鈥淗as anyone got a flying helmet?鈥� I said, 鈥淵es sir, I have." 鈥淩ighto, come with me lad,鈥� he sez. So I followed him. 鈥淐limb aboard,鈥� he sez. I wondered what was going on now. He said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e going for a little trip around Bridlington and some practice shooting at the range." Well, the observer鈥檚 seat in this aircraft was beside a huge oblong drum, full of canon shells. He said, 鈥淚f any of 鈥榚m get jammed, give 鈥榚m a little tug, and if you can鈥檛 loosen them, tell me.鈥�

I鈥檇 nothing to do except listen on the wireless. Anyway, he went down to this range, a short way down the coast, right on the coast. It was a huge sheet of metal and he went and fired at it, and he hit it. It split all ways. Then he flew over the sea and said, 鈥淣ow we鈥檒l have a run round the bay now we鈥檝e hit the target.鈥� So we had a flight around Bridlington, then went back to base and landed, then he said, 鈥淲hen I land, hold tight because these aircraft stall below 120 miles per hour and they鈥檙e likely to crash if we stall.

Beside Bowfighters, there were Balfour Torpedo bombers and Blenheim Bombers on this station. The station was a Coastal Command OUT, a huge aerodrome in fact. Once or twice, I got a trip in a Blenheim, which I thought was quite nice. I got to fly in Bowfighters quite a lot. Sometimes, a pilot would say, 鈥淥h, there鈥檚 a German boat out there, let鈥檚 go and shoot it up, just for fun.鈥� They weren鈥檛 supposed to do that, but they did it.

On one occasion, we got chased away from Norway; he鈥檇 lost his direction and he said, 鈥淐all up and see if you can get me some information or something.鈥� But before I had a chance, two German fighters came up from the coast of Norway, so he about turned. He knew where he was then. So we made our way back to Bridlington.

Close to the camp was a beacon site at Skipsy. If we did anything wrong, we got seven days on the flasher beacon. That was a little camp of about 14 strong and had a couple of men training to be RAF regiment soldiers. There was nothing else other than this beacon which had to be kept flashing all the time the RAF had an aeroplane in the air. It wasn鈥檛 as dangerous as it seemed. We used to change a cam to alter a letter each day, and the beacon itself, stood on a metal framework with tarpaulins around, and inside was a mattress and an electric light was fixed up for when we were on at night time.

The first time we went to the cookhouse, it was, 鈥淲hat would yer like to eat?鈥� I thought, 鈥淭his is strange, a sergeant cook asking what would we like. So he told us, 鈥淲hen you go on duty up there at night, you鈥檒l be in the safest place in England.鈥� We asked why, and he said, 鈥淵ou鈥檒l find out when yer go.鈥� It was because the Germans came out over the North Sea, turned around our beacon and went down the coast to bomb Hull. It was a marker for 鈥榚m, so they weren鈥檛 likely to bomb us. I had a wonderful seven days there; actually, I kept doing little naughty things so that I could get sent there again. I went there quite a few times, in fact, it became like a little permanent unit, but all good things come to an end.

I was going on seven days鈥� leave, after which I had to report back to RAF Madely. When I eventually arrived at Madely, I saw my old pal Freddie Jackson and a new pal, Bill Harvey. I鈥檇 become firm pals with him, until he got killed. Anyway, we were to start a refresher course at Madely, and if we passed it, we were to be made sergeants, so we worked hard at this, helping one another along. In the meantime, during the refresher course, we were billeted not at the same site, but at a site near where the church stands, near Hartley鈥檚 jam factory. There were three rows of huts and a big flight sergeant, who had a huge watch, the full size of his breast pocket.

We were in Hut C, and when we鈥檇 had breakfast, we went back to the hut, got ready to go down to the classes, and the flight sergeant would come, and blow his whistle, we鈥檇 pile into three ranks, and he鈥檇 keep looking at this big watch, and when it was time to go, off we鈥檇 go and he would wait until every man had passed him at the gateway. Then as we marched down the hill, towards where the classrooms were, and the church, he would cycle past, shouting at us to pick our feet up, this, that and the other. Then he鈥檇 cycle back; up and down he used to go.

Then came the first Sunday, church parade. All three huts turned out as usual to go down for church parade. One by one, people went missing, from the parade as he stood there looking at his watch. By the time he鈥檇 finished, there was less than half the number of people he鈥檇 set off with to go down to church parade, but he never bothered. He just ignored us. But whilst going down to church parade, he鈥檇 be shouting, 鈥淐ome on, I know yer, I know who you are, I know who鈥檚 missing.鈥� But he didn鈥檛 know. When we got to the church, he would stand at the door, ushering us in, and then he鈥檇 shoot off somewhere.
When we went into the church, he鈥檇 disappeared.

When we came out, he was there again to take us back up to the sites. The flight sergeant鈥檚 name was Evans and he鈥檇 been in the air force about twenty years. This ritual happened every time we went on parade. But eventually, the wondrous day arrived; we鈥檇 learnt enough to go flying. Oh my, how good that was. On a designated morning, we were marched down to the aerodrome, and here was our first introduction to flying.

I was among the first batch of three or four to climb into a Dominic aircraft. This was what we鈥檇 always thought was the main plane. We were to go for a familiarisation flight and this would be for a period of about ten minutes. It took off with a mighty roar from two engines, everything shook. In turn, each one of us was violently sick during that first trip.

A couple of days later, we were on another trip in a Dominic, but this time it wasn鈥檛 too bad. After we鈥檇 had two or three trips, we were allocated an instructor, to fly Proctors wherever we went . We could learn to fly, use the wireless set. This was a wonderful time for me because the Proctor was much more stable than the Dominic. To my surprise, I wasn鈥檛 sick at all. The wirelesses were the 1082/3. There used to be a song about them, but I can鈥檛 remember it.

We gradually got into the way of sending messages from the air, sending and receiving Morse, how to get bearings etc. I was realizing my ambitions here, it was always my ambition to fly. Anyway, the weeks went by and it became time for our final examinations. There wasn鈥檛 one man on the course who failed. So, that was a cue for a night out in Hereford. On the following day, we were all to receive our sergeants鈥� stripes. What a night we had, no one caught the bus back because the bus went before the pubs turned out, so I was among the walkers, or more appropriately, one of the staggerers; we were in a right sorry state by the time we got back. But we didn鈥檛 report to the guardroom, we went straight to the billet, for which we were hauled over the coals for not signing in, we鈥檇 been put down as absent. Anyway, we got away with that, nobody charged us with anything. We just got a good dressing down for not reporting in at the guardroom.
We paraded once more, then were informed that a certain number of us were to go to a place called West Frue, which was an advanced flying unit. As we approached Stranraer Station, once more there was a fleet of busses to meet us. The busses took us to our sleeping quarters. When we got there, they said, 鈥淵er鈥檒l be starting classes tomorra, some will be flying, some will be doing other things.
Anyway, we were quite some months up there: besides the normal flying over to Ireland, Isle of Man and Jersey, sometimes we took passengers, sometimes we鈥檇 take someone over to Ireland. They鈥檇 say, 鈥淎re you going to Scotland, Isle of man, can we have a lift?鈥�

In the meantime, I鈥檇 done my gunnery course and then that was it, I was granted my air gunner鈥檚 badge. All of us who had got our flying badges thought we were going to be posted on leave and that they would instruct us as to where we鈥檇 go from there. For the first time in months, I got leave.

It was early in the morning when we approached Sheffield; it all seemed strange. I walked into the house, dumped my kit on the floor and there was this little old woman in the corner. I said, 鈥淥h, I鈥檓 sorry love, I thought I was at home.鈥� She said, 鈥淵ou are home Jack, come and gi鈥� me a kiss.鈥� It was my mother, whom when I left, had been about fourteen stone. She鈥檇 got cancer and went down to about 6 or 7 stone. I said, 鈥淎re yer alright now?鈥� She said, 鈥淥h yes, I鈥檓 alright just now.鈥� So, 鈥淐ome on then.鈥� She said, 鈥淲here we going?鈥� I helped her up the steps into the middle of the yard, put me arms round her.........>

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