大象传媒

Vincent Boughton鈥檚 鈥楥harmed War鈥�
Flt/Lt. TVJ Boughton. MBE. RAF Retd.

I was born in Gillingham Kent on the 19th July 1920 and from an early age admired my half brother, Marcel Philips, an ex-apprentice from the 22nd entry at Halton. He lived an exciting life as a Sgt. Pilot and so when I was 15 I wanted to follow him into the Royal Air Force.
I sat the exam to join, which cost half a crown to take. I used to see a Folkestone Grammar schoolboy at Appledore Station on the way to my school and he took the same exam and failed. Our post had not arrived that morning when I had left home, but he told me I would have failed too, 鈥渋f a grammar school boy couldn鈥檛 get in then what hope had I!鈥� Mother was waiting with a letter when I got home and I had passed! Next day the boy 鈥榞ot what for鈥�!
I Joined the RAF on September 4th 1935 as an Aircraft Apprentice at RAF Halton in the 32nd entry. My number was 568569. We were an early part of the expansion ordered by the Government and championed by Trenchard who had been, Chief of the Air Staff up until 1929 and now known as the 鈥榝ather of the RAF鈥�. We all became known as the Trenchard鈥檚 Brats because he had started the apprentice scheme.

I soon became an airman and a skilled fitter. We learnt technical drawing and studied Engines and Airframes and I became a (Fitter 2) when I passed out in 1938. Alison, my future wife, and my Mother came to see me pass out. My first uniform, when I joined, was marked as having been made in 1918!! The Best Blue included Foxes Puttees. We were the penultimate entry to wear puttees, as the 33rd entry had the pleasure of being the last!!
You had to do two things whilst at Halton. Learn to swim and go for a flight! The latter consisted of a 15-minute trip around the aerodrome. I was not destined to be a pilot as airsickness was a problem for me! In fact all fitters were precluded from even applying to be pilots once war broke out, as we were too vital to keeping aircraft serviceable.

RAF Tangmere was my first posting, where I joined 217 Squadron in 1938. On arrival there was no one there. They had all flown down to Jersey to celebrate the first anniversary of the Squadron. They bought up cheap wine and champagne and stowed it in the bomb bay. But as the aircraft circled and dipped to salute the local mayor, the bungee supporting the bomb bay doors gave way and wine and champagne fell out of the bomb bay.
In 1939, as war was imminent, there was a panic on and we had to move to Warmwell in Dorset. The Squadron of 16 Ansons had to be painted in camouflage but no dope was available. So the stores Sgt. went out and bought distemper. This soon washed off in the first rain! We were inspected by the AOC, moved back to Tangmere and cleaned up the aircraft!

At the outbreak of war I was working on aircraft maintenance for 217 Squadron at Thorney Island where we were housed in bell tents, as all the Barracks were full. Following the announcement that war had been declared all aircraft were started and taxied out to dispersal points with sirens sounding! Nothing happened.
Soon I was posted to RAF Leuchars in Scotland to join 233 Squadron, D flight, working on 鈥榮hort nosed鈥� Blenheim Aircraft, where we harmonised the guns in readiness for war. D Flight was soon formed into 254 Squadron, provided with extra aircraft and moved to RAF Bircham Newton in Norfolk. We were operating with Coastal Command protecting the North Sea Coast. By now we had been issued with 鈥榣ong nosed鈥� Blenheims, which were a bit faster.

The Squadron flew up to the Orkney Islands to join HMS Sparrowhawk, a shore base operated by the Royal Navy. Our aim was to operate against the Germans in Norway. We lived in Nissan huts and at night the Petty officer would come round at night and tell us to 鈥榙arken ship鈥�. If an air raid was sounded we ran up the hill to hide behind the stonewalls.

In 1940 I was based at Sumburgh Head with 254 Squadron, in the Shetland Islands, maintaining planes that were operating against the Germans in Norway. Here I was promoted to Corporal.
Troop carrying Barges were massing for a possible invasion and so all corporals were issued with a rifle to shoot at enemy aircraft. (The Black Watch who guarded the base had ammo for only 10 minutes!) One evening the alarm was sounded and I quickly realised that I had no ammo for my rifle and went to find the Warrant Officer armaments only to find a queue of corporals waiting to be issued with their 303 ammo. We each got 143 rounds in a box which had to be carried around from then on!

I was then posted to Dyce, still with 254 Squadron, and it was here that I got one weeks leave and returned to Kent to get married.
The wedding was on the 4th September 1940 and on the way to the Church I had to shelter from the showers of canon shells falling from the sky, as a dogfight took place overhead. I had to ask a RAF Sgt. to come in off the street to be my best man!

After the wedding, we went back to my mother鈥檚 house in Tunbridge Wells where as I opened a window I saw a yellow nosed Messerschmitt coming straight towards the house. Fortunately it crashed a mile away. So I decided to take my new wife with me away from the danger. We went back to Dyce, where we lodged with a Mrs Duckid.
I was then posted to St. Athan in Wales to be an instructor for new recruits joining up and here I was promoted to Sergeant and we were provided with a local Council House to live in.
Several of us were sent on a course to be trained to be a sergeant. It was notable that when Hong Kong fell to the Japanese I was in the process of learning to iron the tapes on my Gas Cape for a kit inspection!! Such was the state of Training Command.

In February 1943 volunteers were asked to go on a course to Leicester College of Art and Technology to study for an HNC in readiness for commissioning to Officer. The famous broadcaster Cliff Mitchelmore was on the same course with me. After further courses I was finally commissioned. We were posted to Sidmouth where we undertook intensive battle training to prepare us to fight the enemy. On one exercise 80 men were sent on a bike ride and my abiding memory is of burning rubber from the brakes as we all negotiated down a steep hill!

I was posted to RAF Cosford on an engineering course to prepare to be an Officer and in 1943 I was promoted to Acting Pilot Officer. My number changed then to 51429 as for some reason officers got new numbers!
My first posting as an officer was at the Torpedo Training Unit, Castle Kennedy near Stranraer. Later we moved to RAF Turnberry which had been a famous Golf Course and where the clubhouse was used as a hospital for very badly injured POWs, whom the Germans had returned.

On one day I cycled in from our home at Girvan only to find that the aircraft were about to take off covered in hoar frost. Unbeknown to the new pilots this affects the lift of the aircraft and my swift action in halting their take off probably saved several crashes on take off!

Next I was sent out to the Middle East. I was instructed to report to Liverpool to the Reno Del Pacifico, a day before sailing and was given responsibility for 鈥榁entilation鈥�. We sailed out into the Atlantic and I was overcome with seasickness, so ventilation was far from my mind. In any case the cold meant that the vents were stuffed with socks to avoid all heat loss! Eventually I emerged to be found by a steward, who on hearing I was suffering, gave me a slice of beetroot, which had the effect of stopping my queasiness!
As an Officer I travelled in a first class cabin, which I shared with 16 other officers!

At Port Said several officers left the ship, whilst we stayed on board rumoured to be heading for Turkey. At Port Tufic we disembarked and got onto a lorry, which drove us along the Suez Canal, where we met with the other Officers we thought we鈥檇 seen the last of. It seems that our trip to Turkey was cancelled.
It was here that I received a letter from home announcing that my wife was pregnant with our second child. This caused great hilarity for an officer colleague called Singlehurst. The next day he received mail informing him that his wife was in a similar condition! Mail sent out from here was photographed and sent home by air.

In March 1944 I moved to Alexandria to the Air HQ Eastern Mediterranean and was told to join 252 Squadron as an Engineering Officer. When asked how I was to get there, I was told to take the next train leaving in 3 week鈥檚 time or hitchhike! Fortunately I found a lorry in the car park from 252 Squadron heading out the next day and got a ride to Mersa Matrue where the only thing left standing was the minaret of the Mosque. The area was strewn with burnt out tanks and lorries. On arrival at the mess tent I was called up by Air Traffic Control and asked what advice to give to Sqn. Leader Foxley Norris, who was in the air and whose petrol tank was leaking! I suggested he land ASAP! He later became Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, Air Chief Marshall.
252 were assigned the task of monitoring and destroying German supplies coming in on Greek fishing boats. The method was to spot them, from the air in the moonlight, and attack them.

We moved base to Gambut in Libya, where sandstorms were a particular problem as the wind blew sand at the aircraft and us. Tyres damaged by stones would blow out when the aircraft was airborne which meant a belly flop landing. Leaking fuel tanks were another problem. Despite self-sealing material surrounding them, they still leaked!

The Squadron were then ordered to Greece and all aircraft were
flown up to Heliopolis. The CO asked me to drive his car, which I did with some trepidation given that I had never driven in traffic before. Alexandria at 7pm in the dark filled me with mouth drying fear! However, I made it unscathed!

We fitted the Beufighters with rockets with concrete heads for practice and one of these broke up on hitting the ground and bounced up and killed the Navigator. I was given the task of burying him locally and got our carpenter to make up a coffin out of old packing cases. It was a beautiful job including white rope for handles!

Whilst we were at Heliopolis, Winston Churchill came back from Yalta via our base and as a precaution, our CO got all aircraft flown off to another airfield on the basis that when Churchill saw aircraft idle he would order them to be sent somewhere else!

At this time the war had shifted away from the Western Desert to fighting the Germans on the Greek Islands. We were based about 4 miles outside Athens at RAF Hassani and on arrival in khaki dress there was a snowstorm raging! Although we were allocated a hotel as the officer鈥檚 mess I still continued to use the camp bed issued at the start of my career, due to a lack of proper beds!
From Hassani we moved to Araxos, which was nothing but a runway with a very marshy hinterland. The aerodrome was pitted with holes caused by mines blown up by engineers and these filled with water when it rained in which mosquitoes bred. The whole surrounding area had to be sprayed with DDT and the holes sprayed with oil. We all took pills, which helped me escape from getting malaria.

We lived in tents initially, but then got Italian POWs to build concrete bases and erect Nissan huts, which made life a little more comfortable. Whilst at Araxos I received a signal from the AOC saying I had been awarded the MBE (Mil) for services to the war effort in keeping aircraft serviceable under extreme conditions. My medal and commendation was sent by post, the latter signed by Queen Mary.

By now the war in Europe had ended we were told to prepare for war in the East. By this time I had been away from home for 3 years and so was given 2 weeks leave in England. This leave started on arrival in the UK so the journey did not count! It consisted of a long train ride through Italy and France and then by military ferry across the Channel to Dover. Here we were put up in Nissan Huts and I had the joy of a shower, but had gone for it dressed only in my Greatcoat. On leaving the shower block I discovered that all the Nissan huts were the same so spent some time (in a panic) finding my own block and my clothes!!

The return journey took us through Switzerland where the contrast with war torn England had to be seen to be believed. Things were winding down since the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Japan and its surrender and so I contacted Air HQ Greece to ask what they wanted me to do with only 16 pilots and 16 Beufighters and no airmen. I was told to taxi half of the aircraft to the end of the runway and dump them!

I have not mentioned the losses of 252 Squadron but they were considerable and as the Engineering Officer, living in the same mess, I felt the losses very keenly.
On a lighter note 鈥� my senior NCOs and Aircraftmen looked after the aircraft with the utmost dedication, working long hours without complaint. I was very proud of them and considered my MBE as much theirs as mine.
My charmed war was over, where despite hard work and discomfort I had survived without even stepping foot in an air raid shelter.

In 1945 on my return to the UK I was posted to RAF Brize in Oxfordshire and this was followed by tours to RAF Eastleigh in Kenya (1949 to 1953), RAF Shawbury; RAF Melksham (1954 to 1959), RAF Laarbruch in Germany (1959 to 1962) and RAF Coltishall (1962 to 1964). After a brief spell back at Melksham I was posted to RAF Newton in Nottinghamshire (1964 to 1968) from where I was sent to RAF Boulmer in Northumberland. When I retired in July 1973 I remained in the area and continue to draw my retired pay after 32 years!

Written by Marcel Boughton, (after conversations with his father, aged 85, in December 2005.)

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