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This story was submitted to the People’s War Site by Suzanne Longstone and has been added to the website on behalf of Mr Harold Nicholson with his permission and he fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

In 1939 Harold was 24 years old. He had previously graduated from Durham University with a Physics degree and, when war broke out, had just gained a Ph.D. at Newcastle. He was summoned to London for an interview and told that his knowledge and skills were vital for the war effort and he was not allowed to fight. He was ordered to go to the Aberporth Projectile Development Establishment in Wales. When he arrived he found that the ‘Establishment’ consisted of one Nissen hut with one soon-to-be colleague, John Challons, typing away inside!

Harold spent the war working on UP’s — Unrotated Projectiles. These were rockets without fins, tracking or other guidance devices.` He was involved in testing and measuring the performance of the rockets developed by the defence department which were later used in the war, for example rockets with 60lb heads that were fired from the sea to support the landing of planes on carriers, and other rockets fired to protect airfields. He also worked on JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) — rockets to help planes take off from ships. Harold feels that he did the best work of his life during the war and that he was a lucky man to be given the chance to do the thing he loved most — working on rockets — knowing that it was helping the war effort and being paid for it at the same time! He also met his wife, Margaret who lived locally. They met in 1940, married in 1941 and celebrated their Golden Wedding together.

Harold remembers the wonderful lifestyle, living in the Welsh countryside. Food was never a huge problem. There was an abundance of local produce — rabbit, eggs, butter from local farms, salmon and sea trout (sewen) fished by men in coracles. Tea coupons could be exchanged with farmers and fishermen to obtain any of these so he never felt deprived of food during the war.

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