大象传媒

This contribution to People鈥檚 War was received by the Action Desk at 大象传媒 Radio Cleveland and submitted to the website by Jane Tombling, with the permission and on behalf of Doreen Halford.

I was aged 20 at the outbreak of war in September 1939 living at home with my parents in Bradford. During early 1942 I volunteered to join the RAF and it wasn鈥檛 until December of that year that I was called up. After the initial training, square bashing etc, I was asked if I would like to be trained as an RDF Operator 鈥� Radio Direction Finding 鈥� I had no idea what this entailed but once it was explained that it would mean I would be stationed on the coast, looking out for enemy aircraft, I decided it would be a good job for me for the duration of the war.

I was posted to Cranwell College 鈥� during the war, schools were established at this college to train radio operators 鈥� there were hundreds of people there, training as radio operators, radar operators and aircrew etc. The training was of six weeks duration and I studied radar. It was impressed upon us all how secretive our training was. It was imperative that we did not discuss with anyone at all inside or out of the armed forces. As an example as to the secrecy of our work while training our notebooks at the end of each day鈥檚 training would be taken away and they were locked up in a safe 鈥� to be given back for our next day鈥檚 work. At the end of each day when we all went back to our respective huts 鈥� which were on site at Cranwell 鈥� we were not even allowed to discuss amongst each other what the day鈥檚 training had involved.

At the end of the six weeks training we were each posted to various radar stations and I was posted to The Needles, Isle of Wight. It was a bitterly cold winter, billeted to a house in Freshwater Bay and our place of work (The Radar Station) was on the cliffs at The Needles. From what I can recall there were seven of us on each watch including a Sgt or a Flight Sgt who was in charge. My first watch was the night watch which began 11pm to 8am the next morning. We were all transported in a truck from and to our billets in Freshwater Bay. Each person worked a different watch each day beginning with 8am 鈥� 1pm, 1pm 鈥� 6pm, 6pm 鈥� 11pm then 11pm 鈥� 8am (night watch). This system worked very well indeed. It must be borne in mind that when we were actually on duty we worked one hour on and one hour off 鈥� the work was so very intensive, 100% concentration was essential at all times while on duty. We were often given 36 hours off with a travel warrant to London if we wished and regular leave every three months.

My stay on the Isle of Wight was around a month, I was then posted to Highdown Hill in Sussex 鈥� between Worthing and Arundel - it was a campsite on the roadside with the radar station perched up on a hill 鈥� my stay here was around thirteen months I enjoyed this posting more than on the Isle of Wight. It was so much nicer being on a camp rather than being billeted. There was a definite feeling of camaraderie - not to mention that the food was infinitely better with the RAF canteen!

About half way through my stay at Highdown a Senior Officer came down and gave us a talk. It was all top security 鈥� guards at the door so that no one gained admittance that was not entitled to be there. He asked us all to be extremely vigilant and to be on the look out for a secret weapon 鈥� intelligence had not discovered exactly what this weapon would be 鈥� but they had 鈥済ot wind鈥� of new activity 鈥� this turned out to be the Doodlebug Rockets 1 and 2. The Germans improved on their initial Doodlebug design and their rocket 2 caused much more damage and could travel faster. To be honest I cannot recall ever seeing a Doodlebug on a radar screen 鈥� they were too fast and at too high an altitude in order to be detected by the radar systems in operation during WW2.

Fairlight was my next posting 鈥� this was just outside of Hastings 鈥� by this time it was June 1944 鈥� the talk and speculation then of course was when and where the anticipated invasion was to take place. Hastings and the surrounding area were full to bursting point of American army personnel in full combat gear 鈥� it was a waiting game 鈥� when they would all go into action?

I remember the D-Day landings in great detail. I was sleeping on a camp bed at my billet Hastings and all that could be heard was the sound of hundreds and hundreds of aircraft overhead 鈥� all heading South across the English Channel. The sky was black 鈥� not with clouds but with aircraft, they were heading 鈥� heavens only knew where 鈥� how many would return? The thought of what was going to happen did not bear thinking about. Of course it wasn鈥檛 necessary to plot all our aircraft leaving our shores there was no need 鈥� they were 鈥渙ur鈥� aircraft not the enemy!!

Late 1944 I was posted to Dover, this was once a busy station but now the aircraft were flying to the continent.

In the last stages of the war the Allies surrounded remnants of the German Army around the Calais area. In order to inflict as much damage as possible the Germans brought out the old cross channel guns from the First World War (known as Big Bertha鈥檚) and fired at Dover. The British Army also had 鈥淏ig Bertha鈥檚鈥� and fired back at Calais from Dover. This battle went on ceaselessly day and night until the Germans finally surrendered 鈥� and we all got some sleep!

NB This was the time that Dover was called 鈥淗ellfire Corner鈥� 鈥� nothing to do with bombing but because of the gun battle firing across the Channel.

VE Day 鈥� everyone went wild with delight 鈥� I was at Dover and in company with a friend we went to a Thanksgiving Service in Canterbury Cathedral 鈥� it seemed to us that we had an awful lot to be thankful for. I was demobbed in January 1946 and returned home to Bradford.

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