大象传媒

Chapter X The last chapter.
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There followed a strange period. First to Acaster Malbis, nr York where all redundant Aircrew handed in their flying kit. Then to Blyton, Nr. Gainsborough where we were given a choice of alternative trades.
Seldom did anyone get their first choice and I was chosen to become an Equipment Officer and after a brief spell at Wickenby was posted to the Equipment Officers School at RAF Bicester.

A four weeks course and I was meant to be a fully qualified equipment officer. I was posted to Scampton but not needed there and so was posted on to. RAF Cosford where I was put in charge of the technical stores.

The Chief Equipment Officer was a fairly elderly Wing Commander who took me under his wing and kept a fatherly eye on me. The Royal Air Force was beginning to return to peacetime status and Wingco warned me that it was probably not a good idea to fraternize with my ex Aircrew NCO's in the "Shrewsbury Arms". If you must, get on your bikes and go further afield, was his advice.

One Monday morning I was called up to the WingCo's office to be asked "Where is F/Sgt.Brown (Not his real name) this morning". "I don't know sir" I replied.

"Well I will tell you" he said, "He is under arrest at Shifhal Police Station" This particular ex Aircrew NCO lived in a village quite near to Cosford and had permission to 'live out'. It transpired that almost everyone in his village had new curtains made from RAF bunting and quite a few people were wearing RAF or Waaf shoes.
I was ordered to do a stock check on my section and for his part he was charged by the Civil Police and at Shifhal Magistrates Court received little more than a slap on the wrist. No doubt his war service stood him in good stead. Because he had been dealt with by the Civil Courts he could not be charged and Court Martialled by the RAF and all that happened was that he was posted away from Cosford and released early into ciwie street.

At that time, lots of POW's were passing through Cosford on their way from POW Camps in Europe to their homes.
Monthly "Dining in " nights were also resumed in the Officers Mess. Due to officers leaving the station or being demobbed, at every "Dining In" we were "Dining Out" those departing., always ending in a wild party.

I remember one night which was extremely boisterous ending with Bar Rugby, footprints on the ceiling, the lot. I had better leave to the imagination how the footprints on the ceiling were achieved. That night I went to bed at about 3 am and when I went in to breakfast the following morning the mess was immaculate. The staff had obviously been up all night cleaning up.

On the 4th. November 1946 I received my final posting from Cosford to Headquarters Technical Training Command, at Brampton Nr. Huntingdon to be Unit Equipment Officer.

The Headquarters Unit consisted of a Squadron Leader C.O., a Flight Lieutenant Accountant Officer, a Flight Lt. Equipment Officer and their staffs. I had a hairy old Sergeant Equipment Assistant who I believe was a regular airman and probably looked upon me as not a real Equipment Officer. However, his knowledge and experience were invaluable.

I enquired as to the whereabouts of my predecessor to be told that he had already gone having been posted abroad. There was, therefore, no handover of inventories.

The next surprise was even greater, I was told that I also had RAF Kimbolton to finish closing down. I took myself to Kimbolton to find a 'care and maintenance party' of three airmen and one Waaf. Two were out on the airfield shooting rabbits and the other two were dealing with some paperwork. The entire camp had been almost cleared, barrack equipment to a storage/disposal site, fuel to other sites and./or the homes of the local population. Legend had it that a grand piano from the Sergeants Mess had gone astray.
One day a Provost Squadron Leader came into my office and said: "Bailey, I want you to come with me to St.Neots Police Station to identify some rolls of linoleum which they have recovered from a farmer". We went to St.Neots and a police sergeant showed us several rolls of obvious Air Ministry linoleum standing in a cell. I examined the rolls and could find no AM marks so I told the Provost that I could say the rolls were exactly similar to AM Lino but I could not positively identify them as AM property. The provost told the police sergeant to give the lino back to the farmer.
Heaven only knows how many houses had their floors covered in Air Ministry lino in the Kimbolton area. No doubt this sort of thing was happening all over the country. The politicians were so anxious to get servicemen back into civvies street that establishments were seriously undermanned.

When I, a mere Flying Officer, did the final paperwork for RAF Kimbolton I raised a write off document well in excess of 拢1 million at 1947 prices and this only involved equipment known to be missing.

With regard to Brampton itself, the winter of 46/47 was extremely severe with heavy snowfalls. Even the rail line between Huntingdon and Kettering was blocked. When the snow thawed there was severe flooding One weekend I went home and returned to Camp on Sunday afternoon to find that the previous night there had been a severe storm with gale force winds and Brampton was a scene of devastation.

Trees had been blown down crushing nissen huts The camp was flooded and the sewage system was completely useless. The following morning I located a stock of portable loos (Thunder boxes so called). A four wheel drive vehicle was despatched through the flood waters surrounding Huntingdon, to RAF Upwood to collect these things.
Things gradually returned to something like normal but it was a terrible time. The Officers Mess at Brampton was in the large house in Brampton Park and the Headquarters Staff from the C in C Technical Training Command down, were housed in Offices adjacent to Brampton Grange. There were far more senior officers at Brampton than junior officers because of the very nature of the place. The PMC of the mess was a Group Captain and one day he came to me and said "Bailey, we are going to have a Dining In and I thought it would be nice if we could have some proper RAF crested crockery and cutlery". I informed the PMC that these items were not on issue whereupon he suggested that I use my initiative.

It just so happened that whilst I was a Cosford I learned that in the Barrack Stores the very things I was being asked to get were in store, having been there throughout the War. I spoke with the Wing Commander, my former boss, who agreed to release a quantity of crockery, etc. I informed the PMC of my success and he arranged for a De Havilland Rapide aircraft from our communications flight at nearby Wyton to take me to Cosford to collect the two heavy chests of crocks.

I am sure the Rapide was overloaded on the flight back to Wyton but the mission was accomplished and the PMC was able to show off his 'posh' tableware at the next Dining In. I was shortly to have to make a major decision, the date was fast approaching for my release back into civilian life, I had agreed to serve six months beyond my release date and had made an application for an extended service commission which would have kept me in the Royal Air Force for at least another six years.
However my civilian employers became aware that I had done the extra six months and were not amused. I, despite having access to 'P' staff at Brampton could not get a decision from AF " Ministry and I made the decision to leave the service. On 1st. April, how significant a date, I headed off to Kirkham in Lancashire to collect my demob suit. A very sad day.

This is the end of the 'dream' but not quite the end of my love affair with the Royal Air Force. But that, as they say, is another story......

'This story was submitted to the People's War site by Rod Aldwinckle of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of John Derek Bailey and has been added to the site with his r permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions

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