大象传媒

Flight Sergeant Lucas was moved in the spring of 1941 and our next Flight Sergeant was Lofty Launder, an ex-Halton apprentice with about 15 years service. Early in 1941 I took a trade test and getting a mark of 80per cent I was promoted to Leading Aircraftsman. That year, a good many of us from Brize Norton moved to Southrop which now had more accommodation but no electricity or drainage. We were occasionally sent back to Brize Norton for a short time and then back to Southrop. The barrack rooms at Brize Norton were now overcrowded, two tier beds being in use. During one spell at Brize Norton the room I was in had a phantom piddler. Quite often in the morning someone would find a boot full of piddle. There were no lights after 23.30 hours, the power being turned off. The phantom piddler was never caught.
Southrop was very easy going after Brize Norton. There was no Guard Room or service police and as long as you did your work you could more or less come and go as you liked. The most important thing was keeping the Oxfords serviceable to get as many flying hours as possible. The chief flying instructor Sqn/Ldr Johnson and flying instructor Warrant Officer Hedges were both awarded the Air Force Cross for their work and all the flying hours they put in.
There were no hangars at Southrop and all the work on aircraft was done outside. For major inspections the Oxfords were flown back to Brize Norton. We played football amoungst ourselves at Southrop and whenever possible we had really good Saturday nights in Fairford.
Every course of pupil pilots had to do night flying. When mechanics or riggers were detailed for night flying duties you would often have to lay out the flare path with Goose Neck flares. Goose Neck flares were shaped like a large coffee pot, the spout being shaped like a goose neck. It was filled with paraffin and had a wick down the spout. After being ignited a round sheet metal cover about 3 feet in diameter on short legs was positioned over the flares allowing the light to shine out onto the ground and the flares were not visible from height. There was no radio in the Oxfords and night flying was dangerous in the blackout with no contact with the ground and the flare path could easily be lost to view. To give the pilot guidance about 2 miles from the airfield a bonfire was kept burning to indicate to the pilot where to turn in and line up. The bonfire was known as Lead in Lights. When you were on night flying duty, in the late evening before midnight you went individually to the cookhouse for a mug of tea and an egg on fried bread, which during the war was a treat 鈥� a luxury. After night flying duty you generally had the next day off, and you would put a towel across your bed to indicate that you were not to be disturbed. Having the next day off depended on what time the night flying finished and you came off duty.
One night a pupil pilot in an Oxford on his first solo night landing came in slightly too low and the aircraft undercarriage wheels touched a large round petrol storage tank on the airfield boundary causing the aircraft to crash into the ground. We got the pilot out and he was taken away by ambulance to hospital but he died a few days later. About a week later a local policeman came to the camp making enquiries and looked at the marks on the storage tank made by the undercarriage wheels. The policeman asked me a few questions as with others I had witnessed the crash. Shortly after that the Officer in Charge of night flying on the night of the crash, the Flight Sergeant pilot instructor and the rigger and myself had to attend an inquest in Cirencester. The rigger and myself had carried out the night flying inspection on the crashed aircraft and we were asked a few questions, but the crash had been caused by pilot error. It was rather sad because the parents of the pilot who had died as a result of the crash were in attendance.
At Brize Norton some evenings in the NAAFI we played 鈥淗ousey Housey鈥�, also called Tombola, now reinvented and widely known as 鈥渂ingo鈥�.
In late September 1941 a young army officer riding an army Norton motor cycle ran into me and my Triumph motor cycle in the black-out. The two machines were locked together and my right leg was trapped on the hot exhaust pipe of my machine burning through my trousers and into the calf of my leg. The burn was quite deep. It was dressed by a medical officer and healed well and has never given any trouble. It was the only wound that I received in the war. The accident had buckled the front wheel and forks and smashed the headlamp. I had a mate on the pillion, and between us we put the Triumph at the back of a house that was unoccupied. We then walked about ten miles back to Brize Norton. The young army officer was the only officerI ever swore at, but he was an honest man and gave me his correct name and address. About three days after the accident on an RAF lorry, I was able to get the motor cycle to a railway station and send it home. I was surprised how easy it was and it only cost a few shillings. My father put in a claim and an army officer called at my home in Surrey to see the damaged bike. In due course a cheque for 拢17 was received which would pay for the repair after the war. I had a lot of fun and enjoyment with the Triumph and much of the time I rode in civilian riding kit and therefore attracted less attention. I was once stopped by the Oxford police for exceeding the speed limit on the Woodstock Road returning from leave, summoned and fined 拢2.
At the end of October 1941 the basic petrol ration was taken away and coupons only issued for essential purposes, and so I could not have used the machine any longer.
When road signposts were removed after Dunkirk, it was surprising how you found your way about. The blackout never worried me because from the age of eight I had lived in the country where there was no electricity or gas. It was sometime in 1941 that we no longer had sheets, only blankets.
It was in 1941 that at Southrop we were joined by two mechanics that had come from Cranwell and they told us about an aircraft that they had seen flying without a propeller, just a hole at the front. We did not know what to make of it and couldn鈥檛 believe it. We did not think it possible for any aeroplane to fly without a propeller. What they had seen was the first jet aircraft powered by Whittle鈥檚 jet engine.
In October 1941, radios were beginning to be fitted into the Oxfords. Towards the end of that month I was posted with a number of others to Blackpool for a fitters course. Fitters were Group 1 Tradesmen, the highest group in the RAF. Flight Mechanic was a Group II trade and you could get no higher than LAC. By becoming a Group I Tradesman you had prospects of promotion above LAC, although to me it did not seem easy

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