大象传媒

I was raised in Rothesay, Isle of Bute.
I joined the RAF in 1951, first as a Boy Entrant then swapped to RAF Apprentice. My original trade was instruments but I later swapped to Air Radar and worked on a bombsight used on Vulcan, Victor and Valiant Bombers, although I only worked on Vulcans. I left in 1964.

I had an uncle who joined the RAF in 1919 as a Boy Airman. He trained as a carpenter airframe fitter and swapped to Air Sea Rescue launches, which had wooden hulls, working on them during WWII.

My father was in the RE's in 1939 and was called up right away. Later swapped to REME working on tanks in field workshops, he was also on diesel engines for boats and small craft and development of waterproofing truck diesel engines.

I have two cousins who were in the RAF as pilot and bomb aimer.

WWII was a time of technical explosion in all sciences and in military techniques and the spin offs for modern living were enormous. As I later became a computer engineer, I was aware that the designs of military equipment in analog and digital computing were adapted for use in commercial and manufacturing businesses.

Hence my interest in WWII.