Hither and Yon !

They said you could stand on the cliffs near St Athan, and if you could see the English coastline, it was going to rain . . . if you couldn't see them . . . it was raining !    We almost all spent one year there - "Improving something or other" - and it rained every day !

St Athans !    The start of the 32MU Brat Pipe band to keep memories flowing . . . weekly dances in the NAAFI with all those Welsh girls "imported" by bus from surrounding villages . . . the end of duty-free "drags" for service folk with the Socialist Government's first budget . . . the spate of motorcycles that appeared . . . the first promotions . . . our first real contact with the "other 47th", the boys from Cranwell . . . the final splitting up of the Entry with postings to operational units

Central Fighter Establishment, West Raynham !    Five of us found ourselves together here in Norfolk  -  Dip Dye, Dickie Watson, Joe Larkworthy, Johnny Winch and myself . . . an enjoyable posting . . . Saturday outings to the "Samson and Hercules" in Norwich . . . the lumpy start of "Planned Servicing" (sic) . . . scrumping mistletoe at Xmas from the Sandringham estate . . . after-hours unguided missile experiments using Coffman starter propellant in aluminium tubing - (one night the BBC 9 o'clock News reported an unidentified object had crashed through the roof of a house in Kings Lynn . . . Coincidence ?

The sprog adjutant, who at his first King's Birthday parade, fully embued with his newly commissioned status, got overly class-conscious - ( "Officers will shout Hurrah . . . Men will shout Hooray . . . Hip, hip . . . !")

Volunteering for the newly formed Pakistan Air Force.

HMT "Georgic" !     Reunion at the embarkation centre and on the boat with umpteen other 47th fitters . . . thought I was heading for Karachi - found myself at El Hamra, Egypt . . . greeted by Fred Hutchings and a few other 47th Brats already there . . . guard duty every third night . . . crossing the "Sweetwater Canal" each day to go swimming in the Great Bitter Lakes - what a stench . . . next stop, back on the "Georgic" to Malta with Les Yaw !

Malta GC !    Home for almost three years;  a comparatively pleasant posting . . . tropical routine - swimming and sailing almost every afternoon . . . Les and I were at Safi, along with Pete Jacket of the 36th (?), and Lofty Milne and Dick Peats of the 3?th Entries . . . early 1949 moved to 73 Sqdn, Ta'Qali . . . B Flight commander was Bunny Austin of the 3?th Entry . . . Pete Grieg of the 47th and Pit Oversby of the 45th arrived soon after . . . goodwill tour to Milan Aero Show, Italy - whole aerobatic display flight pranged in the Eastern Italian mountains en-route . . . panic work at Ta'Qali getting replacements ready . . . grudge Rugby match with the French Air Force . . . posting to AHQ as Education Assistant for final year - living in "The Ditch" below Kingsgate in Valletta . . . AHQ "Wog" Jones - service number 13 (?) . . . intermittent meetings with 47th Brats passing through.

Technical College, Henlow !     Station Flight and then "boggy mechanic" instuctor . . . a posting near home . . . ex-47th roommate Jimmy Green was there . . . rabbit shooting in the evenings around the airfield . . . playing soldiers with the RAF Regiment . . . trip back to St Athans for new-fangled "Corporal Tech" exam board . . . apoplexy for the "Station Master" at the annual AOC's inspection when, as Right Guide for my unit, I marched off by myself in the opposite direction to the massed erks on parade - ( I was almost totally deaf by this time, and the Station Wog gave the wrong "Left Turn" order - I only heard a grunt ! ) . . . several months at CME in London, with the Air Commodore i/c RAF Records, both being taught to lip read by a little old lady who resembled Margaret Rutherford in the "Blithe Spirit" movie . . . interim posting to Wheaton as an instructor.

North Coates !    AIS training so that I could take over the RAF Standards Lab and be in "solitary confinement" due to my deafness . . . Cocky Amos was there, also one of the 46th Fitters, name forgotten, although I had met him several times in transit over the years . . . the sand dunes at low tide, with the shell fishermen in their jalopies . . . run-ins, due to deafness, with "snoops" under training - such fun !

Stoke Heath - RAF Standards Lab !     What a change in environment;   an MT repair base . . . all remote living quarters and other facilities in the woods . . . . moto-cross racing . . . re-building Mrs Stewarts speed record-holding 1927 2-speed Morgan 3-wheeler  . . .  found it in a scrap yard . . . CO called me in one morning to tell me that I was being invalided out . . . the end of the line, except for that final trip to the demob centre to get my new "civvies".