As the weeks went by we all got to know the local girls, who had plenty of money doing war work, and they used to pay to take us to the cinema etc., and their fathers would buy us beer. However, all good things must come to an end and, to reduce the ever increasing numbers at Heaton Park, we were sent on detachment to operational bomber airfields all over the eastern part of England to gain flying experience and to make ourselves generally useful. So I came to find myself at Little Staunton, near St.Neots, which was a Pathfinder Force bomber station and where, in addition to almost daily trips on test flights in Lancasters following their servicing or repair, we worked in the bomb bay assisting with the bombing up of  aircraft before they flew off on raids.

By the end of December 1944, six months had elapsed since we had qualified as signallers, so back to Cranwell for a three weeks refresher course, during which we increased our Morse speed from 18 words a minute to 24 words a minute. Then back to Heaton Park, but still no sign of a navigation course so off to another flying station for more flight experience. This time I was detached to RAF Warboys, near Huntingdon and, once again, flew on test flights in Lancasters. I also played many games of rugby on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.

After Warboys there was another short stay at Heaton Park before yet a third period of detachment. However, between courses, detachments and short stays at Heaton Park we were always given leave and  I invariably went home to London where I was able to enjoy all the entertainment available to servicemen in the big city for, since my increase in pay after Grading School, I had a reasonable amount of money to spend.

There were many clubs in London catering for servicemen, my favourite being the Nuffield Club, just off Leicester Square, in which locality the majority of West End cinemas were situated together with theatres.  I patronised all these cinemas at one time or another during my various periods of leave in 1944 and early 1945 when the V1 and V2 raids on London were at their height. Air raid alerts and all clears were flashed onto cinema screens during performances but the vast majority of audiences remained in their seats throughout raids.

The sound of a V1 when at home or in the street, however, was treated differently. One listened to the sound of its engine and, if the noise of the engine suddenly stopped, then people hurried to get under some sort of cover immediately because the V1 was about to dive and explode on the ground.  With V2 rockets there was no prior warning, just a large explosion on the ground.

On Saturday afternoons, during my periods of leave, I watched a football match at Highbury or White Hart Lane and, in the evenings I went dancing at the Locano, Streatham where I often met one or more of my old friends.

So then to a third period of detachment, this time to Mildenhall, Suffolk where we arrived in late April in time to celebrate my 21st birthday on 3rd May and then, within days, to celebrate VE Day, signifying the end of the war in Europe. After the latter celebrations I took stock of my personal situation. It would be doubtful, I thought, if our navigation course, for which we had been waiting for eleven months, would ever now take place and, although the war was still being fought in the Far East, I doubted that I would be directly involved there.  I was 21 years of age, poorly qualified and without a job to return to when demobilisation came. So what did I want to do and how should I go about it ?   

My civilian experience was limited to office work and, as the top office job was Company Secretary, I decided that would be my aim.  So I joined the Chartered Institute of Secretaries as a student and I paid for a correspondence course in the subjects I would be required to pass in the examinations to become a fully qualified member of the Institute.  From then on the majority of my evenings, and some of my days, were spent in study but I also had many daytime trips in Lancasters flying over Holland, large parts of which were flooded, and Germany to view the damage. My sporting activities were negligible and had been since I left Warboys.

Come July, we received orders to return to Heaton Park where, after being told officially that we were now redundant aircrew, we travelled to RAF Eastchurch in Kent to be remustered to ground trades. This journey to Eastchurch was a sad one. Many of us had been together for 18 months on the same courses and detachments and it was now to end without qualifying as Navigator/Wireless through no fault of our own. ( A few months later we each received a letter from the Air Ministry informing us that, as we had passed the Wireless course, we had been awarded a Signaller’s flying badge and promoted to Sergeant with effect from the date we became redundant aircrew in July. We were also paid backpay from that July date).

At Eastchurch we were offered a selection of ground trades and I decided on Radar Operator because I thought that shift work would give me plenty of time to study for the Company Secretary examinations. We were also informed of our demobilisation group and that we could expect to be demobilised towards he end of 1946.

From Eastchurch to the Radar Section at RAF Wymeswold near Loughborough in Leicestershire to await a radar operators course but there was very little I could usefully do in the section, except hold a spanner for somebody else, so I cadged lifts in aircraft just for the ride and spent as much time as possible studying. Unfortunately it took weeks for my mail to catch up with me after moving from Mildenhall via Heaton Park and Eastchurch to Wymeswold, so my correspondence course study papers came out of sequence which made studying difficult.  However, as there were books that I needed, I went to London for the weekend and visited Foyles bookshop where I purchased them second hand.

The weeks rolled by, my study time table evened itself out and I was playing rugby regularly again when, in late October, the Assistant Adjutant called me to Station HQ to inform me that the RAF Regiment were after ex-aircrew to replace a number of army officers who had been seconded from their own regiments to the RAF Regiment during the war and who were now being returned to their regiments; and I was asked if I would be interested in applying for a commission. It would mean attending a course at the RAF Regiment  Officer Cadet Training Unit ( O.C.T.U.) and, if I passed successfully, I would be required to serve as an officer for one year which would delay my demobilisation for about six months. I was given an application form to complete and return  the following day if I wanted to go ahead.

I weighed up the pros and cons that evening and decided that, although I knew absolutely nothing about the RAF Regiment, it might provide some adventures and, having a year’s commissioned service behind me when I was demobilised might help me to get a job.  So I completed the application form and handed it in the next day and was interviewed by the Station Commander.

Three days later I was on my way to a Selection Board and Medical Board in London and, before I arrived back at Wymeswold that evening, a signal had been received by them from the Air Ministry instructing me to report to the RAF Regiment Depot at Belton Park near Grantham.  I was very surprised at the speed of events ( less than a week) which led to my selection and posting to the O.C.T.U. and I could only conclude that favourable notes must have been made on my service records from initial training onwards.

One final word about my aircrew days..It was sometime later that I found out that, of the 110,000 aircrew who served in Bomber Command during the war,   55,000 were killed and 24,000 seriously injured or taken prisoner.
So, although my friends and I were very disappointed that we did not take part in any raids over Germany, we were very lucky to be alive and uninjured.