RAF Watchet, Somerset. There were four Course Commanders, each of us responsible for the L.A.A. Gunnery Training of courses of 68 National Service airmen divided into two flights, each under a Flight Sergeant, with a number of Sergeants to assist with instructing the airmen in gun drill. The courses were of six weeks duration, with a weeks break between courses, and this continued throughout most of 1951. Once trained, the airmen were formed into new squadrons and posted overseas, either to Germany or the Middle East. It was hard but rewarding work.

Live firing practices took place on a range facing the sea and, although the location of the range was shown on navigation maps, we had intruders both in he air and on the sea, so constant vigilance was necessary by us

Soon after my arrival at Watchet I received a letter from Group Captain Heycock commanding RAF Syerston informing and congratulating me on being awarded a Commander-in-Chief’s Special Commendation for all my work at Syerston. This commendation must have contributed to my promotion to Acting Flight Lieutenant a few months later.

Our off duty activities at Watchet included frequent darts matches in a local pub, with beer and sandwiches provided. Each player of the losing team paid 2/10d and each player of the winning team 1/10p to cover the cost of the refreshments.  I played rugby for the Station team on Wednesday afternoons and for Minehead Barbarians on Saturday afternoons. The West Country takes its rugby seriously on the field and enjoys social gatherings off the field. For instance, a leading London dance band was always engaged by the Barbarians for their annual dinner dance and, at the other end of the scale, we would drink until closing time after each match before boarding the coach home. Our opponents ranged from Barnstaple to Weston-Super-Mare to Yeovil and they all had good ground facilities, except Minehead, where we changed in the local outdoor swimming pool and played on a pitch in the Recreation Ground, with the Club Treasurer and his helpers collecting donations in wooden collecting boxes from spectators. On our opponent’s grounds, money was collected from spectators at turnstiles at the entrances to the grounds. When we played Bridgewater Albion there would be 8,000 spectators each paying 2/6d at the turnstiles.

During the summer of 1951  I attended a weeks course on boxing refereeing at the RAF’s Physical Training School at RAF Cosford and obtained my boxing referee’s certificate, which proved to be very useful in the years to come.  I thoroughly enjoyed my service as a Course Commander at RAF Watchet, with a job which was rewarding and with pleasant companions to work and associate with.  However, with new squadrons being formed, I was pleased to be appointed second-in-command of one of them - No. 34 LAA Squadron.

We formed at RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire in October 1951 with Squadron Leader Mark Hobden as Squadron Commander, myself as 2 i/c, Len King as Adjutant, Red Walton as a Flight Commander  and  Roy Dicker, Peter Lewer and Tony Ramsey as newly commissioned officers. We were joined later by two National Service Pilot Officers, Jock Mennie and Alan Shepherd.  Our only RAF Regiment N.C.Os. To start with were Flight Sergeant Robinson and Sergeant Stark.  Warrant Officer Moore, together with other N.C.Os., joined us at a later date.

The majority of the 120 Gunners in the new squadron had been apprentices in civilian life and were about 21 years of age instead of the normal National Service starting age of 18. This gave them a maturity which was to be appreciated in the months ahead but, even so, I still felt that being in command of National Servicemen, an officer was not only there to lead and command but also to act as a father at times.

At Yatesbury we were told that we would be going to the Middle East and were given the necessary inoculations etc. The N.C.Os and airmen were issued with tropical kit and the officers paid visits to their tailors to buy their kit.

In mid December we travelled by train, as a squadron, to Lytham St. Anne’s, near Liverpool, in preparation for embarking on a ship to Egypt. However, plans were changed overnight when Egypt abrogated its Treaty with the UK and riots took place in Cairo. Our sea journey turned into an air flight from RAF Lyneham, near to RAF Yatesbury from where we had just travelled.  Back to Wiltshire then and from RAF Lyneham to Egypt by Hastings aircraft. For this journey, Squadron Leader Hobden took half the squadron on 31st December and I followed the next day with the other half. We, in the second half, left Lyneham in the cold and wet in two Hastings at 10pm on 1st January 1952 and, after a stop for fuel in Malta, we landed at RAF Fayed the following morning with not a cloud in the sky.

Coaches took us along the Treaty Road from Fayed to the Transit Camp at RAF El Hamra where we rejoined the other half of the squadron and were accommodated in tents.  My first impressions of Egypt on that journey, in January, were the cloudless sky, warm sun, distinct smell, flies everywhere but especially around the heads and tails of animals and the eyes of children, muddy looking huts, over laden donkeys and servicemen living in tented camps all along the Treaty Road. We had, of course, arrived in the winter season and the warm sun in January turned into temperatures around the 100 F mark in July/August, by which time we were acclimatised.

Both Fayed and El Hamra, and scores more Army and RAF camps, were in the Canal Zone, which was a strip of land running North to South down the western side of the Suez Canal with two roads - the Canal Road, which ran alongside the Canal, and the Treaty Road, which was a little inland and serviced all the Army and RAF camps along its route. In addition, the Sweet Water Canal ran between, and alongside, the two roads and it was the only source of drinking water, after much filtering and doctoring, for both service personnel and the local population, although the latter used this canal for other purposes as well.

In addition to all the military establishments within the Canal Zone, there were the Egyptian towns of Port Said, Port Suez and Ismalia together with many native villages.

The Suez Canal, which is bounded on its eastern side by the Sinai, is split into three parts by lakes, the largest of which is the Great Bitter Lake, and this was used by all ships using the Canal as a crossing point for south and north moving convoys. (In 1952, and for some years afterwards, there was only one canal for all shipping. In more recent years a second canal has been dug and opened, with one canal for north moving traffic and the second for south moving traffic).  The first ships to arrive in the Great Bitter Lake, from both the north and south moving convoys dropped their anchors until it was safe for them to continue into the next part of the Canal.

The transit camp at RAF El Hamra was situated on the western side of the Treaty Road opposite a much larger RAF Station, with an airfield, on the other side of the road called Kasfareet. On the eastern side if Kasfareet ran the Sweet Water Canal and, between that and the Canal Road, was RAF Fanara, a married families camp with a school etc. and beyond the Canal Road, was the Great Bitter Lake.
 
Units permanently located at RAF El Hamra included a heavy duty transport company, The RAF Middle East Band and HQ No 8 Wing, RAF Regiment to which our squadron was soon to belong. We spent a day or so getting ourselves acclimatised and sorting ourselves out; and were then informed that, contrary to previous expectations, we were to be based at RAF El Hamra.  So we set up a permanent tented camp for ourselves and took over a hut for Squadron HQ. We also secured two Vanguard Pick-up trucks and two 3 ton vehicles. (Our own vehicles, equipment and L.A.A. guns were on their way by sea from the UK).  Sqn. Ldr. Hobden had one Vanguard and selected L.A.C. Stewart as his driver; I had the second one and selected L.A.C. Bobby Simpson as my driver.

A high level of security had become necessary in the Canal Zone since Egypt had abrogated its Treaty with the UK because armed terrorist squads were operating from the native villages. No single vehicle was allowed to travel out of camp, except to adjacent camps such as Kasfareet and Fanara, there had to be at least two vehicles together and at least two occupants in each vehicle had to be armed. Travel on foot had to be in parties of at least four with everyone armed. Perimeter fences around camps were strengthened and patrolled by armed guards in pairs.

Our first operational task was the security and protection of houses, occupied by very senior officers with their wives and families, located in part of RAF Fanara, where the married quarters for officers and airmen from many local camps were located. These senior officers included the Air Officers Commanding No. 205 Group, No 206 Group and the Air Transport Wing ( one Air Vice Marshal and two Air Commodores) together with their senior staff officers included in which was another Air Commodore.  On assessing the situation the Squadron Commander decided that I should take over this task with a junior officer, a Sergeant and 84 Gunners.  However, in order to provide N.C.O. guard commanders, it was necessary to immediately promote a number of National Service Gunners to Corporal, which we did.  (At a later stage we promoted some of these Corporals to Sergeant and other Gunners to Corporal).

In addition to surrounding the perimeter of these senior officers married quarters with barbed wire we built a watch tower and an internal barrier which we manned permanently.  Furthermore, the barbed wire was constantly patrolled with an additional patrol around the houses after dark as all these properties, and their occupants, were prime targets for the terrorists.

Since leaving O.C.T.U. almost six years before, I had not attended church services as often as I had previously and I decided that, with effect from my very first Sunday in Egypt, I would again attend Church every Sunday.  The RAF church at Kasfareet also served El Hamra and Fanara so I arranged a vehicle to take myself and those who wanted to attend Sunday morning service to the church in Kasfareet.

No 8 Wing, commanded by Wing Commander Chis Neill, now had three L.A.A. squadrons (but no L.A.A.guns), two at El Hamra (Nos. 34 and 35) and one at RAF Kabritt. No. 35 Squadron was commanded by Joe Ringer with Jack Turland as his 2 i/c and, over the years, they became good friends of mine. The three squadrons were all in tented accommodation and we were all engaged on security duties.

The Senior Ground Defence Staff Officer to the Air Officer Commanding 205 Group, to which No. 8 Wing and therefore 34 Squadron belonged, lived in the senior officers married quarters at Fanara, which we were protecting, and he was the same Wing Commander Martin whom I had met in Germany in 1947. He decided to hold a cocktail party in his married quarter for all we newly arrived officers and it was there that I met his wife and 20 year old daughter Patricia. There were very few British girls in the Canal Zone so all the young officers at the party were like bees around a honeypot. However I found out that she was a church goer so I arranged to take her to evensong on the following Sunday.  (We are still going to church together many years later). There was always a large congregation at evensong and the favourite hymn was  “The Day Thou Gavest Lord Is Ended”

Part 2

So many events occurred during the two and a half years I was stationed in the Canal Zone that, for simplicity of presentation, I have joined some of them together and, except for changes in command, I have not attempted to describe them in chronological, or any other, order.

The broad pattern of duties for 34 Squadron were soon set with one month’s security duties at each of three locations followed by one months training. These duties were repeated every four months with all other events revolving around them. The original security duties at RAF Fanara, where there was also an Air/Sea Rescue base, have already been described and these continued to form the basic pattern there with one minor alteration and two additions. The minor alteration was putting all patrolling guards into P.T. shoes after dark, rather than boots, and the two additions occurred when the A.O.C. No. 205 Group was promoted to Commander-in-Chief with the rank of Air Marshal.  He decided not to move from his residence at RAF Fanara for a few months but he did require two ceremonial sentries outside his residence during the day and for the full guard to be “turned out” when he left for work in the mornings. These sentries were changed every hour, as the temperature at that time was about 100 degrees F.  Another additional security guard had to be arranged to protect the  new A.O.C. 205 Group who, before he moved into his official residence, lived on a houseboat tied up to the quay used by the Air/Sea Rescue boats. He left his houseboat one evening in civilian clothes, crossed over the Canal Road and into the main camp at Fanara. Before his return, however, the sentries changed and, on his return after dark, he was challenged  -  “Halt, who goes there”.  Unfortunately the Air Vice Marshal had no identification on him and, with the sentry’s loaded rifle pointing at his stomach, the guard commander was called. Before cease work the following day, photographs of the A.V.M. were distributed to all concerned with his security.

The second security duty allocated to us was at the Commander-in-Chief’s residence in Ismalia. He lived on a houseboat secured to a quay and with a perimeter fence on the landward side some twenty yards or so from the houseboat. The towns of Ismalia, Port Side and Port Suez were all out of bounds to off duty servicemen, because of the danger of terrorist attacks, so any vehicles going to or coming from the C-in- C’s residence were vulnerable. However, we only had one incident during our several periods of duty there.  Two natives were challenged when attempting to penetrate the perimeter fence. They failed to halt and, after the third challenge, one of the intruders was shot whilst his companion escaped.

At the same time as the C-in-C’s guard duty period we also patrolled, by vehicle, several miles of telephone cable near Ismalia because it was being stolen in great lengths.  The natives either dug up buried cable or pulled down   overhead cable, by attaching it by wire to the rear of a vehicle, then they drove away pulling the telephone wire from its poles or up from its shallow trench.  Once again a native failed to respond to a correct challenge and was shot.

Our third security duty location was at the combined Army/RAF ammunition dump which covered a large area of desert and the external perimeter of the RAF’s part was about 5 miles in length. The security of this dump had been breached many times in the past by thieves, with donkeys, getting in and stealing ammunition.  All types of ammunition were stored there from 4,000 lbs bombs to pistol ammunition.  On the outside of the barbed wire perimeter fence was a minefield and, with the movement of the sand over a long period of time, some mines were visible above the sand and some were buried very deep down.  The area immediately inside the perimeter wire was swept every evening using an old bed mattress attached to the rear of a Landrover and this swept area was then inspected for footprints first thing every morning.

Small carbon searchlights, with overlapping beams, were played along the perimeter wire at night and patrols of three men operated within the dark zones between searchlight beams. In addition we had static posts on the roofs of ammunition sheds and loose dogs within fenced areas around sheds. The Army and RAF Officers on duty shared a Command Post in wireless communication with the static posts, the manning of which was an eyrie duty for young National Servicemen;  sitting on top of a shed full of 4,000 lbs bombs which had been heated up during the day by temperatures around 100 degrees F and then cooled off during the night and, in the process, making loud cracks and bangs as the various metals contracted.

Duty officers made frequent visits to the various posts at night by Landrover without lights so as not to disclose where the manned positions were ( they were changed nightly). One of our squadron drivers was from the West Indies and, with a stripped down Landrover without a windscreen, all that could be seen of him behind the wheel were his eyes  -  most unnerving to some of the lads.

A further ad hoc security duty involved the A.O.C. 205 Group whose life had been threatened by terrorists. Our squadron was providing the guard at his residence at the time and mobile RAF Police provided the escort to and from his HQ, which was located at another RAF Station four or five miles away.  The most vulnerable area appeared to be his own office which was located in a bungalow type building within a compound, surrounded by barbed wire, but where natives were employed on various tasks within the compound. So we provided a small guard of one N.C.O. and six Gunners to mount guard outside his office door and windows during working hours. Their duties ceased when the Air Vice Marshal departed each day and, although they lived in two tents within the compound, the security of the compound was the responsibility of RAF patrols at night.  One night, whilst our squadron airmen were quite legitimately asleep in their tents, a number of natives, together with a donkey, cut through the perimeter wire, silently took down the two tents, without disturbing the occupants, and escaped with the tents and the airmen’s kit.

The Commanding Officer at RAF Fanara did not think that anybody could break into his Station and so we arranged an exercise to test his defences which, on the day, he strengthened by erecting and manning road blocks on the Canal Road. I hi-jacked an empty school bus, hid my men on the floor and was waved through the road block and the main gate.

On arrival in the Canal Zone in January we were an L.A.A. squadron without guns, vehicles or equipment.  The vehicles arrived first at Port Said followed by the twelve 40mm  Bofors L60 L.A.A. guns and other equipment.  As the second-in-command, two of my responsibilities were training and transport and, on examining the vehicle log books I found that, before being stored in the UK,  the 3 ton vehicles had last been in use in Iceland.  From  Iceland
to Egypt, and, within a few weeks, every oil seal leaked and had to be replaced.

The L.A.A. guns had to be stripped down, cleaned and reassembled in readiness for the first of our training months when, after suitable revision, we fired live shells at “Sleeves” trailed by aircraft. Our training months included December 1952 and 1953 and, in both years, we did not finish our live firing until mid-day on Christmas Eve after which we hurried back from the desert firing range to El Hamra.

Aiming a Bofors L60  L.A.A. gun required the combined efforts of three gunners and following the path of the shells through the air using tracer required more practice than we were able to give to gun crews so, on thinking  the problem through, I decided that a cine camera, similar to those used on fighter aircraft, positioned behind the sighting ring used for checking purposes on the guns, should provide each gun crew with a visual record of their abilities which could be studied at a later date.  I indented for, and obtained, an aircraft cine camera, designed a mounting in rough form and asked a Junior Technician in the RAF Transport Company, based at El Hamra, to make a technical drawing for me.  He did a good job of work, for which I rewarded him, and I put forward my idea, with the technical drawing, to HQ 205 Group where it was examined and agreed by technical staff.  A prototype mounting was manufactured  and successfully tested. By the time I left the Canal Zone a number of the mountings had been manufactured and issued.  In addition to being Officer i/c of the range when we fired our L.A.A. guns, I also did the same job for other squadrons because of my qualification as a Gunnery Officer Instructor.

VIPs. visiting the Canal Zone by air landed at RAF Fayed and we were frequently called upon to provide Guards of Honour, which I was privileged to command. We travelled by coaches from El Hamra to Fayed and remained under cover in a hangar, out of the sun, until the VIPs aircraft was in the circuit, otherwise our uniforms would have been covered in perspiration. We also provided the farewell Guard of Honour for the C-in-C when he left the Canal Zone but, as he travelled home by sea, we mounted this Guard on the quay at Fanara from where he was taken by launch to board a ship in the Great Bitter Lake.  The Army also mounted a Guard for him on the quay and this was provided by one of the Guards Regiments parading with their Queen’s Colour.

Outdoor winter team games did not seem much of a possibility to me on my arrival at El Hamra but in this I was very wrong.  Hardened sand proved to be a very reasonable playing surface for soccer and grass rugby pitches were kept in good playing order by being flooded with water from the Sweet Water Canal after every match ( usually Wednesdays and Saturdays).  In addition, members of 35 L.A.A. Squadron, under the guidance of Jack Turland, laid a hockey pitch.

Amongst 34 Squadron’s Gunners there were three young professional footballers and these became the backbone of a very good squadron team.  Our squadron’s arch rivals were, of course, 35 Squadron and matches between the two teams were highly contested affairs, and I refereed them.  The squadron also produced a useful athletics team, a cricket team and several rugby players, in addition to myself, who played for the Station team.

In addition to security duties, training, Guards of Honour and team games etc. the squadron carried out two construction jobs.  One was renovating a disused 600 yards rifle range, which we put to good use and produced a squadron rifle team, and the other  job was converting a large vacant room, attached to the Officers Mess at El Hamra, into a church.  With so many ex-apprentice tradesmen among our Gunners we found no difficulty in taking on, and completing, these tasks and the church was dedicated by the Bishop of Bangor who was paying a visit to the Canal Zone.

However, for almost the whole of the first year, until our own church was completed, I attended the Sunday services at Kasfareet; morning service with members of the squadron and evening service with Pat Martin, and I shall be forever grateful to the then Commissioner for Toc H in the Canal Zone ( Frank Coleman-Cross) for lending me his private car on Sunday evenings to pick Pat up and take her home again.  The Padre at Kasfareet ( Rev Phil Bowan) asked me to be his Vicar’s Warden and I was pleased to carry out those duties. When we had our own church and Padre at El Hamra, I performed a similar role for him.  The first one was Rev. Arthur Hughes and he was very much one of the lads and did a lot for the airmen on the Station. After he returned to UK we also lost our organist so the new Padre and I recorded the hymn tunes during the week, with the new Padre playing the organ and me operating the tape recorder, and he conducted Sunday services with the aid of the recorded tunes.

During the one month in four devoted to training we carried out live firing practice with our personal weapons in addition to the live firing of the L.A.A.guns and we also took part in many deployment exercises both with and without our L.A.A.guns including a rapid deployment exercise, without L.A.A.Guns, from a Hastings aircraft to regain control of an airfield which had been taken over by an enemy.

On one of our exercises when deployed, with our L.A.A.guns, around a desert airstrip about 20 miles South West of Port Suez, our Corporal cook cut his hand after lunch whilst preparing meat for an evening meal which was eaten before darkness fell.  Within an hour after the meal airmen started to become ill and our Corporal medical orderly advised immediate hospital treatment. So began a shuttle  service to a military hospital near Suez until almost forty airmen were in hospital, but luckily for only about 48 hours.

Both before and after that event we had many members of the squadron in Fayed RAF Hospital for a few days each with “Gypy” tummy.  I unfortunately was one of those during the early summer of 1952 and it was an experience I will not easily forget. I was taken to the hospital on a stretcher about 9pm and the doctor prescribed, in addition to tablets, a penicillin injection. A male orderly bent three needles on my arm, the skin of which had hardened up in the sun, before calling the Sister who turned me over and injected me in a non-toughened up area.

In addition to training exercises, we twice made use of our training month to set up a recreational type camp on the shore of the Gulf of Suez, south of Port Suez. This area was used by other squadrons in addition to ours ( there were 12 RAF Regiment Squadrons in the Canal Zone) and a number of larger  type tents were usually erected and put aside for visiting senior officers.  Whilst another squadron was in camp there, I drove Wing Commander Martin and his wife and daughter on a visit one Sunday. We travelled by Landrover with me driving at around 40 mph in top ratio four wheel drive, which had been found to be the optimum speed to cross the desert in that area. I hit a concealed boulder with one of my wheels and gave Mrs. Martin such a jolt that, on their return to married quarters, she had to stand up to have her meals. I was not very popular but, even so, I became her son-in-law a few years later.

Previous to the first of our squadron visits by road to the Gulf of Suez, I had been one of a party of officers whom the A.O.C. had taken there in a large Air/Sea  Rescue launch. It was an excellent day out, sailing down the Canal from the Great Bitter Lake to Port Suez and then cruising  around the Gulf of Suez, eating and drinking. The invitation from  the A.O.C. was for squadron commanders and, at the time, Sqn Ldr Hobden had been posted to another squadron and, for three weeks before the new Squadron Commander (Sqn. Ldr Douglas Smith ) arrived, I had command of the squadron for the first of many occasions during the next two years. Two months before Sqn. Ldr. Hobden left, my acting rank of Flight Lieutenant had been made substantive as I had then completed six years commissioned service and had passed my promotion examination two years before. Prior to this I had been the junior Flight Lieutenant in 8 Wing but, with my rank becoming substantive, I became the senior Flight Lieutenant because, although the others had held acting rank much longer than me, they had not passed their promotion examinations.

Entertainment in general was very patchy because of security measures forced on the whole of the service population in the Canal Zone by the activities of the terrorists. The RAF was probably better catered for than the Army as most RAF Stations had their own cinemas whereas Army units tended to be smaller and they shared cinemas. Troops leaving an Army cinema on the Treaty Road after dark one evening were attacked by terrorists and there were many casualties.
    
 El Hamra had a cinema which showed up to date films. There was also a large NAAFI, with a special room set aside for Corporals. One of my secondary duties was Officer i/c Corporals Club which required me to preside at their business meetings and to give them general advice as required. The Officers and S.N.C.Os. did, of course, have their own Messes and provided entertainment for themselves.  The RAF Middle East Band, which was stationed with us at El Hamra,  was also a source of entertainment and the Band also spent a couple of days with us at the “Recreational” Camp in the Gulf of Suez, where they gave a very professional open air concert.  (They were, unfortunately, the victims of thieves one night at El Hamra when all of their white ceremonial trousers were stolen from their tents.)

The Canal Zone had its own Forces Radio station and another welcome source of entertainment were the live shows which were staged in the cinema, with artists from  London’s West End and, at the other end of the scale, Cairo Belly Dancers.  Those artists who came from the UK were always invited into the Officers Mess after the show, for drinks and a meal, and those I particularly remember include Elsie and Doris Walters.  They came during Lent and would not drink any alcohol that must have taken great will power in their profession.

A combination of sport and entertainment was provided by boxing tournaments and championships. In addition to training airmen to box, and forming a boxing team, at El Hamra and officiating as a referee at RAF and Army tournaments, I became the secretary of the RAF Egypt Boxing Association which meant, in effect, organising and staging the annual RAF Championships in Egypt, assisting with the organisation of the Inter- Service Championships and, with help from others, selecting the RAF team for those Championships.  Furthermore, during 1952, the old system of the referee being outside the ring was dropped and, from then on, we officiated inside the ring thus allowing spectators to cheer during bouts.

The RAF Egypt Boxing Championships took place each year over a two day period with preliminary bouts, semi-finals and finals at each of ten weights.  The finals were always in front of a large audience including the Air Officers Commanding, and many other senior officers, all dressed in their Mess Kit. The most exciting of many very good events was, however, the  Inter-Services Championships in 1953 which he Army staged, under floodlights, at the football stadium at Moascar. All the Army and RAF top brass were there in their full regalia and the stadium was packed. The RAF won all the bouts in the first half of the programme and the Army won all those in the second half. The spectator noise in that final heavyweight bout was almost unbelievable. A good evening’s entertainment and I refereed half of the bouts.

In the main, entertainment specifically for Officers and S.N.C.Os. was arranged by their respective Messes. In addition, there was an Officers Club on the bank of the Great Bitter Lake at Fayed which we often visited and where, on several occasions, I entertained Pat to dinner in a romantic setting seated on a terrace overlooking the Lake. Furthermore, almost every week, one of the many Army and RAF Messes in the Canal Zone, held an all night ball or something similar and, with the shortage of young British girls, Pat received many invitations, with me as her escort. We held two balls each year at El Hamra and they were grand occasions..

Almost as soon as our squadron settled itself in at El Hamra I was voted onto the Officers Mess Committee as the Wines Member, which meant that I purchased all the beer, wines, spirits, cigarettes etc. for sale in the Mess bar and supervised the bar staff, ensuring that there were no fiddles going on.  Our main source of supply was the NAAFI but we did have other sources (cheap Cyprus brandy etc.) and thus were able to supply a good “Brandy Sour” for 3p. After a year as Wines Member I let it be known that I was not up for re-election so I was promptly voted Mess Secretary and had all the accounts to keep. You cannot win them all and this was endorsed when, at a meeting of the Mess Committee, we discussed arrangements for the 1954 Summer Ball. The P.M.C. said that he wanted a Marquee erected in a confined space between the Mess and the road alongside it. I said that I did not think that it could be done whereupon I was given the job; and had to dig in telegraph poles on one side of the road  on which to fix the Marquee’s supporting ropes above the road, the ropes on the other side I had tied to the Mess chimney.

Christmas is always a good time for parties etc. for all ranks and, both in 1952 and 1953, 34 Squadron hurried back from the L.A.A. desert firing range, during the afternoon of Christmas Eve, to start setting up a squadron bar for an evening party.  (The Station Commander visited all the bars on the camp during the evening and awarded a case of beer to the best).  Officers, N.C.Os. and airmen had a few drinks with each other in the many bars around the camp with the result that many young airmen were put to bed by their mates. Traditionally, Officers visit the Sergeants Mess before lunch on Christmas Day and, after a couple of drinks, make their way to the Airmen’s Mess where they serve the airmen with their Christmas Dinner. Officers have their own Christmas Dinner in the evening. On Boxing Day at El Hamra the officers and S.N.C.Os. played the airmen in a comic football match with players in fancy dress and, throughout the whole of the Christmas time festivities, the Forces Radio Station played its full part including running a special request programme when callers pledged money for charity.

I spent a great deal of time at the Martins Married Quarter during the 1952 Christmas and I was there, with the radio on, when the announcer said  “The lads of  34  Squadron have pledged £5 for us to play  “Roll On Covered Wagon”  for Flt. Lt. Vince.” It was a nice gesture by them.

I am not a very good swimmer but, when Wing Commander Martin asked me to join him and a few others on board his small motor boat for water ski-ing on the Great Bitter Lake, I agreed.  A board, attached by rope to the rear of the boat, was thrown overboard and I was invited to be the first to be towed along.  It was not very long before I fell off but, instead of stopping to pick me up, the boat continued on its way whilst Pat ant two others had their turns. Then there were four of us in the middle of the Lake, several hundred yards apart, and, by the time the boat came back for me, I thought that I had had it.  The things one does for love.

A further duty given to the squadron which, thank goodness, we never had to carry out, was to search for any aircraft which might crash in a designated area of the Sinai and to rescue survivors. Sqn Ldr. Smith asked me to look after this one so I prepared a list of all the equipment we would need for a long  journey across the Sinai and earmarked it. Then I asked the Officer Commanding the Army Liaison Flight based  at RAF Kasfareet ( whom I knew) if he would arrange a series of trips for me in one of his Auster aircraft to carry out a reconnaissance of the area. He was more than pleased to assist and I made three flights over the Sinai making notes of landmarks, tracks and possible landing sites etc.

Having somewhere to go on leave was always a problem for troops in the Canal Zone with the main cities and towns in Egypt out of bounds to all ranks.  However, the RAF ran a shuttle service to Cyprus, especially for those who wished to go there on leave, and I took advantage of this in 1952 and again in 1953.  In 1952 I asked Mrs.Martin if I could ask Pat if she would like to go with me, but her mother said “No”  (We lived in a different age then).  However, I went with another officer from El Hamra  and we had two lazy weeks in Kyrenia eating, drinking and swimming in glorious blue water.  An R.N. ship, HMS Plucky, paid a courtesy visit whilst we were there and that meant pink gins in the Wardroom at lunchtime.  In 1953 I teamed up with a couple of Army types on the aircraft to Cyprus and, on arrival, we hired an open Morris Minor which we drove to the Troodos mountains. We stayed for ten days in a magnificent hotel where there was so much to eat and drink that we skipped lunch at the table and, taking a picnic with us, drove to many interesting places all over the Island. 

Wing Commander and Mrs. Martin gave Pat a first class 21st birthday party at the Officers Club, Fayed in September 1952. I was invited and I knew by then that there was only one girl I wanted to marry.  Mrs. Martin and Pat went back to the UK early in 1953 and Wing Commander Martin, his full time service at an end, followed a few weeks later. He was awarded an O.B.E. in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Coronation Day in June 1953 was marked in the Canal Zone by a combined services parade and march past at RAF Kasfareet.  No. 34 L.A.A. Squadron represented the Royal Air Force in the mobile part of the parade and we towed our 12 L.A.A. guns, three abreast, past the saluting base.

Sometime in 1953 I received an instruction to report to the Senior Personnel Staff Officer at HQ Middle East Airforce without any hint as to why he wanted to see me.  On reporting I was told that the A.D.C. to the C in C was going back to the UK and the C in C wanted a Regiment Officer as his new A.D.C. and would I accept the post if it were offered to me.  Although holding such a post would have been good for my career prospects, I declined because I knew that such a post was not for me. I was far happier on a squadron.

During my service in the Canal Zone I was the junior member of two Court Martials and carried out a number of Courts of Inquiry and Investigations, one of which still makes me chuckle at times. It involved two Gunners; one was washing a whitewash brush under running water from a standpipe in the M.T. yard. He made way for his mate to wash out a drinking mug then went on washing his brush. His mate, however, was tempted into throwing the dregs of water remaining in his mug over the brush washer and then run away but, in turning to gloat as he was running, he was hit in the eye by a very accurately aimed whitewash brush. No lasting damage was done but it had to be officially investigated.

For my own personal relaxation, in addition to Mess functions, the Cinema and taking part various sports, I also often made up a foursome on Saturdays for all night games of cards in a married quarter. I also built a model of a Hawker Hunter aircraft, from a kit, and powered by a Jetex engine. This was an ideal indoor hobby during the heat of a summer afternoon but it was a frustrating job at times as the balsa wood twisted with the heat and cement took a long time to harden.

On exercises in isolated desert locations I loved to walk away from the tented area and be by myself under a night sky full of stars, which appeared to be close enough to touch.  I felt nearer to God on those occasions than at any other time.

Sqn. Ldr. Smith was posted to the UK in early April 1954 and Sqn. Ldr. Benbow did not arrive to take over until the end of June so, for about the sixth time, I again had command of the squadron, but this time for three months.  After handing over to Sqn. Ldr. Benbow I left  34  Squadron to return to the UK.  ( 25 years later, after I had been retired for seventeen years, I was invited to be present when the squadron received its Standard at RAF Akrotiri.) 
 
Aircraft passages back to the UK in June/July 1954 were difficult to obtain, as there were many servicemen returning, so, with seven other officers and 100 airmen, I travelled home in an aircraft carrier, HMS Perseus, which we boarded in the Great Bitter Lake using lighters from the quay at Fanara.  Moving from one Station to another is such a normal event in the RAF that all one expects to do on the day of departure is to shake hands with the friends you are leaving behind and climb into a vehicle to take you to an aircraft, or the nearest railway station. Leaving the Canal Zone was very different. The Officer Commanding  8 Wing ( Wing Commander Ormiston) had all available officers and airmen from both 34 and 35  L.A.A. Squadrons on the quay at Fanara to give a special farewell.

I knew that I had done a good job in Egypt. The squadron had not suffered any casualties by terrorists, although one airmen died through natural causes, and the squadron had a good reputation for professional conduct and sporting achievements. On the wider stage I had organised two successful RAF Boxing Championships and one Inter-services Boxing Championship in addition to officiating as a boxing referee at these events and at many other tournaments.

On board the aircraft carrier I was appointed O.C. RAF troops and given a cabin to myself.  The journey home was very leisurely with a stop in Malta for four days and another stop in Gibraltar for three days.  The Wardroom gave a cocktail party on the quarter-deck at each stop and return invitations were received, and accepted by us, to visit Messes on shore.  The A.O.C.  Gibraltar, an Air Commodore, came aboard and took all the RAF officers back to the airfield Mess for a few jugs.

Within a day of leaving Gibraltar we changed from our khaki drill uniforms to our normal RAF blue uniforms as the temperature dropped, so by the time we arrived in Portsmouth it was not difficult to adjust to UK temperatures.

Part 3

My mother and her elder sister were on the quayside at Portsmouth and I was able to show them over the aircraft carrier before disembarking.  I telephoned Pat as one of my first jobs after arriving home as we had written frequent letters to each other since she  had left the Canal Zone the previous year. She was working at the Ludgate Hill branch of Lloyds Bank and we made arrangements to meet. Her parents had sold their house in Kenton, Middlesex and bought a village stores at Laindon Hills where Pat lived with them.

The following day I reported to the Air Ministry and requested a staff appointment as my next job. This was agreed and my posting was to HQ  No. 61 Group ( Home Command) based at RAF Kenley as the Senior Ground Defence Staff Officer  (S.G.D.S.O. for short).

During my disembarkation leave Pat & I went out to meals and saw two London Shows - The Pyjama Game and the King and I.  I also visited her parents at Laindon.  On the way home from seeing the King and I, Pat told me of a boyfriend in Laindon and that they were thinking of getting engaged. So I dropped out of the picture and concentrated on my new job.

HQ No. 61 Group was responsible for the administration of a variety of  RAF Stations and Units, Royal Auxiliary Air Force Units and Air Training Corps Squadrons in South Eastern, Southern and Eastern England and the London area.
My particular responsibilities were to ensure that all officers and airmen on RAF Stations and Units attended an annual refresher course in ground defence training, and to advise the A.O.C. on Royal Auxiliary Regiment matters.

I bought my first car from the local garage at Whiteleaf  -  a second hand 1936 Wolsley which drank petrol. A smaller car would have satisfied my own needs but my mother was looking forward to me taking her, my father and one or two other members of the family down to Worthing at week-ends to visit my aunt and uncle. It was a good buy and I used it for the whole of my two and a half years I served in the UK before my next overseas posting.

No sooner had I settled into my job at Kenley than I was off again to attend a combined services Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare Instructors Course at Winterborne Gunner in Wiltshire. This was an interesting three weeks course and my large car was put to good use every evening when four, five or six of us visited various local pubs. I also drove a full load to London every weekend. I came second on the course with an A2 pass.  (On the three instructors courses I had attended  -  Weapon Training , L.A.A.Gunnery, and N.B.C. Warfare I had two A1 passes and one A2).

Back to Kenley and a full programme of visits to RAF Units and R Aux. A.F. Regiment Squadrons. In addition, I was required to visit one or two A.T.C. units each week to carry out formal inspections on behalf of the A.O.C.   I particularly enjoyed my Sunday visits to the Aux. Regiment Squadron at Biggin Hill and I received invitations to all their dances and parties held in the Officers Mess.

Once again I found myself elected onto the Mess Committee at Kenley as Mess Secretary but the job was made easier than normal by the employment of a Mess Manager. I was also asked by the Station Commander if, with the A.O.C’s agreement, I would take on an extra job as the Station Sports Officer. I was pleased to accept the job and became actively involved in all the sports which were taking place and, together  with the help of a full time Corporal P.T.I., we  encouraged other sports to start.

There appeared to be hundreds of A.T.C. units within the Group and it was not long before my own personal talents became known and I was officiating at rifle shooting events, boxing tournaments and aircraft recognition competitions. (Aircraft recognition is, of course, an essential part of an L.A.A. instructor’s qualification). For the 1955 A.T.C. boxing championships there were, first of all, the preliminary rounds which were held over several weekends. On one such weekend I refereed 36 bouts in one day with breaks for meals. This was only made possible by me stopping bouts in their first or second rounds to save an outclassed boxer further punishment. Following the preliminary bouts at Group level there were the quarter and semi finals and finals at national level. After these finals, a team was chosen to represent the A.T.C. in the Inter-Services Cadet Championships. I was one of three referees who officiated at the Inter-Services which were attended by the very top brass of all three services and, afterwards, we referees had supper with the Admirals, Generals and Air Marshals.

In early 1955 I took the opportunity to sit and pass my promotion examination to Squadron Leader. This examination was held over a three day period in the Town Hall, Kensington which meant travelling up to London by train during the rush hour. I vowed that I would never travel like that again.

During the summer of 1955, over a pint of beer in the Kenley Mess, the Station Commander asked me where I was going on holiday. I said that I had nothing planned so he invited me to spend a couple of weeks with his relations at St Agnes, Cornwall.  I accepted and had a marvellous time eating home made Cornish Pasties etc and drinking the local brew. On my first Sunday I attended morning service at the local church, picked up a book of Common Prayer and there, inside the cover, were the words  “St. Agnes, Kennington”, which was the church of my youth when I was a choirboy. How it had found its way to St.Agnes, Cornwall I do not know.

On my second weekend I was asked by my host, who was a local Councillor, to act as a judge at a local swimming gala. I told him that I did not know much about swimming but he said, “Not to worry, there will be two expert judges there and they will help you as the third judge”. So I was taken to another village, which shall remain nameless, where there was a swimming pool surrounded by rocks on two sides with a concrete wall on the seaward side.  At high tide the sea water would come over the concrete wall to keep the pool topped up; but the gala was being held at low tide and there was a sheer drop from the top of the concrete wall to the rocks beneath. A man was standing on the concrete wall and, on being told that he was another of the judges, I walked along the wall and introduced myself.  “Thank goodness you have arrived”, he said, “the other judge has cried off and I know nothing about swimming”. I looked around but there was no escape, we were trapped by rocks on two sides and a sheer drop to the rocks below. Will I never learn not to volunteer.

Submitted by Dennis Vince