STORIES
Over the years that our Association has been formed, the Committee, via the regular newsletters, asked members to send in stories of their experiences, or incidents, which they thought would be of interest. The response was overwhelming and there were enough stories to form a book. Ben Mitchell put the stories together and edited them ready for publishing. A publisher read the stories and was shown many of the photographs which are on file, and agreed to publish them. Sam Bugg and Ben Mitchell liaised with the publisher and Sam was involved with the content and design of the front and rear covers, and which photographs to include. The Committee thought it would be fitting to include on the web site, periodically, a story from the book about some of the many escapades which the 51st got up to either during their apprenticeship or the remainder of their service career, this one is by John Oakes
THE CHRISTMAS MAIL PICK-UP FROM ALDABRA
By John Oakes
An article in the Beverley Association's magazine called Mag Drop prompted this story. One of the members was asking if any of the readers knew anything about a Christmas mail pick-up in 1962 from an island in the Indian Ocean called Aldabra, where an airfield was being built. It was pretty much a 'One Off', operation and although I know airborne pick-ups were done during the war, it wasn,t something we practiced.
I know little about the conception or the planning stage, but on the 7th November 1962, with Sqn Ldr Evans in the Captain's seat, we were airborne out of RAF Eastleigh in Kenya at 15.05 hrs in Beverley XB263. Our total load was a 2 ft wooden cable drum wound with nylon cord, with a rusty three pronged hook about 3 ft long, on the end of a 2 inch steel tube about 6 ft long, and two standard passenger seats, fixed-to-face forward in the last positions in the boom.
Once airborne, the AQM and myself threaded the drum onto the steel tube and pushed the tube through the folding parts at the back of the seats. The boom parachute doors were opened and the hook was hung outside in the airstream. As you can imagine, the hook flew away and the drum spun round out of control. We were within the airfield boundary and high enough for no real damage to be done. I imagined that if we had been lower and over the local village, we could have retrieved some of those pink parachutes (now made up into pink underwear!) that we had dropped to them a few weeks before.
Anyway, with enormous effort, we were able to control the flight of the hook (erratic though it was) with myself sitting on the floor behind the drum, gripping it between my hands and knees, and the Q giving quote 'Up-a-bit' and down-a-bit'instructions to the Captain. We did about ten or so runs across the airfield and to all intents and purposes it all went well. A small modification to the hook was all that was needed before another try the following day at 12.05 hrs, with crew and rig as before.<\p>
This time the hook was to be 'flown'at about 10 ft above the ground and all went well until the quote 'Up-a-bit'communication did not translate to the lazy old Bev and the hook tore up a sizeable chunk of Eastleigh. We were only aloft for 15 minutes on that day, but with repairs needed to the hook and the last posting date for Christmas being brought forward, it was decided we had enough experience for the operational sortie to go ahead the next day. It was all very rushed, but the last posting date was crucial if the letters were to get to the UK in time for Christmas. Flt Lt Holloway, who had been acting as Co-pilot, was given the job of making up a parcel containing enough cord and instructions to be dropped with the main load. That was all very rushed too, for he was due to catch a flight home to the UK that evening.
The take-off time in my logbook says '9.11.62, 02.55 hrs', and that is all I can remember until sighting the island of Aldabra (or was it Paradise?). A DZ had been marked out on the beach and the main load was dropped. I seem to remember doing several circuits round the island, while the party on the beach were reading the instructions and preparing two long bamboo poles. A loop of cord was stretched between the poles and secured lightly to them. The rest of the loop was drawn back to a point where a small bag was attached. It had been intended that a bag of up to 60 lbs was to be lifted, but discretion had divided this by ten and we almost heard the groans when the ground party read this in Dick Holloway's instructions. The Q and I positioned ourselves in the boom, and a run-in was begun. Great consternation ensued, for, in spite of the danger of a bloody great metal hook flying out of control at great speed (well Beverley speed) at zero ft, the beach party had all gathered around the rig to see it work (or not!).
I am sure that a countdown was given, but suddenly the drum spun away between my knees and hands. Luckily I thought to put on a pair of the standard issue asbestos gloves for this run. The cape leather aircrew gloves would not have stood a chance! Grip as I might, there was no way I was going to be able to slow things down. Then as suddenly as it had started, the drum stopped as the end of the cord secured to the drum was reached (Who was the clever lad who tied the knot!) Perhaps a second or two elapsed before the cord appeared to leap back into the boom, ably assisted by the Q in a frantic hand-over-hand. Then the hook appeared, with one leg almost straight and precariously caught on it was the double cord of the loop. OK so far, then the light ties from the poles arrived and finally the bag of mail. Success!!! This all happened within a lot less time than it takes to read this, including the dash to the cockpit with our prize. From out of the blue, the Navigator produced a rubber stamp saying ' 1st uplift of mail from Aldabra'and each letter was cancelled. The remainder of the flight was uneventful; though I paid a bit more attention to the Engineers log, for the round trip would be 12 hrs 35 mins. Probably not the longest of flights, but for me one of the most rewarding. In retrospect, there was no way this exercise was going to be a success, and, given more time to plan, I am sure it would never have been attempted, but in its simplicity it worked. Had any of the parameters been slightly different, that Christmas mail would still be floating in the Indian Ocean.
P.S. If anyone knows the whereabouts of any of the envelopes (covers) from that pick-up, then as a bit of a collector I would very much like to hear from you.
P.P.S. Or was it all a dream? .
JANKERS
Following discussions at the 1994 Reunion as to who did the most days jankers at Halton, Narcy Burford came up with 109 days, but this was put in the shade by the 151 days, plus a ‘few’ inside, by Del Harris. So Del took the dubious honour of being our worst ‘criminal’.and when he was on jankers, and was also the Duty Trumpeter responsible for sounding ‘Reveille’ and ‘Lights Out’, he made the ‘calls’ from his Barrack Room window! At the same time, it was also established that Ken Savage was the first in the Entry to be awarded jankers and the punishment took place over the Battle of Britain weekend, when there were civilians visiting RAF Halton. While being marched from No.1 Wing to No.2 Wing cookhouse, the Cpl i/c enjoyed giving orders in a loud voice prefixed by “Defaulters”.
However, Del Harris, our reputably longest serving janker wallah, recently went on holiday to Tenerife and called on fellow 51st colleague, Roy Studart, who now resides there. During conversation, the subject of jankers came up and it transpired that Roy was a seasoned janker wallah himself. Roy cannot recall the exact number of ‘days’ that he did, but he thinks it was around the 120 mark. He also said that he did two lots of 28 days, plus sundry other days, in the ‘mush’. ‘Mush’ was the punishment for crimes that were more serious than those given for jankers, in that one ‘resided’ in a guardroom cell for the duration of the punishment under the watchful eye of the Snoops, and went to Schools and Workshops under escort. As neither of them kept a Log Book of their punishments, we have decided that from their confessions, we consider that both were as bad as each other, so they tie for first place, with Narcy Burford relegated to third place – unless someone out there knows better!. However, if Chiefy Thomas has a ‘janker’ file tucked away in the attic, perhaps he can adjudicate for us and let us know who did the most ‘days’!
‘Jankers’ was the colloquial name given to the punishment for committing a minor offence in the eyes of the RAF during our training at Halton. We are not talking about serious offences such as murder, grievous bodily harm, drug dealing, burglary etc, but lesser crimes, such as dirty brass buttons, late on parade, caught wearing civilian clothes, untidy bedspace, room job not done properly, caught outside the Block after ‘lights out’ (at 21.30 hrs), absent from parade, smoking etc. If you were caught, then you were charged, marched in before the Squadron Commander and given 3, 7, 10 days (or whatever) CB (confined to barracks). The Apprentice receiving this punishment was called a ‘Janker Wallah’ and he would wear a White armband throughout his sentence. A day in the life of such a person, with reveille at 06.30 hrs, would be:-
| 06.45 hrs | Report to the Henderson Square in Best Blue for Roll Call |
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07.45 hrs | Report to Henderson Square in Working Blue for Colour Hoisting parade |
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13.00 hrs | Report to Henderson Square in Working Blue for Roll Call |
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17.45 hrs | Report to Henderson Square in Best Blue for Colour Lowering parade |
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18.00 hrs | Kit Inspection (Lay out kit on own bed in barrack room) |
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19.00 hrs | Report in Working Blue for fatigues - usually in cookhouse |
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20.00 hrs | Report to Henderson Square in Best Blue for Roll Call |
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21.00 hrs | Report to Henderson Square in Best Blue for Roll Call |
THE BOOK
POST WAR BRATS AT LARGE
This book contains a collection of stories written by members of the 51st Entry of RAF Aircraft Apprentices, often referred to as “Trenchard’s Brats” after their founder, Marshal of the RAF the Viscount Trenchard. It covers the years since they, 252 young men, joined the RAF in 1945, six days after the end of the Second World War, and includes stories from their 3-year Apprenticeship, throughout their subsequent RAF careers and into retirement as senior citizens.
There are some amusing and incredible tales from their Apprentice days - beating the system without getting caught (but not always!) was a popular pastime. When they were finally ‘at large’, many of the Entry left their basic trades and were trained as aircrew and inevitably some of the more exciting stories relate to their flying experiences. Some, unfortunately, did not survive to tell their tales.
Service overseas is another source of interesting experiences, although sadly many of these postings are no longer available to the RAF personnel of today. Nevertheless, these stories provide a worthwhile insight into Service life away from home, as it was from the late 1940’s to early 1980’s.
Sixty years on, the former apprentices of the 51st Entry still have many more stories to tell, and no doubt some emerged during the Diamond Anniversary Reunion which was held at RAF Halton on 21st August 2005, in honour of which this book is being published.
This book will be of considerable interest to members of the 51st Entry and other RAF Aircraft Apprentices, their families and friends. It should also appeal to those who have never served, but have an interest in the history of military aviation and the Royal Air Force.
The Book (ISBN 1-903953-93-6) priced at £15-00 plus p&p, is obtainable from :-
| Woodfield Publishing, |
| Mail Order Department |
|
Babsham Lane, |
| Bognor Regis, |
| West Sussex, |
| PO21 5EL |
| Telephone 01243 821234 |
| or on the net at www.woodfieldpublishing.com |
BOOKS
CHRIS ASHWORTH- AVIATION HISTORIAN
In the RAF he was Joe - a nick-name acquired in Block 15 Room 5, but it was as Chris Ashworth that he became a significant Aviation Historian. Few of us realised that Joe began the hobby of collecting information and photographs of aircraft, airfields etc., at quite any early age - probably as an ATC cadet before Halton. We were aware that he owned a camera - a rare sight amongst Apprentices in 1945 - and some of us saw several of his pictures. That early start became “...a great passion of his...” (RAeS) and led to a massive collection of books, magazines, articles & photographs which eventually filled three rooms in his home!!
It was the title “Chris Ashworth Collection” of a two page article in a recent Aerospace Professional magazine, published by the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), which caught the attention of a member of the 51st Entry and prompted further interest in the works of Joe/Chris. The RAeS article listed “... a large number of typescripts recording the development of a number of British civil and military types (particularly detailed in their records of individual aircraft histories and squadron allocations) ...” and “... are a mine of information for anyone researching aircraft or squadrons ...”.
Many of these typescripts were articles which Chris contributed to aviation magazines over the years.
With the help of Margaret Ashworth, it has been possible to put together a summary of Chris’s remarkable collection which included : 4,000+ Books & Magazines - 3,500+ Archive files - 80,000+ photographs from Bristol Fighter to Nimrod ( many originals taken by Chris), and 132,000+ negatives, slides, plates etc.
The Ashworth family decided that the wealth of information contained within the collection would be of value to many other aviation enthusiasts - even though this would, sadly, lead to the break up of the collection. Auctioneers, Dominic Winter, sold Chris’s library of books and his photographic collection at specialist Collectors Sales in May & November 2005 and May 2006.
Chris continued his writing when he retired from the RAF in 1977. In addition to his many magazine articles, Chris published several mini monographs including: Gloster Meteor PR Mk10, De Havilland Comet & Avro York in RAF Service, Avro Shackleton MR Mk3, Vickers Valiant, Bristol Brigand, Airfield Focus St Eval & Kinloss.
His major written and published books are:
| Action Stations: 5. Military airfields of the South West - 266pp (ISBN 085059510X)
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| Action Stations: 9. Military Airfields of the Central South and South East - 328pp (ISBN 0850596084)
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| Encyclopaedia of Modern Royal Air Force Squadrons - 210pp (ISBN 1852600136) |
| RAF Coastal Command 1936-1969 - 256pp (ISBN 1852603453)
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RAF Bomber Command 1936-1968 - 256pp (ISBN 1852603089)
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Avro’s Maritime Heavyweight; The Shackleton - 224pp (ISBN 0946627169) |
Below are just four covers from his major works.
Many of these Monographs and Books are still in print and available new & used from specialist book sellers.
The following is a quotation from Chris’s Introduction to one of his books and is typical of the detail and enthusiasm which he gave to his work:
“My first sight of south-east England was the best possible - from the air on a beautiful August day. It was pure chance, for I was just one of many ATC cadets camping at Bircham Newton during the summer of 1944 and when my air experience flight came up it was not in the usual Dominie biplane, but in a Wellington XIII which was flying to Manston and back. I was put in the front turret out of the way and off we went across East Anglia and over the Thames Estuary. The thing I remember most about the flight was the fright I got when a P-47 Thunderbolt attacked us head-on. So convinced was I that it was a Fw 190 that had I known how to switch on the fully-loaded turret I might even have tried to open fire!”
SUPERSTAR- THE FAMILY GOES TO SEA
This is the title of the book written by Eric Mold and was
published in October 1996. The book tells the story of how
Eric & Vera sold up their wordly possessions, bought a boat
with the proceeds and set out for a life on the sea.
It begins with them sailing out of the Solent, with little or
no experience of sailing on the high seas, and ending up 4 years
later in the Caribbean via the Mediterranean as veteran sailors
and running a successful charter boat business. If you would
like to purchase a copy of the book, its reference is
Ident No. ISBN 85200 066X, and was available (in 1996) from
United Writers Publications Ltd, Ailsa Castle Gate, Penzance,
Cornwall TR20 8BG at a cost of £15.95, or alternately borrow it
from your local library.
