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Hemswell and Hornchurch 1954It will mean promotion to sergeant when you finish the course, with a big jump in pay, and there will be opportunities to try again for pilot training later During my disembarkation leave I received a letter ordering me to report to RAF Hemswell, about 10 miles from both Lincoln and Gainsborough, then a very busy operational airfield and home for several squadrons of Lincoln bombers, the successor to the Lancaster. I was a bit surprised by this because I had expected to go to the Aircrew Selection Centre at Hornchurch more or less straight away after my disembarkation leave. Initially I worked in the Ground Radio Flight and I was employed looking after the VHF equipments used for communications with the Hemswell aircraft, the T1131 transmitters and R1492 receivers on which I’d been trained at Locking.After a couple of weeks I was detached from Hemswell to a small out-station at Normanby, just south of Caenby Corner and just north of Scampton, to cover for a chap who was being sent off on an advanced training course. I found that I was in sole charge of ten high-powered short wave transmitters and a group of a dozen airmen, including three or four RAF policemen, a store man and a cook. This was yet another occasion when I was sent to do a job for which I had no qualifications. It’s just as well the half dozen wireless mechanics who were already there knew what they were doing. I was at Normanby for about three weeks and fortunately nothing happened that needed my attention! It was during this period that I went down the A15 to Lincoln several times and saw the extensive road works connected with the lengthening of Scampton’s main runway for the arrival of the V Bombers. I did better at Hornchurch the second time around mainly because I knew what to expect and how to play the system. A few days after arriving back at Hemswell I was summoned to an interview with an administrative squadron leader. He sat me down in his office and showed me a letter that had just arrived from Hornchurch. They were offering me training as an air signaller which carried with it promotion to sergeant on graduation. I was hugely disappointed. “You have to sign at the bottom to say you accept this offer,” said the squadron leader proffering a pen. “No sir,” I said after a very brief pause. “It’s not what I want. I want a commission and I want to be a pilot.” The squadron leader asked me to re-consider. He said that because the new V Force was starting to expand rapidly there would be lots of vacancies for Air Signallers and airmen with my qualifications would find the course very easy. “In any case,” he continued, “It will mean promotion to sergeant when you finish the course, with a big jump in pay, and there will be opportunities to try again for pilot training later." With some reluctance I accepted what I knew to be second best and signed the form. A few days later, in late March 1956, I left Hemswell in a car for Gainsborough railway station where I boarded an extremely slow train that eventually dropped me at Kings Lynn. From there I took a bus to East Dereham where I met up with a couple of others, including a flight sergeant returning from leave, who were about to order a taxi for the 3-mile journey to Swanton Morley. I happened to mention that I was reporting on posting whereupon the flight sergeant said that I was entitled to official transport. He telephoned the RAF station on my behalf and in due course we were all picked up by an RAF vehicle. Many years later, 35 years later to be precise when I was working at Scampton with the Red Arrows, I had sneaky access to the confidential reports written on me following my two visits to Hornchurch and learned from them that on each occasion the recruiters had noted my unacceptable accent and considered me unlikely ever to become suitable for a commission. |