During my disembarkation leave at home in Wakefield after returning early from my tour at RAF Gangodawila, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), I received a letter from the RAF, enclosing a railway warrant, and instructing me to report to RAF Hemswell in Lincolnshire on 13 March 1956. I was a bit surprised by this order because I’d expected to go to the Aircrew Selection Centre at Hornchurch more or less straight away after my leave.
It took two train journeys: one from Wakefield Westgate to Doncaster on a slow train and thence on an even slower train, on which I appeared to be the only passenger, to Gainsborough Lea Road. I was wearing my best blue uniform because it was required in those days to report to new stations 'properly dressed'. After stepping down onto the platform I approached a station porter (remember them?) who, in answer to my question, silently pointed to a sign which instructed RAF personnel arriving on posting or detachment and wanting transport to the camp to telephone (reversing the charges) and wait. It took about an hour for a 3-ton truck to arrive for me. I sat up front with the driver – a journey of about 5 miles along a narrow, largely deserted road ending with a steep climb, in low gear, up what is known as Hemswell Cliff. Then, all of a sudden, there was the airfield on the left spread out before me. (More about RAF Hemswell on Wikipedia here)
After 15 months in Ceylon working at a remote signals unit which had only 14 personnel, it was a bit of a shock checking in at Hemswell, a fully operational flying station with three large squadrons of Lincolns and Canberras. My first impressions as we chuntered up the hill towards the airfield was apprehension. Why? Because I'd never been on a large operational station, other than Locking where I'd done my wireless training and Changi in Singapore where I spent 4 days for a commissioning board. However, I told myself, I was a corporal with an overseas tour behind me and that gave me status. That was, sadly, probably one of the last years when corporals had the status their training and rank merited.
Initially I was allocated to work in the Ground Radio Flight at Hemswell and I was soon happily employed helping to maintain the VHF equipments used for short-range communications with the station’s aircraft: the T1131 transmitters and the R1492 receivers on which I’d been trained at Locking. That made a change because it was the first time I'd seen those equipments since leaving No 1 Radio School before going to Ceylon.
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