ResmorohTac Comms Wg Trng Exs used to inhabit the old V-Bomber dispersal facilities.
And of the very LIVE sheep that was mysteriously found in OC TCW Det’s bunk. And of the very DEAD sheep found (still steaming – it was a very wet Macrospanish night!) at the bottom of a megawatt Tx aerial (everything went very dark and quiet with a very big bang!!!) We had been working some frigate in the Windies – but it all stopped!!
There were several “No Tea & Biccies” interviews when we got back to base!
Formative years for a lot of us!!
Resmoroh
ResmorohHP111, Hi,
Parachuting into Studland Bay was a regular sport some years back! Fairly senior (non-para) officers about to be posted i/c Units with a para capability would go to 1 PTS and do all the good stuff. They would then go and do a live drop into Studland Bay – thus qualifying for their ‘Para Wings’. Studland Bay ain’t too deep if you catch the tide right – the taller blokes might have been able to stand on the bottom while some ASR lot came and scooped them up!!!!!
The Rest, Hi,
We used to go to Macrospanish from time to time with the Andovers for them to experience the Rufty Tufty world of tactical operations. OC Andover Det was, on one occasion, changing into Best Blue in order to meet the local dignitaries. There was the usual hooly blowing. OC A Det’s downwind 12×12 tent door was unfastened. His No 2 opened the upwind door! OC A Det’s BB trousers last seen flying very low, and very fast, in general direction of Oggin!! Ho-ho!!
And Jimmy The Fish never failed. On one Endex occasion the deep frozen placky bags of sea-goodies failed to arrive. We rang Jimmy, who told us that our recovery a/c had been delayed by 24 hrs. He knew!! But Ops had forgotten to tell us!!
Some of the cross-wind landings by the daily flight from Glasgow had to be seen to be believed. “Say again all after Landrover blown over, Over!”.
Just a few tales in a series of 10,000!! All true – I swear it.
HTH
Resmoroh
ResmorohAgree it’s a Drop-Short cap-badge!
Try putting Maxwell-Davis into the Free BMD site (with appropriate dates). There are two deaths reported (at the same age, and on the same page) for a Catherine M Davis, and a Catherine Maxwell-Davis. Similarly, if you investigate the Marriages (by clicking on the Page Number) you will find what I can only call a fairly complex series of relationships!!!!!!!!!! TFD!
However, it seems to be fairly clear that we have evidence of a family Name Change in Registered entries. Now whether this was the same part of the family, or not, is beyond my genealogical expertise. But it looks as if some parts of the Maxwell-Davis woodwork could do with a good ‘knocking’ – if only to see what falls out. Will all the qualified genealogists step forward 1 pace??
HTH
Resmoroh
ResmorohJust as a matter of technical/legal niff-naffery. Do any of these still existing Watch Offices have any sort “Listed” status? I merely ask so that in the unlikely event that I decide to up and live in one, would I have loads of Civil Servants and/or Conservationists descend on me when I decided to drill a hole in the floor to make “The Upstairs Bog” work?
Having spent many of the two of my early RAF formative years working in Watch Offices such as this (or ATC Twrs as they were known by the time I was there), the Bogs were important.
The old TWR (Watch Office) at Wattisham had no ‘connected sewage’ arrangements. There were “facilities”. There was an Officers Bog, and an ORs Bog. These were of the Elsan variety. The receptacles were changed daily. A civilian employee would arrive in the early morning with two empty receptacles hung over the handlebars of his bike. He would take the ‘used’ receptacles away by the same means. He would sing as he went about his task. He was, therefore, known as Elsan Neddy! For those of you not up to speed with the names of immediate post-WW2 crooners, I am prepared to reveal the secret of the name on receipt of a small number of gold coins!!
HTH
Resmoroh
ResmorohJust as a matter of technical/legal niff-naffery. Do any of these still existing Watch Offices have any sort “Listed” status? I merely ask so that in the unlikely event that I decide to up and live in one, would I have loads of Civil Servants and/or Conservationists descend on me when I decided to drill a hole in the floor to make “The Upstairs Bog” work?
Having spent many of the two of my early RAF formative years working in Watch Offices such as this (or ATC Twrs as they were known by the time I was there), the Bogs were important.
The old TWR (Watch Office) at Wattisham had no ‘connected sewage’ arrangements. There were “facilities”. There was an Officers Bog, and an ORs Bog. These were of the Elsan variety. The receptacles were changed daily. A civilian employee would arrive in the early morning with two empty receptacles hung over the handlebars of his bike. He would take the ‘used’ receptacles away by the same means. He would sing as he went about his task. He was, therefore, known as Elsan Neddy! For those of you not up to speed with the names of immediate post-WW2 crooners, I am prepared to reveal the secret of the name on receipt of a small number of gold coins!!
HTH
Resmoroh
ResmorohAlertken, Hi,
Yt last para absolutely brilliant!! Clearly, My Lord Bishop was one of those (and there were many!) who didn’t think that a mere World War should interfere with their day-to-day business!!
How the hell did we win? I suspect, however and like the Falklands, that WE didn’t win. THEY lost by making bigger, and more important, mistakes than WE did!!!
Resmoroh
ResmorohClearly, bits of Spitfires were built in garages, coach-builders, etc, in the ‘Salisbury Area’. So, also, were bits of Spitfires (panels, wiring looms, bits of aircraft ‘plumbing’, etc) built in the Reading area. They were transported (in the Reading case) to RAF Henley to be ‘screwed together’.
Where else did – what was effectively, a cottage industry, – take place after the bombing of Woolston? There must be others?
Interested
Peter Davies
ResmorohTonyT, Hi,
What about (from Wiki)
In 1010 AD an English monk, Eilmer of Malmesbury, purportedly piloted a primitive gliding craft from the tower of Malmesbury Abbey. Eilmer was said to have flown over 200 yards (180 m) before landing, breaking both his legs. He later remarked that the only reason he did not fly further was because he forgot to give it a tail, and he was about to add one when his concerned Abbot forbade him any further experiments.
He may have been doubling as OIC Cellars at the same time!!!!
HTH
Resmoroh
ResmorohTry the Museum of Berkshire Aviation (MuseumBerksAv@gmail.com) at Woodley. They may have pix of the ‘line’ at Vincent’s Garage. “Wings Over Woodley” (Julian C Temple) may be another source?
For the bigger picture then IWM might be a good bet. If they don’t have pix then they would probably know who does!
HTH
Resmoroh
ResmorohWA$,
Just as a matter of interest Contender Bezant is quoted (Wiki, I’m afraid!!) as being capable of 18 kts. That’s 432 nm per day. For 18 days that’s 7776 nm (ignoring the odd bit of land, other ships, etc, etc). Southampton to Stanley is (as measured on GE) around 6745 nm! So could be done (provided they had all the knobs turned fully clockwise, and nothing broke!!)
Some of the Directional Consultants (i.e. Navs) may care to comment!
Resmoroh
ResmorohWA$, Hi,
Mni tks yr swift reply – much appreciated.
I’m in the process of putting together a “potted” history of RAF Stanley for submission to another Forum.
I well remember those Sea Kings!! At the end of a 24-hr working shift up on the airfield they would lift us back to Rangatira. And I remember not having the strength to make the sill of the Sea King from standing. A vast Loadie would reach down and haul me in by my Bergen!!
When I was doing the Ascension bit of that unpleasantness there was some talk of fitting the Belfasts with AAR prods/plumbing, etc. But (I suspect) it was like many of the other S Atlantic ‘blue sky’ ideas – ended up in File 13. I must admit, though, I would have liked to have seen a fuel transfer from either a Herc, or a Victor, to a Belfast! But only from a distance -not actually involved you understand!!!
Tks again.
Resmoroh
ResmorohDuring Op CORPORATE Heavy Lift Belfasts were used to shift a lot of ‘stuff’ from UK to Ascension (including, if scuttlebutt is correct, barrels of beer manifested as ‘mines’). These barrels were found to have the wrong ‘tops’. The beer machinery in The Exiles Club wouldn’t fit. Some Engineering Officer off one of the RFAs borrowed a barrell and within a few hours had got his junior Engs to turn up a set of beer clamps that fitted!! Don’t let anybody kid you that we won the Falklands War. ‘They’ lost it ‘cos ‘They’ couldn’t do things like that!!
The Belfasts were under MoD contract. They were always interested in the weather in the Canaries on the way back to UK. When we (on Ascension) asked why they said “Well MoD are paying for the fuel. If we can lob in to the Canaries then we can pick up tons of tomatoes and flog them when we get back to UK!”. There’s always wheels within wheels!!!!!!!!!!!
HTH
Resmoroh
ResmorohAnd the Odiham airfield radar that had been within a gnats knockers of going to the Scrappie mysteriously pitched up at RAF Stanley.
And where, one might ask, is the definitive history of RAF Stanley? Presumably only the first two pages can be published. The rest of the history nobody would believe!! Not even by those of us who were there (on and off) for the next 4 years!
HTH
Resmoroh
ResmorohAt the age of six, a couple of live .303 rounds, which – in spite of being gripped in Dad’s vice and hit with a centre-punch – refused to fire/explode. I took them to the AA Battery at the top of our road where the Sgt said they were from an aircraft!
Surprised I’m still here? So am I.
HTH
Resmoroh
ResmorohAt the age of six, a couple of live .303 rounds, which – in spite of being gripped in Dad’s vice and hit with a centre-punch – refused to fire/explode. I took them to the AA Battery at the top of our road where the Sgt said they were from an aircraft!
Surprised I’m still here? So am I.
HTH
Resmoroh
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