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refuelled and, if it was needed, re-armed – all done as quickly as possible in case there was another "scramble". When the planes landed at night they had to land down the chance-light. This was a large mobile lamp that was switched on for the pilot to see the landing strip and as soon as he was dow11 it was switched off quickly so as not to let "Jerry" see any1hing, if still around. In all the time at Idku I only remember one bomb being dropped on the camp. It landed in the Sergeants' quarters but no one was injured. The Flight Sergeant in charge of the maintenance section was named Wy11lle, Willie Wynne. Nearly always Flight Sergeants were called "Chiefy" but Willie would say: "I'm not a Red Indian, call me Flight Sergeant". He was very fond of a little drink when not on duty" in the evenings and he would get a bit merry and he would say "Call me Willie" but if you did the next day you got a blasting from him. I had in my wallet quite a considerable sum of money in English notes that I had carried \\rith me from England and I was wondering what I should do about them. So I went to see the Squadron Adjutant. When I told him how much I had got (£25) he blew his top -"didn't I know it was an offence to bring money out of the country". It was eventually decided that I would buy Savings Certificates with the money. I didn't draw much pay when I was up the desert (nothing to spend it on) so whenever I had a considerable sum in credit I would buy more certificates. When I left the R.A.F. I had accumulated the (then) vast sum of £250. Some evenings when not on duty we could go into Alex on the "liberty garry". It was all right going; it was the return journey that was not so good. We would leave Alex about midnight, no seats; it was standing all the way. The driver was always in a hurry to get to his bed so the trip was a mad dash in the dark. It was a case of "hang on tight". To all those a bit on the merry side it was hilarious but to anyone sober it was terrifying. I expected the truck to turn over many times. It was always policy to keep away from Alex whenever the Australians were there having a rest from the front line. They really took the town apart. Alex was quite a pleasant city, a lovely sea front on a nice bay. Plenty" of clubs and cinemas. The "Navy Club" was open to all Service personnel. Tombola (bingo) was played there whilst you enjoyed a drink and the top prize was very high. I was told that if you ever won they would not give you all the money at once; you would have been mugged as soon as you got outside. I never had the pleasure of winning. I remember going to the Rialto cinema to see the film "Holiday Inn" where the song "White Christmas" was sung for the first time (fancy hearing someone singing about a white Christmas with the outside temperature about 120° in the shade:). The cinema had a sliding roof; this was closed when the film was about to start. The "Beau", being a11-metal construction, after it had been standing in the sun for hours it got very hot indeed - you could fry an egg on the wings. When I had to work in the cockpit it was like an oven. Sweat would pour off me. Some of the lads worked stripped to the waist, they got very brown but me, being ginger -haired, I could not take my shirt off for more than a few minutes, my skin burned very quickly. My forehead was continually peeling until I acquired an "Africa Corps" cap that gave me some relief My arms and legs were alright, I got freckles on my arms which eventually all joined up so my arms looked brown. When on night duty you were supposed to be in the flight tent all night. If it was a quiet night you could get some sleep. One night I was on duty. I decided to stay in my own tent. I thought I would hear if any planes took off if there was a scramble. But a plane did go off and I didn't hear it. I did, however, see it returning in the light of the chance-light. I started off across the desert towards the flight tent. Suddenly I was flat on my face in the sand. I had fallen down an empty gun pit. That cured me of shirking my duties. Whenever you were on duty it always seemed to be with the same lads of all different trades. There were Corporals Shambrook and Jeff Gander, Alan Catlow, Jock White, all engine fitters. Then Willie Nichols, George Cook and Frank White, airframe fitters, Corporal Readman, electrics; "Trapper" Green and Bill Soar, wireless; smiling "Nobby" Clark, armourer. I was with two other lads in the instrument section, Thompson and Ferguson. We all seemed to get on well together. The Flight Sergeant in charge was Flight Sergeant Stewart, assisted by Sergeant Barker. There was one chap I recall but can't remember his name. His nickname was "Shafto", with a G.C (good conduct) stripe on his arm; I believe he was a "Brummie", too. There was a Corporal Goss who came from Newfoundland, he had a lovely slim gold pocket watch and as I was very interested in clocks and watches (I had done a bit of repairing before joining the R.A.F.) I said to him that if ever he wanted to sell it, please come to me and one day he did, he said he was short of cash so I gave him £5 for the watch. The lads were always bringing watches to me to see if I could repair them, mostly they wanted cleaning and a drop of Tetrachloride soon fixed them. Spares were difficult to obtain but I did what I could for the lads. Chapter 5In September 1942 I celebrated my 21st birthday with two bottles of Stella beer. Some celebration! There was a N.A.A.F.I. on the camp and most evenings were spent there or at the camp cinema. Sometimes we were entertained by an E.N.S.A. party putting on a show. There was one lady who always put on a good show; she was a French lady by the name of Alice Delysir. She was always up the front line entertaining the |
