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All this was so very different to squadron life. Here we didn't get to know the pilots very well. You started work and finished at set times, no night duty, meals at set times, not like on an operational squadron where people came in the cookhouse at any time. There were lots of Italian P.O.Ws on the camp. I suppose they really were not prisoners any more now that Italy was now on our side. There were two of them in the instrument section and they did their work very well. Their names were Tony and Mario. The Italians were very good at making cigarette lighters out of bits of metal. I was now in a Nissen hut with the rest of the "bashers" and each hut had a young Arab boy to look after the billet, keep it clean, take and return our laundry - just a general "dogsbody". I suppose they were glad to earn a few piastas. When I had any spare moments when I was up in the desert I was carving bits of wood into a Wellington bomber, wingspan of about 8". I made it so that it all pegged together so it was easily dismantled for packing away. One day our boy saw this model plane and he was so entranced could he have it "please", so I gave it to him but on the way out of camp in the evening all Arabs were searched. Of course, the plane was found, the SPs brought him back to me to verify his story', which of course I did. Poor lad was frightened to death.On my first day parade at Ismailya we were all lined up, the Sergeants being paid first. A name was called, Sergeant Gibbs, and as he went for his pay I thought, "I know that chap". He was an instrument repairer too and when I met him in the section one day we recognised each other. We had been at School of Art together at the ages of 12-15! He never did any work in the section, all his time was spent organising and rehearsing for a camp concert called "Spring Parade", a good show, too. One day a new Corporal arrived in the section straight out from England. His name was Arthur Wilkins and his hometown was West Bromwich. He also had a girl friend who lived close to my home. We became good friends. We bought a camera between us and when I left Ismailya I let Arthur have it as he was posted to the Far East. There was a very large Army camp adjoining the RAF station. It was called Moascar and it was there that I saw some very good football games with some real professional players. There were Ainsley and Mullet of Leeds United, Hughie McLarren from Derby County, a chap from Southampton and one from Arsenal. I too, was now playing for our section team. Some Sunday mornings early, around six o'clock, I would go out of camp by the back gate. The SPs must have thought I was mad. I would walk along the road by the Suez Canal to the next R.A.F. station at El Firdan. There I would enjoy some cycle racing, my friend from 46 Squadron would be racing. Gill Taylor was now a member of the Buckshee Wheelers and it gave us a chance to talk too. The 8th May 1945 was V.E. Day. I do not remember any rejoicing, Chapter 9 On 30th May 1945 I was posted to 216 Group at Almaza, Cairo. I left Ismailya on 2Oth June 1945 and arrived at H.Q. Almaza. The next day I was taken out of Cairo along the road past the Pyramids onto the desert road again to No 10 Staging Post at Cairo West. I now joined Transport Command. I was only there for a short time for, on 2nd July 1945, I was posted again, this time to No 12 staging post at El Adem near Tobruk. I was told to go and wait in my tent and would be called when a flight to El Adem became available. I could not leave the camp in case I was called. I waited in that tent for over eight weeks. VJ Day passed whilst I waited there. On 24th May 1945 I boarded a DC3 Dakota and we left Cairo just after midnight, arriving at El Adem in the early morning. I was taken to the terminal building, given a meal and then I reported to HQ, was given a billet and I then reported to the instrument section where the Corporal in charge had been awaiting my arrival so he could now go back to England. So I now took charge of the section. El Adem was an old airfield, well used by both sides of the warring air forces. I think the Italians originally built it. Plenty of brick or stone buildings and real tarmac runways and perimeter roadways. Our billets were Nissen huts but the trade sections were in brick buildings. I had to do night duty crew again and it came round to me every third night. Also I was again N.C.O. in charge. There were planes coming in at all times of the day and night for refuelling and for servicmg. I found it very interesting, as the planes were all sorts - bombers, fighters, transports, English and American, Yorks, Lancs, Skymasters, Marylands, Baltimores, Spits, Dakotas. I think the ugliest plane I ever saw was the Stirling~ it was such a large plane if you slipped off that you knew it! One night on night duty (it was about 2.30am on the early morning of 26th October 1945) control tower informed me that a Dakota from Cairo was about to land. It was brought to our dispersal. The engines stopped and the door opened. The first person to appear in the doorway was "Our Gracie" and the first words she uttered were: "How long have I to stay in this dump?” Any admiration or respect I had for Gracie Fields from that moment completely disappeared. She and her husband Monty Banks were taken by car to the terminal building for a meal, a drink and a nice |
