An excerpt from my late father's recollections of his time as a Mosquito pilot on 4 Sqn at RAF Gutersloh during the Autumn of 1947:-
Rumours began to circulate that some Mosquito Squadrons in Germany were to be disbanded and that those remaining from 140 Wing and 139 Wing would be amalgamated. As time went on it became clear that our Squadron was to move to Wahn near Cologne to join 139 Wing. This was a sad blow to us, but better than being disbanded. Together with 21 and 107 Squadrons the Wing had been together at Gutersloh for a considerable time and before that in Belgium and Holland. The Station Commander decided that we must throw a Wing farewell party and the PMC was given the task of organising the food and drink. Somebody suggested that some fresh seafood would be a good idea and thus it was planned to fly to an airfield near London, get up very early in the morning and go to Billingsgate fish market to make the necessary purchases before returning for the party the same night. Nobody gave a thought to the possibility of getting weather bound and missing our return to say nothing of having a cargo of highly perishable seafood! One of our senior navigators professed to know the ropes at Billingsgate and for some reason I was selected to fly him in a Mosquito to RAF Bovingdon for the operation. On arrival at Bovingdon, we scrounged a lift into London where we put up at a small hotel close to Billingsgate and arranged a very early call. Next morning we bought lobster ,crab and oysters and loaded them into a taxi which drove us to Bovingdon. Fortunately the weather was good and an hour and a half later our cargo was safely in the Mess kitchen. The party went with a real swing and a number of Senior Officers from Group HQ were heard to congratulate the CO on his ability to obtain such delicious food!