What a truly awsome thread this is!
I arrived at Cottesmore on November 1960, from Eastleigh, of all places, and what a different air force it was! From a holiday camp to a Real Air Force.[ I was an SAC Fireman at that time, the exalted rank of Sqn Ldr came later!].
Security badges, Special Storage Areas, escorting one of the contents of which down to one of either 10 or 15 Squadron's Victor 1A's, noting that one of those weapons had a "Ban the Bomb" sticker on it, vowing never to be beaten to the aircraft by the crew on a Mickey Finn, the Heath Robinson method of loading the bombs onto a Victor by means of a cherry-picker, receiving a visit from the CO of the Victor B2 trials squadron of four aircraft, 'just to say Hello', [a rare event I might add!], the universal relief at seeing all five crew got out of the Victor that ran out of fuel on approach, the sadness at losing all five in the other in Cyprus, having regular chats with the CO, one Johnnie Johnson, who had a habit of sneaking in to his office via a Crash Gate, so that the Snowdrops couldn't report his arrival, getting absolutely, totally lost on the airfield in a snowstorm, doing a gentle 360 on ice past the Tower , but still recovering to make the turn into the Crash Bay and seeing the Tower staff all applauding! The Sun Inn in Cottesmore Village.
Great stuff! Keep it up!