We didn't disperse only on Micky Finns, we used to exercise individual dispersals to keep the equipment - which was Bomber Command property - operational. I remember going to Brawdy/HMS Goldcrest for a week on such an exercise. It was an FAA training station so there was lots of Jolly Jack Tar/Popeye the Sailorman stuff designed to confuse us landsmen.
Our aircraft were parked on the ORP at one end of the Flight Deck and our barrack room was a messdeck. The OOW would come round in the evening to ensure that all deadlights and watertight doors were secured. One was supposed to be either in best blue and standing by your bed or else in bed, fast asleep. Being Bomber Command we didn't do either and sat around the table in our shreddies as usual, playing three card brag and singing "Do your balls hang low..." or some other jolly sea shanty.
If you walked across the grass between the blocks and the NAAFI - SOP at Waddington - some idiot would scream "Man Overboard!" and throw a lifebelt at you. The landrover was a "Jolly Boat" or some such nonsense. One lunchtime the off duty shift decided to go out for a pint and ploughman's instead of eating at the galley. There was no jolly boat and in any case we needed a chit from the bosun or whoever. We went back up the road and returned in formation, walking backwards - In!-Out!-In!-Out! - as we rowed our jolly boat out of the gate.
I reckon the Skipper of HMS Goldcrest was glad to see the back of us...
A couple of questions for ex-matelots. Do you also have a miserable boat? what happened to the Master at Arms's legs? why doesn't the gunner's mate have a gun? We tried asking but nobody would tell us.
