It’s just possible that some on this site may relate to this tale….
30 MU, RAF Sealand, early 70’s, E&I Wing workshops were 50-50 service/civilian manned, ruled with a rod of iron by WO Triggs and FS Mick Thurston, with the civvies either ex-RAF ( e.g. Chris Clynes, Paddy Howlett, Ron Howell) or, like the writer, graduates of the on-site MCCTTS* . This integration also extended to the social activities such as the Expedition Club, which organised an annual Scottish trip using the Auchallater bothy near Braemar, administered by RAF Leuchars.
On this particular occasion, the trip had been arranged by Cpl. A., but he found himself unavailable to lead the trip. At the final briefing on the Thursday before the Friday departure, Cpl. A. handed the lead over to Cpl. B., a relatively new member of the Exped. Club with the assurance that all arrangements had been made, and a signal sent to Leuchars with an ETA at the Guardroom for collection of the bothy key. His parting comment was “ Hey, Pugwash, you’ve done this trip a couple of times, you can act as 2i/c, and BTW, the Nuffield minibus is not available, so I’ve booked one from MT”
Now, the cunning plan was to depart after work at 16:30 on the Friday evening, and drive to Leuchars, with a fuel stop at RAF Carlisle, arriving in Fife in the early hours of the morning, collect the bothy key, then head off to Braemar to get some sleep.
The MT J2 turned out to be a heap of junk, but loaded with JT’s, civvies, rucksacks and compo ration packs, we set off for Scotland, arriving at Leuchars about an hour and a half after our notified ETA of 01:00.
Cpl. B. enters Guardroom to obtain bothy key, and returns empty-handed, then asks me to return with him to explain to duty dog the routine for key collection. Having done so, the duty dog confirms that the key is not available at the guardroom, then helpfully suggests that the Phys. Ed officer could issue it. Despite our protestations, he then proceeds to ring up said officer ( at 02:40hrs) , and when eventually it is answered, he has to hold it at arms length for a short while. Having hung up, he says that the Phys. Ed officer wants to see us in his office at 09:00 later in the morning, so we all crashed out in the Guardroom until then.
As was the civvy fashion in the 70’s I normally had my hair rather long ( think Cavalier King Charles spaniel) but shortly prior to this trip, I had been to a family wedding, so my locks were unusually shorn, almost passable as a servicemans.
Anyway, Cpl. B. and myself made our way to gym office at the appointed time to see Flt. Lt. C. and were immediately subjected to a tirade of abuse and invective, being made aware in no uncertain terms that the Flt. Lt. was not at all happy for his slumbers to be disturbed in the early hours. When the rant eventually wound down, Cpl. B. very quietly said “ I haven’t done this trip before, but Mr. Pugwash has, so I have asked him to accompany me to explain”.
Cue long pause while Flt. Lt does a good impression of a goldfish. You could almost see a thought bubble “ Mr.???? This spotty oik is much too young to be a WO …..Have I just b0ll0cked a civilian?”
Then, “ Both of you get out of my sight, and think yourselves lucky I am letting you have the key” .
Well, we found it funny, and the rest of the trip was fairly uneventful.
Oh, the reason the key was not available at the Guardroom, ---- Cpl. A had indeed sent a signal to Leuchars, but it said ETA was 1 o’clock Saturday, not 01:00 Saturday.
* Maintenance Command Civilian Technical Training School