Cornish Jack,
Took care of lots of A/C no trouble, people were a problem to us!
We had minimal facilities for people at Istres and even less at Orange. Our worst nightmare was a Beverley full of Pongo's going U/S and having to overnight.
As for the bar with ties, no ties in my time. I preferred the bar arrangements at Istres, the bar was just along the passage, in the barrack block!
I was the 1st RAF guy at Orange. I was the Radar Fitter and I installed the Eureka VII in a little brick hut close to the Tower. This was a couple of weeks before we transferred all of the traffic. May 58, I left Sept 58.
As a Radar Fitter, from a previously cosseted existence in Bomber Command, I very quickly learn't all about A/C handling, re-fueling and re-oiling. The re-oiling especially on Beverley's! The engine guys were very keen to initiate all of the other trades in that 'skill'.
There was one very welcome Valletta, the once a month 'NAAFI Kite'. This came from Benson, with all of our 'duty free', it also brought our 'stores'. When it was parked and the door opened, the 1st thing we looked for was Oxygen Bottles. I dunno why we couldn't get supplies from the French, but we didn't, and this was always loaded as priority and they were bl**dy heavy. If there was too much weight taken up by 'stores' our Naafi load of duty free waited until 'next month'.
Odd memories from half a century ago.