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Back in the "bad old days" when Officers commanded (with the Warrant Officer's say so and the support of the SNCO's), we used to have eight RAF Stations "At Home" days on the nearest weekend to 15th September
Eight? I distinctly remember when just about every RAF and RAuxAF Station held 'Battle of Britain' open days. Even the Bomber Command ones.
Our local station was RAF Thornaby, home to RAuxAF 608 Squadron and their DeHavilland Vampires and it was where I got Avtur in my blood at the age of five.
From the outset, all commands held "at homes" on B.O.B. Saturday, its just that the numbers increasingly decreased, but the standard of fare at each got better as well. About 1954 or there abouts, there was an argument between the AOCs of Tech Training and Maintenance command (I believe), and VCAS, Sir Thomas Pike at the time. They were unhappy about the heavy number of their stations which they were being asked to make available to be open that forthcoming B.O.B. weekend. The chief complaint was that their stations largely had little of interest to show the public and were always at the back of the queue when flying items were being allocated , supposedly fairly. Their concerns were regarded sympathetically and were assured that things were about to change. I believe this referred to 1957, when a central B.O.B. project team were set up at Fighter Command H.Q. their job was to ration out the bulk of flying and static participants to avoid as much as possible any imbalance.
If you buy my book "The R.A.F. At Home" all this and more is detailed etc etc!
FB
