My memoirs
Chapter 8
Initial Training Wing PAIGNTON
This was going to be the big test for us because it would determine if we were to go on to any form of aircrew category. It was a three month course and covered such subjects as, Navigation, Theory of Flight, Armaments, Signals, Meteorology, and of course plenty of Drill, and Physical Training.
I was allocated to the Ramleigh Hotel which was a small pre-war Guest House having about 15-20 rooms. We 'Guests' were about four or five to a room, each with the usual iron bed and three biscuits. It must be understood this was a classic system in the services. Your bed and its surround was your bed space. It also included a cupboard/wardrobe. Each day you were required to clean your bed space and make up your bed. Your three biscuits were piled neatly one upon the other and your four blankets were folded to form a neat cube on top. We were lucky also to have sheets which were placed neatly between the blankets. Every day there was a room inspection whilst we were out and punishments abounded if we were caught with anything out of place or the area not clean and tidy.
Paignton was a typical south coast holiday resort and a very nice quite little town, one of the many which most wartime aircrew will have passed through at this point of their training. Of course the beaches were all defended with barbed wire and anti landing craft barriers. So there was no lying about sunbathing after a swim.
The routine was quite strict and we were obliged to work at our studies and our drills. We had a course Sergeant who was our ‘Mentor’ and our ‘tormentor’ depending upon the occasion and how he felt.
Because our places of study, eating and living were dispersed over some distance it was necessary for us to move around very quickly and so we were obliged to march at a faster pace than usual, this took some getting used to and was pretty tough at first. Our dining hall was about two to three hundred yards up the road so that was not bad, but our main area of study was a lovely old country house about twenty minutes fast march away. If the day's schedule was worked out well, we went to the house just once. However, on occasions it meant two journeys and that made for a hard day and sometimes short meal breaks.
One of the very colourful characters we had was a Warrant Officer P.T.I ( Physical Training Instructor) who called himself CHANG we were the 'Sons of CHANG' and by golly he used to make us hop. He was housed in the Rotunda of the country house. It was there also that apart from study we did our physical training. Chang's lair was known as the Temple and we did not dare go in there. I suppose he was the chief torturer. When we started we were taken on runs of three-five miles in gym kit and plimsolls but, as the course progressed we were putting on more and more gear until, and I will never forget, the final run which was in full kit with gas capes, masks and rifles. I'm glad I didn't join the Army.
Once we got into the routine we had a lot of fun. I formed one of a group of chums Chas Blyth, Jimmy Connors and Pat Downey we spent all of our spare time together and of course got into all sorts of mischief, most of it very innocent, but some I prefer to forget. Unfortunately Jimmy and Pat never made it as Pilots and became Navigators. They were both later killed in action. It was Jimmy who, whenever we sat at a table in a cafe would greet the waitress with "Tickle your arse with a feather" and when the waitress hesitantly replied.” I...I beg your pardon”...He would reply "Particularly nasty weather" Leaving the poor girl to wonder if she had heard what she thought she had. All four of us were in the football team and although it nearly killed us each time we played, we enjoyed it. Our toughest match was against the Durham Light Infantry who were in accommodation quite close to us.
On one occasion the Durham's were preparing for a General's inspection and we used to hear the progress reports leading up to this. They had dummy inspections every few days for weeks and many of them were placed on charges for minor infractions. However, the night before their big day we asked if all was going to be OK. They replied “of course”, because their bed spaces had by now been passed OK and they had no intention of sleeping or disturbing them again until after the inspection!!! What an organisation.
As one might imagine life was not without its incidents and we were a group of very fit young lads leading a somewhat monastic life. This did not suit everyone. Two such were in the next room to us and we were often puzzled why they were always sending parcels home, usually it was the other way round. One day it was made clear. The Police came and arrested them for Burglary. They had been systematically robbing shops at night. Needless to say they were thrown off the course and I believe out of the Air Force.
Well the end of the course eventually came and the tradition was that we were sent on a two weeks leave and on our return, the train arriving around midnight, we were to see the results of our endeavours posted on the notice board. If we had passed, and all four of us had, we gained our first promotion to L.A.C. Leading Aircraftsman. This meant a rise in pay from two shillings and six pence a day to, (I think) seven and six pence. This new found wealth had strange consequences because, having for the first time, 'folding money' we decided to celebrate with a restaurant lunch, that was great after all the service cooking we had endured over the last few months. However it ruined us because when we saw our food in the mess hall the following day, we decided we couldn't face it and went to the restaurant again, so instead of benefiting from our rise in pay we found it hard to live on it. Up to that time we had never really thought about money. So much for riches!!