After being placed on deferred service the months seemed to pass very slowly but eventually the call up papers arrived in June 44 and I was instucted to report to ACRC at Scarborough.
I can remember arriving by train at Scarborough along with a gaggle of would be airmen and being met by a Sergeant who formed us into some kind of order and marched us off to the Prince of Wales which stood high up on South Bay and which was to be home for the next six weeks.
On arrival we were allocated rooms and I was given one on the 4th floor with lovely views over the North Sea. In it's previous existance as a hotel this would have been a single room but was now home to four diverse characters. There was a lift in the hotel which was out of bounds to cadets and I can tell you that charging up and down four flights 5 or 6 times a day was no fun, although it did do wonders for your figure.
The next day I was allocated to 49 flight which consisted of 2 officers, a F/Sgt PTI a Sgt and Corporal drill instructors plus 48 cadets.
The following few days were taken up medical exams, FFI tests and the usual inoculations,not forgetting dental exams, the RAF seemed to lay great store on healthy teeth and in fact paid for dental treatment whilst I was on deferred service.
I can attest that the RAF dentist at Scarborough was not the gentlest of persons and at the risk of being libellous could be termed as a butcher. He put me off dentists for many a year. Next was the clothing parade where we were all issued with the required clobber. It was like an assembly line which we recruits proceeded along one side of a counter whilst the guys on the other side eyed you and chucked various items of clothing at you. It was only by the grace of God if anything fiited..
We then got down to the business of looking like airmen by virtue of endless drilling around the streets of Scarborough and countless sessions of PT.In between these sessions we attended lectures on various subjects such as Air Force law, Hygiene,Theory of Flight etc.
After about 4 we weeks we were all marched down to the Spa Ballroom to undergo aptitude tests which would largely determine which aircrew trade you would be trained for.
Previous posts on this subject indicated that this stage was not reached until after ITW so there must have been some change later on
I don't remember much about these tests but mus have done OK as I was categorised as Nav/Wop.
Those selected for Pilot training were also given a fallback trade and whilst the rest of us were posted to ITW the would be pilots went to grading school before ITW and if they did'nt make the grade then carried on with the fallback trade.
Harry, I did manage to hold on to the lapel badge but over the course of time it has disappeared.
Enough for today