I was at Gaydon 1961-62, 232 OCU Victors, as an NBS Cpl. Tech. The Squaddie was named Hall, always known, of course, as Henry because of the band leader of that name.
Memorable moments:
The whole station was abuzz in '61 at the news that NATO C. in C. General Nordstadt was paying us a visit. Everything that wasn't moving was painted, and we ground staff were issued white overalls. We were all keen to see what would be the latest USAF jet he arrived in, and were surprised when he arrived in Lockheed Super Constellation of the "suck, squeeze, bang, blow" propeller-driven kind. They took the overalls away after he left, of course.
The same year we were urged on by the squaddie and wingco. to try to get our Victors at the top of the quarterly flying hours "football table." Several hints of goodies, like extra leave and even flights in the Victors for a few erks and junior NCOs. So there was a spirit of competition and - God help us - quite a few of us volunteered for extra duty, or worked on for a couple of hours after our shifts. After we did in fact top the table, squaddie Henry Hall and the wingco came to congratulate us, and very soon after that Hall made wingco and left the station. Goodies? Don't make me laugh. "You shouldn't have joined if you can't take a joke." Very funny if you hadn't "joined," but were called up.
I paid a nostalgic visit to the station some years ago when on a Christmas trip to see our remaining family in England. I admired the vintage and veteran car collection, then sat in the tiny movie theater and watched a scratchy 8mm film of Victors taking off, some of which I had worked on, like XA934 and 936. It was eerie to think that where I was sitting would have been bang in the middle of the runway. Even more eerie was to realise, as I walked out of the gate, that it was 50 years less two days since I had walked out the same gate after being demobbed.