I have been on many forums recently where without fail it is stated with certainty that mustard gas was stored or obtained from RAF Norton Disney in Lincolnshire. I was a bomb armourer at Norton Disney for two years 1951-53 and have to say that in that time I never saw any sign or heard any mention of chemical warfare. Norton Disney was a small bomb dump with plenty of heavy ordinance in various bomb bays..we had a fairly large danger area where bombs were kept and lock up sheds for ammunition of all kinds including quite a lots of 20mm aircraft cannon shells.
We had prisoners from Lincoln jail who came to camp daily to cut the grass, sweep the pathways and empty dustbins etc...all of course the right side of the danger area!! I cannot imagine they would have been allowed anywhere near the place if gas was on the site. I have seen other reports that two potholes were sunk into the ground and filled with mustard gas and then sealed. I read also that a pit was dug out and anderson shelter sides were placed in upside down the base concreted over and that too was sealed!! I am at a loss to understand all this...how long was the gas expected to be there? We did have railway sidings into the camp and would often prepare ordinance to be shipped out...........we did at one time get 2000 aircraft torpedos serviced and loaded onto to British Rail wagons..............these were for Selta in Hong Kong.
We would go at least three times a week to Spalford and in the deep sand pits would burn small arms ammunition in 5000 lb bomb rings five high...primed incendiaries in the bottom and bucket fulls of the ammo on top of them, covered over with steel sheets sandbaged down,they would burn for two or three hours and make a lot of noise!! We would destroy the 20 mm ammunition stacking the cases of 50 rounds nose down in the sand four high, with plastic explosive and detonators...these would make a big bang and send it all up in the air. We also had a team daily to RAF Fulbeck which was a disused airbase.
We never at any time were warned that mustard gas was about. On the subject of transporting the gas, I wonder would it be possible to use 1000lb practice bombs? We had a lot of these at Norton Disney all painted white to show they contained no explosive..would these be suitable to fill and transport by train to the docks? Could the gas have been put there after I left in August 1953? Also can anyone say when all the ordinance was removed from Norton Disney, I assume it is all at the bottom of the Atlantic!! I went back to see what had happened at Norton Disney in 1960 and all I could find were the ruins of the cookhouse.....the four billets had all gone but the footings were still there.......the CO,s house at the camp entrance was now the home of the local gamekeeper..................it all looked very sad.
So is there anyone out there about my age who can tell me what happened to it all?....I am now almost eighty years old and a Suez Veteran, and always wondering how they organised the removal of all those bombs and where they went to.