Danny gets into a Control Tower.
Binbrook was on top of a Lincolnshire Wold, about a dozen miles inland from Grimsby. It was a cold place in winter, and it was November now. The only unit on it was 101 Squadron (Lincolns), commanded by a living legend of Bomber Command, Wing Commander Hamish Mahaddie. He doubled as Wing Commander Flying, greeted me warmly and passed me on to the SATCO. This was my first close brush with the Branch in which I would serve my last seventeen years.
Of course (unqualified) I wasn't allowed anywhere near a microphone, but made myself useful round the Tower, sorting out the RAFACs and TAPs and doing the amendments. I had a good look at the Controller's work, and it looked pretty easy to me. There was no intensity at all here; a Lincoln would take off and you wouldn't see it again for about twelve hours.
At that time Intelligence was very interested in any atomic tests the Russians might be making. 101 flew a Lincoln every few days up to Jan Mayen island (70° N, about 1,000 miles). There air filters were deployed to pick up samples of the radioactive fallout which might have drifted on the winds prevailing at that latitude.
These trips were uneventful as a rule, but on one occasion a wind change, or a dicky compass fooled the navigator. (I'm not sure whether they actually found Jan Mayen (there's not all that much to find), or were up at the right latitude and just put the sniffer pads out anyway). After an hour or so on the way back they were horrified to pick up (on H2S radar) land to the west where no land should be. They were off the sea ice on the East coast of Greenland, hundreds of miles off track.
This was signalled back to Binbrook and caused rather a fluttering in the dovecotes. With the increased distance involved, would they still have sufficient fuel to get back to Scotland ? They could divert to Keflavik and refuel there. But their arrival would not pass unnoticed by Soviet agents, who would guess what they had been doing (they probably knew of the flights anyway, but there is no sense in giving a potential enemy gratuitous information).
Maps, rulers and dividers came out, there was a frantic session of mental arithmetic; the fingers-crossed consensus was that they should make Wick (or at least Sumburgh - would their runway be long enough ?) In the event, they got to Kinloss - panic over. Needless to say, I took no part in the affair, but it was rather pleasant to be at the heart of things while having no responsibility whatever for them.
I only remember odd details of my time in the Tower. A Lincoln with a fearful case of pilot-induced oscillation, doing grands jetés down the runway, leaping gaily from one wheel to another until, mercifully, he packed it in and went around, and we could all breathe again.
And one dark night when the following cross-talk was heard:.......(ATC): "Kingpin 23, clear line up & hold"..... (23): "Can't - Caravan's giving me a steady red"......(Cpl on i/c to Twr.): "No, I'm not, sir !.......(ATC): "He says he's not"......(23): "I tell you, he is".......(Cpl on i/c): "No, I'm NOT"........"He says......".........."I TELL YOU....."....this went on for quite some time before ATC could convince 23 that what he was looking at was the obstruction light on top of the Caravan.
(And this brings to mind an old "Tee Emm" tale of the WW2 chap who found a steady red in blacked-out Britain, thought "Pundit", circled for a while to wait for the ident and then realised that he was flying round his own navigation light).
Christmas approached, and I was gratified to hear from Lloyds that I had gone up to 23/- a day. A fortnight later they told me that they'd made a mistake: it should have been only 21/-. Ah, well.... And I carried on busily swotting for my Promotion Exam "B" in March.
But the rush of wealth to the head set me thinking about a vehicle of my own. RAF stations are always in the back of beyond, and "wheels" of some sort are essential, buses (if any) being of the "once-a-week-on-market-day" kind. I'd been carless since '49, when I'd sold the old wreck of a Standard I'd bought on demob leave. New cars were almost unobtainable (and in any case unaffordable for penniless junior officers).
Leafing through "Autocar" in the Mess one day, I came across a Road Test of the Bond "Minicar". I still remember the conclusion of the Test Report: "This little vehicle is claimed to be able to carry two six-foot men, at up to 40 mph, with weather protection, at up to 100 mpg. The mere fact that we found these claims to be fully justified is worth more than any amount of journalistic lily-painting".
They retailed at £199. I put in an order for one (for delivery in May) from Sharp's Commercials, of Preston. (see Google: Bond Minicar > The Bond Minicar Page > Mk. A for pics. The Bonds lasted well into the '70s). I was to keep it for more than four years, and run up 30,000 miles on it. It was a wonderful little thing. I wish I had it now.
Goodnight again, chaps,
Danny42C.
(Soon be flying again now)
Last edited by Danny42C; 14th Dec 2012 at 18:59.
Reason: Typo'