Danny moves in, and recalls some lighter moments.
We were not at the Tern Hill Hall for very long, for an OMQ came up for us (certainly) before Christmas ('64). But not at Shawbury, but at RAF High Ercall, a closed Station roughly three miles away. I remember that it had been active in '55, for one morning a few of us CATCS students were flown over and back in an Anson (presumably as u/ts in the Tower). Don't recall what was flying there then.
But now it was on C&M, and they had built three OMQs together - large, medium and small - which Shawbury had taken over. IIRC, all three were occupied by F/Lt School Instructors: we had the smallest (which suited us, as we only had one small daughter). Transport was no problem, a J2 or a Mini picked us up in the morning and brought us back at close of play. Therefore Mrs D. had unrestricted use of the car, and could deliver and collect Mary daily from the little convent school in Shrewsbury (6 miles) in which we'd enrolled her.
Christmas was now approaching fast, and people were coming round at Shawbury, hawking draw tickets for this, that and the other. I collected a few, tossed them into my desk drawer and forgot about them. In the last week before Christmas, I came back to the Common Room after my last afternoon lecture to find that I'd struck lucky. I'd won a Turkey and a Goose !
But they were neither plucked nor drawn - the two sad corpses were simply dumped across my desk (I suppose their necks had been wrung only that morning). We'd already got the order in for our own bird, so these were completely redundant. I hastily put the word out, and succeeded in disposing of both in a Forced Sale (I think I may have got a quarter of the true value, but beggars can't be choosers).
Most of the "Funny Things which happened on the way to the Theatre" happened not at the School, but in the Tower. One sunny morning a Marshall's pilot went off in a Provost, and came on the R/T: "Do you know you've got a dead hare on the runway ?". No, we didn't. "I can see it, Sir", squawked the Runway Control Corporal (pity he couldn't have noticed it before). All eyes turned accusingly on Local Controller. "It wasn't there when I did my airfield inspection this morning", he spluttered indignantly. We concluded that it must have run onto the runway and been hit by a previous take-off.
We sent out the L/Rover chap with a shovel, but as he got close, the "dead" hare shot up like a rocket and bolted away ! It seemed that it had simply been "having a kip" on the (slightly warmer) tarmac; what was amazing was that it wasn't bothered in the least by the row of an aero engine at full bore going past a few feet away. (I've mentioned before how quickly the crows got used to us and held our anti-crow measures in contempt).
"Marshalls' Pilots" perhaps needs a few words of explanation. The GCA School at Sleap had a sort of privatised arrangement with Marshalls of Cambridge to supply the "guinea pigs" on which the "Talkdown" and "Director" trainees could cut their teeth. The RAF would supply the aircraft (and presumably, the fuel); Marshalls the pilots (and the maintenance ??). (You may recall a very similar arrangement, whereby 20 Sqdn disbanded at valley in '51 and Marshalls took our aircraft from us to Llanbedr and there took over the task of providing AA targets for the Artillery).
Some of Marshalls' pilots lived in the Mess (they were all ex-service with a strong FAA element), and used to boast that they had "the only flying job which you could do with just an out-of-date driving licence !" Whether this be true or not, I know not. Possibly there was a loophole in the Air Navigation Acts whereby a CPL (or "B" Licence ?) was only a requirement if you were "carrying passengers or goods for hire or reward" (and they were doing neither). Even so, you would think that at least a PPL (or "A" Licence ?) would be necessary, otherwise any old idiot could take to the skies at will, only provided he was paid for it (and I don't want any witticisms at my expense !)
And that's quite enough for the time being.
Goodnight, all.
Danny42C.
Never a dull moment !