I arrived at Kinloss on 2 Jan 73 having recently graduated from Topcliffe as an AEOp. I remember lying in my Sergeants Mess bed, not long after arrival, at an ungodly hour and being woken by the klaxon going loud and proud. Had to be told by my next door neighbour that I needed to get my A into G and get to my place of work. Thats when I found out about this type of exercise. And discovered the joys of a compo sausage. So I would say they started very early 70's.