Originally Posted by
Old Photo.Fanatic
blindfire.....
-13 plus wind chill.?
"Balmy" compared to middle Germany during winter of 62/63.
I was stationed in a small town in the American zone north of Frankfurt.
Part of a small detachment operating the southern tech. site of the Decca Nav. trials for the RAF.
First snows started in mid Nov. through to March.
In the town the temperature fell to -28C Day and Night for three weeks around Feb.
This combined with a wind chill from a gale force easterly wind dropped the temp. even more.
The Tech site was on a 1000' high hill outside the town, so the temp. was lower still , off the scale!!!!
We had no extra winter type clothes so we were allowed to wear what ever we could get on, to keep warm.
We had a "landy" for transport, with a 50/50 mix of water and anti freeze.
At night we had to run it every hour to operating temp. to avoid it freezing up.
The Tech equipment was in an air transportable container, each rack normally was quite warm when operating.
With the door sealed shut to keep as warm as possible there would be a frost covering the lower part of the racks in the mornings during the worst of the cold.
We had a small number of German men to look after odd jobs around the site during the day.
One of these men had been on the eastern front at Stalingrad, he said the cold during the worst of the 62/63 winter at the higher tech site was as bad as the Russian winter at Stalingrad.
You had to be there!!!!
OPF
Yes, but you're old
only joking
tbf I hate the cold, I much preferred the 3 yrs in Oman, never a cold day there.