St Athan 40th Entry B/E 50 years Ago

[Shack37]

24th of May 1960, after leaving home on my sixteenth birthday three days earlier, I signed on the dotted line and agreed to dedicate the next 12 years (9+3) to Her Majesty´s pleasure. Anybody else out there celebrating this anniversary?

The first pay parade to collect a ten bob note as a "welcome" to the RAF, the two corporal D.I.s in ITS who played good cop, bad cop and each of whom turned out to be the opposite of his role?

The first letter from home and running to the bog so your new mates wouldn´t see the tears as a giant wave of homesickness rolled over you.

A few weeks later feeling as happy as you revelled in your new fitness level and learned about aircraft and how to fix them. (The red pen came later in the course)

Happy days and still in touch with some who collected the Queen´s shilling on the same day.

S37

[NutLoose]

:) Mine was in 76.... just a weee whippersnapper compared to you;)

[alisoncc]

Congrats Shack37. The 96th Entry Aircraft Apprentices, RAF Locking are having their 50th anniversary reunion in September this year. 50 years ago today, I was at RAF Cardington being "tested" for entry. It seems an awfully long time ago.

Currently run an Internet forum at 96th Entry, RAF Locking - Index (http://www.96thentrylocking.net/forum) . We have 123 members registered on the forum out of the original 180 plus who signed on the dotted line 50 years ago. Lots of photos of parades, events and RAF Locking from 50 years ago also on the Forum. Check out the Gallery.

[Robert Cooper]

9 September 1953, 15 1/2 years old. 75th Entry at RAF Locking.
Understand the old place doesn't exist anymore.:sad:

Bob C

[sled dog]

15 1/2 year old Sled Dog ( just a pup then ) 30th Entry St Athan Feb 1957. Similar experience as Shack ref first letter from home. Sgt DI, little Welshman known as " Sgt Ugg", who after getting us ready for Passing Out parade in Aug 1958 suddenly became "human". Overall, good memories.

[oldpax]

June 10th 1958,34th entry at Cosford before going to St Athan in August,the Empire games were being held in Cardiff and atheletes were accomodated at St Athan.
Biggest thrill was being allowed in the hangers at Cosford on the first day and allowed to sit in all the aircraft therin.

[26er]

Shack37,

In January 1961 I arrived at No 4 School of Testicle Straining as a flight commander. I don't remember which squadron but seem to recollect black and green chequers on the boys hatbands. On the whole a great bunch of kids but the job was just not my cup of tea so went back on a fighter posting again as soon as opportunity presented itself. I enjoyed myself organising the Chipmunk flying. All B/Es were given the chance to have air experience flights and we had four (I seem to remember) Chipmunks for the task. They were flown by any of the qualified pilots which included the C of E padre who had been a FAA aviator in an earlier life. Occasionally we nipped over to Locking to give their boys a trip. Normally an Anson turned up to get them airborne but they enjoyed the Chipmunks more.

I found some of the bull ridiculous.At the first four weekly wing meetings I attended the wg cdr, two sqn cdrs and umpteen flt cdrs couldn't decide if the dustbins outside the BE's huts should be painted in squadron colours or the wing colour. I lost my rag and said what is wrong in leaving them unpainted? They fulfill their job the same. That remark went down like a lead balloon but the whole project was quietly forgotten.

I can't believe it is nearly fifty years ago. East Camp doesn't appear on Google Earth!

[alisoncc]

26er wrote:
Occasionally we nipped over to Locking to give their boys a trip. Normally an Anson turned up to get them airborne but they enjoyed the Chipmunks more.

Us Locking guys had our own Varsity. See below - airborne in 1961:

http://alisoncc.com/nwimages/BeenFlying.jpg

[ian16th]

22 May 1952, RAF Yatesbury!

Was it really 58 years ago?

[HectorusRex]

April 1951, 1 Wing, RAF Halton:)

[matkat]

nutloose, also me arrived at Saints August 1976 for my AmechP course number of which escapes me.

[Shack37]

26er

If you were recently returned from Malaya having got a GSM for monkeyshooting you may have been my Flt Cmdr.

Black and green were ITS, red and blue check were 2 Wing. My first flight was in the Anson flown by a Master Pilot who took great joy in dropping the nose sharply frequently whilst looking back at his passenger´s faces to watch the colour change. After ITS we went to 2 Wing where a new DI Sgt arrived. Unfortunately he was single with apparently little social life. Many a night he would arrive in the billet when we were in full bull bore, snatch the broom from somebody´s hands and start demonstrating rifle drill.
Sometimes makes you wonder why you look back and :).

[It's Not Working]

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/35/62/356274_459ef242.jpg

Both sets of Married Quarters and the MGR still exist, everything else (including the rubble) as been taken away and now it's a fenced-off and overgrown wilderness. First went there almost 39 years ago, popped in last year for a looksee.

[NutLoose]

matkat nutloose, also me arrived at Saints August 1976 for my AmechP course number of which escapes me.

We would have been sharing the same Ronda Valley Commandos :O

I started my A Mech P course about the end of April 76, were you there for the missing trainee WAAF, she was on all the news channels, bus drivers had seen her catching a bus, she was seen at railway stations, the SIB were involved in the search but would struggle to find their own arses, the RAF searched the whole of Saints, lines of bods walking across the field, on Hangar roofs, under all the heating paths, the whole place was turned upside down and was a media frenzy.... I walked the length and breadth of the airfield on the search.............

She was eventually found shacked up in a barrack block with someone over on the permy side, often wondered if his or her feet have reached the ground yet..... :p

I was in the block by the runway, opposite the Wraf one and by the mess

[acmech1954]

Signed the dotted line 6th June 1972, arriveing at Swinderby a couple of days after, 6 weeks later and well practiced at polishing floors with a bumper, we were let loose for a few days before I headed off to Saint Athen for 12 weeks to become a baby rigger, cannot remember AAM number, but our posting date on completion was 1st November.
6 years later I was back in the training mode, this time at Halton, AAF24, I do remember that the FT's were not too popular as we had experiance of the real RAF and did not respond how apprentices did.
Example :- 1st day in classroom reading corrosion booklet, Flt Lt walks through the door ( recognised as ex Ch Tech from Saints :uhoh:), he asks who was senior man, and askes him what normally happens when an officer enters the room, everybody thinks that for his rank - nothing, but he has other ideas, first of many bo((okings that we got over the next 6 months, but we all got through :D.

[Old Photo.Fanatic]

Cosford
October 1956 , 29th Entry.
Was it that long ago?
I was 15 1/2 years old.
Mixed memories, finding our feet, thought we were the bees knees.
Whole life in front of us, would do it all over again.

OPF

[Blacksheep]

who after getting us ready for Passing Out parade in Aug 1958 suddenly became "human"All that bulls*t was designed to instill a sense of comradeship. "All for one and one for all". Our Entry is the best, we stick together.

It worked.

The attachment that we all retain with our entry, be it at Halton, Locking or Saints, proves how powerful and effective was that indoctrination.

[Shack37]

All that bulls*t was designed to instill a sense of comradeship. "All for one and one for all". Our Entry is the best, we stick together.

It worked.

The attachment that we all retain with our entry, be it at Halton, Locking or Saints, proves how powerful and effective was that indoctrination.


And also explains why we keep reading and posting on this forum.

[matkat]

Nutloose, I arrived in August 76 was in the block to the left of the bottom of the road, you would have been on the right IIRC?
As for the valley commandos I could not possibly comment on that;)

[Old Ned]

26er

Perhaps we met! My flt cdr was one Flt Lt McNabney GM (Nav (I think)) in ITS and one Flt Lt Ansty (ex Pathfinder Observer) once on 4 Sqn (don't know how I remembered that). Looking back it was a tremendous experience and an excellent training programme. Hard to imagine we too celebrate 50 years in Jan 11. RAFBE website worth a look. Found, by absolute chance, a fellow 42nd entry BE whilst doing volunteer driving after retirement. We call each other by our last 3, nobody else knows what the h*ll we mean!

I do remember Cpl Degg DI ("beds will be made up as laid down").

Started as a BE but the enlightened air force kindly sent me to college and commissioned me later on. Spending 18 months as a flt cdr on IOT was one of my better appointments, just short of the sqn cdr and PSO tours some years later.

Per Ardua Ad Astra ("Through hard work to the pictures" as we used to say!)

Pip pip

ON

[ian16th]

...a good time and place to plug the RAF Boy Entrants Association?

RAFBEA Main Title Page (http://www.rafbea.org/default.html)

It is only £8 a year and there about 1200 of us members at the moment.

[Q-RTF-X]

I joined at 15 years 3 months old with 33rd Air Wireless Mechanics at Cosford. I soon began to feel that Avionics was not my forte and applied to transfer to Armament. First strike for the Air Force, my request was granted and I moved to St Athan joining 35th entry Armament Mechanics just after they had completed ITS. The previously mentioned “Sgt Ugg” was well known even to us and we were on a different wing well away from his patch, but his reputation as a strict disciplinarian AND a decent bloke to boot was well known. My time at St Athan passed in no time at all, Gliding Club being a principle pastime (went solo just after my 16th birthday. I firmly believe the technical and personal grounding I received has stood me in good stead throughout my life. On leaving the Air Force I worked for civvie contractors and a Middle East government gravitating through becoming familiar and practicing the skills of other trades; learning the ins and outs of the ground handling business, obtaining an FAA Flight Dispatchers license ultimately becoming the Operations Manager for a private flight department, then later a Regional Manager for a company providing global services to corporate aviation. I place my success in later life as a direct result of the core training and development I received first as a Boy Entrant then later throughout my Air Force Career. I’m now retired in the Philippines and have as an occasional drinking partner ex 33rd St Athan. I sometimes think I’d like to write a book, but right now I’m too busy on my three acre small holding; have a fresh batch of pigs arriving this week and will be starting a test planting of coffee bushes soon. The Boy Entrant system kick-started me off to a good and interesting life - a thousand thanks !

[cluny1942]

June 1958, we were all sent on leave from St Athens as they needed our billets for the athletes. My registered. 1935404.

[ricardian]

In October 1959 I joined the 38th Entry of Boy Entrants at Cosford as a "u/t Telegraphist II". Demobbed June 1973 after 12 years "man's service" having served at Driffield, Sharjah, MOD (Defence commcen), Akrotiri, 38 Gp & Mountbatten (3 MHU RAuxAF). Excellent training which allowed me to become a Radio Officer with GCHQ 1973-2003.

[sandozer]

I joined January `63, 48th Entry. Worst winter ever, snow trenches to the mess and other facilities.
Does anyone from St Athan around that time remember the old Defiant and JU87 that were in a permanently locked hangar?
Me and a buddy unscrewed one of the corrugated hangar walls and squeezed in to have a shufty :)
Pic of the Ju87, and instrument panel. I was an "Insty" after all.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sandozer/7549705718/in/set-72157624815976825

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sandozer/5171124295/in/set-72157624815976825

[Lyneham Lad]

I joined January `63, 48th Entry. Worst winter ever, snow trenches to the mess and other facilities.

Me too (AMechA). Three months in N Line wooden huts with extra coke ration (no, not that sort of coke!). At one point there was talk of sending us all home as food etc was running low - then the thaw set in.

[Bill4a]

38th Entry at St Athan. Flt Cdr was Peter Sqibb who never missed an opportunity to fly any Hunter that was coming out of the MU. Our Discip Cpl was Cpl Stevens, a large and friendly rock ape. We were told that unless we remembered our service number on the first pay parade we wouldn't get anything!
Of all the guys in the entry I only ever met 3 of them during 30 years!
The YMCA would always take stamps in payment.
Looking back it was fun ........

[Shack37]

Nice to see a revival of this thread after 5 years. Now heading for my 55th anniversary of that not to be forgotten day that helped shape the rest of my life.

Never did confirm if 26er was my flight commander but dates and ages indicate a probability. (post #12)

[26er]

Shack37


Re your post no 12, at that time I had never been further east than Amman, and that only a fleeting visit. Malaysia, Singapore etc. came later. I actually took over a flight from Flt Lt Richardson. The squadron commander was Sqn Ldr Alderdyce, the wing was eventually commanded by Wg Cdr Thynne, a navigator recently arrived from Thor missiles and the big boss was Air Cdre Porter. Other flight commanders I remember were Hill, Browne, McNabney, Barton, Hyam, Read.

[4mastacker]

It is 50 years since I first entered the hallowed portals of RAF Hereford...doesn't time fly?

[Shack37]

26er
Thanks for that. It was Flt.Lt. Barton. he was very much liked and respected by the lads.

[26er]

Shack37


My memory of John Barton is that he left the RAF from St Athan and became a pilot with Cambrian Airways - they had a base at Rhoose at that time. Cambrian were eventually absorbed into BEA/BA and years later I met him at Heathrow when he was a captain on Tristars. But if he or somebody who has more recent knowledge knows better !!!!! It is all a long time ago.

[Shack37]

26er

Again, thanks for that update. He was certainly happier flying than doing kit inspections, especially the examples of B/E socks and underwear on show sometimes.

I hope he´s enjoying a well deserved happy retirement.

[Geoff Jacobs]

Always a pleasure to be able to make contact with a fellow Boy Entrant from those many, many years ago.

My name as you will see is Geoff Jacobs and I trained as a aircraft propulsion mechanic, posted to Bomber Command, RAF Marham on graduation.

Hope we establish contact through:- [email protected]

sincere regards,

Geoff.

[Shack37]

Hi Geoff, welcome. I was on the Inst course in D Flt along with the Plumbers. I think one of our lads also went to Marham, Larry Dequidt (pronounced Dikeet) but where that came from after all this time I don´t know.

No doubt our paths will cross from time to time on Prune.

[ricardian]

26er - the dustbins in Fulton Block, Cosford were never painted but they were polished with Brasso & Duraglit (outside AND inside) every Friday night
(I was 38th entry Tel II 1959-61)

[rogeroz]

Hi Sled Dog nice to hear all of your memories. I was 31st Engines St Athan 1957 to 1958. Hut D21 DI Sgt Evans, As Sgt Boy Ugh took my uniform to press it for passing out parade and loaned me his Pace stick. I went back to Saints in 67 as Tech Instructor, Ugh was a Sgt in the bedding store. When I got my third, the first person in the mess to buy me a drink was you guessed it Ugh. Great memories. One of our civvy instructors in 57 was Mr Morley, when I went back to saints I took over his locker still got one of his manuals, Gypsy Queen. Would love to hear from any 31st members. Was in contact with Ken Miles but lost his email. Have lived in Oz since 89.

[Flight_Idle]

I arrived at Swindiz in early 1970 & after getting over the shock of the hard toilet paper, I decided to be the 'Grey recruit' keeping my head down.

I do remember a DI ranting about the station commander, saying he should take the flag off his car when not in it. One day, he spotted the car flag on & no one in it, so he had our flight marching up & down, saluting the empty car.

I remember thinking to myself "Things are going to seem so normal after this".

Arriving at St Athan a few weeks later, thing did seem remarkably normal. I remember the 'Sky high club' a wooden structure known amongst us as the 'Swinging tit', but I heard that it later burnt down.

The Rhonda valley commandos were certainly very good at 'Educating' us young lads!