A bit of help needed here....

[Rossian]

.....what do the initials ISATC stand for? It seems to have been at Hendon at the end of the '50s and possibly later. My inital stab was Initial Selection and Training Centre - maybe as a precursor to Hornchurch and Biggin Hill.

Does anyone know for sure, or who went through the unit?

This is a small part of following a chap's career for a family member.

The Ancient Mariner

[teeteringhead]

Just a thought - could the "I" in fact be a "1"??

[Rossian]

Not having seen....

.....the written entry in the log book, a tad difficult to judge, teeters.

However a very nice lady at the museum at Hendon took the time to scrabble around for me in their archive and found "JSATC" which was the Joint Services Air Trooping Centre. As the chap had arrived from furrin parts and day one there was his commissioning date in the RAF I can imagine a scenario which could account for the time he spent there - "holding"? sorting out his courses? waiting for his family to arrive from furrin parts? So I think she may be right.

Thanks for your efforts anyway.

The Ancient Mariner

[J1N]

I do remember as an Air Cadet staying one night at some transit camp at Hendon around 1975. Perhaps the same establishment?

[Innominate]

It's J, not I - the Joint Services Air Transit Centre was a holding camp for personnel going overseas, or returning. Stayed the night in 1974 on my way from Yorkshire to a CCF camp at Bruggen, via LGW. I think they also sent people up to LTN for the troopers to Germany.

[Wander00]

ISTR it moved to South Cerner, 29 Regt RCT, as the Joint Services Air Trooping Centre

[Rossian]

Thanks again guys...

....it's all beginning to knit together into a coherent picture now. It's a fascinating little "pastime" looking at a contemporary's life.

The Ancient Mariner