I arrived at Thornaby about March 1944 and it was bitterly cold with several
inches of snow. We were in a long wooden hut without any kind of insulation
from the cold and I don't even remember the usual coal-burning stove. We
went to bed wearing several layers of clothing in order to
keep warm and on top of the bed was piled things like greatcoat, towels,
spare uniform, etc. and anything else one could find. In fact, we had a
saying that, "in the morning we crept out of bed, took off a few clothes,
and then we were dressed!"
Our unit was known as ASRTU which stood for Air Sea Rescue Training Unit. We
were equipped with Vickers Warwick aircraft, a development of the famous
Wellington bomber. It looked very similar to the Wellington but was even
larger and our particular ones were made to carry a boat under their belly.
These were dropped into the sea and used three parachutes to support them on
their way down.They were dropped alongside aircrews that had come down in
the water and our unit was responsible for training people to drop them
correctly.
On arrival at Thornaby I had just completed my flight mechanic's course at
Blackpool and it was the first time that I was ever to be let loose on a
real aircraft. As an
airframe mechanic, my job was to inspect 'my' particular aircraft everyday
to ensure that it was airworthy and to sign to say that it was fit to fly,
as far as the airframe was concerned. (The airframe was practically every
bit that one can see, except the engines.) This was a rather daunting
responsibility for any new 19-year-old flight mech. and so, on the first
morning, when
the flight sergeant told me to go and inspect C "Charlie", I was determined
to do my very best.
It was just after nine o'clock when I left the crew room to do my inspection
and, after looking at very nearly every rivet, etc., I returned about
midday. I naturally felt very pleased with myself and walked proudly over to
the flight office to sign for my aircraft. My joy was further increased to
see the flight
sergeant standing outside, looking keenly in my direction.
"Where the b . . . . . hell have you been, airman?" was his fiery greeting.
"Doing my daily inspection, flight sergeant."
"A likely story. You have been gone three hours and if you ever slope off
like that again you'll be on a charge! I'll be watching you tomorrow, my
lad". (I didn't realise that the popular time for doing the job was about 45
minutes, if everything was OK!.)
Another particular memory that I have of Thornaby was that our hut was just
a few hundred yards off the end of the runway and when the training crews
were on night flying exercises we used to lay in bed listening to the
Warwicks thundering down the runway towards us and flying very low over our
hut. One's overriding concern, of course, was . . . "I wonder if this is
the one that won't make it?"
Many houses adjoined the airfield, of course, and I can share their dislike
for night flying but, we were in the middle of a war. However, that didn't
prevent some of the neighbours from complaining bitterly about it and their
complaints were taken very seriously!
We had some good times in Stockton and Middlesboro' and I can remember the
night I made a date with a local girl and to my horror she turned up in
clogs. Coming from the far south of England I had never seen anything like
that before, but the noise that they made walking through the empty streets
was more than I could bear!
One night my mate and I called in to the first pub at the entrance to
Stockton where a couple of regulars were playing darts. We were very poor
players, really, but agreed to play the locals for a pint. By some strange
fluke, we won the first two matches and towards the end of the third game I
threw two darts into the treble 19 bed. "Three in a bed is game" shouted one
of our opponents, knowing full well that we wouldn't achieve it.
I took careful aim without the slightest hope of ever getting it (I never
had in the past) but to my astonishment it went straight in. Everyone was
very impressed; we got our winning pints; but no one else would give us
another game!
