The next installment of my uncle Dick's RAF memoirs.
Autumn
/ Winter 1949
And
so the inevitable that was bound to happen did happen, a few months
later. A Dakota went down with an engine change at
Gatow and within a few hours a
replacement- another KN 111 was in position at Gatow. The Schedule
went through.
The
amusing incident which happened a week or so later was that when the
'unserviceable' aircraft was returning to
Northholt on Tuesday, at
the same time as the schedule UWD (no definition found) was
leaving for Gatow and both aircraft were using the same call sign.
Air Traffic was confused by 2 aircraft in the circuit with the same
call sign, one asking for clearance and the other for landing
instructions.
It
was soon afterwards that we began to see Dakota KJ 628 appear on the
tarmac. (No results for this exact aircraft on Google) This was Field Marshal Montgomery's
aircraft, a VIP Dakota, given to him by General Eisenhower
following the defeat of Germany. It used to arrive at weekends for
desnagging and disappeared again on Monday to Boscombe Down to pick up the
Field Marshall and ferry him wherever. The pilot was Flight Lt.
Houghton, an ex Halton
apprentice.
One
day in the crew room, whilst waiting for his aircraft, in
conversation he told us how he became an airman sergeant pilot. As a
fitter he was working on a
Hurricane and he left a
screwdriver in the cockpit, which either the pilot found naturally,
or hit him on the head when doing acrobatics. As a result he did 28
days 'over the wall.' He decided that he would go for Airman Pilot,
and here he was, Monty's personal pilot.
The
Squadron then moved to Abingdon
still operating Dakotas. Shortly, another VIP Dakota appeared: KJ994,
belonging to Admiral Brind, NATO, based in
Norway. The 2 extra Dakotas caused us a lot of extra work at
weekends, even to the extent of polishing the aircraft with about 20
chaps. We also never got on very well with the AQM
based in Norway who every time on returning to the UK always gave us
the Form 700 with an entry Leak
in the Kitchen Water System.
Frozen burst pipes hidden under soundproofing. He didn't seem to
remember that one could drain the system. We had told him enough
times.
One
day when we were expecting Field Marshal Montgomery's aircraft we
were told that on its arrival nobody would be allowed to touch it.
Keep away. It taxied into the lane by the Control Tower and was
checked and locked. The following morning it was towed into the
hangar and we were then told to thoroughly search the aircraft. Every
panel off, cowlings off, bare arms even in the fuel tanks, suspected
soundproofing removed. But no electrics were to be touched or
operated on. We were told that there was a possibility of a frequency
bomb or explosives having been planted in the aircraft.
The
story is that following Monty's success after the war, he had become
quite political and was not too bothered about what he said
concerning the state of Europe and which politicians he annoyed.
Whilst visiting Prague for a
conference, the aircrew, on arrival at the aircraft in the morning,
found that the padlock had been forced on the entrance door and there
was evidence of entry into the aircraft.
The
aircraft was flown home after a brief local search with complete
radio silence in case some explosive device or frequency bomb had
been planted. Therefore the reason for the thorough search.
The
following day the aircraft was towed across to the other side of the
'drome to a secluded pan, a trolley accumulator plugged in and
following the Sqdn. Cdr, Wing Co Flying and Sigs Officer tossing the
coin, one of them went aboard and operated everything he could. Peace
and quiet still reigned.
Normally
our aircraft used to get Customs at
Lyneham before returning
from the Continent but now and again Customs travelled to us and
cleared the aircraft at Abingdon. In such cases we were not allowed
near the aircraft until the passengers had deplaned and escorted into
the Air Traffic building for clearance. We had to be given the 'go
ahead' by the Air Movements Officer.
One
particular day we were waiting with the tractor and towing arm about
every 10 yards from the aircraft ready to drag it away to prepare it
for the following day when the passengers started to disembark.
A
Flt Sgt appeared at the top of the aircraft steps and shouted across
to me, “Hello, Bill, I didn't know you were here.” He descended
the steps, shook hands with me and said out of the corner of his
mouth, with the Customs Officer and Air Movements Officer watching,
“Get rid of that,” and loudly, “See you in a minute, Bill.”
He then disappeared into the building.
My
name, incidentally, is not Bill.
When
they had gone, I looked down into my hand and there was the most
beautiful Rolex Oyster
you had ever seen. Panicking, I drove back to the hanger and climbed
up the hangar doors and stuck it behind a girder. The aircraft was
later cleared of Customs and we towed it away. The Flt. Sgt. Soon
appeared to claim his watch. It's not often a Sgt can rollock a Flt
Sgt and get away with it, but this time he didn't seem to mind.
Whilst
at Abingdon we gradually got equipped with Valettas CMK1s. The VIP Dakotas
still came to us for weekend servicing. We were also allotted 3 VIP
Valettas MK2, VX 576, VX 577, WJ504. More polishing. We managed to
get a few extra tradesmen on strength to cater for all this extra
work.
Then
one day a number of civilians walked through the hangar accompanied
by some officers from Command. We were told to supply them with an
aircraft with a trolley accumulator plugged in and don't interfere. A
couple of hours later they disappeared.
A
few weeks later a lorry arrived with a large cage in sections, its
walls 2” steel wire mesh. It was assembled in the rear of the
aircraft, after the main spar,
on the starboard side. It had a normal entrance door with lock.
Nobody on the ground side could find any reason for it. Nor were we
told anything.
Then
we were allotted
VW190, an extra
aircraft for the cage. Every week, early in the morning about 6am it
would leave us, fly to Boscombe Down, Pick up a
professor and fly him up to
Stornaway, together with his
packages. There he left the island by Royal Naval pinnace and was
taken to a ship anchored off Stornaway. Very hush hush.
Many
years later we were told that the professor was working on germ
warfare, his packages contained guinea pigs and the cage in the
aircraft was a secondary precaution during transit to prevent any
livestock escaping.
