The camp buildings, comprising some new Seco huts, some old Nissen huts, and some newly rendered brick buildings, were all painted in NATO colours. The Astra Cinema, Station Sick Quarters, and our Mess were all Nissen huts.
Our hut batman asked me if I knew anyone who wanted a bicycle in exchange for a Pound Note. I had a look at the machine and it was fully serviceable and even the height of the saddle, surprisingly, suited me. I parted with the money and the bike was mine. It proved invaluable and saved me a lot of leg work travelling between camp facilities.
Across the airfield from our Flight huts was a group of buildings and a hangar occupied by Westland Aircraft Ltd., who shared the use of the airfield for test flying.
Our designation was 208 Advanced Flying School, and I was there to learn to fly jets. The aircraft we had were two-seater Meteor T7s for dual training, and Vampires, Marks 5 and 9, for solo flights. There were also some Vampire T11s for further dual flying. Parked on hard-standings were a number of earlier Mk 1 Vampires which were no longer in regular use.1 My flying instructor was Fg.Off. Bennett, with whom I initially had a compatibility problem. Flt.Lt. Greenfield was i/c 'A' Flight, to which I was assigned.
There were two Iraqi pilots on our course. One had the nickname Abu Avtag after the aviation fuel we used.2 They were sent by the Iraqi Air Force on the understanding that if they failed the course they would have to pay for it themselves. One did fail and, I heard later, committed suicide as a result.
At Merryfield the accent was on flying. Ground school lessons dealt primarily with meteorology and navigation at high altitude, aircraft systems, and aircraft recognition. Personal qualities and general abilities were still being assessed but were not, at this stage of training, regarded as such a critical part of the course. Before flying we were given a once-over by the MOs, Flt.Lt. Markham and Fg.Off. Frame. This done, we were taken by bus to RAF Weston Zoyland to have further tests in a decompression chamber, just to make sure we were all OK, and to experience anoxia under controlled conditions.
The decompression chamber looked like a horizontal boiler with thick glass windows. There were seats and an oxygen supply inside, and there was an air lock for use in emergency. We were put in the chamber, four at a time. We put on our oxygen masks, and were taken up, in stages, to the equivalent of about 40,000 feet. In turn, we had to take off our masks and, at the same time, write on a piece of paper the numbers One, Two, Three, Four, etc., in sequence. As anoxia set in (and none of us could recognise its onset) our writings failed to a scrawl and then stopped. Our heads then fell forward as we became unconscious. Oxygen was then blown across our faces from an open-ended pipe and, on regaining consciousness each of us started writing again at speed and with increasing clarity as we recovered. By the time we had recovered fully our speed of writing had slowed to normal pace. We then came down to 'ground level'. Anoxia is as insidious as it is dangerous.
Before starting flying we had to be taught the use of Mae Wests and dinghies as this was the first time we came anywhere near flying over open water. We were given wet practice in the necessary drills in the public baths in Taunton. Trying to right an inverted one-man dinghy and then climb into it while wearing flying clothing is an art at which we had quickly to become proficient. It was difficult enough in the smooth water of a swimming pool. We all hoped we would never find ourselves having to do it in a cold rough sea.
My first jet flight, in a Meteor T7, impressed me because of the shove I got in my back and lack of tendency to yaw on take-off, also the lack of engine noise as we
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1 These aircraft had been used until the previous November and were eventually flown out later during my stay.
2 His Iraqi name was unpronounceable by us. Two types of jet fuel were in use at the time: AVTAG and
AVTUR. We used AVTAG for our aircraft. 38