it was occupied that night. He went on to say that there was a bathroom out in the kitchen area which I could use and asked if it would it be OK if he got a mattress for me to sleep on. In these circumstances I had no alternative but to agree. Someone bought me a large Scotch and, having downed that, and now very tired after the journey, I dragged my kit through the kitchen into my tiled cell.
I did not have a comfortable night. My 6' 4" frame didn't exactly fit easily in the standard bath. I couldn't undress, so I slept fitfully more or less fully dressed with my greatcoat over me whilst lying at an angle on a lumpy narrow mattress in the bottom of the tub, trying all the while to avoid turning on a tap with my feet when I changed position!
I woke next morning to the sounds of German staff arriving on duty to prepare breakfast and decided that, with a bit of kit rearrangement in this small room (it also sported a toilet and a wash-basin, but the floor was too small for me to lie down) to use the bath for its proper purpose and make myself presentable for the day ahead.
At breakfast, I met the living-in Officers, all seven of them; Fg.Off. John Duggan, Station Adjutant; Plt.Off. Peter Bunn, Junior Technical Officer; Pilot Officers 'Chris' Stott and Irishman 'Larry' O'Hara, both Fighter Controllers; Fg.Off. 'Mike' Rush from the Airfield Construction Branch and his Pilot Officer assistant; and the Officer who was being Dined Out the previous evening.1 To a man they advised me to expect stomach problems for the first fortnight until my system acclimatised to the exceptionally hard water. This was quickly demonstrated, because the diluted condensed milk we used always curdled in both tea and coffee.2 The trick was to stir it quickly before drinking, whereupon it tasted fairly normal. To fail to stir it first of all as well as before drinking could mean that the milk turned into a sticky blob which remained in the bottom of the cup.
After breakfast my kit was put in the Orderly Officer's room which I used for the next few nights until the Officer I was replacing left for the UK. I then moved into his vacated room, which became mine for the time being. There were only eight rooms in the Mess.
I spent my first day going through the usual arrival procedure, finding my way round, and learning the names of the 18 or so other Officers and what they did. I was assigned to 'A' Flight, with Flt.Lt. 'Phil' Philpot as my Flight Commander. Other 'A' Flight members were, as far as I can recollect, Flt.Lt. 'Harry' Hawker; Fg.Off. 'Doug' Breeze; Fg.Off. 'Jock' MacPhail; and Plt.Off. Chris Stott. The Operations Officer was Flt.Lt. 'Don' Crocker whose office was in Station Headquarters.



Video showing SEN-006 clip from Ken Senar's film.   The clip shows the interior of Officers Mess at Borgentreich.   Seen in the ante room is Fg.Off. Doug Breeze, Fg.Off. John Duggan, Fg.Off. 'Jock' McPhail, Plt.Off. Chris Stott (Nat Service), and another National Service Pilot Officer relax with crosswords and `page 3'!   Flt.Lt. Roy Bertram fiddles with the radiogram.   In the bar: FIt.Lts. Ray Street, Don Crocker,
Phil Phillpot, and Self.   The Barman (mis-employed Airman) can be seen.   Flt. Lt. 'Sam' Weller (in close-up), then Flt.Lt. Colin Hanmore.   In the dining room: The waiter is Herr Walter Huldt.   A group of Officers, including Plt.Off. O'Hara are at lunch.   Very few officers lived in, most were in married quarters.

The Station, or rather the domestic site (the tech site was a distance away), was small and had three barrack blocks, Station Headquarters, Stores, Sick Quarters, Sergeants Mess, NAAFI, Airmens Mess (which doubled as a cinema), Guardroom, Boiler house for the district heating of all buildings, and a small office building for the Airfield Construction Branch personnel. Married Quarters were attached to Borgentreich village about a mile and a half away as the crow flies, but about two miles through the village by road. None of the RAF buildings were more than three years old and all were painted in standard NATO colours.



Video showing SEN-005 clip from Ken Senar's film.   The clip starts with young children from the married patch leaving the Airmen's Mess after a Saturday morning film show in the Airmen's Mess cinema.   They walk away with the Airman driver who will take them back home.   Next, Airmen file into lunch and a group of Officers walk past.   The Main gate is the next shot, and the wagon leaves with the children.   Finally Flt.Lt. 'Sam' Weller, Station Adjutant, walks past.

Much to my surprise I quickly discovered that I was the Senior Living-in Officer. I had one more day's seniority than John Duggan, the Station Adjutant.3 It was with some regret that, soon after I arrived, I had to use this status to call to order the junior, ex-university, Pilot Officers who were wont to lark about irresponsibly in the late evenings in the Mess, Chris Stott and Larry O'Hara among them.
I had 'arrived', and was now ready for work.
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1 I can no longer remember all their names.
2 We did not use fresh milk because German milk came from cows that were not guaranteed to be tuberculosis free.
3 John, in later life, became involved with airships and has appeared on television in this connection several times.
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