radiation signs and immediately selected reverse and backed away at high speed. He stayed what he must have thought was a safe distance behind for the next several miles until he eventually turned off.
Back at base, these sources had to be stored in a locked and protected enclosure in the open air. Fg.Off. Dave Hattersley helped me construct such a place by sinking a large, lidded, concrete drainpipe vertically in the ground. I surrounded it with coils of barbed wire on which hazard notices were prominently displayed. The regulations stated that whenever I handled these sources I had to wear white denims - as if they offered any more protection than khaki ones, or my ordinary uniform for that matter!
I initiated a series of ABC demonstrations and lectures for the now increasing number of personnel on the camp. Our new tech site was almost complete and the personnel establishment was being increased accordingly. Thankfully, the civilian evacuation plan was quietly dropped as the international situation had by now calmed.
My duties as Armament Officer and Officer i/c Station Defence and Training were to continue for the rest of my time at Borgentreich. However, with the opening of the tech site at Auenhausen, I was trained in the use of plastic explosives by Flt.Lt. Amos Moore, a Bomb Disposal Officer, who came to visit. (I had met him at Jever when he defuzed a 500 lb bomb). We carried out an assessment of the most vulnerable parts of the bunker, its generating equipment, and the radar heads, so that I would know where best to lay demolition charges - if there was time. This was also when I took on charge a quantity of plastic explosive and detonators.



Video showing SEN-021 clip from Ken Senar's film.   The A.O.C. Inspects RAF Borgentreich, 1st May 1956 - The film:   After TITLE: Parade sequences.   The Guard of Honour is formed up outside the Guard Room by the main gate.   Flt.Lt. Ron Young is in charge.   The education officer is supernumerary.   Flt.Lt 'Sam' Weller, station adjutant, hands over the main parade to Station Commander, Sqn.Ldr. 'Paddy' Ryan.   The supernumerary officers take up their positions.   The parade waits.    CLOCK: 08.58.   The arrival:    The A.O.C.'s car approaches.   The A.O.C. arrives, Guard of Honour 'Presents Arms', the ensign is hoisted.   The parade and inspection sequence:   Wives of serving personnel watch from by the flag pole.   There are many close-ups of personnel.   Those of the officers are of:   Fit. Lt. High, C & R officer, and i/c PSI funds.   Fg.Off Taylor, fighter controller, and i/c NAAFI and travel agency.   Flt.Lt. 'Bill' Billing, senior (& chief) controller, Flight Commander 'B' flight.   Fg.Off. McPhail, controller, and i/c sports.   PIt.Off. Peter Bunn, deputy technical officer, and i/c MT.   Officers seen during the inspection are:   Flt.Lt. Ray Street, chief technical officer.   Flt.Lt. Phil Philpott, senior (& chief) controller, Flight Commander 'A' flight.
Close order March!   The parade marches past the saluting base.   In order to do so, with the parade being held on the only available space - a vehicle turning circle outside Station HQ, all Flights had to march in a tight circuit to march past at all!   The Guard of Honour was made up of mostly admin personnel; the other two Flights were a mixture of technical and ops personnel.   One has to remember that a full watch was being worked at the time of the inspection, and nearly a quarter of all personnel would be so employed.   CLOCK: 10.00.

The day before an AOC's Inspection, I discovered that, due to a minor administrative oversight, I had more hand grenades and detonators than was stated on my inventory. Inventories were also subject to random inspection if the AOC so decided. To hold too many explosives would be an embarrassment which could lead to a formal enquiry. The Equipment Warrant Officer knew of the problem and, like me, was sure it could be sorted out, but there wasn't time. Without further ado I quietly took the excess munitions to my room in the Mess and put them in my suitcase under my bed. There they stayed for two or three days. With the pressure of the inspection now gone, the paperwork was quickly tidied up.



Video showing SEN-022 clip from Ken Senar's film.   Continued story of the AOC's Inspection at RAF Borgentreich 1st May 1956.    CLOCK: 10.00.   The inspection sequence begins and its progress is timed and titled in the film.   Radio vehicles, the 2 barrack blocks, the Airmen's Mess, NAAFI, Stores, PSI shop, and Sick Quarters are all inspected before lunch.   The inspection is interrupted after the first barrack block by a 'Fire' turnout.   It was usual during such inspections for the Station Fire facilities to be tested.   The A.O.C.'s driver sets some old cardboard boxes alight for this purpose.   The fire alarm is sounded and the Fire Picket turns out, watched, of course, by the A.O.C.   He was satisfied with the speed and efficacy of the response.   Unusually, the building work was also included during the morning's inspection.   This work, when completed, more than doubled the area and facilities on the camp.



Video showing SEN-023 clip from Ken Senar's film.   CLOCK: 11.55.   After inspecting the NAAFI and the PSI Shop the inspection moved to the Officers Mess.   There the inspection paused for cocktails, lunch, and an informal chat with the officers.   A quantity of good wine was also consumed, hence the next subtitle!   TITLE: Drive past.   All available motor transport processed round the camp.   The number of vehicles almost filled the available length of road.   A considerable amount of 'out of sight' shunting had to take place in order to achieve the desired effect!   Following this the MT section and Fire section were inspected.



Video showing SEN-024 clip from Ken Senar's film.   CLOCK: 15.00.   TITLE: and now to the Technical Site.   The technical (operations) site was situated about three miles away down narrow lanes in a hollow in open countryside.   The only fixed building there was the toilet block.   The entourage took a while to arrive because of the poor state of the local lanes.   The A.O.C.'s car arrives.   A pause for discussion.   Stars and pennant in close-up.   He enters the Ops vehicle - a Leyland 'Hippo' adapted for the purpose.   This was the nerve-centre of the Unit.   He next enters a control vehicle.   There were several of these, and it was from them that aircraft were controlled by the use of radar displays and radio.   All vehicles were connected to each other by thick looms of cable.   The toilet block is seen, with an officer emerging - to the merriment of all!   An open air discussion takes place.   During this sequence there was a fleeting glimpse of a Type 13 vertical radar antenna.   CLOCK: 15.50.   The inspection ended by 1600 - and the camp returned to normal routines.   END.

There was no Station Cinema at Borgentreich, instead, Flt.Lt. Don Crocker put on film shows in the Airmens Mess on two nights each week, and a childrens programme on Saturday mornings. The films came from the RAF Cinema Corporation and were shown using two Debrie 16mm projectors. Sergeant Rogers was nominally in charge of projection and he had volunteer assistants.
By the end of 1956, my 8mm ciné filming and projection hobby had become well known on the camp. I had, for instance, filmed activities on the skating rink on the tennis courts the previous winter, as well as various other events on the camp. The CO had even asked me to film the AOC's Parade and inspection. These films, after editing, were shown in the Airmens Mess on my own Specto projector which I had brought from home after an earlier leave. These shows were received, according to who or what was appearing on the screen at the time, with acclamation, cat-calls, or ribald comments. I put on several such repeat and extended performances, by popular request, before I left the camp.
With the completion of much of the building work on the domestic site, and following the doubling of the size of the Airmens Mess, while I was away on the ABC course, one of the builder's hutments was placed on stilts outside the end window of the new Mess hall. It had been adapted, with power laid on, as a projection booth. It was shortly after this that Don Crocker was posted away, his tour in Germany having come to an end. The job of being i/c Cinema fell to me. Sgt.
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