by the army Air Formation Signals Unit under the command of 2nd.Lt. 'Rod' Ping; he had a far back Oxford accent.
Upstairs were the quarters of the Flying Wing HQ Corporals and Airmen. That is, apart from the Air Traffic Control Tower and its associated offices. These lads had superb accommodation with small rooms rather than those in the large, shared, barrack blocks of everyone else.
On one of the walls of the Boss's office was an organisational chart of the Flying Wing, including the HQ, Air Traffic, Station Flight, and the Squadrons. It was my job to keep this up to date and to ensure that photographs of all Officers were displayed in their appropriate place. This meant sending newcomers to the Photographic Section so that they could bring me their own 'mug shot'. That bit was easy, except for one thing. The Boss had his name at the top of the tree, as was proper, but no photo. He had an aversion to having his photograph taken. Try as I might, I couldn't get a snap of him, official or otherwise. Quite unexpectedly one day while he was flying I noticed Pinto his pet bull terrier had taken a liking to sitting in his master's chair when he was airborne. I seized my chance and asked LAC Roseblade, one of my Clerks, who I knew had a camera, to go up to his room and fetch it and take a photo of the enthroned Pinto.3 This done I, taking a risk, was later able to cut out the dog's head and fix it in the space for the Boss's photo at the top of the chart. This went unnoticed for some days, that is, until the Station Commander spotted it during a visit. I could hear laughter, almost to the point of giggling, before I heard the shout "Pod, come in here". The Group Captain spoke first and, smiling, congratulated me on both my initiative and my sense of humour. Hammer West couldn't criticise me after that but I did get a sort of old-fashioned grin from him. I then left his office, but Pinto's photo stayed in place for the rest of my time at Jever.

'Top Dog'

________________________________________
3 I paid Roseblade for the film in his camera, and the processing. It would have been wrong of me to have done otherwise in the circumstances. 143