It was on this site that we learned and practised our knob-twiddling skills, the use of IFF and how to reduce the effects of jamming.8 Our instructors demonstrated the control of fighters by the use of Middle Wallop's own Balliol Flight, and then, under extremely close supervision, handed control over to each of us in turn. As we learned and became more adept, we were allowed to identify and separate pairs of aircraft so as to carry out controlled quarter attacks, just as I had been instructed to do from the ground when I was flying from Jever.9
There were times in the classroom when I was able to update my instructors with more modern thinking than was explained in the teaching manuals. Our instructors were particularly deficient in their knowledge of the handling characteristics and turning circles of jet aircraft at high altitude. This proved a useful two-way experience and meant that No.57 Course, at least, was as up to date in this respect as it could be.
I was given the opportunity to do a sortie as co-pilot in a Balliol during one of these student training exercises. Considering that the last aircraft I had flown was a Sabre, it could hardly have been more of a contrast. I had, mentally, to revert to my Chipmunk and Oxford days, and it was quite an effort. It took a while to settle down and get used to crossing over one field at a time in bumpy autumnal air, rather than several dozen in a few seconds with the stability and surety derived of great speed. I stirred the stick as though it was a pudding spoon, and generally made a (safe) hash of things for the first half hour until I settled down. The first pilot, whose name I have sadly forgotten, watched my antics with considerable amusement and good humour. This flight, officially as a passenger, was not recorded in my Log Book, although it turned out to be the very last (unofficial) 'dual' flight of my whole RAF career.
The migraine I suffered from at Jever still bothered me, and just a couple of times, I had to leave a class and go and be sick or walk out in the fresh air. Staring at rotating traces on PPIs in the enclosed cramped space of the mobile control cabins didn't seem to bother me or make matters worse. Had this been the case my career might have been much shorter.
On November the 5th we were treated to one of the best 'home made' firework displays I had ever seen. True, some set pieces had been bought, but most of the display was made up of date-expired RAF pyrotechnics. What it didn't have in variety it certainly had in quantity. Air traffic rockets, thunderflashes, Verey lights, flares, smoke candles - all were consumed in the hour-long display not far from the Officers Mess. It was accompanied by an enormous bonfire and a barbecue (although that name wasn't in general use in 1955). The Armament Officer and Mess Catering Officer and his team did us proud that night.
By the time the course drew to its close we were well versed and practised in close and broadcast control techniques, jamming and how to counter it, bearings from, and Pigeons to, base, reciprocal bearings, R/T language and terms, and what to do if an aircraft had an emergency. We knew something of how radar worked, some of its history, and what was 'Classified' and what was not. For me, I had had 8 weeks of reasonably pleasurable enlightenment. I also knew more about GCI control than almost any Squadron pilot of my age group and was all too aware of this gap in their training.
Les Tweed, the Station Adjutant, sent for me. On entering his office he told me there was a problem and that I may have to visit Jever in a hurry. He explained that there was a Board of Enquiry sitting at Jever whose brief it was to look into the circumstances as to how a Secret file had gone missing. They wanted to question me.
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8 IFF = Identification Friend or Foe. A system using an airborne transponder by which an aircraft could be identified. Modern and classified then. Old hat now.
9 Quarter, and other forms of attack, were types of PIs = Practice Interceptions.
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