Travel to and from watch was usually in a Magirus Deutz truck fitted with rearward-facing seats in the back for the watch crew. Officers, if there was room, usually sat in the front, or actually drove the vehicle for the three mile journey. Once I had settled in to the watch-keeping routines I often did the driving myself, and if I fluffed a gear change (everyone did it sometimes), there would be an enormous cheer go up in the back. These trucks, in the early days of my time with 537 SU were only vehicles capable of negotiating the extremely rough farm track from the village of Scherfede to the tech site. Indeed, in winter, that same track became impassable because the trucks slid from side to side and lurched from rut to rut and hole to icy pothole regardless of the competence of the driver or whether snow chains were fitted to the wheels or not. To overcome this problem, as winter deepened, it was found better to take the Lütgenede road and then travel across farmers' open arable land, which was frozen solid many inches deep and thus remained undamaged, until the thaw set in. Occasionally, just for the exercise, several of us would set off a little earlier and make our way to the tech site on foot provided the snow was not too deep or, when the snow had gone, that the going was firm. My 'Sabre boots' and a pair of Army pattern boots came in very handy, only for these treks, but for warmth in the depth of winter.
In these early days I was not qualified for C & R work and therefore never worked nights. Night flying, when there was any, usually ceased well before midnight. Although a Watch Officer had to be present on the tech site at all times, there was very little reporting and plotting work to be done on account of the low power of the radars and the minimal after hours flying activity. In fact, the Officer i/c C & R was Flt.Lt. Hyde and he never ever went near the tech site. Instead, he busied himself very usefully as President of the Station Institutes and with looking after the relevant PSI activities and funds.
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