There is yet more. During 1956 a new bunker was being built and fitted out on a new tech site at Auenhausen, several miles away to our north. This was due to be finished at the end of the year.
On the domestic site, because of the greater manning requirements of this facility, considerable building work was also being undertaken. The married patch down in the village was being extended, too. This building work, initially under the supervision of Fg.Off. 'Mike' Rush and later, Fg.Off. 'Dave' Hattersley, both of the Airfield Construction Branch, together with their assistant Pilot Officers and German staff, impinged on our lives to a greater or lesser extent. The Messes, Guardroom, and other buildings were extended. New barrack blocks and a new Stores building were built, as were other buildings and internal roads in readiness for the eventual take-over of the site by the German Air Force. For a while we lived on what, for an extended period, was little more than a building site with all the disruption that this entailed.
Once we had our bunker and improved radar, although we considered ourselves still to be expendable, we could give much earlier warning of a potential aerial attack; the West's early warning defences were thereby strengthened greatly. This though, meant that if we were invaded we would have to deny our equipment to the enemy so that it could not be used against us. This aspect had its own problems.
It was in this international and domestic context that I, as a qualified Fighter Controller, was serving my Queen and country. It was a time of tension and I, with the other Officers at Borgentreich, as both 537 Signals Unit and, later, 210 Signals Unit, had to be ready for the unexpected. However, we had also to carry on outwardly as if nothing was of any great concern. Life, in the eyes of the RAF families on the married patch and all of the non-watchkeepers continued in ignorant bliss. At work, on watch, we often saw things differently but, perforce, kept this to ourselves.
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