and knowledge of their allocated arms. Officers and NCOs had to be briefed as to their station defence roles and orders drawn up covering actions in case of emergency. This took much of my time. Until I was satisfied that enough Officers and SNCOs were competent to take a squad of men to Sennelager by bus and instruct them in live-firing, I had to do it myself.
By this time I was a fully qualified Fighter Controller and was on 'B' Flight. When it came to the training of 'A' Flight personnel I had to do it during my 24 hour rest periods when I was working C & R night watch routines.5 My time off watch, at least during normal office hours, was very full, but there were advantages. I had an office in which I could hide when Officers were being sought for other tasks. I could even wangle time off camp during the day by making sure that, even if I occasionally put an hour in of an evening, everything was as up to scratch as it could be. All this activity was well under way when we heard of the Poznan riots in Poland. This news quickened the pace of training somewhat.
Later, at the start of the Hungarian riots, I was summoned to the CO's office again. After telling me to sit down and listen, he explained that the international situation was worsening and that he had instructions from Group to make sure that certain contingency plans were up to date. He then asked me if I had drawn up a married families evacuation plan. I hadn't because, quite simply, I hadn't even thought of it. There and then, he and I drew up such a scheme, writing it in longhand because of its secrecy. He then opened his safe and took out a Top Secret file setting out certain actions to be taken in case of war. He then summoned Flt.Lt. Ron Young but told him nothing other than to escort me to my office and stay with me whilst I took the file and read the relevant parts of it. Nothing was explained to Ron, and he didn't see the file itself. His presence was purely a security measure. I took it back an hour or so later and Ron was dismissed, doubtless wondering what it was all about.
Shortly afterwards, without raising any alarm, and without giving anyone any food for thought, the CO, in my presence, summoned to his office a small group of married Officers and SNCOs. He explained the international scene and told them than an evacuation of civilians was a distinct possibility in the immediate future. In brief, the plan was for a married, car-owning Officer, to escort at possibly no more than an hour or so's notice, the entire civilian population of the married patch, in convoy, to the west and across the Rhine to comparative safety. Easy to say.
An immediate assessment was made of how many private cars and drivers were capable of making the journey, and whether or not all women and children, with no belongings save for handbags, could squeeze into them. The BFES teachers had also to be evacuated.6 It would be a tight fit, so additional RAF vehicles (Volkswagen Kombis) were also earmarked. The next bit wasn't so easy and demanded a certain amount of subterfuge; all petrol tanks had to be kept full for such a journey. There would probably be no time for top-ups, even from RAF sources, before a rapid departure.
Nothing of these plans was to be said outright by those briefed at that meeting, but every opportunity was taken to hint that, due to the worsening situation in Hungary, we could be moved away. The hint was taken, and was reinforced when orders were given to black out all lights after dark on the tech site.7
Probably in view of the international situation, on November 26th, as the Russians were regaining the upper hand in Hungary, I was detached to attend No.116 ABC Course at the Inter-Service School of Chemical Warfare at Winterbourne Gunner, on Salisbury Plain.8 We 53 students, all of us of commissioned
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5 See the watch routine panel on page 168.
6 BFES = British Forces Education Service, whose teachers ran the Primary School on the married patch.
7 Essential outside lights were replaced by those with blue bulbs.
8 ABC = Atomic Biological and Chemical (warfare). Battle of Britain ace 'Ginger' Lacey was also on the course.
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