4 Belgian Meteors, 2 Dutch Meteors, 4 F86 Sabres, and 4 Canberras. Two sessions involved hand-overs to and from 'A' flight controllers, at the end and start of watches.
A remarkable thing about controlling Hunters was that I suspected that I was, on occasion, controlling some of my own old 93 Squadron pilots. One of them confirmed this by calling "Papa Oscar Delta, do you read me?" My nickname. I acknowledged "Papa Oscar Delta reading you loud and clear." From that day on there were several non-standard, but brief, R/T messages between me and my old pals. Knowing that the Russians monitored all our calls, as we monitored theirs at Scharfoldendorf and other locations, I wondered what interpretation they put on this unique Papa Oscar Delta call-sign.
If I thought February was busy, March was even busier. With eight controllers on a watch (say seven on average, allowing for leave and other duties), and I had 24 sessions, then there is a probability that some 150 sessions were completed by 'B' Flight alone. Including the activities of 'A' Flight in this estimate, there may have been 300 sessions comprising possibly, some 1000 PIs in all for the Auenhausen GCI. The equivalent maximum for 537 SU would, using information from the previous November, with four active controllers per flight, have worked out at something like 120 sessions and 450 PIs. Clearly, our combined workload had more than doubled. No longer did we have watches of total boredom hoping for aircraft to be allocated to us.
Of the 82 PIs I controlled during March, 6 were aborted. Of these, one target went below our radar horizon, 3 targets turned away at the last moment when I was setting up freelance attacks, 1 NF11 had a Bent Weapon, and the last was when one of the Hunters under control had u/s R/T. The shortest session, just 11 minutes, ended when I handed over control to the Brockzetel GCI, No.101 Signals Unit.
As far as targets went, my aircraft intercepted 4 F84s, 1 Meteor Mk 8, and 1 F84F Thunderjet in a single sortie; 2 NF11s and two Hunters in one sortie; a pair of NF11s, a B45 Tornado and then 3 PIs in another sortie (the best session of the month) using 2 NF11s at night; then 4 Venoms, a formation of 4 Hunters, another 4 Venoms, and then another 4 Venoms, all in one sortie with a formation of three Venoms under control; 2 B57s (USAF Canberras), with 3 Venoms; 1 Vampire T11 and a formation of 4 F84s, with 4 Hunters; then 2 sorties when 4 Hunters under my control intercepted 2 other pairs of Hunters.
On March 22nd, during the early part of an evening watch when on a week of night watches I, with 2 Hunters, at heights varying from 12,000 to 37,000 feet intercepted a formation of 3 Hunters, 2 single Hunters, and a Viscount airliner. That must have given its passengers a thrill! In the final days of the month, 4 Sabres intercepted 3 separate F84s; 3 Hunters then 'bounced' a formation of 6 other Hunters I had found for them; and finally, at 45,000 feet I had under control 4 Hunters which intercepted a pair of Canberras.
From these seemingly dry Log Book entries it is apparent, from the types of targets intercepted, that I took some of our fighters over the American Zone of Germany. There was nothing that our fighter pilots liked better than to 'bounce' a few unsuspecting Yanks. They treated it as good sport and were pleased to let the USAF know that, for all their American blah, the RAF frequently bettered them. This love/hate of Americans was evidenced in the Station Cinema when American war films were shown. These, as a matter of course, were referred to mockingly as "How the Americans won the war" films, and during which cat-calling was the norm.
March was noteworthy for something else. On the twelfth, in the brightness of a completely clear afternoon (as verified with the Guardroom), we were observing responses which we called 'Angels'. We had seen them at times before and passed
222