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National Service

paul stacey said:
RAF Abingdon was part of the 'P' Coy, parachute jump school in the early 60's and very hard it was to Smudger, there was a bad accident there around your time with two planes colliding and some fatality's do you remember?Paul
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Can`t remember any prangs Paul, although i think some of the pilots we used liked to scare the whatsit out of us! Only flew in a Beverly once with that gaping hole in the back for dispatching cargo. The Hastings aircraft were the worst, i swear you could see the rivets on the wing dancing up & down & it only took one squaddie to heave up his brekkie & it caused a chain reaction. Luckily i enjoyed my brekkie too much to part with it.
 
Being part of an Air Portable brigade we once did an ex in N Ireland, around '64.
We had to fly to Nutt's Corner and Aldergrove from Lyneham and had many a merry moment, side loading our Rovers and trailers into Hastings. Such a wonderful idea, getting the vehicle half way in and then "bumping" it round to get it into the body of the aircraft.
(The guns went by Beverley).
 
I remember those "Hastings" we had a 105" rover", written off when one of the loading ramps failed, as they tried lever it in though that side loading door. The Beverley was a nightmare too, those little canvas seats, and the rear doors flapping and banging, and when it landed it seemed as if the wings were flapping.
 
My first posting abroad was in a Handley Page Hastings in October 1949, we flew from Lyneham, Wiltshire to join my Lancaster Squadron (82PR) at Takoradi, Gold Coast (now Ghana of course), we had an overnight stop at Castel Benito near Tripoli, my first taste of overseas, followed by a refuel stop in Kano, Nigeria Eric
 
Just thought of another great "put down" by our beloved Sgt./Majors. "How tall are you Smith?" 5`10" says i. He replies,"I didn`t know they could pile S..t that high without it falling over, you orrible man" Really hurt my feelings that one :-{
 
During my basic training, we were all marched onto the parade ground, and were segregated into our different religious denominations. It left one man standing in the middle of the parade The Sargent Major shouted "What religion are you"? The man replied " I am an atheist, sir". The S/M marched over to the officer on parade, and after a few words, the S/M shouted to this lone figure "Come here, you bloody heathen!" - Eddie
 
norfolk brummie said:
During my basic training, we were all marched onto the parade ground, and were segregated into our different religious denominations. It left one man standing in the middle of the parade The Sargent Major shouted "What religion are you"? The man replied " I am an atheist, sir". The S/M marched over to the officer on parade, and after a few words, the S/M shouted to this lone figure "Come here, you bloody heathen!" - Eddie
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Makes one wonder if there is a special book of "put downs" issued to Sgt/Majors. They`re probably pussy cats when they get home to "Her indoors"
 
My late brother-in-law was a NS officer cadet at Eaton Hall in Cheshire in the early fifties. The CSM there was much feared on the parade ground. He was CSM Brittain who thanks to the telly later became a well-known national figure as a caricature of a traditional CSM.

At a Saturday evening drinkies party with the cadets he was asked how he had spent his day of leisure. "Well, sah, I have been planting out a row of cabbages. The trouble was, I had an odd number. So all I could do was create a blank file".

Chris
 
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RSM Ronald Brittain CBE, CG, was RSM of the short term Commission Officer Cadet Cadre "Mons" School Aldershot, affectionately called "Tibby", as a boy I was honoured to have seen him in action a couple of times, he remained in the army long after normal retirement time, but I think no one had the nerve to ask him to leave.
 
The highest NCO rank within the British Army is "London District Garrison Regimental Sergeant Major", the holder must be a member of the "Household Division" and a member of one of the 5 Regiments of "Foot Guards", the most notorious of these in recent times was, LDG,RSM, Alex Dumon, CG, MVO,MBE, known to thousands of Guardsmen as "Black Alex" , and not without reason, believe me. One well known and famous occasion was the "pre trooping, lining out, and mass band exercise" at Chelsea Barracks. with a least 4/500 men on the square and with the bands in full flow he suddenly screamed, "HALT, Senior Drum Major", 4th man (Drummer), 3rd Rank, your file "IDLE ON MY PARADE", get him off now. Hilarious, how he it was even possible in all that melee to see such a thing defies human experience.
 
Smudge, what a bunch of erks, wearing the old "combat greens", similar to the Americans, remember them well, phased out in mid 60's, is that a Jerry "swim wagen", motor or some adapted Rover? don't recognise it?. paul
 
paul stacey said:
Smudge, what a bunch of erks, wearing the old "combat greens", similar to the Americans, remember them well, phased out in mid 60's, is that a Jerry "swim wagen", motor or some adapted Rover? don't recognise it?. paul
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I`m surprised you don`t recognise it Paul. It`s an Austin Champ. That`s all we had in our Bielefeld unit Champs & Bedford RLs. Freezing in winter!! And the Champs could go just as fast in reverse as forward, not that i ever tried it.
 
The RAF have had a look at Smudger's photo, there appears to be a 'message' written across it - can't read it yet !
army photo.JPG
 
Smudger said:
It`s an Austin Champ. That`s all we had in our Bielefeld unit Champs & Bedford RLs. Freezing in winter!!
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The square sign with a circle in it, painted on the bonnet, did it mean there was NO antifreeze in the cooling system or did it mean there WAS ?
I should know but it's been a long time .....
 
maypolebaz said:
Definitely not recommended Smudger, a bloke in our regiment tried it and was killed.
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A Scouse lad in my room was killed in a Champ. Drunk out of his mind, nicked the Champ, ran off the road & hit a tree. I got "volunteered" for funeral guard of honour, & in a freezing cold German winter there was much chattering of teeth:-{
 
Smudger said:
How did you manage to get the photo the right way round? The only writing on the photo are the names on the back of the 3 stooges pretending to be soldiers :-}
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Hi Smudger - Most photo editors will do it with the 'mirror' or 'horizontal flip' command. I wasn't using Windows when I did it but I've just looked in Windows 7 and if you 'right click' on the photo file in its folder or on your desktop, a dialogue box appears and a left click on the word 'edit' in the box makes a built-in Windows program 'Paint' appear showing the photo. In the command area at the top you can see the word 'rotate' with a little 'down arrow' by it. Left click on on the 'down arrow' and a list appears and a left click on 'flip horizontal' will flip the photo. Other versions of Windows might be slightly different.
 
Of course Smudger, I do now, another senior moment, they definitely are getting more common. I of course do remember the Bedford RL, with the little cupola in the roof, they were still using the odd Champ in Aden, as late as 64.paul
 
Would that be the Austin 1 tonner ?
We had a number of them in our regiment in the 60s. They were used as line laying trucks, apart from everything else, one used to be part of our OP party too.
When my mate was duty Driver he would take me with him and give me a "cabby". I learned to drive that way.
That "crash" gearbox was a swine though.
 
maypolebaz said:
Would that be the Austin 1 tonner ?
We had a number of them in our regiment in the 60s. They were used as line laying trucks, apart from everything else, one used to be part of our OP party too.
When my mate was duty Driver he would take me with him and give me a "cabby". I learned to drive that way.
That "crash" gearbox was a swine though.
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I learned to drive in the Austin 1 tonner at Yeovil. I was taught how to do a snatch gear change from 1st to 2nd. I took my test in the Austin & when i did a snatch gear change the tester said " did i tell you to do a snatch change"? I said "no, but you didn`t say not to either" The miserable sod failed me for that & i made sure on my 2nd test that it was ok to do a snatch change & i passed. The Bedford RL was my favourite wagon to drive, once did 75 in one on the Autobahn. Wasn`t governed. And loved that phrase "give us a cabby"
 
I shall be 84 this Saturday but can still remember like it was yesterday the most exciting thing I have ever 'drove'. I had just completed my training as an a wireless operator and was posted in Oct 1949 to 82(PR) Sqdn in Africa the RAF's last surviving Lancaster Sqdn, It involved 8 to 10 hour survey flights in various British colonies every other day for mapping purposes. After survey the skipper would allow crew members to sit in his seat and 'fly' the Lanc for a few minutes on the way back to base, strictly against all regulations of course, it was wonderful experience and something I will never forget. Happy days. Eric
 
maypolebaz said:
Would that be the Austin 1 tonner ?
We had a number of them in our regiment in the 60s. They were used as line laying trucks, apart from everything else, one used to be part of our OP party too.
When my mate was duty Driver he would take me with him and give me a "cabby". I learned to drive that way.
That "crash" gearbox was a swine though.
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The one tonner was a normal long wheelbase, they also came as a short wheelbase with a reduction box fitted, and usually carried bowsers or radio shack on the back.
Also used in many different configurations.
The one I had was originally a radio truck destined for Hong Kong, but was never issued.
It stayed in storage until the mid 1970's when it was among the last K9s to be demobbed and went to a private museum up in Yorkshire.
There they removed the radio shack, and put on a crane for moving items around the museum.
When the museum closed in about 15years ago I bought it, took the crane off and fitted a canvas tilt with bed and cooking facilities and used it for autojumbles until I finally had to give that up due to illness, so sold it on.
As far as I can find out, it is now sitting in a shed with a number of other army vehicles gathering dust.
When I first bought it, it had 1100 miles on the clock, genuine.
Happy days.
 
Looking at a group photo in "Legion" magazine I was mystified by something on the front of one bloke's shirt.
Suddenly it clicked. Who remembers how the Old Sweats, (and those aspiring to appear "sweaty"), would sew div and brigade flashes on their ties ?
I'd completely forgotten that !
 
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