Life in the Air Force

This story was submitted to the People’s War Site by Bob Roberts. He flew with 144 Squadron from North Luffenham aerodrome

Before the war I worked for Wessex Aircraft. The boss said, “No, you can’t join the Forces.” But I said, “No, I’m going. My brother’s gone so I’m going”. My first place that I went to was Penarth in Wales — that’s where you got your training, your number, everything given to you. Then I was posted to Blackpool to learn to march, up and down on the Prom. All RAF people had rifles in our day, they had steel helmets, gas masks. All ready in case we were attacked by gas like the end of the 1914 war.

I was sent to North Luffenham and that was where I started the bombing raids with 144 Squadron. It was the Hampdens and the Wellingtons in them days. The Hampden was called the Flying Dustman, because you were all in the front with a long thin tail section. You used to take off from the aerodrome and when you came back some were missing. But you weren’t allowed to talk about it. The ground staff were not allowed to talk about it. The bombers were named in alphabetical order; A for Apple, B for Bertie so that you’d know which was your aircraft. When you landed, no lights except on the runway — paraffin with a wick. They were only put there for a little while. During the fog you lit them ‘cause it helped to lift the fog. One plane crashed when his undercarriage didn’t come down. He was towed off the runway quick. If you couldn’t see the runway or the aerodrome you had to go to another aerodrome.

There used to be a beacon on a trailer and they would spell out NL so the different aerodromes would be flashing out a different signal so the pilot know which aerodrome he was approaching. If there was an air raid on, you would be told to buzz off. It’s not nice when you haven’t got much fuel. So the pilot would say “I reckon you ought to bail out”. Well I did it once and I wouldn’t do it again.

In the NAAFI area they put on films and some of the staff would entertain you. You were always kept occupied so you couldn’t think back. You had games to play — skittles, dominoes; most of it was gambling but if you got caught you got done. Sometimes you ended up broke. The food was pretty poor. It was rationed same as civilians. It used to make me laugh. They had two tea urns marked ‘with sugar’ and ‘without sugar’. It didn’t matter which you took as there was no sugar. When you did jankers and had to clean the Officers’ Mess, you passed sugar out the window to your mates. We went out to catch rabbits.

For entertainment, we went into Stamford mostly; to the pictures and there were Forces Canteens where you could get a cup of tea and a cake. The Salvation Army played in the Market Square on a Sunday and two of the airmen played in the band

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