Serving with the Fleet Air Arm

Written on behalf of Ian Ralph by Crawley Library

At the end of the European war I was sent to serve with the Fleet Air Arm.

One thing I remember is coming home on leave with an official pass. When I got to Victoria Station, I came up the steps from the Underground and found they were having a general check on everybody’s passes — I was in a bit of a spot as I hadn’t got one! I had an identical twin who was serving in the army. I was challenged by an officer and two soldiers The officer said, “what are you doing in that uniform Bert? When I last saw you you were at Diss in Norfolk.” I replied, “you’re mistaking me for my twin brother!” I thought I was still in trouble, but I had a brainwave and said “ my train goes in a few minutes and it’s a long wait till the next” [ I was living in Crawley then] “ That’s OK” he said. “Have a safe journey” “Give my regards to my brother when you see him”, I replied and hurried off to catch my train.

When the war started, I was in a reserved occupation but something went wrong and the personnel officer was sacked. Further applications for exemption were not sent to the ministry of labour and eventually I was called up, in December 1943. The first thing I knew was when a letter caught up with me — it had gone to my home address in Staplefield, then to Tottenham where I had been working, but by then I’d been sent with two others to organise a factory in Bishops Stortford. I received the letter on the Friday and was told to report for a medical on Monday at Euston House which was the RAF Medical Centre. The company tried to contact the Ministry of Labour on the Saturday but of course they were closed, so I just turned up! I passed the medical and after a short while was told to report to Cardington for kitting out and initial training. My initial rank was AC1. From there I went to Skegness for 6 weeks square bashing. Although I wanted to be a pilot or navigator, there were no training courses at the time, so I fell back on training as an electrical engineer and became responsible for electrical instruments on the aircraft. This included altimeters, artificial horizon, undercarriage indicators and other electrical instrumentation. I did a six month course at Hereford and then served with Bomber Command at the training bases.

When the Arnhem raid took place, I was stationed at Husbands Bosworth in Leicestershire working on Wellingtons. In 1945 I was sent to join the Fleet Air Arm as the airfield was being closed down, as far as I understood — we were never told officially. Two or three went to the Army Reconnaissance Unit, others to the Tactical Air Force in Holland (so we were told).

I never served on aircraft carriers but went to HMS Gosling at Warrington and then to Abbotsinch Naval Air Station which later became Glasgow Airport. I was waiting to join a carrier when the Atomic Bomb was dropped, so stayed at Abbotsinch until I was demobbed in 1946.

One thing I always remember is that when I was at Skegness, marching along the seafront, the RAF Regiment officer in charge suddenly shouted out, “everyone with the exception of Ralph change step” Everybody did, and he said “right, we’re all in step now” — much to the amusement of the local people watching! Strictly speaking, I was the one out of step but it was easier to get everybody else to change as I was in the front row!

I met Cecilia in the early part of the war when we were both working at the Crawley Aircraft and Precision Toll Company. We were married on the 12th February 1944. I had to get permission to get married and was given 72 hours compassionate leave so it didn’t count on my leave record! I travelled from Skegness and had to change trains at Peterborough. As we drew into Peterborough the London train was about to leave and they shouted to hold the train. I was nearly pushed out of the train by the other passengers who were anxious to help a man in uniform and found I’d left my holdall with my best uniform in it behind. I reported the loss at Kings Cross and on my return journey I asked at Kings Cross only to be told that it had gone back to Skegness and was waiting at the hotel where I was billeted. I spent the Friday evening brushing up and pressing my workday uniform! I was married in Horsham on the Saturday morning and we went to London for a theatre show and a buffet meal. All of a sudden, I heard somebody shout, “only one helping, Air Vice Marshal!” I looked round to see who this was and realised they meant me!

While I was still in the Fleet Air Arm, I had the chance to do a part time course at Paisley Technical College but hadn’t finished it when I was demobbed. It was frankly a shambles when I was demobbed. The Ministry of Labour just told me to get on a course and it was the responsibility of the Ministry of Education to provide grants. I was accepted at Brighton Technical College and the Ministry of Education said it wasn’t them, it was the Ministry of Labour who provided grants! I couldn’t afford to live in the hope of eventually getting a grant so I got a job. I was able to do a correspondence course later but missed out on the chance of a proper full-time course. I did hear later that somebody did manage to get a course but I couldn’t risk it, being married.

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