This was for me .... I applied just after my 15th birthday and went to RAF Cardington for selection for the 1962 winter entry.
It was bitterly cold and the old wooden huts were heated by old pot-belly stoves. I didn't get selected and they tried to offer me an entry in as a Boy Entrant but I had made my mind up that it was to be as an apprentice. My deputy head at school (Reg Goddard)had said I didn't stand a chance as nobody had joined as an RAF Apprentice from Bushey.
Undaunted, I tried again for the 1963 spring entry. This time I was successful and on 9th May 1963 I arrived at Weston Super Mare railway station and was met by a nice kindly Sergeant .... all was to change over the next couple of days!
1963 - 1966 RAF Locking, Weston-super-Mare, Ground Radar Apprenticeship in 104th Entry - Pete Harry has kindly set up a web site for us CLICK. They did their best to teach us basic electronics before letting us near anything that actually plugged in! They kept our general education going, gave us lots of "bull", loads of marching and generally seemed to go out of their way to upset us. Eventually we started to learn on real electronics; I was to be a Airfield Navigation Radar Technician so learnt the niceties of Cossor 787, Plessey PAR, British Tacan to major level and went to minor level on FSPS-6 and Type 80 kit. I attained rank of Leading Apprentice, learned to shoot and got my marksman's badge and graduated as Junior Technician L Fitt GR (Nav) with one year accelerated promotion to Corporal.
1966 - 1967 RAF Labuan, North Borneo. Only radar fitter on the island a short while after arrival; maintained ACR7 and Eureka (wasn't trained on either of course!). Had a great year here, life is what you make it! I spent a lot of my spare time in the local radio station - Labuan Broadcasting Service (LBS) - became Chief Engineer, Chief Controller and Top Twenty DJ; I also had my own B-Side programme I called "Over Under Sideways Down" and used the song of the same name as my signature tune. If I wasn't in the studio I was down at Shell Beach water skiing or snorkeling; hard life wasn't it!
A small group of ex-LBS guys (including David Dove and Mike Durrant) have subsequently got together in a Yahoo group and would welcome anyone else who was either working the Service or was one of our "public" to come and join us. It is a closed group so is completely private. We have a growing library of photographs and even recording from our broadcasts. You will find us at: LBS-Borneo. Names we recall from Labuan and would like to get in touch with include Alan Livingstone, Bob Davies, Graham Fletcher , Roger Pavey, Don Estall, Ian Bodie, Mick Madden, Derek Warner, Alan Poole, Colin Pickersgill, Dave Lieberman, Al Burnett, Phil Attlee, Mick Rawles, "Fooey" Harris, Brian Laurance, Doug Hagan, John Banks, John Hamilton, Mervyn Quick, Ted Walters, Steve Merriman, Gerry Overton, Peter Estlake, Tony Russell, Ron Bickle and John Hart.]
1967 - 1969 RAF West Raynham, Norfolk. Maintained CPN-4, you either loved it or hated it - I hated runway changes on a bitterly cold winter's morning, especially when your shift oppo hadn't turned in and the caravans wouldn't shift on the turntable!
1969 - 1970 RAF Newton, Nottingham. Bloodhound Training Course on MOTE and missile. Excellent car club where I stripped down an MGA and rebuilt it, finishing just days before leaving. One of the guys I joined up with back in '63 (Pete Harry) has kicked off a web site for the Bloodhound MKII SAM to cover the activities when they were in-service with the Royal Air Force, 1964 - 1990 including RAF Bloodhound Squadrons and Support Units.
1970 - 1973 RAF West Raynham, Norfolk. 41 Squadron, Bloodhound maintenance, got my Sergeant's stripes here. I slso found time to take City and Guilds in Technical Communication Techniques and Technical Authorship.
1973 - 1977 RAF Swanton Morley, Norfolk, was my posting but I was parented by RAF Stanmore Park, Middlesex, and working at Hawker Siddeley Dynamics, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, on a CSDE project team supporting the introduction of Skyflash into service.
1977 .... Demob!
