Welcome aboard. That must have been an interesting time with the post war run down and the panic build up a few year later for the Korean "police action" yet to happen. My interest is in the gunnery and bombing ranges, especially the FAA ones as so little survives. I suspect you had no involvement in that side of things but it doesn't hurt to ask
It sounds like you may have some interesting photos and would be interested to see them. I would upload them to your Flickr site first and create a link to some samples so they can be seen on the forum and possibly a link to the relevant folder for the rest?
Enjoy the forum.
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
Thank you, Peter, for your welcoming comments. I intend to get to work on the photos in the next few days, to make them fit to show. I will take your advice and post them initially to flickr.
In retrospect, it was an interesting time for those more aware of wider events than I was, a mere rating. I thought it an annoying delay to my real wish, to get to university and train in the biological sciences, but now I have very nostalgic memories of my two years "in the forces" at a time when young men and women in uniform were to be seen everywhere. The navy gave me a very thorough training in radio electronics and practical metalwork, which later proved most useful when I was in a laboratory research job and could knock together special gadgets very quickly, while other scientists had to wait in a long queue for the college or institute workshop to make what they needed.
For the most part life was uneventful, but there was a bit of excitement when the Russians imposed their blockade on Berlin, and the airlift began. We all got a fright then - my demob was delayed indefinitely, but fortunately for me I was let out at the end of September 1949 because I could show that I had a definite offer of a place at one of the colleges of London University.
There was no bombing or gunnery at Lossie, as far as I know. We worked on the routine aircraft, which were mostly Fireflies. There were some Seafires at the main airfield (though I never worked on any). Out at Milltown we saw early Meteors and Mosquitoes being tried out for the Navy, and once a little Vampire was on station for a few days. It was always nice to watch the Mosquitoes doing 'circuits and bumps' in good view of the windows of the air radio workshops - but sad to see one come to grief with a belly landing one day, when the inexperienced pilot accidentally retracted the undercarriage instead of the wing flaps.
I'll post again when my photos are fit to be seen.
...I was in a laboratory research job and could knock together special gadgets very quickly...
Every institution needs one of those Martin. Good job you didn't work in nuclear - 'very quick' was usually painfully slow and could only be done after tens of man hours of paperwork! Sometimes necessary but frequently complete overkill.
Look forward to the pics.
Graham
Plan A is always more effective when the problem you are working on understands that Plan B will involve the use of dynamite
yes please; all old aviation photographs gratefully received especially showing airfield structures and resident aircraft on location.
I was regular service but worked alongside National Servicemen some happy some bitter but, the RAF then used them as Aircraft Assistants and admin jobs not ones to waste expensive training on short termers so it seems you were fortunate with the FAA in being able to learn a practical trade.
Although linking many photographs to a web host it would do no harm to post a couple of interesting examples within the post so that viewers know what to expect.
Thanks for allowing me to join my main interest is former WW2 air bases in the North of England and hope to find plenty of information here I am from West Yorkshire
Thanks for allowing me to join my main interest is former WW2 air bases in the North of England and hope to find plenty of information here I am from West Yorkshire
Hello.
I have joined AiX after I found it during some research into an unusual site located near to my parent's home in Harlech, North Wales. The only connection I have with any airfields apart from general interest and curiosity is that as a driver trainer with Staffordshire Police. The Staffordshire Police skid pan and manoeuvring area which opened in 1974 was built on part of RAF Hixon near Stafford. I know this was WWll OTU for Wellington bombers and a satellite of RAF Lichfield. I have also conducted training on RAF Seighford, ROF Swynnerton site and received training on an old USAF B52 bomber base somewhere North of London. Apart from that I can't offer a great deal of information. However I do have an incurable interest in exploring any buildings or structures from the WWll and Cold War era so hopefully I may be able to offer something of interest.
Thank you for having me.
Many thanks for helpful comments. As for employing National Servicemen, I am inclined to agree. I was never sure why the Navy was prepared to put NS ratings through as much as 12 months training, and then only get another 12 months work out of them. Perhaps it was because when we were "demobbed" we were technically "Released to the Reserve". If necessary we could have been called back into uniform at any time. Was this true of Army and RAF too?
I was lucky. I could have ended up being trained for some Navy speciality that had little use in civvy life. Instead I got an extraordinarily thorough training in radio and audio electronics, including quite a lot of theory, as well as well-supervised workshop practice. I never thought I would use the training after "demob" but by chance it proved very useful to me as a practical research scientist. Learning morse code was about the only bit that wasn't useful!
I have posted twenty photos of Lossie and Milltown when they were Royal Naval Air Stations, 1948-49. They are on my flickr pages at:
I have put a notice into the Morayshire/Lossiemouth thread, with one illustrative example.
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