The 'Introduce yourself' Thread

Good to have you with us!

Andy

ianbache;154316 wrote:

Welcome aboard Paullus,

Is the unusual site you refer to, the Royal Artillery gunnery range, which is located on the left hand side as you leave Harlech towards Ynys,

Regards Ian

Hello Ian.
Yes that's the place. I've created a post on the Merionethshire section /community/showthread.php?14102-Target-Gunnery-Range-Morfa-Harlech-Gwynedd&p=154366#post154366

I take it you are familiar with the location?

Regards,
Steve

A lovely set of photos Martin and welcome to the forum.

Welcome Martin,

National servicemen in the Army were certainly on a Reserve and my husband was on what I have been told was a Special Reserve. He had been chosen to be sent to serve in the Battle Box in Hong Kong during the Cold War, this was a complex under HQLF, and it was a combined forces headquarters so Army, Navy and RAF personal worked there. Why a National Serviceman was trained to do something so secret that even now no-one will tell me exactly what it was has always puzzled me but someone, who served in a similar capacity in the RAF, tells me it was because they needed the brains!! He confirmed what my husband told me which was that once they went into the room where they worked there was no rank whatsoever every one was on first name terms. I think my husband was quite happy on his National Service, although he then had to live with the knowledge that he could be called back at any time at a moments notice and he would have to go. Those who were selected for this sort of work were good at maths, would have played chess and could do cryptic crosswords and so on.

Pauline.

Thank you, Pauline, for your comment and information. Your husband was evidently much brainier than I! When called up for National Service I was asked what navy speciality I would be interested in. I ticked "Sick Berth Attendant" because I planned to enroll as a medical student after demob. Then they put us through aptitude tests, as a result of which I was told that I was to be trained as a radio repair specialist! I later found out that SBAs were not held in high regard in the navy: their chief role as far as the ordinary rating was concerned, was that they were the people who handed out free condoms to any sailor who intended to have a fling on a night or weekend "ashore".

As for secrecy, we had an old friend in our village who had been trained as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park, and also given a compressed course in aviation Japanese. He was sent out to India in WW2 to help decrypt the Jap airforce radio communications. He later wrote and lectured quite a lot about enigma, but there were still areas that he would not talk about. He wrote a rather good thriller: "The Code Snatch". It was set in a British base in the far east, involved a trick to get hold of a new Jap code book, and is a good read. We asked him several times whether parts of the story were autobiographical, but he always evaded the question with: "I can't remember any more". Alas, he is one of so many old friends who are not with us now. It's nature's way of punishing us for living long past our permitted "three score years and ten".

Cheers,

Martin

Hi,

My Dad, William Sloggett, known as Bill, was stationed at Credenhill and I'm looking to find out any information on him that I can. I'm not sure of the exact dates he was there but he was an Instructor in No.2 School of Administrative Trades which, I believe, came into existence, at Hereford, in May 1947. I have photos taken by 'Vivian at Hereford' showing my Dad with members of the Clerk Provisioning Course No.6 and No. 5b but I can't find any dates on either of the photos. I have attached them, in case anyone recognises themselves, or maybe a relative. Would be really appreciative of any info, or memories people may have.

Many thanks, Christina

Attached files

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Good evening to all.
What a wonder of information this forum truly is! Within one day of posting I have already had some great responses to my questions. - Thank you

I only hope I can return this and provide information that others may not have/may be looking for.

My interest is very widespread, as I generally like anything military, technical or aviation related.
Aviation is my job and my passion but I am a naval nut too, so ww2 sites relating to the navy or airfields are up my street. (Did someone say FAA RNAS?)

I grew up in the Portsmouth area surrounded by old defences dating and live military bases. Now I work at Hurn airport in Dorset.
I have tried to get to know the New Forest airfields in depth, but having a look on here, there is so much I did not know about them or have not seen.
Tarrant Rushton airfield is another place that has taken many hours of my life. (And my wife's, much to her dismay in the rain)

If anyone ever needs a photograph of something in the new forest area or at Hurn, let me know and I will see if I can take one for you.

Judging by your arrow picture on the left, you want plenty of the Ashley walk ranges? I would love to hover over some of the craters at 50ft.
What particular areas of the new forest would you want at that height? And would you rather a drone, or in the left hand seat of a helicopter with your camera?
Would beat any of the satellite imagery sites!