FROM GERRY IN AUSTRALIA
RON POWERS REMEMBERS RAF WINTERBERG
MEMORIES FROM NORMAN KEAT
ON NO ACCOUNT DRINK THE MILK !
DESIGNER BEER AT 3p PER BOTTLE
EARLY WARNING SYSTEM, WINTERBERG STYLE

The second batch of five Bomber Command Signals Units was formed at RAF Waddington between July-November 1953.  RAF Waddington was closed during this period for runway extensions.  The five new units were 266, 284, 330, 615 and 953.  The O.C. Units were  F/O Elliot, F/L Lambert F/L Peake, F/L Scrivens and F/L Cox.. During this time, the main task was to become totally independent units, so all items had to be demanded to achieve this.
Each Unit establishment was:

One  F/O or F/l Tech Sigs.,
One  F/Sgt or Sgt GRF.
Three Cpl or J/T GRF.
Two Ac GRM.
Two Cpl
Two Ac Rad Op.
One Cpl Tel.
One Ac Wop.
One Cpl MTF.
One Ac MTDM.
Four Ac MTD.
One Ac EL.M
One RAFP (P)
One RAFP (S)
One Ac Storeman
Two Ac Ad.ord.
Two Ac Cooks.

The two RAFP were disestablished in early 1954 and one Cpl Ad.ord and one Cpl Clk.Gen. were added.

The names for 330SU in establishment order were:

F/L Peake
Sgt Fitzgerald
Cpl Craig
Cpl VanGelderen
J/T Kane
Sac Scott
Unknown
Cpl Harkin
Cpl Wilkinson
Unknown
Unknown
Cpl Pond
Sac Cremins
Cpl Erskine
Sac Thompson
Sac Chubbuck
Sac Ellis
Sac Trotter
Sac Wilson
Sac Wright
Cpl Barr
Cpl Bradbury
Sac Williams
Sac Gilham
Sac Skene
Unknown
Unknown
Cpl Bufton
Unknown

F/L Peake was promoted to S/L in January 1954 and was replaced by F/L Goodale DFC & Bar one of the original Dam Busters of 617 Squadron. All non-drivers had to learn to drive and to pass their
tests.

We left Waddington in a fifty to sixty vehicle convoy on 11/11/53.  We stayed overnight at RAF Henlow and drove south to RAF North Weld again overnight.  On 13/11/53 we eventually reached our destination at Tilbury docks.  We left our vehicles there with I believe one of our Cpl MTF and  a few of our MTDM. We
went via Harwich to the Hook of Holland and then by train to barracks in Hamburg, to await our vehicles arriving at the docks.  It was just about two weeks
later when they did arrive, so we picked up rations and started our drive down to Butzweilerhof.  We stayed at Minden overnight where we refuelled from jerricans. The next day we finished up at RAF Butzweilerhof which was the original pre-war Cologne Airport. For the next two months we spent all out time familiarising ourselves with various pieces of equipment.

330SU first detachment was to Chievres in Belgium.  Our domestic site was at the Belgique camp. The tech site was about twenty odd miles away near an old quarry. The tech wagons were placed, much to the farmers’ disgust, in the middle of a mangle werzel field.  One morning we left the domestic site at four a.m. and were taken by wagon to the tech site.  On arrival we found the temperature to be –20C.  We tried to start the Lister Generator but it was impossible.  Our only form of heating was  a paraffin stove, which started first match.  We had no water as the bowser was frozen.  I found a crate of six two-litre bottles of milk frozen
solid.  I picked one up and scraped the broken glass from it and then stood it in a saucepan to thaw over the stove.  Bread was frozen so all I could cut it with
was a large hand wood saw.  Ten men later started the Generator on each end of a rope with the centre fastened to the starting handle.  The acid  had frozen
in the vehicle batteries and all had to be replaced before we could leave the site.  We left all of our steel mast stays frozen solid in the ground.

In early June 1954,  four of our units went to Denmark. 284SU acted as master station at Aarhus. 330SU to Vejby Strand on the main Island of Sjaelland. I can’t recall the locations of 266SU and 953SU but both units were withdrawn at an early date.  Our tech site was just opposite the farmhouse with the domestic site, about one hundred yards down the meadows. The tents were set up in two rows of three with the marquee between the rows.  This was used as our mess
tent. The cooks had two hydro burners for cooking and they and their helpers produced some excellent meals. Our evening were spent on the beach, first collecting driftwood and combustable rubbish. The rest of the unit would dig a large hole in the sand and he driftwood would make a decent fire.  We would all sit around drinking our Carlsberg or Tuborg lager also singing some of the old RAF songs.  In the far distance we could see the lights of Sweden.

In early July we moved to  Fredrickshavn in N. Jutland. After a few trials we packed up and returned to Butzweilerhof.  The King of Denmark’s brother (a Navel Commander) who shook everyone by the hand and thanked us very much for the good job we had done met us on the border.

Now, Having seen a programme on TV and re-visiting Vejby, I am aware that our initial trials were for U2 Aircraft communications. A Danish re-union is held
annually at Vejby Strand.

In late 1954 330SU was to move permanently to Schleswig so I was transferred to 266SU.

With 266SU we had several sites where we spent some time. One was USAF Hahn, near the Moselle.  The site was at the top of a hill and had been cleared of trees for fifty yards all around the eight-foot barbed wire fence.  On the main gate there was a guard with a revolver.  As all Brits we started to have a kick
around with our football. After ten minutes or so the ball went over and the lad who had kicked  it, started to limb over to retrieve it. Without warning a shot
rang out and the lad fell from the fence.  Luckily he hadn’t been hit but the brown barbed wire was outstanding!! We all went over to the guard and he showed us his orders to shoot anyone seen on the fence.

Another site we went to was Le Trois Epis in Alsace, France.  We were at the top of a mountain and were then using heavy Gee equipment, which was blotting, out my HF communications from Germany.  The HF receiver wagon was located three miles up the road to enable us to receive traffic. When I finished my work at 5 a.m. I would lock up and walk up to the First World War German
Cemetery half a mile further up.  It was terribly overgrown and dead from  WW2  were still buried round the edges under reversed rifle and tin helmets. I
revisited this Cemetery in 1995 and was glad to see it had been restored to its natural beauty and cleanliness.  The dead from WW2 have been reburied in
Le Trois Epis.
 

Another site we went to was near to 72SU at Adenur. The village name I have forgotten, but it was past the Nurnburg ring from Adenur.   The Americans had
bulldozed the top off a hill, and had laid a decent gravel road up.  We again lived in tents and the cooks did our meals on site.  During the evening we would go
to the local village for our beer in a local farmhouse. There were long benches around the kitchen walls where we parked our bottoms.  Along the opposite wall were the farm animals, mainly cows.  They proved to be great drinking companions.  The beer was delivered by the farmer, from a cellar beneath the kitchen area. I did not worry at the time but now I ask where did the
animal urine go?

Another detachment for me was to 124SU at Iburg.  They had just settled into their new domestic site.  After working late on the tech site just outside Osnabruck, I went on the air using my ham callsign DL2VQ on the
two-meter net. Being at the top of a large hill I was able to work a Dutch ham with ease.  After I had finished with the Dutchman, a German Ham from Osnabruck gave me a call.  He asked myself and a friend down to
his home the following evening.  We arrived at the requested time and he took great pleasure in showing us his ham gear.  The transmitter took up the front room
and was rated 1000watts.  His receiver took his dining room; eventually I showed him the rig I operated.  It was totally contained in a three and a half biscuit tin.  We were running at below 5 watts.  He was surprised that we had got out to Holland until I explained that we were located at the top of a hill
when transmitting.

In 1956 266Su moved up to Luneburg airfield as our permanent site for a couple of years.  Whilst there we would use the Fifty-Pfennig Club in town.  One night
when we were drinking there a L/Cpl of the Welsh Regt. Walked onto the middle of the empty dance floor dropped  his trousers and had a crap. The MP came in from outside and dragged this man away. Early next morning we sent a large box of service toilet rolls, to the Colonel of the Welsh Regt. With a note attached which read “For use by the Welsh Regt. In the Fifty Pfennig Club”. He was NOT amused!

Also at Luneburg in June 1956, three of us married Cpl’ s, decided to purchase six-day-old baby goslings to provide our Christmas dinners.  Eventually in a month all died except for one.  We drew lots for him and I won, So I had to go to work earlier each morning so I could walk him across the airfield.  I would run back and “FRED” would fly.  He was stolen near to Christmas by 300SU who were working on the airfield at the time, but returned unharmed.  At my Christmas/New Years party everyone cursed me for killing Fred but thanked me for the tasty sandwiches, which I had told them contained Fred.

Overall my tour of duty with BCSU were the best years in my twenty-four with the Royal Air force.

With many thanks to Fred Peake who gave me extra knowledge on HF Radio.  If we stopped for char on the autobahn, I could be in contact with base within ten
minutes.

John Pond  aka splash

266 went to AALBORG in Denmark we also went to HAHN AIR BASE 69th P.B.S. which is where the incident with the football occurred. ( PBS stood for Pilots Bomber Squadron we did not realise at first there were no pilots in the planes that we could almost touch from the top of the radar wagon, )
266su also visited RAF LANGENFELD and also RAF SPIJKEBOOR
 

ODD Memories

93 Spiral steel steps from ground to radar room –hard to negotiate when hanging watches, as the previous watch would/may pour the remainder of their water down through the stairs – closely followed by the jerry can – recesses in the walls helped to avoid water/jerry cans.

The main source of refreshment on late watches was cocoa – the dregs of which were thrown out of the window as there was no running water- the management of the Hotel found that the dormer windows were totally obscured by the cocoa and complained so we could no longer throw the dregs out of the window – we were supplied with a bucket to pour the dregs into –then when it was full we threw it out of the window – no one
complained again. We also were supplied with cans of  ‘M & V’ – main use of which seemed to be to see who could throw them the furthest into the woods.

The cooks were tolerable but it took a good while to be accustomed to the diluted condensed milk that we had to use on the cornflakes for breakfast – for several months I thought it was the cereals that were ‘off’.

The main problem with the stairs was the need to stay on air with no more than a 2 minute break -– so when the mains failed the mechanic had to run down the stairs – 93 treads turning to the left – at the bottom he had to turn right to go down the steps and across the compound to start the generator -  the wall at the bottom of the stairs seemed to have a magnetic attraction for my forehead as I tried to change direction.

I found later that the main use of our chain was to assist photo reconnaissance Canberras looking over the East German border – and a U2 flown by RAF pilots.

The fixers were always vulnerable to  mild ‘attacks’ by the rest of us early in the morning in midwinter – most unfair when looks back.

When we arrived at Iburg Barry, Joe and I, who had trained together (I had been stationed with Joe at RAF Yeadon) –  were offered the choice of  units Joe opted for Iburg  – one of the staff at Iburg commiserated with the choice of Winterberg for Barry and myself – they told us of the corporal operator who visited them – they gave him a mouse sandwich, and how they had received a telephone call asking if they had ever heard a Jerry Can being thrown down 93 spiral steel stairs.

Iburg was overlooking Osnabruck - where there had been much hard fighting  during WW2 – they had a strange collection of rusty grenades, etc covered by corrugated sheet on the edge of the site – I believe it scared Hell out of anAOC inspection some years later.

RAF WINTERBERG NAMES (not on list) 
Memory plays funny tricks so I have consulted with my wife and Barry
Robinson.

1958 –
J/T Lyne – ace(?) photographer – I still have one of his coat hangers.

‘Boris’ (real name ?) courted a young seamstress from Winterberg– J/T Fitter who played the trumpet in bed early in the morning – had a water filled contraceptive placed in bed late one night – he woke at 8’ish next morning screaming “I’ve burst” and would not look down at his wet pyjamas as he said he couldn’t stand the sight of blood.

Dave - a fixer – who tried to  play the trumpet in bed  - next bed to
Boris.  I think they tried to play ‘Sophisticated Lady’ accompanied by the J/T
who played the drums - Boris and Dave are both on the ‘fuzzy photo’.

The above went in the J/T’s car – a 170 V Mercedes round 5 countries
between shifts 

Coprporal Paddy Cahill –   older than most – a  fixer - bought my skis
from him in 1960 for 2/6 (1Mark 50)

Dave Podmore – mechanic  -had a JAWA motorbike – went home between
watches (once) for lunch in Brighton with his parents.

1960 - Heavy GEE in the Bungalow – no Operators

MT Corporal ‘Jack’ Pratt – drove a Renault Dauphine Gordini – inverted
it on straight road.

J/T Eric Finkle (then became Corporal after his wife complained about
him doing Orderly Corporal duties as a J/T) – drove a Mercedes 300.

Corporal Dave Higgins – married Cis in 1960 – parted (?year) she died 3
years ago – he is in Canada I think – possibly on another site 1958/59.

SAC Terry Swann – owner of a Cream and White Ford Anglia – the one with
a cut back rear window.

LAC ‘Doc’ Mouland – medic and occasional supplier of  contraceptives –
filled with water they provided simple entertainment.

Corporal Alec Hutty (cook) and his wife.

Corporal Paul Simison

The gate was looked after later by an ex-pat Bob Woodcock who married
his wife Irene when he was stationed at Winterberg – probably in the
‘40’s – he died in 1995(6?) – we still get Christmas cards from Irene.
 
 

The lorry eventually was towed away – all axles were seized up so the
smell of hot rubber was dreadful until there was a bang and the wheels
went round. 

One of the absolute no no's for the strapping young Englishmen despatched to serve their country at Winterberg, was the local milk. The local beer was fine, sup as much of that as you could . The wine ? No problem. Milk was the killer. Full of nasty bugs because the local cows weren't as hygenic as ours. (Writing this in the days of BSE it all seems very quaint, this superiority of 'our' cows)

For two years or more we could only put evaporated milk from tins into our tea. which distorted our tastebuds for years after. There was of course a problem with ice cream, that was technically off limits and I believe the death penalty was in force for anyone caught consuming it. It was all due to something about TT testing. I always though TT was something to do with motorbike racing but no it seems British cows were TT tested and German ones were not.

As someone brought up on fresh milk delivered from my uncle Oliver's farm in a horse drawn cart and laddled out from a metal churn into jugs which were then stored in my mothers pantry, I suspect I had already ingested most of the bugs any kind of milk could carry. But I mostly went along with the rules except that I did eat the occasional ice cream and I did put cream in my coffee in German cafes. I trembled as I did so in case I was spotted and reported to the RAF Police but a little danger in life adds a little spice.

---

What was interesting is that they were knocking back bottles of Becks Bier. Even more interesting is that they were paying some £2.50 a bottle. It took me back to the days of the Winterberg bar where 'Beck's was the beer you drank if you were determined to get well and truly pissed. It tasted pretty vile and cost 9d a bottle against 7d for the weaker Carlsberg or the Dortmunder Union stuff.

Nothing 'designer' about it in those days, and it gave your water a certain odour the next day. Who would have thought that some forty years on, a new generation of twenty somethings would discover our particular brand of gut rot, pay throught the nose for it and consider themselves very sophisticated while drinking it.

Of course, it in all probability, it is now brewed in Reading, has the strength of gnat's piss and would have Germans who encounter it, laughing all the way to the Bundesbank. Not only that, the bottles seem to have shrunk in size but maybe my memory is playing me tricks again.

One of the most closely guarded secrets of RAF Winterberg was the High Tech Early Warning System (HTEWS). Now after some forty years, the details can be revealed.

The station operated 24 hours a day, every day of the year and the staff worked a convoluted shift system designed to allow time for a quick half (litre that is) before going on the night shift.

With little to do due to the totally reliable nature of the all British designed equipment, most of the night shift would go to sleep.
Sleeping was of course strictly forbidden and occasionally, highly trained people would attempt to enter the tower to catch the little sods at it.

To foil their attempts, a sensitive microswitch, removed from one of the boxes of equipment with no apparent detrimental effect, was installed in the door at the foot of the tower. Opening the door, closed the contact and caused an electrical current to flow along a hidden wire to a bell located at the top of the tower.
In the two minutes or so it took to climb the steps of the tower, everyone could be woken, bedding hidden and an attempt at looking alert, made.