RETURN TO DUTY IN THE UK
JOINT SERVICES STAFF COLLEGE, LATIMER
JULY 1950-APRIL 1952
After less than a week at home in Wrexham, I reported to Air Ministry for an intensive debriefing, lasting three days. From there I left for the Joint Services Staff College (JSSC) at Latimer for the final three weeks of Course 6, at the end of which I was able to take five weeks disembarkation leave. After these first weeks I had the feeling that we were going to enjoy this posting. Much as we had appreciated our stay in the United States, I felt we were ready for what promised to be a pleasant interlude back in rural England.
Latimer House, near Chesham, was situated above the River Chess in delightful Buckinghamshire countryside. The house in which I was to work reminded me of Hampton Court. The beautiful stacks of tall octagonal chimney shafts were particularly pleasing to the eye. The interior of the house which could best be described as Victorian Gothic was disappointing. After a fire in 1830, it was recreated in what was then a popular style. In addition, in 1950 there was still evidence of the adaptations that had been made to enable it to fulfil its wartime role as a prisoner of war reception centre.
Early in 1942, Latimer had become the permanent home of a so-called distribution centre. Which was in fact the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre. Where all high-ranking German prisoners of war were held for a few months before being assigned to a prisoner of war camp in South Wales. In 1950 some students were occupying the still unmodernised cells of the wartime prisoners. As a bit of memorabilia, the central watch tower was still there. The students professed to believe that the directing staff used it for spying on them. How else could we have such detailed knowledge of the students’ ‘goings on’? Actually, one or two of us had infiltrated the ‘enemy’ as lots of fun was always to be had.
The JSSC had been established in 1947 ‘to nourish among the higher command of all services that mutual understanding and comradeship which had been so successful in war’. When I arrived in September 1950, these aims had been further clarified. By then the stated purpose was ‘the training of officers to fill appointments on joint staffs by widening their knowledge of subjects with which as staff officers they might have to deal’. Most important was the development of a mutual understanding between the services.
There were seventy-two students consisting of British officers from all three services, Commonwealth and United States service representatives, and five first class civilians. I was one of the four RAF officers who were members of the fifteen-strong directing staff.
On reporting to the commandant, Major-General Bill Stratton, he made it clear to me that as the students were of much the same rank and age as the directing staff co-operation was the name of the game. This was so different from the way we war-battered students had been treated at the RAF Staff College. Most of the students had recent active service experience in ranks often higher than those they then held. DSO and DSC was as frequent a collection of letters after the name of naval students as DSO and MC was of the army students and DSO and DFC was of the RAF men.
We DS found we had much to learn from our students who were eager to share their experiences. I was constantly impressed by the way, often reluctantly and modestly, we were told of the nature and reasons behind the decisions they had made in highly dangerous situations. These usually had resulted in acts of great gallantry. Amongst the worthy warriors in my first syndicate was Willie Tate, the most highly decorated bomber pilot who, amongst other achievements, was credited with sinking the Scharnhorst. Rather shyly, he explained to us the tactics he had employed in finding and sinking this most elusive of German battle cruisers.
Another syndicate member was Lieutenant Colonel Mike Carver whom I had known in the Western Desert. As a brigadier at the age of twenty-seven, he served in the 7th Armoured Division (The Desert Rats) at the Battle of El Alamein in 1942. As directors of army and RAF planning respectively, we were to work together in 1960 as joint planners under Lord Mountbatten. We made great efforts to understand each other’s viewpoints (some in our respective services thought too much!). Many years later Field Marshal Lord Carver, a former CDS, took it in good humour when I pointed out that much of his success in life should be attributed to my guidance.
During my time at Latimer the way that world politics was evolving, and the development of new weapons, resulted in less time being spent discussing the past and more focus given to the future. We arranged visits to Portsmouth, Salisbury Plain and Germany, where we saw some of the new ideas in navy, army and air force thinking in the process of being tested. In addition, exchange visits began with the French École Supèrior, and my old alma mater, the American Armed Forces Staff College.
In early August 1950, we journeyed from Wrexham to Amersham with the intention of finding a furnished house somewhere in that area. We stayed at The Crown where on our first evening we met a Mr Aston who was on leave from Penang where he was the British Resident. We were invited to have a drink at his home in Old Amersham, which he was looking to rent out. We so liked Wych Cottage that we thought it was worth waiting the ten weeks until he returned to Penang in November, despite the fact that we would have to find somewhere to stay for the interim.
Luckily, we were able to find accommodation in a wing of a large Victorian house at The Lee, a village in the Chilterns above Great Mis-senden. Our landlady, Mrs Stainer, was the widow of a former organist at Westminster Abbey, composer of Stainer’s Crucifixion. She was exceedingly kind and helpful to us. Over fifty years later, Elisabeth told us of a different recollection. She remembers her as a very bad-tempered old woman. No doubt she was on the Sunday morning when she was woken by Elisabeth playing in her drawing room with her antique spinning wheel.
It was on Mrs Stainer’s recommendation that Elisabeth had her first taste of English schooling at Hyde House, Hyde Heath. Usually I dropped her off by taking a roundabout route to Latimer; but when I was away on exercise, she had to cycle the four miles accompanied by Het on a borrowed ramshackle bicycle. How Het hated those early morning sorties negotiating the steep ups and downs of the Chiltern country lanes. When we moved to Amersham, Elisabeth was able to continue at Hyde House, catching public transport from almost outside our front door to where she was able to board the school bus at Amersham on the Hill. Later, from our Latimer quarter, she arrived at school ‘in state’ in a service car driven by a WRAF corporal. Elisabeth felt she was unjustly treated when on one occasion the headmistress upbraided her – not the driver whom she had spied gathering daffodils which were growing in profusion on either side of the drive.
When we left The Lee in late November 1950, we took it for granted that we would be spending the rest of the tour at Wych Cottage in Amersham. However, ten months later, we moved again to some newly built quarters within the grounds of Latimer House.
With the JSSC now firmly established, the Treasury was persuaded that the time had come for domestic development. The cricket ground (formerly used by Latimer village) was made playable once again, squash courts were built and two blocks of semi-detached married quarters were built overlooking the picturesque cricket field. These four quarters were occupied by DS with an RAF preponderance of three to one. I should mention here that there was so little house building after the war that to get four houses built at Latimer was truly an achievement. Moving in in September 1951 amidst an indescribable amount of mud and builders’rubble, we suffered from a number of teething troubles, which we attributed to post-war shortages. Luckily we had very little of that same teething trouble from our son, David, who was by then five months old. He had arrived on the first day of Course 8. This was not really the most convenient time for me as I had to leave the ‘Assembly Party’early just in time for a fast drive at midnight with Het to RAF Hospital Halton. An excellent start to the course!
When we moved to ‘Cathedral Precincts’, a name laughingly conjured up by the student body, we became involved in the action at La-timer House and got better acquainted with the students, the majority of whom chose to be weekly boarders. My old friend, ‘Splinters’Small-wood, and fellow DS, and I had realised at our first official cocktail party that there was a serious lack of ‘spiritual knowledge’in the entertainment committee. We inveigled ourselves into the job of joint bar officers and straight away upgraded the bitterly criticised ‘Squirrels Widdle’to a stronger and tastier potion. Everyone was most grateful. Not so Het. She wasn’t too pleased to have to cope with my ‘exuberance’caused by the prolonged mixing and tasting needed to produce such an excellent brew.
I remember that for a payment of two shillings (ten pence) every Friday, I collected from the kitchen garden as much produce as we could possibly need. The head gardener, who had been there for at least forty years, told me that at one time in 1944 he had had twenty-three German and Italian generals working for him!
During my time at Latimer, I kept up my flying –mostly Tiger Moths –at Booker, a civilian grass airfield on the Chilterns overlooking High Wycombe. Being only about twenty miles away, student friends were always happy to accept a lift to their distant homes. I always hoped that, as a result, the military would appreciate the value of the air arm!
In early January 1952, half way through my third course as a DS, I was told that my next posting was to be as group captain flying at the Central Fighter Establishment at West Raynham in Norfolk. I was overjoyed, not only was I going back to flying but I was also to be promoted.
I spent the whole of that February in the RAF Hospital Halton. During the war, I had developed a stomach ulcer which, for some years, had been giving me lots of pain. Despite various ‘cures’, I was in constant pain. The doctors recommended surgery but ultimately agreed to try medication consisting of four weeks of rest and sedation. It worked; but regrettably only for a few months.
Six weeks later in early April, we left for West Raynham in the wilds of Norfolk.
CENTRAL FIGHTER ESTABLISHMENT, WEST RAYNHAM
APRIL 1952-FEBRUARY 1954
In early April 1952 I arrived at West Raynham in Norfolk, the place where every keen fighter pilot had dreams of being posted. The Central Fighter Establishment (CFE) was the academy of air fighting, the testing ground for all new ideas about fighter operations. It had been founded in 1944 at Tangmere by expanding a unit whose mission was ‘to promote leadership, efficiency and skill in both the interception and ground-attack roles’. In 1945 this unit was moved to West Raynham, where its functions were further expanded to take in all test functions of fighter operations. Here, these most fortunate pilots were controlled by newly-developed radar systems, whilst flying the newest fighter aircraft equipped with the latest instruments and weapons.
On the operational side there were three main units: The Air Fighting Development Squadron (AFDS). This unit was concerned with day fighting tactics and techniques. Much of the work was secret, e.g. research into high altitude interception techniques. At first, the Meteor was used until the eagerly awaited Hunter arrived in 1954 for general handling trials. Many improvements in air-frame and engine design came from close relations with the aircraft industry and with test pilots.
The second was: The All-Weather Wing. This unit was responsible for the development of night and all-weather operational procedures, i.e. where the target cannot be seen. Here there was even closer secrecy than in AFDS as the wing was concerned with developing an all-weather fighter.
Finally there was: The Interception Analysis Unit. This unit specialised in controlling aircraft interception and the investigation of air control problems. It was felt essential that facilities on the ground should keep up with those in the air.
These three units liaised closely with the aircraft industry, the RAF research establishments at Farnborough and Boscombe Down, and the radar research unit at Malvern. There were frequent visits to and from Eglin Field in Florida where there was a unit similar to CFE. This liaison was felt to be of so much importance that for a number of years an RAF group captain was on exchange duty there. In my time the post was held by Teddy Morris, my long-time friend from Desert Air Force days. Later, he became our son John’s godfather. At CFE we had an exchange USAF captain flying with the air fighting development boys.
In addition, there were two training units: firstly, The Day Fighter Leader’s School. This was the original unit from which CFE had evolved. It had continued in its aim of promoting leadership, efficiency and skill in interception and ground-attack roles. The six-week course, comprising forty-six sorties, was attended by RAF officers from all over the world joined by members of the Fleet Air Arm and Commonwealth air forces. All aspects of fighter operations were undertaken. They learned from each other’s experiences as the briefing and leading was done by the students themselves whist the staff flew in subordinate positions. Debriefings between staff and students often resulted in the modification of operational procedures and techniques.
The second training unit was the Instrument Training Squadron. This unit undertook the training of selected pilots to become instrument rating examiners. The aim was that they should go back to their squadrons and take responsibility for instructing and testing their colleagues on ‘instrument flying’.
I loved the CFE as I was back on a flying station and flew almost every day, initially mainly in the different marks of Meteor at the station. On 21st July 1952 I note from my log book that I took a trip down memory lane by flying a Tiger Moth to RAF Hospital Halton for an X-ray on what turned out to be a stomach ulcer, returning the next day.
During my time at the CFE I also flew Venoms and Vampires, F84s and Swifts.
Situated in sparsely populated north-west Norfolk, West Raynham was designated a ‘remote station’. As such every month we were entitled to a long weekend off from Friday mid-day until Monday night. This special leave was granted ‘subject to the exigencies of the service’. We saw to it that there were no ‘exigencies’ on these weekends.
On the Monday nights coaches filled with mostly reluctant airmen left Marble Arch at midnight bound for West Raynham. These were the days of National Service! We ‘regulars’ looked forward to this break and usually spent a day in Norwich. Though little more than thirty miles away, it took one-and-a-half hours along the winding country roads of Norfolk. Sometimes we would visit King’s Lynn which was nineteen miles away. Before going we always compiled lists of those things we were not able to get in the small market town of Fakenham seven miles away. With no bus service, West Raynham was rightly dubbed ‘remote’.
It was four-and-a-half years since we had last lived amongst RAF folk. Although I was excited at the prospect, Het thought that returning to life on a remote airfield was for her a somewhat retrograde step. She felt that life in America and amongst the army and navy at Latimer had broadened her outlook. We moved into a large married quarter on the patch and for a few weeks Het was depressed. However, things soon looked up. We quickly made friends and it is no exaggeration to say that we made more lasting friendships at West Raynham than at any other time in our service life. The Rosiers, the Bird-Wilsons, the Ricky Wrights, the Freers, the Boxers, the Oxprings, the Waltons, the Frank Davisons in Adelaide and the Hugh Tudors have always kept closely in touch.
Ricky Wright and Birdie, both Battle of Britain pilots, became godfathers of Nicholas when he was christened in the station church on Battle of Britain Sunday 1953. The closeness that developed between us was undoubtedly the result of West Raynham’s remote situation. As a result we relied upon each other for so much. Very few Saturday nights went by without a party in the mess. Most of these were hosted and organised by one or other of the various sections. We flying chaps were normally able to find some ‘business’ reason for flying to Germany earlier in the week and we returned with duty-free drink for the party.
I note from my log book that from 10th to 16th August 1952 the Commandant Air Commodore Paddy Crisham and I spent some time in Germany initially flying in an Anson to Gütersloh. On that trip I flew a Vampire from Wunstorf. For the same reason it was only with much prompting that the earth-bound engineering officers gave a party. Poor chaps, their supplies had to be obtained locally from the much-maligned station NAAFI which was not noted for its variety of stock or its all-round efficiency. Once it ran out of sugar for four days and this was when it was still rationed. Luckily for our sugarless neighbours we were able to save the day as I had recently returned from Australia with a sack of sugar. This, I had promised an Australian to send to his relatives in the Midlands. Believing that charity began at home I wrote to him with an explanation, but had no acknowledgement!
In the heart of the country with time on our hands, a number of us showed an interest in gardening. We grew our own vegetables, specialising in developing those new species which were first being introduced into post-war Britain. Service men and women posted all over the world had developed a taste for what were in 1952 regarded as the more exotic vegetables such as sweetcorn, spinach and squash.
We became so keen that we formed the West Raynham Gardening Club. The competition became so intense that one member was expelled. He had colluded with a winning exhibitor at the annual show at East Rudham, our nearest village. Shortly after the show his leeks and onions doubled in size overnight. I was also given a warning for using an abandoned Spitfire canopy as a cucumber frame!
There was no Wives’ Club as such, but there was friendly co-operation amongst the wives. Thursday mornings saw two or three cars heading for Fakenham. They returned with fresh market produce to supplement our NAAFI fare and garden produce. Cromer crabs were always a must and when in season samphire, a plant with small, fleshy leaves and a taste vaguely resembling asparagus, which grew freely on the dunes during July and August. We used to have a weekly visit by a horse-drawn contraption loaded with samphire freshly picked that morning. We bought it at give-away prices. Forty years later that we saw it again at a top London restaurant at what we thought was a truly outrageous price.
Once a month the wives would change their venue to King’s Lynn’s Tuesday market. This trip, which always culminated in a cheerful lunch at the Dukes Head was known to the husbands as ‘The Gallivant’.
In 1952 we ran what must have been the first free launderette for our special friends. We were the only ones who possessed a washing machine and an electric iron, both of which we had bought in the United States. In attempting to buy a steam iron in 1954 when Mor-phy Richards were introducing the iron into the UK, Het, who wanted one for her mother’s Christmas present, tried shop after shop in Norfolk. In more than one she was told that they would not be stocking it as ‘water and electricity did not mix’.
The highlight of each year was the Tactical Convention held in June, when the CFE presented its most up to date ideas on fighter operations. The experts in the audience were given full opportunity to comment freely on the views expressed and practical conclusions were hammered out. There were also flying and static displays in which the latest fighter aircraft and equipment were put on view. These conventions grew in size and scope. In my time we had more than 300 delegates from all corners of the globe – squadron commanders, wing leaders, sector commanders and fighter station commanders. They were joined by representatives of the Royal Navy, the British army, the air forces of the Dominions and US Air Force and navy representatives. In 1949 I had attended as a representative of the US Air Force Air Defense Command. There was, of course, also a galaxy of distinguished senior officers. Subsequently, a report on the proceedings was circulated throughout the RAF and sent to all the overseas representatives.
During the convention, as well as work there was play in the form of endless official parties. It was a great gathering of friends – what a week it was!
In 1952 we also held a Test Pilot’s Convention which the following year was expanded into a Designer’s Convention. This audience was composed of designers of fighter aircraft and their test pilots, and the designers of engines and weapons. In addition, there were a few service officers; staff from the Ministry of Supply and staff from the experimental units. The designers of each component of the defence system had the opportunity of seeing how their particular part was keyed into the system by the users of their product.
Another annual event eagerly looked forward to was the long weekend visit of the Auxiliary Air Force. There was some flying, but it was the partying that was enjoyed by all. The wives found them a charming lot! I think they fell for their red socks and the red silk linings of their immaculately cut tunics. Little did I know then that in a very short time as group captain plans at Fighter Command I would recommend the disbandment of the Auxiliary Air Force. Put simply, they were not value for money considering what was being expended on them. Being a fighter pilot had become a full-time job.
The West Raynham balls were the envy of other RAF stations. In those days we had both summer and winter balls. Their theme and organisation was left to the outstanding group of young flight lieutenants whose only interest at that time seemed to be flying and having fun. There were few likely girl-friends in remote Norfolk but their time was well occupied!
There was much social contact between West Raynham and the recently reactivated US Air Force base at Sculthorpe, seven miles away. Tw o days after our arrival at West Raynham, Davy ‘Tokyo’ Jones arrived to command the base. He had been a friend since our first days at the Armed Forces Staff College. He it was who invited us to our very first party on our arrival in the United States by asking bluntly: “Hi, you folk. Do you go to parties?” On replying, “Yes, if anyone asks us” we were told the number of his quarters at the naval base where he’d be expecting us at 5.00 p.m. the next day. We left at 6.00 a.m. the following morning! That was the first of many parties we had with Davy. He had been in Stalagluft III with Douglas Bader, Bob Tuck and many other of our friends.
Het likes to think that she helped with the settling in of the American wives. To help them acclimatise, all families were issued with a booklet entitled Over Here, which was meant to help them understand our peculiar ways but this lacked explanations of many things that they came across in rural England. She was invited by Davy’s wife, Anita, to the Wives’Club meetings where she held a question and answer session. So great was the diversity of the questions that providing answers often tested her ingenuity. The very first question was: “What is a foot?”After further questioning by Het she discovered that the questioner had had an invitation to a village ‘fête’. She found it hard to explain what sort of clothes they should wear and what would be going on there.
There were many questions about etiquette and table manners; they particularly found eating lamb chops a problem. The majority had never come across lamb in the USA. The problem was that they were forced to leave so much meat attached to the bone. They were much relieved when she told them that they could pick the bone up as long as they used both hands.
They had been told in Over Here that The Times was the best paper. They had bought it and were not convinced. Het tentatively suggested The Daily Telegraph but advocated a visit to the local newsagent whom she was sure would allow them to peruse his selection before they decided which was the one for them. Throughout she was fortified appropriately by the ladies with Bristol Cream.
1953 was an auspicious year. It started with a bang. We had a new young Queen and General Eisenhower had been sworn in as United States President in January.
That January I was away on a trip to the Far East (during which I saw my brother Bill who, with his family, had recently emigrated to Australia) Het remembers snow storms, driving rain and the continual howling of the wind off the North Sea. When the dykes broke nearer the coast causing extensive damage and loss of life, Queen Elizabeth visited the flooded area to give her support.
On 26th January 1953, I set off in a Hastings on a CFE tour to Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand accompanied by Wing Commanders Oxspring and Bird-Wilson and Squadron Leaders Tudor, Cumming and Wilson and Flight Lieutenant Jenkins. The joy of this trip was that the Hastings was fitted with beds which were much needed as at every stop we had the most ‘VIPist’ of welcomes. I can recall that when we returned to West Raynham eight weeks later on 24th March we were all exhausted.
June was the Coronation month, looked forward to with much anticipation by everyone. There was a holiday on Coronation Day on 2nd June. The nation celebrated with street parties, with beacons and fireworks. The station also celebrated in style – there was a sports day and parties in the various messes.
In those early days of television Het, David and I watched the ceremony on a small black and white television in the mess. To everyone’s amusement he recognised and shouted out the Duke of Embry’s name.
Elizabeth (aged nine) was lucky enough to be in London with Het’s brother Stewart where she remembers watching the parade in pouring rain in a seat in front of the new Air Ministry building in Whitehall. This was also located opposite Downing Street and a great cheer went up when Sir Winston and Lady Churchill left No.10 for the abbey. The rain stopped for a short time several hours later as the Gold Coach came into view glimmering in the sun. The Queen of Tonga was not so lucky but insisted on waving cheerfully to the crowds in pouring rain in an open carriage.
Nicholas our second son was born on 15th June – quite a momentous month all round.
Prior to the Queen’s Coronation Review at Odiham on 19th July, much time was spent perfecting the part we were to play. A Swift of AFDS took part in the fly-past but the pièce de résistance was to be the performance of five Venoms of AFDS led by Wing Commander Bird-Wilson who were to write ‘EIIR’ and ‘VIVAT’in the sky over Odiham. We had devised a way of ‘painting’ in the sky. ‘E’was easy, but the ‘R’ needed much practising. I think that this was the first time that Venoms were used in that way. Het vividly remembers their return to Raynham the next morning, when they gave their wives a repeat performance, finishing by swooping perilously low, it seemed, over the quarters trailing red, white and blue smoke.
The whole station rejoiced in the achievement. Unbelievably, one miserable wife complained that her washing was soiled by the smoke! Nowadays, nearly fifty years later, in the grand finale of the Red Arrows flying displays we see them flying off into the far blue yonder trailing the same red, white and blue smoke.
I was unable to go to Odiham. This I greatly regretted but my future in the RAF was my first concern. A few weeks earlier I had been instructed to attend the Central Medical Establishment (CME) in London for a medical prior to promotion. I was fearful of this as my ulcer was again troublesome. The station medical officer (MO) hatched a plan that, with a fortnight in bed under sedation and with his medication and care, which included a diet of endless rice puddings, he hoped we would hoodwink the medical fraternity at CME. It did not and I was declared unfit for flying duties. They suggested that I should transfer from the general duties (GD) branch to the administrative or equipment branch. Such a prospect was appalling. I demanded an interview with the head of the medical branch, Air Marshal Sir Aubrey Rumbold, whom I had known well during the war and hoped that he would have some sympathy for me. I told him firmly that I was not leaving until he and I had spoken to Sir Basil Embry, C-in-C of Fighter Command. There I remained until 6.00 p.m. when at last Sir Basil was contacted. The outcome of the conversation was a compromise. I was passed fit for flying as long as I did not fly for more that forty-five minutes at a time. This limitation was soon forgotten!
In 1953 HRH the Duke of Edinburgh resumed his flying training at Raynham, carrying out ground approaches in a De Havilland Chipmunk of The Queen’s Flight. Some time before this he had told me that Winston Churchill was very much opposed to his flying. I feel that it was as a result of this that we were invited by the Queen for drinks at Sandringham later in the year.
In January 1954 I went on another trip down memory lane to North Africa. From 2nd to 26th January I flew in my Meteor 8 to North Africa –calling in at many of the airfields I had been at during my time in the Desert Air Force: Tunis, El Adem, Kabrit, Abu Sueir and Habbaniya. During the trip, after a brief visit to Cyprus, I flew to Aden via Wadi Halfa and Khartoum, before returning to West Raynham via Luqa in Malta and Istres in the South of France. During this trip the chief magistrate in Aden found his credulity being questioned when he announced at a party that I attended the same Sunday School as him. This was welcomed with great cheers.
One of the joys of CFE was that I was able to fly so many of the new aircraft types. I note from my log book that on 26th June 1954, having flown to Boscombe Down, I made my first flight in a Hawker Hunter Mark 1 and that there was ‘complete hydraulic failure’. Later in the year on 6th October 1954 I flew a B45 from Sculthorpe with Colonel Jones to Heidelberg in Germany, returning the same day.
On 19th October I left on a CFE visit to the USA. We flew in a Constellation from London to New York via Prestwick, Keflavik and Goose Bay. The party was led by Commandant Air Commodore Geoffrey Stephenson and in addition to myself included Wing Commanders David Mawhood, Ricky Wright and Edward Crew and Squadron Leader Dennis Walton. The purpose of the visit was for us to update ourselves on the latest developments in the air defence of the US.
After the initial briefing at the Pentagon which I see from my notes I described as ‘poor as it was superficial and most of the material was well known to us beforehand’, the team split into two parties, Air Commodore Stephenson, Mawhood and I leaving for New England to go to MIT, the Cambridge Research Centre, Rome Air Development Centre and the GE factory plant at Syracuse, whilst Wright, Crew and Walton went to the Wright Paterson Air Development Center and Edwards Air Force Base. A week later we joined up in Los Angeles and in three days we visited the factories of the North American, Lockheed, Convair and Hughes, and then went on to the Air Defense Command at Colorado Springs before moving on to Eglin Air Force Base via Kansas City, New Orleans and Pensacola.
Very sadly, during this trip, on 8th November Geoffrey Stephenson was killed, crashing soon after take-off in an F100 at Eglin. A dejected CFE party returned to London from New York on the 12th in a Stratocruiser. Many years later when visiting Elisabeth we went to his grave there among the thirty RAF flying cadets who were killed whilst training at nearby Maxwell Field.
Towards the end of 1954 my next posting came through. I was to be group captain operations at Fighter Command headquarters at Bentley Priory. This was a post that qualified me for immediate occupancy of a married quarter. Tw o days before we were due to leave for Stanmore, I was telephoned by the Commander-in-Chief Air Marshal Sir Dermot Boyle to be told that my posting had been changed to that of group captain plans which did not automatically entitle me to a quarter! Therefore, we would have to go on the waiting list. Panic ensued in the Rosier household. Tw o days later just before Christmas I left for Fighter Command. The family remained at West Raynham until March.
Over ten years later, when I was C-in-C Fighter Command I found a letter in a file which explained this last minute change of plan. Unbeknownst to me, my original posting had been changed to Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Farnborough. This was not to the liking of Sir Dermot Boyle who evidently wished to retain me in Fighter Command. Though he fought vigorously it was not until the last moment that ‘postings’ compromised with him. I could go to Fighter Command HQ but not as group captain operations. I feel sure that this was career planning. I had had much experience of operations, in the Western Desert; of the operations of 84 Group before D-Day and in Europe, but had had no experience of planning.
Very sadly, I missed my farewell party at West Raynham. Every Saturday afternoon I journeyed from London to King’s Lynn on ‘The Fen-man’. On the Saturday afternoon of my party in early February the snow fell so thick and fast that the car that was to collect me from King’s Lynn station became snowbound. Thankfully I was rescued by an old school friend’s brother who was the town clerk. Whilst I was enjoying quite a good party at the King’s Lynn Yacht Club my so-called friends had persuaded Het that she should have the farewell party at West Raynham without me. At about 10.00 p.m. the station MO announced that he had recently been issued with a four-wheel drive ambulance and now was the time to try it out. With four volunteers from the party as medical attendants they battled their way through the snow for the next three hours. Having picked me up in King’s Lynn we arrived back at the mess at 3.30 a.m. where most of my guests were awaiting my arrival and continuing the party. They had not left my house until after midnight. I was subsequently particularly sad at the size of my mess bill. Apparently, when my cellar had been drunk dry there were constant phonecalls to the mess for further supplies. Het assures me that at 11.00 p.m. despite encouragement to continue, she vetoed further calls to the mess and moreover, did her best to persuade the guests to go home. They had insisted that it would be extremely impolite not to wait until I arrived at my own party! That night was remembered for many years, not least by me for the size of my mess bill.
Thus our time at West Raynham came to an end. We had both been very happy there, we had gained a third child, Nicholas, and life had been even more interesting than we had anticipated but it was time to move on.