FOREWORD

NEVER VOLUNTEER -the basic rule of the services. I was 22 years old, married with a three- month old son when I was dragged, kicking and screaming, to serve my two years in the Royal Air Force. After square bashing, I spent nine months at Yatesbury on an Air Radar Fitters course, 300 miles away from my home on Tyneside.

So how come I am writing, (compiling would be nearer the mark), this book? It started when my wife saw an advert in a magazine for the RAF Yatesbury Association and persuaded me to join. A short while afterwards, Eddie Brown, the founder of the Association, was looking for someone to take over the job of membership secretary. Again, at my wife's suggestion, I contacted him, and his powers of persuasion made me accept the job. One of the nice things about being membership secretary is that you receive letters from members and potential members and these made me realise how many people regard RAF Yatesbury with deep affection.

So what was it about RAF Yatesbury that inspired this affection? It can't have been the camp itself, because as you will see, it was a collection of wooden huts rather like a prisoner-of-war camp. It was set in a beautiful part of the world, although it could be bleak, especially in winter. I was there in 1959 when the camp was twenty years old and showing its age. It had been originally erected to last no more than four years, (or for the duration of the war), and, while improvements had been carried out, it was still sometimes referred to as Stalag Luft 2.

I suspect the affection comes because the camp had a purpose; it was carrying out a vital training function. During the war, training wireless operators for Bomber Command and the new top-secret radar. After the war, thousands of National Servicemen and Regulars were trained on wireless and radar. The courses were well structured, (most of the time anyway), and the permanent staff enthusiastic and keen to help. This, I think, is why RAF Yatesbury is held in such affection.

The bulk of this book consists of the memories of servicemen who passed through RAF Yatesbury. They have only been lightly edited to take out obvious errors or glaring grammatical mistakes. Most of them have appeared in the Association Newsletter.

This book could not have been written without the willing help of many people. I would like to thank them all and if I have forgotten anyone, the fault is all mine and I apologise most humbly. In no particular order may I thank:

The staff at the Public Records Office
The Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon and the County Records Office at Trowbridge; for their assistance and seemingly never-ending patience
Dr. Peter H.Liddle at The World War Two Experience in Horsforth, Leeds.
All the members of the RAF Yatesbury Association and others who have contributed their memories of the camp
Ron Stempfer for most of the information on RAF Cherhill
Joan Allan for all the typing.
The RAF Yatesbury
Publicity Officer, David Dark, for spending many hours detailed proof reading, correcting my many spelling, grammar and punctuation errors, and very many helpful suggestions.
My daughter, Margaret Lacey for the final proof reading.
All the authors and publishers mentioned in the bibliography for their permission to quote from the various books.
Most of the local history in Chapter One has been reproduced from the Victoria County History, Wiltshire, Volume XVII, by permission of the Executive Editor.
There are some photographs and accounts that have come to me via the RAF Yatesbury Association where I have not been able to trace the source. Should anyone recognise any of these, let me know and I will correct the omission in the next edition, should there be one.
Last, but by no means least, one of the busiest men on the planet, Sir Arthur C Clarke, for taking the time to write me a letter and scribble a note giving me encouragement.