Royal Air Force Greatworth
962 SU. Brackley 3205
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RAF Greatworth the past.
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Who put the old accommodation site on the Welsh Road?
Was it unhappy to be in it`s old place in the side road about directly opposite to the transmitter hall entrance door? It only takes 4 clicks of the left arrow to get there.( I said LEFT arrow airman).
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8 Comments
It seems then that the original nissen huts were on the bye road to the west of the TX Hall and that they weren't the first accomodation. Before these, airmen were bileted in Helmdon somewhere.
Hi again John. It is quite a few years now since we last crossed each other in our RAF days so it would indeed be good to see you again and chew over old times. I had noticed Marion's appearance on the site yesterday and one thing leads to another, hence my line last night. I live on the Saxon Gate Estate in Biggleswade, right on the Dunton Road, and Gamlingay was/is a regular stop off point for us when we have the grandchildren as they can take advantage of both the football field and the play-park there. If we do not manage a meet in this area, then I look forward to the next reunion as, like you, I intend to be there. I found the website only days after the recent first reunion!!! You maybe saw my note to Martin to say that I almost went back to GReatworth on 15th October as that was the 50th anniversary of first arriving there in 1960. Boy do the years pass by quickly.
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John Walker
11:46 AM on November 27, 2010
'Left right up down push' means nothing to the rest of the world Al. Understand that you live not far from where the ancestral mortgage used to be. Marion still lives in that village. Next time I,m in that neck of the woods we must catch up. Failing that, there is always next reunion at Greatworth. I certainly intend to be there. Oh happy days
What a memory you have Johnny. I also remember the 8MHz quirk on that circuit - was it 8056? And I also have good claim to senility being just a wee bit older than you. I also spent many hours cleaning and burnishing HT contacts. Happy days.
Such an evocative phrase, "Swab eight"! I arrived at Greatworth in January 1962 fresh from apprenticeship at Locking, wondering what life would be like in the big wide World! Rude awakening wearing my freshly minted upside down chevron, as very quickly found myself on shift with Gerry Senior as the Watch Corporal. "You come here straight from school thinking you know it all!" (You think I know nothing? I tell you I know f**k all).
Gerry certainly put us through in the early days. A particular occasion remains as fresh today in my mind as all those years ago. Evening shift, couple of months on and I am detailed to QSY CAF23 RED (SWB8 Cyprus ISB circuit - oh come-on Chief, the official secrets act ran out on this one before I left the RAF). Like many of the SWB's, this transmitter had its own ideosyincracies, one of which was that when QSYing to or from an 8MHz frequency, there was a requirement to swap two resistors for one choke in the ht circuit at the top front compartmentof the PA unit. Having by this time become reasonably proficient with the process, I raced through the changes to coils in the HA's and PA compartments, altered the settings in the antenna coupling, set up the drive unit in the (wait for it) Drive Room. Remembered about the 8MHz quirk and changed the necessary (can't remember which way round it was now - you have to give me some leeway for senility).
Anyhow now came the tuning up which I duly performed through the HA's, then with ht on stud 1 through the PA's. Little bit of coupling into the antenna circuit was good, with further slight adjustments to the tuning. Right, down with the drive level, then off ht, turn the wheel for stud 4 and back on with the ht !
The best analogy I can think of is that of J Arthur Rank banging that gong in the Mersey tunnel. There was a Godalmighty bang which reverberated seemingly for ages up and down the hall! I'm a wreck! Having performed a ballet move that Nuryev would been proud of, I am now faced with a very displeased Cpl Senior. "What the **** did you do?" Not to stretch the story further, suffice to say I spent a good while repairing fuses, buffing and restoring pitted relay contacts and started again with the tuning. still didn't know what had caused the problem but was at pains to go through the procedures even more carefully. Yes, you guessed, it blew again when full ht applied. If possible I hovered in mid-air even longer than the first time.
To conclude the story, it transpired that when changing the two resistors for the choke (or was it vice versa) I was unaware that the brackets holding these items had loosened (not my fault Corporal!) and had narrowed the gap beween them to chassis. The gap was ok for the lower ht setting but not stud 4.
Couple of other comments reference that time of our lives:
We called them cycles per second in them days not hertz
Marmalade on cheese sarnies on the night shift amongst other concoctions come to mind.
Paddy Bryant is remembered with affection, Black Jim less so.
Great memory of Billy the short chubby Cpl cook, hacking down the opposing centre forward in one of our 'friendly' football matches against local village team.
I've gone on too long. Thanks for your indulgance
Gerry certainly put us through in the early days. A particular occasion remains as fresh today in my mind as all those years ago. Evening shift, couple of months on and I am detailed to QSY CAF23 RED (SWB8 Cyprus ISB circuit - oh come-on Chief, the official secrets act ran out on this one before I left the RAF). Like many of the SWB's, this transmitter had its own ideosyincracies, one of which was that when QSYing to or from an 8MHz frequency, there was a requirement to swap two resistors for one choke in the ht circuit at the top front compartmentof the PA unit. Having by this time become reasonably proficient with the process, I raced through the changes to coils in the HA's and PA compartments, altered the settings in the antenna coupling, set up the drive unit in the (wait for it) Drive Room. Remembered about the 8MHz quirk and changed the necessary (can't remember which way round it was now - you have to give me some leeway for senility).
Anyhow now came the tuning up which I duly performed through the HA's, then with ht on stud 1 through the PA's. Little bit of coupling into the antenna circuit was good, with further slight adjustments to the tuning. Right, down with the drive level, then off ht, turn the wheel for stud 4 and back on with the ht !
The best analogy I can think of is that of J Arthur Rank banging that gong in the Mersey tunnel. There was a Godalmighty bang which reverberated seemingly for ages up and down the hall! I'm a wreck! Having performed a ballet move that Nuryev would been proud of, I am now faced with a very displeased Cpl Senior. "What the **** did you do?" Not to stretch the story further, suffice to say I spent a good while repairing fuses, buffing and restoring pitted relay contacts and started again with the tuning. still didn't know what had caused the problem but was at pains to go through the procedures even more carefully. Yes, you guessed, it blew again when full ht applied. If possible I hovered in mid-air even longer than the first time.
To conclude the story, it transpired that when changing the two resistors for the choke (or was it vice versa) I was unaware that the brackets holding these items had loosened (not my fault Corporal!) and had narrowed the gap beween them to chassis. The gap was ok for the lower ht setting but not stud 4.
Couple of other comments reference that time of our lives:
We called them cycles per second in them days not hertz
Marmalade on cheese sarnies on the night shift amongst other concoctions come to mind.
Paddy Bryant is remembered with affection, Black Jim less so.
Great memory of Billy the short chubby Cpl cook, hacking down the opposing centre forward in one of our 'friendly' football matches against local village team.
I've gone on too long. Thanks for your indulgance
The old accommodation site was adjacent to the road on he opposite side of the camp site to the married quarters. I can`t say just where it was, but if you looked out of the dark room windows you would probably see the nissen huts.
All that remained of the site while I was there were a few fragments of paving slabs, a few stub ends of posts and a bit of a cinder path.
If a ditch runs along that boundary, the entrance might be found by looking for a short length of culvert, but that has probably been used as access for one of the establishments newly erected on the site.
I was searching for mushrooms in that area once, when a police car stopped in the road. I strolled over to it and the sargeant in it asked if I had been on the camp long, and what was I doing. I told him about a year, and looking for mushrooms, and he drove off he drove off.
When I returned to the living quarters there was great excitment. The police had been in touch with the CO and had told him to expect a mock attack from the RAF Regiment, as the police had found one of them doing a reccy.
Anyone mistaking me for a pongo needs an eye test
All that remained of the site while I was there were a few fragments of paving slabs, a few stub ends of posts and a bit of a cinder path.
If a ditch runs along that boundary, the entrance might be found by looking for a short length of culvert, but that has probably been used as access for one of the establishments newly erected on the site.
I was searching for mushrooms in that area once, when a police car stopped in the road. I strolled over to it and the sargeant in it asked if I had been on the camp long, and what was I doing. I told him about a year, and looking for mushrooms, and he drove off he drove off.
When I returned to the living quarters there was great excitment. The police had been in touch with the CO and had told him to expect a mock attack from the RAF Regiment, as the police had found one of them doing a reccy.
Anyone mistaking me for a pongo needs an eye test
Okay Jeff, tell us more. By "old accomodation", do you mean the nissen huts? No-one has yet defined where they were sited, if you could draw a plan and post it, that would be great. We know that the original TX Hall was in the same spot, because the new on was built over it and we have photos of the old accomodation, but not its location. The current TX Hall's front door is on the western side of the hall, we have no details of how the old hall looked from the outside. So can you help us out Jeff?
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We used to tune to Frequencies, Now 888 tune for Speed!
situated in the acommodation buildings
(Shades of the old Speedrace Transmitter?)
Triple Eight ocupy the acomodation site.
Tim Samways occupy the east of the `T' in the TX Hall
And John Austin's Furniture, at the North end.
Angus Watt's Campers.
VW Campers's in the Centre Hall.
Always more photos always needed for our galleries, please.
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