The 81st Entry
RAF Halton Aircraft Apprentices
Sept 1955 - July 1958

ISSUE No.22 - FEBRUARY 2010
81st ENTRY NEWSLETTER
Editor: Mike Stanley

Merry Xmas 1963!
by Kris Penney

When I left The School in 1958 , like many others who had volunteered for Overseas postings , my final posting in Germany was to remain a secret until we all arrived at Goch ( Wildenwrath ) . 4 of us were posted to Gutersloh , managing to catch the right train, arriving late in the day at an airfield miles from anywhere .

2 years 8 months later I thought I was a little more prepared for lesser miracles on posting back to the UK as I had volunteered for anywhere in the South of England . The PWR of Catterick came as something of a bombshell , particularly as I had always thought of Catterick being an Army camp hidden in the wilds of Yorkshire .

Not only did the RAF have a camp there , but I had been seconded to the RAF Regiment as an allied tradesman !! I found out from SHQ on arrival that had I been married I would not have been considered for the post , but they were short of “ volunteers “ . Being single , I had won the lottery !!

The armament flight there was quite large , looking after small arms as well as Bofors AA guns , and all the other Regiment things that you needed fitters for . We were also responsible for visiting aircraft, which at times got quite busy . To fit in with all of this I had to spend time at Sealand on the Bofors school , and also going across to the Army at Catterick proper, to get a licence to drive light armoured vehicles . The first 6 months was extremely busy and I had little time to catch my breath before I was promoted to Cpl and posted at the same time to another RAF Regiment based outfit at RAF Uxbridge . This was the home of the newly formed Queen’s Colour Squadron and as such I was the designated allied tradesman to maintain and keep in tip top order the new SLR rifle being issued to them . I did another course at BSA in Birmingham where I was given all the details of the forthcoming modifications to the SLR and would ultimately be responsible for incorporating them by myself at Uxbridge . It was obvious to me that I now had 2 bosses , so I asked if there was a posting to 3 Wing RAF Regiment Cyprus coming up . The answer was NO !!
It’s amazing how things change ......................

On the 23rd December 1963 , Xmas grant had just started and everyone had been given extra time off to take us through to the New Year , when a knock at my front door interrupted my life forever . The duty “ snoop “ stood there asking if I was who I was , and that I had to pack ready to go to Cyprus the next day !! He had no other details , but tuning in the wireless to the BBC soon gave me the answer . There was fighting in Limassol between the Turkish enclave and the local Greek Cypriots and the families of the British Forces were being evacuated . A staff car picked me up at 7am the next morning and a couple of hours later I was at RAF Abingdon along with many other bewildered souls filling in forms prior to being loaded on to an RAF Hastings aircraft ,and about 8 hours later arriving at a very wet and windy Nicosia . We were hustled from the aircraft and into army buses ( minus baggage ) and sped off into the night to what turned out to be RAF Episkopi on the south of the island . It was a lousy journey though we did stop at Halfway House for a much needed coffee , but it was my last contact with real people for quite a long time . I cannot remember the time , but it was in the early hours and apart from being very tired the last thing I needed was to be led into a class room with many others to be briefed on what was going on and what I would be doing ( for the next 8 days ).

I was told that I would be helping to evacuate British families ( service and otherwise ) from downtown Limassol to either Akrotiri or Episkopi . Pages of rules ref. convoy driving , rules of engagement with small arms fire etc etc began to heap up in front of me . Not to mention maps , call signs , procedures for addressing officers wives etc etc . I didn’t know if I was coming or going . At the end of the briefing , an Army Captain apologised for the haste , but as we were all fully qualified drivers for lightly armoured vehicles it would be a piece of cake !! All I wanted was some sleep !!

At midday on Xmas day , we were woken up and told to get ready , and names were called fairly soon . Myself and one other guy from Sealand were called very quickly because we were going to be driving RAF Regiment Humber “ pigs “ and they were at Akrotiri .

For those who are not too familiar with the “ pigs “ they are boxes on wheels that can accommodate 6 (max 8 ) armed troops, with a certain amount of small arms fire protection . Travelling flat out at 45 mph and weighing in at some 4 tons they are hard to stop and manoeuvre. The driver has additional protection in the front with a bulletproof screen , static or high speed rotational . A radio, and position for a Sten gun next to the driver was all there was at the front ,;a steel plate separated the rear from the front . The one allocated to me had a solid windscreen, and entry was from the rear door and then through the steel plate . Ventilation was very poor and I was grateful it wasn’t the height of summer with a full sun beating down .

We drove down to the old Paphos street part of the Turkish quarter in convoy ( The Brittania club and Mahmouds will remind some of you) , where we joined up with a larger contingent of RAF and Army vehicles . Via the radio I was told I would be transporting 10 wives and children back to Episkopi in an Army controlled convoy ( Green Howards ) and would be returning later for a second run . I was allocated the 3rd vehicle slot behind another pig and behind me was a Saracen armoured car . The first convoy left , with us following some 10 minutes later, along the sea front road, which eventually goes through the orange grove plantation . We had gone some 400 yards when we were fired on by Greek Cypriots, which brought the convoy to a complete standstill . The Saracen passed me to investigate and just after that it all went black as a blanket was thrown over the windscreen blocking my view . The rear door was secured in the inside so my passengers were safe and the Greeks on the top of my vehicle could not get in . The Lieutenant commanding the Saracen saw my predicament and ordered me to reverse and suddenly stop, in an effort to dislodge the hangers on ; if that failed then to take a sharp right turn , accelerate and be prepared to drive into a house at the side of the road to push them off the top .

Like most Cypriot houses , it had a cellar , and I hit the house so hard I broke through the wall and fell into the cellar, ending in an upright position with all 14 of my passengers up on the steel wall behind me . Neither they nor I could get out , and we stayed trapped in there for almost an hour , the time ??….. 6 pm Xmas Day !!

There were only 6 more days to go ..........................