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#Post#: 3455--------------------------------------------------
RAF Bawdsey
DIR By: terry
Date: October 18, 2012, 8:23 am
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Bawdsey
#Post#: 13056--------------------------------------------------
RAF Bawdsey
DIR By: Jackie Selby
Date: July 17, 2013, 4:31 am
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I was posted in to RAF Bawdsey sometime in early July of 1958, I
think ... it's a long time ago. I had applied to go to Bawdsey
because the WRAF Corporal at the recruiting office had told me
what a great camp it was, so I was lucky to get it.
I was approaching my 18th birthday in August, and had never
known such freedom, having lived with an overly protective
grandmother all my short life. Some of the girls found having
to be back by 10.00pm a bind, for me it was a novelty being
allowed to stay out that long.
I loved going down to the beach, sunbathing, walking the cliff,
or searching for amber among the pebbles. An old fisherman who
was a regular at the Galleon café on the Felixstowe side of the
river showed me a piece of amber he had found, told me what to
look for and showed me how to cut and polish it. One of the
best finds I had was a German milk bottle, sealed with a message
inside; it turned out to be from a Dutch sailor who had thrown
it into the sea at Den-Helder one month earlier, we corresponded
for years on and off, up until around 2000.
The Galleon was very popular with most of us, they served a
great Plaice and Chips, and it was somewhere warm to wait for
the ferry in the winter. Does anyone remember Albert's old bus,
our regular transport into Felixstowe at that time. The two
pubs on that side were popular with the boys, one was called The
Ferryboat Inn I think.
I used to go swimming from the beach but very nearly drowned one
day, I got caught in the undertow, my yelling couldn't be heard
because of the noise of the surf, but somehow I found the
strength to haul myself up the shingle, I didn't swim much after
that.
I shared a room in one of the chalets with Maggie Murphy, Sandra
Black and Anne Young, and our bunk Corporal was Maggie Chester,
who later married an officer. Unfortunately I have not yet come
across any of them. One evening our chalet was invaded by a
bunch of the RAF lads, they were charging all over the WRAF
quarters, Maggie Murphy was already in her pyjamas and she hid
in her wardrobe until they left.
We had one very unpopular officer, a Fl Lt, one day a crowd of
us were waiting on the dock end for the ferry to come over when
he turned up, he pushed his way to the front and when the ferry
arrived started to board, one foot on the boat side, one foot on
the dock, a wave came in and moved the boat out, he did the
splits and fell in. A big cheer went up from all assembled,
served him right.
Memories are coming back, like the time the Black Arrows came
swooping over the tennis courts and nearly took our berets with
them, I'll have to come back later with more....
#Post#: 13067--------------------------------------------------
Re: RAF Bawdsey
DIR By: rickyhicks
Date: July 17, 2013, 5:16 am
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A great post Jackie, and to hear about your time at Bawdsey I
spent some of my best service days there.
#Post#: 13069--------------------------------------------------
Re: RAF Bawdsey
DIR By: steve beddoe
Date: July 17, 2013, 5:30 am
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Well done Jackie, I can echo that you've contributed much
already,
any old photos?
#Post#: 13077--------------------------------------------------
Re: RAF Bawdsey
DIR By: alanshield
Date: July 17, 2013, 9:03 am
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I reckon Alberts bus should have been bought by the RAF Museum
at Hendon or even better the RADAR Museum at Neatishead.
I can just imagine Albert himself being stuffed sitting in his
drivers seat!
#Post#: 13088--------------------------------------------------
Re: RAF Bawdsey
DIR By: chriswalker2
Date: July 17, 2013, 12:24 pm
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I concur with you all, I did three tours at bawdsey, Jackie,
when it was an MRS, an SRS and when it became "C" flight" 85 Sqn
Bloodhound Mk 11. Brilliant place, even the work breaks were
passable. Spent many a good evening with Johnny Chappel, Ted
Hughes? Ricky, Gary, Jock Thompson and the Rugby lads in the
Horizon club pigs bar! Like you Jackie, I found a huge piece of
amber on Bawdsey beach, it has a seed in it, is uncut and
unpolished, I have it to this day, I found it late sixties when
Dusty Rhodes was Wo Ops. Anyone remember him? Nice guy. Remember
Ricky climbing the Type 50 (may have got the Type wrong ) got
caught didn't you Rick? I remember one night a Wraf came in and
took her boyfriend away from the drunken revelry and someone
shouted " Bet you don't get it" She turned round and said " I
bet he does". Brought the house down that. Could go on forever
about Bawdsey but will stop now before your eyes glaze over.
#Post#: 13095--------------------------------------------------
Re: RAF Bawdsey
DIR By: rickyhicks
Date: July 17, 2013, 5:03 pm
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Chris is it Ted Wilson you're thinking about?
#Post#: 13148--------------------------------------------------
Re: RAF Bawdsey
DIR By: Jackie Selby
Date: July 18, 2013, 4:07 pm
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Chris - was it the Type 54 you were thinking of? I climbed that
one, it was swaying a bit when we got to the top, my boyfriend
who was a Radar tech took me up there one day.
I don't remember what time of the year it was,though it had to
be either early Spring or Autumn, nights were dark, Bawdsey was
over-run with frogs for several days, there were literally
hundreds of them, I was walking back to the billet with Maggie
Murphy, it was pitch black and the frogs were croaking up a
storm, we couldn't see properly and I trod on one, poor thing
was still there next morning.
When the baby frogs started to appear one airman thought it very
funny to drop one on my shoulder, when it travelled down my
front he expected me to scream, he was disappointed, I like
frogs and managed to hide the fact he had startled me.
Does anyone remember Chummy, the little man that used to clean
up around the NAAFI, he was a cheerful rosy cheeked man who
loved to talk, but none of us could understand a word he said,
he had such a broad accent. We tried to nod and laugh in the
right places.
There was a fellow nicknamed Spon who had an old car, it had a
long green body, and very wide running boards that played havoc
with the girls pencil skirts, it was literally held together
with string I think, you could see the road between the
floorboards, he called it URIAH because it was a heap. Some of
us girls got told off for riding sitting on the folded down hood
on the way back from the RADAR site.
#Post#: 13159--------------------------------------------------
Re: RAF Bawdsey
DIR By: alanshield
Date: July 19, 2013, 7:22 am
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[URL=
HTML http://s858.photobucket.com/user/alanshield/media/scan0005_zps719009ed.jpg.html][IMG]http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab142/alanshield/scan0005_zps719009ed.jpg[/img][/URL]
#Post#: 13160--------------------------------------------------
Re: RAF Bawdsey
DIR By: alanshield
Date: July 19, 2013, 7:25 am
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[URL=
HTML http://s858.photobucket.com/user/alanshield/media/scan0006_zps1cee8c06.jpg.html][IMG]http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab142/alanshield/scan0006_zps1cee8c06.jpg[/img][/URL]
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