I liked my time at Feltwell, it was very
USAF orientated, I was in the Supply Squadron in number 2 hanger between the MT
hanger and the RIM building. My section was called EDP, short for electronic
data processing where all the spares were ordered from the States via IBM punch
cards and teleprinter. USAF were miles ahead of RAF in supply terms.
I remember the pubs in the village, some were better than
others. We used the West End a lot as it was at the base gates and also the Oak
at the other end of the village. The first time I had a beefburger was in there,
it was run by an ex-USAF feller. Some Thursday nights saw us at either
Lakenheath or Mildenhall as it was “10 cent night”. Change your money at the
PX, have a game of 10-pin with a burger and fries, then airmen’s club for a
drink or two – bourbon, Coors, Schlitz etc. Linford Hall was another place we
went for dancing and looking for girls.
I was lucky to be attached to a USAF Top Tech Sergeant
called Ernie Bish when the missiles were being shipped back to Vandenburg AFB in
California. I went to all the squadrons,77 Feltwell, 82 Shepherd’s Grove, 107
Tuddenham, 113 Mepal and 220 Nth Pickenham, prepared the paperwork and then we
used to go to Mildenhall to see them being loaded onto C-124s or C-133s.
Anything you want to know just ask and I’ll try to answer
your questions with pleasure. Not a lot of people know about Thor, which is a
shame, it was a good deterrent for its time. The B and W photo is of a warhead
trailer towed by a Leyland Hippo tractor unit. These Leylands were used for
towing the missile trailers and also compressed nitrogen trailers to and from
BOC, Bilston, Staffs. Originally USAF units were used with RAF registration
plates to keep the locals happy as some folk didn’t like the idea of the US
planting nuclear missiles in Eastern England. The RAF drivers hated them
apparently.
I can still remember the porters at Ely station shouting
“Shippea Hill, Lakenheath, Brandon, Thetford, Attleborough, Wymondham and
Norwich train”. Happy days.
I remember the panic at Feltwell running up to the Cuban
missile crisis in 1962. I was on nights that week and there was a “bird” in
the RIM Building being serviced. Spares were required and one particular item
was not available in the UK. We would phone the other bases for a stock check,
the nearest first. It was flown in by PanAm direct into Mildenhall. TWA used
Mildenhall as well for troop carrying purposes. It was the only time I saw all
three missiles erected on 77 Squadron launch pads across from my section. There
were officers all over the place and loads of civilian staff as well, most of
them local people. I remember our Squadron Leader having a fag outside in the
dark and muttering summat like “there’s only one 4 o clock and that’s in
the afternoon”
I used to hitch hike to my home town of Sheffield on my
days off and coming back often got lifts in lorries at night from the north
going to Suffolk and Essex. They would use the back road via Brandon rather than
the A134 via Thetford and would drop me off at the road for Feltwell, about a
two mile walk in the dark to camp. You could see the launch pads lit up and they
looked so menacing in that artificial light.
When I got married in 1962, we had a flat on Mill Road,
Cambridge and I would hitch hike to camp. I was never late, even in that bad
1962/63 winter. Usually, a lift to Barton Mills in lorries and then very often
the dog handler’s shift change wagon from 82 Sqdn Shepherd’s Grove would
stop for me. The smell was unbelievable, but a third-class ride was better than
a first-class walk. When the “ban the bomb” marches were going on in 1963 I
was on duty on a Saturday, waiting for a lift back to Cambridge at Barton Mills.
A car stopped and there were three ban the bombers in it who had been to RAF
Marham demonstrating, but they had no issue in giving me a lift to Newmarket,
strange? There was a layby outside Lakenheath base and hitch hikers, RAF and
USAF, would just stand there until somebody stopped. I’ve had lifts with
generals, captains, sergeants and airmen in owt from a VW Beetle to a De Soto,
Cadillac, Lincoln, Chevrolet, you name it, and all on US plates. The Top Tech
Sergeant I mentioned called Ernie Bish shared a flat with a luscious looking
woman in Newmarket, a real stunner. He came to Feltwell one morning with various
bruises and a black eye and it turned out he’d upset some stable lads in a
Newmarket pub and they worked him over. I never ran out of fags or Bourbon
whilst with Ernie, he was generous to a fault.
Just another thing that I have always remembered. We were
in the Airmen’s Club at Lakenheath one “10 cent night” and talking to some
USAF airmen. I asked one where he was from and he was a Mid-Western lad from
Nebraska. I asked him what he thought of England and his answer was, “I have
never been off this base, why should I, I’ve got my steaks, burgers,
doughnuts, beer and whiskey and there nothing out there that will tempt me out
of those gates. I have three months to do and can’t wait to get home and back
in the wheatfields where I was brought up”.
They weren’t all like that, the ones I met at Feltwell
were great lads, we used to have a good laugh and there was never any bother
from either side. American civilians lived around the village, Douglas Aircraft
Corp., AC Spark Plug and others I can’t recall worked on the pads and in the
RIM Building.
There was a cafe or chip shop near the camp gates, I’m a
bit hazy but I think it was called the Blade or something like it. A feller
called Sid ran it, I think Environmental Health would have had a field day in
there. But after a few pints of Steward and Patteson/Greene King/Bullards/Ely
Ales/Tolly Cobbold who cared.
One more thing I recall was blokes giving Lakenheath
porters pieces of cardboard at night that were same size as rail tickets, then
away like a shot, RAF and USAF both. There was a train every Sunday night from
Manchester to Norwich via Sheffield and it was very popular. I usually hitch
hiked and flogged my travel warrants to Scottish lads, one I remember was from
Stornoway and got three days travelling time to get home. One of the warehouse
packers, Sandy, lived in King’s Lynn and he would drop me there about 1900 hrs
and I would very often get lifts with Turners Transport from Norwich through to
Grantham and then into a Manchester drivers wagon after a trailer change and be
in Sheffield about 0300. Reverse order on a Sunday night. Turners’ main depot
was at Soham and they are still going, in a big way.
I once went with a Feltwell MT driver in a Leyland Hippo
with a nitrogen trailer to get to the A1 and home; I’d been on nights. He
drove all the way in the middle of the Southery straight, it was a shocking
piece of road and not really suitable for a heavy artic.
I’ve attached some photos that Ernie gave me. I’m a bit
hazy, but I think they were taken at RAF Scampton, Lincs, which was the airhead
for RAF Hemswell, another Thor station.
Official Secrets Act doesn’t apply. I have 4 books here
about Thor, full of technical info.
All the photos on the right and the three below are from
Chris.

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