Chapter 19

1975 - 1977

 Erkelenz & Wildenrath

Am Bauxhof, Erkelenz

Annette & Nick TURNER

11, Pembroke Crescent, RAFWildenrath

Doreen TURNER

Whilst I was living a fairly comfortable lifestyle in the Sergeant’s Mess, with plenty of new friends, and some old ones as well, Maria had the problem of looking after three children at Oakroyd.  She obviously coped admirably, getting the children into temporary school in Thornton and selling our car.  Selling the car was something that we may not have had to do, but the mechanical standard that cars had to reach in Germany was higher than in UK and I was advised not to take mine with me.  This, I believe, was probably a bad decision because the work that needed to be done would not have cost as much as was thought.

As it turned out, I bought an old white BMW 2000, which we used for a year or so before replacing it.  It did us quite well but the bodywork was shot really and I patched it up to sell it on.  There are two other stories that I can tell about that car.  One was that I was driving home one day down a long straight when I decided to put my foot down (no speed limit in those days); I managed to get up to 100 mph before I decided it was time to slow down.  When I took my foot off the accelerator, the back of the car disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke so I guess that the engine was a little worn.  No more heroics after that.  It never let me down however and we covered a considerable number of miles around Germany and Holland in it.  The second story concerned one day after we had been to church at Wildenrath.  It was a hot day and when we came out from Mass, the windscreen was largely sitting on the bonnet.  The heat in the car had built up the pressure and out the screen popped.  We drove home rather slowly that day!  The next day I proceeded to the local garage and explained in my best German that my Windschutzscheibe was broken.

I was allocated a Married Quarters Hiring in Erkelenz and Maria arrived out to Germany in January 1975.  The first thing that I noticed was that Annette now spoke with a pronounced Yorkshire accent!  Their journey involved catching a train in Bradford, then a taxi to the assembly point.  Doreen & Maria’s Mum travelled on the train to London and made sure that they all got in the taxi, then got on a train back to Bradford.  This must have been the first time that the children had been on a train so that was exciting.  The assembly point was not far from Kings Cross but they found a porter to get their luggage to the taxi rank; he told them to make sure that everything and everybody was in the taxi before telling the driver that they only wanted to go just around the corner.  Once everyone was at the assembly point, the appointed time to catch a coach to Luton Airport arrived.  At just about the last minute a lady and three children arrived; this was Grace HUNTER with Andrew, Robert and Michelle and this family became some of our best friends at Wildenrath.  Grace adopted Maria and helped her through all the trauma of the following coach journey and flight to Wildenrath.  I knew Bill, Graces’s husband, because he was a Chief Technician electrician on 20 Squadron with whom 3 Squadron shared a hangar.  We also spent time together in the Sergeant’s Mess.  I collected the family and we all went to our new home, which was a beautiful four-bedroomed flat on the third of four floors.  This meant that, for the first time in their lives, the children had a bedroom each.

One of the problems with Erkelenz was that the children had to go to school by bus, which meant that they left at about 07.30 and didn’t get home until about 17.00.  This was a long day for them especially Nick who was only a couple of months over the age of five.

The little town of Erkelenz was a pleasant place but not very well used by us because it was easier for us to shop at the large NAAFI at Rheindahlen where British style foods were on sale, and of course, everyone spoke English.

We decided that, despite the lovely accommodation, we would put our names on the list to move into the quarters which were actually on the camp at Wildenrath.  This took about a year but we were eventually allocated 11, Pembroke Crescent, which was a three-bedroomed mid-terrace and a real come down in terms of accommodation.  The advantages however were quite significant.  The children could get to school in less than five minutes for a start.  I could cycle home from work for lunch and Maria had convenient shopping on hand and, as 1976 turned out to be one of the hottest years on record, she could use the Camp Swimming Pool at her leisure.  We also had the advantage of all the entertainment in the Sergeant’s Mess, without the problem of driving.

One occurrence whilst we were living at Wildenrath involved Andrew who had lovely teeth until he smashed some of the front ones on a climbing frame.  This followed on from a visit to the Station dentist with Annette.  Our dentist thought that Annette ought to see a specialist orthodontic surgeon and sent her to see Wing Commander QUANT at RAF Hospital Wegberg.  When he found out that Maria was driving he said “Right, follow me” and jumped in his car and drove to the house of Squadron Leader HOWELL who became a very important part of improving both Annette & Andrew’s teeth.  He started treating Annette, removing some teeth and using various methods to push forward and straighten her top teeth.  On the next visit to him after Andrew’s accident, Maria persuaded him to look at Andrew’s teeth to see whether or not he could do anything with them.  He agreed to cap them as long as no one else got to know about it.  This procedure, he said would probably last until Andrew was about sixteen.  In actual fact they have lasted into his forties and although he has recently had his teeth built up, the original caps are still there.  In Annette’s case, Squadron Leader HOWELL continued to treat her even after we returned to the UK.  There is a little more to this story in Chapter 24.

1975 - Maasbracht, Holland

Nick, Annette, John & Andrew TURNER

(Colour Co-ordinated)

1975 - Larne Valley

HUNTER & TURNER Families

During that first year in Germany we did a lot of driving at weekends to see the local area in both Germany and Holland.  In addition one of our holidays was spent camping with Bill and Grace HUNTER.  Also during that year, Pop and Doreen came out to stay with us and we took them out and about down the Mosel valley and the River Rhine, which they thoroughly enjoyed.  Cochem, on the Mosel was a particularly lovely place to visit.  It was a bit of a squeeze with seven of us in the BMW but nobody seemed to mind.

Whilst on the subject of driving, we realised that our old BMW would not last forever and looked around for something sensible to buy.  It may not have been the best idea but we finally decided on a Mk. 3 Ford Cortina from NATO Cars in UK.  This meant that we had to travel back to England to pick it up in London.  After a coach, ferry and rail trip, we found our new car waiting for us, except that it wasn’t the colour that we had ordered.  Nevertheless, we had little option really so decided to accept it and in fairness it was probably a better bet than the colour we originally picked.  Off we  went in LYE 261P to visit friends and relations before driving back to Germany.  Once back in Germany the car became MH 653B.

I spent quite a few weeks a year on detachment and Maria would look out of the window at the car thinking that it was about time she learned to drive.  Once she had done her BFG ‘tick test’ I started to teach her, commencing on the quiet roads of Wildenrath where there were plenty of places to practice basic reversing etc.  She did get out onto the roads however and drove very well for the most part.  One day, driving out from our quarter in Erkelenz, we had to turn left across a pedestrian crossing when someone stepped off the pavement whilst the ‘Walking Man’ at the crossing was showing red.  This was very unusual for a German as they did not indulge in jaywalking by and large.  Instead of just stopping and waiting, Maria turned away from him first and we ended up on the pavement between the traffic lights and a wall!  Not to be put off, I got her to reverse out into the middle of the crossing and set off again; I consider that a really brave decision on her part.  One other day, during a visit by Maria’s Mum, we decided to go to Cologne and I decided that Maria needed the driving practice.  I said that when we were close to Cologne, I would take over but, as luck would have it, all the traffic lights were green and there wasn’t an easy place to stop so Maria ended up driving right into the middle of the city, avoiding cars and trams along the way.  She took her driving test in Mönchengladbach and failed the first time for all sorts of little things but was successful the second time and so became free to use the car whenever I didn’t need it for work.  This driving license only permitted her to drive in Germany but with it she obtained an International driving license that allowed her to drive anywhere up to six months after we left Germany.

In the Spring of 1976 we were finally told that we were moving onto Wildenrath Camp and organised a 4 ton truck, which I drove, and, with the help of Merv COOK, a friend of mine, we moved house.  On the way, we were happily trundling along when a Volkswagen Camper Van decided to overtake us; this was not a good idea because another car suddenly appeared coming the other way and the Volkswagen just could not accelerate (they never could).  I moved over as far as I could and probably went onto the grass between two trees but he still managed to hit my front bumper, which opened up the side of his van quite nicely.  We all eventually stopped and Merv volunteered to go to a nearby house and phone for the police; they duly turned up and looked at our truck, didn’t seem particularly interested and told us to go while they had a conversation with the Volkswagen driver.  We drove back to camp and stopped at the guardroom to report the accident only to be told that I shouldn’t have moved until the RAF Police had attended the scene.  When I pointed out that the German Police had told us to go, they seemed happy and went off to the local police station to complete their own paperwork.  In the meantime I had to report to the MT office to fill out an accident form whilst our freezer was rapidly defrosting.  The MT Sergeant came out to look for damage, but, apart from some Volkswagen paint on the edge of the bumper and wheel nuts, there was none so that was the last I heard of the incident and the move was therefore successfully completed.

1976 - Hallstadt

Andrew, Nick, Maria & Annette TURNER

Shortly after our move to Wildenrath, Doreen & Pop came out to stay with us again.  On this occasion, I had hired a caravan in Austria close to Mondsee so the whole family fitted into the Cortina and, towing a little trailer, off we went on the 550 mile journey.  What a great holiday that was with wonderful weather and spectacular scenery taking in Hallstadtensee, Wolfgangsee and Gosausee as well as many other places; it was non-stop travelling but most enjoyable.  On the way home we were stopped by a traffic policeman somewhere near Stuttgart; I was driving at about 80 mph instead of 50, which was the speed limit for towing a trailer.  That  cost me 20 marks, which, in those days was about £5.  I did keep the speed down for a while but not that long; with that length of journey 50 mph was just too slow so we took a chance.

1976 - Black Forest

Andrew, Nick, Maria & Annette TURNER

We did one other long drive in 1976; this time I had arranged with a friend to borrow his caravan and tow it down to the Black Forest area.  As it happened his van was not available but he found a substitute and off we went.  I cannot say that I enjoyed the experience and I don’t think that the car did either.  A 1600cc engine was not really powerful enough and I probably didn’t do the clutch much good either.  Nevertheless, we did get to the Black Forest and from there we toured into Switzerland leaving the caravan on site.  The visit to Interlaken whetted our appetite for Switzerland and we wanted to see more so planned to return the following year. 

Most of our social life revolved around the Sergeant’s Mess with plenty of functions throughout the year.  One year we won a Tumble Dryer in the Christmas Raffle.  Maria was not impressed at the time but that machine was to last us until it was replaced by the one that had belonged to Auntie Betty; that was in the year 2000.

We did venture out on one occasion to the Rio Bar, which was in Elmpt near RAF Bruggen.  This was a Strip Club and was frequented mostly by single RAF lads; the German men however used to take their wives and girlfriends and make a family night.  Maria along with a couple of other wives wanted to know what it was all about, so we decided to take them one night.  The show included strippers and when they were off stage, Blue Movies were shown.  I think that it convinced the ladies that this was to be an experience definitely not to be repeated.

Sport.

I started to play hockey for Wildenrath and was then asked to play for the Rheindahlen Services team.  This team was drawn from both RAF and BAOR personnel and played against local German teams.  Most of the matches were played at Rheindahlen on shale pitches, which were very quick and good to play on, but not good to fall over on as I knew from my experiences on the shale pitches in Aden.  I also played for RAF Germany.

I learned one lesson about hockey when Rheindahlen Services were invited to participate in an indoor five-a-side tournament.  We turned up full of enthusiasm, never having played before, with a really good team and rushed onto the pitch when our turn came.  On to the other end came this group of older German players and we thought that this would be easy.  Well in the first half we never touched the ball except after every goal.  We did improve but we were definitely given a lesson on how to play indoor hockey.

1976 - Wildenrath Golf Club

Boxing Day Competition

I have mentioned Bill HUNTER and Stuart MORGAN before in this story and one day we were visiting them when they announced that they were both going to play golf on the Station Golf Course.  As the three wives and eight children seemed to be happy, I went with them with some old clubs that Bill had.  Thus started my real love of golf.  I gradually acquired a complete set of Bernard Gallagher clubs from the NAAFI at Rheindahlen and joined the Wildenrath Golf Society.  Over the period of 18 months I reduced my handicap to 8, winning lots of Club Competitions along the way.  At some stage I was persuaded to become the Treasurer for the Golf Club and so had to learn all about Double Entry bookkeeping to satisfy the auditors.  Actually I quite enjoyed the job and as SNCOs were encouraged to have Secondary Duties, this one counted for me and helped when Annual Assessment time came around.  At Christmas we used to have a little friendly competition with the wives joining in; the photo shows some of us getting rid of the cobwebs one Boxing Day, before rapidly heading for the Bar.  Maria, being left handed had to use the back of an old style putter.  She did excel herself on one occasion whilst competing at an indoor putting competition in the clubhouse.  All the golfers took it very seriously, lining up with the beer glass that we had to putt into.  Maria had a go and hit the ball far  too hard, but straight; it went into the glass like a rocket, hit the bottom of the glass forcing it to stand up straight with the ball inside.  End of competition!!!

One of the other sports that I played again was badminton.  Wildenrath had a thriving club and I even persuaded Maria to play a little.  To help her , I used to book out the gymnasium keys on a Saturday morning and just the two of us would play.  I just cannot remember what we did with the children!  Although I was never very good at the game I did get to play for the Wildenrath mixed doubles team on one occasion.  I was teamed up with Grace HUNTER, who had played at County level in Cheshire, to play against RAF Laarbruch who had a chap named Ferdy(?) VINCENT in their team.  He had been RAF Champion goodness knows how many times and when we played against him and his partner, I didn’t see the shuttlecock.  Wherever it was, I wasn’t and it was quite embarrassing, except that Ferdy was such a lovely man that he never appeared to be rubbing in his superiority.

At the club, we met Paddy MASON, who also went to the same church as us.  He was a Warrant Officer on 669 Army Air Corps.  He and his wife, Margaret, also had three children.  After church we would sometimes go to their house for coffee and a chat.  One day he disappeared to reappear a couple of weeks later as a Lieutenant.  Just one difference between the way that the Army and RAF dealt with commissions.

Too soon, our time at Wildenrath came to an end and we packed up our home ready for the move to Gutersloh.  We lost our friends the HUNTER family, who had ended their tour and were posted back to UK.  It took a while before our family were together because I went first and Maria moved into temporary family accommodation with the children until such time as we were allocated married quarters at Gutersloh.

I believe that it would be true to say that the number of Harrier personnel who wanted to go to Gutersloh was extremely low and possibly confined to those who had recently been posted into the squadron.