my way to the bar which was accessed either directly from the hall or through
folding doors under the minstrel gallery in the anteroom. Wolfgang and Herbert
were the bar stewards. While stood chatting over glasses of Coca-Cola the Station
Commander,
Group Captain Powel-Sheddon, wartime Battle of Britain fighter ace,
came in. He saw that I was a stranger and walked across to me and asked who I was.
When I said my name was
Senar he chuckled and stammered out "Well from now
on I'll call you 'Pod'." From then on it was by that soubriquet that I was to be known
for the rest of my RAF career!
3

After a polite pause I withdrew from the bar and returned to my room to finish unpacking, set my alarm clock, and retire for the night.

I slept only fitfully at first, in spite of being tired after my travels, because of the almost continuous night flying activity. At one stage I looked out of my window to see, in what little visible sky there was, searchlight beams scanning the cloud base. There was also the noise of other occupants coming into the block at various times in the night.

Next morning, on going to breakfast, I met
Johnny MacKnish again. He
introduced me briefly to some other members of the
Squadron whose names I had
difficulty remembering. Then it was down to work. As when one is posted to any
new Station I had to go through the 'Arrival' procedure. This involved my being
given a small Arrival Card which had to be signed by all the departments with which
I would be expected routinely to come into contact during my stay. 'Arriving' meant
much walking: Equipment Section, Personnel, and Accounts were the main ones, but
with the addition of maybe a dozen more, and the various offices being so far apart
on a Station as big as Jever, it took me well over half a day to nearly complete. It was
one way of finding my way around and learning the shortest route on foot along
the brick paved roads and paths through the trees between buildings. I still had to
gain signatures from my
Squadron which was based in a hangar on the opposite
side of the airfield to the domestic site. As well as personnel in RAF uniform there
were others in Wehrmacht style bottle-green uniforms. These were
GSO members.
The
GSO, or German Service Organisation, was made up entirely of German
personnel employed by the RAF on maintenance, driving, cleaning, vehicle
maintenance, gardening, and other support duties. They lived in a barracks in a
remote corner of the camp. Most of these men had become totally separated from,
or lost, their families owing to the ravages of war and were glad of this sort of
employment.

Getting from one side of the airfield to the other involved a journey of about a mile and a half to go clear round the end of the 2000 yard 29 -11 runway. It was
usual to either hitch a lift on a service vehicle or to use the hourly 3-ton truck bus
service run by the Duty Squadron's
MT Section.
4

I hitched a lift and, instead of being taken to the
Squadron hangar, was driven into the forest where the
Squadron was occupying a tented camp for the duration of the exercise. I was introduced to
93 Squadron Boss,
Sqn.Ldr. 'Bob' Allen, who asked
me questions about my RAF and civilian background, allocated me to 'B' Flight,
introduced me to
Flt.Lt. Keith Pearch, 'B' Flight Commander, and signed my arrival
card. I also found that my new nickname 'Pod' had preceded me! I stayed for a while
chatting to other
Squadron pilots, including
Sgt. 'Dickie' Knight,
Flt.Sgt. 'Shrubby' Shrubsole,
Flt.Sgt. Telfer and his Alsatian dog,
Plt.Off. 'Bernie' Revnell (nephew of Ethel Revnell the stage comedienne),
'Al' Ramsay,
'Sandy' Sanderson (son of a Padre
___________________________________
3
Group Captain Powel-Sheddon had a very bad stammer and, as a result was known to many (behind his back) as 'Fo-Fo'. Another possible reason for this was that his full names were
George ffolliot Powel-Sheddon and his
unusual middle name may have been the prompt. He was also known conversationally as either 'The Groupie' or
'The CO'. He died in November 1994. Squadron
COs were usually known as Squadron 'Bosses'.
4
MT = Mechanical Transport. In a Tactical Air Force each Squadron had its own
MT Section so as to be capable of packing up its equipment and moving it to another operational site with maximum efficiency in the least time.
59