Exercises
Exercises
At intervals, security exercises were held to check the security of the station either from the air or land.

One of the biggest involved most RAF stations and we were being attacked by bombers who supposedly were dropping nuclear bombs on the airfield. Areas had been marked off as being shelters and other areas as being first-aid posts, etc. We were all given instructions what to do when the alarms were sounded and we followed these instructions when the exercise took place. Various referees had arrived to monitor the exercise and we duly carried out our instructions when the time came but, somewhere along the line, someone had got it wrong and we were all standing in the shelter areas when one of the monitors decided we were all “dead”. So one up to the enemy.

Another exercise saw members of the RAF Regiment, whose function was to defend airfields, try to infiltrate the station without being caught. The RAF Regiment officer who was permanently stationed at Leconfield was to use his local knowledge to lead the attack which was to be held in winter. So on the night of the attack the ground had quite a thick covering with snow and he lead his team onto the camp from the far side of the airfield. They crawled through the snow wearing white overalls but they had been seen from the control tower and defenders were waiting for them when they arrived at the hangers soaking wet and freezing. One up to the good guys.
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