R.A.F. Kirkham
R.A.F. Kirkham
R.A.F. Kirkham was located between Preston and Blackpool and is adjacent to the small town of Kirkham. The camp later became an open prison but in the 1950s was a trade training camp mainly for armourers. All the accommodation was in the typical wooden huts of that period. During our eight weeks there we would be trained in all aspects of becoming an armourer. This would range from small arms such as rifles, sten guns and Bren guns up to 30mm Aden cannons for aircraft. We would learn how to strip them down for maintenance, make repairs and reassemble them ready for use.

We would also go to lessons in English and Mathematics so that we could fill in forms and make reports.

Our living accommodation was the same as Padgate but there was not so much emphasis on spit and polish although we were expected to keep the billet clean and polished. We were kept pretty busy with the various classes as there was a lot to be learned during our stay. One lesson we all learned quickly was to have a look up the barrel of the weapons we were stripping as it was often the place where any extra small screws, etc. which the previous trainee had left over when he had reassembled the weapon had been hidden away. I enjoyed learning about the various weapons and the pleasure of reassembling them correctly without having pieces left over.

We had more time for a social life at Kirkham. There was a good Astra cinema in the camp which was the first camp cinema to have Cinemascope installed. At the end of each night the National Anthem was played and the R.A.F. police usually had someone standing outside the exit to catch anyone trying to get out before it was played. Most weekends we would venture into Blackpool and most of the theatres had their summer shows on from June but come the 1st of July the seat prices would shoot up for the visitors and we couldn’t afford them. We still visited Blackpool at the weekend and occasionally would meet someone we knew and have a drink with them.

One of the good things I remember about Kirkham was the van that came round nightly selling mince pies. The company that made and sold the pies was owned by the famous Lancashire comedian, Al Read, and the pies were delicious although we couldn’t afford one every night. We always seemed to be hungry although the meals were quite good but my mother used to send me a parcel with biscuits, etc. and I could sit and eat a full packet of chocolate biscuits at one go.

As we neared the end of our training, we had to sit an English test. This comprised mainly of filling in various service forms and making reports. One of the forms was an application to change our R.A.F. occupation and I decided to make this a bit controversial, so I stated I didn’t want to be an armourer as I had problems with arming up a plane with bombs and rockets which were being used to kill other human beings and elaborated about this at length. Actually, at that age I hadn’t given this much thought. A few days later I was told to report to an office and, when I got there, two officers said they wanted to talk to me about the exam. I thought it was about the job application but it wasn’t. They said I had scored too high in the exam and wanted to go over my previous education. I had stated I left school at 15 and started an apprenticeship but they asked if this was true as when the results were analysed, it would seem that I had further education. After further discussion, they said they would leave it at that for the present but I didn’t hear from them again although I was excused any further education tests. We were tested on our knowledge of weaponry and when we passed were upgraded to A/C1. Then we were allocated our new stations and I was hoping for somewhere exotic but at least overseas. I was not very happy when told I would be going to the Fighter Weapons School at Leconfield in East Yorkshire.
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