RAF Butweilerhof, 1958-61 - Personalities - Colin Noad

I thought that, as a follow-up to my previous contribution (below), it might be nice to talk about some of the people whom I encountered whilst at Butz, between 1958 and 1961. I could, of course, just list people's names but that would be pretty boring and, anyway, there is a list on a German friends website, at http://www.koelner-luftfahrt.de/colin_noad.htm, for anyone interested.

First, the GSO (or German Service Organisation) civilian personnel, with whom I worked. We were really lucky in MTSS (MT Servicing Section), in contrast to some of the other sections and units on the Station (as I have since heard), in having a happy little band of people. We co-worked with the civilian mechanics, fitters, cleaners, etc. and we all shared a rest room in our tiny office block, within the MTSS area. It was great fun, during the lunch or tea breaks, to see (or perhaps, rather, hear) the Germans playing cards. The noise was incredible, as they literally threw their cards onto the table, announcing, very loudly, which cards they were playing; for instance "Pik As", or Ace of Spades!

I tried very hard, and reasonably successfully, to learn German. I didn't mind being in the "Ein bier bitte" camp but I wanted to take fuller advantage of being abroad. Needless to say, the first thing that I learned to do was to swear in German and, later, in Spanish, when some Spaniards joined us as "Gastarbeite" (the current euphemism then, for migrant workers. Thanks are especially due here to Otto Hollatz and Manfred (for the German) and to Manuel and Ramon (for their Spanish tuition). Well done, guys - I have never forgotten the words, although I do try not to use them in polite company nowadays!

We had two really good deutsche's with whom I worked in our paint shop - they were Alfred and a short chubby, very jolly, gentleman whom I dubbed "Klein Khrushchev", because of his resemblance to the Russian leader of the time! We enjoyed many laughs together. Most of the civilians in MT and MTSS were regular sorts of people. One, in MT, did have the attributes of an arrogant dislikeable swine but he was definitely in the minority.

Fritz (Mann?) was the GSO supervisor over in MTSS. Another GSO type was Willi, who always looked a little on the sad side but that was just his way! Ingo was a youngish German worker.

On the RAF side, individuals who especially come to my mind are Sergeant Technician (later Chief Technician) "Woofty". Sadly, I have no idea what his real name was but I assume that his nickname was based on his surname! He was unusual in that he was quite a lot older than the other Senior NCO's. He was a Christian and he did not approve of swearing but everybody liked and respected him. He was a very wise and kindly man and took the new arrivals in MTSS under his wing, helping, advising and assisting, whenever possible!

Another kind man was Corporal Ron Wicks. Ron was excused shaving and could often be seen sporting a full beard (a la Royal Navy), because of a skin condition. He and his wife Joan took myself and Ian Langmuir (who was an armourer, I think) with them on a trip to Amsterdam, in their Merc, to see the tulips in Spring. I am still in touch with Ron and Joan.

Sergeant Briggs was a rough, tough, Yorkshireman - he seemed to be completely impervious to electricity too! He had a very nasty trick that he played on new drivers or mechanics who passed by, as he sat perched on a lorries mudguard, alongside a running engine; he would say, "Come here lad, I want to show you something". Then he would grab your arm. What you hadn't realised was that he was holding a live ignition lead .. Ouch!

There were two of our people who wed German ladies - Corporal "Porky" Ford and Junior Tech (later Corporal Tech) "Chalky" White - he married a woman called Eva whom, I seem to remember, worked in the NAAFI.

I vividly recall a Corporal Tech Peter Carey. He later turned up, as a Chief Technician, at Old Sarum (Salisbury) in one of my later postings where he examined and passed me for my first UK driving licence; he made a recommendation that I should 'drive with more panache', which I have endeavoured to do, ever since! Corporal Fred Needham was an RAF qualified Motorcyclist and could often be seen test driving motorbikes around the camp.

SAC's Derek French and Nigel Clarkson were together with me at Weeton, as I recall, during our MT Mechanic trade training. In Germany, we often used to go out together as a trio. Nigel later acquired a huge late-model Opel Kapitan with a radio aerial that must have been at least twelve feet long. No problems picking up BFN when we were on the move with him!

Joe worked in MTSS stores and, thereby, possessed a strange power over us mere mortals!

When I first moved into Portal block, I shared a room with about five or six others, one of whom was Pete Evans, a Driver. Later, I was lucky enough to get a twin bedded room, which I shared with Jock ("Haggis"), also an MT Driver. One of the sad occasions was saying farewell to Paddy Reynolds, another MT Driver. I was on his final Guard of Honour after he was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Two very colourful other Drivers were Tich and his mate Bert - always up for some fun! Owen and Wilky were never far away when there was some fun to be had.

Another mate was Geordie Marsden, who had a rare wit.

I also remember a few of the British civilians, especially Roy (I think that was his name) - he ran the camp (PSI) shop and seemed to be able to get pretty well anything you needed; he also arranged photo processing with a company in Cologne. The two WVS ladies were Audrey and Joan(?); they were always so pleasant and arranged some super trips off camp for us. I recall going to Monschau, in the Eifel mountains; Königswinter; the Siebengebirge, Brühl, Königswinter (on a Rhine cruise boat), Ehrenbreitstein fortress at Koblenz and Altenberg, where they had 'dancing fountains'.

Geordie ready to be a Mess Steward for the night	Nigel Clarksons car with Nigel Derek French		Nigel Clarkson		Ian Langmuir
Pete Evans resting			Pete Evans
Christmas 1959

Arrival

I arrived at Butz in August 1958. I was a newly qualified MT Mechanic and I was posted to the station's MT Servicing Section. I later became a Mechanic (Driver) and so feel that I do qualify to be included on this website!

At the time of my arrival, I had never been abroad before and did not even possess a passport - not that this was unusual in the fifties.

Upon arriving at Butz, I had quite a shock at seeing the fifty or so Command Reserve vehicles parked on the square; these were our bread and butter, in MTSS, as we had to service them and run them up regularly, just in case the balloon ever went up. I was never quite sure how this motley collection of Magirus lorries would help us win the war, against the Eastern bloc's tanks, but mine not to reason why. The batteries were invariably flat when we went out to give them their monthly engine runs. We just had to hope that the Russians would give us sufficient notice of any attack for us to get them all running beforehand!

How did we know we were in Germany? On camp you could have been at virtually any RAF station. However, at the time of my arrival, most of our RAF vehicles were of German manufacture. We were paid in BAF's but we could pre-order Deutschmarks, for spending out of camp. Later, after the transition from 2 TAF to RAFG, we were paid entirely in DMs and had to request any sterling that we might need for returning to the UK on leave, etc. The Bundesbahn maintained a railway spur line into the Station and they used their locos and rolling stock to bring supplies in and out for us. BAOR knew our terminus as Köln 9 Depot - a rather grand description for what amounted to just an unloading platform and an engine shed

One could happily stay in camp and never venture out but I decided to learn German, helped by the fact that we had German engineers working in MTSS. Needless to say, I learned to swear fluently in Deutsch fairly quickly! This was duly followed by swearing in Espanol as we eventually recruited two Spanish Gastarbeiters ("guest workers", as they were known). Cologne was on our doorstep and so I had many opportunities to take myself off and talk to the natives.

The WVS (as it then was, before becoming "Royal") used to organise coach trips out and about, which enabled those of us without personal transport to see some of the sites. The ladies manning the WVS club (I remember one of them was called Audrey) were charming, friendly and helpful.

The Malcolm Club introduced me to those heavenly amber liquids contained in the green bottles of Der Rhein and brown bottles of Die Mosel. Before arriving in Germany, I don't think that I had ever drunk wine (again, not so unusual in those days).

Daily life in MTSS

All of the other ranks of the MT section and of MTSS, lived in Portal block, close to the Astra Cinema and opposite the butcher's and the PSI shop. At work, the RAF staff's days consisted, mostly, of maintaining the Command Reserve and other lorries (such as the wide spectrum of RVT, specialised radio vehicles). By contrast, the German civilian workers usually took care of cars and vans - mostly VW Beetles and Kombi's.

We also had a paint shop and there I found my own niche. I was a pretty average Mechanic - if a thread could be stripped, it was usually me who did it. However, when it came to spraying and brush painting, I was the man. I found it both creative and enjoyable. Most of the vehicles were painted a rather boring overall green. However, for the canvas tilts that covered the rear of our lorries, we used a foul-smelling greeny-brown bituminous gloop that resembled liquid pooh to smear over those. Not such an enjoyable job!

My very favourite vehicles to paint were those of the Butz-based 6209 Bomb Disposal Flight. On the BD vehicles, we were actually allowed to paint vast areas (such as the wheel arches) in a bright, vivid, red! On top of that, there were large areas of white including the wording "Bomben Räum Kommando" that appeared in very large lettering, for obvious reasons.

We used to collect our stores from the other side of the site. We had a funny little Lister, three-wheeled open backed runabout to do this. We called it "Thunderbird". Driving this was more like fun than work. However, we did have to fire it up with a starting handle, as it had no electrics, apart from the ignition itself.

Occasionally we would get a chance to go off-site to repair or collect broken-down or crashed vehicles. I well remember one such 'adventure' where three of us went (in a large Ford Köln coach), all the way to Ingolstadt, down in Bavaria. We stayed in a hotel there - another first for me - my, how times have changed. I then had to earn my crust by replacing an exhaust pipe on a lorry, in freezing cold temperatures, working under an open sided ramp. We left the coach there for the use of the detachment, whilst we returned to Butz in the lorry.

Another trip that I took was in a VW Beetle, to Borgentreich (near Kassel); this wasn't quite so much fun as I crashed it on the way back. The weather was really cold and when I rounded a corner onto a straight stretch of road, I saw two civilians flagging me down. I braked and the car span several times before backing gently into a tree! They had been trying to warn me of black ice. The only problem was that they were at one end of it and I was at the other.

Other duties

I volunteered for the Station Guard of Honour. Most of our duties involved parading for the AOC's visits and, sadly, quite a few funeral ceremonies. However, I did once get to travel to southern Germany, to take part in the NATO 10th Anniversary parade, held on 4th April 1959, in Mainz. Butzweilerhof supplied the 36-man RAF contingent and we stayed at a US Army camp located in Wiesbaden, whilst we were there. We all thought that we had died and gone to heaven!

Added 16/09/08