THE WALLABY TRACK WITH LIONEL MUSSELL

I had wanted to try to get into the Royal Navy as an officer cadet , but Dad vetoed this until I was old enough to no longer needed parental consent to volunteer for the Royal Air Force . After extensive medical and aptitude tests , I was accepted as aircrew .

‘ Number 10 All Through ’ was the name of our group of young wouldbe flight engineers who assembled at RAF St Athan in South Wales for our 18 months of training .

Derek Meacham , re-mustering from being a leading aircraftsman rigger , was our senior man and had a room and stove to himself . We shared two heaters in the rest of the hut with about 30 of us trying to stay warm while Derek sweltered in the sub-tropical climate of his solitary cell . Fuel was in short supply and the winter was very cold . Although our 10 or so wooden huts gradually lost their bottom planks as the winter progressed , I never heard anyone in authority question what was happening to them .

Derek lived in Rogiet , near the railway station at the northern exit of the Severn Tunnel , and I used to put my motorcycle in the guard ’ s van of the last train north at the other end of the tunnel as a quicker way to get back to St Athan on Sunday nights after going home for the weekend .

It saved a considerable distance and I used to pick Derek up on my way through . One miserable , wet night , Taff had his loose things in a brown paper bag , which was okay until water got into the ignition and the motor stopped some miles short of the camp . We had to push the bike the rest of the way and although we could glimpse the aerodrome lights in the distance , every turn we took towards our destination headed the wrong way before long .

Murphy then added to our woes by soaking Derek ’ s paper bag so that the contents , including his clean undies , spilt out on the road . We finally made it to our billet in the early hours of the morning and – would you believe it – next morning the bike fired first kick !

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