We finally received our squadron posting and I was ordered to report to 254 RAF at North Coates [1] in Lincolnshire. We finished at Turnberry at Friday noon and as we did not have to report in to the new station until Monday morning I managed to talk one of the instructors into giving me a flip to Aberdeen while he gave a Beau an air test. Upon arrival at Mrs. Woods' Dormy House I gave Rene, my Wren friend a call and asked her to ditch all the other fellows for the weekend. This she arranged to do and we went dancing to our old haunt, The Palaise, on Saturday evening. Sunday was Rene's day off, so we attended the morning Easter service at the church of Scotland, while in the afternoon she just about walked my feet off as we hiked eight miles out into the country to a little Inn for tea. Our service uniforms gained us entrance into the back room where bacon and eggs were the order of the day. In the evening Rene took pity on my aching feet so we took in a local show for the forces.

At Dormy House I met a couple of the chaps I graduated with - they had each finished a tour of operations in Bomber command and were on their way home for a well deserved rest. They passed on to me the sad news of several of our class mates who had died on operations. One good friend of mine was shot down by a German night fighter while he was on his landing approach with his Lancaster for the last time.

The train trip down from Aberdeen to Grimsby was quick and pleasant with the first class service being exceptional good, especially after all the times I had been squeezed into the third class. Unfortunately, upon arrival in Grimsby I learned that I had missed the last bus, so I set out to find a hotel room at ii p.m. Being a weekend and with Grimsby a holiday resort I didn't have any luck and ended up on a couch in the lounge of the Station hotel, and this was only possible after crossing the palm of the night porter with some silver. Coming down from Scotland I noticed the change in the accents I heard - from the Scotch "Aye ye kain lad", to the Lancashire "Ee by gum lad". [2]

Our new residence at RAF North Coates was very posh in comparison with previous air stations. Our single rooms were really nice, the food was excellent, and the other fellows on the squadron were very friendly. There were only about thirty aircrew on the station divided equally between pilots and observers, the latter having the combined talents of a navigator and wireless operator.

Of these flying personnel very few were officers and this situation resulted in me being saddled with certain specific responsibilities both as to flying as well as on the ground. For example one day every two weeks I was the Squadron Duty Officer and this was a hectic job. You had to arrange all the crews for ops, organize their meals, and transport to the kites as well as run the training, aircraft flight checks and so on. If there were any complaints they always came to you - it was an easy way to lose a few friends.