1957 Squarebashing (or boot-camp to North Americans).............................



This is the follow-on to my joining the R.A.F. After kitting out at RAF Cardington (see earlier entry) "we" travelled to R.A.F. West Kirby in Cheshire for our squarebashing or basic training. It takes its name I suppose from all the marching in big boots on the parade 'square.' .........

I began to write my memories of my 'basic training' in the R.A.F. when I chanced on an article written about the same subject, at the same place and in the same time frame. It is so well written and in such excellent detail I can do no better than give the website here and send you hence. Do read it ... it is a wonderful slice of "then".


http://www.ventnorradar.co.uk/WK01.htm


Differences between "his" experiences and mine? Not that many.

I was at West kirby in the winter. I seem to remember it as a very cold winter in a cold part of England. The coke stoves he mentions were used in the evenings but there was much conflict over this because the stoves had to be polished and gleaming for morning inspections. Using them at night got them very hot of course which meant that they had to be 're-blackleaded' in the morning. How stupid it all seems now.

I was in Churchill Squadron. We had red discs behind our cap badges.

I remember we applied soap to the inside of pants creases before ironing to make the creases sharper and last longer. The blanket-like fabric didn't hold a crease at all well.

Our group go through the gas chamber at West Kirby. For me, that waited until I was in Singapore, but the experience was every bit as harrowing as he describes it!

Finally, because I was an ex-ATC cadet my squarebashing was six weeks and not eight. So there was some benefit to all that marching with the cadets!



Below is a little of what I wrote before I chanced on the above website:

A very traumatic time for some of the lads who'd led more sheltered lives. Perhaps that included me but, having been in Army and Air Cadets at two schools I was blessed with more knowledge and proficiency than most. I could march and drill, knew a fair bit about weapons and had a love of aeroplanes - so perhaps I was lucky.

The whole process seems, in retrospect, to be aimed at turning us into infantrymen first and airmen a distant second.

This just fifty years ago. Fifty years ... February and March of 1957 ... I was just shy of my 18th birthday when I arrived. As I write, the CBC is making much of the 90th anniversary of the Battle for Vimy Ridge ... only two veterans of WW1 still survive in Canada ... when I was at West Kirby the survivors of the Great War were little more than middle aged. Tempus fugit indeed.

We were bussed into North Wales on what must have been a survival course. It rained when we got there and pitched our tents and it rained heavy and non-stop until we boarded buses three days later. We got very wet and very cold and very hungry and apparently survived. For years I was convinced the only life form in Wales was sheep.

After passing out at West Kirby, it was time for me to move on to R.A.F. Kirkham for twelve weeks of trade training.