Michael McEwan joined the RAF in 1958 as a butcher
and spent 12 years in the service. After spending short periods at RAF Wilmslow
and RAF Halton he was posted to RAF Leuchars in Fife. On 1st October 1959 he was
posted further north to begin an
eighteen month tour at Saxa Vord as the station butcher. Like most people when
posted into Saxa he travelled north on the St Clair and then wondered what he'd
let himself in for when using the "Overland" for the first time. His place
of work was to be a small building near the NAAFI which housed the Catering
Office, Ration Stores, the Butchers shop and fridges. (Left click on pictures to enlarge):
91SU, as Saxa was known at the beginning,
had been under construction since 1954 and was declared operational late in
1957. However, when Mike arrived parts of the Domestic Site were still to be
completed - the Education Section, NAAFI Shop, Ice Cap and Gym needed to be
made habitable and, at the mid-site, the Ace High Building and tower were
erected in the period 1960/2. I'm sure
the significant number of construction workers ,who needed accommodation and
feeding, led to extra work for some (and decent profits for the NAAFI!)
When it came to RAF Trades, personnel from each Section were usually
billeted together. Mike was housed with the Catering Staff at one end of a low
billet near the Airmen's Mess. The RAF Police occupied the other end of the
building and the ablutions were between them. Luckily Mike took quite a few
photos during his tour. The sequence of pictures which follow show a number of
people in the Catering Section. If anyone can help name the unidentified people
in the photos , I would be pleased to hear from them (gordon.carleATgmail.com -
change the AT to the normal symbol):
This next shot, taken in the billet, has a Record Player at the top end of
Mikes bed, also on display is a book of stamps:
The Catering Section had enough personnel
to be able to field its own soccer team and the next 2 pictures show some of
the players. The first was taken on camp near the Billet:
The second was taken on the football pitch
by Harold's Shop, close to St John's Kirk at Baltasound. The man in uniform on
the left of the photo is Warrant Officer Teddy Tasker, who was in charge of the
Catering Section.
It wasn't all
play - the Caterers were required to work and some of their efforts are shown
in 2 photos taken in the NAAFI:
Entertainment, usually provided by the
personnel themselves, kept a lot of men busy. The first Pantomime for many
years on Unst was performed at Christmas 1960. A few people from the Catering
Section helped with the very well received production of Cinderella:
In this era, before the Beatles and Rolling
Stones, there were plenty of aspiring musicians in the services. Two of them at
Saxa were Rab Dalzell (who owned a guitar) and Ginge White. Rab even got his
name in the credits for supplying music at the Cinderella Panto and perhaps
"Ginge " White was "Tony " White on the same page:
Rab can be
seen in the next picture:
Rab had marquetry as another hobby and an
example of his work can be seen in Mikes photo below:
Ginge can be seen, posing with a guitar, in
the next 3 shots:
In August 1960, sometime after Mike
arrived on Unst, the Queen paid a memorable visit to the island. On the RAF
side there were intense preparations involving much "bull" and drill
rehearsal prior to the welcoming Guard
of Honour at Baltasound. Mike was involved
in these ceremonial duties and can be seen in the following photo; he is in the
fifth rank of the first column (fifth from the left of those carrying a rifle
nearest the camera!)
After meeting local and RAF dignitaries the
Queen met a few local folk. The Royal
party then went up Saxa Vord to visit the Operations and Technical sites.
According to the Programme the Queen then arrived at the Domestic Site at 11.15,
prior to visiting the Officers' Mess where she had coffee. A number of Officers and their
wives were presented to her. This next photo of Mikes shows the Queen
progressing through the Domestic Site:
After the short visit to the RAF camp the
Royal party headed south to Uyeasound and back onto the Britannia, which had
sailed south from Baltasound. The visit had created a lasting impression amongst
all who had been involved. More about the visit can be seen here: http://ahistoryofrafsaxavord.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/queen-visits-raf-saxa-vord-unst-1961.html
Mike took a few "souvenir" photos of some of the lads
in their Dress Uniform:
As I said earlier, parts of the station
were still a construction site though work had to cease temporarily around the
time of the Queens' visit. This next photo, taken in front of SHQ, shows the
unfinished Education Section - notice the "Press" vehicle, behind the
Officers:
Mike took a number of pictures whilst the
work was in progress on the Domestic Site:
As mentioned earlier, there were
contractors on site for a number of years and the workers came both from
outwith Unst and from Unst itself. Unfortunately the names of those who are
shown in Mikes photos have been lost with the mists of time. The following
pictures have been added in the hope that someone local, ex contractor or ex
serviceman, can supply names:
Mike became friends with some of the workmen;
together they went on fishing trips and explored Unst on their days off or
during the long summer evenings. The next sequence of photos shows some of these activities. The fishing
trips were normally at Norwick using a boat borrowed from one of the local
residents:
These same friends appear to have been interested in amatuer
rock-climbing. The next sequence of pictures were all taken near Buddabrake, on
the eastern side of Burrafirth. I find it intriguging as the landward ends of
the Admiralty underwater trials cables are at Buddabrake and there are plenty
of more accessible places to practice climbing!
During Mikes time Unst was still
"dry", with only the
Springfield Hotel having a table licence to serve drinks to those eating on the
premises. The role of the NAAFI in providing some relaxation for thirsty
servicemen and civilian workers was significant. The next set of photos are of
NAAFI staff and of a few customers. Once again I would like to hear from anyone
who can identify unnamed people in the pictures. The first shot is of May
Thomson who, during Mikes time, worked
in the NAAFI and took over from Manageress when she was away. May was an
Unst resident.
For many years the NAAFI had employed staff
and offered them posts far afield. In 1960 two such people were employed at
Saxa. The person on the left in the next picture was Lillian Cumming from
Aberdeen (information from Andrew Magnus Thomson) but I haven't yet been able to identify the
lady on the right:
The next photo shows the two ladies
enjoying some time off in Haroldswick:
A number of people partaking of the NAAFIs
wares can be seen in the next three shots:
In the next picture the chap with a white top looks like a cook and the
two to the right of him are thought to be firemen:
Mike managed to get home to Perth on leave three times during his tour but
on his posting to Saxa he had left Aberdeen on the St Clair III. She was new on
the route, having just recently taken over from the St Clair II.
On leave,however, Mike did his
travelling between Shetland and Aberdeen courtesy of British European Airways
(BEA). Approaching Sumburgh in a BEA DC3
(Dakota):
Safely on the ground in Shetland:
Mike was able to see a fair bit of Unst
and, fortunately, he took his camera with him on his expeditions. The series of
views which follow starts off at Burrafirth:
A while before Mike arrived the Station had
acquired Albacore dinghies which, for
many years, proved to be very popular amongst the servicemen. Then the Albacore
was a recent design (1954), with over 8,000 being eventually built. I believe the
Saxa dinghies were christened Huney, Mandy, Balti & Fair Enough, though I
don't know which of them are featured in the photos. He took these two fine
shots at Baltasound:
Some views on the way to, and at, Lamba
Ness - the site of the WWII Chain Home Radar Station, RAF Skaw:
The next sequence of views were taken
closer to the Domestic Site and are all in black & white:
Like many people Mike kept a few mementos from his tour, a couple of which are illustrated below. The first is a copy of a 1960 Christmas Card, signed by officers and SNCOs, which was given to all the other ranks. I have attempted to decipher the signatures but cannot make out 2 of them, the top one "Hampson" belonged to the CO:
He also kept a copy of the 1960 Christmas
Dinner Menu. I don't know the source of the ingredients but I do know some of
the Unst folk raised Turkeys at this time. It was traditional for the RAF
to "roll the boat out" on
occasions like this and, on most stations, the main Christmas meal was served
by the officers and SNCOs:
Whilst on the subject of the festive season
there has been a long tradition in the RAF of each section having a bar in its
billet. The RAF Police effort for 1960/61 can be seen in the next picture -
plenty of spirit available!
Mike frequently took pictures of groups and
Mina Spence has managed to identify those in the picture below "
Left to right is Eelin Mathieson, Katrina Mathieson, Dorothy Thomson (Towress)
and Irene Mathieson." :
The next picture shows a person walking
past the Airmen's Mess, once again I'd be grateful if anyone can put a name to
him.
Two of Mikes contractor friends seem to
have taken a liking for some of the local animals:
The subject of the next photo is known, but
I'm not sure who the photographer was. It features Mike taking some film with
his movie camera:
Mike has great memories of his time at Saxa
and can remember many of the local folk he met such as Magnus Clark, who worked
in the Airmen's Mess and taught him silly poems. He remembers odd things like the slatted
seats in Jimmy Willies bus. Working in the Catering Section he recalls many
visits to Skiphoul to arrange supplies for the camp from Viv Owers. When he was
leaving the CO of the time (Sqn Ldr Harris I think), presented Mike with a
cloth badge with the Station Crest. I have seen plenty of 91 SU and RAF Saxa
Vord crests but never one designed for a blazer - perhaps this was a trial
version. Mike wore it on his own blazer for about 20 years:
Mike was posted from Unst on 6th April 1961 to RAF Hereford, to
retrain as a Clerk Catering and then on to RAF Kirton in Lindsey in Lincolnshire
for his next tour. After a number of other postings he left the service after
12 years in 1970 as a Corporal. His last tour was at RAF Manby in Lincolnshire.
Mike has this nice memento of his time in uniform, particularly of his period
in Shetland:
I would like to thank Mike for sharing his
Shetland photos and memories. If any reader can add more names to the pictures
or recall any events from the period, I would be pleased to hear from them.
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