I'm not sure if I can call myself a Digby-ite because
I spent only a very short time on the Station - less than 48 hours.
I arrived from Cranwell, with three other ex-brats on the afternoon
of Saturday 2nd September 1939. On arrival we were told to report to
sick-quarters for jabs, then to join No 73 Squadron preparing to move
to France. Since the station was crowded with postings-in, Class E
reservists etc, that night we had to sleep on the floor in the NAAFI.
On the Sunday I was introduced to the Hurricanes of 73 Squadron - I
had never seen one before - nor had I seen the radio installation HF-
TR9D
- which I was to work on {this was the TR9 fitted with a second frequency
channel to facilitate transmissions
for Direction Finding (DF) purposes within a flight of aircraft while
still allowing R/T contact to be maintained}. While we were on the
airfield that morning, we gathered outside a tent to listen to Chamberlain's
announcement of war with Germany.
In the early hours of Monday 4th September we were off to Southampton
with the advance party - en route for France. We arrived at le Havre
early the following morning.
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