Wings Over Wick
1939 - 1945
Others

Alex Campbell, Duns, Berwickshire
I was stationed at Wick in 1942 for 12 months as a Safety Equipment worker (parachutes and dinghies).  We serviced the Beauforts of Coastal Command. At first we were billeted in council houses in Wick, as the aerodrome was full until a Canadian Squadron left.  All the town's people were very friendly. There were no pubs, so we drank our beer in the Naafi. Some guys used to sell bottles of beer off barrows in side streets, as it was illegal.

Some nights in the cinema we would see films the pilots had taken of their dog fights with Germans over the North Sea. We had bicycles for getting to and from the aerodrome and I remember the wind sometimes blew us off.

We used to visit the local farms to get eggs to give our own landladies and we always got a nice cup of tea and a cake from the farmers’ wives.