Wings Over Wick
1939 - 1945
Torpedo Squadrons

Mr J Blyth,  Musselburgh
I was posted to Wick in the summer of 1940 having finished my training at RAF Cranwell.  I was there until December of that year when I was posted to Singapore.

My job was maintaining all the instruments on the aircraft. These included all flying instruments, compasses, bombsights and all oxygen apparatus. Whilst in Wick I worked with a "Beaufort" torpedo squadron. There was a squadron of 12 aircraft, which was just building up, and I was kept very busy, but I really loved the work.

The drome was still in the hands of building contractors and there was not enough accommodation at this stage.  I was billeted in a house in Kirk Brae with a family called McBeath. We became good friends, the McBeath family had a little car and as there was still petrol available at that time, we occasionally went exploring. I visited the house again in 1970.  The family had gone but Mrs McBeath who was now blind lived nearby. I found her and without being able to see me, she recognised my voice immediately - it was wonderful after all the years.

I remember a surprise air raid on the drome in the autumn.  There was little damage to the drome but I think there were casualties in houses in the town.  The lighthouse near Wick was also attacked and sprayed with gunfire. I visited Mr William Smith, the lighthouse keeper and spoke to him some days later.

My nicest memory (or at least one of them) was attending the Harvest Festival at the Kirk.   It had been a wonderful summer and the harvest was very good. The church was beautifully decorated with all the fruits of the harvest. Even now 50 years on I can picture that wonderful occasion in 1940.