The Undeclared War - 208 Squadron vs 205 Group
This article first appeared in the 2012 Newsletter.
The early 1950s were a changing time for the Royal Air Force. Reduced 
from wartime size, but still large enough to have the Middle and Far East plus Germany as areas of responsibility. The wartime ethos was gradually being replaced by an equally strong peacetime ambition “don’t rock the boat, don’t upset my promotion chances”. We, the young fighter-reconnaissance pilots of the finest squadron ever could see that. Didn’t we have a C.O. who was OLD. Over 30! Remote. Career minded. Not so our two excellent flight commanders who led by example. We felt they really ran the squadron, would drink, play rough games in the Mess thereby incurring the wrath of the fuddy-duddys of 205 Group who shared the Mess with us (note: they shared our Mess). It was they that organised those extraneous duties that took us away from our flying. We had to be:- guard commander (a 24 hour flog), orderly officer (often used by the C.O. as a (non-legal) punishment, take summaries of evidence, act as escorting officer to a chum, sit on boards of courts martial. All with a view to teaching us what made the Air Force tick, according to 205 Group. But we didn’t want to learn yet, we were YOUNG. They didn’t frequent ‘The Chanteclaire’ or John Odger’s bar in Nicosia. Couldn’t see John letting them cash an ante-dated cheque so we could continue on to ‘Black Helens’ for yet another round. Not for them the extra-curricular activities provided by the school teacher in the squash court or the thrills of breaking into the WAAF Officers’ quarters at dead of night. No, we were an irritation and Oh! was the feeling mutual. It reached a stage where actual physical violence was planned and occurred with the partially successful de-bagging of two group captains one night. The Station Commander (on our side) had to cool things and five of us were paraded (fortunately collectively) in front of him for a (gentle) dressing down.
But the war 
was not over. Paper was their joy. 
Lots of it. So we decided to add to their happiness. Flies are endemic to Egypt and their elimination took various forms. Flit guns (hard pressurised), DDT aerosols (then very modern), fly whisks and any hand held object. So there was our answer, a fortnightly return tabulating fly mortalities, and cause of death, in Officers’, NCOs’ and Airmen’s Lines. First a 205 Group statistical return had to be located, roneo’d and altered to suit our needs. It had to look right and by the time we had finished it did. It could have matched any Order of Battle with enemy and friendly forces listed. Even the rank of the signatory indicated the insignificance of the pro-forma, a pilot officer. One who would learn the value of reports, orders, submission papers and the all important priority of ‘need to know’. After all, information was power. And what name did our gallant statistician have? Dick Barton, of course the ‘special agent’ of that era.
The Undeclared War Page 1 2
