V-Bomber station
Title
V-Bomber station
Description
A description of the conversion course for Victors and Valiants, the relaxed atmosphere at the station and the married quarters provided for officers.
Language
Format
Three newspaper cuttings
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
SIvesonD19171121v10024
Transcription
[photograph] A V-BOMBER STATION OPENS ITS GATES
[break]
Sleeping quarters for the airmen are more than adequate and I would say that the catering is above average, having twice sampled it in the past week.
Married quarters for officers, as well as other ranks, are extremely pleasant inside, if a trifle “samey” and subtopian from the outside, and there is a happy community life among the wives while their husbands are on duty.
Today Gaydon is At Home to the Midlands. Here, in the words of the station commander, Group Captain F. R. Bird, visitors will be able to see for themselves that “skill, enthusiasm and a high sense of duty, allied to the finest aircraft in the world, still form the backbone of Her Majesty’s Royal Air Force.”
[page break]
[photograph] [RAF Crest]
ROYAL AIR FORCE
GAYDON [/photograph]
“Mail” Air Correspondent
MAIN road traffic from Warwick to Banbury streams past the entrance to Britain’s most important R.A.F. training centre – Gaydon.
Overhead roar the Victors and Valiants, the spearhead of Britain’s counter-attack if atomic warfare should break out. Their crews have come from all over the country to complete conversion courses before being posted to the V-bomber squadrons.
Life at Gaydon is geared to one over-riding purpose – the speedy training of crews for Bomber Command. The conversion course for Victors and Valiants is about seven weeks – depending on weather. There is no break as one course ends and another begins.
Yet there is a relaxed atmosphere about the station. This stems from efficiency at the top.
Although Gaydon lacks some of the refinements of the R.A.F.’s red-brick establishments, it is a comfortable station.
[break]
Sleeping quarters for the airmen are more than adequate and I would say that the catering is above average, having twice sampled it in the past week.
Married quarters for officers, as well as other ranks, are extremely pleasant inside, if a trifle “samey” and subtopian from the outside, and there is a happy community life among the wives while their husbands are on duty.
Today Gaydon is At Home to the Midlands. Here, in the words of the station commander, Group Captain F. R. Bird, visitors will be able to see for themselves that “skill, enthusiasm and a high sense of duty, allied to the finest aircraft in the world, still form the backbone of Her Majesty’s Royal Air Force.”
[page break]
[photograph] [RAF Crest]
ROYAL AIR FORCE
GAYDON [/photograph]
“Mail” Air Correspondent
MAIN road traffic from Warwick to Banbury streams past the entrance to Britain’s most important R.A.F. training centre – Gaydon.
Overhead roar the Victors and Valiants, the spearhead of Britain’s counter-attack if atomic warfare should break out. Their crews have come from all over the country to complete conversion courses before being posted to the V-bomber squadrons.
Life at Gaydon is geared to one over-riding purpose – the speedy training of crews for Bomber Command. The conversion course for Victors and Valiants is about seven weeks – depending on weather. There is no break as one course ends and another begins.
Yet there is a relaxed atmosphere about the station. This stems from efficiency at the top.
Although Gaydon lacks some of the refinements of the R.A.F.’s red-brick establishments, it is a comfortable station.
Collection
Citation
“V-Bomber station,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed July 15, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/44809.