Grostenquin France

Early Transportation - As Indicated

Extract from 1 Air Division HQ Historical Report

December 1953

Negotiations were completed with French officials in Paris for the uniform licensing of private motor vehicles in France. AF plates were to be substituted for the existing TT Plates.

I had a chance to browse through the web site this past weekend (17 June, 2001) and I found myself wondering about something. According to historical detail - the first wave of personnel for Grostenquin arrived in Septmber and October of 1952. On looking at the photos for 1953, it was evident that personnel were making use of motorcycles as opposed to automobiles.

I decided to send out an email message to those who were at 2 Wing back in the 1952-1953 time period asking for detail. My message was somewhat along this line "In looking at the 2 Wing Grostenquin photos from 1953 and 1954, all I see are motorcycles. Is there a reason for this? I am starting to gather that, for some reason or other, RCAF personnel were not allowed to purchase automobiles? Can you shed any light on this mystery? It's the type of thing that would make a great article on the web site."

I received a number of replies and toyed with the approach of summarizing everyone's replies into one response. I then decided to simply provide all of the replies. Enjoy.

Bernier, Claude (1952-1955) - What I can remember is that until sometime in 53 there was no AF licence and no gas ration coupons were available. So hardly anybody could afford buying the expensive gas on the economy (French gas). When I bought my first car which was my 1948 Chevrolet from Luxembourg my plate # was AF 2052 and this was in early 54 (February). And my second car (Simca 54) which I bought in December 54 had for plate # AF 2560 so you can see at what rate cars were been bought from then on. Another thing to was that married personel without there families were not receiving the special high cost living allowance (125.00 a month) in France. The Air Force was not paying for family fare at first so anybody doing so was at there onwn expences. They were reimbursed after the Air Force let the families come to Europe if they wishes.

Bodnar, Larry (1953-1957) - I along with quite a few others all had motorcycles during that period because I believe we couldn't get licences to drive cars. There may have been other reasons as well, i.e. lack of suitable local vehicles. I do recall hearing of a comment made by Moscow Molly on the radio that they wouldn't need to concern themselves about Canadians. "Give them a case of booze and a motorcycle and they would write themselves off". She did have a point, the accident rate at the time was tragically high.

Landry, Ed (1952-1953) - Sorry Ren but I'm not much help on that one. Don't recall anyone who had a car but the money wasn't all that big in those days. But some of the boys must have had cars. Motorcycles might have been the in thing in those days and they were a lot cheaper then a car. Besides it was only a 2 year posting in those days and that might have had something to do with it.

Martell, Earl (1953-1956) - No, there were no restrictions on service personnel buying cars during my tour there. Most civilians in the area owned motor-cycles and this was mainly because of the high cost of gas. Of course, there were a lot of bicycles in use. I think gas was around one dollar a gallon at a time when we were buying it for around 25 cents in Canada. I see that the number of manure piles in Lelling have been drastically reduced. I remember when one went thru there on a hot summer day you limited the number of times you inhaled. I recall an airmen retrurning to base on a bicycle after having imbibed considerably, zigged when he should have zagged. ended up in a manure pile, came back to barracks, threw his dirty clothes on the floor, continued to drink at the Club, left the clothes there for a few days - with the result that the room had to be vacated for a long time.

Miller, Alex (1953-1955) - The reason you see a lot of motorcycles is probably because they were owned by singles. Only British cars were available and only if you had the cash. I ordered a Vauxall from the export dept in London with a down payment. Then when they advised me it was ready I passed a check on my Canadian bank at the local French bank and obtained travelers checks for the amount I needed. The French were a very trusting lot. The British wanted cash. I picked up the car in central London and driving in London on the left with a RH drive was no picnic. There were no motorways then and I almost killed myself 20 miles out of London.

Roberts, Keith (1952-1956) - No reason that I can recall, other than an economic one. The single guys rarely had two dimes to rub together so a scooter was the best bet for them. The married guys over without their families seemed to find the motorcycle/scooter the best thing for the one year they were there. Married guys with their families over with them usually had a car. To me the narrow roads/highways wre not condusive to driving some big old bomb. The scooter didn't afford any protection in an accident but it was easier to manouver. The scooter was also a machine that could really sober up a drunk rather fast. Gordie Smith (Admin) now deceased, rest his soul, owned one and I recall one particular night being on the back of his machine returning from a village watering hole with both of us right out of it and he was in and out of the ditch and I was cold sober by the time we got back to the Station.

Rockburne, Ed (1953-1954) - I can't help you on this because I owned a motorcycle while in 1Wing Northluff and sold it when transfered to 2 Wing in 1953. When in 2Wing I travelled in an old British Hillman car. I don't remember any restrictions except those imposed by choice.

Supple, Ernie (1953-1955) - I dont know for sure. I believe that it was cheaper than to buy cars also the wages most of of had in those days were that high even though some of the prices low compared to todays prices. The lower ranks average age Corporal and below was around 21 to 22. I guess we liked the idea of having the wind blow through our hair was fun. Helmets were not mandatory. Hope this helps. I had 350 BSA for about a month until I had my first two beers while I had it out one day - put it up for sale next day.

Toews, Ken (1952-1953) - Interesting observation about the lack of cars in all the old photos of 2 Wing. As far as memory serves me there were no rules or regs banning the ownership of cars. I think, and this is just an opinion, that the lack of need as well as price and availability probably offers the best explanation. In 1953 and 1954 essentially everyone lived on base. Single guys went over on a two year tour and married folks on a one year tour. The Air Force at that time didn't bring dependants overseas. If a married man wanted his family with him, it was at his own expense. There were very few married guys who brought their wives with them. There were no English schools for families with kids. Personally I remember only one person in that category and that was FS Don Prentice who was the NCO i/c Armament Systems on 416 Squadron. Don lived in one of the very first trailers in what eventually became the trailer park that existed near the front gate in the '60s. With everyone living within walking distance of work there was no need to own a car. The days of living "on the economy" hadn't begun yet. Price and availability likely played a part in the situation too. Most of us were in our very early days in the service and were right at the bottom of the pay scale ladder. We were mostly Group One and Group Two tradesmen and we sure didn't earn very much money - maybe one hundred to one hundred twenty bucks a month. And the Bank of Montreal had yet to open its first Air Div Branch, so there was no friendly bank manager to see for a loan. The married guys with families back in Canada were sending most of their pay back home to help feed the wife and kids. Then there was the matter of availability. Europe was still getting over the war and the economy wasn't great. Cars were just coming back into production and there were very few new cars on the road. The second hand cars were pretty well all pre-WW2 vintage and most of them seemed to be held together with baling wire. Not something that appealed to most Canadians. Many of these old cars were likely uninsurable and couldn't have been brought on to the base in any case. That's my take on the situation. Owning a car in Europe was not even something that was discussed very often in the barracks or the canteen. Pooling our bucks to buy a radio for our room was the biggest financial commitment we felt we could undertake. It would be interesting to have a look at old Air Force and Air Division Administrative Orders to see what the official stand was on car ownership, but as I say, my memory of the subject tells me there were no official roadblocks. I'd be interested to hear if you can turn up anything else in the subject.

Walker, Ray (1952-1953) - I don't recall seeing a lot of motorcycles. As far as cars are concerned ,I can remember if you wanted to buy a car you could get them tax free while over there but you had to be there 3 years before taking them home. Then they were shipped along with your other stuff on board the ship.You could buy top of the line 1953 Chevrolet for $1500.00 at the time.I guess the reason I didn't see many motorbikes is because we were too busy getting drunk in St Avold. They did, however, have a lot of bikes on the station that were available for use by the airmen.Try and peddle one of those back from St Avold after a night on the town.