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I joined the RAF in May 1940 having just completed my apprenticeship as a typewriter mechanic - the interview board said I was just the fellow they needed to service their Rolls Royce 1,000 horse power aero engines - so I was duly shipped out to the Middle East to 71 OTU based at Carthago by the river Nile in the Sudan- at the end of 1942 a signal came through requesting that I had to be flown immediately to Cairo Military H.Q.-they could not inform me as to why (just thougth that my past had caught up with me) an aircraft was waiting and |I hardly had time to change my socks ! On arrival I was met by two armed guards and escorted to a room and confronted with what they called a typewriter -absolutely nothing like a typewriter apart from the key-board and even that had German characters - yes it was the Enigma that had "fallen-off-a-lorry) in the Western Desert during the Rommel campaign - showing many signs of damage - after explaining my dilemma they asked me to at least attempt to repair some of the damaged keys- I had a very pleasant two weeks enjoying the sights of Cairo and it's night-life - a far cry from the barren scrub-land of the Sudan along with reasonably civilised food too - I feel that I did not contribute to solving the mysteries of the code and cypher machine - yet enjoyed the unusual experience. Ron Brown

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