The famous signal
IT is one of the most famous teleprinter signals of the war - and young wireless operator Charles Mayhew had no idea of the significance of what he was doing when he decided to pocket it as a keepsake after it arrived at RAF Digby in the dark days of September 1939.
It read: "To all Royal Air Force units and establishments at home. War has broken out with Germany."
Charles tore it from the teleprinter and took it to his superior officers - but should have burned it afterwards. Instead he took it home, where it remained for almost 60 years until he decided to return it to RAF Digby. Now it can be seen in the wartime Operations Room.
Mr Mayhew said: "I don't know why I kept the telegram and treasured it all those years, butit is now back where it belongs. What they have there is remarkable. It's exactly how it was."
