FFR

Apart from fit for role, fitted for radio etc, what was the forces fixed rate when you first went to Germany?

It was about 8 marks something to the pound when I went but soon reduced to 6 something quite soon after. That would be 1973. We were still making on it though.

Think it was about 70 pffenigs for a small beer then?

1969 my first time in germany,nearly DM 11 to the pound, NAAFI tea 30pfg a cup,dave.

If my addled brain remembers correctly, it was in the region of DM8.50 when I first arrived in 1971. It then dropped to around DM7.60 before I left in 1973.

When I arrived back in late 1975, I think it was around DM6.25, dropping again to about DM5.50 at some stage.

Paul.

In 64 it was DM11.40 to the pound,a bottle of Amstel was about 80 Pf if I remember correctly.

the other day i found a reciept from deutsche bundesbahn for a return ticket from bunde to harwich dated the 11th of september 1969 and it gave the exchange rate for that day as 11.7dm to the pound, it seems unreal that the cost of the return ticket was 134.40dm £11.48 in todays money, mind you it does say 15% discount british forces.

it was just after this i remember we were told that things were to change and that we needed to open a bank account as pay parade was to finish, so i opened an account at the local sparkasse and a few months later we were all to get a big shock as the pound fell against the dm.

after this i never bought any petrol for my motorbike, it got that bad random checks were done on peoples cars to see if they were using army fuel as i believe or was led to believe the fuel contained a dye (was that true) nobody ever touched my bike and once i had fitted panniers to stow extra petrol i could get home without buying any.

i seem to remember the army petrol having a redish colour to it,the RMP and german police combined to have road side checks in an around fally,that was probabley to catch anyone selling petrol to the germans.and that was late 60,s early 70,s,dave.

thank god for that dave i thought i had imagined it,never sold any petrol but when i moved to lubbecke two of the lads always gave me there cig coupons as they did not smoke and with them and coffee from the naffi family shop i was always welcome in the local bars and did not pay for many drinks even though they had paid me for the cigs and coffee. paul

dandc wrote:

i seem to remember the army petrol having a redish colour to it,the RMP and german police combined to have road side checks in an around fally,that was probabley to catch anyone selling petrol to the germans.and that was late 60,s early 70,s,dave.

I don't recall the gas ("petrol") my dad might have used from base as having a dye in it...but I also seem to recall his using civilian gas stations anyway.

However, I DO recall circa 1971 when I was bombing around the countryside on my 49cc moped -- a godsend to a 16 and 17 year old boy chafing at the restrictions home imposed -- filling up at civilian pumps (tall cylindrical affairs with a round 'bulb' at the top. One had to literally pump with a lever at one side and as the fluid slowly filled up in the glass tubing, you could then go ahead and fill your tank). The fuel I mostly used had a pinkish-reddish almost purple-ish hue to it...more red-purple than blue-purple. Never thought much about it until reading the above. Pretty sure it wasn't black market Army fuel as these were legit stations and not just one. If it was just one I could see perhaps the owner/proprietor selling black market fuel, kind of. But several stations? No, it was just the colour the gas happened to be and was coloured, I'm thinking, in order to distinguish it from the gas one would put in a car. These pumps were for mopeds and motorcycles only. Seems to me the gas also came in a yellow-gold colour and perhaps a sapphire-blue colour, but don't quote me on that!

oldtimer wrote:

thank god for that dave i thought i had imagined it,never sold any petrol but when i moved to lubbecke two of the lads always gave me there cig coupons as they did not smoke and with them and coffee from the naffi family shop i was always welcome in the local bars and did not pay for many drinks even though they had paid me for the cigs and coffee. paul

Despite being highly illegal, there was a thriving black market business going on...well, perhaps "gray market" as none of us made a fortune off it.

I started smoking when I turned 16 and was now in possession of a CANEX ration card (with the exception of being able to buy liquor). I took that as permission to smoke; 16-year old logic, dontcha know! LOL

I forget which brand I started off with but I think it was probably Export 'A' which was virtually synonymous with "Canadian." Cigarettes were the currency of social interaction. Sitting in a gasthof with a pack of Export 'A' on the table was guaranteed to bring one of the locals over for a chat and an exchange of cigarettes -- you try one of mine (ugh!) if I can try one of yours. Actually, I formed some good friendships through cigarettes. Can't imagine such a scenario these days; it'd be more likely one of the locals would come over to ask you to please go outside with that disgusting smokey cancer-stick and stop polluting the environment with your nasty disgusting habit! LOL In the timeless words of your average Canadian teenager...whateveeeerrrrr.....

As mentioned elsewhere, when I returned to work in Soest in 1973 I reconnected with Frau Elizabeth, the plump little old lady who worked the Soest Sally Ann and who had at one time been a landlady of ours. I was able to get into the NAAFI quite easily (the staff assumed I was Belgique I suppose as I had short hair and beard) and purchase for her as much Red Rose tea as she wanted along with brandy....Asbach-Urault as I recall...which was not on ration. Being a good Salvation Armyist she, of course, did not smoke but periodically she would ask me to score some Embassy cigarettes for her which she then either gave to her son, who did smoke, or use as trade to whomever. I never asked.

When my parents were stationed in Germany, Dad and Mom often would get a carton of cigs as a special gift at Christmas or whatever for German friends, various landladies, etc. Ditto on certain alcohol and on coffee. Thing is the German's had access to far superior alcohol and certainly to superior coffee than we did. What the Germans did like was our instant coffee (now being a coffee drinker myself I can't imagine how anyone could like instant coffee....yech....). Bit of a status symbol to have a jar or two of Maxwell House Instant Coffee sitting in their kitchen cupboard LOL

1973..first payday rate was 6.98 and small beer was 70pfg..graham.

stephen,you forgot to mention if your put-put was two stroke,or not ,if it was your purple,ish hue would be a result of oil/petrol mixture,dave.

My put-put!!! LOL....hey, to me it was the bike Peter Fonda's character Captain America rode in Easy Rider, I'll have you know! LOL

I don't know if my moped was a two-stroke or not (I'm not at all mechanical. All I know is, I started her up and she ran...most of the time....). I got it from Karstadt Iserlohn, or rather my parents did after I whined and carried on for months!

Certainly a 2 stroke(piss and wind machine)Without a silencer they make as much noise as a panzer.And yes,the petrol was coloured,but I remember,in the late 40s,going from Wolfenbüttel,to Braunschweig,before we had FRIDGES,with a twenty litres of benzin cannister in the 15cwt,to swop for ice wrapped in sacking.That was the then way to keep food fresh for the cookhouse and messes!Petrol and fags,worth their weight in gold in those days-
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Don

We had a troop Sergeant married to a German national. He told me that his wife received a letter from the German equivalent of our DSS asking how much her husband earned? When told, they said that it wasn't enough to live on and awarded her something like half his salary again. This would have been around about 1976?

Pity the likes of us poor lance jacks and privates who got even less. We seemed to cope though.

dandc wrote:

i seem to remember the army petrol having a redish colour to it,the RMP and german police combined to have road side checks in an around fally,that was probabley to catch anyone selling petrol to the germans.and that was late 60,s early 70,s,dave.

Un-Taxed Diesel in the UK to this day has a red marker dye added so that Customs can check it is being used only when and where permitted

Which is why its called Red Diesel & different colours in different countries!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_diesel

Military Fuels used to have the same dye added wherever we served so that the RMP could check for illegal use.

Teabag,
A Sgt in 1976,with all the perks,was far better off financially in BAOR than his counterpart civvy.So the lady must have met a very nice person in the Civil Service to be so kind!I left in 1971 and reckoned I was well off!
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Don

teabag, i can quite belive your story,in 1976[the year of the hot summer in uk] i was in topcliff north yorkshire,with all off takes and a small ammount left in the bank to pay some monthly bills my wifes order book for the PO was£15 per week,this was for us to live as a family,[only one child then]in august 1976 i was posted to hong kong,after finding ones feet and getting settled one of the first you had to do was find an amar[dodgy spelling]a chinese housemaid to do all the wifes daily tasks,the cost of this extravagance,£15 per week,such was the difference in wages,IE exchange rate and loa,what an eye opener,dave.

Quote :

A Sgt in 1976,with all the perks,was far better off financially in BAOR than his counterpart civvy.[

Are we talking about a German or Brit civvy,and what exactly would his counterpart be?

I ask because i came out a little earlier and was much better off despite being on T/trade wage scale.and recieving the 1970,alleged BIG pay rise

Think we must be referring to his German civvy counterpart.I left the service 1971 and went to Work for Barrack Services as a civvy,boy did I miss my army salary for those first years,but things perked up and with increasing service with the forces I would say I reached my service standard of living after 10years!
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Don

Teabag wrote:

Apart from fit for role, fitted for radio etc, what was the forces fixed rate when you first went to Germany?

It was about 8 marks something to the pound when I went but soon reduced to 6 something quite soon after. That would be 1973. We were still making on it though.

Think it was about 70 pffenigs for a small beer then?

Present rate of FFR is set at 1.17 Euro's.

On the 6th of September 1973 when I arrived at RAF Gutersloh the exchange rate was DM 6.95. When I arrived at my first adult posting, Lippstadt, my new found friends soon took me down town and helped me spend my new cuurency.

welcome smudge,i think most of us fell for that invitation,dave.

Now I can remember when the good old pound was worthy of its name and fetched just under 13 Marks for ONE POUND!But in those days it was BAFVs only for us guys.Now if the jolly old pound was worth say Euro6.50 today,I'd be as rich as a Lord on my pension.As things are at present my pension "shrinks" every month!
Ah well,I live here by choice,so will stop grunting!!!
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Don

For the life of me I can't remember but did we get some kind of advance when posted to Germany just to tide us over?

I don't know if I dreamed it but thought perhaps they did and we paid it back over a few months? Any pay corps blokes confirm or deny this?

Teabag wrote:

For the life of me I can't remember but did we get some kind of advance when posted to Germany just to tide us over?

I don't know if I dreamed it but thought perhaps they did and we paid it back over a few months? Any pay corps blokes confirm or deny this?

When do you think that was? I seem to remember sometime in the 70's when they were trying to get everyone paid monthly into the Bank, that we received a months pay, repayable over a number of months.

Paul.