throughout the country. Petrol ration books covered two months, but did not say how much each coupon would be worth. Coal and coke rationing were added to the list before the end of the month. The town's Wardens went from house to house preparing residents for wearing their respirators in case of an attack with poisonous gas. In late September 1939 the 'Food Control Office' opened in the Electric Hall (later AMF Bowling). 'Registration Day' was on 29 September; every inhabitant received a Registration Card with a unique number. In October, the Palace Hotel was requisitioned by the government and opened as a convalescent hospital and training facility for RAF officers, originally with 48 beds but soon expanded to nearly 250. It was later renamed RAF Hospital Torquay. Until it was bombed in October 1942, many aircrew recovered and trained there, including James Nicolson, the only Battle of Britain pilot and the only pilot of RAF Fighter Command to be awarded the VC. 1940 In 1940 Wrighton of Walthamstow took over Sansom's garage opposite the Chilcote Memorial; up to 300 people worked there manufacturing aircraft parts (including for the Short Sunderland flying-boat) for the war effort. After the Fall of France the invasion of Britain became a real possibility, and machine-gun posts and pillboxes were built across the coastline of Torquay and the Bay. In Torquay the work was done by the Royal East Kent Regiment nicknamed 'The Buffs'. Naval guns were placed on Corbyn Head, in a repeat of its fortification against the troops of Napoleon over a century before. In May Secretary of State for War Anthony Eden made his historic broadcast appeal asking those men between the ages of 17 and 65 who were not already on War Service to join the Local Defence Volunteers; they would be unpaid, but would wear uniforms and be armed. In two days 400 men had joined, and by Monday the 20th the register had closed with 600 on the books. In July the name was changed to the Home Guard. Torquay provided hotel buildings for the RAF to train aircrew. In addition to the previously mentioned RAF Hospital at the Palace Hotel, No 1 ITW (Initial Training Wing) was formed at Babbacombe in June 1940. Headquarters were at the Norcliffe Hotel, the Sefton, Oswalds, Trecarn, Foxlands and Palermo Hotels being used for sleeping, etc. Postings were made from Babbacombe to