大象传媒

In 1940 I volunteered in Romford, hopefully to get into the navy. However, they were not recruiting for the navy so the officers suggested the R.A.F. I would have preferred the navy as most of my friends joined the Royal Navy.

I was then sent to Uxbridge for induction for a few weeks and then I was sent off to Felixstowe for six weeks of 鈥渟quare bashing鈥�.

Following this I was sent to Hednesford (Staffs) for technical training, for approximately nine months. I was then a qualified flight mechanic. From there I was posted to Newtonards (Northern Ireland) to a Lysander Squadron, where I stayed for nine months or so. Being a mobile squadron we often had to sleep rough. At one time we were placed in a rat infested disused soap factory and the rats would run over and across our beds at night. It was quite frightening!

From there I was posted to Cosworth (Staffs) for a fitter鈥檚 course and after passing out I was posted again to West Kirby (Liverpool) ready for embarkation. The draft I was in was kitted out for a hot climate shorts and top etc. However, at this stage I caught a sever throat infection and I ended up in hospital being fed through a teapot, and I had to be taken off the draft.

I was placed on the next draft and travelled to Gourock (Scotland) to board a troop ship which was the Louis Pasteur, a modern troop whip with sealed sections. Each section housed twenty or so people and in an emergency each section could be sealed and isolated from the rest. In this way I the ship was hit/damaged, that Section could be isolated and the damage contained in a small area.

After a five day journey we landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We found ourselves on a Royal Canadian Air force base. The planes Avro-Ansens and Airspeed Oxfords, now had to be reassembled after their journey from the U.K. The reason for these planes being in Canada was to train pilots and navigators and to set up flying training schools. I was sent to No 37 School of Flying Training in Calgary, Alberta.

I was there for two years and kept abreast with events in England through letters exchanged with family and friends. I took the opportunity when I got leave to visit Banff and Salt Lake City. The Canadian people were very hospitable and welcomed us into 6their homes. Then I was sent to an American army base to wait for the Queen Mary to be made ready to take us back to England

As far as I can recollect there were 10.000 American soldiers and a sprinkling of RAF personnel on board. This was prior to the build up to D-day.

Once back in England I finished up in Swinderby (Lincs). During this time I was with a conversion unit working with Lancaster bombers. One evening whilst I was on duty crew, I had orders from Flying Control to turn a Lancaster 鈥渋nto wind鈥�. The aircraft was pulled onto the perimeter track and was in the process of repositioning when it was struck by a lorry. The Lancaster had to be written off and an Air Ministry enquiry followed. I was admonished for it having no navigation lights on although it was barely dusk.

One day I cycled into Lincoln and I had my cycle stolen and subsequently received a telephone call from the police, to tell me that they were disposing of all the cycles in their store and would I like to come down to Lincoln to see if I could identify my bike. Unfortunately my bike was not there and although I could have said one of them was mine, I resisted the temptation.

Like everybody else I was glad when Peace was declared and I could get away from all the service personnel around the Newark and Lincoln area at this time.

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