大象传媒

I joined the Navy in May 1939 and left in October 1958. In the Fleet Air Arm, every time we serviced or did a major service on an aircraft we had to fly. As a Fitter I had to sign a form, the form 700, and I was not allowed to sign it until I had been there so many weeks. First time I signed it the aircraft didn鈥檛 come back. It had been out on an anti-submarine patrol over the Orkney Islands and just didn鈥檛 return, rather difficult for me at the time.

We used to raid places in Norway mainly. I remember some of our pilots on the way back would lower the deck hook and try and catch telephone wires as they flew over town. One of our pilots was a very small chap so small that he had wooden blocks and oh yes, he used to fly with a kitten under his jacket. Why? They were all young. We lost quite a lot of aircraft up there. We lost 2 Fulmar fighters and I think 11 or 12 Albacore bomber aircraft. The Fulmar was theoretically a fighter, I say theoretically because it was hopeless. It was slow, cumbersome, awkward. I finished up getting literally a Tommy gun. Like you used to see in the movies with American gangsters.

You always had to work, nature of aircraft maintenance. If a plane just sits there it decides well I鈥檓 not feeling very well and then it goes unserviceable. In rough weather had to double lash, one time we had an aircraft break free and you鈥檝e got 6 tonnes of aeroplane rolling around.

I remember one time one time in Gibraltar one of our sister ships, called the HMS Avenger, sunk on the way home and there were 10 survivors. The Navy would always make the senior survivor attend a court of enquiry and this time the senior survivor was a petty officer air mechanic. He went down to London and they asked him, 鈥淲hy do you think the ship went down so quickly?鈥�, and he responded 鈥渂 b b b (by then he was stuttering I might add because this was the second ship that had gone down with him on it) 鈥渂 b because its no bloody good.鈥�

When the war had finished I鈥檇 only been abroad for 9, I think 10, months so I wasn鈥檛 allowed to come back home too early and they sent me ashore in Sydney, Australia, there to do maintenance to the aircraft in the twin engine communication squadron. I didn鈥檛 return to England until the following May.

Led a normal service life after that, met my wife Lyn. Although I was a bit鈥�..If the door banged I jumped, suppose really we were all to some extent like that.

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