大象传媒

This story has been added to the People's War website by Micheline Stevens on behalf of Nick Berryman with his permission. Nick fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

By 1943 the air war was beginning to turn in favour of the Allies and although enemy aircraft was constantly a threat and not to be taken lightly, the pitched battles over Southern Britain were in the main, no more.

The Battle of Britain had been won with the loss of 500 odd Allied fighter pilots 鈥� the Czechoslovakians, Poles, French and a few Americans who had opted to put their lives at risk in the cause of hoped for freedom from Nazi German occupation. Together, but exhausted, the 鈥渇ew鈥� had triumphed. Now it was the turn of newly trained pilots, ably led by the survivors who in the main were pilots pre-1940.

I was privileged to be chosen as one of the pilot newcomers to war. London born and educated and at 17 years of age working in a London bank, I decided to join my friends in the forces. Not wishing to die with a bayonet in my guts or drown at sea, I chose to fly. It should have been the Fleet Air Arm but the recruiting office was 鈥榗losed for lunch鈥�!

Learning to obey orders, march and learn Morse Code and navigation very nearly put paid to my aspirations but the Air Force was short of pilots and the nation decided to take the risk and train me to be one! With my contemporaries I consider it was the luck of the draw as to whether we volunteers were to be trained as either pilot, navigator or wireless operator/gunner. Candidly although I scraped through the initial tests as to aerial abilities I would have pitied any bomber crew who landed up with me either as W/Op or Navigator! The powers that be must somehow have sensed this and together with many compatriots, in October 1941 I was put on a troop ship and dispatched to Canada and on to the USA. Thanks to the understanding between President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, the USA was to train British boys to be pilots although they themselves were a neutral country. Learning US Army air force discipline in Florida and Alabama was not easy for me, as having suffered food shortages, bombings etc in London I considered they went a bit 鈥榦ver the top鈥�. Consequently my early training with USAF was not exactly to their liking 鈥� however at that time they were dispensing with about 60% of those of us with pilot aspirations. For me sheer luck played such a part that a newly opened British Flying Training School in Texas had me flying again with a week but this time with British discipline and rules I blossomed into some sort of acceptability to the Royal Air Force. After many flying adventures during my training and 180 hours experience I found myself graduating, given my prized 鈥渨ings鈥� and wearing sergeant鈥檚 stripes to be despatched to Canada where I climbed aboard a troop ship again and arrived in England on September 1st 1942. I was immediately commissioned and after a few more training hours to accustom newly trained pilots to the British countryside and weather I was sent to fly hurricanes and spitfires in English Squadrons 鈥� later to fly Lysanders, defiants and Supermarine walrus 鈥� an amphibian on search and rescue duties which proved to be far more demanding and perilous than flying the fighters 鈥� but that is all another story!

Incidentally my last flying job in WW2 was as a Flying Instructor for the Royal Air Force College Cranwell 鈥� something must have changed!!

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