大象传媒

These photographs were taken by me when commissioned in the RAF Photographic Branch and stationed at Worcester, where the headquarters of 81 Group Fighter Command were located in the former workhouse. This was only temporary and later moved to a much more luxurious country home in the Cotswolds.

The airfield seen here with this two-seater light aircraft was at Worcester and the boys struggling to fit flying gear were members of the local corps, anxious to get their first taste of adventure in the air.

The pilot in this case was a volunteer to take them in turn for their first experience of circuits and bumps. Before volunteering for the RAF he was a bank clerk and later volunteered for operational flying with very rapid promotion and responsibility for a new style of independent command.

By this time we had landed in France in strength and established operational airfields.

There followed a particularly tragic occurrence. The news came unofficially, now a Wing Commander, no longer giving joyrides to schoolboys, he took a passenger seat home to get married.

At this time, although we had successfully invaded the continent, we had not cleaned up the last remaining groups of active German troops. They fired at every passing aircraft. My good friend was on board as a passenger and was killed. His name and rank are in the records, no point in recording them here. The girl waiting at home to marry him would now only revive those tragic memories.

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