大象传媒

My WW2 experiences are in two halves: there are no acts of heroism on my part but, looking back, I believe that, as a young man, my experiences taught me to cope with whatever circumstances I found myself in. This stood me in good stead for the remainder of my working life.

For the first half of the war, as a civilian, I was confronted with far more danger than I experienced during the remainder of the war with the Fleet Air Arm (see Part 2 of my story for People鈥檚 War).

I left Bishop Wordsworth鈥檚 School in Salisbury in 1938 at the age of 18 to become an apprentice in the aircraft industry at Folland Aircraft, Hamble, Southampton. The factory, on the shores of Southampton water, was already gearing up to a wartime level of production.

When the war started, semi-skilled and unskilled workers swelled the workforce. One group was from London Transport, all previously coachbuilders and another was made up of most of the professional footballers of the Southampton and Portsmouth Football Clubs. (It did not impress me to realise that they had probably joined us to escape the call-up but at least we saw some good football at lunchtimes!) Although I was still only a second-year apprentice, I found myself teaching some of my new鈥攆ound comrades some new skills. The engineering 鈥榯olerances鈥� of the aircraft industry are strict and very precise and the coachbuilders were not used to working to accuracies of one thousand of an inch.

There were two very interesting projects. The first was when the company took on the task of building Beaufort Torpedo Bombers from salvaged parts of crashed aircraft. It was very rewarding to see completed Beauforts being flown away for further war service. The pilots were often women of the Air Transport Auxiliary. It was often my responsibility to strap these handsome young ladies into their parachutes.

The second project was when the Government decided to convert some Spitfires into seaplanes. Three brand new aircraft were flown down from Castle Bromwich to Hamble. We had to remove the undercarriages and replace them with floats, which we had already fabricated.

At one stage during the project, I was sent to the Bristol Aeroplane Company at Collerne, near Bath to find out how to fit different propellers to these modified Spitfires. Subsequently, I fitted these new propellers under the watchful eye of Les Hill, our Aircraft Inspector, who in fact had never seen a propeller fitted before. It was another very rewarding job to take them down the slipway to the water and to see them flown by Geoffrey Quill, the famous Vickers test pilot.

Although we worked very long hours at the factory, I was able to join the Home Guard. For some of our duties we spent nights on guard duty around the factory. By doing 2 hours on and 4 hours off, it was possible to get some sleep and still cope with aircraft work. (Whilst doing this guard duty, I managed to develop the technique of going to sleep, standing up, leaning against a gatepost!)

The greater danger from the skies during these periods of guard duties was not from a German parachutist, but from shrapnel of the nearby Ack-Ack guns firing at the enemy planes overhead. I shall always remember the distinctive swishing noise followed by the thud of the falling shrapnel.

The CO of our Home Guard Company was Major Newton who had been an officer in the first war. He was the image of 鈥楧ad鈥檚 Army鈥檚 Captain Mainwaring and took the duties of command very seriously. One night on parade, he saw us laughing about something and shouted 鈥淪top grinning it鈥檚 a sign of nervousness鈥�. I later became a Sergeant in the Company (I like to think I was no Sgt. Wilson!)

As the risk of invasion had faded, our Home Guard Company retrained to man, one night a week, the Ack-Ack rocket battery at Weston-Shore near Southampton. This unit consisted of about 30 rocket launchers, each manned by two men. On being given the height and orientation of the approaching enemy aircraft, the fuses would be set on the two missiles. After firing, the feet and legs of the crews were engulfed in billowing flames! Fortunately the flames did not penetrate our army clothing. Had the Ack-Ack rocket weapon system been introduced earlier in the war, many more Luftwaffe aircraft would have been downed.

In 1940, daylight air raids were very frequent in the Southampton and Portsmouth area When we had to evacuate the factory, it was very tempting to watch the enemy aircraft being attacked by the RAF fighters or to watch the shell-bursts of the Ack-Ack guns. On one such raid, on September 26th 1940, the Vickers Supermarine factory at Woolston near Southampton was virtually destroyed, causing loss of life to some of the workers. A female acquaintance of mine at that time who had been working there escaped. This was just as well as we have been married now for 57 years - but that鈥檚 her story to tell.

Loss of sleep during night raids was quite a problem because everyone had to go to work the following day as usual. I often slept outside in the nearby park under trees, as they offered a certain amount of protection from falling shrapnel. One big air raid, on November 30th 1940, finally caught up with me. I went to the cinema 鈥� the Regal in the High Street, Southampton. Just after the film started, about 7.00 pm, the siren sounded and bombs were heard falling. The film carried on until all the lights went out. Most of the audience stayed inside as it was too risky to run the 200 yards to the shelters in the park. A lull in the bombing enabled us to go there, about 10.00 pm. . We stayed until the 鈥榓ll-clear鈥� at about 2.00 am.

As I left the shelter in the dark that morning and walked up the High Street between the burning shops, I saw that the only two buildings that had escaped were the Regal Cinema we had been in and, mercifully also, the 鈥淪ussex Arms鈥� Pub opposite. Further up the High Street I had a shock. In the light of the fires, I could see ahead four naked female bodies lying on the grass verge (a new experience for me at age 19!). What a great relief - as I drew closer, I could see that they were actually shop window dummies blown out of a nearby ladies outfitters and now a heap of rubble!

People became quite blas茅 about air raids eventually. I remember being on the top of a double-decker bus in Hamble Lane when a stick of 5 bombs fell in a field 100 yards from us. The driver ignored it and carried on at his 30 mph to Hamble, completely unperturbed.

In 1942, I made a career change and joined the Fleet Air Arm. These experiences are recorded separately in Part 2 for Peoples鈥橶ar

Footnote: The Kohl Brothers
I often wonder what happened to two German brothers (one called Otto) who were at the Bishop Wordsworth Grammar School, Salisbury at the same time as I was. They left in great haste in 1938 as the storm clouds gathered. Did they survive the war? I hope so.

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