大象传媒

The last six months of 1940 were extremely important from a national point of view, encompassing the Battle of Britain and the night bombing of London and other cities. On the other hand the life of a Second Lieutenant in General Montgomery鈥檚 new Army being re-organised in rural Hampshire although comfortable was very boring. Nothing seemed to be happening and no policy appeared to be filtering through to Junior Officers. It was comfortable enough because all the Officers鈥� living and sleeping quarters were located in large requisitioned Country Houses, and everyone had a personal Batman/Driver as in pre-war times.

During this time decided that did not really like the Army and was probably unsuited to it. This was in spite of unexpectedly being promoted to Acting Captain with welcome associated pay rise. A bit depressed too, as had been separated from the two original volunteer friends dating back to September 1939. Selfishly this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as they had been posted to North Africa, were captured at Tobruk, and spent the rest of the War as prisoners in Germany.

These thoughts led to a fortunate occurrence. As part of the Defence Programme, a Duty Officer had to sit in the Commanding Officer鈥檚 office all night to deal with any messages, and to organise the ringing of local church bells if any invasion took place. On one such night, to relieve boredom, took to reading all the current Army Council Instructions, and other documents, and came across one inviting Army Officers to transfer to the Royal Air Force. The latter were of course the heroes of the day, so filled in the form and presented it to the C.O. the following day. He was a regular R.A.S.C. Major, and absolutely furious. He had clearly had no intention of publicising the document, and in any case would tell his friends at the War Office to stop it.

In fact nothing happened for several months, until out of the blue came an instruction that the applicant should report to the Air Force Board in Oxford to undergo medical tests and interview with a selection committee. This sudden instruction did not, on the face of it, come at a very auspicious time. Only a few days previously, had been discharged from an Army Hospital in Winchester after a short stay suffering from some debilitating form of dysentery. Not the best preparation for dealing with notoriously rigorous R.A.F. medicals, and the situation was compounded by an act of personal stupidity. Passing through London, fell in with some Service acquaintances, and agreed to join them in a series of evening parties. These unfortunately carried on all night, and as a result caught an extremely early train to Oxford, arriving there in pretty indifferent condition before 7am. Repaired to the Randolph Hotel, remembered from Schoolday Half Terms, for restorative bath and breakfast and reported at designated Oxford College at 9am. This proved to be a trifle early. No sign of medical people, but was given a card with all the required tests listed for signature by the appropriate departments.

Having nothing better to do, wandered round the College and eventually opened large important-looking door. Horrified to be faced by a long table occupied by about 10 R.A.F. Officers. Hasty apologies, etc., but the most senior one disclosed that they were the Board who would interview the candidates after they had passed all the medicals. On the other hand, they could proceed immediately if there were no objections. Questions proceeded. No problems: Education, Service to date, etc. But then one of the more junior members suddenly asked why the candidate wanted to join the R.A.F. The candidate really had no idea, but still feeling rather relaxed, replied simply that he had done two years in the Army. There were barely suppressed smiles all round; the candidate got his form signed at the bottom by the Chairman, and was advised that he need not come back, provided he passed all the medicals. These followed for the rest of the morning. No trouble, heart, lungs and other physical details all passed muster. Finally, last on the list, Eyes. No imperfections, squints, etc were found. Long distance 鈥渟ee like a hawk鈥�, night vision 鈥渓ike a cat鈥�. And then 鈥揇ISASTER: Was given a page of a book. Took one look at it and gave it back. Admitted that could not see anything unusual. Declared to be colour blind, which was death for anyone trying to join the R.A.F. for flying duties. To prove the examiner鈥檚 point, was given a pencil, marked one of the small circles on the page, and was told to connect it up with any adjoining circle of like colour. Eventually the pencil ended up where it started, and there was revealed a large and depressingly clear figure of 8. There followed much protestation. It seemed unfair to fail at the very last item especially as had already obtained the Board鈥檚 signed approval. This latter probably saved the day, as following further consultations with additional Medical Staff, was put in a totally dark room and subjected to a series of coloured lights of varying size and intensity. Some of the more obvious ones were successfully identified and eventually one of the Medical people produced a formula that described the candidate as Colour Defective/Safe. In retrospect it seems difficult to understand how anyone can reach the age of 24 without discovering colour-blindness.

The first hurdle towards transferring into the R.A.F. had thus been overcome. A change was over the horizon, but there was a long way to go yet.

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