大象传媒

PART 2
RAF PILOT TRAINING IN WW2
THE STORY OF GEOFF WRIGHT,
EGYPT TO BULAWAYO

3.3.45 Sat.
We disembarked at Port Said at 11.30 am. by means of boards laid over a series of empty petrol tanks. Sweating beneath the weight of our full packs and kit-bags we went straight on to the train which was on the quay beside the ship.
I was suffering from stomach trouble, a cross between acute diarrhoea and severe constipation.

The train was quite decent for the Egyptian State Railways, and although it was only third class we at least had wooden seats. We even had a crude lavatory on board - a hole in the floor with a tap. The train drew right up to the ship which was anchored on the side of the Suez Canal.

After dumping our kit on the train we located a NAAFI on the line side, but as we had no money except English currency we were in a pickle. Luckily the tea was free, and the NAAFI, or EFI as it is called, gave us a free bun. After chugging up and down the line for half an hour, with hordes of Arabs aged 7 to 70 screaming at us from behind the wire fence, we set off on the first stage of our journey to Cairo. Not fast enough however to prevent some of those disreputable WOGS from climbing on board with fruit and leather goods for sale (and dirty postcards).

After searching through my purse I found a 10/- note which one of them changed for me. I bought a wallet and a cigarette case as well as some oranges. All the time we were travelling alongside the canal one of the ships we saw was a Free French battle cruiser called the "Valeur". The chief thing I remember about it was that it鈥檚 funnel was square and tilted at 45 degrees.

Occasionally we saw camels toiling in the fields and asses carrying huge loads on their weak looking backs. Also there were oxen turning the age old water wheels which irrigate the precious soil. Most of the view however consisted of bare sand except for pear shaped cacti lining the rail side. After about two hours we came to Ismailia and by now we had dislodged most of the Arabs. They were a surprising set of rogues, and you could tell they had been amongst the 51st Division because many spoke English with a Scotch accent. I remember very little of Ismailia except for tall tumble down tenements and mud walled slums.

We turned west here away from the canal and headed for El Suq-a-Suq. Now the countryside was beginning to get a little greener to the north of us, but it still seemed very precariously verdant. The WOGS had gone and it was comparatively peaceful and warm. It hardly seemed credible that 14 days ago I was watching the dome of the library at Liverpool disappear as we backed down the Mersey. At El-Suq-a-Suq we had free tea and a hard ship鈥檚 biscuit. I also had a banana to eat, my first for five years, but I can鈥檛 say I was over thrilled by this war time delicacy.

We journeyed on and now the country side was coated in luxurious green. A road ran alongside the track and we passed every conceivable form of transport from the ancient camel to the latest American car. Eventually the lights of Cairo appeared and after 15 minutes we found ourselves drawing into Bab Al-Hadid (The Iron Gate). We were loaded on to a lorry, and by being rather crafty I managed to get into the cab beside the driver. Just my luck! He was a very broad Scotsman aand I couldn't understand a word he said.

Eventually we reached 22 P.D.C., Heliopolis, without running into any of the numerous nightshirted WOGS strewn in our path. We were given tents and after a quick supper and a scrounge round for beds and hurricane lamps we went to sleep until 6 o鈥檆lock next morning.

4.3.45 Sun.
I鈥檓 in Heliopolis, Egypt, although the atmosphere is just the same as that to be found in any RAF camp in Blighty. It鈥檚 hot this morning and we parade at 8.30 for "gen". The so-called "gen" is forthcoming and we are told that we shall all move within a week. Actually it was ten days and my name was second from last on the list, but I鈥檓 getting used to that now. At this camp there is a parade every evening at 8.00 pm for Air Movements, and this meant we had to lounge away the day time and see Cairo late in the evening.

I went into Cairo after a scramble for my pass which stated that I was a Liberator Pilot. I wonder if that鈥檚 an omen. In Cairo all the shops were closed so we just walked around the town, called in at the YMCA, and caught the tram back to camp. And what a tram! There鈥檚 not one in England to touch them except possibly the Green Goddesses of Liverpool. They are cut down to 45 mph in wartime to prevent accidents, but in pre-war years they touched 60 mph.

5.3.45 Mon.
Some of the chaps flew to Rhodesia this evening, but I didn鈥檛. I was on guard. They gave me a mile of wire fencing to cast my protective eye over, and with the aid of Larry Durrans I passed a fitful night. I wish that guy wouldn鈥檛 talk so much. I was positively rude to him but he gabbled on incessantly. Before the sun set I wrote to Winnie.

6.3.45 Tue.
Day off today, but confined to camp until 8 pm because of those blasted Air Movements. When we eventually did get down to Cairo we had supper in the Tedder Club. For 9 piastres we had 3 eggs and chips and iced fruit salad. Afterwards we wandered around the town, but all I can remember is a shop in which sundry workers aged from 10 to 60 were making leather belts and similar goods, The front of the shop was open and some of the work was actually being done on the pavement. Clearest in my mind is the smile of a cherubic little boy threading strips of rawhide down the edge of a wide hide belt.

7.3.45 Wed.
Wash day today, but my efforts with no soap flakes and cold water were only partially successful. But even if they didn鈥檛 look clean they felt more comfortable.
In the evening we had supper in the Tedder club. My chief memory of the evening is a visit to a low nightclub called the "Sweet Melody". We arrived at the entrance about 10.30 pm to find the place locked and barred, but by surreptitious enquiries we discovered that there was a back entrance. However further progress was barred by the presence of two amiable S.P鈥檚 who strongly recommended us not to enter, in fact they forbade us to. However, undaunted, we hung around for a few minutes and eventually a waiter opened the door and called in the S.P.鈥檚 to deal with a little trouble between some of the soldiers inside. We nipped in smartly behind the S.P.鈥檚 and found ourselves in this disreputable den.

There was a band screeching behind a barrier ten feet tall, and we soon saw the reason for the ten feet. Luckily we had struck on a quiet night, but bottles were liable to fly any minute, and the GIRLS - well words can鈥檛 describe them. They were the most horrible mixture of low bred natives it was possible to meet. One couple in particular were simulating the nearest approach to seduction that I think is possible with your clothes on, and one or two more were halfway there. We had arrived at the end of the so-called cabaret show, so after a short while the place closed and we made our way back to camp, considerably enlightened.

8.3.45 Thu.
Put quite a large part of the Egyptian desert into sand bags today, and with them built a wall round a tent. I was considerably bucked up by a sing-song we had with some RAF Regiment lads in the NAAFI at night. They had just come back from a pretty tough time in Greece, and their opinion of the people in England who deprecated their actions was pretty low. That鈥檚 not surprising when you consider that the ELA rebels slit the stomachs of 150 women and girls, and marched prisoners and hostages barefoot into the mountains. Even little children were taught to use hand grenades and captured one particular H.Q. on their own. In one other instance the girls who had been amusing and sleeping with the officers at another H.Q. were the ones who later captured the place.

9.3.45 Fri.
I鈥檓 a dustman today and, together with six other bodies, picked up rubbish from alongside the road down by the Sick Quarters and took it about a mile into the desert on a lorry and dumped it. On the way we passed about 50 yards from some wild dogs. They look like brownish white terriers and make a horrible noise barking at night.

My hopes were raised when I was told to get my kit weighed this afternoon but it turned out to be a false alarm.

10.3.45 Sat.
The only thing worth recording today was the meal in the Tedder Club. We 鈥榟ave become well known to one particular waiter and by surreptitious tipping we receive double helpings of everything. We only paid 6 piastres plus 5 piastres tip and this is what we had.
Soup
Roast lamb, cauliflower and white sauce, peas and roast potatoes.
Wild strawberry trifle
Ice-cream, coffee and rolls.

11.3.45 Sun.
Day off today, but we were disillusioned. We were detailed on the 9 o鈥檆lock parade for the job of putting up tents for some paratroopers who were expected that night. We worked like slaves until 1300 hrs and then the CO kindly gave us the afternoon off. As usual my name wasn鈥檛 called out this evening and I was so cheesed off that after supper in the NAAFI I went to bed.

12.3.45 Mon.
Continued putting up tents all morning, but I was so tired by lunch-time that I didn鈥檛 go on parade at two o鈥檆lock. Let some of the other lazy devils do some work. My patience was at last rewarded this evening as I was the last name to be called for flying down to Bulawayo tomorrow morning.

13.3.45 Tue.
I should be unusually excited this morning, but for some peculiar reason RAF life stifles ordinary enthusiasm and you are liable to become a semi-automaton taking events with a sort of docile acquiescence.

We were called at 4.00 am and after scrambling half asleep for breakfast we loaded ourselves up like pack mules and reported to the Movements Office. At 5.00 am a lorry drew up and after throwing our kit in the back we climbed aboard for the short ride to Almaza aerodrome. Then came the most annoying part of the day. We found that we were not scheduled to depart until 8.00 am and for three hours we stood around like lost sheep until the captain of our aircraft ordered us aboard.

At last we were about to begin our journey across Africa, and after warming up his engines, the captain taxied out the Dakota to the runway. In a few minutes 22 PDC was rapidly disappearing behind us as we headed down the Nile. The Giza pyramids were visible to starboard but soon all traces of civilisation practically disappeared and the only signs of human beings were solitary dhows tacking upstream against the breeze.

We stopped once for fuel at Wadi Halfa and after a short rest took off again. The ground was still barren, but along the Nile occasional patches of cultivation could be seen showing dark against the lighter sand. Eventually reached Khartoum at 14.00 hrs where we were to spend the night. The weather becomes very bumpy in the afternoon and if possible aircraft stay on the ground then. I didn鈥檛 see any of the town as I was stony broke. I couldn鈥檛 even pay for a mug of NAAFI lemonade in the airmen鈥檚 mess. We saw these WOGS with a pail of lemonade and naturally though it was free. So we filled our mugs and then spent an embarrassing ten minutes explaining our pecuniary circumstances.

The heat seemed terrific although it was really a cool day for the district. We were billeted in huts made of woven straw and they were miraculously cool. We saw a C Type flying boat land on the Nile. After tea I had what seemed to me the most wonderful swim I have ever had, and after reading for a while (Lady Chatterley鈥檚 Lover - unabridged version bought by a friend in Cairo), I went to sleep.

14.3.45 Wed
Up with the lark at 04.30 hrs and airborne at 6.00 hrs. Today our destination is Kisumu in Kenya. A short while after taking off a great difference was noticeable on the ground. From the height at which we were flying it looked as if the whole area had been daubed with great streaks of lumpy brown paint. When we came lower we saw that it was grass and trees, and more marvellous than that, we saw a herd of wild elephants, thirty strong, feeding in the bush. Also there were various kinds of deer roaming in their natural state. We had engine trouble at Juba and stayed for three hours. It鈥檚 the hottest place I have ever been to, and at night lions and leopards roam over the camp and elephants roar in the distance. The guards are posted on top of the aircraft hangars for safety. We were told that the RAF staff had a pet lion and one day a lion decided to lie down on the runway. A corporal was despatched to remove their pet, gave it a kick and then realised it was not their pet lion. It was as surprised as the corporal. We finally reached Kisumu on Lake Victoria at 17.00 hrs. (2000 miles from Cairo) and bedded down for the night in a straw hut with lizards scuttling through the thatched roof.

15.3.45 Thu
Took off at 07.00 hrs on the last stage of our trip to Bulawayo. There was a wonderful sunrise over Lake Victoria silhouetted against the dusky blue of the surrounding mountains, and the wonderful green of the grasses and unfamiliar trees surpassed the most glorious Technicolour. We left Lake Victoria after an hours flying. The trees are getting denser and have more of the aspect of semi-jungle, with here and there forbidding swamps. We touched down at Intava which was more like England than anything I鈥檝e seen so far. We are now in Rhodesia and our next stop is Bulawayo. We landed there in a rain storm, the last rain we were to see for several months.

16.3.45 Fri
We have been billeted at the Hillside camp in Bulawayo. After being inoculated I volunteered for fighter pilot training. We were allowed out of camp at 16.00 hrs. and I spent half my pay buying a pair of shorts (19/6d) and various fruits.

17.3.45 Sat
Took some photographs of the boys today outside our hut. If they come out they should be pretty good, especially the one of me falling from a tree. We went swimming at three o鈥檆lock, but unfortunately the sun decided to go in and it was quite chilly. After tea we had a drink and then saw Gordon Harker in "The Return of the Frog".

18.3.45 Sun
Went to the Methodist Chapel at the junction of Main Street and 11th Avenue. Quite a homely service and exactly the same as in England. What appealed to me most was the electronic organ.
In the afternoon we went to the Municipal swimming baths and had a grand time until five o鈥檆lock. After coming back to the camp to change and have tea, I went to chapel again. After the service I spent a pleasant hour chatting with an Oxford girl.

19.3.45 Mon
CO鈥檚 Passing out parade at 09.00 hrs. Went off with no apparent hitch and was followed by the usual pep talk. We were allowed out after lunch and Sid Wybrow and I went down town to buy a couple of films. After considerable wandering about I eventually bought two and at 16.00 hrs we went to the swimming pool. It was rather cool and there wasn鈥檛 much sun, but Ken took a photo of Sid and I diving into the pool. Afterwards we managed to scrape up enough money for tea in the Services club and returned to camp. I was extremely tired and got into bed at 9 o鈥檆lock.

22.3.45 Thu.
Posted to No 22 S.F.T.S. Thornhill for four weeks awaiting transfer to No. 26 E.F.T.S. Guinea Fowl. Sid and I were allocated to the Gunnery section and spent our time processing and analysing cine film from gunnery exercises.

NO MORE ENTRIES IN DIARY UNTIL 20th April, 1945 .
POSTED TO GUINEA FOWL.
END OF PART 2

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