- Contributed byÌý
- Angela Ng
- People in story:Ìý
- Mr Bell
- Location of story:Ìý
- Far East
- Background to story:Ìý
- Royal Air Force
- Article ID:Ìý
- A4436895
- Contributed on:Ìý
- 12 July 2005
i'm a pupil from Prudhoe Community High School, Northumberland, entering Mr Bell's story onto the website, and they fully understand the website terms and conditions of use.
I was 15 when the war broke out, so was too young to fight. I went to work in the Post Office as a messenger boy because I had a bicycle. As soon as I was 17 I wanted to enlist to join the armed forces. I chose the RAF (Royal Air Force) and it was compulsory to take a written entry test. I remember that one of the questions was name all the counties in Britain, but we all knew that this question was asked so we had learnt them all — I can still remember them today!
Soon after my 18th birthday, I was called up to start my training as a pilot. I had not been living with my family, so was not homesick and, at first, thought it would be a great adventure. However, I soon began to realise the difficulties and disasters of war, most of the pilots who were killed were killed during the training period and not on active service.
In all, I was on active service for about 3 months. We were in the Far East, flying fighter bombers, which were called ‘Hurricanes’, over Japan. The plane would bomb an area and then we could machine gun it from the plane. I did find it frightening when we went out on a mission because the Japanese rarely took prisoners. If you were shot down, they would often shoot you straight away. Also, conditions in Japanese prisoner of war camps were infamous for the cruelty and poor standards. Although active service was difficult, I did love flying when I was off duty and appreciated the power of the fighter bomber.
Well D- day! Actually, it did not mean anything to me, this took place in Europe and I was in the Far East. Communication was poor and we only found out about it afterwards. VJ Day meant much more to my unit and signalled my return to civilian life. I think about those days but no, I’ve never been back to the places I flew over.
© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.
Recommended story
Story with photo