A Very Unusual Air War (35 page)

2 September
: I cannot remember much about the harness. Apart from light aircraft – Phoenix, Magister, etc. – we always wore a parachute that buckled at the front. The metal tags on the safety straps pushed into spring-loaded slots in a circular box. The straps were released by turning the front face of the box through 45° and striking it with the heel or palm of the hand.

As I said earlier, Merlin-engined aircraft, the Spitfire, Hurricane and Defiant, suffered the disadvantage of loss of power under negative ‘G’ Various temporary expedients were tried and it took a long time to catch up with the Luftwaffe’s fuel injection system.

4 September
: After visits to some of the 11 Group fighter stations made famous in the Battle of Britain, Command decided that the 190 should continue with demonstrations at OTUs, PR Units and some light bomber airfields.

5 September
: Benson was a most interesting visit. The 190 evoked the usual interest from all personnel but here I had the pleasure and honour to meet Air Commodore Sir John Boothman, the AOC (Air Officer Commanding) PRU. He was a member of the pre-war Schneider Trophy team. He was most interested in the 190 and spent some time sitting in the cockpit while I explained things. He asked whether it would be possible to fly it during my visit but fully understood my position when I told him about the Air Ministry letter. As I was sure that an exception would be made, I suggested that his adjutant telephone the Air Ministry. Of course, there was no hesitation in granting his request.

I then had the pleasure of giving him further instruction and off he went, to return some time later and make a perfect landing. He thanked me most profusely and allowed me to fly any PRU aircraft of my choice. Again, I missed the chance to fly a Mossie but I did fly a PRU Mark XI Spitfire. With no guns and polished, it was a joy, reckoned to be so fast and able to fly so high that it could not be caught.

6 September
: The end of another week on detachment.

8 September
: Another first flight. The little Percival Proctor was a small 4-seater cabin plane, used for training and communications.

15 September
: The Station Commander at RAF Rednal was Group Captain Richard Atcherley, one of identical twins, both Group Captains in the RAF. They were well known for their practical jokes, often at the expense of the gate guards. Richard, too, said he would like to fly the 190 but accepted my refusal with good grace. He survived the war but was lost some years later when crossing the Mediterranean flying a Meteor. Rednal was a fighter Operational Training Unit, so my dogfight would have been versus Harvards.

16 September
: Oh dear! Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary and I was off on another week of detached duty. I managed to sneak back to Wittering in the Oxford and have a night at Easton with Estelle after all.

19 September
: During this flight to Eshott the engine of the Focke Wulf started to run rougher than usual; compared with a Merlin, it always felt rough. Despite the efforts of my ground crew, they failed to cure the trouble and the next flight in the Oxford to Wittering was to fetch an ignition harness that had been stripped from a crashed aircraft. This was fitted to PM679 but failed to effect any improvement. Rather than using a ‘Queen Mary’ road transport, which meant dismantling the 190. I volunteered to fly it back to Wittering a few days later, on the 26th, following a route and height which kept me within gliding distance of one of the many airfields on the route. Fortunately, the BMW 801 engine kept running and I landed safely and very relieved at Wittering. When the engine was dismantled, a hole the size of a half-crown (nearly 2 inches) was found in the crown of one of the pistons.

23 September
: The L2C was actually a Seafire of the Fleet Air Arm, courtesy of NAFDU, and is correctly named in the second entry.

It was difficult and tiring to hold a 3G tight turn, hence the short flights.

25 September
: F/O Gough was second in command of 1426 and he came with me to Escott to offer help with the 190 and fly as escort back to Wittering.

27 October
: I cannot remember why I did so little flying this month. It may have been bad weather or the time I spent in the Officers’ Hospital at Ely, under observation for a touch of stomach trouble. The continuing engine trouble with the FW190 obviously curtailed my flying programme severely.

After several short changes of O/C Flying, during which I often had to perform that function, Squadron Leader T.S. Wade took over the appointment and remained with AFDU until the end of the European war. Trevor Wade, from his build, was always known as Wimpy, in reference to the shape of the Wellington bomber, also nicknamed the Wimpy, both, I believe, taken from a cartoon character, J. Wellington Wimpy, in an American comic strip.

Trevor Wade, Wimpy, was a terrific character himself; someone should have written a book about him. He was, without doubt, the best aerobatic pilot I ever met. On bad weather days, he would perform over the airfield at very low level and we all turned out to watch. It was said that, when his wife was in a local nursing home awaiting the arrival of their first baby, he gave them a show that caused several ladies to give birth then and there. We became good friends and when their baby was christened at the Wittering Chapel, Estelle and I were guests. No baby had his head wetted as thoroughly as that one.

The district around the airfield, which bordered the Burghley estate, abounded with game, which we shot at every opportunity. On one occasion, Wimpy and I were driving in a lane just outside the boundary fence poaching, with some success, when we were caught by a gamekeeper, who bravely attempted to stop us. Wimpy kept going and the man hurriedly moved aside. This occurrence was duly reported to the Unit Commanding Officer, Allan Wright. He had us up on the carpet but, of course, we denied any knowledge of the matter and so it was duly reported back.