RAF Years

1938/1939

In September 1938 Dad left his job with R. Harris in Butcher Street for the RAF. He joined up on 30th September 1938 at No.1 RAF Depot Uxbridge, Middlesex. After completeing his 8 weeks basic training he was assigned to RAF Cosford, but before he left Uxbridge he was admitted to Princess Mary's Hospital 20 miles away at Halton, Bucks. He was in there for about a month but we don't know why for certain. I have a vague recollection that it might have been rheumatic fever, but I can't remember where that idea came from. He was discharged from hospital on 11th January 1939 and went back to Uxbridge.

The photograph below shows Dad with his squad after completing basic training. We have a postcard size copy of this photo with signatures on the back of the men in the picture. We have done some research into all their names and you can read brief biographical details of each man here.

On 10th February 1939 he went to the RAF School of Aeronautical Engineering at Henlow for six weeks, and then to No 4 School of Technical Training at St Athan, Glamorganshire for six months. After completing this training in airframe and engine fitting he was posted to No. 44 Squadron at RAF Waddington Lincolnshire on 5th October 1939, a month after the outbreak of War.

1939/1940

No. 44 Squadron was first formed during the First World War, and re-formed in March 1937, as a bomber squadron, moving to Waddington, where it was equipped initially with Bristol Blenheims and then later with Handley Page Hampdens. Waddington was an old World War One airfield first used by the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. It was rebuilt in 1937 with permanent hangars, and accommodation in preparation for the arrival of 44 Squadron. Waddington was one of many bases in the flat country in the East of England, ideally suited as the sites for bombers for attacking the European continent.

This photograph of a Hampden was taken at Waddington, and it includes possibly the whole of the squadron personnel including the ground crews. Is Dad there?

I think Dad had good memories of his time with 44 Squadron because he talked a lot about it, and the Hampden. But he wasn't there for long. In April 1940, after 6 months at Waddington, he moved to RAF Cottesmore in Rutland with number 14 Operational Training Unit.

1940/1941

14 OTU was formed at Cottesmore on 8th April 1940 to train night bomber crews. It was equipped with the Handley Page Hampden, and Handley Page Hereford. Dad joined the unit right at the time it was formed, bringing with him six months operational experience of the Hampden. He stayed with the unit for sixteen months, till September 1941. Cottesmore was another place that Dad spoke about a lot, and in fact he stayed longer at Cottesmore than any other base. He was closely involved with the Handley Page Hereford while he was here. The Hereford was a variant of the Hampden which was trialling a new engine, the Napier Dagger. Dad was posted to work at the Napier factory at Acton during September 1940, to receive instruction about the Dagger engine. Ultimately the Hereford was to prove unsuccessful due to the tendency of the Dagger engine to overheat. Here's a photo of a Hereford, and if you compare to the earlier photograph of a Hampden you can see the different shape of the engines.

So Dad had two summers at Cottesmore, 1940 and 1941, but in September 1941 there was a big change when he was sent to Canada as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

1941/1942

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) was an arrangement between Britain and Canada that Commonwealth aircrew would be trained in Canada, away from the war operations in the UK, and where there was plenty of space for airfields. It was a massive operation, all started from scratch in July 1940. During the course of the war 130,000 crewmen were trained at 150 sites in Canada, supported by over 100,000 ground crew and civilian staff.

Dad sailed from Greenock, on the Clyde on 5th September 1941 on board the SS Pasteur. The Pasteur was a modern passenger liner completed in 1939 just before the outbreak of war. She was immediately commandeered for war service. She was designed to carry 750 passengers but as a troopship she carried over 4000 troops on each voyage. So it would have been very cramped. But she did have one outstanding asset – a top speed of nearly 26 knots. She always travelled alone relying on her superior speed to avoid attack from U boats.

Unfortunately something went wrong very soon after leaving the Clyde, and she had to return to Greenock after spending a night in Loch Indaal, on the island of Islay. After repairs she sailed again from Greenock on 9th September, arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 15th September 1941. A journey that should have taken six days had taken ten days.

Here's a photograph of the Pasteur on one of many trips she made across the Atlantic as a troopship. This was taken on Sunday 5th September 1943, as she was approaching Norfolk, Virginia.

When Dad arrived at Halifax, he was posted to No. 37 Service Flying Training School in Calgary, which is as far from Halifax as Britain is from Canada. So for the next three days he was on a train journey from Halifax. There are various accounts of these long train journeys which involved many refreshment stops along the way where local people supplied home cooked food and fruit to the servicemen.

37 SFTS opened officially on 22 October, 1941. About 800 pilots received their wings at No. 37 SFTS during the War.

The number of Ground Staff at No. 37 SFTS usually numbered around 300 and the Flying Instructors and pilot students could number up to another 250.

No. 37 SFTS was located at the southern end of what is now the Calgary International Airport. Dad experienced his first Canadian Winter at Calgary, with temperatures typically below freezing between November and March, and often below -20C. He never forgot it as you know.

In the early spring of 1942 on 14th April he was admitted to the station hospital for three weeks. There is no record of what the reason was. Maybe a recurrence of his 1938 illness.

While he was based in Calgary he sent home some photographs in an envelope from Lanes Studios where the film was processed. Here they are with a postcard view of 8th Avenue where Lanes Studios operated.

In June 1942 he was transferred to Vancouver Island, British Columbia to join No 32 Operational Training Unit at RAF Patricia Bay. So he only spent 8 months in Calgary, and never got to experience it in warm summer weather.

1942/1943

Dad arrived in Patricia Bay, Vancouver Island on Monday 22nd June 1942 after a two day journey from Calgary. The job of 32 OTU was to train crews in flying Handley Page Hampdens used for torpedo bombing. The unit had started using the Hampden only a month earlier, so it was quite probably Dad's experience with the Hampden which made him an obvious candidate for 32 OTU. He stayed here for a year (going through another winter, but not as bad as Calgary). This picture is of a Hampden from Patricia Bay taken in October 1942 carrying out a practice torpedo drop.

And here we are in Winter 1942 – this is the sort of weather that Dad never forgot.

1943 to 1945

Dad was posted back to the UK in June 1943. He would have undertaken another long train journey from Vancouver to Halifax, which takes about 5 days. Once again his ship was the Pasteur, which left Halifax on 24th June 1943, arriving in Liverpool on 30th June.

The day after arriving in Liverpool, Dad joined 81 OTU at RAF Tilstock in Shropshire, where he remained until the end of the war. 81 OTU trained crews to fly heavy 4 engined bombers. At the end of 1943 he spent three months at No. 7 School of Technical Training at Innsworth, Gloucestershire, to be trained in servicing the Bristol Hercules engine. Back at Tilstock in January 1944 he transferred to 1665 Heavy Conversion Unit, which trained crews on the Short Stirling bomber, with Hercules engines. Here's a picture of a 1665 HCU Stirling at Tilstock.

Next: Post War Housing