by Bruce Lewis
Friday Feb 27th. Heat getting worse … rose at 5.20 this morning, crept into the officers’ bathroom and had a good hot sea-water bath (have been able to obtain sea-water soap). …
Sunday March 1st 1942. Went on deck first thing this morning and found we were moving slowly into moorings. This proved to be Freetown, Sierra Leone. I should think there are between 60 and 80 ships lying off the town, including our own convoy. …
Francis gives a picture of his impressions of Freetown; its small-ness, the palm trees lining the sandy beaches, the scrub-covered hills in the hinterland. But, tantalizingly, their ship comes no nearer than 1½ miles to the shore. They hear news of a convoy disaster in the North Sea in which three troopships are reported sunk by U-boats. He wishes he could send his wife a cable to let her know he is safe. After six days the ship up-anchors and continues its voyage south. On 21 March, 1942, after five long, uncomfortable weeks at sea the ship steams into Durban, South Africa. Boarding a train, drawn up at the dockside, the men travel all through the night on a journey lasting twenty hours.
Arriving at No. 75 Air School, Lyttelton, Transvaal, he is reunited with Mac and some of his other pals who shared the attic in Blackpool. He moves, with other cadets, to EFTS at Potchefst-room. Living conditions are excellent. In the mess, meals are served by waiters. The following day they are divided into four flights of twelve men each under the guidance of a Flight Commander and six Instructors. He and Pupil Pilot Holdup are to be trained on Tiger Moths by 23-year-old Lieutenant Slater:
Tuesday May 26th 1942. … We go up and contrary to my thoughts I am not afraid but thoroughly enjoy it. I’m given the controls to fly straight and level, climbing, gliding turns and I seem to have got thoroughly at home with it … I’m back to my keenness for flying.
Thursday May 28th. … When we are about 150 feet he says, ‘I can’t believe it, we must go down and do it again’. Down we go and go through the same performance again. When we get off, he says, ‘It must be true’. I am in doubt as to what exactly he means [good or bad] … so ask him … he replies, ‘It is the first time that I have known a pupil to take off as well as that at the third attempt’. When we come in to land he tells me what to do and gives me some help with the controls … he tells me he is very pleased with my flying.
Tuesday June 2nd. Some excitement today. The instructor explained to me the method of recovering from a spin – and not to recover until he says so. I put her in and start spinning down. It seemed a devil of a time before he said recover. I immediately gave her opposite rudder, then centre and put the stick forward. The next thing I hear is, ‘I’ ve got her’, to which I reply, ‘You’ ve got her, Sir’, and then we were straight and level … When we came down he told me he thought we had ‘had it’ because I put the stick too far forward and we dived down under the vertical … I’m inclined to think he does not like spinning because he told me he would never do them for fun.
Saturday June 6th. I took off as usual and when we were up 1000 feet he asked me if my straps were tight. I replied, ‘I think so’. He said, ‘Don’t think, make sure’. After ascertaining that they were, he said, ‘I gave Holdup a slow roll this morning and afterwards his flying was much better, so I’m going to give you one to see what it will do to you’. Up we went and then he started to roll. What a horrible feeling. You roll over on your side very slowly until you are upside-down, and you are then hanging from your straps with the earth above your head. Slowly you turn right over until you are the right way up again … throughout the whole manoeuvre I had my hand on the handle of the ‘rip cord’ of my chute. … When I landed she bumped slightly and he said, ‘What did you think of that landing?’ I replied, ‘Not much’. He said he would not like to be my wife because I’m too B—dy fussy.
Wednesday June 10th. … My second period was with the Flight Commander for a progress test. I took off and he started grumbling from the time he got in until he got out. First I was doing one thing wrong, then another until I was beginning to think I was NBG. In fact he got on my nerves. He made me land. It was a fair landing but not good. We took off again, and when we were about 500 feet he cut the engine. I immediately started to glide to enable me to keep flying speed. Down we went merrily towards the ground. I did not take her out of the glide and he did not say anything so we kept going down.
I thought, if it was good enough for him to hit the deck at 70 mph, it was good enough for me. He had cut the engine, so let him put it on again. At 30 feet from the ground, he said, ‘All right. Take your engine and climb.’ By the time I had taken my engine and levelled out we were within 10 feet of the ground.
He told me to make a circuit and land, which I did and came down a perfect 3 pointer as gently as a kitten. He got out and said, ‘All right. Make one circuit and landing on your own’. And these were the words that let me go on my first solo. … I was the first of the three of us to go solo, my time being 12.50 hours. Frank Henley was 13.20 hours and Perrin 13.50 hours. So I collected the 3/-
Thursday June 11th. … Found out that apart from Mac and Dorsie who have both flown solo in England, I have the lowest solo time in the flight of 12 cadets.
This afternoon we had to go on a funeral parade of a Pupil Pilot who was killed when he crashed at SFTS.
Tuesday June 16th. … We very nearly had a serious accident. As we were making a landing and gliding down another Tiger’ flashed in front of us, and our prop very nearly touched his tail. I gave my instructor a thorough shaking and those who saw it wondered how a collision was averted. Incidentally the plane that nearly crashed us was crashed 30 minutes later when it landed upon another plane. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.
Wednesday June 17th. … Holdup is having some trouble. He has had 3 Flight Commander tests and 1 Chief Flying Instructor test. This morning the CFI took off with him and returned without him. It appears he did not set his tail trim, so the instructor made him get out at the far end of the field and walk back, about ¾ of a mile. 3 of the cadets have been ‘washed out’ because their progress was not satisfactory.
Thursday June 25th. Holdup finally went solo this morning after having had 9 tests. This means I will not get so much flying in future. …
Tuesday June 30th. When taking off this morning I swung and very nearly collided with another aircraft. We passed within 20 feet of each other 30 feet up. For this my instructor said I was to wash an aircraft, later he cancelled it.
Thursday July 2nd. We had two crashes today. Both were due to the same reason, stalling too high. One of the fellows ‘dropped it’ from 30 feet, smashing the undercart, mainplane, propellor and part of the engine and centre section, leaving the nose on the ground with the tail sticking up in the air.
The pupil, who was solo, climbed out perfectly sound and was brought back to the hangar in an ambulance. The instructor called him a few choice names and told him to run around the flying field three times for being so dozy. The other crash was similar but not quite so much damage was done to the plane.
Francis had the highest regard for his instructor, Lieutenant Slater. He inspired confidence, was very fair, and told his ‘star’ pupil that he had bet on him getting an ‘above average’ assessment at the end of the course. Then the blow fell. On Monday, 6 July Francis was transferred to another Flight and came under the supervision of a different instructor, Lieutenant Williams. It seemed that for Williams he could do nothing right. What particularly upset him was that his new instructor, from whom he found it impossible to learn anything, blamed his ‘lack of progress’ on his previous tuition.
Friday July 10th. Today I went on a dual X Country. I went straight from lectures to the hangar … as soon as he saw me he started his moaning. Told me to ‘wake up’. Those were not the actual words he used but that was the meaning. I obtained the wind and computed the course and we emplaned. Unfortunately when we were taxiing to the down-wind edge I dropped my pencil in the cockpit and could not find it. This set him off good and proper. He asked me ETAs but as soon a
s I attempted to work one out he would ask me what particular landmark was this or that. When I had told him, he would ask what the ETA was. I’ d reply, I’m just working it out. Off he went again, ‘Wake up! We haven’t all day,’ and so on. This continued all the way and when we arrived and got out he started on me again about my bad ETAs, (The worst one was 3 minutes out.) Coming back the same thing happened, only I had to do the piloting as well.
This time I gave him a really bad ETA, 13 minutes out, so I got it good and strong. I felt like saying, ‘Turn this plane upside down and I’ll drop out’. Altogether the whole trip took 2½ hours and he was moaning the whole time. I see I’m going up dual with him on Monday. If he moans all that period I’m going to ask for a change of instructor. I haven’t learned a thing since I started flying with him. All I’ ve had is mental torture.
Monday July 20th. Went up with another instructor this morning, Lieutenant Beattie. He complimented me on my steep turns and half-roll off the top of a loop. Took our final exams in Navigation Theory and Plotting, and Signals Procedure.
Saturday July 25th. Passed my Morse Receiving at 10 words per minute. We then had to read the lamp at 8 words per minute. I never could read the lamp, so I got a colleague to read it for me. … The reading of the lamp is the first exam I have ever manipulated. This was necessary because, although I can read morse quite well, my eyes water when staring at it. I’m afraid that if my eyes are examined again, I shall be taken off aircrew.
Saturday August 1st. Went to the ‘flicks’ this afternoon, consequently hadn’t anywhere to go tonight. Finally went to a dance at the Jewish Guild. I didn’t dance but sat watching. Tea, sandwiches, fruit salad and minerals were issued free. There were about five of us RAF there, and after I left there was the usual fight. Three or four SA Artillerymen beat up one of the RAF lads. The SAAF and the RAF get along well, but the South African Army and the RAF are like poison to each other. Unfortunately we are in the minority and always get beaten. Sometimes it works out 6 to 1. Strangely enough, if there are eight or nine of us together we are left severely alone.
Thursday August 6th. My assessment is Average-Plus and the remarks are as follows – ‘Never say die type. Has worked hard and done well.’ Altogether in our Flight there are 18 pupils. 2 got Above Average assessments, one of them being Mac. 4 of us Average-plus. The other 12 Average.
Thursday August 13th. The Flight Commander told me he had recommended me for Fighters. Ten minutes later he informed me there was a rule that no one over 25 could go on Fighters – so I’m back on bombers again. Have got friendly with the WAAF Sergeant in the CFI’s office and have found out that I have been recommended for a commission. We have been informed that we are to have 15 days’ leave commencing Sunday.
Leave for Francis seems to have been a pleasant relaxation. He managed a few days hunting in which, among other things, he bagged a 10-foot python. On return to Potchefstroom the pupils did a little more flying and then left to continue their training at SFTS, Waterkloof.
Sunday September 6th. It appears we have a 24-week course here and the station is very strict on discipline. Have to fill in a form giving particulars of where born, what school attended, educational qualifications, etc. We have been told that our educational qualifications will be taken into consideration during recommendation for a commission. I have put down on the form that I was born in London, and went to Columbia Road Elementary School, E2, and have no qualifications. So I’m pretty certain I shall not be recommended here – especially as this is an RAF station [as opposed to a SAAF establishment].
Monday September 7th. Had my first flip in a Hart. [Originally introduced into the RAF in 1930 as a single engine, light day bomber, the Hawker Hart byplane was powered by a 525hp Kestrel engine]. It’s heavy but I think I shall be able to manage it. Lectures have started again (4 hours a day).
Friday September 11th. After two circuits with the instructor he sent me solo. 2.25 hours instruction on these Harts in all, then my solo which consisted of 2 complete circuits and landings. Another pupil and myself share the honours for the least time in which to solo in the Flight.
Friday September 18th. Due to one of the fellows being ‘washed out’, I have been transferred to another squad and now have an English Squadron Leader for my instructor. He does a good deal of moaning and groaning. Incidentally, he was the instructor of the pupil who was ‘washed out’.
Monday September 21st. I honestly felt like turning the course in. There is nothing that disheartens one so much as an instructor who continually grumbles when you are trying. It puts you off far more than the natural or unnatural things you meet in the air. Altogether the X Country flight was a failure. I gained no instruction from it, neither did I fly as I would have done had I been alone.
I feel sure that I shan’t do well under this instructor.
Friday September 25th. One period of 25 minutes dual to convert me on to ‘tail skid’ Harts. Had a different instructor for this test and he says I’m OK to go solo on them. Mac today landed in the ‘bad ground’ at the side of the drome and turned the plane up on its nose. He was unhurt.
Monday September 28th. Did 1.40 hours solo and 20 minutes Instruments with instructor. Even when solo I’m not flying at all well. I’m inclined to think I’m flying on my nerves. Mac has got his punishment for his charge, which is to pay the cost of the damage. £ 35.
Monday October 5th. There were two crashes here yesterday in one of which a pupil was killed.
Monday October 19th. My flying is now going from bad to worse and I’m beginning to think I shall never finish this course and get my Wings. … I’m flying on my nerves. Two planes collided while taking off. They caught fire but all 4 (2 pupils and 2 instructors) got out quite safe. Altogether we have had 7 crashes in 3 days.
Wednesday November 4th. Had an instrument test this morning by my own instructor. Did very badly and he ‘striped’ both in the air and when we came down. I’m not doing at all well and I’m inclined to think I shall be ‘washed out’.
Friday November 6th. If I do not go night solo within the next two periods I think I shall be finished.
Tuesday November 10th. Solo X Country via Loskop to Pieters-burg and back – 350 miles. 5 of us flew at approximately the same time. I never saw any of them on the way, but we all landed at Pietersburg within 10 minutes of each other. Steve was one of the 5. We arranged to fly back in formation, which we did, I leading and doing the navigating. We arrived back on ETA. Altogether a flight which I greatly enjoyed.
Tuesday November 17th … finally did my first night solo after help from my new instructor. I feel sure if I had been with him from the start I would really be able to fly now.
Friday November 20th. The Flight Commander called me into his office and informed me that Lt/Colonel Bosch the Chief Instructor who examined me on my passenger Test, had given me an Above Average assessment. I am now allowed to take passengers. This was a very pleasant surprise to me. There are only 4 out of 42 of us with this assessment. ‘Exceptional’ is the only higher assessment and no one has ever been known to get this.
One of the pupils was killed today when he force-landed.
Tuesday November 24th. Mac has got an Average and Steve an Average Plus. I am the only one on the course who has got anything over average at both EFTS and ITS. Strange as it may seem, those who got average or above average at EFTS have all received average here.
Monday November 30th. Today we wrote the final exams in Navigation Plotting and Signals Procedure. I feel that I should have managed to scrape through both of these. Another of our course has been ‘washed out’. This makes 12 out of 50.
Sunday December 6th. Had first trip in a Hind. [More advanced and powerful supercharged version of the Hart. With a Kestrel 640 HP engine]. Did 1 hour Formation dual and then 1 hour solo general.
Monday December 14th. Our exercise today was Finding Wind Speed and Direction with the aid of the Bomb Sight. Lying down in the ‘Dog Box’, with the ‘Monkey Chain
’ on, hot air and oil in your face, is not very pleasant, in fact it is torture.
Tuesday December 15th. The list of ‘Wings’ exam failures was posted up this morning. I was very pleased that my name was not on it. There were 12 pupils’ names and between them they failed 22 subjects. One pupil failed 4 of the 6 papers. There were only 39 pupils altogether who wrote the exam.
Wednesday December 23rd. Four days’ Christmas leave. Toc H fixed us up to spend our holiday with a family at Roodepoort. Had a marvellous time, house parties, picnics, swimming and boating.
Sunday January 3rd. (1943) So far I am pretty well certain that I have passed all the tests that I have taken. There is a real purge on at the moment in the ‘washing out’ line. No one feels safe. We now have only 32 of the original 50 who came here. I am sure we shall have some more ‘washouts’ yet.
Monday January 11th. Had my final assessment today. Did not put up a very good show. Cloud was too low for aerobatics. The examiner gave me Average, but said he was under the impression that it was an ‘off day’, and if he had time he would fly with me again, if not the Average assessment would have to stand. The examiner was an RAF Squadron Leader. I suppose I must be satisfied that I passed.
Thursday January 21st. Today we had an interview with the Commission Board which consisted of the CO and CFI and a Group Commander. I’ ve an idea that I rubbed the CO the wrong way. After one of the fellows went before the board he was immediately put up for a ‘washout’ test.
Thursday February 4th. Those getting commissions have been told today. I am not among the eleven. Mac and Steve have been fortunate enough to get commissioned so we shall now split up.
Friday February 5th. Today we summarized our Log Books, in which our 1499c has been inserted. I see that I have two Above Averages in Distinctive Qualities. They are Persistency and Self Control. All my others are Average. I have been recommended to fly Army Co-operation single-engine planes [i.e. Hurricanes or Mustangs]. The remarks on the sheets are as follows:
