Gaining An R.A.F Pilots Brevet In WW II

[cliffnemo]

Soldier is refused room at hotel
Corporal Tomos Stringer
Corporal Tomos Stringer was out of uniform when tried to book a room

A soldier home on leave after being injured in Afghanistan was refused a room by a hotel when he showed his military ID card at reception.

Corporal Tomos Stringer, 23, from Gwynedd, was visiting a wounded colleague in Surrey when he was turned away from the Metro Hotel in Woking.

He spent the night in his car after being told it was management policy not to accept military personnel.
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I AM INCENSED BY THIS REPORT I HAVE JUST READ ON THE NET, AND HE WASN'T EVEN IN UNIFORM.

I have emailed his M.P. and complained. It is a pity he doesn't have time to read this blog and learn how American service men are treated and respected.

IT'S TOMMY THIS AND TOMMY THAT, AND TOMMY
YOU'RE A FOOL,
BUT IT'S THANK YOU MR ATKINS WHEN THE TROOP SHIP IS IN THE POOL.

[brakedwell]

I don't think he missed much if this Trip Advisor Review is anything to go by!

“The worst hotel ever!!!!”
hovinko
london
Aug 13, 2008

The worst hotel I've ever stayed. The room wasn't ready-just 2 beds instead of 3. Then single room had used towels. We didn't get any breakfast but they charged it and on top of that they were saying we used the telephone even though we were not in the room!!!! And they charged us extra 80 pounds!!!! more

[cliffnemo]

Hi Breakdwell.
I'm pleased some one is interested. How about some of you servicemen emailing Hywell at his address below.?
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Many thanks for bringing this matter to our attention. Plaid Cymru MP for Caernarfon Hywel Williams has already acted on the matter;



Hywel Williams MP said he intended to take the matter further when he had a reply to his letter to the hotel.

He said: "I was astonished when I heard the story from Mrs Stringer. I can't see why any hotel would want to refuse accommodation to a serving member of the armed forces anyway.

"Tomos was not in his uniform, he was a traveller like anyone else."





I refer you to a BBC story on the matter (BBC NEWS | Wales | Soldier is refused room at hotel )and, If you require any further information to contact Hywel Williams’ office in Caernarfon.



[email protected] (Hywel’s e-mail address)



Hywel Williams

8 Stryd y Castell,

Caernarfon,

Gwynedd,

LL55 1SE

[brakedwell]

Cliff, there is a very active thread running on this subject.
http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...it-heroes.html

[threeputt]

Re Post #232

Cliff, yes you are quite correct, Dad did wear two sets of wings until he was demobbed. When he rejoined, some time later, on a permanent commission he was told that he was not allowed to any more. So you see we have had spoilsports in the RAF/War Office/MOD for years; a bit like the Gulf War medal situation, rotten sods one and all!

I'll try and dig out a photo of the old man in his battledress.

3P

[cliffnemo]

By November , the weather was becoming colder, so we changed into our standard R.A.F uniforms complete with collar and black tie , and a bit later, wore our greatcoats and woollen gloves. We considered our uniforms inferior, but warmer than our American friends, but I was quite surprised when traveling on a bus, away from Ponca. A lady sat down next to me and said “ Gee, that’s a smart uniform, are you a mail carrier or something ? When I said I was in the R.A.F. it was question after question all the way. For the jokers amongst you. No. She was a very mature lady. At least thirty years old, and got off the bus telling all and sundry how it was the smartest uniform she had ever seen.

Flying continued with more navigation cross country exercises. One of these was with Hardy navigating and me flying . By this time I had developed my own method of landing when solo. Instead of throttling back at the correct point , and gliding in, to touch down accurately just inside the boundary without touching the throttle I found an easier method. .This involved approaching on the base, and final leg using the throttle to regulate my height,. When near touch down I would have a bit of throttle on, and be a bit higher than usual, then slowly pull back the throttle , when the aircraft would gently sink onto the ground. Producing a nice wheel landing. On this occasion, and after a very pleasant three hundred mile exercise we approached the airfield, just about to touch down Hardy said “you are too high.” and pushed his stick forward, I replied “no I am not” and pulled mine back. Whilst this discussion progressed, the A.T.6 landed without help from either of us, tipped over on one wing and performed the classic ground loop. We were told we were very naughty boys, and not to do it again. But I decided I would never try to correct another pilots actions in the future. This decision resulted in another faux pas during a two thousand mile final cross country exam. (more later warts and all).

One of our oppos was the son of Lord X and told us , one night in the billets, he had performed a slow roll at 1000’ although we had as yet to perform this manoeuvre . Not to be outdone, I decided to try it the next day. Fortunately I tried it at three thousand feet, when I checked my altimeter I found I had lost a thousand feet. I decided to wait for instruction and after a few attempts managed .to .maintain altitude, and roll round a horizontal axis.

` Lectures continued whenever we were not flying but with emphasis on air to ground , air to air , fixed gunnery. Plus attack and evasion, when it was pointed out that pilots instinctly broke away to the left when being pursued, so break away to the right. Also to attack down sun and up moon. We were told we would shortly be flying, using a camera, and the 100 m.p.h reflector gun sight.

I will attempt to reproduce my brief notes below to give you some idea of what was involved, but must point out these are brief, where each line represents , some considerable explanation and discussion Constant questions on enemy aircraft wing spans. Max speeds , how many gun sight rings for different speeds .gravity drop., wing span, and angle off.

Hope to go onto night flying training when I have recovered.


GONE FOR A BURTON.

A.K.A K.I.A`

I have just found out I can increase print size by thumping CTRL + When viewing this.

[cliffnemo]

Battle Dress.

I'll try and dig out a photo of the old man in his battledress.
THREE PUTT.
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Yes please, Threeput. Hope it shows the Acme whistle attached to top fastener. Issue B.D was for flying only and was choker neck, but some comedians after V.J day had them tailored . Lapels and reveres were attached , still with whistle, and worn off camp, and even the S.Ps didn't care

[cliffnemo]

Another Mistake

Yes I am as dim as a Tock H lamp. In an effort to delete unnecessary items from my computer I deleted some of my photos ins Photobucket . Surprise ,surprise, they also disappeared off Pprune. I now realize each time I log on to Pprune they must download from Photobucket. Will now have to scan to Picasa2, then to photo shop. then to Photobucket , then to Pprune . Phew.

Oh well, easy come, easy go.

Will put Jack's picture of the Mossy back on first

[Chugalug2]

Will now have to scan to Picasa2, then to photo shop. then to Photobucket , then to Pprune . Phew.

You took the very words out of my mouth, Cliff. As if!
Seriously, the way you have tackled every possible posting technique to fully illustrate an already captivating tale is simply the icing on a very tasty cake. If button 'B' gets pushed occasionally by mistake, never mind. At least you didn't "black out" this time! Thank you for your effort.
Keep pushing the boundaries please and keep regaling us with your story.
Respects,
Chug

[cliffnemo]

Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible

I spent most of yesterday trying to produce a photograph of Jack's (ex 6 B.F.T.S) mosquito. So far the photo below is the biggest I can produce. Most of the photos lost are bigger to begin with so should be reproduced O.K. Photobucket only will only reduce size and not increase it. Will leave the photo exercise for a day or two and continue with the story.

[andyl999]

Yet another BFTS!

Cliff, congratulations on mastering the computer at such an advanced age.

My Uncle was trained also in the Arnold Scheme (class 42A, the 1st course) in Albany, Georgia, somehow got washed out (a lot of the early course were) and resurfaced at No1 BFTS Terrell (course 3), ending up in 154 squadron flying Spitfires. in 1942.

I have been researching his RAF life and you would be amazed how many pilots (you must be a hardy lot) still are living. I have found 3 pilots that were on the same course as him one lives within 7 miles of me!

One of the pilots is now a close friend of mine and I have directed him to this forum to contribute, hopefully I can help him register later today.

He also has many log books and photographs, I hope you don't mind if he contributes?

Regards Andy

[cliffnemo]

To Andy1991

Many thanks for your support Andy. By all means encourage your friends to contribute. It seems there are quite a few on this forum who want to know what it was like when their fathers, grandfathers, and uncles, were "in". They possibly have read all the books , of the left,left , steady, bombs gone , type, and now want to read about the more mundane things, (I hope). I can readily understand this, as my father spent four years in France, during 1914/19, mentioned in dispatches. and that's all I know. Wish he had had computer.
When I have finished this, (if ever) I will cut and paste relevant items to a file to be added to my grandson's R.A.F memorabilia.
Cheers.

[cliffnemo]

All To Be Taken With A Pinch Of Salt

With reference to andy's1991 post above , comment, mastering the computer. I spent yesterday afternoon typing , more or less what appears below, saving every paragraph in M.S Word as I went along. Then copy, and into pprune. Then paste , nothing there, and nothing in word. Found some of it in Word pad. So Rewrite.as below..
Mastered????

In December ,we practiced all the previous exercises. Plus formation flying , night flying cross country, navigation, and pinpointing.

Formation flying, was first practiced flying dual, with instruction on flying line astern, echelon to port, echelon to starboard, and changing position.. We flew a few feet apart, watching our leader, and hoping he knew where he was going.. We later practiced this solo, and enjoyed it immensely .

Before night flying training , we were told that it took twenty minutes to obtain full night vision, and could be achieved by sitting in the dark, and that it took only seconds to destroy it, if suddenly exposed to a bright light. We flew dual initially. With the exception of the billets the airfield was completely blacked out (no lights) We had only the goose neck paraffin flares along the left hand side of the landing path. and the Christmas tree, previously mentioned After night flying dual, we were allowed to go solo. This was quite pleasant, as we could tune our aircraft radios to the local radio station, W.B.B.Z and listen to music, this was quite novel as even cars didn’t have radios in those days, and no local radio stations, in the U.K The only person on duty at night, was the airfield controller, who seemed completely bored. On landing the procedure was to call “Two nine five on the base leg. Wheels down, and locked. Pressure up. Gas on reserve, ready to land . Over.. The controller would reply “Land when clear, out” . I suppose this reply meant that if any thing went wrong, then it was the pilots fault. One night a cadet called out "Lucky Strike means fine tobacco, so round,so firm, so fully packed etc (a W.B.B.Z radio advert) , a tired voice replied "Land when clear") Some of our comedians , who had heard that an empty uncapped coke bottle would scream when dropped from an aircraft , took a few empties with them and dropped them on the local Japanese prisoner -of -war camp, at Tonkawa.

We also had our final navigation test in December, this consisted of flying two thousand miles in three legs. Ponca City to Waco Texas, Waco to , I think it was Galveston, but forget, certainly down to the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf back to Ponca. This took two days. But more about that later, my fingers are worn out.
Link training that month amounted to five hours, marked as armaments and nav course flying. But what this included in a Link, I haven’t the slightest idea.

If my fingers haven’t recovered soon, instead of writing I will sing you the following ribald irreverent mess songs, We are leaving Khartoum by the light of the moon/. -- Bless em all/.-- They scraped him off the tarmac like a lump of strawberry jam./ -- Take the joystick from out of my stomach--- ---and assemble the aircraft again.// Shire, Shire Somerset shire, the skipper looks one her with pride // When this blinking war is over (with explicit instructions to where the wing/co can stick his spitfire)/ Will not sing My name is mucky Lilly, There's a street in Cairo or Eskimo Nell. Wonder if these songs are still sung in the mess.
I might also recite "There's a one eyed yellow god to the North of Katmandu".

[andyl999]

New Member

Cliff, I have helped one of the cadets with my Uncle called Reg to register (regle), he is a 25,000+ pilot with many stories, treat him well :0)

[andyl999]

WW1

Cliff, my Grandfather was in the RAF in 1918, got an MBE and mentioned in despatches twice.

You can find a lot of information about him (your Father) I will try to give you some weblinks.

You can also find his personel papers and record at Kew.

Regards Andy

[andyl999]

MS word

Remember to highlight the paragraphs in word to copy first, otherwise nothing will paste into the forum?

Andy

[regle]

1st solo since 1941

Hello Cliff, you are a fellow Liverpudlian. I was at the "Inny" (Liverpool Institute) circa 32/34 (Long before the Beatles were there) and lived in Wavertree. We went to Blackpool around '36 and I joined the RAF in '40 when I was 18. I was lucky enough to go to the USA with the very first of the Arnold scheme and was chased across the Atlantic by the Bismarck which was sunk by our only escort,the Rodney while we were still ploughing through the waves at 30 knots to the misery of all of us in the bows wishing that the Bismarck would catch us , so bad were the conditions. I won't go into my long career now but I was also at Darr Aero Tec (Albany Ga,) and graduated in jan '42. I flew from then almost without interruption until 1982 when I retired . Briefly my career was Class 42a U.S. ,OTU, Blenheims, 105 Sqdn. (First "Mossie Sqdn 2 group.,51 Sqdn ., 4 group Halifaxes ,1943/4 ,Bomber Command. Bomber Command Instructor's School, Doncaster. Instructing people how to be good Instructors !, Empire Flying School, Hullavington as a Tutor. demobbed to join BEA's short lived Check Flight at Aldernaston. Disbanded when Labour Government virtually banned all European travel. Went to Air India as an Instructor when they went International, Back to England with Flight Refuelling flying Lancastrians loaded with fuel on the Berlin Airlift. No Jobs when that packed up so freelanced (Thirty shillings an hour) at Croydon on Rapides, Gulls, Oxfords etc. Joined Shorts at Rochester teaching Naval Pilots how to fly on instruments (Two stage amber ) Windscreens with amber panels, pupils with blue glasses..result they saw black so had to fly on instruments. Instructor could see ,more or less, through amber panels.! Then in 1952 Sabena needed pilots. They had over 1500 applications as they did.nt want licences and I was one of the lucky thirty who were taken on and I flew thirty years with them on .practically all their aircraft from D.C.3's,Convairs to 707,s,DC10s and 747s. Over 50 types of aircraft and total 25,100 flying hours. Ther it is in a nut shell. Looking forward to hearing from you. Best regards, Reg

[BEagle]

Tweaked and resized for you, Cliff:

Great picture!!

[cliffnemo]

To say nothing about the Brylcreem. Well , we did have to use it or it would have spoiled our "hair does" when we put our flying helmets on (front first then pull down the back)

[cliffnemo]

Reg For C/o

Many thanks Andy1991 for introducing Reg, will reply to him tomorrow, am hoping he tells us a few tales. What an outstanding career. With regard to the disappearing blog, I did highlight it. but in any case, if not, it should have remained saved in M.S word, when I could have made a second attempt. It had just disappeared , never to be seen again.

Think I had better describe the Arnold scheme next as it is frequently mentioned.

Thanks BEagle. Smashing picture of the Mosquito, and Jack.