In the break time, next day, I was having a cup of tea in the storeroom, when W.O. Scott came in. He came up to me and he was very annoyed! He asked me if I had seen the chalked message on the blackboard. I said that I had and that when I had knocked on his door at ten minutes to five he had gone home.
He went very quiet and then he said slowly, "Just because you got away with it once, don’t think you run the f*****g Air Force!’
Soon after that I was posted overseas!
It maybe doesn't come over hugely in Dad's notes, but he always maintained it was W.O.Scott that got him posted.
At the medical examination it was discovered the I had a left inguinal hernia., this was probably the result of swinging propellors. I was sent to the R.A.F. hospital at West Kirby for an operation. I have to admit that I was petrified.
Anyway, it was repaired (not properly it wasnt! It had to be re-done in the 70s) and I was kept in hospital for ten days. I was then sent for three weeks convalescence. It was at Lord Leverhulme’s house at Thornton Manor. Lever Brothers owned the soap factory at Port Sunlight. He had a splendid mansion, with an extensive garden and a lake.
We slept in a little ward that had been specially built on the side of the house. There were about a dozen patients and a ward sister who was in charge of us.
Whilst there I was with another airman who was a very good artist. We went to Liverpool, dressed in our hospital blue uniforms and bought canvasses, brushes and paint. We spent the sunny days doing paintings of the house and garden.
My friend was much taken with the giant rhubarb-like plant that grew by the lake. He did several paintings of it. There was also a small boathouse by the lake and in it were several old wood and canvas canoes. I asked Lord. Leverhulrn's daughter if I could repair one and use it.
She said, ‘Yes’. So, I could then paddle round the lake in the afternoons. It was very peaceful and pleasant. In the billiard-room, there were paintings on the wall and there was a small one by Constable, It is interesting that we had so much freedom and were trusted to go anywhere.
Lord Leverhulme would appear sometimes. He was deaf and he had a deaf-aid that was as large as a gas-mask box with a pair of earphones. We always greeted him and said, ‘Good morning.’
Whilst I was there, I painted a self-portrait. The sister was very impressed with it and asked me if I would paint a portrait of her daughter. Unfortunately, I went overseas, so this could not be.
My memories of Hooton Park are of filling aircraft late in the evening, then cycling to the church hall at Childer Thornton where there was a canteen serving tea and jam on toast.
WAAF flight mechanics were sent to work with us. This necessitated a modification of behaviour and language among the airmen!
I became friendly with a WAAF, Brigit H., whose parents were German Jews and had escaped from Nazi Germany. After the aircraft had taken off, we would sit on the grass by the canal and talk about music and Mozart.
I was always very careful with the engine work that I undertook. I was always clean and tidy. I was the only fitter with the skill and confidence to do the silver soldering on the copper pipes for the instruments.
They called me, ‘A Gentleman Fitter’.
As you've probably gathered, Dad really enjoyed his time up north.
Now we move onto a different chapter.