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

[Geriaviator]

FLIGHT IN THE FIFTIES

Chugalug’s trusty steed, the Handley Page Hastings C.1 which brought us home from Aden. The Hastings was basically a Halifax bomber with transport fuselage. On the right, its civil derivative the pressurised Hermes which staged through Aden three times a week. This one, G-AKFP, spent 1947-1949 with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, 1949-57 with BOAC, and 1957-60 with Airwork. IWM Duxford had a Hermes fuselage last time I visited.

BEFORE the age of mass travel in the 1960s, our overseas postings were considered exciting and glamorous -- even Aden. Most people had never been abroad even to the Continent, and the height of chic was to visit the holiday camps, some of them thinly veiled wartime accommodation.

Flying was a very different experience for those who could afford it. The day before we left in March 1953, every one of the 30 passengers on the homeward flight would report for weighing so the weight and balance calculations could be carried out. Piston aircraft are much less tolerant of weight variations than today’s huge jets, even though people were lighter. A few of today’s tubbies in the tail would give even Chugalug a problem, for the nose comes up and the aeroplane falls out of the sky in a stall. This is a Bad Thing and if it happens on the landing approach it is a VERY Bad Thing.

There were only a couple of steps to the door of the tailwheel Hastings, but inside there was quite a slope from the tail-down attitude. The seats were rear facing, a safety feature adopted by Transport Command after the war and continued to this day with results well proven in the Command’s relatively few accidents.

As we boarded we were given a cardboard box containing sandwiches and a bar of chocolate, this being our inflight meal for the eight-hour flight. Tea was served from a couple of big urns kept in the tail beside the Elsan. My parents were placed amidships, but being only six stone I was delighted to be seated in the tail beside the loadmaster. The downside of this came later, when like thousands of rear gunners I discovered that the tail constantly wags from side to side; this, combined with the ups and downs of turbulence and scoffing my entire packet of Smarties, produced the inevitable result. Fortunately Their Airships had thoughtfully included a waxed paper bag in the lunch pack.

After a few hours there was great excitement when a pencil-filled form was passed row by row from the front. The Flight Report informed us that we were cruising at 180 mph and 8000 feet. Below the Ethiopian scenery was unchanged from two hours ago, a featureless brown plain devoid of vegetation or habitation. I wondered even then how anyone could live in such arid surroundings.

Khartoum offered a hearty breakfast at 6am, being porridge, greasy bacon and eggs ladled from two-foot square metal dishes familiar to Service diners. Boys wore shorts in those days and as we headed north I began to feel an icy blast across my legs. The double doors alongside were battered and I could see through the one-inch gap along the bottom. Dad said the Hastings had been used on the Berlin airlift and like the Dakotas and Yorks had taken a battering.

After a refuelling stop at (I think) Castel Benito we landed at Lyneham that evening, totally exhausted by the thunderous noise of the four Hercules. To communicate one had to shout into the recipient’s ear and to this day I wonder how the Halifax crews withstood it night after night -- and the Merlins were even worse.

For all that I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, and 60 years later I can remember that flight as if it was yesterday. Thanks for listening!