Why did I want to be Aircrew? In 1941 I watched the Battle of Britain being fought over our heads as I helped my Mother in the hop gardens of Arthur Guinness in Bodiam, Kent. We cheered when we saw a combatant fall, expecting that it was 'one of theirs'. Although we lived in East Sussex (I can honestly say that I spent the whole of the war in Battle) we commuted daily at the crack of dawn every autumn to augment the family income while protecting the livelihood of publicans throughout the country.
A contributory factor in my 'Wings' desire was an incident on 2nd February 1943. As I was diligently making my way to school three sneaky FW190s decided to wage war on Battle Abbey. One bomb exploded less than 100 yards behind me, demolishing a newsagents' shop, killing two. Another, way off to the right, messed up the cricket pitch. The central one landed in front of the Abbey gateway, shot through, startling the Canadian army sentry, and failed to explode. Extremely lucky, really, as there were two tons of explosives stored in the gateway. I was on the pavement opposite, just outside the Abbey Hotel public house where a good Samaritan picked me up and deposited me inside, despite me being under-age. My first, but not last visit.
If any further impetus was required it was the 'Doodlebug' campaign of 1944-45. Several of the missiles decided it was too much effort to fly to London so dropped in the local area, the closest being in a field at the bottom of our garden. Many windows in our and the neighbours' houses were broken which did Dad a good turn as, when they were re-glazed, he got the contract to do the repainting.
When hostilities ended I told Dad that a notice in a shop window in Hastings advertised flights in an Auster for 10/- from Lympne, including a taxi each way. The 'gofer' working for him was persuaded to go with me, so, off we went for a quick trip along the coast and back - I have no idea how long it lasted, but it was the REAL THING!
Eventually I joined the ATC (304 Squadron, Hastings) which further fanned the flames as we went on summer camps, flying in the Dominie (DH89 version), Dakota, Lincoln (a round trip to see Hastings from the air) and the B29 Washington. A bonus was the fact that we had an instructor who was RAFVR and occasionally flew Tiger Moths from Rochester and he took me along a couple of times. He was also into motor-cycling, racing at Brands Hatch when it was still a grass track.
Our morse instructor was very good but never explained what he did, as a civilian, in the war. I came to a conclusion during my later career - more anon.
I'm sorry this is not as interesting as some of our fellow aviator's exploits; hopefully things will improve next time.