Gaining An R.A.F. Pilots Brevet In WW11
Thank you Chugalug. You must have been in Transport after me.
At Kasfareet we did a lot of formation flying. As a co-pilot in those days we were not fully converted on the Hastings- really just a pilots "mate" However on this formation flying the captain was struggling to fly and work the throttles so I "suggested" that I would work the throttles and he could concentrate on flying the aircraft. It worked and then we got on fine and I got plenty of pole time and he even let me do a take off!
We did the Exercise "Leap Year" in a valley away from the airfields. Very impressive as most of the Hastings force took part. We dropped the load of jeep and trailer and ten paratroops and two days later did it again.
Then we went up to Mafraq in Jordan with 50 troops to work with the Arab Legion and two days later brought them back. another couple of days wash up and back to Topcliffe via Lyneham.
We had a Tiger Moth and an Oxford on the station flight and I prevailed on the O.C. to check me out on the Tiger and convert me on to the Oxford, so he did and I was able to help him with his private air force.
Transport Command had a War Prize, a beautiful ex Luftwaffe yacht called the Austern Fischer and it was available for people to use. Six of us went down to Hamble by Hastings and joined the yacht at the R.A,F. Yacht Club on the Hamble river. We had a couple of days sailing off Cowes and the Solent and did a night crossing to Cherbourg. A day there and on to Alderney. We left there next on a rising gale and it took us two days to reach Portland and then motored back to Hamble where we were picked up by our Hastings and back to Topcliffe.
I thought that it was a very dodgy "do" taking a Hastings into Hamble, so I went to see the Wingco Flying and suggested that crews were taken by Hastings to Upavon and I would ferry them from there to Hamble and vice versa. This I did several times.
At the end of July King Farouk was deposed by General Neguib and we were all sent to Malta on standby for trouble. We went on to Fayid but it all quietened down without us being used.
The British North Greenland Expedition was exploring the high plateau in North Greenland at a height of 9000 feet. A Hastings was to go to Thule, a U.S.Base far north and use it to drop supplies, free drop from 100 feet, to enable the expedition to over winter. Mike Clancy was the captain and I was to be his co-pilot. We did the drops at Topcliffe and were all set to go when the Americans insisted that the pilots and navigator were to be commissioned officers, and I wasn't. Shame.
Anyway, off they went to Thule and did their first drop to the expedition. They had a white out and touched a wing. Luckily Mike was a big chap and managed to crash land level. Nobody was hurt but it looked as though the crew were there for the winter. However the Americans landed an Albatross on the ice, kept it rocking so that it wouldnt stick and used rockets and engines to bring our crew back to Thule. I cannot remember how they got back to Topcliffe, but they were back very quickly. The Hastings must be buried deep by now.