As our incomparable "Gaining a RAF Pilot's Brevet..." Thread has become moribund, here is a flashback from the Good Old Days, which I did not Post at the time.
Those who have struggled through my Saga may recall that, having flown my last VV out of Cannanore in the nick of time before my strip turned to mud in the '45 monsoon, we took refuge on the hard runway and standings of what I suppose was RNAS Sulur (Coimbatore), and enjoyed the hospitality of Lt Cmdr T. Neville Stack RNVR and his merry mariners until the rain stopped.
I celebrated my arrival by promptly going down with my third (and last) dose of malaria. I was tenderly nursed by a SBA sporting a huge black beard. For the first week I was pretty well out of my mind with the shakes and delirium, then the quinine got a grip and by the second week I was "compos mentis" again, but weak as a kitten. Meanwhile the Unit's paperwork had been steadily building up.
My old pal/Gunner/Adjutant "Stew" (Keith Stewart-Mobsby), having come out some months before me, had now gone home on repat. His successor, though a willing lad, was not too hot on the paperwork, so I arranged for the accumulated pile of bumph to be brought to my bedside and set about it. This I considered to be Above and Beyond the Call of Duty, and I thought myself no end of a deserving character.
The Letter from Group came on the Wednesday: "Private and Confidential - To be opened only by the Recipient" (or words to that effect). My sterling work must have come to notice! Something nice was coming my way. Not so !
I slit the envelope open with delighted anticipation: it rapidly evaporated. The missive was from SASO. It seemed that my Annual Confidential Assessment (was that what it was called?) had been made by a Wg Cdr "X" of whom I had never heard, but presumed to be a Staff Officer at Group. He had not been complimentary. The Assessment had been referred back to me for my own observations as it was considered Adverse. I looked at it: it most certainly was. SASO had run for cover: "IK" (Insufficint Knowledge), he had noted.
What "X" had done with the box-ticking, I do not know; it was his final remarks that had aroused interest. "
This Officer", he had written,
"was not successful operationally. Recommend he looses (sic) his acting rank". I was stunned for a few moments, then I realised that this would not be hard to rebut.
"My operational service", I haughtily wrote, "which was ended by a flying accident after 52 successful sorties, was wholly prior to, and so outside the scope of, the present Report. It did not attract any adverse comment from my Squadron Commanders in the previous Annual Report, and I fail to see why it should now be made the subject of any comment, favourable or otherwise, by a Reporting Officer under whose direct Command I have never served, and with whom I have no personal acquaintance whatever".
My first point was valid; each Annual Report must stand alone, you are not allowed to second-guess your predecessor. But the second was the real killer. For if it be true (and that could be quickly and easily established), then the corollary must also be true.
He did not know me from Adam. I sent the Adverse Report back with this flea in its ear.
I need hardly add that I did not "loose" my acting rank (which would have entailed removing me from my tiny Command), my War Substantive promotion came in on time a few weeks later, AHQ Delhi complied with Wg Cdr Edmondes' request, some four months later, that I be given an acting "Scraper", and three years later the RAF took me back with open arms (more or less).
Why had "X" done this ? The most charitable explanation was he had confused me with somebody else. Why did
he write my Report, and not Wg Cdr Edmondes, with whom I had worked, side by side, at the CDRE since I arrived two months before ? I suppose that he was "outside the Loop" - the Group Chain of Command, and as such disqualified.
I heard no more about it - but it left a nasty taste in the mouth.
Cheers, Danny42C.