To set the scene I should really start before the war, when I first became interested in aircraft. I'll start with leaving school at 16:
After three years of this "drudgery", I was nearly 16 and busting to get out of school and to a job. In June 1938 I applied for a job as Junior Clerk with the London Armoury Company, 10 Ryder Street, St. James, London. I was interviewed together with one of my classmates, and I remember the interviewer saying suddenly to the other lad, “Twelve cabbages at 20 shillings each. How much?” My rival struggled mentally. After quite a long pause he replied, “Eight pounds”. (There were 20 shillings in one pound sterling. It was a trick question of course, designed to catch out a youngster). The interviewer shot out the same question to me. Just like the other lad, I was temporarily flummoxed. “Twelve what?” I asked him. “Cabbages”, he said, “or apples, or newspapers. Anything!” My small amount of native cunning ( I thought) had given me sufficient time to work out – the long way – 20 shillings multiplied by 12 makes 240 divided by 20 makes 12 pounds! Stupid child. But I got the job.
Not far from Piccadilly, this unusual firm imported sporting arms and ammunition from the USA, notably the Winchester and Colt series, and was a wholesale supplier for most of the sporting arms dealers around the British Isles. My wage was the princely sum of ten shillings ($1.20) for five and a half days work each week, that was from 9a.m. to 5p.m. Monday to Friday, and 9a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday. I had a bus journey of one hour and ten minutes each way, from Chingford to Piccadilly Circus, which cost ten pence return (about 10 cents).
About this time I became very interested in aircraft, and together with my new “mate” Tom Wills, we made model aircraft, both flying and solid models, read avidly all the books we could find on flying and the Air Force, and in November 1938, we joined the Air Defence Cadet Corps. (It is now called the Air Training Corps).
Started by the Air League of the British Empire, the ADCC was formed earlier in 1938 to train lads between 14 and 18 years old, to make them aware of the danger facing Britain from Germany’s great build up of its land, sea and air forces under Hitler, and to get them thoroughly air-minded. I became Cadet No. 28 in 27 (Founder) Squadron, meeting at a hall in Pretoria Road, North Chingford, and I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience in blue-grey uniform.