Walter,
Whoa, there ! Give us time to breathe, not to say to read, learn and inwardly digest. Each line of your wonderful story will be avidly scanned by an average of 1,000 people a day plus me. They will badger you for explanations, make comments, maybe criticize and add plaudits.
Give us time to keep up with up with you, please. You're in this for a long haul, remember. Hope you'll take this advice from your "older brother" as gently as it is kindly given.
Now,
Revenons a nos moutons:
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).
Blimey ! I thougth I was hard done by on thirty bob a week, but only eight miles to work, and could bike it most days anyway. But how I would have loved your job ! As a boy I had a morbid interest in rifles, and at the age of 12 or so could tell you that, in WW1, the UK had the SMLE, the Americans the Springfield, the French the Lebel, the Italians the Mannlicher-Carcano, the Germans the Mauser, and the Russians the 3-line Nagant. Not many 12 yr olds could tell you that (and there was no Wiki).
There were no instruments, no fuselage, nothing between us and the ground except the seat. We were instructed to listen for the sound of the wind in the rigging wires, keep the "stick" slightly forward to maintain airspeed, and if the wind's humming stopped, we were stalling!
Wot, no 'Elf 'n Pastry ? Exactly I was taught to fly the Stearman (ASI removed) in Florida in '41
! (Nice pic, too).
Danny.