I agree, Fantome. Danny is modest. He's also very stoical. I think he'll be back before long to be greeted by the roar of 'Three cheers' and a triumphal carry aloft to be placed on the dais, ready for a Pprune march-past. Anyone join me in the motion:
'Danny for Chief of the Air Staff!'
Nosing through Arthur's boxes of photos and memorabilia, I came across this:
It's an A4-size (and very musty-smelling!) recruitment brochure, dating to about June 1939, just a few months before war started. It's quite unlike a modern brochure, in that there's absolutely no hype. It runs through the training stages and prerequisites for a permanent commission via Cranwell; Apprenticeship training; the Naval Air Service; the Volunteer Reserve; the Auxiliary Air Force (apparently
'the City of London squadron draws most of its personnel from stockbrokers, banks, insurance and accountants offices'); Civil Air Guard and Cadets; Air Observers (a gunner/bomb aimer/navigator); and Short Service Commissions.
There's articles on 'Service Aircraft in use today' (Blenheim, Battle, Lysander, Whitley... identified as 'the heaviest of the big bombers'...Havard, Sunderland, Gladiator, Swordfish and Hurricane. Of Spits, there's a cutaway illustration showing 'Britain's newest fighter' and 'the world's fastest'. We're told '
the Rolls Royce engine drives a fixed pitch airscrew, but later models will have one with variable pitch' (
Eeks.. get a move on!). There's articles on armaments (torpedoes, four-gun powered turrets, bombs, machine guns and canon), aircraft testing, and the present 'RAF's 21st birthday' and how it's progressed since it's inception including the winning of the Schneider Trophy.
One advertisement does have a touch of hype. Along with a picture of a 'Spit', it says that
'A life in the air is a life worth living' and '
This is a job for keen young men. Good pay, good prospects and a handsome gratuity at the end of your regular service'. (One wonders how many of those who signed up in 1939 got to receive their gratuity.
)
This is the caption photo for a Short Service Commission:
Below is written:
'Hawker Hurricane single-seat fighters of N0. 3 (Fighter) Squadron, RAF, at Northolt Aerodrome, Middlesex. In February 1939 a Hurricane piloted by Squadron Leader J W Gillan flew from Turnhouse, Edinburgh to Northolt in 48 minutes at an average speed of 408 miles an hour. After an officer holding a short service commission has completed his training, he may be appointed to a squadron such as the one illustrated above.'
It makes slightly dry, though informative reading. But it certainly captured my imagination. I'm definitely off to the recruiting station tomorrow first thing. Who wouldn't... with the prospect of being that guy sitting in the Hurricane cockpit!
