My Fathers Diary 1942 RAF North Africa
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My Fathers Diary 1942 RAF North Africa
I have opened yet another box of my dear fathers papers, many that are mean something only to him and his past business life, one or two photo's from the after war period when he played Hockey for Cheshire( I think quite a few team mates were ex RAF as well), but I have also found right at the bottom a beaten up Charles Letts Diary from 1942 to 1943 apparently it cost him 1 shilling and 3d plus tax (printed as 1/3 plus tax) it is sparsely written in, so I will post several pages at a time, with his exact written words. , it is difficult for people of my age to understand how they felt in this wartime period, they seemed to put up with nearly daily tragedy showing much grim determination and grit to get through the next days ..
26January 1942:-
"Yours truly is now 22years old quite old really"
9th January 1942 he write's
Wally and I shot down an Itie over Alex, not confirmed for a couple of days"
17th February 1942 Shrove Tuesday
No Pancakes today
5th March 1942
Bud Lee is missing, no news of him since he left Port Said on Wednesday night at 1830 hrs, official now posted as missing, we all hope he is OK, he is a good friend to us all
8th March 1942
Howell killed, a beat up at "Kaikue" or Haika (very faded)
12th March 1942
Wilson collided in mid air with another kite, bailed out and Landed safely
13th March 1942
Not much hope for Bud now! no sign of him despite people looking for him on the way back
16th March 1942
Smith forced landed, Pilot OK machine U/S, all going out to the kite
17th March 1942 in very small print Toms Birthday, Tom was his elder brother(my Uncle) killed flying a Tomahawk on a test flight in Oct 1941
Further entry same day
Went out in lorry at 0830hrs to Smiths Kite, driver bogged it about at 1230 hrs, we could not dig it out, Healy and self set out to walk back at 1600hrs with a storm brewing arrived after 12 miles in a sandstorm at Amirya(ink smeared) 1930hrs stayed there the night then set off at 0500hrs on the 18th pulled the lorry out and then finished the job on the and went back to camp kite
23rd March 1942,
Letters and papers arrived from home, one from Audry, plus Mum and Dad, and papers
28th March 1942
Moon coming up we are expecting a raid tonight
29th March 1942
Had a raid as expected, not much damage done, no serious injuries.
31st March 1942
Went flying in a Blenheim to have a scout around, nothing much out there
1st April 1942
Is it us who are the fools, sat in this Bloody awful desert, fight flies and insects, had a raid night again bad shots and ba aiming hardly any damage caused
2nd April 1942
We are all saddened by the news that Bud was found washed up on the shore about 40 miles from here, we are all down due to that news poor old Bud, if we survive some of us will go to his family after the end
4th April 1942,
some of us are going into Alex(Alexandria?) hopefully to have a beer or two, to toast our pal Bud.
I hope this is not boring, the diary is difficult to read for some in pencil (very feint ) some in ink very smudged. however I will put more on this tomorrow
PRB
Continuation
5Th April 1942
What change from last April (41) wish I had it all to do again
6th April 1942
Plenty of excitement at present, today lots of Jerry Raids, and plenty of raiding of Alex, but the Jerries always dump and run like hell when any of us appear, I suppose I don't blame them for that, after all they like us are a long way from home, and to go into the drink is not a nice way to go..!
8th April 1942
Lofty returned late, having shot down a Jerry kite, Good show well done lofty one of the most friendly chap in our group.
9Th April 1942
Very little happening today no fun, Jerry has left us alone today, very quiet, pity we cant go into Alex for a beer
10th April 1942
still quite today again no jerries, but Squadron Birthday tomorrow, ( then a drawing of a Wasp like insect) Sqdn Motto "When Aroused We Sting"
I have since realised that is the insignia of 213 Sdn so the drawing is a Wasp
11th April 1942
Sqdn Birthday today perhaps a cake in the mess tent, Hancock and Wallace shot down a Jerry kite, returned ok, Lofty was shot up a little and forced landed at Edku, called all the chaps out to rescue him he hit the water with his wheels down they caught in something and the a/c flipped over with Lofty underneath, we all lifted the kite up with a wing and got underneath to drag him out....poor old chap he was dead...poor old Lofty he was really good to get on with, what a bad thing to happen on the Sqdns birthday, I was told I have been posted to 148 Sqdn seems they are short, leaving on Monday for their base about 250 miles away, Wellingtons I think plus others
12th April 1942,
ready for dawn raid that never came, perhaps it maybe tonight..
13th April 1942
Left 213 for 148, it seems there is more activity and work there, travelled by Lorry from Edku to Kabrit, left at 0730hrs arrived at 1730hrs not bad going we went via Cairo
14th April 1942
Well here we are, last CO told me I would be up for promotion here as more effort was needed in my field due to skills shortage, lets hope that happens, Mum and Dad will be very pleased..
18th April 1942
Swiming now and again during the day in the Bitter lake,.. and believe me it certainly lives up to its name
19th April 1942 very feintly written in pencil "Mothers Birthday"
I hope you got the cable and my present Mum!
The next entry is May the 28th 1942
I have been so busy I didn't realise I have not filled anything in this little book for weeks , so many raids its almost twice a day sometime, our Old friend keep arriving without invitation and has caused a lot of damage to some kites and ammo/fuel dumps
4th May 1942
The CO is aware many of us write little notes of what is happening in our personal Diaries , he has instructed that we should not keep diaries for if we are caught by the Jerries our diaries could give precious information to the enemy, really none of us thought about that, so untill we are finished I will not write anything else, for we have been in tight positions in this past few weeks. I hope we are the Victors, Mr Churchill says we will! so God Bless him and Great Britain .
There is nothing else written in this little treasure trove of my old dads writing, but I have found some loose leaf sheets which I think are from 1941 to 1942, so I will be going through them to put in order so they make sense, so that I can post those also, that is so long as people are interested in reading this bit of ancient history of my Old dads war effort!
PRB
26January 1942:-
"Yours truly is now 22years old quite old really"
9th January 1942 he write's
Wally and I shot down an Itie over Alex, not confirmed for a couple of days"
17th February 1942 Shrove Tuesday
No Pancakes today
5th March 1942
Bud Lee is missing, no news of him since he left Port Said on Wednesday night at 1830 hrs, official now posted as missing, we all hope he is OK, he is a good friend to us all
8th March 1942
Howell killed, a beat up at "Kaikue" or Haika (very faded)
12th March 1942
Wilson collided in mid air with another kite, bailed out and Landed safely
13th March 1942
Not much hope for Bud now! no sign of him despite people looking for him on the way back
16th March 1942
Smith forced landed, Pilot OK machine U/S, all going out to the kite
17th March 1942 in very small print Toms Birthday, Tom was his elder brother(my Uncle) killed flying a Tomahawk on a test flight in Oct 1941
Further entry same day
Went out in lorry at 0830hrs to Smiths Kite, driver bogged it about at 1230 hrs, we could not dig it out, Healy and self set out to walk back at 1600hrs with a storm brewing arrived after 12 miles in a sandstorm at Amirya(ink smeared) 1930hrs stayed there the night then set off at 0500hrs on the 18th pulled the lorry out and then finished the job on the and went back to camp kite
23rd March 1942,
Letters and papers arrived from home, one from Audry, plus Mum and Dad, and papers
28th March 1942
Moon coming up we are expecting a raid tonight
29th March 1942
Had a raid as expected, not much damage done, no serious injuries.
31st March 1942
Went flying in a Blenheim to have a scout around, nothing much out there
1st April 1942
Is it us who are the fools, sat in this Bloody awful desert, fight flies and insects, had a raid night again bad shots and ba aiming hardly any damage caused
2nd April 1942
We are all saddened by the news that Bud was found washed up on the shore about 40 miles from here, we are all down due to that news poor old Bud, if we survive some of us will go to his family after the end
4th April 1942,
some of us are going into Alex(Alexandria?) hopefully to have a beer or two, to toast our pal Bud.
I hope this is not boring, the diary is difficult to read for some in pencil (very feint ) some in ink very smudged. however I will put more on this tomorrow
PRB
Continuation
5Th April 1942
What change from last April (41) wish I had it all to do again
6th April 1942
Plenty of excitement at present, today lots of Jerry Raids, and plenty of raiding of Alex, but the Jerries always dump and run like hell when any of us appear, I suppose I don't blame them for that, after all they like us are a long way from home, and to go into the drink is not a nice way to go..!
8th April 1942
Lofty returned late, having shot down a Jerry kite, Good show well done lofty one of the most friendly chap in our group.
9Th April 1942
Very little happening today no fun, Jerry has left us alone today, very quiet, pity we cant go into Alex for a beer
10th April 1942
still quite today again no jerries, but Squadron Birthday tomorrow, ( then a drawing of a Wasp like insect) Sqdn Motto "When Aroused We Sting"
I have since realised that is the insignia of 213 Sdn so the drawing is a Wasp
11th April 1942
Sqdn Birthday today perhaps a cake in the mess tent, Hancock and Wallace shot down a Jerry kite, returned ok, Lofty was shot up a little and forced landed at Edku, called all the chaps out to rescue him he hit the water with his wheels down they caught in something and the a/c flipped over with Lofty underneath, we all lifted the kite up with a wing and got underneath to drag him out....poor old chap he was dead...poor old Lofty he was really good to get on with, what a bad thing to happen on the Sqdns birthday, I was told I have been posted to 148 Sqdn seems they are short, leaving on Monday for their base about 250 miles away, Wellingtons I think plus others
12th April 1942,
ready for dawn raid that never came, perhaps it maybe tonight..
13th April 1942
Left 213 for 148, it seems there is more activity and work there, travelled by Lorry from Edku to Kabrit, left at 0730hrs arrived at 1730hrs not bad going we went via Cairo
14th April 1942
Well here we are, last CO told me I would be up for promotion here as more effort was needed in my field due to skills shortage, lets hope that happens, Mum and Dad will be very pleased..
18th April 1942
Swiming now and again during the day in the Bitter lake,.. and believe me it certainly lives up to its name
19th April 1942 very feintly written in pencil "Mothers Birthday"
I hope you got the cable and my present Mum!
The next entry is May the 28th 1942
I have been so busy I didn't realise I have not filled anything in this little book for weeks , so many raids its almost twice a day sometime, our Old friend keep arriving without invitation and has caused a lot of damage to some kites and ammo/fuel dumps
4th May 1942
The CO is aware many of us write little notes of what is happening in our personal Diaries , he has instructed that we should not keep diaries for if we are caught by the Jerries our diaries could give precious information to the enemy, really none of us thought about that, so untill we are finished I will not write anything else, for we have been in tight positions in this past few weeks. I hope we are the Victors, Mr Churchill says we will! so God Bless him and Great Britain .
There is nothing else written in this little treasure trove of my old dads writing, but I have found some loose leaf sheets which I think are from 1941 to 1942, so I will be going through them to put in order so they make sense, so that I can post those also, that is so long as people are interested in reading this bit of ancient history of my Old dads war effort!
PRB
Last edited by Peter-RB; 8th Mar 2015 at 11:53. Reason: to add more content
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A few years ago I posted many pictures of Edku and Kabrit, i think now that I have found this diary a lot of the pictures posted on here are from that 1941 to end of 1942 period, if any of you can get into the archives I posted under VFRpilotPB, my new Peter R-B was due to Pprune locking me out no doubt it was me not understanding how computers need precise passwords, patience has never been one of my virtues.... so I created a new account
But the are good pictures if you can find them.
My regards to all
Peter R-B
But the are good pictures if you can find them.
My regards to all
Peter R-B
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Alan,
Thank you for that link, being a 47 born chap my skill with computers is almost NIL,
Prune Pop, if you are in on this set of details, on the link to the pictures I posted a few years ago, at post 25 there is a group of high ranking people connected with 272 Sqdn, one is either Australian or Canadian, with one a Belgian called
Romain..I often wonder if that man is any rel to John Romain who features flying Spits and other exotic types, if I can lay my hands on the scrap of paper with the names on I will put them on here, , so a bit of help from others will make that Question of the Belgian Flyer answered if other know, then the picture will be historic as well.
I read the report made into a few chapters of the book by Bob Banahan( I hope that is spelt right) he gave a graphic account of what they were doing and what was going on in the planned flight to attack the SS REX, but then mentioned he had managed to get to the exact point needed at the exact right moment in time due to the expertise of his Navigator..My Dad also called Bob, dad never talked about any of this until it was too late, I only found out by reading some one elses account. what a great shame the rest of the real War Heroes are also reticent to talk
Peter R-B
Thank you for that link, being a 47 born chap my skill with computers is almost NIL,
Prune Pop, if you are in on this set of details, on the link to the pictures I posted a few years ago, at post 25 there is a group of high ranking people connected with 272 Sqdn, one is either Australian or Canadian, with one a Belgian called
Romain..I often wonder if that man is any rel to John Romain who features flying Spits and other exotic types, if I can lay my hands on the scrap of paper with the names on I will put them on here, , so a bit of help from others will make that Question of the Belgian Flyer answered if other know, then the picture will be historic as well.
I read the report made into a few chapters of the book by Bob Banahan( I hope that is spelt right) he gave a graphic account of what they were doing and what was going on in the planned flight to attack the SS REX, but then mentioned he had managed to get to the exact point needed at the exact right moment in time due to the expertise of his Navigator..My Dad also called Bob, dad never talked about any of this until it was too late, I only found out by reading some one elses account. what a great shame the rest of the real War Heroes are also reticent to talk
Peter R-B
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It's very interesting. I once got to read a friend's grandfathers's war diary which spanned WW-I and WW-II (Infantry officer) and it was a fascinating read which allowed to me to understand certain things that I had not been able to learn in any war book or movie..... He was a young 2nd Lt in WW-I and a full colonel in WW-II in North Africa......
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Peter-RB... "The Hornet Strikes" written by Frank M. Leeson and published by Air-Britain covers 213 Squadrons time in Nth. Africa well.... quite a few photographs of sqdn. crews as well.
The sqdn. also has a web site which, I'm sure, would be interested in hearing of your Father's diary.
The sqdn. also has a web site which, I'm sure, would be interested in hearing of your Father's diary.
