WW2 Hawker Typhoon pilot memoirs
 

Hi all
I have a friend and former colleague, who flew Typhoons and Tempests (among other things) during WW2. His name is Peter Brett and he served with 164, 182, and 183 sqns. He has written up some memoirs and anecdotes about his training in Canada and subsequent active service, and he was wondering if they would be of interest on this forum.

Peter is now about 86, and his poor eyesight does not let him use a computer easily himself, but I am willing to do some editing of the material into bite-size chunks and post them on here if I perceive there is enough interest shown. Alternatively, if there is a better place than this forum to "publish" the material, please let me know

If any former RAF colleagues of Peter read this and remember him, and would like to get touch, please PM me. He is living in France with his wife and daughter.

I myself am not a military aviator, but work in the defence industry. I am also a "late starter" PPL student.

Resounding "Yes, please" from me.

Lots of fantastically interesting and sobering history is being lost due to peoples' modesty, especially those who "just did their job" a long time ago. I'm not suggesting we should all be trying to dine out on our stories but some of these guys went way beyond what we are ever likely to and I feel that their stories deserve to be published if they've taken the effort to put them down in script.

Hoping you'll see fit to do it!

tow

It may be worth dropping a line to 3 Sqn at Coningsby or their association Three's Company - No. 3 (Fighter) Squadron Association Web Site (I am sure they are both watching this thread). I am not on the Sqn anymore but had some relativelly recent humbling experiences listening to the old Typhoon and Tempest Boys on the Fighting Third, some who are still around today. Including the guy who shot down an Me262. a few who spent their days wing tipping V1s out of the sky and another who got shot down over over Northen Europe and then spent his time working with the resistance to find V2 sites before "taking a short walk to Gibraltar". There was no grumbling when they came around the Sqn, only mutual respect, a full crewroom and amazement of what they had gone through.

As for me, I can't get enough of the old boys stories so bring it on. And they need writing down because there all of a ripe old age, there stories cannot be forgotten and they are heroes, every last one of them. They remind me why, between the daily frustrations and grumblings of the current air force, why I still feel proud to wear the uniform and stand quiet on Remembrance Day.

Stories from the old boys we hear in the Mess make for eye-popping stuff. 'Total War'.

And the Tempest was the Daddy of all WWII piston fighters.

Yes please Pete. What was it like to fly the 3000hp 24 cylinder beast?

There's a telling story in a recent book about RAF Westhampnett - today better known perhaps as the Goodwood airfield and motor racing circuit, at Chichester, Sussex. Evidently three squadrons of Typhoons were stationed there during the battle of Normandy period in 1944 - and their formation take-offs, fully fueled and armed, with their Napier Sabre engines at full boost, led a group of locals to contact the station commander (and the local press) to complain about THE NOISE!

If it was only a quarter as interesting a the "Pilots Brevet" thread it would be still well worth reading so yes please bring it on. :ok:

There is a local bloke; Ron Pottinger, he has written a book "The View From the Office" about his time on 3 Sqn Typhoons. It is a bit specialist and i'm not too sure how wide the circulation is, but I commend it to the House.
If your buddy wants to get in touch, I can probably get his contact details.

DL

Yes! from the other side of the Atlantic.



Another good Typhoon pilot's tale is "A View from the Office." Self-published, I think, but available.

That would be excellent.

In all honesty adding it to the "gaining a pilots brevet in WWII" would be even better. Currently a light to heavy bomber pilot, a pilot to FE convert and a fighter pilot/ground attack would be an excellent addition. It would also probably inspire regle and cliffnemo to continue.

Look forward to reading them wherever they appear.

YES!

Please!:ok::)

Yes please. Another good read is Typhoon Pilot by Desmond Scott (RNZAF) - to quote from the cover "Whereas the Spitfire always behaved like a well-mannered thoroughbred on first acquaintance, the Typhoon always reminded me of a low-bred carthorse whose pedigree had received a sharp infusion of hot-headed sprinter's blood."

A most resounding YES PLEASE. We have had the Sunderland memoirs and currently have the WWII brevet thread. The more contributions we have the better as far as I am concerned.

I would more than welcome a 'hot pursoot ship pilot ' to my thread. Also required immediately , one navigator, one bomb aimer, one wop, one tail end charlie , plus a mid upper. three shillings and sixpence a day and all found. Must be age eighty three or over.

Thank you to all who responded to my OP, and to those who sent me PM's. I will respond to the PM's individually as soon as possible.

The response seems unanimous, so I will go ahead and do this.

I like the idea of joining cliffnemo's "brevet" thread, as suggested by Cliff himself and by Jimmy Mac. I have not read the whole of that thread, but my impression is that much of its extra appeal lies in the "banter" between Cliff and regle on the one hand and the rest of the readership on the other - which unfortunately Peter himself will not be able to participate in quite so easily, due to the difficulty he now has in using a computer. Responses from him may take a while to appear, and may need me to act as go-between. However I am willing to give it a go if you are.

Incidentally Pete's work is divided into a dozen or so chapters each of about 3000-4000 words, or about 4 or 5 sides of A4 per chapter, so I will try and post in similar size chunks to those already existing on the thread.

Pete's text still needs checking for typos and continuity, so I will get on with that and hope to be posting soon.

Finally, I was disappointed that the mods chose to move my thread (within less than six hours!!) away from its original place in the Military Aviator's forum. My subject seemed to have a lot more to do with military aviation than some of the threads (e.g.MP's houses) now there. However, my OP has served its purpose and we will move on from here.

Best regards TOW

A resounding "yes please!" here too! Excuse the slight thread creep, but does anyone know of any film or video clip with sound of a Typhoon with the Sabre running? I've never heard one, but I'd sure love to!

Photographs
 

Tow1709 he must have some interesting photos too, they can be posted to 'Sticky: Photos of everyone', or on my thread You may know how to scan to a host, such as photobucket, if not P.M me.
It's all good fun, and there are a lot of younger people out there who want to know. TYPOS, don't worry, we 'cudnnt
care les' . Let's try and keep it going, Regle and I will run out of info soon.
CLIFF.

I have a copy of a paper back book titled "Typhoon Warfare" "reminiscences of a Rocket firing Typhoon pilot - WW2", written and published by Tom Hall of Melbourne. The book in Tom’s words “is based on Tom's logbook entries which are interspersed with stories relating to people”. He has dedicated the book to all those that served in 175 Squadron of the RAF during WW2.
From the foreword in the book, "Tommy Hall (born May 1921) was one a large number of RAAF pilots serving in the Typhoon squadrons of the RAF and joined 175 squadron in May 1944"
There have been two editions printed in Melbourne, the first in 2000 and again in 2004 but I suspect that they were very limited print runs.
The printer was Blueprint, 225 Ingles Street, Port Melbourne VIC Australia 3207 and their telephone number in 2004 was +61 3 9645 2722.
Blackburn

Excellent book of which I have a signed copy. We were fortunate to have Tom give a talk to the Aviation Historical Society in Melbourne several years ago. A few weeks later I picked him up at home and gave him a few circuits in the Ansett Boeing 737-300 full flight simulator as thanks for his marvellous talk. He was gobsmacked by the simulator and did a good job of handling. I think Tom Hall died a year or so ago.

Sorry tow1709, but as your post is both history and nostalgia this forum is where it should be. Makes sense as well as making sure all those who love nostalgia, and who generally only come here to savour such stories.

Its true it was military aviation but that was the 40's - we are now 69 years further on.

But thanks for the opportunity that Peter Brett has given us.

When can we look forward to it?

PPP

Noah Zark: This link should take you to a sound file of the Sabre.
Aviation Sound Files