Thomas Spirit of the Blue

Peter Ayerst - A Fighter Pilot's Story
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7509-7981-8
Verlag: The History Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 258 Seiten

Peter joined the R.A.F. in 1938 on a short-service commission and was despatched to France when war broke out. After serving with legendary fighter ace Douglas Bader, Peter was posted to North Africa in 1942, where he was forced to crash-land his Hurricane in a minefield. He flew Spitfires on intruder sorties over France before and during D-Day, on bomber escort duty against V-weapons sites and in support of mass daylight raids deep into Germany. Awarded the D.F.C. in December 1944, he also flew as fighter escort to King George VI's Dakota. By the war's end, Peter had flown every mark of Spitfire and Hurricane in the R.A.F.'s inventory.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Thomas, Hugh

Leseproben

TWO

Best Days of Your Life

6 OCTOBER 1938

Autumn had arrived. The air was clean and crisp with a biting snap. The leaves were turning to various shades of brown, russet and scarlet red. The seasons were changing once more and the onset of a cold, dark winter loomed. It threatened to be cold, dark and long in more ways than one. These were times during which the Royal Air Force had been forced to modernise because of the storm clouds of war that had been ever-present for the past three years. In accordance with the preparations pioneered by the soon-to-be Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command, Hugh Dowding, who had pushed ahead the plans adopted hastily by the Air Defence of Great Britain in 1936, a grim acceptance and subsequent alacrity had been adopted by the RAF. Everything concerning the logistics, support and welfare of the Air Force was quickly stepped up in preparation for any German threat. The increase in aircraft production, radio direction finding (or radar as it became known) and airfields was rushed ahead. Plans to increase personnel, both ground- and aircrew, for fighters were essential to Dowding’s plans. Elementary and advanced courses at training schools were no exception. Such aircrew courses were implemented hastily throughout 1938 and 1939, and this in turn required more resources, the building of more accommodation and the addition of new airfields around the country.

The date of 6 October 1938 was Peter’s first day of his elementary pilot training course at one of the civil airfields that had recently been requisitioned by the RAF. The grass airfield, located on the county border between Surrey and Sussex, had been known as Gatwick; it was now known as RAF Gatwick. Peter was one of twenty-two other young, green aviators about to embark on a brand-new RAF training course, which was held at a new location, flying brand-new aircraft. No. 19 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School (E&RFTS) was the first course ever to be established at this new location. When he first arrived there on that autumnal day, Gatwick was anything but a bustling hive of activity; there had been just three scheduled flights operated by civil airlines per week. During his time there, the RAF shared flying facilties with the civil aviation authorities. A few ancient training aircraft with RAF markings were scattered about: several Hawker Harts belonging to the RAF Volunteer Reserve along with a few de Havilland Tiger Moths that were particularly popular at the weekend. The Volunteer Reserve had already stamped their authority on this quiet, civil aerodrome by flying would-be part-time pilots at the weekends. This was enough for the RAF authorities to establish a full-time elementary course for regular pilots.

The course was significant because, in addition to its new status, Peter was going to fly new training aircraft that were the first monoplane trainers used by the RAF for elementary training. They were built by the Miles company at Woodley, near Reading and were officially called M 14 Magisters. The pupil pilots called them Maggies. The Magisters were important because they had dual controls, ideal for training. Moreover, they were monoplanes, a relatively new concept in RAF training circles. They were, in essence, similar to the Tiger Moth biplanes which the RAF had used previously – without the upper wing. It was a revolution in training terms. The first Magisters were delivered to the training schools in 1938.

Eighteen-year-old Plt Off Ayerst arrived at Gatwick around mid-morning from London Victoria railway station and reported straight for duty. The rail service had been direct to Gatwick from London. Little was he to know that by 2 p.m. that day he would be on his first training flight at 4,000ft in a Magister. His feet hadn’t touched the ground – he hadn’t even been to see his lodgings! No. 19 Elementary course was overseen by the Chief Flying Instructor, A. Kingwill, who had had a successful career in the RAF. He was responsible for a total of five instructors at Gatwick, all of whom had volunteered for the post after having completed their short-service commissions and were accountable to the Chief Instructor, A.D. Bennett.

Peter discovered that the key to learning the art of flying lies in a good instructor. The instructors at Gatwick came in all shapes and sizes, with a variety of characters and personalities to match. There were those who believed the best way to get the most out of their pupils was by adopting an easygoing and mild-mannered approach, praising their pupils when they could, letting the pupil relax with the aircraft accordingly. There were those who believed that all this was stuff and nonsense; the only way to teach a pupil the harsh realities of flying was to send the pupil up in the cockpit as soon as possible. If pupils were unlucky enough to have this type as their instructor, they soon found that no matter how hard they tried in their flying, they could never please or satisfy them. Who taught you was in the hands of the Gods.

Peter was fortunate. He was paired with a particularly efficient and effective instructor by the name of Flt Lt Burnett, a very competent and experienced pilot. Peter liked him; Burnett was a ‘hell of a nice chap’. About thirty years in age and, like Peter, on a short-service commission, Flt Lt Burnett took a serious approach to flying and the art of instructing pupils: not for him the school of harsh realities. Burnett was to be Peter’s instructor for the duration of the course at Gatwick until mid-December. In the space of ten weeks or thereabouts, Peter was to complete about fifty hours’ worth of flying. Considering the conditions at this time of the year, short days, the increase in wet and windy weather, combined with his lack of flying, the fact that Peter managed to put in as many hours as he did was in no small part due to Flt Lt Burnett. This experience provided Peter with a solid flying platform on which to improve and build upon his skills. That he flew so many hours at such a crucial period in his training must be one of the factors in his ability to survive so many operational missions. Peter considers that the training given by the RAF was the best in the world. For him, it gave young, green pilots a high standard of confidence when flying, high standards in liaising with others, as well as high standards from their kit.

Twenty-two other pilots were also taking their ab initio flights alongside Peter in the autumn of 1938. They were in their late teens and early twenties. They were looking for fun and excitement, for girls and good times. Yes, they were aware of a German threat that could have implications on their lives, but that wasn’t going to get in the way of making the most out of life – while they still could.

Their backgrounds were broadly similar to Peter’s in the sense that they came from financially comfortable families. Pupils came to Gatwick from all over the world, bringing diverse characters and varied opinions. All of them had to adapt to and adopt service life as quickly as possible. Peter recalls they were quite a good crowd and they all got on pretty well: Buchanan, who came from a baronial family in Ireland; Charles Green, a Rhodesian who became a group captain; Walker, a Canadian; Ron Woods, who shared digs with Peter in Crawley; Derek Sheed; Nolan Neylan; Talbot ‘Tolly’ Rothwell, who became a prisoner of war and afterwards a TV producer; Victor Penney, a rogue if ever there was one, with a hell of a loud laugh, constantly borrowing money; Derek Forde; Jack Shaw, with whom Peter became very friendly. Three or four of the twenty-two pilots were LACs: leading aircraftmen, who had transferred to Peter’s course. Although officially in the RAF, these LACs still dressed in civilian clothes but had been selected for aircrew training.

Generally, Peter thinks that all the boys behaved themselves because they were all new to the service and wanted to show to Kingwill, Bennett et al that they were worth the money the RAF had been spending on them. Although the Royal Air Force had spent time and money on their training, it did not wish to spend hundreds of pounds on uniforms for pupils only to discover that they did not pass their flying and theory examinations and were consequently asked to leave. Peter and his colleagues wore civilian clothing during their time at Gatwick, which acted as a sobering reminder that they were not part of the RAF quite yet; it was very much touch and go as to whether they would succeed in making the grade.

There were no facilities or resources for accommodation on the airfield. Accordingly, the pupil pilots were billeted in and around nearby towns, namely Crawley and Horley. Most pilots managed to find digs in Crawley.

Peter was allocated accommodation with fellow pupil Ron Woods. He and Woods walked to the railway station at Crawley, which was five minutes from their digs, to get on a train and travel the short journey to Three Bridges. They changed there for the train service to Gatwick station, which had been designated a mainline station because it was hoped that the airfield nearby would develop commercially with facilities for civil airliners that would otherwise have had to resort to flying from Croydon in the early 1930s.

Familiarisation Flight – 6 October

The afternoon of 6 October presented Peter with his first flight in a Magister, his first time in the RAF’s first monoplane trainer. The lightweight de Havilland Gipsy Major engine began to purr as Flt Lt Burnett pressed the magnetos and the two-bladed wooden propeller started to rotate, faster and faster, ending in a blur. Instructor and pilot, safely strapped in, taxied over the green grass of the small Gatwick airfield. The yellow aircraft...