[Postmark: CANADIAN OVERSEAS P.D. 11 SEP 1944 S.C.2.]
[R.A.F. CENSOR 136]
#34 Sept 5. 1944.
Dear Mother:
There is not a great deal to say about my short leave in Belfast as I did not do very much—less than usual I suppose because the boys can travel where they like now and so not many stayed in B. However I did meet some instructor types from this station which somewhat prepared me for the move. Another night I got mixed in with some American naval officers at the officers [sic] club. After the place closed one of them got a bottle of rye off the ship which we took on to a night club. It was a pleasant change from what I have been used to. Also saw one play—the first thriller I have seen on the stage and quite good.
Getting back to school in this place has several disadvantages. Rising at 0700 every other day is only one of them—the general spit and polish of any training station is almost intolerable to anyone coming from the free and easy life of an operational squadron. One blow was to find the course a month longer than I thought.
After I have been overseas a year I will be able to say that I have had only one fourteen day leave (the normal leave period) and since joining the squadron last Dec. only one leave in England part of which was spent in hospital. What a disgusting state of affairs. I am beginning to wonder whether I will get a decent leave before saying goodbye to these Isles.
I have been given a crew now and am well pleased with them. They are all English except two New Zealand WOPS who I haven’t met yet. The engineer used to be at my old station and has considerable experience which is a god thing.
Parcel No 15 arrived a few days ago. Thank you but don’t send any more cocoa. It is too complicated a drink to brew successfully and I have hardly started the first tin as yet. I think you might as well arrange it so that no parcels arrive after the end of November as I don’t know where I’ll be and its [sic] no use having parcels travelling all over the world.
With love from Tony.
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[Postmark: CANADIAN OVERSEAS P.D. 15 SEP 1944 S.C.2.]
[R.A.F. CENSOR 281]
#35 Sept 11. 1944.
Dear Mother:
I am kept very busy here so perhaps I will have more time to write now—didn’t some wise man say the more things you had to do the more time you could find to do other things. Yesterday was an example of industry but not thank goodness quite representative of a normal day. On parade at the usual time of 0745 and then except for time out for meals I was up until 2:00 hrs. The last hour was link and I was really ropey—got an F instead of an A and a lot of caustic remarks from the instructor. I tried hard to redeem myself this morning. Flying is coming along fine and I have a bit of first pilot time, which compares to solo in a smaller plane, at last.
I have been getting quite a bit of exercise lately with my bicycle—have been over to my old squadron a couple of times and also into a small city near here.
We are looking forward to getting the extra hour next week—particularly my navigator who has to take numerous astro shots at night and it means he won’t have to stay up so late.
Glad to hear your picnic was a success. I can remember the place where you had lunch very well but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Crescent Beach properly—though I’ve stopped there in Peter’s [Mallam] old launch.
The news gets better and better each day. Surely it will be over soon in Europe. Next time I get into London I don’t imagine the black-out will cause me much trouble.
What a pity your guests at the dinner party didn’t recognise the v. sign. [MKF440721] If it had been done by lights I don’t suppose I would have caught on. We had an Aldous test the other day and I didn’t even hand my paper in. I didn’t get enough to realize it was being sent in plain language.
With love from
Tony
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[Postmark: CANADIAN OVERSEAS P.D. 25 SEP 1944 S.C.2.]
[R.A.F. CENSOR 281]
#36 Sept 21. 1944.
Dear Mother:
I have been doing rather well with parcels lately. No 16 and 17 have both arrived and No 16, the one with the grapefruit juice, was addressed correctly. You had corrected it I think. I have never had a chance to use the sandwich spread before but I will now as we have a sort of picnic lunch on board when we go flying here. Last time we were given only one small tin of bully beef to spread over sandwiches for eight people which rather annoyed us. Another 1000 cigs arrived today so I now have over 1500 on hand. I should begin to build up a good surplus now for the future.
Have done well with letters also and at last have heard from Peter [Mallam]. He spent five days on an American LST living in the height of luxury with a cabin to himself so I suppose he went in in southern France. Also heard from Ken Reid in Ceylon and the next day met a chap in the mess who had just come from there and knew him well. This chap was just off to Pat. Bay so I am hoping Ken will be diverted thru the same curious channel. Heard from Doug. McGrath too who is on Bomber command. One page had been completely cut away leaving only the narrow border.
You remember how I used to hate the link. That is a picnic compared to a new device here. Pilot navigator and wireless operator sit in a device simulating an aeroplane, things are flashed on screens and you act accordingly. The snag is the big clock staring at you from the wall ahs varying speeds and sometimes goes about three times normal so everybody ahs to work like fiends. In this way almost a whole sortie is done in a few hours and after the first one I felt almost as groggy as if it had been the real thing.
With love from Tony.
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[Postmark: CANADIAN OVERSEAS P.D. 11 OCT 1944 S.C.2.]
[R.A.F. CENSOR 281]
#37 Oct 5. 1944
Dear Mother:
Two more cartons of cigs arrived yesterday so that there is only one more from B. C. House to come. I have nearly 2000 on hand so it won’t matter much if the new system takes a little while to get under way. Parcel 18 arrived today. I am going to take the can of peaches over to supper tonight for my navigator and I. My engineer just got his commission and pushed off on a 48 to Belfast to get his uniform. I am going to try and get him to move in with me as there is an extra bed in the hut.
I had a letter from Peter [Mallam] a few days ago. He was in Belgium then and had even found time to go to a dance. He was out of the line a few days with tonsillitus [sic] but was back when he wrote.
Had a letter from Dick [Stubbs] a while ago. He expected to be pushing off to France shortly and wrote from some place near Bedford. After 4 yrs in the air force he thinks he may get up in the air.
Everybody seems to think we may get a 48 next week and if so I may possibly head for Dublin and try some real ice cream etc.
Had some night flying last week and coped satisfactorally [sic] for a first effort.
I hope you are managing to get the apple crop off without too many labor problems. There seems to be no labor shortage here. Just outside my hut this afternoon there were about ten labourers with scythes chopping away at a tiny patch of a field. This afternoon I saw some apples in town, 7 d. per pound they were, but I think even the pigs at home would have passed them up.
Last night we had a wonderful show here—the RCAF “Blackouts”. I had seen it before nearly seventeen months ago and it was almost identical. The show came over when I was still in Bournemouth and I had been wondering when it would catch up with me.
With love from
Tony
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[Postmark: CANADIAN OVERSEAS P.D. 20 OCT 1944 S.C.2.]
[R.A.F. CENSOR 281]
Oct 15. 1944.
Dear Mother:-
I cannot account for the time lag between my date and post office date. The letters are collected daily and should not be held up for censorship but it would not surprise me if they were. Officers have to censor their crews’ mail which unavoidably makes a delay of a day for them which is a rotten system I think. Still another 300 cigs have arrived. This lot was not on your final list of numbers but came from BC House nevertheless. (No 552/7400)
In the mess card room there are four sets of checkers so the game is quite a rage and I play a lot with my navigator.
One of the boys in the hut has adopted a kitten which is not looked on with much favor by the rest of us. It spends most of its time on my carpet lying in front of the electric heater which I leave on day and night these days.
One recent letter from you had a pencil note on the outside to Dick [Stubbs] and signed Jacky. J. Bell I suppose and it gave the phone number of his London apartment.
I am beginning to think I will still be here for Christmas so please don’t forgo sending a Christmas parcel. In fact the course is beginning to drag a bit and I am a long way behind in my flying. My engineer has set his wedding day for very soon after the scheduled end of the course and is rather worried about our managing to keep to the schedule.
I was night flying one night when quite a storm got up. We had to stop because the rain was torrential and the waves soon six feet high. It is odd how you can keep going at night with an easy feeling of security simply because it is too dark to see how bad the conditions have become.
It is now 10 a.m., so I think I should run along to work.
With love from
Tony.
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[Postmark: none]
[R.A.F. CENSOR 193]
#38 Oct 26. 1944.
Dear Mother:
My electric heater nearly did me in one night. I had it too close to the bed and during the night the sheets came untucked. I have no idea why I woke up but I did at the very moment when the sheet broke into flame and the fire was quickly smothered. Someone else had worse luck when they put a heater underneath the chest of drawers to dry out his clothes. After a day or so it charred thru the bottom and burnt all his clothes.
I have soloed at night at last. This should have been done long ago but we seem far behind schedule and I have visions of a prolonged stay here yet. We waste considerable time when not flying nor at ground school. For instance the other day I was out sailing in a rubber dinghy. It is an ingenious thing with a centre board, rudder and two sails and it was quite good fun but we do not carry that type in our aircraft.
I have had two more letters from Peter [Mallam] who is in Holland now. He managed a day off in Ghent and had quite a time but such occassions [sic] are few and far between. Once he had his radio on for a whole week and I guess it is mainly his responsibility to listen out on it.
I hope you have managed to find an adequate amount of [apple] boxes. The cardboard variety don’t sound as if they would load very securely on a truck. What is the grand total of all varieties and is there a good market?
With love from
Tony.
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[Postmark: CANADIAN OVERSEAS P.D. 14 NOV 1944 S.C.2.]
[R.A.F. CENSOR 136]
#39 Oct [sic] 8. 1944.
Dear Mother:
Sorry for not writing sooner but there is nothing interesting to write about. I have reached a low and wait only for the day I can get away from here—a day that does not come appreciably nearer. In fact it won’t surprise me much to spend most of my leave here trying to finish. Tomorrow is supposed to be the day off but I will probably have to work as usual which is very annoying as I haven’t been to town for some time and there are a lot of items I must get. One of these is Christmas cards and I saw in the paper that the last day for mailing is sometime next week.
Parcel 19 arrived during the week. The jam is particularly welcome. There are two fireplaces in the dining hall so I can make lots of toast and have a wizard afternoon tea. I wish we had similar fires in the room. Sometimes I wear the inner part of my flying suit in the evenings and still can’t keep warm.
One night the wind blew a huge tree down outside Art Bellis’ hut. Had it fallen the opposite direction to which it did it would have flattened his hut. He was too sleepy in the morning to notice it but got quite a shock that evening. It seems that not even in bed can one be sure of safety around here.
Glad to hear you did at last manage to get enough boxes for all the apple crop. I suppose most people must have underestimated their crops.
With love from
Tony.
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[Postmark: illegible]
[R.A.F. CENSOR 136]
#40 Nov 21. 1944.
Dear Mother:
Parcels 20 and 21 arrived so I am now well stocked with supplies. The tins of fruit arrived safely and in good condition though they had leaked very slightly. The shirt was just the right size and so came in very handy as I had thrown two away. I don’t remember telling you before that the other shirt you sent was too big but perhaps I did. The rest of the clothing will come in useful in warmer climes. As to socks I think it is better to get them here because although they are only ankle length they are all wool and I have scads of coupons. I was very interested in the prospectus on Yellowknife. It took me a little while to get my bearings but then could recognise several of the buildings, etc.
Cigarettes have been pouring in and I am quite overcome with them. I’ve given away three cartons and still have over 3000 on hand. When I leave here I will need a special suitcase for cigarettes alone.
The course has been going rather smoother lately and the end is actually in sight—perhaps a week will do it. I have had a bit of trouble with engines and have jettisonned [sic] enough gas lately to drive your car twenty thousand miles in order to get my weight down below the maximum for landing.
How is Dick [Stubbs] getting along in Belgium or where ever he is? I haven’t heard from him for ages.
One day I was sent out to do a taxi test with a scrub crew of ground erks. It went well until time to pick up the mooring lizard but the bowman missed the bollard with the lizard and held on with the rope on the boathook. I heard shrieks of agony from the bows so cut the engines immediately and went forward expecting to find a dead man. Somehow he had got the rope around his leg and our inertia must have nearly broken it until we lost way. His leg was quite bruised but otherwise O.K. Incidentally when I rushed down the forward stairs I landed up in the bilges because someone had taken out the floorboards at the foot. This was funny enough but five minutes later I did exactly the same thing again. Fortunately I was in heavy flying clothing so was not even bruised.
With love from
Tony