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Description: | British officer trained with No 5 Cadet Wing, Royal Flying Corps at Hastings, Sussex, 1917; flying training with Training Depot Sqdn at Vendome, France and No 4 Fighter School, RAF at Freiston, GB, 1918-1919; ferry pilot based at Eastbourne, Sussex, 1919
REEL 1 Background in Mansfield, 1899-1917: background to attestation to join Royal Flying Corps, 1917; training with Officers Cadet Corps at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School; brother's enlistment underage, 1914; parents' reactions to decision to join Royal Flying Corps; rejection of friend on health grounds from Royal Flying Corps; athletic activities; work as student teacher, 1917; attestation and medical, 1917. Aspects of period as cadet at Blackdown Camp, 12/1917-3/1918: basic training; relationship with NCOs and officers; story of stealing coal; visits to Farnborough; pasing fit to be pilot at special medical board.
REEL 2 Recollections of period at No 5 Cadet Wing, Royal Flying Corps, Hastings, 3/1918-4/1918: nature of ground training and instructors; cross country running; formation of RAF, 1/4/1918. Period of engine familiarisation and learning to swing propellor at Bristol, 4/1918-5/1918. Atending machine gun course at Uxbridge, 5/1918-6/1918: target practice; stripping guns down; firing from adjustable cockpit. Period learning to fly at Vendome, France, 6/1918-10/1918: influenza attack during journey out; ability to speak French and relationship with French civilians; dual control instruction in Avro 504K.
REEL 3 Continues: restricted flying time; altitude test; learning aerobatics. Period flying Sopwith Camel with No 4 Fighter School, RAF at Freiston, 10/1918-4/1919: flying characteristics of Camel; dual instruction flight in two-seater Camel; gunnery practice; practise fights with camera guns; formation and low flying practice; misfiring engine; news of Armistice whilst on leave and journey back to unit, 11/11/1918; story of pilot getting drunk after accident at Vendrome; flying clothes. Period at Eastbourne, 4/1919-5/1919: securing duties as ferry pilot to preserve flying pay; question of staying in RAF; question of attempt to recruit volunteers for White Russian intervention, 1919.
REEL 4 Post-war career: return to training as teacher; absence of further flying experience; question of morale and status within RAF; question of contacts with old comrades. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | de Lee, Nigel | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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