16 January 1937
To Jean
TELEPHONE:- GRANTHAM 116-117
Officers' Mess
NO. 3, FLYING TRAINING SCHOOL,
ROYAL AIR FORCE,
GRANTHAM,
LINCS.
Dear Jean:
I was glad to get your letter telling me how good Santa Claus was to you. I also hear you are growing up like a young lady. Well keep practising dancing with Bob and you will certainly be popular when you start going to your first high school dances.
I am flying up on the east coast of England now - I am about 40 miles east of "The Wash" - you can see it on the map.
It is very pretty around here. We are situated on the high hills around Grantham and so we can look down into the town. I have now flown both Hawker Hart and Hawker Audax solo so am beginning to be a real service pilot. We have very many close scrapes in landing, as we come in at 75 m.p.h. which causes Willyä to use his imagination occasionally. There are three R.A.F. aerodromes very close together here and the traffic congestion in the air is like a dog fight. Last night I watched the senior course doing night flying. They put flares down on theä aerodrome - five little pots of oil placed like the letter T and no flood lighting. The planes would signal to the ground by means of signalling lights and an officer on the ground would signal with his aldis lamp permission to land. It was really thrilling to watch. This being Saturday morning, we had to get into overalls and scrub the planes with soap and water for next week's flying. The crew at the same time were overhauling the plane, so I think we were more of a nuisance than a help.
When I close the throttle while flying, the plane slows up so quickly my head snaps back against the crash pad. The fighting harness is so tight we're glued into the plane and the only part of the body that can move is the head and neck. Our shoulders are naturally pinned back. The machine is very high and takes quite a bit of climbing to get into - in fact we feel like pygmies beside one.
What kind of a bicycle did you get? You haven't told me.
We are listening to Henry Hall and his orchestra from London - very snappy. The B.B.C. and all that.
END OF THE LETTER IS MISSING
Officers Mess
Royal Air Force
No. 3 F.T.S.
Grantham