11 November 1937
To Mother
Dear Mother:
Turned out rather nice today for the parade which we held in Catterick and rest of day is holiday so we are going for a drive in the hills and perhaps down to York.
We all have been doing a lot of flying on our single-seaters practising war load climbs to 25000 feet, interceptions, etc. Good old 41 looks OK tearing along in formation above the clouds.
I have spent most of my time doing practise climbs to 25000 feet and above with oxygen. We are checking rate of climb and dropping off of boost pressure with height - using stop watches etc.
Boy! is it cold a way up there (and away down here).
When you climb into cockpit with parachute and heavy sidcot and flying boots plus thick cable from mouthpiece to oxygen attachment and two wires joining cable to floor socket for R/T communication plus a stop watch hanging around neck - there is no extra space in the office I can assure you - its a wonder you get off the ground.
All the way up you keep R/T communication with your ground station and report back your position, height and height of clouds etc. plus weather report. If a very bad storm is coming up the ground station can warn you in time to get down, etc.
I had better write a letter to Mrs. Culbertson soon - I haven't for some time. A town by the name of Ripley is just inside No. 41 Fighter Squadron's Sector - a beautiful little place from the air - old oak trees, winding stream and an old bridge - I wonder if this is the original (Yorkshire).
The English countryside is very beautiful about here. There was at one time so much stone shale on the ground that they made their fences of it when they cleared the ground - some three or four feet tall, mile after winding mile of it where there are no hedges instead.
The country is rolling and very green with many sheep and cattle - real plump ones.
Of course there are the huge manufacturing places of Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate, Hartlepool, Middlesborough, Stockton, etc. - huge munition and armament factories (steel, iron, etc.) and of course our reason for being here.
Redcar, a resort place near the coast, was the place where they had 150 bombers ready to bomb Germany in 1918 just as the war finished. We are the nearest place to the continent and shall catch the brunt in time of war.
Well enough for now. I see that C.P.R. have put their boat fares up another £3 or£4 which is nice of them at a time like this. Well I've got the leave granted but whether or not I shall be able to afford the trip I don't know as yet. I don't like that four days both ways in Canada plus meals and berths.
Well
Love Bill
41 Flight Squadron
ROYAL AIR FORCE,
CATTERICK,
YORKS.
TELEPHONE,
OLD CATTERICK 53.