13 November 1937

Dear Dad:

Got a lot of letters today and I am well pleased - some real good letter writers in our family.

Jean took the swagger out of me by saying she was glad that I was a pilot now. This knocked the wind out of my sails completely. After a year of flying (such a shock!!)

Rank has nothing to do with flying ability - maybe our doubleä barrelled titles do give one that impression.

I hear that she is going to dances and can play the piano very well.

If I come home and find your car put away for the winter I won't speak to you much!

Next June our Squadron flies over to Aldergrove in Ireland for Armament Camp training so I will have a long over-the-sea journey to do (Not quite as long as Lindberg's!)

Today was very nice - crisp but no low cloud or fog so we did a lot of flying - doing Fighting Area attacks on each other with camera gun. Mock air fights with other pilots is very interesting but if one gets on your tail its really impossible to shake him off. I don't care what you do a fighter (trained) pilot will do anything you can do.

Yesterday Blatchford got on my tail - I did half rolls, Immelman turns - half rolls off the top of loops etc. but he followed every manoeuvre. It's great looking backwards as you go up in a loop - over on your back - check and roll out level again and a fast single seater fighter doing exactly the same a few feet from your rudder.

I'll willingly wager that there is no Air Force in the world that can tough Britain's Fighter Squadrons. We land, fight and take-off in formation all the time without varying a foot in precision formation.

It's part of standard training now to do flight formation loops, rolls and half rolls which calls for accurate formation flying to the nth degree.

I am going to have a picture of myself taken in oxygen and R/T mask, helmet, sidcot and parachute sometime and show you that the modern fighter pilot looks like a deep sea diver - we fighter pilots even have special high flying goggles to wear.

Flight Lieutenant West, our Station Adjutant and old war pilot, had a look at the instruments in our new fighter today and wanted to know how we did it. He only used a compass, airspeed and atltimeter.

i see that one of the R.A.F. balloons from Cardigan got loose last night and dragging 10,000 feet of steel cable went over to France and pulled down the transmission lines in Bologne and put the town in darkness all night. Some fun.

They always seem to break loose and cause trouble on recognized air routes in this country.

Did you know that the Squadrons at Marston can see German bombers come over at night to the English coast - turn around and go back to their country on night trips and that we too (heavy night bombers) fly to Holland, France, Germany likewise. It would be rather odd to have to force land an RAF machine in Holland!

Today we played Darlington City in rugby and yours truly scored the only point in the game - a try (English equivalent of a touch down).

I saw the ball on ground, picked it up - shoved a man in the face and galloped over the line. I finished up with about five huskies on tope of my neck.

The English are delightful sportsmen. They will kick you in the thigh and say "I say Old Chappie! I'm sorry" - the good old polished exterior whot?

The best time of all is when everyone forgathers in the mess afterwards for a beer. The English wear no protection whatsoever in their game and so bruises are very common - although the ground is soft and covered with luxuriant grass. One look at our rugby pitch would turn any front lawn artist in Calgary green.

We run three games at a time on our grounds - soccer, grass hockey and rugby.

Even an airman can kick an officer in this game but I have never heard a man swear yet.

Love Bill
Hoping to see you Jan. 12