Sunday, 29 July 2012

Australians in the Battle of Britain. 30 July 1940.


At Biggin Hill, John Crossman had been ‘buzzing around a lot lately in the “Maggie” and now that I’m used to it find it a very good kite to fly and quite the acrobat’. He was pleased to note that Queenslander John Pain, ‘one of the original Aussies’ with whom he had sailed to England and trained with, had been posted to 32 Squadron after operational training. But John was not going to get a chance to spend much time with ‘Tiger’ Pain. ‘I learned today that I am to go away for five weeks to an OTU which is a helluva nuisance as I am just nicely settled here now.’ Which was a polite way of saving that his hopes of getting into action any time soon had been dashed.

Over at Little Rissington, Ken Holland was in trouble. He had returned there after his leave with Toby and now, with his flying training completed, he was just waiting to receive his final clearances and posting to an operational training unit. He went rifle shooting, in the morning ‘of which I made a balls’. Then, after a ‘great hunt..after cameras and photos’, he got caught with his album and put under open arrest! Happily, it was later relaxed so he could attend the farewell binge for the instructors. There was a lot of ale flowing and it was all ‘rather good fun.’

While Ken was enjoying his binge, over at Exeter, Dick Glyde was on night flying duty. It would be his last time in the air for almost two weeks: he was going on leave, and he had a very important function to attend on 5 August.

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