Australians in the Battle of Britain. 23 October 1940. Des Sheen

Australians in the Battle of Britain. 23 October 1940. Des Sheen

After a lengthy break from operational flying after he baled out of his Spitfire, injured in battle on 5 September, Des Sheen was finally in the air again (operationally speaking) on 23 October 1940. In Spitfire X4596, he went carried out a patrol with Pilot Officer Secretan. It was only a short one, from 16.45 to 17.05 but it was a start. Sadly, not much of one, though, as he was absent from the ops list until the 27th.

 

And so, with little else to report for this day 72 years ago, it occurred to me that I haven’t told you how Des Sheen caught the flying bug.

Des Sheen had been dreaming of flying ever since, as a nine-year-old boy, he had witnessed the great aerial display that had been laid on as part of the celebrations for the opening of Australia’s provisional Parliament House in Canberra on 9 May 1927.

The sky was a fleckless cobalt blue sky (‘royal weather’, was the consensus of opinion). The principal roads into Canberra were ‘swarming with cars’ from the earliest hours. The staging flanking the steps of Parliament House was crowded with official guests with their ‘forests of silk hats’. Canberrans took the day off work or escaped from household duties to witness the Duke and Duchess of York open Parliament House on Monday 9 May 1927. Des was also in the crowd, eagerly anticipating the day’s events.

It was an occasion full of colour and pomp, punctuated by the massive forces’ march past, the boom of the royal salute, Dame Nellie Melba’s rendition of ‘God Save the King’ and the formal guards of honour. The highlight for the government was when the Duke of York unlocked the massive doors of Parliament House with a golden key, but the climax of the day for Des was the aerial show that The Canberra Times predicted would be the ‘most impressive and spectacular display ever witnessed in Australia’.

Des may have been overwhelmed by the ceremony and gala of the grand opening but he did not speak of any of that when he recalled the occasion many years later. Nor did he recall the day’s tragic conclusion when Flying Officer Francis Ewen lost control of his Scout Experimenter and crashed among horrified spectators. He only remembered the RAAF flypast, and the fact that one of the DH9s landed in a paddock near his home. From that moment, he was ‘hooked’. ‘I thought, “well, that’s for me” and that’s when I decided as soon as I was old enough I would join the air force.’

And he did.

 

 

Who'd have thought this gun totting toddler with his parents, dressed in Sunday (or visiting) best would have turned into such a brilliant pilot!