Australia's Few. 30 July 1940

Busy as Stuart Walch and Pat Hughes had been, it is almost unbelievable to note that John Crossman still had not flown in combat.

 

At Biggin Hill, he 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. On 30 July 1940 ‘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.