蜜芽传媒

Chapter 1

I was only 14 years old and still at school when war broke out. Like most other school children at the time I felt quite excited about the news, but if the truth be told, the real consequences of it passed me by. I was more concerned about leaving all my mates behind when I was evacuated to Northampton during that September month of 1939.

I was taken in by a Mr and Mrs Page at Dunster Street, a couple who never had any children of their own. Being the youngest in my family, by some way, I was the only one evacuated. Two of my brothers; Ron and Phil were already in the forces. I left school as soon as I could and went to work at Lotus shoe factory. I was destined to stay there all my working life. A true 鈥渃obbler鈥� if ever there was one. Before I joined up in 1943 I became a member of a Saturday morning football team which had been formed by lads from Paddington Technical college as they had been evacuated to Georges Avenue college, Northampton. It was here that I met my future wife, Betty, when the college held a end of term dance.

During March 1943, after receiving my call up papers, I travelled towards London in order to start my flying career. First stop was Bletchley where I received my orders and found, much to my delight that I was posted to the RAF at St John鈥檚 Wood, Middlesex. This was pleasing because I could visit my family in London. My parents never did say how they felt about me joining up, I guess it was pretty much expected. My elder brother Ron, had joined the navy several years before the war started and during the evacuation of Dunkirk had taken charge of a small sailing boat in that heroic escape which had such a profound effect on the outcome of the war. Phil had joined the army and had been wounded at Anzio whilst my other brothers had been exempt from call up as they were in the building trade and too old anyway.

Another reason for me being pleased with my posting to St John鈥檚 Wood was because it was close enough for me to visit the young girl that I was becoming increasingly fond of. I had met Betty whilst she was still at school and it was her brother Stan who had actually asked me to play for his college鈥檚 football team at Georges Avenue which in turn led to me attending the dance where we first met. When Betty returned to London we kept in touch and whilst at St John鈥檚 Wood I could simply hop onto the tube to Islington where she lived.
A few weeks before I actually joined the RAF I travelled to Cardington Air Base, near Bedford where I took an examination to see if I would be accepted in aircrew. Those obtaining top marks were subsequently to train as pilots and navigators. I qualified to train as a wireless operator air gunner. The post was not as glamourous as becoming a pilot, but at least I would be in the aircrew.

My first day at St John鈥檚 Wood was quite eventful: All the new recruits filed into the selected living quarters and dived on to the next vacant beds. Strangely, both recruits on either side of me were also named Fred ! From that moment we became inseparably and soon became known as the 鈥楾hree Freds鈥�. We were all roughly the same age and like all 18 year olds we talked about sport, girls and what we wanted to do when the war was over. Fred Wright was from Bournemouth and Fred Turner was from Birmingham. The three of us were destined to stay together until gunnery school in Cairo, Egypt. I was later to discover that Fred Turner had been killed in action at Malta but I never was able to trace Fred Wright after the war - if only they hadn鈥檛 separated us.

The base was actually located at the Lords cricket ground. We did foot training on the ground itself although not on the middle square I might add. I don鈥檛 think the members would have approved of that, even if there was a war on !
The wooden huts where we slept were erected purposely for the air force initial training and had about 40 men to each hut. The officers and NCO鈥檚 were all qualified instructors and were there to help us get acquainted with the RAF rules and procedures. It took three weeks to complete the initial training, the highlight being the swimming test which had to be passed. Considering I could not swim a stroke, I looked upon the test with great trepidation. However, I hid my fear and strolled casually to the shallow end and walked across. Needless to say, I was not the only one to pass like this.

Next stop was Yatesbury, Wiltshire for the wireless training course and best of all was that the Three Fred鈥檚 remained together. The base was near a small village in Wiltshire and had been built especially for RAF training. The huts were again wooden but housed 50 of us this time. Apart from learning morse code our first important task was to make sure we were able to get weekend passes. To earn this 鈥榬eward鈥� we had to have the tidiest hut when inspected on Friday mornings. In the three months that the course took to complete we managed to earn ten weekend passes ! I usually spent my weekends at home in Willesden and travelling to Islington so that I could take Betty to the cinema.

Before my first air trip, I had to pass a survival test. This involved a group of us dropping down into a huge water tank and swimming to a raft that was floating at the edge. Fortunately, I was last to go, so by the time I jumped in the best swimmers had not only climbed aboard the raft, but also maneuvered it towards the middle of the tank. I then plopped into the water almost next to the raft and was manfully hauled in to safety. For an aircraftsman I seemed to be spending an awfully long time in water ! After passing this survival test I eventually took to the air and my first air trip was eventful to say the least: The plane was a Proctor seating 4 people including the pilot. All had gone well during the flight, all my wireless exercises had been successful but as we came into land a peculiar smell filled the plane. As the wheels touched the runway I heard a loud crashing sound and as I looked around, a massive hole in the undercarriage appeared directly behind my seat. The smell had in fact come from a leaking battery and the acid had cut its way clean through the underside of the plane. A few minutes earlier and the whole crew could have been killed. Even after that experience flying never bothered me even in bad weather. During one particularly rough flight everyone including the pilot had been sick except me.
All the pilots at the base were men who had flown at least 20 bombing trips and were respected by everyone because of the terrible danger they had faced and overcome. Some of them were later to return to active bombing but most were kept on as training officers. Although the pilots all ate with us not once did any of them ever talk about their experiences. There were just some stories better left untold.

When the course ended I was pleased to learn that the two other Fred鈥檚 had also passed. Sergeant Fred Parker was now ready for the gunnery school. In January of 1944 I learnt that the gunnery school was in Egypt - Cairo to be precise. Luckily, my two comrades were also posted there which made the prospect less daunting.

We sailed from Liverpool under the cover of night and sailed across the Atlantic to avoid U-Boat patrols. At one point we were just 15 miles from the American coast before we finally headed south and back across the Atlantic and entered the Mediterranean via Gibralter, also at night I might add.. Although U-Boats were still operating their threat was fair less menacing than earlier years. I must admit that I never really thought seriously about the danger, I guess you just switch your mind off at times like these. The journey was uneventful except for the majority of my fellow airmen being horrendously sea sick ! I quite enjoyed the trip. The food was good and my only duty was to carry sacks of potatoes from the stores to the galley every day. After that, the day was my own. I spent most of the journey chatting to the two Fred鈥檚 and trying unsuccessfully to win the competition of pinpointing on a map our exact position every day. I didn鈥檛 care much for the hammock though.

Continued as FRED'S WAR PART 2 - Chapter 2

by
Michael.F.Parker

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