Nothing fell off, whizzo!

One of Dad’s favourite words was whizzo, although I often heard him say wizard (way before Harry Potter made his appearance). And in the next page of Dad’s logbook (March 1-12, 1943), he uses the whizzo word when referring to a plane – a Hurricane IIC.

During March 1943, he was still stationed with No.2 A.D.U. (Aircraft Delivery Unit) and seemed to be doing mostly what he was doing in February, 1943 – flying around delivering aircraft at different landing grounds in North Africa. At least this is what I’m presuming from his logbook and some research. I read somewhere that new aircraft and/or replacement planes were delivered from factories to the R.A.F.

If this is the case, then I’m not sure how Dad got back to wherever No 2 A.D.U. was stationed. You know, these are all the sorts of things you wish you’d asked when younger. I spent a bit of time reading Dad’s logbook when I was a teenager – I’ve always been fascinated by WWII – and did ask some questions but obviously not the detailed ones like where was No 2 A.D.U located and did you deliver aircraft? Duh!

Anyway. I can see from his logbook that he was back in the same Anson plane again (aircraft number DJ664) as well as a D.C.3; Hurricane; Hurricane IIB; Hurricane IIC; and a Hudson. This last plane makes its first appearance in his logbook – I find it amazing that WWII fighter pilots could just get into a new type of plane and fly off.

At this point in his logbook, Dad is starting to make comments that show just how dangerous flying WWII planes could be:

• Lost overload tank on take-off. Made it OK. (Hurricane IIC)
• Lost cockpit-hood – plane falling to bits! (same plane).
• Nothing fell off – whizzo! (same plane).

If it had been me, I’d have steered well clear of that Hurricane IIC what with the cockpit and overload tank falling off. But this was the bravado of WWII pilots – they were young, in their 20s and keen for adventure. Cockpit hoods whizzing off or losing brake pressure was all part of the thrill and excitement I guess. Not to mention a keen sense of serving King and country.

Click on the photos below to enlarge.

No. 2 A.D.U.

Okay so I’m back and ready to take up this blog and WWII adventures of my Dad again. For the dedicated reader (apart from Pierre and John!), I’ve been working in Rome, Italy for the last few months. Sounds exotic eh? I worked there for 2.5 months last year – for a specialised agency of the United Nations – and was asked back for a second stint.

So where were we? The last log entry focused on No. 1 Aircraft Delivery Unit (A.D.U.) where Dad was posted in January, 1943 following completion of his fighter pilot training with 71 Operational Training Unit (71 O.T.U) at the end of December 1942. Seems that Dad was at No.1 A.D.U. for the month of January, 1943 – well, not even one month because his first log entry is January 14th. He seems to have left 71 O.T.U. on December 23, 1942. So guess the weeks in between were taken up by Christmas and getting to wherever No.1 A.D.U. was headquartered. His first flight with this unit was in a D.C.3 (solo flight) from Cairo to El Geneina, so I’m presuming No.1 A.D.U. flew out of Cairo.

He left this unit on January 30, 1943 and arrived at No.2 A.D.U. on February 13th. Looking up the calendar for 1943, it seems the 13th thankfully fell on a Saturday, rather than Friday. I say thankfully because I’m a bit superstitious (my father wasn’t).

His first flight with this unit was in an Anson. Okay, have to look this plane up – never heard of it. I think it’s this one and Dad flew as second pilot with F/Lt Stuart from L.G. 209-R.A.F Helwan. Now, I do know that Helwan is in Egypt and I guess that Dad was busy delivering aircraft (hence the name Aircraft Delivery Unit).

But what is L.G. 209? More searching and I found that L.G.209 was the name for Deversoir Air Base, which was located northeast of Cairo. Seems that L.G. stood for Landing Ground. Actually, here’s a great list of North African airfields of WWII.

Dad flew the following aircraft during February 1943 – Anson; Hurricane I; Harvard IIA; Hurricane IIB; Hurricane IID – but seems he spent most of time flying an Anson (from his logbook, it looks like five different Anson planes). You’ll see references in the photos below to L.G. 237 and L.G. 226. L.G. 237 was Landing Ground 237 Kilo 40 with coordinates of 30°10’5”N 30°48’5″E. I have no idea what Kilo 40 means – could it mean 40 kilometres North of Cairo?  L.G. 226 was located at Gianaclis, Egypt.

Dad flew 9 times on his own and once as first pilot with F/O Johnson. He made two comments in his logbook:

* Spent evening in Greek Mess – very Kinoiyes! (not sure of that last word as I can’t quite decipher his writing). This comment was made February 17 after flying from Kilo 8 to Mersah Matruh (L.G.08). I have no idea why he refers to a Greek Mess (which I take to be a canteen or possibly a mess kit of eating utensils?).

* Nice day this – sand every place! Phew!

His grand total of flying hours by February 28, 1943 was 223.