Welcome to part 3, Peter has now been sent to Newquay for more training and describes some of the lessons in his next letter home dated 17th March 1943 he says:
" I am getting quite settled in to this pleasant place. I cannot imagine a better place to train at. We have a lot of ground to cover before our exams which are scheduled for the first week in June. Our subjects are Navigation, Meteorology, Armament, Signals, Theory of flight, Aircraft recognition, Law and administration, Hygiene, and Anti gas. (the exam for which is in a fortnight's time). In addition we do drill, aerodrome defense, P.T. and have one afternoon for sport. In the evening we have to do a fair amount of private study. We have an excellent reference library here, a recreational library and a plotting room for navigation.
It is grand to watch the Atlantic breakers whilst we are having our meals and to stroll along the sands. We have a fine lot of chaps in our flight and I have made several promising friends"
A great deal of information must have been learned in such a short time. Having gone through basic training for the RAF myself in the 1990's i can say for certainty that it is a difficult and exhausting process. Peter remains upbeat and writes to his sister Joan on the 18th March 1943 thanking her for sending him some money and saying not to send any more, but that:
" It will come in useful as I have had to buy various exercise books etc. this week, the RAF only provide us with two!"
He then goes on to say:
"Today has been a very enjoyable one, we have had an hours signals, an hours armament, two hours navigation and this afternoon we have been for a glorious cross country run to Crantock Head on either side of which are beautiful beaches. The sun has been very warm, and we sun bathed for a short time. Wish you were with me! We had a good breakfast this morning, there is always excellent porridge to be had and we also had sausages and fried bread. Lunch is always a three course meal, the soup usually being quite good. Today we had boiled ham and loads of vegetables, and afterwards we had rice. Tea is usually an interesting meal and there is jam or syrup to be had on most days."
The Path to Crantock by Copta via freeimages.com Perhaps the head in the distance is where Peter ran to?
On the 28th March 1943 Peter wrote to his mum and dad, he is still in Newquay and everything seems to be going well. He writes:
" Two weeks of my course are now over and it is certainly very interesting. Navigation is always an enjoyable period as the Flight Lt. in charge of it has the gift of making dull things interesting. Armament is not easy though as there are many different parts to be learned, especially of the Browning. Tomorrow morning we are going on to the Aldis signaling lamp which is used in the open air... We shall have opportunities here to fire various weapons and we do a certain amount of clay pigeon shooting. Our anti gas exam is probably next Wednesday and we shall be glad to get it over.
Last Sunday after lunch we took our notes out to Crantock Head and sheltered from the wind behind a rock. It was very windy and the sea was a mass of white horses. This afternoon Pete and i are going out for a walk and shall probably sit on a seat on the quayside and read anti gas! The weather is too beautiful to stop indoors."
Peter went on to talk about letters he had received from friends and family members and to talk about some of the walks he and his room mates Cled and Pete took in the evenings. On one occasion they walked about 7 miles to a local aerodrome and enjoyed the sunset and saw the spring lambs. He mentions he heard from Joan that Des has been sent to port Elizabeth for his course and asks for his new address. One of the great things about these letters is that you can see Peter and his family are so close, miss each other dearly and are all routing for each other.
The first letter i have from Peters' Mum to Peter is dated 28 March 1943, she must be finding it difficult having all her children away serving in the forces during wartime, and it really comes across that she misses them very much, but she is getting on with it. She says:
" You have been much in my thoughts, so glad you are enjoying your new surroundings and no doubt you will get some good bathing. I got back in time to take in your parcel, i hope you recieved it safely back. Eric Hill brought your books back on Saturday afternoon, so pop dispatched them to you. Eric seemed quite fed up with St Johns Wood and was hoping to soon get posted. You certainly seem to have a full curriculum and the time will no doubt quickly pass. May is thinking of having a week there later on, i think she can do with the break. Wasn't it a blessing Des passed his board, guess it was a load off his mind, a pity he cannot get home, but no doubt the climate will benefit him out there!
Dad had a good trip to Glasgow, the night he left they had a warning! He is very busy with his warden duties.... May and i are hoping to see 'Arabian Nights' on Wednesday, we also saw 'Across the Pacific' quite good."
She signs off by saying:
"We miss your cheery presence, my best love and hugs, mum"
Peter replies to the letter right away on the 30th March 1943. One of the things that interests me about this letter is that he talks about a family friend called Barbara, who is serving in the A.T.S. being sent abroad for duty. The A.T.S. stands for Auxiliary Territorial Service and was the women's branch of the British army during the war. We don't get to hear very much about the role women played in these kind of services during the war, but i am very curious. Hopefully in future letters we will find out more about Barbara, but for now Peter writes:
" My dear mum, Thank you very much for your letter which i had this morning, it was great to hear your news... My parcel arrived safely yesterday, thank you very much indeed. Thanks too for the soap, i am pretty well off for it at the moment as i have a spare soap coupon as well. I expect my theory of flight books will come this afternoon. I was very sorry to hear Eric is not enjoying the A.C.R.C. so much, but compared with this place, it is a bit of a penance!
Tomorrow we have our anti gas exam, so we are having a bit of a swot at the moment. Yesterday we started signalling on the Aldis lamp. It is not easy in the open air as there are so many disturbances, but doubtless i shall pick it up with practice. Yesterday morning i had a letter from Bob, who is at Paignton I.T.W. and one from Barbara. You will be surprised to hear that she has been on embarkation leave and reported back on Monday. Not many A.T.S. girls are sent abroad, so it looks as though she is going to see the world. Of course she could not say where she is going, but the most obvious place is Africa."
When signing off the letter Peter asks for some books to be sent, these were 'ABC of the RAF' second edition and 'War time first aid'
Looking on Wikipedia i have found that the A.C.R.C mentioned is a flying training school in St Johns Wood and the I.T.W. stood for Initial Training Wings and was formed in 1940 at Paignton, Devon.
To be continued...
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