WAR

I
"The Germans kept shooting at me in turn, one burst after the other—
was shouting at them to leave me alone, you dirty so and so's.
"At 2000 feet I went into the clouds and they left me. In a few seconds I
reached into the fuselage, got hold of the spade grip of the joy stick and pressed
the blip switch, which cut the engine off. I pulled back gradually and regained my
position and control of the machine less than 1000 feet up.
"I was four or five miles over the lines. I did not want to be a prisoner but
did not know whether the wing would stand the strain of carrying the weight of
the aeroplane with the engine pulling. I opened the throttle rather gingerly and
kept increasing the power, all the time watching to see whether the wing would
hold on or not. It did, and I crawled back over the lines at a few hundred feet. As
I neared the lines the German ground forces opened up with rifle and machine
gun fire. They put holes in the wings and fuselage but did not hit a vital spot.
I
was able to crawl back to my own aerodrome a sadder and a wiser pilot.
"I actually looked in the mirror to see how grey my hair was and was quite
surprised to find that the color had not changed a bit. I don't know what constitutes
being badly scared but I will never be that frightened again if I live to be
a hundred."
For a time the Camels of "A" Flight bore the white blazes shown in the
accompanying photograph. For a very short time. The extravagant decoration
was ordered removed by the Wing Commander as soon as he saw it.
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