Reg Poole. . 76 Sqd. I lived in Wallington in 1941 when I was called up. I didn’t join up earlier because I was looking after my Mother.
I was always interested in flying. We lived for 16 years near Croydon Aerodrome and us lads were always up there looking at the ‘kites’ coming in. Imperial Airways’ Handley Page 42 used to fly from Croydon to S. Africa and we used to see them coming in and out. First time I ever flew was in a Prince Henry. It was just a flight around the aerodrome and that was in about 1928. I also remember JU52s flew during the war and they flew before and after the war. There were also the Dutch Fokkers. They were 3-engine. The French had bi-planes and they were painted gold and yellow — this was in the late 20s.
We saw Amy Johnson there when she came in. You never saw Spanish or Italian kites. They never flew into Croydon. You got Belgian, Dutch, French and German and ours of course.
Before I joined up I was a fitter at S. Croydon for Sleepeezee Bed Company. If anything went wrong, we were called. I liked that because you never knew what you were going to be doing. My hobby at the time was cycling and often we did 100 miles a day. One day I did 166 — boy, I was tired. In the early days of the war the Government did away with all the road signs, so I carried a map always. Little did I know it would help me later with navigation. I went all over the S. of England — never went to the north.
My brother was a flight mechanic in the Air Force and they agreed to put me in the Air Force. I would have been furious if they had put me anywhere else. My brother was later unfortunately killed in Crete. I did my induction at Cardington, Bedfordshire, where the airships used to be. I went into the hangar which was still there and I was very disappointed to find there was no airship there! My brother took 2 years to do the same course in peace time as I took, but in war it took less time. I did a four month Engine Fitter’s Course at St. Athen and then I was Leading Aircraftman Engine Fitter, Service No.1460159.
I took some leave back in Wallington and then I heard I was posted to 76 Squadron at Middleton St. George. I arrived there in about Feb. 1942. I got to Darlington by train — never been so far north before — and I was taken to Middleton St. George. I was excited! Halifaxes! I had never seen such big kites in my life! I was going to work on Merlin engines on the Halifaxes. I loved it. I was there for 4 months. I was on S for Sugar, B Flight. There were about 30 Halifaxes there - we lost some unfortunately. The pilot of my aircraft was a very good chap. There were 18 bombs painted on the side of his aircraft.
We used to service the engines and then the planes would air test for about 20 minutes. It was amazing how many ground crew wouldn’t fly. I would, and if my plane didn’t need to go, I’d go with someone else. I loved it. Towards the end of my time there, they had the 1000 bomber raids. 31 Halifaxes left Middleton St. George. That included 78 Squadron who were satellite to us. The kites were busy and so were the ground staff. They fed us with some sort of drug to keep us awake and I didn’t sleep or want to for five days and five nights. I loved all that — I was working on kites or flying. That must have been late May or June 42. Then it was announced that the Squadron was posted overseas to the Middle East. Being ground staff I wasn’t required and got a week of leave to Wallington.
Then I got a letter saying I was posted to Farnborough as A/C2 Flight Mechanic. The most famous airfield in the world. They only had the best people there — why me?
I went there on the Monday. There were 7 of us and the Flight Lt. said we were going to form a new unit to test-fly gliders. I’d never seen them before. There were 3 engine fitters, 3 riggers from Middleton St. George and an electrician.
There were 3 pilots — one was from the Army. Another was T. A. Morrison, a famous man. He was a Flight Lieutenant. He said ‘it is impossible to fly from Farnborough it is so busy here’, but he said they were building a special air field for us about 5 miles away. It was not completed yet and it might take a few more days. This was at Yately, near Aldershot. He said if I could service the Whitley this afternoon he would like to fly over Yately and investigate the place. I walked down to dispersal and there was the Armstrong Whitley painted yellow. It was a real old kite. A pigeon flew out of the front gun turret. There was no Perspex in those days. I climbed up to the gun turret and there was a pigeon’s egg on the gunner’s seat! We serviced the kite and Morrison said, “Who’s coming with me?” I was there like a shot.
All there was, was a runway from East to West running by the Southampton to London road. We flew over the runway and on the right hand side was an enormous construction about 40 — 50 ft. high. That was for making concrete. At the beginning of the runway there was the prettiest little thatched cottage about 200 years old. That was to be our HQ for the next 2 years.
Next day we serviced the Halifax. Morrison said ‘Right Pooley (as he always called me), we’ll fly over Yately this afternoon and familiarise ourselves with the area.’ On the Monday, Morrison had a phone call saying Yately was completed. We got the Whitley finished and flew over that afternoon and landed.
We taxied down to the eastern end of the runway and parked at dispersal by this thatched cottage. A local bobby [policeman] asked if we were going to park the aircraft here all night. We said that was correct and he said, with his country accent, that he’d get someone down to guard it for us. We said we needed somewhere to stay for the night. About 100 yards from the airfield was a pub. The local population were pleased to have two airmen. ‘Tam’ Morrison phoned for some of our people to guard the Whitley. Next day, we went back to get the Halifax from Farnborough. When we landed, half the village turned out to see the Halifax.
We were testing how gliders could be towed and how many, but I wouldn’t have wanted to go in one. I’d never flown in a glider. I’ve towed hundreds but never been in one.
One day we were flying in the Whitley and when we came round to land, the hydraulics would not work and the undercart wouldn’t come down. Old Tam swore in 7 different languages. It looked as if we were in trouble, so I said ‘OK I’ll try to put it down by hand. I found some instructions and I pumped for about 5 minutes and then Tam yelled from the cockpit ‘You’ve done it Pooley, it’s down’ and thereafter, he wouldn’t fly without me.
In the Squadron, everyone had a memento or good luck charm. One Sq. Leader in M for Mother patted a stone dog before taking off and on landing. All aircrews were superstitious. Tam wasn’t superstitious until he met me and then he thought of me as his good luck. He was one of the finest flyers in the air force. He’d been flying all his life. We got on so well together. He was about 40 at the time, twice my age. We always flew as a team and if I couldn’t fly for any reason, someone was for it. No one argued with him. He had quite a temper, but one person could argue with him — Me.
At Farnborough, right down the other end was a small hangar with armed guards outside. About once a week a small aircraft came out and there were despatch riders each side as it taxied. The noise it made! It hadn’t got a propeller. When it took off, boy, it travelled, but no one at Farnborough knew what it was. It was really a Gloster E 28-39 — an early jet plane. That was in July 1942. It was 2 or 3 months later before we heard the term ‘jet engine’. One day I was at Farnborough and this jet aircraft came in to land. It came over Farnborough and over the main road and came over the hangar and suddenly the whole tail unit fell off. The aircraft turned over and the pilot fell out and fell right through the hangar. I rushed in and the hangar was full of uniforms stacked up. I climbed up the uniforms and found him, Sq. Ldr. Davey. He was lying there on top of the uniforms without a mark on him but he was dead. A fortnight later, they made Tam up to Sq. Ldr. to take his place. Now Davey also used to do quite a bit of office work for them. Tam wasn’t pleased to be made up as he wasn’t going to do the office work that Davey did. He was going to fly every day, and he did!
Later on they had the twin engine Meteor there. Whatever aircraft came along, it went to Farnborough first to get a certificate of airworthiness. That is why it was such a famous place.
Tam and I flew to Netheravon in Wiltshire to collect a glider. That was a big airfield with a lot of aircraft. We picked up a Horsa glider which carried about 15 people. We towed that next day with the Halifax back to Yately. We had civilian boffins there and I had to check the rate of climb and engine revs. etc. They put all sorts of things in the glider and I checked the performance of the Halifax. Charlie Cranmer the glider pilot, and the civilian boffin had to check how the glider performed. As you take off the glider always rises above the tow aircraft, especially with a Halifax’s 4 engines making turbulence.
We took a Hotspur glider which would take about 5 people. We took three one day. Well, a Halifax weighs about 26 ton. We did all sorts. We checked the performance of all types of aircraft in different weather conditions. We used a Dakota as a ‘taxi’ going to different Squadrons and carried a boffin to explain to the chaps. We went all over the S. of England.
I’d been at Yately for about 2 years and we had instructions to pick up a Hamilcar glider. It was the biggest one ever built and we towed it back to Yately. It was always towed with a Halifax. The boffins loaded it with all kinds of things. We turned up at Yately with this glider and we were called into the office by two boffins. They had a brilliant idea of putting a 12 ton tank into the Hamilcar. Tam said they would never take off with that. The boffins said they were going to fit rockets to the Halifax to get it up off the ground. Tam wasn’t impressed. They said, “We want you to fly the Halifax to Farnborough and we will fit rocket pods to it”. After two or three days, there under each wing were these big round pods with 48 rockets each side. Inside on the dash they put a button so I could fire them and they were supposed to fire every two seconds. Next day, there were all the boffins, there was the loaded Hamilcar. Tam and I taxied up the Halifax and the cable was attached. Charlie Cranmer and the boffin flew in the glider and Tam and I in the Halifax. We took up the strain of the tow wire and began to move. Tam said ‘fire’ and I fired the rockets. They fired perfectly every two seconds. 48 each side. We went down the runway and of course the Hamilcar with the slip stream left the ground but the Halifax didn’t. At the end of the runway there was a line of trees. They seemed to be coming towards us at 100 mph. How our undercart missed them I will never know. We just missed. The other side of the trees there was a big empty field. With these rockets, we did get up and then I had to check the technical details and eventually the Hamilcar cast off and we dropped the tow ropes and landed.
Next the boffin said they wanted to tow the Hamilcar with two Halifaxes. They said if one Halifax was just behind the other, there would be 6 ft between them. Tam said at 100 mph that wasn’t much. The other pilot was a Flightt. Lt. A good chap — he subsequently crashed in a Mosquito and I had to get him out. The idea was that he flew Starboard side and we flew Port side 6 ft. away from his tailplane. We tried it without the Hamilcar and it was fine. In the afternoon we did it again, the same the next day and the next as the weather was still good. Six times and we did it. We agreed that if weather was OK and we had radio contact with each other, we could do it. Then the boffins fitted rocket pods to both aircraft.
Next Monday, there were boffins and brass there to watch and there was the big glider with the tank inside. The other pilot and Tam taxied up, the tow ropes were fitted. The width of the runway only allowed us the 6ft. separation. We began to move and we both set the rockets off. It was thrilling and exciting but nerve-wracking, but we got off the runway and it was the first time it had ever been done. We flew round, gained height and the leading Halifax cast off the tow rope, the glider cast off and we dropped the double tow rope. The boffins wanted to do it again in the afternoon while the weather was good. That Monday afternoon we did the same again successfully. Everyone was pleased. Next day we did the same again twice and the next day, but I don’t know if it was ever put into service.
Next day a farmer came in and said we had frightened the life out of his silver foxes. He was furious. His animals had been terrified. Tam said he hadn’t been too happy in the cockpit either.
Charlie Cranmer was a captain and every morning at crack of dawn he used to fly in an Avro Tutor with a Lynx engine. He took off on air test one day and I was flying with him. We went up about 5000 ft. He loved low flying and in Hampshire there was a big field with two low hedges and he used to turn and chase the cows across the field. One morning, we were about 5/6 ft up and unusually, the farmer had shut the gate! How our undercart missed that gate, I’ll never know. Two days later a copper [policeman] turned up and complained. As a result the two people in the plane would be grounded for a month. Tam went mad. He phoned the police station and read the riot act something chronic. If they tried to stop us flying I think he would have bombed the Police Station! I was not grounded, thanks to Tam.
They came up with a 12000 lb. bomb to be dropped from a Halifax and we had to find out how it would perform. They made a bomb of concrete and it was so big the bomb bay doors wouldn’t close. We took off from Yately and there were top brass there etc. We checked the rate of climb to about 20,000 feet. When we came back I dropped this concrete bomb on Laffens Plain near Farnborough and how the Halifax leaped up! We always dropped our tow ropes there too.
On the Friday, Tam said we had to go to Turnhouse at Edinburgh taking a boffin up there. I had to navigate there. Tam said we were going to stay up there the weekend. We went up in a Dakota to Scotland. I can tell you, in their pubs, it was dark and there were no women. The only time you saw a Scotsman’s hand was when he was drinking his pint! I was an RAF man and I was proud — my hands weren’t in my pockets. After the weekend, Tam rang on the Monday and said we had to get back to Yately by lunch time; an Air Commodore had phoned and said we must be there.
We went back to the airport and Tam said we had orders to return to Yately that morning. The C/O said there was no flying that day because the weather was too bad so I said to Tam, “Let’s go and see the Met. office chaps”. The Flight Lt. there had charts with the shipping weather reports. Going east, you couldn’t see anything, but he said about a mile off-shore visibility was all right to about 50 feet above the sea. I believe Turnhouse was about 25 miles from the coast. I said if we took off, turned and did about one and a half miles, we would be 26.5 miles from the sea.
The C/O was mad, but that is what we did. I was watching the gauges; we flew east for 26.5 miles and started to descend. Below 100 ft. we were getting worried but at 50 ft. we found the sea, about three-quarters of a mile off-shore and we carried on due south at 130 mph, 50 ft. above the sea.
We flew past Scotland, Durham, and were approaching Yorkshire when suddenly, visibility became worse : 45 ft., 40 ft. it began to close down! We kept the same course and realized that we were by the mouth of the Humber and that was why the fog was getting thicker. We were down to 14 ft. at about 120 mph. when suddenly, there was a ship in front of us! I can see it to this day — it had a red funnel with white ring. How we missed it I will never know. With a Dakota, the tail-wheel doesn’t retract with the rest of the undercarriage and as we skipped over this ship, we felt a little tug and I reckon we took his aerial off. Still, we kept our course and went on past Lincolnshire and the weather improved : at the Wash, visibility was at 100 ft. and at Norfolk it was beautiful, so then we could head across Norfolk to Hampshire.
In 1944, we had no communication with the airfield. If they didn’t want us to land, they fired two Verey lights. The procedure was to fly around once and wait for the signal. We flew over the runway at about 200 ft. and then on our port side we saw so many people and cars! We landed and taxied up and a chap in a jeep said he wanted to lead us up the runway, so we taxied behind this jeep and had to stop right by the crowd. I opened the door to see what was going on and jumped the 3 ft. or so to the ground. There was a lady coming towards me, with an Air Marshall with her. “Hello,” she said, and I realized it was the Queen and with her were two girls — Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.
Elizabeth came forward and said Hello. They had heard about the rocket take-offs. I said we had finished doing that now and they were disappointed. Elizabeth was charming. I was 23 and she was about 20. I chatted to her for about half an hour and we got on very well. I told Margaret she was daft as a brush, and Elizabeth laughed. She was fascinated with the aircraft and I admit, I was fascinated with her. I showed them the kites and the rockets and told them all about them. After about half an hour, the Queen called them. She had been speaking to Tam Morrison.
After some time, I had a chance to be made up to Flight Sgt. but I said no, because I would rather be able to fly at every opportunity than be stuck with ground duty as a Flt. Sgt..Tam didn’t want me to be prevented from flying either, but really, I was flying as a Navigator / Flight Engineer a lot of the time.
I flew in every kind of kite you can imagine except a Lancaster. I flew in American aircraft too. The Americans thought they knew it all and would not listen to us and some aircraft were lost because they wouldn’t listen. We used to fly aircraft almost to destruction so that we could tell flyers what they could push the aircraft to.
I wasn’t afraid of dying, but I was afraid of being so injured I couldn’t fly any more.
Towards the end of the War, I was posted overseas in Sept. 44 to India — Bramah Putra. I was in the fitters’ hangar. We were in the jungle with only a runway so they used to put a block and tackle over the trees to lift out the engines and bring them back to us. It was 142 rescue & service unit. Once a week a Dakota flew in with food and stuff. I finished my war service there and haven’t really flown since.
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