First Solo Flight 625 Volunteer Gliding School RAF South Cerney 1969 (Revised Version)
At age Sixteen we take much for granted. We live in the moment, life is forever, and death is something that, somehow, we will sidestep. A simplistic view but entertained many of us at that age, at least in societies that enjoy true freedom and the rule of law. If I look across the horizon to, say, Afghanistan, to Syria, to Iran, to name just three examples, then ‘living in the moment’ is a very different experience for young people, especially children, young girls, young women and male teenagers being taught to believe in some medieval, nay primeval, order of governance.
At Sixteen I flew one of these beauties ~ the Kirby Cadet Mk III Glider. I hadn’t left school yet, and I was still a year away from getting my driving licence. Yet, I could fly one of these on my own.
This photograph is taken over Devon in 2020. When I first saw it, I went goose-pimply. When I “got my wings” as we used to say (I’m sure that expression is still used the world over) in 1969, I did so over what was then Royal Air Force South Cerney, Gloucestershire, and the home of No. 625 Volunteer Gliding School RAF.
A lifetime on, in 2014, I wrote this piece. I am not a writer or a poet. I am certainly not a journalist. Those three callings are beyond me.
But I have always enjoyed writing in the old-fashioned way. I like typing in the old-fashioned way too. When I do write, I do so on the moment’s spur. I’ve no idea where the pen is taking me but I’m quite happy to follow along because, to be honest, said ‘moment’ seems to enjoy walking the lanes of long distant memory.
And when I do, I’m surprised at the accuracy. I put the recall down partly to gift and mostly to the legal training I received both as a Constable and later as a junior lawyer. The day I write of here is as fresh in my memory as if but this morning.
Going Solo
The Larks sing high this morning,
The grass already warm underfoot.
The Conning Tower gleams white
in the early sun,
I sense mischief in the Instructors
gathered for briefing over mugs of tea.
Tea and maps,
Thermals and weather fronts.
The squadron leader - 'boss'
his eyes piercing...
blue reflecting the blue above.
I catch a vapour trail heading out
due west
The land of the free and all that.
To us a slightly over-rated phrase
given that we're the land of the free
and all that, too
and have the battle scars, bomb sites,
shells of churches and cathedrals
to prove it!
But that's an age away now.
And I'm due an exchange
and can't wait to get to Berlin
before my eighteenth!
But now a more pressing task.
I'm fearful I'll let my uncles down.
I must go solo today!
But can I do it?
To Home 1941 from RAF Torquay …
“Well I don’t think you will be hearing from me more than once or twice a week as we are to go on a very intensive course of study in Maths, navigation most by sound and sight, recognition of 80 different planes, law and administration and hygiene, PT, sport and other subjects all of which we have exams for and in which we must get at least 80%. If we don’t we are OUT.”
That was 1941 ~ Today is 1969…
Others seem to fly better than me.
I'm happy with the pen.
But I'm not sure I'm fully grasping
the Principles of Flight
Aircraft Operations
Helicopter and Hovercraft
and Aero Engines …
All those manuals - AC 2, 3, …10…13
and all blue - that damned blue again!
I glance across ...
Smithy is winchman today,
Hope he doesn't botch up the signals again.
Red means Stop
Yellow means Take Up Slack
Green means All Out
... and we suddenly shoot across the grass,
the wings threshing the long stems,
seeds in the eyes!
Hold it…
Hold it…
Hold it… …
Ease back gently
No - gently - don't jerk!
… a command but not unkind …
Slightly to starboard,
Get that wing tip up on port!
If I don't I'll corkscrew!
Oh god! How did my uncles do this
and with four engines to think of too?!?
Then suddenly, the stick is back in my stomach
balanced between thighs.
A Lifting
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Up, up and away
Wow! Oh WOW!
I'm climbing steep.
What will Dad think
when I arrive home with my wings?
Oh god, I do hope I can bring this off!
Images of school chat next week
What? You've gone solo?
You're a glider pilot?
Oooooh! And all the girls
He's only 16 too!
Yeah! Pulling power !! Mega!!!
and that'll put that sod Thomson in his place
Nasty little shit!
Oh no!
The downdraft is countering the ground.
I'm going to end up on a high circuit
when the boss said ‘do a low circuit’.
S..t!
Hold her steady
Peer over the side
Winch is taut
...Wait
... ...Wait
... ... ... WAIT
Hand on green nozzle
Hold it
HOLD IT
F..k - this is the highest I've been
and without a bloody instructor!!!!!!
Oh sod it!
Enjoy it!
YAY!!! Ken, Harry, I’ve done it Uncles !!!!!!!!!
Hold ... Hold ... ... A N D ... ... ... ...A N N N N N N N DDDD
RELEASE!!!!
Tug on the nozzle
The line falls away
Wow
Flying like a bird
The wind in my hair
You can't beat these string-bag Kirby Mk IVs
Real beauties
Wind in the struts
F..k! F..k!
That wire looks loose
Should have checked
Did check!
It's so peaceful up here
Acoustics perfect
950 feet on the altimeter
Right - ease her into line
’Straight and Level is what I want'
the instructor always yells in my ear from behind,
but he's not there now
Yet I hear him all the same.
Down circuit
South Cerney Village below - tiny.
Bring her round to starboard
Oh boy, this is amazing!!!!!!
Oh yeah - I've got the hang of this, defo!
Bit of left rudder
Watch those elevators
S..t! I'm using the elevators
I only ever normally use the ailerons
Right rudder
Perfect!
Flying down wind to the fifty-acre field
on the A417,
Peer over to starboard,
Work traffic,
No problem!
I'll drop her down to four hundred
that will give me 200 feet
clearance over the road
And I can bring her
neatly down near 'Monty's caravan'
where the boss is.
He'll like that!!!
F..k!
What was that?
Bloody birds!
I turn to port over the old heavy bomber hangars
...
an ominous, almost deathly, silence
... ... ... something's wrong
Oh my god !!!
I've turned OUT of wind!
I've got no engine!
Wind is my engine!
I'm dropping like a stone,
Each quarter turn is fifty feet lost
I've got barely enough to bring her round
a full 360!
The Fifty-acre field
now just twenty-five feet below me
on the last quarter turn … …
Keep calm
Keep calm
Keep ..cking calm!
Hold it …
Hold her steady …
Ease back ... Ease ... ease ...
Zoooooooooooooooooooom!!!!!!
Cleared the hedgerow
Glancing right
A furniture lorry from nowhere!
Three wan faces –
one looks a bit overweight
Three wide open mouths!!!
Three gaping goldfish!!!
A fuselage and a huge
R A F Roundel
amidships
crossing just yards ahead of them...
Three now dropped-floor jaws.
Scraping....whoooosh....
the belly kissing the other hedgerow
Ten feet into the field
Ease back...
No Height,
Grass threshing again,
seeds in face
Fuselage kisses earth …
A Crescendo of Threshing
A mouthful of seeds …
keeping her level,
Groundcrew running over.
Don looking stern
What the hell happened you plonker?
You turned out of wind!
You dropped like a bloody stone!
Don!
Why do you always state
the bloody f..kin obvious?!
Hey - you'd better unstrap
C.O.’s coming over…
A voice of authority
No!
Stay put...
This is when squadron leaders are god!
What the hell were you doing?
I'm sorry Sir
Well, leave that 'til later
Take her up!
Sorry?
I said ... take her up again.
If you don't, shock will set in
and you'll never get your wings!
The flash of his RAF Wings,
His silver hair,
His medal ribbons,
A DFC,
Warmth in the eyes
Don't worry lad
Worse things have happened!
My next two flights are great
And that evening there was something
special about sewing the Wings on ...
In my mind I could almost hear
my Uncles from The Other Side
'God!
Trust you to go
and turn out of wind!
But no worry.
We were with you
all the way ;)'
Having quite a laugh too!!
At 69, only now has the thought arrived when I look at the images of their brothers who learned to fly but did not survive the war …
What on earth must my parents have wondered?
The matter was never discussed, and I knew only too well never to compare myself with my uncles …
that would have simply been one step too far.
4 September 2023
All Rights Reserved
LIVERPOOL
© 2023 Eyes to the Skies
Written 26 March 2014
Banner Image ~ Kirby Cadet Mark III Glider (Slingsby) - The Glider of this type and mark in which the author qualified for his A&B Proficiency Wings in 1969
Images Courtesy of Kenneth Thomas Webb and with all rights reserved to the Photographer
© 2023 KTW
