Letter from Terry Ford to his parents

Letter from Terry Ford to his parents

Terry Ford writes home telling his social and service life. He mentions flights to Rabat, Morocco and Calcutta, India.

1945-10-19

Seven handwritten sheets

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Officers Mess,
RAF,
Homsley South.
Nr. Christchurch.
Hants.
19th Oct. 1945.

Dear Folks,

Sorry to have been so long without writing. I will ring up to-morrow, if possible.
Well, a lot has happened since I last wrote.

We set off for Africa last Thursday week, & arrived in Cornwall, where we were delayed by fog for two days. We set off on Saturday afternoon, & arrived in Rabat, French Morocco about midnight.

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It really was a marvellous experience. It was quite hot, & after having a meal we went to the Belima Hotel in the town. It was really a most up to date place. Terrific great white buildings, good roads, big shops, etc. There was a dance on when we got there, but we went straight to bed.

It is a French Town & there really were thousands of marvellous French girls dressed in the height of fashion, but they weren’t in the least interested in us.

The next day was Sunday & quite hot again, but very pleasant in tropical kit. Unfortunately all the French shops were shut, & so

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we got permission to go down into the Arab quarter It really was amazingly interesting. Thousands of them dressed in all different styles, trying to buy & sell everythings [sic]. Rackets everywhere. Trying to buy watches, & English pound notes, which are very valuable. The rate of exchange is 200 francs to the £ but I was offered 600 francs there.

I bought some pomegranates, and a couple of lbs of walnuts & a couple of lbs of almonds, with a bag to put them in.

Unfortunately we only had the morning there & we really didn’t get to know the places well enough to buy shoes etc, although there were some wonderful leather things for sale. Also brandy at 12/- a bottle

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but we had to bring our own bottle & by the time we had got them, they had closed.

We then spent the lunch time under the trees in the outside café outside the hotel, in the sun, & watching the people go by, drinking brandy at 7d a tot, while Arabs tried to sell us stuff. A really enjoyable day. In the [deleted] evenin [/deleted] afternoon we went to the drome outside the town to get the aircraft ready for next day, passing Arabs with their camels & donkeys etc. In the evening we sat under the stars again, sipping stuff, & tried to go to a cabaret later, but British forces were not allowed after 10. Stupid regulation.

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The next morning we took off at 8.30, & were back, sitting in the mess at Riccall, the same evening.

We got cleared from Riccall on the Tuesday, & left for here on the Wednesday, after saying cheerio to Paddy Clarke, John Winter, & a friend I met at a WAAF dance.

We arrived in London about three o’clock, - stayed at a RAF hotel for the night, going to see a show in the evening. Nervo & Knox & Will Hay in “For crying out loud.” We could only have a box, but it was very enjoyable.

We are now on a squadron [deleted] now [/deleted], 246 squadron, & we carry freight from here to Calcutta in Eastern India

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although soon the squadron is turning over to passengers. Standards are very high indeed. [deleted] We [/deleted] They do not tolerate accidents of any sort. We have to dress smartly too, & we are expected to compete with the Air Lines. I am really very inexperienced for this job, but I hope to make a go of it.

We may get some leave shortly I have to do a couple of weeks on practice flights, & then off to India & back.

This station is very dispersed & a long way to walk & I wish I hadn’t sold the old bike to the fat man at Riccall, although it really was falling to pieces & I should have had to pay 10/- to get it here.

We are really in the New Forest, & it looks grand at this

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time of the year. On our living site we seem to be entirely cut off from the drome & its very pleasant

Unfortunately I made a bad start to-day, as I was 10 mins late for a talk by the C.O. owing to not being wakened. I received an Imperial raspberry from him.

Hope to see Don if I manage to get home for a weekend.

Haven’t heard from Margaret lately, so I reckon that is just about over.

Much love to all.

Hope everyone is O.K.

[underlined] Terry [/underlined]

P.S. If I don’t get home soon, I shall have eaten all the fruit & nuts.

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