Letter from Reg Wilson to his Family
Title
Letter from Reg Wilson to his Family
Description
The letter advises he is out of hospital but not flying yet. He describes his training activities. He has been a tourist in a local town. Then he went to a concert and dance.
Creator
Date
1942-03-01
Temporal Coverage
Coverage
Language
Format
Two double sided handwritten sheets
Conforms To
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
EWilsonRCWilsonWJ-M420301-0001, EWilsonRCWilsonWJ-M420301-0002, EWilsonRCWilsonWJ-M420301-0003, EWilsonRCWilsonWJ-M420301-0004
Transcription
[three colour photographs of scenic views]
10th Letter.
1389401. L.AC. Wilson RC
c/o No 31. R.A.F Personnel Depot.
Moncton.
New. Brunswick.
Canada.
1/3/42.
Dear Mum & Dad & family.
Well I’m pleased to say that I left hospital on Friday OK.
Today is Sunday and I haven’t started anything yet, I hope to start flying this afternoon though.
On Friday I got up for the first time and wandered around a bit. About the school we have to wear khaki shirts, but blue trousers at present, I don’t know when we get right into tropical kit. The weather here is very bright generally, but fairly cool at the moment. During the week we have lessons for one half of the day and Flying the other half, then the next week we alternate this schedule so that for one week we fly in the morning and the next in the afternoon
[page break]
The lessons here are “Theory of flight” and “Aero Engines”, every night we are supposed to do 2 hours study and then we have tests on this the following day. We also have Calisthenics (P.T.) and if the weather permits swimming twice a week.
The Flying here is the thing most to worry about, it seems its traditional to fail about 50 percent of the pupils, that ‘shakes’ me terribly, even chaps who have done up to 50 hours in England often get eliminated. Then you returned to Moncton to remuster as an Observer or WOP/Air Gunner, thats [sic] louzy [sic] isnt [sic] it. I’ll just have to wait and see.
Friday night I went into Lakeland but I didnt [sic] see very much really. There’s one thing a taxi will take you to town very cheaply. I saw most of it yesterday and was at Lakeland all day. We were taken to town by a chap on holiday from Detroit in a smashing car. On the way he showed us the winter quarters of the “Detroit Tigers” a baseball team. Somebody got hold of me and tried to explain some points of the game. But he spoke so fast I was none the wiser in the end. We then went on to the town. Its not much bigger than Albany, but bordering the town is some of the prettiest scenery I’ve seen. There are some lakes and the vegetation is marvellous.
[page break]
palm trees, and all sorts of tropical [deleted] und [/deleted] growth it is really picturesque, of course its so different to anything I’ve seen in England. We spent sometime there and I took several photographs. Orange trees and grapefruit too, grow freely in the gardens, this time of year they are just ripe. In the afternoon we wandered into the “Women’s Club” they were arranging a social event for us for that evening. There were two girls there, very friendly indeed, and we helped them for a little while before we left.
In the evening we went to the club and had a fairly good time. They gave us a concert, which was very good, then we danced round for awhile. They made us put on moustaches and draw ourselves on a “passport” then get girls to sign their names and telephone numbers for future reference. I got some, but whether I shall use them for next week, I don’t know yet.
I went up for my first trip this afternoon I was too pleased, the weather was dull and I take a poor view of my instructor, he’s a complete
[page break]
contrast to the chap I had in England. The planes are in many ways different to the “Tiger Moths” in England, these [inserted] here [/inserted] are heavier, more powerful, and less sensitive than the “Tigers”. All I did today was to fly straight and level for about 30 minutes. So my knowledge is very limited at the moment.
Well I must finish now, enclosed are a couple of cards of interest. I shall be very glad when I receive a letter from you, I hoping one arrives soon, I look for one every day now, very hopefully, so far, no luck! So till the next time, cheerio and all the best,
Love,
Reg
10th Letter.
1389401. L.AC. Wilson RC
c/o No 31. R.A.F Personnel Depot.
Moncton.
New. Brunswick.
Canada.
1/3/42.
Dear Mum & Dad & family.
Well I’m pleased to say that I left hospital on Friday OK.
Today is Sunday and I haven’t started anything yet, I hope to start flying this afternoon though.
On Friday I got up for the first time and wandered around a bit. About the school we have to wear khaki shirts, but blue trousers at present, I don’t know when we get right into tropical kit. The weather here is very bright generally, but fairly cool at the moment. During the week we have lessons for one half of the day and Flying the other half, then the next week we alternate this schedule so that for one week we fly in the morning and the next in the afternoon
[page break]
The lessons here are “Theory of flight” and “Aero Engines”, every night we are supposed to do 2 hours study and then we have tests on this the following day. We also have Calisthenics (P.T.) and if the weather permits swimming twice a week.
The Flying here is the thing most to worry about, it seems its traditional to fail about 50 percent of the pupils, that ‘shakes’ me terribly, even chaps who have done up to 50 hours in England often get eliminated. Then you returned to Moncton to remuster as an Observer or WOP/Air Gunner, thats [sic] louzy [sic] isnt [sic] it. I’ll just have to wait and see.
Friday night I went into Lakeland but I didnt [sic] see very much really. There’s one thing a taxi will take you to town very cheaply. I saw most of it yesterday and was at Lakeland all day. We were taken to town by a chap on holiday from Detroit in a smashing car. On the way he showed us the winter quarters of the “Detroit Tigers” a baseball team. Somebody got hold of me and tried to explain some points of the game. But he spoke so fast I was none the wiser in the end. We then went on to the town. Its not much bigger than Albany, but bordering the town is some of the prettiest scenery I’ve seen. There are some lakes and the vegetation is marvellous.
[page break]
palm trees, and all sorts of tropical [deleted] und [/deleted] growth it is really picturesque, of course its so different to anything I’ve seen in England. We spent sometime there and I took several photographs. Orange trees and grapefruit too, grow freely in the gardens, this time of year they are just ripe. In the afternoon we wandered into the “Women’s Club” they were arranging a social event for us for that evening. There were two girls there, very friendly indeed, and we helped them for a little while before we left.
In the evening we went to the club and had a fairly good time. They gave us a concert, which was very good, then we danced round for awhile. They made us put on moustaches and draw ourselves on a “passport” then get girls to sign their names and telephone numbers for future reference. I got some, but whether I shall use them for next week, I don’t know yet.
I went up for my first trip this afternoon I was too pleased, the weather was dull and I take a poor view of my instructor, he’s a complete
[page break]
contrast to the chap I had in England. The planes are in many ways different to the “Tiger Moths” in England, these [inserted] here [/inserted] are heavier, more powerful, and less sensitive than the “Tigers”. All I did today was to fly straight and level for about 30 minutes. So my knowledge is very limited at the moment.
Well I must finish now, enclosed are a couple of cards of interest. I shall be very glad when I receive a letter from you, I hoping one arrives soon, I look for one every day now, very hopefully, so far, no luck! So till the next time, cheerio and all the best,
Love,
Reg
Collection
Citation
Reg Wilson, “Letter from Reg Wilson to his Family,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed May 10, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/35649.
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