Letter from Jack Darby to Jean
Title
Letter from Jack Darby to Jean
Description
He has been doing a little flying. They had a lucky escape when a faulty tyre burst whilst taxing after an engineer had said it might be alright to fly with it. She has described the engagement ring she likes.
Creator
Date
1944-09-28
Temporal Coverage
Coverage
Language
Format
Three double sided handwritten sheets and envelope
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
EDarbyCAHWellandJ440928
Transcription
[postage stamp] [postmark]
[inserted] 29-9-44 [/inserted]
Miss J. Welland,
7. Queens Drive
Surbiton
Surrey
[page break]
OFFICERS' MESS
R.A.F. STATION
WINTHORPE
Nr. NEWARK
Notts.
28th September 1944.
My dearest Jean,
Thanks a lot for letter received yesterday. the mail situation seems to be more or less straight for a while until I start moving again.
Well, we've been pressing on with our flying, have just managed to do our first solo trip this afternoon, we've done five hours in 17 days! Anyway now we have got started we may be able to get on if the weather is at all kind. We were pretty lucky today we'd just landed and were having our tyres checked when the [deleted] type [/deleted] tyre chap
[page break]
2/
said he thought one tyre was u/s, but we could please outselves about taking off again, our skipper decided not to, we taxied to dispersal and got half way there when the tyre burst, you can imagine the flap, thirty tons of aircraft blocking the perimeter track, we discovered that the brake drum was red hot and smoking, if we had taken off there would have been a glorious prang as it would have gone when we were doing about 90 mph. With these kites the strain on the tyres is colossal, you can imagine their size thy cost £72 each!
So you want a diamond with arms! I did'nt think they had any, seriously though I think I know what you mean but a sketch would be helpful, is it gold or platinum? I don’t
[page break]
3/
know when I shall have time to look round but I thought you might have some ideas, expect in the end we shall buy it together, suppose London is as good as anywhere.
Had a letter from Mother and Dad today theyre getting on O.K. have heard one or two doodles in the last fortnight but nothing has fallen near, also some other type of [indecipherable word], are these rockets? there seems [diagram] vague rumours about them.
So, not being content with a war [deleted letter] in Europe you've had your own private one at Eastwoods, who's winning? the thought has just struck me that perhaps you are doing a course on the uses of
[page break]
4/
the rolling pin as an offensive weapon probably with an eye to future battles, I can see myself as a poor downtrodden husband only allowed out on Saturday evening and then until 9 o/c. So you’ve been cake making, expect your Dad will have a grudge against me he being the subject of all experiments its too bad he weathered one lot of cooking a few months ago.
I've just read the last part of your letter about getting up early when you were going to Broadstairs, we've been flying before eight o'clock one or two mornings and I saw a vision of red riding her bicycle sound asleep to work, even Air Marshals could'nt wake her, anyone you know?
Well darling, its a shame about those pill boxes, afraid they'll have to remain empty for the time being, however when I [underlined] do [/underlined] come home for a few days we'll have bigger and better blisters, I wish the
[page break]
5/
summer was just starting, we could go on the river again, I think with practice I would improve on the last performance, I wont rock the boat this time!
Time is getting on my dear, must away and get some sleep for an early start tomorrow, will say cheerio and all my [deleted letter] love darling.
Take care of yourself,
Yours
Jack.
[inserted] 29-9-44 [/inserted]
Miss J. Welland,
7. Queens Drive
Surbiton
Surrey
[page break]
OFFICERS' MESS
R.A.F. STATION
WINTHORPE
Nr. NEWARK
Notts.
28th September 1944.
My dearest Jean,
Thanks a lot for letter received yesterday. the mail situation seems to be more or less straight for a while until I start moving again.
Well, we've been pressing on with our flying, have just managed to do our first solo trip this afternoon, we've done five hours in 17 days! Anyway now we have got started we may be able to get on if the weather is at all kind. We were pretty lucky today we'd just landed and were having our tyres checked when the [deleted] type [/deleted] tyre chap
[page break]
2/
said he thought one tyre was u/s, but we could please outselves about taking off again, our skipper decided not to, we taxied to dispersal and got half way there when the tyre burst, you can imagine the flap, thirty tons of aircraft blocking the perimeter track, we discovered that the brake drum was red hot and smoking, if we had taken off there would have been a glorious prang as it would have gone when we were doing about 90 mph. With these kites the strain on the tyres is colossal, you can imagine their size thy cost £72 each!
So you want a diamond with arms! I did'nt think they had any, seriously though I think I know what you mean but a sketch would be helpful, is it gold or platinum? I don’t
[page break]
3/
know when I shall have time to look round but I thought you might have some ideas, expect in the end we shall buy it together, suppose London is as good as anywhere.
Had a letter from Mother and Dad today theyre getting on O.K. have heard one or two doodles in the last fortnight but nothing has fallen near, also some other type of [indecipherable word], are these rockets? there seems [diagram] vague rumours about them.
So, not being content with a war [deleted letter] in Europe you've had your own private one at Eastwoods, who's winning? the thought has just struck me that perhaps you are doing a course on the uses of
[page break]
4/
the rolling pin as an offensive weapon probably with an eye to future battles, I can see myself as a poor downtrodden husband only allowed out on Saturday evening and then until 9 o/c. So you’ve been cake making, expect your Dad will have a grudge against me he being the subject of all experiments its too bad he weathered one lot of cooking a few months ago.
I've just read the last part of your letter about getting up early when you were going to Broadstairs, we've been flying before eight o'clock one or two mornings and I saw a vision of red riding her bicycle sound asleep to work, even Air Marshals could'nt wake her, anyone you know?
Well darling, its a shame about those pill boxes, afraid they'll have to remain empty for the time being, however when I [underlined] do [/underlined] come home for a few days we'll have bigger and better blisters, I wish the
[page break]
5/
summer was just starting, we could go on the river again, I think with practice I would improve on the last performance, I wont rock the boat this time!
Time is getting on my dear, must away and get some sleep for an early start tomorrow, will say cheerio and all my [deleted letter] love darling.
Take care of yourself,
Yours
Jack.
Collection
Citation
Jack Darby, “Letter from Jack Darby to Jean,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed January 23, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/40087.
Item Relations
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