Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Title
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Description
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife from RAF Dallachy. He writes of his course and his journey to from RAF Cark.
Creator
Date
1944-01-25
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Five handwritten sheets
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
EGortonHGortonLCM440125
Transcription
[Royal Air Force crest]
The Junior Commanders’ School,
R.A.F. Dallachy,
Near Elgin,
Morayshire.
Tuesday.
Dearest,
This is the last opportunity I shall have of wishing you many happy returns, so I’ll begin by doing that. I hope your parcel arrived safely, and that you are pleased with the present.
I [deleted] sent [/deleted] set out on Monday morning, in company with F/Lt. (“Dicky”) Laird, a Canadian in charge of one of the towing flights. We changed at Carlisle and arrived at Glasgow at 5.30 p.m. We could have gone on then, but there was no point in arriving in the small hours, so we spent the night at the North British hotel & went to the flicks.
From Glasgow we caught the 10.00 a.m. to Aberdeen and then
[page break]
2
the 3.20 from there to Spey Bay, the station for Dalachy [sic]. This last part of the journey took 4 hours, as the train was very slow, and stopped at all sorts of wayside halts:- there must have been about 30 or 40 of them!
I consider this course to be definitely a good thing! It’s packed full of admin gen, the sort of stuff I’ve been wanting to know for a long time, and there are no unnecessary things like P.T.
We work from 8.30 to 12.30, lectures & talks, and from 4.30 – 7.30, & get three afternoons off during the course (i.e. no evening work)
While I was having breakfast at the North British, I saw S/Ldr & Mrs. Trotter, whom you no doubt remember from Ossington. If the weather had been fine this afternoon I should have gone to Dallachy today. Anyway, I hope to visit
[page break]
3
Dallachy & Banff before I go.
The officers on the course are mainly F/Lts. – about 4 S/Ldrs & the same number of F/Os. They are from all commands, & D.F.C.s are common; in fact, it is a distinguishing mark not to have a medal ribbon of some sort, if only the 1939-43 star!
One of the F/Os is a Cark pupil of last summer; a F/Lt. was a pupil at Ossington Apr – May 1942 (on Terwilliger’s course). He is now on Halifaxes. Another F/Lt. was with me at Desford, & has been instructing on Tigers ever since.
The food & Mess are very good, & the sleeping quarters are quite comfortable, four of us in a large Nissen hut. I haven’t talked to the fourth man yet, but the other two
[page break]
4
are O.T.U. instructors (Bomber & Fighter). As you can imagine, it is very refreshing to meet blokes from other commands and jobs, after being in a rut for a long time.
The only snag about this place is the weather. It’s pouring down this afternoon, & even when it’s not raining it’s cold and windy. Still, I’m very glad I’m here.
I don’t know how long letters will take from Abergavenny here, so I’m not presuming to hope for a letter from you until the end of the week. I must say I’m glad I got that letter on Sat. It would have been an awfully long time without hearing from you but for that.
I’m very interested to know how you got on with the Doctor.
[page break]
5
I hope you got your certificate O.K. Anyway, whether you did or not, I don’t want you to do a full time P.T. job, and I don’t suppose you can get any others.
As for something to study, [deleted] It’s [/deleted] it’s difficult to suggest anything. You can have my typewriter any time you want it, but I don’t think there are any courses you could start before next October. Did nothing come of your enquiries about social studies? If you could decide on a course, you could start reading for it now. Aren’t there any advertised in the T.E.S.?
That’s all for now. I’ll write again soon.
All my love,
Harold.
The Junior Commanders’ School,
R.A.F. Dallachy,
Near Elgin,
Morayshire.
Tuesday.
Dearest,
This is the last opportunity I shall have of wishing you many happy returns, so I’ll begin by doing that. I hope your parcel arrived safely, and that you are pleased with the present.
I [deleted] sent [/deleted] set out on Monday morning, in company with F/Lt. (“Dicky”) Laird, a Canadian in charge of one of the towing flights. We changed at Carlisle and arrived at Glasgow at 5.30 p.m. We could have gone on then, but there was no point in arriving in the small hours, so we spent the night at the North British hotel & went to the flicks.
From Glasgow we caught the 10.00 a.m. to Aberdeen and then
[page break]
2
the 3.20 from there to Spey Bay, the station for Dalachy [sic]. This last part of the journey took 4 hours, as the train was very slow, and stopped at all sorts of wayside halts:- there must have been about 30 or 40 of them!
I consider this course to be definitely a good thing! It’s packed full of admin gen, the sort of stuff I’ve been wanting to know for a long time, and there are no unnecessary things like P.T.
We work from 8.30 to 12.30, lectures & talks, and from 4.30 – 7.30, & get three afternoons off during the course (i.e. no evening work)
While I was having breakfast at the North British, I saw S/Ldr & Mrs. Trotter, whom you no doubt remember from Ossington. If the weather had been fine this afternoon I should have gone to Dallachy today. Anyway, I hope to visit
[page break]
3
Dallachy & Banff before I go.
The officers on the course are mainly F/Lts. – about 4 S/Ldrs & the same number of F/Os. They are from all commands, & D.F.C.s are common; in fact, it is a distinguishing mark not to have a medal ribbon of some sort, if only the 1939-43 star!
One of the F/Os is a Cark pupil of last summer; a F/Lt. was a pupil at Ossington Apr – May 1942 (on Terwilliger’s course). He is now on Halifaxes. Another F/Lt. was with me at Desford, & has been instructing on Tigers ever since.
The food & Mess are very good, & the sleeping quarters are quite comfortable, four of us in a large Nissen hut. I haven’t talked to the fourth man yet, but the other two
[page break]
4
are O.T.U. instructors (Bomber & Fighter). As you can imagine, it is very refreshing to meet blokes from other commands and jobs, after being in a rut for a long time.
The only snag about this place is the weather. It’s pouring down this afternoon, & even when it’s not raining it’s cold and windy. Still, I’m very glad I’m here.
I don’t know how long letters will take from Abergavenny here, so I’m not presuming to hope for a letter from you until the end of the week. I must say I’m glad I got that letter on Sat. It would have been an awfully long time without hearing from you but for that.
I’m very interested to know how you got on with the Doctor.
[page break]
5
I hope you got your certificate O.K. Anyway, whether you did or not, I don’t want you to do a full time P.T. job, and I don’t suppose you can get any others.
As for something to study, [deleted] It’s [/deleted] it’s difficult to suggest anything. You can have my typewriter any time you want it, but I don’t think there are any courses you could start before next October. Did nothing come of your enquiries about social studies? If you could decide on a course, you could start reading for it now. Aren’t there any advertised in the T.E.S.?
That’s all for now. I’ll write again soon.
All my love,
Harold.
Collection
Citation
Harold Gorton, “Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 19, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/9180.
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