More about WW2 that isn’t in the history books.
The Girls that delivered the Aircraft - When the planes were manufactured, WAFs used to fly them to the operational bases. I’m talking specifically about spitfires here, they delivered other planes as well. Sometimes even when a plane was being moved. The girls, for fun, would bring the merlin up to full power and full running boost, but not “pull the tit” which would be combat boost 5 min allowed. Release the brakes and hold it down until well past the lift-off speed, then take off and pull up hard, the plane having so much energy would seem to go straight up. This was of course absolutely not allowed…you will see why.
He had a WAF girlfriend in the ATA| (his marriage at the beginning of the war was just one of convenience for the war pension, remember) who used to do this job. He was at the airfield watching her deliver a plane..she did the thing they weren’t really allowed to do, pulled up hard and started to climb, as she did the engine cut out….I think she was at about 100ft. Even with the speed, without the power of the merlin at full normal boost and the really high wing loading…she didn’t stand a chance……and died that day at the end of the runway.
I asked him if he ever got wounded during the war - he said that a few years in there was an air raid warning and the airfield was being bombed, they all ran for trenches. There were a few air raid shelters, but mostly aircrew would try and find a trench, as they needed to be there to get the fighters up. He remembered running for a trench, a bomb hit, and he was thrown forward and knocked flat near a trench. The guy in the trench shouted at him “you OK Fred”. My dad could feel a hot liquid sensation running down his back, “i think I’ve been hit”. His experience when others got hit on a raid was that they didn’t feel it at first…that came later. They dragged him into the trench. To his surprise, he felt pretty good, and they got his backpack off, to inspect the wound. They carefully pulled the shrapnel out of his…….flask of tea! My dad never so much suffered a cut finger during the entire war!
