I was based in Theale doing a refresher course on Tiger Moths. On 26 February 1944 we were sent out on a cross country exercise, Theale - Denton - x - Theale My flying Instructor F/O Jefferies, by mistake put in a reciprocal Course from Denton. This led me to fly over London.
Looking down at the many buildings, crossroads, winding river that had no reference to the map I had on my lap, I could see balloons ahead and above me, as I was flying at 1000 feet in an endeavour to map-read my location. I headed south and flew through a gap in the balloons.
I saw an aerodrome ahead, so being prudent I landed and inquired as to where I was. I asked the Erk who came over where I was, and he replied, "Croydon". I then asked, "Where's Croydon?" He told me it was 16 miles from London.
I then went over to the control tower, made myself known and asked directions to Theale. The officer was very helpful. He said "just follow the train line due West". I asked for a map, but they had none. I asked to phone Theale, as we were instructed never to take off after landing without notifying our base. I could not get a connection from the phone in the control tower. The kind officer said not to worry, he would phone Theale for me. (He never did!)
I took off, obeying instructions and following the train line. The sun was straight ahead when I took off from Croydon, but as I followed the line the sun started to swing to my right. I soon realised I was following the wrong train line! Getting short of petrol when I ran into a snow storm, I circled round looking for a place to make an emergency landing. Lance Diwell, my instructor at EFTS Benalla in Victoria Australia, told me if ever I should have to make a forced landing, to look around for some scanties on a clothes line and you will be sure to have a pretty girl to look after you. With this in mind I saw a large building looking like a castle, with a paddock next to it, so I eased down and landed in the paddock.
I got out of the Tiger Moth and walked over to the doorway of a huge mansion, and with great expectations I rang the bell.
An old lady in a blue uniform answered the door. She explained that the house was closed up and I could see all the furniture was covered with white sheets. I used her phone and got through to Theale.
Strict instructions were given to tie the plane down and guard it overnight, and they would bring some petrol down in a car and fly the plane back to Theale in the morning.
On returning to my aircraft, quite a lot of people had gathered, including a policeman. I explained my situation.
The Policeman said to leave it to him. There was an American army camp up the road, and he would organise some soldiers to tie the plane down and stand guard over night.
He said I could sleep in the Police station. At this time a very kind gentleman who had a slight limp volunteered to look after me and put me up overnight. He owned the Service Station on the other side of the Paddock. I was driven to his house where I met his wife and two young children, was given a wonderful dinner and climbed a ladder to a very comfortable bed.
In the morning , we drove back to the aircraft and I was very relieved to see it safe and sound. The car arrived mid morning, so we fuelled the plane and took off from the small field and flew back to Theale.
I never got the gentleman's name!
At the end of April 1944 I was posted to 51(P) AFU flying Master 2s, and I was still flying them when the Invasion began. I was then posted overseas to Egypt to do OTU. We caught the 'Capetown Castle' to Port Said, by train to Heliopolis, staying at the Grand Hotel before transferring to Ishmalia and finished OTU at the end of December 1944, when I was posted to 3 Squadron in Italy. 30 of us were then posted to UK to fly Typhoons.
When at Chedworth we flew over the Winchester area and I used to shoot up the Service Station owned by the people who had been so good to me. We were then sent to Lasham to do final training before being sent to a Squadron. While there I found that I could borrow the squadron Auster for the cost of £1.
I saw the CO take off from the taxy strip a few times so I looked forward to doing the same.
On 20 March 1945 I took off for Chedworth in an Auster I had never flown before. On the way I did a few aerobatics and when looping all the debris that had accumulated on the floor came raining down all over me. I then noticed a sign printed above the instrument panel "This Aircraft is Non-Aerobatic". I flew straight and level thereafter! On arriving at Chedworth I looked up my mate from Australia, Eddie Baker. We sailed Cadet Dinghies together. He joined me to fly to Aston Down to refuel, as Chedworth only had Typhoon fuel.
On returning to Chedworth I let Eddie take over as he hadn't flown since leaving Australia. He seemed OK so I let him land the plane. Disaster! He hopped across the airfield and narrowly missed a Radar unit, I took over and taxied in, not a good arrival. I told Eddie I was going to land at a paddock near Winchester and look up a friend who was so good to me last year. I took off from the taxi strip and proceeded to Winchester. I landed OK although the wind was in the opposite direction to when I landed the Tiger Moth and I had to come over some tall trees to land which reduced the landing area before reaching a fence which surrounded the paddock.
I was greeted by the owner of the Service Station. He said he thought it must have been me in the Typhoon - "You took off the top of one of the trees". I asked him if he would like a flip around Winchester. He said "Yes", so in he got and we took off without any trouble. We flew around for about 15 minutes doing steep turns so he could see the countryside. He loved it.
On arriving back at the paddock I made a normal approach over the trees and found there was not enough space to land before the fence came up. I made a second approach and did a little better. With the weight of two people and the tall trees to come over I was in trouble.
On the third approach I came over the trees at stalling speed, cut the motor and dropped the plane with some force, and we headed for the fence with speed . The Auster does not have brakes, and I did a ground loop to miss the fence - a successful landing! I taxied back and he hopped out with many thanks. But I never got his name. The arrival back at Lasham with a broken tail skid is another story.
Many years later I was with a Naval officer in Portsmouth. On telling him my story, he drove me up to find the Garage and meet my benefactor. On arrival I asked to see the proprietor and was told he had migrated to Australia. I don't know his name, but I would very much like to make contact with him or his family.