First Canadians & Fisher Cottage

First Canadians – Dix and I were the first Canadians, in fact the only Canadians to be posted to 610. The motto of which was, “The Goddess of Corn Rides on a Winged Car.” Don’t ask me to come up with the relevant Latin that was on the crest. This peacetime auxiliary squadron’s home base was in Cheshire, a great agricultural area. I’m afraid that Dix and I used much colonial corn in order to get away with devilishness at every turn; colonials never knew any better.

No. 610 Squadron’s crest

Fisher Cottage – Fisher Cottage was one of the pertinent cottages relevant to the enlargement of the field and it had the distinction of being mentioned in the Doomsday Book in one of those old tenurial laws peculiar to the English estate. I lived in the Cottage with the quiet ones, the rowdy, the educated, and the seemingly idiotic ones of “B” Flight.

There was, of course, the unfortunate turnover of pilots as time progressed. The losses ran spasmodically, with an occasional pilot being lost, then WHAM, three or as many as five pilots would be shot down in one day. I write below of only those with whom a great and quiet, mutual understanding was forged.