The worst fright

The worst fright – The worst fright that I ever received as a fighter pilot was not from bullets entering the fuselage or me, as those situations had a tendency to make one annoyed. Nor was it trying to force land a riddled Spitfire as one didn’t have time to think about anything else. The worst fright was waking up and finding that I was flying formation, before daybreak, on the navigation lights of my leader’s Spitfire. This happened when many day Squadrons also did the night fighting, and because of the lack of experienced pilots, one would be on dusk patrol only to find that one would, also, be called for dawn patrol at about 0300 hours. I remembered being wakened by the batman. I remembered being driven in our small van to the mess and eating breakfast there and wondering whether or not to put catsup or marmalade on my sausage. I remembered the drive to the Flight and putting on a bulky, fleecy jacket and curling up into a big chair to cat-nap while the engines were being run up. But I was not able to recall anything from the big chair to the action of flying formation in the darkness. This frightened me to the point where I told the MO (medical officer) that it might happen again. His answer was, “Everybody seems to be having this trouble lately. It’s a normal reaction, so try and get some rest whenever you are able.”