My beautiful goggles – On my left eyebrow area, a small scar and indent were left when my goggles were kindly removed by a passing bullet. I didn’t mind the cut, but the bullet smashed my brand-new goggles. I was proud of the fancy, white goggles which my Mother had sent to me.
I never trusted goggles over my eyes when I was fighting and I kept them up on my forehead over the brow of the helmet; I wanted nothing to obstruct my view. But I often wore the goggles over my eyes for taxiing a Spitfire – especially at night. The hot materials emitting from the exhaust ports on the side of the engine and in front of the cockpit might damage the eyes. A Spitfire pilot had to, generally, lean his head out of the cockpit while taxiing because of the interference of the long upward nose of the tail-wheeled Spitfire, and, if possible, he had to angle the aeroplane slightly from side to side to see if the way was clear.
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