Gliders

Gliders – I used to feel sorry for the glider pilots who went aloft so that fighter pilots could practice attacks on their gliders. There was a scare that gliders might be used in an invasion of England.

Cannons

Cannons – 610 was the second squadron to receive Spitfires fitted with two Hispano cannons and four Browning machine guns. There was trouble with the cannons at the start as they would stop firing after only four rounds and this was embarrassing when fighting. So upon repair, the armourers asked that the cannons be tested in the air.

Elphin

Elphin – The Squadron’s call signal was “Elphin.” This always amused me when I looked around, and surveyed the angels in “B” Flight.

The Flight headquarters was a tiny room in a Nissen hut and there was a beaten path to a little outhouse nearby where each pilot went to have his nervous one before take-off, or failing this, waited until he could piddle near the rudder of his kite before scrambling into the crowded cockpit.

The Flight hangar for repairing the aeroplanes was a tarpaulin strung between trees in the woods nearby.