A Spitfire Pilot Remembers: Chapter Five - The Year Was 1939
"Adolf Hitler was on his war track. He had got away with Saar, Sudetenland, Austria and Czechoslovakia but was not going to be allowed to march into Poland without war with Britain.''
John M Davis fails at his first attempt to volunteer for RAF pilot training because his maths and eyesight are thought to be inadequate. He joins up as an air gunner, performs eye exercises, signs on for evening classes in maths - and then he is accepted for pilot training.
My O levels came round in the summer term and provided me with an adequate number of passes and credits. There were several surprises. The first was credits in physics and chemistry, which were not my better subjects. However, our master, Hank Miller, had advised we swot up on three possible questions. This I did, and the three came up in the exam papers.
The great disappointment was failing in history, my best and favourite subject. Since none of our class got a credit in history and most failed, I always felt that our master carried some of the blame.
My Uncle Basil felt that he should encourage his nephews to have an interest and understanding of classical music. So he took me to the Queens Hall, which stood next to the Langham Place BBC building, for a Monday night Prom. Monday nights were Wagner nights. It was a musical evening to remember. The Queens Hall was destroyed by German bombs during the war, and Wagner was not played at all during the war years.
It was clear during the summer that war was imminent. Adolf Hitler was on his war track. He had got away with Saar, Sudentenland, Austria and Czechoslovakia but was not going to be allowed to march into Poland without war with Britain.
Air raid shelters, gas masks, building up of our Territorial Army were all signs of what was to come. As a great patriot, my father had encouraged ALL the young men in his business to join the Terriers. Thus when war arrived on 3rd September, all his young men disappeared. Amazingly, they all returned in 1946.
We three brothers all went down to Westward Ho in North Devon, which is where Highgate School was evacuated. Thus Victor’s first term at Highgate School was as a boarder, and he had won a scholarship.
Since Westward Ho was virtually finished as a holiday centre due to the war, the school was able to take over most of the hotels. We started off in a golf clubhouse and I was thus able to improve my golf, which had been initiated in earlier summer holidays.
On Sunday, 3rd September, the whole school went to the village church, and there it was announced that Germany had rejected our demand that she withdraw her troops from Poland, and so we were at war.
By now I had become a School Prefect and Head of House. Quite an honour. Most mornings we were down on the beach for half an hour of PT. This we did as a House activity, with me leading it for our House. Being in charge of the House at homework time was another responsibility. The naughty boy of our House was Victor. At evening prep if he appeared to be working, I could be certain he was reading a novel. A difficult situation.
On arrival at Westward Ho, I became aware that the Jewish Holy Days were imminent and that there were about 15 Jewish boys there. So I obtained the Pate’s permission (Geoffrey Bell) for us to hold our services in a room in one of the Houses. My father was able to put me in touch with a London Jewish educational office, and special books were sent down to us.
Thereafter, we met every Saturday and studied different parts of Jewish History, including the great teachers such as Buber, Maimonides and Joseph Karo. I got some of the senior boys to prepare specific subjects to lead a discussion, and this was the birth of the Jewish Circle at Highgate, which still operates today.
The End of School
July ’40 saw me say farewell to school and return to home in London. Three days after my 18th birthday I made my way to the RAF recruiting depot to volunteer for pilot training. Eyesight and maths caused me to fail. So I joined as an air gunner.
I asked the medical officer what I could do to improve my eyesight. The problem was that I could not change my focus quickly enough between near and distant items. He gave me an exercise that I did whenever I could. As for maths, I signed on at the London Polytechnic for evening classes.
My daytime activity was helping in my father’s dental supply business. Since all the men were in the Forces, there was plenty to do.
Then back to the RAF for a fresh maths and eye test. Well done, John. I passed both and was able to re-muster for pilot training. However, it was still two months before I was called.
