Home | A Spitfire Pilot Remembers
This is the final chapter of wartime Spitfire pilot John M Davis's detailed and engaging life story. His wartime challenges as an RAF fighter pilot were followed by resounding business successes, then a "retirement'' of non-stop public service.
John is a wonderful man. A hero for our times. It has been a great privilege to present his story in Open Writing.
The word "retirement'' has never appealed to former Spitfire pilot John M Davis. In his senior years he has been far busier than most men in their 20s.
"It was quite a shock to find oneself with a company with ten branches, 200 staff and a £7,000,000 turnover...'' John M Davis's business grows and grows.
"Work was only ever part of my life. The family was always of top importance,'' says John M Davis.
John M Davis becomes deeply involved in a wide range of activities to promote and improve the dental trade.
War-time Spitfire pilot John M Davis goes on a selling trip to Italy.
John M Davis, following a philosophy of supplying new and improved products to dentists, sees his business grow and grow.
"One morning when in my office a telephone call summoned me urgently to the hospital....'' Wartime Spitfire pilot John M Davis made it in time to hold his mother's hand as she slipped away.
"A typical week would be a departure from our delightful flat on a Sunday evening and taking a train sleeper to Yorkshire, Lancashire, Scotland or Cornwall..'' Nine years after the ending of the war former Spitfire pilot John M Davis launches his own business and travels Britain on selling missions.
After war-time service as a Spitfire pilot John M Davis is caught up in the trials and joys of domestic life and being involved in a family business.
Sitting outside in the car, I asked her to marry me. She grunted in reply, and I have always said that she never said "Yes''... Spitfire pilot John M Davis meets and marries Hilde.
John M Davis finds that ant-Semitism still exists, after the end of Hitler and his gang.
Spitfire pilot John M Davis, back in civvy street, accompanies his father on a business trip to Spain in the days when that country was ruled by Franco.
"I did not consider five years in the RAF as work. It was war service, fun, danger and travelling the world at His Majesty's cost...'' Spitfire pilot John M Davis returns to civvy street and joins the family business.
Flight Lieutenant John M Davis hands in his Mae West and parachite and is then given a pretty awful demob suit in which to travel home.
Spitfire pilot John M Davis is horrified to learn that British authorities had connived in an attack on the peaceful Jewish population of Tripoli.
While serving on an airbase near Tripoli, Spitfire pilot John M Davis tries to cultivate an English-style garden. "My colleagues considered me decidedly odd when I manured the patch - although I was unclear as to whether it was cow or camel.''
When John M Davis became a Spitfire pilot he never expected that a day would come when he had to entertain three Arab rulers at a desert airstrip. If our relationship with the Arabs is strained, perhaps it is my fault, say John.
As an RAF operations officer in Cairo, John M Davis briefed many of the crews who flew the 1,500 Allied people who attended the Yalta Conference. He gave his map of the territory to the final crew who flew between Cairo and Yalta. To his surprise he was then put under open arrest for giving away a secret document.
John M Davis is involved in an operation to help get Jewish refugees from Europe to Palestine - an operation involving the mysterious Mr Schimski.
When German aircraft raided Bari, they were not trying to damage the airfield where John M Davis was based. They were after an Allied ship which had entered the port loaded with mustard gas.
"A tremendous thunderstorm meant that I had to fly across the Gulf of Taranto at sea level and found Bari as darkness arrived. The grass airfield was under water, and a series of red rockets told me not to land. What to do?...'' John M Davis faces a desperate emergency on his first war-time flight into Italy.
On the eve of the Day of Atonement in 1943 Spitfire pilot John M Davis and three other pilots were on an abandoned airstrip in Sciliy. How did they spend the night? Read on...
John M Davis is sent to Azizia, once listed as the hottest place on earth, 100 miles inland from the African port of Tripoli. "Our Spitfires were unhappy under these conditions. The heat was such that unless you took off immediately after starting (preferably at 07.30 in the morning), the engine overheated before takeoff.''
Continue reading "Chapter 16 -The Southern Route Back To Europe" »
As he recovers from serious injuries, Spitfire pilot John M Davis is sent to an RAF Convalesence Camp near Tel Aviv.
Continue reading "Chapter 15 - Palestine Appears On My Agenda" »
After being struck by a vehicle, John M Davis is treated for a broken thigh in a Cairo hospital. "Several of us went off in a taxi one evening to visit a nightclub. We must have looked an odd bunch, with crutches, splints and one with his arm in plaster and positioned up in the air... Baker, with his leg in plaster, found his young lady stroking the plastered leg, until she realised with horror what she was doing...''
"Apparently I spoke complete gobbledegook for several days, which the other patients imagined was Hebrew since my nametag told them I was Jewish. There was also a male nurse who gave me the most wonderful care. He was one of those who were only interested in the seriously ill or injured. As I got better, he lost all interest in me.'' Spitfire pilot John M Davis tells of being injured in an unwelcomed encounter wih a truck.
Continue reading "Chapter 13 - My Squadron Life Soon Comes To An End" »
"One evening I made my way to our toilets, which were a row of three buckets in cubicles outside our hut, and sat down there. A few moments later a large shape crawled under the door and I screamed for help. A couple of lads came running out and found a large land crab that finally crawled away into the bush...'' Spitfire pilot John M Davis finds life somewhat different at an RAF camp in West Africa.
Just before sailing from Liverpool Spitfire pilot John M Davis received a letter from his father: "You are doing man's work and you will do it well. I'm proud of you and we all love you so much and shall eagerly await your safe and Please God early return...''
John M Davis is posted to 152 Squadron, based in Northern Ireland, and flies escort to the liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, then being used to ferry US troops across the Atlantic to Europe.
"Thus began my long love affair with the Spitfire that to this day I regard as a sensitive woman with beautiful lines and very responsive to the touch.'' John M Davis is passed out as "fit for squadron service''.
"Then the big day arrived for the Wings Parade, when we were presented with our prestigious pilot's wings...'' John M Davis completes his flying training in Canada.
"My first flight was a worry since I had always been afraid of heights.''
John M Davis joins the Royal Air Force and is shipped off to Canada for flying training.
At some hour in the middle of the night the phone rang and, sleepily, Dad stretched out his hand to answer it. Unfortunately, he picked up the water jug and poured the contents over himself.
John M Davis summons humour from the grim days of German bombing raids on London.
Continue reading "Chapter Six - A German Tin Hat In London" »
"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.
In the fourth episode of his entertaining autobiography John M Davis tells us of a spate of accidents which he had while still at school. Hardly what you would expect of a lad who would acquire the skills required to fly a Spitfire!
Continue reading "Chapter 4 - School Progess And A Growing Family" »
In the third episode of his life story John M Davis describes his days at Highgate School - and also tells a remarkable World War One story.
In the second episode of his life story John M Davis, a World War Two Spitfire pilot, tells of his school days when his real pleasure was sport.
Today we begin the serialisation of John M Davis’s life story. John is one of the select few - a Spitfire pilot who flew combat missions in World War Two.
John recounts his war-time experiences and tells of his life both before and after the war. There’s high drama and lots of humour in his story.
Today he begins by telling us about his family. Further episodes of his life-story will be appearing on forthcoming Saturdays.
John wrote his autobiography for members of his family. Open Writing is privileged to have received permission to bring it to a much wider audience.
Continue reading "Chapter One - How The Davis Family Entered The Pinto Clan" »
