From Fire to Faith and Freedom

with a Mark 16 Spitfire

Let Jimmy take up the story." After completing pilot training in Zimbabwe, we had to travel through Africa by train and boat and plane and finished up at a holding camp in Cairo, in Egypt. We were there for about three weeks and one day, despite the weather I felt cold. I started to shiver violently, was examined and admitted to hospital. I was in for about three weeks and the reason? I had contracted malaria:' He remembers all too clearly one incident in particular while he was a patient. There was a wry smile on his face as he carried on with the story.

Jimmy was one of three sons and two daughters whose father was a miner, his mother a member of the local Mothers Union.When the war broke out Jimmy was too young to join up but finally when he reached the required age he enlisted and volunteered for the RAF and aircrew. He was finally accepted to train as a pilot, much of which was to take place in Africa. It was a long way to go but the airfields in this country were all operational and in danger of attack by enemy fighters and bombers and not the place for trainee pilots in light aircraft undergoing their initial training. Instead it was off to Africa for Jimmy and his intake trainees. Others went to the United States and Canada.

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