my knees to the lovely Rhodesian sunshine and myself to the fun of learning to handle an aircraft very different from the staid old Oxford.


* * * * * I


t is an accepted fact that in Southern Rhodesia the month of October is notorious for a rise in the suicide rate. The two contrasting seasons of weather which the country enjoys are the dry season lasting from March to October, and the wet season which breaks the drought some time in October until the following March. From March to October the sky is always blue and the sun shines every day and all day. There is no rain, not a single cloud. It sounds marvellous, and for flying training it was indeed marvellous – calm, clear skies, smooth flying, terrific visibility.


But it was in its way boring and for some, nerve-wracking. Whoever you were, you found yourself longing for the sight of a bit of cumulus cloud in the blue dome above, and for the feel of a few drops of rain on a sunburned face. Some there were who found it so added to whatever stress they suffered from that they took the suicide route out of it all. October, just before the first rains came, was indeed the suicide month. Whilst we were living at Bentwood Lodge, Bradfield, we had good neighbours just up the hill from our home by the name of Pepper. Don Pepper had been an air gunner on Halifaxes in No. 4 Group, where I eventually finished my RAF career, and he was always keen to reminisce about those exciting days. In September 1988 Don and his wife Shirley decided to visit Canada, mainly to see relatives out there, but to combine that with attendance at a Canadian reunion of aircrew being held at Winnipeg. When they registered for the party, the Fifth Commonwealth Wartime Aircrew Reunion to give it its official title, Don had a circular letter from the organisers asking if anyone could provide an article or any contribution for the Reunion’s Souvenir Programme. He came down the hill to see me and to ask if I might think about doing this, as authorship was not his own strongest point, and he knew of my two year experience with the Commonwealth Air Training effort, although this had been not in Canada but in Southern Rhodesia. It seemed a rather odd request, since I was going nowhere near this particular


party, but I wanted not to offend Don and felt there would be no harm in bashing out a few paragraphs which would be quickly consigned to some waste paper basket in Winnipeg. So I sat down and typed out a couple of pages about flying training out in Rhodesia, feeling it was a complete waste of time. Don and Shirley went off on their trip and on their return six weeks or so later Don again came down the hill. This time he had with him a copy of the Reunion Souvenir Programme, quite a handsome 56 page brochure with a full list of all those attending, photographs of the Royal Canadian Air Force top


53


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