Going Solo!

My journey into researching my Uncle Gerald and his contribution to the war effort began in earnest when I read 'Going Solo' the autobiography of  Roald Dahl's early life and war service.  Going Solo contains a thoroughly fascinating and absorbing account of the author's life as a wartime RAF pilot both in North Africa and Greece. (Penguin.  ISBN 978-405-93753-5)

Of course, as I read the book, I already knew  Uncle Gerald had been in these theatre's of conflict and indeed, there is a good evidence their paths crossed several times. Both were stationed in Egypt and Greece in 1940 & 1941, both were stationed at RAF Ismailia near the Suez Canal and both were treated at the Anglo-Swiss Hospital in Alexandria at the same time. 211 Squadron, the Blenheim Squadron my uncle was in, were supported in their efforts by Gloster Gladiators of 84 Squadron and Hurricane fighters of 80 Squadron flown by Dahl, firstly in North Africa and then in Greece.

A week to the day after Pilot Officer Gerald Davies lost his life, on Easter Sunday 13th April 1941, the Germans were battling for the city of Athens itself and British forces were pouring out of the country by any means possible. Dog fights between the dwindling force of RAF Hawker Hurricanes of 80 Squadron and the overwhelming forces of the Luftwaffe were watched by the citizens of the city in terror. Athenians watched in horror as four Hurricanes swiftly met their end over the city, including the Hurricane flown by the South African Pat Pattle a famous pilot and renowned war hero.

In Going Solo, Roald Dahl mentions he was only one of five pilots to make it out of Greece alive and days later one of only two pilots to make it out of Crete alive.  These were dangerous times when the lives of pilots were marked in days and weeks not years.

At 6pm on St. George’s Day, Wednesday 23 April 1941, ten days after the tragic Easter Sunday raid by 211 Squadron, the Greek government unconditionally surrendered to the Germans and Greece fell under the occupation of the Nazis.

On 15th May 1941 Roald Dahl wrote in a letter to his mother...

"Dear Mama,

Well, I don't know what news I can give you.  We really had a hell of a time in Greece.  It wasn't much fun taking on half the German Airforce with literally a handful of fighters.  My machine was shot up quite a bit but I always managed to get back. The difficulty was to choose a time to land when the German fighters weren't ground staffing our aerodrome.  Later on we hopped from place to place trying to cover the evacuation - hiding our planes in olive groves and covering them with olive branches in a fairly fruitless endeavour to prevent them from being spotted by one or other of the swarms of aircraft overhead.  Anyway, I don't think anything as bad as this will happen again... " 

Pilot Officer Roald Dahl says he was thankful his Hurricane avoided any 'gremlins' taking hold of his plane that day and so after the war, which he was fortunate to survive he became the famous author everyone now knows him to be.

In my short time teaching - I spent 5 years as a teacher to both secondary and primary age children - I would often read Roald Dahl stories, which the children loved.  When asked to take a whole school assembly for Remembrance Day I told the tale of the heroic Roald Dahl and the Battle of Athens on 20th April 1941, as a reminder to a longer generation of the gratitude they owed to the people killed in war so they could be free today.  Moreover I would highlight  how fortunate we were that some very famous people survived, so their work could be enjoyed by future generations.

The message I wanted to give the children was….had it been Roald Dahl and not my uncle who lost his life in April 1941, we would not have his wonderful stories to enjoy today but I would still have had an uncle.

The value of the contribution of these brave men even to this day cannot be understated.

Lest We Forget

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