the ‘communal trough’. This was an oversized chamber pot filled with beer. Our course was to remain out of sight until called forward, singly, to the circle of baiting officer cadets and junior officers. There, each of us had to lift the pot from the floor, take four large mouthfuls and place the pot on the floor for the next in line. There was great cheering and jeering from our baiters as each of us was called forward to take his turn.
My time came and as I lifted the pot I saw two turds floating in the beer. Instinctively the pot was lowered until I realised that they were in fact two over-cooked sausages. I took four gulps and put the pot down. The very last of our number failed the test when he puked directly into the pot. At this point our course turned as one and walked away. Commands to return to order were met by somewhat drunkenly uttered “force us if you can” challenges.
We were left alone. 9 SSU had failed miserably to subjugate us and we remembered this when, one year later, 11 SSU became our juniors in very different circumstances.
Our flight to Thornhill next day was by Dakota. My uncle, Flight Lieutenant Bill Smith, whom I have already mentioned, skippered this aircraft. Before the flight Bill had told me to keep our relationship to myself for my own good. This I did. Once airborne he invited all members of the course to go up to the cockpit in pairs where he explained instrument layout and answered many questions. The flight ended all too soon with our arrival in dispersals at Thornhill.
A truck drove up to the aircraft and its driver, a sergeant in Army uniform with a small dog, instructed us to load our kit onto the vehicle. Having done this the sergeant told us to fall in. He then introduced himself in a gentle manner as Sergeant McCone and even told us the name of his canine companion. He said he was our Drill Instructor (DI) for the duration of the course and welcomed us to Thornhill—all very soothing.
We expected to be told to climb onto the truck to be driven to our quarters. Not so! The DI’s quiet voice suddenly switched to that of an Army drill instructor. We were moved off at the double, our standard speed when moving from point to point… for months to come. As we turned to run past a hangar, Sergeant McCone gave the thumbs-up signal to a man, the actual driver of the truck, who had been waiting out of sight.
We ran to our quarters and saw that Thornhill was a neatly laid-out station, with tree-lined roads. Other than a handful of brick buildings, most were constructed of corrugated iron. All the roofs were red and the walls cream. We ran past the guardroom then over the main Gwelo-Umvuma road and rail line running parallel to Thornhill’s long southern boundary fence.
This led us into the large married quarters, which we could see were all brick-under-tile homes set in well- treed grounds. We then wheeled into the driveway of No 1 Married Quarters and were brought to a halt in front of the verandah where Flight Lieutenant Parish stood waiting to address us.
He introduced himself as the Officer Commanding Ground Training School (OC GTS), responsible for all our activities during the first four months of our Initial Training School (ITS) phase. He said that once flying training commenced in May, we would fall under OC 4 Squadron for the Basic Flying Training School (BFS) but he would continue to be responsible for all our ground schooling throughout our two years of training. We were told that Vampires were scheduled to arrive at Thornhill for the Advanced Flying School (AFS) in January 1958), twelve months hence.
The house before which we stood rigidly to attention was being used as the temporary Officers’ Mess. Four houses back from the Mess were our quarters. Flight Lieutenant Parish read out our names and the number of the house to which each of us was allocated. It being Sunday, we were instructed to go to our quarters, sort out our kit and return to the Mess for lunch in casual attire. The afternoon was free.
I shared a house with David Thorne, Bill Galloway and Robin Brown. How he had managed it I cannot recall, but Dave Thorne’s MG was parked outside the house. He invited us to accompany him for a look around Gwelo town, some four miles away.
During my apprenticeship in Umtali I had met, and thereafter dated, Pat Woods. For over two years we did everything together and spent much time exploring the mountainous eastern districts on my AJS 500 motorcycle. Her family always made me feel very welcome in their home.
When Pat went off to Teachers’ Training College in Grahamstown, South Africa, I felt pretty lost riding alone down back roads and through forests. Then one day a tubby blonde female who was at college with Pat told me that Pat was having a gay old time with the college boys in Grahamstown. I was shaken but, believing what I had heard, immediately wrote to Pat terminating our association. Pat made many attempts to get me back, but I stubbornly refused.
Because I had been very distressed over Pat, I vowed to myself that I would not get involved with a woman until I had completed pilot training. Looking back on events it still amuses me that I met my wife-to-be during that very first visit to Gwelo on that very first day at Thornhill, not that I realised this at the time.
Gwelo was the fourth largest town in Rhodesia and on this Sunday it appeared to be deserted. Having driven around a while we spotted a place called the Polar Milk Bar and dropped in for milkshakes. The pretty redhead with a big smile behind the counter was very pleasant and introduced herself as Beryl. Once I had received my drink, I went to a table and looked out of the window onto the dismal street while my three course mates engaged Beryl in conversation.
About two weeks had passed when we heard that a major dance was to take place in Gwelo. Dave, Bill and Robin were keen to go but needed to find dates for the occasion. They decided Beryl was the person to help and that I, being the oldest member in our house, should do the talking. Even knowing that I had no desire to find a date or to go to the dance, they cajoled me into helping them.
We went to the Polar Milk Bar but found another lady there instead. Cleo Pickolous told us that Beryl Roe was a hairdresser friend who had been standing in for her on the afternoon we had met, so she gave us directions to Beryl’s home. Mr and Mrs Roe met us at the front door and seemed to be incredibly pleased to see us. I was taken through to the lounge to talk to Beryl while my younger mates stayed in the sun lounge chatting with her folks.
Beryl, whom I judged to be about twenty-six years of age, seemed mildly perplexed by my request to find dates for my three course mates—yet not asking her for a date myself. Nevertheless, she was helpful and all was duly arranged. We left and I thought no more about the matter.
Our day at Thornhill started at 5:30 a.m. with a walk to the Mess for coffee, after which the week’s course commander, a duty we all took in turn, formed us up. We then doubled off to collect weapons for morning drill, which commenced at 6 a.m.
Sergeant McCone was always standing to attention awaiting our arrival, his dog sitting patiently close by. Without fail, he consulted his wristwatch as we came to a halt in front of him. For a solid hour we responded to his bellowing and binding which, happily, reduced in proportion to improvements in our standards of drill and dress. At 7:30 we handed in our weapons and were always ravenously hungry by the time we had run back for an excellent breakfast.
With the exception of Ian Ferguson, all my course mates were either directly out of school or had gained Matric Exemption twelve months earlier. So, from Day One I realised that my premature removal from school, with three years out of an academic environment, would present major challenges for me. My problem areas were essentially mathematics, English grammar and spelling. The practical subjects of engines, airframes, instruments, radio, airmanship, meteorology, navigation and so on, were fine.
The pass mark required for every examination paper was 70%, providing the average for all subjects was over 75%. I met these criteria at the end of each month, but only just. Many years passed before I gained access to my personal training file at Air HQ and found that Flight Lieutenant Parish, insofar as my weak subjects were concerned, likened me to a tube of toothpaste: “Press Petter-Bowyer here and a bulge appears in a different place.”
We were in our sixth week of training when I broke my right ankle on our way to morning drill. As with most days, the dawn was quite splendid. All colours of the rainbow painted the early morning cirrus stratus, adding a special dimension to the crisp, clean, highveld air. I diverted attention for just a moment to look at the sky while we were running next to the service railway line that brought fuel trains into Thornhill. In so doing I failed to see the displaced rock that twisted my ankle.
