I was in No. 2 course at Denham in 1916 and flew Longhorns, Shorthorns, Henry Farmans and Vickers gun buses. I was in the last pusher training squadron but was stopped flying before I obtained my wings. I became Navigation Officer at Heliopolis and taught aerial navigation and later went to Palestine on the same job.

I remember plenty of amusing incidents of the First World War days. For example, I was standing with General Brancker when the first SE5 arrived at Palestine airfield. The pilot forgot to close his extra air, overshot, and couldn't pick up and went straight through the line of tents (luckily we dug in about 4 ft for coolness) and a yell went up—“keep down”.