everyone else follows the Gospel of ‘Get all and give as little as you can’.
But there are thousands who have not bowed the knee to these Gods and
they are the people who are saving the situation …
The Unions and some workers therefore received ‘short shrift’ from Paterson
and little mention was made of either in the Diary for the remainder of the
war.
17.3.4 April–September 1943, RAF Cranwell to AHQ
Malta
By March 1943, it seems Robert had been ‘lifted out’ of the daily ‘grind’ of
valve pre-production to the Valve Pre-production Supervisory Committee
which met every Monday morning at 08.45. Each particular group of valves
e.g., triodes, rectifiers, magnetrons, and processes e.g., testing, packing,
inspecting etc., was subsequently allocated a pre-production leader, an
assistant(s) and a supervisor(s) thereby spreading the burden. This kind of
detail from Paterson’s Diary illustrates that—as for many others of his age—
Robert’s war work on the ‘home’ front was essential but often prescriptive and
frankly uninspiring. At the ‘real’ front, the flag was carried by the young, and
Robert’s eldest son John Augustin joined thousands of others in playing a
dangerous part here. After promotion from Sgt. to Pilot Officer in January
1942, John Augustin spent the next ten months on the ‘special’ duties list.
Although his service record
35 sheds no light on what these duties were, during
this time he would not have been attached to a ‘normal’ dedicated RAF
squadron but rather been gaining experience in a number of different areas.
Consequently, he received further promotion
48 on 01 October 1942 to
Flying Officer (F/O) and after a few weeks de-briefing travelled to an
Advanced Flying Unit at RAF Little Rissington in Gloucester where he
remained until April 1943. F/O Le Rossignol was then posted to
No. 51 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire—a
unit once led by the iconic (dam buster) Guy Gibson—to train as an elite
night-fighter pilot (probably) flying ‘Beaufighters’, and to learn to use the
latest AI radar. At Cranwell John Augustin teamed up with his navigator Sgt.
Lesley Green (1556380) of Darlington, a former Darlington Grammar
School lad.
49 The rare photographs below show the pilots and navigators at
51 OTU in April 1943.
After Cranwell, John Augustin and Leslie Green transferred to
No. 60 OTU at RAF High Ercall, NE of Shrewsbury to train as ‘Intruders’,
430
D. Sheppard
But there are thousands who have not bowed the knee to these Gods and
they are the people who are saving the situation …
The Unions and some workers therefore received ‘short shrift’ from Paterson
and little mention was made of either in the Diary for the remainder of the
war.
17.3.4 April–September 1943, RAF Cranwell to AHQ
Malta
By March 1943, it seems Robert had been ‘lifted out’ of the daily ‘grind’ of
valve pre-production to the Valve Pre-production Supervisory Committee
which met every Monday morning at 08.45. Each particular group of valves
e.g., triodes, rectifiers, magnetrons, and processes e.g., testing, packing,
inspecting etc., was subsequently allocated a pre-production leader, an
assistant(s) and a supervisor(s) thereby spreading the burden. This kind of
detail from Paterson’s Diary illustrates that—as for many others of his age—
Robert’s war work on the ‘home’ front was essential but often prescriptive and
frankly uninspiring. At the ‘real’ front, the flag was carried by the young, and
Robert’s eldest son John Augustin joined thousands of others in playing a
dangerous part here. After promotion from Sgt. to Pilot Officer in January
1942, John Augustin spent the next ten months on the ‘special’ duties list.
Although his service record
35 sheds no light on what these duties were, during
this time he would not have been attached to a ‘normal’ dedicated RAF
squadron but rather been gaining experience in a number of different areas.
Consequently, he received further promotion
48 on 01 October 1942 to
Flying Officer (F/O) and after a few weeks de-briefing travelled to an
Advanced Flying Unit at RAF Little Rissington in Gloucester where he
remained until April 1943. F/O Le Rossignol was then posted to
No. 51 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire—a
unit once led by the iconic (dam buster) Guy Gibson—to train as an elite
night-fighter pilot (probably) flying ‘Beaufighters’, and to learn to use the
latest AI radar. At Cranwell John Augustin teamed up with his navigator Sgt.
Lesley Green (1556380) of Darlington, a former Darlington Grammar
School lad.
49 The rare photographs below show the pilots and navigators at
51 OTU in April 1943.
After Cranwell, John Augustin and Leslie Green transferred to
No. 60 OTU at RAF High Ercall, NE of Shrewsbury to train as ‘Intruders’,
430
D. Sheppard