An Airman's Lost Letters

Franked 3 JY 17 Mrs Chas E Pearson 5 Madeira park Tonbridge Wells Kent 34 RS RFC Ternhill Nr Market Drayton (‘Royal Flying Corps, Market Drayton‘ headed paper) 5.7.17 Dear Mother I well deserve a good strafeing for not writing sooner & my excuse should have been no excuse although it was the cause as it put writing clean out of my head till lait one night as I lay in bed thinking so I wrote first off next day. Nothing has been heard or seen of the missing photos so bang goes sixpence & a lot of pleasure. To-day I loaned a motor bike & went rouring round till I ran into a lot of wounded officers painting a church porch. One of them had been on the aerodrome that morning so I stopped & had tea & a rag with them & came away a bit cheered up but life does hang heavily on ones hands now; nothing to do all day exept bite ones nails & hang around. Bettys parcel seems to have arrived safely & she seems fearfully pleased with it. I don’t think...

A note from the Editors: The first letter from Oliver while training at Ternhill, Shopshire. We are unsure what '34 RS' is. Some sort of school or squadron? We can also sympathise with Oliver on the loss of his photographs... What we'd give to see a few snapshots of his life in the RFC! Franked 3 JY 17 Mrs Chas E Pearson 5 Madeira park Tonbridge Wells Kent 34 RS RFC Ternhill Nr Market Drayton (‘Royal Flying Corps, Market Drayton‘ headed paper) Dear Mother. I am sorry to have been so long in writing to assure you I arrived safely, I have done so, but I have been very upset indeed. I went into the Mess on arriving to get my mail & found among others a bill from Kodaks for 10/6 for my last four films. I expected them to arrive next morning but was opening my other letters when one of my friends came up & said “Lets look at your photos” & I told him they hadn’t arrived & he said of course they have they arrived two days ago. It seems that...

A note from the Editors: Because this letter is undated, we cannot be absolutely sure of its position amongst the others but believe this is about the right place in the sequence. UNDATED LETTER 34 R S RFC Tuesday (‘Royal Flying Corps, Market Drayton' headed paper) Dear Mother I arrived back safely at the time I expected. With a little difficulty I got the train stopped at Ternhill & so was saved the trouble of carrying a heavy bag 3 miles from Drayton. My camera has not arrived as they haven’t one in stock but I am trying other places. To-day is hot enough to fry potatoes. My leave did not come through for some reason & I am going to apply again. It’s a beastly nuisance & I cannot account for it at all. I am very fed up about it & think that my CO did not put in a good word for me. There is as yet no news, but you had better tell Auntie not to expect me till she gets a Telegram from me. I enjoyed those few days at home immensely they were s...

A note from the Editors: Recent research by Dan shows Oliver being 3 in the 1901 census, making him just 19 when he made this Will... NOTE: We do not know his date of birth yet, but he joined the OTC in Sept '15, and we assume that was when he turned 17. ) The Wishes of O.C. Pearson Supposing he be killed "This has been made out not because I have any intention or thought of dying but because “In the midst of life we are in death” & because accidents will happen & because an aimans death is such a sudden one & may happen anytime." 13.3.17 1. That the letter enclosed herewith be delivered to his father & mother. 2. That all the following be subject to his father & mothers own wishes. 3. That his father and mother keep anything they may wish to as a memento of him. 4. That if possible he be buried in Gonalstone churchyard by the Rev Canon Ferris. The service to be an entirely family one. His headstone to be a rough granite boulder untrimm...

A note from the Editors: Two months into his flying training, here is the first letter we have from Oliver on Royal Flying Corps headed note paper, with the RFC wings and latin moto PER ADUA AD ASTRA underneath - 'Through adversity to the Stars'. Franked 25 NOV 16 OXFORD Mrs C. E. Pearson, Hillcrest, Lowdham, Notts. Royal Flying Corps, Christchurch, Oxford. 25.11.16 My dear Mother, I hope my note arrived safely. Life here now is one eternal bore as we have nothing to do to speak of & plenty of time to do it in & we might all just as well be on leave. I shall not write a decent letter as I have just spilled 3 or 4 blobs of ink onto my new cord breeches & it has made me very angry. I hope to remove whats left of the stain to-morrow. The first day on the higher instruction course has been typical so I will let you have it. Loaf around with nothing to do till 11 oclock when we do an hours lamp signalling to which no one plays the least attention a...

Olivers discharge papers from the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps, just over a year after joining up. Rest of documentation (larger copies of all documents and letters posted to date)

A note from the Editor: The first letter we have from Oliver describes life in the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps . This is the only letter we have from his year in the O.T.C. in Berkhampsted. He joined on the 23rd of September 1915, and was discharged on the 25th September 1916, 'in consequence of being appointed to a commission in the General List for the Royal Flying Corps'. Mrs Chas E Pearson Hillcrest Lowdham Notts Reply to No5 Company 1st Bat. I.o.C. O.T.C. Stationed at Birkhamsted, Herts. 10.10.15 Dear Mother As you see I have arrived here & am now in a billet & doing soldiering properly. The date may be wrong but to-day is Sunday & I have just come off church parade. We paraded & were marched to the parish ch. which we more than entirely filled. Some chaps having to be dismissed as there was no room for them. I can tell you the hymns went well. Westminster choir weren’t in it at all for volume & deep bass voices. We were o...