Letter 22 - I haven’t again been over the lines

Letter 22 - I haven’t again been over the lines – yet but it is my turn next

A note from the Editors:
The last letter home we have from Oliver, who appears to be very much enjoying squadron life

Franked 11 SP 17
O.A.S.
Mrs Chas. E. Pearson,
Hillcrest,
Lowdham,
Notts.
Letter 16

70 Squadron RFC BEF France
Sunday 9.9.17 Letter 16

My dear people
I received “the dear enemy” yesterday & thank you very much for it. I haven’t yet finished Pickwick so I shall not start it just yet but I can see its going to be like Daddy Long legs.
I haven’t again been over the lines – yet but it is my turn next & we are to be very busy now. We have been having very cloudy days so have hardly been able to fly at all.
I had rather a go the other night as 19 others formed a party got a tender & went into the ancient city. We had a most jovial little dinner & a good rag afterwards & I for one came home feeling much better for the rag & the good time.
Last night the whole squadron was invited to have dinner with a neighbouring one. They gave us a great feast drinks & cigars etc ad. Lib. & plenty of good cheer. There were several chaps there that I had met at Ternhill.

To Mother : Many happy returns of the 31st. I never can remember your birthday. Please forgive me. Your birthday present must be delayed until I come home on my 1st leave. This place has a hop garden quite close to & reminds me of Kent although the hops are strung up differently. They are very poor hops I fancy, plenty of them but very small. One of my recent batmen was a hop tester from the district near Cannon St Station. The midges are getting a great nuisance but I & my tent mate have found out that if we each smoke a pipe last thing it clears the tent of the little beasts & they don’t find their way in again in any great numbers. I am glad to hear that Dad is feeling so well & fit that he should walk from Nottingham to spite the MR. He couldn’t have done that a bit awhile ago. Well best of love to all of you at home from your loving
Oliver
O.C.Pearson 2nd Lt.

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Welcome to 'An Airmans Lost Letters' 1915-1917

These long forgotten letters penned by a young R.F.C. pilot, 2nd Lt. Oliver Charles Pearson to his Mother during the Great War, were discovered and liberated from a skip filled with the remnants of a roof clearance at a property in Southampton, UK during the mid 1990s. Within the past year they were rediscovered (again) having sat in a box in a loft for the last 10-15 years and were kindly passed to this sites authors, both of whom share an interest in social and military history from this period. Any links the letters had with the Pearson family have been long forgotten. We, the creators of this website, believe these documents are important social records of great interest to many, truly deserving preservation and a wider audience. When the letters came into our possession, via the nephew of the original finder, we deliberated over what we should do with them - perhaps donate them to a war museum? Oliver Pearsons old school? or return them to any living descendants, should we di...

Lt Werner Voss claims his 44th victim

On the 10th of September 1917 two young pilots met over the Flanders battlefield. One was nineteen year old 2nd Lt Oliver Charles Pearson, the other was twenty year old Leutnant Werner Voss , flying a prototype of one of the brand new Fokker Triplanes ... Oliver had left the 70 Sqn airfield near Poperinge at 4.45pm in Sopwith Camel B3787, on an offensive patrol to nearby Houlhulst Wood. Lt Werner Voss was by then commander of 10 Jasta. One of Germanys top fighter aces, he was a natural pilot and aggressive fighter with 43 kills to his credit so far, second only to his friend and competitor Baron Manfred Von Richthofen. Werner had been chosen to test fly Anthony Fokkers prototype only a few days before at the end of August. With aero engines in short supply his was fitted with a 110 hp LeRhône engine engine from a captured RFC Nieuport 17 fighter. Voss with Anthony Fokker Voss and his Triplane with his distinctive Japanese kite face p...

Shuttleworth Uncovered at Old Warden

I made a long overdue visit to the Shuttleworth Collection recently, for their Shuttleworth Uncovered display. The Shuttleworth Collection has been on my radar for many years now, especially since we started this blog of Olivers letters. For this event there was a special Sopwith line up, and although none were flying, we were treated to several engine runs of the Brooklands Camels 130hp Cleget motor. To finally see this stubby little aeroplane close up was an amazing experience, but to smell the castor oil and hear the throaty roar of the motor was even better, and will stay with me for a very long time. And this is one of the last 10 Pup's built by the Sopwith Factory in 1919. They converted them into a two seaters and called them 'Doves'. Richard Shuttleworth acquired it in 1936 and converted it back into a single seat Pup. We had a fantastic afternoon at Old Warden, can't recommend a visit highly enough. Now planning my next visit ... Click here for t...

An Airman's Lost Letters

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