An Airman's Lost Letters

A note from the Editors: After only being in the Squadron a couple of days, Oliver is involved in a bad crash, writing off his Sopwith Camel and putting him in hospital, luckily with only superficial wounds. Franked 22 AUG 17 Mrs Chas. E. Pearson, Hillcrest, Lowdham, Notts. 39 Stationary Hospital France 21.8.17 Letter No 9 Dear Mother This is only a very temporary address & I am writing with all haste so that you may not be alarmed if you see my name in the casualty lists. I am here as the result of an aeroplane accident. The aerodrome I was on was fairly big but on one side you took off over a valley & in doing so yesterday my engine conked & I of course had to turn round which is a fatal thing to do & anyway after turning I remember no more. I came down about 200 feet & smashed the machine to atoms so I am told but all that is the matter with me is a sprained ankle a cut lip a cut eye my jaw somewhat cut about & worst of all two teeth knocke...

A note from the Editors: Oliver finally gets posted! He moves to 70 Squadron, based in Liettres, the first R.F.C. squadron to be issued with the new Sopwith Camel, only a month or so before. Franked 18 AUG 17 Mrs Chas. E. Pearson, Hillcrest, Lowdham, Notts. 70 Squadron : BEF : France 18.8.17 Letter No 8 My Dear Mother I shifted here yesterday I am jolly glad to at last have the chance of some flying. I kicked up a row at the Pool because I was there so long & found that headquarters had lost my name!! & yet they say there’s a war on. The day befor I left we had a hun plane over the town. He was an awful height up at least 15,000 & our Archie made pretty patterns in the sky with smoke puffs but didn’t even make the hun turn. Our fellows went up but were years late & so I expect he got home again safely. He did no damage & it was thought he had lost his way as huns don’t generally come so far back without laying eggs. As far as I can see I have fairl...

A note from the Editors: Oliver is still stuck at the Pilots Pool 3 weeks after arriving, but seems to have cheered up a little after a night out in town with two fellows from 34 Sqn. Franked 17 AUG 17 7. Mrs Chas. E. Pearson, Hillcrest, Lowdham, Notts. France 14.8.17 Address as usual letter no 7 My dear Mother I am again writing to-day although I only wrote yesterday but this is to be quite a business letter. Enclosed please find Cheque for £20 (twenty pounds) 2 photographs 2 postcards The cheque is for you to pay my bills with. There are not many the two biggest being with Stones in Nottm & Allports in Brum. The photos one is of me with not much clothing on & will hardly bear publication. (Give it to Jim) It was taken by another fellow & given me here. The other is of Lt Roberts MC : DCM & Scottie Brown & my Pup doing his favourite trick of chewing the rubber end of Robert’s stick behind is an Aero with a Cleget engine. The waving things o...

A note from the Editors: Recommended viewing for anyone following this blog - Timewatch, WWI Aces Falling.

A note from the Editors: Oliver still waiting to be posted, and feeling dejected as all his fellow pilots have already gone to squadrons. Franked 11 AUG 17 Mrs Chas. E. Pearson, Hillcrest, Lowdham, Notts. No1AD Officers Pool Mess France 8.8.17 Letter No 5 My dear Mother I got your first letter yesterday & was so pleased to have the photos. I thought that particular film had gone west with two others that have been lost. Arent the photos good as such considering the light in which they were taken. Ena is awful serious in hers isn’t she about the only second she looked serious that day – of course. I shall have them mounted & hang them near my bed when I get a bed of my own. I haven’t been posted yet as you see but expect to be to-night. I am very desolate as all my real friends who have been with me now on 3 moves (4 of them) have been posted. The last went to-night. He has been with me all through since Turnhouse & was a very white friend. He was an Austr...

A note from the Editors: In this letter Oliver Oliver explains the letter numbering system he has started using.  A wise move for such a prolific writer sending mail regularly home from France, it has made putting the later letters in chronological order much easier for us! (We will keep up our numbering system in the post titles, which start from the first letter we have, not from when Oliver is posted to France.) Franked 9 AUG 17 Mrs Chas. E. Pearson, Hillcrest, Lowdham, Notts. No1AD Officers Pool Mess B.E.F. France 8.8.17 Letter No 4 Dear Mother I have not as yet been shifted from here & am very sore because they have sent away three junior pilots to me. I hope to be sent away almost anytime to-day or to-morrow but cannot tell. I am in future always going to number my letters as above & then you will know if any don’t arrive. I got the tip from one of the men whose letter I censored his was 178 but I hope not to get so far before I begin again after...

A note from the Editors: An undated letter, but one we think was probably written on Sunday the 5th August. The domed huts Oliver describes are the famous Nissen Huts http://www.nissens.co.uk/default.htm (letter 2) No1AD Officers Pool Mess France (Tues) Dear Mother, Just a little note as it’s Sunday to say that I haven’t been posted yet & don’t know when I shall be. Here we do no flying only loaf around waiting to be posted. We work all morning & afternoon on various jobs such as the construction of a tennis lawn on the side of a hill needing a lot of levelling & pumping water up to the main reservoir tank from the well at the bottom of the hill. This is a very small camp just a few huts clustered together round a mess hut. They are very different huts to those in England only holding about 8 beds & are more like a barrel cut in halves no sides just a rounded dome of corrugated iron lined with wood. They have a door at the end & four windows also a...

A note from the Editors: Oliver is now at the Officers Pool Mess, waiting to be posted to a Squadron. Franked 5 AUG 17 O.A.S. Mrs Chas. E. Pearson, Hillcrest, Lowdham, Notts, England. No1AD Officers Pool Mess France Frid Aug 3 Dear Mother, I am writing because at the moment I do not have anything better to do and I am in a comfortable office. I am Relieving Orderly Officer which means I have to sit here & wait for a telephone bell to ring while the real Orderly Officer has his lunch. I hope to get mine but am uncertain. I haven't been posted yet as the weather being so vile there is no flying & therefore no one is killed or injured. The above weather is phenominal. It started with a most peculiar wind storm. From a flat calm & clear sky suddenly within 5 minutes arose a violent wind with racing black clouds & thunder & lightning of great violence which all lasted about half an hour & then passed off as it started leaving all serene...

A note from the Editors: An undated letter from Oliver, describing his journey to France. Interesting that he is the second officer ever to go over officially listed as a 'Camel Pilot'. I wonder who was the first? No 1 AD Pool Pilots BEF France Dear Mother, The above is my present abode. I crossed on Friday 26.7.17 from Folkstone to Boulogne. We had a very quiet crossing really only with a nasty beam wind which made the boat roll nastily but not enough to make me feel seedy. The crossing was too absorbingly interesting anyway. There were four boats & 3 destroyers. I had only about an hour in Boulogne so had only time to smell the awful stenches of the place & to get some food at the officers club there. I then boarded a train which took four hours to go twenty miles! It stopped twice in open county away from a station because I suppose it was getting ahead of schedule. It stopped so long at most stations (save the name in most cases) that we (I & 3...

A note from the Editors: This telegram was enclosed in the last letter we posted. Soon Oliver will no longer be training... Telegram - handed in at 6.21, received 9.48 - 26 JUL 17 TO {Pearson Hill Crest LowdhamAm going out France Friday morning early letter follows Oliver