9

c/o Canada House
London.
Feb.5.

Dear Mother and Dad,

I just got back from our air-firing course that I mentioned and got a very welcome surprise to find two letters from home one of them Jan 4 and one Jan.19 so for the latter one Air-mail seems to be pretty well worth-while. I was so relieved to hear too that you had got some letters from me and that they were starting to arrive more or less regularly.

We had a grand time last week. The place is on the South Coast and as I have always liked the South Coast, of course, I found it very pleasant. It was nice to get away from the atmosphere of this place for a change. It is alright but big and formal. Down there with just a few people, it was very informal and quite restful. The living conditions weren’t so good but we could stand that for a bit. Our actual course was interesting. The first thing we did was to fire all our eight guns into the sea just to get the feel of the things. Then we did different attacks on a target towed by another aircraft. Our hits were counted and averaged for the actual number of bullets fired. I got an average over the course of about 1% which was about average. It was all a lot of fun.

We came back into another squadron and are now flying different types called Fulmars which are much heavier than the Hurricanes and not nearly so much fun. But in them we do only two things here, night flying and things they call A.D.D.L’s. which stands for Aerodrome Dummy Deck Landings. In these we go around doing landings by following the signals of a man on the ground just as we will have to do them when we get to a Carrier. It is a bit dull but all very necessary. We will be through here in another two weeks which really seems quite incredible as it is such a short time since we first came here. After that we don’t know what we will do. We will undoubtedly get another spot of leave and then go anywhere I guess. None of us, however, expect to go on operations for some time, however.

You seem to be worrying about Jack, Mother. That is I suppose quite natural but there does not, to me, seem to be any need for you to worry about his position in the air-craft. Naturally we all know that when you are fighting in a war there are more risks than ordinarily. But he is taking the same chances as any other member of an aircraft’s crew. There is one job which might not be so pleasant and that is the position of the Rear gunner. But Jack will not be given that job because he is, besides being a gunner, a wireless operator and they just are not given that job. Another thing, please do not ever think that the fact that I have a commission should matter a particle. If I want to go and see my brother you may be sure nothing is going to stop me. That sort of thing is out of date now. So do not worry any more about that.

It has turned very wintery here. There is not much snow, just enough to cover patches of ground but it is cold and blustery. When it thaws a bit the ground gets terribly muddy and as it is a sort of clay and sticks to your boots it can get quite unpleasant.

It really is pretty hard to write a letter home these days. There seems so little to tell you. There aren’t even many small things.

Tonight Stewart and I are taking two girls to a dance in a place called Sparkford near here. Apparently this dance is in aid of the Sparkford warships week. One of these girls has a car so it will not be too bad.

Don’t worry, Mother, about me getting serious about any of these girls. They don’t, on the whole, hold a candle to Canadian girls. This girl I met in London is a nice girl but giving an English girl silk stockings is just a sort of kindly gesture. They seem to miss them so much and since they wear such awful things sometimes it really is nice for everyone to see a pair of silk stockings for a change. 

You had me very puzzled about the cheque you mentioned. I had thought that you had got me mixed up with something else but I remember now. I hope you got big scales for the bathroom. By the time I get home I shall need them. I don’t suppose this will arrive in time Mother but very many happy returns of the day.

With much love to you both,
Hampton.

[Editor’s note: While no year was included with the written date, the letter’s contents indicate it was 1942.]