Officers’ Mess,
Upper Heyford,
Oxon.
28th June 1940
We are getting plenty of flying in at the moment, chiefly night flying and instrument flying on Ansons prior to the change over to Hampdens. I expect to fly solo on a Hampden by the weekend, having been sitting in a partially dismantled fuselage getting to know the positions of the various knobs and levers, of which there are plenty. It is not possible to fly dual on these aircraft, as they are too narrow to allow another seat and set of controls in the pilot's cockpit. All we get is an hour's demonstration by a staff pilot, and off we go solo. However, if you watch things carefully there is not much difficulty about flying them, although they are so much bigger and heavier than Ansons. They also have a bit more power - about 1700 horsepower between the two motors - and fly at higher speeds. I am told that they are very pleasant to handle once having got the feel of them. Anyway, I'm looking forward to them, and will let you know all about it when I have flown in them solo.
Our night flying programmes have been curtailed every night so far by air raid warnings, and eighteen bombs were dropped about four miles away the night before last. They dropped in a large field used as a bombing range, so I expect they wanted a bit of practice.
I hear you have had a stay in the shelter this week, and I suppose we must expect that from now onwards. However, they have lost more than they have gained up till now, and I hope it will remain so. At any rate, I am sure we shall be able to do better in our Hampdens over Germany.
Well, I don't know whether I shall get home again, but it may be possible later, perhaps when I leave here.
Cheerio for now,
Love to all,
from Geoffrey.
Please thank the clod for his letter.