Jim Howard's RAF Service

Jim was the youngest of five children of James and Frances. He was born in 1912 at Wells-next-the-Sea. He attended Fakenham Grammar School, joining the RAF as an apprentice aero engineer in 1929. He said his early training was very similar to school. One of his tutors went on to write popular school maths textbooks. There were also practical lessons, which served him well in the RAF, but also enabled him to carry out all his repairs to his much-loved motorbike.

By this time he was the devoted boyfriend of Sylvia. He worked every evening on the motorbike when he was at Cranwell so that he could speed to Cawston to spend time with Sylvia on days off.

He served in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Egypt before the war. After service in the UK in Mildenhall and Ponteland, he was posted abroad during the war. He finished his service in France, retrieving and repairing downed aircraft. He made friends with the mayor of the French town and was very pleased when the family said he spoke French like a French Canadian (not sure that this was a compliment!).

Climbing through the ranks he left the service in 1946 as a flying officer. He and Sylvia married in 1937 and had their first child, Jane, in 1943. Jim trained as a teacher and worked happily as deputy head of schools in Reepham until his retirement.

Apart from his extensive training as an engineer, he didn't talk much about his experiences. I really wish that I had asked him about it more often. As it is we have his RAF cap and over 1,000 letters (as yet not all read or catalogued) which I hope will propel someone in the family to carry out further research.

Something else I remember: when he joined up Dad was horrendously homesick, so much so that his parents were making arrangements to buy him out. However, he got through it, and although I am sure he didn't enjoy it as much as teaching (his post-war career) it certainly broadened his horizons. It was when they were at Ponteland in digs that Jane at nine months had gastro-enteritis. Other babies on the RAF base died, mostly those who were bottle-fed. They always thought it was breast-fed babies who had a better chance. And an Indian doctor came in every day - most unusual for those two Norfolk natives.