My Dog was shot! - Top Autobiographies

My dog was shot! Top Autobiographies

I was born into a military family and my early life was spent moving from RAF base to RAF base. One of these trips saw us in RAF Changi, Singapore. Life was good and there was a lot of emphasis on freedom. Health and Safety did not really exist and the following incident highlights just what it could be like in the early sixties....

        "At one time, there was a stray dog that used to come round because my mum would keep feeding it. I got quite attached to him and called him Ben. He was calm and gracious and I never heard him bark, not once. Then one day, when I was out at the back of our house, Ben turns up as usual and comes up to me and I stroked him. Then a Chinese guy comes along with a rifle. It was pretty common to see guns and I thought no more about it. Then he starts waving at me and at first I couldn’t understand what he was doing. Then it dawned on me. I backed off a bit and I screamed “No!”. The dog sensed something was about to happen and stared at the gunman. He raised the gun, took aim and shot the dog right in front of me. It gave a little yelp as the bullet entered its fore-head. It dropped dead right at my feet. Small drops of blood clung to my bare legs as I struggled to come to terms with what had happened. I guess they were scared of rabies. If he’d missed, the bullet would have hit our house. The dog and I had become good friends and I cried my eyes out. I was only 8 and Singapore was a whole different place in the early sixties......."

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Depth Charge! Top Autobiographies

During my Naval career, there were many incidents that occurred that I will never forget.
Here is another excerpt from the book "Running For Home" which highlights one of those incidents:

Depth Charge! Top Autobiographies

"The depth charge looked like a large bomb, complete with fins but with a flat nose instead of a cone. It was set at a very shallow depth which would give the maximum effect for display purposes. We took off, depth charge at the ready. It was a totally brilliant moment and one of the best in my career. It was one of those unforgettable moments that live with you for the rest of your life.

We flew along the port side of the ship. The direction of the wind was directly onto the port (left) side of the ship. After a few dummy runs the pilot said; “What do you reckon, do you think that this is about the right distance?” It was difficult to judge, after all, we’d never dropped a live depth charge before. Too far away and it would lose its impact. Too close and being a real depth charge, well no-one knew what would happen.

The pilot had the release button on his joystick. I said it looked about right. He flicked up the safety catch, hesitated then pressed it. We could feel the thing release as the weight came off. Between the conversation and the actual impact with the sea, the distance between the ship and the now loose depth charge had somehow terrifyingly diminished. Still, it would certainly be impressive for the numerous onlookers that festooned the decks of the Lowestoft.

On release, the pilot had immediately banked over to get the best view. It was naturally panoramic since as usual, we were flying without doors on. I knew F was there amongst the onlookers and indeed the decks were crowded.

The depth charge plunged into the sea. The pilot and I could clearly see its trace of bubbles as it charged below the waves. There was a slight pause. Longer than I had imagined, then, as it detonated, a large dome in the sea appeared and the shock wave shot out at an astounding rate, right through the ship. After this, came the most incredible fountain of water I have ever seen. By now, the ship and this huge spout of water seemed so close as to be quite shocking. It shot skyward and it seemed as though it was reaching out to consume us. The view was remarkable as the huge water fountain, blown by the wind continued like some sort of monsoon and began to devour the whole ship".

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Panama Canal - Top Autobiographies

Panama Canal - Top Autobiographies

The Construction of the Pamama Canal. (Connects the Atlantic to the Pacific)

Here us a short excerpt from my book called "Running For Home". This particular part shows how many lives were sacrificed to build a canal of this proportion:

"The earliest attempt at constructing a canal began in 1880 by the French but after the death of 21,900 workers from various diseases and also landslides, it was abandoned. A second attempt by the Americans saw the canal completed but not before another 5,600 more deaths had occurred. The canal was opened in 1914".

This is staggering and I did not appreciate this fact when I first travelled through this canal which is  truly an awe inspiring experience

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USSR Leningrad - Top Autobiographies

USSR Leningrad - Top Autobiographies

Whilst in the Royal Navy, I had a lot of dangerous experiences. This was one in 1975 whilst on exercise in the Indian Ocean:

An excerpt from the book "Running For Home"

Here I am an aircrew man in the Royal Navy and after some damage to the gearbox of our helicopter, the missile aiming scope was vibrating and I was unable to identify the large and menacing Russian Warship that lurked in the distance:

One day whilst in the air we were asked to identify a large Russian warship that had appeared on the scene. I had previously been trained in warship recognition and as we flew toward this magnificent ship I could not identify it without getting too close unless I used the scope on maximum magnification. Of course the vibration had not miraculously disappeared and on maximum magnification it was all the more exaggerated. I could not identify the ship and by this time we were flying perilously close. Of course, she was bristling with all manner of weapons and I have no doubt that some of them were locked on to us.

We broke off our course without identifying the ship. Many years later I realised that it was the Leningrad, the Flagship of the USSR. It was still the Cold War years and we had been in yet another dangerous situation. Indeed, we must have come close to being shot down in peacetime.

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Running For Home - A brush with Royalty

A brush with Royalty - Top Autobiographies

When I was in the Royal Navy and based at HMS Daedalus in Hampshire, a now redundant airbase, the following incident occurred:

........a large black car with a flag on the bonnet swept into view. The car swiftly pulled up beside me, the driver deftly placing the correct door right in front of me. “Well here goes” I thought as I grasped the door handle and swung it open…

I immediately saluted as the V.I.P exited the car. I nearly dropped dead when I saw who it was. His Royal Highness, Prince Philip. He thrust out his hand and we shook hands warmly, his piercing blue eyes looked right into mine as he said “Good morning” I replied, “Good morning Sir”, trying to look cool and professional, but all I could think of was how I hadn’t had a shave that morning as I passed him over to an  entourage of waiting officers in the control tower.

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Rogue Missile - Top Autobiographies

Rogue Missile - Top Autobiographies

 Here is another excerpt from the book "Running For Home". This is where I was in the Royal Navy training for Aircrew:
We went round again, lined up as before and did all the sequence checks again. Permission to fire granted. This time it was the starboard side missile that was going, right next to the pilot. Once again there was an almighty whoosh but this time it wasn’t as disconcerting. The scalded cat was off again, I decided to change magnification on the scope a bit earlier this time and get control early. It was a big mistake. When I changed to X10 magnification the field of vision was naturally reduced. The missile was nowhere to be seen. Though I quickly changed it back I had already lost control. I caught the damn thing climbing into the sky like some demented rocket. Immediately I pushed the stick forward but it was far too late. The SS11 began its dive into the sea. The control towers comment was “he’s trying to bomb the target!” Then in an instant a great idea came to mind. I declared it to be a ‘rogue’ missile. We were warned that this could, in rare cases happen and the missile would be uncontrollable, in which case the wires were to be cut and the chopper banked as usual. The ‘rogue missile’ call was accepted and no one ever suspected what I had done. The cost of a small house had descended into Portland bay.

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Running For Home - Rough Sea's - Top Autobiographies

Rough Sea's - Top Autobiographies

Here is an excerpt from my book "Running For Home" which gives a flavour of what it's about, but then again it's very diverse:

On one particularly rough day, we had gathered in the dining hall for dinner as usual and had settled at our places when all of a sudden there was a massive wave. The ship rolled over to the point where it was just impossible to hold on any more and we just slid back on our chairs, those opposite slid into the table and seemed to be suspended in mid air. All our plates and cutlery just flew from the tables followed by all the crockery that was stored in a special rack. It just came crashing out, smashing on the deck, then sliding noisily up and down in bits. The whole incident was terrifying since I thought the ship was about to capsize.

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