Nor Fish, Nor Fowl: From Deckhand to Flight Lieutenant

In 1934, after five years travelling the world as a Merchant Seaman, my father, aged 21, enlisted in the British Royal Air Force to escape the Depression. Entering the Marine Branch, he swapped big ships for small fast boats - Seaplane Tenders, Armoured Target Boats and High Speed Launches. In 1940, when the Air Sea Rescue service was formed, he joined the crew of High Speed Launch 102 (now fully restored and based at Portsmouth) as a Coxswain, stationed at Blyth. Three busy years on the "Spitfires of the Sea" followed, before his leg was "smashed" in heavy seas. On recovery, he spent time in the Faroe Islands and in the English Channel, after "D-Day", and before being commissioned. The war's end found him in West Africa. After VJ Day he was demobbed, then recalled and posted to Egypt. After a brief unhappy spell in "Civvy Street", he re-enlisted in the RAF as an acting corporal. First on the scene when HSL 2555 blew up, he was commended and subsequently carried the RAF ensign at the 1950 Battle of Britain celebrations in Paris, France. On return to the UK he was once again commissioned. In Malta, during the Suez Crisis, he supervised a flying boat airlift of families and service personnel through Malta as the Canal Zone was evacuated. Later, serving in Cold War Germany, he skippered German boats with mixed German/British crews and was present when the Unit was handed back to the Germans. In 1961, aged just 48, injuries forced his retirement from the RAF. Now, fittingly narrated by my actor daughter, this book reveals a great deal of the little known story of the RAF Marine Branch, its boats and the life of a British serviceman's family in war and peace.