204744 Chief Petty Officer Frank "Shiner" Wright Fleet Air Arm 807 Squadron from:Cheshire, England With some friends after a night of pub crawl and male bravado we enlisted in Manchester. We departed for basic training to Dundee, Scotland.
During parachute practice in the local swimming pool a trainee failed to release himself properly and was left hanging in his harness head first in the water. Excepting the Drill Sergeant we all thought it funny as he was blowing bubbles under water.
Flight training took me to Canada, firstly for 4 months in Kingston, ON and then onto St. Eugene, PQ for 2 months where we experienced first hand the Canadian winter.
From November, 1944 to November, 1945 I was assigned to the 807 Squadron as a Spitfire Pilot and served on the HMS Hunter. During which we sailed through the Suez Canal stopping at Cairo and Alexandria where King Faruk of Egypt boarded. The locals seemed happy as we headed out of Cairo after we had leave on shore!
We sailed on to Ceylon (aka Sri Lanka) and to Singapore. It was here during "VJ" Day that Lord Mountbatten signed the armistice. We were docked at Greenock, Scotland on "D" Day.
Since 1957 I have lived in Canada and although I did attend two HMS Hunter reunions, I seem to have lost touch in the past four years.
I will be very pleased to hear from anyone who was on the Hunter or with the 807 during this period c/o my son’s email
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