210416 Cpl. Frederick Norman "Hitch" Hitchmough Royal Air Force from:Liverpool My father is now 92 years old and has written his memoirs in a short form for me his daughter Janet. I intend to put these memoirs into a book at some stage. He joined the R.A.F in 1937 and often refers to his stay at Wittering as 'the happiest times of his life' before war was declared. He arrived in the January of 1937 with 23 fighter squadron and as a Flight Mechanic was allocated to B flight. He refers to the death of one of the pilots who crashed and the fact that he had been booked to fly with him as a passenger but changed his mind at the last minute. In fact his parachute was still inside the plane. He also refers to another pilot who was killed when his chute failed to open when he was flying formation with two other Blenheims and had his tail chewed up by the propeller of the plane. These, of course, had a lasting affect on my dad. This was were he was{playing cards in the hanger} when Chamberlain made his speach on entering the war. After Wittering he was posted to Croydon and his war had begun. My dad served in Egypt, Abu Suier, Heliopolis Cairo Western Desert, Corsica, Italy and embarked on a convoy that took him around South Africa to Port Said. His health is failing now but he still enjoys telling stories about the things he got up to, to his grandchildren. He was stationed at R.A.F. Cosford when he met my mother who he was married to for 40 years before she died in 1998. He is much loved and cherished.
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