“Cwmbran had been a centre of industry with an ironworks, coke ovens, a colliery concern, tin works, a blast furnace foundry and about five brick works, all always in full swing. The whole local atmosphere was smoke-laden. . . . All of this had changed by 1930. Practically the whole of the industries were closed down, or on short time. . . . To some it appeared that the districts were becoming derelict with no future hope of family life.” 1
I imagine my father in 1930, at 15 years old. Almost half the men in the valley are out of work. His father sits in his chemist’s shop, idle half the day, wondering if he can pay the bills. His proud mother who, as my cousin says, “always wanted more,” struggles to keep up appearances.
My father feels he’s a burden. And he dreams of getting out and away.
He dreams of flying, as so many young men did then. At 12 years old, in May 1927, he had probably read everything he could find about Charles Lindbergh’s solo transatlantic flight across the Atlantic.
In 1929, at 14, I imagine he was enthralled by Wings, which he might have seen at the local cinema in Cwmbran.
He had followed the epic long-distance flights to Cape Town and Australia of England’s most famous airman, Sir Alan Cobham. In 1929, perhaps he went to Cardiff, 20 miles away, to catch a glimpse of him on his tour of Great Britain.
Look to the future, young man!
He wonders: what am I going to do with my life? His father probably wanted him to take over the chemist’s shop — but there’s no money to pay for his pharmacist training. How does he decide on the RAF? Does he know of other boys who have joined? Or does a teacher suggest it? 2
Someone must have said to him: you can become an RAF apprentice at 15. You have to take special exams, and you have to pass a medical exam. And then you go to this place called Halton for three years, and you have to serve for 12 years after that.
Perhaps, as he was looking ahead to the summer holidays, he read this story in the May 3rd issue of the popular boys’ weekly The Modern Boy:
And so he sits the exams in September 1930,3 and gets the results in November, or possibly December. And off he goes to RAF Halton in January 1931.
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Notes:
- W.G. Lloyd, Days That Have Been, A Cwmbran History, self-published, 2006, pp. 160-161.
- See Imperial War Museum Interviews, for example: Herbert John Almond (Halton, 1930-32): his headmaster suggested he apply to Halton, and tutored him for the exam. His acceptance arrived on Christmas Day! https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80004577, accessed 3 Feb, 2021. And John Walter Monk (Halton, 1926-29): it was his headmaster also who suggested the RAF. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80003155, accessed 3 Feb, 2021.
- “H.W.”, The Air is the Future Career, London: Hutchinson & Co., 1939, p. 168: “The four subjects are mathematics, science, general knowledge, and English. The mathematics carry 200 marks and the others 100 marks each. . . . The mathematics are not difficult. Simple arithmetic, the properties of triangles and circles, including the solution of right-angled triangles; calculations of areas and volumes of simple solids; algebra up to the solution of easy equations; logarithms; and graphs.” On the same page, the author states: “These examinations are usually held on the first Tuesday in June and November each year, for entry into Halton in the following August and January.” But two of the Imperial War Museum Interviews of ex-apprentices from closer to my father’s period (Herbert John Almond, op.cit., and Ernest William Young, https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80004593, accessed 4 Feb, 2021) refer to taking the exam in May or September.