Founded in the year nineteen twenty-four February 1980

in a taxi, on a day of visits to his usual haunts, so that
he missed an intended train to Harrogate and travelled
on the midnight one, arriving after “a horrible journey”
at 6.30 a.m. and going on foot to the Majestic. X had
obviously been ordered to the Yorkshire Spa-town to
“take the cure”. It will be remembered that X had been
invalided out of active service in France because of
rheumatism. Sleeping until lunchtime on the first day
there, he later saw Dr. David Brown, before dining at
the hotel. The following day, after a chat with Major
Powell in the Winter Gardens, X fixed up the times
for attending the Baths, often taking his first before
breakfast. Incidentally, Tollerton must have travelled
up to Yorkshire, which again gives the impression that
he may have been X’s batman, tor he was then sent off
to Grimsby on leave. Perhaps he drove the Adler up, as
X was soon using this in Harrogate, the aforesaid sale
either having fallen through, or maybe this was another
car of the same make, probably the 1914 14/18 h.p. car he
had used since 1915. X was pretty depressed at this time
but it was not all “taking the waters” (or not that sort of
water, anyway!), because Gerald Howard and Harrison
called in on their way to Catterick and dined and went to
a concert with X.
In fact, the ever-restless X was off to Catterick
with his two friends, the Adler accompanying their car.
He looked round the sheds, after lunching with Major
Mansfield, and then drove the Adler back to Harrogate
with another chap, had tea, and went for his Bath. The
cure, in fact, lasted only four days on this occasion
and after some treatment that morning X went back to
London on the 4.41 train, a journey lasting nearly five
hours. It is now May, 1916. Back in town X got new brake
drums for the Adler, went to the RFC garage and to the
War Office, where he had to see about a chap who had
been killed, and for those interested in the theatre it is
worth mentioning that he saw “The Boomerang” at the
Queen’s Theatre and “Toto” at the Apollo.
It is possible that petrol was becoming more
difficult to obtain, or it could be that the Adler was still
“in dock”, as X used the train to go to Maidenhead for
tea at the Guard’s Club with a girl one Sunday and took
the train again on the Monday, back to the medicos in
Harrogate. In between having Baths in the Pump Room
and at the Sulphur Wells X “messed about with some
other fellows” — possibly this treatment was being
used frequently for military invalids, at this time? They
would change for dinner at the Hotel and find ways of
amusing themselves, such as driving the Adler to Leeds
to see a show. But X must have been getting better,
because he went for walks and one day they heard that
Major Mansfield was going to fly over. X duly went up
“to the Common” (The Stray?) and met Gerald Howard
there. The Major arrived, with two other machines, and
all went to the hotel for lunch, after which they saw the
aeroplanes leave, Learworth in one of them.
On Empire Day, with the new Daylight Saving
Scheme in force, X drove over to Catterick aerodrome
after lunch and “had a Maurice out and gave several
joy-rides”. This refers to a Maurice Farman Longhorn
biplane. X saw the CO and fixed up the pupils and
machines he was to fly, from Catterick with No. 14
Reserve-A Squadron. He had a busy initiation, flying for
four hours between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., instructing pupils
in a north-easterly wind at from 500 to 1,000 ft., and also
giving flights to Tollerton, Eckel, and Gerald Howard. X
dined in the Mess with Mansfield and Eckel — “... and
after had several Barley Waters and motored back very
late. Had a perfect drive back and the Adler ran awfully
well.” No-one presumably thought it funny that a British
Instructor, teaching young pilots to kill Germans, was
using a German car.... A wet day gave X a respite from
flying, although Mansfield came over to lunch in a Staff
Crossley, and afterwards X altered the seats of the Adler.
The following day began with doubtful weather, so X
amused himself by going for a walk and playing billiards
with Eckel, but after tea he set off for Catterick and in
the evening “did quite a lot of instructing on a Maurice
Farman”. This was a Longhorn, which was up for two
hours, between 6.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m., at the same
height as before. It was again dinner in the Mess and back
to Harrogate by 10.30 p.m., for drinks with friends. The
same pattern was followed on the Saturday, when the
machine was up for 2.5 hours, including a cross-country
flight with Howard, getting up to 2,500 ft. After which
there was rime to attend the aerodrome dance. Most of
the flying was done in the evening, for three hours one
Monday, going up to 3,000 ft. in an old Longhorn, and
for relaxation the Officers would arrive in the Crossley to
dance to the gramophone. At this time another Medical
Board passed X as unfit for Active Service and he was put
on two months’ light-duty. This had entailed motoring
over to York. X celebrated by going to a local theatre
with a Mrs. Robertson who had a box there but it was
a “rotten show”. The result of the medical did not mean
that X was no longer permitted to fly. Indeed, having
sent Tollerton off on five days’ leave, X went to Catterick,
filled his car up with petrol, and drew a leather coat from
the stores. After another Bath he left for London on the
midday train.
After changing, he went to the WO to see Col.
Cormack and Capt. Lyons, and later saw Col. and Mrs.
Warner, about the chance of a new job. The old social
whirl was quickly resumed. Diary entries refer to seeing
Minty More and Betty Barnes in “Happy Day” at Daly’s,
and Doris Cory in “de Bathe” (I imagine of the theatre
family; “Pop” Cory was to hire one of X’s Brooklands’
racing cars after the war and have an alarming experience
when riding as the passenger in it), and meeting Joe and
Charlie Childs, the latter the jockey who had won the
Derby and the Oaks, at his father’s flat. “Another tyre”
had been drawn from the RFC garage, then it was back to
Harrogate by train. There life continued much as before.
X was able to take a Needle Bath with his fiancee in the
Pump Room and Howard, and his Adjutant, Cox, would
come to dine. The weather in early June in Yorkshire was
terrible but one evening the wind dropped, so X was able
to go up from Catterick for 1.5-hours in the Longhorn,
giving flights to Howard, Cox, Thompson, Tollerton and
his pupils. (I quote names, because, somewhere, these
may stir a few memories.)
After the Adler’s “steering had been put right” it
was in considerable use, between Harrogate and Catterick
and to Leeds, and then on to Newmarket. When X wasn’t
driving he was enjoying very cheery dances (“all merry
and tight”) and “a real good old pub crawl”, the latter at
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