Post by Matt James on Apr 16, 2009 17:01:28 GMT
Don.L.Marshall Birmingham 1940
In 1940, I was a 14 year old 'Wag' the nick name of the Birmingham based telegram messenger boys.
I was based at Yardley Post Office by the Swan public house on the Coventry Road near Birmingham. We covered Yardley-Stechford-Glebe Farm and Sheldon as far as Elmdon Airport, which was manned by the Fleet Air Arm, who trained pilots in Tiger Moth Biplanes .
Metro Cammell also used the airfield for testing the short Sterling Bombers they made . This made us quite busy and we were allowed one hour to get there and back to the office
From the age of knowing what an aeroplane was, I was obsessed with them and took every opportunity to go there to deliver telegrams. Time meant nothing to me as I made the delivery and watched the Tiger Moths taking off and landing
The ultimate pleasure was when a short Sterling was parked up nearby, revving up the engines, needless to say, my return to the office was usually late, and my excuse that I had got a puncture was not accepted for very long resulting in extra duty with out pay!
But it was worth it , at the age of 18, I was hooked and joined the RAF
DON. L.MARSHALL
(known as Hank Marshall)
In 1940, I was a 14 year old 'Wag' the nick name of the Birmingham based telegram messenger boys.
I was based at Yardley Post Office by the Swan public house on the Coventry Road near Birmingham. We covered Yardley-Stechford-Glebe Farm and Sheldon as far as Elmdon Airport, which was manned by the Fleet Air Arm, who trained pilots in Tiger Moth Biplanes .
Metro Cammell also used the airfield for testing the short Sterling Bombers they made . This made us quite busy and we were allowed one hour to get there and back to the office
From the age of knowing what an aeroplane was, I was obsessed with them and took every opportunity to go there to deliver telegrams. Time meant nothing to me as I made the delivery and watched the Tiger Moths taking off and landing
The ultimate pleasure was when a short Sterling was parked up nearby, revving up the engines, needless to say, my return to the office was usually late, and my excuse that I had got a puncture was not accepted for very long resulting in extra duty with out pay!
But it was worth it , at the age of 18, I was hooked and joined the RAF
DON. L.MARSHALL
(known as Hank Marshall)