January 2009
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Cadets:
On not flying in the Royal Air Force
By Paul West
Paul West is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, memoir, criticism, and verse. His most recent work is The Shadow Factory (Lumen).
One icy day in November 1948, when, as the song has it, the snow was raining fast, I presented myself at one of Britain’s so-called La bour Exchanges—where people used to change jobs or go on the dole—and registered for national service, as the law demanded. Blithely entering my preference as Royal Air Force, I gave no reason, as none was required. There were no guarantees, I was told, and I suspected that bureaucratic illogic would just as soon stick an air-minded youth into the infantry as into the cockpit of a Miles Magister training monoplane. But it was worth a try.
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| SEE ALSO: Basic training (Military education); Biography; Great Britain. Royal Air Force; Isle of Man; Military life; West, Paul | |||||
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