Letters of James Stuart Leslie Ross, 1916-1917 - Part 8

3
week Ender. I will wait a
few days longer anyhow. You
will have known all about
it long before you get this, in
any case.
Before I go any further, I
must compliment & thank yourself
& Dad for the surprisingly
quick manner in which you
attend to the cables. None
of the other boys appear to
be so fortunate - generally
take weeks.
Since I last wrote, its
been too windy for
"Rumptys" (that's the nickname
for Maurice Farman's),
so I haven't done any flying
since then.
Went for a trip in a
D H 4. (De Havilland Type 4) the
other day. That's the fast two seater

4
referred to in my last
letter. Had a good pilot &
did a few "stalls", vertical
banks, side-slips etc.
Didn't get that trip to
Scarborough as weather was

"dud".
I suppose a lot of these
expressions are not very well
understood out there so
I'd better give a young
glossary
"Dud" No good.
"Wind Up" to get scared.
instance - the Hun raids have
put the wind up London.
"Wangle" to scheme. as to
wangle leave.

5.
"Swinging it" or "Swinging the lead." To dodge work or dodge
going to the front. From what you say in your letter
Rex B. would be accused of Swinging it.
"Posh" Swagger of or flash. Posh clobber.

"Cushy" soft, or easy. as a cushy job.

As you know when I left Oxford I was

separated from my cobbers. I have picked up with

a decent chap here named Wright. He's from Sydney

& has plenty of cash. His family own Taylor

Bros Jam business. They There are no Taylor's in

the biz now. When he returns to Austla he will

manage the Hobart branch. I expect we will

be parted again in a few days as he is almost

finished, having been rather fortunate in getting

on to the flying first, & so getting more time

in them than others.

The Flight Commr tells me that he will do

all in his power to get me to Scotland for

higher training on completion here. It all depends 

on whether there will be any vacancies there or not.

6.
By the way, I'm swinging it

well aren't I? Twill be

months before I get to France

yet but its necessary as

you've got to be able to fly

"some" over there.

You know 'tis a great

accomplishment, in fact a fine

art to be a decent "swinger".

The boys are always going to

write a book "The lead of

How to Swing it" by one who

knows.

Was up for early flying

this morn so think I'll slink

off to my quarters & take a

nap so Goodbye for present.

Much love from

LES.

Heard from Jean & answered it a

few days ago.

Haven't got that letter from Bob yet.

73^rd Squadron,
ROYAL FLYING CORPS,
TURNHOUSE,
MIDLOTHIAN.
15^th Septr. 1917.
Dear Mum,

Excuse pencil -

rotten pen. Arrived here for

Higher Instruction from Waddington

on Thursday evening. It seems

a nice place & is only 6 

miles from Edinburgh - which

is some city. We are on the

Railway but the Service

is not too good. A walk

of a mile brings one onto

a bus route which runs

to the city. There are always

a number of Military cars

etc on the road so its

2

not hard to get in & out.

Went to town last night, but

didn't see much of it - too

dark.

Flew over in a bus yesty

evening (about 6 o'clock). Had

a beautiful view. Flew over

the South on which a

great number of ships from

the Grand Fleet were to

be seen. Also saw the

noted Forth bridge.

Haven't communicated with

the Whitburn Rosses yet -

you know they're quite near

here. Will wait till

my cash turns up. I

can't understand it - have 

been waiting since the

day we left Oxford.

But, I spse it'll come along

in a day or two.

3

As far as work goes too, we are very lucky to

get here. Its a new Squadron, with good men &

the bad & I think they're out for a reputation

so we wont be long getting through. It's

rather a compliment to us, individually too, as

its a Training Squadron preliminary to

flying "Scouts" & only the best pilots are

selected to fly Scouts. We will do

twenty hours Solo on "mono avros" (particular

type of machine) in the course of which we

will learn to do "loops", side-slips, Immelman

turns, spinning nose dives, vertical banks & 

all other stunts. When we finish on these

machines we will have "graduated" & will

then be ready to go on the Smallest &

fastest Scout machines we've got

As far as I can see at present, I think

we will complete our time here in about

3 weeks which is exceptionally quick

time. I then expect to go to London

& get the Commission which means

money. They may not give it to us

then even as we'll perhaps have to

wait till we've done the Aerial

4

Gunnery course, & done

about 10 hrs on Service

Machines.

Anyhow we'll wait & 

see

The Aerodrome is  not,

nearly as large as at

Waddington but the

mess is good. In fact

I think the food

itself is better.

Had a grood good

trip up thro York &

New Castle on Tyne - all

the way by daylight.

5

Have a lot of Canadian

Majors & Captains doing

the course here with

us, so we're in good

Society eh! I was

rather surprised to see

the Majors going thro' -

they've generally got a

softer job elsewhere.

You see, officers from

all Regiments can be

attached to the R.F.C.

We do a lot of Machine

Gunnery here. Another

good stunt we have

fun at is shooting

at clay pigeons with

6.

a shot gun. That'd suit Dad or

Bob wouldn't it?

Must buzz off now - going down

to the Drome - will probably

be flying in a few mins.

Much love to Dad & self

from 

Les.