Letters of Gerard Henderson Cowan, 1918-1919 - Part 5

and Jan 19^TH 
Saturday 8^TH
Too rough and bumpy to practice landings
today so went for a fly over Cirencester
Sunday 9^TH
Very windy and bumpy today so, while
up, practiced turns, & Capt Holden
did a spinning nose dive & showed
me how to get out of it we also did
vertical turns, but it was too rough for
me to practice landings. Soon after
we came down it became to so rough that
and windy and began to rain to so that  
flying was washed out, (washed out means
stopped) for the afternoon.
I rang up Helen Hennage this afternoon to
see if it would be convenient if I paid them
a call on this coming wednesday, our day
off. They are living at Prestbury House,
Prestbury, a village close to Cheltenham.
On ringing up I found Helen was out
but some kind person there asked if it

would be convenient if she wrote so
took my address. So I hope to hear that
it will be all right. I want to visit the
du Boulays in Cheltenham too.
Thre. Admiral Hennage is at home on leave
at present so I shall probably meet him.
Tomorrow we change over & start early
flying from 6 to 7:30 a.m. then we come
back to the Ridge for breakfast and on
our return to the aerodrome attend
classes on signalling & machine Guns
until 12 noon when we come back to
the Ridge for lunch and don't return till
2.30. From then till 5 we just simply standby
to fly. When we go up we are never more
than about 35 minutes, in fact 35 minutes
is the longest fly I have done yet.
Well I must say au revoir
Heaps of love to all
Gerard
DONATED RECORDS LIST
3660(1)
3rd Series

PRESTBURY HOUSE,
PRESTBURY,
NR. CHELTENHAM, GLOS.
June 13^th 1918.
Dear Gerard,
I came across this
little book on British Birds
that I thought you
might like & find useful.
I have ordered you the
watch with the unbreakable

glass & I will send it
on to you directly it
arrives.
Hoping you caught the train
alright yesterday.
yr. affects cousin
Helen M Heneage 

(7^TH Letter)
No6 Training Squadron
A.F.C.
Minchinhampton
Gloucester
14/6/18
Dear Frank,
Since last writting I have ^been to Cheltenham
and visited Admiral & Mrs Heneage. I went up
on Wednesday which is our washout day.
(all work washed out or stopped) It only comes once
in a fortnight we work all other days
Sunday included. Well to go on where I left
off I arrived in Cheltenham about 20 mins
to 10 a.m. I first of all walked round the
town & explored it. I had heard it was a
pretty town and rumour was correct, it
is a very pretty place indeed. Then I found
out where Col George du Boulay's place was
just so I would know for future reference.
As I had been invited by Helen Heneage to
come to lunch I caught a tram
from Cheltenham to Prestbury & arrived

at Prestbury House in nice time for
lunch. Helen Heneage is just like the
photos you have of her and is awfully
nice. The Admiral gave me quite a shock
He is tall & thin, and I could not see any
resemblance to any photos I have seen
of him, but then he has a moustache & a
small beard now and I think ^in all the
photos I have seen of him, he has been
clean shaven. I did not know what to make
of him at first but can el consider I would
like him very well indeed if I knew him.
He was very nice indeed to me while
I was there. I stayed till afternoon tea
as they asked me to and then got back
into Cheltenham in time to catch the
6.30 train back to Stroud, and much to
my delight managed to get back to
Amberley Ridge in time for dinner.
This had been troubling me very
much as I had no money at that
time and if I missed dinner that

night it meant nothing till breakfast next
morning and as I was on early flying before
breakfast I did not quite like the idea of such
a long spell with nothing to eat. As Nap. said an
Army xxx moves on its stomach and as they always
say never go flying on an empty tummy
I suppose The flying Corps flys on it.
Since yesterday morning the weather has
been very dud, raining & blowing & no use for
instructional purposes, so no flying to speak
of has been done. All we have done is a little
bit of signalling just to keep our hands in, and
machine gun practices, and just wait round
in case any flying is to be done.     
I had a letter from Helen Heneage today, she
sent me a small book on English birds
as I am interested in bird life & is also very
kindly getting me a watch with an unbreakable
glass, which is awfully good of her. I still have
my old wrist watch and it still goes & I have
a cover over it to protect the glass she noticed
this and said it must be aw hard to see the time
She then told me about the watches with
w unbreakable glasses and said she would
get me one, so I accepted & thanked her

Its jolly good of her isn't it.
My old watch ever since it went through
shell fire gains about half an hour a day
and I have never taken it to be repaired
as it takes months before it is done as they
have such a tremendous amount of work on
hand at all watchmakers.
The snaps I took while down at the Isle of Wight
are not ready yet but should be ready when I write
next. I am hoping they turn out well as I know
you would all like to see them.
I have a bundle of post cards here which I think
I will send along they are views of Cheltenham
Isle of Wight, Oxford & Windsor.
Tell Mum to keep them as I have not been
able to take photos of these places so have
bought the P.C's.
Heaps of love to all
Gerard.
DONATED RECORDS LIST

3560(1)

PRESTBURY HOUSE,
PRESTBURY,
NR CHELTENHAM, GLOS.
June 16^th 1918.
Dear Gerard,
Here is the watch
with the unbreakable
glass which I hope you
will like & find useful
& accept with best
wishes from my husband & myself.

I am glad you like the
little book on British Birds
& I hope it will be
useful.
We are glad you caught
a train alright. There
are plenty to Gloucester so
it is not too difficult
to get back as it is
in some of the country
stations where they run
about two trains a
day!
When you come over to
see cousin George du Boulay

at Marchmont - Bay's Hill
Cheltenham, do try &
see Dorothy Hodgson too,
she is cousin George's
eldest married daughter &
she is so nice & her