Letters of Ronald Henry Etherton, June - August 1944 - Part 2 of 4

ARMY
POST OFFICE
SC2
12 JUN 44 
#134
Miss Jean AYRE
13007-122 St.,
EDMONTON
Alberta Canada 
  
AUS 423088 
F\Sgt Etherton R.H 
RAAF Base P.O 
LONDON 
England

80187
TO:- Miss Jean AYRE
13007 -122 St.,
EDMONTON
Alberta Canada 
14 Jun 
Aus 423088 F/Sgt Etherton R.H R.A.A.F Base P.O London 
Letter 135 9th June '44
Dear Jean, I am writing this while I wait for Sam so
you'll have to excuse me if it sounds hurried. We
have the rest of today and all tomorrow free. We
were thinking of going to Leeds but I'm so fed up 
I don't feel like bothering. I guess we'll just go to a
show in York this evening and laze round tomorrow.
We have to be back to fly in at night anyhow.
I'm thoroughly sick of this fooling around and 
getting nowhere. Days off here and there are no good
at all. I'd rather get the flying over with and then
have a leave. It's not so bad for Skipper and 
Eddie. Skipper's wife is still up here. They are going
to Bridlington or Scarborough. Eddie has gone home.
I didn't get any letters today. I hope you're not 
going to carry out your promise to cut down on them.
I'll see what comes tomorrow. 'Bye for the present
Love
Ron

80186 
14 JUN1944 
Miss Jean AYRE
13007 -122 St., 
EDMONTON 
Alberta Canada
Aus 423088 F/Sgt Etherton R.H R.A.A.F Base P.O London
Letter 137 12th June '44
Dear Jean, 
Mail is usually only put in a the rack 
once a day so it was a very pleasant surprise
when I looked in it just a while ago on a sudden
inspiration and found an Airgraph from you, especially
when I had been disappointed this afternoon. Maybe 
I should say "yesterday afternoon" as it's now really 
the 13th although, it's only 4:30 AM. But it'll soon 
be daylight.
I'm writing this by torchlight as everyone 
else wants to sleep. I should be thinking about 
it too. I am so pleased at having received your 
letter that I had to write now even though 
I won't be able to post this until tomorrow
afternoon. I'm not really tired now but I will be 
tomorrow even if I do get a good sleep. After a few 
nights flying you become a regular night owl and 
only wake up about properly about 6PM. I m off 
to bed now Goodnight, sweet dreams
Ron

Letter 138
Tuesday
13th June '44
Dear Sweetheart,
Received an Air Letter
and the package containing two
snaps today. Mind if I criticise?
The one with Bob would have
been fine if you hadn't gone
and tried to hide behind your
hand. The other one's fine too
but - Who were you angry with?
now I'll tell you what I really
think. I think you look grand
in your grey suit, though that's
not to the credit of your grey
suit. I like it, too, but you're so
beautiful that whatever you wear
is just perfect. I wish I could
have been with you at Easter to
tell you how beautiful you are.
But why only Easter ? I wish it
could be any time, all time.
Bob does look quite a bit
older.

2. 
I think I remember the Sunday we
missed going out. Ian Smith and I
went to see the Gillies and went
out to the brother's farm. It was
a waste of a day but it couldn't
be avoided. By the way, they've
owed me a letter a hell of a
long time.
Speaking of bids, there are
hundreds around here. In most
parts of England there are. Here
our quarters are in one of a few
huts stuck just off the road
practically in a farm. The birds
are hopping around twittering
all day and there are quite a
few cuckoos. Their call is really
pretty.
Just at present our crew is
having another feud with the 
powers that be. The climax will
probably come tomorrow. Will
we win? It's either that or
else I'll - well - I'll know the

3.
reason why and at least one
officer will know what I think
of the R.A.F.
You're a little confused. Am
I? I'll say I am. That's why
I've asked you to come to
Australia. All that I'm not confused
about is that I'll always love
you, that I want you so much
and that we're suited meant for
each other. All what I've been
confused about is how I would
be able to get on in Canada.
What are you confused about?
Please tell no truly.
Have to take off in a couple of
hours so I'd better say "Goodnight"
I love you
Ron
xxx  

AIR LETTER
Miss Jean Ayre
13007- 122 St.,
Edmonton
Alberta Canada 
Aus 423088 
F/Sgt Etherton R H 
R.A.A.F Base P.O 
London

Letter 139
Wednesday
14th June '44
Dear Jean,
I'm afraid we came off second
best in our feud with the R.A.F. However
we let them know what we thought of
a few things about this station. They
must realise that we don't like it
because they've decided to post us to a
squadron. We'll be going in a day or two
but I don't know where yet. Anyhow it
won't be far away. We have been done
out of a special course here that I was
very keen on doing but we may do it
on the squadron. That's what the 
feud was about. They gave me 
excellent reports on my work but when
it came to the special courses they
forgot all about that and handed
them out to fellows who hadn't done
as well even. The trouble is that I
didn't know until it was too late for 
moaning to serve any good purpose. If
Skipper hadn't been so slow it would
have been different. I wish he'd
send his wife home. She's very

2. 
nice and so on but it doesn't pay
to have anyone around a flying
station. Flying is bad enough without
domestic complications. I tried to tell
May that when we were in Cardiff
but I'm afraid I didn't persuade
her. A few nasty accidents have 
impressed on both her and Bob
that she'll be far less worried if
she stays in Cardiff where she
won't know what's going on.
Besides Bob owes it to his crew to
give his undivided attention to the
business in hand.
Anyhow, I was practically relieved
when I found out today that we
couldn't do the course and would be
posted. The only snag is that Fred
is still in hospital and if we're
not careful we may lose him.
Having another move means 
missing your letters for a while again.
I suppose I'll be in the usual flap
until we settle down but I ll try
to write. The first stage of the flap
is packing which I'm going to start
now so

3 
'Bye for the present
Love
Ron
XXX 
 
AIR LETTER
139
Miss Jean Ayre
13007-122 St
Edmonton
Alberta Canada 
  
Aus 423088 
F/Sgt Etherton R.H 
RAAF Base P.O 
London 

Letter 140
Saturday
17th June '44
Dear Jean,
In the confusion of packing, 
final tests, interviews plus a couple of 
flights we weren't counting on making 
I haven't had time to write since
Wednesday. In fact, we weren't able 
to fit it all in ad leave for the  
squadron on schedule which was 
yesterday. I think we'll get away 
tomorrow. This morning we haven't 
anything to do. Everyone else is in 
bed and it's nice and quiet so I'm 
taking this opportunity to try to write 
a really full letter. 
Thursday I received your letter 
containing four snaps and yesterday 
an airgraph. You're a terrible tease 
to send me the photo taken in the so  
abbreviated top. Why the scared look? 
Were you camera shy or were you 
scared of whoever took the photo? 
If you go teasing the fellows by wearing 
that around you'll have plenty to be  
scared about. 
I like your new costume but (I 

2. 
guess I'm prejudiced) I still like the  
one you had last year best. That's 
probably why I like the ways you used 
to do your hair more better too. Why won't 
I be getting any more letters photos for some time? 
Can't you get any film? 
Didn't I tell you how we got our
bikes? We couldn't get into town during 
shopping hours but managed to get off 
early one day and took some laundry in. 
We were cursing because the shops were 
closed when we saw a chap coming out of 
a bike shop. We stopped him and 
eventually persuaded him to sell us two 
bikes out of his very depleted stocks. 
We went in the next evening and 
brought them back by train. We would 
have ridden back had there not been 
such a strong headwind blowing. Sam 
had the misfortune to have his bike 
stolen about a week ago and hasn't 
been able to catch the culprit yet. 
I keep mine under lock and key now. 
You didn't spell "sox" wrong. "Socks" 
is more correct. "sox" is just an  
abbreviation.