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Reminiscence of a Fighter Pilot
Jack Stafford, whose 20-year-old face adorns the Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator opening screen, is 76 now, but his memories of air combat in Europe are sharp, often dramatic, and tinged with self-deprecating humor.
Jack flew a Hawker Tempest in 486 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1944-1945, when Allied forces were advancing from England to France and Belgium, and on into Germany. Like many other Allied fliers, the young pilots of 486 Squadron found themselves occupying airfields their German counterparts had just abandoned. The documents, the aircraft and equipment, the food, and especially the local nightlife, proved fascinating to them.
In a recent letter, Jack noted our return of some captured Luftwaffe documents he had loaned to us. He reminisced about an airfield in Belgium, and the attractions of the nearby town:
[Thanks for returning the Luftwaffe papers.] The thoughts of the enemy fascinated me when I was flying and I devoured information that came to hand. When we flew into Belgium we occupied an airfield, Grimbergen, recently vacated by JG 26, the famous Luftwaffe fighter group. We lived in a small and ancient castle. In the cellar were cases of red wine that we drank at high speed. I sat in the cockpit of unserviceable aircraft (109s and 190s) they had been forced to leave there. Everything was just the same as the RAF and also so different. German aircraft smelled different, seemed unfriendly and threatening. Had a great ace, maybe Galland even, sat in this? We smoked German cigars, used their condensed milk and stamped up the same stairs. In the evenings we went to the same bars, drank the same drinks with the same girls and crooned into their ears the same adulation they had so recently heard in German. They loved us as they had loved the handsome young Luftwaffe aces. Nobody minded, we were young, the world was for the young and for the survivors.
I can see one night club, it was not small, not over large. Well appointed and very comfortable. A light haze of tobacco smoke hung in the lighted areas and there was no one but servicemen there, mostly fliers. Americans, Australians, Kiwis, English, Canadians, a West Indian and even a Chilean. Beautiful girls whose attractions became even greater as the night wore on and the liquor took its toll. On the stage was a most elegant, slim and lovely woman with a voice that reached into your heart. She sang in French, the applause was thunder. Finally she sang in English and her accent was something to remember. The song was romantic, a figment, a myth and a dream. It was Lili Marlene. How I loved it and I was in love with her. An American pilot took her away. Probably that great lover [veteran American pilot and fellow Combat Flight Simulator consultant] Al Jones! I wonder how many pilots died the next day. |
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