Letter No. 53

AUS No 34171

LAC Cooney, JF.

No 3 SQUADRON

R.A.A.F. MIDDLE EAST

16^th Jan ‘43

Dear Mum,

                  Sorry I have not been able to write every couple of days as usual but I have been on the move ever since I wrote to you last. We have now a different way of moving up to what we have been used to. Instead of having one flight passing the other & going further up to a new ‘drome the squadron is now split up into three groups, an advance party, a flying party & base. Our flight is advance party & so we don’t camp at a ‘drome more than a day or so. As soon as we arrive at a ‘drome the kites come up & we look after them until the flying party arrives & so as soon as they are settld down we move on again & so as we only stop for a little while, it is not worth unloading the truck & my writing materials have been hard to get at.

                  The part of the desert that we have just come through is reputed to be the most waterless part of all & so we have not been able to get very much to drink & a wash has definitely been out of the question. The last bath I had was over five weeks ago & the old Lifebuoy ad that even your best friend won’t tell you has been changed to your best friend can’t tell you because he stinks as much with “B.O.” as does the next man. I’m certainly going to enjoy a good hot bath when I get to Tripoli in a week or so. To make matters worse our tanker got lost & we were without water for two days.

                  Our beards are coming on in fine style & the other day a Pommy soldier asked one of the boys what part of Aussie the fellows with the beards come from & was it our religion to grow a beard. We are all going to shave them off when we have our photographs taken in town.

                  There is supposed to be a bit of mail for us with base but as they will not catch up with us for some time we will just have to wait for it.

                  If I don’t write again for a while you will know the reason is that I am on the move.

 

                                                      Give my love to Dad & Betty

                                                                                          Lovingly Yours

                                                                                                            Frank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                     Letter No. 52
AUS No 34171
LAC Cooney, JF.
No 3 SQUADRON
R.A.A.F. MIDDLE EAST
10^th Jan ‘43

Dear Mum,

                  Haven’t been able to drop you a few lines for the last five days because we have been working too hard. All this work was due to the dust storm that I mentioned in my last letters.  The dust got into the engines & cockpits of the kites & we had all the trouble in the world getting it out again because it was in the most inaccessible places, brakes were seizing & the electrical systems were continuously short-circuiting.

                  I can’t understand our mail situation at all. The last four days we have received seven bags of papers& parcels from a source that has no right to touch our mail. Yesterday afternoon one of our drivers was getting some stores from No40 Air stores Park, they gave him two bags of mail. How the devil they got hold of it no-one can fathom out. Out of these nine bags I did not receive one parcel but I did receive the October issue of Man Junior from Betty so will you thank her from me.

                  Our C.O. received the D.S.O a couple of days ago but as yet he has not wet the decoration but this maybe due to the shortage of beer. He received this decoration as an immediate award as soon as headquarters heard about him picking up one of our pilots under enemy fire.

                  We have received word that Air/Com Williams, one of the big knobs in the RAAF is in the Middle East & will no doubt be paying us a visit. This probably means that we will all have to shave & the boys are not at all happy seeing as how they have trained & cultivated their beards for the last two & a half months. I had all intentions of having my photo taken with the beard on.

                  Well, Mum, that’s all for now but will write aain shortly.

                                    Give my love to to Dad & Betty & my regards to Leo

 

                                                      Lovingly Yours,

                                                                        Frank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                          Letter No. 51

AUS No 34171

LAC Cooney, JF.

No 3 SQUADRON

R.A.A.F. MIDDLE EAST

5^th Jan ‘43

Dear Mum,

The gale that I mentioned in my letter a few days ago blew itself out & we still have a tent over our heads. Things are rather slack over here today & the army has no work for our kites so we are released for the day.

It was pay day yesterday & we were paid in a new sort of currency. Up to date we have been paid in Egyptian money of £1, 50, 10 & five piaster notes. Now we are paid in brand new notes issued by the British Military Authority & these are in £1, 10/-, 5/- 2/- & 1/- denominations. I have enclosed one of the 1/- notes so you can see what they are like.

We now have a new way of gauging the cleanliness of our clothes because the water is very scarce and we’re only allowed one water bottle (2 pints) per day & so the washing of clothes & ourselves is well nigh impossible. When water was plentiful we used to wash singlets etc as soon as they looked a bit dirty but now we decide by their smell. If we judged them by their looks we would all be going around naked. The singlet I am wearing at present I put on clean on the 16^th of December & when the inside got dirty I turned it inside out. When the inside & outside were the same colour I reversed it again & so on. I will have to change it around again shortly because as things stand at present the inside has a slight lead in colour over the outside. The thing I am going to enjoy most when we get some leave is a good Turkish Bath, because believe me I need it.

I don’t think I have told you about how we move up. When the push started we were the first to move from Alex. To El Daba then, when the army moved further the other flight went on past us & up to a ‘drome about 80 miles away. As soon as they were settled down we sent the kites on & then moved past them & so on. By this means we are able to keep right up with our army & the jerries are well within the range of our kites.

                  I don’t know whether I mentioned it before but when I was in Alex I had my eye on some very good suit material so when I get some material for you & Betty I will also buy enough suiting to make me a good suit, sports coat & trousers.

I haven’t decided whether I will send it home or keep it in my spare kit-bags. If Dad wants any suit material let me know the colour etc.

                  There’s still no sign of the fifty bags of mail that is supposed to be here for us but the mail truck is away now trying to locate it.

                  No more for now will write again in a day or so.

Much love to Dad & Betty & my regards to Leo

 

                                                      Lovingly Yours,

                                                                        Frank