5-year-old RAF child scarred after brush with aviatory death and destruction.
The earliest memory of Peter BLAH places us near Woking, playing in his quaint caravan garden with his siblings at just 5 years old. Not a mile away, his father is stationed at an Aerodrome, teaching younger RAF pilots to fly Chipmonks in preparation for the war. ‘Imprinted on [his] mind’, the following events involved the sight and sound of a large aircraft, ‘spinning out over our heads and crashing in a field next to our caravan’.
Mr BLAH then explains that he ‘can’t remember much after this, as my mother rushed me and my brothers inside and away from the fire’, but one detail he spoke he’ll never forget. ‘Mugsy Howard’ was the name of the pilot who was killed out-rightly on that day, giving peter his ‘first experience of death’.
‘A large explosion, the sound of contorting steel and the smashing of glass’ were the only vivid details recalled of the day, as no doubt the memory was traumatizing to a child of such young age.
As a proud grandfather of 3 with a boastful +9 golfing handicap, Peter BLAH first strikes you as a typical 67 year old gentleman; retired, family orientated and loving husband of 46 years.
But after further questioning, the harrowing distant memories ebb to the surface causing clear emotional upset to his worn eyes. And now, located in Herefordshire surrounded by loved ones, it’s no surprise he’s not been on an aeroplane since.
