AIR FORCE MEMORIES.

Auckland Star, 2 September 1933, Page 8 (Supplement)

AIR FORCE MEMORIES.

WINTER GARDEN COMEDIAN.

AIT UNCANNY PROPHECY, j HE BOMBED THE BOCHE. What can only bo described as an uncanny psychic prophecy is recounted by Brigadier-General Guy Livingston, late Director of Air Organisation at the AVar Office and Deputy Master-General of Personnel in the Air Ministry, in "Hot Air in Cold Blood." A few years beforo the AVar he went to Capetown to try to develop aviation in South Africa. On the chip he met a Mrs. Bernard, who was interested in psychic matters and who said that she could sometimes foretell future events. General Livingston was sceptical, but she tvroto something on a sheet of paper, sealed it, and asked him to leave it ■with a trustworthy person in Cape- "* town. Ho gave it "to the Mayor, Sir Frederick Smith. The Envelope Opened. A little later his business associate, Coinpton Paterson, arrived in Capetown to give demonstration flights. He crashed, wrecking his machine, and had a lucky escape from death:— "I telephoned Mrs. Bernard to tell her about the accident. Immediately I started to explain what had happened, sho said, 'You need not tell me anything about it, as that is what I have written on the piece of paper which is in the sealed envelope at Sir Frederick Smith's Louse. You need not worry about Pat, as he will be perfectly all right again before long.' She then suggested that my ■wife and I should go immediately to Sir Frederick's house and open the envelope in his presence, which we did, and the amazing part of the whole business is that she had written on this paper the actual date that the accident would take place and said that ono of the machines would be smashed and that Paterson would not bo seriously injured." General Livingston saye that he is convinced that the envelope had never been tampered with. When Mrs. Bernard made the prophecy she had never seen Paterson! A Narrow Escape. During the battle of Neuve Chapelle General Livingston lost half his company in an attack on a trench, only one other officer being unwounded. After reversing the trench to prepare for a possible counter-attack, he said: — " 1 think tthis i 9 where we have a cigarette/ and took out my cigaretteeaee. "Eochford said, 'Good God, look at that!' and we found that a bullet had evidently hit the case and been deflected, stopped by the cigarettes, and remained in the corner of the case. As I happened to carry my cigarette-case over my heart it had evidently saved my life." Trouble About Leslie Henson. When General Livingston became Director of Air Organisation one of his first problems concerned Mr. Leslie Henson, the comedian. Lunching one day at a famous restaurant with Lord ißothermere, then Secretary of State for Air, ]ie eaw an air mechanic in uniform entertaining a pretty girl. He recognised ./him as Mr. Leslie Henson, who was then acting at the Winter Garden Theatre, and pointed out to Lord Eothermere that a man could not play in a theatre ■while serving in the JtJF.C. So he posted Mr. Henson to Blandford Camp, in Dorsetshire. Then things began to ihappen. Next morning, says the General, a highly-placed officer called on !him and mentioned Mr. Henson's name:— "So I said, 'What about him? 1 " 'But you've posted him to Blandford, and.Jie's playing at the Winter Garden!' ■ "I said, 'I think you're under a misapprehension. He's not playing at the .Winter Garden any more. If a man enlists in the R.F.C. he will go where he is eent as any ordinary soldier, no matter who he may happen to" be in civil life, and I am. entirely fed up with the amount of jobbery and wirepulling that I have had to contend "with eince I have been at tho War Office.' "■ "Either, or . . ." Various other people were drawn into the affair, and next day Sir John Baird, tho Under-Secretary of State for Air, rang up:— "I found him with a letter in his hands and he said, 'What's all this business about Leslie Henson? I have a letter from Sir John Cowans - (the QuarterMaster General) asking if the man can • be posted back to London.' "I explained the position to Baird and ' aeked him to keep out of it. He laughed and said, *You have probably started something which, will give you more trouble than you anticipate. , " 3 It ended with. General Livingston saying, "Either I go or he goes where I send him." Mr. Heneon, he tells us, was posted overseas, but wae soon transferred from the E.F.C. "It was entirely a matter of principle," says the General, "in which I could not possibly have given way and retained my position at the War Office." What Balfour Said. General Livingston was closely associated with the formation of the Eoyal Air Force out of the old E.F.C. and H.N.A.S. On one occasion ho went with General (now Lord) v Trenchard to a meeting of tho War Cabinet. While he wae waiting "on the mat" with Mr. Maurice Baring, Arthur Balfour arrived and, seeing Maiirice Baring, said:— " 'Hello, what, are you doing in England? I thought you were in France with Trenchard.' "To which Baring replied, 'Oh, no. We are in process of forming a separate Air Force, of which Trenchard is- to be the first-Chief of Air Staff, and we have been in England for some little time. , "Arthur Balfour said, 'How extraordinary ! It is the first I have heard tell of it.'" New Uniforms. The formation of a new Service, says the General, presented "many important and intricate problems to solve, two of which, having a great bearing on winning tho War, being new ranks for the officers and a new uniform." New ranks "were evolved, and exist to-day, and are hardly known or understood by anyone outside the Koyal Air Force itself.; The question of uniform was even more comic opera; a beautiful baby-blue wae evolved. "On its first arrival it reminded one of Prince Rupert of , Hentzau, or 'The Chocolate Soldier,' and when it was shown to me on the first occasion and I was asked my opinion of it—after I had recovered consciousness—l said I didn't care a damn what colour they put the men into as long as they could do their jobs. ' "The colour has now toned down somewhat, and is similar to the powder blue

The General's "Wish. At one time General Livingston, had a good deal to <lo with the training of American pilots in England. MajorGeneral W. L. Kenly, the commander ot the American jNlilitary -Air Service, came to England, and one of his first remarks was: — " 'I cannot go back until I have myself dropped a bomb on the Bocho from the air, and I am sure you can arrange this f,or me.' "I arranged for him to go over to Dunkirk and to fly in a Handlcy-Pagc bomber over the German lines, -where he duly dropped his bombs and returned to London perfectly happy." General Livingston, who started as a corporal of Yeomanry in the Boer War, has had an exciting life, and thie is an exciting book. He writes with military clearness, and expresses his opinions,— about what he calls the petty quarrels and intrigues, for instance, that went on in higii quarters during the War—in forcible, military fashion. Hie invocation, printed at the beginning, is illuminating: "From Puerile .Politicians, International Financiers, and Theoretical Experts—O Lord, deliver us."