1941-07-26 — Page 7

THE CHINA MAIL, JULY 26, 1941.

CHINA MAIL

WINDSOR HOUSE

BAFFLING BEARDS

MALAYA

CIRCUS TRICKS

PETAIN

Gates

What makes a sane and normal man suddenly develop a desire to dis- guise his features with a bushy beard? Sometimes it is force of circum- stances. One has to flee from outraged justice and conceal one's identity in the depths of a facial forest. Another develops the mood of the hypochondriac and gives more than lip service to the theory that a beard is a preventative of tuber-| culosis. Or one becomes a political prisoner and re- bels against society and the tyranny of the bour- geois safety-razor with equal defiance. Again one may have the misfortune to suffer from a slight disfigurement of one's beauteous countenance, and be compelled to seek shelter from the consum- ing pity of anxious acquaintances behind a friendly beard. Nobody can quarrel with ample chin-growths that de-

The mud of the dispersal field moment later, starboard followed, 'cept sit and wait-for the fighter had dried into hard ridges and For two or three minutes we wait- that every one prays won't velop under such

In war there are no light- the tender carrying us from the ed, while those engines were run pear. (TEW rooms bumped abominably, up; then they shut off. With the ed towns to boggle over, few re- landmarks even. I ditions. We get used to We rattled and banged against airscrews turning enough to give cognisable

began its sides, clutching at our belong- us taxiing speed we

to glimpsed the coastline dimly as re-ings-parachute packs, helmets, bump and jolt over the field to-we crawled over it at 3,000 feet, were Flight seems to slow. It is all gloves. Away in the west a vastward the flare path. We comment

Almost it seems anvil cloud prematurely aged the first there. The plane turned in very familiar.

sometimes and to position for take-off. We jolted to a stop sunset.

that recognise the faded To-night the meteorological peo-lines of the surf. They lumbered out, dragging our geur

was with us. For a moment 1 stood ple had promised us good wea- and, shortly after, my view by the tailboard of the lorry ther over the other side. I won-violently cut off by scurring blan- was, somehow, unaccountablydered how right they would be. kets of

Atful breath But there are less un-friendly. The

of remembered the moon was feet now. I felt it getting cold, wind which stroked my chest half-full to-night.

for all my masses of sweaters, my derstandable motives that seemed cold

sinister. 1 and

fur-lined boots and gloves, my 1 shivered little and, stooping A green light flashed. I felt the Mae West, my flying coat, I but move men to bid good-, for my pack, trudged the few engines revolving and the whole toned up and glanced at the tem- Against aircraft shook. Then with a jolt perature gauge - zero centigrade bye to shaving soap and yards to the machine.

we were away. Six

Cold of (32 degrees Fahrenheit), the evening sky it was stark and all that. It may

be black-a bird of prey with out-curiously shaped metal beat upon enough but much worse to come. 12,000, spread pinions.

the air, cutting it away in great By the time we reached just a pose nothing For me those moments before swaths. Some ten tons of mach-feet it might be down to any

the take-off are always the worst more or less than a cer-of the flight; nor do I think I am tain perverse eccentricity. exceptional in this. Every A young man likes to look bleak, as though the life in him

them and tactfully frain from

con-

after we have seen them for the hundredth time.

Over

Bomber

Germany

21

seems a little

one

hushed, а little

а joke. Then the older hands will smile a He little-in sympathy.

One

fusses a bit.

Space is quar-

申

A

arms

By An R.A.F. Gunner

ap-

cloud. Five thousand

figure. However, cloud was our protection: I could relax my vigilance and close my windows. High time too.

For what seemed hours we flew were running small and slow. Only

through cloud, climbing steadily. different and attract at-la new man will attempt

And yet it was barely an hour, affer taking off that we sailed in- tention in a crowd.

to fairyland. We had reached the cloud tops. A cotton wool rom- The ground crew helped us in may believe that a beard

ancel For the young moon,

sil- with leisurely efficiency. saying

climbed apparently goes well with the artistic little,

uninterested. inery, housing a host of delicate very and brilliant, had

deadly instruments After all, they have seen so many and

both above the distant horizon and was temperament. He likes of us come and go.

human and mechanical, were casting a white refulgence across

behind those flailing our domain. dragged to be called a poet and a limited in a rear gunner's

sweeps at ever-increasing speed. How hopeless to try to describe Oceans of rum: dreamer.

Yet such as they are, these We pitched and swayed along: the such loveliness! Or he may hug ters.

past in swirling pled stratocumulus, whiter than quarters are friendly and comfort-ground rushed

flare snow, infinitely more lovely. Nev-| the illusion that women ing. For some eight hours here gloom. The lights of the

oneer-ending sameness, never-ending! is a home in miniature. I settled path whisked by and away find the fierce man-myself in, chocolate and thermos after the other. With impercep- witchery. The wind-puffed, swell- easily accessible, parachute pack tible suddenness our motion being mountains of heaven whose liness of a bearded chin stowed handily out of the way. I came fluid and gentlé: we were beauty almost wounds the soul. . only we were there just to enjoy irresistible. Unfortun- put on my helmet and plugged in

the telephone lead. I checked Dots and dashes hummed in my that glory,

But alas! I craned my body. over my guns-those slim, twin ears as the wireless operator gut] ately this facial lure too barrels of steel, they my friends, busy checking his frequency. He peering right and left. One can often goes with a weedy I their servant. I counted up would be silent for long there- see for mile upon mile in tha my pans of ammunition. Twenty after. I peered into the night wonderland of light-and be seen form. The husky he-2,000 little pieces of potential sky as the plane banked. The for the same 'distance. There are men of the films and real pivot. Everything was in order.

death. I swung the gung on their world slipped over: at my level sharp-eyed fighter pilots patrol- as it were, I saw the disappearing the skies of the Dutch coast. ing lights on the hangars and the My base Body betrayed my spirit. life are generally clean- These simple inspections take navigation lights of the other I knew relief as we slid gently they down again into those sheltering shaven. Any hirsute aid time. Scarcely had I finished be- waiting bombers. Slowly

fore my car-pieces echoed to the disappeared from view as

the banks, M to fascination is confined shout of our captain asking for plane settled once more on to We skipped from valley to peaks, permission to take off. Aboye în qven keel and headed east-now in moonlight, now in all- to a slight and neatly me in the wireless perso. K. Tlm?" I shouted inter-was beautiful. Lucidly we seem

shrouding mist. It was fun and it

cabin and up in front, where were

air borne.

ward. We were off.

pruned herbage on the pilot and navigator, I know they rogatively into my helmet. Timed to be above freezing level, upper

lip. Beards on were busy. Each had his soyeral was our captain, a quiet unassum-was not impossibly cold und ne tasks. But now all was readying chap of 25, a flight lieutenant, Ice was forming. I was soon cramped, some of our local huskies, and the ground station replied, Dr.C. and bar. His placed voice slightly bored and

giving us a laconic "OK."

came back laconically "OK." but not miserable, therefore, are but a re- with a rour the port engine How can one describe convin

started up, Its noise reached me cingly the minute experiences of Fifty minutes later we shot into mintly, mumled by my flying hei- night flying? So little happens; so moonlight and clear skies with a met, 1 felt it more for the plane ile is seen or heard. There is suddenitess that was startling. The begun to vibrate rhythmically. A nothing to say nothing to do ex-long on a

(däntinued Page 19).

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