^{"I joined No 2 squadron at the end of May 1943, and served with the squadron untill crashing into the river Seine on June the 15th 1944. I was only at Sawbridgeworth a short time, as we moved on July 1943 to Gravesend as part of 2nd TAE.}

^{I am not in contact with former comrades, many of whom were KIA or MIA, as a POW I lost touch with the others. I spent the rest of the war as a POW at Stalag Luft 1 on the Baltic coast.}

The Mustang MkI had two .5 machine guns which fired through the arc of the prop. These guns were to be cocked when airborne. However, they were extremely difficult to cock when airborne: I sometimes had to let go of the stick, put my feet on the instrument panel and use both hands to cock them.

The photo below is of me flying over Sawbridgeworth. I am waiting as F/Lt George Kenning changes his A/C after shooting holes in his prop. He had cocked the two .5 guns while on the ground. They had fired as he hit a pothole on the perimeter track - at low revs the guns were not synchronised , so he nearly shot his prop off!, Once F/Lt Kenning got airborne we were off to the Friesian Islands on a shipping recce".

"On a later occasion when returning from an op, I decided to do a front wheel landing in which you actually fly the A/C onto the runway at 120 mph, then cut the throttle. I had cocked my guns but not fired them, and when the wheels touched the runway, the guns fired through the arc of the prop. As there was no report of anyone being shot, I breathed a sigh of relief, and from then on stuck to three-point landings!"

Photo  two is of a group of ‘B’ Flight, (2 Squadron), pilots at Sawbridgeworth in early July of 1943. The pilot third from the left, (Andrews), was KIA shortly after this photo was taken. In this picture, the .5 machine gun can just be seen at the left edge of the fuselage.

From left to right

F/Lt George Kenning; F/Lt Wakefield; F/O Andrews; F/O Reich; F/O Redman; F/O Shayle-George.