Walter Bowles, Aviator, Motor Dealer and my Grandfather!

Walter Bowles

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Walter Bowles - Page 2

Wartime service in Southern Rhodesia

The war brought a instructor's posting in Southern Africa. My grandmother, 9 year old mother and 13 year old uncle followed in the Ellerman and Bucknell Line City of Nagpur which was torpedoed and sank on the 29th April 1941 by U boat U-75 900 miles west of Fastnet. Most passengers and crew survived, and after 21 hours they were spotted by a Catalina Flying boat and subsequently picked up by HMS Hurricane. A second journey followed without incident, and the family were reunited in Cape Town, but not after days of worry since my grandfather had heard that his wife was safe, but there had been no news of the children.

The HMS Hurricane had been the first rescue ship on the scene on 15 September 1940 when one of the Nagpur's sister ships, City of Benares was sunk carrying over 100 children being evacuated to "safety".

Ellerman and Bucknell Lines<br>City of Nagpur
Ellerman and Bucknell Lines
City of Nagpur

As Pilot Officer at Induna near Bulawayo in what was then Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) he instructed in Tiger Moths, Harvards, Oxfords and Ansons. Possibly the most spectacular (and surely the most tedious) achievement was, apparently, a number of thousand hours in Link trainers. All this time was not wasted as future instrument flying was to show. The photo of the Link trainer is courtesy Kevin Moore.

Link Trainer
Link Trainer

Back to Civilian Flying

Returning from Africa, Walter Bowles took up private flying again as soon as it was authorised, flying the Auster demonstrator G-AGTO with Mr Shipside, the Auster sales manager on March 11th 1946, and on a number of further occasions through that month. Blidworth, Kemble, Elstree, Sywell, and of course Rearsby all appear in the log book. It was an absolute delight for me to see this beautifully restored aeroplane at Thruxton at the Great Vintage Flyin Weekend in 2000.

G-AGTO: Auster J1 at Thruxton in 2000
G-AGTO: Auster J1 at Thruxton in 2000

It was great fun to know that the Flying Log and the seats still there in 2000 had been used by my grandfather 44 years earlier.

Just as exciting was seeing some Miles aircraft, but more of that later!

G-AGTO: log book at Thruxton in 2000
G-AGTO: log book at Thruxton in 2000

Rewarding Aeroplane Ownership

May 1946 brought a return to flying Hornet Moths, and on June 16th he flew his own Hornet Moth G-ADJV for the first time. 5 days later he collected the plane from Western Airways at Weston-super-Mare and flew her home to Elstree.

Log book entries include White Waltham, Panhanger, Cambridge, Bovingdon, Shoreham, Cowes, Stansted, Kidlington, Heston, Gatwick and then Lympne and Deauville for the 1946 Deauville Air Rally. Later the same year the first of WPB's big European tours appears, with the Air Union Belge Rally being the first destination. Amongst the entries for Le Loutte, Antwerp, and Brussels appear the words "Filthy Weather." This must have continued since between Luxembourg and Strasbourg is the comment "forced landing in the Vosges owing to weather. Took off and landed Strasbourg"

The following week an entry next to a flight from Elstree to Redhill is qualified "for Le Touquet but turned back at Ashford owing to storms."

Not daunted by this adventure, he and my grandmother set out for the Ghent International Air Rally the next month, winning first prize. But the weather continued to conspire against him, causing a diversion to Hornchurch en route from Lympne to Elstree.

G-ADJV: de Havilland Hornet Moth
G-ADJV: de Havilland Hornet Moth

Engine Failure

1946 proved an eventful year, since on October 2nd the Hornet was damaged after an engine failure on take off. The log book reads "Engine failed immediately after take off. Forced landing in field on aerodrome boundary." This time the plane was damaged, and had to go to Cambridge for repair. They say you ought to get back on a horse if you fall off, and same is true of a plane. So, nothing daunted, just four days later he flew the Auster Autocrat G-AIBP - still flying in Australia as VH-ASI.

G-AIBP: Auster Autocrat
G-AIBP: Auster Autocrat

He also collected Hornet Moth G-ADSK from Weston, having just been bought by Nat Somers.

G-ADSK: dH Hornet Moth
G-ADSK: dH Hornet Moth

1947 found him flying a variety of planes, including a Fairchild Argus G-AIYO, which was later owned by the Women's Junior Air Corps.

G-AIYO is handed over to the Women's Junior Air Corp by Walter Bowles
G-AIYO is handed over to the Women's Junior Air Corp by Walter Bowles

Once mended he travelled with ADJV all over Southern England and the continent in the next two or three years.

Miles again

1948 brought the first flight in a Miles aeroplane since 1938 when he had briefly flown a Hawk Trainer - better known to thousands of RAF recuits as the Magister. This time the plane was Messenger G-AKAV, collected in August 1948 from Woodley (the Miles factory) and flown to Elstree. A few days later he took my grandmother and my then teenage mother for what he described in the log book as "two weeks holiday at Cannes with Margery and Sylvia. No incidents except held up overnight on the way down by bad weather at Lyons. Messenger ran perfectly throughout." (See routing here)

G-AGOY: Miles M48 Messenger
G-AGOY: Miles M48 Messenger

After the journey, and later in August the same year the plane was returned to Woodley for its C of A and Walter picked up G-AGOY his second Messenger, the experimental M48 with fully retracting flaps. He appears to have bought this plane since it was registered in his name around this time. It is still in existence in pieces in a barn in Sussex, possibly to be restored one day.

G-AGOY: Miles Messenger M48
G-AGOY: Miles Messenger M48

This he flew for the rest of the season.

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