The airmen lived their lives amidst a strange dichotomy as they moved from safety to dire danger, and back again in a matter of hours. This created a dreadful strain that could soon shred anyone’s mental health. Flying personnel, blessed with beds and blankets, had the mess for entertainment, access to drink and, sometimes visits to local towns. All well away from the squalor and danger of trench life, but in the air, they faced extreme danger. No parachutes and sitting next to a petrol tank waiting to explode. Yet, humour, perhaps dark, was there to be found.
Regarded as a lively, well informed, and very amusing speaker, Peter Hart is regular and popular speaker at our branch. Peter is a military historian specialising in the Great War and was the Oral Historian at the Imperial War Museum from 1981 until his retirement. Peter is the author of the magisterial Gallipoli (OUP 2013) as well as many other books on the Great War.