John Ritchie joined the Royal Air Force at 18 years old. He was born in Australia, but from the age of nine had been living in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
“I joined the Air Force in November 1943. I'd gone through several years of listening to the Battle of Britain and drawing pictures of Spitfires and pretending I was actually involved in that.”
“At the time, if you could volunteer for the Air Force or the Navy, you could avoid being in the Army. The Royal Air Force had the Empire Air Training Scheme in Rhodesia at that time. I did all my flying up to wing standard in Rhodesia and that took me to the end of 1944.”
In Early 1945, John was sent to a Royal Air Force station on the Suez Canal in Egypt for further training.
“I learned to fly the Spitfire Mark V. While I was doing that, the war in Europe finished so then I was sent to Italy, just a bit south of Naples, where I learned to fly the Spitfire Mark IX in preparation for going to Burma and attacking the Japanese.”
John with a Spitfire.
John’s service consisted of training, and while he was not actively involved in the war, he still faced danger and uncertainty.
“I had lots of training. I never killed anybody. But it was being taught air to ground fighting, high level bombing, and machine gunning on low level flight.”
“Your first flight in a Spitfire is your first solo flight which is interesting. It's a lovely airplane to fly. You knew you were in danger at times and the airplane sometimes had a mind of its own. Navigation wasn't easy.”
“One time, my left-hand tire burst as I took off. I took off, went to do the exercise and when I came down, they gave me instructions on the radio all the way down of exactly what to do. I learned to do a one-wheel landing.”
Later, John had to put his skills at one-wheel landings to the test when he had to do another one on the Spitfire Mark IX.
A portrait of John in his uniform. He wore the Royal Air Force uniform with a ‘Rhodesia’ patch on his shoulder.
John’s time in the air force was cut short when the United States bombed Japan, and Japan subsequently surrendered. He was still completing his training.
“They dropped a couple of big bombs on the Japanese and it was all over. My last log entry was on the day they dropped the bomb and that they took away all the planes and all the petrol and sent us home. Suddenly, it was all over.”
“I was home in two weeks and the Air Force paid for me to go to university where I learned to become an architect.”
John’s enduring memories of his time in the Royal Air Force are of the people he met and the skills he learnt.
“I met a lot of people that I got on very well with and I enjoyed their company. We were living as friends, so there was that side of it. The other side was learning to fly as well as I could.”
