The first plane I ever flew

I was discharged from the Canadian Army in London one day in, oh, it was January 1918, by this time. And I went down the corridor two doors and was sworn into the British Army and they gave me a temporary commission as an airman in training. And I went to Oxford and took a few weeks course, a couple of weeks there at Oxford. I guess about 6 weeks, and then was posted to 25 training squadron at Tetford in Norfolk for actual flying training. And so I took all the training and managed to get through it alright. And the first airplane I was ever in and the first airplane I ever flew was a Maurice Farman “Shorthorn,” which is a funny looking beastie. If you go to the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa, you will see an example of one there and I think it’s the only, there are only two left in the world right now. It was a pusher and a big canoe-shaped gondola out in front and open cockpits, of course, and so forth. Anyway, and it flew at about 45 miles an hour and had a maximum speed of about 60. However, I got off that pretty quickly, after three or four hours I think and got onto the DH6. And then actually I flew about six different kinds of airplanes, all rather ancient, until I came to the DH4 and the DH9. And I eventually qualified and on the 1st of April 1918, I have a commission, temporary commission, in the Royal Airforce because it came into being on that day. So, I was posted, shortly after that, I was posted, to 211 squadron just outside Dunkirk in France and I flew with 211 until, well, it was demobbed in 1919. I was one of the survivors.