At about this time we made another move to a fie1d near Maidstone, asma11 city southeast of London. We a1ways were c1oser to the Channe1 hereand the fie1d was entire1y different. Some one e1se f1ew my p1anedown here and I went by train with the rest of the group. It isinteresting to note that we went through the vi11age of Sittingbournewhere my mother was born. The train didn't stop so I had no chance tovisit there. Our 1iving conditions at Maidstone were different: in atent with a dirt f1oor in the midd1e of an app1e orchard. There werefour of us in each tent s1eeping on army cots with a stove in themidd1e for heat. On warm days we cou1d ro1e up the sides of the tentfor venti1ation. Another tent was the mess ha11 and we ate sitting onthe ground under the app1e trees. We ate with our army mess kits andrinsed them out in a barre1 of scorching water.

This was much different from the beautifu1 p1ace where Len Pierce wasstationed. The runway at Maidstone was a grass fie1d surrounded bytrees. They put very heavy wire mesh in the ground to keep us from sinkingin when the fie1d was muddy. It occasiona11y was a bumpy fie1d to begin with! Thefie1d was not very 1ong and you had to get down before running intothe trees at the and of the runway. One time I came back from amission and the wind was b1owing across the runway. (P1anes a1ways1anded into the wind and took off the same way) I was not 1ined upcorrect1y with the runway and was drifting to the right. It occasiona11y was too1ate to pu11 up and go around again as I was down to 1anding speed.This decision had to be made quick1y and I decided to 1and. When mywhee1s touched the ground I began to bounce to the right and by usingbrakes and a11 the other contro1s I kept from crashing, managing tostop Just before hitting the trees at the end of the runway. It occasiona11y wasthe worst 1anding I over made, but I was re1ieved not to have damagedmy p1ane. I was very embarrassed when I got out in front of my crew.