Peter Donald Hall (17 Oct 1928 - 1 Mar 2018)

Peter Donald Hall

Born 17th October 1928 in Leeds. Lived at 30, Ashton Avenue, Harehills in a back-to-back. He was a bit of a sickly lad with a constant cough and bouts of severe bronchitis, especially in winter

He was quite bright at school – Gipton Council School and gained his Junior City Scholarship in May.
After returning from a holiday in Saltfleetby, where his grandparents had a smallholding, on the 3rd September 1939, Peter was evacuated to Lincoln with the City of Leeds High School after the declaration of war with Germany
At Easter of 1940 he returned to Leeds to a new home in Bramley – 68 Westover Road. A stone built house overlooking Bramley Park at the back. During the war he helped with allotments, pig club and fire -watching after school.

Peter joined the Air Training Corps becoming a ‘corporal’ and gaining an ‘A’ gliding. He flew in Halifax, Rapide and Oxford aircraft.

The following is a long extract from biographical notes that Peter was making –

1943 School Certificate
1945 Higher School Certificate
1946 December, joined RAF, AC2, volunteer aircrew
1947 Jan-Feb, squarebashing and basic training at Compton Bassett, Wiltshire
First posting to Pembroke Dock as clerk SD, working in control tower.
Had trips in Sunderland flying boats.
Posted to Bawdsey, Suffolk for radar plotting course.
Mustered at Burtonwood, Lancs and posted to Navigation Training in South Rhodesia; travelled by civilian boat, Llandovery Castle, via Marseilles, Genoa, Port Said, Suez, Aden, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Lourenco Marques, Beira and down to Durban. Then took the train to Joannesburg and on to Bulawayo.
Joined No 5 Course at Heany near Bulawayo and, after 4 months, moved to Gwelo. During training flew over most of central and eastern parts of S Rhodesia. Made a couple of forced landings, one at Birchenough Bridge on the border with Mozambique, the other at Gwanda which bent the nose a bit; slept overnight in the village hall, then by truck to Heany. First aircraft were old “Anson” Mk 1, and we had to wind the wheels up and down.
1949 Qualified as Navigator.
Travelled by the Blue Train from Gwelo to Cape Town, and was billeted in Cape Town Castle (the oldest building in South Africa, 1666) for three weeks. Did the usual tourist things, including a trip to the top of Table Mountain. Luxury travel back to UK on the Stirling Castle; the English cricket team were also on board, returning after the Tests.
After leave, went to RAF Swinderby for crew training on “Wellingtons”. Then to Leuchars for training as PR Navigator on “Mosquitos”. At end of course applied for posting to Singapore. Flew in “York” aircraft (modified Lancaster bomber) to Malta and then to RAF Fayid in the Middle East Canal Zone. The Far East posting was cancelled and instead I joined No 13 photo-reconnaissance Squadron with “Mosquito” PR Mk 34 aircraft, based at RAF Fayid. Photography was mostly for surveying and mapping purposes, and we also kept an eye on Egyptian military activity. There were occasional trips carrying urgent medical supplies or documents.
1950 Top marks for photography, but unable to reach more than 10 words per minute Morse code, so transferred to 70 squadron of Transport Command, equipped with “Valetta” aircraft and based at RAF Kabrit on the Great Bitter Lake, and with a great view of the Canal traffic. Duties were like an airline, operating a scheduled service to all parts of the Middle East, from Gibraltar to Baghdad and from Cyrus to Nairobi. There were occasional special trips to support UK forces in the area, and we practiced aerial supply drops and paratroop drops. Special trips included a proving flight around the whole of Arabia, via Amman and Habbaniya,
Had leaves in Salisbury, Johannesburg, Victoria Falls and Livingstone; visited Matopos Hills and Rhodes grave.
Shaibah, Sharja, Masirah Island and Salalah, Aden, Khartoum and home. Others carrying arms to Abadan on the Persian Gulf during crisis over oil installations.

One night I was flying as crew member with an experienced pilot, but new to the squadron, who was being examined for proficiency on Valettas. As a practise we were flying on one engine, when the other engine decided to stop also; this meant we had no electricity or hydraulic power! We landed with wheels still retracted and skidded down the runway in a shower of sparks and dust. All climbed out and removed themselves from the wreckage very very quickly. The new pilot turned to the examiner and said, “Well, did I pass?”
In 1951, returning from a special trip to Kano, Nigeria, we made a crash landing in a wadi in dense bush on the borders of Chad, Congo and Darfur province of Sudan; both pilots were injured but the rest were unhurt. Help came first from local people; they dug a 3 foot hole in the wadi to get water, and brought food. We spent two nights there, then the local headman came with horses. We made stretchers and some of the local people were coerced into carrying the two injured – not very willingly! There were a few disputes, a couple of beatings and we were on our way again. At nightfall as we were setting up camp, three lorries appeared out of the bush; the local army unit had heard of us and set off to find us, with a medic on board. Next day we travelled to the nearest airstrip, Zalingei, an old staging post for wartime ferry flights from Lagos to Khartoum and on to the N African war zone. Here we were taken on board a Valetta and flown to Khartoum.

1951 Transferred to RAF Khartoum as station navigator with the Sudan Communications Flight of two Anson aircraft. Duties were mainly liaison trips over the whole of the Sudan, flying senior military and civil people to outposts of government. We usually stayed in the guest huts at the District Commissioner’s or Governor’s house, but sometimes had to rough it in the local hotel.
Other duties included briefing civilian and RAF crews in transit.
I spent a leave in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. I caught the train from Khartoum and travelled down through the cotton fields, then the line runs east across desert to Kassala, and on to Tessenei. This is the end of the railway line and we travelled on in an old bus loaded with Fuzzy Wuzzies carrying spears, knives and the odd rifle. The bus was crowded, piled high with goods and chattels on the roof, including chickens and a goat, and eventually reached Agordat, high in the hills, where we transferred to the Littorina, a railbus system built by the Italians during their conquest of this country; this took us to Asmara. Stayed two weeks with an Italian family, and then flew back to Khartoum in an old civilian Dakota.

1952 One of our trips was back to Zalingei in Darfur province, where there was a large tribal gathering, with parades and horse and camel races. The Governor of Darfur presented inscribed knives and other gifts to the people who had helped rescue our Valetta crew. The event lasted three days and we lived in straw huts, built like a shanty town on the edge of the airfield; each evening tin tubs were brought in with large jugs of hot water for our baths. There was even a market set up, selling food and drink and everything imaginable, from camels to baskets.

1952 June saw the end of my overseas tour of duty and I returned to England. This should have been the end of my service, but the RAF decided that I should have the privilege of serving an extra year (“the Queen’s year”) – without gratuity!
A spell on Air Traffic Control saw me to the end of my time in the RAF; I was stationed at Middleton St George, near Darlington, then at Full Sutton in Yorkshire; duties were local airfield control and approach control using VHF letdowns.

1953 Finally finished and came back to civilian life with my gratuity of £200.

After fruitless attempts to find employment in civil aviation , (only pilots were being recruited) I came back to Leeds to take an intensive course in draughtmanship and started studying engineering and maths at night school. Passed the ONC exam in mechanical engineering. First job was as a detail draughtsman at the Leeds office of Blackburn Aircraft Ltd at £12 10s a week and, after a year I switched to technical illustration. Work was on the ‘Beverley’ transport and ‘Buccaneer’ fighter/bomber.

Married Kathleen POGSON in 1954 at Dewsbury Road Methodist church, Wakefield and went to live in a flat in Ashby House, off Town Street in Bramley, where John was born.
Moved to Swindon and into a council house, 144 Meadowcroft, on a bleak, new estate. Worked as illustrator for Vickers Supermarine Aircraft (home of the Spitfire) on ‘Swift’ and ‘Scimitar’ aircraft. Gave lectures to the Vickers Flying Club on air navigation and meterology. Geoffrey Quill (Spitfire chief test pilot) was still at Vickers and was president of the flying club.
In 1957 Kate was born.
Money was a bit short, and so, in 1958, we decided to try our luck in London. I got a job at Industrial Handbooks Ltd in Turnmill Street at £18 15s a week. Found a maisonette at 81a Melbury Gardens in Raynes Park and travelled into London every day, first by rail and tube, then used a scooter. In 1960 took a job as chief illustrator at D & T Publications, at Chessington, and eventually had 25 illustrators and 6 tracers in two offices; the other a Malvern.
After 5 years chasing London house prices, decided to move back to Yorkshire where we could afford to buy a house. Worked for Towler Hydraulics at Rodley.
Unfortunately things fell apart and Kay decided not to join me in Yorkshire; after 5 years she moved to Bath where the children grew up.

In 1966 started own publications business, Technical Art Services, working from the attic at Westover Road. Work was very sparse to begin with, being mostly retouching photos for photographers and advertising agencies. Gradually work increased and I started using freelance illustrators to help complete the jobs. After six months I opened an office in Stanningley and employed three illustrators, and started working with a writer Terry Keep - he needed illustrations and I needed writing.

After about seven years of consolidation I took a sabbatical and started work on contract in Holland. The work was for Fokker aircraft at Schiphol airport, producing maintenance and spare parts illustrations – not very demanding and very good money. I lived in a flat at 144 Kerkhoflaan, Zwanenburg, about 20 minutes’ drive from Schiphol, and half way between Amsterdam and Haarlem.

That’s as far as Dad got with his story so we have continued…

Peter met Gwyneth in the early 1970’s at the Polish Club in Leeds and they became very close friends and companions. Gwyneth was a very important person in my Dad’s life. They loved having holidays in Europe, especiallly in Germany around the Black Forest area. They shared a love of walking and often visited Gwyneth’s family in Wales to see the beautiful Spring flowers on the hillsides. There are so many photographs of them laughing and smiling together. It was a relationship that brought my Dad out of himself and gave them both a great deal of happiness and enjoyment in each other’s company. Unfortunately, after a number of years suffering with dementia, Gwyneth died in 2009.

Set up Wytech Publications

Gildersome Friends Meeting House- Worked on the plans for the renovation of the annex and constant renewals of stone slates that were being stolen. Many good friends from here including George and Mary Firth, Gordon and Muriel Appleyard.

Moved from Bramley to Pudsey with Mother. The house in Westover Road had become too much for two, spread over 4 floors. Pudsey was a good move as there were plenty of local facilities on the doorstep and a bus service to the centre of Leeds if you needed it. The local Chinese take away did a good Lemon Chicken and Dad only had to call and say it was Peter and they knew who he was.
Retired in XXXX and stayed in Pudsey.

Moved to Navenby near Lincoln in 2014. Again - a good move to a close knit development and close to brother David. Made friends with the bowls club, the art club and through the group of houses in Heritage Court. Continued to drive and was very good for an elderly gentleman!

Comments from Barry (brother in America)

I do not know if I can add anything about your father that you and David already know. He was very fortunate to survive a crash landing in the African jungle when in the RAF...
Without doubt he was an accomplished and talented artist at both his work in technical illustration and advertising art. It was natural that he took up painting
In loving memory of Peter Donald Hall who sadly passed away on 1st March 2018