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OFFICERS' MESS, My dearest Mum, Thanks so much for your letter & encl., which I shall answer. By the grace of God I 'got away with it' again yesterday, taking off on an engine test my engine cut out just in the one place in which I could do practically nothing about it, i.e., 15 feet off the ground & within 300 yds. of the North Road. I had only started to get my undercarriage up, so I knew I had to crash. It's slightly downhill there, so I held the aircraft down to keep up my speed, until I got to the road, which is about five feet above the 'drome there, and then pulled it up over the top. Unfortunately my undercart hit the bank, but I bounced over the road o.k. which was what I was aiming at, missing a car by inches, and crashed in the next field. I undid my straps, and then she went up, & to my horror the hood catch had broken, & the hood was jammed half forward. By this time the cockpit seemed to be full of flame, so by some means or other I got the hood back & then ran like hell away from her, as she was due to go up with a bang when the petrol tanks got hot. I got off with some nasty cuts, one of them on the head, and all my eyebrows & eyelashes burned off, also slight burns on my face. But another five seconds & I wouldn't have been able to get out. By the time anybody got there I was standing under a hedge smoking a cigarette, and it was damn funny to hear their comments and congratulations when they saw me. They all thought I was still in there, as they said she had caught fire before she stopped. One thing it taught me is that I've got a good many friends on this camp. Even one of the waiters this morning made a point of saying how glad they all were that I'd made it. And the doc said this morning "funny thing, your pulse coming back in the ambulance yesterday was perfectly normal". Don't tell me to save any more! By the way, I'm thinking of buying a second-hand Frazer Nash they've got near here. Should be rather fun. Must post this now, so love to all. Ever your loving Derek P.S.I'm quite o.k. so don't fuss!
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