Knowing your onions in 1940 ........ wartime propaganda with 222 Squadron

Now I am looking forward to seeing the original of this photograph which David tells me comes from New York.

It will be a fitting end to the story which began when he lent me the Line Book for 222 (Natal) Squadron.*

Line Books are rare and this one was nearly lost and only survived because it was found in a skip, which made its way on to the market and in the fullness of time David came across and added to his collection of war time memorabilia.

And it is a wonderful find because Line Books were the unofficial record of RAF squadrons put together by the pilots and kept in the mess.

So here are comments on operations that were flown including bitter sweet reflections on what happened in the air along with pictures poems, and telegrams sent by men on leave.

It covers the period just after the Battle of Britain goes on to record the moment the squadron was equipped with jet fighters in 1945, and its brief time as a missile unit before disbandment in the 1960s.

And while the book was started just after the momentous events of summer 1940, many of the men mentioned will have fought in that battle.

But today it is that picture which I am drawn to and the caption which appeared with it.

I am not sure of the date or which newspaper it appeared in but here is a wonderful piece of war time propaganda, which combines the seriousness of war, and a light bit of banter.

And along with that a tiny bit of factual information offering up that “the Natal Fighter Squadron ........ is paid for by the inhabitants of Natal (South Africa).  Among the pilots are many South Africans and many of the ground staff came from Rhodesia.  Enough money was contributed to Keep a full squadron in the air at all times.”

All of which reminds you that in both world wars there was a huge “voluntary element” which was partly because we were cash strapped but also because getting everyone to make a contribution was a winning piece of propaganda.

So along with war bonds there was of course the Spitfire Fund many other drives for the war effort.**

But I shall finish by returning to the picture and the story, which continues “the Natal Fighter Squadron in England have sown their onions behind barbed wire!  And here are some of them at work on the allotment.  

They find it a change from the routine work of “bagging” German planes.

A flight-lieutenant from South Africa has seven Nazi planes to his credit with a probable five more ....... he certainly knows his onions!”

Today it is easy to be cynical at the style of the propaganda and even back then I suspect there will be some who pointed fun at its jokey delivery but this was all in earnest and those men in the picture were doing the real thing.

So I am pleased that the Line Book is now in David’s possession who I know will look after it and will refer to it in his current exhibition on the Battle of Britain in the Remembrance Lodge at Southern Cemetery.




Pictures; news clipping, of pilots from 222 (Natal) Squadron, date and source unknown from the Lone Book of 222 (Natal) Squadron, courtesy of David Harrop

*The Natal 222 Squadron, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Natal%20222%20Squadron

**The Spitfire Fund, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/remembering-battle-of-britain-part-2.html