T.E. Lawrence - again

[Stephanie]

In several memoirs by different people (whose accounts varied as much as their personalities), T.E. Lawrence is mentioned as having tried to join the RFC after the war. Does anyone know of any real contact with flying that he might have had prior to this, during his campaign in the desert, to pique his interest?

[Lufbery]

First, as I understand it, he did join the RAF after the war, but did it under the name T. E. Shaw. It seems he was too much a celebrity to join under his own name and still avoid all the press.

Second, there were several instances during WWI when he was ferried from one spot to another by plane. Maybe that's what gave him the flying bug.

-Drew

Correct - during the days of the Arab Revolt, Lawrence was occasionally a passenger. In 1919 he was a passenger again for part of a notable Handley-Page flight from London to Cairo, described by Chaz Bower, "Handley-Page Bombers of the First World War" (Aston Publications, Bourne End, 1992), pp.111-113 and Captain L.S. Pope, "Another Incredible Journey", Sentinel (a Canadian Forces magazine), October 1968. See also Douglas E. Eagles, "Memoirs of a World War I Pilot, Lieutenant Harry A. Yates, AFC" (Sarnia, private printing, 1985). The most recent rendering of the story appears in another Canadian magazine, "The Beaver" (issue of June 2000). Lawrence enlisted twice in the RAF, once as "Shaw" and once by another pseudonym which I do not recall. However, he never attempted to take flying lessons; he sought anonymity, not adventure in the force. This episode of his life has been the subject of at least one stage play, entitled "Shaw" (again, I cannot recall the playwright) - a first-rate piece of theatre if you have an opportunity to see it.

[mike_baram]

From what I remember, Lawrence was serving under the name "Ross" at the time of his death.

[Lufbery]

Here's more info from this page: T. E. Lawrence: a biographical summary, by Jeremy Wilson. It seems his service was a bit more complicated than I thought:

[color=blue] Service in the ranks, 1922 - 1935

By then, Lawrence had drifted into a perilous state of mind. The exertions and horrors of the wartime campaign had been followed by three wearisome years of politics, and then the strain of writing a thousand-page book which he hoped would rank with Moby Dick and The Brothers Karamazov. Fearing for his sanity, he resigned from the Colonial Office and sought refuge in the ranks of the RAF where he gave his name as 'John Hume Ross'. After four months he was discovered by the press and discharged. By then, however, he was convinced that life in the ranks was his only course. With the help of a highly-placed friends he re-enlisted almost immediately in the Tank Corps as 'Thomas Edward Shaw'. He served until mid-1925 at Bovington Camp in Dorset, during which time he found and rented a nearby cottage called Clouds Hill.

After the end of 1923, his free time and much of his energy was taken up revising Seven Pillars of Wisdom for a subscription edition. He had long dreamed of setting up a private press and he now employed two printers, supervising every detail of the production. He spent so lavishly on colour portraits and other embellishments that by December 1926, when the book was finally completed, it had cost about £90 a copy. This was three times the subscription price. In order to repay his bank loan, he had to sanction general publication of an abridgement of Seven Pillars called Revolt in the Desert.

Half way through this work, Lawrence had succeeded in transferring back from the Tank Corps to the RAF. At the end of 1926 he accepted a posting to India, in order to be beyond the reach of journalists when Revolt in the Desert was published. Both Revolt in the Desert and Seven Pillars were hugely acclaimed, and Lawrence's bank loan was quickly paid off. He might have become wealthy, but he had made over all surplus royalties from the abridgement to a charity.

Encouraged by this literary success, during 1927 and 1928 Lawrence wrote another book, The Mint, based on notes he had made during his first RAF enlistment. It is an unsparing yet brilliantly observed portrait of the initial training given to Air Force recruits. In chapter after chapter, he distilled into a few words mundane events that he had witnessed again and again. Like One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, it belongs to the genre of books written by intellectuals who find themselves, for one reason or another, in prison.

The Mint passed such harsh judgement on the RAF regime that publication would have damaged the reputation of the service Lawrence had come to love. He therefore stipulated that it should not be appear before 1950. </font>

-Drew

Hi,
Lawrence was often ferried about by, and got reconn. and other ops support from No 1 Sqn Aussie Flying Corps (Bristol Fighters). See "Aces and Kings" by LW Sutherland. Brilliant book, lots about the desert and Lawrence. I guess
he took a liking to the aviators.

Greetings Stephie: If you want beautiful English, read TE Lawrence's book "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom." (Try Amazon.com)
Basically Lawrence joined the RAF, after the war. (RFC converted to RAF in June 1918.) He had been a colonel but after the French and English placed Arabia under a protectorate, rather than give them the independence offered to get them to fight the Turks, Lawrence sought anonymity in the enlisted ranks of the RAF under the name as Aircraftsman Shaw. Lawrence did no flying but was in charge of crashboats, and the maintenance there of. Go read his book: he'll talk to you. Billy H.6/20/00.

[Lufbery]

I'll second that rccommendation. I'm reading it now and am enthralled by his writing and descriptions.

-Drew

[Michael]

I read The Mint years ago, and it is pretty brutal. He tells of service police who would check airmen on the trains to make sure that their water bottles were filled. They travelled in full kit.

He mentions having to steal a magazine from the officers' mess because it had his picture in it.

Michael

[Lufbery]

I'll have to track down a copy of that book. Amazon and Barnes & Nobel have never heard of it, though.

-Drew