An Interesting Quote by Sir Robert Saundby

[Frank_Olynyk]

The recent posts on Robert Saundby's Flying Colours caused me to check on it, and anything else by or about him. I found an interesting associational item that he wrote, titled A Fly-Rod on Many Waters (1961), one of several books by aces on fishing. I received it a few days ago, and in wandering around in it (not something I see a need to sit down and read), I discovered Chapter 13: The Keeping of Records. In it is the following paragraph (page 144-5), of relevence to this forum (and seems to be the only reference to flying or World War One in the book):


It reminds me of the early days of flying. In the Royal Flying Corps, before the formation of the Royal Air Force in 1918, the keeping of a pilot's log-book was optional. I was one of those who elected to do so, and I soon found that I was being rapidly outstripped in flying experience by contemporaries who did not keep log-books, but who spent -- I felt sure -- at least as much time on the ground as I did. By the time I had accumulated 500 flying hours, they were well into their thousands. This was not, of course, deliberate untruthfulness, but a combination of miscalculation and wishful thinking to which we are all prone. The result, however, was that no reliance could be placed on the claims of those who did not keep log-books, and it was impossible to assess their flying experience. So the keeping of these books became compulsory.


The chapter, and book, are also relevant to the question of trophies, since there are numerous pictures of trout caught by the author, as kept in his fishing log.

Frank.

[Simba]

Hoho, he wasn't the only one to keep inaccurate log-books. That great pilot Louis Strange used his to record point-to-point horse-racing results and the size of the bag of a good day's shooting - and the odd spot of flying, of course . . .

[Barrett]

Dr. Frank:

You got my curiosity up & running. What other aces have written about fishing? Bob Scott, Yeager, and Bud Anderson have written about hunting.

Thanx.

[Frank_Olynyk]

Barrett,

An initial check shows Harold Balfour: Folk, Fish and Fun, published 1978 by Terence Dalton; xiv+106 pages. He also wrote An Airman Marches, and Wings Over Westminster. [England]

Hudson Fysh: Round the Bend in the Stream, published 1968, by Angus and Robertson; x+222 pages. He also wrote a three volume history of Qantas. [Australia]

Pierre Clostermann: Mémoires au bout d'un fil, published 1994, by Arthaud; 351 pages. He also wrote ... but you know that. [Deep sea fishing]

And to be complete: Sir Robert Saundby: A Fly-Rod on Many Waters, published 1961, by Stanley Paul; 156 pages. [trout, England]

There may be others, but I can't think of them off-hand. And several have written about hunting or fishing as a chapter in their book.

Frank.