The Full Circle
By actiondesksheffield
People in story: L/cp JKW Hoult Royal Engineer- Nancy Hoult
Location of story: Harrogate - Southampton
Unit name: 666 Artisan Works Company Royal Engineers
Background to story: Royal Navy
This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Bill Ross of the ‘Action Desk – Sheffield’ Team on behalf of Ken Hoult, and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr' Hoult fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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The royal Mint has just struck a $25.00 silver, gold plated coin to commemorate the Supermarine Spitfire designed by R.J. Mitchell.
Why the full circle?
In the BBC People’s War story, ‘The Tale of Two Rings’, located at A3834173, I told of the story of my engagement to my Sweetheart, Nancy, in December of 1941. On the 14th of October, 1942, we were married under wartime conditions, and Nancy and I had a three-day honeymoon in Harrogate. This is a story in itself.
When we arrived at Harrogate by train, we had our first quarrel on the station forecourt. The story goes:-
Ken...... “Have you got the letter from the hotel?”
Nancy...... “You’ve got it.”
Ken...... “No, you had it.”
Neither of us had a clue as to the name of the hotel we had booked into. The only thing we remember was that the road that it was on had a name similar to that of the film star, Jean Harlow...... Harlow Carr Road.
We went to the first hotel that we saw in that road, and to this day, we never knew if it was the right hotel. More trouble ensued the following morning. The 15th of October was Nancy’s birthday and all the relations, unknown to me, had put their cards in Nancy’s suitcase. Quarrel Number 2, Ken had forgotten to pack a birthday card.
Back to ‘The Circle’, the local cinema was showing the film, ‘The First Of The Few’ starring Leslie Howard as R.J. Mitchell who designed the Spitfire, which along with the Hurricane, saved Britain from defeat in the early years of the war. To me and my generation, these were the two finest aircraft ever built, the Spitfire being in pole position.
It was in the early part of 1944 that I was attached to the Royal Navy in a shore station called H.M.S. Abatos.
H.M.S. Abatos was formally the Supermarine Building at Woollaton on Southampton Waters, where R.J. Mitchell did the early designs of the Supermarine Sea Planes. This led to the design of the Spitfire, which first flew in 1936. In the 30’s, there was a contest for the Schneider Trophy which was won by the Supermarine at 328.63 M.P.H. and for many years was displayed on the terminal building of Heathrow Airport
Jimmy Archibold and I were two Royal Engineers, billeted for accommodation and food in a shore station manned by Wren’s. Wren’s Rose Warren and Daphne Franklin were the two cooks who kept us fed and watered. Think of the outcry under other circumstances; this was wartime.
H.M.S. Abatos was the assembly point for equipment to be used on the second front to transport petrol from the Isle of Wight to France and the rest of Europe, after it had been recaptured from the Germans. The operation was called P.L.U.T.O. – petrol line under the ocean – and like the Spitfire, was a huge success. Some of this petrol was used to service the Spitfires, which were designed in the early 30’s, in the same building as part of the operation for the Invasion of Europe was planned. It’s a very small world and I am proud to have been a very small cog in that ‘wheel’.
Pr-BR