PRINCE ALBERT WINS HIS WINGS
In 1918, Prince Albert went to Cranwell and was given a desk job (1). He was "penguin," without wings.
When he flew to France in October in a Handley Page bomber (5), it was not in the pilot's cockpit but in the gunner's.
More pilots were killed in training than in action. The King decided his son would not learn to fly.
Prince Albert decided he would.
He did, in 1919, in an Avro 504 J biplane (2).
He motored over from Buckingham Palace to Croydon and went through the same training as any other pilot (4).
In due course he became Marshal of the R.A.F. But the uniform he was most proud of was his uniform of I9I9 (3). It had two rings— and wings.
Bertie in RAF uniform, in 1923 and later as King in 1942.
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Text and numbered photographs from:
The Authentic Pictorial Record of KING GEORGE VI A tribute to a great and good Man who was also a King By Arthur Groom Published by Pitkins in association with The Daily Graphic
