Lawrence of Arabia
His life at RAF Mount Batten
Following his First World War Middle East exploits and his disappointment that his ideas for the post war Middle East nations were not listened to, T E Lawrence wanted to lead a quiet life.
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n 1922 he joined the RAF as A/C Ross and later transferred to the Royal Tank Corps, but was unhappy there. He eventually persuaded Lord Trenchard to let him re-join the RAF in 1925 as A/C T E Shaw (TES). To evade continuing press interest he was posted to India – however this became untenable when the press discovered his whereabouts. He returned to England, landing at Plymouth in February 1929. Despite the efforts of W/Cmdr Sydney Smith, station commandant at RAF Cattewater, the press found out and took photos of Lawrence disembarking, pursuing him to London. After discussions at the Air Ministry, Lawrence was posted to RAF Cattewater – acceptable to him as he was friendly with Sydney Smith (SS) and his wife Clare. Lawrence’s mother told Clare that he felt this was the happiest period of his life, calling it ‘The Golden Reign’. On arriving at the RAF station, TES became SS’s clerk. One of his tasks involved preparing for the Schneider Trophy. He also carried out orderly duties and assisted in manning and repairing the RAF rescue boats. He lived in an airmen’s hut below Mount Batten Tower, with his own office above a workshop. Here, he did his RAF work, and in his spare time continued translating Homer’s Odyssey. Although only an airman, TES was responsible for implementing several changes locally and in the RAF as a whole. He suggested the station would be better named ‘RAF Mount Batten’, as ‘Cattewater’ was the old 52
naval air station name. He also advocated altering the RAF uniform to make it more practical. His greatest achievement was to persuade the RAF it needed faster rescue boats – this was after several sea plane accidents, including one in February 1931 when eight RAF personnel were killed by a Blackburn Iris flying boat crashing into the Sound. TES witnessed the crash and with SS, immediately went out in a rescue boat but it took a long time to reach the crash site. In 1933 in a similar incident, the crash site was reached much faster, using one of the new RAF 200 series boats which TES helped design. TES was generous to his fellow airman, lending them books and records. He would treat them to buns in the NAAFI, or go on his bike to Hardy’s in Oreston to buy them fish and chips. He insisted there were proper table cloths and flowers in the Airmens’ Mess - subsequently nicknamed ‘The Ritz’. TES did not use his influence in a loud way, but with a quiet word here and there. As one NCO was quoted: ‘If that is what Mr Shaw said, then that is what it is.’ Much of his spare time was spent with the Sydney Smiths. He was given a speed boat by Sir Henry Seagrave. Named ‘Biscuit’, he spent many hours tuning it to peak performance, adding modifications such as a headlamp for night time expeditions. He and Clare
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