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T. E. Lawrence to John Buchan
Royal Air Force,
Bridlington,
Yorkshire
20.XII.34 Dear J.B., You'll wonder why on earth I write, and what I now
want. Answer - only to tell you that my R.A.F. twelve-year engagement
is within a few weeks of running out. I have not tried to extend for
24 years, because my age then would make me a ludicrous airman, even
if I lived the whole twelve more. But if I could have remained
perpetually young, nothing would have pleased me better.
If you meet Mr Baldwin in the near future, will you please tell him
that the return to the Air Force secured me by him (on your
initiation) has given me the only really contented years of my life?
Please say that I've worked (and played) all the time like a trooper:
that my spell of service has been spent in doing my best to raise the
pride and respect of the ranks, and to make them pleased with their
duties: that amongst my jobs have been a reorganisation of aero-engine
overhauls in India, the ground-work for the 1929 Schneider Cup, and
lately the development of the marine-craft side of the R.A.F. In four
or five years we have trebled the speed and yet reduced the prime cost
and running cost of all the R.A.F. boats: and now the War Office and
the Admiralty are borrowing our boats and copying or adapting our
designs for their purposes.
I tell you all this not to boast of it, but to show that you and
Baldwin, in gratifying what may have seemed to you my indulgence, have
not harmed the public service. I have done all I could, always: and
could have done far more, if they had given me more rope. The Air
Force is pretty good, down below. I think it deserves more imaginative
handling than it gets.
However this note (meant to be a paean of gratitude to two
admirable men) mustn't descend into politics. I owe the two of you
more than my twelve years work (and another twelve on top of it, were
I young enough) in the sheer satisfaction it has been. You have me
very hopelessly in your debt: and thank you both very much for it. Yours sincerely
T E Shaw
Some day I'm going to ask another favour - that you will read my
notes on the making of an airman, about 60,000 words of typescript,
that date from 1922. They aren't to be published: but I rather suspect
that as writing they are almost good - or at least a sight better than
my previous attempts at your art! I would value (and keep very dark)
your real opinion.
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