74 and 85 Squadrons, 1918

Abstract

Mannock spent the first three months of 1918 in England. The grounded fighter pilot eager to return to the fray is a predictable cliché, and yet it does seem that even while still on leave Mannock was fretting for action. Having spent some time in Birmingham staying with his mother and his sister, he arrived at Wellingborough in a `nervous state'. Jim Eyles attributed Pat's moodiness to unease over the behaviour of both his mother and his elder sister, the one an alcoholic and the other an emotional casualty of a failed marriage. However, it quickly became clear that he was `like a cat on hot bricks' mainly because the `staff types' were denying him an early return to France. Like `McScotch', Mannock believed the Germans would attack sooner rather than later: the war in the east was to all intents and purposes over, and it was imperative to launch a knock-out blow in the west before the full force of the Americans ensured an overwhelming Allied advantage in material and manpower. Expectation of Germany's renewed aerial offensive heightened his determination to get back into the war. Regularly catching the train down from Wellingborough, Mannock would reach Euston ready to tramp the long corridors of the War Office. Lobbying for an overseas posting, he received a unanimous reply, namely that he was too useful as an instructor to risk returning to combat. No doubt senior staff took seriously Leonard Tilney's recommendation that, in his own interest, Mannock be given an extended break from fighting. The Eyles family were left to pick up the pieces, nodding sympathetically as their caged warrior returned to Mill Road berating Whitehall's `red-tape Brigade'.¹