HUGH ERNEST WELLS
Hugh was my maternal uncle; my mother's brother, born to Annie and Cuthbert Wells. Annie was the daughter of Hugh and Annie Crawford of Belfast. And the name of Hugh has been passed down to me through him. It is my middle name. He was born on the 21st May 1922.
Hugh married Margaret Mounsey on the 22nd July 1950. Margaret was born on the 22nd September 1926 and was the daugher of Herbert Francis Mounsey (b 4th March 1895) and Dorothy Enoch Fox (b 11th February 1895).
They had 3 daughters.
Hugh joined the South African Airforce during WWII.
I know so little of Hugh's airflorce experience, but one of his daughers found this amongst his notes:
We usually carried 4 or 5 crew including a radio operator – one navigation pupil usually acted as 1st navigator and the others each did a flight as an exercise. When we had landed we as a crew all got together to discuss the flight – de-briefing! There were times when we had to do low level navigation in which case we usually flew at +- 50 feet. If I ever had to fly near Kentani I used to break off and “beat up” the home of “Great Aunt and Uncle Cherry”. He had been a magistrate in Transkei and had retired to Kentani. He was my mother's mother's brother (twin).
(To put this Aunt and Uncle in perspective you need to read that on CHERRY FAMILY IN BELFAST. Other than this reference to them I have nothing on their South African connection).
My mother had a small wooden bowl on the bookcase. She used to say that it was made from the propeller of a Spitfire that Hugh crashed during training. So can that be verified? Again from Hugh's own notes :
About a quarter way through my Waterkloof course I did a very high landing and stalled high to land with a bang and the stay of one undercarriage wheel broke – result a landing on both wing and nose and a broken propellor (sic). It was found that the stay had previously been snapped and only half the width had been holding it together. When I banged it down it snapped in two! It was something that should have been found in a pre-flight inspection – perhaps weeks before!
There is no mention of the type of plane involved. Waterkloof is near Pretoria.
I have a strange looking knife of his - for use when entangled in a parachute for instance. It is curved to avoid accidental injury if bumped against and has a cork handle to make it float. My mother had small wooden dish with household keys in it on the bookcase .
And I have some airforce wing badges, both woven and pin-on. These were my mothers collected from Hugh's various airforce friends during the war - momentos made specifically as gifts to family and friends and naturally mainly given to girls they met.
Brian Watson's letters during the war back to his mother, Maud, mentions "Hugh" and that of 1st July 1942 mentions Hugh intending to "having a crack at the air-force & I hope successfully". While we know that Brian already knows Hugh's sister Pam and has taken a shine to her (they were to marry and become my parents), is this Hugh Wells being referred to or Brian's friend Hugh Stocks who we know also did fly? Other letters refer to having seen Hugh.
