months when that happened, and clearly if I got another aeroplane I’d have to have another pilot. This gentle, ferocious-looking Sikh was certainly a possibility. I said,
“What about the bank, Gujar? You want to think a bit before giving up a steady job like that. I may go bust at any time.”
He smiled. “It may be a breach of confidence, but of necessity I know the balance of your account, what it was when you came here and what it is now. I am prepared to take the chance.”
I liked Gujar. He was modest and careful. It did not seem to me that he was likely to crash an aircraft. I knew nothing of him as a navigator, or how steady he would be in an emergency. But in these things one has to trust one’s judgment, and my whole instinct now was to give this a trial.
“Tell me,” I said. “Are you married? I don’t want to pry into your affairs, but I’d like to know that.”
“I am married,” he said. “My wife is a Sikh also. I have three children. I live at the northwest side of the souk.”
I knew that part. It was in a part of the town where only Asiatics live, a part where there are no made roads, just alleys between the houses. Probably he lived in one room, or at the most in two.
“How much money would you want?” I asked.
“I will tell you,” he said. “At the bank I am paid two hundred and fifty rupees a month, and I can increase that by ten rupees a month for every year of service.” He smiled. “Our needs are lessthan yours, and we are quite comfortable on that. I would come to fly for you for the same money as I am getting at the bank, but if you should take on another pilot under me I should expect promotion.”
That was fair enough, of course. I always have to translate rupees into English money in my mind, because most of the aircraft costs and contracts are in terms of sterling. Two hundred and fifty rupees a month, which he was getting in the bank, was about two hundred and twenty pounds a year, less than the wage of a farm labourer in England. On that he was quite happy with a wife and three children. If I were to get an English pilot out from England to fill this job I should have to pay at least a thousand a year, more than four times the wage that Gujar Singh wanted. The balance would pay for a good many minor crashes if my judgment proved to be wrong. But I didn’t think it was.
“Look, Gujar,” I said. “We’d both better think this over for a bit. Until I’ve got another aeroplane I don’t want another pilot. It’ll be three months or so before the thing becomes acute. But I’ll certainly bear it in mind.”
“That is all I want,” he said. “Just keep it in your mind. I would rather work for you than continue to work in the bank. What sort of aeroplane do you think that you will buy?”
“There’s a new thing just out called a Basing Airtruck,” I said. “That’s what we want out here. High wing, two of these engines, and a great big cabin for a ton of freight. I’ve got the specification in my room, if you’d like to come in and see it.”
I had a good many talks with Gujar after that, and I confirmed the good opinion I had formed of him. His knowledge of aircraft wasn’t very deep, but then it didn’t have to be. He hadn’t got a licence of any sort, of course, but I had little doubt that he could get a B licence in the lowest category, making it legal for him to carry passengers in the Fox-Moth.
That spring the Air Ministry sent an R.A.F. Tiger Moth to Bahrein, an old instructional type that was used for
ab initio
training in the war. They were evidently getting worried that morale would suffer if flying officers were stationed there indefinitely with nothing to fly, and a large R.A.F. aerodrome with no aeroplanes at all looks rather odd to foreigners. The Tiger Moth is a smallopen two-seater with dual control, and for a time this thing was in the air all day, mostly inverted. When the rush for it subsided a bit, I asked the C.O. if one of the
“What about the bank, Gujar? You want to think a bit before giving up a steady job like that. I may go bust at any time.”
He smiled. “It may be a breach of confidence, but of necessity I know the balance of your account, what it was when you came here and what it is now. I am prepared to take the chance.”
I liked Gujar. He was modest and careful. It did not seem to me that he was likely to crash an aircraft. I knew nothing of him as a navigator, or how steady he would be in an emergency. But in these things one has to trust one’s judgment, and my whole instinct now was to give this a trial.
“Tell me,” I said. “Are you married? I don’t want to pry into your affairs, but I’d like to know that.”
“I am married,” he said. “My wife is a Sikh also. I have three children. I live at the northwest side of the souk.”
I knew that part. It was in a part of the town where only Asiatics live, a part where there are no made roads, just alleys between the houses. Probably he lived in one room, or at the most in two.
“How much money would you want?” I asked.
“I will tell you,” he said. “At the bank I am paid two hundred and fifty rupees a month, and I can increase that by ten rupees a month for every year of service.” He smiled. “Our needs are lessthan yours, and we are quite comfortable on that. I would come to fly for you for the same money as I am getting at the bank, but if you should take on another pilot under me I should expect promotion.”
That was fair enough, of course. I always have to translate rupees into English money in my mind, because most of the aircraft costs and contracts are in terms of sterling. Two hundred and fifty rupees a month, which he was getting in the bank, was about two hundred and twenty pounds a year, less than the wage of a farm labourer in England. On that he was quite happy with a wife and three children. If I were to get an English pilot out from England to fill this job I should have to pay at least a thousand a year, more than four times the wage that Gujar Singh wanted. The balance would pay for a good many minor crashes if my judgment proved to be wrong. But I didn’t think it was.
“Look, Gujar,” I said. “We’d both better think this over for a bit. Until I’ve got another aeroplane I don’t want another pilot. It’ll be three months or so before the thing becomes acute. But I’ll certainly bear it in mind.”
“That is all I want,” he said. “Just keep it in your mind. I would rather work for you than continue to work in the bank. What sort of aeroplane do you think that you will buy?”
“There’s a new thing just out called a Basing Airtruck,” I said. “That’s what we want out here. High wing, two of these engines, and a great big cabin for a ton of freight. I’ve got the specification in my room, if you’d like to come in and see it.”
I had a good many talks with Gujar after that, and I confirmed the good opinion I had formed of him. His knowledge of aircraft wasn’t very deep, but then it didn’t have to be. He hadn’t got a licence of any sort, of course, but I had little doubt that he could get a B licence in the lowest category, making it legal for him to carry passengers in the Fox-Moth.
That spring the Air Ministry sent an R.A.F. Tiger Moth to Bahrein, an old instructional type that was used for
ab initio
training in the war. They were evidently getting worried that morale would suffer if flying officers were stationed there indefinitely with nothing to fly, and a large R.A.F. aerodrome with no aeroplanes at all looks rather odd to foreigners. The Tiger Moth is a smallopen two-seater with dual control, and for a time this thing was in the air all day, mostly inverted. When the rush for it subsided a bit, I asked the C.O. if one of the
Similar Books
