Wartime Washington – a bourgeois town

Leadbelly found wartime Washington a bourgeois town in his 1938 song of the same name – in DC at the invitation of folklorist Alan Lomax, he and his wife were repeatedly refused hotel accommodation.  How ironic given that well over thirty per cent of the federal capital’s population was African American, and service and support staff were overwhelmingly black.  The Fairey family lived in Washington from the summer of 1940 to the start of 1945, for most of that time CRF serving as Director-General of the British Air Commission.  Leaving aside the difference in the racial and ethnic composition between the respective capitals of the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1940s, the contrast between the American and British home fronts was stark – on those occasions during the war when the now Sir Richard Fairey returned home (crossing the Atlantic courtesy of Pan Am Clipper, Douglas Skyliner, and requisitioned liner) the difference between the quality of life enjoyed by Americans and the austerity experienced by the British was striking.  Having written around 17,000 words of my chapter on Fairey’s wartime years, a few more days will see its completion.  Sitting at home in the conservatory with my leg propped up on cushions and crutches by my side, one day after my knee operation, I’m aware that completion will be delayed for a little while.  Nevertheless, it won’t be that long; and then I shall just have to research and write a lengthy chapter on Fairey’s final decade.  Add a conclusion and a forward/acknowledgements, and the manuscript will be finished.  At that point I shall await Jane Tennant completing her reading of each chapter, and spend time at Pittleworth Manor viewing home movies to spot anything relevant. Last Monday I went further up the Test and visited Bossington at the invitation of Sarah Jane Fairey to examine a fascinating collection of photographs and news cuttings previously held at Yeovilton.  At least one of those photographs I envisage featuring on the cover of The Man Who Built The Swordfish, which will now definitely be published by I.B. Tauris.  Onwards and upwards, albeit limping along the way!