Up In The Air
The World War I Diaries of Balloonist Cyril Gordon Jones
17 MON. Strong wind SW and rain. Mcneece and Nelson visited Sectn. Nelson placed temporally in command. Liked him very much. Showed him round. Great alterations. Parade at 8.30am instead of 7am. Men knocked off at 4.30pm instead of 8pm. No ballooning. Moved into our hut. Very comfortable.
18 TUE. Strong wins NW and rain. No ballooning. Corpl Jones cut my hair. Arrangements made to build hut for stores and tarpaulin.
19 WED. Wet cold day strong wind W. Commenced garage. No mail. No ballooning.
20 THUR. Strong wind SW 17.6 miles per hr. No ballooning. Mcneece visited us and promised to recommend me for leave as soon as it restarted. Went to Pop to see about moving posts for No9 Sectn by Rail. Leg of lamb arrived.
21 FRI. Good Friday. Dull day, Occasnl sun. Nelson and I up. Wind 2000ft 15 miles per hour. Poor view. Rather gusty. Boesinghe just visible.
22 SAT. Very wet day. Nelson and I went to Hazebruck by car in morning and bought chairs etc for his hut. I bought photos (Kerchinge) and small brooch (2 for 50 cents) Caterpillar shifted workshop lorry for our wood to road. Howard and Gavin went to Ballieul in afternoon. Heavy strafe all night. Germans took some of our trenches.
23 SUN. Easter Sunday. St George’s Day. Lovely fine day. Went to 13 Bgde Heavys in morning. No shoot on. Valantengs. Working of balloon explained. Shewn base of 17in German shell, weighed 120lbs. Balloon up all day. I went up from to . Rather rough, marvellous view between 6 and 7. Spotted several flashes and trains.