Document created: 19 March 02
Published Air & Space Power Chronicles

“Gremlins were very much a part of Air Force life.  There were good gremlins and bad gremlins, mostly bad.   They were everywhere, on every station I served on, in Australia, Canada, England and especially the Middle East.   An engine wouldn’t start--a gremlin.   An Air Speed Indicator suddenly found unserviceable--another gremlin.  Guns jammed, oil pressure gauge U/S, undercarriage wouldn’t lock--more gremlins. They nearly drove ground crews crazy.  There was no escaping them.  Like the mythical leprechauns of Irish folklore they were to be respected, if not revered, lest they bring undone those who served in His Majesty’s Air Force.”

So starts this wonderful memoir of Royal Australian Air Force P-40 pilot Flight Lieutenant Ron Cundy.  The author grew up quite poor near the township on Moonan Flat in Australia and as a shoeless kid who used to stand in warm “cow patties” to warm his feet in the winter, Ron Cundy went on to become an accomplished and highly decorated fighter pilot.  He battled the Germans in North Africa in 1941-1942 with RAF 260 Squadron, flew as a flight instructor with 2 Operational Training Unit at Milduria, Victoria and while flying Spitfires, fought the Japanese as part of 452 Squadron from October 1943 until September 1944. 

Gremlin is one of a group of books that has hit the market detailing the Commonwealth Air Forces’ accomplishments in North Africa.  This book is the perfect companion book to the recently released Kittyhawks Over the Sands: The Canadians and RCAF Americans written by Michel Lavigne and Canadian Ace James ‘Stocky’ Edwards.  Written primarily as a memoir of Cundy’s time in North Africa, there are many anecdotal accounts of life in the desert.  These airmen endured hardships from the interminable heat during the days to the cold desert nights.  They slept six men to a tent, drank chlorinated water, endured the dreaded “Gyppo Gut” that sent men running to the rest room time after time, reluctantly ate the tinned bully-beef and hard-tack biscuits that constituted their main diet and coped with sand in everything imaginable. 

One of the more endearing qualities about this book is Cundy’s modesty.  Although his 5 ½ victories will not earn him a place in the “fighter pilot hall of fame,” his dedication and daily involvement in combat is a story to admire.  Not like a lot of fighter pilot braggadocio you read in other memoirs, Cundy tells his story without much fanfare or exaggeration.  Not boasting of his personal abilities, Cundy discusses his initial training in Australia and Canada, the day-to-day operations within an RAF fighter squadron in North Africa, combat with the German Luftwaffe and witnessing the deaths of many friends and squadron mates.  When discussing a Canadian pilot’s daily fight with fear for example, Cundy wrote, “Bravery is a subjective word.  In my opinion, the bravest of the brave are those who fear the most but continue to face the enemy.  This young Canadian was the bravest man I ever met.”  Insight and observation like this makes for a very pleasant and believable book.

The book contains many rare or never before published black and white photographs of friendly and enemy aircraft, squadron personnel, German pilots and maps of the area.  Although a gallery of squadron pilots might have been nice to include, its omission does not detract from the book.  Overall, A Gremlin on My Shoulder is an enjoyable book that adds a personal dimension to the air war in Africa that most other books tend to ignore

 Lt Col Robert Tate, USAFR
Maxwell AFB

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.