Clearing snow off the runway, RAF Fiskerton, Yorkshire, England, c. 1945. The state of weather has always been a source of conversation in the United Kingdom and the No. 467 Squadron RAAF diarist certainly noticed it on 9–10 January 1945: ‘Snow fell today [8 January] and looking at the sky it seems that we are in for a big fall tonight … It seems we did not pray hard enough last night, for more snow fell today [10 January] necessitating plenty of shovel work'. Further remarks on the atrocious weather in eastern England followed throughout January: 'One entry in the diary today—snow'; 'Wet day to keep us miserable'; 'The extremely cold weather is having its effect and sickness has gone up 100 per cent—mainly colds'; 'To add to our discomforts a fog descended … visibility was about 30 yards [27 metres]'; 'Snow still present'; 'A heavy snowfall last night did not brighten us at all'. The initial Australian reaction to snow was, predicably, enthusiastic, as Englishwoman Gwen Canlin recalled: 'They were thrilled to bits. They were snowballing us and drubbing our faces in it because they had never seen it before'. But reality quickly set in and soon remarks such as 'snowed like hell' or 'trying to clear runways with shovels' indicated that the Australian honeymoon with British snow and winter weather was well and truly over. [No. 467 Squadron RAAF, Operations Record Book, January 1945: Gwen Canlin and others, quoted in Rowe, The luckiest men alive, p. 65; AWM P00811.010]
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