A young Charlie in Malaya

Cecil Reginald Young was born on the 20th January 1920 to British parents Robert Guy Young and Margaret Ann Davidson, in Kuala Lumpur.

Robert and Margaret had met and married in Edinburgh, Scotland on the 20th January 1919 whilst Robert was lieutenant in the Royal Air Force.

Cecil grew up at his parents Karak Estate, Bentong, Pahang, with his younger brother Robert A Young.

At thirteen years of age, Cecil or "Charlie" as he preferred to be called left Malaya to attend Felsted School in Essex, England.

Charlie with his brother Robert and Mother

At school, Charlie was an outstanding athlete; he is recognized in the Felsted Sporting Hall, with his name on the 1936 Cricket Team and the 1937 Hockey Team.
He also showed his talent in Rugby, Tennis and Fives (a type of hand-tennis).
From 1934 to 1937 Charlie attended Corporal School, Officers Training Corps.

After finishing his schooling, Charlie like many other young men, saw the glamour and attraction in the art of flying.
He applied for a medical check and was classified 'Fit as pilot' on May 4 1939.

Charlie then applied for a short term (6 year) commission in the R.A.F and joined Civilian Flight School Gatwick on May 30. From then on, he was classed as Acting P/O on probation. He remained at Gatwick until July 22 1939.

On Aug 8 1939, after two months at the Flying School, Charlie was sent to No.11 Flying Training School, No.13 Course, 23 Group at Shawbury.

Finally on Oct 25 1939, Charlie was authorized to wear his Flying Badge. By then, Charlie had flown a range of different aircraft, the Hawker Audax, Hart, Hind and the Magister.

On completion of his training (Jan 27 1940), the following paragraph was written by the examiner at No.11 F.T.S:

"Grounded subject to below average, lazy and comparatively low intelligence. An average pilot but lacks concentration. Shows poor sense of responsibility."

Although this comment seems to downgrade Charlie, it was a typical one made by instructors who were very harsh before WW2 broke out. (In the late 1930s, flying was still considered more of a sport or fashion than a way to wage war).

Despite this, Charlie passed comfortably with a final mark of 70.1%.

On Feb 1 1940, Charlie was graded as acting P/O on probation at No. 11 Group Pool, St. Athan. This marked the beginning of his air force career. Unfortunately due to bad weather Charlie did not get any flying here.

Almost immediately, on Feb 3, Charlie was posted to 601 Squadron based at RAF Tangmere to make room for Finnish pilots selected to be trained and fly twelve Hurricanes to Finland.

From the 601 Squadron (Operational Record Book)ORBs we find that Charlie was busy building up his flying hours and honing his skills with hurricanes. The ORBs tell us that in the early days of April he was practicing his basic aircraft handling skills, taking off and landing several times a day. The ORBs also shows that in the latter days of April and into May he was learning the skills of war including live firing, high altitude flying, night landing and formation flying. All of these skills were to be put into practice sooner than thought.

On May 10, war broke out in France.