It was nice yesterday
It was nice yesterday is a short story by the British writer Roald Dahl (1916–1990). It was first published in 1946 in the Over to You collection under the original title Yesterday was Beautiful . The German translation Yesterday it was nice of Alfred Scholz in 1966 in the collection ... get out ... machine burning ... issued.
action
A pilot of the Royal Air Force jumps in World War II with the parachute from his plane, and land on a Greek island. On landing he sprained an ankle. He is looking for a boat that will take him to mainland Greece. The village he comes to seems deserted. Eventually he meets an old man at a drinking water trough who looks confused and expressionless. The British pilot repeatedly asks him if he knows anyone with a boat. Finally, the old man refers to Joannis Spirakis, who used to live in the house by the sea that was destroyed by Germans today. Now he lives in Antonina Angelou's house; Joannis will probably not be there, but his wife Anna. Joannis has had the boat since he was a child. When the pilot leaves, the old man mentions that Joannis and Anna's daughter Maria was in the house when the Germans bombed it .
When the pilot finds Antonina's house, he tells Anna that he is looking for her husband Joannis because of a needed boat. The old woman asks about the Germans and the pilot tells her that they are near Lamia . The old woman reports that they come over every day and drop their bombs. The pilot asks the old woman again about her husband Joannis about the boat they need.
“'Joannis ... is not here. He went out ... there he is ... that's him. ' She pointed to the old man who was sitting next to the drinking water trough. "
Roald Dahl as a fighter pilot in Greece
Roald Dahl himself was deployed as a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force in April 1941 with his Hawker Hurricane in Greece, where he, like the other Hurricane pilots, was always alone on the plane. In a first aerial combat on April 15, 1941, he fought as a fighter pilot alone Chalkis , reached the same six German bomber of the type Ju 88 and shot them one of these bombers. A day later, he shot down another German Ju 88 bomber over Chalkis, which wanted to destroy an ammunition transport ship. On April 20, 1941, Dahl was involved in the Battle of Athens , where he fought with his Hawker Hurricane and eleven other RAF hurricanes against a superior force of at least 200 Air Force aircraft , mainly the Bf 109 and Bf 110 types . The British pilots including Dahl shot down twelve German planes. Of the twelve hurricanes, five were shot down and four RAF pilots were killed.
See also
literature
- Roald Dahl: Yesterday it was nice in: ... get out ... machine is on fire ... 10 Fliegergeschichten, Reinbek 1966, p. 93 - p. 97
- Roald Dahl: Boy / Going it alone. The autobiographical stories, Reinbek 2016
- Roald Dahl: Yesterday was Beautiful, in: Over to You. Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying, London 1973, pp. 108 - 112
Web links
- Yesterday was Beautiful - full English text
- Yesterday was Beautiful - more information
- Roald Dahl as a pilot in the Royal Air Force in Greece - with photos (in English)