 Completing his training in June 1941, Pilot Officer Waddy was posted to the North African theatre with No. 250 (Fighter) Squadron RAF, operating P-40 Tomahawks and, later, Kittyhawks. He was befriended and mentored by the RAAF's top-scoring ace, Clive "Killer" Caldwell, who became godfather to Waddy's daughter. Waddy's first operational sortie was as Caldwell's wingman; he found the ensuing dogfight so fast and confusing that he had no idea what was happening and afterwards had to ask the more experienced pilot how things had gone. On 9 December, he registered his first victory — in a Tomahawk that had previously been Caldwell's personal mount — when he shared in the destruction of a Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engined fighter near El Adem.
