Pilot to Navigator - Where are we?
Title
Pilot to Navigator - Where are we?
The Personal Account of a Wartime Navigator
Description
Henry, volunteered for the RAF and learned to fly Tiger Moths at Brough, before being transferred to South Africa on a troopship. His flying training came to an end after a poor solo flight and he was re-trained as a navigator. On completion of his training he returned to the UK. After an inactive posting to Whitley Bay he was sent to RAF West Freugh for further training before joining an operational training unit at RAF Abingdon, where he crewed up.
Training continued on Whitleys before a transfer to RAF Acaster Malbis for additional training, followed by the heavy conversion unit at Marston Moor, on Halifaxes. His first operational posting was 51 Squadron at RAF Snaith. There are detailed descriptions of both the operations and explanations of electronic systems and tactics used. During one operation he was shot down and parachuted behind the German lines, before eventually being taken prisoner, interrogated then transferred to Stalag Luft 7. As the Russians got nearer they were forced to walk west. Later they were transferred by train to Stalag IIIA. The account then jumps to reunions in the 1980s before reverting to the last few days at the camp as the war ends. He reached home on 15 May.
This item is available only at the International Bomber Command Centre / University of Lincoln.
Training continued on Whitleys before a transfer to RAF Acaster Malbis for additional training, followed by the heavy conversion unit at Marston Moor, on Halifaxes. His first operational posting was 51 Squadron at RAF Snaith. There are detailed descriptions of both the operations and explanations of electronic systems and tactics used. During one operation he was shot down and parachuted behind the German lines, before eventually being taken prisoner, interrogated then transferred to Stalag Luft 7. As the Russians got nearer they were forced to walk west. Later they were transferred by train to Stalag IIIA. The account then jumps to reunions in the 1980s before reverting to the last few days at the camp as the war ends. He reached home on 15 May.
This item is available only at the International Bomber Command Centre / University of Lincoln.
Creator
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
73 page book
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
BWagnerHWWagnerHWv1
Collection
Citation
Henry Wagner, “Pilot to Navigator - Where are we?,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed November 11, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/27091.