Charles Martin Allen by Mrs Anne Phillips (niece)
Title
Charles Martin Allen by Mrs Anne Phillips (niece)
Description
A brief biography of Charlie written by his niece, Anne. Charlie was an air gunner on Bob's crew.
Creator
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
One printed sheet
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.
Identifier
SCookeJRA1336866v10006
Transcription
Charles Martin Allen by Mrs Anne Phillips – neice [sic]
[photograph]
I was five years old during my uncle's time with 51 Sqdn and my sister Mrs Gillian Davies was four. My other sister Miss Rosemary Allen is too young to have met him. Our personal recollections of him are of the many leaves that he spent with our family. He was great fun and we always looked forward to his staying with us. He used to push us on our swings and I remember him playing 'Hide and Seek' with us in our large garden. He climbed and lay along the branch of an apple tree, so we could not find him!
My father always described Charlie as a happy-go-lucky fellow, who enjoyed dancing, a pint and a flutter on the horses. Letters sent to my parents whilst he was in the RAF reflected this style of life. His service in the RAF started in 1941, when he was 23. Initially he served in Maintenance Command, though his one ambition whilst in the RAF was to receive a place as aircrew. In 1942 he was posted to Coastal Command where he worked with the Air Sea Rescue Service until April 1943 rescuing survivors and recovering casualties of both sides of the war, which must have been harrowing on occasions. After successfully attending an Air Crew Selection Board, he trained as an Air Gunner at RAF Andreas on the Isle of Man and then joined 4 other members of his crew for training in a Wellington Bomber at RAF Lossiemouth. Sgts. Jukes and Perkins, the Mid-Upper Gunner and Flight Engineer respectively joined them at 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit at Marston Moor early in 1944, when they converted to the larger (four-engine) Halifax III.
[break]
Training, The Crew's Formation and Operations
Bob volunteered for the RAF on his 18th birthday, 4th February 1941, to fulfil his lifelong ambition of becoming a pilot. He was called up that August. After initial training he went to South Africa, returning in May 1943 with his 'wings'. After conversion to multi-engine aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth and a spell at Operational Training Unit 1652 at Marston Moor, where the crew met and trained together, they were posted to 51 Squadron of 4 Group, Bomber Command.
The crew joined 'C' Flight of the squadron at the beginning of May 1944. 51 Sqn was stationed at the village of Pollington, Yorkshire (the airfield was actually named Snaith, after the local town, because there was another bomber station at Pocklington nearby, which would have been confusing over a radio transmission). Their first operation was in MH S-"Sugar" on 9th May to bomb a coastal gun battery at Morsalines, Normandy. Bob and his crew carried out this and a further 17 missions successfully against targets in France and Belgium during the hectic period of May and June 1944. At this time, the main effort by Bomber Command was concentrated on preparing for and supporting the Normandy Invasion; Also attacking V1 launch sites, which had started firing these rockets at Southern England in early June. They failed to return from their nineteenth mission, whilst flying in MH T-"Tommy" serial number LV 782. Approximately 280 heavy bombers were sent in the early evening light on 30th June to attack a large formation of enemy armour leagered [sic] for the night at Villers Bocage, Normandy. Two divisions of panzers were due to counter attack the Allied invading forces the following morning, the 1st July; so there was one opportunity that evening to disrupt their attack. On that occasion they were in T-Tommy and as luck would have it they were at the end of the 'bomber stream'.
[photograph]
I was five years old during my uncle's time with 51 Sqdn and my sister Mrs Gillian Davies was four. My other sister Miss Rosemary Allen is too young to have met him. Our personal recollections of him are of the many leaves that he spent with our family. He was great fun and we always looked forward to his staying with us. He used to push us on our swings and I remember him playing 'Hide and Seek' with us in our large garden. He climbed and lay along the branch of an apple tree, so we could not find him!
My father always described Charlie as a happy-go-lucky fellow, who enjoyed dancing, a pint and a flutter on the horses. Letters sent to my parents whilst he was in the RAF reflected this style of life. His service in the RAF started in 1941, when he was 23. Initially he served in Maintenance Command, though his one ambition whilst in the RAF was to receive a place as aircrew. In 1942 he was posted to Coastal Command where he worked with the Air Sea Rescue Service until April 1943 rescuing survivors and recovering casualties of both sides of the war, which must have been harrowing on occasions. After successfully attending an Air Crew Selection Board, he trained as an Air Gunner at RAF Andreas on the Isle of Man and then joined 4 other members of his crew for training in a Wellington Bomber at RAF Lossiemouth. Sgts. Jukes and Perkins, the Mid-Upper Gunner and Flight Engineer respectively joined them at 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit at Marston Moor early in 1944, when they converted to the larger (four-engine) Halifax III.
[break]
Training, The Crew's Formation and Operations
Bob volunteered for the RAF on his 18th birthday, 4th February 1941, to fulfil his lifelong ambition of becoming a pilot. He was called up that August. After initial training he went to South Africa, returning in May 1943 with his 'wings'. After conversion to multi-engine aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth and a spell at Operational Training Unit 1652 at Marston Moor, where the crew met and trained together, they were posted to 51 Squadron of 4 Group, Bomber Command.
The crew joined 'C' Flight of the squadron at the beginning of May 1944. 51 Sqn was stationed at the village of Pollington, Yorkshire (the airfield was actually named Snaith, after the local town, because there was another bomber station at Pocklington nearby, which would have been confusing over a radio transmission). Their first operation was in MH S-"Sugar" on 9th May to bomb a coastal gun battery at Morsalines, Normandy. Bob and his crew carried out this and a further 17 missions successfully against targets in France and Belgium during the hectic period of May and June 1944. At this time, the main effort by Bomber Command was concentrated on preparing for and supporting the Normandy Invasion; Also attacking V1 launch sites, which had started firing these rockets at Southern England in early June. They failed to return from their nineteenth mission, whilst flying in MH T-"Tommy" serial number LV 782. Approximately 280 heavy bombers were sent in the early evening light on 30th June to attack a large formation of enemy armour leagered [sic] for the night at Villers Bocage, Normandy. Two divisions of panzers were due to counter attack the Allied invading forces the following morning, the 1st July; so there was one opportunity that evening to disrupt their attack. On that occasion they were in T-Tommy and as luck would have it they were at the end of the 'bomber stream'.
Collection
Citation
Anne Phillips, “Charles Martin Allen by Mrs Anne Phillips (niece),” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed September 12, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/43021.