395 hours in a bomber
Title
395 hours in a bomber
Description
A talk given by Wing Commander Douglas 'Hank' Iveson on his service career.
Creator
Date
1945-04-24
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
One typed 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.
Contributor
Identifier
SIvesonD19171121v10008
Transcription
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Tuesday April 24th 1945.
Kiwanis Krier,
DETROIT.
[underlined] 395 Hours in a Bomber – by Fred Evans. [/underlined]
Wing Commander Douglas Iveson who has flown 395 operational hours in a bomber over Germany, Africa, and Norway, gave us a half hour last Tuesday packed with wit, information and thrills.
In 1942 his Wing was a part of the 1000 bomber raid on Cologne. Two square miles in the centre of the city were destroyed in that action and it was nine months before any activity was resumed in that section of Cologne. He also told of the shift to Africa to help Montgomery at El-Allemain. Then back to England to bomb the Tirpitz in a narrow fiord in Norway at mast height in the night hemmed in by mountains on either side.
Mr. Iveson also participated in the bombing of Normandy on D. Day. At Caen he was in the great raid of 1250 bombers with 1000 Liberators and fighters – the greatest bomber fleet ever – which dropped 600 tons of bombs on the target in 29 seconds. Coming back from this mission was a thrilling experience, a stream of aircraft 350 miles long returning to bases in England.
In a talk filled with interesting human interest stories, from his 59 bombing missions, Wing Commander Iveson held his large audience from the very beginning and can have a return engagement any time.
[page break]
Tuesday April 24th 1945.
Kiwanis Krier,
DETROIT.
[underlined] 395 Hours in a Bomber – by Fred Evans. [/underlined]
Wing Commander Douglas Iveson who has flown 395 operational hours in a bomber over Germany, Africa, and Norway, gave us a half hour last Tuesday packed with wit, information and thrills.
In 1942 his Wing was a part of the 1000 bomber raid on Cologne. Two square miles in the centre of the city were destroyed in that action and it was nine months before any activity was resumed in that section of Cologne. He also told of the shift to Africa to help Montgomery at El-Allemain. Then back to England to bomb the Tirpitz in a narrow fiord in Norway at mast height in the night hemmed in by mountains on either side.
Mr. Iveson also participated in the bombing of Normandy on D. Day. At Caen he was in the great raid of 1250 bombers with 1000 Liberators and fighters – the greatest bomber fleet ever – which dropped 600 tons of bombs on the target in 29 seconds. Coming back from this mission was a thrilling experience, a stream of aircraft 350 miles long returning to bases in England.
In a talk filled with interesting human interest stories, from his 59 bombing missions, Wing Commander Iveson held his large audience from the very beginning and can have a return engagement any time.
Collection
Citation
Fred Evans, “395 hours in a bomber,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed May 21, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/44786.