Mock raid on Birmingham
Title
Mock raid on Birmingham
Description
The V-station at which Wing Commander Douglas 'Hank' Iveson served.
Language
Format
Five newspaper cuttings
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
SIvesonD19171121v10019; SIvesonD19171121v10020
Transcription
[photograph]
At the gateway to the home of Britain’s Valiant bombers one of the few women who work with 232 Operational Conversion Unit, Gaydon, Warwickshire. shows her pass to the duty policeman.
She is nursing sister Mrs. Mildred Taylor, of Leamington.
IT is midnight, and from the high vault of the star-spangled sky a gentle murmur floats down to the sleeping suburbs that sprawl round the heart of Birmingham.
The sound passes unnoticed except by a very few who are awake – but it means that 40,000 feet above your heads five young men are plotting the destruction of Britain’s second city.
These men are the crew of a Valiant bomber. They have flown a huge circle track round Britain before sweeping in to make a mock H-bomb raid on the centre of Birmingham.
Attacks such as this are made regularly on many major cities in this country, and the crews who carry them out have all been trained in the Midlands – at Gaydon.
For this Warwickshire RAF base is the home of No. 232 Operational Conversion Unit.
At this depot were trained the men who, a few days ago, flew the Valiant bomber from which was dropped the last H-bomb in the British nuclear tests in the Pacific.
Altogether hundreds of officers and men have received their initial training on the great bombers during the three years that Gaydon has been operating as a “V-Force” base.
Those who live round Gaydon, and work in the quiet Warwickshire fields, sometimes growl to themselves when the four blasting jets of the Valiant thunder overhead.
But, as one villager told me, head craned to look at the high, white con-trails: “A little noise is a small price to pay for security.”
[page break]
[photograph]
Beneath the huge air intakes of the wing a crew receives a pre-flight talk from their Commanding Officer, Group-Capt. B. P. Young (extreme right). With them (extreme left) is flying instructor Flight Lieut. Eric Fell.
These men, among whom is a Birmingham officer, F/O George Craig, of Acocks Green (second from right). will eventually form the corps d’elite of the RAF, for only the best aircrews train for V-bombers.
Special emphasis is placed on their comfort and well-being. and they are provided with an air-conditioned, centrally-heated changing room with showers and lockers for each man.
Because Group-Capt. Young believes that a man works best when his family is looked after, the station has a medical clinic with free treatment for children and expectant mothers.
[break]
[photograph]
One of the men who are mainly responsible for the smooth running of the V-station is Wing Cmdr. D. Iveson, Chief Instructor. During the war, when he served with Bomber Command, he took part in three 1,000-bomber raids over Germany. He has recently completed a tour of duty with the United States Air Force, flying B.29 and B.47 aircraft.
At the gateway to the home of Britain’s Valiant bombers one of the few women who work with 232 Operational Conversion Unit, Gaydon, Warwickshire. shows her pass to the duty policeman.
She is nursing sister Mrs. Mildred Taylor, of Leamington.
IT is midnight, and from the high vault of the star-spangled sky a gentle murmur floats down to the sleeping suburbs that sprawl round the heart of Birmingham.
The sound passes unnoticed except by a very few who are awake – but it means that 40,000 feet above your heads five young men are plotting the destruction of Britain’s second city.
These men are the crew of a Valiant bomber. They have flown a huge circle track round Britain before sweeping in to make a mock H-bomb raid on the centre of Birmingham.
Attacks such as this are made regularly on many major cities in this country, and the crews who carry them out have all been trained in the Midlands – at Gaydon.
For this Warwickshire RAF base is the home of No. 232 Operational Conversion Unit.
At this depot were trained the men who, a few days ago, flew the Valiant bomber from which was dropped the last H-bomb in the British nuclear tests in the Pacific.
Altogether hundreds of officers and men have received their initial training on the great bombers during the three years that Gaydon has been operating as a “V-Force” base.
Those who live round Gaydon, and work in the quiet Warwickshire fields, sometimes growl to themselves when the four blasting jets of the Valiant thunder overhead.
But, as one villager told me, head craned to look at the high, white con-trails: “A little noise is a small price to pay for security.”
[page break]
[photograph]
Beneath the huge air intakes of the wing a crew receives a pre-flight talk from their Commanding Officer, Group-Capt. B. P. Young (extreme right). With them (extreme left) is flying instructor Flight Lieut. Eric Fell.
These men, among whom is a Birmingham officer, F/O George Craig, of Acocks Green (second from right). will eventually form the corps d’elite of the RAF, for only the best aircrews train for V-bombers.
Special emphasis is placed on their comfort and well-being. and they are provided with an air-conditioned, centrally-heated changing room with showers and lockers for each man.
Because Group-Capt. Young believes that a man works best when his family is looked after, the station has a medical clinic with free treatment for children and expectant mothers.
[break]
[photograph]
One of the men who are mainly responsible for the smooth running of the V-station is Wing Cmdr. D. Iveson, Chief Instructor. During the war, when he served with Bomber Command, he took part in three 1,000-bomber raids over Germany. He has recently completed a tour of duty with the United States Air Force, flying B.29 and B.47 aircraft.
Collection
Citation
“Mock raid on Birmingham,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 15, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/44806.