Conversation with Norman Didwell - Hetherington crash
Title
Conversation with Norman Didwell - Hetherington crash
Description
Norman describes refuelling operations and the layout of aircraft. He mentions the state of aircraft and casualties after return from operation. He also describes an accident of crash aircraft near an airfield, the rescue of crew and the presence of hung up bomb, as well as other facts and body of Hetherington. He concludes with the mention of attitudes to groundcrew and their treatment at the time.
Temporal Coverage
Language
Type
Format
00:06:34 audio recording
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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
SBondS-DidwellNv10005
Transcription
SB: The last thing I wanted to ask you about we spoke about Hetherington’s crash at [unclear] on the flat [unclear]
ND: Yes. Well, I mean it was funny. I was filling up a bowser. You see, here’s [unclear] right.
SB: Yeah.
ND: All that. A compound of sand and that was it. So they stuck a twenty thousand gallon in three compartments and what we used to have to do it gradually fed to a pipe down near here. Right.
SB: Yeah.
ND: So we filled the bowsers up there but when they delivered they used to have to have the bowser and come through the bowser into the cans but that was the idea of it. Everyone out of the way of the dispersal area because the aircraft would be dispersed down by the road. You know where the load leads down to Newmarket. Down the road and down that bit where the trees are.
SB: Yeah.
ND: That used to be A Flight and B Flight and I was filling up a bowser and it was just dark then. It was 5 o’clock more or less. The other four aircraft had landed. A fifth one because we lost five over there. That’s right. We lost five over there. six had landed. [unclear] the last one but it had been battle damaged. Wound. The rear gunner was wounded. Tony Payne, the second pilot, Flying Officer Payne he was wounded and Hetherington was wounded. I watched it it had its navigation lights on, right and as it came around —
SB: Have some drink.
ND: Coming over from the [unclear] area, probably over [Exning?] at the time coming around. All of a sudden when he put his flaps down they went up like that. Down went the red light up went the green light and I said, ‘He’s going to go. He’s going to prang.’ And he did. Right. Yet I could have been one of the nearest there because it was just over the other side of Devils Dyke. With that going in Wing Commander Magee, the famous Butch Magee he come charging down in his little Ford van. Little vans they had. He said, ‘Airman, where did that aircraft go down?’ I said, [unclear] He said, ‘Right. [unclear] jump in here and point me to it.’ And we got there at just about the same time as the fire crew. But I had to get over the dyke, the bank what they called Devil’s Dyke. I went over there and by that time the fire crew was there and the ambulance was there and we, by then saw what a mess it was in and there was the smell of fuel as you might know. Oh, Christ if there were any sparks [unclear] Little did we know there was a bomb on. So we got Payne out. He was wounded in the leg. We got Payne out. Sexton, the observer he was in a terrible state. [unclear] ‘Oh let me die. Let me die.’ We couldn’t find Hetherington’s body. [John] Craig was still in his turret because it broke up [unclear] right there. Get him out with the ladder and he was wounded in the arm but it was still in the van and so we got [unclear] out. I helped to get Sexton out and then we got to Hetherington. Well, underneath the [unclear] part of the aircraft. We got Sharp, the front air gunner, he was killed outright and so was Pete [unclear] the wireless op. So we found Hetherington’s body and got his body out and that was it. Right. About 8 o’clock they wanted crash carts so and I was amazed. [Colin Campbell] an air gunner had been on the sortie. [unclear] [unclear] an AC1 flight mech a.g. They’d been on the raid. They were on [crash carts?]
SB: Oh, bloody hell.
ND: Now, that was the Air Force in ’39.
SB: Yeah.
ND: ’40.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Until April ’40 [unclear]
SB: Yeah.
ND: Sergeants paid nine pound a day, nine bob a day rather. Flight mech, AC1, air gunner three and sixpence a day trade pay, sixpence on top as an air gunner, qualified air gunner. [unclear] So you understand now why there was a lack of ground crew who refused to support the RAF Associations.
SB: Right.
ND: And Bomber Command Association.
SB: Dear me. Outrageous.
ND: We lost, we lost a lot of [financing] over the way they were treated the first twelve months of the war you know. They lost a lot. A lot of blokes who would have —
SB: Good will.
ND: Good will over the support and I will say this. Don Ratcliffe, the secretary of the Bomber Command Association [unclear] he tried to get some of the ex-ground crew interested. He did try. He said we lost a lot of support through the stupidity and this old cavalry brigade discipline which he said came down to —
ND: Yes. Well, I mean it was funny. I was filling up a bowser. You see, here’s [unclear] right.
SB: Yeah.
ND: All that. A compound of sand and that was it. So they stuck a twenty thousand gallon in three compartments and what we used to have to do it gradually fed to a pipe down near here. Right.
SB: Yeah.
ND: So we filled the bowsers up there but when they delivered they used to have to have the bowser and come through the bowser into the cans but that was the idea of it. Everyone out of the way of the dispersal area because the aircraft would be dispersed down by the road. You know where the load leads down to Newmarket. Down the road and down that bit where the trees are.
SB: Yeah.
ND: That used to be A Flight and B Flight and I was filling up a bowser and it was just dark then. It was 5 o’clock more or less. The other four aircraft had landed. A fifth one because we lost five over there. That’s right. We lost five over there. six had landed. [unclear] the last one but it had been battle damaged. Wound. The rear gunner was wounded. Tony Payne, the second pilot, Flying Officer Payne he was wounded and Hetherington was wounded. I watched it it had its navigation lights on, right and as it came around —
SB: Have some drink.
ND: Coming over from the [unclear] area, probably over [Exning?] at the time coming around. All of a sudden when he put his flaps down they went up like that. Down went the red light up went the green light and I said, ‘He’s going to go. He’s going to prang.’ And he did. Right. Yet I could have been one of the nearest there because it was just over the other side of Devils Dyke. With that going in Wing Commander Magee, the famous Butch Magee he come charging down in his little Ford van. Little vans they had. He said, ‘Airman, where did that aircraft go down?’ I said, [unclear] He said, ‘Right. [unclear] jump in here and point me to it.’ And we got there at just about the same time as the fire crew. But I had to get over the dyke, the bank what they called Devil’s Dyke. I went over there and by that time the fire crew was there and the ambulance was there and we, by then saw what a mess it was in and there was the smell of fuel as you might know. Oh, Christ if there were any sparks [unclear] Little did we know there was a bomb on. So we got Payne out. He was wounded in the leg. We got Payne out. Sexton, the observer he was in a terrible state. [unclear] ‘Oh let me die. Let me die.’ We couldn’t find Hetherington’s body. [John] Craig was still in his turret because it broke up [unclear] right there. Get him out with the ladder and he was wounded in the arm but it was still in the van and so we got [unclear] out. I helped to get Sexton out and then we got to Hetherington. Well, underneath the [unclear] part of the aircraft. We got Sharp, the front air gunner, he was killed outright and so was Pete [unclear] the wireless op. So we found Hetherington’s body and got his body out and that was it. Right. About 8 o’clock they wanted crash carts so and I was amazed. [Colin Campbell] an air gunner had been on the sortie. [unclear] [unclear] an AC1 flight mech a.g. They’d been on the raid. They were on [crash carts?]
SB: Oh, bloody hell.
ND: Now, that was the Air Force in ’39.
SB: Yeah.
ND: ’40.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Until April ’40 [unclear]
SB: Yeah.
ND: Sergeants paid nine pound a day, nine bob a day rather. Flight mech, AC1, air gunner three and sixpence a day trade pay, sixpence on top as an air gunner, qualified air gunner. [unclear] So you understand now why there was a lack of ground crew who refused to support the RAF Associations.
SB: Right.
ND: And Bomber Command Association.
SB: Dear me. Outrageous.
ND: We lost, we lost a lot of [financing] over the way they were treated the first twelve months of the war you know. They lost a lot. A lot of blokes who would have —
SB: Good will.
ND: Good will over the support and I will say this. Don Ratcliffe, the secretary of the Bomber Command Association [unclear] he tried to get some of the ex-ground crew interested. He did try. He said we lost a lot of support through the stupidity and this old cavalry brigade discipline which he said came down to —
Collection
Citation
S Bond and N Didwell, “Conversation with Norman Didwell - Hetherington crash,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 14, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/49107.