A conversation with Guy Sharp
Title
A conversation with Guy Sharp
Description
Guy starts with some comments on training at RAF Cranfield and RAF Lossiemouth, August 1940, before joining 9 Squadron at RAF Honington in November 1940 as a Wellington co-pilot. He recalls making a mistake on first operation to Mannheim. He was then selected to go, initially to Greece, but as the campaign was over, then went to Egypt and joined 70 Squadron in April 41. He mentions that one of six aircraft was lost in transit to Egypt, and comments on flying the Wellington and about other losses. He recalls that carried out 54 operations without a break, 20 on 9 Squadron and the rest on 70 Squadron. He talks about the trip back to England, Initially on target towing Blenheim, and then as Wellington instructor on OTU an RAF North Luffenham. He recalls meeting Arthur C Clark at RAF Honiley. He tells of a ground collision with another Wellington and losing the front turret. Talks about different marks of Wellington, including Mk V and Mark VI, although he did not fly them. Guy spends some time chatting with interviewer about contents of log book and photographs. He also mentions sorties with simulated mustard gas. He mentions an operation to Derma and strafing convoys. Guy stated that staff crews, not students, were used when OTUs were tasked on 1000 bomber operations. Guy says he was surprised that he got into RAF due to prior medical issues. He then relates some anecdotes about post war career in civil aviation. Includes contemporary colour photograph.
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00:58:18 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-SharpGv10010, SBondS-SharpGv10011
Transcription
GS: And unfortunately the foul weather in ’39 40 we were at ITW Hastings.
SB: Yes.
GS: Or St Leonards.
SB: Yes.
GS: For eight and a half months.
SB: Really?
GS: Doing an eight-week course.
SB: Good grief.
GS: And so I didn’t go solo for about seven months and —
SB: So after —
GS: Mainly —
SB: Sorry, go on.
GS: Go on.
SB: Yeah. After ITW where did you go for your flying training then?
GS: To Cranfield.
SB: Oh right. My home airfield.
GS: Oh really? You were at university there eh?
SB: Well, no. But I live about three miles from Cranfield.
GS: Oh. Well, it was, we did a hundred hours there. I think it was a hundred hours on Oxfords.
SB: Right. Right. Yeah.
GS: And then went up to Lossiemouth where we had our first course not to lose a crew. I think we were number nine course.
SB: Really?
GS: And —
SB: When would that have been, Guy?
GS: This was August ’40.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: They were getting up.
SB: Yeah.
GS: I didn’t go on to ops until November. Late November ’40.
SB: Right.
GS: And we went to Honington.
SB: Yes, survived Honington.
GS: Then that became an American Air Force Base.
SB: Yes, indeed. Yes.
GS: But it was a grass airfield and my very first op I cocked things up. I was, I selected flap but I couldn’t have put the thing back into the neutral position. It was slightly down.
SB: Right.
GS: So when we took off we had full flap.
SB: Oh right.
GS: On a grass airfield. Wet.
SB: Ah.
GS: And we were going to Mannheim which I knew very well because I’d been there many times before the war in ’34/’35.
SB: Oh right.
GS: ’37.
SB: Right.
GS: I stopped with a German family to learn the lingo.
SB: Oh, ok.
GS: I managed to get a distinction in oral German. My French was so bad they didn’t even make me take it as matriculation.
SB: Oh really.
GS: But German I loved.
SB: Yes.
GS: And I found it easy.
SB: Yes. Oh right.
GS: So —
[tea talk]
SB: So this was 9 Squadron wasn’t it, Guy? Is that right?
GS: 9 Squadron. Yes.
SB: Yeah. Ok.
GS: And we had Wimpy 1Cs.
SB: Right.
GS: And we’d got the 2s and we’d got the first, in ’41 we dropped the first four thousand pound cookies.
SB: Ah.
GS: I forget where it was but my two flight commanders Baxter, Ken Baxter and Squadron Leader Wasse, I can’t think of the other name but they both did about four tours and both got through. Through the war ok.
SB: Goodness me.
GS: Quite amazing.
SB: Yes.
GS: And I was co-pilot nearly all the time. When, twenty six of us left Honington we went to Stradishall because they had concrete runways there and took off for Malta and 28.
SB: Oh, right. Right.
GS: And the only one that didn’t arrive was Carton de Wiart who was a passenger with the only Auster pilot.
SB: Oh right.
GS: Captain.
SB: Right.
GS: And the bastards sabotaged his plane in Malta.
SB: Really?
GS: Both engines cut. They came down in the sea just off the African coast and he was taken prisoner. They all were of course. But as he was the senior man in the prison camp he was released to negotiate the Italian surrender.
SB: Oh right.
GS: He was an incredible looking man. I mean he, he had, he was lieutenant general one arm, one eye and [laughs] he was a bit past it but he could first navigation with the crew and the crew [unclear]. But the other famous people that came of course were Marwood-Elton who you heard. He ditched the Wimpy in Loch Ness.
SB: Yes.
GS: But I flew that Wimpy.
SB: Oh, right. Right.
GS: So, I was invited to the [unclear] of Wimpies. I only flew it once. A minor detail [unclear]
SB: Yes. Yes.
GS: And why he had to ditch it I don’t know. He lost a crew member doing that.
SB: So I believe. Yeah.
GS: He bailed out. The others had ditched and so went ashore in a dinghy. That was his problem. Rose up seventy years later.
SB: Right. So when you were on 9 did you complete a full tour?
GS: No. I, when we were with this trip to Malta we went on to, we were supposed to be going out to Greece to help but it was too late then. This was April ’40, oh ’41 and we were too late to help in Greece so we went to Abu Sueir in —
SB: Yes.
GS: Just outside Cairo and then we joined 70.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: With 70 there were five of us, we all stayed as co-pilots. So, what had just[unclear] fine condemned. One of our members, Dutch Holland, a lovely character I was with him quite a bit he, he did two more tours on Pathfinders but he was the only one I think. And Johnny came forward and myself and one other chap. I can’t think of his name now. But we [sooshed] around. He was quite famous on Flying Boats for working out the shockwaves on the boats.
SB: Oh yes.
GS: He was the third person. Johnny [unclear] never did any more ops and I only did two of the thousand raid so and that’s —
SB: Ah, you did.
GS: And then I came back. We did fifty, fifty four raids without a holiday.
SB: Wow.
GS: That was with, twenty with 9 Squadron and this was 70.
SB: Oh right. So you say you did the two thousand raids. So that, so you’d gone back —
GS: That was after I came back to England.
SB: Ah. Right. So —
GS: We came. We were told that we, we could choose to go back to England or go to Addis Ababa with BOAC but we didn’t know what BOAC was.
SB: Right.
GS: So we basically chose to go back to England. We flew Pan Am for four days in a Dakota from Cairo down to Luxor and Kano and right across [unclear] and [pause] what was I thinking? Yes. We had first class accommodation on the Dakota. No seat belts. No, no food. No seats. We were on the floor.
SB: Right.
GS: But that was wartime flying. So four days first and then at Lagos we picked up a cross-Channel packet called Princess Beatrice. A Dutch, a little Dutch boat which were invasion barges.
SB: Oh Yes. Yeah.
GS: [unclear] And we went up, we were at sea for a fortnight I think. Convoy.
SB: Right. Really.
GS: Went up to Greenock and my flying was so rusty then I was, I was put straight on to instructing pupils and they weren’t very impressed with my effort so I got sent to, on to Blenheims. Just target towing and rubbish.
SB: Right.
GS: But the Earl of Bandon did you say he was? A lovely character. I told him I wasn’t very happy doing this. I then got to North Luffenham on Wellingtons again.
SB: Right.
GS: And as I’d done a little flying I was quite, quite happy then and I stayed there for three years roughly.
SB: That was OTU then was it?
GS: That was from ’42.
SB: Right.
GS: Until, until the end of ’44 I expect.
SB: Right.
GS: It was, it was after D-Day. And then, then I went to oh we were still on Wimpies. I went to Happy Honiley. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.
SB: I’ve heard of Honiley. Yes. Yes.
GS: Well, we had a GCA course there. I was one of the guinea pigs teaching the ground controllers and the only person of note there, well was Arthur C Clarke.
SB: Oh really.
GS: And he was in the next hut to me. We thought he was a nut case because he was looking at the stars but of course he started all these satellites and he was just an incredible man. I always hoped to meet up with him in Sri Lanka but never did. He went out there and up in the mountains I think.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: But so and at Honiley we, I got off Wimpies for a change. I think we flew with we had Stirlings and Venturas too. So, that was ground people and then I went straight into [barrack] and stayed there.
SB: Right.
GS: Until ‘55. The chaps were out then and I then had a lovely, I had a lovely house in Greece flying for [Naxos], at the Olympics for six months. He sacked us all one morning, all hundred of us because he was trying to use that as a weapon against the government and he lost. So we stayed sacked. So after a bit of golf and messing about I got fed up. I went out to Kuwait. I managed to get in with them for, flew with them for just over three years.
SB: Oh right.
GS: Which was jolly interesting. New routes and see how others operated.
SB: Sure. Yes. Yeah.
GS: [unclear] some of them are very nice. And then I was out and I’ve been retired since sixty.
SB: Right.
GS: I’ve had a really good guardian angel looking after me I think because I’ve done so many silly things in my life and got away with it. How about you?
SB: Well. Quite benign by comparison with all that. I joined the Air Force in 1973.
GS: Oh.
SB: As ground.
GS: What were you on?
SB: I was an engineer and I left in 1995 so I sort of rattled around various fleets. Harrier, Tornado, Hawk, VC10s for a while. Bulldogs and Chipmunks for a year which was rather nice.
GS: Oh yes.
SB: I ended up on the Typhoon project for my last three years. So it was, it was a good time. I don’t think I’d want to be in the Air Force now. Then when I left the Air Force I went into the, the aircraft systems industry. Lucas Aerospace I used to work for for a while.
GS: Oh, well there you are.
SB: And now, for twelve years now I’ve been at City University in London lecturing on —
GS: Are you enjoying it.
SB: Air safety. I am. Yes. I am. Yes. I retire in June. So I shall be glad to I think go and do other things.
GS: Well, my two sons they are both captains on triple sevens.
SB: Oh right.
GS: In BA. But the older one he was, he’d got to Hamble, Hamble closed down. So mother got him into, she got four universities so he could have gone to four of them. He went to Imperial College.
SB: Yes.
GS: And but he said his heart was definitely these things so when Hamble opened up again he went back and he eventually he flew all over Africa and then basically trying to find work. But the youngest son he had [unclear] and glasses and he wasn’t academic at all and he wanted to fly and I didn’t, I thought it was pretty hopeless but he went up to London and he became a courier and saved eight thousand pounds I think, and by living rough and working hard. And when he passed his aircrew medical he said, ‘I’m off to the States’. He went out to Texas and he got all his licences and he’s senior really to [laughs] to the one who has had it all on a plate.
SB: Oh really.
GS: Amazing.
SB: Yes. Yeah. Oh, great.
GS: Powered his efforts.
SB: Right. Can we, let’s go back to the Wimpy. Just so I’ve got it in my head you mentioned the two thousand bomber raids. Where were you at that point?
GS: At North Luffenham still.
SB: Right. So this, so you were on OTU then. Right.
GS: Instructing. Yes.
SB: Yes. Yes. Ok.
GS: And we had four stations actually. There was North Luffenham, Bitteswell, Bruntingthorpe which is [unclear] and Woolfox Lodge.
SB: Yes. Yes. Yeah.
GS: Woolfox Lodge I had my nearest escape I think. I landed with a pupil who was only going about five miles an hour and I suddenly felt it was, well, I said, ‘Stop.’ At that moment we hit another Wellington and we were only doing about five miles an hour but the front turret fell off, the undercarriage collapsed and I could hear the petrol just lashing out on to our engines. Why it didn’t catch fire I shall never know because most of them did when they touched.
SB: Yeah.
GS: And the latest one [unclear]
SB: This was a night? This was a night landing then was it or —
GS: Oh yes. Yes.
SB: Yeah. Yeah.
GS: We didn’t have —
SB: Just didn’t see him. Right.
GS: We only had [blue] lights. Something. This was in ’43.
SB: Right.
GS: When we were bombing you know we never had chance lights or anything like that.
SB: Right. Right. Ok.
GS: Oh, [laughs] I wouldn’t have hit if I had seen him.
SB: Well, I wondered whether there might have been you know fog or something. Oh, ok. Now, you mentioned the 1C, Wimpy 1C and the 2 —
GS: Before that we had a dustbin underneath.
SB: With the 1A or —
GS: Yes. An old 1 or 1A.
SB: With one. Right.
GS: You know the proper front turret.
SB: Right. Ok. So what did you think of the different Marks? How did they vary?
GS: To be honest we couldn’t. Well they got better. The dustbin of course was never used. They thought they had to land it under a [unclear] or something but that was no use and the 1Cs which I flew all the time, you know on 70 that’s all we had. But afterwards of course I flew up to a Mark 10. Mark 9s or 10s. You know that the Wellington was the only one that could bomb at thirty eight thousand feet.
SB: Really? Gosh.
GS: The Mark 5 and the Mark 6, they never flew operationally. Old Barnes Wallis. They are pressurised of course.
SB: Yes.
GS: And with a pressurised bit in the middle and I don’t know how they got up there because they only had ordinary wings but the [ ] down there because I don’t know if you heard of them or —
SB: I have heard of them and I know they were prototypes certainly that flew. The pressurised version.
GS: Only about fifty or sixty of each one I think and they were —
SB: Yeah.
GS: Of course Barnes Wallis’ next aircraft the Warwick was pretty useless and it was used for ten squadrons doing air sea rescue.
SB: That’s right.
GS: With [unclear]
SB: Yes. Yes.
GS: Thing underneath. The lifeboat underneath.
SB: Did you come across a Warwick at all? Did you? To fly.
GS: Oh I did.
SB: Did you ever fly a Warwick or fly in a Warwick?
GS: No.
SB: No.
GS: I went over to the factory. Had a few pep talks with people. That was all I had first of all. But no, I think I did fifteen hundred hours roughly on Wellingtons. I did eighteen fifty with, with the Royal Air Force. I did twenty thousand hours plus altogether.
SB: Gosh.
GS: But friends of mine, contemporaries they’d done over fifty thousand.
SB: Gosh.
GS: So my record wasn’t terrible.
[excuses himself. recording paused]
SB: That’s fine.
GS: I have water pills.
SB: That’s fine.
[recording paused]
GS: There’s a few bits and pieces in there.
SB: Oh right. Thank you.
GS: Some of the people, do you remember Bill Reid?
SB: Oh yes.
GS: He was at North Luffenham. He was one of our pupils. He was screened. He was a good pilot and of course he was quite mad.
SB: This is you and your crew I assume.
GS: That’s right. Yes. I was a co-pilot. That was Harry Mills and the navigator who’s there, a little Scotsman. He was a teetotal Scotsman of all things. He didn’t have tea or coffee.
SB: Really?
GS: And as I say you can imagine [unclear] Walker.
SB: This is 9 Squadron then is it?
GS: Sorry. No, that’s 70.
SB: That’s 70. Right. Ok.
GS: Yes.
SB: Which one is you? That’s alright. Don’t get up. I’ll come to you.
GS: It’s alright [pause] What a terrible photograph. I’m the one on the hard left.
SB: Ah, ok.
GS: There is a better one down here somewhere. That was the only accident we had in Hong Kong Airways which was my third posting in [barrack]
SB: Right.
GS: And I had no leave for three years and I still haven’t had it. But my boss luckily was the one he just toppled off the, hit the runway at Hong Kong.
SB: Right.
GS: And the passengers didn’t even get their feet wet.
SB: Really? [laughs]
GS: But if it had been me I would have been blamed but being a chief he was [pause] [unclear] according to them.
SB: Returning from first op on Benghazi. April ’41.
GS: I didn’t know I had any [pause] after we finished ops I think we just became —
SB: Right.
GS: I wouldn’t go through all that.
SB: Oh no.
GS: [unclear]
SB: No. They’re not you know. Not at all. Not now.
GS: They’re very poor. I’ve lost half of them. Some of them are ones of [unclear] That’s Ben, the navigator. He, he got the best job of all when we got home. He was killed within a month.
SB: Really?
GS: In a circuit, you know. I’m not sure if he was shot down or —
SB: Oh dear.
GS: If it was as he was flying.
SB: Oh goodness. Very nice.
GS: That’s the, they were, oh I can’t remember the name.
SB: Harrows.
GS: Yes. And they were dropping the first long —
SB: SAS yeah. Yeah. Or, yes long range desert —
GS: Yes. Long range.
SB: Yes.
GS: And also the parachutists.
SB: Right.
GS: They were all training at Kabrit where we were.
SB: Right. That’s that one then.
GS: Our usual crash.
SB: Yes. Oh [pause] ah a rather sorry looking Wimpy.
GS: Yeah.
SB: The remains of it.
GS: That was the usual thing. I think there was the big one of two Wellingtons that collided.
SB: Right.
GS: And why ours didn’t catch fire we never knew.
SB: Are you one of those?
GS: That was [laughs] I’m at the back.
SB: Right.
GS: That was at ITW at St Leonards on Sea.
SB: Oh right.
GS: We were in the Marine Court which looked like a big ship. Oh, and that’s a —
SB: Ah, and that’s a —
GS: That’s a —
SB: Mark 2, 148 Squadron.
GS: That’s it.
SB: Carrying a cookie.
GS: Yes.
SB: Yeah.
GS: That’s a four thousand pounder.
SB: Yes.
GS: Going out. I didn’t actually fly that plane.
SB: But you did fly Mark 2s though didn’t you?
GS: No.
SB: You never flew a Mark 2.
GS: No.
SB: No.
GS: We had them on 9 Squadron but I don’t know why I never got on but [pause] some of them we dropped fifty thousand rounds of ammo.
SB: Yes. Right.
GS: From the bomb bay in on a big plank.
SB: Yes.
GS: And the silly asses they made an enormous thing of first aid medicines and what have you. They made it so it exactly fitted the round hole.
SB: Right.
GS: And in the air we couldn’t get it out. We tried for about twenty minutes.
SB: Oh dear.
GS: This one is some of our leaflets we dropped. I think you’ll find —
SB: Right.
GS: Those amusing.
SB: Oh yes. I’ll come to those in a, in a while. Ah, here we are. Lossiemouth [pause] Oh yes. The Mark 1s early on. Very early Wimpies. Yeah.
GS: And they were old machines anyway at there.
SB: Well, yes.
GS: I’ve got six Bulldog books of course but not the relevant times.
SB: Right. Right. Ah, there’s our, your Mannheim one you said with the engine trouble. Yeah.
GS: Yes. That’s the one that they were very popular of course. They were just the right size for dropping over the German [unclear] business. But not this last one.
SB: Oh no. Right.
GS: That was too thick. If you pull it down you —
SB: [laughs] Ok.
GS: That was the one we dropped over Hamburg.
SB: Right. Ah.
GS: That was when two, that was what happened to mine.
SB: Right.
GS: That actually, that was at Shallufa.
SB: Shallufa.
GS: I think.
SB: Yes.
GS: Cushy. Sent it off to [pay for ] and he got the wrong [laughs] he got the wrong airfield.
[pause]
SB: Gosh. Eight hours fifty. That was a pretty, a pretty long op for a Wimpy wasn’t it?
GS: Yes. I think one of ours on the 22nd of December 1940, 9 Squadron, we bombed Venice.
SB: Oh right.
GS: The docks outside Venice.
SB: Right.
GS: And one of our chaps because of the winds you know if they were [slap happy] in those days they flew across Switzerland to start and they had to see the mountains. Of course, he flew above them or between them and they, with cloud they overshot Venice by about two hundred miles and bombed somewhere near Fiume apparently. And of course coming back they had headwinds and they crossed the Swiss frontier into France in broad daylight.
SB: Really.
GS: This was December ’40.
SB: Good grief.
GS: And they, they only saw two fighters way away. Nowhere near. Nobody expected to see a lone Wellington.
SB: No.
GS: And they, they debated whether to bale out or crash in the sea and they, they had enough height to when the engines cut no gas at all. They were over the Channel and they saw a field at Pevensey, just outside Pevensey, put the wheels and flaps down. What they didn’t know was there was a ditch going across and they hadn’t, they weren’t thorough. But the other crew who were, I was staying at [unclear] at the [unclear] just outside Honiley with my girlfriend and the wife of the gunner on the other crew she was there. You can imagine Christmas on the 22nd morning and this chap, they hit the cliffs near Beachy Head. All killed. And so we lost two planes that way which was pretty rare in those days. But later on squadrons would lose four or five from one squadron.
SB: Yeah.
GS: In a raid.
SB: Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Here’s an interesting one. March the 3rd 1941 SCI in conjunction with the Army simulated the dropping of mustard gas —
GS: Oh yes.
SB: On troops on beach.
GS: Yes. Well, we were going to use it. If they, they wanted to walk into it they’d use mustard gas in Eritrea and Abyssinia.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: So they, luckily they didn’t come.
SB: No. Indeed.
GS: That’s the only time we did it. You had to wash everything down afterwards of course with simulated mustard gas.
SB: Right. Right. And Sergeant Mills was your regular pilot.
GS: He was there. Harry. Yes. He only died about two years ago.
SB: Oh right.
GS: We always kept in touch [unclear]
SB: So, apart from your collision at Woolfox Lodge did you say it was —
GS: Yes.
SB: Were there any other? In your fifty four ops were there any other problems shall we say? Damage or encounters with —
GS: Well, no we, I think it was Derna when on one of our raids there was low cloud so we had to be underneath the cloud with the searchlights going up. That’s by daylight of course.
SB: Right.
GS: And we were down at two thousand feet and we had machine gun’s bullets going into the bomb bay which cut the leads to the Mickey Mouse. You know. You know ,the Mickey Mouse.
SB: Yes. Yes.
GS: Which was clockwork so the bombs were released on top of ones that weren’t released of course so —
SB: Right.
GS: We, we lost our hydraulics too so we were going to go, this is we landed at Fuka satellite and we were going back via base at Kabrit and we were leaving the wheels down there, the bombs on board because we couldn’t open the bomb doors. And then one engine packed up [laughs] so we managed to do a flapless landing at, at Heliopolis which was very nice for three days holiday. Of course they, they didn’t realise there was a war on there and when they found we had bombs on board we were made to taxi to the far end and then —
SB: Right.
GS: Basically managed to lure these. Well, that was one of our near, well it was much nearer to us when we decided to, the only time Harry wanted to give the gunners a bit of practice because they were a bit fed up with never doing anything so he went down on a [unclear] road to below two thousand and machine gunned convoys going along. But their machine gunners were much better than ours I think and I don’t know how many, I was in the astrodome looking out to see if there were any fighters about but I don’t know how many hundreds of incendiary bullets just missed us by inches.
SB: Really?
GS: We never did that trip again. We were very [pause] I think I [unclear] guardian angel [unclear ] [pause] If my war record is not very notable —
SB: Well, everybody says that.
GS: I’ve got a friend up at Stoke Poges —
SB: Oh yes.
GS: Who was in Coastal Command. He’s got three DSOs and two DFCs.
SB: Really?
GS: He attacked six submarines in one day.
SB: Good God.
GS: On one sortie. The whole [unclear] and he he was flying Liberators.
SB: Right.
GS: So he got depth charges on a first tour. And the machine gunner [lost] four.
SB: Goodness me.
GS: Just that.
SB: This is about the Loch Ness Wellington.
GS: Yes.
SB: Yes. Yes.
GS: Because we were all —
SB: Right.
GS: It’s not terribly interesting.
SB: Oh it is. Oh it is. Your Pan Am trips back.
GS: Oh yeah.
SB: Yes.
GS: Four days.
SB: Right.
GS: No food. No water.
SB: Oh, right. 1482. Target Towing Flight, West Raynham. That’s your —
GS: Yeah.
SB: Blenheim flying. Yeah.
GS: That was the one with the Earl of [Bandon]. Nice chap.
SB: That was, was that the short-nosed Blenheim or long nosed Blenheim?
GS: Long nosed. I think there were some, I think I’ve got some photos in the other one but I’m not sure.
SB: Right. Ok.
GS: A WAAF called [unclear] there at West Raynham and she could drink a pint of beer in five seconds.
SB: Really? [laughs]
GS: I had friends who could. I’d seen it done much more quickly since.
SB: Right.
GS: But at the time I’d never heard of [pause] She had a lovely looking face. A lovely body but I’d love to know how long [laughs] how long it lasted.
SB: Drinking beer like that. Yes. Got your op with your OTU here. 25th of June ’42. Wellington L7869 to Bremen. So when you, when you were on OTU and had to fly an op was the crew all staff or did you have pupils as well?
GS: We were all staff.
SB: Right.
GS: We’d have to choose the ones we wanted I think.
SB: Right. Right. Ok.
GS: So that’s why they lost so many of them. Because the aircraft were old.
SB: Yes.
GS: So that’s why they stopped it.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: Did you ever want to fly as pilot or were you interested?
SB: Yes, at one time I did and well when I left school I didn’t go straight into the Air Force. I always wanted to be a draughtsman although I’d always had a passion for aviation but —
[telephone ringing]
SB: Sorry, I’ll let you deal with that.
GS: I think my dear wife will answer it.
SB: Right.
[pause]
GS: Are you getting it dear?
SB: Yes.
GS: Yes.
SB: Yes, I always wanted to be a draughtsman but I very quickly lost interest. I lost enthusiasm for that. So I went along to the RAF careers. I really ought to join the Air Force. And of course as I later on knew as I spent three years in the careers part of the Air Force as a break from engineering of course they steer you towards the trade that they want people for.
GS: Right.
SB: So, ‘You should be an engineer. Great aptitude to be an engineer.’
GS: Ok.
SB: I’ve no regrets. I enjoyed it thoroughly but so that was the end.
GS: I don’t know how I got in as a pilot but I dodged the [unclear] school. I was in the Scouts. And when I was under four I got hold of my sister’s bows. She’d hidden the arrows. I got a bit of wood and instead of going forward it went back into my eye and they thought I’d lose the eye. The sight as well as the eye and I was in hospital five weeks in Maidstone and I saw a marvellous man who looked after my eyes and now fifty years later.
SB: Oh marvellous. Yeah. Marvellous.
GS: We went to Harley Street offices. And then I got peritonitis and a burst appendix in 1924. Wasn’t very, not many people survived.
SB: Gosh. No. I imagine not.
GS: That was about a year and around the back I had curvature of the spine and I was underweight and not very fit. Not very clever and so I recovered and I tried to join the, I didn’t like the Army, I didn’t like the Navy so that left the Air Force and I got straight into it. And so but I failed the medical as I was completely unfit. I had [unclear] treatment including my eye. And then of course I got this thing playing rugger. My knee locked and the stupid sports master tried to bend it straight and a nasty crack. My cartilage went so I had a fortnight in St Thomas’ Hospital and, and another fortnight at home. A month off work and so how I got into the Air Force I don’t know. I was a weedy so and so. A friend of mine who was a bank clerk and a friend of mine who was, you know a strapping twelve stone chap but he failed as pilot and became a navigator.
SB: Oh right [pause] Instructor’s course at Castle Combe.
GS: Sorry?
SB: Instructor’s course at Castle Combe.
GS: Oh yeah.
SB: Back on Oxfords. Yeah.
GS: Castle Combe is like a fishbox.
SB: Oh, it is isn’t it? Beautiful. Yes. Absolutely.
GS: I always choose the best places.
SB: Oh, I see the OC here or chief instructor has said your steep turns are very weak.
GS: Yeah. Always had been.
SB: Oh, really [laughs]
GS: I was very pleased to have flown there. I regarded it as a holiday. But I think I smoked about a third of a million cigarettes and luckily I had sixty one the day I stopped.
SB: Right.
GS: And if I had one tomorrow I’d have ten the next day I think. Have you ever smoked?
SB: Yes. Yes, I gave up when I was twenty three. Yeah.
GS: I was about thirty five I think when [pause] So if I continued smoking I would have been long gone. I was driving up to ninety four.
SB: Are you by Jove. Goodness.
GS: I passed by my, my good wife is so rude about my driving I took an advanced driver’s test and they said, ‘Come back and see us in two years.’ But I found I wasn’t really happy driving on these roads around here so I packed it in. The children made me get rid of my lovely Mercedes and buy a Lexus.
SB: Oh really.
GS: And the Lexus was driving me I think. It had every gadget under the sun. Marvellous.
SB: Now, would you mind if I photographed some of the pages?
GS: No, of course not.
SB: Is that ok?
[pause]
GS: I don’t think there is much of interest really.
SB: Oh, yes. Absolutely there is. Definitely.
GS: [unclear] new boys with the before and after [sailing] against England.
SB: Right.
GS: Yes. That’s a lovely one.
SB: Yes.
[pause]
GS: Good heavens. It’s half past twelve. I must have my beer.
[long pause]
GS: I didn’t realise it was so late. Could I offer you a beer or something stronger?
SB: Oh, I’d love a beer. That would be great.
GS: Good.
SB: Thank you very much.
GS: Lovely.
[pause]
GS: Something I’m never short of. My good wife looks after me.
SB: Marvellous.
[long pause]
SB: Oh, that’s grand. Thank you very much.
GS: Good.
SB: What did you fly in BOAC when you first went there?
GS: Dakotas.
SB: Right.
GS: I was on them for three years when first I joined and then I did this three and a half, these three years posted to Hong Kong but before that they, they made me go round Iraqi Airways. I had a crooked general manager called [unclear] He was South African and he sent his chief engineer officer on leave and [unclear] had his second engineer officer signed out all the aircraft as having [C of A’s] They didn’t have the equipment.
SB: Right.
GS: And the poor old chief pilot eventually got [unclear] grounded and we were sent out at a minute’s notice.
SB: Oh.
GS: For six months. But we only did four months and then they managed to train up other people.
SB: Right.
GS: And we came home and I had four months at home I think and then [unclear] back to Hong Kong with Hong Kong Airways. I didn’t volunteer. I was the only extra captain I think.
SB: Right.
GS: And but the Chinese were being awkward in Hong Kong. Didn’t give permission at once so they phoned me up and said, oh I said I’d give —
[telephone ringing]
GS: As you aren’t doing anything you can take the [unclear] commissioner around the Italian colony. All these deputy foreign ministers the English, French, Russian and American deputy foreign man were seeing deputations from all these colonists to see what was going to happen. You know, see what they wanted.
SB: Right.
GS: Mind you everything they wanted they got the reverse being [laughs] being the United Nations.
SB: Yes.
GS: Oh dear. What a, what a mob. But I thoroughly enjoyed it except in Mogadishu I got no support at all from BOAC. They tried to get me the sack I think because they reduced the weight of the Dakota so I could barely get the parachute on.
SB: Oh.
GS: Doing several [unclear]
SB: Right.
GS: And so had the rations on my back all the time because TWA were out there with Ethiopian Airlines and they would have done it all for nothing for the publicity. So they were trying, they were saying we were much too expensive and I had six crew. Myself, a navigator, a bomb aimer, co-pilot, engineer, a ground engineer and a steward. Six of us and including the aircraft we only cost twenty five pounds a day and if we flew it was another ten bob a mile. Can you imagine in those days?
SB: Yeah. Good grief.
GS: But so I think apart from when these people the deputy foreign ministers stuck up for me and said you know I had no alternative. The bloody Russian [unclear] so I didn’t lose any face over it but it was just annoying.
SB: Well, your good health. Cheers.
GS: Cheers. It’s good to see you. I hope you have made sense out of all this.
SB: Oh, yes. Absolutely. What rank were you when you came out of the Air Force?
GS: Sorry?
SB: What rank were you?
GS: Only flight lieut. I had [pause] I wasn’t very dedicated.
SB: Right.
GS: I was the wrong [pause] one of the chaps I’m not sure how, he was quite a lot Tony [Sillitoe] he was, he was far worse than I was but he, he killed a chap for, the rear gunner. They couldn’t stop and they, this was daylight but the brakes were bad and they were going too fast I think and the prop just chopped this poor chap’s neck and he was killed.
SB: Oh dear.
GS: But he was posted to Market Harborough and one day I looked out of the, I was flying, you know by myself at North Luffenham. I looked out of the window and there just inches from my wing was this, was Tony’s plane which is the [unclear] I mean literally inches from me formatted on me. I didn’t dare move. [unclear] But he was posted from us. Went to Market Harborough. I think he did the same thing to another crew. They did the same thing and then they touched. Seventeen people killed.
SB: Oh dear.
GS: I think it was seventeen.
SB: Oh goodness.
GS: Or fifteen.
SB: Yeah.
GS: Anyway, that’s it. We had lots of crashes at North Luffenham but mostly pupils and they mostly got away with it too.
SB: Did you like the Wimpy to fly or was there anything you didn’t like about it?
GS: Well, you love what you know and —
SB: Yeah. Yeah. Sure.
GS: If you overshot both of you used to be pushing hard on the control column. We were told not to adjust the, you know. Anything interesting dear?
[background chatter. Chatting about lunch]
[recording paused]
GS: [unclear] compensated for the so we weren’t supposed to change the normally we were just bind the [pause] I can’t find the words now [laughs] the elevator controller.
SB: Oh right. The trim.
GS: The trim. Trim. I can, but we were told not to on the Wimpy.
SB: Oh right.
GS: So we had to push like that.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: But they were very good. I mean apart from in my forty years flying that was the only accident.
SB: That’s quite a record isn’t it. Twenty thousand hours.
GS: I think [laughs] despite being an average pilot. I was poor. I mean, it’s some people are just naturals but —
SB: Now, I’m afraid I need a photograph of you.
GS: Well, not with a glass. I‘d better sit up.
[pause]
SB: One more for luck. Lovely. Thank you very much.
GS: Good.
SB: Just so I can.
GS: A good camera. Very light.
SB: Very good. Yeah. These are fantastic these cameras now.
GS: What kind is it?
SB: This is a Fuji.
GS: Oh. I haven’t heard of it.
SB: Yeah. It was recommended to me by a friend of mine who has one and it’s just, well —
GS: It looks expensive.
SB: Well, no it’s not really. I’ll show you. You were saying about your photographs, your little photographs there aren’t very good but if you look for example at [pause] the quality is astonishing.
GS: I know [laughs] it’s clever.
SB: Yeah.
GS: Clear little photo.
SB: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah.
GS: Marvellous.
SB: So I started I don’t know if I explained when we first spoke but I’ve written a number of books before.
GS: On flying or —
SB: All but one to do with —
GS: Also non-flying.
SB: The odd one actually was a biography of an ancestor of mine —
GS: Oh.
SB: Who was quite a well-known artist. But the others have all been on various aviation historical things.
SB: Yes.
GS: Or St Leonards.
SB: Yes.
GS: For eight and a half months.
SB: Really?
GS: Doing an eight-week course.
SB: Good grief.
GS: And so I didn’t go solo for about seven months and —
SB: So after —
GS: Mainly —
SB: Sorry, go on.
GS: Go on.
SB: Yeah. After ITW where did you go for your flying training then?
GS: To Cranfield.
SB: Oh right. My home airfield.
GS: Oh really? You were at university there eh?
SB: Well, no. But I live about three miles from Cranfield.
GS: Oh. Well, it was, we did a hundred hours there. I think it was a hundred hours on Oxfords.
SB: Right. Right. Yeah.
GS: And then went up to Lossiemouth where we had our first course not to lose a crew. I think we were number nine course.
SB: Really?
GS: And —
SB: When would that have been, Guy?
GS: This was August ’40.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: They were getting up.
SB: Yeah.
GS: I didn’t go on to ops until November. Late November ’40.
SB: Right.
GS: And we went to Honington.
SB: Yes, survived Honington.
GS: Then that became an American Air Force Base.
SB: Yes, indeed. Yes.
GS: But it was a grass airfield and my very first op I cocked things up. I was, I selected flap but I couldn’t have put the thing back into the neutral position. It was slightly down.
SB: Right.
GS: So when we took off we had full flap.
SB: Oh right.
GS: On a grass airfield. Wet.
SB: Ah.
GS: And we were going to Mannheim which I knew very well because I’d been there many times before the war in ’34/’35.
SB: Oh right.
GS: ’37.
SB: Right.
GS: I stopped with a German family to learn the lingo.
SB: Oh, ok.
GS: I managed to get a distinction in oral German. My French was so bad they didn’t even make me take it as matriculation.
SB: Oh really.
GS: But German I loved.
SB: Yes.
GS: And I found it easy.
SB: Yes. Oh right.
GS: So —
[tea talk]
SB: So this was 9 Squadron wasn’t it, Guy? Is that right?
GS: 9 Squadron. Yes.
SB: Yeah. Ok.
GS: And we had Wimpy 1Cs.
SB: Right.
GS: And we’d got the 2s and we’d got the first, in ’41 we dropped the first four thousand pound cookies.
SB: Ah.
GS: I forget where it was but my two flight commanders Baxter, Ken Baxter and Squadron Leader Wasse, I can’t think of the other name but they both did about four tours and both got through. Through the war ok.
SB: Goodness me.
GS: Quite amazing.
SB: Yes.
GS: And I was co-pilot nearly all the time. When, twenty six of us left Honington we went to Stradishall because they had concrete runways there and took off for Malta and 28.
SB: Oh, right. Right.
GS: And the only one that didn’t arrive was Carton de Wiart who was a passenger with the only Auster pilot.
SB: Oh right.
GS: Captain.
SB: Right.
GS: And the bastards sabotaged his plane in Malta.
SB: Really?
GS: Both engines cut. They came down in the sea just off the African coast and he was taken prisoner. They all were of course. But as he was the senior man in the prison camp he was released to negotiate the Italian surrender.
SB: Oh right.
GS: He was an incredible looking man. I mean he, he had, he was lieutenant general one arm, one eye and [laughs] he was a bit past it but he could first navigation with the crew and the crew [unclear]. But the other famous people that came of course were Marwood-Elton who you heard. He ditched the Wimpy in Loch Ness.
SB: Yes.
GS: But I flew that Wimpy.
SB: Oh, right. Right.
GS: So, I was invited to the [unclear] of Wimpies. I only flew it once. A minor detail [unclear]
SB: Yes. Yes.
GS: And why he had to ditch it I don’t know. He lost a crew member doing that.
SB: So I believe. Yeah.
GS: He bailed out. The others had ditched and so went ashore in a dinghy. That was his problem. Rose up seventy years later.
SB: Right. So when you were on 9 did you complete a full tour?
GS: No. I, when we were with this trip to Malta we went on to, we were supposed to be going out to Greece to help but it was too late then. This was April ’40, oh ’41 and we were too late to help in Greece so we went to Abu Sueir in —
SB: Yes.
GS: Just outside Cairo and then we joined 70.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: With 70 there were five of us, we all stayed as co-pilots. So, what had just[unclear] fine condemned. One of our members, Dutch Holland, a lovely character I was with him quite a bit he, he did two more tours on Pathfinders but he was the only one I think. And Johnny came forward and myself and one other chap. I can’t think of his name now. But we [sooshed] around. He was quite famous on Flying Boats for working out the shockwaves on the boats.
SB: Oh yes.
GS: He was the third person. Johnny [unclear] never did any more ops and I only did two of the thousand raid so and that’s —
SB: Ah, you did.
GS: And then I came back. We did fifty, fifty four raids without a holiday.
SB: Wow.
GS: That was with, twenty with 9 Squadron and this was 70.
SB: Oh right. So you say you did the two thousand raids. So that, so you’d gone back —
GS: That was after I came back to England.
SB: Ah. Right. So —
GS: We came. We were told that we, we could choose to go back to England or go to Addis Ababa with BOAC but we didn’t know what BOAC was.
SB: Right.
GS: So we basically chose to go back to England. We flew Pan Am for four days in a Dakota from Cairo down to Luxor and Kano and right across [unclear] and [pause] what was I thinking? Yes. We had first class accommodation on the Dakota. No seat belts. No, no food. No seats. We were on the floor.
SB: Right.
GS: But that was wartime flying. So four days first and then at Lagos we picked up a cross-Channel packet called Princess Beatrice. A Dutch, a little Dutch boat which were invasion barges.
SB: Oh Yes. Yeah.
GS: [unclear] And we went up, we were at sea for a fortnight I think. Convoy.
SB: Right. Really.
GS: Went up to Greenock and my flying was so rusty then I was, I was put straight on to instructing pupils and they weren’t very impressed with my effort so I got sent to, on to Blenheims. Just target towing and rubbish.
SB: Right.
GS: But the Earl of Bandon did you say he was? A lovely character. I told him I wasn’t very happy doing this. I then got to North Luffenham on Wellingtons again.
SB: Right.
GS: And as I’d done a little flying I was quite, quite happy then and I stayed there for three years roughly.
SB: That was OTU then was it?
GS: That was from ’42.
SB: Right.
GS: Until, until the end of ’44 I expect.
SB: Right.
GS: It was, it was after D-Day. And then, then I went to oh we were still on Wimpies. I went to Happy Honiley. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.
SB: I’ve heard of Honiley. Yes. Yes.
GS: Well, we had a GCA course there. I was one of the guinea pigs teaching the ground controllers and the only person of note there, well was Arthur C Clarke.
SB: Oh really.
GS: And he was in the next hut to me. We thought he was a nut case because he was looking at the stars but of course he started all these satellites and he was just an incredible man. I always hoped to meet up with him in Sri Lanka but never did. He went out there and up in the mountains I think.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: But so and at Honiley we, I got off Wimpies for a change. I think we flew with we had Stirlings and Venturas too. So, that was ground people and then I went straight into [barrack] and stayed there.
SB: Right.
GS: Until ‘55. The chaps were out then and I then had a lovely, I had a lovely house in Greece flying for [Naxos], at the Olympics for six months. He sacked us all one morning, all hundred of us because he was trying to use that as a weapon against the government and he lost. So we stayed sacked. So after a bit of golf and messing about I got fed up. I went out to Kuwait. I managed to get in with them for, flew with them for just over three years.
SB: Oh right.
GS: Which was jolly interesting. New routes and see how others operated.
SB: Sure. Yes. Yeah.
GS: [unclear] some of them are very nice. And then I was out and I’ve been retired since sixty.
SB: Right.
GS: I’ve had a really good guardian angel looking after me I think because I’ve done so many silly things in my life and got away with it. How about you?
SB: Well. Quite benign by comparison with all that. I joined the Air Force in 1973.
GS: Oh.
SB: As ground.
GS: What were you on?
SB: I was an engineer and I left in 1995 so I sort of rattled around various fleets. Harrier, Tornado, Hawk, VC10s for a while. Bulldogs and Chipmunks for a year which was rather nice.
GS: Oh yes.
SB: I ended up on the Typhoon project for my last three years. So it was, it was a good time. I don’t think I’d want to be in the Air Force now. Then when I left the Air Force I went into the, the aircraft systems industry. Lucas Aerospace I used to work for for a while.
GS: Oh, well there you are.
SB: And now, for twelve years now I’ve been at City University in London lecturing on —
GS: Are you enjoying it.
SB: Air safety. I am. Yes. I am. Yes. I retire in June. So I shall be glad to I think go and do other things.
GS: Well, my two sons they are both captains on triple sevens.
SB: Oh right.
GS: In BA. But the older one he was, he’d got to Hamble, Hamble closed down. So mother got him into, she got four universities so he could have gone to four of them. He went to Imperial College.
SB: Yes.
GS: And but he said his heart was definitely these things so when Hamble opened up again he went back and he eventually he flew all over Africa and then basically trying to find work. But the youngest son he had [unclear] and glasses and he wasn’t academic at all and he wanted to fly and I didn’t, I thought it was pretty hopeless but he went up to London and he became a courier and saved eight thousand pounds I think, and by living rough and working hard. And when he passed his aircrew medical he said, ‘I’m off to the States’. He went out to Texas and he got all his licences and he’s senior really to [laughs] to the one who has had it all on a plate.
SB: Oh really.
GS: Amazing.
SB: Yes. Yeah. Oh, great.
GS: Powered his efforts.
SB: Right. Can we, let’s go back to the Wimpy. Just so I’ve got it in my head you mentioned the two thousand bomber raids. Where were you at that point?
GS: At North Luffenham still.
SB: Right. So this, so you were on OTU then. Right.
GS: Instructing. Yes.
SB: Yes. Yes. Ok.
GS: And we had four stations actually. There was North Luffenham, Bitteswell, Bruntingthorpe which is [unclear] and Woolfox Lodge.
SB: Yes. Yes. Yeah.
GS: Woolfox Lodge I had my nearest escape I think. I landed with a pupil who was only going about five miles an hour and I suddenly felt it was, well, I said, ‘Stop.’ At that moment we hit another Wellington and we were only doing about five miles an hour but the front turret fell off, the undercarriage collapsed and I could hear the petrol just lashing out on to our engines. Why it didn’t catch fire I shall never know because most of them did when they touched.
SB: Yeah.
GS: And the latest one [unclear]
SB: This was a night? This was a night landing then was it or —
GS: Oh yes. Yes.
SB: Yeah. Yeah.
GS: We didn’t have —
SB: Just didn’t see him. Right.
GS: We only had [blue] lights. Something. This was in ’43.
SB: Right.
GS: When we were bombing you know we never had chance lights or anything like that.
SB: Right. Right. Ok.
GS: Oh, [laughs] I wouldn’t have hit if I had seen him.
SB: Well, I wondered whether there might have been you know fog or something. Oh, ok. Now, you mentioned the 1C, Wimpy 1C and the 2 —
GS: Before that we had a dustbin underneath.
SB: With the 1A or —
GS: Yes. An old 1 or 1A.
SB: With one. Right.
GS: You know the proper front turret.
SB: Right. Ok. So what did you think of the different Marks? How did they vary?
GS: To be honest we couldn’t. Well they got better. The dustbin of course was never used. They thought they had to land it under a [unclear] or something but that was no use and the 1Cs which I flew all the time, you know on 70 that’s all we had. But afterwards of course I flew up to a Mark 10. Mark 9s or 10s. You know that the Wellington was the only one that could bomb at thirty eight thousand feet.
SB: Really? Gosh.
GS: The Mark 5 and the Mark 6, they never flew operationally. Old Barnes Wallis. They are pressurised of course.
SB: Yes.
GS: And with a pressurised bit in the middle and I don’t know how they got up there because they only had ordinary wings but the [ ] down there because I don’t know if you heard of them or —
SB: I have heard of them and I know they were prototypes certainly that flew. The pressurised version.
GS: Only about fifty or sixty of each one I think and they were —
SB: Yeah.
GS: Of course Barnes Wallis’ next aircraft the Warwick was pretty useless and it was used for ten squadrons doing air sea rescue.
SB: That’s right.
GS: With [unclear]
SB: Yes. Yes.
GS: Thing underneath. The lifeboat underneath.
SB: Did you come across a Warwick at all? Did you? To fly.
GS: Oh I did.
SB: Did you ever fly a Warwick or fly in a Warwick?
GS: No.
SB: No.
GS: I went over to the factory. Had a few pep talks with people. That was all I had first of all. But no, I think I did fifteen hundred hours roughly on Wellingtons. I did eighteen fifty with, with the Royal Air Force. I did twenty thousand hours plus altogether.
SB: Gosh.
GS: But friends of mine, contemporaries they’d done over fifty thousand.
SB: Gosh.
GS: So my record wasn’t terrible.
[excuses himself. recording paused]
SB: That’s fine.
GS: I have water pills.
SB: That’s fine.
[recording paused]
GS: There’s a few bits and pieces in there.
SB: Oh right. Thank you.
GS: Some of the people, do you remember Bill Reid?
SB: Oh yes.
GS: He was at North Luffenham. He was one of our pupils. He was screened. He was a good pilot and of course he was quite mad.
SB: This is you and your crew I assume.
GS: That’s right. Yes. I was a co-pilot. That was Harry Mills and the navigator who’s there, a little Scotsman. He was a teetotal Scotsman of all things. He didn’t have tea or coffee.
SB: Really?
GS: And as I say you can imagine [unclear] Walker.
SB: This is 9 Squadron then is it?
GS: Sorry. No, that’s 70.
SB: That’s 70. Right. Ok.
GS: Yes.
SB: Which one is you? That’s alright. Don’t get up. I’ll come to you.
GS: It’s alright [pause] What a terrible photograph. I’m the one on the hard left.
SB: Ah, ok.
GS: There is a better one down here somewhere. That was the only accident we had in Hong Kong Airways which was my third posting in [barrack]
SB: Right.
GS: And I had no leave for three years and I still haven’t had it. But my boss luckily was the one he just toppled off the, hit the runway at Hong Kong.
SB: Right.
GS: And the passengers didn’t even get their feet wet.
SB: Really? [laughs]
GS: But if it had been me I would have been blamed but being a chief he was [pause] [unclear] according to them.
SB: Returning from first op on Benghazi. April ’41.
GS: I didn’t know I had any [pause] after we finished ops I think we just became —
SB: Right.
GS: I wouldn’t go through all that.
SB: Oh no.
GS: [unclear]
SB: No. They’re not you know. Not at all. Not now.
GS: They’re very poor. I’ve lost half of them. Some of them are ones of [unclear] That’s Ben, the navigator. He, he got the best job of all when we got home. He was killed within a month.
SB: Really?
GS: In a circuit, you know. I’m not sure if he was shot down or —
SB: Oh dear.
GS: If it was as he was flying.
SB: Oh goodness. Very nice.
GS: That’s the, they were, oh I can’t remember the name.
SB: Harrows.
GS: Yes. And they were dropping the first long —
SB: SAS yeah. Yeah. Or, yes long range desert —
GS: Yes. Long range.
SB: Yes.
GS: And also the parachutists.
SB: Right.
GS: They were all training at Kabrit where we were.
SB: Right. That’s that one then.
GS: Our usual crash.
SB: Yes. Oh [pause] ah a rather sorry looking Wimpy.
GS: Yeah.
SB: The remains of it.
GS: That was the usual thing. I think there was the big one of two Wellingtons that collided.
SB: Right.
GS: And why ours didn’t catch fire we never knew.
SB: Are you one of those?
GS: That was [laughs] I’m at the back.
SB: Right.
GS: That was at ITW at St Leonards on Sea.
SB: Oh right.
GS: We were in the Marine Court which looked like a big ship. Oh, and that’s a —
SB: Ah, and that’s a —
GS: That’s a —
SB: Mark 2, 148 Squadron.
GS: That’s it.
SB: Carrying a cookie.
GS: Yes.
SB: Yeah.
GS: That’s a four thousand pounder.
SB: Yes.
GS: Going out. I didn’t actually fly that plane.
SB: But you did fly Mark 2s though didn’t you?
GS: No.
SB: You never flew a Mark 2.
GS: No.
SB: No.
GS: We had them on 9 Squadron but I don’t know why I never got on but [pause] some of them we dropped fifty thousand rounds of ammo.
SB: Yes. Right.
GS: From the bomb bay in on a big plank.
SB: Yes.
GS: And the silly asses they made an enormous thing of first aid medicines and what have you. They made it so it exactly fitted the round hole.
SB: Right.
GS: And in the air we couldn’t get it out. We tried for about twenty minutes.
SB: Oh dear.
GS: This one is some of our leaflets we dropped. I think you’ll find —
SB: Right.
GS: Those amusing.
SB: Oh yes. I’ll come to those in a, in a while. Ah, here we are. Lossiemouth [pause] Oh yes. The Mark 1s early on. Very early Wimpies. Yeah.
GS: And they were old machines anyway at there.
SB: Well, yes.
GS: I’ve got six Bulldog books of course but not the relevant times.
SB: Right. Right. Ah, there’s our, your Mannheim one you said with the engine trouble. Yeah.
GS: Yes. That’s the one that they were very popular of course. They were just the right size for dropping over the German [unclear] business. But not this last one.
SB: Oh no. Right.
GS: That was too thick. If you pull it down you —
SB: [laughs] Ok.
GS: That was the one we dropped over Hamburg.
SB: Right. Ah.
GS: That was when two, that was what happened to mine.
SB: Right.
GS: That actually, that was at Shallufa.
SB: Shallufa.
GS: I think.
SB: Yes.
GS: Cushy. Sent it off to [pay for ] and he got the wrong [laughs] he got the wrong airfield.
[pause]
SB: Gosh. Eight hours fifty. That was a pretty, a pretty long op for a Wimpy wasn’t it?
GS: Yes. I think one of ours on the 22nd of December 1940, 9 Squadron, we bombed Venice.
SB: Oh right.
GS: The docks outside Venice.
SB: Right.
GS: And one of our chaps because of the winds you know if they were [slap happy] in those days they flew across Switzerland to start and they had to see the mountains. Of course, he flew above them or between them and they, with cloud they overshot Venice by about two hundred miles and bombed somewhere near Fiume apparently. And of course coming back they had headwinds and they crossed the Swiss frontier into France in broad daylight.
SB: Really.
GS: This was December ’40.
SB: Good grief.
GS: And they, they only saw two fighters way away. Nowhere near. Nobody expected to see a lone Wellington.
SB: No.
GS: And they, they debated whether to bale out or crash in the sea and they, they had enough height to when the engines cut no gas at all. They were over the Channel and they saw a field at Pevensey, just outside Pevensey, put the wheels and flaps down. What they didn’t know was there was a ditch going across and they hadn’t, they weren’t thorough. But the other crew who were, I was staying at [unclear] at the [unclear] just outside Honiley with my girlfriend and the wife of the gunner on the other crew she was there. You can imagine Christmas on the 22nd morning and this chap, they hit the cliffs near Beachy Head. All killed. And so we lost two planes that way which was pretty rare in those days. But later on squadrons would lose four or five from one squadron.
SB: Yeah.
GS: In a raid.
SB: Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Here’s an interesting one. March the 3rd 1941 SCI in conjunction with the Army simulated the dropping of mustard gas —
GS: Oh yes.
SB: On troops on beach.
GS: Yes. Well, we were going to use it. If they, they wanted to walk into it they’d use mustard gas in Eritrea and Abyssinia.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: So they, luckily they didn’t come.
SB: No. Indeed.
GS: That’s the only time we did it. You had to wash everything down afterwards of course with simulated mustard gas.
SB: Right. Right. And Sergeant Mills was your regular pilot.
GS: He was there. Harry. Yes. He only died about two years ago.
SB: Oh right.
GS: We always kept in touch [unclear]
SB: So, apart from your collision at Woolfox Lodge did you say it was —
GS: Yes.
SB: Were there any other? In your fifty four ops were there any other problems shall we say? Damage or encounters with —
GS: Well, no we, I think it was Derna when on one of our raids there was low cloud so we had to be underneath the cloud with the searchlights going up. That’s by daylight of course.
SB: Right.
GS: And we were down at two thousand feet and we had machine gun’s bullets going into the bomb bay which cut the leads to the Mickey Mouse. You know. You know ,the Mickey Mouse.
SB: Yes. Yes.
GS: Which was clockwork so the bombs were released on top of ones that weren’t released of course so —
SB: Right.
GS: We, we lost our hydraulics too so we were going to go, this is we landed at Fuka satellite and we were going back via base at Kabrit and we were leaving the wheels down there, the bombs on board because we couldn’t open the bomb doors. And then one engine packed up [laughs] so we managed to do a flapless landing at, at Heliopolis which was very nice for three days holiday. Of course they, they didn’t realise there was a war on there and when they found we had bombs on board we were made to taxi to the far end and then —
SB: Right.
GS: Basically managed to lure these. Well, that was one of our near, well it was much nearer to us when we decided to, the only time Harry wanted to give the gunners a bit of practice because they were a bit fed up with never doing anything so he went down on a [unclear] road to below two thousand and machine gunned convoys going along. But their machine gunners were much better than ours I think and I don’t know how many, I was in the astrodome looking out to see if there were any fighters about but I don’t know how many hundreds of incendiary bullets just missed us by inches.
SB: Really?
GS: We never did that trip again. We were very [pause] I think I [unclear] guardian angel [unclear ] [pause] If my war record is not very notable —
SB: Well, everybody says that.
GS: I’ve got a friend up at Stoke Poges —
SB: Oh yes.
GS: Who was in Coastal Command. He’s got three DSOs and two DFCs.
SB: Really?
GS: He attacked six submarines in one day.
SB: Good God.
GS: On one sortie. The whole [unclear] and he he was flying Liberators.
SB: Right.
GS: So he got depth charges on a first tour. And the machine gunner [lost] four.
SB: Goodness me.
GS: Just that.
SB: This is about the Loch Ness Wellington.
GS: Yes.
SB: Yes. Yes.
GS: Because we were all —
SB: Right.
GS: It’s not terribly interesting.
SB: Oh it is. Oh it is. Your Pan Am trips back.
GS: Oh yeah.
SB: Yes.
GS: Four days.
SB: Right.
GS: No food. No water.
SB: Oh, right. 1482. Target Towing Flight, West Raynham. That’s your —
GS: Yeah.
SB: Blenheim flying. Yeah.
GS: That was the one with the Earl of [Bandon]. Nice chap.
SB: That was, was that the short-nosed Blenheim or long nosed Blenheim?
GS: Long nosed. I think there were some, I think I’ve got some photos in the other one but I’m not sure.
SB: Right. Ok.
GS: A WAAF called [unclear] there at West Raynham and she could drink a pint of beer in five seconds.
SB: Really? [laughs]
GS: I had friends who could. I’d seen it done much more quickly since.
SB: Right.
GS: But at the time I’d never heard of [pause] She had a lovely looking face. A lovely body but I’d love to know how long [laughs] how long it lasted.
SB: Drinking beer like that. Yes. Got your op with your OTU here. 25th of June ’42. Wellington L7869 to Bremen. So when you, when you were on OTU and had to fly an op was the crew all staff or did you have pupils as well?
GS: We were all staff.
SB: Right.
GS: We’d have to choose the ones we wanted I think.
SB: Right. Right. Ok.
GS: So that’s why they lost so many of them. Because the aircraft were old.
SB: Yes.
GS: So that’s why they stopped it.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: Did you ever want to fly as pilot or were you interested?
SB: Yes, at one time I did and well when I left school I didn’t go straight into the Air Force. I always wanted to be a draughtsman although I’d always had a passion for aviation but —
[telephone ringing]
SB: Sorry, I’ll let you deal with that.
GS: I think my dear wife will answer it.
SB: Right.
[pause]
GS: Are you getting it dear?
SB: Yes.
GS: Yes.
SB: Yes, I always wanted to be a draughtsman but I very quickly lost interest. I lost enthusiasm for that. So I went along to the RAF careers. I really ought to join the Air Force. And of course as I later on knew as I spent three years in the careers part of the Air Force as a break from engineering of course they steer you towards the trade that they want people for.
GS: Right.
SB: So, ‘You should be an engineer. Great aptitude to be an engineer.’
GS: Ok.
SB: I’ve no regrets. I enjoyed it thoroughly but so that was the end.
GS: I don’t know how I got in as a pilot but I dodged the [unclear] school. I was in the Scouts. And when I was under four I got hold of my sister’s bows. She’d hidden the arrows. I got a bit of wood and instead of going forward it went back into my eye and they thought I’d lose the eye. The sight as well as the eye and I was in hospital five weeks in Maidstone and I saw a marvellous man who looked after my eyes and now fifty years later.
SB: Oh marvellous. Yeah. Marvellous.
GS: We went to Harley Street offices. And then I got peritonitis and a burst appendix in 1924. Wasn’t very, not many people survived.
SB: Gosh. No. I imagine not.
GS: That was about a year and around the back I had curvature of the spine and I was underweight and not very fit. Not very clever and so I recovered and I tried to join the, I didn’t like the Army, I didn’t like the Navy so that left the Air Force and I got straight into it. And so but I failed the medical as I was completely unfit. I had [unclear] treatment including my eye. And then of course I got this thing playing rugger. My knee locked and the stupid sports master tried to bend it straight and a nasty crack. My cartilage went so I had a fortnight in St Thomas’ Hospital and, and another fortnight at home. A month off work and so how I got into the Air Force I don’t know. I was a weedy so and so. A friend of mine who was a bank clerk and a friend of mine who was, you know a strapping twelve stone chap but he failed as pilot and became a navigator.
SB: Oh right [pause] Instructor’s course at Castle Combe.
GS: Sorry?
SB: Instructor’s course at Castle Combe.
GS: Oh yeah.
SB: Back on Oxfords. Yeah.
GS: Castle Combe is like a fishbox.
SB: Oh, it is isn’t it? Beautiful. Yes. Absolutely.
GS: I always choose the best places.
SB: Oh, I see the OC here or chief instructor has said your steep turns are very weak.
GS: Yeah. Always had been.
SB: Oh, really [laughs]
GS: I was very pleased to have flown there. I regarded it as a holiday. But I think I smoked about a third of a million cigarettes and luckily I had sixty one the day I stopped.
SB: Right.
GS: And if I had one tomorrow I’d have ten the next day I think. Have you ever smoked?
SB: Yes. Yes, I gave up when I was twenty three. Yeah.
GS: I was about thirty five I think when [pause] So if I continued smoking I would have been long gone. I was driving up to ninety four.
SB: Are you by Jove. Goodness.
GS: I passed by my, my good wife is so rude about my driving I took an advanced driver’s test and they said, ‘Come back and see us in two years.’ But I found I wasn’t really happy driving on these roads around here so I packed it in. The children made me get rid of my lovely Mercedes and buy a Lexus.
SB: Oh really.
GS: And the Lexus was driving me I think. It had every gadget under the sun. Marvellous.
SB: Now, would you mind if I photographed some of the pages?
GS: No, of course not.
SB: Is that ok?
[pause]
GS: I don’t think there is much of interest really.
SB: Oh, yes. Absolutely there is. Definitely.
GS: [unclear] new boys with the before and after [sailing] against England.
SB: Right.
GS: Yes. That’s a lovely one.
SB: Yes.
[pause]
GS: Good heavens. It’s half past twelve. I must have my beer.
[long pause]
GS: I didn’t realise it was so late. Could I offer you a beer or something stronger?
SB: Oh, I’d love a beer. That would be great.
GS: Good.
SB: Thank you very much.
GS: Lovely.
[pause]
GS: Something I’m never short of. My good wife looks after me.
SB: Marvellous.
[long pause]
SB: Oh, that’s grand. Thank you very much.
GS: Good.
SB: What did you fly in BOAC when you first went there?
GS: Dakotas.
SB: Right.
GS: I was on them for three years when first I joined and then I did this three and a half, these three years posted to Hong Kong but before that they, they made me go round Iraqi Airways. I had a crooked general manager called [unclear] He was South African and he sent his chief engineer officer on leave and [unclear] had his second engineer officer signed out all the aircraft as having [C of A’s] They didn’t have the equipment.
SB: Right.
GS: And the poor old chief pilot eventually got [unclear] grounded and we were sent out at a minute’s notice.
SB: Oh.
GS: For six months. But we only did four months and then they managed to train up other people.
SB: Right.
GS: And we came home and I had four months at home I think and then [unclear] back to Hong Kong with Hong Kong Airways. I didn’t volunteer. I was the only extra captain I think.
SB: Right.
GS: And but the Chinese were being awkward in Hong Kong. Didn’t give permission at once so they phoned me up and said, oh I said I’d give —
[telephone ringing]
GS: As you aren’t doing anything you can take the [unclear] commissioner around the Italian colony. All these deputy foreign ministers the English, French, Russian and American deputy foreign man were seeing deputations from all these colonists to see what was going to happen. You know, see what they wanted.
SB: Right.
GS: Mind you everything they wanted they got the reverse being [laughs] being the United Nations.
SB: Yes.
GS: Oh dear. What a, what a mob. But I thoroughly enjoyed it except in Mogadishu I got no support at all from BOAC. They tried to get me the sack I think because they reduced the weight of the Dakota so I could barely get the parachute on.
SB: Oh.
GS: Doing several [unclear]
SB: Right.
GS: And so had the rations on my back all the time because TWA were out there with Ethiopian Airlines and they would have done it all for nothing for the publicity. So they were trying, they were saying we were much too expensive and I had six crew. Myself, a navigator, a bomb aimer, co-pilot, engineer, a ground engineer and a steward. Six of us and including the aircraft we only cost twenty five pounds a day and if we flew it was another ten bob a mile. Can you imagine in those days?
SB: Yeah. Good grief.
GS: But so I think apart from when these people the deputy foreign ministers stuck up for me and said you know I had no alternative. The bloody Russian [unclear] so I didn’t lose any face over it but it was just annoying.
SB: Well, your good health. Cheers.
GS: Cheers. It’s good to see you. I hope you have made sense out of all this.
SB: Oh, yes. Absolutely. What rank were you when you came out of the Air Force?
GS: Sorry?
SB: What rank were you?
GS: Only flight lieut. I had [pause] I wasn’t very dedicated.
SB: Right.
GS: I was the wrong [pause] one of the chaps I’m not sure how, he was quite a lot Tony [Sillitoe] he was, he was far worse than I was but he, he killed a chap for, the rear gunner. They couldn’t stop and they, this was daylight but the brakes were bad and they were going too fast I think and the prop just chopped this poor chap’s neck and he was killed.
SB: Oh dear.
GS: But he was posted to Market Harborough and one day I looked out of the, I was flying, you know by myself at North Luffenham. I looked out of the window and there just inches from my wing was this, was Tony’s plane which is the [unclear] I mean literally inches from me formatted on me. I didn’t dare move. [unclear] But he was posted from us. Went to Market Harborough. I think he did the same thing to another crew. They did the same thing and then they touched. Seventeen people killed.
SB: Oh dear.
GS: I think it was seventeen.
SB: Oh goodness.
GS: Or fifteen.
SB: Yeah.
GS: Anyway, that’s it. We had lots of crashes at North Luffenham but mostly pupils and they mostly got away with it too.
SB: Did you like the Wimpy to fly or was there anything you didn’t like about it?
GS: Well, you love what you know and —
SB: Yeah. Yeah. Sure.
GS: If you overshot both of you used to be pushing hard on the control column. We were told not to adjust the, you know. Anything interesting dear?
[background chatter. Chatting about lunch]
[recording paused]
GS: [unclear] compensated for the so we weren’t supposed to change the normally we were just bind the [pause] I can’t find the words now [laughs] the elevator controller.
SB: Oh right. The trim.
GS: The trim. Trim. I can, but we were told not to on the Wimpy.
SB: Oh right.
GS: So we had to push like that.
SB: Right. Right.
GS: But they were very good. I mean apart from in my forty years flying that was the only accident.
SB: That’s quite a record isn’t it. Twenty thousand hours.
GS: I think [laughs] despite being an average pilot. I was poor. I mean, it’s some people are just naturals but —
SB: Now, I’m afraid I need a photograph of you.
GS: Well, not with a glass. I‘d better sit up.
[pause]
SB: One more for luck. Lovely. Thank you very much.
GS: Good.
SB: Just so I can.
GS: A good camera. Very light.
SB: Very good. Yeah. These are fantastic these cameras now.
GS: What kind is it?
SB: This is a Fuji.
GS: Oh. I haven’t heard of it.
SB: Yeah. It was recommended to me by a friend of mine who has one and it’s just, well —
GS: It looks expensive.
SB: Well, no it’s not really. I’ll show you. You were saying about your photographs, your little photographs there aren’t very good but if you look for example at [pause] the quality is astonishing.
GS: I know [laughs] it’s clever.
SB: Yeah.
GS: Clear little photo.
SB: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah.
GS: Marvellous.
SB: So I started I don’t know if I explained when we first spoke but I’ve written a number of books before.
GS: On flying or —
SB: All but one to do with —
GS: Also non-flying.
SB: The odd one actually was a biography of an ancestor of mine —
GS: Oh.
SB: Who was quite a well-known artist. But the others have all been on various aviation historical things.
Collection
Citation
S Bond and G Sharp, “A conversation with Guy Sharp,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 13, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/50391.