Interview with J Wiltshire. One

Interview with J Wiltshire. One

J Wiltshire trained as a flight engineer. He joined his crew at RAF Riccall before being posted to RAF Leconfield. On one occasion a navigational error found the crew over enemy territory rather than Norfolk they had expected. However, they got home safely and correctly completed the training flight the next day. When they arrived at their billets at Leconfield they were told by the other crew who shared their accommodation that they were replacing a crew that had failed to return. Then that crew also did not return. They wondered how long it would be before they were replaced.

00:34:45 audio recording

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AWiltshireLJ[Date]-01

I received my call up papers to join the RAF in April 1943 and was instructed to report to Lords Cricket Ground, St Johns Wood, London. We were processed there. In other words we were issued with our uniforms, pay book, short medical examination and eventually marched to a block of flats opposite the entrance to Regent’s Park Zoo. The RAF had taken over the zoo’s restaurant and this was to be our dining room for the next four weeks. We were billeted in the block of flats. Eight recruits to a room. Bunk beds. A bit spartan but we soon got used to it. During our four weeks there we received basic drill, lectures, taught to swim at some baths I believe that were in Wigmore Street. We also had a number of injections in some place in Abbey Road famous now for the Beatles involvement. After four weeks we were sent to ITW, Initial Training Wing, Torquay and billeted at the Hotel Regina on the sea front.
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This was a place where the RAF intended to make us quite fit. We received a lot of drill, physical training and especially dinghy drill. We had to practice dinghy drill in case our aircraft went on operations and had to ditch in the water. On our first practice we were marched to the harbour, issued with a swimming costume if you can call it that so brief no bigger than two children’s handkerchiefs and we changed into, into them. And then we had to jump off the harbour wall into the sea, paddle to the first dinghy, get inside it, have a rest, get out, paddle to the next dinghy, get in, have a rest, get out and then paddle to the steps to get back up onto the harbour wall. Some of the chaps were shocked to find as they were climbing up the steps that they had lost their swimming costume and of course not only were they shocked themselves but bystanders standing on the harbour wall watching all this going on had one of the biggest laughs of the night.
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After six weeks I was posted to St Athans, South Wales to begin the flight engineers’ course where we had to then know every nut and bolt on an aircraft and also how to manage the fuel system. There were six tanks in each wing, all containing gallons and gallons of aviation fuel and the flight engineer had to complete a log every twenty minutes. Making calculations of how much fuel was being used by the engines and taking away this calculation from the total amount of fuel in each tank so that at any one time the skipper could ask the flight engineer how much fuel have we got left and how much flying time will that give us. I passed the course and proudly put up my brevet which had an E on it for engineer, the three stripes which meant that I became a sergeant and above all pay went up to twelve shillings a day which I suppose in those days wasn’t bad at all. In the same way that Ron put up his brevet when he passed his course the brevet would say AG for air gunner and of course he put up his three stripes and obviously could become a sergeant.
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I went home for a weeks’ leave and was instructed to report to RAF Riccall near Selby, Yorkshire to meet up with a crew to start operational training. I can’t quite remember how we met up but I do believe that Dennis had some members of the crew already with him when I was introduced to him. Operational training course we all practiced what we had been trained to do. The gunners fired at drogues towed by aircraft, the bomb aimers dropped dummy bombs on targets, the wireless operator tuned in to various beacons to get radio positions, the navigator practiced his navigation, the engineer with the pilot closed down various engines and we started and kept fuel flowing from the other tanks.
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It wasn’t all serious work. I remember on one occasion the pilot took us up over the Yorkshire Moors and on one occasion he came down very very low which started the sheep running everywhere and Ron in the tail gunner’s turret could see all this happening behind him and he was giving a running commentary with a few expletives thrown in having a wonderful time. We all began to have our say and before long there was quite a lot going on in the aircraft but unfortunately the pilot had left the switch on which connected us with the control tower and of course the people in the control tower they heard all this commentary and when we got back the pilot was called in for an interview. But anyhow it was all hushed up. No more was said about it but believe me we had a wonderful time that day and certainly didn’t do it again.
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On another occasion we were detailed to do a cross-country run at night. The idea was that we were to fly to Fishguard on the Welsh coast, turn and go across country to Bury St Edmunds and back up to Leconfield. This formed a sort of triangular course but unfortunately due to a navigational area we went to Anglesey and came across country. Little did we know but we were over the North Sea and one of the gunners, I’m not sure if it was Arthur the mid-upper reported that they could see gunfire and flashes which seemed to indicate that we were getting near an enemy position. The pilot of course immediately asked the navigator to check the course, the wireless operator tried to tune in to get a radio fix so for a few minutes there was quite a lot going on in the plane. Everyone trying to find a new course. Eventually Jack, our navigator gave the pilot a course and we headed back to Leconfield. This of course was a serious fault and Jack and the pilot were called in for interviews and we had to do the cross-country run again. You kindly sent me, Jenny a copy of Ron’s log and I notice on the 10th June ’44 we did a night cross-country which took us five hours ten minutes. This of course would be the cross-country run which I’ve just mentioned there. Owing to a navigational error we took a wrong course and came out over the North Sea and we had to do it again. On the 11th of June ’44, the night afterwards we did that same night cross-country run. Once again five hours ten minutes so obviously we did it quite successfully that time. So that that —
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I was very pleased you sent me a copy of Ron’s log Jenny because seeing those two dates the 10th of June and the 11th of June doing the night cross-country runs really brought that occasion back to my memory. We completed the course successfully and got sent home for a weeks’ leave before going to our operational squadron. When I arrived home I picked up my parent’s paper, “The Daily Herald.” On the front page was a picture of a church with its steeple knocked off. The church was in Selby which was about six miles away from our station and the night before a Halifax bomber with a trainee group on board had flown into the church, knocked the steeple off and obviously killed all the crew and five people living in houses nearby. I mentioned this to Bill Norman and he said, ‘Oh yes,’ he said, ‘I know about that. In fact —’ he said, ‘I’ve written about it,’ he said, ‘And I’ll send you a copy.’ So I’m enclosing a copy of a letter and papers that Bill Norman sent me about it. But believe me it was quite a shock. Of course, a lot of crews lost their lives on bombing operations but it’s surprising how many people did lose their lives on flying training. After a weeks’ leave we were posted to RAF Leconfield and there we all went our different ways meeting the officer in charge of our various sections. The navigator going to the navigation section, the gunners going to the gunnery section, engineers to the engineer section and from then on Dennis Tamms our pilot was like a mother hen. He gave us all our instructions where we were to meet, what time briefing was and so on and generally he kept us all together. Two days later he came into the billet and said that he was flying with another crew that night as a second pilot to get the feel of what it was like to go on a bombing operation. He was quite tense during the day and as the evening came along and he had to go to the briefing he was pretty nervous and he gave his wallet to Arthur, the mid-upper gunner to pass on to his family if anything happened to him. I’m sure we all wished him a very speedy return. Anyhow, we eventually took to our beds but later in the early hours of the morning we heard footsteps and woke us all up. So of course we all shot up in our beds, ‘What is it like Dennis? What is it like?’ ‘Oh, it’s a piece of cake,’ he said. ‘Nothing to it at all. Just guns and gunfire and a few fighters around but we’ll be alright. Nothing to it at all.’ I think that reveals what Dennis was like really. He was a good leader and gave us all confidence. Looking back on the weeks’ leave and Dennis doing his fact-finding bombing run with another crew it would appear that we did our first operational flight together on the 23rd of June to, it would look rather like one of those rocket sites because it was a night flight, three hours thirty five minutes. This is going by Ron’s log and to a place called [Oisemont]. I’m rather glad you sent a copy of Ron’s logbook Jenny because some of these dates I’ve completely forgotten about. I couldn’t quite remember when we started flying operations but that would appear to be the time when we got started. Looking at Ron’s log Jenny, 24th of July ’44 you’ll see that we went to Stuttgart. The flight took eight hours twenty five minutes and we went to and from the Krupps works in the Ruhr valley. But can you imagine what it must have been like for Ron sat in the turret at the back end of the plane there for eight hours twenty five minutes continually searching for fighters and reporting whenever he saw gunfire down below.
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We had some good times when we had stand downs and could go out together. I remember on one occasion we went to Hull the seven of us. We had a meal, a few drinks and then someone suggested we should go to the pictures. We didn’t know what was on. So anyhow we got in this picture house. Then we all went and sat down and there we were. Seven of us watching, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” Can you believe it?
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Leconfield was a very good camp. Brick built possibly a peacetime place as far as I remember and we were in this brick building, the second floor up. Seven beds down the one side of the room. Seven beds down the other side and the beds we were taking over the crew hadn’t returned two days ago. The crew on the other side they were a nice lot of chaps. One of the gunners used to wake up every morning singing, “Lili Marlene.” That was a German song which seemed to sweep all through the quarters.
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We returned one day from a flight. I can’t remember where we’d been and we were laying in our beds talking about it and suddenly the door opened and an officer and corporal came in and wanted to know which were the lockers of the crew that had the beds opposite to us. We pointed them out and asked what was the reason and they said, ‘Well, they haven’t returned so we are taking their belongings for safe keeping.’ And they filled a bag, a black bag of the possessions of each person and took them away and that was it. Eventually another crew came in and they took over the beds and we told them the same thing. They were taking over the beds of the crew that didn’t come back yesterday. And they settled down and I suppose our crew probably felt well is it going to be our turn next? But lo and behold we came back one day and found that the second crew hadn’t returned. So we carried on. Dennis had his twenty first birthday and we all clubbed together and bought him a book on art. He was very interested in art. As a matter of fact after he finished in the RAF he went to college and trained as a history and art teacher.
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We carried on doing various flights, operations and occasionally we had two or three days stand down when we could relax. But sometimes in between doing the bombing runs we did aircraft testing especially when the aircraft had been in for servicing. On one occasion when our aircraft came back and the tail plane was shot up rather badly it had to go in for servicing. We were given another aircraft and when the original one came out it was given to another crew and didn’t return from its first time out after being repaired so we felt that we were fortunate on that occasion. You might notice that sometimes we did what we called a trip to Germany or France on a certain night and we were flying again the next night. Other times there was quite a gap of maybe of a week or so. That would be when we went on leave because we had a weeks’ leave every six weeks.
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On the 2nd of November we went to Dusseldorf. It was quite a scary night. The Germans sometimes put what we called scares. At night you saw what you thought was an aircraft bursting into flames and of course you would say to yourself there goes another one but what it was it was scares. A kind of gunfire that the Germans sent up. I suppose it was to demoralise crews. We got back. We landed back at Leconfield and Dennis taxied us around to dispersal point where we kept the aircraft and a car came driving along the perimeter track and stopped by our plane. It was Wing Commander Viney, our squadron commander and the crew were getting out of the aircraft. I was the last out and as I came down the steps I said to someone, it may have been Ron, may have been Arthur, ‘What’s going on?’ And he said, ‘Wing Commander Viney has come around to congratulate us. To tell us that we have successfully completed our tour of operations.’
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As we went to what we called debriefing where we met up with our section leaders, intelligence officers and told them as much as possible about what we’d seen on the, on the flight and then it was to the dining room for a meal of bacon and eggs as usual. We always had a meal of bacon and eggs before we went out on an operation and we always had a meal of bacon and eggs when we returned. Then it was a case of back to our billets, going to bed and waking up the next morning to find it was all over. A wonderful feeling.
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We understood we would soon be going on leave and two or three days later Dennis came back to the billet and said that two volunteers were required to meet the Merchant Navy, spend a bit time with them explaining the part we played in these raids that we went on and to share with them various experiences when they were at sea sailing across the Atlantic.
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Ron and I volunteered to go. We were driven to Hull and boarded the Merchant Navy vessel and eventually shown to our cabins. We had dinner with the captain and his officers that evening and later the ship sailed out into the North Sea and formed a small convoy with other vessels all going in the same direction down. The next morning there was a knock on our cabin doors and a seaman came in with a tray of tea so it did show that they intended to look after us while we were spending a few days with them. We spent the days up on the Bridge with the captain and officers. We went down to the engine room and saw the workings down there and generally wandered around the ship as we wished. But I think we found the most exciting thing was being up on the Bridge with the captain and seeing the destroyers patrolling around the convoy to ward off or keep away any enemy submarines. Occasionally we did see a British submarine but only occasionally because usually they were submerged. We travelled down after two or three days down to the English Channel and when we came opposite Southend we were taken off the ship and taken to the railway station to make our journey back to the campaign. They gave brief reports the next day to our squadron commander and then I was told by Wing Commander Viney that I was to stay behind to see the group captain. I had been recommended for a commission. I had to wait two or three days and then eventually I went to see Group Captain Waterhouse. His name was mentioned in the book a few times. He had a nickname. He was called Closet. I suppose that derived from the surname Waterhouse. Anyhow, he was very good. He congratulated me on having completed a successful tour and said that he would recommend that I should be commissioned for the second tour of operations which would be in six months’ time. Of course, the war finished in Europe and we were not called for flying duties. I didn’t mind at all because I had successfully completed one tour of operations. I certainly didn’t want the war to continue and to go back flying a second time on purpose to get a commission. Then of course if the war hadn’t finished and we had been called for flying that would have been alright. Especially if I could have flown with the crew that I’d previously done the first tour with. I then went on leave which turned out to be for over a month and just before Christmas received instructions to report to RAF Brackla near Nairn, Scotland. When I arrived there it was a small RAF station. A few Nissen huts but very very little else. I’m not sure what the reason was but we were called up to discuss what we wanted to do for the next six months before we were back flying again. I chose to have a motor transport course. I don’t know what Ron chose to do. The pilot I understand went back to flying on transport planes with the wireless operator. I haven’t heard what the navigator or bomb aimer did for six months but during the week we were there we were there over a weekend and Arthur the rear gunner said to me, ‘What about going into Inverness for the weekend?’ I said, ‘Yes, alright. I’d like that.’ So we went to Inverness, stayed in a bed and breakfast and had a look around at Inverness. I can’t remember much about it but one thing I do remember we walked down by the river and on the bridge there was a man playing the bagpipes and to me they were really good. I thoroughly liked them and ever since then whenever I hear the bagpipes it takes me back to the weekend in Inverness. After Backla it was back home again for indefinite leave which once again turned out to be at least a month and fortunately we were home for Christmas. After Christmas I received instructions to go to RAF Weeton near Blackpool to start the motor course. This was when I wrote the letter to Ron saying that I got the course which I wanted which was RAF Weeton. This is as far as my connection with the crew went, Jenny. As time went on, having completed the motor transport course I was eventually posted to RAF Great Dunmow. Eventually to Reading to be in charge of a small transport section and then demobbed in 1947. But doing this tape to you really takes me back to the time we spent flying together and I think of the time when we were over enemy territory and we were approaching the targets. In the daytime we saw big big black clouds which were gunfire. Black as we called it and we knew we had to fly through it. But of course we consoled ourselves by saying it’s not what you see it’s what you don’t see which causes the damage and we just pressed on. We had a motto in the RAF squadron, ‘Press on regardless,’ and it’s something which I often say to my sons when they have a bit of a problem. ‘Oh, press on regardless.’ Whether they do or not of course is a different matter. And of course, the other thing I remember as we approached the target there would be continuous noise in the aircraft and on the radio. Screeching and whistles and radio interference all the time. Aircraft called the Pathfinders would be giving instructions to the pilot. ‘Bomb the red flares. Bomb the red flares.’ Or ‘Bomb the green flares. Bomb the green flares.’ The Pathfinders usually flew in Mosquito aircraft and they flew very low over the target at night and dropped these flares on the target giving the bomber crews instructions to bomb the different colour flares. They had different coloured flares because if they sort of dropped red flares to mark the target and the wind blew the flares way over off the target then they would drop a different coloured flare such as a green flare and give new instructions to bomb that coloured flare. So all the time there was this noise going on in the aircraft and of course the pilot being in communications with his crew as well. So sometimes it was quite a job to hear exactly what was going on.
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As I read the book which you kindly sent to me Jenny my memories will come back to me of the great times that I spent with the crew. The crew, as we called ourselves Tammy’s Tartan Terrors. Of course, that was due to the scarves that Ron brought back for us when he went on leave. If I remember rightly my scarf was a Mackenzie but of course it got lost after I got demobbed and came back to the family. I can’t remember when we had TT painted on the front of the aircraft but it was good to see that when I signed the letter to Ron that I did add TTT. We were very proud of our tartan connection.
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I don’t know how much more is left of this tape Jenny but I’m sure after posting it to you there will be things I feel that I should have mentioned but quite forgot. Anyhow, we will fill in the gaps later when we get in touch with each other. Goodbye.