Interview with Harry Richardson
Title
Interview with Harry Richardson
Description
Harry describes his early life and operations on Wellingtons with 149 Squadron and then on Liberators in the Far East with 59 Squadron.
Creator
Date
2025-06-26
Spatial Coverage
Language
Type
Format
00:43:41 Audio Recording
Conforms To
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
ARichardsonH250626, PRichardsonH2501
Transcription
AM: Right. This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is a chap called Alistair Montgomery, that’s me, Monty. The interviewee is Flight Lieutenant Harry Richardson, Distinguished Flying Cross and we’re sitting in Harry’s lovely home in Ochiltree in Ayrshire with his daughter Penny. Right. Harry, tell me a wee bit about your life before the Royal Air Force. You know, where you lived and your family.
HR: Well, I lived in several places with mother, dad was a power station engineer supervisor and he seemed to get moved around so the first place was I take it you can edit [laughs] this tape. Where was it first? Well, I was born in Leicester.
AM: Right.
HR: So obviously he worked there. Then the first place I know was Derby. He worked in a power station there and then we went to Derby. Did I just say that. Yeah. We were about seven years there. I remember bits and pieces like, you know these green things at the end of the street with all the electrical stuff in. That’s one of my first memories is on a Sunday morning a gang of blokes, about a half a dozen all in white cricket or tennis wear playing around with this thing. That’s about my first memory.
AM: Right.
HR: And the next would be in front of a pub. They opened the doors and rolled the barrels of beer down with ropes. I don’t know whether you ever saw it done.
AM: I have done. Yeah.
HR: So those are my first memories. I must say we were at Derby there —
AM: And where did you go to school? In Derby?
Other: No.
HR: No. Next we went to, dad went to Bolton, Lancashire and that’s where I did all my education.
AM: Right.
HR: Primary school, secondary and so on and then we moved down to Wembley and I got a job. Gosh, it’s a long time ago. I should have written all this down. Oh, I signed on. I decided to go into Customs and Excise —
AM: Right.
HR: Because I knew a family and I spoke to the dad a lot. So I signed on the dole and I started a correspondence course for Customs and Excise and every week went to the [brew?] and one of the days, twice a week I think it was, on one of the days we drew our dole money but one day they said, ‘We’ve got an interview for you.’ Oh. So, I was interviewed by this chap and it was one of two brothers that ran a motor car sales place and repair shop. So there were three of us and I was picked for the job because mine was the only handwriting they could read [laughs] So that was my first job. Ray Abbott Limited, Harrow Road. So after that —
Other: RAF.
HR: Yeah. The reason they wanted somebody at that time was because one of the partners was studying for Grand Master of the Mason Lodge.
AM: Right. Good.
HR: So that’s why I got my first job. One of the reasons. And then what did you say, Penny?
Other: It was the RAF after. You got called up after that.
HR: No. No. No. Let’s have a [pause] let me think.
AM: So which year did you join?
HR: Pardon?
AM: Which year did you join?
HR: Which?
Other: ’39.
HR: ’39.
AM: ’39.
Other: 1939.
AM: Where did you join up?
HR: Well, I tried to join two weeks before the war.
Other: It’s, it’s —
HR: I went to Hendon and I said —
Other: In here.
HR: I said, ‘I want to be a pilot.’
Other: There you are.
HR: ’Oh, we’re not taking for pilots.’
Other: That’s his call out paper.
AM: I’ll take a picture of that. Yes.
Other: Yes.
HR: ‘We’re not taking people for pilots.’ So I went to Hendon.
Other: It says May actually.
HR: And got the same answer and then the war started. Within a week I got this thing through the door. I was called up. So I was, I had an interview didn’t I? ‘Do you want to be a navigator or something like that?’ I said, ‘No. I want to be a pilot.’ So I stuck out and I got taken on as a pilot. Oh no —
AM: Where did you start the pilot training proper?
HR: It was —
Other: It was at Perth.
HR: Yes. Yeah.
Other: Perth.
AM: At Perth. Yes.
HR: At Perth.
AM: Yes.
HR: Yes. Perth. On Tiger Moths.
AM: Right.
HR: And after that it was Montrose on Miles Masters. After that it was Lossiemouth on Wellington aircraft. And after Lossiemouth I got my first posting to 149 Squadron at Mildenhall where I completed a tour of operations over Germany.
AM: When you, when you, tell me how you formed a crew on the Wellington.
HR: Ahh, that’s going back a bit now. We went to —
AM: Was that down at the OTU?
HR: Lossiemouth.
AM: At Lossiemouth. Right.
HR: Went to Lossiemouth. That’s where I formed the first crew and we completed [pause] completed the course together and then I was posted to Mildenhall on ops.
AM: Right.
HR: And I completed thirty trips which was a tour and I went to Lichfield then.
AM: What was the Wellington like to fly?
HR: Oh, it was very nice. Very nice. A bit slow but it responded fairly quickly to your controls.
AM: When you arrived at Mildenhall I think I read somewhere they were making a film, “Target for Tonight.”
HR: Yes.
AM: Right. Tell me about that.
HR: Yeah. Well, the, “Target for Tonight,” the front gunner did his second tour with me.
AM: Right.
HR: Yes. [Dickie Bird].
AM: Right.
HR: Well, I [laughs] [didn’t call] Dickie.
AM: Isn’t he just.
HR: Yeah. So that was —
AM: When you got to a typical mission, not there probably was a typical mission but when you arrived at operations to fly.
HR: Yeah.
AM: What was the procedure like? How did, how did people feel?
HR: Well, you’d go to this briefing a few hours before and be told where you were going and the first, the first half of my tour we did our own thing. Some liked to fly at sixteen thousand feet. Some people flew lower.
AM: Right.
HR: I preferred eight thousand feet because the light, the light flak, flak being anti-aircraft stuff finished about eight thousand feet and the higher levels sort of were, didn’t really get going ‘til about sixteen thousand feet.
AM: Right. Was that where the night fighters were?
HR: Well, the first half of the tour there was neither night fighters or radar. When radar came in you soon found out about it [laughs] because you got more attacks. I actually think I shot one down. Shot an enemy fighter down.
AM: Right. Tell me about that.
HR: The reason, the reason was that we were being attacked and so I could be a little bit more manoeuvrable I decided to drop my bombs. So I pulled this toggle at the bottom of the instrument panel and that was supposed to drop the bombs. Anyhow, we got home safely and halfway through the debriefing one of the maintenance guys, the fitters whispered in my ear and said, ‘You’ve brought your bombs back.’ I said, ‘What?’ So I had to think because I’d seen this explosion when I had the go at the night fighter. What I did I sort of, he attacked me and I thought well he didn’t do too much damage so I thought he won’t give up. He’ll keep going. It was a dirty black night and you couldn’t see a thing. I thought well he’ll take so long to come back on my tail and I gave the order to the rear gunner when I thought he’d be behind me and I said, ‘Fire.’ Through the hosepipe which he did and a few, a minute later there was an explosion on the ground. I thought that’s him. No. Sorry. What am I doing? I’m getting lost. Yes.
AM: So what you thought was your bombs going off —
HR: No, that’s right.
AM: Was him hitting the ground.
HR: I dropped my bombs and said, ‘That’s my bombs.’ But when I got back and was debriefing this mechanic said, ‘You’ve brought your bombs back.’ So what else could it be? It would be the fighter. But he never turned up again [laughs]
AM: Right. What was the, I mean you attacked a lot of targets in Germany.
HR: Pardon?
AM: You attacked a lot of targets in Germany. What was the, what was the most difficult one? I’ve heard you mention Essen before.
HR: Well, the furthest I had to bomb was Karlsruhe.
AM: Right.
HR: Sort of southeast of Berlin. I was never on Berlin. I think, I think they waited for me to go on holiday and then they picked Berlin because there were three, at least three Berlin raids when I operated and I missed them all. So that was that.
AM: Did you, did you do any day sorties or only night?
HR: Only night.
AM: Only night.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Right. That’s interesting.
HR: Oh, sorry. We did a bit of shipping.
AM: Right.
HR: Off the Dutch and Belgian coast.
AM: And was that bombing shipping or dropping mines?
HR: That was bombing.
AM: Right.
HR: Bombing ships which were supposed to be all German. So that was that.
AM: What was, what was the life like at Mildenhall in 1941/42?
[pause]
HR: That was Bury St Edmunds I think was our leisure place and I had a relative down there which was quite useful. So [pause]
AM: Was there much interaction on the station —
HR: Yes.
AM: In your off-duty periods?
HR: Off-duty periods? Well, it was usually going out. Going out dancing.
Other: Bury St Edmunds.
HR: Sorting out the girls.
AM: Yes.
HR: Seeing the lads. That’s us. That’s where I met my wife. It wasn’t there.
Other: No. That was later on.
HR: That was later on.
AM: Right.
HR: We used to go to the dances at the weekend.
AM: Did you ever have a trip home to see your parents in that period?
HR: Oh yes. I think we had a week off every six weeks.
AM: Right.
HR: Oh yes. We had to go and see our parents. My parents. We were living at North Wembley at that time so they had more, they had more bombs exploding than I did.
AM: What was it, you told me one story about when you brought your bombs back. What was it like when you got back to Mildenhall at the end of a sortie? A six, eight hour sortie.
HR: Yes, well, we were, we were debriefed. Told our, the story of the trip and that was it. Then we went to bed. Getting too tired for that.
AM: I bet you were. I bet you were. Was the trip [pause] that’s not a good question. What was the most dangerous trip that you took part in during your time at Mildenhall?
HR: Ah. I think around Karlsruhe. The first obstacle was along the coast.
AM: Right.
HR: Holland and Belgium. Hundreds of searchlights.
Other: A bit of Wellington.
AM: Right. Right.
HR: Yeah. There were a lot of searchlights and anti-aircraft guns. That was, that was sometimes it was the hardest part to get through but I was only, I was only hit once fortunately. That’s the result.
AM: And that’s a bit of it.
HR: That’s a bit of it which the mechanics kindly gave me when they mended it.
AM: When, when we read about bomber missions you know quite often pilots talk about having to fly the corkscrew manoeuvre.
HR: Oh, well we, we didn’t fly in a straight line. I mean if they’re going to fire at you they’re going to get you eventually in your tour. So you just flew around and you changed your height.
AM: Right.
HR: And that sort of thing. So you weren’t just sitting there with your feet up.
AM: So, so you finished your first tour at Mildenhall.
HR: Yes.
AM: Tell me what happened then.
HR: Well, I went to Lichfield I think.
Other: No. Did you not go to Montrose?
HR: No.
Other: On Ansons.
HR: No, we’d been there.
Other: Oh, right. Ansons.
HR: Oh yes. Yeah, I, for a time I went on to Ansons flying all the students around and doing their first countries and checking. You know, toughening up their skills.
AM: That must have been a bit of a change.
HR: Oh, it was. It was lovely [laughs] Yes. Feet up. Sometimes you would, you would let their second pilot sit in so you took two learners flying the aeroplane because they were very easy to fly.
AM: Right.
HR: So that was good fun.
Other: Didn’t you do the first two bomber, thousand bomber raids from there? Are we still —
HR: From Lichfield. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. They were quite easy. Not much trouble at all.
AM: Was this the attack on Cologne?
HR: Pardon?
AM: Was this the attack on Cologne?
HR: Yes.
AM: Yeah, right.
HR: Yeah. Yeah.
Other: He did the first two.
AM: So did you do that while you were instructing on Ansons?
HR: Yeah.
AM: And pick up a Wellington to do the trip.
HR: That’s right.
AM: Right. Gosh.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Yeah.
HR: Yeah.
AM: That must have been a rude awakening after —
HR: Yeah.
AM: Flying students around.
HR: Yes. I’m glad they didn’t send us in the Anson.
AM: You’d still —
Other: [unclear] they didn’t have.
AM: You’d still be flying I think. You’d still be flying.
HR: Yes.
AM: Now, when you finished on Ansons you converted to the Liberator.
HR: No. The first time I converted to a Wellington.
AM: Right.
HR: And then, oh gosh I volunteered to go overseas and that’s when I went on to Liberators.
AM: Right. So after the Anson you went back to the Wellingtons for a bit.
HR: No.
AM: No. You went straight to the Liberator.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Right. And where did you do your conversion onto the B-24?
HR: [unclear]
AM: Right.
HR: Right in the middle of India.
AM: Yes.
HR: Yeah.
AM: I read about flying a Liberator and a lot of people say it’s not an easy aeroplane to fly.
HR: Well, once you learn how to fly them they’re no bother. I mean flying is usually all you’ve got to do is this sort of thing [laughs]
AM: I’m told on take-off it was quite heavy.
HR: Take-off. Well, of course you have everything. All your power on. That’s the most dangerous part of flying. When you, when your engines are on full power but no. No. But it’s not that difficult once you’ve trained.
AM: To try to —
HR: I think people try to make this flying business you know they pump it up and say [pause] my logbook says [laughs] the first entry in the flying after the first month it’s got, “Below average pilot.” But the last entry, “Above average pilot.” So it’s all how you learn it. how quickly or how slowly but you get there in the end.
AM: Tell me a little about some of the Liberator missions.
HR: Oh, Liberator missions. Oh well, the longest we did, the most difficult was to Penang.
AM: Right.
HR: We dropped mines between the Penang Island and the mainland and that was an eighteen and a half to twenty hours.
AM: Gosh. That’s a long trip.
HR: Yeah.
AM: A long trip.
HR: Eh?
AM: That’s a long trip.
HR: It was indeed. Yeah.
AM: And that was on 159 Squadron.
HR: That was 159 Squadron. Yes.
AM: I noticed —
HR: Wing Commander Blackburn.
AM: That’s Wing Commander James Blackburn. Is that the chap —
HR: Pardon?
AM: James Blackburn.
HR: James Blackburn.
AM: Yeah.
HR: He did about five tours.
AM: Gosh.
HR: He did two, two in the Middle East. Well, he was a university guy and they, some of them flew with the RAF while they were at the university and I think most of them became officers straightaway when the war began. Blackburn, he did, he did two tours supply dropping in the Middle East and I think he did about two tours over Germany and some out east. An affable bloke, most unassuming but he didn’t care. He was very handsome but he never, we never saw him with a woman. I don’t think [pause] I don’t think he liked women you know. He was the other side but he was a very courageous bloke for all that.
AM: Definitely.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Now, I understand that your Liberator had a name. Queenie. Is that correct?
HR: Queenie.
AM: Yes.
HR: Yes, one of the, one of the mechanics or somebody painted this. This woman.
AM: Right.
HR: This sexy woman, you know on the side of the aeroplane.
AM: So, it wasn’t you that chose the name. It was the ground crew. Is that right?
HR: Oh, no. It wasn’t me. It was one of the, one of the ground staff.
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah.
AM: And did you do all your missions in the Far East in Queenie?
HR: Pardon? Oh.
AM: Did you all your missions in that aeroplane?
HR: Oh yes.
AM: Right.
HR: Yes.
AM: So tell me about what happened when the war came to an end then, Harry.
HR: Ah. That’s what happened [pause] Oh, I did a bit. Did a bit in Transport Command —
AM: Right.
HR: Out in India. Ferrying people around.
AM: What aeroplane was that on?
HR: A Liberator.
AM: Still in a Liberator. Right.
HR: Yeah. C-87.
AM: Right.
HR: The passenger version.
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah. Yes.
AM: What about, what about the day the war actually ended. What happened then? Nothing?
HR: Not, not a lot. No. Yes, the war ended while I was out there and, oh gosh my memory is terrible [pause] Yeah. We, yes I was in Transport Command then.
AM: Right.
HR: So I carried on for a bit. Then we came home.
AM: Just out of interest what was —
HR: Eh?
AM: What was Calcutta like?
HR: Calcutta. Well, it was alright. It’s a town.
AM: Yeah.
HR: Or city. [unclear] oh gosh. I’ve forgotten the places we went to. There was a pretty good red light district I’m told.
AM: You’re told. Yeah.
HR: I never experienced it myself.
Other: Because he was married by then.
HR: Yes. I was married.
AM: So, when did you get married?
Other: 22nd of May 1943.
HR: ’43 was it?
Other: It was ’43.
HR: Oh sorry. I thought it was ’42.
Other: And I was born a year later in 1944.
HR: Yes.
AM: So while you were in Calcutta your wife was still in England.
HR: Penny will tell me.
Other: Yes. In Wallasey.
AM: Right.
HR: Was I married then?
Other: Yes. You were.
HR: Of course I was. Yeah.
Other: Yeah. Mum was pregnant. You went out in the January.
HR: Yeah.
Other: January ’44.
HR: Yeah.
Other: To India.
HR: That’s right. You were —
Other: By ship.
HR: You were a year and a half before I saw you.
Other: No. Before you saw me but I was born in May.
HR: Yeah.
Other: You left in the January and I was born in the May.
AM: So you got married while you were flying Ansons.
[pause]
HR: Yeah.
Other: There’s Queenie.
HR: Yeah. I think so.
Other: There’s Queenie.
AM: Oh right. Good. Yeah. So when you completed your time at transport command how did you get back to the UK? Was there, did you bring Liberators back or —
HR: I think I flew back here. I went out by ship.
AM: Right. That must have been an interesting trip.
HR: Yes. Yes. I remember going through Suez and we brushed alongside an American. a heck of a noise. [unclear] two ships through it. It was very good. The food was super. Smashing.
Other: Yeah.
AM: So you got back to the UK.
HR: Yes.
AM: And tell me what happened then apart from meeting up with your family for the first time in a couple of years.
HR: Oh dear.
Other: Yeah.
HR: Leconfield.
Other: I don’t really know anything —
HR: Yeah. I went, I guess I was [pause] Leconfield comes in my mind and instructing —
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah.
AM: What were you instructing on?
HR: On, on Wellingtons.
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah. I was at —
Other: Was it Letchworth?
HR: I joined, transport, Transport Command.
AM: Right.
HR: As I say C-87s. That was passenger air. The Wellington. Yeah. I enjoyed my stint.
AM: And when were you commissioned?
HR: When was I commissioned?
Other: That would have been when you were out in India.
HR: No. It was when I was on Ansons.
AM: Right.
Other: Oh right.
HR: They wanted more officers.
AM: Right.
HR: The —
Other: That was when you became a pilot officer was it?
HR: Yeah.
Other: You were a pilot officer when you got married in 1943.
HR: Yeah. If not ’42, ’43. Yeah.
AM: And the one thing you don’t mention, you’ve not mentioned to me is your Distinguished Flying Cross.
HR: Yes.
AM: Tell me about it.
HR: Yeah. One day one of the flight commanders came to me and he said, ‘Would you write citations out for about ten bods getting medals.’ So [laughs] I found it very difficult but I did it and of course I said I can’t write one for myself. So, I handed these things in and waited with bated breath and eventually I was awarded one as well.
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Wonderful. And where were you at that point?
HR: I was at, I think I was at Lichfield.
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Right. You must have been very thrilled.
HR: Yes. Yeah.
AM: Deservedly so.
HR: Well, compared with some of the guys I’d written for I don’t class as much as them.
AM: Yes. Good. Very difficult though isn’t it?
HR: Yes.
AM: And the people you flew with particularly on the Wellington did you meet any of them after the war?
HR: No. No.
Other: I thought you met one at that reunion.
HR: Yeah. Sorry.
Other: At the Mildenhall reunion.
HR: Freddy. Freddy [Reece]. Yes, I met the navigator.
AM: Right.
HR: Yes. He lived somewhere in London I can’t remember and oh yes we got on really well. He never got me lost.
AM: Just as well. We can’t say about my navigators [laughs] now is there anything I’ve not asked you about that you really think I should know?
[pause]
HR: That is difficult. [pause] The only, the one thing I remember the first trip. It was late evening. The light was just going. We were over the English Channel and I looked back and saw the southeast of England there. The Thames and all that. And I went through and wondered would I see that again. That was the only time I’ve thought anything like that but I can still remember it. I can still see the southeast coast of England.
AM: Right.
HR: It stays there.
AM: I’m not surprised. That’s remarkable. Well, Harry. That’s your lot of questions so I’ll close this down now and we can just have a chat if that’s ok. So, Harry Richardson, Flight Lieutenant Harry Richardson, Distinguished Flying Cross, thank you.
HR: My pleasure.
[recording paused]
AM: Right. I’ll just say Harry tell me about Lichfield.
HR: Yes. Well, I was, yeah posted to Lichfield. Billeted with a guy called Tim Yates and he said, ‘Would you like to come dancing tonight?’ So I said ok. And he said, I wasn’t quite ready so he said, ‘I’ll go and pick up the girls.’ And off he went and I got ready. He came back with the girls. There were three girls sitting in the back and they had left the front for me but there was a blonde who was Tim’s girlfriend and there was another woman and then another woman who was a brunette, a lovely smile and that was Margaret. We got on very well and to cut a long story short she eventually became my wife. She came to live at Wallasey. She was the daughter of an architect and quite a nice lady and eventually, well we got married. That was Margaret Rivers.
AM: Brilliant. Lovely. Thank you.
HR: Well, I lived in several places with mother, dad was a power station engineer supervisor and he seemed to get moved around so the first place was I take it you can edit [laughs] this tape. Where was it first? Well, I was born in Leicester.
AM: Right.
HR: So obviously he worked there. Then the first place I know was Derby. He worked in a power station there and then we went to Derby. Did I just say that. Yeah. We were about seven years there. I remember bits and pieces like, you know these green things at the end of the street with all the electrical stuff in. That’s one of my first memories is on a Sunday morning a gang of blokes, about a half a dozen all in white cricket or tennis wear playing around with this thing. That’s about my first memory.
AM: Right.
HR: And the next would be in front of a pub. They opened the doors and rolled the barrels of beer down with ropes. I don’t know whether you ever saw it done.
AM: I have done. Yeah.
HR: So those are my first memories. I must say we were at Derby there —
AM: And where did you go to school? In Derby?
Other: No.
HR: No. Next we went to, dad went to Bolton, Lancashire and that’s where I did all my education.
AM: Right.
HR: Primary school, secondary and so on and then we moved down to Wembley and I got a job. Gosh, it’s a long time ago. I should have written all this down. Oh, I signed on. I decided to go into Customs and Excise —
AM: Right.
HR: Because I knew a family and I spoke to the dad a lot. So I signed on the dole and I started a correspondence course for Customs and Excise and every week went to the [brew?] and one of the days, twice a week I think it was, on one of the days we drew our dole money but one day they said, ‘We’ve got an interview for you.’ Oh. So, I was interviewed by this chap and it was one of two brothers that ran a motor car sales place and repair shop. So there were three of us and I was picked for the job because mine was the only handwriting they could read [laughs] So that was my first job. Ray Abbott Limited, Harrow Road. So after that —
Other: RAF.
HR: Yeah. The reason they wanted somebody at that time was because one of the partners was studying for Grand Master of the Mason Lodge.
AM: Right. Good.
HR: So that’s why I got my first job. One of the reasons. And then what did you say, Penny?
Other: It was the RAF after. You got called up after that.
HR: No. No. No. Let’s have a [pause] let me think.
AM: So which year did you join?
HR: Pardon?
AM: Which year did you join?
HR: Which?
Other: ’39.
HR: ’39.
AM: ’39.
Other: 1939.
AM: Where did you join up?
HR: Well, I tried to join two weeks before the war.
Other: It’s, it’s —
HR: I went to Hendon and I said —
Other: In here.
HR: I said, ‘I want to be a pilot.’
Other: There you are.
HR: ’Oh, we’re not taking for pilots.’
Other: That’s his call out paper.
AM: I’ll take a picture of that. Yes.
Other: Yes.
HR: ‘We’re not taking people for pilots.’ So I went to Hendon.
Other: It says May actually.
HR: And got the same answer and then the war started. Within a week I got this thing through the door. I was called up. So I was, I had an interview didn’t I? ‘Do you want to be a navigator or something like that?’ I said, ‘No. I want to be a pilot.’ So I stuck out and I got taken on as a pilot. Oh no —
AM: Where did you start the pilot training proper?
HR: It was —
Other: It was at Perth.
HR: Yes. Yeah.
Other: Perth.
AM: At Perth. Yes.
HR: At Perth.
AM: Yes.
HR: Yes. Perth. On Tiger Moths.
AM: Right.
HR: And after that it was Montrose on Miles Masters. After that it was Lossiemouth on Wellington aircraft. And after Lossiemouth I got my first posting to 149 Squadron at Mildenhall where I completed a tour of operations over Germany.
AM: When you, when you, tell me how you formed a crew on the Wellington.
HR: Ahh, that’s going back a bit now. We went to —
AM: Was that down at the OTU?
HR: Lossiemouth.
AM: At Lossiemouth. Right.
HR: Went to Lossiemouth. That’s where I formed the first crew and we completed [pause] completed the course together and then I was posted to Mildenhall on ops.
AM: Right.
HR: And I completed thirty trips which was a tour and I went to Lichfield then.
AM: What was the Wellington like to fly?
HR: Oh, it was very nice. Very nice. A bit slow but it responded fairly quickly to your controls.
AM: When you arrived at Mildenhall I think I read somewhere they were making a film, “Target for Tonight.”
HR: Yes.
AM: Right. Tell me about that.
HR: Yeah. Well, the, “Target for Tonight,” the front gunner did his second tour with me.
AM: Right.
HR: Yes. [Dickie Bird].
AM: Right.
HR: Well, I [laughs] [didn’t call] Dickie.
AM: Isn’t he just.
HR: Yeah. So that was —
AM: When you got to a typical mission, not there probably was a typical mission but when you arrived at operations to fly.
HR: Yeah.
AM: What was the procedure like? How did, how did people feel?
HR: Well, you’d go to this briefing a few hours before and be told where you were going and the first, the first half of my tour we did our own thing. Some liked to fly at sixteen thousand feet. Some people flew lower.
AM: Right.
HR: I preferred eight thousand feet because the light, the light flak, flak being anti-aircraft stuff finished about eight thousand feet and the higher levels sort of were, didn’t really get going ‘til about sixteen thousand feet.
AM: Right. Was that where the night fighters were?
HR: Well, the first half of the tour there was neither night fighters or radar. When radar came in you soon found out about it [laughs] because you got more attacks. I actually think I shot one down. Shot an enemy fighter down.
AM: Right. Tell me about that.
HR: The reason, the reason was that we were being attacked and so I could be a little bit more manoeuvrable I decided to drop my bombs. So I pulled this toggle at the bottom of the instrument panel and that was supposed to drop the bombs. Anyhow, we got home safely and halfway through the debriefing one of the maintenance guys, the fitters whispered in my ear and said, ‘You’ve brought your bombs back.’ I said, ‘What?’ So I had to think because I’d seen this explosion when I had the go at the night fighter. What I did I sort of, he attacked me and I thought well he didn’t do too much damage so I thought he won’t give up. He’ll keep going. It was a dirty black night and you couldn’t see a thing. I thought well he’ll take so long to come back on my tail and I gave the order to the rear gunner when I thought he’d be behind me and I said, ‘Fire.’ Through the hosepipe which he did and a few, a minute later there was an explosion on the ground. I thought that’s him. No. Sorry. What am I doing? I’m getting lost. Yes.
AM: So what you thought was your bombs going off —
HR: No, that’s right.
AM: Was him hitting the ground.
HR: I dropped my bombs and said, ‘That’s my bombs.’ But when I got back and was debriefing this mechanic said, ‘You’ve brought your bombs back.’ So what else could it be? It would be the fighter. But he never turned up again [laughs]
AM: Right. What was the, I mean you attacked a lot of targets in Germany.
HR: Pardon?
AM: You attacked a lot of targets in Germany. What was the, what was the most difficult one? I’ve heard you mention Essen before.
HR: Well, the furthest I had to bomb was Karlsruhe.
AM: Right.
HR: Sort of southeast of Berlin. I was never on Berlin. I think, I think they waited for me to go on holiday and then they picked Berlin because there were three, at least three Berlin raids when I operated and I missed them all. So that was that.
AM: Did you, did you do any day sorties or only night?
HR: Only night.
AM: Only night.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Right. That’s interesting.
HR: Oh, sorry. We did a bit of shipping.
AM: Right.
HR: Off the Dutch and Belgian coast.
AM: And was that bombing shipping or dropping mines?
HR: That was bombing.
AM: Right.
HR: Bombing ships which were supposed to be all German. So that was that.
AM: What was, what was the life like at Mildenhall in 1941/42?
[pause]
HR: That was Bury St Edmunds I think was our leisure place and I had a relative down there which was quite useful. So [pause]
AM: Was there much interaction on the station —
HR: Yes.
AM: In your off-duty periods?
HR: Off-duty periods? Well, it was usually going out. Going out dancing.
Other: Bury St Edmunds.
HR: Sorting out the girls.
AM: Yes.
HR: Seeing the lads. That’s us. That’s where I met my wife. It wasn’t there.
Other: No. That was later on.
HR: That was later on.
AM: Right.
HR: We used to go to the dances at the weekend.
AM: Did you ever have a trip home to see your parents in that period?
HR: Oh yes. I think we had a week off every six weeks.
AM: Right.
HR: Oh yes. We had to go and see our parents. My parents. We were living at North Wembley at that time so they had more, they had more bombs exploding than I did.
AM: What was it, you told me one story about when you brought your bombs back. What was it like when you got back to Mildenhall at the end of a sortie? A six, eight hour sortie.
HR: Yes, well, we were, we were debriefed. Told our, the story of the trip and that was it. Then we went to bed. Getting too tired for that.
AM: I bet you were. I bet you were. Was the trip [pause] that’s not a good question. What was the most dangerous trip that you took part in during your time at Mildenhall?
HR: Ah. I think around Karlsruhe. The first obstacle was along the coast.
AM: Right.
HR: Holland and Belgium. Hundreds of searchlights.
Other: A bit of Wellington.
AM: Right. Right.
HR: Yeah. There were a lot of searchlights and anti-aircraft guns. That was, that was sometimes it was the hardest part to get through but I was only, I was only hit once fortunately. That’s the result.
AM: And that’s a bit of it.
HR: That’s a bit of it which the mechanics kindly gave me when they mended it.
AM: When, when we read about bomber missions you know quite often pilots talk about having to fly the corkscrew manoeuvre.
HR: Oh, well we, we didn’t fly in a straight line. I mean if they’re going to fire at you they’re going to get you eventually in your tour. So you just flew around and you changed your height.
AM: Right.
HR: And that sort of thing. So you weren’t just sitting there with your feet up.
AM: So, so you finished your first tour at Mildenhall.
HR: Yes.
AM: Tell me what happened then.
HR: Well, I went to Lichfield I think.
Other: No. Did you not go to Montrose?
HR: No.
Other: On Ansons.
HR: No, we’d been there.
Other: Oh, right. Ansons.
HR: Oh yes. Yeah, I, for a time I went on to Ansons flying all the students around and doing their first countries and checking. You know, toughening up their skills.
AM: That must have been a bit of a change.
HR: Oh, it was. It was lovely [laughs] Yes. Feet up. Sometimes you would, you would let their second pilot sit in so you took two learners flying the aeroplane because they were very easy to fly.
AM: Right.
HR: So that was good fun.
Other: Didn’t you do the first two bomber, thousand bomber raids from there? Are we still —
HR: From Lichfield. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. They were quite easy. Not much trouble at all.
AM: Was this the attack on Cologne?
HR: Pardon?
AM: Was this the attack on Cologne?
HR: Yes.
AM: Yeah, right.
HR: Yeah. Yeah.
Other: He did the first two.
AM: So did you do that while you were instructing on Ansons?
HR: Yeah.
AM: And pick up a Wellington to do the trip.
HR: That’s right.
AM: Right. Gosh.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Yeah.
HR: Yeah.
AM: That must have been a rude awakening after —
HR: Yeah.
AM: Flying students around.
HR: Yes. I’m glad they didn’t send us in the Anson.
AM: You’d still —
Other: [unclear] they didn’t have.
AM: You’d still be flying I think. You’d still be flying.
HR: Yes.
AM: Now, when you finished on Ansons you converted to the Liberator.
HR: No. The first time I converted to a Wellington.
AM: Right.
HR: And then, oh gosh I volunteered to go overseas and that’s when I went on to Liberators.
AM: Right. So after the Anson you went back to the Wellingtons for a bit.
HR: No.
AM: No. You went straight to the Liberator.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Right. And where did you do your conversion onto the B-24?
HR: [unclear]
AM: Right.
HR: Right in the middle of India.
AM: Yes.
HR: Yeah.
AM: I read about flying a Liberator and a lot of people say it’s not an easy aeroplane to fly.
HR: Well, once you learn how to fly them they’re no bother. I mean flying is usually all you’ve got to do is this sort of thing [laughs]
AM: I’m told on take-off it was quite heavy.
HR: Take-off. Well, of course you have everything. All your power on. That’s the most dangerous part of flying. When you, when your engines are on full power but no. No. But it’s not that difficult once you’ve trained.
AM: To try to —
HR: I think people try to make this flying business you know they pump it up and say [pause] my logbook says [laughs] the first entry in the flying after the first month it’s got, “Below average pilot.” But the last entry, “Above average pilot.” So it’s all how you learn it. how quickly or how slowly but you get there in the end.
AM: Tell me a little about some of the Liberator missions.
HR: Oh, Liberator missions. Oh well, the longest we did, the most difficult was to Penang.
AM: Right.
HR: We dropped mines between the Penang Island and the mainland and that was an eighteen and a half to twenty hours.
AM: Gosh. That’s a long trip.
HR: Yeah.
AM: A long trip.
HR: Eh?
AM: That’s a long trip.
HR: It was indeed. Yeah.
AM: And that was on 159 Squadron.
HR: That was 159 Squadron. Yes.
AM: I noticed —
HR: Wing Commander Blackburn.
AM: That’s Wing Commander James Blackburn. Is that the chap —
HR: Pardon?
AM: James Blackburn.
HR: James Blackburn.
AM: Yeah.
HR: He did about five tours.
AM: Gosh.
HR: He did two, two in the Middle East. Well, he was a university guy and they, some of them flew with the RAF while they were at the university and I think most of them became officers straightaway when the war began. Blackburn, he did, he did two tours supply dropping in the Middle East and I think he did about two tours over Germany and some out east. An affable bloke, most unassuming but he didn’t care. He was very handsome but he never, we never saw him with a woman. I don’t think [pause] I don’t think he liked women you know. He was the other side but he was a very courageous bloke for all that.
AM: Definitely.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Now, I understand that your Liberator had a name. Queenie. Is that correct?
HR: Queenie.
AM: Yes.
HR: Yes, one of the, one of the mechanics or somebody painted this. This woman.
AM: Right.
HR: This sexy woman, you know on the side of the aeroplane.
AM: So, it wasn’t you that chose the name. It was the ground crew. Is that right?
HR: Oh, no. It wasn’t me. It was one of the, one of the ground staff.
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah.
AM: And did you do all your missions in the Far East in Queenie?
HR: Pardon? Oh.
AM: Did you all your missions in that aeroplane?
HR: Oh yes.
AM: Right.
HR: Yes.
AM: So tell me about what happened when the war came to an end then, Harry.
HR: Ah. That’s what happened [pause] Oh, I did a bit. Did a bit in Transport Command —
AM: Right.
HR: Out in India. Ferrying people around.
AM: What aeroplane was that on?
HR: A Liberator.
AM: Still in a Liberator. Right.
HR: Yeah. C-87.
AM: Right.
HR: The passenger version.
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah. Yes.
AM: What about, what about the day the war actually ended. What happened then? Nothing?
HR: Not, not a lot. No. Yes, the war ended while I was out there and, oh gosh my memory is terrible [pause] Yeah. We, yes I was in Transport Command then.
AM: Right.
HR: So I carried on for a bit. Then we came home.
AM: Just out of interest what was —
HR: Eh?
AM: What was Calcutta like?
HR: Calcutta. Well, it was alright. It’s a town.
AM: Yeah.
HR: Or city. [unclear] oh gosh. I’ve forgotten the places we went to. There was a pretty good red light district I’m told.
AM: You’re told. Yeah.
HR: I never experienced it myself.
Other: Because he was married by then.
HR: Yes. I was married.
AM: So, when did you get married?
Other: 22nd of May 1943.
HR: ’43 was it?
Other: It was ’43.
HR: Oh sorry. I thought it was ’42.
Other: And I was born a year later in 1944.
HR: Yes.
AM: So while you were in Calcutta your wife was still in England.
HR: Penny will tell me.
Other: Yes. In Wallasey.
AM: Right.
HR: Was I married then?
Other: Yes. You were.
HR: Of course I was. Yeah.
Other: Yeah. Mum was pregnant. You went out in the January.
HR: Yeah.
Other: January ’44.
HR: Yeah.
Other: To India.
HR: That’s right. You were —
Other: By ship.
HR: You were a year and a half before I saw you.
Other: No. Before you saw me but I was born in May.
HR: Yeah.
Other: You left in the January and I was born in the May.
AM: So you got married while you were flying Ansons.
[pause]
HR: Yeah.
Other: There’s Queenie.
HR: Yeah. I think so.
Other: There’s Queenie.
AM: Oh right. Good. Yeah. So when you completed your time at transport command how did you get back to the UK? Was there, did you bring Liberators back or —
HR: I think I flew back here. I went out by ship.
AM: Right. That must have been an interesting trip.
HR: Yes. Yes. I remember going through Suez and we brushed alongside an American. a heck of a noise. [unclear] two ships through it. It was very good. The food was super. Smashing.
Other: Yeah.
AM: So you got back to the UK.
HR: Yes.
AM: And tell me what happened then apart from meeting up with your family for the first time in a couple of years.
HR: Oh dear.
Other: Yeah.
HR: Leconfield.
Other: I don’t really know anything —
HR: Yeah. I went, I guess I was [pause] Leconfield comes in my mind and instructing —
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah.
AM: What were you instructing on?
HR: On, on Wellingtons.
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah. I was at —
Other: Was it Letchworth?
HR: I joined, transport, Transport Command.
AM: Right.
HR: As I say C-87s. That was passenger air. The Wellington. Yeah. I enjoyed my stint.
AM: And when were you commissioned?
HR: When was I commissioned?
Other: That would have been when you were out in India.
HR: No. It was when I was on Ansons.
AM: Right.
Other: Oh right.
HR: They wanted more officers.
AM: Right.
HR: The —
Other: That was when you became a pilot officer was it?
HR: Yeah.
Other: You were a pilot officer when you got married in 1943.
HR: Yeah. If not ’42, ’43. Yeah.
AM: And the one thing you don’t mention, you’ve not mentioned to me is your Distinguished Flying Cross.
HR: Yes.
AM: Tell me about it.
HR: Yeah. One day one of the flight commanders came to me and he said, ‘Would you write citations out for about ten bods getting medals.’ So [laughs] I found it very difficult but I did it and of course I said I can’t write one for myself. So, I handed these things in and waited with bated breath and eventually I was awarded one as well.
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Wonderful. And where were you at that point?
HR: I was at, I think I was at Lichfield.
AM: Right.
HR: Yeah.
AM: Right. You must have been very thrilled.
HR: Yes. Yeah.
AM: Deservedly so.
HR: Well, compared with some of the guys I’d written for I don’t class as much as them.
AM: Yes. Good. Very difficult though isn’t it?
HR: Yes.
AM: And the people you flew with particularly on the Wellington did you meet any of them after the war?
HR: No. No.
Other: I thought you met one at that reunion.
HR: Yeah. Sorry.
Other: At the Mildenhall reunion.
HR: Freddy. Freddy [Reece]. Yes, I met the navigator.
AM: Right.
HR: Yes. He lived somewhere in London I can’t remember and oh yes we got on really well. He never got me lost.
AM: Just as well. We can’t say about my navigators [laughs] now is there anything I’ve not asked you about that you really think I should know?
[pause]
HR: That is difficult. [pause] The only, the one thing I remember the first trip. It was late evening. The light was just going. We were over the English Channel and I looked back and saw the southeast of England there. The Thames and all that. And I went through and wondered would I see that again. That was the only time I’ve thought anything like that but I can still remember it. I can still see the southeast coast of England.
AM: Right.
HR: It stays there.
AM: I’m not surprised. That’s remarkable. Well, Harry. That’s your lot of questions so I’ll close this down now and we can just have a chat if that’s ok. So, Harry Richardson, Flight Lieutenant Harry Richardson, Distinguished Flying Cross, thank you.
HR: My pleasure.
[recording paused]
AM: Right. I’ll just say Harry tell me about Lichfield.
HR: Yes. Well, I was, yeah posted to Lichfield. Billeted with a guy called Tim Yates and he said, ‘Would you like to come dancing tonight?’ So I said ok. And he said, I wasn’t quite ready so he said, ‘I’ll go and pick up the girls.’ And off he went and I got ready. He came back with the girls. There were three girls sitting in the back and they had left the front for me but there was a blonde who was Tim’s girlfriend and there was another woman and then another woman who was a brunette, a lovely smile and that was Margaret. We got on very well and to cut a long story short she eventually became my wife. She came to live at Wallasey. She was the daughter of an architect and quite a nice lady and eventually, well we got married. That was Margaret Rivers.
AM: Brilliant. Lovely. Thank you.
Collection
Citation
Alastair Montgomery, “Interview with Harry Richardson,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 21, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/58708.