1 25 162 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1875/46446/SHarriganD[Ser -DoB]v170003.mp3 7b0a025060d3546c7e9fc983ab2ece3c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-06-19 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire Description An account of the resource 34 items. Interviews with veterans recorded by Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire. Interview with Bertie Salvage Three part interview with Dougie Marsh Interview with Terry Hodson Interview with Stan Waite Interview with John Langston Interview with Nelson Nix Two part interview with Bob Panton Interview with Basil Fish Interview with Ernest Groeger Interview with Wilf Keyte Interview with Reginald John Herring Interview with Kathleen Reid Interview with Allan Holmes Interview with John Tomlinson Interview with Cliff Thorpe and Roy Smith Interview with Peter Scoley Interview with Kenneth Ivan Duddell Interview with Christopher Francis Allison Interview with Bernard Bell Interview with George Arthur Bell Interview with George William Taplin Interview with Richard Moore Interview with Kenneth Edgar Neve Interview with Annie Mary Blood Interview with Dennis Brader Interview with Les Stedman Interview with Anthony Edward Mason Interview with Anne Morgan Rose Harcombe The following interviews have been moved to the relevant collections. Interview with <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46454">Kathleen Reid</a> Interview with Wing Commander <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46467">Kenneth Cook DFC</a> Interview with <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46456">Colin Cole</a> Interview with <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/46464">Charles Avey</a> Interview with <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46470">John Bell</a> Interview with <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46459">Les Rutherford</a> Interview with <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46460">James Douglas Hudson</a> Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Interviewer: It’s the 18th of May 2012 and I’m here to interview Mr Ken Duddell who was born on the 1st of March 1924 in Horsehay in Shropshire. Good afternoon, Ken. KD: Good afternoon, Angela. Interviewer: Could you possibly give me some information about your training with the RAF? KD: Yeah. I joined [cough] I joined the Air Force in January 1942 just before I was eighteen and I qualified as a flight engineer in July 1943 at RAF St Athans. I was then posted to 1 Group in Lindholme and then on to Blyton for training. After training at Blyton with a crew, I joined a crew, we went to 460 Squadron Binbrook but our skipper went missing on a second dickie trip. So we stayed there a while, then we went to 12 Squadron at Wickenby hoping to get another skipper. We didn’t. And finally we went to Faldingworth where we picked up Squadron Leader John Whittet who was converted on his second tour. He’d done a tour on Blenheims and Wellingtons before in the Middle East and he qualified on Lancasters and we got posted to 103 Squadron Royal Air Force, Elsham Wolds where he became B Flight commander. Interviewer: Ok. KD: From Elsham Wolds, we got to Elsham Wolds in November 1943 and the skipper took over as B Flight commander and we commenced operations shortly afterwards. I flew as a flight engineer on Lancasters and our crew, shall I name the crew? Our crew was Squadron Leader Whittet who was the skipper, pilot, Flying officer Jackson who was the bomb aimer, Flying Officer Dennis O’Neill-Shaw who was the navigator, Flight Sergeant John Kinlay who, a Royal Australian Air Force who was the wireless operator, Sergeant George Bishop the mid-upper gunner and Sergeant John Watt the rear gunner. We commenced flying in November and from then on we flew until the skipper had finished his twenty operations on second, second tour. And we didn’t fly every night because the two flight commanders A and B had to alternate as did the wing commander in charge of the squadron. One of the things we did it was wintertime and we, Butcher decided, that’s Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur Harris decided that he would attack Berlin as much as he could. So during that time we went to Berlin nine times and on one time going into, going to Berlin we got hit by a fighter. But as the fighter opened fire so the rear gunner opened fire. Within a few seconds the mid-upper gunner turned and he turned his turret and he fired at him as well and the fighter broke off and although he damaged us we carried on with the mission and bombed Berlin and then came back to Elsham Wolds. Interviewer: So, Ken, when you went out on these missions how did it make you feel because you were only nineteen and a half years old at the time? Were you, were you scared or what? KD: Well, if you — Interviewer: How did you feel? KD: If you said you weren’t scared you were actually telling lies because everybody was in some way or another. I was there because A) I had an elder brother who was in the Air Force serving in the Middle East. He’d gone out in 1939. Second brother was in the Army and he, he was, he had been to Norway and then he went to Ireland and then eventually went over D-Day plus one. A younger brother, I was the third, the younger brother, the fourth was in the Navy. He was on Destroyers and he was on the run to Russia, Murmansk with the convoys that went there. So my, my feeling was that we were part of a quartet who in any way we could help each other we did this. What the system was at, on operations half past eight in the morning we reported to the skipper that everybody was fit on the crew and then we were detailed. In the meantime, they discovered whether there was operations on or not and we had when we’d done this we were found out if we were allocated to fly that night. If we were the idea get everything together. We would go out to the flights, to the aircraft that had been allocated us and then we would do an inspection and then do an air test for probably half an hour carrying out, you know checking the guns, checking the wireless, checking the navigational aids etcetera and the performance of the aircraft. Come back and hand it over to the ground crew who would then refuel and re-bomb and so forth. After that we would just wait ‘til briefing time and briefing would probably, in the winter was about 3 o’clock time in the afternoon. We would report to the briefing room which was a sealed room and you could only get in if your name was on the list and there was two RAF policemen there checking that you were the actual one. But you went in with your crew. Went in with your seven crew. Previous to that the navigator had been doing his map and route to the target etcetera. So when we got into briefing the wing commander or the group captain stood up and gave a short briefing and pulled the curtain back and we found out where we were going that night. Sometimes you’d find there would be quite an uproar in actual fact. There was a bit of bad language spoken because people said, ‘Not going there again.’ And then they would check the route. The navigation officer would go through the route, what’s the name and somebody would say, ‘Well, hang on. The last time I went there a few weeks ago we got trapped in there. It’s a dead, it’s closed up.’ Because what the Germans had done from the German border right up by Kiel down to the bottom of the French Belgian border and the Dutch border they’d put searchlights, anti-aircraft guns. They had radio masts so that the fighters could fly in between them and to try and map out the course of the, which we were going so they could attack us. And then generally yes it will be alright. Everybody went through the briefing and we then, you decided if you had a flying meal then or whether you had it before. We always a flying meal before take off just in case you didn’t come back because it was always bacon and eggs [laughs] And off you’d go. We got rations. They’d give us sweets and Horlick tablets and we also had an escape kit that you signed for and put in your overalls about six inches square and about an inch deep which had got map, a silk map of Germany and Europe. You’d got also some five cigarettes with matches and the matches were like Bengal matches which you had on bonfires. Not ordinary matches because these if you were escape and evasion you could light a fire somewhere or light things. And we also had water purification tablets so that if you, if you were evading and you came across water if you were uncertain whether it was pure you could get some in, put the tablet in and let it operate and you could get in there. Then when we’d had our flying meal we went up to the squadron at the time preferred, collect all our kit. Put our kit on. We had everybody except the navigator and wireless operator wore special clothing. The reason the nav and the wireless operator didn’t because they were curtained off in a section of the aircraft and the heating for the aircraft came through by the wireless operator. So, they were alright. We used to wear ordinary underwear, long johns and long vest. A vest without a collar with three whats the names on. They were lovely. Normal battledress and then I used to wear what they called an outer suit which had a fur collar and it was I suppose gabardine or something like that but it had lots of pockets in so you could put stuff into your pockets. Sea boots, socks like the sailors had, flying boots. We had four pairs of gloves, one pair of mittens with the fingertips cut out, chamois gloves, silk gloves, and a pair of gauntlets. So then you had the WAAFs and airmen who looked after the flying clothing. It was centrally heated in there so it didn’t go damp and so forth. They handed you your parachute, your Mae West and your parachute harness which would be numbered with yours, with your name on it usually too. Put that on, got all your, engineers had a tool kit to carry. We carried a nav bag that we had to keep a log and we’d got technical data about the aircraft on it in case we landed away and off we’d go to the aircraft. Transport would take us out. We’d do a quick check around to see it was alright. Lots of people had different things they did before take-off like seeing the tail wheel was well lubricated or the last cigarette and quite a lot of people had little, little things they carried with them for good luck. I had a, I had a silk scarf which my mum gave me. I never had it washed during that time. I thought it’s luck. You know it would be bad luck if I did that at all. And then we’d get in the aircraft when the time was right, start up and the sergeant would come in with the Form 700 which was the Servicing Unit. Skipper would sign it, close the door and off we’d go and we’d taxi out. And on the runway there was 103 Squadron one side and 576 the other and it would be alternating aircraft going, taking off. As soon as the other had cleared was about two hundred feet you’d start rolling along again. This was a very dangerous time of, of this because if you had any trouble, you had a wheel, a tyre burst or if you had an engine go until you’d got safety speed, until you got flying speed which was about a hundred and five knots you lifted off and away you’d go. Undercarriage up, flaps up and about four hundred feet you’d be on climbing power and away. You were pretty good then at all with it. Then you went up and if we were going out by Mablethorpe or on the east coast this was one of the favourite ways. We would climb straight ahead and we’d go Goole, [crawl] base. Goole [crawl] base until it was time to set course. Then we’d set course over base and off we’d go climbing all the time again trying to get as high as you could. We often got up to, in the cold we’d get up to twenty three thousand feet with the aircraft. It was very cold up there but you weren’t too bad. If we were going down south we just turned left, climbed to four thousand feet and down to Reading and then from Reading you went out Beachy Head. We would start climbing to go out Beachy Head and across to southern France as high as we could get. One time I know we were going out Beachy Head and Jerry was coming in and dropping red markers for his crews so they could see. But we didn’t stop for a cup of tea and a handshake, you know [laughs] we went on. Everybody said good luck to us and then it was just following the route, sorting everything out, keeping your eyes well open. Our skipper used to, you did one thing, you didn’t say nothing unless you had to. And often the navigator would come up with a change of course, the wireless operator would come up perhaps with a message from Group and because they or base they would transmit quarter to and quarter past every hour if they’d got anything to transmit and the wireless op would listen out and he would probably come up and say, ‘Nothing’s come up skipper.’ And that was it. But about every ten minutes the skipper would go around the crew asking if everybody was alright and he addressed the crew as they were. Bomb aimer, flight engineer, navigator, wireless op, mid-upper gunner or rear gunner and if you’d got anything to say to anybody you talked in that way because it was not Tom, Dick and Harry because if you had a spare person come in place of one he would be, he wouldn’t know what was going on. So if you stuck to that system it was well away which we did all the time. Interviewer: Right. So, when you got to your target and you’d dropped your bombs what, what was the feeling then? KD: Well, the thing was as you came over and the bomb aimer said, ‘Bombs going.’ ‘Bombs going.’ ‘Bombs gone.’ Two things. We always carried a four thousand pounder so you can, you can realise if you just you know if you’d got something that’s four pound and you drop it you feel a bit better. As the four thousand pounder went the aircraft started to lift up normally and your heart came out of your feet and started to come up your legs. The other, where it should be. All gone and then when you’d, when the, when the bomb aimer said, ‘Bombs gone,’ you still had to fly along for about forty five seconds because you had to wait until the Cookie had hit the ground and exploded and you dropped a flare in the meantime which caused the photo to be taken so you could take [unclear] you’d hit the target or you hit whatever you set out to do and you felt it and you thought God almighty. The big question we’re better now because not only you’d got rid of the bombs but you’d used roughly half the fuel and if you got twenty one thousand pound of fuel on you would use ten thousand pound of that so you know that was better. You could manoeuvre the aircraft better then if you got attacked and so forth. We didn’t get attacked going over the target or going out of the target but we did get attacked one time on the, coming in before we got there and we, this fighter came in and you could, you could not only hear it you could feel it in the aircraft. When the fighter opened fire they were nearly always tracer because this, this again would, I would say trying to make you frightened as well which it was of course if it was hitting you. And the fighter came in between the fuselage and the port inner engine, number two engine and you could hear it thumping in to the, the cannon fire thumping in to the aircraft and you could also see the other going into the side. But at the same time as he opened fire our rear gunner opened fire and within a few seconds the mid-upper gunner was joining him and we got, now normally when the, when the, when either of the gunners or anybody saw a fighter coming towards you, you would take evasive action. But on this occasion some clever bloke at Bomber Command had decided we’d have a little instrument on the front of, in front of the pilot which indicated a red arrow or a green arrow. The red arrow was port so when the gunner opened fire he didn’t need to speak you should have done it this way. But the skipper said, ‘Which way do you want me to go rear gunner?’ And of course, before he, before he could answer, he was so busy looking after the fighter, the fighter broke off. I suppose it would be about thirty to forty five seconds if that that the fighter attacked us and they were hitting him and he went off again. We got damaged but we were able to drop the bombs and go. But coming out again it was, you had to be, you had to be careful for it as well because the Germans adapted a system where they could, they knew which way you were coming out and find you and it was almost like a dual carriageway. On the right hand side they were going in. On the left hand side they were coming out and there were the German aircraft dropping flares just like lamps lighting up a dual carriageway so you had to be careful of those. One of the things we did, the skipper and I apart from the others the bomb aimer would look out but sometimes he’d be doing the radar so he wouldn’t but sometimes the wireless op would stand up in the astrodome and he’d keep an extra lookout. But the skipper and I he looked in front and to his left and to be aircrew you had to be ninety degrees to you to be able to see otherwise you weren’t able to do this. And that was his job and then mine was to look straight ahead my side because I sat on his right hand side. Out to the starboard wing over the top and over the top of the skipper as well and sometimes so I could you know search for him. If we were in searchlights he would drop the seat and he would be on instruments so he wouldn’t be able to see outside but sometimes there was a bulb on the starboard side on the engineer’s side and I’d look down quick. Look down at the target you know and he’d know I’d done it. ‘Don’t look down there engineer.’ He’d tell me off. But you’d come back and you were, you were active all the time. You’d got to keep your wits about you and come back and coming up to the enemy coast no matter which one it was you usually put the nose down and lost a few thousand feet, you know to get the speed to go on because we were keeping it. And then coming back if we were coming back into Mablethorpe as we did often you’d come across the North Sea or come up the North Sea over the east coast of England and you dropped down to what? About three or four thousand feet. Come over the coast and then you’d see lights. Green and red lights coming from the left side. The port side. The left hand side. That was the Halifaxes going back to Yorkshire and that way. You would come in and you, you’d call. Our aircraft was K-King mostly. King 2000 and the WAAF who was on the air traffic would say, ‘Call down wind K-King. Call downwind.’ And you’d come back and you heard a different voice and you knew you were back. You heard this WAAF there talking and sometimes you got to know them you know. Oh, that’s Betty or Freida or something like that. Then you’d come down and then come in, circle in and land back at dispersal depending upon if you’d got any bad damage. If you’d got bad damage you took it to the hangar. You told flying control and they’d take you to the hangar. If not you’d come back and in to the ground crew. They’d have a look and sort it out. See if there was any external damage and then you’d get out and the skipper would just sign the 700 if there was any snags with it. One of our ground crew, Ricky his name was he was LAC airframe mechanic and every trip before we went we used to have jam in four pound tins in the Messes. He’d got one of these tins with a drop of petrol in and some water and a rag and he’d clean the floor of the aircraft from the nose to the tail. And as we climbed in the aircraft to go and the skipper would say, ‘Thank you very much.’ And he’d say, ‘Bring it back clean, skipper.’ Hoping that we would come back. Yeah. [recording paused] KD: At Elsham we had obviously that every, every part of every, every aircrew person that the skipper went and sat in the flight commander’s office. The navigators had their own section as did, the same with engineers. Anyway, you can do this too and when you came back and you got stripped off and changed and went into operations to be debriefed from it the first thing you did was look at the board up there to see who’d landed and who hadn’t and then, just in case because you’d got friends on them you know. You would know a lot of people in there. We actually lost about twelve hundred who were killed anyway and you, you just wanted to know how your friends had got you know. You’d come back and you say, ‘Oh, good trip?’ ‘Yeah.’ Or, ‘Oh, we had a really awful one.’ And so you’d look at that and if, if when you went they still hadn’t come back you didn’t, you didn’t say, ‘Oh, well they’re gone,’ because they could have landed somewhere because sometimes especially if they landed at a training aerodrome they wouldn’t think too notify Elsham that aircrew had landed you see. So this often happened because it happened with one, my friend Cyril Bradclough. His crew. They landed at Wellesbourne Mountford I think at times but they forgot to notify Elsham. So nothing had come by about eleven, half past eleven in the morning so they sent telegrams to the families to say they were missing and then about half past one this aircraft came over and they landed. So fortunately, they went on seven days leave straightaway. Interviewer: Very good. KD: Survivors leave. But you always looked for people that you’d got, so and so and especially if somebody was coming up towards the end of the tour. The tour was roughly thirty. Twenty if you were second tour. And I did twenty nine and you’d look and see twenty eight, twenty nine. Oh yeah. So and so and so and so’s crew. And you’d got, you’d got friends and you know and if somebody had gone you just hoped that they had been able to bale out and even if they were taken prisoner of war that was better than being killed. But you didn’t get notification until a long long while after whether probably you had left the squadron and gone somewhere else and then you had heard that your friend had survived. Like I had a friend on 576 Squadron, Cyril Van der Velde he was a flight engineer. He got shot down on the 3rd 4th of May at Mailly le Camp and he was, he was, he escaped and he joined the Maquis for about seven or eight months before he got captured anyway. But I had a friend Tom Moore, he was a signaller and he was on 103 and in the beginning of December his brother came to visit and was allowed to live in his Nissen hut because he’d been accepted to be a navigator in the Air Force and we the three of us went out together a couple or three times and then the night of the 16th of December 1943 to Berlin Tom got shot down and he was killed. He’s buried in Berlin and a couple, I’ve always said to Valerie, ‘I must go and see Tom’s grave before I go.’ So a couple of years ago she said, ‘We’re going.’ So we went to see his grave and it was, it was upsetting because to me he was still twenty three year old. My friend Tom. And I’d had sixty seven years since then. Courted the girl I loved, married, had a family and I was still living. He was still lying there where he was. It could be very upsetting. Especially if the crew were popular and nearly every one was anyway. You only found the odd one that was a bit gruffy. Interviewer: Well, Ken, thank you very much for for telling us your stories and this oral history will be kept for many a youngster to listen to. So, thanks very much, Ken. KD: That’s fine, Angela. Any time. Thank you. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with Kenneth Ivan Duddell 1008,1009-Duddell, Kenneth Ivan-N Lincolnshire Disc 2 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SHarriganD[Ser#-DoB]v17 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-05-18 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942-01 1943-07 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 00:27:03 audio recording Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending revision of OH transcription Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource This Interview was recorded by Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire. Description An account of the resource Ken joined the RAF in January 1942 and qualified as a flight engineer in July 1943 at RAF St Athans. He passed through a number of RAF stations before they were posted to RAF Elsham Wolds and flew operations as a flight engineer with 460, 12 and 103 squadrons. Ken recalls the names of his crew; Squadron Leader Whittet who was the skipper, pilot; Flying Officer Jackson who was the bomb aimer; Flying Officer Dennis O’Neill-Shaw who was the navigator; Flight Sergeant John Kinlay, a member of the Royal Australian Air Force, who was the wireless operator; Sergeant George Bishop the mid-upper gunner and Sergeant John Watt the rear gunner. Ken talks of his brothers each being in the military. He discusses the action he went through when he was told he was listed for the next operation - from ensuring all the crew and the aircraft were fit to fly, the briefing room, the flying meal, the contents of the escape kit and their clothing. Ken describes the ways in which he was involved in the actual flight of the aircraft, how the target was bombed, and its possible consequences for the return journey. He recalls hearing the WAAFs talking over the radio and often being able to identify them. He remembers an LAC who always used to clean the floor of the aircraft and his comment to the skipper before take-off. Ken talks of the post flight scrutiny of the board to see who had landed at RAF Elsham Wolds and remembers two gentlemen who did not return. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Great Britain England--Lincolnshire Germany--Berlin Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Julie Williams Claire Campbell Maureen Clarke 103 Squadron 12 Squadron 460 Squadron aircrew bombing flight engineer Lancaster RAF Elsham Wolds superstition https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/375/6526/POtterP16020017.1.jpg afe317bb0f4fc89bc049725a746c55a1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Otter, Patrick. Album Description An account of the resource 15 items. A multi page album containing images of scenes from 460 Squadron at RAF Binbrook, and photographs of ground personnel in various situations including a bomb dump, an officers’ mess, a control tower, and medical and dental facilities. It also contains photographs of a sports day, family photographs and a sailing trip. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context POtterP1602 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-03-07 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 Squadron Description An account of the resource Photograph 1 is of a Lancaster AR-Z waiting to take off. Photograph 2 is of 460 Squadron's crest. Photograph 3 is of a Lancaster in the air, close to the ground. Photograph 4 is of the pilot in the cockpit of a Lancaster, captioned 'Lancaster waiting for take off 2nd aircraft in view through windscreen'. Photograph 5 is of six airmen in a bar with beer glasses in their hands. Photograph 6 is of an airman inside an aircraft. Photograph 7 is of nine airmen marching, viewed from the side. Photograph 8 is of a Lancaster in the air, close to the ground. Photograph 9 is of six airmen walking, viewed from the side. Behind is a small building. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Nine b/w photographs on an album page Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context POtterP16020017 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain 460 Squadron aircrew ground personnel Lancaster military living conditions pilot RAF Binbrook service vehicle https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1416/32088/PLeavissED1513.2.jpg 041a37eb57363c241750dc7f0365446b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Leaviss, Ted Edward Derek Leaviss E D Leaviss Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-11-16 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Leaviss, ED Description An account of the resource 42 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Edward 'Ted' Derek Leaviss (1818433 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents memorabilia and photographs. He flew three Operation Manna operations as an air gunner with 460 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Irene Leaviss and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 Squadron badge Description An account of the resource 460 Squadron RAAF fabric and gold wire badge. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One fabric and gold wire badge Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical object Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PLeavissED1513 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Australian Air Force Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. 460 Squadron RAF Binbrook https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1416/32226/PLeavissED15020001.1.jpg a022acf3161399ba628fd322aed80dd8 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1416/32226/PLeavissED15020002.1.jpg 0918d297c5cae4adf4220b44cfdbf1a1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Leaviss, Ted Edward Derek Leaviss E D Leaviss Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-11-16 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Leaviss, ED Description An account of the resource 42 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Edward 'Ted' Derek Leaviss (1818433 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents memorabilia and photographs. He flew three Operation Manna operations as an air gunner with 460 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Irene Leaviss and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 Squadron badge Description An account of the resource Metal lapel badge and its reverse. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One lapel badge Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical object Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PLeavissED15020001, PLeavissED15020002 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. 460 Squadron https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/379/10066/PToombsSE15100022.2.jpg 7f891d3404998a70f801d75c66a6461e https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/379/10066/PToombsSE15100023.2.jpg 5a056f1b365b42e78a027edb129b649d https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/379/10066/PToombsG1505.1.jpg ff409ba0d1e422ea9d2a1f8cf51f99f8 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/379/10066/PToombsG1506.1.jpg f59a444562418e3cde20a2c197f648cb https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/379/10066/PToombsG1507.1.jpg ae8075afe7fe5f065a4e260b5543edbf https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/379/10066/MToombsG1590211-150806-01.1.jpg dcd87f6c5f0e89ad3c861f7a0a9ea008 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Toombs, George G Toombs Description An account of the resource 61 items. The collection concerns Sergeant George Toombs (1590211 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, decorations, memorabilia and 56 photographs. George Toombs completed 30 operations as a flight engineer with 460 Squadron from RAF Binbrook and served in Germany after the war. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Stephen E Toombs and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-08-06 2015-11-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Toombs, G Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Permission granted for commercial projects Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Australian Crew of 'N' for Nan 460 Squadron Binbrook Description An account of the resource George Toombs’ crew of N for Nan, 460 Squadron, RAF Binbrook, dated 1944. On the reverse ‘460 Squadron Binbrook Australian crew of N for Nan Navigator A K Ward Pilot P K Lester Radio/op A S Robb Bomb/ Aimer T V Ierry Upper gunner Rawlings Read gunner D Argey Flight enigineer G Toombs (my crew) 1944'. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource George Toombs Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Three b/w photographs Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MToombsG1590211-150806-01, PToombsG1505, PToombsG1506, PToombsG1507 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire 460 Squadron air gunner aircrew bomb aimer flight engineer Lancaster navigator pilot RAF Binbrook wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1695/27490/PPhillipsD18010046.2.jpg c0af1f466c85b1753b5e62b4b89153e8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Phillips, Daniel D Phillips Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-06-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Phillips, D Description An account of the resource 40 Items. Collection concerns Warrant Officer Daniel Phillips ( - 2022, 1653229) who served as a Lancaster navigator on 460 Squadron at RAF Binbrook in 1944/45. Collection contains service history, documents, a letter, photographs of people, places and aircraft. It also includes his flying log book and course notes from his navigator training. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rhodri Phillips and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 Squadron crest Description An account of the resource 460 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force with kangaroo leaping over a boomerang, motto - Strike and Return'. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w printed badge Type The nature or genre of the resource Artwork Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PPhillipsD18010046 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Australian Air Force Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. 460 Squadron https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2960/57935/MForshawB1038479-190508-06.jpg 5bc848a805b2e9673c4bbf4b10a2238e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Forshaw, Basil Description An account of the resource Nine items. The collection concerns Sergeant Basil Forshaw (b.1920, 1038479 Royal Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 460 Squadron and was killed 27/28 April 1944. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Andrew Hayden and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Additional information on Basil Forshaw is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/107886/">IBCC Losses Database.</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-05-08 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Forshaw, B Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 Squadron crest Description An account of the resource The crest of 460 squadron RAAF featuring a kangaroo and a boomerang. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-10 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Australian Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Artwork Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MForshawB1038479-190508-06 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-10 460 Squadron https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2261/40774/PGrayDA21010029.1.jpg eedf9ac8deaaa55613e8977a805290b6 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2261/40774/PGrayDA21010030.1.jpg 47d5cb3bd0a62761c0222b68ed1b912f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gray, Donald Arthur Description An account of the resource 57 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Donald Arthur Gray (b. 1922, 1006912 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 460 Squadron. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Catherine Burrows and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-06-10 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Gray, DA Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 Squadron Memorial Dedication Ceremony, Binbrook Description An account of the resource A large group of veterans and spectators seen from the air at a ceremony at the 460 squadron memorial. On the reverse 'Dedication of 460 Squadron Memorial, Binbrook'. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PGrayDA21010029, PGrayDA21010030 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive 460 Squadron memorial RAF Binbrook https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2261/40808/MGrayDA1006912-210610-08.pdf 384c9d54c3aad9ec9489cb3e9f984b90 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gray, Donald Arthur Description An account of the resource 57 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Donald Arthur Gray (b. 1922, 1006912 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 460 Squadron. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Catherine Burrows and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-06-10 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Gray, DA Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 Squadron Operational Record Description An account of the resource A list of operations conducted by 460 Squadron 22 November 1942 to 11 May 1945 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany--Stuttgart Italy--Turin Germany--Mannheim Germany--Duisburg Germany--Munich Germany--Essen Germany--Berlin Germany--Düsseldorf France--Lorient Germany--Hamburg Germany--Cologne Germany--Wilhelmshaven Italy--Milan Germany--Bremen Germany--Nuremberg France--Saint-Nazaire Germany--Kiel Germany--Frankfurt am Main Italy--La Spezia Poland--Szczecin Germany--Dortmund Germany--Bochum Czech Republic--Plzeň Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf) Germany--Krefeld Germany--Mülheim an der Ruhr Germany--Wuppertal Germany--Gelsenkirchen Germany--Remscheid Germany--Peenemünde Germany--Leverkusen Germany--Mönchengladbach Germany--Kassel Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein Germany--Leipzig France--Modane Germany--Braunschweig Germany--Magdeburg Germany--Schweinfurt Germany--Augsburg France--Nord (Department) France--Rouen Germany--Karlsruhe France--Maintenon France--Lyon France--Mailly-le-Camp France--Sablé-sur-Sarthe France--Bruz France--Merville (Nord) France--Eu France--Dunkerque France--Tergnier (Canton) France--Dieppe France--Cerisy-la-Salle France--Yvelines France--Evreux Germany--Gelsenkirchen France--Le Havre France--Boulogne-sur-Mer France--Reims France--Somme France--Vaires-sur-Marne France--Pas-de-Calais France--Vierzon France--Oisemont (Canton) France--Orléans France--Dijon France--Caen France--Tours Europe--Meuse River France--Calvados Germany--Gelsenkirchen France--Seine-Maritime France--Creil France--Pauillac (Gironde) France--Saint-Martin-de-Fontenay France--Aire-sur-la-Lys France--Lillers France--Douai France--La Pallice Germany--Braunschweig France--Falaise France--Falaise Region Netherlands--Nijmegen Region Belgium--Ghent Germany--Rüsselsheim Netherlands--Tilburg Metropolitan Area France--Le Havre Germany--Salzbergen France--Calais France--Audinghen Germany--Neuss Netherlands--Vlissingen Germany--Saarbrücken Germany--Emmerich Netherlands--Breskens Germany--Helgoland Germany--Wanne-Eickel Germany--Düren (Cologne) Germany--Aschaffenburg Germany--Freiburg im Breisgau Germany--North Rhine-Westphalia Germany--Merseburg Germany--Ulm Germany--Bonn Poland--Gdynia Belgium--Saint-Vith Germany--Rheydt Germany--Merseburg Germany--Zeitz Germany--Wiesbaden Germany--Bottrop Germany--Kleve (North Rhine-Westphalia) Germany--Dresden Germany--Mecklenburg (Region) Germany--Chemnitz Germany--Pforzheim Germany--Dessau (Dessau) Germany--Kassel Germany--Hanau Norway--Oslo Germany--Paderborn Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia) Germany--Halle an der Saale Germany--Potsdam Germany--Berchtesgaden Poland Germany--Freising Germany--Herne (Arnsberg) Poland--Police (Województwo Zachodniopomorskie) Germany--Hagen (Arnsberg) Belgium--Kortrijk Netherlands Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea) France--Vire (Calvados) Germany France--Nieppe Forest Germany--Ruhr (Region) France France--Pas-de-Calais France--Pas-de-Calais Belgium Italy Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Nine typewritten sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MGrayDA1006912-210610-08 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942 1943 1944 1945 460 Squadron bombing Lancaster mine laying Operation Exodus (1945) Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945) V-1 V-weapon https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/816/31074/SFarrAA1434564v10004.jpg 0f2e0438707895fd98b08aa788636de0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Farr, Allan Avery A A Farr Description An account of the resource Six items. An oral history interview with Allan Farr DFM (1923 - 2018, 1434564 Royal Air Force) as well as his flying logbook, a photograph, list of operations, a map, contemporary photograph and a song. He flew operations as an air gunner with 100, 625 and 460 Squadrons. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Allan Farr and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-07-12 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Farr, AA Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document A.A. FARR 460 SQDN OPS [list] [symbol] 20.7.44 Courtrai (Railway yards) 21 - P/O. R.H. Joping 23.7.44 Kiel 10 - P/O. R.H. Joping 25.7.44 Coquereax (Flying bomb site) 11 1 P/O. R.H. Joping [symbol] 25.7.44 Ardouval (Flying bomb site) 11 - P/O. R.H. Joping [symbol] 25.7.44 Bois des Jardins (F.B.S.) 15 - P/O. R.H. Joping [symbol] 28.7.44 Stuttgart 16 - P/O. R.H. Joping [list] [symbol] 31.7.44 Foret de Nieppe 15 - P/O. R.H. Joping 2.8.44 Chateau Bernapre 10 - R.H. Joping [symbol] 3.8.44 Trossy St Maximum 25 1 F/O. R.C. Fidock [symbol] 4.8.44 Pavillac (Oil refinery) 20 - F/O. R.C. Fidock [symbol] 5.8.44 Pavillac (Oil refinery) 25 - F/O. R.C. Fidock [symbol] 7.8,44 Fontenay le Marmion 32 - F/O. R.C. Fidock [symbol] 8.8.44 Aire 25 - F/O. R.C. Fidock 10.8.44 Ferfay (Bombs returned) 15 - F/O. R.C. Fidock 11.8.44 Douai 14 - F/O. R.C. Fidock 12.8.44 La Palace 12 - F/O. R.C. Fidock [list] [symbol] 12.8.44 Brunswick 12 1 F/O. R.C. Fidock 12.8.44 Falaise 7 - F/O. R.C. Fidock [symbol] 14.8.44 Falaise area 20 - F/O. R.C. Fidock [symbol] 15.8.44 Volkel aerodrome 27 - F/O. R.C. Fidock [symbol] 16.8.44 Stettin 24 - F/O. R.C. Fidock [symbol] 18.8.44 Fromental 4 - F/O. R.C. Fidock 18.8.44 Ghent-Terneuzel 20 2 F/O. R.C. Fidock [symbol] 25.8.44 Russelheim 18 - F/O. N.E. Twyford (Crash landed) 26.8.44 Kiel 26 - F/O. N.E. Twyford [symbol] 28.8.44 Vincly 7 4 F/O. N.E. Twyford [list] [symbol] 29.8.44 [symbol] Stettin 24 - F/O. K.W. Humphries P/O. P.N. Aldred 31.8.44 Raimbert 17 - P/O. L.J. Grey 3.9.44 Gilze-Rijen 16 - P/O. L.J. Grey 5.9.44 Le Harve 19 - P/O. L.J. Grey 6.9.44 Le Harve 24 - P/O. L.J. Grey 8.9.44 Le Harve 21 - P/O. L.J. Grey 10.9.44 Le Harve 26 - P/O. L.J. Grey [symbol] 12.9.44 Frankfurt 28 1 P/O. L.J. Grey 16.9.44 Rheine/Salzbergen airfield 29 - P/O. L.J. Grey 20.9.44 Calais 27 - P/O. L.J. Grey 23.9.44 Neuss 28 - P/O. L.J. Grey 25.9.44 Calais (Aborted) 29 - P/O. L.J. Grey 26.9.44 Cap Cris Nez 29 - P/O. L.J. Grey 27.9.44 Calais 21 - P/O. L.J. Grey 28.9.44 Calais (Aborted) 16 - P/O. L.J. Grey [symbol] 3.10.44 Westkapelle 12 - P/O. L.J. Grey 4.10.44 Gardening-Kattegat 5 - P/O. Grey [symbol] 5.10.44 Saabrucken [sic] 30 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 Squadron Operations Description An account of the resource List of 44 operations between 20 July 1944 and 5 October 1944. Twenty-one operations have a tick alongside. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A. A. Farr Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One page printed document Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SFarrAA1434564v10004 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany France Netherlands Belgium Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Atlantic Ocean--North Sea Atlantic Ocean--English Channel Belgium--Kortrijk Germany--Kiel France--Dieppe Germany--Stuttgart France--Pas-de-Calais France--Creil Region France--Bordeaux Region (Nouvelle-Aquitaine) France--Caen Region France--Béthune France--Douai France--La Rochelle Germany--Braunschweig France--Falaise France--Falaise Region Netherlands--Uden Poland--Szczecin France--Limoges Region Belgium--Ghent Germany--Rüsselsheim Netherlands--Breda France--Le Havre Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Osnabrück Region France--Calais Germany--Neuss Netherlands--Walcheren Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea) Germany--Saarbrücken Poland Germany--Ruhr (Region) France--Nieppe Forest France--Fontenay-le-Marmion France--Ferfay France--Bois des Jardins France--Fromentel France--Vincly France--Pas-de-Calais Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-20 1944-07-23 1944-07-25 1944-07-28 1944-07-31 1944-08-02 1944-08-03 1944-08-04 1944-08-05 1944-08-07 1944-08-10 1944-08-11 1944-08-12 1944-08-14 1944-08-15 1944-08-16 1944-08-18 1944-08-25 1944-08-26 1944-08-28 1944-08-29 1944-08-31 1944-09-03 1944-09-05 1944-09-06 1944-09-08 1944-09-10 1944-09-12 1944-09-16 1944-09-29 1944-09-23 1944-09-25 1944-09-26 1944-09-27 1944-09-28 1944-10-03 1944-10-04 1944-10-05 1944-08-08 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Robin Christian Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive 460 Squadron bombing bombing of Luftwaffe night-fighter airfields (15 August 1944) bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944) Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) tactical support for Normandy troops V-1 V-weapon https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/814/22599/PEvansD17020001.1.jpg 7c4c564398d73694dc49b1d39e3d2b6e https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/814/22599/PEvansD17020002.1.jpg 2b5622076048629c9fcf8759134f6a30 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/814/22599/PEvansD17020003.1.jpg 479915fdb5128e35f6275d0fb364f285 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/814/22599/PEvansD17020004.1.jpg 96b3cdbce0d6433e8d916a0d88ee2039 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Evans, Ernest Darwin D Evans Description An account of the resource 71 items. An oral history interview with Darwin Evans (1921 - 2017, 1049547 Royal Air Force) and photographs, including several of Lancaster nose art, Lancaster W4783 AR-G George, and crashed or damaged aircraft. Darwin Evans served as an assistant to the Navigation Officer in 1 Group. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Darwin Evans and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-11-01 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Evans, D Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Permission granted for commercial projects Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 Squadron photograph Airmen on a Lancaster Description An account of the resource A squadron photograph of many airmen arranged in six rows at the front of a Lancaster with an seventh row on top of the wing. On the reverse '460 Sqn. RAAF March 1943 Aircraft 'R Robert' Lost on Skoda Raid April 17th 1943 24 Operations'. Two further photographs are enlargement of the starboard and port sides. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource 460 Squadron Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1943-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Three b/w photographs Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PEvansD17020001, PEvansD17020002, PEvansD17020003, PEvansD17020004 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Australian Air Force Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943-03 460 Squadron aircrew ground crew ground personnel Lancaster https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/247/7380/PDorricottLW15090016.jpg a64fe79173c4dc2cddeb2418638c1246 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dorricott, Leonard William Leonard Dorricott Len Dorricott L W Dorricott Description An account of the resource 72 items. An oral history interview with Rosemary Dorricott about her husband Flying Officer Leonard William Dorricott DFM (1923-2014, 1230753, 1230708 Royal Air Force). Leonard Dorricott was a navigator with 460 and 576 Squadrons. He flew 34 operations including Operation Manna, Dodge and Exodus. He was one of the crew who flew in Lancaster AR-G -George, now preserved in the Australian War Memorial. He was a keen amateur photographer and the collection contains his photographs, logbook and papers. It also contains A Dorricott’s First World War Diary, and photographs of Leonard Dorricott’s log book being reunited with the Lancaster at the Australian War Memorial. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rosemary Dorricott and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-10-07 2015-11-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Dorricott, LW Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Permission granted for commercial projects Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 squadron plaque Description An account of the resource A wooden plaque of 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force. It has the motto 'Strike and return' and a depiction of a kangaroo and a boomerang. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PDorricottLW15090016 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Australian Air Force Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Dorricott, Leonard William. Folder PDorricottLW1509 460 Squadron animal https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1416/32274/MLeavissED1818433-151116-380001.2.jpg 592bc1435d4a01db20dad16336d7ceb6 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1416/32274/MLeavissED1818433-151116-380002.2.jpg 85f417fda1134821187fd26dbaf89f57 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Leaviss, Ted Edward Derek Leaviss E D Leaviss Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-11-16 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Leaviss, ED Description An account of the resource 42 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Edward 'Ted' Derek Leaviss (1818433 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents memorabilia and photographs. He flew three Operation Manna operations as an air gunner with 460 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Irene Leaviss and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [underlined] 4d. [/underlined] HON. SECRETARY: A. PEARCY. HEADQUARTERS: 65, EASTGATE NORTH, DRIFFIELD. E. YORKS. REGISTRATION RESEARCH SPECIALIST SECTION [symbol] [underlined] A Brief History of No. 460 Squadron. Royal Australian Air Force. [/underlined] “460”, the first squadron of the R.A.A.F. in England to be equipped with four engine bombers, was formed at Molesworth on Nov. 15th, 1941, and commenced “ops” on “Wellingtons”. It moved to Breighton in the spring of 1942 and opened the “Operation Record Book” with an attack on Emden in March. Active service conditions soon became normal routine and they formed part of the force which attacked Gennevillier, the “Gnome-Rhone” aircraft engine factory, on May 29th and took part in the three 1,000 bomber raids in May and June, 1942. The squadron’s routine was interrupted in the summer of this year for conversion to “Halifaxes” but these were withdrawn and replaced with “Lancs”. Operations then again became the order of the day and in September W/C. A.L.G. Hubbard handed over command to K.W. Kaufman. By the end of the year the list of honours and awards carried the names of seven Officers and nine N.C.O’s. 1943 opened in fine style and Berlin, on which they dropped 8,000 pounders was amongst the targets they visited. In February they flew 270 sorties and dropped 1,000 tons of H.E. and incendiary on targets which included Spezia and Stettin. St. Nazaire and two trips to Berlin were included in the March programme, and Kiel and Mannheim were amongst the targets in April. May brought a special reference to their determination when, on the night of May 25th, they pressed on in spite of adverse weather to bomb the target at Dusseldorf. In June No. 1 Group handed Breighton over to No. 4 Group and “460” brought into use a glider service (Horsa’s) to transport its stores, etc., to their new home at Binbrook. Disaster very nearly overtook the squadron on July 3rd when, as the airmen sat down to tea after preparing 26 “Lancs” for a raid on Cologne, the whole station was rocked by a heavy explosion. The bombload of one of the “Lancs” had been accidentally released and as the "crash” crews dived for their vehicles a second aircraft went up and a third caught fire. As the “erks” poured out of the dining halls W/C. C.E. Martin, who had taken over from J.F. Dilworth, was already on the job, and with the aid of F/S. Kan he fought the fire in the third aircraft from the top of the fuselage. Due to his disregards for personal safety, initiative, and direction of the fire fighting operations, seventeen of the twenty-six “Lancs” took off on time and joined the bomber stream. Turin and Hamburg also figured in the squadrons list of targets in this month and in August they took part in attacks on Mannheim, Nuremburg, Milan and Peenemunde, the latter being a special effort carried out by a force of 597 aircraft which dropped 1,500 tons of H.E. and incendiaries. In the 146 raids which they had now participated in, five were directed against Berlin and sixteen against Hamburg. Berlin was again attacked by “460’s” aircraft on the night of August 23rd and at the controls of one of the “Lancs” was the Station Commander, G/C. Edwards V.C., with P/O. R.C. Dunstan in the rear turret. P/O. Dunstan, the only A.G. in the R.A.A.F. to be awarded the D.S.O., had already seen active service in the Australian Army. He was badly wounded near Tobruk in January 1941, as a result of which he lost a leg. Invalided out of the Army he managed to re-enlist in the R.A.A.F. as an A.G. and after training was posted to No. 460 in May, 1943, and completed his first tour in November. Operations were pretty frequent in the year 1943. [page break] - 2 - [underlined] No. 460 Sqdn. RAAF. [/underlined] W/C. R.A. Norman, who had completed his first tour on “Whitleys” and “Halifaxes”, took over from W/C. Martin on Sept. 1st and led the squadron on several raids which included Mannheim, Hanover and Bochum. Hanover was as again the target on the night of October 8th and the “Wingco’s” aircraft was so badly damaged that the crew had to hit the silk and he was taken prisoner. The command of the squadron was taken over by H. D. Marsh and as the year drew to a close they took part in the many attacks laid on by Bommber [sic] Command against Berlin. With a total of over 2,000 sorties completed “460” opened the year 1944 with a record of 619 tons of bombs dropped in the first month, 80 tons more than any other squadron in the “Group”, on targets which included Berlin, Magdeburg and Brunswick. Berlin, attacked six times in January, received further attention from the squadron in February as they went out into the night to live up to their motto – “Strike and Return” -. They had, by this date, taken part in 196 attacks on 52 targets and dropped over 8,600 tons of bombs. The tempo of the attacks increased as Bomber Command began to play its part in preparation for “D” Day and in April, as the aircraft returned from a raid on Cologne on the 20th, the “erks” of “460” waited and watched “G” George make its 90th, and last, landing from “ops”. “George”, “460’s” oldest “Lanc”, arrived on the squadron on October 22nd, 1942, and was flown on on [sic] its first “op” by F/S. Saint-Smith to Mannheim on December 6th. It returned from Kassel on 22/10/43 with slight damage, from Cologne on 16/6/43 with seventeen “flak” holes, but under the care of F/S. H. Tickle it was quickly serviced and back on “ops”. “George is, today, a museum piece in Australia. Mailly and Essen were amongst the many targets attacked in May and in June, on the 6th and 7th, they took part in the attacks on coastal batteries as the invasion got under way. By the end of June they had passed a total of 3,000,000 miles flown on over 3,000 sorties during which 11,000 tons of bombs had been dropped W/C. Marsh handed over to J.K. Douglas and they took part in the close support bombing attacks to assist the Army and also in the bombing of the “V” sites in the Pas-de-Calais area. In August, in attacks by day and night, they dropped a total of 1,867 bombs and set up a record which was never surpassed. As the last year of the war approached W/C. F.A. Arthur took command and the squadron continued to add its weight to most of the major attacks carried out by Bomber Command in the last few months of the war. Cleve, Dresden and Chemnitz, were entered in many log books and in April, on the 9th, twelve of “460’s” aircraft joined the bomber stream which attacked Kiel and capsized and sank the “Admiral Scheer”. The war record of No. 460 Squadron, now under W/C. M.G. Cowan, was brought to a close on the morning of April 25th when twenty “Lancs” took part in an attack on Berchtesgaden. They had flown over 5,000 sorties and dropped close on 24,000 tons of bombs. The main task completed they began to fly food into Holland and fly released P.O.W’s back home, then, having done all that was asked of them, they turned homewards. Thought they left behind forever many of their gallant comreades, they could always point with pride to the squadrons achievements and to its list of “Honours and Awards” which include’s [sic] 8 D.S.O’s, 244 D.F.C’s and 9 Bars, a C.G.M. and over 100 D.F.M’s. [underlined] Codes and Serials by R. Sturtivant. [/underlined] Wellington B.3. (1942). UV.T. 2. 1400. UV.F Z1462. Lancaster B.1 and B.3. (1942 to 1945) H.K. 616 AR.D. RE210 AR.E. ND351 AR.F. W4783 AR. G RE191 AR. J NN799 AR. M RA251 AR. S Lancaster B.1/FE and B.7/FE (1945/46) PA275 AR.A. NX605 AR.B NX588 AR.C NX604 AR.D NX606. R.G NX608 AR.H PA301 AR.K NX607 AR.N NX589 AR.T. NX568 AR. U. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 460 Squadron unofficial history Description An account of the resource Produced by 'Registration Research', it uses information from the squadron's operational record books. It records the major operations, gives periodic reviews, lists the changes in Officer Commanding and records events in the Squadron's history. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Registration Research Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two typewritten pages Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MLeavissED1818433-151116-380001, MLeavissED1818433-151116-380002 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire England--Yorkshire Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Tricia Marshall Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 460 Squadron Lancaster RAF Binbrook RAF Breighton https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2828/50188/SBondS-MilliganTv10002.1.jpg e3d03811f7ff133b5051160b19f30321 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Milligan, Edward Description An account of the resource Five items. Collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Edward Milligan who flew operations as a Lancaster bomb aimer on 460 Squadron. Collection contains data extracted from his log book and photographs. The collection was licensed to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Dr Steve Bond and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. This collection was provided, in digital form, by a third-party organisation which used technical specifications and operational protocols that may differ from those used by the IBCC Digital Archive. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-01-18 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SBondS-MilliganTv1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A large group of airmen in front of a Lancaster Description An account of the resource A large group of airmen, some with parachute harness and parachutes standing in front of a Lancaster with letter 'Q' and 'Queenie' nose art. Submitted with caption 'Milligan, Lancaster AR-Q 'Queenie' with squadron aircrew 460 sqn Binbrook '44'. Additional information kindly provided by the donor. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SBondS-MilliganTv10002 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. 460 Squadron aircrew ground crew ground personnel Lancaster nose art RAF Binbrook service vehicle https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2097/34661/BBrindKJBrindKJv1.pdf b8c765f6e18d169a6bc660eb824a7028 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Brind, Kenneth John Brind, K J Description An account of the resource Two items. The collection concerns Kenneth John Brind (b. 1922 Royal Air Force) and contains his memoir and transcript of the ceremony awarding him the Légion d'Honneur. He flew operations as a navigator with 626 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Angela Way and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-04-30 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Brind, KJ Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [Royal Air Force 626 Squadron crest] A Year In The Life By K.J. Brind [page break] To My Beloved MARY, our children and grandchildren I wish to express my appreciation to "The Wickenby Register" and in particular to its president Don Wells and archivist Jim MacDonald who, as well as flying on many of the operations described here, researched and provided me with much of the factual information in this book. i [page break] A Year In The Life By Kenneth Brind In the village of Aldbourne on October 17th 1922, Ken was born to William and Emily Brind, the oldest of their three sons. Educated at St. Michael's School and Marlborough Grammar School, he entered the Royal Air Force shortly after the outbreak of World War II. Trained as an Air Navigator, he flew a tour of operations with 626 Squadron Bomber Command, was commissioned and continued to serve in the RAF after the war as a navigation instructor, fighter controller and administrative officer. He transferred to the RCAF in 1955 and served in a similar capacity until his retirement from military service in 1968. This book is a description of the events which took place between his 21st and 22nd birthdays. iii [page break] [photographs] Kenneth John Brind CD C de G [photograph] Able Two iv [page break] Prelude To Action I'm not quite sure where to begin this narrative, but I suppose the R.A.F. Hospital Rauceby, Lincs. would be as good a place as any. I was there because of a pilonoidal sinus which was operated on and refused to heal so I spent a fairly lengthy period from early October 1943 to January 1944 (including my 21st Birthday on October 17th) out of action. It was my wife, Mary, who insisted I get treatment so I suppose, in a way, I owe her my life. I had trained as a navigator and, after graduation from #10 Observers Advanced Flying Unit, Dumfries Scotland, had spent much of 1943 with a crew captained by Sgt. Geoff Clark. Geoff and I had met at No. 18 Operational Training Unit, Finningley, in May 1943, and taking an instant liking to each other, decided to throw in our lot together and jointly invited other crew members, bomb aimer, wireless operator and air gunner, to join us. During the summer we learned to operate as a crew on Wellington aircraft and completed our first operational sortie, which was an O.T.U. training exercise, on July 25th to Alencon, France, dropping leaflets inviting the Germans to surrender! On August 4th we moved on to No. 1656 Conversion Unit at Lindholme, picked up a flight engineer and second air gunner and learned to operate the Avro Lancaster Bomber. During the conversion process we had one very unfortunate experience. We were at the end of the runway one very dark night in the middle of September when another Lancaster taxiing behind us collided with our rear turret. One engine of the following aircraft smashed into the turret with Graham Uttley inside. Both pilots switched off all engines immediately and we managed to extricate Graham, but he was dead before the ambulance arrived. Another rear gunner immediately joined us and by the end of September the crew of Sgt. Clark, Pilot; Sgt. Brind, Navigator; Sgt. Naylor, Bomb Aimer; Sgt. Parkinson, Flight Engineer; Sgt. Whitmarsh, Wireless Operator; Sgt. Sugden and Sgt. Walker, Air Gunners was considered competent and ready to join a squadron, and were duly posted to No. 625 Squadron, Kelstern. With our training now completed it seemed a good time to get the very minor surgery required to fix my pilonoidal sinus so I reported to the hospital. What we didn't know was that my recovery would take much longer than expected and that Geoff and the boys would not be able to await my return. They were forced to commence operations without me and were shot down over Berlin two days before Christmas, on December 23rd, 1943. They were all killed. I never met my replacement as Navigator, but I have always had guilt feelings that I should have been with them. Had I been there things might have been different. One thing is certain, they were a group of dedicated, enthusiastic, well trained young men. Following my discharge from hospital I went on sick leave and it was not until April 1944 that the doctors certified me ready to crew up again and return to the war. In the meantime Mary had become pregnant and gone to Aldbourne where she would be safe. She had been with me during my O.T.U. and Conversion Unit Training. I met Flying Officer Hicks and his crew at No. 1662 Conversion Unit, Blyton on May 14th. So many Lancasters had been lost during the winter of 1943/44 that they had been withdrawn 1 [page break] [photograph] The Wellington Crew No. 18 O.T.U. Finningley July 1943 Sgt. G. Uttley Sgt. W.E. Whitmarsh Sgt. K.J. Brind Sgt. G.E. Clark Sgt. R.A. Naylor from the heavy conversion units and replaced by Halifaxes. So crews converted on to the Halifax, then to the Lancaster at No. 1 Lancaster Finishing School, Hemswell. I did 3 cross country exercises (1 day and 2 night) with my new crew on the Halifax followed by a short conversion at No.! L.F.S. on to the Lancaster (with which I was very familiar from my time spent with my former crew) and then to No.626 Squadron, Wickenby on June 5th, 1944. I should mention some of the characteristics of the Lancaster which by now had become the preeminent bomber aircraft of the Royal Air Force. It had a wingspan of 102 feet with a 2 [page break] [photograph] The Lancaster Crew No. 626 Sqdn. Wickenby July 1944 F/S J. Saletto F/S K.J. Brind F/L.A.C. Hicks F/O C. Bursey F/O P.M. Graves Sgt. A.B. Jones Sgt. S.G. King length of 69 feet and maximum height of 20 feet 6 inches. Powered by four Rolls Royce Merlin engines each developing 1,460 horsepower it had a maximum speed of 240 knots at 15,000 feet fully loaded and a cruising speed of 175 knots. The range varied with the load carried being 2,200 nautical miles with a 7,000 lb load, and 1350 nautical miles with a 22,000 lb load. Maximum fuel capacity was 2,154 gallons. Maximum bomb load varied with modifications which were made but essentially the main force carried not more than 15,000 lbs. Service ceiling was 19,000 – 20,000 feet depending on load and maximum ceiling was 24,000 feet. Take off distance loaded was 1,550 yards and the rate of climb was 250 ft/minute. Landing distance was approximately 1,000 yards. Maximum take off weight was 72,000 lbs. The aircraft carried a 3 [page break] defensive armament of 3 gun turrets, the front carrying 2 x .303 machine guns, the mid upper the same and the rear turret 4 x .303's. Later the mid upper and rear turret were equipped with 2 x .5's. The primary navigation system was "GEE" by which the navigator could calculate the position of his aircraft by observing the time taken to receive pulse signals from three different ground stations. By now the enemy was aware of frequencies, etc., and jammed the signals before one reached the European coast. The other radar navigation system was "H2S". Here the aircraft transmitted signals which were reflected back from the terrain over which it was flying by providing a map of coastlines, islands, rivers, etc. But because the aircraft was transmitting it became vulnerable to interception by enemy fighters or prediction by anti aircraft guns. So it had to be used with discretion. The crew required to man this aircraft was seven as I have already mentioned. My new crew was quite different from my previous one. Here 3 of the 7 were officers and Arthur Hicks himself was ten years older than I. He had done most of his flying training in the U.S.A., at Pensacola, Florida, and wore a silver bracelet proclaiming his proficiency. The other officers in the crew were Peter Graves, a burly London policeman, the bomb aimer and Bill Bursey, strangely enough the rear gunner, both were Flying Officers. The other N.C.O.s were Jack Saletto, an Australian and sole survivor of a 460 squadron crew, the wireless operator, Stan King, a youngster from London, the flight engineer, and Bert Jones the mid upper gunner. We were welcomed by the Squadron Commander, Wing Commander Rodney, in his office and advised of two things; one was that a crew had just completed a tour of operations (the first to do so for some time) and the second was that the invasion (Operation Overlord) was to take place tomorrow, so we had arrived at a good time. We were then allocated to "A" Flight with whom we would remain for the duration of our tour with the squadron. We settled into our quarters but this crew, being mixed, officers and N.C.O.s, did not all share the same accommodation. The officers went to their quarters and the N.C.O.s to theirs. The next few days saw us getting acclimatized, going through the various administrative procedures to ensure we would be paid and fed and generally getting to know our way around. On June 13th an aircraft was made available for us to demonstrate that we were ready to operate so we took it on a 5 1/2 hour night cross country. On our return we were debriefed and our logs and charts were analyzed and checked. We passed muster. 4 [page break] Operation No. 1 Rheims The invasion of Europe (Operation Overlord) had commenced on June 6th 1944 and the allied armies were struggling to establish a bridgehead in Normandy. The Germans were trying to reinforce their defences so railway marshalling yards became prime targets. So it was that our first operation was against the railway yards at Rheims, France. It was June 22nd. Our route took us from Wickenby to Gravesend then south to cross the English coast near Hastings, across the channel to a point on the French coast just east of Dieppe then south east directly towards the target. After bombing we headed west to a point just west of Dieppe then north back across the channel to make a landfall near Brighton, thence to Reading and back to base. The bombload was 9,000 lbs consisting of eighteen 500 lb high explosive bombs which Peter Graves dispatched without difficulty. The aiming point was marked with cascading yellow target indicators (TI's) at H-5 and H-4 (H being the Time on Target of the first wave of bombers) and backed up with green TIs. The initial markers were scattered and short of the target but the Master Bomber backed up with red spot fires. The weather called for patchy clouds enroute increasing to 9/10's clouds with tops at 6,000 feet. As the main force was at 18 – 20,000 feet some crews could not see the reds so bombed the glow of the markers through the clouds. The weight of the attack fell on the sorting sidings cutting every line and destroying 61 rail cars. Ground defences were not heavy but there was heavy flak (anti-aircraft fire) and searchlights in the Abbville area. We were coned in searchlights for several minutes which is always a hair-raising experience but Hicky put the nose down and we eventually dived clear and resumed our homeward course. We returned to base without further incident and landed at approximately 0240 having been airborne for four hours and forty minutes. Of the 19 aircraft of 626 Squadron which had started out one developed an engine fire, aborted the mission and returned to base, and one (Sgt. Woolley and crew) was shot down and all on board were killed. Bomber Command always kept statistics and on this night our squadron loss was 5.26%. Statistically if we continued at this rate we would last for twenty missions and our tour called for 30. We ate our eggs and bacon and went to bed. 5 [page break] Operation No. 2 Les Hayons In the summer of 1944 the Germans had developed their "ultimate weapons" the V1 and V2 and were using them indiscriminately against London and Southern England. The V1 was a winged bomb with a jet propelled engine which flew until it ran out of fuel then crashed and exploded. The V2 was a rocket propelled bomb which left the ground on a high trajectory, crossed the channel and came almost straight down on to it's target. There was some defence against the V1 in that it could be shot down by ground fire or by a fighter aircraft. There was no defence against the V2. The launching sites for both were in the Pas de Calais area of Northern France and in the low countries so the obvious way to eliminate the problem was to destroy the launching sites and storage sheds on the ground. A job for Bomber Command. Our first attack against a launching site followed two days after our trip to Rheims, on June 24th, and the target chosen for 626 Squadron was Les Hayons in the Pas de Calais. These operations were not considered difficult as they were fairly short with not too much time over enemy territory. Our squadron's contribution of 17 aircraft included the squadron commander. We took off at 1535 hours with a bomb load of 9,000 lbs (18 x 500 lb bombs) and climbed enroute to our bombing height of 18,000 feet. There were scattered patches of cloud between 3 and 8,000 feet, but the target area was clear with good visibility. Our route took us again to Gravesend (but this time in daylight), to Hastings where we crossed enroute outbound, then straight to the target crossing the French coast near Calais. Calais was heavily defended and we came under a heavy and accurate flak attack on our approach to the target area, but fortunately we did not see any enemy aircraft. The aiming point was marked by red TIs but they were not dropped until after several of us had already bombed the target. Visibility was good and we were able to identify the launch ramps and storage buildings visually and attack them. We came under attack again as we crossed the French coast on our way home. We returned via Reading and arrived at Wickenby having been airborne 3 hours and 40 minutes. Two of our squadron aircraft sustained damage from the flak attack but no one was injured. 6 [page break] Operation No. 3 Ligescourt The next day we were at it again. This time our target was the flying bomb site at Ligescourt just a few miles from Les Hayons which we visited yesterday. But now we were going in the early morning rather than late afternoon. Twice in less than 24 hours. Take off commenced at 0722 hours and our aircraft, A2 (Able Two) was airborne at 0730. The 626 squadron force was again 17 aircraft each carrying 18 x 500 lb bombs. The weather again was cloudy over England clearing over the channel with no cloud and excellent visibility in the target area. The target marking of cascading red and yellow TIs was carried out by Mosquito aircraft. The red TIs were 2 minutes late and were slightly north east of the target but visibility was so good that the bomb aimers were able to visually identify and attack the target. For some reason we did not come under the accurate flak attack which we experienced yesterday. Except for a few bursts at Berck sur Mer we were trouble free. A lone German fighter was sighted over the channel and was promptly shot down by spitfires of No. 11 Group who were providing fighter cover for us. The squadron sustained no losses and there were no reports of damage to our aircraft. We again returned via Reading and at 1045 hours landed at Wickenby. At this period of the war everyone avoided flying over London so as not to impede those defending the city against flying bombs, so we were routed east or west of London depending on the location of the target. 7 [page break] Operation No. 4 Sirracourt It was now June 29th and operations scheduled for the 27th and 28th had been cancelled because of poor weather. There was now a slight improvement with a forecast of fair to cloudy with light showers. At 1000 hours we were advised that the daylight operation planned for yesterday was to be put on at once. Lots of rushing around getting everything ready, bombs, fuel, briefing, etc. The target was another flying bomb launching site, this time at Sirracourt, a few miles south of Les Hayons and Ligescourt. For this operation we were joined by aircraft of 12 squadron which shared Wickenby with us. The force consisted of 29 Lancasters, 15 from 626 and 14 from 12 squadron. We were part of a concentrated attack on flying bomb launching sites by 286 Lancasters and 19 Mosquitoes of Bomber Command. Our bomb load for this operation was a mixture of 1,000 lb and 500 lb high explosive for a total of 13,000 lbs per aircraft. Fuel load was 1,450 gallons. We always knew from the fuel and bomb loads, even before being given the target at briefing, whether we were going on a short or long trip. The maximum fuel load for a Lancaster was 2,154 gallons. We knew if full fuel load was called for the trip would be long and the bomb load smaller to remain within the maximum takeoff weight of 72,000 lbs. Conversely on shorter trips we carried less fuel and more bombs. Getting 29 Lancasters off one runway takes a little time but we had got it to a fine art. Number one started rolling and when he was halfway down the runway number two started. By the time number one became airborne number two was halfway along and number three started so there were always 3 aircraft on or just leaving the runway. It was very efficient so long as there were no problems. The first aircraft took off at 1151 and we were airborne at 1210 hours. Our route to the target was again via Gravesend and Dungeness and the weather was good to within a few miles of the target, then the cloud thickened to about 7/10s with tops at about 14,000 feet which meant that Peter Graves could not visually identify the target so we reduced height to bomb at 12,500 ft. We were above the clouds but came under intense and accurate heavy flak from the French coast to the target. We were again escorted by 11 Group Spitfires and saw no enemy fighters. The target marking was by red TIs cascading from 4,000 feet on to the Master Bomber's yellow TIs cascading from 3,000 feet. Unfortunately, the Master Bomber was shot down while dropping his yellow TIs. This resulted in scattered bombing particularly in the early stages of the attack. Because of the weather it was difficult to assess the results of the attack but at 1402 hours a large explosion was reported with smoke rising to 4,000 feet. We again returned via Reading and arrived back at Wickenby at 1540 hours. Four of Wickenby's aircraft were hit by flak, two from each squadron and one from 12 Squadron (P/O Underwood) was lost. It was on fire and abandoned in the air and crashed at Troisvaux. The pilot, navigator and rear gunner were killed while the wireless operator, bomb aimer, flight engineer and mid upper gunner were all taken prisoner of war. The Wickenby loss rate was 3.45%. 8 [page break] Operation No. 5 Vierzon Vierzon is a town some 120 miles south of Paris. It was a major rail and transportation centre for German troops and supplied on their way to the front some 160 miles to the north west. It was our "target for tonight" on June 30th and 31 Lancasters from Wickenby were detailed for the mission. Twelve Squadron supplied 13 and 626 Squadron 18. Take off commenced at 2151 hours and our aircraft became airborne at 2155 with a bomb load of 13,000 lbs, mixed 1,000 and 500 lb high explosive and 1,450 gallons of fuel. We climbed towards Reading, the assembly point, and reached our operational altitude earlier than normal as we were briefed for 8 - 10,000 feet instead of our usual 18 - 20,000 feet. We were aware that disruption of rail traffic was vital to stop German troops and supplies reaching the beachhead in Normandy. We were also aware that inaccurate bombing would kill innocent French civilians. Targets were, therefore, brilliantly lit with chandelier flares and to ensure accuracy we flew at less than half our normal bombing height. From Reading we headed to a point midway across the channel then crossed the French coast between Dieppe and Le Havre and headed south towards the target. On arrival in the target area we found the aiming point illuminated with flares and marked with impact yellow TIs backed up by red spot fires. The TIs fell to the north east of the yards but the reds were accurate and the bombing was concentrated on them. The Master Bomber instructed the main force to bomb between two sets of TIs. At 0119 hours a broadcast was heard on the radio telephone (RT), not the Master Bomber's voice but using his call sign, instructing the main force to cease bombing and go home. No code word for "stop bombing" was used so the broadcast was ignored. Shortly after a Canadian voice interjected over the RT telling the German, in the most ungentlemanly fashion, what to do. In spite of everything the bombing appeared to be extremely accurate and results showed that all through lines were cut, much of the rolling stock and two thirds of the locomotive depot was destroyed. Regretfully residential and business property to the east of the target was severely damaged. There was some light flak in the target area and because of our reduced altitude, it was exploding at our height but the one searchlight was shot out by the first marker. The fighters were initially confused as to our location but after we had been over enemy territory for 54 minutes they were ordered to Orleans and, having identified our target, they attacked with considerable ferocity. They made contact by moonlight and held the bomber stream for 80 miles on the return route when most of our losses occurred. This was the deepest penetration my crew had made so far and in spite of all the activity going on around us we were able to fly home unscathed and arrived back at Wickenby at 0325 hours having been airborne for 5 1/2 hours. Of Wickenby's aircraft on this night one from 626 Squadron aborted the mission with an electrical failure and one from 12 Squadron was damaged by light flak. Four combats with fighter were reported, 3 by 12 Squadron aircraft and one from 626. Of the 30 Wickenby aircraft 9 [page break] to reach the target 4 were lost, two from each squadron. 12 Squadron lost P/O Honor and P/O Pollard, and both crews were killed. 626 lost P/O Pocock who was killed together with his whole crew on their very first operation, and P/O Orr who was killed together with his flight engineer and both gunners while his navigator, bomb aimer and wireless operator managed to bail out. The navigator and bomb aimer were both wounded and taken prisoner but the wireless operator evaded capture. Bomber Command loss rate for this operation was 11.86% while that for Wickenby was 12.9%. We had paid the price for operating a lower level than normal. 626 Squadron had lost 2 aircraft out of 18, a loss rate of 11.1%, the highest we had experienced since starting our tour. It was now 9 days since we started operational flying and we had already flown on 5 operations. And so we reached the end of June 1944. On July 1st the weather was cloudy but becoming fair with showers – 23 Lancasters were detailed for a night attack which was cancelled. "Salute the Soldier Week" was held from July 1st to 8th with a target of £2000. Whether the target was reached is not known. A discipline notice on the bulletin board read "Airmen with cycles in their charge fitted with "rat trap" pedals are to ensure that all sharp points liable to damage footwear are filed off". 10 [page break] Operation No. 6 Domleger On July 2nd the weather was cloudy becoming fair with showers later. Twenty five Lancasters from Wickenby were detailed against a flying bomb site at Domleger. We were part of a force of 286 Lancasters and Mosquitoes attacking 2 flying bomb sites. 626 Squadron provided 14 aircraft. Domleger was in the vicinity of the other flying bomb sites we had already attacked. Our bomb load was 13,000 lbs mixed 500 and 1,000 lbs high explosive. We were the first aircraft to takeoff and were airborne at 1215 hours and climbed to our normal bombing height of 18,000 feet enroute to Gravesend. The weather as we progressed was 8 - 10/10s cloud with tops between 7 and 10,000 feet. As we approached the target area the Master Bomber instructed all crews to bomb on DF (Direction Finding) radar or radio then 3 minutes before H hour these instructions were cancelled and we were instructed to bomb the TIs. In the meantime we reduced height to 14,000 feet, the cloud layer broke, and a large hole enabled us to bomb visually at 1415 hours. As with all visual bombing the concentration was good with smoke rising to 5,000 feet. There was a minimal amount of light flak in the target area but considerable heavy flak in the Abbville area on the homeward route. No enemy fighters were seen, fighter cover again being provided by 11 Group. Our losses were nil and only one of our aircraft was hit by flak with no casualties. We returned to Wickenby 3 1/2 hours after we left. On July 4th twenty-two Lancasters from Wickenby were detailed as part of a force of 151 plus 6 markers against the railway yards at Les Aubrais near Orleans. 626 Squadron's effort was 11 aircraft. Take off commenced at 2147 with our aircraft becoming airborne at 2200 hours. All went well until we were over France and, as we thought, heading in the direction of the target. But at H hour when the target should have been in view, or at least the TIs should have appeared ahead of us, there was nothing to be seen. We were flying over an unbroken layer of cloud and were certainly not where we were supposed to be. As the navigator it was my responsibility to know where we were at all times. Something had gone wrong and I was not certain what it was. We could not go on to the target, we didn't even know where it was, so Hicky made the only decision possible. We would head for home. It is a rather scary position to be in – flying around over enemy territory with 9,000 lbs of bombs on board – knowing you are somewhere between your base and your target, but not knowing how to get to either and with navigational equipment which is unserviceable. Under such conditions you revert to basics. I stuck my head into the astrodome and located Polaris – the North Star, and directed Hicky to fly north, using the star to steer by. We knew that by flying north we would cross the French coast and eventually the English channel but at this point did not know where or when. Once we had settled on course I was able to assess what had happened. The Distant Reading (DR) compass had become destabilized and was slowly rotating so that we had not been steady on any course but going round in a huge circle. We were alone and 11 [page break] at the mercy of any defences we might encounter. In the meantime, Hicky, Peter Graves and Stan King were all looking ahead searching for any sign of the French coast. Bert Jones and Bill Bursey in the gunners turrets were searching the black skies for anything approaching us while Jack Saletto and I were working feverishly for any bearings or any radar fix which would help us locate our position. Then it happened! Heavy flak appeared before us and about the same time the H2S told me we were approaching Le Havre, one of the most heavily defended ports on the coast. We had no choice but to fly through the defences which we proceeded to do weaving gently to try and prevent the anti aircraft prediction radar getting a "lock on" to us, and we were lucky enough to get through unscathed and headed out over the channel. We still had our 9,000 lbs of high explosive just beneath where we were sitting and the prospect of landing with it still on board, in the dark, was not a pleasant one so, discretion being the better part of valour, it was decided to jettison our bomb load over the channel. We were back within GEE range by now so I selected a spot well away from the shipping lanes which were very busy between southern England and the Normandy beachhead and Peter dropped them safe, i.e. not fused, into the English Channel. We returned home without further incident after almost 6 hours and had to report that we had aborted the mission. The log showed the reason as "DR compass unserviceable". So for us this counted for naught and our number was still 6 completed operations. For the rest of the squadron the night had been successful. The assessment of the attack was that all through rail lines were cut and a large quantity of rolling stock destroyed or damaged. 626 Squadron reported one aircraft damaged and one combat with a JU88. 12 Squadron lost one aircraft with the pilot (F/S Turner), bomb aimer and flight engineer taken prisoner and the other four crew members killed. 12 [page break] Operation No. 7 Dijon On July 5th the weather was fair to cloudy with moderate visibility. I had our instrument technicians working on the DR compass and had the master unit replaced and swung. Hopefully it will be O.K. for tonight we go to Dijon. Twenty two Lancasters from Wickenby, 12 from 12 and 10 from 626 Squadron were part of a force of 154 detailed against the marshalling yards at Dijon, a city some 160 miles south east of Paris and about 60 miles from the Swiss border. Because of the distance involved the fuel load and bomb loads were adjusted and we carried 9,500 lbs (8 x 1,000 lb and 3 x 500 lb). We took off at 2000 hrs in daylight and were gradually wrapped in darkness as we headed towards France. Our route took us south west from Wickenby to Bridport crossing the English coast just west of Weymouth. We then headed south to a point near the Channel Islands before turning south east towards France. We had deliberately kept clear of the European battlefield and now crossed the coast at a point some 35 miles north of Rennes and moved in a series of zig zags towards the target area. A tactic used by Bomber Command was to try not to indicate to the enemy until the last minute where the actual target was, so we finally headed to a point north west of Dijon then made a sudden turn south east for a relatively short bombing run over the marshalling yards before turning west and heading for home. The weather over England was 10/10 cloud with tops to 7,000 feet so we soon climbed through it and were in the clear above. The cloud layer dispersed by mid channel and visibility was perfect from then on. Perfect visibility is a two edged sword though, not only can you see where you are going and who is with you, but you can also be seen by the enemy fighters and anit aircraft defences. Visibility was so good that the Swiss Alps were clearly visible from a distance of one hundred miles or so. It was worth the trip just to see Mont Blanc at 15,780 feet glistening in the moonlight. There was a good deal of light flak in the target area which considerably troubled the Master Bomber. Initial yellow TIs were dropped by using radar and were found to be one mile north west of the target. The Deputy Master Bomber arrived in the target area ahead of the Master Bomber and dropped one red and one yellow TI within 50 yards of the aiming point. Bombing was accurate though some crews bombed the early markers. Photographic reconnaissance assessed that all the through rail lines were cut and the locomotive round house and workshops destroyed. There was some night fighter activity over the target and as far as Tours on the way home. Four of 626 Squadron crews reported combat with night fighters and one of our aircraft was damaged. We returned home on a reciprocal route and arrived back at Wickenby at 0440 hours after a flight of 8 hours 40 minutes and the furthest penetration yet into Fortress Europe. There were no losses. Until now our operations were against flying bomb sites to reduce these attacks on Southern England, and railway marshalling yards and communication centres in France to try 13 [page break] [map] [underlined] DIJON [underlined]. [underlined] 5/6 JULY 1944 [underlined]. [page break] to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the battle area. Now we were going to use bomber aircraft as heavy artillery in direct support of the forces on the ground. The Allied armies had established a beachhead in Normandy but were experiencing difficulty in breaking out and advancing. Particularly troubling was Caen where German resistance was especially stubborn. 15 [page break] Operation No. 8 Caen On July 7th a Bomber Command force of 283 Lancasters, 164 Halifaxes and 20 Mosquitoes were detailed against troops and armour at Caen. Wickenby's contribution was 30 Lancasters, 13 from 12 Squadron and 17 from 626. The weather was cloudy with intermittent rain in the morning, fair later. The operation was scheduled for evening. The bomb load was 13,000 lbs, mixed 1,000 and 500 lbs high explosive. Takeoff commenced at 1910 hours and we became airborne at 1930. The enroute weather was 7 – 8/10's cloud with a base at 5,000 feet and tops at 12,000 feet until nearing the French coast then clearing to small amounts of broken cloud only. Target marking with red and yellow TIs was on time and accurate which made the work of the bomb aimer that much easier. However, there was intense heavy and light flak in the target area. After all we were attacking an army on the ground who were well trained and well equipped and who were going to defend themselves. As we flew through the target area there was smoke, exploding shells, exploding bombs and aircraft everywhere. A very confusing scene. However, the bombs straddled the markers and it was apparent that a raid of outstanding success was achieved. Photo reconnaissance showed the bulk of the bombing fell within a radius of 450 yards with very few isolated sticks of bombs. A message from 2nd Army Headquarters read "The heavy bombing that took place this evening was a wonderfully impressive show. The 2nd Army would like appreciation and thanks passed to all crews". One of 626 Squadron's aircraft aborted with an unserviceable port inner engine. Three of 12 Squadron and 3 of 626 Squadron aircraft were damaged. Among them was ours. We were hit by flak in the mid upper turret and the front windscreen over the target but fortunately none of us was injured though Bert Jones obviously had a close call. 626 Squadron lost one aircraft (P/O Oram) which was hit in the target area and subsequently became uncontrollable. The crew abandoned over the channel and 5 of them were rescued from the sea and returned to fly again. Unfortunately, both air gunners were killed. The squadron loss rate was 5.9%. 16 [page break] Operation No. 9 Tours Thirty-four Lancasters from Wickenby were detailed against Tours on July 12th as part of a force of 378 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitoes attacking railway targets. This was a continuation of the attacks against marshalling yards and communication centres in France in support of Operation Overlord. Dijon, Orleans, Vierzon and Rheims were previous targets. 626 Squadron's contribution was 18 aircraft. As with previous attacks of this type the bomb load consisted of 1,000 and 500 lb high explosive. On this occasion it was again 13,000 lbs with 2,000 gallons of fuel. Again, we headed southwest from Wickenby to Bridport and crossed the English coast near Weymouth then south east to the French coast and the target. After the attack we returned to Bridport via the Channel Islands then back to Wickenby. The weather was clear enroute except for some broken patches of medium cloud. There was some thin cloud between 4 – 6,000 feet north of the target area but it cleared before we arrived and all that remained in the target area was some haze. The first TIs undershot the aiming point by 500 yards, but the Master Bomber was able to direct the main force to overshoot the markers. As the target was clear the marshalling yards were visible and bombing was concentrated on the target though smoke rising to 9,000 feet eventually obscured it. Photo reconnaissance confirmed the target to be completely covered in craters with all railway tracks cut, the bridge collapsed and embankment roads obliterated. The storage sidings and railcars were so covered with close packed craters an estimation of railcars destroyed could not be made. Some light flak and sporadic heavy flak was experienced and fighters were active on the homeward journey. A diversionary raid to the low countries drew many night fighters from the main raid. One of our aircraft sustained flak damage while in the target area and one of 12 Squadron reported an engagement with a JU88. There were no losses. 17 [page break] Operation No. 10 Caen On July 18th an early morning raid in direct support of the British Second Army against troops and armour east of Caen was ordered. This was the second occasion we were used as heavy artillery prior to a ground attack against enemy troops. The allied armies at this stage of Overlord were experiencing very stubborn resistance all along the front and even though we had helped by bombing Caen on July 7th resistance east of Caen was still very strong, and a major attack was required. Bomber Command's force was 667 Lancasters, 260 Halifaxes and 15 Mosquitoes – over 900 aircraft in all. 38 of the Lancasters were from Wickenby with 626 Squadron providing 20. The bomb load was again 13,000 lbs with 11 x 1,000 lbs and 4 x 500 lbs. Whereas our raid on July 7th was in the evening, on this occasion takeoff commenced at 0300 hours so that we were over the target at first light. The enroute weather consisted of low cloud over England with thick haze at the English coast. It cleared as we crossed the channel and the target area was clear with excellent visibility. The marking was by low bursting red TIs from H-5 to H-1 then by yellow TIs bursting at 4,000 feet leaving a trail of white smoke. Markers were accurate and punctual except for one which the Master Bomber identified as being 100 yds south. Accurate marking and bombing was essential as we were attacking the enemy a short distance ahead of our own troops, a fact we were all well aware of. Bombing commenced one minute early and excellent concentration was achieved. The aiming point was soon obscured by dust and smoke but the TIs were still visible. Flak was negligible in the target area but accurate predicted heavy flak was encountered as we left. No enemy fighters were seen as cover was again provided by No. 11 Group. Three of 12 Squadron and 3 of 626 Squadron aircraft were hit by flak, including ours, but fortunately no one was injured. One of 626 Squadron found a live 1,000 lb bomb rolling on the closed bomb bay doors after leaving the target area. I had failed to release with the rest of the bomb load but was safely jettisoned over the channel. We arrived back at Wickenby at about 0700 to debrief, breakfast and bed. 18 [page break] Operation No. 11 Courtrai Courtrai was a rail centre and marshalling yard some 50 mile west of Brussels, the Belgian capital, through which supplies, reinforcements and equipment passed on their way from Germany to the front. It was our first target not in France and received the attention of 302 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitoes on the night of July 20th. 35 Lancasters from Wickenby were detailed as part of this force and 626 Squadron's contribution was 18. The bomb load was again 13,000 lbs with the usual mixture of 1,000 and 500 lbs high explosives. Our route took us south east to Orfordness, across the North Sea to the Belgian coast west of Ostend then to the target. We took off at 2330 and climbed in darkness towards the coast. We passed through a 10/10th layer of cloud over England which cleared as we crossed the North Sea. As we approached the Belgian coast we were startled to see a streak of light from the ground rush vertically past us at tremendous velocity and disappear above us. It was a rocket propelled V2 on it's way to London. One launching site down there somewhere which needed to be dealt with, or perhaps it had been and was already repaired. We were aware, of course, that the German war machine, with it's huge quantity of slave labour, worked to repair everything which we damaged as soon as possible. In the target area there was no cloud but some haze with fair visibility. As we were climbing out Hicky was having some trouble with the Constant Speed Unit (CSU) on the port outer engine which he and Stan King were unable to stabilize but we carried on with them nursing the problem as this was not a very long trip. As we approached the target Mosquitoes marked the aiming point with red TI's at H-8. Other pathfinders dropped flares and red and green TIs. The marking was on time and accurate and resulted in bombing being well concentrated on the target. Peter Graves released our bombs at 0156 hours. Photo reconnaissance reported that reception, forwarding and sorting sidings were utterly destroyed. A large water tank was hurled from the centre of the track to property outside the yard. The main loco sheds, passenger station, and a bridge carrying 5 tracks across a road were all virtually destroyed. Flak defences were light but fighters were extremely active in the light of our marker flares (we could be seen from above silhouetted against them) and near Ostend and over the sea on our way home. The result was predictable, 5 of 626 and 2 of 12 Squadron crews reported combat but the only damage to returning aircraft came from a 626 and 12 Squadron aircraft which collided in circuit over the aerodrome on return. Both landed safely but the incident emphasised the importance of proper height and distance separation in the landing pattern particularly when returning a large number of aircraft in a short space of time. After returning from any operation everyone is stressed and tired and anxious to land as soon as possible. However, we did suffer major casualties. One of 626 Squadron (F/O Wilson) and one of 12 Squadron (P/O Hagarty) were lost and both crews were killed, and another of 626 Squadron (F/O Bowen) was shot down over the target. The rear gunner was killed but all others either evaded or were taken prisoner. 19 [page break] [map] [underlined]COURTRAI. [/underlined]. [underlined] 20/21 JULY 1944 [/underlined]. [page break] The Wickenby loss rate was 8.57% while Bomber Command's was 2.84%. 626 Squadron lost 2 of 18 – 11.1%. Hicky nursed A2 back home and we landed at Wickenby after being airborne 3 hours 15 minutes. I should mention here that we have now completed 11 operations, 6 by day and 5 by night (and aborted one) and have been hit by flak only twice and so far never attacked by an enemy aircraft. The navigation section at Wickenby had a sign on the wall which read, "KEEP ON TRACK, KEEP ON TIME, KEEP ON LIVING". A Bomber Command operation was always a concentration in time and space with literally scores of aircraft crossing a target every minute. If you could stay on track and on time you were assured of being somewhere in the centre of a huge gaggle of aircraft. It was generally the stragglers or those who wandered off course who were attacked by fighters. My crew maintained that my ability as a navigator kept us close to the middle of the pack and minimized the risk, but I like to think that it was a crew effort. Everything that went on outside the aircraft around us even if it seemed inconsequential was reported and if necessary acted upon. Weather on the 21st and 22nd of July was cloudy with drizzle and moderate visibility. On the 21st 28 Lancasters from Wickenby were detailed against Dortmund but the operation was cancelled and on the 22nd 36 were detailed for a daylight operation which was also cancelled. On the 21st we took advantage of the cancellation to carry out some fighter affiliation exercises to keep the gunners sharp. They had not yet had to fire their guns in self defence. On July 23rd the weather was cloudy but visibility was good and our target was announced as Kiel naval base. 21 [page break] Operation No. 12 Kiel A force of 519 Lancasters, 100 Halifaxes, and 10 Mosquitoes were detailed against Kiel and Wickenby's contribution was 33 with 15 of these from 626 Squadron. This was our first attack against a target in Germany and our first purely strategic attack, so we were both excited and apprehensive. Kiel was a port city on the Baltic Sea with shipyards, a naval base and manufacturing facilities known to be well defended. We took off at 2100 hours on July 23rd and climbed through a layer of cloud with tops about 5,000 feet into the clear with good visibility. We carried 9,000 lb of bombs (18 x 500 lbs). Our route took us to Mablethorpe then across the North Sea to a point west of the North Frisian Islands then east into Germany proper and on to a southerly heading for the bomb run. This route gave me a good opportunity to use the H2S equipment to fix our position accurately before entering enemy territory. H2S was the radar equipment which transmitted a signal from the aircraft to the ground and the returns showed features such as islands, coastlines, etc. So we were on track and on time as we crossed the German coast and headed for Kiel and our target at 21,000 ft. The target marking was by sticks of flares which were dropped at H-6 followed by Path Finder Force (PFF) marking the aiming point with mixed red and green TIs. The marking was punctual, reasonably accurate but scattered in the early stages. As we were above cloud and the markers were only visible by glowing through the clouds Peter bombed what he could see, as did all the other bomb aimers. So we were unable to access the accuracy of the bombing until later when photo recce showed that severe damage was caused to the north east portion of the shipyards, buildings and hangars of the airfield and seaplane base were partially destroyed and considerable damage was caused to a large barracks and other buildings in the marine depot. As we left the target area we could see the glow of the fires reflecting on the clouds for a hundred miles. We experienced heavy flak and some light flak in the target area, some of which appeared to come from ships in the harbour. There were a few searchlights. There was some fighter activity over the target and on the homeward route for distance of about 100 miles. Two of 12 Squadron's aircraft reported combat and one of 626 Squadron engaged an ME 110 on two occasions some two minutes apart at 16,000 feet. No damage was reported and no casualties. I have no report on Bomber Command losses for this operation but Wickenby and 626 Squadron had none. I should mention that F/O Hicks was promoted to F/Lt and I was promoted to F/Sgt during July. These were the only promotions my crew received during our tour. 22 [page break] [map] [underlined] KIEL [/underlined]. [underlined] 23/24 JULY 1944 [underlined]. [page break] Operation No. 13 Stuttgart On July 25th the weather was fair becoming cloudy with intermittent rain when Bomber Command decided to send a force of 412 Lancasters and 138 Halifaxes against Stuttgart, a large manufacturing city in southern Germany. 25 of the Lancasters were from Wickenby with 626 Squadron providing 12 of them. The bomb load was fairly typical for operations against major German targets being 1 x 2,000 lb high explosive bomb and 12 incendiary clusters. For a mission to southern Germany full fuel tanks of 2,154 gallons were required. Takeoff commenced at 2058 and seven minutes later we roared down the runway and off for our longest trip so far to a German target. The route took us a long way south before turning east towards the target area. We went to Reading then south across the channel and turned east after we were well south of Paris. We then went almost to the Swiss border before turning north east towards the major centres in that general area in the hope of confusing the defences. Our target could have been any one of half a dozen cities, including Frankfurt, Russelheim, Mannheim, Karlsruhe or Stuttgart. We made our final turn on to the bomb run between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. The weather enroute was cloudy and in the target area there was 10/10th thin cloud with a base about 16,000. At 20,000 feet we were above this layer. Sticks of flares and red TIs were dropped at H-6, P.F.F. then marked the aiming point with mixed red and green TIs. Release point flares of green and yellow stars were also dropped. The result of all this was that the bombing was scattered as several separate groups of markers each attracted concentrated bombing. Many fires were observed taking hold well and the glow from these was visible for 150 miles on the homeward route. This was the first occasion we had carried incendiary bombs which were designed to create damage by fire as opposed to damage by high explosive. In spite of our efforts to conceal our route and target the enemy guessed we were going to Stuttgart some 30 minutes before H hour and elements of 14 night fighter Gruppen were deployed against us. Numerous combats were reported but flak was light to moderate over the target itself. Our route home was also circuitous and was, in general, a reciprocal of our outbound flight. We came back via Reading and let down to arrive over Wickenby and land again after 8 hours 35 minutes of flying time. Two of 626 aircraft failed to reach the target for quite different reasons. On one the navigator was sick so they returned early and the second was attacked before reaching the target, the bomb doors were damaged and would not open so they were forced to return with their bomb load still on board. They landed safely despite a flat tire[sic] caused by the enemy action. Two other 626 aircraft were damaged by flak as was one of 12 Squadron. Combat with night fighters was reported by 2 of 12 Squadron and 3 of 626 Squadron. There were no losses. 24 [page break] Operation No. 14 Stuttgart We returned from our long haul against Stuttgart in the early morning of July 26th, had a day off on the 27th and were detailed for the same target again on the 28th. Whilst we appreciated the necessity to follow up raids on some targets for a variety of strategic reasons those of us who were called upon to make the trip were not too enthusiastic. You may get away with bearding the lion in his den once but not twice in 3 days so we expected strenuous opposition. The 22 Lancasters from Wickenby were part of a Bomber Command force of 494 Lancasters and 2 Mosquitoes. 626 Squadron's contribution was 10 aircraft. Our route out and back was very similar to three nights ago with Reading the assembly point. Wickenby takeoff commenced at 2115 hours and again we were amongst the first to go taking off at 2120 hours. The weather had changed somewhat since the 25th. Now we encountered strata cumulus on the outward route with 10/10th low cloud with some slight breaks in the target area. The target was marked with long sticks of flares and red TIs were dropped at H-6. P.F.F. then marked the aiming point with green and red TIs. Release point flares with green and yellow stars were also dropped so for the main force the marking for both the Stuttgart raids was very similar. Bombing was well concentrated on the markers but because they were scattered so was the bombing. Three groups of fires and 3 large explosions were seen. Photo recce later reported that many parts of the old city were devastated, the main railway station being damaged. It became apparent to myself and my crew that the further we had to travel to reach a target the more scattered the bombing became, and the less likely we were to achieve good concentration. Thus the importance of keeping on track and keeping on time became imperative. There was moderate flak in the target area but there was intense fighter activity from south west of Paris all the way to and over the target but things were pretty quiet on the way home. Two of 626 Squadron aircraft were damaged, both by fighter attack. One of 12 Squadron and 3 of 626 reported combats, and two of 12 Squadron (F/O Downing and F/O White, and one of 626 Squadron (F/Sgt Ryan) were shot down. Everyone in all 3 aircraft were killed except F/Sgt Ryan's navigator who became a prisoner. It was F/O Downing's 28th operation – two short of completing his tour. The loss rate for Bomber Command was 7.86%, for Wickenby 13.64%, and for 626 Squadron 10%. German records for this night show that F/Sgt Ryan's aircraft was engaged in an air battle with a night fighter flown by Martin Becker which had taken off from Nurenburg. Becker's report shows that the Lancaster 626/Y2 was destroyed with serious burning to the starboard wing. "Parts fell off" reads the radio operator's log book. Only the navigator was saved by parachute. All other crew members were interred in a joint grave at Vachinger and in 1948 re-interred in a special cemetery for allied airmen at Durnbach near Munich. 626/Y2 was one of 4 British aircraft destroyed by Martin Becker that night. He was credited with destroying 58 aircraft during the war. 25 [page break] We flew unmolested back to Wickenby, landed at 0515 hours, debriefed, had some sleep and went home for a few days leave. We did not know until we returned from leave that we had sustained a good sized hole in the starboard tailplane. It was repaired while we were away. We had now completed almost half of our operational tour without any major problem and while we were unscathed through 14 operations between June 22nd and July 28th, our squadron, 626, had lost 7 aircraft as had 12 Squadron. So it averaged out to one Lancaster lost on each operation we had flown. In terms of crews the record shows that 77 crew members were killed and 12 taken prisoner. I must emphasize that this was the casualty figure for the operations on which I personally flew. There were others taking place when my crew was on stand down and I do not have the figures for these. I mentioned earlier that I had taken Mary to Aldbourne while I was flying with the squadron. Just about all of the crew members who had wives and families preferred them to be away from the base. Fighting a war from a base in Britain and getting back to that base after each foray against the enemy was a radical departure from the accepted norm but it was the official opinion of the Air Force and the opinion of the combatants that they preferred their loved ones to be somewhere away where they would not be in day to day contact with what was going on. Can you imagine saying to your wife "Oh by the way dear I shall be late tonight I have to go and bomb Germany". The lady's nerves would be shattered after a week or two of this. When I was at O.T.U. Mary had given me a rag doll which looked rather like a gremlin (those of us who have seen gremlins know what they look like). This one was long and skinny with a green jacket and pants and a pointed cap. It was a good luck charm which I carried with me on every operation suspended over my navigation table. It never let me down. So it was good to head for Aldbourne to see Mary and my family for a few days. Mary was by now about 6 1/2 months pregnant with Keith, our first child, and was in the longing way for sharp tasting fruit. She had already stripped the gooseberries from my mother's bushes and was waiting for apples to ripen a bit. She told me that she and my mother listened to the radio every morning to hear what Bomber Command had been up to the night before and to hear what losses we had sustained, then they waited hoping there would not be a telegram. If they hadn't heard by noon they figured I was still safe. This is certainly not the way to go through a pregnancy and thank goodness it was the only one she had to undergo in this way. My leave was over and I returned to Wickenby on August 6th but not until after a tearful farewell. Mary and my mother did not know if they would ever see me again so it was a poignant departure. I arrived back to typical summer weather for Britain, cloudy with intermittent light rain or showers and occasional sunny periods. 26 [page break] Operation No. 15 Air-sur-Lys On August 8th the weather was fair in the morning and afternoon with a build up of thunderstorms in the evening. I have not yet mentioned the American 8th Air Force who by now had been in Britain for some time and were operating by daylight only. Their tactics were different to ours – where we tried to sneak in under cover of darkness and escape without detection, they flew in huge formations and tried to fight their way in and out. Their bomber aircraft, B17s and B24s primarily, were much more heavily armed than we were but carried a significantly smaller bomb load. During this period of the war we were able to dovetail our operations with theirs with considerable success. They would visit a target by day, and we would repeat the effort by night. On this occasion we were to attack oil storage facilities at Air-sur-Lys in the morning but deferred to the 8th Air Force as they wished to attack the same target. So we were somewhat surprised when we were told that the U.S.A.F. had bombed the wrong target and we were going anyway. Bomber Command detailed a force of 170 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitoes to attack two oil storage targets. Wickenby supplied 25 aircraft, 13 from 12 Squadron and 12 from 626. I mentioned the forecast was for thunderstorms in the evening and as takeoff commenced at 2150 large thunderstorms lay across our intended track east of Lincoln. We climbed through the cumulo nimbus clouds but conditions were very difficult and numerous course alterations were necessary to avoid the worst of the weather. Once clear of the storm we were able to head for Orfordness, the assembly point. We were carrying our usual bomb load for this type of operation, 13,000 lbs of 1,000 and 500 lbs high explosive. After leaving Orfordness weather improved and by the time we reached the target there was no cloud and visibility was moderate to good. Mosquitoes marked the aiming point at H-4 with red TIs. Other pathfinders backed up with green TIs. The reds were scattered but the greens were accurate so crews bombed the greens which resulted in accurate bombing. A large orange explosion at 2334 was followed by a dense column of black smoke indicating a direct hit on an oil storage tank. The glow of fires was visible for 75 miles. Photo recce showed many bombs in the target area; all the building[s] had their roofs stripped and there were hits on the canal wharf and rail tracks. There was some flak and some fighter opposition was experienced. The fighters appeared to be using searchlights as assembly points but the tactic was not very successful. We got back to Wickenby after a relatively short flight of 2 hours 55 minutes. One of 12 Squadron's aircraft was hit by flak and sustained some damage but no casualties. Another of 12 Squadron reported an engagement with a "Fishpond" radar indicator in which the rear gunner fired a burst but no enemy was seen. We suffered our worst problems from the weather. Three aircraft, 2 from 12 and 1 from 626, aborted the operation. One was unable to get out of the Cu Nim and another dropped 12,000 feet in a Cu Nim. Not only are there violent currents and downdraughts in these clouds but also severe icing under certain conditions. The third aircraft to abort had it's starboard outer Constant 27 [page break] Speed Unit (CSU) unserviceable so returned to base. Interestingly enough we had the same problem on our operation No. 11 to Courtrai, but elected to press on. There were no losses on this night and we have now reached the halfway mark of our tour of operations. I wonder if the second half will be any more difficult than the first. Our gunners still have not fired their guns in anger. Let's keep our fingers crossed. On August 9th the weather was not good and we were stood down for the day. 28 [page break] Operation No. 16 Ferme du Forestal On August 10th 15 of Wickenby's Lancasters were detailed, as part of a Bomber Command force of 60 Lancasters and 20 Mosquitoes, against flying bomb sites. Our target was Ferme du Forestal in the Pas de Calais area of Northern France. This was a morning operation with takeoff commencing at 1045 hours. The enroute weather was cloudy, breaking up over the English Channel but thickening again from the French coast. Over the target was a 10/10th layer with a base about 2,000 feet. We carried our normal 13,000 lbs of bombs. The Mosquitoes marked the aiming point with red TIs cascading from 5,000 feet and leaving smoke trails but because of the cloud in the target area we descended from our bombing height of 10,000 to try and get below the cloud layer and bomb visually. Our aircraft was successful in identifying the target and Peter bombed the launching ramp which he could see clearly. We were then supposed to climb back to 10,000 feet for the return journey but chose to continue down to treetop level and return "on the deck". As we flew across fields and houses at rooftop level we could clearly see the local inhabitants waving a friendly greeting though I expect some of them were startled to hear a heavy bomber roar overhead. A short distance from the coast we passed near a military rifle range and as we flew past first Peter from the front turret, then successively Bert Jones and Bill Bursey all fired a few rounds in the general direction of the targets. This was much more fun than stooging back at 10,000 feet. As we approached the coast we were fired upon by the local defenders but they didn't expect to see the enemy approach them from the rear so by the time they had us in their sights we were safely out to sea. We climbed back to 10,000 feet over the channel and returned home, after a flight of 3 hours 35 minutes, as briefed. One of 626 Squadron aircraft aborted the mission as he could not find the target, and one was hit by flak and damaged, but no one was hurt. Bomber Command did not sustain any losses. 29 [page break] Operation No. 17 Falaise On August 12th 626 Squadron participated in two attacks against widely divergent targets, one in support of the invasion forces in northern France and the other against a strategic target, Brunswick, Germany, some 120 miles west of Berlin. I guess we were lucky on this occasion as we were selected with two other crews for the shorter mission to Falaise. We were part of a force of 91 Lancasters, 36 Halifaxes, 12 Stirlings and 5 Mosquitoes detailed for this target. We took off at 2336 hours and climbed towards Reading on a clear summer night with no cloud. From Reading we headed to Selsey Bill on the English south coast (a place I used to visit as a child on Sunday school outings from Aldbourne) thence across the channel to the target. As we approached the French coast the cloud thickened until over the target it was 10/10th with tops about 8 – 10,000 feet. The target marking was by flares and red TIs backed up by green TIs. They were plentiful and accurate and in spite of the cloud layer we were able to bomb accurately laying our 13,000 lbs of HE across the target. The bombing was well concentrated and extensive damage was done. The German army used Falaise as a hardened position from which they were determined not to fall back, so the allies were left with no alternative but to attack it. There was some flak, both heavy and light, and some fighter activity in the target area, but the Bomber Command loss rate was nil. We returned back to Wickenby via Reading and landed safely after a trip of just over 3 hours. In the meantime 22 Lancasters, 11 each from 12 Squadron, and 626 Squadron, were detailed as part of a force of 242 Lancasters and 137 Halifaxes against Brunswick. They commenced their takeoff at 2116 hours so we were able to watch them go before we departed ourselves. They experienced clear weather until 50 miles from the target when it clouded over to 10/10th in the target area. They carried a bomb load of 1 x 2,000 lbs and 12 clusters of incendiaries, the typical bomb load for strategic targets. There was no marking carried out on this target so crews bombed using their H2S equipment. H2S shows a differentiation between land and water, but it was much more difficult to differentiate between land and built up areas so bombing was not concentrated and not very effective though scattered damage was seen with hits on the power station and gas works. Both light and heavy flak were experienced and there was considerable fighter activity particularly from the target back to the North Sea. One 626 aircraft reported several combats but no damage. One 12 Squadron aircraft (F/O Hancox) was shot down and all on board, except the wireless operator and mid upper gunner were killed, and one 626 Squadron (F/O Bennett) was attacked by a fighter and set on fire. The crew bailed out and 4 were taken prisoner. The wireless operator, mid upper gunner and rear gunner were all killed. Wickenby's loss rate was 9.09% while that of Bomber Command was 7.12%. 30 [page break] Operation No. 18 Falaise By August 14th the allied armies had managed to push forward on both sides of Falaise and had effectively trapped a very large force of the enemy in a pocket extending from Falaise to Posigny. To save allied lives on the ground we were asked to bomb them into surrender. So 16 Lancasters from Wickenby were part of a force of 411 Lancasters, 352 Halifaxes, and 42 Mosquitoes detailed against this target, which would be our last operation in direct support of the invasion armies. 626 Squadron's contribution was 10 aircraft. We took off at 1207 carrying a bomb load of 13,000 lbs high explosive and climbed towards Reading, our assembly point, then south to the coast and across the channel. We did not climb to our normal height but levelled out at 7,000 feet as we were briefed to choose our own bombing height depending on weather in the target area. We flew above a cloud layer until we reached the English coast then the cloud thinned as we crossed the channel and the target area was clear. With some 800 aircraft all heading in the same direction it seemed the sky was full, a huge gaggle stretching from the French coast all the way back to the English coast. Fighter aircraft from 11 Group provided cover and could be seen above us. As we approached the target, and wishing to bomb as accurately as possible, we reduced height to 3,000 feet. We knew that our own troops were within 2,000 years of the aiming point which was marked with green TIs, but which quickly became obscured by smoke. There was considerable fire from the ground as the enemy fought back. Peter released the bombs and we turned away to clear the target area for those behind and as we did so the aircraft received a sudden violent pounding. We had been hit but at this point did not know with what or by whom. Then Bill Bursey's voice from the rear turret, "Skipper I've been hit, and I'm bleeding". The aircraft was still flying so we knew it had not sustained fatal damage. Peter Graves, having dropped his bombs was now free to assist Bill and went to the back of the aircraft. As he made his way he reported flak damage all the way to the rear turret. By now Bert Jones had left the mid upper turret to assist and between them they got Bill out of his turret and forward to the rest bed where they lay him down and administered morphine from the first aid kit carried on all aircraft. Peter then applied field dressings to Bill's wounds and made him as comfortable as possible. The important thing now was to get Bill to a hospital as soon as possible so Hicky and I discussed our options. We elected to go for Boscombe Down which we knew could handle a Lancaster and was close to a major hospital in Salisbury (I knew the area well as Mary and I had been stationed at Old Sarum, next door, some 3 years before). I calculated a course for Boscombe Down and we were on our way. Over the channel Hicky wanted to check that the aircraft would not do any unusual manoeuvres when placed in the landing configuration so we climbed above a suitable patch of cloud and he and Stan King carried out a practice approach on the cloud including reducing power and speed, lowering the undercarriage, applying full flap and stalling on to the cloud patch as though landing on it. Satisfied that all systems were O.K. we continued to Boscombe Down. We called Boscombe on the emergency frequency and were given permission to land our 31 [page break] wounded rear gunner. We were met by an ambulance, doctor and medical team. Bill was removed from the rest bed and transferred by ambulance to the American General Hospital, Salisbury. We had the aircraft checked by the engineering and technical people at Boscombe to make sure we could take it off again, took a look at all the shrapnel [sic] holes, climbed aboard and headed back to Wickenby, arriving in time for supper. We were the only Wickenby aircraft to sustain damage but 12 Squadron had one aircraft abort the mission. It was forced to abandon over the target when the electrical supply to the bomb release mechanism failed. He brought his bombs back. Photo recce assessed that every street in Falaise was blocked by craters or rubble and whole sections of the town were completely devastated. The German troops surrendered shortly after their bombardment. We later discovered that Bill Bursey had received a gunshot wound to the right leg and a shrapnel wound to the right thigh with a fractured femur. The Americans came round the hospital next day and offered him a "Purple Heart" for shedding blood against the enemy. Bill declined with thanks. He did not return to the squadron and never flew with us again. The next day we were joined by Sgt. Stott, his replacement, who was also a sole survivor from another crew. So now out of the seven crew members, 3 of us were sole survivors, Saletto, Stott and I. 32 [page break] Operation No. 19 Stettin On the night of August 16th 461 Lancasters of Bomber Command were detailed against Stettin. Wickenby's contribution was 24 aircraft shared equally between the two squadrons. Stettin was a major city on the Baltic and some 120 miles north east of Berlin. It is now part of Poland. It was a long, long way from Wickenby and entailed a crossing of the North Sea from Mablethorpe to a point near the Danish coast at 5600N 0800E then due east across Denmark to Longitude 1045E, then south east across the Kattegat, the Danish island passing west of Copenhagen, and the Baltic Sea to the target. Much of the time we expected to be under enemy attack as Denmark had been occupied by German troops for some time. We took off at 2041 hours carrying 1 x 2,000 lb and 12 incendiary clusters, rendezvoused at Mablethorpe and headed across the North Sea climbing as high as we could get with a full fuel and bomb load. The weather enroute was clear across the North Sea and Denmark building up to 10/10th cloud with tops at 17,000 feet over Germany but cleared just short of the target which was free of cloud. Our outward trip was long but relatively uneventful. On these long North Sea crossings I always attempted to get as many accurate GEE fixes as possible prior to losing it to the enemy jamming. It was very important to get an appreciation of the wind, to compare it to that forecast and to calculate a correction to be applied to courses and speeds once we were out of range of GEE. So I always attempted to get a fix and calculate the wind every 6 minutes. This gave me a good understanding of what was happening with regard to the weather, which always stood us in good stead when I had to navigate on DR (Dead Reckoning) as we became further away from England. There was light to moderate flak at isolated points on route and some fighter activity. Because there were good coastline responses on the H2S I was able to navigate without difficulty to the target. Flares and green TIs were dropped at H-6 and P.F.F. marked the aiming point with mixed red and green salvoes backed by red TIs. There were so many markers and decoys operated by the enemy that Peter had difficulty identifying which one he should bomb. In the confusion of aircraft, flak, tracer fire and target markers we overshot and rather than bomb the wrong target went round again. With everyone keeping a sharp eye out for other aircraft in our vicinity Hicky closed the bomb doors and made a gentle turn to the left and eventually a complete 360 degree turn and we came over the target a second time. This time Peter selected the proper target marker and the bombs were duly released. We were all glad to leave the target area. Going across the target and being shot at once is dangerous enough but twice? Phew!! We left the area with relief and headed north west to cross Denmark then south west across the North Sea back home. There was some flak and isolated fighter activity on the way home but Wickenby did not sustain any losses. However, 2 of 12 Squadron reported combat where the gunners fired but were not fired upon and 3 aircraft, 2 from 12, and 1 from 626 were hit by flak. There were no casualties. Bomber Command losses were 5 aircraft – 1.08%. The attack was considered successful with fires in the centre and south east of the city though considerable bombing was attracted by the decoys or wrong marking. Photo recce 33 [page break] showed severe damage to shipbuilders Oderwerke A.G., sugar refinery and naval fitting out yard. Also a large area of devastation in the town centre. This operation took us 8 1/2 hours from takeoff to landing back at Wickenby and the crew becomes very tired particularly on a long stooge home across the sea. Once clear of the Danish coast we are reasonably safe from enemy attack so Hicky put the aircraft on auto pilot and everyone relaxes. I am sure there were periods when I was the only one awake and the only reason for this was that it was my job to get us back home. 34 [page break] Operation No. 20 Russeheim [sic] On August 25th a force of 412 Lancasters were ordered against the Opel Works at Russelheim [sic]. Among them were 18 aircraft from each of Wickenby's two squadrons: a maximum effort. On July 25th and 28th we had paid visits to Stuttgart which together with Russelheim, Frankfurt, Mannheim and Karlsruhe form a heavily defended portion of southern Germany. Our trip to Stuttgrat [sic] on July 28th had not been a happy one for Wickenby aircraft so we approached Russelheim with some trepidation. We carried a full fuel load of 2,154 gallons and a bomb load of 1 x 4,000 lb (Cookie) and 12 clusters of 4lb incendiaries. Our route was quite similar to that used previously for this area. Reading was the assembly point then south across the channel to a point S.W. of Paris, then east north east in a series of zig zags to the target. The weather was good all the way and the target area was clear with slight haze. Takeoff commenced at 1957 hours. The target was well marked following sticks of flares dropped at H-7. The aiming point was then marked with mixed red and green TIs and backed up by red TIs. The bombing was well concentrated and the fires could be seen for 150 miles. Photo recce showed severe damage to the plant with all the major units hit, including assembly shops, research labs, drop forge, machine shop and aircraft engine shop. The target area was, as expected, well defended with intense heavy flak and very active fighters which made contact with the bomber stream in the target area and well into the return journey. One of 12 Squadron aborted the mission with a sick navigator. Seven of 12 Squadron's aircraft reported combat with night fighters and one was so badly damaged that it crash landed on return and was written off. The only casualty in this aircraft was the navigator who suffered superficial wounds. One other 12 Squadron aircraft was hit by flak. One 626 Squadron aircraft suffered damage caused, it was believed, by an unusual incident. Shortly after bombing the aircraft was thrown out of control by a nearby explosion. All four engines cut but the pilot and engineer managed to get them restarted and flew home safely. It is believed the explosion was another aircraft blowing up. It is interesting that while 7 of 12 Squadron reported combat none of 626 did. However, 626 did lose two aircraft. F/O Harris who, together with 3 members of his crew were taken prisoner, the other 3 were killed and F/O Whetton who was killed together with all of his crew except the bomb aimer who was taken prisoner. The Bomber Command loss rate for this operation was 3.64%, that for Wickenby 5.56%, while that for 626 Squadron, 11.1%. 35 [page break] [map] [underlined] RUSSELHEIM. [/underlined] [underlined] 25/26 AUGUST 1944. [/underlined] [page break] Operation No. 21 Stettin We had visited Stettin on August 16th and had been briefed several times between the 16th and 29th but weather had forced cancellations. So here we are on August 29th poised to go once again. The crews involved were concerned that our intentions may already have been communicated to the enemy and the element of surprise lost. So we expected a difficult time. The total force consisted of 402 Lancasters and one Mosquito. For Wickenby the contribution was 31 aircraft. For 626 Squadron it was again a maximum effort of 18 aircraft. We were of course carrying a maximum fuel load of 2,154 gallons and our bomb load on this occasion was a total of 8,440 lbs - 1 x 4,000 lb H.E., 660 x 4 lb incendiaries and 60 x 30 lb incendiaries. If you add in 7 men, thousands of rounds of ammunition and the various other stores we carried such as bundles of "window" we were very close to our maximum takeoff weight of 72,000 lbs. Window was the code name for specially designed metal strips which, when dropped from an aircraft, gave a similar radar response to the aircraft itself. We dropped them by the thousands when in an area of high enemy defensive activity to confuse the defenses. We were among the first to takeoff and on this occasion were followed down the runway by F/O "Lofty" Lofthouse whose crew shared our Nissen hut. As we left the ground and climbed away Lofty was moving along the runway when his feet slipped on the rudder pedal and he "ground looped" the aircraft. A ground loop is a rotation in the horizontal plane and inevitably tears off the undercarriage as it did on this occasion, the story was that Lofty required wooden blocks attached to the rudder pedals to reach them properly and his feet had slipped while pumping the pedals to keep the aircraft straight under full power. Sgt. Stott from his observation point in our rear turret looked right down on this incident and yelled to warn us all. In the few seconds it took for the rest of us to have a look every door and hatch on Lofty's aircraft had opened and seven bodies were running in every direction. Fortunately for everyone his bombs did not explode. Had they done so not only would his crew have been killed but we would have been blown out of the sky as we were very close. A fully laden aircraft now lay in the centre of the runway so it could no longer be used. We were O.K. as we were already airborne but there was a delay on the ground while the whole matter was sorted out, the runway changed and the departure of the rest of the force reorganized. I have spoken recently with Ernie Peressini, the bomb aimer in Lofty's crew, who now lives in Victoria, and he remembers the incident vividly even after 50 years. We rendezvoused at Mablethorpe and set course north east across the North Sea but remained below a layer of cloud with tops at 5,000 feet to stay below the enemy's radar warning system. We were routed further north than on our last visit to Stettin passing over northern Denmark before heading south east towards the target. We were so far north that to get to the target we had to fly over Sweden which was a neutral country. This was deliberate and we were briefed to head for Sweden if we were unable to get home for any reason. Better to land in a neutral country than to be taken prisoner of war. We stayed low across the sea until approaching the Danish coast then climbed to our operational altitude and remained there until near the target. Below us were layers of thin cloud with tops at 17,000 feet. 37 [page break] The target marking was punctual and accurate. At H-7 the target was illuminated by long sticks of flares followed by red and green TIs on the aiming point. We experienced some light flak over Denmark but the serious problem on this night was fighters. The main force was plotted over the Danish coast and interceptions commenced immediately and continued to the target with a few on the return from the target. There was heavy flak in the target area, some bursts being so large they could only have come from high calibre naval guns. Searchlights were also very active. As we were approaching above the clouds in moonlight it was not difficult to see or be seen. As we neared the target the Master Bomber called us down below the cloud layer which was between about 12 and 14,000 feet. We let down and bombed at 12,000 feet. The results of the bombing were good because we could see the markers as visibility was clear below the cloud layer. As well as high explosive we were all carrying large quantities of incendiaries and very soon fierce fires were burning with smoke almost to our bombing altitude. P.R.U. reported that buildings in Stettiner Oderwerke Shipbuilding A.G. were gutted, Labelsdorf Bahnhof Gasworks destroyed, telegraph office and five factories severely damaged. Three merchant vessels were sunk in the port. We turned north west after bombing to head back to northern Denmark before returning across the North Sea. The fighter activity decreased as we left the target largely because a well timed force of Mosquitoes attacked Berlin and this drew them away from us. Letting down in the target area involves risks which are not normally there when all aircraft fly over at their predetermined altitude. In this case we were below someone else who did not reduce as low as we and released his bombs while above us. The consequence was that we were hit in the port wing by an incendiary bomb dropped from above. Fortunately for us it smashed right through the wing without damaging vital controls or control surfaces and did not set us on fire. We were very fortunate. Two of Wickenby's aircraft aborted this operation. I have already mentioned F/O Lofthouse. The second abort was a 12 Squadron aircraft which started out but the wireless operator lost his nerve after setting course so the crew returned. Incidents of nerve failure on the part of crew members were not very frequent, fortunately, but I am sure there were times when we all felt like this poor wireless operator. I think what prevented more of it was the fact that everyone felt an overwhelming loyalty to their crew and would not do anything to let the crew down. On the rare occasion when it did happen the victim left the squadron immediately and was posted to a unit on the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames estuary, east of London for disposal. The R.A.F. used the term L.M.F., Lack of Moral Fibre, to describe these unfortunate souls and their hasty removal from the squadron was to ensure that their inability to cope did not spread. After all, we were all living on the edge wondering each time whether we would return. Four of 626 Squadron crews reported combat with night fighters, two on the outward trip, one over the target and one on the return. Five of our aircraft sustained damage, including ours, being holed in the port wing, but others were more severe and one had to land at Dunholme Lodge being unable to get back to Wickenby. 38 [page break] One of 12 Squadron (F/O Spurrs) was shot down over the target. Everyone who managed to bail out was taken prisoner but the two gunners were killed. One of 626 Squadron (F/O Hawkes) was attacked over the Kattegat on the way towards the target and he was able to maintain control only long enough to allow the crew to bail out, but they were close enough to Sweden that they all landed there and were interned. They were carrying a second pilot along for experience so there were 8 instead of the usual 7 aboard. The advice to head for Sweden if possible was sound. F/O Hawkes later reported "On September 1st we were taken to Falun and kept for 2 days in an interment [sic] camp. On September 3rd we were billeted in the Solliden Pensionat Hotel, where we stayed until October 24th. On that day we were taken to Stockholm and stayed at the Continental Hotel until October 27th when we were sent by air to the U.K." On August 31st, 2 days after they were shot down, the squadron received the news that they were safe. We left the target area and headed north west passing over Malmo, Sweden which, being neutral, was well lit. We climbed across the Baltic to 20,000 feet as we still had to cross Denmark which was defended. We were glad we did as the squadron aircraft which was attacked by a night fighter in this area was flying at only 14,000 feet. We successfully negotiated our crossing of Denmark and proceeded out to sea before commencing a gradual let down towards the English coast. At 10,000 feet we took off our oxygen masks and breathed normally for the first time for several hours. Hicky, as was his wont, lit his pipe and the rest of us in the cabin enjoyed a cigarette. We came back into GEE range so I was able to fix our position accurately and get us safely home. We landed at Wickenby without further incident having been airborne 9 hours 35 minutes which turned out to be the longest of our 30 operations. Wickenby loss rate was 6.45% while that of Bomber Command was 5.71%. 626 Squadron's loss rate was 5.55%, one out of the 18 which were detailed to go, or 5.88% one out of the 17 which actually went, but in this particular incident the crew, having landed safely in Sweden, were all returned to the squadron. 39 [page break] [map] [underlined] STETTIN. [/underlined] [underlined] 29/30 AUGUST 1944. [/underlined] [page break] Operation No. 22 St. Requier We had not arrived back from Stettin until the early morning of August 30th (about 0630) so by the time we had debriefed, had a meal and got to bed the sun was high in the sky. We did not fly again that day but on the following day August 31st we carried out another attack against a V2 rocket store at St. Requier. Twenty Lancasters from Wickenby were detailed as part of a Bomber Command force of 418 Lancasters, 147 Halifaxes and 36 Mosquitoes raiding 9 rocket storage sites. There were 10 from each squadron. St. Requier was the most southerly of the Pas de Calais targets. We took off at 1325 hours carrying 15,000 lbs of H.E. (13 x 1,000 and 4 x 500 lb) and climbed towards Reading our assembly point, climbing through a cloud layer with tops at 17,000 feet. We encountered severe icing as we passed through the clouds. Ice builds up on leading edges of aerofoils and on the propellers. Leading edges were always de-iced if we knew we would be experiencing icing, to try and prevent build up reaching dangerous proportions. It was always reassuring to know that it was not building up on the propellers when you could hear the chunks of ice hitting the side of the fuselage as it flew off. Disconcerting at first, but reassuring as one got used to it. We cleared the tops and flew towards the target at 18,000 feet. The cloud formation changed to broken as we crossed the channel and approached the target. The aiming point was marked by red TIs which were backed up with green and yellow throughout the attack. The marking was scattered consequently the bombing was not concentrated and some bombs fell between the target and the village. There was only light flak near Abbeville and little was experienced in the target area so there was really no excuse for not pressing home the attack. Two of Wickenby's aircraft aborted this operation both under rather unusual circumstances. One of 12 Squadron was instructed to abandon by the Master Bomber and one of 626 found the target covered by cloud. I would think that both probably arrived late. In spite of there not being a heavy concentration of flak what there was was predicted with great accuracy and no less than 5 of Wickenby's aircraft were hit by it, some with serious results. Two of 12 Squadron were hit, one so severely that he crash landed at Woodbridge. The pilot and second pilot received shrapnel wounds to the right leg, the bomb aimer had a shattered left foot and wounds to the right foot and the flight engineer had shrapnel wounds to the right ankle and left wrist. All of these crew members were at the front of the aircraft so the exploding flak was very close to the front. In crash landing at Woodbridge they went to an airfield which was specially equipped to handle such emergencies. The R.A.F. had equipped several airfields very close to the east coast for such eventualities - Manston, Woodbridge and Manby amongst them. They were equipped with long, wide runways, foam, special lighting to disperse fog, heavy equipment to move crashed aircraft quickly out of the way and of course, emergency medical facilities. Three of 626 Squadron were also hit by flak. One had no casualties but one was damaged so that he was forced to feather both inboard engines and jettison his bombs. He made an 41 [page break] emergency landing at Manston. The third (F/O Oram) suffered perspex wounds to the face and his flight engineer shrapnel wounds to the left leg. This is the same F/O Oram who on July 6th was hit and, with his crew, had to abandon his aircraft over the channel with the loss of his gunners. We flew unmolested back to Wickenby and landed safely after a trip of 3 1/4 hours. The Bomber Command loss rate was 1%. All of Wickenby's aircraft got back to England but not to Wickenby so officially we had losses. And so passed the month of August 1944. We had flown 8 operations since returning from leave and been briefed for several others which were cancelled for one reason or another. Of the 8, five were by night, 3 of which were long flights into Germany (2 to Stettin). We had sustained damaged to our aircraft on two occasions and had lost rear gunner Bill Bursey to injury. 42 [page break] Operation No. 23 Le Havre The allied armies had advanced south and spread outward from their initial bridgehead and it was now time to head eastward along the coastal areas and towards Paris. A deep water port was needed and the obvious one was Le Havre so on September 6th a force of 311 Lancasters, 30 Mosquitoes and 3 Stirlings was detailed against the German fortifications at Le Havre. This was the same Le Havre that had opened up on us when we were all alone on July 4th. Wickenby's contribution was 21 Lancasters of which 626 provided 11. The weather was mainly cloudy with showers and thunder all day so it was decided to go in the evening but even then there was no improvement. Takeoff commenced at 1656 hours and we followed a route pretty well due south taking us east of London to the target area. Our bomb load was 15,000 lbs H.E. We experienced 10/10th cloud all the way to the target and in the target area the base was at 7,000 feet with heavy rain. The target marking commenced with green TIs at H-5 backed up with red TIs bursting at 4,000 feet and cascading leaving white smoke trails. Though we were above cloud these TIs burned with such intensity they could be seen and we had the added advantage of H2S. I was able to pinpoint the target and confirm for Peter that he was running up on the correct aiming point. There was some heavy flak in the target area but it was not severe. The bombing was accurate, a large explosion at 1927 hours was followed by flames and black smoke – probably a fuel storage. One of 626 Squadron aborted on instructions from the Master Bomber. Bomber Command sustained no losses on this operation and Wickenby aircraft all returned without damage. We landed back at Wickenby after a flight of 3 1/2 hours. 43 [page break] Operation No. 24 Le Havre On September 10th we were called upon to make a repeat visit to Le Havre to attack strong points which had survived the attack of September 6th. Bomber Command dispatched a force of 521 Lancasters, 426 Halifaxes and 45 Mosquitoes of which 33 Lancasters were from Wickenby. 626's contribution was 17 aircraft of a total force of nearly 1,000 attacking various targets. Takeoff commenced at 1643 hours and we climbed on a southerly heading through broken cumulus cloud with tops about 10,000 feet. Above the cloud the sky was clear all the way to the target area with good visibility. We again carried 15,000 lb of H.E. The marking was similar to our attack of September 6th with green TIs and H-5 followed by red TIs bursting at 4,000 feet leaving trails of white smoke. However, on this occasion as the visibility was good the bomb aimers were able to see the aiming point and the bombing was concentrated in this area. Near misses were reported on 6 gun batteries, close enough to incapacitate them, and damage to business property. There was no opposition and no losses or casualties were sustained. We arrived back at Wickenby after just under 4 hours of flying time. The army captured Le Havre shortly after. 44 [page break] Operation No. 25 Frankfurt I mentioned earlier there were a number of German cities in the southern part of the state which were considered good strategic targets. On September 12th we were detailed for another attack on Stuttgart which was changed at 1345 hours to Frankfurt. Wickenby's contribution to a force of 378 Lancasters and 9 Mosquitoes was 34 Lancasters, of which 626 Squadron supplied 15. We must have had an influx of new crews because no less than 7 of the 15 carried second pilots along for experience before going with their own crews. Our second pilot was F/O Hollowell. The bomb load for this operation was 1 x 4,000 lb., 14 x 4 clusters and 120 x 4 lb incendiaries. The fuel load was 1,900 gallons, not quite full tanks. We took off at 1808 hrs. Our route was fairly typical for an operation to this area. We headed for Reading, then south to cross the coast at Beachy Head. We then proceeded [sic] to 48°N 05°E passing north of Paris then north east towards the target. After bombing we turned west, crossed the French coast near Calais and home via Orfordness. The weather en route was clear all the way and the target was also clear with some slight haze. Because we would be flying over friendly territory for much of the outward leg we were allowed to fly at low level and climb to our bombing height prior to reaching the target area. On the leg north of Paris another aircraft flying close to us flicked his navigation light on and off a couple of times. Bert Jones reported this from his mid upper turret and while we were considering the significance Stan King said "My God, we've got our nav lights on". They were promptly switched off. Our thanks went out to our unknown benefactor. It's not advisable to assist the enemy by lighting up your location. When we reached the target we found that the Pathfinder Force had dropped long sticks of flares at H-7. The aiming point was then marked with mixed salvoes of red and green TIs and kept marked with red TIs. Crews were able to identify the target by the light of the flares. Most target markers were just south of the marshalling yards. The bombing was concentrated though tended to spread a little to the west. Smoke rose to some 5,000 feet and the fires were visible for 100 miles. Photo recce showed that large areas of the city were severely damaged. The main railway station was half destroyed with damage to workshops and engine sheds. Twelve factories, the gas works and power station were also damaged. Some light flak and moderate heavy flak was experienced up to about 18,000 feet but we managed to get above it. Numerous searchlights were coning, believed to be cooperating with night fighters which were active inward, over the target and outward. One of 626 Squadron was coned over Mannheim, extensively damaged by heavy flak and landed at Woodbridge at the emergency airfield there. Two of 12 Squadron were attacked and damaged by night fighters. The mid upper gunner of one received gunshot wounds to both legs. One of 626 Squadron (F/O Thorpe) was attacked by a night fighter and destroyed. Thorpe, his wireless operator and mid upper gunner were taken prisoner, all other crew members 45 [page break] including the second pilot, who was along for experience, were killed. It was his first and only operation. His crew were returned to the Lancaster Finishing School to crew with another pilot. We arrived back at Wickenby after flying for 7 hours 55 minutes. F/O Hollowell thanked us for the experience and went on to complete a tour with his own crew. The Bomber Command loss rate was 4.39%, that of Wickenby 2.94% and 626 Squadron 6.66% 46 [page break] FRANKFURT 12-9-44 626 SQUADRON A/C (a) Captain - 2nd PIL. (b) Nav. - W/Op (c) B/A - F/E (d) MuG - R/G JB661 C2 (a) F/O G.A. Price - P/O R. McAinsh (b) Sgt. F.B. Beaton - Sgt. B. Walley (c) F/S T.H. Lightfoot - Sgt. S.A. Frew (d) Sgt. V.A. Lane - Sgt. J. Lee LM113F2 (a) F/O T.H. Ford (b) F/S J.M. Jackson - W/O H.A.S. Tween (c) F/S J.C. Payne - Sgt. R.A. Wood (d) Sgt. J.C. Moore - Sgt. P.L. Potter PD295 B2 (a) F/O G. Lofthouse (b) P/O R.C. McMillan - F/S A.V. Bettney (c) W/O E. Peressini - Sgt. K.W.T. Adams (d) F/S R.W. Smith - F/S F.C. Child LM141 D2 (a) F/O D.S. Nelson (b) F/O T.R. Murray - P/O R.J. Lacey (c) F/O V.H. Halstead - Sgt. O. Old (d) Sgt. A.M. Walker - Sgt. C.C. Merriman PB412 Z2 (a) F/O W.J. Cook (b) F/S H. Sulz - Sgt. L.A. Rolfe (c) F/S K.C. McCormick - Sgt. D.W. Garside (d) Sgt. A.H. Jones - F/S E. Smith PA990 R2 (a) F/O G.A. Green - F/O R.J. Tierney (b) F/S W.A. Stephens - F/S W.A. Dickson (c) F/O K.E.F. Taylor - Sgt. O.F. Farley (d) Sgt. W. Norman - F/S G.C. Newton ND163 T2 (a) F/O R.A. Collens - P/O L.A. Titmuss (b) F/Lt. J.H. Leuty - Sgt. K.T. Rainbird (c) F/S W.E. Birch - Sgt. H.S. Merry (d) Sgt. E.W. Roberts - Sgt. H. Davy PB411 Y2 (a) F/O H. Winder - Sgt. R.C. Yule (b) P/O J.J. McDevitt - Sgt. A.W. Reid (c) F/S M. Parker - Sgt. H.S.G. Rich (d) Sgt. R.A. Albone - P/O W.G. Green LL959 A2 (a) F/Lt. A.C. Hicks - F/O R.A. Hollowell (b) F/S K.J. Brind - F/S J. Saletto (c) F/O P.M. Graves - Sgt. S.G. King (d) Sgt. A.B. Jones - Sgt. D. Stott PD287 U2 (a) F/O J.Y.N. Walbank - F/O R.M.Smith (b) F/S L.A. Sparrow - F/S J.M. Dewar (c) F/S R.N. Purves - Sgt. E. Shepherd (d) F/S G. Derrington - F/S J.C. Harris LM137 G2 (a) F/O D.R.B. Thorpe - F/O G.T. Bolderstn (b) F/S A.C.L. Cox - Sgt. J. Peart (c) F/S S.E. Dunnett - Sgt. F.C. Foster (d) F/S R.H. Cross - F/S L.F. Beattie NF907 K2 (a) F/O E. Fitzsimmons (b) F/S G.E. Dunsford - Sgt. C. Summers (c) F/S J.V. Gray - Sgt. D.W. Richards (d) Sgt. D. De Silva - F/O G.A. Pearce LM689 N2 (a) F/O R.G. Harvey (b) Sgt. S.J. Partridge - Sgt. J.L. Nuttall (c) F/O R. Kelly - Sgt. R. Heys (d) Sgt. J.K. Hogan - Sgt. G.T. McMasters PD 286 02 (a) F/O J.C. Campbell (b) F/O R. Cluston - F/S R.C. Champagne (c) F/S W.F. Palmer - Sgt. J. Akhurst (d) Sgt. J.G. Reynolds - Sgt. A.D. Winser LL961 S2 (a) F/O E.W. Parker (b) Sgt. E. Arrowsmith - F/S J.D. McPherson (c) Sgt. J. Tordoff - Sgt. R.H. Westrop (d) Sgt. W.J. Standen - Sgt. G. Hopkins AIR 27-2146 PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE With the weather fair to fine, 378 Lancasters carried out the last major attack on Frankfurt of the war. 12 Squadron dispatched 19 aircraft and all returned safely. 626 Squadron detailed 16 aircraft but F/O Jones failed to take off. On return, F/O Collens landed at Woodbridge with flak damage. LM137 UM-G2, F/O Thorpe failed to return. F/O D.R.B. Thorpe. PIL. F/O G.T. Balderstone RCAF 2nd PIL. Killed. P/O A.C.L. Cox NAV. Killed. Sgt. J. Paert. [sic] W/T F/Sgt. S.E. Dunnett B/A. Killed. Sgt. F.C. Foster F/E. Killed. F/Sgt. R.H. Cross. MuG F/Sgt. L.F. Beattie R/G. Killed. [page break] Operation No. 26 Rheine-Hopsten The allied armies had by now broken out from their original bridgehead and pushed north west through Belgium into Holland, and a strategy was conceived for a massive airborne landing using gliders and paratroops in the Arnhem area to create a bridgehead across the Rhine River and ultimately link up with the forward moving army. On September 16th our job was to neutralize German held airfields in the area to minimize the opposition to our landings the next day. Different squadrons and different bases were allocated to specific targets. This was a pinpoint precision attack rather than area bombing. Wickenby's target was the airfield at Rheine-Hopsten, other squadrons were given other targets. Thirty one Lancasters, 19 from 12 Squadron, and 12 from 626 were detailed for this attack. Because of the nature of the target, buildings, runways, etc. we carried 10,000 lbs of H.E., in the form of 20 x 500 lb bombs. This was a night attack and we took off at 2200 hours climbing to Mablethorpe, then across the North Sea to a point on the Dutch coast just north of The Hague and so to the target. The weather en route was good with small amounts of cloud and the target area was clear with slight ground haze. The target marking was carried out by "Oboe" equipped Mosquitoes. Oboe was a modification of the GEE navigation system used for precision bombing and marking. As the allied armies moved across Europe they overran some of the Jamming stations so we were able to use our navigation aids further east. On this night I was able to get accurate GEE fixes all the way to the target. So as we approached the target and I advised the crew we were there the target markers appeared before us. They consisted of red TIs. We had already opened the bomb doors and Peter had fused the bombs so release was a simple matter. We experienced a small amount of light flak in the target area and night fighters were active but we did not engage in any night fighter activity. The night was very dark so visual assessment of the attack was not possible but photo recce showed that the airfield sustained considerable damage. At least 75 craters were created including 45 on the main runway and 3 on the secondary with 13 on the taxi way. The airfield was out of commission for 48 hours which was the object of our exercise. The glider troops landed at Arnhem the next day but their effort (and ours) was for nought as they were never able to link up with the main army, became over extended, and were either captured or killed. A costly mistake, it was made into a very successful film, called "A Bridge Too Far" after the war. Two of 12 Squadron reported combat with night fighters but no damage and no casualties were sustained by Wickenby aircraft on this night. Nor indeed did Bomber Command lose any aircraft. We arrived back at Wickenby and landed after a flight of almost 4 hours. F/O Hollowell completed his first operation with his own crew on this night. 48 [page break] We were now into our last 5 operations. The conventional wisdom among Bomber Command crews was that if you weren't shot down during your first 5 missions, when you were inexperienced, you would be during your last 5 when you became over confident. We hoped our last few would be against lightly defended targets. Some hope, as it turned out. 49 [page break] Operation No. 27 Calais The allied armies had now fanned out across Europe but had bypassed a number of strong points along the French and Belgian coasts where the opposition was very stiff. One such strong point was Calais and the area surrounding the city which was our target on September 20th. This was an operation which had previously been planned for the 21st but was brought forward to the 20th. The Bomber Command force consisted of 437 Lancasters, 169 Halifaxes and 40 Mosquitoes. Wickenby's contribution was 39 Lancasters of which 626 Squadron provided 20. We assembled at a point east of London and headed straight for the target in the afternoon, but conditions were very cloudy with poor visibility which improved a little as we crossed the channel. In the target area there were thin layers of stratus with tops about 4,000 feet. We carried 15,000 lbs of 1,000 and 500 lb H.E. Target marking was by green TIs from H-5 and H-3 then red TIs bursting at 2,000 feet leaving a trail of white smoke. The Master Bomber called us down to 3,000 feet and we bombed from there against the TIs which were accurately placed on the aiming point. Our own troops were only some 2.000 yards away so accurate bombing was mandatory, and as there was no real opposition not too difficult. One interesting aspect of this operation was revealed by photo recce - a gun casement which received several direct hits only suffered shallow depressions in it's roof. Reinforced concrete several feet thick required much more than 1,000 lb bombs to do any real damage. There was no damage to any of Wickenby's aircraft but we did have great difficulty getting back on the ground when we arrived home, as the weather had deteriorated significantly while we were away. We landed at 1750 hours after almost 4 hours flying. Comber Command loss rate was 0.15% - one aircraft. It was now some seven weeks since we had leave and the rule of thumb was every six weeks or so, so off we went for a few days vacation. Aldbourne looked about the same as it always did but Mary had increased her measurements somewhat. She was now about 3 weeks away from her due date and was pretty uncomfortable. Stan King was getting engaged on this leave and had invited us to attend the party at his parents home on the outskirts of London. My mother did not want us to go as she was worried Mary might give birth on the train or in a London taxi or somewhere. However, being young and impetuous we decided to take the chance, so off we went to London. We were to stay at the King home by invitation of Stan's parents but when the party was in full swing the air raid sirens went off and we all trooped to the air raid shelter in the basement of their home, and there we stayed. It was ironic that in spite of the raids the R.A.F. and U.S.A.F. had carried out against the V1 and V2 launching sites the Germans were still able, as late as September 1944, to submit London to harassing air raids. As a result of their efforts we never did get to bed and the next day took the train back to Hungerford and the bus to Aldbourne. The few days went all too quickly but now we only had 3 more operations to complete and I felt very confident of success. 50 [page break] Operation No. 28 Westkapelle At the beginning of October there was some uncertainty about who should be going where. For example – on October 1st 40 aircraft were to standby for a tactical target in Northern France. At 1415 the squadrons were stood down. Then at 1730 they were again placed on standby for an attack on Bergen, which was cancelled at 1845 hours. On October 2nd at 1100 hours the squadrons were stood down and at 1645 18 aircraft were ordered to standby for an operation against Westkapelle tomorrow. And so it was that on October 3rd we became part of a force of 252 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitoes detailed against tactical targets in north west Europe. The 18 Wickenby aircraft were equally divided between the squadrons. As I have already mentioned the allied armies moved out from their bridgehead but bypassed the coastal ports and cities and "mopped up" later when they had been softened by the air forces. They now needed a major supply port in Belgium and Antwerp had been captured but it's approaches were still under German guns. The island of Walcheren dominates the sea approach and was well defended. So the idea was to breach the sea wall at Westkapelle, at the western tip of the island, and allow flood waters to overrun the German positions. A "Dambuster" type raid but with ordinary high explosive bombs. We carried 12,500 lbs consisting of one 4,000 lb, 8 x 1,000 lb and one 500 lb H.E. We took off at noon, headed to Aldeburgh, near Ipswich, then straight across the North Sea to the target. There was a cloud layer right from base to target but the base was at 5,000 feet so we stayed below where visibility was good. The target marking was by green TIs at H-5 backed up by red TIs. The pathfinders were punctual, their initial marking undershot slightly but it didn't matter as we could see the target clearly as we approached. There were some small puffy clouds below the main layer so to make absolutely certain we went as low as was safe. We dropped our bombs from 1,500 feet which is, in fact, below the safety height for a 4,000 pounder and we felt the compression hit the aircraft as it exploded. We climbed away from the target and as we turned for home could see we had made a hole in the sea wall and water was already pouring through. The photo recce report stated that the original breach was enlarged to approximately 130 yards due to the corrosive action of water passing through. A vast area was inundated, with sea water at least 2 miles inland and to the boundaries of Middleburg and Flushing. There was some flak activity in the target area, mostly from Flushing, but Wickenby aircraft did not experience any damage or casualties. The squadron commander, who participated in this operation had an unusual experience when he came under what may have been a mock attack by two fighter aircraft believed to be Mustangs. His rear gunner fired a short burst which appeared to be sufficient to drive them off as they were not seen again. We landed back at Wickenby after a flight of 2 hours 50 minutes. Bomber Command did not lose any of it's aircraft in today's efforts. 51 [page break] Operation No. 29 Saarbrucken While the British and Canadian armies pushed north east through Belgium and Holland, the American Third Army was heading east into Germany and were now some 20 miles from Saarbrucken and the other industrial towns which we had previously attacked in this area. Our attack on Saarbrucken on October 5th was at the request of the advancing Americans. Thirty-nine Lancasters from Wickenby were part of a force of 531 Lancasters and 20 Mosquitoes detailed against Saarbrucken. 626 Squadron supplied 19. This was, of course, a night operation and takeoff commenced at 1817 hours. Our route took us to Gravesend, Beachy Head, south to the French coast then east to the target. We climbed through a layer of 10/10th cloud which persisted to about 6°E then gradually cleared so that the target had merely some thin broken cloud and ground haze. Our bomb load was one H.E., a 4,000 lb "Cookie" and 7,000 lb of incendiaries for a total of 11,000 lbs. The target marking consisted of long strings of flares over the target at H-7 followed by salvoes of red and green TIs. For some reason there were no searchlights in the target area. There was however a moderate, heavy flak barrage with explosions above 15,000 feet. There were also some enemy fighters active in the target area. Because visibility was good we were able to see that the markers were accurate and good concentrated bombing ensued. Several large explosions were observed and smoke rose to 12,000 feet. The glow of the fires could be seen for 100 miles on the return journey. At 2036 hours the Master Bomber gave the code word to abandon the mission adding that allied troops were getting near the target. Our aircraft had not been furnished with the code word, consequently most crews bombed the target. Photo reconnaissance showed that the steel works of Vereinigte Huttenwerke had every large building damaged. The Luttgens Wagon Factory, the Maschinenbau A.G. and the Portland Cement Werke were severely damaged. The infantry Barracks, the Dragoon Barracks and the Artillery Barracks were all gutted. On leaving the target area we headed north west and crossed the French coast near Calais. We returned to Wickenby only to find the airfield fogged in and were unable to land. This presented a major problem as most of the airfields in the Lincolnshire area were similarly fogged in and it was from this area that many of the 531 Lancasters originated. However, the operations people on the ground were able to find diversionary airfield which were open and everyone got down safely. We landed at Methwold in East Anglia and spent the night there returning to Wickenby the next day. One of 626 Squadron aborted this mission. He got airborne but his starboard inner engine cut out over base so he had no alternative but to land again. Two of Wickenby's aircraft sustained flak damage, one from each squadron and one from 626 had two encounters with fighters but did not sustain any damage. Wickenby did not lose any aircraft on this occasion but Bomber Command lost 3 for a loss rate of 0.54%. 52 [page break] Operation No. 30 Emmerich There are certain days, certain events which are imprinted indelibly on the mind. The declaration of war, the day you marry, the birth of your children, days of great joy or great expectations or great terror. Such a day was October 7th, 1944. The weather was fairly typical for early October in Lincolnshire – cloudy with occasional rain. The airborne landings at Arnhem had failed and there were heavy concentrations of enemy troops in the area of Arnhem, Nijmegen, Emmerich and along the Rheine river. Wickenby's target was to be Emmerich and this was the first daylight attack on Germany from Wickenby. Forty-two Lancasters were detailed as part of a Bomber command force of 340 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitoes. Each squadron provided 21 aircraft – a maximum effort. We carried one 4,000 lb H.E. and 2520 x 4 lb incendiaries in clusters for a total of 14,080 lbs. We climbed to rendezvous at Cromer, on the Norfolk coast then cross the North Sea to The Hague and so to the target. We had climber through a 10/10ths layer of cloud and at our bombing height of 10-12,000 feet we were in bright sunshine above it. Three hundred and forty Lancasters in a huge gaggle all headed in the same direction, sun glinting on perspex cabins and turrets. As we approached the Dutch coast the cloud cleared and all that remained was a slight ground haze. I had given Hicky the final course to the target and as we approached I was standing between he and Stan King and slightly behind so I could see ahead, all round and behind us. We were nicely in the middle of the stream. Peter Graves was prone in the bomb aimers position in the nose watching the target coming down the drift wires of his bomb site. The flak was intense (we later learned the Germans had turned their 88mm anti tank weapons skyward and the shells were exploding at our altitude) and we were on a straight and level bombing run. Peter's voice over the intercom "Steady, Steady, Bomb Doors Open". Hicky, "Bomb Doors Open". Ahead I can see the intensity of the exploding flak – an aircraft is hit and catches fire. As it loses height I see one – two – three parachutes drifting down but no more. Then another is hit, this time a part of the wing is blown off and the aircraft spirals down – again parachutes but not seven. I think – my God, we're next. After all this time – after dark cold nights in the skies over major German cities – after warm sunny afternoons against V1 launching ramps in France – after 29 operations we are going to get written off. "Left, Left – Steady". I look behind just in time to see a Lancaster right behind us take a direct hit and spin out of control. "Steady, Steady – Bombs gone – Bomb Doors Closed". The aircraft leaps as the 14,080 lbs of bombs drop away – then – thud – we are hit. "Bomb Doors Closed". We climb and turn away from the target and check for damage. No one is hurt and everything seems to be O.K. so we head for home. We have survived – we've come through – a cheer goes up from the crew, all the pent up emotion is released. The reports state that there was moderate to intense predicted heavy flak from 11-13,000 feet on the run up, through the target and for a few miles after leaving the target area. No enemy aircraft were seen. Fighter cover was provided by 11 Group. 53 [page break] Mosquitoes marked the aiming point with green TIs at H – 5 and maintained the marking with red TIs. The marking was accurate and the Master Bomber instructed the main force to bomb the red TIs. Bombing was accurate and many fires were started with smoke drifting up to 12,000 feet. Allied troops who were only 8 miles south west must have had a good view of the afternoons activities. The flight home, though routine, was full of joy as we knew we would not be called upon to do this kind of thing again. We landed at Wickenby after 4 hours 15 minutes of flying. Wickenby did not lose any aircraft on this operation, but 3 of 12 Squadron and 4 of 626 sustained varying amounts of flak damage. Our aircraft, A2, had the "port undercarriage holed by heavy flak in the target area". After briefing I sent Mary a telegram to let her know I had completed my tour of operations then we took our ground crew out to the local pub to celebrate our joint success. These were the men who kept A2 serviceable for us and who repaired her when we brought her back damaged. A rip roaring good time was had by all. [telegram]Brind Cherry Tree Aldbourne [indecipherable word] Tour completed love darling Ken[/telegram] The next day the 8th was Sunday so we could not proceed with our clearance until the 9th (Mary's 22nd Birthday) which we did with all despatch and headed for home and leave on 10th. Just as a matter of interest the weather on the 8th, 9th and 10th was cloudy with rain and drizzle and no operations were scheduled for either day. I arrived at Aldbourne on October 10th and of course by now Mary is due to have her baby. 54 [page break] On the morning of October 12th she started in labour, we were driven to Savernake Hospital by a lady of the W.V.S. (Women's Volunteer Service) and at 6 pm Keith John arrived. All in all a masterpiece of timing. The crew went their several ways after we had finished our tour. The normal practice was to become an instructor at an O.T.U. or H.C.U. I went briefly to Wigtown, Scotland, accepted a commission, and managed to get a posting to Cardington, Bedford where I became O.C. Headquarters Unit and where Karol was born. Gillian, Janet and Rod were to come along later. Jack Saletto was commissioned and returned to his native Australia. Peter Graves, the policeman, transferred to the Provost Branch and went to Germany after the war was over as a member of the control commission. The others were demobbed at the end of the war. Hicky went home to pursue his career as a civil engineer. I heard later he had died in the 1960s of a heart attack. Stan King went home, married his sweetheart, had a family, worked in the printing industry and died on December 1st, 1982. Bert Jones went home to Yorkshire where he married and had a family. He became an Assistant Executive Engineer with the post office and died in retirement on December 16th, 1989. Casualties sustained by 626 Squadron and 12 Squadron from the operations in which our crew participated:- 626 lost 10 Lancasters with 43 crew members killed, 12 taken P.O.W. and 8 Interned (albeit briefly) in Sweden. 12 Squadron lost 11 Lancasters with 58 crew members killed and 19 taken P.O.W. And, of course, there were a number of occasions when aircraft arrived home with wounded crew on board, the one most vividly remembered was the injury to Bill Bursey on August 14th. Our aircraft was damaged by flak on 5 occasions and by one of our own once (the incendiary through the wing on August 29th) but we never came under attack by enemy fighters and our gunners never did have to fire their guns in our defence. At the conclusion of our operational tour F/L Hicks was awarded the D.F.C. and later I received the Belgian Croix de Guerre with Palme. I had spent my 21st Birthday in hospital, I had lost my first crew, I had crewed up again and completed a tour of operations, I had gone home afterwards and taken Mary to hospital where she had given birth to Keith on October 12th and on October 17th I celebrated my 22nd Birthday. All in all an eventful year. 55 [page break] ROYAUME DE BELGIQUE [crest] [italics] Le Ministredela Défense Nationale a l'honneur de faire savoir [/italics] au Flight Sergeant: Kenneth - John [underlined] B R I N D [//underlined], que, par Arrêté de S.A.R.,le Prince Régent, du 16.1.1947,No 3424, LA CROIX DE GUEERE 1940 AVEC PALME, lui a été décernée, "Pour le courage et la bravoure dont il a fait preuve dans les glorieuses batailles qui ont amené la libération de la Belgique." [signature] 56 [page break] The Wickenby Squadrons Twelve Squadron moved from Binbrook to Wickenby on September 25th, 1942. It was and still is a permanent R.A.F. squadron with battle honours dating from World War I to the Gulf War. Their first WWII operation from Wickenby was on September 26th 1942 when 6 Wellingtons laid mines in the Baltic Sea. One aircraft was lost. The Wellingtons were replaced by Lancasters in November 1942. On November 7th, 1943 No. 626 Squadron was formed from "C" Flight of 12 Squadron. Their first operation was on November 10th. The last operation of 12 and 626 Squadrons from Wickenby was against Berchtesgaden on April 25th 1945. Both squadrons played a prominent role in Bomber Command offensive, and suffered their proportion of the heavy losses, with 763 members of 12 Squadron and 317 members of 626 Squadron losing their lives on operations from Wickenby, a total of 1,080 Killed in Action. 57 [page break] Bomber Command Statistics Air Crew Casualties Of the 125,000 who trained and served in Bomber Command there were 73,841 Air Crew Casualties: 47,268 Killed in Action [underlined] 8,232 [/underlined] Killed in Accidents 55,500 Total Killed (44.4% of total) 9,938 Shot down and taken P.O.W. [underlined] 8,403 [/underlined] Wounded 18,341 (14.6% of total) [underlined] 73,841 [/underlined] Casualties (59% of total) 58 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Year in the Life Description An account of the resource Ken Brind's autobiography detailing his tour of operations. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource KJ Brind Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France--Alençon Great Britain England--Aldeburgh Germany--Berlin United States Florida--Pensacola France--Reims England--Gravesend (Kent) England--Hastings France--Dieppe England--Brighton England--Reading France--Domléger-Longvillers France--Pas-de-Calais France--Calais France--Berck-sur-Mer England--London England--Dungeness France--Vierzon France--Le Havre France--Orléans France--Dijon England--Bridport England--Weymouth (Dorset) France--Rennes Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Channel Islands Europe--Mont Blanc France--Tours France--Normandy France--Caen Belgium--Kortrijk Belgium--Brussels Belgium--Ostend Germany--Dortmund Germany--Kiel England--Mablethorpe Germany--Stuttgart Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Rüsselsheim Germany--Mannheim Germany--Karlsruhe Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Munich England--Selsey (West Sussex) France--Falaise England--Old Sarum (Extinct city) Poland--Szczecin Atlantic Ocean--Kattegat (Baltic Sea) Denmark--Copenhagen Sweden Sweden--Malmö Sweden--Falun England--Beachy Head Germany--Rheine Netherlands--Arnhem Netherlands--Hague Netherlands--Vlissingen Norway--Bergen Belgium--Antwerp Netherlands--Walcheren Germany--Saarbrücken Germany--Emmerich Netherlands--Nijmegen England--Cromer Germany--Berchtesgaden England--Marlborough Florida Poland France Germany Denmark Belgium Netherlands Norway Europe--Frisian Islands England--Berkshire England--Dorset England--Kent England--Lincolnshire England--Norfolk England--Suffolk England--Sussex England--Wiltshire France--Ferme du Forestal France--Ligescourt Germany--Rheine France--Les Hayons Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Civilian Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 62 printed sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BBrindKJBrindKJv1 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Sue Smith Maureen Clarke 12 Squadron 1656 HCU 18 OTU 460 Squadron 625 Squadron 626 Squadron Advanced Flying Unit air gunner aircrew anti-aircraft fire B-17 B-24 bomb aimer bombing bombing of the Pas de Calais V-1 sites (24/25 June 1944) Distinguished Flying Cross entertainment evading FIDO Gee H2S Halifax Heavy Conversion Unit incendiary device Ju 88 killed in action lack of moral fibre Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School Me 110 mine laying Mosquito navigator Nissen hut Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Oboe Operational Training Unit P-51 Pathfinders Photographic Reconnaissance Unit pilot prisoner of war RAF Binbrook RAF Blyton RAF Boscombe Down RAF Cardington RAF Dumfries RAF Dunholme Lodge RAF Finningley RAF Hemswell RAF hospital Rauceby RAF Kelstern RAF Lindholme RAF Manby RAF Manston RAF Methwold RAF Wickenby RAF Wigtown RAF Woodbridge searchlight Spitfire tactical support for Normandy troops target indicator training V-1 V-2 V-weapon Wellington Window wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/375/6527/POtterP16020018.2.jpg 87e7fcef285d2c14d9fe98937c5f3221 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Otter, Patrick. Album Description An account of the resource 15 items. A multi page album containing images of scenes from 460 Squadron at RAF Binbrook, and photographs of ground personnel in various situations including a bomb dump, an officers’ mess, a control tower, and medical and dental facilities. It also contains photographs of a sports day, family photographs and a sailing trip. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context POtterP1602 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-03-07 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Airfield views Description An account of the resource Photograph 1 is of camouflaged brick buildings. Photograph 2 is of airmen eating at rows of tables in a mess hall. Photograph 3 is a head and shoulders portrait of an aircrew member on an aircraft. Photograph 4 is of a man sitting reading in an officers' mess. Photograph 5 is of a group of airmen on parade in front of a camouflaged, crenellated brick building. Photograph 6 is a three quarters portrait of a cook in a kitchen beside a range and cooking pots. Photograph 7 is of a Lancaster under maintenance in a hangar. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Seven b/w photographs on an album page Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context POtterP16020018 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain 460 Squadron aircrew ground personnel hangar Lancaster mess military living conditions military service conditions https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/816/31072/SFarrAA1434564v10001.pdf 5bf8420013e198223332adc79a64ecf6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Farr, Allan Avery A A Farr Description An account of the resource Six items. An oral history interview with Allan Farr DFM (1923 - 2018, 1434564 Royal Air Force) as well as his flying logbook, a photograph, list of operations, a map, contemporary photograph and a song. He flew operations as an air gunner with 100, 625 and 460 Squadrons. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Allan Farr and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-07-12 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Farr, AA Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alan Farr's flying log book Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SFarrAA1434564v10001 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium Canada France Germany Great Britain Italy Netherlands Poland Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay Atlantic Ocean--North Sea Belgium--Ath Belgium--Kortrijk England--Derbyshire England--Lincolnshire England--Staffordshire France--Aire-sur-la-Lys France--Caen Region France--Creil Region France--Falaise France--Nieppe Forest France--Pas-de-Calais France--Pommeréval Germany--Berlin Germany--Braunschweig Germany--Cologne Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Essen Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Hagen (Arnsberg) Germany--Hamburg Germany--Hannover Germany--Leipzig Germany--Mannheim Germany--Munich Germany--Peenemünde Germany--Rüsselsheim Germany--Saarbrücken Germany--Stuttgart Italy--Milan Netherlands--North Brabant Netherlands--Veere Poland--Szczecin Québec--Bas-Saint-Laurent Germany--Nuremberg Québec Germany--Ruhr (Region) France--Pauillac (Gironde) France--Fontenay France--Ardouval France--Trossy St. Maximin France--Fontenay-le-Marmion France--Fromentel France--Vincly France--Bois des Jardins Germany--Rüsselsheim Netherlands--Westkapelle Netherlands--Uden France--Pas-de-Calais France--Pas-de-Calais Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942 1943 1944 1943-05-15 1943-05-16 1943-07-06 1943-07-07 1943-07-08 1943-07-09 1943-07-24 1943-07-25 1943-07-26 1943-07-27 1943-07-28 1943-08-02 1943-08-03 1943-08-09 1943-08-10 1943-08-11 1943-08-12 1943-08-13 1943-08-15 1943-08-16 1943-08-17 1943-08-18 1943-08-31 1943-09-01 1943-09-03 1943-09-04 1943-09-05 1943-09-06 1943-09-07 1943-09-24 1943-09-25 1943-09-27 1943-09-28 1943-10-01 1943-10-02 1943-10-18 1943-10-20 1943-10-21 1943-11-03 1943-11-26 1943-12-02 1943-12-03 1943-12-04 1943-12-16 1943-12-17 1944-07-20 1944-07-25 1944-07-28 1944-07-29 1944-07-31 1944-08-01 1944-08-03 1944-08-04 1944-08-05 1944-08-07 1944-08-08 1944-08-09 1944-08-12 1944-08-13 1944-08-14 1944-08-15 1944-08-16 1944-08-17 1944-08-18 1944-08-25 1944-08-26 1944-08-28 1944-08-29 1944-08-30 1944-09-12 1944-09-13 1944-10-03 1944-10-05 1944-10-06 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Description An account of the resource Flying log book for A A Farr, air gunner, covering the period from 29 December 1943 to 6 October 1944. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at RCAF Mount Joli, RAF Church Broughton, RAF Binbrook, RAF Blyton, RAF Waltham (aka RAF Grimsby), RAF Kelstern and RAF Seighford. Aircraft flown in were, Battle, Wellington and Lancaster. He flew a total of 48 operations, 20 with 100 Squadron, 7 with 625 Squadron and 21 with 460 Squadron of which 9 were daylight. Targets were Cologne, Hamburg, Essen, Mannheim, Nuremburg, Milan, Peenemünde, Berlin, Munich, Hannover, Hagen, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Courtrai, Ardouval, Bois des Jardins, Stuttgart, Foret-de-Nieppe, Trossy St. Maximin, Pauillac, Fontenay-le-Marmion, Aire-sur-la-Lys, Brunswick, Falaise, Volkel, Stettin, Fromentel, Rüsselsheim, Vincly, Frankfurt, Westkapelle and Saarbrucken. His pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Bowden, Flight Sergeant Etchells and Flying officer Hudson. This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 100 Squadron 12 OTU 1662 HCU 27 OTU 30 OTU 460 Squadron 625 Squadron air gunner aircrew anti-aircraft fire Battle Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) Bombing and Gunnery School bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943) bombing of Luftwaffe night-fighter airfields (15 August 1944) bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943) bombing of the Normandy coastal batteries (5/6 June 1944) bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944) Distinguished Flying Medal Heavy Conversion Unit Lancaster mid-air collision Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Operational Training Unit RAF Binbrook RAF Blyton RAF Church Broughton RAF Grimsby RAF Kelstern RAF Seighford Ruhr Campaign (5 March – 10 July 1943) tactical support for Normandy troops training V-1 V-weapon Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/379/10093/PToombsSE15100001.jpg 7777bbe14d6f4e978f7db4a9fae6d3ff Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Toombs, George G Toombs Description An account of the resource 61 items. The collection concerns Sergeant George Toombs (1590211 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, decorations, memorabilia and 56 photographs. George Toombs completed 30 operations as a flight engineer with 460 Squadron from RAF Binbrook and served in Germany after the war. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Stephen E Toombs and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-08-06 2015-11-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Toombs, G Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Permission granted for commercial projects Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ardouval Description An account of the resource Vertical aerial photograph of bombing of Ardouval. The bottom half of the image is partially obscured by bomb explosions. Captioned '5656 BIN 25-7-44 //8 14000' [arrow] 125° 0843 Ardouval S 11x1000 4x500 c 30 secs P/O Lester T. 460'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-07-25 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PToombsSE15100001 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Geolocated Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France France--Seine-Maritime France--Ardouval Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-25 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force 460 Squadron aerial photograph bombing Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Binbrook target photograph V-1 V-weapon https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1354/38125/MPorterB[Ser -DoB]-150527-02.pdf 1b9fbacb164c326e459e80edfd2596e4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Porter, Barry Porter, B Description An account of the resource Three items. The collection concerns the crash of Lancaster LM100, PO-D in France on 2/3 February 1945 and contains a photograph and research. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by C. Porter and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-05-27 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Porter, B Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Axe Retrieved from Field at Thin-le-Moutier, France Lancaster LM100, PO-D took off from Waddington on 2nd February 1945 en route to Karlsruhe. The starboard engine gave trouble and it was decided to feather it but on pressing the button all four engines feathered. The aircraft lost height and the pilot ordered abandon aircraft. Rear gunner and bomb aimer baled out. The aircraft crashed and exploded. The rear gunner was killed when he hit the ground. The bomb aimer hit the ground 20 seconds after his chute opened. He was hurt but survived, the villagers assisted him and he was eventually flown back to UK 460 Squadron and then back to RAAF 467 Squadron at Waddington. The Crew:- F/O. A.N.C. Robinson RAAF Sgt. L. Ginno RAF F/Sgt. B.H. Elliot RAAF F/Sgt. K.J. King RAAF F/Sgt. R.F. Cross RAAF F/Sgt. W.T. Paine RAAF Sole Survivor:- F/Sgt. J.C. Jarrett RAAF F/Sgt. J.C. Jarrett in 2000 returned to Thin-le-Moutier to present an engraved plaque to the village. It bears the names of the crew and remembers also the priest and choirboy who were killed when the wall of the church later collapsed due to the explosion. It also thanks the villagers for their help and comfort. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Axe Retrieved from Field at Thin-le Moutier, France Description An account of the resource A brief description of the crash of Lancaster, LM100, 'PO-D'. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France France--Charleville-Mézières Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MPorterB[Ser#-DoB]-150527-02 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1945-02-02 1945-02-03 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Sue Smith Maureen Clarke 460 Squadron 467 Squadron air gunner aircrew bale out bomb aimer crash killed in action Lancaster pilot RAF Waddington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2960/57932/MForshawB1038479-190508-03.jpg 52436912baed4cc058d35d53ef09d380 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Forshaw, Basil Description An account of the resource Nine items. The collection concerns Sergeant Basil Forshaw (b.1920, 1038479 Royal Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 460 Squadron and was killed 27/28 April 1944. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Andrew Hayden and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Additional information on Basil Forshaw is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/107886/">IBCC Losses Database.</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-05-08 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Forshaw, B Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Basil Forshaw biography Description An account of the resource A brief biography of Basil. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France France--Colmar Region Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One typewritten sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MForshawB1038479-190508-03 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-04-27 1944-04-28 460 Squadron aircrew final resting place killed in action Lancaster RAF Binbrook shot down https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/743/31060/BCleggPVVerdonRoeLv1.2.pdf 83bc6da28284a7e751660162e8b591d5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Clegg, Peter Vernon P V Clegg Description An account of the resource Eight items and five sub-collections. Main collection contains a log of Pathfinder operations from RAF Wyton 1943 -1944, histories of the Avro repair facility at Bracebridge Heath, and Langar, a biography of Squadron Leader David James Baikie Wilson, biography of Squadron Leader Lighton Verdon-Roe, a book - Test Pilots of A.V. Roe & Co Ltd - S.A. 'Bill' Thorn, and two volumes of book - Roy Chadwick - no finer aircraft designer, Sub-collections contain a total of 29 items concerning the Aldborough Dairy and Cafe as well as biographical material, including log books for Alan Gibson, Peter Isaacson, Alistair Lang and Charles Martin. <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1772">Aldborough Dairy and Cafe</a> <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1768">Gibson, Alan</a> <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1769">Isaacson, Peter</a> <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1770">Lang, Alastair</a> <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1771">Martin, Charles</a> The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Peter Clegg and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-07-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Clegg, PV Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Biography of Squadron Leader Lighton Verdon-Roe DFC RAFVR -156 (PFF) Squadron The antics of Lighton, Alastair Lang and Peter Isaacson Description An account of the resource Second son of Sir Alliot Verdon-Roe founder of A.V. Roe & Co Ltd to be killed in the RAF Bomber Command in WWII. Starts with b/w photograph of head and shoulders portrait of an RAF officer wearing tunic with pilot's brevet, medal ribbon, pathfinder badge and peaked cap. Continues with early life, joining the Royal Air Force, training and posting to one of the first pathfinder squadrons. Goes on to describe his operations from September 1942 including losses on the squadron. Introduces his friend Alastair Lang and describes various antics and further operations. Gives description of marking, H2S, Oboe and Mosquito aircraft. Writes of Peter Isaacson's arrival on the squadron and of further activities, antics and operations. Continues with account of Pat Day, their intelligence officer and further operations including one to Dortmund where Lang was shot down. Describes Lighton's last operation to Duisburg from which he failed to return. Concludes with round up and stories of Peter Isaacson and Alastair Lang. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 26 b/w photocopied sheets Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BCleggPVVerdonRoeLv1 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Gloucestershire England--Shropshire England--Cambridgeshire England--Huntingdonshire England--Yorkshire Germany Germany--Flensburg Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Kassel Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Saarbrücken Germany--Bremen Germany--Cologne Italy Italy--Genoa Italy--Turin Germany--Stuttgart Germany--Duisburg Germany--Hamburg Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay France France--Lorient Germany--Wilhelmshaven France--Saint-Nazaire Germany--Berlin Germany--Kiel Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Germany--Dortmund Germany--Duisburg Germany--Ruhr (Region) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942 1942-09 1942-09-01 1942-09-02 1942-09-13 1942-09-14 1942-09-16 1942-09-17 1942-09-19 1942-09-20 1942-09-18 1942-09-19 1942-08-18 1942-08-19 1942-08-28 1942-08-29 1942-10-15 1942-11-07 1942-11-08 1942-11-20 1942-11-22 1942-11-23 1942-12-09 1942-12-11 1942-12-20 1943 1943-01-30 1943-02-02 1943-02-03 1943-02-04 1943-02-07 1943-02-13 1943-02-16 1943-02-19 1943-02-24 1943-02-25 1943-02-28 1943-03-01 1943-03-03 1943-03-04 1943-03-08 1943-03-27 1943-03-19 1943-03-21 1943-03-28 1943-03-29 1943-03-30 1943-04-04 1943-04-05 1943-04-12 1943-05-04 1943-05-12 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource PV Clegg 156 Squadron 35 Squadron 460 Squadron 7 Squadron 83 Squadron aircrew Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986) bombing Distinguished Flying Cross Distinguished Flying Medal Flying Training School ground personnel H2S Halifax intelligence officer killed in action Lancaster Mosquito Oboe Pathfinders pilot prisoner of war RAF Breighton RAF Shawbury RAF South Cerney RAF Warboys RAF Wyton Ruhr Campaign (5 March – 10 July 1943) Stalag Luft 3 Stirling target indicator training Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1769/31028/BCleggPVIsaacsonPv10003.1.pdf 665b73bebf873fd2841c1e103e2a85a6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Clegg, Peter Vernon. Isaacson, Peter - folder Description An account of the resource Four items. Contains photographs, biography of Wing Commander Peter Isaacson AM, DFC, AFC, DFM RAAF and extracts from his log book covering a journey from England to Australia. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-07-02 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Clegg-PV Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [underlined] Wing Cmdr Peter Isaacson, AM, DFC, AFC, DFM [/underlined] lives in Melbourne, Australia, and is a highly decorated Royal Australian Air Force pilot who survived two tours in Bomber Command in Britain in World War II, the second one in a Pathfinder squadron. He and his Australian crew were then asked to fly a new Lancaster by themselves all the way to Australia, but for the first time ever, taking a westbound route across Canada, the USA, and [inserted] several [/inserted] island stops in the Pacific. After spending the rest of the war demonstrating this Lancaster all over Australia and New Zealand, Peter began his own publishing company [inserted] in Melbourne [/inserted] and by the time he retired in 1997 had become a legend in Australia in printing and publishing. The idea for flying the Lancaster to Australia originated in R.A.A.F. Headquarters in London early in 1943, and Peter Isaacson had been selected as pilot as he was known personally to [page break] 2 – the Air Officer Commanding R.A.A.F. HQ. However, the C.O. of the Pathfinder Group, Air Commodore Don Bennett, was adamant at not releasing Peter until he had completed his tour, and so although told on February 16th 1943 he was to take this Lancaster to Sydney, Peter did not fly his last mission until the night of March 29th/30th. Peter flight-tested his new Lancaster at Avro’s Woodford factory [inserted] early in May, and then flew it to Colerne to be fitted out for the long journey ahead. [/inserted] Then with his Australian crew, plus a new rear-gunner (to replace an Englishman) and a fitter to look after the Lancaster en route, they set off on May 21st to fly firstly to Prestwick, to refuel, and cross the North Atlantic. Then began an epic journey in the self-same mould of those pre-war intrepid trail-blazers to Australia – the difference being Peter was flying westbound (not eastbound) in order to avoid Japanese held territory in South-east Asia. [deleted] As [/deleted] [inserted] Soon after [/inserted] the start, the auto-pilot failed to work and so Peter flew “Q for Queenie VI” all the way by hand, without having a co-pilot to assist him. They usually flew at night, and so they left Prestwick at 22.10 on May 22nd 1943, landing 15hrs 15 mins later at Dorval, Montreal. It was reminiscent of [page break] 3 Alcock and Brown’s famous first Atlantic crossing – for dense icing cloud extended from sea level up to 19,000 ft. Peter flew at 19,000 ft for spells, but came down to 7,000 ft to relieve the crew having to be on oxygen at the higher levels. Navigation was not easy, but then Peter’s crew was a highly experienced Pathfinder team. After Montreal, it was to Uplands (where Peter reminded the instructor who nearly failed him as a pilot that instructors could be wrong, too!) and Toronto where Canadian Lancasters were being made, and Peter’s Lancaster received a routine servicing. Lord Burghley (Britain’s Controller of Overseas Supplies) and Gp. Capt. Wincott (RAF Liaison Officer) joined them there, [inserted] to fly to Sydney [/inserted] plus an American pilot to help with radio transmissions across the northern USA to San Francisco. It took 13 hrs across to California, then a 12 1/2 hr flight to Honolulu. Peter then took off for Canton Island and [inserted] immediately [/inserted] ran into an extremely violent tropical storm. The Lancaster was thrown about in the turbulence, and lightning danced all over the aircraft. All the radio aids burned out, and suddenly all four engines cut out. Peter glided [page break] 4 the aircraft as slowly as possible, but they were right down to 3,000 ft over the Pacific before his Flight Engineer managed to start one engine, then gradually the rest. However, it took them another hour to get a radio working and a bearing to [inserted] get them to [/inserted] the nearest atoll with an airstrip – Palmyra From there, Peter flew at 1,000 ft over the Pacific to avoid the storms, [inserted] stopping [/inserted] at Canton Island and Fiji, landing at last on Australian soil at Amberley R.A.A.F. station [inserted] near Brisbane [/inserted] and finally Sydney the same evening. They were met by “Ministers, Brass Hats, Press and speeches”, as Peter put it. Peter and his crew then displayed “Q for Queenie” all over Australia and New Zealand for the next 16 months, giving short flights to almost everyone of note – from the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Governor General, Ministers, and V.I.Ps, to thousands of schoolchildren, (often 40 at a time) as well as everyone who bought A£ [deleted] 250 [/deleted] [inserted] 100 of [/inserted] War Bonds and wished to fly in the Lancaster. Never before, or since, has a four-engined bomber “buzzed” so many cities, or “beaten up” so many schools, camps, R.A.A.F. stations, and isolated villages. What anoyed [sic] Peter, however, was that everywhere they landed, his crew always wanted [page break] 5 a cup of tea before continuing! [deleted] Finally [/deleted] [inserted] During this time [/inserted] Peter made his most legendary flight of all [inserted] on Oct 22nd 1943 [/inserted] – after “beating-up” parts of Sydney, he descended to 11 ft over the water and flew [inserted] eastbound [/inserted] [underlined] under [/underlined] Sydney Harbour Bridge (and was captured on film). It was a toss-up whether he was court-martialled – but instead he was awarded the Air Force Cross for the epic flight to Australia! Peter Isaacson was born in London on July 31st 1920, his Australian father having come to England during the Great War as a soldier, and later married his English mother. Both parents had, however, been descended from Baltic and European origins. The family moved back to Melbourne in 1926, and Peter attended Brighton Grammar School and Melbourne University, before leaving at 16 to start work for a newspaper group. In mid-1940 he was selected for the R.A.A.F. Air Crew Reserve, and in December began a flying training course in Australia, finishing advanced pilot training in Canada at Uplands. From there it was to England, to 27 O.T.U. at Lichfield and then 460 Squadron (R.A.A.F.) near York. [page break] 6. Peter had already flown two operations – the famous “1,000 bomber raids” – while at O.T.U., and with 460 Squadron and a mostly Australian crew, he went on to complete 29 in all. After 22 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal for “showing fine offensive spirit and great determination”, and commissioned as a Pilot Officer. Peter then volunteered for the Pathfinders, and in 156 Squadron went on to complete 44 operations before the flight back to Australia. When he joined the squadron at Warboys in January 1943, he helped convert two of their pilots onto Lancasters, and subsequently became close friends of both – Alistair Lang and Lighton Verdon-Roe (son of Sir Allcott Verdon-Roe, the first man to fly in England, and founder of the firm that made the Lancaster). The three of them, [deleted] together with another Australian pilot, [/deleted] were known by their C.O. as “ the [deleted] Fearsome Foursome [/deleted] [inserted] Terrible Threesome [/inserted]”, as they got up to all kinds of pranks which although often foolhardy, did much to lift the morale of the squadron at a time of increasing losses. The presence of a pretty WAAF Intelligence Officer [inserted] also [/inserted] had [page break] 7 them all rushing back after operations to see who could be first to be interrogated by her! Near the end of this tour, Peter’s Lancaster was over Berlin on the night of March 1st/2nd and had just released its load of markers on the aiming point when an ack-ack shell exploded near the tail, and a load of incendiaries from a Lancaster above hit them amidships, wounding the gunner, destroying his turret, and jamming the control cables to the tail. They did not explode, but left gaping holes in the fuselage where they exited. The Lancaster immediately went into a steep dive, everything loose cascading into the nose. They all thought this was the end, but Peter planted his feet on the instrument panel to try to pull the control column back, and the Flight Engineer, [deleted] and [/deleted] [inserted] and [/inserted] Bomb Aimer [inserted] [deleted] and Navigation [/deleted] [/inserted] came to pull too. After dropping from 17,000 ft the Lancaster slowly came level again below 3,000 ft, and they attempted to plot a course home. At low level, down to under 1,000 ft now, they inadvertently flew right across the centre of the heavily defended Ruhr, blinded by searchlights and hit repeatedly by flak – but survived [inserted] in this maelstrom to [/inserted] somehow creep back to Warboys. Their C.O. was so astonished at the damage, that he opened the Officer’s Mess bar for [inserted] all of [/inserted] them at 5 am in the morning! And Peter [page break] 8. received an immediate D.F.C. and his radio operator and navigator the D.F.M., for bringing the Lancaster back safely. Sadly, during the early part of May, Peter’s friend Lighton Verdon-Roe and his crew perished over Duisburg, and Alastair Lang became a P.O.W. when his Lancaster exploded over Dortmund. [symbol] [inserted] [symbol] He died on Sunday October 28th 2007 at Collingbourne Ducis. [/inserted] Peter retired from the R.A.A.F. in Australia on February 21st 1946, and bought a local newspaper, beginning a career in publishing and printing that was to last 50 years. His company, Peter Isaacson Publications eventually grew to employ 370 staff in Australia and New Zealand, publishing over 60 titles. He also started a company in Singapore, Asian Business Press, that employed 142 staff and published 14 titles. Always a very “hands on” character, Peter won many awards for his own editorial columns, and always stood up for minorities, for the Aborigines, for people of all religious faiths, and for the role of the RAF Bomber Command in Europe. [inserted] He denounced intolerance and bigotry. [/inserted] He ran his businesses firstly to become, and remain the most respected in Australian and Asian publishing; secondly for the benefit of his employees, and only lastly to make money. He always put all the [page break] 9. profits back into the business. He founded in 1969 what later became the Pacific Area Newspapers Publishing Association, and was made an Hon. Life Member in 1987. He became Chairman or President of many local Melbourne and national associations to do with newspapers and publishing, helped raise funds for charities, and for the upkeep and expansion of the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance – an impressive war memorial. Peter was admitted to the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for 1999, for “services to the print media, and the community”, before finally selling off his group of companies – by now the largest remaining independent one in Australia – to Tony O’Reilly’s Australian Provincial Newspapers. Wing Cmdr. Peter Isaacson, A.M., D.F.C., A.F.C., D.F.M, [deleted] leaves [/deleted] [inserted] married [/inserted] his wife, Anne, [deleted] who he married [/deleted] in Melbourne in 1950, and [inserted] they have [/inserted] two sons, Tony and Tim. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Biography of Wing Commander P Isaacson AM, DFC, AFC, DFM RAAF and research related to same, part of 156 (PFF) sqn with AG Lang and L Verdon-Roe Description An account of the resource Peter Isaacson biography relating to him surviving two tours in Bomber Command and then to being asked take a Lancaster to Australia westabout and describing his journey. Continues with early life moving to Australia, being selected for RAAF aircrew reserve in 1940. After training in Canada he returned to England and after O.T.U went to 460 Squadron. After completing 29 operations and award of DFM he then volunteered for pathfinders on 156 Squadron and went on to complete 44 operations. Tells of meeting Alistair Lang and Lighton Verdon-Roe at RAF Warboys. Continues with details of operation to Berlin when they were hit by anti-aircraft fire and incendiaries from aircraft above and subsequent actions for which he was awarded and immediate DFC. Concludes with post war events and activities. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Nine b/w photocopied sheets Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BCleggPVIsaacsonPv10003 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Australia Victoria--Melbourne Canada Great Britain England--Yorkshire England--York England--Huntingdonshire Germany Germany--Berlin Germany--Duisburg Germany--Dortmund Victoria Germany--Ruhr (Region) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942 1943 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Tricia Marshall Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource PV Clegg 156 Squadron 460 Squadron aircrew anti-aircraft fire bomb struck bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942) Distinguished Flying Cross Distinguished Flying Medal ground personnel Lancaster mess Operational Training Unit Pathfinders pilot promotion RAF Lichfield RAF Warboys training Women’s Auxiliary Air Force https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2570/44682/PLaneEO1914.2.jpg 3754949b43f2aa506ad88f79f2cd1cf4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lane, Ernest Olaf Ernest Olaf Lane E O Lane Description An account of the resource 40 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ernest Olaf 'Cappy' Lane (b. 1916, 402057 Royal Australian Air Force) and contains his log books, documents, and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 216 Squadron in North Africa and 460 Squadron in Europe. The collection includes <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2585">one album with photos of personnel, aircraft, and North Africa scenes</a>. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Judy Lane and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-01-10 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Lane, EO Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bochum Description An account of the resource Target photograph of Bochum with no ground features visible through light flashes. Captioned '4' and '890 HLM. 13/14 5 43 //NT "5" 19000 - 024 0219 BOCHUM RD.T. 1x 14000. 540x 4LB. 48x 30LB P10 F/O LANE T.460.'. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1943-05-13 1943-05-14 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943-05-13 1943-05-14 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Germany--Ruhr (Region) Germany--Bochum Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PLaneEO1914 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Geolocation impractical 460 Squadron aerial photograph aircrew bombing pilot Ruhr Campaign (5 March – 10 July 1943) target indicator target photograph https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/379/10094/PToombsSE15100002.2.jpg bb895d5ff7753eead4899f17d50ba71e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Toombs, George G Toombs Description An account of the resource 61 items. The collection concerns Sergeant George Toombs (1590211 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, decorations, memorabilia and 56 photographs. George Toombs completed 30 operations as a flight engineer with 460 Squadron from RAF Binbrook and served in Germany after the war. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Stephen E Toombs and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-08-06 2015-11-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Toombs, G Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Permission granted for commercial projects Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bois Desjardins Bois des Jardins Description An account of the resource A vertical aerial photograph identified as Bois Desjardins [Bois des Jardins]. Much of the image is obscured by bright lights. Captioned '5691 BIN. 25/26-7-44 //NT(C) 8" 10.000' [arrow] 070° 0253 Bois Desjardins Y. 18x500. 19 secs. P/O. Lester. V 460'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-07-25 1944-07-26 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PToombsSE15100002 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Geolocated Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France France--Bois des Jardins Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-25 1944-07-26 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force 460 Squadron aerial photograph bombing Lancaster RAF Binbrook target photograph https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2261/40776/PGrayDA21010033.1.jpg f46502f0887e21fa2c961b57191f6ccc https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2261/40776/PGrayDA21010034.1.jpg 2aa1a10afe0461fa1915b05f6b89c811 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gray, Donald Arthur Description An account of the resource 57 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Donald Arthur Gray (b. 1922, 1006912 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 460 Squadron. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Catherine Burrows and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-06-10 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Gray, DA Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bombs, Airmen, Ground Crew and Lancaster Description An account of the resource A group of men, some standing and some sitting on bombs, in front of a Lancaster 'AR-Q'. On the reverse 'Son A Gray DFM' and a stamp 'Central Press Photos Ltd'. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PGrayDA21010033, PGrayDA21010034 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain 460 Squadron aircrew Distinguished Flying Medal ground crew ground personnel Lancaster