2 25 860 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32318/CWittyAR-170323-010057.1.jpg b9fab3286cb2bda2c9a9e8dcd135d608 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32318/CWittyAR-170323-010058.1.jpg 6fb763a33870987e0ffa404e63938ab8 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32318/CWittyAR-170323-010059.1.jpg 1744c30e4f04313eec4239918e0bdc42 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32318/CWittyAR-170323-010060.1.jpg cd69bc7c57f2aa93e6a84a768547b39a 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation log - Op No 17 Description An account of the resource Details of navigator, date, orders, route and two and a half pages of en-route navigation observations. Annotated in blue pen. Note on top right 'Op No 17'. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-07-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Four page printed form with handwritten entries Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010057, CWittyAR-170323-010058, CWittyAR-170323-010059, CWittyAR-170323-010060 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Orléans Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-03 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. aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32319/CWittyAR-170323-010061.2.jpg d264f4c1928087c227240f9edb9c67f9 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32319/CWittyAR-170323-010062.2.jpg b1732ba82b905db1b1a545a2109f0eca 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation chart - operation to Dijon Description An account of the resource Map showing south east England and northern France with pencilled route from Lincoln area to Dijon. Annotated top right 'F/O Witty, Dijon'. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One map with pencilled navigation marks Type The nature or genre of the resource Map Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010061, CWittyAR-170323-010062 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Dijon 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 A R Witty aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32320/CWittyAR-170323-010063.1.jpg e44feab0f2c6efe41ac61f188809ed2a https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32320/CWittyAR-170323-010064.1.jpg 1ba659fb332b7d11ce66678dcefd6c8d https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32320/CWittyAR-170323-010065.1.jpg fa6c25a0b3c15abc37a87c56f6975bc1 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32320/CWittyAR-170323-010066.1.jpg f37730dc5c400c7ae4c4edb8a9382189 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation log - Op No 18 (Dijon) Description An account of the resource Details of squadron, aircraft, captain, navigator, date, orders, route and two and an a half pages of en-route navigation observations. Annotated in red pen. Note on top right 'Op No 18 (Dijon)'. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-07-05 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Four page printed form with handwritten entries Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010063, CWittyAR-170323-010064, CWittyAR-170323-010065, CWittyAR-170323-010066 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Dijon Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-05 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. 12 Squadron aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32321/CWittyAR-170323-010067.2.jpg ad2d2fbeaab67c0ccd7156f042dd0f93 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32321/CWittyAR-170323-010068.2.jpg 8ac1b31a3b0785a1560a37ef24f986fc 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation chart - operation number 19 (Tours) Description An account of the resource Map showing south England and northern France with pencilled route from Lincoln area to Tours. Annotated top right 'Op. No. 19 (Tours), 12/7/44'. On the reverse 'Op No. 19 12/7/44, (Tours)'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-07-12 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One map with pencilled navigation marks Type The nature or genre of the resource Map Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010067, CWittyAR-170323-010068 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Tours Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-12 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 A R Witty aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32322/CWittyAR-170323-010069.2.jpg d78e748dbf4784f3f07e68afc1abc132 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32322/CWittyAR-170323-010070.2.jpg 537d88b51aed46ff2ed10ad2f69f8bb6 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32322/CWittyAR-170323-010071.2.jpg 70ad707fd3b40a3b1ee69456d66f08a9 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32322/CWittyAR-170323-010072.2.jpg b2bed66c97e4f7e3ed225e4f7cf5c6ea 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation log - Op No 19 (Tours) Description An account of the resource Details of navigator, date, orders, route and two and and a half pages of en-route navigation observations. Annotated in blue pen. Note on top right 'Op No 19 (Tours)'. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-07-12 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Four page printed form with handwritten entries Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010069, CWittyAR-170323-010070, CWittyAR-170323-010071, CWittyAR-170323-010072 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Tours Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-12 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. aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32323/CWittyAR-170323-010073.1.jpg 92c68f0e29f87f18a89ea65e16d98b17 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32323/CWittyAR-170323-010074.1.jpg 258d7f6f82c9b6e946ee32f0f49ad727 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation chart - operation number 20 Description An account of the resource Map showing south east England northern France, Belgium and Netherlands. Pencilled route from Lincoln area to just north of Lille. Annotated top left 'Op No. 20, 20/7/44, Coutrai (Kurtrijk Belgium)'. On the reverse 'Op. No. 20 (20/7/44), Courtrai)'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-07-20 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One map with pencilled navigation marks Type The nature or genre of the resource Map Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010073, CWittyAR-170323-010074 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire Belgium Belgium--Kortrijk France France--Lille Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-20 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 A R Witty aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32324/CWittyAR-170323-010075.1.jpg 194b187e2e0d1e17a07716a9cef52546 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32324/CWittyAR-170323-010076.1.jpg bf28b307434fabe21550827a25b880fe 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation log - Op No 20 Description An account of the resource Details of squadron, aircraft, captain, navigator, date, orders, route and page and half en-route navigation observations. Annotated in red pen. Note on top right 'Op No 20, Courtrai (Kurtrijk) Belgium)'. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-07-20 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two page printed form with handwritten entries Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010075, CWittyAR-170323-010076 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire Belgium Belgium--Kortrijk Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-20 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. 12 Squadron aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32329/CWittyAR-170323-010085.1.jpg 652a07ab4887b4be66431d47919c4de0 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32329/CWittyAR-170323-010086.2.jpg d68018decc8c51bf292d08e1d9b4f62d 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation chart - operation number 23 Description An account of the resource Map showing south east England and northern France with pencilled route from Lincoln area to Normandy. Annotated top right 'Op. No. 23, 30/7/44'. On the reverse 'Op 23, 30/7/44, Caumont'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-07-30 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One map with pencilled navigation marks Type The nature or genre of the resource Map Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010085, CWittyAR-170323-010086 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Normandy Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-30 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. 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 A R Witty aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby tactical support for Normandy troops https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32330/CWittyAR-170323-010087.2.jpg 8e383a05c51ff5b6742fa19b7e1100ab https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32330/CWittyAR-170323-010088.2.jpg ea749a65b7f5781301c41c213b37a722 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation log - Op No 23 Description An account of the resource Details of navigator, date, orders, route and one and and a half pages of en-route navigation observations. Note on top right 'Op No 23'. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-07-30 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two page printed form with handwritten entries Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010087, CWittyAR-170323-010088 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Normandy Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-30 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. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby tactical support for Normandy troops https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32331/CWittyAR-170323-010089.1.jpg 1d61c0068c6cea37e112270741498a07 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32331/CWittyAR-170323-010090.1.jpg e1d31d3ab80fc1b68e138847df84e21f 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation chart - operation number 24 Description An account of the resource Map of south east England and northern France with pencilled route from Lincoln area to target south of Abbeville. Annotated top middle 'Op. No. 24, 2/8/44'. On the reverse 'Op. No. 24. Les Cateliers'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-08-02 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One map with pencilled navigation marks Type The nature or genre of the resource Map Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010089, CWittyAR-170323-010090 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Pas-de-Calais Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-08-02 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. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32332/CWittyAR-170323-010092.2.jpg 38eb7638503d5a49307cbaebb87b793c https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32332/CWittyAR-170323-010091.2.jpg 732f41374239f6197e732f85349a72b5 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation log - Op No 24 Description An account of the resource Details of navigator, date, orders, route and one and and a half pages of en-route navigation observations. Note on top right 'Op No 24, Pas de Calais'. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-08-02 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two page printed form with handwritten entries Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010091, CWittyAR-170323-010092 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Pas-de-Calais Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-08-02 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. aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32333/CWittyAR-170323-010093.2.jpg 29e0d23fc820652728182f493ccbed59 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32333/CWittyAR-170323-010094.2.jpg 39308b25dc7313d6f99fa1e30758dffd 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation chart - operation number 25 Description An account of the resource Map showing south east England and northern France with pencilled route from Lincoln area to a target north of Paris. Annotated top left 'Op No. 25, 3/8/44'. On the reverse 'Op 25, (3/8/44), Trossy'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-08-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One map with pencilled navigation marks Type The nature or genre of the resource Map Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010093, CWittyAR-170323-010094 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Trossy St. Maximin Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-08-03 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. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty aircrew bombing bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944) navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32334/CWittyAR-170323-010098.2.jpg 61deb8522d0b8c1c5be7e82b0b76943a https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32334/CWittyAR-170323-010097.2.jpg 685a034c48abb14ed876c3900fe2dbc4 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32334/CWittyAR-170323-010096.2.jpg 2e9e65f33dc9b084ba90bd19f899fa7a https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32334/CWittyAR-170323-010095.2.jpg 81c1b72019ac05ceb02bf66573895bf1 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation log - Op No 25 Description An account of the resource Details of squadron, aircraft, captain, navigator, date, orders, route and two pages of en-route navigation observations. annotated with blue pen. Note on top right 'Op No 25'. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-08-03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Four page printed from with handwritten entries Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010095, CWittyAR-170323-010096, CWittyAR-170323-010097, CWittyAR-170323-010098 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Creil Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-08-03 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. 12 Squadron aircrew bombing bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944) navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32341/CWittyAR-170323-010116.2.jpg 59138aed4e8881e97aeb136c457da24f https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32341/CWittyAR-170323-010117.2.jpg f51205415d07e1ce50ad0cdb68e6adf2 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation chart - operation number 29 Description An account of the resource Map showing south east England and Northern France with pencilled route from Lincoln area to Pas De Calais area. Annotated 'Op No. 29, 28/8/44'. On the reverse 'Op No. 29, Fromentel, 28/8/44'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-08-28 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One map with pencilled navigation marks Type The nature or genre of the resource Map Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010116 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire France France--Pas-de-Calais France--Fromentel Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-08-28 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 A R Witty aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32353/CWittyAR-170323-010118.1.jpg 26ec13bf4697e072469ad884b9275067 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32353/CWittyAR-170323-010119.1.jpg 15adecf051adadda72f41fb6ab12dc83 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation log - Op No 29 Description An account of the resource Details of squadron, aircraft, captain, navigator, date, orders, route and two pages of en-route navigation observations. Note on top right 'Op No. 29 (FROMENTEL). Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-08-28 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two page printed form with handwritten entries Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010118, CWittyAR-170323-010119 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 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-08-28 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire Atlantic Ocean--English Channel France France--Pas-de-Calais France--Fromentel 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. 12 Squadron aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32354/CWittyAR-170323-010120.2.jpg d428182b6f508e9b3e8dd3998d8e18e5 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32354/CWittyAR-170323-010121.2.jpg 9dc2b0e5b6f04a787fcea3fb0b26b56c 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation chart - operation number 30 Description An account of the resource Map showing south east England and Northern France with pencilled route from Lincoln area to Pas de Calais area. Annotated top middle 'Op. No. 30, 31/8/44'. On the reverse 'Op. No. 30 St Riquier, 31/8/44'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-08-31 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One map with pencilled navigation marks Type The nature or genre of the resource Map Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010120, CWittyAR-170323-010121 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. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire Atlantic Ocean--English Channel France France--Pas-de-Calais Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-08-31 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 A R Witty aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32355/CWittyAR-170323-010122.2.jpg ea39b584ae43924d2321aab815eb793a https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32355/CWittyAR-170323-010123.2.jpg 56f365b59d7a60ef1ad921306246d523 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty 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 Navigation log - Op No 30 Description An account of the resource Details of squadron, aircraft, captain, navigator, date, orders, route and two pages of en-route navigation observations. Note on top right 'Op No. 30'. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-08-31 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire Atlantic Ocean--English Channel France France--Pas-de-Calais Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-08-31 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two page printed form with handwritten entries Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CWittyAR-170323-010122, CWittyAR-170323-010123 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. 12 Squadron aircrew bombing navigator Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Wickenby https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32365/BWittyARWittyARv1.pdf a568d561e92d25b45be271b0cecccb86 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document TIME OUT FOR WAR [black and white sketch of Avro Lancaster bomber] A factual account of war-time experiences By Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty D.F.C., B.Sc., A.R.I.C. [page break] TIME OUT FOR WAR A factual account of war-time experiences By Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty D.F.C., B.Sc., A.R.I.C. [page break] [underlined]Author’s Foreword[/underlined] At the insistence of my family, who are somewhat in the dark as regards what I got up to during World War Two, I have compiled the following account. My memory of the wartime years still remains very clear, helped by some brief notes in diaries, my log book, some letters and, importantly, the navigational logs and charts of all thirty bombing operations in which I took part in 1944. Using them I could still tell you where our Lancaster crew was, within two or three miles, at anytime during those operations of more than fifty years ago. [underlined]Acknowledgements[/underlined] Many thanks to my wife Yvonne and my family for their various contributions in getting the raw material organised, and to Mike Fong for his help with the photographs. [page break] [underlined] CONTENTS [/underlined] [underlined] Chapter. [/underlined] [underlined] Page No. [/underlined] 1. Decisions 5 2. The Stirling Castle 15 3. South Africa 21 4. Back to England 33 5. Operations 1 - 20 43 6. Operations 21 - 30 55 7. Instructing “ferry trips” & crewing up for second tour. 69 8. Lancaster ME 758 PH-N “Nan” 81 9. GEE, A.P.I. and H2S 85 10. The German Defences 87 11. Reflections on Survival 89 12. Postscript 93 Bibliography 97 Glossary of Terms 99 1 [page break] [blank page] [page break] [underlined] PHOTOGRAPHS [/underlined] Following [underlined] Page No. [/underlined] [underlined] East London, 1943 [/underlined] 32 Left to Right - Fred Rolph, Author, Dorita, ? Parker (uncertain) [underlined] ‘B’ Flight, Air Navigation Course No. 12 at 41 Air School, Collondale, East London [/underlined] 32 Left to Right - Bond, Chippendale, Cox, Osborne, Jones, Sadler, Author, Hill, Woodland, Wilson, Marshall, Albans [underlined] Ops Crew, 1944 [/underlined] 54 [italics] Mid Upper [/italics] - Stan Swain, [italics] Bomb Aimer [/italics] - Tom Crook, [italics] Navigator [/italics - Author, [italics] Pilot [/italics] - Fred Holbrook, [/italics] Rear Gunner [/italics] - Tom Tibb, [italics] Flight Engineer [/italics] - John Squires, [italics] Wireless Operator [/italics] - Jock Poyner [underlined] Ops Crew and PH-N (‘Nan’) [/underlined] 54 Poyner, Tibb, Author, Swain, Crook, Holbrook, Squires [underlined] The Author and PH-N [/underlined] 54 [underlined] Second Tour Crew, May 1945 [/underlined] 80 Two Gunners, [italics] Wireless Operator [/italics] - ‘Artie Shaw’, [italics] Pilot [/italics] - Bill Addison, [italics] Bomb Aimer [/italics] - Jack, [italics] Navigator [/italics] - Author, [italics] Flight Engineer. [/italics] 3 [page break] [underlined] The author en-route to Wickenby, June 1945 [/underlined] 84 [underlined] PH-N, June 1945, with the author and member of the old ground crew [/underlined] 84 4 [page break] [underlined] Chapter 1 : Decisions [/underlined] Hull Grammar School - an old established seat of learning, with many famous pupils. I was proud of the old school and here I took the School Certificate Examination in June 1937. I passed in eight subjects with a Distinction in Chemistry. A selected group took Additional Maths, taught by the Headmaster, F. Mayor. This introduced me to differential calculus at the age of fourteen. I spent two terms in the Lower Sixth Science pending my sixteenth birthday, in March 1938. Although Maths was my favourite subject, it was more practical at that time to use the Chemistry. In those days, there were fewer universities and unless ones parents were very wealthy, one left school at sixteen. I started work in the laboratories at British Oil & Cake Mills, H.O.M.Co, Stoneferry, Hull, within easy cycling distance from home. They were part of the Unilever Group, and were a very good firm, with sports and social facilities. I had little spare time for these as I immediately enrolled at the Hull Municipal Technical College, beginning in September 1938. I found that my School Certificate qualification gave me exemption only from the Northern Universities Matriculation and not from the London University Matriculation. This meant that I couldn’t enter for the External London B.Sc. in Chemistry. The difference between the Northern Matric. and the London Matric. was that English Literature was a compulsory subject for the latter. This seemed irrelevant in the context of a Chemistry Degree. However, I entered for the A.I.C. (Associate of the Institute of Chemistry). The A.I.C. and B.Sc. people took the same classes, but instead of taking the Inter-B.Sc. examination, after two years of Evening Classes one was given slips of paper certifying that one was up to Inter B.Sc. standard in Maths. 5 [page break] [NOTE: PAGES 8 AND 9 MISSING] and Physics. (These I duly obtained in May 1940.) Meanwhile, I was fully aware of what was brewing up in Europe with Hitler and his gang making monkeys of the old-school politicians. The ruthless annexation of Austria, followed by that of Czechoslovakia, despite the pathetic delaying tactics of Britain and France, in addition to Hitler’s bellicose threats, made it very evident to me that war was becoming almost inevitable. The facts and figures produced by Winston Churchill underlined the growing military potential of the German forces. The weak capitulation of the British and French diplomats on the matter of the Sudetenland confirmed my belief that it was only a matter of time. I was heartened when at last Britain and France gave their support to Poland, and actually felt relief when, after the German attack on Poland on September 1st 1939, they honoured their obligations and declared war on Germany. I realised fully how terrible a step it was, but there was no reasonable alternative. Sooner or later we had to face reality. It was still very eerie when the first air-raid warning sounded on Sunday, September 3rd. 1939. I carried on with my evening classes (three evenings a week), cycling to and from the Technical College throughout the black-out and occasional air-raid alarms. In fact, I didn’t miss a single class up to the time I went into the R.A.F. in April 1942. I seem to remember that it was during the very first session of evening classes that I first met Walter Suddaby, who lived in North Hull. He was a quietly-spoken pleasant lad and we had similar ideas of humour and became friends for the duration 6 [page break] of our time at the Tech. Of course, having full-time day jobs plus three nights a week at the Tech. and other evenings writing up notes and studying at home, we didn’t get together outside the course. When the war started I was just coming up to seventeen and a half and “Sudd” was about the same age, maybe a month or two older. We followed the events of the war, wondering how it was going to affect us, but with no clear idea what we were about to do in the future. War came to Hull spasmodically but with increasing intensity as the years passed. The German Luftwaffe found the city an easy option. Placed on a distinctive bend of a wide river estuary, it wasn’t too difficult to spot even at night, when most of their attacks were made. Also it wasn’t a great distance for them to travel, reducing navigational problems on the way. There were many air-raid warnings when inland targets were being sought and the “All-clear” didn’t sound until the last of the enemy aircraft cleared the coast on their way home. Hull often received an extra “bonus” if the Germans couldn’t find their original target. As the war progressed the age of conscription for service in the armed forces was reduced to nineteen years but there was provision for students who were within two years of the final exams. to obtain deferment until after those exams. I remember quite clearly discussing the situation with “Sudd” and another Tech. student as we stood with our ‘cycles in the middle of the town. We agreed that we wouldn’t apply for deferment because “our qualifications wouldn’t amount to much if Hitler won the war”. “Sudd” and I would volunteer for the R.A.F. and the other lad (I can’t remember his name now) preferred the Fleet 7 [page break] would be affected by the transition from my mundane earthly existence into the realms of flight. I had at the back of my mind some disturbing recollections of not being too comfortable on fairground rides, so I was just a little apprehensive. On this account I asked my mother not to tell people that I was going as aircrew, so if things didn’t turn out too well I wouldn’t be a public disgrace. At Lord’s the centre of the famous stretch of turf was cordoned off but the perimeter offices had been converted into depots dispensing all the items of kit we were likely to require plus the inevitable kit-bag. Here we had our introduction to authority in the shape of sergeants and corporals, who shepherded us around the establishment until eventually we were marched off to our billets. My lot were in a converted block of flats in Viceroy Court, St. John’s Wood, which had been re-equipped with service beds and lockers. It was all very strange, finding oneself amongst a crowd of strangers from various walks of life. The only thing we definitely had in common was that we were “all in the same boat”. We had so many adjustments to make from our previous individual routines that we more readily accepted our imposed companions and most of their idiosyncrasies. The main exceptions as far as I was concerned were smoking and crude language. I had earlier decided that smoking was bad for the health and ruled that out. After hearing some of my new associates, apparently unable to complete sentences without including at least one “f” word, I concluded that the repeated insertion made both the speech and the user appear idiotic and resolved never to stoop to it. I never did. Various N.C.O.s, mainly corporals, undertook to instil 10 [page break] some military discipline on our “shower” and in a few weeks we were marching around in shiny boots and brand new uniforms with shiny buttons and getting regular hair-cuts so we didn’t get picked out during inspections. Although I was in London there was no scope entertainment-wise. Pay for an A.C.2 was 2s. 6d. a day. I was making a voluntary allotment home of 1s 0d. a day, so when pay day came after two weeks I had to quote my last three numbers, 694, step forward, salute and receive the princely sum of £1. I think I managed to get to a Lyon’s cafe once or twice whilst in London. Most of the “entertainment” consisted of walking around some of London’s famous streets. We all looked forward to getting to an I.T.W. (Initial Training Wing) and acquiring some more useful instruction than the rudiments of drill. Unfortunately, by the time my posting to No. 5 I.T.W. at Torquay came through I had a problem. Due probably to being a little run down towards the end of the evening class session in Hull, combined with swinging arms up to shoulder-level during our marching exercises I developed an abscess under one arm. If I reported sick I would miss my posting and would be stuck in London for another three weeks, so I kept quiet and only mentioned the matter when I got to Torquay on 9.5.42. I was immediately hospitalised with a temperature of 104 degrees F. and operated on the next day. “Home” in Torquay was the Toorak Hotel, appropriately modified with service beds and lockers. We commenced a range of studies including navigation, meteorology, signals, armament, aircraft recognition, hygiene and anti-gas. We continued with drill and physical training in addition to the regular exercise we 11 [page break] got marching along the hilly streets in Torquay. The thing that regularly bothered me, being only five feet six and a half, was the constant effort to keep pace with the taller people at the head of the column, generally six-footers. I seemed to be airborne most of the time! We had as our N.C.O. Sergeant Ditchburn, who was the Tottenham Hotspurs goalkeeper. We found him to be quite a reasonable type and certainly preferable to a pre-war regular. He was firm but genial and had a good sense of humour. As we progressed with our I.T.W. course we were rewarded by promotion to L.A.C. (leading aircraftman) which involved wearing a propeller badge on the sleeve. This embellishment in addition to the white flash worn in the forage cap gave us quite a smart appearance. Pay shot up to 5s. 6d. a day! Much of the time that summer in Torquay we didn’t wear our tunics – it was too warm, particularly when being marched around at 140 paces to the minute. I must admit that marching like that with arms swinging to shoulder height did look impressive and when it was N.A.A.F.I. or W.V.S. break time there was no problem achieving 140 despite the hilly streets, particularly when “racing” other squads. I can remember learning Morse and using the buzzer and the Aldis lamp, also learning to rectify faults in the Browning 303 machine gun. Two other events associated with those days spring to mind. On one occasion we were all on the beach when we got our first sight of the enemy. A couple of Messerschmitt 109s came swooping in at low level to attack the shipping in the harbour. They also opened up with machine gun and cannon fire at random. We lay flat on the beach and had a very good view of the crosses on their wings. Fortunately we had no casualties. The other memorable event was a dramatic introduction 12 [page break] to dinghy drill. An inflated aircraft dinghy floating in the harbour at Torquay was the objective of our escapes from a mock ditching. In turn and singly we had to don a sodden uniform and a Mae West and jump into the harbour and make our way to the dinghy. This was reasonably straightforward for swimmers, but as a complete non-swimmer it certainly presented me with a problem. For a start the water was about 14 feet below the harbour wall so there was no easy option. It was a case of jumping into the unknown or not showing up very well in front of everyone – so I jumped. It seemed a long time before I surfaced and then managed rather laboriously to dog-paddle to the dinghy. I realised that it would not have been a realistic exercise in, say, the North Sea for real. Time passed and we were kept well occupied with lectures, exams and drill (including rifle and continuity drill) and a memorable cross-country run of a mile or two which included ploughing through a duck-inhabited pond. We returned to the Toorak Hotel soaking wet, smelling horribly and legs stinging from nettle contact. On another occasion we were taken by a rather ancient local train and dropped off in small groups at stations along the line skirting Dartmoor and given the task of finding our various ways across country to a pub four or five miles away, somewhere in the middle of the moors. There we downed a pint or two of excellent cider. Fortunately we didn’t have to walk back! [page break] [blank page] [page break] [underlined] Chapter 2: The Stirling Castle [/underlined] Eventually, I think it was about 15.10.42, we were posted to Blackpool after some embarkation leave. We were billeted in typical Blackpool boarding houses complete with landladies. Ours was “Holmleigh”, Crystal Road. When “Sudd.” got my letter with the Blackpool postmark he was surprised but rightly deduced that I was going abroad. He said he wouldn’t mind being in my place. He was completing a wireless course at Cranwell. He had at one time also been billeted in Blackpool and had enjoyed his accommodation. He wished me good luck and suggested that to be on the safe side I should send my future letters to his home address in 5th Avenue, North Hull. I received his letter just before we were moved to Liverpool and transferred to the “Stirling Castle” one of the Union Castle Line’s fleet which had been converted for troop carrying. That was on 26.10.42. Our accommodation consisted of long narrow benches and tables for the day-time and hammocks for sleeping. I recall the awkward and maddening time getting even the blankets to stay in the hammock. At night we must have looked like a tin of sardines. Next day the ship moved out into the river and our time was spent “spud-carrying” (2 hours) and then “fatigues” such as cutting butter, etc. from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Talk about slave labour! On the 28.10.42 the ship turned to face the river mouth and we had our first boat drill. At 1 p.m. the following day we sailed, leaving Liverpool and the Royal Liver Buildings, then passing the Isle of Man and Stranraer as we headed round Northern Ireland. We got used to the hammocks but there was a snag. They isolated us from the movement of the ship and the full extent of the sea movement was not apparent until we 15 [page break] dismounted next morning and hit the heaving deck. By now of course, we were getting into the Atlantic. It was better, if somewhat chilly on deck. I was a little sick and didn’t bother about fish breakfast. The afternoon was pleasant and we were entertained watching Aldis signals from escorting warships and a sister ship, the “Athlone Castle”. There were six ships in our convoy. On the third day our convoy had increased to seven ships with six escorts and we were moving more slowly. Depth charges were dropped during the afternoon. Two days later we were joined by a merchant cruiser but there were now only two destroyers or frigates in sight. The temperature was increasing as we headed in a generally southerly direction and we changed into tropical kit. We wrote letters and listened to the B.B.C. when we could, and were pleased to have good news of the North African theatre. Pontoon was a popular pastime but we also spent some time swotting our I.T.W. notes. In between we watched flying fish and were fascinated by the phosphorescence of the water. One ship left the convoy, with a small gunboat as escort. As the temperature rose and we estimated our position as approximately 28 degrees West we speculated about the possibility of visiting South America. Our thoughts were re-focused when a destroyer Aldis message mentioned U-boats. This was a particularly profitable time for the German submarines, as the Royal Navy had not had time to recover from a series of severe set-backs in ’41 and ’42 and had only the minimum capacity for escorting convoys. On the credit side, the German Enigma Code had been broken, (we, of course, knew nothing about that) and so it was possible using devious routes to 16 [page break] avoid the U-boat packs. On 10.11.42 we were reduced to two escort vessels. Next day, Armistice Day, I bought a poppy – amazing that someone had such foresight! We reckoned that we were now about 4 degrees S. and 28 degrees W. We were now joined by the cruiser H.M.S. London and were also rejoined by the merchant cruiser. On 12.11.42 we spotted a Catalina flying boat so we knew land wasn’t too far away and from then on we saw aircraft every few hours. It reminded one of the dove with the olive branch. On 14.11.42 we were told we would be in port tomorrow. AT 0530 next morning I got my first glimpse through a porthole of a low-lying stretch of land on the starboard with an orange-coloured beach, backed by trees, palm and deciduous. We were in an inlet running roughly north-south. A Brazilian biplane (it looked like an Italian C.R. 42) flew past and I spotted a Grumman Goose (American amphibian) and a Catalina – at least the aircraft recognition was paying off! There was a small harbour vessel with white-dressed pilots and officials to see us in, together with what appeared to be a tug (the “Aquina”). We were surrounded by canoes and skiffs of all sizes, fitted with sliding seats and crewed by handsome Brazilian boys. There were sailing boats looking somewhat like Red Sea feluccas. We saw loads of bananas and pineapples passing by and liberty men going ashore in launches. We had arrived at Bahia. In the evening it was impressive, after weeks at sea and years in blacked-out England, to see all the lights ashore and red flashing street signs, together with the green flashes of trams. The land rose steeply from the sea shore with buildings at the foot and the top with trees in between. 17 [page break] About 5 p.m. the next day our ship took the place of the “Athlone Castle” at the quayside. We had a London fire-engine pumping fresh water aboard and a British-made crane (Bath) loading stores. Some of the firemen threw oranges and bananas up to us. The water replenishment seemed to go on for quite a bit of the next day. Wednesday 18.11.42 was a red-letter day. We went ashore for a couple of hours. (We had the “honour” of being the first Allied troops to land in Brazil after their belated declaration of war on the Axis). We were marched through the colourful streets, being followed by children who were delighted to have coins thrown to them. We halted and dismissed for a few minutes in a local park where there was a monument to the foundation of the Brazilian Republic. Everyone was after drinks and fruit, a complication being the exchange rate. I had a shilling, 100 reis = 1/4d.; 1,000 reis = 1 milreis. We then formed up and marched back to the ship. We left Bahia the following afternoon on the final long leg of our journey to South Africa. We were escorted, presumably as a precaution against loitering U-boats, by a Brazilian “Harvard” fitted with bombs. Our convoy now consisted of three transports, two smaller ships, a destroyer and an armed merchant cruiser. By the next day we were well away from Bahia with no sign of U-boats. Our time was occupied by tests in navigation, signals etc. We played chess and pontoon, and wrote letters (“airgraphs”). We listened to Wing Commander Ritchie, D.F.C., the author of “Fighter Pilot”. We had boat drills at regular intervals. Then on 25.11.42 we changed back into “blues”, and were duly inspected, prior to our second pay parade aboard the “Stirling Castle”. 18 [page break] We estimated our position as roughly 25 degrees South and 5 degrees West, i.e. about halfway from Bahia to South Africa. I have a note on 27.11.42 that I saw the doctor and an albatross! I’d been bothered by bronchial catarrh for about a fortnight, possibly due to the stuffy conditions below decks at night-time. I used to take a book to the stairwell and read to get myself good and sleepy before climbing into my hammock so that I had a chance to fall asleep without coughing and disturbing everyone around. I can still remember the label “Mist. Expect.” on the medicine bottle in the sick bay which I visited at regular intervals! During the next few days we were joined by a merchant cruiser and then saw two Venturas over our convoy. We were obviously in another danger zone and portholes had to be closed during the day as well as at night. On the afternoon of 30.11.42 we sighted Table Mountain and very soon afterwards the wreckage from a ship torpedoed early that morning. By 8 p.m. we reckoned we were well east of Table Mountain when paravanes were brought into use against the possibility of sea-mines in the seas around the Cape. We continued out of sight of land until on 4.12.42 we arrived at Durban. Everyone crowded on deck as we edged slowly into harbour at the end of our 5 weeks voyage. We were told to look out for the “Lady in White”, who made it her business to greet all the visiting troops at the dockside. Suddenly, there she was in a long white dress and picture hat. She began to sing to us, using a megaphone, in a song clear voice several heart-warming songs such as “Rule Britannia” 19 [page break] and finally “We’ll Meet Again”. At the end of her mini-concert the troops responded with cheers and whistles and the ships’ sirens joined in. By 6 p.m. we had disembarked in our khaki uniforms and were entrained, six to a compartment, on our way to 48 Air School, a joint R.A.F./S.A.A.F. base, near East London. The journey was fascinating – I suppose being back on land and away from the ship helped a lot. We were back in civilised surroundings, a comfortable train and enjoyable meals served without us having to move a muscle. The scenery was magnificent, rolling hills with rocky outcrops. We often caught sight of forward and rear section of our train as we negotiated the snaking track. The evenings were notable for the brilliant displays of fireflies. 20 [page break] [underlined] Chapter 3: South Africa [/underlined] We reached Woodbrook, just three miles outside East London, on 6.12.42 after our two-day rail journey and were pleased by the wooden huts provided for our accommodation. We had an excellent dinner, filled in various bits of paperwork and got the bus into East London for the evening. It really was another world, walking through well-lit streets past well-filled shops, rather like a throw-back to 1939. We discovered that new courses began every three weeks so we had quite a bit of time on our hands. In the meantime, I reported sick and got further treatment for bronchial catarrh, but really it was just a matter of time and it wasn’t long before I was O.K. again. It wasn’t long before we were acclimatised, conditions being just about ideal in East London, temperatures being generally about 10 degrees F. warmer than we were used to in England. The coastal situation had quite a modifying effect compared with more inland Air Schools. We had the occasional sharp storm with heavy rain, but generally in short spasms, not enough to inconvenience our exploration and enjoyment of our unexpected “holiday”. Car lifts were readily available to and from the town. The harbour was usually worth a visit – we encountered various nationalities including Dutch seamen from a submarine depot ship. The shops were all set out for Christmas – this seemed at odds with an evening temperature of 70 degrees F. at 19.45 hours. A favourite indulgence was fresh strawberries and ice-cream in a local restaurant. For our entertainment and refreshment there were several volunteer-run facilities including the U-NO-ME Club, Toc H, and S.A.W.A.S., rather like the W.V.S. at home, where you could sit around and chat or play 21 [page break] games. I was quite keen on table-tennis and snooker which I generally played with my pal Fred Rolph (an ardent Brentford F.C. supporter). It was also quite pleasant on the beach, or attending the “Colosseum” cinema. I also caught up with my correspondence, sending airgraphs and receiving letters from my parents, dated October. Christmas Day was spent in the camp with lunch served by officers and sergeants. We went short of nothing. There was turkey, pork, pudding, cake, fruit, sweets, nuts, ices, beer etc. In the afternoon we rested and we had little room for tea. It seemed a life in limbo. There was a world war going on many miles away but we were temporarily detached from it and waiting to get on the conveyor belt. We obviously had some of our time occupied with lectures, drill etc., but were impatient to get on with something more meaningful. We were intrigued by the political situation and the segregation of the white and black communities. The coloured people did the menial jobs and seemed to accept their lot with resignation. They were housed generally in single-room huts on the outskirts of the European city. Quite a few thousands of black South Africans were enlisted in the Army but they served only in menial ways. Strangely enough they seemed quite keen on Army life. One day when I was on police guard near the main gate I witnessed a squad of them being drilled by one of their own N.C.O.s in their free time on the road just outside the camp. They put quite a lot of effort into it and were trying hard to be smart. They didn’t have any firearms, of course, or we might have been anxious! By and large, the R.A.F. lads sympathised with their situation in their own country. 22 [page break] On 7.1.43 there were rumours of our course starting on 25.1.43. We filled in the time attending lectures, carrying out various duties, marching etc., and going into town when we were free. About this time I bought myself an Omega watch (£5.10s.) and a Tissot watch for my brother. The Omega watch is worth mentioning as I relied on it exclusively during all my navigation (training and operational). I got them from a Swiss jeweller’s shop in East London in early January ’43. (I still have the Omega, though it was accidentally broken around 1970). We played a lot of table-tennis and snooker and I wrote home and to Walter Suddaby, and my brother Norman who was also in the R.A.F. (training as a wireless operator). Keeping up with the washing was another regular activity. My wash-day was usually at the weekend and consisted simply of washing my clothes in the wash basin using a bar of “Sunlight” soap, rinsing thoroughly and then spreading them out on large rocks in the sun to dry. Trousers were creased by placing them carefully under the mattress. Eventually, we started our course proper on Monday 25.1.43, with three periods of dead-reckoning (D.R.) navigation, one period on instruments, two periods on signal procedure and one practicing on the Morse buzzer. From this time on we were kept solidly at our studies for the next eight weeks, including examinations to keep us up to the mark. It was during this time, however, that Fred Rolph and I were invited to visit the home of Dr. G.J.C. Smyth of 30 St. Georges Road, in East London. He and his family were most hospitable and regularly entertained us when we and two other R.A.F. lads had a few hours to spare at weekends. 23 [page break] We spent a lot of time in the spacious garden playing tenni-quoits, which was most enjoyable and enabled us to “let off steam”. We maintained this contact until just before we left South Africa. We didn’t see a lot of the Doctor himself, as he was pretty busy, but Mrs. Smyth and the family looked after us very well. For the flying stage of our training I was posted on 27.3.43 to No. 41 Air School at Collondale which, I was pleased to discover, was only about eight miles from East London, thus enabling me to continue having pleasant weekend breaks at the Smyth’s. Fred wasn’t quite so fortunate, in that he was posted to No. 47 Air School near Queenstown, approximately 100 miles inland, which made it more awkward for his journeys to the Smyth’s. Fortunately he could make it by rail. After the minimum time to settle in and only three days into our studies our class of twentyfour trainee navigators, divided into “A” and “B” flights, came face to face with reality by way of the Avro Anson. This was a twin-engined monoplane with a great safety record. I can recall it was already practically obsolete from a military point of view, being far too slow and almost unarmed, but provided a good steady platform for training purposes. Appropriately, my first flight ever in an aircraft was on April 1st. (This by strange coincidence happened also to be the 25th. anniversary of the foundation of the Royal Air Force in 1918). I was first navigator with another pupil as second navigator in Anson “V” (3153) piloted by 2nd. Lieutenant McIndoe of the S.A.A.F. The aim was to give us air experience and to try out our map-reading skills while navigating as best we could from Potsdam, (a nearby village) around a laid-down 24 [page break] cross-country route of about 250 miles. As first navigator I sat at the plotting table carrying out the chart plot and maintaining the log of events. The second navigator armed with a topographical map (i.e. showing the main ground features on the route) tries to identify features passing below the aircraft which are shown on his map. When he gets a positive identification he notes the spot on the map, the precise time of this observation and passes both pieces of information to the first navigator, who then plots them, using the latitude and longitude on his chart. This flight became the first entry in my flying log-book. On subsequent flights the two navigators took it in turns to be first and second navigator. The earlier trips were inclined to be a bit rough and ready technique-wise, but as experience increased we became more confident in our judgement of when to give the pilot an alteration of course. In reality, we had many factors in our favour, navigating in South Africa. The weather was generally very good and so was the visibility. The ground features were easy to interpret, nowhere near as congested as we were to encounter later back in Britain. The aircraft was usually only a few thousand feet up and the pilots were quite familiar with the territory, so although they played the game one was aware that they wouldn’t let things get out of hand navigation-wise. If you spotted a railway track it was a big help because there weren’t many railway lines in the whole of the area. Sizeable towns were few and far between and so were much more readily identified. At this stage we were already encountering the fundamental problem of air navigation – estimating and allowing for the effect of the wind, a continually varying factor. As anyone observing a light aircraft flying in a crosswind will know, 25 [page break] the aircraft doesn’t travel in exactly the direction it is pointing. It drifts sideways to an extent depending on the wind-speed and direction, (wind velocity). If the aircraft is supposed to be travelling from point A to point B it is not sufficient to point the nose directly at point B unless the wind is from dead ahead or dead astern, a most unlikely occurrence. One has to apply a correction to the heading according to the wind velocity. Knowing the aircraft’s heading from the compass and its airspeed from the airspeed indicator the navigator can plot an “air position” according to the time elapsed on that course. If at that time he can identify the actual position of the aircraft relative to the ground by visual or other means and plot that “fix”, the line joining the “air position” with the “fix” shows both the wind direction and the effect of the wind over the time of the plot and hence the wind velocity. This velocity can then be used as the most up-to-date information for use in making any necessary alteration of course to allow for the wind effect. We proceeded with ever more sophisticated exercises as the course progressed, flying mainly with South African but occasionally R.A.F. pilots and included photography, astro-navigation (night-flying), over sea exercises, formation flights, flame-float exercises (also involving night flying), and low-level map reading. Meanwhile we were kept hard at it with our ground studies which involved D.R. (Dead Reckoning) theory, D.R. plotting, compasses meteorology, maps and charts, instruments, radio navigation, reconnaissance, photography, aircraft recognition, signals (both lamp and buzzer) and Astro-navigation. With any subject involving calculations I found no real difficulty because I had always enjoyed Maths. Notwithstanding 26 [page break] the confidence this gave me, I could not see much relevance between the training we were getting and the realities of operating at heights of 10,000 to 20,000 feet on dark nights with the ground practically invisible, under enemy fire. Astro-navigation seemed to be about the only independent means of navigation, but when one thought about what that entailed in practice it didn’t seem such a good idea. Inherently Astro-navigation did not appeal to me as sufficiently accurate. In order to get a fix one needed to take observations by sextant on three stars distributed at reasonable angles in the night sky through the perspex dome in the roof of the bomber aircraft, each observation taking a minimum of 2-3 minutes, not forgetting to note the time of the observation and having to calculate a position line from a book of tables and transfer it along the track on the chart. Then, if one was lucky, one had three lines which crossed producing a sizeable triangle, somewhere within which lay, hopefully, the position of the aircraft. The biggest criticism was the vulnerability of an aircraft flying straight and level at a steady airspeed for up to ten minutes over predicted anti-aircraft fire and being followed by night fighters with radar. At this stage I was puzzled how the job could be done and I just had to hope that all would be revealed in the fullness of time. Meanwhile, I was thankful not to have experienced any ill effects from my encounter with aviation and felt that I should be able to cope reasonably well in the future. It must have seemed very tame for some of our South African pilots after coming from combat in North Africa to spend time “taxi-driving” we “sprog” navigators. We heard strange stories about some of their antics as they tried to relieve the boredom, but the Anson was a most tolerant aircraft and almost flew itself. In my log book I have the names Jooste, Nasmith, Efroiken, Van Rensburg, Moll, Mannheim, Van 27 [page break] Heerden, Steyn and Duveen, along with R.A.F. pilots Cowan and Hill. Suddenly, on 1.7.43 I, with four other members of pour course (No. 12) at 41 Air School was sent for interview by W/C Pettit and two Squadron Leaders. I was genuinely taken by surprise, wearing a somewhat scruffy battledress with two or three buttons missing. I had nothng [sic] to lose and I ran down the C.E.B. exams in general. I noted “it seemed to work”. The following day, more prepared on this occasion, I was interviewed by Group Captain O’Grady. I was stumped by a question on details of the D.F.C. He was very pleasant and at the end I felt I would have liked to have another interview, knowing more about him. It turned out that I was considered O.K. for commissioning, along with John Tebbut from “A” flight. I was somewhat surprised, considering that I had at no time applied for or even thought about a commission at this early stage in my training. More so, because during the first interview I had rejected the possibility of staying in South Africa as an instructor on the grounds that pupils would be likely to take more notice of instructors with operational experience. I omitted to say that I would have felt like the blind leading the blind. [underlined] Results of Courses from 29.3.43 to 10.7.43 Air Navigation Course No. 12 Held at 41 A.S. South Africa [/underlined] 28 [page break] [underlined] Subject – Poss. – Obtd. [/underlined] D.R. Theory – 100 – 63 D.R. Plotting – 300 – 229 Compasses – 100 – 74 Meteorology – 100 – 72 Maps and Charts – 100 – 94 Instruments – 100 – 76 Radio Navigation – 100 – 79 Reconnaissance – 100 – 72/A Photography – 100 – 94/AA A/C Recognition – P. – P. Signals – 100 – 96 Astro-Navigation – 100 – 97 Flying times on Course Day 76.45 Night 17.20 A/C Type Anson Air Exercise Assessment AA (Above Average) [underlined] TOTAL MARKS OBTAINED 81 PERCENT PASSED [/underlined] 29 [page break] Remarks: An Above Average Navigator Signed by W/Commander Pettit There were still three more air navigational exercises to fit in before our graduation day on 10.7.43. To present our brevets we had Rear-Admiral Scott. When it came to my turn the conversation was as follows:- “Where do you come from, my boy?” “Hull, Yorkshire, Sir.” “There’s not much of Hull left is there?” “No, Sir.” etc. The evening celebration was quite informal but the Group Captain did take the opportunity to compliment us on a good parade. A big dampener, as far as I was concerned, was the news I had received from Fred Rolph, about the time I had my first interview for a commission. He’d made a mess of the Astro-Navigation exam and then came up against a problem in the D.R. Plotting. He said in his letter of 29.6.43, “Do you think I could remember how to do it? I sat there cudgelling my brains and thinking of Edna” (his girl-friend back home) ”and the Astro exam and I couldn’t think how to do it.” He tried to remedy the plotting but only succeeded in getting deeper in the mire. In fact he needn’t have worried so much about the Astro exam – he obtained 67 percent, but he didn’t know how. It was worrying unnecessarily about the Astro that contributed to his failure in the D.R. Plotting. The outcome was that nine members of his course, including Fred had to re-sit their D.R. Plotting exam a day or two before I was getting my brevet. This meant a delay of three weeks for Fred but he added a P.S. “Edna won’t mind waiting three weeks extra after nine months. (I hope!)”. 30 [page break] Unfortunately those three weeks meant that he never caught up with me again, and his next letter, posted from the Smyth home on 26.7.43 didn’t catch up with me until four months later, when I had no idea where he would be. I had done my packing and said goodbye to the Smyth’s and boarded the train for Cape Town. Denis Smyth, probably about eighteen or nineteen years old, took me to the station by car, followed the train and saw me again at Cambridge just down the line. I was really sorry to leave the Smyth’s, after all their kindness. Next day, Tuesday, we passed through Queenstown very early in the morning, and on Wednesday afternoon we arrived at Cape Town. We completed the journey to the I.F.T.C. Westlake (Imperial Forces Transit Camp) by electric railway and we were ensconced in Hut 6/26. During the next ten days I explored part of Cape Town and did some shopping. I managed to get items such as 1/2 yd. braid (pilot officer), a badge, some shirts, shoes, socks, gloves, hankies, and a raincoat and posted several small parcels of goodies to the family in England. On Sunday, 25.7.43 I settled up my mess fees, collected my pay and a £15 travelling allowance, packed the little that remained to be packed and was transferred at the last minute to the draft prior to the one I had expected. In a very short time we boarded the “Mauretania”. There were eight of us in a cabin, but it was luxurious compared with the hammocks and benches in the “Stirling Castle”. There were five R.A.F. Pilot Officers, two Navy types and one civilian attached to the R.A.F. Next morning we sailed for England about 11 a.m., after a boat drill at 10 a.m. Like the “Queen Elizabeth”, the “Mauretania” was 31 [page break] constructed just before the war and proved extremely useful in transporting troops throughout the war. The “Mauretania” alone carried more than 380,000 troops during 55 voyages and must have been a high priority target for German U-boats. My brother travelled to Canada in the “Mauretania” for his aircrew training, shortly afterwards. Our accommodation was section C3 on C Deck and our Mess No. 69. Mealtimes were pleasant affairs – I have an autographed menu from the luncheon on Wednesday August 11th 1943 in the Officers’ dining room. Nothing pretentious of course, but a big leap back to civilised behaviour. In contrast, acting as orderly officer one day, accompanied by a corporal I had the job of seeing the other side of life and asking the airmen on the mess decks for “Any complaints?” Thankfully everyone seemed reasonably happy with their lot. So we passed our time in comfort on our fairly direct (apart from a brief call at Freetown), journey back to Liverpool. This took about half of the five weeks of our outward journey on the “Stirling Castle”. By this time the submarine menace had been reduced considerably. 32 [page break] [photograph of three men and one woman] [page break [photograph of the crew with signatures] [page break] [underlined and centred] Chapter 4: Back to England [/underlined and centred] Once we docked in Liverpool we were soon on the train and on our way to No. 7 P.R.C. (presumably Personnel Receiving Centre) at Harrogate on 14.8.43. From there we went on our disembarkation leave. I believe I got most of my officer’s uniform fixed up in Hull and maybe some items in Harrogate, where we had to return before posting. On 8.9.43 my posting came to 3(O) A.F.U., Halfpenny Green, an airfield situated in the West Midlands between Bridgnorth and Dudley. (Today it is a civil airport). There during the next few weeks, I was to take part in No. 138 Air Observers Advance Navigation Course. It seemed an impressive title although a little anachronistic when the replacement of Observers by Navigators had already spread to South Africa and Canada with the Empire Training Scheme. We were already wearing the “N” brevets which replaced the previous observer “O”, as we arrived for the course. The “advanced navigation course” conducted on Ansons served two purposes. It showed us the difference between map-reading over the wide-open spaces of South Africa, where it was relatively easy to pick out significant features such as a main road or a railway line, and the more complex problem in European map-reading. The more densely populated areas introduced a corresponding profusion of ground detail. Secondly, it extended our experience quite logically without the further complication, on a short course, which might have been occasioned by using an unfamiliar aircraft. On the other hand, the disquieting feeling remained over the relevance of map reading from a few thousand feet, half the time in daylight, compared with the coming operational navigation mainly at 33 [page break] night, largely out of sight of the ground and at around 20,000 feet, while covering the ground more rapidly in a four-engined aircraft and with the added distractions caused by the opposition. The thirty-eight and a half hours flying time accrued at Halfpenny Green, brought my total flying time to one hundred and thirty-two and a half hours, roughly one-quarter being night flying. My one recollection of those days was, on the completion of a particular night exercise, walking from the airfield to the hut on a beautiful Autumn night along a narrow country road with not a soul in sight and humming a popular tune of those days. The next posting was to No. 84 O.T.U. (Operational Training Unit) at Desborough in Northamptonshire. That was on 12.10.43. This was a recently established O.T.U. and the roadways had only been laid that Autumn. It was also pretty wet weather during the first few weeks there and we aircrew, marching between our Nissen huts and lectures found ourselves on roads covered with mud from the soil excavated during their construction and piled nearby. The O.T.U. was equipped with Vickers Wellington twin-engined bombers, which had been the main-stay of Bomber Command for some time but was being progressively replaced by four-engined types. However, the Wellingtons, or “Wimpeys” as they were usually called, looked large and impressive and very business-like compared with the Anson to which I was accustomed. Other huts were occupied by other categories of aircrew – pilots, bomb-aimers, wireless operators and air-gunners. Very soon we would have to perform the transition from individuals to aircrews. To this end we were assembled in a large hangar and 34 [page break] told to get ourselves sorted out. This was very much a lottery. We were teaming up with people we had never met before to undertake dangerous operations during which we would be bound to depend implicitly on these strangers being able to do their jobs efficiently. I suppose this was accepted because we were “all in the same boat”. In hindsight, I don’t think anyone could have suggested a rational alternative. I cannot remember just how it came about but I found myself “crewed up” with three sergeants (pilot, Chris Derrick; wireless operator, John (Jock) Poyner; a rear gunner, Tom Gibb from Glasgow), and a Pilot Officer bomb-aimer making up the crew of five for the Wellington. This was the stage at which the division between commissioned and non-commissioned aircrew became apparent. We commissioned “types” were quartered in huts segregated from the huts of the N.C.O.s, and we had separate messes. We attended lectures according to our aircrew duties, e.g. navigator or whatever and only got together as a crew when flying was in the offing. It wasn’t done for officers and N.C.0.s to go around in “matey” groups. On the morale-boosting side, we navigators were soon relieved to learn that our big worry about how we could possibly navigate accurately at night would be considerably relieved by our introduction to an almost magical device known as a Gee box. Basically this measured the aircraft’s distance from each of two ground stations and where these measurements coincided gave the geographical position of the aircraft. On the debit side it was jammable by the enemy and could not be relied upon beyond the enemy coast. Nevertheless it would give us a sound beginning to our task when we went out on operational flights. We flew in a “Wimpey” for the first time on 8.11.43 with 35 [page break] a “screened” pilot instructing our pilot, Sgt. Derrick on the take-offs, circuits and landings, commonly known as “circuits and bumps”. The significance of this dawned on me in the course of time. Our pilot was given his solo check, went solo (with members of the crew) and had three further lots of “circuits and bumps”. Then we took the gunners on an air-firing exercise and did some dual “circuits and bumps”, two thirds of them with six different screened pilots. I think we must have met most of the instructors of “B” flight, some of them several times. Sometimes we were airborne several times a day, four times on three occasions. Our pilot seemed to have some trouble with his steering around the perimeter track and wandered off it occasionally. When this happened we were liable to be bogged down as the ground was so muddy. On a couple of occasions I flew in the rear turret because the gunners were occupied with ground training and the policy was for there always to be a pair of eyes in the rear turret to warn of the proximity of other aircraft both in the air and on the ground. I did not care for the cramped conditions and I cared less about the landings, when my helmeted head hit the turret. In my ignorance I thought it was just one of the things that went with flying heavy aircraft. I was thankful I was a navigator. Now the bomb-aimer had to “get in” a bit of practical work, dropping eleven and a half pound practice bombs at the local bombing range. We had been to the bombing range once at night and once by day, both times with a “screened” pilot. Now we had to carry out the same exercises “solo”. The high-level bombing by day was carried out, apparently satisfactorily but night bombing presented difficulties. We had bomb-sight trouble 36 [page break] on a number of occasions and four attempts were aborted. On the last occasion our bomb aimer was sick and on our return to base our pilot reported “bomb-aimer u/s” instead of “bomb-sight u/s”. At this stage we parted company with Chris Derrick – he was considered unsuitable as the pilot of heavy bomber aircraft. We heard that he carried on flying Oxfords, twin-engined aircaft. [sic] We also saw no more of our bomb aimer, F/O Valentine. I missed listening to his gramophone and classical records of an evening. During these early weeks we were rudely brought up against the realities of the job. One of our Wellingtons was shot down one night by a German intruder aircraft from a height of about 10,000 feet, possibly on a practice bombing exercise. Two members of the crew, including the F/Lt pilot, who had some operational experience on other aircraft, were fellow occupants of the same hut as Valentine and myself. I was one of the bearers at the funeral service in the local church. Within a few days we had a replacement pilot, Sgt. Redman, a rather taciturn character and we were transferred from “B” flight to “D” flight. We also had a replacement bomb-aimer, Sgt. Tommy Crook. Obviously Sgt. Redman had already satisfied the Air Force that he was competent to fly Wellingtons because, without any preliminaries whatsoever, our first outing with him was on a daylight cross-country (i.e. navigational exercise) in the company of a screened pilot. That was on 28.12.43. By the 10.1.44 we were completing our series of navigation exercises (in which we suffered simulated attacks by R.A.F. fighters) in what must have been record time, as the Air Force attempted to 37 [page break] makes us catch up on lost time. Unfortunately the cross-country on Route 92/19 turned out to be a somewhat traumatic experience. (In those days I don’t think the word “traumatic” was part of the vocabulary as it is today). Part of the route during a five and a half hour flight took us about 100 miles out over the North Sea and everything was going satisfactorily and the Gee set was working O.K. when Sgt. Redman suddenly announced that the aircraft had stalled. In front of me on the navigator’s table, was a duplicate altimeter, showing 8,000 feet. I watched, somewhat numbly, as the needle began to “unwind”. I can only suppose the other crew members were similarly afflicted. There was certainly no chatter and no panic. We all knew that the next words from the pilot were most likely to be “Prepare for ditching” which would mean taking up positions to minimise injury when the aircraft hit the sea. The altimeter continued to “unwind”. There was no instruction from our pilot to the wireless operator to try to inform base of our predicament and no word as to what was happening. At 4,000 feet, halfway down to the cold North Sea with virtually no chance of survival, the aircraft levelled off, still without a word of explanation from our pilot. It transpired what had happened was that the pitot tube, which feeds the air pressure for the airspeed indicator had “iced up” so the air-speed appeared to fall. The pilot, partly through inexperience, had feared the worst and informed us accordingly. We were relieved to get “home”. In unanimous agreement the crew decided that we had no confidence in our pilot and did not wish to fly with him again. Because of my commission, I had the unpleasant job of forwarding the crew’s views to our superiors and we did not 38 [page break] meet Sgt. Redman again. However, by the contribution of our two pilots, the rest of the crew were deemed to have completed the O.T.U. course, and after a spot of leave we were posted to a holding unit at Methwold, in Suffolk on 8.2.44. It must have been at Methwold that, whilst puzzling over the fate of our temporarily headless crew, I happened to meet an American lieutenant pilot serving with the R.A.F. He had a very English name, Braithwaite, and hailed from Hollywood and had lots of flying hours behind him before he left the U.S.A. He was waiting to be given a crew. He didn’t have a pronounced American accent and discussing our mutual situation we got on very well together. We both thought it would be the ideal solution if we could join forces, i.e. if he could take our pilotless crew. Unfortunately, the authorities preferred to give him a crew who had lost their pilot doing an operation as second pilot with another crew for experience before operating with his own crew. Our crew was posted on 25.2.44 to No. 1653 H.C.U. at Chedburgh, (also in Suffolk), which was in No. 3 Group of Bomber Command. Here we were in the land of the Stirling four-engined bomber – we would much rather have been on Lancasters. However, looking back on those days, I am certain that it was a turning point as far as our crew was concerned. In addition to acquiring a new pilot, Sgt. G.F. (Fred) Holbrook and a mid-upper gunner, Sgt. Stan Swain, we were joined by our flight engineer, Sgt. Johnny Squires, an extremely useful asset over the next six months or so. Johnny was already serving in the Army when the war started and had got to the rank of Captain in the Black Watch, pretty good going considering he wasn’t much taller than my five foot six and a half inches! Anyway, during the middle years of the war the Army had a comb-out of junior officers of 40 years and more and it was 39 [page break] decided that he would be better employed in his basic occupation, engineering, in civilian life. He was not enraptured with the idea and, knocking ten years off his age, joined the R.A.F. for aircrew training as a flight engineer. He was, of course, much older than the rest of us. I was just coming up to 22, our wireless operator, John Poyner, was just 22 and Fred Holbrook was probably about the same age. The rest of the crew were younger, the gunners probably 19 or 20. You could say he was almost a father-figure, but we daren’t have suggested any such thing at the time. He was really first class at the job, always calm and never at a loss, whatever the circumstances. He was a really steadying influence and, personally, having already “lost” two pilots along the way and now having a third unknown factor taking over, I felt much happier about our future knowing that Johnny was sitting up there alongside Fred. That feeling was reinforced as we progressed steadily with the local flying and then with navigational exercises on Stirlings (Mark I and III). The Stirling, which was the first of the R.A.F.’s four-engined bombers, built to a 1936 specification, gave the impression of a long dinosaur waiting to attack or pounce. The undercarriage was enormous and at first sight made me wonder what the altimeter in the cockpit read! It was a good aircraft but had serious limitations, the main one being its maximum altitude. I understand that this was due to its wingspan being limited by the standard hangar width of the day. Whilst other Bomber Command aircraft normally operated at about 20,000 feet, this ‘plane could barely manage 15,000, so it seemed it would be unwise to get mixed up with 40 [page break] people dropping things from a mile above. After five weeks at Chedburgh we were able to erase such thoughts from our imagination as we went on leave prior to being transferred to the Lancaster Finishing School at Hemswell in No. 1 Group. I still have one souvenir from the Stirling era, a horizontal scar on the bridge of my nose, due to colliding with the rear end of the tailplane whilst walking around a Stirling on a very dark night. Fortunately it was only local flying – not a navigational trip – and I was able to clamp my first aid dressing on to the spot immediately and stop the bleeding until we returned. That was to be the only injury I sustained in the Air Force. 41 [page break] Walter Suddaby I kept in touch with Walter at varying intervals throughout our R.A.F. careers and I knew he’d been with his crew to 1658 H.C.U. (Heavy Conversion Unit) at Riccall (halfway between York and Selby) to train on Halifax bombers. I had plenty of reminders when I later travelled through Riccall on my way to and from work at Selby. I heard when he got onto 158 Squadron at Lissett, near Bridlington and then no more. I cannot remember just how it happened that his brother, Frank, cycled over from their home in North Hull and found me home on leave, but his tidings were terrible and I was shocked. Walter had been killed in extremely unfortunate circumstances. In “The Bomber Battle for Berlin”, Air Commodore John Searby explains what happened on the night of 24/25th March 1944. “Over the Dutch coast P/O Simpson” (Walter’s pilot) “called base saying his port and starboard outer engines were damaged”. (It would be Walter transmitting the message). “and nothing more was heard until he was reported having crashed at the water’s edge at Ingham near Cromer, Norfolk, where a minefield was laid years before against possible invasion. The aircraft blew up and all were killed.” Apparently, having little altitude, the pilot attempted a crash landing on the beach, and had either forgotten about the mined beaches or had little alternative but to take the risk. A later publication, by W.R, Chorley. reported the crash as happening on the sand dunes near Winterton-on-Sea, Norfolk. 42 [page break] [underlined] Chapter 5: Operations 1-20 [/underlined] I can still remember my first close-up encounter with the Lancaster – no, I didn’t bump my nose. Compared with the ungainly appearance of the Stirling, the Lancaster looked sleek and business-like. On entering the cockpit I was greatly impressed by the appearance of the in-line Rolls Royce Merlin engines, of which I had heard so much since I became interested in aviation. My confidence soared. It increased further when I heard about the H2S (air-borne radar equipment) and the A.P.I. (air position indicator). Not that I had any time for practice at Hemswell – the object of the exercise was the transference from one four-engined bomber (the Stirling) to the other (the Lancaster) which mainly meant lots of take-offs and landings for our pilot and familiarisation with the new aircraft and its numerous instrument panels and dials for pilot (Fred) and flight engineer (Johnny). We were airborne for a total of barely eleven hours (some day and some night) during our brief stay at Hemswell and in no time at all we were making the short journey, on 26.4.44, by crew bus I believe, to Wickenby and No. 12 Squadron. At Wickenby, which was a war-time constructed airfield, I was again segregated from the rest of the crew as they were all sergeants. My accomodation [sic] on the officers’ site was in a Nissen hut, similar to that of the crew on the N.C.O.S’ site, which I later wandered over to inspect. I had a distinctly unusual and rather disquieting introduction to my new “home”. There was only one person there when I arrived, P/O Adam (Jock) Varrie, who I believe hailed from Lockerbie. (Currently domiciled in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe). He had lost his crew on operations whilst he was ill, 43 [page break] and had been given the job of assistant to the Flight Engineer Leader. He had arrived at Wickenby in September ’43 and had done quite a lot of ops. before losing his crew. He told me that during his time at Wickenby he knew of only one crew and “one odd bod” who had survived a tour of 30 operations, i.e. from the two squadrons Nos. 12 and 626, operating from Wickenby. I decided there was no point in worrying and to take a limited objective. I had a few science books with me and I did look at them on several occasions but I decided to defer the idea. Instead, I suppose partly in bravado, I decided to read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” which I found in the Library at Wickenby Officers’ Mess. I wondered how far I’d get with it under the circumstances. I did in fact get through the lot, more than 1,000 pages, in instalments! For moral support I said the “Lord’s Prayer” each night as I lay in bed, trying to give full interpretation to the words. Secondly (and rather trivially) I always polished by flying boots before going off to briefings. It was rather foolish in hindsight, because if I’d had to parachute down in enemy territory, polished boots would not have been a good idea, if one was trying to evade capture even if you managed to rear off the leg parts. Looking back, I suppose it was a case of “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition”. At the Navigation Office I encountered F/Lt. R. Stancliffe, our Squadron Navigation Officer and was impressed by his relaxed and friendly attitude. I soon encountered something which I found very inspirational. In some pigeon holes or racks in the Nav. Office there were a few navigators’ logs, one of which left an enduring impression on me. It had been compiled by F/O D.A. Colombo who had gone missing, along with his crew, on the Berlin raid of 24/25 March ’44, i.e. 44 [page break] just over a month earlier and the one on which Walter Suddaby and his crew were lost. His log seemed to me like a work of art, hardly the kind of craftsmanship one would have believed possible, given the circumstances prevailing at that particularly hazardous period in the history of Bomber Command. I decided, then and there, that if I couldn’t make Colombo’s standard I’d have a good try. I never met him but I never forgot him. Our crew was placed in “B” Flight of 12 Squadron and we were airborne just twice, both on 28.4.44, for “fighter affiliation” (i.e. dodging a Spitfire) combined with air-sea firing practice for the gunners and a simulated night attack on Bristol. I don’t remember whether we managed to fit in a short leave but just over a week later we were detailed for our first op. on 7.5.44. The first and second ops. were not very demanding, one on a target near Rennes in France and the second to a target in Belgium. The latter attack was aborted on the instruction of the Master Bomber, due to poor visibility and we were ordered to return with our load. Between our first and third ops. we got in quite a lot of navigational practice (and much needed H2S practice) on five cross-country exercises. This period also helped very considerably in getting us working together as a crew and becoming familiar with our surroundings, both aloft and on the station. Our third and fourth ops. were on German territory, but only just over the border from Belgium. They were attacks on two marshalling yards at Aachen and met with considerable resistance, the loss rates being 6 percent in the first case and 7 percent in the 45 [page break] second. Railway marshalling yards were beginning to assume very considerable importance in view of the impending invasion of Europe by the Allied Armies. Anything that would impede the free transit of German forces to the coast could obviously be helpful to our forces, and Aachen was an important railway junction in that respect. On the second of the Aachen trips we made the aquaintance[sic] of Lancaster Mk.1 ME758, PH-N, the former being the Manufacturers (Metropolitan Vickers) number and the latter comprising No. 12 Squadron’s letters and the aircraft letter. This was to become our regular aircraft, in which we were to do 25 of our 30 ops. The Aachen trip was N-Nan’s tenth. On all night operations and quite a lot of the day ones I travelled secluded from the outer world by my black-out curtain. I sat at the navigation table, which was situated to the rear of the pilot’s armoured back-rest (the only armour in the aircraft), facing the port (left) side of the aeroplane. The reason for the black-out precaution was, of course, the angle-poise light which illuminated my chart and navigation log. Any emerging light would not have been appreciated by the crew as a whole and would not have been good for the pilot’s night vision. I had devised my personal system of navigation in an effort to simplify the calculations. In fact, I had gone decimal and worked in tenths of hours and tenths of minutes instead of minutes and fractions. For example, in the early stages of an operation when I wanted to ascertain the actual wind velocity, which was ever-changing and sometimes considerably at variance with the meteorological information, I took Gee-fixes at 46 6-minute intervals or sometimes 12, knowing it was then simple mental arithmetic to multiply the measured vector from the air position (thank goodness for the A.P.I.) to the fix by 10 or 5 respectively to find the wind speed in knots (nautical miles per hour). This saved a lot of messing about with the manual computer. It was just as essential to keep in touch with the wind velocity as with your actual position so that you had the ability to correct your course in order to hit the next turning point on your route. It was always a case of working with hind-sight. You could only assume that the wind affecting you over the next few miles would be similar to what you had just experienced. Miscellaneous observations such as times of bombs being fused and released, times to drop and rates of dropping of “window” (i.e. anti-radar aluminised strips), times and rough location of the positions of aircraft being shot down (including some alleged to be “scarecrow” devices fired into the air by the enemy to pretend they were R.A.F. aircraft which had been destroyed in mid-air), whether parachutes were seen, sightings of enemy aircraft, target indicators, radio information via the wireless operator, and anything which might be of use to “intelligence”, all had to be logged with time of occurrence and estimated positions relative to our aircraft and its heading. We fitted in yet another cross-country exercise on 29.5.44 for H2S practice. (See page 88. for technical details). The log book entry reads “Window (aircraft) lost and aileron damaged. A.S.I. (Air Speed Indicator) read 360 m.p.h. plus in dive”. The necessary repairs were soon made. With the invasion imminent we got a number of short- 47 [page break] haul trips, including attacks on a radar-jamming station near Dieppe which was later found to have been made “with great accuracy”, a gun position at Sangatte, near Calais, (as part of a deception programme to keep the enemy guessing where the landings would come), and the attack on a coastal battery at St. Martin de Varreville on the Normandy coast on the eve of the invasion. On the latter occasion the H2S screen was covered with numerous luminous pin-point echoes of the invasion fleet on its way across the Channel. On the next evening we were supposed to bomb a railway switch-line at Acheres in the suburbs of Paris, but there was too much cloud for the safety of French civilians so the Master Bomber ordered us to return with our loads. (Not much fun, landing with a full bomb load!) That counted as our eighth operation. The next couple of night operations were also concerned with inhibiting the Hun, one being against a landing-ground at Flers in Southern Normandy and the other attacking the important railway junction of Evreux, about 50 miles west of Paris. So far our ten ops. had not been too stressful and had averaged only about four and a half hours night flying. Targets were marked by the Pathfinder Force (PFF) with various coloured devices which could be varied according to pre-arranged plans during the period of the attack and could be over-ridden by instructions from the “Master of Ceremonies” (Master Bomber) according to eventualities arising during the progress of the raid. By the time I was operating, the P.F.F. system had been developed over the better part of two years into a formidable 48 [page break] system, but there were occasional human errors. When this happened the whole or part of a raid could go awry. On the night of 12/13 June 1944 we took part in the first raid of a new oil campaign, the target being the Nordstern synthetic oil plant at Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr. In addition to my normal duties I was one of a number of navigators on the operation to be detailed for “wind-finding”. The idea was for the force as a whole to have the benefit of the information obtained from selected navigators and apply it to their individual needs. We calculated the wind velocities at successive stages en route and had our wireless operators transmit the coded information back to base for analysis and consideration by meteorological staff, who then reported back to the main force the outcome of their deliberations in terms of up-to-date information on wind vehicles. From my log for the trip I see that I sent back wind velocities from seven stages of the outward and return trips. I was quite happy with the navigation and had given the pilot the final correction to the course to the target, then calculated and given a wind velocity to Jock Poyner, our wireless operator, when our pilot spotted what he believed to be the target markers about 30 degrees to starboard and altered course towards them despite my disbelief, when we were approximately 20 miles from the target. Our clear instructions were to bomb the markers so that is what happened. We bombed just after 0101 hours, i.e. within our allotted range of 0100 to 0104 hours. Many years later I read an illuminating account in “Bomber Command News” in an article spanning “Six months in the life of Bomber Command, a day-by-day account of support for the Allied invasion forces.” This covered the period 23.5.44 49 to 31.12.44, including the attack on Gelsenkirchen. It reported – “Owing to the good work of the Pathfinders the attack opened with exceptional accuracy. Later a rogue target indicator fell ten miles short of target and was bombed by 35 aircraft. All production at the oil plant ceased with a loss of 1,000 tons of aviation fuel a day for several weeks.” On my part, I compared the photograph taken automatically when our bombs were released, with the large wall mosaic in the Intelligence library of photographs taken by R.A.F. reconnaissance aircraft. Not having the benefit of the information which was quoted so many years later in “Bomber Command News”, I estimated from our last alteration of course before the target approximately where to look on this huge map for the place we had actually bombed. From a few distinctive features on our photograph I was able to find the matching spot on the wall map – with a difference. Our picture showed unmistakably a dispersal point on the perimeter of an airfield which must have been constructed during the years since the reconnaissance photographs were taken. So the airfield personnel probably had an exciting night! The probable explanation is that whilst the real target was obscured by thick smoke from burning oil, the markers dropped ten miles away in open country were clearly visible. Seventeen Lancasters were lost, 6.1% of the Lancaster force of 286. For a bit of variation we flew the following night for a couple of hours practicing night fighter evasion (with an R.A.F. fighter). On the evenings of 14th and 15th June ’44 we operated in Bomber Command’s first daylight raids since May ’43. The objectives were the fast German motor torpedo boats (E-boats) and other light German naval forces based at Le Havre and 50 [page break] Boulogne, which were threatening Allied shipping off the Normandy beaches. We flew in loose “gaggles” (there had been no training in formation flying) escorted by Spitfires of 11 Group. The E-boat threat to the invasion beaches was almost completely removed. R.A.F. casualties were very light. We next had an aborted attack on a switch-line at Aulnoye, about 20 miles south of Mons. After a discussion between the Master Bomber and his deputy it was decided not to risk civilian casualties as it was too cloudy to bomb with accuracy, so we set off back with our loads, jettisoning the delayed-action bombs shortly after we left the French coast. On the night of 12/13 June ’44 the Germans began their V-1 (flying bomb) attacks on London. Between 15-16 and 16-17 June, 144 flying bombs crossed the Kent coast and 73 reached London. This stung the British authorities into action and Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the invasion forces, agreed that retaliatory action (code name CROSSBOW) should rank second in priority only to the urgent needs of the battlefield. From mid-June to mid-August attacks on V-weapon objectives became one of Bomber Command’s major concerns, absorbing about 40% of its effort and correspondingly reducing its ability to bomb Germany. Our first involvement came with a daylight attack on a flying-bomb site about 10 miles south-west of Calais. As the promised target indicators were not visible at the stated time we bombed on the Gee co-ordinates. That was on 22.6.44. I think we must have had a week’s leave after our 15th “op”, because “N-Nan” flew five operations with three other crews before we returned to the fray. Then it was back to the 51 [page break] Pas de Calais to attack the Domleger V-1 site, (my log says “flying-bomb supply lines”) in another daytime operation on 2.7.44. It was rather cloudy so again we “homed” to the target on Gee before the bomb-aimer, Tommy Crook, was able to take over and bomb visually. Now followed a trio of fairly lengthy night operations all involving railway marshalling yards at important centres in France. On the nights of 4/5, 5/6, and 12/13 July, we visited successively Orleans, Dijon, and Tours (not exactly Cook’s tours). On the first night the loss rate was 5 percent, on the second nil, and on the third about 3 percent. This was rather strange because the Dijon trip was by far the longer route, taking eight and a quarter hours, compared with about six hours for each of the others. The results were satisfactory, particularly at Orleans. I had cause to remember the bombing of the French railway system just over a year later when involved in flying our forces home on leave from Italy because the French railway system was still in a mess from our efforts in 1944 (see later). There was also an occasion when I was attending a symposium on analytical chemistry at Birmingham University in either 1954 or 1958 when I became involved in a discussion with a young French scientist, whilst queueing at the refectory. When he asked me if I’d been to France, I said “Not exactly” and admitted I hadn’t set foot in France although I had visited during the war. I had no idea what his reaction would be, and was greatly relieved and pleased when he slapped me on the back and spoke warmly of his admiration for the way the R.A.F. had managed to knock out railway goods yards close to the towns whilst causing the minimum of civilian casualties. He did not have such a good opinion of the U.S.A.A.F. with whom he chose to make the 52 [page break] comparison. I wish that I had made a note of his name and address! It was a completely unsolicited testimonial. After a gap of another week we went on our 20th operation to the railway yards and junction at Courtrai (or Kortrijk as the Belgians have it nowadays). Both targets were devastated. Casualties were 3 percent. 53 [page break] 54 [page break] [black and white photograph of 7 airmen in uniform standing in a row in front of a Nissen hut] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [black and white photograph of seven airmen in front of an aircraft, four standing in the back row and three kneeling in the front row.] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [black and white photograph of an airman leaning against the wing of an aircraft] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [underlined] Chapter 6: Operations 21-30 [/underlined] Taking part in the first major raid on a German city for two months, on the night of 23/24 July, we went to Kiel. It was our twentyfirst [sic] operation. The elaborate deception and the surprise return to a German target must have confused the opposition because Bomber Command lost only four aircraft out of 629 taking part. Kiel suffered heavy damage. The bombing force appeared suddenly from behind a Mandrel jamming screen, operated by the Radio Counter-Measures squadrons of 100 Group, and took the defences by surprise. In the space of 25 minutes nearly 3,000 tons of bombs fell on the town and port, inflicting enormous damage to the U-boat yards and many other areas. Rescue and repair was hampered by 500 delayed-action bombs and unexploded duds. There was no water for three days, no trains and buses for eight days and no gas for cooking for three weeks. Looking at my log, I see that I had a fault on the H2S and also that when we were well on the way home I had a dabble with the bubble sextant, taking three star shots for practice. I was glad I wasn’t dependent on them. On the night of 24/25 July we took part in the first of three heavy raids on Stuttgart. This was a more arduous trip, the return trip taking eight hours forty minutes. I had to Sellotape two Mercator charts together to lay down the route which took us via Normandy and south of Orleans to just beyond 9 degrees E longitude, and the majority of two double-sided log forms. Once again, I had the added duty of “wind-finding” for the main force. As it happened, the winds were the lightest I encountered on operations, barely reaching 20 knots at any stage and often less than 10 knots from between west and north-west. 55 [page break] From the intercom. and audible noises off I gathered, in the seclusion of my snuggery, that the reception committee was doing its best to welcome us as we neared the target. Someone spotted a night-fighter immediately ahead of us but fortunately it was crossing our route and was banked away from us, probably after some othe [sic] prey. (See page 91 “The German Defences” for further information on the tactics of the night-fighters). We bombed within half a minute of the time I had in my flight plan and speeded up to the next turning point on our route, just three minutes beyond the target, where we made a sharp turn to starboard on to the next leg of 18 nautical miles, before another starboard turn over the Schwabische Alb range. We had just settled onto our homeward route when trouble arose. The port inner engine packed up, probably due to flak, and had to be feathered. That meant we had ahead of us, all being well and no further complications, a four hour journey on three engines. We hoped we didn’t encounter any night fighters and were thankful for light winds for the next part of our journey. Actually, being relieved of the bomb load, “N-Nan” managed very nicely on its three Rolls Royce engines and I was able to continue the job of sending wind velocities back to base, the first on our return journey being only fifteen minutes after “losing” the engine. Altogether, on this op. I see that I managed to send back ten wind velocities covering various stages en route. We did lose a little time but by the time we crossed the south coast of England we were only ten minutes later than our planned time and we didn’t have to queue for landing back at Wickenby. Casualties amounted to 3.4 percent of the 614 attackers. 56 [page break] Two days later, on 27.7.44 we were airborne locally to air test the new engine and also the replacement for a damaged tail-fin, do some air-sea firing and take a passenger to Sandtoft. Our 23rd operation was much shorter and less exciting. On 30.7.44 we were part of a very large force of 692 aircraft sent to bomb six German positions in front of a mainly American ground attack in the Villers Bocage-Caumont area. Our target was near Caumont. Cloud caused difficulties and we had to orbit and descend to see the target indicators before bombing. Only four aircraft were lost. We were down at Wickenby after four hours. During the previous week I had been greatly surprised to see among new arrivals on 12 Squadron an old acquaintance from South African days. Furthermore, he was the other navigator commissioned at the same time and so we had consecutive Air Force numbers. We had both been on No. 12 course at 41 Air School though he was in “A” flight and I was in “B”. Due to the vagaries of the R.A.F. posting system, he had arrived at Wickenby three months after myself. He was F/O J.A. (John) Tebbut. We were naturally both excited by this coincidence – he could easily have gone to one of the many other airfields and squadrons and I hadn’t encountered any of the other navigators of No. 12 course since I left 41 Air School. I readily agreed to fly with him locally (and unofficially I believe) so that I could help him master the H2S equipment. We flew in “N-Nan” on a local cross-country lasting just over two hours on 31.7.44. When he wasn’t tied up with his crew we had a good natter about things in general and then he asked if I would like to borrow a book he had been presented with at Christmas 1943. I still have the book in front of me as I write, with its 57 [page break] inscription “from Harold and Sylvia”. Operation No. 24 couldn’t have been more brief. It was on a flying-bomb site at Les Catelliers, in the Pas-de-Calais. Navigation was normal down to the south coast near Selsey Bill except that I concentrated on H2S to the exclusion of Gee equipment. After that I relaxed as our formation was led to the target by Mosquitos. (I do not thing the Navigation Officer approved – he scribbled “Average Nav.” at the foot of my log). We were home again after three and a half hours. Next day, 3rd August, we were briefed for a daylight attack on a flying-bomb site at Trossy St. Maximin, not far from Chantilly, about 25 miles north of Paris. The wind was light and the navigation straightforward. This time I relied mainly on Gee and my decimal-hour system taking Gee fixes at 1215, 1221, 1227, 1233, 1239, 1245, 1251, 1257, and 1303 hours i.e. 6 minute intervals and obtaining seven measurements of wind velocity in that time. For the next fix, at 1309, my fix was a bearing and distance from Selsey Bill, using H2S. On crossing the coast the bombs were fused and selected and we proceeded at our eventual bombing altitude of 11,000 feet. We kept “bang on” our route and crossed the French coast within seconds of our predicted time. Other Lancasters were visible all around. At position “H” on our route the time was 1408 as we turned (dead over the turning point according to Tommy Crook, our bomb-aimer, and headed towards Compiegne, our last turning point before the target. Compiegne was only 14 nautical miles (4.3 minutes) away at this time and I thought I would have a look at this historic place as we turned towards our target. It was the place where the Armistice was signed in a railway-carriage in 1918 and the self- 58 [page break] same place where Hitler insisted on reversing things in 1940. I moved forward into the cockpit and was feeling pleased as Compiegne appeared below our banked wing-tip. Then I looked for our accompanying aircraft and eventually spotted them as small specks ahead of us. They had obviously cut the corner, missing out the right-angled bend at Compiegne and were well on the way to the target. There was only one other Lanc. anywhere near us and it was probably half a mile away on the beam. We were now faced with a straight run onto the target of 21 nautical miles, which would take over 6 minutes, at only 11,000 feet in a cloudless sky and with no-one with whom to share the flak. The odds were very heavily stacked against us, but we carried on according to form. No-one panicked – we were all pretty quiet – but that run-in onto target seemed to take an awful long time. We were subjected to very intense anti-aircraft fire – the gunners must have been rubbing their hands in anticipation. The conditions were ideal for them – a large aircraft at moderate height on a steady course in clear visibility. We were surrounded by shell-bursts, to the extent that the crew of the other aircraft thought we’d “had it”. We bombed in the middle of our allotted time bracket for bombing, which was obviously not the case with the vast majority of our companions, who were now miles away. Our aircraft was very fortunate to survive. Our recent replacement port inner engine was hit and had to be “feathered”. One of the other engines was damaged and three petrol tanks hit. Our bomb-aimer, Tommy Crook, and flight engineer, 59 [page break] Johnny Squires, received minor injuries from the “flak” which they later professed to be worthwhile in exchange for the wound-stripes they were then entitled to wear on their sleeves. About 12 minutes after leaving the target and nearly halfway back to the coast, we saw a Lancaster on fire about five miles ahead and counted five parachutes opening as the crew baled out. That Lancaster “hit the deck” two minutes later. It might just as easily have been our aircraft. Once we had crossed the French coast we breathed a sigh of relief and reduced the airspeed to ease the burden on our remaining engines. We were only 8 minutes later than scheduled back at Wickenby. It so happened that our Squadron Navigation Officer had taken part in this operation and he was obviously in one of the aircraft which had taken the short cut, missing out Compiegne. I quite surprised myself by marching into his office later and telling him what I thought about it. I wondered, later, if it wasn’t our pilot I should have had words with, as he should have realised what was happening and stayed with the “gaggle”, or at least told me what was afoot. On the other hand it was possibly a throw-back from the Gelsenkirchen raid when he missed the target by sticking strictly to orders rather than follow my directions. The outcome was that our aircraft “N-Nan” needed extensive repairs, having between 50 and 60 flak holes. (Johnny Squires gave me a piece of German flak found in the Lanc. – I still have it). It didn’t take part in operations again until ten days later, piloted by F/O G.S. Whyte to Falaise on 13/14 August. 60 [page break] In the meantime we were sent on a sea-mining (or “Gardening”) operation in Lancaster PH-W off the French coast to the west of La Rochelle on 10/11 August. This was our 26th op. and in this regard our crew was running neck and neck with another crew captained by F/Lt G.C. Owens, with a Canadian navigator F/O G.L. Wistow, who were both in my hut on the Officers’ site. I didn’t know George Wistow all that well, but I knew he was very well thought of in Canada. Mail delivered to the Mess was generally placed in a pigeon-holed framework but the “W” pigeon-hole was inadequate for the volume of Wistow’s letters so his were tied in a separate bundle placed just below the W’s. Like many Canadians he was a very outgoing type and usually went around with his pilot in his free time. Although only eight aircraft were taking part in this operation, Wistow’s was one of them, PH-X, JB716. The object was to lay mines (or “Vegetables”) in channels believed to be used by U-boats operating from La Rochelle. This was where our H2S was to be of use in determining the dropping points of the mines on a bearing and distance from a feature on the Ile de Oleron. The obvious hazard was the flak we were likely to encounter at our mine-dropping height of only 5,000 feet from both the Ile de Oleron and the Ile de Re. Night fighters wouldn’t have to make much altitude either. Our route took us via Bridport on the south coast, then south across the Channel and the Brest peninsular and descending gradually to 5,000 feet to reach a turning point at 47 degrees N and 4 degrees W over the Bay of Biscay, from where 61 [page break] we headed south-east towards our destination. The islands indicating our mining zone appeared quite clearly on the H2S so I directed our route, map-reading by the H2S for the last few miles. When we reached our release point on a bearing of 335 degrees (true) from Boyard Ville we dropped our mines at 4 second intervals whilst maintaining the same bearing. There was a considerable amount of light flak but we did not receive any damage and were soon climbing back to 10,000 feet on our way home. Our mines had been dropped around 0058 G.M.T., i.e. within the 0050 and 0100 range allotted and we landed back at base at the time our pre-flight plan had calculated for our arrival, all despite a certain amount of apprehension about having to use a different Lancaster from our old faithful “N-Nan”. Unfortunately, PH-X, with F/Lt Owen’s crew did not return. We heard later that they were badly shot up by flak near the mining area, struggled back to England but left it too late to bale out, crashed and caught fire. The wireless operator and the mid-upper gunner were the only survivors. They were both badly injured but fortunately they managed to crawl out without getting burned. They were in hospital for some time but both survived the war. Stan Canning, the wireless operator still lives in Birmingham. (I managed to contact him in 1997). There were continual reminders for me in the post-war years of both George Wistow and Walter Suddaby as I journeyed between York and Selby. On the main road I passed through Riccall where Walter was stationed at the H.C.U. (Heavy Conversion Unit) prior to going on to Lisset and 158 Squadron. On the alternative route I had to pass through the village of Wistow. 62 [page break] I think our crew must have gone on a week’s leave because the next entry in my log book was ferrying Lancaster PH-Z from Wickenby to Ludford for a major inspection on 21st August. Perhaps it was a good job it was only a twenty minute flight! Anyway we travelled back by road. We discovered, on our return from leave, that John Tebbut and his crew had gone missing during our absence, so I was left with the slim blue book on “Cloud reading for pilots.” which he had lent me two or three weeks before. By this time of course, all his kit and possessions had been collected and I couldn’t see a lot of point in trying to catch up with them for the sake of the small inexpensive book which remains among my souvenirs. Very strangely, a couple of years ago, I found John Tebbut’s name recorded on the Wickenby Roll of Honour with the date 24th June 1944 although my log book records my flight with him on 31st July 1944. W.R. Chorley in “R.A.F. Bomber Command Losses in 1944” obviously had the same source of information, reporting the loss of John’s crew “without trace” on 24th June during an operation on Saintes. I know they’ve got the records wrong but how can I do anything about it after 54 years? So many people were involved in making the records of operational casualties that inevitably mistakes were made. One such instance I can point to is the appearance on the Wickenby Roll of Honour of the two crew members who survived the crash which killed George Wistow and four of his crew mates. One of them, the wireless operator, is still alive and the other, the mid-upper gunner died in 1992. I presumed they must have died of their injuries until I came across their names in the Register of Members! 63 [page break] By the time we renewed our acquaintanceship with “N-Nan” she had completed two more missions, her 42nd and 43rd, with two other 12 Squadron crews. We got her back for her 44th and our 27th operation on 25/26 August. This time the target was the Opel motor factories at Russelheim, E.S.E. of Mainz, where amongst other products, components were being made for flying-bombs. Navigation was becoming pretty routine by this stage in my career, and although it was a nine-hour trip I managed to keep my concentration all the way, filling in reams of calculations with no noticeable variation in quality right through the exercise. This was recognised by the commendation “Very good nav.”. from our Squadron Navigation Officer written on the bottom of the log. Wind-finding for the main force was again an extra duty. Our scheduled time on the target was 0106 to 0110 – we actually bombed at 0107. My log included two entries at 0054 and 0126.2 recording aircraft being shot down, with rough bearings relative to our heading. Also noted was a precautionary practice stall with just over twenty minutes to go to Wickenby. Our tailplane had received some damage and it was considered best to try out pre-landing manoeuvres whilst we still had plenty of height (about 8,000 feet). Anyway it can’t have been too bad. One thing I found was that after so many hours of continuous concentration, and then going through de-briefing, I didn’t have any problem sleeping! The verdict on the operation, not immediately available, was that it inflicted very considerable damage and that the forge and gearbox factory were put out of action for several weeks. The attack was considered ”much more profitable, both in 64 [page break] damage inflicted and in the lighter losses incurred” than the visit by a force a fortnight earlier. Operation 28, our second attack on Kiel, turned out to be a rather bumpy ride. On the outward journey we stayed at 2,000 feet, heading E.N.E. until we were three-quarters of the way to Denmark before climbing on the same track to 12,000 feet. At 7 degrees East we turned to starboard and headed almost S.E. as if to attack Hamburg. Navigation was simplified by the fact that Heligoland stood out quite sharply on the cathode ray tube of the H2S with, of course, no confusing signals possible. I obtained bearings at ranges of twenty seven and three quarters and nineteen nautical miles as we passed well to the north of the islands, placing us right on track. At the same time we were climbing to 19,000 feet, and I sent back to base the third of the wind velocities I had dutifully measured. We crossed the German coast dead on track, crossed the Kiel Canal still heading as if for Hamburg, but when about 25 nautical miles short we turned sharply port on a north-westerly heading to Kiel. As we turned we saw red target indicators going down S.E. of us, so it looked as if there was a diversionary attack on Hamburg. Ahead we saw the first illuminating flares going down but it looked as if there would be low stratus cloud over the target. Then we saw red indicators going down ahead of us. Using the H2S I measured the remaining distance to Kiel at 15 nautical miles, or 3.6 minutes time-wise. Then the green target indicators appeared dead ahead and our bomb-aimer, Tommy Crook, took over. The bombs were dropped at 2309.7 so we were very close to our planned time on target of 2310. We turned away at 2310.1 and, looking at the H2S, I reckoned we must have been “bang on” our aiming point. 65 [page break] Our H2S fix at 2312.3 showed us right on track to our turning point over Kiel Bay, from which we turned westwards to cross the narrow neck of Germany roughly 20 nautical miles south of the Danish border. From our next turning point on the western German coast, we were to descend from 19,000 feet to 7,000 feet as we put the nose down and pushed up our airspeed from 160 to 200 knots. We had only left the coast between 10 and 15 miles astern when we saw a burning aircraft falling about five miles away on the port beam. At 2340 all was going well and we were only 2 miles south of track, but only seven minutes later we were encountering static in heavy cloud at about 17,000 feet so Fred altered course, first onto 150 degrees, and then 180 degrees and then 210 degrees, as I could see from my repeater compass, to try to go round to the south of the cumulo-nimbus band. I managed to get a fix using Heligoland which now showed us 14 miles south of track, but we were still heading predominantly south looking for a gap in the clouds. We levelled out at 12,500 feet and turned onto 240 degrees. We were now about 24 miles due west of Heligoland and 20 miles south of track. Fred decided to descend below freezing level on a heading of 270 degrees (west), but we encountered severe turbulence which upset some of our instruments, (apart from the crew!) and without any action by the pilot the aircraft was thrown around onto an easterly heading, all in the space of a couple of minutes! Fred turned south once more and I got another fix on Heligoland which showed that in a period of almost six minutes we had actually made good only 5 miles and that in a southerly direction. We kept on trying to avoid cloud, first on 240 degrees, then 210 degrees and back to 240 degrees. 66 [page break] Another fix at 0010 hours showed us only 10 miles north of Nordeney, in the East Friesian Islands, known to be the outposts of German flak batteries. We weren’t keen on re-entering German territory and fortunately we found a gap in the clouds and altered course, thankfully, onto 290 degrees as an estimated direction whilst I calculated a more accurate course to intercept our originally intended track back home. By 0051 we were practically back on track and hastening homeward at 220 knots. I resumed full navigational control of the aircraft and was soon back in the old routine. We arrived over Wickenby only 15 minutes later than our flight-planned time, thanks partly to using a somewhat higher airspeed than planned over the last hour of our journey, despite a certain section of our route seeming rather like an eternity. The Navigation Officer’s comment written on my log was “Must have been a big, big cloud!!!” I wish he’d been with us to enjoy it! I think we had probably encountered what is know as a “line squall”. The report in Bomber Command News“ (Summer 1988) says “472 aircraft attacked, very heavy bombing in the town centre with widespread fires fanned by strong winds. 17 Lancasters were lost. In W.R. Chorley’s “R.A.F. Bomber Command Losses in 1944” six Lancasters are individually listed with their crews as “lost without trace” and two as “crashed in the North Sea” on that operation. One of the aircraft lost without trace was PH-A from 12 Squadron. I wonder whether they had cloud trouble but fared worse than we did? Looking back on this experience I marvel not only at the robustness of the Lancaster but also that of the gyrocompass and the air position indicator (A.P.I.) which it served. 67 [page break] It was back to routine on our 29th operation, which took us by day over Reading and Eastbourne to another flying-bomb site at Fromentel in the Pas-de-Calais. This was such a short-haul trip, lasting barely three hours, that we were able to take our maximum bomb load of 15,300 lb, or very nearly 7 tonnes in today’s parlance. One innovation this time was that the bomb-aimer took over the navigation from the French coast onwards and map-read us the 21 miles to the target, which was in any case, well marked with red target indicators, (T.I’s). We bombed one minute later than planned, but it was all pretty uneventful. Our final (30th) operation took us on a daylight attack on a V-2 rocket store at St. Riquier, just a few miles from Abbeville. Eight other V-2 stores were being attacked on the same day, involving a total of 601 aircraft. Again things went very much according to plan and we bombed right on time. We did, however, climb to 14,500 feet to avoid flak as we headed back for the coast near Dunkerque. There was some flak damage to the aircraft, just to prove it’s not wise to take things for granted. Six Lancasters were lost. So we ended our operational tour of 30 ops. tidily on the last day of the month (31.8.44). I got an “excellent” proficiency assessment from the O.C. of 12 Squadron, Wing Commander Maurice Stockdale, which is recorded near the end of my log book. That gentleman now lives in Fleet, Hampshire. One outcome of a successful tour of “ops” was my receiving the D.F.C., gazetted on 12 December 1944. I later learned that our pilot Fred Holbrook (who began his tour as sergeant, progressed to warrant officer half-way through the tour, and was commissioned after 23 “ops”) also received this award. 68 [page break] [underlined] Chapter 7: Instructing, Ferry Trips & Crewing up for second tour [/underlined] Just as quickly as our crew assembled in O.T.U. days we were dispersed. We went on leave, (I think it was for a week and I visited the B.O.C.M. laboratory early in September. The only home address I had for a member of the crew was for Johnny Squires. It’s such a long time ago I can’t remember how and when we got our postings, but I can’t remember meeting up again with the others at Wickenby. I was posted to No. 1656 H.C.U. (Heavy Conversion Unit) at Lindholme, near Doncaster, early in September. I found I was amongst a bunch of experienced navigators condemned to instructing pupil navigators in the use of H2S (airborne radar). Part of the instruction we could do using simulators in a sort of classroom but the nitty-gritty part was actually flying with them on cross-countries. The four-engined aircraft at Lindholme were at first mainly Halifaxes (Mk II) but over the time I was there, (nearly eight months), they were steadily being replaced by Lancasters. The one common factor in the flying instructing in H2S was that on each occasion (and there were forty-six of them) I flew with a different trainee crew who were leaving the airfield for the first time in a four-engined aircraft without the assurance of a “screened” pilot aboard. In every case they were all complete strangers to me, with the occasional exception of the navigator who I might have met on ground training exercises, and so there was a considerable element of the unknown when one took off with them on a four or five hour cross-country exercise. This might sometimes be extended to include simulated bombing by H2S or the dropping of small practice bombs at the local 69 [page break] bombing range. When the “screened” pilot flew with a “sprog” crew he at least had his salvation in own hands in the case of emergency – while I knew nothing about piloting an aircraft for real. A “screened” pilot had generally successfully completed a tour of “ops” which was a fair enough way of sorting out the men from the boys. Maybe I shouldn’t have put it quite like that – after all I was now a “screened” navigator, not that I felt all that screened in this situation. Anyway, I did my best to pass on my experience to a succession of navigators and there was never any suggestion of my being “grounded” and someone else doing the job. Generally the H2S simulated bombing was done at the turning points on the navigational exercise. When the bombs would have been released if we were bombing for real, we operated (without looking out of the aircraft) a downward pointing camera to give us a line-overlap series of photographs which could be examined later to check the expertise of the use of the H2S as the sole bombing aid. I still have some line-overlap series as souvenirs of the time we “bombed” Luton, Skomer Island (off S.W. Wales) and the Skerries (just to the N.W. of Anglesey). These were most impressive when the target happened to be largely obscured by cloud that would have made visual bombing difficult and yet there were identifiable points visible through breaks in the clouds on the photographs to prove that the bombing run had been “bang on”. As the H2S was just as effective by night as by day, these photographs helped instil confidence of its effectiveness in the pupil crews. Later we had a more sophisticated camera attached to the H2S set which took pictures of the scene on the cathode ray tube. 70 [page break] Inevitably there were tricky moments. I can well remember coming in to land at Lindholme after a cross-country with one pupil crew. The pilot misjudged his landing and we touched down on the grass some distance from and running roughly parallel to the runway. Ahead of us loomed some large building. The pilot tried to turn the Lancaster and the undercarriage collapsed, so we skidded to a belly-landing. As calmly and unhurriedly as I could, I suggested that we got out quickly in case the aircraft caught fire. (We might have ruptured a petrol tank and the engines were still hot). Fortunately all was well and no-one was hurt. I have a picture in my log book of this unhappy Lancaster lying on its tummy and the succinct comment on the exercise of 15.1.45 – “Last trip by “X”. In another similar incident “Jock” Niven, another of our flying nav-instructors had to leave an aircraft somewhat hurriedly and, in squeezing his rather plump form through the emergency exit, got out either without his trousers or with them in disarray. On another cross-country the powers that be tacked on a fighter affiliation exercise (to practice evading fighters) which upset my stomach somewhat and I had to go back down the fuselage to use the Elsan (chemical toilet) – in my log book I have a minute sketch of myself as a match-stalk man, being sick into a bucket! I survived other fighter affiliation exercises without undergoing that particular indignity. It was just before the half-way stage of my sojourn at 1656 H.C.U. I learned that I had been awarded the D.F.C. for my work on 12 Squadron, and when I went on Christmas leave Mother presented me with a cutting from the “Hull Daily Mail” – I’ve no idea what happened to that. Judging from the gap between entries in my log book I 71 [page break] presume I had another leave after completing my duties as an instructor because the next entry shows me flying as navigator in a crew headed by F/Lt Bill Addison, who had acted as flight commander towards the end of his duties at Lindholme. We were part of a newly assembled crew, each member having completed a tour of thirty operations, preparing for a possible second tour of operations. We had been laid off for a minimum six months (in my case eight months), to rest us from our first tours and at the same time make use of us in the training of further batches of aircrew. In typical inflexible service fashion we found, much to our chagrin, that we were treated as beginners without an “op” behind us. Another possible explanation is that with the ending of the war in Europe, the R.A.F. had to keep us temporarily occupied and this was the easiest way to do it. For a couple of months (May to July ’45) we went through the same routine that our first crew had to undergo at No. 1653 H.C.U., omitting the “circuits and bumps” but making up for this by doing twice as much of the other H.C.U. catalogue. Halfway through this our crew was transferred to No. 576 Squadron, based at Fiskerton near Lincoln. To use a prevalent expression we were all “cheesed” or “browned off” with our lack of recognition. The war in Europe had ended but we were expecting to be sent to tackle the Japanese. On 17.7.45 we had a cross-country with a difference, code-named “Cooks Tour”, visiting Rotterdam, Arnhem, Essen, Cologne, Aachen and Antwerp. The idea was partly to impress the natives and partly to let us see the havoc wrought by Bomber Command during the recent campaign. I believe we carried a few ground-staff personnel as observers. 72 [page break] Then the R.A.F. at last found something to keep a large number of bomber crews occupied. We were used as troop carriers, flying to and from Italy, taking service personnel from and on leave, respectively. This was, I suppose, a kind of poetic justice. We had wrecked the railway system in France so that it was impossible to transport troops by land at anything like a reasonable speed, if at all, so we got the job. On our first trip, early in August, we went to Bari, on the Adriatic coast and brought back on leave twenty members of the 8th Army. It can’t have been at all comfortable for them, sitting on the metal floor of a Lancaster, but I expect the novelty of the situation helped to distract them, and at least they were getting home quickly. Another novelty was that their kit bags were slung up in the bomb bays of the aircraft in place of bombs, but we didn’t drop any. On arrival in England we had to land at an airfield with Customs facilities, where the troops had to display their acquisitions (or loot). The second trip was to Naples on 22.8.45. We had glorious views of Vesuvius on the approach to Pomigliano airfield. The next day was free and we managed to visit Pompeii. In Naples we were beset by bare-footed urchins competing with one another to swop lire for pound notes. Some R.A.F. types took packages of coffee to sell at inflated prices to the deprived Italians. On the following day we were due to carry another twenty passengers back to England. Bill and I had to attend an early morning briefing, ready for a very early start, but take-off was postponed for a few hours and we had to attend a second briefing. Bill was rather tired and asked me to modify our official route by cutting off one of the corners. Instead of taking a north-westerly route running roughly 73 [page break] parallel to the west coast of Italy and then heading due west towards the French Riviera I was to go over the top of Corsica to the French Riviera. As the highest ground on Corsica rose to about 9,000 feet it would be essential to be sure of a good safety margin for our passengers but as we didn’t have oxygen for them we would have to compromise – I reckoned that if we crossed Corsica at 11,000 feet that should be satisfactory. In fact I observed the approach to the east coast of the island on the H2S. We climbed to 11,000 feet and stayed there until we left the west coast behind us and then descended to our authorised height for the rest of the journey. The twenty minutes or so at 11,000 feet had negligible effect on our passengers. (The rule was that you needed to use oxygen if you flew over 10,000 feet for more than one hour). The results of this change of route, whilst not affecting our passengers, remained to be seen. Whilst the pilot and myself were attending our second briefing some of the other members of the crew had wandered off to our aircraft where they were accosted by an R.A.F. groundstaff airman who was on leave in Italy but would rather spend his leave in England. Our crew members didn’t see why not and when the rest of us reached the Lancaster they seemed to have got it all arranged. Bill didn’t like it, but surprisingly, agreed on condition that if this “hitch-hiking” was discovered we knew nothing about it. Our stowaway apparently got away from the Customs airfield at Glatton and went on his way. The trouble began when my chart was routinely scanned by the Navigation Officer and our short cut was revealed. Bill and I were interviewed separately about this breach of discipline but as I was subject to the captain’s instructions it largely devolved on Bill. Whilst the matter was still under consideration our stowaway put his 74 [page break] spanner in the works. He had somehow to get back to Italy before his leave expired. He knew we were from 576 Squadron from the aircraft’s lettering and notwithstanding the fact that he had already put us in jeopardy with his outward flight from Italy, he tried to get to our airfield at Fiskerton, near Lincoln, in the hope of a return trip. Unfortunately, he got mis-directed to our base airfield, where, being dressed in khaki drill whilst everyone else was in blue, the service police soon spotted him and took him for questioning. He told them almost the whole story – the only thing he didn’t give away was with which crew he had travelled. The pilot and I were confronted with this chap and we both denied having seen him – I truthfully didn’t recognise him as I hadn’t paid particular attention to him at the critical time. We could have been right up to our ears in it but for our station intelligence officer withholding a vital piece of evidence. He knew from the time of the ‘bus that our stowaway had caught from Glatton that ours was the only aircraft from our squadron which could possibly have landed him in time, thanks to our cutting the corner on our route and being one of the first aircraft back to England. The intelligence officer told us later how he had worked things out. I suppose one or both of us might possibly have been court-martialled for this serious breach of discipline but nothing happened. Except, one day Bill Addison had to report to Group Headquarters where he saw one senior officer and was reprimanded for cutting the corner, then went (on the same visit) to see another officer to be told that he had been awarded the A.F.C. for his work as an instructor, to add to the D.F.C. he already wore. As it happened, I didn’t fly again with Bill Addison as his demobilisation cropped up very soon afterwards. 75 [page break] The Japanese surrendered that August, so now there was a general feeling of anti-climax. Personally, I knew I couldn’t throw away four years of studying and I couldn’t get out of the Air Force quickly enough now that the “raison d’etre” had been removed. I tried to get back into the habit of studying science at Lincoln Technical College but found the available course too elementary and had to give up that approach. Later on I had a piece of good news from our R.A.F. education officer. He had made enquiries and discovered that London University had modified its regulations, my School Certificate of 1937 now being acceptable and giving me exemption from the London Matriculation exam. This meant that when I did get back to studying I could aim for the London B.Sc. Special qualification, which had the advantage of an intermediate examination (with certificate) en route. Our crew was broken up and despatched to various points of the compass. I received a letter from our wireless operator, “Artie” Shaw a year later, just after I was demobilised, from R.A.F. Seletar, Singapore but never heard from any of the others. However, by strange coincidence I did run across Bill Addison again. I encountered him at Lloyd’s Bank in York somewhere about 1960, and it turned out that he was living in Osbaldwick, barely half a mile from our house on Hull Road, York I was posted to 50 Squadron at Sturgate, a recently constructed airfield near Gainsborough and joined the crew of F/O Titchener. That was in September 1945. We were soon on the Italian ferry trips again, flying to Naples on three more occasions to bring home service personnel. Twice we brought twenty army types and once we afforded the ladies a bit more room to spread themselves by seating only fourteen of them 76 [page break] (A.T.S. and Q.A.I.M.N.S.) in the space normally occupied by twenty army blokes, but it was the same metal floor. After that it was back to routine with plenty of cross-countries thrown in. I see that on one night exercise, operation “Bullseye”, we went via Hamburg, among other places, to a target on the island of Spiekeroog in the German chain of East Frisian Islands. This was very near the scene of our memorable exploits whilst battling with the elements during our return from Kiel about sixteen months previously. This time however, things were entirely different – no cumulo-nimbus and no danger of flak. On the way back to Sturgate there was a problem. Visibility had seriously deteriorated and for the first time in my flying experience our aircraft was diverted to Carnaby, near Bridlington, where there was a special emergency airfield, much used during the war. This had exceptionally long runways to accommodate crippled aircraft returning from ops and also an emergency flare path called F.I.D.O. (Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation) which used containers of burning gasoline down the sides of the runway to cause local dispersal of the fog. We landed safely and found that we would have to stay there till next day. We didn’t think much of the food or the very cold accommodation (it was early January 1946). Maybe there was some problem with our aircraft because another Lancaster from 50 Squadron collected us the following afternoon and flew us back to base. Nissen huts were never warm in the winter. I can well remember a period during the winter at Sturgate when icicles formed on the inside of the door and my bed was one of the two either side of the entrance. 77 [page break] The solid fuel stove was halfway back down the hut and I finished my insulation by piling the contents of my kit-bag on the bed before trying to sleep. Some of the stuff consisted of flying gear which I never needed on operations because the Lancaster was warm enough without it. By late January, 50 Squadron was transferred to the much more hospitable Waddington airfield, just south of Lincoln. Waddington was constructed originally during the first world war and opened as an R.F.C. flying training station in 1916. Now it was a thoroughly modern establishment with permanent accommodation, workshops and offices. I was soon pottering around with various pilots on trivia like bombing at the local range, air-sea firing (for the gunners), four short cross-countries with A.T.C. cadets, air tests (one with an A. V. Roe test pilot who managed to take off in less than half the length of the runway). There was operation “Frontline”, a propaganda tour of the British Zone in Germany. Just for a change we did a couple of meteorological trips (code name “Operation Seaweed”, both lengthy exercises in excess of eight hours, which took us up to latitude 62 degrees North, passing Fair Isle and the Shetlands with a turning point roughly halfway between the Faroe Islands and the most westerly coast of Norway. We carried a meteorological observer to take the required data readings, to which I was able to contribute the locations in latitude and longitude and measurements of wind velocity at our height. It was all rather boring but after seeing such wide expanses of ocean for such a long time it was nice to return to land. 78 [page break] Then there was the novelty of my one and only trip in a Lincoln bomber, the successor to the Lancaster, in which we would probably have done our second tour of operations (against the Japanese). My last flight in the R.A.F. was an abortive air sea mission on which we had to search an area of the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. We did sight an empty dinghy, which was very good going considering how tiny they are from any appreciable height, but no sign of any people or aircraft debris. The lost aircraft was later found in the hills of Northumberland. To fill in a few more weeks before I was demobbed, in August 1946 I was sent, under protest, on an instructor’s course at Finningley. It was interesting in that I got to appreciate more fully the equipment I had been using on a regular basis, but futile from the teaching point of view since I would be leaving the Air Force almost immediately. I suppose our C.O. had been required to send so many persons and it was just a matter of making up the numbers, the Air Force being well into a state of disintegration. 79 [page break] [photograph of the crew in front of their aircraft] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [underlined] Chapter 8: Lancaster ME 758 PH-N “Nan” [/underlined] Whilst I was home on leave, sometime in June 1945, it so happened that my brother Norman was also at home. We took our bicycles and crossed the Humber by paddle steamer, then cycled south to Wickenby. By great good fortune we found my old aircraft, ME 758 PH-N “Nan” still very much in existence. She had eventually completed more than a hundred operations, the latest ones being to drop food to the starving Dutch just before the Germans capitulated. There was also one of our old ground crew in attendance and he told us that “Nan’s” next exercise would be to take part in a fighter affiliation exercise, i.e. manoeuvering [sic] violently with a fighter aircraft. This didn’t seem at all considerate after what that aircraft had gone through! Anyway Norman took a photograph of “Nan”, myself and my ground crew corporal to add to tone he had already taken of me and my bike! I still have both pictures. It was only a few years ago that I learned more about “Nan”. That was when I obtained a copy of “Claims to Fame. The Lancaster.” by Norman Franks. This book celebrates the Lancaster “centenarians” – 34 machines that achieved the remarkable goal of flying 100 or more operations. A Lancaster crew’s first tour of duty stood at 30 operations, but both men and aircraft often failed to reach even half of that total. Skill, training and team work would all increase the chances of survival, but luck played a large part in deciding which Lancaster would be found by a night fighter or hit by flak and which would escape to attack again. Only 34 Lancasters in Bomber Command survived 100 operations, about 1 percent of the number which were lost on operations. “Nan” was the only centenarian from Wickenby which was the base for two squadrons, 12 and 626. Franks, through some meticulous 81 [page break] research has been able to compile a fairly comprehensive narrative for each Lancaster, including crew changes, missions flown and events and incidents during the service career of the aircraft. Our crew flew in PH-N for the first time when we did a two and a half hours cross-country exercise on 26.5.44 after we had completed three ops. on different Lancasters. We did our fourth op. in her (it was her tenth) when we went to the Rote Erde railway marshalling yards at Aachen. The defences were strong and losses 7 percent (12 out of 170). A day later, 29.5.44, we did another cross-country in her and it turned out to be a rather “hairy” experience. My log entry merely states “Window lost and aileron damaged. A.S.I. (air speed indicator) read 360 m.p.h. + in dive”. I cannot remember the cause, but no great harm was done. The damage was repaired and we began a series of eleven ops. in her over the next three weeks up to 22.6.44 covering a variety of targets, including the first daylight raids by Lancasters since 1943, when we attacked the docks at Le Havre and Boulogne, on two successive evenings and virtually ended the E-boat threat to our cross-channel invasion shipping. This took our total of ops. to 15 and “Nan’s” to 22. Whilst we enjoyed a week’s leave, “Nan” did five more operations with three other crews. We then did four of “Nan’s” next five ops., three of them being to the important French marshalling yards at Orleans, Dijon and Tours, bringing us to 19 and “Nan” to 32. “Nan” then managed two more trips without us before 82 [page break] we did three night ops. in five days, returning from Stuttgart on 24/25.7.44 on three engines. Two days later we were air-testing “Nan” with a new engine and tail fin. This damage was not mentioned in Norman Franks’ account nor indeed was there any mention of the operation on Stuttgart, which was our 22nd and “Nan’s” 37th op. After a couple of short daylight ops. to French targets we were scheduled to attack the V-weapon launching site at Trossy St. Maximin. This, as I have already described in some detail, was the worst experience of our tour and which we were very lucky to survive. Once again this was not mentioned in Norman Franks’ account. In fact he summarises “Nan’s” record as follows:- “Nan” was almost totally free of mechanical problems, although towards the end of its career the aircraft’s starboard engine caught fire on 2nd February 1945, causing the crew to abort a trip to Wiesbaden. This particular Lanc. was also lucky to escape serious damage from the German defences: only once was damaged recorded when its hydraulics were hit by light flak at 0612 hours during the attack to support Operation “Goodwood” – the Allied breakout from Caen on 18th July 1944.” This was one of a couple of ops. done by other crews, presumably whilst our crew was on leave after our 19th op. on Tours. That damage cannot have been too bad because the Caen trip was followed, the same evening, by an op. on Scholven! In the aftermath of the Trossy operation we had to do our next op. in PH-W whilst “Nan” was being repaired. “Nan” didn’t get back on ops. until ten days after Trossy – a long lay-off in 83 [page break] those days! We had “Nan” back for the op. on Russelsheim on 25/26th August. Our tailplane was damaged to the extent that we practised landing manoeuvres whilst we still had plenty of height before actually landing at base on our return. With the exception of our op. in V-“Victor” on 28.8.44, when “Nan” was not flying with any crew, possible due to overhaul, we completed our tour in “Nan”, receiving light flak damage on our last operation. So once we’d got “Nan”, after our three “starter” ops., we did 25 of our remaining 27 trips in her, which must be something of a record in itself. Altogether she completed 106 operations, six “Manna” sorties (taking food to the starving Dutch people) and two “Exodus” trips (the flying home of released prisoners of war). Looking back it seems such a shame that after seeing out the war she was “struck off charge” on 19.10.45 and “reduced to produce” i.e. scrapped. 84 [page break] [black and white photograph of airman in uniform on a bicycle leaning against a wall] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [photograph] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [underlined] Chapter 9: GEE. A. P. I. and H2S [/underlined] My work as a navigator was enhanced out of all recognition by three devices put at my disposal over a six-month period. “Gee” was a godsend after the dismal future I had anticipated relying to any extent on str-navigation. It was a system based on the transmission of synchronised pulses from a “master” (A) and two “slave” (B and C) ground stations. The two “slaves” were situated about 200 miles apart, with the “master” in the middle, and the cathode ray display on the “Gee” set in the aircraft showed the respective differences between the times at which the AB and AC signals were received. When these measurements were plotted on a special chart covered with two distinct sets of parabolic lines it was a simple matter to fix the aircraft’s position with great accuracy. This accuracy gradually declined as the distance from the transmitting stations increased and the crossings of the two sets of curved lines became more acute. Furthermore it was susceptible to interference from enemy jamming stations to the extent that it could not be relied upon beyond enemy shores. It still gave us the all-important chance of determining accurate measurements of wind velocity and so getting off to a good start on every operation. It also helped to verify one’s position on the way home after leaving the enemy coast and simplified getting back to the right airfield. The Air Force had understandably kept the information about “Gee” from us until it was absolutely necessary to introduce this master stroke. It certainly “bucked up” we navigators no end. The second of the marvellous pieces of equipment was the air position indicator (A.P.I.). This showed the changes in latitude and longitude of the moving aircraft which would occur 85 [page break] if there were no wind. It was a mechanical device which combined the inputs of the gyro compass and the air speed indicator, keeping a continuous record of the actual courses and speeds flown, including all deviations from the intended, and including “spur of the moment” tactical manoeuvres. This made life a lot easier by removing much of the drudgery in the manual plotting of lines on a chart by means of ruler, protractor, dividers and calculator. The third item was airborne radar, known as H2S. This had a rotating transmitter, known as a scanner, housed in a “blister” beneath the aircraft and a receiver at the navigator’s side, the whole system being self-contained. It produced, on a cathode-ray tube, a rough picture of the ground over which the aircraft was flying, irrespective of cloud or darkness. Water areas, which reflected none of the transmitting signals from the rotating scanner showed darkly on the screen. Land areas (or ground returns) appeared green, but a more reflective area such as a built-up area showed up as a more luminous patch often, but not always approximating in outline to the shape of a town. It was up the navigator to use his other information gleaned en route to decide which town he was observing on the screen. The chief use was navigational for there was a range-finder on the screen and a bearing indicator so one could obtain a bearing and distance from an identified town or feature. It was also possible to carry out bombing attacks without sight of the ground and the equipment could not be jammed by the enemy. Unfortunately, German night-fighters had, for some time before our tour of operations, the capability of homing onto H2S transmissions - more about this later under “The German Defences”. 86 [page break] [underlined] Chapter 10: The German Defences. [/underlined] To counter R.A.F. and U.S.A.A.F. attacks the Germans had to deprive the German forces of 75% of their heavy anti-tank weapons. These 88mm guns had to be used for ant-aircraft purposes, scattered all over Germany and occupied territories because the possible targets were so numerous. 900,000 soldiers manned those guns and, in addition, hundreds of thousands of expert tradesmen could not be used by the German Army because their skills were needed to repair bomb damage. Meanwhile, the increasing requirement for day and night-fighters for defence against the bomber offensive, deprived the German Army on the Russian front of much of its accustomed close support as Messerschmidt 110s and Junkers 88s were drawn westwards. Our most deadly opposition came from the German night-fighters. The German pilots had long known that the blind spot of the British bombers was below the fuselage but had not been able to exploit this fully because the fighter had generally to be aimed at the bomber to make use of its fixed forward-firing weapons and this could be difficult at night. However, in the autumn of 1943, an ingenious fitter at a Luftwaffe airfield devised the prototype of the deadly “schrage musik” - “jazz music” - a pair of fixed 20mm cannons pointing upwards at 60 degrees. Having located a bomber with the aid of radar or using the bomber’s radar (H2S) transmissions, the fighter pilot could then fly unseen and fairly safely manoeuvre below their target and fire incendiary cannon shells into the petrol tanks between the two motors in the wing, being particularly careful to avoid the bomb bay in the belly of the aircraft. It was then only a matter of seconds before the bomber exploded. The victims had no chance. 87 [page break] Using this technique, an experienced night-fighter pilot could account for several four-engined bombers in a single excursion, there being so many targets available. I sometimes wonder if and at what stage our superiors realised the situation and whether they had to decide between warning the crews of the dangers of H2S transmissions and maintaining the advantage of the navigational aid. I am sure a lot of H2S sets would have been little used over Germany if the crews had been presented with the true scenario. To be fair, our leaders would not at the time have been in a position to accurately attribute the proportion of bomber losses due to night fighters as opposed to anti-aircraft fire, but they must have had a rough idea. What other crews saw was a sudden mid-air explosion and burst of flame. Someone put out the story that these were “scarecrows” fired into the air by the Germans with the intention of making the crews believe they were bombers being shot down and thereby affecting the bomber crews’ morale! 88 [page break] [underlined and centred] Chapter 11: Reflections on survival [/underlined and centred] Many factors contributed to my survival, beginning with my decision that I wanted to do the navigation on a bomber aircraft. At the time I volunteered for aircrew this was one of the two jobs of the observer, who was also responsible for dropping the bombs. The latter task was subsequently delegated to a specialist bomb aimer. When I enlisted in November 1941 (after passing the preliminaries three months earlier), there was a bottle-neck in the training scheme for navigators. I was deferred for five months, otherwise I would have been starting my tour in the winter of 1943-44, probably about January. That would have been a rotten time with bad weather and numerous long-distance trips including a high proportion to Berlin. Then there was the length of the training period which took two years from the end of my deferred service to reaching the operational squadron, partially due to the necessity of fitting in to laid-down training schedules at the succeeding stages, notably:- (a) the gap between completing the I.T.W. course and catching the boat to South Africa, (b) five weeks at sea on a circuitous submarine-evading route to South Africa via South America, (c) several weeks between arriving at 48 Air School, South Africa and starting the course there, (d) the return to England, (e) several more weeks delay at O.T.U. whilst the R.A.F. decided that our original pilot wouldn’t make the grade. All these delays took me nearer to D-Day and the invasion of Europe by the Allied Armies. The increasing 89 [page break] diversity of the targets needing to be attacked in order to assist the coming assault meant that there was a greater proportion of shorter range tactical targets and only seven over Germany itself. (Air Marshal Harris would have preferred to keep hammering away at German targets but had to give priority to the invasion requirements.) In the final stages before the landings there were attacks on coastal batteries, and radar stations, but the longer term “softening up” was by attacking a large number of railway centres to seriously impede German troop movements and supplies to the invasion front. We were fortunate in not being “downed” by anti-aircraft fire on a few occasions, particularly near Stuttgart, when we returned on three engines and on the occasion near Compiegne when we got 50-60 holes in the aircraft and two of the crew received minor injuries. We were lucky in our encounter with the severe storm on the way back from our second trip to Kiel. And we were never attacked by a night-fighter, despite getting a close-up view of one on the Stuttgart operation. On the positive side, we had a well-disciplined crew who didn’t waste time on unnecessary nattering on the intercom. What’s more, there was never any visible or audible sign of fear or distress. We kept very close to our scheduled routes and times on almost all occasions, i.e. we kept in the middle of the bunch so it wasn’t quite so easy to be singled out. I am sure that the toughest time for bomber crews was in the six months prior to us joining 12 Squadron. Nevertheless, I was surprised to discover in an “Analysis of Total Losses of Lancasters by Months” in the Wickenby Register Newsletter of 90 [page break] May 1994 that 12 Squadron lost 31 Lancasters in the six months Nov. ’43 to April ’44 and 27 in the four months that our crew was operating. I suppose that might be explained by the ops. not being so frequent during the winter months. 91 [page break] 92 [page break] [underlined and centred] Chapter 12: Postscript. [/underlined and centred] After all these years I cannot remember just when or where I was demobbed and received my “civvy” suit. I know that officially my last day of service was 16.10.46 but I believe I was out a few weeks earlier. I know that I picked up where I left off. I went back to work for B.O.C.M. at the laboratory in Stoneferry and I re-enlisted for Hull Technical College evening classes. As an ex-member of the forces and a background of studying chemistry for almost four years I knew I was eligible to apply for an educational grant of something over £3 a week to proceed on a full time course to a professional qualification. (Out of this, textbooks etc. had to be purchased). This would have meant giving up the day job which paid over £4 a week. I knew that after four and a half years complete absence from my studies I would have to revise from the very beginning, but now that my School Certificate was accepted as giving me exemption from the London Matriculation exam. I decided that I would defer my application for a grant and aim to take the London Inter B.Sc. examination the next June. The Inter B.Sc. course took two years of evening class work so it meant I would have to cover one-half via the 1946-47 evening class course and the other half by swotting up from textbooks and my old notebooks. If I succeeded in passing the exam, comprising Maths., Physics and Chemistry, I would at least have that certificate to my name and I couldn’t have been further on if I’d taken advantage of the grant. Anyway I took the gamble although I found the readjustment rather tough. It was very amusing when attending an early lecture in Physics to hear the same old lecturer, Mr. Robson, repeat the same hoary joke that 93 [page break] Walter Suddaby and I had heard in 1938 concerning his friend’s dog who was christened “Hysteresis” because it was always lagging behind. Back at home there was a problem. My parents had been separated for some years, partially due to the war. The Luftwaffe destroyed Spillers’ flour mill, where my father worked, during a night raid in July 1941. Shortly afterwards, his firm offered him alternative employment at their Wallasey mill, which he accepted. At the tip of the Wirral peninsula he was now well over a hundred miles from Hull, so he wasn’t able to come home every weekend. My brother Norman, although a year younger than I, joined the R.A.F. shortly before I left home, due to my five months deferred service. So by the time I had to report to the R.A.F. in London my mother, in a matter of a few months, was reduced from a family of five to my young sister Hazel and herself. This was very hard for her in the middle of the war, particularly as the air raid alerts still sounded regularly in Hull. It was assumed that we should resume as a family when the war was over, although no-one knew when that would be or whether it would be possible. My father settled in Wallasey and mad regular payments to mother. At one time he tried to persuade her to join him in Wallasey but she declined for two reasons. She had worked hard all her life and used a very small legacy from a relative in New Zealand to enable the family to move into a modest home of our own and she was intent on having it ready for our return. By the time I was “demobbed” things had become more complicated. My father had formed a relationship with his 94 [page break] landlady and had no intention of returning to Hull. Mother’s situation was uncertain unless there was a legal separation, which would obviously take some time to come to court. After passing the Inter B.Sc. exam, in June ’47, I had another decision to make. I could apply for the ex-serviceman’s grant or continue at evening classes for another year and then take the Subsid. Maths qualification, clearing the way to the B.Sc.(Special) in Chemistry. This would mean dropping all contact with chemistry for a year. Being slightly mad, but having confidence in my maths, I carried on at the Tech. evening classes for another session! and continued to work full-time at B.O.C.M. I duly passed the maths exam in June ’48. In the meantime, the legal formalities of my parents’ separation had been formalised on a proper financial basis. When I got my exam results I composed a letter applying for an educational grant as an ex-member of the forces, pointing out that I had already saved the country money by completing part of the course via evening classes. How could anyone resist that? I got a favourable response and I arranged to leave B.O.C.M. and complete my education full-time but still at the Hull Technical College, commencing in the autumn. My two post-war years at B.O.C.M. had been spent on the routine testing of ingredients for animal feedstuffs, a boring occupation which I had now endured for six years altogether, plus six years of evening classes. I knew it had to be full-time or nothing. Fortunately for me those last two years at B.O.C.M. were by no means wasted because it was there that I met a charming 95 [page break] young lady assistant. Yvonne and I found that we had very similar outlooks and much in common and, although I was transferred to the Foster Street laboratory for the latter part of my stay with B.O.C.M., we maintained contact. In subsequent years I must have cycled a few hundreds of miles between North Hull and East Hull!! It was rather odd attending the degree course. There were a couple of other ex-forces students, but the majority of our fellow pupils were about eight years younger. An advantage over attending a university was that the staff and the geography were all familiar and I had great faith in the staff, especially Messrs. L. Balmforth and G. R. Dennis. I proposed to Yvonne on New Year’s Eve ’48 – ’49 with the proviso that I had to concentrate on first passing my final exams in 1950. Fortunately, she accepted! I found those final two years hard going but I took my A.R.I.C. exams in April and the B.Sc. Special in Chemistry (London External) exams in June 1950 and waited in some trepidation for the results. I didn’t wish to go through all that again. I was now 28 and I’d had enough of college for my lifetime! However, all was well and I had both qualifications. Now the way was clear to seek employment and plan for the wedding, which took place on September 30th, 1950. It rained all day! Subsequent events would take another book! 96 [page break] [underlined and centred] Bibliography [/underlined and centred] FRANKS, Norman “Claims to Fame. The Lancaster” (Arms and Armour, 1994) RICHARDS, Denis “The Hardest Victory. R.A.F. Bomber Command in the Second World War.” (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. 1994) HASTINGS, Max “Bomber Command” (Michael Joseph Ltd. 1979) CHORLEY, W.R. “Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War. Vol. 5 Aircraft and Crew Losses. 1944” (Midland Counties Publications. 1997) SEARBY, John (Air Commodore) “The Bomber Battle for Berlin” (Guild Publishing, 1991) HARRIS, Sir Arthur “Bomber Offensive” (Greenhill Books, 1998) 97 [page break] 98 [underlined and centred] Glossary of R.A.F. Terms. (Official and Unofficial). A.P.I. Air Position Indicator A.S.I. Air Speed Indicator “Bang on” Spot on, “Wizard”, 100% “Cheesed off” Browned off, fed up. “Circuits and Bumps” Practice take-off and landing Cumulo-nimbus Thunder clouds D.R. Dead reckoning with a calculated wind Elsan Aircraft toilet Feathered Engine switched off with propellor blades turned to reduce air resistance Flak Anti-aircraft fire F.I.D.O. Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation “Gardening” Laying sea mines GEE Radio navigation aid, grid box H2S Radar navigation and bombing aid 99 [page break] I.T.W. Initial Training Wing O.T.U. Operational Training Unit P.F.F. Path Finder Force Pitot/tube An open-ended tube mounted externally on the aircraft facing directly into the air flow to provide a convenient and accurate measurement of the aircraft’s speed. “Screened” aircrew rested from ops at end of tour and transferred to instructing “Solo” Unsupervised flight Sprog Inexperienced aircrew V1 and V2 Robot flying bombs used by the Germans commonly called “doodlebugs” “Vegetables” Mines laid by the R.A.F. “Window” Aluminised strips used as an anti-radar device. 100 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 Time out for war Description An account of the resource History of wartime experiences of Ronald Witty. Starts with schooling and early employment in Hull, just before the war. Mentions German bombing of Hull and volunteering for the RAF. Describes training in London and Torquay before departing on a troop ship for South Africa. Describes navigator training and activities at Woodbrook and Queenstown. Continues with trip back to England and continuation of training at RAF Halfpenny Green, Desborough (Northamptonshire), RAF Chedburgh, and RAF Hemswell. Goes on to describe his operational tour on 12 Squadron at RAF Wickenby, including accounts of some operations, including some daylight operations during the Normandy campaign and against flying bomb sites as well as mine laying. Tour culminates with award of Distinguished Flying Cross. Concludes with account of subsequent tours as an instructor at RAF Lindholme and other stations and including account of flying on Cook's tour of German cities. Adds chapters about his Lancaster ME758 PH-N "Nan" as well as another on GEE, A.P.I and H2S. Contains many black and white photographs of RAF personnel and aircraft. Pages 8 and 9 are missing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 100 page printed book Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BWittyARWittyARv1 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Yorkshire England--Hull England--London England--Devon England--Torquay England--Lancashire England--Liverpool South Africa South Africa--Durban South Africa--East London South Africa--Cape Town England--Staffordshire England--Northamptonshire England--Suffolk England--Lincolnshire France France--Rennes Germany Germany--Aachen France--Paris France--Normandy France--Evreux Germany--Gelsenkirchen France--Le Havre Atlantic Ocean--English Channel France--Calais France--Dijon France--Tours Belgium Belgium--Kortrijk Germany--Kiel Germany--Stuttgart France--Orléans France--Pas-de-Calais Germany--Ruhr (Region) France--Domléger-Longvillers Germany--Spiekeroog Island Europe--Frisian Islands Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943-03-29 1943-07-10 1943-07-27 1943-09-08 1943-10-12 1944-02-25 1944-04-26 1944-04-28 1944-06-14 1944-06-14 1944-06-12 1942-06-13 1944-06-22 1944-07-23 1944-07-24 1944-07-25 1944-07-30 1944-08-03 1944-08-31 1944-12-12 1945-07-07 1945-07-17 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource David Bloomfield Maureen Clarke 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. 1 Group 12 Squadron 1653 HCU 1656 HCU 3 Group 50 Squadron 576 Squadron 84 OTU Advanced Flying Unit aircrew Anson bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944) bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944) bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944) Cook’s tour coping mechanism crewing up Distinguished Flying Cross faith Gee H2S Halifax Halifax Mk 2 Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School master bomber military living conditions military service conditions mine laying navigator Nissen hut Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Operation Dodge (1945) Operational Training Unit Pathfinders RAF Chedburgh RAF Desborough RAF Fiskerton RAF Halfpenny Green RAF Hemswell RAF Lindholme RAF Methwold RAF Sturgate RAF Torquay RAF Waddington RAF Wickenby Scarecrow Stirling tactical support for Normandy troops target indicator training V-1 V-2 V-weapon Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/774/30939/BWoolfASWoolfASv1.2.pdf f62f9d2147ca2ccc8cd92af5c543242e 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 Woolf, Arthur Sidney A S Woolf Description An account of the resource 23 items. An oral history interview with Flying Officer Arthur Woolf (1922 - 2021, 1579552, 157533 Royal Air Force) his log book, a memoir, correspondence, documents, a newspaper cutting and photographs. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 630 Squadron and became a member of the Guinea Pig Club. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Arthur Woolf 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 2017-06-29 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 Woolf, AS Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [Air Crew Association Badge] ROYAL AIRFORCE [sic] CAREER & EXPERIENCES IN WORLD WAR TWO. F/O ARTHUR S. WOOLF. No. 630 Squadron, No. 5 Group. BOMBER COMMAND. [page break] [photograph] R.A.F. CAREER AND EXPERIENCES IN WW2. F/O ARTHUR S. WOOLF. 630 SQUADRON. No.5 GROUP. [page break] [Bomber Command Crest] [5 Group Headquarters Crest] [630 Squadron Crest] [page break] R.A.F. CAREER AND EXPERIENCES IN WW2. F/O ARTHUR S. WOOLF. As a youngster I was always thrilled by the thought of flying, so volunteered for aircrew and eventually in 1941 reported to Padgate R.A.F. Recruitment Centre at the age of 19. I was very much a home-loving boy from a close-knit family of just four, my older brother being already in the R.A.F. was serving in the Middle East. I was first posted to Blackpool for 'square bashing', morse code training etc. Then on to Yatesbury in Wiltshire, No.2 Radio School, after which, due apparently to a 'log jam' of trainees (or a cock-up of some sort!) we were all individually posted out to various U.K. R.A.F. stations for "Radio experience". In my case this was to Martlesham Heath, an old pre-war airfield a few miles north of Ipswich on the east coast, where I became one of the station's Signal Section, though I still wore my white flash in my forage cap and was still untrained aircrew. It was here that I 'cadged' my very first and very unofficial flight, it was on one of my off duty days. Of all things it was in an old Walrus aircraft of the Air-Sea Rescue Squadron based there. I was crammed into the tiny space available and we chugged down the East coast just a few feet above the sea. I was thrilled to pieces!. My second flight, this time semi-official, was in a Hampden on a practice bombing trip to Orford Ness bombing range just off the east coast, when I was supposed to try to fix a u/s radio. My, I was really progressing. From a Walrus to a Hampden! I must have been mad to go anyway near either of them, but where ignorance is bliss....... After seven or eight months at Martlesham I was posted to the Aircrew Reception Centre at St. Johns Wood, London, much to my disgust. This seemed very much like a backward step in my R.A.F. career, just doing more 'square bashing' in the local streets, but it only lasted a couple of weeks or so, when I was then moved to I.T.W. at Bridgenorth. At the end of this course, at the Passing-Out Parade, it was announced that I had achieved the highest pass marks in all the various subjects ever attained since this course had commenced and I was presented with two hundred cigarettes to mark the occasion. Being a non-smoker at that time my colleagues benefited [sic]! My next posting was to Yatesbury again, but this time on a more advanced signals course which included flying, officially this time, on air signals training, first in De Haviland Dominies, and later in Proctors. I continued obtaining high marks in virtually all subjects and just prior to the final tests and in the middle of lectures one morning I was told to R.A.F. Career and Experiences in WW2. Page 1 [page break] report to the Adjutant. Without being told why, I was questioned by him at length about my family background, my education and further studies, my interests etc., and then dismissed back to normal training with the rest of the squad. At the end of this course and before being posted to A.F.U. at Dumfries in Scotland, we were given our three stripes, although it was stressed that we were still under training and we were not to think that we could go throwing our weight around as "real sergeants"! The A.F.U. course at Dumfries, where we flew in Ansons, lasted some two months or so and followed by O.T.U. at Upper Heyford, flying in Wellingtons, the faithful old "Wimpeys". It was here that we crewed up and it was done in the following manner. Each category of aircrew was told that they had so many days in which to find a crew, otherwise they would be "appointed" and teamed up with the "leftovers". We all felt that this would be a bit of a scourge and was to be avoided at all costs. In my own case, that evening I got talking to a Navigator type who said that he had just teamed up with the 'Yank' Pilot, Bill Adams who had crossed over from the U.S.A. into Canada to join the R.C.A.F. before the U.S. entered the war. Needless to say I agree to be their Wireless Operator and in no time at all we had a full crew, comprising a 'Yank' Pilot, and a 'Yank' Mid-Upper Gunner who had also crossed into Canada to join the R.C.A.F., a 'Canadian' Bomb Aimer (commissioned), a 'Canadian' Rear-Gunner, and three 'Brits'., one of whom was a 'Welshman' in fact. Before we had even begun our 'Wimpey' circuits-and-bumps I was, for the second time in my R.A.F. training career, told to report to the Adjutant, where I was told, to my great astonishment, that I had been awarded my Commission. I was given a travel warrant, countless clothing coupons and a 48 hour pass to get home to Birmingham to buy all my Officer requirements, – a very extensive list was provided. For the next few weeks I almost felt like a Blackpool 'sprog' again, walking around in my brand new Pilot Officer uniform, especially in the Officer's Mess, but before too long I became Flying Officer, my uniform got to look more 'seasoned' and I became more used to the required "Officer and Gentleman" code. After finishing our Upper Heyford O.T.U. course, during which as a crew we became quite 'bonded', possibly due as much to our off-duty time together (i.e. drinking sessions and such) as to our actual flying and training together, we were posted to Scampton. Here, among much else, I attended courts martial, strictly under instruction I hasten to add! Page 2 [page break] Our next move, as a crew, was to Conversion Unit No. 1654 at Wigsley, flying four-engined aircraft for the first time, the dreaded Stirling. We duly experienced here the usual type of problem that seemed to be associated with this aircraft when all flying was cancelled for a few days because of undercarriage problems. This was whilst an Air Ministry modification requirement was incorporated into all the Stations' Aircraft. It was at this time that I learned how to "play the dice" (the game of crap) from my American and Canadian co-trainees and enjoyed quite a slice of beginners luck. Finally our last posting in training was to No.5 Lancaster Flying School at Syerston for a surprisingly rather brief conversion on to Lanc's., consisting of only sixteen hours flying training in this beautiful aircraft, over a period of two weeks. During this time I did however, on one of our training flights out over the Wash, manage to wangle a "go" in the rear turret for the one and only time and to fire off the guns into the sea. Then we waited with somewhat bated breath and some excitement to hear which Squadron in No.5 Group we were to go to. This was to be No.630 Squadron at East Kirkby in the fenlands of Lincolnshire, about 14 miles from Boston; we were driven off in a van with all our gear, joking and laughing but all of us I think, wondering what the immediate future held. We were allocated to 'B' Flight and the first week was spent in settling in and on day and night checks and training flights, during which time Bill Adams, our Pilot, went as "second dickie" on an operational flight. Then came our first "trip", which was to Saumer [Saumur] in central France to bomb an important railway junction, a flight of about 6½ hours. Boy! did that aircrew breakfast in the Mess (with an egg!) taste good after debriefing. It was a good feeling with our first "op" safely under our belt, and our initial fears now faced up to and if not overcome, then at least dealt with. So we settled into a[deleted]n[/deleted] very busy and very exciting life. We were involved just a few hours before the D-day landings, bombing a heavy coastal battery in a bid to help to weaken the enemy defences against our invading forces. At the briefing we were given dire warnings not to stray from the unusually circuitous route and we guessed that this was "it", the long awaited invasion of Europe, which was confirmed on awakening the following day. In our first three weeks of action we did nine operational flights and the last of these, which was to Wesseling, just south of Cologne, to bomb a synthetic oil plant, was the "hairiest". From the time we crossed the Dutch coast to the target and back again we continuously encountered German Page 3 [page break] night fighters, searchlights and/or heavy ack-ack, we saw many aircraft going down in flames in the darkness. Of the thirty or so aircraft despatched from East Kirkby (Nos. 630 & 57 Squadrons) eleven were lost (77 men)! Our ops. continued, to many varying types of targets. During one of these, on our return journey we were attacked from below by a Junkers 88 being used as a night fighter; although we immediately went into the conventional corkscrew avoiding action, his first gunburst caused some damage to the rear of the aircraft and the rear turret was put completely out of action. We were a sitting duck but either by complete luck or by brilliant shooting, Johnny Keisow, our U.S.A. Mid-Upper Gunner, scored "a Hit" although he was catching only occasional brief glimpses of the JU 88 due to the corkscrew action of our aircraft. The attack on us immediately ceased and the enemy aircraft started pulling away on a long sweep on to a reciprocal course away from us. We were able to resume normal flight and from the astrodome I was able to watch as the JU 88, now with flames coming from it, gradually lost height and after a while disappeared into the cloud-base below. We felt like giving three cheers over the intercom but it was strictly necessary to be particularly alert at this possible vulnerable time in case [inserted] any [/inserted] of the JU 88's "mates" were in the vicinity. Our 13th op. was a daylight raid on vital bridges and German troop concentrations at Caen, where the Allied ground advance had been seriously held up. It was exciting being able for the first time to see "what was going on" in the lovely dawn sunrise, though again the ack-ack was extremely formidable and I saw a Lanc., flying in alongside us, across the French coast, receive a direct hit and just disintegrate into fragments, and any member of the crew possibly surviving was out of the question. It came as something of a shock, actually seeing the moment of destruction so close at hand, it was a case of "There [inserted] but [/inserted] for the grace of God go I". The 14th trip was, surprisingly, also a daylight op., this time to an aircraft factory at Thiverney, a few miles north of Paris. So on to the night of 24/25th July 1944, our 16th op., which was to Stuttgart. All went well until we were approximately over the French/German border when we were suddenly attacked by a night-fighter and suffered very considerable damage, which included the loss of our port inner engine and, not least of all, yours truly. I had been hit in the left hip and buttock and quite soon was losing blood at quite a rate. We were in some trouble and our Pilot quickly decided that we must abort the op., ditch the bombs, then head back, hoping to reach Allied Forces territory in northern France on Page 4 [page break] which to crash-land, or to bale out. Soon however, flames began licking from the damaged engine and within a very short time the flames grew and spread rapidly and we were told to bale out. I was by now, not in a very good condition and I remember wondering whether I was going to "make it". I remember virtually nothing of getting out of the aircraft or of my parachute descent but the next thing I knew was coming-to in a field in the dark, with my parachute all around me and in addition to earlier wounds, an absolutely agonising pain in my left thigh. On hearing voices I shouted and it proved to be a French farming family out looking for survivors of the stricken aircraft. I was carried on a step-ladder which was used as a stretcher, to a barn and there laid on straw. The French lady was extremely caring, constantly bathing my forehead and also feeding me soup. Sometime after daybreak a French gendarme arrived and after earnest conversation with my "hosts" departed and it was not too long after there was the sound of a vehicle pulling up outside, followed by the appearance of a German soldier in the doorway. My heart sank into my shoes! I was taken in a small truck to a P.O.W. hospital in Nancy, in eastern France, where, I learned much later, I was the first 'Brit' to arrive, the other existing patients being mainly French Colonial troops, many of them originally captured in North Africa. My first week there is more than a little vague in my mind, during which I was, apparently, somewhat delirious, due to delayed treatment for my broken femur, and probably my other wounds. Later, though still painful, my leg was put in traction by means of weights suspended from cords on pulleys over the end of my bed from a 'pin' through my knee. The resulting agony if anyone as much as brushed by [inserted] the [/inserted] weights was intense! Eventually however, after some weeks, my leg was put into what should have been plaster but was actually more like concrete, and with no padding. This cast covered my lower torso from the waist and then on down to the ball of my left foot and on drying out became extremely tight around my ankle, I was unable to get the staff even to examine it, so I had to put up with the agony I was in. Food was very poor, consisting largely of black beans and some sort of macaroni just boiled in water. How I longed for the lovely breakfasts and meals we had in our mess in "Blighty". We did get some Red Cross parcels which were a Godsend. Then, suddenly, after all sorts of rumours about how near the Allied Forces were, the Germans decided to evacuate the whole hospital to Germany, with the exception of four of us, who they considered were too ill to move. We four were moved down into a cellar below the hospital and a French Page 5 [page break] Army doctor and a French Colonial orderly were left to look after us. One of the other three 'types' was Dickie Richardson, an R.A.F. Wireless Operator, who had been transferred from another hospital, and was very severely burned over much of his body, – he was blind, and had a hand amputated. In spite of all this and being bandaged literally from head to foot he was a wonderful character. He was a Midlander, from Worcester, knew Birmingham, and there was something of a natural affinity between us in the particular circumstances. We spent about 10 days in the cellar, fed by local nuns. Towards the end of that period shell-fire broke out on the town above (at our ceiling level), which was later followed by small-arms fire, and then we could hear tremendous cheering; the Yanks (General Patton's U.S. Third Army) had arrived! Within a short time a U.S. infantry lieutenant had somehow been directed to us in the cellar. Cigarettes were the first order of the day. Soon after his departure U.S. 'medics' arrived to give us some basic and much needed medical attention. Within an hour army ambulances had arrived and we were transported to a field hospital, all under canvas and a few miles from Nancy. Subsequent transfers to other field hospitals again under canvas, took us further west during the next few days but to my dismay 'Dickie' and I became separated and I was quite upset because I somehow felt 'responsible' for him. During these moves, and much to my utter relief, my 'plaster' cast was removed by the U.S. medics, the old one was replaced by a much better quality padded cast, only to reveal two very large gangrenous-like wounds on the instep and heel of my foot, caused by the too-tight cast. I was eventually flown back from Verdun to an airfield somewhere near Reading. I was the only 'Limey' in the hospital plane, a Dakota, the rest being all U.S. infantry stretcher cases, virtually straight from the front lines. In due course I arrived at R.A.F. Hospital, Wroughton, near Swindon, where I was treated for about two months before being transported to the Queen Victoria Hospital at East Grinstead in Sussex, the hospital base of the world famous plastic surgeon, Archibald McIndoe (later knighted), the most impressive and wonderful person I ever met and knew in my whole life. To my surprise and delight I was settled into a bed just next-but-one to 'Dickie' Richardson! Although by comparison to most of the other patients here, who were all fliers, my medical problems seemed small, as they mostly had all been terribly burned. Even so, the gangrenous matter in my foot had eaten through three of the tendons and I came close to having the foot amputated, but in the end this was avoided and I underwent numerous skin- Page 6 [page break] grafting operations and duly qualified as one of Archie McIndoe's (the Boss) Guinea Pigs, a matter of which I am very proud. My hospital treatment lasted some fifteen months in all. Following this I was medically discharged from the R.A.F. but my Guinea Pig friends have remained my dearest and closest over the ensuing years since 1944 and our Annual Reunions in East Grinstead, lasting for three or four days, are something special, though only about 25% of us still survive, of which some sixty or so are now fit and well enough to attend. 'Dickie' Richardson remained a very wonderful friend and character in spite of his blindness and all his other incapacities until he passed away three years ago in 1997. Just a few years ago after the end of the war, having through the International Red Cross, traced the whereabouts of the French farming family Dupré, who had found me and looked after me that night in 1944, I wrote to them, sent them parcels, later motored across France with my wife, on route to an Italian holiday, to meet them again and to thank them. I was greeted with flags and bunting strung across from building to building in this so very rural and tiny hamlet of Tramont Lassus in eastern France and though there were some language problems, with the aid of books, paper, arms, hands, my whiskey and their home-made Mirabelle spirit, a great time was had by all! During the day I was taken to the barn in which I had lain and also some distance across the fields etc. was shown the site of our Lanc's final demise, there still, though a little overgrown were the five indentations in the earth of our aircraft's nose and four engines, with small pieces of metal still around, one of which I was able to bring home as a souvenir. I still have it. Many years later in the mid-1980's I had the irresistible urge to trace my old surviving crew-mates again, our two Gunners, Ross Lough (Canada) and Johnny Keisow (U.S.A.) both having been killed when we were shot down. What a task it turned out to be and in all took me over three years. My file just grew and grew as I corresponded with all sorts of organisations, associations, groups and individuals in the U.S.A., Canada and the U.K. and finally succeeded as follows:- Pilot, Bill Adams (U.S.A.): Died in Boston U.S.A in 1979. Flt/Eng. Trev. Tanner: Although Welsh, settled in Western Canada and just after the war and together with my wife, I visited him on two or three occasions prior to his death in 1998. Page 7 [page break] After our 'set-to' in 1944, shortly after bailing out, the above two teamed up and were taken under the wing of a French family, again farmers, and awaited the arrival of the Allied troops pushing east. They eventually reached the U.K. safely. Bomb Aimer, Eddie Wood ("Woodie") (Canada): Lives in Hamilton, Ontario, and I am in regular touch, having also visited him, in the company of my wife. Navigator, R.A. ("George") Toogood: lives in Radstock, near Bath, the nearest, yet was the most difficult to trace. We are now in regular touch and meet once or twice a year with our wives. These two also got together after safely bailing out and undertook the very daunting and sometimes dangerous walk to neutral Switzerland, where they were interned, in reasonable conditions, until they were repatriated to the U.K. So to the present and our autumn years. My wife and I live quietly and contentedly. I am Member (No. 1367) of the Aircrew Association, Solihull Branch, whose monthly meetings I attend as often as possible and at whose request I have put my memories on paper. Page 8 [page break] [photograph] A/C Arthur Woolf age 19 years in 1941 [photograph] Flying Officer A.S. Woolf recovering in an R.A.F. hospital in the West Country. November 1944. [page break] [photograph] Photograph taken in the 1950's at Tramont Lassus, Eastern France with the French family Dupré, my 'saviours' on 24/25th July 1944. From left to right Rose, Myself, Charles, Henri with Mère in front. 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 Flying Officer Arthur S Woolf - RAF career and experiences in WW2 Description An account of the resource The book contains a head and shoulders portrait of Arthur Woolf wearing uniform tunic with half brevet, medal ribbons and peaked cap. It also contains badges for Bomber Command, 5 Group and 630 Squadron. The account covers the period from him joining the RAF at age 19, training at RAF Blackpool and RAF Yatesbury as radio operator and, subsequently, at RAF Martlesham and RAF Bridgnorth. He crewed up at RAF Upper Heyford while on OTU flying Wellington. This was followed by four engine training on Stirling then Lancaster before posting to 630 Squadron at RAF East Kirkby. Describes operations mentioning targets, losses and an attack by Ju-88 and continues with the account of a daylight operation to Caen and, later, Paris. It contains a description of an operation to Stuttgart in July 1944, when they were attacked by night fighter and badly damaged, as well as he being injured. After aborting the operation, fire forced them to bale out. It goes on to describe his injuries, capture, transfer to and experiences at POW hospital near Nancy. He tells of liberation by American forces and being flown back to England and then to an RAF hospital. The book concludes with an account of his 15 month hospital treatment, discharge from the RAF, membership of the Guinea Pig Club and trying to trace members of his crew in the mid 1980s. It also contains photographs of Arthur Woolf, of him in hospital and of the French family who helped him after he was shot down and injured. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A S Woolf Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Thirteen page printed document with b/w and colour photographs Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Photograph Text. Memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BWoolfASWoolfASv1 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 United States Army Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lancashire England--Blackpool England--Shropshire England--Suffolk Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway England--Nottinghamshire England--Lincolnshire Germany Germany--Cologne France France--Caen France--Paris Germany--Stuttgart France France--Nancy France--Verdun England--Berkshire England--Reading France--Meurthe-et-Moselle Germany--Ruhr (Region) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-24 1944-07-25 1941 1944-11 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 Babs Nichols Maureen Clarke 5 Group 630 Squadron Advanced Flying Unit aircrew Anson bale out bombing C-47 crewing up Dominie Guinea Pig Club Hampden Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing Ju 88 killed in action Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School McIndoe, Archibald (1900-1960) military discipline Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Operational Training Unit prisoner of war Proctor promotion RAF Bridgnorth RAF Dumfries RAF East Kirkby RAF Martlesham Heath RAF Scampton RAF Syerston RAF Upper Heyford RAF Wigsley RAF Wroughton RAF Yatesbury shot down Stirling training Walrus Wellington wireless operator 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 Terras, Robert Wallace Description An account of the resource 35 items. The collection concerns Robert Wallace(1050292 Royal Air Force) and contains documents, memorabilia and photographs. He served as a Flight Mechanic, Air Frames on 83 Squadron at RAF Wyton. The collection digitised by Melisa Terras 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 2019-05-03 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. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Terras, RW 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 Individual history of Avro Lancaster B Mk1 R5868/7325M Description An account of the resource Complete history of the aircraft from 1942 to placement in RAF Museum. Delivered to 83 Squadron at RAF Scampton. Lists all flights with crews and provides details of operations and other sorties. First operation was on 8/9 July 1942. Was founder member of Pathfinder Force at RAF Wyton. Moved to 467 Squadron at RAF Bottesford in September 1943. Flew on 100th operation on 11/12 May 1944. Provides many detailed descriptions of operations. Last of 137 total operations was flown on 23 April 1945. Flew prisoner of war repatriation flights and took Cook's tour over Germany. Continues with post war history until arrival at the RAF Museum. This item is available only at the University of Lincoln. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A Simpson Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942-06 1942-07 1942-08 1942-09 1942-10 1942-11 1942-12 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1956 1958 1959 1960 1961 1970 1972 1973 1982-08 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Manchester England--Lincolnshire Germany Germany--Wilhelmshaven Poland Poland--Gdańsk France France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine) Germany--Essen Germany--Duisburg Germany--Hamburg Germany--Osnabrück Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate) Germany--Flensburg Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Bremen Germany--Krefeld Germany--Aachen Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Germany--Kiel Italy Italy--Genoa Italy--Turin Germany--Munich Germany--Berlin France--Lorient Italy--Milan Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Cologne France--Saint-Nazaire Germany--Stuttgart Germany--Dortmund Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Wuppertal Germany--Münster in Westfalen Germany--Bochum France--Montchanin Germany--Mülheim an der Ruhr England--Leicestershire Germany--Hannover Germany--Munich France--Modane England--Yorkshire Germany--Leipzig Germany--Schweinfurt Germany--Augsburg France--Paris Germany--Braunschweig France--Mailly-le-Camp France--Sablé-sur-Sarthe France--Lille France--Cherbourg Atlantic Ocean--English Channel Belgium Belgium--Leopoldsburg France--Nantes France--Saint-Pierre-du-Mont (Landes) France--Argentan France--Rennes France--Poitiers France--Somme France--Vitry-le-François France--Saint-Leu-d'Esserent France--Caen Germany--Euskirchen (Kreis) Poland--Gdynia Poland--Police (Województwo Zachodniopomorskie) Germany--Rheydt Germany--Mittelland Canal Germany--Merseburg Czech Republic Czech Republic--Most (Okres) Germany--Siegen Germany--Karlsruhe Germany--Würzburg Germany--Leipzig Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia) Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia) Netherlands Netherlands--IJmuiden Czech Republic--Plzeň Belgium--Brussels Germany--Ruhr (Region) Germany--Ruhr (Region) France--Reims 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. 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 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Thirty page printed document Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MTerras1050292-150302-01 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 2014 467 Squadron 8 Group 83 Squadron bombing Cook’s tour Fw 190 Ju 88 Lancaster Lancaster Mk 1 mine laying Mosquito Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Operation Exodus (1945) Pathfinders RAF Bottesford RAF Coningsby RAF Fulbeck RAF Metheringham RAF Scampton RAF Tholthorpe RAF Waddington RAF Wroughton RAF Wyton V-weapon https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2769/48882/SBondS-ColesAv10004.MP3 6f04dedb70ed34d9a922c5c2e37dace5 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 Coles, Aubrey Tom Coles, A T Coles, A T (Bond, S collection) Description An account of the resource Nine Items. Concerns Flying Officer Aubrey "Tommy" Coles DFC who flew operations as a pilot on Halifax with 158 Squadron. Collection consists of his log book, a memoir, two oral history interviews, documents 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-ColesAv1 Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document SB: 158. A great friend of mine who died about six months ago he was also on 158 from I think up to October ’44, weren’t you? Is that about right? AC: Yeah. Yes. That is about right. I’m just trying to think where I started then. SB: Well, according to the list I’ve got— AC: I’ve got my logbook. SB: Oh well, we’ll have a look at that later. But yes so I was he was very keen on 158. He was, just a little story about him just to sort of set the scene. The sort of thing I’ve been doing. He was a w/op a.g. AC: Yeah. SB: And he started his tour on 158 in about the time you left. October, November ’44. He was shot down on his twelfth op on the way into Hanover in January ’45. AC: That’s carelessness isn’t it. SB: Very careless [laughs] I know. Unforgivable really. He went on the run, was captured after about nine days and a few years ago now I found out who shot him down who is still alive and I took him out to Germany and they had a few days together and got on like a house on fire. But anyway that’s another story. So I’m just as interested in Halifax stuff as well. So perhaps we could start with that can we Aubrey and just chat about it really. AC: Yes. I’ve got one or two bits of paper that might help. SB: Yeah. By all means. Yes and a logbook is always a good thing to be able to look at. [pause] SB: A nice little fire guard isn’t it? Other: It’s very nice actually. Very nice indeed. AC: Logbook SB: Ok. AC: My late brother who was a wireless op and he was a special operator. SB: Ah. AC: Going out and picking up, you know details of all the [pause] he got sent to India and two of them were doing this job and they used to, their average sort of flying time was about fifteen hours and he used to fly right over Japan. And the other crew that were doing the job were shot down and they were all captured and they were all beheaded. SB: Oh gosh. Golly. AC: And I knew the chap because, the operator because my brother brought him home before they flew out by Sunderlands. SB: Oh right. AC: Out to the Far East. SB: Right. Right. AC: And there was one chap because the Japanese, and they had about three people who were wireless operators and there was one chap was particularly tortured and he didn’t give the game away. He got a George Cross later but he was killed and they beheaded the lot. SB: Oh God. Good God. AC: So they never did find out who it was but — SB: Oh dear me. AC: I’d never buy a Japanese car there. SB: Oh, well. I can understand that. AC: That is — Other: I knew somebody else you used to say that. SB: So these are your ops or — AC: Yes. It started. SB: Right. I see you there. AC: Yes. And — SB: So 10th and 11th of May Lens Marshalling Yards. AC: Yeah. SB: The first one. AC: And it gives the results of every op. SB: Ok. Just, just before we delve into these taking a bit of a step back where did you do your OTU? HCU rather. AC: Marston Moor. SB: Oh right. Ok. AC: And as we arrived some Irish, I don’t know, a corporal took us to our billets and he said, ‘Ah you’re just too late to see Group Captain Cheshire.’ He’s a marvellous man. He used to go out and play cards with the ground crew and out in the sticks, you know. They really idolised him which — SB: Yeah. Other: He did how many? SB: Cheshire? I don’t know. He did about — Other: A hundred wasn’t it? SB: Something like that. He did an awful lot of ops. AC: Yeah. SB: Yes. That’s right. So, Lens Marshalling Yards. AC: That’s the first and then they carry on. SB: I see. AC: In order. SB: Right. Then of course this is building up for D-Day isn’t it? AC: Yes. SB: So there were lots of marshalling yards, railway yards. AC: Yes. SB: And those sorts of things. Yeah. AC: I did one trip. I don’t know if it’s on there. My first op was to Stuttgart. SB: Oh right. AC: I went to 640 Squadron which was an offset of 158. SB: Right. AC: And the, what was it? Yes, it was Stuttgart. We were just taken for experience. There were two of us went up there and there were twenty two aircraft lost that night and I was sat there petrified and I was counting them and they were going down in front of us. SB: Really. Wow. God. AC: And in the middle of it there was a [whoof] and a single engine aircraft shot across from about the height of this room away [laughs] Made me jump. SB: God. AC: The bloke said, ‘Keep your bloody eyes open.’ And I thought well he didn’t see it. SB: So you were acting as second, second dickie then were you? AC: Yes. SB: On that trip. Yeah. Ok. Well, you must, what must have gone through your head? This is your first. Your first op. You must have thought — AC: I [unclear] SB: That’s an understatement isn’t it? AC: Mind you it’s different when you’re doing the job yourself I think. SB: I imagine so. Yes. So then what have we got? Marshalling yards again. AC: So I was much more relaxed with the last pilot. Other: Relaxed. AC: Yeah. Other: Is there such a word? AC: What? Other: Is there such a word when you are doing that? Relaxed. AC: Yes. There is. Other: Yeah. SB: Now I notice there that there’s one that you are probably glad you missed actually because I was looking it up yesterday having seen when you were on the squadron. AC: Yes. SB: The squadron had a really bad night on the 24th 25th of May to Aachen and you lost five aircraft that night. AC: Yes. But were they all over the target? I don’t think they were. SB: No. They weren’t all lost over the target. No. AC: No. SB: But that must have been a pretty tough time. AC: Yeah. SB: For the squadron. AC: Well, we had one op. We were going to do a daylight. I’ve forgotten where it was now but we had what they, what they used to call the fog up there you know. They had a name for it in Yorkshire. It was about two hundred feet up and almost to the ground and we were taking off in this and then we had to formate with the rest of 4 Group over Filey [pause] Flamborough Head. The chap who took off in front of me was a French-Canadian, a funny little chap and I don’t think he could reach the pedals too much [laughs] He was having trouble and he must have lost control and they went straight into the beach at [Bridlington] and great flames coming out through this fog. I thought well I’m not going down through that. I flew around the top until we were all clued up and I was telling another chap about it afterwards and he said, ‘It’s alright,’ he said, ‘I was following you?’ And and then another night an American pilot we had, a quiet chap he crashed in front of me coming into land in a village near Foston on the Wolds I think it was. SB: Oh right. AC: Somewhere up near Bridlington and I think two [pause] two were killed straight away, two died that night, and he died. So they were all wiped. And they went between cottages. No one was hurt on the ground and hit a barn opposite and no civilians were hurt. It was only us — SB: Goodness me. AC: Getting off. Sorry I’m — SB: No. That’s absolutely fine, Aubrey. You carry on. Well, this sounds like quite an interesting, I’m sure they were all interesting in their own way. AC: Yeah. SB: Sterkrade oil plant. 16th 17th of June. AC: Oh right. SB: Quite a busy time with night fighters it would seem on that particular occasion. AC: Well, we didn’t have much problems with them because I had a good crew there’s no doubt about it. But the wireless op he was a star. He went on. He flew with the chap who was the head of [pause] what was his name. He was a squadron leader then and he he was head of the Air Force and he’s now head of group, well — [pause] at Hendon. SB: Oh. The Bomber Command Association you mean? AC: Yes. Yes. SB: Yeah. Other: You’re both doing it now. SB: Yeah [laughs] Yes. We both know who we mean but we’ll come, it will come to one of us. Other: On this occasion tell me. SB: Yeah, we will. Yeah. AC: My wireless op, [unclear] his name was he was a wireless op at the end of the war. SB: Right. AC: But when he flew with us he was a funny bloke to get on but he was first class and he, one night he was upgrading the offshoot of the, oh crumbs my memory. [pause] The navigator had this. Oh, crumbs what is it? SB: Gee. H2S. AC: H2S. SB: H2S. AC: But you could have an offshoot of that. It was called Fishpond. SB: Fishpond. AC: Fishpond. SB: Yeah. AC: And my wireless op was working that and he said we were being followed and for about a good half hour we were being followed. Everything I did you know rolled it all over the shop he still followed us. SB: Right. AC: And then out of the blue he said, ‘Oh. He’s turned around and gone back.’ And this thing about that size and that night, a great friend of mine we got the chop on the same, the same bit. He really earned his keep that night. SB: Gosh. Fishpond came after Monica. Other: Oh right. What you were telling me about. SB: Monica they had to stop using because the Germans could follow it. Other: At the back of a Lanc. SB: That’s right. Other: Yeah. SB: But Fishpond sort of came after that and it was passive so they couldn’t. AC: Well, they must have you know I suppose it wasn’t much better than the other really because they were picking it up. SB: Well, yeah. That’s right. because what they hadn’t well what we hadn’t realised was we only discovered as I’m sure you know of course you know you were there we only discovered that the Germans could pick up the transmissions from Monica — AC: Yeah. SB: When a Junkers 88 defected. AC: Yeah. SB: And we flew it and oh yes they can pick us up. So then we brought out Fishpond which we thought was secure against the radar in the 88. In the meantime they’d put on Naxos radar which could pick up Fishpond. AC: Yeah. SB: They were always trying to keep on step ahead. AC: Yes. SB: Of each other all the time wasn’t it? Other: Was that what happened to the Junkers? The guy defected. SB: Yeah. Well, he said he was lost but the thinking is he actually defected. These are quite interesting. You got Wizernes which was the V-2 factory wasn’t it? AC: Yes. That was a daylight. SB: A daylight, yes. 07.00. Judged to be a very attack against negligible opposition. Crews did report pinky red flak bursting amongst the usual black stuff. Different. Other: What was that? SB: I don’t know. I don’t know [unclear] Other: Another book for you. SB: Please [pause] I see the same Lancaster is tending to crop up for you each time now. Did you, did you tend to fly the same aeroplane once you started? Once you got into your tour? I see HX329. AC: Yeah. SB: Crops up almost every time now. AC: Yeah. SB: That would be your Halifax. AC: Yeah. SB: Yeah. AC: But [unclear] SB: Yes. Yes. AC: At that time. SB: Yeah. You did thirty seven altogether. Is that right? AC: Yes. SB: How did that happen then? AC: Well, they were supposed to be. They put us up to forty at that time. Other: Really? AC: Yeah. Other: It was thirty wasn’t it? SB: Originally thirty. AC: Of course it was easier for some other poor devils but it didn’t work really because that night I’m talking about with the old Fishpond another chap a friend of mine, he was a policeman, an ex-policemen. He seemed too gentle to be a policeman but he was. He was lost that night in about the same spot. SB: Right. AC: In the middle. SB: Right. Right. AC: He never reached forty two and they chopped it back then. SB: Now, this sounds interesting. You’ve got to talk. You’ve got to tell me about this one. 20th 21st of July Ardouval. And it says here due to the very severe turbulence of the storm over the Channel, due to very severe turbulence some pilots reported temporary loss of control of their aircraft and you couldn’t hear the master bomber. And against you it says did not carry out. Jettisoned part of load and returned to base with eight left in the bomb bay. AC: Yes. SB: Tell me about then. That one then. That sounds pretty — AC: Nothing really. It was called off I think and we hadn’t dropped them so, but I don’t think if it had been over the enemy with no conscience we’d have let them out but I can’t remember the circumstances there and then. Another, my second op we, we joined what we thought was a circuit and all the talk was right but we landed at the wrong aerodrome. SB: Oh really. AC: Fortunately, a senior crew of our squadron did the same thing that night. SB: Oh right. Right. AC: We didn’t stay long [laughs] we — Other: Where was the base? AC: I’m trying to think of it. SB: Lissett. Other: Lissett. SB: Lissett in Yorkshire. Your base was Lissett. AC: I’m trying to think of this other place just down the road. Other: How many were in that? This must have been a few. SB: Yes. Well there were a lot of bases quite close to each other weren’t there? So it must have been — AC: Oh yes. SB: Quite easy. AC: Certainly in that part of Yorkshire. SB: Yes. AC: Yeah. Other: Yes. AC: I think they probably had more than well I suppose Lincolnshire had loads. Other: Right up there. AC: Yeah. Other: Yeah. AC: Above us North Yorkshire the Canadians were there. SB: Yes. Yeah. AC: We had such a mixture of people. It was quite interesting really you know. Canadians as well. Americans. One or two. One of the Americans they were asked for the chance to join the US Air Force because they got three times as much pay and we had flight sergeant who did. He took it up. But the one I was talking to he was only, really only a flying officer and he had paid for his own flying lessons when he was at college in America and he said, ‘I’m not going.’ He said, ‘I joined this to join the Air Force. The Royal Air Force. And I like it and I wouldn’t go.’ Other: I guess by then there was with the American guys in there as well there must have been quite a settled atmosphere. AC: Yes. Other: You don’t really want to go do you? AC: No. Other: You know who you are don’t you? SB: Yeah. SB: 2nd of August [Le Havre] and I’ve got it against you it’s got hit by flak over the target. AC: Yeah. It wasn’t much. SB: No. AC: No. Actually we were a bit struggling from bombs dropping from the top. SB: Yeah. AC: The wireless. One hit the flight engineer and one bit hit the bomb aimer. [unclear] SB: Yes. AC: And there was a terrible smell drifted back. It was the bomb aimer and he said, ‘I shit myself gentleman.’ And he had. Oh dear. SB: Oh dear. AC: There was always something to laugh at. Other: I don’t know how you’d deal with that [unclear] Oh dear. AC: The ground crew put a bit of it. The flight engineer had it had put a patch [unclear] SB: More excitement on the Brunswick trip I see. Hit by flak again whilst over the target area. AC: That was the Brunswick one. SB: That was. Right. AC: Yeah. SB: You’d got a thousand pound hung up. AC: Yeah. SB: Eventually jettisoned over the sea. AC: The flight engineer was supposed to check and he’d missed it. Hang ups. Dropped it. Other: We were just talking about loads that wouldn’t drop when we were at RAF Hendon this morning just you couldn’t get through could you to do anything. If it had stuck — AC: Yeah. Other: It was stuck wasn’t it? AC: Yeah. Other: A bit nerve wracking. AC: I think Americans must have been a bit more disciplined in daylight. We didn’t see day much. SB: Really? AC: I mean once we’d led the squadron for one operation in daylight it was [unclear] sometimes and everyone was getting past me as we got nearer the target. No discipline at all. Other: That’s a lot of work. SB: It is a lot of work. Yes. Yes. Fascinating actually. Ah, now what does [pause] we’ve got one here Bottrop. September. AC: Bottrop. SB: Only one squadron could identify the target and in general the entire attack was spasmodic and scattered. Inaccurate flak. Master bomber heard calling sour grapes. AC: Yeah. SB: So what was the meaning of sour grapes? AC: I’ve forgotten. I don’t. I don’t remember. I don’t remember hearing it anyway. SB: Oh right. AC: But it must have been clear off. Stop. SB: Because it sounds as though, ‘It’s all gone pear shaped chaps. Let’s go home.’ Yeah. AC: That’s, it’s a trick to get my memory back after a while. SB: Well, it’s a long time ago isn’t it but [pause] oh Duisburg. A friend of mine, sadly no longer with us was a Hampden wireless operator. He did his, he did a full tour on Hampdens. A lucky chap. A very lucky chap. AC: Yes. SB: When I chatted to him about it I said, you know, ‘What sticks in your mind?’ The first thing he said was, ‘Duisburg. Terrible.’ He said what an awful trip they had. AC: That’s Duisburg we did in daylight one time. SB: Right. Yeah. AC: It was very well protected. SB: Well, that was more or less what he was saying sort of four years earlier. AC: Yeah. SB: Or three years earlier. Yes. Other: Now, why was that? I mean, you normally always associate most raids with night time but this had changed over had it because of the invasion now had it? It was a different, it was a different story. A different remit now was it? AC: Yeah. Other: Right. AC: I much preferred night flying. Other: Yes. AC: Well, I liked night flying. I always did. Couldn’t see so much that’s the thing. Other: There is a reason for it. SB: Oh gosh. This, yeah, this Duisburg. Heavy flak encountered. AC: Yes. SB: No less than fourteen squadron aircraft were hit. Flak at its worst west of the Rhine. Right [pause] You jettisoned your bombs again. This is Wilhelmshaven. This is your last but one. AC: Oh yes. Yeah. SB: Returned on three engines and jettisoned the bombs in the sea off Bridlington. AC: Yeah. I think they thought I was getting, you know but I wasn’t. I tried to take, I took off three times. I went and the port inner, port engine was yeah port inner it was. Yeah. That was spluttering and blurting it wasn’t firing properly and it was shaking. So I tried three times and then I taxied around again. Took off and it didn’t improve actually [laughs] over the sea. I thought I’m not going all the way with this thing. So we dropped, I think it was the biggest bomb we had was a four thousand pounder and I thought we’ll get rid of that. SB: Yeah. AC: We dropped it. Made sure there were no, it was dark but you could see a fisherman away in the distance and we did what we had to do but it was a bit tight in and I reckon every window in Bridlington rattled that night. The lads, the ground crew said its probably they’ve, instead of having new spark plugs I’d been given reconditioned ones and they reckoned they were causing the problem so I felt a bit better than but I think they thought I was getting a bit you know like that because the next op — SB: Yeah. AC: We were supposed to be going to — SB: Hanover. AC: No. We didn’t even go. SB: Oh right. Oh, the one. Ok. The one you didn’t go. AC: Yeah. It was to be me lead the squadron as the senior crew and it was our squadron’s turn to lead 4 Group but it was 4 Group’s turn to lead the whole lot so we would have been number one. SB: Right at the sharp end. AC: Yeah. SB: Yeah. AC: And I did wonder whether they thought I, they said, ‘Oh, no. You’re scrubbed.’ And we were, we were tour expired. But I did wonder whether they thought I was getting a bit — SB: Really? Yeah because you were expecting to go on to do forty before you could be rested. AC: Yes. SB: Right. Right. Yeah. AC: I don’t know whether they checked at forty but there wasn’t so many people you know. Well a lot of people had a lot of trouble I think. SB: Well, I think well it seemed to change a bit didn’t it? They put it up to forty and then in to 1945 it seemed to go all over the place. AC: Yeah. SB: I mean one of the chaps I’ve spoken to in the past was a 100 Group Wellington pilot on 192 Squadron. AC: Yeah. That’s my late brother flew with them. SB: Oh really? AC: For one op before he went to India. SB: Oh right. AC: He was with them. SB: Oh right. AC: Yeah. SB: Well, small world. Well, they had to do sixty. Their tour was sixty. AC: Yeah. SB: I said to him, ‘Why was that?’ And he said, well, the reason they were told was they weren’t dropping bombs. AC: Yeah. SB: They were eavesdropping and so each op only counted as half an op. AC: Yeah. SB: Despite the fact they were flying in daylight on their own. AC: Yeah. SB: Yeah. Anyway, so did you, the last one here is Hanover. Recalled sixteen minutes after setting course. AC: Yes. SB: Did that count as an op? AC: No. SB: It didn’t. No. It was too — AC: [unclear] no. SB: That’s right. So at that point then you’re told you were tour exp were you? AC: Yeah. When we got back. SB: Right. Right. AC: Yeah. SB: Ok, so — AC: But it was, we were pleased and yet you were going to miss it. You had a good crowd. SB: Right. AC: Just before that too someone had while we were on holiday, on leave someone had used our aircraft and lost it. SB: Oh really? AC: Went around there because they — SB: No. But I noticed. I noticed the change of aeroplane actually. AC: Yeah. But I got back off leave and I was walking down the lane. I don’t know if you’ve ever been there to Lissett. SB: I have. AC: You know where the Memorial is? SB: Yes, and it’s a lovely, do you think it’s a good Memorial? I think its lovely. AC: A [unclear] idea. SB: Yeah, excellent. Anyway, sorry. Go on. AC: All of the names are on there out of order. SB: They are. Yeah. AC: If you’ve got a name you’ve got to look at them. SB: Yeah. Anyway, yeah sorry you were saying. AC: Anyway, I was walking down there because I was billeted down that lane and I looked across and our hardstanding was empty and I thought that’s strange. Anyway, it turns out that, who was the chappie? A New Zealander and he’d already done a tour but he was one of these quiet chaps. You couldn’t get into conversation with him. But they took our aircraft and they got the chop and only one person got out and that was the Belgian navigator. Andre Leleu and he came to the reunions and I said, ‘Oh you’re the bloke that lost our aircraft.’ He said, ‘I’m very sorry.’ And I said, ‘What happened?’ He said, ‘Well —’ I said, ‘How did you get out because the others were —’ It blew up and the others were all gone. He said, ‘Well, it was getting a bit dicey and I thought I’d put my parachute on.’ And he said, literally, he was blown out and it worked. SB: Good grief. AC: And he was the sole survivor and of course he came every reunion we had it was with him and his wife. He died last year. But we became great friends actually. SB: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that’s fascinating. AC: Because his wife then was quite sweet. She was seventeen and she used to be a messenger for the, what’s the name [pause] not the Germans. Other: Resistance. AC: Yeah. The Resistance. She used to have messages stuffed down the frame of her bicycle and things like that. Other: Oh right. But if he got shot down did he get captured? AC: Yes. Other: Ah. AC: Prisoner of war. Other: Did he end up being helped back by the Resistance then? SB: Not if he was captured. No. POW. Other: Oh, I meant did he manage to get out? Some managed to get out didn’t they? SB: Very very few. Other: Very few. Right. AC: But he was the only survivor of that aircraft. SB: Right. Right. So then what happened after you left 158? AC: Well, first of all I was posted to Abingdon. SB: Right. AC: 10 OTU. And the first few weeks there was no place for me so I was decorating the, I had a gang of blokes painting the navigation room and it was in a, it was about a four times the size of the house and it was they had on the wall they had a diagram with all little lights that were flying to Germany and all this rubbish. It was terribly old fashioned but they had cabins down this side so you were looking at this. It would be about twenty feet, twenty, thirty feet away looking at the target and it would have the pilot and navigator and wireless operator in this little hut but it was in ever such a state when I flew people, aircrew and they hadn’t done any ops but they were just lost and they, they were doing the painting. There was nothing else to do so we just painted it what colour we wanted it. Well, then I got the flight sergeant moaning about it and Graham [unclear] was, they’d just come from another station on the outskirts of Oxford. I can’t remember the name of the place. SB: Was that Stanton Harcourt? AC: That was it. Yes. SB: Yeah. AC: Yes. SB: Yeah. AC: Stanton Harcourt. SB: Right. Right. AC: There was a hell of a row in the Officer’s Mess. I could hear it. They said, ‘It’s alright. It’s B Flight come back and it was Bob Withers crowd coming in and they were mad. They were a really barmy lot. But they were great fun. SB: Yeah. AC: And he was too. But Graham [unclear] he’d always had trouble with his leg. SB: Yes. AC: And there was a little boy about four and if we had a do in the Mess because I think Bob, they lived out at the time but if there was a do on in the Mess Graham used to come in our bedrooms and be put to sleep because there was a little cot and we shared it out. Poor little kid. SB: What did you think about ending up on a Wimpy OTU after, after 158 Squadron? How did that strike you? AC: I liked them. I liked the Wellingtons and I had a test one day to get my grade up to B to C or something. C to B or something and there was a chap took me from, where was it? Headquarters and the training people. Anyway, an experienced flight lieutenant he was and he taught me things that I never guessed about you know. You never turn into a dead engine. He said that’s a load of rubbish you know and he showed me. You just control it better and of course I liked that. You could turn in on a dead engine and you could do a steep turn on it and so long as you’ve got it together. I used to show off a bit really with a new pupil. SB: Frightened the life out of them. AC: Stupid really I suppose but there you go. SB: Yeah. AC: But I learned a lot off that man and that put my grade up from a C to a B but to get an A I think you had to go to further expense. SB: Right. AC: Training course. But I Abingdon was a very happy station as far as I was concerned. Everyone. They had some marvellous parties and they used to make a pond in the Mess out of an old dinghy you know. A round one. SB: Yeah. AC: Goldfish in it. And there was a visiting air vice marshal. His hat went in it. It was a mad place it really was. Other: It obviously helped to be a bit made did it? AC: Pardon? Other: It obviously helped a little bit to be a bit made did it? Yeah. AC: [laughs] Oh dear. SB: How long did you stay there for? AC: Hmmn? SB: How long did you stay there for? AC: I think I was there about a year. SB: Oh right. AC: I did a course at [pause] near Doncaster. SB: Finningley. AC: Finningley. SB: Finningley. AC: Finningley. That’s it and I thought you know they were going to have a lot of Halifaxes there because they had Lancasters, Halifaxes and Wellingtons but I suppose they were mostly Wellingtons. SB: Right. Right. AC: A rather snotty wing commander took me out on a test because you know Yorkshire in those days you got fog everywhere in no time at all and the place was virtually closed down. But he told me to take it in you know see and I had I’d done a course [unclear] up in Scotland. I was the only one on the course and got above average on the instrument flying there and I liked it but I thought well this chap said take it back, this wingco and it was almost down to the ground and I’d got everything right. The beam, the signals and everything right and he said, ‘You’re too high. Go around again.’ You could see the runway by then whether he had. Twice he made me do it. He said, ‘Well, I’ve only been here a couple of months,’ he said, ‘And I’m sure I could do better than that.’ And he didn’t. He bust it up. He put the brakes on and [unclear] I thought serves you right. Other than that I quite enjoyed that and there’s Wellingtons again. I trained on them and instructed on them. I quite liked them. Of course they were out of date then slightly. SB: Well, yes. Yes, that’s right. Other: That’s the one thing I learned when doing the archive material is how much the aircraft was right up front and then suddenly it just stops as being a major operational aircraft the Wellington. It stopped being a major operational one didn’t it? AC: Yeah. Other: The Halifaxes and the Lancasters took over. AC: Yeah. SB: And after Abingdon then? What happened after your year at Abingdon? Where did you go then? AC: Where did I go then? [pause] Oh yes. We were sort of surplus to requirement by then and a lot of us got posted. I was posted to [pause] I’m trying to think of the name of the place. It doesn’t matter. It’s like in the Midlands sort of towards Leicester way and we were on Dakotas. Yeah. And I didn’t go solo there because we got ourselves in such hot water my friend and I who I met for the first time after sixty years at the Memorial. Other: Really? SB: Oh yes. Gosh. Yeah. AC: All sorts of trouble and yeah we weren’t getting proper training on these Dakotas but one day I was, I was doing [general] and the instructor had been a pupil at Abingdon when I was there and he lost control and then he stalled it and I was quick [unclear] He said, ‘Oh we’re not supposed to do it like that.’ I thought well I got fed up with this and we didn’t get the hours in because they were short of aircraft and aircraft were not in very good nick. And this other chap and I we asked to be taken off the course. I was interviewed by a group captain who was well known as a twit apparently. I didn’t know at the time but other people and he said, ‘Oh, are you putting yourself before the Service?’ I said, ‘At this stage of my career yes sir.’ And that was a silly thing to say. Of course, we were hot water straight away and we were, just two of us were just the same thing. They’d had so many people asking to be taken off and they’d let them go but I think they’d got into trouble. SB: Right. AC: Trouble with higher authorities. So we finished up at [unclear] near Northampton. At some station there and we were, I was assisting a squadron leader in the office and the wingco sat in there. They were all [nervous] people and they had a prisoner of war camp. Germans. And they [unclear] warrant officer from Malta about that high and he ruled them with a rod of iron because they’d come from America these prisoners and they’d had the time of their lives out there and we had a bit over control. And this friend, we got into hot water again. He was posted there too and he because he’d worked in a bank they said he could be in the accounts so [pause] and that was a laugh. Another story. I used to go and visit these prisoners, walk through the cookhouse and they had all got these big soup things and as you went, ‘Achtung,’ and they all stood to attention like that. So my [laughs] my friend and I used to, it was great fun to go through and then come back again and they had, they had kept on talking. It was all a bit of a laugh. And then we were, not long after that we were demobbed. SB: Yeah. AC: So — SB: So that would have been ’46 ’47 would it? AC: ’46. SB: ‘46. Yeah. Yeah. And what did you do after the Air Force? AC: Oh, I went back to my old job with a bloke [unclear] who made instruments. SB: Oh yes. AC: And I did a bit there. Then he, he wanted to move away. I didn’t want to go. I got a job at Wembley in engineering, you know. Not much of a job until I [unclear] Rotax. Part of Lucas. SB: Yes. Where? At Hemel? AC: No. I went to Hemel but I got a job in there in I did one or two other places but in the drawing office and stayed there for a while. Then we were transferred to Hemel Hempstead. SB: Right. AC: And I took a [drawing] office there and — SB: Well, I spent six years at Lucas at Hemel when I came out the Air Force. AC: Did you? SB: Yes. Small world isn’t it? AC: Yeah. What department were you in? SB: Oh, I was in the product support department. This is in the late 90s. AC: Right. In fact, they had meetings. We had lunches out [unclear] SB: Oh right. AC: They’d got one at [unclear] coming up but I shan’t go because I don’t know a lot of them. A lot of them come from English Electric. SB: Oh yes. Yeah. AC: It was then that put a stamp on me. They didn’t want me as chief draughtsman there and they took someone else and put them in there. It was just shambolic. Anyway, [unclear] SB: Can we have a look at your logbook please, Aubrey? AC: Yeah. [pause] AC: Royal Canadian Air Force. SB: Thank you very much. Oh, right. Indeed. Yes. Do you mind if I take some pictures of your book as we go through? Other: Do you want to do that, Steve? Are you alright or did you want to talk? SB: Yeah, I’m fine. Other: Ok. SB: Take photographs of those as well perhaps. Other: Is that ok if I take photographs of that? [[tea talk]] SB: Let’s have a look. Oh, so you did your flying training in Canada. AC: Yes. SB: Right. Other: Now, what part? SB: Caron, Saskatchewan. AC: Caron. It was about twenty miles west, west of Regina. Other: Saskatchewan. That’s, that’s Indian territory isn’t it? [unclear] SB: Sergeant Craig your instructor. AC: Yes. He was a nice guy. SB: Yeah [pause] AC: [unclear] I think they used to get prairie madness some of these instructors out there. There was one chap said to me during night flying, ‘Have you ever done any aerobatics at night?’ Like an idiot I said no. I wasn’t keen on aerobatics at the best of times. It wasn’t even moonlight. SB: Oh gosh. Really? AC: And the same chap took me on instrument flying one day and I was under the hood and he gave me the course to take. Then he said, ‘Ok. I’ve got it now. You can come out [unclear] prairie where they only thing they grow is corn. SB: Right. AC: And there was one house at the side of it and we landed at the back of it and a girl came out to the end of the garden. SB: Really? AC: It was a funny place and he said, ‘I left my hat here last night.’ [unclear] Other: How long were you there in Canada? AC: I don’t know. You can tell by that. SB: Yeah. Well, you started your flying training on the 26th of September ’42 and started AFU in, back in England on the 1st of July ’43. AC: Right. Other: Did you like it? SB: Ten months. AC: Sorry? Other: Did you like Canada? AC: Oh yes. Other: Yeah. Nice people there. AC: Yeah. Very nice people. SB: Yeah. AC: In fact, we went, three of us went to Winnipeg at Christmas and we went to the Airmen’s Club and they said, ‘Well, what you like to do? Would you like to go with a family?’ And we did and this family took us in. Other: Yes. Very nice people. Yeah. AC: They took us to a different party every night you know at Christmas for about five days. Other: Let’s just check I took that last one. SB: Oh, I found your, the op you went on when you were on the Con Unit. AC: What? SB: When you were 1652 HCU. AC: Yes. SB: Frankfurt op. That was the one you were talking about. Twenty two aircraft lost. AC: Yes. I thought it — SB: Yeah. AC: I thought it was. SB: Yeah. That must have been the one you were talking about. Yes. I see you did your OTU at Lossiemouth didn’t you? AC: Yes. SB: Yeah. Now, Patrick Moore. He of, “Sky of Night.” “Sky At Night,” fame. AC: Yes. SB: Did you know he was, he was an RAF navigator? AC: Oh, yes. Yes. SB: And now, the reason I mention this is because he would never say what he did but it’s known he was a navigator and he trained in Canada and he was at 20 OTU Lossiemouth sometime in 1943 and that’s as far as anybody can gauge it. What happened to him after that I don’t know. AC: We crewed up there. SB: Right. Yeah. AC: In this marvellous way of putting you all in a — SB: Right. Yeah. AC: It worked. SB: Yeah. AC: Except my wireless op went [pause] what’s it called [pause] LMF. SB: LMF. Really? Yeah. AC: Yeah. SB: While you were still at OTU. AC: Well, he was always drinking with the women of low character [laughs] he was a shocker. Yeah. And we didn’t know anything about it until we were posted from there. Again, that’s when I picked up a spare wireless op at Marston Moor. SB: Right. And you were after your flight engineer there as well wouldn’t you at HCU? They didn’t go to OTU did they? The flight engineers. AC: No. That’s right. You’re right. Yeah. Picked him up there. But — SB: What happened to the rest of your crew when you finished your tour? Do you know? Do you know where they all went? AC: When we finished our tour my wireless op he wanted to stay on but he, they didn’t take him on but he managed to get a trip in. He flew with a squadron leader then. This chap [pause] the President of the Air Force Association. SB: Doug Ratcliffe? No. AC: No. He’s the — SB: He’s the secretary. AC: Secretary. SB: Oh, hang on. AC: [unclear] of the Royal Air Force. SB: Yes. AC: God, I can’t remember it. Other: Listen to the two of you. SB: Beetham? Beetham. Michael Beetham. AC: He was a squadron leader then and my wireless op flew out to India with him and they, he met my brother and they flew out to [unclear] and they didn’t want him in the Air Force so he joined the Army. They jumped at him because the standard of training in the Air Force was much better. SB: Right. AC: And he came out a major I think. SB: Really? AC: Yeah. He’s still alive. There’s three of us still alive. SB: Yes. AC: More or less [laughs] — SB: Who was the other one? The other ones? AC: Mid-upper gunner. [pause] SB: Yeah. AC: It’s double sided [laughs] you know that. Other: Yes. Yes. I keep counting that I’ve done it right. That’s the problem Aubrey I keep thinking to myself have I done twenty three and twenty four. AC: My late brother did those. SB: A terrific job. Oh, my tea too. Thank you very much. [pause] SB: Oh, here we are. This is the 1381 TCU. I can’t think where that was. Other: That’s a full logbook. SB: A beautiful logbook. Yes. Other: Isn’t it. AC: Oh crumbs [pause] SB: If we had the books I could probably tell you but I haven’t. Oh hang on. You never know your luck. AC: I’ve got a lot of problem with my memory. I’ve had all the tests. They say, ‘No. There’s nothing wrong with you.’ [laughs] SB: No. It’s not in there. AC: Oh, that was Marston Moor wasn’t it? Yeah. SB: Right. Oh right. Ok. Oh, Green Endorsement. AC: Hmmn? SB: A Green Endorsement. Good airmanship and the full operational tour has been completed without being involved in any accident. AC: Oh yes. Nearly. SB: Well, none that you’d admit to. Now, you got the DFC didn’t you? AC: Yes. SB: That was for the tour or for anything in particular? AC: Nothing in particular I don’t think. SB: Right. AC: Not that I told them. Other: Well, as you say I think I’ve taken one twice Steve just to let you know. Alright. SB: Oh, I’m always doing that, Dean. Other: So, rather than lose it I want to make sure you’ve got it. SB: Now, do you have a photograph of yourself in uniform or better still a photograph and or with your crew at all? AC: I have one hanging on the wall down here. SB: Ah, should I follow you? AC: You can. Or I could bring it in. [long pause] Other: Grabbing of the last of the summer. Other 1: I’ve been reading about it. Yes. Other: They say it’s going to bad tomorrow don’t they? [pause] Other 1: It’s just going for whether a bumper crop of blackberries etcetera means a bleak winter. It does normally doesn’t it? Other: Oh lots of berries doesn’t it. They say that don’t they? Other 1: Yes. Other: Yes. I’ve never seen so many butterflies this year. Not never. It’s a long time since I’ve seen so many butterflies in one year. Other 1: It is up here saying butterfly conservation saying its good news for butterflies this fine weather because the winter was so bad that they are hibernated late which is why we’ve got more now. Other: Oh right. Well, it’s funny because I did notice it this year. I love butterflies. I think they’re fantastic. Other 1: You’ve got butterfly plants in your garden. Other: Yes. Yes. We’ve got them specially in this year because we wanted well as everybody does nothing beats lavender. Other 1: Yes. Other: [unclear] is great. Other 1: Yes, we have lavender out the front and it was absolutely covered in bees but we didn’t see any butterflies. Other: You didn’t have any butterflies. Other 1: Near where we are there is a Wrest Park which is English Heritage property and they had a whole bunch of lavenders. Lavender plants there. I’ve never seen anything like it. There were bees, butterflies, White, Red Admirals everything going on. It was absolutely totally and utterly full and because there was a whole batch of them it looked like a swarm. I can’t remember that ever. Other: There is a butterfly farm [unclear] Other 1: There is at St Albans. Other: Yes. Other 1: Jolly pretty little place. Other: I’ve never been there. Other 1: Oh, it’s worth going. Oh, it is worth going. Seriously. Make sure you take your good camera with you. Other: [unclear – lots of overtalking each other] Other 1: I said what do we do? She said, ‘Well, you can hold insects in your hand.’ I thought well yeah twenty seven pounds just to do that. Other: That’s a lot of money. Other 1: But it’s obviously got more than that. Other: They’ve been expanding it and we went two years ago so I would imagine. It’s quite pleasant in its own way. Other 1: You would say it’s worth it. Other: Yes. Not if you’re going to come and hit me over the head and say, ‘I’ve paid twenty seven pounds for that.’ The thing, the thing I would say though is that the butterflies are stunning and then pretty well just opposite that is the Insect House which I thought I wouldn’t be interested in. SB: Who are they? Who are they all? It’s fascinating. That’s absolutely fascinating. Other: They’ve got a piece of rope that runs across and they look like little stick insects and they’re carrying logs behind them and taking them to their nest and it’s like a motorway. They’re going past each other and then back on there. It’s fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. Other 1: Have you seen the ants on television? Other: Absolutely like that. But twenty seven pounds each. Other 1: [unclear] Other: They’ve got quite a nice place to have something to eat. Other 1: [unclear] Other: Yeah. It is. I’m going to stick my neck out and say yes. I think it is. I mean as you say the grandchildren are twenty odd now. Other 1: Yes. Other: You just get such fantastic photographs from it. Other 1: Oh well. Other: And they will land on you. They will land on your hand. Other 1: She said, ‘Oh yes, you can hold the insects,’ it didn’t sound terribly thrilling. Other: Well, I’ll go with that. Other 1: It’s obviously more geared to younger children. Other: And I would say that’s right. That’s why I said about the twenty years old. If you said about your grandchildren. But just for yourselves it’s very impressive. I went along thinking you know I’m not really sure about this but I came away impressed. Other 1: My eldest son he thinks since we’ve moved he thinks we might worry about moving. We moved two and a half years ago. Other: Where from? Other 1: Frinton on Sea. Other: Oh, did you? That’s quite a difference. SB: I’m afraid the last photograph I have to take is you. You’re fine where you are Aubrey. You’re fine where you are. Other 1: When Aubrey retired we moved and I’m eighty six, he’s nearly ninety one and it was getting a distance for the boys to come down. SB: One for luck. [pause] SB: Thank you very much. Other 1: And so we thought well we’re not going to live forever we’ll come up here — 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 Aubrey Coles. One Description An account of the resource Aubrey speaks of his brother who was a wireless operator, special operations, out in India. He talks about his own early operations to Lens and then to Stuttgart as a second dickie. He watched petrified as he counted twenty two aircraft lost in front of his flight. He continues with anecdotes of other notable operations and experiences and mentions being hit by flak. Aubrey discusses tour lengths and loss of their aircraft with another crew. He describes the time after leaving operations and after the end of the war. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource S Bond A T Cole Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-11-16 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944 1945 1946 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France France--Lens Germany Germany--Stuttgart Great Britain England--Yorkshire Germany--Aachen Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf) France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais) France--Normandy Germany--Braunschweig Germany--Bottrop Germany--Duisburg England--Oxfordshire Germany--Hannover France--Pas-de-Calais Germany--Ruhr (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 Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 01:03:48 audio recording Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending revision of OH transcription Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SBondS-ColesAv10004 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 Maureen Clarke Julie Williams 158 Squadron 20 OTU 640 Squadron aircrew anti-aircraft fire C-47 Distinguished Flying Cross fear Halifax lack of moral fibre Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Operational Training Unit pilot radar RAF Abingdon RAF Lissett RAF Lossiemouth RAF Marston Moor training V-weapon Wellington wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2982/54795/SKnoxVD63842v10022.pdf 0c58feae1ecb4f5b6bca684d13ac8d88 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2982/54795/SKnoxVD63842v10023 b.pdf 57e67bbd7d73588a57e0eb8faa63b033 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 Knox, Victor Douglas Knox, V D Description An account of the resource 196 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Victor Douglas Knox (b 27 October 1920, 63842 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, correspondence, documents, objects and photographs. Following his career in which he flew operations as a pilot with 462 Squadron in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa he was Accidents Officer at 4 Group. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Stephen Knox and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2024-08-18 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 Knox, VD Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Headquarters, Bomber Command. [underlined] ROYAL AIR FORCE. [/underlined] Serial No. 52 Page No. 1 Date 10.5.45. [underlined] COMMAND ROUTINE ORDER BY [/underlined] [underlined] AIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR A.T. HARRIS. K.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C. [/underlined] [underlined] PART 1 – ADMINISTRATIVE [/underlined] [underlined] A.52 [underlined] [underlined] SPECIAL ORDER OF THE DAY [/underlined] Men and Women of Bomber Command. More than 5 1/2 years ago, within hours of the declaration of War, Bomber Command first assailed the German enemy. You were then but a handful. Inadequate in everything but the skill and determination of the crews for that sombre occasion and for the unknown years of unceasing battle which lay beyond horizons black indeed. You, the aircrews of Bomber Command, sent your first ton of bombs away on the outbreak of war. A million tons of bombs and mines have followed from Bomber Command alone. From Declaration of War to Cease Fire a continuity of battle without precedent and without relent. In the Battle of France your every endeavour bore down upon an overwhelming and triumphant enemy. After Dunkirk your Country stood alone – in arms but largely unarmed – between the Nazi tyranny and domination of the world. The Battle of Britain, in which you took a great part, raised the last barrier strained but holding in the path of the all-conqeuring [sic] Wehrmacht, and the bomb smoke of the Channel ports choked back down German throats the very word “Invasion” not again to find expression within these narrow seas until the bomb-disrupted refences of the Normandy beach-heads fall to our combined assault. In the long years between much was to pass. Then it was that you, and you for long alone, carried the war ever deeper and ever more furiously into the heart of the Third Reich. There the whole might of the German enemy in undivided strength, and – scarcely less a foe – the very elements, arrayed against you. You overcome them both. Through [inserted] the [/inserted] desperate years, undismayed by any odds, undeterred by any casualties, night succeeding night, you fought. The Phalanx of the United Nations. You fought alone, as the one force then assailing German soil, you fought alone as individuals – isolated in your crew stations by the darkness and the murk, and from all other aircraft in company. Not for you the hot emulation of high endeavour in the glare and panoply of martial array. Each crew, each one in each crew, fought alone through black nights rent only, mile after continuing mile, by the fiercest barrages ever raised and the instant sally of the searchlights. In each dark minute of those long miles lurked menace. Fog, ice, snow and tempest found you undeterred. In that loneliness in action lay the final test, the ultimate stretch of human staunchness and determination. Your losses mounted through those years. Years in which your chance of survival through one spell of operational duty was negligible. Through two periods, mathematically nil. Nevertheless survivors pressed forward as volunteers to pit their desperately acquired skill in even a third period of operations, on special tasks. In those 5 years and 8 months of continuous [deleted words] battle over enemy soil your casualties over long periods were grievous. As the count is cleared those of Bomber Command who gave their lives to bring near to impotence an enemy who had surged Swift/. . . . . . . . . [page break] – 2 – swift in triumph through a Continent, and to enable the United Nations to deploy in full array, will be found not less than the total dead of our National Invasion Armies now in Germany. In the whole history of our National Forces never have so small a band of men been called to support so long such odds. You indeed bore the brunt. [deleted word] To you who survive I would say this. Content yourselves and take credit with those who perished, that now the “Cease Fire” has sounded countless homes within our Empire will welcome back a father, a husband or a son whose life, but for your endeavours and your sacrifices, would assuredly have been expended during long further years of agony to achieve a victory already ours. No Allied Nation is clear of this debt to you. I cannot here expound your full achievements. Your attacks on the industrial centres of Northern Italy did much toward the collapse of the Italian and German Armies in North Africa, and to further invasion of the Italian mainland. Of the German enemy two to three million fit men, potentially vast armies, were continuously held throughout the war in direct and indirect defence against your assaults. A great part of her industrial war effort went towards fending your attacks. You struck a critical proportion of the weapons of war from enemy hands. On every front. You immobilised armies, leaving them shorn of supplies, reinforcements, resources and reserves, the easier prey to our advancing Forces. You eased and abetted the passage of our troops over major obstackles [sic]. You blasted the enemy from long prepared defences where he essayed to hold. On the Normandy beaches. At the hinge of the battle of Caen. In the jaws of the Falaise Gap. To the strongpoints of the enemy-held Channel ports, St. Vith, Houffalize, and the passage of the Rhine. In battle after battle you sped our armies to success at minimum cost to our troops. The Commanders of our land forces and indeed those of the enemy, have called your attacks decisive. You enormously disrupted every enemy means of communication, the very life-blood of his military and economic machines. Railways, canals and every form of transport fell first to decay and then to chaos under your assaults. You so shattered the enemy’s oil plants as to deprive him of all but the final trickle of fuel. His aircraft became earthbound, his road transport ceased to roll, armoured fighting vehicles lay helpless outside the battle, or fell immobilised into our hands. His strategic and tactical plans failed through inability to move. From his war industries supplies of ore, coal, steel, fine metals, aircraft, guns, ammunition, tanks vehicles and every ancillary equipment dwindled under your attacks. At the very crisis of the invasion of Normandy, you virtually annihilated the German naval surface forces then in the Channel, a hundred craft and more fell victim to those three attacks. You sank or damaged a large but yet untotalled number of enemy submarines in his ports and by mine-laying in his waters. You interfered widely and repeatedly with his submarine training programmes. With extraordinary accuracy, regardless of opposition, you hit and burst through every carapace which he could devise to protect his submarines in harbour. By your attacks on inland industries and coastal ship yards you caused hundreds of his submarines to be still born. Your mine laying throughout the enemy’s sea lanes, your bombing of his inland waters, and his Ports, confounded his sea traffic and burst his canals. From Norway throughout the Baltic, from Jutland to the Gironde, on the coasts of Italy and North Africa you laid and relaid [sic] the minefields. The wreckage of the enemy’s naval and merchant fleets litters and encumbers his sea lanes and dockyards. A thousand known ships, and many more as yet [inserted]un[/inserted]known, fell casualty to your mines. 3/. . . . . . . . . [page break] – 3 – You hunted and harried his major warships from hide to hide. You put out of action, gutted or sank most of them. By your attacks on Experimental Stations, Factories, Communications and Firing Sites you long postponed and much reduced the V. weapon attacks. You averted an enormous further toll of death and destruction from your country. With it all you never ceased to rot the very heart out of the enemy’s war resources and resistance. His Capital and near 100 of his cities and towns including nearly all of leading war industrial importance lie in utter ruin, together with the greater part of the war industry which they supported. Thus you bought to nought the enemy’s original advantage of an industrial might intrinsically greater than ours and supported by the labour of captive millions, now set free. For the first time in more than a century you have brought home to the habitual aggressor of Europe the full and acrid flavours of war, so long the perquisite of his victims. All this, and much more, have you achieved during these 5 1/2 years of continuous battle, despite all opposition from an enemy disposing of many a geographical and strategical advantage with which to exploit an initial superiority in numbers. Men from every part of the Empire and of most of the Allied Nations fought in our ranks. Indeed a band of brothers. In the third year of war the Eighth Bomber Command, and the Fifteenth Bomber Command, U.S.A.A.F. from their Mediterranean [deleted word] bases, ranged themselves at our side, zealous in extending every mutual aid, vieing [sic] in every assault upon our common foe. Especially they played the leading part in sweeping the enemy fighter defences from our path and, finally, out of the skies. Nevertheless, nothing that the crews accomplished – and it was much and decisive – could have been achieved without the devoted service of every man and woman in the Command. Those who tended the aircraft, mostly in the open, through six bitter winters. Endless intricacies in a prolonged misery of wet and cold. They rightly earned the implicit trust of the crews. They set extraordinary records of aircraft serviceability. Those who manned the Stations, Operational Headquarters, Supply lines and communications. The Pilots of the Photographic Reconnaisance [sic] Units without whose lonely ventures far and wide over enemy territory we should have been largely powerless to plan or to strike. The Operational Crew training organisation of the Command which through these years of ceaseless work by day and night never failed, in the face of every difficulty and unpredicted call, to replace all casualties and to keep our constantly expanding first line up to strength in crews trained to the highest pitch of efficiency; simultaneously producing near 20,000 additional trained aircrew for the raising and reinforcement of some 50 extra squadrons, formed in the Command and despatched for service in other Commands at home and overseas. The men and women of the Meteorological Branch who attained prodigious exactitudes in a fickle art and stood brave on assertion where science is inexact. Time and again they saved us from worse than the enemy could ever have achieved. Their records is outstanding. The meteorological reconnaissance pilots, who flew through anything and everything in search of the feasible. The Operational Research Sections whose meticulous investigation of every detail of every attack provided data for the continuous confounding of the enemy and the consistent reduction of our own casualties. The scientists, especially those of the Telecommunications Research Establishment, who placed in unending success[deleted letter]ion in our hands the technical means to 4/. . . . . . . . . [page break] – 4 – resolve our problems and to confuse the every parry of the enemy. Without their skill and their labours beyond doubt we could not have prevailed. The Works Services who engineered for Bomber Command alone 2,000 miles of runway track and road, with all that goes with them. The works Staff, Designers and Workers, who equipped and re-equipped us for Battle. Their efforts, their honest workmanship, kept in our hands indeed a Shining Sword. To all of you I would say how proud I am to have served in Bomber Command for 4 1/2 years and to have been your Commander-in-Chief through more than three years of your Saga. Your task in the German war is now completed. Famously have you fought. Well have you deserved of your country and her Allies. (Signed) A.T. HARRIS. Air Chief Marshal, Commanding-in-Chief. [underlined] BOMBER COMMAND [/underlined] [page break] [copy of main document] 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 Command routine orders Description An account of the resource A communication to the men and women of Bomber Command from Air Chief Marshall A T Harris in which he summarises the impact of Bomber Command. References the disruption of enemy communications, industrial output and submarine training; striking warships, minelaying, experimental stations and restricting supplies; their importance in the Battles of France and Britain, the collapse of armies in North Africa following the bombing of industrial Northern Italy and the Normandy Campaign. He praises the achievements of all members of Bomber Command, 'from all parts of the British Empire', the importance of the meteorological department, the telecommunications research establishment, all workers and staff and reminds the survivors they should be proud. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A T Harris Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium France Germany Great Britain Italy North Africa Belgium--Houffalize Belgium--Saint-Vith France--Dunkerque France--Normandy 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 Wehrmacht Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Four typed sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SKnoxVD63842v10022; SKnoxVD63842v10023 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 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945-05-10 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1945-05-10 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Steve Baldwin aircrew anti-aircraft fire bombing ground crew ground personnel Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984) meteorological officer military ethos military service conditions mine laying Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) perception of bombing war Photographic Reconnaissance Unit pilot searchlight submarine training V-weapon Victory in Europe Day (8 May 1945) Women’s Auxiliary Air Force 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/1252/16490/MCheshireGL72021-181210-010002.1.jpg de1b90ca99d4b152a16bef637fd44c6d 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 Cheshire, Leonard Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard Baron Cheshire Description An account of the resource 375 items concerning Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, OM, DSO &amp; Two Bars, DFC. Collection consists of photographs of people, vehicles, places, aircraft, weapons and targets; documents including, private and service letters, signals, telegrams, intelligence reports, crew lists and official documents. Cheshire served on 102 and 35 Squadrons and commanded 76 and 617 Squadrons. The collection includes details of 617 Squadron's precision bombing operations. Also included are two sub-collections: one containing 21 photographs of <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1295">Tinian and Saipan</a>, the other consisting of 37 audio tapes of <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2230">speeches given by Cheshire</a> after the war. <br /><br />The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by The Leonard Cheshire Archive and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. 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 property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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. 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 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-06-25 Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document From : A.O.C. HQ. No 5 Group. To : Conningsby Base, R.A.F. Station, WOODHALL. A.407. 10th. JUNE (Personal for Officer Commanding) The following message has been received from A.O.C.-in-C Bomber Command. Please give my congratulations to all concerned in the attack on Saumur Tunnel. The results speak for themselves of the astonishing skill and efficiency shown. 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 Note from Air Officer Command 5 Group Description An account of the resource To officer commanding Conningsby Base RAF Woodhall Spa passing on congratulations on success of Saumur tunnel operation. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A.O.C. No 5 Group Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-06-10 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One typewritten document Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MCheshireGL72021-181210-010002 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. France France--Saumur Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-06-08 1944-06-09 Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Cheshire, Leonard. Bombing of the Samur tunnel (8/9 June 1944) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive License A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource. Royalty-free permission to publish Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is property of the Leonard Cheshire Archive which has kindly granted the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive a royalty-free permission to publish it. Please note that it was digitised by a third-party which used technical specifications that may differ from those used by International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. It has been published here ‘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. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ashley Jacobs David Bloomfield Georgie Donaldson 5 Group 617 Squadron bombing of the Saumur tunnel (8/9 June 1944) Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) RAF Coningsby RAF Woodhall Spa Tallboy https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/221/3363/PCampbellKWP1601.jpg 46f4ce48d53bda56bbcf7a7e51feba7b https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/221/3363/ACampbellKW160604.mp3 4ec1a402c3e766446124357837dccd8a 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 Campbell, Keith William Keith William Campbell Keith W Campbell Keith Campbell K W Campbell K Campbell Description An account of the resource Two oral history interviews with Keith William Campbell (1923 - 2019, 423220 Royal Australian Air Force) and a diary he kept as a prisoner of war.<br /><br /> A further collection about Keith Campbell <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2083">here.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Keith William Campbell 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 2016-06-04 2016-05-18 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 Campbell, KW Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document AP: This interview for the International Bomber Command Centre’s Digital Archive is with Keith Campbell, a 466 Squadron Halifax bomb aimer during World War Two. The interview is taking place at the War Memorial’s theatre in Canberra. We’re here at the War Memorial for a Bomber Command Commemoration that will take place tomorrow. It is the 4th of June 2016. My name’s Adam Purcell. Keith, we’ll start from the beginning if you don’t mind. Can you tell me something of your early life and what you were doing before the war? KC: Before the war I went to school [laughs] Silly question. I finished my leaving certificate at school. And in 1939 the war had just broken out and like all youngsters of sixteen I couldn’t get in the Air Force soon enough. I wanted to get in the Air Force because my father had been in the Australian Flying Corps in the First War. So obviously I had to follow his footsteps. And when I became seventeen [pause while coughing] Excuse me. Sorry about that. At seventeen I applied to join the Air Force Reserve, which I did and for the next, oh six or eight months myself and [coughing] excuse me, got a sore throat. Six or eight others learned aircraft recognition, basic trigonometry which was all done at school anyway. And Morse. Somehow or other, we had to get up to ten words a minute in Morse. Initially it seemed an impossible task. The lines seemed to be a collection of dots and dashes. Every sign you saw you reduced it to Morse. However, in due course we obtained proficiency in Morse and the other things like the aircraft recognition. In May 1942 I was duly called up for service at Number 2 ITS at Bradfield Park, Sydney. ITS was an Initial Training School where all raw recruits came to be sorted out and hopefully made into something resembling an Air Force type. There’s also [pause] also the categorisation as to what you were going to be. Pilot, navigator, bomb aimer or whatever. I was selected to be a pilot and was looking forward to going to initial, Elementary Training School. And one morning in the end of, I think it was July or August [coughing] Oh dear. I’m sorry about that. AP: That’s alright. Have another drink if you like. KC: On parade the CO came out and said, ‘There’s a shortage of observers in the Canadian schools. Anyone that likes to volunteer will be off to Canada within a week.’ The temptation was too great so I volunteered and we were off to Canada in a couple of weeks. Went down to Hobart where we went aboard the French liner Ile de France which had been converted to a troop ship and sailed across the Pacific to New Zealand where we picked up some more Air Force people. And then our next stop was at Pearl Harbour where we stopped for a day. We weren’t allowed off the ship but we could see the devastation that the Japanese raid had caused to the American fleet. Things had recovered to a great extent but we could imagine just how great the attack was. There was one battleship upside down and it wasn’t a happy sight. Our next call was at San Francisco where [coughing] Oh dear. [pause] Where we caught the train from ‘Frisco to Vancouver. As it happened the train we took up was on Thanksgiving Day and on the buffet in the train we were entertained to a turkey dinner. Thanksgiving dinner. Which was a major occasion after the food in the, on the ship which was adequate but quite basic. Arrived in Vancouver and had three or four days to have a look around that beautiful city. Then off to Edmonton, over the Rockies. Caught the train and about four of us got on the back carriage where there was an observation platform. I think we spent most of the thirty six hours going to Edmonton just watching the magnificence of the Canadian Rockies. AP: I’m just going to stop there for a minute. [pause] AP: Now. We were in San Francisco, I think. Catching a train. KC: Going over the Rockies was a magnificent experience. Bright moonlight night and to see all that snow which we’d never, most of us had never seen before. It was a wonderful introduction to Canada. We arrived at the RCAF station at Edmonton where we spent another week being sorted out and see just where we were going. Who was going to be a navigator and who was going to be a bomb aimer? And subsequently I was categorised as a bomb aimer. And there were others, along with myself caught a train to Lethbridge in southern Alberta where the RCAF training station was situated. Lethbridge was quite a small Canadian town. Very pleasant. And we spent about five or six months there, I think it was, flying Ansons, and Battles, and whatever, bomb aiming and doing a bit of gunnery to fit us for the trials of squadron life. Having spent, finished the course at Lethbridge we were posted back. Back to Edmonton where the navigation school was. We spent another couple of months there flying over the vast expanse of Canadian prairies. If you got lost you just went down and the nearest railway station you read the sign and you knew where you were. We had a wonderful experience at Edmonton. It was a big Canadian city and the Canadian people were wonderful to us. The hospitality was outstanding and we made a lot of friends in Edmonton. After the, finishing our course we went to a Wings Parade. Apparently, this particular Wings Parade was quite an occasion publicity wise. An American colonel had been brought in to present our wings and we all duly lined up at the, in the sports centre. And after much ceremony we were all, each called out and given an Observer’s wing which we subsequently sewed on our uniform. Or if you had a girlfriend, she got the task. The next port of call was to be Halifax in eastern Canada. We had two weeks to get there and what we did in those two weeks was entirely up to ourselves. We had a leave pass, a pocketful of money, comparatively and myself and two or three others decided to go to New York. And we had a ball there. In Australian uniform it was impossible to buy a drink. If you went to a night club you were entertained by the top brass and it was a quite weary [laughs] After a week in New York we thought we’d better start going to Halifax. And on the way, we went to Niagara Falls and had the opportunity to see the Falls and go on the ride on the, oh, Lady of the Lake or whatever the steamer was called. And subsequently arrived at Halifax. Halifax was a very major port for Atlantic convoys and we had to wait there until a ship came that could take us to England. Spent about two weeks in Halifax and the people were very good to us but it was very much a service town. After a couple of weeks we were put on the French liner the Louis Pasteur which had been converted from a luxury liner to a troop ship and set sail for England. Having got out of the harbour I think they just pointed the ship at England, full speed ahead and off we went. Supposedly, and I’m sure it was, too fast for the submarines and we did a very rapid trip and arrived at Liverpool where we got off the ship and onto a train. It was evening. The contrast was dramatic. After the bright lights and plenty of everything in Canada here we were in England. It was dark, wet, foggy and crowded. And dark. Blackout was on. And we subsequently boarded a train and after many hours arrived at Brighton on the south coast where the RAAF had their accommodation for aircrew. Spent a couple of weeks in [pause] at Brighton waiting for a posting to the Advanced Flying Unit which gave us an opportunity to explore the countryside that’s around Brighton which was a very, very pleasant spot. And we availed ourselves of the opportunities to enjoy ourselves. And after a couple of weeks we ended up in a place called Pwhelli in North Wales where we did an advanced training course. Another pleasant spot. Quite a small town. And I think we were flying Ansons there. In due course we finished our training there and went to an OTU at Lichfield which was more, mainly an Australian OTU. They had a satellite station at Church Broughton which was quite nearby. And our course was posted to Church Broughton where we were to do our Operational Training Unit on Wellingtons. As a Wellington crew was five people and we were all bomb aimers a course of bomb aimers, roughly the equivalent number of pilots, navigators, wireless operators and gunners were put in this huge hangar and told go to it. Crew yourselves up. And fortunately, I happened to know one person there so we became a two, two part crew and within half an hour of talking to the other people we subsequently formed a crew. Seems a very haphazard way of selecting a crew for operations but oddly enough it worked out very well. Very few crews proved to be incompatible. We were very fortunate that we were all Australians and we had similar interests so we didn’t have problems. Spent some months at OTU and in our spare time we used to go to, the nearest city was Derby and patronized the local hostelries there. In due course we graduated and posted to the Conversion Unit where we converted from twin-engined Wellingtons to four-engined Halifax Mark 2s. And we spent about six weeks there and did a lot of flying around England which we found a very great difference to flying in Canada. There was fog. There was hundreds of other aircraft. There were, all over the countryside were aerodromes. And we just had to make sure we dodged the aircraft, found where we were and got back to base. Subsequently we did duly finish our training there and were posted to Number 466 Australian Squadron at Leconfield. Well, while we were at Conversion Unit the Halifax, being a four engine bomber, required an engineer and another gunner. The one, the engineer was a twenty four year old English chap and the gunner was a thirty three year old chap from Birmingham. He was the real grandfather of the crew. However, we all got on very well and went to Leconfield where we were allocated accommodation. We were very fortunate, Leconfield being a peacetime squadron and all the amenities that went with it. After living in Nissen huts for a considerable time it was pleasant to be in regular barracks. New Year in, at that stage it was New Year 1944 and we were the new ones on the squadron. We were flying, at that stage, the new Halifax Mark 3 with the radial motors and the rear designed tail plan which had eliminated a lot of the problems which the Mark 2 Halifax had. And after flying in the Mark 3s they were a magnificent aircraft from all points of view. From the pilot and the rest of the crew was very, well, not exactly comfortable but a lot, a lot less crowded than the previous ones we had. AP: What was your position in the aircraft like? What did it look like? Can you, can you describe the bomb aimers area? KC: Coming in the entrance to the aircraft near the tail you walked through the fuselage. There was a rest area. Bunks on both sides and two or three stairs up to the pilot’s deck where the pilot sat and there was a second dickie seat which we folded up and allowed us to go down four or five steps where the navigator sat, you know. Compartment. The, rather the wireless operator sat in a compartment just under the pilot. Next to him was the navigator and the bomb aimer was next to him. All the bombsights and everything else, the bomb panel was right at the front and that was my domain. The Mark 2 Halifaxes had a front turret which had been considered superfluous and in place of that there was a plastic front which gave a much better vision and also a Vickers guns which was really only a pop gun. On the squadron the navigational aids were the Gee and we also had H2S and between the navigator and myself he worked, had the Gee and did the navigation and I did the H2S. Which was a very compatible way of doing things. After a lot of local flying and getting used to operational conditions we finally did our first operation. I think it was the end of February, on a, on the first of what were called the French targets in France. This one happened to be at Trappes which was the rail junction outside of Paris. Subsequent operations consisted of quite a lot of trips like that to disable the communications such as bridges, rail junctions, road junctions and any other ways that would impede the ability of the German armies to get supplies both before and after D-Day. My first trip to Germany was to Stuttgart in southern Germany and we went, duly went to briefing and navigators and bomb aimers went off to a separate briefing to do their navigation. Draw up their charts and get things like that underway. And operational meal. Bacon and eggs. Then up with the rest of the crew and waited for the, drew our parachutes and waited for the trucks to take us out to the aircraft. Going to Germany for the first time was quite an adventure. We managed to keep on track and on time and in due course the target was a quarter of an hour away and I went down to the bombsight and set it up with the height, speed and did the bomb drop panel and got ready to direct the pilot. PFF had laid flares which we saw and I directed the aircraft through the bombsight to the flares. And a little to the left, a little to the right and we finally got on course, dropped our bombs and spent the next ten seconds, the longest ten seconds you’ll ever spend flying straight and level and waiting for the camera. As soon as that happened set course for home. And we had a fighter come in to say hello to us. Fortunately, the rear gunner saw him and we went off in a corkscrew and that discouraged him. He had easier ones to find. And we subsequently set course for England and the engineer said that we’d been using too much petrol. So we had to decide just what we were going to do. And when we got over the channel we decided it was much safer to land at one of the coastal aerodromes. So, we landed at, I think it was Ford, where we spent the night. Between us I think we had seven shillings so we went off for one round of drinks at the local pub. We went there and found everyone drinking cider at sixpence a pint. So that was wonderful. We had two or three drinks of cider decided to go home and we found out cider was a very powerful drink. However, we finally made it. We got, went back to the squadron and started on our trips together. I think there were two or three, without my logbook I don’t know who or what, just where we went but we did some more French targets. I think we did a trip to Happy Valley. Another one up to Kiel. And by that time it was the, in March and we were briefed for Nuremberg. And this was our first really major target. Well, Stuttgart was but Nuremberg was further. Further east. And it was, the briefing there was it was cloudy but the target would be clear and we were flying straight to the target from our crossing the coast which was most unusual and a lot of the navigators queried it because we were being too close to the German fighter ‘dromes. However, that was it and on. We pressed on and shortly over France we had a fighter attack and escaped from it but we found we were losing petrol at a very rapid rate. So, we had a conference and decided to turn back which we did and subsequently landed back at base with not a lot of petrol. Waited four or five hours until the rest of the aircraft came back and found what a disaster the night had been. The cloud cover that we were promised hadn’t eventuated. It was a bright moonlight night and all the fighters were up waiting. Flak was just aimed at us and subsequently it was a loss. I think it was ninety seven aircraft over Germany. Plus, the ones that were damaged and managed to stagger home. Fortunately, we did survive that one and I think the next one was to Happy Valley and more French trips and then where was it? Without my log book I don’t remember. But went to a Berlin trip but got to within ten or fifteen miles to Berlin and we were hit by a fighter and got badly damaged. So, we decided to, we decided to go home and, on the way back we lost an engine from fighter attack and we staggered back to base and lived to tell another day. That was another disaster raid. I think we lost seventy one aircraft on that one. That was [pause] but between there and June I did two or three trips a week. And with our six week, we got leave every six weeks which we enjoyed very much. And eventually came the big day. We didn’t, at the time we didn’t know it was D-Day but we were programmed to bomb a target fairly close inside the French coast. Coming back there was an armada of ships on the Channel. You could have jumped out of the aircraft in a parachute and not got your feet wet. There were battleships, row boats, destroyers, paddle steamers. Anything that could float was on its way to the beaches of Normandy. It was a [pause] we did fly over the same place again a few days later when the beach head had been established but it was a very major effort. After that we just continued on our tour. We had about twenty five trips up by then and looking forward to finishing. And on the 25th of July, 24th of July we were booked for a return trip to Stuttgart. So, all the usual briefings and instructions. Had a very uneventful trip into Stuttgart and did our bombing run successfully and kept our ten seconds to get the camera and set course for home. After about ten minutes we were happily flying on, anticipating a, an uneventful trip home when suddenly there was an explosion. At the time I thought it was a flak shell. Subsequently I found out that an aircraft had run into the back of us and the aircraft just exploded. I was in the front, in the bomb aimers position still. Doing the bombing check and as it happened, I had my parachute on. I always used to lean on my parachute but this night I was leaning on it and had inadvertently clicked on with the wriggling around. The next thing I knew I was flying, descending at about ten thousand feet with a parachute above me. And I have no recollection whatsoever of opening the parachute. I didn’t have the handle so somehow the explosion must have opened it and I landed in a field about twenty miles west of Stuttgart [pause] And took off my parachute harness and hid it under a tree with a parachute and took stock of things. I had all my usual escape kit and similar things and waited around to see if I could hear any, any of the other crew. But there was no sign of them at all. Seeing the way I got out I doubt very much if there would be any survivors. As it happened there weren’t [pause] It was about 3 o’clock in the morning. I could hear the other, the rest of the aircraft flying home and to a nice warm bed and a bacon and egg meal. Here was I stuck in a wheat field in, in the west of Stuttgart. Far from home. I spent the night in a forest and the next morning I checked up where I was on the map, or as near as I could. And the only nearest frontier was the Swiss border which was seventy or eighty mile away. So, I made for that. So, I spent the day in the forest and when the evening came I started walking and went through a village and there was a village pump. So I filled up my water bag and had a wash which was very acceptable and had a few Horlicks tablets from my escape kit. I walked. Walked all night and at dawn I found another wood and subsequently spent the day there having a sleep and working out what I was going to do next. I was fortunate in having the new flying boots that had been issued which were detachable leggings on a shoe which was much easier to walk with than the old flying boot. So, I removed all badges of rank and brevet and set off again. I think I covered about 20K that day. Not a long way but I wasn’t hurrying. Trying to keep out of everyone’s way. Even, even though it was night there was, there was still a few people around and the villages which I tried to walk around but sometimes it was much easier to walk through them. The next day I spent hiding up and set off again at nightfall and passed through a village. And a mile past the village a truck came along and passed me and stopped. And he came back and said, obviously he was going to give me a ride. Asked what I was doing there. Anyway, I tried to make out that I was, I was a French worker but he could speak far better French than I could. At that stage I was feeling well down on very little to eat and water bag was empty so I wasn’t too unhappy to be taken into custody. I had three or four bits of chocolate over from the, that I hadn’t eaten and in the truck was his, another man and his little daughter. So I gave this kid a couple of bits of, pieces of chocolate and he was most impressed. When we came through the village he stopped, went to the local pub and bought us all a bottle of beer. So, it was a very good investment with two or three blocks of chocolate. Subsequently I was handed over to the local police and they called in the army and I was officially a POW. AP: Alright. That’s, we got up to that stage. Can we maybe backtrack a little bit? You were talking about an escape kit. You were talking about an escape kit that you had. KC: Yes. AP: Obviously when you found yourself ejected from the aeroplane it was with you. Whereabouts did you actually have it? KC: Oh you just carried it in your battle dress pocket. AP: Oh ok. So, it was only a little thing. KC: Little. AP: Yeah. KC: Well, a box about five by seven inches and about an inch deep and, which fitted inside your battle dress. AP: And what sort of things were in it? KC: Horlicks tablets [pause] very basic food stuffs. Some chocolate, not to enjoy but to [laughs] to survive on. And [pause] I’ve forgotten now. It’s so long ago. AP: Maps and things like that as well. KC: Oh, maps and a compass. AP: Yeah. Did you have one of those special compasses that were hidden in a button or hidden somewhere or — ? KC: Had a button compass. AP: Yeah. KC: I also had a little hand compass which I always carried. AP: Very cool. You were saying as well you, about fifteen minutes before the target you’d go down into where the bombsight was and set it up. KC: Set it up. AP: And all that sort of thing. What did you do for the rest of the flight? KC: I worked the H2S machine. AP: Where was that physically? KC: That was next to the navigator. AP: Ah. KC: And as I had not a lot to do it was a lot more practical that I did the H2S and he did the navigation. Getting all the fixes. It worked out very well. AP: What did you, what did you think? Can you remember much about the H2S and what it looked like? And — KC: All the H2S was, it was a machine, a dial about eight or nine inches diameter and it gave a profile of what was underneath. It had a long range and a short range and once you learned how to read it, it was a very desirable navigation tool. Especially on coastal areas, of course. It had a very sharp delineation between the sea and the land. Flying over land such as southern Germany it could pick up any lakes. It also picked up cities and towns as a darker green on the lighter green of the screen. Once you learned how to interpret it, it was a very useful tool. AP: You also mentioned a couple, or there was at least three times there you mentioned being attacked by fighters. What does a corkscrew feel like for a bomb aimer? KC: A corkscrew, in a four engine bomber you’re thinking of a Spitfire. It just goes high, right or left as the case might be, nose straight down, and round and round and pull out and go the other way and hope you’ve lost him. And if you haven’t lost him keep on doing it. AP: Keep doing it [laughs] It would be quite, quite strenuous for the pilot I imagine. KC: Oh, it was. The [pause] where they was over the target area if you, if you saw the fighter and went into a corkscrew he’d go and find someone who hadn’t, or hopefully hadn’t seen him. AP: They were looking for, for easier prey. How did you cope with the stress of flying on operations? What did you do to relax? KC: It was stressful. I think I coped very well. AP: What sort of things did you do to, to handle that, or to deal with the pressure? If anything. KC: Went to the local. And the local dances. The theatre. The pictures. And any entertainment that was on at the squadron when we weren’t flying. AP: Alright. You’ve mentioned pubs and the local a few times. What, for Leconfield let’s just say, or any other pub that you can remember what did the pub look like and what was in there? What sort of things went on? KC: Well, the nearest town was Beverley which was a market town and it was quite a big town. We got to know a few of the locals and we used to go to the, the Beverley Arms. Found ourselves a corner and some compatible people. Had a few drinks. Sang a few squadron songs and enjoyed ourselves. At that stage most of us had bikes so it was quite an adventure getting from the local back to the squadron. Fortunately, we made it. AP: Very good. KC: A few spills here and there. AP: Very nice. Were there any superstitions or hoodoos amongst your crew or amongst your squadron that you knew about? KC: We had a thing about our little, one of us had a little fluffy rabbit. About six or eight inches high and every operation we took the rabbit. And every operation we marked it on the, on the rabbit. And our ambition was to cover the rabbit. We didn’t, [pause] Stuttgart was our thirty third operation so we were looking forward to finishing but unfortunately, we didn’t. AP: What, how many operations did you need to do for a tour at that period? KC: Well normally it was thirty. AP: Yeah. KC: But with the French targets being shorter and supposedly easier they increased it to up to forty. The first two or three French targets were quite easy. But as soon as the Luftwaffe found out what we were doing they moved their fighter squadrons in. AP: They did. Yes. I think at one point I think a French target counted as one third of a trip. KC: Initially it did. AP: Yeah. KC: But subsequently they scrubbed it . AP: There was a 467 Squadron man who said you can’t go for one third of a burton. That’s the way he put it. What sort of things happened in the, in the mess at the airfield? KC: We were fed. And again had a few drinks and played cards or sat around and talked and had a sing song. There was no shortage of suitable songs [pause] I’m just wondering where Fiona was. AP: Behind you. KC: Oh, she’s there is she. AP: She’s been there for about forty minutes, I think. She’s crept in nice and quietly. Alright. Can we, can we talk a bit about your prisoner of war experience? What — where were you taken after you were, were captured? KC: Well from the army camp where we were assembled with about another ten people from a Lancaster crew, or two Lancasters that had been shot down in the area and there were about ten survivors. And we were taken from there to Stuttgart and subsequently to be taken to the interrogation centre at Frankfurt. We got to Stuttgart under heavy army guard and put on the platform waiting for a train. It was about midnight and the RAF came over again in force. Sirens went and people started running for shelters, saw us there and [laughs] we were, we were not popular. But the German army protected us, fortunately, and we were taken down to the cells until the train came which was Stuttgart to Frankfurt where the interrogation centre was at Oberursel. Spent the first three or four days there in solitary and then was taken to an interrogation room where the German officer started off with cigarettes and, ‘How are you?’ And all the welcoming. ‘Welcome to the Third Reich,’ He could speak perfect English. He’d apparently spent four or five years in the early thirties in England. And he said, ‘What’s your name?’ So, I gave it to him. ‘Your rank?’ So I gave it to him. ‘Your number?’ I gave it to him. ‘What aircraft were you flying?’ ‘You know I can’t answer that.’ Five or six more questions and he said, ‘Well I know you’re going to say no but we know it anyway.’ So he pressed the button and a girl came in. He spoke some German to her. She came back with a file. A file on 466 Squadron. And he told us the CO’s name, the flight commander’s name, most of the other people. The group captain. What the, how the aircraft, or how many aircraft there were. The fact that we’d transferred from Wellington’s to Halifaxes in 1943. And he knew the name of the barmaid at the local pub. There was nothing I could tell him. So, he gave me permission to have a shave and a shower which was very acceptable. Then back to solitary again and after that three or four days there were enough POWs to make a contingent to go to a POW camp which we subsequently caught a train and three or four, about three days later we arrived at a place called Bankau which was near Breslau in Poland. A very uncomfortable train trip but we finally made it. We were taken in to the camp and searched, interrogated again and duly given our quarters. All the people in the camp welcomed us, wanting us, wanting to know the latest situation on, on the second front. And being new people gave us a welcome dinner. The camp at that stage was very very basic. It was just huts on a dirt floor and bunks. There was a new camp being built just next door and we were looking forward to moving into that which we did after about four or five weeks. They finished the, enough of the camp to move us in which was a very pleasant change and there were rooms rather than huts. A big, big, a big area converted into about eight rooms with a toilet block at the end which was a much more pleasant life than going on, getting in the huts which were very crowded. The Red Cross there were marvellous to us. Before we left the interrogation centre, they fitted us out with warm clothing, boots and any other supplies that we needed. At the camp we were getting, at that stage we were getting a Red Cross parcel every fortnight which was the difference between existing and surviving. The Red Cross did a fantastic job in Germany for the POW’s. And [pause] and when were we there? That was about the end of August, I think. September. October. We used to fill in our time there with games which the Red Cross supplied. And they supplied us with a good library. And we walked around the compound for our exercise. We had to discuss trying to escape but at that stage of the war we were advised not to because they thought it would be over by Christmas. How wrong they were. In due course there was a Russian advance to the westward and the Germans wanted to keep us so we were told we were going to move camp and in January ’45 we were turfed out of our comfortable quarters into the coldest winter that, in Germany for about forty years. Four or five feet of snow on the ground. Cold. About five or six hundred people heading eastwards. We were supposedly to be marching but it soon very, very soon developed into a straggle. Everyone had found they were carrying far too much kit so the non-essentials were abandoned and whatever you could carry was what you had. We marched all day and stopped for a cup of lukewarm soup about mid-day and came to a suitable village at night and found a farm and were billeted in the farm buildings and hopefully had something to eat, which was problematical. We did have a Red Cross parcel each before we started which we tried to ration. We didn’t know how long we’d be marching so we tried to keep as much as possible of that intact. That went on for about two or three weeks. Marching by day and hopefully finding a barn or somewhere covered at night. Fortunately, on most occasions we slept in the farmers barn and threw out his livestock. Food was a very basic problem then and with, with the German army rations and what we had from the Red Cross parcels we managed to survive. And after how long? Three weeks? We were told we were going to be put on a train to our next destination. We were put on a train, about sixty five people to a four wheel cattle truck and there was room to stand up. You had to take it in turns to lie down. We spent three days in that. It was not a happy trip. After about a day we decided we would have been far better, far happier, marching. We eventually arrived at a place called Luckenwalde, about fifty miles south of Berlin and were taken to some barracks there which had originally been barracks for the German army in the Franco-Prussian war. They were in a very decrepit condition. It was a very large camp. All, a lot of POWs had been transferred there and many other, other nationalities. Thousands of Russian prisoners. And conditions were very basic. We used to sit there with nothing, nothing to do. Watched the Americans come over Berlin in the daytime and at night Mosquitoes came over Berlin at night. Subsequently the Russian army overran the camp and we were under the control of the Russians. Initially they were very good. The army people. A couple of thousand Russian prisoners were given a rifle, they said, ‘Come with us which they did. They were very keen to get their own back on the Germans for the appalling treatment that the Russians had had. We stayed in the camp there and the Russian army moved on and the administration took over. And it was a very different story. We were under Russian control and we were so close to the American lines and couldn’t do anything about it. Subsequently an American war correspondent and about six trucks came along and, to take the American survivors out but they wouldn’t, a few got away but the Russians wouldn’t let us go. But the, we were told that if we could possibly get out the trucks would be at a certain position until about 4 o’clock that afternoon. Another four or five of us managed to escape from the Russians, literally, through a hole in the wire and we found our way to the American trucks where two or three trucks had already filled. And at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon they said, ‘Well we can’t wait any further,’ and off we went. And after about an hour or so crossing an emergency bridge over the Elbe to the American army camp which was the front lines. They gave us accommodation and apologised profusely because the ice cream machine hadn’t caught up. From there we made our way to [pause] well the Americans gave us any kit we needed and fed us well and we went to an aerodrome where we were subsequently flown back to England. AP: And that was the end of it. KC: So, taken back to Brighton. Re-kitted. Met all our, well a lot of the people that we’d known before but also had been in Germany and given a leave pass for two weeks, a year’s pay, said, ‘Come back when you’re ready.’ So, I was a survivor fortunately. I subsequently found out years later that what had happened was another aircraft, also from our squadron had collided with us and it must have been a collision in our tail because the, our rear gunner, mid-upper gunner and the engineer were never found. The front of the aircraft, the bodies were found. And all the other aircraft were lost. So that was it. And I endured a mid-air collision and I happened to be the lucky one. AP: How did you find readjusting to civilian life after going through all of that? KC: Oh, coming back to Australia we were, came through The Heads which was a magnificent sight. Taken off the ship, put on a bus, taken to Bradfield Park. Not interrogated but put on record again and given a leave pass and, ‘Come back in two weeks.’ No ticker tape parade. No marching through, through George Street. Back home and out which suited us fine. It was quite a readjustment getting back to civilian life after the discipline of service life but I went back to my old job and started off life again. AP: My final question for you. What is Bomber Command’s legacy and how do you want to see it remembered? KC: Seventy one years later. Well sixty eight years later in Canberra it was decided to build a Bomber Command Memorial which was subsequently unveiled. I think in 2007 or eight, something like that. And it was the first Bomber Command Memorial, as far as we know, that was ever made. And it still stands in the sculpture garden of the Australian War Memorial. We were going to have our ceremony there tomorrow but unfortunately due to the inclement weather we have to have our ceremony inside. But subsequent to that, in England there was a movement to have a Bomber Command Memorial constructed and it was taken up officially and very enthusiastically supported and in 2009 I was one of the fortunate official members of the Air Force, RAAF delegation that went to the opening of the Air Force Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park in London. That is a magnificent Memorial. It took seventy one years but it was worth it. We were one of the fortunate thirty people in the official delegation that were at the dedication. AP: Any final words? Any last thoughts for the, for the tape? KC: Well here we are today on what was the 4th of July. AP: 4th of June. 4th of June. KC: June rather. AP: Yeah. KC: For our annual Bomber Command Commemoration Day Foundation. Remembrance of Bomber Command. It’s a very major event. AP: It certainly is. KC: The War Memorial have done a lot of the organisation for us. Made the, made the ANZAC Hall available and the Hall of Remembrance for our ceremony tomorrow and we’re quite looking forward to that. AP: Here’s to that. Well, thank you very much Keith. It’s been an absolute pleasure hearing your story properly for the first time. KC: Sorry I was so — AP: I very much enjoyed it. KC: The coughing AP: No. That’s gone, that’s gone really well I think. It’s good. 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ACampbellKW160604 PCampbellKW1601 Title A name given to the resource Interview with Keith Campbell. Two 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 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Language A language of the resource eng Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 01:11:55 audio recording Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Adam Purcell Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-06-04 Description An account of the resource Keith Campbell grew up in New South Wales and joined the Royal Australian Air Force when he was old enough. He flew 35 operations as a bomb aimer with 466 Squadron from RAF Leconfield and RAF Driffield when, on their 31st operation another aircraft from their squadron collided with them. All other crew were killed but Keith was thrown from the aircraft and parachuted into a wheat field. He began to walk towards the Swiss border but was caught and became a prisoner of war. He was first sent to Stalag Luft 7 at Bankau but then was ordered on to the long march and ended up at Stalag 3A at Luckenwalde, from where he escaped the Russians and joined up with the Americans who sent him home. 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 Germany Great Britain Poland England--Yorkshire Poland--Bąków Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1939 1942-05 1943 1944-01 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Julie Williams Maureen Clarke 466 Squadron aircrew bale out bomb aimer bombing bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944) coping mechanism crewing up Gee H2S Halifax memorial mid-air collision military living conditions military service conditions Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Operational Training Unit prisoner of war RAF Church Broughton RAF Driffield RAF Leconfield Red Cross Stalag 3A Stalag Luft 7 superstition the long march training