Letter to Mrs Wilkinson from Donald Flett

Letter to Mrs Wilkinson from Donald Flett

Transcription of a letter. Writes of events on night 3/4 September 1943. Mentioned 'Charlie had done four ops before they copped it on the fifth. First op was Peenemunde, gives description of target. Mentions targets of other operations and that fifth was Berlin. Mentioned that Germans told him where crew was buried after he was captured. Writes that he was enclosing two photographs, one of the crew, for her mother as she had probably never seen them.

1945-07-08

One page printed letter

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SWarnerC1801861v10006

22 Bangholm Bower Avenue
Edinburgh

8 July 1945

Dear Mrs Wilkinson

Thank you for your kind letter and I hope you will forgive me not replying sooner. I have received a letter from your brother in Italy and have just written to him telling him what I know of the night 3/4 September 1943.

Two days ago I was sent back home, on indefinite leave to await release from the service, and have applied for a job in Cambridge. Should I get this post I will be staying not very far from you and I will be very pleased to see you at any time.

Charlie had done four “ops” and we copped it on the fifth “op”. The first one was to Peenemunde on the Baltic coast, just north of [inserted] Stettin. [/inserted] It was a great raid, maybe you remember reading about it in August 1943. All the newspapers were full of it and the RAF had given them photographs of the actual fighting and the target area to print with the various accounts of the raid. Then more recently, within the last two months actually, there have been various reports praising the work the boys did that night when we ruined Jerrys secret equipment laboratories which were working on what we now know as VI and VII’s. As I said, it was a lovely night and a full moon, no clouds, just like daylight, just the night fighters paradise.

Next we went to Munchen-Gladbach in the Rhur and had a pretty rotten night – heavy cloud all the way but got our target all right. Our next trip was the big city – Berlin and after a fairly hectic night we arrived home safe and sound.

The forth was Leverkusen and the target was some chemical works.

The fifth and last as you know, Berlin again.

I know the boys had been buried at Lingen, the Germans told me, about three weeks after my capture. I don’t think we had any snaps taken of the crew after Charlie joined us at the unit, and as you possibly have never seen any of us, I am enclosing two snaps for your mother. One was taken at ATU in April 1943 and shows “Mac” the rear gunner, Jack Billington the wireless operator, myself, David Carpenter the pilot and Jim Waterman the navigator.

Neither David Browne, the midupper Gunner, nor Charlie, was with us at that time. The other snap is of my wife, son and I after being repatriated. If you could spare me a snap of Charlie, I would be extremely grateful.

Thank you for your good wishes and kind invitiation [sic] and if I get down to your part ot he [sic] counry [sic] I will certainly avail myself of it.

Yours sincerely

Donald Flett