John S Hitchcock DFC AFC

MHitchcockJS740899-170926-33.jpg

Title

John S Hitchcock DFC AFC

Description

A brief extract of John's service life.

Language

Format

One printed sheet

Rights

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

Contributor

Identifier

MHitchcockJS740899-170926-33

Transcription

[photograph]
Wellington Bomber

[photograph]
Halifax Bomber

Enclosed are extracts from "Guv's" two log books kept during his service with Bomber Command during WW2."

The first group of extracts in 1941 is all we have from his Wellington Bomber days. There must have been an earlier log book but it has always been missing.

He completed his first Operational Tour on 19th April 1941 and on 25th April the entries showed that he "ferried" a Wellington to Egypt – a perilous task. His brother, Uncle Con (also a Wellington Bomber pilot) had been killed in action over Kiel on 8th/9th April 1941.

In Egypt Guv was on Communications and there are entries showing that he flew General Wavell twice (he was Commander in Chief Middle East) and on 26th June 1941, he crashed whist [sic] flying a Lysander. He also told us that he had transported King Farouk of Egypt on more than one occasion.

The second group of extracts in 1942/3 relate to his second tour of Operations following his return from Egypt, flying Halifax Bombers from Linton on Ouse, Yorkshire, with 78 Squadron. His first Operation was on 25th November 1942 and his last on 8th March 1943.

Of particular interest is the entry for 17th December 1942 when he landed at Elsham Wold, probably due to a shortage of fuel or some other problem. On 14th January 1943 he landed at Ford on the South Coast, probably for similar reasons following a raid on L'Orient. On 7th February 1943 he records that the "port outer engine was u/s," again during a raid on L'Orient where U boat pens were the target.

The remaining subsequent entries in that log book recorded his activities training or himself acting as Instructor. The back page shows his postings and the aircraft he had flown.

Citation

“John S Hitchcock DFC AFC,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 28, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/36946.

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