Eric Coling memoir

Eric Coling memoir

"Just a lad with a hole in his jersey"

Time in the RAF including selection as an observer, enrolment at Lord's Cricket Ground, navigational dead reckoning and meteorology training in Eastbourne and Paignton. Time spent on navigational sorties in Grahamstown, South Africa in Ansons and bombing training in Oxfords. Meeting Winifred Scott after she had been dancing at the MECCA ballroom whilst he was at an Operational Training Unit at RAF Upper Heyford. Training as a bomb aimer, crewing up with navigator Bunny Ridsdale, wireless operator Alex Noble, Canadian pilot Ron Code and rear gunner Ray Moad, flying Vickers Wellingtons, including a leaflet drop over Nantes. Move to 1660 Conversion Unit at RAF Swinderby and joining mid-upper gunner Johnny Boyton and flight engineer Spike Langford and flying Manchesters followed by the four-engined Avro Lancaster. Move to No.5 Group, 50 Squadron at RAF Skellingthorpe, serving under Wing Commander Robert McFarlane. Operations to Hamburg, where window was used for the first time, Mannheim, Nuremberg, Milan, operation Hydra at Peenemünde and the ‘Battle of Berlin’. Best man at sister, Muriel's wedding, who worked for the Ministry of Information at the Government Code and Cypher school at Bletchley Park. Further training in formation and low-level flying. Aircraft 'L-Love' hit by flak and landing at RAF Kirmington. Mine laying outside Gdynia harbour, Poland. Attack by JU88's and ditching in the sea. loss of Bunny Ridsdale, rescue by Danish fishermen, detention by German naval officer and transfer to Dulag Luft, the Luftwaffe Interrogation Centre, and transfer to Stalag 4b, as prisoner of war. Meeting American forces, transfer to Brussels in a DC-3 and repatriation to Great Britain in a sterling. Marriage to Winifred Scott, in St. Peter's Church, Harrogate, with Johnny Boyton as best man. Work with London, Midlands & Scottish railway and later move to Tanzania to work for East African Railways.

2014-10

Fourteen page printed document with photographs

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“Just a lad with a hole in his jersey”

Here are a few glimpses of the life of Eric Coling, one of the parishioners at Christ Church, High Harrogate, who was born on December 28th 1921 in Altofts, close to Normanton in West Yorkshire. Life in those days was very different to how it is now, and this short story will tell parts of Eric’s story covering his early life and his time in the RAF during the Second World War when he was a bomb aimer on Lancaster’s. He was shot down over the Baltic in 1943 and spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp before being liberated by the Russian Army in 1945.

[italics] Andy Barff – October 2014 [/italics]

[photograph]
Eric Coling in Sept 1941

When Eric was 4 his father, who was an LMS 1 railway guard, died, leaving Eric’s mother to bring up him and his sister Muriel, who was 8 at the time, on her own. Eric’s mother’s railway pension was 10 shillings (50p) a week and her rent was also 10 shillings a week so she was compelled to take in lodgers. The railways in the 1920’s made extensive use of lodging houses for workers such as guards and drivers who needed to stay overnight before returning home with another train the next day (to London or Birmingham for example). To make room for lodgers Muriel had to go and live in a Railway Servants Orphanage in Derby, and at the age of 6 Eric joined her. Their mother visited them once a month and they spent four weeks in August at home for a summer holiday. Eric had a tough but practical schooling at the orphanage which was home to around 300 children. On arrival at the age of 6 his first lesson was “if you want something – do it yourself!” The boy’s warden was an ex-navy Chief Petty Officer called Joe Peach who divided the boys into 4 teams: Nelson, Raleigh, Drake and Collingwood. “I was in Nelson, you had to work your way up within the team. Joe Peach was strict but fair” he remembers. By the age of 10 Eric was working in the school’s kitchen garden where they grew all their own vegetables, he learnt to mend his own shoes and attended boxing classes. He was told: “don’t start a fight, but never walk away from one” and “don’t strike the first blow, but make sure your first blow counts”. Sundays were fully devoted to religious activities: the Collect with breakfast which the children were expected to learn, then morning service. “I went to the Congregational Church because my mother was non-conformist. We were just a small group and I enjoyed it because they made a fuss of us” recalls Eric. Sunday School occupied the afternoon and then bible stories and choruses in the evening such as [italics] And the Burden of my Heart Rolled Away [/italics] and [italics] I Lost it on Calvary’s Hill [/italics]. Eric says “and I can still remember every word!”

Eric was a bright pupil and was top of the class but by 14 was itching to leave and get a job. He went for an interview for a job on the railway. You had to be 5ft tall, so Eric was measured. He was told to stand on tip-toes, and then “you’ll do lad!” said the man. So in early 1936 Eric started work in the signal box at Altofts Junction. He worked a 24hr shift system and a 48 hour week. “Sunday was my day off and “nights” and any hours worked on a Sunday (Saturday night shift) were paid as overtime on top of the basic wage of 16 shillings a week (80p)” explains Eric. He worked as a Train Recorder

1 London, Midland and Scottish Railway

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who assisted the signalmen and logged the handovers of the trains from one box to the next. The signal box at Altofts was complex; there were 3 “up” lines (slow freight, fast freight and main) and 3 similar “down” lines plus a junction where lines spurred off towards York. The signals and points were managed by 90 interlocking levers which had to be set in the correct sequence for each train.

A proud moment came when Eric was 15; he was earning enough money to rent his own house in Altofts. He went to see his mother, telling her “I’ve rented us a house and it’s got a garden at the front and one at the back as well!” Eric settled with his mother in the new house but was soon seeking promotion with the railways. He passed exams to become permanent, pensionable (superannuated) LMS staff and then worked in the booking office, again on a 24 hour shift system, selling tickets during the day and balancing the books at night.

War with Germany was declared in September 1939, Eric was 17, and a year later he volunteered to fight. He didn’t fancy the army or navy so he volunteered to become Royal Air Force aircrew in January 1941. He completed “the then tortuous service bureaucracy” and in April was summoned to attend an aircrew selection board at Padgate in Cheshire. On the first day there was a “prolonged searching medical” and on the second day intelligence, aptitude and spatial awareness tests, followed by an interview board. Eric was then told that he had been accepted for training as an Observer (later called NavB). “I was given an RAFVR 2 badge which could be worn though I was not officially in the RAF”. Official enrolment happened in August when Eric was summoned to the RAF Reception Centre located at Lord’s Cricket Ground in St John’s Wood. He was enrolled, kitted out and then spent 3-4 weeks attending “time-filling useless lectures” before his Observer training started in earnest.

The Observer role covered navigation, bomb aiming and gunnery and in September ’41 Eric embarked on a lengthy series of training courses; 13 weeks initial training in Paignton (basic military training, survival etc.) followed by 13 weeks elementary training in Eastbourne where all the basics of navigation and meteorology were taught. Navigation in those days was based on dead reckoning and astrological plotting. Dead reckoning is the most basic form of air navigation but is still a requirement for pilots today. The principle is based on knowledge of a fixed position (first the departure airfield, and then any accurate waypoints along the route – for example a landmark) and then current position is regularly recalculated based on heading, speed and time flown adjusted using wind calculations and other variables; various instruments and forms of slide computers assist in the task. Eric explains “it took around 15 minutes to take an accurate star plot using a sextant therefore this was of limited use in a moving aircraft”. About this time, Britain secretly developed “Gee”, a form of radio navigation based on measuring the time delay between two radio signals to establish a fix. It was susceptible to jamming by the Germans but its accuracy was just a few hundred metres over a range of up to 350 miles and it was still in use up until the 1960’s.

The next stage of Eric¬'s training took place in South Africa, away from enemy aircraft and in better weather. Several weeks were spent ”hanging around” until Eric sailed away in a convoy from Avonmouth on the first leg of what he refers to as his “Cook’s Tour”. He sailed in the Highland Chieftain, one of about 21 troop and freight ships escorted by 7-10 destroyers and cruisers. Eric slept on deck for most of the long, slow voyage due to the cramped conditions, heat and sea sickness experienced below decks. Avoiding U-boat attack, they refuelled in Freetown, Sierra Leone, finally disembarking

2 RAF Volunteer Reserve

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in Durban and then on Johannesburg, where there was more waiting, before arriving at Grahamstown Airfield in June 1942.

At Grahamstown Eric could put into practice all that he had learnt, flying navigational sorties in Avro Ansons and bombing training in Airspeed Oxfords. He came 3rd on the course and the top 3 were interviewed for a possible permanent commission by a Squadron Leader. Questions included “Did you go to grammar school?” and “Do you sail?” At the end of the interview the Squadron Leader’s closing remark was: “I’m not sure you’re officer material yet Coling”. “I quite agree sir”, replied Eric, “I’m just a lad with a hole in his jersey!”

At the end of the year Eric set sail on the next leg of “his tour” onboard the Empress of Scotland (renamed from Empress of Japan when Japan entered the war). Just 200 RAF personnel were transported from Durban to New York on his luxurious cruise liner at 26knots, a speed at which escorts were not required. The ship was defended by a single 3inch gun turret fitted to the aft deck. After a layover of 5 weeks in the USA, Empress of Scotland (sadly “dry” for his voyage) brought Eric back to the UK along with 2000 Gls.

Now some 2 years since he volunteered, Warrant Officer Coling was soon to go into operational service.

“When you get up in a morning, you don’t know what fate may have in store for you”

Many of the big hotels in Harrogate were used to house RAF aircrew while they waited for their next posting. Eric was billeted in the Grand Hotel on Cornwall Road overlooking the Valley Gardens. In the middle of January he went on 2 weeks leave to visit his mother in Altofts and on his return he caught the 11.10pm train from Leeds to Harrogate. The train was already in, so Eric walked along the line of carriages looking for a suitable seat. He finally came to a compartment which was occupied by two young ladies in corner seats and an airman in a third corner. He entered the compartment with the intention of sitting in the fourth corner, but instead found himself sitting next to a most attractive young lady. Getting into conversation, Eric discovered that the girls had been to the Mecca, dancing that evening. He asked his new companion “Did you meet anybody that you would like to meet again?” It turned out that she hadn’t. Shortly before the train arrived in Harrogate, Eric asked “Well you didn’t meet anybody that you’d like to meet again on this trip, which is a pity, so would you like to meet me again?” She immediately replied “I don’t know why, but I’d love to” “All right, name the place and the time” said Eric. “Tomorrow night at 7 o’clock in the station concourse” came the reply, quick as a flash. The concourse was dimly lit, whereas everywhere else was unlit due to The Blackout 3. Eric and Winifred went for a drink and the following evening she took Eric to meet her parents.

Winifred Scott would eventually become Mrs Coling, so as Eric says: “This only goes to show, that when you wake up in a morning, you don’t know what fate may have in store for you . . .”

Winifred was upset when Eric was then posted to the Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Upper Heyford in early March 1943, because they both knew that now he would face real danger. The OTU brought together pilots, navigators, bomb aimers and gunners. Eric had been trained as an Air

3 “The Blackout” lasted for almost all WW2. All house windows had to be covered at night to prevent the slightest chink of light. There were no street lights, and car headlights had to be severely dipped. Pedestrians were in great danger; they were asked to carry something white or even leave white shirt tails hanging out! When road deaths reached 1200 per month, a 20 mph urban speed limit was introduced and white lines were painted down the centre of the road for the first time.

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Observer which included both navigation and bomb aiming, so it was not unusual to see two Observers in a crew. Eric was posted as a Bomb Aimer and explains: “I wanted to be able to see outside, the Navigator was cooped up behind a curtain, which was not for me, although some quite liked it”

The crewing-up process was done by ‘natural selection’. Eric continues: “I met another Observer, Bunny Ridsdale, who was posted as a Navigator. I found out he came from Castleford, 3 miles from where I lived, so we formed a team of two. I then met a Wireless Operator called Alex Noble who told me he was booked to meet a Canadian Pilot – Ron Code and a Rear Gunner – Ray Moad, so I arranged for us to join the meeting. This took place in a pub over a few pints; we all got on well so a mutual agreement was arrived at.” Eric was now part of a crew.

Training at the OTU on Vickers Wellington aircraft was intense. Lots of bombing practice, both high level and low level. Long Cross Country flights both by night and day. Accidents were common, during the 12 weeks Eric was at Upper Heyford, 4 aircraft crashed with the loss of 23 lives. One of Eric’s final flights at OTU was a night flight to Nantes in occupied France to drop leaflets designed to counter Nazi propaganda. OTU ended on the 6th May followed by a period of leave.

[boxed] [photograph]
[italics] The designer of the “bouncing bomb”, Barnes Wallis, developed a new type of aircraft structure for the Vickers Wellington in which the structural members formed the curved outer shape of the fuselage and wings. These curved members became mutually supporting making the overall framework immensely strong. This particular Wellington managed to return and land despite having lost the rear gun turret in air combat. A total of 11,460 Wellingtons were built at a peak rate of 10 per day [/italics] [/boxed]

Eric’s next posting was to 1660 Conversion Unit at RAF Swinderby in Lincolnshire. Eric takes up the story: “We arrived there in early June 1943 and added a Mid-Upper Gunner (Johnny Boyton) and a Flight Engineer (Spike Langford) to our crew. Both had been regular ground crew and had volunteered for aircrew. Our crew was typical of Bomber Command; 2 Canadians, 1 Scotsman, 2 from Yorkshire, 1 from Lincolnshire and 1 Londoner. It was a happy and united crew, living together, playing together and fighting together; we had friendship and loyalty to each other.

Eric continues: “We first flew the twin-engined Avro Manchester for 6 hours and moved on to the 4 engined Avro Lancaster, completing 40 hours almost entirely at night. In early July we went down the road to 50 Squadron, RAF Skellingthorpe, where we were welcomed by Wing Commander Robert McFarlane. He gave us a brief history of 50 Squadron and then handed us over to a ground officer who took us to a Nissen Hut which was to be our home. It had 7 beds but no toilet. There was a choice of a 5-6 minute walk to one or there was plenty of grass outside.”

Of all the wartime airfields in Lincolnshire, and there were a great many, none can claim a closer affinity with Lincoln than RAF Skellingthorpe. Although it was named after the nearby village, it was actually within the city’s boundary, walking distance from the centre, if you’d missed the last bus. 50 Squadron had been in action since the early days of the war and remained at Skellingthorpe until the end of the war. It was credited with taking part in more raids than any other heavy Bomber Command squadron.

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More intensive training followed before Eric’s first operational bombing raid on Hamburg on the night of 24th July 1943. 746 RAF bombers took part in the operation which was the first in which ‘window’ was used. This involved dropping thousands of tiny pieces of metal foil which jammed the enemy radar and confused the night fighters; thanks to this only 12 aircraft were lost. They bombed Hamburg again on the 27th and 29th July and after 10 days leave, Mannheim on August 9th followed by Nuremburg the day after. They then participated in the mass bombings of Milan on 12th and 14th August which contributed to the surrender of Italy a few weeks later.

[photograph]
[italics] 50 Squadron Lancasters in loose formation. Normal operations were at night. You can see the shrouds on the engine exhausts to prevent the flames being visible to the enemy. [/italics]

In the spring of 1943, intelligence sources had confirmed that Germany was developing long range rockets at a research and experimental centre at Peenemünde on the Baltic coast.

Operation Hydra on the night of 17th August 1943 was a massive bombing operation against Peenemünde carried out under a full moon. 595 bombers and ‘pathfinder’ aircraft were involved which marked the targets with flares. 8 Mosquitos carried out a spoof raid on Berlin to divert enemy night fighters. Eric explains: “We weren’t told the exact nature of the target, except that it was very important and that if we didn’t do a good job, we’d have to go back again tomorrow. We hoped the bright moonlight would enable the different aiming points to be visually marked by the pathfinder force. In case it was overcast and the target obscured, No5 Group (of which 50 Squadron was part) would approach using the ‘time and distance’ technique in which bombs would be dropped at a set time after passing a landmark”. Lancaster pathfinder aircraft carried the H2S radar system which was the first ‘ground mapping’ radar able to show areas of water and built up areas, this aided both navigation and bomb aiming, although by sending out a radar signal the aircraft gave away its location to the enemy. Eric tells the story of that night:

“We took off at 21.30, passed over Lincoln Cathedral and climbed to 8000ft before setting course. At 22:00 we crossed the east coast near Mablethorpe and climbed to 18000ft. It was important not to stray south of track and overfly the guns on the German island of Sylt close to the Danish border. We were the 3rd wave of bombers to head for a ‘concentration point’ at 05.00E 55.25N. From there we set course to Rugen Island and descended to 8000ft ready to start our ‘time and distance’ run on the target. The night was clear and I could see Peenemünde in the moonlight with the 2nd wave already making their attack 10 minutes ahead. We arrived over the target area on time and heard the ‘Master of Ceremonies’ Group Captain Searby on the radio telling us to “aim right of the centre, don’t aim short, hit the centre of the greens”. He was actually on board a Mosquito near the target. I then took over: “bomb doors open – bombs fused and selected – right a little – steady – bombs

4 The pathfinder aircraft dropped target indicator bombs which released coloured flares which burnt brightly for a total of around 5 minutes.

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gone – close bomb doors – keep it straight and level, wait for the photo flash”. Twenty seconds later it was finished and we turned homeward on a course of 290 degrees”.

German night fighters had now arrived in force, but Eric and his crew luckily escaped detection. “We could clearly see them attacking other aircraft in the 3rd wave and many were going down. The Germans now had ‘Schrage Musik’ upward firing guns on their twin-engined night fighters which attacked the undefended underbellies of the allied bombers; We lost 40 aircraft and 215 crew. This was bad enough but it would have been double without the diversionary raid on Berlin”.

[boxed] [italics] The bombing of Peenemünde caused the development of the V2, the world’s first ballistic missile, to be put back by at least two months and maybe much longer. Eventually V2 assembly was moved to underground factories in the Harz mountains. From September 1944 over 3000 V2s were launched against the allies, mainly towards London resulting in around 9,000 deaths. However, it is estimated that 12,000 forced labourers and concentration camp prisoners died building these weapons. [/italics]
[photograph] [/boxed]

During August 1943 Eric’s sister Muriel got married. “With our father having died when we were young I was needed to give Muriel away – we’d been trying to get rid of her for a long time!” laughs Eric. “I asked the Wing Commander if I could have 24hrs leave to attend the wedding”, “No, you can have 48hrs leave and I’ll try to keep your crew off operations, if there are any, whilst you’re away” he replied. “He was a good man” recalls Eric.

Muriel worked for the Ministry of Information and a few weeks earlier had been posted to the now famous Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park as a teleprinter operator. The wedding of Muriel Coling to Jack Flutter took place on the 27th August. Eric tells the story: “The wedding was at Saint Mary Magdalene Church, Altofts, whose benefactor was Lord Halifax. It was very high church and having been brought up as a non-conformist, I was getting up when everyone else was getting down!”

On the same day Eric Coling became engaged to Winifred Margery Scott but had to return almost immediately to RAF Skellingthorpe.

Eric was now 21 and was lucky to have survived the war so far in which so many of his colleagues had died. There is a memorial in Skellingthorpe village which reads:
[italics] My sweet brief life is over,
My eyes no longer see,
No Christmas trees,
No summer walks,
No pretty girls for me,
I’ve got the chop, I’ve had it,
My nightly ops are done,
Yet in another hundred years,
I’ll still be twenty-one. [/italics]

5 The photo flash bomb enabled a synchronised photo to be taken to verify the accuracy of the bomb drop.

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“Saint Michael’s Day”

After the attacks on Hamburg and Peenemunde, RAF Bomber Command began to feel that it was at last becoming truly effective; damaging both German industry and also morale. There remained a hope that bombing alone might win the war, that devastating raids might undermine the Nazi regime to such an extent that the German government would collapse. Maintaining the momentum meant taking the offensive to the heart of Germany, to Berlin. On the 23rd August over 700 bombers (mainly Lancasters and Halifaxs [sic]) plus 100 pathfinder aircraft attacked the city centre of Berlin. This was the prelude to what would be known as the Battle of Berlin.

Eric recalls: “The raids on Berlin were unforgettable. The route was almost direct; a 7 hour, 1200 miles round trip. After crossing the Dutch coast we made slight detours to avoid the defences of Bremen, Hanover, Brunswick and Magdeburg. All our bombers remained unmolested on the way to the target which was the Nazi high command buildings in the centre of the city. Any illusion of peace was shattered when the fires already burning in the city first came into view about 60 miles out. The German controllers had ordered their regular night fighters 6 as well as free-lancing single engine fighters to concentrate on Berlin. Hundreds of searchlights and flares were picking out our aircraft aiding the 88mm anti-aircraft guns and German night fighters. I saw at least 9 of our aircraft going down in flames. We weaved and corkscrewed but on the bombing run we had to stay straight and level for at least 4 minutes. This is where luck plays a big part, and many aircraft were shot down at this stage, but we escaped safely and set course for home.”

[boxed] [photograph]
[italics] Eric’s role was Bomb Aimer and in the picture above you can see the Bomb Aimers position in the lower half of the Lancaster’s nose. The optically flat circular aiming panel allowed an undistorted view of the target. The Bomb Aimer was also the operator of the forward gun turret in a sitting position, however when over the target he laid down horizontally in the bomb aiming position shown below. [/italics]
[photograph] [/boxed]

The battle was so furious that some German fighters were downed by their own anti-aircraft fire. By the end of the night 56 bombers had been shot down, Bomber Command’s greatest loss in a single night up to this time, and more crashed on landing. The Battle of Berlin lasted for a further 18 raids until March 1944, in all 625 aircraft and their crews were lost and further 80 crashed on landing in Britain with further loss of life. Eric’s memories are intense: “It was like visiting the fires of hell, none of the bomber boys who went to Berlin and lived will ever forget”.

6 Mainly twin-engined aircraft such as the JU88 equipped with the “Lichtenstein” radar which the RAF often succeeded in jamming due to knowledge gained from an aircraft which was flown to Scotland in April 1943 by defectors.

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After the Berlin raid which was Eric’s 10th, pilot Ron Code and radio operator Alex Noble were awarded commissions and the crew were rewarded with a new Lancaster aircraft. The crew of “L-love” were pleased to have her. They had been with 50 Squadron since early July and had used a number of different aircraft during their operations. L-love was immediately pressed into service for Eric’s second raid on Berlin on August 31st which was a smaller scale operation than the first.

Although 50 aircraft were lost on the second raid on Berlin, L-love escaped unscathed. Eric explains how he and the rest of the crew were feeling at the time: “Now, faces that had been familiar had disappeared as though they had caught a bus or train to some unknown destination. One could not help wondering if we would also be doing likewise. Flying was no longer exciting, it was just a grim job from which there was no longer an honourable discharge.”

September 1943 started with 10 days leave followed by a week of intense training missions including formation and low flying. Bombing operations for the crew of L-love restarted on 22nd September with less eventful raids on Hannover and Mannheim. On the 27th September L-love took-off for Hannover again and whilst crossing the Dutch coast they were hit by flak and again hit over the target, this time badly. The radio, radar and rear gun turret were put out of action, but fortunately none of the crew were hit and the engines remained serviceable. The journey back over the North Sea was made at low level below cloud and purely by dead reckoning. Landfall was made near Hull, which was not the best of places to be as it was protected by barrage balloons. Fuel was low so a diversion was made to Kirmington, which is now Humberside Airport. Next morning L-love returned to Skellingthorpe, where it was made serviceable and ready for its next operation. Eric tells the story of their next mission: “On the 29th of September, Saint Michael’s Day, we were one of 12 aircraft from 5 Group selected to go mine-laying outside Gdynia harbour in Poland where a German naval force was expected to arrive during the next day. Each aircraft carried six 2000lb (450kg) mines and was detailed to lay its mines in precise positions outside the entrance to the harbour. We were warned that we would be low on fuel on return (because of the very heavy payload) and would probably have to land in Scotland.

[photograph]
[italics] Painting by Nicolas Trudgian of a JU88 and a stricken Lancaster in the same situation as L-love on the night of St Michael’s Day [/italics]

The flight out was uneventful and we looked with envy at the lights of Sweden on the port side. There was bright moonlight and we could pinpoint the town of Hel at the end of the long offshore Hel peninsula quite easily. We made our run at 5000ft dropping mines in the target area, and though there was some flak from ships in the harbour it didn’t cause us any trouble. However, real trouble overtook us just after crossing the Danish coast on course towards Scotland. Ray Moad, the rear gunner, reported that two JU88’s were trailing us, and as they attacked he gave evasive action and opened fire. After a one-second burst his guns jammed, and

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Johnny Boyton, the mid-upper gunner, could not get his guns on the target. Seconds later, cannon shells fired from below us 7 damaged the tail plane and set fire to both our port engines. We dived and escaped into cloud, but the aircraft was almost uncontrollable. For fifteen minutes Ron Code fought to keep his aircraft airborne before we jettisoned the escape hatches and ditching stations were taken. The Lancaster was equipped with 2 escape hatches on the upper surface of the fuselage along with one in the canopy over the pilot and flight engineer. When the aircraft ditched it was like hitting a brick wall and seawater rushed in through the open hatches. An immersion switch should have automatically released the dinghy from its storage bay in the upper starboard wing, however this failed. I pulled a cord to release it manually but this also failed. Carrying an axe and an emergency pack navigator Bunny Ridsdale and I climbed out on to the starboard wing and I managed to release the dingy [sic] cover with an axe blow. The dinghy, attached to its lanyard burst out and lodged against the tail-plane. By this time the rest of the crew were on the fuselage and rushed towards the dinghy. Ron Code dived in and released the dinghy from where it was stuck under the tail-plane and pushed it forward so the other crew could board it without having to dive in. By this time the Lancaster was low in the water and I shouted to Bunny to dive in. However he couldn’t swim and he attempted to walk back along the fuselage but in the process was swept away by a wave. I dived in, losing a boot in the process, and reached the side of the dinghy just before the lanyard had to be cut. I was helped in as the aircraft disappeared beneath the waves. It was a black night with rain and a rough sea. We could see the red light on Bunny’s Mae West 8 and hear his whistle, but could do nothing to help him.

There was about 10 inches of water in the open dinghy which was enough to cover our legs. We had ditched around midnight and bailed all night trying to get the water out but it was a rough sea and an uphill task. When day broke we flew our kite (radio aerial) and operated the hand wound generator, which sent out SOS signals, but to no avail. We rationed the cans of water we had, and estimated we had enough for about 3 days. The weather improved slightly by the fourth day but we saw nothing and by now we were becoming very weak. On the fifth day, October 4th, the weather worsened again and most of us were slipping in and out of consciousness. At about 10am, the dingy [sic] crested a wave, and I spotted a small fishing vessel before the dinghy dropped down again, I had the signal pistol and I fired a red cartridge which was seen by the crew of a Danish fishing boat who rescued us. It turned out that we were in the Skagerrak and we pleaded with them to take us to Sweden. However the Danes were from Aalborg where there was a Luftwaffe base and their families were being held hostage so they had no choice but to return. It took about 2 1/2 hours to reach Aalborg, where a German naval officer, who was definitely hostile to us, detained us. Thirty minutes later, two Luftwaffe officers arrived; one of whom was the pilot who had shot us down. They were friendly and shook hands all round. At the Luftwaffe camp we were given a meal and were supplied with suitable footwear. We were told that we would stay the night and in the morning would be transferred to Dulag Luft, the Luftwaffe interrogation camp near Frankfurt.”

Back home in England, Eric’s mother and his fiancé Winifred were told that Eric was missing but that he may have bailed out safely. Eric’s personal belongings were to be returned to his mother and she

7 The German JU88 night fighters were equipped with guns that fired upwards (“Schräge Musik”) and they used the technique of diving below RAF bombers and trying to damage engines and control surfaces. They avoided firing at the bomb bays in fear of detonating bombs which might destroy both aircraft.

8 During World War II, Allied aircrew called their yellow inflatable, vest-like life preserver jackets “Mae Wests” partly from rhyming slang for “life vest” and partly because of the resemblance to the American actress’s torso . . .

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was asked what should be done with Eric’s bicycle. “Please can it be returned to me?” she replied. “He’ll need it when he gets back . . .” Her faith in Eric’s survival would be rewarded, eventually . . .

“Stalag IVB”

[photograph]
[italics] Sgt Eric Coling, prisoner of war, October 1943 [/italics]

On the night of 4th of October, Eric and the rest of the surviving crew had their first decent night’s sleep since 28th September. Breakfast next day was their first proper meal since leaving Skellingthorpe, after which they were taken to the railway station. Ron Code could hardly walk because his feet were so swollen with trench foot which had developed in the intense cold and damp of the dinghy. At the station some Danish women gave them apples, their 3 Luft guards, who spoke little or no English, did not interfere. Eric recalls: “We shared our apples with our guards, and they gave us some of their food and cigarettes, they were friendly, but vigilant”. Their destination was Dulag Luft, the Luftwaffe interrogation centre near Frankfurt. The journey involved a stop in Hamburg, where there was noticeable hostility from other passengers towards them. “We were pleased to have the protection of the three German guards” says Eric. The journey continued overnight and they reached Frankfurt around noon. By now, Ron Code couldn’t walk and he was taken to hospital. Eric and the others, were taken by road to Dulag Luft, strip searched, and all possessions other than clothes were taken away. After this, they were incarcerated in small solitary confinement cells, which , Eric learnt, could be heated to over 45°C as a way of softening up prisoners, although he personally didn’t have to experience this. The guards never spoke and Eric feels that this was intentional: “Solitary confinement in such conditions, especially following a traumatic experience, created a sense of intense tension and loneliness” he explains. After 4 days of solitary confinement, Eric was taken to the room of an interrogating officer. Eric takes up the story: “He spoke fluent English and adopted a friendly and sympathetic attitude, but played idly with an automatic pistol. When I congratulated him on his English he told me that he had lived in Barnsley for several years. He asked me what squadron I belonged to and I replied that I wasn’t allowed to say. He smiled and turned over a thick file on the desk. He turned it round towards me and I could read the title: 50 Squadron. He showed me a photograph of the control tower at Skellingthorpe and read out details of the Wing Commanders and some Squadron Leaders who had served there. I told him it appeared that he knew more about 50 Squadron than I did. He asked me what I knew about Gdynia and why we had gone there. I replied that I didn’t know the reason for the visit and hadn’t stayed long enough to have much idea of what was happening, other than the flak thrown up by ships in the harbour. He said ‘Of course you were mining the harbour, what kind of mines were they?’ I replied that they were just mines and that I had never been taught about them, other than they explode when hit by a ship. He just smiled and said ‘I will tell you, they were 2000lb mines and you would not have been carrying more than five. Even a Lancaster could not carry any more that distance’. In fact we had carried six but knew we would have been very short of fuel on the return

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leg to Lossiemouth. I smiled and attempted to look interested, but said nothing. He did, however, trap me into admitting I had been on the Peenemünde raid when he asked me why we had fired on men in the sea who were trying to get away from the fires. I said without thinking ‘we didn’t fire on anybody, we were in too much of a hurry to get away’. I was aware that as a POW 9 all I had to give was my name, number and rank. If I had stuck to that I would have been in solitary for another 4 days. I honestly believe that I didn’t disclose any information my interrogator was unaware of. I believe that interrogating officers rarely learnt much from POW’s. Most information came from listening devices, ‘stool pigeons’ 10 and aircraft wreckage.”

Eric’s interrogation ended after 40 minutes, with his interrogator telling him that no POW camp would be comfortable, but the less trouble he caused, the less uncomfortable it would be. Eric adds “From experience I found he was right, but without a bit of trouble life would have been more boring than it was.”

Next day Eric rejoined the other crew members, Ray, Johnny and Spike, and they were taken by cattle truck along with 20 other POW’s to Stalag IVB near Mühlberg. Despite the search, Eric still had a button compass and handkerchief map of Germany in his pocket. The two officers in the crew, Pilot Ron Coode and Radio Operator, Alex Noble were transferred to the Luft III camp at Sagan, housing mainly aircrew officers, famous for being the camp from which “The Great Escape” took place. Luft III was built on sandy soil to prevent tunnelling and was designed to house habitual escapers, but the guards were Luftwaffe personnel (too old to fight or younger injured men) so the regime was less tough than at other camps.

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Stalag IVB, located in eastern Germany between Dresden and Leipzig, was a rectangle of electrified and barbed wire, with guard towers complete with searchlights and armed guards at strategic points around the camp perimeter. A road ran through the centre of the camp, at the ends of which were the main gates and guardrooms. Along each side of the road were compounds containing huts fitted with 3-tier bunks and paillasses (straw mattresses) for about 200 men. Each man was given a dirty blanket and the paillasses were little more than a bag of dirt. This resulted in Eric developing impetigo across all of his face which for many months was treated with Gentian Violet paint.

The camp was split up into different compounds with the RAF kept more of less to themselves. Other compounds held several thousand army POWs, many of whom departed on working parties, a variety of French, Dutch and eventually Italian prisoners, and many thousands of Russians. The majority of Russians were housed in a sub-camp, Zeithain, and endured deplorable conditions in what was partly designated a hospital camp. Thousands died from malnutrition, typhus and tuberculosis.

9 Prisoner of War

10 Prisoners were questioned in a half-hearted manner and then transferred to another room where they found three or four other “prisoners.” These “prisoners” were Italians or Germans who spoke perfect English. To avoid detection, they were often dressed in a uniform of a service other than that to which the real prisoner belonged. (For example, RAF when the prisoner was in the army, American when the prisoner was English.) They were “stool pigeons,” highly trained to get the information the questioners had failed to obtain.

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For Eric in the main camp at Mühlberg, the lasting memory was the cold. Most aircrew had only the clothes they had been wearing when they were shot down, which were totally inadequate for the harsh winters in East Germany. Each hut was fitted with a small stove and there was a ration of coal briquettes totally insufficient to warm the hut.

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One of the huts at Stalag IVB

Until the winter of 1944-45 the Germans would not allow working parties outside to collect firewood. As a result the coal store was frequently raided, resulting in at least two POWs being shot and killed. Bed boards were used as fuel, leaving gaps in every bed, risking that the top or middle bunk occupant would fall through onto the man below. The rations were meagre. Eric recalls: “From our arrival in October and up to Christmas 1943, Red Cross parcels arrived fairly regularly from Britain, USA or Canada; the Canadian ones were considered to contain the best food; Each parcel was usually shared between two prisoners. They also included 50 cigarettes; the currency of the camp with which a huge variety of things could be bought from either fellow POW or the guards. As allied bombing disrupted communications in 1944, they became less frequent and following the Normandy invasion they more or less ceased completely. Then we were dependent on the meagre German rations and for many months lived with hunger.”

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The POWs were aware of the progress of the war. Eric continued: “There were several clandestine radios in the camp and newspapers were published (single copies that were handed around). By the beginning of 1945 it was known that the Russian army was not far away and excitement was intense”. On the 23 April 1945 the camp awoke to find all the German guards had departed in the night. Shortly afterwards, a few Russian troops with an officer arrived, but they only remained a short time. The senior allied officers gave orders that the POWs were to remain in the camp and await events. Despite this, quite a few had already decided they would make their own way to allied lines. These included the Bomb Aimer, Rear Gunner and Mid-Upper Gunner of Lancaster L-Love. The Flight Engineer Spike Langford, decided that he would stay behind, Eric never saw him again. “Outside the camp there was anarchy” explains Eric. “Russians were killing Germans out of hand and devastating houses just to satisfy their hatred of the Germans. There was looting of food and goods everywhere. Most farms were desolate, with the animals taken away for food. Dead bodies of Germans were to be seen in deserted houses, quite a few having committed suicide. There was a mass of humanity of all descriptions, some going west and others travelling east.”

The Germans who had remained in their houses and were still unmolested, welcomed RAF POWs, easily recognisable by the distinctive uniforms, as a safeguard against Russian intruders, and Eric and

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his colleagues could usually find accommodation for the night. They more or less followed in the path of the Russian front line troops, who treated them with respect. By 8 May 1944 [sic] they had joined up with them and were invited to celebrate VE Day with a supper of rabbit stew and a few too many glasses of vodka!

Eric tells the story of the next few days: “The following day we continued westward and soon reached the River Mulde, where the railway bridge across the river had been blown up. We were able to scramble down and up the girders and then meet up with the American forces on the other side. From there we were taken to Halle where, after some four or five days we were flown to Brussels in a DC3.

We were transferred to a Stirling aircraft and landed in South-East England at a flag bedecked airfield to be met by a band of ladies with tea and cakes. I finally arrived home in Altofts on 18 May 1945 and soon my fiancé Winifred arrived from London, advising me that ‘there was a lot to do in a very short time’. Of course this related to our wedding which took place in St Peter’s Church, Harrogate on 22 June 1945”.

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Eric and Winifred Coling on their wedding day. Eric’s mother is at his shoulder and Best Man Johnny Boyton just behind

Eric and Winifred went on honeymoon to the Lake District to start a marriage that would endure 66 years until Winifred’s death in 2011.

Eric returned to work for the LMS railway whilst remaining as an RAF reservist. However, in 1955, with a family that now included two small daughters, Eric moved to Tanganyika (now Tanzania) to start a new life working for the East African railways. But that’s a story for another time . . .

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Postscript

125,000 British and Commonwealth aircrew served in RAF Bomber Command between 1939 and 1945 and over 55,000 of them lost their lives. Aircraft that crashed in England were never included in Bomber Command’s official casualty figures. Aircrew who were killed or wounded in training or who crashed on return from raids added up to 20% to the published loss figures.

Many RAF airfields were established in Yorkshire during WW2. Nearly all of the 988 WW2 burials in Stonefall Cemetery in Harrogate are airmen, two-thirds being Canadian.

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Stonefall Military Cemetery, Harrogate

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