Letter to Don Gray from Bill Grey
![EGreyWHGrayDA[Date]-01.pdf](https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/fullsize/2261/40802/EGreyWHGrayDA[Date]-01.jpg "EGreyWHGrayDA[Date]-01.pdf")
Title
Letter to Don Gray from Bill Grey
Description
A letter to Don referring to their operation over Friedrichshafen. It includes a copy of the navigator's log and a newspaper article.
Creator
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
One handwritten sheet, three printed sheets with handwritten annotation and one printed sheet
Conforms To
Publisher
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.
Identifier
EGreyWHGrayDA[Date]-01
Transcription
Dear Don,
There has always been talk about our trip to Friedrichshafen so I thought I’d send you & Colin a photo-copy of an old yellowed, aged Navigators log of that trip – as a point of interest I have all our ‘yellow-aged’ flying logs.
Just a few points of comment
You will notice – Sheet 1: 2318 that there was indications of the OR Compass playing up (we were not in E2) and at 2328 we started to use the P4 compass – that’s the standard one that all aircraft carry and it can make visuals and flying difficult for the pilot.
At 0003 you will notice in the ‘general column’
P 010/32
F 020/37
“P” = past wind - - “F” = forecast wind – these were received from Bomber Command to the Main force. You may have been aware that on a lot of our trips we were chosen as ‘wind finders’ where our ‘found’ wind was sent back to the Bomber Command where they would average them all then send back a past wind and a forecast wind to alter course on. Ross had to code, then open the morse key and send the wind back – Don always did a gentle glide to avoid our position being worked out – then Ross would receive a “P” & “F” back which I used, as did the whole main force.
D.R = Dead Reconing [sic]
It is interesting to note that your condition at Strasburg was not logged because your injury was not known until the Tangmere approach – the blood & gore was then observed and we knew that it wasn’t the flask of Scotch in your hip pocket. – Hope this proves interesting
God Bless – [underlined] Bill [/underlined]
[page break]
[extract from navigator’s log book]
[page break]
[extract from navigator’s log book]
[page break]
[extract from navigator’s log book]
[page break]
[newspaper cutting]
[inserted] keep your eye on the 2nd Bloke – he looks a crook? [/inserted]
D-DAY
[underlined] THE NAVIGATOR’S VIEW FROM A LANCASTER [/underlined]
Bill Grey, of Dee Why, formerly of 460 RAAF Squadron, had a bird’s-eye view of the invasion fleet as he returned from a night bombing raid.
[black and white photograph of seven airmen standing in front of a Nissen hut] [black and white aerial photograph of the target area]
The Lancaster attack on Argentan, 40km from the invasion point. Inset: Bill Grey’s Lancaster crew
On the night of 5/6 June 1944, I was the navigator flying in a Lancaster with that mighty 6ft 6in pilot, Dan Cullen (open West Australian golf champion 1937-38), Ross Yates (wireless operator, from Sydney), and Colin Wheatley (air gunner, from Queensland). There was certainly no thought of the impending invasion of the Normandy coast.
Our Lancaster, from 460 RAAF Squadron, bombed a target in France known as St Martin de Varrevilles. We bombed the Red Target indicators at 2348hrs with a load of 11 x 1000 pounds and 4 x 500 pounds, and then returned to our squadron. The track was right over the beaches where the landings took place.
Our aircraft was highly sophisticated with “G” radar, H2S and Loran (ionosphere) which made for accurate and good navigation. About 0230hrs we approached Normandy. As a navigator, I scanned out on my H2S to get a fix for any wind change and picked up what is known as the Normandy Beach Area for this fix.
I observed an island! A bloody island right in the middle of the English Channel! Impossible! The H2S showed up distinctly Normandy with every nook and cranny. I scanned out westward to the Channel Islands (occupied by the Germans). Sure [missing words]
Breakfast and bed followed; we were up about 11 am and the squadron was absolutely alive – the Second Front had been opened. The “island” I saw was the armada going to Normandy. What a sight!
We then supported the landing and worked our butts off when the troops got held up. These support jobs did not count at all as operations, but I now have my French D-Day certificate.
[inserted] I don’t know if I sent you this!
B
There has always been talk about our trip to Friedrichshafen so I thought I’d send you & Colin a photo-copy of an old yellowed, aged Navigators log of that trip – as a point of interest I have all our ‘yellow-aged’ flying logs.
Just a few points of comment
You will notice – Sheet 1: 2318 that there was indications of the OR Compass playing up (we were not in E2) and at 2328 we started to use the P4 compass – that’s the standard one that all aircraft carry and it can make visuals and flying difficult for the pilot.
At 0003 you will notice in the ‘general column’
P 010/32
F 020/37
“P” = past wind - - “F” = forecast wind – these were received from Bomber Command to the Main force. You may have been aware that on a lot of our trips we were chosen as ‘wind finders’ where our ‘found’ wind was sent back to the Bomber Command where they would average them all then send back a past wind and a forecast wind to alter course on. Ross had to code, then open the morse key and send the wind back – Don always did a gentle glide to avoid our position being worked out – then Ross would receive a “P” & “F” back which I used, as did the whole main force.
D.R = Dead Reconing [sic]
It is interesting to note that your condition at Strasburg was not logged because your injury was not known until the Tangmere approach – the blood & gore was then observed and we knew that it wasn’t the flask of Scotch in your hip pocket. – Hope this proves interesting
God Bless – [underlined] Bill [/underlined]
[page break]
[extract from navigator’s log book]
[page break]
[extract from navigator’s log book]
[page break]
[extract from navigator’s log book]
[page break]
[newspaper cutting]
[inserted] keep your eye on the 2nd Bloke – he looks a crook? [/inserted]
D-DAY
[underlined] THE NAVIGATOR’S VIEW FROM A LANCASTER [/underlined]
Bill Grey, of Dee Why, formerly of 460 RAAF Squadron, had a bird’s-eye view of the invasion fleet as he returned from a night bombing raid.
[black and white photograph of seven airmen standing in front of a Nissen hut] [black and white aerial photograph of the target area]
The Lancaster attack on Argentan, 40km from the invasion point. Inset: Bill Grey’s Lancaster crew
On the night of 5/6 June 1944, I was the navigator flying in a Lancaster with that mighty 6ft 6in pilot, Dan Cullen (open West Australian golf champion 1937-38), Ross Yates (wireless operator, from Sydney), and Colin Wheatley (air gunner, from Queensland). There was certainly no thought of the impending invasion of the Normandy coast.
Our Lancaster, from 460 RAAF Squadron, bombed a target in France known as St Martin de Varrevilles. We bombed the Red Target indicators at 2348hrs with a load of 11 x 1000 pounds and 4 x 500 pounds, and then returned to our squadron. The track was right over the beaches where the landings took place.
Our aircraft was highly sophisticated with “G” radar, H2S and Loran (ionosphere) which made for accurate and good navigation. About 0230hrs we approached Normandy. As a navigator, I scanned out on my H2S to get a fix for any wind change and picked up what is known as the Normandy Beach Area for this fix.
I observed an island! A bloody island right in the middle of the English Channel! Impossible! The H2S showed up distinctly Normandy with every nook and cranny. I scanned out westward to the Channel Islands (occupied by the Germans). Sure [missing words]
Breakfast and bed followed; we were up about 11 am and the squadron was absolutely alive – the Second Front had been opened. The “island” I saw was the armada going to Normandy. What a sight!
We then supported the landing and worked our butts off when the troops got held up. These support jobs did not count at all as operations, but I now have my French D-Day certificate.
[inserted] I don’t know if I sent you this!
B
Collection
Citation
Bill Grey, “Letter to Don Gray from Bill Grey,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed May 19, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/40802.
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