This is ridiculous - we should bale out

SBondS-ElliottJv10030.pdf

Title

This is ridiculous - we should bale out

Description

Mentions that he was in air cadets and then covers training as a wireless operator and eventual posting to 550 Squadron. Recalls events of 12 July 1944 on an operation to Revigny in France when the crew were forced to abandon their aircraft over East Anglia as it was running out of fuel and there were no airfield available due to widespread fog. Gives detail description of the sorties, being hit by anti-aircraft fire, losing and engine, fuel leak, flying round east England trying to find somewhere to land. Describes bailing out and subsequent activities and journey back to base by train still in flying kit. Recalls a second event when he was looking up trough astrodome and saw a Halifax directly above releasing bombs. Mentions his use of "Monica" for warning of enemy fighters approaching. Talks about specific aircraft he flew in. Mentions that short sorties to V weapon sites at one stage only counted as 1/3 operation but this was reversed due to losses on these sorties in daylight at low level. Mentions a little about crew post war and his visit to visit the battle of Britain memorial flight Lancaster in 2011.

Creator

Language

Type

Format

Six page printed document

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

SBondS-ElliottJv10030

Collection

Citation

S Bond, “This is ridiculous - we should bale out,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed January 16, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/49329.

Item Relations

This Item dcterms:relation Item: Conversation with Jim Lord and John Elliot