The first of his eleven operations was to the Ruhr valley which was uneventful, unlike the one to Helgoland where the aircraft in front of them exploded and they flew through the debris virtually unscathed. On another op, Ben had a grandstand view of the release of a Tallboy bomb and its devastating effect.
At the end of the war Ben retrained as a marine fitter and spent a year in Singapore before being demobbed. After a year as a photographer, he spent time in the camera workshop repairing commercial cameras and became a qualified photographer. Moving to a commercial photographic firm and then Saunders Roe, he specialised in air to air photography, including the SR53 experimental aircraft and Concorde and still retains his interest by visiting air displays.
Ben has had exchange visits with his Canadian former crew and feels, like most bomber command veterans, that they were treated shabbily.
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Chris Johnson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Chris Johnson]]> Terry Holmes]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Canada]]> Great Britain]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Wales--Glamorgan]]> England--Cornwall (County)]]> Germany]]> Germany--Helgoland]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> Singapore]]> 1944]]>
Chris Johnson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Peter Schulze]]> Chris Johnson]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Hampshire]]> Wales--Milford Haven]]> Chris Johnson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Chris Johnson]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> France]]> France--Revigny-sur-Ornain]]> France--Saint-Nazaire]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1946-03]]> Chris Johnson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Chris Johnson]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Chris Johnson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Chris Johnson]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Canadian Air Force]]> Canada]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> Poland]]> Poland--Żagań]]> England--Durham (County)]]> Germany--Berlin]]> 1944-01-31]]> Chris Johnson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Chris Johnson]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Egypt]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> Netherlands]]> Poland]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Poland--Żagań]]> 1941]]> Chris Johnson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Chris Johnson]]> Pending review]]> Pending OH summary]]> After leaving school he worked in the clothing trade until the Second World War broke out when John joined the ATC with the intention of going into the RAF as soon as he became eighteen. He was sent to St. Johns Wood for his initial training, with drill at Lord’s Cricket Club. John was sent to Newquay, Brighton and Bridlington which was where he learnt to be an air gunner.
In his logbook (not in the collection), he recorded the places he went to before arriving in Ciro, Egypt, and seeing the Sphinx. John He travelled as a passenger together with a pilot, in a Wellington 10. He finally arrived at RAF Salbani where he was in 355 Squadron. Here he was trained to work on four-engine bombers and flew B-24 Liberators operationally.
John describes the various crew positions and that they were a seven-man crew. He was a middle-upper gunner working to bomb the Japanese positions. Sometimes an operation would be cancelled because the British had already taken to target area from their opponents. John describes the opposition he faced both from enemy fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft fire. One of the returning trips involve the aircraft running out of fuel and the rear gunner seriously injured.
He was in India Command, which became Royal Air Force India, then Southeast and Asia Command. While there he met many Australians returning home. John was in an Australian crew, and they were sent to Jessore to go onto 91 Squadron – air sea rescue (SEAC).
John was shipped back to England before the end of the war (VE). He learnt that President Roosevelt had dies while between Gibraltar and the Bay of Biscay. 1944
Once in England he had to report to a base in Shropshire. John’s Squadron moved to a range of bases before working in charge of ground control at RAF Acklington Northumbria. John worked aircraft control until the conclusion of the war.
VE Day had ‘no effect on [John] personally.’ But there was much deprivation with the devastation from the bombing and the lack of money to buy clothing. John returned to tailoring after the Second World War, from which he retired. He didn’t join a RAF Squadron Association or go to any reunions because his was an unsecure job, so John didn’t have much time to think about how the members of Bomber Command were treated after the war.
John has been to the International Bomber Command Centre and was there at its opening the Spire). He found it difficult to talk to other veterans as he’s partially deaf now. He sometimes has flashbacks to his time in the RAF and feels that they should be learning much more of the Second World War.

Claire Campbell]]>
eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> India]]> Iraq]]> Israel]]> England--London]]> India]]> Iraq--Ḥabbānīyah]]> Israel--Tel Aviv]]> Bangladesh--Jessore District]]> Bangladesh]]> 1944]]> 1945]]>
Chris Johnson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Chris Johnson]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Shropshire]]> England--London]]> 1944]]>