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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1612/24528/MCothliffKB[Ser -DoB]-151020-120004.pdf
95b401a9080f27f95a94c9315e0be222
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Title
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Cothliff, Ken. Tholthorpe Logs
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. The collection contains flying control log books from RAF Tholthorpe.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Cothliff and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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IBCC Digital Archive
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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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
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Cothliff, K
Transcribed document
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[underlined] S.O. Book 129 [/underlined]
Code 28-69-0.
G. [Crown] R.
SUPPLIED for the PUBLIC SERVICE
JANUARY 26 to MARCH 2ND 1944.
T.4364. Wt. 7837. 2/43. 78,000 Bks. A.H. & S. Ltd.
[Page Break]
[Blank Page]
[page break]
[underlined] WEDNESDAY JAN.26, 1944, [/underlined]
*cont’d from old book.
0900 / On duty / W.A.Warwick F/O.
0910 / Movement E-214 / Air Firing at R.H.B. & Whitby Bombing at Strinsall, Local F/A. & H t test for Hal’s & Lancs. from 1000 – 1800 hrs.
0915 / Met. / .429E at Wratting Common wishes to return. Weather re. met. O.K. up until 1130 or 1200 hrs. Base contacted & 3 Grp F/C who will notify us when A/C airborne.
0940 / Firing near Wombleton (extract from other log) / There will be firing by the Army 3 miles north of Wombleton from 2000 – 2100 hrs. on Jan 27, 1944. (Huncombe Park) 075022. Rockets of various colours.
1205 / HURRICANE 61 BASE / 61 Base report Hurricane S. of Dalton circling base Dalton at 1110 & then disappeared. R.O.C.L.O. notified & in return contacted York. 9.
1210 / HURRICANE 61 BASE / Hurricane S landed O.K. at base R.O.C.L.O. notified.
1225 / Base 61 aircraft. / Stacey handling his own diversion to time frames – advised that he had directed D.1664 to proceed to Leeming – informed Lmg himself.
Weather deteriorating – Middleton craft firing and Skipton still green.
1230 / Base 62 D/420 / Difficulties being encountered at [deleted][indecipherable word] [/deleted] Tholthorpe. Linton Red. Advised divert to Long O.K’d by Lmg vis 6 miles.
[Page Break]
JAN 26
1232 / D 1664 / Returned to Base and landed safely – Dishforth 12.30.
1240 / D/420 / Confirmed ex Base 62 that this a/c is diverted to Lmg – Lmg F.C informed.
1240 / M.S.G / – Yellow – Raining Craft still Green. – a/c recalled.
1245 / LMG / – Yellow – Raining Ref D/420 = Advised F.C Lmg to redivert to craft if necessary – ok’d by Base 62
1245 / – / Plotting [indecipherable word] opened to york 9 & 10
1250 / Base 61 / Happy about all their a/c
1301 / D/420 / Landed LMG. RED!
1430. / met.6. / Re disposition of weather this afternoon re.visiting [sic] A/C returning . Prospect not very good today & rather dubious about tomorrow.
1725 / W/C Huins / Ex 5 Group. W/C Huins – en route to Linton on Ouse in Proctor MM479 landed at Higsley because of adverse weather. Remaining the night.
Passed to Base 62.
1815 / AMLO / Jersey ref Category after following a/c y/428, I/428 – and B/428 as result of operation night 20/21st January
1825 / AMLO / Advised all three aircraft to be Cat A.C.
1830 / – / Off Duty – L A Justason F/L
[Page Break]
[underlined] Jan 26th [/underlined]
18.30 / On duty / F D Cleveland F/L
19.00 / No night flying in group. No ops. in Command.
[underlined] Thursday. Jan 27th 1944 [/underlined]
01.00 / Ident. Board changed.
09.00 / Off duty / F D Cleveland F/L On duty H.L Spencer P/O.
1100. / Petrol Diversion Bases / Requested of C.F.C. One definite Petrol Division Base for 433 Sqn (Middle Wallop area) and 6 additional provisional petrol divisions bases (central East Anglia & to south)
1130. / Petrol Diversion Bases / Ref. entry 1100 “Middle Wallop” requested in error. Changed to West Malling but C.F.C. say all a/c are being kept away from this station for discussion, and suggest Woodbridge.
1145 / Crash AFU/W Lindholme. Spitfire / 61 Base report crash 1 mile north east of Sessay Station. 1666/0 called Darky to report it. Topcliffe picked up message. Dalton taking action Pin Point 5411N 0116W.
1200 / Petrol Diversion Base / Cancelled request for one definite base & reduced request to 3 Emergency Petrol bases
1210 / M.S.G. Mark III Lightning / Completely U/S for 5 days due to Contractors carelessness in cutting cables; also affects Contact Strip, etc.
1255 / L.F.B. / Dungeness on 340° – 0010 – 0110 [inserted] 2310 – 0010 [/inserted]
Shoeburyness on 330° – 0025 – 0125 [inserted] 2350 – 0050 [/inserted]
1255 / Balloons / Dover, Canterbury, Chelmsford, Thames Estuary & London will be at 1500ft. with advice if any change from 0001 – 0130 hrs [inserted] 2330 – 0100 [/inserted]
1310 / Crash AFU/W Spitfire / From 61 Base:- Pilot F/L Hodson. From Lindholme en route to Dalton. Engine failed and Pilot crash landed. F/L Hodson O.K; Stbd Wing off, Port Wing cut, Prop bent, fuselage OK.1 Gp. F.C informed.
[Page Break]
1315 / Emergency Petrol Diversion Bases / From C.F.C & allotted as indicated
Feltwell – 408 Sqn.
Stradishall – 426 Sqn.
Wattling Common – 432 Sqn.
Passed to 62 Base with available “gen”
1500 / 419/Q Woodbridge / Air I authorised 419 Squadron to fly crew down to Woodbridge to bring back the mfn aircraft, provided the Station Commander does not feel the wind is too strong for them. M.S.G informed T.O. 1538 hrs.
1600 / L.F.B / New times:-
Dungeness 2340 – 0040.
Shoeburyness 2350 – 0050.
Balloon / New times for control – 2330 – 0100 hrs.
Passed to 62 Base.
1830 / Off Duty / H L Spenser P/O.
On Duty. F/L Justason. L & F/O Warwick. W.A.
1900 / 1679 “A” / Linton report ‘A’ as landing at Millom on 2 engines no further gen.
1915 / AIR.I. / Permission granted by Air I for W/C Langton to fly Com. Fly. Alford to Millom approx. 0900 in the morn. Base 62 not’f’d.
1940 / DARKY A/C W. / Mid. St. George report A/C called Darky in vicinity unable to get A/C’s R/T call sign.
1950. / R.O.C.L.O. / Contacted re any A/C in distress as plotted in our area. No gen.
1955 / BEAUFIGHTER (EASTMOOR) / A/C now serviceable & ready to go.
[Page Break]
[underlined] JANUARY.THUR.27. [/underlined]
2030 / Wellington “C” / Eastmoor report a Well. has [sic] having landed at 2010 from Haswell, with eng. trouble bad mag. drop on both eng’s 91 Grp. notified & staying the nite.
2035 / Re. DARKY “W” / Darky. A/C Dandy W” from Upper Heyford in our vicinity Leeming. Craft and Topcliffe lit up & looking out for him. A/C reported to have fired colours of the period RR near Winforth when coned by interesting Sandra’s. Leeming have been firing pyros but to no avail.
2040. / 1669 “A” MILLOM / A/C landed at Millom due to eng. failure, landed in two engines at approx. 1821.
2050 / UPPER HEYFORD / U.P.H. phoned re. Darky .W. & his endurance & whether U.H. could contact on Stn. HF/DF.
2105 / DARKY. / W. A/C disappeared from York area.
2115 / F.C. 93 GRP. / W/T. messages from 62 Base to F/C – 93 Grp.
[underlined] to-18 O.T.U =[/underlined] Finningley from SNZ/K. -99SY-AZDP, BFFY. =2000
XC – 5417N – 0022W.
[underlined]To 30.0.T.U. Hiyon
RNR/Q = 99.CB.SG.DP.W.R.2037, 5443° – 0051° W.
[underlined] TO 27 O.T.U. [/underlined]
Litchfield = KRK/I =
99. X.C. 5YTT. BIXJ – 2026.
Pos’n 5455 – 0125 W.
2120 / 3 GRP.F.C. / Re. our broadcast Periods on G.O.F. = Passed – 20-30 & 50-60
2130 / 93 GRP. / Re. Dandy “W” they had contacted him on Stn. HF/DF & homing him on such.
[Page Break]
[underlined] JANUARY 27. THUR [/underlined]
2135 / 61 BASE / Report Walton Outer Circle U/S until further notice.
2210. / 93 GRP. / From 62 Base W/T message to Litchfield
KRK.I. 99-1C.IE CMUA NC-2130
Pos’n = 5540 – 0312 W Passed to 93.
[underlined] JANUARY 28th [/underlined]
0020. / C.F.C / F/C re. diverting 4 Wellington from Bramcote & suggested Leeming: C.F.C notified weather O.K.
0025. / C.F.C / Leeming have a 40° – 50° X wind of 35-40 mph on runway in use & suggested Topcliffe. Gen already sent to A/C to divert them to Leeming. Leeming contacted & will re-divert A/C to Topcliffe by R/T. Top. Informed
0030. / Bramcote / 4 Wellingtons.
W/T = MHR. R/T = [indecipherable word]
A/C = E.U.Q.A. ETA = 0300
0040 / F.C.V.O.12. / R.O.C report A/C in power dive near mid. St. George. Mid St. Geo. notified but have no news of such.
0045 / C.F.C / Re- 2 A/C from Ashbourne, 1 Albesmeade –W/T - W.O.N. “V” R/T Allad., 1 Whitley W/T P.L.U “G” R/T Indus. arriving approx. 0140 hrs. diverted to Topcliffe.
0105 / Mid. St. Geo. / Re-entry of 0040. Mid. have checked with all concerned also Thornaby, but no indication of crash or A/C in power dive?
0110 / IDENT BOARD / Ident Board changed.
[Page Break]
[underlined] JANUARY 28, FRIDAY, 1944 [/underlined]
0130 / BASE 61 / A/C’s Whitley & Albemarle landed O.K. at base. Leeming notified
0135 / Wellingtons / One of scheduled Wimps [sic] ‘U’ landed at Stanton Harcourt 0050. Leeming & Top. Notified.
0140 / Bramcote / They have had 5 Wellingtons 4 accounted for, one which is believed to have blown up in mid-air. 0 still outstanding.
0220. / Bramcote / Diversion off. All A/C accommodated for, this information passed to Base 61 & Leeming.
0330 / 6 Grp. / 10 A/C outstanding on ops from total of 48 Lancs.
0400 / 6 Gp. / Repeating 0330 – retuned Linton and Eastmoor checked up on their dispersals the numbers missing was reduced to 8.
0830 / Ref Return of A/C away / Picture according to 6 Gp. met as follows: Weak warm from over this group past now – Expected to clear in about 2 hours time.
0845 / Instn to F.C. at groups where a/c are: / All of our a/c which are serviceable are to stand by ready for take off instructions as of 10.30 – 11.00 hrs approx.
0900 / – / Off Duty Justaston F/L
F/O Warwick.
10.00 / Return of aircraft. / Met. say weather here us Okay for return during next six hours – QBB 1500 ft vis. good. All aircraft away have been told to return immediately.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Friday January 28th, 1944 [/underlined]
14.00 / Landfall Beacon at Flamborough on bearing 270° T from 0740 – 0840.
Billingham Balloons. Close-hauled 2310 – 0110, 07.45 – 09.30 hrs (See entry 16.30 hrs)
15.00 / Middleton St George / :- Prem outer circle, funnels & flare path u/s. Temporary arrangement:- Contact strip is okay and they will use Money flares as funnels – Okay with Squadrons & Station Commander. Thornby is standing by Middleton. Informed CFC of this arrangement.
15.30 / Diversion Bases / [deleted] As [/deleted] Unless the weather in this Group should deteriorate diversions bases are not necessary, as it is just as short back to bases in 6 Gp. as to anywhere else in England.
15.30 / Fix. 424/0 / 56.37N 0043W III 13.22 from Inverness. Movement passed to 13 Group for checking purposes.
15.30 / Permission / by SASO for Oxford to take parts to C/1659 at Jwby tomorrow morning at 10.00.
16.30 / Billingham Balloons. / Now close-hauled 23.00 – 01.00, 07.00 – 09.00 hrs
1830. / Off duty / F/L Cleland On duty H L Spencer P/O.
2015 / Crash? Nr Eastmoor / Originally thought to be a crash by R.O.C. 12 Group & 6V Base Now considered to be part of Army exercises, White and Ref Flares and Vereys seen by Eastmoor to the south. Strensal [sic] Bombing Range confirm firing going on to west of them.
2100 / 1679/B / Landed at Pocklington. Fuel gauges showed zero. Called Darky. Staying overnight.
[underlined] Saturday – Jan 29/44 [/underlined]
0001 / Ident Board Changed
0440 / Bomber 343 / Noticed m/n coming from the east turned around & flew west. Informed.
[Page Break]
F.C.L.O. & suggested fighter be sent to lead him back in.
0445 / Bomber 343. / Fighter being sent to intercept.
0450 / Bomber 343 / 12 Group do not believe this a/c was flying west previously but are checking further.
0645 / Emergency Fix 431/N / Fix – 5358N 0555E 1st Class, 0632 ack. From Hull. Passed to Croft.
0658 / Impatient Fix 431.N / Fix. 5340N 0421E 2nd class 0649 ack. Passed to Croft.
0658 / S.O.S 434/S / FIX 5505N 0325E 2nd Class 0654. & message 61300. Croft informed.
0705 / S.O.S 434/S / FIX 5444N 0258E 3rd class 0655 Passed to Croft.
0710 / S.O.S 434/S / FIX 5437N 0212E 3rd class. 0706 ack. Passed to Croft. Also informed 12 Group F.C.L.O. & requested to reader any possible assistance.
0725 / S.O.S 434/S / FIX 5437N 0217E 3rd class 0715 Passed Croft
0725 / Emerging Fix W31/N / FIX 5320N 0226E 1st class 0723 ack. Passed to Croft
0735. / S.O.S 434/5 / Fix 5414N 0100E 1st. 0731 ack. Passed to Croft.
0740 / S.O.S. 434/S / Fix 5408N 0032E 1st. 0730 ack.
0800 / S.O.S. 434/E Fix 5400N 0004E 1st. 0749 ack. (Cancelled at 0753 hrs)
0800 / S.O.S 434/S / Fix 5407N 0009E 1st. 0743. ack
0850. / Crash 431/F / From Dishforth: aircraft crashed on landing – no petrol and 2 engines out. Crew OK.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Friday January 28th, 1944 [/underlined]
14.00 / Landfall Beacon at Flamborough on bearing 270 ° T from 0740 – 0840.
Billingham Balloons. Close-hauled 2320 – 0110, 07.45 – 09.30 hrs (See entry 16.30 hrs)
15.00 / Middleton St George:- / Prem outer circle, funnels & flare path u/s. Temporary arrangement:- Contact strip is okay and they will use Money flares as funnels – Okay with Squadrons & Station Commander. Thornby is standing by for Middleton. Informed CFC of this arrangement.
15.30 / Diversion Bases / [deleted] As [/deleted] Unless the weather in this Group should deteriorate diversions bases are not necessary, as it is just as short back to bases in 6 Gp. as to anywhere else in England.
15.30 / Fix. 424/0 / 56.37N 0043W III 13.22 from Inverness. Movement passed to 13 Group for checking purposes.
15.30 / Permission / by SASO for Oxford to take parts to C/1659 at Jwby tomorrow morning at 10.00.
16.30 / Billingham Balloons. / Now close-hauled 23.00 – 01.00, 07.00 – 09.00 hrs
1830. / Off duty / F/L Cleland. On duty H L Spencer P/O.
2015 / Crash? Nr Eastmoor / Originally thought to be a crash by R.O.C. 12 Group & 62 Base. Now considered to be part of army exercises, White & Ref Flares & Vereys seen by Eastmoor to the south. Strensal [sic] Bombing Range confirm firing going on to west of them.
2100 / 1679/B / Landed at Pocklington. Fuel gauges showed zero. Called Darky. Staying overnight.
[underlined] Saturday – Jan. 29/44 [/underlined]
0001 / Ident Board Changed
0440 / Bomber 343 / Noticed m/n coming from the east turned around & flew west. Informed.
[Page Break]
F.C.L.O. & suggested fighter be sent to lead him back in.
0445 / Bomber 343. / Fighter being sent to intercept.
0450 / Bomber 343 / 12 Group do not believe this a/c was flying west previously but are checking further.
0645 / Emergency Fix 431/N / Fix – 5358N 0555E 1st Class, 0632 ack. from Hull. Passed to Croft.
0658 / Important Fix 431.N / Fix. 5340N 0421E 2nd class 0649 ack. passed to Croft.
0658 / S.O.S. 434/S FIX 5505N 0325E 2nd Class 0654. & message. 61300. Croft informed.
0705 / S.O.S. 434/S FIX 5444N 0258E 3rd class 0655 Passed to Croft.
0710 / S.O.S. 434/S / FIX 5437N 0212E 3rd class. 0706 ack. Passed to Croft. Also informed 12 Group F.C.L.O. & requested to reader any possible assistance.
0725 / S.O.S. 434/S / FIX 5437N 0217E 3rd class 0715 Passed Croft
0725 / Emergency Fix 431/N / FIX 5320N 0226E 1st class 0723 ack. Passed to Croft.
0735 / S.O.S 434/5 / Fix 5414N 0100E 1st. 0731 ack. Passed to Croft.
0740 / S.O.S. 434/S / Fix 5408N 0032E 1st. 0730 ack.
0800 / S.O.S. 433/E / Fix 5400N 0004E 1st. 0749 ack. (Cancelled at 0753 hrs)
0800 / S.O.S. 434/S / Fix 5407N 0009E 1st. 0743. ack
0850. / Crash 431/F / From Dishforth. aircraft crashed on landing – no petrol and 2 engines out. Crew OK.
[Page Break]
0855 / 433/E Crash / Aircraft crashed 2 miles S.W. of Catfoss who are taking crash action.
F/S Stiler killed.
M.U.G. injured
Remainder O.K.
0900 / On Duty / L A Justason F/L : W.A Warwick F/O
0910 / 433/H. / Crew baled out 8 miles north of Thirsk. K.F.S & Thirsk Police are searching for crash 8 miles north east of Thirsk. Skipton checking further for definite location of crash.
0925 / 434/5 / From Croft. Crew baled out at Staxton Wold. Following accounted for
P.O. Fielding OK
P.O. Claton OK
Sgt. Thompson OK
Sgt. Dennis – Killed
Remainder unaccounted for at present.
-SX F.C.L.O.12: Crash near FLAXTON. FILEY (RAF)
Taking necessary guard action.
1010 / 434/S. / Ex Croft – all crew except P/O Brown (Bomb A.) accounted for.
1050 / 433E. / 4 Grp. F.C. re. position of crew, that crashed at Catfoss. Pilot F/S Stiles killed m/w seriously injured in Catfoss S.S.Q. remainder of crew O.K. Crashed due to lack of petrol at 0758. Position of A/C near Officers Mess at a place Burandes [sic] Burton. Catfoss providing guard.
1055 / 433/H / 5 of crew accounted for & are picking up such Flt. Eng & R/G to be accounted for.
[Page Break]
SATURDAY JAN. 29
1110 / 433/H / Position of A/C near Coolsby [sic] Hall. Skipton have arranged for guarding of such. Member of crew found in A/C was P/O Cox. Sgt Lumsdon F/E Steel unaccounted for. [inserted][deleted] (2000 hrs all crew [indecipherable word] O.K) [/deleted][/inserted]
1125. / 431/N. / F.C.L.O. 12/ Grp phoned re 4 men picked up by trawler “Swallow” 2 of the crew Sgt Webber & Sgt Parker. They respond with crew list. Croft notified.
1130 / M.L.O. South Downs. / Sqd. Sorties re losses etc passed.
1140 / 16 Grp / They give approx. position of crew picked up by trawler as 5300N – 0110E approx. No further news as to when & names of other two bods. as “Swallow” is transferring them to other boats dispatched from Humber. Will phone in further gen.
1155 / SKIPTON Re Search sanctioned by W/C McCathy / Skipton request to fly an A/C in an area around Thirsk to possibly pick up visual parachute of missing Flt. Engineer Sgt Lumsden, who is still no [sic] accounted for.
1220. / 16 G.R.P. / Phoned if it would be possible for us to put up 6 A/C on Sea Search.
[underlined] Area [/underlined]
52:55 – 0130.
53:15 – 0110.
53:23 0210.
5313 0230.
Parallel track Search from S.W. to N.E. working N.W. at 1 /4 mil vis. usual A/S/R. briefing. Call sign W.C.F. & 47 to 52 inclusive
[Page Break]
[underlined] SATURDAY JAN. 29/44 [/underlined]
1230 / 61 Base / Contacted them re, A/C standing by for A.S.R. & that we required 6 A/C. Area passed & numbers allotted. 3 A/C from 1679 & 3 from 1664.
1240. / 61 Base / Asked if it would be possible to put up another A/C up for A.S.R. Told them to stand the A/C down until 16 Grp. contacted & new no. allocated. W.C.F – 72.
1245 / 16 Grp. / Re. one extra A/C for A.S.R. OK & allotted. W.C.F. [symbol] 72. Also correction in 3rd boundary line of area. Should read 53-33 – 0210 instead of 53-23 – 0210. 61 Base notified immediately.
1355 / 4 Grp 434/S / Phoned re position of crew S. near Filey 5 of the crew OK & at Filey Mess, 2 of the crew [inserted] Sgt [/inserted] Egale & Godney injured & in S.S.A. at Filey & one dead Sgt Dimers. Pos approx. on Top Sheet 23. ref 518998. This information passed to Croft
1410. / 432/V / Who is at Wratting Common is now Service & D/C at W.C. advised. Weather checked OK.
1430 / 433/D / Report from M.S.G. that the crew of D-433 of been picked up at Hartlepool. F/O Gray & Crew. No further gen.
1455. / A.S.R. /16 Grp re crew of 434/N should be in Grimsby some time this evening, they will notify us when further gen is obtained.
[Page Break]
SATURDAY JAN. 29/44.
1534 / A.S.R. / Re sighting two wheels floating in the sea with N. painted on them. From N of 434 (Imagine):
1650 / 433/D / Transportation sent to Hartlepool & all of crew O.K.
[deleted] 1700 / 433/11 / According to W/C Sinton & F/L Cuke, all the bodies are accounted for. [/deleted]
1830 / – / off Duty L A Justason F/L F W.A Warwick F/O
18.30 / On Watch / F D Cleland F/L.
20.34 / A.S.R. / All 1659 & 1664 aircraft now down. No sightings Passed to MLS 12 – 16 Group.
20.50 / 431/N / See entry 11.25hrs. Flag Officer (Humber) phoned to us give names of 4 crew members picked up. They were not able to land them until this evening for operational reasons. They were picked up 2 1/2 miles SE of Cromer Light and are now all at Grimsby Naval Sick Bay
They are: F/S Charlebois
Sgt Cole
Sgt. Webber
Sgt. Parker
All are ok but suffering from shock & exposure. Said they ditched due to shortage of petrol. Passed this gen. to Croft.
23.12 / All Aircraft in Group down
[underlined] Sunday. January 30th 1944 [/underlined]
01.00 / Ident Bd / Changed.
08.00 / 408N Attacked by Beaufighters while on X-C. / (1) At posn. 55°N 0220W – 17000ft at 19.27 hrs
(2) At posn 5530N 0300W – 17000ft at 19.38 hrs. The Beaufighter did not open fire – but made two determined attacks. The Lanc. was just burning Resin lights at first posn. but upon being attacked switched to Nav. Lights & recco light. In spite of this they were attacked again at posn (2)
Dangerous for Beaufighter as Lancs. guns were loaded & gunners were ready to fire if he did not break off.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Sunday. January 30th 1944 [/underlined]
08.05 / N/408 / Passed this information to 12 Gp. who say there was a Bullseye (local) scheduled for last night. This was probably the reason for the attack. FCLO 12 will confirm this later after investigating.
09.00 / Off duty. / F D Cleland F/L On duty H.L Spencer F/L.
1000 / Dalton “Mag” / Permission granted by Air I to fly Pilot of crashed Spitfire from Walton to Lindholme.
1015 / R/428 / AIR I authorized two crews to be flown to Grimsby to pick up 2 aircraft there.
1020 / Comm. Flight Proctor / Reserved for Mc Saunders & S/L [indecipherable name] for 1050 hrs – for day.
1130 / L.F. B[symbol]2 On / bearing 270° from 2330-0030 hrs.
1145 / Emergency Div. Petrol Base. / Requested one base (for 433 Sqn.) Suggested Docking in East Anglia area.
1255 / U.S. ARMY MUSTANG / m/n a/c, A7C, Lieut. BRONSTON landed. Croft, who advised U.S. Station GOXHILL.
1320 / Emerg. Petrol Div. Base / Docking allotted by C.F.C. “Gen.” passed to Stations.
1405 / 2nd Proctor / Reserved for S/L Rawson for 1445 hrs
1420 / U.S. Army Mustang / Took off from Croft for Goxhill at approx. 1420 hrs.
1510 / Possible Diversion to 6 Gp. / To C.F.C, the following stations with their numbers as follows, with the reservation that our weather was the same as forecast this morning. The figure could be increased.
61 Base – Wombleton 15
Dishforth 25
62 Base – Linton – 5
Eastmoor – 15
Skelthorpe – 15
Leeming – 25
Skipton – 15
Croft – 25
[Page Break]
[underlined] SUNDAY JAN.30/1944. [/underlined]
1830. / On duty F/L Justason L.A F/O Warwick W.A.
1900. / 1 GROUP / Re. an S.O.S. at sea approaching 1 Grp. area & phoned if possible our ‘A’ of 426. F/C given R/T call sign of O.
1925 / 1664/Y (CRASH) / [inserted] DG308 [/inserted] / Pranged at Dishforth blocking no. 22 R/W. Cat ? B no one hurt, U/C collapsed & back broken.?
1950. / 431/L (CRASH). [inserted] DL245 [/inserted] / Pranged on main R/W obstruction U/C collapsed. Possible cat. A/C may be able to remove A/C tonite. [sic]
2135 / 420/T. / Returning from base due to O.E. u/s. Carrying live bombs & asking permission to go to sea to jettison.
2150. / F.C.LO & M.L.O.12. / Notified re A/C T. going out to jettison about 50 miles off Flamboro Head. also on 3 engines W/T. NLZ.
2230. / 435/S Crash 29th nr. Filey. / 4 Grp. F/C phoned re. position of S that crashed main of 29th near Filey .ref. sheet 23 – 515994. & as they wondered how long guard required as it was supplied by Northern Command. Croft. C.T.O. phoned as was under the impression that A/C had crashed in the Sea. But if has crashed on land the nearest R.A.F. Stn. should send Crash Signal as to Cat. F/C Croft notified for C.T.O. to contact Filey at Hunmamby 291. to see if signal sent & whether Cat A/C & M.U. notified for pick up N. Command would like to
[Page Break]
[underlined] SUNDAY JAN. 30.1944 [/underlined]
2230 / 434/S / Know how long guard required. Posn. 1/4 miles N. of Flaxton.
2250. / 420/T, / Who was sent to Jettison has not been heard from as yet. F.C.L.O & M.L.O. notified & have no news of anything in distress.
2310 / 420/T. / Is now up on R/T. M.L.O. & F.C.L.O notified.
2350 / 4 GROUP. / Re, diverting an A/C to Dishforth a Con. Unit A/C. 61 Base notified & Dishforth standing by.
[underlined] MONDAY JAN. 31/44. [/underlined]
0010, / C.F.C. (DIVERSON) / not required for diversion of 8 Grp. A/C Stations standing by contacted to stand [deleted] by [/deleted] down.
0040 / F.C.L.O. / All operational A/C down O.K. with exceptions of L.433 .asked F.C.L.O if any news of such. no joy.
0045 / GROFT [sic] W/433 / “W” of 433 landed at Croft & staying overnite [sic]. Croft taking care of Int. etc. This passed to Skipton Flying Control.
0100 / 4GRP. 420/R / F/C phoned re a[deleted]n[/deleted] “Climax” R. had overshot one of their drones & landed in a field. No further gen.
0105 / 62 BASE. / Re. an R-420 who had called on Channel “A” saying short of petrol. Instructed to switch to Darky “D” & call. Presumably entry 0100 hrs.
[Page Break]
[underlined] MONDAY JAN. 31. 1944. [/underlined]
0120 / 4 Grp. (CRASH) [inserted] R420 LW383 [/inserted] / A/C R.420 Sgd. crash landed at Rufforth, made a belly landing went thru. a hedge Cat B. All crew O.K. and in the S.S.A. as no other room available. This information passed to 62 Base.
0130. / 62 Base. / Re. Linton HF/DF picking up a continuous steady note on 130°T bearing (0130) Signal strength very strong & could be possibly 3038 – 2 K/C’s lower than 3040.
0210. / 62 Base. / No Gen. on entry 0130 imagine it may be R/420 that crashed near Rufforth.
0410. / M.L.O. Bom. Com. / Report a Hal. Crashed at Catfoss at 2221 & as we are 1 of 433 Hali’s down wondered if it was ours. Told M.L.O would contact Catfoss immediately
0520. / F/C CATFOSS. / A/C crashed near aerodrome all killed but one, seriously injured & in Beverly Hosp. His name being P/O Andrews this is the only gen available & does not sum up with crew list of 433/L.
0530. / A/S/R. 16 Grp / 16 Grp require 7 A/C for Sea Search in the morn.
0535 / 61 Base Re- A/S/S/ / 61 not’f’d. re. Sea Search this morning. have 7 A/C laid on for such emergency. Can not be ready until 1000 hrs.
0540. / A/S/S 16 Grp. Contacted & told them we could put op [sic] 7 Halis from 1679 (4) & 1664 (3).
[Page Break}
[underlined] MONDAY JAN. 31/44. [/underlined]
0550. / A/S/S/AREA / 16 Grp. re. Search Area
(1) 5320 – 0235
5336 – 0248
5345 – 0125
5400 – 0140
(2) N.W. to S.E. parallel track creeping N.E 1/4 mile vis. usual A/S/R. briefing.
(3) [underlined] CALL SIGN [/underlined] = W.C.F.[symbol]5 78 – 84 incl.
(4) Area to the South will have 8 Stirlings of 3 Grp.
(5) 2 boats at posn. 5334 – 0100 + R.M.L. – 520 – C/S – M.H.B. – 11 & R.M.L. – 523 – C/S M.H.B. – 14.
(6) There will also be Anson’s near our area.
= all this gen passed to 61 Base.
0555. / IDENT. BD. / Ident board changed at 0140.
0600. / MET. G. / Consulted re. possible weather in Search area. Quoted vis fairly good, & cloud base between 2-3000:
0630. / 62 Base. / All Wombletons A/C returned to Wombleton (0130) by Sgt. Watch Keeper.
0815. / A/S/S. / 61 Base advise can only put up 1679. (3) 1664 (3) 16 Grp. advised.
09.00 / Off Duty / F/L Justason & F/O Warwick
On duty / F.D. Cleland F/L.
10.00 / Gardening Effort / Routeing in and out via Middlesboro Authorised by MLO 12 Gp. Also OK’d by BLO 12.
10.30 / Crashes last night / (1664Y – 431L – 420R)- All interested partied informed – SASO, Controller, Air I, Equip, Eng, GTI I, Group Acc, Investigator
12.30 / No LFB / ordered for tonight.
14.30 / Billingham Balloons. / Close-hauled {23.00 – 00.01 hrs
{06.00 – 07.30 hrs.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Monday Jan. 31st 1944 [/underlined]
14.30 / Diversion Base / for Middleton tonight is Dyce. 13 Group informed Will pass call-signs later. Prov. petrol only.
16.00 / Diversion Base / Cancelled
16.00 / Balloons / Cancelled
16.30 / Diversion Base / (Dyce) cancelled.
16.30 / 434 S (Crashed on Jan. 29th/44.) / At Filey now being guarded by Filey & Northern Command. In answer to query from 4 Gp the following was ascertained from Croft:-
Aircraft is Cat E – partially burnt. The M.U are taking over and hope to have it cleaned in 3 days.
Incidentally, time of crash was 08.25 according to RAF Lissett. An unidentified Darky Call was heard at 08.08 by Driffield. This probably was S/434 who were calling about that time.
16.30 / 420R (Crashed on Jan 30/44) / Seems to be due to finger trouble. Group Accident Investigation states that, although pilot reported only 5 mins. more petrol, there were at least 300 gallons found in the crash. The pilot belly landed because he thought undercart would not come down whereas it could have been manipulated Also was calling Darky on LAC and had to be told by Tholthorpe to use Button “D”.
18.00 / Overdue A/C 1664 H DK 185 / Supposed to proceed on X- Country on return from Sea Search – Did not report to station at all. Crash has been reported to ROCLO 12 – Supposed to be Halifax Aircraft bear Ilkley. 9 Group have been looking after this but 4 Grp (Marston Moor) have been asked to guard it. No details at all yet but 9 Gp or 4 Gp will contact us as soon as they learn about it.
1830 / Off Duty F/L Cleland. On duty H B Spencer P/O.
2030 / Crash 1664/H (DK 185) / At approx 1950hrs Ilkley Police indicated this aircraft in entry 1800 hrs belonged to Driffield. On checking learned from 4 Group they were not missing any. Subsequently it was learned the aircraft was 1664/H. Crash occurred at VE-5769 a few miles north west of Ilkley. Local police &
[Page Break]
20-30 / Crash 1664/H (Cont’d) / N.F.S. on job, with Marston – moor [deleted] guarding a/c [/deleted] [inserted] taking crash action, Army are guarding ok (9 Gr. arranged) [/inserted] Crash occurred at approx. 1730 hrs & a/c burned. Of the crew 6 were killed and one injured. Latter taken to High Royals Hospital, Menston-in-Wharfedale, and is Sgt Byrne (?) ([symbol] 1553021) Flight Engineer. Flying Control 4 & 11 Groups in picture, also 61 Base
Crew list –
2130. / Crash 1664/H (DK -185) / Pilot – F/S McLeod D.G. R156986. killed.
Nav – Sgt. Riggs. L. R148524 killed.
B/A Sgt Rahn, R.H. R155420 killed. Identified
WOP – Mo King. W.G. R93560 killed.
MUG – Sgt. Martin, G. R163414 killed. Identified
R.G. – Sgt Mullen, A.L. R192035 killed. Identified
F/E – Sgt. Bryan, F 1,553,021 [inserted] (Identified) [/inserted] Injured – taken to hospital as noted above. Passed to 4 Group for checking purposes.
2130 / Pundit [symbol] 274. (Area L-13.) / 61 Base report Topcliffe requesting Loan of Reserve Landmark Beacon from Linton-on-Ouse. [inserted] (AF3 31 Jan.) [/inserted]
2215 / Air-Sea Recue Search / 16 Group request 8 A/C for Search tomorrow morning, area as follows:-
5320N 0120E
5350N 0120E
5350N 0210E
5320N 0210E
61 Base asked for offers.
2230. Possible Diversion from 1 Gr. / Weather closing in on 1 Group, and we may be asked to co-operate. Met feel our northern stations should be OK until midnight at least & possibly later. Croft warned of this possibility. M.S.G. MkII Lighting still U/S. Met should be viz at least 3 miles, cloud 5/10 2000 ft.
2300 / A/S/R Search / Offers – 1664 – 3 a/c
1659 – 5 a/c
16 group informed.
[Page Break]
2300 / A/S/R Search / Call signs – W.C.F.
Numbers – 46-53 (Incl)
Work. Section “J” 385kes & 500 kes
(385 at the hour & half hour for 5 minutes).
Parallel track search, north to south, creeping east to west, at 1/4 mile viz.
1659 a/c Area – 5 A/C
5320N 0120E
5350N 0120E
5320N 0150E
5350N 0150E
16643 A/C area – 3 A/C
5320N 0150E
5350N 0150E
5320N 0210E
5350N 0210E
Passed to 61 Base. T.O. – APPROX – 1030-1100 HRS
2325 / 1 Group Diversion / They’re coping ok. Croft stood down.
[underlined] Tuesday – Feb. 1, 1944 [/underlined]
0001 / Ident / Board Changed.
0040 / A/S/R Search / Ex 16 Group – Surface Craft c/s M.H.B – 12. 61 Base informed 0750 hrs.
0830 / A/S/R Search / Met say weather should be fair at first, cloudy, with rain spreading to bases at mid-day, and out to the sea area during afternoon viz will remain reasonable, not less than 2,000 yds even in rain at first but will come down as wind backs to south, by mid afternoon, 1000-3000 yds in base area with 1-2 miles viz with rain in the [indecipherable word] mid afternoon. On return to bases approx. 1600 hrs, continuous & heavy rain.
0900 / Off Duty H.L Spencer P/O.
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[underlined] TUE.FEB.1.1944. [/underlined]
0900 / On duty F/O Warwick W.A.
0910 / A/S/R re met.6. / Met figure O.K. for search but on return, in weather bad north of Grp. Should be O.K. 61 Based notf’d.
1000 / CRASH 1664/H / Following notified
Controller.
SAS.A.
Air.I. (B.C. until tomorrow)
P-4.
W/C. Saunders
G.T.J.
Equip.
Eng.
1005 / EASTMOOR / Wish permission to take a Lanc. down to Middle Wallop to pick up A/C. leave approx. 1030.
1010 / EASTMOOR / 6 Grp. met. contacted re. Lanc. to Middle Wallop. weather very duff for the whole day. F/C Eastmoor told to scrub.
1015 / MOVEMENTS E-27 / Air Firing R.H.B. & Whitby. B. of Stunsall, Local F/A. & hb. test for Hali’s & Lanc’s from 1030 – 1800 hrs.
1030 / 1664/H (CRASH). / One survivor of crew of H. died at 0820 this morning. 61 Base advised.
1050. / F.C. 12 GRP. / Report that R.O.C. post R,I. n of Wombleton reported sighting a Lanc. overhead A/C went out of sight & then heard a crash & noticed a vivid flash. Approx position -2511. 8 miles N.E of Wombleton near village of Crompton
1055 / BASE 61. / To check with Wombleton.
[Page Break]
[underlined] FEB.1. (TUE). 1944. [/underlined]
BASE. 61 (cont’d) / if they had any Lancs. flying they had two but both in circuit & on R/T & W/T.
1100. / BASE-62. / Contacted & have all Lanc. A/C accounted for.
1110 / R.C.L.O. / Phoned re. track of A/C. & R.I. post saw A/C overhead & proceeded N.E. & then [deleted] saw [/deleted] heard crash. Requested back track of A/C from York. I will phone later.
1115. / M.L.O. 12. / Re. any Lanc. which was flying in our area. They checked & no A/C detailed.
1130. / Base 61. / Re. presumed crash, they have detailed one A/C to search area & also two cars in the area.
1145. / 5 Group / Asking them if they have any Lanc flying into or thru our area, they checked & all O.K.
1225 / 61 Base. / Wombleton search A/C report a Brush or Heath fire approx. 4 miles East of Crompton.
1230. / POLICE PICKERING / Contacted Police at Pickering near Compton & they have search cars out but no news as yet, will notify us as soon as they have any gen.
1350. / 61 Base. / Re. any development of Search by car, & no news as yet.
1445 / 61 Base. / Car returned to Wombleton with no news or sign of any A/C.
1600 / R.O.C.L.O. F.C.L.O. / Notified re. finding, no sign of A/C & all A/C accounted for in our Grp. & 5.
[Page Break]
[underlined] TUESDAY FEB. 1. 1944 [/underlined]
1620 / C.F.C / Put in the picture re. our XC’s scheduled for tonite [sic]. Number & area.
1830 / off Watch F/O Warwick.
On Watch F D Cleland F/L.
19.30 / E/429 [inserted] (LL196) [/inserted] / Due on X-Country. Swung on take-off. Cat AC.
20.54 / Well L/82 OTU HE424. / Landed at Croft. One engine giving trouble. On X-Country from Gamston. 93 Group informed.
21.03. / Fix on 427 Q / 5330N – 0330W II at 21.03 hrs ack. (Sealand) Passed to Leeming.
23.00 / Crash Q427. LV828. / Ex Leeming. Two members of this crew telephone Leeming to say they had parachuted near Abington. Checking with 12 Gp:- a crash has been reported at 22.20 hrs and is being attended by Grafton Underwood (1st US Bomb Div.) This is very close to the position of parachutists.
2320 / Crash Q427 LV828. / 12 Gp. say serial number checks – LV828.
23.45 / Crash Q427 LV828. / Crew List :-
Cap. F/O Matherly JM. J22428.
[inserted] [symbol] [/inserted] Nav. F/S Henning C. Littleford [inserted] Littleford Hospital [/inserted]
[inserted] [symbol] [/inserted] B/A F/O Albers MM – At [deleted] Kettering] [/deleted] [inserted] Grafton Underwood] [/inserted] [inserted] Littleford Hospital [/inserted]
[inserted] [symbol] [/inserted] W/Ag W/O Stephenson GT – At Thrapston 25. [inserted] Littleford Hospital [/inserted]
[inserted] [symbol] [/inserted] M/U Sgt. Hall WC At Gt. Underwood [inserted] [symbol] [inserted]
[inserted] [symbol] [/inserted] R/G Sgt Frayling DW At Gt. Underwood [inserted] [symbol] [/inserted]
[inserted] [symbol] [/inserted] F/E Sgt Coleman GW At Thrapston 25 [inserted] Littleford Hospital [/inserted]
23.50 / Crash Q427 LV828. / Report from Flight. Eng. Both port engines fell out. Pilot unable to control aircraft.
[underlined] Wednesday. Feb 2nd 1944 [/underlined]
01.30 / Crash Q427 LV828. / Still no news of Pilot & Navigator. All other crew members accounted for as noted above.
02.00 / Crash Q427 LV828. / Leeming say that one body (unident.) has been found in the crash.
03.15 / Division Stirling “F” / From Wigsley. On X-Country. At present above 30 mi E of Flamborough. 5 Gp. ask to divert him to Leeming OK as far as Met goes
[Page Break]
[underlined] Wednesday. Feb 2/44. [/underlined]
03.45 / Division Stirling “F” / The plot of this aircraft has moved from E of Flamborough in over Hull and S.W. as if en route to Wigsley despite fact that “F.” Acknowledged the diversion to Leeming at 03.18 hrs.
03.50 / Division Stirling “F” / Now over Wigsley – Diversion off.
04.00 / Report from 62 Base re “Granite” / Observer Corps report that aircraft which landed at Tholthorpe at 0205 hrs. had been flying quite low over Leeds, Bradford area. The hills were obscured by low cloud ahead of his course as they lit a red flare which they think he saw. A/C gained height and altered course.
[underlined] DFCO note – [/underlined] Tholthorpe have been asked to check if any of their aircraft saw the flare & realized the significance – Will [underlined] DFCO [/underlined] tomorrow pass any gen. about this to FCLO & ROCLO 12??
08.30 / 427/Q / All crew OKay except Pilot who was killed in crash.
09.00 / Off Duty F.D. Cleland F/L.
0930 / Crashes E429 Q429 / All concerned informed – S/Ld Gouderton to inform W/C Saunders
1055 / 429/a/c M / Air I authorised flight of Halifax to Watling Common.
1100 / 431/X Test. / Croft planning test (ht.) of several aircraft. Intend carrying 8 – 1000lb Bomb containers filled with sand and do not wish to land with load. 12 Gp. M-L.O. suggest dropping load at 5320N 0200E. Croft to inform us if satisfactory.
1130 / 429/B. / W/C Turnball authorized to fly to Grafton Underwood re crash of 427/Q.
1150 / Balloons. / Billingham & Middleborough will be close hauled 0130 – 0240 hrs & 0700 – 0900 hrs.
1349 / Mayday Call / 61 Base ex Topcliffe – Mayday call picked up & answered by Ground Station whose o/c approved to be “Hamlet”. Passed to F.C.L.O. 12 Group.
[Page Break]
[Underlined] Wednesday – Feb. 2/44 [/underlined]
1400 / Report from 62 Base re ‘Granite’ / Reference entry 0400:- None of 425 Squadron appear to have seen the flare. 425/F Capt. stated he change course in that vicinity but on instruction of his navigator, not through having seen the ref flare. 12 Group informed.
1745 / Night Flying / Summary passed to C.F.C.
1830 / Off Watch H G Spence P/O
On watch F/O Warwick, W.A.
2135 / F.C.L.O 12 Grp. / F.C.L.O reports by R.O.C. plot of crash of E-9185, just E of Boroughbridge
2140. / CR.A.SH 61 Base / re. F/C Dishforth heard a 4 eng. A/C. pass overhead with engines spluttering & pre-determined a crash & had crash tender ready as A/C losing ht. rapidly Crash heard & fire seen to break out. Crash-tender dispatched, also 72 F.S at Boroughbridge.
2200 / R.O.C.L.O / Contacted to get impact position of crash, hoping not two A/C involved.
2205 / Local Police Bor’gh’b’ge / Report A/C crashed at Village Green, Aldborough 1 mile S.E. of Boroughbridge on Boroughbridge & York Rd. 100 yds, from road burning badly map ref 887858. Army guarding temp.
2210. / Re. Crash. / Dishforth dispatched Ambulance & Fire Tender N.F.S. Boroughbridge on the job. Linton Crash tender sent.
[Page Break]
[underlined] WED [deleted] NESS [/deleted]. FEB.2. 1944. [/underlined]
2225 / F.C.L.O. / Phoned re. a Lanc. on 3 eng. from 5 Grp that had been on a Bullseye & heading in our direction. All stations in 6 notified call sign Pompey or Candid F.
2245 / [underlined] Re. CRASH 432/F (LL-686) [/underlined] / Boroughbridge Police phoned re. crash, it was a Lanc. Reg No. LL=686 from Eastmoor, 5 bodies found near A/C with chutes none spilled no names of crews.
2300 / [underlined] Re. CRASH 432/F (LL-686) [/underlined] / Dishforth providing guards on crashed 432/F & bodies of A/C at Dishforth.
2305 / Re. entry 2225. / All 6 Grp Stations lit up for Pompey F, as we are plotting him & is flying around in ever increasing circles.
2320. / 5 GR.P. / Phoned re. Pompey F & O & are very happy re. the position of these A/C. Our Stations notified & standing down.
2335 / 408/W re. A/C Slemon / M.L.O. 12 notified re. A/C Slemon airborne at 2335 for Gransdon Lodge.
2345 / F.C.L.O. / F.C.L.O. notified re 2 a/c J.K. of 1679 overdue 1 hr. no news of any A/C. wizard nite, no cloud & bags of vis.
2350 / F.C 92 Grp. / W/T message for 12 O.T.U. A/C JQN/N – 1. Grp. 3. Imp 99 – PURF RFN00G – TOR 2235. Passed to 92.
[Page Break]
[underlined] WED FEB. 3/1944 [/underlined]
2355 / CRASH 432/F / Local Police Boroughbridge report 7 bodies recovered rem. 2 found in a field 1 mile away with chutes open. No names of crew bodies being sent to Dishforth.
[underlined] THUR. FEB.4. 1944 [/underlined]
0025 / CRASH 432/F. LL686. / Crew list of A/C – F.
[underlined] Pilot [/underlined] = F/S Seibin JG – R – 139783.
[underlined] Nav. [/underlined] = F/O Kerr. D.S – J – 22198.
[underlined] B/A [/underlined] = F/S Wolf W.L – R – 148977.
[underlined] W.O.P. [/underlined] = Sgt. Pratt- Robinson R. R.A.F. 1480812.
[underlined] M/U [/underlined] Sgt. Finch. DD = R – 183578
[underlined] R/G [/underlined] F/S Power P.J. = R – 153715.
[underlined] F/E [/underlined] Sgt. Huggins = R.A.F. – 1684923.
All above Killed but no one in the A/C all clear as A/C burned out.
0300 / Met. / Picture for return quoted O.K.
0650 / Met. / Maybe a few isolated showers? But cloud base around 2500 & vis not less than 6 miles.
0740 / F.C.L.O. 12 / Re. Bomber 302 who went off board & said O.K & proceed south again.
0755 / F.C.L.O / B.302 now coming into York 9 area should be over Middleton.
0830 / THORNABY 428/A. / A/C A – 428 landed Thornaby no reason. Middleton notified they will take action re. his return.
0840 / 428/E / Still outstanding, plot approaching Middleton – hoping also “A” returning to base R/T U/S having landed at Thornaby.
[Page Break]
THUR. FEB. 3/1944.
0900 / Off watch F/O Warwick
On watch. FS. Cleland F/L.
10.00 / 0/434 / At Feltwell, now serviceable. Request permission to fly down to pick up this aircraft. Permission refused by Air I.
10.30 / New a/c for 428 Sdn. / At Graveley Air I says to send crew down by train.
12.00 / Jettisoning of Bombs / Permission given by MLO 12 for aircraft of 420 & 425 Sq to jettison 1000lb bombs 30 miles off coast of Flamborough Head tonight after Bullseye.
1200 / Jettisoning of Bombs / Permission also for 431 Sq – 2 aircraft to jettison 3 – 1000lb bombs (safe) at posn 57N 0100E and 5340N 0200E at 22.00 hrs tonight. Also ok for 431 & 434 aircraft to drop Recco flares, TI’s & flash bombs at above positions
13.15 / Balloons. / Billingham – close-hauled {00.45 – 02.15 hrs. [symbol] {0815 – 10.00 hrs . [symbol]
Cardiff, Newport. 02.30 – 03.30 hrs.
Southampton, Portsmouth. 06.30 – 08.00 hrs [symbol]
Langley} 0645 – 08.15 hrs {symbol]
Weybridge} 0645 – 08.15 hrs {symbol]
L.F.B. / Selsey Bill – bearing 360°T from 07.00 – 08.00 [symbol]
Diversion Base / Food for emergency diversion only.
15.45 / Movement E479 / Barracuda from Leeming to trail via Ouston & Holy Island. Normal height – Passed to MLS.
17.50 / G/433 / On Radar X-C [symbol]28. Took off 13.20 due back at 17.08 hrs. Skipton want any news.
18.00 / G/433 / [deleted] Now [/deleted] [inserted] No [/inserted] news from 12 Gp. but they will check.
18.24 / G/433 / Now in Skipton’s circuit
1830 / Off Duty F/L Cleland. On duty H L Spencer P/O
1930 / Night Flying / Summary passed to C.F.C
[Page Break]
1940 / Squadron R/2 & W/2 [underlined] Call signs [/underlined] D.F.C.O’s TO [underlined] NOTE [/underlined] / Signals Security Officer is arranging to provide Group Flying Control each week with W/2 & R/2 Station Aircraft call signs for ensuing period.
2315 / A.S.R. Search / 16 Group request 6 a/c for search tomorrow morning. Asked for offers from 61 Base.
[underlined] FRIDAY – FEB, 4. 1944 [/underlined]
0001 / Ident Board changed.
0109 / 1659/V / Landed at Eastmoor – servicing being done on brake pressure before returning to Topcliffe.
0225 / 1659/V / Landed at Base.
0900 / Off duty H.L Spence P/O
On duty W.A Warwick F/O.
0920 / Movement E-25 / = Air Firing R.H. Bay. Whitby B at Strensall, Skipsea, L.F./A. & ht tests for Halis & Lancs. from. 0930 – 1800 hrs.
0925 / A.S.R. Search / 1659 A/C = S = 63, J-64, M = 65. no numbers allotted as yet & A/C from Skipton. = 424 Sqn = U = 60. D = 61 = K-62
0930 / A/S/R. / All A/C & letters & no allotted passed to 16 Grp
0935 / Bullseye. / Command Bullseye tonite. No route. Sqd. offers as
1666 – 3 A/C
426 – 2 A/C 2 A.A.O.
425 – 10 A/C
432 – 4 A/C 2A.A.O.
408 – 3 A/C
424 – 8 A/C
433 – 5 A/C
420 – 11 A/C 11 A.A.O.
0940 / Bullseye / Only non-operational crews on Bullseye.
[Page Break]
[underlined] FRIDAY FEB. 4. 1944 [/underlined]
1015. / A/S/R. / Top report 5. U/S [symbol] 63. & trying to get sub. from 1664. 424 Sqd. also scrubbed U[symbol] 60 U/S. Wondering re. replacements.
1030 / 61 Base A/S/S. / Re – 1664 can put up 3 A/C for A/S/S. subs. no's – 60 & 63 alloted [sic] & another number required from 16 Grp. for 7th A/C.
1035. / 16 GRP. A/S/S. / New Number alloted [sic] 75 for 7th A/C. 61 Base informed possibly airborne around 1200 hrs.
1130. / A.A.O. Mid. St. Geo. / 420 require 11 A.A.O. making a total = 15 A.A.O. 43 AA Brigade notified.
1250 / A/S/S. / All A/C off accept [symbol] 60 of 1664 Con Unit.
1255. / DARKY / 61 Base report 2 Forts. R/T whisper asking for asm from Burton Wood, this given by 61. Weather & Vis wizard?
1256. / Mid. St. Geo / = Re. A.A.O. all they could get was 5 obs. – 2 allotted 426, 2-432 & 1 to 420 Sqn.
1350. / [underlined] 1679-1666 [/underlined] / These two Con. Units have amalgamated & become C.U. [underlined] 1666 [/underlined] from. Jan. 27. 1944.
1420 / W/TRm. A/S/S / = A.S.S No 630(?) = W.C.F. NLI. GR.I E.V. (1425) – (returning to base.) 61 Base notified
1530 / Met. / Picture for returns of B/E A/C seems to be very Good. few slight drizzles, but vis Good.
1535 / Ops. B. C. / No. & ETA. & ET.R. of B/E passed.
[Page Break]
[underlined] FRIDAY FEB. 4. 1944 [/underlined]
1540. / 3 Grp. F/C / Phoned re 434 ‘O’ airborne for base from Feltwell at 1530 Base notified.
1610. / B.C. / Bullseye definitely scrubbed.
1630 / 62 Base / whether 420, & 425 could do Bullseye Route as X.C. told them sanction from D.C. as Air I, not around, so ok’d by S/L Rawson. Also carrying Bomber ops. Code & ok’d but use to minimum.
[underlined] 1650 [/underlined] / [underlined] EXPLOSION [/underlined] NR. CATTERICK / After series[deleted]es [/deleted] of phone calls originating from Mid. St. Geo. Leeming. Croft. Catterick phoned re a petrol dump & [deleted] petrol [/deleted] [inserted] bomb [/inserted] dump exploded, no further news. R.O.C.L.O. & F.C.L.O. notified.
1630. / 62 Base. / Possible XC. re. B/E route scrubbed & they are going on a short trip.
1645. / A/S/S. / 2 A/C still outstanding from S/S. 16 Grp & F.C.L.O. query & found no news of such.
1730. / A/S/S / A/C contacted & O.K.
1800 / 16 Grp. / Phoned re. return of all our A/S/S A/C.
1835 / Off duty F/O Warwick W.A
On duty FD Cleland F/L
[underlined] Saturday. Feb. 5/44 [/underlined]
0001 / Ident Board changed.
01.30 / Flying. / In Group finished.
08.10 / Morning Offer / Passed to Southdown.
09.00 / Off Duty. FD Cleland F/L
On duty. H.L. Spence P/O
[Page Break]
[underlined] Saturday – Feb. 5/44 [/underlined]
1140 / Balloons. / Middlesboro & Billingham balloons will be close-hauled from 1615 – 1730 hrs & 2245 – 0030 hrs.
1220 / Balloons. / New times – 1630 – 1800 & 2315 – 0100 hrs.
1330 / 431/D. / Authorised by M.L.O. 12 Group to drop bombs at 5320N 0200E between 1530 & 1600 hrs. today. Croft informed.
1830. / Off watch H.L Spence P/O
On Watch W.A Warwick F/O.
2240 / 428/D. / Sent message, one engine U/S & position, next message. 2 engines unfit giving A/S, ht. & Co. F.C.L.O. notified but A/C not as yet sending S.O.S.
2300 / F.C.L.O. 12 Group. / Notified re. A/C approaching coast so everything re assistance of A/C put on. plots at sea appear to be O.K. R.O.C.L.O. notified to contact us when A/C made landfall & ht. midd. notified.
2350 / 428/D / Mid. St. Geo. Re. A/C up on R/T. F.C.L.O. notified & A/C landed at 2356.
[underlined] SUNDAY FEB. 6/1944 [/underlined]
0002 / W/408. / Last X/C A/C down, had been receiving A.D.M’s from Stn. HF/DF. but was 2 hrs. overdue.
0045. / Flying / In Grp packed up also nothing very much in Command.
0050 / Ident. Board changed.
0230. / All quiet.
0900 / Off duty F/O W.A Warwick.
09.00 / On duty F D Cleland F/L
[Page Break]
[underlined] Sunday. Feb 6th 1944 [/underlined]
18.00 / No day-flying in Group today.
18.15 / Night-flying / No X-C’s from any stations. Wombleton are undecided about some C & B’s.
1830 / Off duty F/L Cleland. On duty H.L. Spence P/O
2100 – 2110 / 16 Group Diversion / Offered M.S.G. or Croft to 12 Group for possible diversion from 16 Group. 2 Beaus due at Thornaby 2140, are crossing coast now. 1 Wellington due Thornaby 2225hrs. If unable to land at Thornaby will divert to M.S.G. Met picture – QBB. 2000’ patches below – QBA 3,000 yds & chance of slight drizzle. Middleton informed.
2235. / Whitley D/4689 Kinloss / Landed at Leeming – Eng & R/T u/s staying overnight 91 Group F.C. informed.
2340 / 16 Group Diversion / The 3 a/c involved have all landed M.S.G. Stood down.
[underlined] Monday, Feb. 7/44 [/underlined]
0001. / Ident Board Changed
0830 / Off duty H.L Spence P/O
On duty .W.A Warwick F/O.
0910. / B.C. / Make & mend today.
0920. / Permission. / Leeming wish permission for Central Maintenance Engineer to fly to Chedborough to inspect u/s 427 A/C Permission granted by Air 1.
0945 / Movement E-445 / Air Firing. R.H. Bay & Whitby B. at Strinsall, Local F/A & HTU tests for Hali’s & Lanc’s from 1030 until 1815.
1308 / F.C.L.O / Reports Halifax blowing up in mid-air near Leeming
[Page Break]
[underlined] MONDAY. FEB. 7/1944 [/underlined]
1310. / CRASH E427 (LK-758) HAL III / E/427 A/C making approach normal like & then suddenly dropped a wing & spiralled into the deck immediately burst into flames. NFS. North Allerton phoned, also Skipton reserve fire-tender despatched.
1340. / CRASH. E/427 / A/C burned our & no survivors all burned. A/C completely burned out. Pilot F/S Nichols no names of remainder of crew yet available.
1350. / F/C 11 GRP. / Re. a Beau that left Eastmoor on 3rd. Feb. Pilot Sgt. Andrew for Fairoaks. Eastmoor contacted & the only Beau in question was A/C V-8561, “NG” N Sgt. ? Chezk from Montrose & his base was Valley in Anglesy N. Wales left at 15:12 for Valley. All this gen passed to 11 Grp.
1350. / Re. CRASH / Notified S.A.S.O. [inserted] (away) [/inserted] P-4. [symbol] Air I [symbol] W/C Saunders [symbol] Equip [symbol] Eng [symbol]
1450. / CRASH. E/427. / Crew list.
Pilot = F/S Nichols A.W. – R-139309.
Nav =? [inserted] No nav in A/C [/inserted]
B/A = F/S Polairy. V.R. – R-159089.
W/Op = Sgt. Robertson DD = 1438554 (RAF)
M/U = F/S Vidal J.W.H R-96518.
F/E = Sgt. Short, S.H. = 1001749 (RAF)
R/G = Sgt. Howard D.W = R-186134 (P)
1700 / 434/Q. / Croft phoned to say A/C had left Topcliffe for Croft at 1458 & no news of such. Search thru out 6 Grp Stns. on before notifying F.C.L.O.
1712 / F.C.L.O. Re [inserted] 434 [/inserted] Q / No reports of crashed A/C from F.C.L.O. or landing away.
[Page break]
[underlined[ MONDAY FEB. 7/44 [/underlined]
1730 / Q/434. / Having landed and was authorized by Flt. Com. to go on a detail. Unnecessary action involving scores of people & tying up of telephones.
1735 / C.F.C. / Pictures of our Nite [sic] Flying passed & also a picture from our met. that is very good.
1800 / off Watch F/O Warwick.
1800 / On watch. F D Cleland F/L.
21.20 / O/420 / Landed at Riccal after calling Darky. They will refuel him and send him back to Tholthorpe.
2230 / O/420 / Both compasses U/S Staying overnight.
0007 / Indent Board changed.
[underlined] Tuesday Feb 8th 1944 [/underlined]
00.16 / X-Countries down. C & B’s Dish & Wombleton continuing.
03.30 / All flying in Group finished. Ninety-seven aircraft detailed for X- countries last night. All down safely.
0900 / on duty S Rouyman F/L.
0955 / Oxford to Grafton Underwood / Air I O.K. to take S/L Stinson down to so an Accident Investigation.
1035 / Live Bomb at 5358N 0010W / M/n O.K. for 433 Sqdn
1055 / Barrage Balloon / Ex Wombleton.
Barrage Balloon on Ground at 5405N 0046W. All necessary action outlined in AP1975.
1440 / Low Flying Incident / S/L Everett from Boston Spa. Reported a Lanc. using letters NA-S “shot up” Tower Breweries, Tadcaster at a height of 350 feet.
We have no Lancs. with those markings but those are the squadron letters of 428 Sqdn. Who had an a/c “S” in the air at the time.
Pilot of 428-S was
W/O FORSBERG.
Passed to Air I & Station Commander.
[Page Break]
H25/T LW424 / At Tholthorpe, making 3 engine landing. on a runway with approx. 10-12 m.p.h. crosswind. u/c collapsed and both outer engines torn out. Crew O.K.
1830 / off duty S Rouyman F/L.
On duty W.A Warwick F/O.
1840. / 62 Base. / 432 Sqd. non-effective w.e.f. – 1800hrs 8-2-44 until 22-2-44, Converting to Hali. III’s
[underlined] WED. FEB. 9/1944 [/underlined]
0055. / FLYING. / All Bullseye. & X/C A/C down OK.
0100. / BullsEYE [sic] / [deleted] Officers [/deleted] re. offers for todays B/E subject to change offers listed in Ops Log Book.
0105. / C/&B’s / Wombleton C&B’s until 0330 hrs.
0120 / Mid. St. G. / Report Anson flying in vicinity with Inter. Com. on Tr. I. & disclosing Pundit Positions & letters flashing. Also his position & direction. If by chance he works. Mid HF/DF to phone Grp & action will be taken. D.S.O. notified & taking action on such.
0155. / 425/T. (LW-424) CRASH / Cat. of Crash. Cat. “B” nobody injured.
0155 / Indent Board changed.
0207 / ANSON-57 (MILLOM) / Landed Mid. St Geo. having trans. trouble, is staying overnite, Millom not’f’d by mid.
0350. / ANSON K2 MG/239/K2 / Anson from West Freugh landed at Topcliffe at - 0343 with W/T U/S. Capt. Sgt. Pickles staying overnite base notified.
0400. / F.C.L.O. / Notified re-entry 0207 & 0350 hrs.
[Page Break]
[underlined] WED. FEB. 9/1944 [/underlined]
0830. / off watch F/O Warwick.
0920. / Movement E-10 / Air Firing R.H. Bay & Whitley. B. at Strensall. Local F/A. & Ht. tests for Halis & Lancs’ 0900 – 1830.
09.45 / On watch. F A Cleland F/L.
10.30 / 9 Group. / Flying Control 9 ask us to recall all Cask aircraft immediately via M.S.G. & Topcliffe DF Collective c/s is ”KYZ”. The message we are asked to send is “BBA” (return to base).
Passed this information to M.S.G & Topcliffe and DSO at Group.
11.30 / 9 Group. / MSG & Topcliffe still giving our recall to the above aircraft. 9 Group unable to give us any more details re how many aircraft are outstanding. Two WT messages received by Middleton from “B” – at 10.57 – 33 BA-MA-LN-GM At 11.00: 33-XR Neither of these messages makes sense – passed to 9 Group.
11.30 / Low flying incident [inserted][deleted] This statement should have been [indecipherable words][/deleted][/inserted] / See 14.40 hrs entry Tuesday Feb 8 – W/C French called to say that the offense will call for a Court Martial and can we get a sworn statement from the witness S/L Everett at Boston Spa. Contacted S/L Everett who will forward statement to W/C French direct.
13.30 / Cask A/C / Now have landed OK. MSG & Topcliffe DF stood down.
13.45 / Accident – Feb 9/44. / Halifax DG 247 – T/1664. – on Feb 9/44 at 11.45 hrs Ground looped on landing and undercarriage collapsed. Cat. E. No one injured.
Eng. Informed.
Controller informed.
Equip informed.
GTI informed.
Air I Away. .
W/C Saunders Away.
15.20 / Well/H Upper Heyford / Landed at Linton after advising his base. Reason weather – 92 Group say for him not to take off until they give the word. Probably tomorrow.
17.45 / X-Countries tonight. / Met. are not happy about the weather tonight. Will have a better picture after the six ‘oclock chart.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Wednesday. Feb 9th 1944 [/underlined]
18.30 / Weather. / Met. now happy about X-Country tonight.
18.45 / Off- duty. F D Cleland F/L on S Rouyman F/L.
2055 / Weather / Met. say Front passing Thru. 408 a/c on x-c will encounter some Cu nimb. with icing. Controller says send message – “Maintain height & descend over base”. Base [symbol] 62 and D.S.O. told to Take action.
2215 / 408/O / m/n a/c over base – couldn’t land and so landed at Gormston sot. of Ossington. Told to return early in the morning.
2200 / [underlined] Wombleton [/underlined] 1666/XU / 1666/F late t.o. on X-Country because a C&L a/c burst a tire on landing & had to be cleared before m/n a/c could t.o.
[Underlined] Thursday. Feb. 10. 1944 [/underlined]
0102 / Ident Board changed.
0710 / Miss Beau. / From 12 Gp. missing Beaufighter somewhere in your Group. Last seen Z81. Stations have heard or seen nothing.
0900. / off duty S Rouyman F/L.
On duty W.A Warwick F/O.
0950. / Gardening tonite 6 A/C. 419.
1000 / F.C.L.O. / Re 3 Mustangs that left Catterick for Clifton near York, any news of such.
1050 / F.C.L.O. / Re. Mustangs put down at Linton F.C.L.O. notified.
1150 / Bal. B.L.O.s / Billingham bal. close hauled
1730 – 1900
2345 – 0145
[Page Break]
[underlined] THURSDAY. FEB. 10/1944 [/underlined]
1205. / BALLOONS. / Cardiff – as:
1900 – 2000 } CANCELLED
2230 – 2345. } CANCELLED
1220. / L.F.B. [symbol] 18. / Arranged for 1 hr. 2200 – 2300 on a bearing of 007° (T)
1300. / BALLOONS / Route changed. Cardiff scrubbed & Yeovil close-hauled at a controlled height of 1000 ft. = 2200
2315.
1310. / L.F.B. / No. 18 bearing changed from 007° to – 050° from, 2200 hrs. 2300 hrs.
Stn. notified on scrambler & con. Signal being sent.
1315. / C.F.C. / Re. Possible Weather Diversion Base. suggested Colerne & gave O.K. 10 Grp F/C phoned & details passed.
1350. / 10 Grp. / Cannot let us use Colerne as they are rather crowded & suggest we obtain some other drome.
1400 / Met. 6. / Suggest anything W. of 1°W & Southerly, suggested Exeter. C.F.C notified & will call us back later.
1500 / DIVERSION (EXETER) / 10 Grp. OK & C.F.C re Exeter information passed to Stn.
1650. / 10. Grp. / Re – EXETER. if wind remains in the north the runway in use will slightly out of wind & short runway 1000 yards. Info passed to Mis. St Geo.
1710. / 427/H. / 3 Grp. re. return of A/CH. now serviceable & if weather permitted his return. Advised weather not fit & to remain today.
[Page Break]
[underlined] THUR. FEB. 10/1944. [/underlined]
1830 / off duty F/O Warwick W.A.
1830 / On duty F S Cleland F/L
1900 / Weather. / Met. are happy about weather tonight. At times stations may be yellow but only for about 10 minutes at a time.
[underlined] Friday. Feb. 11th 1944 [/underlined]
0100 / Ident Bd changed.
0109 / Gardening Aircraft / All down safely.
01.42 / Night Flying / finished
09.00 / Off duty. F D Cleland F/L.
0900 / On Duty L A Justason F/L.
0905 / Blanket Clearance / With M.L.S. – REF E-218. Covering AIR/AIRFIRING – AIR/SEA FIRING – BOMBING FIGHTER AFFLIIATION = LOCAL HT TESTS.
0910. / 408/O / Requested of F.C 93 that this aircraft be instructed to return directly.
0945 / 427/H. / Serviceable. THQ O.K. for return passed to F.C. 3 Gp.
1015 / 431/X / Arranged with ML012 for this a/c flying at maximum ht to x-c out at Flamboro – proceed to position 53°30’N 02°20’E there to jettison 8 x 1000 dud bombs – cleared with MLS at 1025 – Craft given ok.
1125 / BALLOONS / Billingham arranged with BLO12 to be close hailed from 1715 hrs to 1845 hours and from 2300 to 0100 hrs.
Cardiff – Devonport. Barrage Balloons. 500ft 1850 hours to 2240 hrs.
[Page Break]
FRIDAY – 11.2.44
1140 / LFP No 18. / Arranged with FCLO 10 for this Beacon to operate on a bearing of 010° T from 2115 hrs to 2215 hrs. Passed to Stns at 1200 hrs.
1230 / ANSON DJ.148 / To FCLO 9. W/O Carter airborne from Middleton for Millom at 1204.
1825 / DVNS. / Request Ex C.F.C. for use at Middleton, Linton and Dishforth for possible diversion from 91 Group tonight. Granted. Times of our a/c returns passed to C.F.C with summary of our total night flying effort, Controller – met – Stns
1830 / – / off Duty L A Justason F/L
On Duty W.A. Warwick F/O.
1900. / DVNS C.F.C. / Re. Dishforth not very good for Diversion, offered him Leeming. Stns notified, also Controller.
2000 / 93 GRP. DVNS. / Re. permission from C.F.C if it would be possible to send 18 Wellingtons to Middleton, as bases very duff down South. 6 Grp Met. advised & said the South of 6 Grp. would be rather duff around 2359 but extreme north. Croft & Middleton could cope. 93 Grp. will notify us later.
2010. / BRAMCOTE DVNS / Phoned re. possible diversion of 6 Wimps. on X.C & if they became much worse re. weather, they would divert them to Linton from a point “York” on W/T approx. E.T.A. of turning point YORK. 2/30.
[Page Break]
FRIDAY – 11-2-44.
(cont’d) Linton advised & Standing by.
2100 / [underlined] 93 Grp DVNS [/underlined] = / F/C 93 Phoned with W/T R/T. C/S of various A/C, “Provisionally” approx. number now 14. All immediate information passed to Middleton & Croft, as mid. Parent Stn. & only carried in B Code, also if weather became much worse down South they would divert them from “Newcastle” turning point on B/E route, approx. E.T.A. 2300 hrs.
2200 / Bramcote (DVNS.) / Phoned figuring they could cope with A/C at own base if not on A/C’s return to base would contact 6 Grp. &we could lay on a base & they would divert said A/C by R/T on receipt of our instructions.
2220. / 93 Grp. (DVNS). / F/C phoned that diversion would be on for sure. Mid & Croft notified immediately.
2230. / B.L.O. 12. / Ref: entry (1125 Balloons) as Billingham close hauled from period 2300 – 0100 hrs. would they extend period from 2245 – 0100, as 93 Grp. diversion from Newcastle would possibly interfere with period laid down. Permission granted.
2245 / Re-call (1659). / W/C Ferris of 1659 Con. Unit not happy re. weather on return of B/E A/C & requests recall of 1659. S/L Forbes D.C.O granted permission.
2250. / 93 GRP. DVNS / F/C re. all 93 Grp A/C had. Ack. diversion signal, mid. & Croft notified.
[Page Break]
[underlined] FRIDAY 11-2-1944 [/underlined]
2300. / Bramcote DVNS / F/C re- possible diversion & they are very happy & can cope. Linton advised & standing down re. diversion.
2315. / Re-call General All Con. Units / General Re-call of all Con. Unit A/C re. weather. S/L Forbes sanction.
2320 / 93 Grp DVNS / Croft have first Wellington up on R/T.
2348. / Operation / Last. Gardening A/C down O.K. at Mid. St George & if they possibly could would try & land some of the Wellingtons.
[underlined] SATURDAY 12-2-44. [/underlined]
0005 / CRASH F.C.L.O. / R.O.C.L.O. reported crashed A/C to F.C.L.O. near Leeming.
0007. / CRASH. (LEEMING) / Leeming F/C report an A/C coming overhead at approx. 0001 hrs. & flashing on his downward reco. Aerodrome was lit up at the time so a green was flashed to the A/C. A/C mase a normal approach & at a ht. of about 200’ in the fog funnel turned abruptly to stbd, losing ht & was heard to crash at approx. 1 1/2 miles at the bearing of 110° (M) from Leeming. S/L Dunham D.F.C.O. Leeming was under the impression that A/C lost two engines but could not maintain ht. Ambulance & Fire Tender dispatched. Top. notified & figured might be one of their A/C F who had been on R/T [inserted] at 2347 [/inserted] & was one of 3 outstanding. they also sent ambulance & Crash tender.
[Page Break]
[underlined] SATURDAY 12-2-1944. [/underlined]
0130 / OUTSTAN’G A/C. / Only 2 A/C at yet outstanding in 6 Grp. 425/O & 1659/F, possibly one of the above two a Hali that crashed neat Mamby (Leeming) F.C.L.O. notfd.
0135 / [underlined] 93 GRP. [/underlined] / Position of 14 Wimps & landing times of such passed to Flying Control. 6 at Croft. 6 Middleton 1 at Thornaby 1 at Seaton.
0200. / [underlined] CRASH 425/O (LW-395) [/underlined] / 9 Grp. called re. A/C had crashed at a place Handbury near Droitwich, & told that A/C was 425/O which was 2 hrs overdue. Also eight bodies recovered & in Droitwich Mortuary. Pershore providing guard.
0210 / [underlined] CRASH 425/O (LW-395) [/underlined] / Crew List of 425/O.
PILOT = Sgt. G.P. Aubin R.118590
NAV = F/S H Milton – 1319639 (RAF)
W/op = Sgt. Dubray R-54360
M/U = Sgt. Fleury R-174119
R/G = Sgt. I. Mayülle – R-141896
[Symbol] [underlined] PASS [/underlined] = Sign’m’n. J.R. Dubary no = C-100506, No 1. Canadian Line of Communications. R.C.C.S. Canadian Army Overseas.
ALL BODIES in DROITWICH MORTUARY (NR MAUNBY)
0230. / [underlined] CRASH 1659/F [/underlined] (DK-129) / A/C definitely F. A/C burned out. 3 bodies found in crash by N.F.S. N. Allerton & 4 crew alive, one member Sgt Tasker thou severe shock etc. was picked up near Leeming Bar wandering [underlined] Crew List [/Underlined].
PILOT = Sgt. Fairhead R-149481
NAV – Sgt. Fox R-160403 [underlined] serious [/underlined]
[inserted] [symbol] [/inserted] A/B – Sgt Ingulden 2293 A. (R.C.A.F) [inserted] alive [/inserted]
W/op. Sgt Jennings 1540656 (RAF)
[inserted] [symbol] [/inserted] R/G – 1593011. Sgt Dennis [inserted] Bennett [/inserted[] (RAF) [inserted] (alive) [/inserted]
[inserted] [symbol] [/inserted]M/U. Sgt. Tasker 1590052 (RAF) [inserted] (alive) [/inserted]
[inserted] [symbol] [/inserted] F/E Sgt Gates [inserted] 650149 (RAF) – (alive) [/inserted]
(contd O.L.)
[Page Break]
[underlined] SATURDAY 12-2-44 [/Underlined]
(contd) CRASH. 1659/F. / Have not determined who killed as yet. Leeming supplying guard & possibly Skipton today as in Skiptons crash area.
0250. / [underlined] CRASH 425/O (LW-395) [/underlined] / Full Crew List:
NAV = F/S Milton – 1319639. } ALL KILLED
R/G = F/S T.F. Mayville R-141896 } ALL KILLED
PILOT = Sgt. Aubin G.P. – R-118590 } ALL KILLED
A/B = Sgt Albert J.H.Y = R-125906 } ALL KILLED
W/op = Sgt Dubray = R-54360 } ALL KILLED
F/E = Sgt. Shanahan = 1801992 } ALL KILLED
M/U = Sgt Fleury – R-174119. } ALL KILLED
See entry 0210. [Symbol] / [underlined] PASSENGER [/underlined] Sign’n’m J.R. Dubray C. ARMY. R.C.C.S. no. C-100506. } ALL KILLED
0300. / Re-0100. / Ident Board changed.
09.00 / Off Duty. [deleted] FD Cleland [/deleted] F/O Warwick.
On Duty. F.D. Cleland F/L
10.00 / Crashes last night. / All concerned informed: Air I, Controller, Equip, Engineering, P4-GTI – (W/C Saunders on sick leave.)
10.00 / 425/O – / Queried authorisation for passenger. This authority was given by S/L Blenkinsop: Air I informed.
11.30 / Reported flak damage by K/420 / Enemy activity on route last nights’ Bullseye. Message received here from Fighter Command at 1943 – tell aircraft to proceed direct to Birmingham & continue route from there. Due to various signals delays this did not reach aircraft until too late. K/420 was the only one to report damage by Flak.
11.35 / Landfall Bacon / Flamborough Head – Ordered on bearing 270° T from 21.45 – 22.45 tonight.
11.35 / Billingham Balloons / Close-hauled from 17.15 to `18.45 hrs.
22.00 to 23.45 hrs.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Saturday Feb 12th 1944 [/underlined]
12.30 / Diversions to us last night. All Wellingtons / Complete picture of aircraft diverted to us last night:-
[underlined] At Middleton [/underlined]
J } 30 OTU from Hixon
D } 30 OTU from Hixon
B } 30 OTU from Hixon
C 82 OTU From Ossington
Q 18 OTU from Bincotes
B 18 OTU from Worksop
Diversions to us last night. All Wellingtons / [underlined] At Croft [/underlined]
O 27 OTU from Church Broughton
M 82 OTU from Ossington
R 82 OTU from Ossington
P 82 OTU from Ossington
L 18 OTU from Worksop
F 30 OTU from Hixon
Diversions to us last night. All Wellingtons / Also Wellington V/21 OTU landed at Middleton due to engine trouble. Base: Morton in Marsh.
12.50 / Re above. / Contacted 93. Group about these aircraft returning. OK for these from Hixon & Church Broughton to return immediately. They will call us about the others.
13.00 / Re above. / Contact 91 Group re Well V/21 OTU retuning. Instructions received are: It is OK for him to return but he must do Air Test first and if satisfied proceed back to base.
Passed above information to Middleton & Croft.
14.30 / Re above. / OK for Ossington a/c to proceed to base if they can be there by 17.00 hrs. Also OK for Bincotes a/c to
15.20 / Well DF632. / Left Dishforth for Hullarington. Hullarington advised.
16.50 / Diverted a/c / All back to their bases except:
V/21 OTU at [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] M.S.G. – Engine trouble
L/18 OTU at Croft – Too late for take-off. OK.
17.41 / Martinette / With G/C Edwards left Croft for Binbrook 1 Gp advised.
18.00 / CFC re OTU Diversion / Wish to know if we can take any OTU diversions before midnight. We offered Topcliffe until midnight Vis: 3 miles. Cloud. 1500 ft or better.
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[Page Break]
[underlined] Saturday. Feb 12th 1944 [/underlined]
17.50 / Crashed Glider. / Reported to us by 12 Group. No one hurt but aircraft needs guarding. Position A. 288909 1 1/2 miles from Norton.
Wombleton are going to guard this aircraft.
18.00 / Landfall Beacon / See entry 11.35 hrs.
Times now changed to 21.30 – 22.30 hrs.
Balloons / See entry 11.35 hrs
Times now changed to {17.15 – 18.45 hrs
{21.30 – 23.30 hrs
Passed to M.S.G. by Controller
18.30 / Off Duty F D Cleland F/L
1830 / On Duty – L A Justason F/L
Summary N/F / Passed to C.F.C
2100 / MARTINES MS550 / Report Ex F.C. Base 61 that this aircraft struck a pylon while making an approach to land at Croft [deleted] to do [/deleted] through out the afternoon Pilot ok. Damaged a/c at Croft.
2230 / S.O.S Plot B/437 / ROC Plot B437 plot appeared in area north of Humber – proceeded towards Wombleton. Base 61 in the picture.
2240 / S.O.S Plot B/437 / Plot lost in Wombleton area. Presumed landed there. Base 61 advise that this is not so. Nor did Wombleton see anything of the aircraft
2245. / S.O.S Piot B/437 / Plot reappeared near Wombleton – where pyrotechnics were fired etc. Finally confirmed that the reappeared plot had been confused with the original S.O.S.
[Page Break]
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[Page Break]
[underlined] SAT. FEB. 12-1944. [/underlined]
2330 / B437 Plot / Removed from Board. – The original SOS plot was on the board at the time when 419 [indecipherable word] a/c were returning. R/419 is outstanding. Some doubt as to whether this plot might have been R/419. F.C.L.O. 12 no knowledge of any crash in the hills.
0001 / – SOS plot unsecured.
[[underlined] Sunday Feb’y 13 [/underlined]
0100 / Ident Bd corrected.
All quiet
0830. / off Watch F/L [deleted] J [deleted] [inserted] L [/inserted] A Justason.
On Watch F/O W.A Warwick.
0930 / Re.B.437. / Query re. S.O.S. Bomber, seems rather a peculiar set up. as 61 Base checked again & no news or sight of an A/C at time or place.
0940. / Ops. / Goodwood on Hali III’s & Lancs. Only.
0950. / R.O.C.L.O. / Re. S.O.S. B-437 Contacted York. 9 & 10 & following pin-points given.
[underlined] YORK-10 [/underlined] = A – 7753
A – 6755
A – 5959
A – 5169
A – 4175
A – 3377
A – 2585
[underlined] YORK-9 [/underlined] = A-1599. then A/C lost near Wombleton as they had C & B’s on at the time.
This information passed to 61 Base & Mid. St. George.
1000. / [underlined] SEARCH [/underlined] / Air. I. with Duty Controller laid on a search area for [underlined] B-437 [/underlined] of = 54-28N – 0110W.
54-28 – 0040W.
54-10N – 0110W.
54-10N – 0040W.
61 Base & Mid. Not’f’d & to offer [symbol] A/C.
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[Page Break]
[underlined] SUNDAY FEB. 13. 1944 [/underlined]
1030. / SEARCH. / Mid. St Geo. can possibly put up 5 A/C or 6 on the search.
1055. / C.F.C. D’V’N’S. / offer passed to C.F.C. re. definite petrol diversion for each Hali Sqd. no 37 & Weather for 32 Lancs. Would phone us after C.F.C. conference.
1130. / Search. / Mid. St. Geo. putting up 6 A/C on search, times & A/C later.
1145. / L.F.B. (SCRUBBED) / Flamboro Head 270 (T) from 2315 – 0015 laid on.
1200 / Search / Mid. 6 A/C = A.E.G.S. W.V – 1300 hrs. on until possibly 1600 hrs. Will close-haul Billingham Balloons.
1220 / B.L.O. 12. / Billingham Balloons close-hauled from 1300 hrs. until 1600 hrs.
1240. / C.F.C. D’V’N’S / C.F.C. have granted Stn. for Prov. weather Diversions:
– 100 Grp. Skellthorpe = 420 Sqn
Fulsham = 433 – 424
Little Snoring = 427
3 Grp [deleted] Mildenhall [/deleted] [inserted] NEWMARKET [/inserted] = 426
Tuddinham = 408
alloted [sic] to following Sqds
1310 / Search / All Mid. A/C off on Search but recalled due to bad weather in Search area.
1350. / Search / A/C all down from Search.
1420. / BL. O. 12. / Billingham balloon control no longer required.
1430. / DIVERSIONS / Now definite unless otherwise told on G.O. Wave broadcast 3 Grp. & 100 Grp. informed also stations. Further Gen passed.
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[Page Break]
[underlined] SUNDAY FEB.13.1944. [/underlined]
1445 / 3 GRP. & GRP. 100 / Phoned re. control they have on balloons, & by all reports the control will not bother our A/C as they are approx. same coast in etc.
1520. / Ret. Sig. HW-147 & 6G/S. 251/1/AIR / All Stns. reminded re. margin ref. on Scrambler.
1550. / Operations / Scrubbed Dv’n’s Stns. of 3 Grp. & 100 notified.
1600. / L.F.B. / Flamboro Head L.F.B. cancelled.
1700 / SEARCH. / Wombleton & Top. & Mid. on ground search & Army & Police ref. Kirby Moorside. reported to F/C LO – 12 Grp. no news as yet.
18.30 / Off duty. W A Warwick F/O
On Duty F.D. Cleland F/L
19.00 No flying in Group tonight.
01.00 / Ident Board changed.
[underlined] MONDAY FEB. 14.1944 [/underlined]
09.00 / Off Duty. F D Cleland F/L
09.00 / Search. / No news about search – no calls from Police or Army. Topcliffe report W/C Ferris searched in a car with no avail.
0900 / On Duty – A Justason F/L
0910. / Search / – Parties at Wombleton stood down on order from the controller.
– Base 61 advised to have aircraft standing by for afternoon takeoff [sic] on Wombleton. Clearance Hill Search.
1055 / Search / 61 Base offers two Halifax a/c
419 Sqdn offers six Halifax a/c
Search area as in entry 1000 hrs 13.2.44.
[Page Break]
Summary of visiting aircraft Landed in Group today. Because of the weather.
[underlined] FROM [/underlined] [underlined] AT [/underlined] [underlined] En Route [/underlined]
4 Oxfords. { K. } DALCROSS. DALTON. TATON HILL
4 Oxfords. { FF } DALCROSS. DALTON. TATON HILL
4 Oxfords. { SS. } DALCROSS. DALTON. TATON HILL
4 Oxfords. { AD. } DALCROSS. DALTON. TATON HILL
1 OXFORD. P.1968 DALCROSS. DISHFORTH TATON HILL
1 OXFORD P1986 DALCROSS. SKIPTON TATON HILL
1 ANSON H9531 SHERBORN LEEMING. SHERB’N
1 STINSON FK290 DUNINO CROFT CROYDEN
1 SPITFIRE 7 AYR TOPCLIFFE COLISHALL
1 ANSON 152 W. FRENCH TOPCLIFFE ?
[Page Break]
[underlined] MONDAY. FEB. 14. 1944. [/underlined]
I.O. will be probably 1400 hrs. Middleton F/C will advise times for Billingham balloons to be close-hauled. Soc and 61 Base, M. St. G. Ops and Met advised.
12.15 / Jett – Live Bombs / – Position 54°40’ N 01°00’ E passed by MLO 12 as ok for 2 HALS EX lmg. in which to Jett – live bombs.
Position 53°30’ N 0220 E O.K. by mso for HALS from Croft – Jettisoning 8 x 1000 some filled dud bombs – Stations advised.
1515 / Search / Because of adverse weather – search aircraft did not take off.
G/C [indecipherable word] Wombleton felt something should be done so set out in his car for a bit of a hunt.
1525. / NIGHT FLYING. / As a result of met conference – the controller broadcast to stations suggestion that all night flying be cancelled.
1815 / 4 Grp Divn / Base required for Hal EX m. Moor
– met consulted.
– given Eastmoor.
– Landed Rafforth.
1830 / – / off Duty – A Justason F/L
On Duty W.A Warwick F/O
1950. / Re. Search. / 61 Base re. continuation of Search by Police in Billsdale West Moor due to a clue from local inhabitants. FCLO notified.
2205 / Flying / All flying in Grp ceased also. B.C. scrubbed at 1630.
[Page Break]
Changed at 15.00 hrs. –
See next page –
[Page Break]
[underlined] MONDAY FEB. 14. 1944. [/underlined]
2300 / All quiet
[underlined] TUESDAY FEB. 15.1944 [/underlined]
0100 / Ident. Board changed
0900. / off duty W.A.Warwick F/O.
0900 / On duty F D Cleland F/L.
10.00 / Search for R/419. / Wombleton doing Ground Search today. Two lorries – one to Kirby Moorside Police Station will pick up civilians there to search Bilsdale West Moor as far as Snilesworth. The second will pick up civilians at Norton Police Station to search Arden Great Moor as far as Snilesworth. Wombleton also tell us that the Northallerton Police are also arranging a search today.
10.55 / Dakota C47. / Overheard calling a Control & asking QSM to Bottesford. Was given 180° – no distance. Wombleton reported this and we warned 12 Gp. about it. They will look out for plots.
11.03 / Dakota E-250. / At Leeming for several days, left for Doncaster at 11.03. Route passed to 12 Group – not to be confused with Dakota m/n at 10.55 hrs.
11.15 / Diversion Bases. (Weather) / C.F.C asked at 10.30 hrs to provide us with 10 diversion bases for tonight. They will call us later after the met. conference.
11.15 / Thunderbolt WL/N / Landed at Tholthorpe at 11.00 hrs en route to Melfield from Cranwell – Weather reasons. Melfield has been signalled. Taking off again when weather improves.
14.30 / Division Bases (Weather) / 420 Sq. to Shipdham 2nd USBD 426 Sq to Kimbolton
424 Sq. to Bungay 2nd USBD 408 Sq to Ridgewell
433 Sq. Hardwick 2nd USBD
429 Sq. Hethel 2nd USBD
427 Sq. Wendling 2nd USBD
428 Sq. Old Buckenham 2nd USBD
419 Sq. Seething 2nd USBD
431 Sq. Attlebridge 2nd USBD
434 Sq. Thurleigh 1st USBD
[Page Break]
15.45 Out of these 9 aerodromes given to us by CFC with no choice – 3 are U/S - - -
[underlined] Chelveston [/underlined] : they are working day & night on the mark II lighting and it may not be usable.
[underlined] Polebrook [/underlined] : Have only one serviceable runway, which may be out of wind.
[underlined] Podington [/underlined] : Definitely U/S – All runways
We have substituted Molesworth for Podington and [symbol] 2 USBD say they will do their darndest to have Chelveston & Polebrook OK.
VISITING AIRCRAFT as of 1830 hrs. 15.2.44
1. Beaufighter – Dishforth.
1. Thunderbolt – 10343 – Ex Gosfield at Tholthorpe
1. Hurricane – KX199 – Ex Milfield, at Tholthorpe
[Page Break]
[underlined] Feb 15th 1944 [/underlined]
[inserted] Changed by CFC to the following [/inserted]
15.00 / Diversions (weather) / 433 Sq – Bassingbourne 1st US.BD – [inserted] [symbol] [/inserted]
420 Sq } Hethel 1st US.BD – [inserted] [symbol] [/inserted]
424 Sq } Hethel 1st US.BD –
426 Sq Kimbolton 1st US.BD – [inserted] [symbol] [/inserted]
427 Sq Chelveston 1st US.BD – [inserted] [symbol] [/inserted]
419 Sq } Polebrook 1st US.BD – [inserted] [symbol] [/inserted]
428 Sq } Polebrook 1st US.BD –
434 Sq Thurleigh 1st US.BD – [inserted] [symbol] [/inserted]
429 Sq Grafton Underwood 1st US.BD – [inserted] [symbol] [/inserted]
408 Sq Ridgewell 1st US.BD – [inserted] [symbol] [/inserted]
431 Sq [deleted] Podington [/deleted] [inserted] Molesworth [/inserted] 1st US.BD – [inserted] [symbol] [/inserted]
427 Squadtron told they can use Hethel in emergency also.
15.15 / Landfall Beacon / [symbol] 2 on bearing 270° T from 23.30 – 00.30 hrs
Billingham Balloons / Close-hauled from 16.15 – 18.00 hrs.
from 23.30 – 01.45 hrs.
16.30 / Alleged Crash Dakota. / – Near Layburn – Aysgarth district reported to Leeming, Topcliffe & Croft by various N.F.S & Police stations. Finally traced rumour down to a mere enquiry by 9 Gp. as to whether a crash might have occurred or not. Informed stations.
18.30 / Diversion base for early returns – Binbrook.
18.30 / Search for R/419. / See entry 10.00 hrs today – 12 Group suggest calling off the search until more information is available. Controller agrees. 61 Base informed & will have police etc. stood down.
19.00 / Broadcast to Stns / Re Binbrook as diversion base.
1830 / On Duty A Justason F/L
1910 / O/431 / Early Ret’n – Landed safely at Croft – Passed to F.C. 1 Gp
2000 / Early Returns. / Weather holding – so far all early retn being coped with at own bases.
[Page Break]
Feby 15th
Provisional changes of Sqn allocation to new Division Bases as following :
419. – [deleted] Shipdham [/deleted] [inserted] Bury St Edmonds [/inserted]
428. – Shipdham
431. – Henaling
434. – Bungay
III 420. – Hethal.
III 424. – Hethal.
III 433. – [deleted] Bury St Edmonds, Shipdham [/deleted] [inserted] FOULSHAM [/inserted]
III 427. – [deleted] [undecipherable word] [/deleted][inserted] N. Raynham [/inserted]
429. – [deleted] Thorpe Abbot [/deleted] [inserted] Scunthorpe [/inserted]
408. – [deleted] West Raynham [/deleted] [inserted] Marham [/inserted]
426. – [deleted] Sculthorpe [/deleted] [inserted] Thorpe Abbott. [/inserted]
Bungay } – not on Diversion Flimsey.
Wendling } – not on Diversion Flimsey.
Bungay – 52° 25’ 01° 25’E
Wendling – 52° 41’ N 00° 50’ E Lat and Long Positions of these 2 Bases sent on W/T with DVN Broadcast.
[Page Break]
Feby 15th
2010 / FORUM “S” / Ex. F.C. 61. Darky Call FORUM S. not contact. This should be an aircraft from Driffield – Passed to F.C.4.
2030 / DVN. BASES. / 6 Gp. Met. unhappy over conditions at present. Diversion Bases.
Request for reallocation of Bomber Bases requested of C.F.C. – who named the following places:
Shipdham } No 2 USA B.D.
Bungay. } No 2 USA B.D.
Hethel } No 2 USA B.D.
[undecipherable word] Buckenham } No 2 USA B.D.
Bury St Edmunds. } No 3 USA B.D.
Horham, } No 3 USA B.D.
Great Ashfield. } No 3 USA B.D.
Framlingham } No 3 USA B.D.
Thorpe Abbotts } No 3 USA B.D.
Because some of these stations are neither on the Diversion [indecipherable word] nor covered in Bomber Code, further requests were made of C.F.C. who made further allocations as follows:
Foulsham. } 100 Gp.
W. Raynham. } 100 Gp.
Sculthorpe. } 100 Gp.
All [indecipherable word] and alloc’n (left page) approved by SASO, S.O.C., Duty Controller and Snr. met Officer.
2130 / Corrected Diversion / Broadcast Stations by S/L Weedon D. Cllr.
2055* / Beaufighter / Plot in A.49. Searchlights on Dishforth – Passed to Base 61 A.F.C.O.
21.50. / To C.F.C. / Confirmed Stations to be used for Diversions.
[Page Break]
Feby 16th
[underlined] For Sea Search [/underlined]
1659 – 3 .432 – 5.
1664 – 3.
1666 –
425 – 2.
[Underlined] AREA 1. {/underlined]
6 a/c = C/S WCF – 68, – 78 Incl.
54° 05’ 0030 E 5430 0030 E
54°30’ 0130 E 54 05 0130 E.
Parallel Track W [symbol] E
Creeping North.
1/4 mi vis
Standard Sigs Procedure
6 a/c = C/S WCF – 74 – 79 Incl.
[underlined] Area 2 [/underlined]
53° 40’ N 01°00’E 54°05’ 01°00’E
54° 05’ N 02°00’E 53°40’ 02°00’E
Same Ruling
[underlined] ALLOCATION [/underlined]
1659 } AREA I.
1664 } AREA I.
425 AREA II.
432 AREA II.
Gen passed to Bases 61-62 at 0530 hours
– 6 Gp met advised at same time
– 5353N –(MHB.) MTB – 13 &14.
– 0100E –(MHB.) MTB – 13 &14.
5 miles of S.W. Corner
[Page Break]
Feby 15th
2200. / Beaufighter / No news. Lights Dowsed. Ex. F.C.L.O. affect unseen – Searchlighting [sic] to Dishforth Abandoned. –
F.C. Base 61 informed.
2210 / ASR. / Request from AS Rescue 16 for 12 aircraft – stand by for sea search as of dawn. – Granted by Controller.
2230 / Diversion GEN / Diversion Definite Diversion particulars passed to No’s 2 and 3
– 6SA – B DVN and to F.C. 100 Gp
– C.F.C. advised.
– M.L.S. Informed.
P/102 / Pocklington aircraft – Landed Eastmoor. 4 Group advised.
K/424 / Landed Colby Grange
Said he receive message diverting him to Woddington [sic] – messages checked.
– W/T message sent read “Landed Hethel” – misinterpreted by wop cleared giving ex F.C.5.
J/424 / Message: Short Petrol Proceeding to Hethel passed to F.C. [symbol] 2USABD.
2310 / 1st U.S.A.B.D. / Not advised by C.F.C. of change in Diversion Bases Diplomatic Relationships maintained with profuse apologies. 1st USA B Diversion stood down with thanks.
2320 / Lanc Diversion / Air Comms forced (SASO) in com situation with , ordered [inserted] through the duty controller [/inserted] that the 2 Lanc sqns be brought home by rediversion on R/T Horsham.
– order passed to F.C. 3rd USA BD.
[Page Break]
[underlined] February 16th [/underlined]
[underlined] CRASHES [/underlined] –
1. SQN. A/C LTR. [underlined] POSITION [/underlined]
420 T. RASKELF Q SITE SHEET 22 – 966973
[underlined] CREW [/underlined]
F/O TAYLOR – NAV. } N Allerton Hosp.
F/O DAMGAARD. PILOT. } N Allerton Hosp.
F/S MASUR. B/A. } N Allerton Hosp.
SGT FLETCHER F/E } N Allerton Hosp.
SGT HARVEY. MU/AG. } N Allerton Hosp.
WO2 WHALE W/OP. } KILLED
SGT DOWNWY R/G. } KILLED
CRASH ACTION = DISHFORTH. N.F.S. THIRSK.
2.SQN A/C LTR. [underlined] POSITION [/underlined]
? ? RAVENSCAR – BRYANSIDE FARM
SHEET 16 – 4621.
[underlined] CREW [/underlined]
F/0 YUEN – PILOT – AT:
STEVENSON HOUSE, CLIFFTOP FARM, BOCK LANE, BURMISTON.
3 BODIES IN AIRCRAFT – NOT IDENTIFIED AS PART OF F/O YUEN CREW.
THESE BODS – REMOVED TO MORTUARY AT WHITBY
M/O. SCARBORO ATTENDING.
ENG’R OFFICER WOMBLETON TO TAKE SIGNAL ACTION
ARMY GUARDING.
3. ? ? Nr SUNDERLAND. ? ?
4. ? ? IN SEA OF WHITBY ?
[Page Break]
Feby 15th/16th
23.30. / Lanc D.V.N / To Base 62 – Lancs being redirected on r/t from Nouham to Linton
-M.LS. informed.
0001 / – / [underlined] Wednesday Feb’y 16th [/underlined]
0015 / Lancs Linton / Deterioration steady. Base 62 unhappy. Duty met unable to give continued optimistic picture.
Discussed by Controller with SASO.
[symbol] / Decision: 3rd USA BDVN to be advised to land all further Lancs which should go there.
[symbol] / Diversion passed to F.C. 3rd U.S.A .B.DVN.
00.45 / Lanc Div’n / Heather in this Group Bloody!
Base 62 unable to cope
– screaming for immediate fir base near at hand.
– Request made to C.F.C.
– 6 Gp met finally advise that a/c should not go farther north but southwards to 4-1-5 groups.
– Topcliffe was showing 3000 yds – but before some of the Lancs reached it the weather there had backed up.
– 4 Group unhappy and unwilling to assist though met gave Lissett and Holme as still fit.
– Through C.F.C. 5 Group offered WIDSLEY and WINTHORPE. – This information was passed at once to Bases 62 – 61 and [indecipherable word] all of who, were trying in vain to cope.
[Page Break]
[Blank page]
[Page Break]
Feb’y 16th
0045/0100 / 420/T. / 10 min. Petrol. en R/T THOLTHORPE Immediate diversion demanded by Base 62 – 6 Gp met deathly slow – when Lisset was finally agreed upon the aircraft had stooged away from Base and no contact could be made.
0115 / At 0115 learned from Base 61 that T/420 had Crashed near RASKELF Q Site. Crash Action was taken by Dishforth N.F.S. Thirsk and an additional Ambulance was dispatched from Tholthorpe.
RESULT:
2 Killed in Crash.
5 in North Allerton Hosp.
0045/0100 / 62 Base Solution / The following plain language message was sent from HF DF Linton:
“Proceed South. Land at first available airfield”
– They did.
0100/0130 / SOS. Plot / [indecipherable word] near Middlesboro’ Aid requested by F.C.L.O. 12 Northern Stations lighted. Plot wondered – weather rotten, Aircraft crashed just west of Sunderland. Thornsby took Crash action (no gen by 0500 hours)
0120 / R/640 / Landed at Wombleton – 4 Gp F.C. informed
0230 / – / Pathetic Effort to get Landing times.
[Page Break]
[blank page]
[page break]
Feb’y 16th
0350 / CRASH RAVENSCAR / Report Ex FCLO 12 Through POLICE RAVENSCAR –
POSITION = V4521
= SHEET [symbol] 16 – 4621
Aircraft = Halifax.
= Burned out
Crew – Thought to be 4 Group because F/O Yuen (Canadian) because only 20 gals remained in tanks balled his crew out in the area off Ravenscar, headding [sic] the a/c out to sea. The crashed burned out aircraft is heading IN from the sea. F/O Yuen so far is only one of this crew accounted for.
3 bodies in the aircraft were taken to MORTUARY WHITBY F/O Yuen at Mrs STEVENSON’S CLIFF TOP FARM, ROCK LANE, [deleted] GRANSDEN [/delteed] [inserted] BURNISTON [/inserted]
M/O. (RAF) Scarborough in attendance. Engineering officer Wombleton requested to take necessary Crash action.
Army Guarding at present.
0530 / All gen passed to F.C.L.O. 12.
0530?/0600 / A.S.R. / Area ALLOCATION etc. Ex. F.C.16 Passed to Bases 61 & 62. 6 Gp met unhappy over Search area until afternoon when the Frontal Conditions Pass.
0630 / RAVENSCAR CRASH / – To satisfy 4G and FCLO 12 Wombleton were instructed Through BASE 61 to take All necessary crash action.
[Page Break]
Middleton St. Geo.
Landed 5 Spits, 1 Master from Dumfries
– Cranwell
No’s Spits – 4390, 8646, 4616, 8168, 7440 Staying overnite Bases advised.
Master = M-838
[Page Break]
Feby 16th
0700 / T/420 / Engine of this a/c constituting obstructing on railway [inserted] branch [/inserted] line to Thirsk. Position – etc. passed to LNER Intelligence York by F/L Stacy Base 61
0815 / C.F.C. / Complete summary of Diversion materialization passed to C.F.C.
0830 / Return of Dvn A/C / Met advise conditions unfavourable for return before noon. Respective Groups advised to await further inst’ns from this H.Q.
0900. / off duty – A Justason F/L.
On Duty W.A Warwick F/O.
0910. / DVN A/C. / After consultation re. Met, all probs. of our A/C returning nil this morning.
0950. / DVN A/C. / Trying very hard to bail down individual Grps. in which A/C landed & contacting same to hold fire re. met. Sanction.
1000 / F/C – 12 Grp. / They have 4 Hudson’s they might possibly sent to Mid St. George.
1045. / 434/Q / At Woodbridge instructed them to tell crew to return by rail. A/C damaged badly.
1105 / Re-entry 0350. / Crash at Ravenscar – Hali (P) from Driffield, Position 452212, 7 bodies recovered & sent to Driffield & they will take casualty action Wombleton Crash action.
1400 / Return A/C / Weather in U.S. Bomb Diversion still duff.
[Page Break]
19.10 / Croft advise that B.D.S. Darlington report bombs fell in a field behind Lime Kiln Wood, 500 yds east of Pierce Bridge on West Aukland Road – Approx. 1 mile north of Denton X-Roads.
[Page Break]
Feb. 16, 1944.
1135 / 4 GRP. / Re = P-102 Sqd at Eastmoor to stand by before taking off for Pocklington re. OK from base. Passed to 62.
1210. / DVN A/C / All Grp’s & Stn’s phoned re disposition of our A/C. tally card compiled & everything under way.
1350. / [underlined] PERMISSION NORTHOLT 61 Base Oxford. [/underlined] / A.O.C. 61 Base wishes permission to go to Northolt in the morning S.A.S.O granted permission.
1400. / DVD A/C / 5 Grp 4 Grp Contacted to let our A/C take-off as soon as they are fit, 100 Grp. 2nd, 3rd. & 1st U.S.B.D. still duff & holding up.
1430. / 2nd U.S.B.D. / That 427/N had taken off without permission of 6 Grp or 2nd U.S.B.D.
1500. / L.F.B. & B.L.O. 12. / L.F.B. & Billingham Balloons scheduled for tonites op’s cancelled as ops scrubbed 1458.
1540. / 431/B = [underlined] BOMB JETT. [/underlined] A/C on ht test on take off lost his St’b’d Inner & Jettis = 7 x 1000 lb bombs
4 x 1000 GPs
3 x 1000 M.Cs
at position 5435 N – 0140 W N. of Darlington, North of a place Denton, observed to fall in an open field. B.D.S. Darlington advised & taking action.
1620. / Return of DVN A/C [inserted] NB [/inserted] / W/C Pattison of 429 instructed his A/C to stand by 0730 in morn. W/C Turnbull 42 [deleted] 9 [/deleted] [inserted] 7 [/inserted] A/C to Stand by until 2100 hrs. tonite ready to return of weather permits, if not return by 0730 in the morn.
[Page Break]
Crew List of B/432 – LK 761
Pilot S/L Strachan W. J9863
Nav P/O Martin M.A. J18871
B/A F/O Baron N.J. J21045 Ident. Killed.
W/OP P/O Stuart R.C. J18402
M/U Lt. Rorke A.L. 0886242 Ident. Killed
R/G P/O Stewart H.M. J19066 Ident. Killed
F/Eng Sgt Gilliard J. 616713.
[Page Break]
Feb. 16/1944.
1730. / DVN A/C All rem, A/C in respective Grps not happy on return of A/C tonite Sqd Com. contacted & think it fit for them to return in the morning at 0730 be ready & to phone 6 Grp before starting off.
1820 / 431/A/C / S/L Daw figures OK for his A/C to return by approx. [underlined] 1915 [/underlined]
1830 / off watch W.A Warwick F/O On:- F D Cleland F/L
18.55 / G/408 / At Wendling – As 431 a/c are returning from there tonight, suggested that G/408 return also. Permission granted by 408 Squadron. Advised 2nd USBD of this decision & they will let us know if the aircraft takes off.
19.49 / Crash / Presumed to be B/432 taking off on X- Country Eastmoor can see glow of fire in distance & have sent out Ambulance and crash-tender. ROC state crash is about 2 miles NW of Eastmoor. Called Stillington Police who say crash is just N. of Huby. Easingworld NFS are notified.
20.25 / Crash / Linton are going to send ambulance also.
20.45 / 431 a/c 408/G / S/L Dow now decides not to come back tonight. Doesn’t like weather. Cancelled G/408 also and left word for all crews to be ready to take off at first light tomorrow.
21.55 / Crash B/432 / See entry 19.49 hrs. Now positively identified as B/432 (Hal III) 5 [deleted] 3 [/deleted] Bodies recovered 2 more in a/c. No reason for crash – B/432 had only been airborne about 2 or 3 minutes.
22.00 / 431 a/c / W/C Newsome wants S/L Dow at Wendling to arrange pick up crews of U/431 at Upwood & Crew of X/431 at Wittering on way back tomorrow. Passed to 2nd B.D. and also message for S/L Dow to call these crews and let them know when he will pick them up.
[Page Break]
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[Page Break]
[underlined] Wednesday. Feb 16th 1944 [/underlined]
22.25 / Air Sea Rescue [underlined] 432 Sq [/underlined] / As 16 Group have asked us for eight aircraft on Sea Search tomorrow we have arranged with 432 Squadron to provide these. The search may not be practicable until after 11.00 hrs so we explained situation to 62 Base, stressing that if it was going to interfere with training to make no offer. They understand this.
[underlined] Thursday Feb 17/44 [/underlined]
01.00 / Ident Bd. Changed
06.00 / Met. Picture / for aircraft away – very hopeless – 10/10 cloud at 1500 – 1000 or lower. Freezing level very low – also bad conditions at diversion bases.
07.30 / Met. Picture / for aircraft away. Bases here may be bad also. Front approaching from east. Threat of rain and snow flurries. Route conditions very bad in Lincolnshire now. Cloud base very low and freezing level uncertain.
08.00 / A/C away. / Told to stay put until we advise them
09.00 / Off Duty F D Cleland F/L
0900 / On Duty – A Justason F/L
1000 / Ref. Retn of a/c away / SASO decision with Sn met O that aircraft at diversion bases are not to take off unless cloud base be 1000 ft and with a reasonable vis [inserted] of 2 miles [/inserted] underneath both at the diversion base and on route.
Broadcasts / 1. To F.G.s at Groups where our a/c are located: “All aircraft to be standing by to take off as soon as weather conditions at DVN Bases and along Route to read 2 mi vis 1000 ft cld Base. Further confirmation to be passed by 1100 hrs.
2. Same broadcast to 6 GP Stn F.C by S/Ldr Stanley.
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[Page Break]
Thursday Feb’y 17th
1130 / Ref- Retn DVN A/C / Route Forecast – Eat Anglia to Base – cloud – 10/10 – 800 to 1000 ft.
Slight rain, sleet.
vis – 2000 yds
Lincolnshire 600 ft 10/10.
– / F.C. At all groups advised to hold our aircraft for the present.
1305 / Diversions Definite / Allocated by C.F.C. [deleted] [undecipherable word] [/deleted] as follows:
1. West Raynham – Leeming
2. Little Snoring – MSG & Croft
3. Hethel – Tholthorpe
4. [deleted] Bungay [/deleted] [inserted] Tibenham [/inserted] – Linton.
Passed to [inserted] land Ok’d by [/inserted] SASO., SOC, Snr Met O
[deleted] 01 [/deleted] [inserted] 13 [/inserted] 15 / L.F.B. [symbol] 2 Bearing 270° T
Timing from 23.30 to 00.30 hrs 0220 to 03.00 hrs
Arranged with ops 12
[deleted] 01 [/deleted] [inserted] 13 [/inserted] 15 / Balloons. / Billingham – close hauled from [deleted] 15.30 1800 [/deleted] 15.30 to [deleted] 17.30 [/deleted] 20.00 hrs
[deleted] Arranged with BLO 12 [/deleted] also for return times as follows :
23.30 hrs [symbol] [inserted] to [/inserted] [deleted] 0130 [/deleted] hrs.and [deleted] 0220 [/deleted] hrs – 0400 hrs.
[symbol] 1320 / Diversion Bases / Ex C.F.C. replace Bungay by TIBENHAM – Linton
13.45 / Sea Search / East Moor S/S scrubbed.
14.00 / Ref Return of A/C / 2nd Division stood-down for today after consultation [deleted] of [/deleted] with Met. with S.A.S.O’s Approval
14.10 / Diversion Bases / Information passed to MSG. Leeming, Croft, Linton & Tholthorpe concerning pundits.
14.25 / S/Lr Tyne & Tees / 12. Group advise they can no longer provide searchlight homing in this area due to withdrawal of S/L Batteries.
[page break]
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[page break]
Thursday Feb’y 17th
1430 / Ref – Retn a/c / with SASO’s Approval – in consultat’n with met – All groups in which our a/c have landed away were advised to stand down the a/c for today, but to pass provisional warning to stand by for early return tomorrow.
1555 / Cancellations. / Balloons and L.F.B.’S earlier requested were cancelled because of Cmd scrub.
1600 / DVN – Bases / Cancelled with C.F.O. with thanks.
1730 / BL/G. / Training a/c ex Lindholme landed Linton – W/T U/S.- Contacted his base who rules he should remain the night – Linton informed.
1740 / Mag Drops. / Aircraft with the American stations developing mag drops – not repairable by the Americans – Engineer from Mildenhall going down to Bury St. Edmunds to fix the one there. Question of repairs of Hethel discussed by SOC with SASO.
1830. / off Duty L A Justason F/L.
On Duty W.A. Warwick F/O.
2050 / Met Report. / Grp Met report cloud base down to 500 – 700 ft in places and suggest all a/c be called in 61 & 62 bases informed.
2050 / Report of Flash by Linton. / Linton Base control report large flashes like an aircraft exploding, being seen NW. pf Linton. ROC LO contacted – nothing reported but will call back.
[Page Break]
[underlined] 2330 [/underlined] Sea Search:
Area I.
53:39 N – 0050 E
54.00N – 0050 E
5400N – 0155 E
5339 N – 0155E
C/S – W.C.F. Nos – 72 – 77 inclusive
1/4 vis parallel track, West to East creeping North Usual A/S Briefing W/T. MF/DF Section “J” – 385 14.0
6 A/c, A/C to the N – W. & E Well.
1659 – 3 A/C 72-75
1664 – 3 + (3) 76-77
1664 Wish to put up 3 more (6) new numbers allotted = 90, 91, 92 from 16 Grp.
Area’s divided, as :-
[underlined] 1st [/underlined]
53-39 N – 0050 E
53-45N – 0050E
5339N- 0155E
5345N – 0155E
[underlined] 2nd [/underlined]
5345N – 0050E
5353N – 0050 E
5345 – 0155E
5353 – 0155 E
[underlined] 3rd [/underlined]
5353N – 0050E
5400N – 0050E
5353N – 0155E
5400N - 0155E
1st area for (3) A/C 1664. 2nd (3) A/C of 1664 3rd. (3) a/c 1659
[Page Break]
Thursday February 17th
21.05 / Flash / R.O.C.L.O. reports that they have no report of the flash but Linton and Topcliffe report having seen it in the Dishforth direction lighting up the whole sky. Dishforth ACP has seen nothing.
21.15 / Night Flying / All 6 Grp aircraft have Landed and all night flying has ceased.
2330. / Met. / Outlook tomorrow for our A/C return looks very promising Met. PREDICT Cl. B about 1500 – 2500, Vis = OK with slight hail and sleet storms, this will prevail the whole route back to base.
[underlined] Friday February 18th [/underlined]
0010 / Ident Board changed.
0025. / A/C AWAY / 3rd, 2nd & 1st Amer. B.D. notified that if weather fit A/C to be ready to return first thing in the morning. Will notify them re our Bases.
0100. / A/S/S / Duty Controller S/L Weedon divided area for Search into 3 parts, information passed to 61 Base.
0600. / A/C AWAY / Met. Picture – re: return of A/C away, stated Cloud Base – 2000 – 1500’ – Vis 2 – 6 miles, en route slight showers of sleet and snow en-route looks fairly favourable.
0700 / A/C AWAY / 2nd & 3rd [inserted] & 100 Gro [/inserted] U.S.B.D. F/C re. state of weather this morning state of aerodromes in area Red at present, hoping to improve. Assured us that Stns. warned re. our A/C to be Keyed-up for immediate take off when weather permits.
[Page Break]
S.F.C.O = F/L Hammell, Dishforth requested gen & auth on following
(1) Q site dousing re. Op r’tn’s
(2) Firing of gun vary from A/C to ground re. [indecipherable word] to land.
[Page Break]
[Underlined] Friday February 18/1944 [/underlined]
0730. / A/C AWAY. / 100 Grp F/C. re. state of weather vis 3-4 mi. Cl Base 1500 – 2000 & they figure A/C could take off but warned by us that they should obtain a route forecast as F/L about 1000 ft en. route & showers of snow & sleet.
0820 / A/C AWAY. / All Grp’s. concerned re. return of our A/C also warned to give crews a picture of the met. & if possible issue each pilot with a route forecast.
09.00 / Off watch F/O Warwick
On Watch F.D. Cleland F/L
10.00 / A/C Away / Several on way back. 3rd Bomber Division stations experiencing sleet and snow. 100 Gp are able to get majority of our aircraft off.
1130 / Met. Picture / Now very poor. Freezing level in E. Anglia & on route home about 500ft – Slight snow all over. On consulting Controller decided to stand-down aircraft no already off until 13.30 hrs until met. picture is clarified.
11.30 / Croft re A/C returning. / Unable to land at Craft. Advised Craft to Divert A/C to Linton. Also message sent by W/T from Middleton – “Proceed Linton.”
12.30 / Land fall Beacons. / Flamborough – bearing 270° T – 05.40 – 06.40 hrs
Billingham Balloons / Close-hauled { 21.30 – 23.30 hrs
{ 05.30 – 07.30 hrs
14.30 / A/C Away. / All have now been ordered to return at once.
1700 / A/C Away / Told to stand down for tonight ready for early return tomorrow morning.
18.00 / DFCO Note / S/L Stanley will be away tomorrow [inserted] all day [/inserted] any telephone calls for him will be routed here.
18.00 / Off Duty F D Cleland F/L On duty P G Weedon A/C.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Feb 18th [/underlined]
Visiting A/C. (weather)
Baracuda [inserted] BV-947 [/inserted] = Sherburn – landed Croft
Dominic [inserted] R9959 [/inserted] = Halton (Petrol)
Swordfish [inserted] NF 194 [/inserted] – High Escall
Reliant [inserted] FX-911 [/inserted] – from Tivatt
2 Sea Fires from Lee-on-Solent, to Millfield, Staying the night = NO’S = 302 & 927.
[underlined] Sqd. [underlined] = [underlined] Station. Group. [/underlined]
419 } West Raynham = 100 Gp
428 } West Raynham = 100 Gp
431 } Coltishall =
434 } Coltishall =
427 } Little Snoring = 100 Gp
429 } Little Snoring = 100 Gp
424 } Docking =
433 } Docking =
420 } Lakenheath = 3 Gp
425 } Lakenheath = 3 Gp
408 } Foulsham = 100 Gp
426 } Foulsham = 100 Gp
[Page Break]
Feb. 18th 1944
1830 / On Duty L A Justason F/L
[underlined] Feby 19th 1944 [/underlined]
0100 / – / Ident Bd Corrected
0800/0830 / Ref. Ret. a/c away / All groups in which we have aircraft still away were advised to have them return directly. O.K.’d by 6 Gp Met.
0900 / – / Off Duty L A Justason F/L
On Duty W.A Warwick F/O.
0940. / – / Permission granted for W/C Langton to take a Hali to Foulsham.
Operations tonite. Haddock
0945 / MOVEMENT (E-218) / Air Firing at R.H.B. Whitby. Bombing at Strensall. Local T/A & ht. test for Hals & Lancs from 1100 – 1830
1100. / C.F.C. / Possibility of Petrol Diversion tonite asked for offer of 4 Stns pref. East Anglia for Hali’s only.
1200. / L.T.B. / L.T.B. Flamboro at a bearing of 270° (T) from 0610 – 0710.
1200 / Balloon / Billingham Balloons close-hauled
2230 – 0030
0545 – 0815.
1600. / C.F.C. (D.V.N) / Allotted Provisional Petrol & Weather Diversion Bases.
[Symbol]
1730 / D.V.N. BASES / Individual gen passed to Stn’s on scrambler
1830. / off Duty F/O Warwick. W.A.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Crash at Dishforth. [underlined] 20.10 hrs Feb 19/44.
Halifax D/1664 – DG 385 – Cat. E.
Landing with 3 engines. Made normal approach but bounced on landing – the port outer engine fell off and aircraft swerved off runway & burst onto flames. With the initial bump the rear turret broke off, with rear gunner in it.
Crash crews were right on the job and all crew got out and fire was put out quickly.
Rear gunner is injured and now in Harrogate Hosp. Two more crew are slightly injured – now in SSQ.
Will DFCO Inform interested partied
SASO has been informed
Eng. Ground Accident Inves’n
GTT.
[underlined] Aircraft landing away from base [/underlined] Feb 19/20/44
L/424 – landed Linton. } All these a/c have been told to refuel and return to base immediately if serviceable.
C/424 – landed Downham Mkt. } All these a/c have been told to refuel and return to base immediately if serviceable.
B/433 – landed Coltishall. } All these a/c have been told to refuel and return to base immediately if serviceable.
0/433 – landed Tholthorpe. } All these a/c have been told to refuel and return to base immediately if serviceable.
N/420 – landed Coltishall. } All these a/c have been told to refuel and return to base immediately if serviceable.
F/434 – landed Riccal. } All these a/c have been told to refuel and return to base immediately if serviceable.
[underlined] Landed. [/underlined]
F/434 – back at base 09.15.
L/424 – back at base 09.51.
O/433 – back at base 09.32.
B/433 – took of 1045 11.56.
N/420 – landed back at base 1301.
C/424 – took off 10.50 12.09.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Saturday. February 19th [deleted] Feb [/deleted] 1944 [/underlined]
18.30 / On Watch / F D Cleland F/L
19.20 / D/1664 / Reports on RT that he is on 3-engines.
Told to break cloud on Leeming beam.
20.10 / D/1664 / Crashed on landing. Details opposite
22.30 / Diversion Bases. / Passed on all gen to Groups concerned.
00.01 / [underlined] Sunday February 20th 1944 [/underlined]
00.05 / 100 Gp. / Worried because we have allotted 321 a/c to L. Snoring, 29 to W. Rayham and 31 to Foulsham.
They don’t think they can cope as they are fighter stations.
We told them that it was not a definite weather diversion, but merely a petrol diversion and that they can expect only a small fraction of that number. However, if this becomes a weather diversion we will have to ask CFC for 3 more bases.
00.45 / Tholthorpe A/C / After 4 aircraft had taken off F/420 bogged at entrance to runway. Two other aircraft managed to get off by taxying down another runway and using remainder of runway in use for take-off. This meant 12 aircraft were unable to take off although time of take off was advanced by Controller to 00.40
00.45 / Skipton A/C / D/424 Squadron taxied into W/424, killing the rear-gunner.
08.30 / W/T Messages – / All aircraft who send any W/T messages or got fixes last night are accounted for at bases.
08.40 / A/C away from base / Passed to C.F.C.
09.00 / Off duty. F D Cleland F/L.
0900 / on duty – L A Justason F/L
Aircraft Away / Groups contact and requested to send back all serviceable aircraft landed away
[Page Break]
Diversion Summary.
Pundits
MKs – Sqn. – Dvn Base. – Gp – Type of Diversion – QDM. – DIST
III - 420 } HARWELL – 91. – DEFINITE – 018° – 6 mi
III – 425 } HARWELL – 91. – DEFINITE – 018° – 6 mi
III – 424 } STANTON HARCOURT – 91. – DEFINITE – 312° – 2 3/4 mi
III – 433 } STANTON HARCOURT – 91. – DEFINITE – 312° – 2 3/4 mi
III [symbol] – 427 – MORETON – 91. – DEFINITE – 096° – 3 1/2 mi
II & IV – 419 – WING. – 92. – PROVISIONAL PETROL – 172° – 4 1/2 mi
II V – THORNEY ISLAND. – 16 – PROVISIONAL PETROL – 357° – 3 1/4 mi
[symbol] 427
II & V – 429 – SILVERSTONE – 92. – PROVISIONAL PETROL – 191°c– 5 mi
II & V – 431 } CHIPPING WARDEN – 92. – PROVISIONAL PETROL – 087° – 3 3/4
II & V – 434 } CHIPPING WARDEN – 92. – PROVISIONAL PETROL – 087° – 3 3/4
Lanc II { 408 – GAYDON – [deleted] 92 [/deleted] [inserted] 91 [/inserted] – PROVISIONAL PETROL 115° – 2 1/2
Lanc II } 426 – WELLESB’N MTFD. – [deleted] 92 [/deleted] [inserted] 91 [/inserted] – PROVISIONAL PETROL – 278° – 3 1/4 mi
ALL GEN PASSED TO STATION OPS.
ALL GEN PASSED TO 91 GROUP.
[Page break]
February 20th
1240 / Diversions. / To C.F.C. request for 3 definite bases to accommodate Halifax III’s tonight and 6 provisional bases for remaining Sqns. Harwell and 3 group area agreed upon, with special request for a couple of bases nearer the coast en route for those crews short of petrol.
1330 / Diversion Stn & Sqn Allocn. / Stations in 91, 92 and 16 Groups allocated by C.F.C. as set our opposite. Broadcast to stations.
1335 / Balloons 11 group. / Langley, Steybridge will fly at 1500 ft 0530 – 0730 except in case of Enemy activity when height will become 6500 ft
1350 / Billingham / Close hauled – 2220 hrs to 0020 hrs
– 0630 hrs to 0845 hrs
1405 / L.F.B. / Beachy Hd –
Bearing – 310° T
Time – 0545 to 0645 hrs
1610 / HALS II and V. / Cancelled from ops by H.Q.B.C.
Stood down use op WING – SILVERTHORNE – CHIPPING WDN – and THORNEY Is. with C.F.C.
1620 / THORNY ISLAND / Stood down with F.C 16.
1745 / Diversion / Changed from Definite for Hal III to Provisional Petrol
1748 / Diversion / 91. F.C. Informed
1750 / Diversion / C.F.C. In the picture.
1752 / Diversion / F.C. 92 informed that their bases not required.
1820 / Balloons. B.L.O. 12. / Billingham Requests cancelled.
1830 / off Duty F/L L A Justason
[Page Break]
[underlined] Crash [/underlined] W/427 Sqd = (LV.836)
Approx. JECKELOW GRANGE, 1 mile East of YAFFORTH VILLAGE
[Underlined] Crew List [/Underlined]
PILOT = F/O Laut R.H. J.22723. Identified
NAV = F/O Hegy W.N. J-20660
B/A = F/S Moody R.W. R.164683
WOP/AG = Sgt. Jones C.H. 1420376
M/U = Sgt. Harris A.C. 545284
R/G = Sgt. Fritton AF 2209093
F/E = Sgt. Rowe E.J. 1271083
All members of crew killed
To be notified
S.A.S.O.
AIR I
W/C SAUNDERS
P. 4.
EQUIP.
ENG.
[Page Break]
[underlined] February 20th, 1944. [/underlined]
1830. / On Duty W.A. Warwick F/O
1900. / DVN GEN. / All A/C R/T & W/T C/S passed to 91 Group Flying Control. ALL Squadron under the impression that a definite d’v’n but inexperienced crews instructed that if not happy re petrol to use Stn’s allotted.
1950 / Met. / Picture re. met for return of B/E & Ops A/C, Vis 2 – 6 m Cl B 2000 – 3500. Icing light at F/L of 1000
0002 / CRASH. / Leeming F/C Report Crash approx. 5 miles E. of aerodrome North Allerton N.F.S. notified & Leeming Crash Crew & Ambulance dispatched N.F.S. notified possibility of bombs on A/C.
0005. / R.O.C.L.O. / Reports Crash in approx. Z-7709 1 1/2 miles E of Leeming tallys with entry 0002 F.C.L.O. also notified re. action taken.
0020 / Ident Bd. Changed.
0030 / 62 Base (re. CRASH) / N.F.S. North Allerton reported A/C approx. “HECKELOW GRANGE. 1 mile East of YAFFORTH VILLAGE, not identified as yet.
0015 / 62 BASE / Figured crash close to E.M. & sent C. Crew & Amb. without our authority.
[Page Break]
DIVERSION. FEB. 20/21/1944
[Underlined] A/C SQD PLACE GRP LANDED STATE OFF BASE [/underlined]
O 433 Stanton HARCOURT 91 0635 – – 12.23
U 427 Moreton-in-Marsh 91 0640 U/S – Oil Leak
L 424 Enstone 91 0655 – 13.17 14.21
N 426 Wellsbourne 91 0650 – 0903 09.54
D 433 SYERSTON. 5 GRP 0715 – – 10.44
G 427 HARWELL. 91 0737 – – Duty S/E Change
D 425 HARWELL. 91 0716 – 17.10 –
J 433 HARWELL. 91 0715 – 14.33 16.09
V 425 HARWELL. 91 15.19 16.45
R. 420 HARWELL. 91 0747 – 11.50 1309
D/425 = overshot and rolled over roadway but no apparent damage Instructed all Serviceable A/C to refuel & return to Base.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Feb. 21/44 Monday [/underlined]
0110 / CRASH W/427 (LV-836) / F/C re N. Allerton police identified a F/O Laut, Capt. of 427/W, no further news on ident of remainder of crew. F.C.L.O. & R.O.C.L.O. notified.
0210. / CRASH W/427 (LV-836) / 7 Bodies recovered & sent to Leeming F/C arranged guarding of crash.
0611 / B/E & XC / All A/C down O.K.
0650. / DVN A/C / 91 Group re. our A/C landing at said d’v’n bases, instructed to refuelled immediately & return to base re D.O.C. W/C McGarth
0800 / OPS / Still light 6 A/C, but 91 Grp have some of ours at Harwell but do not know which ones.
0830 / 91 GRP. D/425 / Have accounted for 5 of 6 A/C. 425/D overshot & ran thru a hedge unto a road, no apparent damage.
0900 / [deleted] Cro [/deleted] Off Duty F/O Warwick
On Duty F D Cleland F/L
11.30 / [underlined] Croft [/underlined] / U/S tonight. All Drem lighting controls are being changed over. Will be ready again by 18.00 hrs. tomorrow
12.15 / LFB / Selsey Bill – bearing 360° T from 23.00 – 23.59
Balloons / Billingham : Close-hauled 18.00 – 19.00 hrs
00.30 – 02.00 hrs
Langley } at 1500’ from 19.15 – 20.15 23.15 – 00.30
Weybridge } at 1500’ from 19.15 – 20.15 23.15 – 00.30
Southampton } at 1500’ from 19.15 – 20.15 23.15 – 00.30
Portsmouth } at 1500’ from 19.15 – 20.15 23.15 – 00.30
[Page Break]
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[page break]
[underlined] Monday Feb 21st 1944 [underlined]
1245 / Typhoon JR360 / Landed Wombledon from Scorton. Pilot Sgt Drew
1240 / V/425 / At Harwell told to return as soon as possible with crew of G/427. The Navigator of G/427 will sub for nav of V/425 who is in hospital with frozen foot.
14.25 / Emergency Diversion Base / for 10 Hals of 428 Sq. is Langmere
14.30 / [underlined] Searchlight Marker Beacon [/underlined] / Ordered to be illuminated from 23.30 hrs [underlined] DFCO is to tell Church Fenton when to douse [/underlined]. 4 Gp. do not require beacon tonight.
17.00 / Diversion 428 Sq. / Call-signs, etc. passed to 11 Gp.
1830 / Off Duty F/L Cleland
On duty H L Spencer P/O
1930 / Night Flying / Summary passed to C.F.C.
2120 / 425/J / 62 Base query re this a/c missing from last night’s ops. Capt. of 425/D (F/L Brysan) believed he heard Hillguard “J” come up on R/T at Harwell & was answered. On checking F.C. Harwell they had no record of it, although Peaspudding “J” was landed at 0715, a minute or so ahead of Hillguard “D” Presumably it was this a/c F/L Bryson heard. 62 Base informed.
2300 / Intruder Activity? / On query of M.L.Q. |Stanmore advised our a/c would be coming in above cloud, approx. 10 – 12,000 ft. They had picked up some a/c presumably at 20,000 & were checking in view of enemy activity.
[Page Break]
Diversions (Petrol)
427 – Manston – 11 Grp
424 – West Malling – 11 Grp
433 – Odiham – 11 Grp
420 Hartford Bridge – 2 Grp
425 – Gravesend – 11 Grp
408 – Thorney Island – 16 Grp
426 – Bradwell Bay – 11 Grp
All Stns. & Dvns Stns informed & information passed.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Tuesday – Feb 22/44 [/underlined]
0001 / Ident Board changed
0123 / Op. a/c / All operational a/c landed at base
0900 / Off duty H L Spencer P/O
On Duty W.A. Warwick F/O
0945. / Movement (E-23). / Air Firing at R.H.B. Whitby. Bombing at Strinstall, local T/A & Ht tests for Hals & Lancs from 1000 hrs. to 1830 hrs.
1000. / OPS. / Goodwood & Gardening.
1210. / D.V.N. C.F.C. / Passed our offer of 7 Stn’s as far South East as possible. Controller states definite petrol diversions.
1205. / F.C.L.O. / Re. report from Linton F/C re. a Navy? Fortress [symbol] 529 R/T [indecipherable words] X Coast calling Darky, Report sent to Linton that A/C in East part of England.
1400. / D.V.N. Stns. / Allotted as on opposite page.
1430. / R.F.B. / Beachy Head – 0000 – 0100
0210 – 0310. (310° T)
1430. / Balloons / Langley.
Weybridge
Thames Estuary } for d’v’n A/C
Chelmsford. } for d’v’n A/C
Southampton } for d’v’n A/C
Portsmouth } for d’v’n A/C
All at control ht of 1,500 ft. from 0000 – 0400.
1500. / L.F.B. / Flamboro L.F.B. = (297°T)
from 2030
2230
1500. / Balloons / Close hauled – Billingsham [sic]
{ 1500 { 2000
{ 1650 { 2330
[Page Break]
[underlined] Crash [/underlined]
Halifax. H/[deleted] 419 [/deleted][inserted] 431 [/inserted] – LK 626
All Crew OK [symbol]
Pilot: Sgt. Tinmouth. Category as yet unknown. [inserted] DFCO please inform all parties. [/inserted]
Cat. Now tentatively Cat. B. Aircraft belly-landed in field near Holywell. Reason: Post inner & starboard outer engines cut due to failure of CSU’s. Crew all OK and staying ion Hawarden S.Q.
[inserted] G.T.I [symbol]
W/C Guest [symbol]
Controller [symbol]
W/C Miller [symbol]
W/C Saunders [symbol]
Air I on leave
S.A.S.O [symbol]
S/L Grandenton [symbol]
[Page Break]
Feb’y 22 Contd.
1730 / ops / Cancelled – Recall to aircraft airborne.
BALLOONS L.F.B.’s Diversions / } Pre arrangements Cancelled.
Billinghams – / rearranged to be close hauled 1830 – 2130 hrs.
Cld Base Cl.m. Bn / Given by met as expected to be 1500 – 1000 ft 10/10 cloud marker beacon arranged for with S.L.O Church Fenton for Dusk. [underlined] TFN [/underlined]
Ops 4 and SLO. Watnall advised.
L.F.B. / Flamboro engaged – Bearing 270° (T) 1900 to 2000 hrs.
1830 / – / off Duty – L A Justason F/L
On Duty J D Cleland F/L
18.30 / Darky Call H/[deleted] 419 [/deleted] [inserted] 431 [/inserted] / Heard by Hawarden _ Jigger “H” called Darky. Message was heard by Hawarden who gave him QSM of 313° which was acknowledged.
Aircraft was plotted as being on two engines although H/431 did not mention it on R/T messages.
19.00 / Crash H/[deleted] 419 [/deleted] [inserted] 431 [/inserted] / Reported crash near Holywell in N. Wales – Landed with 2 Engines – aircraft did not catch on fire. All crew OK. Will be guarded either by Hawarden or Sealand. Had fired colours of period just before crashing.
19.50 / Recall / All X-Countries from Group ordered recall by SASO. 61 & 62 Bases informed at once.
20.30 / 61 Base / re recall. Think a/c out of reach of Station HF/DF Request recall via MF/DF. Duty Sigs here contacted to send message recalling them.
22.15 / C.M.B. / Cloud Marker Beacon now extinguished – SLO 12 informed Ops 4 informed.
[Page Break]
Advised of Crash 1664/O – Controller G.T.D W/C Saunders S/L Ganderton, W/C Guest. W/C Millor S.A.S.O.
Pocklington guarding aircraft
Dishforth taking all other action.
Pinpoint of Crash 205695 – Map 27 – 1” to mile
[inserted] Cat “B” [/inserted]
[Page Break]
[underlined] Feb’y 23rd 1944 [/underlined]
00.01 / Night Flying / Finished
01.00 / Ident Board / Changed
0900 / Off Duty F/L. Cleland
On duty H L Spencer P/O
0945 – 1015 / Mayday call Highball ”H” “Darky” / Picked up by Croft and Wombleton. Originally on Darky, changed to Mayday. calling “Oddjob” & requesting a bearing, Finally worked O.K. on his Base station. (Landed ion Scilly Isles.)
1110 / 431/B dropping pt for bombs / M.L.O. authorised m/m a/c dropping 7 – 1000 lb unused bombs at pos. 5415N 0200E Croft informed.
1100 / 431/A to Hawarden / Flight authorised by S.A.S.O. to investigate crash of H/431. Croft
1200 / Highball “H” / Ref. entry 0945 – 1015 hrs. Topcliffe H.F.D.F. was scoring to 6440 hrs. without result. On contacting St Mawgan, Croft learned they were working the a/c on H.F.D.F, previously they had heard his station working other aircraft on R/T but not this one which was in difficulty. Flying Control 16 Group, who were contacted previously, later came through to report that the aircraft had been vectored to a safe landing in the Scilly Islands.
1200 / 1664/0 Crash (DG-278) / 61 Base report crash 3 miles west of Pocklington on a farm. A/C did not burn, crew O.K.
Reason: 2 engines cut. Believe Pocklington taking crash action.
1620 / 431/ X return from Wittering 431/U return from Upwood. / Croft was advised to check Wittering to ensure that this a/c was survivable before permitting other 431 Halifax with crews, to take off for Wittering & Upwood. This was not done & 431/X is still U/S. On instructions of Croft. F.C.O. told 12 Gp. F.C. to have crew stay over as 431/X should be serviceable later today or tomorrow 431/U returned to base.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Message from A/C [/underlined]
UWU/F “OP” – 18/OCGHOC/UHSE/RTOC/FIRN/VHCZ/CBTU/FPOG/
T.O.O. 1907 T.O.R. 1929
[underlined] Message from A/C [/underlined]
UWU/F – 18 – ZBIG/RNVH/BMUH/PTZE/TVRN/VHGE/HPGE/RTEL[symbol]CZBD/PTPZ/RNIO/
2100.
[underlined] D.F.C.O (NOTE) [/underlined]
Re. polishing of ops room last evening only one body available would it be possible to lay on some bod’s for tonite, enquire re S.W.O. & have it shining like a niggers heel.
[Page Break]
1740 / 431/X / Returned to Croft from Wittering
1830. / off Duty H L Spence P/O
On duty W.A. Warwick F/O
1930 / S.O.S / A/C E of 1664 C.U. whilst on X.C. observed an S.O.S flashed from the sea at position 5437N – 0150E but continued on his XC. T.O.O 1907
1940. / 16 Grp. / Contacted F/C Chatam re. entry 1930 & gave him all details but wishes further gen from A/C if possible before [indecipherable word] any action.
1950. Sigs. / Request message to be sent to A/C. re. further gen re. S.O.S.
2010. / Sigs. / Report message from A/C as = “Gunner confirms by Bomb Aimer at position given. This passed to 16 Grp.
2327 / 1664/E. / Landed & report of S.O.S. also whether a D.R. or Gee fix. Gee fix had been obtained at 1852 & D R position at 1907. All this information passed to 16 Grp F/C.
2350. / 16 Grp. / Asked whether they wished an offer from us for a sea-search this morning, they stated NO.
[underlined] Thursday Feb 24/44 [/underlined]
0100 / IDENT Board changed
0900. / off Watch W.A. Warwick F/O
[Page Break]
[underlined Provisional Petrol & Weather Diversions [/underlined]
408 Squadron – 17 Lancs to Chipping Warden } 92 Group
426 Squadron – 18 Lancs to Westcott } 92 Group
427 Squadron – 11 Hals to } Oakley } 92 Group
424 Squadron – 10 Hals to } Oakley } 92 Group
420 Squadron – 14 Hals to Wing [inserted] DEFINITE {/inserted] } 92 Group
432 Squadron – 10 Hals to } Little Horwood } 92 Group
425 Squadron – 10 Hals to } Little Horwood } 92 Group
433 Squadron – 13 Hals to Barford St John } 92 Group
[underlined] II For Gardening & Spoof Aircraft. [/underlined]
419 Squadron 10 Hals } to Chedburgh
428 Squadron 11 Hals } to Chedburgh
431 Squadron 8 Hals } to Stradishall.
434 Squadron 7 Hals } to Stradishall.
429 Squadron 9 Hals } to Stradishall.
[underlined] 1664/N Crash [inserted] (BK-146) [/inserted] [/underlined]
Crew list – all killed.
Pilot F/O J.G. Broden – [symbol] J5048
B/A. F/S J.G. Stewart – R162323
Eng. Sgt. R.W. Cotrell – 1850661
R.A.G. Sgt. C.W. Gugins – R191070
W.O.P. Sgt. A.P. Reid – 1560936
M.U.G P/O. A.I. Sinclair – J38263
[underlined] Advised. [/underlined]
Controller [symbol]
S.A.S.O. [symbol]
P-4 [symbol]
Equip [symbol]
Eng. [symbol]
Acc Invest [symbol]
C of A ?
[Page Break]
[underlined Thursday Feb. 24th 1944 [/underlined]
09.00 / On duty F.D. Cleland F/L
13.10 / Landfall Beacon. (Gardening) / Flamborough 270° T – 23.30 – 00.30 [symbol]
Billingham Balloons – Close hauled 16.00 – 17.30 hrs
[symbol] 23.00 – 01.30 hrs
(Main target) Landfall Beacon / Beachy Head [deleted] 300° T [/deleted] [/inserted] 315° T [/inserted] – 00.30 – 01.30 hrs
0255 – 03.55 hrs
Balloons / Langley, Weybridge at 1500 ft from 19.00 – 06.00 hrs.
[deleted] 19.00 – 20.00 hrs.
21.00 – 22.00 hrs.
00.30 – 02.30 hrs.
03.00 – 04.30 hrs.
13.20 / Diversion Bases / Asked CFC for weather diversion bases for our effort tonight :- 45 Hals, Gardening, 68 Hals + 35 Lancs on Main Effort. Several bases on South Coast & remainder in E Anglia. C.F.C. will call us.
16.00 / Billingham Balloons / Now close-hauled from 16.00 hrs until 01.30 hrs
16.00 / Diversion Bases / Allotted as listed on opposite page.
17.10 / Surface Vessel Bombing / ACN 673 Passed to 62 Base & Leeming & Skipton Restricts bombing or jettisoning on route tonight from France to Beachy Head.
1830 / Off duty F/L Cleland
On duty H L Spencer P/O
2045-2050 / Explosions Nr Tholthorpe / Reports by Tholthorpe of a series of explosions & red flashes both east & west (20 miles) F.C.L.O. 12 believes these to be army activities.
2125 / H20 DIVERSION / S/L Kyles called to say 420 Squadron were briefed to make a Definite Diversion to WING.
92 Gp. advised of the above and told to have a/c ready for an 0830 T/O. Also 12 Grp
2110 / Crash 1664/N (BK-146) Hal V / 61 Base report a/c crashed shortly after becoming a/b. R.O.C.L.O. 12 give position as 5 miles N.W. of Dishforth in E-8397 near Baldersby. Later confirmed to be at Sixpenny Green between Baldersby & Raynton. Topcliffe to guard & Dishforth taking all other action. Crew of 6; all killed.
[Page Break]
[underlined] AIRCRAFT LANDED AWAY [/underlined]
All Groups in which our aircraft have landed have been requested to arrange for refuelling and have crews standing by at 0900 hrs., but not to take off until authorized by 6 Group.
[underlined] Re. pilot of 408/E [/underlined]
Reading Hosp
Tel. No. Reading – 3073
A/S/R.
Area
5415N – 0330E 5435N – 0420E
5435N – 0330E 5415N – 0420E
N/W – 30 miles away – 2 Warwicks
E – 40 miles away 7 Fortress
4 A/C required. West to East – East – North 1/4 mile visibility, no boats usual procedure, if sighting to circle.
[Page Break]
Friday – Feb 25/44.
0001 / Ident Board changed
0040 / 82 OTU/MYZ/O S.O.S. / 61 Base reported that at 2035 hrs, 1664/E on cross country intercepted S.O.S. call from m/n aircraft to M.F. Section F. Latter were working other a/c at the time and as message seemed to fade, at 2038 hrs. 1664/E relayed it to Section F. At 2041 hrs 1664/K heard the Section in contact with MYZ/O, who were given several fires. Final message heard by our a/c was that the distressed aircraft was low in petrol. Dishforth received thanks from D.S.O. of the Section for the assistance.
Subsequent check of 12 Group F.C.L.O. revealed that this a/c from Gauesden was landed ok at Foulsham.
0850 / a/c away / Following Group F.C.O’s informed our aircraft which are serviceable could take off for bases:- 91, 92, 11, 10, 8, 5, 4, 1, 2, 3 U/S B.D, 3, 44 Grp’s
0900. / Off Duty [deleted] F/O W.A. [/deleted] P/O H.L. Spence
On duty F/O Warwick W.A.
1015. / Movement (E-326) / Air Firing RHB, Whitby Bombing Strensall, Local T/A & Ht. tests – for Halis & Lancs, from 1030 – 1830.
1100 / C.F.C. / offer for definite Diversion of approx. 80+ Pref South Coast 5+ Stns.
1120 / Permission / Granted by S.A.S.O for W/C Newson to use Hal. to send after crew to Foulsham to bring back extra A/C.
1200. / A/C AWAY / Each Grp involved re. A/C away kept in constant touch & trying very hard to get A/C back
1300 / C.F.C. / Passed 6 Station & if more required will phone us after next met. conference.
[Page Break]
Diversion Stations
427 = Hartford Bridge
433-424 = Odiham
426 = Beaulieu
408 = Hurn
420-425 = [deleted] Tangmere [/deleted] Sting
432 = [deleted] Thorney Island [/deleted] Middle Wallop
[underlined] D.F.C.O NOTE [underlined]
W/C Ferris o/c 1659 C.U wishes to know the policy re. taking up passengers as Welsh Guards (Tank Corp) will be visiting this wk. & will exchange ride in a tank for one in an A/C, have not contacted the S.A.S.O. re. above.
Crash
43/4 A/C = LK-907 SA.SO. V
CONTROLLER = V
AIR I – leave
Eng.
Equip.
Acc – Invest.
SFCO.
[Page Breal]
Feb 25/1944
[underlined] GARDENING [/underlined]
[missing number]305 / Balloons / Billingham Balloons – close hauled
1930 – 2030.
0130 – 0330. [inserted] amended 0415. [/inserted]
[missing number]310 / L.F.B. / Flamboro Head Beacon
0100 – 0300 hrs [deleted] 11hr – 0400 [/deleted]
270° T 070° elev.
[underlined] OPERATIONS [/underlined]
[missing number]420. / Balloons (11 Grp) / Weybridge, Langley, Southampton, Portsmouth. Balloons close hauled from
1900 hrs.
0600 hrs.
[missing number]440 / L.F.B. / Beachy Head –
0300 – 0415
310° (T) 070°(E)
[missing number]545 / D’V’N. STNS / met. picture re. Tangmere & Thorney Island as being subject to Fardon Smoke & would feel happy if we obtained bases West of a line.
1600. / C.F.C. / Re. offer Tangmere & Th. Island & would it be possible for 2 subs, Middle Wallop & Wing offered.
1645 / Croft. / Re. 434 A/C M. had the pilot severely injured by flying glass & the B/A was piloting A/C & to stand by all A/C in Group (dromes).
17.00. / CROFT CRASH 434/M (LK-907) / A/C landed O.K. came in too fast wiped off u/c & crashed bursting into flames. All crew O.K. but pilot who ran into a flock of birds bursting winscreen [sic] in his face. (no action taken) re opposite page
[Page Break]
[Blank Page]
[Page Break]
[underlined] Feb. 25/44. [underlined]
[missing number]730 / D’V’N STNS [underlined] D.F.C.O. NOTE [/underlined] / All notified [underlined] but [symbol] of OFF. [/underlined] & ORs also instructions passed that they have all possible petrol & facilities laid on
[missing number]740. / 420/R / 92 Group re. return of R. at approx. 1830 hrs. F/C Tholthorpe contacted & O.K. for permission for him to take-off.
[missing number]745 / 95 GRP (WING) / Wing not very happy re. weather on E.T.A. of d’v’n A/C. Our met. quite happy & Stn informed & if a probable d’v’n elsewhere will be diverted by W/T Stn’s in the picture.
1830 / Off Duty W.A. Warwick F/O
18.30 / On watch F.D. Cleland F/L.
19.00 / Diversions / 425 + 420 Squadron definitely briefed to divert to Wing
433 & 424 Squadron definitely briefed to divert to Odiham.
19.05 / R/420 / Took off from Wing for Tholthorpe 62 Base informed
21.20 / Darky Call / Linton have a Darky overhead who requests emergency landing. Request diversion to Topcliffe if possible as they are in midst of a take-off.
21.30 / Darky Call / Okay by Topcliffe – and he has now been diverted.
Piko’s
21.40 / Piko“s / Now working Topcliffe DF. Good Show!
22.10 / Piko”s / Aircraft from Lossiemouth – Call sign NDG
22.25 / Piko”s / Landed Topcliffe. 91 Group informed.
22.20 / Diversion Base / 11 Group say Odiham is unfit for a definite diversion as it is waterlogged and aircraft can only be stood on disposals of which only a few are vacant. They suggest Tangmere. Told 11 Group to inform C.F.C. and let them make arrangements.
22.30 / Diversion Base / C.F.C. called and say Tangmere has been offered to 4 Gp as an emergency base only. They will try to see if 4 will trade for Odiham or another station.
[Page Break]
[Blank Page]
[Page Break]
[underlined] Friday Feb 25th 1944 [underlined]
[missing number]3.30 / Diversion of 433/424 Sq. / Now OK at Odiham for 433 Sq and 424 will be diverted to Lasham, only 5 miles away. Conferred with Controller and decided it would not be necessary to redivert by W.J as Odiham can easily do this by RT.
[underlined] Saturday Feb 26th 1944 [/underlined]
01.00 / Ident Board changed.
03.18 / Gardening A/C / Last aircraft down – 2 missing.
05.30 / Main Effort A/C / Last aircraft down – 6 missing.
05.30 /W/J Messages / All aircraft who sent messages have landed safely.
06.30 / A/C Away / Met not happy about weather this morning for return, Grave risk of snow and sleet. May not be clear before noon. We have told all Groups the situation and if any aircraft wish to return they are to check with Group first.
07.00 / R/432. / W/C McKay at Middle Wallop very anxious to return. OK’d by is at his own discretion
07.00 / Re A/C away / 25 Aircraft landed away and one 158 Sq aircraft from 4 Gp landed at Eastmoor.
07.00 / Re A/C Away / Central Flying Control told about all aircraft landed away.
0900 / Off duty [deleted] H L Sp [/deleted] F/L Cleland
On Duty – H.L Spencer P/O
1020 / A/C Away / Upon consultation with Met & Controller decided to have a/c return if able to take off by 1130 hrs, otherwise to contact us further. Stations informed & following instructions passed to F.C.O’s 5,10, 44, 2, 11, 19, 91 + 92 Groups:-
Aircraft to fly above cloud to base and to break cloud on own or Leeming Beam or use regular G.C.B. procedure.
[Page Break]
Lesham = is 2 Group Station.
[Page Break]
1040 / 433/Q / Authorisation given to 433 Sqn to fly crew to Bassingborne to pick to m/n aircraft
1120 / Bomber [underlined] Code D.F.C.O’s To Note [/underlined] / Effective 1-3-44 Daily Change time of Bomber code is to be 1700 hrs G.M.T. [signature]
1200 / A/C Away / F.C.O. at all Groups told to stand down our away aircraft until 1930 hrs, at which further check will be made to determine possibilities of their return tonight. If outlook at that time is still duff or obscure, crews are to stand by at 0800 hrs. when instructions will be issued definitely for return.
1440 / 425 Sqn A/C / S.A.S.O. authorised Sqn Halifax (not operational) to go to Little Harwood tomorrow to pick up crew of 425/E.
1600 / A/C away / Met predict snow, sleet & rain with deteriorating weather & front to negotiate. On consultation with Controller decision made to stand down these aircraft for today; crews to be standing by at 0800 hrs. 27-2-44, ready to take off pending final OK from 6 Group F.C. Crews to be warned they may be required for tomorrow night. Instructions passed to F.C.O’s of all Groups concerned.
1830 / Off duty H L Spence P/O
On duty W. A Warwick F/O.
0015 [deleted] 1215 [/deleted] / [underlined] D.F.C.O. [/underlined] / Wymans worries are over, at last a baby boy - 7lbs “is he ever happy
[underlined] SUNDAY FEB.27.1944 [/underlined]
0100 / Ident B’d. changed
0645 / MET. / Re. picture for return of our a/c. Weather very unfit & slim poss. for this noon Front lying South, with a CL Base 500-1000’ V tops 15,000 & another layer above icing mod. F/L very low near the deck.
[Page Break]
[Blank Page]
[Page Break]
Feb. 27/1944.
0730 / A/C AWAY / All Grp’s concerned notified re. weather at our bases & en-route & also definitely expressed that crews remain on the Stn. & to keep constantly in touch with F/C for immediate return. (if weather permits.)
09.00 / Off duty / W A Warwick F/O
On duty. / F D Cleland F/L
10.00 / A/C Away / Crews stood down today, to be ready to return tomorrow morning if possible.
10.00 / All Stations / busy with snow clearance.
10.50 / See [obscured text] 00.1[obscured text] 27/44 [Medal ribbon attached] / 1st Recco Report inaccurate – it is a baby girl! Get some recognition hours in, Sid. Two Cigars for that. The Mexicans have the same trouble at first too. They can’t tell the difference until they put them out in the sun – if they crack they’re girls – if they sprout they’re boys.
F/L Griffin also suggests that a recount should be made in view of possibility of error on numbers –
2130 / Accident to LW-389/420N LW-386/420A LW-381/425B. / Ex. F.C. 92 Group.
At 0955 hours today the brakes on LW.389 of 420 Sqn failed causing it to run backwards off its dispersal point and prang into both LW 381 & 386/420 Sqn. Extent of Damage as follows:
LW381/425 = Stbd wing tip
LW386/420 = Stbd Inner Prop.
LW389/420 = Port Elevator and outer hinge
Advised Base 62 [symbol]
S.F.C.O. [symbol]
Egmt [symbol]
G.A.I.O. [symbol]
S.A.SO
Controller. [symbol]
Engineering [symbol]
[symbol] No one was near these a/c when the accident occurred.
[Page Break]
[Blank Page]
[Page Break]
[underlined] Sunday February 27th 1944 [/underlined]
15.50 / Low Flying Report Bomber Plot B42Y. / From 9 ROC Posts P1 & P2 at 15.40 hrs Lancaster L/426 Squadron, bearing Squadron letters “OW”. Reported flying at 50 ft over Flamborough district. Traced to York where he climbed to 2000 ft. Pilot F/Sgt. Douglas. Reported by us to 62 Base and S.F.C.O. Controller and SASO. Being investigated by S/L Stanley.
16.30 / Sea Search G/426 / One Lanc. from Linton will unofficially search coast south of Flamborough. Passed to MLS as out at Flam. 17.00 and in at 17.30 – normal height. Took off 16.55 hrs.
16.58 / Harrow BJ/s / Landed Dishforth from Doncaster, Staying overnight.
1830. / Off duty F/L Cleland
On duty H.L Spencer P/O
1836 / Sea Search G/426 o/s K.Q.G. / Returned from Search. Reported sighting a dinghy on a bearing of 166° T from Bridlington Dock, distance 2 miles, at 1805 hrs. Flew as low as possible but sea was rough, and while there appeared to be something in the dinghy the Pilot did not believe it was personnel. A/C reported to Section H sighing of empty dinghy & gave approx. position calculated from D.R sums, as no “Gee” available in a/c. and asked for fix. There was electrical interference at the time, making W/T transmission & reception poor, but he sent his u/s several times with no reply from Pulham.
The above passed to F.C.L.O. 12 who state B.C. have 2 empty dinghies off this coast at position 5403N 0006W and 5259N 0018W, latter being 8 miles south of Wainfleet. The former position (5403N 0006W) coincides with bearing of 166° T from Bridlington Dock, distance 2 miles. Concurred with F.C.L.O. 12 Group that no action was required regarding this sighting.
[Page Break]
[underlined] Diversion Bases = Feb 28/29 [/underlined]
432
427 = Middle Wallop = 10 Grp
408 = Boscombe Down F.T.C thru 10 Grp
426 = Hurn = 10 Grp
420 = Ford = 11 Grp
425 = Ford = 11 Grp
433 = Tangmere = 11 Grp
424 = Tangmere = 11 Grp
[underlined] Visiting A/C [underlined]
Anson N/5166. P/O Eastmoor from Long Marston – Kinloss staying overnites.
[Page Break]
Monday, Feb 28/44
0001 / Ident Board changed
0700 / A/C Away / Met advised conditions at diverted stations to be fog and low cloud. En route weather should clear up rapidly, with 3-6/10ths cloud. well broken, freezing level 2-3000 ft. 6 Group Bases should be fit, but with occasional local snow showers. Conclusion:- Good chance of all a/c getting back as soon as it’s possible for them to take off. The front appears to have dispersed.
0830 / A/C Away / Instructions passed to F.C.O’s 11, 91, 92, 19, 1st U.S BD. to have all our a/c return to their bases at once.
0900 / Off duty H.L Spence
On duty W.A Warwick F/O
0945 / Goodwood on “Catfish”
0950 / Movement E-301 / Air Firing R.H.B. Whitby & Bombing at Strensall, Local F/A & Ht. test from 1000 – 1830.
1000 / C.F.C. / re. definite Diversion tonite require. 7 aerodromes in Southern aera as landfall Beachy Head & will be very pushed for petrol.
1230. / Balloons / Billingham Control:
2300 hrs. 0430 hrs
0030 hrs. 0600 hrs.
L.F.B. / Flamboro Head.
bearing – 270° (T)
0430 hrs.
0600 hrs.
1300 / Balloons / Weybridge, Langley.
[deleted] 2300 – 0030 [/deleted] scrubbed
Weybridge, Langley, Southampton, Northampton =
0530 – 0730
L.F.B. / Beachy Head – (320° T) = 0535
0635
[Page Break]
[Blank Page]
[Page Break]
Feb. 28’1944.
1600. / C.F.C. / Diversion Stns.. allotted & info. passed to Sqds. concerned.
1700. / 1664/M. / over an hour overdue, Action taken & found that A/C had landed at Warboys & staying overnite, no reason given for his staying overnite. Info. passed to 61 Base.
1710. [underlined] D.F.C.D NOTE [/underlined] / 61 Base / Re. A/C doing X/C & then proceeding out 30 miles from Flamboro Head to jett. bombs. His time might conflict with op. times A/C will orbit base & receive instructions on R/T on sanction from Grp F/C.
1830 / off watch F/O Warwick, W.A.
18.40 / All Ops scrubbed
18.45 / Landfall Beacons Balloons Diversion Bases } Scrubbed.
[underlined] Tuesday. February 29th 1944 [underlined]
01.00 / Ident Bd. changed.
02.00 / Last a/c / down in Group
09.00 / Off duty F.D Cleland F/L
On duty H L Spence P/O
1000 / 431/Y (O) Foulsham / S.A.S.O. authorised m/n aircraft to fly crew to Foulsham pick up aircraft.
1010 / 433/R / Authorised by S.A.S.O. to fly working crew & spare parts to Odiham, Hartford Bridge & Honeybourne.
1040 / 1664/P. / Authorized by S.A.S.O. to take parts & crew to Warboys for a/c landed there yesterday due to oil leaks & P.O.E U/S.
[Page Break]
1664/U – Crew O.K. & billeted in Hotel at Cardingham near Aberport [sic] told to report to F/C Aberport first thing in morning.
Advised of crashes 1664/U & 420 V.
Controller [symbols]
S.A.S.O. [symbols]
Air I on leave
G.T.D. [symbols]
[underlined] Crew List 420/V :- [/underlined]
Pilot R153784 F/S Hardy H.S Believed killed
Nav. J24011 F/O Henrick J Believed killed
A.G. R110817 Sgt Johnston,, L.G. Believed killed
B.A. R158319 Sgt Cummings R.E Believed killed
M.U.A.G. R163397 Sgt Nixon J.L. Believed killed
W.O.P. J26859 P/O James D.A. OK – baled out
F.E. 1288344 Sgt Willoughby D.H.C. OK – baled out
[Page Break]
1055 / G/420 to WING / SASO OK’s 420/G to Wing with spare parts.
62 Base advised T/O 11:30 hrs.
1120. / 1664 a/c Jett. / M.L.O. 12 authorized jettisoning at position 5422N 0200E.
62 Base Practice Bombing / M.L.O. 12 authorized dropping smoke floats & practice bombing thereon at pos. 5330N (no further south) 0210E.
1220 / 1664/a/c Jett. / M.L.O. 12 now OK pos. 5422N 0022E.
1225 / G/420 / Flight to Wing cancelled, Replaced by 420/K
1405 / Com. Flight Oxford / OK’d by S.A.S.O. to take parts to Middle Wallop for 432/A.
1600 / Com. Flight Oxford / Reserved for S/L’s Reason & Miller for 1015 hrs, 1-3-44; going to Woodhall Spa for the day.
1630 / [underlined] 1664/U [/underlined] Crash (LK-643 / Ex 61 Base – report from Aberporth – South Wales (No 70 Group)
a/c was coming in to land. P.O.E. was u/s; crash landed at 1440 hrs at Aberporth. Aircraft was damaged but crew are safe
1640 / [underlined] 420/V [/underlined] (LW-366) / Ex. 9 Group – Crashed at [deleted] E [/deleted] [inserted] A [/inserted] berystwyth (map ref. – VO. 0185) at 1510 hrs. 2 of crew baled out (W.O.P. & Engr.) others presumed to be killed a/c burned. 62 Base informed.
1830 / Off duty H L Spence P/O
On duty W.A. Warwick, F/O
1835 / 1666/T. / 61 Base report A/C T/JD. 386 as an hour overdue & wish to find out whether he had landed [deleted] E I [deleted] at any other drome.
1850 / F.C.L.O. 12. / Contacted re, any news of a crash etc, or A/C reported as landed. Route of A/C passed. Reports an A/C crashed near Elsham Wolds.
[underlined] 1666/T [/underlined] = (JD-386)
[underlined] Crew [/underlined]
PILOT = P/O Sigurdson J = ?(R=157133)Newlt [indecipherable word]
NAV = P/O Muskett G.L = J=26289
B/A = P/O Eaton J.B = J=28076.
WOP = F/S Healey J.M = R-96219.
R/G = Sgt. Zayets J. = R-124095.
m/u = Sgt. Wilf F E = R-192018
F/E = Sgt. Loughran R.T = 796421
“All above Killed”
To be Advised of Crashes = (overleaf)
420/V ( ) crew Killed but two.
1664/U – (LK-643) all crew OK
1666/T (JD-386) all Killed
Controller = [symbol]
SASO =
Air I =
G.T.J = [symbol]
Equip.
P-4 =
Com of Adjustment =
Acc. Invest. =
[Page Break]
[underlined] Mon. Feb. 29/43 [/underlined]
1850 / Cont’d’ / no reports whether a fighter 4 eng. ?
1855. / 1 Grp [underlined] (CRASH) [/underlined] / F/C contacted re. any news of crashed A/C & reports a 4 eng. bomber reported by N.F.S. Broughton & completely burned out. 1 Grp. dispatched Elsham Wolds. Fire tender & crash wagon. No. of A/C JD.386 & crew list of our A/C overdue, & also possible tie up re. X/C leg as last turning point before returning to base was Goole.
1900. / 1 Grp. [underlined] (CRASH) [/underlined] (1666/T [underlined] JD-386 [/underlined]) / Report it as definitely identifies by Eng. Off. Elsham Wolds as Hal II JD-386. also Elsham Wolds supplying guards.
1920 / 1 Grp. [underlined] (CRASH) [/underlined] (1666/T [underlined] JD-386 [/underlined]) / 1 Grp. have found a pay OK belonging to a W/O Healey J.M – R-96219.
1955 / 1 Grp. [underlined] (CRASH) [/underlined] (1666/T [underlined] JD-386 [/underlined]) / Crash approx. Ref. – 453301.
Bridge Farm near Village of Broughton. [deleted] All [/deleted] 3 bodies recovered but have not determined individual identification.
2030. / 1 Grp. [underlined] (CRASH) [/underlined] (1666/T [underlined] JD-386 [/underlined]) / Re. Crash report.
A bomb [inserted] [undecipherable word] “Laughton” from Scunthorpe Search lite Battery – no-103 S.L.B. on duty as Air Sentry observed an A/C dived out of cloud, (base about 3,000) making a terrific noise & doing a spiral dive to pose no visual signs of fire, & all engines going, & then hit the deck & burst into flames.
[Page Break]
[underlined] 16.30 hrs. Emergency Diversion Bases Mar 1st 1944 [/underlined]
– 432 Sq. 11 Hals. } To Wing 92 Gp.
– 433 Sq. 15 Hals. } To Wing 92 Gp.
– 424 Sq. 10 Hals. } to Westcott 92 Gp
– 420 Sq. 11 Hals. } to Westcott 92 Gp
– 425 Sq. 11 Hals. } to Thorney Island 16 Gp.
– 408 Sq. 13 Lancs. } to Thorney Island 16 Gp.
– 429 Sq. 16 Hals. } to Hurn. 10 Gp
– 428 Sq. 12 Hals. } to Hurn. 10 Gp
– 426 Sq. 18 Lancs. to Boscombe Down 10 Gp
[Page Break]
[underlined] Mon. Feb. 29/1944 [/underlined]
2035 / 432/V. / Calling Darky & presumed lost in 6 Grp, area, all Stns. advised & lit up in case A/C about had circled base & disappeared. Cloud base low but vis O.K.
2135 / 432/V. / Landed O.K. at base.
[underlined] Tuesday Mar 1, 1944 [/underlined]
0036 / All flying in Grp. has finished.
0100 / Ident Board changed.
0800 / [underlined] CRASH 1666/T (JD-386) [/underlined] / Contacted Elsham Wolds F/C re. last nights crash and only 3 bodies found & so mutilated they are unable to identify them. They have dispatched a party at daylight to search for rem. of crew. A/C seemed to hit the deck with a terrific force & the whole A/C went straight in as observes by S.L.B.
0900. / off Duty W.A Warwick F/O.
09.00 / On duty F.D. Cleland F/L.
10.30 / L.F.B. / Beachy Head. 310° T :- 05.25 – 06.25 hrs.
L.F.B / Selsey Bill 360° T – 0415 – 05.30 hrs.
Balloons / Billingham – close-hailed { [deleted] 22.15 – 2330 hrs [/deleted][inserted] 2130 – 2300 (Revised) [/inserted]
{ 05.30 – 07.30 hrs
Southampton } At 500 ft from 04.00 – 07.00 hrs
Portsmouth } At 500 ft from 04.00 – 07.00 hrs
Langley } At 500 ft from 04.00 – 07.00 hrs
Weybridge } At 500 ft from 04.00 – 07.00 hrs
16.00 / Cark A/C / 9 Group requests us to send BBA on Middleton D/F to all Cark A/C – call sign “KYZ”. They have been briefed to listen to M.S.G. while on flight.
16.50 / Cark A/C / Ex 12 Gp – Cark have diverted an Anson (one of the above) to Topcliffe – KYZ-N R.T. “Fingertip”.
[Page Break]
[blank page]
[page break]
[underlined] Wednesday March 1st 1944 [/underlined]
17.00 / [underlined] D.F.C.O. Note [/underlined] / During cold weather with risk of snow Central Flying Control would like a summarized report of aerodrome serviceability every morning about 08.30 hrs.
1830 / Off duty F/L Cleland
On duty H L Spencer P/O
1840. / KYZ-N / Landed at Leeming. Cark informed direct by Leeming. Learned of this landing from F.C.L.O 9 Group when checking for Topcliffe, to whom he had been diverted, but who had no contact with the A/C. In error 61 Base had previously reported this a/c as having landed and this information was passed through to 9 Group & further efforts to contact him were cancelled. 9 Group were quite annoyed (almost incensed in fact) because of the mistake. Fortunately the aircraft landed safely.
2140 / Balloons / Close-haul of Billingham balloons cancelled.
2300 / 420/Q / 62 Base reported this a/c having taken off on Ops. later, after Southdown had been informed, they stated it was an error. F.C. Tholthorpe only having assumed he had taken off whereas he was still taxying. Communication between Watch Office & A.C.P. was apparently practically U/S during take off, 5 times being passed to us after 2338 hrs, at which time we understood all who could take off had done so.
2340 / Red Glow S.E. of Linton & Tholthorpe / Both m/n stations reported having seen red glow for 30-40 seconds in the sky. F.C.L.O. 12 Group advised there had been a crash near Holme-on-Spalding, but nothing on our Group.
[Page Break]
[blank page]
[page break]
Thursday. March 2, 1944.
0001 / Ident Board changed.
0230 / Hostiles 10 Gr / C.F.C advise these to be in vicinity of Bournemouth at the moment. Balloons now flying at 6,500 feet.
0300 – 0330 / S.O.S. A28K (420/R?) (425/W? [symbol] (425/J?) / Ex 12 Gr. m/n was plotted out at Filey & over to Dutch coast & back, then west overland; then south; turned north towards, Wombleton; then over Dishforth; south to Manston Moor; turned north up to Tholthorpe and finally landed there. 62 & 61 Bases Stations were lit up to render assistance At the same time Tholthorpe had 2 & R’s on R/T but no contact with 3rd aircraft. Finally 3rd a/c came up and reported navigator trouble all 3 landed – 420/R at 0315; 435/J at 0323 and 425/W at 0326.
Controller 12 Group say the aircraft went out from Flamborough due east [deleted] for approx. 120 miles [/deleted] at 20,000 ft crossed Dutch coast at Terschelliag where he seemed to fade. Believe he turned south & then back north for he was picked up again 40 minutes later coming back & showing broad S.F.F. When about 30 miles off English coast he was showing ordinary I.F.F. Beacon at Flamborough was lit for him as well as aerodrome to South [inserted] Lisset & [indecipherable word]) [/inserted]. Finally came in at Flamborough, over to Lissett where he circled, following which he stooged off into the 6 Group area & was plotted by R.Q.C. to Tholthorpe as noted above.
62 Base requested to pass us the full story on this. 420/R was a/c which reported “Navigator trouble” [inserted] (See entry 0550). Both 425/N & J had previously been in contact with Southampton. Controller at 12 Group wishes Pilot’s story.
N.B. / Quite some delay was experienced in getting 61 Base & Leeming Ops. [deleted] on [/deleted] [inserted] to answer [/inserted] their switchboard at the time the above “flap” was on
[Page Break]
[blank page]
[page break]
0550 / S.O.S. A28K / Ref. Entry 0300 :- Tholthorpe now declare 425/J is a/c who had navigation trouble. They also state definitely neither 420/R nor 425/J showed broad I.F.F nor were they on the route outlined 425/J did some stooging between Fleet & Beachy Head to consume petrol.
0630 / S.O.S A28K / Tholthorpe report crew of 425/W state they went from base to Peterborough, has compass trouble and made a rough D.R. when they encountered predictor flak, fixed their position as 5100N 0230E. They turned back & flew to 5125N 0120E then by the north Star to 5330N 0000E; thence to base by way of Leeming. They definitely state they did not make landfall at Flamborough Head.
0650. / Leeming Pundit / Reported U/S
0845 / Diversions / C.F.C. put in the picture re. our A/C away from Base.
All A/C away from Base told to refuel and get to base as soon as possible. Groups confirm they are being hustled home.
0900 / Summary of Ops / Broadcast to Stations.
0900 / Aerodromes / O.K. expect Leeming which has ice on runway until 1100 hrs C.F.C. advised.
Off Duty H.L. Spencer F/O.
On Duty. W.A. Warwick F/O.
[underlined] Continued in new log. [/underlined]
Dublin Core
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Title
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Flying Control Log Book
Description
An account of the resource
A record of events and their times for the period 26 January to 2 March 1944 (72 pages).
Format
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72 handwritten pages
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
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MCothliffKB[Ser#-DoB]-151020-120004
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
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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.
Date
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1944
Temporal Coverage
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1944-01
1944-02
1944-03
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
Contributor
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Claire Monk
RAF Tholthorpe
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1612/24525/MCothliffKB[Ser -DoB]-151020-13-01.pdf
b7dec0ab567900caf1926b0c0d8ee57c
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1612/24525/MCothliffKB[Ser -DoB]-151020-13-02.pdf
29223c98c34923dee6a7e4be26213561
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Cothliff, Ken. Tholthorpe Logs
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. The collection contains flying control log books from RAF Tholthorpe.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Cothliff and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
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Cothliff, K
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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[Underlined] LK 963. [/underlined]
[Underlined] CONTROL OFFICER’S LOG [/underlined]
[Underlined] JULY 1ST – 1943 [/underlined]
[Page break]
A.R.P. Controller – Telephone Easingwold 288
Local Police – Helperby 213
Local A.R.P. – Mr. Webster – Main Street Tholthorpe
CLERK OF WORKS EXT. 8 OR 12-1
[Page break]
This log is to be kept daily by the D.F.C.O. It should contain all events of importance. Times of occurrences must in all cases be noted. An effort should be made to write clearly and concisely. As this type of scribbler is the only thing available for log keeping, special care will have to be taken, so that our diary remains neat and tidy.
H.G. Austin F/L.
Dear Diary:- You should have been opened on the day our party of five arrived, namely June 19TH. But you were unobtainable from an Orderly Room which then didn’t exist. Today, July 5TH you were born, thanks to F/O Hancock, the Met. Officer, on the promise of the return of your twin, should we ever get same and remember.
Tholthorpe has grown gradually. The days events since June 19TH have consisted of work, more work & bl-- little sleep. Sunday June 20TH, was a Red letter day, for at 1345 hours an ANSON EG120 was the first aircraft to land. The next few days saw the first four Halifaxes make their appearance. The balance of the time has been industriously spent preparing equipment and offices. In cases where much-needed articles were not obtainable, they have been scrounged, borrowed or built from materials which appeared suddenly on the horizon. Much work remains to be done. Much work will be done. You, Dear Diary, will record from this day, all the main events of R.C.A.F. Tholthorpe, its happenings, its operations and its – Well, you can tell the rest:-
[Page break]
[Underlined] Tuesday – 6TH July 1943. [/underlined]
1415 The first Squadron a/c O 434 (F/L Lytel) took off.
[Underlined] Wednesday 7TH July 1943 [/underlined]
Flying all day. Sgt Bowker & Lac Stubbs (U/T A.F.C.) and Lac Mount A of W. arrived for duty.
[Underlined] Thursday 8TH July 1943. [/underlined]
Some flying.
[Underlined] Friday 9 TH July 1943 [/underlined]
Quiet. LAC Hanley arrived for pre-FCO instruction.
[Underlined] Saturday 10TH July 1943 [/underlined]
Quiet.
[Underlined] Sunday 11TH July 1943 [/underlined]
Six new aircraft arrived during afternoon.
[Underlined] Monday 12TH July 1943 [/underlined]
One new aircraft landed. Some squadron flying also two visiting a/c who were lost.
[Underlined] Tuesday 13TH July 1943. [/underlined]
One new aircraft landed. Local flying.
[Underlined] Wednesday 14TH July 1943 [/underlined]
Quiet day
[Underlined] Thursday 15TH July 1943 [/underlined]
Quiet day
[Underlined] Friday 16TH 1943 [/underlined]
Bags of fighter affiliation
[Underlined] Saturday 17TH July 1943 [/underlined]
Some local flying. Tiger Moth landed on grass. Reported surface O.K.
[Underlined] Sunday 18TH July 1943 [/underlined]
Some local flying. Sgts. Abbott, Tidmarsh and Shacklady arrived for A.F.C. duties post course Watchfield.
[Underlined] Monday 19TH July 1943 [/underlined]
Quiet day.
[Underlined] Tuesday 20TH July 1943. [/underlined]
Two more new aircraft. Some flying.
[Underlined] Wednesday 21st July 1943 [/underlined]
Six aircraft on local flying. Biggest effort so far.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Thursday 22nd July 1943 [/underlined]
Tiger Moth (T7737) allotted to station. F/O Taylor arrived from Linton on attachment.
[Underlined] Friday 23rd July 1943 [/underlined]
Biggest day so far. Seven a/c up on local flying Five new a/c arrived during afternoon.
1758 First a/c off on practice operation. Eleventh off 1810.
1915 Eleventh & last a/c [deleted] off [/deleted] landed. Average time 2 mins 05 secs.
[Underlined] Saturday 24TH July 1943 [/underlined]
Air-to-air firing, x-countries and one new aircraft caused an interesting day. N 434 landed at Pershore with engine trouble.
[Underlined] Sunday 25TH July 1943 [/underlined]
More x-countries. W 434 went to Pershore to take ground crew to repair N & went U/S too.
1425 Report of a crashed aircraft SE of us received from Linton. Later proved to be one of Topcliffe’s. (Crew all killed.)
2252 T 434 off on X country
2255 A 434 off on X country
2257 E 434 off on X country
2315 F 434 started C’s & B’s. First landing at night made at 2325.
2336 F 434 finished C’s & B’s.
0029 T 434 finished X country. Overshot twice
0033 E 434 finished X country. No R/T.
0047 A434 finished X country. Overshot twice. (Bags more grey hairs
[Underlined] Monday 26TH July 1943. [/underlined]
1448 N 434 returned from Pershore.
2253 U434 started C’s & B’s. Flarepath No 24.
2257 D434 started C’s & B’s.
0109 U 434 finished night flying.
0123 D434 finished night flying.
[Underlined] Tuesday 27th July 1943 [/underlined]
1320 W 434 arrived back from Pershore.
2 A/C on X-countrys. 1 on Bombing & 1 on height test (21,000’ easy)
17.45 V. F/O. Hanson landed from Middleton as he could not get his [missing words] after take-off. A/Cr. O.K. so returned immediately [obscured words] Documents CD209-No125. CD0261-No1525 and CD260-No [obscured words]
[Page break]
[Underlined] Wednesday 28TH July 1943 [/underlined]
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch – Runway 28
1315 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Runway 10.
1520 Runway changed to No.24.
1715 All flying finished. Watch closed.
[Underlined] Thursday 29TH July 1943 [/underlined]
0845 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Runway 28.
13:00 F/O Taylor on Watch – Runway 28.
1806 Day flying finished = 4 on Cross Country tonight.
1930 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Gooseneck & glim lamp flarepath laid
2152 T 434 off on night X-country.
2154 D 434 off on night X-country.
2202 E 434 off on night X-country.
2203 S 434 off on night X-country.
[Underlined] Friday 30TH July 1943. [/underlined]
0057 T 434 landed from X-country. Base informed
0108 D 434 landed from X-country. Base informed
0141 S 434 landed from X-country. Base informed
0150 E 434 landed from X-country. Base informed
0900 F/O Taylor on watch. Runway 28 = Wind – Light & Variable.
1315 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Runway 10 = QAN – E’ ly light.
1930 F/O Taylor on watch = Runway 10 Gooseneck & glim flarepath.
2125 A.V.M. Brooks landed in Phoenix & left again for Linton.
2232-2236. D, G, U, & O. off on Bullseye.
2259. E. took off for Bombing at Strensall.
[Underlined] Saturday 31st July 1943. [/underlined]
0023 E returned from Bombing & carried on C & B. till 0109.
0157 G landed after doing one overshoot.
0220 O landed after doing two overshoot.
0230 D not shown up, started chasing base.
0234 2nd class fix on Hull, acknowledged 54°49N. 03°02W.
0248 2nd class fix on Hull acknowledged 54°38N. 02°47W.
0254 2nd class fix on Hull acknowledged 54°27N 02°33W.
0310 An A/C passed over from NW heading SE. Put out a call for Ragman D but received no answer.
0330 Ex=Base= Group working on it.
Ex=Base= Group say R.O.C. plotted him over Linton at 03.00
[Page break]
0420 Base advise D/434 landed at [underlined] Cork [/underlined] Radio U/S No landing time given. = Search light recalled. Flare-path doused. R/T off.
0900 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Runway 16 – QAN SE’ly 10+ mp.h.
1313 D 434 returned from Cork.
1315 F/O Taylor on Watch – Runway 16 – QAN SE’ly. 15+ mph. A flt advise D landed Cork at 03.30.
1830 All day flying finished – Watch Closed.
[Underlined] Sunday 1st August. [/underlined]
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch. - #24. Runway = SW ly. S
1300 F/L Austin on Watch.
1530 Runway changed to No. 16 – Varying S by E to SE – gusty.
2000 F/O Taylor on Watch. = Runway 24 = Gooseneck & glim flarepath
2226-2303. P. O. C. & A. took off for night bombing exercise.
2333. O landed O.K. followed by P, C. & A. (Searchlight U/S)
[Underlined] Monday 2nd August. [/underlined]
0006 2 flares seen to the West: probably mortars.
0900 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Runway 24 – S-SW 20-25 MPH. Monthly report for July forwarded to G/C.
1135 Runway changed to No. 28 - QAN – WSW to W’ly.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1600 4 A/C on A/S/Rescue. ETD. 17:00 hrs. E.T.A. 19:38
1705 L/434 off on A/S./R. Landed 20:11
1715 U/434 off on A/S.R. Landed 19:58
1721 O/434 off on A/S/R
1743 G/434 off on A/S/R.
1958 U/434 landed from A/S/R.
2011 L/434 landed from A/S/R.
2139 G/434 landed from A/S/R.
2144 O/434 landed from A/S/R.
F/Lt Austin on Duty.
2221 T/434 off on Night Bombing
2228 V/434 off on Night Bombing
2338 T/434 Landed from Night Bombing
2347 V/434 landed from Night Bombing.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Tuesday August 3rd, 1943. [/underlined]
0900 F/O Taylor on watch. Runway 34. QAN WNW-N-W. 8-10 backing.
1052 W/Co Newsome took off in B. = First 431 A/Cr to go up.
12.45 Changing runway to 28. Wind light mainly W.ly.
1300 F/Lt Austin on Watch.
8 A/Cr for Bulls-eye tonight. ETD. 22:15. ETA. 01:56.
2000 F/O Taylor on Watch. Wind forecast Easterly No 10 flarepath laid.
2221 D – 1st A/Cr off. QFE = 1011.
2230 7th A/Cr off. S failed to go. = Undercarriage trouble
2245 D – landed. = returned with “Gyro” trouble.
[Underlined] Wednesday 4th August 1943. [/underlined]
0221 F landed from Bullseye.
0226 T landed from Bullseye.
0235 G. did an overshoot; after failing to line-up on first attempt.
0239 U landed from Bullseye.
0242 P did an overshoot.
0245 G did another overshoot.
0250 E landed from Bullseye.
0250 P & G diverted to Linton.
0304 P & G re-diverted to East Moor.
0318 G Landed at East Moor.
0325 P landed at East Moor.
0330 Three a/c are detailed for Air Sea Rescue at 0615 hrs.
0530 Time of takeoff for A.S.R. postponed to 0900 hrs.
0900 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Runway 28 N W’ly under 5 MPH.
0920 F 434 off on A.S.R.
0930 T 434 off on A.S.R. V 434 scrubbed –(mag drop)
1228 T 434 landed from A.S.R.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1316 F 434 landed from. A.S.R.
1330 Runway changed to 10. Wind light but mainly Easterly.
1533. G 434 returned from East Moor = left there 15:11
1656 P 434 returned East Moor left there 16:40
[Underlined] Thursday, 5th August 1943 [/underlined]
0900 F/O Taylor on watch.
1020 Group stand down tonight
1020 Runway 10: E to ESE. 5-10. mph.
[Page break]
[Deleted] Wednesday [/deleted] Tuesday 10TH August 1943 (Continued)
0900 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Runway 10 QAN SE’s – under 5 MPH.
1145 Eight a/c for tonight.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1445 Runway changed to 24. QAN. S – SW. 5-10 mph.
1930 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Runway 28
1950 Scrubbed. – Aircraft unable to be ready in time.
[Underlined] Wednesday 11 August 1943. [/underlined]
0900 F/O Taylor in Watch.
Halifax E-NA 428 Sqdn. (EB210.) (F/S Newton) landed here about 0600 hrs. on 2 motors. ? short of petrol. Crew were taken over to Linton.
10.00 Not required tonight.
Further note re: above Halifax = Linton had given him “Pancake.” After he had landed they heard him very faintly asking where to disperse. Called our exchange operator, who marshalled A/Cr in front of W/O. Linton sent transport over for crew.
1300 F/Lt Austin on Watch - Runway 34 QAN NW’ly 10+ MP.H.
1526 E/428 left for Middleton St. George.
[Underlined] Thursday 12TH August 1943. [/underlined]
0900 F/Lt Auston on Watch. Runway 28 – W’ly light.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
10 A/Cr for tonight
1500 F/O Stephenson and P/O Lister reported for Flying Control Officer duties.
2000 F/Lt Austin on Watch.
2115 [Underlined] First a/c V434 (F/O Tyler) off on operations. [/underlined] 1st OP.
2128 Tenth & last a/c airborne. (A couple of phews.)
[Underlined] Friday 13TH August 1943. [/underlined]
0046 P 434 returned early. Overload tank U/S.
0305 Runway changed to No. 16 – QAN – SSE’ly 5-10 MPH. Wind strengthening.
0459 Base advise E434 is landing at Boscombe Down short of petrol & engine U/S.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Friday 13TH August (Continued [/underlined]
0515 Runway changed to No. 10 QAN SSE under 5 M.P.H.
0525 E434 landed at Middle Wallop. Short of Petrol – Port outer U/S.
0550 M434 landed at West Malling. Short of Petrol – (O.K.)
0600 R434 landed at Middle Wallop. Short of Petrol – Engine U/S
0615 G434 landed at Great Ashfield. Short of Petrol – (O.K.)
0650 T434 landed at Sherburn-in-Elmet – Short of Petrol – (O.K.)
0739 Ops-Int – inform L434 landed at Ford at 0615.
Three a/c returned to base. All o.k.
(What a night – definitely Friday 13TH).
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch. Runway 28.
09:44 T434 landed from Sherburn-in-Elmet = Left there 0920
10:30 Ex. Int. Not required tonight.
12:18 L 434 landed from Ford = left there [deleted] 12:18 [/deleted] 10:51.
13:00 Runway 24. Wind SW-S.SW- 10mph.
15:21 M. landed from West Malling.
1545 Runway 28. Wind WSW-W – 15mph.
1651 G. landed from Great Ashfield.
1842 R landed from Middle Wallop. Left there 17:25.
A/C Wolfe attached from Linton for pre-Flying Control course duties.
[Underlined] Saturday 14TH August 1943 [/underlined]
0900 F/O Stephenson on duty – Runway 28 – QAN – W’ly 10+
0943 Ambulance despatched to D434. Accident occurred. Reported by R/T. Some person with broken ankle.
1005 Stand down tonight.
1047 Spitfire P7613 landed from [deleted] Dalton [/deleted] Rufforth S/L Lashbrook.
1048 W 434 sqd. off on F/A and B exercise.
1055 Workman crossed in front of Spitfire whilst he was touching down on R/W. Report made by Pilot.
1059. P 434 sqd. airborne on air test.
1107 X 434 sqd. airborne F/A and B exercise.
1144 P 434 Sqd. landed from exercise.
1149 W 434 Sqd. landed from exercise.
13.00. On duty Lister P/O. Off duty F/O. Stephenson.
15.25 Linton ‘phoned “Can we take one of their a/c. They have a prang on runway. O.K. Two a/c. V426 & J426 landed here, Linton sent a crew to de-bomb “V”.
[Page break]
1630 F/O Stephenson on duty. P/O Lister off duty.
1653 R 426 sqd Linton landed here debombed.
[Underlined] Sunday 15th August, 1943. [/underlined]
09.00 On duty Lister P/O. Runways and perimeter tracks inspected. O.K.
09.20 Secret and Confidential documents checked. C.D.260. C.D.209 S.D.110. C.D.0261. A.P.3024.
10.10 We are not required to-night. Ex Int.
10.50. We are required for 6 Bullseyes to-night. Ex Int. Further information when available.
13:00 F/O Taylor on Watch.
16.45. Off duty F/O Taylor. On duty Lister P/O.
18.00 Inspected Runways, perimeter tracks and dispersals & found all O.K.
1900 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Runway 28.
2000 Bullseye scrubbed. Possible cross country same route.
2025 Cross country same route as Bullseye. F scrubbed.
2030 Cross country scrubbed.
20.36. Definitely scrubbed. Ex Int. Flarepath called in.
Monday 16th August 1943.
0900 F/O Stephenson on duty.
Wind light and easterly. R/W 10 in use.
0930. Aerodrome inspected. O.K.
1000 Stand down to-night.
1110 Wind light and now S. Westerly R/W 28 in use.
1500 M.U.A. Halifaxes from Topcliffe landed here. Thunder storm over Topcliffe & Dalton. Put in here till it passes.
1640 Guard Room called us for ambulance. Ambulance proceeding to #2 hanger. Will establish the call and accident.
1715 Ambulance reported back. Had picked up airman, who had fallen off ladder, & took him to M.I. Bldg. M.O. attending him.
1812 All three Halifaxes returned to Topcliffe.
[Underlined] Tuesday 17th August, 1943. [/underlined]
09.00 On duty Lister P/O. Runway 10 in use. QAN E-SE.
09.30. Inspected Runways and perimeter tracks, dispersals. All O.K.
[Page break]
09.35 Checked Secret and confidential documents. AP3024. C.D.0261. SD0110. C.D.260.209.
10.50. We are required for 10 aircraft to-night. Ex Int.
1445. Main Briefing 19.00 hrs. Ex Int. C/S. Q3J
16.10. Aircraft over York with R/T on “send”. Any amount of “careless talk.” Position of Royal Ordnance factory 280° from York, making truck parts. York a small town with tremendous marshalling yards. Proceeds with instruction of a pupil on how the aircraft flies, etc. Pilot’s name, apparently is “Cliff.” A conversion unit aircraft. Passed gen on to Linton who have contacted Group.
16.30 Halifax aircraft GV-T passed over here with R/T on transmit heard pilot say to pupil “O.K. She’s all yours now.” S.D.110. gives this aircraft as 1652. Conversion Unit.
1930 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Flarepath laid on No. 10.
19.30 ETD. 21.15. ETA 04:24hrs.
20.50. “W” scrubbed “U” substituted – leak in overload tank.
21.12 “P” 434 First a/c. airborne. 10th & last a/c. airborne “U”. 21.24 hrs. QAN E. R/W. 10.
2124 Tenth & last a/c off on operations. Average time – 1 1/5 minutes
23.09 “Darky” Call received from “Downpit” Yoke. Answered by Linton [deleted] and [/deleted] who gave permission to land. Strength 5. Starboard engine trouble.
23.12. Tripod “X” called Linton for permission to land. Given O.K. as “Downpit” “Y” was at 7,000ft. Instead of circling Linton, “Downpit” [deleted] us [/deleted] circled us. Linton lost touch with “Tripod” X, but eventually managed to land him.
23.31. Unknown aircraft given green to land here. [Underlined] Landed at 23.39. [/underlined]
23.45. Despatched our van to “U”’s dispersal who discovered that the above named aircraft was 434/U who had returned with his electrical system U/S.
2355 A.R.M. Purple.
00.10. A.R.M. Red. [Underlined] Wednesday 18TH August 1943 [/underlined]
0059 A.R.M. White.
0312 Base advise that 6 Group have diverted our a/c to Newmarket (3 Group) on last broadcast.
0442 D434 landed Newmarket
0452 L 434 landed base.
0455 F 434 landed base
0458 C 434 landed Newmarket
0504 S 434 landed Newmarket.
[Page break]
0517 P 434 landed West Wickham.
0630 Contacted Newmarket & instructed C, D & S. aircraft to return.
0715 Contacted West Wickham & instructed P 434 to return.
0800 Nothing heard of G (Sgt Johnston), M (F/O Colquhoun) or T (F/S Piper).
0828 D434 landed from Newmarket. = Left there 07:28
0830 On Watch F/O Taylor & F/O Stephenson.
0847 P-434 landed from West Wickham.
0858 C-434 landed from Newmarket. Left there 07:39
0905 Base – QDM. 011° to S-434 at 0853.
0920 S-434 landed from Newmarket. Left there 08:00
0940 Standown To night.
1000 Runway 28. QAN. SW-Wly 5-10 mph.
[Underlined] Thursday 19th August, 1943. [/underlined]
09.00 On duty Lister P/O.
0935 Inspected Runways and Perimeter tracks. Picked up two bricks dropped by contractors.
09.40 Runway in use – No. 24. QAN [deleted] NE- [/deleted] SW’ly 5-10
10.50. We are required for 12 aircraft to-night. Ex Int.
1300 F/Lt Auston on Watch.
16.45 On duty Lister P/O.
16.56 Ops scrubbed. Ex Int.
17.22 Master II A/B for Digby. G/C McNab aboard. Signalled. S/Ldr Bartlett, pilot.
18.40. Office locked up. Off duty Lister P/O.
Friday 20th August 1943
0900 F/O Stephenson F/O Taylor on duty. Runway 16.QAN SE. 10.
0915 Met forecast of winds increasing to 35 M.P.H.
1012 Possible Bulls Eye to-night.
1420 Bulls Eye – 6 a/c 434 sqd. – 2300-0500 A/C to marshal for take off.
1530 Tunnels & Flare paths on 16-34 now serviceable.
1545 R/W 24 in use Wind S. Westerly.
1625 Bulls eyes scrubbed.
[Page break]
Drem lights on Runways 16-34 and respective funnels now in operation.
[Underlined] Saturday 21st August 1943. [/underlined]
0900 F/L Austin & P/O Lister on Watch Runway 16 –
1010 Stand down tonight.
Note:- A notebook with local F.C. instructions is now in the small drawer. All Control officers will read & initial each order. This book should be consulted when first signing on Watch in case new instructions have been made.
Note 2:- A Suggestion book is also available. Officers are encouraged to write in this book any suggestion that will improve our office or its operation.
1415 Runway changed to No. 24 QAN – SW’ly – 5-15MPH.
[Underlined] Sunday 22nd August 1943 [/underlined]
0900 F/O Taylor, F/O Stephenson on duty. Q.A.N southerly 5-10 R/W 16 in use.
1015 12 A/Cr for tonight. Briefing 18:00 hrs.
1045 Runway changed to 24. QAN. WSW. 5-10.
1800. Take-off time 21:10 – ETA. 0235 C/S DM8.
2000. Runway 28. = with goosenecks 1st 6. & 12th.
2110 =2129 12 A/C 434 airborne on “Ops”. L replaced A. Mag Drop. D replaced N. inter-com u/s.
2200. A/Cr circling us. Heard Linton give their T. pancake. Contacted then & this A/Cr proved to be theirs, & they called him home.
23:52. Fix on D 434. Hull. 1st class 5235N 0038E 23:36.
[Underlined] Monday 23rd August 1943 [/underlined]
0001 Another Fix D434. Hull 2nd class. Ack. 52.08N 0003W. 23:39.
Fix on D 434 Hull. 3rd class 52°36N 0115E. 23:57
[Page break]
0010 Base request all lights turned on a/c about 20 mls N.W. – S.O.S.
All we have are on.
0020 Int. – D for Dog – [indecipherable] U/S.
0053 D 434. Landed OK = with load.
0101 O 434 landed OK. = [Deleted] Did [/deleted] Asked for a rt-handed circuit. = No Nav lights.
0202 U/434 1st A/Cr up on R/T.
0239 C/434 landed, All but V & P now safely back.
0245 C/434 called for help, bomb container dropped on Runway.
0255 A.F.C. reports Incendiaries on Runway; advised Int, who are passing this on to Armament Officer.
0249 QDY to V/434
0259 V/434 up on R/T. Had to stand-by till Runway clear.
0315 V/434 given Pancake. Did one overshoot due to u/c trouble.
0327 V/434 landed OK. – Turned him back runway to his own dispersal.
0430 Nothing from P 434. = Flare-path doused.
0900 On duty Lister P/O. Runway 28 QAN SWly.
10.00. Inspected Runways and Perimeter tracks, dispersals. O.K.
10.05. We are required for to-night – perhaps 11 aircraft. Ex Int.
1300 F/L Austin on Watch. Runway 24.
1549 Third a/c landed from Leeming. (AL/K JD164, AL/X JB967 & AL/O JD273 borrowed)
1632 Main briefing 1800 hrs.
1655 Runway changed to 28.
18.28 Be prepared for take-off at 20.00 hrs.
18.55. Runways Perimeter Tracks and Dispersals inspected.
2024 First a/c off on operations.
2047 Twelfth & last a/c off on operations. X, U, O, and S scrubbed
2217 L 434 returned early – artificial horizon U/S.
2309 K 434 returned early – Severe icing – Unable to climb.
2326 K 434 returned early – Intercomm U/S
2331 D 434 returned early – Engine trouble.
[Underlined] Tuesday 24TH August 1943 [/underlined]
0020 Phoned Base to determine if any further word had been received on X’ 434 – (Fix at 2250 hrs.) Nothing heard.
[Page break]
0042 Fix on X’434 now identified as having been obtained by K’434.
0054 X’434 returned early (From where or who got the fix I don’t [sic] know.)
0119 Base informed C434 landed Coltishall at 2310 with engine trouble
0419 Fifth & last a/c landed. V434 (S/L McLernon) missing.
0515 Visibility 1500 yds. Arranged with base to land V at Linton should it come.
0530 Flarepath doused.
[Deleted] Wednesday 25th August 1943. [/deleted]
0900 F/O Stephenson & F/O Taylor on duty.
[Deleted] 0 [/deleted] R/W 28 in use. Q.A.N. very light.
0920 Runways etc inspected.
1015 Standown to-night.
1130 O/431 while taxying towards runway, went off track near No 2 hanger, over a tree stump & damaged undercarriage. Resident engineer checking on stump.
1430 R/W 10 in use now. QAN Light Easterly.
1552 431 Sqd. A. landed with 3 motors. No R/T Green light given.
[Underlined] Wednesday 25th August, 1943. [/underlined]
09.00 On Duty Lister P/O Runway 10. QAN. E-ly. Changed to R.16.
1010 Not required tonight.
10.20 Inspected Runways & Perimeter Tracks. Perimeter tracks getting stony.
1035 Phoned base re a Spitfire which flew northerly after flying low over our aerodrome during rainstorm.
[Deleted] 1055 We are required to-night [/deleted]
Thursday 26th August 1943.
0900 F/O Stephenson & F/O Taylor on duty
0910 R/W in use Wind Northerly very light
[Page break]
0930 R/Ws & Perimeter Track inspected
1055 We are required to-night.
1130 Runway changed to 16, QAN SSE. -5-10
1135 Ops cancelled.
1147 X/AL returned to Leeming.
1200 SD.229 Copy No 1069. received from Cypher Officer.
[Underlined] Friday 27th August 1943 [/underlined] CIV
0900 F/L Austin & P/O Lister on Watch – Runway 28.
09.25. Inspected Runways, Dispersals & Perimeter tracks O.K.
10.15 We are required to-night. Ex Int. 10/A/C.
1020 Linton base phoned to see if we could take six Lancasters for C’s & B’s this morning. Otiss A, E, F, G, S and T.
19.45. Inspected Runways, Perimeter tracks & Dispersals. All O.K.
2030 Runway 28 laid.
20.45 No.5. drem-light u/s. Stbd side. 28 R/W.
20.54 First aircraft off on ops.
21.10 Last a/c. off on ops. Average take off time:- 1 min 6 secs per aircraft.
21.25 Phoned Linton re u/s Fire Tender. Unable to take any Crash Action.
23.36. Fix on W/434. 52°41”N. 01°29”E. E.T.A. 00.40.
[Underlined] Saturday 28th August, 1942. [/underlined]
00.54. W/434 returned early.
0513 – First a/c landed from ops.
0538 – Last a/c landed. X434 (SGT THOULD) missing.
0830 On Watch F/O Taylor.
0851 D/434 landed from Ford. No warning. – Raining, viz about 1500 yds. (Left there 0730)
0930 Phoned Clerk of Works re u/s Drem light. #28. Fire laddie reports MT section sending u/s Fire Tender to Linton, trying to get a replacement.
1013 B/434 landed from Ford. No warning. Still raining, viz about 1500 yds. Rushed out 4 money flares, contacted base, to have Linton beacon & contact strip available. (Left Ford 08:44)
1023 Not required tonight.
1045 No 28 Drem now all OK.
1212 Capt. Francis A.T.A. landed in Anson. After conferring with Met. took off for Sherburn 12.54
1600 Switch Board now in operation; 2 PBX lines. 1 lie line to base. Extensions 1 to G/C. 3- F/C. 6 Int. 7 Met. 8 O/C 434.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Note:- [//underlined] Effective 0900 hours 29TH Aug 43 the Control officers & staff will observe a 24-hour watch. The hours of duty shall be from 0830-1300 hours; 1300-1900 hours; 1900-0830 hours Whenever possible the hours of duty for staff personnel will observe similar times but variation may be permitted when there is little flying.
[Underlined] Sunday 29th August, 1943. [/underlined]
09.00 Lister P/O. On duty Runway No. 28.
10.00. Stand Down to-night.
11.10 L/434 has large cut in tyre. Passed to 434 Eng. O. and asked him to ring Silverstone
1225 Silverstone advise Engineer two engines on L need checking.
1236 Money flares sent out to assist K434 landing.
1247 K434 landed from Tangmere.
14.45. Runway 24 in use.
[Underlined] Monday 20th August, 1943. [/underlined]
0830 On Watch F/O Taylor. F/O Stephenson.
Runway 28. QAN. WSW. 15-20 mph, veering Wly 15-20. Gusty.
0945 Contacted S.L.E. & S.L.A. re Accommodation for Duty Crew. 9 men reported here from 431 sqdn for week Aug 30 – Sept 5.
1000 Required for tonight. – 9 A/Cr.
1040 Contacted Silverstone for F/L Thomson, instructing L/434 to return just as soon as possible.
1500 Briefing 2100 hrs.
2000 Flarepath & taxying track laid for Runway 28.
2115 Funnel lights 28 & 10 u/s. Reported to Works & Bricks.
2200 Funel [sic] lights now OK.
2343 Everything in readiness for take off.
2348 K/434 off on operations.
2357 O/434 7th A/Cr. off on operations.
2358 A.F.C. reports D. taxied into tail end of U.; U apparently had not moved from point where he was marshalled. – Nobody hurt.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Tuesday 31st August 1943. [/underlined]
0100 D piled up on top of U. Will not be removed till morning. Now 130 yards from main runway. Trying to debomb U. Cannot do D. Base have been kept informed of this.
0135 An A/Cr flew down our goose-neck flare patch. Heard Linton giving Pancake to their E, so phoned them about this one. After another run at our flarepath ACP gave him a Rad & he headed for Linton.
0420 Ex Base. N/434 has identified on MF/DF.
0431 A/434 first A/Cr. landed safely.
0500 Ex Base. O/434 landed at Ford. [Inserted] 04.25 Flt. Engineer Wounded.
0545 Nothing heard from K/434. Quite light now so gathering up flarepath equip.
0640 Ex Group. re O/434 at Ford. Badly shot up with flak. Holes in wings. F/E not seriously wounded. Pilot says engines are ropey & doubts that he will be able to return today.
0645 Ford phoned “O/434 did attack primary target. Hit by cannon shell & flak. F/E not seriously wounded, but in hospital for observation.”
09.00 On duty Lister P/O. Runway 28.
10.15 We are required to-night.
10.37 Ordered 434/B to return to dispersal on authority of Group & Sqdn. Eng. Crew are to take 431/T. instead to Coltishall & Middle Wallop.
1300 F/Lt Austin on Watch.
1400 Armament Officer reports a 2000 lb bomb has fallen off a trolley on the perimeter. It is to be treated as “live”. [Deleted] D [/deleted] M 434 being moved. Guards being posted to block traffic from perimeter track.
1500 Bomb now moved to firing point. O.K. for traffic.
1503 Briefing 1800 hours.
1641 L434 landed from [deleted] Middle Wallop [/deleted] Silverstone.
16.55 “O”/434 at Ford unable to return for a few days. F/O German requires instructions for return to base. Contacted C.O. 434.
17.12 W/Cdr. Harris instructs F/O German will be picked up tomorrow.
17.18 Called Ford and passed on gen to F/O German. “O”/434 classified as cat. B. Squadron Eng. O. informed.
1830 Middle Wallop called Halifax E for Edward left 1830.
1913 E434 returned from Middle Wallop. (Left there 1754).
1930 Flarepath laid on Runway 28- Wind calm.
[Page break]
20.19 “S.” First a/c. off on ops.
20.22 “N.” made a false take-off. Stopped in centre of runway. “F” took off afterwards.
20.33 4th and last a/c (“N”) off on ops. (W. scrubbed P. outer u/s.)
2155 A.R.M. Purple. 2200 A.R.M. RED. 2219 A.R.M. WHITE.
[Underlined] Wednesday 1st September 1943. [/underlined]
0310 Runway changed to No. 10 – QAN – ESE’ly 3-5 M.P.H.
0421 F 434 landed at Barford St. John.
0426 First a/c landed from operations.
0440 Last a/c landed from operations.
0441 Asked Base if we could assist in landing other aircraft. Told O.K. to stand down. Flarepath doused. (Happy day).
0600 Phoned Barford St. John o.k. for F 434 to return as soon as possible. They report a/c short of fuel & an oil leak but will let us know when F is ready.
0830 F/O Stephenson & F/O Taylor On Duty.
0900 Runway 10. QAN. S.E.ly. light.
0950 6 Group Stand down.
1000 434 2 A/Cr on Bulls-eye.
1015 Barford – Phoned. F/434 will be leaving shortly.
1108 Barford – Phoned F/434 left 10:55
1147 TRUSTME A ABLE [deleted] asking [/deleted] asked to standby while we light money flares on touchdown end of R.W 10. Viz about 1400 yds.
1240 A/431 landed OK. = chance light put on edge of drome, to be used as a funnel. A/Cr told to land directly over it.
1254 M/431 landed OK; after several stabs at it. No R/T.
14.20 Tannoyed:- “All windows must be left open at 3 o’clock. Explosion.” F/O Stephenson
1525 Bulls eye – scrubbed.
1545 Trench dug across entrance to S Sugars dispersal will not be filled to-night – To [sic] much water in trench.
[Underlined] Thursday 2nd September, 1943. [/underlined]
09.00 On duty Lister P/O. & F/Lt Austin. Runway No. 28.
0944 Four a/c on gardening.
1000 Command Bullseye tonight. (434 offer 3 a/c. – 431 offer nil)
[Page break]
1225 W/T Callsign for 434 Sqdn. 5AV.
14.30 Ex Base – One of Topcliffe’s aircraft dropped a bit of his engine between here and East Moor. In case it is picked up return to Topcliff. [sic]
15.37. Contractors Lorry crossed R. in U. in front of “N”/434. Sgt. Snelgrave in a/c. Very near collision narrowly averted only through pilot taking off on grass at side of runway. Rang contractors and threatened police action on any future transgressors for trespass. Driver not traced
16.30 Briefing 18.00. ETD. 20.00. ETA. 23.25.
20.00 1st aircraft N/434 off on operations.
20.24 4th and last aircraft off on operations. R/434.
21.50 A.F.C. reported a red glow in the sky – checked up with base – Eastmoor have a burning Lanc. No injured.
22.20. Fix on “N”. 53°54”N. 01°50”E.
23.24. First aircraft back off operations. N/434.
[Inserted] Boob! [/inserted] [Underlined] Friday 3rd September, 1943. [/underlined]
00.10 Fourth and last aircraft landed safely.
00.15. Contacted base, offered our assistance. Stood down. Phew?!
00.20 Flarepath lifted. Much jubilation amongst the bodies.
0830 On Duty F/O Taylor & F/O Stephenson. Runway 28. Calm, becoming L & V.
1000 Not required for tonight.
1130 Not accepted for Bullseye.
11:30 F/O Tyler left in Oxford for Coltishall.
13.13 M/434 stuck in mud off perimeter track, near wood. S/L Thomson informed.
1445 M/434 now clear of the mud.
1607 C/434 returned from Coltishall.
1750 Phoned Guard Room to chase civilians off the airfield (mushroom pickers).
1820 Base phoned re possible diversion.
1835 We are [underlined] not [/underlined] required for diversion.
[Underlined] Saturday 4TH September 1943 [/underlined]
0900 F/L Austin & P/O Lister on Watch – Runway 10 – QAN – light E’ly.
1000 Stand down tonight.
1045 Runway changed to 16. QAN SE’ly – 10-15 MPH.
1048 Gale Warning – SE to S’ly gales 40 miles per hour within next 6 hours in districts on W & SW coasts, N. Ireland & north of Scotland.
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[Underlined] Sunday 5th September. [/underlined]
0830 On duty F/O Taylor & F/O Stephenson.
0900 Runway 16. QAN. SE-ly 15-20 mph.
1000 We are required tonight. 10 A/Cr.
1115 Main briefing 1800 hours. – now 17.30 hrs.
1520 SD 300 (#603) received from Base Cypher Officer. CD209. = 125 returned 123 received.
1600 431 Sqdn have 3 A/C. C & L’s tonight 20:00-23:00. A/Cr. D. B. & O.
1715 Runway 24 now in use. QAN S-W. 10-15
1830 Runway 28 QAN. S-Wly less than 10. Flare-path laid.
1918 R/434 1st A/Cr off on ops.
1931 E/434 9th A/Cr off on ops T/434 scrubbed. Petrol leak.
2021 O/431 commenced night flying, followed by B & D.
2209 Ragman E called.
2212 Told to Jetison. [sic]
2213 Ragman E says he must land.
2214 Q.F.E. passed to Ragman E. Pancaking.
2219 Ragman E landed. O.K. with bomb load.
2300 A.C.P. reports 431 A/C coming in to right of flare path. They are not coming down centre of funnel. Result overshoots.
2315 TRUST ME B. called cannot taxi, low brake pressure
2324 TRUST ME O landed. 431 sqd now finished night flying. Another bad landing for O. B/431 now in dispersal at end on No 16 runway.
[Underlined] Monday 6th September 1943. [/underlined]
0215 FIX on L/434. 2nd class Southampton 50.37N. 0040W
0234 R/434 1st A/Cr back landed OK.
0331 L/434 8th A/Cr landed OK.
03.40 Ex Base. W/434 landed MARKET HARBOROUGH at 03.00. P.O. U/S. All our A/Cr accounted for, phoned Group. 18 group A/Cr still stooging so we’re still to keep lighted up.
0405 Flare-path doused. R/T watch closed.
08.30 On Watch Lister P/O. Runway 24 in use. QAN SSWly – 15-25.
09.30 Inspected Runways, Dispersals and Perimeter tracks. E/431 Pile of bricks too near edge of track to dispersal. Informed C.O.W. & requested movement of same.
10.25 Ex Group:- W/434 at Market Harborough has a Glycol leak in Port Outer. Requests permission to run up. If O.K. he will return but this may mean on three engines only. Informed Sqdn. Engineer not in at moment
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10.45 We are required to-night for 8 aircraft. Ex Base.
1300 F/Lt Austin on Watch.
1550 Possible diversion of our a/c to Ford tonight.
19.00 Inspected Runways and Perimeter tracks. Removed sundry obstacles. O.K.
1924 First a/c off on operations. (Runway 24 used for first time).
1935 Eighth & last a/c off on operations.
2021 D431 off on night bombing.
2023. O 431 off on night bombing.
2150 Bomber Command expect Intruder activity between 0300 hrs & dawn.
2155 G434 overhead with radio trouble. Sent to jettison.
2206 Base inform E434 landed FORD (Flight Engineer ill) at 2125.
2217 O431 landed from night bombing.
2227 D431 landed from night bombing.
2246 G434 landed from operations.
2249 T434 overhead with hydraulic trouble. Could not get the undercarriage down. Asked for instructions. Told to standby until Runway changed to 28. (Wind S’W 6 M.P.H.) Message Rogered. Decided to have only Drem lighting, Angles of Glide & Chance light as T looked like it would have to crash-land. Reserve tender and ambulance ordered to standby.
2340 Chance light (and angle of glide) refused to operate. T informed. Said he was coming in anyway.
2345 T informs that wheels have come down o.k when he throttled back. Coming in without A’s of Glide.
2347 T434 landed o.k. (Baby remained unborn).
2350 Runway changed to 28.
[Underlined] Tuesday 7TH September 1943 [/underlined]
[Underlined] NOTE:- [/underlined] Control officers are [underlined] not [/underlined] reading the local instruction book when coming on duty. [Underlined] This is to be done. [/underlined] It is recommended that all instructions that have been initialled as understood be carried out. Particular reference is made to No’s 4, 8, and 15.
[Page break]
0320 A434 landed Ford
0351. S434 landed Ford
0357 C 434 landed West Malling.
Nothing heard of F434 (Sgt Tovey) or R434 (Sgt Olmstead).
0700 Group say they have notified 11 Group to tell all 6 Group a/c to return as soon as possible.
0830 On Watch F/O Taylor & F/O Stephenson.
0900 Following Sec Docs around. SD300, 229, CD 0110, 209, 0261, 260. AP3024
0930 Runway changed to 24. QAM. [sic] SSW. 10+
0930 R/W’s perimeter track, Night lights and premises inspected.
0950 Chance-light now serviceable.
1000 Stand down to-night.
1030 S/434 returned from Ford. (left there 0913)
1103 A/434 returned from Ford. (left there 0955).
1240 E/434 returned from Ford.
1305 Phone call from West Malling finally came through but results nil, as F.C.O. there had just come on duty. He thought C/434 would not be returning today but knew no details. Is getting gen & will phone back.
1535 Reported to Group Flying Control an A/Cr flying with transmitter on. – one of crew Jock. Talked about Bomb-sight, new TR, that Darky was still 6440, weather approaching front, nice down South at Port Wreath & Red Ruth, stand by to land at 15.28.
1545 C/434 leaving West Malling for Tholthorpe.
1906 C/434 landed from West Malling. (Left there 17:55).
Wednesday 8th September 1943
0830 Flt Lt Austin & F/O Stephenson on duty.
0835 Secret Documents checked.
0855 R/W 28 in use. Winds light, Westerly 5-10 mph.
0945 We are required to-night. 7 A/C
1008 Crew for Air to Air firing Robin Hood Bay to Flamborough
1645 Diversion drome if Weather bad is Coltishall.
1740 Operations scrubbed.
2000 Flarepath laid on Runway 28.
2143 P431 off on night bombing.
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[Page break]
2225 A431 off on night bombing. (D431 scrubbed. Engine U/S).
2240 || A landed with air speed indicator U/S. Overshot on landing and on attempting to swing undercarriage collapsed. Runway 28 blocked. //
2318 Flarepath being changed to 16 (Wind very light).
[Underlined] Thursday 9th September 1943 [/underlined]
0022 P431 landed from night bombing.
0040 || Darky call Music M (?) (27 O.T.U. Waddington) shouting short of petrol. Phoned Linton to put on all lights. They had not heard the call. A/C landed at Linton O.K. (eight minutes petrol left).
0830 On Watch F/O Taylor. QAN L & V. QBA. 300 yds. – SD’s ckd.
0930 Viz now 1300 yds. Wind E ly light. Runway 16. No 10 U/S.
0950 Required tonight. 7 A/Cr.
1030 Wind NE.ly 5-10. Runway 06.
|| 1113 Signaled [sic] Station “Z”. Runway 10/28 U.S. TRN. CRASHED AIRCRAFT.
1321. Workman replacing turf on 10-28 runway.
1810 Both gates on Tholthorpe-Raskelf road closed. 3 red glims on each.
1830 Called guardroom to place police on gates, but they haven’t the men.
1900 Arranged with Linton to take any local A/Cr if they should return before Ops take off.
1954 V/434 off on X-country.
20:10 Met advise weather will be bad by 2200 hrs. Contacted S/L Hockey.
20:20 Asked Linton to recall V/434.
2022 Scrubbed 431 night flying on instructions from W/Co Newsome.
2027 A.CP reports crashed A/Cr now removed from Runway. [Inserted] Signal sent to Station Z. [/inserted] 10 now S.
2109 Operations Scrubbed.
2230 All A/Cr safely tucked in dispersals.
2351 V/434 landed from X-Country. Base was never able to contact him.
[Underlined] Friday 10th September 1943. [/underlined]
0845 On Watch F/L Austin F/O Stephenson S Doc. checked.
0900 QAN Easterly 15-25 mph R/W 10 in use.
[Page break]
0900 R/W’s & Perimeter Track inspected. Also premises.
0940 We are not required to-night.
[Underlined] Saturday 11th September [/underlined]
0845 On Watch F/O Taylor. SD ckd.
0900 Runway 10. QAN. E ly 10-15.
0952 Not required tonight.
1300 F/Lt Austin on Watch.
[Underlined] Sunday 12th September [/underlined]
0845 On Watch F/O Stephenson S.D. chd.
0900 Runway 10 QAN ELY 10-20.
0945 Not required to-night
1515 Ragman G. could not get wheels up making circuit with wheels down.
1535 Ragman G. landed wheels O-K. now.
[Underlined] Monday 13th September. [/underlined]
0830 On Watch F/O Taylor. SD. Ckd.
0900 Runway 10. Calm, Met Ely 5-15.
0945 Stand-down tonight.
1000 East Moor phoned, if weather OK will we take 1 Lanc on C’s & B’s? Yes.
1300 F/Lt Austin on Watch.
[Underlined] Tuesday 14th September [/underlined]
0830. On Watch F/O Stephenson S D. ckd.
0830 QAN Light Easterly backing to South. R/W 10 in use.
0920 R/W & perimeter [deleted] ckd [/deleted] inspected.
0935 Eastmoor asked is we could be ready to take two Lancasters in case their drome was U/S. (O.K.).
0952 Stand down tonight.
1610 R.W. 28 in use. QAN Wstly 5-10.
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[Underlined] Wednesday September 15, 1943. [/underlined]
0845 On Watch F/O Taylor. SD ckd.
0900 No 28 Runway QAN. WNW 5-10.
1010 Required for 12 A/Cr tonight. 434. – Briefing 17:30
1010 Possible 5 or 6 431’s on Bulls eyes.
1240 D/431 at Dispersal asked on R/T if we had heard an A/Cr calling. Kiwi in distress. We had not. S/434 on landing called on R/T, “as A/Cr went down & cloud of smoke came up.” Contacted Base. – They are working on the crash.
1300 F/Lt Austin on Watch – Runway 24 QAN SW’ly 10+
1320 Base informs of two crashes. One was Q of Topcliffe near Rufforth (Six of crew baled out; pilot killed). The other as yet unidentified was at A 0385. Six of crew have baled out.
1605 Briefing Bullseye 1800 hrs at 431 Nav Hut.
1740 Bullseye for 431 scrubbed.
1924 B431 off on night X-country. Runway 24 in use.
1926 P 431 off on night X-country.
1927 V 431 off on night X-country.
1950 M 431 off on night X country.
2025 L 434 1st A/Cr off on ops. (With A/Comm, McEwan)
2032 P 434 7th A/Cr. Last of 1st wave off.
2041 C 434 8th A/Cr 1st of 2nd wave off
2049 M 434 12th A/Cr. – Last off.
2120 Phone to Flare path now OK.
Today we received AMCO’s A23/42, A24/42. A25/42. from Base Cypher Off.
2205 Ex Base: V/434 QDM 351 at 2152.
2225 M/431 landed from X-country.
2236 P/431 landed from X-country.
2244 V/431 landed from X-country.
2303 B/431 landed from X-Country.
2305 Ex Base. V/434 QDM 274 at 2305.
2339 V434 returned early (Starboard outer U/S – jettisoned 2000 lber.)
[Underlined] Thursday September 16TH 1943 [/underlined]
0253 P 434 1st A/Cr up on R/T.
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0258 ex Base. W/434 landed at Tangmere 0240, because of low cloud base, returning at daylight.
0308 N/434 ran off perimeter track in front of watch office. Crash tender & big ambulance managed to get clear. Small ambulance slightly dented. No-one hurt. Starboard outer prop. damaged. Met. Office damaged by Ambulance backing in to it.
0340 M/434 last A/Cr landed. All safely accounted for.
0430 Tangmere phoned. They have not the facilities to get W/434 off at first light, but will have him ready to return in forenoon.
0830 F/O Stephenson on duty. R.W. 24 in use QAN S.W. 10-15
0930 Sec. Doc. ckd. Runways & Perimeter checked.
0950 We are required to-night. 9 A/C.
1045 434. W departed Tangmere 10.20
1137 W 434 landed here.
1300 F/Lt Austin on Watch.
1430. [Underlined] Note [/underlined] Contacted Station electrician. Effective from Monday 20TH September there will be a Duty Electrician for Flare Path duties. The F.C.O. on duty Monday morning will see that he is instructed in his duties as per 6G/FWS/DO-13 Sept 43.
1520 Briefing 1730 hours.
1540 Changing runway to 28 & Lighting money flares. Vis-poor-rain.
1601 Last of our a/c landed o.k.
1930 Flarepath laid on Runway 28. Vis – under 2000 yds raining
1932 First a/c off on ops.
1951 Eighth & last a/c off on ops. (Swung violently. Vis less than 1000 yds. G scrubbed visibility too poor).
2230 Base inform aircraft are now definitely diverted to Bassingbourn.
2313 A.R.M. Purple. 2324 A.R.M. White.
[Underlined] Friday September 17th 1943 [/underlined]
0435 Base notified that A, C, M, P, T and X 434 had landed at Bassingbourn. L434 was heading in that direction after last fix.
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0455 Base inform L 434 landed at Bassingbourn.
0523 Base inform N 434 landed at Thurleigh.
0525 Contacted Bassingbourn. Informed their F.C. to keep a/c there until we phone them. They also say they would notify Thurleigh re N.
0900 On Watch F/O Taylor. Runway 10. QAN. SSE.8. SD ckd.
NOTE. When our crews return Base want us to enquire as to what they think of Bassingbourn Flying Control Facilities, re further diversions
0945 Not required tonight.
1100 431 Sqdn. offer 6 + 2 for Bulls-eye tonight.
1150 S/L Hockey phoned from Bassingbourn. A/Cr will be leaving there shortly. He will bring along full details about A/434.
1200 Runway changed to 28. Wind light, now W of S. – becoming W ly 5-10 mph.
1600. Bullseye Briefing 18:15 in Nav. Hut. 8 A/Cr.
1745 434 Squadron B. G. R & V scrubbed. (F/Lt Linnell)
1830 Met Forecast NW-ly wind 10-15. Runway 34 for take-off.
2000 Phoned Group for permission for 434 to send a Halifax to Bassingbourn tomorrow morning
2115 Group given permission for Halifax to go to Bassingbourn in the morning.
2120 Bullseye scrubbed. Marshalled A/Cr will be returned to dispersals in the morning.
[Underlined] 18th September, 1943. [/underlined]
08.30 On duty Lister P/O. Runway 28. QAN. N.W. light.
09.20 Runway inspection completed.
1010 Stand down tonight.
1300 F/L Austin on Watch.
1350 Runway changed to 10. N’ by E less than 10.
1852 D431 off on night X-country and bombing.
1910 C431 off on night X-country and bombing.
19.25. M/431 off on night X-country and Bombing.
19.33. V/1933. [sic] off on night X-country and Bombing.
19.45. Runway Flarepath laid on #28. QAN N by E. 2 mph.
2207 C/431 Landed from XC & Bombing.
22.40 Aircraft in our circuit flashing on ident. lights series of unintelligible signals. A.C.P. gave a green.
22.55. Mystery aircraft landed – no R/T. Taxied up flarepath and thence
[Page break]
towards 431 Dispersals. AFC’s telephone & R/T “dead”. Could not find out a thing. Borrowed a van from M.T. and sent Cpl. Adams to check up on identity of aircraft and reason for cause of AFC’s silence.
23.15. A/C. in question is D/431 who swung very badly through over-correction on landing. Ripped up telephone wires through his swing off the runway. Pilot reported to watch-office; said he had no difficulty in getting back onto R/W. Apparently this swing is a common fault in this a/c. Wind dead calm at the time of the “incident.” Pilot:- F/S. Hamby.
23.22 V/431 Landed. No R/T. TR1196 went U/S in the air, but O.K. for ground test.
23.41 M/431 Landed in approved fashion.
2350. Contacted base, offered our help which was declined & so = Good-night.
[Underlined] Sunday 19th September, 1943. [/underlined]
0845 On Watch F/O Taylor & F/O Stephenson. S.D. ckd.
0900 Runway 28. QAN. L & V. becoming SW-WSW – 10.
1000 Command Stand-down.
1307 T/434 returned from Bassingbourn.
1415 Runway changed to 24. QAN SW-ly 10-15.
Tonight’s flying 434 3 A/Cr on X-country. 431 2 A/C on C & B.
1900 Runway 28 for night flying.
1920 T/434 off on X-country
1923 W/434 off on X-country
1955 X/434 off on X-country
2004 B/431 & E/431 commenced C’s & B’s.
2144 431 finished C’s & L’s.
2214 T/434 landed from X-Country, with P.O. U/S.
2238 A/Cr landed. W/434 given pancake, but I think this one if [indecipherable] C. as W/434 still flying around.
2319 Viz terrible arranged with Base for X & W/434 to go to Topcliffe
2329 X/434 landed here, Viz had improved, & we had been unable to raise him on R/T to divert him.
2330 Base advise W/434 landed at Linton. 23:10. Crew bus sent over, as their bus had already left for here for C’s crew.
2359 Flare path doused. R/T watch closed. (Phew!)
[Page break]
[Underlined] Monday September 20th 1943 [/underlined]
08.30 On duty Lister Runway #28. QAN. W-NNW.
09.30 Inspected aerodrome, runways and dispersals. Checked SD’s. D261. 229. C.O’s 23, 24, 28. AP3024. 110. 260. C.D.209.
09.45 Stand-Down to-night.
1300 F/Lt Austin on Watch.
1408 Six a/c 431 on Bullseye tonight.2 a/c 434 Sqdn. M/434 V/434.
1424 Briefing at 1800 hrs. 1434 – Changed to 1545 hours in Main briefing room
1706 Flarepath telephone now serviceable
18.20 Inspected aerodrome runways & perimeter tracks. Grass requires cutting on & around signals area.
1928 First a/c off on Bullseye. QFE 1009.1
1941 Seventh & last a/c off on Bullseye. E431 scrubbed.
2358 D 431 landed from Bullseye.
[Underlined] Tuesday 21st September 1943 [/underlined]
0120 Seventh & last a/c landed o.k.
0845 On Watch F/O Taylor. SD ckd.
0900 Runway 28. QAN W’ly -10.
0945 Runway 34 QAN NWly. 13 miles. (Telephone tested OK).
1015 Stand-down tonight.
1045 Command Bulls-eye. 431 will have some A/Cr on it.
1500 434 have 5 A/Cr on X-Country tonight. 19.30-23.10
1450 Two crews proceeding to Linton by bus to go in OXFORD to BASSINGBORNE to fly 434 A back to base. (first thing to-morrow morning) (Inf. passed to Linton).
1900 Runway 28. – Wind N ly less than 5.
1932 M/434 first A/Cr off on X-Country. – F & P.
1938 X/434 4th A/Cr off on X-Country. QFE 1013.
1947 M/434 landed, did a ground loop but OK & taxied away.
1955 First 431 A/Cr off on Bulls-eye. C. -then B, E, P, N.
2015 M/434 all ok again & took off on X-Country.
2017 Q/431 6th & last A/Cr off on Bulls-eye.
2021 E/431 called on R/T. Goon & D.R. compass U/S. Instructed him to carry on, as per S/L Pleasance.
2020 Strensall bombing range called re 431 Bombing Schedule. Advised A/Cr. B, E, Q, P; 2 from 2330 till 2359, other 2 from 2359 till 0030.
2215 Ex Base. All Bulls-eye A/Cr being recalled immediately.
[Page break]
23.28 Q/431 proceeding to Range for practice bombing.
23.43 E/431 1st A/Cr landed OK.
[Underlined] Wednesday 22nd September 1943 [/underlined]
0032 Q/431 tenth & last A/Cr landed OK.
Not required by base so Flare-path doused, R/T off.
08.30 On duty Lister P/O. Runway 28. QAN W’ly.
09.05 Aerodrome Runways & Dispersals inspected & found O.K. Secret docs checked.
10.20 Operating to-night. 12 a/c. Briefing 1700 hrs.
1414 A434 returned from Bassingbourn.
17.30 Aerodrome, Runways, Dispersals inspected. Perimeter tracks on both sides of 28 very stony.
1851 First a/c off on operations (Runway 28).
1922 Twelfth & last a/c off on ops. [Underlined] Thursday 23rd. Sept. ’43 [/underlined]
00.20 434/P. Landed from ops. First aircraft. Shot up badly.
00.49 434/N. Landed – no R/T. Given a green by ACP after flashing S.O.S.
00.59 434/L. Landed on 3 engines; bogged near D/434 dispersal. Priority.
01.05. 434/F landed with only 15 mins petrol. Priority landing
01.11 434/K landed with only 20 mins petrol. – ditto - .
03.30 Base passed on to no ex Group “Stand Down.” Flare path lifted.
[Underlined] G/434 Missing. [/underlined]
0845 On Duty F/O Taylor & F/O Stephenson. SD ckd.
F/O Boyd reported for temporary duty.
0900 Runway 28. QAN. W-WSW 15-25. Very Gusty.
1030 Phoned Clerk of Works to have perimeter swept of stones. He will get to work on it this morning.
1040 Required tonight.
1400 431 have 8 on X-Country. ETD 1500. E.T.A. 1932.
1514/1547 431 Sqdn. G, F, P, Q, V, off on X-Country.
2044 Air Raid Warning Purple. Lights doused.
1852 F/434 off on Ops.
1903 W/434, 10th A/Cr off on ops. Drem taxi lights now Serviceable.
2017 All 5 – 431 A/Cr landed OK.
2110 ARM. White.
2216. 434 R landed back. Rear turret u/s. Used perimeter track lighting and a/c made a successful run to his dispersal. 1st a/c on Drem taxi lights.
[Page break]
2237 R/T went dead – Found aerial wire broken – tied ends together. OK again.
2320 Ex Base. If we have trouble with visibility (smoke haze) Dalton standing by.,
[Underlined] Friday 24th September 1943 [/underlined]
0158 B/434 1st A/Cr Landed.
0230 M/434 7th A/Cr. Landed – Taxi track OK. A/Cr all back in dispersal. W/434 landed at Hartford Bridge & K/434 landed at Cranfield.
0330 Flarepath doused. R/T watch closed.
0830 On Duty F/O Boyd. P/O Lister.
Runway in use No. 28. QAN. W’ly.
09.30 Runways, dispersals & perimeter tracks inspected. Stone clearing needed. Checked secret documents.
10.15 Stand-down to-night.
11.15 Changed to 24. QAN. SW ly.
12.05 W/434 airborne at 11.56. from Hartford Bridge.
12.55 K/434 at Cranfield will be airborne about 13.30 for Base. ASI now serviceable. Take-off delayed because F700 for DI not completed.
1320 434/W landed from Hartford Bridge.
1420 Runway changed to No [circled] 28 [/circled]. QAN Wly
1445 434/K airborne at 1415 from Cranfield. Landed 15.49.
15.15 Changed to #34. QAN. NW.
1615 Changed to # 28 QAN W’ly
17.30 Volunteered to take 2 of East Moor’s Lancs for Cs & B’s from 20.00 to 23.00 hrs. They have an early return & take-off for ops. to-night
20.16. Night flying commenced with 1679/R. landing here from E.M. for C & B.
22.43. 1679/R. Returned to Eastmoor. Flare-path lifted. R/T watch closed.
[Underlined] Saturday 25th September [/underlined]
0830 F/O Stephenson and F/O Taylor on duty R/W 28 in use QAN Westerly 5-10 Secret Doc. checked. R/W’s and field inspected.
1040 We are required to-night. 12 a/c. 434 sqdn
Bulls-eye. 431 sqdn. 8 A/Cr.
1130 Runway changed to 34. QAN NWly 10-15.
1129 C/431 landed on 3 engines. He had signalled base that one engine was u/s but the message just reached us as he was making his final approach.
[Page break]
Briefings 434 – 17:00 hrs. 431 17:15 in Nav. Hut.
1750 431 take off. 1840. RW 34 434 Marshaling [sic] R./W 28 take off.
1844/1849. 431 Sqdn. M, N, P, Q, R, & V. off on Bullseye.
1944 Q/431 landed OK. Asked permission to do a tr. hand circuit
20.15 Sgt Francis and Sgt Scott reported from Watchfield for A.C.P. duties. S/L Kyle informed.
2040. Operations scrubbed. Group recalling 431 Bullseye on original ETA.
2140 || 6 lights of drem system R/w 28 U/S.
2316 M/431 landed. 1st a/c.
[Underlined] Sunday Sept 26th 1943. [/underlined]
0017 P/431 last bulls-eye A/Cr. landed. OK. Flare-path doused.
08.30 On duty Lister P/O. & F/O. Boyd. R/W. 34. QAN. NNW. Checked Secret documents.
09.30 Inspected Aerodrome, R/Ways and dispersals. All a/c back in their dispersals by 10.30.
10.45 Operating 12 a/c to-night.
10.57. Main briefing 17.00.
1721 Ops scrubbed informed by Base.
1815 R/T Watch closed.
[Underlined] Monday Sept 27th 1943. [/underlined]
0830 On Duty F/O Taylor & F/O Stephenson. RW. 34. QAN NWly 10-15
1000 Required tonight. 14 A/Cr.
1250 Runway changed to 28. QAN. W-Sw ly. Light.
1450 As per N.O.P. Instructions Ambulance now standing by at Sick Quarters.
1725 R/W changed to 24 QAN WSW 18 MPH.
1845 Runway 28 laid for take-off. Wind. SW.-ly – light.
1921-1936. 14 a/c 434 off on Ops.
Drem on No 24 now U/S. Electricians can’t find the fault.
2100 W/434 returning to base Engine trouble.
2115 Linton advised we will send W/434 to them wind is more favourable to their long runway.
2155 W/434 landed Linton.
2235 K/434 up on R/T. 3 engines Diverted to Linton.
[Page break]
2240 All a/c diverted to diversion bases.
2255 K/434 landed Linton.
2322 O/434 returning early will be diverted to Linton.
[Underlined] Tuesday September 28 1943 [/underlined]
0015 Crash near [deleted] L [/deleted] Newton (Base) will inform us if it is our D/434. A.O.C. instructs us to keep watch till all a/c accounted for
0045 D/434 landed Thornaby 2355. One motor u/s.
0052 Totem poles on R/W 16-34 serviceable.
Changed to this Runway as Wind SE ly - SSE ly. 15-20.
0420 A, C, M, T, & V landed at Ridgewell; B at Snetterton Heath, N, at Cranfield, P, at Chelveston, // F, R, & Z still not accounted for. Flare-path doused & R/T watch closed.
08.30 On Duty Lister P/O. F/O. Boyd. R/W. 34. NW 23-25.
09.00 Aerodrome inspected. O.K. Secret documents checked.
10.30. Standdown. Command Bulls-eye to-night.
12.30 A/C at Thornaby & Snetterton Heath Serviceable. Instructed them to await further instructions. D at Thornaby & B at Snetterton
12.50 S/L Hockey phoned from Ridgewell. Instructed him and other crews to standby for weather improvement.
1330 434/D ordered back from Thornaby
1337 434/P ordered back from Chelveston.
1345 Advised group to Contact Ridgewell and order our a/c back.
1529 434/W landed from ops via Linton
1634 B/426 landed with A/M. Edwards & AVM Brooks aboard. Linton informed.
18.15. D/434 Unable to return until 30/9/43. due to overheating of Stbd. Outer engine cause [sic] by U/S thermostat. Being replaced.
18.20 P/434 Landed from Chelveston.
18.53 B/426. with Air Marshall Edwards & A.V.M. Brooks aboard airborne for Linton. ACP reports he thought bomb doors were open so gave a “red,” a/c took no notice. Landed at Linton at 18.57.
1900 Flarepath laid No 34 Runway.
20.10 M/434 Hydraulic trouble scrubbed & returned to dispersal.
20.15. N/431 First a/c off on [deleted] ops [/deleted] Bulls-eye.
20.25 F/431 Last a/c off on Bulls-eye. 7th & last a/c.
[Page break]
21.00 #34 Runway Flare-path, funnel & totem poles completely u/s. Phoned electrical standby section for action.
21.09 Linton agreed to take our a/c if necessity arises.
22.15. Lights now O.K. We land our own aircraft – weather permitting.
23.15 Bulls-eye aircraft recalled by base. Runway being changed to #28. QAN W-ly 8-9 mph. Backing to S.W. and increasing.
[Underlined] Wednesday 29th September, 1943. [/underlined]
00.01 B/431. First a/c to land from Bulls-eye. #28. Swung a trifle off R/W.
00.20. B/C message received ex base E/431 “returning on 3 engines.”
00.59 431/Q 6th & last a/c Landed. 431/N. Landed at Linton, persisted in using the wrong R/T call-sign for us. Instructed base to send him back but N got bogged in Linton aerodrome. Bad show.
01.30 Base gave permission to stand down. Flare-path lifted.
0830 On Watch F/O Stephenson & F/O Taylor. Runway 28. QAN Calm & a light Sly.
1045 Required tonight 7. A/Cr.
L.A.C. Simmons posted to Watchfield W.E.F. 1/10/43. Phoned S/L Kyles. He will try to send us a body to replace him.
1330 Briefing 1600 hrs.
1410 Message from Ridgewell. V/434 not yet serviceable, probably not today but they will advise us when to send crew for it.
1713 434/N landed from Cranfield.
1818=1822. 7 A/Cr 434 off on ops. A. B. C. L. M. P. T. = Runway 28.
1931 C/434 returned & landed OK on 3 engines.
2115 Flare path and totems. 16 – 34 U/S.
2239 Power failure here.
2246 Power serviceable.
[Underlined] Thursday 30th September 1943. [/underlined]
0200 No word from T & L/434/ Flare path doused, R/T watch closed.
0830 On Watch F/O Boyd, P/O Lister Docs Checked OK.
Runway 28 QAN light & variable.
0930 Runway changed 24 QAN S’ly 10 MPH
10.05. Operating 7 [deleted] 8 [/deleted] aircraft to-night. Briefing 16.00.
10.55. Changed to #28. QAN. Wly. 10-12.
12.55. Ops scrubbed.
[Page break]
12.36. Q/431 1st a/c. off on X Country.
1330 Runway changed to 24 QAN. SSW/10
18.16. M/431 Last a/c back-off Cross Country.
Friday Oct 1/43.
0830 F/O Taylor on duty. F/O Stephenson on duty.
0830 R/W 16 in use. QAN [deleted] S [/deleted] Light & Variable
0900 S.D. checked.
1000 Runway 24. Wind SSW. – freshening.
1030. We are required to-night 434 8 a/c 431. 6 a/c.
1048 Briefing 434 – 1600 hrs. 431 – 1645 hrs.
Note [Boxed] New R/T and W/T call signs are in effect today – They vary every 9 days. Control officers will take careful watch that the correct callsigns are listed during the appropriate periods. [/boxed]
1350. Operations cancelled.
1420 V434 landed from Ridgewell
1450 Operations are on again.
1520 Confidential Doc. C.D. 0250 (9) #834 and C.D. 0250 (11) #852 received by us from Base.
1615 Operations Cancelled.
[Underlined] Saturday October 2nd 1943. [/underlined]
08.30. On duty Lister P/O. F/O Taylor. R/W/ 28. QAN. Wly. light.
09.15. Inspected Runways, Perimeter Tracks & Dispersals. Checked Secret docs.
10.50. Operating to-night. 4 a/c 431 8 for 434.
Three Crash crew in hospital leaving only 4 men, LAC Bacon i/c Fire Party notified. F/Lt. Hudson president fire committee.
12.10. Briefing 1600 to-day. (431 Sqdn.).
1400 T.F.N. = We have no reserve crash tender. Informed Base. They will have to look after all requirements off the drome.
1901. Q/431 First a/c off on ops.
19.12. C/431 Twelfth & last a/c. off on ops.
19.13. Crash Tender from Linton reported for duty.
2145 ARM. Purple. – Goose-necks doused.
22.06 ARM. White.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Sunday 3rd October, 1943. [/underlined]
00.46. 434/V Landed early from Gardening.
02.44. 431/D. 1st aircraft back off ops.
03.23. 431/Q 11th & last aircraft to land off ops. A message was received from Base that he had asked for an emergency landing at Linton, his hydraulic pressure being u/s. He was told by [deleted] W/T [/deleted] Base to land here on 28 as R/W was clear and all ready waiting for him. Q/431 landed swerving violently off R/W and back on again, finishing up at the end of #28 where he was left red lights marking him as an obstruction. Base informed and gave us stand-down.
03.33 U/431. Diverted and landed at Peterhead in distress – short of petrol.
All aircraft safely accounted for.
Flare path doused.
0830 F/L Austin and F/O Stephenson on duty.
0830 R/W 24 in use. QAN. SW.ly Light.
S.D. checked.
1005 We are required to-night. 8 a/c 431 8 a/c 434
1110 Briefing 434 1530 431 1600 hrs.
1555 U434 returned from Peterhead.
1841 First a/c off on operations (431 first wave)
1918 Sixteenth and last off on operations (434 second wave)
[Inserted] 1935 Pilots escape hatch found after take off undamaged #1 HANGER [/inserted]
2051 O431 returned early. (Rear turret U/S)
2108 S431 returned early (Port outer U/S)
2213 V431 returned early (Navigator error)
2221 M431 returned early (Trimming faulty)
[Underlined] Monday 4th October 1943 [/underlined]
0100 First a/c landed from operations.
0138 Y429 (F/S Hingston – Skipton) landed following green from A.C.P. – A/C had no R/T. Mistook here for Skipton.
0222 Last a/c landed from operations. V434 (F/O German) and R431 (W/O Reynoldson) missing.
08.30. On Watch Lister P/O. F/O Taylor. #24 QAN SW. 20-35.
[Page break]
09.30. Inspected Aerodrome & Runways. a/c now returning to dispersals. Checked Secret documents.
1000 East end runway 28 = section of concrete cracked & dropped about an inch. Runway 24 at intersection 16 = water always seeping up through concrete. Reported these to Resident Engineer so he can keep a watch on them.
1020 Required tonight 431 – 8, 434 – 8. Briefing 434 – [deleted] 15:30 [/deleted] 16:15 431 – 16:15.
[Underlined] NOTE [/underlined] In future A.T.A. will use R/T when delivering new 4 engined A/C. Here they will use FISHZONE & ABUSH.
1115 Y/429 took off to return to Skipton. (Base advised – Skipton advised).
17.45. A/434. 1st a/c. airborne on ops.
18.12 F/431 13th and last a/c. airborne on ops.
P/434 Q/431. N/431. Scrubbed. Too late to take off.
[Underlined] TUESDAY 5TH OCTOBER 1943. [/underlined]
IIII 00.30. 28 Lighting U/S. a/c. diverted to Linton. 434/A. /B. 431/E. 431/O. N/434.
01.05. 434/D/M. Landed at Harwell. S/434. On Darky at Harwell. Ex Base.
01.08. 431/A. On R/T. to Linton.
01.31. A/431 Landed here. Runway having been changed to #24.
01.35. V/431 Landed here Port Outer engine u/s. F/431 landed here 01.51.
01.30. All lights in Watch Office extinguished, worked by torch light!!
01.40. Lights on again.
01.45. S/434 Landed at Morton-in-Marsh as 01.05.
02.30. No news from W/434. Base stood us down. Flarepath doused.
Quite a rest cure.
03.00. Off Watch Lister P/O. & F/O A. S. Taylor.
0845 F/O Stephenson F/L Austin on duty.
0900 We are to call 6 Group for permission to recall a/c.
0900 RW 24 in use. QAN SWly 10-15
0930 S.D. Checked.
1045 We are required to-night. 431 8 a/c 434 6 a/c
1135 Briefing for both Squadrons 1515 hours.
1145 Base advise W434 ditched [deleted] 10 [/deleted] 1 mile from the French coast. Too close to send out A.S.R. Sending broadcast on International frequency.
1218 B434 returned from Linton.
1224 N434 returned from Linton.
1248 A434 returned from Linton
1305 E431 returned from Linton
1332 S434 returned from Moreton-in Marsh.
[Page break]
1405 Broadcast from Base. Linton having a large effort to-night. Due to low cloud may be forced to use intruder routes. A/C are being briefed to have Nav. lights on. Suggest we also brief crews to this effect.
1434 O431 landed from Linton
1656 Operations scrubbed.
1707 D434 landed from Hanwell.
1738 D4311 landed from Middle Wallop.
2020 Group have authorized 434 sqd. to use a Halifax for a cross country flight, and to stop at Harewell and leave parts for M434 a/c.
[Underlined] Wednesday 6th October, 1943. [/underlined]
08.30 On Watch Lister & F/O Taylor. Runway #24. QAN.
09.15. Aerodrome, Runways, dispersals & Perimeter tracks inspected. O.K.
09.30. Secret docs. Checked.
10.08. Operating approx 18 a/c. to-night.
14.30 Runway #28. QAN. Less than 5 mph.
16.28. Scrubbed.
[underlined] Thursday 7th October 1943. [/underlined]
0830 On Watch F/O Stephenson S.D. checked.
0845 RW 34 in use. Q.A.N. WNWly 5-10.
0915 RW 28 in use now.
1000 We are not required to-night.
1045 Telephone U/S.
1100 431 advise they will have 10 a/c on X-country from 1500-2200. Briefing 1330 hours.
1500 First 431 a/c off on X country.
1507 Moth landed breaking telephone wires.
Note:- Group Captain Gordon authorizes that the Moth be grounded until the G.P.O. lines are serviceable to the flarepaths.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Thursday 7TH October 1943 (Continued [/underlined]
1534 Eleventh & last 431 a/c off on X-country E.T.A. 2143
1730 Flarepath telephone now serviceable.
1928 F434 off on night-cross country. Taxied out to No 10 first. O434 bogged when perimeter track caved as he came out of dispersal (Perimeter track blocked)
1933. U434 off on night-cross country.
1935 K434 off on night-cross country.
2115 A.R.M. Purple.
2120 First 431 a/c landed from X-country.
2135 A.R.M. White.
2200 Report of 80 enemy aircraft off east coast.
2219 All lights on airfield [deleted] blew [/deleted] went out. Called electrician
2229 Lights on again. (Fault at substation)
2251 Last 431 a/c landed from X-country.
2315 U434 landed from X country.
2347 F434 landed from x country.
2357 K434 landed from X country.
2359 O434 now clear of the perimeter track.
[Underlined] Friday 8TH October 1943 [/underlined]
0001 Standing by for assistance to Linton a/c if needed
0200 Base advise Linton vis has shut down. We will be required to take some a/c if our weather is o.k.
0300 Weather here = No cloud, vis 2 miles. Changed to Runway 10.
0325 Base advise sending K408, C 426, R426, T426 and O426.
0336 K408 landed.
0339 C 426 landed.
0350 R 426 landed. Vis closed down as he came in.
0351 T426 diverted to Eastmoor.
0352 O 426 diverted to Eastmoor.
0405 Report that R426 is bogged at end of 10 Runway.
[Underlined] Note [/underlined] There was no duty crew available for dispersing the aircraft. The A Flight 434 crew were not available at their Hut. They had dispersed K434 so that it was bogged down and protruding over the perimeter. We were not informed of this.
[Page break]
There was no intelligence staff on duty to open the briefing room for visiting crews. 3 site Picket Post failed to answer the telephone when we tried to contact the Duty Engineer. On sending a messenger to 3 site no one there knew where anybody was. The same situation existed at 2 site.
08.30 On Watch Linton P/O. F/O. Taylor. Runway #16. QAN. [Deleted] None [/deleted] 5. mph. Visibility about 5-10 yds. Secret docs. checked.
1015 Required 431/7, 434/11
10.55. Gale Warning received from Met. covering Scotland to a point West of Tholthorpe to Northern Ireland.
Bad hole where A/Cr. ran off taxi track at end of 34 Runway, cable for taxi track disrupted. Clerk of Works & Elect Engineer informed. [Underlined] (Fuses removed from switch). [/underlined]
1500 Briefing 21:00 hrs.
17.15 Commenced marshalling on either side of Runway 10 for T.O.
2243 K/431 1st A/Cr. off on Ops.
2313 K/434 19th & last A/Cr off on Ops. A/434 scrubbed. S.O. U/S.
[Underlined] Saturday 9th October 1943. [/underlined]
0205 A/Cr definitely being diverted via W/T. to SHIPDHAM
0500 Ex Base. F/434 landed at Chedburgh 0352.
0537 Ex Base. “Shipdham advise they have landed 14 of our A/Cr.” ?14.
0630 Received letters but not times at Shipdham. 434/B,D,K,O,P,S,T,U, 431/E,D,G,N,O,P,Q.
0645 Received landing times from Base.
0730 434/C = F/O Small; 431/C = F/S Chalmers & 431/K Sgt Ryan still unheard from.
0830. On Watch Lister. Runway #10. QAN. L. & V.
09.20. Telegraphed “Immediate” to Shipdham that none of our a/c is [indecipherable] for base TFN. Bad weather. Our phone call was cut in half so am uncertain whether message was understood.
0930. Aerodrome, Runways, Perimeter tracks & dispersals inspected. Trolley a/c. Starters in showers at marshalling points. Instructions given for removal. Holes in side of #34 not filled in – reported to Mr. Jess.
10.00. Stand down to-night.
11.31. Tiger Moth P/O. Livesy from Lossiemouth via Acklington. for Leicester. landed here through bad weather. York aerodrome telephoned, to which he had signalled first. Detaining him for weather improvement.
[Page break]
P/O. Livesy reported he saw a Taylor Cub trying to land in a field near the railway line somewhere roughly near Philmour Junction. Passed to base who are investigating. Rough area is 100° 3 miles from Dalton & 356° 7 miles from Tholthorpe.
12.10. Base phoned that we are to inform them for onward transmission when our a/c may return.
1300 F/Lt Austin on Watch.
1529 F/434 returned from Chedburgh. } Weather poor.
1648 D 434 returned from Shipdham } – vis about 2000 yds.
1655 O 434 returned from Shipdham }
1658 T 434 returned from Shipdham }
1707 U 435 returned from Shipdham }
1709 Spitfire MB 257 (Sub-Lieut Blackburn) landed. Signal sent to Christ Church & Church Fenton.
1712 K 434 given priority landing. Starboard outer U/S. From Shipdham. }
1720 Q 431 returned from Shipdham }
1726 N 431 returned from Shipdham }
1735 O 431 returned from Shipdham }
1740 B 434 returned from Shipdham }
1743 P 434 returned from Shipdham }
18.55. Five aircraft left at Shipdham. Not returning to-day. All U/S. No flying in 6 Group to-night.
Sunday 10TH October 1943.
0900 F/Lt Austin on Watch – S.D’s checked. Runways & taxi track checked.
1015 Command stand down tonight.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1420 Base report a Defiant flying about with no R/T. Land him if he comes around here. – (QBA 1500, QBB 500)
1425 Base report. “Defiant has landed OK. somewhere.”
14.38 Hurricane BD 715 F/O KIRSCH landed due to weather. Signalled Church Fenton Fairlop.
Monday 11th October 1943.
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch. S.D.s ckd. – Runways & taxi tracks, etc.
0945 Crossley Crash tender going to Linton for a welding repair job, back by 1500 hrs. 2nd tender standing by – Base informed.
[Page break]
0950 Not required tonight.
NOTE [Underlined] Bomber Code CD 0250. W.E.F. 10 Oct, Daily change at 1600 hrs G.M.T. [/underlined]
1240 Permission granted from Group for a 434 Halifax to go to Harwell.
1300. Off Watch F/O Taylor. On Watch Lister P/O. R/W #28. QAN. Wly.
13.35. Instructed Shipdham to send D/431 back immediately & S/434 when ready. No further a/c are serviceable. Weather down there is poor.
1507 First 434 a/c off on X country. ETA – 2157 +.
1618 Sixth & last 434 a/c off on X country.
1512-1554 Four a/c of 431 off on X country. ETA 1931.
1630 Aerodrome Serviceability signal sent to Station Z.
16.00. Asked base to contact all 434 a/c. on X country by W/T instructing all a/c to be back at base not later than 22.00 hrs.
This message also passed by R/T to 434/U. prior to take off.
Weather deteriorating rapidly after 22.00hrs.
17.00. Crossley Crash Tender back in commission again. Base informed.
17.10. Base informed all 434 a/c. have acknowledged W/T. signal except A & O. Message still being sent to them.
17.31. M/434 Returned from Harwell.
17.44. K/434 Returned from Harwell.
19.00. S/Ldr. Stanley visited Watch Office & inspected aerodrome.
1942 S/431 landed from X-country – Runway 28 in use.
1956 A/431 landed from X-country.
2012 O/431 landed from X-country = Went off runway but came back OK.
2058 T/434 landed from X-country
2133 O/434 landed from X-country
2147 U/434 landed from X-country
2154 A/434 landed from X-country
2158 F/434 landed from X-country
2215 D/434 landed from X-country
All A/Cr down. Flare path doused.
2255 Base inform us to keep a listening watch for one of Topcliffe’s a/c – R/T – Thickhead or Ratcliffe B. which is lost. One hour overdue on a X-country.
2358 A/c has crashed. Crew bailed out. (Stood down).
[Page break]
[Underlined] Tuesday 12th October, 1943. [/underlined]
08.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Runway #10. QAN. Sly.
09.15. Inspected the aerodrome etc. Large a/c. hole on edge of #34 not yet filled in. Phoned C.O.W. who promised to fill in to-day.
09.45. Command Stand Down.
10.00. Yesterday V/434. Went A/S/F. off Whitby. On approaching the coast he was fired on by a Convoy. Checked up this morning with S/L Kyles re of not being told of passing Convoys. Base had omitted to pass on the gen to us so in future it is advisable to check up with base first re-convoys to make sure we get this information.
10.30. Picked up Darky call from ARDWELL W William. Answered him but reception was too bad to get anything on him. He was immediately afterwards answered by Hat-badge & Blue Sea who gave him QDM 090 3 mins. These two stations are St. Davids & Talbenny in [underlined] Wales. [/underlined] Later heard Ardwell N Nan given pancake. Freak skip-distance responsible for this reception. He was also answered by Linton.
1300 F/Lt Austin on Watch
Contacted Shipdham to tell them to hold S 434 & D 431 there until we call. Weather here too poor for return. Both a/c are serviceable.
18.00. TR.1196. Receiver U/S. Wireless Mechanic summoned to investigate trouble
18.40. No night flying in the group to-night. R/T Watch closed.
[Underlined] Wednesday 13TH October 1943. [/underlined]
0900 F/Lt Austin on Watch. Runways inspected. No. 10 in use.
1000 Stand down tonight.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1500 Group are advising Shipdham that our A/Cr are not to return today, weather conditions are not improving.
1915 Command broadcast, via Group. “Italy has declared War on Germany”
[Underlined] Thursday 14th October 1943. [/underlined]
0830 F/O Taylor – on Watch – Runway 28. – QAN. Wly 5. SD ckd.
0900 Advised Shipdham – S/434 & D/431 are to return this morning.
0930 Advised Middleton a 431 A/Cr is taking crews to bring back 2 A/Cr from there this A.M.
[Page break]
1000 Not required tonight.
1130 S/434 returned from Shipdham.
1205 D/431 returned from Shipdham.
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. off watch F/O. Taylor. QAN. L & V. #28.
16.20. S/Ldr Kyles phoned:- We may have to land 20 USA aircraft (Fortresses?) here. If we can [indecipherable] them by dusk Tholthorpe will be used. If not, one of the other stations in the clutch
17.56. Diversion cancelled. Flarepath laid on Runway #10.
18.10. M/431. 1st a/c. off on X Country. } [Underlined] All a/c are to be recalled at 20.00 hrs. Ex W/Cdr. Newson. [/underlined]
18.30 S/431 6th & last a/c off on X Country. }
18.28. M/434 landed Middleton St. George. 2 engines cut.
18.46. B/431 Landed of X Country - early return. G. u/s.
1930 On Watch F/O Taylor. Off Watch P/O Lister. = Runway No 10. in use.
1957 Instructed Base to send message to 431 A/C. “Return to Base by 21:30 hrs”.
2053 R/434 landed from X-Country – touched down on grass – vis. on approach poor.
2125 A/431 landed from X-Country, vis. terrible (ugh!).
Contacted Base. = Sending A/Cr to Linton to make use of Contact Strip & O. Circle.
2126 B/434 - “Proceed to Linton”. Landed there 21:38.
2127 O/431 on R/T. – Can see flare-path – so gave him Pancake. W/Co Newson prefers trying to land his A/Cr here rather than send them to Linton.
2135 S/431 up on R/T. Given turn 2.
2142 O/431 landed OK. S/431 not acknowledged “Pancake”. V/434 now on R/T so given “Pancake.”
2151 V/434 landed OK.
2200 O/431 now in front of Watch Office. Had turned wrong way off runway, had taxied this far OK so instructed him to carry on, getting a green to cross runway.
2210 M/431 landed OK, having lost drome once & returning on Leeming Beam.
2211 O/431 at last in dispersal, having traveled [sic] 3/4 of taxi track.
2214 M/431 called on R/T. “I appear to have bogged at end of Runway.” S/L Higgins went out & taxied him clear. = Reached dispersal OK.
2221 S/431 landed at Middleton St. George. = As S had disappeared after receiving turn 2, (21.35) had base chasing after him. At one time reported near Eastmoor. Later R.O.C. plotted him at Middleton. Before Base could instruct M. St. G. to send him home he had landed there. (Many silent thanks)
2247 C/431 on R/T. at 8000’. Instructed to break cloud at Leeming Beam.
[Page break]
2315 C/431 again on R/T saying he was going to land at Leeming. Instructed to try here first. = Base advise all stations in Group closing in quickly. Leeming still OK.
2318 Instructed C/431 to Proceed to Leeming. Acknowledged.
2327 C/431. “I can see flarepath, may I land now.” OK.
2336 C/431 landed safely. How? I dunno. Viz about 1000 yards, cloud 700 ft.
2359 Flarepath doused. R/T watch closed. All “Help” gone to mess.
[Underlined] Friday 15th October, 1943. [/underlined]
08.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Runway #28 QAN Wly. Fog.
09.30. Aerodrome, Runways, Perimeter Tracks & dispersals Inspected. Secret docs
09.45. Stand down to-night.
11.05. Base informs that a Halifax Caprice or Gremlin “L” is lost. If any base in 6 Group can contact him he is to proceed to Acklington. No joy on R/T.
11.20. Acklington closed in. Now to go to [indecipherable] Still unable to contact.
11.40. Halifax landed safely at Leeming.
13.00. Off watch Lister P/O. On Duty Austin F/L.
1438 Contacted Middleton, re M/434 & S/431 returning. Weather conditions there now QBB 600 QBA 700 yds. FC & Met will not let them take off. - today.
1640 B 434 returned from Linton.
16.55. A/c. at Middleton not returning to-day. Weather deteriorating
1800 Oxford landed from Northolt. Signalled.
[Underlined] Saturday 16 October 1943 [/underlined]
0900 F/Lt Austin on Watch. Runway 10.
S. D’s checked.
1000 Stand down
1005 Runway changed to 16. QAN SE’ly. 10-15MPH.
1021 M434 returned from Middleton St. George.
1118 Runway changed to 10. QAN – SE’ly 15 QBA. rotten.
1123 S/431 returned from Middleton St. George.
1215 Runway changed to 16. QAN. SE’ly 15 QBA – better.
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor.
1600 Runway changed to 10. QAN. ESE.ly – A Pilot reported it was hard to line-up on 16 due to sun on smoke on X-wind leg.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Sunday – 17th October 1943. [/underlined]
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch – Runway 10. – QAN ESE – 6. = Runways & taxi track ckd. S.Ds ckd.
10.50 K/431 called on R/T for Clearance to take-off on Air-test. Raining. Viz 1800 yds so scrubbed detail on S/L Pleasance OK.
1103 Stand down tonight.
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. F/O Taylor off Watch. R/W #10. QAN 0.
16.00. Runway #24 in use.
16.10. [Underlined] R/T call signs for 431 & 434 Sqdns. are now ISLAND and CLIMAX respectively. These call signs will [deleted word] be permanent. [/underlined]
[Underlined] Monday 18th October, 1943 [/underlined]
08.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Runway #10. QAN. E ly.
09.30. Inspected Runways, perimeter tracks & dispersals. Secret docs O.K.
10.34. Training only.
13.00. Off Watch Lister P/O. On Watch S/L Austin.
1448 First a/c of 434 off on X-country.
1501 First a/c of 431 off on X-Country.
1518 Third & last a/c of 434 off.
1548 Eighth & last a/c of 431 off.
1641 Q431 returned early. (IFF U/S).
1743 C431 returned early (ST. OUTER U/S).
1847 K 431 returned early.
19.30. On Watch Lister P/O. [Deleted] F/Lt. [/deleted] S/L Austin off watch. Runway. #10. QAN. E ly.
20.35. N/431 First a/c of 431 Sqdn. to land from X Ctry.
21.04. F/431 Landed turned right instead of left & parked on E/434 dispersal. (F/O. Christinson new pilot here & not used to ‘drome yet.)
21.18. D/431 5th & last 431 a/c to land from X Ctry.
21.16. V/434 1st a/c of 434 Sqdn to land from X-Ctry.
21.39. P/434. 3rd & last a/c of 434 to land from X Ctry.
21.40. Standing-by to assist Linton should they require us.
N.B. S.F.C.O. Please consult “Suggestion Book.”
23.50. All Lintons a/c safely accounted for. Flare path doused. R/T watch closed.
Off watch Lister P/O.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Tuesday 19TH October 1943 [/underlined]
0830 F/Lt Austin on Watch.
0900 F/O Stephenson on duty.
0900 Perimeter track & Runways inspected. R/W 16 in use. QAN. SE’ly light.
0930 S.D. checked.
0945 S/L Higgins (431) phoned asking who had given permission for Q431 to return to base from X-country.
1000 Contacted Base re above. Permission was given by Base at 1605 for Q to return. They will let us know who authorised the return. No message was passed to us at any time.
1032 We are required tonight.
1045 Re permission for Q431. – Q426 was on a Gee exercise. When the message was received the call sign used was that which 426 Sqdn had been using up till yesterday. The message was passed by Base D/F as originating from Q426. So the aircraft was instructed to return. Definitely finger trouble at D/F.
1230 Gale Warning. SE veering SW. Gusts to 70 mph within 6 hrs area west of line Mersey to Portland Bill. Gale SE veering S.W. Gusts to 50 M.P.H. within 6 hrs all other areas Br. Isles.
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor.
1525 Ops Scrubbed.
[Underlined] Wednesday 20th October 1943 [/underlined]
0830 F/O Taylor on Watch – Runway 16 – QAN. SE-ly 10-15. SDs ckd. Phoned Clerk of Works. Sending someone to fix stove so it won’t smoke.
1000 Not required for Ops tonight.
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch F/O. Taylor.
13.39. F/434 1st a/c of 434 Sqdn. airborne on bombing & X Country.
13.50. A/434 Developed tail wheel lock on perimeter track; xc & bombing scrubbed.
14.20. K/434 substituted for “A”. Pilot F/O. Clinkskill. XCtry Exercise only.
14.45. K/434 third & last a/c off on X Country.
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15.00. || Darky call from “Byplay” H Harry received and answered. Informed us he was not sure of his position. Called him to watch out for flares. Acknowledged. He said he was over a town with two aerodromes and was going to land at [/underlined] one of them. Thanked us for assistance rendered. [/underlined]
16.00. Anson a/c. landed on #34, went off runway and perimeter tracks and bogged. Efforts being made to clear runway. No a/c to land until clear. Cleared at 16.20.
17:15 Group asking what A/Cr we have flying, as there has been a crash near Middleton about 1500 hrs.
17.42. W/C Newson gave permission for N & E to return to-night if they are serviceable & if they get “flimsies.” Weather O.K.
18.00. Base called re above crash. One of Crofts aircraft and a total write-off. Crew all killed.
18.09. A.F.C. reports A. of A.I. on starboard side of R/W #16 u/s. Spirit level smashed. Reported to C.O.W. Will try to fix to-night.
18.30. N/431 Took off from Shipdham at 17.45. E/431. Still u/s.
18.54. N/431 Returned from Shipdham.
18.58. A/431. Landed safely.
19.15. W/C. Newson states E/431. ready to return 21/10/43 – weather permitting, & is to return as soon as possible.
19.30. Stood-Down. R/T watch closed. Flare path lifted.
Off Watch Lister P/O.
[Underlined] Thursday 21st October, 1943. [/underlined]
08.30. On Watch Lister P/O. R/W #16. QAN. SSEly. 15-20 mph.
09.30. Inspected Runways, dispersals & Perimeter Tracks. Large pile of rubble on island near wood. Men on Perimeter track S end of R/W 28. Otherwise O.K. Secrets docs. checked.
09.50. Not required for ops. to-night.
10.50. Angle of approach indicator now serviceable on R/W #16.
12.40. Base QFE. 996.
1245 S/L Austin on Watch.
1423 K431 off on X country
1439 M 434 off on X country.
1443 N 431 last off on X country. Airborne are B, F, M, O & D.
1451 U434 off on X country. R434 returned with Port Inner U/S
[Page break]
[Underlined] Thursday 21st October 1943 (Cont). [/underlined]
1452 E 431 returned from Shipdham.
1700 F/O Stephenson on duty.
1800 R/W 10 in use.
19.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Off watch F/O Stephenson.
19.45. Laid 2 M. Flares on 1st flare position.
20.20. Flare on 1st position put on 2nd position.
20.16. B/431 Finally landed after doing two overshoots. Off X Country.
20.31. U/434 Second and last aircraft of 434 landed off X Country.
20.38. D/431. 7th and last a/c. of 431 Sqdn to land safely off cross country after three hairy overshoots and one refusal to land due to an aircraft not clear of runway. Bags of practice required. S/Ldr. Higgins & S/Ldr Austin both present.
20.44. Contacted Base, no longer required. R/T watch closed, orders given for lifting of flarepath.
[Underlined] Friday 22nd October 1943. [/underlined]
0830 S/L Austin F/O Stephenson on duty. RW16 in use.
0930 R/W’s perimeter Track and Sec Doc checked.
0940 R/W 10 in use. Vis 400 yds R/W16 [deleted] in [/deleted] Sun on mist.
1000 We are required to-night.
1030 Main briefing 1400 hours both squadrons.
1115 Runway changed to 28. QAN S’W 10+ sometimes.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1716 D/434 off on operations R/W. 28 in use.
1729 E/434 Last 434 a/c airborne (14 a/c)
1730 Q/431 1st a/c 431 off on ops. (12 a/c)
1741 C/431 Last a/c airborne Tholthorpe operations.
1822 Provisional Diversion Bases 431 Acklington 434 Croft.
2000 S/L. Austin & F/O Stephenson on Watch.
Runway changed to No. 10. QAN SE - 4MPH.
2030 431/S upon R/T Sent to Sea (Whitby) to Jettison load.
[Page break]
2039 434/V Landed Early return
2045 431/C Landed (Three Engines}.
2051 431/M Landed
2135 431/S. Landed Three Engines.
2219 431/O Landed.
2225 431/O reports he is bogged at end of Runway Organized Duty Flight, Bowser & 431 to assist a/c. Asked Base to have Linton stand by in case of any other early returns.
2333 R/W 16 in use. Changing now.
2336. 431/A, K, diverted to Eastmoor.
2338 431/B diverted to Eastmoor.
2341 434/D diverted to Eastmoor.
2346 A 431 landed at Eastmoor.
2349 Runway 16 now O.K. Recalled B431 & D434.
2355 First a/c landed M434.
2358 K431 landed at Linton.
Saturday 23rd October 1943.
0001 E 434 landed. SOS procedure. Given priority landing Had no R/T. (Identity of a/c unknown till 0100).
0010 S 434 given priority landing (3 engines).
0015 N431 landed. No R/T. No permission.
0022 R431 landed Eastmoor.
0032 B 431 landed at Eastmoor.
0028 D431 given priority landing. (3 engines) Ran off runway.
0029 Diverted B & D 434 to Eastmoor. (Recalled them when D431 announced he was o.k.).
0038 O434 unable to get undercarriage down. W/C Newson took over R/T and checked with Pilot on what had been done.
0050 Switched on Runway 10 & told O434 to land on Runway. Ambulance & two fire tenders all ready.
0055 O434 landed on wheels. All O.K.
0200 Nothing heard of F434 (S/L Thomson), A434 (F/L Bryan)
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N434 (Sgt Fry) T434 (F/S Nadeau) or E431 (Sgt Skinner). (The most trouble in the shortest time was never experienced by so few in front of so many people)
0400 Watch closed.
Note:- 431 a/c will be refuelled & ready to take off at 0930 hours this morning.
0830 On Watch. F/O Taylor. Runway 28 QAN. L & V or SSW. 5-10.
Runways & Taxi track ckd. Lots of holes in soft ground. Particularly at E. end of 28 where A/Cr bogged last night. 3 A.A.I. U/S = Phoned Mr. Rocket.
0940 Not required for tonight. – SD’s ckd.
11:02 K/431 landed from Linton = East Moor having vis. troubles so it will be a little while before they let our A/Cr. off.
1213 A/431 landed from East Moor. B & R returning after lunch.
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch F/O. Taylor. R/W 28 in use.
14.00. Work commenced on filling bog-hole on R/W. 28.
14.13. B/431 Returned from East Moor.
14.45. U/434 Returned from East Moor.
16.00. Bog-hole now filled. Completion of hardening & re-surfacing to-morrow
17.36. R/431 Returned from East Moor.
[Underlined] Sunday 24th October, 1943. [/underlined]
08.30. On Watch – Lister P/O. R/W. #10 QAN. S ly to E’ly. Checked Secret Documents.
10.15. Not required to-night.
11.00. Inspected runways, dispersals & perimeter tracks. Grass surfaces badly cut up and water logged. Notice to be inserted in S.R.O’s.
1300 On Watch F/O Stephenson
Monday 25th October 1943
0830 On Watch F/O Stephenson
0830 R/W 28 in use. QAN SWly 5-10.
0900 Sec. Doc checked.
0930 R/W and Perimeter Track checked.
1020 Signal AFI sent to Station Z re perimeter track work.
[Page break]
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor. QAN. L & V. Runway 28.
1500 Bags of X-Countrys = 431/A, C, F, H, S, K, P, R, S, T, = 434/A, L, O, R, S, Y. V/431 to Shipdham.
1613 H/431 returned from x-country early – 3 engines.
1630. All G.P.O. flare-path phones tested O.K.
1800 Viz getting poor. 1500yds. = Strensall phoned that it’s too hazy there for 434 to do bombing. Told them to send A/Cr home as soon as they come up on R/T.
1814 Contacted Shipdham. V/431 staying there overnight.
R/434 tried to land but had to overshoot. Sent him to Topcliffe.
1824 Instructed A/434 to proceed to Topcliffe.
1828 Instructed C/434 to proceed to Topcliffe.
1839. A/434 landed here in error for Topcliffe.
1848 L/434 took a try at landing, overshot, sent to Topcliffe.
1853 O/434 landed here. C/431 landed at Topcliffe at 18.40
1858 P/431 landed here. – R/434 landed at Topcliffe.
1933. All remaining A/Cr landed here OK. – Viz down to 700 yards, but just a thin smoke layer. A/Cr could see lights from above OK.
[Underlined] Tuesday 26TH October 1943 [/underlined]
0900 S/L Austin on Watch – No runway selected – Vis 30 yards. Runways & perimeter tracks inspected by A.F.C. – S.D’s checked.
1300 S/L Austin on Watch – Contacted Shipdham to have V431 return by 1600 hours.
1530 Base inform weather in 6 Group deteriorating rapidly & that they have told V431 to remain overnight.
[Underlined] Wednesday 27TH October 1943. [/underlined]
0900 S/L Austin on Watch – Runways & perimeter tracks inspected S.D’s checked.
1000 We are required for tonight.
1030 Briefing both Squadrons at 1430 hours.
1035 T1196 and TR9 both U/S. Reported to Signals officer.
1235 T1196 temporarily now Serviceable.
1300 F/O Stephenson on duty. RW/W 10 in use.
1350 RW 16 in use.
1430 R/W 10 in use. Oxford landed on R/W 10. Expect sun bad on 16
[Page break]
1515 R/W 28 in use.
1603 Operations scrubbed.
[Underlined] Thursday 28th October, 1943. [/underlined]
08.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Runway #10 QAN. SSEly.
09.50. Stand Down to-night.
10.25. Electricians will be working on #28 funnels for a week. Funnel will be serviceable each night at 18.00 hrs. & before on 1/2 hrs. prior notice.
1300 On watch F/O Maher: Off watch F/O Lister
[Underlined] FRIDAY, 29TH OCTOBER, 1943 [/underlined]
0930 Docs. checked: Airfield inspected
1000 Not operating to-night.
1300 On Watch F/O Stephenson off watch F/O Maher
1700 On Watch F/O Maher off Watch F/O Stephenson
[Underlined] Saturday 30th October 1943. [/underlined]
0830 On Watch F/O Stephenson off Watch F/O Maher R/W 10 in use. Wind light Vis 1000 yds.
0900 Sec. Doc. checked. R/W & Perimeter Track checked.
1020 We are required to-night
1255 Broadcast from Base – Formation of Fortresses heading this way. Will likely call for instructions to their bases but are to be discouraged as their bases have closed in. Base desires these a/c to be landed at Eastmoor as much as possible so as not to congest Linton & Tholthorpe.
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch F/O Stephenson
13.30 Changed to #16.
16.05. Operations scrubbed. Flarepath lifted.
[Page break]
16.45. We now have an outer circle which operates. Getting On nicely!
[Underlined] Sunday 31st October, 1943. [/underlined]
08.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Runway #16. QAN SSEly.
09.30. Inspected aerodrome, runways, perimeter tracks & dispersals. Checked S.D’s.
09.40. Not required to-night.
1300 On duty F/O Maher.
[Underlined] MONDAY, 1ST NOVEMBER, 1943 [/underlined]
0900 On duty F/O Maher; runway in use No 10. Docs. checked. Airfield inspected
1010 Signalled AS4, Mk II lighting now complete.
1255 Wellington flying very low, circled twice and then disappeared in cloud to the south; contacted Linton who advised he had just landed there.
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
[Underlined] Tuesday 2nd [circled] 31 [/circled] November 1943. [/underlined]
0900 S/L Austin on Watch. Runway No. 10. S. D’s checked.
0901 Crosley fire tender U/S for two days. Notified base we would be unable to take outside crash action.
1045 Command Stand-down.
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Runway #10. QAN NWly.
[Underlined] Wednesday 3rd November, 1943. [/underlined]
08.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Runway 16.
09.15. Inspected aerodrome Runways etc. Checked S. D’s.
09.50. Required to-night.
10.50. Briefing 14.30.
1300 On duty F/O Maher: off P/O Lister.
1317 Runway changed to 10.
1402. Requested Service Police to furnish 4 guards on perimeter touch from 1615 onwards.
1630-1701 15 a/c /431 and 14 a/c 434 airborne on operations
S/L Stanley advises that P/O PYLE, post-course from Watchfield [deleted] just [/deleted] to-night.
[Page break]
[Underlined] WEDNESDAY, 3RD NOVEMBER, 1943 [/underlined]
19.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch F/O Maher. Runway #10 QAN. L. & V.
20.27. S/431. Returned early. unable to maintain speed above 16,000 ft.
20.33. N/431 Returned early. Rear Turret guns u/s.
21.15. F/431. IFF u/s. Returning to Base. Completed operation O.K.
21.10. TR9. u/s. Receiving O.K. T’mitter u/s.
21.39 434/V. First a/c to return from operations.
21.54. W/408 Landed here – no R/T. apparently in error for Linton.
22.44. 431/D Landed and bogged himself on entrance to dispersal. A.F.C. instructed to mark with red lights.
22.24. 434/B. Landed on 3 engines. Given a priority landing. All O.K.
22.34. 434/N. Landed at Linton in error.
Not bad for such a large effort to be so trouble free – for a change.
23.31. 431/F. Last aircraft to land safely from ops.
AVM Burkes and Mr. Patterson of Newfoundland Airways present for take-off and return.
[Underlined] Thursday, 4th November, 1943 [/underlined]
00.40. Still now news of 434/E. Base O.K.’d our stand-down. Flarepath lifted, and all to bed.
0900 On duty F/O Maher: off P/O Lister.
Runway in use No 10. Docs checked: F/O Taylor reported back form leave.
1020 Contractors given permission to work on No 10 runway: Runway changed to No 16.
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor.
[Underlined] Friday, 5th November, 1943. [/underlined]
0900 On Watch F/O Taylor & P/O Pyle – Runway 16. QAN SE. 10-15. QBA. 1400 yds.
Runways & Perimeter ckd – Phoned MT for Sweeper to work on Taxi track. Sec. Docs ckd,
1000 Training Only.
13.00. ON Watch. Lister P/O. Off Watch F/O. Taylor. Runway #16.
15.15. Station engineer reports portion (abt 1/3) of perimeter track [inserted] near the wood [/inserted] completely u/s. for at least two days. All aircraft (M, N, R, & P of 434) when taxying will have to [inserted] use [/inserted] perimeter track on North side only.
Saturday 6th November, 1943.
08.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Runway #28 QAN. Wly. J W Pyle P/O.
0930 Runways, perimeter & dispersals checked
[Page break]
431 A
1000 Training only
1015 Docs. checked
10.18. || S/L. Orchard desires that in future all operational crew lists passed to Base by Teleprinter show the number of operational trips each captain of A/C has to his credit. Sqdn. Adjts. instructed.
1120 Runway changed to 34. QAN NW. 22 mph.
1150 Starboard A.A.I. knocked over by 434 “L” on take-off on 34 runway
1157 Station engineer informed of A.A.I.
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor.
1400 Both A.A.I’s on 34 now Serviceable. = One missing on 06 runway, being repaired.
1611 New A/C LK993 re-directed to Leeming at request of W/C Newsom.
|| 1619 If A/C LK995 arrives it is also to go to Leeming.
1620 When V-M & C return from X-country, they are to be instructed on R/T to do 3 extra circuits & landings (per S/L Higgins).
20.15. 434/V Landed at Topcliffe short of petrol, after receiving Pancake here.
20.45. 431/V DK 264 Crashed on grass at intersection on 34 & 28 runways. Crash action initiated. (Informed Ambulance, M.O. & Squadron C.O.). Several aircraft overhead at time. N/434 short of petrol, sent immediately to Linton. O. B. P. E. of 431 Sqdn. & D/434. Diverted to Linton. Contact with Base maintained at all times. Base advised that V/434 was to remain at Topcliff. [sic] Crew of V remaining overnight at Topcliff [sic] to bring aircraft back sometime to-morrow – we hope.
|| Station Z signalled= “Runways 28/10 & 34/16 u/s. Crashed A/Cr.)
2330. Station Engineer, with crew, started moving A/Cr. = Complete write-off.
[Underlined] SUNDAY, 7th NOVEMBER 1943 [/underlined]
0900 S/L Austin on Watch. Inspected scene of crash. Runway 28 is about 65 yards clear. Set out Caravan on Runway 28 to bring back a/c from Linton & Topcliffe.
0950 Training only tonight.
1130 Docs. checked
1155 Required tonight.
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor.
1725 Crashed A/C now moved back approx. 150 yds. clear of runway
STATION Z. Signalled Runways S. – Base informed.
[Page break]
[Underlined] SUNDAY, 7th NOVEMBER 1943 [/underlined]
1820 Operations scrubbed
1930 S/L Austin on Watch. Runway 28 lit.
1935 We are to open watch at 0600 hours for Lancasters from Linton just in case we are needed.
[Underlined] MONDAY 8th NOVEMBER 1943 [/underlined]
0830 On watch F/O Taylor – Runway 10 QAN E’ly 4-5
0845 On watch P/O Pyle – runways & perimeter checked
0920 Docs. checked
1000 Training only, but standing by for 2 hours.
1100 Phoned Clerk of Works. re Perimeter track Sweeping – He will “get cracking on it”
1208 Halifaxes definitely not required.
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch F/O Taylor.
15.45 Marshalling will commence for take-off on Runway 28
17.45. Station electrician reports Sodium lighting on #28 serviceable.
19.30. On Watch F/O Taylor & P/O Pyle.
2000. Night flying F, M, D, N, Y/434 – X-C 20:15 = 0100. C, D, T, R/431 X-C. 21:30-01:10.
We are to be standing by as at 0600 in case Lintons Lancs need us.
2019. M/434 1st A/Cr off on X-C.
2048 F/434 last A/C off on X-C
2130 R/431 1st A/C off on X-C
2150 D/431 last A/C off on X-C
2207 R/431 returned with hydraulic leak
2220 Linton report ops. scrubbed – we will not be needed to stand-by.
2316 O/431 back from Linton with both crews – B/431 U/S at Linton
[Underlined] TUESDAY, 9TH NOVEMBER 1943 [/underlined]
0011 M/434 1st A/C back from X-C
0059 Y/434 last A/C from 434 Sqdn. back from X-C
0139 C/431 back from X-C – port outer engine u/s
0238 D/431 last A/C back from X-C – flarepath doused, R/T Watch closed
08.30. On Watch Lister Runway #10. QAN Light. S.D’s Checked.
09.50. Inspected runways, dispersals, perimeter tracks. Number of glim lamps picked up.
10.00. Not required to-night.
1600 Runway changed to 28
[Page break]
[Underlined] Wednesday 10TH November 1943 [/underlined]
0800 S/L Austin on Watch. Runway 10 in use.
Tracks & Runways inspected. SD’s checked.
1009 Stood down tonight.
1045 Runway changed to 28. Vis poor. (Pilot reported that he could see sodium lighting on his approach.)
1300 ON Watch F/O Taylor. Runway changed to 24. QAN. S-Wly 10-15. gusty.
1550 431 A/C U, T, A, Q, O recalled from X-Country due to weather becoming duff
1652 All A/C on X-C have now acknowledged recall signal
1747 Last X-country a/c landed o.k.
[Underlined] Thursday 11th November 1943 [/underlined]
0900 On Watch F/O Taylor & P/O Pyle. – Runway 28. – QAN W ly light becoming 15-20.
Tracks & Runways Inspected. S-D ckd.
1020 Training only tonight.
13.00. On Watch Linton P/O. Runway #28 QAN: Light Wly. – Nwly.
13.30. A/C.1. John definitely returning here to resume Flarepath duties.
1557 434/Y Sgt. Stanley landed without calling for permission on R/T
17.15. TR1196 u/s. Radio Mechanic’s services sent for. Power u/s.
17.38. Trouble eliminated and all now O.K.
17.40. Last a/c Landed so completing day flying.
17.50. Flare path doused. R/T watch closed.
Friday 12th November, 1943.
08.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Runway [deleted] 28 [/deleted] 34. QAN NWly.
09.15. Runways & dispersals inspected.
09.30. Documents checked.
10.00. Not required to-night.
11.15. Squadron flight commanders informed of gale warning being in force. Flights were told last night.
1145 Oxford MP414 ready to leave – duty crew could not be contacted at fire hut
1300 S/L Austin on Watch – JW Pyle P/O. on watch
1614 Runway changed to 28. QAN. – WNW – 15MPH.
19.30. On Watch Lister Off Watch S/L Austin. Runway #28.
19.55. F/431 Landed at Topcliff. [sic] Before he landed there he was given a QDM of 150° 8 miles. Acknowledged but did not comply.
20.15. F/S. Johnson called from Topcliff [sis] to say that the reason he did not land at base was that the oil pressure
[Page break]
in the Port Outer engine dropped below 45lbs □” and was also falling in two other engines as well.
20.24. [Boxed] “Judgement” M. Darky Call worked by Topcliff [sic] landed here. Whitley a/c. Landed O.K. [Deleted] lost both engines stopped [/deleted] one engine completely u/s. He managed to taxy to [deleted] the end of the [/deleted] intersection of 20 & 34 runways but unable to get clear. Sent duty crew & tractor to pull him clear. [/boxed]
21.25. Runway cleared. Whitley crashed at Ashbourne. ‘Phoned their F.C.O.
21.32. R/431 First a/c to land from X/C.
21.45 N/431. Fourth and last a/c to land from X/C.
23.00 Flare path lifted, R/T watch closed.
Saturday 13TH November 1943
0900 S/L Austin & P/O Pyle on Watch – Runway 28.
Perimeter & runways checked. SD’s checked.
[Underlined] Note [/underlined] [Boxed] Effective Nov 15TH, 1943 a twenty-four hour watch will be kept by this Flying Control Establishment. When no flying takes place from this station there need only be an officer, an R/T operator, airman of the watch and a watchkeeper on duty. [/boxed]
1000 Training only
1240 Signal sent to Station Z “Flying Control Facilities available on 24 hour basis WEF 0900 hours 15 Nov.”
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor.
18:25 Snow Warning. = “Snow Probable during next 24 hrs, in most parts of Br. Isles, amounts moderate over high ground, & mainly slight elsewhere.”
1924 H/431 landed from X-Country.
1938 P/431 landed from X-country
[Underlined] Sunday 14th November [/underlined]
0900 On Watch F/O Taylor & P/O Pyle. = Runway 34. Wind NWly. 20-50mph. Perimeter & Runways ckd. – still there – S.D ckd.
0945. Training only tonight.
13.00. On Watch Lister Off Watch F/O. Taylor.
[Underlined] Monday 15th November, 1943 [/underlined]
08.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Runway #28. QAN. Light NWly.
09.30. Aerodrome inspected. Documents checked.
[Page break]
0950. Training only to-night.
1145 Runway changed to 34 QAN NW’ly 10-15 mph.
1450 Topcliffe informs us that 431/F is now serviceable – “C” will take crew there to bring F back
1645 431/F back from Topcliffe
19.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Off duty F/O. Taylor.
[Underlined] Tuesday 16th November, 1943. [/underlined]
08.30. Quiet Watch. Off duty Lister On duty F/O Taylor.
Runway 34. QAN. NWly – 10-20 mph. – S.D ckd. Runways & Per. Inspected.
1000 Training only
1130. From Base: We are provisional diversion base for 15. U.S.A.A.F. A/Cr. for between 1400-1600 hrs
1300 On duty S/L Austin & P/O Pyle
1440 Frost warning late tonight – min. air temperature 30°-31° F
1510 Air sea rescue crews not required
1547 Not required for U.S.A.A.F. diversions
1930 434/N is bogged at corner of taxi track & #28 runway – action taken.
1945 On Watch F/O Taylor. =
20.10 Crew has bogged near AFC Caravan. Phoned MT for something to pull it out. Tractor couldn’t
2217 M/434 – 3rd A/Cr landed OK. = When F/434 first called up it was raining quite heavily. Instructed him to fly in a northerly direction into the clear until shower had passed, to avoid icing = landed safely an hour later.
2224 M/434 now stuck off taxi track.
2245 M/434 back in dispersal.
[Underlined] Wednesday 17th November, 1943. [/underlined]
0625 Base advise – Require 3 A/Cr of 434 Sqdn for A/S/R. – take off approx. 0830hrs. Phones out of order so sent a written message to W/Co Harris by M/T driver.
0815 Daylight Caravan out on Runway 28 – QAN – L & V.
0845 On duty S/L Austin & P/O Pyle
0945 Docs. checked
1000 Training only 1001-1026 N, J & O 434 off on A.S. Rescue.
1215 Runway changed to 34.
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch S/L. Austin. Runway #34.
16.00. Frost warning to-night. Min Temp. 30°.Passed to M.T. & Flights.
1445-1456 – N, J, O 434 landed from A.S.R.
1335-1403 – A, C, Y, R 434 & H, J, R, & O 431 off on A.S.R.
[Page break]
1707-1906 – All a/c [deleted] off [/deleted] landed from A.S.R.
1823-1835 – A, D, K, L & T 431 off on night X-country.
20.45. Taxy track across #28 R/W u/s. Glims laid. Electricians informed.
20.31 434/F first a/c off on night flying.
2114 434/N bogged in front of dispersal
2119 434/X off on night flying
2136 434/F landed from night flying.
2215 434/X landed from night flying
2316 431/A landed from night flying – S/I engine u/s – landed O.K.
2338 431/U last A/C landed from night flying – trouble with u/c at first but landed O.K.
[Underlined] Thursday 18 TH November 1943 [/underlined]
0830 Runways & perimeter inspected.
On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch S/L. Austin. P/O Pyle. Runway #34. Documents checked.
10.00. Required to-night.
13.00. On Watch F/O. Taylor. Off Watch Lister P/O.
16.30. 431/K First a/c. off on ops.
16.54. 434/M First a/c. of 434 Sq. off on ops.
17.22. 431/Q. Thirty-first & last a/c. off on ops.
19.40. L/431. Returned early. Sent to jettison as he had not done so.
19.45. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch F/O Taylor.
20.07. B/431. Returned, had jettisoned, asked for permission to do Right Hand circuit.
20.55. B/431. Bogged on Perimeter track. Impossible to move – no a/c can pass. S/L Hudson has organised a crane – may be [deleted] done [/deleted] cleared in 2 hrs.
22.00. B/431 Back on dispersal.
23.45. P/434 First a/c back off ops.
Friday 19th November. 1943.
00.15. U/431 Landed short of petrol. Z/434 Stood-by.
00.21. K/431 Landed short of petrol. C/434 Stood-by.
00.41. R/434 Landed Linton short of petrol. Was not certain he was over the right aerodrome but said “so short am landing anyway.”
00.38 1/2. T/431 Landed short of petrol. Priority
00.56. L/434. Bogged on corner of #28 and perimeter track.
03.40. The following aircraft have landed away (short of petrol etc.) F. E & J of 431. G. E. R. M. of 434.
[Page break]
No news of A/434. U/434. M/431. No further news received of Q/431 who was ditching at 23.28 (app.) One fix and 1 QDM only received.
08.30. Off Watch Lister P/O. On Watch F/O Taylor.
Runway 34. QAN – NW – 5-10. = L/434 still obstructing No 28. = Clerk of works phoned re Taxi track lighting around 28 loop being very dim, & AAI’s on 34 runway.
1000 We are required tonight. SD’s ckd.
1045 Ex Base. F/431 should be leaving Woodbridge any time now. They are bringing a 428 Sqdn crew back here with them. Leeming to arrange transport from here.
11:37 W/Co Newson: When F/431 comes on R/T advise him to take crew of 428 to Leeming.
12:16 Call from Stanton Harcourt. E/431 left 12:09, G/434 left 12:11, M/434 Glycol leak.
12:41 G/434 landed from Stanton Harcourt.
1300 S/L Austin & P/O. Pyle on Watch
1311 E/431 landed from Stanton Harcourt.
1410 E/434 landed from Little Harwood
1430 F/431 landed from Woodbridge. 1506 J 431 landed from Little Harwood
1621 First a/c off on operations. Runway 34 – zero wind – 28 blocked.
1655 Twentieth & last a/c off on ops. Z434 & L431 scrubbed.
1656 Ordered flarepath changed to 28 as L434 was cleared.
1746 Flarepath caravan finally arrived in position.
2000 F/O Taylor on Watch.
2004 T/431 landed OK. (Had completed detail) (Nav. error, would have been too late on Δ)
2030 Arrangements with Base re weather: Unless Group suggest diversion A/Cr come back here. If raining then, we have no more than 4 overhead at 1 time. Send extras to Linton or East Moor alternately. These stations to help with transport.
2205 N/431 first A/Cr up on R/T.
2215. J/434 landed West Malling 21:25. – flak damage. – Crew OK.
2334 R/431 landed = No news from D, X, Y, of 434.
Saturday November 20th
0030 Still no news. Flare path doused. (Tractor & Trailer Bogged at 28.)
0754 Just heard Y/434 landed Thorney Island. 22:39.
0900 S/L Austin on Watch. Runway 28. Calm. SD’s checked.
0956 Training only tonight.
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch S/L Austin. R/W #28. Calm.
13.42. Instructed M & Y/434 to return to base.
13.50. M.T. contacted re perimeter track being swept.
15.30. M/434 unable to return to-day – bad weather down at S. Harcourt.
1655. Base inform: “Body picked up in the sea by A.S.R off Newhaven. M.U. A/G.” Further details may be had from F./C. 11 Group.
[Page break]
1930 Off watch P/O Lister – On watch P/O Pyle
2000 QBA 600 yds. QBB – 2000 10/10ths. – Widespread fog persisting through the night at base & our diversion stations till later tomorrow
[Underlined] SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21st, 1943 [/underlined]
0830 Quiet watch – Doc’s checked – Runway 28. Calm
On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch P/O. Pyle.
09.25. Aerodrome, dispersals & perimeter tracks inspected. S/431 is an obstruction at the entrance to North side Hangar.
09.45. Our diverted aircraft may, if serviceable return today between 14.00 & 17.00.
10.10. No operations in command to-night – but we are to stand-by for a big effort to-morrow night.
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor.
1436 Y/434 took off from Thorney Island.
1614 Y/434 landed OK, after a bit if trouble finding the drome in poor viz.
1700. Orderly room phoned – LAC Strangeland is posted to 50 Group Pool for A.F.C Course WEF DEC 18
19.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch F/O. Taylor.
[Underlined] Monday November 22nd 1943. [/underlined]
08.00. Quiet Watch. Runway #28
08.30. Off Watch Lister P/O. On Watch F/O Taylor. QAN. W ly light. SD ckd.
09:55 We are required for tonight = Briefing 1400 hrs. = changed to 13:30 hrs.
12:24 434/M returned from Stanton Harcourt.
12.45 S/L Austin & P/O Pyle on watch
1636 P/434 1st A/Cr. off on ops. = Runway 28. QAN – W ly 5.
1709 K/434 24th A/Cr off. - V/434 scrubbed – Internal Glycol leak.
1822 W/434 returned early. (A.S.I. u/s).
1918 A/431 returned early. Used up all oxygen in first hour.
2014 L/431 returned early. – on 3 engines.
2342 U/431 first A/Cr landed OK from ops.
2352 W/431 landed on 3 engines, burst a tyre & stopped near intersection of 28 & 34 runways. Appeared to be an obstruction. Seven aircraft overhead so sent them to East Moor. 434/F, G, O, K. 431/D. E. F.
[Underlined] Tuesday November 23rd 1943. [/underlined]
0010. W/431 found to be more than 100 yards from runway so started landing A/C again. K/434 came back from E. Moor.
[Page break]
0019 L/434 called up short of petrol so given priority landing. B/431 landed at East Moor without calling Base. X/431 landed at Woodbridge on 3 Engines; P/434 & Z/434 landed at Docking.
0018 Y of 429 Squadron (P/O Kingston) landed on a Darky call from Linton.
0130 No news from C & E/434, lights doused, flare-path party stood down.
0200 N/431 which had gone off taxi track near end of 24 runway, now in dispersal.
0900 S/L Austin & P/O Pyle on Watch. Runways & perimeter inspected. SD’s checked. Runway 28 in use.
1000 Training only.
1203 Runway changed to 16. QAN S’ly to S by E 9+ M.P.H.
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch S/L Austin. R/W. #16.
14.11 All a/c at Eastmoor returned safely. Two or three overshoots. G. F. O./434. And B D E F/431.
1810 Flarepath lights No. 16 u/s Clerk of Works informed
1930 S/L Austin on Watch & P/O. Pyle.
2000 Switchboard u/s. Reported to Signals.
2205 Asked Flarepath to be switched to 28 with reserve on 24 as wind is expected to veer and decrease in intensity.
2220 Switchboard serviceable. (Cable broken).
2300 Possible diversion now remote. Standing by for Linton (just in case).
[Underlined] Wednesday November 24TH, 1943 [/underlined]
0030 Flarepath & lights doused.
09.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch S/L Austin. R/W #24.
09.30. Runways Perimeter tracks & dispersals inspected by Sgt. Shacklady. Documents checked.
10.05. Training Only To-night.
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor.
1335. Shipdham Phoned – G/431 S. – send a crew for it; take 48 spark plugs, spanners & 4 accumulators. Passed to Stat. Eng. Office.
1500 Runway changed to 28. = QAN. W ly-WSWly. 20-30 mph.
Night flying tonight. 434 doing Bombing. 431 – 3 possible X-C’s.
1800 Night flying scrubbed.
1925 Contacted Docking. Z/434 should be ready for take-off in about an hour
[Page break]
19.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch F/O. Taylor.
21.30. Z/434 not coming to-night but will be ready for take off by 09.00 tomorrow.
[Underlined] Thursday 25th November, 1943. [/underlined]
08.00 Quiet Watch.
09.00 Off Watch Lister P/O. On Watch F/O Taylor.
Runway 28. QAN W-WNW – 15-20. Runways etc inspected. SD’s ckd.
1000 Required tonight.
1300 On Watch S/L Austin & P/O Pyle
1930 On Watch F/O Taylor.
2325 L/434 first A/Cr off on ops – Runway 28.
2359 L/431 last A/Cr off on ops – 26 in All – 13 each Sqdn.
[Underlined] Friday 26th November 1943. [/underlined]
0337 Q/434 landed – early return – trouble with rear turret.
0401 S/431 landed – early return
0624 V/434 1st A/Cr up on R/T. – landed 0629.
0803 W/434 landed, after having trouble with hydraulics.
L/434, K & Y/431 landed. Tangmere, G/434 landed at Breighton.
0850 G/434 airborne from Breighton, returning to Base.
0901 G/434 landed from Breighton
On Watch P/O Pyle
1015 We are required tonight – Runways & perimeter inspected R. 28 in use S.D’s checked
1201 434/L landed here form Tangmere
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch P/O. Pyle.
13.10. K/431. Returned from Tangmere.
13.15. Y/431 Returned from Tangmere.
16.45. K/434 1st a/c off on ops.
17.20. H/431 17th and last a/c off on ops. N/431 too late for take off.
18.40. Provisional diversion of 30 aircraft from Nos. 5 & 8 Gps (P.F.F.). All available transport to stand by.)
1930 S/L Austin on Watch & P/O Pyle.
2026 K434 landed early from ops – P/outer u/s.
2315 Base inform us that 14 Lancasters of 467 Sqdn. Waddington (R/T “Pandrop”) are to be diverted here at approx. 0130 hrs. – A/C letters C, D, E, G, J, S, K, L, M, O, P, R, A, B.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Saturday 27 November 1943 [/underlined]
0012 V434 first a/c down from ops.
0020 Base inform they are sending over two of 467 a/c.
0036 G467 landed (P/O Coulson)
0041 1/2 D467 landed. (F/L Symonds.)
0100 K467 landed. (P/O Whitford).
0110 I 103 landed (Four other a/c landed between these times). (F/S Campbell)
0116 R431 asked for priority landing by W/T.
0150 H 106 landed (F/O Lee)
0152 1/2 J 106 landed (F/O Jardine)
0156 1/2 F 106 landed. (P/O Holbourn)
0200 All a/c of both 434 & 431 reported down.
G434 at Bourne; R 431 at Eastmoor; Y434, N434; D431, H431and P431 at Thorney Island. Rest at base.
0230 Still standing by for any diversion.
0300 Base o’k’ed standing down.
0610 Sgt. Bell reports Lancasters refuelled – 350 gallons each – J, H, D, G, F, K
0800 S.D’s checked – Group report weather at our diversion A/D’s ‘grim’ – [deleted] no [/deleted] crews standing by
09.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch P/O. Pyle. R/W. #10.
10.15. Not required to-night.
13.00 On Watch F/O Taylor.
1500 re 431/L. at Tangmere. = New S. = A crew are leaving here to arrive there Sunday evening to fly A/Cr back. Monday morning. = Base informed.
19.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch F/O. Taylor.
Sunday 28th November, 1943.
Quiet Watch. Very quiet.
07.30. Diverted Lancasters to standby for take off on confirmation at 10.00.
09.00. Off Watch Lister P/O. On Watch F/O Taylor Runway 24 SSW-WSW – 10. SD ckd.
09.45 Training Only.
10:37 I/103 Sqdn left for Elsham Wolds. – landed there OK.
11:30 Changed to Runway 28. QAN. Light W ly.
11.04 P/431 took off from Thorney Island.
11.10 N/434 took off from Thorney Island. W & D/431 will be leaving shortly.
1227 P/431 landed from Thorney Island
[Page break]
1231 G/434 landed from Bourne
1234 N/434 landed from Thorney Island
1235 H/431 left Thorney Island with 2 of D’s crew – D/431 not leaving yet.
1300 S/L Austin & P/O Pyle on Watch.
1730 Lancasters D, G, K/467 Sqdn. & F, J/106 Sqdn. left for Waddington & Metheringham
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch.
2006-2031. = A, K. S. N. T./431 & A. C. O. U./434 off on X-C’s. R/434 off for Thorney Island.
[Deleted] 0010 )/434 [/deleted] [Underlined] Monday November 29th 1943. [/underlined]
0010 O/434 landed from X-Country.
0033 S/431 on return from X country landed off runway, far to the right. Holding up 4 others while investigating position.
0044 S/431 back on runway taxying to end. – clear at 0046.
0055 S/431 called up. he was on taxi track, out of brake pressure & had to shut off motors. Had K & N/431 turn left & parked them in front of watch office.
0129 Had U & R/434 turn left, taxi all the way round & across the main runway
0142 U/434 bow bogged, so R/434 left on taxi behind him – Bags of Red lights. Everything at least landed OK.
0300 Taxi track now all clear. A/Cr in dispersals.
0845 F/O Taylor off watch S/L Austin & P/O Pyle on watch Runway 24 QAN SW’ly gusty
[Deleted] 0900 [/deleted] 0945 Runway changed to 28 – S.D’s checked
0955 Training only
13.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch S/L. Austin P/O Pyle.
13.15. Ex Base:- Any Lossiemouth a/c to be landed here if seen as weather up north has clamped.
15.45. [Boxed] Darky call from “Dear Friend” E; [inserted] 360th Bomb Sqdn. [/inserted] lost. Got him to fire Verey light & he was located over Marston Moor. Requested QDM for Molesworth & Northampton; told to land. Rogered. Boston aircraft. [/boxed]
16.20. Stbd. A of I. on #28 u/s. C.O.W. informed.
17.30. Above now serviceable.
17.37. L/434 Off on bombing and C Country.
19.04 C/431 last A/C off on X country
1930 Off watch P/O Lister – on watch S/L Austin & P/O Pyle
2213 434/L bogged about 100 yds. from his dispersal at intersection of taxi & perimeter track on west side of 34 Runway – bowser & crew organized – S/L Holman informed
2257 431/C last A/C to land from X-country.
[Page break]
2325 Duty crew report 434/L now clear & being towed to dispersal
[Underlined] TUESDAY – NOVEMBER 30th 1943 [/underlined]
0800 Quiet watch
09.00. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch P/O. Pyle. R/W. 28. NWly.
10.00 Runways, dispersals & Perimeter tracks inspected. Portions of P.T. require sweeping.
10.10. Re ops. Standing by.
10.20. Training only.
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor.
1454 Barracuda Royal Navy BV734 – Lt Walker – landed for refueling [sic] – Proceeding to EAST HAVEN dept. 15.30
1743 G/434 off on X-Country
18.11 H/106 Sqdn Lancaster left for home base – Metheringham -Signalled – P2.
18.20 E/434 off on X-Country.
1900 Runway changed to [deleted] W [/deleted] 28. Wind WNWly 5-10 mph.
19.30. On Watch Lister P/O. Off Watch F/O Taylor. R/W. 28. QAN. S.
21.36. G/434 Landed from Cross Country.
22.19. E/434 Landed from Cross Country.
[Underlined] Wednesday December 1st 1943. [/underlined]
08.00. Quiet Watch.
09.00. Off Watch Lister P/O. On Watch F/O Taylor.
Runway 28 – QAN – WNW – 5-15 mph. – S.D’s ckd.
0945 Required tonight.
13.00 Off watch F/O Taylor – On watch S/L Austin & P/O Pyle
14.00. Lister signing off at Tholthorpe for the last time. Best of luck and good wishes. Wombleton (?!*) here I come!!
1600 Operations temporarily postponed. Aircraft are to marshall & be ready for night take off.
1625 All a/c so instructed
2245 Operations cancelled.
[Underlined] Thursday – December 2nd – 1943 [/underlined]
0830 Runway 24. QAN = SSE to SW – 15-30mph. = SD’s ckd.
0900 Off watch F/O Taylor – on watch S/L Austin & P/O Pyle
0910 Runway changed to No. 28 – QAN W’ly
0950 Sgt. Rutherford is to be cleared today and to proceed to No. 41 Base Marston Moor tomorrow on attachment
0955 We are required tonight
[Page break]
[Underlined] Saturday 4TH December 1943 (Cont.). [/underlined]
0135 R431 overhead. Too heavy to land so is circling base.
0200 Runway changed to 06 – QAN NNE’ly 10+ MPH.
0234 U434 returned early. (Captain ill.)
0243 R434 returned early. (Port outer u/s.).
0249 R431 landed o.k. (Port outer u/s.)
0253 M434 returned early. (Couldnt [sic] climb over 12,000 – Icing.)
0307 H431 returned early. (overload tank would not feed).
0330 Back on Runway 10 again. QAN E’/y 4MPH.
0738 F434 first a/c landed from ops.
0804 X429 (F/O Keenan) Leeming landed by mistake.
0827 L431 last a/c landed/
0830 Base inform C434 landed Newmarket 0737; T431 landed Newmarket 0752; N434 at Dunsfold 0700; Y431 landed Lakenheath 0754.
0855 Base inform Sgt McQueen & crew of V434 have been picked up in Channel. Believe all crew are safe.
0913 G434 landed from ops. (9 1/2 hours airborne).
0915. On Watch F/O Taylor.
1010 Training only
1030 Runway 28. QAN. L & V.
10.47 429/X returned to Leeming
1100 Ex Base. ASR picked up 7 crew of 434/V 3 miles S of Beachy. Now being looked after in Newhaven Police Station. All OK.
1050 C/434 landed from Newmarket
1120 T/431 landed from Newmarket
1234 Y/431 landed from Lakenheath.
1515 434/N (Dunsfold) will not be serviceable so crew is [deleted word] returning via Middleton (428-P) A/C
1620 431/D at Thorney Island remaining there till evening sue to engine trouble
1635 431/D left Thorney Island
1723 P/428 Sqdn landed here. Middleton closed in so they are to spend the night here.
1810 D/431 landed OK from Thorney Island; ran off the end of runway, swung around & came back onto taxi track. Later ran out of brake pressure, Duty crew working on it
2100 D/431 now put in dispersal
2122 K/431 landed safely from X-Country after 2 dummy runs. Vis about 1200 yards.
[Page break]
[Underlined] SUNDAY – 5th DECEMBER 1943 [/underlined]
0900 Off watch F/O Taylor On watch S/L Austin & P/O Pyle
0915 Doc’s checked – Runway 28 QAN light NW’ly
1000 Not required tonight
1024 P428 returned to Middleton (phoned).
1230 Weekly training figures passed to Base.
1300 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1448 H 431 1st of 3 a/c airborne on XC’s.
1523 P, K, 434 airborne on A.A.F.
1625 Lanc circled aerodrome with wheels down and flashed letter. ACP gave green but Lanc evidently proceeded to Linton.
1715 S/431 landed okay from AAF – vis. 2000x
1930 K431 last of 3 X countries to return to base.
Vis:- 144 Yds. On watch P/O Pyle
[Underlined] MONDAY – 6th DECEMBER 1943 [/underlined]
0800 Quiet watch
0830 Runway 28 QAN light W’ly S.D.’s checked
0900 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0930 Contacted Thorney Isle re Y434. Advised them not to let Y434 take-off this morning or until we again contact flying control.
0935 Stand down tonight.
1100 N 434 at Dunsfold S/O engine change and possibly P/O change. Ground crew despatched. “LK970”
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
1722 Y 434 landed from Thorney Isle. Vis 1800 yds Good landing.
1930 Aerodrome red.
[Underlined] Tuesday 7 Dec, 1943 [/underlined]
0700 Quiet night.
0820 Doc’s checked.
0900 S/L Austin on Watch – Runway 28.
0920 Five cows found grazing on Runway 28.
0950 Training only.
[Page break]
Dunfold [sic] at 0830 hrs Dec 10. Route base, Fleet, Dunsfold.
1717 Base okay flight P434. Route & times to be passed before take-off.
1721 Group advise 1717 entry cancelled. Dunsfolds [sic] u/s for 4 engine a/c to land. S/L Hockey notified.
1800 S/L. Linnell in Oxford returned from Dalton, etc.
1900 F/O Taylor off watch, F/L Gant on watch.
2330 Quiet.
Friday Dec 10, 1943.
0730 Quiet night.
0840 On Watch F/O Taylor. = Runway 10. QAN. L & V – mainly N.E.ly. SD ckd. 431’s departure delayed as Croft’s weather duff.
1015 Not required tonight.
1145 431 now standing by to leave for Croft at 13:30 hrs.
1200 A crew from 1664 Con. Unit. Dishforth should be coming over this afternoon to pick up EB205. = old 431/S. = St. Eng. has keys & log books
1300 Off watch F/O Taylor – on watch P/O Pyle
1344 B431 first a/c of Squadron to take off on transfer to Croft.
1357 R431 eleventh off. Airborne are B, A, D, E, F, H, W, K, T, Y& R. Several a/c violated the low flying rule by coming within twenty feet of the tower. Unable to make out letters of a/c to take disciplinary action.
1500 Pilot & navigator left for Dunsfold today to bring back 434/N tomorrow
1521 431/L off & 431/U & S off
1930 On Watch F/O Taylor.
Saturday December 11th 1943.
0900 Off watch F/O Taylor – on watch P/O Pyle – Runway 10 QAN light [deleted] N [/deleted] NNW’ly – no tractor available to move caravan
0920 Runway now 28
1112 U/434 – 15th A/C off – airborne are O, P, R, U, W, X, Y, Z, D, E, F, H, K, L, & M
1215 Runway changed to 06
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
1403 C 434 last a/c airborne for Croft. [Underlined] So a chapter in
[Page break]
the history of Tholthorpe is completed. The next begins with the arrival of 420 and 425 Squadrons.
1930 Off watch S/L Austin – on watch P/O Pyle
[Underlined] SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12th, 1943 [/underlined]
0800 Quiet watch
0830 Runway 10 QAN NE’ly light – S.D.’s checked
0900 S/L Austin on Watch.
|| 1151 First a/c LW405 of 425 Squadron landed from Linton
|| 1157 a/c LW391 of 425 Squadron landed from Linton
|| 1219 a/c LW 395 of 425 Squadron landed from Linton
|| 1220 a/c LW 396 of 425 Squadron landed from Linton
|| 1246. a/c LW381 of 425 Squadron landed from Linton
(And so the Second Chapter has begun).
1300 ON Watch. F/O Taylor.
[Deleted] 1545 [/deleted]
1417 Halifax LK.734 delivered for 431 Sqdn. Pilot could not take it on to Croft.
1543. A/Cr. LW375 for 425 Sqdn Landed from Linton.
1625 Whitley BZ 6825 from Ashbourne brought a Crew for LA943.
1719 Whitley LA934 left for Ashbourne.
1930 S/L Austin on Watch – Runway 10 in use.
[Underlined] Monday 13TH December 1943 [/underlined]
0830 Runway 28. QAN light & variable – S.D’s checked.
0900 ON Watch F/O Taylor. Runways & perimeter inspected.
10:35 G/C Bradshaw arrived from Linton on a Proctor. Later going to Middleton or Leeming.
12:20 431 sqdn sending a crew this afternoon to pick up LK734
1300 P/O Pyle on watch
1449 G/C Bradshaw left in Proctor for Middleton
1547 AL/F landed with crew to take back LK 734 which has been authorized by signal to be transferred from 431 Sqdn. to 429 at Leeming.
1630 LK 734 left for Leeming
[Underlined] TUESDAY, 14th DECEMBER, 1943 [/underlined]
0900 On watch P/O Pyle – Runway 28 QAN light variable – very foggy
0930 S.D.’s checked
1300 On watch S/L Austin
[Page break]
1930 On watch P/O Pyle
[Underlined] WEDNESDAY, 15th DECEMBER, 1943 [/underlined]
0800 Quiet watch – dense fog throughout the night
0830 S.D.’s checked – Runway 28. QAN light & variable – persistent fog
0900 Off watch P/O Pyle S/L Austin on Watch.
0950 Training only.
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor.
1930 S/L Austin on Watch.
[underlined] Thursday 16TH December 1943 [/underlined]
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch. = Runway 10 – Calm – E-ly if any.: Rwys & Perimeter OK. SD’s ckd
1300 On watch P/O Pyle
1700 Linton A/C operating – returning about 2330 – Provisional diversion bases south
2000 On Watch F/O Taylor. We are to be prepared to land some of Linton’s A/Cr. = Runway 10. QAN. SEly – 9. QBB 1500’.
2341 M/426 sqdn given Pancake, but did not appear. = (Landed at Linton)
2354 D/408 Sqdn landed.
23.59 G/408 Sqdn landed.
[underlined] Friday 17th December 1943. [/underlined]
0004 B/408 Sqdn landed.
0018. S/408 Sqdn given Pancake on right hand circuit; couldn’t see our runway so returned to Linton.
0100 Base report a Crash in our area. = Ref. 064944 = Yearsley. = Two survivors in a Public House there; and 5 casualties: M.O. & ambulance sent; F.A.F. Regiment arranging guard.
0900 P/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0905 Runway 16 in use.
1000 Bomber Command stand down tonight
1317 F/L Gant off watch. P/O Pyle on watch
1730 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2350 Quiet and foggy.
Saturday Dec 18, 1943.
0700 Quiet night.
0800 Doc’s checked.
0810 Runway 16.
0900 F/L Gant off watch. P/O Pyle on watch.
[Page break]
Tuesday 21 Dec 1943.
0100 Linton circuit clear.
0700 Quiet night.
0830 Doc’s checked.
0900 F/L Gant off watch. P/O Pyle on watch
0910 Runway 16 QAN SE’ly 20
1000 Training only
1300 P/O Pyle off Watch F/O Taylor on Watch.
1327 LW388 landed from Linton – A.T.A. = for 420 Sqdn.
[Underlined] NOTE [/underlined] Clerk of Works = Thursday & Friday will be putting duct under taxi track for new Watch Office. 1/2 of track will be up each day, but will be cemented in for use at night if necessary.
[Underlined] Wednesday 22nd December 1943. [/underlined]
0900 On Watch F/O Taylor. Off Watch P/O Pyle. RW28. QAN W ly. 15-20.
1108 W/Co Richer took off in Oxford for Croft, returning after lunch = Advised their base
1118 S/434 F/S Gardner left for Croft. Base informed.
1300 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1335 3°’s frost warning tonight.
1708 Last of 5 new Halifaxs landed.
1930 F/L Gant off watch. F/O Taylor on Watch.
[Underlined] Thursday 23rd December 1943. [/underlined]
0900 F/L Gant on watch.
0905 Runway 24 in use.
1005 6 Group operating tonight.
1132 Heard darky call on TR9. Answered but heard other 6 group stations answering so did not bother further.
1300 F/L Gant off watch.
1511 New Halifax LW 396 for 420 Sqdn. from Hawarden – snag S.I. oil leak
1540 Eastmoor informed that our spare crash tender is u/s (cylinder block) – parts have been wired for but it will be u/s for about 2 weeks
1551 New Halifax LW 414 for 425 Sqdn. from Hawarden
1620 Memorandum from S. and O. suggests that reveille be announced over the tannoy system at 0645. Agreed by telephone to begin this system at the beginning of the week.
[Page break]
1755 We are required to stand-by for landing 20 A/C. ETD approx. midnite – ETA [underlined] 0730 [/underlined]
1930 P/O Pyle off watch F/L Gant on watch.
2100 Standing by for provisional diversion.
Friday 24 of Dec 1943.
0035 Base advise Linton and Eastmoor scrubbed, we still are standing by for provisional diversion.
0630 Diversion cancelled.
0730 Doc’s checked.
0900 F/L Gant off watch. – P/O Pyle on Watch.
0910 Runway 24 – QAN light & variable at first – later W’ly
1015 A few A/C in Command on special targets – 431 ‘Gardening’
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch = P/O Pyle off Watch.
1400 Runway 34. – QAN NWly. 7mph.
1600 S/L Stanley, 6 Group, phoned “A Merry Xmas to all the Staff”.
[Underlined] Saturday, December 25th 1943. [/underlined]
[Underlined] Merry Christmas [/underlined]
0930. F/O Taylor appeared – Runway 24 – S’D’s ckd.
1000 Stand-down tonight.
2330 Very quiet.
Sunday December 26, 1943.
0900 F/L Gant on watch.
0905 Runway 24. QAN light SWly.
0910 Secret doc’s checked.
0940 Command stand down tonight.
1020. State of Station crash tenders:- is at present, 1 from Middleton St. George being repaired here. Should be serviceable in 48 hrs. Our own stand by will be u/s until further notice.
1300 F/L Gant off watch.
1541 LW 418 New Halifax from Linton 420 Sqdn.
1548 LW 387 New Halifax from Linton 425 Sqdn.
[Page break]
[Underlined] MONDAY – 27th DECEMBER, 1943 [/underlined]
0800 Quiet watch
0900 Runway 24 QAN WSW light – SD’s checked
1300 ON Watch. F/O Taylor.
1545 From S/L Kyles = As of 1/Jan 44. Captains names must be passed with all details of movements.
1930 On watch P/O Pyle Runway 34
2200 Runway changed to 24 QAN SW – 5-10
[Underlined] TUESDAY – 28th DECEMBER 1943 [/underlined]
0800 Quiet watch – Llandrwog called to ask us if we could take an aircraft – advised no – heavy ground fog
0900. On Watch F/O Taylor. Runway 10 – QAN. Light E.ly. SD’s ckd.
1000 No ops in Command tonight.
1300 P/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1400 Runway 24 in use.
1605 Frost warning tonight. 4°.
1630 Flare path laid 24 runway.
1930 F/L Gant off watch F/O Taylor on Watch.
Wednesday – 29th December.
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0905 Runway 24 in use.
0910 Doc. checked.
0950 Halies and Lancs working in group tonight.
1300 On watch P/O Pyle
1515 Runway changed to #28
1700 Runway 24 in use.
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1955 Base advise to stand by to land East Moor a/c if necessary. Sick quarters advised.
2310 Base advise East Moor runway now clear and we are not to land their aircraft.
[Underlined] Thursday 30 Dec 1943 [/underlined]
0730 Quiet night.
0815 Doc’s checked.
0830 F/L Gant off watch. F/O Pyle on watch
[Page break]
1000 No operations in Group tonight – 1 & 3 Group ‘Gardening’
1010 Runway changed to No. 34 QAN NW 18
1040 Runway changed to No. 28 QAN W 16
1130. Runways & perimeter inspected 1253-LW429 new a/c for 425 landed.
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
1443 LW393 new a/c for 420 Squadron landed.
1449 LW397 new a/c for 425 Squadron landed.
1503 LW417 new a/c for 425 Squadron landed.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
[Underlined] FRIDAY, 31st DECEMBER, 1943 [/underlined]
0800 Quiet watch
0815 Doc’s checked
0900 S/L Austin on Watch. Runway 28. Perimeter checked.
1300 F/L Gant on watch.
1930 F/L Gant off watch. S/L Austin on Watch.
[Underlined] SATURDAY 1ST JANUARY 1943. ? [/underlined]
0800 Quiet Watch. SD’s checked.
0900 S/L Austin off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1015 Taxi track, runways and dispersals inspected.
1020 Linton operating tonight.
1300 P/O Pyle on watch
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2330 Quiet.
[Underlined] Sunday 2nd January 1944. [/underlined]
0015 Linton taking off.
08.30 Doc’s checked.
0840 All Linton’s a/c accounted for except one, on which they have a QDM.
0900 F/L Gant off watch. P/O Pyle on Watch.
1000 Runways & perimeter track inspected
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
1446 Fire tender dispatched to SHQ to put out a fire. (Very slow getting away.) (Adjutant informs it is only a test call).
[Page break]
0930 Runways & perimeter inspected
1300. On Watch F/O Taylor. Off Watch P/O Pyle.
1420 [Underlined] NOTE [/underlined] Signal to Station Z. “Runway QDM 101 U/S for Operational landings TFN Taxi track under repair”. Base informed
1930 S/L Austin on Watch –
[Underlined] Sunday 19 December 43 [/underlined]
0830 Quiet. Doc’s checked. Runway 16.
0930 QAN – Swly – 5-15mph. T & No’s changed to 24; cannot move caravan.
0945 Nothing in Command tonight.
1010 Crash Wagon U/S. Reserve in use. Base informed.
1127 G & B/408 Sqdn returned to Linton = D/408 left at 11:42.
[Underlined] NOTE [/underlined] If LK738 is delivered here, phone Leeming right away so they can pick it up
1219 LW380 – New A/Cr for 420 delivered from Linton.
1300 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1358 D 434 departed for Croft. Croft notified.
1545 New a/c being delivered from Linton reported wheels would not lock down. Advised to put 30° or 40° of flap and slow down to 140 MPH.
1548 Pilot advises wheels locked down. Given pancake
1930 F.L Gant off watch. F/O Taylor on watch
2330 Quiet.
Monday 20 Dec, 1943
0730 Quiet night.
0800 Doc’s checked
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant [deleted] off [/deleted] on watch.
0905 Runway 24 in use. Qan WSW – SW 20-25.
1010 Linton operating tonight.
1300 On watch P/O Pyle
1439 New Halifax LW426 for 420 Sqdn. landed
1630 Our standby Crossley Crash Tender has been lent to Eastmoor
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2000 Standing by for Linton a/c. Flare path layed on runway 24. [Deleted word] Duty crew standing by.
2330 Quiet.
[Page break]
[Underlined] MONDAY – 3RD JANUARY 1944 [/underlined]
0615 Asked to stand-by & light up for any Eastmoor A/C who may wish to land here QBB about 1700. Crash crew ordered to stand-by – sick quarters asked to have ambulance stand-by. Call signs “Island” or “Landfall” QFE 1009 (-4)
0730 Darky call “Ringboard R-2 Robert” – answered by Linton & Eastmoor
0750 “Ringboard” R2 Robert landed OK at Eastmoor
0810 All Eastmoor A/C accounted for but 2
0830 No longer required
0845 S.D.’s checked
0900 S/L Austin on Watch. Runway 28 – QAN – NW’ly – light.
0930 Runways & perimeter checked.
0950 Command stand down tonight.
1300 S/L Austin off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1517 W/C Richer 425 B airborne on C & B. 1st a/c of 425 to take-off from this base.
1915 Practice Intruder Plotting scheme from Group.
1930 S/L Austin on Watch.
2115 [Underlined] Snow Warning [/underlined] – Small amounts of snow expected within the next 24 hours within 30 miles of the east coast of Gr Britain, north of [deleted] a line [/deleted] Felixstow [sic] and excluding Edinburgh. Met is warning Station Commander, Squadrons, M.T. and S.A.O.
[Underlined] Tuesday 4TH January 1944. [/underlined]
0830 S.D’s checked. Runway 34.
0900 S/L Austin off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0925 Runways & perimeter inspected.
0940 Notified clerk of works re lights on runways & per.
1010 Gardening in Group tonight.
1110 Base advise Linton and East Moor beams u/s TFN.
1300 F/L Gant off watch. P/O Pyle on watch
1400 Frost warning tonight
[Page break]
1425 LW 421 Halifax from Linton
1437 LW 425 Halifax from Linton
1506 LW 431 Halifax from Linton
1530 Missing SD 229 Supplement No.1069 returned by F/L Allen
1548 [Deleted word] – 420 B W/C McIntosh circuits & bumps
1600 M.T. Section advised to warn all drivers re obedience to runway traffic lights.
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
[Underlined] WEDNESDAY, 5th JANUARY 1944 [/underlined]
0900 P/O Pyle on watch Runway 28 QAN S’ly 8 Runway 24-06 obstructed para
0910 S/Docs. checked
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
1350 Runway changed to 24 QAN SW’ly 10+ mph.
1735 Provisional diversion of 20 a/c from 1 Group. E.T.A. roughly 0830 hours in the morning.
2315 Asked by base to light up for A/C in this vicinity – Crash crew & ambulance warned –
2330 Aircraft landed at Eastmoor
[Underlined] THURSDAY, 6th JANUARY 1944 [/underlined]
0020 Asked again to light up for A/C – standing by
0045 A/C headed off in a NW’ly direction – apparently O.K.
0700 Base informs we are not required for diversion.
0750 Asked to light up for A/C which may be sent from Linton or Eastmoor
0900 S/L Austin on Watch. S.D’s checked. Runway 24.
1000 Runway 28 in use.
1300 S/L Austin off Watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1700 Day caravan on 24 – night 28.
1930 F/L Gant off watch. S/L Austin on Watch.
2005 Base gave authority to Stand down for tonight
Friday 7TH January 1944.
0100 Closed watch.
0900 F/L Gant on watch.
0925 Runway perimeters and dispersals inspected.
0930 SD’s checked.
Runway 28 in use.
[Page break]
1000 Group stand down tonight.
1025 Runway 34 in use.
1229 B420 W/C McIntosh C & B from 1142-1229.
1300 F/L Gant off watch. P/O Pyle on watch.
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2300 Flare path laid on runway 28. Vis and ceiling deteriorating. QBA 1200. QBB 1500.
2359 Quiet.
Saturday 8 Jan 1944.
0700 Quiet night.
0835 Doc’s. checked.
0900 Runway 24 QAN 10 SW P/O Pyle on Watch.
1000 Runways, perimeter track & dispersals inspected
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
1655 Operations in Group cancelled.
1930 On Watch F/O Taylor
Sunday 9th January 1944.
0800 Quiet Night – S.D’s checked.
0900 S/L Austin on Watch. Runway 28.
1300 F/L Gant on watch.
1930 F/L Gant off watch.
2000 S/L Austin on Watch.
2015 Snow Warning –
Monday 10TH January 1944
0800 Quiet night.
0900 S/L Austin off watch F/L Gant on watch.
0905 Runway 34 in use.
0908 Secret Doc’s checked.
0935 Runways, perimeter and dispersals inspected.
0937 No operations in 6 Group tonight.
1005 A country routes passed to base
1015 Checked with CTD’s office re – frost on a/c scheduled for flying.
1030 Base notified x-countries delayed due to frost on wings.
[Page break]
1050 Crash tender u/s – pump frozen - should be ready shortly.
1116 Crash tender now okay.
1117 Base notified x countries delayed until further notice.
1300 F/L Gant off watch, F/O Taylor on Watch.
1730 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2330 Everything Quiet.
Tuesday Jan 11, 1944
0730 Quiet night.
0815 Doc’s checked.
0900 F/L Gant off watch. On Watch F/O Taylor.
0915 Runway 16 – QAN. – light SW ly. shortly becoming 15 mph.
1000 No Ops in Command tonight.
1100 Broadcast = U.S.A.A.F. have a force of over 700 heavy bombers out at present, = due back between 1400-1500 hrs. Weather poor everywhere so all stations to be on the look-out to land any if necessary. Group 1400 forecast 1000-2500 yds, 4-7/10 at 2000 10/10 at 10,0
1200. [Underlined] Met. [/underlined] = Snow possible in next 24 hrs in E & N. Eng. – N of a line Morecombe to Flamb amounts mainly small, moderate on high ground. Thawing generally by this evening
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch.
[Underlined] Wednesday January 12 -1944 [/underlined]
0730 Quiet night – Doc’s checked.
0900 S/L Austin on Watch.
1300 [Deleted] F [/deleted] S/L Austin off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1930 F/L Gant off watch.
2230 S/L Austin on Watch.
[Underlined] Thursday January 13TH 1944. [/underlined]
0800 Quiet night – Doc’s checked.
0900 S/L Austin off watch F/L Gant on watch.
0940 Bomber Command stand down tonight with possibility of a few PFF in wx improves
1212 Looma V called darky. Very clear. Answered numerous times but no contact could be made. Base notified
[Page break]
1300 F/L Gant off watch/ F/O Taylor on Watch
1930 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2330 Very quiet.
[Underlined] Friday Jan 14, 1944 [/underlined]
0730 Very quiet night.
0900 F/L Gant off watch. – F/O Taylor on Watch
Doc’s checked. = Runway = 28. QAN W-WSWly – 15.
0950 Runway 24 QAN. – WSWly – Swly. – 15-25. = Taxi approach a little awkward
1000 Lancasters working tonight.
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
1400 Runway changed to 28.
1930. F/O Taylor on Watch.
2220 Flare-path ready in case required by Linton.
2359 Not used at all – Stood down.
[Underlined] Saturday January 15 1944. [/underlined]
0800 Sec. Doc’s checked.
0813 Ex Base – Basic QFE 1029. – passed to Met.
0900 S/L Austin on Watch.
1300 F/L Gant on watch.
1930 S/L Austin on Watch – Vis 10 yds. Quiet watch.
[Underlined] Sunday January 16TH 1944. [/underlined]
0825 Basic QFE – 1039 – Passed to Met.
0830 Doc’s checked.
0900 F/L Gant on watch.
1010 Runways and taxi track inspected.
1013 Command stand down tonight.
1300 F/L Gant off watch/ F/O Taylor on Watch.
1515 Base request the Oxford be ready for W/C Jacobs for a trip to Ireland in the morning. Advised Station Engineer who will have it ready.
1930 F/L Gant on watch.
2330 Very quiet.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Monday Jan 17, 1944 [/underlined]
0730 Quiet night.
0800 Basic QFE 1026.
0815 Doc’s checked.
0900 F/L Gant off watch. F/O Taylor on Watch.
1005 Nothing in Command tonight.
11:45 Clerk of works attending to hole at edge of taxi track this afternoon, with rubble.
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
[Underlined] Tuesday Jan 18th 1944. [/underlined]
0805. Basic Q.FE – 1021. Passed to Met.
0900 S/L Austin on Watch. Runway No. 10.
1300 F/L Gant on watch.
1700 Night caravan on 28.
1930 S/L Austin on Watch.
| Se. D’s received
SD214 – No 671
SD 264 – No 445
S.P. 02443 – No 4877
S.P. 02440(2) – No. 5869
S.P. 02442 No 6156
[Underlined] Wednesday Jan 19TH 1944 [/underlined]
0800 S.D’s checked.
0827 Basic QFE 1014 – Met informed.
Note: All officers to read & initial Note 2-1944 in Instruction & Order Book.
0900 F/L Gant on watch.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch = Taxi track inspected. = Up again at end of 28 so that N.F.E. cannot get onto hard standing.
15:55 Bulls-eye scrubbed.
16:15 All night flying Scrubbed.
1930 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant [deleted] of [/deleted] on watch.
2330 Very quiet
Thursday Jan 20th 1944.
0730 Quiet night
0800 Basic QFE 1027. Met informed.
0900 On Watch F/O Taylor. – Runway 24 – QAN: light SWly becoming 15-20mph
1010 Linton & Eastmoor will be working tonight.
1130. Command Bulls-eye tonight. – We are not offering any a/cr.
[Page break]
1300 On watch P/O Pyle
1930 On Watch F/O Taylor.
2100 Linton aircraft landing at Base – E.T.A. 23:15 = We are standing by.
[Underlined] NOTE. [/underlined] Taxi track lighting in dire need of cleaning.
Friday 21st Day of January.
0035. Base have just advised only 1 a/cr to hear from so we’re stood-down.
0800. S.D’s ckd, - Basic QFE 1018, - Passed to Met.
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0940 Runways & perimeter inspected.
1030 420 x countries using Bomber code for 20 day, 12 now.
1110 Operations in group tonight.
1300 On watch P/O Pyle
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2215 C countries all back. C & B finished for night.
2220 Base advise we are to stand by for return.
2340 Wx deteriorating. Light rain.
Saturday Jan 22, 1944.
0055 Base advise all base a/c are diverted. But we are still to stand by in case of emergency.
0255 Base advise a number of a/c are coming in over North Sea. We are to stand by and land any a/c we can.
0400 Base advise to stand down.
0730 Base request a/c from 420 and 425 for sea search. ETD 0930.
0740 Base advised no a/c available from 420.
0745 Base advised 3 a/c available from 425.
0750 Base advised 425 a/c can not be airborne by 0930.
0805 Basic QFE figure 1002. Passed to Met.
0830 S.D. Checked.
0900 On watch P/O Pyle – Runway 24 QAN WSW 30 gusty
1100 Local flying details cancelled – weather duff
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
[Page break]
13:45 Runway 28 = QAN Wly 15 – gusty.
17:42. Last A/Cr landed OK. = Night flying scrubbed.
2340 Asked to listen out for an A/C in area Linton-Eastmoor-Marston Moor – call sign “Bundalk K” – no sign of A/C in this vicinity
2345 Asked if we can offer 3 A/C for sea search tomorrow morning at 0930 – contacted W/C Richer – advised Base that 3 A/C can be offered by [underlined] 1030 [/underlined], weather permitting
[Underlined] SUNDAY – JANUARY 23, 1944 [/underlined]
0012 Group have advised that we will not be required for sea search – also we may cease listening watch for “Bundalk K” – W/C Richer advised re above cancellation
0815 Basic QFE 989 – Passed to Met.
0830 S.D’s checked
0900 On Watch F/O Taylor. = Night Caravan on Runway 28 = QAN. Wly – 10-15.
1015 Nothing operating in 6 group tonight.
1025 E425 returned from Eastmoor.
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
1520 Runway changed to 24. QAN SW’ly 20MPH. (At least it was when we changed)
1705 Runway changed to 28. QAN W’ly 20MPH.
1915 Perimeter track form Control office to Wood is in need of lights cleaning. No 2. Port flarepath glim on R.28 shining wrong way.
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch.
2012 U/425 off on X-Country.
2021 B/420 off on X-Country = 22:00 hrs – Called. “Completed first part of detail, setting course on 2nd.
2024. R/420 off on X-Country D/420 Scrubbed – engines U/S.
2030 W/420 off on X-Country
2117 Q/420 airborne = Finished at 2154 – P.I. cut on circuit.
2130 Base report a crash near Cranfield, only identification – one tag – McGorsser. J26422 = Contacted both Sqdns. = not theirs. advised base.
- 425 Sqdn would like 7 flimsies by noon tomorrow if possible.
2330 N/420 – Bogged at take-off point of 28 runway, & will be there till morning. Changing to 34 runway.
2345 Ready on 34 Runway QAN WNW – 5-10.
[Page break]
24th January, 1944 – Monday.
0043 B/420 landed from X-Country.
0137 W/420 landed from X-Country.
0139 R/420 landed from X-Country.
0800 Basic QFE. 1010. S.D’s ckd.
0850 Southerly Gale to 40 mph, expected this area – 6 to 12 hrs.
0900 S/L Austin on Watch. Runway 16.
1300 P/O Pyle on watch
1330 Informed Mr. Rocket re taxi & runway lights – work will be started at 1400 hrs today.
1419 Mitchell A/C in this area – asked to give him a call – no reply
1440 Base report A/C [deleted] landed OK [/deleted] headed south of here.
1645 SE Gale becoming severe on E coast of B.I. from Hornsea to Cape Ross
1830 All A/C marshalled ready for take-off – Runway 24
1930 S/L Austin on Watch.
2030 Reported interference to Group. Interference on 1194 sounded like 2-way German aircraft & ground transmissions.
2045 All night flying scrubbed by 6 Group.
Tuesday 25TH January 1944
0810 Basic QFE 984. Met informed. S.D.’s checked.
0835 | Aerodrome put U/S. QAN – W’ly 25MPH gusting to 40. N420 still bogged on edge of Runway 28. Base informed.
| Signal AF 1. Sent to Station Z. “Runway 28-10 U/S TFN. Temporary obstruction. No landing of aircraft if wind from West or East.”
0900 P/O Pyle on watch
1022. Goodwood Lancs & Halifaxes tonight.
1130 Runway 24 QAN WSW 30 MPH – 425/E A/B on local flying
1200 N/420 now clear – signal to Ops. Station Z “Runway 28-10 now S – obstruction removed – Runway QDM 101 still U/S for operational landings – cannot use taxi track”
1242 425/E finished 4 C & B – last landing bounced twice & tipped badly to port – returned to dispersal.
[Page break]
1250 Ambulance returned to sick quarters.
1300 425/E bogged off perimeter track near Ruskelf road.
1300 F/O Taylor on watch.
1330 Runway changed to 28. Wind WSW 40 but veering to Wly.
1335 425 offering 8 for Bulls-eye tonight.
1343 Bulls-eye cancelled
14:30 E/425 now clear of perimeter track =
16:47 O/425 landed OK on 34 after doing 2 overshoots on 28.
17:30 61 Base phoned. W/425 landed at Dishforth at 16:31 = Damaged oleo-leg & Bomb doors won’t close. = A/Cr u/s till tomorrow = should crew remain overnight.
1800 F/425 airborne on X-Country.
1815 = 1900 – A/Cr out of brake pressure all over taxi track & runway.
2347 F/425 called on R/T & given pancake
2355 U/425 given turn 2 on R/T but A.F.C. reports only one A/C in circuit – asked F his height (2000’) and he said he was coming in to pancake – no A/C approaching this circuit
[Underlined] Wednesday 26th January 1944 [/underlined]
0001 Told F/425 to identify A/D by outer circle position switching on & off but he landed elsewhere
0016 F/425 landed at Dishforth at 0006 – Asked Base to inform him to return if S
0045 61 Base advised to have crew of F/425 remain overnight at Dishforth and return in the morning – A/C was short of petrol
0156 420/C last A/C to land from X/C
0815 Basic QFE 1009
0830 SD’s checked
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch. – Runway 24: QAN SW light backing & increasing. Phoned Clerk of Works re Totems & lights on 34, & taxi track = A man has been on TT all yesterday.
[Underlined] NOTE. [/underlined] Starboard A.A.I. on 16 runway in shop for repair – if runway required for night flying borrow one from another runway.
12:45 D/420 given 3 tries at landing, no go, so sent to LEEMING.
1300 S/L Austin on Watch.
1301 D420 landed at Leeming.
1930 F/O Taylor on.
[Page break]
Thursday – January 27 – 1944
0830 Basic QFE = 1002. Passed to Met – S.D’s checked.
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0930 Aerodrome, dispersals, taxi track inspected.
0950 Lanc’s and Halies marking in group tonight
1300 P/O Pyle on watch
1500 4 copies of A.P. 3024 received from Base complete with amend 1 copy sent to G/C Gordon, 1 LO 420 O.C. & 1 to 425 O.C.
[Symbol] 1845 Runway 28 inspected – 2nd Port glim [inserted] shining [/inserted] wrong way – port totem pole out of alignment.
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2029 B425 landed Linton – mistook aerodrome for Thol
2255 Last a/c down from x countries.
2315 Runway 24 in use.
Friday Jan 28, 1944
0050 Standing by for Lintons return.
0800 Basic QFE 1026. Passed to Met.
0815 S.D’s checked.
0830 Runway 24 QAN SW’ly 9 P/O Pyle on watch
[Symbol] 0900 Mr Rocket informed re above notation
0945 Workmen filling hole at edge of 28 Runway
1000 Lancasters & Halifaxes working in Group tonight.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1859 V/420 first A/C off on X/C
2019 P/420 last A/C off on X/C – A/B are V, W, O, S, H, B, G, P, K, on X/C
2249 J/425 last of 6 A/C (425) returned from X/C
Saturday – January 29, 1944
0031 Runway changed – No. 28
[Inserted] 0130 420/W last A/C from X/C – 8 A/C averaged [deleted] over [/deleted] 2 min. each on [missing word] [/inserted]
0715 Runway changed – No. 24 QAN SW 18
0755 Basic QFE 1033
0800 S.D.’s checked
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch. = Runway 24 QAN. – SW ly. 5-15
Fire tender out of gas & none on station. – Advised base. Equip Officer says petrol tanker on its way now.
[Page break]
0950 Command Stand-down
1030 Now have 10 galons [sic] in Crash tender – got it out of u/s tender – Advised base.
11:35 Darky call on TR9 = AMBUSH “A”. – asked directions to Valley = acknowledged directions from somebody else = Advised
11:11 Whitley T4236 – F/O Matthews landed from Honeybourne & returned at 11:25.
1300 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1435 Group Oxford V3602, G/C Jones, landed. Deplaned W/C Jacobs.
1445 V3602 airborne.
1500 Oxford 6098 W/C Jacobs airborne.
1820 P420 final landing. Flying completed.
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch.
Sunday = 30th January – 1944.
0815 Base QFE. = 1017. Passed to Met. = SD’s ckd.
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0948 Lancs and Hali III operating tonight.
1300 P/O Pyle on watch
1605 Received from Base CD 0250(15) and Appendix I SD0110(1)
1730 R/420 first A/C off on practice operation
1734 A/420 fifth A/C off on practice operation
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2133 T420 over base 13000ft on 3 engines says detail incomplete. Advised he could complete detail. Told to do so. Base notified.
2240 V 420 landed. Hydraulics u/s
2324 T 420 landed on 3 engines.
Monday, Jan 31, 1944
0044 R 420 called saying he had 5 min petrol – requested landing.
0049 R420 mistook another aerodrome for Tholthorpe. Requests that we turn on our contact strip again. We immediately contacted East Moor and Linton in case R420 was circling either base by mistake. A/C advised to land at nearest aerodrome – switch to button D
[Page break]
and call darky.
0055 R420 crash landed at Rufforth. A/C B category, crew safe. Made wheels up landing as motors cut.
0257 U 420 landed from cross country. Last a/c to return.
0500 All quiet.
0800 Basic QFE 1025. Met advised.
0830 S.D’s checked.
0900 On watch P/O Pyle – Runway 28 QAN light SE
0930 Runways & perimeter inspected
1200 Vehicles still persist in crossing runway against traffic lights – arranged with guard room to have 2 S.P.’s on duty for an hour this afternoon to report all offenders.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1600 425 have 8 A/Cr on night X-Country; Take-off 21:00 hrs. Briefing 19:00 hrs. 17:30 = 8 A/Cr marshalled for 28 Runway. = order. D. J. C. G. N. Q. O. R.
1900 Drem. – 2nd Port fitting on 10 and 28 flare-paths still u/s.
Night flying scrubbed, A/Cr returning to Dispersals.
[Underlined] TUESDAY – 1ST FEBRUARY 1944
0820 Basic QFE 1004 – Passed to Met.
0830 S.D.’s checked
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch = Runway 24. = QAN – SWly 10-20mph.
1000 Nothing in Command tonight.
1038 W/C McIntosh took off in B, landed at 10:47 after 1 overshoot, scrubbed other details.
1300 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch/ F/L Gant off watch.
2100 N/425 first A/Cr. off on X-Country = followed by D, S, O, Q, F; & G at 21:30 G= reported I.F.F. u/s. received permission from Base for him to proceed. H/425 scrubbed – it taxied over the W/Co’s car & damaged bomb doors. etc.
2205 T/425 airborne, replacing H. Runway 24 in use.
[Underlined] Wednesday – 2nd February 1944. [/underlined]
0020 1196 went dead, - Outer circle, funnel & taxi track off, lights in phone exchange off = Exchange cannot contact duty electrician at stand by plant. Guard room sent runner – I sent our van. Base informed.
[Page break]
0100 Lights now On again. – Base advised.
0120 O/425 1st A/Cr. landed from X-Country
0301 T/425 9th & last A/Cr. landed from X-Country.
NOTE. The R.O.C. plotted an A/Cr flying low in the Leeds area; then S.W of Harrogate at about 200ft, heading for high ground. Red flares were set off. A/Cr. climbed & flew away in opposite direction. Approached Tholthorpe, circled & landed at 02:05. = F/425 landed at 02:06 by our board so it must have been him. Group anxious to have the pilots report on the amount of help he received from the flares, so it can be passed on to 12 group & on to the R.O.C.
0800 S D’s checked. – Basic QFE 1012 – Passed to Met.
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0945 3 sqn’s of 6 group standing by for gardening tonight. No bombing from group.
0950 Aerodrome inspected.
1300 P/O Pyle on watch
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2028 K420 finished C & B’s.
2201Base advise a/c has crashed SW of here. Asked if we could see same. Could not locate.
2205 Base advise location E 9185. We offered crash tender as we are not flying at present. Not needed as Dishforth have despatched one.
2350 Everything quiet.
Thursday Feb 3, 1944
0730 Quiet night.
0750 S D’s checked.
0800 Basic QFE 999
0900 On watch P/O Pyle – Runway 28 QAN WSW 30
0915 Runways, perimeter & dispersals [deleted] ch [/deleted] inspected
0958 Nothing in 6 group tonight – possible gardening in 1 & 3 Groups
1150 Calls signs (W/T) for tonight’s bullseye 420 UDG, 425 -JVA
1240 420/J bogged at junction of taxi track and 28 runway
1335 420/J now clear – P/O Pyle off. F/O Taylor on Watch.
1530 S/L Kyles phoned about a letter from 6 Group re R/T irregularities, on 29/1/44 at 15:10 hrs. Wants a report as soon as we get the letter.
[Page break]
1843 H/420
1849 AFC reports Sodium Tunnel lights U/S = Also outer circle.
1851 Mr Rocket going out to check Sodium lights.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
2000 Outer circle & sodium lights now O.K.
2027 420/V first A/C off on Bulls-eye
2044 420/J ninth & last A/C of 420 off – average time 2 mins.
2046 425/F first of 425 A/C off on exercise
2112 425/G last A/C off – average time for 425 – 2 1/2 mins.
[Underlined] FRIDAY – FEBRUARY 4th 1944 [/underlined]
0140 425/W first A/C “pancaked” from Bullseye exercise
0152 420/S bogged blocking perimeter near 24 Runway
0241 425/U 21st & last A/C to land – average landing times approx. 3 mins.
0700 425 Sqdn report all A/C now in dispersals
0800 Basic QFE 1008
0815 S.D’s checked
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch. Runway 28. QAN. W’N. 25-20mph. – increasing to 35.
0955 No ops in 6 group. – Gardening in Command, & Special [inserted] Command [/inserted] Bullseye for non-op. A/Cr.
[Underlined] 1040 [/underlined] Snow Warning: Snow expected during next 24 hrs in this area. Amounts, except on hillsides, small.
11:30. Tonight’s Bullseye. 420 – 11. A/Cr. 425 – 10 A/Cr.
11:30 Day caravan has blown off hard standing, breaking phone point. Sergeants working on it now – 28 runway.
1200 Runway 34 – night caravan because of high wind – NWly over 30 mph.
1300 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1615 Bulls eye scrubbed. No yellow flares as wind too strong towards camp.
1740 A/C are to take off 1830, proceed to Sywell, return to base. Operational take off & landing exercise.
1830 1st a/c airborne on exercise
1847 Last a/c airborne on exercise.
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch.
[Underlined] 2000 [/underlined] Port A.A.I. is u/s, replaced by one from 06 runway. U/S one now in N.F. shed.
2036 S/420 landed from exercise.
2118 G/420 15th & last A/Cr landed from exercise.
[Page break]
[Underlined] Saturday, February 5th 1944 [/underlined]
0800 S.D’s ckd Basic QFE 1021 – Passed to Met.
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0930 Aerodrome, dispersals, taxi tracks inspected.
0935 No operations from base tonight. Some mining in Group.
1005 425 420 refuse bulls eye for tonight.
1020 Bulls eye cancelled.
1300 F/L Gant off watch. P/O Pyle on watch
1615 420/A engine pouring smoke badly in dispersal – crash tender sent
1630 Crash tender returned – 420/A O.K.
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2345 Very quiet.
Sunday Feb 6, 1944.
0730 Quiet night.
0800 Basic key QFE 1036. Met advised.
0820 S.D’s checked.
0900 P/O Pyle on watch – Runway 28 QAN light QBA 500
0930 Runways, perimeter & dispersals inspected
1015 Command stand-down tonight
1300 On Watch F/O Taylor.
1930 On Watch P/O Pyle
[Underlined] MONDAY, 7th FEB. 1944 [/underlined]
0810 Basic QFE 1010 – met. advised
0815 S.D’s checked
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch. = Runway 24 QAN. SWly. 20-35 gusty.
0940 No operations tonight.
1100 Runway 28. QAN. W ly 10-20.
1300 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1545 A 425 airborne on x country.
1702 V420 sent msge “starboard engine u/s instructions” [Deleted] It [/deleted] Told to return to base.
1752 M.T. notified crash tender will only do 15-18 MPH. When flying finished tonight MT will give crash tender DI
[Page break]
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch.
[Underlined] 2045 [/underlined] U/420 in turning at take-off point on 28 runway damaged Port A.A.I. replacing it with one off34 runway. Concrete Base now U/S.
2125 O/420 landed at Riccall at [deleted] 20:50 [/deleted] 21:14. Refueling [sic] & will return later.
2230 O/420. Compasses u/s. Staying overnight at Riccall.
2315 Q/420 bogged near dispersal. One wheel in our french drain.
2355 T/420 landed OK. Last A/Cr. from X-Country.
[Underlined] Tuesday. 8th February 1944 [/underlined]
0050 Q/420 now clear of taxi track.
0800 SD’s ckd. – Basic QFE = 1016. Passed to Met.
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0940 Aerodrome, runways & dispersals checked.
0945 Command stand down tonight.
1010 Requested S. P. for intersection of old perimeter and 34. Sun bad.
1030 Group bull’s eye tonight. 420 10/ a/c.
1359 New Halifax LW591 for 425 Sqdn. landed – to go to Linton
1540 Runway changed to No. 28
1630 Port A.A.I. blown over when 425/D took off (No. 28 Runway)
1704 425/T (F/S Landry) made bumpy landing with S/O engine u/s touched down approx. 600 yds. down runway just past intersection of taxi strip & runway – swung to port landing on one wheel – corrected it to starboard on one wheel & swung off runway to starboard [inserted] Stbd. Wing touching [inserted] – gunned motors – undercarriage collapsed – ended up facing east with both outer engines torn out – position approx.. 135 yds. clear of 28 runway & about 120 yds. clear of 34 runway. Winds 10-12 m.p.h. W.N..W.
1800 P/420 first A/C off on Bullseye exercise
1809 E/420 last of 10 A/C off.
1811 Halifax LW590 from Linton – dispersed near R. & I. hangar
1845 Port A.A.I. on runway 28 now O.K.
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2231 J 425 1st 425 a/c back from x country
2302 J 420 1st 420 a/c back from bullseye.
[Page break]
2318 R 425 last 425 a/c back from x country
2339 O 420 last 420 a/c back from bull’s eye.
Wednesday Feb 9, 1944
0730 Quiet night.
0800 Basic QFE 1020. Passed to met.
0810 S D’s checked.
0900 P/O Pyle on watch – Runway 28 QAN light S’ly.
1005 No operations tonight – Bullseye scrubbed
1100 Works department will be starting work tomorrow on tarmac on west side of 16 runway.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
[Underlined] THURSDAY – FEBRUARY 10, 1944 [/underlined]
0800 S.D.’s checked
0810 Basic QFE 1015 – Passed to met.
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch. Runway 34. – QAN NNW-ly 20-30mph.
1000 Training only tonight.
1107 Church Fenton enquired if we had any Mustangs circle us or land here during past 15 minutes. – Had not seen or heard any.
1300 F/L Gant on watch. F/O Taylor off watch.
1715 All night flying scrubbed.
19:30 F/O Taylor on Watch.
Friday – 11th February, 1944.
0808 S.D’s ckd. Basic QFE 1016
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0925 Runways, dispersals, taxi track inspected.
0950 No operations from Linton base. 8 a/c 428 only operations in 6 group.
1020 Combined command bull’s eye tonight. 10 a/c 420. 10 a/c 425.
1300 P/O Pyle on watch
1731 R/425 on X/C – E, F & N/425 also off on X/C
1930 Runway changed to no. 28
P/o Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
[Page break]
2110 E 425 first x country to return.
2115 Base advise that at 2010 they broadcast a msge to our a/c to proceed direct to Birmingham and carry on exercise from there. Intruder activity on south coast. Should shorten ETA by approx. 45 min.
2302 K420 landed. Was completely lost. Hit by [missing word] Returned to base
2345 Vis dropping, 1500 YDS. Contacted base for possible diversion.
2357 Base advise Leeming and Middleton standing by for diversion. Vis at present 1000 yds.
Saturday Feb 12, 1944.
0128 R420 landed. Last a/c to land with stream
0140 O 425 unreported. No a/c flying in group at present
0210 O 425 crashed near Droitwich, nr Birmingham
0236 Base advise 8 bodies of O425 at Hanbury mortuary, Nr Droitwich.
0800 Everything quiet
0805 Basic QFE 1015. Met advised.
0825 S.D.’s checked.
0900 P/O Pyle on watch – Runway 28 QAN light NW’ly.
1000 No operations tonight
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1732-1829. 8 A/Cr of 420 & 5 A/Cr of 425 off on X-Country.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
2112 E/420 first a/c returned from x-c
2304 S/425 last of 14 a/c to return from a/c
SUNDAY FEB. 13, 1944
0810 Basic QFE 1025 – Passed to Met.
0815 S.D’s checked.
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch. Runway 28 = QAN light
0945 Goodwood effort tonight. =420 Sqdn 12 A/Cr.
Briefing at 13:30 hrs.
1300 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
[Page break]
1320 Definite diversion base for tonight Sculthorpe.
1409 Base advise data on Sculthorpe as “1 runway 2000 yds 2 at 1400 yds. Complete II dum.” Our a/c are to use the Foulsham Beacon. 240° at 4 miles. Flashing I U.
1555 Operations scrubbed.
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch.
[Underlined] Monday 14th February 1944 [/underlined]
0800 Basic QFE. 1025 Passed to met. SD’s ckd.
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0945 Aerodrome, dispersals, taxi track inspected.
0950 No operations in command tonight.
1300 P/O Pyle on watch
1525 Runway changed to No. 10 – QAN light NE
1615 420 & 425 Sqdn. X/C details scrubbed.
1810 Asked to stand-by to land A/C in this area – probably Marston Moor – vis. about 4 miles QBB 1500
1825 No call received from A/C – Runway changed to No. 28
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2100 No flying in base.
2200 Very foggy. Also quiet.
[Circled] Tuesday Feb 15, 1944 [/circled]
0730 Quiet night.
0800 Basic QFE 1016. Passed to met.
0815 S.D.’s checked.
0900 F/L Gant off watch. P/O Pyle on watch
1000 Goodwood effort tonight – 420 Sqdn. 12 A/C
1045 Runway changed to 10
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1705 Phoned Millfield that Hurricane KX199 F/L JOBB & Thunderbolt I 6343 Lt Almond staying overnight.
[Underlined] 1729=1754. 12 A/Cr. of 420 squadron Airborne on their 1st operation. [/underlined]
1855. In case of early returns, if unable to land at Base to be diverted to Binbrook. QDM. 148 – 64 miles.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
[Page break]
2045 420/G landed early from Ops. – S/O u/s
2145 All our A/C being diverted to Hethel on return.
[Underlined] WEDNESDAY – FEB. 16th 1944 [/underlined]
0015 T/420 called on R/T at 6000’ At 0022 he was given pancake but he did [deleted] an [/deleted] two overshoots and lost the circuit despite goose-necks and money flares. At 0037 he was told to climb to 1000’ and home again. At 0043 he was given pancake again and was passed QBB – 1500’. “T” reported he could not see the flarepath – vis. had deteriorated considerably since 2400 hrs. due to rain. At 0047 he was asked how much petrol he had left and reported 95 gallons in each side. Was told to take his time and try once more but he lost the circuit – could not contact him again on R/T.
0156 T/420 crashed [inserted] at 0050 [/inserted]. Ref. Sheet 22 966973 – 1 mile from the Raskelf Q site – our ambulance to be despatched – [deleted word]
0220 T/420 mistook railroad lights at Pillmoor junction for aerodrome and came in on poor vis. 5 of crew at scene of crash – one at Q site – Position of crash [deleted] ed [/deleted] passed to Tollerton fire section and Easingwold police. Guarding of A/C to be handled by Topcliffe. Q site was switched off at 0040.
0240 Base report all other 420 A/C except “F” landed O.K. – no time or aerodromes given. Base also report that two ambulances from Dishforth may take crew to York Hospital depending on M.O.’s advice. [Underlined] Note: [/underlined] see that 420 adjutant is informed of all details so that he may take all necessary signals action
0320 Base report 2 of crew killed – names not yet available – 5 injured
0330 All [indecipherable] at Middleton & Leeming O.K.
0430 The following are in the Northallerton hospital – F/O Damgaard, F/O Taylor, F/S Masur, Sgt Fletcher & Sgt Harvey – the body of Sgt. Downey has been brought here, body of WO2 Whale is pinned under the A/C. Easingwold police give position of crash as [underlined] “961928” [/underlined]. (This position confirmed later by M.O.)
0545 NW Railway District Control inform that no guard is at crash
0553 Advice from 61 Base if that Dishforth is now sending out a guard
[Page break]
0645 Dishforth are going to handle the raising of the crashed A/C to remove the body pinned beneath it – their guard has at last arrived at the scene!
0815 No further word on F/420 or landing times
Basic QFE 1020 – Passed to met.
0830 Base reports F/420 landed O.K.
0845 F/O Taylor on Watch. Base report all out A/Cr landed at Hethel.
Runway 10. Light Wind – Viz 400 yards. – SD’s ckd.
1000 Runway 24. QAN. NWly. 5-15.mph. – Viz improving.
1005 Ops tonight. = 8 A/C 425. = 420 5 plus as many as get back from Hethel.
1045 425’s 5 A/C for ASR Search not required.
1215 W/O Walker phoned from Hethel. “Require a mechanic as Throttle Control to S.I. severed.” Very poor connection & could not get any word on other A/Cr there. = No engineering officers contacted to pass this gen. too.
1300 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1303 Flying Control Millfield contacted re Thunderbolt and Hurricane taking off for Millfield. They give okay.
1330 CTO contacted re W 420. Entry 1215.
1500 Operations in Command scrubbed.
1615 S/L Beall on X Country. TO 1750 ETA 2234.
1705 Group advise all a/c at Hethel remaining over night.
1808 N/420 off on X-country
1930F/O Taylor on Watch.
[Underlined] 2100. [/underlined] Note. = Port totem pole on upwind end of 34 flare-path U/S.
[Underlined] 2200 [/underlined] The Telephone engineers advise that the flight-planning loud-speaker system in the Ops room is now completed – but they have removed a fuse, otherwise if anybody tampers with the keys it is liable to put the station PBX switch-board u/s. – Pass this to Signals Officer in morning, for onward transmission to Base S.O. as none could be contacted tonight.
2305 N/420 landed OK from X-Country.
Thursday – Feb 17th 1944
0730 SD’s ckd.
0817 Basic QFE. 1014. – Passed to Met. Runway 06, QAN. NE’ly – 10-15 mph.
[Page break]
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0910 On inquiry from base our a/c have been told by 6 group to remain at Hethel TFN.
0955 Operations tonight in 6 group.
1000 F/O Laing, L.N. P/O McLure, H.G. and P/O Lawrence W.G. reported to Flying Control for instruction.
1300 P/O Pyle on watch
Note: Hethel phoned at 1230 re E/420 – probably cat. AC – Stbd. wing tanks holed – at least one wing change
1600 Operations scrubbed
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1935 1196 dead. Signals officer informed. Electrics Cpl reported. Could not fix. Signals advise they cannot fix until morning.
2340 Everything quiet.
Friday Feb 18, 1944.
0750 Quiet night.
0755 S.D.’s checked.
0800 Basic QFE 1038. Passed to met.
0825 Base advise 6 Group Flying Control have just issued a warning for all stations to stand by for their respective returning a/c.
0900 F/L Gant off watch. P/O Pyle on watch
0930 Runway 10 QAN NE’ly light
0945 TR1196 now serviceable
1000 Goodwood tonight
1140 Group have advised that a/c at Hethel are to remain there T.F.N. 420/[deleted] T [/deleted] W – no throttle – severed by flak E/420 needs a wing change, 40 or 50 flak holes – Q/420 starter u/s but they may be able to fix it.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch. & P/O McLure
425 Briefing – 21:00 hrs in 425 Briefing Room. = 420 Briefing 20:30 M.B Room
[Page break]
1430. Group have instructed our A/Cr to return this afternoon
1510 Runway changed to 28. QAN. NWly – 5-10, viz deteriorating.
1555 Runway changed to 10 QAN. NE-ENE. 5-10. Viz 4-8 miles now.
1635 Ops scrubbed. 425’s X-Country’s scrubbed.
1640 J & V/420 returned from Hethel. These are the only ones to get away before it started snowing again. Rest tomorrow maybe
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
[Underlined] SATURDAY – 19th FEB. 1944 [/underlined]
0824 Basic QFE 1025 – Passed to met.
0830 S.D.’s checked
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch. & P/O McLure.
Runway 28. = Wind light & variable. = At present NW ly.
0950 Required tonight. = 425 10 A/Cr. – 420 7 A/Cr +.
425 Briefing 14:45 if early take-off.
1230 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1255 Hethel advise more of 420 a/c now u/s and want 12 sets of plugs, 2 fitters, 1 electrician and 1 set of tools to make serviceable. F/L Raherge advised.
1333 Base advise F 420 airborne at 1320 at Hethel for Tholthorpe.
1426 F420 returned from Hethel
1820 W/O Dupuis remaining over night at Hethel.
1825 Provisional diversion for both sqn’s tonight “Lakenheath.” Mk II lighting contact strip, 1 runway 2000, 1400, 1 1300 Pundit 025° 12 miles. Sat. of Mildenhall.
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch. & P/O McLure.
[Underlined] 2330 [/underlined] Chance light U/S. Fitters have been working on it for three hours but still no joy. Will have to be taken to M/T in morning.
Sunday. – 20th February, 1944.
0000 1/2 N/420 airborne on Ops. – followed by R. V, G.
0005 F/420 bogged on [inserted] NE [/inserted] corner of taxi track so no more A/Cr can taxi past him. Endeavouring to bring 425 A/Cr along inner taxi-track onto runway in use.
0037 1/2 D/425 managed to get off – Why the delay?
0040 G/425 airborne. = Remainder too late
[Page break]
0130 425 report a Photo flash on edge of taxi track near U’s dispersal. Contacted armoury.
0200 Investigation finds that F/420 taxied between 2 blues on outside of bend in taxi track, & got bogged, blocking taxi track. 425 A/Cr had started following 420 A/Cr & one of them was in such a position as to block the entrance to the inner taxi track. Their a/c could not be moved forward until three others in front of him had moved.
0240 H/420 bogged on [inserted] outer [/inserted] taxi track between 34 Runway & R & I Hangar. Bust a taxi light.
0300 H/420 is an obstruction to 34 runway. Will have to be debombed
0512 Changing to Runway 06, QAN. N’E. 14 mph. F/S [deleted] Reinholt [/deleted]
0705 BM/O landed. = Skipton A/Cr. 433 Sqdn. F/S Reinelt, landed on pancake from Skipton; being refueled [sic] to return p.d.q.
0718-0740 G. R. V, 420 & D & G/425 landed Safely.
0750 N/420 landed at Coltishall at 0711 = refueling [sic] & returning.
0800 Basic QFE = 1025. passed to Met.
0815 A flight 420 report all bogged A/Cr back in dispersals ie. F & H.
0830 Our Van u/s. – at 06 runway. =
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1010 Operations in 6 group tonight.
1012 Contacted Clerk of works office re filling in bog holes near 28 and 43 runways.
1205 Combined Command bull’s eye tonight. 425 offer 4.
1230 New Halifax LW632 landed from Kirkbride P/O Pyle on watch
1425 425 Cancel bull’s eye
1435 Definite diversion Harwell, runways 2000 yds 1400 & 1300. Mark I drem, contact strip SBA 9 & F DF and sandra.
1515 Q 420 returned from Hethel.
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1948 S420 returned from Hethel
2115 Enquired from base as to diversion. They now advise Harwell has become a provisional petrol diversion. QDM 018° 6 miles of Harwell pundit.
[Page break]
2213 C 425 1st a/c to return from x country.
2254 U 425 last a/c to return from x country.
2340 D 425 first a/c off on operations.
[Underlined] Monday 21st February 1944 [/underlined]
0020 J425 fourteenth & last a/c off on ops. V.420 scrubbed (Bomb gear circuit failure).
0146 N425 returned early. (starboard outer u/s.) Aircraft after landing did a slight ground loop at end of runway 06 crashing into a parked van belonging to the station duty electrician who was inspecting a totem pole which had gone u/s. The van was parked in the entrance to the unused dispersal point just east of the runway and about 6 feet clear of the perimeter track. The rear end of the van was crushed by the starboard wheel but the aircraft suffered no apparent damage.
0200 Runway 10 in use.
0350 F 420 early return. Given permission to pancake. Landed at Linton in error. Returning to base. Oxygen trouble.
0404 F420 landed from Linton.
0407 Change to Runway 06.
0721 E 425 1st a/c to return from ops.
0800 Basic QFE 1041. Passed to met.
0840 Group advise D V 425 R420 landed at Harwell.
0847 S.D’s checked.
0900 F/L Gant off watch – P/O Pyle on watch
Runway 06 QAN 10-15 N’E
1015 No ops. from 6 Group – 10 A/C from Middleton gardening – also gardening from 1, 3 & 4 Groups.
1300 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1309 R/420 W/O Walker returned from Harwell.
1310 LW645 new Halifax delivered for 420 Sqdn.
1455 P/420 returned from Hethel.
1708 G/434 left for Croft. = Had been in M.A.P. hangar since Sqdn left
1639 V/425 returned from Harwell. = Injured Navigator taken to [missing word] Brought a Leeming crew with them. Leeming sending transport
[Page break]
1804 C/425 airborne on X-C, 18.09. P/425 airborne. 18:24 A/425.
1822 D/425 returned from Harwell.
1837 A/420 returned from Hethel.
1827. V/420 off on X-C. 18:50 N/420 off on X-C.
1900 Mr Rockett reports taxi lights u/s, on outside of perimeter track from 24 runway round to 420 B flight dispersals; cables cut somewhere
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
1950 Blue glims out on perimeter track from 24 runway to dispersals
1953 425/R landed early – reported flaps would not come down – no replacement
2125 Funnel on 06 runway u/s – could not contact Clerk of Works. Fuse gone but replacement still leaves funnel u/s
2148 Electrician reporting immediately.
2155 Reported to Base earlier this evening that crew of 425/D (F/L Bryson) heard a J-jig call up on R/T while they were in the circuit at Harwell – they thought call sign was “Hillguard” – Base checked up with Group who report that the only J who landed there was Peach-pudding at 0715 – no R/T log record of “Hillguard J”.
[Underlined] TUESDAY – 22ND FEB. 1944 [/underlined]
0030 Mr. Rocket reported with electrician to work on 06 funnel
0100 N/420 landed – last of 5 A/C from X-C – lead-in & main funnel O.K.
0800 S.D’s checked
0820 Basic QFE 1022 – Passed to met.
0900 S/L Austin on Watch –
1050 Runway changed to 06 – QAN – NNE’ly.
1230 S/L Austin off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1515 Diversion bases for tonight 420 Hartford Bridge. 425 Graves End Provisional./ D420 returned from Hethel.
1740 Operations scrubbed. Notification from J.C. Group.
1745 [Underlined] A.V.M. Brooks [/underlined] visited Tholthorpe watch office from 1720 to 1745.
[Page break]
1831 Wellington BZ/K departed for Gamston after landing at 1734 and deplaning Hill F/L, new signals leader for 420 sqn.
1930 F/L Gant off watch. S/L Austin on Watch.
2300 || Inspection of aerodrome lighting made. Following faults found & [underlined] reported to Mr. Rockett, [/underlined] Resident Engineer.
Port totem Runway 34 U/S. Runway lights need cleaning. Starboard totem Runway 06 U/S. Left outer-bar light U/S. 8TH starboard flare and both outer bar lights U/S Runway 10. Left outer bar Runway 24. U/S. No angle of approach. Port totem no 28 needs turning in to runway.
[Underlined] Perimeter Track [/underlined]
Amber shields now installed on outer edge from 06 to 16 runways on West side. Excellent.
Outer lighting from 16 all around to wood U/S. Old perimeter lighting very poor 34 end has blue shields removed but lighting poor.
[Underlined] Wednesday 23rd Feb 1944. [/underlined]
0730 S.D’s checked.
0805 Basic QFE 1015 – Passed to Met.
0830 Perimeter & runways inspected.
[Underlined] Note [/underlined] – Three dispersals and track past wood may be used for parking if first swept.
0900 S/L Austin off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1008 Command standown tonight.
1230 P/O Pyle on watch
1401 [Deleted] F/O Ward [/deleted] H/420 1st A/C off on X-C
1421 K/420 11th A/C off on XC
1710 14 A/C are A/B on X-C’s with incorrect resin lights. As no signal had arrived in conjunction with signal Y 783 bringing into force [deleted] new [/deleted] reserve set of recognition signals, contacted Base on the 21st & was informed that outfit colours unchanged till 25th. Telephoned Base intelligence this afternoon to confirm that postagram had
[Page break]
1710 (cont’d)
had been forwarded to us. Checked with orderly room. Signal had arrived but had been marked for the adjutant. Runner brought it to F.C. at about 1600 hours.
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1959 S/420 first a/c to return from x country.
2049 K/420 last 420 a/c to return from x country.
2234 K/426 landed here instead of Linton, cutting off T425, to whom we had given pancake
2240 CTO advises V420 who turned off 06 runway before reaching end and bogged, would not be able to be cleared immediately as jacks had to be put under port wheel before moving.
2257 V 425 landed and all motors cut at intersection of 16 & 24 runways. B flight 425 arranging to tow off. Had landed on 3 motors
2259 N 425 in circuit – told to stand by until runway cleared.
2314 N 425 given pancake
2318 N 425 advises P/I u/s. Told to make right [deleted] had [/deleted] hand circuit.
2327 N 425 landed. Told to taxi clear on runway on 16 and cut all motors. B flight arranging to tow to dispersal to take precautions on possibility of bogging.
2345 All a/c with exception of V 420 in dispersals.
Thursday Feb 24, 1944.
0005 K/426 airborne for Linton.
0750 S.D checked.
0805 Basic QFE 1025. Passed to met.
0830 P/O Pyle on watch
0900 Runway 10 QAN NE’ly light.
1000 Goodwood tonight – also Gardening from 6 Group
[Time obscured] S/L Austin on Watch.
[Page break]
1530 Received from Base new SD.229 (Copy no. 147) & S.D.300 (Copy No. 587) – old copies to be picked up in [deleted] a [/deleted] two days time
1800 First a/c off on operations.
1841 Twenty-second & last a/c off on ops. A420 (oil leak) & U425 (burst tyre) scrubbed.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
2110 Informed by W/C MacIntosh that 420 A/C have definitely been diverted to Wing – S/L Kyle’s notified
2151 425/C returned early – had not jettisoned – ambulance standing by
2159 420/Q landed – ‘detail completed’.
2220 425/C bogged near end of 24 Runway – tractor & crew organized
2237 425/Q early return
2240 All taxi lighting north of 28 runway is u/s – electrician now working on it – flights warned.
2315 Vis. beginning to deteriorate – goose-necks & moneys laid out
2318 425/C now clear & being towed to dispersal
2340 [Underlined] All [/underlined] taxi track now u/s – warned flights to have crews ready to lead a/c into dispersals north of 28-10 runway
2355 Taxi tracks now O.K.
[Underlined] FRIDAY 25th FEBRUARY, 1944 [/underlined]
0030 Taxi track on north half of aerodrome is definitely u/s – laying emergency taxi track with all available glims from north end of 28 as far as possible west towards 10 runway
0100 Changing onto 28 runway – 425 A & B flights notified – glim lamps being laid on perimeter track north of 10 runway up to 24 r’way.
0218 B/425 first A/C landed from ops.
0245 D/425 landed at Breighton – returning as soon as refuelled
0400 K/420 at Dunsfold, 420 U, F, H, J, O, R, P, B, V, W at Wing, S/425 at Dunsfold, T/425 at Tangmere, A, E, F/425 at Little Horwood
0430 D/425 landed from Breighton – C/420 only A/C still outstanding
0730 SD’s checked
0815 Basic QFE 1032 – Passed to met.
0900 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1005 Goodwood effort tonight.
[Page break]
1010 Base advise all serviceable a/c both sqn’s ordered to return to base. W/420 hydr. u/s E 425 P/i u/s. CTO advised.
1045 Runway 34 in use.
1200 J 420 landed from Wing
1203 U 420 landed from Wing
1230 F/L Gant off watch. S/L Austin on Watch.
1320 P 420 landed from Wing
1328 B 420 landed from Wing
1329 V 420 landed from Wing
1333 O 420 landed from Wing
1430 A 425 landed from Little Horwood.
1513 F425 landed from Little Horwood.
1520 Base advise W/420 needs petrol filler cap & new starter motor for S/i. CTO informed.
1545 Definite diversions for tonight’s operations both sqn’s. Wing. Runways 2000 – 1450 – 1150. SBA. Mark II lighting, HF/DF, Sandra, pundit 172° 4 1/2 miles. Flashing X R.
1548 K 420 landed from Dunsfold
1615 T 425 landed from Tangmere
1631 F420 landed from Wing
1641 H420 landed from Wing
1702 S425 landed from Dunsfold
2009 R420 landed from Wing.
On Watch S/L Austin.
2120 1/2 First a/c off on operations.
2141 Twelfth and last a/c off on ops – 420 – (7) 425 (5)
P425 scrubbed (-two port engines oiled).
2359 Switching to Runway 28 – QAN – NW’ly 2-5MPH.
[Underlined] Saturday 26TH February 1944 [/underlined]
0520 P420 returned from operations
0530 Base inform that Q425 landed Abingdon and that 425 B, D and G; 420 B, J, N and A landed at Wing. V420 landed at Westcott.
[Page break]
0800 No news of either U420 or U425.
0810 Basic QFE. 999. Passed to met.
0900 S/L Austin off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1018 Command stand down tonight.
1020 Base admin 6 group have issued orders for all 425 & 420 a/c that are not airborne by 1130 are to await further orders. 420 & 425 CO’s advised, int, Stn. Nav.
1225 All a/c away from base have been instructed to be standing by at 1930 ready to take if wx okay. Otherwise they will be ready for 0800 hrs take tomorrow morning.
1230 P/O Pyle on watch
1530 Contacted Little Horwood to have S/L McLennan’s crew standing by at 0930 tomorrow to be picked up by A/C from here.
1600 All A/C away from Base stood down till tomorrow morning
1830 Changing to No. 34 Runway – QAN N’W 20-25
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2330 Everything quiet. No flying in group.
Sunday Feb 27, 1944.
0400 Slight snow and sleet.
0700 Checked with MT for snow removal apparatus to be ready.
0800 Basic QFE 1001. Passed to met.
0900 F/L Gant off watch. P/O Pyle on watch
Runway 06 QAN NNE 24
1000 Stand down tonight
1030 Duty crew & fire crew clearing snow from taxi & r’way lights
1115 N/420 ran into A/420 – the port elevator & outer hinge of N is u/s the stbd. inner airscrew of A was damaged & will need a new airscrew – B/425 has the stbd. wing tip damaged & needs new wing tip – C.T.O. has been informed
1230 message from Base – N420 had Brake failure in dispersal. (Reason for above entry)
[Page break]
1440 [Underlined] NOTE [/underlined] Station Admin. Officer to be notified of all taxing accidents
1510 Recalling B, T, O, V/420 – S/L McKenna’s instructions
1515 N/425 crew returning by transport – A/C/ u/s u/c & flaps
1520 A/420 left Wing at 1510
1605 A/420 landed from Wing
1700 V/420 (Sgt. Hardy) X/C A.C caught fire at Aberystwyth (N. Wales) (Grid Ref. VO 0185) and crashed at approx.. 1510 hrs. The Engineer and W.O.P. have been rescued but fate of rest of crew is uncertain.
1810 Ex – Castell Maur – re V/420 W.O.P. & Engineer slightly injured – crash took place at Cross Inn – 2 crew were known to have baled out – probably W.O.P. & Eng.
2330 Nothing doing. F/L Gant on Watch.
March 1, Wednesday, 1944.
0745 S.D’s checked.
0805 Basic QFE 1004. Passed to met.
0830 Runway 28, QAN WNW.
0845 P/O Pyle on watch – Runways, perimeter & dispersals checked – trailing aerial on 24 runway.
0930 Duty crew found in bed – told to report to F.C.O. at 0900 hours daily in future.
1000 Working tonight
[Inserted] 1015 Checked with Base cypher officer re sheets for March beacon letters (S.D. 264) – apparently sent to Eastmoor in error [/inserted]
1100 A.F.C. reports numerous vehicles ignoring traffic lights & crossing runway in use – guard room will supply S.P. to check all offenders
1145 Ex Aberporth re V/420 – a/c crashed on or near Hafodmawr farm- control had snapped and A/C went into a spin. nearest salvage unit – 78 M.U. Bynea
1230 S/L Austin on Watch
1415 Snow Warning – Snow probable during next 24 hours in Scotland & N. England north of a line Derby – Humber. Amount moderate on high ground But mainly slight in NE England.
[Page break]
1655 Linton Pundit U/S. Will not be available for tonight.
1800 Runway changed to 24. QAN SW’ly 10+.
1900 Runway changed to 28. Met forecast wind of 20MPH WNW for takeoff.
1930 On watch P/O Pyle
2145 Flights report icing not serious – clearing with brushes – 420 using de-icing fluid.
2315 T/420 first A/C off on operations
2347 P/420 last A/C off on Ops. 8 of 420 and 11 of 425 airborne
K/420 had P/I oil pressure too low, S/420 – icing – scrubbed.
[Underlined] MARCH 2 – THURSDAY – 1944 [/underlined]
0326 Three early returns – R/420, J/425, W/425
0340 Base & then 12 Group ask which of our A/C went out to sea off Flamboro Head & then returned – intelligence to let us know as soon as possible
0630 Early returns interrogated and no A/C was out to sea in this area – Base & Group informed by Intelligence
0810 Basic QFE 1008 – Passed to met.
0828 V/425 last A/C to land from Ops. Other than early returns only 3 A/C returned to Base (C, V, F/425) All others landed south
0900 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1005 Stand down tonight.
1159 O 425 landed from Ford
1205 G 425 landed from Middle Wallop.
1207 S 425 landed from Thorney Island.
1230 S/L Austin on Watch
1246 F420 landed from Westcott
1248 D425 landed from Thorney Island.
1329 R425 landed from Thorney Island.
1515 Group report T425 bogged – no towing equipment; P, Q and T 420 o.k. but no fueling [sic] facilities; D420 P/I U/S mag drop, G420 P/I U/S oil leak; J420 flak damage and hydraulics u/s.
1624 E425 landed from Little Horwood.
[Page break]
1757 B 425 landed at Linton. One engine packed up, shut off red flare and landed at Linton.
1807 Base J.C.O. advises a/c of 425 and 420 are calling DF hut for information (QFE, QDM etc) and not giving squadron callsigns. In such cases information to be refused as more than one a/c of same letter may be calling for same information causing confusion.
1942 Base advise Q 425 returning to base due to one engine u/s.
1945 S/L Austin on Watch.
2000 Flarepath report a crash NE of us. A425 had been given Pancake. Believe it might be our aircraft.
Note:- at 1955 hours, A425 came over R/T asking me to switch on the flarepath so he could identify the aerodrome. The outer circle was switched on & off until the aerodrome was identified. He acknowledged the assistance. At 1955 1/2 I asked him if he was having any trouble. He replied that his starboard outer engine was now feathered. We instructed him to Pancake 28 which he acknowledged.
Base 62 was immediately informed to get a definite plot. The medical officer, Engineering officer, F/L Bryson O/C night flying were notified. Linton’s ambulance & firetender; our ambulance & possibly Wombleton’s equipment were despatched. Eastmoor have sent ambulance & firetender.
2015 Phoned Easingwold Police & found crash was in approximate area of Crayke. (east of Easingwold.) Informed base.
2045 Q425 landed from X country with starboard outer feathered. Despatched our tender to crash scene.
2130 Definitely report crashed a/c A/425. Six killed, one badly injured taken to St. Monica’s Hospital Easingwold.
[Page break]
2145 Base inform crash is in our area. Contacted R.A.F. Regiment to organise a guard.
2159 Easingwold Police inform that Sgt Bertrand R164538 was one of those killed.
2230 Sick Quarters reported eight people were in craft. Killed – Sgt Bertrand pilot; Sgt Goudreau, bomb aimer; Sgt Bousquet, W/OP; Sgt Dix, Engineer Sgt Trudel, M/Upper; Sgt Cole Rear Gunner and Sgt. Hay Spare gunner.
Injured – Sgt. Houle – navigator.
March 3rd – Friday 1944
0810 Basic QFE – 1007 – Met informed.
0900 S/L Austin off Watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0940 Aerodrome, dispersals and runways inspected.
0948 Command stand down tonight.
0950 Runway 34 in use.
1022 Crash tender u/s. N 425 waiting to take-off. Informed S/L MacLarnen. He advises to let N425 take-off with out crash crew.
1030 Informed S/L Kyles re crash tender situation He advises to declare aerodrome u/s until we have a serviceable crash tender.
1200 Aerodrome still u/s. No crash tender.
1230 Crash tender now serviceable.
1230 P/O Pyle on watch
1400 Cpl. Seib posted to 50 Gp. Pool – Base advised to supply relief advised later by S/L Kyles that they cannot supply a relief
1600 Keen frost warning tonight Min. air temp. 27 – ground 21
1745 New crash tender arrived from Linton but M.T. Section refuses to accept it – mechanically bad – S/L Kyle informed
2023 W 420 landed on 2 1/2 motors. Made nice approach and landing but ran off the end of runway. B flight tractor and bowser sent to assist.
2037 34 runway u/s. Changing to 28. Met report QAN 6 NW
[Page break]
2132 Base enquire names of J 425 crew. They are under impression J 425 has crashed.
2142 Base advise the a/c that crashed has been identified as one from 4 group.
2150 Runway 34 now in use.
2348 S 425 1st a/c back from Bull’s eye.
Saturday March 4, 1944.
0025 K 420 last a/c back from Bull’s eye.
0800 Basic QFE 1017. Passed to met.
0815 S.D.’s checked.
0830 Runway 34 QAN NW, P/O Pyle on watch
1000 Not working tonight
1110 Gale warning NW to W within next 12 hrs. 40 m.p.h.
1230 S/L Austin on Watch.
1340 Snow Warning – Moderate amounts expected in our area within next 24 hours.
1600 Met warn of rapid deterioration of weather in next few minutes.
1608 V434 landed from Croft. Weather poor.
1611 G425 landed OK.
1615 F 425 landed OK. Vis poor
1620 Asked base for diversions. They suggest Eastmoor.
1632 C425 diverted to Eastmoor.
1633 R425 diverted to Eastmoor.
1635 Gimcrack H calling darky. Contacted & diverted to Eastmoor.
1639 Hard frost warning probable tonight. 26°/27°.
1642 Base inform Eastmoor closed down and are diverting C and R 425 to Downham Market.
1646 Q425 diverted to Downham Market by R/T.
1715 Runway changed to 28.
C425 landed Pocklington.
1830 Base inform that J from Eastmoor may be diverted here. Vis 10 miles.
1840 Base inform J pranged on landing at Eastmoor.
[Page break]
1850 Group inform that no aircraft is to return to bases tonight.
1855 Base inform Q & R 425 landed at Downham Market.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
1955 Informed M.T. to have 4 trucks ready for snow ploughs and three trucks available for [deleted word] carting sand.
SUNDAY – MARCH 5th, 1944
0810 Basic QFE 1030 – Met advised
0815 SD’s checked
0900 S/L Austin on Watch. Runway 28.
1000 Phoned SHQ for 20 men to sand runways
1030 Ice melting rapidly on runways.
1053 V434 left for Croft.
1110 Sanding of runway 28 for 600 yards completed.
1130 C 425 landed from Pocklington.
1230 S/L Austin off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1535 Group request report from pilots on last 3-4 Mar Bull’s eye re illuminated target over London
1930 S/L Austin on Watch.
MONDAY 6TH MARCH 1944.
0806 Basic QFE – 1036 – Met informed.
0815 S.D.’s checked.
0900 S/L Austin off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0945 Taxi track, dispersals inspected.
1230 P/O Pyle on watch
1820 K/420 1st A/C off on Ops.
1854 J/425 last A/C off – airborne are 4 A/C from 420 and 9 A/C from 425
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2256 B 425 1st a/c back from operations.
2327 T 425 last a/c to return to base.
2350 N420 landed at Thorny [sic] Isle at 2322.
[Page break]
Tuesday. March 7, 1944.
0750 S D.’s checked.
0804 Basic QFE 1033. Passed to met.
0830 Base advise all a/c away from base have been ordered to stand by, but group doubt very much if wx will improve enough for return.
0845 P/O Pyle on watch
1000 Advised Base to have R/425 return from Downham Market as soon as he is serviceable (oil cooler)
1005 Working tonight
1105 Runway changed to 06 – QAN NE
1208 New A/C V/420 (LW692) [deleted] lef [/deleted] landed from Linton
1210 425/R left Downham Market at 1145
1230 S/L Austin on Watch.
1235 R425 landed from Downham Market.
1603 N420 landed from Thorney Island.
1831 C425 first a/c off on ops.
1848 O420 last of 18 a/c. off on ops (420 – 6 a/c; 425 – 12 a/c).
[Inserted] 1930 P/O Pyle on watch [/inserted]
2129 C420 landed from X-country.
[Underlined] WEDNESDAY – MARCH 8, 1944 [/underlined]
0018 All our A/C returned safely – O/425 landed at Thorney Island
0045 P/405 landed here – short of petrol – hydraulics u/s on landing – returning to Linton later in the day.
0730 S.D.’s checked
0820 Basic QFE 1047
0830 Flights warned re 2 1000 lb. hang ups on 420 O & D
Note: 425/ C-J-Q-U-T & 420/W returned with full bomb load
0900 Runway 10 QAN light & variable – mainly easterly
0915 S/L Austin on Watch – Runway 28.
1230 F/L Gant on watch.
1510 P408 airborne for Linton
1525 Our emergency diversion base for tonight Thorny [sic] Island.
1625 Ops scrubbed.
[Page break]
1648 O 425 returned from Thorney Island.
1905 Bomb removed from point SE of new watch tower.
1930 F/L Gant off watch. S/L Austin on Watch.
2015 F425 landed from X country.
[Underlined] THURSDAY 9TH MARCH 44 [/underlined]
0200 S.D’s checked.
0205 Met report a herd of sheep on aerodrome near their instruments. (Girl very frightened). Informed guardhouse.
0815. QFE Basic – 1038 – met informed.
0900 S/L Austin off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0950 Halifaxs in 6 group working tonight.
1230 P/O Pyle on watch
1418 Emergency diversion for both squadrons – Thorney Island
1445 The jettisoning area up to 1800 hrs. 11th Mar. – 40 miles from the coast south of lat. 5400N.
1630 LAC Macleod (R/T Op.) posted – S/L Kyle’s advised re replacement
1643 Ops. scrubbed
1915 Vis. deteriorating – advised Base who are diverting them to Prestwick
1930 Changing runways to No. 28
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1935 Base advise E 420 cannot be contacted. Have not contacted A, K 425. Central Flying Control debating whether to divert a/c to Prestwick or Silloth.
1938 Base advise A 425 landed at Skipton 1933.
2003 Base advise E420 K425 still not contacted. Last time of contact with E420 35 minutes ago at which time he was advised to stand by for message.
2010 Base advise K425 diverted to Prestwick. Still no contact with E 420.
2100 Pos of K 425 as 53° 40’N 04° 40’W.
2106 Base advise E 420 acknowledged diversion. Sent msge they would call back.
2119 Base advise E 420 requested pos. Prestwick at 2100.
[Page break]
2308 Base advise 420E 425K on R/T at Prestwick.
2335 Base advise E 420 landed at Prestwick 2257. K425 landed 2326 at Prestwick.
Friday March 10, 1944.
0745 Quiet night.
0750 S.D.’s checked.
0805 Basic QFE 1029. Met informed.
0845 P/O Pyle on watch – Runway 28 WNW light
1000 Ops. tonight
1230 Ops. scrubbed – Command Bullseye instead
1230 S/L Austin on Watch
1614 E420 landed from Prestwick.
1644 A 425 landed from Skipton.
1917 O 425 off on Bullseye Exercise
1918 W 425 off on Bullseye Exercise (Swung very badly).
1920 H 420 off on Bullseye Exercise
1921 A 420 off on Bullseye Exercise.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
1934 O/420 off on Bullseye Exercise
[Underlined] SATURDAY – MARCH 11th 1944 [/underlined]
0008 H/420 returned from Bullseye
0034 O/420 last a/c landed form Bullseye
0730 S.D.’s checked.
0800 Basic QFE 1020 – met. advised
0845 P/O Pyle off Watch. F/O Taylor on Watch.
Runway 28. Perimeter & Rwys checked.
0930 W/O. Palmer, Sgt. McKinnon, Sgt. Newby, Sgt. Duffy, Sgt. Kennedy, reported to watch office. – Pilots for temporary control Duties.
1010 Not required tonight. Gardening in Group.
1030 Asked Base to get some Gen on K/425 which had to return to Prestwick. F/L. Lomas was through on G.P.O. but could not contact anybody who knew anything about it.
11.25 Runway changed 34. QAN. WNW-NWly – 18mph.
12:30 Note for 425. OK for their A/C. A. O. L. T, to bomb smoke-floats anywhere off coast, at least 30 miles out to avoid convoy routes. Base suggest 40 miles off Flamboro Head.
[Page break]
1230 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
18:30 Off Watch F/L Gant On Watch F/O Taylor.
18:35 V/420 off on X-Country.
2152 U/425 landed from X-Country. Had trouble finding drome. Flicked lights off & on but still no go, so came in on QDM’s.
22.55 Base advise D/433 – Skipton c/s Pease pudding, floating around the Group, may start calling for help.
23.09 V/420 landed from X-Country. = also had trouble locating drome.
[Underlined] SUNDAY. MARCH 12th 1944. [/underlined]
0830 Basic QFE = 1016. SD’s checked.
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0905 Group stand down tonight.
1045 Local Bullseye tonight. [Deleted] 4 [/deleted] 3 a/c 425, 9 a/c 420.
1230 P/O Pyle on watch
1250 E/420 landed from X/C – S/O engine trouble
1318 S/420 landed from Westcott
1420 Bullseye cancelled.
1430 K/425 left Prestwick at [deleted letters] 1301 but had to return (1335) due to engine trouble. Prestwick F.C. will let us know state of serviceability in the morning
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2330 Quiet.
Monday 13 March 1944
0730 Quiet night.
0800 Basic QFE 1003 Met informed.
0805 S.D’s checked.
0900 P/O Pyle on watch
1020 Operations tonight- 420-8 A/C 425-7 A/C
1100 Extreme emergency aerodrome for both squadrons – Hartford Bridge Runways 2000, 1400, 1400x Mk II Drem, S.B.A. Sandra Pundit GP 064° [deleted] 6 1/2 [/deleted] 1 1/2 mls.
1230 Runway changed to 34
12:30 Off Watch P/O Pyle, on Watch F/O Taylor.
13:10 Base inquired, Could we take 5 Dishforth A/Cr for C’s & L’s. = Answer “No Not with this strong cross wind.”
[Page break]
1435 New Halifax MZ503 delivered for 420 Sqdn.
15.49 K/425 returned from Prestwick. (Diverted there March 9/44)
16.52 G/420 returned from FORD. (Landed there March 1/44)
16:55 Ex Base. S/L Kyles: Croft have just had a sleet shower, so warn Sqdns to be on guard re ice on A/Cr. Contacted Met. Sqdns have been warned of the possibility & will be told again if things look bad.
17:10 The sleet shower has passed with no ill effects.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
2225 R/425 1st A/C off on operations
2250 Q/425 last A/C off on operations – 420-8 A/C, 425 7 A/C
[Underlined] TUESDAY – 14th MARCH, 1944. [/underlined]
0023 R/425 returned early with A.S.I. & other instruments u/s. At the time the wind was westerly at 14 m.p.h. so told him to land on 28 runway instead of No. 34.
0038 C/425 last of 4 A/C to land from X/C – also landed on 28 – his two port engines caught fire but went out when he cut ignition – tractor towed him clear of runway.
0221 D/425 returned early – hydraulics u/s – undercarriage had been down since T.O. – landed O.K. on 34 with 30° flap.
0243 Y/420 landed at Hartford Bridge – short of petrol – advised by Group to remain there till morning
0341 All our A/C landed safely – 14 at Base and 1 away
0500 S.D.’s checked
0800 Ex Hartford Bridge – Y/420 will be leaving about 0900 hrs.
0815 Basic QFE 1010 – met informed
0900 Off Watch. P/O Pyle. On Watch F/O Taylor.
Runway 34. QAN NWly. 15-20 mph.
0950 Not required tonight = Group Bulls-eye.
1131 Y/420 landed from Hartford Bridge.
1230 Off Duty F/O Taylor. F/L Gant on watch.
1930 Off Duty F/L Gant on Duty F/O Taylor.
2015 A number of reports have come in about flares having been seen, do they mean Scrub. Flares away to the west. Contacted Base. = They are from Army Manoeuvres
2050 H/420 first A/Cr airborne on Bulls-eye.
2103. Request for ambulance. 2 airmen injured by explosion of an oxygen bottle, near [deleted] B [/deleted] /420 B flight dispersal, - Ambulance dispatched – M.O. advised.
[Page break]
2108. N/425 – 10th A/Cr. airborne on Bulls-eye. J & R/425 taxied down runway & clear.
2122 V/425 airborne, replacing R,
2229 V/425 landed on 3 engines.
2253 P/420 landed OK. (oxygen, & engine trouble, and intruders)
2300 Runway changed to 28. QAN 5-10. NWly – WNWly.
2343 O/425 landed OK. = compasses u/s.
[Underlined] WEDNESDAY – 15th MARCH – 1944 [/underlined]
0044 G/425 landed from Bulls-eye; C/420; H/420; T/425
0215-0224 U; N; A; F landed from Bulls-eye & bombing detail.
0813 Basic QFE. 1013. Met informed.
0955 6 group goodwood Lancs Hali III’s
1230 P/O Pyle on watch
1600 Diversion bases if A/C have less than 350 gals. Petrol when crossing English coast – 420 Tangmere, 425 Ford
1800 Runway in use No. 24
1930 F/L Gant on watch.
2145 T425 called on R/T. Was asked if he had completed detail. Not jettisoned. Told to fly locally for 25 min. to bring gas down to safe landing weight.
2152 Asked reason for 425T Reported aileron control not functioning properly. Was asked if he could land safely. Reported “everything under control”.
2213 T 425 given pancake, runway 28.
2217 T 425 landed okay. Back on 34.
Thursday March 16, 1944.
0220 Runway 23 in use.
0254 Base advise Q425 sent in Q code “short [indecipherable] has broken down.
0255 Base admin fix on “C” 420 as 50° 25 0001W at 0234. “C” 420 not airborne. Probably G420.
0305 “C” 420 (base advise) sent message “on 3 motors special equipment u/s.
[Page break]
0315 Base advise C 420 msge “Navigator killed, S/I u/s Feltwell – Ford – SPEQ – Instructions.
0320 Msge from DSO 6 Group to C420 – land at Ford.
0328 Base advise Q 425 called Mayday near Hixon at 0300
0340 Base advise Q 425 crashed near Hixon: no details as yet.
0350 Base advise S420 crash landed at Friston. Pilot injured, navigator killed. Base believe this a/c to be “C” 420.
0405 F/O Tracey Nav. Q425 called from Bromsgrove, crew bailed out. Was first out of a/c, uninjured.
0425 F/O Hogan W ag Q425 called from Bromsgrove, 3rd out of a/c uninjured.
0430 4 a/c 420 returned to base. 6 a/c 420 landed at Tangmere. 2 a/c 425 returned to base, 7 a/c 425 landed at Ford.
0745 No word of Q420, F 425.
0800 Basic QFE 1019 Passed to met.
0900 P/O Pyle on watch
0920 Ex S/L Kyles – F.C.O. is to check daily flying times passed to Base
0945 Ex Halfpenny Green – all members of Q/425 accounted form but exact whereabouts of P/O Bush unknown
1030 All Q/425 crew O.K. except for a couple of slight injuries – Halfpenny Green arranging to have them return
1155 W/420 returned from Tangmere
1215 O/420 returned from Tangmere
1230 G/420 (at Frishon) is a total write-off – Navigator killed – pilot wounded and in hospital – rest of crew O.K. & returning by rail
1227 Y420 returned from Tangmere
1230 P/O Pyle off Watch. F/O Taylor on Watch.
1231 R/420 returned from Tangmere.
1238 J/425 returned from Ford.
1242 B/420 returned from Tangmere
1248 N/425 returned from Ford.
[Page break]
1327 S/425 landed from Ford.
1437 D/425 landed from Ford.
1454 F/425 landed from Ford.
17:33 E/425 landed from Ford.
18:09 A/425 landed from Ford.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
1950 Broadcast from Base – stations to have intruder systems ready for possible use
2030 Ex Base - we can forget about intruder warning!
[Underlined] FRIDAY – MAR 17, 1944. [/underlined]
0800 S.D.’s checked
0805 Basic QFE 1025 – passed to Met.
0830 Off Watch P/O Pyle. On Watch F/O Taylor.
0945 Not required tonight.
1230 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
1448 CTO reports new petrol installation near 425 A flight a definite obstruction and should be marked by red obstruction light at night. Agreed to do this nightly.
1930 Off Watch F/L Gant on Watch F/O Taylor.
[Underlined] SATURDAY – MARCH 18 – 1944. [/underlined]
0215 Base – Light up Drome. Wombleton A/Cr = Fighead or Jimcrack J wandering about.
0225 Base = Group have had several fixes on this A/Cr. but he seems to be lost & wandering aimlessly. If he comes near land him.
0320 A/Cr landed OK at Church Fenton. All lights doused.
0800 Basic QFE 1018. SD’s checked.
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0945 Runways, perimeter checked.
0955 Command Goodwood tonight.
1230 P/O Pyle on watch
1400 Inspected perimeter track & found incendiary rack at entrance to 34 r’way – armament section notified to check up on drivers responsible
1515 Runway changed to No. 24
[Page break]
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
2020 O 425 early return. Had not completed detail. Told to do so. Base informed. Sick crew member on board.
2114 O425 landed. Bomb aimer nose bleed.
2125 Starboard totem end 24 knocked over, still [deleted words] alight. Duty electrician informed.
2220 Base advise air raid warning purple.
2230 Air raid warning white.
2325 Base advise our a/c are definitely diverted. We are to stand by for diversion from Middleton and Croft.
Sunday, March 19, 1944.
0023 Base advise we can stand down re Croft and Middleton a/c.
0200 J 420 returned to base.
0230 Base advise A, D, E, K, R, T, W, Y. 420 at Thorpe Abbotts. A, B, D, N, R, W, 425 at Thorpe Abbots. G at Little Snoring, S 425 at Shipdham.
0720 Thorpe Abbott advise W425 port wing flak damaged, 425 N 420 F taxied into each other. 2 motors on N out, tail section on F damaged.
0800 Basic QFE 1013. Met advised.
0900 P/O Pyle on watch
0915 Runway 28 QAN W’ly 15-20.
0920 All serviceable A/C returning to Base as soon as possible – W/425 also damaged prop. – taxied into vehicle – driver killed
1000 Not working tonight
1230 P/O Pyle off Watch. F/O Taylor on Watch.
12.47 F/O Wilmot phoned from Thorpe Abbott. re A/425 Mag trouble; PI cut out when switch tested. = F/L Loomis informed.
15.00 W/O Rutherglen left his bag near the perimeter track in from of watch office at Thorpe Abbott. Phoned them to have one of our crews pick it up. A message from T.A. for Engineering Officer relayed to F/L. Loomis.
[Page break]
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
2100 E/425 at Horham out of hydraulic fluid – not procurable there – advised C.T.O. who is sending some down tomorrow – Horham asked to let us know if there is a break in the line so we can send spare parts
2208 Air Raid Warning RED
2230 All Clear
2312 H/425 landed from X-C P/O Wells reports that he saw A/C shot down in vicinity of E. Anglia (5235N 0019E) at 2206 – reported to Base
[Underlined] MONDAY – MARCH 20, 1944 [/underlined]
0035 X/420 landed from X/C
0730 S.D.’s checked
0810 Basic QFE 1025 – Met. informed
0900 Off Duty. P/O Pyle. On Duty F/O Taylor.
Runway 28. = Runways & T. Track inspected. Places at beginning of 28 where new macadam put over bad spots is sinking again. Surface of 28 scaling in a few spots. Resident engineer informed
1015 We are not required tonight.
1125 Thorpe Abbott phoned. “Can P/O Renaud & crew fly back with F/O Wilmot?” O/C 425 instructs “Yes” but in any event they must be back by tomorrow noon.
1230 S/L Austin on Watch.
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch.
[Underlined] TUESDAY – MARCH 21 – 1944 [/underlined]
0800 Basic QFE 1021 – Passed to Met. S.D.’s checked.
0900 S/L Austin on Watch.
1015 Not required tonight. Everybody else working.
1230 P/O Pyle on watch
1345 Advised Horham that hydraulic fluid for 425/E would reach there tomorrow morning
1400 Ex Thorpe Abbots:- A,D,/425 & W/420 will probably be returning tomorrow – W/425 probably a week – N, [deleted] W [/deleted]/425 & F/420 - ?
1604 S425 landed from Thorpe Abbotts.
1918 V420 off on night X-country
1920 X 420 off on night X-country.
1930 S/L Austin on Watch.
2305 V420 landed from night X country
2340 X420 landed from night X country
[Page break]
[Underlined] Wednesday 22nd March 1944 [/underlined]
0805 Basic QFE 1021. Passed to Met.
0900 P/O Pyle on watch
1030 We are working tonight – Goodwood – 425 14 A/C, 420 – 12 A/C
1110 Thorpe Abbotts advise that A, D/425 are serviceable – B/425 leaving here with crews to bring them back – T. Abbotts will advise us then any other of our A/C are serviceable
1140 B/425 will not be going to Thorpe Abbotts till this afternoon
1230 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1250 Contacted Horham. (messages passed via 2 switchboard operators) E/425 tried to leave this AM when another minor snag developed. Hope to come this afternoon.
1415 Y/425. F/L BRYSON left for Thorpe Abbotts.
1515 Runway changed to 10, to facilitate marshalling. QAN L&V.
1636 E/425 returned from Horham.
1734 L, & V. 420 airborne on X-Country.
1757 Y/425 returned from Thorpe Abbotts.
1807 A/425 returned from Thorpe Abbotts.
1845-1922. 10-420 & 14-425 Airborne on operations. X replaced P/425.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
2251 L/420 landed from X/C – U/420 landed 2227 – used emergency u/c release
2320 Runway changed to No. 28
[Underlined] THURSDAY 23RD MARCH 1944 [/underlined]
0051 J/425 first A/C to return form operations
0140 K/425 last A/C to land here – J/420 at Foulsham, O/425 at Leeming no report from G/425
0810 Base QFE 1024 Met. informed
0815 S.D.’s checked
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch Runway 28. QAN. SE 3mph but viz terrible. R & TT Inspected.
1000 Not required tonight.
1100 J/420 airborne from Foulsham.
1204 J/420 landed OK. (first called 11:37 = viz 1400 yards = used 38 yellows).
1230 S/L Austin on Watch.
1247 Proctor HM301 – (W/C Williams) landed. Signalled Northolt & Catterick
1531 O425 returned from Leeming.
1537 Phoned Group to authorize crew from 420 Sqdn. to bring back D425 from Thorpe Abbotts. OK’ed by S/L McKernon & W/C McIntosh. W420 still u/s.
[Page break]
1645 Base advise W420 left T. Abootts at 1634. (Most confusing).
1740 W420 landed from T. Abbotts.
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch.
2200 Base = A/Cr. from 4 Group may be diverted to 6 Group. If so they will be sent to 61 Base if possible; otherwise 62 Base. E.T.A. 0035=0100 hrs.
2212. We are not required for this diversion; Leeming & Skipton laid on provisionally.
[Underlined] FRIDAY MARCH 24th 1944 [/underlined
0812. Basic Q.F.E. 1027. Passed to Met:
0900 S/L Austin on Watch.
0935 Signalled Station Z re Proctor (Vega Gull) landing at 1247 yesterday. Overdue message HW274 had been initiated. Checked with teleprinter message sent at 1301 – Left Linton at 1406
1010 Goodwood tonight – 425-14 = 420-12.
1230 S/L Austin off watch – P/O Pyle on watch
1330 Q/425 airborne for Thorpe Abbotts to bring back D/425
1530 Emergency petrol diversion base for both squadrons – “Coltishall”
1650 Runway changed to 10
1842 First a/c off on operations.
1918 Twenty-fifth & last a/c off on operations. E/425 scrubbed.
1936 O420 off on Bullseye exercise.
1941 P 420 off on Bullseye exercise.
2000 S/L Austin [deleted] off [/deleted] on Watch.
2011 K/425 landed from ops. Shot off 2 Red Flares (?). After landing called up that red lights on undercarriage were on and that horn was blowing. Told to switch engines off.
2012 Flarepath told to change to Runway 24. as X-country had to get off.
2025 Long runway clear. Runway changing to No. 28.
2053 V420 overhead from ops. Power failed on T1196 and flarepath & funnel of 28. Electrician called.
2118 All lights & 1196 on – Fuse had blown. Recalled V420 from Linton to which he had been sent.
2123 E 425 X-country scrubbed as engines were overheating owing to long delay in getting lights on.
[Page break]
2124 Base inform that V420’s R/T is poor & cannot contact him very well. Had done one overshoot. Did not want to have him return
2125 V420 landed OK at Linton.
2145 Pilot of V420 reports hydraulics u/s.
2236 Y425 early returned.
2304 R425 early returned.
[Underlined] Saturday 25 March 1944 [/underlined]
0018 P420 landed from Bullseye exercise
0038 O/420 landed from Bullseye exercise.
0405 Base inform T 425 has landed Coleby Grange at 0325.
0445 Base inform B, D, K, S & Y landed Coltishall. No times available. No report on W 420, V425 or C 425.
0805 Basic QFE 1024 – Passed to Met.
0900 S/L Austin off watch – P/O Pyle on watch
0930 Runways & perimeter inspected – stbd. A.A.I. on 06 u/s – apparently run over by A/C taxying clear of 24 r’way.
1000 Not required tonight – Hal. II & V & Stirlings working – inexperienced Hal. III & Lancs. crews may be put on tonight at C.O.’s discretion.
1030 420 offering 2 for target and 4 for A.S.R.
425 offering 3 for target and 1 for A.S.R.
1050 Sea search cancelled
1155 Coltishall advise that all our A/C will be returning as soon as refuled [sic].
1230 P/O Pyle off Watch. F/O Taylor on Watch.
1400 Colby Grange phoned. T/425 taking off right away. No Flaps.
1443 B & D/420 landed from Coltishall.
Briefing = 420 – 15:30. 425. 16:30.
1510 T/425 landed from Coleby Grange (No trouble though flaps u/s)
1516 Y/420 landed from Coltishall.
1538 K/420 landed from Coltishall.
1627 S/420 landed from Coltishall.
1729 H/425 off on a X-Country.
1731 J/425 bogged on intersection of 28 & inner taxi track. (!XXX! the runway for tonight)
[Page break]
1742 V/420 returned from Linton – landed him on 24 runway
1756/7. O & N/420 off on X-Countrys.
1907-09 A & X/420 & L/425 off on operations!
[Deleted 200 [/deleted] 1930 F/O Taylor off watch – P/O Pyle on watch
2000 Runway changed to 24 to accommodate U/420 (C & B) – much against his wishes!
2003 U/420 decided to scrub detail as it would be too late before he got started to get in any ‘dusk’ landings
2115 J/425 now de-bogged but crews have no means of [underlined] towing [/underlined] it clear [inserted] (bracket on tail wheel broken) [/inserted] (?) – must be taxied – contacted S/L McLernan.
2116 A.F.C. reports A/C parked on 34 runway
2152 Landed N/420 on r’way 24 –
2157 J/425 now taxied clear
2202 H/425 landed on 24 r’way
2203 N/420 bogged near R & I hangar – went off perimeter track – flight organising tractor – Engineering officer notified
2207 O/425 landed 24 runway
2230 Now on 28 runway
2250 N/425 now clear!
2350 Q/425 landed from X/C – did not receive our R/T
[Underlined] SUNDAY – MARCH 26 – 1944 [/underlined]
0027 L/425 landed from ops.
0046 A/420 landed from ops.
0057 X/420 landed from ops.
0730 SD’s checked
0805 Basic QFE 1020 – informed met
0900 F/O Taylor on Watch – Runway 28 QAN. L & V. – R & TT Inspected.
Mr Jess phoned as filling in holes where A/Cr bogged last night. Has no men today (Sunday), so will get cracking tomorrow morning.
1020 Goodwood effort tonight.
1230 S/L Austin on Watch.
1530 Runway changed to 34.
1930 F/O Taylor on Watch.
2000 U/425 first aircraft airborne on operations.
[Page break]
2026 P/425 = 23rd A/Cr off on Ops. = This A/Cr swung badly to starboard on first take-off run: Came round back of line-up for second try.
[Underlined] Note [/underlined] Port totem pole on 34 runway (downwind end) shining wrong way.
2030 Runway changed to 28. QAN [underlined] L & V [/underlined]
2143 Y/425 landed from X-Country.
2219 N/420 returned early.
2227. Call from R.T.O. at WARMINSTER (phone 236) Sgt. Cameron, crew member of X/425 sqdn. baled out at 6000’ at about 21:30 hrs. 1st one out & doesn’t know about rest of the crew. R.T.O. trying to round up information about rest of crew. G/C; Base, etc informed.
2230 Y/420 sqdn on R/T; has not completed detail & will call again when light enough to land.
Crew of X/425. SGT. HALL, W/O GROVER NAV, SGT NEWTON, SGT PORTER, SGT SIMPSON SGT. CAMERON, SGT. EVANS, & Cpl REID – R129385 – testing RADAR SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
2319 Y/420 landed OK.
2336 Royal Victoria Hospital, Westbury, Wilts. Phone Westbury 181 – Cpl. Reid, OK. but badly shaken up, keeping him overnight. = 3rd man out at about 6000 ft. at about 21:30 hrs. Police endeavouring to find other crew members.
[Underlined] MONDAY – MARCH – 27th 1944. [/underlined]
0025. Base: “X/425 crashed at 2053 hrs – Position 51:23N; 02:18W, 5 miles south of Colerne, 3 baled out but did not survive; 2 did not bale out; A/Cr caught fire on ground.”
0057 L/425 first A/Cr landed from operations.
0115 Base, re X/425 = 5 bodies in A/Cr.; 3 of which are identified as W/O Grover, Sgt Newton & Sgt. Evans, = Sgt Cameron & Cpl Reid are OK. Reid going back to A/Cr to try to identify other two bodies. Sgt Simpson still missing. Warminster police checking up. – Crashed at BRADFORD-ON-AVON, 5 miles South of Colerne. = Went into a spin, so pilot ordered crew to bale out.
0153 U/420 landed OK. 23rd A/Cr All accounted for. D/425 22nd A/Cr called that he thought he’d dropped incendiaries on runway. U/420 sent round again but as he could not get wheels & flaps up, told to pancake immediately. - When he had landed, told to use landing light & taxi round obstructions. Proved to be containers only. Armament people informed.
[Page break]
0230 Base request we “Light up” 426 A/Cr lost & short of fuel. Called “Pitchtent A” but no reply.
0250 Incendiaries observed burning near a 425 A/Cr. Sent fire crew & informed Armament Officer. Could read the Squadron letters on A/Cr by light from fire.
0255 Ground crew put incendiaries out. – A fitter badly hurt, dragged by bowser getting away from A/Cr. = Removed to hospital
[Underlined] Note [/underlined] → First Aid Kit from Q/425 used on this chap.
0310 Base advise we may douse lights again.
0815 Basic QFE = 1023. Passed to Met. – S.D’s checked.
0820 Crew list. Numbers etc of X/425 given to 6 Group. – Colerne handling crash.
- Sgt Cameron at 225 MU. – Phone No. WARMINSTER 456,
0900 S/L Austin on Watch.
1230 P/O Pyle on watch
1518 5 A/C of 420 & 2 A/C of 425 airborne on Exercise “Eric”
1700 Runway changed to 10
1837 R/425 last A/C to land from “Eric” exercise.
1930 S/L Austin on Watch.
2330 Standing by to land any of Linton’s a/c returning from X-country. Vis – poor, about 1500 yds.
[Underlined] Tuesday 28TH March 1944 [/underlined]
0039 Last of Linton a/c landed at Topcliffe. Our vis had increased to 3500 + yds.
0800 QFE Basic 1011 – met informed – Sec. Docs. checked.
0900 P/O Pyle on watch
0930 Runway 28.
1045 Trying all morning to get our van replaced without success - !!@
1130 Dalton supplying 2 fighters for 1400 hours.
1145 Port totem pole on 34 runway now O.K.
1150 Secured van from Engineering officer – r’ways & perimeter inspected
1230 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1415 Runway 10. QAN E ly. 0-10 mph. viz 2500 yds smoke haze.
1419-1437 L/420. Airborne – asked to report visibility from air. Not so hot. – Dalton not letting fighters come so told L to land. Squadrons scrubbed all other details.
[Page break]
19:17 Group called – A Topcliffe Halifax stooging up and down Leeming beam, at present going S. Plots show him near us. Try & get him in.
19:25 Neither seen nor heard this A/Cr. = contacted base, Plots now show him south of Marston Moor. – He may come north again.
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
2000 Topcliffe Halifax landed safely at Ashbourne
[Underlined] WEDNESDAY 29th MARCH 1944 [/underlined]
0730 S.D.’s checked
0810 Basic QFE 1012 – Met informed
0820 Men working on east end of 28 runway this morning
0830 F/O Taylor on Watch. Runway 06, QAN NE ly 5-15 mph.
0900 F/420 & W/425 at Thorpe Abbotts are now Serviceable.
1000 Required tonight, 1700 hrs scrubbed.
2038 O/425 airborne on X-Country.
NOTE Stbd A.A.I moved from 24 runway to 06 runway.
[Underlined] THURSDAY – 30th MARCH – 1944 [/underlined]
0138 O/425 landed from X-Country.
0526 Group – Light up & keep look out for a lost hurricane.
0547 Group – A/Cr now clear of our section.
0806 Basic QFE = 1007 Met informed. SD’s checked.
Workmen on 28 end of main runway.
0900 F/O Taylor off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
0930 Aerodrome and dispersals checked
0940 O 420 F/S Gray proceeding to Thorpe Abbotts to deplane crew for F 420. F/S Brisson for W 425
0955 Goodwood effort tonight.
1230 P/O Pyle on watch
1500 Emergency petrol diversion bases – 420 Thorney Island, 425 Middle Wallop. Tangmere and Ford may be used in extreme emergency
1620 Runway changed to 06
1625-32 420/F & 425/W returned from Thorpe Abbotts
1640 Frost warning tonight -27°-28°
1930 P/O Pyle off watch. F/L Gant on watch.
[Page break]
2218 14 a/c 420 sq and 12 a/c 425 sq. airborne on operations. No none starters.
2225 Runway 28 in use.
2310 X420 off on night X-country. (Bombs & Full Overload).
2315 Y425 early returned.
2350 R 420 early return – had not jettisoned – flying locally to reduce gas.
2356 R420 reports hydraulics completely u/s. has wheels down.
Friday, March 31, 1944.
0002 R420 given pancake.
0006 R420 landed.
0109 U420 returned early.
0350 X420 landed from X-country.
0805 Base advise C420 called darky in 5 group short of petrol – last word was that crew were baling out.
0807 Basic QFE 1015. Passed to met.
0830 P/O Pyle on watch – Runway 28 Wind NW’ly less than 10 mph.
0900 K/420 landed at Tangmere 0530
0915 Ex: Cranwell – A/C crashed near Cranwell (presumably C420) – crew O.K.
0954 U/425 landed from Boscombe Down. D & Q/425 landed from Middle Wallop
1010 S/425 landed from Middle Wallop
1025 J/420 landed from Thorney Island
1108 H/425 landed from Middle Wallop
1115 C/420 landed in a field 4 1/2 miles from Cranwell – crew returning by rail – A/C probably cat. A/C [Inserted] Note: Pilots advises he force-landed at [underlined] 0628 hrs [/underlined] [/inserted]
1148 N, V, Y [inserted] 420 [/inserted] returned from Ford & Thorney Island
1150 Command Bullseye tonight – 420 3 A/C 425 2 A/C
1215 E/420 returned from Thorney Island.
1230 F/O Taylor on Watch.
1330 K/420 returned from Tangmere.
1340 Runway now 34 QAN. NWly –
1509 L/425 returned from Ford.
[Page break]
1917 F, U, O/420 & U/H /425 airborne on Bullseye Exercise
1930 P/O Pyle on watch
Over
To
New
Log
Book -
[Page break]
[Underlined] Aircraft landing away [/underlined]
L 434. – Silverstone – returned
E 434. – Middle Wallop – returned.
C 434 – Coltishall – returned.
O 434 – Ford. Not on strength now.
F 434 Barford St. John. returned
[Table of aircraft landing away]
[Page break]
[Table of aircraft landing away]
[Page break]
[Table of aircraft landing away]
[Page break]
[Table of aircraft landing away]
[Page break]
Linton Beacon.
To Linton QDM 237° 3 mi.
To Eastmoor QDM 110 4 3/4 mi.
To Tholthorpe QDM 315 3 mi.
420 OILLESS
425 HILLGUARD
THOLTHORPE FISHZONE
LINTON DOGBARK
EASTMOOR SINGER
TOPCLIFFE GOODFRIEND
DALTON HOLDTIGHT
DISHFORTH MARTEX
WOMBLETON CHICKEN LEG
LEEMING MUSTWE
CROFT
SKIPTON BRIARWOOD
MIDDLETON
[Page break]
[Blank Page]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Control Officer's log book
Description
An account of the resource
A log kept at Tholthorpe to record events and times of importance. It commences July 6th 1943 and ends 30th March 1944.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
143 handwritten pages
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCothliffKB[Ser#-DoB]-151020-13
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-07
1943-08
1943-09
1943-10
1943-11
1943-12
1944-01
1944-02
1944-03
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anne-Marie Watson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
RAF Tholthorpe
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1318/19810/EDaviesDHHughesB440203-0001.2.jpg
486ebab865110fdac2cec23060c07b49
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1318/19810/EDaviesDHHughesB440203-0002.2.jpg
871d587be245e38644f4a1ecb830e493
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Davies, Dave
D Davies
David Howell Davies
Description
An account of the resource
26 items, including 22 letters, three photographs, and a service and release book. The collection consists of correspondence sent by Sergeant Dave Davies (1923 - 1984, 1653015 Royal Air Force) during his pilot training in Canada to his fiancée, Betty Hughes, who lived in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales. It also includes photographs of Dave Davies in Royal Air Force uniform, one with his bride, Betty, in wedding dress; and his service and release book. Dave Davies served with 48 Squadron from 28 January 1942 to 1 October 1946.
The collection was digitised on behalf of the IBCC Digital Archive by Edward Davies and catalogued by Monica Emmanuelli with additional contribution by Natalie Brimecome-Mills.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-10
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Davies, DH
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Miss Betty Hughes
50. Portland. Street.
Aberystwyth.
Cardiganshire Wales
1653015 SGT. DAVIES. D.H.
R.A.F. STATION.
Estevan. Saskatchewan
Canada.
[page break]
1653015 SGT DAVIES. D.H.
R.A.F. STATION.
Estevan.
Saskatchewan.
3/2./44 [sic]
My Dearest Darling
Well darling I made it. Did you notice any change in the first line of my address? We had our wings parade this afternoon, much to our relief. I’ve just sent you a cable. I hope you received it.
[page break]
I had four letters from you today, the first batch I have received for over a fortnight. Everyone has been complaining about the mail lately. I hope you are receiving mine alright. We’re all getting ready for our graduation party now, it starts at eight. I think we’ll have a good time, they usually do at these parties. I’ve been busy all afternoon sewing my wings and stripes on. I wish you were here to sew them on for me, I’d never make a tailor. Well darling I suppose I should have told you this first. I'm coming home soon, we’re being posted to Moncton from here, we’re due to arrive there on the 15th February. Those of us who have been posted to Moncton just with joy when they told us. It was a better occassion [sic] for us than it was to have our wings. That's all you can hear from the boys now is “Roll on the Boat”. Darling I'm longing so much to see you. I miss you terribly. [missing] thinking of you, and love you more than [missing] they sha’nt [sic] keep us long in Moncton, [missing] us more than 5 days to come over, [missing] have some leave with you darling. [missing] nice. You better prepare yourself for there [missing] darling. I suppose I should too. I should'nt [sic] send any more letters after you receive this one darling. I should’nt [sic] think they would send them across a second time. I'll send you an address to write to as soon as I can. Well I’ll have to close now and get ready for this party of our. Please do’nt [sic] worry about those sherries you had darling I'm afraid I sha’nt [sic] stop at two tonight. Give my love to all the folks and tell them I hope to see them all soon.
[page break]
Until I see you darling remember I still love you and ever will. Think of me sometimes and love me always.
Your darling (husband to be)
Dave.
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Dave Davies to Betty Hughes
Description
An account of the resource
Dave announces that he has passed the final exam and is preparing for the graduation party. He believes leave will soon be granted and hopes to see Betty soon.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dave Davies
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-03
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Monica Emmanuelli
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EDaviesDHHughesB440203
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan--Estevan
New Brunswick
New Brunswick--Moncton
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
love and romance
promotion
RCAF Estevan
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/834/18899/YGeachDG1394781v5.2.pdf
10162827a32d552c966e4454065fa9f0
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Geach, David
D Geach
Description
An account of the resource
<a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/218400/"></a>52 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer David Geach (1394781 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, correspondence, photographs of his crew, his log book, cuttings and items relating to being a prisoner of war. After training in Canada, he flew operations as a bomb aimer with 623 and 115 Squadrons until he was shot down 24 March 1944 and became a prisoner of war. He was instrumental in erecting a memorial plaque to the Air Crew Reception Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. <br />The collection also contains a scrap book of photographs.<br /><br />Additional information on his crew is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/218400/">IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Harry Wilkins and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-03-14
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Geach, DG
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[blank page]
[page break]
GOVERNMENT OF CANADA
NO. 288
[page break]
[underlined] Wednesday 17th March. [/underlined]
Back in England again, gee! its great to be home, I don’t know how fellows must feel being overseas 10 years or so, 8 months was enough to make me feel really thrilled at the sight of old England again. Beg pardon! I should have said Scotland, for it was up the firth of Clyde we slipped and anchored off Greenock. It was a nice morning & the fields & hills looked really pleasant in the sunshine. As we slid along we were shot up by Hurricanes and Martletts from the Auxiliary Aircraft Carriers. There were quite a few of the latter, converted merchant men turned into A.C. Carriers, quite large some of them. Beside this, the usual swarm of naval craft lay around. Destroyers, & corvettes slipped past, & occasionally the sleek black hulk of a submarine would slide along; in the distance. There was a Catalina station, with quite an amount of activity going on. One of the “Cats” landed quite close to us in a flurry of foam, nice looking jobs! We anchored just by three aircraft carriers & the modern battleship Howe, there was quite an amount of Aldis flashing, but far beyond our limited 8’s. I was glad I was on guard as I had a fine view, whilst all the others weren’t allowed up on deck.
[page break]
We docked on the 15th about 3 pm and it was 24 hrs. before we got off her. Being as there were no large docks as at Boston & New York everyone had to be taken off in lighters, & there were a good few thousand to go ashore. The lighters seemed like little toys alongside the Queen Elizabeth, although in reality they were quite large two funnelled vessels. Pumping oil in was a large tanker she really was a size, a smart looking American ship, with the T of the Texaco Oil Coy. on her funnel covered by the grey war paint. We struggled into the boat in full webbing lugging the kit bag, that everyone had crammed with cigarettes, chocolates, cosmetics, & heaven knows how many with stockings, for everyone at home. Quite a delay ensued before the lighter was packed to capacity, then away she went. My God as we passed alongside the Q.E. we could get an idea of her size, she was immense. As we drew further away, & saw the cluster of ships around her, dwarfed to doll size, looking like a duck with a swarm of ducklings we realised what a prize it would make for Jerry U Boats. No wonder they had claimed to have sank her, that made us laugh when we were on it. She really had a rakish cut, though, and as we neared the dockside, gazing back through the [deleted] Deff [/deleted] half mist, I was glad I had had the opportunity of travelling on the two largest ships afloat.
[page break]
On the dockside we had the inevitable hours wait with packs, full webbing on, but being as it was our priviledge [sic] to moan we indulged in it to the full, & were cheered by it. The troop trains were drawing away and at last our turn came. Comfortable seats were taken, our mass of webbing crowded everything out of the way but nobody worried away we [deleted] wend [/deleted] went, into a lovely drizzling evening, it may sound dim, but were we glad to see the rain again, after months of continuous snow without a drop of rain. It must have appeared depressing to the Canadians, raining on their arrival, bearing out tales of the island when it always rains, that they had heard, but to us it was home & heaven. Everyone waved out of windows & from streets as we slid along, everything was so friendly. Some of the fellows tackled the canned rations they had of Beans & Hash etc. but I stuck to the Biscuit & Sweet ones. Into Glasgow we rattled, onto Edinburgh when the NAAFI gave us tea on the platform, & so to Harrogate. Here we were assembled in the [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] dim light & pushed into lorries & away we went to Pannel Ash, three miles out of Harrogate to a large school. Here we whizzed around getting bedding & filling forms and having an eagerly awaited breakfast. However I am getting tired so I’ll continue in my next entry.
[page break]
[underlined] Sunday 21st March [/underlined]
As I said we arrived here at Pannel Ash, about 5.30 AM. on the 17th & they told us to be on parade at 8 A.M. to start the whirl of kitting, form filling and heaven knows what else before we went on leave. It sounded a line of bull to us, but the magical word leave was enough to keep us moving. We rapidly discovered that there were two of the biggest b-s I have seen here, & the two most influential. No 1 the C.O. and No 2 the W.O. I can truthfully say the C.O. or Sqdn/Ldr was the most illiterate fellow I have ever seen holding a commission. They say [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] he was an N.C.O. pre-war & just got a lucky push. The W.O. vies with him for our hatred, he is a fat red faced guy & a real nasty piece, just loves to catch one of us N.C.O’s with something wrong. It is something like a Gestapo purge, they are [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] possessed with the idea, that because we have come back from overseas we are no longer fit for aircrew, are a pack of scare-crows, are unruly & undisciplined etc. etc. Admittedly the Guards could give us a few points on smartness but hell! we haven’t had time to get back into the rut of drill again. Our job doesn’t depend on whether we can drill smartly either, a point which they always try to hammer in.
[page break]
We have whizzed about filling in reams of forms, kitting up to the English scale once more, this was a scream Some of the fellows had thrown away nearly all their service kit in order to make room for their presents, & they certainly had some 664B action. When they can’t think of anything for us to do, we drill, with the C.O. binding continually. The latest purge is haircuts, & as mine hasn’t been trimmed for about 6 – 7 weeks I’m right in the line of fire, guess I’ll need a lawn mower on my mop. On the evenings that we can get away we generally walk into town to see a show, the trouble with this town is it is [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] lousy with aircrew. When we first arrived we were so tired that we got some bed hours in, & wrote letters with the old 2 1/2' stamp on again. It was quite good to write a letter, & in a couple of days get a reply come buzzing back. The family & Mary had a surprise as they didn’t think I would be home for a couple of days, Mary is trying to get leave at the same time as myself. We should be going on leave pretty soon now, yippee! will we hit the high spots, & guess I’ll be glad to hand over their presents after lugging them quarter way round the world & guarding them, ah! well it wont [sic] be long now.
[page break]
[underlined] Thursday April 8th [/underlined]
Time certainly has flown by, but in a glorious fashion, since I made my last [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] entry. In the last couple of days we got packed, stowed our flying kit, & personal kit in the in the cellars & were all ready to move. The great day was Wednesday the 24th. and the coaches came to take us to the station. All the A.G.’s had gone a couple of days before, but only for 7 days, as they needed them, I felt sorry for them as we were all getting 14. After some waiting the train drew in, & we piled in heartily, it was well organised, all the London fellows were in one train those going South, Portsmouth etc in another, & Midlands & North a third. We got a good seat & old Fred Porce was opposite me so we arranged to travel on the Met to Plaistow together. On the journey we dozed & ate a little of the rations, & thought & made plans of what we would do on leave, then finally we drew into London, bang on! Fred had a monster kit bag crammed with tinned goods, & it certainly was a weight, we both had to drag it along to get on the Met. Sinking into a seat, not daring to remove our packs, for fear we wouldn’t get them on again, we soon became wedged, & I had the devils
[page break]
own job to struggle out, when we reached my station. It was really great to get home again, there was a great welcome, everyone saying things together & I know, I forgot lots of the things I wanted to tell them. Mary & my sister certainly were enthusiastic over the cosmetics, most probably be run in for hoarding.
Leave time as usual simply whirled by, shows & films, different people to see, & places to go. I saw Frank Pritchards mother, apparently I just missed him at Greenock, he went back on the Queen Elizabeth, they must have embarked the morning after we disembarked. Life always seems to be like that just missing people, well, I hope he likes Canada, one thing he won’t get the hellish winter conditions I had. I could kick myself missing the mildest winter England had for 17 years, & catching the coldest Canada had for 19 years. Anyway time flew, & yesterday it was time for me to return, they ran a special train for us, good show, & at 5 PM I met Norman & all the boys, & back we travelled swapping stories of leave. Harrogate once more, & in the Grand Hotel, where we were billeted when we arrived from Hastings, & so here I am.
[page break]
[underlined] Wednesday 14th April [/underlined]
We are ‘squaddied’ now, (placed in a squad) and waiting for the lectures to commence. Still the memories of our leave keep coming back to torture us, in heaven knows when we will be home again. Won’t be till after O.T.U. I’d wager, some fellows say we get some after AFU but I doubt it. Most of the fellows here whilst they are waiting for a posting are sent to Whitley Bay on a 4 week Commands Course with the RAF Regiment, I don’t quite know whether I relish the idea or not. The first few days we were back we didn’t do anything merely route marches, occasionally if we had a decent fellow in charge we would lay down in a field for the afternoon, but that wasn’t often. That state of affairs rarely lasts long however & we were soon put in a squad and commenced lectures. These are held at the Majestic Hotel, & we parade and march there each morning and afternoon. The lectures themselves are the same as they are anywhere the inevitable Signals, Armaments, Aircraft Rec, & Bombing Theory, they certainly cheese us, & I have a hell of a job to keep awake.
[page break]
There is quite a bit of P.T. as well, & we always have to run up to the Crag or thereabouts then turn off, for a general town of Yorkshire, around 5 miles or so. A fellow who was already in our room when we arrived, (a pilot on singles) is on the permanent P.T. squad, this is a hell of a racket. You are put on this when you have finished all the lectures. They parade in the morning in P.T. kit, or more often than not trousers, vest & jacket, then after roll call, go for a run by themselves to the Cing Café & sit there gazing at the view, & eating scones & supping tea till nearly dinner time, then they trot back for their midday meal. In the afternoon they repeat the process, maybe add a game of football, if they feel energetic, always ensuring that they finish in plenty of time for an early tea, & a quick get away to the cinema. Still you can’t blame them, they’ve been here nearly four months & I’d be really fed up.
Looking around at the thousands of aircrew here, & hearing of the thousands of Canadians & Australians at Bournemouth it amazes me. All these aircrew hanging around waiting to get onto operations and they can’t, & it goes right to the
[page break]
bottom of the ladder, to the fellow just joining up for aircrew who has to wait nearly a year after he has been accepted, to get into the RAF. If only we could clear the bottlenecks & get all these fellows on ops’ what a mighty bomber fleet we should have. Surely it isn’t the shortage of aircraft, we should be turning out enough by now. It must be a bottleneck at O.T.U. & AFU & not enough to cope with the flow of crews, or the most likely explanation they have been piling up here, owing to there being limited flying during the winter. I daresay there will always be the same situation here, though. As for myself I’m quite content, we have a decent room, Norman, Henry, Jack, & Ron & myself all together. There’s a wash basin in the room & a bath room next door, which is good. The food isn’t bad either, it is a rush for meals now that we are on [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] lectures. There isn’t much to do in town but go to the cinema I have been six nights running, but there’s nothing else available. One thing about coming in at night the lights are switched off at 10.30 PM by a master control, so we always creep in, in the dark, stumbling over things. Rumours of leave here are as prevalent here as at any other posting centre, but after a while we discredit them all.
[page break]
[underlined] Wednesday April 21st [/underlined]
Norman, Harry & myself are still here, but Ron & Jack are at Whitley Bay now, getting that cave man complex on the North Sea now. The went off in the traditional RAF style full webbing etc, & kidding us about our getting posted up there when they had nearly finished. Us not to be outdone assuring them, that there was an AFU posting on the way & they were merely clearing the dim ones out. I wouldn’t mind betting we’re “joes” though & get sent up there shortly. In the meantime we are just continuing with lectures, we have had one period of wet dinghy drill. We went in the swimming baths, belonging to a school, now occupied by the Civil Service. Being as the changing accommodation in the boxes is inadequate a lot of fellows changed on the spectators seats at the far end. There are a lot of full length windows, & as the boys changed & stood there in the altogether, quite a lot of the female Civil Servants opposite found a sudden lack of interest in their work. We have to don full flying kit and Mae Wests, & as a crew jump in & swim to the dinghy & climb in. It wasn’t so bad in the water, but when one went to climb into the dinghy, their weight
[page break]
soaked, with water, became apparent, & it really was a struggle to get aboard.
I have been with Norman to visit his Aunt & Uncle living here. His Uncle is in the Civil Service & took us to their club they have on the Ground Floor of a Hotel. Its a nice place with refreshment bar, dance hall, games & card rooms, we went to a nice dance there the other day. It is so nice to meet someone like that, because Harrogate is a hell of a place if one knows nobody. Being as it is crammed full of aircrew & soldiers, every place of entertainment is bound to be packed. There is nowhere to go but the cinemas really cos the dances are pretty dear. Most probably with the idea of keeping the services away, because the citizens really resent the troops being here, & hate the war being forced on them. It really is a “Forget the War”, town. The solitary Y.M.C.A. & a couple of small Forces Canteens do sterling service, but are overwhelmed & can’t cater for all their customers This leaves the troops at the mercy of the money grabbing café owners. The Copper Kettle being one, 2 small sausages & a few chips being 3/6’, out of an ordinary soldiers 2/6 a day its not even funny. Yes this town certainly wants re-organising & a few of the rackets squashed.
[page break]
[underlined] Tuesday 27th April [/underlined].
We are on the point of recommencing our flying in England we have arrived at our Advanced Flying Unit, at Bobbington near Stourbridge. So we did steal a march on Ron & Jack after all, I bet they are annoyed about it, but still most probably they will be posted soon. They called us all out together all our little clique, & when they said Bobbington we jumped for joy as most of us are Southerners and didn’t fancy going up North again. There was quite a dash around & quite a bit of bull with kit inspections & parades, clothing parades, & Heaven knows what else. Bags of waiting around & queuing as usual, arguing and scrambling for different things. At last all was done & our kit was left downstairs in the lobby ready to go next morning. We went out in the town to have a last night celebration, I am a bit sorry now that I have left there, as it was pretty good there, and I had some decent times with Norman’s Uncle & Aunt. Still there it is the training system doesn’t worry about individuals, & it is the only way I guess. Anyway after that last night we staggered in rather merry & noisy stumbling through the pitch black corridors of the hotel.
[page break]
Up the next morning bright and early, early anyway I dunno so much about the bright. With bull to the last we had to parade in full webbing and march to the station. We got fixed up on the train O.K. & commenced our first stage of the journey to Leeds. It was crazy weather, raining like anything, when we arrived at Leeds we were going to have a stroll around but the weather deterred us. The train to Birmingham was crowded & although we had a carriage reserved, bags of civilians crowded in & as there were elderly women & women with babies, we gave them the seats, but boy! was it a squash. At Birmingham we darted around unloading the kit & dashing over to another platform to catch the Wolverhampton train. We were beginning to look like porters after lumping the kit around all the time. The train had to wait a few minutes until we had loaded everything, the guard was a bit peeved but there was nothing he could do. Off we bowled and then found we had left Norman behind, nothing could be done then so on we went. At Wolverhampton there was a lorry waiting so we loaded it all on & climbed on the kit. We were rather shaken by the distance we were from the town through miles of country lanes until we finally arrived here.
They say that first impressions are often misleading, & I hope so, because our first impressions of this place is that it is a bloody awful station. We are in a damp Nissen hut with a concrete floor, that clouds of white dust rise from on the slightest stir of anything. Being ‘pupils’ as we are termed we aren’t allowed to eat in the sergeants mess, they say it isn’t large enough. We may go into there for letter writing etc. after 5.30 P.M Our meals are in the airmen’s mess, and we queue up amongst all the a.c’s and it is no exaggeration that we get less food than them. I have experienced it many a time the WAAF has given the fellow in front a ladle full, & had one ready for the next chap. Then looking up & seeing they are aircrew they tip half of it back. The mess is terrible and so is the food. All this we have found out in our few hours of being here, tomorrow we start the course. Our ablutions is a place not finished, no bowls or mirrors, just a line of taps containing freezing cold water – grim isn’t the word for it. By all accounts aircrew are disliked on this station by all & sundry from the Groupy downwards, we meet him tomorrow. – Norman has just rolled in he followed on the next train, had quite a shock when he found we had gone.
[page break]
[underlined] Sunday May 2nd. [/underlined]
We have been here long enough to dislike the place entirely, & the sooner we leave here the better for all of us. On our first day we met the W/O in charge of the school, Alves his name is, & we didn’t take much of a liking to him. He gave us quite a few warnings with a long list of “Donts”, [sic] & impressed upon us how the “Groupy” disliked aircrew and was always ready to catch them out, then he marched us off to see the big noise himself. All the time he was marching us along in threes he was binding “Stop that talking”, and “Swing those arms”, just like the old I.T.W. back again, it gets a bit cheesing at this stage. We had the ‘welcome’ address in the station cinema a rather bare place that is still undergoing completion. The Groupy bore out all the stories we had heard about him, a rather mean faced individual. During the talk he broke off three times to tear a strip off a poor M.T. driver who had the misfortune to be starting his lorry & drowning the old man’s voice, what a type. Quite a lot of his talk was devoted to the subject of WAAF’s we weren’t to go around with them or associate to any given extent, & if he caught anyone near the WAAF site it would be too bad. Anyone would think it was a convent here, still from what I’ve seen of the WAAFs here, I can’t see anyone wanting to associate with them.
[page break]
Our day is quite a long one here, we rise & have our icy wash then dash over to the airmen’s mess to queue for our “breakfast”. Back to the hut to dash around making up our beds & sweeping the floors, then on parade at the unearthly hour of 7.45 A.M. Even at I.T.W. we went on parade at 8 A.M. nowhere have I seen it as early as this, a quarter of an hour doesn’t sound very much, but one can pack an awful lot into it in the morning. Lectures are from 8 AM. to 10.15 then a quarter of an hours break, lectures from 1.30 to 5 P.M. a half hour for tea, then back for an hours lecture 5.30 to 6.30. The latter is the worst of all I think, we have to dash from the classroom to the mess, which takes about 6 mins, queue for our meal, bolt it down then dash back to the classroom, all in half an hour, we’ll all be suffering from indigestion before long. Unless the instructor taking us is willing to let us off a little early then we are unable to catch the 6.30 p.m. bus into Stourbridge.
Each day we have an hours P.T. & there is a mad F.O. for the P.T. officer, at least we call him mad, he is one of these very keen types he used to be a champion swimmer before the war. The first
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time we went over the assault course, it was pretty gruelling. Twice round a half a mile track then into a veritable maze of climbing over walls, crawling under wire, balancing along poles ten feet high. One part was swinging along on a single rope across a pond until we were able to wrap our legs around a tree & pull ourselves in. The P.T. instructor a Cpl that was showing us got about three quarters of the way across to the point where the rope sagged the most & there he fell in. He had his long blue P.T. trousers on too, boy! did we laugh, needless to say he didn’t join in. Twice we have been on hellish long cross country the P.T. officer being bang on at running cracks along at a hell of a pace. Then he binds us because we dont [sic] do so well & shoots the bull about being fit for flying etc. We bind him back, & tell him to have a crack at aircrew it is quite a scream. The trouble is we generally arrive back at about 12.45 & have to wash & dress & dash for dinner in three quarters of an hour, so invariably we arrive back late for classes.
The NAAFI here is a pretty good one, we have our break there, they have a good selection of cakes. In classes we are doing all the old familiar Bombing Theory over again, & using the Bombing Teacher. We do our flying on Ansons, seems we are never free from them, I’m really cheesed of winding that undercart up & down.
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Yesterday, May Day, was our day off, not because the RAF favoured the Labour Party, but it just happened that way. After quite a bit of wangling they finally granted us the priviledge [sic] of getting off an hour earlier [inserted] Friday [/inserted] There was a bus running at 5.30 P.M. & we went into town on that & there caught a bus to Birmingham, we were able to book beds at the Services Club that night. Jimmy Selkirk, Harry & I went out on the beer as Norman had gone by train to Oxford as his fiancé was there spending her leave. We eventually found a pretty low dive & finished the night there. The next day we wandered around for awhile, then went to a cinema, & travelled back on the 9 P.M. bus to catch the 10.30 P.M. from Stourbridge to the camp.
The other day we had our flight photograph taken, we all agreed to look cheesed in it, to register our disappointment of this place, & it came out pretty well. We have been to the station cinema here, they charge us 1/- it isn’t too bad, if only they didn’t have rows of old seats on the same level. Because if one is sitting a fair way back it is impossible to see over all the heads on the same level as yourself. I wonder if we will get leave after this place, I hope so, there are the usual rumours floating around, first we will then we wont, [sic] I guess we wont [sic] know till it arrives.
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[underlined] Sunday 7th May. [/underlined]
I should say roughly half our time has passed here, as most chaps remain here a [deleted] fortnight [/deleted] [inserted] month [/inserted] anyway roll on the next fortnight, & lets get to hell out of here. It is a fairly hum drum existence with the lectures & so forth. On Monday we had a pleasant diversion in the form of wet dinghy drill, in Stourbridge baths, I rather like it as we are able to swim about afterwards – Turning the large bomber dinghy over when one is in the water with full flying kit, will be some job in the North Sea, I reckon. It isn’t too bad in the baths, but then there is no rough sea or wind to contend with.
The F/Sgt in charge of us is a pretty good guy, pretty quiet, & got quite a bit of service in, he is thoroughly cheesed with the station. Beside the famous old Theory of Bombing lectures he takes us on the Bombing Teacher. We were up there the other day & looking from the open window, when old Alves went dashing past. Tom Alan commented “Old Alves is on the warpath”, boy! he must have had keen ears because he called us down & bound us rigid. For the Gunnery lectures there is an F/O A.G with a V.F.M. he is a Welsh chap, shoots a fair amount of lines, but is really a good type, his lectures make a welcome break. For the aircraft rec. there is a nattering little sgt A.G. who absolutely cheeses everybody, nobody likes him. The other chap a tall F/Sgt is a good egg though, livens up the epidiascope slides with an occasional nude woman.
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The map reading periods are O.K. too. the F/O who takes us did his tour out in Abyssinia, I believe it was on Valentine or some obsolete kites. Thinking of it, it must have been a pretty easy tour, but he is a good chap, a Flt/Lt D.F.M. who is also there, shoots bags of lines, but they are worth listening to & at this stage, we are ready to lap up all lines. A chap who ‘nattered’ to us the other day about ‘ops’ in the Middle East, said at the beginning of the campaign, the crack Italian liner Rex was in the harbour at Tobruk. They were briefed to attack & did so, but they were made to bomb with 25 lb H.E. naturally they were like pin pricks, & that night she whipped up steam & was away. An Air Commodore was slung out of the RAF for that. We went out on a lorry the other day for practical map reading, & drove around the lanes, stopped & had to find where we were & make tactical sketches. About three times we did this, & then had to change into our P.T. kit, that we had brought, leap out of the lorry & run the 3 miles back to camp. It rather reminded me of the hunt with the hounds leaping from the van & tearing down the road. We have been on Groupie’s parade, & he certainly is down on aircrew, the parade was a real bully one, bags of shouting & everything. He whizzed through the permanent staff without saying much, & when he came to us, he went really slow & bound practically everyone rigid, & the W.O. almost wore his pencil out, taking names.
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Yesterday was our day off again & once more we spent it in Birmingham. We were unable to get in at the Services Club & had to go to a large house converted into a hostel, it was pretty good. This week saw the commencing of our Flying here, I made three flights all day bombing exercises. The first one was Wednesday, & came off alright, there is a village fairly near the range & that made me twitter. It is a bit more awkward to bomb from the kite than from the Canadian Anson, because there is no perspex panel in the nose. Also the sliding panel is metal, not perspex, this necessitated having it always open, causing quite a draught. On Friday Harry Jamieson & I did two more flights with an ex-operational pilot F/O Ryan. It was pretty grim because he hadn’t the technique of the steady bombing runs, like the regular B.G pilots. The kite would be bouncing around necessitating us giving corrections & sometimes we would be nowhere near the target so we had to call ‘Dummy Run’. He would scream & bind & curse like the clappers, & said “It’s a bloody good job you’re not over a target”. That kind of stuff never gets anybody places though, & only leads to a bad exercise. We do a few of these Day Bombing trips, maybe some Night bombing, & then some Night Combined exercises. These are only cross countries but they give them the high sounding titles. We’re beginning to get really cheesed with all this training, no wonder chaps get stale, & lose all their interest & enthusiasm.
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[underlined] Friday 14th May. [/underlined]
Life still flows in its uninteresting way, we have done some map reading trips. We go on a small cross country of 3 legs, with the pilot & 3 B.A’s each who map reads one leg of the trip. They are O.K. if you get a decent pilot, who puts the Forces programme on the intercom, & is fairly tolerant with the map reading. I was up with ‘Taffy’ Evans & Norman Griffin the other day & we had a binder! Poor old Taffy chopped in the mire, by losing himself completely. The pilot was one of those tricky individuals who would fly the aircraft so a village was directly under the nose, & out of sight, & then ask you suddenly where it was. We coped anyway.
I had a good laugh the other day, whilst standing by in the flight hut for a day bombing exercise. There were a couple of chaps from the previous course there, also detailed for a bombing exercise. Like us all they weren’t very keen on it, but the antics of one of them kept me in fits. He was small with dark wavy hair, & a perfect cherub face, chubby rosy cheeks etc. looking about 17. Every few minutes he would pop to the door & gaze at the sky. Any cloud, no matter however small, was greeted with a beaming smile & the exclamation “Wizard” drawing out the last syllable, as it meant there was a faint hope of the exercise being cancelled.
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Whilst every time the sun burst forth he would scowl & slump disconsolately back in his chair, resigning himself to Fate. In the end they took off & so did we.
The lectures are still as binding & unvarying. Yesterday our “Chiefy” was taking us on Bombing Theory & although he is a good chap, he is a real lousy lecturer. Bombing Theory being one of the driest subjects in itself he succeeded in putting half the class to sleep in a quarter of an hour. Then a Sqdn/Ldr Education Officer from Group slipped into the room, & after listening for 10 mins, took over the lecture. For the next half hour, it even became quite interesting, & some points were cleared up, which I for one had been doubtful over for a long time.
So far rumours that we will not get leave at the end of the course have gained strength, I hope they turn out false. When the last few days arrive W/O Alves gives the Senior Man a list of the O.T.U’s to which we are to be posted & then the course is left to sort them out amongst themselves, I hope we get some decent ones.
Norman has had an old cycle of his sent up, it is quite handy for getting around on, and half the course use it. It might be a good idea to get one if I land on one of there really dispersed drones I hear about. I played a game of football earlier & am just beginning to feel the effects, so I’ll have supper at the NAAFI & turn in.
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[underlined] Thursday May 20th. [/underlined]
We had our day off on Tuesday, & a crowd of us caught the bus outside the camp into Wolverhampton. The morning was spent looking around the town & then after dinner in a nice little café we found a decent park & spent the afternoon. After tea in the Forces Canteen above Surton’s we got down to a steady pub crawl. I have never seen a place like it, for so many girls of 16 – 17 in the pubs. Old Pete Rawlings had quite an amusing encounter with one, but this is not the place to disclose it. Anyway after closing time, four of us wandered around in a happy stupor till we sobered up a little & realised we had better look around for means to return to camp. We finally phoned a taxi who took us right into the camp, & off we bowled to bed.
As far as the flying part goes we are on the last stages, that of day and night cross countries. I don’t know which one the greater bind the latter gets it by a narrow margin, I think. It will be a relief to get to O.T.U. & go on a really organised X country. So far I have been on two day trips & five ‘scrubs’, it is an inoffensive word – ‘scrub’, but conceals a lot. When we are due for a day X country we hand our names into the Guard Room & then at 5.30 or 6 AM an S.P. rudely awakens
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us, to tear off for early briefing, breakfast & take off at 8.30 A.M. – there are afternoon X countries but I haven’t had the luck to get on one yet. It is binding to get up, see the rain, & knowing in advance it will be scrubbed, tramp 10 mins through the rain to the briefing room, & wait until they inform you officially it is cancelled. Now we are getting wise & only two going up, one with Norman’s bike to nip back & arouse the others if by chance, flying is on.
On a night cross country, our main function is winding the undercart. Actually we are supposed to do some infra red bombing, but no-one has been known to see the target, the pilot hates stooging around, & the navigator is chomping to set course. Consequently we sit & shiver in the darkness, maybe once in a while giving a beacon position to the Navigator, or taking over the controls while the pilot dives to the back. We had a little excitement on one trip when the weather was closing in over the airfield when we returned, but we got in O.K. The only good thing about it is we sleep the next day, & it breaks the monotony. A kite crashed the other day killing the occupants, they weren’t on our course. The S.S.Q. backs onto our billets though & the blood wagon was outside with the bodies in while they were getting things ready inside. It was a fairly sobering thought, but I guess we shall see more of it, the closer we get to ‘ops’.
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[underlined] 25th May. [/underlined]
Once more a change of address, I am now at my O.T.U. at Hixon, Staffs, having arrived here today. Most of us came here, some went to Whitehead & four to Lossiemouth. ‘Taffy’ Evans has gone to Whitehead & ‘Buntie’ Rogers, Norman, Jimmy, Harry, & most of our clique are still together. Naturally the Lossiemouth posting wasn’t wanted, there being no Scots on the course, so it was drawn for, I thanked the Lord my name didn’t come out of the hat.
Anyway the usual clearance procedure was got through & we were driven by lorry into Wolverhampton this morning. There was a couple of hours to kill before the train & we spent them in town. Although the distance from Bobbington to Hixon isn’t so great as the crow flies it took us a few hours by train with the changing. Transport came out after we phoned from Stafford station, & I was surprised to find the airfield was 8 miles, out from the town, at least – somebody had told me it was nearer than that.
We are all in the same hut, they are not Nissan huts, but kind of asbestos boarding & wood, on concrete bases, much better & larger than the Nissan hut. Each collection of huts is called a site & given a number, the site with the mess etc. is called Command Site, these sites are dispersed over a wide area, & are a considerable distance from the airfield. Apparently a cycle is a very handy thing, Pete Rawlings has one now.
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A course arrives here every fortnight, & we are No 17 course. After nearly a fortnight of ground training terminating with exams, we commence flying, by this time we have ‘crewed-up’ of course. This is the stage where we crowd of Air Bombers will finally split up, because inevitably after each of us joins a crew we shall go about with them, I shall be sorry, because we have been together a long while, but this breaking up of friendships happens again & again in the RAF as ours is an odd course number (17) we move to the satellite airfield, Seighford, when we have completed our ground training & finish our O.T.U. there. It is situated the other side of Stafford & is more dispersed than this, but there is a lot less discipline, as chaps say who have been there.
As usual on arrival at a new place, we have been pumping all the fellows that we can find on the various aspects of the course, & every conceivable thing attached to it. We haven’t collected much ‘gen’ yet though, beyond the fact that we parade outside the mess, after breakfast tomorrow, with the rest of training wing personnel, & then the S.W.O. will march us to the Training Wing for roll call. Apparently this is an everyday procedure & is fairly strictly adhered to. I have written off the letters to home & Mary as usual on arriving at a new station, with the address & what gen is available, & now I’ll close this entry and get into bed I think, then tomorrow I’ll start one of my last stages towards a squadron.
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[underlined] June 1st. [/underlined]
Things have changed somewhat since I last wrote. I have just returned from a compassionate 48 hr pass, which I went on when I received some very bad news from home. The C.G.I. said that I would have to revert back a course, so I am staying here on 17 course, whilst the boys on 17 go over to Seighford. We would have broken up anyway so maybe it is just as well this way. They finish their ground training this week and then my course commences the following week.
This O.T.U. course lasts approximately 3 months, after the fortnights ground training, it is all flying training with an occasional lecture slipped in. Half of the time, (the first half of the 3 months) is day flying, & the other or second half night flying. The exercises are similar in each case, we commence circuits & bumps with an instructor, then after our pilot has flown solo with us as a crew, we complete our circuits & bumps without the instructor. Then day bombing with a ‘screened’ or instructor pilot & a ‘screened’ Air Bomber after the first exercise, we do the rest alone, there are quite a few of them too. The same procedure is followed for gunnery & fighter affiliation, although most of the actual firing exercises are done with four gunners & a ‘screened’ gunner in one aircraft. Then we do a cross country with a ‘screen’, & afterwards another couple by ourselves, each longer in duration.
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The same procedure is followed for night flying, as far as is practical. Then at the end of the course comes the pièce de resistance – a leaflet [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] or “nickel” raid on France. I hope we are able to do one, as sometimes the weather prevents it & crews do a “bullseye” instead. This is an exercise over England, combining Fighter Command & the ground defences, except ack ack naturally. It isn’t that I am all that keen to see what the other side of the Channel is like, but I think it affords quite good practise, before going to a squadron and the real thing.
From what I have seen of the actual station here it isn’t too bad. The mess is about 8 minutes walk from our site, & the food is pretty good, (a lot better than Bobbington anyway) it is laid out fairly well too, & the waitresses serve us sitting down. The ante room & billiards rooms are quite large, & the station cinema, isn’t too bad, they are improving the latter I believe. Getting in & out of Stafford is rather a snag, there is a liberty bus from the Guard Room of an evening, but we are required to book seats the previous day by dinner-time, & as we rarely know that far ahead if we are going in, it is generally by taxi that we arrive there. At the moment I am acting as runner in the Discip Office until the next course commences, I wonder what sort of chaps they will be. Pete Rawlins has crewed up with the pilot that I originally had, he seemed a decent chap.
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[underlined] 8th June. [/underlined]
Well, I have been on the course nearly two days now. There wasn’t much for me to do last week stooging around in the Discip. Office, so I was given a 48 hr pass over the weekend. So I said goodbye to all the boys as they moved over to Seighford during the week end, though I shall see Norman a couple of times in Stafford if we can arrange it. I was lucky travelling into Stafford, I had just come out of the Guard Room with my pass, when an MT Corporal said “Going into Stafford, Sarge?”. So in I travelled in style, lolling back in the Groupie’s car, the driver was going to meet the Groupie at the station.
When I returned yesterday I had expected to find the billet empty, but I had switched my things to the corner bed, just on the off chance, somebody might roll in. They certainly had – a whole room of Canadians, pilots, navigators, and Air Bombers. On the whole they seem a pretty decent crowd, pretty noisy, but full of life and really generous & anxious to be friendly, I like Canadians quite a lot, anyway. I had to smile, because as soon as they found I had been on the previous course, they kept asking me all sorts of ‘gen’ about the course, in exactly the same manner as I had done a fortnight earlier. It was precious little I could give them. Then today we started the ground work, it was exactly the same as my first few lectures on the last course, they follow a strict pattern here.
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[underlined] June 13th. [/underlined]
I have arrived at a stage which will play a most important part in my immediate future – I am crewed up. In a bomber a man’s life is wholly in the hands of his crew members, and the closer they are together, and the better they are as a team, then the more chance of survival they have. I [deleted] a [/deleted] had always understood that considerably rare, and quite an amount of time was allotted at O.T.U’s for the purpose of selecting crews. Hixon has proved the fallacy of it, everyone starts the course separately as a course of pilots, & course of navigators or Air bombers – W/Ops etc. They remain in their classes for the first lot of lectures and hardly have any chance of meeting the various other categories of air crew, the only chance being in the mess or the billet. Suddenly like a bolt from the blue it is announced that everyone must be crewed up in two days or else they will be allocated by the instructors into a crew. A mad flap then starts, people go wandering about, staring into each others faces, vainly trying to sum up whether a person will be an asset to crew up with – or otherwise. Having experienced this on the previous course, I thought it best to let matters take their own course.
Friday night, I was sitting in the mess, after writing a few letters, having a quiet drink & waiting for the sandwiches to arrive for supper. At the next table to me, were two Canadian
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pilots from my billet, McCann who slept next to me & Cecil Kindt who slept opposite McCann. They had been drinking for a while and were both pretty mellow, as Kindt went out to get some more drinks he [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] leant over me and said, “Mac said would you join him at the next table”, so I moved over to where McCann was sitting.
We chatted for a couple of minutes, then he asked if [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] I was crewed up with anyone. When I replied in the negative, he said “Well how would you like to sling in with me, and be my bomb-aimer?” I rather liked him, and so I had found a pilot. Cecil Kindt returned with the beer and we had a drink to it. Well, I think I had better put on record my impressions of Mac, as he is always called, & the other crew members. Len McCann, though I’ve never heard anyone call him Len, is only about 5’ 4”, and almost as broad. He said he has lost a lot of weight over here, & that he weighed 220 lbs in Canada, so he must have been tubby. For his weight & size though he isn’t so very fat, he has some superfluous flesh but is extraordinarily thickset under it. The amusing part of him is his neck which is very short & seems almost as thick as his shoulders are wide, actually he takes an 18 1/2" collar. The other fellows often call him for no reason at all, just to watch him turn around.
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He cannot swivel his neck as we do, but has to lift his shoulder & turn as one would with a stiff neck, yet the action is not a slow one; he takes all the kidding in very good part. In features he strikes me as very similar to the comedian Lou Costello, having the same cheery round face & turned up nose. He had his hair cropped right short in Canada & now stands up in a mass of wiry black bristles. With a short bristly moustache this completed my description of Mac, with whom I shall be for long time – I trust.
I asked Mac if he had a Navigator, & when he said he had one in mind, I told him of another one, who seemed quite a ‘gen’ chap to me. He was a Canadian & Mac knew him & told me he was a real farmer, & that he always ‘nattered’ nineteen to the dozen, so we didn’t ask him. On my advice Mac tackled the navigator he had in mind, just in case somebody else should snap him up. Nobody had, and he became our navigator.
His name is Ken Price, also a Canadian, and I cannot give a better description than say he is the exact image of Gary Cooper. It may seem as though I am rather a film fan, but the resemblance is remarkable. He is tall & lean, very quiet and reserved, and seems a thoroughly decent chap all round. By all accounts, from what the other navigators say he is a darned
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good man at his job.
Then this afternoon Mac introduced me to the wireless/op. he had chosen. Bill Bowery is his name, and he is English coming from Sunderland. He seems quite a keen type and knows his gen, his broad “Geordie” accent tickles us, but it is nowhere near as broad as Jimmy Selkirk’s was, or others I have heard. In appearance, he is about 5’ 8” well set, with straight auburn hair, brushed down, he seems to have an expression as though puzzling or enquiring over something, & that may be a good thing. Anyway there are four of us now, we shall get a rear gunner in a day or so, & the five of us do O.T.U. together.
Mid/Upper Gunners do their Gunnery School somewhere and then join us at the end of the course, generally in time for the “Nickel”. As we are flying Wimpeys there is no accomodation [sic] for them, & it would be a waste of time their coming here all through the course. Also in Fighter-Evasion Tactics the Rear Gunner gives all the instructions, as the co-operation between the pilot & him is the result of their training at O.T.U. The remaining member of the crew, the Flight Engineer we will pick up at our Heavy Conversion Unit, and then we will be a full crew of seven. I hope the other three members will be as good as these, & we should have a rattling good crew.
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[underlined] Thursday 17th June. [/underlined]
On Monday we found ourselves a rear gunner. Mac had noticed a chap who looked pretty keen, but I had heard him ‘nattering’ away and didn’t go much on him. I had another one in mind, fairly similar in appearance to the above mentioned one, and pointed him out to Mac, so he told me to go ahead and contact him.
Nobody has asked him to crew up, and he agreed to pitch in with us. He is a pretty decent kid, he is only 18, I know I’m only 19 myself but he looks very young and he is only about 5’ 5” and slimly built. He is a Londoner and comes from fairly near me, the most important thing, he seems to know his ‘gen’ on gunnery pretty thoroughly. His name is Johnny Watson.
So there we are the five of us, who will do O.T.U. together as a crew and pick up the other two afterwards. Somehow I can’t help wondering sometimes what lies in store for us, and the ability of a crew counts for such a lot in emergencies. Still ours looks pretty good to me, even though it does seem rather early to say it.
At the moment we are completing our ground lectures, and then tomorrow we start our exams. They aren’t actually long ones, or terribly important, although if one makes a pretty poor showing they are liable to be put back a course. The only subject
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I am hazy on is gun turrets, I had hardly any instruction on them at B. & G. School, then here a couple of hours were devoted to it. As it happened I was at the back of a crowded class room, and the diagram being on the wall, well I just couldn’t see a thing.
We have had some lectures together as a crew although for the majority of them we remain in our aircrew categories. There is an old Wellington Mk I in the Airmanship Hangar, & is sitting on supports, so that undercart drill can be carried out. We scramble all over it, learning the positions of various things, petrol cocks, escape hatches, crash positions, oxygen bottles, dinghy releases, & a 101 other things necessary to learn in an aircraft. A couple of times we have scrambled out of it, on dinghy or baling out drill – hope I never have to use either. The Wimpey is a real battered old thing, but it was used for the “1,000 bomber” raid on Cologne. Apparently to make up a 1,000 aircraft they called on all the old kites at O.T.U’s & anything that could get airborne was used. If the public had only known some of the old kites that were used they would have had a shock.
The airmanship instructor, Sgt Peacock, did a tour on Lancs as a mid/upper gunner and saw quite a bit of action apparently. One would think he would at least get a crown at the end of the tour, but his is well overdue.
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[underlined] 21st June [/underlined]
‘Midsummer’s Day’ – it certainly has been glorious weather too, I’m afraid the long daylight evenings mean later day flying for us and consequently less evenings off. We officially started our Flying Course today, though our crew weren’t on today, we commence our circuits and bumps tomorrow.
The results of the exams were posted up today. I had done well in everything but Turrets, on which I made a horrible ‘boob’ – it was as I expected Macgillvray the Canadian pilot opposite me in the billet was cursing because his Bomb Aimer, another Canadian named Dodson, had come bottom in the B/Aimer course. Apparently Dodson is a bit of a woman chaser, & didn’t bother staying in to do any swotting for the exam. Macgillvray was giving forth “He wants to get down to some studying instead of getting on the nest so much”, and so forth. The most amusing part is that Macgillvray is one of the biggest wolves I’ve known. He has a stock of Tangee lipsticks & cosmetics, with a few silk stockings which he uses as bait for the women, - he says. I have never known him to part with anything in the fortnight he has been here & he has been with a couple of women. It is dead funny to hear Mac slang him about them, as Mac has very little time for women. He isn’t a misogynist but he just doesn’t bother. Anyway most of his remarks although screamingly funny are quite unprintable.
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We are all in ‘A’ Flight, a whole course comprises a Flight which goes round in strict rotation, as the courses commence Day or Night Flying. Our Flight Commander Sqdn/Ldr. Ford seems quite O.K. he gave us a welcoming natter, and was very much to the point regarding keeping the crew room tidy, punctuality etc. still he is quite right in stressing these points. This afternoon I squeezed in an hour’s practise on the Bombing Teacher. There is a system here where the various aircrew categories each have to put in so many hours practise on exercises relating to their own particular aircrew duties Bomb Aimers have to do 20 hours in the Bombing Teacher, 10 hours on the Link Trainer, and 6 hours operating a secret navigational instrument. Navigators have to spend quite a few more hours on this instrument than we do, and also take a certain number of astro-shots. W/Ops have to get [deleted] [indecipherable word] a stated number of Q.D.M’s fixes etc. & Gunners get so many hours, spotting turret training, and other exercises, I haven’t found out what the pilots do yet. All the exercises which are carried out on the ground, that is practically everyone’s except the W/Ops have to be fitted into our spare time. That is when we are hanging around the crew room & not flying, then we can nip across & tick off an hour in the Bombing Teacher or the Link. During the rest of the course, although we are flying most of the time, we still have some lectures, as crews on matters of general interest & importance.
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[underlined] 27th June [/underlined]
Sunday again – although it is very similar to all the other days of the week, here. We have a Church Parade, first thing, all the pupils fall in at Training Wing and then march to the airfield, along the perimeter track, to a temporary parade ground outside a hangar, its about 1 1/2 miles from Training Wing. Anyway all the station is on parade there, & we take our place, the Groupie then rolls up for the flag hoisting, inspection and so forth. The flag is flown on a double line & pully attached to the extension of the hangar roof, where the door slides back into. Today the S.P. that was doing the flag hoisting pulled the flag up O.K. then when he gave a pull to unfurl it at the top nothing happened. He pulled & pulled & still no joy, the poor devil got very red in the face as the Groupie was waiting to give the order “General Salute”. However there was nothing else for it, & shamefacedly he hauled it down, & not daring to risk it again, pulled it up already unfurled. After the salute we had to march off in squadrons to another hangar where the pulpit was an RAF lorry covered with the Union Jack and a piano, for hymn singing on. When this was over we were marched off dismissed, and then everything carried on as in a normal day. On all stations when flying is done there is no break for Sundays as they had in the peace time RAF, funny how one almost loses track of the days that way.
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Although we are still on the circuits and bumps stage we are about at the end of it, and will soon be onto some more interesting exercises. All of the crew except the Navigator fly on circuits & landings, & he is lucky not to, it gets pretty binding after the first hour or so. When we first started a ‘screened’ pilot flew with ‘Mac’ giving him the ‘gen’ and everything, and after a little while let him go solo. We were a little apprehensive, in case the short time given, wasn’t enough to let Mac become acquainted with the new cockpit layout. However everything went O.K. and then we continued on our own with circuits & bumps. It hardly seems as though we are off the ground before we are getting ready for the approach & landing. Some of the landings we bump up & down quite a few times & Mac [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] refers to these as the “Grasshopper Blues”. I sit in the collapsible seat, for the second pilot, & it is O.K. seeing everything that goes on, but I wouldn’t like to be in the W/Ops position, feeling the bumps & jarrings, without seeing what was what. For some of our circuits we go over to Seighford and do them there. Actually if we could fly continually we could do them all in a couple of days. However in order to make the aircraft go round, & keep all the crews at the same stage in training, we are allotted the same length of detail. Sometimes a crew does get ahead of the others by luckily striking good weather every time, & never scrubbing an exercise through snags.
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[underlined] July 4th. [/underlined]
American Independence Day – I expect all the Americans around here are making whoopee. There are always a lot in Stafford, they come from the large transit camp at Stone, a small town 6 – 7 miles from here. All American aircrew, I believe, entering or leaving the country pass through there.
We are making steady progress on the course, we have managed to get three bombing exercises done, we are a bit ahead in that respect but behind in Fighter Application & a couple of other things. As I said before it is a matter of luck sometimes the kites are U/S & that puts us behind on that type of exercise for a while, it pretty well evens up at the end though. On the first bombing exercise we went up with a ‘screened’ pilot & a ‘screened’ bomb aimer. Mac had never made bombing runs before, it is only pilots that have been instructors, & staff pilots at B & G schools who have that experience. The ‘screened’ pilot was there to instruct Mac on how to make the corrections of course, that I asked for, & various other little points. There wasn’t very much need for the ‘screened’ bomb aimer, as bombing is very similar on whatever aircraft one flys in. The main point, he was there to point out, was in the method of giving corrections of course. In Ansons the pilots could flat turn them, thus the sighting angle was practically round when you gave “steady”, and a good pilot could hold it practically as it was. However a Wellington has to have banked turns, consequently if the bomb
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aimer waits till the target is in the drift wires of the bomb sight & then gives “Steady” – the pilot flattens out and the target is then way off to one side, so it requires some practise to estimate when to say “Steady” thus making the target come into the drift wires when the pilot flattens out.
Poor old Mac has a hell of a time on run ups, he is so small that he can just see out of the windscreen. He watches the target whilst making his run up, & then when I give a correction, he slides down in his seat to kick the rudder bars, & his head is below the windscreen level, so then he has to pull himself up again to look out. He told us he is actually just under the height standard for a pilot but flannelled his medical.
We did a low level bombing exercise yesterday, & once more took up the two ‘screens’. My first bomb overshot by about 300 yds, & so did the next, I checked every setting on the bombsight, & all were correct, so I called the ‘screened’ bomb aimer & told him, & he could find nothing wrong. So I tried the third one & that was 300 yds overshoot again, then I realised I was taking a line of sight with the back & fore sights as for high level, whereas for low level bombing the back sight, & front beads are used. I told the screen & he told me to carry on & they would make the exercise a grouping one. That is by maths they discount the different sighting & work out where the bombs would have landed, using the front beads. The exercise came out to 47 yards so it ended O.K.
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[underlined] 10th July [/underlined]
The time is slipping past and we are well on the way to finishing our day flying. We had rather an amusing incident the other day, amusing that is to everyone but Mac. He always taxies rather swiftly & as we were passing the control tower, we reached the part where the perimeter track, dips a little. Consequently we gathered speed and started to swing, instead of throttling back & braking, Mac decided to open up the opposite throttle to swing us back. However he over-corrected and we swung back across the perimeter track & onto the grass the other side, in the direction of the runway. Again Mac opened the opposite throttle, and again over-corrected, & we crossed the perry-track once more & raced towards a hangar. Mac clamped on the brakes for all he was worth but it wasn’t enough, the hangar doors were fully open, & we struck the edge of them with our port main plane & sent them thundering across. It must have shaken the people inside to see the hangar doors suddenly move swiftly. From our point of view it was quite amusing, one moment there was hardly a soul [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] in sight, then with the same effect as if someone had kicked an ant-hill, people came pouring out from the hangar, & clustered around the kite. The pièce de resistance was the fact that we had cut clean through the ropes that held the Groupie’s flag & this was now drooped nonchalantly over our astro-dome. – Groupy took a dim view of it. Poor Mac sweated blood, but he only got a strip torn off, but the kite had a mains-plane changed.
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[underlined] 17th July [/underlined]
We had an enjoyable night in Stafford this week, as usual we got set into a regular pub crawl. Old Mac is all against this, he likes to get settled in at one pub and stay there all night drinking steadily. His words of wisdom are “Jeeze, you’re wasting valuable drinking time, going round looking for other pubs, - sit here”. I have never seen anyone drink so much, and affect them so little, it is amusing. He can knock back the pints and I have never seen him, what you might call drunk, merry yes, but inebriated – never. His personality is amazing everyone everywhere gets to know him, & all like him, he will sit and ‘natter’ with people for hours, and tell the most amusing stories of his life in Ottawa, and recount anecdotes of his numerous friends. He certainly is a tonic to have around. While we were in Stafford we saw the Gunnery Leader, he is an Aussie Flt/Lt, and a real lad when he is sober. Now he was out on the beer, evidently, & was strolling down the High St, with his hat on the back of his head, a dingy old battle dress on, & swinging, a gent’s black umbrella, rolled up (where he got [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] it from I dont know). On his other arm was a real brassy blonde – he certainly doesn’t give a damn.
All our bombing exercises are finished and two of our three cross country trips, I have one more gunnery trip to do, and so has ‘Nipper’, thats [sic] what we call Johnny now. I rather like the Air Firing trips which are carried out in Cardigan Bay, then
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they generally fly to Rhyl, & fly at about 30 – 50 ft just a little way out from the shore. There are always lots of holiday makers there. Cecil Kindt had a strip torn off the other day, through an Air Firing accident. They were sent out over the Wash to fire so many rounds into the sea, this in itself is pretty boring and the gunners always look round for some sort of a target. His rear gunner spotted some sort of an old hulk and fired at it on a couple of runs. Apparently it was a wreck & their [sic] were a couple of divers, & salvage men working on it, & one leapt into the water, because of the bullets. God knows how the rear gunner didn’t see them, anyway they got the kite’s letter, phoned to the shore, & by the time Cecil landed the pressure had been put on Sqdn/Ldr Ford as he gave it to Kindt hot & strong.
Macgillvray has been providing laughs all round with his amorous adventures. Not so very long ago he met a nurse in Nottingham, a very nice girl by all accounts, a widow, anyway it wasn’t long before Macgillvray was staying at her flat. However he couldn’t get to Nottingham very much so he began associating with a WAAF Sgt here on the camp. One thing about him he admits openly what he is after, anyway she wasn’t that type, but after a little while with Macgillvray she was. Now she is crazy over him, & runs about after him, whilst he is very off handed. At the same time he meets an A.T.S. girl, on leave who lives in a house, a couple of hundred yards from our billet. It didn’t take him very long to string her along
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as well, so there he is with three strings to his bow at the same time – no wonder he looks a wreck. The amusing incident arose the other night when the WAAF Sgt saw him coming out of a corn field with this blonde A.T.S. She was furious & drinking with him the next night she said “Don’t let me see you with that – tart again,” which for her is a very strong word. Jokingly one night she said she was the “Three-hook Wonder”, hook meaning Stripes, Macgillvray, & Mac, who also knows her well, immediately changed it to the “Three-Hook Blunder,” & later cut it down to “The Blunder,” & so it has remained – poor girl.
They are a pretty decent bunch of fellows in this hut, we have had a little reshuffle in order to get crews together. Some of the original Canucks are in other huts, whilst Johnny, & Bill are now in here so we have all our crew. Macgillvray has his Navigator – Lance Weir, & his Bomb Aimer Dodson, both Canadians in here. Weir is a really decent chap, very quiet spoken, some of the boys kid him & call him “Toody-Fruit,” because he has a habit of rubbing talcum powder over his body. Frankie Allen, pilot, Yelland, navigator, & Tom Hughes – bomb aimer, all Canucks form another crew. Hughes is very decent, I have only one pair of pyjamas & when that was at the laundry he saw me dive into bed in the altogether, & asked the reason. When I [deleted] said [/deleted] [inserted] told [/inserted] him he tossed me a Canadian Comforts pair & said “Keep it, I’ve got five other pairs”, it was good of him. Their rear gunner Rose, an English chap is here, a small comical fellow, they call him John L. after the boxer Sullivan, because he wears long pants like him. Cecil Kindt, with Sam Small, navigator, and Macdonald, b/aimer, all Canadians, complete the hut.
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[underlined] 22nd July [/underlined]
We are now the senior course here, and have now moved on to become the ‘night-flying’ flight, tonight we expect to start our night circuits & bumps, some of the chaps commenced last night. They hoped to squeeze us a 48 hr pass in between the end of day flying & the start of night, but we were a little behind as a course through unavoidable incidents, so we had had it! I am sorry the day cross country trips are over, as I really enjoyed them, we generally flew to Rhyl, and I camera-bombed the pier. Then drill was done as if we were on an ‘op’ & that was our coast we were leaving. We then flew across to the Isle of Man which separated the enemy coast, & I would camera-bomb the quay at Ramsey. With a brilliant sun, & flying in our shirt sleeves everything looked lovely. The sea was a sparkling blue and invariably there would be a huge convoy spread about, a never failing source of interest to us. However we had been warned to keep well clear of them, as the naval gunners were very trigger itchy, and one of our crews had been fired on by an aircraft carrier. We would fly across the Isle of Man, head North, then turn in at the English coast once more, & return to Cannock Chase for a bombing exercise of 12 practise bombs on the range, & then return to base. The rations were pretty good, we always saved our tin of orange juice to drink on a morning after the night before it was very good, I suppose we will get the same on night X-countries.
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On the first one we had a ‘screened’ pilot, then the next one did by ourselves, the third & largest, we carried a full bomb load of 250 lb H.E’s filled with sand, except one which was live. This I had to bomb on a sea range with and photograph the splash. We had a ‘screened’ bomb-aimer/navigator on this one, an F/O pretty decent chap. [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] [inserted] He [/inserted] asked Mac if he would let him do some tight turns over his home in Aberystwyth as we were passing over it. Mac agreed but quickly retrieved the controls when he saw we were almost stalling.
For night flying we report to the flight just after 6 P.M. to see what is on, naturally it is broad daylight then. Then if we are not on till late we can go to the Station Cinema, as we did last night. It is the usual effort, it is in the lecture hall, when we first came the cinematograph was mounted on a large table, so if one sat well back, the noise of the machine drownded [sic] the sound track. Now they have built a brick projection box, and have provided a wooden platform for the dearer seats – with the usual front two rows reserved – Officers Only.
Looking back at my last entry, I see I have forgotten to mention ‘Pinky’ Tomlin. He is a Canadian Bomb Aimer, but his pilot, & navigator are commissioned, & his W/Op & R/Gunner are in another hut so he is ‘one alone’. He is pretty tubby & really loves food, he bought himself an electric [deleted] plate [/deleted] [inserted] heater [/inserted] to use as a grill, & cooks things from the numerous parcels he receives from home. He was a scout master back in Canada – not a bad chap, rather hail-fellow-well met.
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[underlined] July 30th. [/underlined]
Night circuits and bumps are almost completed for us – Thank God! – they really are binding. We follow exactly the same procedure as with our day flying, first of all with an instructor, then Mac solo’ed and we carried on by ourselves. The first couple of times were O.K. but then it grew monotonous staring out into the blackness, with just the circuit lights to relieve the unbroken darkness. I suppose an artist gazing at them would murmur “Pearls cast upon a black velvet background”, but to us they mean “Keep me under your port wing, and fly at [symbol] 1,000 ft.” The Dren lighting takes some getting used to, the flarepath lights are only 15 watt bulbs and are hooded and secured to give a 15o vertical, and 40o horizontal spread of light, only in a down wind direction. Consequently one can only see them, immediately facing into them, as soon as we have taken off we can no longer see them. It was funny when Bill first saw this, he is generally working on the radio, then he looked out of the astro-dome for the first time on night take off, and called on the A/T “Hey! they’ve switched off the flare path now we are airborne”. Johnny has the worst job, sitting right at the end of the kite, cramped in his turret, and feeling all the crashes and jars of landing far more than us. Every now & again, I go lurching along the catwalk with coffee for him. Bill was quite eager to sit in the cockpit, so I change places with him sometimes & listen to dance music on the radio.
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We get more time off now than we did on night flying, our day off now becomes a night off. So we have the day off after night flying, then that night off & the following day until 6 P.M. Should night flying be scrubbed the night before, then one can make two nights and two days out of it, providing one hasn’t put in a pass. On a couple of days off we have been into Birmingham and stayed at the Services Club. At least we did the first time, the second time they were full up, so we had to doze in arm chairs & so forth. Mac took me into the American Red Cross, I didn’t think we could go in there, but it was O.K. The food in there is very good indeed, I believe it is sent over from the States. I took Johnny in there on our second visit and he thought it was an excellent place, they are certainly superior to our Services Clubs.
There is another instructor in the Bombing Section now, a Sgt Bomb Aimer, just finished his tour of ‘ops’, Sgt Mason his name is, quite a decent fellow. He gave us a ‘natter’ on what life was like on a squadron at the moment. It certainly cleared up a few points and provided a shock. According to him it is a pretty odds on chance that a crew will get the chop before finishing a tour. On his squadron only about 4 crews finished, as far as he could recollect all the time that he was there. It certainly isn’t a rosy future anyway, still there’s always the chance we will be one of them to come through.
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[underlined] 5th August [/underlined]
We have only about a fortnight left before we finish here, one crew became well advanced so they were sent over to Seighford onto 17 course the previous one to ours. At the moment we are on Night bombing exercises, and somehow we always seem to be ‘joed’ for the very last detail. Consequently we hang about all night waiting to take off, and finally get the exercise in between 6 & 7 A.M. when it is beginning to get light. Then we arrive back in the hut to find all the others are up and have been for hours – they nicknamed us “The Dawn Patrol”.
Our first prang on this course occurred the other night. There have been some major prangs on other courses while we have been here, and a few minor ones [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] on our course, this was our first major one though. We were circling the airfield waiting to land, when we saw a kite overshoot, prang and burst into flames, not far off the end of the runway, we couldn’t see much detail at all. So we continued to circle and await instructions, then all lights were extinguished and we were ordered to land at Seighford. Over we went and lobbed in then with three others crews, and naturally were wondering what had happened.
We had a meal in the mess, & then as there was nobody around to fix us up with beds, we had to doze on chairs in the mess. After breakfast, which was quite early,
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we decided to sleep on in the ante-room, as Hixon was going to phone when we were to return. However the C.M.C. had locked the ante-room, & said it was always out of bounds in the morning, and would make no exception for us – nice type. So we had to sit on the grass outside the mess for a couple of hours.
I met Derek Ashton over there, they will be finished in a day or so, & so would I if I had still been on that course. I couldn’t have had a better crew than what I have now, though. Ashton said they liked Seighford better than Hixon as there was no ‘bull’ there and it was a lot easier to get into Stafford. The only snag is, it is far more dispersed than Hixon is.
We didn’t get back to Hixon before 1 P.M. as we were held up for brake pressure. It turned out to be Carr’s crew who had pranged. They were making a flapless landing with an instructor, owing to trouble with the flaps. The instructor was flying it, and he approached too fast, overshot didn’t make it, and crashed on the railway lines, when the kite immediately caught fire. Luckily they were all unhurt except Sgt Mann, the ‘screened’ bomb aimer, he was burnt slightly on the face, and has been admitted to hospital for a short while. It seems Fate that he should get through a tour unscathed and then have this happen at O.T.U.
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[underlined] 12th August [/underlined]
Only a week to go, and then most probably we shall fly over enemy territory for the first time – on a ‘nickel’, I hope we do one anyway. The course is split practically in half with the first half slightly ahead of the others – we are in the latter. I said goodbye to Norman and the boys on 17 course, when they came over here, they have to get cleared here as well as at Seighford. Pete Rawlings was chatting to me about his skipper, he was the one I would have had on 17 course. He said he was a damn good pilot, but he would ‘natter’ such a lot on the inter-com. – I should have hated that.
We certainly get good meals on night flying, they have opened, a place especially for us near the cinema. It is a pukka little cook house, with a Cpl & two WAAFs, just for our flight. The Cpl is a good type & we get steaks & eggs for our flying meals, it is bang on. Although we are not supposed to officially, we go there for supper, if there is no flying detail for us that particular night. There is a real craze for cards now, & Hughes, Mac, Bill, Johnny & myself & various others, often play Blackjack & Pontoon, of a night if we aren’t on. We start in the evening & play till the small hours & then stagger down to see what Flying supper is. The Canadians are fond of playing “Shoot”, & have a school regularly in the locker room.
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If night flying is scrubbed for everyone, most of the boys turn in at 11 P.M. or so, in order to have the next day free. However Mac & a couple of others hate getting to bed at that time, preferring to turn in late, & sleep the following day, as if night flying was on. They generally get Pinky Tomlins, electric heater out, & cook things out of their Canadian food parcels. Mac is really amusing when he gets nattering about “Chicken soup with noodles”, & “weeners” & various other Canadian foods. Naturally they kick up a fair amount of noise, and the boys trying to sleep shout out uncomplimentary remarks to Mac, as he is generally telling an anecdote or a story about back home. Then he immediately bellows back “- this is a night flying hut, get out of that bed, you lazy so & so”. The amusing part is the following day, when they are all up & about, & Mac is trying to sleep through the noise. He will sit up & shout “Quiet, let a guy get some sleep”, & they laugh & generally Hughes will give him a shake & say “Come on McCann this is a night flying hut”, & various cracks until Mac aims a boot. They are a good bunch of boys though.
Another good thing about this night flying is that we don’t bother about the C.O’s billet inspection every week. We just put a notice on the door “Night Flying Hut – Do Not Disturb”, & funnily enough nobody does.
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[underlined] 19th August. [/underlined]
Our O.T.U. Course has now ended, the perk was last night when we did a “Nickel” to Rennes. The first lot of our course left a few days ago, they had to do a ‘bullseye’ exercise to finish as there were no “nickels” laid on. They got 10 days leave, & posted to Lindholme to go on Lancasters, that is where we will go, everyone goes onto Lancs from this O.T.U. We had another cross country to do, the usual long stooge right up to the Orkneys, with airfire and bombing at Caernarvon – what a farce.
Yesterday we were told that all the remaining crews would finish with a ‘Nickel’ that night, & we have to take up the kite we would be flying in and Air-Test it. The tail trim proved to be U/S on ours & another was put on, with another crew air testing it. At evening time we assembled in the intelligence room for briefing, it was a pukka briefing, like they have on a squadron, with the Sqdn/Ldr Intelligence Officer taking it. Then the C.O. & a couple of other officers said a few words, & briefing was over, they even had an S.P. on duty outside the door. We put all our personal belongings in an envelope with our name on it, collected our escape kits & foreign money, then off to the locker room to dress.
Half of the crews were going to St. Malo, and the rest of us to Rennes, we were flying the same track & course to Isigny at the base of the Cherbourg peninsula, & then to Avranches our next pin point, where we would continue our various ways. Soon we were all dressed, then into the crew bus & out to the kites.
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They were lined up together, & as R/T isn’t allowed on any ‘ops’ take-offs, a yellow verey was to be fixed from control for the signal to start up engines, then a green verey, when it was time for the first kite to start taxying out. The photographic vans drove out with the camera magazines, & the LAC, rather a gigolo type, who handed up mine, uttered the famous words “Wish I was coming with you”. Suddenly up went the yellow cartridge & the ground crews leapt into action, and the roar of engines shattered the summer’s evening. Johnny then called up to say none of the lights would work in his turret, & the spare fuses had no effect. This caused quite a flap, ‘bods’ went dashing everywhere, & both an armourer & a fitter came dashing along when it was a job for an electrician. During this time the green verey went up & the first kite taxied out, Macgillvray was next, on our right and he waved to us, as they went out, we were still waiting there as the kites on our left followed Macgillvray out, & soon we were sitting there alone. The Groupy came whizzing over in his car to see what the electrician was doing, but at that time one came along with the fuses that had to be changed inside the fuselage. So everything O.K. at last, we taxied out by ourselves, the others all having taken off. All the officers were on the control tower and they waved as we went past, then onto the runway, a green from the A.C.P. and off we went. The others were circling base to gain height, & there was 10 mins to go before setting course, so we were O.K. for time. We set course with them, & made up our height by the first turning point.
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It was quite dusk as we crossed the coast near Southampton, & it was quite dark when Ken said “We’re getting near the enemy coast”. I strained my eyes to peer through the darkness, & after a little while made out the long narrow neck of land, that I had memorised so well as the Cherbourg peninsula. Then I saw my first flak, the sudden whitish flashes on the ground, & after a brief while, the flashes (like twinkling lights but not so harmless). I felt a sense of false confidence, as it seemed remote from us, but the truth was there wasn’t very much flak, and nobody would have worried much. I told them we were starboard of track, & we altered course & soon crossed the enemy coast. Johnny said there was quite a bit more flak going up at the chaps behind us.
I pinpointed the river at Avranches, & after a while we came to the dropping place, it was 15 miles S.E of Rennes owing to the wind. We had to follow the bombing procedure, & drop them by a distributor in order to space them out. A sudden shout from Johnny caused a flap, & as he said “There’s thousands of them floating everywhere,” I cursed him as I wanted to give the order “Close Bomb Doors”. Eventually we shut him up and returned to base. It was an uneventful return journey, & we landed tired but happy (admittedly mainly because we were going on leave). Carr got quite a bit of flak over St. Malo.
We slept in this morning for a while & then got going on our clearance chits. Mac has met the Mid/Upper who has joined our crew, but the rest of us haven’t seen him yet. Tomorrow morning we will complete our clearance chits, then off on 10 days leave, before going to a Con Unit. So goodbye to Hixon.
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[underlined] 29th August. [/underlined]
Since I last wrote various changes have taken place. On the morning of the 20th, the day we [deleted] went [/deleted] left Hixon, we reported at the Adjutant’s office for our warrants & passes. He came out very apologetically & said a last minute change of posting had occurred, we were to go on Stirlings & report to a Con. Unit at Woolfox Lodge, after [underlined] 6 [/underlined] days leave. Losing four days leave didn’t seem too good to us, also we had heard pretty duff reports of Stirlings on ‘ops’. Still off we went – the orderly room had told us the Con Unit was near Cambridge & the warrants were made out to there.
I caught the evening train back, but when I went to the Cambridge R.T.O. they said Hixon Orderly Room had boobed, & Woolfox Lodge was near Stamford. As there were no more trains that night, I had to spend the night in the Nissen hut there, rather grim. In the morning I met Johnny & Pinky Tomlin, & we travelled to Stamford, we had to change at Peterborough and there met some more of the boys. At Stamford we phoned for transport, but it was a few hours before it arrived and we had [deleted] dinner [/deleted] lunch in the George Hotel. Mac & some of the others arrived here yesterday and are in the hut near to ours, and today we have been tramping around with our arrival chits, but as the course commences for us tomorrow we won’t bother to finish them. This course has already been on a couple of days, they were as unprepared for us, as we were for coming here.
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[underlined] [deleted] August [/deleted] [inserted] September [/inserted] 5th. [/underlined]
First, I had better bring my crew up to date, as we have a full crew now. Don Keeley the Mid-Upper Gunner, who joined us as we left Hixon is tall & very dark, his face has been sunburnt so much it leaves one with the impression almost of an Indian, he is quiet a good looking chap & seems very decent. Our engineer was allotted to us by the Engineering Leader, and is a Welshman, Jack Barker. He is about 5 ft 5” with a cheerful face, & crisp wavy hair, we haven’t had a lot to do with him yet, as quite naturally he still goes around with the engineers who came with him as a course, from St. Athens, I think I can safely say that we have got a very good crew, though.
This station is far more dispersed than Hixon was. It is cut in half by the Great North Road, to the East of the road is the airfield itself, whilst to the West are the living & communal sites. Our billet is a quarter of an hours walk to the mess, then from the mess it is a 20 min walk, to the other side of the airfield where training-wing is. There are no ablutions on the sites, and washing kit is stolen if it is left in the ablutions by the mess, so we wash from an old rain water tub at the back of the hut.
We have a ground course of a week to 10 days here, comparable to that at O.T.U. only bringing newer work into it. At last I have met the MK. XIV Gyro Bombright, the one I shall actually use on ‘ops’ – it certainly is a bag of tricks. In a day or so we will have our exams, & then commence our flying on Stirlings.
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[underlined] 14th [deleted] August [/deleted] [inserted] September [/inserted]. [/underlined]
The exams are over, everyone passed O.K. and we are now underway with our Flying Conversion. For the engineers, this is when they fly for the first time, as they pass out from there [sic] training school, and come straight here to be crewed up, without ever having flown before. It seems pretty hard on them, to have only a few hours air experience before they arrive at a squadron and go on ‘ops’.
Stirlings are the largest 4 engined bomber there is, and the cockpit is certainly a height from the ground. They have a long undercart, & it is quite a common prang, to see an undercart wiped off, as the aircraft have a tendency to swing & if one brakes severely & swerves, the undercart is quite likely to go. I have to fly as second pilot in there, and attend to boost, revs, flaps & undercart, it takes both of us to get the kite off the deck & they take a hell of a long run.
For a lot of our circuits and bumps we flew over to a Yankee airfield, they had Fortresses. We used to fly there for 2 hours or so & then return. Before Mac had soloed, he was taking off there, & the kite swung viciously & shot across the grass straight towards a Fort. There were some mechanics working on it, and they looked up to see a Stirling thundering at them, without pause they leapt off the wing, fell over picked their selves up & dashed off. If it hadn’t been dicey, it would have seemed ludicrous, however, the screened pilot took a hand, pulled at the controls, & we took off right over the Fort. Mac soloed O.K. a little later, & now we are on X-countries.
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[underlined] 22nd [deleted] August [/deleted] [inserted] September [/inserted] [/underlined]
Our Con. Unit is nearly over, & we shall soon be on an operational squadron, different instructors speak in glowing terms of their old squadrons, & advise us to try & get posted there so we don’t know where we are. At the moment we are commencing our night X country period, this is a tricky airfield to taxi on at night.
Macgillvray has been going out with a WAAF M.T. driver here, & at last it seems like the real thing he is talking seriously of marriage. When he left Hixon, “The Blunder”, went into Stafford with him to stay the night, & then spins a 48 hr pass with him at the Strand Palace. Macgillvray was half & half about telling her to go, however when he arrived here he wrote, & told her he didn’t want to see her again. She wrote back & said as soon as she got a pass she was coming to have it out with him. Then a letter arrived yesterday saying she would arrive in the evening, & would he meet her in town. Macgillvray religiously stayed in camp all evening, & every now & again the phone would ring for him, it was her, phoning from Stamford, & it was really funny to see him keep telling chaps he wasn’t in. Suddenly, the boys came in with the news, she had come out on the 10.30 P.M. bus, & fixed up with the WAAF Officer to stay the night. Macgillvray was off to his billet like a shot. [deleted] Next [/deleted] [inserted] This [/inserted] morning, the Blunder, was in the dining hall, early, & waiting behind the servery, when Macgillvray came in, she dashed out, & told him exactly what she thought of him, in a loud voice. Everyone listened interestedly, & the cooks even ceased serving in order to hear clearly, Mac went deadly white, & after a while walked out, with the Blunder behind. Anyway that was exit to the Blunder. We’ve certainly had some laughs here.
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[underlined] Wednesday [deleted] August [/deleted] [inserted] September [/inserted] 29th. [/underlined]
At last the time has arrived, and what a time I have had to wait for it, 2 1/4 years ago I volunteered for aircrew, & right up till now I have been training for the real job, & we have arrived at last on a squadron. It is a new squadron just forming, No 623, and we are stationed at Downham Market with No 218 squadron. We left Woolfox about 8 AM. on Monday, and caught the 9.15 AM. to Peterborough, where we arrived about 10.15 AM. Deciding to spend the day we trooped out and started off with a large meal in the Silver Grill, a very satisfying start. During the afternoon we looked over the Cathedral, and afterwards went to the cinema to see Tyrone Power in “Crash Drive”, pretty good. Another large meal at the Silver Grill then off on the 6.46 PM. to Downham Market. Naturally the trains were late and we reached Downham Station around 10 PM. & phoned for transport. When it arrived we threw the kit on, we were getting rather cheesed with it by now, after lumping it on & off different trains, and out we went.
It was rather a grim reception, they told us we couldn’t have a meal, & then we found out there was no accommodation for us. So we drove round in the dark in a lorry and they found room for us in ones & twos with the erks, it was pretty grim organisation.
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They locked our kit up in a hut, my overcoat & groundsheet amongst them, so of course it poured of rain during the night & the next morning. Being as the station is all clay like most of the Fen country, it was one helluva mess. Like all Bomber Stations it is horribly dispersed, & we tramped around miserably in the wet, with our arrival chits. The mess was large and new, & very bare, & the food just happened to be pretty grim, so I’m afraid we took a rather poor view of the station, things look a little better now though.
There is a rigged up cinema & I believe they have occasional shows there, but there isn’t a lot of entertainment available. The town [deleted] of [/deleted] or village of Downham is only 15 mins walk from the mess, but there isn’t much life in there. They have one rather ancient cinema with old films & a dance hall, that is always over crowded & 21 pubs, the latter is over shadowed by Stamford’s 63. I don’t think we will be going in there very much. There were three crews arrived from Woolfox together, Pete, Macgillvray & ourselves, Carr is travelling down too today, as he hadn’t finished his flying at Woolfox. We are binding for leave as most crews get it on arrival but our efforts haven’t been successful so far. Our first two ‘ops’ here are mining trips & the pilot was a second “dickey” (pilot) trip, before we start we have to do a bullseye though.
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[underlined] Monday 4th October. [/underlined]
Things are looking quiet a bit better now, the mess seems comfortable, & the food really is good. Up till Saturday we didn’t do much, mainly hung around & had a few lectures, & got our kit into the parachute section. This is a new idea, they have a large room, with lockers, & hang our kit up properly, to dry etc, also testing it each time, then when we want something we go & ask for it & they bring it out. If they have found any stuff U/S they tell us what it is so we can change it, it’s a good scheme. The essentials such as chute, harness, helmet, boots, & ‘K’ type dinghy, are laid out already when the crew is on ‘ops’. No waiting or anything its quite a good scheme. We drew our electrical kit & our new flying boots, from stores, there [sic] boots are the new type with leather boots as bottoms, they have a knife in the side to cut the upper off, should we land in enemy territory, & thus leave a fine pair of walking boots.
On Saturday our bullseye arrived and we were briefed in the afternoon for a 7.50 PM take off. We got away a few minutes late but with no mishap & climbed over the drome then set course for Bedford, this was the starting gate of the bullseye. About 15 mins after we left there, we were coned by about 20 beams & passed on to other cones. We were diving all around the sky but we were
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held pretty well for around 10 – 15 minutes, before we got out. At Portsmouth we were held for around 2 minutes, & again at Beachy Head, then we headed for the target – London. We came in over Croydon & Lewisham to run up to our target, Westminster Bridge. There were about four cones in action with about 30 beams in each, and they all had a kite in, jerking like mad. Whilst they were occupied we were able to slip in smoothly on our bombing run without interference. The searchlights blinded me a bit though and I was unable to get a good line of sight on the bridge, but took the photographs. The black out of London was pretty grim, there were bags of lights about, & the docks were clearly lit up along the river & so were the main railway stations. I don’t think I would fancy an attack on London though, the defences seem pretty hot. After London we went to Bedford again where the bullseye finished, so we had no engagements with fighters. From here to base then up to Goole and back on another I.R. stooge. It was pretty nippy & poor Johnny & Don in the turrets were frozen stiff. There were hardly any fighter interceptions I guess the fighter boys didn’t feel like playing. Anyway back to the bacon & egg, the usual natter with the other crews on various points & then off to bed, for a nice lengthy sleep.
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When we got up at dinner time yesterday it was to be told that we were operating that night – mine laying, it rather shook us. Briefing was at 4 PM. & we learned we were going off the Frisian Is. (a fairly short trip) & taking 6 x 1500 mines. Back to the mess in the bus for the operational meal, then over to the billet, where like old men we clamber into our long flying underwear. Even though it is all pure rayon lined it makes me itch, just not used to long legs & sleeves I guess after jockey shorts & singlet. Our next move is back down to the dressing room in the parachute section, where we collect our kit. We never put the stuff on otherwise we would sweat moving around & then it would freeze when we got up & defeat the clothing. Out to the kite in the bus then, dump the kit on the grass & everyone climbs in for their last minute check of their equipment. Whoever D.I’d the first turret did a poor job, because the reflector sight was left on & the guns weren’t loaded, so I got cracking on those & tested the tuner, then climbed down for my initial bombing check. The engines were run up, tested, then shut down again & we climbed out for a smoke and sign our various forms. The Wing Comdr & Sqdn Ldr drove out to give last minute tips & see if there were any snags, then we all climbed aboard again, fully dressed now, all hatches closed, & taxied out.
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The first aircraft was due off at 7.35 and took off dead on time, we were third, got the green from the ACP opened up & away we went. They are a bit of a job to get off with a heavy load & we didn’t miss the trees by much but we made it. We set course for Cromer, where we were leaving the coast, at 1500 ft, we were staying at that height so Jerry couldn’t pick us up, then climbing to 5,000 ft at the last moment to avoid any flak ships. Everything went fine, poor old Ken was sick again, he certainly has guts to keep flying and navigating when he is often queer. We had to climb quickly at the mining area, & the revs wouldn’t increase for the minute, consequently we nearly stalled. At 1500 ft with that bomb load we would [deleted] dive [/deleted] have dived straight into the waves, it was touch & go for a minute but worked out. The mines were dropped, one [deleted] f [/deleted] could feel them drop, & back we went. When we got back to Cromer there were lots of searchlights & they picked us up, but shut off when we flicked our nav lights on & off. They suddenly coned a single engine kite so we watched it like hawks just in case, there have been a lot of intruders around this area. There was a large fire about 50 miles off the port bow, enemy activity maybe. We landed O.K. though were interrogated & off to the mess, when the siren went so we had just dodged it, still we were safe then. A bang on supper then off to bed for another good rest.
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[underlined] Thursday 7th October.. [/underlined]
Life is proceeding along fairly smooth lines, and we are pretty well settled in. The other night when we did our mining trip, the main force went to Kassel. Clarc Carr went with another pilot to get his second ‘dicky’ trip in. The pilot he went with had 23 trips in & was on the point of completing his tour, but they never returned. Poor old Clarc, he was one of the best chaps I have met, he never got in a temper with anyone, yet he was pretty tough, it’s a shame that such fellows have to go. It really shakes us when fellows we have been with for a long while get the chop, brings it home the hard way. They have sent his crew home on 3 days leave, I don’t know what they are doing after that, whether they are returning to ‘Con’ Unit to pick up a new skipper, or stay here as ‘spares’, the former would be better I should think.
Speaking of spares they grabbed Don, our mid upper to go in somebody else’s crew on Monday for the raid on Frankfurt, as their m/u.g had gone sick. It was rather a nerve I thought both asking a crew to fly with a chap they didn’t know, & worse for the gunner to fly with a strange crew. They did the same thing to Smith, Macgillvrays rear gunner, if they keep this thing up they will
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soon be doing away with the crews & just have a pool that they draw on, I always thought that if somebody was sick in a crew the whole lot was declared U/S. there is a word they have when referring to men they call them ‘bodies’ or ‘bods’, & how right it is, you are just merely a figure on paper. Every morning the big noise walks into the flight office & asks the flight commander “How many crews have you, fully operational?”, and then demands those that aren’t be made so in as short a time as possible. That is all they are interested in, is, how many crews have they available for an ‘op’, regardless of how much flying you’ve done, just recently some of the chaps have been on the main force 3 out of 4 nights. Anyway all kites returned from Frankfurt O.K. and Dan gave us a vivid description, it was very interesting but I guess we will be seeing all we want of it very shortly.
Tuesday night we were on ‘stand down’, but Wednesday we were briefed for a long mining trip to La Rochelle, right down near the Spanish border. There was a hell of a front expected at base around 6.30 so they were rushing us off at 5.50 & come back to meet the front over the Channel & battle through it. There was severe icing from 7 – 15,000 so we had to try & climb above it, not an easy job in a Stirling, the extent was possibly
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right up to the London area as well. The briefing & everything was terribly rushed & we tore around in a mad flap to get everything done, and we were all dressed & on the point of going out to the kite when they scrubbed it, what a life, tonight we were in it again but it was scrubbed once more.
Last night I decided I would see what Downham was like so I ambled in with the boys & was I cheesed. I had seen the [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] film on at the little cinema, so all there was to do was sit in a smokey pub, & swill lousy beer. At last the smoke made my eyes ache so much I came home. Macgillvray was on a short mining trip last night, & a Picture Post reporter was going along. They sent down 4 camera & news men, & took photographs of them having an operational meal & were going to take bags more in the kite, but it was scrubbed, what bad luck, a chance like that only comes once in a life time. The traditional RAF bull was in evidence, for the photograph they had a spotless table-cloth, cream crackers on the table, & a Cpl WAAF waiting on them. Actually we queue up for our meals & a long one at times & eat of [sic] bare dirty tables, & the only biscuits we see are hard dog ones. – We did our first day flying, here, today, took two kites up on air tests, we were doing a loaded climb but that was scrubbed, at least we know what the drome looks like in daylight now.
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[underlined] Sunday October 10th. [/underlined]
We look like having our first leave in a few days we are officially due to go at 0700 hrs on Thursday 14th, until the following Tuesday midnight. The chaps generally get away on the Wednesday, & if they are very lucky & they aren’t on ops on Tuesday they get away Tuesday afternoon which is pretty good. I only hope we are that lucky, Mac has to do a second dicky & if he gets that in tomorrow night we may be on ops the following night (Tuesday) & mess things up a bit. Should it be scrubbed tomorrow, Mac will go Tuesday & we can go Tuesday afternoon, I am afraid we are unscrupulous enough to hope that the weather is lousy tomorrow night. He has got his Flight through at last, & is now ‘Chiefy’ McCann, it is well overdue, but the Canadians get back pay on crowns, one of the numerous ways they are better than the RAF, so he has about £16 back pay to come. The comical part is that after all this waiting & binding now it has appeared in P.O.R’s the stores have no crowns so he is unable to wear it – poor Mac.
Friday night we went on our long mining trip, off Bordeaux in the estuary of the Gironde. We took 4 1,500 mines a fair weight, our all up weight was 69,784 lbs. The briefing was at 6.0 P.M. it shook us but they were having a late take off because the room was nearly full & they were waiting for it to die down as the German fighters have an easy time in the bright moonlight. The bus took
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[inserted] [newspaper cutting showing a WAAF with a mine] [/inserted] [duplicate page]
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us back [missing words] as our operation [missing words] wasn’t until 8.45 we had bags of time to fill in. Lots of Forts went over then & we watched them the next day we learned they had been to Bremen. We had our egg & at 10.25 the transport took us back, we didn’t have to struggle with our kit as we had taken it out in the afternoon. The run up & testing commenced, then shut down while we donned our kit & start up once more. We took off bang on time & 5 mins later set course. Old Petch who was the only other one beside us going swung on take off & hit his undercart against some iron rails for fog lighting & they wouldn’t let him take off, consequently we were the only ones from this station that went.
It was practically 10/10ths cloud down to the coast, it cleared there & I was able to get a wizard pin point on Selsey Bill, our crossing point. The moon was like a searchlight & we felt all naked illuminated up there, it set quite a bit after they told us it did, because there was the time of setting as seen by a ground observer, whereas we were at 12,000 ft. The cloud built up more & more over the Channel until it was 10/10ths again on the French Coast and we were unable to pin point. It remained like that most of the way, the least it was, was 7/10ths, approaching the target area it began
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to clear & I got down into the bombing hatch ready. I was determined to get my night vision up to scratch because if we couldn’t pin point we had to bring the mines back. The green indicator target on the VCP was glaring on my vision panel like a searchlight so I piled my long cushion over it. Then I wanted to see my target map so hopped to switch on the light for a brief second, next the cushion fell down & the light glared again, I dove back at that. I was hopping around like a rubber ball, & sweating lest I should miss the coast & be unable to pin point. Suddenly I saw it, it was pretty dark, I could make it out clearly though, then we passed out to sea over the first island & swung out to rear to clear the island defences. Then altering course we swung in for the mainland once more, I was straining my neck, thats [sic] the worst of the Stirling bomb aimers window, the Lancs have a beauty. After a bit I made it out we were heading up the Gironde estuary, so we made a left hand turn & came bang on the corner of the estuary, which was our pin point. Setting course on a D.R run we dropped the eg O.K. & set course home. Just after we left the flak began to open up on the islands & one searchlight probed around, but they weren’t near us.
Stooging along happily with thoughts of home & bed we were shaken by a show of
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flak suddenly thrown up. We had got a little port of track & were too near Nantes, they had some accurate heavy flak down there, because of the Fort raids on the U Boat Bases. Anyway they were too accurate for our liking the first burst exploded with quite a crash underneath us & burned the kite a bit. We did some hectic weaving & finally got clear, it was a sticky moment though that predicted stuff is deadly they reckon to get you on the first burst. Nothing happened on the way back beyond sighting another Stirling, the cloud thickened over England, & when we reached base they diverted us to Tangmere, although we could have got in. So we had to fly back all the way we had come down to the South Coast. Arriving there after 6 hrs 40 mins flying we found 11 other Stirlings there. We had a meal, & the guy told us you can sleep as long as you like they gave us good accommodation, boy! we needed sleep. Hardly had we laid our heads down when they dragged us out saying we had to return right away. Then we had to wait 3 hours before we were re-fuelled & away. Two squadrons of Typhoons scrambled while we were there, straight off down wind a lovely night. Flying back to base I could hardly keep my eyes open we had had no sleep for nearly 36 hours. We certainly slept well on return. Today there hasn’t been anything doing because of the lousy weather. Jack Spackly & Ron Winnitt have arrived here, they were with me from Manchester & all through Canada, I was glad to see them arrive here, they are in 623.
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[underlined] Sunday October 24th [/underlined]
It is a fortnight since I last made an entry but I have been on leave during that time, & following my maxim of never letting work interfere with pleasure I made no entries in here. I had a fine leave, Mary was able to get the time off & that made it just right we saw a couple of shows, popped around to a few friends & had a wizard time. There was one disappointment overshadowing it though, Ken didn’t come on leave with us, it all began a little while before - . A fair number of times through his earlier training, so he tells me, and during the time we were with him at O.T.U. and on Conversion Unit, he was sick during trips. He tried hard, by doing everything he knew to overcome it, but unsuccessfully. Then on our first mining trip to the Frisians he was sick at the target area & we had to rush to drop them & there was a fair flap resulting as I have previously mentioned in the kite nearly stalling in. Poor Ken, he reckons he is to blame but I don’t think he has anything to worry about, out of the lot I think he did his job the best & the smartest. He was sick a lot on the long mining as well so he reported sick a couple of days afterwards to see what the M.O. could do.
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He was given some Anti-Air Sickness capsules, & tried them without effect, so the M.O. grounded him for a little while. Then they took Ken’s case up a little more & the Wing Comdr said he would have an interview with him. This was the position on the day we were going on leave Tuesday 12th, Mac also hadn’t done his second dicky trip. So Ken was hanging around all morning waiting for the Wing Co to say he would see him, & we were worried in case he wouldn’t catch the 3.51 London train with us. We left him waiting at the camp & told him to whizz down on his bike if there was a chance of catching the train, if not, to follow us down on the later train. On the road we got a lift to the railway station in an army lorry & had a cup of tea in the café next door. Waiting on the platform later, the [deleted] [indecipherable letters] [/deleted] train was almost due in, when Ken came dashing up. Everyone was overjoyed because we thought he had just made it, but he told us the Wing Comdr. had cancelled his leave and he had to remain behind to get 15 hrs Fighter Affiliation in, to see how often he was sick & then go before a Medical Board. My God! as if anyone wouldn’t feel lousy after 15 hrs. Fighter Affil. Also with the weather as it had been, a stinking yellow fog, there didn’t
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appear to be much chance of flying. It was a hell of a twist all the way round, and poor Ken was on the receiving end. There was nothing to be done, however, so off we had to go without him. I felt pretty rotten though seeing him standing there watching us go on leave, & having to ride back & spend a week by himself.
As I said previously I had a fine time, the days flew swiftly as they always do, & the last day arrived. I had arranged with Johnny to meet at 5.30 in Liverpool St to catch the 5.40 P.M. However he arrived up from Bristol early & came over to my place, so we travelled up together, & met Jack on the station. The train was very crowded & we had to bunk in the luggage room, at the first stop, Bishops Stortford, lots of people got out & we got a seat easily. At Cambridge there was about a 20 minute wait so the three of us got out for a cup of tea. A porter told us it wouldn’t be going for a while yet & we had plenty of time. We were only in the canteen for about 3 minutes and as we emerged, saw the train about a quarter of the way along the platform. I broke into a sprint with Jack about 10 yds behind and Johnny 10 yds behind him. Down the platform we raced, porters shouted out “Clear the Way”, and people skipped
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nimbly aside, luckily the platform was fairly empty. Some people shouted encouragement, other shouted “You’ll never make it”, but unheedingly we pounded quickly on.
One American soldier told us it was just like the races, first I flashed past, and he turned to watch me when Jack whizzed by. As he swivelled his head to watch him Johnny shot past, so he ran after us to see the result. Down the whole length of Cambridge platform we raced & closed the distance to about two yards, I had already selected the door I was jumping for, when we reached the blacked out part of the platform. There were no lights at all & it was as dark as the pit, I tried to maintain speed but cracked against a pillar and spun around like a top. So the chase was abandoned & we stood watching the tail light disappear into the darkness. We were in rather a fix as all our kit was on the train, none of us had hats & Johnny had no belt either. After hunting around & getting wrong directions from a few people, we contacted a porter, and old sweat from the last war, who was very helpful & took us to a fellow, who sent off a wire to the different stations telling them to take our kit off the train & send it to Downham. That done, with certain misgivings as to whether it would work out we went over to the A.T.O.
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Here we phoned the camp and told them we would be arriving late & fixed things up. That done we adjourned to a nearby pub & treated our helpful porter to a few. After that it degenerated into a regular crawl, hatless & hands in pockets we rolled round Cambridge. Greatly warmed by the beverage, we didn’t notice the hardness of the bunks, & I didn’t suffer as I did on the previous occasion I slept at Cambridge ATO. We travelled on to Downham on the 8.13 AM. next day & arrived about 9.15. As I feared they hadn’t any of our kit there, so I thought “Goodbye to that”. It rather shook the S.P’s in the guard room when we rolled up with no hats or anything, they didn’t say anything, though, I shudder to think what would have happened at a training unit under similar circumstances. Within an hour of arriving back we were flying on an air test, maybe they thought we would forget how.
We haven’t done much since arriving back, the weather has been pretty rough. The situation regarding Ken appears pretty obscure, he didn’t get much flying in as he predicted, now he is just hanging about to see what the score is. I hope they wont [sic] take him out of the crew he is such a decent chap. Its growing late & the other guys are binding for the lights out, so I guess I’ll put more next time.
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[underlined] Thursday 28th October [/underlined]
The weather still remains duff, after days of rain, it has changed into pretty thick fog every day. The last time we flew was over a week ago when we did a loaded climb in “D”, we now have I for Ink, instead of D. For the time being Ken is out of the crew, we are all praying it wont [sic] be for long although we have another decent chap in his place, Les Gray another Canadian. The whole situation is pretty vague, Ken himself feels he would rather not go on in case he should be sick one time & we wandered into a flak area whilst he was sick. As for us, we would put implicit faith in him whatever happened, & I just hate to lose him. So nobody knows what is going to happen, we’re just keeping our fingers crossed.
To keep ourselves amused now quite a bit of our time is spent in seeing films, I have seen a couple of decent ones on the camp recently. The other day they had the power off all day, no electric light, wireless or anything, I certainly think they ought to get there [sic] fingers out with the lighting in the ante room, it is very dim. Last night seeking amusement further afield, Mac, Jack, Don, Johnny & myself went in the liberty bus to Kings Lynn. We had a good meal when we arrived there, & then saw a decent show, coming out from there, Jack, Johnny & myself
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went into a dance, while Mac & Don went to the Duke’s Head for a meal. I think they had the best of the deal, because the dance was pretty corny, & then when it finished at 10 P.M. we were tramping all over the town trying to find a place with something to eat without success, it was pretty grim.
We got back to the bus O.K. & off we went, by this time a thick mist had rolled in, add to this the fact that our driver had a fair number of drinks under his belt, & we went weaving all over the road. It wasn’t long before we went into the ditch, & a fellow raised a laugh by asking “Does this count as an op?” We lifted the thing out of the ditch, then he found he had taken the wrong turning so back we had to go. It took us 1 1/2 hours to travel a 25 minute journey, we heaved a sigh of relief when we arrived back here. It would be that night too that they had an ENSA show at the camp and who should be in it but Pat Kirkwood, I would have liked to have seen it. Our next leave is due on the 24th November & I have written to Mary & told her to book some shows up. It is rather a long chance, that we will be there on time, even providing all goes well. Still I think it is worth trying. Ah! well I’m tired we didn’t get much sleep last night so I’ll turn in.
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[underlined] Monday November 1st. [/underlined]
Friday was just one of those uneventful days, though the mist seemed to have lifted a bit, a few very keen types were speaking eagerly of the prospects of flying, but the main horde, including all of our crew, nearly, retired to the mess early & buried theirselves [sic] in the newspapers, springing up eagerly to get in the dinner queue. That evening we went into town to see an Abbot & Costello film, it wasn’t bad, with a simple meal of fish & chips, we wandered back, what an uneventful life this is. Saturday was no better, but we really put some work in on the kite harmonising all the guns. We made quite a job of it, having Bill & Jack run backwards & forwards with the harmonisation board. The only thing that marred it was the fact that both Johnny & myself broke our lateral levelling screws on the reflector sights, necessitating harmonising them over again. We have been informed that it is nigh on impossible to get any small nuts & bolts of that type, so we are waiting for them, meanwhile the kite is unable to go on ops without the two reflector sights harmonised. So a kite has to stay back because of two nuts & bolts. Just a classic example of the important part played by the small cogs in the big wheel.
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Yesterday the weather seemed to be better, but there was nothing doing in the morning so we put in quite a bit of work on the kite. In the afternoon though there was a sudden flap, to get as many aircraft airborne as possible, so off we went for our air test. We have a new kite now I Ink instead of D Dog that we used to have, yesterday was the first time we had flown in it. She seemed a pretty decent kite, if we can do a loaded climb on it, & see how much height we can get out of it, it will be O.K. In the evening I just remained in the mess & went over to the hut early, I just seem to be in a state of lethargy here, with no inclination to do anything. We tried to get the fire going in the hut, these stoves are grim things at times. All the time we are chopping fences down & scrounging wood & ‘borrowing’ coal from out of the dump opposite. Most times that we light it, huge clouds of smoke belch out in every direction and there is a frantic rush for the doors to breathe some fresh air in. Last night was an exception though, the fire lit right away, & it gradually warmed up until it was giving out a heat like a blast furnace. It isn’t very often that we get it to go like that though, still I am nearest to it, I had that in view when I chose my bed.
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Today we had quite an interesting time, the morning we spent going round the bomb dumps. Practically all the bomb aimers went out, and at the dump we saw how the carriers are fixed on, & then at the firing point how they are flared. It was quite a sight in the dump to see all the rows of bombs laid out in their rows behind the blast walls. The corporal who was giving us the gen set a 4 lb incendiary off for us to show us how they went, boy they certainly burn, they seem better than the ones the Jerries dropped on London in the blitzes. We handled all the equipment & all of it was quite different from the stuff we had been taught throughout training all that was obsolete a good while before. Finally we went out to the kites to watch them bomb up & then try the various ways of releasing hang ups, it was quite a useful morning.
This afternoon we flew again, to level the bomb sight, & then to continue to Goodestone for a bombing exercise. It went off pretty well, but I don’t know how they are going to figure out where bombs are where, because we didn’t have 3073’s and didn’t inform the range as we dropped each one. As there were at least four kites bombing, they seemed to be showering down. Most certainly there will be some news in the morning.
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[underlined] Thursday 4th November. [/underlined]
There has been some flying recently but not a lot we have been up on a couple of air tests but on the whole the weather is still rather grim. We have been putting in quite a bit of work on the kite, Johnny, Don & myself have had our guns out & cleaned them. They were in a hell of a mess as they were packed with grease, then somebody borrowed our kite & the dope of a bomb aimer fired my guns, mucking things up well & truly. We have got them back again now. Tuesday afternoon they gave us a stand down, its funny no sooner do they say stand down & the fellows have started trekking into the different towns, when the old sun comes out & things are fine again, I bet they gnash their teeth.
All of us except Mac caught the 2.3 P.M. into Cambridge, had a look round, & a decent tea then booked our beds in the W.V.S. Afterwards we saw a show, then diving into a pub for a drink we landed in a flight passing out party. They had just finished their exams at Cambridge I.T.W. & were celebrating, when we entered somebody said “Here’s the gen boys”, at which I nearly fell over. Still they plied us with free beer so that was bang on, they also asked quite a bit about their future training & ‘ops’. Maybe quite a few lines were shot, but we had enough shot at us
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during our training so it was our turn. They all had bright blue uniforms, ‘bully’ white belts, close cropped hair, a general sprog appearance altogether. I shudder to think I was like that once, though not to such a degree, but I was & so must everybody who goes in for aircrew, we didn’t notice anything strange then. They had various toasts & I’m afraid I smiled a little cynically when one chap said “Goodbye to all exams and binding”. Still we had a good time, followed by a meal in a nearby café & then to bed. We rose at 7 AM. & went round to another W.V.S. place for our breakfast, then from there to the station to catch the famous 8.13 AM. to Downham.
They were taking a squadron photograph, & naturally Jack & I had to roll up late and miss being in it – such is life. Last night they had an ENSA show to which we went and surprisingly enough it was quite good, we almost got in without paying, but not quite, it would have helped our financial status quite a bit. Today we had to take the Flight Commander’s kite up an [sic] Air Test it, a doubtful priviledge. [sic] The bind was it was 12 midday when they rang the mess and told us & we were already in the dinner queue, so out we had to go & tramp back to the flights. We came down fairly late so didn’t go back again, but phoned into town & booked our seats for the cinema it was a good film, though I’d seen it before.
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[underlined] Sunday November 7th [/underlined]
Friday was quite a busy day, in the morning there was a smashing lecture by a Dutch F/O who had been shot down in a Lanc. & had got back from Holland. We had been listening to him for about 10 mins & lapping every word, when they came in and dragged us up for flights affil. typical RAF. The bind was there were two crews in the same kite, ourself [sic] & Bennett. We stooged around for over an hour but the fighter didn’t show up, so back we had to go, I was pretty cheesed about missing that lecture though. They put us up again in the afternoon, & after a bit of stooging around, boy! that fighter could fly. I sat in the Wops seat all the time, listening to “Music While You Work” poor old Bennets Engineer was sick, he must be quite a lot because he had a paper bag ready with him. I felt a bit grim once or twice, because they were really throwing the kite around. I am O.K. if I can see out to see whats [sic] doing, but if I am in the middle of the kite unable to look out then its rough.
Ken has gone on leave at last, this was the one he missed when we went, he has gone to Iver, Bucks & to London. I have told him to pop in at my house I hope he does. Meanwhile he has let me ride his bike which comes in very handy at this blasted place. Friday
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night it was given out on the radio that F/Sgt Aaron who used to be with 218 had been posthumously awarded the V.C. The citation said his courage had never been surpassed, & by jiminy they were right. In absolute agony & with severest wounds he had diverted the kite on from Turin to N. Africa, where he died 9 hours after, it was a marvellous show! The air bomber who flew it & landed it, belly landing, with 4,000 lb still on received the C.G.M. & most of the crew the D.F.M. They arrived back from Gibralter not long ago, with tins of sugar & heavens knows what else besides.
All our trips recently have been in other kites ours was U/S, when we came down from a flip they found the tail plane was only secured with about 3 nuts & bolts, we nearly had it that time. Yesterday it was put serviceable again & we had to take her up for a couple of hours. It had rained cats & dogs in the morning so there was a stand down & we were the only joe’s flying, & Saturday afternoon too. We were caught in some hellish storms but dodged them, then found parts with clean weather, & played tag with the cloud tops it was good fun. I broke a bigué and then we couldn’t get the undercart down, so poor old Jack & Bill had to set to & wind it down. We all held our breaths when we came in but it didn’t collapse & we were O.K.
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The Wing Cmdr was attacked by a JU88 on a gardening trip to the Baltic the other night, & they claimed it shot down. Who is to dispute them, I bet they went nowhere near the thing, as everyone else thinks & its popular talk that the Wing Cmdr. may get a gong for it whether its true or not I don’t know. There is something funny going on Stirlings haven’t operated against a land target for a month now, & there are all sorts of rumours going around. We are going on Coastal Command, are going out East, are converting onto Lancs, are towing gliders, are only going to do mining trips, these are but a few of the speculations floating around, there certainly seems to be something in the air. The most obvious solution I think is they are waiting until a .5 mid under gun is fitted, we also have to operate this, quite a few jobs we have now.
It has been bitterly cold all day today, whilst harmonising my front guns I gashed two fingers & I didn’t feel it, nor did it start to bleed for a good while, my fingers were so frozen, it’s a real touch of winter. There are two fires in our huge ante room & that is the only method of heating the place. Consequently there is a circle of fellows packed tightly around it, & another circle around them waiting for someone to vacate a chair at which there is a mad rush. The rest of the fellows just have to hover around hoping to catch a glimpse of the fire or of moving into the outer circle.
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[underlined] Thursday 11th November. [/underlined]
The cold weather continues, it takes ones breath away just walking down to the flight, I am glad there are no ‘ops’ on from this station nowadays. I wonder what is happening, it certainly is funny, Stirlings off ‘ops’ all this time, must be something behind it all. The rumours are flying as thick as ever, but nobody has any definite ‘gen’ at the moment. We will find out in due course I daresay. Yesterday we went on rather an interesting trip, an Eric, which is a daylight bullseye. Naturally the only defences we had to combat were fighters, & we didn’t have any engagements, so everything went smoothly. Our route took us across London three times, & pin pointing became very interesting, as I found the various places I know. The balloons were quite a sight, flying at their operational height, there seemed literally hundreds of them. Old Father Thames looked grand in the sun with the boats chugging slowly up & down, there was a fair amount of shipping off Tilbury & Grays & a convoy at Southend. At Chatham there were a fair amount of naval vessels, but nothing like peace-time. We followed the Thames up to attack our target Tower Bridge, there was a certain amount of difficulty in finding this owing to cloud that had rolled across. We eventually made it though.
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Being used to stooging along by ourselves at night it was a novel experience for us to see about another hundred bombers all around, on the same course & height. It was rather tricky at turning points, some kites E.T.A’s would be due slightly before one’s own & they would turn & come cutting across, diving underneath, or lifting above, there must be some close shaves at night, which the darkness hides. When we returned to base the weather had changed down so we had to stooge around for a bit, but we landed quite safely.
Our leave is due on the 24th, and we are beginning to make our arrangements, praying to the Lord, that nothing crops up & we lose it. I had a letter from Bill today, saying that old Bob Blackburn, who was in our room at I.T.W. had got the chop on his 13th over the Ruhr. He always maintained there was nothing in superstition & insisted on third lights, I guess it was just Fate that it should be his 13th, I hope he managed to bale out safely. We lost a crew the other night on a long mining off the Spanish border, Johnston was flying with them as rear gunner, it was his first trip. He was in Carr’s crew that is the second one gone, these mining trips certainly don’t seem to be such a stooge nowadays.
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[underlined] Sunday 14th November. [/underlined]
What a hum drum life this is, & a cold one. Rush for breakfast, fight to get a wash basin then trudge down to the flights. Knock around in the Bombing Office for a while to see the score then out to the kite for a D.I. It’s a hellish cold job polishing the perspex on the first turret, especially the outside I have to mount a rickety iron ladder, & perched up there 25 ft in the air polish away vigorously with frozen hands, each movement causing the ladder to sway. We generally continue to get back to the flights at 11.15 AM. in time for the NAAFI van. Then back to the mess, with more chances than one of being called back for an air test, just as we are about to go into dinner. The afternoon’s procedure is very similar, if we aren’t flying, it is link or Gee, Astro or something, until we scuttle back to tea. Over to the billet, then, to coax a fire into the stove & all huddle round it. Gangs of fellows scour the immediate vicinity of the huts for wood, posts are pulled up & everything of an inflammable nature seized upon. There is a huge coke dump opposite & every evening sees a dozen fellows or more filling buckets & other articles. These stoves are quite our pride & we take an experts delight in raising a large fire in a short while.
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If we aren’t writing letters we are listening to records on a gramophone that Bill managed to ‘borrow’ from the W/T section, I wish we had a wireless here, though. Sometimes we attend an ENSA show, the one this week wasn’t so bad. Friday afternoon we had a stand down so Jack, Johnny & myself bowled into Cambridge again, following the routine of our previous visit, but not having the luck to fall into any flight parties again. So far this month we have gone in quite a few flying hours the weather has been lousy on quite a few trips. Last night we were stooging round in a rain storm trying to find a bombing target before we were recalled, Saturday night, too. The other day Mac, Johnny Don & myself went up with Wiseman’s crew for Air to Air firing over the Wash. After landing & unloading the blasted ammo. when it came to my turn the Martinet ran out of fuel & had to return.
The other day on our Air Test, Mac feathered the starboard outer to test it, but couldn’t unfeather it. After a few unsuccessful attempts we gave up & landed with it feathered, & got down O.K. too. If it isn’t the undercart refusing to come down, its something else. Still old I Item is quite a good kite now, & we can get a fair turn of speed from it.
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[underlined] Thursday November 18th [/underlined]
Quite a lot of things have happened in the few short days since I made my last entry. First like a bolt from the blue came the news that the squadron was being disbanded. It was quite a shock we are supposed to be moving to Chedburgh shortly & there given individual postings. Everyone is thoroughly cheesed about it, we were just getting settled in here too, all the top bags, Bombing, Nav & Gunnery Leaders are fine fellows, one couldn’t wish for a better bunch, I guess that’s typical of the RAF when one gets a piece of cake, they aren’t allowed to eat it. 214 squadron which is at Chedburgh is coming here in our place & we are gradually breaking up. They say we are converting to Lancs & if so it may be time that Stirlings are gradually dieing [sic] out of Bomber Command & the Lancs taking their place. If we are moving in a few days, as the tale says, then it will mess our leave up, after all our arranging, its driving me nuts, we never get a leave that works out smartly. Johnnie Smythe a Nav. from Sierra Leone has had a letter from the people there saying they want to adopt 623 Sqdn. & have collected 100 to £150,000 for our benefit – phew! that’s over £250 per head ground & air crew, of course it would be used for the betterment of the squadron, building a wizard crew room, & various other things.
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The Wing Cmdr. has been up to Group to raise Cain, I don’t know if he has had any satisfication, but I & everyone else hope we stay here together. Monday night we had our Sqdn party, strictly bachelor, the air crew paid for it all, & invited the ground crew to show their appreciation for their maintenance of the kites. There was lots of beer & everyone was happy especially old Mac he was well under, a gang of them started down the mess before the party, then rang Downham for a taxi to take them to the party 200 yds away. There was a championship table tennis match between a couple of top notches in peace-time & then the winner issued a challenge. Ginger Morris who used to play for England, had been waiting for this to just bowl out & beat him. The only fault was Ginger had been imbibing heavily & consequently could hardly see the ball, so lost easily. At 10.30 P.M. it broke up and Mac got in at 5 AM. he had wandered over to the mess to shoot the bull & fell asleep there.
Poor Johnnie has been feeling grim and was very bad the other day & went sick, & they chopped him in dock with flu. Jack was also feeling bad but has recovered, but Don is in bed very queer & I feel it myself, what a crew, but this place is enough to give people all the illnesses under the sun.
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Tuesday night, six Canadians came & gave a concert show, they were a travelling party all [indecipherable word] & they put up quite a performance too. Last night there was an ENSA show which I thought rather good, so we haven’t done too bad for entertainment. Today held a big shock for quite a few people, Group came through to say there was a big do, & 218 & 623 were on the main effort. All crews available were put on, & after 6 weeks they thought it was a laugh & a joke, but realised it was true. Mac was due to go on a second dickie with Sqdn/Ldr. Overton, but it was scrubbed at the last minute as Overton’s Navigator was sick. Petch has gone with Flt/Lt. Willis, & Macgillvray with Flt/Lt. Nesbitt, I hope the morning saw them all back safe & sound. Apparently we are still an operational squadron, but for how long is the question. There is also a fair amount of mining & a new crew is taking our kite, so Don & I were out there this afternoon checking on the turrets.
The other afternoon we had a wizard lecture from a Lieutenant in the Navy. He had quite a few experiences to recount he had been on the Greton in the Graf Spee battle & in the U-Boat War, & seen quite a bit of excitement in the Med., he was very interesting to listen too. [sic] His story showed both sides of the picture too, we weren’t always winning. He said a good word for mining, the results of which were definitely assessed as 1 ship sunk every 11 mins which is good going.
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[underlined] Sunday November 21st. [/underlined]
The squadron definitely is disbanded, though in the meantime it is fully operational. The Wing Co. leaves on Dec 6th to some O.T.U. I believe. Sqdn/Ldr Smith adding his D.F.C. to his D.F.M. is going to an O.T.U. also, - as a flight commander, he has both his tours completed now. The Navigator Leader has already gone, & the Wing Co. has been asking crews what squadrons they would like to be posted to, but nothing is promised. Anyway it appears we are remaining in 3 Group & not going onto Lancs, so that is one theory squashed. Right now we are just praying that nothing will crop up to cheat us of our leave, there are only two days to go. We have arranged to get on the 11 AM pay parade Tuesday & hope to catch the 11.48 AM London train.
Three kites were lost from here on Thursday’s trip to Ludwigshaven – one from 218, & two from 623. Poor old Ray Bennett was one, Johnny Smythe was his Nav. I only hope they baled out, F/Lt Wallis was the other & Petch was with him on a second dicky. That leaves only Macgillvray & us with complete crews from Hixon. P/O Ralph & F/Lt Nesbitt turned back with engine trouble, so it wasn’t too good for 623. It was even grimmer on Friday night, they were going to Leverhulme or something a small place just north of Cologne, & a pretty easy trip it turned out.
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623 only managed to get two kites off the deck, & there was hell to pay, there was quite a bit of finger trouble, though. They said Group sent through the bomb load too late, but then it was the armament officers first experience of bombing up for ‘ops’. Bombs were being sent out to kites that were U/S with engine trouble when others were standing there with engines running merely waiting for bombs, consequently most of them never got off in time. They told one chap to take off 5 mins after time & catch the force up, he told them what to do. Another just got off & set course over the runway in his take off. Wiseman was waiting for one more 1,000 lb H.E. when the Armament Officer said that’s O.K. take off without it, this made the C. of G somewhere in the region of the rear turret – Wiseman’s reply was rather flowery. So poor old Mac didn’t get off again & still has to get his second dicky in. All the kites got back safely but were diverted owing to local fog, one of 218’s was pretty shot up by flak, and pranged at Chedburgh. The kites that were on mining also returned safely. Nesbitt has been told that his tour is completed now, so they are screening him after 24 trips, still that’s enough for anyone, and if I had that number under my belt I would feel very contented.
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Johnny seems a lot better now, we have popped in to see him each day, & he is having a regular rest cure, he intends trying to come out tomorrow as he doesn’t want to miss his leave – nor do any of us – keen types. Ken & I went to the camp cinema the other night, quite a good show but the place is like an ice box. There is a real fiasco here, the water supply is being cut right down, apparently the camps normal consumption is 52,000 gals a day, & the water company will only supply 10,000 gals daily, until their reservoir rises. Consequently all water on the sites is cut off & we cant [sic] have any baths or showers, & now we have been informed we are not supposed to wash or shave in the mess ablutions. This means not washing or showering day in, day out, I wonder what the M.O. thinks of it! There are a couple of water carts that come round the sites & people fill up old cans etc. Even of we hand round all cans we are never on the sites, our whole day is spent down the flights or in the mess. The whole situation is preposterous and it’s a pretty poor show for an RAF camp.
I went into town last night, for the first time for over a week, it was a real pea souper of a night & we muffled right up. The film was quite a decent one, & a drink after made a little break out of the monotony.
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[underlined] Wednesday December 1st. [/underlined]
Another fair interval since I last made an entry, & for the old reason that I have been on leave, we arrived back last night. After all the sweating & heartbreaking we eventually got away on Tuesday, & we did sweat as I will account. On the Sunday, before going on leave, when I last made an entry there had been rumours of something big coming off the following day, as all Ground Crew N.C.O’s had been ordered to have their kites in really tip top condition. Monday dawned a thick misty day, visibility wasn’t more than 50 yds, Jack & I danced for joy as Mac couldn’t possibly do a second dicky that night & we would definitely go on leave on Tuesday, what a fine world it was. Down at the flights a rude shock was awaiting us there was ‘ops’ on that night & Mac was going as second dicky to Sqdn/Ldr. Overton. Everyone thought it must be a farce, it was bound to be scrubbed, the Met reckoned it would clear though. However out we went to the kite & gave it a thorough D.I. because Sgt Ralph was taking it. Gradually the weather cleared, and gradually our hopes sunk, because if Mac got his trip in we would be definitely on “ops” the following night instead of on leave. Every few moments we would gaze at the cloud formations & the fast disappearing mist & try to cheer each other up, although we all felt we had had it.
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We had found out all tanks were to be filled that meant Berlin or Italy & it all pointed to The Big City. Briefing was at 2.30 P.M. & off they went & I went out to the kite again, Johnny was still in dock as his guns had to be checked but Johnny Hyde the Gunnery Leader was out there to do them. At this time the sky clouded over really black, & everyone was certain the Met had boobed. When large drops of rain fell I could have danced for joy, but as though the Met had exercised a superhuman influence the skies miraculously cleared as take off time grew near. The crew came out to I Item & I spoke to the Air Bomber for a bit & happened to see the Nav’s charts, & Berlin it was. I wondered whether Mac was twittering inside, Overton was taking Les Gray, our Nav. who had only done a Nickel before. What a task without even having done a Mining to navigate to Berlin & back. When the actual take off started the weather wasn’t too good but they went, they scrambled at 5 P.M. & set course 5.30 P.M. with our best wishes. During the evening five kites returned early but old Mac wasn’t amongst them, they were mainly 218’s kites too. So off we went to bed, hoping to hear old Mac come banging in at about 2 AM he did. It had been a fairly quiet trip he said, cloud cover all the way, & no fighter sightings. Les’s navigation had been bang on & he was personally congratulated by the Groupie.
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There had been a lot of reporters and photographers there & someone said a B.B.C. chap, lots of lines were shot anyway, we listened to all the story & then sank back asleep. When the morning came it seemed as though our luck was really out, it was clear as a bell. Jack & I grabbed two bikes & dashed down to the Flights to see whether we were on or not. What an anxious half hour that was, the Wing Co. rang for P/O Ralph who was acting Flt/Comdr. then & he came out with lots of papers etc. our hearts sank, but then he said “Nothing on, only mining” we could hardly believe our ears. Back we tore & dressed up for pay parade & a speedy get away. We reckoned without Pay Accounts, with their typical efficiency they paid us at 11.45 AM instead of 11 A.M as it was supposed to be. So we missed the 11.47 train, still nothing mattered then we were off & going home. Scorning the RAF food we had a dinner in Sly’s Café then a drink & homeward bound.
I had a fine leave although the weather wasn’t so hot, that night (Tuesday) it was Berlin dunno if any Stirlings went but we didn’t send any at all. During the leave I saw quite a few shows, among them the new film “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, also read the book, both very good. We arrived back O.K. without any incidents we only stopped 5 mins at Cambridge so couldn’t recreate our previous escapade.
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Johnny was looking very seedy going home, as he had only come out of the dock that day, he wangled round the M.O. He came back looking fit though, we all seemed to have reduced our colds. Ken had been down to Pastow for his Medical Board, & has been taken off flying. So we have definitely lost him, it is goodbye to a fine Navigator & one of the finest fellows it has ever been my priviledge [sic] to meet. We are lucky to have an equally good chap to fill his place they are much alike in many ways. Old Jack Yardley the W/Op who is in our hut & also suffered with air sickness went down with Ken & he is also off of flying.
This morning we did the inevitable Air Test, it always happens the day one returns from leave. I Item is still here, someone buckled a wing tip whilst we were away, there are only four kites left now, they have ferried all the others away. So we should be leaving in a few days, but where to nobody knows yet, rumours are flying as thick as ever. One thing that is definite 214 Sqdn are arriving here on Monday so we will have to leave by then. It is so cold as anything today, there was a frost like snow this morning. If this weather continues & gets worse during the winter I would welcome a posting to Italy or somewhere warm. Talking of warmth, I think I’ll turn in, bed is the best place to warm anyone up.
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[inserted] [newspaper cutting about the raid on Berlin with a photograph of the crew led by Flying Officer Wiseman, and including Sergeant Twydell, engineer; P/O Craig, Sergent Foreman, Sergeant Copley F/Sergeant Brasington, F/O Theriault, and Flight Sergeant Macgillvray, second pilot] [/inserted] [duplicate page]
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[underlined] [missing words] December. [/underlined]
The cat is out of the bag, & there were a few surprises in the bag too, the gen has been dished out as to where we are all going. We all leave tomorrow on the 2 P.M. train, except for those who were due for leave & they went today, (our luck was in we were the last ones to get away, all leave was cancelled after we went). The Wing Co. went a few days ago to 90 Sqdn at Tuddenham, & P/O Ralph, Macgillvray & somebody else are going as well. After all this time then we are parted from Mac, it’s a pity, we two crews have been together a fair while, we are the only ones from Hixon now. By the by. Macgillvray appeared in the newspapers, there was a large photograph of old Wiseman & crew being interrogated upon their return from Berlin, & Macgillvray was in as second pilot quite celebrities now. That B.B.C. chap was here he gave a hell of a ‘bully’ story after the 1 P.M. news the following day.
To resume we and about six other crews are off to Waterbeach to convert onto Lanc IIs. As they have Hercules engines, we wont have Jack, as he won’t have to take another course. Four or so of the crews have gone on leave, today as they are due for it & they arrive there a week after us. It came as quite a surprise we all thought we were set on Stirlings, it will be quite a
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bind, circuits & bumps & screened cross countries all over again, oh hell! There is a squadron there as well 514, I wouldn’t mind being put on that, pray to the Lord we are. Four chaps are being transferred to 218 Sqdn. Overton & Wiseman are amongst them, they say Overton will have to revert to F/O. Nickie Nesbitt went back to P/O & Vickers the Engineering Leader did also, daresay they will have ‘em back again soon though. Some of the postings were to 199 & 149 Sqdns I believe. Last night we were put on the main effort, right in the middle of getting cleared from here, quite a flap. It was only 2, 4 & 6 tanks and 8 x 1,000 lbs & 6, x 5,000 lbs, as it must have been to these rocket gun emplacements they are building to shell London. It was scrubbed though, the minings went & poor old P/O Puch got the chop, his B/A Sutherland was a good guy, they were only an a short mining, too, quite shaking.
The latest Berlin raid where they lost 41 two war correspondents are missing, one got back though, gee! if they were paying that reporter £200 for going on a mining trip, heavens knows what those boys were raking in. One thing is sure from the way the Lancs are operating nearly every night whatever the weather, our tour will be over pretty soon one way or the other. We were paid today & finally cleared from here, last night we went into town to the dance & to the Crown for a farewell ‘do’ before we said goodbye to the hallowed precincts of Downham.
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[underlined] Thursday December 9th. [/underlined]
This entry is being made at Waterbeach, another new station this is my eighteenth station since I have been in the RAF, like Crosby & Hope I certainly get around. We left Downham Monday dinner time, and in the rush I missed saying cheerio to Ken, and was sorry but I have written to him. As usual when they tell you transport will be waiting, there was none, so we walked it was about 15 mins to the billet. The tales of the billets etc. being good inside the camp are quite true, the only snag being we aren’t in the camp. Our quarters are in the inevitable huts “Con Sight” as we call it though it is listed as Conversion Site. The Con Unit (1678) is almost entirely separate from the squadron we have our own mess about 5 mins walk from the hut. The food is good, better than at Downham, but the mess is bare, empty & cold. Not being many crews here either, it is generally isolated, & not very cheering. The squadron have a smashing mess in the camp, with living quarters above, very handy, wish we were in it.
I think the most shaking thing is that breakfast finishes at 7.45 A.M. right on the dot, so we have to be up really early. Then breakfast over we wash & are supposed to be at the flights at 8.15 A.M. It is a 25 min walk too, so we have to start out in time. There is [underlined] P.T [/underlined] 8.15 till 8.30 AM. then lectures.
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The walking is rather a bind as we didn’t expect it here, poor Mac is looking somewhat slimmer, as he lost his bike at a [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] wild party, before leaving Downham. Tuesday was occupied with filling in the arrival chits as usual, then yesterday & today we have had ground lectures, weather permitting we may commence our circuits & bumps tomorrow. There was nothing new in the ground work, the bombing side of the Lanc. is simpler than the Stirling. We carry cookies on there now, there is no second pilot, so I have lost my comfortable seat. This is compensated by the much better bombing compartment, there is a fine huge vision panel in the nose, no more straining one’s neck to get a line on the target. One also enters the turret from the bombing compartment, so there is no chance of being locked in the turret. The performance of these aircraft are pretty good, especially speed & climbing power.
Tuesday afternoon we went into Cambridge, there is a pretty decent bus service to & from there. In the village there isn’t a lot of life but a couple of decent pubs do a good trade. I have just heard from Bill Taylor, & he tells me poor old Jack is missing now, he was on the same squadron as old Bob Blackburn who is now reported killed. Its pretty grim to hear of the old pals getting the chop, wonder if I’ll be alive at the end.
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[underlined] Monday 13th December. [/underlined]
The weather at this place is as bad as at Downham, I didn’t think there could be another place as bad. Mac’s day circuits & bumps are now complete & we are ready for a day cross country which finishes the day flying & then on to night c & b’s. I rather like the lay out of this station, it is very neat and compact, of course that is because it was a peace time station. I wish we were billeted in the camp although I understand the food in the permanent mess isn’t as good as in ours. On Friday the Duke of Gloucester came down to inspect the camp, we knew a full 24 hrs before who it was, the old grape-vine certainly defeats security. On the Thursday morning the Bombing Leader asked us who it was as he wasn’t able to find out. Our six crews were joined for a cheering party we had to line up opposite a line of WAAF’s at the gate & cheer when he left. I haven’t been on P.T. yet I have a hard enough job to get up in the mornings. Mac has managed to scrounge an official bike now, that is one thing he moves fast for. Every Wednesday they have a C.O’s parade and march past, there is a fair amount of bull here considering they have an operational squadron, I guess it is because they have the Con Unit still, yes, the more I think of it, the more easier 623 appears.
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[underlined] Tuesday December 21st. [/underlined]
We are now back on an operational squadron again, 115 Sqdn at Witchford near Ely. Our course finished here last [inserted] Sunday [/inserted] night and yesterday & this morning we were completing our clearance chits. It wasn’t such a bad place, & the work was pretty easy, the ground work was nothing new at all, except a new photo flash fuse. Our first flip was a day cross country at 23,000 ft, a really binding trip, 10/10ths all the way, just sit there and freeze about 25o below. Then after the night circuits and bumps, we were on a Bullseye, Sunday night. Or rather a Flashlight exercise, because the I.R. bombing is abandoned over London, & they have a target of three red lights to simulate T.Is, & at various distances of a couple of miles altogether were white lights flashing various Morse characters, so on the photograph, one could tell in theory how near the bombs would have landed. That trip was a cold one as well but we had a hot time with the defences, a solid belt of searchlights all the way round, & a hell of a cone sight over the target, we were picked up on our bombing run & they sure dazzled me. We rather preferred to remain at Waterbeach with 514 Squadron owing to the compactness of the station. They don’t operate such a lot, the other night they landed at Downham Market, practically all kites were diverted. It was a black night, & the Met boobed badly, all England almost was fog bound, & we have heard from reliable sources that 65 kites either crashed or had to be abandoned owing to weather. With the 30 kites lost that made 95 kites, the public will never know of that.
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The transport brought us by road from Waterbeach it is 13 miles & when we reached Witchford there was a howling gale & the rain was lashing down. Nobody knew where we were supposed to be billeted & we were driving around the place, dashing in & out of huts, until soaked to the skin, we eventually found one. Roger’s crew is in the hut with us, we are on 4 site & it is about two miles from the mess. I have seen some dispersed stations but this is the worst of them all, the mess is a 30 min walk from the flights as well, we certainly use Shanks Pony here, it is killing Mac he hasn’t done so much walking for ages. The usual thick mist is everywhere that is the trouble in East Anglia. Everything about the station & squadron seems to be grim, at one time it was a happy squadron & contented, but this station has got everyone down a lot; they have only been here 3 weeks. To give a typical example of the way the place is run, they moved here via Berlin. The crews were sent off to Berlin from this base & on return had to land here, what a fiasco that must have been, tramping round in the dark trying to find billets etc. Leave here is about every 12 weeks, its incredible, they don’t appear to worry whether you have any or not. There is no operational meal before ops, just tea & a couple of sandwiches & the rations are pretty small, & no coffee. No transport is organised to take us into Ely, & there are hardly ever stand downs, there appears to be a complete lack of interest in air crew, oh! well I’m too cheesed to write any more.
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[underlined] Monday 27th December. [/underlined]
Xmas is over now, & I’m none too sorry really, it wasn’t a lot to shout about. Now we are settled down a bit better, but its hard to shake off the feeling of being cheesed here, everyone is, the old chaps of 115 Sqdn, the fellows on 196 the sqdn that was here before, & ourselves the mix crews from 623. The Bombing & Engineering Sections are in the same room, the Bombing Leader is a decent chap, but I don’t see how you can get to know the other bomb aimers, they don’t make any advances or anything. We flew the second night we were here on another Flashlight exercise, & were getting around O.K. but as we were running in towards London for the target, all the searchlights began homing us away from London, so we realised there was an air raid in progress, & beetled back to base. There they told us over the W/T to continue with our exercise & we had to beetle up North & keep cracking around. The trip took us 6 1/2 hours & they didn’t give us any rations at all, I was absolutely frozen, & had an electric waistcoat on, but that didn’t keep my legs warm, I was glad when we landed. On Thursday night, Mac did his second dicky they have to do them on these kites as well, of all places it was Berlin again. Thats [sic] two second dickeys he has done there now, packing ‘em in alright. I think it is a terrible feeling waiting around for them to come back I would rather go myself, he returned O.K. there was one missing from here.
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On Xmas Eve afternoon Bill & I cycled the 26 mls to Waterbeach & back to collect the Xmas mail for about a dozen fellows, we could have used a truck coming back. That night we all went into Ely to the Lamb Hotel to commence the celebrations. What a night it was, & what a head I had next morning. On Xmas Day the officers mess invited us over in the morning then came over to our mess in the afternoon, it was more of a drunken brawl than anything else. Bags of broken bottles & glasses, it is grim like that, we were supposed to serve Xmas dinner to the airmen, but I felt too grim to go across. Our tea that night was really wizard, it was served buffet form, & there were sausage rolls, cakes, pastries, sandwiches, sardine on toast, spam & chopped egg, trifle & cream cake it was grand! There were two fights, because tempers were rather frayed after drinking. Afterwards we all tramped into town to have our Xmas Dinner for the crew, in the Lamb Hotel, it was pretty good, we were in bed pretty early that night. Boxing Day was very quiet, we had our turkey dinner at 7.30 P.M. it was well served, afterwards there was a dance in the mess. There wasn’t a single decoration in the mess for the Xmas just lovely & bare. Anyway that was the end of the festive season, & this morning we donned battle dress once more & got cracking on the same old grind.
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[underlined] Thursday 30th December. [/underlined]
We have made a start at the squadron now, they don’t waste a lot of time, last night we began ‘ops’ here with a trip to Berlin. The pre-briefing was at 1.30 P.M. & Les & I got cracking on the maps and charts before all the crews arrived at 3 P.M. for the main briefing. Our route was worked out to try to bluff Jerry in believing the attack was being carried out on Leipzig or Magdeburg. We went straight for those places and as Mossies opened the dummy attacks on both towns we suddenly turned north & headed for the “Great City”. Taking it on the whole it wasn’t a bad trip twenty kites lost when over 700 were sent.
The trouble with these early take offs is that we don’t get a meal before we take our kites away & start dicing. At the end of briefing there is a mad rush to grab a cup of tea and a couple of sandwiches at the back of the room; then down to the locker room to change. Out we lumber to the transports, & they take us to the waiting kites. Here we dump all our heavy kit & climb in to check all our equipment & run the kite prop to see everything is bang on. Then we shut her down, & climb out to complete our dressing, a few minutes for a smoke for those that need it, then 20 minutes before we are due to take off we climb aboard again & start up. As the time approaches we taxi out & take our place in the line, then one by one [missing words]
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Round & round we circle, then as the time for setting course arrives we make the last circuit and away we go. By this time we are at about 13,000 ft & generally by the time of crossing the English coast we are a little [deleted] of [/deleted] over 15,000 ft. I carry out all my Bombing checks & put the front guns on Fire, all ready for something, we begin our vigilance here, as the German fighters often operate right across the North Sea. At our turning point we are at our operational height of 20,000 ft, & we set course for the Dutch Coast. Approaching the coast the flak can always be seen coming up from Texel or other equally well defended spots. The cloud was 10/10ths awarding us a natural protection from the searchlights.
Every now & then along the south some place would start throwing up flak, if it came close we weaved but generally didn’t bother. Quite a few times a fighter would drop three flares, lighting up quite an area of sky, if they were too near for safety we corkscrewed quickly, with everybody searching the sky carefully. The searchlights would also shine on the clouds in large concentrations causing us to be silhouetted to any fighter above. Two markers were dropped on the route to guide us away from hot spots, we didn’t see the first, but the second at Leipzig was plainly visible. The dummy attacks had commenced & there were some red & green T.I’s & a few bombs, they were certainly throwing up some flak, we had to nip in between Magdeburg & Leipzig, it was very warm & we got away as soon as possible.
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Just after leaving Leipzig I had a momentary panic when three ME110’s came whizzing past us going the opposite direction to Leipzig, I guess they came haring back later when Berlin opened up. We were running into a head wind coming up to the target & I thought we were never getting there; the T.I’s were burning there, & the cookies exploding, & the flak was pouring up, although it wasn’t too heavy; but we never seemed to be getting any nearer. As we eventually approached I could see the glow of a large fire reflecting on the clouds. Then “Bomb Doors Open” – “Running Up”, “Left Left” “Steady” “Bombs Gone” “Bomb Doors Closed” & away we went. The return journey was much the same as the outward, but we found the W/Op had turned the inter-wing balance cock the wrong way & we had lost 200 galls. So we had the worry of whether we would be able to make it or not. We crossed the English coast O.K. and were trying to make base, when the fuel warning lights started to flicker meaning we were almost out. There we were at 400 ft to [sic] low to bale out & unable to use up petrol to climb, just expecting the motors to cut at any moment. Suddenly a drome appeared & we screamed in there without announcing or anything but we were down & that was the main thing. It was a P.F.F. place Warboys, we didn’t get the egg there & had to sleep in a chair in the mess, so it wasn’t so good, next morning we flew back to base, & had a badly needed sleep. There was one missing from here which wasn’t so bad, however that was our first major ‘op’ over.
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[underlined] Monday January 3rd [/underlined]
Well that’s another year gone and 1944 is here, I wonder if this year will see Germany out of it, somehow I doubt it, though I think she will be well on the way. Last Friday ‘ops’ were on, so we had visions of seeing the New Year in over the other side. Briefing was at 3 P.M. again and the target was Frankfurt, it was an attempt to fool the Jerries and make them think we were going to Berlin, somehow I don’t think it would have been successful, anyway just as briefing it was scrubbed and we didn’t cry over it. There was a New Year’s Dance on in the gym, so we went there and got pretty merry, eventually getting into bed around 4 A.M.
Getting up well the worse for wear in the morning we were shaken to find there were ops on again that night. Pre briefing was 1.30 P.M. but the main briefing wasn’t until 9 P.M. there being an operational meal before we took off. The target was once more Berlin, this time we were going in from the north with a dummy attack on Hamburg though I wasn’t so sure that that would fool them. Take off was at a quarter to one in the morning a hell of a while to wait up till. This time they sent the fighters out to meet us and the fun started right over the Dutch coast. The flak was as eager to greet us as ever.
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About 10 mins after we had crossed the Dutch coast I saw a burst of tracer go streaking across the sky then suddenly flames burst out on a Lanc & she slowly peeled over & went spiralling down through the clouds, then a few seconds later a huge glow shot up – poor devils. It couldn’t have been more that five minutes afterwards when Johnny the rear gunner screamed “Corkscrew Port”, I thought “here it comes” & gripped on. I guess whoever they are they all feel a bit of panic at such moments, I know the flesh on my back crawled as I kept anticipating the feeling of bullets ripping into my back. However we dodged him, it was a JU88 who came screaming down and fired a burst at us, he broke off the attack though. The flak in the target area was quite a bit heavier this time & it was really close, the return journey took us a fair bit longer as we were pushing against the wind. There were quite a lot of fighters lobbing down three flares at a time, it certainly is a hell of a feeling when one is battling along in the dark, & suddenly one is lit up as plain as daylight, & the feeling that every fighter in the sky is leering down at you is no fun. Mac generally swears and corkscrews viciously. We got back to base without mishap, shot the lines at interrogation then trotted off to another bacon & egg meal. There were 28 missing on that raid out of about 450 kites so it was heavier losses, none were missing from here which was good but 3 didn’t take off, and 3 turned back. ‘We got to bed at 10.30 A.M.
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At 2 P.M. we were awakened by the Tannoy blaring for all Navigators to report to the briefing room at 4 P.M. for pre-briefing. My God! there were ops on again & we were feeling nearly dead from lack of sleep already. It certainly set me back when going into briefing the target map showed Berlin again, gee! three times in five nights to the Great City it was pretty rough. Take off was at 12.20 P.M. because we were fighting to avoid the moon, even then it wasn’t set when we took off, but it had set before we reached the enemy coast. Things were pretty lively because there was a ninety mile an hour gale blowing and we had to go straight to Berlin, with no dummy attacks, & boy were they ready for us. For miles around the target it was like day with lanes of flares and kites whizzing around. It certainly was hectic over the target, I was expecting a fighter attack at any moment, & when the bombs had gone I got in the front turret & scared old Mac by flashing the guns backwards & forwards. Altogether we were in the thick of it for nearly 25 minutes it seemed like 25 years. I thought we would never get clear of there. It took us 2 1/2 hours [deleted] for [/deleted] to reach the target & 4 1/2 hours returning, because we were battling almost head on against the gale, it seemed an eternity before we reached the French coast. We reached base O.K. & tumbled in at 10.30 A.M. & boy! did we need the sleep, we lost one from here & I believe 27 on the whole effort.
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[underlined] Saturday 12th January [/underlined]
Its quite a while since I wrote here, but as usual I have been on leave in the meantime. There were no ops on the Tuesday after I last wrote, but on Wednesday there were. It was to Stettin & the route was all around Norway & the Baltic, then the stream suddenly headed south to Berlin, where Mossies started a dummy attack & the main force suddenly swung west to Stettin. The trip was terribly long 8 hr. 32 mins at the minimum & it was cutting it fairly fine with a full petrol load. At the last moment the route was lengthened by another three quarters of an hour, so that if we had made the trip we would have landed in the North Sea, consequently all Lanc IIs were scrubbed, the I’s & III’s went though & only lost 15 I wouldn’t have minded going. The next morning at two hours notice we were told we were on 7 days leave & had to rush around to get away that day.
We returned Thursday night, & got to bed about 1 A.M., then as it was the 4th day after the full moon, we were sure there would be no ops. Because 4 days before & 4 days after the full moon is the moon period & there are no ‘ops’. However Chopper Harris shot us up by putting ops on, after the morning air Test we dashed off for dinner then Les & I went back for 1.30 pre-briefing. The target was Brunswick, the place that the Forts went to a couple of days previously. They attacked aircraft factories about 20 miles from Brunswick, & we attacked the town.
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It was a real daylight take off, & when we were approaching the Dutch Coast it was quite light behind us, so I was expecting a head on attack. The weather was quite clear so the searchlights were active, there was quite a cone on Texel, & three large dummy fires as well, they must have quite a faith in the dimness of Air Bombers to bomb there. Our route took us quite close to Bremen, & there was a T.I. marker there cascading yellow. Later as we were getting close to the target we had to come really close to Hanover, & they were pretty active there. She had a hell of a lot of searchlights and if anyone strayed across the old flak would poop up. The attack started when we were a quarter of an hour from there, down went the T.I’s & up came the old flak. At briefing they said it would be pretty quiet, and that the Americans had destroyed 150 fighters for us – lovely it sounded. However there was quite a bit of flak and damned accurate, & more fighters milling around there us & other crews had seen before. I saw four kites go down in flames, [inserted] & burst [/inserted] on the ground, it was really grim. There was a lovely fire burning a huge thing with the green T.I’s in it, then a minute later our load went crashing down to help the conflaguration. The return journey wasn’t so bad there were numerous red flares dropped that burnt for a very short [deleted] [indecipherable letters] [/deleted] while, not like the usual fighter flares. We landed at 10.20 A.M. came butting back to beat the moon rise, we lost Blackwell & Christianson two senior crews, which was pretty grim, 38 [missing words], it certainly was no easy raid.
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[underlined] Tuesday January 18th. [/underlined]
The weather certainly is grim, we haven’t flown since Friday, there has been a thick fog, and these last two days it has rained, but tomorrow promises to be clear so I guess there will be ops on then. According to the Press the Brunswick raid was fairly easy, they certainly harped out some guff, one of them said there were no fighters over the target & the Luftwaffe was fooled. I was looking at the official list of combats & sightings over the target, & there really were some. One chap from here claimed a confirmed & a probable. Three times over the target Bill the W/Op. happened to knock our huge nose light on, it put five years on my life, ‘cos the first time nobody knew who did it, & I was crouched there with my hands over it, & cursing like a madman. F/Sgt Foggarty who was with us put up a damn good show, over the target he was attacked consistently for half an hour by fighters & an engine (stbd inner) hit by cannon shell. He feathered it and it fell right out, he came down from 23,000 ft to 7,100 ft before he could pull out, & had to stay down low all the way. He sent out an SOS because he thought he wouldn’t make it, & the Jerries followed our homing procedure identically. They homed with searchlights to a ‘drome in Holland, lit it up & gave him a green, luckily his Gee operated and he battled off in a hurry. He crash landed with 3 engines, one bust tyre, no flaps or brakes, & nobody hurt. The engineers right arm & leg were rendered useless over the target & he carried on, but they both got a gong. Beside the two we lost we had three kites written off through fighter attacks, Waterbeach lost two. Dimmock was one of them he came back from leave with me the night previously.
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[underlined] Monday January 24th. [/underlined]
Still no more ops, in a week, at least no ops that we have completed. Last Thursday we were on the Berlin trip, it seemed a pretty good route, but there was a terrific long sea leg up to Denmark. I hate that, I don’t mind baling out over land ‘cos you have some chance, but there is no sense in baling out over water as by yourself in a Mae West, a chap wouldn’t last a couple of hours. So the only thing is ditching, then if the kite is out of control & we are unable to ditch, we’ve had it. However soon after taking off we couldn’t see any other kites & Johnny & I were picking up opposite drifts from what they should have been. Suddenly Mac checked his compasses and found they were all haywire, we were well off track, and crossed the coast at Ipswich instead of Cromer. Then trying to steer a straight course we went round in a huge circle. It was impossible for us to go on so we tried to jettison fuel in order to land. Mac & Jack tried to jettison fuel to bring our load down, but were unable to do so. We had to jettison the cookie, and flew sixty five miles out from the coast & let her go. So back we went, & were we cheesed, & hate a turn back, it was our first. Jimmy Rodgers returned earlier with a U/S rear turret & W/O Robbins with a U.S Rev counter, Anderson got lost & bombed Wilhelmshaven & I believe F.O Ogden came back after 4 1/2 hrs we were airborne 2 hrs. We lost P/O Canning, on his 19th trip.
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The following night we were going to Magdeburg, with a dummy attack on Berlin, by 15 Mosquitoes, & 20 Lancs (dont [sic] fancy that). There were 690 kites detailed, quite a few for a place that size, we were taxying out, & were almost at the flare path when the kite in front of us became bogged, it was old Howby in F, Freddie. The dim of an ACP let us get right on top of it, before flashing a red, so there was no room for us to turn & go round the perimeter in time to take off. There were other guys in the same position as us & there we all sat whilst the minutes ticked by & we were scrubbed, did we curse. In all eight kites didn’t take off & we lost one, Waterbeach lost four, which was grim, and they say six returned early, I don’t know if thats [sic] right, if so only six kites got to the target & back, it certainly was a chop raid.
Hardwick the chap who was at OTU with us has 5 weeks more [deleted] week [/deleted] grounded, he is cheesed. He gave us some news of fellows at OTU. Doc & his crew are P.O.W’s poor old Cecil Kindt had the chop, Chiefy Young is a P/O with 15 in & his navigator Shields has his W/O they have [deleted] [indecipherable letters] [/deleted] been doing O.K. Bouchard is O.K. with 9, old Towne is in jail, stripped for beating up a town low level. Mac met, Pat Macguire, who was Petch’s Navigator, in London, he said Petch was killed outright. They have an English chap who was a staff pilot in Canada. Ray Bennett was killed outright, but Johnny Smythe his dark navigator is a P.O.W. I don’t know about the rest of the crew.
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[underlined] Sunday 30th January [/underlined]
Everything was peaceful until Wednesday & then ‘ops’ were on again, bags of twitter, we beetled out to old G George to see everything was bang on. The weather wasn’t too hot & everyone was sure it would be scrubbed. When we found out it was Frankfurt, we were certain we wouldn’t go as before we had been briefed for it & hadn’t gone, sure enough it was scrubbed. The Forts went there the other day though, (yesterday in fact) 800 bombers, they certainly must have wanted to rub that place out. However the following night (Thursday) we were dicing once more & it was the old Faithful Berlin again. It seems strange but I have on obsession for that place, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like it, that would be plain dumb, but I am less disturbed when we go there than anywhere else. Why I am at a loss to explain as it is the longest & hardest trip we will ever have to do. All I know is I wouldn’t mind doing quite a few there, I hope it isn’t a fateful fascination & we get the chop over there.
We had a strong westerly wind blowing behind us & the outward trip only took 2 1/2 hrs, whilst the return took 5 1/2 hrs. Our journey wasn’t too bad, we had a nasty moment when Les told Mac to turn on a course of 037o & Mac thought he said 137o. We were on it for 2 minutes before I saw a Lanc. cut across us & I queried our course.
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This caused us to stray over, Brandenburg I believe it was & by jimini their predicted flak was damned accurate. It burst at the dead same height about 200 yds in front & another lot off the starboard beam. Another few seconds & we were flying through the black smoke puffs. As we saw the P.F.F. flares go down (they were a couple of minutes early) the first fighter flares dropped. Some of the kites had obviously arrived early & been stooging around, waiting for zero hour, because the flak had been going up for a while already. By the time we arrived, we were in the blasted last wave as usual, there were scores of yellow fighter flares making a lane into the target & another one out of it. There was one fair sized fire going but not so big as I have seen, just after the W/Op watched my cookie go through the clouds he reported a huge explosion. I smile to think it might have been me, but one can never tell what happens in a concentrated attack like that.
Two minutes after the bombs had gone, Don the Mid Upper spotted a fighter, & called to Johnny to watch it. Then we heard Johnny’s excited voice over the inter-com, “Its a JU88, he’s coming in he’s crossing over now, get ready to corkscrew port, - corkscrew port go”. I was scrambling up to the front guns & just reached there in time. Our corkscrew was so violent that neither of the gunners were able to open fire, it also
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must have surprised the Jerry because he overshot above us, & skidded in a stall turn about 200 yds away from our nose. I remember thinking “My God what a bloody size he is”, somehow I had never realised how large a 66ft wing span was for a fighter. Anyway he was in the wing right & a no deflection shot my fingers squeezed & I nearly whooped with joy, when I saw the tracer striking the rear of the port engine & the [deleted] sp [/deleted] mainplane between the engine & the fuselage. Then he dived down to port at a hell of a speed & my little bit of fun was over. It shook me that I was the one to open the attack, as the B/A’s don’t often get a crack. I think it rather shook him to be fired at from the front as he didn’t break away there again.
The battle really started then, & it was a battle too. Up he came from underneath, & Johnny yelled “corkscrew” & opened fire, we could hear his guns shattering, & we were zooming around the sky. Johnny said he hit the port engine again, as I hit it previously & some sparks & flames shot out then subsided to a glow, I think everyone thought we had had it then, though I must hand it to that fighter pilot he really had guts. Round he would come firing right in close & both our gunners would return the compliment. We were corkscrewing violently all the time and my stomach felt as though it was being torn apart & my head smacked against the perspex. Mac & Jack were both thrown against the
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[inserted] [two newspaper cuttings of the Berlin raid from two eye-witnesses] [/inserted] [duplicate page]
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[inserted] [newspaper cutting regarding the 12th major bombing raid on Berlin] [/inserted] [duplicate page]
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roof too. Every now & again a huge stream of tracer would pour across the top of us, & my mouth was dry with fear as I saw the cannon shells exploding at 600 yds. The gunners would be shouting “Corkscrew keep corkscrewing – here he comes again,” then the guns would chatter & we’d roll around. When it came to the break aways I kept praying he would come up to the front & I could get another crack but he never did. I would yell “Where is he?” each time but he would dive right down underneath & they would lose him, it was a separate sighting & attack each time. He made 7 attacks on us, I thought it would never end, on the third he hit us in the elevator trim. Then on the fifth attack a cannon shell exploded in the port wing & bullets ripped through the port inner nacelle. Though we couldn’t tell where the damage was we could only feel the hits. However we gave him quite a bit of punishment, we all hit him, & on the seventh attack, the glow in his engine suddenly became brighter & he dived down & that was the end of the attack, we claimed him as a probable. The whole engagement lasted 18 to 20 minutes it seemed like years, I had one moment of real fright in it. In the middle of a corkscrew with squirts of tracer everywhere I felt a violent blow in the left leg & thought “Hell, I’ve been hit” but it was all the heavy bundles of window that had shaken loose & crashed on my leg.
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We were at 18,500 ft when the attack started & were down to 13,000 ft at the end, the corkscrews were so violent, the Elsan came right out & was all over the floor & the ammo from one of Johnny’s tanks was all out. My God I was really thankful we had seen that through, one doesn’t often get continuous battles like it. Mac had a fair amount of work with no elevator trim but there was nothing vital hit and the kite flew O.K. We managed to get back on track but we were pretty late, everything went pretty well until it came to the part we squeezed between Frankfurt & the Ruhr. Everything was O.K. until some wicked predicted flak shot up about half a mile to the starboard, there were only three bursts then suddenly there was a Lanc. with flame pouring from the nose & three of her engines. She held her course for a short while, then swung round in a huge circle, came behind, assumed course for half a minute or so then plunged down, I hope they got out. I thought the return journey would never end, I hate it as long as that. We came out pretty well south of track, but we were back O.K. a fair few landed away through lack of fuel. The bullets that ripped through the port inner [indecipherable word] punctured the tyre, but we didn’t know, and landed with a flat tyre, swerved off the runway & there we were. The crash wagon & blood wagon tore out, & they insisted on us riding in the blood wagon.
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The M.O. insisted upon giving us some capsules, to make us sleep that night & wouldn’t let us go on ops the next night. He knew his ‘gen’ because when we woke we were pretty dizzy & weak from their effect & couldn’t possibly have operated. It was Berlin again, another 8 hr effort, it was a shambles here. They only got 9 out of the squadron airborne, & 2 of these returned, leaving 7 to go on to the target. Out of these 7 we lost 2 which is pretty grim, F/Lt. Aarvin & P/O Tyn were the ones missing. From the night before we lost F/O Harris & F/Sgt Morris, old Morris had been with us at Downham, they said he was in a dinghy, at least he was going to ditch, but they heard no more. Friday night, the RAF Bomber Command Band gave a performance here & was very good, Saturday there was a stand down we went to a camp dance. G George is U/S for a fortnight or so & we were going to take another kite tonight but they were so short of kites they couldn’t put us on. We are right hard up for kites now, two had a head on crash when taxying, nobody was hurt, but the kites are really ripped up. Another had incendiaries through it, they only sent 11 tonight, it was Berlin again, Chopper is really pushing ‘em in again. Old Foggarty has been awarded the DFM for the show he put up, I thought he would. So 623 has made a start here anyway. I wonder if we will be going to Berlin much more I should think it must be pretty well smashed up, they haven’t been able to get photographs for awhile.
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[inserted] [newspaper cutting saying that the Battle of Berlin is almost won and suggesting that Breslau may be the new Capital.] [/inserted] [duplicate page]
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[underlined] Monday February 7th. [/underlined]
A week has elapsed since I last wrote, a week of doing practically nothing. That Sunday raid on Berlin was the last op there was, we got eight kites off I believe, & lost poor old F/Lt Hicks. He was the Asst. Flight Commander in our flight, a [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] ‘Newzie’ & a good chap it was his 24th. There were no ‘ops’ then for a few days & then the moon period commenced. Our kite won’t be serviceable for nearly three weeks so they have given us J Johnny, Hicks’ old kite it was U/S & he took another when he got the chop. Sqdn.Ldr [indecipherable name] the ‘Corkscrew King’ had a real do. They had a contact on the Monica & instead of corkscrewing as they were told he asked the gunners if they could see anything. They were looking down & said “No”, & a fighter sitting about 10o up gave them a long burst while they were straight & level. He raked them right along, the rear turret smashed, the mid upper had about 20 fragments pass between his legs. A couple of cannon shells exploded in the fuselage, the [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] D.R. Master Unit was hit, a large hole in the main plane, one prop damaged, Boy! they were really shot up. The only one who was hurt was the A/B who had a small piece of flak in his behind. We have been informed that the old Groupie has detailed us for an hours circuits & bumps for the bad landing we made returning from Berlin. That was with a burst tyre. God knows what he wants, I don’t even believe he knows we were shot up.
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[inserted] [newspaper cutting regarding the raids on Berlin] [/inserted] [duplicate page]
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[inserted] [newspaper cutting with a photograph of a Halifax III] [/inserted] [duplicate page]
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It seems pretty definite that the German [indecipherable word]. is evacuating from Berlin to Breslau, its another 200 miles to the South East, surely they wont go there from here, it would be about a 10 hour trip. There is some talk that the tour is being reduced to 25 ops as they are pretty grim now with the Berlin trips, it seems pukka ‘gen’ I hope it is. During the week we have been doing loaded climbs on J to test her starboard outer now it has to be changed. We have also been trying to get some GH Bombing in but the weather isn’t so good. Yesterday we had the day off, they are giving crews a day off during the moon period. Johnny & I went home catching the 1036 AM. Sunday, & travelling back on the 8.20 AM. Monday, I had a wizard time.
On Saturday night we lost a kite on the Bullseye, it was Bishop who was at Downham with us. Poor old Jack Speechly was the Bomb Aimer, I had known him 18 months ever since Manchester, we did our training in Canada together, he was a rattling good chap. They had an American pilot with them, they were all killed, & they don’t know how it happened yet. The crash was found with them all in it, its really grim. That’s three of the crews that were with us at Downham gone now P/O Whitting Ginger Morris & now old Bishop, boy! I only pray we see the tour out & so do all the others. There’s nothing much happening, consequently there isn’t much to make an entry of, think I’ll snatch an early night.
[underlined] Sunday February 13th. [/underlined]
The moon period has definitely finished now and our period of rest is over. Once more ‘Chopper’ whipped a day off the end of it, we were briefed for Berlin & were out at the kites with about 30 mins to go before take off when it was scrubbed. The reason being the bad weather at base on return, it was pretty grim, & was a [deleted] poo [/deleted] wonder it wasn’t scrubbed before. I wouldn’t have minded the trip, because for a change it was a long trip out, & a short trip home. Last minute scrubbings are worse than some ‘ops’ I think after being keyed up all that time, still it shows there is still some of the Big City left there.
We haven’t done much this week, as the weather has been pretty duff, most of the time we tried some GH Bombing nothing came of it, owing to climate conditions. The other day we were up in a hell of a snow storm, all the time we were running before it & trying to find a way out. All the countryside looked pretty Christmassy with a coating of snow over the fields & villages. As I was in the rear turret all the time I was more interested in keeping warm. Our turrets got in grim condition during the moon period and we had to work like the devil all day to get it in shape. I was late for briefing through it and had a hell of a flap trying to get my tracks & maps all ship shape.
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All Jimmy Rodgers crew went to Cambridge on Friday, as two of [deleted] Jim [/deleted] Bishops crew were being buried there. It is terrible really four of them were married & a couple engaged, old Bishop was only married at O.T.U., I would never get married in war time for that reason. Looking at it soberly with all the chaps getting the chop it seems a hell of a mugs game still there it is.
There has been a fair amount of entertainment this week, we had a night out in Ely with a wizard meal in the KUMIN Café. On Wednesday night there was a dance in the gymnasium, then Thursday night we had a big social in the mess. They even went to the extent of polishing the floor, & in our grim mess that really is something. It went on until 1 AM. & there was bags of beer & eats, the food was very good, marzipan cakes, sausage rolls etc. £25 was allowed for it, so it should have been good. On Saturday there was another dance but I was cheesed with that & don’t think I will bother going again.
The siren is going now & there is some gunfire, be quite comical now, with us refraining from bombing Berlin owing to the met. here, & the Jerries using the same conditions to bomb us. They have left the bombs on the kites & only drained the tanks to 1500 so it looks as though they will be parking us along tomorrow. I guess now they have started again, Chopper will try & really finish Berlin, hope he doesn’t finish us.
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[inserted] [two newspaper cuttings regarding the continuing raids on Berlin and their effect] [/inserted] [duplicate page]
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[duplicate page]
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[underlined] Thursday 17th February. [/underlined]
All was quite [sic] until Thursday, when ‘ops’ were on again, & there it loomed on the briefing room chart, the [deleted] G [/deleted] Big City once more. It was another daylight take off, quite a sight to see all the kites streaming over the coast at Cromer. The first leg was a terrific long one up to Denmark, & it was quite light most of the way, but luckily got dark by the time we were crossing the coast. Those Danish islands can certainly poop up some flak, & I was glad when we hit the Baltic Coast. The last leg to the target was a terrific long one, straight to it, I couldn’t see that the Jerry would be fooled regarding the target, even though there was a spoof attack on Frankfurt-on-Oder. The P.F.F. boobed by sending the flares down before zero hour, & the flak certainly opened up. It was the heaviest I have seen there, I think he was relying more on that than his fighters. Running up I could see about six Halifaxes beneath us, they seemed quite happy as the flak was all bursting between 18 & 21,000 ft. We were carrying just one 8,000 lb cookie, which is quite a goodly size, it was handy in the way that immediately I said ‘Bombs Gone’ Mac could whip the Bomb Doors shut.
Bomber Command was trying new tactics this time the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd waves went one way, & we in the 4th & 5th waves went a bit south of them along another route. The idea was to split the fighter forces, & I think it succeeded we only saw two all night, one ME110 just after
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[inserted] [two newspaper cuttings regarding the raids on Berlin] [/inserted] [duplicate page]
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[inserted] [newspaper cutting about obliterating bombing techniques]
[page break]
leaving the target flashed across our nose. We ran into some flak though, getting off track a bit we stooged right over Magdeburg. Beside window there were two huge packets of nickels to throw out so I was sweating like anything shovelling it all out. Not much happened on our return journey apart from a few fighter flares & some rockets. We saw a kite go down in flames over the North Sea, I should hate to get the chop right back there. Two were lost from here, F/S Whyte who had 16 trips in & F/S Ralph who was with us at Downham. He had Pinky Tomlin, Petch’s old B/A, who arrived with a new skipper F/O Nice, beside losing his B/A he lost his rear gunner who went as a spare with Whyte. I hate this spare business they always seem to get the chop.
Yesterday we were briefed for Berlin, then scrubbed, then again tonight & were out at the kites before being scrubbed, the weather was terrible both days, yet they wait till the last minute before scrubbing it. We were read a message from Chopper Harris C in C. congratulating us on the progress of the Battle for Berlin. After the usual flowery comments on our ‘courage & steadfast spirit’ he said we were well ahead of schedule in the obliteration of the capital. He also said the Allied Command considered it the most important battle of all land, sea or air battles fought & yet to fight in the war. There was a long list of reasons of its immediate need to be liquidated, & he said he had to rush us to finish the job as the lighter nights and the Northern lights would soon be making their appearance. Well I hope there isn’t many more trips to be done there.
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22
[underlined] 60/520 [/underlined]
8
196
2443
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Book 5, Return to UK
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Fifth and final diary kept by David Geach chronicling his time training and on operations. He writes about his return from Canada on the Queen Elizabeth then his training in England which began with arriving at the Posting Centre in Pannal Ash, Harrogate. He was then posted to AFU Bobbington, training on Ansons. From there he went to O.T.U. Hixon and satellite station Seighford training on Wellingtons. He then went to Flying Conversion Unit Woolfox Lodge to train on Stirlings. Once training was complete he was posted to RAF Downham Market on 623 Squadron flying Stirlings on operations. When 623 Stirling squadron was disbanded he was transferred on to Lancasters. He was posted to Flying Conversion Unit 1678 at RAF Waterbeach to train on the Lancaster and then on to RAF Witchford where he undertook operations over Germany, including a number on Berlin. Covers the period 17 March 1943 to 17 February 1944.
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David Geach
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One handwritten diary
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eng
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YGeachDG1394781v5
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
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Great Britain
Scotland--Greenock
Scotland--Glasgow
Scotland--Edinburgh
England--Harrogate
England--Whitley Bay
England--Bournemouth
England--Stourbridge
England--Birmingham
England--Wolverhampton
England--Stafford
Canada
Ontario--Ottawa
Atlantic Ocean--Cardigan Bay
Wales--Rhyl
England--The Wash
England--Nottingham
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man
England--Cannock
Wales--Aberystwyth
Scotland--Orkney
France--Saint-Malo
France--Rennes
France--Isigny-sur-Mer
France--Cherbourg
France--Avranches
England--Southampton
England--Stamford
England--Cambridge
England--Peterborough
England--Bedford
England--Portsmouth
Netherlands--Friesland
England--Cromer
France--La Rochelle
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France--Nantes
England--King's Lynn
Italy--Turin
North Africa
Gibraltar
England--Thames River
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Berlin
England--Ely
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Hamburg
Norway
Netherlands--Texel
Germany--Bremen
Denmark
Germany--Wilhelmshaven
Germany--Brandenburg
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Hannover
England--Sunderland (Tyne and Wear)
Poland--Szczecin
Poland--Wrocław
England--Southend-on-Sea
Italy
Atlantic Ocean--Firth of Clyde
Poland
France
Ontario
Germany
Netherlands
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Bedfordshire
England--Durham (County)
England--Essex
England--Hampshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Norfolk
England--Northumberland
England--Sussex
England--Staffordshire
England--Worcestershire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Warwickshire
England--Selsey (West Sussex)
Wales--Caernarfon
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IBCC Digital Archive
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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.
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Tricia Marshall
David Bloomfield
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1943-03
1943-04
1943-05
1943-06
1943-07
1943-08
1943-09
1943-10
1943-11
1943-12
1944-01
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115 Squadron
149 Squadron
1678 HCU
196 Squadron
199 Squadron
214 Squadron
218 Squadron
30 OTU
514 Squadron
623 Squadron
90 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
aerial photograph
air gunner
aircrew
Anson
anti-aircraft fire
B-17
bale out
bomb aimer
bombing
Catalina
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
crewing up
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
entertainment
fear
flight engineer
Gee
ground personnel
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Hurricane
incendiary device
Ju 88
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 2
Me 110
military living conditions
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mine laying
Mosquito
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Navy, Army and Air Force Institute
Nissen hut
Operational Training Unit
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RAF Chedburgh
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RAF Hixon
RAF Lindholme
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RAF Tangmere
RAF Tuddenham
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RAF Woolfox Lodge
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searchlight
Stirling
target indicator
target photograph
training
Typhoon
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Wellington
wireless operator
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
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Title
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Stephenson, Stuart
Stuart Stephenson MBE
S Stephenson
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IBCC Digital Archive
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Stephenson, S
Description
An account of the resource
20 items. An oral history interview with Stuart Stephenson MBE, Chairman of the Lincs-Lancaster Association, and issues of 5 Group News.
The collection was catalogued by Barry Hunter.
In accordance with the conditions stipulated by the donor, some items are available only at the International Bomber Command Centre / University of Lincoln.
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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.
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Transcription
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Base Commander [Initials]
Base Int:
V GROUP NEWS V
FEBRUARY 1944 * [deleted] CONFIDENTIAL [/deleted] * NUMBER 19
FOREWORD by A.O.C.
The German night fighters have once again been forced to change their night fighting tactics, and this change has increased the importance of accurate flying, especially as regards airspeeds. Until recently, German fighters were sent to orbit over the city which the German Command thought was the one to be attacked. Owing to the ingenious selection of routes for the Bomber Force these tactics proved a failure and the Germans have now gone over to a new method, which is to give the fighters courses to steer which will intercept the bomber stream.
It is obvious that the greater the length of the stream the greater will be the chances of the fighters coming across some portion of it and it is, therefore, of the utmost importance that that all Captains should maintain the most accurate timing from the concentration point to the target. The aim should be never more than plus or minus 2 minutes from the times laid down. This standard is very far from being reached at present and a proportion fail to achieve better than plus or minus 10 minutes. If some are 10 minutes early and some 10 minutes late the effect is to spread the Lancasters over a distance of 60 miles greater than that planned, i.e. it nearly doubles the length of the bomber stream and increases in this ratio the chances of interception.
Until recently time keeping was beset by many difficulties. Each Navigator was responsible for finding his own wind vectors and from these calculating new ground speeds and E.T.A’s. The majority of aircraft were not equipped with H2S and, therefore, had little chance of finding accurate winds when outside Gee range.
This problem has now been solved by the use of the Command wind broadcast to all aircraft and by the newly introduced moveable T.O.T. In future, provided crews leave the concentration point at the exact time ordered, and fly at the speeds and heights laid down in the Flight Plan, they will arrive at the target at the correct time to commence their attack. Should they encounter winds different from those used for timing the operation, a new T.O.T. based on the new winds will be transmitted by wireless.
Responsibility for time keeping therefore, devolves primarily to the Pilot, who must not only ensure setting course from the concentration point at the right time, but must thereafter keep rigidly to the speeds laid down. In view of the enormous importance which timing has now assumed, a special drive is being undertaken to improve results and to eradicate those errors which still cause aircraft to arrive early or late, or to stray off track.
A report analysing a number of recent operations has been circulated to Squadrons and I hope this will be read by all Captains and Navigators. It shows how apparently trivial mistakes can build up into serious errors and illustrates the need for extreme care and accuracy in every stage of navigation.
Two key points are :-
(i) Captains must leave the concentration point at the exact time ordered.
(ii) They must maintain heights and speeds decided at Flight Planning.
TACTICS
[Underlined] TACTICS AND PLANNING [/underlined]
A new type of attack was introduced this month, whereby the main force and P.F.F. were divided into two forces to attack the same target with an interval of 2 – 2 1/2 hours between zero hours. It is not possible to form conclusions from the limited evidence obtained from the two attacks which were carried out, but two advantages of this scheme are obvious:
(i) P.F.F. Marking of the second phase should be accurate – observation of the location of the first phase M.P.I. providing an opportunity for visual markers to correct any apparent displacement of the attack.
(ii) A carefully timed interval may increase the difficulties of the enemy fighter force, compelling them to refuel either before or during the second phase attack.
Assessment of the results of the Schweinfurt attack, 24/25th February, points to the probable achievement of both these aims. Losses for the second phase were less than the first, although the number of combats was greater in the second phase; the M.P.I. of the attack was in fact nearer the aiming point than the first phase attack. For this type of attack to be successful, however, the temptation to bomb the centre of the fires from the first attack must be strongly resisted, and implicit faith placed in the second phase marking, whether it be coincident with the first attack or some distance away.
[Underlined] BULLSEYES [/underlined]
Bullseyes routed North-East towards Denmark have been very helpful to the bomber force on two occasions during the month. Shielding the bombers’ Southerly courses to Schweinfurt and Augsburg, Bullseye aircraft drew many fighters from South Germany to the North, and comparatively low losses on both those night were undoubtedly partly due to this well planned diversion. Accurate timing on the part of Bullseye aircraft is essential however, if they are to simulate a concentrated bomber stream.
It is thought that Units taking part in Bullseyes are not deriving as much benefit from these exercises as is possible. The need for a more precise interrogation of crews into types of manoeuvre taken against fighter and searchlights is obvious. This Headquarters is examining the various fighter and bomber crew reports available, and endeavour will be made shortly to issue a collated summary of interceptions for each Bullseye, for tactical discussions at Stations.
The following incident which came to light a few days ago reflects the general attitude of crews towards Bullseyes:-
A Polish fighter pilot made three attacks on a bomber during a Bullseye exercise, flashing three “kills”. The fact that there was no response from the bomber during any of the attacks aroused his interest and he finally closed right in with landing lamp on, and this revealed – empty mid-upper and rear turrets.
No accusation is made against crews in this Group, but this sort of thing is most discouraging to the fighter boys, and certainly does not stimulate their interest in bomber tactics. More than this, it shows a stupid lack of interest on the part of the bomber crew. Remember that 50% of a bomber crew’s job is to bring the aircraft and themselves back safely to fight another day. This can hardly be expected if gunners throw away the only chance they have of seeing a fighter attack at night, before meeting a real Hun which flashes cannon shells instead of its landing light.
[Underlined] EARLY WARNING DEVICES [/underlined]
The enthusiasm of Squadrons in Monica and Fishpond training is welcomed, but there is still room for improvement. Wireless Operators must not relax until they are able to interpret the cathode tube from a mere glance. Remember that whilst you are thinking whether to report a blip or not, you can be shot out of the sky. Interpretation and reporting must be immediate and accurate. If you know your drill you can get away with it. Here’s someone who did :-
“At 2127 in the target area Monica indicated a fighter closing rapidly at 1,800 yards. Lancaster corkscrewed at 750 yards. Enemy aircraft then opened fire but tracer went above the Lancaster. Later gunners identified JU.188 at 100 yards range as they fired, tracer ricochetted [sic] off the nose of the fighter. JU.188 claimed as damaged.
[Underlined] Conclusions [/underlined]
(i) The fighter’s burst would obviously have been fatal if the Lancaster had not corkscrewed.
(ii) A standard patter was carried out throughout the attack and a corkscrew was started at the correct range on Monica.
Do [underlined] you [/underlined] know the standard patter and tactics? If not, study 5G/34/Air dated 4th February, 1944 (Appendix “A”) until you talk Monica language in your sleep.
[Underlined] TAILPIECE [/underlined]
The following is quoted without comment with apologies to A.A. Command Intelligence Review :-
“On 24 Feb. according to the Berlin radio, American bombers flew over Switzerland. This radio conversation is then stated to have been exchanged between Swiss A.A. gunners and the USAAF :-
[Underlined] Swiss A.A. [/underlined] “Look out, you are over Switzerland.”
[Underlined] USAAF [/underlined] “We know!”
[Underlined] Swiss A.A. [/underlined] “If you don’t turn back we shall shoot.”
[Underlined] USAAF [/underlined] “We know!”
(Swiss guns open fire)
[Underlined] USAAF “Your A.A. fire is about 1,000 feet too low”
[Underlined] Swiss A.A. [/underlined] “We know!”
[Page break]
NAVIGATION
[Underlined] BROADCAST W/V’S [/underlined]
Concentration this month was, on the whole, better than last month. Timing with the exception of the raids on LEIPZIG (19/20 February) and SCHWEINFURT (24/25th February) was very good. This is the combined result of the excellent effort of the Windfinders and the good use made of the broadcast w/v’s by all the Navigators.
We still have a long way to go however. Many simple mistakes are being made by Windfinders, e.g. incorrect plotting of air positions, wrong computions, errors made in measuring the w/v, messages wrongly coded, to mention a few. It will be appreciated that if plotting and compution errors are made, incorrect w/v’s will be the result, and therefore, the Senior Met. Officer at H.Q. 5 Group cannot forecast the correct w/v for use of other aircraft. Windfinders have a great responsibility and must make every effort to obtain accurate w/v checks.
The same mistakes are also being made by the rest of the force. A recent O.R.S. report stated that errors in compution are reaching a phenomenal figure. Every effort must be made by Station and Squadron Navigation Officers to eliminate this fault. Compution of true airspeeds presents a big problem to many Navigators , the average error is approximately 5 m.p.h. Calculation of courses is another stumbling block, the average error being 2° or 3°. The combination of these errors has an adverse effect on concentration, besides nullifying much of the good work done by the Windfinders. Watch computions and calculations carefully, Navigators. Also check each calculation at least once.
One word about interpolation. The w/v’s broadcast are those applicable to the mean height band. Therefore, if you are at the top or bottom of the band, the broadcast w/v is not accurate for your height. Interpolation is the answer. Consult the Form 2330 and note the forecasted change in the wind speed and then interpolate and apply the correction to the broadcast w/v. There have been instances of the wind speed increasing by 15 m.p.h. for an increase in height of only 2,000 feet.
Many Navigators do not use the broadcast w/v’s correctly. Some do not use the corrected w/v if it is “within a few degrees and a few miles per hour” of the previous forecast w/v. There are still a few Navigators too, who do not seem capable of applying the corrected w/v when it is given to them. A plotting method to be adopted when using broadcast w/v’s has been described in A.S.I. Nav/14, issued 14.2.44. All Navigators must make sure they are fully conversant with this method. Any suggestions of criticisms are welcomed.
One final word to Windfinders, you did an excellent job last month, the record achieved being 153 w/v on the night of 15/16th February, a very fine effort. Keep this up!!!
[Underlined] AIR POSITION INDICATORS [/underlined]
Many A.P.I’s and A.M.U’s have been issued to the Group during the last month, and we are now in the happy position of having 100% A.P.I’s, though all are not yet fitted.
There is an inherent error in the A.P.I. This is caused by the heating in the Navigator’s cabin. A modification is now being fitted to all A.P.I’s which should reduce the error to less than one percent. It is hoped all aircraft will be fitted with the A.P.I. and the modification by the end of the next moon period.
Con. Units are also being supplied with A.P.I’s; Navigators will soon be arriving at Squadrons fully trained in the use of this instrument.
Trouble is still being experienced when re-setting the Air Position Indicator. Station and Squadron Navigation Officers must have a drive on this procedure. Several Squadrons have suggested methods to be adopted when re-setting the A.P.I; any other suggestions will be welcomed.
[Underlined]LOG AND CHART KEEPING [/underlined]
The present system of log keeping and chart work involves unnecessary duplication of effort. If a Navigator’s chart work is done correctly, less detail is required in the log, and the Navigator can devote more time to his primary object of navigating the aircraft to the target and back to base.
The following entries are considered by some Navigators to be superfluous because the detail already appears on the chart, (a) Position and time of all fixes, pinpoints, D. R. positions and air positions, (b) all w/v’s obtained, tracks made good and position lines.
If these entries were omitted from the log approximately 10 minutes would be saved hourly. Moreover, the Navigator’s attention would not be constantly distracted by having to refer to the log each time a fix, D.R. position etc was obtained. This scheme has been tried successfully by several Navigators in this Group.
All Navigators should consider this suggestion carefully and discuss with the Station and Squadron Navigation Officers.
[Underlined] NAVIGATION “BLACK OF THE MONTH” (No names no Packdrills) [/underlined]
A very good example of what can happen if a Navigator boobs and there is little co-operation in the crew, occurred on a recent sortie in this Group.
The crew in question set course from Base for Position “A”, and arrived there early. It was decided to carry out a dog leg and return to Position “B” (the South Coast). When the dog-leg was almost completed as Gee fix was obtained and course altered for Position “B”. This is where the mistake was made. The Navigator gave the pilot a course to steer of 024°(M) instead of 064°(M). The Navigator then decided to “try his hand” with the H2S. It was his second operational sortie. He was hoping to pick up the English Coast line, but this did not appear. Just before E.T.A. the Navigator decided that “something was wrong”, and obtained a Gee fix. This placed the aircraft a great many miles North of Position “B”. The mistake was immediately realised and course altered for Position “B”. The aircraft arrived at this position 19 minutes after the latest time, and so the sortie was abandoned.
Apart from the glorious “boob” of the Navigator, the pilot should have realised that the course of 024° (M) was greatly in error. This is a warning to all pilots and navigators. Had the pilot studied his “Captains of aircraft” map, he would have spotted the error in the course given. Pilots should always check a course with the Navigator if it sounds “phoney”. The Navigator [underlined] must always [/underlined] recheck all his calculations and computions.
ASTRO COMPASS
It was stated in last month’s News that the Astro Compass was being modified. This has now been done with the result that only the Pole Star can be used for checking the aircraft’s course. The advantage is that the instrument is very much simpler to use. No calculation is necessary, the observer merely rotates the bearing plate until the Pole Star is in the sights, and reads off the aircraft’s course against the Red pointer.
Trials carried out by No. 49 Squadron, Fiskerton, have proved successful. The compass was found very simple to use. The checking of the aircraft’s course is now a very simple task, and can be done by any member of the crew, as no calculations are necessary.
The difficult task of finding a good position for the Astro Compass still remains however; numerous trials have been carried out but with little or no success. Can [underlined] YOU [/underlined] help to solve the problem? Remember the Astro Compass can also be used for obtaining bearings, so bear this in mind when you are hunting for a new position.
[Underlined] NAVIGATION QUIZ [/underlined]
1. What part does the Navigator play in (a) Emergency procedure, (b) S.O.S. procedure?
2. If you are 10 miles or more off track by how many degrees would you alter course to regain track?
3. What is the procedure for obtaining a Gee fix if either the “B” or “C” Strobe is missing?
4. You are not certain of your position and suddenly red flares are seen ahead of you. (a) What does this mean? (b) What immediate action would you take?
Answers to last month’s Quiz
1. (a) 3500 ft. (b) 2500 ft. (c) 1000 ft. (d) 5000 ft.
2. (a) Section “E”. (b) Section “N”.
3. Lincoln!! (by approx. 100 miles)
4. The Navigator should immediately co-operate with the W/Op, and attempt to home on to the dinghy. (The W/Op. on hearing the S.O.S. will listen for an acknowledgement from the ground listening station, and if this is not heard he will pass the intercepted message on to M/F Section “J”, saying that it has been picked up and giving his own call sign etc but not his position (this will be known by Section “J” from the aircraft’s own transmission)).
5. (i) Change the fuse. (ii) Check [underlined] all [/underlined] leads.
6. The creeping line ahead method of search is best under all conditions (see Appendix “A” to A.S.I. Ops.1/18).
[Underlined] UNION NEWS [/underlined]
S/Ldr. H.C. Lobb – B.N.O. Swinderby to 8 Group P.F.F.
S/Ldr. H.L. Creeth – Radar/Nav 5 Group to B.N.O. Swinderby.
F/Lt. N.W. Mould, DFC – 57 Nav.Offr. to S.N.O. Dunholme.
F/O. J. Simms, DFC – 57 Sqdn appointed Sqdn. Nav. Officer.
F/Lt. G. Crowe, DFC – 106 Nav.Officer to S.N.O. Metheringham.
F/Lt. W.J. Beeston – Attached to 5 Group O.R.S. posted to Flying Trg. Command.
5 Group News. No. 19. February, 1944. Page 2.
[Page break]
AIR BOMBING
[Underlined] CALLING ALL PILOT BOMBING OFFICERS ! [/underlined]
The following paragraphs are the precis of an address by Air/Cdr. Patch, C.B.E., to the first Conference of Bombing Officers :-
The post of Flight Bombing Officer was created to improve bombing in 5 Group. Enthusiasm of such officers is essential, and should be directed to keeping bombing in the forefront by constant pressure on Squadron Commanders and Flight Commanders. The Squadron Bombing Leader is able to deal with the bombing problems of the Air Bomber but he has difficulty in convincing pilots that their ability should be shown in bombing flying rather than aerobatics. In 4 engined bomber aircraft, Pilots should concentrate in the first place on flying accurately over a given point on the ground. Next, Pilots must appreciate that on any given heading the bomb must be released from one point in the air. It requires most skilful flying to direct the aircraft through this point. Analysis of bombing errors showed that, excluding Vector Errors, 90% of the errors were due to bad flying, in particular in tracking and aircraft “skid”. The Mark XIV Bombsight has been designed to give tactical freedom but it is essential that a steady approach be made, accuracy depending on the final steady run. There must be no sudden alteration of aircraft attitude, no skidding, and complete accuracy of tracking.
Flight Bombing Officers must think over these practical points and decide how best to put it over to the Pilots. They must point out to Pilots that their aircraft are, in reallity [sic], sighting platforms from which, with the help of a complicated piece of mechanism – the Mark XIV Bombsight – they are to direct a tremendous bomb load against an enemy target. The conception of “area bombing” has caused bad bombing flying. If we can attain precision, not only against small targets but also large cities, we can reduce the number of raids required to obliterate Berlin and those other vital targets we must destroy.
Under operational conditions now being developed, and with the help of improving P.F.F. technique, we should be able to achieve greater accuracy at night in attacking a point of light, that is a T.I. or Wanganui Flare. The Bombing Officer’s job was to make Pilots “think bombing”, “talk bombing” and “fly bombing” until the time is reached that over the pint of beer in the Mess the main conversation is bombing accuracy.
[Underlined] N.B. [/underlined] The first Bombing Officers Air Staff Instruction was issued 11th January, 1944, No. BL/15.
[Underlined] AIR BOMBERS’ QUIZ [/underlined]
1. Why should incendiaries not be dropped by the Main Force before Zero Hour on a Newhaven attack?
2. If an engine cut on take-off, and it was necessary to lighten the aircraft quickly, what action could the Air Bomber suggest concerning the bomb load?
3. If you were carrying a 1000 lb bomb on No. 5 Station, and it was not pre-selected on the Connell Pre-Selector, would it be released by Jettison action?
4. Why should the camera [underlined] NOT [/underlined] be operated before bombing?
[Underlined] HIGH LEVEL BOMBING TRAINING (ALL ERRORS CONVERTED TO 20,000 FEET) [/underlined]
[Table of Bombs dropped and errors found by category and Squadron]
THE BEST CREW EXERCISES FOR FEBRUARY
Squadron or Con. Unit Pilot Air Bomber Navigator Error at 20,000 ft.
9 P/O Blow F/Sgt Smith Sgt Hurrell 131 yds
44 P/O Charlesworth Sgt Frederuck F/Sgt Hill 148 yards
P/O Butt Sgt Whiter F/O Sparrow 143 yds
49 W/O Jones Sgt Blackham F/Sgt Stevenson 123 yds
61 P/O Nixon F/Sgt Garrett F/Sgt Devenish 140 yds
106 P/O O’Leary F/Sgt Snowden F/Sgt Williams 142 yds
207 P/O Briggs F/O Bujac P/O Murray 147 yds
P/O Barnett Sgt Hazel F/O Anderson 61 yds
463 P/O McKnight F/O Johnson P/O Isham 140 yds
619 Sgt Wadsworth Sgt Bengston Sgt Shenton 72 yds
1660 Sgt Newman Sgt Outram Sgt Ratner 132 yds
F/Sgt Riddle F/O Larsen Sgt Glulow 140 yds
1661 Sgt Grantham Sgt Young Sgt Hobbs 145 yds
F/Sgt Monaghan Sgt Wand Sgt Philpott 147 yds
617 Squadron obtained 18 exercises, error less than 150 yards, the best 3 being
F/Lt Wilson F/O Finlay F/O Parkin 55 yds
F/Lt Kearns F/O Daniels F/O Barclay 60 yds
P/O Knight F/Sgt Bell W/O Giller 57 yds
ADDITIONAL BOMBING TRAINING
[Table of Training exercises by Squadron]
[Underlined] LEADER COMPETITION [/underlined]
F/Lt Walmsley, 619 Squadron, made the only, and most creditable, effort in the Leader Competition, his Bombing Error at 20,000 feet being 79 yards!!! Congratulations.
5 Group News. No. 19. February, 1944. Page 3.
[Page break]
AIR BOMBING (CONT)
[Underlined] SQUADRON BOMBING COMPETITION [/underlined]
8 Squadrons qualified in this month’s competition, with results as follows, all errors being converted to 20,000 fett.
[Underlined] Pilots & Air Bombers Navigators [/underlined]
1st 106 Sqdn – 88 yds 1st 207 Sqdn -108 yds
2nd 50 Sqdn -125 yds 2nd 619 Sqdn -138 yds
3rd 61 Sqdn -141 yds 3rd 61 Sqdn -169 yds
4th 619 Sqdn -147 yds 4th 467 Sqdn -170 yds
5th 9 Sqdn -157 yds 5th 9 Sqdn -174 yds
6th 44 Sqdn -166 yds 6th 50 Sqdn -188 yds
7th 207 Sqdn -189 yds 7th 106 Sqdn -216 yds
8th 467 Sqdn -201 yds 8th 44 Sqdn -231 yds
9th 630 Sqdn -175 yds 9th 630 Sqdn -170 yds
(630 Sqdn completed [underlined] 5 [/underlined] exercises only)
The following Squadrons completed 1 exercise only.
10th 463 Sqdn -86 yds 10th 463 Sqdn – 95 yds
11th 49 Sqdn- 90 yds 11th 57 Sqdn -162 yds
12th 57 Sqdn-245 yds 12th 49 Sqdn -291 yds
Congratulations to 106 Squadron who have now won the Bombing Competition for 3 successive months. Nos.9, 50, and 61 Squadrons have all improved their positions considerably but 619 have relinquished their customary “runners up” place in the table. We expect a maximum entry for March and a keen effort on all Squadrons part to topple 106 from the top.
[Underlined] “GEN” FROM WAINFLEET [/underlined]
The following news items are provided by the Range Staff at Wainfleet.
1. It is emphatically denied that the entire Night Staff applied for compassionate posting after a night programme carried out at maximum height by No. 5 L.F.S.
2. [Underlined] Heard over the R/T [/underlined]
R/T Operator – “Hullo ----- Please give me a TT.”
Pilot of A/C – “Time over Target 22.26.”
[Underlined] Note: [/underlined] A TT is a tuning transmission.
3. [Underlined] Advice to Crews. [/underlined]
(i) Conform to the established R/T procedure.
(ii) Be sure you burn the correct Downward Recognition Light during NIGHT exercises.
(iii) Pass times of strike and headings QUICKLY after the exercise.
(iv) Wait for silence on R/T before calling the Range.
(v) When you query errors given by the range REMEMBER please that a Direct Hit from 20,000 feet gives the Range Staff as much pleasure as it gives you !!
4. [Underlined] A Thought for the Month. [/underlined]
DO make sure you know which target you are to bomb !! (Many Wainfleet workmen have of late doubled their insurance).
P.S. A certain Mosquito from a certain well-known Group dropped a practice bomb which hit a lorry standing in front of the Range Headquarters. A 3,500 yards error.
[Underlined] “GEN” FROM THE SQUADRONS [/underlined]
[Underlined] 44 Squadron [/underlined] (F/Lt Lowry) have introduced the Pilot’s Miniature Route Chart for the use of Air Bombers. Thus a single map of the complete route is available and the defended localities and route markers can be recorded. Its use is primarily for dark nights when map reading using the topographical maps is difficult.
[Underlined] 9 Squadron [/underlined] (F/Lt. Bell, DF.C.) has originated an excellent scheme with the use of operational 3073’s. After each operation a chart is made out which shows on one sheet of paper each Bomb Aimer’s picture of the markers bombed. The full sequence of marking in the order of the times of bombing is thus available to each Air Bomber who can compare his attack and estimation of distances with the other Bomb Aimers in the Squadron.
[Underlined] 619 Squadron [/underlined] (F/Lt. Walmesly, D.F.C.) states that of the 300 practice bombs dropped this year, not one has been aimed below 5000 feet. Further they claim to be the only Unit in the Group (yea, verily, even in the Command) with such a record.
[Underlined] 57 Squadron [/underlined] (F/L Keates) reports that training was concentrated on to H2S and Gunnery. Blind Bombing with H 2 S had taken a prominent part in this training.
The Squadron Bombing Leader has compiled a graph consisting of nine curves on one sheet, which shows the forwards travel in yards and seconds of groundspeed of all bombs with T.V. between 420 and 1900 feet per second, for specific heights and groundspeeds. The groups apply to the selected heights 15000, 20000 and 25000 feet and the curves in each group cover height and groundspeeds 200, 210 and 220 m.p.h. Any other combinations of height and groundspeeds could be used. All information has been extracted from 5 Group Armament Training Notes, Part 1.
The advantage of this graph is that all information is contained in one graph and considerable time and labour is saved in calculating time intervals or compiling or checking preselector figures for any kind of load within the limitations of T.V., heights and speeds selected.
[Underlined] BOMBING LEADERS CORNER [/underlined]
F/O Billington has succeeded F/Lt Bray as Bombing Leader to 207 Squadron.
F/O. Astbury, D.F.C., moves up to F/Lt. Bombing Leader, 617 Squadron, and is joined by F/O. Harden, D.F.C., and F/O. Walker, Bombing Leaders from 1660 Conversion Unit and 61 Squadron respectively.
Congratulations to F/Lt. Bell (9 Squadron) F/Lt. Wake (106 Squadron) and F/Lt. Walmsley (619 Squadron) on the award of D.F.C’s.
Congratulations also to P/O Ball (1661 Con Unit) 3rd on No. 76 Bombing Leader’s Course with an “A” category and P/O Watford (1661 Con Unit) on gaining 1st place on No. 27 A.B.I’s Course.
F/Sgt. Coates (9 Squadron) obtained “B” category on No. 76 Bombing Leaders’ Course. F/O Lyons (61 Squadron) was 9th on No. 75 Course with a “B” Pass.
GARDENING
Despite February weather, the Command planted no less than 1647 vegetables, the second highest total for any month. As all Lancasters were busy discomforting the enemy by more direct methods it fell mainly to the Stirlings of 3 Group, followed by Halifaxes of 4 and 6 Groups and, on a smaller but useful scale, Wellingtons of 1 Group, to achieve this mighty total.
KIEL BAY received over 35%. The French U-boat bases about 20%, and the Western German Estuaries, the Kattegat and Channel also received good measure. Small numbers were planted off the French South Western Iron Ore Ports and in Oslo Fjord.
A Swedish newspaper reports the closing of the ports and shipping channels as an immediate result of 4 and 6 Groups’ visits to the last named. Photographic evidence is already available of the effects of the great effort on Kiel Bay. It shows one 6000 ton liner sunk and lying on her side, and also great congestion of shipping, indicating beyond doubt that traffic has been stopped for a time. It is hard to over estimate the importance of Kiel, which is the focal point of all German traffic in Northern Waters; the annual turnover is 29,000,000 tons of war material, nearly one half of which is iron ore imported from Norway and Sweden. The amount handled [underlined] DAILY [/underlined] would fill 12 1/2 miles of railway trucks. One effect of heavy and sustained mining against this traffic would be to force the enemy to use the sea route to the West of Denmark down to the Elbe and Ems. In hard winters this is done for us by ice in the Baltic, but this winter we have been let down by this ally.
Two interesting points arise from the month’s work. First, nearly all of it has been carried out from high level with great success. A variety of techniques have been used including:- The use of P.F.F. methods (both by aircraft of that force and H 2 S aircraft from the other Groups, marking pinpoints for those not so fitted); the use of the Mark XIV Bombsight when visual means have been possible; and dropping entirely on H 2 S. Secondly, a start has been made in the mining of the enemy’s inner harbours.
We have the task in 5 Group of studying and keeping up to date with the new methods which are still in an experimental stage, and therefore, subject to frequent changes, so that when the call comes for either a small or large gardening effort we can carry it out with our traditional efficiency.
49 Squadron have already been informed of the success of their accurate attack from high level with H 2 S on the 5/6th January.
[Boxed] [Underlined] PILOTS – TAKE IT EASY! [/underlined]
Use your throttles LEISURELY at all times. Do not open up with a rush. You won’t get off the ground any quicker if you “ram” the throttles open, and you are more liable to swing. Make any correction with engines smoothly. There’s no such thing as a “short burst” of engine in proper flying. Make your maxim “EASE your throttles open. EASE your throttles back”. That applies to all aircraft including the Stirling, Lancaster and the Tiger Moth – if your Station Commander lets you get your hands on it. [/boxed]
5 GROUP NEWS. NO. 19. FEBRUARY, 1944. PAGE 4.
[Page break]
SPORTS
Bad weather rendered most sports pitches u/s during the last few days of February, but there has been a full quota of matches played in spite of this. Attention is again drawn to the desirability of each Station submitting its sports resume two days or so before month end, to allow ample time for publication in this News. Several Stations have not submitted resumes this month, and so the picture is necessarily incomplete.
[Underlined] FOOTBALL [/underlined]
[Underlined] SCAMPTON [/underlined] proved unbeatable during the month, playing six games of which they won four (including two Matz Cup matches). However, Lincoln Rovers held them to a 2 – 2 draw, and Waddington to a 3 – 3 draw. Both these games were in the Lincoln League, Division 1, and Scampton could ill afford to drop these points since the League Championship is a neck and neck finish between them and Lincoln Rovers.
[Underlined] FISKERTON [/underlined] had four Station games of which they drew one home game with R.A.F. Wickenby. The inter-section competition is now in full swing.
[Underlined] DUNHOLME [/underlined] beat Fiskerton at home, but lost to Ruston Bucyrus, A.V. Roe and R.A.F. Wickenby. Four games were played in the Inter-Section League.
[Underlined] EAST KIRKBY [/underlined] beat Spilsby but lost their Matz Cup game against Skellingthorpe 5 – 1. The Section League produced 5 games, and in addition there were 7 ‘friendlies’, the aircrew cadets team winning all three of their games.
[Underlined] CONINGSBY [/underlined] Inter-Section games were plentiful. The outstanding match of the month was the Matz Round One win against Woodhall. This has been followed by a 3 – 2 victory against Dunholme, taking Coningsby into the Semi-finals.
[Underlined] METHERINGHAM [/underlined] scored a sweeping 10 – 0 win against Bardney in the Matz Cup Round One. They proved it no fluke by holding Waddington to a 2 – 2 draw. They now boast a “Reserve XI”. In the Inter-Section events, 5 games were played. “A” Flight have a strong side and should go well towards winning the trophy generously presented by S/Ldr. Whattam.
[Underlined] SKELLINGTHORPE [/underlined] had 5 Station games and 9 in the Inter-Section events, while there were a further 3 games restricted to aircrew personnel.
[Underlined] SWINDERBY [/underlined] XI beat Winthorpe and Wigsley, and were unlucky to lose 3 – 5 to Scampton in Round Two of the Matz Cup. It was a splendid effort at “giant killing”.
[Underlined] SYERSTON [/underlined] had 3 games of which they won two, including a 4 – 0 win against a R.A.F. side from Fulbeck.
[Underlined] THE MATZ CUP [/underlined]
The second round saw Coningsby, Scampton and Skellingthorpe emerge as semi-finalists, defeating Dunholme, Swinderby and East Kirkby respectively. Winthorpe and Metheringham have still to decide their event. The semi-final draw is as follows:-
WINTHORPE [underlined] or [/underlined] METHERINGHAM v SKELLINGTHORPE
CONINGSBY v SCAMPTON
Both matches will be played on neutral ground at dates to be announced in G.R.O’s.
[Underlined] RUGBY [/underlined]
[Underlined] 44 SQUADRON [/underlined] now boasts a strong side. They beat the Air Crew School 6 – 3, and ran up an astronomical total of 68 – 6 against Lincoln Home Guard. The Home Guard did better in the second game and held them to 18 – 6.
[Underlined] CONINGSBY [/underlined] were unlucky in having to cancel all Rugger games due to flying.
[Underlined] METHERINGHAM [/underlined] completed only one out of four games, losing 5 – 0 to 7th K.O.S.B. after an extremely hard game.
[Underlined] SWINDERBY [/underlined] won three out of three games. A hard struggle with their old rivals, 93 M.U., produced a 3 – 0 win, and Winthorpe and Lincoln Home Guard were beaten 14 – 3 and 18 – 0 respectively.
[Underlined] SYERSTON [/underlined] XV is doing well and won all three games played, Magnus School and Newark R.F.C. 9 – 6, and Rufford Home Guard 24 – 6.
[Underlined] LANCASTER SEVEN-A-SIDES [/underlined]
This competition is fast developing into a 53 Base monopoly. 9, 463 and 467 have all concluded their Squadron events now, producing F/Lt. Hadland’s team, P/O. McKnight’s team and P/O. Simpson’s team as the respective winners. In these three Squadron events, 65 crews took to the field. 50 Squadron are following suit, and three games have so far been played. Other Squadrons please note and “get cracking”! A complete Squadron event can be decided in two afternoons, and the physical “uplift” is amazing – try it and see.
[Underlined] HOCKEY [/underlined]
[Underlined] SCAMPTON [/underlined] won three out of four games, suffering their only defeat at the hands of 5 Group in a “mixed” game.
[Underlined] EASY [sic] KIRKBY [/underlined] had one station event, losing to Spilsby Town. The Aircrew Cadets “A” and “B” sides fought two very close games.
[Underlined] CONINGSBY [/underlined] lost to the Green Howards, and held K.O.S.B. to a 3 all draw.
[Underlined] SWINDERBY [/underlined] mixed side beat 5 Group 7 – 3. The Station side beat Lincoln Home Guard, but lost to Wigsley.
[Underlined] SYERSTON [/underlined] lost 2 – 4 to O.C.T.U. Newark, but won a mixed game versus Winthorpe R.A.S.C. by 3 – 1.
[Underlined] 5 GROUP [/underlined] mixed side defeated Wigsley 7 – 5 on Swinderby ground, lost to Swinderby 3 – 7, and enjoyed a 3 – 2 win against Scampton.
[Underlined] GENERAL [/underlined]
49 Squadron now allot one afternoon per week to physical “fitness”. Wood-chopping, country walks (pubs out of bounds) and gardening are all featured. Swimming at Lincoln is laid on each Tuesday, and for ground staff on Sundays. All that is needed now is the completion of the “gym”.
Dunholme R.A.F. Regiment keep up their water worthiness by attending Lincoln Baths.
Coningsby gym is now in full swing for badminton, boxing and gymnastics.
Metheringham gym will open this month for badminton, boxing, fencing and P.T.
[Underlined] COMPETITIONS [/UNDERLINED] The Wines Rugby Cup Competition has been launched, also a new event in 5 Group –“5 Group Mixed Hockey Trophy”. There should be some keen games in both these events. New events need new trophies. Two are needed – a Lancaster seven-s-side trophy, and a Mixed Hockey Trophy. Benefactors please contact F/Lt. Stott, Headquarters 5 Group (Ext. 54)
[Underlined] CRICKET [/underlined]
Spring brings the cuckoo and cricket, a 5 Group Cricket League is being formed. It is hoped that every Station will enter a team. Details are being circulated.
TRAINING
Training on Stirlings and Lancasters in 51 Base pressed on during the month and 66 crews were posted to Squadron.
The Stirling programme has a few teething troubles and but for this there would have been a larger output of crews. Ignition and electrical failures were particularly troublesome and infectious.
The snow fall at the end of the month involved all available man and machine power on a new and unwelcome form of training – shovelling snow – and prevented a last minute spurt in training.
The incoming crews judged by ground training standards are quite good, and the Aircrew School at Scampton did a lot of the spade work in giving them a sound basic knowledge of 5 Group tactics and operational procedure.
H 2 S training has been reorganised in the Base. The present aim is to train selected crews during the ordinary Conversion Unit course. Ground training is being given, and an initial demonstration flight arranged as early as possible in the course so that the cross country exercises (day and might) are flown using H 2 S as a navigation aid. No practice bombing is now being attempted. Air Training has been held up by the unserviceability of the H 2 S Stirling.
The Lancaster Finishing School at Syerston has so far done no H 2 S training, but a synthetic trainer has been promised by Bomber Command. When it is installed crews will be able to keep in practice by dry swims before passing out to H 2 S Squadrons.
With the disbandment of No.1485 (Bombing and Gunnery) Flight, the training of Air Gunners has been incorporated in the normal Conversion Unit Course. When No.1690 (Bomber) Defence Training Flight begins its work it is hoped that the former high standard of training can be maintained.
Flight Engineers are passing through the Stirling Units twice to give them the maximum possible flying time before going to Lancaster Finishing School. This ensures that they are well experienced in the air by the time they reach their operational Squadrons.
Crews under training took part in a large scale Command Bullseye which was laid on as a diversionary feature for the operation against Stuttgart on the night 20th February. The diversion achieved the success hoped for and attracted a large proportion of the weight of the German Fighter Force away from the area in which the Squadrons were operating.
5 Group News. No. 19 February, 1944. Page 5.
[Page break]
H 2 S
H 2 S training has progressed favourably during the month, but unfortunately once again training in blind bombing has been held up due to bad weather and cloud over targets. Good use is being made of synthetic trainers now installed at 49, 57 and 630 Squadrons and 1660 and 1661 Conversion Units. Navigators and Bomb Aimers should look upon this ground training as an essential part of their syllabus, and endeavour to make as much use of the synthetic trainer as navigational and blind bombing aid in the limited time they have.
It is gratifying to note that many crews are becoming increasingly aware of the value of H 2 S as a navigational aid and should realise the amount of work that is carried out by the Radar Sections for their benefit. Many set operators can help to decrease this work by reporting all faults personally to either the Radar Officer or one of the Radar Mechanics, and not merely to one of the ground crew who pass it on in hushed tones to the Radar Section, but with no explanations regarding unserviceability. You, the set operators, are the ones to let the section know the faults experienced and their symptoms. It may mean the difference between a “ropey” or good set on the next flight. Cultivate this habit of personal contact and you will earn the gratitude of the Radar Section and probably pick up some useful tips.
Some operators are having trouble with poor reception. This is a complaint particularly common amongst crews under training. Like ourselves, components of H 2 S have age limits, and their deterioration may cause poor reception; but remember the set can easily go off tune and it is necessary to check tuning whenever doubts arise regarding the quality of reception.
Cupolas are also liable to give trouble with reception. Extraneous matter which has a habit of collecting in the cupola will materially affect reception, giving rise to a mushy picture. Set operators are advised to see that the cupola is clean both inside and out before every flight.
Does this happen in YOUR aircraft?
[Cartoon] GREMLIN’S GARDEN
N.C.M.
Plotting charts are now being revised every three months to give the H 2 S operator as accurate a view as possible of the shape of towns from which he should receive responses. Every set operator can help in the revising of those charts by noting any peculiarity in town shapes and passing the information to this Headquarters by means of the usual report made at interrogation.
Know your Landmarks. The following are well known H 2 S landmarks on the continent.
Can you identify them?
[Three drawn outline maps]
FLYING CONTROL
Coningsby tops the list, with Waddington a close second; it is encouraging to note that landing times of all Stations are getting more consistent, and the overall landing time of 2.75 minutes is an encouraging improvement on January’s figures. It is hoped to see, each month, a further reduction so that the Group can record an overall average of below two minutes per aircraft.
In planning operations it can now be assumed with confidence that 5 Group aircraft, sometimes in excess of 200, can be landed within one hour of the return of the first machine. Compare this period of landing with that of 12 months ago, when smaller numbers of aircraft were concerned, and when a landing hook up often used to last 80 or 90 minutes. This reduction in the landing period has meant greater safety for the crews, less fuel to be carried, and a greater tonnage of bombs available for delivery.
Reports from Eastern airfields indicate that aircraft are not adhering strictly to lattice line approach procedure. This is essentially a part of the quick landing scheme and rigid compliance with this part of the scheme must be stressed to all crews.
[Underlined] FEBRUARY LANDING TIMES [/underlined]
[Table of landing times and averages by Station]
GEE
Rather poor range on Gee was experienced in operations this month, and once again XF transmissions were little used by Navigators. However it is apparent that there are still a few navigators who endeavour to get the best out of their sets and try all available means to secure fixes at maximum range. Success in track keeping and timing is the result of their efforts.
Other Navigators seem more concerned with finding reasons why ranges cannot be improved without endeavouring to improve them. This attitude is more effective than any jammer that the Hun can produce. It is therefore, up to every Navigator to use Gee to its actual and not its apparent limits. Plots of fixes made on the last three operations show the distance between the worst and best fixes to be 200 miles or more. Many of the worst ranges come from non-H2S Squadrons in which Gee is the sole navigational aid. Gee Trainers and Jammers are available on all Squadrons and Conversion Units and, therefore, it is up to every navigator, whether on Squadron or Conversion Unit, to carry out maximum training in Gee, particularly in the reading of signals through jamming.
One general complaint is that the Series3, Southern Chain miniature lattice charts do not afford full coverage and many fixes cannot be plotted. Charts covering such areas are to be issued in the near future, but in the meantime the remedy is in the Navigator’s own hands. Continue your lattice lines in pencil along the margins of the those charts you have, covering areas where fixes might be obtained, but no chart coverage is available.
With the constant lack of interest in XF transmissions, enquiries have been made, and many Navigators complain that they find it difficult to insert the XF unit into the receiver and use it in its present position. If this difficulty is arising now, it will be even greater when the new RF unit is issued, because of the attention required to secure maximum results. A little perseverance now may help in the future. However, how about a few ideas on the repositioning of the Gee receiver to obviate this complaint? They will be welcome at the Headquarters providing they are practicable.
Navigators of 630 and 57 Squadrons visited a Gee transmitter station during the month, and were given an idea of the ground organisation necessary to provide so valuable a navigational aid. The visit was much appreciated by all concerned, and it is hoped that other Squadrons and the Conversion Units will take advantage of this facility in the future.
[Underlined] FLYING ACCIDENTS [/underlined]
(Continued from page12 Col 3)
investigations into them are not yet complete. One aircraft dived to avoid another and crashed in the funnel. Another failed to get airborne by the time it reached the airfield boundary. The undercarriage hit the hedge and the Lancaster crashed. Another hit a hill while the pilot was flying low in bad weather. In others the causes are still obscure.
15 avoidable accidents occurred in 51 Base during February, of which 8 were taxying accidents. This means that more than half of the avoidable accidents in the Group occurred at Conversion Units and No.5 L.F.S.
5 Group News. No. 19. February, 1944. Page 6.
[Page break]
PHOTOGRAPHY
January’s low percentage of photographic failures was not maintained during the month of February, and the following increases occurred:-
Photographic + .02%
Armament + 2.1%
Electrical + 1.07%
It is curious that a large number of failures occurred on the first raids following the stand down period. It is expected that technical efficiency should then be at its peak, as ample time is available to effect thorough maintenance and servicing of camera equipment etc. That this is not so, points to the fact that this period is not being used to the best advantage.
During the stand down period N.C.O’s must ensure that everything possible is done to produce Type 35 Controls and camera gearboxes which are without fault. Particular attention must be given to timing the camera sequence – control contact strips – gear box spring teeth and film measuring roller needles; this applies particularly to newly issued equipment.
Photographic film processing and printing is taking [underlined] far too long to accomplish [/underlined] and NCO photographers are to check the internal section organisation. Delay always occurs when numerous Ground Detail photographs are obtained, indicating that the organisation is based on having a minimum amount of printing instead of the maximum. Station Intelligence Officers need prints to plot with a minimum of delay. Printing should therefore, be arranged to allow the S.I.O. to have the prints in batches instead of waiting to complete the whole of the work.
Every photographer must realise the importance of carrying out his tasks, with the [underlined] utmost speed and efficiency [/underlined]. The aircrews have completed their tasks, but delay in producing photographic evidence of the effect of the raid is comparable to sabotaging their efforts.
The use of Composite film (Kodacolour and H.S. Night) was carried a stage further during the month and it is hoped that in the near future other Squadrons will be using this method of recording attacks.
The problem of operating the camera when the bomb doors are opened prior to the bombing run is now considered to be solved. Aircraft of 44 Squadron are carrying out final tests which have so far been successful and the advantage of the circuit now under trial is that it does not impose exacting Drill upon the pilot and Air Bomber.
[Table of Photographic Analysis including Target Conditions and Failure Analysis by Squadron]
HONOURS & AWARDS
The following immediate Awards have been approved during the month:-
44 SQUADRON
F/Sgt. G. PRATT. DFM
W/Cdr. R.L. BOWES, DFC. BAR TO DFC
F/Lt. P.A. DOREHILL, DFC. BAR TO DFC
F/Lt. C.D. WIGGIN. DFC
P/O. R.M. HIGGS. DFC
Sgt. R.W. JOY DFM
50 SQUADRON
P/O. D.R. TOOVEY, DFC. BAR TO DFC
61 SQUADRON
P/O. F.W. BURGESS. DFC
207 SQUADRON
P/O. F.W. GALLAGHER. DSO
F/Sgt. C.E. STEWART. DFM
463 SQUADRON
Sgt. W. HOLT. DFM
The following non-immediate Awards have been approved during the month:-
9 SQUADRON
P/O. K. GILL. DFC
P/O. G.E. LOCKEY. DFC
F/Sgt. T.C. OVEREND. DFM
44 SQUADRON
F/Lt. S. BURROWS. DFC
Sgt. R.W.T. TUCKER. DFM
P/O. A.G. SMYTHE. DFC
F/Sgt. J. CUSHION. DFM
F/O. S.H. LETLEY. DFC
49 SQUADRON
F/O. R.E. HIDDERLEY. DFC
49 SQUADRON (Continued)
P/O. L.A. COXHILL DFC
P/O. J.B. WARWICK DFC
F/O. J.D. HARRIS DFC
W/O. E.M. WEBB DFC
W/O. E.L. JONES DFC
P/O. G.P. GEORGE DFC
P/O. K.O. BARNES DFC
W/O. T.P. JUBB DFC
Sgt. G. BOAG DFM
Sgt. T. TYLER DFM
F/Sgt. J DORRIAN DFM
F/Sgt. G.A. EDY DFM
F/O. F.E. WHITTMER DFC
50 SQUADRON
P/O. J.F.C. BROWN DFC
F/Lt. K. RUSKELL DFC
F/Lt. J.A. EDWARD DFC
F/O. W. BODEN DFC
F/O. L.T. PRITCHARD DFC
F/Sgt. R.V. POOLEY DFM
F/Sgt. S.J. PROCTER DFM
W/O. E.T. McLEOD DFC
F/O. D.H. SIMPSON DFC
F/Sgt. H. BROWN DFM
F/O. J.M. DICKS DFC
P/O. J.B. BLOTT DFC
P/O. D.R. TOOVEY DFC
Sgt. C.H. BROWN DFM
57 SQUADRON
P/O. J.B. KING DFC
F/Sgt. W.L. BELL DFM
F/Sgt. J.A. THOMAS DFM
61 SQUADRON
F/Lt. N.D. WEBB DFC
106 SQUADRON
F/Lt. J.G. CLARIDGE DFC
F/O. V.L. COLE DFC
P/O. W.R.P. PERRY DFC
F/Lt. L.R. HARVEY DFC
F/O. J. FORSYTH DFC
P/O. L.G. BERRY DFC
F/Lt. R.L. WAKE DFC
207 SQUADRON
W/Cdr. P.N. JENNINGS DFC
F/Lt. J.F. GRIME DFC
F/Lt. M.J. BAUD DFC
F/Sgt. G. BROADHEAD DFM
F/Sgt. W.J. BROWN DFM
F/Sgt. W.J. JAMIESON DFM
F/Lt. W.C.T. BRAY, DFC. BAR TO DFC
467 SQUADRON
P/O. W.J.O. GRIME DFC
P/O. J.G. SIMPSON DFC
619 SQUADRON
F/O. H.W. KEAN, DFM. DFC
F/Lt. J.A. HOWARD DFC
F/Lt. P.J.F. WALMSLEY DFC
W/O. J.H. MASON DFC
630 SQUADRON
F/Lt. D.S. PATERSON DFC
P/O. A.E.A. MATTHEWS DFC
P/O. A.H. GIBSON DFC
P/O. J.H. WORTHINGTON DFC
F/Sgt. J. MARTIN. DFM
5 Group News. No. 19. February, 1944. Page 7.
[Page break]
SIGNALS/RADAR
[Underlined] RADAR WORKSHOPS [/underlined]
Although none of the Radar Workshops in this Group have quite reached the stage depicted in the picture on the opposite page, it does show what can befall a section if it is left to sweep itself out after you have all packed up for the day. It is surprising what a few minutes at the end of the day can do if everyone pitches in before leaving for town. It also helps to ward off that hopeless feeling one experiences in the morning on entering a section which looks as if our bombers had got a bit off track (Gee u/s?).
Odd pieces of timber can be scrounged on the Station (NOT packing cases – which have now supplanted the gold standard), and with these can be built trays for spare components which we trust you have saved from detonated sets and other salvage material.
Test equipment should be treated with the greatest respect and kept in its proper place when not in use.
An up-to-date serviceability and fitting board in the office or workshop can save no end of trouble and time for all concerned when information is required at short notice. It keeps all mechanics posted too, and they will add that extra little drive which helps to make the picture the board portrays a rosier one.
General interest diagrams – excluding polar diagrams of Dorothy Lamour and other homing devices – should be neatly displayed on notice boards and walls.
The use of lino is nullified if the mud is not left outside, so get hold of those foot scrapers and door mats which the equipment section will be only too pleased to provide.
So let your aim be to keep your Radar workshop clean and reasonably tidy, so that the priceless equipment you have the privilege of handling may have the best chance of ensuring more bombs on the target.
[Underlined] WIRELESS OPERATIONS (AIR) [/underlined]
[Underlined] Codes [/underlined]
The month of February saw the last of our old standby, the “X” book, and in its place comes the A.P.3026. This will be easier to understand if Wireless Operators (Air) take the trouble to study its contents during the odd spare moment.
The new edition of C.D. 0250(16) should also receive a little of your attention, as the contents have been enlarged and the spare groups decreased. Remember that any time spent in studying these new editions might well save a frantic turning over of pages and a panic in the air.
Tests will be carried out on the Group W/T exercises, embodying the additions to the C.D.0250. Operators are reminded that this is an excellent means of getting up to date with anything new, and if you are not on the exercise you can always learn something from the logs of those who were taking part.
[Underlined] Finding Messages [/underlined]
All Wireless Operators (Air) are to be congratulated on the splendid work done during the month in connection with the “wind finding scheme”, especially on the night 15/16th February when 153 wind messages were received from aircraft. There was great joy and jubilation in the Signals Cabin at this Headquarters, for the “Back Room Boys” are always in the show.
[Underlined] Tail Warning Devices [/underlined]
Training in the use of the various early warning devices should now be standardised throughout the Group, but there are Squadrons who have not sent to the Group Signals Leader their version of the synthetic training cards. These cards are the best method of obtaining a quick snappy reaction to what is seen on the screen. The combined efforts of O.R.S., T.R.E., B.D.U. and the Radar “Kings” produced a piece of equipment designed to aid the bomber crews to beat the Hun when he is met in the air. Are [underlined] you [/underlined] tackling the job with the enthusiasm it deserves? Remember, TRAINING is the only answer.
A fault finding table for Visual Monica has been prepared and will be issued to Squadrons for inclusion in the current fault finding booklet carried by all Wireless Operators (Air).
[Underlined] Lighting of Operator’s Cabin [/underlined]
Quite recently the old complaint of lighting in the Wireless Operator’s position has cropped up again. Now, at this present stage of the war, it is quite impossible to start producing modified lighting on a large scale, and it must be left to the initiative of the individual to produce something for himself. The maintenance section of No.50 Squadron produced and excellent lighting system for the T.R.1154 and are working on the R.1155. Come along fellows, don’t leave it to one – try saving your breath on complaints and using it up on some action.
[Underlined] “Brace up” [/underlined]
Now for a final word to all airborne “key bashers”. Things are likely to get cracking in the very near future. Can you say with a clear conscience that you are ready to meet any emergency? [Underlined] If [/underlined] not, now is the time to GO TO IT INT QRL QRV K 2359
[Underlined] Stop Press [/underlined]
A tip from No.630 Squadron. Switch on your T. R. 1196 when going in on your bombing run, and then, should your intercom. go unserviceable, the change-over can be effected immediately.
SIGNALS FAILURES
There has been an alarming increase in the percentage of Signals failures during February and whilst it is true that almost 50% (13 out of a total of 29) were due to definite failures of components in the equipment, it is felt that this number could have been reduced, particularly those of a recurring nature. Special attention should be paid to the starter relay contacts in the Power Unit type 35 pending the introduction of the new type with silvered contacts in a more accessible position. Faults in the switch type 170 in the fighter warning circuit are nearly always due to an insufficient allowance of slack in the connecting cable exerting a pull on the switch during the rotation of the turret, causing a displacement of the switch contacts. This results in a point contact and an intermittent high resistance connection.
There were six failures reported in which no fault could be found. Five affected intercom, four of which were contributory to early returns. Every member of a crew can assist in diagnosing obscure intercom faults by remembering the details and symptoms of the failure and passing them on to the Signals Officer.
The object of reporting failure is to ascertain the reason why the failure occurred, and if possible to originate a modification or maintenance instruction which will tend to eliminate the type of failure. This object is defeated unless all failures are conscientiously reported, and the number of failures reported by a Squadron does not reflect upon its maintenance efficiency, but rather indicates a conscientious devotion to detail, in an effort to reduce the number of failures and increase the delivery of goods to the customer.
[Underlined] GEE [/underlined]
Gee remains one of the most serviceable of all Radar devices; out of 1115 sorties flown, 94% of the sets were completely trouble free. This is a very good effort, but with all the experience obtained on this equipment there is no reason why the figure should not be far higher.
Another R. F. Unit is about to be introduced; these units are not, however, to be available in large quantities for some time. It is probable, therefore, than [sic] non H 2 S Squadrons will receive them first. In this connection it is of interest to learn that the Lancasters will soon have a stowage provided for the units not in use.
Authority has at last been obtained for lino to be laid on Radar workshop floors; many enterprising Squadrons have already had their floors covered, and were repaid by increased serviceability. It is hoped that no time will be wasted in so equipping all workshops.
Air Ministry has now ruled that detonators need no longer be fitted; although this will present the Hun with a considerable quantity of Gee equipment, it will be a great help to Squadrons, as many men were necessary for the fitting and removal of detonators.
[Underlined] H 2 S [/underlined]
The serviceability figures for H 2 S are very unsatisfactory. Last month only 68.8% were serviceable for the whole trip; the one blessing is that most of the failures occurred after the target. Main causes of failures are filament transformers, power units and manipulation. An oil filled filament transformer is now being tried, and this may be the solution to our main cause of unserviceability.
Manipulation is confined only to U/T crews but is assuming alarming proportions. Some Squadrons are still troubled by freezing scanner, and repeater motors. Bomber Command is trying to get approval for a new method of heating, but meanwhile the existing heater elements should be repositioned forward of the scanner motor.
The equipment situation is considerably improved, and with the Group Pool now at this Headquarters, Squadrons will have little difficulty in obtaining the main units of H 2 S.
(continued on Page 9 col 3)
5 Group News. No. 19. February, 1944. Page 8.
[Page break]
[Cartoon of Workshop]
5 GROUP NEWS. No. 19. February 1944.
- Maurice levell –
IS THIS [underlined] YOUR [/underlined] RADAR WORKSHOP?
[Page break]
[Blank page]
[Page break]
ARMAMENT
[Underlined] GUNS AND TURRETS [/underlined]
The month of February shows a notable increase in the number of gun failures still being attributed to freezing. Rare reports have been received where conclusive evidence is available that guns have frozen, while instances have occurred that gunners have attempted to operate the breech blocks by operating the triggers. Attempts have also been made to release the breech blocks by means of the manually operated rear scar release units with little or no success. It is considered that the hydraulic media in the rear scar pipes becomes either frozen or congealed, and that trouble is not brought about by ice in the breech blocks.
To provide conclusive evidence that this is so, trials have been arranged whereby a percentage of gunners operate their breech blocks at intervals of 30 minutes, with guns at “safe”, throughout the operational sortie once operational height has been gained. A percentage of guns are also to be tested during the return, and by this means it is considered a valuable comparison will be obtained.
[Underlined] GALLEY HEATERS [/underlined]
A turret heater known as the “Galley Heater” is shortly to be introduced. The first 10 heaters are being delivered to Skellingthorpe for installation in aircraft of No.50 Squadron. The inside temperature of the turret is raised by means of a steady flow of hot air via air ducts, the ducts being so arranged as to spray the air on to the guns and turret components most susceptible to freezing, and re-bounding on to the gunner’s face.
[Underlined] BOMBING RANGES [/underlined]
[Underlined] Wainfleet Bombing Range. [/underlined] Extreme difficulty has been experienced during recent weeks in keeping targets and their lighting fully serviceable at Wainfleet Range. This has been due to the heavy tides experienced, causing the ingress of salt water into lighting fittings, and resulting in a depletion of vital bombing training. An all-out drive is being made which, it is hoped, will ensure one hundred percent serviceability at all times.
[Underlined] Owthorpe and Epperstone Ranges [/underlined] are available for both day and night bombing, target illumination being effected by flares.
(continued in next column)
[Underlined] ARMAMENT FAILURE [/underlined]
It can be seen from the failures table below that certain Squadrons claim to have had comparatively few, if any, bomb or S.B.C. failures during the month; it is known from Raid Reports received that this is not a true representation of the month’s failures. It is once again emphasised that all Armament failures are to be signalled in accordance with B.C.A.S.I. Part I, Section S, Leaflet No. 2, Issue No. 4.
[Underlined] ARMAMENT CONFERENCE [/underlined]
An Armament Officers’ Conference was held at Base Station, Scampton, on Friday, 11th February, 1944, and afforded an excellent opportunity for the Command Armament Officer, Air Commodore Bilney, to meet all Armament Officers within the Group. Minutes have been circulated.
[Underlined] MINES “A” – MKS. I – IV [/underlined]
With the introduction of numerous types of new assemblies, it has been found that the personnel who carry out the testing and preparation, need instruction on all these later assemblies. To meet this requirement, courses have been arranged and allocated to all Units within the Group.
[Underlined] FAILURES TABLE [/underlined]
[Table of Armament failures by Squadron]
A = MANIPULATION B = MAINTENANCE C = ICING D= TECHNICAL E = ELECTRICAL F = OBSCURE
Link Trainer Hours
[Table of hours spent on the Link Trainer by Pilots and Flight Engineers per Squadron]
SIGNALS (CONT.)
(continued from page 8 col 3)
[Underlined] VISUAL MONICA [/underlined]
Serviceability of this equipment has still not reached a satisfactory figure; last month it was approximately 81% serviceable. A large percentage of the failures were due to switch motors seizing. A great deal of time and trouble has gone into this switch motor problem, and it is hoped that the solution is close at hand. All Units will have received information regarding the Manufacturer’s methods of setting up, and soon a report will be issued summarising the findings of a local ball bearing works which has been testing these motors. In the meantime the 2-way Pye sockets will allow the Wireless Operator full coverage even though the switch motor stops.
The biggest headache is still the shortage of equipment. Many Squadrons have managed to “acquire” bits from here and there, and in this manner fit more aircraft. This unfortunately, appears to be the only way in which replacement can be maintained at present.
[Underlined] FISHPOND [/underlined]
Fishpond, unfortunately, depends on H 2 S serviceability and manipulation by both the Navigator and Wireless Operator. In such circumstances one would expect the Fishpond serviceability to be bad, and such is the case. In spite of this general low serviceability, Squadrons which have trained their crews well are now very pleased with the results obtained, and indeed managed to show a figure of 73% serviceable.
[Underlined] A. I. [/underlined]
Trials have been going on for some time with Mark IV A.I. It is believed that this equipment will make a good “Tail Warning Device”.
There are many snags yet to be cured before both elevation and bearing can be obtained.
It is expected however, that the experts will find the answer soon, and once more 5 Group will have pioneered a first class “Tail Warning Device”.
5 Group News. No. 19. February, 1944. Page 9.
[Page break]
WAR SAVINGS
(a) Pence saved per head of strength
(b) %age of personnel contributing
(c) Total amount saved
[Table of amount saved by Base and Unit]
TOTAL 4170.10.9
AIRCREW VOLUNTEERS
(a) New Volunteers
(b) Accepted by A.C.S.B.
(c) Posted for training
(d) Awaiting interview by A.C.S.B.
[Table of Aircrew Volunteers by Base and Unit]
SECOND THOUGHTS FOR PILOTS
[Underlined] FRESHMEN [/underlined]
You should always have a clear picture of each leg of the route in your mind. Study your track throughout briefing. Your [sic] can’t overdo this. It will prevent you accepting a completely wrong course from your Navigator. They have been known to give airspeeds for courses! It will help you as a rough guide to your track make good to take approximate bearings on defended areas each side of the route. But [underlined] don’t [/underlined] pinpoint on flak. One gun site can seem like “Happy Valley” if you are getting its undivided attention.
Always trim forward after bombing. The Lancaster becomes appreciably tail heavy after the bombs have gone. One pilot didn’t trim forward. He was a trifle shaken when the “wizard prang” he was giving all his attention to suddenly took off and orbited him. It was a sadder and wiser man who finally recovered from a stall some 8,000 feet nearer the ground.
Watch the “George” auto-control on take-off, especially taller pilots. It is possible during powerful movements to knock the auto-control lever to “In” and though “George” can fly straight and level, he can’t cope with a take-off, and you may not either with his unwanted co-operation.
By the way, when did you last do a proper Link Trainer exercise? Did you blank off the artificial horizon and carry out recovery from more extreme attitudes by use of the turn and bank indicator, A.S.I. and rate of climb? Or did you just fill in time?
If you have to “queue up” for take-off, don’t leave your engines idling. The plugs may oil up if you have long to wait. Run each engine up against the brakes to about 1600 revs. This will be sufficient to clear them, and it will also prevent overheating.
[Underlined] VETERANS [/underlined]
A Pilot in this Group did his take-off drill the wrong way round. He left the boost cut-out till the end of his checks. When he did pull it down, his heavily gloved hand knocked the port outer fuel cock off, Fortunately his Engineer noticed it. He may not have done!
Keep your beam flying on the top line. Don’t just switch it on to test it on N.F.T’s Fly down the beam and do an approach each time. It’s a good scheme after training flights and N.F.T’s to find the aerodrome yourself on your own and other beams in the area.
Have you got your drills for using portable oxygen bottles weighted up? If you have any doubts at all- which you shouldn’t have – read 5 Group Aircraft Drills, No.12. Do you know how long the supply will last?
On your next N.F.T. carry out a dummy drill for an emergency. Have your Flight Engineer and Wireless Operator go down and lift the Rear Gunner out of his turret and carry him to the rest bed, using portable bottles. One pilot we know had three of his crew unconscious on the rear turret cat-walk just as he was approaching the target. They knew how to use the bottles, but had never practiced it!
Don’t wear signet rings on operations, however well dressed you may feel. You may regret your elegance. It increases the danger of frostbite if you have to bale out at altitude. It is also difficult for the M.O. to treat you for hand wounds or abrasions. Either the ring comes off – or your finger does!!
FLIGHT ENGINEERS
All Flight Engineer Leaders in the Group must have a drive on their Squadron in log keeping. So much valuable information is lost because details of small defects the recording of airspeeds, and the time of descent are omitted. It is difficult to keep a good log when the Flight Engineer is to “Window”, but if we can instil more keenness in the keeping of these logs, Flight Engineers in the long run, would benefit from the research which is given to all operational flights.
There is much discrepancy in the duration of flight from these logs. In future the time from airborne to landing must be taken from the Watch Office records and entered in the log.
This month at least one early return was made that should have been avoided. On the outward trip, the port engine showed a higher temperature than the other three; it was decided to return. On the check the next day it was found that this temperature was within the limits laid down for this type of engine; the Flight Engineer should have known this and advised the pilot that there was no danger. Another case was one engine feathered because the oil temperature gauge dropped to zero, yet both the oil pressure gauge and the coolant temperature gauge remained normal. On check it was found that the gauge was faulty.
[Cartoon] Dot and Dash – our immaculate W.A.A.F’s
“- and you needn’t say I’m jealous of this Monica of Bill’s – “
5 Group News. No. 19. February, 1944. Page 10.
[Page break]
ENGINEERING
The Group operated five times only during February, and these five operations produced 1000 sorties; to achieve this an exceedingly high percentage of aircraft held on charge flew on each of these operations, the outstanding feature being the first operation of the month, when 226 Lancasters took off from this Group. Further comment on this achievement is unnecessary as it must be obvious to any person who knows the difficulties which have to be overcome to get such a large force off the ground, what work was entailed.
March should see an even larger effort than did February, but we still have our cancellations and early returns which do not appear to reduce by very many in spite of all our efforts. The technical defects which cause early returns and cancellations are not of a recurring nature; that is why it is so difficult to overcome each single case, but in spite of these individual faults, the numbers of early returns will be at least reduced if we persevere.
Much discussion has taken place during the month on the salvage of equipment, and one point which affect all Engineer Officers in this connection is that they must make sure that full use is made of the Base facilities for the repair and testing of technical equipment. A very frequent check should be made on R. & I. stores, and station equipment sections, to ensure that items of equipment have not been returned for subsequent return to the R.E.D. when these items can be repaired within the Base facilities.
During March it is intended to review the Maintenance Schedules for both Lancaster and Stirling aircraft; committees will be set up for each type and each individual inspection item will be checked both for the Daily and Minor Inspections; as a result it is hoped to cut out many items which exist in the Daily Inspection which are unnecessary, similarly with the Minor Inspection. Many hours are at present expended inspecting items which happen to be shown as requiring inspection by the schedule where, in fact, no defects were ever found. At the same time that the schedules are being revised, the card system will be introduced which will assist greatly with carrying out inspections, and it may be no longer necessary, once the scheme is introduced, to put aircraft unserviceable for longer than a few hours for inspection purposes.
[Underlined] TRAINING UNIT SERVICEABILITY [/underlined]
[Underlined] STIRLING AIRCRAFT [/underlined]
[Table of aircraft serviceability by Conversion Unit]
LANCASTER AIRCRAFT
[Aircraft Serviceability for 5. L.F.S.]
GUNNERY
[Underlined] HARMONIZATION [/underlined]
Standard diagrams for each turret in Lancaster aircraft for harmonization at 100 yds and 25 yds have been issued to all Squadrons (5 Group letter 5G/237/2/Trg. Dated 1st Dec. 1943). These diagrams show all dimensions including the height of boards above ground, colour scheme for the gun spots and size of gun spots. The Mid Upper Turret is harmonized on the PORT beam and in all instances the distances are measured from a point vertically beneath the gun pivots to the board. The Tail turret is harmonized with the board dead astern and the nose turret with the board dead ahead.
A good tip is to strip each gun in turn, and not have four breech blocks laid around the rear turret at the same time, as instances have occurred of the breech blocks finding their way into the wrong gun, with the result that the Gunner has had a little difficulty in getting all the guns to fire. It is essential to check the harmonization again after the gun has been trained on the gun spot and the locking device screwed tight as the gun sometimes moves slightly during the locking procedure. The best type of board is the solid wooden one, fitted with a handle for carrying, and the best place to keep the boards is in the Gunnery Office and NOT laid about the dispersal points, remember somebody else may want the board after you and will expect to find it in its proper place. The guns should be harmonized at 100 yards and the 25 yards board used only for checking, it will be realised that the danger of harmonizing at 25 yds is that a slight error at this range is a large one at 400 yards, and although it is often easier to use the short range, don’t get into the habit of doing it every time.
[Underlined] COMBAT REPORTS [/underlined]
These reports are showing a tendency to become very brief and a lot of valuable information is omitted; this may be due to the gunners not giving the information at interrogation, or the duty gunner not including everything that is laid down in Appendix “A” INT. 1 and 2 to Air Staff Instructions, it is not easy to remember each item in this Appendix, and it is suggested that a copy is made and used at interrogation to ensure that all the information required is obtained from the crew.
All gunners should realise that the gun freezing bogey is still very much in existence and gunners should do everything possible during the trip when freezing is suspected, to find out where the trouble is; this is not simple, but if the guns won’t fire with the firing gear, the manual release should be tried. This may not cure the trouble as the breech block may go forward and stay there, instances have occurred of the firing gear taking some few seconds to function after the triggers have been pressed. These points and the presence of ice on guns should be noted by the gunners and stated at interrogation. Will all air gunners, therefore, do their utmost to help the technical staff to solve the serious and difficult problem.
[Underlined] MARK II GYRO GUNSIGHT[/underlined]
The Standard Free Gunnery Trainer at Fiskerton is being modified to take the Gyro Gunsight and training of gunners will commence as soon as this modification is complete. Considerable practice is required with this gunsight before the gunner becomes proficient in following the target accurately, due to the slight lag produced by the gyro on the moving graticule. It is found at first that when following a target which changes direction, the gunner is apt to overshoot with the sight, as the graticule carries on after the turret has stopped, and this, coupled with the foot pedals which are operated to feed the range into the sight, are both innovations which are new and must be mastered before accurate shooting can be expected.
The turret in which these sights will be installed is the F.N. 121 which has an electric motor to operate the servo mechanism, which eliminates any inter-action of trigger and turret movements. The control characteristics in the valve box have been modified to give more positive control for small turret movements at the cost of a slight reduction in the speed of the turret. No information is available at the moment regarding the speed with which the remaining Squadrons will be equipped after 49 Squadron is complete, but it is expected that the rate will be speeded up after the first Squadron has been completed.
[Underlined] RESULTS OF C.G.S. COURSES [/underlined]
[Underlined] NO.73 GUNNERY LEADERS’ COURSE. [/underlined]
[Underlined] FINAL EXAMINATION RESULTS [/underlined]
P/O. Sandford – 467 Sqdn. – 79.2% - Cat. “A”
P/O. Powell – 619 Sqdn. – 67% - Cat “C”
[Underlined] NO.74 GUNNERY LEADERS’ COURSE [/underlined]
F/O. Williams – 463 Sqdn. – 74.8% - Cat “C”
This Month’s Bag
[Cartoon]
[Underlined] DESTROYED [/underlined]
[Underlined] Sqdn. A/C Night Type of E/A [/underlined]
49 M 19/20.2.44. DO.217
49 D 19/20.2.44. JU,88
207 F 20/21.2.44. ME.110
49 C 24/25.2.44. T/E.
463 S 25/26.2.44. FW.190
207 K 25/26.2.44. ME.410
[Underlined] DAMAGED [/underlined]
50 B 15/16.2.44. JU.88
44 J 15/16.2.44. DO.217
50 H 15/16.2.44. ME.210
207 C 15/16.2.44. ME.110
9 C 15/16.2.44. T/E.
44 A 19/20.2.44. ME.210
50 J 19/20.2.44. JU.88
106 M 19/20.2.44. ME.410
619 B 19/20.2.44. ME.109
44 Y 20/21.2.44. ME.210
49 G 24/25.2.44. JU.88
49 Q 24/25.2.44. ME.210
57 P 24/25.2.44. JU.88
207 P 24/25.2.44. S/E.
9 Q 24/25.2.44. ME.100
9 S 25/26.2.44. JU.88
630 G 25/26.2.44. FW.190
All these claims have been confirmed by Command.
5 GROUP NEWS. NO.19. FEBRUARY, 1944 PAGE 11.
[Page break]
M.T. & FLYING ACCIDENTS
[Underlined] ‘YOU’VE HAD IT’ [/underlined]
Reporting an M.T. accident, even filling up Form 446, is easy enough if the driver does it straight away, but it gets more difficult every day he puts it off.
In the end you will find that he doesn’t report it at all, but don’t be misled; the other man will and A.D. Claims then start the ball rolling from the other end, and you will find that you are in more trouble than ever, and it’s quite a big snowball by the time it reaches you.
Will M.T. Officers and N.C.O’s i/c Transport try to impress their drivers with the necessity for keeping the following rules.
(i) If you hit an aircraft or an aircraft hits you – REPORT IT – Everybody will; it’s a BLACK, but Training are dealing with this more fully.
(ii) If you knock someone’s wall down, or even bend it, --REPORT IT – the owner may quite like it, and he’s sure to be watching out of the window.
[Cartoon] E.M.P.
(iii) If you bump a car in the blackout – REPORT IT – the owner values his car much more than you think; usually more than it’s worth.
(iv) If you knock his daughter down – REPORT IT – injuries get so much worse if no one calls to sympathise from A.D. Claims. By the way, don’t call to sympathise yourself, however pretty she may be; this is against the rules, A.D. Claims have all the luck! A.M.O. A475/42, paragraph 17 lays down quite definitely that you must not approach the civilian involved in an accident. If you can get yourself invited to tea after the whole thing is settled – well that’s different!
Very few MT accidents now require more than F.446 action if they are reported at once. Page.16 of the AMO tells you all about this.
[Underlined] AVOIDABLE ACCIDENT RATE ALMOST TREBLED IN 3 MONTHS [/underlined]
DECEMBER - [/underlined] 10; [/underlined] JANUARY – [underlined] 18; [/underlined] FEBRUARY – [underlined] 27. [/underlined]
The exalted position held by this Group for the past three months in the Bomber Command Accident Ladder will certainly not be held for the month just finished. It has been the blackest month from the accident point of view for a long time, and the most prevalent type, viz. [underlined] Ground Collisions [/underlined] has contributed to a greater extent than ever to the long list of damaged Lancasters and Stirlings in the Group. THESE AVOIDABLE, UNECESSARY AND EXPENSIVE ACCIDENTS MUST CEASE.
The “taxying” record for the past 3 months reads as follows:-
December – 9; January – 9; February – 11.
When it is realised that at least half of the aircraft involved were [underlined] CAT. AC. [/underlined] the effect on the war effort from this type of accident alone is immediately apparent.
So much has been written in these notes recently that it is difficult to avoid repetition, but it is hoped that the new instructions issued in February have the desired effect. However, the exercise of care and foresight on the part of everybody, especially pilots, is essential at all times when taxying an aircraft if the number of accidents in this category is to be reduced. There is no doubt that if ground personnel and aircrew do their very best, taxying accidents can be brought to within reasonable limits.
Manpower, paper, time and tempers can be saved by getting your report off quickly and giving AD Claims a chance to settle the case at once.
A great deal depends on M.T. Officers ensuring that their drivers report accidents promptly. If the drivers was not at fault he will not be punished (Not often!!! Editor), but he may be if he doesn’t report it at all.
Of course it saves an awful lot of trouble not to have the accident at all. It’s worth trying!
An unusual accident occurred at a Station in No.51 Base this month. An aircraft had landed and was slowing down towards the end of the runway, when the rear gunner called up the captain and told him an aircraft was landing beside him. The quick landing scheme was in force , and just prior to the gunner’s warning, Flying Control had advised the pilot to clear the runway quickly. As a result of these warnings, the captain thought the aircraft was close behind him (it was still in the funnel) and accelerated. He had too much speed on turning off the end of the runway, and broke his undercarriage. Rear Gunners should pay particular attention to give their captains precise information as to where an aircraft landing behind actually is. If it is still in the funnel they should definitely say so.
The month’s total of all kinds of avoidable accidents is made up as follows:-
Ground Collisions- 11; Heavy Landings – 4; Overshoots on Landing – 3; Swings on take off – 3; Crashes on Overshooting – 1; Other errors of judgement – 5. Of the aircraft which made heavy landings, two were Cat. A. and two were Cat.A.C. Three of these occurred at night. In one of them the pilot was prevented from using engine [sic] to recover from the first bounce because the Flight Engineer still had his hands on the throttles after ensuring they were fully closed. He was thrown off balance and held on to the throttles. This is a point which must be watched. Another occurred after an operational trip, when the pilot was caught unawares by his flaps only partly lowering. The flap gauge must always be checked.
Investigation of 2 of the swings on take off shows that either the wrong procedure for take off was used, or the wrong action taken when the swing started. Every pilot should ensure that he thoroughly understands the 5 Group Drills on swinging.
The accidents classed as errors of judgement were almost all of a serious nature, and the
(continued on page 6 Col. 3)
5 Group News. No. 19. February, 1044. Page 12.
[Page break]
SELF HELP
A recent letter from Air Ministry impressed upon Command Group and Station Commanders the critical shortage of labour and materials that exists today. Notwithstanding the evidence of this on Stations in the shape of current establishment deficiencies and shortage of equipment, very few people realise how serious the position really is.
In effect, the allocation of labour for constructional work has been considerably reduced. This labour will be required to cover minor Works Services, as well as larger schemes.
[Cartoon] P/O Snooks will Help Himself any time! EMP.
Therefore, the available labour must only be used on those schemes that are essentially of an operational necessity and this can only be done at the expense of day-to-day minor services. If the minor Work Services themselves are to be carried out, it will only be possible to implement them by a “Self Help” scheme.
Now the expression “Self Help” should not be taken too literally. It does not mean that it can be taken as a good excuse to knock down the local guard room, or to pull down the intervening wall between the W.A.A.F. and R.A.F. Dining Room. A “Self Help” scheme is done by Service labour, and as such must be organised as a Service for the benefit of the Station as a whole, and not to satisfy the whim of any individual. There still seem to be a number of people who, being accustomed to “Having jam on it” in the shape of the excellent facilities normally available at a R.A.F. Station of peace-time design, think that the provision of any little extra convenience for anyone connected, however remotely, with the many activities involved in running a flying station, can justifiably be regarded as “operationally essential”. This, of course, is nonsense – ask some of our fellows who have served overseas.
The problem is, therefore, how to get a fuller effort from the available R.A.F. man and woman. There is, no doubt, very many R.A.F. personnel who are not doing the full amount of work of which they are capable and quite a lot of them have not yet grasped that they ought to do more than they are doing. Quite a few regard the acquisition of as many late passes and “forty eights” as possible as their chief aim in life, with unofficial extension to such periods of absence as a minor hobby. Quite a number of these might well contribute a few hours to “Self Help” each week, without suffering any grave hardship.
There are, on the other hand, a considerable number of individuals who continuously work to the limit of their capacity and sometimes beyond that limit (“Not you Adj. – sit down”). Everyone should feel a strong personal urge to give of their utmost to their Service tasks and to put no limit to the amount of effort which should be demanded of them. As we have now reached the stage when national resources are inadequate to provide us with every facility we need just when we want it, this extra effort must be organised and well led, to help ourselves as far as we can. This extra effort can be used on Station Maintenance, to replace broken windows, re-painting quarters and firming up paths and standings.
But, in conclusion, remember the buildings etc., on the Station are Air Ministry property so don’t knock down that Guard Room without first obtaining authority from the higher formation – it is really quite embarrassing to stand on Pay Parade and find you have no money to come.
[Underlined] (Continued from back page, Col. 1) [/underlined]
It is not done at all even thought the men drown. Recently in Lincoln Swimming Bath an aircrew member who couldn’t swim took the precaution of providing himself with a Mae West and took care to fasten it properly; he then jumped into the bath from the top board – and wasn’t seen for a long time, he eventually came up shouting for help and on being pulled out immediately started blaming his Mae West, only to find that he hadn’t inflated it – it goes to show!!
[Underlined] Note for Gunners. [/underlined] If your Buoyant Suit has no pocket for a floating torch don’t take it that this means you are not to have one – have a pocket fitted. If no pockets are available, you can still wear the torch round your neck inside the suit. Similarly make sure that there is an attachment for the lanyard of the K-dinghy on your suit – if you don’t know then make enquiries [underlined] now [/underlined]
IN “Air Sea Rescue” the proverb is:-
[Underlined] “YOU CAN BE TOO LATE TO LEARN”. [/underlined]
EQUIPMENT
[Underlined] CARE OF EQUIPMENT [/underlined]
As one goes about the Stations, it is obvious that equipment in general is not being cared for as it might, or rather as it should. There is no doubt whatever that at the present time, especially owing to the shortage of materials, we must make the best use of that which has been given to us. There is a feeling that the Government is a good firm and that “there is plenty more where that came from”. That may be true in certain respects, but as this war goes on, demands will increase, but whether the material will be there to meet our needs is another matter; so it is up to everyone [sic] of us to safeguard, handle and use articles of equipment entrusted to us as though they were our own and we had paid for them. Can you imagine yourself buying an expensive article and then after a short time throwing it away because perhaps a small component of it had become unserviceable! Of course you wouldn’t, you would get another part and make it serviceable. Why should you not, therefore, treat Government property in the same way, and thus save materials, manpower, man-hours and money?
[Underlined] REPAIRABLE EQUIUPMENT [/underlined]
Have you read, thoroughly digested and understood AMO A.736/43? This order gives in great detail the method for disposal of repairable equipment. Amongst the many important things one has to do, none is greater than the labelling of an unserviceable article correctly, for if this is not done (i) you are likely to get it thrown back at you by the Equipment Officer – which may mean humping a heavy article back to where it came from, or (ii) you will have to wait for the new article in exchange for the old until you present it in its proper form; thus considerable manpower and time has been unnecessarily expended. Again, if the label does not state the reason for unserviceability of the item, when it gets back to the R.E.D. many more man-hours are lost investigating the cause and extent of its unserviceability, whereas had the label borne the exact cause of failure, the mechanic at the R.E.D. whose job it is to repair such equipment, could have repaired it with the minimum of delay. Special labels are available for this type of equipment (see A.M.O. N.1174/43) – ensure you have a plentiful supply, and use ‘em.
WHO?
Thoroughness is a virtue which we view
With envy, and with admiration too;
And we, in common fairness must agree,
That rarely in a fellow man have we
Encountered such tenacity and drive
As led him on a recent day to strive,
And show his humble tyros how ‘tis done
To fly an aircraft properly, and shun
The common errors that all pupils make.
Enthusiasm prompted him to take
An aircraft up, and as they turned he spoke
“A broken undercarriage is no joke,
And if you swing on take-off you will find
Your legs will go; you’ll sit on your behind!”
Then as he spoke he swung to demonstrate
And proved his words.
……….he met his forecast fate!!
5 Group News. No. 19. February, 1944. Page 13.
[Page break]
AIR * SEA * RESCUE
A man suffering from shock or the after effects of great mental strain usually behaves in a most peculiar manner, as his brain has become numbed and does not function properly. It is on this account that it is necessary for aircrews to practice dinghy drills and have a sound knowledge of safety and rescue equipment carried in their aircraft and also of the equipment that might be dropped to them in the sea.
A crew of this Group was recently forced down in the sea and an airborne lifeboat was dropped to them – they dug about and found the sleeping suits but did not use them as it was considered that, in the crews wet state, these would not be of any use; similarly because the “Everhot” bags had been immersed they did not attempt to use them, thinking that they would be useless! Normally these men are not the “dim clots” you are now calling them – they are an outstanding example of how dim your brain can become after a climax of mental strain, and also of how insufficient knowledge of equipment can be the cause of much unnecessary suffering. Imagine it – wet through, at sea in a small boat on a cold winter’s day, and the means of warming themselves discarded as useless!
In addition, this same crew showed abysmal ignorance of the ditching stations to be taken up – the two gunners ditched with their [underlined] backs [/underlined] to the flap jack and the flight engineer was badly out of position with his back to the rear spar. As this aircraft broke its back at the rear spar, it is logical to suppose that each of these men, had they taken up their correct stations would have been alive today – the flight engineer should have been on the rest bed and the two gunners probably broke their backs on impact, they should have been facing the other way round with their backs on the floor, and “buttocks to flap jack with feet over it”.
Many flying men still seem to have the idea that fully inflated Mae West makes escape through the upper exits of an aircraft difficult. This is not true and tests have shown that the biggest and smallest members can easily “evacuate” Lancasters and Stirlings with a fully inflated Mae West. Inflate your Mae West when your Dinghy Drills provides – experience has shown time and again that unless this is done at the proper time
(Continued on Page 13 Col. 2.)
OPERATIONS
Until the moth was half spent and the “fighter” moon had been allowed to wane, the Group was unable to stage a major attack, although 617 Squadron found two opportunities to add further to their history. Nevertheless, the 1000 sorties mark was again achieved of which 89.7% were successful in attacking the primary targets, with 3.3% casualties. The lull in operational activity, however, was not allowed to pass unprofitably, as can be evidenced in the record figure of 226 aircraft airborne on the 15/16th.
With the progress of the month it became clear that the immediate objective of the Allied Air Command was to strike and crush Germany’s air strength at its source, by a sustained and co-ordinated air offensive against factories associated with aircraft production. To this end LIMOGES featured as the Group’s first assignment on the 8/9th. Until that night, memorable as indeed it must be to those “locals” who were fortunate enough to remain spectators, The Gnome and Rhone aero-engine factory was producing in the region of 50 engines per month for the Axis. Immediate assessment of the results was greatly facilitated by excellent night photographs and a particularly impressive cine film which was eloquent testimony to the accuracy of the marking. It is now apparent from P.R.U. cover following the raid, that of the 48 bays comprising the factory, 7 only have escaped destruction or serious damage – a considerable part of the machinery being wrecked and production brought to a standstill.
On 12/13th February, ANTHEOR again bore a charmed life, and escaped with no direct hits from an attack pressed home in the face of increased opposition. A few very near misses were recorded, from which, however, the Viaduct sustained no apparent damage.
Having husbanded her main bomber strength until 15/16th., Command directed a record effort against the Reich capital. The weight of the blow appears to have fallen to the South of the city and the West of the Potsdamer Railway Station, where extensive damage can be observed.
Continuing the offensive against the enemy’s aircraft industry, LEIPZIG was singled out for a 2,300 ton raid on the 19/20th. Within a few hours of this attack, made in conditions of 10/10ths cloud, American heavies returned in daylight with yet another load for the battered city. Photographic confirmation of the results is awaited with interest.
The night following, viz 20/21st. STUTTGART received a damaging blow – the attack being carried out against an apparently weakening Luftwaffe, since little enemy fighter activity was experienced by our crews. Heavy smoke rolling South Westwards away from the target obscured the Central, South and South Western areas of the town, hindering photographic cover the next day, but fires still burning, apparently unchecked, in the Northern outskirts, gave rise to the impression (later confirmed) that severe damage had been suffered.
The strain on the German night fighter and ground defences was further aggravate on 24/25th by a two-phase attack on the important ball and roller bearing plant at SCHWEINFURT, which originally contributed something approaching 50 per cent of the total production available to Germany. This attack followed closely in the wake of a heavy daylight assault by the Americans. Guided by fires started by their predecessors, later aircraft were able to continue the bombardment which largely wrecked the group of factories as a war time centre.
The month’s activities wound up with a double blow at AUGSBURG on 25/26th. The targets included the Messerschmitt plant and experimental establishment (believed to be engaged in the production of the Me.410) and the M.A.N. Diesel Engine Factory. Following the precedent of the previous day, this important aircraft centre had been attacked in daylight a few hours before by the Americans, and the evidence of night photographs taken during the raid indicates that enormous fires were left burning throughout the area, with a vast pall of smoke shrouding the stricken city.
It is true to say that never before has the enemy’s war production been so heavily bombed, or their defences subjected to such continued strain as that imposed during the sustained attacks of the last nine days of the month, which in themselves exemplify the crushing might of the Allied co-ordinated offensive.
WAR EFFORT
[Table of Aircraft, hours flow, bombs dropped, sorties carried out and results by Squadron]
5 Group News. No. 19. February, 1944.
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V Group News, February 1944
5 Group News, February 1944
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Five Group Newsletter, number 19, February 1944. Includes a foreword by the Air Officer Commanding, and features about tactics, navigation, air bombing, gardening, sports, training, flying control, H2S, Gee, photography, honours and awards, signals / radar, armament, link trainer hours, war savings, flight engineers, war savings, second thoughts for pilots, aircrew volunteers, engineering, gunnery, motor transport and flying accidents, self help, equipment, who?, air sea rescue, operations and the war effort.
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IBCC Digital Archive
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1944-02
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Anne-Marie Watson
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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.
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16 printed sheets
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eng
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Text
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MStephensonS1833673-160205-23
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
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Germany
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
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1944-02
5 Group
air gunner
air sea rescue
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
civil defence
control tower
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
flight engineer
Gee
gremlin
ground personnel
H2S
incendiary device
Lancaster
mine laying
navigator
pilot
RAF Scampton
RAF Wainfleet
rivalry
sport
training
wireless operator
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1211/15771/EStottAEBlandfordJVarious-0001.1.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1211/15771/EStottAEBlandfordJVarious.2.pdf
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Stott, Robert
Stott, R
Description
An account of the resource
13 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Robert Stott (162588) DFM and contains photographs, letters and correspondence relating to his award of the Distinguished Flying Medal and his subsequent death in action on 26/27 November 1943. He flew operatoins as an air gunner with 101 Squadron from RAF Ludford Magna. <br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Jim Yule and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. <br />Additional information on Robert Stott is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/122514/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IBCC Losses Database</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-01
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
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Yule, J
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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EStottAEBlandfordJVarious
This letter is a repeat of EStottAEBlandfordJ440504.
194 High Street
Musselburgh
Mid. Lothian
4:5:44
Dear Mr. Blandford,
Im [sic] thanking you for your letter received here 25/4/44 and I am more than delighted that your prayers have been answered and your son returned to you. Two days later I received word that my husband was killed on the 26th Nov. 1943 and three days later buried in grave No.355 in the cemetery of St. Frond, Belgium.
Four other members of the crew are buried in neighbouring graves.
This news reached me unawares as I always believed my husband would return to my son and I. However we must carry on in the best way we can. Thanking you again for writing me. Trusting you and your son are reunited very soon.
Yours most sincerely,
Agnes E. Stott
The second is a letter of sympathy for Mr Blandford from Agnes Stott.
194 High Street
Musselburgh
Mid. Lothian
Scotland
11:2:44
Dear Mr. Blandford,
Im thanking you for your kind letter received here on the 3rd[?] Feb. 1944. I did not know how to take the news of my husbands [sic] death as the Air Ministry had not by then confirmed their letter arrived the following morning & they did tell me is that Bob is a “missing believed [inserted] killed [/inserted] Casualty” and that any further news received they will let me know.
The wireless operators [sic] wife & the bomb aimer’s father sent me the same news as you did.
And [?] I can say at this awful [?] time of waiting is God to give you strength to carry on. I know he will not let us suffer unnecessary[sic]. My Baby is my great comfort in this time.
I wonder if you would let me know/what [sic]
2)
news you received of your loss. I will let you know if I receive any more news.
I am
Yours very sincerely
Agnes. E. Stott
The third letter is from P/O Whittle to Mr Blandford trying to reassure him about his missing son.
[Ends of some words missing from right hand side of letter due to incorrect scanning]
P/O. G.G. Whittle D.F.M.,
Officer’s [sic] Ward
R.A.F. Hospital
Rauceby
Lincs.
14-1-44
Dear Mr. Blandford,
Many thanks for your letter received yesterday. I can appreciate how Mrs Bland [letters missing]
and yourself feel under the circumstances. So far I have not written to any of the relat [letters missing] of the crew. I do not think that I ought to until we get information as to their where abouts [sic].
At the time the crew were reported missing I was in hospital with a perforated ear-drum. I am once again in hospital with [letters missing]
[page break]
EWhittleGGBlandfordJ[Date]
same trouble.
When I arrived back a [missing letter]
the squadron I made enquiries but I am afraid I wasn’t very lucky. It seems that except for one spot – Frankfu [missing letters]
the trip was very quite [sic].
I am sorry that I can’t help you very much, [missing letters]
am right thinking one never can [missing letters?]
recognising the other aircraft. Any day now we should get some news though. I am confident that it will be good news - Bill Wallace was one of the be [letters missing]
pilots on the squadron. From my own experience I can assure [letters missing?]
that there would not be any panic – a big factor when a crew is baling out. If I should [letters missing]
hear anything. I have connections at the Red Cross – I will telegr [letters missing]
you straight away.
Yours sincerely
G.G.Whittle
P.S. My station address is on the envelope.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letters between Robert Stott's wife, Agnes and Mr Blandford
Description
An account of the resource
Five letters from Agnes Stott to Mr Blandford, a fellow crew member's father, and one to Mr Blandford from a fellow crew member (Pilot Officer G G Whittle) who did not fly with them on their last operation.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Agnes Stott
Pilot Officer G G Whittle
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-14
1944-02-11
1944-05-04
1943-12-19
1944-01-07
1944-01-28
Format
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Photocopies of six handwritten letters
Language
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eng
Type
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Text. Correspondence
Text
Identifier
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EStottAEBlandfordJVarious-0001
EStottAEBlandfordJVarious-0003
EStottAEBlandfordJVarious
Coverage
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Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-11
1943-12
1944-01
1944-02
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
aircrew
final resting place
killed in action
Lancaster
missing in action
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/882/11709/PHorshamES1602.2.jpg
67e67ad73fa2fc212dac0e588fd3a172
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/882/11709/ASymondsHorshamE170105.2.mp3
7d055b8f4144ed6db659e469c9e75ac0
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Horsham, Eric
Eric Symonds Horsham
E S Horsham
Description
An account of the resource
14 items. An oral history interview with Eric Horsham (b. 1923), 9 photographs, and his memoirs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 102 Squadron from RAF Pocklington.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Eric Horsham and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-01-05
Rights
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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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Horsham, ES
Access Rights
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Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
CB: My name is Chris Brockbank and today is the 5th of January 2017 and I’m with Eric Horsham down in Warminster and he was a flight engineer. And he is going to talk about his experiences in life but particularly with the RAF. So, Eric what are you earliest recollections of life?
ESH: Well, every year we went off to Devon for a holiday at relations because my people came from Plymouth and Devonport and this was held good right up until my teenage years. But early memories really, I suppose began at the age of about, serious memories, seven when we heard a very strange noise on one occasion and we all rushed out to see what it was. And do you know what? It was the R101 which was on its way to London and of course guided by the River Thames because that’s where we lived. In Plumstead. So it was logical. In fact the best view from Plumstead was the Ford Motor Works which had four big white chimneys and so that was a landmark. And following on from there it wasn’t until I was [pause] well I suppose fourteen really because that’s when I left school and they said, ‘Well, there’s a couple of jobs and one is — would you like to be a messenger in the Royal Ordnance factory?’ Which was right adjacent to Plumstead at Woolwich, you see and also the headquarters of the Royal Engineers. So that’s what I did for six months because it was destined that I should take the Railway Clerical Examination and join the rest of the family working on the railway. So that’s subsequent to that they sent me to train as a booking clerk. But I didn’t show up very brightly so they said, ‘No. We’ll send you to a goods depot.’ Which was rather like being banished, you know [laughs] because, can I be humorous at this point and say, well yes I was sent to a depot call Nine Hills which was in Vauxhall near Waterloo and on one side I had the Brand’s Essence and Pickle factory churning out pickle. And looking the other way we had horses because everything was delivered, delivered by horses, and drays at that. And on the other side we had the gaslight and coke company pushing out fumes so that was my early memory on the railway and then a friend of mine said [pause] well I told the friend of mine in the railway business that I was very unhappy there. So, indeed the friend said, ‘Well, we’ll try and rectify that,’ and apparently I didn’t shine as a booking clerk either. So they sent me to the estate office of the Southern Railway which was way out in the country at Chislehurst, but I digress because previous to — I mean we, talking about the year 1937. As you’ll appreciate if I was ’23 — born ‘23. ‘33, ‘37 that’s thirteen or fourteen years and 1939 came along. We can verify those dates and we had to join anything organised. All young people. So, but I think maybe I’m a bit previous to that because I went along to the Air Defence Cadet Corps. This would be somewhere about 1937 at least. So from there of course we went on to the Air Training Corps which was very much in evidence at Woolwich because we were, had the run of the Woolwich Polytechnic, and the chief there was indeed given the rank of wing commander in the Air Training Corps. Wing Commander Halliwell. So, that’s where I first got my, sort of my aircraft experience and of course it was a very good base for workshop practice. We all started off wanting to be flight — to be aircraft fitters. Fitters and turners. And the very basic things that we did were of course in connection with Tiger Moths where you really had the history of aircraft from very early days, and we had to learn all about turn buckles and things which kept the wings in place. But of course as time went by, here we are in ’39 and we were getting heavy bombers coming in, and if you’d, you had to decide, you know, really what you wanted to do because you were going to be called up for sure. And state a preference. So of course I did. And that was to be a flight engineer. Now, as an aside to this, engineers in the Air Force — flying, got twelve shillings a day. Now, you, you know seven twelves is eighty four. That’s four pound forty a week which is not to be, not to be sniffed at. But of course we also had to join something anyway. So, off I went to, to be called up but unfortunately there was a problem because I’d had a medical earlier for call up and the doctor discovered that one leg, ankle or calf, was slightly different to the other one. And of course yes it would be so because when I was born it was in a splint up until a year, eighteen months which straightened it out but it never did quite catch up with the other leg. Anyway, they said, ‘No. You’re grade three. We don’t want you.’ So off I went back to the estate office and soldiered on. Filing I think was our main job then because the railway had a vast estate. However, ok, come twelve months I was getting pretty fed up so I went up to the local recruiting office and said, ‘You know, I’m available. And I’m partly trained as an engineer. I want to join the Air Force,’ and they said, ‘Well that’s alright. You’re in the Air Training Corps. You should be alright.’ So they sent me off to Cardington and, for a medical. Went to Henlow actually. Adjacent. Just down the road from Cardington. Saw the top brass and he said, ‘Well, jump up and down there,’ and so I did. And he said, ‘There’s nothing wrong with you, off you go.’ So back to an interview at Cardington. The very, very modern method of identifying people. You had all these puzzles in a book, and you went through the book. A hundred puzzles and things like a bit of algebra, you know. And I knew a little bit. Anyway, I got the question right and I was the only one in that class who got it. So the squadron leader who was interviewing, and he was loaded with gongs, of course to a young man I couldn’t take my eyes of these gongs. Anyway, he put me through all the paces and he had a civilian officer too, with him, in the interview. And in his room he had every kind of aircraft and I was to — aircraft recognition. So I did very well at that because we were well trained in the Air Training Corps. So off I went then back to civilian life and then a little while later got called up for Aircrew Reception Centre at Lord’s. So we had a, we were very honoured because we had to be kitted out in the Long Room which was famous as you know. We had drill on the famous turf. Now, that lasted about three weeks by which time we were fully kitted up and said, ‘Right. Off to Torquay you go.’ We thought that was jolly good because Torquay was a lovely holiday centre wasn’t it? Anyway, we did, I did eight weeks there altogether. And we learned administration and the law of the RAF and the time came when they said, well, you know, off to the squadron — no. Off to the big training centre you go. And I remember I slept the night on Bristol Temple Meads Station because that was it. We were going to St Athan in Wales. And the train service being what it was we did arrive at St Athan with two kit bags by the time we got there. And humped them all the way up to the camp which we thought rather naughty. Anyway, we went through twenty six weeks, I think it was, of training throughout every facet of aircraft construction and the essential things that one would have needed to know. Like you had to be au fait with a very complicated system of petrol tanks. Now, each wing of a Halifax had six tanks. And this had to be in flying whittled down from, so that your main petrol was in the mid-section, in tanks one and three. Funny enough on the test training board they said, ‘No, you really ought to have another think about this. Go back and think for another week.’ So, then I passed out and they put a little white flash in my cap and they gave me papers for the Number 1652 Conversion Unit which was that Marston Moor.
[Telephone ringing. Recording paused]
CB: So we’re just re-starting now with St Athan and the rest of the things that you were doing in training there.
ESH: Yes. I’ll go straight into leaving St Athan.
CB: What else did you do in St Athan? Hydraulics. What else?
ESH: Is that running?
CB: Yes.
ESH: Well, yes, you had your petrol system. You had the other power that was likely to be in aircraft which were accumulators. Now, not as you would think an electricity accumulator but this was liquid in a cylinder. Oil actually I think it was. And air was pumped in giving it a pressure and on selecting undercarriage down the accumulator would push it down. This is in the case of a Halifax which was either hydraulic or pneumatic. So the way to get services to operate was by his accumulator. But not only that of course because you did have [pause] now let me think. You had the port inner engine on a Halifax is the one that supplies power to your services and —
CB: Electrical power.
ESH: Yes. Some of it would have been electrical power.
CB: But also hydraulic.
ESH: And hydraulics had to be learned. Flaps were hydraulic. The other services control are foot and pedals by the pilot on the fin and rudder. And the elevators — well they would be hydraulic you see running a pipeline out. And flaps for instance. Fairly high pressure, well two and a half pounds I think were the standard pressure in the system but it was enough to push a big flap down against the airstream. And so electrics — you had to be au fait with the electrical services, and therefore you had to mug up on Ohm’s Law if you like in order to appreciate the power that you could get from electric motors. So, and then of course you had to know the different gauges of the stressed skin of the alclad which was a compound of the aluminium NG7. You see, the mind gets very hazy when it comes to the complete structure but you were able, by the end of six months, to walk through a mock-up of an aircraft with your eyes closed. You could have bandaged the flight engineer. He was the one who moved around and you were perfectly au fait with where the main spar came across so you could sort of jump over that. And of course the controls for your petrol were underneath the, what’s called the rest position which was a little sort of bunk for resting people. We didn’t go to sleep there actually but it was very useful. And then in the front of the aircraft of course you had the pilot with the wireless op immediately underneath him. And the navigator and the bombardier in the nose proper. So they, we were pretty well genned up by the time we left there. We could go anywhere blind folded within the air craft there and operate switches without thinking about it. So then they said, ‘Right. Here’s, here’s your ticket.’ You’re on your on your way,’ to a place called Pocklington — no. Sorry. Marston Moor. The sight of the famous battle actually was just down the road. And this was number 1652 Conversion Unit where all the crews got together as and made up as crews. Now, I hadn’t met our crew before then but we were very late. The mid-upper gunners and the flight engineers only met the crew, the other crew of four who’d come along from EFTS and their various ‘dromes where they had been instructed, to make up a crew. And it was strange because we assembled in the hall and the flight engineers and the gunners — mid-upper gunners, would be sitting in chairs and then in came the existing crews because they’d been flying Wellingtons which only required five people. And then — how do you find a pilot? They said, ‘Join up with somebody,’ so eventually, I think we were down to about two flight engineers and a chappie came along and said, ‘I need a flight engineer. You’ll be my flight engineer won’t you?’ And it turned out that he was a very very competent pilot. His name actually was, he was a Pilot Officer Francis then, who came from a village near where we are now called Stoke St Michael near Shepton Mallet. Anyway, he was quite stern. He always said that he’d seen our records but I don’t think he had. Anyway, he brought the crew along and said, ‘This is our flight engineer. Do you think he’ll be alright?’ So that was it. That was our crew. And so then we started training on the next day on circuits and bumps because this aircraft was totally new to our pilot. And while we’re on the subject of crew we had a very important chap in the crew who is of course the navigator. Now, we had actually in retrospect, having had thirty odd ops to prove himself, and we wouldn’t be here now if it hadn’t have been for Oscar Shirley, who was our navigator, because you could turn him upside down. You could have umpteen course changes. He knew exactly where he was. Because it could be very, I mean I heard of crews who had navigators that weren’t too good and that was curtains. However, we won’t dwell on that. But, and while we’re on crew our bombardier was fresh from the first few months of a teacher training course. He was called Johnny Morris but not to be confused with the comedian. And Alan Shepherd was our wireless operator. Now, Alan Shepherd came from Ringwood, off a smallholding. Wonderful chap really. Did a lot of good work after the war. Who else have we got to account for? Oh rear gunner. Yes. Rear gunner, another Londoner. I’m just desperately trying to remember his name. You wouldn’t believe it would you? [pause] I’ll remember it in a moment. We’ll come back to that. Now, who haven’t we accounted for? Mid-upper gunner. Jimmy Finney from Hull. Lovely lad who later got shot up on one operation and had to pack it in.
CB: And your bomb aimer?
ESH: Ron Alderton was the name of the rear gunner by the way. He is still with us as far as I know but when I phoned him the other day he said, ‘I’m losing my marbles. I can’t come and see you.’ So, there we were. Crew set up. And then of course we all had our bicycles with us. Off in the van and off we went to — I think we went by train from Green Hammerton to York. And then York out to Pocklington, and the station yard was just gravel in those days. And then of course we walked over to the ‘drome which was quite close. Each of us had two kit bags and a bicycle. But we knew we were going to Pocklington and it didn’t have a very savoury sort of record. In fact they said, ‘Now you’re here you’ll be lucky if you last three weeks.’ Which was a throwback from — 1943 was a desperate year and here we are in January or February was it of ’44, at the Conversion Unit. And Pocklington had, sorry not the Conversion Unit. Pocklington — the actual RAF station and there was definitely a pervading sort of sense that this was a bit dodgy, you know. However, we were led into operations in around about, just before D-Day. We’d done all our circuits and bumps and cross country’s and they let us down very gently on short trips to France. I mean the first trip we did was to a place called [unclear] which was a P-plane place. P planes were coming in thick and fast so Churchill had said to our boss Air Chief Marshall Harris, ‘Look get your lads on this. I want it stamped out.’ Because they knew the 6th of June was coming up. So we continued to do that until right through until well after D-Day. To various places which you wouldn’t be able to find on the map because they don’t give, you won’t find them as places like Foret de Dieppe. Which is unheard of, I mean, but there you are. And then we started ops didn’t we? And of course our accent was on night bombing. Can you imagine having a sheet of aluminium stood up against the wall and you gathered up in your hand and [pause] gravel? Now, you threw the gravel at the aluminium. Now that’s just what it’s like when you’re being shot. If you’re near a shot. Because all the shrapnel comes and hits the aircraft like that and that is getting just a bit too close for comfort. However, they were nights. Now, what you don’t, what you can’t see you don’t worry about do you? Even though it was seven or eight hours sometimes. Or five or six to the Ruhr. Because we were concentrating on the Ruhr. I mean Essen after we’d been there and some of the other lads had been there previously there wasn’t one brick standing on another. And that’s where Krupps the armament works were ruined, you know — finished. Because we were mainly at that time after [pause] I mean our targets were decided by the Ministry of Economic Warfare. And they said, ‘Right. Wipe out Germany’s oil and that will end the war.’ So that’s what we did. We went to all sorts of obscure places trying, in bulk, to wipe out an oil plant. Because, I mean, you’re looking at a complex in the middle of a small area of a village. Now it took a lot of aircraft to plaster it so we did a lot of this up and down the Ruhr. I mean there were so many places I won’t bore you with that. But that’s what we did. But also we went to one or two further places like Brunswick. Way across east to Berlin. And then Hanover, Soest, Osnabruck and they were very well defended. And of course the night fighters hadn’t quite been been nullified as they were a little later. So we had, I suppose a charmed existence. And one of the deadly things the Germans did was to position a gun at a fixed angle — called a shrage gun and it would come out and go straight for the port inner. Once you got the port inner — well that’s where your services came from. And there’s no way really you could put a fire out. You’d try by diving [pause] but no really we had a charmed existence I suppose. And then D-Day came along and in preparation for that the squadron was busy but we didn’t actually get over Normandy until, I think it was July the 18th 1944 when it was, there were troop concentrations around Cannes. Now, if you remember Montgomery couldn’t shift them and everyone was looking to him and saying, you know, ‘You’re going to be a failure aren’t you? You can’t. You’re army can’t do it.’ So they whistled up the Air Force east of Cannes where Tigers tanks had dug in in expectation of a bombing raid. and of course we were there 5 o’clock in the morning and it soon became obscured by dust and smoke. And really it was pretty terrible for the Germans I’m sure because they staggered out of their bunkers and that, having been bombed by I think it was a thousand aircraft. Not all at once but over a period of about half an hour. Your concentration was so great yes you could time them and of course this was, in effect, an army cooperation. We had to be very careful because the army had to lay down a yellow barrier of flares with a given margin which they decided was safe so — and I do remember on that occasion I think as we were coming — as we were going out on that raid as you’ll realise Cannes isn’t that far from England. They were coming back. So, quite amazing you know to see these aircraft coming back and you hadn’t got there. Now, this was daylight of course because they switched us from night after a time because we went on to daylight because of course if you can see something it should be, you should be more accurate. Now, we did go on right through the summer. We went to one P-plane place seven days running. Foret de Dieppe. If you can find it on the map. Because one operation was preceded by Mosquito. Now the Mosquito could — it was planned he would be on a fixed from England on the exact spot. So we were trundling away there getting towards — and the secret was when he dropped his bombs everyone else would do theirs. And of course unfortunately we got up near the target and one aircraft opened its bomb doors and dropped the bombs and of course everybody else did the same. So really that was — the idea was good but it didn’t work in practice. Whether the Air Ministry would like you to know that I don’t know. But yes, it was so. So, we were largely on P-plane bases but then we went on, as I say, to daylight. Oil installations. Because at that time it was really beginning to show that the Germans couldn’t really put enough in the field because they hadn’t got the petrol. So, mainly of course we were up at the Ruhr at places like Gelsenkirchen where there were oil installations and that more or less saw the summer out. But one operation did stand out for us and that was army cooperation with the Americans who were trying to push into the Ruhr and we hadn’t yet, they hadn’t yet done it but there were three towns. Julich, Duren and Eschweiler, and I think they are adjacent to the [pause] now what was the name of the forest?
CB: Ardennes.
ESH: The Ardennes, yes. Indeed. The Ardennes and these Germans had all their batteries concentrated in that area and they could dig in these Tiger tanks and they were very difficult. I mean they were very difficult to move. And the crews also were dug in and ready to come into action as soon as the raid had passed over. Anyway, we went through the target and on our way out and we must have wandered. At that time of course to nullify guns you dropped out metallic strip, Window, which really foxed the German radar. And they were pretty good on this radar. And we did wander around to one side on the way out. Out of radar — out of the Window cover and you could see. I was lucky I had a little dome and I could look out as a flight engineer to the rear and you could see these black dots coming up, but you didn’t know whether that one was going to follow that one but it did. And there was an almighty bang and so skipper Francis knew what that was so immediately put it into a dive. Now we were about fifteen thousand feet I think and we ended up diving and ended up at eight thousand feet hoping that the Germans wouldn’t be able to follow us down but the place was full of smoke and cordite. The smell of cordite. If you’ve opened up a firework or let it off you’ll smell cordite and that’s what, that’s what was filling up the aircraft. So you couldn’t communicate. Everyone had gone deaf so you had to wait for your hearing to come back. But being a flight engineer I was able to walk around because we were at level flight by that time. Previous to that we’d been pinned in our stations. The G-effect being such. And so the first thing I saw — the aircraft looked like a pepper pot on one side, the starboard side, and daylight was streaming out. No flaps. And unfortunately Jim Finney in the mid-upper turret was pointing to his leg and the shrapnel had gone through at the thigh which rendered him, his control of his foot etcetera to be nullified. So wireless op and bombardier got him out of the turret and laid him down in the fuselage, bandaged him up and they cut his trousers first in order to find out where the where he’s bleeding. And they did a good job on him because you know if a chap’s losing blood he’s losing life blood. So, anyway, the skipper said to navigator, ‘Give me a course for home.’ He gave him a course irrespective of what we were flying over and he pointed the nose in the right direction and off we went and we were soon back. I suppose at — oh yes it was awkward because there was a mist coming up and a fog but we were pointed towards Orfordness and the aerodrome there which had FIDO. Fog Dispersal [pause] Fog Incandescent Dispersal Organisation. So we were able to fly around once firing off all the red flares that we had so they should know down below that we hadn’t got radio, we hadn’t got brakes. But it’s a long runway and it was called [pause] There were two — one was at Carnaby further up the coast. This was Woodbridge. Straight in off the sea straight on the ‘drome. So it was getting pretty misty and it was closing in. November is a bad month isn’t it? Anyway, we got down didn’t we? And we managed to take up the full length of the runway, ended up on the grass at the end. But nevertheless we were off out of trouble. And along came, well they knew full well that this aircraft was damaged. Couldn’t talk to us. So they sent out the wagon and dear Jim was soon in hospital. And we, along with a couple, quite a few dozen others descended on the cookhouse for a supper, you know. Which we did eventually get because they didn’t expected all these people to come in 5 o’clock in the afternoon. And so what do you do? We’re down at Orfordness there in the east coast of Essex. They gave us tickets back to London and then back to York which was an excuse for everybody to spend the night in London. But I was lucky because I could get an electric train just down to Woolwich as it were and back home. We never got pulled up. None of us had hats. Well, I think, I think the skipper did because he was very particular about carrying his nice peak cap, you know. However — yeah, so we, but that’s only one of about six different aircraft that we had on the tour. Some of the numbers are in the logbook. But where we had different problems — for instance on one occasion we had a seagull in the engine nacelle which put that out of action. So of course you didn’t use that aeroplane the next day. We had so many we could have a new one every day if necessary. As I say, we had about seven. We got the undercart. That went down alright otherwise we wouldn’t be here would we? But it could be things like that which would be, could be very dodgy. And we eventually finished our tour on oil installations. Let’s see [pause] towards the end. Towards the end. Towards the [pause] October. October. Through Christmas. Probably about January or February of ‘45 and that was the end of our tour. And we had done twenty daylights and about thirteen night trips which clocked up something like four hundred, five hundred hours flying. Full stop.
CB: We’ll stop there for a —
[recording paused]
CB: So we’re just, we’re just doing a recap now which is on the damage on the aircraft.
ESH: Yes.
CB: So starting at the point of the big explosion. Then what happened and what was the effect?
ESH: Well I hope I can remember.
CB: That’s alright.
[pause]
ESH: Well we left the target area and unfortunately we may have erred to one side of the Window cover which of course blocks out their radar and nullifies their accuracy. But nevertheless they caught us up and in a flash there was an almighty bang and our hearing disappeared straight away and the skipper put it into a dive, And down we went. Down. Down. Down. Something like eight thousand feet I suppose before we levelled out and that was a relief but we were then, I was then able, as a flight engineer to move around and observe any damage and by jingo there was. Looking out the port side — the starboard side the flaps had disappeared. One important, very important thing. The whole side of the aircraft was peppered and daylight was, it was more or less a window. And our mid-upper gunner, now our hearing had come back and our visibility was quite goon— pointed to his leg and indeed he had caught, been caught by shrapnel right through his thigh from his turret. So that very shortly after our wireless operator and our bombardier came out and got him out of the turret and cut his trouser and stopped the flow of his blood. And we realised it was very urgent to get back to England because, fortunately our four engines are still turning over in spite of losing some major control of the aircraft, so on arriving at Woodbridge which was a mighty long ‘drome a mighty long runway and very wide too we had to circle. We had to tell the ground what was happening. And so there we were flying, running off red verey lights in case there were other aircraft in the circuit, but there was no issue. We did one. One circuit around the flying control and straight in to the funnel of the runway. Without — without radio we felt pretty helpless. The fog had closed in on the aerodrome now at this time but he was an A1 skipper and as I say one of his things that he was so good at was flying blind, he could fly in any condition. He got us down and we got Jimmy into the transport and away to the nearest hospital.
[pause]
CB: Was there any fire on the aircraft?
ESH: No. Fortunately we didn’t have fire. Which is a pretty terrible thing.
CB: So you had no, no hydraulics and you had no electrics. How did you get the undercarriage down?
ESH: Well, it’s heavy, it’s a very heavy undercarriage. Massive wheels on a Halifax. Six foot high nearly. If I remember rightly the hydraulics had gone which serves flaps, bomb doors, undercarriage and, actually what happened is [pause] there is another precaution because if your —
[pause]
CB: You could wind it down could you?
ESH: No. There was a precaution against it falling down which is called withdrawing the uplocks. This is a job that the flight engineer had to do. He would go down to what the rest position which is where our mid-upper gunner was. And there are two D rings. One each side protruding from the fuselage. The cable obviously comes through the back of the wing because the undercarriage would have been beneath the wing, and it was a simple system. Ok. You pulled the D ring which pulled a cable which released a sort of a gate bolt. This bolt, if you can imagine a gate bolt, held up the undercarriage. So the undercarriage would automatically fall down. So that’s obviously what the, as flight engineer, I did on approaching. We were fortunate in as much as that was all intact. I mean if the aircraft had lost its undercarriage earlier you not only would it have caused a lot more loss of fuel flying with an undercarriage down, total drag. But in this case no. The uplocks worked. Irrespective of any hydraulic system. And of course your warning lights came on here and there.
CB: Ok.
ESH: We covered that have we?
CB: You have. Yeah.
ESH: So therefore we got — we were on the ground, Jimmy’s off to hospital and we are left to go and find our supper again with another hundred bods as we used to call ourselves. The next morning we were given a pass to go back to Pocklington via London so everyone had a night in London if they couldn’t get home. We all seemed to arrive the next morning for the 10 o’clock up to King’s Cross, up to York and that was the end of that sticky situation.
CB: When you had a night in London where did you stay?
ESH: Well I was able to go back. Once we got to London I was able to go back to Plumstead to my folks, and one or two of the other crew had friends that they could call on. Or relations. In fact Skipper Francis had some relations down in Slough way. Now, Ron Alderton, the rear gunner, had Canadian friends temporary and he did a night of the rounds of whatever pubs he could find and night clubs. He had quite a roaring time. I mean we didn’t need to get a train before 11 o’clock from Kings Cross to get back to York. So, on the train back we were, you know, reminiscing. And I always remember I’d tried to write out something for the, for the skipper at the time when all our hearing had gone and it was an absolute shambles. Unfortunately, you couldn’t hear anything and I found I couldn’t even spell the word fuselage. What I should have done was “Jim hit.” Two words would have conveyed that but instead of that — in the event you do not act logically and you would find that you had difficulty in getting to grips with language. You could move about and you knew exactly what you should do but you couldn’t think it through. But we were all in the same boat weren’t we? We all lost our hearing for quite a time.
CB: So you —
ESH: But we got back. That was the thing.
CB: You experienced the initial shock. When did the secondary shock hit you and what was that like?
ESH: Well, we had a night’s sleep, as you will appreciate, in London and I suppose we were rehearsing the events in the train for five hours. But we well appreciated that we were very lucky. But I don’t think at that time that that sort of event had too much effect on a crew. We were all together weren’t we? Jimmy was unfortunate but he wasn’t killed. That would have been a terrible disaster. So therefore I think we’d already been used to five years of war. I mean I’m talking about ’39 onwards, you’ve already had four years and you became inured to stress, in effect. So although we went back over the ground again but we were as a crew, we were complete. We were very lucky.
CB: How long before jimmy rejoined you?
ESH: Jimmy, unfortunately was off to hospital in Oswestry and he was ruled out forever more as a flyer and we received then a young gentleman from Scotland called Onderson. He was very broad and I think mostly we didn’t call him Ian, I think we just called him Jock and he was quite happy with that. And he finished up something like five or six operations with us. He became one of us obviously.
[pause]
CB: Now, you were saying that you did thirty. In your tour there were thirty ops, twenty of them were daylight. How many of those were to do with the V weapons and what happened?
ESH: Well, as we said the V weapons and the P-planes. The V weapon was of course outside our control. It’s a rocket and you don’t hear it coming, you don’t know it’s left the ground even. And if you were anywhere near it then it could destroy half a dozen houses at one time. So we were mainly concentrating on P plane sites because you could flatten them. Until they put them on lorries and then of course you couldn’t find them. So, yes.
CB: So you were, you were in daylight but how easy or difficult was it to find the V1 initially and then V2 sites?
ESH: Well, I don’t think that we could ever find — the V1 for instance was secreted in the middle of a forest and certainly fighters could eventually have a go because they could see them and once we’d identified, or the Air Ministry had identified the location they knew what they were looking for on lorries. They would shoot them up but of course V2 was purely a mobile rocket. But once it was off it was off and it would perform a perambular and no one knew it had gone and no one knew it was coming. And there was just a terrible explosion and five houses could be — disappear.
CB: But the V1 sites, as you said, in forests — how effective would you say your endeavours were in dealing with those?
ESH: Well you want the truth. A question like where would you find the P- plane sites in a forest? All we had to go on really was what came back from our agents by wireless. That there was this activity in a certain place which the Air Ministry would identify, or the sight would be identified and it would be marked on our maps, as I say, as a very obscure village in Pas-de-Calais. The only thing we could do was mass bombing. In fact I don’t remember a site which wasn’t bombed on each occasion with less than three hundred aircraft. So that you hoped that within that aiming point you would destroy it. And I think we did a lot but not all.
CB: Saturation bombing.
ESH: Yes. That was the idea. Saturation bombing [pause] Stop.
CB: Ok.
[recording paused]
CB: Now, some of your endeavours at bombing these V1 sites perhaps were more effective than others. Was there one site you went to several times?
ESH: What? A V1?
CB: Yeah. In Dieppe.
ESH: Yeah. Foret de Dieppe. Did I not mention earlier?
CB: No. So, just, just cover that can you? The fact you went several times.
ESH: Oh yes indeed.
CB: Why did you go to that several times?
ESH: Yes. In order to mitigate this nuisance of the V2, V1s of which many thousands were being aimed at England at the time on a fixed track. One morning, in fact five or six mornings continuously we searched out a fixed ramp in a forest called Foret de Nieppe. Which of course is in the Pas-de-Calais, if you can find it. And it took thousands of tonnes, must have done, to obliterate that site. But it was, it wasn’t able to fire off these V1s in rapid succession because, you know the Germans were very thorough and got it to a high state of proficiency but we did concentrate for many weeks and months on finishing off these P-planes because it was aimed at civilian population.
CB: How many times did you actually see V1s flying towards Britain on your way to the target?
ESH: Well fighter pilots did of course but not, not us.
CB: You were too high up, were you, to see them?
ESH: Yes. I mean they didn’t, they came in at about two thousand feet so I can’t say I saw one. But I saw the damage and I experienced a V2 standing on Albany Park Station which was on the, what’s called the Dartford loop line. Bexley Heath, Barnehurst and down there. And I was standing on the station and this thing dropped a quarter of a mile away and I had to ask the station staff what that was. I mean, you know, I didn’t see it. If I’d have gone along I’d have seen a row of houses demolished but that. No.
CB: And what was their reaction to your question?
ESH: Who?
CB: The railway people.
ESH: Well he sort of said, ‘Where have you been?’ Because it was — this is not live is it? Well he wondered where I’d been not to know that London was being plastered with P-planes bombs. That sounded by the way like a common 6oo cc motorcycle engine.
CB: And you weren’t able to tell them what you were doing to counter this. You weren’t able to explain what you were doing, to the people in London.
ESH: No. Well they could see —
CB: Bombing.
ESH: They could see I was in uniform.
CB: Yes.
ESH: But they were so busy with their ordinary lives that I was just one of two million servicemen. It didn’t rate more highly than that.
CB: Right. Ok.
ESH: Pause?
CB: Yeah.
[recording paused]
CB: So what other events were noteworthy.
ESH: Ah well, now what comes to mind straightaway is on the way in to a target to see an actual aircraft hit. And you must remember this has got a full bomb load of what ten [pause] what had we got — five twenty thousand pounds of TNT going up as well as the fire bombs, and it’s the most horrifying experience. But I do remember that occasion when — and the skipper was quick to point out that the Germans did send up what they called Scarecrows. But I’m sure this would be more than that because the whole sky around that aircraft was just bits, black bits in the sky. Now, you see a Scarecrow couldn’t put up that much material could it? I don’t think so. I think this was a very salutary experience but you didn’t dwell on it because, well, you know, it could be happening at night time and you never knew anything about it.
CB: So we’re talking about night time now are we?
ESH: No. Night time, other than someone standing and throwing grit at your aeroplane that was the only indication you would have had that there were some shells very close by, but you see what the eye doesn’t see the heart doesn’t grieve. Although you might feel the effect of it, especially if you’d another aircraft in front of you you’d be perhaps very difficult as a pilot to maintain your position because you’re right in his slipstream. And there’s a slipstream of four engines just in front of you. I mean there were so many aircraft in the sky that it’s a wonder and in fact we lost a lot of aircraft because of collision. Indeed we did if the truth is known. No, there’s a bit of variation. We also had some trips with mine laying. Now, what happens? Mine laying. Well we had a chap from the navy came up and showed us exactly what’s going to happen because these things are quite weighty. I think they weighed about a matter of hundred weights and I think the maximum we could carry would be two. But there would be a whole squadron perhaps, or a lot of aircraft from other stations, all on the same business, and so off we went out across the North Sea and in to the Baltic. We had to pass over an island called Bornholm. Now, how far it is into the Baltic I don’t know, not very far perhaps because we were after this shipping route between Swedish oil coming down to feed the German factories. But I do remember dear old Bornholm put up some ack-ack you know [laughs] as though they could catch us with it. One little gun you know. It was a bit of humour in a not too humorous event. But that made a change from flying over the Ruhr because actually the first time I saw the Ruhr at night, well you’d never believe it. We came into the south of Ruhr and there was a bank of searchlights for the next fifty miles. Up and curving around. And, you know, when the chaps had said you’ve got to avoid searchlights I can understand because once you get pinned or —
[Mobile ring tone. Recording paused]
CB: So we’re talking about in the Ruhr and the way they would have, the place was defended.
ESH: Yes. Right.
CB: And how they were able, in the dark to track where people were going.
ESH: Well if I describe the scene.
CB: Yeah.
ESH: The first time you saw these early night trips that we did it took a bit of getting used to. And the first time I saw searchlights. Now, if you can imagine Kiel up in North Germany. Right around and come down through the rest of the Ruhr down to [pause] what town would be the south of the Ruhr?
CB: Stuttgart. Stuttgart.
ESH: Stuttgart. And Nuremberg. That is something like fifty miles isn’t it? Or more.
CB: More.
ESH: A solid ring of thousands of searchlights, it was like day. And it curved actually from the north right down. Facing England to the south. Stuttgart. Nuremberg. And even further south than that I think. A solid — banks of hundreds. And if, if you got near one they had one particular, in groups, they had one particular searchlight which was extra powerful and it used to show up blue, and, well we did get coned on one occasion. We were lucky because very often you couldn’t get out of it. There were so many and they could sort of follow your track and there was this master searchlight and everybody else was following. And what we did, we managed to get out by just diving and weaving. And I suppose we lost a few hundred feet and you had to make that up because you had a flight plan. You know, you didn’t depart from that flight plan. You just didn’t go off on your own doing your own thing. That was certain, certain tragedy that would be because you had whole squadrons of night fighters still and they were still able to fly. Although, they couldn’t do the training because they hadn’t got the petrol, so the petrol bombardment was beginning to show. I mean we’re talking now about mid-’45 aren’t we, you see? Sorry —
CB: ’44.
ESH: ’44. From ’44 to the end of ’44 it was gradually having an effect on German oil production, synthetic oil. And of course being as they were small patches they were very difficult to find. I mean, you might have one oil refinery and its ten miles from the nearest town. Now, you’ve got to be very accurate to get anything delivered to that site and — if you could get there, you know. But of course the German fighter production was going down so fast that I think we had a charmed existence from nineteen — from June ‘45 really to, or September ’45 to the end of [pause] ’44 to the end of ’44. I mean we were very busy D-Day time for the next three months, and then it sort of slackened off because you were limited to what you could do in the way of army cooperation. In fact the army didn’t want the Air Force to take full credit for having liberated Germany. So [pause] but raids were still being, operations were still being carried out by the squadron right through to mid-‘45. Or ‘til D-Day.
CB: You talked about the intensity of searchlights. What effect did that have on the air bomber’s ability to identify the target?
ESH: Well, searchlights. Yes. But you had visual and of course later in — from D-Day onwards the squadrons were equipped with H2S which was radar with the ability to show up features on the ground. To be able to distinguish between water and land. Now, if an oil refinery was situated just off a river that aiming point would certainly be able to be calculated and it left an aiming point for a whole squadron of aircraft marked by Pathfinders. You didn’t go on your own. It was, at that time, after D-Day, everything was Pathfinders and they would blaze the trail and you’d have a Master Bomber and he would come through your RT. I remember one occasion when the Main Force was given a name so it would come out rather like this. ‘Widow 1, Widow 1 to Main Force. Bomb the red TIs.’ And then a minute later, ‘Widow 1 to Main Force. Bomb the yellow TIs.’ Because of bomb creep.
CB: TI being target indicator.
ESH: Target indicator. Yes. So you had a whole spectrum of colours. Red. Green. Blue. Yellow. And they could be changed rapidly by RT from the master bomber to the main force so that he kept, you kept pace with bomb creep and you became more effective with that. In fact very effective in the end. I mean such people as Wing Commander Cheshire as he was then would be up the front there giving the, giving that RT direction.
CB: Would you like to just explain what is bomb creep? Bomb creep. What is it?
ESH: Bomb creep. Yes. What happens is that [pause] it creeps back rather than on to the target. How it happens — I suppose if you’ve got a conflagration then bombardiers could think that that was where you should be aiming. So a lot of aircraft, I mean, don’t forget there are five hundred aircraft on this job so that some of them would think that was the target. But, so the Master Bomber had to keep reminding people that it was creeping back and it shouldn’t do. He’s got to go on to his new target indicators. And he changed the colour of course. So you knew what to look for. Otherwise your bomb load was nullified.
CB: Ok.
ESH: Go on to [pause]
CB: Yeah go on. So we’ll stop there for a mo.
ESH: Yeah then —
[recording paused]
ESH: I said Cora’s mum and dad yes.
CB: Yes. On a slightly lighter note clearly as a crew you had your, and personally you had your social side. So what did the crew do, and what did you do individually?
ESH: Well, that’s what I did individually and didn’t take any part in any social activities with the crew.
CB: Right. So what did you do?
ESH: I didn’t go drinking, you see.
CB: No. So what did you do?
ESH: I spent most of my time in York.
CB: Right. And what did you find there?
ESH: This family.
CB: Right.
ESH: And I was made like a son.
CB: Were you?
ESH: So I didn’t — we all went as a family to the theatre one evening and we saw the famous lady who had just started acting. She was in, “Last of the Summer Wine.” Very famous. You chaps have got memories haven’t you?
CB: We’ll latch on to her later. So, but but the family —
ESH: I’d better jot her name down while I think of it.
CB: Ok. Yeah. So you —
ESH: Thora Hird.
CB: Yeah. So the family was in York. What did the father do?
ESH: He was invalided. He couldn’t do anything because of the start of silicosis.
CB: Right, but what was his trade?
ESH: That was — he was in charge. He had his own firm of plasterers.
CB: Right.
ESH: So I’ll go on to that. I’ll just make a quick note, Thora Hird.
CB: And they had a son and a daughter.
ESH: Yeah. Yeah. Famous restaurant in the middle of York. Still there.
CB: But you’d go to that as well would you?
ESH: Yeah. I’ve got it. Yes.
CB: Go on.
ESH: Ok.
CB: Yeah.
ESH: Live?
CB: Yes.
ESH: We were talking about the social life on the squadron. Well, as I say I think I was eighteen when I, nineteen when I arrived there, and went out into York and I met this delightful young lady called Cora. And she said, ‘Well, if I’m going out with you my people want to see you.’ So I went along and they became my mum and dad for that time. And her dad was a, had a plastering firm but he was suffering then from, I think, the start of silicosis and he couldn’t work but nevertheless they went out of their way to look after me, and of course the extra attraction was of course la belle Cora. And at that time there was a show going in York and who should be a young actress was Thora Hird. But I don’t think she remembers that herself now, bless her. She’s passed on hasn’t she? But Mr Parker’s claim to fame as a plasterer was the ceilings, for instance, in Betty’s Bar. Now Betty’s Bar is very well known in York and it’s still there. And if you go down into the basement you will find a mirror which is now cut up into three parts. And pretty well every famous flyer has got his signature on the glass having done with a diamond ring. And they’re all there. I think you’ll find Group Captain Cheshire left his mark there. And quite a lot of others passed through but they’re all on this mirror. So that’s down in the basement of Betty’s Bar. It’s worth going down to see. There’s history galore down there. So they looked after me like a mother and father, not withstanding the fact they had a son in the Middle East. With the 8th Army I think it was. But of course being really a dangerous occupation I had no business stringing this girl along. I mean I was her first boyfriend and you know the effect that has on young ladies. So, the crew were very good. They didn’t question me as to where I was spending all this time you see. Which brings us to —
CB: How you broke it off.
ESH: How we —?
CB: Broke it off.
ESH: Oh yes. I mean, we used to have, our famous perambulation was around the wall of York. And, you know it took quite a time so, and broke her heart I’m sure, but it had to finish. It would had been too traumatic otherwise. And we were then left to finish our tour which, there again was mainly oil installations. But come September of ’44 the CO called us all into the briefing room and said, ‘Now we’re all going to France tomorrow. We are bringing petrol to the army.’ The army was fighting at Eindhoven and so they said, ‘You are going to be loaded up with petrol,’ which they did. Each aircraft. Two hundred and fifty, five gallon cans stacked along the fuselage and tied in so they didn’t bounce around. Off we went to a German field which they’d laid out what’s called Sommerfield tracking to stop an aircraft or aircraft and vehicles bogging down in a puddle. So that was rather jolly. I mean there we were — flew a hundred feet all the way. And really that’s one of the nicest things to do, you know. Flying low level where we’d see haystacks with pigs on top because Jerry had pulled the plug on the dyke. Very naughty of course but you know it really devastated thousands of acres. And we had to fly over that into Brussels. Well into an area of Brussels called Melsbroek which was just a grass field. And it was very enjoyable. We landed there and fresh air and went to the village and do you know what? There were grapes growing on the trees. Oh grapes. Well, I mean who wants to leave there? Anyway, this so happens, you know that we tried to get off the next day, I’m sure it was the next day. So soon you could be accused of organising this. But we oiled up the plugs trying to get out of a big puddle and there’s no way you’re going to get out of it because what the wheels do and they’re big, they just churn a great gap, pit in the soil. So therefore that was, we were stuck there until you get a fitter out with a set of plugs to put it right, and I think all four engines were oiled up. Anyway, that meant that we had three days in Brussels. So what did we do? The first day we piled into a local tram and went into Brussels where we stayed at the Gare de Nord Hotel. And I was the only one who had any money [laughs] you know, because they said now any money you’ve got to change it. You’ve got to, sorry we had to change it for the currency that was wartime currency. And so of course our money was soon gone staying at hotels. And we went in to one, oh yes we, I must tell you a little story here. We went in to one hotel and up to the second floor and it was a night club with an amphitheatre and a stage and events, you know. Acts taking place. But on the way up the staircase in a corner there were two six foot six American sergeants and they had a lovely carton of cigarettes, a big carton. And they were presumably flogging them off. I mean if they could get another carton like that they’d make a fortune because there were no cigarettes in Europe. In fact, people would give you their gold watch for a packet of cigarettes but that — now our rear gunner being a sort of international type said, ‘No,’ we must find, he’d come from Canada on, he was trained for something else in Canada because he talked about Montreal. And he said, ‘We must see an exhibition.’ And actually it wasn’t what I fancied but anyway we didn’t get that far because there was no exhibition. So we met this old boy in the road and Ron says, ‘Exhibition?’ So, he didn’t speak French perfectly. The chap was quite happy. This old boy. ‘Come with me. Come with me.’ And off we went with this chap down the main thoroughfare and down some back entrances, back places, back roads, alleyways to a pub. And this pub was run by this aged lady who sat at the high stool and dished up what went, passed as beer. And there were us. We were all sitting around on stool, a continuous stool like in a queue. And I mean, you know, it was alright. A bit of light fare. And the skipper was there of course and he hadn’t taken his hat off that time. And in comes all th ese girls in bathing costumes. I mean, to eighteen year olds you know this is seventh heaven isn’t it? What’s next then? And they were sitting on our knees and some of them very shapely. And the skipper suddenly caught on, he said ‘Right. Here’s the gun. Out you lot.’ And we had to leave because it was a brothel wasn’t it? And he wasn’t, he wasn’t having his crew sullied by such goings on. So, that was, that was Brussels for me.
CB: So you got two black eyes and you couldn’t hear anything either.
ESH: [laughs] So. No. We had to make apologies to these young ladies and disappear. We would have liked to pass on perhaps a bar of chocolate.
CB: Of course.
ESH: But we didn’t go prepared. But it’s a pity. But Ron did — he went to a private family that night. I don’t know what the attraction was but anyway he did — no. Johnny Morris this is, ex schoolteacher. He obviously thought about it because he brought a bag of coffee back next time and made arrangements for it to be delivered to a particular curie. A priest at the local church who he had met somehow. But that’s the best we could do really. Normally you went in with your two hundred and fifty gallons. The army came up with a truck, unloaded [pause] and there we went off again. The next day with another load. So we were really kept busy bringing in something like two thousand gallons at a time for the army to use up at Eindhoven. Because they were six hundred miles from the port at that stage and just couldn’t keep going, you know. I thought I saw somebody moving out there but maybe I’m wrong.
CB: So did you carry, did you then later deliver any other kind of goods or was it only petrol?
ESH: Only petrol. But I believe later. Very soon. Our squadrons were engaged on dropping supplies to Amsterdam and it made a great impression on our Dutch friends.
CB: That was food. Operation Manna.
ESH: Yes.
CB: Yes.
ESH: We weren’t engaged on that but rather carried on with the last few trips into Europe.
CB: So when you come to the end of your tour what happened then to the crew?
ESH: Ah yes. Well, do you know on the aerodrome was an experimental department run by a squadron leader. And they, one of the problems with the Halifax was coring of the oil in the oil tank. Super cooling. And it was called coring. And every effort was being made, well funny enough in my tour I never came, never had the problem. I dare say we never flew in an icing. What you call an icing.
CB: Weather condition.
ESH: Yeah. You get icing conditions at certain heights and if you stayed in it it was very bad for the oil coolers but we managed to keep out of that. But a lot of experimental work was being done because a lot of the aircraft did — was affected. And so they, we worked for the experimental department there which was set up at Pocklington. Going on cross country’s with modified aircraft that in effect would fly through anything up to Scotland and back in the hope that we would be able to pinpoint the procedures to cure it. But unfortunately we had an aircraft, an aircraft engine go over speed for some reason so that rather folded up at that time.
CB: Which kind of engine was that?
ESH: Well, Halifax — a Bristol Hercules 100. That was the latest. But coring was a very difficult thing. So of course what was happening was that everyone was now asking us to be re-mustered. There was nothing for us to do except hang around. So —
CB: Was there an option of going on another tour?
ESH: Oh yes, that was always an option, yes indeed. But — and a lot of the chaps did but I think I was more anxious to go back to civilian life. But I was ‘Duration of Present Emergency.’ Or I was D of P E.
CB: Yeah.
ESH: And of course they were not giving out any commissions at that time. So there wouldn’t have been a lot of future in staying so I applied to be re-mustered.
CB: And what happened?
ESH: And then left Pocklington.
CB: Ok.
ESH: Being posted to whatever came up in the Air Ministry I suppose. And off we went then re-mustering at a famous station for the army in north Cornwall — north [pause] Catterick. Now, there was a little RAF station for re-mustering at Catterick in an ex-mine working. Anyway, my number came up eventually but in the meantime we were sent on indefinite leave. Now, I didn’t want to have to pay to go to the skipper’s wedding because train fare was quite expensive. But I gave his address on my 48. My seven day pass as it were. Or indefinite leave. The consequence of that will be explained a bit later.
CB: Right.
ESH: But from there I got a letter a little later being posted to the Isle of Man as an airfield controller. But it just so happened that my papers actually never got to my home. They got to the skipper’s address. Now, you can have a bit of a laugh if you’ve been in the service because this was six weeks later, or rather that was alright but it was the last seven days. I was absent without leave. But I turned up. I was on my way to the Isle of Man. Well, I got to the Isle of Man alright. Yes. And having got to the Isle of Man you got off at Douglas and, you know, looked at the local restaurant. Two eggs, steak and chips, that’s marvellous. Have some of that. So immediately dived in and had a good nosh as we used to say. And then you got a little local narrow gauge train up to the Isle of Man up to the north. Because I was going to be stationed at a little place called Jurby which was a good hopping off point for anybody going to or coming from Reykjavic. Which, I would then put three searchlights up to guide them in. But it was more disastrous from my point of view because what could the CO do? He has a chap seven days adrift. The first — I went to the guardroom and he said, ‘We’ve been looking for you. You’re seven days adrift.’ So, go up before the CO. Very nice chap. By the way first of all you have to be vetted by the station WO and he actually said, ‘Do you know I’m awfully sorry to have to do this but you’re up before the CO tomorrow.’ So, you march in, in the usual way with the, you know, left right left right left. Turn right. ‘So young man. What do you want to do? A court martial or do you want my punishment?’ ‘Well your punishment sir. Thank you.’ ‘Right. Seven days loss of pay.’ And do you know what? You can imagine the scene can’t you? Pay parade. And you announce yourself before the cashier’s table, ‘1869854 Horsham. Sir.’ And he would say, ‘Three and sixpence.’ This went on for weeks at three and six pence a week it takes quite a time to get to four pounds forty. Seven days pay you see. You can clue that if you like but its [pause] but indeed I think because we had a chap at High Wycombe and he was called Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur Harris and of course they did think twice before they shoved the book at one of Bomber Harris’s boys. And I think I was saved by that because it’s a heinous crime in the air force to be AWOL anywhere. Anyway, we carry on from there because I enjoyed the time on the Isle of Man. Being in charge of the airfield. Not a lot went on but we did [pause] we were a home for stray aircraft and of course the station was very busy training the rest of The Empire Air Scheme for training navigators. And we would use, or they would use Ansons. So of course we had a squadron of Ansons to fulfil the contract. And of course my job, one of the jobs, mine and my crew — I had a crew by then of Scots lads that were setting up a parking area with glim lamps every day, because they were doing night flying, and these glim lights were fuelled by accumulators and shone a red light. And you had to put them in a certain order because then the aircraft on the way back knew where they were to park. And they used to get it in the neck if they ran over a glim lamp. Other than that when we wasn’t flying we were all in flying control and we used to do a shift where we had two and a half days off. They still do that in the police force apparently, here. Afternoon, next morning or night, off the next day and the next day and the following morning. So that enabled you to go and see the local sights. Peel Castle on the Isle of Man. And of course we did get busy aircraft and they would come in some awful times from Reykjavik and sometimes I was, what did they call it? Duty officer? Duty. Yeah. Duty officer. And I had to find them accommodation so I had to lay the law down. Pull rank on whoever was in charge of the blanket store so that these chaps had a night’s sleep and could get, we would — the cookhouse would provide a supper for them. That broke up your time. So, in effect, eventually they sent us back to the mainland. To top — I was stationed at Topcliffe which was an ex-Canadian station and underneath every table and ever chair was chewing gum [laughs] That’s how I remember the Canadians. But there was no flying going on which was a shame because we [pause] I was only thinking these chaps had applied for discharge and therefore I was in charge of an airfield with no aircraft. We kept the grass nice and tidy. But as I say we could go into, no, we couldn’t go in to Topcliffe for two eggs, steak and chips. It was unheard of. But what you could do is you could go to a local village called Topwith . Now, there are two brewers in Tadcaster. One is Sam Smith and one is John Smith. Now, you’ll know John Smith because his beer is everywhere but what we ought to have down here is Sam Smith’s which was thick and black. And it was as black as your coat. Black as night and it was the next best thing today to Mackesons. But you could get quite squeamish, not squeamish — quite drunk on it. So then you met up with a lot of other interesting aircrew and you absorbed their experiences, and then gradually, one by one, they disappeared. As I did one day. On the 2nd of January 1947, in the bleak midwinter. It was very bleak down south anyway and there had been a lot of snow around. One interesting side now, talking about cold. We were very cold in Pocklington so we could burn, burn bicycle tyres in the hut. But old Jim said, ‘Do you know what,’ Jim Finney that was then [pause] now wait a minute I’m wrong. Jim has already had that shrapnel in his leg. But anyway, there was another member in the crew. It must have been Alan Shepherd, the wireless op. He said, ‘I know. There’s a bottle of petrol over there.’ And somewhere someone had left a bottle of petrol. And it was a hundred octane. So he said, ‘Stick it in the stove to get it nice and warm.’ And it did. It blew the whole thing apart [laughs] Which wasn’t very clever was it? Anyway, we’ve left. We’re at Topcliffe aren’t we? And then, sooner or later, ok the 7th of January or thereabouts I found myself out on my ear having been discharged at, somewhere near Preston. And we asked for a taxi and do you know that’s the only time in my life so far that I ever have driven in a Rolls Royce. There was a very famous place near Preston. If it wasn’t Preston it was Southport where there was a big demob place. Anyway, that’s where we ended up, in a taxi going to Preston Station. And home on indefinite leave still. Well, no a fortnight wasn’t it then? Fourteen days and that was it finished. Now, the thing is then going back to the old firm. Now, I found myself in the railway estate office before long but they didn’t really want me I don’t think. They said, ‘You can go up to Victoria Station and go to the archives.’ Temporarily. So that was a fill-in job. Going back through papers going back to 1900 where people had to pay for a sort of fly privilege to bring a pony and trap on to the station property and they had to enter into an agreement. Time goes by awfully quickly doesn’t it when you’re demobbed? So I stuck with the estates office for [pause] until 1957. And I didn’t seem to be going anywhere much so I went out into the big bad commercial world. And went to a builder’s merchants called Roberts Adlard who were quite famous in the southern counties. Their headquarters were Southampton. I had this friend of mine who was a rep and that’s how I got there. But, and mind you I’d left London so it was a big change to go to work in Rochester Cathedral, Rochester, the ancient town on the Medway. Rochester Cathedral. Yes. And this builder’s merchants wasn’t going anywhere so Horsham said to himself, ‘Look. Hadn’t you better find a job with a pension?’ So I had experience in the estate office which was very similar to the housing department of Rochester City Council. And applied and got the job as a rent collector of all things. Going around collecting. They had five thousand houses all broken up in to thirty different schemes or so. So that enabled a transition from that to a more permanent sphere. And of course the only way you can get up the scale in local government is either by passing a lot of examinations or becoming a professional man, like, I don’t know, an accountant which is a good solid five years work. But no there we were at Rochester with several other ex-service people especially from the navy, being next to Chatham. And so we said, you know, ‘What about a rise?’ They said, ‘Oh no. No. No. We can’t give you that but if you take a certain examination there will be money in it for you.’ So the one I took was the simple one. It was the clerical division of local government. That is talking about local and central government. Writing an essay etcetera. And after six months we took the exam and we all passed. So we thought go and see the governor again now. A different kind of governor. And for passing the examination I think — I was paid five ninety in those days. So he said, ‘Yes. Well, you can go up to five ninety five.’ A five pound a year increase. So we’ve got to do better than this. So you had lists of jobs you see, circulated. And the next port of call was Maidstone Borough Council as a senior rentable assistant in charge of five rent collectors and proving the books every weekend. Now Rochester City was a purely written system. Now I got to Maidstone and it was all done by a machine called a Powers - Samas punch card accounting. And a dreadful business because my collectors used to go out with a run off. The rent for various properties. And they would put X Y Z here and they wouldn’t put anything on their sheet. So, immediately you were what –? Two pound fifty out. I used to be there at half past nine, 10 o’clock at night on a Friday balancing the books because you had, in effect, over thirty different schemes so you had to sit down and balance these schemes to find out where the error was. Which was good training wasn’t it?
CB: Amazing. Yes.
ESH: I remember the deputy who we worked under. You never saw the treasurer. He was the high and mighty. The holy of holies. But I saw the treasurer on one occasion. He said, ‘Horsham,’ he said, ‘How is it that you spent all this overtime?’ Four hours on a Friday night, you know. I said, ‘Well you know. The chaps put one thing on the sheet and then put another in the book.’ He said, ‘Horsham you really should consider the propriety of asking for overtime.’ It’s not much of a thing to a chap who’s just put four hours extra sweating his guts out. Anyway, that’s another aside isn’t it? Next thing is of course to get promotion isn’t it? And where did I go from there? Yes. I applied for a job in the County Council’s office, in the planning department. Which is where I ended up in 1978. Yeah. 1978. And then took a sort of early retirement.
CB: How old? How old were you when you took early retirement?
ESH: In ‘78. I was born in 1923.
CB: Oh right.
ESH: ’23.
CB: Fifty five.
ESH: Just short of sixty. Oh there’s a bit more to come isn’t there?
CB: Go on then.
ESH: Yeah. Well then [pause] I go back, to retrack a little bit. Going back to my days at Maidstone Borough. Wasn’t getting much anywhere and a friend of mine, who lived adjacent to us said, ‘Why don’t you come into the poultry business with me?’ He said, ‘We could then step the production.’ Because he was, he was managing single handed two thousand layers. So we promptly put some new housing up and I put all my wealth into it and we ended up with eight thousand head of poultry. Not quite as big as JB Eastwood who came along and said, ‘Look you chaps. I don’t care, I’ve got millions of birds. And I don’t care if I only get a farthing a head. I shall still make a profit.’ Which was quite true but it was disastrous for us because we couldn’t compete with that although we did very well. I mean we had a neighbour a few miles away and he was able to keep five thousand which was less than we had. And he could work in the mornings and take all the afternoons off and play golf. That’s what he did. We thought that’s a good idea. But we were saddled with our eight thousand and with fowl pest in the offing if we didn’t look after it then we’d be sunk. Nobody else was going to look after it. So you put in a fairly, a fairly full day. Eight till five minimum. But it was very good experience because it sort of taught me that come what may I could always get a job because you’ve got some skills. Especially you’d be very valuable to a poultry farmer if you could go in and say, ‘I can go in and look after ten thousand.’ He’d say, ‘Well, you know, I’m like Mr JB Eastwood. I’ve got millions.’ But nevertheless it was the same principal. So we didn’t make a fortune but we didn’t lose our shirt. I say we being collective. And then what did I do next? Well, I went back to the old firm didn’t I? Back to local government. Into the planning department this time, of the County Council. And my draughtsmanship experience came in very handy because we dealt with maps all day long. And so in 1974 I got the most marvellous job because the ministries were all on to local governments and County Councils to find out how many, what land have you got. You don’t even know what you’ve got to build houses on. And he said, ‘Well Horsham. The job’s yours. And we will depict it on a twenty five hundred scale ordnance survey sheets,’ which was a bit better than what you get on your deeds, you know. You could even show a rainwater pipe on a twenty five hundred scale. And Kent had forty seven, forty eight District Councils which I had to visit one after the other because if you didn’t carry the local authority with you you’d be sunk. They hated County Council. And they hated them because they put extra on their rates didn’t they? So that was a very enjoyable job. So thirty nine, forty, forty one, forty two [pause] No. What do I say? 1974 — 5 — 6 — 7 - 8. It took four years to do but at the end of the time we could show in the planning department that we had fifty two thousand units of accommodation each housing three people. That was your capacity then but of course a lot of it was land that you wouldn’t want to release straight away. I mean there was something like fifteen, twenty acres at Folkestone on the golf course. I know because I lived looking over these lovely green fields but you couldn’t release it all at once but that was my job.
CB: And you enjoyed it.
ESH: I enjoyed that. I never — it’s a time when I was glad to go to work because it was so, it was my job and it was interesting and I had to fulfil this promise made to the governor that it would be finished in a certain time, you know. And then we, we retired officially.
CB: When?
ESH: In 1978. 1978. Yes. Yes and went off to live in Cornwall for seven years. Froze the pension which was the thing to do. So I froze mine for another eight years so I had to go and get a job to keep the wolf from the door.
CB: Yeah.
ESH: Which I did. In Cornwall.
CB: Doing what?
ESH: Well, I saw an advert in the paper to the effect that, “Handyman wanted,” and they gave the telephone number and it turned to be at what was the Ritz Cinema which is now a bingo hall. And the idea was that I was going to look after all the maintenance. Well, it was rather nice to do something different if you’ve done the other jobs for forty years, you know. So I did that for two or three years. The firm was called Mecca. You’ll know Mecca. They’ve got them everywhere of course. All your Ritz cinemas now have gone to bingo halls. I had to do many things. Change all the lights and there was a lot of lighting. Also you had an emergency system on what was it? Ten volt accumulators which you had to cut in if your mains failed you had your own generator as well. So you had that system and you had emergency lighting if all else failed. So I enjoyed that job really.
CB: ‘Til when?
ESH: About three years later. Right up until about 1981. In that time my and a crew of two or three lads we painted the whole of the inside of the cinema including the ceiling. Which pleased the powers that be because they said, ‘Well done Horsham. We will send you to Tenerife for a fortnight for you to recover,’ [laughs] So that was something that came out of the blue. Yes. You see every year they have competitions and whoever wins the competition probably wins a place to summer holiday. And this time it was Tenerife. So there were about a hundred of us went off to Tenerife. All found, you know. Very nice indeed. Now, you wouldn’t get bonuses like that in local government of course. Since then I haven’t done much of anything have I?
CB: Throughout this time you were —
ESH: Hmmn?
CB: Throughout this time you were supported by this lovely lady. Ellen.
ESH: Yes.
CB: Where did you meet her?
ESH: I met her the first day I went to work for the railway. She was going on the same train. There is a station south of London called New Cross. So that people from further down went up to New Cross on the train and then down to where the estate office was evacuated. It was at Chislehurst. Now there was a big house at Chislehurst called [Sidcup?]. And it was on an elevated position and there’s the railway coming up and there’s the tunnel. Elmstead Woods Tunnel. So that’s, I met her in the train and she was busy there with her needles and you know sticking her little fingers stuck up like that click click click. And so that’s how it started. Her and her friend actually. Her friend was called Winnie Glover and I suppose she thought, ‘Well, she’s done alright for herself,’ [laughs] And that’s, we’ve been going ever since.
CB: When did you marry?
ESH: 25th of May 1946.
CB: And how many children have you had?
ESH: Two girls.
CB: So one’s called Gillian.
ESH: One’s Gillian. Yes.
CB: Yeah.
ESH: And she trained and became a teacher and married a headmaster. And then she went, they went off to Hong Kong and taught for seven years. And now she lives in an old mill on the Vienne River just outside Chauvigny. Whereas Alison trained as a nurse here and she trained in Weymouth and Dorchester and then went on to the hospital at Warminster. Hence the reason that we’ve came somewhere near her in old age.
CB: And she married a —
ESH: She married a —
CB: A doctor?
ESH: A sergeant in the MOD police. A young sergeant who is now or rather shocking really some year ago he went in one Monday morning and they said, and he has twenty five years’ experience as a policeman and by that time as I say, he was a sergeant. No. She didn’t marry a sergeant then but he became a sergeant. And they said, ‘We don’t want you anymore.’ Made him redundant, just like that. So, but funnily enough he still works as an instructor for the police. Driver. He trains their drivers and that’s what he’s doing today. Alison’s just finishing up her last eighteen months as a nurse.
CB: Well I think many many thanks, Eric.
ESH: Pardon?
CB: Many thanks, Eric for two and a half hours of interview. And absolutely fascinating.
ESH: Well it’s one man’s experience isn’t it?
Dublin Core
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Title
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Interview with Eric Horsham
Creator
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Chris Brockbank
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2017-01-05
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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.
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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ASymondsHorshamE170105, PHorshamES1602
Conforms To
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Pending revision of OH transcription
Format
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02:07:40 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Eric Horsham was born in East London in 1923. Leaving school at 14 he was a messenger at the Royal Ordnance Factory before working for the railways. In 1937 he joined the Air Training Corps and learned about aircraft maintenance. On his first attempt to join the Royal Air Force he failed the medical but a year later was accepted for flight engineer training.
Eric describes his basic training in London and Torbay then recollects his technical training at RAF St. Athan. He then went to 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Marston Moor and joined his Halifax crew. In 1944 they were posted to 102 Squadron at RAF Pocklington where there were told that they wouldn't last three weeks.
Eric and his crew carried out a vast range of strategic bombings including daylight operations on V-1 sites, night operations on The Ruhr and Essen, night and daylight operations to oil targets, minelaying in the Baltic. They also provided tactical support in support of Allied troops near Caen and in the Ardennes, where they were badly damaged by a fighter and the mid-upper gunner received serious injuries. After landing at RAF Woodbridge in fog using FIDO he was hospitalised and did not fly again. The crew also supplied petrol to troops in Belgium, enjoying the low-level flying on these trips
Eric describes the sound of shrapnel hitting the aircraft, recalls a bomber exploding in flight, but dismisses the Scarecrow theory. He describes the use of Schräge Musik against the bombers; how search lights in the Ruhr operated, the use of H2S and how the master bomber controlled the rest of the formation.
At the end of his tour Eric remustered and was posted at RAF Jurby as airfield controller. From there he went to RAF Topcliffe and was demobbed in January 1947. Eric went back to the railways for ten years before working in local government. He retired in 1978, moving to Cornwall. While at RAF Pocklington he dated Cora noting that her parents made feel like a son. But he then ended the relationship because, with his own life in such jeopardy, he thought it was unfair on her. After the war he married Ellen, who he had met when starting his first job with the railways.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
Andy Fitter
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
England--Bedfordshire
England--Devon
England--Suffolk
England--Yorkshire
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man
Wales
Wales--Vale of Glamorgan
France
France--Ardennes
France--Caen
France--Pas-de-Calais
France--Nieppe Forest
Germany
Germany--Essen
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Denmark
Denmark--Bornholm
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1923
1937
1939
1940
1944-01
1944-02
1944-07-25
1944-09
1945
1946-05-25
1947-01-02
1957
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1981
102 Squadron
1652 HCU
Absent Without Leave
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bomb aimer
bombing
crewing up
demobilisation
FIDO
flight engineer
forced landing
H2S
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Initial Training Wing
love and romance
Master Bomber
military living conditions
mine laying
Mosquito
navigator
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Pathfinders
pilot
radar
RAF Pocklington
RAF St Athan
RAF Topcliffe
RAF Woodbridge
recruitment
runway
searchlight
tactical support for Normandy troops
target indicator
training
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Wellington
Window
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1147/11704/PStonemanMW1801.2.jpg
509d5227e21a19d7e4a5cb777fffce65
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1147/11704/AStonemanMW180605.1.mp3
5383088c11d268370aacf1062d3a73e3
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Stoneman, Maurice
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Maurice Stoneman (1923 - 2018). He flew operations as a flight engineer with 57 and 9 Squadrons.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-06-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Stoneman, MW
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
DK: Let me introduce myself. So this is David Kavanagh for the International Bomber Command Centre interviewing Mr Maurice Stoneman [buzz]
Other: In Farnborough.
DK: in Farnborough.
MS: [unclear] Cameron.
DK: I’ll, I’ll just put that there. The date is the, where are we? 5th of —
Other: 5th of June.
DK: The 5th of June 2018.
Other: Right. So I’m going to have a cigar.
DK: Ok.
Other: I’ll be back in a minute Mog.
DK: Ok. So, can, can you remember much about your time in the RAF?
MS: Very well. I knew my crew. And from there I went to the parachute school.
DK: Right.
MS: Excuse me.
DK: That’s ok. Take your time. It’s alright.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Is this your crew here?
MS: That’s the crew. Yeah.
DK: Yeah. So which one’s you?
MS: There’s me.
DK: That’s you.
MS: Yeah. There’s the skipper. And he, he’s no longer with us. He had a prang.
DK: Really.
MS: He was crop spraying and ran into a tree.
DK: Oh dear. Can you remember his name?
MS: Yeah. Johnny Ludford.
DK: Donny Lodford?
MS: Ludford.
DK: Ludford. Johnny Ludford. Right. Ok.
MS: Yeah. That was a headmaster of a school in Edinburgh.
DK: Right.
MS: And he was an Eton schoolboy that one.
DK: Right.
MS: And that was Buzz. He’s just passed away.
DK: Right.
MS: I don’t know what happened. There was Canadian. I know.
DK: That’s you.
MS: There. Yeah.
DK: Yeah.
MS: I don’t know what that bloke’s doing now.
DK: So, so that’s you. You. Right. Going on.
MS: That’s me there. That was our mid-upper.
DK: Right. So you were the flight engineer.
MS: I was the flight engineer. Yeah.
DK: Right. So that’s the flight engineer. You. That’s the pilot.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Mid-upper gunner.
MS: Yeah. Navigator.
DK: Navigator. Yeah.
MS: Bomb aimer.
DK: Bomb aimer.
MS: Wireless op.
DK: Wireless operator.
MS: Rear gunner.
DK: Right. Can you, can you remember their names?
MS: No. No.
DK: No. Ok.
MS: Johnny Ludford. Buzz, wireless op. Woody, he was the schoolboy. He attended [pause] what was that place near Windsor?
DK: Eton.
MS: Eton.
DK: Eton. He went to Eton did he?
MS: He was an Eton schoolboy.
DK: Right.
MS: And, and a very posh talk, you know and we used to pull his leg. But he flew. He flew in to a tree. He was low flying crop spraying and there should have been two on board. One was a lookout. He was the pilot and he hit a tree.
DK: In South Africa. And was killed. Oh dear.
MS: Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know which school but he was the headmaster of that school.
DK: That’s the navigator.
MS: Yeah. And that’s the wireless op.
DK: Right.
MS: And the rear gunner. Canadian. Mid-upper gunner.
DK: Right.
MS: Flight engineer.
DK: Right. Ok. So, can you, can you recall which squadrons you were with?
MS: Yeah. 57.
DK: Just making sure we’re ok.
MS: 57. Yeah.
DK: Right.
MS: At East Kirkby.
DK: East Kirkby. Right.
MS: And I remember we were near Boston and we used to come across the North Sea around there at Boston. What did they call it?
DK: The Boston Stump.
MS: The Stump. Yeah. The Stump. Go round, round, we used to, and around Lincoln Cathedral and land. But when we saw Boston Stump we said we’re home.
DK: Home.
MS: We made it.
DK: So, how many operations did you fly?
MS: Twenty nine.
DK: Twenty nine.
MS: They wouldn’t let, they wouldn’t [pause] but I laid, one part I laid mines.
DK: Right.
MS: In the Konigsberg Canal and we went low and laid these mines. And there was two German warships there. Gneisenau [pause] I can’t think of the other.
DK: Scharnhorst. Was it the Scharnhorst?
MS: There was two warships.
DK: Right. Ok.
MS: Gneisenau. And I went through this this morning in my mind and now I’ve forgotten it.
DK: Was it the Prince Eugen? The Prince Eugen?
MS: Yeah.
DK: Ah right. The Prince Eugen.
MS: Eugen. Yeah. Eugen. Yeah.
DK: So, so you actually saw those two battleships.
MS: Yeah. There was two of them and they were trapped in there for three weeks. Couldn’t get out because we were laying mines there. And we went down that low and off to port across Poland all the Polish people were —
DK: Waving to you.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Waving.
MS: Yeah.
DK: So you were that low. Yeah.
MS: We were that low dropping food and we were that low we were [pause] that middle picture there.
DK: Ah.
MS: Yeah
DK: Let’s have a look.
MS: The Duke of Edinburgh gave me a copy of that.
DK: So, that was —
MS: For each of the crew.
DK: So, that was, that was Operation Manna.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Yeah. How many? How many Manna trips did you do?
MS: Altogether I did twenty nine. Plus laying the mines. And thirty one.
DK: Thirty one. Is it ok if I have a look at your logbook?
MS: You’re very welcome.
DK: Thank you very much.
MS: I’m afraid it’s got a bit worn.
DK: It’s a bit old now, isn’t it?
MS: Yeah.
DK: So, you had a nickname of Mog then, did you?
MS: Mog. Yeah.
DK: Yeah.
MS: The crew didn’t call me Mog.
DK: No.
MS: It’s the people here call me Mog.
DK: Right. Ok. So, so you were 1943 then. I’m reading from the logbook. So you were with 57 squadron.
MS: Yeah.
DK: And your pilot was Ludford. L U D F O R D.
MS: Yeah. Johnny Ludford.
DK: Johnny.
MS: Johnny Ludford, and he, as I say he was crop spraying in Africa and he flew in to a tree.
DK: Oh dear. Was he, was he a good pilot?
MS: Yeah.
DK: You felt, felt happy with him? Did you?
MS: Yeah. Because my seat was next to his and I operated the, Johnny just used to steer it.
DK: Right.
MS: And I’d operate the throttles and the rev counters. I did all that. Otherwise it would have been monotonous.
DK: Yeah.
MS: But I sat next to Johnny. I met his, his father who took that photograph of the crew.
DK: Right. So, so you, you and the pilot had to work as a team did you?
MS: We certainly did. Yeah.
DK: So he’s, he’s controlling the aircraft and you’re controlling the engines.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Right.
MS: Yeah.
DK: So you had to know what the engines were doing then, did you?
MS: Yeah. Well, he would start them off at the take off, and then when we got to a certain speed I would follow his hand up with all four engines.
DK: So you’d follow his hand up on the throttles.
MS: Yeah. Yeah.
DK: And then, and then you took over the throttle controls then.
MS: Yeah. He would, he had to steer it.
DK: Yeah.
MS: Now, I controlled the throttles until we were airborne and get the flaps up, and got the revs out.
DK: So did, is it something you could still today do you think? Could you get into a Lancaster today and take off?
MS: I could do it I think.
DK: Yeah.
MS: But the controls are a bit more modern.
DK: Right. So just, I’m just looking at your logbook here.
MS: Yeah.
DK: So, it’s 1943, and November the 5th and you’re doing a lot of training flights by the looks of it. Training.
MS: Doing what?
DK: Training flights.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Yeah. Bullseye.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Remember a bullseye?
MS: Yeah. I enjoyed that actually.
DK: So what was a bullseye then?
MS: I’d sit next to the pilot and I would operate the throttles. Everything. He would steer it.
DK: And on your right you’ve got the controls to the engines, haven’t you? Dials.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Yeah. So what, what did you have to do with the dials?
MS: Well, usually once we got airborne I didn’t have to do much.
DK: Right.
MS: But I’d pull up the flaps. The undercart. Yeah. I did all that. The flaps.
DK: Right.
MS: Undercart. But I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the flying side.
DK: Did you, did you control the flaps and the undercarriage when you landed as well?
MS: Yeah.
DK: So as you’re landing.
MS: Before —
DK: Johnny’s, Johnny’s controlling it.
MS: That’s right. When we came in to land the skipper would say, ‘Wheels down.’
DK: Put the wheels down.
MS: I’d put the wheels down. The flaps, fifteen when we took off.
DK: So just looking at your logbook you’ve done an operation here. Your first operation to Berlin.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Do you remember? Do you remember going to Berlin?
MS: Nine times.
DK: Nine times.
MS: Yeah.
DK: And what was it like? A trip to Berlin.
MS: You got flak up your bum [laugh] It was dodgy. And one time we landed. I’d got across the North Sea on two engines.
DK: Right.
MS: And then we crash landed in the Wash.
DK: Oh.
MS: In the Wash. And Boston Stump was just over there. And the air sea rescue people were there to pick us up.
DK: Right. Can you remember what happened to the two engines?
MS: Yeah.
DK: Had they been hit by flak?
MS: They were, they were alright. It was the supply. A shell hit the supply.
DK: A shell.
MS: A shell.
MS: Yeah. Ack ack.
DK: Right.
MS: Hit the supply. And so I switched them both off otherwise you’re losing fuel.
DK: So the shell hit the fuel supply and you’re losing fuel so you switch off the engines.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Yeah.
MS: Switched them off. Switched the supply to starboard off.
DK: And, and can you remember much about crashing on the sea then? Because you said you landed in the Wash.
MS: Yeah. On a sandbank.
DK: On a sandbank. Ah. You weren’t actually in the water.
MS: Not actually in the water but RNLI came in and saw we were ok.
DK: Right.
MS: And they took us [pause] from, from 57 Squadron. They came and picked us up. Went to the mess. But we reported it. One of their fighters was shot down.
DK: Right.
MS: And we saw the pilot on a parachute.
DK: Right.
MS: And we reported it and he then came to the mess. He then, he married an English girl [laughs]
DK: So, so he was a German pilot.
MS: German pilot shot down but we took him to the mess.
DK: Right.
MS: And —
DK: He later married an English girl.
MS: He, yeah he married one of the girls there.
DK: Can, can, can you recall where this German aircraft was shot down? Was it over England?
MS: No. The North Sea.
DK: Right. Ok.
MS: North Sea. And the RNI, RNLI went and picked him up.
DK: Right. That wasn’t your aircraft that shot him down was it?
MS: No.
DK: No.
MS: No. He was shot down by a Mosquito.
DK: Right.
MS: Yeah. The Mossie had a bit more fuel than the single seater fighter.
DK: Did you have a drink with him in the mess then? Did you?
MS: We did indeed [laughs]
DK: What was it like meeting a German then?
MS: Well, the point is he seemed to know Great Britain. So he weren’t a complete stranger.
DK: Oh.
DK: But he talked good English anyway.
DK: He talked good English. Yeah.
MS: Yeah. We, well, broken English.
DK: It must have been very strange meeting your enemy then.
MS: Yeah.
DK: So just looking at your logbook again. So you’d done nine trips to Berlin.
MS: Yeah. Out of all the trips we did nine to Berlin.
DK: Right. And you’ve also got Leipzig. Do you remember going to Leipzig?
MS: Yeah. Leipzig.
DK: And Frankfurt.
MS: Yeah. Leipzig and Frankfurt.
DK: So you got Brunswick on the 14th of January 1944.
MS: Yeah. We bombed a dam.
DK: Oh.
MS: When what’s his name got all the publicity about bursting a dam —
DK: The Dambusters.
MS: We were bombing a dam further over.
DK: They didn’t make a film about you then.
MS: No. Möhne and Eder Dam.
DK: So, I’ve just got here you did an operation to Berlin.
MS: Yeah.
DK: 15th of February 1944. And it says diverted to Swinderby.
MS: Yeah. Swinderby. Yeah.
DK: Can you remember why you had to go there?
MS: Yeah. We lost our brakes.
DK: Right. Ok.
MS: And at Swinderby, I think Swinderby [pause] I didn’t think it was Swinderby. Anyway, we touched down at a special aerodrome where they let you touch down, across came out a wire.
DK: Oh right.
MS: On our tail wheel. And that slowed us down.
DK: Oh ok. Ok. And you’ve got on here 19th of February 1944 you’d gone to Leipzig again.
MS: Yeah.
DK: And you’ve written in here, “Junkers 88. No hydraulics, oxygen. Electrical failures.”
MS: Yeah.
DK: Right.
MS: That was the worst raid.
DK: Can you remember that? So you were attacked by a German JU88.
MS: Junkers 88. Yeah.
DK: Can, can you remember much about that?
MS: I remember him coming over the top and he hit the mid-upper gunner and wounded him.
DK: Right.
MS: But we got him back and he was in hospital.
DK: Right.
MS: He didn’t make it.
DK: Oh [pause] So the JU88 attacked you and killed your mid-upper gunner.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Right. You’ve put here brackets, “Shaky do.’’ Is that, is that an understatement? Right. So you remember the attack by the JU88 then.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Did your gunners fire back?
MS: Yeah. They, oh yeah. The rear gunner he was really good too. He was quick. And we know the rear gunner got one of the Junkers 88. But in the main the Mosquitoes and what’s the twin boom aircraft?
DK: The Lightning?
MS: Lightning. Yeah. Yeah. The Lightning.
DK: That, that —
MS: Yeah. He got, he came with us and he followed the Junkers 88 and we know that that aircraft pranged in the North Sea.
DK: So it was shot down then. Right. And, and can you remember coming back then ‘cause from Leipzig because your aircraft’s damaged?
MS: Yeah. Yeah. I remember that and Boston. There was a Boston Stump. And we’d go around Boston Stump, around Lincoln Cathedral and touch down.
DK: At East Kirkby. Yeah. So just going through your logbook again you went to Stuttgart twice. Frankfurt. Essen. Nuremberg.
MS: Frankfurt was a difficult one.
DK: Right.
MS: There was a lot of ack ack on the way in.
DK: So I’ve got here Frankfurt. That was on the 22nd of March 1944.
MS: Yeah.
DK: So that was a lot of flak fired.
MS: Yeah. I can’t remember all those dates
DK: No. No. No. No. And you’ve got an interesting one here. It’s the 5th of April 1944. Toulouse.
MS: Toulouse. Yeah.
DK: Yeah. And you’ve put here, “Nine tenths target destroyed.”
MS: Yeah.
DK: Was that a successful raid then?
MS: Yeah. Mind you sometimes it was awkward because the Germans were in France and we, we took them on. I don’t know where. Toulouse. Yeah. Yeah. Toulouse it was, I think. And we took, took them on.
DK: Right. And it says you actually attacked at six thousand feet in a full moon so —
MS: Yeah.
DK: Can you remember that? Clear conditions.
MS: Yeah.
DK: So you’ve got here Danzig Bay where you’re dropping mines. Dropping mines.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Yeah.
MS: Yeah. Yeah. The two German warships. We dropped in the entrance and we dropped mines there and the Germans couldn’t get in.
DK: Right.
MS: Took them three weeks to clear the mines.
DK: So that was very successful then.
MS: Yeah.
DK: Yeah.
MS: I remember we kept the, kept the Germans at bay for another three weeks. I remember the Toulouse raid.
DK: Right.
MS: The Toulouse raid. That was a close call.
DK: Can you remember what happened?
MS: Yeah. We got hit in several places. I had to shut the engines off and we landed in the banks of a [pause] I can’t think of it. We were in the banks of the Wash anyway.
DK: Yeah.
Other: As I said, David, I don’t know if it’s in there but he was actually on the Tirpitz raid as well.
DK: Oh right. Ok.
Other: Presume that was with 9 Squadron.
DK: Yeah. So you finished with 9 Squadron then and you’d gone off to the Lancaster Finishing School.
MS: Yeah. I was an instructor.
DK: And then it looks like you spent a bit of time with 50 Squadron. 50 Squadron. Five zero Squadron.
MS: Yeah. Well, 57 was my main squadron.
DK: Right. Oh, hang on. I’m going on a bit. Sorry. My fault.
MS: The main thing that annoyed us was I was commissioned and a friend of mine I went through the ATC. The lot. But he failed his exam and he had a, he had a separate room to me and I said no, on the train this was going down to Cosford to the engineer’s course. And then they came and I said I wanted to stay with him. And the squadron leader came and ordered me out of that. I had to go in to the first class.
DK: Right.
MS: He ordered me to go and I left this bloke. My friend. We went through the ATC, the lot together. And he just failed his exam.
DK: Right. Ok. Do you want to take a bit of a rest there? I’ll just stop this for a moment.
[recording paused]
DK: How do you look back now on your time now in the RAF? In Bomber Command. How do you look back on it?
MS: Yeah. [pause] Yeah. I just wish that the skipper was alive. The last one as far as I know was the wireless op, Buzz.
DK: Right.
MS: And his son rang. Rang me up to say, ‘We lost dad.’ So —
Other: That was a couple of years ago.
DK: Right. So —
[pause]
MS: Yeah.
Other: And your skipper was Johnny Ludford.
MS: He was a good bloke.
DK: Yeah. Done that.
MS: A good crew we had really.
DK: A good crew. Yeah.
MS: Good and friendly. A Canadian. When we got back we had a moon stand down of four days. Our rear gunner, Canadian, he went back home and he got three months holiday [laughs] And we had just about four days I think it was.
DK: So the Canadians got three months and you got four days.
[pause]
DK: So, in 19 — you then went to 9 Squadron. Do you remember 9 Squadron?
MS: No. I did the one trip in 9 Squadron.
DK: Only one.
MS: And then peace was declared.
DK: Right. So you went to 9 Squadron. You flew Lancaster WST and you did one operation to Pilsen. Pilsen. P I L S E N.
MS: Yeah.
DK: So, that’s when the war’s ended.
MS: Yeah.
DK: And did you do the Operation Manna trips then? Dropping the food.
MS: Well, I was posted to Kidlington.
DK: Right.
MS: And from there I was at High Wycombe. That was a parachute school.
DK: Right.
MS: And I did several jumps, you know. Parachute jumps. And when I got to Kidlington they, they wanted to know what I did, and as a favour I did a parachute jump and landed in a field near the officer’s mess. Then we all went and had a drink.
[pause – pages turning]
DK: Ok. I’ll end it there. I can see you’re getting a little bit tired. If you want to have your drink I’ll turn that off now.
[recording paused]
DK: Just put that back on again. you’ve got some photos here. So that’s from 1945. [pause]
MS: Yeah. That’s me.
DK: Ok.
MS: I was second. Second in command.
DK: So, that’s at Skellingthorpe in 1945 and you’re third one in, is it? That one.
MS: Yeah.
DK: So, is that you there?
MS: No. Next to him. Yeah. Next to —
DK: Next.
MS: Next to the silly bugger there [laughs]
DK: Right. That’s you there. Right. Ok.
[pause]
MS: Those are photographs of the parade.
DK: So, they’re after the war, are they?
MS: I had to attend them. Yeah. There’s me. I’ve got a mark over them. There.
DK: Oh that’s you there. Right. Ok. So that’s post war then. That’s 19 —
MS: It was a bit difficult because those rifles look a bit like that. And that bloke was doing his National Service. And that was the CO.
DK: So that’s 1955 then.
MS: Yeah.
DK: So what year did you leave the RAF? Do you recall?
MS: I don’t know.
DK: No. Ok. Ok.
Other: I think it was ’54.
DK: Oh ‘54. Yeah. From ’45. Ok. Let’s stop that there.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Maurice Stoneman
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
David Kavanagh
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-06-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AStonemanMW180605, PStonemanMW1801
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:35:15 audio recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Maurice Stoneman was posted to 57 Squadron at RAF East Kirkby as the flight engineer on Lancasters in 1943. He recalls that on returning from operations they used to fly around the Boston Stump and around Lincoln Cathedral before finally landing. In total Maurice flew 29 operations across Europe. During an early operation mines were dropped in the Königsberg canal, blocking the exit of the German ships the Prinz Eugen and Gneisenau for three weeks. On one operation, anti-aircraft fire had cut the fuel to two engines. They had to crash land on a sandbank in the Wash. Air Sea Rescue came out and picked them up. In February 1944, their aircraft lost its brakes and was diverted to RAF Swinderby where a cable across the runway was used to catch the tail wheel and bring them to a safe stop. During a flight, a German pilot was seen to parachute out of his aircraft and land in the sea. The Air Sea Rescue collected the pilot. He was taken to the squadron mess and entertained by Maurice. An operation to Leipzig resulted in his aircraft being attacked by a Ju 88. The mid upper gunner was seriously wounded, dying later in hospital. The aircraft lost hydraulics and oxygen. Maurice describes this operation as ‘a shaky do’. Transferred to a Lancaster Finishing School as an instructor, and then to 9 Squadron for one final bombing operation before the war ended. He also took part in Operation Manna.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Boston
England--Lincoln
Russia (Federation)
Russia (Federation)--Kaliningrad (Kaliningradskai︠a︡ oblastʹ)
England--The Wash
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Leipzig
Netherlands
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Nick Cornwell-Smith
Julie Williams
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944-02
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending revision of OH transcription
57 Squadron
9 Squadron
air gunner
air sea rescue
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
bombing
crash
ditching
flight engineer
Gneisenau
Ju 88
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
mess
military ethos
military service conditions
mine laying
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
prisoner of war
RAF East Kirkby
RAF Swinderby
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1085/11543/PPritchardA1701.2.jpg
665f37b1fc773d7c481a87e32db937c5
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1085/11543/APritchardC170823.1.mp3
3aaf3d7ce542de333a9bec8d84eec5cd
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Pritchard, Arthur
A Pritchard
Description
An account of the resource
Six items. An oral history interview with Carolyn Pritchard about her father, Arthur Pritchard (2206806 Royal air Force) documents and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with with 463, 467 and 97 Squadron until he was shot down. He was hidden by the French Resistance until the liberation of Paris.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Carolyn Pritchard and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-23
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
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Pritchard, A
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
SP: This is Susanne Pescott and I’m interviewing Carolyn Pritchard today for the International Bomber Command Centre’s Digital Archive. We’re at Carolyn’s home and it is the 23rd of August 2017. So, first of all thank you Carolyn for agreeing to be interviewed today. So, first of all do you just want to tell me about your father and what he did before the war?
CP: Yes. As he joined up on his, on his eighteenth birthday he didn’t have, after leaving school he worked for a baker’s delivering bread and that’s it really. And then he joined up.
SP: Yeah.
CP: On his eighteenth birthday.
SP: Did he ever say why he wanted to join the RAF?
CP: No. No. No. He didn’t. He didn’t mention why.
SP: Ok. So he went into the RAF and do you know what, where he went first of all? What he did?
CP: Yes. He was, he joined up on his eighteenth birthday and he was, he did his training at St Athans in South Wales. He passed out as flight sergeant and was posted to RAF Winthorpe in Lincoln where he was introduced to his Australian crew as flight engineer. And that was on the 29th of February 1944. He joined the 463 Squadron. That was the Australian squadron in RAF Waddington. They did seventeen sorties while they were in Waddington and they were Germany, over Germany, France. And on the 9th no, sorry it was the 7th of May 1944, the pilot officer Bryan Giddings and crew, that was dad’s crew, they posted, they were posted to 97 Squadron. That was the Pathfinders and that was at RAF Coningsby. They completed another three missions. Seeing action in D-Day. On their twenty first sortie, that was the 9th 10th of June 1944, on a night raid over a railway junction at Etampes, that’s south of Paris, Pilot Officer Giddings and crew failed to return. Right. I don’t know how much —
[recording pause]
CP: After releasing flares over the target the Lancaster ND764 was hit by flak and they were then attacked from below by a night fighter. Many many years later when he was able to relate his story to me he recollected the moment the aircraft was hit. The inner or outer port side engine was on fire. He wasn’t sure which one it was. The suicidal height at which they were flying, the noise, the smoke in the cabin and unable to communicate amongst each other, the cramped conditions in the cockpit, no place to wear your parachute. He always stored it on the floor. Frantically searching for it, the rush of cold air from the open back door. That was the navigator jumping out. Then he trying to prise, prise open the escape hatch at the front. Every second was wasted. Making survival impossible. The whole episode could not have lasted more than a few minutes and before he realised it was a doomed machine he, he had jumped out.
SP: So, how Carolyn, when he told you that, how did you feel when he was relaying the story?
CP: Well, a couple of years later we’d gone back to RAF Coningsby to see the Lancaster and we were able to go on board. And I could then visualise because the Lancaster wasn’t aircrew friendly at all. It was so small and cramped. And I felt so sorry for the mid-upper gunner. Where he was positioned would have been impossible for him to get out. And the tail end Charlie was, he was in this small little cockpit and again that would have been impossible for him to get out and the aeroplane was going down so fast. And eventually when they did find the bodies they were found in, in the aircraft. Yes. The three of them.
SP: So three —
CP: Were, yes it was the bomb aimer, the mid-upper gunner was, he couldn’t get out and the rear gunner which was the tail end Charlie. They are the three that couldn’t get out. The pilot had jumped out when the plane was very very low but his pilot, his parachute didn’t open. And also the wireless operator. No. I’m muddling up now. It was the navigator. The wireless operator had jumped out already and it was the navigator that had jumped out without a parachute and he was found with the whistle in his mouth. So he’d obviously survived the crash but I don’t know how long and was trying to attract attention. Yes.
SP: And how was your father when he was talking about the story?
CP: He was, he’d put the whole episode really at the back of his mind all the years we were growing up. Even though he used to talk about them. The crew.
[recording paused]
SP: So Carolyn, obviously it’s quite emotional talking about your father and the crew there so can you just talk me through what happened then after he’d got out of the plane.
CP: Yes. Because the aircraft was on fire and it was so low he’d baled out and he’d sprained his ankle. So he was hobbling around the French countryside with a damaged ankle and famously asking villagers for the way to the coast. He was trying to get back to the coast. Eventually he’d arrived at a small village, Egly and entered the local church. He’d seen a local man at the altar and [pause] and told him in broken English that he was Welsh. That he was an RAF airman. The French man couldn’t speak English and what he did he took, he gave dad a glass of water and then he took him to a café opposite the church. On entering the café dad waved a hundred franc note from his RAF kit and ordered champagne for everybody in the, in the café. There was panic as the Germans were in the village and he was hastily ushered to the back room. A young teenage boy from the village was brought in. He could speak a little English and he asked dad to explain what had happened. Dad said that his aircraft had been shot at and that he’d baled out and, but he was really uncertain with the rest of the crew and he kept asking and asking how they were. So that they could check his identity with London they hid dad in a small air raid shelter underground and if they, if he hadn’t checked out right I think they would have just left him there. Once the ok came from London the local leader of the French Resistance was summoned and put him in the care of Monsieur George Danton and his family. They risked being shot if caught hiding a British airman and he was given a new identity, well an identity and civilian clothing. His ID was a deaf and dumb Frenchman. And a bicycle. He was moved from safe house to safe house until eventually he ended up in Paris. In Antony in Paris. He was always instructed to follow a parcel tied to the back of Mr Danton’s cycle. Not Mr Danton himself. And once they had arrived at Mr Danton’s house in Paris Mr Danton went into the building without the parcel. The parcel was still left on the bicycle and a few minutes later came out, picked up the parcel, took it into the house and then dad followed. And that was the time that they could embrace each other because they knew then that they were in a safe house.
SP: So, Carolyn obviously dad’s now in the safe house. Did he talk about what life was like in the safe house?
CP: Yes. He did. He kept a diary while he was there. Life was very mundane. And there was little food. Jam and bread kind of thing. And now and again they used to try and get a cigarette for him because he was absolutely desperate for cigarettes. And then they tried to teach him. They tried to teach him a couple of French words to just to get about and whenever it was a bit safe for them to go out Mr Danton used to take him to the, some of the airfields where the German, the Germans had their weapons and aircraft and say to dad, ‘You make sure that you remember this. That when you get back to the UK and you’re debriefed that you can tell them where things are.’ That kind of thing. Yes. Yes.
SP: So, how did he actually get back to — obviously he was in a safe house.
CP: Yes.
SP: How did he get back in to the UK?
CP: He was, he was in the safe house for over two months. And then there was the liberation of Paris on the August the 24th. Right.
[recording paused]
CP: Yes. On or about the 23rd of June they tried to get dad back to the, to the UK. They were expecting a Lysander aircraft to land on, on a landing strip but they tried a couple of times but it was, they felt it was too dangerous because the Germans were still, still around. So they had to, it was just too risky so they had to abort. They tried to get him out there but eventually he hitched a lift with a war correspondent for the Sunday Pictorial. A Rex North. And they eventually got to Paris. On the way there they were, he was given a bottle of champagne which I’ve, we’ve still got today actually in the house. Undrinkable. Yes. And eventually on the 24th of August he flew back in a Dakota to the French, from the French coast to Hendon. And at that time, after that he was debriefed. He had to go down to London to be debriefed to what he’d seen. And, and that was it.
SP: Did he talk at all about the debriefing? Did he say that was like or —
CP: No. He didn’t. He remembered. He had a marvellous memory. He’d remembered everything he’d seen while he was in Paris trying to help. Trying to help while he was back. No. He didn’t actually. No, he didn’t.
SP: And what happened after the debrief? Did he, what happened to him after that?
CP: Well he, he’d, he was allowed home. One thing. One thing that struck me when I was, I had always been speaking to him over the years was how he didn’t get any counselling and everything. There were so many people killed and he kept asking, ‘What’s happened to the crew? What’s happened to the crew?’ And they didn’t know. Even the crew, years and years later after speaking to the crew’s families they hadn’t known for years, well months, what had happened to them. And he was allowed to go home. Which, he came back to our little village here and, and that was it. He had a couple of weeks here and then he was posted to Scotland as an air traffic controller. So that was the end of his war. Yes. And where he met my mother.
SP: Right.
CP: She was in the RAF as well. She was a WAAF. Yes.
SP: So, obviously they met up in Scotland and then —
CP: Yes. They did. Yes. Yes. They met up in Scotland.
SP: And came back to live in Wales.
CP: Eventually, they did. Yes. They, they got married and always lived in this little village. Yeah. My mother was from Liverpool. Yes. Yeah.
SP: And then what did your father do after the war?
CP: He worked in construction. Working for big machinery. He was offered a career in the RAF as [pause] I think in Canada. They wanted him to be trained in Canada but he wasn’t interested anymore after going through such harrowing experience during the war. He didn’t want anything to do with flying. Yes. So he took a different career.
SP: What about you? How did it affect you growing up with your father’s stories? Was it —
CP: Well, it did. He always, he always, he hid a lot. He always talked about the boys.
[recording paused]]
CP: Yes. Always talked about the boys to our families. And as we were growing up we knew about them even though we had never met them. And when my sister Shirley and her husband had got married they had gone to Europe on their honeymoon and thought they would try and trace first of all the French Resistance families to try and get back in touch again. Which they did. They managed to, to get in touch with the French Resistance. That was in 1977. I think it was 1977. And eventually my dad went over for the first time in 1977 to meet the families of the French Resistance. And ever since, all his life he kept in touch with them. They either came to our little village here to see him or he’d gone back to see them. All always visiting the boy’s graves. By that time he’d known that they perished and they knew exactly where they’d been buried and the stories. The harrowing stories that followed. Yeah. So we did know the boys. And he used to come up with some funny stories about them. Like if he had a date with a WAAF they’d all go to the pictures together [laughs] Yeah.
[recording paused]
CP: Yes. He used to talk, like I said about the boys. One was an avid reader. Always had a book. Even when they went on, on their ops at night and the pilot used to have to say, ‘Put that light off,’ because he had this tiny little light in his, he was a upper-gunner. Just in case he attracted the Germans. And I think the rear gunner used to write poetry. I’m sure dad said he did. They were well educated. Very very well educated men. I think they taught my father a lot because first of all they couldn’t understand him when he joined the crew because he was Welsh speaking all his life. Had a very big accent. Welsh accent. Could hardly speak English to be honest. Yes. And they taught him a lot of culture. Yes. Took him to London on their time off when they had time off. And a few of them used to come to our little village when they, because they couldn’t go back to Australia obviously when they had time off and they used to come to the village here. My dad’s family had met them. Yes. Lovely men.
SP: And you kept in touch you say, with the Resistance.
CP: Oh yes.
SP: Did you keep in touch with the Australian families as well?
CP: Families, as well. Yes. And that, well he hadn’t really because I’m one of eight so during, during his time while we were growing up he had a lot on his hands [laughs] So he, he didn’t have time but as we grew up and we knew about the boys I used to try and say, ‘Oh, do you remember where they came from, dad?’ And all that. Anyway, I think it was in 2004. I think it was 2004 there was a knock on the front door and a man handed my father a letter and left. So he read the letter and it was a member of the crew. It was the Webb family. And they had found out my father, where my father lived, managed to get somebody that was connected to the 97 Squadron website, Ron Evans, to deliver, who lived in Wales, to deliver a letter to dad introducing themselves. Saying that if he didn’t want to get in touch, you know, keep in touch or get in touch with them that was ok. But my father was absolutely thrilled he had their address. They lived in Sydney so, and then we, I was on the internet then so I was able to email them and say yes of course. I think it was 2006 they came over from Australia and spent six weeks in Wales with us here. And that was very nice. And then the McGill family, that was the upper gunner, they came over in, I think it was just over two years ago and we went to the Bomber Command Spire. The unveiling of the Spire. They came and we were in touch and we’re still in touch with them all. Yes. We’re still in touch with the Australians. Lovely people. Send Christmas cards every year. Have letters from them. Yes. Unfortunately, part of, well the Giddings family they’ve, they’ve died. We’ve lost touch there. The Clements family the same. But the Seales we still speak to. The Webbs and the McGills. Yes.
SP: And how important is that to you to keep that contact going?
CP: Oh, it’s very important. Yes. The boys. Memories are still, still there. And actually the, actually both families the McGills and the Webbs we actually went over to France on different occasions to stay with the Dantons and to visit the graves. Yeah. So that they could see where they were. Yeah.
SP: So, we were talking about your father earlier. You mentioned on the day of the final flight.
CP: Oh yes.
SP: For the whole crew.
CP: Yes.
SP: They had certain superstitions. It didn’t feel quite right that day. Do you just want to share that story?
CP: Yes. Yes. They used to, well they used to, you know just before they taxied off for the mission they used to wee on the front wheel. But that particular night three or four WAAFs had come down to the air, airfield to wave them off so they couldn’t carry out the weeing. So that was the night that the plane was shot down so my father felt that if only they’d wee’d. Yeah.
SP: Did you talk about that? Saying that was a superstition that they had.
CP: They all, yes. They always carried it, they did that every time they went on a mission. Yes. But not that particular night. Yes.
SP: Just chatting, is there anything else you feel you want to say about that you haven’t had the chance to say about your father or any, the impact on the family or anything like that?
CP: Well, I think, I think going back to when they used to come back from their missions and then they were always, they always were given a big breakfast. And they’d be sitting there with their cigarettes obviously. And they used to call, they used to have tablets, uppers and downers I think but he never used to touch them. But the coldness of when they used to go into the mess and the fact that their locker had been cleared and as if they had never existed. You know, the crews that had never returned. I just felt that that was very sad and he always used to feel that was very sad. Yes. And the fact that he didn’t know, while he was in France, he didn’t know what had happened to the rest of the crew and he’d asked and asked and nobody knew and it was months later that he did find out and that was so, so sad for him. Yeah. Because they were best of friends. Did everything together.
SP: That’s ok. Alright. Well, I just want to —
CP: Yeah.
SP: Thank you Carolyn very much for sharing those stories and obviously the impact on you as well.
CP: Yes.
SP: So, on behalf of the International Bomber Command Centre thank you very much.
CP: Oh, you’re welcome. Thank you.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Carolyn Pritchard
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Susanne Pescott
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-23
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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APritchardC170823, PPritchardA1701
Format
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00:26:53 audio recording
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Australian Air Force
Second generation
Description
An account of the resource
Carolyns father, Arthur, joined the Royal Air Force on his 18th birthday. Following his training as a flight engineer, was posted to RAF Winthorpe. He was allocated to a crew consisting entirely of Australians. In February 1944 the crew were posted onto Lancaster aircraft of 463 Squadron at RAF Waddington. On the 7th May 1944, they were posted to 97 Squadron at RAF Coningsby. It was from RAF Coningsby on their 21st operation on board ND 764, they were shot down 30 miles south of Paris. Carolyn describes in detail the events, from the aircraft being damaged by anti-aircraft fire and then being attacked by a Luftwaffe fighter, to the escape from the aircraft and subsequent contact with French civilians who sheltered him up to his return to the UK after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. Following his return, Arthur was granted three weeks leave. He did not return to flying, instead he retrained and became an air traffic controller. He was posted to Scotland, and it was here he met his future wife. In the 1970’s, whilst on a holiday in Europe, her sister managed to establish contact with members of the French Resistance who had sheltered Arthur. In 1977 Arthur was able to visit them and the graves of his fellow crew who did not survive and remained in contact for the remainder of his life. Carolyn recalls her father describing a superstition the crew used to carry out before each opeion. Each crew member would urinate on the aircraft wheels before boarding. Several members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force came to wave them off on their last opeion and discretion meant they were unable to carry out their routine.
Contributor
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Ian Whapplington
Julie Williams
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Great Britain
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Lincolnshire
France--Paris
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
1944-05-07
1944-08
Conforms To
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Pending revision of OH transcription
463 Squadron
97 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
bombing
evading
final resting place
flight engineer
ground personnel
Lancaster
Pathfinders
RAF Coningsby
RAF Waddington
RAF Winthorpe
Resistance
shot down
superstition
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1066/11522/PPayneG1702.2.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1066/11522/PPayneG1701.2.jpg
b039d51b699a66b9cdfd0a9ed039e2d9
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1066/11522/APayneGA170528.1.mp3
4f2ec096b73aad4bee119f3e1be46588
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Payne, Geoff
Geoffrey Albert Payne
G A Payne
Description
An account of the resource
Two items. An oral history interview with Geoff Payne (b. 1924, 1584931 Royal Air Force) and his memoir. He flew operations as a wireless operator / air gunner with 115 and 514 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Geoff Payne and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-28
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Payne, G
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
BJ: So, this interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is Brenda Jones. The person being interviewed is Geoffrey Payne. The interview is taking place in Mr. Payne’s home in Cumbernauld on the 28th of May 2017. Mr. Payne, thank you for agreeing to talk to me today. Could you tell me about your life before you joined the RAF?
GP: Well, my life was a bit raggedy, I was an apprentice to Sheet Metal Work and worked in a company in the centre of Birmingham and we were manufacturing spats for Lysander aircraft and making fire pumps, things like that and more interested in sports than anything else [laughs].
BJ: And how did you come to join the RAF?
GP: Well, I joined the Air Training Corps, which I was one of the original members and it was the Air Training Corps was at Birmingham was the Austin Motor Company Squadron which was 480 and 479, there were two squadrons in the, ATC squadrons, and that’s why I started to get involved with the, with the Air Force, thinking a lot about the Air Force at the time. We went to camp to RAF Weeton, which was a Pathfinder Squadron, 7 Squadron, which were flying Stirlings and the most funniest part about us, we wanted to go into St Yves for the evening and we had to know a password to go out of the place because there was operations on that night and they said the password was WATER, which was this, I think they were pulling our legs or something like that, they said because the Germans can’t sound the w’s is wasser, so that was the sort of thing, that gave me a great interest in the Air Force.
BJ: OK. And when did you come to join the Air Force?
GP: I joined when I was seventeen and a half and I went to Vishyde Close in Birmingham to get assessed and I was assessed as a pilot and I was given a number and then sent back to work again because they wouldn’t call me up until I was eighteen but in the meantime I had a letter from them saying that it would possibly take far too long for me to become a pilot and that they’d had other vacancies in the Air Force which was an air gunner so I decided to do that.
BJ: And what year was this?
GP: 1943, yes.
BJ: And what happened when you started with the RAF?
GP: What happened?
BJ: Yes, what did your training involve?
GP: The training, we went to London, to Lord’s Cricket Ground and then we were put into high-rise flats and then we had our meals at the London zoo and used to march there every, for breakfast those [unclear] and tea and there’s one occasion there when there was a heavy air raid and at Lord’s Cricket Ground there’s the Regent’s Park and [unclear] anti-aircraft comes and we had to move out and go to another set of flats which was a hospital, which the RAF hospital, and carry all the patients down from the high floors cause they wouldn’t, couldn’t go down in the lifts and carry the, down in stretchers into the basement and back up then and then after that initial training, I went to Bridlington for ITW and that’s a nice seaside place, enjoyed it there and then off we went to Air Gunners School which was in the Isle of Man, just outside Ramsey, a place called Andreas and then, after three months of training, we were sent to an ITW, which was in Banbury where we were crewed up and flew in Wellingtons and from then we, we had to go to Heavy Conversion Unit which was a Stirling set-up, a place called Wratting Common in Cambridgeshire and we did that and then also we moved to, did an escape course at Feltwell and which was hilarious and then.
BJ: What did they teach you there about escaping?
GP: Unarmed combat and this sort of thing but it was, it just became a laugh actually [laughs] so, but we were there for the week and then we went back onto Wratting Common on Stirlings but at that time the Stirlings was being phased out from operations in the, for the main force in Bomber Command and we were transferred to, onto Lancasters which were radial engines Mark II, Hercules engines and from then we did a couple of weeks training there before we were put onto the squadron.
BJ: How did you find the Lancasters compared to the Stirlings?
GP: I didn’t like the Stirlings at all.
BJ: Ah!
GP: No, they frightened me because whilst I was converting onto Stirlings, I had to go to Newmarket to do a short gunnery course there and in the meantime my crew then crashed one of the Stirlings at [unclear] market so and but I, they phased these Stirlings out and that’s why I went on to Lancasters and then from Lancasters on Waterbeach we moved to a squadron which was RAF Witchford.
BJ: Ok. What happened when you got to Witchford?
GP: [laughs] We arrived at Witchford and then the following day we had to go round, signing in, which is a normal thing, you go to all the various sections and sign in and so forth like that and you get your billets and that and I went to the gunnery leaders office to sign in there and he says, ah yes, he says, you’re on tonight and that was the second day I was there [laughs] and I was, I said, what for? He says, well, there’s a rear gunner taken ill and you’ll have to, you’ll be flying with Lieutenant Speelenburg who was South African.
BJ: How did you feel about that?
GP: Terrible, it was, it was, to do a first op with a sprog crew which, the crew was a, they hadn’t done any operations before anyway and I hadn’t done any operations so they obviously bloodied with a new crew and that was one of the most horrendous air raids I’ve been on and that was to Augsburg, in southern Germany which was an eight hour journey, it was the most frightening experience I’ve ever had in my life so.
BJ: What happened on the mission?
GP: Oh, we got attacked over the target by a, by two Messerschmitt 109s, well, we got through that alright but it was, I never in my life would have expected to witness such a melee which was over the target, and I thought to myself I’m not coming out through this loss.
BJ: Do you remember what the target was?
GP: Augsburg.
BJ: Yes.
GP: It was the MAN works.
BJ: Ok.
GP: So that was, it was a night trip, eight-hour trip.
BJ: And did you stay with that crew then after?
GP: No, no.
BJ: No. So, how did you get assigned to a crew?
GP: I’d already got my crew,
BJ: Oh, ok.
GP: From, from Banbury, from Chipping Warden. I’d already got my crew, my crew were there but they were doing cross country south. So that was me doing me first op and I thought, I’ll never gonna get through this. So, that was my first operation and in the morning I couldn’t get off to sleep so I decided to, I walked into Ely and the Oxford and Cambridge boat race was on there so that was the, because they didn’t have the boat races in London because of the bombings, so I saw the boat race there.
BJ: Oh, ok.
GP: And came back, that’s it, so I said, no, that’s it, you can’t, you got to, maybe get through this alright but just forget about it and take it as it comes.
BJ: Ok. So, what, what was, can you tell me a bit more about some of the other missions you flew from Witchford?
GP: Well, I only did, I only did five operations from Witchford and I got frostbite, because we got attacked by a night fighter which destroyed all the communications and heating in the aircraft, but we managed to get back ok. So, that was alright and that was me put away from frostbite to Ely hospital for some time and then I was transferred to Waterbeach for recuperation and then I picked up another crew at Waterbeach which is Ted Cousins’s and I finished my tour of operations at Waterbeach with that crew.
BJ: What were you flying in at Waterbeach?
GP: Sorry?
BJ: What planes were you flying in from Waterbeach?
GP: Lancaster IIs.
BJ: Lancaster IIs. Ok, right, and can you tell me as what it was like on the base there, day to day life?
GP: Base was good because Witchford was a wartime place and everything was so dispersed you could walk miles for meals and things like that. But Waterbeach was a pre-war station and everything was on tap and there were nice billets and cosy, not like the Nissen huts that we did have, so these were brick-built, brick-built buildings and quite comfortable in a way.
BJ: And what did you do in your time off?
GP: Just going home [laughs].
BJ: Really? Aha.
GP: If you could get home. [unclear] the time off just mainly drinking [laughs].
BJ: What was it like coming home after being on operations?
GP: It was very strange and it’s a funny thing, I haven’t been away from home until I went in the Air Force. It’s a very strange feeling when you come back home and see that, it was a good feeling, but it didn’t last long so I had to go back again and that was it.
BJ: And what did you tell your mum and dad about your life in the RAF?
GP: I didn’t tell them anything, I didn’t think it was fair.
BJ: Ah.
GP: Because my brother, my brother was a navigator wireless operator on Mosquitoes, he was out in Burma so there’s both of us, there were three boys in the family and just my elder brother and myself were in the Air Force and the younger brother, he went in the army, just after the war. It was, it was quite strange because all your friends were away and we just had to nosy around, just going to the pictures or something like that. It wasn’t all that pleasant, it’s nice to see your family but as I say, it was quite boring.
BJ: And what sort of missions were you involved in, when you were at Waterbeach? Where were the targets?
GP: The targets, Witchford was, the targets were German targets, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Augsburg and one or two others. From Waterbeach there was quite a variety of targets which are sometimes daylight raids and night raids, sometimes were French targets, and then all of a sudden you’d be onto a German target at night, which is [unclear] sorted it out.
BJ: What did you have a preference for daytime or nighttime missions?
GP: I used to like to rather go at night time, I didn’t like daytime [laughs]. You could see too much.
BJ: Right. Were there any particularly memorable missions that you flew on?
GP: Actually, most of them were quite memorable, we did a raid to Beckdiames which was in Southern France and that was an eight hour trip and this was a daylight raid and we went out at under a thousand feet all the way and until we got to the target, the target was a port actually and we climbed up to the bombing height, bombed and dropped down to, under a thousand feet again because of the radar, that was the idea of it but it was a long trip, it was an eight hour trip and it was quite a dangerous trip because the Bay of Biscay it was the, the Junkers 88 used to wonder around there quite a lot, you know, so. And then, there was another one which was to Stettin which was in Poland and that was another long trip, under a thousand feet all the way, this was a night time raid and we flew over Denmark and we could see the lights of Sweden and the anti-aircraft fire was coming up from Sweden, things like that [laughs] and then we went to, got to Stettin which we got to the bombing height and came back down again and what [unclear], we just lost one, one squadron, one aircraft on that squadron. So, and there was, there’s quite a few things which, one of the most scary attacks that we had was my last operation really to Duisburg. And that was the, the squadron went out early to bomb Duisburg, there was over a thousand aircraft to do it, and then, as soon as we got back, over the target the air was black with flak and it was the most frightening experience, I was in daylight did not expect to go to a German target in daylight and then it gradually settled down then but when we got back, we were sent down to, the air gunners were sent down to the bomb disposal place to help to load bombs up again for the same target and then the following day the German, the Americans bombed the same place, that was a disastrous place, terrible. That was about it, you know, but most of the trips were rather scary cause you never knew what was gonna happen there [unclear], you could be attacked by fighters any time.
BJ: What was it like being up in the turret?
GP: Very cold. Very cold [unclear] with ice all the way down there because we didn’t have any Perspex in the turret, we had it taken out because you can just imagine if you are flying at night and you can get attacked by a fighter and if you get any dirt on your Perspex you wouldn’t, it would be a, you wouldn’t know whether you got a fighter coming through, you see but where I got frostbite was around about forty degrees below but you see, your oxygen mask you had a lot of breath dripping down you know, froze up and all that.
BJ: What were you wearing to keep warm then?
GP: Well, I had a heated suit actually, the first time was one of these urban jackets and trousers which were all [unclear] and things like that. Eventually they got full heated suits which you’d plug into your boots and plug into your gloves, they heated up all over so you, you weren’t so cumbersome in the turret so, so that wasn’t too bad. It was when, the one time I said when the, the heating got shot up but it was cold.
BJ: Ok. And anything else that you remember about your time in the two squadrons?
GP: I’m just trying to think about it now. I was involved in athletics with the squadron so I did [unclear] got plenty of time off, things like that, apart from my flying, I was excused duties because I was, I got involved in football and things like that, I didn’t have to do any guard duties and things like that so.
BJ: Ok. Did that involve you going around to other bases?
GP: Sorry?
BJ: Did you go to other bases doing that?
GP: It was just the odd at lib sort of things, you know, you compete against the Americans or something like that, you know and,
BJ: Ok, how did you get on?
GP: We weren’t as good as the Americans, I tell you.
BJ: [laughs]
GP: No, we weren’t as good as the Americans, no, they got far greater facilities and that sort of things like that, you know.
BJ: Ok, and what did you do at the end of the war? What, you know, how did you get demobbed and that sort of thing?
GP: Well, when the, as I finished mature, I was sent up to a place in Northern Scotland, place called Bracla and that was for time expired men, aircrew you see, had [unclear] virtually offices and things like that, and my, my flight commander was up there as well, Lord Mackie, he ended up as Lord Mackie and we just had to march about and things like that and then we were selected for ordinary jobs in the Air Force you see and I wanted to become a PTI which is a Physical Training Instructor because I would’ve had the opportunity to go through to Loughborough and take sports right the way through and then that’s what I wanted to go for but they put me down as a driver [laughs]. So I moved from there and went to driving school at Weeton in Blackpool which was quite good actually, it was quite enjoyable and then from then I was, I went to various camps in this country and then my final camp was in Germany where I was with a microfilm unit taking microfilm documents of all the machine tool drawings and things like that and that’s,
BJ: Where was that?
GP: That was at Frankfurt, Frankfurt but we wondered around Stuttgart and other places, went round all these factories and taking these microfilms of these documents and things like that, that was the, that was my end, I ended and came back to Weeton where I was demobbed.
BJ: So, what was it like being in Germany, down on the ground, this time?
GP: It was, it wasn’t too bad, we weren’t allowed to fraternise at all, you know, we did play football against the Germans and things like that and got thrushed.
BJ: Oh, alright [laughs]
GP: So, I played for the army when we were in Frankfurt and we played a game against the Germans, select team which is if we really got thrushed and that was the first time we realised what sort of football the continentals played as compared with our football but anyway that was, I enjoyed my time in Germany and I learned to speak German quite fluently and which stood me in good sted with my civilian job so that was good and
BJ: How did you learn to speak German?
GP: Well, I had to speak German [laughs].
BJ: Yeah?
GP: Well, I mean, if you were driving around and things like that and you lost your way, you had to talk and things like that so that’s how it went [unclear] I wish I had kept it up actually, which it would have been useful to me but it was useful anyway because I dealt with the Germans, a German company in me civilian life more so than anything and of course was a strange thing that the fellow that I dealt with in Germany, he was a Luftwaffe pilot [unclear] [laughs] and something I know quite well actually.
BJ: Did you tell him you’d been in the RAF?
GP: Yes, yeah. So, I mean it was no end to the, not at all, not with service people [unclear] so they got a job to do, we got a job to do and that was it but
BJ: So what did you do after you were demobbed then?
GP: Sorry?
BJ: What did you do after the RAF? After you left?
GP: I went back to my old company and I gradually progressed there, we were manufacturing cars, Standard, the Triumph and the Triumph Spitfires and these sort of things, and but there was so much, so many problems down in the Midlands with the car industry of strikes and all that sort of thing and I just got married and we bought a new house and things like that, it’s becoming very difficult because we’re going on short time, even when you’re on staff you’re on short time so, I decided to make a move and come up here and that was that.
BJ: What did you do up here, in Scotland?
GP: I ended up as a production director at Carron company in Falkirk and but I set up a, came up and set up a plant for manufacturing steel bars and that sort of thing and then I did twenty-three years there and that’s it.
BJ: Ok, and how do you think being in Bomber Command affected the rest of your life?
GP: It did affect me because the, the people, the people that you met in Bomber Command, they were virtually like your brothers, a wonderful set up, it was great and as I say, it was still, we’re still getting involved with reunions and one of the addresses, the two addresses that I gave you, these are the people that I flew with, so, it was, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Really.
BJ: Ok. Alright, anything else you’d like to add, Mr. Payne?
GP: No, I don’t think so. I think that’s about all, that’s, I summarised quite a bit.
BJ: Alright. Thank you very much.
GP: Ok, thank you. [file continued] I’m trying to fill it all in you, you can’t.
US: I know you can’t [unclear], I just.
BJ: Right, this is the interview with Mr. Payne continuing.
GP: Right, one of the most horrendous trips that I did was to Frankfurt. And after the target, we were coming back, we were about half an hour away back from the target when I spotted a aircraft with about four hundred meters behind below and it turned out to be a Messerschmitt 109 and I wanted, I tried to warn the, I tried to warn the pilot but the intercom had frozen up, my mouthpiece had frozen up and I tried to Morse coding with the emergency light and the emergency light wasn’t working so that was it, there was actually nothing I could do about it and as the aircraft came closer to me, which was below at about a hundred meters, I opened fire on it and the guns jammed so therefore I was completely at a loss, I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t warn the captain or anything about cause I’ve no intercom and no emergency lighting so I just had to hang on a bit and then after a minute the aircraft came underneath us and opened fire and blasted all the centre of the aircraft and the smell of cordite was amazing and then the aircraft started to manoeuvre all over the sky doing very violent evasive action or I thought that we were out of control, completely out of control so I got out of my turret and walked back and found that the main door was swinging open and then I got up to the mid upper turret and the mid upper gunner had gone, he’d bailed out and there was all cannon shell holes all around his turret there, so eventually I thought, that so quiet I thought the rest of the crew had gone, now I walked up, gradually I got through into the main cabin and found the rest of the crew were ok and so forth and that we went back to the sit in the turret, well, I couldn’t do anything anyway, so we were coming in to land, but we got back home ok, coming in to land and I started to smell cordite and I, I looked about at the back in the, in the ammunition panniers and there was a fire in there which must have got hit by an incendiary bullet and we had to land, emergency land and it was, it was an incendiary bullet, that was wedged in the bullets, so [laughs], that was that day but there was also another one, no, I don’t think I will talk about that, just [unclear].
BJ: Ok, thank you.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Geoff Payne
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Brenda Jones
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-28
Rights
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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.
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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APayneGA170528, PPayneG1702, PPayneG1701
Format
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00:32:26 audio recording
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
United States Army Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Geoff Payne has his first experience of the Royal Air Force with the Air Training Corps, at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire, where he had one of his first experiences of military humour. He joined in 1943 at the age of 17 and a half hoping to become a pilot - he took the faster option because of his young age and trained as an air gunner.
Basic training was carried out at Lords Cricket ground in London. One clear memory is helping to carry patients down several flights of stairs from a nearby hospital during an air raid.
Time was spent at RAF Bridlington on Initial Training Wing before attending Air Gunnery School in the Isle of Man. Further training was undertaken at RAF Banbury where he was crewed up on Wellingtons, before moving to the Heavy Conversion Unit at Wratting Common to convert to Stirlings. During his time here he attended an escape course at RAF Feltwell and was instructed in unarmed combat, which he dismissed as pitiful.
He and his crew were posted to RAF Witchford, Cambridgeshire, where he flew his first operation in February 1944 replacing an ill air gunner. He later discovered this was an inexperienced crew. He remembers the target was around Osnabrück in Germany and it was a melee over the target where they were attacked by two Me 109s, which they successfully shook off. On his return, he remembers being unable to sleep and went for a walk into Ely. There he discovered the Oxford Cambridge boat race was being held and watched it
Target areas of Germany included Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Augsburg. On his 5th operation, the aircraft was attacked, and the aircraft lost its heating and communications. He suffered frostbite and spent several months recovering in Ely hospital.
On regaining fitness, he was transferred to RAF Waterbeach and was allocated to a crew led by Ted Cousins. Waterbeach was a pre-war airfield with comfortable facilities. Time off was spent competing in athletics and football along with drinking at the local public houses.
When time allowed, he went home, but found the experience boring: all his friends were serving away, and there was little to do except drink or go to the cinema. His elder brother was serving as a navigator in the Far East, and he felt it unfair to talk about his experiences with his family.
At RAF Waterbeach there was a greater variety of operations. Targets varied from Germany to Southern France. He also remembers one trip to Poland. This entailed flying over Denmark and they could see the lights from Sweden and anti-aircraft fire.
He has a clear memory of most of his operations but does not wish to dwell on some. On one occasion he spotted a Me 109, he tried to warn the pilot but his intercom had frozen and emergency light was inoperative. He tried to open fire but his guns jammed – the night fighter opened fire and hit the centre of the aircraft. The aircraft began violently manoeuvring and he wasn’t sure if this was deliberate evasive manoeuvres or if they were out of control. He made his way forward and discovered the aircraft door open and the mid upper gunner missing. There were cannon holes all around the centre of the aircraft. He still wasn’t sure if he was the only one on board until he reached the main cabin and found the rest of the crew in position. They made it back home where they realised an incendiary bullet was lodged in the ammunition pannier.
His last operation was one of the thousand-bomber operations in Germany, the air black with anti-aircraft fire. On his return, the air gunners went sent to the bomb dump to assist the armourers in preparing the bombs for the following days attack which was carried out by the United States Army Air Forces.
After completing his tour of operation, he was posted to RAF Brackla, hoping to be retained as physical training instructor, but ended up at RAF Weeton near Blackpool to be trained as a driver.
He served at several locations across Southern England before his final posting which was with a microfilm unit in Frankfurt. Fraternising with locals was not allowed, but he did manage to learn German. He played in a football match against a much better German select team.
After demob, he returned home and was involved in the manufacturing of cars at the Triumph factory. He married, and because of unrest and strikes in the car industry, he moved to Scotland and was employed at the Carron company in Falkirk as a production director manufacturing steel bars, where his ability to speak German became an advantage in his dealings with foreign companies. He met an ex Luftwaffe pilot and experiences were exchanged - there was no animosity whatsoever and it was accepted they both had been carrying out their duty.
Geoff looks back on his time in Bomber Command with great fondness. It was like a big family. He still has contact with surviving crew members, and still attends reunions.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Ely
England--Lancashire
England--London
England--Norfolk
England--Northamptonshire
England--Suffolk
England--Yorkshire
France
Germany
Germany--Augsburg
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Stuttgart
Denmark
Sweden
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man
Scotland
Scotland--Falkirk
Scotland--Nairnshire
Scotland--Stirlingshire
Germany--Osnabrück
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
Contributor
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Ian Whapplington
Peter Schulze
Conforms To
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Pending revision of OH transcription
115 Squadron
514 Squadron
7 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
crewing up
Heavy Conversion Unit
incendiary device
Initial Training Wing
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 2
Me 109
military ethos
military living conditions
military service conditions
Pathfinders
perception of bombing war
RAF Brackla
RAF Bridlington
RAF Chipping Warden
RAF Feltwell
RAF Waterbeach
RAF Witchford
RAF Wratting Common
RAF Wyton
sport
Stirling
training
Wellington
wireless operator / air gunner
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Staves, Malcom Ely
M E Staves
Description
An account of the resource
77 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Malcom Staves (1924 - 2012, 1591418, 203137 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, items, documents, photographs, and training notebooks. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 207 Squadron. <br /><br />There is also a sub collection concerning Flight Lieutenant <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1020">D A MacArthur.</a><br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Christina Chatwin and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-02-26
Rights
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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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Staves, ME
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Malcolm Staves and an airman
Description
An account of the resource
Half length portrait of Malcolm Staves (right) and a second airman. Both are sergeants. On the reverse 'Shortly after getting our Wing & Stripes in February 1944.'
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02
Format
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One photocopied colour photograph
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PStavesME16020009
PStavesME16020010
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
aircrew
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/903/11143/PJonesMH1601.2.jpg
b2f071ed809019987ab4387308b4ab99
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/903/11143/PJonesMH1602.2.jpg
b65d6b3db33bc69f70b5a6155995f155
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/903/11143/AJonesMH160422.1.mp3
d49d041dc66e4b40ec69f26d7b270c99
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Jones, Mervyn
Mervyn Henry Jones
M H Jones
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Mervyn Jones (1600670, Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a wireless operator with 106 and 218 Squadrons.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-22
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Jones, MH
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
DM: This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is David Meanwell. The interviewee is Mervyn Jones. The interview is taking place at Mr Jones’ home in Farnham in Surrey on Friday the 22nd of April 2016. Ok. Mr Jones if we could start off with you saying a bit about your early life.
MJ: I was born in Abercynon. A small mining village at the junction of the Aberdare and Merthyr valleys. My father was a miner. Like most miners in those days there was very little money available and we were quite poor but we lived and enjoyed ourselves. My father wasn’t very keen on seeing his children being brought up in a mining village. First of all he went to Burnham on Sea or Highbridge to work on the farm there but decided that farming was not going to be very much better than mining from his children’s point of view. So he was given a lift whilst he was aiming to go to Poplar where he was told there was a lot of work. He got as far as Uxbridge and when he asked for directions to Poplar he was, he was then asked, ‘What are you going up there for?’ He said, ‘Work.’ And the individual he was talking to said, ‘Well, don’t go there. Go to Slough.’ So, he said, ‘Never heard of the place. Where is it?’ So, they told him and he and the friend he was with they went to Slough and spent the, spent the night on a, sleeping on a bale of straw in the cattle market only to be woken up at about 5 o’clock in the morning by all the cattle coming in. That was in about August. Dad got work and he managed to get a house to rent. And the rest of the family that’s my mother, my brother and two sisters travelled up in December 1935 and we lived, lived in Slough and around for quite a number of years after that. In 1939 I became employed by a firm of solicitors in Slough as the office boy. Duties were not too onerous but I was given various books to study with a view to making a career in the law.
[recording pause]
MJ: One little backdrop. In 1937 having read various newspapers about football teams I decided that I would go to the Arsenal ground and see a football match. I told my parents I was staying on this particular Saturday with a school friend when in point of fact I travelled up to Paddington and then on to Highbury. Saw a wonderful football match and I’ve been an Arsenal supporter ever since. That was in 1937 [pause] Come 1941 I volunteered, or went to join the air force realizing that I was in fact twelve months too young. So I told them my birth was 24th of January 1924 instead of 1925. And fortunately for me no, nobody really queried it. And I was duly signed in and in April 1942 I was told to report to Padgate. The [pause] my father had signed all the forms for me to join. He believed that I wouldn’t pass the medical but whether they were rather lax or not I don’t know but —
DM: Why did he think that?
MJ: Well, all the, all the Jones’ family suffer with ear trouble and although in those days it wasn’t too bad I still had trouble from time to time. I think it stemmed from when I, when I was a very small child every time I was teething I got ear infections. And it’s effectively the same thing throughout the whole of my life. If I get a cold I get an ear infection. Sometimes in both which is rather embarrassing. The — I reported to Padgate where I was kitted out and so on and then we went on to Blackpool. The radio school there. And having completed that course went on to Yatesbury where I was very pleased to pass out as top of the course which surprised me and surprised the family as well. We went from there to Peterborough and a little satellite drome called Sibson. We were supposed to be there to do repairs, or repairs to the radios in the Harvards that were used for training but for the whole time that we were there we didn’t see a radio. Didn’t see anything at all. All we did was guard duty and run of the mill stuff. But we went back to Yatesbury and finished off the course where again I managed to be top of the course. From Yatesbury we went to Stormy Down in South Wales for a gunnery course where lo and behold I came top of that course as well. I won’t tell you the whole secret of it but a lot, a lot of people were pulling my leg about the fact that the warrant officer in charge of both radio school and then the gunnery school was a personal friend of the family [laughs] So, I rather suspect that my successes were partly, must be partly down to him. I didn’t think I was that brilliant. I thought I wasn’t a bad wireless operator. We went from there to various sites. Cark and Cartmel for flying in Ansons. And then on to Market Harborough where we were flying in Wellingtons. Mark 1 with Pegasus engines. Totally underpowered clapped out old things that from time to time ploughed into the ground and killed all the crew. Whether we were lucky or not I don’t know. I think I must have been because we had no problems at all. We, we crewed up there with a pilot, Ginger Durrant. A navigator called Jones who unfortunately got us lost on a couple of occasions and got shifted out of the [pause] shifted out of our crew. And myself. We then, we finished training there and were sent to Swinderby to convert on to Stirlings which I was never enamoured with. But having done the conversion course we were then sent to Syerston to convert on to Lancs. Which we duly did. And then got posted to Scampton for about three weeks. And from Scampton we went to Metheringham. We went there at the end of February 1944. We got there and two days later it snowed and it stayed snowy. No flying for about two weeks. Then we did the usual familiarisation before we were ready to go on ops. It wasn’t until the 20th of March that we, we did our first trip which was to Frankfurt. And we had bombed and we were flying straight and level to take photographs and we were suddenly coned in searchlights which was quite an alarming experience. One minute it’s pitch black. The next minute you’re absolutely flooded with light. Anyway, the skipper put the aircraft in a very steep dive and threw it all over the sky and after a while and it’s difficult to judge how long it took, it might only have been a few minutes. It might have been a few seconds. But anyway we were suddenly in the dark again. And the thing that fascinated us was there was no anti-aircraft fire. There had been all the time that we were travelling but whilst we were in the searchlights there was nothing. And we came to the conclusion that searchlights were holding us so that night fighters could come up and attack. But anyway they didn’t and we got away with it. We got back on course. Came home with no problems at all. The second op was a major disaster. We were briefed to go to Berlin and it was the last of the raids of the [pause] I think they called it the war against Berlin but whatever it was it was the last of the main force flights to that city. Well, we took off and we got part way, about half way across the North Sea and the skipper doing the usual checking with everybody. Making sure they were ok. Called up the [pause] mid-upper gunner and got no reply. So the usual thing, if anybody wants anything done they call the wireless operator. So they called me, ‘Go and see what’s wrong with Wally.’ So, I went down there and shone a torch in to see what had happened. Wally was well away. He was flaked out and his oxygen tube was flapping in the breeze. How long he’d been like that we had no idea. Presumably from take-off. But anyway we dropped down to about eight thousand feet and kept going. And the engineer and I tried to get him out of the turret. At first we lifted him up with his bottom, unhooked the seat and with that we couldn’t hold him, the weight of him, he slipped down and was totally wedged. Feet in the front. His head over the guns. And his bottom sticking out of the turret. And it took us an hour to get him out. We strapped him in the rest bed, plugged him in to oxygen and the intercom. And by then we were well over the Baltic so we climbed up to operational height and turned to go due, almost due south to Berlin. This was the raid where the Air Ministry was forecasting the winds of sixty miles an hour. And our navigator said, ‘It’s more than that. It’s more like ninety.’ And in fact that’s what it was. So when we turned to go to Berlin we shot down from the Baltic to Berlin in no time at all. Realising that we were going at a fair, fair old lick he decided that when we, when we got to the target if it was marked we would, we would drop our bombs on the first run so we didn’t have to go around into wind which would reduce the ground speed considerably and making us a sitting duck for night fighters. Anyway, we went through Berlin and we dropped the bombs, got back on course to go home. No problems at all other than Wally. Anyway, we got, we got fairly close to England and got a message we were diverted to Wing in North Bucks so changed course and then the engineer, his nickname was Podge, he said we’d got trouble with the hydraulics. So, when we got over England we, I was given the task of pumping down the undercarriage to make sure we could land in reasonable fashion. I did that and Podge indicated to all of us that we, we would be able to land on wheels but we would have only a limited amount of flap and possibly no brakes at all. So anyway we, we got permission to land at Wing. We came in and landed and we landed on the almost on the perimeter track to try to make sure we had enough runway to be able to stop. But we didn’t. We just went off the end of the runway and pranged the thing. And when we got out we were told by the ground crew that, at Wing, the aircraft was a write off. Which turned out to be not quite true. It was very badly damaged but it was eventually brought back to Metheringham and they took about two and a half, three months to repair it. So we were taken back the following day by another crew, interviewed and so on and that’s the last we heard of it. But the one thing that we had discussed on the way back we would not say anything at all in debriefing or any, anywhere or anytime afterwards about what happened to Wally. Because if we did he would undoubtably be grounded and we didn’t fancy going through the rigmarole of having another replacement as we’d had a replacement navigator with Jones having been thrown out. We had a rather large individual given to us as our new navigator. A fellow called Jim Pittaway who was quite a bulky fellow and naturally he was called Slim. I use these nicknames because when we were flying we used those nicknames. We never called each other pilot or skipper or wireless operator or gunner or whatever. It was always nicknames. The, the bomb aimer was Buck. His name was Buchanan. The pilot was Ginger. The engineer was Podge. The navigator was Slim. I was Taff. The mid-upper gunner was Wally. And lo and behold the rear gunner was Keith [laughs] because nobody could think of a suitable nickname for him. Anyway, we, we had two little dodge it flights for the first experience. The remarkable thing was that apart from a few flak holes in the rest of our ops we had no problems at all. It was uncanny really that we did another thirty three ops and we had no difficulties of any description. It was quite remarkable. When I say that there were two occasions when we had to abort for an engine trouble but you know, that that happens to everybody. The — can we, for a moment?
[recording paused]
MJ: We did thirty five ops because quite, quite a few of them were at one stage described as a third of an op. Mainly the occasions when we went to France instead of Germany. After, after our fourth trip, the fourth one in fact was that infamous Nuremberg raid, after our fourth trip we were given Able as our aircraft. And we did twenty eight out of our thirty five in that aircraft which is, was a squadron record for that particular aircraft which completed a hundred and eleven ops [pause] The painting up here was given to me last year as the sole surviving member of our crew in recognition of our twenty eight ops in that one aircraft. The nearest to us — I think there were two or perhaps three that did eleven but that was the gap. Eleven to twenty eight. It was quite a record.
DM: Did you keep in touch with the crew after the war?
MJ: I did with the pilot. With Ginger but not the others. I initially made contact with them but it just faded away. So I thought oh well perhaps they’ve got their own lives to live. They didn’t, perhaps they don’t want to live in the past. But it was only Ginger that I kept in touch with and it was fortunate that he was in touch with the rest of the crew and passed on information about them from time to time.
DM: When you were on ops what were the off, what was the off duty periods like? Did you all associate together as a crew or — ?
MJ: Yeah.
DM: Were you all NCOs or —
MJ: Until, until we got to the squadron we were all NCOs. And then Ginger was commissioned. But the rest of stayed as sergeants, flight sergeants and ultimately warrant officers. A lot of our raids as I said were over France. And we operated twice on D-Day. First time was about 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. And then we went back again 11, 12, 1 o’clock for a second op. And then after that it was communications and occasionally German reinforcements. You know, tank squadrons. That sort of thing. They also did a lot of communications. Railway junction sand bridges and so on. There were also a couple of doodlebug depots. One in particular that we went to twice in forty eight hours was a place called Saint Leu-d’Esserent which was a storage place for these doodlebugs. We operated that particular night with 617. We went in at, the base that we had was 617 at Woodhall Spa, 83 and 97 Pathfinder Squadrons at Coningsby and 106 at Metheringham. That was base. We flew several times with 617 but that Saint Leu-d’Esserent was a bit of a shocker really. The storage was actually built into the side of a mountain and we were briefed to bomb the approach roads and railways. 617 in the first raid had other duties. I don’t know exactly what. But certainly on the second one they had these earthquake bombs and dropped these on top of the, not on the, right at the top but up the mountain and blew the whole thing to pieces. It was, I gather never repaired after that. The trouble was from our point of view that on the first raid there were two aircraft lost. On the second raid there were five. Which was the second time that the squadron lost five aircraft. The other occasion was [pause] I can’t remember the name of the place we went to but it was the night that 106 Squadron got its first or perhaps I might say the second Victoria Cross. I say second because Gibson was the officer commanding when 106 was at Syerston. And from there of course he went on to the Dambusters and that’s when he got the VC. We finished our ops in July.
DM: ’44.
MJ: ’44. The last raid was a bit of a nightmare from the weather point of view. We flew from Lincoln down to the middle of France to Givors. And for most of the journey we were in a thunder storm and lightning flashing everywhere and so we had to switch all the electronics off. We didn’t want them blowing up and starting a fire. We were about a quarter of an hour short of Givors when the clouds stopped. Beautiful evening. We duly bombed, turned around, came back and flew all the way back in the same thunderstorm. Very uncomfortable journey. Well, I then finished. Well, we all finished our tour. Ginger, because he’d done the second dickie trip had done thirty six. The rest of us with the exception of Slim, the navigator who missed one op because he had tonsillitis, he did thirty four. The rest of us did thirty five. I was then posted back to Market Harborough instructing. Something which frankly I hated. You get in the aircraft with a trainee wireless operator and he was told to operate. If he had any trouble come to me. Well, I must have been lucky or very unlucky depending on which way you look at it. I was never asked to do anything. So all I did was sit on my parachute on the floor opposite the wireless operator and toured around the country in these clapped out old Wellingtons. Didn’t like it at all. And I made several attempts to persuade the CO to send me back to a squadron but he wouldn’t have it. Anyway, at the end of, end of six months I was posted. Sent to 218 Squadron in Chedburgh in 3 Group which, the squadron had only fairly recently converted on to Lancasters. That prior to that they were still flying in Stirlings. Anyway, we, I did three more ops and the war ended. So I was a little frustrated because I thought there was a good chance of being able to complete a second tour. Anyway, that was that. The end of thirty — thirty eight ops. We then had the Manna ops. Flying and dropping food in Holland. I did four of those. Then I did seven Exodus trips bringing back British mainly prisoners of war. Flying them from Juvisy to Hurn, outside Bournemouth. And then back to Chedburgh. And then I did one ferrying a Lancaster to Abu Sueir which is near Port Said in Egypt. The idea was the aircraft were then being sent out to the Far East. We only did one. It was, it was a glorified holiday. We were stationed then [pause] I had a pilot called Lofting, a navigator called Andrews and an engineer who was called Conant. He proudly announced that his father who lived at Cottesmore where there was a ‘drome anyway, his, his father was the MP for Rutland. But he, he — no I won’t go on that. We’d, we were stationed at [pause] I’ve forgotten the name of the aerodrome now. Near Newquay anyway. Sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself. We were stationed at Dunkeswell near Honiton and we flew from there to St Mawgan which is near Newquay. From St Mawgan we were briefed to fly to Abu Sueir. Stopping first at Tripoli. Unfortunately on the very short journey from Dunkeswell to St Mawgan the port inner packed up and the radio failed. So there we were at this VIP station where all anybody flying across the Atlantic especially the big wigs landed there and were treated with food that was by our standards out of this world. And we were given the same food, the same treatment as the VIPs. I could have stayed there for the rest of the war actually. It was rather nice. Anyway, we, they brought in a new engine. Fitted that. And repaired the wireless. Or so they thought. We took off heading for Tripoli. Got half way across the Med and the engines started playing up again and the wireless packed up. So we decided the nearest ‘drome was an American one at Tunis so we logged in there. Contacted Tripoli. Told them what had happened. And we, we spent about a week in Tunis doing all the things that we couldn’t do back home. Again living with American breakfast and Tunisian food for lunch and dinner. Went to the cinema a couple of times. On the first occasion Conant lit up a cigarette and you could see the smoke going up as the beam of the film was on the screen. Then all of a sudden we were [laughs] I think there must have been about four people, these ushers or usherettes or whatever they were shining torches at us and old Conant put his cigarette out rather smartly [laughs]. Smoking was banned in cinemas out there. Anyway, we eventually got as far as Tripoli just in time for Christmas. We had a very hilarious time there. And then we flew on to Abu Sueir. Left the aircraft and travelled into Cairo by train. A very slow journey but quite comfortable. And they must have thought we were thirsty people because every five minutes they were coming around with kettles full of tea. Very weak tea. Tons of milk in it. What sort of milk I wouldn’t know but I suspect it was goat. Anyway, we went, we went to Cairo and spent New Year’s there and flew back in a Dakota on New Year’s Day. From Cairo to Luqa in Malta. No. To El Adem in the desert, Luqa on Malta, Nice and then home. And we took off at 4 o’clock in the afternoon of the 1st and arrived at Hurn about mid-day on the 2nd. A boring journey. There was nothing to do. There were no magazines to read. It was just a case of shut your eyes and let things go by. Anyway, we got back and we were told we were to take another aircraft out there. And we did familiarisation on, but two lots of circuits and bumps and that was the last of my flying in the air force. And I got sent to various stations after that. No flying. Ended up in the demob office getting everybody ready to go home except me [laughs] which was a bit frustrating at times. But anyway in August of 1946 [pause] That’s right. August ’46 I was demobbed. Sent down to Wembley, kitted out with a suit and a hat and shoes and what have you and went home. And I was officially given leave as everybody was. I made contact with a firm that I used to work for and yes they would take me back as a junior clerk at the princely sum of three guineas a week which was a bit of a come down considering that I was getting about seven pounds a week in the air force. All my friends who had been in the army or the navy they were all demobbed at the same time and they all, I think all except one worked in Mars on the Slough Trading Estate. And they, they were earning far far more than I was. That didn’t worry me. I was looking to the future and I kept on studying. Unfortunately, I was told after a while that I should pack it up. I had two illnesses that were causing or had caused a lot of problems. One of them I had what the doctor described as the finest dose of shingles that he’d seen in all his career. So I decided that’s it. You’re not going to qualify as a solicitor. You’ll be for the rest of your days, as I was at that moment a solicitor’s managing clerk. Now described as a legal executive. And I held that job until I retired in 1989. I came back as I say in ’46 and in ’47 I met a young lady that in 1948 I married and she’s sitting over there. We will be celebrating our sixty eighth wedding anniversary on the 17th of July this year. We had one daughter. You might have seen when you came in. One grandson sitting there. And I’ve one great grandson who is coming up to two.
DM: When you, when you look back on your days in the air force what’s the sort of abiding memory? You know. Is it one of pleasure or fear or what?
[pause]
MJ: I enjoyed my time in the air force except for that period when I was instructing. Or supposed to be instructing. From the point of view of entertainment, pleasure and so on particularly when we were at Metheringham it was a case of into Lincoln, have a couple of beers, go to the cinema. Things like that. I always made, I made a promise to my father that I would, I would keep him informed as to how I was getting on with various ops. And rather a primitive idea every time we did, I did an op, I wrote and said I’d been in to Lincoln to see a film. And I named the film thinking that, you know if the censors people opened it and read the letter that they might think it was genuine. It wasn’t. Anyway, I [pause] I did this the whole time and he kept the letters. And it wasn’t until oh many many years afterwards [pause] the 1980s I think it was my brother was doing some decorating, came across the letters, decided he didn’t want them and threw them out. And I was a bit annoyed actually because some of them were quite interesting letters from the point of view of what we were doing but without disclosing any trade secrets. Anyway, it was something that happened and you know I was annoyed with him at first but oh well that’s it. We, we, as a crew we kept to ourselves very very much. I can’t remember where it was. I think it was at Swinderby. A couple of crews were assembled and they were given a talk by a flight lieutenant who had done two tours. It was a general talk about life on, on the squadron. One of the things that he said that stuck in the minds of all of us was, ‘Don’t become too friendly with other crews because if you do and they get shot down you will feel a lot of embarrassment, a lot of sympathy. It could upset you quite considerably that these friends of yours had just disappeared.’ So we talked about it afterwards and decided well we’d keep ourselves to ourselves. I mean we didn’t snub anybody but when we went anywhere it was not as a whole crew. It was sort of, ‘I’m going in to Lincoln tonight, Wally. Interested?’ ‘Yeah. Ok.’ And off we’d go. And the same with the others. They would do that. It didn’t happen quite the same way when I was at 218 Squadron. That was quite different. I enjoyed it there but there wasn’t the friendship with the crew. Partly I think because they had been shot down. The pilot was killed. The wireless op, his parachute was damaged so he jumped out holding on to the navigator. But as soon as the parachute opened [pause] the navigator and the parachute went up and I’m afraid the wireless op went down and he got killed. And I was there replacing him. The pilot we had, also a replacement, back on his second tour. And the navigator. He didn’t want to fly anymore. But he was just given a ground job and that was that.
DM: Did you have any superstitions? Any routines? Anything you had to do before you flew? Or —
MJ: No. The only thing that we did we had a doll which was given to Keith by his girlfriend. And it was then handed to me so that I could on every trip strap it up to the pole that was by the side of my radio. Tied it up the top. And it did thirty five ops and then when we parted I gave the doll back to to Keith so he could return it to his girlfriend. I met a WAAF as everybody did at some stage or other. Chatting with her she produced a little green sort of leatherette dog. Only a tiny little thing, ‘Take it on ops with you.’ So we took it on ops for the second one which I described to you. To Berlin. And that’s the only op the dog did [laughs] We, I I don’t think, oh I can’t speak very well for the others but I don’t think I was ever scared. When we, when we were coned in searchlights I was worried then. I remember not panicking but thinking, ‘God, we must get out of this otherwise we’ll get the chop.’ You know. And there was nothing any of us could do except rely on Ginger which we always said he was a very good pilot and by God the way he threw that Lanc about that night was unbelievable. I thought he was going to loop the loop at one stage. He was a very very good pilot.
DM: You mentioned the ear problem. Did that ever give you problems when you were flying? You obviously didn’t miss any ops because of it but —
MJ: What I had trouble with in flying was sinus. I wasn’t going to report sick. No way. If I couldn’t hear I couldn’t hear. That was it. You know. But seriously I didn’t like the idea of reporting sick. Missing ops and then becoming a spare bod. Flying with any Dick, Tom and Harry that was short of a wireless op. I didn’t fancy that at all. We had two little incidents where we more or less did the wrong thing. Buchanan went into the kitchen at the mess one night and leaned back, put his hand down on the red hot stove and on his left hand, which was fortunate he had an enormous blister on the palm of his hand. He just took a, stuck a bandage around it, wore a glove and kept on flying. And on one op, having ground tested everything we got out of the aircraft and waited for the signal to rev up and go. And I was getting out of the, getting out of the Lanc after doing what was necessary, caught my foot on the stepladder that we used to come out of the — get in and out of the Lanc. I just fell flat on my face from the top step down and I ripped my hand, the right hand. It was badly swollen but I wasn’t going to go sick. No way. But other than that and Slim having a couple of days in hospital when he had tonsillitis or flu or something apart from that nobody had any problems at all. Going back to [pause] the second trip to Berlin, in all the time that we were together after that nobody ever mentioned Wally’s oxygen. There’s no record of it anywhere. We just didn’t. Didn’t want to change despite his silly mistake of not connecting it up properly. You know. You get to know people and you trust them. And we did trust Wally. Even after that incident. He, he was quite a good gunner. But they never had to fly like Keith. Never had to fire his guns in anger. In all the trips that we did we never fired guns.
DM: Did you have any thoughts after the war about the way Bomber Command were viewed in the aftermath? You know. This sort of almost disconnect with with what had happened.
MJ: No. I thought about it and I thought we were doing the right thing. The Germans had bombed every capital in Europe. Quite indiscriminate bombing. They came over to this country and bombed London and Coventry and Portsmouth and so on. Quite indiscriminate. They started it and we finished it and it, that was it. Now people say they very much regret the fact that they dropped these bombs and killed civilians. But I haven’t heard any German saying he’s sorry for having killed people in London. I look at it on the basis it was an all out war. If we didn’t win then we would be finished as a country. We would. Life, if you were allowed to live it would have been hell. It was something we just had to do and did it. I never regretted it at all. The one thing that does upset me is every time they talk about Bomber Command they talk about the last big raid. And it’s quite silly really because what happened was the same as happened in Hamburg when they bombed that. Nobody could forecast that there was going to be sudden strong winds fanning flames and so on. The same thing happened in — I don’t remember the name of the town [pause]. Right at the end of the war. [pause] I’m being told over there.
Other: [unclear]
MJ: Hmmn?
Other 2: I should know and I can’t remember.
Other: Dresden.
Other 2: Dresden.
MJ: Dresden. Yeah. I read a number of books in recent years about Dresden. Some were very anti the Bomber Command for having bombed it and more or less destroyed it. But there was one that I read, I can’t remember the name of the author but it gave a very very good account of why Dresden should have been bombed. At that stage even if there was no reason to have bombed it before Dresden was the railway junction at the southern part of the Eastern Front. And millions of German soldiers, armaments, tanks you name it all passed through Dresden to get to the southern Eastern Front. There were no very big factories in Dresden but there were hundreds of small factories. Some operating in garages and sheds and things like that. All producing items which were then transported to main depot and fitted as part of radar and so on and so forth. So from that point of view there was, as the book quite firmly came down to the fact that Dresden should have been bombed before. And it was, there was a request from the Russians to to bomb that town in order A — to stop the manufacture of armaments. Radar bits and so on. And B to stop the German army sending troops through that depot. I I [pause] I don’t think it was the wrong thing. In fact it was necessary in my opinion. That. I’ve never regretted dropping bombs on Germany for the simple reason it’s not just tit for tat because we dropped a damned sight more bombs on them then they did on us. And with a regime like the Nazis they just had to do that to get rid of them. You know. I had no regrets at all. I may be a bit exceptional in that. I don’t know. But it annoys me when people who have been on ops suddenly say that they’re terribly sorry for what they did. I don’t think they should say that. I don’t think they should even think it. It was something that just had to be done.
[recording paused]
MJ: A little earlier I was talking about not being too friendly with other crews. Other personnel. We generally kept to that. Not snubbing anybody or or so on but we didn’t become friendly. When I joined up I was sent to Oxford for medical examination and [pause] I was standing next to a young chap who told me he’d come from Portsmouth. And everywhere I went he went. And we started talking. When I was told to report to Padgate I was walking through the gates and who should be standing or walking next to me but this fellow. A chappie called Bill Sizer. And he told me that his, his father and his uncle were colour sergeants in the Marines and they didn’t take kindly to the fact that he’d joined the air force. Well, Bill and I did all our training together right up to and including Market Harborough at OTU. And then he and his crew were sent straight to Syerston to convert on to Lancasters whilst as I said before we went to Swinderby to convert on to Stirlings and then on to Lancs. So that he was a month or so in front of us. He was posted to Waddington first and then they moved to Fiskerton with 49 Squadron I think it was. Yes. 49. And in June of ’44 I was outside our billet writing a letter home and Ginger came along and said he’d got some bad news. That Dickinson and his crew, Dickinson was the pilot, Dickinson and his crew which included Bill Sizer had been shot down and were still missing. Or treated as missing and eventually they found out that in fact that they were all killed in the south of France. When he told me that initially my first thought was that lieutenant is going to be proved right because I was very upset. He was the only person that I really became friendly with in the whole time apart from the crew that I became friendly with during the whole time that I was in the air force. I think it shook everybody in our crew because strangely enough all, all the members trained together. The two pilots trained out in America. The two bomb aimers, both Canadians, they trained together in, in Canada. Engineers trained together. The wireless ops trained together. The two gunners trained together. And the only difference was the navigators. Jones had trained at the same time as Dickinson’s navigator but not Slim. But that upset me more than anything and I realised then that this flight lieutenant was absolutely right. We talked about it for, you know, one night in the billet. Ginger said something like, ‘Forget it. But don’t forget them.’ And left it at that. And we did. We didn’t mention it at all after that. You know, it was a sad situation but it happens to everybody.
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Interview with Mervyn Jones
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David Meanwell
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IBCC Digital Archive
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2016-04-22
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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.
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AJonesMH160422
PJonesMH1601
PJonesMH1602
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Pending review
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01:11:36 audio recording
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eng
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Mervyn Jones is a miners son from Wales. His father wanted a different life to that of a miner for his son and the family moved away to Slough where was plenty of work. Mervyn had always had trouble with his ears and so his father assumed he wouldn’t pass his medical although he signed all the forms giving his permission for Mervyn to enlist. In fact Mervyn lied about his age to enlist and was indeed successful in his application. A WAAF gave him a little green leatherette dog to take on ops. On this particular op the mid-upper gunner passed out through lack of oxygen, the predicted winds were wrong and so they had to rearrange their flight plan and on return they lost hydraulic power. It was the last time the dog went on ops. The crew were advised about not getting too involved with other crews and the reason for this became obvious when one crew they were all friendly with were killed in action.
Contributor
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Julie Williams
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
France
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Suffolk
Germany--Berlin
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
106 Squadron
218 Squadron
617 Squadron
Air Gunnery School
aircrew
bombing of the Creil/St Leu d’Esserent V-1 storage areas (4/5 July 1944)
Lancaster
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
Operational Training Unit
perception of bombing war
RAF Chedburgh
RAF Market Harborough
RAF Metheringham
RAF Stormy Down
RAF Swinderby
RAF Yatesbury
searchlight
Stirling
superstition
training
Wellington
wireless operator
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/753/10751/ACotterJDP180828.2.mp3
e9a1567a26e03578b2f197371ed79bd9
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Cotter, John David Pennington
J D P Cotter
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. The collection concerns Wing Commander John Cotter DFC (b. 1923, Royal Canadian Air Force) and contains an oral history interview, his log book and a memoir. He flew operations as a pilot with 158 and 640 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by John Cotter and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-28
Rights
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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
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Cotter, JDP
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
JC: Yes, here we are.
PS: This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is Patricia Selby and the interview is John Cotter and the interview is taking place at his home. Can you give me your address [tone] and the time is 2.25. Where, when were you born John?
JC: They came over to England.
PS: No, when were you born?
PS: Yes, when we came over to England. Apparently I was, my mother was pregnant with me on the voyage over and when we got here they put me in to St Mary’s Hospital Paddington, where I was born.
PS: So Paddington. So how did your childhood go on from there?
JC: They bought a house in Hendon, just by Hendon Central tube station, a brand new house, on a mortgage and they were surviving on my mother’s money really. My father decided he’d leave the sea, big mistake of his, and he had a little tobacconist by the station and things went downhill from there. And eventually the Halifax Building Society foreclosed on the mortgage in about 1928, by which time I was five, and they repossessed the house and so they moved to a, the family to a flat in Finchley Road, near Swiss Cottage, and I remember that clearly because we were there about a year and things hadn’t got any better and my father had had to take commercial jobs going round selling things and in 1930 we had to, my parents were Christian Scientists and they got help from the Christian Science Church. When they were completely broke, had no money at all, all my mother’s money had gone, we had to go down to a place called Roe Green in, near Colindale and people, Christian Scientists, in council houses for example, were putting us up and the family was split up a couple of times with my brother and my mother in one house and my father and myself in another house. Eventually my father must have got a loan and he purchased a car in 1932, a little Swift, 1923 Swift, and he paid five pounds for it, I remember that. And he started selling eggs from this car. He’d go round the villages, selling eggs. And from that he progressed to a dirty garage, in Baker Street, where he was fitting tyres. We had the car at home and he would be spending his days fitting tyres on car wheels, motor cars, and eventually he got his own business and he bought it at Neasden, in Blackbird Cross at Neasden, he had a shop called the Boat House Tyre Service I think. And he had about three employees there, including one of my uncles, who’d also fallen on hard times, and things were going very well and so we moved into a very large flat in Edgware, with four huge bedrooms and three living rooms and it was up on the third floor of a block and we were over a block of shops, and we were over a shop called Gilbert Reeves in Edgware, Station Road, Edgware and we were now living very well. I passed my scholarship to a grammar school and in 1935 I went to the Kingsbury County School, grammar school. I’d done very well at ordinary school, elementary school, I’d always been top of the class. I now, for some reason, became almost the bottom of the class in the grammar school. I found that the competition was very heavy and I wasn’t doing very well. However, I hung on and I started in, there in August ’35 and August ’39 came along and war was declared in September the 3rd, by which time I’d decided I was going to join the Junior League of Oswald Mosley’s Fascist movement. Outside Edgware Station, which was a big station, the end of the Northern Line, so a big station, and one side of the station would be the Communist Party, workers selling the Daily Worker, and the other side would be the Fascists, Oswald Mosley’s man and I always liked him better, Oswald Mosley’s men, always looked better, smarter. And civil war in Spain had been going on for some time and we, my parents had a great friend called Mr Auty, who was a Spaniard and an olive oil importer and he said that the Fascist Party were the only hope for Spain and so I supported General Franco and led to numerous fights with me at school as nobody else seemed to support General Franco, except me. By the time the war broke out I was coming up to sixteen and that year I was supposed to take my School Certificate and I knew I’d do badly at it, so the war was a sort of relief for me. But I decided I’d better not join the Fascist Party as they’d now declared war on Hitler and my parents might be upset about that, me joining Oswald Mosely. Anyway the schools were closed, no sign of opening, so I said to my mother I’m not doing very well at school, I’d better get a job, and she said yes you should get a job and then you support the household by giving some rent. So I didn’t get a job, cause I didn’t know how to get a job, so she got a job for me. Mummy got me my job in a paper firm in Upper Thames Street, just off Blackfriars in London, at twelve and six a week and I went up there and worked there. And then mummy was always saying to me, John, you must get a job with a pension, you must have a pension. So she decided that the job in Upper Thames Street wasn’t paying, going to pay a pension so she’d get me a job in the Civil Service, which she did! She produced this job for me in the Clothing Office, in Whitehall and she said you start there in I think it was June 1940, which I did. And it was quite nice job, with a pension [chuckle] and I had my own responsibilities there, I was doing something all day. I was dealing with, the war was on, so I was dealing with requests from all the colonies when we had a big Empire then, for permission to export goods to certain countries were banned from receiving any goods, anything from Germany, so they had to apply to London. They come down through me, a little sixteen year old in the clothing office, and I was then circulating them to the correct department. I was quite happy doing that and the bombing started. I used to walk down Whitehall in the evenings, six o’clock in the evening, when we finished work, and the bombing had started, mainly in the East End, but some in the centre of London, and I’d get on the tube at The Strand, to go home, and I’d come out at the end of the tunnel which was at Golders Green, and you’d immediately be into the bombing again, because you’d been safe while you were in the underground but now the bombing had started. You’d see the searchlights and it was all going on, and I got fed up of this and then they started rationing as well. Whereas rationing hadn’t been very severe and I’d had plenty of chocolate and things like that to carry on with, you could get them in all the shops, now things started disappearing and you couldn’t get them any longer. I used to attend parties where a lot of, this is in Edgware, where a lot of the people, the youngsters, were joining the services. I saw these advertisements which said: ‘You too can bomb Berlin” and advertising for pilots and I got interested in this and I noticed that the qualification to be a pilot, to be in training as a pilot, if you were selected, you had to have an education up to School Certificate standard. Didn’t say you had to have the School Certificate, you had to be educated to the standard. So, mind [indecipherable], look around and thought jolly good, I could join the Air Force and I decided I would join and take the invitation to go and bomb Berlin. ”You too can bomb Berlin” and it showed you a man in pilot’s uniform, officer’s uniform, standing and leaning on a post in a nice building in Berlin and the building was crumbling from the bombing, and so I said to my younger brother who was about eighteen months younger than me, I said to Paul I’m going off to bomb Berlin, join the Air Force and he said right, I’ll come as well. I said you can’t, because you’re too young, you’re fifteen and the minimum age is seventeen, which I was, and he said I know, but what about if I put on my age to seventeen and you put, I said I’d have to put my age up and he said yes. So eventually we decided yes, he could join with me and I said you haven’t got to school certificate standard and you won’t have it. He said doesn’t matter I’ll join as well, I’ll try and join. So in February 1941, the two of us went down to the Air Force Recruiting Office in Deansbrook Road, Edgware. And we went in and I went in first and the recruiting sergeant asked me what I wanted to be and I said I wanted to be a pilot, and he said where were you educated, and I said Kingsbury County School, just about to take the school certificate and of course the schools were closed and so I left. He said that’s good enough, he said yes, we’ll send you up to Uxbridge and you’ll be interviewed there and if you’re satisfactory, you’ll be a pilot, you’ll be training for a pilot, I was nineteen according to my reckoning, and out I went and my brother went in after me. He was accepted as well, but not as a pilot, they said he could be a rear gunner, or a gunner, or a wireless operator. So he said he’d be a wireless operator do they said you’re going to Uxbridge as well. Funnily enough, a friend of his who was the correct age completely, went in after him, was sent back to his mother to get his birth certificate. They hadn’t looked for my birth certificate, or Paul’s. So we both went to Uxbridge the following day and there we were assessed and I was accepted for training as a pilot and Paul was accepted for training as a wireless operator and we were told to go home, carry on with our jobs and they’d call us up when they had room for us. That was in February, and I waited, carried on at the Clothes Office and I waited and waited and couple of chaps at the Clothing Office had, friends of mine, who’d also joined the Air Force, they were called up and I was still waiting. Anyway, the time came: July 7th 1941. I was told to report to Lords Cricket Ground, St Johns Wood, and I did, and there I was taken into the Air Force and I’d been a great cricket fan. Am I going on too long?
PS: No, it’s fine. It’s really good.
JC: Great cricket fan and I’d been to Lords many times and in those days only the poshest amateurs, proper amateurs were allowed to use the main pavilion at Lords. The professionals, the really top class cricketers, the p[professionals, had to use the side gate and this pavilion at Lords was a place that only MCC members were allowed in and I met some cricketers. And we were all marched in on the second day there at Lords, into this temple, where only amateur players were allowed in. Told to drop our trousers round to our ankles and lift our shirts up to our necks while a Medical Officer walked down the line inspecting us. [Chuckle] Then we were passed fit, obviously, and we used to go down to, you got, billeted in flats, blocks of flats that had obviously been commandeered and the tenant told to leave, and we were billeted in these flats and we used to march down to the zoo for our meals and march back again. So you’d march down for breakfast, and back to wherever you were working, march down for lunch and dinner. And then we were sent on an Initial Training Wing course and I went across to a proper RAF station at Brize Norton, which is still going, for my initial training course and when I came back from that, I was sent down to Brighton here, into the Hotel Metropole to await further instructions And obviously the further instructions were going to be to train, start flying training. We were obviously going overseas for that because most of the flying training was in Canada or South Africa. And I was down here for about four weeks in the Metropole Hotel and then I was shipped off to Manchester for a while, and from Manchester I was taken up to the docks at Glasgow, and put on a little old ship that had been carrying cargo obviously and we now had about twelve hundred chaps on board, and we were setting sail for North America and we were in a convoy, and it took us twelve days to get across the Atlantic. And the first four days I was so sick, I used to lie upstairs on the deck, near the lifeboats, and hope that the submarines would come and torpedo us, so put me out of my misery. After four days I perked up and I’ve never been sick since. We were billeted down in the holds with a lot of rough men who swore most of the time. I’d never heard much swearing in my life, certainly not at school, and swearing and cursing, these rough chaps were. They weren’t aircrew, they were going out to do other jobs, whatever they were. Some in the Navy and a lot in the Air Force obviously to man RAF stations in Canada or North America and I finished up in Saskatchewan, Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, for my initial flying course on Tiger Moths. You had to be capable of going solo on the aircraft after six hours training and the maximum you could do was twelve hours, and if you hadn’t gone solo after twelve hours, you’d, you weren’t considered good enough to be pilot and you’d be sent off for training as a navigator possibly, or something else, and after twelve hours I hadn’t gone solo. All the other people, all my friends had failed, as pilots, and I had no friends left there, they had all failed and gone off, sent off somewhere, and so it was only me and the people who’d gone solo, going flying away on little Tiger Moths and me, not allowed to go solo cause I wasn’t good enough. My instructor must have had faith in me because he asked the CO if I could have another two hours and the CO said yes, but after two hours, if I hadn’t gone solo I would be off, off the course, and after fourteen hours I still hadn’t gone solo so he asked to CO again for a further extension, he must have had great faith in me, and the CO said I’ve got to go to Calgary, get a message through to Calgary ask permission from the C in C, and got that permission and I had one last flight and he sent me solo. And I went solo and on my third landing I landed on top of my friend, who was in another plane and smashed the planes up. But they’d had such a time getting me through so far, they let me carry on. None of us, neither of us were injured, but we’d done considerable damage to the planes. I landed on top of him, I hadn’t seen him, on the runway, he was beneath me and I was landing my Tiger Moth, I thought I was clear on the runway, there was a big crunch and I hit his plane. However they had spent so much time getting me there to this stage they thought I’d carry on, so I carried on and finished the course and passed out, quite well, and I was sent up to another base at Saskatoon and, North Battleford actually, and did an Oxford course where I had no trouble whatsoever. I went solo in about four hours and finished the course quite well and at the end of the course, because they needed pilots in Canada and North America because there was training in, over in the States as well though the war hadn’t started in, America wasn’t in the war yet, most of the pilots who passed out were, thought they were going to stay in Canada or North America as instructors or staff pilots, except for the bottom sixteen of us, who were to go home, and I was sixteenth from the bottom of course, so I was one of the ones that came home. And this time instead of going across the Atlantic on an old steamer, we were sent down to New York by train and we arrived in New York one evening at about six o’clock and we were marched from Pennsylvania Station to the other station in New York, erm, not to the other station, to the docks, and we marched down to the docks and on board, and marched on board the Queen Mary, which was empty except for us, which was about sixty of us and nobody on board. And twelve of us were sent to this cabin, one large cabin, and said we were in this cabin and we said well the place is empty why can’t we have some, a cabin each? They said no you’re twelve of you in here. There are only six bunks and so the arrangement is you will have a bunk every other night and the rest of the time you sleep on the floor. And this is the Air Force so you had to be, do as you were told. And then on the first night we were there, just started to sleep and we heard this marching and boots coming on, and the Queen Mary was filling up with American troops: war had broken out and they were one of the first detachments to come to England. They filled up the plane, the ship completely, so much so that we realised why we were all in this one cabin, cause everywhere else were American troops. The Queen Mary set sail, in four days and we were across the Atlantic. Didn’t come in a convoy, just set sail by itself, and it went so fast that it crossed the Atlantic in four days and discharged all its troops and then came whistling back. Did this all throughout the rest of the war and neither the Queen Mary nor the Queen Elizabeth were sunk. So they got all the troops across. So we were back in England now and after many tribulations I got up to [pause] Wymeswold to start my training and that’s where I start that, in February 1943.
PS: So you did more training again, when you got back to England.
JC: Oh yes. Yes. You’d only done enough training on small aircraft. So now they were deciding where you were going and it was pretty obvious that most of us would be going into Bomber Command because it was a big command now. They’d had the Battle of Britain. The fighter boys had defeated the Germans in the Battle of Britain, by air, and now Bomber Command was getting all the impetus, raids started on Germany and German cities. And I never had any trouble at all, after all that trouble with my first solo, I never had any trouble at all from then on, in training, and I eventually found myself on a squadron, after. I’d come back in August 1942 and I arrived on the squadron a year later, nearly a year later. So I’d done a lot of training, obviously.
PS: That was 158 Squadron.
JC: 158 Squadron, yes. And I joined a crew, and, a very good crew, there’s a photograph of them out there in the hall, very good crew. Seven of us and certainly myself, I never [emphasis] worried about not coming back from an operation or anything like that. There were people who were worried but I never had any trouble with, at all with my crew, they were all marvellous chaps. We used to go out on our operations and come back, and, as you’ll see in there, we were, we got ourselves, because the accommodation at Lissett was tin sheds, huts, we got ourselves accepted in to an Army Sergeant’s Mess in Bridlington where we lived in a nice house with proper fires and a brick built building on the sea front, at Bridlington which was an Army Sergeant’s Mess and we were adopted, our crew were adopted there and the Army provided, it was a Company Sergeant Major who arranged it, the Army Company Sergeant Major who arranged it, and he said anything you want, and if you’re called back to base, you’ve got to go back to base quickly, we’ll give you the transport back. So they fed us and beered us, gave us beer and we had a marvellous time, our crew. There were, I remember once, we used to go out, say seven thirty in the evening, and we’d all be taking off for a target and there’d be a queue waiting for take off on the runway, and once, just in front of us, something happened. We couldn’t get past this aircraft, it wasn’t moving. It was a great friend of mine, Doug Robinson who I knew was the captain of it, and eventually the Flight Commander came out from Operations and spoke to them on board and then a closed van came out as well, followed I think, and this closed van was there about five minutes and then off it went and the plane then turned round, oh, the plane then turned round and taxied off the tarmac, on to the grass, to allow us to pass. We just passed it and he was sitting there on the grass. And the reason that it had happened, one of his crew came up and said he couldn’t carry on, described he was too much.
PS: Too frightened.
JC: Too much, too frightening, yeah. I learned that the closed van that had come up, he was put in the van and whisked off and taken off basically, and that was what happened in the war, if you, it was known as Lack of Moral Fibre. Wouldn’t happen now of course, but, wouldn’t call it Lack of Moral Fibre, but in those days, LMF we called it. They were taken off the base immediately because they didn’t’ want him mixing with anybody else. Fortunately nobody in my crew were like that and you see there, we went through the war with no problems whatsoever. Whereas most of our friends were having trouble, you know, getting very damaged aircraft, [pause] horrific experiences and we had nothing like that.
JS: How did that make you feel?
JC: Hm?
JS: How did you feel about that?
JC: We were very callous, in the war. When you came back from a trip and you found that three or four aircraft were, hadn’t come back, and it’s friend of yours on one, friends on another aircraft and you would say they’d gone for a Burton, which meant they’d been shot down and killed possibly. Very callous, you’d say: “Well you shouldn’t have joined if you can’t stand a joke.” When shot down, things like that. Horrible really.
JS: I was going to say, how did you, now, looking back how did you?
JC: Horrible.
PS: It was your way of coping, presumably.
JC: Yeah. But you see, you see there every six weeks we got leave; a weeks’ leave. We lived like kings really. We got petrol, there was no petrol for other people, we had petrol, we had cars, or motorbikes. You had a petrol allowance. So you’d have enough petrol from Bridlington to go down to London for the weekend. I never did because none of my crew had cars, but other crews had somebody had a motor car and they’d do that, so. We had meals which were eggs and bacon and sausages and goodness knows what, but you couldn’t get in civilian life, you were rationed to all that. And after every trip we had this before we left and when we came back.
JS: But you were out for a long time, you must have been hungry when you got back.
JC: Oh, we were hungry, yes.
PS: You said every six weeks you had a break, in the weeks that you, those six weeks, how many raids would you do? Roughly.
JC: I depended, it depends I suppose. I would say when you, you’d go back and you’d do about five raids and then six weeks had gone by, or maybe, or sometimes, we started off our time at the squadron on the Battle of Hamburg. Hamburg, the main port, we did four raids on the city, in about four weeks. Gave them a very heavy raid every week and we reckoned we’d demolished the major part of the city by the end of that time and then we, Bomber Command switched, possibly I think Berlin, or Frankfurt, mainly Berlin after Hamburg, in my time. You’ll see there that I did raids on a lot of German cities, Kassel, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, all over the place. And you did, I did my way, it was all very exciting, all very exciting. And at the end of my tour I was, I remember the last trip I did was to Dusseldorf, and I got back from Dusseldorf and at the briefing, debriefing, you walk into this hut and the Station Commander, whose name was Group Captain Waterhouse, would be standing at the entrance to greet you as you came in, and that last trip he said to me, well young Cotter, that’s you finished. I said I’d like to carry on, sir. He said we’ll see about that. I hadn’t asked my crew, I was so exuberant, hadn’t asked my crew. I think my crew would have followed me on, I hadn’t asked them, I just assumed they would. Anyway we didn’t get it, I didn’t get my request, because within four days I was shipped up, sent on leave for a week then shopped up to the north of Scotland to a place called Lossiemouth, which I had never heard of before. I’d never been to Scotland apart from when I’d gone to Glasgow to board the ship. I was sent up to this place Lossiemouth, to train the, where they were training the French Air Force who, to be in Bomber Command. These were Frenchmen who were from Algeria, French officers and men from Algeria, which hadn’t been conquered of course by the Germans, and they’d had the Free French Air Force there, and now they wanted to operate in Bomber Command and that was my job to help train them, which I liked. Couldn’t speak a word of French cause I’d been a duffer at school where I learned French, but I got on well with them. And I was there till the end of the war. I kept saying to the Wing Commander Flying, I’d like to get back on operations and they used to tell me to get out of the office and not waste their time. And the last one was a nice Wing Commander O’Dwyer and he obviously thought well of me because he commanded a station later and when I wanted to stay in the Air Force when the war ended, he arranged that I got a good job, and I stayed in the Air Force. I’d been married, to my first wife, in July 1945 I got married, and I went for an interview with BOAC and I was accepted by BOAC, and I met my wife who was working in King’s Road, Chelsea. We met in a pub at, in Chelsea, and said, in her lunchtime, and I said I’ve got this job with BOAC and Margaret said how much are they paying you? And I said well initially they’re paying me, I think it was, three hundred and eighty pounds a year as a trainee. She said you’re getting more than that in the Air Force and I said well I am, yes and she said well it’s no contest is it, you stay in the Air Force. I took her advice, because she was older than me, and sensible I thought, so I stayed in the Air Force, and for another twenty years and did quite well there and finished as a Squadron leader and twenty years later, I got a chance to go into civil flying, to retire from the Air Force with a small pension and go into civil flying and that’s what I did. So I went to a firm called Dan Air and I was there for the, till I was sixty, when I, you had to retire as captain of aircraft in those days so that.
PS: So you really enjoyed your flying.
JC: I did enjoy my flying.
PS: You were awarded the DFC. Would you like to tell me how that came about?
JC: Yes. In 640 Squadron, oh, 158 Squadron at Lissett, we were C Flight. There were three, two, three flights in the squadron: A, B and C, and we were C Flight and in December 1943 they decided that we would convert onto a more efficient mark of Halifax with new engines, better engines, and C Flight would go across to Leconfield, permanent station, near Beverley, about twenty miles or so from the city, and form a new squadron. And we formed the new squadron called 640, the number 640 and the Squadron Commander was a chap called Ruby Ayres who was very nice, a very good fellow and he’d been sent to Australia in the war, at the beginning of the war, to get the training scheme over there sorted out. So he’d now come back and taken command of 640 Squadron. Brand new squadron and after about six months or so, no about four months, he decided that they’d been through all these operations and nobody had been, got a decoration. So unbeknown to me, I was suddenly called up into the Wing Commander’s office, Wing Commander Ayres, Squadron Commander, and he said now Cotter, you had a difficult time the other night, a difficult time this night, is that right, I said yes, but nothing serious sir, he said no, but it’s very difficult, you carried on, all of this. I didn’t know what he was talking about but anyway, what he was doing was deciding that I would have the DFC, first one in the squadron. And about three weeks later, or four weeks later, I was asleep in the mess after lunch which I normally did, cause they had chairs like this and used to go to sleep, and I was woken by Alan Smart one of the other, my colleagues, who’d had a terrible time in the war, he’d been shot up to pieces and managed to get back each time, and he came in and shook my shoulder and said you’ve got the DFC, John. I said what, he said you’ve got the DFC. I said oh, thanks and went back to sleep as far as I remember. [Laugh] And then, and then I was eventually called to Holyrood House. This is when I was at Lossiemouth, I’d gone to Lossiemouth and I was called to Holyrood House in Edinburgh and I was given the DFC by King George Sixth, think it was the sixth.
[Other]: What had you done to get it? What have they said that you’d done?
JC: Where’s the book, which I got out, big one there, you see, that one
PS: Because I don’t think they just give them out for, sweeties. I’ll, ‘John Cotter. This officer has proved himself to be a most capable and resolute captain of aircraft. He has participated on a large number of attacks on well defended targets, including several against Berlin and Hamburg. One night in February 1944, Pilot Officer Cotter took part in an attack on Schweinfurt?
JC: Schweinfurt.
PS: On the outward flight, engine trouble developed, but despite this Pilot Officer Cotter continued to target and bomb it and afterwards flew the aircraft back to this country where he made a safe landing at an airfield near the coast. His determination to complete this mission successfully was highly commendable.’ So you did it on three engines. Out and back. That must have made you very tired.
JC: Well it was, yes. I remember that, one you were talking about there. I landed at Tangmere, along the coast here. Used to be an airfield there.
PS: So what did, after the war when you stayed in the Air Force, what sort of things did you do then?
JC: [Laugh] Now, the, they’d just decided, after the war, to have exchange postings with the Americans. Some Americans would come over here and serve with us and some of us would go over there and the first stage postings took place in February 1940, [pause] 7, 1947, and I was on it. They selected me, to go out there and on to an American base. I was a married man of course by this time. The first year they said you can’t take your wife, cause you’re only going to go for a year, you don’t know where you’ll be in America, and they sent us down to, there were four Flight Lieutenants and five Wing Commanders going. Wing commander being about three steps higher than a Flight Lieutenant. Four junior offices and five senior officers. And I remember the four junior officers got together and went down to Air Ministry for a briefing. We got to this briefing at Air Ministry in Kingsway, London and it consisted of this Group Captain coming in and saying now, the best paper for football, English football results, is the New York Times so get that while you’re over there and you’ll get all the results, and that was about it: that was the briefing. So the next thing we knew we were on this liner about to go, going to America. We landed in New York, we landed in Halifax actually, Halifax, Nova Scotia and we were trained down to New York. We got there and they put us up in hotels there, called the Lexington. Lexington Hotel, on Lexington Avenue, known as the Sexy Lexy in the Air Force, the Air Force always used it, and we were there, and of course back home things were, as the war had finished things were even worse than they were during the war. The rationing was more severe and we were really, those post, immediate post war years were a bit thin for food and things and we’re now going to America, the land of plenty, and so we enjoyed ourselves in New York. We were there about four days and then we were bussed down then, down to Washington, Washington DC, and to the Pentagon Building, which is the big military, American Military Headquarters where we had an RAF delegation there. And the things we noticed, I noticed, straight away, was all WAAFs, the Women’s Air Force, were very, very smart, and chic. Where the WAAFs at home had woollen stockings because of rationing of course they couldn’t get silk stockings, all the WAAFs in Washington had silk stockings, or nylon stockings I suppose they were, certainly much smarter and looked a lot cleaner and more with it than our malnourished crowd back home. And so I was sent in to see this Air Marshal, and the first thing he said to me, he said when you come in to see me you are dressed correctly, you don’t have the hat on the back of your head. Go out and dress correctly and come, wait for [indecipherable] to back again. So out I went with my tail between my legs and looked at this very smart WAAF that I’d been admiring, I no longer admired her, cause I thought she should have warned me about that and I did have, my hat on the back of my head, as I had in there.
PS: Yeah.
JC: Yeah. And it’s not smart, that’s wartime stuff, and I was still on wartime stuff and I quite deserved what I got. Anyway, he decided I wasn’t, I wasn’t suitable material for Washington, for the American Air Force so I was sent home, in disgrace, basically, tail between my legs. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one, there was one of the Wing Commanders as well sent back, some reason. [laughter] So I came back, quite miserable feeling, on the same boat, almost. But again, we were, like the Queen Mary during the war, we had to share cabins, everybody was cooped up. I mean in the cabin on the return journey I remember there was a chap from Preston and his wife. Preston in Lancashire they came from. They’d been in America twenty two years and he was coming home, he and his wife, they’d had enough, you know, of America, after twenty two years. They’d gone out there just after the First World War and he’d been working as a painter and decorator and now he was coming home, he and his wife. Don’t know what they did when they got home, but anyway. We got home and it was the making of me.
PS: Pardon?
JC: It was the making of me, because I got to Air Ministry and I said [pouring of tea] I’d like to have a good postings, overseas. And they said not a chance! I said why not, and they said, I haven’t been overseas yet on a posting and they said we need people like you. I said why, said you’re a good instructor and we need, and it was just when we were building up the Air Force again, thank you darling.
[Other]: Let me give you that.
JC: After the war Stalin, er, Churchill had said there’s an Iron Curtain coming down over Europe. Churchill had been out in Washington and he announced it quite, quite strongly there: there’s an Iron Curtain coming down, and so we had started to rearm against the Russian Menace. They needed instructors because they were recruiting people who had just been discharged from the Air Force, and had been working and hadn’t liked it and were coming back in the Air Force and so I obviously was thought of as a good instructor, which I think I was, because I never lost my temper with anybody; I explained things calmly. So I was given this instruction job up in, flying, flying, up in Yorkshire, back in Yorkshire again, in a place near Ripon, Yorkshire, and I progressed from there and I did very well in the Air Force. And when I asked for a permanent commission, a General List Commission as a permanent officer, I got what I wanted and I had no reason to want to leave the Air Force except that I’d been sent to Birmingham, University, to take charge of the University Air Squadron and I was flying light aircraft there, Chipmunks, and I realised that that was, I wouldn’t progress any further getting back on to heavy aircraft again in the Air Force. And so the chance came up for a, after 1962, when I could retire on a small pension and so I arranged with Dan Air to join them. I had friends in Dan Air and so I left the Air Force and retired and became a civil pilot and did that for the rest of, stayed with Dan Air.
PS: Do you think staying on in the Air Force made it easier to sort of drift back into normal life after the war?
JC: Yes, yeah. I had a very good, very good career. Never out of work, so, never at the Employment Exchange. [Laughter]
[Other]: But you lost your brother, didn’t you, sadly, in the war.
JC: Hmm?
[Other]: You lost your brother, sadly.
JC: I lost my brother.
PS: So wasn’t without, was some sadness. Was that at the beginning or had he done?
JC: No, he’d been sent out to Canada. He’d been, hadn’t been taken into the Air Force. We’d joined together if you remember, but I’d been called up July ’41, he wasn’t called up till ’42, early ’42 and he was a wireless operator, wireless operator/air gunner and he was sent to Canada to join a squadron there, nearing the end of the war and they realised that when Germany collapsed they’d still have Japan to fight. So they’d build up the squadrons in the facing, in the areas facing Japan Vancouver and places like that and my brother was at Vancouver. And one night the aircraft they were in taxied back in again cause it had a fault, and my brother and another chap got out, to have a fag, you weren’t allowed to smoke in RAF aircraft then, in those days, and as happened many times actually, it happened up at Lossiemouth this type of thing as well, the aircraft taxied into them, accidentally [gasp] and they were cut to pieces by the propeller, unfortunately.
PS: That must be even harder to cope with.
[Other]: He was very young. Where were you dad when this happened, dad? Were you in Scotland, at Lossie?
JC: I was in Scotland. I was flying actually, was about two in the morning and I was flying with a French crew and I was called into Control Tower, so I brought the aircraft in, shut it down and I got out, went into the Control Tower and it was my sister on the phone to me from London, saying they knew that Paul had been killed, in Canada, and would I come home, if possible, to support my mother? And I said I will do what I can and I went and saw the CO and he said, “I can’t let you go for very long,” he said, “you can go for the weekend.” So I had to come down for, just to London for the weekend from Scotland, so it was a case of coming down one day and going back the next day basically. But I came down and supported my mother because my father was in the Navy so, in the war, so.
PS: She needed someone.
JC: Yeah. And my sister was only about seven, no, she was about twelve, twelve.
PS: A lot for her to cope with.
[Other]: You also told us, do you remember, stories before you joined up when everyone was going down the air raid shelters, when London was being bombed, and you didn’t, did you, your family, you’d drive out to the countryside.
JC: No. Oh yes. My father insisted that when the air raids started, in earnest, September 1940, we must [emphasis] go out to St Albans, somewhere clear of London completely. And he used to drive the car out to St Albans and park in a field there and my mother and sister would go and I refused to go and my brother refused to go, and my mother had a Great Aunt, a sister, known as my Great Aunt Nellie, who was mentally deficient, and my mother had brought her back from Australia with her and she looked after all the, I suppose it was a condition of the, her parents’ will that she look after Nellie. So Nellie used to be there with us. She was a nurse maid for us as kids and she was still with us at Edgware and I remember nanny, when the bombs used to start Nellie used to go out on the veranda, look up at the sky and shout: “Bugger you Mr Hitler!” [Laughter] Then she’d come back in again. Well my father and mother used to go to the field at St Albans, and we were admittedly on the fourth and fifth floor of the buildings and nothing happened to us, and there used to be a saying in the war: the bomb won’t hit you unless your name’s put on it or your number’s on it. And I didn’t go into air raid shelters cause it was very smelly.
[Other]: What happened to the field where your dad used to drive?
JC: Oh. Bomb dropped in the next field!
PS: Oh no!
JC: Yes! Yes!
[Other]: So they all stopped going as well!
JC: So they stopped going, yes. [Laughter] So they all came back to the flat.
PS: So you’ve enjoyed your life, on the whole.
JC: Oh yes. Yes, had no employment problems. I was, I spent half my life in the Air Force. You see the Air Force was the making of me; it educated me really. I was sent on numerous courses in the Air Force: on how to write properly and how to do this, that and the other. I enjoyed my time in the Air Force and again I enjoyed my time in civil flying, flying all over the world.
PS: You have been such a pleasure to interview. I’ve really enjoyed interviewing, well I haven’t interviewed you, I have let you talk, [Laughter] it’s been really informative. Thank you very much indeed. Is there anything else you want to talk about, or need a break?
JC: Not really, you’ll see in there -
[Other]: Would you like to show Pat your medals?
PS: Yes.
JC: Oh. In there. Fijians, who were in the Army, and taking them up to Malaya to fight in the jungle with us. Because we were fighting communists, Chinese communists in the jungle.
PS: Was that after the war?
JC: This was after the war, this was 1950 ish. So when you would have been about five, this was going on.
PS: Yes. Do you mind if I do this? Now, I’ve got you and your medals. That’s lovely, thank you very much. It doesn’t hurt for me to have them as well.
[Other]: Exactly.
PS: They are lovely. Did they give you this think to put them?
JC: No, no.
[Other]: They were hanging off dad.
JC: Yeah. I often used to go to my reunions and they medals would be hanging half way down.
[Other]: With a nappy pin. [Laughter]
JC: This allows you to put, this goes in your pocket.
PS: Oh I see!
[Other]: Had it redone recently, haven’t you dad.
JC: This is a chap over in East Sussex somewhere, just past Eastbourne.
[Other]: Eastbourne.
PS: He’s very clever.
JC: Yes. He’s ex-Army.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with John David Pennington Cotter
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Patricia Selby
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-28
Rights
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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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ACotterJDP180828
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Format
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01:16:47 audio recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Free French Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
John was born in London, Hendon. His family fell on hard times in his early years. John and his brother, Paul, joined the RAF in 1941 as a pilot and wireless operator respectively. After initial training at RAF Brize Norton, John was trained in Canada, returning to Britain on the Queen Mary with the first detachments of American troops. In 1943 he did more training at RAF Wymeswold, then joined 158 Squadron at RAF Lissett. They carried out several operations to German cities. As part of a new 640 Squadron, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. John then trained the Free French Air Force at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. He stayed in the RAF for 20 years, finishing as squadron leader. He later became a civil pilot at Dan Air. John’s brother was killed in a propeller incident in Vancouver.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941-02
1941-07-07
1942-08
1943-02
1943-12
1944-02
1945-07
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Germany
Great Britain
United States
Atlantic Ocean
England--London
England--Yorkshire
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Hamburg
Saskatchewan--Saskatoon
Scotland--Moray
Saskatchewan
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anne-Marie Watson
Sally Coulter
158 Squadron
640 Squadron
aircrew
Distinguished Flying Cross
ground personnel
lack of moral fibre
Oxford
pilot
RAF Bridlington
RAF Lissett
RAF Lossiemouth
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Hobbs, Frank
Frank James Hobbs
F J Hobbs
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. The collection concerns 1262633 Flight Sergeant Frank James Hobbs a wireless operator with 630 Squadron, RAF East Kirkby, who was killed while on operations in a Lancaster on 16 March 1944. The collection contains his log book, official and family correspondence, official and personal documents, photographs of aircrew, family and his grave and some items of memorabilia. It also includes correspondence from a French gentleman who was witness to his aircraft crash and who returns recovered personal items belonging to Frank Hobbs. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Barbara Storer and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br />Additional information on Frank Hobbs is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/110858/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-06-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hobbs, FJ
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Frank Hobbs sergeants mess subscription card
Description
An account of the resource
Inside table for amounts paid. One entry for nine shillings on 24 February 1944. On the reverse RAF East Kirkby stamp.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-24
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two sided printed card folded
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MHobbsFJ1262633-160404-04
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
mess
RAF East Kirkby
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Hobbs, Frank
Frank James Hobbs
F J Hobbs
Description
An account of the resource
69 items. The collection concerns 1262633 Flight Sergeant Frank James Hobbs a wireless operator with 630 Squadron, RAF East Kirkby, who was killed while on operations in a Lancaster on 16 March 1944. The collection contains his log book, official and family correspondence, official and personal documents, photographs of aircrew, family and his grave and some items of memorabilia. It also includes correspondence from a French gentleman who was witness to his aircraft crash and who returns recovered personal items belonging to Frank Hobbs. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Barbara Storer and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br />Additional information on Frank Hobbs is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/110858/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-06-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hobbs, FJ
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
postmark]
[postage stamp]
1262633. F/Sgt F. Hobbs
c/o Sergeants Mess.
R.A.F. East Kirkby
Nr Spilsby
Lincs.
[page break]
Monday
32, Southcroft Rd.
Tooting. SW17.
Dearest Frank
I have just packed up your pants, vest & socks love, reckon I owe you an apology for being so long winded. Well it was like this – you remember I wrote you a letter the night you went back & said Fed had helped me pack up the Laundry, that was two weeks ago of course. For some unknown reason the buggars only delivered it this Saturday. I can’t imagine what yours are going to look like if your still wearing same. You will notice I’ve done a spot of patching I bet you laugh but it’s the best I could do, I just managed to get to the machine before it got dark after
[page break]
a very busy day – washing & cleaning again. I quite enjoyed reading all about your adventures & was most surprised to know that you enjoyed doing it – 10 miles under your own steam wants a bit of doing & being twelth [sic] back was jolly good. Reckon that was an opportunity of getting lost though, & without the aid of the compass find yourself in Tooting. Barbara is not home tonight as I took a 1030 till seven for today & tomorrow. She has had rather a nasty cold but was much better this morning. Think its my turn now as I’m not feeling too clever still it’ll soon pass. Regarding your suggestion of me coming up to see you dear that could only be arranged when we do what we call the week of nights when we finish at 8 [underlined] A.M. [/underlined] on
[page break]
a Friday until Monday morning. My turn doesn’t come again for another ten weeks & as most of the girls look forward to having the long weekend my chances of getting round anyone are very remote but I’ll see what I can wangle if its at all possible dear. I had a letter from Renna on Saturday she had received a telegram from Bill saying he was posted South she was anxiously awaiting a letter to hear just where that might be she will be home again Wednesday so I’ll get all the gen. By the way dear I had rather a lousy dream about you the other night I saw you with a girl sitting on your lap & both kissing like mad the snag was that you both looked so in love & I came into the room so unexpectedly which sort of
[page break]
upset the picture. “You’d better not roll those blue blue eyes at somebody else” You hadn’t whats [sic] more. Well dear its 10.30 P.M so I guess its time I made my cocoa shall take another couple of aspirins & then get some sleeping hours in, did intend doing out the bedroom before leaving at 9.45 A.M in the morning but if don’t feel any better I shall of course say Sod it! & turn over for another hour. If you receive this letter first look out for your parcel dear. Cheerio darling
All My Love
Yours Ever
Red xxxxxxx
(Fingers crossed dear)
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter to Frank Hobbs from Mrs Hobbs
Description
An account of the resource
Starts with discussion about laundry. Mentions she enjoyed reading about his sporting adventures. Catches up with family news and possibility of her coming up to see him, though this would be difficult to arrange. Writes of letters from other people. Concludes with story about a dream and farewells.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
K Hobbs
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter and envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EHobbsKMHobbsFJ440215
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
David Bloomfield
RAF East Kirkby
-
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e699f3c67ce40023dc1b0fd50d02957c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Mathers, Ronald
R W Mathers
Description
An account of the resource
20 items. The collection concerns Wing Commander Ronald Mathers DFC (55201 Royal Air Force) and consists of his log books, photographs, correspondence, his decorations, and copies of two letters from Dwight Eisenhower to Sir Arthur Harris. Ronald Mathers completed a tour of operations as a pilot with 9 Squadron from RAF Bardney. After the war he took part in victory flypasts and a Goodwill tour of the United States with 35 Squadron. The collection also contains a scrapbook of the Goodwill Tour to the United States.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Heidi Peace and Ingrid Peters, and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-07-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Mathers, RW
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
D.F.C FOR WOKING MAN
Acting Flight Lieutenant Ronald William Mathers (55201), R.A.F., of Woking, has just been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Born at New Cross in 1920, he enlisted as armourer in 1938, later trained for air crew in Canada and was commissioned in 1943.
As captain of aircraft, states the citation, this officer has completed many sorties, including 10 to Berlin. Despite enemy fighter opposition, which on one occasion damaged his aircraft, he has successfully bombed his objectives and brought his aircraft safely back to base. Flight-Lieut. Mathers has been of great assistance in training and encouraging new personnel.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
DFC for Woking Man
Description
An account of the resource
A newspaper cutting referring to the award of a DFC to Ron Mathers.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One newspaper cutting
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PMathersRW17030013
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Claire Monk
Distinguished Flying Cross
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9209/EGortonHGortonLCM440226.1.pdf
45c1dbf0564bb36f014a151ecaa61fc4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
TEL. SILVERSTONE 252
OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION,
[deleted] SILVERSTON, [/deleted] [inserted] Turweston, [/inserted]
[deleted] NR. TOWCESTER [/deleted] [inserted] Nr. Brackley [/inserted],
NORTHANTS.
[Royal Air Force crest]
Dearest,
I’m feeling more nearly content tonight than I have done for 3 weeks. I’ve had my first trip in a Wellington, a five minute circuit & bump as passenger!
This morning was very dull – sitting in a crew room listening to various people reading the Flight Order Book. This afternoon I went down to see what was happening & while the sergeants on the course were told to do some gardening, I was given the honour of being passenger on a weather test! Better still, I was able to go back to the Mess after we’d landed.
It wasn’t much of a success as trips go, as we had to go round the circuit at 3 – 400 ft. & the vis. was very poor, the aerodrome being invisible most of the way round. Still, I think it was very valuable experience, as it gave me something of an idea of how the Wimpey works. Tomorrow we are on lectures, so I
[page break]
2
shall have to wait until Tuesday for further adventures
Getting back from Oxford yesterday wasn’t too good, as I didn’t think it safe to risk hitching back The best I could do was to get the 2.0 p.m. bus to Buckingham – 2 hours to do about 20 miles, as it went round all the villages! I then had a poor tea in a somewhat miserable café & had half an hour to wait for the train to Brackley. I decided to see about hitching, and was lucky enough to find a car which took me within [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] a mile of the camp.
Much to my disgust, there was a Mess dance on when I got back, & so I couldn’t get any dinner. Fortunately one of the fellows in the hut had some chocolate & biscuits, so I ate those and stayed in my room until bed time
One of the big snags about moving from camp to camp, is that it’s such ages before I can hope for a letter from you. I don’t suppose you’ll get my new address until
[page break]
3
[deleted] Wednesday [/deleted] Monday, and even if by some piece of good luck, you are able to post one the same day, I can’t expect it until [deleted] Thurs [/deleted] Wednesday. Anyway, I’ll tell myself that I’ll not expect to hear from you until Thursday at the earliest, so that I shan’t be disappointed!
I’ve been thinking a good deal about the question of your movements, and I don’t seem to be able to come to any conclusions. As far as I’m concerned, the nicest thing would be to have you always near whichever aerodrome I happen to be at. On that basis, I should say “Come to Brackley for a fortnight, & then to Towcester or Northampton until I’m posted,” and so on.
The trouble is that this seems to me to be a very selfish attitude on my part. Your life would be lousy, stranded in strange places & I couldn’t even guarantee to be able to
[page break]
see you every day, as I have so much less control over my movements while I am a pupil.
There are one or two nice hotels in Brackley, and if you’d like to come up & see what it is like, no one will be more delighted than I. But I do want you to think of yourself a bit, darling. I think it would be much better if you could find somewhere permanent to stay, preferably, though it doesn’t matter much, somewhere between York & London.
I am very keen to know your latest ideas on all this.
All my love,
Harold.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his first flight in a Wellington as a passenger and his journey back from Oxford to Turweston.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-26
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text. Correspondence
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440226
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Buckinghamshire
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
aircrew
entertainment
military living conditions
RAF Turweston
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9210/EGortonHGortonLCM440229.1.pdf
460e41527574cb431aa3b76672c12648
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
TEL. SILVERSTONE 252
OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION,
[deleted] SILVERSTONE, [/deleted] [inserted] Turweston, [/inserted]
[deleted] NR. TOWCESTER, [/deleted] [inserted] Nr. Brackley, [/inserted]
NORTHANTS.
[Royal Air Force crest]
Tuesday 11.15 a.m.
Dearest,
I am supposed to be flying today, but there seems no chance of a trip at present, so I am spending the morning in front of a fire in the Intelligence Library – a very good place to be, since we had a very sharp frost last night.
Your letter arrived yesterday afternoon from Silverstone, & very welcome it was, too. I should have replied to it last night after dinner, but I was inveigled into a Bridge School that lasted until bed time. One of the four – he was my partner last night, - is pretty good & knows all about Culbertson etc. I kept getting into a flap in the later rounds of bidding, as I often didn’t have a clue as to what he was getting at. Still, we finished 1600 points up, the last hand being a five clubs call, in which our opponents didn’t even bother to play as we had everything! I wish I could have a game with you, though.
[page break]
2
There were some bridge scores on the back of that envelope you sent me, & they brought back some very happy memories.
I think I’ve already said I’d like to read the T.E. Lawrence book. I agree with you about “The Ship”. It wasn’t anything like so good as his other books.
I wish I could have been at the threshing, as I should have liked to see it. I imagine it became a bit unpleasant after the first few rats had been killed, though no doubt at first it would be rather exciting.
I think I’ve explained myself fairly well about your coming up here. My only objection is my memory of how you felt at Cark. It’s still very cold, however. I think it would pay you to wait until it is warmer.
I’m very glad you’ve got an answer to your advert. I don’t object to the price at all if you will be comfortable there. You could try it & still be able to give it up if we found a place near where I am. Also, if it is satisfactory, you could
[page break]
3
get a job in Cardiff. My own opinion is that the director of education there would be only too pleased to take you on in a secondary school. Anyway, the great thing to remember is that Cardiff is much easier to reach than small places that are nearer. From Grantham, for instance, it’s only 2 hrs to London and then 3 1/2 (?) to Cardiff.
As soon as I hear from you when you are coming here, I’ll fix up a place for you to stay, either in the Temperance Hotel or one of the others.
I should very much like to have my bike if it’s serviceable. I should have asked for it before, but I didn’t know how you could take it to the station. I thought that if I asked for it, you would put yourself to a lot of inconvenience, trying to get it to Abergavenny. The position is that I can manage O.K. without one, although it takes
[page break]
4
more time to get about, naturally. The really big advantage of a bike is that I can go to Brackley on it for shopping or to go to the station, if I should happen to get some time off. However, don’t worry about it. If there should happen to be a convenient means of getting it to Abergavenny, then I should like it. If not, it doesn’t matter.
As for that loss of 79 bombers, my own opinion is (a) it was just one of the chances of war that one can’t guard against, (b) some of the aircraft were too early, & thus more exposed to attacks (there’s safety in numbers).
All my love, darling,
Harold
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his social activities and flying. He also writes of the loss of 79 bombers.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-29
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440229
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Buckinghamshire
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
aircrew
entertainment
military living conditions
RAF Cark
RAF Turweston
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9208/EGortonHGortonLCM440225.2.pdf
3e19df2a2e45e693cd7f40397836ddd4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
TEL. SILVERSTONE 252
OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION,
[deleted] SILVERSTONE, [/deleted] [inserted] Turweston, [/inserted
[deleted] NR. TOWCESTER, [/deleted] [inserted] Brackley, [/inserted]
NORTHANTS.
[Royal Air Force crest]
25/2/44
Dearest,
You see in me a very disappointed man. As I said in my last letter, we got a 36 hours off duty, from midday today. The snag about it was that I couldn’t manage to see you. I could have caught the 2.12 from Brackley to London, but would have had to wait for the train that goes after tea. I decided to go to Oxford, and had amazing luck with hitch hiking (no other transport available), completing the journey in two hops without any waiting.
I discovered that I could have caught the 1.55 from Paddington [inserted] at Reading [/inserted] if I’d been in Oxford at 1.20, but as it was I couldn’t get to Newport until 8.30, and I thought there’s be no hope of getting to Abergavenny at that time.
I decided to make the best of it at Oxford, & got a bed in the college guest room. I’ve had enough of these so called pleasure outings, however. When I’ve been in camp for some time I feel I must get out
[page break]
2
and have a change, but it all turns to dust & ashes if you’re not there.
I went to the Playhouse tonight – Noel Coward’s “Design for Living,” and sat through the play feeling as miserable as sin, and wondering how Noel Coward could write such tosh. If you’d been there, we could at least have pulled the play to pieces in company. Here is a synopsis:
[underlined] Act I [/underlined] Otto, an artist, returns to his flat to discover that Leo, his best friend, has just spent the night with Otto’s girl, who’d been living with him.
[underlined] Act II [/underlined] 18 months later.
Leo & the girl have been living together, and while Leo is away for a week-end, Otto comes & sleeps with the girl. However, this time the girl runs away from both of them.
[underlined Act III [/underlined] 2 years later.
The girl has now married a middle-aged admirer. Leo & Otto turn up, & she throws over her husband, & declares she can’t live without Leo & Otto!
It’s a long time since I had
[page break]
3
the misfortune to listen to such tripe. I thought Noel Coward was better than that.
I’ve been too cheesed off to see anybody today, but I suppose I’d better go & see my tutor tomorrow.
This morning, to change a somewhat doleful subject, we had a series of introductory talks at Turweston. I have to report for flying at 8.30 on Sunday morning, but I doubt if they’ll be ready for us then, as they are a bit behind with their programme. Still, with any luck, I may be able to do some flying sometime. I haven’t flown since Jan. 21st, the longest gap I’ve had for three years.
If I’ve seemed miserable in this letter, it’s only because I want to tell you how much I miss you.
I had a look at Brackley as I passed through this afternoon,
[page break]
4.
It’s quite small, no cinema, but two or three hotels. I don’t know whether you fancy going there or to Northampton. Brackley is [deleted] 20 m [/deleted] 4 miles from Turweston, & Northampton is about 20 miles away (12 miles from Silverstone).
Richardson, the other “headless” pilot on my course, was given a crew at Turweston this morning, so he’ll now do the normal course.
All my love,
Harold.
Darling,
A[underlined]p[/underlined]parently a[underlined]l[/underlined]l w[underlined]e[/underlined] h[underlined]a[/underlined]ve a[underlined]s[/underlined] y[underlined]e[/underlined]t [deleted] belongs in [/deleted] i[underlined]s[/underlined] d[underlined]e[/underlined]finitely u[underlined]n[/underlined]dervalued. A[underlined]d[/underlined]dington, m[underlined]y[/underlined] y[underlined]o[/underlined]ung a[underlined]u[/underlined]thor, brings p[underlined]l[/underlined]enty t[underlined]o[/underlined] e[underlined]v[/underlined]ery re[underlined]v[/underlined]valuation.
PLEASE’SEND’YOUR’LOVE
Is this O.K.?
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his 36 hour leave and social activities and training duties at RAF Turweston. He includes a coded message to his wife.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-25
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440225
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Buckinghamshire
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Flying Officer Harold Gorton to his wife
aircrew
entertainment
RAF Turweston
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9206/EGortonHGortonLCM440224.2.pdf
00f0bc511d9a9abf9cff491ebc294710
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
TEL. SILVERSTONE 252
OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION,
[deleted] SILVERSTONE [/deleted] [inserted] Turweston [/inserted]
[deleted] NR TOWCESTER, [/deleted] [inserted] Brackley, [/inserted]
NORTHANTS.
[Royal Air Force crest]
24/2/44
Dearest,
We have just moved into our new quarters and are feeling somewhat shaken. We are in a long airmen’s hut, 10 beds, not enough light & insufficient furniture. We’ve been told that these quarters are only temporary, but I wonder!
Tomorrow we have to see the C.G.I. at 9.0 a.m., & I believe there is a possibility of getting the rest of Friday and Saturday off. It will be no use to me, however, as the transport situation is bad here – 4 miles from Brackley & no buses, & from Brackley the only train to Oxford is 9.0 a.m. or 5.0 p.m., so that it will be impossible for me to get to see you. If we can get Sunday off as well, of course, it will be a different story, but at the moment I am thinking of spending my day off in Oxford.
Your letter today came as a very welcome surprise, as I didn’t expect another one for a few days – when you’d got my new address.
[page break]
2.
I’m surprised you didn’t solve the code message although I had to put an unnecessary word “for” in. You were pretty close to it however. It should have read: “I am at Silverstone. I’ll try again later, and see if it works any better.
I’ve at last got my law book sent on from Cark. It arrived some time ago, & the Education Officer asked Training Wing to let me know it had arrived, but of course I heard no more about it.
I’m glad you’ve applied for that Wimbledon job, as London really is an easy place to reach, even from a hole like this. The Yorkshire one would do just as well though.
I hope you can find a nice costume. Pay as much as you fancy for it & I shall be pleased, whether it’s utility or not. I like you to be able to get some new clothes because you always look well dressed. Actually, of course, you’re just as lovely to me clothes or no!
[page break]
3.
Clothing Parade is merely a time fixed by the stores for exchanges & issues. Everyone appears at the same time so as to simplify the stores’ work.
That’s all for now darling. I’ll write more later.
All my love,
Harold.
[page break]
PLEASE / SEND / YOUR / LOVE
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of moving to his new quarters at RAF Turweston and domestic details.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-24
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440224
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Buckinghamshire
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
aircrew
military living conditions
RAF Turweston
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9204/EGortonHGortonLCM440221.2.pdf
016adc329814c49ba787f8179f1786f4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
TEL. SILVERSTONE 252
OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION,
SILVERSTONE,
NR. TOWCESTER,
NORTHANTS.
[Royal Air Force crest]
21/2/44
Dearest,
It was good to get your letter today – did me more good than a five pound note.
I quite agree with your opinion of the Labour Exchange. To me they seem crazy. Anyway, if I were you I should refuse to accept a job unless it were a suitable one. Certainly the idea of being billeted out in Abergavenny is ridiculous.
I’m afraid we’ve “had” living out until I’ve finished my tour. They won’t wear it here, and I’m told it’s the same on an operational squadron.
I’m glad your Mother is willing to lend the money. All we’ve got to do now is to find a house. I say “all”, but I know that that’s the most difficult part of it. By all means take the flat in Porthcawl if you fancy it. I only hope it’s not like the furnished house advertised on the Mess notice board here at £16 a month. Pretty steep, isn’t it?
[page break]
2
Still I don’t mind in the least how much we pay provided you can get fixed up. You must be absolutely sick & tired of your position & it’s uncertainty by now, & I’d give anything to see you comfortably settled.
I think it’s a great idea of yours coming up here. Instead of Towcester, though, why not go to Brackley. On Thursday we are due to go to the satellite, Turweston, which is no more than four miles from Brackley. With any luck I should be able to borrow a bike and live out unofficially. That’s what one of the blokes on this course has been doing for a fortnight now. When I get to Brackley I’ll prospect the hotels there and see what are the chances of getting a room on the date you suggest. That will be a fortnight today. I wish it was now!
3.
Nothing more has been said about our 48, so I rather fancy we’ve had it, worse luck.
I have now already attended Church Parade, & find myself no different. The service was O.K. as I sat close to a big hot stove, & was as warm as toast. (You see how spiritual I’ve become nowadays?) Actually, I’ve had only one idea in mind for the past fortnight – how to get warm, so I wasn’t in the mood for spiritual food.
F/L. Cooper (now D.F.C.) has finished his second tour and is now an instructor at Turweston. I haven’t tried my flying underwear yet, but must do so some time.
As far as I can make out, I’m due for leave when I’ve finished this course, & if all goes well that should be somewhere about the beginning of April.
[page break]
4
Saturday night’s bomber score wasn’t so good, was it? Last night’s was much better. We’re all very interested in it here. It reminds me of the days when we used to listen for the close of play Test match scores.
All my love, darling,
Harold.
P.S. I thought your letter finished earlier than it did, so I’ve missed some things.
I thought that if I posted a letter at breakfast time e.g. tomorrow, Tuesday, you ought to get it the day after, e.g. Wednesday, but apparently not. The one you posted in Abergavenny after seing [sic] the ministry of Labour reached [underlined] here [/underlined] the next day. Very quick wasn’t it.
A dining in night is really a peace time function, when every member of the Mess sits down to dinner with the others. You have to be in
[page break]
5
the ante room half an hour before dinner, & are not allowed to smoke. When dinner is announced, the President leads the way and we all troop in after him. The “king” is drunk after dinner, & then there is the usual orgy of drinking in the ante room, because officers are not allowed to leave the Mess before 10.30. Silly isn’t it?
I feel a bit appalled by the food we get here. We seem to have lashings of margarine and sugar, and get double the ration of chocolate we had at Cark. We also get lots of oranges and apples, and today, at lunch, even some dates. It seems so unfair to me that we should get so much, while civilians are so short. Don’t you agree.
All my love,
Harold
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of activities on base, rationing and bomber scores.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-21
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440221
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Buckinghamshire
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
aircrew
bombing
mess
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Silverstone
RAF Turweston
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9202/EGortonHGortonLCM440220.1.pdf
175e26b1d4af9d85548e75d3042caead
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
TEL. SILVERSTONE 252
OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION,
SILVERSTONE,
NR. TOWCESTER,
NORTHANTS.
[Royal Air Force crest]
Sunday 09.30 a.m.
Dearest,
The R.A.F. seems to be very concerned about my soul today, because I have to attend Church Parade this morning – the first time I’ve been to an Air Force service for 3 years. Sunday is our day off, but the authorities seem determined to make it as useless as possible, first by having it on a Sunday, and then be giving us a clothing parade at 9.0 a.m. (so that we can’t stay in bed), and then this Church Parade.
Anyway, we’ve only three more days lectures now, and then we can go to Turweston on Thursday.
This place is proving very unsatisfactory as far as law is concerned. Apart from the fact that I haven’t got a room to myself, after eight hours lectures a day I just don’t feel like studying, & I haven’t done any yet. Moreover, they seem to enjoy thinking up something to do after 5.30. What with extra film shows, dental parades, and the like, we’ve only had one evening this week when we finished at 5.30.
Pardon all this moaning, but
[page break]
2.
just trying to give you an idea of the sort of life we have here.
Thank you for the washing darling. It really was very nice of you to do it for me.
The P.T. hasn’t proved quite so much of a bogy as I feared. We’ve been down for it four times, so far, but I’ve only done it twice. The anticipation part is the worst – sitting in a cold lecture room for [deleted] four [/deleted] those hours & looking forward to changing into thin P.T. kit.
There doesn’t seem to be much to say today, except to repeat how much I miss you. It’s a very strange existence, this, carrying on from day to day & yet all the time feeling that the most important part of my existence is at the other side of the country. Everything seems so unreal, somehow, as though one were living and moving after one’s body had been cut in two. I never feel complete unless I am with you.
All my love,
Harold.
P.S. Bank statement enclosed
[page break]
National Provincial Bank Limited
[deleted] 24 Milson St., [/deleted] [inserted] Wellsway, [/inserted] BATH Branch,
1st February, 1944
F/O H. Gorton,
R.A.F. Station,
Cark-in-Cartmell, Lancs.
Dear Sir,
As requested we beg to advise you that at the close of business on the 1st February, 1944 our books showed the following balance at the credit of your account £149.9.7 (One hundred and forty nine pounds, nine shillings and seven pence).
Yours faithfully,
[signature]
Manager
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of activities at RAF Silverstone and encloses a bank statement from the National Provincial Bank Limited showing he is £149.9.7 in credit.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-20
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three handwritten and printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440220
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Northamptonshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02-01
1944-02
aircrew
faith
military living conditions
military service conditions
physical training
RAF Silverstone
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9201/EGortonHGortonLCM440217.1.pdf
488cdc029236131f329a7963e4a11ef4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
TEL. SILVERSTONE 252
OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION,
SILVERSTONE,
NR. TOWCESTER,
NORTHANTS
[Royal Air Force crest]
Thursday.
Dearest,
I am sitting in front of a good fire in the Mess (the fire in the hut is out again), and am feeling warm for the first time today. I don’t know if it is cold at Newhouse, but it certainly is here, & what makes it worse is that we have no fires in our lecture rooms. I really didn’t think it was possible before I came here & tried it, but I’ve survived a week now & haven’t even a suspicion of a cold! All that happens is that we get thoroughly chilled for four hours in the morning, thaw out a little in the Mess at lunch time, and become even colder by the time it is 5.30. I spoke to the M.O. about it, but he said that the station was already using more fuel than it was allowed, and that he couldn’t do anything unless the sickness rate went up!
Personally I think it’s a bit too late to do anything by that time. I think it says a good deal for the keenness of the pupils that we are able to absorb anything at all! Still, as I said before, it doesn’t seem to do me any harm, as I am feeling very fit.
I’ve been lucky the last two
[page break]
2
days as I’ve had two letters from you. Yesterday’s is at the billet, so I’ll try & answer that when I get back. Your parcel has also arrived, but I haven’t had time to collect it yet. Would it be asking too much if I sent you another lot of washing next week? I should have sent some last Sunday, but I couldn’t change as I hadn’t been able to get hold of my kit, and it won’t be any use sending some on Sunday, as we shall be going to Turweston, the satellite, on Wednesday, & my laundry might easily get lost. I’m being economical as I can with it, & won’t send any if I can manage.
Yesterday I & another ex-instructor – also for a headless crew – went to see the C.I. He was very decent indeed & treated us with the respect [inserted] (?) [/inserted] due to our seniority. The good point that emerged from the interview was that we shall only do about 20 hrs. instead of the normal 30 or 40 at the satellite, and then shall be able to go to the Con unit. I’m all for the idea, personally, as I want to get away from here as soon as possible.
[page break]
3.
My driving licence arrived today, & also the St. John’s College list. I’m sending it with this letter, so perhaps you could park it with the rest of my junk.
I suppose you realise that I’ve done no flying yet & shan’t do any until the end of next week at the earliest.
I’m sorry you didn’t see Rocyn Jones. Even if he can’t do anything about your feet, I think it’s worth doing all you can, [deleted] to [/deleted] because it ought to make things better for you. I don’t suppose you’ll get another opportunity for a long time now.
I shall be very interested to see the result of your adverts. I certainly hope something comes of it, as I’d very much like us to have our own house again. I’m not surprised that Iltyd has given up the idea of buying another farm. Did you see in the paper that at a sale in Lincolnshire last week, farms of 100 – 150 acres realised, in one case,
[page break]
4
£98 per acre? Amazing, isn’t it?
As for Bert & Jim, all I can say is that it’s a pity they’re not in the Army. They’d soon sit up & take notice then.
I think I said in my last letter that Mother never mentioned the Ops business. All she said about it was that she hoped I shouldn’t find the lectures too difficult! Actually I though her silence was a bit too obvious – trying to avoid saying anything that might depress me.
I don’t think I shall volunteer for a second tour. I [underlined] might [/underlined] agree to do a longer first tour in order to go on Pathfinders, but that will depend on how I feel when I’m on the Squadron. You can volunteer for a second tour but you can also be posted on to one. It’s all a matter of luck, I think.
These Labour Exchange people [underlined] are [/underlined] the limit, aren’t they. At least it’s very decent of them to wait while you find a house, but why on earth won’t they give you a permit? Did you ask them for one,
[page break]
5
or did they just not mention it? Still, I think the best thing would be to get a house if possible, & then you ought to be able to get a job that wouldn’t involve travelling.
That’s all for now, darling, until I go back to the billet and answer yesterday’s letter.
All my love,
Harold.
P.S. I’ve got my nail file, so keep the two you’ve got.
I entirely agree with what you say about going out on your own. It’s lousy here for me too, as the presence of several hundred R.A.F. & Waaf is quite inadequate as a substitute for you.
My Bank pass – book definitely seems to have disappeared!
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of the weather and life at RAF Silverstone.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-17
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440217
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Civilian
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Northamptonshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
aircrew
ground personnel
military living conditions
military service conditions
Pathfinders
RAF Silverstone
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9200/EGortonHGortonLCM440215-0001.2.jpg
a3c67818a8161e4c89f0f2d240655ab8
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9200/EGortonHGortonLCM440215-0002.2.jpg
94e6960c9e1a371ea7c1668f80b42b50
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
TEL. SILVERSTONE 252
OFFICERS MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION,
SILVERSTONE,
NR. TOWCESTER,
NORTHANTS.
[Royal Air Force Crest]
Tuesday.
Dearest,
This will have to be a short letter, as there’s no fire in the hut. I’ve just had to waste an evening on a dining-in night, & haven’t been able to write until now.
One thing that amused me, however, was drinking the king’s health in water, as I am now on the waggon. It was the same last night too, when spent the evening with Morris & his pals, & had lemonades all night.
I seem to have lost my Bank pass book, but don’t know how I’ve managed it. I’m going to have another look through my stuff tomorrow, but I couldn’t see it when I unpacked. I don’t know where it has got to, because I was very careful about looking through my drawers when I left Cark.
There’s nothing much to report. We just keep plugging away at lectures from 8.15 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. This goes on till next Tuesday or Wednesday. Then we are due to go to the satellite
[page break]
2
for some flying. I believe they are a little behind with their work there, however, so I have heard mention of the possibility of a 48 next week. What do you think of the idea, in case it happens to come off? Is it worth while going to London for a couple of days? Actually, this place is very awkward to leave, as it is so far away from everywhere, but I expect it can be done one way or another.
I’d better get to bed now, I think, as I am getting cold.
All my love,
Harold.
P.S. I got a letter from Mother this morning. I expected a lot of regrets from her because I’m going on Ops, but either the idea hasn’t dawned on her or else she is being studiously diplomatic, as she didn’t mention it. She says that Norman Seddon is home on a month’s leave – ready for the second front, I expect.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of his duties and social life at RAF Silverstone.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440215-0001,
EGortonHGortonLCM440215-0002
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Northamptonshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
aircrew
military living conditions
pilot
RAF Silverstone
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/660/9199/EGortonHGortonLCM440213.1.pdf
b62ab78100bcdc4f1a68cfe79fcde37a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gorton, Harold
Description
An account of the resource
136 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Harold Gorton (1914 - 1944, 120984, Royal Air Force) and contains eight photographs and 126 letters to his wife and family. Harold Gorton studied at Oxford, and throughout his time in the RAF he continued studying law. He completed a tour of operations as a pilot in 1941 and was then posted as an instructor to RAF Cark. He returned to operations with 49 Squadron stationed at RAF Fulbeck in 1944. He was killed 11/12 November 1944 during an operation to Harburg.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mair Gorton and Ian Gorton, and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Harold Gorton is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/108964/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-05-30
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Gorton, H
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Royal Air Force Crest]
Officers’ Mess
R.A.F. Silverstone,
Nr. Towcester,
Northants.
Sunday
Dearest,
I’m settling down here O.K., although it’s a big change from Cark. The Mess is about three times the size, very warm & comfortable & the food, owing to better rations, is much superior. We had an egg this morning, & apparently we get them at least once a week.
The atmosphere of the Mess cannot be compared with Cark, however. There never seems to be anyone there, but where people get to I don’t know, as it’s very difficult to go places from here.
On Friday & Saturday we had lectures from 8.15 to 5.30 p.m. – a bit of a bind after coming from a fortnight at Dallachy, but they are fairly varied, so it isn’t so bad. Today is our day off – very useful, isn’t it, to have Sunday? - & I was lucky as I
[page break]
2
was not detailed to attend Church Parade like most of the course.
I’ve sent off your book. I slipped a Readers’ Digest in with it, but forgot to put extra postage on for it, so I must apologise if you have to pay excess postage.
Do you remember F/L. Cooper? He drove us from the main road to Ossington one day. He is at the satellite, I believe, so I shall see him when I go over there.
I’m having a good deal of trouble with my luggage. I left it at the Guard Room when I arrived, & it is still there, although I’ve kept asking them to put it on a passing lorry. Whatever Cark’s faults, that was the sort of detail they were very good at dealing with. When I’ve finished this letter, I am going along to fetch the stuff myself, but it will be a fairly big job as it’s nearly a mile from the Guard Room to my billet.
[page break]
3
One of the officers on this course has been refused permission to live out. He brought his wife back from Canada, & she has to follow him round, as she has no home or relatives here. He says he’s going to live out in any case, but it will mean that he won’t get any allowances.
I forgot to mention that the handle of one of my suitcases has come off! I shall have to try & get workshops to mend it for me.
On the whole, my impression if this place is that it’s not a station to linger on, so I am feeling very pleased that I shall be [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] here for a less time than most.
Have you taken any action as a result of all our “conferences” at Newhouse? I shall be very
[page break]
4
interested in the results.
We’ve had one P.T. period so far, but I managed to avoid it as my kit was at the Guard Room. I’m afraid I shan’t be so successful next time, however.
I’ve had a letter from Douglas Dant. He doesn’t say anything of any importance, but as far as I can gather, his reasons for leaving Bath were (I) he wanted a change of jobs. (II) he didn’t like his digs
(III) there were no girls there that he wanted to marry!
He sends you his regards.
I drew my high flying underwear this morning, but haven’t yet had a chance of seeing if it fits.
It’s not a week since I left Cark, but already it seems ages since I saw you. Two days aren’t enough, are they, but if I am lucky I may be able to have a fortnights’ leave at the end of this course
[page break]
5
We shall then have the problem of where to spend it, but that’s a problem I don’t mind tackling.
All my love.
Harold.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Description
An account of the resource
He writes of life at RAF Silverstone and of his colleagues.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harold Gorton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-13
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EGortonHGortonLCM440213
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Civilian
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Northamptonshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
aircrew
mess
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Silverstone
training