Samuel Guyan flew an operational tour with 90 Squadron and a second tour with 115 Squadron where he manned a .5 calibre gun beneath the aircraft. In all he flew fifty one operations. Including one where his crew thought he was just going for his breakfast but found himself flying that night with another crew as a spare gunner.
He sings several songs including 'Ops on a Stirling' to the tune of Waltzing Matilda, 'The old red flannels drawers that Maggie wore' and 'No more ops for me'.]]>
Samuel Guyan]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Carolyn Emery]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> France]]> Great Britain]]> Italy]]> England--Farnborough (Hampshire)]]> England--Suffolk]]> France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)]]> Germany--Dresden]]> Germany--Düsseldorf]]> Germany--Hamburg]]> Germany--Krefeld]]> Germany--Peenemünde]]> Germany--Wuppertal]]> Italy--Turin]]> Germany]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> England--Hampshire]]> 1943]]> 1944-06-09]]> 1945]]>
His first operation was minelaying in the Baltic and he recalls standing in the astrodome to warn of enemy fighters. On other operations he would sit in the front turret and occasionally fire at enemy fighters, without success. Further minelaying operations were carried out and on his eighth, his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and diverted to a US Army Air Force airfield where he stocked up on goodies, unavailable in England from the base exchange store.
On the 22 September 1943 he took part to an operation to Hanover and describes the night fighter tactics in detail. Following lengthy evasive action his aircraft was forced down to 5,000 feet where it was hit by by anti-aircraft fire and he was forced to bail out over Emden where he was caught by a member of the Luftwaffe who was visiting his girlfriend. After initial interrogation he was sent to the interrogation centre at Dalag Luft and after a two day train journey arrived at Stalag 5 prisoner of war camp.
On July 1944 the encroaching Russian army forced the evacuation of the camp and he was moved to the unfinished Luft 4 camp and remembers the bullying guards and poor conditions. Again in February 1945 the camp was evacuated and after crossing the River Oder in barges marched across northern Germany. After two months he arrived at Lübeck and escaped the column, narrowly missing being captured by German soldiers by conversing in French. Finding an allied airfield he was repatriated to England where he was treated as a hero.
After recuperation he attended a code and cipher course and was offered a commission if he would go to the middle-east. Wanting to get married he declined and wangled his way to 24 Squadron at RAF Hendon, were he was eventually demobbed in July 1946. ]]>
Annie Moody]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Terry Holmes]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> United States Army Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Gloucestershire]]> England--Herefordshire]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> England--Suffolk]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--London]]> Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea]]> Germany--Hannover]]> Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)]]> Germany]]> Europe--Oder River]]> Germany--Lübeck]]> Poland]]> Poland--Tychowo]]> Lithuania]]> Lithuania--Šilutė]]> 1936]]> 1939]]> 1940]]> 1941]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> 1943-09-22]]> 1944-07]]> 1945-02]]> 1946-07]]>
Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Carron Moss]]> Pending review]]> Pending OH summary. Allocated S Coulter]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> England--Norfolk]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Germany--Flensburg]]> Germany--Frankfurt am Main]]> Germany--Hannover]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> Pete Jones]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Balloon Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> England--Lancashire]]>