B M Smith]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Peter Bradbury]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Buckinghamshire]]> Wales--Vale of Glamorgan]]> England--Suffolk]]> England--Crawley (West Sussex)]]> England--London]]> England--Middlesex]]> Bahrain]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> England--Cambridgeshire]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Rutland]]> England--Sussex]]> Bahrain]]> Bahrain--Muḥarraq]]> 1951]]> 1952]]> 1957]]> 1969]]> 1975]]> Donald Fraser]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tricia Marshall]]> David Bloomfield]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> France]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> Poland]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> France--Modane]]> Germany--Augsburg]]> Germany--Berlin]]> Germany--Bochum]]> Germany--Düsseldorf]]> Germany--Frankfurt am Main]]> Germany--Hannover]]> Germany--Leipzig]]> Germany--Leverkusen]]> Germany--Mannheim]]> Germany--Mönchengladbach]]> Germany--Munich]]> Germany--Schweinfurt]]> Germany--Stuttgart]]> Poland--Szczecin]]> Germany--Braunschweig]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> Peter Andrew Hopgood]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Claire Monk]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Canadian Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Liverpool]]> England--Warrington]]> England--London]]> England--Torquay]]> England--Manchester]]> Canada]]> New Brunswick--Moncton]]> Saskatchewan--Prince Albert]]> Saskatchewan--Saskatoon]]> England--Harrogate]]> England--Wheaton Aston]]> England--Catterick]]> England--Knutsford]]> England--Chester]]> England--Warton]]> New Brunswick]]> Saskatchewan]]> England--Devon]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> England--Lancashire]]> England--Staffordshire]]> England--Wiltshire]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Royal Wootton Bassett]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> R Briars]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Steve Christian]]> Steve Baldwin]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Text. Diary]]> Photograph]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--London]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Scotland--Inverness-shire]]> Scotland--Inverness]]> England--Rutland]]> England--Leicestershire]]> England--Nottinghamshire]]> England--Nottingham]]> Poland]]> Poland--Szczecin]]> Germany]]> Germany--Braunschweig]]> Germany--Berlin]]> Germany--Magdeburg]]> Germany--Leipzig]]> Germany--Stuttgart]]> Germany--Schweinfurt]]> Germany--Augsburg]]> Germany--Nuremberg]]> France]]> France--Paris]]> Italy]]> Italy--Milan]]> France--Normandy]]> France--Saumur]]> France--Le Havre]]> France--Boulogne-sur-Mer]]> France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais)]]> France--Brest]]> France--Lorient]]> France--Creil]]> France--La Rochelle]]> Norway]]> Norway--Alta]]> Norway--Tromsø]]> Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal]]> Netherlands]]> Netherlands--IJmuiden]]> Germany--Bielefeld]]> France--Tarbes]]> England--Hampshire]]> England--Bournemouth]]> France--Reims]]> 1944-01-06]]> 1944-01-14]]> 1944-01-20]]> 1944-01-21]]> 1944-01-27]]> 1944-01-29]]> 1944-02-15]]> 1944-02-19]]> 1944-02-20]]> 1944-02-24]]> 1944-02-25]]> 1944-03-10]]> 1944-03-15]]> 1944-03-30]]> 1944-04-18]]> 1944-04-20]]> 1944-04-22]]> 1944-04-24]]> 1944-06-06]]> 1944-06-08]]> 1944-06-14]]> 1944-06-15]]> 1944-06-19]]> 1944-07-04]]> 1944-07-17]]> 1944-07-25]]> 1944-07-31]]> 1944-08-05]]> 1944-08-06]]> 1944-08-09]]> 1944-08-11]]> 1944-08-12]]> 1944-08-13]]> 1944-08-14]]> 1944-09-11]]> 1944-09-23]]> 1944-10-29]]> 1945-02-03]]> 1945-03-02]]> 1945-02-06]]> 1944-03-31]]> 1944-06-16]]> 1944-07-05]]> 1944-04-19]]> 1944-06-09]]> 1944-06-05]]> R Wareing]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Robin Christian]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Sussex]]> England--Bexhill]]> England--Cheshire]]> England--Chester]]> England--Rutland]]> France]]> France--Brest]]> Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay]]> 1939-02-26]]> 1940-07]]> 1940-11]]> 1941-02-23]]> 1941-04-04]]> 1941-08-12]]> 1941-09-03]]> R Wareing]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Jan Waller]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Sussex]]> England--Bexhill]]> England--Cheshire]]> England--Chester]]> England--Rutland]]> France]]> France]]> France--Brest]]> Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay]]> 1939-02-26]]> 1940-07]]> 1940-11]]> 1941-02-23]]> 1941-04-04]]> 1941-08-12]]> 1941-09-03]]> By June 1943 Reg is at RAF Cottesmore, 14 Operational Training Unit.
He details his daily tasks before operations.
Next he is moved to RAF Wigsley Heavy Conversion Unit for conversion to Halifaxes then Lancasters then ended up at RAF Skellingthorpe.
The social life at Skellingthorpe is popular and he met his first wife.
November 1943 his brother is missing over Dusseldorf.
Each operation he was involved in is described in detail.
Later in his memoir he details where and when he trained.
There is a list of prisoners of war from his squadron and a colour photograph of Reg and two colleagues at the tail of Lancaster 'Just Jane'.
There is a list of Reg's paintings.
He details his post war service via Libya, Cairo, Iran, India and Karachi, ending up at 56 Forward Repair Unit in Rangoon.
In June 1946 he returned to the UK by ship.]]>
Reg Payne]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Anne-Marie Watson]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> British Army]]> Belgium]]> Burma]]> France]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> Burma--Rangoon]]> England--Lancashire]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--London]]> France--Paris]]> France--Toulouse]]> Germany--Aachen]]> Germany--Augsburg]]> Germany--Berlin]]> Germany--Essen]]> Germany--Frankfurt am Main]]> Germany--Leipzig]]> Germany--Magdeburg]]> Germany--Nuremberg]]> Germany--Schweinfurt]]> Germany--Stuttgart]]> Germany--Braunschweig]]> France--Marseille]]> Poland--Szczecin]]> France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)]]> Germany--Wolfenbüttel]]> Poland]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> 1941]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1944-03-30]]> 1944-03-31]]> 1944-04-05]]> 1944-04-06]]> 1944-04-18]]> 1944-04-19]]> 1945]]> 1946]]>
He met his future wife in the Unity bar in Lincoln.
Reg survived a crash on a fighter training session when four of his aircrew died.
He also survived ten operations to Berlin. On one operation they were shot up and lost a lot of fuel and had to make an emergency landing at RAF Wittering where no one could be found because they were at a party, on base.
Arriving back on another operation they found everywhere fogged in but landed at RAF Melbourne where they had to stay for a few days until the fog cleared. They had no clothes to change into, no money and no toothbrushes.
After one operation they landed safely and on powering down the aircraft a bomb, which should have been dropped over Germany, came free and rattled down the bomb bay without exploding.
Once they came back with a large hole in the wing, made by a bomb.
On another op they shot down a JU-88 night fighter.
Bombing operations were directed by a Master Bomber who set flares.
Reg and Fred were given Lincoln Imps as mascots but the night Fred died he had left his mascot on another tunic.
He describes the landing procedures when 40 Lancasters arrive back at the same time, most low on fuel.
His navigator, Fl Lt Frank Swingerd calculated winds aloft and Reg transmitted these to 5 Group aircraft.
He describes the various operating areas of the crew on board the Lancaster.]]>
Reg Payne]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tricia Marshall]]> David Bloomfield]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Memoir]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Leicestershire]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Rutland]]> Germany--Berlin]]> Germany--Leipzig]]> England--Cornwall (County)]]> Germany]]> 1943]]>