大象传媒

I was involved in numerous things during the war.

I had been a PC for Cumberland & Westmorland Constabulary, released for aircrew service.

In 1941 an RAF Voluntary Reserve, I qualified as an Observer (Nav/bomb aimer) at South African (Commonwealth support) and home training schools. This required absolute precision navigation to get the bombs to hit their targets.

I have a range of mementos from my war experiences, one of which is a small relic from the deck of the German Battleship Tirpitz, which sank on 12th November 1944 in Troms酶, Norway. The ship was classed by Churchill as the greatest menace 鈥� it could stop our convoys heading across the North Sea to Russia or Spitzberg etc. Its sinking was a great step forward for our war efforts. This was my first op.

I served with 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron from 23rd May 1944 to 8th October 1944. This squadron was a member of 5 Group Bomber Command Main Force. The squadron was brought in to Dunholme Lodge, the Main Force base, which was where I was based. Dunholme Lodge was a satellite base to RAF Scampton, and was 8 miles on the north side of Lincoln. The Lancaster Bombers were moved here from Waddington. In 1944 we worked with lots of aircraft. The early training was on a Wellington (Turweston, near Silverstone). A Wellington had a crew of 6 and a Lancaster a crew of 7.

During that period I achieved my 1st tour of 鈥淥ps鈥� 鈥� 33 trips, commissioned (Po) on 12th August 1944, No 183565. From 26th October 1944 鈥� 20th March 1945 was my 鈥淥ps鈥� 2nd tour with 617 (Dambuster) Squadron, Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire.

How the crew got together
A group of pilots/navigators etc were brought together in a large room and told to form a crew. We had to do it by chatting to each other and weighing each other up - we were told to form crews ourselves by chatting and bonding with each other, rather than being told who the crew was. I was at least 8 years older than the others 鈥� I was about 28 at the time, so the others were relatively inexperienced. I got chatting to a pilot who I discovered had lived near to me at one point, so we formed a bond and were part of the same crew as throughout the 2 tours as a result.

Konigsbergh
Our operations were known as 鈥榞ardening鈥�. The gardens were the ports we were targeting, and the 鈥榲egetables鈥� were the mines. We carried out mine laying at the deep water channels going into the ports. The vegetables (or mines) were 1950 lbs in weight. The planes carried a maximum of 6 mines. Our aim was to incapacitate the 鈥榞ardens鈥�.

We went to Konigsbergh (at the far end of the Baltic Sea). The route on this occasion was via Denmark (usually heavy ack ack -anti-aircraft artillery gunfire), then into and along the Baltic Sea. Some were detailed to lay mines in the inner harbour, but we were on the outer harbour. The main force were bombing the actual town of Konigsbergh. We dropped our vegetables and did our job. We sustained some casualties after that bombing and 鈥榣ost鈥� some men.

Then 2 years later I was catching the Lakes Express at Crewe railway station. This train headed to Barrow, Cumbria. I saw someone leaning out of a window and he nodded at me. It was Squadron Leader White (otherwise known as Chalky White) in uniform, who had also served in 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, operating on the inner harbour. He was from the west coast of Cumbria. I said to him 鈥渨eren鈥檛 you shot down over Konigsbergh鈥�. He said 鈥測es!鈥� then told me his tale:
鈥淭here had been a Hipperclass cruiser shooting at our planes. We think we had been hit by it and the plane crashed somewhere around Konigsbergh. The next thing I knew was waking up in hospital and being told that I鈥檇 been in the water for 6 hours. I had been saved by my Mae West.鈥�

Stuttgart operations and our delayed leave
The RAF policy about leave was that we were entitled to it after either 6 weeks or 12 operations 鈥� whichever came first. Then we would get 7 days leave. We had completed 14 operations and resented not being able to have our leave. But we were losing crews and it could be difficult to relieve us. On the Monday we went to Stuttgart. They hammered us. We lost a few aircraft that night 鈥� possibly 4. There had been thick cloud so we hadn鈥檛 been able to see a thing. Therefore, we couldn鈥檛 find the target. There had also been another target for us which would normally have been marked by another faster plane. But there were no markers.

We came back and went immediately for our debriefing, then were allowed to go to bed 鈥� it was 6.30 in the morning by then. Then the next thing we knew, the tanoi was sounding to request that the crew reported to sections and aircraft check at dispersals.

We ended up having to do another 2 operations to Stuttgart. Then one day after our 16th op, we were woken up by a hand on our shoulders 鈥� to be told we鈥檇 got our leave at last! What a relief!

On completion of the 2nd tour I was posted to the far east as Codes & Cypher officer. However, this was cancelled before leaving the UK 鈥� the 2 atom bombs at Hiroshima & Nagasaki had been dropped and the Japanese surrendered.

My RAF VR Service release was on 10th October 1946

RAF VR Service:
1st Tour Ops 鈥� 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, Dunholme Lincolnshire from 23rd May 1944 鈥� 8th October 1944
2nd Tour Ops 鈥� 617 (Dambuster) Squadron, Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire from 26th October 1944 鈥� 20th March 1945
Commission 12th August 1944

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