大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Bill Ross of the 鈥楢ction Desk 鈥� Sheffield鈥� Team on behalf of Jack Morley, and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr. Morley fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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The stories were transcribed from audio recordings made and supplied by Jack. When some of the foreign place names that are mentioned could not be found very easily in an atlas, they have been typed as they sounded, as have some of the technical and coded terms with which I was not familiar, therefore, they will probably be misspelled.......... Bill Ross, 大象传媒 People鈥檚 War Story Editor.
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Other parts to this story can be found at:
Part 1: A5041397

Part 2: A5041531

Part 3: A6023701

Part 4: A6039722

Part 5: A6081257

Part 7: A6126077

Part 8: A6126167

Part 9: A6138010

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This had been a good introduction to night time bombing, these three marshalling yards, we were quite pleased.

Once more a marshalling yard, a place called Ravinie. It wasn鈥檛 too far inland, but our route was to take us across the coast at Dieppe once more. We鈥檇 all the usual fighter contacts and we鈥檇 some planes going down. We鈥檇 to head for Dijon. As we approached Dijon, we turned east, as if going towards Stuttgart, then suddenly turned north towards to Bon Ravinie. This time, once again, we were in LM 462. This was a long trip and most aircraft did not manage to find a target, and we were among them, yet, the duration of our flight that night was the longest operation we鈥檇 ever flown: 9 hours and 5 minutes in total. But there had been many aircraft lost whilst looking for the target.

Back at Ludford, from this trip, we were told to divert to Wigsley. The reason being that it was such heavy mist, and so many aircraft had gone to Ludford, that there was no room for us to land, so we landed at an American aerodrome at Wigsley, just outside Lincoln. We didn鈥檛 stay there long, only until the next day when most of the aircraft had gone fron Ludford.

Next was a daylight raid to Lordeville, not a very long trip, but this time in SRA-LM478. We did a good job, hardly had any trouble and got back safely.

On the 18th of July, we took off for our first trip into Germany to the Ruhr Valley, the Happy Valley, as we called it. There was all sorts of things in the Ruhr Valley, so we just bombed what we were told to bomb. We took off at 2230 I believe, it was a trip of 5 hours duration. It was in our old faithful SRZ LL756. Quite a harrowing trip, but not too bad, but we were glad to get back home safe.

Now a trip to 鈥楬appy Valley鈥�; one storage depot and two factories, four hours duration this one. We鈥檙e taking off at 2230 hours. Once again, a memorable trip, no serious damage to us and we got safely back, and we鈥檇 done a good piece of bombing, according to our intelligence officer.

23rd July, once more in LL756-SLZ: We were ordered to Kiel. We were told that after the 1st World War, following attacks at Kiel, a rebellion had been caused which helped shorten the end of the war, but in this case, it didn鈥檛 happen. We were ordered to bomb Kiel, to bomb the old town and set many fires going, in the hope of causing a rebellion this time, but it didn鈥檛 happen. To get to Kiel this time, we made many diversions heading towards Kiel without going inland.

We bombed Kiel, then came safely back home. We had much flak, but no fighter contact. This was to be my last trip before going home on leave, potentially to get married, but it didn鈥檛 happen because I was asked to do another trip before I went on leave.

On the 24th of July, the trip of about 8 hours duration was to Stuttgart. We took off and all the A.P.C. operators were working fully, and we had a more or less, uneventful trip to Stuttgart.

We didn鈥檛 make any contacts at all. We bombed the tool factory as ordered, then set off back. Shortly after leaving Stuttgart -the special operators were still operating- we came into a layer between two clouds. Our skipper said to the navigator, 鈥淕ive me any change of course, but do not change height or direction anywhere.鈥� We never saw another aircraft all the way back to England. A fine piece of flying by George. He was a good pilot, although we didn鈥檛 like him personally, but he was a good pilot. So, we landed back; I believe it was 8 hours duration. After we landed, I had breakfast then a couple of hours sleep, then went to get my leave pass, to go home and get married. I was supposed to have got married on the 29th of July. As it happened, this had been called off, which I didn鈥檛 know until I arrived home. I got home on the afternoon of the 25th. Of course, I enjoyed the leave, but I didn鈥檛 like the idea of having to wait to get married. I was told that it鈥檇 been changed to the 31st of July, then to the 1st of August and eventually, it happened on the 3rd of August. I was told to go back off leave shortly after that. I was due back on the Saturday, but after a wonderful wedding and the gathering of friends and relations. We got married and stood on the steps of the Wicker Congregational Church on Gower Street in Sheffield, and we were having photographs taken when the telegram lad came up with two telegrams. The first one was from my granddad, wishing us every happiness. The other one was from the squadron. 鈥淏e back on the camp by 8 o鈥檆lock on Saturday morning for operations."

Well, I didn鈥檛 want to go back, I鈥檇 just got married. On Friday, the fourth, Beattie said to me, 鈥淟ook Jack, you鈥檝e got to go back,鈥� she said, 鈥淲e can鈥檛 have a honeymoon, I鈥檒l go to Ivy鈥檚 on the farm outside Boston. I鈥檒l go as far as Louth with yer, then you make your way to Ludford.鈥� This was agreed finally, so Beattie went on her own honeymoon. I learnt later that she鈥檇 been potato picking that week. I got a lift so far towards Ludford, then another lift up to Ludford, and I got there just before 8 o鈥檆lock just in time to meet the boys who were all going up for briefing. The briefing was for a daylight raid, a special one, to a place called Blain, in the Bay of Biscay. I didn鈥檛 like the idea, but I was in the bombers and I had to do my duty.

After briefing, we went for a meal, and shortly after that, we took off. We flew down towards Land鈥檚 End, flying in formation. As we approached Land鈥檚 End, we came down to sea level, wound out the trailing aerial before we reached the actual end of the land. We went farther down until the meters flickered in front of me, showing the aerial was earthed. We were flying at exactly 50 feet, which was 50 feet less than the aircraft altimeter showed. In this way, we continued on a course 50 miles from the French coast and flying at sea level. We couldn鈥檛 see the horizon at that level. Every time the needle flickered, I said, 鈥淣ow Skipper,鈥� and he pulled the nose up a little, so we were flying at more or less fifty feet. We weren鈥檛 flying into the sea because I let the skipper know every time the needles touched.

On the way down, suddenly, the navigator gave a change of course, and we went down from the west towards Blain. We climbed to 3,000 feet, then we dropped our bombs. The concentration was on oil storage tanks at an oil depot. We were among the first to bomb, so we dropped our bombs. We reeled in the trailing aerial, and once more, down to treetop level and we hedgehopped all the way up France. All guns were pointed upwards, so there wasn鈥檛 much danger of getting shot down, but there was danger of being shot from below by some gunner or machine gunner. We hedgehopped all the way to the Cherbourg Peninsula which the Germans were holding. As we approached Cherbourg, there was a huge cloud of dust that obscured the ground below, and we thought it was the Germans attacking the Americans. I was going to report it; I broke radio silence then, but before I got a couple of letters out, I was told: 鈥淕et off the area you bloody fool.鈥� So I did

We got away from Cherbourg, climbed up to a normal height, and as we approached Ludford, we reported in and I got a message telling us to divert. I told the skipper and he said, 鈥淲here to?鈥� I looked at my code book and it said, 鈥楧ivert to Leicester East.鈥� Right alongside the code for Leicester East was a code for Castle Donnington, one letter difference. I told the skipper this. We had a crew conference and we decided that I will be to blame. The pilot said, 鈥淲hat will happen if you tell us the wrong place?鈥� I said, 鈥淥h, they鈥檒l give me a wireless test, it鈥檒l be alright.鈥� We landed at Castle Donnington. This had been the longest daylight raid of the war I believe. The moment we landed, there was a tractor out there to tow us to a dispersal far away from prying eyes and huge tarpaulins were put over the entire aircraft, so that no one could see it. People had seen us coming in, but we strutted around that place as if we were God鈥檚 gift to the RAF. Operational types landed at an OUT. The instructors at Castle Donnington had been on 101 squadron, so we had a good laugh about it, but to us it was a special occasion.

The day after, we were told that we could report back to Ludford Magna. The aircraft was uncovered, they drove us round to it and we started up, proceeded round the perimeter track and as we approached the take off point, we realised that practically the whole station was out, lining both sides of the runway to see this strange aircraft with a big mast. Anyway, we took off and they were waving and cheering to us. We were so very grateful for the reception we鈥檇 received. The skipper said, 鈥淚鈥檓 goina go round and do 鈥榚m an overshoot and waddle the wings.鈥� So we went back round and we came along the line of the runway. There were crowds of people all the way along the runway, both sides. He waddled his wings for them and we waved to them and they waved back to us, and off we came back to Ludford. We reported to the intelligence officer with the result of our bombing and it appears that we鈥檇 done a very good job.

We鈥檇 flown at such a low level, and fifty miles from the French coast too, we were actually flying below the radar screen all the way down there before we bombed. Of course, they knew we were there after we鈥檇 bombed, but that鈥檚 another tale.

On the 7th of August, we were scheduled to go to Fontenet. We took off and we were almost at the target when we were recalled, so we set off back. That wasn鈥檛 even counted as an operation, even though we鈥檇 been over the vicinity of the target when we were recalled.

On the 9th of August, we were told we were going to bomb Forret de Nievre. There had been sightings of German tanks going into this forest and no tracks coming out, so obviously, the German tanks were in the forest, probably waiting in ambush. Once again in LL756, this was a night mission. We took off and made our way to this forest, and on arrival, our orders were to bomb to the right of the red indicator. Most of the bombs were incendiaries. So, we did our bombing which was quite a good bombing, and when we got back, we learned from intelligence the next day that it鈥檇 been a very good raid and that the forest was completely destroyed and no German tanks had been seen to come out of the forest.

We were told at briefing that the previous night, a force had gone to Brunswick, navigated by H2S, and by mistake, had bombed elsewhere instead of bombing Brunswick due to the contours that were shown on the HOS machines. And so, we were to be sent back that night to do our job, but navigated by dead reckoning, so as to make sure we got to the target. We鈥檇 thirteen thousand pounds of bombs on board. We set off for Brunswick with all the usual palaver on the way there, but then, immediately after turning for home, the navigator said to me, 鈥淛ack, have you heard any broadcasts about high winds?鈥� He said, 鈥淲ell I鈥檝e got indication that there鈥檚 a very high wind; a cross wind and a head wind.鈥� He estimated that it was about 200 miles an hour, which meant that instead of going forwards, we were going sideways. We were going slightly forward, and eventually, we were coned in searchlights over Brennen, miles from our usual course. We were in the searchlight cones and the ack-ack was firing at us, and we were in these searchlights for eight minutes. All the while, the rear gunner reported that there were two fighters shadowing us. Of course, they wouldn鈥檛 attempt to attack us while the flack was coming up, but after eight minutes, the skipper decided that he would dive. He said, 鈥淗old tight lads, I鈥檓 going into a dive to get out of these lights.鈥�

He did tell me recently that when he dived, the needle went off the clock, which I think was about 400 miles an hour, so he didn鈥檛 know how fast we were diving, but we got out of the lights, and when we eventually folded up, others on the course across, hadn鈥檛. Suddenly, there was an almighty bump: we didn鈥檛 know what it was; we didn鈥檛 think we鈥檇 been hit, but it felt as if we鈥檇 been hit. Anyway, we carried on and made for home. We reported it: the ground crew said, 鈥淭here seems to be a lot of little holes, but we can鈥檛 see anything else.鈥� We thought, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not bad, none of us was hit.鈥� The wireless maintenance man said, 鈥淛ack, I want you to come with me a minute.鈥� He said, 鈥淵ou reported a bump. Well, there鈥檚 a huge piece of shrapnel that鈥檚 entered the fuselage, just forward of the rear turret, and gone along the bomb bay, making a bit o鈥� wreckage and through the top o鈥� the bulkhead and settled into your seat.鈥� I didn鈥檛 know this. He said, 鈥淲ould yer like it as a souvenir?鈥� I said, 鈥淣o thanks, you have it if yer want.鈥� So he kept it. I don鈥檛 know what the name of that fella was, but he was one of our own ground staff. In addition to the shrapnel finds, someone pointed out to us that there were bits of twigs and leaves in the engines, which suggested that we鈥檇 had a further stroke of luck, because we must have pulled out of a dive very close to the top of some trees.

15th of August, we were very busy. This was a daylight operation and our bomb load consisted of very high explosives of various types to a total of 13,000 pounds and we were fly out and receive a fighter escort. We climbed to a height of about 16 or 17 thousand feet, we met the fighters over the channel and we proceeded to Holland. There was a night fighter aerodrome with lots of night fighters about. I鈥檓 afraid we spoilt their lunch because we arrived overhead at about 12 o鈥檆lock. The master bomber marked the target and we were ordered to bomb a certain marker that was on the intersection of the three runways. This we did from 17,000 feet and with devastating effect. All our bombs appeared to hit the target area. We were so pleased about this, but then we had to circle around because our job this day was to do a line overlap to prove what the bombing had done. We had to wait until the last aircraft had bombed and then we did our line overlap. We were escorted once more by the spitfires, so we felt quite safe. The scene below seemed totally devastated, it didn鈥檛 seem as if there was an aircraft anywhere that hadn鈥檛 been touched.

Pr-BR

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