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RAF Lossiemouth, built as a permanent station, had opened in 1939. It started off, like the majority of peacetime stations, with a grass airfield but had runways laid in 1942. In addition to the bomber training unit there was a maintenance base for mainly Beaufighters and Lancasters. The Commanding Officer was Grp/Capt Hobler. To get to our hutted site from the main station, the road uphill ran parallel to the sea on the left and past a lighthouse, and being near the Gulf Stream it was a pleasant climate. For meals we used the Sergeants Mess on the main camp. Near our site was a Church of Scotland canteen which was a fairly new good sized wooden hut.
The day after my arrival at Lossiemouth, I was directed by the Orderly Room to the Crew Training Section which consisted of an office and lecture rooms. Nearby there was a Bellman hangar. The Officer in Charge, an ex-operational pilot called Flt/Lt Blanks, had done a tour on Hampdens in the early part of the war. His assistant, F/O Plumstead DFM had operated in the Middle East on Wellingtons. They were both pleasant men. Old Blanko, as he was known, was good tempered and jovial. There were three other flight engineers in the section. Some engineers were now being commissioned. There was F/O Gladwell, an ex Halton boy, and F/O Joe Crouch. The third one was Flt/Sgt Childs dfm, an ex Pathfinder.
At Lossiemouth, like any other Operational Training Unit, crew members would sort themselves out into a five man crew: Pilot, Navigator, Bomb Aimer, Wireless Operator and Rear Gunner. They would then, over a good many weeks, be trained into an operational bombing crew. After leaving the Training Unit they would go to a Conversion Unit where they would pick up a Flight Engineer and a Mid Upper Gunner and convert onto four engined bombers before going to an operational bomber squadron. Our section, with the aid of models, diagrams, component parts that had been sectioned, old cockpits and a Wellington aircraft in the hangar, would instruct and give lectures mostly to pilots, but navigators and bomb aimers were included. They were instructed and lectured on the construction of the aircraft, its systems and emergencies. The Wellingtons had two Bristol Hercules radial air cooled, two row fourteen cylinder sleeve valve engines with two speed supercharger. Instruction was given on engine handling on the ground and in the air, and flying for economy. It was all ground instruction and did not involve flying. The old cockpits were used for familiarisation knowing where all the levers and knobs were, sometimes blindfolded. First of all I had to learn all about the Wellington before I could start to instruct or lecture others, and I was not too keen on the job. There were instructional sections on the station for each crew member: navigation, bombing, signals and gunnery. They all included flying. The aircrew under training were British, Canadian, Australian and the odd New Zealander or South African.
Some of the pilots that came through were old and highly experienced, with the rank of Flt/Lt or Squadron Leader and we did have one Wing Commander. They had been flying in some other command or instructing, and were now going on to bombing operations.
Just before Christmas 1943, the Free French Air Force arrived for operational training. This naturally made things a little more difficult, but quite a few spoke English and would interpret. Some French Canadians also turned up as instructors but not in our section. Every time there was a parade on the square, I was detailed to take charge of a flight of instructors, and I hated it. Sometime in December I was promoted to Flt/Sgt and later made responsible for a Nissan hut full of Canadians. Christmas Day was sunny and on Christmas morning Old Blanko (Flt/Lt Blanks) went swimming in the sea.
Most of the instructors at Lossiemouth had operated on Halifaxes or Wellingtons. Halifaxes were in 4 Bomber Group which was around York. Our Nissan hut contained quite a few characters. One named Joe, a Flt/Sgt navigator who came from Brentwood, Essex, always reminded me of Gordon Harker, the actor. Joe’s mother used to send him the local paper which he would read aloud at night sitting up in bed. We would hear reports of weddings, and from the childrens corner, birthday parties.
There was a satellite airfield 3 miles from Lossiemouth called Milltown. It had three runways, two hangars and huts, offices and lecture rooms. Instructors were sometimes sent there from Lossiemouth. When I first went there which was in early 1944, I used to travel from Lossiemouth each day on a borrowed bicycle. In the summer I moved into a hut at Milltown and stayed until about the end of August before moving back to Lossiemouth.
When the French airmen completed their operational training at Lossiemouth, they went to Elvington, an airfield five miles from York where they operated with Halifax bombers.
Instructors were constantly going back on bombing operations, some being sent back and some volunteering. Although the minimum time off after completing a tour of 30 operations was 6 months, some were off much longer. To many, going back on bombing operations was like a death sentence, whereas some wanted nothing more. Flt/Lt Ian Bazalgette DFC, a pilot instructor at Milltown in 1944, went back on operations with No 635 Pathfinder Squadron. In August 1944, then a Squadron Leader Master Bomber, he was killed and a year later the posthumous VC was announced.
Whilst at Lossiemouth I was detailed as prisoner’s escort at the Court Martial of a Flight Sergeant Pilot. The pilot, who had operated in the Middle East when he came to Lossiemouth, went home and never returned. From his home he had written a letter to his Commanding Officer which said he no longer wished to fly because it was against his religious beliefs, and that he would be willing to serve as a sretcher bearer. He was arrested at his home by service police, brought back to Lossiemouth and before his court martial put in detention. As expected, after the court martial, he was reduced to the lowest rank AC2 and given 6 months detention. I could not help feeling sorry for him.
There were other ex operational aircrew constantly joining us. Two airmen I had known on 97 Squadron arrived; Flt/Sgt Johnnie Gardener DFM, a bomb aimer, and Warrant Officer Smith DFM and Bar, a wireless operator and a real old timer. Some more flight engineers joined our section — F/O Ray Dewey DFC and Flt/Sgt Monty Banks. They had operated on Halifax bombers. Ray Dewey was a great bloke. When we were at Milltown, nearly everyone had bicycles and Ray and I would often ride into Elgin which was fairly near.
Lossiemouth, a fishing village, had a harbour and a few public houses which seemed austere after English pubs. We would sometimes go to the Steamboat near the Harbour, or the Beach Bar which had a little more life. I remember a café where the menu was mainly Spam and Omelette made with dried eggs. Some Saturday nights there was a dance in a stone built hall known as the Stalingrad. I only went there once. Busses ran from Lossiemouth to Elgin, a clean pleasant town where we sometimes went on a Saturday night. We would go to the Crown and the Grand, a hotel. In the summer of ’44 there was a fair at Elgin for some time and we had a little fun. With D-Day, no doubt like many others, I felt out of things, but it soon passed. My main thoughts were now with Sylvia, my ATS girlfriend. We wrote to each other regularly, and sent the occasional telegram. I had several leaves from Lossiemouth. I would travel overnight from Aberdeen on the Aberdonian that always arrived on time at 0800 hrs at Kings Cross. On occasion I had a sleeper. I was always able to see Sylvia on my leaves. Once in July 1944 when I was home in Surrey, the V1s were coming over all day, nearly all passing over our area and cutting out and coming down on the outer southern towns and suburbs of London.
During my time with 20 OUT, Lossiemouth accidents had been high. The Wellingtons were old, and there was high ground and much of the flying was over water. In 1943/44 six Wellingtons just disappeared, each one with five men. Sometimes an empty dinghy might be found on the sea. There was one young Australian Sergeant Pilot named Hurley and crew that were all killed when, during an exercise, the main wing spar of their Wellington fractured. Shortly after that, another Wellington’s main wing spar fractured on a practice bombing exercise. For a time the Wellingtons were grounded, but training had to go on. Wellington wing spars were eventually strengthened at RAF St Athan, Glamorgan.
On my last leave, Sylvia and I decided to get married and the wedding was fixed for 2nd November 1944.
In the autumn I had left Milltown and I was now back at Lossie. One day in early October I received a message to report to the Adjutant. I entered his office, saluted and gave my name. He then informed me that I had to go back on bombing operations. I was not surprised, I had been off eleven months, but inwardly I thought about the wedding. The Adjutant was going to send me into 4 Group which operated Halifaxes. I then said that I would like to go back on Pathfindersas I had been with 97 Squadron at Bourn. The Adjutant was very decent about it and fixed it for me. About two days later I was posted to the PFF Navigation Training Unit, Warboys, Huntingdonshire.

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