大象传媒

I flew 68 operations in all during the war, and had the same pilot and flight engineer throughout.

I joined up in December 1940 at the age of 20. I had been working in the shoe trade in Kettering before then, but decided to join up because I wanted to join the RAF as flight crew, and you had to volunteer to get into that. My initial training was at Cardington, then off to Bridgenorth for foot drill. Initial wireless training was at Blackpool, with a main course at Yatesbury. I was stationed near Maidstone while I waited for my gunnery course which was held at Evanton in Scotland. We were flying Bothas 鈥� if you鈥檝e ever heard of them, and I passed my air gunners course marked 鈥渁verage鈥�! I had operational training with 19 OUT at Kinloss before being converted to flying Lancasters at Winthorpe.

I was finally posted to 97 Squadron at Bourn near Cambridge; part of the 8 Pathfinder Force. My first mission was on the 29th July 1943 and was a raid on Hamburg. I remember it very well. We were caught in a searchlight cone and it took us about eight minutes to get out. It might not sound long now, but when you are caught in the searchlights over the target, it feels a very long time indeed.

Our plane was designated 鈥淯鈥� within the squadron. The squadron had lost the last four 鈥淯鈥� planes in successive raids. We made it back, but with very heavy shrapnel damage.

My 5th raid was the bombing of the V1 rocket site at Peenemunde. They said afterwards that we had put the work there back 6 months.

I took part in a raid on Nurenburg in august, and then flew 13 raids over Berlin. At the briefings, it was known as the Big City, and when it was announced, you could see all the heads drop. We hated it. To be honest, that first raid especially was terrifying, what you might call a 鈥渂it dicey鈥�. It was also uncomfortable. You were flying for eight or nine hours, unable to move, and with no hostess service. Depending on the routes chosen and the wind conditions, Berlin raids could take anything from six to eight hours.

I remember one raid when we lost 60 or 70 planes in fog over our own country. Only three returned to Bourn that day.

In February 1944, my pilot completed his tour, and so I flew with an Australian called Pelletier for the five flights needed to complete my own tour. My last mission was on Stutgart.

I was sent to Warboys to do navigation training. I didn鈥檛 like it at all.

In October 44 my old pilot, De Wesselow contacted me to ask if I wanted to go back to opps for a second tour. I leapt at the chance. We were assigned to 635 Squadron at Downham Market.

In Feb 1945 our plane was the master bomber on the Dresden raid. It took us 8hrs and 50 minutes. We had to circle the target for about twenty minutes showing the other planes where to drop their bombs.

We did then take part in a few daylight raids, but by then there was little opposition.

I was due to go to the Far East, but the war ended, so I was sent instead to be adjutant of an RAF Hospital in India.

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