大象传媒

Dear Editor
I have been researching my 2 Uncles that were lost in Stirling Aircaraft during WW2. I have visited Germany, France and Holland as part of the research and have many photos, video other documents etc. If anyone would like further information I would be happy to share it with them.

Lest We Forget

Stan Bond

My involvement with aircraft began with sixpenny gliders. It was heightened by
growing up with the pictures of two of my Uncles, Stan and Dick, on my
Grandmothers' mantle-piece. They looked smart in their RAF uniforms, and to me
they looked so grown up. It is only recently that I have come to realise that they were
in their early twenties when their lives were abruptly 'snuffed out鈥�. This then is the
telling of their stories....Lest We Forget.

Stan Bond was an athletic, good looking chap, the kind of person that anyone would
be pleased to have as a big brother. Growing up in London, his life was soon to be
overtaken by the advent of the Second World War. Seeing the damage inflicted on his
home town by the Luftwaffe, seeing schools bombed and children killed he was keen
to do his part in defending his country, like his Father before him who had fought
proudly in the Dardenelles and had scars as well as medals to attest to his courage.

The RAF was the place to be. Talented at most subjects, he excelled at Maths and Art
and a position as a Navigator was a natural use for his talents. During 1942 he went to
Florida to train with Pan American Airways, the fore runners of the modern Airline.
Our family has a number of his photographs taken whilst in Florida, and it always
gives me a feeling of comfort to know that this young man, who had known what it
was like to live in a large family in London during the early war years, had at least
known a brief spell of enjoyment in the Florida sun, away from the deprivations of
war-torn London.

Much of his Navigational training was carried out in Commodore seaplanes around
the Florida Keys, carrying out both day and night-time flying. I have his Navigational
Logs, showing courses plotted, tracks flown, star and sun fixes, and comments written
by the instructor who remarked that he was "Exceptional in flight and theory".
Apparently, theirs was the last group of RAF aircrew to be trained in with Pan
American in Florida. When my Uncle John (brother of Dick and Stan) was discussing
this with the RAF museum at Hendon they turned to a reference book to see exactly
what a Commodore looked like. To their amazement the book showd a photo of the
exact aircraft on which Stan did most of his training!

All too soon it was time to return to 鈥淏ritain-in-the-Blitz鈥�, bringing home a lemon
with him. This was such a rarity that it made the local newspapers!

At the same time as Stan was growing up, the War Department, conscious of the
gathering clouds of war, was looking for aircraft to update its aged Squadron, many of
which were still flying aircraft reminiscent of battles fought in the skies of France and
Germany 20 years earlier. Short Brothers were developing their Stirling-the first
four-engined bomber that this country had ever seen. At last, the people of England
had something with which they could now fight back.

Stan, having carried out his Air Observers and Advanced Navigation Course at
Bobbington between 26th Jan 43 and 23rd March 43 was destined to meet F/Sgt J
Nicholls, the pilot with whom he would share the remainder of his short life, at No 12
Operational Training Unit at RAF Chipping Warden in April 1943. His log shows
they first flew together for a three and a half hour cross country on 24th April in
Wellington BK157. By the time they had finished their training at 12 O.T.U. in June
1943 they had flown 34.35 hours daytime and 35.00 hours night-time together.

Their next flight was as part of 1651 Heavy Conversion Unit at Waterbeach on 17th
June 1943. It could be said that Waterbeach was the 鈥渇inishing school鈥� before going
onto an operational squadron. It was here that they first flew in the mighty Stirling.
Few people realise that this was longer and higher than the Lancaster. The Stirling
was renowned for being a handful to land, particularly in a cross-wind due to the
extended undercarriage. Like most trainee fliers, the log is pre-occupied with circuits
and landings during this early period on a strange aircraft. Within a couple of weeks
they were flying further afield, with two long cross-countries, both of five and a half
hours each, one in daylight, the other in darkness. It was during both of these final
cross countries that they over-flew Harwell, an airfield that was to play a fateful role
in Dick's life, a year after his brothers' death. After just three weeks and 35 hours
flying at 1651 HCU Waterbeach, it was time to move on to an operational Squadron.

620 Squadron was based at Chedburgh near Cambridge. At the time of the Squadron's
formation in June 1943 the Bomber offensive was at its peak, not only in terms of
operational effort, but also as the only really direct and effective threat to the war
effort inside Germany.

Most of the aircrew were in their early 20's, many were still in their teens. The new
C.O. was aged just 24. The Squadron was formed on the 17th June 1943 and carried
out its first operational duty on the l9th/2Oth June when 8 Stirlings from 620 joined
with 282 other aircraft to bomb the Schneider Works at Le Creusot.

They lost their first aircraft just three days later with the loss of all crew. By the time
that Stan and his crew joined on 11th July 1943, less than a month after the formation
of the Squadron, a further three aircraft had been lost together with 17 airmen and 5
ground crew, 29 dead already. Two weeks later, on a 705 aircraft raid to Essen, three
more Squadron aircraft were to be lost with 21 crew, although 9 airmen were later
found to be P.O.W's.

Seven Squadron aircraft lost, 50 men dead or missing, and my Uncle had yet to fly his
first mission. I would regard just stepping into an aircraft under these conditions to be
an act of bravery that far surpasses the worth of any medal. My Grandmother told me
some years ago that Stan and his friends would occasionally come to see her when on
leave. "They all had to walk round with their heads tipped back to stop the drink
spilling out!" One can understand the need for young men to "let off steam" under
conditions such as these!

Their first operational mission was on the 28th July 1943 when they went
"Gardening" in the Frisian Islands-a euphemism for laying mines off the coast of the
Frisian Islands. Although regarded as a nursery run, it was not without its risks as a
number of aircraft were lost to Flak ships. Although not part of the raids on the
following night, the 29th/30th was the night of the terrible "Firestorm" on Hamburg
when smoke was reported up to 17,000 feet, with the fires being seen 150 miles away.
Some 100,000 people are reported to have lost their lives on this raid alone.

Stan's next Operational Mission was on l7th/l8th August when a total of 596 aircraft
were detailed to attack the Rocket Research Establishment on the Baltic coast. "A
maximum effort" was called for on this famous raid on Peenemunde. The target was
described as a "Radar Research Establishment" (it made the V1 and V2 rockets) and
the C in C's order of the day was to the effect that if the place was not knocked out
first time they would have to go back and do it again! Twelve Chedburgh Stirlings
took part, aiming at the green markers put down by the Pathfinders. For the first time,
a "Master of Ceremonies" was used who, as a skilled member of the Pathfinder Force,
stayed in the area as long as necessary to control the bomber stream-an unenviable
role. The trip home was made at low level and over the coastal waters the Stirlings
were hammered by flak ships. A total of 41 aircraft failed to return, including one
from the Squadron, and among the casualties, 131 airmen disappeared without trace
into watery graves. It is estimated that the destruction caused by the raid on
Peenemunde delayed the introduction of the "Flying Bombs" by 6 months-no doubt
saving many British lives in London and the Home Counties.

The entry in Stan's log for 22nd August is something of a mystery-it just states-Flew
to Tangmere to collect aircraft "P". At first I thought that perhaps another crew had
landed "P" there, maybe with injured on board, or low on fuel and Stan and his crew
had been detailed to bring it back. Looking at the Squadron records "P" crashed in
Germany three weeks earlier so this must be its replacement, but why was it coming
from Tangmere which was renowned as a fighter base? Stirlings certainly weren't
built there! A conundrum for another day, but a question that always crosses my mind
when I fly past Tangmere. Why was Stan collecting a Stirling from a fighter base?

Prior to operations on 23 August, their sister Squadron, 214, took part in a Group
Bombing Competition. When the curtain was later drawn back in the briefing room,
the red ribbon stretched across to "Big B"-Berlin. The target was attacked mainly with
incendiaries in good weather with the help of the "Master of Ceremonies" but amidst
intense fighter and searchlight activity. In his last letter home to his 鈥渕um鈥� on the
next day Stan reports "Had a night out over Berlin, not a bad little dump-WAS it?鈥�
Typical cockney humour without a trace of the frightening experiences they must
have had. Four days later on 27 August, Nuremberg was the target. The operations
record book shows that Stan and his crew took off in Stirling EE942 (QS-R) at 21.36
as last of the 620 Sqdn. aircraft. Their route took them down to Beachy Head, across
much of France before turning East towards Germany. Their next turning point was
some 50 miles South of Nuremberg where they then turned on a Northerly course to
commence their bombing run, aiming as usual at the green markers laid down by the
Pathfinders. Their Northerly course continued for a further 50 miles past the target
before turning West towards home. 620 Squadron were tragically unlucky, losing
three of their seven aircraft with the surviving crews reporting many enemy aircraft
and a starlit night-a deadly combination. A total of 33 aircraft were lost that night. My
Uncle and his crew were in one of these aircraft. They are believed to have been shot
down by a night fighter, crashing at Halbersdorf 50 miles North of Nuremberg-
bombing run completed and on the way home.

The crew of Stirling EE 942 OS-R
Pilot F/Sgt J. Nicholls
Navigator Sgt S.J. Bond
Bomb Aimer PlO N.S. Mitchell
Flight Engineer Sgt M. Meakin
Wireless operator F/Sgt J.P. Donelley (RNZAF)
Mid upper gunner Sgt G.C. Burton
Rear Gunner Sgt S.G. Coyne

Stan's total service life lasted but one year. His Squadron life only 6 weeks. He flew
on four Operational Missions and had a total flying time of 116 hours Daylight and
137 hours Night. He was only 20 at the time of his death.

The crew were originally buried in the local cemetery by the local Priest, Pastor
Endres, being moved to the Durnbach Military cemetery after the war ended.

POSTSCRIPT

In August 1995, 52 years after Stan's death, I visited Germany. After so much loss of
life on both sides I found the Germans to be a very friendly people -even the older
generation who would have been so affected by the war. The local Burgomaster
(Mayor) went out of his way to be helpful. He took my family to the site where the
aircraft crashed deep in peaceful pine woods. Even today there are many broken and
twisted pieces of metal lying just under the surface. Also, the ground about 6 inches
down is clearly blackened by the fire that burned throughout that fateful night of
27/28 August 1943. Exploded ammunition cases bear testimony to the heat of the
blaze. Spent cartridge cases show that they went down fighting.

By an amazing piece of luck the Burgomaster knew of a man, Herr Dumler, who had
seen the aircraft crashing in flames that fateful night in 1943. He had researched the
crash and had published a booklet. I was very moved to learn that despite the crew
being his former enemies, he had erected at his own expense, a memorial to the fallen
airmen.

A brief translation of the booklet is as follows...
鈥淥n the summer night of 27th/28th August 1943 there was the largest air raid over
Nuremberg. The inhabitants of Prolsdorf were awakened by heavy explosions and the
droning of aircraft overhead. No one would find any rest that night. The night sky
over Nuremberg was lit up with a red glow of fire. Then suddenly a fire in the sky. An
aircraft was burning and diving out of control, most likely it was hit by one of the
German night fighters. The bomber was heading straight towards Prolsdorf. Everyone
took cover-Isidor Schunders even crept into a large drain pipe!
Seconds later the bomber crashed burning into the nearby wood. Our village was
unharmed. The bomber was burning fiercely and the ammunition was exploding in all
directions. Nobody dared go near. The following morning everyone made their way to
the burnt out bomber. Pine trees for a length of 140 metres and width of 20 metres
had been cleanly shaved off. The aircraft was a total wreck. Undercarriage wheels,
engines and aircraft parts lay strewn all over the crash site. The crew were all dead.
They were placed into coffins and carried to the nearby village of Schonbrunn where
Pastor Endres laid them to rest in his Cemetery. After the war the crew were moved to
the Military cemetery at Durnbach鈥�.

Pastor Endres died in 1953 and we found his grave in the same cemetery as Stan had
originally been buried 10years earlier.

The War Graves cemetery in Durnbach, South of Munich, is in a beautiful setting
amidst the mountains of the Black Forest. Many British Fliers have been brought
together in this final resting place. Because of the long distance from home we were
the first to visit Stan鈥檚 grave. We were very touched to lay red roses on the graves of
all the crew on behalf of their families and loved ones at home.

=============================================================

RICHARD (DICK BOND)

Dick was the elder of the two brothers by 3 years, and he enlisted into the RAF
reserves as a fitter on 3rd September 1940, at the time that the Battle of Britain was
coming to its climax. Whether it was the fact that his brother Stan was training as a
Navigator I don't know, but he subsequently started training as a Flight Engineer on
21st December 1942, later joining A. V. Roe and Co (AVRO) for a six week period on
25th October 1943. He qualified as a Flight Engineer on 25th November 1943, just 3
months after his brothers' death. He was married, his picture gives me the impression
of the quieter elder brother. Much of the following information was unknown to my
family until I started my research in 1994.

At the end of 1943 he joined 1665 Heavy Conversion Unit at Woolfox Lodge in
Rutland where he met up with his first crew and flew his first Stirling. Although some
of the crew members were to change over the coming months, he stayed with his
pilot, Bill Baker right through to the end. Apparently Bill was an American pilot who
already owned his own aircraft in the States, and he volunteered with the Royal
Canadian Air Force as a way of "seeing the action."

On the 7th January 1944 the crew joined their first operational squadron, 196 at
Tarrant Rushton. In the previous months the Stirlings had taken such a mauling that
they had been withdrawn from front line bombing duties due to their low ceiling
capability of only some 16,000ft. The introduction of the Lancaster in greater
numbers, with its higher ceiling and greater bomb capacity meant that the Stirling was
now being used to good effect in a transport role.

Their first Operational Mission was flown from Hurn, just a short hop South of
Tarrant Rushton on 8th February 1944. The log simply states "Special Mission-Low
Level- S. France." This was to be the first of a number of night-time flights deep into
enemy occupied France at rooftop height. Five hours forty minutes of intense
concentration, especially for the pilot! Although it was generally believed that they
were dropping supplies of arms and ammunition to the French resistance, together
with SOE agents, the exact details are unclear. Indeed, the full information of most of
these low level drops remains covered by the Official Secrets Act.

Throughout much of early 1944 many supply drops were made to France by Stirlings
in readiness for the coming invasion. Dick's Log also shows an increasing number of
flights were made towing Horsa Gliders and paratroop dropping -the shape of things
to come. On 14th March 1944, 196 Sqdn moved from Tarrant Rushton to Keevil
where flying took place almost everyday, practising for the invasion. It is interesting
to note from the log that flying appears to come to an abrupt halt after 27th May. This
is explained by the need to get all aircraft serviced and fully ready to take part in what
was to become known as D Day. During this intervening week all personnel were
confined to the airfield. Secrecy was paramount and nobody was allowed in or out of
the base without a very good reason! Finally, the aircraft were taken up for a short air
test on 3rd June 1944.

Dick's involvement with D Day actually began the night before when 20 troops
together with their kit, 9 containers and a bike(!) were loaded into the aircraft. Along
with many others from 196 and 299 Sqdns, the Stirlings thundered down the Keevil
runway and into the night sky on "Operation Tonga." The only information that I had
about the destination of this trip was that Operation Tonga involved dropping troops
in the dead of night on "Drop Zone N." Where was drop zone N? In 1994, 50 years
after D Day I went to France for the 50th Anniversary of D Day. My first stop in
Normandy was the Cafe Gandree at Ranville, next to what has now become known as
"Pegasus Bridge" after the Flying Horse emblem of the Paratroops insignia. This was
the first house in the first village to be liberated from German tyranny. Buying a
souvenir map of Normandy I was astounded to realise that Drop Zone N was within
800m of where I sat-Dick's troops must have been involved with the liberation of the
first French village!

However, things did not all go smoothly. The anti-aircraft fire was intense, and the
log reads "Two inner engines knocked out by flak. Nav. and Bomb Aimer bailed out
over France. Crash landed at RAF Ford." This matter-of-fact report must cover a great
deal of fear and anxiety. According to family history, the aircraft had taken a bit of a
pasting, and the intercom was u/s, the pilot, Bill Baker, said "prepare to bail out",
unfortunately the Navigator and Bomb Aimer only heard part of the message-they
bailed out over the English Channel in the early hours of 6th June and were drowned.
Richard Luff DFC, the Squadron Bomb Aimer was never found and his name is
remembered along with all other aircrew with no known grave on the RAF
Runneymead Memorial overlooking the River Thames near Windsor. He also took
with him the whereabouts of a squadron sweepstake! Before D Day they had
apparently taken bets on the time and date of the Normandy Invasion. The winner was
denied his money as nobody knew where Richard Luff had left the takings!

Flying Officer Anderson, the Navigator, was washed up at Calais three weeks later
and is now buried in the Canadian War Cemetery on the cliffs overlooking Calais.

(Additional information-Richard Luff was not normally part of my Uncle鈥檚 crew.
Apparently, so I am advised by surviving 196 Sqn members, Richard Luff was the
Squadron Bomb Aimer, so perhaps he was making sure he got in on the event! My
Uncle鈥檚 pilot, Bill Baker, was already an experienced pilot before he came over from
America, so perhaps he wanted to go with a reliable pilot! This is just my guessing,
perhaps one of my Uncle鈥檚 crew was sick-we shall never know)

The remaining crew then fought to bring their stricken aircraft home, throwing out
guns, ammunition, indeed anything they could remove, into the English Channel.
They finally made land at 02.28am, crashing just short of the airfield at RAF Ford.
When you realise that Ford is only 1/2 mile from the sea, and that they couldn't make
it to the airfield, you begin to understand how close they came to ditching-no fun in
the dead of night. The crew were given the customary one week compassionate leave,
but how do you get over leaving part of your crew in the English Channel?

After a week Dick was back to flying again, carrying out three more low level Special
Missions to France, dropping containers and panniers or the SOE. On the 8th August,
Dick and Bill Baker were transferred to 570 Sqdn at Harwell where they teamed up
with an existing crew who had lost their pilot due to sickness. This crew were to
remain together until the end. A further three missions were flown to France during
August and September before the log shows the final entries.

On the 17th September 8 aircraft from Harwell were detailed, as part of a much larger
force, to tow Horsa gliders from Harwell to ARNHEM.

The gliders were carrying the HQ Staff and others from the First Airborne Division.
One aircraft crashed on take off. The remaining aircraft flew in loose pairs in a line
astern formation. The trip out was at 2500ft, releasing the gliders over the drop zone
at Grave, Holland, and then back at 7000ft.

Enemy opposition was light and the weather fair. The only problem was with the
planning. It was believed, wrongly as it turned out, that the drop of sufficient troops to
capture Arnhem and its bridge could not be achieved in one day, and it was therefor
split over 2 days, losing the element of speed and surprise. As a consequence the
paratroops became heavily pinned down, and the rest has now become the sad but
heroic history of Arnhem.

The 18th September saw Phase two-the continued re-supply. 15 aircraft from 570
Sqdn. each containing 24 containers and four packages were detailed to re-supply the
troops on the ground at Arnhem. The run to the drop zone was carried out at 1500ft,
descending to 600ft for the actual supply drop.

One aircraft failed to return, another was badly hit by flak over the Dutch Islands and
made a successful crash landing. Enemy opposition was getting heavier with most
aircraft suffering some flak damage.

By the 19th September the position of the troops on the ground was getting desperate.
The part time German troops that were originally believed to be in the area turned out
to be a crack Panzer division on rest leave. The British Paratroops were out-gunned
and outnumbered, and were being squeezed into an ever smaller enclave. Food and
ammunition were running low and it was clear that the objective of capturing the
bridge over the Rhine would not be achieved. The troops were now fighting for their
survival. For the third day running 570 Sqdn were detailed to fly to Arnhem, 17
aircraft each carrying 24 containers and four packages were briefed to drop on the
ever decreasing area occupied by the British troops. The weather was bad over
Belgium and Holland with 10/10ths cloud and visibility in most areas down to
2-4000yds. This restricted fighter support as most of the continental airfields were
clamped. Enemy opposition had greatly increased, especially around the D.Z. area,
and crews reported intensive 88mm flak with most aircraft suffering casualties and
damage. All dropped successfully but three aircraft failed to return to base from 570
Sqdn, which was doubly hard as it was subsequently learned that the British were no
longer in the Drop Zone, having been beaten back into an ever diminishing area by
overwhelming fire power.

The adverse weather prevented flying on the 20th. It was 55 years later, sitting in the
Oosterbeek Cemetery in September 1999, the 55th Anniversary Commemoration of
the Arnhem landings that I realised Dick and his crew had tried to fly on the 21st. It is
not shown in his log book as they probably did not have time to keep the books up to
date, but the Squadron records show that they took to the air once again but had to
turn back after an hour with engine problems-perhaps as a result of the flying lead on
the last trip-we shall never know. Dick and his crew were again in the air on 23rd,
taking-off at 14.34. Because of the desperate position that our troops were now in the
drop was ordered at zero feet to try and ensure the supplies got through. At this height
aircraft and crew become very vulnerable. Fighter support was again poor and the
usual 88mm flak came up in large quantities. All aircraft were believed to have
dropped their supplies, but four failed to return home -including Stirling EF298 V8-T
which carried Dick Bond and his crew.

THE CREW OF STIRLING EF 298 V8-T
Pilot F/O W. Baker RCAF)
Navigator F/O J. Dickson DFM
Air Bomber F/O R.C.Booth
Wireless Operator F.G.Totterdell
Air Gunner F/Sgt D.J.Blencowe
Flight Engineer Sgt R.B.Bond

The time of qualifying as a Flight Engineer to the time of his death was only 10
months. He had flown a total of 121 hours daylight and 110 night. He was 24, leaving
a wife and baby daughter.

POSTSCRIPT

As I mentioned earlier, much of the above information has only come to light since
starting my research in 1994. Dick and Stan鈥檚 3 sisters and one brother, together with
Dick's wife and daughter have only learned recently what quiet heroes these young
lads were. In 1994, the 50th Anniversary of Arnhem I visited the town and saw where
the fighting took place. Although some 90 aircraft were lost in total, I managed to
locate the crash site of Dick's aircraft, deep in pine woods some 5 miles to the
North-West of Arnhem -they had evidently dropped their supplies and were on their
way home. The crash site was very much like Stan鈥檚-a peaceful pine forest, but still
with broken pieces of aircraft clearly visibly across a wide area. Again, I had an
unbelievable stroke of good fortune. The owner of the woods produced two
photographs taken of the crashed aircraft and kindly provided copies for me. To be
able to actually see the crashed aircraft 50 years later was remarkable.

Although there are memorial stones in the Arnhem cemetery to all the crew of six
plus the two Army Air Corps despatchers who were pushing the supplies out of the
aircraft, it was known that only three bodies were actually found. Our family have
always believed for the last 50 years that Dick was literally blown to pieces. Although
his wife has visited the gravestone, she felt that this had little meaning as "Dick was
not there". After my return to England in 1994 I received a letter from the Dutch man,
Mr Koker who owns the woods. He had found a negative and had it developed. It
showed two crosses. Of the eight people on board, three bodies had been found and
buried alongside the plane. Of these three bodies the picture only showed two crosses.
On one of the two crosses it is possible to make out on the original enlargement the
words "An unknown British Airman". On the other is my Uncle's name -R.B. BOND

My Aunt (Dick鈥檚 wife) and her daughter went back to Arnhem in September 1994 for
the 50th Anniversary Commemorations. For my Aunt, it was to say a final Goodbye to
her husband after 50 years. For her daughter, it was to say Hello to the Father she
never knew.

In October 2002 Aunt Jessie died. It was Dick鈥檚 daughter鈥檚 wish that her ashes would
be buried at her father鈥檚 grave in Arnhem. Re-united at last.

This report is my small tribute to two brave young men who gave their lives for our
freedom....
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them.

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