大象传媒

The Royal Air Force called me up in 1942 and I did my square bashing on the streets of Boston, Lincs. From there I went to Bowes Moor, Yorkshire which was a secret hutted camp where gas bombs were made. For me, it was a holding situation until I went on a radar training course at Latesbury, Wilts. From there on the job at RAF Worth Matravers, Swanage; then onto N. Foreland and then for a longer time at Hopton, Norfolk.
60 Group, 72 Wing was all about Radar Navigational aids and from being on the defensive at first, radar soon became an offensive weapon. The fundamental plan was simple 鈥� a master station to transmit pulses and two slave stations some 50/60 miles apart, also to transmit pulses which were locked to the master. But CH and CHL could not cope with low flying enemy aircraft, let alone E-boats. Every inch of the coast of England, Northern Ireland and most of Scotland and the outer islands had to be watched day and night.
The answer was a chain of centimeter stations 鈥� mostly mobile equipment 鈥� ours was type 13. Hopton was the furthest east that one could get on mainland England and it was here that Mary and Susie (code names for our mobile units) were situated. Both were on the air 24 hours a day and I was an operator on Mary which measured about 9X7 feet. The camaraderie, the loyalty and friendship of operators and mechanics alike had to be experienced to be believed. E-boat interceptions were successful, low-lying attacks were defeated by direct links to our AA guns and many a convoy was saved from attack.
By the end of 1943, window-dropping steel foil strips 鈥� was a device used by both Bomber Command and the enemy, whereby it was difficult to see approaching aircraft on screen, but we won that battle too.
As D-Day approached the enemy could not be allowed to get in close to see what we were doing. Our eyes were glued to the radar screens until the time came for some of us to leave. Many to the travel to the South Coast. In September 1944 we crossed the English channel in a landing craft and became part of the British Liberation Army, from Arronmanche we traveled through France and for a while were billeted in Mons, Belgium. After that we traveled into Holland and spent the winter and a snowy Christmas in bell tents at De Ripe. The fact that the tents were crowded, kept us warm! We were reasonably near the front line, but it was here that I met up with my brother again. He had been in the TA and was called up on the day before war was declared. He was in the Royal Artillery, had encountered the enemy in the Middle East, had come up via Sicily, Italy (he won the M>C at Anzio) landed in Southern France and thence to Holland.
I spent a brief time in Arhus, Denmark (ex Gestapo HQ), before we set up a more permanent unit in Freudenstadt, Germany. By this time we were the British Army of the Rhine and our energies were directed towards bombing enemy targets. Air Vice Marshall Donald Bennett commanded the Pathfinder force which became the spearhead of Bomber Command鈥檚 mass attacks on German cities and strategic installations. From our mobile unit, the very versatile mosquito could receive signals indicating either where to drop flares to mark the spot for following bombers or to drop its own bombs when it was required to carry out a very quick in and out raid. Oboe navigation was the code used, which combined our ground based units with the airborne receivers which the pilot and navigator used to reach their target. In the closing days of the war the Mosquitoes were required for target marking 鈥� not for bombing, but for the humanitarian operation Manna, in which they used their skills to pinpoint drop zones enabling much larger Allied aircraft to deliver precious food supplies for the beleaguered people of Northern Holland who were on the verge of starvation.
On V.E day I was on leave at home in Palmers Green, North London; on V.J. day I was in Freudenstadt. Shortly afterwards our unit traveled northwest to Bonn, where a large school had been commandeered for use by the RAF. Whilst there I became friends with the chaplain who was a one-time Irish rugger player: he was big and beefy in every way! One day I said to him 鈥淭om, I鈥檝e never been to Ireland 鈥� where could I go on holiday?鈥� He suggested a Christian Endeavour Holiday Home called Carrig Eden at Greystones, 17 miles south of Dublin. After my demob I spent a fortnight in Ireland and during my time there met a wonderful Irish girl who I asked to marry me 鈥� she said 鈥測es鈥�! We now have three children and five grandchildren and are happily retired in Stratford upon Avon.

(This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from Wyre Forest Volunteer Bureau on behalf of Donald Baker and has been added to this site with his permission. Mr Baker fully understands the site's terms and conditions.)

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