大象传媒

This unusual story is of a journey half way across the world to fly in an American aircraft that could not get off the ground. After training as Wireless Operator I joined a draft being sent out to the Far East. We left by troop ship from Liverpool in 1942 and sailed slowly via Freetown, Durban and Karachi. We then moved up to the Burma border to RAF Madhiganj to fly an American dive bomber, the Vultee Vengeance. The aircraft were unpacked and assembled but not a single one could take off. The engine fired but they could only manage to trundle along the runway. The problem was so bad that American engineers were sent for but they, too, could not solve the problem. We all celebrated Christmas 1942 and then the New Year of 1943 at 168 Wing and were then recalled to England.

Years later I found out what had gone wrong. I had become Head of Tenterfields School in Halesowen and a commercial traveller called. He was an old RAF man and had been in the Signals Office at Madhiganj in 1943. He knew the reason why the engines failed. In the American aircraft factory they had been tampered with by a group of Nazi sympathizers. They were clever because the engines had passed the manufacturer鈥檚 tests and because they were not found out until near the end of the war. What happened to them then is not known, but I went on to fly that remarkably reliable aircraft, the Lancaster.

Operations in Lancasters

Jock lived in Scotland and was 17 years of age when the war began in September 1939. In 1940 he volunteered for air crew and on August Bank Holiday 1941 he reported to Blackpool for basic training. He was selected for wireless operator training and was soon posted to Compton Bassett Training School. In August 1942 he was sent overseas on his fruitless expedition.

Back in England he was posted to Bomber Command and undertook further training as a wireless operator in Ansons and Wellingtons. By early 1944 he was at RAF Chedburgh in Suffolk for training on the four engined Stirling. After final training on Lancasters, he joined 12 Squadron at RAF Wickenby, Lincolnshire, in April 1944.

Jock flew 30 operations from May to August 1944 at a crucial time for the D-Day invasion. They included night operations over Germany to Aachen, Kiel and Stuttgart and daylight operations over France to support the invasion forces and to destroy E boats at Le Havre and V 1 installations near Calais. Many of his flights were in the same aircraft which was ME 758 and given the squadron letter N. It was on a daylight operation to a V 1 launching site that this aircraft suffered severe damage from flak. Two engines and three petrol tanks were hit and later 50-60 holes were counted in the aircraft. Two of the crew were wounded, but the pilot managed to bring the aircraft home successfully. His longest flight was one of 9 hours by night to bomb the Opel works near Mainz which was making components for the V weapons. His thirtieth operation was the forty sixth flight of ME 758 and his own operational flying hours amounted to 152 hrs. 35 mins.

After this tour of duty Jock was transferred to Flying Training Command. He returned to flying Ansons and in December 1944 was posted to RAF Halfpenny Green where he stayed until the end of the war. He eventually trained for teaching at Shenstone College, Kidderminster, and came to teach in Stourbridge at Hill St. School. He became Head at Tenterfields School, Halesowen, and was elected to Stourbridge Town Council. In the course of many years as Councillor he was Mayor for two years and was honoured with the M.B.E. for his public service. He still lives in Stourbridge.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.