大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War Site by Bob Roberts. He flew with 144 Squadron from North Luffenham aerodrome

Before the war I worked for Wessex Aircraft. The boss said, 鈥淣o, you can鈥檛 join the Forces.鈥� But I said, 鈥淣o, I鈥檓 going. My brother鈥檚 gone so I鈥檓 going鈥�. My first place that I went to was Penarth in Wales 鈥� that鈥檚 where you got your training, your number, everything given to you. Then I was posted to Blackpool to learn to march, up and down on the Prom. All RAF people had rifles in our day, they had steel helmets, gas masks. All ready in case we were attacked by gas like the end of the 1914 war.

I was sent to North Luffenham and that was where I started the bombing raids with 144 Squadron. It was the Hampdens and the Wellingtons in them days. The Hampden was called the Flying Dustman, because you were all in the front with a long thin tail section. You used to take off from the aerodrome and when you came back some were missing. But you weren鈥檛 allowed to talk about it. The ground staff were not allowed to talk about it. The bombers were named in alphabetical order; A for Apple, B for Bertie so that you鈥檇 know which was your aircraft. When you landed, no lights except on the runway 鈥� paraffin with a wick. They were only put there for a little while. During the fog you lit them 鈥榗ause it helped to lift the fog. One plane crashed when his undercarriage didn鈥檛 come down. He was towed off the runway quick. If you couldn鈥檛 see the runway or the aerodrome you had to go to another aerodrome.

There used to be a beacon on a trailer and they would spell out NL so the different aerodromes would be flashing out a different signal so the pilot know which aerodrome he was approaching. If there was an air raid on, you would be told to buzz off. It鈥檚 not nice when you haven鈥檛 got much fuel. So the pilot would say 鈥淚 reckon you ought to bail out鈥�. Well I did it once and I wouldn鈥檛 do it again.

In the NAAFI area they put on films and some of the staff would entertain you. You were always kept occupied so you couldn鈥檛 think back. You had games to play 鈥� skittles, dominoes; most of it was gambling but if you got caught you got done. Sometimes you ended up broke. The food was pretty poor. It was rationed same as civilians. It used to make me laugh. They had two tea urns marked 鈥榳ith sugar鈥� and 鈥榳ithout sugar鈥�. It didn鈥檛 matter which you took as there was no sugar. When you did jankers and had to clean the Officers鈥� Mess, you passed sugar out the window to your mates. We went out to catch rabbits.

For entertainment, we went into Stamford mostly; to the pictures and there were Forces Canteens where you could get a cup of tea and a cake. The Salvation Army played in the Market Square on a Sunday and two of the airmen played in the band

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