大象传媒

OPERATIONAL ORGANISATION
During the day the ground crew would have checked the aircraft and the armourers would have filled the bomb bay with high explosive and/or incendiary bombs suited to the target being attacked. Providing that it was not the second night on the trot that the squadron had operated, the aircrew would have carried out a short air test in the morning to see that all was well.

Four hours before take off the crews would have a meal. No fried food was served as this tended to produce wind in the digestion when flying at height in unpressurised aircraft. Two and a half hours before take off the crews would report for briefing. First of all in groups of pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, wireless operators and gunners and then all together as a crew. Every detail of the planned operation would be covered; routes, heights, speeds, location of enemy defenses, weather en route and on return, bomb load, method of target marking and bombing technique. By the time all this was finished, there was just about enough time for the gunners to struggle into flying kit (at altitude they needed electrically heated under suits) and for them and the rest of the crew to draw parachutes and then clamber into the trucks that would take them out to their aircraft.
On return de-briefing by intelligence staff might take another hour allowing for reporting on the plane's performance to the ground crew before the crew could make their way to the mess for the traditional bacon and egg meal (a great privilege in war-time Britain). Then one could stagger off to bed safe in the knowledge that no-one would want to see you before lunchtime.

OPERATIONAL MEMORIES
It would involve a lot of needless repetition if a full account was given of every operation listed above because there were a lot of common factors. What I have done therefore is to pick out number things and incidents which I hope will give you a flavour of our experiences in 1944.

THE CREW
We always had one off duty night per week when we went out as a crew generally to a country pub. We either cycled there or squeezed ourselves into Bill's very small 2-3 seater car. One of the special privileges given to aircrew was a small ration of recreational petrol; the other was a week leave every six weeks while on a front line squadron. Rank did not matter when we were by ourselves. Bill and I were Flying Officers (after 10 trips Bill became an acting Right Lieutenant as deputy Fight Commander), Frank was a Warrant Officer, and all the rest were Flight Sergeants.

TAKEOFF
Always a slightly risky business with a full load of bombs and fuel. The drill was to rev the engines up to 3000 rpm (cruising rpm 1800/200) with the brakes on, then release the brakes and start rolling down the runway while the Navigator called out the airspeed in knots; 60, 65, 70, 75 and so on until 140 was reached and then the Pilot could ease the plane into the air while the Engineer retracted the wheels as quickly as possible to reduce drag.

CLIMB
Against heavily defended German targets it was necessary to climb to 23000 feet to be above the flak zone. It took the best part of an hour to reach this height, either flying over the North Sea when attacking northerly targets or flying down to the south of England if a southerly target was the objective. Oxygen was turned on once 12000 feet was reached. This was a precaution as above 18000 feet in an unpressurised aircraft you will become unconscious rapidly without an oxygen supply. Fortunately for most of the crew temperature was not a problem. There front of the plane where everyone bar the gunners were stationed was well warmed by a warm air system powered by waste heat from one of the engine's radiators. The gunners at the rear inside their perspex turrets were effectively sitting in the open air and at maximum height in a European winter the outside temperature could drop to minus 40 centigrade. Frostbitten faces were not unknown despite electrically heated face masks.

FLYING AT HEIGHT
The usual speed was 160 knots. The use of knots is nothing to do with some of the early aviators being sailors. A nautical mile is one minute (one sixtieth) of a degree of latitude. Distances on the Mercator's charts that we used could thus be measured quickly off the latitude scale on the side of the chart. The job of everyone bar the Navigator and the Wireless Operator was to keep their eyes skinned, up, down and both sides. Because there was a blind spot below, the pilot generally flew in a series of gentle "banks" in danger areas. Although many aircraft were lost to flak, the majority of losses were due to fighters; hence the needs for a good look-out. "Window" (large quantities of silver paper) were dropped over enemy territory to confuse their Radar.

TARGETS
Attacks on major towns and industrial areas in Germany where the flak defenses were heavy had to be at altitude. Target marking was therefore always a problem especially as frequently the target was obscured by thick cloud. The main force, of which our squadron was a part, therefore relied on the "pathfinders", experienced crews who were equipped with slightly better H2S and on nearer targets (as far as the Rhur) with "Oboe", a very accurate radar based on beams from UK bases whose range was limited by the curvature of the earth. The pathfinders would drop "ground markers" if possible. The were essentially large fireworks which would bum on the ground for some minutes and which would be backed up by further waves of pathfinder aircraft. If the target was obscured by cloud "skymarkers" had to be used. In this case the pathfinder's markers were suspended from parachutes which drifted slowly down before disappearing into the clouds. Of course this method was far less accurate but never the less some good results were obtained. In the build up to 0 Day when French communication targets were being attacked, clear nights with no clouds were picked and bombing was carried out from 4000 to 7000 feet. This greatly increased the accuracy and it was necessary at times to deliberately drop the marker off target and then to use a false wind on the bombsight to hit the target. This was to avoid the marker being blown out by our own bombs.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Anastasia Travers a volunteer with WM CSV Actiondesk on behalf of John Maunsell and has been added to the site with his permission. John Maunsell fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

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