大象传媒

I am Reg Ware and I joined the RAF in 1942 volunteering for aircrew.After a few weeks at the reception centre at St Johns Wood we were sent to Liverpool and boarded a ship called the Otranto and set sail for we knew not where.This turned out to be the most uncomfortable period of my life till then.We lived and slept in mess decks,some below the waterline.There was never room for everyone to sling a hammock so you found room on the table or the floor.
After six weeks of seasickness and extreme discomfort we landed at Durban.From there we took a train to Bulawayo in S. Rhodesia as it was then,the journey took three days.
My time in S.Rhodesia was very pleasant after wartime Britain butin the end I failed to fly solo and was recommended as a navigator.I asked if I could train as a flight engineer and was told it would mean returning to the U.K.so I had the nightmare journey all over again.
Back in the U.K.I completed nine months of training and qualified as a flight engineer at St.Athan in S.Wales.
I joined a crew who had completed operational training and we eventually arrived at the airfield at Tuddenham to fly in Lancasters,this would be around October 1944.We flew 29 bombing missions 22 in daylight to a variety of targets before the war in Europe ended in May 1945.I like to think that we had a small part in ending it.

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