大象传媒

I was brought up on the coast near Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, famous for its shipbuilding and engineering. Because of this, when the war first started there was great concern about Barrow being the target of bombing raids. So that they would be safe at night, people left the town to come and sleep in the haylofts of outlying farms. It can't have been very comfortable and you wonder how people managed. The war, particularly the blackout had consequenses for those living in the countryside as well. An uncle and a cousin of mine were drowned while out musseling on the coast which they were very familiar with, presumably disoriented by the lack of familiar lights inland. My Uncle was deaf as well which probably added to the problem. The tide came in and they never came back. My uncle's body wasn't found until the following year.

The Air Force-training

I was a member of the Air Training Corps when I was at school and I signed up to join Air Crew when I was 17. My call up papers came shortly after. I received my first pay packet at Lords Cricket Ground. We were issued with both tropical kit and flying kit. A troop ship, the Rangitiki, was waiting for us at Liverpool. From there we sailed to Freetown and round the coast of Africa to Durban. The train journey we made to Southern Rhodesia was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life, especially seeing the Kalahari desert. We ended up in Bulawayo and carrying our flying kit, marched to an outlying farm where we slept in the pig styes. I was trained to fly there, but not very successfully, which was alright because I really wanted to be an Observer on Ansons and Oxfords. I passed out as an Observer and came back to Harrogate.

Training in England and becoming a member of the Goldfish Club.

We flew on the West Coast and my first flight on an Anson was as 2nd Navigator. On our first flight over water we had to ditch 20 miles south of the Isle of Man. We launched the dingy. It was March and we were in the dingy for an hour and a half before we were rescued by the Air Sea rescue boat. We then took the ferry back to Heysham.

Training at Lossiemouth and Riccall

Then I was sent to Lossiemouth. Girls flew planes there from other airadromes. I became part of a permanent crew. Training then moved to Riccall, a conversion unit, between Selby and York, so that we could train on 4 engined Halifaxes. From there we transferred to Squadron 578. Within a week we were on the crew list-the list went up for the day and you were on standby.

Into enemy territory

My first trip over Germany was to Bochum, one of the industrial towns in the Ruhr. It was a nightmare! At the briefing we'd been told to switch on our Z equipment- I didn't know what it was at first. We used Radar G-set. We arrived at the target too soon, ahead of the Pathfinder Force so no flares had been dropped to show us where we should be aiming. When bombs are released from a Halifax bomber, a camera takes a photo, so mistakes show up! I learnt a lesson that day. The German Ak Ak guns were very accurate but you were too busy to be frightened. To jam German Radar, long strips of metal were thrown from our planes.

In all I went on 30 night raids and several daylight raids. These were made up of several Squadrons escorted by American Mustangs. From Full Sutton Airadrome we continued to attack the industrial towns in the Ruhr. We were sworn to secrecy about our activities though. We couldn't even tell our families. I was on the first raid to Germany when they started to use Jet Fighters. They were able to fly everywhere but were very vulnerable.

We weren't on the Dresden bombing raid but did bomb Chemnitz. It was a long trip and we were supposed to bomb in the first wave. It was well defended. Sudddenly the sky was lit up by a big flare and quite a few planes were shot down but we got away. We were hit by Flak that went through the plane and out of the other side.

Just before the end of the war we bombed Duisburg. We had only just got back when we had to return for a second wave. I felt rotten about that.

Home leave but not the end of my war.

A few weeks before the end of the war in Europe I came home on leave. It wasn't the end of the war for me though. After training on Dakotas we flew to India in order to invade Malaya. From Karachi we flew all over the Far East. Later I was able to fly round Europe and saw the destruction.

After the war I went to University to study Maths but I never settled. I'd been part of a great flying crew-our Pilot officer was awarded the DFC- taking part in events which had changed the world. My subsequent career as a Maths teacher and later Head of Maths at two schools never quite matched up to my wartime experiences.

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