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29TH Operational Training Unit at Bruntingthorpe, this was the unit where groups of Pilots, Navigators, Bomb Aimers, Wireless Operators and Air Gunners were assembled in a hanger, told to get to know each and then to form themselves into crews. The aircraft we were going to train on was the twin-engine Wellington, the RAF's front line Bomber at the start of the war but relegated to training duties by this stage. The system sounds a bit crude but it worked.

PILOT
Alan (Bill) Bayley was the Captain and Pilot, always called "Skipper" when talking to him over an aircraft's intercom. He was the son of a Sheffield tailor who had joined the RAF as a boy apprentice at the age of sixteen. He had trained as an engine fitter and by 1941 when he volunteered for pilot training was a Sergeant Fitter in an aircraft maintenance unit. His initial pilot training took place in California followed up by conversion from single-engine to twin-engine aircraft on return to the UK. He was twenty two.

NAVIGATOR
I (John Maunsell) was the Navigator. At the outbreak of the war in 1939 I was just about to start my final year in a Chemical Engineering degree course at London University. After a period of indecision, the authorities decided that we would not be allowed to volunteer until we had finished our course in 1940. This duly happened but I had already decided that I would try to get into the RAF as soon as I could. However there was such a queue to get in that it was not until April 1941 that I found myself in uniform. I filled in the time while I was waiting working as an engineer in a factory in the London docks. An interesting experience as this was the period when the German Luftwaffe was bombing that area in earnest. I joined up as a would be pilot but was rejected after elementary training in Alabama, USA, on the not unreasonable grounds that I could not land a plane safely. Was sent back to Canada, remustered a Navigator and then sent to South Africa via England for training. Age twenty three.

BOMB AIMER
Archie Naysmith was the Bomb Aimer. Archie came from a naval family, his father being a Petty Officer in the Royal Navy. He had tried to become a pilot at the same Californian air-school as Bill Bayley but he too had had landing problems and was transferred to a Bomb Aimer's course in Canada. In the early days-of the war, the Navigator then called the Observer, aimed the bombs as well but this combination of duties was found not to, work as aircraft got bigger and the equipment more complex and he duties were split. The Bomb Aimer was also given some sketchy pilot training so that he could take over if the Captain was disabled. Age twenty one.

WIRELESS OPERATOR
Frank Beecher was the Wireless Operator. One of the two married men in the crew he was also the oldest at twenty six. He trained in Australia and Canada before coming to the UK. His was a vital job, the one link with our base once we were airborne and out of range of the base's radio telephone. Messages inwards covered weather reports, diversion orders in case of fog and at times changes to the bombing plan; outwards weather to, at and from the target and navigational assistance to the main force by transmitting wind speed and direction to the main force if we had been selected as "wind finders". He also obtained radio bearings from radio beacons in the UK and occasionally from radio stations in neutral countries. Frank had a dry, laconic way of speaking; he never wasted a word and had a well developed sense of humour. A small man, say 5ft 6in, he was very strong physically and always was prominent in the rare opportunities we had to do anything athletic such as play soccer or go swimming. I remember he surprised us all when we went to a Station dance and found him playing a fiddle in the band.

AIR GUNNERS
Our two Air Gunners were Lloyd Marshall (Canadian) and Johnny Donovan. Lloyd was married and aged twenty three. An Air Gunners training was much shorter than other members of the crew and he found himself in the UK after little more than six months in uniform. At home in Canada be had worked as a waiter. Johnny (so called to distinguish himself from me) was the youngest member of the crew at eighteen. In civilian life he was a milkman.
Apart from being trained to fire at and hit anything hostile, the other vital duty of a Gunner was to keep a continuous lookout - up, down and around. Enemy Fighters, friendly aircraft getting to close were hazards to be watched for and pinpoint positions were always welcomed by the Navigator if the ground was visible.

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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