大象传媒

I served with 210 Squadron for 18 months, during which time I was promoted four times, including gaining my Commission. In July 1941 I was part of the hand-picked crew who flew on a highly secret and dangerous mission to Russia. Had that trip failed, ultimately the outcome of World War II would have been very different.

The seven of us who made up the crew, had all been specially chosen for the mission which had been personally arranged by Winston Churchill. When we were told that we were going on a secret mission, the CO ordered us to write a letter home to our next-of-kin telling them we would be out of the country for a short time. We were told not to seal the envelopes so that the Censor could ensure that we had written home as we had been instructed to. The CO said that he considered us to be the most experienced members of the Squadron and that was why we had been chosen. He shook hands with each of us in turn and we knew then that there was a pretty good chance that we were not going to come back from this trip.

Our skipper was Flight Lieutenant David McKinley. He was later based at the RAF Navigation School at RAF Shawbury and, in 1944 as a Wing Commander, became the first RAF pilot to circumnavigate the world in Aries, an adapted Lancaster bomber. Then, on 26th May 1945 he again landed at RAF Shawbury having just flown over the magnetic North Pole, on a scientific trip which even today still forms the basis of all long haul aircraft navigation. He ended his RAF career as an Air Vice-Marshall.

We arrived in Russia barely five weeks after the Germans had invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. Just as we were landing on the blue waters of the White Sea, the pilot of the lead Russian fighter which had escorted us for the last 100 miles collided with our Catalina. Although McKinley landed safely, the Russian pilot was executed later that day by his own High Command, and at a time when they were desperate for pilots, good or bad since the Luftwaffe had shot down over 4,000 of them in a two week period.

You can read much more about Ted Cowling's wartime exploits in his fascinating, funny and sometimes desperately tragic autobiography, 'The Journey', proceeds of which will go towards the Severn Hospice.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Becky Barugh of the 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Ted Cowling and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

See more of Ted's stories:

• 1) How important it is to feel welcome
• 2) Neither darkness nor fighter cover for protection
• 3) Highly dangerous missions
• 5) I left Oban for the last time
• 6) Winds that cut like a knife
• 7) Top Gun

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