大象传媒

In Gianaclis we all assembled in the sergeants' mess to join a crew, everyone looking around anxious not to be left on the shelf but at the same time hoping for someone you could get on with, someone who would make a good skipper and someone who could navigate you there and back again. Of course you had no prior knowledge of anyone's ability - it was just luck of the draw. Two officers came up and asked me to be their W/Op and as they had already chosen an A/G I was now a member of a Baltimore crew.

The crew consisted of P/O Eglinton (Ted) P/O Hodgson (Derek) and an Aussie Ron Browne from Townsville. The four of us got on just great, which wasn't always the case. Looking back it seems as though most of our trips went alright.

When we were flying, the navigator in the Perspex nose was separated from the pilot, who was also segregated from the W/Op and A/G. We did just fine until the last trip which had been rearranged because of Ted's 21st birthday. As we were all around 21 we got our duties shuffled around to give us suitable time to celebrate. This meant that we were scheduled on a night exercise on 11 November just two days before we were due to be moved to Italy and made operational.

We took off and not far from base my W/T equipment went u/s, so it was back to the airfield where we picked up another aircraft. On the point of taking off, Ted found that one of the engines was playing up and this was confirmed by the mechanics. This meant going back to dispersal for another Baltimore and changing all our gear yet again. This took a good deal of time and we were not very happy, but nevertheless grateful to be on our way at last.

The very next thing I remembered was hanging almost upside down, still strapped in my seat with the aircraft full of sand. Just as I was trying to figure out how to unstrap myself without falling on my head I heard voices and then a doctor asking me how I was. I felt as though I had been kicked by a horse. Apparently a search party had been looking for us for some time but in the meantime some locals had relieved us of our personal belongings.

It seems as though the crash was due to a fuel problem and Ted had tried to put the aircraft down but it had flipped over in the sand. We didn't have Ron Browne with us that night and I was to find out some days later, when they decided to tell me, that I was the only survivor. Ted and Derek were buried in Egypt at the Alexandria (Chatby) Military and War Memorial Cemetery.

Shortly after my demob I was working in the City of London and while I was looking in the windows of Austin Reed in Fenchurch Street a fellow came alongside and in conversation asked me if I had been involved in an aircraft crash in the Middle East. It turned out that he was a member of the ambulance party that came looking for us that night. He said that they were on the point of calling off the search until daylight but the doctor called for one more try. Just over the next sand dune the wreckage was spotted - fortunately for me. What a small world we live in! I guess I was just lucky although I often think of my first crew and their parents.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.