大象传媒

On 16th June 1943 I finally made the grade and became a Sgt. Wireless Operator/Air Gunner and headed off home on leave to await posting to an advanced flying unit (AFU) at Wigton when I started cross country training with another WOP/AG and 2 navigators (we used to take turns at the wireless set and the navigators shared the plotting etc). The aircraft we flew in then was the Avro Anson 鈥� an amazing old aircraft.

My next stop was Abingdon where they were flying Whitleys, but I had only been there for a few days when a request for an exchange posting to Wellesborne Mountford came through 鈥� just what I had always wanted 鈥� to fly on Wellingtons.
However on 20th September 1943 we had our first crash. We were practising one engine flying overshoots when the starboard engine failed to start again cutting out at a crucial moment that we needed more power. The pilot instructor grabbed the controls off our trainee skipper and managed a wheels up 鈥減ancake鈥� in a nearby field, where we all scrambled out with our gear got away from the smoking aircraft and were picked up within 30 minutes and got airborne on another aircraft.

On 24th October 1943 we were taking off at night when the port engine cut on take off, swinging us violently around and heading towards the control tower. We were going too fast to brake without causing more danger so in the few seconds he had our skipper made the decision to pull the undercarriage up, which had the desired result, saving both us and the people in the control tower. Alas, he got a red endorsement for his efforts. On 15th October 1943 my C.O. very reluctantly gave me a 48 hours pass so I could get married on 16th October. The trains were running late and I didn鈥檛 get home until the early hours. We were married at St Thomas in the afternoon and parted company Sunday afternoon to go our separate ways (my wife was serving in the WAAAFS then).

Oh dear - here we go again, on 2nd November we were flying on night circuits and bumps (landings) when we had trouble with the starboard engine so we called in on the radio and got permission to land (which we did) and the Sgt flight mechanic came over and checked the engine out and couldn鈥檛 find anything wrong with it so we got airborne again. We pulled away from the airfield to do a circuit and again the starboard engine played up and started to overheat and the skipper had to shut the engine down. With only one engine we started to lose height and radioed in for an emergency landing and had just turned into an downwind leg when the port engine started to overheat and the bomb aimer came back to try and pump more oil up into it but to no avail. We were just over 600ft then and knew we were going to crash so I fired off all the Red Verey cartridges and the bomb aimer and myself jettisoned the escape hatches and prepared for the worst and got into our crash position. The port engine gave out about halfway along our downwind leg and we crashed into the side of a hill and caught fire. I didn鈥檛 know this at the time but the near turret broke off and was thrown clear of the fire but the gunner broke his back. I was very dazed and with blood running down my face and into my right eye I found it very difficult to open the bulkhead door that I had propped myself against. This door opened inwards so I had to take my gloves off (bad mistake) to prise it open and when I did eventually get to the front escape hatch the metalwork was red hot and I had to ball myself up out of this and onto the nose of the aircraft and jump off. The trees and bushes and the poor old Wellington were now will alight and then when I got clear I started hurting (didn鈥檛 feel it before) I called all my crew鈥檚 names but got no reply. I knew the skipper was out because I used the same exit. The aircraft was completely burnt out in a very short time. I saw a torch light up in the woods and shouted for help. It was the RAF blood wagon who had followed us as soon as they realised we wouldn鈥檛 make it back to the drone and safety. I was extremely lucky, although seriously injured and with burns to my face and hands I was the only one to fly again. Our skipper (who was an American from Boston who had joined the RAF) was sent to a special burns unit. The bomb-aimer was very badly burned and injured and died next day in hospital - he was in the bed next to me and I could hear his wife, who was pregnant, crying pitifully but they wouldn鈥檛 tell me at first what the score was. Some things you can never forget! There I was in hospital at Stratford on Avon with out a stitch of clothing to my name but as all the little hurts started (you only feel the burns at first) I acquired a few extra bandages and supports here and there. A couple of weeks later an American Red Cross nurse came round and gave me some pyjamas and some cigarettes.

In a few weeks I had healed up very well although at one time skin grafting on two of my fingers was considered possibility and as usual the new skin on my hands kept cracking at first.

Originally, I was awarded 28 days鈥� survivors leave but this was cut to three weeks because new crews were needed on squadrons quite urgently. I was soon pestered again and requested a return to a Whitely O.T.U. and that鈥檚 where I crewed up again at 24 O.T.U. Long Marsden, where nearly all the aircrew were Canadian. My new skipper was flying officer Murray Marshall. I was a bit edgy when I first started flying again but Murray said he did not think the odds would be against me anymore and was glad to have me aboard. We soon trained on and converted to 鈥榟eavies鈥� and were then posted to my first operational squadron - 427 RLAF Bomber Squad stationed at Leeming in Yorkshire. They figured that after 40 operations my skipper needed a break. All the rest for the crew and myself had completed 39 operations, 11 of them daylight attacks, sometimes with fighter escort when possible. One of the operations was a moonlight raid on Hamburg and after bombing we had that choice of either climbing up to our ceiling or flying back at minimum height. Our skipper decided to climb and with the booster on we got up to well over 25,000 feet which was a new thrill to us then. We were then flying in MKIII Halifaxes, and they were very good on climbing and with good speed. Another outstanding operation we did was to Brunswick. There was solid cloud up to 12,000 feet them a gap and then solid cloud again from 16,000 feet up. We flew all the way to Brunswick between the 2 layers of cloud (quite eerie) using navigation and H25. This operation was deemed to be over 60% successful but was never repeated as (so we were told) it was morally wrong! Come D Day we went to Conde sur Loire, a ridge of hills, just the other side of Caen to do a low level attack on a German Panzer division tucked in and waiting for our lads to move forward. We had never done a night attack that low before and the repercussion from the bombs going off just below was scary. Our last trip with 427 Sqdn. was a daylight attack on Einden a little place about the size of Woodbridge. This was a reprisal attack for the raising of Coventry. We were given the centre of the town as our aiming point followed by the remark, 鈥淒on鈥檛 worry if you overshoot you鈥檒l hit the docks.鈥�

After the celebrations of our survival we went off on leave and I was posted to Kimloss but got so fed up being in 91 Group training I pulled all the strings I could and after further training got posted to 90 Squadron and back on 鈥榦ps鈥� again - this time on Lancasters. Then along came VE Day and we were told we would be training hard for Far East duties and it was estimated at that time it would take us another 10 years to conquer the 鈥楯aps鈥�. We all knew them that a lot of us would not survive. The atom bomb on Japan most probably saved my life. War is bloody 鈥� it always has been.

I still have a lovely lock of hair of my wife鈥檚 that went everywhere with me.

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