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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by a volunteer from Oxford ´óÏó´«Ã½/CSV on behalf of Bob Dolman and has been added to this site with his permission. Bob D fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

PEOPLE IN STORY: Bob Dolman
LOCATION OF STORY: Newark
MAIN AREA OF INTEREST: RAF, bombing raids
TITLE: WE SHOULD HAVE HAD THE BACON AND EGGS FIRST!

Bob was a farmer’s son, so he was on the reserve list at the start of the war, but soon joined the ATC and after a three day medical started training for various flying activities. He was 20 years old. His flying training should have taken 18 months but because of the urgent need for pilots, etc, the training was speeded up. He learned to fly on a simulator. He was a pilot, bomb aimer and navigator in 227 Squadron, where he stayed until 1945. Mostly he mixed with his own crew - two Australians, one Canadian, and 4 British - and they stayed together for most of the war, flying a new Lancaster. In the ATC there was a strong esprit de corps and Bob can still recite his number — 3025348 — with ease (the numbers of ATC members always began with 302).

To begin with he flew from Newark (RAF ?Balderson)though he (and his squadron) moved about quite a bit. Bob’s first raid should have been to Munich, but he’d had a skinful the night before, he had a dreadful headache, reported to the sick bay and ended up in hospital with bronchitis. He also took part in some 2 x 1000 daylight bomber raids with a fighter escort. When setting out on raids they would fly out over Sweden as it was a neutral country, though the Swedes did rather casually fire at the aircraft. Flying at 20,000 feet at speeds of 200/300mph they dropped their bombs and then came down to a much lower height to fly home, thus avoiding the radar. Bob would take pictures after the bombs were dropped, he particularly remembers seeing barges stranded in the fields, having floated there when the canal locks burst.

He took part in many bombing raids over Germany, mostly over the Dortmund-Ems area, and later in the war over Dresden. The crew would wear Union Jacks on their uniforms as the Russians, advancing in the area, were very trigger happy and might well have shot them if they thought they were Germans. He said he was not scared, at the time he thought it was fun.

They would cycle down to the RAF camp from their base. One Christmas, which they had duly celebrated, they cycled down to the camp in the snow, and to sober up they swept the runways. On their return from the sorties, the crew were given bacon and eggs, a real treat, though Bob felt it would have been better to have such a treat before they flew out, in case they did not come back!

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