大象传媒

OPERATIONAL TRAINING UNIT. 35 Squadron 1(C) OTU.
Arriving at our new camp in September 1942, we soon realised that the aircraft there should have been flying boats because there was so much rain and the airfield was almost a quagmire. Care had to be taken to stay on the tarmac runway and taxi ways or you would get bogged down. We were introduced to Hudson 3鈥檚. The navigator used the co-pilots position and assisted at takeoff and landings; the navigation compartment was in the nose down three steps with a full width chart table. On the port side there was a heater but we soon found that your left arm was roasting whilst the right side of your body froze! Just behind the cockpit was the radio operator鈥檚 position and immediately behind that was the astrodome which had a hook on which to hang the bubble sextant when taking star or sun shots. Much more emphasis was now concentrated on astro navigation as there were no aids to navigation if you were to operate over the Atlantic. We later discovered that at this time Bomber Command had some new navigational aids, notably 鈥淕EE鈥� and, a little later, H2S鈥�.
鈥淕ee鈥� consisted of a series of radar stations beaming pulses towards Europe and these could be picked up by the radar operator on the bomber aircraft. According to where the pulses coincided on the radar screen, and by means of a scale on the screen the navigator could ascertain his position at that moment in time. H2S equipment showed on the radar screen in the aircraft the topography of land below the aircraft, identifying water, high and low land and, in particular, railway track as heavy dark lines, and this could prove extremely useful to help in any map reading at night.
From Silloth almost all of our flying was across the Western Scottish isles, out into the Atlantic. By mid October we had to carry out a reconnaissance flight to identify and photograph the small island of ROCKALL. This is a tiny speck in a massive ocean and it was deemed quite an achievement to find it, especially if the weather conditions were rough and the winds were strong. Glory be, I found this, the speck of rock, took my photograph, (sticking a camera out of the starboard window!) and went back to Silloth. 鈥淩ight鈥�, was the response, 鈥淵ou are ready for a squadron posting.鈥� On October 29th the whole flight was required to photograph, almost at sea level, the lighthouse on Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde. I was in the process of guiding the pilot, 鈥淪tinkie鈥� Muise, 鈥楲eft a bit, right a bit, down a bit鈥� etc, when we suddenly hit an air pocket at about 250 ft altitude, the aircraft dropped almost to sea level and as it did so my finger inadvertantly hit the shutter tit. The result is shown in a photograph indicating 鈥淭he Top Notchers in Photography鈥� which was taken at the O T U prior to passing out for Squadron duties. Which goes to show that you should not believe every caption on a photograph. My superb photo was My superb photo was the result of a near crash.
Silloth was notable for rain and strong winds! I recollect that, on one occasion a Tiger Moth was trying to land. It鈥檚 forward speed across the ground could have been no more than 10 miles an hour as he tried to land with engine at full throttle. As he tried to stall on to the grass mechanics had to hold his wings down to stop him going backwards and over on his back. Such was life in this northwest corner of England!
On September 22nd we set off on a training mission which entailed flying northwest, overland at first. After about 50 minutes one engine started to cough so we turned back towards base. Suddenly, without any more warning, both engines stopped and we had no power at all. Fortunately I was in the co-pilots seat. Frantically looking for somewhere to crash land, as we had no power to lower the undercarriage, I saw some aircraft movement over to our port side. We banked to port, dropping like a stone but keeping a forward speed of about 95 knots, and headed for what transpired to be Dumfries airfield. There was one tarmac runway but there was no chance that we could swing round into wind and get on to it and make a belly landing. In any case it was better to crash on to the grass and probably avoid going on fire. By now both propellers were windmilling, we had no power to feather them. We aimed to lift the nose slightly to reduce speed and then stall as we hit the grass and carry on across the runway. As we were approaching, rapidly losing height, a red verey light was fired at us from the control tower as a Manchester aircraft, the twin engined forerunner of the four engined Lancaster, was just opening up for take off. We were later told that there was some panic in the control tower when they suddenly realised that we had no power and could not get out of the way. It was too late to abort the Manchester and they watched in horror as we approached to crash and slide across the runway just a few yards ahead of the onrushing Manchester. My first crash and we survived. I dashed to the back of the plane, thrust the emergency door release handle and the door fell off. This released the dinghy which was stored in the door; and immediately started to inflate; Stinkie Muise and I shot out of the aircraft and fell into this inflating dinghy! Control said the aircraft was still sliding across the grass as we fell out. The fire truck arrived but fortunately was not required as there was no fire. It transpired that there had been a fuel blockage which had starved both the engines.
Whilst at Silloth we did some practice bombing on the sand dunes, as we had in South Africa and, at the end of October, having had two months at O T U, we were ready to be posted to a squadron.
In 1942 the battle against the U-boat, the Battle of the Atlantic, which had ravaged our crucial supply routes, was at its height. In those grim days, Churchill recognised the need, above all, to win and recover the command of the sea. In that victory RAF Coastal Command, with its comrades in the Royal Navy, played a decisive role with approximately half the U-boat sinkings credited to the airmen of Coastal Command.

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