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When WWII broke out in 1939, I was 23 years old and working in the Sales department of a large Unilever company. I volunteered to join the RAF flying, and whilst waiting for my call up, I joined the LDV (or Home Guard as it became known) as a motor cycle despatch rider. This meant being out in all air raids. I was living in a village called Aveley in Essex, which was only a few miles from London and nearer to Hornchurch, the famous fighter aerodrome.

During my time as despatch rider taking messages I wore no protective helmet and had a wooden rifle as there were no proper ones available at the time. I could hear the shrapnel hitting the motor cycle as I rode along. The area was in the line that the German bombers and fighters took to reach London, so the action was terrific.

Then I was called up by the RAF, to start training, and went to several aerodromes in the country. I finally received my wings and crewed up with five other members, three of them Canadian.

We were assigned to fly the Wellington (Wimpy) bomber and eventually became part of a new squadron 621. We flew from England, via the Bay of Biscay to Morocco in North Africa, then across to Cairo in Egypt. We continued down the Nile to Kenya and were the first plane of the new squadron to arrive at Nairobi airport.

After a few local flights our new plane had a thorough service. Afterwards the Commanding Officer (CO) asked to see the crew and informed us that we were lucky to be alive. Apparently, when picking up the new plane in South Wales, the plane had been sabotaged by one of the workers at the aerodrome. The crankcase of one of the engines had been cracked by hitting it very hard with some kind of tool. Worse still, a canister which was necessary to inflate the dinghy if we had to ditch in the sea had been removed. We had been very fortunate that the engine had stayed together for the 7,000 miles we had just flown.

The CO told us that London had been informed and a short time later we heard that the saboteur had been caught and it was rumoured that he had been executed.

The squadron was finally formed at Port Reitz, Mombasa in Kenya in September 1943 with bases at Mogadishu, Somalia and Aden and various desert attachments. Our duty was anti-submarine patrols, convoy escorts and shipping searches over the Indian Ocean, the east coast of Africa and the Arabian Sea. This was a vital area where many ships had been sunk by German and Japanese submarines. Not another ship was lost after we arrived and started our patrols.

We also had success in attacking and capturing a German submarine after a fierce battle. It happened to be a very special capture because this vessel had a small helicopter on board, which confirmed how easily the Germans were able to detect our single ships. The government was so pleased with this capture that it it was broadcast on the overseas radio one evening — not mentioning its location of course.

The commander of the ‘U’ boat — U852 — Heinz Eck was captured with some of his crew and tried in Germany after the war. He was sentenced to death by a military court in Hamburg for the murder of seamen from a steamer (MV Peleus) which his ‘U’ boat had previously sunk.

As well as the flying activities there were a number of memorable incidents nearer the ground. One day, during my time in the desert it appeared that a huge black cloud was approaching but when it arrived it was a tremendous plague of millions and millions of locusts. They ate every blade of greenery around and I remember them getting caught in our hair.

Whilst stationed in the desert we slept in wooden huts and tents, on wooden beds with a roped base. We used mosquito nets and one morning I awoke to see a huge bright green spider with a body bigger than a walnut with fat hairy legs. I sure did a leap out of the bed that day making all the chaps get up as well. I never found out the name of the spider but was told it was deadly. We took a long time to drive it out of the hut and then killed it.

Our beds being made of wood were full of bugs and after a night or day of trying to sleep we would be covered in bites which were greatly irritating. Because of this I decided to take my bed outside and the red hot sun killed the bugs and I slept peacefully under the stars even with the wild dogs and hyenas howling as they passed nearby.

After my tour overseas I came back to England and was posted to Croydon International airport to fly with 147 squadron (RAF Transport Command) on Dakota aircraft to open the routes to most European capitals for the coming BEA. The war with Germany had just ended.

One capital I visited many times was Berlin. On one of my first visits to Berlin, our crew managed to smuggle ourselves into the Chancellery which was in Russian occupied territory. We were with an American soldier who bluffed his way in by showing a letter from his wife when the Russian guards asked for our passes. We visited Hitler’s office which still contained a table and I found two wooden stamps and two printed memos.

We were also able to visit Hitler’s bunker. In a cupboard there was a brand new greatcoat which had Hitler’s name inside. I tried it on and did think about trying to smuggle it out but I was too worried about what the Russians might do to me. At the time there was a lot of tension between the Russians and the British. We also looked in Eva Braun’s office which was completely covered in broken cosmetic bottles.

The flights to the other capitals were not quite as eventful but still very memorable and a great ending to my wonderful years in the RAF. About 30 years after the war I traced one of the Canadian crew members from my days in Africa (my captain) who was living in Ottawa and we have met several times since, having holidays together both in Canada and England.

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