大象传媒

An edited oral history interview with Mr. Harry Leeks conducted by Jenny Ford on behalf of Bedford Museum.

鈥淚 was born in 1922 in Oldham, Lancashire. I attended a Secondary Modern School until the age of 15 and after leaving school attending evening classes for about two years. Education was a lot different then to what it is now. Going to evening classes was voluntary and one could chose which subjects to take. I remember that I was always top of the class in mathematics, arithmetic, etc.

Having left school I then started work when I was about 16 with the Co-operative Wholesale Society in Manchester. As young boys, we were attached to various departments. This was the head office of the CWS and not a retail Co-operative Society.

Then when I was about 17 I volunteered for the RAF. Normally at 17 you would be called up for service. Having volunteered for Aircrew we were sent to RAF Cardington in Bedford. Here we were given various tests to ascertain whether we were suitable for pilot training or other aircrew. Everyone wanted to be a pilot and the tests were mainly physical fitness and various aptitude tests. After three to four days we were sent home to await call up at the age of 18. So at the age of 18 we were called up for initial training and I attended an ITW (Initial Training Wing) at Paignton in Devon. This lasted about six to eight weeks where we had physical training, drills and ground school subjects 鈥� learning to fly without actually seeing an airplane. At that time pilot training in this country had almost ceased because of the lack of training airfields and the war was at its height with regard to German bombing, etc. They did not want training aircraft flying around the country getting in the way of operational aircraft so the big scheme was started that training for aircrew would take place in Canada and America.

We were taken by train to Scotland, Gourock was the port. We embarked on a large French ship called 鈥楲ouis Pasteur鈥� which was full with about a thousand or more crammed on to the ship. It was like a large troopship and we sailed across to Canada in a large convoy dodging any submarines that might be around. The actual voyage to Canada took about two weeks 鈥� the trouble with a convoy is you can only go as fast as the slowest ship in the convoy. We didn鈥檛 see any problems or any trouble at all and eventually we landed at Halifax in Nova Scotia and then to Moncton which was a sort of receiving centre and then from there the trainees were sent to various schools in different parts of America. Some went to Texas, some to California and I went down to Florida.

That journey to Florida was by train and it took about two maybe three days which was a long journey.

When we arrived in Canada we were all amazed, nobody had seen a banana or an orange for ages and the shops were all lit up with oranges and bananas in the window. Then when we got down to Florida - of course that鈥檚 the place where the oranges grow. We also had sunshine as we arrived at Clewiston, home of No.5 BFTS (standing for British Flying Training School). Now we commenced flying training. The Instructors were civilian instructors. To us they were fatherly figures but I think that quite a number of them were not much older than us. We were 19 years old and they would be in their mid or late 20鈥檚.

We are still friends with some of the instructors today, even after all these years. There are not many of them still alive, but we have also met their relatives. I am still in touch with many of the trainees - Cadets we were called then - we were Cadets at the Flying School.

We trained on American aircraft. The primary trainer was a Stearman biplane, similar to a Tiger Moth. Then on to a basic trainer, a Vultee BT13 before finally finishing on the advanced trainer the AT6, Harvard. Later they did away with the basic trainer and trainees went straight off Stearmans to Harvards. We were taught how to spin, roll, loop and forced landings, etc. and altogether did about 200 hours flying and it took approximately six months to train a pilot. All these aircraft were single engine.

Our time in America was nearly all spent on ground school learning and actual flying. We were allowed off every other weekend which most of us spent in Miami or West Palm Beach. Hospitality by the American people was tremendous. We were invited to stay with families in their homes. Most of them had swimming pools and tennis courts and we were always assured of a marvelous weekend on these occasions. This lifestyle was very different from my childhood days in Oldham! Many Cadets are still in touch with some of the families whose hospitality they enjoyed in those days.

Clewiston, our airfield was about 50 or 100 miles from the resorts and we used to hitch-hike when leaving the camp. On the Sunday there was always a camp bus to return you to the airfield. The trouble with our weekends away was that we did not have much money. Our pay was about $7 a day and this didn鈥檛 go very far, but I suppose $7 would buy what a $100 would buy today. This was why we were so grateful to the families for their hospitality.

I came back from America after training in June 1942. I was just 20 years old. Although we now wore our Pilots Wings, there was still more training to do. All aircrew were people who had volunteered. You weren鈥檛 conscripted and sent in the Air Force and told, 鈥榊ou will be a Pilot.鈥� All aircrew were volunteers, in fact they called it the RAFVR, the RAF Volunteer Reserve, but then eventually they dropped the VR. Many of the volunteers for pilot training were from Universities. On my course in Florida I think about 90% were from various Universities. A lot of people who volunteered for aircrew became Navigators or Air Gunners, Wireless Operators.

There were one or two accidents during training in America, a number of people were killed and even today there is a cemetery in Arcadia in Florida with 22 graves of Cadets who were killed in training. They call it the 鈥楤ritish Plot鈥� which is looked after year by year by people in Arcadia and every year there is a Memorial Service. 22 was not a big percentage of casualties, there were about 1,700 pilots trained at this airfield in Florida between 1941 and 1945.

Leaving Clewiston on graduation we travelled by train again to Moncton in Canada, after a few days we trained to New York and embarked on a troopship to cross the Atlantic once again. We arrived back in England as fully trained pilots but we still had to do more training. Some went to Fighter Squadrons flying Spitfires, Hurricanes. Some went to Bomber Squadrons after conversion to twin and four engined aircraft and flew Lancasters, etc. This training was at an O.T.U., Operational Training Unit. From here pilots were posted to a Squadron for operations.

Unfortunately, those who went straight away to Squadrons from training about 50% lost their lives. I have pictures of those training with me - one with six of us together and I know the other five were all killed. That is how it was but you did not realise it in those days. Fortunately, and one reason I am still alive, when we got back to England I did further training and went as a Instructor for about 18 months training Navigators and Wireless Operators who were trained in this country. We were doing cross country flights in England. We would fly to the Isle of Man and back and similar places like that. I was based in Cheshire at this time and in hindsight I think that the 18 months I spent training Navigators probably saved my life because most of those who went straight on to a Squadron did not last very long in those days.

We came back in 1942 and it was not until 1944 that I joined a Squadron. The advantage of that was I joined a Squadron with a lot more experience as a pilot than those that went straight to Squadron from training. I think when I joined 98 Squadron I had over 1,000 hours flying time whereas those going straight from training 200 or 250 hours. I had a lot more experience of flying.

I then went to another O.T.U. (Operational Training Unit) flying Wellington Bombers, this was at Chipping Warden in Northamptonshire. Wellingtons were not used on operations any more but used as training aircraft for eventual transfer to Bomber Command. From here one would normally join a Lancaster Squadron. However, myself and crew were sent to another O.T.U. to convert on to B25鈥檚, Mitchells. This was a twin engined Medium Bomber and after this short conversion we were posted to No.98 Squadron and operated with the 2nd TAF (Tactical Air Force). All our operations would be in daylight and I was very pleased about that because it was much better than night bombing with Bomber Command, although probably just as dangerous.

The B25 Mitchell medium bomber normally carries 4 x 500lb bombs. It was the first aircraft that dropped bombs on mainland Japan. Flown by General Doolittle (US Air Force) 16 Mitchells took off from an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. They were unable to land back on the carrier and had to fly down the coast from Japan to land where they could. More than half were lost in this raid.

98 Squadron were operating with the Army and after 鈥楧鈥� Day landings we bombed most things that helped the advancing armies in France, Holland and later Germany itself. We always flew in what they called 鈥楤ox of Six鈥� 鈥� six aircraft in close formation. We could be attacking enemy troops, a railway marshalling yard or a bridge and the formation leader would do the bombing run so that all six aircraft would drop their bombs together. This gave about 24 x 500lb bombs hitting the target at the same time.

The crew of a B25 was four. The pilot, navigator who also released the bombs whilst laying in the nose of the aircraft, and two gunners 鈥� a rear gunner and a mid upper gunner. The navigator did not need to do much navigating, this was always done by the box leading navigator. The aircraft was well armed with two gunners but as we were getting near to the end of the war, late 1944 and early 1945, there wasn鈥檛 much enemy air activity. So we were lucky in that respect. They still had plenty of anti aircraft guns and most of the targets we attacked were pretty well protected.

When Brussels was liberated we flew in to the airport there and until almost the very end we operated from Brussels. However, after the armies had crossed the Rhine we moved forward to a German airfield named Achmer, near to Dusseldorf. All our operations from Brussels lasted two and a half hours to three hours and all were in daylight. Sometimes we would fly in the early morning and then again in the afternoon.

When the war in Germany came to an end (May 1945) flying almost ceased. We were told that we would be going to the Far East. There was still a war going on in Japan, but before many were sent out East they dropped the atom bombs on Japan and brought that to an end. From that point onwards we just kicked our heels for a while. We remained in Germany for some time. 鈥榁E鈥� Day came and went and whilst celebrations were going on back home 鈥� crowds in Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly, etc., we were probably having a couple of beers and waited for our time to go home.

I spent some time at the end of the war as a Flying Control Officer at Cologne Airport. There were no buildings still standing at Cologne and we were housed temporary wooden huts and the runway itself was made of perforated steel plate. A Mosquito Squadron was doing peacekeeping flights from Cologne at this time. Our own flying had finished and this really was a job to do while waiting to be demobbed and back to civilian life. I eventually was released from the RAF in 1946.

So then my story from there is pretty short. I went back to the CWS. I was married in late 1944 and my wife was living with her parents in London. I transferred to the London branch of CWS and they asked if I would like to join the Travel Department. This was just starting up and bares no relation to what the Travel business is today. I was in this Department a number of years and became a fully experienced Travel Agent. After managing a Travel Agency in London I moved to Bedford and started my own Travel business in 1963. We had opened a number of branch offices and after approximately 20 years in Bedford I retired. One of my managers Allen Sturges opened up on his own at this time and now has a successful travel business 鈥� 鈥楢llen Sturges Travel Ltd.鈥欌��

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