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We completed our training at No.5 Lancaster Finishing School at Syerston, Notts, and were told that the crew, skippered by F/Sgt Jim Clark, were being posted to 57 Squadron, 5 Group, Bomber Command, based at East Kirkby some 15 miles from Skegness.

The truck driver taking us was asked to do a small detour, enabling us to visit Gosberton the home of Jim Clark's mother, a widow who ran a small holding growing vegetables and bulbs in the fertile soil of Lincolnshire. Jim's sister was home from college and we spent an hour over coffee and biscuits before resuming the journey.

East Kirkby is now the home of Lincolnshire Heritage Museum, run by Fred and Harold Panton. They set the museum up in the Seventies, in memory of their brother Christopher, a Flight Engineer, who was killed on his thirtieth operation during the Nuremburg raid, Bomber Command's blackest hour, when 94 aircraft were lost. The museum consists of a Lancaster bomber with four working engines, a Control Tower in full working order with wax models, voices and aircraft sounds. The result is a great credit to the Panton brothers, whose parents farmed near the airfield. Fred and Harold as 10 and 12 year olds, watched from the airfield boundary fence as 57 and 630 Squadrons took off on raids. (sorry Editor, I had to give the museum a plug!)

We quickly settled in with 57 Squadron as they were organised and ran as smoothly as possible under the circumstances. The pleasant weather of August, September and October 1944 also helped. Life consisted of lying in the grass in the sun, when free of duty, evening visits to the local pubs and the odd trip to Skegness. Coming events did not cast a shadow, which was just as well!

The powers that be decided to form a new squadron, No 189, based at Fulbeck, some 10 miles east of Newark. To achieve this, crews, ground staff and aircraft were withdrawn from existing 5 Group Squadrons, plus one or two newly trained crews. No 49 Squadron came as a complete unit.

This was mid November and it was a real jolt to leave the comparative comfort and set pattern of East Kirkby to start the Squadron from scratch. We arrived around noon and were allotted a hut, had a meal and then attended a briefing for a raid that night. Fortunately it was scrubbed.

Fulbeck had been vacated by the Americans, leaving a new beginning for us. The Lincolnshire marsh fogs and frost started, which added to the misery of an acute fuel shortage. The site huts contained 24 beds and 2 stoves, with a fuel ration giving the equivalent of a couple of light ups per week. The combination of marsh fogs and fuel shortage meant that the huts, clothing and bedding were damp. To beat the cold we put newspapers between the blankets and spread our greatcoats on top at bedtime.

Parachutes and kit in the locker room were damp for some 3 weeks before proper heating replaced the makeshift effort to keep things going.

Quite a few of the Lancasters gave the impression of being Squadron cast offs, and not in the best of shape. This was compounded by a lack of skilled groundstaff, as the Group Squadrons were understandably reluctant to release qualified staff to us.

'Spirit of Russia', a Lancaster bequeathed to us, had done almost a hundred Ops - and it showed! Seeing It outside the maintenance hangar doors on a wet cold day, small oil leaks in the puddles, the wing tips seemed to droop -it was reminiscent of a scruffy old dog whose owner wouldn't have it in the house. For our first raid we put up 4 aircraft, 2 returned and one may have landed elsewhere.

I can not recall whether I took part in this as there were more crews than serviceable aircraft at that time. My log book records my first operation as being on 6/11/44, take off 16.56, bomb load 14 x 1000lb high explosive, returning 5 hours 10 minutes later. The target was Gravenhorst, (part of the Dortmund Ems canal).

After some weeks of above average losses, due mainly to the unhappy background, 5 Group top brass gave the assembled Squadron a fairly stiff pep talk. Perhaps the top brass did not mean it that way but many of us felt that it implied a lack of backbone on our part. The ensuing debate got a bit warm as the skippers fought back, demanding some new aircraft, more ground staff and fuel to improve living conditions. We shortly had some new aircraft, and more importantly, many more fitters, riggers, armourers and electricians arrived.

Some had not been on a bomber 鈥榙rome before but got down to the task in good style. But there was no more fuel! Squadron flying affairs now improved and we prospered under C.O. W/C Shorthouse. Looking back to the reasonably smooth running and comparative comfort of 57 Squadron we had suffered a nightmare 5 to 6 weeks.

The fog, frost and chilly damp went on, with fuel supplies the same as at the time of our arrival at Fulbeck. There was hot water on the site about one day a week which meant it was a struggle to get a bath or shower if Ops were on.
It became standard practice for NCO's of both Squadrons to take washing kit, greatcoats and wellies or shoes (depending on the weather), from the living site to the Sergeant's Mess at brekker time. The Mess always had hot water, so washing and shaving took place there in preference to using the cold water on the site which occasionally froze up.

After brekker we went down to the various Section Offices, meeting up as a crew at about 10.30 to 11.00am. to learn the day's plans -flying training, ground check on aircraft, lectures, possibility of Ops. Back to the Mess for lunch, striving to get there early to grab one of the 8 to 10 newspapers supplied for the 300 plus members. Three months in the squadron taught one the finer strategies of life.

Briefing at this time of year, February, was usually around 2.30pm and take off 4.00 to 5.30pm. On return from a raid we were de-briefed, then to the Mess for a meal. After that we collected our greatcoats and washing kit and returned to the cold damp huts on the living site and went to bed.

The station police collected the effects of crew members who were two hours overdue on return from an Op. Sometimes I was awakened by the rummaging of the police through the kit of missing crew Usually crew absence was indicated by the sight of empty beds when we struggled back to wakefulness late in the morning.

I had now been on the Squadron for 3 months and noticed that 60 to 70 coat pegs in the Mess had 2, 3 or 4 coats per peg. This made me memorise which peg I used thus avoiding searching for it. This strategy worked for a few days, until I forgot it. Searching through the coats, each having its owner's service number and name inked on the inside of the back, I found two that belonged to crew listed missing. This didn't register at first. I continued to search for mine and eventually found it - plus two more coats belonging to missing personnel.

An uneasy feeling came over me that among the profusion of coats, quite a few were gravestones! I told the skipper, who was now Flying Officer Clark, Deputy Flight Commander, my fears. He advised me to say nothing to anyone on the matter as it would lead to gloom and unhappiness, of which we had suffered more than a fair share in the past. He would see the Adjutant.

The surplus coats had gone in a day or two, removed during the morning by the Station Police, when the Mess was closed to members. A rough guess would be that some two of every five coats went, an indication of the two squadrons' losses in some three and a half months. Why they were not removed earlier by the Police is possibly explained by the collection of gear from the hut being regarded as the full amount of the missing person's possessions.

Today, more than 50 years later, the sight of ten plus coats on pegs in a row gives me a small feeling of unease.

This story was entered by Jenni Waugh, 大象传媒 People's War Outreach Officer, on behalf of Bernard Lazenby, who accepts the site's terms and conditions.

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