大象传媒

The night of the thousand-bomber raid on Cologne. Because of the high security we were not allowed off the airfield, so we stood along the edge and watched the take-off when it was getting dark. It was a solemn but proud moment as not only our own Wellington bombers, but also aircraft from every other airfield in Lincolnshire could be heard.

I went on duty in the Met (meteorological) Office that was downstairs in the Flying Control building at 8pm (20:00hrs) and at about ten I was asked to take a weather report up to Air Vice Marshall "Bomber" Harris who had come to our airfield to watch the take-off. Earlier in the day the airmen, in view of his forthcoming presence, had polished every floor in the building, so when I opened the door and went to cross to the screened-off part where the "big-wigs"were I took off on my bottom and slid right across and under the screen and handed my report to a startled officer - but it broke the tension and we all had a good laugh.

The next morning was a very different picture, not in seeing the bombers that came back, but in realising how many had not.

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