大象传媒

I joined up when I was 19 years old in January 1943.Myself and the flight engineer were RAF and the others were all Australian.
One day while in the mess after training two Aussies came in and asked if we'd got a crew yet,I said no and that's how we got together. My best mate in the crew was from Tasmania. We started out training on Wellingtons and then went to a conversion unit onto Lancasters when we got a couple more crew. There were five of us from the Royal Air Force and two from the Austrailian Air Force.
One night in July 1943 on a night training flight we were coming back and collided with a Halifax. We had two engines out but our pilot managed to get it down in Skellinthorpe in Lincolnshire. The plane was in half and spun round and my turret was completely smashed. He was knocked out.
Then the whole squadron moved from Bottesford to Waddington,which was a good place. We were flying from there on a mission to Hanover and we collided with an FW190 Fockwolf which took out the port engine and the tip of the wing. We spiralled out of control and the wireless operator managed to open the hatch and roll out. He hit the mid upper turret and tail plane and floated down with his chute open over Hanover where there were fires burning. We dropped from 20,000 to 2,000 feet but could not move because of the g forces. I looked out to see the sea just below my turret. I shouted to the pilot about it and he shouted "darkie" not mayday so that we would be guided in by a beam of light to Grimsby where we crash landed. Both the navigator and pilot got DFCs.

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