大象传媒

My father, Sam, and his two brothers, Phil and Dave volunteered for the RAF in 1941, although one of them had to lie about his age to get in. As Jews, they were determined to do what they could to stop Fascism. Dave had already flown aeroplanes for the International Brigade fighting Franco in the Spanish Civil War. All three joined the RAF, two became sergeant pilots, and my father, a sergeant Air Gunner. After training, he was posted to RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. He was assigned as a rear gunner with an Avro 'Manchester' Bomber squadron. The 'Manchester' was an undeveloped and underpowered 'plane thrown prematurely into action anf nicknamed 'the flying coffin'. Returning from his first air raid, over Germany, they reached The Wash and faced a mass of our own barrage balloons. The Manchester's engines were unable to generate sufficient power to gain height and crashed into a balloon. The whole crew were killed. Just two months later, his brother, Dave, and his crew, disappeared while on active service over Germany. Again, the bomber he was flying was a Manchester. Soon after, those 'flying coffins' were withdrawn and completely replaced over time with the more effective and efficient Lancaster bomber. The surviving brother, Phil, left the RAF at the end of the war and went to Israel where his expertise was vital as the controller of Lida airport in the 1947 Arab Israeli War.

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