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This story has been submitted to the People’s War website by Anne Wareing of the Lancashire Home Guard on behalf of Eric Felsted and has been added to the site with his permission…

I left school at 14 the year before the war broke out and was living in Poulton le Fylde.

I was called up for National Service when I was 18 and decided I wanted to fly, so I volunteered for the RAF and went to Cardington.

After taking a crash course in maths, I found I was unable to become a pilot, so instead I went to Stormy Down, Bridgenorth, South Wales to train as an air gunner.

Following training I was posted to Dishforth, where I joined an aircrew, flying with them for the rest of the war.

From the end of 1943, 424 Squadron was based at Skipton on Swale, flying Handley Page Halifax B111 and later Avro Lancaster B1’s

There was a tour of operations bombing sea mines in the Baltic.

On VE day I was on a 16 week leave, as we were not required and all the services met up daily at Pontins in Blackpool.

I was recalled to flying control East Fortune Scotland; then transferred to Pembroke Dock which was a Sunderland sea-plane base, as a Warrant Officer One on flying control duty.

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