大象传媒

This is the third contribution concerning my father's wartime experiences. Like many of his generation, he declines to contribute.."People won't want to hear about my sort of war".. he comments. I disagree and therefore, after another whisky-sinking session, I can add this more light-hearted contribution.
After service with 223 Sqn in N. Africa, he was sent to RAF Mamby to be commissioned and undertake further training as a bomb aimer. I believe he was converting to Lancasters at the time. One of the ranges used was offshore near Mablethorpe and my father was, on this particular day in 1943, selected as the bomb aimer on this live training flight. I don't understand much about the mechanics of bomb-sights, drift, offsetting and other such terms, but I gather that there are many variables which come into play when dropping a bomb. You don't just wait until the target is below you as they seem to in American movies!
Working in tandem with the navigator, my father pressed the tit and had the satisfaction of knowing he'd done his job well. However, on arrival back at the airfield the crew were met, escorted to a hut and kept incommunicado while each was questioned at length about the events leading up to the release of one particular 500 pounder on this training flight. All were mystified about the cause for such treatment.
To find the cause for this investigation it is necessary to change the focus to a small row of cottages lying parallel to the coast quite close to the bombing range. Earlier in the morning one particular chap had just emerged from the little wooden latrine at the bottom of his garden. It was a clear morning and he was aware of the sound of heavy bombers high overhead. No doubt he was used to it! He had just reached the door of his cottage when the world - as he knew it - ceased to exist. His thoughts, when eventually he was able to make sense of the scene around him, can only be imagined - although various comments have been ascribed to him in the telling! His outside toilet [refuge, house of ease etc...] - which he had vacated only a minute before - had ceased to exist and the spot was marked by a very large crater! All the cottages were damaged by blast but amazingly no person or animal had been injured. Thus, it was subsequently decided at the tribunal which followed, was the result of my father's aim on that particular day.
I understand that as the junior member of the crew he 'carried the can' for the mistakes of others, but perhaps such matters should remain in the 'cloud cover of time'!
This can be told, suitably embellished, as a very humorous tale. In reality it could have been very serious and obviously the RAF treated it as such!

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