大象传媒

I started as a shop assistant at the age of 14, in a shop in Leamington Spa. A year later I went to work at Constant Speed Airscrews in Warwick. I stayed there until I joined the airforce in October 1943. I was a sergeant. We trained until April 1944. I went for the air force because I wanted to fly and it seemed quite glamorous!

Early days

I started at Pembray in Wales on an Anson. We then went to Wymeswold in Leicestershire. Next was Ingham in Yorkshire, then Sandtoft (we called it Prangtoft), also in Yorkshire. This was flying a Halifax!

We lived in Nissen huts, which were damp and dreary, full of cockroaches! You heard them fall on your pillow at night. We were in 103 squadron, based at Elsham Wolds. We then started flying over to Germany - Cologne to begin with. I was the youngest in my crew - only 18 years old.

Crew and squadron

We flew a Lancaster bomber - two gunners, flight engineer, navigator, wireless operator, pilot and bomb aimer. My crew were: Ken Simons (flight engineer), Kenneth Smith (pilot), Shorty Williams (wireless operator), Frank Smith (gunner), Charles Smith (gunner), and Geoff Duce (navigator), John Martin (bomb aimer).

550 Squadron was based at North Killingholme, Lincolnshire.

Steady bombing work

We flew to places I'd never heard of - Bochum, Gelsenkirchen. We flew during the day and at night. I was wounded at Gelsenkirchen by a piece of flak. The coldness of the air made my blood clot, and the doctor said this probably saved my life. We wore electric suits and white silk scarves. My flying kit weighed more than I did! We flew to Dortmund, Duren, Freiburg.

Christmas 1944, and after

We spent Christmas with the Americans. They had everything - bananas, plenty of food! We bombed Cologne on Christmas Day. I stuck the piece of flak which wounded me onto a bomb with a bit of chewing gum and we sent it back!

On one flight a parachutist landed on our wing. I knew he was in danger from the propellers, and didn't want him to pull his rip cord. Luckily, he managed to get off the wing out of our way. During an air test over Wakefield we were reported when flying around a spire!

On another flight, our engines failed as we flew over the Channel. We were at one thousand feet and I could see the white horses on the sea. Luckily we got the engines going again and didn't end up in the sea.

We took 'funny money', which we could use for bribes if we were caught, and a map, which looked like a handkerchief. We weren't taught any foreign languages though!

War's end

I finished in March 1945 and went onto ground staff as an equipment assistant at Boscombe Down. I was demobbed in 1947, and found that all the jobs at home had gone. I joined the post office.

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