大象传媒

From Morcambe I was posted to 620 Squadron at RAF Chedburgh, about 7 miles from Bury St Edmunds. This was part of No 3 Group in Bomber Command and was flying Stirlings. Here I stayed until about late November 1943. We had one or two intrusions by German night fighters etc. One aircraft was shot down on the runway as it was coming in to land. Another night anti-personnel bomblets were scattered over the aerodrome. The next day was a bit scary. Work had to be done on the aircraft which were at their dispersal bays all around the field. Every so often there was a bang and a whistle as the bombs were detonated and shrapnel flew around. I think the most amazing damage I saw was on an aircraft returned from a raid with a terrific hole right through its fuselage. It must have been six feet across and went right through the roof and the floor. It was said that a bomb from a Lancaster flying higher than a Stirling could reach had gone straight through it without exploding. It was a good job that it had not got an impact detonator. It was at Chedburgh that I had my first experience of riding on the pillion of a motor-cycle, except that this one only had a carrier-rack, not a seat. I was going on leave and had to get to Bury St Edmunds for a train. Two of us were waiting for a bus and a Polish Dispatch rider pulled up and offered us a lift. As we were bothered about catching our trains we accepted. We got on the carrier with me, number three, at the rear. Off went the Pole at top speed. We seemed to hit every bump in the road which I felt as there was no cushioning. Also I seemed to be bumped off the carrier and then bumped back on again at every other bump. I was glad when we reached the station in one piece. We caught our trains and it was very pleasant to sit on soft cushions and recover from that ride. Whilst at Chedburgh I was promoted to Corporal (Fitter II E) together with a couple of others who had been in Canada with me.
From Chedburgh the squadron was posted to a new aerodrome at Leicester East, at a place called Oadby, on the outskirts of Leicester. It was a very wet winter and we seemed to be up to our knees in mud all the time. Here the squadron was converted to glider-tugging. This entailed the fitting of a bridle on the tail of the aircraft to which the tow rope was attached and which had a pilot operated release mechanism to set the glider free for its landing. This took several months. By early spring the work was finished and the aircrew at least had had a grounding in taking off with gliders attached. So we moved off again to Fairford where we spent the summer.
At Fairford the time was spent in practice, practice, practice until the aircrew were fully conversant with the techniques of glider-tugging. This of course kept the ground crews fully occupied in keeping the kites serviceable. Whilst at Fairford the Corporals obtained permission to form their own club in part of the NAAFI building. This was in effect our mess, like that of the officers and sergeants, except we still had to take our meals in the cookhouse with all the other airmen. We were very jealous of this privilege and had to make sure that no other ranks squeezed in. It was a hot dry summer and we used to go cycling around visiting the pubs in the evenings. The problem was to find the pubs which had any beer. Quite often we had to make do with cider. It was quite fun cycling back to camp, singing away at the tops of voices. That we were not in tune did not matter at all. Gradually we realised that the invasion of Europe was in the offing and that our gliders would be part of it. Suddenly everyone was confined to camp, it was 5 June and paratroopers were boarding the Stirlings and other troops were in the gliders. In the darkness plane after plane, with gliders attached, were roaring down the runway. The sky was alive with sound of aircraft circling until it was time to head away to the south. Then the silence descended. We knew that the invasion was on. We had no idea where, nor how effective it was. All we knew was that we were on twenty-four standby, and that if and when the aircraft came back there had to be serviced and readied for immediate action.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.