大象传媒

In the spring of 1943 I was one of the first contingent of WAAFs to be posted to Peplow, as we were driven into camp we were greeted by cheers from the airmen and workmen on the site. We lived, twenty four in each, in Nissen huts. We each had a 'bedspace' consisting of a cupboard, a shelf, a hanging rail and an iron bed. The bed had three 'biscuits' which put together served as a blanket plus two or three blankets, two sheets and a hard bolster shaped pillow. These had to be stacked at the top end of the bed each morning and then laid out agin at night. I had a bed next to Joan Skerratt Smith(later Akester), we have remained friends ever since.

We were at one end of the hut where there was a lavatory. The hut was heated by a central coke burning stove, the fuel ration was meagre and I can remember collecting cinders from the cinder paths on the site to eke things out. The ablutions were a little way from our hut and consisted of rows of wash basins and a few baths. You usually had to queue up for a bath and on nights when there was a camp dance you considered yourself lucky if there were no more than four girls in front of you.

We had to be in by 10pm each night unless on a late pass to 11.59pm. Monday was domestic night when we had to stay in and do our chores, mending, polishing buttons and shoes etc. althoiugh I do not remember any washing or ironong. These must have been sent to the camp laundry as I seem to remember driving the laundry wagon sometimes. We sent our collars to the Chinese laundry outside the camp, they came back as stiff as boards and stayed looking clean for several days, just as well because we had to pay for this service ourselves.

WAAF drivers were not supposed to drive lorries over 30cwt but Joan and myself took tests to enable us to drive bigger vehicles up to 3 tons.We took it turns to do night or day shifts mostly driving the crew-coach. This involved taking aircrews out to dispersals and picking them up when they landed. The station being an OTU, Operational Training Unit,meant they were mostly training flights but before passing out each crew did an operational flight dropping leaflets, or 'windows' which were metal strips to confuse radar over enemy territory.

Crews would be formed at OTU and would remain together when on their next training station which would convert them from Peplow's Wellingtons to whatever they would fly operationally. The first crews were British but later intakes were Canadian. The instructors were 'screened' which meant they had completed one or two tours (thirty raids per tour) and were being rested from operations.

There were accidents of course where inexperienced pilots and crew were killed or injured crashing into the Welsh hills etc. There was one such incident in 1944 when an aircraft from Peplow crashed near Cenarth, Wales, only two crew survived. Two days later two Wellingtons collided over Prestwood, Bucks. killing eleven airmen, there was only one survivor.

Extract from 'Twin Wellington Collision over Prestwood, 1944' a report by Derek Sadler

83 OTU RAF Peplow operated Vickers Wellington Mark10 bombers, the use of these aircraft by the main force of Bomber Command in the UK had ceased by the end of 1943 and were essentially restricted to OTUs. On the night of Friday 25 August 1944 two aircraft took off and were airborne one minute apart to practice a night exercise termed a 'bullseye'. This involved a cross country flight incorporating several different turning points that could be situated anywhere in the UK and was meant to give trainee crews experience that would bind them together into a cohesive unit. Along the route they would probably make a dummy bombing attack on a specified town.

The first Wellington HF517 was piloted by Flying Officer Erik Michielsen (Dutch) and the British crew consisted of Pilot Officer Ronald Junor (navigator), Pilot Officer John Sutherin (Air Bomber), Sergeant James Clarke (Wireless Operator), Sergeants John Butterfiled and Gerald Callow (Air Gunners). The second Wellington MF589 was piloted by Flying Officer Elwood Smith (Canadian) and crewed by four Canadians Flying Officer Vernon Bolton (Navigator), Flying Officer Norman Cousins (Air Bomber), Sergeant James McMurtrie (Air Gunner), Sergeant Raymond Sander (Air Gunner) and one Englishman Sergeant John Poston (Wireless Operator).

At 1.25am on the 26 August these two aircraft collided over Prestwood and fell as burning disintegrating wrecks into the village. Of the twelve crew members, eleven were killed, the survivor Pilot Officer Junor was found wandering in adazed condition in Lodge Wood. In the offiocial report following the collision the conclusion was ' failure by both crews to keep an adequate look out'.

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