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The full moon was shining a light M Silvers over the peaceful English Plains brightening the colors the lincolshire countryside is not known for its Rich pallet anyway the town of Lincoln itself had already calmed down the guys from the bombers knew it well it was a town inhabited by lovely friendly people who
Are so used to the pilots that they stopped noticing them on a hill in the city is a tall cathedral which serves as a great Landmark for any airplane the small villages scattered across the marshy plain slept peacefully here live the simple honest people that typify the east coast of England the most
Industrious of the farmers has long since gone to bed the lights in the village pub have dimmed and barely glowed the bar which a few hours ago had been full had fallen silent everything here looked the same as it had 100 years ago except that the night itself was a
Little different at least for 133 people for 133 young Airmen myself included our time had come we weren’t flying very high at about 100 ft and the intervals between planes were small too so I suppose it looked very pretty from the ground a large group of lancasters in a
Neat formation flown by guys who knew their business very well below us almost under the belly of the airplane at 200 MP were passing trees Fields Church spires in short e England we were embarking on a flight that we had been looking forward to for a long time a
Flight that had been carefully planned for which we had prepared long and hard this raid if successful was to bring the most important results we were to bomb the dkes those who have seen the cockpit of a Lancaster in the Moonlight as the plane flies over the very ground will
Understand me it’s very difficult to describe the pilot sits slightly to the left in a high up padded chair with armrest normally he holds the steering wheel with his left hand his right hand working various knobs and buttons but when over enemy territory most Pilots
Take the helm with both hands it takes a strong man to fly the Lancaster in front of the pilot the instrument scales gleam on the blind flight panel as the pilots call it red lights flash indicating the mechanisms to be monitored the pilot must know exactly the duties of the rest
Of the crew in order to give an order to just the right person the flight engineer is the Pilot’s best friend and sits next to him keeping an eye on the engine control panel most flight engineers in bomber command are ordinary ground service mechanics who have
Volunteered to fly and they do a fine job the cockpit is warm which is why the pilot and flight engineer are dressed very lightly their oxygen masks dangle from straps at their chins these masks are considered a necessary Evil by everyone over enemy territory we wear
Them all the time not because we need oxygen but because the pilot doesn’t have time to take his hand off the wheel and put the microphone to his mouth as a result after sitting in a mask for 6 hours you’re exhausted to the max many times we ask the question why don’t we
Have laring GoPhones like Americans and we never got an answer between the two forward porol is the most important instrument the compass repeater which is linked to the main Compass at the rear the Pilot’s eyes constantly run from the repeater to the speedometer from the speedometer to the air Horizon from the
Air Horizon to the Moon from the moon to the earth and back to the repeater no wonder my eyes are as red as a rabbit’s ey after this is what the whole thing looks like the glass Hood soft Moonlight two young men they are very young but they are already seasoned professionals
They are proud of their Squadron determined to complete the mission and return home all are silent only the wind is whistling overboard and the four Merlin engines are humming heavily it’s quite warm in my Lancaster although Hutch has turned off the heat I’m sitting in just my shirt and life jacket
Oddly enough my vest is made in Germany I took it from one of the planes I shot down in 1940 and it serves as the Envy of the entire Squadron the windows are open and a jet of cold air blasts into the cockpit making an eerie noise I
Straining my voice shouted to flight engineer palur for God’s sake close that window pford was born in London he is polite and exceptionally hardworking he will rumage around until he finishes the job and there is no way to distract him finally something clicks the noise stops and there is relative silence I asked
Terry where are we now I believe we’ve been blown a mile to the left I’ll check it out now what do you think spam spam is our scorer he takes quite a while to disentangle himself from his tether straps before answering then finds our position on the map it’s rewound on two
Rollers and looks something like a roll of toilet paper but no matter what it looks like its role is exceptional it is the map that spam and Terry must use to lead us to our goal yeah you’re right Terry we’ve been blown about a mile to the left we’re over the railroad at
Kinglin spam was born in Australia and was undoubtedly his country’s top scorer he’s not too confident reading the map however and Terry looks over his shoulder now and then to check then he Ducks into his cubicle to do some quick maths after that I’m ordered to change
Course 3° to the right a slight movement of the handle causes the lumbering Lancaster to almost imperceptibly turn its blunt nose slightly to the South the guys flying next to me repeat this maneuver Terry’s voice is heard again 10 minutes to shore wek be able to make up
Our minds for sure as we fly right over Yarmouth they great guys Terry and spam senior lant teram was born in Calgary Canada and retains a soft Canadian accent he received an excellent education and loves his pretty wife Pat an Irish woman who serves in the Royal Air Force women’s auxilary Terry is
Probably the best Navigator in the Squadron he has already flown 35 combat sorties and knows his job very well I’ve never once seen Terry lose his temper although he sometimes gets into a long argument with Spam about the coordinates of the plane at a given moment spam or rather senior Lieutenant spafford was
Born in Melbourne Australia he is a great comrade and we have been in a huge number of parties together as a bombardier he is the Squadron record holder not long ago he asked me why on Earth do we take parachutes after all we fly at such a low altitude that we
Simply wouldn’t have time to jump out even if we had to it was a perfect illustration of what he thought about flying it was roulette for him and spam always bet on the right number he has been flying a little longer than Terry and has flown about 40 sorties now he
Used to fly with one of the best pilots in 50 Squadron when he joined my Squadron I thought my flying style would make him nervous but he calmed down after the first couple of flights spam 2 retained the characteristic accent of his homeland I thought I had a typical
Southern English accent with its extended pronunciation as a result we banter with each other now and then but always without ranker we know full well that anything can happen but we remain a great team in the back sits Trev a tail Gunner to use the official term of the royal
VSS I believe he’s got the most uncomfortable seat in our bomber he’s in one tunic for now now but he’ll be putting on his old fur overalls a little later not because it will get cold but because of its scent all clothing that has done a fair amount of flying takes
On a specific odor pungent but by no means unpleasant this odor simply screams that the owner of the suit is a very experienced pilot a wife or loving mother would immediately send this thing to the laundry if only it fell into her hands but the guys themselves look at it
Quite differently as far as I could see the more stinky the jumpsuit the more they love it my tail Gunner Captain alanam Trevor roer recipient of the distinguished flying cross was born into a noble family he is 28 years of age and everything fits the pedigree Eaton
Oxford 65 sorties he’s one of the leaders of our Squadron he might go to the pub with the lads in the evening drink himself unconscious but he’ll be fine in the morning he got his medal for shooting down two fighters that tried to shoot him down
His wife lives in sknas and is due to give birth in the next few days I guess that’s all Trev has on his mind anyway so far he hasn’t uttered a word maybe he’s had the same thoughts as me we’re seeing England for the last time up
Front in the radio seat is Hutch he’s flown 40 missions with me and never once has his hand wavered he is one of those great little Englishmen who have an iron character during most of his flights he suffers from Air sickness but when he picks up the radio key the sickness goes
Away In A Flash he’s in love with a pretty girl from Boston in the nose turret sits Jim Dearing from Toronto Canada this is his first combat flight he’s still a perfect youngster but since my best Gunner suddenly fell ill there was no time to look for a replacement so
I took the first one I could find I’m nestled in my comfortable chair but I can’t banish my anxious thoughts what awaits the seven of us in Germany all of us have wives and sweethearts behind us sleeping in the houses we are now flying over England looks peaceful and Serene
But we are soldiers and now there is a war going on the bloodiest and most brutal in history we are on a bombing offensive I’ve led a Carefree life for a long time and I’ve gotten used to it but now when I think of my comrades who have
Not returned from their flight I shudder only a line on the memorial ple leque in the building of the ministry of Aviation and a commemorative letter in the Squadron headquarters are left of them I involuntarily squirm in my cozy chair and try to relax I need to push away the
Gloomy thoughts and concentrate on controlling the airplane suddenly a silver mirror appears ahead the North Sea it looks very unfriendly so we still have the whole ordeal ahead of us I hope that in a few hours it will seem a little different and then Terry appears
Again yes we’ve got Yarmouth in front of us all right that’s the one I can see the harbor are you sure it’s Yarmouth right okay turn to co Poe Roger that P okay and now our airplane has turned its nose straight toward the point at which we will cross the Dutch Coast the
Sea is as smooth as a mirror literally not a single wrinkle we immediately go lower and lower until we are only 50 ft out of the water this will help avoid radar detection I try to put the G George on autopilot but it proves to be malfunctioning the airplane takes a
Sharp nose dive and I barely have time to take control again one of the planes flying to the left flashes a red warning light asking so what the hell are you doing I level the car and am relieved to try to light a cigarette but while I do
We almost dive into the water for the second time my guys might think I’m just crazy eventually I asked pford to light my cigarette for me the night is so bright that I can clearly see the guys flying to my right and left flying on
The right is John hopgood on MMA a great Englishman who we call Hoppy the world’s most trusted friend he loves his mother and loves to fly hoppy often flew with me and drank just as often he always found flying over Germany an interesting job hoppy has absolutely no nerves and
Loves flying he looks upon flying as a rare profession in which one can only achieve Perfection by Long training hoppy was one of those guys who absolutely refused to take a vacation and flew over 50 sorties in my Squadron he knows how to hold a line that hoppy
His huge Lancaster flies right next to me just a few feet away he keeps his C without changing the interval one iota one day in preparation for this raid we had to land at manston in Kent the tips of our wings were literally touching the airplanes lined up on the field such an
Art delighted the fighter Daredevils and they admitted that they had never seen anything like it I should remark that hoppy was probably the best pilot in the Squadron on the other side flashed the outest signal light some message from Micky Martin it was as if ships in a Naval Convoy were conversing Mickey
Comes from Australia and has a lot of flying experience too he’s rougher than hoppy for Martin flying is not interesting unless it involves danger in the past during raids on Berlin and Hamburg instead of returning with the other guys at the safe altitude of 22,000 ft he would descend to the ground
And shave across Belgium Holland and France shelling everything he could on the way it’s a kind of entertainment for him that he and his crew enjoy however today he will have to forget his Liberty and act strictly according to the plan because any deviation from it will
Disrupt the mission and now he’s flying alongside us but I notic that he stays even lower than me and therefore I begin to be a little afraid as if he had not taken a drink of water but Martin seems to be quite confident because he never
Goes below 30 ft at the back is everyone else the American Melvin young who leads Bill Estelle and David molb he is followed by Henry model owned Australians Dave Shannon and Les Knight that’s my link and we make a great team together the the sea is surprisingly
Calm I haven’t seen anything like it before as Mickey goes lower to the water I can clearly see the reflection of his airplane and to the north comes the nightmare of all bombers a ghostly glow scientists call it the Northern Lights the Aurora Borealis but they should hear
What we call it when enemy Fighters are around this glow is a constant presence all summer long summer is summer the time of darkness is very short we have to get over the target as quickly as possible and make it back but 200 mil away in deep deep bunkers the Germans
Are awake the cathode tubes of the sophisticated equipment which should detect us and raise the whole air defense system on its feet are flickering green the lower we fly the closer we can get before they detect us but I know that at a distance of 30 Mi
We will still be spotted even if the plains will be flaps of bomb hatches to hit the crests of the waves and then the anti-aircraft Gunners will rush to their guns and then the fighters take to the air and then turmoil rises in the air defense Control Center and then the
Cruts and chling gosy will rush to dugouts and shelters with fear listening to the har of the engines of our Lancaster Hutch read the message what is it Hutch he says he’s going to be drunk as hell tomorrow night tell him you’re quite right it’s going to be the biggest
Binge of all time Hutch tapped the handle of the signal lamp soon we were flying over a small Convoy whose ships flashed search lights requesting identification from us we immediately fired the proper signal flare before they could open fire the sailors courteous as usual transmitted by search
Light good hunting Hutch who handled the search light as skillfully as he handled the radi key and who didn’t drink at all flashed back we’re going to get drunk as hell tomorrow night I suspect he stomped the ship’s Commander with this he was left to wonder whether his signalman had
Made a mistake in taking the message or whether these Pilots had lost their minds England was Far Behind Terry calm as ever with the help of a special device measured the speed of our plane relative to the surface he suddenly said there’s no wind today skip we’re not
Getting blown away at all but to check it all the same I’ll drop a signal cartridge on the water s he shouted to Trev who was sitting behind him Trev are we drifting or not a little later trev’s reply was her absolutely no drift the signal round is 10 Mi exactly behind us
It’s right on the scope of my turret this made Terry very happy and he was able to start calculating later he reappeared nearby and our speed relative to the ground is 23.5 mph we will be over the Target in exactly 1 hour 10 minutes 30 seconds we should cross the
Shoreline maintaining the same course so everything is fine I should note that you have deviated from the true course by one degree Navigators are are funny guys for some reason they think a pilot can maintain course to within a degree I’m mentally smiling The Navigators former secret society a kind of
Navigators Union they take whole squadrons under their command not to mention individual airplanes but I believe they fully deserve it The Navigators have a very hard job and after four years of war they have a firm grasp of what should be done and how it should be done our bomber command
Probably has the best Navigators in the world and our night flight are exceptionally accurate although maybe The Navigators try so hard because the quality of their work determines whether they get home we have one more hour of flight left 1 hour to Germany 1 hour to meet the anti-aircraft guns I say to
Myself there are 133 guys here with you some of them may only have an hour to live an hour before all hell breaks loose around them some of them won’t come back but that’s not going to happen to me I’ve never allowed the thought that I might not come back we won’t all
Come back but which of these 133 will be the Unlucky ones what are they thinking right now maybe all they’re thinking about is their mission how to keep the plane on course what’s the tail Gunner of Melvin Young’s plane thinking about because he’s not coming back what’s the Bombardier of Henry model’s plane
Thinking because he’s not coming back either what is the tail Gunner of Hoppy’s plane thinking what does he want to do with his life he’s going to parachute out from a height of only 80 ft miraculously survive and spend the rest of the war in a pow camped and the
Bombardier of the same plane will be the only ones captured during this raid the rest will die those who don’t make it home we have one more hour left one hour of thinking about all of this one hour of flying in a straight line and then mad Maneuvers to evade anti-aircraft
Fire I think of all that and much much more I think of my wife who thinks I went on a training flight as an instructor I think of my dog died last nights about the scientists who made this raid possible I wonder what am I
Even doing here why why am I so lucky I’ve been pondering this since the early days of the war because the riggers of wartime have quickly turned a company of Merry Hangers On serving in the Royal Air Force into a Stern Brotherhood in arms whose members have been staring
Death in the face for many days in a row for four endless years now the day of August 31 1939 was quite hot I sat on the bank of a small sailboat dressed in bathing shorts and tried to get a tan although the sun was already rather
Autumnal at the same time I tried to Splash the broken line which was not easy although I had been a scout a few years before the sun was scorching the sea was deep blue in the stern of the boat padded sat Anne lovely as ever she was dozing windy my hydro Aviation cat
Who had spent more time in the air than any other cat purred in her lap I glanced at her occasionally thinking about my own thoughts it was a couple hundred yards to the shore I could hear the rustle of the surf but it was not a
Big wave today so the boat swayed only slightly this suited Anne who despite her charm was seasick from mton Beach came the voices of children they were building sand castles playing LeapFrog and generally turning the beach into a playground I remember one group of kids hastily building a sand DK to shelter
Their dainty Castle from the waves however the tide began to come in and one by one the waves began to hit the causeway eating away at it but then one Higher wave broke through the breach and the water rushed in there was a vulnerable point in the defense system
And the children’s shovels threw more and more sand at a feverish Pace trying to patch the hole but it was all in vain in the end an even higher wave simply swept the entire Dam away amid screams and shrieks colorful sandals floated on the water and then the kids rushed off to lunch
At that moment I couldn’t even imagine that this little spectacle could turn out to be a prophecy although War seemed still very far away I was aware of the latest developments and was well aware that the Outlook looked very Bleak Germany had issued an ultimatum to Poland it had been rejected Germany said
Well then on top of that a Russo German treaty was signed I never thought that Poland would fight for the Danzig Corridor she had Cavalry and Germany had tanks Poland had a few ancient airplan Plains and Goering had long ago spread the word about the terrifying power of
His favorite child the luwy and if Germany decided to invade Poland would’ be too late to intervene so what to do we were totally unprepared a week ago we took part in the summer exercises of the Metropolitan air defense system twice we raided London from the Dutch Coast not
Once did we encounter enemy Fighters and managed to fly another 150 Mi to flatten the Royal Air Force Headquarters at Abington when we landed we were proud of our exploits and discussed them at length but then the Army reported that we had been shot down by anti-aircraft
Guns as we crossed the coastline this amused us as it showed that our anti-aircraft Gunners were prone to wishful thinking although we were indeed fired upon by anti-aircraft guns near hook van Holland the commander of our formation did not maneuver too well and as a result one Squadron invaded the
Airspace of a neutral power so I had a baptism of fire although it didn’t make much an impression on me just a few black blobs in the sky but we couldn’t ignore those bursts completely our allies were firing at us their Gunners had gotten the altitude right though
They weren’t aiming too well but as bad as the situation looks today a year ago it was much worse we didn’t even have the Hampton bombers we were flying prehistoric hawah Hinds yeah this crisis wasn’t as bad as the last ones in Lincolnshire we had a running joke the
Bomber boys are doing their best to prepare for war while Chamberlain and Hitler are making peace in the world we loaded machine guns refueled tanks and even repainted the planes in camouflage the only Annoying detail was the lack of bombs on the Airfield they didn’t arrive
Until 3 weeks later but anyway there was no point in thinking about it all it was just frustration and anyway I was on vacation so I dozed off to the quiet splash of the Waves against the side of the boat worrying only about not burning my back war did not exist for me
Suddenly the boat rocked and someone’s voice snapped me out of my half slum guy there’s a telegram for you on the beach it was the son of the local doctor himself an Ardent yachting Enthusiast what’s the matter a month or two ago I finished navigational training perhaps
The agitant would like to report the results and is everything all right or did I fail I shouted to him thanks John you woke me up but Jon had already sailed on trying not to lose a moment of rest on this beautiful day only the little boy remained on the beach a light
In the window for his loving parents whom I knew little of so better or worse but this little boy knew how to swim a little he decided to show his little girlfriend that he was much better than Bill his 10-year-old rival to do this he took a telegram in his mouth jumped into
The warm water and swam to the boat I began to watch him with some interest an was awake too the boy was swimming badly some Indescribable mixture of breaststroke and fathom he was making a lot of Splash and my telegram got wet very quickly when he swam closer I
Realized that I would not read anything happy in the telegram finally the boy grabbed the side of the boat but before I could grab his hand and pull him up he turned and made the difficult Journey Back to the beach I picked up the telegram the ink
Was a little blurred but still I managed to read that it was addressed to the local post office this was because at the time of departure I did not yet know where I would be staying we took a room at Mrs Thompson’s for a moderate sum
Four Shillings and six p a day which suited my salary as a senior Heir liant the telegram was Mark urgent the daughter of the village postmaster who knew me a little got on her bicycle and brought the telegram to the beach Anne’s voice broke the lingering silence
Wouldn’t it be better to open it still thinking about the exams I read the telegram loudly it was short and unambiguous 2 hours later I was already packing I put Wendy in Mrs Thompson’s care promising to pick her up later but I realized that the cat would never see
Me again then it was time for goodbyes goodbyes to the crawfords at whose house I had vacationed last summer a few tears were shed and I even felt like a character in a war movie returning to the front goodbyes to Anne goodbyes to Ruth Wilson boen with whom I had
Recently quarreled and had just reconciled we were supposed to meet the day before yesterday but she went off with some guy there was also Desmond who had just enlisted in the Army there were a lot of other people whose names I just can’t remember then we rode off with Freddy
Bilby saddling up in his old Elvis my good friend Freddy had just arrived from Oxford where he was studying biology he was only 23 years old a good-looking guy with a lush head of hair his Elvis was a 1928 as we rolled through the village old fisherman waved at us but we were
Well aware that the horse car claxon was the last time time we would hear it on these streets as we raced down the road rather riskily overtaking everything that was pulling in the same direction we kept quiet at Karan we stopped for lunch the B’s Head Tavern a nice little
Tavern had a couple of decent scks and a decent beer to wash them down we then hit the road again on the heram valley past to Breon we then got out on the highway to Stratford on Avon several times we lost our way there were the first signs of impending War as long
Lines led up outside the gas stations it seems to me that everyone had decided that gasoline would be issued on cards from the first day of the war often there were cars full of Bales and suitcases on the road people were trying to get home as quickly as possible most
Of them however were soon to start sending their children back to the Villages I could not make sense of my feelings on the one hand I felt a certain excitement but at the same time I felt a strange desolation because this was the first time this was really
Happening the silence was broken by Freddy you know guy I have a strange feeling none of us know what’s going to happen to us in the next few days do we just yesterday we were getting ready for a fun cocktail party now what are we preparing for I have absolutely no idea
Neither do I if War breaks out and I fear it’s heading that way my Squadron will have to support our boys in France and I have a great fear that we won’t live long enough to get to know her better I was convinced of that but still
I found the strength to make a joke but you’ll probably get a chance to put your medical experience into practice that’s for sure I graduated from Oxford and got my medical degree I think I’ll be posted to Kent to a field Hospital from where we’ll be transferred to France when
Things get tight there I have a feeling it’s going to be a Bloody Business I smiled a little Freddy the doctor was an idealist he intended to save lives and I the realist intended to take them our roads to war went in different directions though both were absolutely
Necessary as we rolled down the highway I admired the peaceful Countryside and wondered what would happen to me a year later how I hated the Nazis how could normal people in Germany let this gang of thugs who wanted world domination get their hands on power their slogan was brutality atrocity barbarism the
Reinland Austria secos Slovakia abisinia and Albania were only the beginning of a long list I thought of the children building their sand dams and beautiful sand castles on the beach their weak walls were no def defense against the high waves crashing in from all sides
They had to be built in time before the tide began mixing sand and stones with cement calling for help from other children lazing in the sun then the tide could not overwhelm the castle only if Nations unite when common freedom is threatened despite different ideals different languages will they be able to
Create a common army that will be so strong that an aggressor will not be able to break that barrier America has already declared that this is a European War it doesn’t concern us Russia has signed a pact with Germany the other friendly Powers maintained a strict neutrality it looks like England and
France were going to have to pick up the slack I was not a career military man I had joined the Royal Air Force in 1936 just to learn to fly in April I was going to leave military service to become a test pilot it was a good job
That didn’t pay badly but melini broke all my plans when he invaded Albania and now Hitler had crumpled my entire summer vacation and it looked like it would be for years to come England wasn’t ready for war no one doubted that although the Royal Navy was babbling something about an
Impenetrable blockade that would bring Germany to her knees in six months although the British Lion had acquired Wings was it all serious we had very few bombers mostly Wellington’s and Hampton’s good old weatley still survived but none of them could carry enough bombs and only a few Crews knew
How to find Targets the navigational work was put out of of hand badly most of the fighter aircraft were Gladiators and hurricanes eye squadrons of Spitfires tifon and lancasters were still only in the dreams of designers we had very few flight schools and even those were within range of German
Bombers the Imperial pilot training program had not yet been set in motion what could happen as a result of these delays wouldn’t we have to fight with ever melting forces until we had nothing left at all the last of the pilots with military experience who were still in
The Royal Air Force said that the the average life expectancy of a bomber pilot was 10 hours flying time in that case we had no future what would happen in the cities and factories that Germany would start bombing from the first day of the war we had no serious air defense
This summer a brigadier general invited me to a drill of army anti-aircraft Gunners who were trying to shoot down Target drones I agreed and for two hours I watched the Army anti-aircraft Gunners fire hundreds of rounds at a small biplane that was whizzing back and forth
Over their heads at 5,000 ft they fired just nastily and the target wasn’t even scratched it was only when it went in for a landing that the control officer failed to handle it and the target crashed with its wing into the sea then one of the army officers not hiding his
Pride and yet in the end we finished her off he did not even blush as he looked into the face of the Air Force officer who had to repair the target to continue the exercise the next day the state of the army was simply terrible almost no tanks no modern weapons no trained
Personnel although it was not the Army’s fault just look at our compatriots they resented us loudly when we flew over London trying to learn how to intercept night bombers they called us cheeky Playboys sluggish apathy and fed up complacency May well have brought the British Empire to its knees if not blown
It to Pieces altogether in 1936 the Air Force began to increase but the process was agonizingly slow and even today we were not much stronger than in 1938 Munich what a sight but maybe Chamberlain was right after all who knows the only thing I’m sure of is that
Thank God we didn’t go to war in 1938 and what can be said about our Ally France in July we flew to Marcs and back via Paris and lion to show the flag we visited several airfields along the way but did not see a single French airplane
Anywhere where had they all gone no one knew it seems that the French government had no less hand in the collap of their country’s defense capability than ours why did two great Nations fall so low perhaps the roots of this should have been looked for in the past the color of
Both Nations fell on the battlefields of World War I or became disillusioned with attempts to get our Nations to work together the result was those who remained if even by chance we had any hope of winning the war even though it seemed very distant so to protect our
Children we should have allowed young men who were capable of fighting to participate in government I had read many books about the last war and knew that it had resulted in many deaths caused chaos destruction horrific suffering followed by new previously unseen disasters stifling inflation rampant crime industrial decline I hoped
That none of this would be repeated in a new war and if it did break out the perpetrators of these crimes would be severely punished my musings were cut short when we passed Woodstock Road where my school St Edwards was located and arrived in Oxford Freddy dropped the old lady Elvis in
Front of a pub where we decided to pop in for a moment after a couple of beers we were approached by some guys we knew they all happened to be on the same boat some were off to Oxford University Squadron others were due to join the Army some were waiting to be drafted
Into the Navy we only parted after a dozen beers feeling much better and went out for lunch it was quite late and we were quite hungry so we finished the royal meal with a burgundy of the 1928 vintage after another round of drinks I literally piled into the train car
Goodbye Freddy good luck goodbye guy God knows when I’ll see you again all the best and the train moved North what a journey it was the first time I’d ever experienced a blackout the cars were packed to the brim with soldiers and civilians all eager to get somewhere
After many stops with shouts and yells and the clinking of flasks we arrived in Lincoln at 40 I was suffering terribly from a hangover after some nervousness after signing a couple of papers I motored to scampton sunny scampton as we called it for it was in Lincolnshire and
Not many people got sunshine there but there was an old bomber Air Base left in the town from the last war as we drove through the gates I noted that all the windows were covered with black curtains and the street lights were out in the officer’s mess hall only the dim blue
Lamps of the emergency lighting were burning it was impossible to read in their dim light but there were not enough blackout curtains for all the buildings when I finished breakfast and was about to go to bed our Eagles arrived usually at 60 a.m. there isn’t a soul in the officers’
Mess holes of the fact but now things were different they had been up since the crack of dawn they hadn’t changed and greeted me still cheerfully hello gibbo nice vacation old boy hello so and so back to fight are you but a little later there was silence in the dining
Room room when we heard that Germany had invaded Poland and I went to sleep the next two days flashed by rapidly with both enemies showing increased activity all bomber command bases were in complete disarray on the perimeter of the airfields Caterpillar tractors some of them dragging long tails of bomb
Carts others spread our Hampton on gravel roads to parking areas squadrons dispersed to avoid losses from enemy bombs around the airfields ground maintenance units hastily dug trenches for anti-aircraft guns and covered them with sandbags the only trouble was that the guns themselves were not in these trenches yet the chemical officers were
Running around like crazy setting up their detectors everywhere these detectors were of two models and they always made me laugh one the yellow one was supposed to turn red when there were poisonous gases in the atmosphere but for some reason it failed too often the other looked like a piece of cheese
Hanging from a hook what it was I was never able to figure out only this cheese disappeared very quickly maybe illiterate Birds stole it at all bases available transport was dispersed in the neighborhood so the group Commander could well find a gasoline truck in the flower beds of his garden the Personnel
Were forbidden to leave the location of the unit the employees of the operational departments were buried deep underground in the headquarters bunkers it was almost impossible to enter or leave in front of the door a steel plate half an inch thick sat two Centuries with rifles this was where all IDs were
Carefully checked and these guys were finally getting a chance to get even for all their past troubles with cury like the Squadron sergeants inside the bunkers in the ghostly glow of the blue lamps again the clerks and women of the auxiliary of the kvves they were carrying rolls of maps
Cutting them gluing them folding them twisting them there were maps of Holland France the SE fried line there were even maps of Berlin there were two officers sitting in the corner going over the maps with their targets indicated as I passed passed by I noticed that there were pictures of
Wilhelm Saven Harbor pinned to each one in the middle of the room the base commander sat at a huge desk soaked and flustered there was a reason for this directly in front of him was a mountain of folders labeled military plants pay one phase 2 and so on the folders
Contained documents that would only come into effect in the event of war or mobilization he frowned and Grimace now and then the young officers stood on the stairs near a huge map pinned to the wall and at times whispered something to the female assistants if they giggled
The base commander turned black as a cloud the hangers rang and rumbled as hammers were being used to straighten the airplane plating and Hammer in some rivets sometimes one of the mechanics having forgotten began to hum something and then the senior Sergeant or chii immediately rushed to the voice and the
Singing was silenced if we try to characterize the situation as a whole we can say simply vanity of vanities but the fing staff was not affected most of the day we sat or lay on the grass in front of the canteen building the sun was scorching mercilessly and some of us
Even took off our flight overalls and threw them next to us sufficiently we were in a state of pre-flight Readiness what that meant we didn’t understand but we assumed that we would be sent to bomb something somewhere sometime it was the usual idle chatter about girls about
Drinking but not a word about the we had all heard that our ambassador in Berlin had given hit an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of German troops from Poland there was still a tiny hope that things would settle down I even told my crew that we had been called back from leave
Too soon and the matter would end in unprecedented disgrace because Hitler would not start bombing Britain until after the nurmberg rally on September 13 since no one was allowed to leave the base wild drinking parties were organized in the evenings as usual on such occasions it was either our
Squadron or our eternal Rivals 49 Squadron that stood out after that all the guys had a terrible hangover bed I have only fragmentary Memories the commander razes someone for the lack of a parachute anxious faces of people crowded around the loudspeaker to listen to the latest news hurried chewing of
Lunch a trip back to the hanger on a crowded truck the tiresome gramophone records and the terrible heat huge headlines in the evening editions of the newspapers including the famous no war this year my old messenger Crosby who woke me up every day at forarm said in
His characteristic BS your cup of tea sir more bad news today sir would you like a bath sir the whole world went mad we all had a strange feeling that tomorrow we might leave this world on September 3 the a squadron Pilots were sitting in the Commander’s office we had
Just finished drinking the morning tea that the girl from the auxiliary units had brought us and there was Smoke floating in layers in the room squadron commander Oscar Bridgeman sat with his cap pushed to the back of his head and his feet on the desk his chair swayed threatening to collapse backwards every
Second our Oscar had a terrible temper he had a temper but he could fly as well as anyone I couldn’t have wished for a better Wing Commander behind him we felt like behind a stone wall that’s where the rest of us sat our tall swimming champion Jack kinck who had no sense of
Humor there were also migan and Ross whom we nicknamed Ma and Rossy two Australians who had joined the Squadron in 1937 they went almost everywhere together at times they would get into long arguments which the whole Squadron would laugh at there was also an Englishman Ian Hayden married to a
Pretty girl called Dell Ian was very attached to Dell and every evening as soon as he was free he ran away to Lincoln where they lived now he was in a great deal of pain for he had not been home for several nights here sat strong
What an eagle he had a talent for always getting into some kind of story pit Khan Hill was the only career officer in our unit very good-look a true Scotsman Pete was a fine Sportsman and played rugby for the Air Force then there were all the others who I won’t list however in
Any case they two served in the A- link we were proud of ourselves the a-link guys because we were always ahead of the B- link both in flying and drinking suddenly the door opened and shifi walked in all the planes are ready for a test fight okay Oscar said sad and
Slapped his palm on the table staff sergeant Langford trumpeted and stepped out he was a great guy this Langford he was in charge of the technical condition of the squadron’s airplanes for several years now he had shown up with the unfailing report that the planes were
Ready and I have no doubt that he was doing the same today I could write a great deal about our ground staff they were wonderful people who gave their best to their work but received very little for it the only thing that kept them going was their pride in their work
As Oscar finished telling the bishop joke the door suddenly burst open and crappy flew in crappy kitson looked as if he were going into labor there was something unusual about it it didn’t say anything but ran over to the window and turned on the radio in complete silence
We heard the words of Chamberlain who told us and the whole world the sad news there was henceforth a state of war between Great Britain and Germany Oscar took a deep drag and then let the smoke out of his nostrils all right boys so be it you better head to your planes and
Check them out be back in half an hour is probably jobs for us I went to inspect my S Charlie and found it in the regular parking lot it was my airplane and I must say a pretty lousy one on takeoff it was always skidding to the
Right and in Flight the left wing was always pulling down sometimes the engine would fail but we put up with it we even loved it because it was ours during this period my crew was not fully stuffed the co-pilot with me was a Somerset native named Jack Warner the radio operator was
Was shorty mccormic it didn’t take too long to check all the systems the mechanics had done a good job and the airplane was perfectly serviceable then we went to the mess hall where we had a quick snack to a wheezing gramophone our lunch was interrupted by a loudspeak all
Crews to assemble immediately in the pre-flight briefing room we expected to immediately receive orders to fly to bomb Germany or that German planes had already flown out to us but instead we were addressed by the base commander Air Force colonel it he didn’t speak for long this massive South African native
Liked to drink and eat and his fingers resembled Bunches of bananas he said only a few words we were at War and he expected all officers and ened men to follow orders clearly from both base command and higher headquarters he reported that we are to proceed according to a standardized plan expect
Two weeks of Maximum stress when we will have to fly as many sorties as possible one week of constant pressure and then a week of rest he told us that the German air force was not in the best condition and appeared to have suffered serious losses in Poland then we went back to
Finish lunch we waited all afternoon but no orders came in that evening the pub was empty everyone was writing letters home the next day it was just me and Rossy in the Commander’s office I don’t know where everyone else had gone probably to play cricket suddenly
Leonard SN walked in he was quite a well-known squadron commander in the Royal Air Force before the war he had been one of the pilots of the Schneider trophy races SN was short and the sad expression never left his mustachioed face he also played rugby for the Air
Force and held the record in the quarter mile run he had a temper however and it was best not to get under his hot hand today however he was not interested in rugby in a strange voice he said we have to go Rossy and I remained silent we
Have to pick up six airplanes three each from the A and B links I don’t know the Target but I think we have to attack German ships its own probably battleships each plane should carry four 500b bombs the fuse delay is 11.5 seconds because we’ll be attacking from
Low altitude air Captain Collier will lead the three of the B Squadron you two will fly with me take off at 3:30 when I saw him writing my name on the little piece of paper I was overcome by an absolutely inexpressible feeling a few days ago I was some faithing Carefree
Enjoying life and the future seemed simple and clear and now I’m a soldier and I may very well not come back from my flight Rossy felt the same way although he didn’t say anything his face visibly darkened soon everything was ready the crew assembled the bombs were
Hung on the plane and we went to the briefing however to call it a briefing would not be serious we gathered around a table and the base commander told us what should be done you are to attack the German pocket battleships that are stationed at the Shilling raid at the
Entrance to the Keel Canal if for some reason there are no ships there you are to bomb the ammunition Depots at marianoff I must warn you at once however that if any civilian casualties are caused by the bombs either in houses or docks you will be punished in the
Strictest possible manner the weather is expected to be bad you must drop your bombs at low altitude there are reports of barriage B but you will not see them they stay in the cloud layer don’t stay over the Target too long return if you decide that it is not possible to
Execute the attack as planned after this wise counsel snai briefly outlined his plan we’ll take off as a group me as the right wingman Rossy as the left wingman when we approach the vonia we are to separate 500 yards apart and attack from three directions someone asked what
Would happen if the bombs bounced off the armored decks the chief of ordinance replied he stated that the bomb should hit the superstructure and it would EXP explode when the airplane was already at a safe distance then Captain pit who served as intelligence officer took the floor he reported that every ship of
This type was armed with anti-aircraft machine guns and read a long paragraph from the flight manuals it stated that one should attack from an altitude of 3,000 ft to avoid anti-aircraft fire this was above the ceiling of the anti-aircraft machine guns but below the minimum effective height of the heavy
Guns he repeated again that under no circumstance should we bomb Germany then someone else came up and started telling us how we should take off with bombs none of us had ever done this before and we simply had no idea how the Hampton would behave with 2,000 of bombs on
Board and vice is easier to give them to follow he recommended using the trimmers more in flight on the runup he should have taken the handle and given the fullest throttle possible this all sounded pretty reasonable as we had no idea about any of this today looking
Back I realized with horror that we knew knew nothing at all only somehow we theorized that the Hamptons flew with a bomb load as well there was nothing more to do in the headquarters and we went to the restrooms thinking over the finished plan when we got off the bus we got the
Commander’s final advice on no account were we to break away from the formation unless he himself ordered it we were to fly together and act as a unit not aart so30 p.m. when we were already getting into the trucks to go to the airplanes a message came from the headquarters the
Takeoff is delayed until 16.0 that was unnecessary my guys were nervous enough as it was and now they would rather be in the air than spend another hour waiting in suspense we lay in the sun smoking but hardly talking everyone was trying to guess what had happened to
Delay the flight for an in an air War that’s almost an eternity the flight was ped until 17.0 this time the messenger was escorted away with profanity everyone was nervous my hands were starting to shake we always wanted to run to the toilet some of us went there four times
An hour finally the order came to get into trucks and go to the airplanes the pilots who stayed on the ground crowded around us they just didn’t know what should be said in cases like this eventually they said goodbye to us and someone utter have a good trip see you
Tonight as I sat down in my Pilot’s seat toughy one of the mechanics bent over to me and said in my ear good luck sir give those bastards a real kick in the ey I don’t think I said anything in response just smiled about the way one
Smiles when one doesn’t hear Too clearly what’s being said but Tuffy was one of the oldtimers and realized exactly what had happened fastening my harness straps he added now you don’t have to worry you’ll be all right you’ll be back and he was right about 5 minutes later we
Started the engines and began to taxi for takeoff waiting for the guys from 49 Squadron led by George Lille to take off it was to George that the dubious Laurels belong his fifth group plane was the first to take off to strike Germany we watched them take to the air one by
One some planes wiggled noticeably but otherwise had no problems on takeoff after that Willie took off then Rossi in just a few minutes they disappeared in a cloud of propeller dust but now I was completely calm and ready for anything I gently pulled the brake handle pushing
Both throttle gears forward at the same time then I released the brakes and the Old Hampton slowly lifted its tail 30 seconds later it was in the air and we were headed for German territory the airplane was too heavy it took quite a while before we gained normal speed it
Did not obey the Rudders well and kept trying to stall on the wing after a while I managed to get in line with Willie SN and we set a course for Lincoln Cathedral I could hardly hear Jack Warner saying okay of course 80° magnetic compass speed 160 but my
Thoughts were too far away I was only watching The Meadows drifting away under the wing I could hardly believe that I had have left England and was flying to Germany to drop bombs it was just unbelievable many times we did training raids but we always knew firmly that we
Would be back we were sure there was a mug of beer waiting for us in the mess hall that was not the case now the fields were just beautiful sometimes you can even admire Lincoln County I didn’t want to leave it all the while being drawn to turn back I even wished
Something had broken at say Charlie so we could turn around legally but we had no luck the motor was hammering like a suing machine damn it then far ahead the coast showed up soon we were flying over a summer camp near sknas only two months
Ago I was here with the rest of the link pilots and we were all having a lot of fun but soon the camp melted into the haze and Germany was still two hours away time stretched slowly we were flying at low altitude only 1,000 ft the waves below us looked much Bleaker than
Before but that was probably a joke of the imagination Little Willie was looking straight ahead I think he was concentrating all his attention on keeping on the right course I myself was spinning my head like it was on a hinge I had heard from one of the pilots who
Had been through the last war that it was the only way to survive Taps Wily’s excessive Focus was the reason he didn’t notice the German flying boat that flew 500 ft below us it was a do 18 the German plane immediately turned left and I could clearly see the white
Frightened faces of the German Pilots looking at me through the cockpit glass perhaps they thought we were attacking them I had such a thought but in all the instructions written that the main task of the bomber to attack the Target and return back not to chase the enemy
Aircraft so we continued to fly our previous course about 40 mil from Wilhelm shaven the lower boundary of the cloud suddenly dropped to 300 ft it began to rain we closed formation I opened the window so I could see Willie somehow and immediately got soaked the
Sea below us was quite rough being about 10 mil from our Target we saw anti-aircraft shells bursting ahead this meant that our first planes were already doing their thing the clouds were now coming in at an altitude of only 100 ft from my point of view this was just fine
For attacking ships since in poor visibility we could make a surprise strike and immediately hide in the cloud from anti-aircraft fire but to my amazement the sther suddenly began to turn left completely unaware of what he was doing I repeated the maneuver I saw poor Rossy looking around in confusion
Watching his wing he thought the airplane might catch a wave at any moment then the leader straightened out and I suddenly realized that he had turned back of course he was quite right there was no doubt about it all we knew was that we were heading roughly on
Course but the bursts were equally likely to belong to Dutch guns or German guns from Helo s was not going to risk three airplanes to carry out an unsuccessful attack the frustration was terrible but discipline took over we were ordered Not To Break formation and
Orders must be obeyed on the way back we encountered the same flying boat again I think it was on patrol to watch for airplanes approaching Germany but we had already dropped our bombs into the sea and turned from bombers into Fighters I saw no reason that would prevent me from
Shooting the thing down I radioed the commander and informed him of the contact but there was no response and we missed a great opportunity to shoot down the first enemy airplane of the wall we crossed the shoreline again already in the dark near Boston all the beacons were out and Navigator Willie was
Completely out of position we hung around over Lincolnshire for nearly 2 hours before we managed to make up our minds it wasn’t until the moon rose that we spotted the canal leading to Lincoln itself and turned north towards the base finally we did land this was my first
Night landing on the Hampton however it went safely but what a a disappointment that our flight ended in nothing in spite of all the dangers to which we were exposed it cannot be considered a raid and yet we experienced all the proper Sensations if not worse the first
Thing I saw as I entered the dining room were the surprised faces of the guys holding their mugs of beer we thought you’d been hit the Z zebrra radio operator saw you going vertically down straight into the sea what I told them I had absolutely no idea what they were
Talking about and went to bed it’s all just funny to remember now we were yokal boys with one exception I was the kind of guy who never goes vertically down no matter whether it’s into land or sea that was the first raid yes it was a failure yes we didn’t make the attack
But in those days we didn’t know how to do it at all and one can only wonder how we managed to get through the bad weather Zone and we saw enemy anti-aircraft shells bursting just on the horizon but they were still firing at us I thought then that if it kept
Looking the same things would go pretty well although we failed the second group Blenheim got their way and managed to damage the Von’s cheer they flew two hours ahead of us and were able to spot the enemy attacking from low altitude they put one bomb into the superstructure of the German ship
Breaking the Catapult and destroying the airplane standing on it the next day the newspapers were all about it much was said about the crew who had executed the successful attack and air major Doran now prisoner of war was awarded the distinguished flying cross the award was well deserved in America and other
Neutral countries this raid was good propaganda it showed that things were not as Grim as they seemed and The Old Lion was still capable of striking serious blows the Germans didn’t waste any time in the propaganda War either they declared that we had bombed civilians and that we would soon face
Severe retribution ging and Hitler were just fuming with anger the fatl Michelle wanted to immediately send bombers to London but Hitler held him back for the time being go bells that little stinker had discovered a new way of waging psychological warfare he got one of our down Pilots to participate in a
Broadcast on England conducted by Lord Howell how the conversation as I recall looked something like tell me Sergeant are you all right yes I’m fine are you being treated well yes and answer everyone is very nice to me how do you eat long pause then answer wonderful
Just like home that’s a bad show I can see a gun to the poor guy’s head the next day I became the second military victim I went to retrieve my parachute from the airplane when I entered the mess hall I saw a large black labrador
Sitting in the Hall I love dogs so I decided to walk up to him to Pat him on the head and tell him how glad we were to see him in the mess hall but the labrador had an opinion of his own his huge Jaws clamped down on my arm and I I
Rushed to the washroom blood was pouring from my bitten hand and a huge piece of my pants had been torn out the pants were new by the way as the monster chased me intent on biting me again pit entered the pub wearing heavy flight boots Pete was a man of determination
And his swift kick through the Beast into the air the dog scurried away there were gaping holes in my unfortunate arm and though I admitted it to no one I was in great pain we all wanted to execute the criminal without trial but it turned out that he belonged to an aviation
Colonel so he was pardoned the colonel came to me when I was getting my fifth Stitch he was puffing heavily for he had been torn from his luncheon I hear you had a little trouble with Simba that’s a shame you should keep an eye on him keep
An eye on him I could hardly contain myself poor old Simba later paid for his crimes in full after two sure winds and four probable wins he was put on a chain maybe his score increased today Lieutenant colel Jordan took command of the Squadron and granted me a 36-hour
Medical leave Jordan was an excellent commander in a matter of days he had gotten to know the entire Squadron and gained General respect most of the time he was yelling I recall one day when I arrived in his office and he was on two phones at once to the group Commander he
Was explaining that he had only 19 airplanes with a 19th inoperable on the other phone he was talking to the kitchen inquiring about the rotten potatoes served for lunch while I wondered how he managed not to confuse the two phones the agitant hurriedly closed the door Jordan was
Never afraid to make decisions and this 36-hour leave of absence for me was something he just made up since there was no statute for such an occasion on September 5 my brother had a wedding I wanted to attend so the vacation came in handy the trip to rugby turned out to be
Full of Adventure it was still very hot and blood was starting to seep through the bandage as I stood on the plat form at Nottingham Waiting for a Train an old woman approached me she said poor boy bad luck overk I suppose then a young
Man came to me my brother was there too his name is Simpson wasn’t he hit then an old man with a hat pulled over his eyes appeared he looked around like a man about to tell a great secret and whispered I was in the last batch boy
I’m proud of you I almost had a stroke why can’t anyone walk calmly pass a man with a bloody arm in a sling why does everyone assume I’m hurt because dogs bite sometimes one of them bit me they almost drove me crazy with their sympathy I returned to scampton with an
Aching arm and a heavy head there were no people or airplanes on the Airfield someone had heard that the cruts had destroyed dozens of airplanes on the ground in Poland so phas no 10 of the war plans had begun all planes were put in the air and sent to ringway near
Manchester to avoid being hit by enemy bombers I heard afterwards that the lads had had a good threshing in Manchester which is not surprising so as soon as the doctor took the stitches out I rushed over there too when I got there it was a
Cloudy day I took a cab to the club there Rossy told me the latest news the guys were really doing well Oscar had found a decent pub with beer a gramophone and pretty bids one of the pilots even managed to propose to one of them after another round of drinks the
Pub was located in a very good place just halfway between Manchester and the Airfield so you could say you were heading for the city but stop halfway saving time and money and indulge in more pleasant Pursuits such as drinking for several days we lived in appalling conditions over 40 people slept on
Mattresses right on the floor in a large Hall there were no wash basins and the PO had only one bath but what was good about ringway was that it was the assembly point for the women’s auxiliary of the Air Force these girls still wore dresses and were simply Charming they
Belonged to those who had enlisted at the very beginning of the war when the prospects looked pretty Grim but their choice had not yet been forced work at ringway was almost non-existent every day we gathered to check out the airplanes it usually didn’t take more
Than half an hour at most and then we were free some would take a bath some would shave and clean themselves to get themselves in Godly shape and ready to go to the pub for a 5 clock the beer was consumed in huge quantities once new news came that a German battleship had
Appeared in the Irish sea but it never happened again and we spent our time quite serenely numerous parties were thrown needless to say the numerous guys in blue flying uniforms attracted everyone’s attention in the pub it was a real vacation for us the war had faded into the background even though we had
Been fighting for a month so why not get married while the sun Shone and there was plenty of sunshine in Manchester the hospitality was amazing with people trying to Forstall our every wish all doors were open girls were kind movie tickets were free and we lived like
Kings and at the same time some losers were conducting night raids on the Reich but there were no bombs in their planes they were either scouting or dropping leaflets telling the Germans to surrender or overthrow Hitler or B rumors reach Manchester about how the lads were doing it though such flights
Are not something to brag about finally it was Sunday when Oscar flew to scampton for the sole purpose of washing clothes and finding in money I was simply shocked when one of the waitresses in the cafe at the Airfield came up to me while I was following him
She said quietly as if she was thinking the exact opposite I hope he goes back I agreed though I was thinking of the5 he had promised me the next day gradually we got to know all the locals and now time began to run short every evening there was a cocktail party with the
Girls or something similar we liked Manchester and it liked us one day while I was having coffee with with Bruce Harrison in a little diner a couple of girls from the women’s auxiliary came over and sat down at our table we spent that evening together there was almost
Nothing to do so we sat in the Midland Hotel until midnight drinking cocktails and listening to the orchestra up to now I had not paid much attention to women they seemed to me an indispensable part of parties nothing more sometimes they were Silly sometimes they were smart but
None made much of an impression on me I guess it was the war that affected me but I quickly fell in love like a boy from that moment on I thought only of her all the time she could fly play golf and race cars she was beautiful she was
Wonderful and all that but although Barbara was very affectionate with me one day she declared quite firmly that her heart belonged to a certain Naval Aviation pilot so there you go a little while later I saw him but it struck me terribly it took a war for the poor
Fellow to fall in love one day Sam tripleton Deputy squadron commander came to ringway he was supposed to pull us up command got wind that we were having too good a time and they sent him over to see if we were in the afternoon he
Kicked us out to a hotel where no liquor was served and vacated our Pub naturally the faces of the pilots darkened especially those who had managed to get girlfriends this hotel was a few miles from the Airfield despite the prohibition it was there that I took
Part in the worst drunkenness of my life and so the weeks passed rumors were already circulating that we were going to stay in ringway forever but someone in bakaman decided otherwise apparently the Germans were too deeply entrenched in Poland to bomb England but one day as
I sat in the recreation room waiting for the fog to clear my radio operator MC suddenly came running orders from group headquarters not immediately realizing what was the matter we nevertheless headed for the radio room to avoid long delays as is usual in longdistance radiograms we had set up a small radio
To keep in constant communication with scampton this was strictly forbidden but it proved very useful when Mac finished writing down what he had heard he handed the sheet to Rossy who was the king of encryption deciphering a radiogram is a terribly tedious task and we paced around impatiently peering over his he
Slowly wrote out the first sentence the radiogram began in the standard way from Bas to 83rd division ringway we’ve been waiting are we being sent to France are we being sent to Iceland This Is War it’s real maybe it’s word from Oscar who was going to come back at night and he’s
Asking us to find him a girlfriend then Rossy read the rest of it return to base begin preparations for night flying when he finished reading there was a general groan night flights how awful leaflets great God but Bruce was already thinking of the farewell party mul was thinking
Too I suppose he was supposed to meet the girl at the cafe Royale Sila probably wasn’t thinking about anything I was thinking about Barbara and cursing as we headed back to scampton I was way behind the other planes as there was no way I could get my old he Charlie to fly
Faster I tried to show that we weren’t so bad but I picked the wrong time and place to do it as I made a tight turn over the flight control tower I saw a short figure on the Pod waving his fists I wasn’t sure I recognized her but a
Chill ran down my spine mine I landed hastily and taxied to the farthest corner of the Airfield where I hoped no one would see me when I arrived at the flight control center it turned out that I was quite right it was Little Willie he was back I’d known for a long time
That he had a soft spot for dudes and I got the full brunt of it I spent the next few nights in the radio Center providing Communications during night flights but I was well rested during my stay in ringway so I took the punishment quite easily although the days stretched
Very slowly SE September did end the October fogs began to roll in all night flights were cancelled why no one knew just cancelled that’s all now we were preparing to attack enemy ships every day nine airplanes from each Squadron had to be on duty in half hour Readiness
The duty started at 70 in the morning all day long we sat in the recreation room smoking reading listening to the radio as soon as it started to get dark we were dismissed not a fun life it’s real torture for abomb pilot and soon we were grumbling the only bright spot was
The furlows on the old Anson we could fly to ringway for 24 hours to see old acquaintances but that soon stopped as soon as the high command got wind of it the October days crept by painfully slowly it was beginning to seem to us that the whole War would turn into a
Tedious dragging gum events were crawling at a snail’s pace ready Stand Down postponement boring gradually it began to Dawn on us that all of last month’s firesides were a waste of time and money we weren’t about to be sent to the front in France we weren’t threatened with death this was some kind
Of static War you will laugh but I finally found time to visit the dentist I got him a call in early September but somehow I hadn’t gotten around to going to see him when we ran into him in the dining room I I didn’t come to see you
Because I didn’t see the point of doing my teeth it’s a long and painful process and I was sure I would be dead in just a few days at the time I really thought so and that was a perfectly typical sentiment in our Squadron things were different now it
Looked like the Germans were licking their wounds for the time being but what they intend to do next was completely unclear but it was quite clear what we would do nothing Poland had fallen two huge armies stood against each other on the Maginot Line exchanging all sorts of threats and insults through loudspeakers
The Germans urged the French to turn their arms against their British allies and here is a story that shows that the Germans have a rather peculiar sense of humor once at the height of the fighting the mi1 100 which was then considered the newest and most secret aircraft made
An emergency landing on the plane between the Maginot Line and the SE fried line all day long the two adversaries kept a close eye on one another the British and French prepared special patrols which with the onset of Darkness were to get close to the downed
Plane and try to pull it to the French trenches night came on it was cloudy and quite dark the patrol moved forward crawling on all fours the soldiers were afraid to breathe lest they attract the attention of the Germans finally they got close to the meses SMI for a few minutes they tried
To catch their breath and then tied a rope around the tail of the plane it was very difficult to work as it was impossible to light even a match after laboring for an hour the Allies did their job and crawled back suddenly two German search lights Came Upon them the
Bright light blinded the soldiers they resembled thieves caught red-handed one of the very same loudspeakers blared if you want light why the hell didn’t you say so in the first place for 10 miles around and then the Germans opened fire with machine guns the next day the French retaliated by shelling the German
Trenches with guns the whole world watched these games and repeat what a funny war but the pilots were not laughing we had been lucky so far but one or two squadrons based at hemswell had already suffered we knew next to nothing about air Warfare and had to
Learn by experience some were not so lucky a squadron of 12 planes was sent to attack three German destroyers near helon only six planes returned and the pilots told a very strange story it turned out that the Destroyers did not have anti-aircraft machine guns as had been assumed instead they are installed
A lot of small caliber automatic cannons which make the attack of a single plane from low altitude form suicide unless it is not supported by other aircraft it turned out that the Destroyer had such maneuverability that it had no trouble dodging a single plane it also turned out that it was possible
To collide with German Fighters even far from Shore another Squadron tried to attack enemy ships in helgoland Bay it split into links but no German ships could be found on the way home apparently they spotted German fighter planes the link Commander decided to get rid of the bombs to increased speed at
Least a little the bomb hatch flaps opened the pilots pressed the buttons that was the last thing they did the planes flew at an altitude of only 500 ft and all were blown to Pieces by the explosions of the bombs there was no one and nothing left there are still all
Sorts of stories about this episode both from us and from the Germans this is a new war and we had to learn from our own bitter experience the raid on Wilhelm shaven wellingtons without fighter cover was another EX example of familiarity with the unknown but I cannot indiscriminately blame the headquarters
At the time everyone thought that a close formation of wellingtons could defend against me 109 however we learned such a lesson that such raids were never repeated why because it cost too much for the pilots at the same time this operation completely destroyed our confidence in German military reports
They said that they shot down 54 aircraft which exceeded the number of wellingtons involved in the operation but the Germans weren’t sitting idle either they targeted scaper flow The Raid was unsuccessful because the bombing was too inaccurate our Fighters claim to have shot only one rabbit and
I’m inclined to believe them but later a German submarine stealthily sneaked through the booms into this Naval Base sank the battleship Royal Oak and slipped back out this proves some unreliability of our booms they should be strengthened said an admiralty spokesman a few days later the crowd
Pilots made a new raid over the fog covered Waters of the Bay fth of fourth appeared 12 German planes that tried to attack the ships standing in the harbor of Edinburgh our Fighters first Gladiators and then Spitfires were put on alert and several hles did not return
It should be noted that these raids involved some of the best German pilots who had worked for Lanser Before the War I heard an almost unbelievable story about one warlike Reserve major he had already shot down one Hine court and then chased down another he chased the German over drem and the
Green fields of baric that’s where the German plane went down admiring this site our hero suddenly decided to become the first fighter pilot to capture the crew of the downed plane the major quickly Drew up a plan of action he made a couple of circles over the field but
The only ones who saw him were all the same Germans who sat next to the crashed hle and curiously watched their enemy our hero released the flaps and sat down without turning off the engine but then the wheels of the spit fire bog down in the mud and the planes gaptized the
Pilot tried to get out of the cockpit in vain he was trapped and hung upside down listening to the unpleasant sound of Dripping gasoline the only thing left to do was to wait for someone to help the Germans who had been watching all this with considerable amazement finally
Decided to do something they ran up to the Spitfire and in a matter of seconds freed the pilot jumping out from under the wreckage our hero immediately grabbed his gun and said you’re under arrest does anyone speak English the German captain replied displaying a perfect Oxford pronunciation I speak I graduated
From malvin and Trinity but major that was one hell of a bad landing these are the kind of stories that began to emerge over time whether they were true or not is unknown however any one of them had some basis in fact and for many more months similar Tales were told in all
The pubs of Lincoln I should note here that at that time the enlisted men could not yet perform as well as the enlisted Pilots about a year later they had settled in and performed to the best of their ability but in the harsh days of 1939 they could not yet be relied upon
However about this a little later in November the rains came our Squadron began to receive replenishment flashed new people who arrived from training units one day we were sitting in the flight control center when five new recruits arrived at once Jackie Withers Tony Mills Bill twiddle Dicky bunker and
Grinny Greenwell they were all English except for Grinny who was born in South Africa they were visibly nervous as they had absolutely no idea what was in store for them they were all quite young except for Jackie Withers Oscar looked around at the newcomers I suppose they didn’t expect
To see such a young Link commander and certainly didn’t expect his uniform to be open his cap knocked back on the back of his head and his feet flaunting on the table he said boys you are all very lucky because you fell into my link all
Provocateur go to the B link the only thing required of you is to show performance and high flying discipline you’ve probably been taught to fly Hamptons and you probably think you’re race but I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you you’re all going to be co-pilots that means you’ll have to
Learn to navigate and it also means that you’ll only be allowed to fly the airplane on a night training flight they quickly assigned the new recruits Tony Mills went to Jack Kyo greeny went to Yan then Oscar smiled Ry and looked at me and now you gibo since you have the
Crappiest radio operator and the worst airplane and since you’re still and lar yourself you get this one he pointed to Jackie with us I knew Oscar was joking but Jackie didn’t realize it well thanks Oscar I said and turned to Jackie you’re a damn lucky man you got the best pilot
In the Squadron I made it out of the room in time to be escorted out of the room by shouts of Worman you’re a watch out he’ll kill you I’d already slammed the door shut when a flight boot slammed into it after that I stared at Jackie he was a curious sort
His mother was an opera singer and he was trained as a ballot dancer Jackie was also good at playing any jazz tunes on the piano he could even sing like Harry Roy but the most important thing about Jack was that he had a heart of gold and was not afraid of anyone or
Anything a little later I discovered that he was a good flyer too at the end of November we were all startled by the news that three German destroyers had been cited just 2 miles from Newcastle we were sent out on a reconnaissance mission if the report was true and the
Destroyers were really there both squadrons were to take off immediately and attack them with bombs needless to say it all turned out to be phony we were on our way back to base when a new message arrived we were ordered to search the North Sea 20 mi off the
Danish island of silt Jackie clutched his head I didn’t bring the right charts we we didn’t need them though we just followed Oscar the whole time and saw nothing but a fishing boat when we flew up to zilt all we saw was a layer of clouds over the land when we flew back
We crushed a few cans of beer for joy in our group we were the first Pilots to see German territory during the day a dubious pleasure to say the least about this time the German pocket Battleship doand attempted to break into the Atlantic the one type graph speed had
Already been dealt with and now the Air Force command decided to give the bombers an opportunity to demonstrate their art one day came the message that Dand left Keel and headed for the North Atlantic to attack our shipping a scout plane reported that it was traveling northward along the coast of Norway and
Was now near stavenger at dawn a commotion broke out at scampton all the crews were called at once although there were only nine airplanes left in each Squadron The Briefing didn’t take long the attack should be carried out in Links of three airplanes each the total number of aircraft inv D in the
Operation about 50 in the event of enemy Fighters should close formation and cover each other as far as possible at the last moment my place was taken by Joe Collier and left me on the ground burning with anger but within hours he regretted his insistence so they took off commanded the strike group
Lieutenant Colonel Sheen commander of the 49th Squadron in one of the planes was an observer who had two binoculars to identify dechand upon seeing the Pocket Battles ship he was to fire a colored rocket after that our Pilots had to boldly attack the said ship without
Fear that it is a randomly turned out British Cruiser the plains Flew Over the Windswept North Sea keeping an altitude of 10,000 ft and finally spotted the coast of Norway it took them only two hours to get there as they were driven by a strong Tailwind however Shen who
Was piloting the lead plane bravely decided to fly farther than the Plan called for keeping three miles off the coast in a of wonderful weather they flew North looking at all the cuvs and fjords until they arrived at the point from which they had to turn back they
Were running out of gasoline the planes turned Westward toward England but now there was a headwind and it quickly turned into a real storm our Hampton had not too high speed and if you look at the sea you could see that relative to the surface they barely moved at all
After 4 hours the very Observer suggested that they had passed north of Scotland and were now in the Atlantic so he advised turning Southeast and so they did at that time radio communication between the planes was not very reliable after a while the chief navigator on board the lead plane
Managed to convince The Observer that he was mistaken and the planes turned but now gasoline supplies were rapidly dwindling the planes had been in the air for 10 hours and the pilots anxiously watched the fuel gauges the hands hovered around the 100 gallon Mark and there was no sign of land it was
Beginning to look like the the whole group was going to have to land on water suddenly a small fishing boat emerged from the fog ahead the day was drawing towards evening it was already quite dark and the old fisherman steering the boat had obviously finished his work and
Was on his way home he was greatly surprised when suddenly 50 Hamptons began circling his boat transmitting secret call signs with their search lights however the fisherman had no radio or signal lights so he simply waved at the planes assuming the pilots were fooling around meanwhile one of the
Squadrons which was commanded by Willie watt describing another Circle accidentally spotted land on the horizon and immediately turned there 15 minutes later it landed safely in montro she was followed by the rest of the Squadron which also managed to land the bomber which was piloted by one Sergeant was
Already coming in for a landing when it ran out of gasoline and one engine quit the pilot gave Full Throttle to to the second engine but after a few seconds that one also stalled the airplane crashed in a cemetery near the Airfield but the crew was unharmed on December 1
Nothing happened we only received a message that Russia had invaded Finland why it happened will be found out only after the war but I believed the Russians if they did so they had good reasons although we didn’t think about it at the time it was on December one
That I got a three-day leave the first since I had been bitten by a dog we weren’t allowed to go too far away we always had to be able to get back back to the unit in 12 hours so I went to Coventry to stay with my brother the
Vacation went quietly including the usual amount of beer drinking and a game of rugby but at one of the parties I met Eva Moore and at the same moment I fell madly in love with her she was short and very pretty and she knew how to keep a conversation during the boring parties
Where War reports were chewed over it was nice to meet someone to talk to about Books and Music most people who can talk about these things aren’t very likable but this girl was very attractive her parents worked in Cardiff I was still licking the Heartbreak Barbara had caused me and most of the
Guys in my Squadron already had steady girlfriends so I didn’t see any reason why I couldn’t find a girlfriend Eve suited me it was very nice to live like a normal person walking around with a beautiful girl but it soon came to an end the last night we were at a cocktail
Party at the king head Hotel the fun dragged on until 3:00 a.m. it was the most casual drinking the only thing I remember was having the Folly of mixing rum with whiskey a foodie can only cringe when he hears about that after saying goodbye to my brother and the
Rest of the company I made my way to the car and headed for scampton which was about 100 miles away no one can feel normal at 3:00 a.m. and rum and whiskey do not make one feel better at times my eyes were blurry the headlights had camouflage visors and as a result the
Headlights did not shine at all after an hour I lost the road and almost hit a ditch then I decided to sleep to wait for Dawn an hour or two later I woke up with a buzzing head and a nasty taste in my mouth as they say the rum went
Backwards as soon as I got to scampton I rushed to the hanger and passed out in the Pilot’s Lounge I was a few hours late but I didn’t want Willie to catch me with horrible alcohol breath the room was quiet and warm and I got a great
Night’s sleep as I was dozing off a few guys showed up through my sleep I heard someone say oh gibbo’s back then someone else had it look at those bags under his eyes he had a lot of fun everyone laughed and it was too much with one
Leap I got to my feet and yelled at the couple eyeing get out of here you damn Devils I drove a 100 miles despite a terrible hangover and now I’m asleep they immediately fled for they had a perfect idea of my condition the weather in December was for the most part
Terrible although we spent our time on constant alert waiting for the order to take off only two times did we actually get in the air to intercept The elusive deut land but both times the order to return came just an hour later and it appeared that we were getting our pay
For nothing every day the Airfield was covered with fog although we could see a small farm at the other end of the Airfield and then some boss in the air Ministry decided that the scampton Airfield was too small this Farm was in the way of lengthening it so it was
Decided to demolish it one of the Squadron commanders Johnny cheek suddenly had a bright idea if The Farmhouse is doomed why not destroy it with 500b bombs we would get some practice in bombing from low altitudes and at the same time find out how our bombs behaved in this case at once a
Competition between squadrons was announced and all began to look forward to the big day at last the opportunity arose but at the very last moment the ministry intervened and authorized the use of only training bombs but they had to release a column of smoke when they
Fell for realism the boys took off one by one they dropped the bombs from a height of 100 ft although the pilots tried their best the result was not good some just missed others had their bombs Ricochet off the ground fly over a building and explode a quarter mile from
The target we learned a lot that day it turned out that strafing was a lot harder than we thought it turned out that ricocheting bombs could fly a long distance if the fuse was mounted in the tail section someone made a suggestion to attach pins to the bombs so they
Would stick into the ground like darts the winner of the competition was Johnny cheek who managed to put a bomb right through a bedroom window it was quite funny because he always lost at darts that’s how December went once or twice we had competitions we practiced landing
And bombing in this way we tried to keep ourselves busy but on the whole we were languishing in idleness we were beginning to think there was some kind of strange war going on one day I flew with Oscar to St a in South Wales to pick up some secret equipment for our
Hamptons the flight was difficult as we were accompanied by low clouds the whole way when we popped out of the clouds over the Bristol Channel at an altitude of 500 ft the ships of some Convoy immediately opened fire on us and nearly shot us both down we were saved only by
The poor Marksmanship of the Gunners and at the Airfield we were stranded the weather became even worse and we decided to spend the night here to fly the next day this suited me fine because I was able to visit Eva’s house and meet her parents then we left Cardiff and then
Christmas came up our first military Christmas from the morning we were in Readiness to fly out to attack enemy Merchant ships when it was time for lunch we took oras and other Delicacies out of our inflight only Russians and we thought of the lucky ones who could have
A good drink and a good time but someone upstairs heard our prayers and the flight was cancelled the party did happen first we went to the mess hall of the enlisted person personnel which was covered with a shroud of tobacco smoke the party began with loud yelling each Squadron tried to outshout their
Neighbors first the 49th took over then the 83rd then the 49th again and it ended in a hellish cacophony we remembered an old Royal Air Force tradition on Christmas Day the officers served the privates and the privates were allowed to call the Officers by whatever name they wanted so we had to
Listen to a lot of unpleasantness one muger beer followed another and faster and faster the party got rougher and rougher and the language got harsher and harsher but here another tradition came in handy that officers must leave the party when chairs start flying through the air or they will be in trouble then
We went to the Sergeant’s mess hall where any of the sergeants had the right to Splash gin into an officer’s beer mug I was spiked several times and I just don’t remember how I got home no one was ever punished for it Christmas no one knows if we’ll get to celebrate another one
After making sure the privates and Enos had a good time and filled up on beer to the brim we went to the office’s mess hall for our own celebration it was a nightmare the party turned into a stag party as there were no girls at the
Party but what a stag party it turned out to be first each Squadron sat down separately then someone shout boys come here to hell with the ceremonies I still remember being pulled out from under a pile of bodies to be taken to the telephone it was Eva calling to wish me
A Merry Christmas then I headed back to that dump it’s just a miracle no one was hurt finally I thought it would be a good idea to go to bed I kicked myself hard and found it very difficult to walk straight As I made my way down the
Hallway I came across four fire extinguishers I didn’t notice them partly because the hallway was dark partly because I don’t know why anyway I hit all four of them in turn and they all went off I just didn’t know what to do first I tried putting them on so that
The foam would stop flooding the hallway that didn’t work they would shut up for a second and then start pouring down my pants again it was impossible to control them so I threw them out the window what a racket glasses clinking fire extinguishers gurgling I got to bed
Feeling good that I’d done my best to get out of a bad situation but the next day the dining room clerk coldly informed me that I was to be deprived of liquor for a month in view of the Havoc I had Reed in the dining room I was
Terribly angry and rushed out to find Willie SN he found a way to comfort me however think about it gibbo everything that’s done is done for the best you’ll save a lot of money and you can spend it on gifts for your girlfriend that sounded reasonable and for a month I
Didn’t touch alcohol 1939 was over it ended in a wrong way a drunkenness not a combat flight but if we had known what awaited Us in the next three years
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Hello dear viewers, today you will see the part 1 of the story about of the story of a British pilot from the 2nd world war.. Enjoy your viewing. Don't forget to write your comment about the story. Did you like it.
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