The Diary of a RAF Lancaster Bomber Pilot (2 page)

My 21
^st
, New York City and the terrible voyage home

In March of 1944 we were given leave and with a friend and colleague, Reg, I travelled to New York City. It was great fun and very exciting to see the Big Apple. Don’t forget I was still only 20 and a very very long way away from home in Bradford.

After a few days in New York City we hitch-hiked over to Chicago and stayed with Reg’s relatives where I celebrated my 21
^st
Birthday. After Reg’s family treated me to a great 21
^st
Birthday celebration we headed back to Nova Scotia. Hitch-hiked our way across the USA back via NYC, on to Moncton and ending up at Halifax. A French Liner (the Isle de France) had been commandeered to sail us back to England to begin our RAF active service. However, unlike the QE the Isle de France wasn’t fast and therefore couldn’t outrun the Nazi U-Boats. So, instead we had to head South into the South Atlantic and then across East to come up via the Bay of Biscay. It was a hellish trip of over two weeks with heavy swells and the boat pitching and rolling (no giros). You can believe me when I say that 95% of the personnel ended up violently seasick.

Eventually we disembarked and were posted to a holding unit in Harrogate. By now the RAF had acquired a surplus of trained pilots so in June we were shunted up to Perth in Scotland.

Just before my posting to Perth, in May 1944, I married Elsie whilst on leave from Harrogate. She was the other love of my life (Elsie and the Tiger Moth) and we were both keen to be married before I went to Scotland and onto “operations” at some point in the near future. We had 62 years of wonderful married life until she died in December 2006.

Our Wedding Day in May 1944 In June 1944 we arrived at Perth at the pre Advanced Flying Unit (pAFU) and I was back with my old friend the DH82A Tiger Moth. We were ferrying ‘surplus’ navigators on map reading exercises.

L Joy Log book entry
At pAFU Perth, Scotland
Flying hours on DH82A Tiger Moths June 1944
Daytime = Dual 5hrs Solo 19hrs Total = 24hrs

In August we were back again in the Moths at 28 EFTS Wolverhampton. This was mainly doing some aerobatics and getting plenty of real flying time under our belts.

L Joy Log book entry
At 28 EFTS Wolverhampton, England Flying hours on DH82A Tiger Moths August 1944
Daytime = Dual 16hrs Solo 19hrs Night time = Dual 1hr Solo 0hrs Total = 36hrs

In October of 1944, owing to the continuing surplus of RAF Pilots we were sent on a Flight Engineers Course to No4 School of Technical Training (S.of.TT) at St Athan in South Wales. This proved to be very interesting and useful as we were then not only qualified Pilots but also Qualified Flight Engineers too. This was another string to our bow; because of the Pilot surplus we were keen to learn new skills whilst we were waiting to get into operational service. Operational Service

My call came in November of 1944 and I was immediately posted to No.1667 H.C.U (Heavy Conversion Unit) at Sandtoft near Doncaster. Here I flew in Halifaxs and Lancasters as 2
^nd
pilot / Flight Engineer. We were quickly crewed up and I found myself with an all Australian crew. It was War time, I was fully trained as a Pilot and the whole crew were also now fully trained in their particular area. The entire crew immediately got on really well together and there was a great feeling of camaraderie. It was important to establish trust which we did quickly and that later proved vital when we were posted to Squadron on operations.

L Joy Log book entry
At HCU Sandtoft, England
November 1944 to January 1945 Flying hours on Handley Page Halifax Night time passenger = 12hrs

Flying hours on Avro Lancaster Daytime = 2
^nd
Pilot = 29hrs Night time = 2
^nd
Pilot 19hrs

Total = 60hrs

 

Avro Lancaster

 

.

 

Our Squadron (460)

At the end of a cold January in 1945 we were posted as a crew to the (all Australian) 460 Squadron at RA F Binbrook, Lincolnshire for operations on Lancasters. I was one of only a handful of British born crew.

The photo of our crew was taken shortly after we arrived on the station in deep snow, I’m sure the Australians weren’t used to such harsh winters.

From the left…. Norman Small: Bomb Aimer, Carl Johnson: Navigator, Kevin Quinn: Wireless/Operator, Me: 2
^nd
Pilot/Flight Engineer, Murray Nottle: 1
^st
Pilot, Harold Brown: Mid Upper Gunner, Roy Rogers: Rear Gunner

460 Squadron Binbrook – January 1945

In February 1945 we were now on Squadron flying Bombing Operations over Germany, and crews detailed to fly that immediate night were listed on the “Battle Order” which was posted up earlier during the day.

Sometimes we were on consecutive “Battle Orders” to fly on consecutive nights and we were not happy when woken up in the middle of sleeping-off the previous night’s bombing operation over Germany to be told we were on the “Battle Order” again for that night. You can imagine this produced a few choice expletives.

When not on operations we were detailed for “Bombing Practice” over a bombing range called Donna Nook on the East coast, or “Cross Country” trips and other exercises which often entailed heading towards the German borders and then turning back (this was to act as a decoy so the enemy couldn’t be certain which was the main bomber stream). During these forays towards the German border we used to drop large amounts of small aluminium strips called “Window”.

This showed up on the enemy’s radar and appeared as many aircraft although there were often just a few of us doing it.
After a few bombing trips over Germany we were becoming a bit “flak-happy” but we were good together as a crew and were convinced we were going to survive in spite of some of our colleagues not coming back. When Crews didn’t come back it was the most awful news and a constant reminder of the terrible War we were fighting.

Although we were aware of the fact that only one in four members of air crew survived a “tour of operations” (which at that time was 32) it was something we refused to dwell on and we sometimes drowned our thoughts in the delights of good company and ale in the “The Marquis of Granby” the local hostelry in the nearby village of Binbrook.

The 24hr poker school in the mess (always so well attended that one had sometimes to wait for a vacant seat) also helped to divert our thoughts from the next bombing trip over the Ruhr Valley, jokingly called “Happy Valley” by everyone.

The names Dortmund, Duisberg and Kassel, all down the Ruhr Valley, induced cries of “No not again!” as they were the most often repeated and the most heavily defended targets in Germany. So much heavy industry connected to the German war effort was concentrated there.

The German night fighter force was now well equipped with the latest radar-directed equipment. On one occasion when we were approaching the target area the enemy ground control had directed their night fighters above us and instructed them to release their flares simultaneously above the bomber stream. The flares lit up the whole night sky for miles around, it was like Regent Street at Xmas! Brilliant white flares lit up the whole bomber stream down each side, like daylight.

We were lucky on this occasion as the fighters were busy picking off the Lancasters on the edges and we were fortunately in the middle of the stream this time. As I recount such experiences I wonder if we were slightly mentally anesthetised as well as occasionally “drunk” and somehow my subconscious mind may have evoked such thoughts as “If ever I come out of this…”. which could have stuck with me later on when the choice came as to whether I should continue flying in the RAF post war.

Here’s another photo of our crew taken in March of 1945 – I’ve kept it all these years as it gives me very fond memories of our crew.

From top left: “Brownie” Mid Upper Gunner: “Bluey” W/Operator: Me 2
^nd
Pilot: “Jonno” Navigator:
From bottom left:“Buck” Rear Gunner: Murray, First Pilot: and “Norm” Bomb Aimer.

March 1945 Our crew flew 21 operations although one was cancelled en route. Owing to the War in Europe ceasing in May 1945 we did not complete a full ‘tour of operations’ over Germany as the full tour at that time was to complete 32 ops. We were 11 short.

I’ve kept my log and with it a complete list of the operations by our crew.

 

Extract from my Log Book of Operations I flew from 20
^th
Feb. 1945 to 10
^th
May 1945 from 460 Squadron: Binbrook, Lincolnshire

. Date Target Day/Night 20/2/45 Dortmund Night 21/2/45 Duisburg Night 23/2/45 Pforzheim Night 28/2/45 Op. Cancelled Day 1/3/45 Mannheim Day 2/3/45 Cologne Day 5/3/45 Chemnitz Night 7/3/45 Dessau Night 8/3/45 Kassel Night 11/3/45 Essen Day 12/3/45 Dortmund Day 13/3/45 Herne Night 15/3/45 Misberg Night 18/3/45 Hannau Night 3/4/45 Nordhausen Day 4/4/45 Lutzkendorf Night 9/4/45 Keil (Mining) Night 18/4/45 Heligoland Day 22/4 45 Bremen Day 25/4/45 Berchtesgaden Day 28/4/45 Operation “Manna” Day 10/5/45 Operation “Exodus” Day

Total Flying Time Hrs. Mins.
6-50
6-35
8-20
1-20
7-00
5-15
9-40
9-55
7-40
5-25
5-35
5-35
7-55
7-00
6-05
8-20
5-40
4-25
4-30
8-05
3-35
4-00
138hrs 45mins

Note the length of flying hours on 5
^th
and 7