"OUR LONGEST DAY"

D Day 6^th June 1944 has been referred to in books and films as "The Longest Day". For our Lancaster crew it was indeed a long day.

In the afternoon of the 5^th June N° 467 RAAF crews were called to the briefing room and advised to retire to bed early, as they may be required for operations early the following morning. There was no mention that the following day was to be D-day, although we new something was afoot, as on flights over the south coast we had seen numerous small craft in harbours there. Whether these were to be used in the invasion or were "dummies" for the benefit of German reconnaissance aircraft we didn’t know. Our mid upper gunner Eric Klemm and I shared a room over the Sergeants Mess and we were awakened at about 01.00 hr. by a loud hammering on the door and on other doors in the corridor. Assuming this was the early call we had been warned about, we dressed, emptied our pockets and went to the mess for our usual bacon and egg meal (real eggs not reconstituted powder ones) and then joined the remainder of our crew in the briefing room. The Squadron’s target was a radar and gun position at St-Pierre-du-Mont near the north east point of the Cherbourg Peninsula, from where it would cover the approach to the Normandy beaches, especially Utah and Omaha beaches, where the United States First Army was to land later that day. Arriving at our aircraft, we found that broad black and white stripes had been painted under the main plane, a recognition point adopted by all Allied aircraft. We took off at about 02.40 hr. heading south west towards the Channel Islands, then turned east and then north when we crossed over the Peninsula. From my position in the rear turret, I could see the flashes and hear the rumble of the guns of the Capital ships shelling behind the eventual Normandy beachhead. After bombing we continued north towards the United Kingdom. As we crossed the Channel, we could see hundreds of ships below, the invasion fleet. My thoughts on looking down on these were "You poor So and So.'s are going into that lot and we’re going home for breakfast". Arriving back at base at about 07.00 hr. we spent most of the day listening to news reports on the progress of the invasion. In the late afternoon we were warned that we would be required for operations that night. After the usual meal, briefing etc. we went to the aircraft and awaited the Aldis Light signal to taxi out. We joined the queue of aircraft waiting to turn onto the runway. Our usual drill was for Herbie (F/O Philips RCAF) navigator, to call out the airspeed from his indicator on the navigation table, while Mac (F/O D.F. Maclauchlan RAAF Pilot) concentrated on keeping the aircraft straight along the runway. Our takeoff speed with bomb and fuel load was 140 Mph. Herbie had just called 110 Mph when there was a loud BANG. "What the bloody hell was that?" Called Mac over the intercom as he pulled the aircraft off the ground. As the aircraft handling and engines were ok we climbed slowly away and turned on course for our target, a railway junction at Argentan France, through which it was anticipated German troops would be passing heading for Normandy. Discussing our problem over the intercom one suggestion was that a bomb may have detached from it’s cradle and be rolling about on the bomb doors. As nothing fell out when the doors were opened over the Channel, this theory was dispelled. After bombing our target, and on our return over France, Mac lowered the undercarriage to check it and a large black object flew past my turret. It was our starboard tyre!??? Mac called up base after crossing the south coast, and was told to proceed to Woodbridge in Suffolk where an emergency landing field with an extra long and wide runway was situated. On the way to Woodbridge the constant speed unit in one of the propellers went US and the engine was shut down. Woodbridge control called "Land in your own time we are expecting you". Mac made a normal wheels down approach and by a superb piece of airmanship landed the aircraft on the port main wheel and the tail wheel. As the speed dropped the starboard wing dropped until the wheel hub touched the runway and we "ground looped". We evacuated the aircraft and found we were surrounded by ambulances and fire trucks. While we were debriefed and having a meal the ground crew changed the wheel and fitted a new propeller. We flew back to Waddington wheels down until the undercarriage could be checked, arriving at about 10.00 hr. having been awake for 33 hours since our rude awakening at 01.00 hr. on the 6^th June.

That was our "Longest Day".

Crew Missions

Log Book of John Thorp

Webmasters note.

This story came about after I was contacted by son Derek about his fathers missions during WWII. An error had been made concerning missions in R5868 S-Sugar. This has subsequently been acknowledged and placed on this site. Since then Derek and I have had a long email friendship going and his dad has written this story from his log books and memories. Sam is the grandson of Derek.

Peter Johnson