Jack's Diary.
Being Part Only of the War record of Jack Stephens
Preliminary Explanation.
The
following is a transcript made by Joy (Wife) from diaries kept by Jack during
his term in
Jack and Joy did not meet until some time after the War - people were re-constructing their lives in those years and just didn't talk about their war time experien ces.
Jack
volunteered for the R.A.A.F. from Sydney
University
and trained in
From there he crossed the Atlantic aboard "Queen Mary" to his European posting.
DIARY STARTS.
Friday 7th July 1944 .
Posted to Waddington 463. Met Jack Murray, Neil Palmer, Potty and Jimmy Longstaff. Heard that Shorty (with Stan Wright) had gone on to Pas de Calais raid about 2 weeks before. Also Roly Ward and Dungeon and Frank Newman.
467 lost 2 kites (aircraft) and 5 Group, 33 out of 200 the following night.
On the whole a pretty grim welcome to squadron.
Saturday 8th July 1944 .
Clearances during the day. Took off at about 9 pm for 7 hour cross country at 22,000 feet. Base - Upper Heyford - Aberystwyth - Douglas ( Isle of Man ) - Mull of Kintyre - Tiree - Cape Wraith - Biggar O Base. In U for Uncle, which had done 70 ops (operations). Finished trip by dropping 6 practice bombs. (small smoke bombs about 12' long weighing 11 lbs).
Sunday 9th July 1944 .
Group HQ couldn't make up minds about ops so squadron was stood down to avoid 'em. Everyone pretty free and easy on squadron - no bull - quite good food. About half of ground staff and Aussies and all pretty keen on their kites. We are getting over our initial scare of ops and determined to "gen up" (study hard) and get through.
Monday 10th July 1944 .
Routed out at 3 am for stand-by briefing for daylight ops which were later scrubbed (cancelled). Went to bed again. Got in a couple of dispersal hours (aircraft were parked in " dispersal bays" around the perimeter of the airfield), waiting for some fighter affil (affiliation: practice exercises, when bombers would be "attacked" by fighter aircraft, to give pilots practice in evasive tactics and gunners in sighting fighter aircraft).
Tuesday 11th July 1944 .
Fighter affil in afternoon. 15 in kite including two Yanks. Up for about 1 1/2 hours and horribly sick soon after leaving the deck (due to violent evasive action of bomber). Just in time to snatch tea and off again on a cross country to North Scotland , the same one as Saturday night. Had music on the I/C (intercom) the whole way around. Landed at 2 am .
Wednesday 12th July 1944 .
Keith on 2nd dicky trip to Caulmont Chaulindre (new pilots would be sent off
on operational trips with an experienced pilot, as second pilot or "dicey").
Half station turned out as usual at the caravan (mobile control station next
to runway) to wave them off at 10 pm, from a couple of Air Vice Marshals, TR9
Groupy (Group Captain Bonman-Carter, nicknamed TR9 because he wore a hearing
aid - TR9 was a radio set), etc down. They really pranged (bombed
/ attacked) railway marshalling yards and bridges in S.E. France not far from
Thursday 13th July 1944 .
Kites were diverted to Wigsley on return because of a clamp (heavy, nil visibility fog), but returned to base within a couple of hours. Bought ?-bike and spent most of the day trying to start it. Soloed straight off though very cautiously. Detailed for ops, ran up kite in afternoon but ops cancelled. Standing by.
Friday 14th July 1944 .
An hour's flying in the morning with corkscrews (evasive action - real corkscrewing) and what not. lost a bag of gen (probably a bag containing signal information). Went to Vileneuve Sant Georges in South Paris and bombed railway yards with 500 pounders (medium high explosive bombs). Did not see outside the kite until 10 minutes before landing. A pretty quiet trip but plenty of flak (anti aircraft fire) over the target. Got back at 5.30 am .
Saturday 15th July 1944 .
A normal day. Slept all morning, scrounged all afternoon.
Sunday 16th July 1944 .
DI's (daily inspection of aircraft). Went to London on a "48" (48 hour leave pass) with Taffy while Keith got his commission.
Monday, Tuesday 17th, 18th July 1944 .
Ate cherries in London .
Wednesday 19th July 1944 .
A DI. A daylight raid (D) to THIVERNEY, off at 19.30, on target 21.30. Spitfire and Thunderbolt escort from English Coast and back. Box barrage of light flak bang on height (5,000 feet). Bomber mouth of tunnel and caves used for assembly of flying bombs. Saw everything - bomber stream, fighter cover, flak, T.I's (target indicators), bomb bursts (500's and 1,000's) - 13,000 lb (13,000 = blockbusters). Landed 23.20 - eventful - no M5 used.
Thursday 20th July 1944 .
DI during compass
swing. Down for same kite "D", with Bluey and Curley on the
side playing two up. also a Diggers Hat for each op, and a white one for
daylights. Took off at 23.30, landed 2.30. Attacked marshalling
yards at COUTRAI in
No kites lost from our squadron but 2 from t'other.
Friday 21st July 1944 .
Slept - DI - ran up motor bike.
Saturday 22nd July 1944 .
No ops. Parade on which the Groupy, TR9, praised "Butch" Harris (Air Chief marshal Sir Arthur T. Harris) for flying his 20 miles a day in all weathers - bravo - erf.
Sunday 23rd July 1944 .
An NFT (Night Flying Test?). Briefed for ops to Kiel but deleted from the list at last minute. Hooray.
Monday 24th July 1944 .
No. 4 to St NAZAIRE
(DONGES) on the west coast of
Tuesday 25th July 1944 .
No. 5 daylight on St CYR, aircraft assembly depots, W/T stores etc. (wireless / telegraphy) in the outskirts of Paris . Close concentration of Lancs (Lancasters) escorted by 12 squadrons of Spitfires. Saw a Jerry (German) fighter shot down by Spits. Flak, light and heavy predicted, was moderate but deadly accurate all the way in and back. Hardly a kite returned without a few holes. We had one small hole in the starboard wing and a big lump of perspex out of Geoff's turret. He was stunned momentarily but not hurt. Saw dozens of bomb loads go down together - one x 4,000, 2 x 1,000 and 14 x 500. One great billow of smoke marked the target. saw 5 parachutes from a Lanc (Y), whole SI (starboard inner engine) caught fire and went in (crashed). WOP (Wireless Operator) was Scheldt from our squadron. All the rest got back OK. One brought back his bombs, had duff (failed) hydraulics, bounced his "cookie" (4,000 lb bomb) up the runway and finished up at the end of the runway with a broken back (i.e. the kite). Crew OK.
Wednesday 26th July 1944 .
No. 6 GIVORS, near
Lyons
in the far south of
The bombing wasn't too bad. A group effort, 6 kites lost, none from our squadron. Maximum effort. ("Maximum Effort" called for every available aircraft on all squadrons in group to participate).
Thursday 27th July 1944 .
Slept all day.
Friday 28th July 1944 .
No. 7 STUTTGART . A 2,000 lbs + 10 x 500 "J" cluster (small incendiary bombs mounted in canisters). A daylight to daylight effort, full tanks, airborne 22.30, landed 06.30. Combats and kites going down in flames all around us the whole way in.
Bcst (broadcast from base) winds. Met. (metrological report) promised cloud cover which didn't turn up. Steered wrong course for a few minutes and arrived on target H + 20 (20 minutes late). City a big blaze but didn't see it. Two minutes after bombs gone we corkscrewed from fighter flares and a poor little ME109 (Messerschmidts 109) stooged past under our tail without having seen us. A couple of short bursts from Johnnies and he went down in flames - blew up and went down, Geoff saw him crash.
We got back to find two bullet holes in the leading edge. One kite lost from our squadron, 3 from station and 39 from raid. (A command effort) (All groups in Bomber Command). 21 fighters were shot down. We also dropped nickels (propergander leaflets) on this raid.
Saturday 29th July 1944 .
Slept all day.
Sunday 30th July 1944 .
Got up at 2 am and briefed to bomb German tank concentrations opposing the Yanks at CAHANGES, south of the Cherbourg Peninsular. Cloud base was at 20 feet at take off and cloud was 10/10 (complete cloud cover) to 10,000 feet. We left con trails (condensation trails) on the runway. Had 18 x 500 GP (general purpose bombs) aboard. Cloud was still 9/10 at 3,000 to 6,000 feet over the target, so after 15 minutes orbiting and arguing over the R/T (radio telegraph), the bombing was scrubbed due to the proximity of allied troops. After leaving the target we saw a bit of the Cherbourg Peninsular through the gaps in the clouds. Fields, beaches, harbours, wharves and ships were all very peaceful as far as we could see. Further inland we saw a bit of smoke from the artillery and some bombs and shell craters. The rest of the view was just hundreds of Lancasters , some Mustangs and Spitfires, a Mossy (de Havilland twin engines Mosquito fighter bomber) and endless cloud which looked wizard in the morning sun. We did a cross country on the way back via Pershors, Squires Gate and Harwarden to base to wait for the weather to clear and to empty the tanks a bit. Cloud was down to about 400 feet on return. A bit of improvisation repaired our TR1496 aerial. We ran off the runway into the grass on landing and bounced beautifully with our full bomb load but it stayed in place and so did we.
Monday 31st July 1944 .
Got leave pass - packed.
Tuesday 1st August 1944 .
Nine days leave at George's place in Scarborough . Took 4 hours from camp to Scarborough , about 90 miles, including about 1 hour on the Humber Ferry at Hull . Did quite a lot of motor biking around Scarborough , including the Yorkshire Moors and Forge Valley . Went for one swim in the sea and came out after half a minute to thaw out. There were 2 days cloudless out of 9, the sun being just warm enough to be warm. This constituted a heat wave. Spent most of the time sleeping and eating raspberries. Started out for camp on Wednesday afternoon (9th)?? and the bike went well to Hull . Then the clutch cable broke and we just got it fixed in time to catch the ferry. It then went well for about 20 miles and then started to go phut again, finally seizing up about 1/2 a mile north of Scampton where we left it and got back to camp by bus.
Wednesday 9th August 1944 .
D.I. Ops scrubbed. Group exercises in afternoon.
Thursday 10th August 1944 .
D.I. Ops scrubbed.
Friday 11th August 1944 .
GIVORS again, near Lyons , Southern France . The weather was excellent this time. Another dusk to dawn trip. Very quiet trip, no fighter, the only flak was from the Channel Isles which were a long way off. There were bags of our rockets around which looked like shooting stars, but none came near us. We were over the allied beach head as far as the river Loire . Had and excellent view of the target, bright red fires, bomb bursts and runs of explosions, also green TIs.
Saturday 12th August 1944 .
RUSSELSHIEM, just
south of Frankfurt .
A 2,000 lb and J type clusters. Went out over
Sunday 13th August 1944 .
No ops. Slept.
Monday 14th August 1944 .
Daylight on Falaise bottleneck. Target was German troop concentrations at CUESNAY on the Caen-Falaise Road . Flew in loose formation at 7,000 feet out over Brighton . There was very little cloud and bright sunshine. The Channel was full of all kinds of boats and convoys with balloons up and the beaches were just masses and masses of ships unloading. Also plenty of patrol boats. The whole trip there were hoards of Lancs with and passing the other way in a continuous stream. By the time we bombed, about midday , there was one great cloud of dust and smoke about 3,000 feet high and stretching for miles. Target was 2,000 yards in front of the Canadian troops who were waiting to advance when we finished, to close up the gap and encircle a large proportion of the German army. I saw the whole attack. It was fairly open country with neat orchards and woods (one of which was our target). On the way back we saw the beaches again and the east side of the Cherbourg Peninsular. Also stooged (flew) around Oxford a bit. (Other groups got some of our own troops and a conference of high officers) .
Tuesday 15th August 1944 .
GILZE RIJEN ( HOLLAND )
While new landings
were going on in Southern France
we were in an 11,000 bomber (11,000
sorties not aircraft - many aircraft including fighters, bombers etc did
more than one trip during the attack) attack on Holland
and
The only opposition
was moderate to heavy flak, some of which was pretty close. One
piece came in through the starboard side of the fuselage, just behind
Taffy. No Jerry fighters were up. Not in one piece anyway.
About 4 bombloads dropped within 50 yards of us on the bombing run. There
were 10 x 1,000 lb + 6 x 500 GPG and we all planted them square on the runways.
The bombing was, if anything, too concentrated. Saw plenty of reclaimed
land, great low lying flats, green fields, dykes etc.,
flak and bombs jettisoned. A squadron of Fortresses (aircraft of the U.S.
Army Air Corps) a couple of miles away were in perfect formation in striking
contrast to the gaggles and straggles (loose formation) of Lancs but there were
so many of us that it was one big mass. The visibility was perfect,
at least 60 miles from 15,000 feet with negligible cloud and you could see
Wednesday 16th August 1944 .
STETTIN at night.
Out over the
North Sea
at 2,000 feet climbing the other side to 21,000 feet over
Only one bothered us, but they didn't stay. Stettin is 15 deg 20 min East. One Lanc was over Berlin . A pretty quiet trip all around, landed at dawn. 8 hours.
Thursday 17th August 1944 .
Slept. Daylight scrubbed.
Friday 18th August 1944 .
Gen found again (previously lost papers). A daylight attack on a flying bomb dump at L'ISLE D'ADAM just north of Paris . Had about 13 x 1,000 lbs on and flew at 12,000 feet in "gaggle" formation. A large chunk of cloud got in the way at the critical moment and George could not identify the target, so we did not. Neither did most of the others, although there were some dropping into cloud. The weather was beautiful otherwise and there were thousands of Lancs coming in and bombing (some of them) in waves and formation. The sky, as usual, was full of them with a couple of Mossies playing around all the way.
We carried the Gunnery Leader (probably "Aub" Winston D.F.C., Jock Cameron's tail gunner on his first tour (Wellingtons) and Gunnery Leader on 463 Squadron on his second tour) as mid under gunner with some .5 free gun (1/2" bore machine gun - not mounted in a gun turret). Saw quite a lot of the French countryside, villages etc.
Saturday 19th August 1944 .
Hauled out of bed at quarter to one in the morning for briefing after 2 hours sleep. Took off at 05.00 and went down over Brittany to a submarine oil storage dump at LA PALLICE on an island in the Bay of Biscay . There were 50 kites down from Waddington and Skellingthorpe with no fighter cover. There was thick patchy cumulus cloud all the way (12,000 feet). Flew in the usual gaggle formation. Cloud over target, but dropped the bombs somewhere near it we hope. Intense flak was expected but only 2 or 3 guns fired at us. Besides the usual black bursts some were dirty green. Came back over St Nazaire, St Malo and Cherbourg Peninsular and had a pretty good view of them. On return, cloud was down to the deck in patches but our diversion was mixed up and we landed OK. One flak hole above the elsan (chemical toilet in the rear of the aircraft). We think one burst against the bombs on the run up with bomb doors open.
Sunday 20th August 1944 .
Rain. No ops.
Monday 21st August 1944 .
Rain. No ops. Falais Gap closed on 100,000 Huns (Germans).
Tuesday 22nd August 1944 .
The big clamp (bad weather, fog and low cloud preventing air operations) continues. Briefed for Konigsberg , scrubbed at last minute.
Wednesday 23rd August 1944 .
Clamp clears. Paris falls.
Thursday 24th August 1944 .
Rain. No Ops.
Friday 25th August 1944 .
George went to Frankfurt . the rest of us loaded the kites with window (aluminium strips about 12" long dropped from aircraft to confuse German radar).
Saturday 26th August 1944 .
Unloaded the window from kites that didn't go.
Went to KOENIGSBERG,
capital of East Prussia
. Of at 20.30, low over the
North Sea .
Received broke down but came on again after a bit of bashing and stayed the
trip. Up to 9,000 feet over
Diverted to Wigtown on return.
Sunday 27th August 1944 .
Landed at Wigtown and kept out of the rain. Returned to base in time for late tea.
Monday 28th August 1944 .
D.I. Ate and slept.
Tuesday 29th August 1944 .
KOENIGSBERG again
via Northern Denmark
and
Attacked at the end of the bombing run by a DO217 or a ME410, corkscrew from Monica (radar warning system in aircraft), which put a 20 mm cannon shell through the back of our fuselage. Johnnies let him have it and he disappeared into cloud, crashing into the sea. The search lights were pretty good and flak cascaded up. We reckoned we'd rather go to Berlin . Bombed from 8,000 feet. Had a quiet trip back and landed at 07.20. 10 hours 40 minutes. Signals and bombing leaders were lost in 2 kites from our squadron, incl Maurie Roe. Neil Palmer wasn't with him. 467 lost 3 and Shellingthorpe 10. Losses, including Stettin were 41, the worst for a long time.
Wednesday 30th August 1944 .
Slept.
Thursday 31st August 1944 .
Daylight on ROLLENCOURT in the Pas de Calais area on V2 site. 11 x 100 + 4 x 500 from 1,300 feet on the tunnel entrance to a storage depot in a wood. A fair bit of cumulus cloud about but plenty of sunshine too and we got the bombs bang on aiming point. Saw about 6 heavy flak bursts in the distance but no fighters, not even an escort. A maximum effort.
Friday 1st September 1944 .
Bludged.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday - 2nd, 3rd, 4th September 1944.
Weather - stood by.
Tuesday 5th September 1944 .
Attacked enemy gun positions just across the harbour from Brest . Unfortunately the target had been wiped out completely before we got there but we dropped our bombs there anyway. (13 x 1,000). There were no defences at all. Bombed from 8,000 feet in daylight in an almost clear sky. Had an excellent view of Brest and the harbour but saw no sign of Jerry. Very bumpy on the way out.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday - 6th - 9th September 1944 .
Rain.
Sunday 10th September 1944 .
Daylight on troops at LE HAVRE . 800 aircraft dropped 5,000 tons. A continuous stream of aircraft in and out. 100%Aiming Points, smoke in a column up to about 1,000 fee. Bombed from 13,000 feet., weather excellent, plenty of sunshine. Could see well beyond Cherbourg from the target. No losses. Our own troops were 3,000 yards away and moved in after we had finished. Saw a battleship (King George V) in the Channel shelling Le Havre .
Monday 11th September 1944 .
DARMSTART by night. "Monica and H2S (H2S was and airborne radar transmitter/receiver navigational aid) wiped (not used) as Jerry was homing on them. 14 clusters of 41 lb incendiaries and a cookie (4,000 lb) from 14,750 feet.
800 aircraft made a wizard fire. Chemical and aircraft component factories. A perfectly clear night all the way. A bit of trouble with Gee (radio signal navigational aid) on the way in. I saw everything from the astrohatch ( clear perspex lookout hatch to facilitate the taking of star sights) including a number of combats and kites going down. There was a little flak, hundreds of search lights and plenty of fighters in spite of the fact that the Yanks had shot down 130 that day. Coming out of the target at 200 mph, we passed through a gap between two main belts of search lights so kept well over near one belt to keep clear of any fighters waiting there. Saw about 6 kites hit the deck, one about half way back to the French coast. 49 squadron tries out their new remote controlled radar turrets and we had the ultra-violet equipment going.
12 kites lost and one from each of our squadrons.
Tuesday 12th September 1944 .
Briefed for Stuttgart , ran up etc. but couldn't start the port inner engine for take off so went back to bed.
Wednesday 13th September 1944 .
Stand down.
Thursday 15th September 1944 .
Fog - visibility 20 yards. Bombing practice in the afternoon.
Friday, Saturday 15 & 16th September 1944 .
No score. Briefed
for Brunswick
BATTLE
OF
Early morning attack by 700 lancs on troops at BOULOGNE from 1,000 feet at 09.40.
11 x 1,000 + 4 x 500 GPs. 4 hour trip. Feathered starboard inner engine after take off and went all the way on 3 engines. Windmilled (allowed the propeller to turn in the wind) the duff engine over the target to get joy for the bombsight. Slight heavy flak which did no damage. Passed over a big convoy leaving the Thames estuary. Weather excellent.
Monday 18th September 1944 .
Night attack on BREMERHAVEN from 15,000 feet with 14 cans of 4 lb incendiaries. 200 Lancs. Went out at 1,000 feet over the Dogger Banks. Sun set as the English coast disappeared over the horizon. Carried a 2nd dicey (pilot) who had arrived on the squadron 4 hours before. No fighters. A bit of heavy and light flak, and a few search lights. We left the target a
seething white mass of flame and could see the glow 150 miles away. Landed H2100. Bremerhaven an industrial town, docks, harbouring the Bremen and Europia. Used delay bombing run.
Tuesday 19th September 1944 .
Gadding about London .
Wednesday 20th September 1944 .
At Woodford. Saw a buzz-bomb (German flying bomb) buzz over and bomb.
Thursday 28th September 1944 .
Back at camp. Full moon. No ops.
Friday 29th September 1944 .
Practice bombing at Wainfleet and W/T (wireless/telegraphy) controllers exercise with base (airborne).
Saturday 30th September & Sunday 1st October 1944 .
Normal bludge.
Monday 2nd October 1944 .
More bombing at Wainfleet and W/T controllers exercise with group.
Tuesday, Wednesday 3rd & 4th October 1944 .
Still full moon - no ops.
Thursday 5th October 1944 .
Up at 2 am for a daylight on WILHELMSHAVEN . Carried 10 x 1,000 SAPs + 4 x J clusters. Mustang (fighter) escort. Take off delayed 2 hours after run up, got off at 5 to 8, rendezvoused at the Humber and flew in gaggle. A very wet early morning cleared up into a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine under which the Third and (we hope) last Reich looked very nice but a sheet of cloud covered the target, and we had to bomb blind. George bragged about bombing a big farm house, which we hope and think he didn't get. We went out at 1,000 feet and bombed from 16,500 feet, then broke formation again, put the nose down and did between 200 and 270 mph all the way back. Stooged around as usual while the mob landed and shot up (flew very low over) a wood and Johnnies's girl friend's house at Lowdham. Then back for lunch. Then to the Horse and Jockey for partridge and cider. One kite from 467 was lost out of the force. there was no opposition at all except a couple of guns miles away.
Friday 6th October 1944 .
New crew took Dog to Bremen again at night. B didn't return.
Saturday 7th October 1944 .
Daylight (morning) on dykes near Flushing (WALCHEREN). Carried 14 x 1,000 lb SAP 1/2 hour delays. Dropped in 2 sticks from 5,000 feet in line astern. Weather quite good over the target and so were the flak gunners. There was only a little light and heavy flak but very accurate because of our line astern formation. Nothing hit us, quite, but we heard a couple burst and saw plenty of tracers whipping past. Aim was to flood the defences on the island and so open up the way for supplies to Antwerp . Flew in "F" as crew had USd (made unserviceable) "D" the night before.
Wednesday 11th October 1944 .
Rush daylight. Only 1 1/2 hours notice before take off. The usual step-down formation from the coast. Attacked heavy flak positions which had been missed by the flood from the last attack. Our particular target didn't shoot at us. Dropped 10 x 1,000 lb and 4 x 500 lb G.Ps. One 500 hung up so we jettisoned manually, double carrier and all. On return the weather was putrid, an excuse for cloud base about 1,000 feet, bags of rain and mist, a gale warning and hundreds of kites trying to get in. We were 45 minutes on the circuit, some were longer. Had lunch at 6 pm .
Thursday 12th October 1944 .
Briefed for an
hour. Night trip to Munich
with incendiaries, via
Friday 13th October 1944 .
Lucky - the weather was duff.
Saturday 14th October 1944 .
To BRUNSWICK
via the south of
Sunday 15th October 1944 .
Slept. Daylight scrubbed.
Monday 16th October 1944 .
Rain.
Tuesday 17TH October 1944 .
Saw film of the raid on Brunswick . Acclaimed best aerial photography of the war. Showed attack from the first few incendiaries until streets, then the whole city was alight. Also some heavy flak bursts. The boys went to Walcheren again but we didn't get a seat.
Wednesday 18th October 1944 .
Weather duff.
Thursday 19th October 1944 .
Last time NUERNBERG
was hit 94 kites were lost. This time 9 went, mainly from the
Stuttgart
raids, and it took 350 fighters to do it. I saw the Wanganui (code
name for aerial target indicators)go down on Stuttgart
on our way to the target. We
had our navigation lights on over
Friday 20th October 1944 .
It rained.
Saturday 21st October 1944 .
Ops scrubbed at the last moment due to weather.
Sunday 22nd October 1944 .
Daylight scrubbo.
Monday 23rd October 1944 .
Rain, and a daylight attack with 14 x 1,000 lbs at FLUSHING on guns which were shelling our troops on the other side of the Scheldt Estuary. H 1600. The weather all the way was pretty terrible, and we could just see the target from 6,000 feet and it's very unlikely that most of the boys hit it. The light flak was very accurate and intense, giving rise to the Mk II twitch (nervous symptoms).
We lost two kites from the squadron, three from the station - to flak. We had Spitfire escort, but couldn't even see each other, let alone the escort. One kite was seen diving straight into the water and parachutes from another.
Tuesday 24th October 1944 .
No war.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - 25th, 26th, 27th October 1944.
Duff met (unfavourable weather conditions - causing operations to be cancelled), no war.
Saturday 28th October 1944 .
Night war on BERGEN under a big, bright harvest moon. Carried a spare bod, mid-upper as Johnnies was playing football again. The visibility over the target was p-poor (bad), all we could see was a few flares, so most of us bought our bombs back. The target was a U-boat base and shipping facilities. On the way back we were struck by lightning which seemed to explode inside the kite from the nose to the T/E (trailing aerial) which was nearly ripped off. We got diverted to Hailibag drome (airfield with Halifax aircraft) called "Holme" near the Humber , returning in the afternoon i.e. Sunday.
Monday, Tuesday - 30th, 31st October 1944 .
No seats.
Wednesday 1st November 1944 .
Tour brought down to 30 trips so we finish. Bunged com papers in (applied for commission) .
Thursday 2nd November 1944 .
Interviewed Flight Commander (Buck) (Flight Commander Buckham) and Winco (Bill) (Wing Commander Bill Forbes) for commission.
Friday 3rd, Saturday 4th November 1944 .
Waiting for interview with TR9 (Group Captain Bonham-Carter).
Sunday 5th November 1944 .
Interviewed Groupy.
Monday 6th November 1944 .
Went on leave to London to the A.C.F. (Australian Comforts Fund) Club.
Tuesday 7th November 1944 .
In London , saw newsreels and show "Sweeter and Lower".
Wednesday 8th November 1944 .
Went to Taffy's place in Merthyr Tydfil . Had a pretty good leave.
Sunday 12th November 1944 .
Returned to Lincoln . Slept in Lincoln .
Monday 13th November 1944 .
Back to camp, posted - clearances.
Tuesday 14th November 1944 .
Clearances. Jack took our photo with the kite.
Wednesday 15th November 1944 .
Packed. Geoff and Johnnies went to Swinderby, Keith to Wigsley.
Thursday 16th November 1944 .
Interviewed A.O.C. (Air Officer Commanding), passed with good report. Went to Winthorpe on posting. Taffy (Pilot Officer) went to Balderton aircraft school near Newark and George (Pilot Officer) an attachment to East Kirby .
Friday 17th November 1944 .
Settled down as "Staff" (Instructor) at Winthorpe.
Saturday 18th November 1944 .
Flew in rear turret of Sterling on an "Academy" (test) with Flight Lieutenant King checking "Flaps" Campbell and another new screen pilot. Did 3 engined overshoots and landing.
Sunday 19th November 1944 .
Took morse class 5 min., rest of the time handled "gen" in the gen room. Roneoed SDs (signal duties).
Monday 20th November 1944 .
Normal day handling "gen" etc., drinking tea. No lectures.
Tuesday 21st November 1944 .
Flew again on academy in rear turret, this time they went solo. Went dancing.
Wednesday 22nd November 1944 .
Normal day, handling "gen" making amendments etc.
Thursday 23rd November 1944 .
More amendments. Went to pictures with Taffy.
Friday 24th, Saturday 25th November 1944 .
Bags of work in the section.
Sunday 26th November 1944 .
Screened (checked) a F/Lt Simons and crew on EX10 (radius of action from a moving base). Mighty cold at 15,000 feet, about- 25 deg centigrade (Celsius).
Monday 27th, Tuesday 28th November 1944 .
Plenty of office hours.
Wednesday 29th November 1944 .
Some dispersal hours trying to get off another EX10.
Thursday 30th November to Thursday 14th December 1944 .
Plenty of work in the section on amendments etc. and an occasional bit of flying on air-tests, 10s etc. Was beautifully air sick once. Went to Oxford in the weekend for "Flaps" funeral. Went dancing nearly every night at the "Corn Exchange".
Friday 15th December 1944 .
1st Class clamp. No flying. Went to "Bailey's Rooms" in the evening. A wash out.
Saturday 16th December 1944 .
Rain - no flying.
Sunday 17th December 1944 .
Flew on a 10 with Flight Sergeant Wood, took 4 hours, did air-sea firing. Bomb doors would no open but engines gave no trouble for a wonder.
Monday 18th to Wednesday 20th December 1944 .
Routine - occasional
flying about once a week - did not take any lectures. Gradual change over
from Sterlings to Lancs. Took one Stirling
to Mahanberry (
Thursday 21st December 1944 .
Went on leave to London , then on to Taffy's place a couple of days later. A nice quiet time. Usually got up for dinner, sat around all afternoon. Went to one dance, a couple of "parties" and quite a few "sessions" at the pictures. Even got dragged in to church for a midnight service. Had a good time all round (21st Birthday 28th). Got back to camp on 30th (now 21) to find commission had come through so back down to London on New Years Eve. A V2 (German Rocket Bomb) landed up at the other end of the street from Kings Cross just as I got in at 10 to 12 to speed the old year on it's way.
2nd January 1945 .
Back to camp a
sprod (new Pilot Officer), settled down to bludge once more. Thereafter
went to dances regularly in the Corn Exchange at nights. Flying about
once a week, mostly on EX9, a three hour cross country + bombing. On one
trip at 22,000 feet I reckoned I could see from the outskirts of London
to Land's
End , and from the Isle
of Wight to the coast of
Eire .
Half an hour later could see the whole of
Thursday 15th February 1945 .
Been at Winthorpe 3 months without taking a single lecture except for a few Lanc famils (familiarisations) and a dingy drill or two in the snow (9').
February, March, April 1945.
Nothing startling.
Spent one leave at Bournemouth
, visited Bexhill. Taffy posted
to Winthorpe, then to Strubby near Skegness. Colin in
Thursday 19th April 1945 .
Went on leave with Lyn Brown. Stopped first at York and had a look at the "sights" etc. Quite a place. Walked up and down the Ouse River for a bit. Lay on the bank in the sun all the afternoon making up for lost sunshine. Had taken bus from Leeds to York . Just caught the 2 am Night Scotsman to Edinburgh arriving at about 8 am . Had breakfast etc. and went on to Dundee where we booked in at the Royal British. Spent the afternoon taking a bus ride out to the open countryside and then crossed the Tay River on the ferry and back. In the evening went to Lochano dance. Scots girls so far VERY reserved.
Saturday.
Slept in to make up for the past 2 days. Went on by train to Aberdeen . A lovely clean city. Everything of spotless granite, plenty of life. Went to Lochano dance. Stayed at Caledonian Hotel.
Sunday.
Was shown around Aberdeen by the Navy. Went to the bridge of Dee to the Bridge of Don and along the banks a bit. Also to the beach. The odd spot of rain didn't worry us overmuch but it's plurry cold. First impressions of the Scots somewhat revised.
Monday.
Collected the usual postcards then went to Inverness, a much smaller town, capital of the Highlands, a good holiday spirit and VERY nice in the warm sunshine especially on the banks of the fast running Ness River. Stayed at the Caledonian Hotel. Went to a "Welcome Home" dance at the hotel. Was pretty hot dancing. A lot of old time and a couple of very lively Scottish dances, "Strip the Willow " and the "Eightsome Reel". Was absolutely exhausted at the end. Scots still rather reserved. Snow on the hilltops in April.
Tuesday.
Caught the bus down the Caledonian Canal and Lock Ness, through Fort Augustus to Fort William . Stayed at the Palace Pub. F.W. TOO quiet. Went to the pictures on our own.
Wednesday.
Caught the early train up through the highland moors, past Lock Lomond, down the Clyde Estuary to Glasgow . Glasgow is a very dirty industrial city, quite big. We got lost for a while. Put up at a Private Hotel. Went to Lochano Dance, pretty good.
Thursday.
Bought the usual postcards and went to Edinburgh . Stayed at the Royal British. Went for a train ride to Leith and to a dance in the evening.
Friday.
Went with Lyn's girl to Portobelo to the amusement park and to Playa dance at night .
Saturday.
Back to Newark .
Sunday.
Early morning flying. Took off cross country but boomeranged (returned to base) on three engines. Tried again and completed the exercise. Thence plenty of flying and the same old routine.
Tuesday May 8th 1945 . V.E.Day!
(Victory
in Europe
- German Surrender - but war with
Slept all day. Went to fair in the evening. Came back to the mess party and danced till 2 am .
Wednesday May 9th - VE + 1.
Supposed to be on duty sigs. Slept all day and went to Corn Exchange V.E. dance in evening.
Thursday 10th May 1945 .
Still training flat out. 75 base presses on.
Saturday 19th May 1945 .
Row of new gongs (medals) announced incl 1939-45 spam. Went to D's 21st party, met Johnnies and Geoff there.
Sunday 20th May 1945 .
Still "instructing".
Wednesday 30th May 1945 .
Last trip in
Thursday 31st May 1945 .
Still getting clearances and handing in flying clothing.
Friday 1st June 1945 .
Still getting cleared.
Saturday 2nd June 1945 .
Over to Swinderby to finalise clearances and see Geoff. Down to Corn Exchange to say good-bye to mob.
Sunday 3rd June 1945 .
Off to Brighton .
Monday 4th June 1945 .
Signing forms all day.
Tuesday 5th to Monday 11th June 1945 .
Mucking around in Brighton getting cleared, bought some civvies (civilian clothes) and a few odd clothes, danced, went out with the boys a bit and had a good time in general.
Got on same draft as Johnnies and Geoff; Keith missed out on the posting; still in Wigsley.
Tuesday 12th June 1945 .
Went to London to try and get a new flattie (Officer's Cap). No go. Had lost my good flattie at the Regent dance the night before. Went to a corny show at the "Stroll" in Kingsway. (Free tickets)
Wednesday 13th June 1945 .
Geoff and I went to Torquay ( Devon ). 5 hours in a train. Went and had a quiet cider in the evening. (Paignton).
Thursday 14th June 1945 .
Went rowing at Torquay. Saw some scenery along the beach. Went to a very posh dance at the "Imperial" with a couple of very posh dames (3 of us). Was bored to tears. Geoff does his stuff with Cecile. The other a dead loss.
Friday 15th June 1945 .
More rowing from Paington. Nice on the water. Geoff at it again. Much salt water flying around. In the evening went to the Drum Inn, Cockington, for dinner and a few more crafty ciders etc. Later 3 of us went for a very nice walk to a beach, gardens, park etc. further around the coast while Geoff stays home and consolidates.
Saturday 16th June 1945 .
Geoff darn near married again. We leave for Brighton .
Sunday 17th June 1945 .
Find we are on draft 93 the next day. Rush around getting packed and cleared.
Monday 18th June 1945 .
Final clearances, collect parcel, washing not turned up from Winthrop . We entrain at Brighton at 11.35 for Gourock which we reach at 5.20 next morning via Oxford , Shrewsbury , Crewe etc. A couple of hours mucking around gets us aboard "ORONTES" (P & O, 27,000 tons) with an hour to wait for a much needed breakfast on:
Tuesday 19th June 1945 .
Meals are very excellent (First Class) and quite mountainous. We ship loads of troops, marines, Dutch Army, Wrens, Dutch Air Force, A.I.F. ex P.O.W.. Spend the day watching loading operations.
Wednesday 20th June 1945 .
More loading. Our tucker, water, etc. comes aboard. A strong breeze whips up. At 1630 we weigh anchor and dodge out past the AQUITANIA and QUEEN ELIZABETH. Spend a few hours waiting around the mouth of the harbour and then come back about 4 miles to drop the pilot. Then we go.
Thursday 21st June 1945 .
We head north around
the top of
Friday 22nd June 1945 .
A calm greasy swell. Heading south. We play cards, rad and sleep. It's still pretty cool and dull.
Saturday 23rd June 1945 .
Still calm except
for a nice lazy roll. We sight a bit of
Sunday 24th June 1945 .
A stiff breeze works up as we work up the coast to the Gib. A heavy white sea mist set in just a couple of hours before the Gib, as we sail along the Spanish Morocco coast amongst a small fishing fleet. Pass the Gib at about 1630, can just pick out the peak in the mist. The wind then dropped away altogether and the Mediterranean was incredibly calm without the ghost of a roll and just the merest suspicion of a ruffle. The smallest toy boat would have been absolutely dead still. The water was a glassy incredibly deep blue with a pale blue sky, quite clear. The heavy patch mist persisted all day and we all got very sunburned to celebrate.
Monday 25th June 1945 .
Nice and sunny. Still recovering from sunburn. A light breeze, very hazy. We keep on seeing bits of North Africa to starboard. Some nice big mountains all the way up the Algerian Coast . Still coast crawling up the Algerian Coast , which is rather obscured by haze. We overtake and pass plenty of shipping.
Tuesday 26th June 1945 .
Still coast crawling
past
Wednesday 27th June 1945 .
A straightforward day on the open sea. A very slight roll develops and a gentle breeze. we do a little censoring (all letters written by the forces were censored by the Officers to make sure that there was no military intelligence in them). Sight land away to starboard at dusk.
Thursday 28th June 1945 .
Still perfect weather and still land away to starboard. We follow the coast (<