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Arriving on
the Squadron in April 1945 I flew only two fairly uneventful trips
before the war in Europe was over. Nothing happened on these flights
that would justify an inclusion here, but the day 627 Squadron crewed a
Lancaster to Germany is worth recalling.
Coming from heavy bombers I had friends and
acquaintances among the few who had survived being shot down and were
prisoners of war. They were often in my mind. My concern increased as
Germany began to disintegrate in early 1945 under the non-stop Allied
attacks.
The POWs were marched out of the camps in the east, becoming, in the
worst cases, a starving, diseased and brutalised refugee mob on the
roads heading west. This concern grew as we did not know their
locations and it was apparent some were being strafed by our own
fighter bombers.
Some time on the 7 May I learned that a
large number were clustered on a German airfield at Rheine near the
Dutch border. Among them was my brother who had been shot down in 1943
on his 45th trip, whilst dropping reinforcements to the
French Resistance. With him was an Air Force friend since 1938 who came
down in the Baltic in early 1944.
That night I borrowed a Lancaster to go and
get them. My log book showed it was KC-H – was it from 617 Squadron? (Yes, it was: either ME560 or NX786 - CW.) Early next day, VE Day, with a crew of
627 “volunteers” we set off for Germany hopefully to find and bring
back my brother, my friend and as many POWs as we could squeeze aboard.
After all these years my memory is
completely blank regarding my crew’s names and I only have brief
entries in my diary and log book, but I do have a photograph of myself
and crew taken in front of the Lanc before take off at Woodhall Spa.
I hope they were all voluntary “volunteers”.
My memory again. But if there was any coercion I trust it was not too
strong. Whatever the situation, although the war was officially over,
there was no way I would fly a Lancaster in daylight over Germany
without a full crew even if it was a scratch team. They would be just
as nervous as me and would keep a good lookout.
It was a short flight and interesting as it
was the first time I had landed on an airfield that had been well
thrashed by the heavy bombers. The craters on the runway in use had
been hastily repaired and it was a bumpy landing.
On the ground we found hundreds of ex POWs
milling around and other Lancasters loading up. Finding my brother and
friend in that scene was impossible so we jammed 24 who had been
prisoners for four years or more into the aircraft and took off for
England. I sat one Flight Lieutenant, who had been shot down in 1939,
in the flight engineer’s seat so he could watch the English coast as it
appeared on the horizon.
We delivered our passengers to RAF Dunsfold,
specially set up to receive them, and then returned to Woodhall Spa.
On leaving Rheine I had the opportunity to
demonstrate one of the Lancaster’s special qualities to the Mosquito
aircrew on board, and maybe to show off, which I would not then dare to
do with a Mosquito. As we landed on the German field the coolant system
in one engine failed but I could not disappoint the mob clamouring to
get on board, so we took off and made the flight Rheine – Dunsfold –
Woodhall Spa on three engines.
I picked up some type of infection from our
passengers and became quite ill the day after we returned and spent the
next five days in the sick quarters missing, many of the celebrations.
5 Group had offered me command of the Squadron with Tiger Force so
shortly after leaving the sick quarters I took leave to be ready for
the intensive training necessary for operations in the Pacific. While
on leave in London I learned unofficially from a most reliable source
that Tiger Force would never depart and as I was keen to go home, 5
Group quickly released me. I believe the other Australians in the
Squadron were also pulled out. We were all needed in the RAAF squadrons
in South East Asia and the South West Pacific.
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