Two main reasons why Lancaster R5868 is very well known are that she was the first to achieve a hundred operational sorties, and because she is preserved and may be seen at the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, north London. She is also most probably the most photographed Lancaster.
She was built as a Mark I by Metro Vickers at Trafford Park, Mosley Road, Manchester, and was the twenty-seventh off the production line. Delivered to Avro at Woodford she went through final assembly and testing on 20 June 1942. Just nine days later R5868 was delivered to No. 83 Squadron at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, assigned to B Flight and had the code letters OL-Q painted on the fuselage sides. For the next several months the Lancaster became known as ‘Q’ for Queenie. The aircraft was given her own ground crew who would look after her during its time with 83: Sergeants Jim Gill and Harry Taylor, and Leading Aircraftmen Arthur Page and Ron Pollard.
This squadron began re-equipping with Lancasters in May 1942 and Queenie’s first crew was captained by an experienced officer, Squadron Leader Ray Hilton DFC. He was about to begin his second tour of operations, his first having covered thirty-four sorties with both 214 and 83 Squadrons. Their first mission together came on the night of 8/9 July, a raid upon Wilhelmshaven. A couple of nights later they went ‘Gardening’, the code word for laying sea mines, off the port of Danzig. In total Hilton flew eighteen operations in R5868, out of a total of thirty-two, showing that fourteen other crews had taken off in her on raids between July and 19 February 1943. By that date Hilton had been promoted to wing commander and received a Bar to his DFC. An unusual fact is that Ray Hilton had complained that Queenie always seemed to fly one wing low and, despite several attempts by the ground crew, they never succeeded in rectifying it.
No. 83 Squadron had become part of the Command’s Pathfinder Force in 1942, tasked with not only bombing, but marking the targets with a variety of target indicators (TIs). PFF squadrons also had crews who would linger over the target to ensure it had been marked correctly, and Queenie did this on occasion.
The next regular skipper was Flying Officer F. J. Garvey in February 1943. Rick Garvey, a Canadian, went on to complete nineteen operations in Queenie. He was the first RAF pilot to complete sixty operations, and earned both the DSO and DFC. Sadly he was later killed in a flying accident. Ray Hilton also completed over sixty bomber operations and was lost over Berlin in November 1943, whilst commanding 83 Squadron.
Rick Garvey flew R5868 for the last time with 83 on 14/15 August 1943, a trip to Milan, Italy, which brought the bomber’s total to sixty-eight. Having completed a total of 368 operational flying hours, a major overhaul was needed. Once this was completed she was assigned to another squadron, No. 467 RAAF. Despite the refit, R5868 had a few problems which were sorted out before operations commenced with the new squadron on 27 September to Hanover. On the next raid she was piloted by Pilot Officer N. M. McClelland, who then became a more regular skipper. The man in charge of the ground crew was Ted Willoughby.
With 467 Queenie became S for Sugar with the codes of PO-S. Sugar also flew a single operation with 207 Squadron, that unit obviously being short of aircraft. That winter saw the Battle of Berlin, Sugar going to the Big City five times between November 1943 and February 1944, but on the night of 26/27 November she collided with a Lancaster of 61 Squadron. Flying Officer J. A. Colpus was at the controls and, despite severe damage, losing five feet from one wing, got her home, for which he received the DFC. However, Sugar was out of action for repairs till February.
Once back on operations, Pilot Officer J. W. McManus became the regular skipper, taking her on nine raids and, on completing his tour, he was awarded the DFC. By this time, R5868’s total of missions was nearing the 100 mark. Ted Willoughby had read Hermann Göring’s famous boast about British aircraft flying over Germany and got permission to update the bomb log, under which was painted: ‘NO ENEMY PLANE WILL FLY OVER REICH TERRITORY’.
Sugar was now showing signs of her age and had another service at the end of March but, rejuvenated, she reached her hundredth operation on 11/12 May, with Pilot Officer T. N. Scholefield RAAF at the controls. Her next trip was during the D-Day landings. Sorties were mounted during June and July but on 20 July damage from an attacking night-fighter meant another major service and repair. She was sent off to the Repair Inspection Works (RIW) in Lincolnshire where she was stripped right down and re-assembled. At that stage the bomb tally recorded 114.
Back with the squadron in mid-December there were four more raids and then into 1945 almost anyone could be assigned to fly her. In fact, during the remainder of her war, Sugar had no regular skipper. As the war reached its end Sugar flew five EXODUS missions, to either Brussels or Juvincourt to fly home released British prisoners of war.
Her total operations? It is not clear. Although the hundredth mission has been recorded as being 11/12 May 1944, later evidence appears to show this had only been the ninety-first. Part of the mix-up was that when Sugar left for its major service, a replacement Lancaster was marked S and whoever went back over the records failed to notice the change of aircraft serial. If, therefore, ninety-one is closer to the truth, then its last operation on 20 July 1944 was in fact its 106th. Therefore, rather than the accepted 137 operations, the actual figure was around 132.
Sugar left 467 in August and was ‘struck off charge’ as an ‘exhibition aircraft’ in February 1956. In 1959 she became what the RAF call a gate guard, at RAF Scampton. An administration squadron leader at Scampton was organising a visit by the Queen Mother who was presenting a Standard to 617 Squadron on 14 May 1959 and managed to get R5866 moved there for the occasion. Possession being nine tenths of the law, Scampton managed to retain her. This same officer managed to persuade the RCAF to fly over its one flying Lancaster for a fly-past, a visit repeated in 2014. R5868 was moved to the RAF Museum in March 1972, following a refurbishment, and was repainted in 467 Squadron’s markings.
This was an Avro-built Mark III machine assigned to 97 Squadron at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, on 8 February 1943, but a problem had her sent away, then returned in March, 97 having moved to Woodall Spa. Coded OF-E, her first operational sortie is recorded as 26 March, Sergeant K. Brown taking her to Duisburg. After taking part in nine sorties, seven with Sergeant Brown, ED588 went to 50 Squadron at RAF Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire, in mid-April, and was re-coded VN-G for George, in which guise the first mission was to Essen in the Ruhr Valley, Sergeant D. A. Duncan becoming the regular skipper until the end of August. Duncan went on to complete his tour, was commissioned, and received the DFC. He had flown fifteen sorties in George.
During the winter of 1943-44, Flying Officer F. B. M. Wilson flew George on several occasions, including three trips to Berlin. George went to Berlin fifteen times during the Battle of Berlin. In February George was assigned to Flight Sergeant E. Berry, flying most of his tour with it, twenty-three at least, while being commissioned and awarded the DFC. Flying Officer W. T. Enoch then took it over; he also completed twenty-three trips of his tour as the skipper.
Bill Enoch went on leave in late August 1944 but on the very next operation (29/30 August), George failed to return from a trip to Königsberg, with Flying Officer A. H. Carver in the pilot’s seat. George had flown on 128 operations, with over 1,051 flying hours. Shot down by a night-fighter, it had crashed at Höjalen, in southern Sweden, still carrying its full bomb load. In all, 50 Squadron lost four Lancasters this night, with just one crew member surviving as a prisoner out of the twenty-eight men involved. Fifteen Lancasters were lost on this operation, German night-fighters scoring heavily. There had been a twenty-minute delay in opening the attack due to cloud, the bomber force circling nearby until the Master Bomber ordered them in. This no doubt allowed the night-fighters to reach the area in good numbers.
The hundredth operation is officially recorded as being flown on 4/5 July, to bomb the underground V1 storage facility at St Leu d’Esserent, with Enoch in command. He completed his tour of operations and was awarded the DFC.
This was another A. V. Roe, Manchester-built Mark III, produced in early 1943 and assigned to No. 156 Squadron at RAF Worboys, Huntingdonshire. Once on the squadron ED860 was given the code letters GT-N. Known as N for Nuts on 156, she later became N for Nan. No. 156 Squadron was part of the Pathfinder Force.
The first operation was to Stettin, on 20/21 April with Canadian Pilot Officer J. M. Horan in command. He only flew two operations in her, then several other pilots flew her until Flight Lieutenant R. E. Young took over in mid-June. He flew nine or ten missions before his tour ended and would go on to receive the DSO and DFC for his wartime flying, although he ended up a prisoner on a Berlin raid on 28/39 January 1944, whilst commanding No. 7 Squadron.
In mid-August 1943, ED860 was moved to 61 Squadron, at Syerston, Nottinghamshire, becoming QR-N, and flying her first sortie on 23/24 June – to Berlin. In late August, Sergeant, then Pilot Officer, Ernest Willsher became the regular skipper, their first trip being again to Berlin. After six operations, Flying Officers H. N. Scott and B. C. Fitch shared the honour of the Lancaster’s company, Fitch recording eleven operations and Scott, before Pilot Officer A. E. Stone and crew became the regular operators, during twenty-two missions to mid-May. Bernard Fitch, Henley Scott RCAF and Arthur Stone all received the DFC.
Towards the end of May, Flying Officer B. S. Turner began flying ED860 on a regular basis and his fourth operation with it turned out to be the Lancaster’s hundredth trip. The target was a V1 site at Prouville. In all, Bernard Turner completed ten sorties plus at least two more that were abandoned by the Master Bomber. He, too, went on to receive the DFC. Flying Officer N. E. Hoad took Nan over for a raid on Secqueville on 7/8 August, and flew her on five other missions before the end of the month. Hoad recalled that when he took over ED860 she was ‘well past its sell-by date’, but being a new boy on the squadron was not in a position to pick and choose.
Norman Hoad’s last trip in her was on 29/30 August, to Königsberg, where, it will be recalled, ED588 had been lost. Approaching, and over, the target night-fighters were in evidence and he was constantly told to ‘corkscrew’ by his gunners. Nan was hit several times, mostly by fighters but perhaps by some AA fire too. The worst damage was to the starboard wing root and the starboard main fuel tank. However, he got her home but she became Category-3 damage. This usually meant being repairable on site but might require assistance from a repair and salvage unit or civilian repair organisation. She remained unserviceable until October. On the 18th she flew one more mission and was then deemed too clapped out for any more. She did not survive long, being ‘struck off charge’ and scrapped on 4 November.
Norman Hoad recorded in his log book that the missions he had flown in her numbered 118, 119,120, 121, 124 and 129; therefore that final mission, to Flushing with Flying Officer L. A. Pearce and crew, was her 130th. She had flown 1,031 hours.
Another Manchester-built Mark III, ED888 rolled off the production line in early 1943 and by 20 April had arrived at 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds, Lincolnshire, assigned to B Flight. The code letters PM-M were painted upon her fuselage sides and she became known as M for Mother.
Her first operation was to Dortmund on 4/5 May, with Warrant Officer N. R. Ross in command. The next raid, to Duisburg on 13 May, Sergeant D. W. Rudge was in the hot-seat, and would continue to be so for another twenty-three operations, only sharing the odd mission with a few others during this period which ended on 23/24 August, a trip to Berlin.
There was no regular skipper until Flying Officer G. S. Morgan took her over, his first trip being to Hanover on 18 October. He flew her on seven missions before the end of November, at which time Gomer ‘Taf’ Morgan and the rest of his flight were hived off to help form a new unit, 576 Squadron, on the same station. Morgan had already taken part in three trips to Berlin, during the Battle of Berlin, and continued for a further six with his new unit. He received the DFC.
From mid-January 1944 a variety of crews took Mother to Germany and it was not until April that Pilot Officer J. S. Griffiths became her regular custodian. James Griffiths operated twenty-nine times in ED888, including the night of D-Day, bombing the Vire marshalling yards. By this time ED888 had become known as M for Mike, and because a small 2 had been marked beside the letter, it was known as ‘Mike Squared’ – as well as ‘Mother of them All’. His tour completed, he received the DFC. On his final trip, on 14/15 July, his gunners shot down a Ju88 night-fighter. They had downed an Me410 on 24/25 June. By this time ED888 was pretty much clapped out, and, when Griffiths and crew were on leave, nobody else would fly her.
Pilot Officer J. B. Bell, however, took over from Jim Griffiths on 20 July, flying a straight thirty operations between then and 19/20 October, some being daylight trips with fighter escort. In point of fact, Bell took ED888 on her hundredth sortie on 20 July, a raid to Wizernes. Jim Bell also received the DFC.
After 133 operations, ED888 returned to 103 Squadron, coded PN-M². There were now 131 bombs painted beneath the cockpit area and she completed a further nine before her last trip, on Christmas Eve, a raid on Cologne, with Flight Lieutenant S. L. Saxe RCAF in command. Those last nine were all flown by different pilots, suggesting her disposition had not improved any.
Mike became Cat.Ac, i.e. repaired on site but by another unit or contractor, on 26 January 1945, so went back to Avro for an overhaul and returned to 103 afterwards. However, she saw no further operational service and ended up at No. 10 Maintenance Unit in August. She was reduced to scrap in early 1947.
A Lancaster III that also came off the Avro production line in early 1943 and went to No. 7 Squadron, but within ten days was transferred to 97 Squadron at Bourn, Cambridgeshire, coded OF-N, but later changed to OF-O.
Her first operation was to Cologne on 3/4 July 1943, with Flight Lieutenant J. H. J. Sauvage DFC (later awarded a Bar), but her first regular skipper was Flying Officer D. McN. Moodie RCAF, who took her on seven trips until lost in another aircraft in October. By mid-September she had accomplished fifteen operations, including the famous attack on the German rocket establishment at Peenemünde in August, and was then moved to fly with 61 Squadron at Syerston, where she became QR-M. Ordinarily, aircraft marked M would be known either as Mother or Mike, but one of her crew began calling her Mickey.
Flight Lieutenant J. E. R. Williams then took over from 4/5 October, a raid on Frankfurt, and in total did a dozen operations including several to Berlin that winter. A variety of skippers flew her during spring 1944, but Squadron Leader S. J. Beard, the flight commander, took her out on at least a dozen raids before Pilot Officer D. E. White RCAF became the more regular pilot. Sidney Beard had already been awarded the DFC with 61 in 1942 and would receive a Bar in 1944. Delbert White also received the DFC, but for a raid on a V1 site at Beauvoir on 29 June. On the way to the target the hydraulic line burst, but despite severe problems the crew carried on and bombed successfully. White flew twenty-nine missions in EE176.
After this, the Lancaster became the mount of whoever needed an aircraft during that summer. One pilot to fly her was Flying Officer Norman Hoad – one operation – who had flown ED860 (see above). Flying Officer F. A. Mouritz RAAF flew EE176 on her last five sorties in October and November, although the last, to Gravenhorst on 6 November, had to be aborted due to ground smoke obscuring the target. Taken off operations, EE176 was sent to No. 1653 Heavy Conversion Unit at Chedburgh in December where she was marked H4-X but by April 1945 had become Cat-Ac.
Total operations flown by EE176, which had now become known as ‘Mickey the Moocher’, a play on a popular tune ‘Millie the Moocher’ are not certain. Again Norman Hoad had recorded in his log book that his one trip in her was her 110th. Counting from there makes the total 118 if her last aborted trip is discounted. A picture of her is said to show 115 bombs. Mouritz also noted in his log book that an aborted trip to Bremen on 11 November was carried out before being called off, and he had dropped his bombs before this order was received. Perhaps the 118 became 128 at some stage, but whatever the actual total, it was at least 118.
Avro Lancaster Mark I R5868, OL-Q 83 Squadron, May 1943. The artwork depicts a red devil thumbing its nose amidst flames; the written phrase is ‘Devils of the Air’. The bomb tally records fifty-eight operations, although the last eight have had to be painted more to the right to avoid the devil’s tail. Note the small Q beneath the front turret. The crew are: Rick Garvey in the cockpit, the others, left to right: Sgt W. L. ‘Bill’ Webster (F/engr), Sgt Len L. J. Thomas (M/upr gnr), Sgt C. E. Turner (W/Op), Sgt S. ‘Jimmy’ Sukthanker (Nav), Sgt Jack A. Cooke (B/aimer) and Sgt Hugh A. Ashton (R/gnr).
Garvey with crew and ground personnel in front of ‘Queenie’, May 1943. Rick Garvey is on the left. Cooke is 5th from left, Turner (7th), Sukthanker (8th), Webster, Thomas and Ashton (9th-11th). Note the small windows along the fuselage side; these were blocked out on later Lancasters.
R5868 having a major service and refit in late 1944. The engines and front section forward of the wings have been taken off. Note the wing support trestles. The OL-Q codes are easily seen and it seems likely that this was around early August 1943.
Neale McClelland and crew with R5868 in November 1943, having now moved to 467 Squadron. The devil insignia and the original bomb tally have been painted out and a naked lady with bomb put on instead. The nose letter has also gone, being replaced with an S. A new bomb tally has been started, showing ten symbols. Standing l to r: P/O Wally Booth (N), Sgt Steve G. W. Bethell (M/upr gnr), Sgt Ken L. Warden (R/gnr), Sgt Albert W. Martin (F/engr); Front: PO H. ‘Bill’ Griffin (B/aimer), McClelland and Sgt Stan Bray (W/Op). The bomb tally was not carried on until ‘Sugar’ was nearing her hundredth trip.
Sugar preparing for a raid on the marshalling yards at Lille on 10 May 1944. The large drum-like bomb is the 4,000lb cookie. Note the S now appears on the nose. As the hundredth operation approached it was decided to update the nose art because of the expected press interest, so the naked lady was painted out and a new and complete bomb log put on.
Sugar surrounded by ground crews preparing her for the hundredth operation. Ted Willoughby is chalking on the ‘100 not out’, while Air Commodore Allan Hesketh CBE DFC, OC 53 Base, which included RAF Waddington, looks on. The recently marked bomb tally shows eight rows of twelve plus three more to total ninety-nine. Göring’s boast had now been painted on the aircraft with a DSO and three DFC ribbons. Sometimes these fictitious ribbons were ‘awarded’ to the aircraft, but sometimes they reflected awards to various crew members flying in it.
This photograph was taken on 12 May 1944, believing the crew had just completed the hundredth trip for R5868 although in fact it was only ninety-one. L to r: F/O T. N. Scholefield RAAF, F/O I. Hamilton (Nav), F/Sgt R. T. Hillas (W/Op), F/Sgt F. E. Hughes (B/aimer), Sgt R. H. Burgess (F/engr), F/Sgt K. E. Stewart (R/gnr) and Sgt J. D. Wells (M/upr gnr).
Air and ground crews celebrate for the press on 12 May 1944. The bomb tally shows 100, although she still had nine more trips before reaching that total. Scholefield and crew raise their tankards. Tom Scholefield later flew with 97 Squadron, being awarded the DFC and Bar by the war’s end.
Lancasters on a daylight operation. Sugar is at the centre rear, dwarfed by JO-A (ED949) of 463 Squadron RAAF.
R5868 undergoing another major service and once again the front cockpit section has been detached. The bomb tally shows the first so-called hundred plus a further fourteen. The work took from 3 August to 3 December 1944 and was undertaken by No.16 Party at RIW (Repaired in Works) under Cpl H. Smith (2nd from the right) and consisting of: Cpl Cox, LACs Symonds, Pursglove, McCombie, Price and AC2 Mitchell.
Not looking much like a Lancaster, R5868 during her major service, minus engines and cockpit area.
One of R5868’s last operations was to Pilsen on 16/17 April 1945. The all-NCO crew who flew this mission in her was captained by Flying Officer R. A. ‘Bob’ Swift (centre).
Sugar, now sporting 125 bombs, as well as a large S on the tail fin (for quick identification during daylight sorties), taken at Kitzingen, north of Nuremburg on 7 May 1945. The squadron CO, Wing Commander I. H. A. Hay RAAF DFC, had flown her there to organise EXODUS operations, for flying released prisoners of war back from Germany to Britain.
R5868 as Gate Guardian at RAF Scampton in the 1970s, repainted in 83 Squadron codes of OL-Q.
Flight Lieutenant E. Berry DFC. Ernest Berry RAAF began flying ED588 in February 1944 as a sergeant-pilot, being commissioned halfway through his tour of operations. In total he flew her on twenty-four trips. On his last sortie he took with him Flying Officer H. W. T. Enoch as second pilot, to ‘show him the ropes’. After this, Howell Enoch took over ED588.
Ernie Berry, with air and ground crew, taken at the end of his tour of operations, June 1944.
Lancaster ED588 G for George, in April 1944, with seventy-two bomb symbols marked. There are no personal identity marks or painting. Note the G marked on the wheel cover and the starter trolley by the same wheel.
Howell Enoch in the cockpit of ED588 while his crew pose for a picture. George had now notched up 116 operations. Note the crew mascot of a teddy bear in RAF uniform. The man holding the bear is, appropriately, named as Flying Officer Andy George, the navigator, who, like Enoch, would be awarded the DFC.
Flight Lieutenant H. W. T. Enoch DFC (on the left) survived the war and was with 100 Squadron afterwards, operating Avro Lincoln bombers. On the right is Squadron Leader (later Group Captain) D. B. Bretherton DFC, also with 100 Squadron on Lincolns. He had flown Lancasters with 106 Squadron during the war.
ED588 (VN-G) in the background, and ED860 (QR-N) in front, both veterans being waved off by ground personnel in August 1944. Both 50 and 61 Squadrons were flying from RAF Skellingthorpe at this time.
G for George, now with 125 painted bomb symbols, 19 August 1944. The Lancaster failed to return from Königsberg on the night of 29/30 August, flying its 128th mission. Flying Officer A. H. Carver and his crew all perished.
Among the first crews to fly ED860 was that of F/Lt R. E. Young, later W/Cdr DSO DFC. This picture shows him and some of his crew at one stage: W/Cdr R. E. Young, F/Lt T. Burger (DFC) (Nav), W/O T. Evans (DFC) (B/aimer), Sgt A. G. Ryder (W/Op), -?-, F/Sgt J. W. Boynton (R/gnr), Sgt I. T. Taylor (F/engr). Young and Ryder became prisoners after being shot down on 28/29 January 1944, while Burger and three others were killed. Tom Evans flew forty-six operations and was awarded the DFC but, as his wife was about to have their first child, decided to stop flying at Christmas 1943, so avoided being shot down a month later.
Bernard Fitch and his crew flew their first operation in ED860, QR-N, laying sea mines off Texel, on 2/3 September 1943. In front of another 61 Squadron Lancaster (QR-S) they are: P/O A. Lyons (B/aimer), Sgt Len Whitehead (M/upr gnr), Sgt Les Cromerty (R/gnr), Fitch, F/O Syd Jennings (Nav), Sgt Johnnie Taylor (F/engr) and Sgt C. Kershaw (W/Op). Fitch and Jennings both received the DFC. Fitch flew ‘Nan’ on seven trips.
ED860’s hundredth operation came in June 1944, the ground crew posing for a picture showing the hundredth bomb symbol going up. From the discolouration behind these bombs it looks as if they were all freshly painted on for the occasion. Use of the engine scaffolding was essential for this job.
Air and ground crew pose for the camera on the occasion of the hundredth operation. Flying Officer B. S. Turner, the pilot at this period, stands eighth from the left. Basil Turner later received the DFC.
Another posed publicity shot with armourers putting the tail fins on the bomb load, while Norman Hoad (in the cockpit) and his crew watch. In real life the bombs would already be aboard by the time the parachute-holding air crew arrived. The six men watching are: F/O K. W. Ball (Nav), F/O W. H. Pullin (B/aimer), Sgts C. V. Embury (R/gnr), N. England (M/upr gnr), C. P Boyd (W/Op) and C. S. Webb (F/engr). Neither Boyd nor Webb survived the war.
A close-up of the bomb tally with 118 on show. Two swastika emblems denote two German night-fighters claimed as shot down. Norman Hoad is in the cockpit.
A framed record of ED860’s trips, noting 130 operations between 7 April 1943 and 30 October 1944. Although it says it is the holder of Bomber Command’s record, that record was later broken.
Sergeant D. W. Rudge and crew were ED888’s first regular crew. Seen here are Denny Rudge, Sgts Charlie Baird (M/upr gnr), T. W. ‘Chiefy’ Catton (F/engr), J. D. ‘Jack’ Fitzpatrick (R/gnr), H. Trevor Greenwood (W/Op), George Lancaster (Nav) and Sid Robinson (B/aimer). Rudge was later commissioned and awarded the DFC.
Lancaster ED888 had flown with 103 Squadron, completing fifty-one trips as M for Mother, between May and November 1943, and before going to 576 Squadron where it became M² – Mike Squared. Pilot Officer J. B. Bell and crew flew the hundredth mission on 20 July 1944, a raid on Wizernes. It was their first trip with her. Jimmy Bell with his crew and ground crew pose for the picture, with 100 bombs, plus two swastikas for German aircraft shot down, and the DFC ribbon.
One of ED888’s fitters, Bert Booth, sits on a 4,000lb cookie, with Jack Kirkpatrick, Rudge’s rear gunner, from Sydney, Australia.
Sergeant R. C. ‘Bob’ Shilling, rear gunner in Flying Officer G. S. Morgan’s crew, gives his turret a final polish. It was always a lonely ride sitting in the rear turret at the back of the aircraft. Note the chute where spent shell cases were ejected.
Two trips later ED888 is awarded the DSO. The picture shows Group Captain W. C. Sheen painting on the DSO ribbon, while Jim Bell and Jimmy Griffiths, who had flown many operations with her, including the ninety-ninth, look on. Both pilots received the DFC.
With total operations having reached 140 by Christmas, 1944, the DFC ribbon has a rosette painted on by the Station Commander of Elsham Wolds, Group Captain Hugh Constantine DSO, to denote ED888 being awarded a Bar. Bombs were in yellow, with white for day trips; the swastikas were also in yellow.
Mike-Squared flying over Elsham Wolds with full bomb tally, victory marks and medal ribbons in full view, as well as the M² marking astern of the fuselage roundel. With 140 operational sorties flown she held the record for an Avro Lancaster of Bomber Command.
Flight Lieutenant N. D. Webb RNZAF and crew October 1943. L to r front: F/Sgt C. J. ‘Bert’ Collingwood (W/Op), Norman Webb, Sgt Roy Westcott (R/gnr); rear: Sgt Jack Bailey (B/aimer), Sgt John Brown (F/engr), Sgt Pat Watkins (Nav), F/Sgt L. J. ‘Bluey’ Purcell RAAF (M/upr gnr). They only flew EE176 twice. Webb went on to receive the DFC, while Bailey and Collingwood were awarded DFMs. Brown was killed in February 1944, the night this crew were shot down by a night-fighter. The other six crew members became prisoners of war.
The Mickey Mouse emblem and bomb tally was not started immediately but by the time eighty-three bombs had been painted on in July 1944, she had her full plumage and moved from 97 to 61 Squadron. Mickey, of course, is pulling a bomb along on a trolley, with ‘Mickey the Moocher’ written underneath. Written on the flag in front of him is ‘3 Reich’ (and) ‘Berlin’. As EE176 went to Berlin on at least seventeen occasions during the winter of 1943-44 perhaps this gave rise to the flag. Aircraft code was QR-M in red, edged yellow. Mickey’s body was black, with a white face. Shorts, shoes and gloves were red. His name was in red too; the signpost and bomb trolley were white.
Mickey with ninety-seven bombs up and with air and ground crew in the picture. Comparing this image with the previous one, it is curious that, rather than painting the bombs in straight rows of ten, as previously, they continued in fives and in this photo the fives have started to be increased to ten.
Norman E. Hoad and crew: F/O K. O. W. ‘Bill’ Ball (Nav), Sgt G. V. ‘Moosh’ Embury (R/gnr), F/O W. H. ‘Bill’ Pullin (B/aimer), Sgt N. England (M/upr gnr), Sgt Wilson (W/Op), Sgt C. S. ‘Lucky’ Webb (F/engr); In front: Sgt C. P. ‘Hoppy’ Boyd (W/Op) and P/O Hoad. Norman Hoad flew operations in two veteran Lancasters, EE176 and ED860.
EE176 with 119 bombs painted on and, once again, the new rows are in fives rather than tens. Frank Moritz and crew are in front, l to r: Sgt A. Jim Leith (F/engr), Sgt Den C. Cluett (R/gnr), F/O Pete M. R. Smith (B/aimer), Mouritz, Sgt Arthur G. B. Bass (M/upr gnr), F/Sgt Laurie A. Cooper (Nav) and Sgt Davy Bloomfield (W/Op).
Mickey after transfer to No. 1653 Heavy Conversion Unit, at RAF Chedburgh, Suffolk, at the end of 1944. She still carries her nose art and bomb tally, but the code letters have been changed to H4-X.
