During February and March 1945 no fewer than ten RAF Lancasters reached the amazing number of a hundred operational sorties with Bomber Command. With eighteen having already reached that number by the end of January, this brought the total to twenty-eight
This Mark III was built at the Chadderton works, rolling off the production line in early 1944 and being sent to 35 Squadron, of the Pathfinder Force, at Gravely, Huntingdonshire, on 7 March. Coded TL-M she flew just two operations as a ‘supporter’ aircraft, the first to Stuttgart on 15/16 March, the second to Frankfurt two days later.
After these, ND709, along with seven other squadron aircraft, moved to 635 Squadron which was being formed at Downham Market, Norfolk. Assigned to B Flight, new codes of F2-J were applied, although the previous M could still be seen just in front of the rear elevator. Her main pilot became Squadron Leader R. P. Wood, whose first operation in her came on 22 March, another raid on Stuttgart. Four days later, Warrant Officer J. M. Bourassa, who had flown one of her two trips with the squadron, went to Essen but came home on three engines. As a matter of interest, Pathfinder squadrons usually had aircrew members advanced by one rank.
Scott flew Kiwi another seven times during the build-up to D-Day, but any number of other pilots flew her too, including the flight commander, Wing Commander D. W. S. Clarke DFC, to Duisburg on 21/22 May. However, on the way to the target the Lancaster was fired on by a ‘friendly’ four-engined aircraft and both Clark and his Canadian navigator, Pilot Officer H. P. Laskowski RCAF, were wounded but not seriously enough for them to abort. Bombing successfully, they got home only to have a tyre burst on landing. Clark, it was discovered, had a bullet in his shoulder; Harry Laskowski was injured by shell splinters. They were not away for long.
Because Clark was a New Zealander, although born in Surbiton, Surrey, England, and would eventually transfer from the RAF to the RNZAF, his Canadian navigator designed an emblem for ‘their’ Lancaster – a kiwi, with two plasters on its behind, and a telescopic sight strapped to its beak, standing on a bomb, heading for a target, with a Canadian maple leaf painted on the bomb.
During D-Day missions ND709 was usually captained by Flying Officer A. L. Johnson RAAF, who would go on to receive the DFC and Bar. Calais on 4 June was his first trip, followed by seven more, but then the wing commander operated with it another dozen times against V1 sites and during the Caen breakout. On a trip on 5 August Kiwi was hit by flak, which was repeated on 16/17 August. Cloud also caused a couple of aborts over targets during the summer. In all Clark would fly his Kiwi bird on sixteen trips, one at least while acting as Master Bomber, and a raid on Stettin on 16/17 August for which he received a Bar to the DFC he had won while with 419 RCAF Squadron in 1943. On the Stettin trip Kiwi was hit whilst being illuminated by searchlights. One engine was knocked out and a second became erratic, but Clark continued his run and bombed. A few nights later Kiwi was hit again, a fairly large hole being blasted through the starboard fuselage – but with another pilot.
Kiwi carried on for some weeks without further hurt, but was hit again on 28 October over Cologne when both starboard engines were damaged. Flying Officer R. W. Toothill was in command and he was forced to make a landing on the unused airfield of Moorsele in Belgium, not helped by a frozen ASI indicator. Kiwi was the only 100-veteran to land in Belgium during the war before EXODUS trips began. Toothill flew her home on the 30th.
By the New Year Kiwi’s total operations were nearing a hundred. Squadron Leader P. R. Mellor took her to Oberfeld on 4 February, the ninety-sixth, and the CO, Wing Commander S. Baker DSO DFC & Bar, used her, flying as Master Bomber on the 7th, to Kleve. Her next trip was in the hands of Flying Officer J. D. Cowden DFC, who made thirteen sorties in her, including number ninety-nine and, finally, Peter Mellor and crew completed the century by going to Chemnitz on 14/15 February. It was also her final operation with 635 Squadron.
By strange coincidence, Cowden and crew also operated this same night in PB287 and were shot down by a night-fighter. Only the rear gunner survived. Cowden, previously with 158 Squadron, had flown sixty-one missions in total. Oddly, the squadron records show that he should have been flying Kiwi that night, but obviously did not. They had been ready to fly Kiwi in spite of having problems with one engine. However, the CO forbade it and so they moved to another Lancaster. As there were two waves of attacking aircraft that night, Mellor took Kiwi once it had the engine problem sorted out. He reported the hundredth trip as uneventful
Cowden was apparently shot down by Hauptmann Kurt-Heinz Weigel of 11./NJG6 in a Ju88 at 21.37 hours, who reported it had crashed somewhere between Plauen-Eger. It was the German’s fourth victory.
After a bit of a refit, Kiwi was sent to 405 (Vancouver) Squadron RCAF at RAF Gransden Lodge, Bedfordshire, still a Pathfinder. Re-coded LQ-G she arrived on 19 March and flew her first sortie on the 22nd, exactly one year to the day after she had flown her first-ever sortie. In all she completed eight operations with the Canadians, then added two MANNA trips and one EXODUS flight, bringing her overall figure to 111.
On 11 June 1945 she returned to 35 Squadron but on 27 July was flown to No. 1667 HCU, but moved once more just before Christmas to No. 1660 HCU. Almost a year later she went to No. 1635 HCU and was coded A3-U. Finally, on 9 May 1947, Kiwi went to No. 15 MU and was ‘struck off charge’ on 28 August.
This Lancaster came off the production line at the end of 1943, or early 1944, being assigned to No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron at RAF Dunholme Lodge, Lincolnshire. Marked with the squadron code of KM, and the individual letter Y, ND578 became Y-Yorker.
Pilot Officer John Chatterton was given this new machine and their first trip together was a big one – Berlin – on 15/16 February 1944. Chatterton flew Yorker on fifteen operations, although he had to share her with the squadron CO, Wing Commander F. W. Thompson DFC AFC, who had flown a tour on Whitleys with 10 Squadron in 1941. On one of Thompson’s raids, on 7 May, he controlled the attack on a munitions factory at Salbris, while Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire did the actual marking of the target. The problem was that the marker flares fell between the sheds of the factory and became invisible from the bombing height, so Thompson told Cheshire to put a marker on the roof of a shed, which he did, and the attack was able to proceed.
An unusual operation came on 15 July, Thompson dropping mines along the Kiel Canal and two days later he was leading an attack on Caen as the Allied armies broke out from the Normandy bridgehead.
John Chatterton meantime had completed his tour and been awarded the DFC and in mid-July Thompson had flown his required number of operations. There were few regular crews taking Yorker out that summer but Flying Officer L. W. Hayler flew her to Königsberg at the end of August, and gradually took her on a more regular basis; in fact he took her out on twenty-nine operations, although a few were aborted for various reasons. On 16 November, for example, attacking Düren, he brought her back on three engines.
Some days earlier, on the 2nd, over Düsseldorf, the rear gunner saw fighter flares to port and then two Focke Wulf 190s, in formation, crossed their stern. The 190s turned, began flying a parallel course and closed in to 800 yards. The rear gunner, Sergeant W. S. H. Knight, called for Hayler to go into a ‘corkscrew’ manoeuvre as he opened up with his four guns. One of the 190s also opened fire but was soon lost to view. Meantime, the mid-upper had been keeping an eye on a twin-engine fighter but it did not come close.
Yorker’s hundredth operation came on the night of 2/3 February 1945, with a trip to Karlsruhe, Hayler flying and taking a new pilot on his first mission, to see how things were done. Lister Hayler completed his tour in early March, his last in Yorker being a minelaying operation. Although these were sometimes flown either at the start of a tour or at the end, being deemed a little less dangerous operation to fly, in point of fact they were often extremely dangerous, with no guarantee of returning safely.
Flying Officer H. V. Parkin and crew had started flying her in early December and became her more regular skipper after Hayler had finished. He flew her on fourteen occasions, including her final five. Total trips appear to be either 121 or 123, the last to the Cham marshalling yards, deep inside south-east Germany, on 17/18 April. It was a very successful attack and suffered no losses among the ninety Lancasters and eleven Mosquitoes that took part.
She carried no nose art, other than a bomb tally, with red for night sorties and yellow for day. However, someone had obviously taken a visit to London Zoo and had ‘liberated’ a sign which was placed inside the cockpit window on the starboard side. This read ‘These animals are dangerous’.
Yorker became Cat-Ac on 18 May 1945 and was sent off to Avro at Lincoln for an overhaul, returning on the 24th. She was then placed on the strength of No. 75 (NZ) Squadron on 2 July, also based at Spilsby, until finally ‘struck off charge’ on 27 October.
By the early 1990s John Chatterton’s son was a regular pilot in the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and often flew their famous Lancaster (PA474) on displays, and did so until at least 1997. He also flew his father and a couple of his old crewmates in her.
Another Chadderton-built Lancaster, this Mark III was completed at the end of 1943 and on 10 January 1944 was assigned to No. 100 Squadron based at Waltham, near Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and given the code letters HW and individual letter A, thus becoming known as Able, followed by ‘Able Mabel’.
The Battle of Berlin was raging that winter, so Able’s initial sorties wete during this period, with her first operation going to Berlin on 20/21 January, piloted by Sergeant K. W. Evans RAAF. It was his one and only sortie in her; shortly afterwards she was taken by Flight Sergeant T. F. Cook to Berlin on 27/28 January, and again the next night. After a few more trips flown by Warrant Officer P. R. M. Neal and Sergeant E. R. Belbin, she became the more regular aircraft of Warrant Officer J. Littlewood, who flew her on twenty-two trips, during which time he was commissioned.
Some of these operations were in support of D-Day, including large gun positions at Merville, Dieppe, le Clipton and St Martin de Varreville. The last was on the dawn of D-Day and Jack Littlewood also flew her on D-Day itself. After the Normandy landings, Littlewood and crew were pounding V1 sites, and marshalling yards in order to disrupt German rail traffic to the beachhead.
Her bomb doors were damaged on 2 July during a V1 site raid at Oismont and, five days later, an electrical fault caused the bombs to drop onto unopened doors, their weight forcing them open but resulting in damage once more. July wasn’t proving a good month for Mabel as she was hit in the starboard wing by AA fire over Villers Bocage on 30 July, and part of the trailing edge had to be replaced.
She also had encounters with enemy night-fighters, including one during a raid on Rüsselheim on 25/26 August. They were at 16,000 feet near Luxembourg when the bomb aimer spotted a twin-engined Me410 above on the starboard bow. The rear gunner also saw it and ordered the skipper, Pilot Officer C. D. Edge RAAF, to corkscrew to starboard. The Messerschmitt and both Lancaster gunners opened fire, Able being hit and suffering damage to both rear and mid-upper turrets. The 410 also appeared to be hit and was seen to break away and go down. Severe damage was caused to the starboard elevator and one rudder fin, while the hydraulics were also damaged and the R/T knocked out. However, Charles Edge got her home. Edge later flew with 156 Squadron and received the DFC. His rear gunner, Fred Twist, also received the DFM.
Soldiering on with several different crews, Able Mabel was hit by flak again on 4 November, by which time she was being flown irregularly by another Australian pilot, Pilot Officer G. K. Veitch RAAF, who skippered her on nine operations. She was shared by Flight Lieutenant J. D. Playford RCAF, who took her to Wanne-Eickel on 18 November and went on some twenty-six operations, although he had a couple of aborts. John Playford received the DFC in November.
Another pilot to share in Able’s total operations was Pilot Officer R. Barker and crew. He flew only four times in her, and should have been in her on 5/6 January 1945 but he and another crew swopped aircraft and Barker was lost in Lancaster JB603, Take it Easy, the other veteran of 100 Squadron, on the raid on Hannover.
On 1 February 1945 came the hundredth mission, Playford taking her to Ludwigshafen. Her final operation was to Berchtesgaden on 25 April with Playford which was followed by an EXODUS trip on the 27th, and then six MANNA sorties between then and 7 May with other pilots. This brought her total operations to 132.
By early 1945 Able had enjoyed over 800 hours of virtually trouble-free flying, except for enemy damage. This was due in no small measure to her ground personnel, who were Sergeant W. Hearne, Corporal R. T. Withey and LACs J. E. Robinson, J. Hale and J. Cowis. She was eventually ‘struck off charge’ on 29 August 1947.
Built under licence at the Armstrong-Whitworth factory in Coventry, this Mark I was assigned to 467 Squadron RAAF on 28 February 1944, at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. Squadron codes of PO were applied and, with her individual letter being ‘D’, she became known as POD.
Her first mission was rather auspicious in that the B Flight commander, Squadron Leader A. W. Doubleday DFC RAAF, took off on 9/10 March as part of a force of forty-four Lancasters of 5 Group to bomb the aircraft factory at Marignane, near Marseilles, in southern France. Despite it being a bright moonlit night, there were no losses and the raid was deemed as accurate. Arthur Doubleday was an experienced skipper, having won his DFC in 1942 flying with 460 Squadron. Aged thirty-one he went on to command 61 Squadron, being awarded the DSO. His crew were experienced too, but flying with them this night was Group Captain S. C. Elworthy DSO DFC AFC (later Marshal of the RAF Lord Elworthy KG), the Station Commander. He was just short of his thirty-third birthday.
Doubleday went on to fly POD five more times before her regular captain became Flight Lieutenant J. A. Colpus RAAF. Jack Colpus took POD out on some six operations. It was then the turn of Pilot Officer J. L. Sayers RAAF, beginning on 11/12 May. Ten days later he and his crew had an encounter with a Messerschmitt 110 night-fighter and POD was hit by AA fire as well, on a mission to Brunswick. John Sayers flew nineteen operations in all, mostly during the D-Day and post D-Day periods. They were operating on D-Day itself and over the next few days, then hitting V1 sites and other targets inland from the landing beaches. He went on to receive the DFC and later, moving to 617 Squadron, was awarded a Bar to this decoration.
In July, LL843 left the Australians, moving to 61 Squadron at RAF Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire. Whether this was a straightforward transfer is not known for sure, but one of her new skippers was none other than Wing Commander A. W. Doubleday DFC, who had flown her in 467 and was now commanding No.61. He went on a few raids with her, but her main captain was eventually Flying Officer J. S. Cooksey, starting with a raid on Bremen on 6 October. Several pilots did fly her during this phase but Cooksey made at least eighteen trips in her during that winter, although he and his crew had several adventures, including aborts due to weather or a Master Bomber calling off a raid, returning with a sick crewman, or being so late getting to the target as their ASI iced up that he had to turn back when the Master Bomber called off the bombing. On a distant raid to Pölitz on 8/9 February 1945, they were heavily fired upon over neutral Sweden, but were the first aircraft to bomb the target. Flying Officer W. G. Corewyn flew her on thirteen operations during this time too, but he and his crew were killed in a flying accident on 14 January. They were returning from a raid on Leuna but collided with a radar mast on Bord Hill and crashed near Langham airfield, Norfolk.
John Cooksey took POD on her hundredth trip in March, probably on the 5th/6th to Böhlen, right at the end of his tour. He was awarded the DFC. POD continued with a variety of pilots from then until her last mission on 25/26 April, the third trip in her by Flying Officer H. S. Beckett and crew. In all, she is recorded as having flown 118 operations.
On 21 May 1945 LL843 was sent to No. 1659 HCU and then in early September to No. 279 Air Sea Rescue Squadron, but within three weeks was transferred to No. 20 MU. Finally, the veteran was sold to Messrs Cooley and Co. at Hounslow, Middlesex, for scrap, on 7 May 1947.
Produced in spring 1944, this was a Mark III assigned to No. 550 Squadron on 29 May 1944 at RAF Waltham, Lincolnshire, and coded BG-K. She carried K until September but was then changed to V-Victor. The V then took on other connotations, for a large vulture image with outspread wings was painted on the aircraft in red, outlined in white, with its name, The Vulture Strikes!, above.
Bomb symbols began to appear following the first operation that took place on 3/4 June, a raid to Wimereux, with Flying Officer K. Bowen-Bravery in command. Kenyon Bowen-Bravery was well into his tour of operations and only flew PA995 on this occasion, but on the night before D-Day he was credited with the opening of the RAF’s assault in support of the landings. He later received the DFC. His usual Lancaster was named Bad Penny II (LL811). He and all his crew were awarded the Croix de Guerre.
Other crews flew PA995 during D-Day but on 13/14 June an American in the RAF, Flying Officer G. P. Fauman, took her to Gelsenkirchen and, on the next several missions, he and Flying Officer F. S. Steele RCAF shared her. Faumen completed five operations and Francis Steele some two dozen, receiving the DFC. On 12/13 July Steele took Flight Lieutenant R. P. Stone on his ‘second dickie’ trip, before starting a tour with his own crew. This operation, to Révigny marshalling yards, was supposed to be a quiet one. The CO, Wing Commander P. E. G. G. Connolly, even came up to Stone to make the point. However, night-fighters got in amongst the raiding force, and of the 133 men who had been in the briefing room with Stone, twenty-one were dead, including Connolly.
Robert Stone began flying Bad Penny II after Bowen-Bravery became tour-expired. Stone flew this aircraft on several raids and at least three in PA995. He too received the French Croix de Guerre. Stone, of course, also flew in ED905 and EE139, both veteran Lancs.
Fauman was an exchange NCO pilot, but was commissioned after completing his training. He received an Air Medal from the USAAF and transferred to the US Army Air Forces in September.
PA995’s last regular skipper was Flying Officer G. E. Blackler and, from his first trip in her on 5/6 October (Saarbrücken), he flew her twenty-seven times, although a couple of aborts are recorded, including one to Stuttgart on 19 October, due to losing an engine. John Nicholson, the mid-upper, also shot down a Me163 rocket fighter – he saw it explode – on one raid.
George Blackler recorded PA995’s hundredth trip on a raid to Chemnitz on 5/6 March 1945. There were the usual celebrations next morning, with most of the squadron turning out for the photographers. However, she was lost on her very next mission, a raid to Dessau on the 7th. She was caught by a Ju88 night-fighter at 21.30 hours and crashed at Schauen, just south of Osterwieck. Flying Officer C. J. Jones RCAF was the pilot and he and two of his crew were killed, the others becoming prisoners. One of the latter, Sergeant M. B. Smith (R/gnr), effected an escape and succeeded in reaching the American front lines, returning to the squadron in April. It is believed that Sergeant F. M. Main (W/Op) also managed to get back to Allied lines.
Built under licence at the Armstrong-Whitworth factory in Coventry, LL885 came off the production line in early 1944 and was assigned to 622 Squadron on 23 March. She was given the squadron codes GI and individual aircraft letter J, thus becoming J for Jig – that was also GI-J written backwards.
She was lucky to return from her very first operation, taking part in the disastrous Nürnberg raid on 30/31 March, the occasion that saw ninety-five RAF bombers fail to return. She was skippered by Pilot Officer J. M. Lunn who got her back despite damage from a falling incendiary bomb over the target. In consequence she was out of action until May, and was flown fourteen more times by Jack Lunn during his tour.
In spite of her inauspicious start, Jig did not sustain any further damage until 28/29 July, by which time she had taken part in D-Day operations and attacks on V1 sites. On the way to Stuttgart she was attacked by a night-fighter and suffered a number of hits, causing the pilot, Flight Lieutenant R. G. Allen, to order his crew to put on parachutes, but the mid-upper must have misinterpreted the instruction as he baled out. Neither of the gunners had seen the enemy’s approach. Some flares were set alight and Allen put the aircraft into a corkscrew manoeuvre. Jig then went into a steep dive but he and the flight engineer managed to pull her out and, with the flares having been put out, Allen flew the bomber home. Richard Allen received the DFC at the end of his tour.
Following more repairs Jig was back again in August, but on her second operation, to Kiel on the 26th/27th, she was attacked by an FW190 night-fighter. The bomber was damaged and the rear gunner, Sergeant P. S. Withers was killed in his turret. The pilot, Flying Officer A. H. Thompson RAAF, first saw the fighter after it had dropped a flare but it then attacked unseen from the starboard bow. Thompson went into an immediate corkscrew and, as this began, the mid-upper gunner managed to fire at the 190 which was not seen again.
Jig was once more in the repair shop until 20 September. She continued operating despite one or two more problems, such as having a hole shot through her port wing during a daylight mission to Osterfeld on 11 December, and on 1 February 1945, heading for München-Gladbach, the starboard-outer engine suddenly feathered itself and would not stay un-feathered. The bombs were jettisoned in the Frankfurt area before turning for home. It was the first trip for Flying Officer B. Morrison RCAF and crew but they flew another dozen or so operations in her, being hit again by flak on 14 March, but not sustaining any serious damage.
The hundredth trip was recorded as being flown on 6 March, a daylight sortie against an oil refinery at Salzbergen, with Flying Officer C. B. Moore RAAF. Other skippers who flew a number of operations in LL885 were Flying Officer H. P. Peck with twenty-one and Flight Lieutenant Ned Jordan RCAF, with thirteen. Both received DFCs.
In all Jig completed 114 operations, then flew six MANNA trips and three EXODUS sorties, for a total of 123. On one of her MANNA missions to The Hague on 3 May, she had as a passenger Lieutenant Colonel Morgan. At the war’s end Jig remained with 622 until she was sent to No. 44 Squadron on 27 August, then on to No. 39 MU on 3 January 1946. She was finally ‘struck off charge’ on 4 March 1947.
Built at the Metro-Vickers Works, Manchester, ME746 was a Mark I that rolled out of the factory on 2 April 1944. Assigned to No. 166 Squadron at Kirmington, Lincolnshire, on the 14th (just two weeks prior to another hundred-operations veteran, LM550) she was coded AS-C, originally known as C for Charlie, but this was later changed to R², thus becoming Roger Squared. Upon arrival, this Lancaster was allocated to one of the flight commanders, Squadron Leader A. S. Caunt – appropriate as A.S.C. were Arthur Caunt’s own initials.
However, ME746’s first operation was undertaken by Flight Sergeant F. A. Mander to Cologne on 20/21 April. This crew would be lost on 27 May. Caunt then began to fly her fairly regularly until he completed his tour on 5 June, although his crew had to complete their required number of trips, so, except for the mid-upper gunner, were taken over by the CO, Wing Commander D. A. Garner.
Caunt’s last operation, which was in LM746, was on D-Day and on the days following, apart from Garner, a variety of crews flew her until Flying Officer W. C. Hutchinson became the more regular skipper, with eighteen operations. ME746 collected a few flak hits and, over Revigny on 12/13 July, was even hit by gunfire from another Lancaster, but her maintenance record was pretty good.
There was no nose art on the Lancaster, just steadily rising rows of bomb symbols. Her next more permanent skipper was Flying Officer H. J. Musselman RCAF, who took her out for the first time on 11 November, to Dortmund. Among his missions, that flown on 29/30 December earned Harold Musselman the DFC and his flight engineer, Sergeant J. R. Cogbill, the DFM. On the way to the target the starboard-inner engine failed but he continued and then the port-outer became defective. Determined to make some sort of effort, and with the superb skill of his engineer, he flew to nearby Duisburg where the bomb load was dropped, despite further damage by AA fire.
On 22 January 1945, during a raid, a fire aboard the aircraft forced an early return, and on 1 February, on the way to Ludwigshafen, they lost an engine, but Cogbill worked his magic again and got them to the target. However on 13/14 February they were forced to abort due to instrument failure. It might be said that Roger was starting to show its age, but Musselman continued to fly operations and in all flew her on twenty-seven starts, including the hundredth, flown on 11 March, a daylight raid on Essen. Upon his return, Musselman proceeded to beat up the Kirmington control tower. Two of the ground crew, Corporal Dennis Terry and Corporal Sid Woodcock, cycled frantically to the airfield, in time to see the final low-level fly-by. It was Terry who painted on the bomb symbols.
Towards the end, Pilot Officer S. Todd took over Roger, completing eleven raids with her, plus five MANNA trips. In all the record stood at 116 operational sorties, plus six MANNA and three EXODUS trips, so a probable 124 in total.
Roger remained with the squadron until 3 September at which time she became Cat-AC and was returned to Avro for an overhaul. Back to 166 on 22 September, when 166 was disbanded, she went to 103 Squadron on 12 November, then on to 57 Squadron two weeks later. On 29 December she was flown to RAF Lindholme until finally sold for scrap on 21 February 1946 to Hestons Ltd and ‘struck off charge’.
Another Metro-Vickers built Lancaster, ME801 came off the production line as a Mark I in spring 1944 and was sent to 166 Squadron, but almost immediately was re-assigned to No. 576 Squadron, based at Elsham Wolds, south of Hull, on 18 May. Code letters UL were applied with an individual letter C, until Lancaster PD235 was lost in late September, when she was re-coded N² for Nan.
Her first trip was to Duisburg on 21/22 May with Pilot Officer S. G. Hordal RCAF at the controls. In fact he flew the first fifteen raids in her, including operations in support of D-Day, plus one more on 29 June, to bomb a V1 site. Steve Hordal received the DFC that autumn.
Pilot Officer J. McDonald then took her, flying twenty-four raids. James McDonald also received the DFC. Although fairly trouble-free, ME801 did have the occasional problem, such as on another trip to Duisburg, on 14/15 October, returning early due to engine problems.
The squadron moved to RAF Fiskerton, just east of Lincoln, in late October. Flying Officer D. Fletcher flew six operations in her after the move but he and his crew were lost on 28 December in another aircraft. Otherwise, Flight Lieutenant H. Leyton-Brown flew her a number of times over the winter, his seventeenth being Nan’s hundredth operation, on 12 March 1945, an attack on Dortmund. Howard Leyton-Brown went to Misburg on the 15th/16th, his thirty-sixth and final operation, after which he was awarded the DFC. Leyton-Brown did spot a Ju88 just twenty yards away on his port beam over the target, but the German pilot didn’t see them, nor did his radar operator locate the Lancaster.
Nan had a few encounters with night-fighters, particularly on 20/21 February, playing cat-and-mouse with an FW190 but it failed to attack. On the 23rd came an attack by a Ju88 shortly after they had bombed Pforzheim. The rear gunner, Warrant Officer J. J. Hiscocks, saw the Junkers as it crossed by at a range of 400 yards, in bright moonlight conditions, helped too by the fighter being seen against fires of the town below. As it then climbed under the RAF bomber stream, Hiscocks opened fire with his four Brownings with a five-second burst. Hits were seen to smash into the German’s starboard wing. Just as Hiscocks ordered the pilot to corkscrew, the German opened up a quick defiant burst, but he still had it in his sights and another burst from 300 yards caused the enemy machine to disintegrate. Flames came from it too and later it was seen to crash and explode. Flying Officer D. E. Till, who would fly a number of operations in LM227, as we shall read, flew one trip in Nan, on 14 February, to Chemnitz.
He was concerned about the route being fairly straight to the target, because of the distance and the amount of fuel they could carry. However, they had no problems.
Flying Officer Don Graham and crew took Nan on her 102nd to 105th trips, bringing total operations to 110 by the end of April. To this can be added three EXODUS and one more MANNA flights, to make a grand total of 116. ME801 was ‘struck off charge’ on 16 October 1945, following a crash that left the aircraft Cat-E.
An Avro-built machine, produced in early 1944, following a few days at No. 32 MU, commencing 9 April, ND875 was assigned to No. 7 Squadron of the Pathfinder Force on the 14th, but a week later moved to No. 156 Squadron PFF at RAF Upwood, Huntingdonshire, and was coded GT-N for Nuts.
Her operational tour began on the night of 24/25 April, a raid against Karlsruhe, with Squadron Leader H. F. Slade DFC RAAF in command. His navigator was the squadron’s Navigation Leader, Squadron Leader A. J. Mulligan DFC, who would receive the DSO during the summer. Herbert Slade had been awarded his DFC for a raid on Berlin in December 1943 and would follow this with a DSO in September 1944. Tony Mulligan had been Slade’s navigator, and had received his DFC in October. He would fly thirty-seven missions overall. Slade would achieve fifty-eight operations and also be awarded the American Bronze Star. Mulligan was lost in the fatal crash of the Avro Tudor which disappeared flying through the Bermuda triangle in January 1948 with Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham on board.
Slade and crew flew Nuts on at least ten occasions including sorties in support of D-Day and in mid-July her next regular skipper became Squadron Leader T. E. Ison DFC, who sometimes acted as Master Bomber. He flew sixteen operations in her, the last one being on 7 October 1944. This was called a longstop operation, flown and marked so that other aircraft would not bomb Allied troops in the Nijmegen salient.
As some stage ND875 changed her personal letter from N to Q, but records still show her as Nuts. Certainly by September she was Q, as shown in a photograph. One of Ison’s gunners was Squadron Leader D. F. Allen, who, as an NCO, had earned the George Medal in 1941 for rescuing three men from a crashed bomber the previous year. He received the British Empire Medal in 1941, too, for tackling an incendiary bomb that smashed into an aircraft on the ground in April, and then went on to gain the DFC.
The hundredth operation was recorded as being flown on 24 March 1945, with Squadron Leader Peter Clayton in command, another longstop sortie for a raid against a Benzol plant near Dortmund. In all 108 missions were credited to Nan, although not all can be verified, but she certainly did more than a hundred.
She was sent to No. 1660 HCU on 26 July, then to 1668 HCU on 20 October where she remained until 14 March 1946, when she returned to 1660. Her final service was with 1653 HCU with effect from 9 November, before going to No. 15 MU on 9 May 1947. She was ‘struck off charge’ there on 28 August.
This Mark I came from the Metro-Vickers Factory in early 1944, being assigned to B Flight, No. 12 Squadron, at RAF Wickenby, Lincolnshire. Squadron codes of PH and individual letter N for Nan became her identity. She began operations with Pilot Officer N. Rolin and crew, on 1/2 May with a raid to Lyons, France, then flew four more missions before the crew moved to No. 156 Squadron, where they flew more missions in another hundred-plus veteran, ND875. Afterwards, Sergeant G. F. Holbrook and crew began to fly her on a more regular basis, beginning with Aachen on 27/28 May. Over and beyond the D-Day operations, George Holbrook accomplished twenty-four further operations, was commissioned and received the DFC.
These missions were not without incident, with a couple being called off by the Master Bombers, while on 24/25 July she returned from a raid on Stuttgart on three engines; this had been an eight-hour-and-forty-minute mission. During a turn on a daylight trip to a flying-bomb storage depot at Trossy St Maximin on 3 August, they got caught out, being forced to follow alone as a straggler with the full attention of the flak gunners, but they survived, despite fifty to sixty holes being counted later, plus one engine knocked out. The bomb aimer and flight engineer received minor injuries.
Holbrook’s engineer, Sergeant I. E. ‘Johnny’ Squires, was over forty years of age, a former Army officer. Too old to re-join the Colours, he reduced his age by ten years, managed to get into the RAF and went on to complete two tours with Bomber Command. Holbrook completed his tour and received the DFC.
There followed a period with no regular skipper, although Flying Officers E. King, K. T. Wallace RCAF and Colin H. Henry RNZAF DFC flew her on several occasions. Ken Wallace later moved to 156 Squadron and also flew operations in ND875.
Although Nan rarely suffered mechanical problems, she did have an engine fire on 2 February 1945 and had to abort. The pilot on that occasion was Flight Lieutenant W. W. Kroeker RCAF. Six of this crew had been forced to spend some months as guests in Sweden, having crashed there on 6 January 1944 on a raid upon Stettin. They were lost on 4 April, having been released and returned to the squadron in September 1944. Nan participated in all the usual operations during the final months of the war, one of her more regular pilots being Flying Officer Arthur J. D. Leach, with sixteen trips. However, it was Flying Officer E. M. Baird RCAF who took her on the hundredth, a mining sortie off Oslo on 22/23 March; Ernest Baird later received the DFC. Eight trips later, and flying on six MANNA missions, plus two EXODUS sorties, brought her total to 116.
When she had reached 106, on 18 April, someone must have realised what she and her crews had achieved, which resulted in a ceremony, in which she was presented with both the DSO and DFC. Mock medals were produced and hung from the cockpit window ledge. Beneath these were the 106 painted bomb symbols, ten rows in red and yellow, then another ten next to them, then the final six. Above them was a swastika, representing the 109 fighter destroyed at the end of May 1944, and two painted searchlight beams, to record the occasions on which Nan was coned over Germany but had managed to escape their cold embrace. It was recorded that she had dropped over a million pounds of bombs and incendiaries.
Like many bomber bomb symbols, they were often out of kilter with actual events. Nan, for instance, had her first yellow bomb as the nineteenth, although records show this to have been her twenty-second on 22 June 1944. Perhaps whoever added up the ‘score’ failed to notice that the first trip, whilst noted as flown by ME758 with the letter ‘M’ next to it, and two others earlier in May, had shown the letter ‘N’ next to serial number ME759 and MG758, so the count was incorrect. ME759 was a 9 Squadron aircraft and there was no such Lancaster with the latter serial, so both are clerical errors. To add to the confusion, the hundredth bomb is also yellow, although that mining sortie was a night show. A straightforward count might indicate the hundredth was in fact two raids later, a daylight mission on 27 March to Paderborn, with Walter Kroeker in command. That would at least show the last raid on 25 April to be number 106.
Nan lived out to see the war won but did not survive long enough to outlast the first six months of peace. She was struck off charge’ on 19 October 1945 and ingloriously ‘reduced to produce’.
Lancaster ND709, 635 Squadron, The Flying Kiwi, after fifty-four operations, and the nose art. P/O H. P. Laskowski RCAF (Nav) and P/O D. G. Coltman stand in front. W/Cdr D. W. S. Clarke DFC took over Wood’s crew in May.
The flying kiwi nose art on ND709, the kiwi being a reference to its New Zealand pilot, while the maple leaf on the bomb refers to the Canadian navigator.
Flying Officer J. D. F. Cowden DFC and crew. He had been awarded the DFC following a tour with 158 Squadron before moving to 635. He had returned from a raid on three engines despite repeated attacks by German night-fighters. L to r: Duncan Cowden, P/O J. R. C. Donohue DFC (Nav), F/Lt J. F. Craik DFC, S/Ldr R. A. Boddington DFC*, F/Sgt H. Botterell DFM (W/Op), F/Sgt J. T. McQuillan DFM (R/gnr), F/Lt J. S. Davison (M/upr gnr), F/O W. Gabbott (F/engr).
Flying Officer R. W. Toothill (DFC) and crew flew ND709 on a couple of operations in October 1944. Front: Sgt J. A. Davies DFC (Nav), Reg Toothill, F/O J. B. Luard DFC (B/aimer), Sgt F. W. Coombes (M/upr gnr); Back: Sgt S. H. Fortune DFM (F/engr), Sgt W. W. Colvin (W/Op), Sgt F. W. Stone (R/gnr). On 28 October they were forced to put down in Belgium but got away two days later following work by the repair unit of 145 RAF Wing at nearby Wevelgem airfield.
Squadron Leader P. R. Mellor and crew also flew missions in early 1945. Standing: F/Lt F. E. Prebble DFC RNZAF (B/aimer), Peter Mellor DFC, F/Sgt L. Freeman DFM (R/gnr), F/Sgt A. Rowbottom DFM (F/engr); Kneeling: F/Sgt E. E. Freake DFM (M/upr gnr); In door: F/Lt G. Shaw DFC (Nav), F/Sgt S. Blair DFM (W/Op). Note that several men are wearing the Pathfinder (eagle) badge on their left pockets.
The hundredth bomb symbol is painted on following a trip to Chemnitz on 14/15 February 1945 with Peter Mellor in command. It was ND709’s last sortie with 635 Squadron, but she flew another eleven with 405 (RCAF) Squadron in the last weeks of the war.
Sharing in the glory is ND709’s proud ground crew and supporters on the morning of 15 February 1945. It was unusual for the bomb log to be painted from the bottom up, rather than the top down.
Yorker, ND578’s, ground personnel in mid-April 1944, following fifteen successful operations. During this early period, John Chatterton, the pilot, had a small ace of spades on a yellow background painted just ahead of the bomb markings but, for reasons unexplained, his commanding officer ordered it to be removed. Standing airmen only: Jock Biggar (rigger & bomb painter), Harry Prior (engine fitter), LAC Palmer (fitter), Dick Pinning (engine fitter) and Sgt Alan Rubenstein (NCO i/c).
Pilot Officer John Chatterton DFC and crew flew most of their tour on Yorker. L to r: Sgt John H. Davidson (R/gnr), Sgt W. H. R. ‘Bill’ Champion (M/upr gnr), F/Sgt W. H. ‘Bill’ Barker (B/aimer), Chatterton, F/O David J. Reyland RAAF (Nav), Sgt F. Ken Letts (F/engr) and Sgt John Michie (W/Op). Unusually, all crew members were decorated on completion of their tour. Chatterton and Reyland received DFCs, the others were all awarded DFMs. Reyland later flew with 467 Squadron.
Yorker, KM-Y, 44 Squadron 1944/45. Note protective covers over the rear and mid-upper turrets, and undercarriage. Lettering was red with yellow edging.
Yorker with Wing Commander F. W. Thompson DFC standing with his crew and ground personnel. The aircrew are from the left: F/O Pete F. Roberts (W/Op), F/Lt Steve Burrows DFC, F/Sgt Maurice J. Stancer DFM Nav); Thompson is 9th, and F/O W. ‘Bill’ Clegg (B/aimer) is 11th. The Squadron Gunnery Officer, F/Lt G. E. Mortimer DFM, is on the far right.
Jock Biggar paints on bomb number 107, March 1945. Flight Lieutenant Lister W. Hayler is in the cockpit; he took Yorker on over thirty trips during his tour of operations and received the DFC.
Total now is 121 although she may have completed 123. The significance of the marking on the seventy-first bomb symbol is not known, but the raid took place in early October 1944, a daylight trip to either Wilhelmshaven or Bremen.
As may be seen in this and the previous picture, the original bomb log has been painted out and replaced with the more customary red and yellow symbols for night and day operations. Bomb symbols total 107, so this picture seems to indicate a rather belated celebration of Yorker’s hundredth. Lister Hayler and crew are seated in the front row with other aircrew and B Flight’s ground crews.
Flight Lieutenant J. D. ‘Jack’ Playford RCAF (in Mae West), shaking hands with ND458’s ground crew chief, Sergeant W. Hearne. From l to r: LAC J. Cowlis (fitter airframes), Corporal R. Withey (fitter), Hearne and Playford, LAC J. Robinson, and AC J. Hale (both fitters-engines). Note H²S radar blister under the fuselage.
Flight Lieutenant Jack Playford RCAF in the cockpit of ND458 – Able Mabel. Bomb total is now 119, but just why the last nine are less orderly is not known. The two swastika markings record encounters with German night-fighter aircraft. Playford received the DFC.
Lancaster bombers of 75 (NZ) Squadron returning from a daylight operation on 6 September 1944. It often came as a shock to aircrew used to flying in the dark of night to see just how full of aeroplanes the sky was on these sorties.
POD, LL843, 467 (RAAF) Squadron, achieved a total of 118 bombing raids between March 1944 and April 1945. The hundredth trip came almost exactly one year after starting operations. In June 1944 she moved to 61 Squadron.
Pilot Officer J. L. Sayers (far right) took LL843 on twenty trips during his tour with 467 Squadron. With him here are Flight Sergeants E. W. Weaver DFC RAAF and P. G. Barry DFM RAAF (R/gnr), both of whom were later commissioned.
The crew of Bob MacDonnell (in the centre) in front of Lancaster LL845 of No. 9 Squadron, WS-L. The picture shows how bare was the starboard side of a Lancaster’s nose, with bomb symbols and any artwork always depicted on the port side. L to r: Mike Charny (Nav), Wally Plant (W/Op), Dick Phillips (F/engr), MacDonnell, Tony Fricker (B/aimer), Barney Davis (M/upr gnr) and Norman Green (R/gnr).
Robert Stone and crew flew PA995 on their first operation on 14/15 July 1944, to the Révigny marshalling yards. It was the Lancaster’s nineteenth trip and became a shambles. The raiders were attacked by night-fighters, and because the target could not be identified the raid was called off. Seven Lancasters failed to return, including 550 Squadron’s CO. L to r: F/Sgt E. W. Halliday RCAF (B/aimer), Sgt C. W. Sayers RCAF (Nav), Sgt D. E. Norgrove (W/Op), Stone, Sgt L. G. B. Wartnaby (M/upr gnr) (with bear mascot), Sgt C. E. White (F/engr) and Sgt F. Wright (R/gnr).
Robert Stone in Bad Penny II, LL811, which had been on thirtytwo trips thus far. Her name, it was hoped, was because a bad penny always turns up. It does, of course, beg the question, ‘What happened to Bad Penny I?’
Another crew to fly PA995 was skippered by an American in the USAAF on an exchange with the RAF. Standing: F/Sgt M. S. Merovitz RCAF (B/aimer), F/Sgt A. E. Stebner RCAF (Nav), Sgt W. A. Drake (R/gnr), F/O (Lt) G. P. Fauman USAAF, Sgt J. A. Ringrow (M/upr gnr); In front: Sgt W. J. Killick (F/engr) and Sgt P. Cooksey (W/op).
PA995 on the morning after completing her hundredth mission, to Chemnitz, on 5 March 1945. The captain on that occasion was Flying Officer George E. Blackler, seated in the cockpit. The artwork is clear to see, but just why the bomb symbols changed after forty-three is not known. Only ninety-nine bombs are on display; the hundredth has yet to be painted on. Note there is no individual letter Y below the front turret.
Flying Officer G. E. Blackler’s crew. L to r: Blackler, Sgt J. Nicholson (M/upr gnr), Sgt W. R. Ross (F/engr), F/Sgt H. P. Nicholls (Nav), Sgt E. Mozley (W/Op), Sgt M. McCutcheon (R/gnr); in front, F/Sgt J. W. Bold RAAF (B/aimer). Note all have a whistle dangling from their left collars, for use to attract attention should they come down in the sea and need to attract a rescue boat’s crew to their location. F/Sgt Bold has his service number written on the fold of his wellington boot, just in case of a dispute over ownership!
Everyone has turned out to celebrate PA995’s hundredth operation on the morning of 3 March 1945. The darker uniforms in the front row denote Australians. There are also a couple of WAAFs perched on the right-hand side engine frame, possibly parachute packers or tractor drivers. PA995 failed to return from its 101st operation, a raid on Dessau on 7 March, but with another crew.
Lancaster LL885 of 622 Squadron, coded GI-J, standing on the airfield at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk. Chocks are in place. Note the radar dome beneath the fuselage that housed the H²S apparatus.
The crew of Flight Lieutenant R. G. Allen DFC who first flew Jig against the Beauvoir V1 site on the afternoon of 2 July 1944. L to r: F/Lt D. B. Mason (M/upr gnr), Sgt J. Paton (W/Op), Richard Allen, P/O J. T. W. Gray DFC (R/gnr), F/Sgt W. A. Bishop (Nav), Sgt J. Barker (F/engr), F/O C. D. J. Pennington (B/ aimer). John Gray’s first intimation of an attack on the Lancaster on 28/29 July 1944, was when shells and bullets began to lacerate the rear part of the fuselage, tail and elevators.
Rear fuselage, gun turret and elevator of LL885 following attack by a night-fighter on the way to Stuttgart on 28/29 July 1944. Jig was out of action for nearly a month for repairs.
J-Jig being waved away on another sortie, a familiar sight on Bomber Command airfields, with ground personnel, both men and women, waving the crews off, wishing them well, and hoping for a safe return from the myriad of dangers that faced them over hostile territory.
Crew and ground personnel celebrate the hundredth operation by ME746, of 166 Squadron, known as Roger Squared because the personal code letter on the fuselage showed a small ² next to the R for Roger. They are presenting the aircraft with a mock Distinguished Service Order, held aloft by the pilot who flew the hundredth (11 March 1945), Harold Musselman DFC, and Corporal Dennis Terry. Far right stands the Squadron Commander, Wing Commander J. Vivian DFC, who had flown with 106 Squadron in 1942.
Johnny Musselman and his crew of 166 Squadron. Rear l to r: F/Sgt R. Williamson, (W/Op), Musselman, F/Sgt K. Forrest RCAF (R/gnr), Sgt J. R. Cogbill (F/engr); Front: P/O J. M. Donnelly RCAF (M/upr gnr), W/O H. H. Park RCAF (Nav), Sgt G. Reid (B/aimer). Sergeant James Cogbill was also decorated with the DFM
No fancy artwork, no personal name, just ten rows of bombs to show a hundred operations completed between April 1944 and March 1945.
With a bomb log now totalling 125, ME746 and its last main crew, led by Pilot Officer S. Todd RCAF, centre rear row. It is assumed that the two crewmen with ammunition belts over their shoulders are the two gunners. The two ground crewmen on the left are Corporals Dennis Terry and Sid Woodcock. Note that the aircraft has now been awarded the DFC, so the DSO and DFC ribbons have been painted on above the bomb tally. Note, too, the wheel chock, denoting it belongs to R²-Roger Squared.
Lancaster ME801, UL-N², of 576 Squadron, engines running, is photographed following her hundredth operation, flown on the night of 15/16 March 1945, a raid on Misburg. Strange that the first five rows of bomb symbols are closer together than the second five. There also appears to be a decoration ribbon painted above them.
An almost identical photograph of Nan, but in between the two shots, what appears to be a leek had been painted ahead of the bomb symbols, and another medal ribbon has also appeared above the bomb tally.
No.516 Squadron’s N for Nuts, ND875, showing a bomb tally of fifty-eight trips. The crew in front, captained by Flying Officer W. J. Cleland DFC (subsequently awarded the DSO) flew this veteran on 12/13 September 1944, which must have been about the time this total was achieved. L to r: W/O A. J. C. ‘Bert’ Wilson (W/Op), F/O Frank Oliver (Nav2), F/O G. J. ‘Gilly’ Hudson (Nav1), F/Lt W. J. Cleland, W/O J. R. ‘Watty’ Watson (F/engr), WO W. ‘Appy’ Appleby (M/upr gnr), P/O J. ‘Mac’ McGregor (R/gnr). The whole crew were decorated with DFC or DFM awards, Appleby with the Belgian Croix de Guerre avec Palme.
Bill Cleland’s crew again, this time with ND875’s ground personnel, and standing to the rear of Nan. Code letters GT-Q can be seen on the fuselage and, on the original print, the oblique stroke of her previous letter N can be seen, as well as the serial number. Appy Appleby is second from the left, standing, 4th is Gilly Hudson, then Watty Watson, Bill Cleland, Mac McGregor, Bert Wilson and Olly Oliver.
ND875 after her hundredth operation on 24 March 1945, with air crew and ground personnel. The pilot was Squadron Leader P. F. Clayton DFC, squatting bottom right. The target had been a daylight trip to the Harpenerweg plant near Dortmund. It was Peter Clayton’s first and only trip in ND875. He had been awarded the DFC in 1943 flying with 97 Squadron.
Sergeant G. F. Holbrook and crew took ME758 out for the first time on 27/28 May 1944, to Stuttgart. It was her tenth operation. They flew Nan on a further twenty-five occasions between then and 31 August, by which time Holbrook had been commissioned and was soon to receive the DFC. Standing at the side of Nan, PH-N, in front: Sgt Tom P. Crook (B/aimer), Fred Holbrook, Sgt I. E. ‘Johnny’ Squires (F/engr); standing: Sgt Jock P. S. Payner (W/Op), Sgt Tom S. Gibb (R/gnr), F/O A. Ron Witty (Nav) and Sgt Stan Swaine (R/gnr). Witty also received the DFC.
Nan being ‘awarded’ the DSO and DFC at RAF Wickenby in April 1945 following 106 operations, the hundredth, a mining sortie off Oslo, Norway, having been flown on 22/23 March. On the ladder during the ceremony is No. 12 Squadron’s Commanding Officer, Wing Commander Maurice Stockdale DFC, the ‘Boss’ since August 1944.
B Flight aircrew pose in front of Nan, ME758, following the presentation of mock DSO and DFC awards to her in April 1945. Squadron CO, W/Cdr Stockdale DFC stands in the centre, while on his left is the flight commander, S/Ldr P. S. Huggins. Note the two ‘medals’ dangling from the cockpit while, in addition to the 106 bomb symbols, there is a swastika for a German night-fighter shot down, and two searchlights, denoting that her gunners had put out their beams. The picture originally was called, ‘The Naafi Gang’. Peter Huggins received the DFC, gazetted in September 1945.
Squadron Leader Pete Huggins and crew take the opportunity of posing in front of 12 Squadron’s veteran ME758, Nan, at the end of the war. Nan sports 108 bomb symbols and several MANNA and EXODUS trips. Huggins flew her on an EXODUS trip to Brussels on 11 May 1945. Standing l to r: W/O E. Bratby (W/Op), Huggins, W/O Len W. Laing (M/upr gnr), F/Sgt Geoff W. Robinson (F/engr); in front: W/O Len A. Jackson (R/gnr), W/O Sam Pechet (B/aimer) and F/O W. N. ‘Tommy’ Thompson (Nav).
