The Diary of a RAF Lancaster Bomber Pilot (3 page)

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March, we were assisting the Russian Army in their invasion of East Germany.

Operation Manna was dropping supplies of food to the starving Dutch people on the 28
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April 1945. The Dutch were left starving as the retreating German Army stripped them of everything and left them to starve.

Operation Exodus was to get ex-Allied POWs back to England from Brussels, we flew this op in relative safety and with great pride on 10
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May 1945. Getting our boys home was a great honour.

Leaflets that the RAF dropped over Germany From 20
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February 1945 to 10
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May 1945 on 460 Squadron, Binbrook, I had flown 138hrs 45mins of combat operation hours and a further 47hrs 10mins of non-operational flying. Our Crew had stacked up over 185 hours of both daytime and night flights in our Lancaster. We survived the War and our operations across Germany.

H for How – the Lancaster in which we flew most of our ops.
War in Europe was over

In May 1945 World War II was over in Europe and we took some members of the ground staff on what became known as “Cooks Tours”. We flew back over Germany to see some of the damage resulting from our operations. 460 Squadron was now named the “Tiger Force” and the Lancasters were being prepared for service out in the Far East as the war with Japan was still being pursued.

The Australian personnel were pleased as it meant they would be much nearer home, although we few Brits were not very happy as it meant we would be much further from home.

In July of 1945 all non-Australian air crew were suddenly withdrawn and replaced by Australian members and I was granted a 48hr pass. I had not had any leave since joining the Squadron so I gladly went to see Elsie back home.

Tragedy strikes

On returning to Binbrook I was greeted with tragic news. In my absence, my crew had been on a practice bombing exercise at Donna Nook on the Lincolnshire coast. During one of the runs tragedy struck; a practice bomb had “hung up” and exploded in the bomb bay. The Lancaster immediately caught fire and the wireless operator was killed instantly, the bomb aimer and the flight engineer bailed out successfully. The navigator’s chute harness got caught somehow and he was sadly killed too, the rear gunner bailed out alright but landed in a water-filled quarry and drowned, and finally the pilot got out but was burned as he had left it as long as possible in order to see the crew safe - a very brave man. The mid upper gunner was not involved as he was not on the flight, he had been taken out to allow certain radar equipment to be installed. And of course I was on leave and missed that tragic flight.

This was the first time we had not flown together as a crew since we “crewed up” at Heavy Conversion Unit at Sandtoft. I was really affected by news of this terrible event in my absence. It was the most awful end to our Crew. I think the fact that when I returned from leave to find none of my colleagues around and all my kit and possessions gone was very traumatic.

However it was the policy of the RAF to impound all kit and possessions of missing crews to protect them from possible loss or theft. This was an understandable measure but it was midnight, I had just returned from leave and then been confronted with such awful news. I finally managed to obtain blankets and a bed in an empty billet but with no kit or personal possessions.

I felt extreme loneliness and this made me reflect on the irony that fate had dealt such a cruel blow to my comrades with whom I had flown so many hours on dangerous operations over enemy territory. Somehow one can’t help wondering, ‘if I had been there? why did I escape?’

This had a profound effect on me and looking back it may also have contributed to my decision about the RAF post-war.

 

The Ox Box

In September 1945 I was posted from 460 Squadron to No.6 (P).A.F.U (Pilots Advanced Flying Unit) at Moreton Valence in Gloucestershire. There I met the infamous Oxford or as she was affectionally known, the “Ox Box.”

L Joy Log book entry
At Moreton Valence, England
November 1944 to January 1945
Flying hours on Oxfords
Daytime: Dual = 10hrs 15mins Solo: 7hrs 20mins Total: 17hrs 35mins

Airspeed Oxford Mark 1 Trainer, or ‘OxBox’ Night Flying

In October and November of 1945 after the War had ended and Britain was starting the long process of picking itself back up I was posted to a No.1540 BAT Course (Beam Approach Training) at Weston Zoyland in Somerset.

We flew mostly dual on radio beam landing approach exercises for zero visibility and night flying purposes. Therefore all flying was at night, again on Oxfords.

L Joy Log book entry
At No1540 BAT Course, Weston Zoyland, England Flying hours on Oxfords
October to November 1945
Night time = Dual 26hrs 05mins Solo 1hr 30mins Total = 27hrs 35hrs

By January of 1946 I was still in the RAF and back again on Oxfords at Wheaton Aston, Stafford on night flying landings.

L Joy Log book entry
At Wheaton Aston, England
Flying hours on Oxfords
January 1946
Daytime = Dual 0hr 45mins Solo 0
Night time = Dual 6hrs 10mins Solo 11hrs 0mins Total = 17hrs 55mins
Life after the RAF

I declined the offer to sign up post-war in the RAF and for lots of reasons. So, for a number of months I was “mis-employed” on various admin duties until my final demob.

 

I was demobbed after completing 618 flying hours and exactly 4 years service in the RAF as 1684799 Joy. L. Warrant Officer Pilot in October 1946

Looking back I may have made the wrong decision when I elected to go back to civvy street. A flying career in the post war RAF would perhaps have been a good move, but the road splits sometimes and there must be reasons why we take one path rather than the other.

At that time I was yearning to be back with the girl I had fallen in love with and married. We now had a young son and I felt I needed to establish myself back in civilian life at the ripe age of 23 – sounds funny saying that at such a young age.

In those days (1946) you were required to have served up to 10yrs with one firm to have any credibility, but those years had disappeared from my life. I had “responsibilities” maybe I would be laughed at these days but that’s how it was then.

The four years I had spent in the services had been a useful experience, Yes, I’d had some good times with my comrades and crews. Yes, I cannot express my complete rapture of being up above the clouds and having the sky in your hands, completely alone, to climb and dive at your will…completing a successful aerobatic manoeuvre particularly in the old Tiger Moth. However there had been some very rough times when I had been cold and hungry.

So I decided to shoulder my responsibilities, pick up the gauntlet and get weaving. I received my demob suit, was discharged and came home.

But nobody wanted to know! All the good jobs had been taken by the blokes who had been in “reserved occupations.” The only immediate job I could get was in an iron foundry. Then I managed to get into engineering as a semi-skilled fitter (shocking wages). I enlisted in the Police Force and after two years as a “bobby” I then went into sales. I finally ended up as a civil servant until retirement at 65.
In May of 2011 I was invited to visit RAF Coningsby (with my two sons,) to meet the last flying Lancaster in Britain and the team from “The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight” (BBMF) who keep this historic aircraft flying.

This iconic aircraft, the Lancaster PA474, is one of two still in operation in the whole world: the other is in Canada and it’s great to know that the one at RAF Coningsby is in the care of the dedicated people of the BBMF.

Above…me in the “driving” seat again.

It was a great day and I was given the VIP treatment by the people at BBMF and I was able to go up into the cockpit again. The memories flooded back after over 66 years and I may have bored a few people at the time but I enjoyed the experience so much being able to chat about my experiences of World War II with them.

The icing on the cake came when the Lancaster was pulled out onto the tarmac and I was allowed up into cockpit again while the four Merlin engines were run-up and tested. This made the day a great success and my sincere thanks goes out to the staff at BBMF.

In conclusion: we sometimes have to learn some lessons in life the hard way, but then it tempers us as it does steel. I survived, and was very lucky when I chose Elsie as my life companion, and even luckier that she chose me!