Mel Rolfe - Bomber Boys

OTHER BOOKS ABOUT BOMBER COMMAND
BY MEL ROLFE

Looking Into Hell

PUBLISHED BY GRUB STREET

To Hell And Back
Hell On Earth
Flying Into Hell
Gunning For The Enemy

Published by
Grub Street
4 Rainham Close
London SW11 6SS

Copyright 2004 Grub Street, London
Text copyright 2004 Mel Rolfe

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Rolfe, Mel

Bomber boys

1. Great Britain. Royal Air Force. Bomber Command

2. World War, 1938-1945 Aerial operations, British

I. Title

940.544941

I SBN 1 904010 86 5

eI SBN 9781908117625

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

Cover design by Hugh Adams at AB3

Typeset by Pearl Graphics, Hemel Hempstead

Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Biddles Ltd, Kings Lynn

DEDICATION

To all the Bomber Boys

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many thanks to the former aircrew I interviewed for Bomber Boys . They endured my many questions with patience and good humour. There were others, too, whose help was invaluable in leading me to men with stories to tell, checking facts and pointing me in the direction of other sources of material. Thank you all for your assistance:

Roger Baldwin, Alan H. Bates DFM, Pete Barber, George Cash DFC, Sally Farman, Friends of Metheringham Airfield, Rob Glover, Raymond Glynne-Owen, Margery Griffiths, Hank Johnson, Victor Jordan, Kathleen Kellard, Walter Keul, Rainer Klug, Ve Lewis, Wallace McIntosh DFC and Bar, DFM, Jim Norris CGM, Gerry Payne, Des Richards, Gary Rolfe, the late John Sargeant DFM, Mark Sargeant, the late Reg Sargeant, Maisie and Leslie Sewards, Harry Shinkfield, David Steed, Bill Thomas, the late Ivor Turley, Terry Vamplew, Harry Warwick DFC, Joan Warwick, Bill Williams and David Winter.

I also thank Jessie, my darling wife, without whom my books would not have been written. The value of her encouragement is incalculable and includes: editing skills, gentle prodding when spirits flag, the ability to pounce voraciously on terrible grammar and tortured sentences while waving her magic wand to unravel the brain-freezing complications of a new laptop computer together with her general tenacious support which has, as usual, never wavered.

. LAC Larry Lewis, rigger. (Lewis)

. Rear gunner Sergeant Larry Lewis (right), and front gunner Sergeant George Groves. Both flew with Cab Kellaway on 12 Squadron. (Lewis)

. Paddy Thallon crash-landed on the beach at Terschellen Island. George Groves had baled out. Two men died. German soldiers inspect the Wellington. (Lewis)

. Flight Lieutenant Larry Lewis receives his pilots wings from Group Captain Kennedy in Canada. (Lewis)

DITCHING

. Rescued from ditching. From left to right: Mac Thompson, Bill Perry, Alex Stott, Joe Naisbitt, Harry Warwick, Ivor Turley. (Margery Griffiths)

HAPPY LANDINGS

. LM321 H-Harry, occasionally referred to as H-Happy, poses obligingly with aircrew and ground crew. Standing, far left, is Guy Wood. (Wood)

. Victor Wood and his father, Albert, taken while Victor was on leave before departing for pilot training in Canada. (Wood)

. Victor Wood with his wife, Kathleen, his mother Agnes and father Albert outside Buckingham Palace, after Victor had received his DFC. (Wood)

HAS ANYBODY GOT A FAG?

. The original crew. From left: John Pearl, Vic Collins, Ted Nicholls, Vernon Ashbolt, Ken Larcombe, Cyril Hewett, Eddie Matthews. ( Pearl )

. John Pearl: We were thrown about the sky. ( Pearl )

. Pilot Peter Anderson buzzed Boston Stump in a Lancaster. ( Pearl )

FLAMER

. Peter Payne was twenty when he qualified as a pilot. ( Payne )

. Peter Payne (extreme right) enjoys a drink at Jack Dempseys Bar on Broadway, New York, in April 1943. (Payne)

. They bombed the dockyards at Piombino on the night of 16/17 April 1943. (Payne)

. Ambulance driver LAC Clarke and LAC Williams, a nursing orderly, are congratulated by Wing Commander Kirway, CO of 40 Squadron, after being awarded George Medals. (Payne)

Flight magazine reports the award of George Medals to two airmen who acted bravely after Peter Paynes Wellington X crashed at Foggia. (Payne)

THE RESISTANCE FIGHTER

. Brothers Stan and Ken Trueman. Stan was an officers cook aboard a Royal Navy frigate. (Trueman)