Christobel Mattingley - Battle Order 204. A Bomber Pilots Story

CHRISTOBEL MATTINGLEY is one of Australias most respected and admired writers. Her books on the effects of war are compelling narratives of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances. They include radiation in TheMiracle Tree, and the experiences of refugees in The Angelwith a Mouth Organ and the Asmir trilogy. She also edited, researched and wrote the groundbreaking Aboriginal history, Survival in Our Own Land - Aboriginal experiences inSouth Australia since 1836; the oral history memoirs of a country postmistress, Ruby of Trowutta; and the best-selling biography of Deny King, King of the Wilderness.

The award-winning author of more than forty books for young people, Christobel Mattingleys readership spans more than one generation. In 1990 she received an Advance Australia Award for her contribution to literature. In 1995 she was made a Doctor of the University of South Australia, and in 1996 a Member of the Order of Australia, both for service to literature and to the community through her commitment to social and cultural issues. In 1999 she received the Pheme Tanner Award for her contribution to childrens literature, and in 2004 an inaugural South Australian Books Be In It Festivals Lifetime Recognition Award.

This book is about the quality of courage. There were manylike David but the theme of this book and its importanceis an examination of his attitude, his disregard of self, hissense of responsibility and his strong convictions. It is a storyabout youth, too. Christobel Mattingley has written this bookwith compassion and insight, its presentation is gripping andmoving. Max Fatchen AM

David Mattingley on his 21st birthday in New Zealand, 14 June 1943

BATTLE ORDER 204

A bomber pilots story

Christobel Mattingley

First published in 2007

Copyright Christobel Mattingley, 2007

The author and publishers wish to thank The Society of Authors as the literary representative of Cecil Roberts for permission to reproduce Wings by Cecil Roberts.

Unless otherwise stated, all photographs are from the private collection of David Mattingley.

The photo of the Lancaster on page 128, and used in the Battle Order segments and on the front cover, is by Paul A Richardson. The publishers have made every effort to locate the copyright holder, without success, and would welcome any contact information.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or ten per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

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National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Mattingley, Christobel, 1931 .
Battle order 204.

ISBN 9 78174175 1611.

1. Mattingley, David. 2. Australia. Royal Australian Air Force - Airmen
- Biography. 3. Australia. Royal Australian Air Force - History - World War,
1939-1945. 4. World War, 1939-1945 - Germany - Aerial operations, Australian.
I. Title.

940.53092

Cover and text design by Sandra Nobes
Set in 10.5pt Sabon by Tou-Can Design
Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Teachers notes available from www.allenandunwin.com

In memory of
Peter Lord
David McNeill
Frank Mattingley
Tas Williams
Joe and Jim Brock
Bramwell Barber
Allen Morgan
Ollie Morshead
Arthur Bruce
Jimmy Wilson
Hugh Brodie
John McGee
and all from Bomber Command who did not return from ops

And for David and his crew
Cyril Bailey
Drew Fisher
Reg Murr
Reg Watson
Noel Ferguson
Allan Avery
and all the others who did return from ops
and have lived with the nightmares

The Bomber Command Memorial Window, Airmens Chapel,Lincoln Cathedral (photo courtesy Lincoln Cathedral)

Men find a cause to die for: and the bravery
Of this riper spring, unjust and harmful,
Scalds the wide open eye and sears the tongue.

John Pudney, Spring 1942 from Dispersal Point and other air poems

Contents

by Cecil Roberts

by John Magee

by Hugh Brodie

Lord of land and sea and air
Listen to the pilots prayer.
Send him wind that is steady and strong,
Grant that his engine sings a song
Of flawless tone by which he knows
It shall not fail whereer he goes -
Landing, diving, in curve, half roll,
Grant him Oh Lord! full control -
That he may learn in heights of heaven
The rapture altitude has given -
That he shall know the joy they feel
Who ride the realms on birds of steel.

Cecil Roberts

Battle Order 204 (1)
Bomb Doors Open!

Bomb doors open! It was the call that haunted airmens dreams.

Approaching the target, flying straight and level with its bomb doors open, the mighty Lancaster was at its most vulnerable. Likely to be coned at any second by persistent enemy searchlights. Target for fierce anti-aircraft guns.

Prey for deadly fighters.

Bombs gone! the bomb aimer reported over the intercom, then Bomb doors closed.

Bomb doors closed, the pilot repeated.

But there was no respite from enemy attack.

The plane had to continue straight and level until the camera recording the bombing had stopped running. Then and only then could the pilot turn away and set the Lanc on the first leg of its hazardous homeward course. The crew, with the sick sour taste of fear in their mouths, the smell of cordite in their nostrils and the sight of shells exploding all around and aircraft going down in flames, kept watching, hoping, praying.

On the morning of 29 November 1944 David and his crew woke to find themselves on Battle Order No. 204. It was a daylight offensive, a Royal Air Force sortie of 294 Bomber Command Lancasters and 17 Mosquitoes heading for the Ruhr, Germanys industrial heartland, the dreaded Happy Valley, as it had been dubbed by the airmen. Today bomb doors would be opening over Dortmund.

David was a Lancaster pilot and this was his twenty-third operation in ten weeks. Only seven more journeys into hell after this one and he would have completed his first tour of duty.

Then, thank God, he would be due for leave.