Cooper Alan - Air Gunner : the Men who Manned the Turrets

First published in
Great Britain in 2009
By Pen and Sword Aviation
An imprint of
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street,
Barnsley,
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Alan W. Cooper 2009

9781783409143

The right of Alan W. Cooper to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

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Dedication

T his book is dedicated to all air gunners who so ably manned the turrets; their efforts, dedication and courage must never be forgotten. When it came to awards they were always at the back of the class or at the bottom of the heap but without them the aircraft could not have taken off, the lives of the rest of the crew lay in their hands and we shall never know how many aircraft returned because of the alertness and diligence of their air gunners.

The cost in loss of life was immense, in Bomber Command alone 7,000 air gunners perished. War Grave cemeteries all over Europe have many white War Graves headstones with the inscription Air Gunner. The majority were young men whose life ended when they were in the prime of youth.

We, today, owe so much to these young men who lived life to the full.

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Acknowledgements

Norman Storey

Jack Catford DFC

Johnny Johnson Biggs DFC

Ian Blair DFM

Mike Henry DFC

Mike Smith

Peter Smith

Freddie Brown

W.T. Clark

J.Keating

K.R. Walker

Tony Burcher DFM

His Excellency Glafcos Clerides of Cyprus

R. Mayers

Pam Cruikshank

Mike King

Bob Baxter -Bomber Command website

R.W. Walker

E.E. Barnes

Art de Breyyne

D. Stallard

Robert Scott

Mrs J. Dodson

Jim Bigelow

B.R. Lillywhite

F/Lt G.G. Graham DFC, AE RAF Retd

F.G. Beauvoisin

G. Oakley

S.J. Willis

F. Allworth

Tammy Simpson DFC

E.L. Kightley

A.G. Peake

Len Moore

Bert Fitchett

Pete Skinner

R.E. Bowman

Art Sewel

Elizabeth Ellis

Percy Walder

E. Reynolds

P. Allen

S. Johnston

A. Robb CGM

Don Brinkhurst

Clare Hardy

Tony Winser

W. (Bill) Pingle

Majorie Little

A.E. Gregory

A. Medforth

Mrs A.M. Duffin

B. Freestone

Peter Twinn DFC

Len Manning

James Flowers

Eddie Edmonds

N. Didwell

Tom Maxwell DFC

Jimmy Flynn

Warren Radley

Albert Dickson

R. Downs

Russell Brown

J. Brown

Sdn Ldr K.R.Lusty Retd

Jimmy Wright DFC

J. Maddison

F. Stead

Ian Hunter

W. (Mo) Mowbray

George Cannon

Wg Cdr Joe Skinner DFC*

E. Phillips

Clive Bowles

Rick Pearson

James Savage JP

Wg Cdr B. Lewis AFC

P. Rivkin

P.H. Kilisker

G. Gillard DFM

S. Versey

E. Phillips

A.F.C. Smith

C.F. Scandrett

M. Smith

N.E. Richardson TAGS Association

National Archives Kew

Air Historical Branch Graham Day

Air Gunners Association

Air Gunners Association (London Branch)

Tom Hale

Arthur Fowler

W.R. Hughes

Stan Reed

W. Wynn

J. Key

Ron Powers

L. Jealous

Roland Hammersley DFM

Len Bowman DFM

Ron Shargool

Ron Tyler

Mervyn Brown

Lynn Reed

T.R. Bennett

S. Johnston

A. More AFC

F. Flood

P.C. Price

P. Morrey

Mike Jackson

N.A. Davies MBE

J.A. Anderson

Sources

Last Flight for Tommy Harry Bowman
Air Gunner Mike Henry DFC
No Place to Hide George (Ole) Olson
Great Mysteries of the Air Ralph Barker
Footprints On The Sands Of Time Oliver Clutton-Brock.

The Poems We Wrote An Anthology of Air Force Poems Compiled and edited by Eddy A. Coward.

My thanks go to Michael Maton for permission to use his unpublished book on his father, the late Wg Cdr C.A. Maton DSO.

CHAPTER ONE

The Men who Manned the Turrets

The Introduction of Air Gunners

W hat is an air gunner? A member of an aircrew who operates the guns. The idea of seeking volunteers from the ground crews to fly in the open rear-cockpit as air gunners was conceived in World War I as a means of providing protection from enemy aircraft while flying on scouting missions over enemy lines.

After 1921, with larger aircraft coming into service, wireless operators were trained in air gunnery and wore on their arms the winged-bullet badge, which became known as the Flying-Bullet badge, in addition to their wireless operators badge and was known as the Sports Badge.

Discussions had taken place in 1923 to establish the trade of Air Gunner and to authorise the wearing of a trade badge of a winged bullet in brass and worn on the right sleeve. In 1939 the air gunner brevet was introduced but many of the old hands preferred to keep their Flying-Bullet badge. The new design for an air gunners brevet was submitted in 1938, it was designed by a Group Captain E H Hooper and had thirteen birds feathers but as it was thought to be superstitious Hooper cut one off with nail scissors and the twelve feather air gunner brevet came into being under the Air Ministry Order 547/39 dated 21 December 1939. It was similar to the Observers brevet but with the inclusion of the letters AG in the middle. The RCAF and RAAF brevet was similar although they had RCAF and RAAF below the letters AG.

On 18 December 1939, Air Vice Marshal Arthur Harris, the then AOC of No. 5 Group, sent a memo to Bomber Command HQ stating that operational aircrews should have a higher status than airmen of Non-Operational duties and that aircrew pay should apply to all airmen who had qualified for flying duties. Consequently, on the 29 May 1940 a memo was sent from the Air Ministry to all commands and groups at home and abroad, including the BAFF: