Scottish Aircrew Association Logo

 

Library Reference Number: 066

Mixed Loyalties in Wartime

Archibald Mclntosh, Scottish Saltire Branch, ACA

On completion of aircrew training in USA, I returned to RAF Conversion Unit, Winthorpe, where the pilot learned to fly with four engines. Unfortunately we were given squadron reject Lancasters, and once on take-off/once on landing, a tyre burst. Having survived many training hazards, then sent out individually with an experienced aircrew to 'get the feel of things' (where we met an off-track Lancaster heading straight towards us), we were considered to be suitable to continue - now that we had returned to base safely and in our right mind!

Having joined 57 Squadron at Scampton, which we shared with 617 Squadron (3 months after their 'Dams Raid') we now embarked on missions as a fully operational crew, with myself as Navigator. While on the way to Milan one night we had just passed Chartres in France, when I saw the orange ball of an exploding shell just off our port side, but didn't realize we had been hit, until finding several flak holes in our fuselage after returning to base. We had often been saddened to witness other Lancasters weaving and turning in trying to escape from a 'cone' of enemy searchlights, in which there is little hope of survival. Returning from the Ruhr on one occasion, we ourselves were about to be enveloped by 'coning' searchlights, when our cabin was brilliantly lit up when one German searchlight passed over us. It stopped off our starboard side - then moved bright bluish and menacing as it crept slowly towards us. Fortunately I remembered advice I had been given, and asked the pilot to switch on the IFF (identification/friend/foe). Normally used when returning to home base, and sending out a signal to avoid 'friendly fire' it had also been discovered, that if switched on and warming up, it confused the searchlights direction signals. We were grateful to see the beams begin to wander, and were thankfully saved from being 'coned.'

Not so lucky were many other aircraft on 23rd August 1943 when a large number of us visited Berlin. We approached the target from the South, and witnessed Lancasters on both sides of our plane being 'coned.' They wouldn't have a chance when fighters moved in, and 62 aircraft were lost on that occasion.

Fortune ceased to shine on us on 23rd September 1943 when our target was Mannheim. We were approaching the enemy coast when the mid-upper gunner said his turret would no longer turn, and he was stuck facing the rear. We decided to press on and get another trip completed. My oxygen supply was cutting off halfway through an inhalation, the magnetic compass failed, but despite all this we had just turned on the last leg to the target 7 miles south of Worms, when there was a stutter of gunfire and a strong smell of cordite. I then saw flames streaming from the port-inner engine and the oil pipelines to the turrets burning. The order was given "Abandon aircraft."

The rear gunner said he could not get out, the oil pressure was gone and he couldn't centralise his turret to escape. I couldn't get back the fuselage to turn the rear turret, and the final thing I remember was standing by the navigation table trying to attach the oxygen bottle. From that moment I remember nothing, and lost consciousness probably through lack of oxygen. When I returned to the conscious world, I was walking, supported on each side by a member of the Luftwaffe. They took me to a farmhouse, where the farmer's wife brought me a basin of water and handkerchief to wipe the blood from my face that had been badly scraped and bruised. Shortly afterwards, three more members of the crew arrived at the farmhouse having also been captured, I learned the pilot, wireless operator and rear-gunner had all been killed. A 17-year old student, who asked if I needed a doctor, then approached me. He said he should have been assisting at an anti-aircraft site that night, but being off-duty he said "Good thing." The Luftwaffe having accounted for all members of our crew were about to take us away, when the student whispered "Good luck! I am on your side."

Moving now to 1998 when my squadron association put me in touch with a German Researcher, who as a 10 year-old had witnessed an RAF plane crash and the carnage involved. This had such an ill effect, that he researched crash sites - purely to point out to younger generations the horrors of war. His name is Peter Menges, and I have received 24 letters, 17 photos of the crash, and he declared I was not a Terrorflieger'  I was a 'Liberator.' He also advertised in a Worms newspaper, and found the young student who at the time had whispered, "I am on your side."

It was explained that the young student had said this because he had heard the Luftwaffe guards speaking very harshly about our fate, and he had been very worried about our safety. His concern was perhaps justified, because I cannot include in this account the fate of the other three members of my crew who were also captured but died. The RAF Historical Branch gave a completely different version to the German version, which in my view was a complete cover-up of what actually happened.

George Zimmermann from Weinsheim Air Museum sent me a part of our aircraft (received with mixed feelings), and the one time student Heinz Bentz from Worms and Researcher Peter Menges all now communicate with me. We exchange post cards & Christmas cards; all three great chaps who have remained loyal since the day I crashed into their country on 23rd September 1943.

Top Of Page