Library Reference Number: 209
From Singapore to the Ruhr 1939/1945
I was born in Stalybridge, Cheshire in 1921 and at the age of 18 years I entered regular RAF service before the outbreak of world war two as a Ground Staff Mechanic. After initial basic training I completed my technical training as a Mechanic at RAF Locking. Before going on to servicing fighter aircraft at 46 M.U.RAF Lossiemouth I spent a short time assisting in the Watch Office (later named Flying Control). While there I met Amy Johnson (of England to Australia fame) she was one of the many female pilots flying with Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). Also during this time a German Heinkel 111 was shot down by Base Ground Defence and the crew given a full military funeral. The fighter aircraft I serviced during the Battle of Britain included Hurricanes, Defiants and Beaufighters. Shortly afterwards I received an overseas posting where embarkation was delayed by Luftwaffe bombing action at Liverpool. We were instead taken to Glasgow where heavy air raids had taken place earlier, to embark on the ‘Capetown Castle’.
In addition to heavy German air activity there was also sea activity by the Germans at this time. It was known that the German naval ships ‘Bismarck’ and ‘Prinz Eugen’ had recently left their Norwegian bases to attack Allied shipping. We had joined a number of other ships at the mouth of the River Clyde to enable us sail in convoy. Due to expected heavy naval action all troops were kept below decks; the naval battle action resulting in both HMS Hood and the Bismarck being sunk. Thereafter we sailed without major incidents on our way to the Far East.
Reaching the Indian Ocean, our convoy split up with each ship making for various destinations. We discovered our specific destination was Singapore where we docked at the end of July 1941. I discovered that Singapore was a busy flying boat base for ‘Empire’ Flying Boats of Australian Qantas Line and ‘Clippers’ of Pan American Airways. The adjoining RAF base was originally a swamp which had been filled in with soil and became No.243 Fighter Squadron RAF Kallang, whose purpose was to protect Singapore. I became an LAC Airframe Mechanic on 243 Squadron, and while serving at RAF Kallang there was a service request for volunteers to apply for aircrew training.. I made application but before being accepted I was hospitalised in the Alexandra Military Hospital, Singapore with an ear infection. The time was now the end of 1941 and it was considered vital to have this ear infection cleared before being accepted as an Aerial Gunner. On 10th December 1941 HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales were sunk by the Japanese to the north east of Singapore and tension was now mounting in the Far East. Flt Lieutenant Tim Vigers ‘A’ Flight Commander of 243 Squadron led the belated flight of ‘Buffalo’ fighter aircraft to the assistance of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse to no avail, and they were sunk in the South China Sea off Kuantan. Malaysia.
The sinking of HMS Prince of Wales had a special significance as during my period in hospital a new C.O. for 243 Squadron, Sq Ldr Frank Howell, (former B. of B. Pilot) was en route for Singapore and was a passenger on board ‘Prince of Wales.’ Although 326 people were lost Sq Ldr Howell was one of the survivors and on recovering eventually took over command of 243 from Sq Ldr Bell. I never actually met Howell but sometime after the war, apparently through RAF service records, Howell’s married daughter Jennifer Dexter who became a film actress, made contact with me and I still have periodic contact with her. In addition to other films during her acting career Jennifer Dexter has taken part in the Harry Potter series. It was from Sq Ldr Howell’s daughter Jennifer that I learned after the war that her father after surviving the sinking of Prince of Wales had commanded 243 Squadron but while based in Singapore had become a prisoner-of-war.
The Allies tension was not unfounded because the fall of Singapore in 1942 clearly illustrated the way Japan was to fight in the Far East – a combination of speed and savagery which only ended with the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. Had I still been a patient in the Alexandra Military Hospital when the Japanese arrived I would not be writing this today. Patients were systematically bayoneted in the lines of beds, even patients who were obviously seriously ill or wounded. Subsequent records show that Cpl Holden of The Loyals regiment had been bayoneted to death on the operating table and over 200 patients had been brutally murdered by the Japanese during the “Alexandra Hospital Massacre.” I thus had a very narrow escape for shortly before this occurred I had boarded the Dutch ship ‘SS Johan De Witt’ at Singapore docks and was now on my way to South Africa. On arrival at Durban and heading for Bulawayo S. Rhodesia our group of aircrew trainees became ‘Vickers Flight’ at RAF Hillside, Bulawayo. On completion of training in May 1942 we became fully fledged Sgt Air Gunners and thence travelled on the ‘Cape Express’ to Cape Town for embarkation to UK to join RAF Bomber Command.
A Norwegian ship bringing us back to UK carried a variety of passengers including Polish ex-POWs of the Russians and survivors from merchant ships which had been sunk by enemy action. We were also carrying survivors from HMS Barham which had been sunk by German torpedoes fired from U-331. Only one third of the ‘Barham’ crew had survived. Arriving at Glasgow Docks in early June 1942, I was posted to No.20 OTU Lossiemouth via ACRC Bournemouth. Then in January 1943 following a course at 1658 HCU, RAF Riccall, Yorkshire I was posted to No. 51 Halifax Squadron, 4 Group, Bomber Command based at RAF Snaith, Yorkshire. After completing several operations we were about to take off on a night mission to Keil in April 1943. The aircraft had only obtained ten feet height off the runway when all four engines failed. The aircraft dropped back on the runway ran out of space and careered through the barricade on to the LNER main Edinburgh to London railway line. Hanging over the line with props still revolving, a thirteen coach train passed under with only about three feet to spare.
On 20th April 1943, the crew of Halifax ‘W’ being on leave we were allocated this aircraft to carry out two long-distance operations. Those missions being the first time that Bomber Command had flown low-level (50 ft) moonlight operations. Our task was to support Russian Forces at Stettin while testing German defences by flying in at low level. Our altitude was 50 feet from UK, Denmark, Baltic Sea rising to 12,000 feet at Stettin. After dropping our load we then dropped back to 50 feet on return leg to base.
The next low-level operation to employ those very low-level tactics occurred shortly after this on 15th May 1943 – the Dambusters operation carried out by 617 Squadron. With hindsight, it appears possible that our Stettin low-level moonlight operations were ‘dummy runs’ to ascertain the low level defences of the Germans around this area. The flights were very similar until reaching the dividing point i.e. Stettin/Dams.
Towards the end of April 1943 we carried out a mine-laying operation in the Copenhagen area. Returning to base we passed over the German night fighter base at Aalborg Denmark. Little did we realize that from that very base below us a three man crew were planning to defect to Britain with a JU88 of No.10 Nachtjagdgeschwader. This actually took place on Sunday 9th May 1943 when they landed at RAF Dyce, Aberdeen, to give themselves up.
On 12th May 1943 during a night operation over Duisburg, Holland, I observed Halifax MH-J HR-786 with Pilot Officer George Locksmith and crew being caught in searchlight activity and shot down. I reported this to crew for logging purposes and on debriefing on return to base. In the mid-1990s the remains of this Halifax aircraft was recovered from marshy ground near the Den Helder shipping canal at a depth of fifteen feet along with its 8,000 bomb load. Just after the crash two complete bodies were buried by the Germans, but local Dutch inhabitants were made to retrieve human body parts and place them in sandbags and became angry when German troops threw the sandbags into adjacent canal waters. After the Germans had gone, the villagers retrieved the sandbags and secretly buried them in the Amsterdam Eastern Cemetery next to their crew-mates graves.
In August 1998 as a result of Dutch reference to wartime records, I was contacted, and invited to spend a week in Holland while a remembrance event took place attended by TV and news media. Among all the sincere hospitality showered on me one elderly Dutch lady approached me with tears streaming down her face. Through an interpreter she told me she had been incarcerated in Auschwitz Concentration Camp and wished to thank me for all the RAF Bomber Command had done to free herself and all the Dutch people. She said the Dutch people would never ever forget the British loss of life suffered by RAF Bomber Command in freeing the Dutch nation. She had suffered terribly during her imprisonment and had prayed for the day she was sure would come when she would be released.
Thereafter many operational incidents occurred on which lack of space precludes adequate recording at this time. Suffice to say that many areas of Europe became better known to us during our operational duties. In early June 1943 our crew was informed we had completed our first tour of operations and we were now earmarked to become ‘Instructors’ in our individual aircrew category at OTUs or HCUs. However, even before our departure from No.51 Squadron we were detailed to fly one more test flight - to try out the equipment to be known later as “Monica.”
In Halifax HR-838 we carried out an evaluation test on ‘Monica’ flying across the Yorkshire moors while having mock attacks by Spitfire and Hurricane fighters coming in from all angles. On the Halifax Intercom ‘dots’ or ’dashes’ could be heard as the fighters approached our aircraft; one signal indicating ‘port’ the other ‘starboard’ with the signal becoming louder and more frequent as the fighter approached. On 19th June 1943 Bomber Command operated over enemy territory using ‘Monica’ devices for the first time. Success was somewhat marred by bomb damage caused by saboteurs at the Snaith RAF base. Many casualties occurred due to those actions thought to be sabotage.
Flights were carried out to test and evaluate countermeasures against the ‘Lichtenstein’ airborne radar detector equipment found on Sunday 9th May 1943 on the defection of a JU-88 night-fighter crew to RAF Dyce, Aberdeen. A team of RAF scientists under Prof. Jones from Farnborough devised the countermeasures after their examination of aircraft and equipment. Now having completed our first ops tour we were posted out as ‘Instructors.’
I did not relish my post-ops job as Instructor at 22 OTU Wellesbourne Mountford and promptly volunteered to return to operational flying duties. In order to do this I had to return to No.15 OTU at Harwell, Berks. In January 1944 flying as a Rear Gunner with Sgt Pilot James Allen in Wellington LN-487 at 15,000 feet over Doncaster, both engines failed causing the plane to plunge earthward. Hugging the ground at Askham Bryan near York we sailed under electricity pylon wires and skimmed over the wooden accommodation of a mixed Army/ATS Searchlight Unit. On coming to a stop I was the only member injured, the rest of the crew returning to base by rail. Soon after rejoining the crew we attended a Conversion Unit in May 1944 and I returned to flying as an Air Gunner on Halifax aircraft with No.578 Squadron based at Burn, Yorkshire. From there we did our full share of operations over Germany including Berlin, Stuttgart, Hamburg. During July 1944 we experienced some of the RAF Snaith saboteurs work on discovering oxygen lines severed and turret hydraulic systems tampered with making them unserviceable.
By August 1944 we attended three separate day briefings for the night operation of ‘Operation Thunderclap’ where the intention was to fly on to Russian bases after bombing Berlin instead of returning by same route. It was also intended that aircraft of the 8th USAAF were to follow the same procedure by daylight thus setting up a 24-hour bombardment programme until Germany surrendered. The crew learned a few Russian phrases in the event of being forced to land in a different Russian base than the one intended. There was a temporary ‘blip’ imposed by Stalin on this procedure The Russian Leader had forwarded the flimsy excuse that Russian Fighter Pilots would probably experience difficulty identifying British aircraft from German planes if the latter decided to infiltrate the aircraft stream even though fighting German aircraft since 1941, they should have been easily identified.
The time was now late 1944 and I had completed my second operational tour with 4 Group, RAF Bomber command. With all relevant events being considered I was awarded the D.F.C. I also received a French award with the citation printed in French; this was sent by mail as illness prevented me attending in person. I was posted to No.20 OTU as a Gunnery Instructor based at RAF Lossiemouth flying Wellingtons. I eventually ended my service career in charge of an RAF Motor Transport Section.
Following the initial cancellation of ‘Operation Thunderclap’ in which I had been involved in its preparation and mentioned in previous paragraph, this inevitably led to ‘Operation Thunderclap 2’ on Dresden in February 1945. Stalin requested RAF Bomber Command assistance from Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill reminding him of agreement signed in August 1944, this resulted in the “Terror Bombing” controversy of 1945 to this present day.
At this time, after the 8th USAAF had flown a daylight attack using ‘Operation Thunderclap’ a US Newsman asked one of the aircrew members ‘off the cuff’ what he thought of the attack. Apparently, the aircrew member had said “It must have been terrifying.” The American newsman had cabled his US Editor who had emblazoned the US newspapers with the term “Terror Bombing” which resulted in a public outcry in the United States which also spread to the United Kingdom. No one appeared to consider the real ‘terror bombing’ of UK citizens in southern England by German indiscriminate bombing using unmanned V1 & V2 rockets. It seemed rather unfair that from 1940 Bomber Command had been urged by Churchill and Parliament to take more effective action to defeat Germany with the promise of medal commemoration awards if successful at the end of it. To their shame despite Sir Arthur Harris reminding them of this until his death in 1984 Parliament failed to repay their debt to RAF Bomber Command.
Many years after the war I was to be reminded of an incident while on my first tour with No.51 Squadron. A friend in another Halifax crew Wop/AG F/Sgt Hector Court had been shot down over Holland. Bailing out, he handed his fountain pen and gold ring to a 14-year old schoolgirl for safe-keeping as she had run to the scene before the Germans arrived to make him a POW. This Belgian schoolgirl turned out to be Audrey Hepburn Ruston studying ballet in Holland. She and her mother were members of the Dutch Resistance and came to UK in 1948 and managed to track down Hector Court to return his pen and watch. The former schoolgirl was to become Audrey Hepburn the film actress and when becoming better known tried to contact Hector Court to invite him to the premiere of film ‘Roman Holiday’ but by this time Hector had succumbed to treatment he had received as a prisoner-of-war.
Years later again, being known as a friend of F/Sgt Hector Court through war records, I was contacted by a Dutch lady Mrs.Quarles Van Ufford who stated she was writing a book about her late Aunt the film actress Audrey Hepburn. She came to Scotland to gain more information about Hector Court and how as a young schoolgirl Audrey Hepburn had met the airman who was shot down in Holland and how her Aunt on coming to Britain had earlier returned the fountain pen and ring before he died. Our meeting in Edinburgh highlighted the gratitude shown by the Dutch people for Bomber Command’s action in gaining Holland’s freedom.
The title of this article “From Singapore to the Rhur” gives some indication of the wide area in which I served. I was very fortunate to escape the brutality of the Japanese entering Singapore. I also survived two operational tours with RAF Bomber Command. Along with those two periods of service thousands of miles apart, various other aspects of service led to official awards. Some years after the war I was invited by the French to receive a war medal in respect of D-Day and beyond service. Though illness prevented me from attending personally, the award was forwarded to me with the citation written in French. I was also sent complimentary tickets to visit La Coupole near St Omer where the war museum is housed in a German built V2 rocket base.
At Christmas 1987 I received an embossed and signed letter from Ronald Regan,US President at that time. Also In addition to the DFC in 1944, I was awarded the 1939-45 medal with Aircrew Europe France & Germany, and Pacific Campaign Stars along with the Defence Medal. On leaving my service with the Royal Air Force in early 1946 I entered civilian life as a member of the Police Force serving in this capacity for thirty years.