Grandads flight ops (bomber command)

[FOZ_1983]

My grandad flew for RAF bomber command during the war, flying with 50 squadron as a rear gunner on Lancaster Bombers from skellingthorpe and then 466 squadron as a mid upper gunner flying halifax bombers from driffield. Below is a list of his flight ops.

Note that i only listed his OPS, not training missions etc.... any questions just ask.

Some of these targets look quite scary (hamburg!!), a few (in green) were flown during the day, with fighter escort. Still scary knowing the lanc/halifax doesnt have a ball turret to protect it from belly attack.

50 SQUADRON SKELLINGTHORPE (LANCASTER BOMBERS)


DATE TIME A/C PILOT DUTY TARGET IN AIR

11/5/44 22:10 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G BOURG LEOPOLD BASE 04.25
19/5/44 21:50 VN-K P/O PETHICK A/G TOURES FRANCE 07.10
21/5/44 22:10 VN-K P/O PETHICK A/G DUISBURG 05.05
22/5/44 22:30 VN-K P/O PETHCIK A/G BRUNSWICK 06.25
3/6/44 23:00 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G FERME D'OURVILLE 03.45
5/6/44 02:00 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G ST PIERRE DO'MONT 04.00
6/6/44 22:15 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G ARGENTAN 04.05
10/6/44 22:30 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G ORLEANS 05.05
12/6/44 22:30 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G POITERS 06.10
13/6/44 22:15 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G AUNAY-SUR-ODON 04.30
15/6/44 22:30 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G CHATELLERAUT 06.30
19/6/44 22:55 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G RECALLED (RTB) 03.30
21/6/44 22:55 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G GELSENKIRCHEN 05.20
23/6/44 22:20 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G LIMOGES 06.45
24/6/44 22:25 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G PROUVILLE 04.00
27/6/44 21:40 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G VITRY 07.30
29/6/44 12:10 VN-B P/O PETHICK A/G BEAUVOIR 03.45
12/7/44 21:50 VN-B F/O PETHICK A/G CHALINDREY 08.45
14/7/44 22:00 VN-B F/O PETHICK A/G VILLENEUVE 06.50
15/7/44 22:00 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G NEVERS 07.00
18/7/44 03:49 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G CAEN 04.20
20/7/44 23:00 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G COURTRAI 03.20
23/7/44 22:55 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G KIEL 05.10
24/7/44 21:45 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G STUTTGART 08.05
25/7/44 17:55 VN/T F/O PETHICK A/G ST CYR 03.45
26/7/44 21:00 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G GIVORS BADEN 09.05
28/7/44 22:10 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G STUTTGART 07.40
30/7/44 05:58 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G CAHAGNES 05.10
31/7/44 17:45 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G JOIGMY 05.10
1/8/44 16:54 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G MONT CANDON 04.30
2/8/44 14:35 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G BOIS DECASSON 04.30
5/8/44 10:35 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G ST LEU D'ESSERANT 04.50
7/8/44 21:25 VN/H F/O PETHICK A/G SEQUEVILLE 04.20
9/8/44 20:50 VN/H F/O PETHICK A/G CHATELLERAULT 06.00

466 SQUADRON (R.A.A.F) DRIFFIELD (HALIFAX BOMBERS)

DATE TIME A/C PILOT DUTY TARGET IN AIR

12/3/45 HD/A W/CMR HOLLINGS M.U.G DORTMUND 06.50
13/3/45 HD/V W/CMR HOLLINGS M.U.G WUPPERTAL 05.45
21/3/45 HD/A W/CMR HOLLINGS M.U.G RHEINE 05.50
8/4/45 HD/A W/CMR HOLLINGS M.U.G HAMBURG 06.50
18/4/45 HD/V W/CMR HOLLINGS M.U.G HELIGOLAND 04.30

[FOZ_1983]

DAMN!!!! came out wrong.

Does anyone know how to make it look like it should? a graph kind of thing? cheers guys. Sorry it looks so bad :(

[Ancient Seraph]

Guess you tried to use spaces?
Maybe it works in between <code> tags..
Try 1
That works..

[winny]

Hi,
I noticed your grandad did a mission on the day before D-Day and on D-Day so I had a look around.. You may already know this.

Argentan. During the Second World War (WWII), the city was almost totally destroyed. On 5 June 1944, on the eve of the Allied D-Day landing on the beaches of Normandy, the city suffered an important air raid in which the train station was destroyed. The city suffered further damage when it was bombed on 6 and 7 June (6th was your Grandad!)

I also notice he was sent to St Pierre Du Mont on the 5th. He was more than likley attacking a Costal Battery that was stationed there at the time as a prep for the actual D-Day landings..

It's nice that you've such a complete record. My Grandad was an mobile AA gunner in the RAF Regiment and it's hard to find out what he did ( I know he shot down a 109 in France, that's about it).

[FOZ_1983]

Hi,
I noticed your grandad did a mission on the day before D-Day and on D-Day so I had a look around.. You may already know this.

Argentan. During the Second World War (WWII), the city was almost totally destroyed. On 5 June 1944, on the eve of the Allied D-Day landing on the beaches of Normandy, the city suffered an important air raid in which the train station was destroyed. The city suffered further damage when it was bombed on 6 and 7 June (6th was your Grandad!)

I also notice he was sent to St Pierre Du Mont on the 5th. He was more than likley attacking a Costal Battery that was stationed there at the time as a prep for the actual D-Day landings..

It's nice that you've such a complete record. My Grandad was an mobile AA gunner in the RAF Regiment and it's hard to find out what he did ( I know he shot down a 109 in France, that's about it).

Yeah he was a busy man. Part of 5 group who dropped the most tonnage of bombs during the war for bomber command. His log book is full of info, from training missions to test flights in his lanc which was damaged i believe. His log book is in great condition to, a great read.

[winny]

Yeah he was a busy man. Part of 5 group who dropped the most tonnage of bombs during the war for bomber command. His log book is full of info, from training missions to test flights in his lanc which was damaged i believe. His log book is in great condition to, a great read.

He must have seen some things... wow. Really interesting!

[FOZ_1983]

Some of the stories he tells are superb!!

For example -

he was doing air gunnery training in a wellington bomber, when he heard a mayday call over the intercom about a plane that had lost its engines and was going down.......


he reported it to the skipper (pilot) and said that another poor bugger has put out a distress call, to which the skipper replied -


Yes i know!!! ITS US!!!!

the wellington ended up ploughing through a field into a woods, nobody was hurt.

It made me laugh when he told me.



He goes on to mention the most scared he ever was while doing ops to - and not once was it in the face of enemy planes or flak!! It was on the way back to base from a mission in southern france, they got caught in an electrical storm. He said he had never been so scared, the fate of the crew wasnt in their own hands, it wasnt something they could defend themsleves from. They were at gods mercy in that storm.

[Leweegibo]

Some great stories, my grandfather was a navigator in wellingtons and halifaxes, can't think of his squadrons at the moment, will try n find them.
His logbook is in great condition too and it was very interesting.

He has some fantastic stories, sone grey ones about flying low level down the Danube (I think) and how the rear gunner had to shoot at anything that moved, one night they were sure the blasted at a poor fellow who accidently flicked his porch light on!

Damn 41 degree heat is screwing with me n I can't think of anymore right now!
Oh he participated heavily in the Berlin airlift too!

Hope some more people post some good stories!

[flynlion]

Great stuff guys!

My Grandad was in the US merchant marine, got torpedoed twice trying to get supplies into North Africa and Great Britain (he was an expert swimmer LoL) My other grandfather ran a manufacturing company which helped build engine parts for the F4U Corsair.

I got a buddy here in the states who's great uncle was an officer in the damned SS. They don't talk about him much, but they do keep a photo of him in uniform on the wall. An ordinary soldier is one thing, but SS? Kinda creepy if you ask me. Seems like they would prefer to remember him as a civillian, but I think it's the only picture they have of him.

[durangodoug]

Thats pretty cool FOZ, but lets be honest, any bombing raid over Nazi Europe would scare the hell outta me lol. I'm watching "The War" by Ken Burns, I can't believe what all the pilots faced during that time.

[FOZ_1983]

I've edited it the best i possibly can but it still looks a little off :(

I agree with you though durangodoug - any raid is bloody scary!! My grandad always said when he was flying that what helped him through was the thought that - "they (luftwaffe) never came for me because they were scared of me"

On take off he always used to sing "abide with me" to. Cant imagine how lonely and scary it must of been sitting in the rear turret all alone for the whole mission.

[InfiniteStates]

It's nice that you've such a complete record. My Grandad was an mobile AA gunner in the RAF Regiment and it's hard to find out what he did ( I know he shot down a 109 in France, that's about it).

Yeah I don't know much about what my Grandads did either...

My mum's dad was with infantry in North Africa, but was sent home with really bad trench foot or something just before a mission. His entire group was killed on that mission...

My dad's dad was killed by a terrorist bomb taking off in his Spitfire from an air strip in Turkey... Dirty bastads.