An evening with a Lancaster at East Kirkby

I assume this was at https://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/
We visited in 2016 and although we didn't do the taxi ride, just standing nearby when it started up was an experience to remember.

 

Yes that’s where it took place. You are right , four Merlins revving up make one hell of a noise

 

Super work John. Very evocative and stirring! Well done

 

Thanks John, I’ve got an interest in the Lanc as my Dad was a read gunner until he became a guest of the Third Reich as he used to say

 

Blimey. The Dad of a school friend was a rear gunner in Wellingtons and always said it was the worst spot to be on operations. Being a POW probably saved your Dads life!

 

He always said that it saved him and you are right about it being the most dangerous place apart from the pilot, the conventional attack came from the rear and .303 rifle Caliber bullets weren't much use against cannon shells. He thought it was upward firing Cannon that got them. the Germans had obviously realised the British bombers had a blind spot with no dorsal turret. If you survived the attack the rear turret was the easiest place to get out of. He was doubly lucky to land in the parade ground of a Wehrmacht barracks, the only other survivor, the flight engineer would have been killed by civilians if the police hadn't got to him, as it was he spent four months in a German military hospital. That's a part of the air war you don't hear much about

 

My mother's 19 year old younger brother was a rear gunner in a Wellington in the Norway campaign and got shot down attacking shipping in April 1940. Ten out of 36 Wellingtons were lost that day. They managed to land in the sea and as the rear gunner, he managed to get out with another crew member into the collapsible dinghy. They were both badly injured and eat their rations but died of exposure before they were picked up by a Norwegian fishing boat. The story is chapter one "Exposed and defenceless" in Steve Darlows 'Fighting High' volume two.

 

I think there are a lot of tragic stories like that. Early in the war the high command thought they could get away with daylight bombing without fighter cover and many brave airmen were sent to their death by that folly