“The war’s ended . . . . . I could have cried!” One mission short! over the target within one minute of the schedule,” he said. “Taking into account all the elements, the navigator might have to dog-leg the “It was May 1945,” said Ken. “As a Navigator Officer, I’d completed flightpath to ensure the main contingent arrived on time. It was an twenty-nine raids over Germany with Bomber Command. Most awfully vital responsibility for a young man.” Lancaster crews were lucky to survive five or six. Just one more and I’d be up for a DFC . . . . thirty was the magic number! What was I thinking?”

Ken is a member of Lodge of Sympathy at Wotton. We found him at his Dursley home with his wife Margaret, or Peggy, as she was also known. He was all we expected . . . . a smart, articulate and modest man belying his 92 years. He had agreed to share with his brethren some of his experiences, both in his 40-year RAF career and life in general.

“The deadliest job of all”

Ken had been a 20-year old navigation officer in what the newspapers referred to as the deadliest job of all. “It was essential, as a Path Finder, to lead the rest of the flight to the objective area. We needed to be Page 1

Early days

“I was born in Middlesex in 1924,” continued Ken. “My father was ex-Royal Flying Corps. He got me at the age of seven up in an open-cockpit circus plane flown by Sir Alan Cobham. So I suppose I always knew my future would be up in the clouds. I was actually brought up in London and I can remember the open-topped buses with outside stair-cases vying with electric tram cars as they climbed the Barnet Hill. At the top of the hill was my school, Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar. I started there in 1935.

In uniform

“The war came along and we were evacuated to Norfolk. At sixteen and a half, I became a private in the East Dereham Home Guard. I was just like that clumsy youngster, Pike, in ‘Dad’s Army’. I was also in Dereham Air Training Corps, so on various nights of the week I was alternately a private and a corporal. I rose to sergeant in the ATC and we trained in drill, aircraft recognition, Morse, meteorology and marksmanship with pistol, Sten-gun and rifle.

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“At 17, I went off to Uni and took engineering and astronomy. I naturally joined the University Air Squadron which had ageing Tiger Moths. Time to join up, I was sent to London for selection. I wanted to be a pilot, but there was a greater need for navigators and bomb-aimers. I was chosen to be a navigator. After grading, we were posted to Braunstone to complete 15 hours of flying instruction. With that under our belts, we air crew cadets were packed off on the Queen Elizabeth to zig-zag our way across the Atlantic to Canada, to a base 50 miles west of , where we flew Anson twin-engine trainers.

Right: Training in Portage-la-Prairie, Canada

Bomber Command

to see action. After pleading with the Chief Instructor, my chance “Having gained my wings and returning to London, I joined my mother came. I joined an overseas crew, but after two flights, it was clear we for a wartime supper, which I recall was at great cost but had little were incompatible. D-Day was imminent and I transferred to an substance. experienced crew under the leadership of Ray Baker,

a diminutive man whom I greatly admired. His bomb aimer was a “Posted back to Scotland in the Advanced Flying Unit, we were flying Rhodesian, Vic Allan. The rest of the crew comprised radio operator, air Avro Ansons again, but now in total darkness. engineer and two gunners who were only 17. These men would be

relying on an untested 19-year old to get them over Germany at night. “Christmas 1943 saw me posted to Bomber Command as an instructor, In addition, we would be carrying a minimum fuel-load, so my reporting to RAF Winthorpe where we were operating Short Stirlings. I navigation skills were essential in getting them home; no mistakes! was now 19 and felt life was passing me by, such was my desperation Page 3

Action! Path Finders

“After lengthy training flights, we got our first operation; a short night “A spot of leave was due and we then were transferred to the Path attack out of Skellingthorpe. The target comprised German troop Finder Force. My pay rose to concentrations facing the Canadian invasion forces near Caen. We were 18/6 a day! We completed the one of 250 Lancasters from No 5 Group and carrying 12,000 lbs of training and were designated bombs. It was not successful but it was the first to count towards my ‘Flare force 1.’ goal of thirty missions.

“Two nights later, we were more successful, hitting our target, a large fuel depot in central France. The sky lit up with the explosions, but unsurprisingly that also helped the enemy night fighters which picked off several of our Group’s Lancasters.

“That was followed by a daylight raid over France; twelve Lancasters, protected by six long-range Mosquito fighters. The target was the U- boat pens at Bordeaux. We released our armour-piercing bombs and ran the gauntlet through the flak. It seemed that we had taken the Germans by surprise by raiding in daylight. Nevertheless, we lost two of our aircraft.

“Next was a night raid on the Opel factory where the V1 rocket was being built. A bomber strength of 300 was led by Path Finders who would mark the target. We were all controlled by a Master Bomber in a Mosquito.

“Then it was back to Bordeaux; this time we were hit. Two engines were out and the rear-gunner’s turret disintegrated, but fate was kind to us and we limped home.

“We got up into the Baltic for our next mission. In fact we completed Above: Path Finder crew six raids in ten days. Page 4

Guy Gibson VC “On 18-Apr, an attack on the yards at Komotau proved to be my 29th “Our first mission would be a railway centre in Germany; the controller and final wartime mission. We sat at Coningsby waiting for orders that being the famous Guy Gibson, who had won a VC in the Dam Buster never came. Strangely, I had a feeling of disappointment. On 04-May, raid. When we returned, we were met with a strange silence. Gibson we listened in to Churchill announcing that the war would be over at had been killed. 11am the following day.

“More German raids followed and then we were sent to Oslo Fjord to seek out a German battleship at anchor. It was Boxing Day 1944. We led 617 Squadron (Dam Busters). It was not a triumph. The ship was hit but not sunk and we lost aircraft. We were given a second opportunity on New Years’ Eve and succeeded in disabling the ship. Within 13 hours of returning, we were in the air again. It’s how it was at times.

“Further missions over Germany saw Ray Baker and Vic Allan complete their tour and move on. I met up with Vic much later in Rhodesia, but never saw Ray again. The final raid with them was dreadfully expensive; only five out of every six planes made it back.

“After a few days, I volunteered to go with a new crew on their first op; a night attack on submarine pens in Oslo Fjord. We made two runs over the target; one to drop flares and the other to drop 1000lb bombs. The Aiming Point photos proved a perfect result and the crew was justifiably elated.

“When my regular crew was joined by replacements, Eric Hiddersley and Desmond Harris, we spent two weeks training together before commencing a series of raids; factories and railway marshalling yards. By now, enemy fighter forces had collapsed. The Russians had entered . It has since been suggested that those raids so late in the war were merely vindictive. The Germans had not submitted. They were still the enemy and we certainly had no qualms. Page 5

Life in peacetime

“We were put to work flying home prisoners of war; about 20 on a flight, all packed into the Lancasters. We dumped at sea thousands of tons of HE and we took our ground crews, those who had kept us patched up and flying, on ‘ Tours’, to see the damage they had helped inflict on the enemy. We trained and prepared to take the war to mainland Japan; the codename was ‘Tiger Force’. It was not be. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the facilitators of surrender on 15-Aug.

“At the end of 1945, I was posted to Transport Command and I said my somewhat regretful farewells to friends and fellow survivors at Coningsby. I reported to Snaith in Yorkshire to fly the Avro York, then the largest plane in the RAF. First, it was home for Christmas leave; Mother and Dad excelled in procuring off-ration goodies . . . turkey, pheasant, ham!

“I was assigned to 246 Squadron, based at RAF Holmsley South in the “Margaret would accompany Ken on all his overseas postings, naturally New Forest. That posting was to change my life. I got to London for the taking their children along with them. They have four children and nine connection to Brockenhurst. Although I grandchildren. had a first-class ticket, I arrived late on the platform at Waterloo and the train was “Meantime, back at work, we were put on a scheduled route to Delhi full. The porter squeezed me into a via Cairo, Basra and Karachi. I began a love affair with India and second-class carriage next to a young, Pakistan; especially the Murree beer and gin. attractive nurse called Margaret, who lived in Bournemouth. It was 27-Apr-46. “In July 46, I was demobbed. I became a schoolteacher for a while, but We were married at Wimborne Minster a was then approached by the RAF to return on a short five-year little less that a twelve-month later and in commission as a training officer. I took it up and found myself at South 2007, we received a letter from HM The Cerney. After four years, I was offered a permanent commission . . . Queen congratulating us on our 60th provided I returned to flying. ‘Here we go again,’ I thought and wedding anniversary. following a refresher course, off I went to Aden as a full lieutenant. Page 6

“On promotion to Squadron Leader, I was made Beverley Flight Commander of 53 Squadron at Abingdon.” On a shelf in his conservatory, Ken has models of some of the planes he flew and pointed to the Beverley.

off to Turkey for a full tour. I had diplomatic status and was the commander of all British forces in Turkey.

“In 1962, I was out in Aden again, this time as the Beverley Squadron Commander during ‘the emergency’. Two years into the tour, I was initiated into the Aden Lodge. Not surprisingly, that lodge no longer exists.

“My next promotion was to Wing Commander, flying C130 Hercules, followed by Group Captain, which meant I flew a desk at the MOD in London.

“A spell in Episcope in 1974 saw me joining Apollo Lodge in Cyprus. Ten days after arriving was the Makarios coup, followed by the Turkish invasion of the island. Suddenly, I was packed Page 7

“Reaching the age of 54, I retired from the RAF. I was able to look back over many years of memories, both good and bad, but above all, that ever-present spirit of camaraderie. I can understand why so many ex- servicemen, particularly following WWII, wanted to maintain that companionship and solidarity and to join Freemasonry.

“I was lucky to have such an eclectic mix of experiences from the wartime bombing raids, emergencies in Aden, Cyprus, Kenya (the mutiny) and Anguilla and even training posted back in Blighty and desk- flying in Whitehall!

“I fully expected that Margaret and I would move quietly to our villa in Spain, but unexpectedly from left-field, I was offered a job with BAe and we found ourselves in Saudi Arabia where I managed a team of 600 ex-servicemen technicians working out there for the company. That lasted for five years until proper retirement.”

Thirty years after joining the lodge in Aden, Ken became a member of Lodge of Grace at Wotton. He was also drafted in as Treasurer of the Wotton-under-Edge Masonic Hall Company, a post he held for eight years. He was appointed Past Provincial Grand Standard Bearer for the Province of Gloucestershire in 2000.

Right: Margaret at work in Crater (Aden); Ken taking a February plunge on the Sea Survival course; Landing a C130 on a grassy strip in Anguilla with 50 peace-keeping British Bobbies on board.

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