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The Bomb bay of Lancaster could hold up to 14,000 lb of bombs. Pilot Mike Guilfoyle was from Jamaica in the West Indies and was the senior officer in the crew. The rear starboard escape hatch was used by the mid-upper and tail gunners, while the rest of the crew used the front underside escape hatch. C utaway of an Avro Lancaster showing the position of each member of the crew.
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All had volunteered for aircrew duty, none were conscripted into their jobs. They were a typical multi-national Bomber Command crew consisting of two Englishmen, a Welshman, a Scotsman, a Canadian, an Australian and a Jamaican. 12 Squadron was part of 1 Group that commanded all of the Lincolnshire airfields. In April 1944 the final crew were posted to 12 Squadron Bomber Command, based at RAF Wickenby in Lincolnshire where they mostly flew in Avro Lancaster ND424 PH-G (‘G’ for George), but they also flew in ME644 (PH-E) and ND749 (PH-U). (RAAF is Royal Australian Air Force and RCAF is Royal Canadian Air Force) Back row, left to right:įlight Sergeant J. was the final step of an aircrews training before they were assigned to an operational squadron. This training included cross-country and night flying exercises. (Conversion Unit) at RAF Blyton in Lincolnshire and here they converted to heavy bombers via the Handley Page Halifax and then onto the Avro Lancaster. In February 1944 they were assigned to No.1662 C.U. Their first action‘ was in a Vickers Wellington bomber on a leaflet dropping exercise. After being crewed up‘ they began their bomber training. The pilot, as the senior crewman, picked each crew member from those available. All had attended initial training at various establishments as required by their assigned roles. 83 OTU (Operational Training Unit) at RAF Peplow in Shropshire. 'A remarkable insight into the bravery, determination and skill of British Bomber Command crews during WWII' Waterstones.In September 1943 seven young men from different parts of the Empire were posted to No. 'A fascinating and fast-paced account of the exploits of an Avro Lancaster bomber crew from 97 Squadron RAF' The Herald. This book has a heart and soul' The Times. Price has given the bomber offensive a human face. 'A sensitive account of the bomber's life. The drama and anxiety of individual missions - to Kassel, Munich and Augsburg as well as Berlin - is evoked with thrilling immediacy while the military events and strategic decisions that drove the RAF's area bombing campaign against Nazi Germany are interwoven deftly with the narrative of the crew's operational careers. Gloucestershire-born bomb aimer Ken Cook, hard-bitten Australian pilot Jim Comans, Navigator Don Bowes, Upper Gunner George Widdis, Tail Gunner 'Jock' Bolland, Flight Engineer Ken Randle and Radio Operator Roy Woollford were seven ordinary young men living in extraordinary times, risking their lives in freedom's cause in the dark skies above Hitler's Reich.įrom their earliest beginnings - in places as far apart as a Cotswold village and the suburbs of Sydney - through the adventure of training in North America and the dread and danger of the forty-five bombing raids they flew with 97 Squadron, David Price describes the crew's wartime experiences with human sympathy allied to a secure technical understanding of one of the RAF's most iconic aircraft. The Crew, based on interviews with Ken Cook, the crew's sole surviving member, recounts the wartime exploits of the members of an Avro Lancaster crew between 1942 and the war's end. Click here to purchase from Rakuten Kobo A moving tribute to the sacrifice and bravery of the fliers of RAF Bomber Command.