Warrant Officer A E Perry
Warrant Officer A.E. Perry was a member of F/O Pearse's crew completing 26 operations. Pearse did one extra;
Sunday 22nd Oct 1944.
lst 'OP' Daylight.
The weather was very bad as was visibility. We flew through cloud nearly all the
way to the target (Heavy Gun Positioned around Flushing). Attacked target with
14 one thousand pound bombs from 4000 ft. It was a controlled 'op' and sounded
quite good to hear the controller tell the boys to "Come in and bomb as planned,
height 4). One dummy run made. On second run up was almost hit by bombs from a
Lanc 500feet above us. Slight heavy but accurate flak over target (one plane
shot down). Quite a few bombs fell in sea but all guns except one were
silenced.
Saturday 28th Oct. 1944.
Ops on Bergen in N. Nan. (Night}
per hour with full bomb load on board. Under cart collapsed and starboard outer
torn off. Bomb bay wrecked and nose smashed in. We were very lucky as bombs did
not go off. Jock the engineer suffered the only injuries (a cut face sustained
when falling off cockpit after abandoning plane) The end of Nan. A complete
write off. She was a lucky kite to the end.
from an official report about the incident:
Before emergency services arrived on the scene all the crew had managed to scramble out of the aircraft and distance themselves from the very dangerous situation. They were all feeling very shaken after such a devastating experience, but otherwise unhurt.
her next port of call was the scrap yard.
Wednesday lst November.
2nd 'op' (Daylight)
heavy flak from Duisburg. At least five Lancs were observed to be hit and on fire and only four kites off our station came back without flak holes. We were one of them. Almost got bombed by another Lanc above us. Skipper dived port just in time.
Thursday 2nd November
3rd op (Night) O for Oboe - Blitz
feet with 12000 pounds of bombs including a cookie. Weather very good all the
way and heavy flak was encountered ...... jerry night fighters
including................. were up. One fighter was observed to pass over the
top of us. On the run up to the target we were coned by at least six
searchlights but skipper managed to shake them off after about a minute (seemed
like an hour) town was good and truly targeted by 1000 heavies. It was a
beautiful sight and yet horrible to see the town burning.
Monday 6th November
4th 'op' (Night) O for Oboe
10000 feet. Had 14 one thousand pounds bombs on board. Thick cloud over target
prevented PFF. from marking target. Given instructions to bring bombs back.
Where we cheesed ? Stooging over there and not dropping our bombs. We flew into
a terrific storm which sent us miles off track. Diverted to Framlingham by W/T.
Could not find Framlingham because of storm and bad visibility so we landed at
Horam nearby. This is a Yank drome and we had a fairly good time there. We had
four eggs when we landed and bags of coffee milk sugar and butter. Came back
next morning. Jettisoned 6 bombs in North Sea and brought 8 back. A pretty bad
show.
Sunday 26 th November
5th 'op' (Night) N for Nan (New)
half. Flew over the Alps in bright moonlight (Beautiful sight). Bomb load was
one cookie (4000lbs) and eleven 500lb clusters of incendiaries. Bombed from
20000ft. Heavy flak was encountered over target but was bursting about 16000. 1
enemy fighter (ME110) passed close underneath us but did not fire.
bomb was used on raid. Diverted to Kernesby but landed at a drome nearby. Had
breakfast and then took off for base.
took off at midnight H hour =0500. Trip took 10hrs approx.
Monday. 4th December.
6th 'op' (Night) Q for Queen (6hrs 40 mins)
good but cloudy in parts especially on return. H Hour was 1930. There wasn't
much flak or searchlights but bags of fighters instead. The sky was a blaze of
light with flares etc. Just after dropping our bombs we were attacked by an
ME410 which the rear gunner fired at and claims he blew the starboard engine off
it and shot fighter down. Another crew say they saw this fighter going down (A
damn good show). After the attack we stopped in the clouds all the way back to
the front line where we were fired on by our own flak guns.
go so B/Aimer went back and fixed same so it was safe but it fell out on to the
runway when landing.
Wednesday 6th December
7th 'op' (Night) N for Nan.
Weather over parts of the journey . Flew low through most of way. Attacked
target with 12 one thousand pounders. A terrific box barrage of accurate light
flak was put up over the target. We bombed from 10800 feet. Several aerial dog
fights were seen and 2 fighters and 4 Lancs were seen to go down.
fighters over target. We were not attacked but it was about the toughest trip we've been
Friday 8th December.
8th 'op' (Daylight) N for Nan.
of port wing missing. Otherwise it was a piece of cake.
Tuesday 16th January .
12th 'op' (Skipper 13th) X for Xray.
Went to Brux (Czechoslovakia) and dropped cookie and 14 500 lbs on oil refinery. Weather was fairly good all the way. Everything thing seemed to go wrong on this raid. On take off the front
escape hatch blew in taking large piece of perspex in with it. We had to jettison front hatch over sea and was it cold. There was a veritable gale blowing inside the cabin so I chopped the rest bed
top off and we put this over the escape hatch holding it in place with bundles of window. During the process of jettisoning the hatch cover the engineer almost jettisoned himself through the hole.
(Seems humorous now). It was still draughty inside though and we had to go all the way there and back with this gale blowing.
Very heavy flak was experienced over target and we had to corkscrew twice because of unexpected fighters. The rear gunner claims he shot the first one down but he was not sure whether it was a fighter or what. The second was only a Lanc. On return flap lever would not work so we diverted to Carnaby (emergency landing strip). Made a good landing and had to stop there for a couple of days. Trip took 10 hrs approx. (4 over enemy territory).
Snags - nil (with wireless).
Saturday 3rd March.
15th 'op' (night) X for Xray.
Went to Ladbergen (Dortmund-Ems) with 14 1000 lb delay bombs. Weather was moderate all the way. Flak very heavy over target. 1. small hole in Starboard inner engine was all damage we sustained. Plenty of fighter around as well. We were followed by enemy fighters right back to base. Three kites shot down in Waddington circuit by enemy fighters. H hour = 2200.
Snags - nil.
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Monday 5th March.
16th 'op' (night) X for Xray.
Went to Bohlen (near Liepsig) with cookie and 500 lb bombs to attack oil target. 10/10th cloud all the way and over target. Target was obscured so bombed wanganue. Flak and fighters were moderate. 33 planes lost from night operation. Trip took 10 hours. H hour 1950.
Snags nil.
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Wednesday. 7th March
17th 'op' (night) X for Xray.
Went to Harburg (Near Hamburg) to attack oil refinery with cookie and 14 500 lb bombs. Went via Denmark. Searchlights and flak all the way into and out of the target (about 2 hours). Plenty of fighters around as well. Had to go in with the 'Path Finders' and was over target for 20 minutes (very unhealthy). Weather was good all the way and clear over target. 40 planes lost on night ops. 13 from 5 Group and three from our squadron (bad show). Got caught in searchlights but didn't hold us for long.
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Arthur E. Perry was born Birmingham on the 27th March 1924.
He joined the RAF 29 March 1943 at No 1 ACRC. .
No 3 Air Gunnery School, Castle Kennedy Jan 44 to Mar 44.
No 7 AFU Bishops Court 5 April 44 to 30 april 44.
16 OTU Upper Heyford May 44 to July 44.
1656 HCU Wigsley Eug 44 to Sept 44.
No 5 LFS Syerston Sept 44 Oct 44.
Served with 61 squadron at Skellingthorpe and Sturgate Oct 44 to Sept 45.After remustering Arthur served overseas in Palestine and Cyprus.
He was demobbed 20 March 1947.
On leaving the RAF he returned to his civilian trade as a plumber.
Arthur was a lifelong keen angler whose major love was fly fishing for trout. He tied his own flies and loved to brag about how no one ever failed when using his flies.
Below is a photo taken 2002 showing him holding a rainbow trout which he caught at Bushey Leaxe Fisheries, Lechlade-on-Thames.
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Editor's Comments.
Despite only being remembered for their spectacular crash in the record breaking QR-N Nan, Warrant Officer Perry's comprehensive operational diary clearly shows that F/O Pearce and crew ought to be remembered as a brave, skilful, dedicated crew and a great credit to 61 squadron.
H.James Flowers
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