My father joined the Royal Air Force in June 1940, when he was 21 years old.  From June 11, 1940, through August 20, 1940, he received his basic training as a member of D Flight, No. 4 Squadron, 5 Initial Training Wing (ITW), which was located near Hastings, East Sussex.  My father is the airman on the far left in the back row.   

This picture is a copy of one from printed media that is pasted in his Pilots Flying Log , which explains its wrinkled and aged condition. Above is a copy of the original Certificate of Airworthiness issued to G-AENL. Amazingly, I found this document on the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority Website.    

From January 15, 1941, through April 25, 1941, he was trained as a navigator at the No. 2 School of Air Navigation, RAF Cranage, Cheshire, where he flew the Avro Anson Mk.I.  I found it interesting that in an assessment of his abilities in his Log Book on July 8, 1941, concerning points to be watched, a written notation asked “Has he shown aptitude as a Pilot Navigator?”  The assessor wrote an emphatic “NO” in large print.

From April 26, 1941, through July 10, 1941, he continued with his flight training at No 25 Operational Training Unit (OTU), which was located at RAF Finningley, Yorkshire. It appears from his records that his training focused on instrument flying, air/firing, and bombing. During this flight training he flew the Avro Anson, Vickers Wellington, and Handley Page Hampden, with the majority of time being spent flying the latter.  Indeed, in the June and early July of 1941, he flew what appears to be his first seven operational bombing raids in a Hampden.

On July 14, 1941, he was posted to Bomber Command, No. 5 Group, No. 61 Squadron (Sqn), to begin what would be his first of two operational tours with No. 61 Sqn. Between July 29, 1941, and sometime after August 29, 1941, he flew a variety of aircraft, including the Airspeed Oxford, Handley Page Hampden, and Avro Manchester. Again the majority of this flying appeared to be training, including endurance tests, local and cross country flights.  

He converted to the Avro Lancaster during the month of May 1942, and flew his first operational mission in a Lancaster on March 30, 1942.  

During his first operational tour with No. 61 Sqn., he flew out of the following airfields:

  RAF Hemswell, Lincolnshire, England

  RAF North Luffenham, Rutland, England

  RAF Woolfox Lodge, Rutland, England 

  RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire, England

  RAF St. Eval, Cornwall, England

  RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire, England

Twice during the summer of 1942, No. 61 Sqn., was loaned to Coastal Command for anti-submarine operations over the Bay of Biscay.  On July 16, 1942, eight aircraft and twelve crews were detached from their bases in Rutland (the smallest County in England), to RAF St. Eval in Cornwall.  They began a period of extreme hazard and frustration, which lasted five weeks. 

In the book “The Avro Lancaster,” written by Francis K. Mason, and published by Aston  Publications, there is a synopsis of one of the more memorable events that occurred during that detachment on Page 79, which reads as follows:

“A new and disastrous episode in these maritime adventures began on the 19th August with the news that an enemy blockade runner, the ss Corunna--a ( Altmark Class) Tanker of 12, 000 tons--had been sighted of the Spanish coast. R5661, captained by Flying Officer A. L. Searby, took off to make a search; it is believed that the Lancaster found the ship and attacked, but was evidently shot down by the ships defences. Squadron Leader George Ernest Weston than attacked in R5543, but his bombs all missed. Next the Canadian, Flight Sergeant C. P. Shriner, in R5563, attacked but failed to return. Two unsuccessful bombing runs were made by Flight Sergeant F. Hobson in R5562.  Better fortune attended Flight Sergeant N. F. Turner in R5679 who claimed to have hit the ship with two bombs as it steamed 35 miles off Cape Ortegal; his Lancaster was severely damaged by flack from the enemy tanker but he managed to bring it home to a safe landing.  Late in the evening Flight Sergeant G. E. Dale in W4111 sighted a ship but was driven off by accurate flak; from the final sortie of the day the New Zealander, Flight Sergeant O. Haynes with four Canadians and an Australian in his crew in R5605, did not return.  

Such was the importance attached to the location and destruction of the enemy ship that further searches were ordered by the remaining three serviceable aircraft of No. 61 Squadron on the 20th. Furthermore, No. 50 Squadron was ordered to detach seven aircraft to join the search that day, but it is thought that no further contact was made with the German vessel.  Pilot Officer J. Harrad of No. 61 Squadron, in R5543, evidently got into difficulties during his patrol, and the I.F.F. signals were seen to fade to the west of the Scilly Isles, but a subsequent search failed to find any trace of the aircraft or crew. Four further patrols were flown on the 22nd but without success.  No. 61 having lost four Lancasters and 28 men , as well as four aircraft badly damaged in the course of a month, was now ordered back to its base at Syerston, as No. 50 returned to Swinderby.”             

My father’s record of this operation in his Pilots Flying Log Book, provides the following information:

                                                     Month:   Aug

                                                         Date:   19

                                                    Aircraft:   Lancaster

                                                            No.:  5679

                                       Pilot or 1st Pilot:  Self

                 2nd Pilot, Pupil, or Passenger:  Crew

  Duty (Including Results and Remarks):  Shipping Strike 10,000 ton

                                                                      Altmark Class Tanker

                                                                      [7 x 500 G.P. (2 hits)]

 Multi Engined Aircraft (Day) (1st Pilot):  6.40 hrs.                                                            

The following two photographs show the flak damage to the left wing of R5679 after its encounter with the tanker described above.

QR-O Damage

My father’s first operational tour with No. 61 Sqn., ended on October 14, 1942,

From October 14, 1942, through November 28, 1942, he was attached to No. 1660 Conversion Unit, RAF Swinderby, flying the Avro Manchester and Avro Lancaster.

From November 28, 1942, through February 17, 1943, he was attached to N0. 3 F.I.S., Empire Central Flying School (E.C.F.S.), RAF Hullavington, Wiltshire. In his Pilots Log Book, my father refers to this attachment as “30 Course.”  While taking the course, he flew 52.51 hours in the Airspeed Oxford Mk.I.  He also makes reference to RAF Castle Combe, which was used as a practice landing field.

From February 21, 1943 until April 3, 1943, he returned No. 1660 Conversion Unit, RAF Swinderby, where he was assigned to “A” Flight, again flying the Avro Lancaster.

From April 9, 1943, until August 10, 1943, he remained at N. 1660 Conversion Unit, RAF Swinderby, but moved to “B” Flight.  He flew a variety of aircraft during this period. including the Avro Manchester, Avro Lancaster, Handley Page Halifax, De Havilland Tiger Moth, and the Miles M.14 Magister.

My father’s second operational tour with No. 61 Sqn., began sometime around the middle of August 1943, with his first bombing raid being Nuremberg, Germany, on August 27, 1943.  This was also his first combat operation as the skipper of a newly delivered Avro Lancaster Mk. III,  Serial No. JB 138, Call Sign QR-J.

The crew christened JB 138 with the name “Just Jane”, after a Daily Mirror comic strip character named GI Jane, created by the Daily Mirror cartoonist Norman Pett. She was a popular pin-up with servicemen at that time.  Indeed, she was so popular that she was recognized by Sir Winston Churchill, as Britain’s “secret weapon”!  Of course, with the name came JB 138’s provocative nose art, which depicted a very naked Jane reclining on a bomb.

My father completed his second operational tour with 61 Sqn., on April 29, 1944, during which he and his crew completed 25 bombing raids over Germany.

His last operational mission, which was flown on April 20/21, 1944, was to bomb the railway marshalling yards at La Chapelle, located in north central Paris. According to the No. 61 Squadron Operations Record Book (ORB), Lancaster QR-J, JB 138, took off (wheels up) from RAF Syerston at 2305 hrs,. on April 20, 1944 and returned (wheels down) at 0327 hrs., on April 21, 1944. The crew was identified as:

         F/L. N. F. TURNER, Captain

         P/O. G. A. TURNBULL, FLT. ENG.

         P/O. J. BARR, NAV.

         F/S. J. S. COOK, A.B.

         F/L. G. L. P. DUNSTONE, WOP/AIR

         F/S. O. BALDWIN, A.G. 1.

         P/O. G. A. DAVEY, A.G. 2.

The remarks in the column “Details of Sortie or Flight” were as follows:

“F/L. TURNER bombed two R.S.F. from 9800 feet at 01.31 hours. Bombing appeared well concentrated. Several fires seen burning in the target area. Some fires of no mean dimensions were well alight. Altogether a fitting end to a second tour. PHOTO. Ground Detail.”

I chose to highlight my father's operational mission to La Chapelle because of a comment he made in the remarks above, specifically “Altogether a fitting end to a second tour.” I'm certain that he wasn't aware at the time that he had been involved in a controversial plan to disrupt rail traffic leading into northern France in preparation for D-Day. The plan, which was devised by Churchill's scientific advisor Solly Zuckerman, called for the diversion of heavy bomber fleets of the RAF and the USAAF away from targets in Germany to hit railway targets in France. The plan, called the “Transportation Plan,” was opposed by Arthur Harris, RAF Bomber Command and Carl Spatz, US Strategic Air Forces in Europe. They did not want to be diverted from their bombing of Germany, and they didn't think that heavy bombers were suitable for hitting railway targets in a densely populated area, because they would cause too many civilian casualties. Their opposition proved to be insightful, because on the night of the air raid 641 people were killed and 377 injured, as a result of many of the bombs being dropped outside of the target area. This was as bad a casualty rate as any during the Blitz in London and worse than the number killed in the infamous bombing of Coventry in 1940. I can understand why my father felt this operational mission was “Altogether a fitting end to a second tour.” He flew a successful final mission and returned his aircraft and crew safely to Syerston. However, I wonder if he would have still thought it was a “fitting end” if he had known the true extent of the human tragedy that had unfolded that night. Probably not!