The grim reality of Bomber Command training in WW2

[mozart]

As some of you will know I have been researching the loss of 467 Squadron RAAF Lancaster ME453 (PO-L) for many many years. Thanks to the open access of the wonderful Australian National Archives I have been able to find much information about the crew’s tragically short time with the squadron prior to their deaths, and many other leads and avenues of research.

 

 I have recently received however from the MoD the service record of my namesake, the flight engineer Max Venton:

 

 

Service records are full of abbreviations and acronyms so take a bit of experience to decipher, but one entry on Max’s had me puzzled, the one here which I’ve numbered 20:

 

 

The writing’s not completely clear but I finally arrived at Aircrew School Balderton. I found there’s an RAF Balderton research group, which has proved very useful:

 

“………it was a holding unit between the OTU/Training School and HCU. There does not appear to be any records for the unit (I have not found one in several years researching!).”

 

That fitted in well with what I already knew, Max had trained as a flight engineer at No. 4 School of Technical Training, St Athan, then presumably was sent to Balderton, thence to his Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Swinderby.  But an email today put some “flesh” on the life some of these boys endured (remember Max has spent some time in the warmth of S Rhodesia where life was “normal” and rationing unheard of):

 

“From a (sadly) anonymous letter to the family from an airman at Balderton in 1944 -

Just landed in last night and I must say that this must be the grimmest place in England. Dad says he slept up to the eyes in s--- in France, well we are living in it! The billets are corrugated iron Nissen huts, damp and cold, the lavatories are dry ones! which stink like blazes and to get a wash you have to walk across a couple of fields to the Sgts Mess (which is a fancy name for a wooden hut) and the food just about tops it all, the last place was supposed to be a Commando School but it was a paradise compared to this joint.”

 

And all of this to serve King and country, and ultimately give your life! 
 

PS I added the numbers in red for each entry because I’ll be explaining each when I put all this info into my website www.ordinarycrew.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by mozart

[BGB]

Hello,

 

Very interesting read about their living condition.

 

cheers

Boris

[mozart]

It’s NOT a Rhodesian squadron Maru; Southern Rhodesia was one of the Dominion countries along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand (also USA though clearly not part of the Empire) where aircrew could train in (relative) safety because the skies of the UK were far too dangerous. See also my other website. 

[John1]

6 hours ago, mozart said:

It’s NOT a Rhodesian squadron Maru; Southern Rhodesia was one of the Dominion countries along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand (also USA though clearly not part of the Empire) where aircrew could train in (relative) safety because the skies of the UK were far too dangerous. See also my other website. 

Fantastic website, I enjoyed reading through it.   I had no idea that the RAF conducted flight training in Rhodesia.  

Edited December 2, 2022 by John1

[mozart]

5 hours ago, John1 said:

Fantastic website, I enjoyed reading through it.   I had no idea that the RAF conducted flight training in Rhodesia.  

Thank you John, glad you enjoyed it. I tend to work during the winter evenings on my two websites, so further updates coming before too long! 

[Greif8]

Thank you for the information and all the research work you have done, and are still doing, to keep the memory alive of some very brave men.  I have just started looking through your website and it is a fantastic source of information.  My Master's Thesis paper covered Germany's nighttime air defense system's organization, functioning and operations against the nighttime air raids by Bomber Command.  In the course of researching my thesis paper I also looked at a great deal of primary and secondary source material covering Bomber Command, learning much about the organization, tactics, aircrew, aircraft and technology of that organization in the process.  More importantly my research reinforced the respect I have for those who flew in the unfriendly nighttime skies over Western Europe during WW2. 

 

Ernest

[Greif8]

A postscript to my above post Mozart.  The Dortmund-Ems Canal was the target of the subsequent mission by No. 617 Squadron after the famous "Dam Buster" raid.  That mission cost the squadron five aircraft and aircrew, not much less than the eight lost on the raid on the dams.  One the aircraft and crew lost on that mission was piloted by the Australian F/LT Les Knight (DSO) who had dropped the Upkeep that breached the Eder Dam.  During the low level attack on the Dortmund-Ems Canal his Lancaster hit a tree with its wing.  F/LT Knight was able to gain enough altitude to allow his crew to bail out; sadly, he was unable to do so and was killed in the crash.  A fate suffered by the majority of the aircrew who made up No. 617 Sqaudron when it was formed, most did not survive the war.  Very thought provoking and sad.

 

Ernest 

[mozart]

Thanks for all of that Ernest. We run on parallel lines; whilst I started researching an RAF crew I also started to look at the Nachtjager force and became fascinated by it, very brave and worthy opponents. I’ve had the privilege of meeting Peter Spoden and Rolf Ebhardt, real gentlemen and so generous in their willingness to share their experiences. 
The original “Nachtjagd War Diaries” and latest “Nachtjagd Combat Archives” by Theo Boiten and Rod Mackenzie are essential parts of my library!