Remembering 1942

Bomber Command and 460 Squadron, 15 November 1942

Dr Daniel OakmanDr Daniel Oakman

Presented by Dr Daniel Oakman on Friday 15 November 2002 beside the Roll of Honour at the Memorial. (AWM PASU0178)

Download the talk - 11:33 min (2.7 Mb Mp3)

Transcript

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Australian War Memorial. I'm Daniel Oakman and I work as a historian in the Memorial's Military History section. Throughout this year, the Memorial has been conducting a program of short Roll of Honour talks to commemorate the many important events and anniversaries of the Second World War. Today I will be talking to you about the Australians who served in Bomber Command over Europe and, in particular, the famous 460 squadron.

460 squadron achieved many milestones in Australian military history. It sent more Lancaster on operations and dropped a greater tonnage of bombs than any other squadron in Bomber Command. These milestones were achieved at great cost. Of the 3,500 Australians who died in Bomber Command in the Second World War, 589 of them were members of 460 squadron and they are recorded here on the Memorial's Roll of Honour.

Sixty-one years ago today the quiet atmosphere of Molesworth, England, gave way to the energy and bustle of newly arrived Australian airmen posted to 460 squadron. This squadron quickly became the largest and most prominent of the three Australian Squadrons to fly in Bomber Command. In fact, by April 1942 when 455 squadron was transferred to Coastal Command and 458 squadron moved to the Middle East, 460 was the only squadron left carrying the Australian name.

The Squadron's operational history began modestly with five crews participating in a raid on Emden on 12 March 1942. All returned safely that night, but 460s first casualties came before operations had even commenced when 24-year old Sergeant John Henry Ware, a Bank officer from Annanadale, and his crew were killed after crashing into a hillside on a night training flight.1 That these deaths were the result of an accident and not from enemy fighters, anti-aircraft fire or from a collision with another bomber is a testament to just how dangerous life in Bomber Command was.

A bomber crew was required to fly a tour of 30 operations before being posted to so called "less hazardous duties", such as training new pilots. At times, casualties in Bomber Command were so high that a crew had only a 50 per cent chance of surviving one tour. On average, 460 lost 4 per cent of her crew on each operation. At first glance, that number might seem low, but over the course of a full tour, it meant that crewmembers had only a 40 per cent chance of surviving. Skill and experience were important factors in helping a crew survive, but most important of all was luck. Some men and machines were considered luckier than others. G for George was 460 squadron's luckiest and most famous Lancaster. Despite being holed by flak 10 times on its first 30 raids, it survived 90 operations and is currently being restored at the Memorial's Mitchell Annexe. The cockpit can be seen in ANZAC Hall, and towards the end of next year the entire aircraft will be returned to display as part of an exhibition on the air war in Europe.

Early in the air war, attacks were mounted against German targets protected by a well organised German fighter and anti-aircraft defence networks. In the space of three months, 460 Squadron lost twenty Wellingtons with most of their crews. In October 1942, the Squadron re-equipped with Lancasters. The sense of relief among the men and women of the squadron was palpable. Powerful and able to deliver a much greater quantity of bombs, the Lancaster was regarded as the most outstanding bomber of the war.

Lancaster operations began in November 1942 with the majority of missions being flown against heavily defended targets in the Ruhr Valley and Berlin. During the Spring offensive in 1943 460 Squadron participated in the devastating raids on Hamburg - which created a firestorm of unprecedented intensity. As 460s Sergeant Lamb described it: "I was fascinated by the awesome and amazing spectacle. As far as I could see was one mass of fire. "A sea of flame" is an understatement. It was so bright I could read the target maps and adjust the bomb-sight".2 The firestorms of Hamburg demonstrated Bomber Commands' capacity to reap massive and total destruction. For some aircrew the force they could unleash stiffened their resolve to help end the war quickly. For others, they began to question of morality of area bombing.

The Hamburg raids were followed by attacks on sites scattered throughout Germany and Italy, on Remscheid, Nuremburg, Mannheim, Turin and Milan. On the Milan raids 460 Squadron became the first to fly 1,000 sorties in Lancasters. The campaign to cripple Berlin began in earnest in November 1943 and continued until March 1944. The German's defended Berlin fiercely and their determination took its toll on 460 Squadron, with over 250 airmen killed in that period.

At a time when the airmen of 460 Squadron were called upon to make great sacrifices they drew inspiration from their Australian Station Commander, Group Captain Hughie Edwards, the first airman to win the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order and Distinguished Flying Cross in the Second World War. Under Edwards' command 460 squadron achieved a supurb operational record, with fewer abortive sorties than any other squadron in Bomber Command. This was not only a tribute to the flying crews, but also ground crews who worked tirelessly to keep the aircraft flying and working at maximum strength.

Women, too, made a vital contribution to Bomber Command and were a constant presence in the lives of aircrew in 460 squadron. British WAAFs often handed the men their parachutes, drove them to their aircraft, waved them off, and talked them home over the radio. And they were there to help men on their return to base whose hands sometimes shook so much they were unable to sign their reports.

Of course, the greatest dangers came over the target area, but not always from German defences. To illustrate the point I will tell you of one particular operation. Pilot Officer Bill Brill, the first member of the Squadron to be decorated, was one of 460s most skilled pilots. During one operation over Berlin in the Lancaster R for Roger, one engine lost power which meant the Brill was flying lower than normal. Just as the bombs were released the Lancaster felt like it had been hit in several places. Brill thought it was flak – in fact another Lancaster flying above them had released its incendiaries on them. At least seven hit the aircraft, with one penetrating the perspex nose of the plane. The bomb-aimer, Bill McMahon, picked up the bomb and threw it straight back out again. Another bomb destroyed the aircraft's electrical systems, severed rudder control and jammed the rear gunner's escape hatch. Flames stretched from the port wing past the tail. Brill told the crew to prepare to bail out and put the plane into a steep dive in an attempt to blow the flames out. McMahon and the navigator sat with their legs hanging out the front hatch and stared down at what must have looked like an active volcano. Naturally, neither man was eager to jump. Brill told the rear gunner, who was still trapped, that he would stick with the plane until he could be freed. As luck would have it the fire died down and Brill levelled off. But now the Lancaster was down to 14,000 feet, they didn't know where they were or where they were heading. Freezing wind streamed through the bomb holes and damaged hatches. One crew member had passed out from lack of oxygen and another was vomiting. How the pilot continued, no one really knew, but they landed after a nine-hour flight. On the same operation, 33 other Lancasters were lost – 231 men. In Berlin about 700 were killed and 20,000 had their homes destroyed. One crew member wrote home the next day: "Dear Dad, Phew! Have I got some news for you".3 Brill and the crew of R for Roger survived the war.

Even those who made it back to England and neared their runways were not safe. Sometimes German fighters followed bombers home looking for easy targets and tired crews coming into land. But, more often than not the greatest enemy in England was the weather. Low cloud often swept in from the North Sea and settled across the airfields. On 16 December 1943, 460s Francis Randall and his crew were returning also from a raid on Berlin. Unable to find his airfield in thick fog he radioed that he come in so low that he had clipped a tree. His crew later started firing tracer cartridges in the hope that the watchtower might see them. But Randall crashed ten miles south of the runaway, detonated an ammunition dump, killing everyone on board. Randall lived long enough to learn that he had been awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross, but not long enough to collect it. Randall was a science student from the University of Sydney. He was 21 when he died.4

By the end of the Berlin raids the D-Day invasions were about to commence. 460 played a crucial role in bombing targets associate with the impending invasion, attacking marshalling yards, railway centres, ammunition dumps and gun emplacements. They continued to bomb German industrial centres and in support of the advancing Allied armies. 460 Squadron flew its last mission in April 1945 when twenty Lancasters destroyed Hitler's mountain retreat at Berchtesgarden. Following Germany's surrender, they flew Allied POWs from Germany and dropped food to starving civilians in Holland, finally disbanding on 2 October 1945.

Australian aircrew – particularly in 460 Squadron – were in greater danger of being killed in combat than men serving in any Australian army battalions. To "Press on Regardless" was the unofficial motto of Bomber Command and persistence was the most desirable quality a bomber crew could possess. The crews of 460 squadron pressed on in the face of terrifying danger and enormous loss – today we remember them.

References

  1. P. Firkin, Strike and Return: the story of the exploits of No.460 R.A.A.F. Heavy Bomber Squadron, R.A.F. Bomber Command in the World War, Perth: Paterson Brokensha, 1964, pp. 17-18
  2. M. Middlebrook, The Battle of Hamburg: The Firestorm Raid, London: Penguin Books, 1984, pp. 243-45.
  3. H. Nelson, Chased by the Sun: Courageous Australians in Bomber Command in World War II, Sydney: ABC Books, 2002, pp. 160-61
  4. Nelson, Chased by the Sun, pp. 224.