Free The Diary of a RAF Lancaster Bomber Pilot by Les Joy Page B

back to Nova Scotia. Hitch-hiked our way across the USA back via NYC, on to Moncton and ending up at Halifax. A French Liner (the Isle de France) had been commandeered to sail us back to England to begin our RAF active service. However, unlike the QE the Isle de France wasn’t fast and therefore couldn’t outrun the Nazi U-Boats. So, instead we had to head South into the South Atlantic and then across East to come up via the Bay of Biscay. It was a hellish trip of over two weeks with heavy swells and the boat pitching and rolling (no giros). You can believe me when I say that 95% of the personnel ended up violently seasick.
Eventually we disembarked and were posted to a holding unit in Harrogate. By now the RAF had acquired a surplus of trained pilots so in June we were shunted up to Perth in Scotland.
    Just before my posting to Perth, in May 1944, I married Elsie whilst on leave from Harrogate. She was the other love of my life (Elsie and the Tiger Moth) and we were both keen to be married before I went to Scotland and onto “operations” at some point in the near future. We had 62 years of wonderful married life until she died in December 2006.
    Our Wedding Day in May 1944 In June 1944 we arrived at Perth at the pre Advanced Flying Unit (pAFU) and I was back with my old friend the DH82A Tiger Moth. We were ferrying ‘surplus’ navigators on map reading exercises.
    L Joy Log book entry
At pAFU Perth, Scotland
Flying hours on DH82A Tiger Moths June 1944
Daytime = Dual 5hrs Solo 19hrs Total = 24hrs
In August we were back again in the Moths at 28 EFTS Wolverhampton. This was mainly doing some aerobatics and getting plenty of real flying time under our belts.
    L Joy Log book entry
At 28 EFTS Wolverhampton, England Flying hours on DH82A Tiger Moths August 1944
Daytime = Dual 16hrs Solo 19hrs Night time = Dual 1hr Solo 0hrs Total = 36hrs
    In October of 1944, owing to the continuing surplus of RAF Pilots we were sent on a Flight Engineers Course to No4 School of Technical Training (S.of.TT) at St Athan in South Wales. This proved to be very interesting and useful as we were then not only qualified Pilots but also Qualified Flight Engineers too. This was another string to our bow; because of the Pilot surplus we were keen to learn new skills whilst we were waiting to get into operational service. Operational Service
    My call came in November of 1944 and I was immediately posted to No.1667 H.C.U (Heavy Conversion Unit) at Sandtoft near Doncaster. Here I flew in Halifaxs and Lancasters as 2 nd pilot / Flight Engineer. We were quickly crewed up and I found myself with an all Australian crew. It was War time, I was fully trained as a Pilot and the whole crew were also now fully trained in their particular area. The entire crew immediately got on really well together and there was a great feeling of camaraderie. It was important to establish trust which we did quickly and that later proved vital when we were posted to Squadron on operations.
    L Joy Log book entry
At HCU Sandtoft, England
November 1944 to January 1945 Flying hours on Handley Page Halifax Night time passenger = 12hrs
    Flying hours on Avro Lancaster Daytime = 2 nd Pilot = 29hrs Night time = 2 nd Pilot 19hrs
Total = 60hrs
     
Avro Lancaster
     
.
     
Our Squadron (460)
    At the end of a cold January in 1945 we were posted as a crew to the (all Australian) 460 Squadron at RA F Binbrook, Lincolnshire for operations on Lancasters. I was one of only a handful of British born crew.
The photo of our crew was taken shortly after we arrived on the station in deep snow, I’m sure the Australians weren’t used to such harsh winters.
    From the left…. Norman Small: Bomb Aimer, Carl Johnson: Navigator, Kevin Quinn: Wireless/Operator, Me: 2 nd Pilot/Flight Engineer, Murray Nottle: 1 st Pilot, Harold Brown: Mid Upper Gunner, Roy Rogers: Rear Gunner
460 Squadron Binbrook – January 1945
    In February 1945 we were now on Squadron flying Bombing Operations over Germany, and crews