Diary of Flying Officer Clifford Timothy O'Riordan, 1942-1943 - Part 2

April
Its a crime on this station to speak
to a ranker in any other way than
giving an order. Im afraid theres
no future in the Service for me.
Mon 27.  Went to the Doc about my
cough. Still a bit of bronchtis there.
Have to have ultra violet ray lamp.
A W.A.G. said to an instructor to-day
"I suppose a man will be able to
pick up one of these wireless sets
pretty cheap after the war." Someone
said to him "Youll be sick of wireless
by that time." He replied "I dont
want it to listen to - I want
to build a Shouse around one & S-T
on it for the rest of my life."
Tuesday 28.  There was a leaflet raid
over France last night. Five planes set
out & one got back - Jimmy Crockett
was in it. One crashed, another
force landed at Abingdon & the
other two have 'gone for a burton'.
Young Ben Edge± was in one of
them. Ten blokes wiped.
Wed 29.  Went into Litchfield with
Jake Kennard & Jack Harris. Both Flight
May
lieuts who have come here to be converted
to Wimpeys. Jake asked me to take care
of the guns in his crew & I agreed.
Friday 1^st.  Crewed up officially to-day. Kennard
Captain. Sgt Conlon+. bombardier, Sgt Goodent+
observer and Sgt Melson wireless & yours truly
in the tail. I. have to do circuits &
bumps with the pilot on conversion. The
others (all Aussies) are to go to Taten Hill
the satellite drome for day practice.
Saturday 2^nd  Went to Lutterworth with Jake &
Jack. Got a lift on a lorry carrying a
- huge load of flour. They climbed up first
& then it was found there was room for
one in the cab & the pilot officer rode
in state with two flight lieuts on top.
Met Jack's fiancée at the 'Hind' & then
Jake & I went to Leicester by train.
Did the pubs. Stag & pheasant first call
& Simons bar the last. London has
nothing like Simons bar. Met a bloke
just back from flying in Russia. Typical
Wodehouse type. About 6 ft 4- thin & a
high giggle. His wife did all the talking
for him. I asked him about Russia &
all I got was "Just a piece of cake

May
old boy - Just a piece of cake." We hadnt
booked in any where & a Mr & Mrs McAlister
asked me if I'd like a spare bed they had.
Snapped it up & took Jake away from
a gorgeous creature who had him in a
corner. Had a nice Supper & Mr McAlister
provided pyjamas for us. Jake took one
end of the bed & I the other.
Sunday 3.  Got back to camp just in
time. Posted to C flight. Spent
afternoon getting harness fitted & helmet
fixed with mike & oxygen mask.
Monday 4.  Flying. I was in the rear
turret with the guns ready. Jake did
three circuits with an instructor &
then went solo. I guess its hard
for the pilot on his first solo but
its a bloody side worse for the
gunner who has to wait for the
bump. Jake OK. Did two
hours & he didnt bounce me too
much.
Tuesday 5.  Three and a half hours
more of circuits & bumps. I have
the rotating surface joint moulded
in my skull after one bad one, but
May
my poor old tail is the worst. Walked
into Lichfield & back in the evening. Eight
miles all told & my corns are sore.
Story told about a sprog P/O on a Cross
Country with a red hot navigator instructor.
They got lost & came down over a town.
The instructor was foxed but Brown
counfounded him by saying "its Middlehurst".
He proved to be right but spoiled it all
by pointing out ushers brewery.
Wednesday 6.  Three more hours of day
flying & finished day conversion. Dance
in the evening at the Guild hall. Not
a bad show with tons of good looking
gals. I sprung a lot of boloney to
a credulous WAAF corporal about goanna
farms etc. I was racking my brains
for more ridiculous things to spring when
the dance finished. She would have
beleived anything. Jack Harris & I walked
home.
Thursday 7.  Got a letter from Charlie Dow
at Lossiemouth. I told him to look
up Daph Owen. It turns out that

she is the Group Captains wife!
Flew on Cross Country with F/L Davies

May
to Llandwrog in North Wales. He let
Jake & I off there for an hour & flew
to Valley. Busted a tail wheel in landing
& rang for one to be flown from Litchfield.
The [[Winco?]] bringing the wheel was forced
down at Sessions so Davies rang through
that we would have to stay at Llandwrog.
That was OK with us as Speedy Holmes
O.C. flying there is a good pal of Jakes
& wanted a party. We had it.
Adams passed first- then Jake and
I just made my bed. Speedy was
in France with the first of the fighter
boys and is just too good for us on
the beer.
Friday 8.  Colin Rose+ picked us up at 2PM
in an Anson. He was on a Cross
Country. Went up to Scotland & out
over Irish Sea. back to Wales & then
to Lichfield. Landed at 7.P.M. bloody
tired & then had to fly at 10 PM.
Jake did three circuits with the
instructor & then went solo. Its my
first experience of night flying and
is not a piece of cake at all.
Finished at 2.30 AM & got a 'flap' meal
May
& fell into bed. No duties till to-morrow
might thank God. Incidentally I thanked
him after each Touch Down & kept my little
locket of medals close handy to-night.
Its a strain looking for Jerries in the
night & waiting for the flare path to
show up & then get the wheels on
the ground. Just missed the hedge by
a couple of feet once. Jake did Eight
landings all told & is [[?]].
Saturday 9.  Jack Jake & I went to the flicks
in Lichfield in afternoon. Flying at 10 PM.
Our first machine 'N for nuts' was a bastard
and swung all over the place on take off
& listed the nose each time the flaps
went on for landing. Jake was cursing
like a trooper & the Control always
called in at the most innoportune times.
Just on take off or landing. Hell of
a lot of searchlights about & cloud at
1200. After an hour we changed
machines & got F for freddie, a much
more gentlemanly Kite. Jake makes
a great joke about the time it takes
me to get out of the machine - but
hell you cant do it fast. Unloading the

May
guns centralizing the turret, disconnecting
intercom, unlocking &. locking doors &
then stumbling along the fuselage in
the dark with a parachute in bulky
clothing that catches on every projection
is no bloody fun. My intercom
plug, gee string, brackets on helmet check
me all along the way & it is a
sorely tried man who finally climbs
down the ladder. My hands
are disgraceful. Loading guns in
the dark is impossible with gloves
on & as result I have scars all
over my hands & oil has seeped into
every pore. Still I am too beautiful.
Sunday 10.  On duty for flying till midnight.
when it was scrubbed. Got many pints
from the bar & whooped it up in a Small
way. Opened my Xmas Comforts pudding
but Jake was passed out. Listened to the
German broadcast for awhile. Dam good.
In Churchills speech to-night it looks
as if we may carry gas if the Germans
start it. I hate the idea but you cant be
nice when the other crowd play dirty.
The news of the Coral Sea battle is
May
good, but Id like to know the full score
before I feel confident that we have smashed
the Yellow bastards. Gosh Id like to
be in a large bomber stationed in the Far
East. I dont like the idea of being
bumped, but if its in the book Id like it to
happen when I was fighting for my own
particular dung hill. People over here
look on the Pacific situation as so much
news in the papers & not something that
affects the whole of civilization in the South.
Even the P.M. in his speech spent nine tenths
of his speech on the German situation & as
an afterthought mentioned Japan. To me
it seems that their menace is ten times as
great as any nazified plan. We can
understand & cope with German brutality,
but the oriental is a horse of different
colour. The German as I know him
has certain humanity - the Jap none.
He is as merciless & unscrupulous as a
plague & by his very baseness an added
terror to all who oppose him. Musnt be
under or overrated but most certainly smashed
for all time. If Australia & America does
this today future generations will bless them.

May
Monday 11.  Ground haze all day and night flying
scrubbed. Went to Goat to meet Lity+, Bill
Spanberg & Shadie. My birthday was the toast
if one was needed. Stayed at the Goat.
Tuesday 12.  Got back to Camp at 2. Stuck around
till 10. We had just got into the Aircraft
& getting the motors warmed up when a
runner came over to tell us that flying
had been cancelled. Just made the
mess before it closed. None of the
chaps beleive my age so why bother
arguing. Looking back in my diary
to my last birthday, I notice that
I said I'd be content with one more
natal day. Well I want another
one now & more after that.
I guess this is my critical year.
If I manage to get through Ops and
the lesser dangers on the ground a man
can hope for normal span. In civvie
life I never thought much about the
inevitable end, and if the cold thought
flashed through my mind, I instantly
banned it as something that one should
not consider while young and healthy.
Nowadays chaps are going daily.
May
Someone says in the mess "Did you hear that
so and so has 'gone for a burton'?" The
answer is generally "Go on! What sort of Kite
was he in" or "did he get it here or in
Germany". Probably followed by an anecdote
of what happened on the last drunken do with
the chap in London. No great grieving or
eulogies for the bloke but probably - "bad luck
he was a good egg & great beer drinker."
Perhaps that is why I can think about
such a subject without getting morbid.
Only the Almighty Knows the score, and the
theory of probabilties doesnt seem to enter
into it. Any how heres hoping that my
next birthday is a happy one in Australia.
Wednesday 13.  Still hazy, but got in the rest
of our night flying Conversion. Pretty bumpy
and you couldnt see the flare path for
more than a mile. Landed finally
at 2 am.
Friday 15.  Jake worked a 48 for us as our
crew at Taten Hill have not quite completed
their conversion. Jake set off for Wales to
see his wife and I took a bus to
Leicester arriving at 6. Stayed at Grand
Hotel and spent most of the evening

May
at Simons bar. Struck the crew of
a Liberator jugging up and got all the gen
from them. We hope to get onto Libs
after Wimpeys.
Saturday.16.  Bought myself some shoes in
the morning. In the evening struck
P/O Malcom the Liberator pilot and we took
a couple of lasses to the De Montfort for
the dance. Too crowded.
Sunday 17.  paid my bill & had 3/3 to spare.
Took a bus as far as Tamworth - (3/1) and
started to walk. The rain came down
& I had gone five miles before I got a
lift.
Mon 18.  Posted to Taten Hill and leaving
to-morrow. We do our day & night
Cross Countries there & then off to a
squadron.
Tuesday 19.  In a bus to Taten Hill.
The quarters are dispersed. About ½
mile from our rooms to the mess &
another ½ mile to flights. You have
to go to the mess for a bath or
even a wash. Pretty informal
atmosphere & no penguins about.
May
Tuesday 19 Wednesday 20  First flight with complete crew.
take off 9.30 am & landed at 2 PM. Lunch & then
up again from 3.30 P.M. till 8.30. On the
second trip we went over the isle of man &
then to the irish coast. Coming away from
Eire the sun was shining & not a cloud in
the sky. It was a beautiful sight.
Had supper & went straight to bed. My
poor old tail feels as though everyone in
England had had a Kick at it.
Thursday. 21.  No flying in morning on account
of haze. Bomb dropping exercise in afternoon.
Harmonized the Guns.
Friday 22.  Cross Country trip with
bombing exercise. Port engine started to
cut badly over the Irish sea. The tail
would swing as though hit by a shell
burst each time to motor cut. Limped
into Anglesea & made a landing at
Valley at 10.P.M. Treated magnificently
at Mess. Eggs & bacon for supper.
Saturday 23.  Weather closed right in &
have to stay. Went to Ops room in
the morning and was just leaving when
a flap started. An 88 crossed over the
isle of man doing 350 and climbing.

May.
A scramble at the Station and we watched
his progress on the board and the
following fighters. He went right down
the English Coast before they lost him.
Most exciting. I was listening in
on the TR9 & heard a most affected voice
ask "O" for Orange calling Control - are
there any customers for me?" Control
answered "Sorry O' for Orange none for you."
"Pitch pitch!" (pity! pity:)
In the evening we had some
beer with Sam Burfitt.
Sunday 24.  Left Valley at 11 AM and
got to base at 12. lovely weather &
enjoyed it immensely. Chased by a
Spit at Llandudno. On arriving
back informed that. Im to join a
new crew temporarily for operations.
Monday 25.  Checking gear and harmonizing
the Guns. lousy day with wind
and rain. Wander what my feelings
will be on my first war flight. Hope
to God I give a good account of myself
Anyhow. I am in the front turret
and a scottish chap in the rear. He
seems a nice guy.
May
Tuesday. 26.  Pulled out of bed at 3.30 AM for test flight.
Airborne at 6. and down at 9.15. The sun was
in my eyes nearly all the time & it was dam
hard to keep awake. Richardson the Sgt pilot
seems to know his job & the rest of the crew
except myself are 'screens'. Spent the morning
harmonizing the guns & changing the 'ammo'
to night stuff. After lunch found that our
Kite 'Q' for Queenie was u/s as it chewed too
much oil and we were changed to Z for zebra.
All the work of harmonizing etc to do over
again. Raining like hell & on my way back
to my room at 4 PM did a beautiful fall
from my bike into the mud. Had a
snooze & woke up at 9. so went to
bed again.
Wednesday 27.  Over to Tradley for bombing up
& briefing. Rather discouraging information.
re night fighters from W/Cmd Jackson but a
silver lining from Davies. Dont quite
know what the 'flap' is all about. I was
ready for to-night but they sent us back
to Taten by bus & we are going back
to-morrow. Wish I had the opportunity
of seeing a priest first - but thats out as
everyone is confined to camp.

May.
Thursday 28th  Spent day between Taten
and Fradley. Still dont know where
or when were going. Did an hours
trip with full bomb load up. No
trouble in getting off the ground. This
waiting rather a strain.
Friday 29^th  Still no word from H.Q.
Feel that this is just an exercise to
see how many Kites they can get in the
air when needed for an invasion of the
continent or else a routine flap from
Bomber Command.
Saturday 30^th  Over to Fradley at 2 PM. The
G.C. came in & told us that our target
for to-night is Cologne. Though hammered
time & again this vital war industries
City still functions. It is the intent
of the R.A.F. to finish it in a
single raid. Over a thousand aircraft
to bomb the target. Fighter Command
& Coastal to co-operate.
I remembered Cologne when I was
there five years ago. A beautiful
City with the finest Cathedral in
Europe. I recalled being in a
little wine house on the Rhine
May
drinking & singing with German boys & girls.
Now I was to be in a crew that would
help destroy it. War is a horrible thing.
We were issued with our rations - given the
route - and told not to bomb under 9000.
The rest was left to us. Ill admit
now that as wee took off at 10.30P.M untill
we touched down at 4 A.M, that I was
rottenly scared. Its a sickening feeling
fear and makes the job harder.
We got over the coast in about an hour
and climbed to 10000 ft. At that height the
oxygen was switched on & it was pretty
cold. I was in the front turret - Marston
in the rear. From this point my eyes were
constantly straining the dark for night
fighters laying in wait for us. I
saw Wellingtons, Hampdens and Stirlings at
different times & on each occasion thought
there were Jerries until we got a closer
look. Crossing the Dutch Coast we saw
flak on either side of us and ahead but
none directly in our path. After an
hour we saw our target. The fires had
started and the searchlights ringed the
sky. The whole of the ground was

May
one mass of flame. It was ten
minutes after zero hour that we made
our run across the target. The fires,
the searchlights & the full moon made
it as bright as day. We dropped
our bombs on our pin point and nosed
away. At that moment it caught
us. Bump! bump! bump: right underneath
us. My inter com was n/s as
the plane lifted heeled over & went into
a screaming dive. Twice again the
shells burned us. I thought we were
going straight into the ground. I said
a quick prayer and held on. No use
trying to get out of the front turret
in that sort of dive. Then the
ship miraculously flattened out & the
skippers voice came over the inter-com.
"All Ok boys". Each man answered
and we weaved & dived our way out of
the flak. In about ten minutes
time we were over some town. We
never saw it, but the A.A. Guns
predicted us & opened up. Crump! crump!
crump! All around, above & under us.
We weaved, dived, climbed and
May
somehow got out of it. A Wellington
behind us was caught and exploded in
the air. Probably still had his bombs.
We crossed the Dutch Coast at 1000 ft
and skittled for home. We landed
at 4.10 AM. Straight to Intelligence
where we gave our account of the raid.
Cocoa was served & a cigarette tasted
grand. All the crews retured safely at our
station. Hewitt came home on one engine
& dropped his prop on the runway.
As I was leaving for breakfast. Jackson
the C.I. told me we had to report at 4.P.M.
again for another little jaunt. Went
out and had a lok look at the
Kite. Saw small holes in the wings
was the total damage. Got to bed
at 8. AM.
Sunday 31.  Out of bed at 3.45 PM. and over
to Tradley by 4.30. We went to briefing
& told our target for to-night is Hamburg.
Still tougher than Cologne with 350 miles
of sea to cross. A message came
through & the G.C. announced that
the raid to-night was posponed on account
of the weather. I felt immense releif.

June
One nights rest would make all the difference.
Back to Taten & after tea I went to
Burton & had confession at the Dominican
Church. Felt a hell of a lot better
for the next trip.
Monday 1st  Over to Fradley at 2.P.M for
briefing. Essen the target. Another

four figure raid. Set course at
dusk & climbed to 12000. Saw flak over
Dutch Coast but none near us. An ME 110
approached us but didnt come in. It
was extraordinarily peaceful over the
target. The flak didnt compare with
Cologne. Coming away we got caught
by searchlights. Ducked, weaved, & dived
but couldnt shake them. They brought
us from 9000 ft almost to the deck, pumping
light flak at us all the time. The
Navigator was pumping oil, the W.O.P was
standing by the pilot telling him how
much height we had, the rear gunner
& I were blazing away at the searchlights
- (put some of them out) and a fighter
was on our tail, when a flak ship
opened up on us & scored a direct
hit. I had to swing my turret
June
from the lights to the AA battery but found
that a turret door was jammed with the
fuselage. The other one had gone! We
got back at an altitude of 20 ft over
the water. Bits of [[Geoded?]] had
been flying round inside the plane
where the Cannon Shell had hit.
The navigators table, chair & maps
were riddled. The hydraulic tank above
the wireless set was pierced.( the W.O.P
plugged it with chewing gum. The
bullet which took my turret door had
scored along the edge of the fuselage.
Feet of fabric. torn from the side
& six of the signal cartridges were
scored along the brassheads. Who
doesnt beleive in miracles?
Tuesday 2.  Slept till 3.P.M. and then to
Fradley. Met Jack O'Halloran+ and we
went to the Goats Head & backed races for
hours. Jack is a Tamworth Solicitor &
threw in the piping days of peace.
Wednesday 3. Down to Western Zeeland
for Air firing. Got off six thousand rounds
all told. Landed at 11.30 P.M. No
rest for the wicked. On again at 9 30.