Diary of Flying Officer Clifford Timothy O'Riordan, 1942-1943 - Part 3
June
Thursday 4th Waiting all day for a machine
that was serviceable. The heat wave
has made nearly all the turrets u/s.
Friday 5th Sin hour cross country. Ilse
of man, Isle of Aran, Ailsa Craig, Kennard
Head & down Scotland to Cottesmore - home.
Jake did some plain & fancy low flying
in the Scottish Hills. Like driving in
a car with mountains all above you.
Saturday 6th Saw Mick Dan at the
swimming pool in the afternoon. He
tells me that Bill Sponberg & Fitzgerald
got it at Essen. Three of the
crews that went from Fradley in the
last month got it in that show.
Doug Richards+ is also missing.
He was on Coastal Command with
the Dans. Did a three
and half hour Cross Country at night.
Bumpy as hell & no visibility.
Sunday 7. Cloudy day but clear at
night. Did a five hour Cross Country
with bombing, landing at 4AM.
Jakes wife has finally produced the
first child & he is anxious to see
it but not a chance yet.
June
Monday 8th Saw Joe Levett in the crew room &
he showed me a letter he just got from
Col Shade at 460 Squadron. Ken Aird+ &
crew crashed & burnt. Only a fortnight
since I said so. long to Ken. It
makes it no easier when you see intimate
friends like him go. Hope his wife
and kids are taken care of. Also
heard that Pat Danaghy+ is missing.
Bert Linkler is in hospital after
a crash at Fradley & Phil Woodhouse
was in another one when force landing
at Abinghon. He broke his hip &
had his big toe amputated. It
always seems to come like that. One
goes, & in no time there are four or
five of your cobbers have gone for a burton.
We were just starting on the main
runway to-night when a line blew. If
it had happened a minute later I
should probably be either in hospital
or Killed by now. Fortunately
we were just taxying & she settled
down. I am more certain than
ever that I have someone looking after
me. Those three hail marys while
June.
going down the runway did the trick.
We were taken by transport to
another machine while ours was shifted
from the plane path. At 1.30 AM after
two and a quarter hours working, the
ground crew still hadnt shifted it
& the flying detail was scrambled.
The crew in 'W for william' were
waiting to take off behind us & stayed
in their Kite the whole time. Had
a good supper.
Tuesday 9th Sin hour Cross Country. Landed
at 5.AM. Rather uninteresting trip, mostly
over the Irish Sea.
Wednesday 10. Another sin hour night trip.
Bombing at Carnoch. Hear that Blunt+
who was captain of a crew that left here
a couple of weeks ago is missing. Jack
Muddle was with him as rear gunner but
got switched at the last minute.
Thursday 11. Another all night trip. Very
cold in the turret & thoroughly browned off.
Friday 12. Flying scrubbed on account of weather
at 10.P.M. Got to mess in time for some
beer & had our night flying supper. Glad
of a rest for a change.
June
Saturday 13. Heavy cloud & thunderstorms over the
sea. Flying scrubbed at 11.P.M.
Sunday 14. Communion in morning. Went with
Wing Commander Duffan for drinks to Mrs
Con's home before lunch. Lovely home.
Met an Miss Copland, a Sydney girl.
Dinky weather. Got settled in Kite at
11 PM with motors running when a message
came though on the TRG that flying was
scrubbed. Marvellous. I could have told
them at five that even birds were walking.
Monday 15. Sin hours Cross Country. landed
5.10.AM.
Tuesday. 16. finished night Cross Country
but another flap on. Over to Fradley.
Wednesday 24 Tested old Kite. not so hot.
at 10.30. put in to take off for Bremler.
port engine rev counter u/s. had to change
planes at last minute. Got off around
midnight. Last on target. Gave a
Junkers a. squirt. Tons of flak.
hit a couple of times. The 110 went
under us on way home. Didn't get
a shot in. We must have been
out of ammo. Broad daylight over
North Sea. Landed 6.30. Lant+ & crew
missing.
July
Thursday 25. Awakened by Tanmoy at 4.P.M.
All Air Crew on Ops off till 9 AM tomorrow.
Went into Lichfield & had some pots at
Goats Head. Later to the South Staffs
Hunt Club ball. Not so hot. Too
many chaps in formal Kit. Spurs
& accent and all. Lamb & Crew missing.
Friday 26 Briefing at 2.P.M. Message
through from Group that show was
cancelled. I am glad. I want Ops
machines to go on.
Saturday 27. Getting clearance, fined.
Douglas, Padre Harrocks & self walked to
Bulls Head. Am posted to 12. Squadron.
Sunday 28. Still getting cleared. Have
until 7th July leave. Whoopee.
Monday 29. Caught 11. train for London
arrive at 3.30. Booked in at Waldorf.
Tuesday. 30. Went with Dinon of the
hawk to El Vinos. Grand spot in Fleet
St. In evening took Keith
Douglas & Bruce Munrath to 400 club.
Wednesday 1st Met Charlie Dow. He's
A.W.L. & in pretty bad shape. Tried
to talk him into going back that
night. Went to Mirandas Club.
July
Thursday. 2. Met an observer in the Regent
& he told me that Wally Hutchinson & Bob
Braithwaite had bought it. Met
Triggs & Badham at Australia House. Rumour
everywhere that I was killed in a Blenheim
- a Sergeant of the same name has been Killed &
so the rumour spreads. Met Mr & Mrs
Dinon & the crowd of us went to
the Cage Anglais.
Friday. 3 Struck Lous Landy & had a
few beers with him. Went to
see 'Cronie Hart' a scream.
Saturday. 4 Went to Margaret Fosters
wedding. Swell do. Reception at the
Rembrant. Feeling the strain of
leave.
Sunday 5. Went to Church & rested till
lunch time. Went to 'My favourite
blonde later. Best wisecrack "Shoot
me the cupid stupid.'
Monday 6. Met Sam Allen in street.
He is convalescing. Had a bullet through
his face from an '88'. Having a swell
time. Being entertained by Lady Dewar.
Went to 'Chez Moi' & then to Studio
Club in Knightsbridge.
July
Tuesday. 7. Caught afternoon train for
Binbrook. Arr. 10.30. Peace time station
& even [[?]]. Saw Jake & Stan.
Wednesday 8. Drew electrically heated
clothes & lots more equipment.
Thursday 9. Hear that we might be
sent to 103 Squadron to go on four
engine stuff. Suits me. Talking to
the boys before they took off. Bruce
Morton now has eight up.
Friday 10. Heard that Morton got
shot up by Cannon shell in leg, but
got back OK & is in hospital. Had
a look at his Kite & its full of holes.
Saturday 11. Went to Grunsky with
Jake & Stan. Going to 103 by MT
to-morrow.
Sunday 12. Pay transport to Elsham
dispenser station not comfortable. We
will have to convert to the new
machines. Ron & Spike posted to
460. dam shame to lose them.
Monday 13. Went for a flip in a Wimp
to see Country. Jake has developed a
yen for low flying and went a bit
too close to the water once or twice for
July
my liking. Met G/C. Constantine, brother
of Daphne. Seems a good egg. Funny how
you run into people.
Tuesday 14. Had first trip in a Halifax.
Sq/Ldr Holdford flying. Like everything about
them. Got a ring from Jim Crockett
at tea & met him & went to Brigg
for a beer-up. Great seeing my old mate
again. Tells me that the new bomber
command word is 'flak happy'. Wander
no one thought of it before.
Wednesday 15. Spent morning on ground instruction
on the B.P. turret. All the rest of
the Squadron have been at Marston Ardor
for Conversion & our crew are going to do
ours at Elsham. Foreman is a gunman
on the turrets. Circuits & bumps in
afternoon. Not too comfortable. These
aircraft swing like hell on take off & on
one occasion we went right off the
runway at almost a right angle &
finished up just before a ditch. Got
a lot of shaking. Later found my
turret doors jammed & had to get help to
get out. so I must have given them a
hell of a belt during our career across
July
the field. The old three hail mary's
at the beginning of the runway did
the trick again.
Thursday 16. Flying all morning and
afternoon with Jake doing solo. In
evening I'm in rear turret while the
Group Captain & then W/O Fulford do
circuits and bumps for three hours.
They must think Ive made a bloody
nest in the dam thing.
Friday 17. Flying in afternoon. In evening
went with Jim Crockett to Barff and
had a couple of beers. Met an Army
Captain & had a nightcap at his mess
& then walked home. Sin miles!
Saturday 18. Cold & raining. Heard that
Bruce Morton got a gong for his last
effort at Emden. No flying so
bludged off & wrote a letter to Niki.
Sunday 19. Chap from Group down at
Station. Wants me to go to 460 the
All Aussie Squadron. Bags of promotion
there he tells me - but I've heard theres
not much future. Told him I'd think
it over. Talked it over with Jake
& he doesnt want to lose me.
July
Told me however that its up to me entirely.
Flew in afternoon. Pretty duff weather.
Monday 20. More circuits and bumps with
Jake. He flies it well, though I think he
takes too many liberties with such a big
Kite low down.. Over Germany I
cant get enough aerobatic stuff, but Im
not so keen on it over England when
it is not necessary.
Tuesday 21. Been a bit crook in the guts
with diahorrhea the last couple of days.
Think its the water. A porting came
through from Group for me but the
Wing Commander Du Barlay had it squashed.
Aren't I the popular boy!
Wednesday 22. Finished with the Conversion
flight & transferred to the Squadron.
S/ldr Fon our boss & a nice bloke. Got
our new Kite. 'A' for apple. Had a flip.
Thursday 23. Jake has had a sign that
he pinched from a country lane screwed
on the fuselage. It read "Old Shambles"
and adds a touch of decoration and
subtracts a couple of miles an hour
from the Kite. Our new crew
are Sgt Lucas, wireless operator, Sgt Hynan
July
a West Indian, black as Rin night &
a dam fine chap front gunner, Sgt
Somerset our engineer and Sgt Gold Spints
our extra gunner. Seem a good bunch,
though you cant tell a word that
Somerset is saying over the inter com as
he has the broadest Irish accent Ive
ever heard.
Friday 24. Cross Country and bombing
with Crew. 'Pony' Hynan is a humorist
and gentleman. With even the ingrown
prejudice of Australians to coloured people
its remarkable how you forget that he
is anything but an Aussie or Yank. That
sounds bloody & is not what I mean.
He is such that, when we were 'bulling'
in a friendly way about England and
Australia, someone said- "well the black
troops - (meaning Australians) - are no good
anyhow" - nobody thought about Pony being
as dark as night.
Went to Samthorpe in evening with
Jim C.
Saturday 25. Bags of flap. Briefing for
Op at 2.P.M. Found that we're down for
a sea search in the North Sea for
July.
a dinghy. Off at 3.P.M. and did a square
search. Didn't see a thing although vis'
was excellent. No fighters, no nothin'. Crossed
3o East, so it may count as an Op. Got
a bit lost coming home as [[?]] didnt
function. Went over Yorkshire & stooged
around till we got a gin. Landed at
10.30. Bloody tired.
Sunday 26. Sin & ½ hour Cross Country over
England, Scotland & Wales. Lovely scenery but
too tired to enjoy it. I'm afraid Im a bit
too conscientious & cant take pleasure runs.
Maybe its that Im too much aware of the
occasional Jerrie that may come through the
clouds. Maybe wind up. Landed at 6.30PM.
Off again at 11.P.M. on three hours bombing
trip at Goall.
Monday 27. Spent whole morning harmonizing
guns on A for apple. Jim Crockett came
out & helped me. Gold Spints was off seeing
his wife. Right after lunch had an
air firing practice, with co-operation from
Binbrook. Guns all to. hell. Coming
back we saw an aircraft burning about
five miles from Binbrook. Looked like
a big one & we circled it a couple of
July
times. The fire engines etc were there
but were keeping a safe distance. I
said to Jake over the inter com. "Thats what
you get for doing vertical banks close
to the ground." He immediately swung
the old Kite into all sorts of manouvres.
When we landed we found that it was
one of our own Kites & that the whole
thing happened when the pilot was doing
some steep turns & just slipped in.
Seven good men charred to a cinder..
Tuesday 28. Ops! Briefing at 5PM. Target
Hamburg. (Called Chopburg by the boys, because
thats the place where most of them get the
Chopper.) Five Crews going & we
are one of them although we were the
last to start Conversion. Heres hoping!
12.30 AM same date. Duff weather. Got as far as
the runways and a red flare went up
which called us back. Cant say Im
sorry.
Wednesday 29. Air test and standing by
but no briefing. Tested my guns into
the ground & got ticked off by Sq/Ldr
Fon. Bloody awful waiting.
July
Thursday 30. Down to Briefing at 6.P.M.
Jake tells me that Im posted to 460.
Anyhow, here for this show. Target
Dusseldorf. Goodwood effort. Bomber up
with boots for the beginners. Took off
12.45. AM. Met' says duff weather on
return so am careful of my Chute &
harness. Grand vis' on way out. Bags
of flak near Dutch Coast, but nowhere near
us & Stan had a perfect fin. Kept telling
Jake to weave. Perfect night for fighters,
but saw none till right on target.
Large fires & more searchlights than
Ive ever seen in my short experience -
200 at least. No trouble seeing
the target. The bend in the river stood
out a mile. Made a perfect
run with nothing to bother us.
Flak was all around us, but nowhere near
us. Grand stand view. Saw a fw190
about 400 yds away, crossing from port to
starbord. Didn't trouble him as he
didnt seem to have seen us. Diving
away from the target from 12000, the
searchlights got us. The master
light came on & then a dozen more
July
and I felt as naked as a man in a
dream, walking down Pitt St without his
trousers. With the lights came
the light flak. Jake put her into
a vertical dive with full boost. After
about 30 seconds - it seemed minutes,
he flattened out & after a couple of more
'jurks' we lost the master light &
were one our way. We must have
been clocking about 200 at the time.
Saw an aircraft approaching with
what looked like a searchlight & got
it in my sights, looking in the opposite
direction whenever I could. Its an old
trick of theirs, one plane shines a
light on you & another attacks from
the other side. Anyhow this light
acted rather funny, & suddenly it became
a flare. It was an aircraft on
fire & went down in a huge blaze
When it hit the deck, the sparks
must have come up two hundred feet.
We were down to about four
thousand at this time & still diving.
I saw another plane catch on fire
a couple of miles from us & crash.
July
We went like a bat out of hell for
the Coast & missed trouble till we
reached the small island just off the
Dutch Coast. We were at chimney
top level, with Pony telling Jake where
there were windmills & so on when
a Searchlight caught us & a flak
battery opened up. We must have
been tracking about 280 at the time
but the flak just came above, below
in front & behind us. Those
blue & yellow balls of fire coming at
you, & sometimes hitting the
aircraft, are in my opinion the
worst part of ones job. You know
that the gunners have only to correct
their deflection & youve had it. By
pure reaction I fired in the direction
of the shells. We had no height
to dive or spin. Felt the plane
lift & thought that was it but
she carried on & soon we were
over the water at wave height &
Jake was asking for coffee. Felt good.
Landed last, & found that port outer
boat was hold in three places. Ok.
August
Friday 31. In bed till 430.P.M. Round
to flights. Duff weather & no ops. OK by
me. Stan Morey & I went by bus into
Scunthorpe. Quite a town. Went to the
Berkely Hotel. Stan danced & I held up the
bar.
Saturday 1st Got up around 11.A.M. Just in
time to see a nasty crash. One of
our Conversion flight machines on a
height test with two Crews aboard
crashed just off the drome. Thirteen
men wiped just like that. That makes
twenty in a week from Squadron.
Getting clearances. Went into
Scunthorpe on the bus with Jim Crocket.
Sunday 2. The rest of the crew have gone
on leave. Im still getting clearances
etc. Went to the village with Jim.
Monday 3 While still waiting for clearance
chits was offered a ride to Holme, just
near Breighton. Grabbed a bag of necessities
& Squadron Leader Fon, our flight Commander
promised to fin the rest & flying
luggage down there. Got to 400 around 5PM.
Saw the W/C & he told me that I can
go on leave until the 10th when the course
August
starts at Boulton Pauls Factory. Fair enough.
Tuesday 4. Luggage not here from Elsham so set
off for York with small dilly bag. Stayed
night at Station Inn.
Wednesday 5. Caught train to town arriving
at 2.30. All pubs full. Went Aust House
& got fired up at Club for officers in Grovenor
St. Went to Bristol Grill in evening
& met George Hersh. P.O.W. He's going on a C.G.S.
course. Still writing his great novel which
Charlie Dow assurred me stank, but anyhow
it keeps him out of trouble.
Thur. 6. Saw Dickson of the Nat. Bank of 'Asa. A
fine bloke. had a couple of beers with him
at El Vino's in the Stand. Met Smithy
for Supper & went to the 400 Club later.
Friday 7. Went to 'The big Top' - a grand
show. Bee xxxx Lillie a perfect artist.
At half time I went along & said hello to
Cyril Richard, who opened a couple of bottles
of beer. Went to Lords Cricket
Ground & met Smithy & downed a few.
Sat 8. Having a shorty at the Trocadero
& got into conversation with a spitfire
pilot who had had half his face shot
off by a TW190. Cheery bloke,
& knew Tom Allen.
August
Sunday 9. Had lunch at the Café Europe in
Leicester Square. Walked around, got packed &
caught the 4.15 from Euston for Wolverhampton.
Got a seat which was something. All
the third class passengers crowded into the
1st Class coaches and filled the corridors and
every cranny of the train. A large woman
with a most repulsive child sat next to
me on a seat not large enough for the
two of us. The child yelled & screamed - smelt
of sour milk and climbed all over me. A
smelly dog was under the table. Not a
pleasant journey. Arrived Wolverhampton
9.30 & booked in at Victoria Hotel.
Monday 10. To Boulton Pauls by bus. Well
equipped class room and bags of material
to use in demonstrations. Another
Officer on the course, Flt Lt Jehran, two W/Os
and thirty odd Airmen. Looks like
a fairly stiff course for one who is
not mechanically minded.
Tuesday 11. Second day of theory. Felt
pretty tired on getting home in evening.
Wednesday 12. On practical work of
stripping & assembling motor.
Thursday 13. In evening went to
August.
a vaudeville show at the Hippodrome. Not
too bad at all. Wolverhampton itself is
an awful dump. Everything is very expensive
and you dont get much for it.
Terrific lot of people in the town and
nowhere to go.
Friday 14. Went to Boulton Pauls dance
at the Civic hall - punk. Met a young
frippet named Kay Thomas who is meeting
me for a coctail before lunch to-morrow.
Saturday 15. Met Kay & went to the dog
racing. Came home with ten bob.
Had a couple of beers in evening & went
to bed.
Sunday 16. Marvellous Choir of Dutch soldiers
at the church of St Mary & John. Tried
to get a cheque cashed at hotel, but no
luck. Rang up R.A.F. Station at Colton
& explained position. They werent the
slightest bit interested. Suggested I go
to the police station & try there. With
some misgiving I went and received a
polite and expected snub. The attitude
of the public towards Service officers in
financial matters is, to put it mildly,
one of extreme caution. Bought
RosemaryThis transcription item is now locked to you for editing. To release the lock either Save your changes or Cancel.
This lock will be automatically released after 60 minutes of inactivity.