Bill reports: “As a Pathfinder Lancaster crew, we had five fighter encounters, the most memorable was on the way home from Stettin flying on three engines (one had overheated was feathered). Two JU88s shot out two of the remaining three. Lancasters cannot maintain height on one. We were down to about 100 feet off the North Sea, just off the Danish coast at 0300 hours in pouring rain before we managed to start the feathered engine and limped home on two.

Most Memorable Operations

We were attacked by a German jet and I personally watched, as our two gunners shot down the ME 163. This action was observed and recorded by a Lancaster from #7 PFF Squadron and we received credit for a kill. Attaked by two ME110s when neither E/A fired a shot!! They did numerous curves of pursuit attacks. A mystery that will never be solved.
Leaving a target on the correct heading, we were missed by a friendly four-engined a/c flying directly at us - missed by about 10 feet. I was standing behind the F/E as an extra pair of eyes. On another occasion, we were flying at correct height (18,000 feet), on correct heading, having just marked a target, when we saw a 4000 pound cookie drop a few feet in front of us. Again, I was standing behind the F/E and almost fainted from fright!

I was posted post-war to the Far East and served as Education Officer on RAF station Saifon, French Indo-China, as well as being Chairman of the Air Priorities Board. Appointed to serve on the staff of AVM J.D.Breakey, AHQ Malaya, with a roving commission in S.E.Asia. Spent my leave travelling up to Hong Kong and attending the Japanese war crime trials.           26/02/01