A Letter Home by Charles Wagon.
This letter was written by Sgt Charles Edward Wagon RAFVR 103 Sq ( Wag to his comrades ) to his parents Mr & Mrs E. L. Wagon. He hailed from Maidstone in
Kent and was 22 years of age.
The incident described occurred during a raid on Emden on the 10th May 1941 in Wellington R1395 Pilot - P/O E C Ball. "Wag" was an Air Gunner/ WirelessOperator.
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"C/O Sergeants Mess, R.A.F Station, Newton, Notts. 17/5/41
Dear Mum & Dad,
Thanks very much for the cigs and the socks. Please could you send me some more as soon as you get the chance. I hope you have received the money. I posted it on Friday night. This was the first time I had been to Nottingham for about a fortnight.
We have been issued with battle dress for working and flying in but we are not allowed to wear it outside the camp. We have our badges on it, but we only wear stripes on the right arm, and no eagles on the shoulders.
It is very much like army battle dress, only it is blue of course. It is quite smart and nice for working and flying in. It is only air crews that get it.
Besides the battle dress you get 3 vests, 3 pairs of long pants, ( which are very nice for flying at night ), shirt and 2 collars, and a lovely thick white polo pullover. Officers are issued with it as well.
Well, last Saturday, we went on a raid to Emden. On the way back we had rather a nasty experience. We had bombed the target and were on our way back about 2 miles out from the Dutch coast. We were flying at 15,000 feet and using oxygen I was in the front turret keeping a lookout, with guns loaded and ready. I had just removed my oxygen mask for a few minutes to have a bite of chocolate. When, all of a sudden, there was a terrific flash of blue tracer bullets, fired from 4 machine guns and a cannon, which came up about 4 feet in front of my turret and ran right along the side about 2 feet away.
I dropped the chocolate, ripped off my gloves and swung my turret round. I then heard old Cox, who was in the tail turret, shout that we were being attacked by fighters and the Captain told us to give them all we had got.
The first to attack was an Me 109 who fired that first burst, but he disappeared. After a break of about 2 minutes the battle started and there was three of the blighters. Two Me 110s and a Ju 88. The bullets and cannon shells started flying about. And two more lots came just in front of me again.
I thought, "Crumbs, we have got a job on to shake these off."
The 2 Me 110s came in to attack together, one from each side on the tail. I shouted to old Coxie, for I could not get my guns round far enough to fire at them.
He said "I am OK" so I said "Let them have it". And he did.
During all this the Captain had been throwing the old Wellington all over the place to try and shake them off and I did not know if l was right way up or wrong. As the fighters broke away Coxie got one right along the bottom. It rolled over on its back and went straight down in flames into the sea.
But we had been hit, our left wing and right engine were on fire. So the Captain put the machine into a steep dive as the other Me 110 and the Ju 88 came in again to attack.
We went down from 11,000 to 1,500 ft. in the one dive, and we were doing 330 m.p.h. when we pulled out. By a bit of luck the dive had blown the fires out although the engine was banging and spluttering quite a bit.
Just as we pulled out the Ju 88 passed round under my turret I got him in my sights and let fly with my guns straight at him. He then passed under the wing, and I heard Coxie shout "You've got him Wag, He's burning.
He's going down".
The other 110, which Coxie had fired a few bursts at, thought it was getting a bit too hot for him after seeing his pals go down and buzzed off the other way.
It was a good show, 2 out of 3 down, and we were still flying.
Dalton, who was on the set, sent out an S.O.S. because we thought we would have to come down on the sea but we managed to crawl home at 1,000 feet with the old right hand engine spitting and shuddering all the time. The airspeed indicator had been shot away and also some of the other instruments so we had to do a crash landing without any wheels, as they would not come down.
We all got out without a scratch, although the old kite was a wreck.
The next day ( Sunday ) we had a look at it. The mechanics had been sorting it out a bit, and there were 4 incendiary bullets in the left hand wing petrol tank, the one that had caught alight. There was also half a cannon shell in one of the tyres and bullet holes all over the wings and tail, some of them were pretty close too.
When we got back we had to go before the Group Captain who said we had put up a good show and set a very high standard for the rest of the squadron to follow.
Did you hear the account of it in the 9 o'clock news on Sunday night ? We have also been congratulated from Group Headquarters.
Well after that I have a bit of good news for you, our crew are due for a weeks leave in a fortnights time which will not be long popping along.
I am quite well and hope all of you are at home, so cheerio for now !
Hope to see you soon,
Love to all,
Char.
P.S. Have not received paper this week."
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Note - Many thanks to Mrs J Lyons for submitting this fascinating letter. The incident described is recorded in the 103 Sqn ORB and was clearly a splendid effort by all of this crew. Tragically Charles Wagon went missing on the 10th Sept 1941 - Turin with P/O P L Petrie and crew. He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial to the Missing.
P/O E C Ball RNZAF was flying his first operation as captain of his own crew following graduation from co-pilot. Edward Cecil Ball completed his tour but does not seem to have received any decoration. He flew another tour with 75 Sqn but was killed on the 9th Oct 1943 whilst with 488 Sqn. His aircraft crashed near Bradwell Bay in bad weather. He is buried at Maldon Cemetery in Essex.
He was a married man of 33 years of age
Wag's pal in the rear turret, Sgt J J Cox RAFVR, was killed on the 27th July 1941 whilst flying with Sgt M S Lund RNZAF. The target was the same, Emden. He is buried at Leuwarden Northern General Cemetery with the rest of his crew. John James Cox was 24 and a Bristol boy.
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With thanks to Mrs J Lyons for this splendid item.
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