David G Bowker RAFVR – 103 Squadron – 1942
David Bowker ( pictured above ) was posted to 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds from 23 Operational Training Unit in 9th April 1942 as co-pilot in the crew of F/O R W Brown RAAF.
Brown was lost flying as co-pilot on his first operation in the crew of F/L R. Gillespie on the 12/04/1942 to Essen in W5664
Bowker then flew as co-pilot on the following operations:-
16-April -42 - P/O K F J Winchester - L7819 - Le Havre
24-Apr-1942 – P/O KFJ Winchester - Z1171 - Dunkirk
25-Apr-1942 – P/O KFJ Winchester - L7819 – Rostock
6-May-1942 – P/O KFJ Winchester - R1234 – Stuttgart – Early Return – Overheated engine.
8-April-1942 - P/O KFJ Winchester - DV699 - Warnemunde
19-Apr-1942 - Sgt A T Little - DV596 - Mannheim
30-April-1942 – Sgt N V Gill - L7819 – Cologne – 1000 Bomber Raid
Promoted to full captain with own crew and flew the following operations :-
Sgt D G Bowker
Sgt G C H Chandler
Sgt A Jones
Sgt R Wilson
Sgt N R Sedgwick
01-Jun-42 – Essen - Point of Aim – Wellington – L7819 – Sgt DG Bowker – ER - Evasive action during combat and misinterpretation of recall signal.
02-Jun-42 – Essen - Point of Aim – Wellington – L7819 – Sgt DG Bowker – Did not take off.
At this time he was allocated a new crew and flew further operations :-
Sgt D G Bowker
Sgt G T Hawkins
F/S M W Lucas
Sgt J J Carey
Sgt BEA Hughes
Left - Sgt J J Carey. Right - Sgt BEA Hughes
19-Jun-42 - Ameland/Dutch coast - Mine laying – Wellington – DV596 – Sgt DG Bowker
19-Jun-42 – Emden - Point of Aim – Wellington – DV596 – Sgt DG Bowker
22-Jun-42 – Emden - Point of Aim – Wellington – X9666 – Sgt DG Bowker
23-Jun-42 - Amelande/ Dutch coast - Mine Laying – Wellington – X9666 – Sgt DG Bowker
25-Jun-42 – Bremen - Point of Aim – Wellington – X9666 – Sgt DG Bowker.
Following this the Squadron started to convert to the Handley Page Halifax 4 engined bombers and Bowker was posted to Rufforth and Marston Moor to train on the new machines. He was eventually reposted to 150 Squadron at Snaith flying Wellingtons and completed his tour with them.
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As soon as I was eighteen in March 1940 I went to the Recruiting Office in Portsmouth and volunteered for RAF Air/Sea Rescue Duties. This was because my family lived at Alverstoke, not far from Gosport, where Swordfish and others dropped practice torpedoes in Stokes Bay from about 100ft and I saw them being recovered by the RAF launches. I also shared a 14ft sailing boat with my brothers in Stokes Bay, hence my affinity with the sea.
In the event, however, the office wrote to say that there were no vacancies in Air/Sea Rescue, and that I was at liberty to join the Army, Navy or RAF General Duties. I agreed to remain RAF, but at the time I had no idea that GD meant flying provided one was medically fit. I never had any special ambition to fly.
Later that summer in September 1940 I was sent to Cardington for interviews and then in November I was sent another railway warrant to report to the receiving wing at Blackpool to be kitted out with AC 2 uniform complete with boot brushes, polish and khaki-coloured “housewife”. We were then billeted in a boarding house so awful that three of us reported conditions to the housing officer whereupon we were moved to a far superior billet. I was streamed, I found, into training as WOP/AG learning Morse in Blackpool tram sheds; very cold in Nov/Dec! and PT (now PE) in the Tower Ballroom and Winter Gardens and also on the very windy seafront. The thought of being an Air Gunner appalled me so I applied to re-muster as a trainee pilot, after an interview and Morse speed test of 18 words a minute in code (each word five letters) sending and receiving I was pleased to be accepted for Pilot training.
I was then posted to Stratford-on-Avon and billeted in a derelict hotel called Avonside, straw palliasses with newspaper as toilet paper. Route marches to Anne Hathaway’s cottage, lectures in the Shakespeare Theatre and feeding in the Shakespeare Hotel, Air Force food of course. Thence to Scarborough and the Cambridge Hotel in March 1941. No luxury, straw palliasses again. Navigation lessons in the Spa and kitted out with flying gear in the Grand Hotel. As the only one with Morse training I was privileged to take the Morse class several times. From there in May 1941 sent to Elementary Flying Training School at Burnaston near Derby, (now the Toyota factory). Billeted in Repton village in an old house of Repton School. Same straw palliasses (when am I going to get a decent bed?). Training on 2-seater Miles Magister monoplanes, aerobatics, forced landings, inverted flying, ground instruction etc. My first solo after 6.5 hrs.
Now to No.11 Flying Training School (FTS) at Shawbury in Shropshire, a peacetime station. Up to now promoted from AC 2 to LAC. Billeted in airman’s married quarters situated on the Station and a reasonable bed at last. Day flying on twin-engined Oxfords and then for night flying posted to Cranwell and quartered in the college complete with batman! I remember very well my first night solo, a totally black night and when my eyes strayed from the night flying panel, even for a moment, the plane tilted to port and when corrected it felt as though it tilted to starboard. It was difficult to believe the instruments. One very soon learned. Back to Shawbury and after Chief Flying Instructor’s test it was Pilot’s Wings and Sergeant’s Stripes. This was on Oct 11th 1941.
Leave and then posted to 23 Operation Training Unit (OTU) at Pershore near Worcester on 21st Oct ’41. Ground lectures, astro-navigation, meteorology etc until my first training flight in a Wellington on 23rd Dec. First Pilot after 5hrs, which consisted mainly of circuits and landings (known at the time as circuits and bumps). For the latter part of my training I was paired with an Australian Pilot F/O Brown RAAF as pilot or 2nd pilot for night-flying, practice bombing by night and cross-country exercises. My last flight at Pershore was on 29th March. I had just turned twenty on 15th March.
Leave and then was posted to 103 squadron on 9th April with F/O Brown and our crew. 103 was situated at Elsham Wolds (a war time airfield) near Scunthorpe and not far from Grimsby. The Squadron was equipped with Wellington 1Cs. F/O Brown went on his first operation as second pilot to Essen on 12th April and all the crew were presumed lost over the North Sea. Not a very happy beginning! For myself, I was teamed up as second pilot with P/O Winchester as first pilot and my crew from Pershore. After four training flights my first operation on 16th April was to Le Havre with 14 x 250lbs bombs and nickels (leaflets) for dropping over the target area. 5.30hrs flying time. On 24th to Dunkirk, 10 x 250lbs bombs and nickels. Docks clearly seen and bombed, heavy flak and searchlights and 3 good photos taken. 3.20 hrs flying time and now Rostock on the Baltic on the 25th. Notes in my logbook say, “Incendiaries, nickels. Target clearly seen and hit and three good photos taken of point of aim. Light and heavy flak. Long, easy trip!” 8hrs flying time, 2 hrs in cloud. Stuttgart on May 6th but turned back over France due to over-heated engine, 3 hrs flying time. Warnemunde on the Baltic on 8th May. Incendiaries and nickels. Photo of Heinkel Works. Flying time 7.15 hrs.
Between operations there was bombing practice, compass swinging, co-operation with the Army photographing gun positions from the air, night flying tests before operations etc. May 19th it was a raid on Mannheim, “Incendiaries and nickels. Many searchlights and heavy flak, large fires seen. Port motor cut out.” Flying time 6.30hrs. May 30th Cologne. The first 1000 bomber raid with incendiaries and nickels. Heavy flak and huge fires seen. 45 aircraft missing! Flying time 5.50hrs.
At the time it was usual to fly as second pilot for several operations before being allotted your own aircraft. However, on June 1st without any warning, even from the Flight Commander, on entering the Briefing Room I found I was listed as Captain with the same crew for the second 1000 bomber raid on Essen. In the event we had to take long evasive action with an encounter with a Junkers 88 over the Dutch coast and now down to 1000ft or less. At this stage we misinterpreted a recall signal, as did the Flight Commander S/L Godfrey and others, and returned to base. Flying time 3.15hrs. My total flying time up to now was 310hrs.
In retrospect I found it very surprising that no meetings or discussions with pilots and navigators and flight commanders took place to discuss tactics. At the Briefings before operations we were told about the weather to be expected and the possible location of searchlights and anti-aircraft guns on the suggested route there and back. I am sure it changed later but we were at liberty to choose our own route, height and time to bomb etc.
On the 10th of June I was allotted a new crew, for some reason I can’t recall, and I don’t remember being upset about it, but P/O Winchester took my original crew. (P/O Winchester was later killed with all his crew on a raid on Cologne on October 15th 1942 flying a four engine Halifax II). Several training flights with a new crew were undertaken landing at Pershore, Binbrook and Marston Moor, and night flying until my next operation on June 1st which as known as “Gardening” i.e. “Sowing (dropping) two magnetic mines known as “vegetables”. These were activated by steel vessels passing over or very near them. We were detailed by a Naval officer and given an Admiralty chart of the exact position to “sow” the “vegetables”. We had to locate the island of Amelande in the Frisian Islands and fly at 500ft on a designated course from the eastern end of the island for so many minutes before dropping the mines. We reckon we located Amelande and dropped (“sowed”) the mines but at the same time caught in the searchlights and light flak but did not sustain any damage. Flying time 4.25hrs. The next night, June 19th, we were detailed to raid Emden. 10/10ths cloud cover but bombed on flares. Heavy flak but no damage. Flying time 5hrs.
Now Emden again on June 22nd. Good visibility, caught in searchlights, heavy flak, incendiaries and nickels on target, no damage to a/c. My Flight Commander, S/L Godfrey, and crew did not return and were presumed lost. Flying time 4.40hrs.
On June 23rd it was “gardening” again off the Frisian Islands. It was 10/10ths cloud with a cloud base of about 1000ft. Unable to find target. During the search under the cloud we were caught in the searchlights and as I was pulling up into cloud I experienced a very strange sensation of another Wellington appearing immediately above me and in danger of colliding, but of course it was the silhouette of my aircraft projected onto the cloud above by the searchlights. On “gardening” trips we also carried 2 x 25olbs bombs for use on likely targets, and on this occasion I returned with the mines and bombs. No damage to a/c. We were always briefed to return with the mines if we could not locate the target. 11 a/c took off for this operation but two did not return, presumed lost with all crew. Flying time 4.45hrs.
It was policy to send us out when the moon was at its height hence the concentration of operations over this period. On June 25th our target was Bremen as a 1000 bomber raid. However, over the target area it was 10/10 cloud cover below 5000ft. We bombed at 12000ft on fires seen through the cloud on ETA. Bright moonlight and enemy fighters seen. Flying time 6hrs.
June 29th flown to 1652 Halifax Conversion Unit based at Rufforth and Marston Moor near York. S/L Leonard Cheshire was the CO. After four short flights under instruction, and with S/L Cheshire circuits and overshoots, and after a further six flights my first flight as 1st pilot with another u/t pilot. After further instruction and flights as 1st pilot S/L Cheshire demonstrated to me the danger of flying with two failed engines on the same side. If full rudder was applied to counteract the swing it could lock in this position, if not corrected immediately, would result in a fatal spin. The only course to take was to descend with reduced power. (This could occur on the Halifax I and II, this problem was later rectified by enlarging the rudder fins on later models.) I had forty-two flights on Halifax Is and IIs from June 30th to July 1st 1942 and visited Betty’s Bar in York, the well-known watering hole for airmen, when the opportunity occurred. Before leaving S/L Cheshire called myself and another young pilot into his office and politely suggested that we might be happier to continue on a later version of the Wellington. (However, it was plain to me that the decision had already been taken that I would be posted back onto Wellingtons.) Well, what could I say!!
I was posted to 150 Squadron at Snaith, near Doncaster still in 1 Group, on 26th July ’42 equipped with Wellington IIIs.
David Bowker
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