The Lucknow Sentinel, 1994-11-09, Page 17Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, November 9, 1994 — Page 17
Former. RAF member salutes his departed comrades
by Don Bruce
Remember Me
(When I am laid in earth, remem-
ber me)
The fighter pilot, hunched in Ube
confines of the cockpit of his
aircraft, wastense, keen -eyed and
alert. •
-
The long range radar had been .
monitoring the bomber for some
time, now the local controller was
vectoring him into the vicinity of
the enemy aircraft. He cursed the
fleeting clouds. through which• he
was flying. He could easily miss his
prey in this white mist.
At that precise moment the bom-
ber broke through the thin cloud
veil in which it had been hiding, the
eyes of the fighter pilot locked on
to it. The wallowing, bulky intruder
was ahead and slightly above him,
the gunners seemed unaware of his
presence.
His'hand instinctively pushed the
throttle forward and the huge radial
engine surged into, full power as he
climbed into the attack.
Now the bomber was close and
moving across his line of flight, his
pulse: was racing, the adrenalin
pumping...steady...steady...allow for
deflection..the RAF roundels on the
portly beam of the . Wellington
bomber grew larger in his sight:
He pressed the firing button, his
cannon shells crashed in to the
cabin of the enemy aircraft. Pushing
forward on the stick he broke away
below, pulling his Focke-Wulf 190
fight into a wide arc, out of range
of the gunners.
Sweeping round for a second
attack, he throttled back, it was
unnecessary. The - Wellington;
-trailing fire and Smoke, was steadily
descending. He watched it crash,
into,the sea, reported , to his
contrller and set course for base.
Inside the bomber the crew mem-'
bers.were dismayed to find the thin ,
cloud cover had completely
vanished, ' a startled exclamation
over the intercom was the only
warning they. had of the impending
attack.
As the cannon shells tore through
the fuselage Flight Sergeant Parker,
the, Canadian wireless operator, was
hit and died immediately. Flames
from the ruptured wing. gasoline
tanks spread rapidly, fanned by the
slipstream.
The pilot, Squadron. Leader Par -
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son, shouted over the intercom that
he would try to ditch the bomber,
the front gunner, Sergeant Gilmour,
came into the cockpit from his
turret and saw the observer, Flight
Sergeant Clough, with the cabin fire
extinguisher in his hand, vainly
trying to subdue the'raging furnace.
. The aircraft hit the sea and only
two survivors emerged, the gunners,
both Canadians, Sergeants Gilmour
and Stansall.
That was how Len Clough died. I
first met William Leonard Clough
at No. 8 ITW, Newquay, Cornwall,
in November 1940. We were both
in `D' Flight where we endured the
rigors of basic square, bashing and
the pressures of Navigational
Theory.
We moved on to Canada to
become part of the. No. 6 Air Ob-
server's Course at Port Albert, in
. April 1941 and experienced our
first thrills of flying in Avro An -
Sons.
• After the wartime austerity of
Britain, Canada was paradise. We
bought an old 1930 Essex
automobile from a garage in
Goderich, in which we explored as
much of Ontario as was possible, in
our periodic, long weekend leaves.
On termination of the course we
were posted to the Bombing and
Gunnery School at Picton. Here, we
were taught how to drop practice
bombs with a reasonable degree of
accuracy and the use of the Vickers
Gas Operated machine gun in air
firing. •
The aircrafts we flew in were
Fairey Battles, not so sedate and
much more exciting kites than Avro
Ansons. The great day arrived on
the 29th of September. 1941 when
we were awarded the coveted ob-
server's brevet and our sergeant's
'stripes'.
By some, freak of posting we
were still together, two members of
the original ITW 'D' Flight. Back
in Britain, our next posting in
November '1941. was to 20 OTU,
Lossiemouth, Scotland, for
operational training.
The real war was getting closer.
The ultimate move to an
operational Squadron in the south
was nigh, soon we would be dicing
-% with flak, night fighters and the
remorseless North Sea. The chance
ofan identical Squadron posting
vanished when Len entered hospital
for minor operation.
I was sent down to 115 Squadron
at Marham in Norfolk and within
two months was a Prisoner of War
in Stalag V11IB, Germany.
A Tetter received from home gave
me a veiled hint that Len had fol-
kwed in my footsteps and when a
new batch of fliers arrived at Stalag
.VIIIB in October 1942, two
Canadian gunners from 115
Squadron, in answer to • my query,
informed me that Len Clough had
been their observer.
Froth them I learned the story.
On Monday, the 28th of Septem-
ber 1942, three Wellington aircraft
from 115. Squadron were detailed
from a 'cloud cover' daylight bom-
bing attack on Lingen on the
Dortmund -Ems Canal.
A Wellington bomber was no
match for a German fighter, it was
essential that there was sufficient
cloud to hide in. This type of attack
was primarily intended to disrupt
Germau industry by driving the
workers into air raid. shelters. All
aircraft captains had strict orders to
return to base if the cloud cover
broke up.
As the aircrafts made their way
east, the cover thinned out rapidly
to a scattering of isolated clouds,
Sgt. Crimmin in Wellington BJ695
KO V to tum back, Squadron
Leader Sandes in Wellington
BK272 .KO T made a similar
decision. Squadron Leader Parsons
in Wellington Z1663 KO. J decided
to press home the attack. Ap-
proximately eight kilometres south
west of Urk, over the Zuider Zee,
his attack failed.:.
My career in the, RAF was vir-
Rernembrance Day
• Friday, Nov. 11
Church service, 10 a.m.
at Lucknow United
Cenotaph service, 11 a.m.
tually identical with that, of Len
Clough, until.the 28th of September
1942, when. he joined the ranks of
all those whom we remember on
this very spial day.
R.I.P.
Flight Sergeant John Austin
Parker, Wireless Operator/Air Gun-
ner, aged 21, R/83152 RCAF,
Grave 69.D.11-1'3, Amsterdam New
Eastern Cemetery.
Squadron Leader Robert James
Sealer Parsons, Pilot 33462 RAF,
Grave69.D 11-13, Amsterdam New
Eastern Cemetery.
Flight Sergeant William Leonard
Clough, Observer, aged 31, 923190
RAF (VR), Panel 73. The Run-
nymede Memorial (to Airmen who
have no know Grave).
(Editor's note: this article was
written by ex -Veteran Sgt. Donald
Bruce of Rye East Sussex, U.K.).
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THE LUCKNOW SENTINEL
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Assocation
1994 Advertisi
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ng
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Ontario Community
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Representing 265 community newspapers in Ontario
Above, a POW in Stalag Luft.
To the left, one of the Anson
MK.1. aircraft that Don Bruce
trained on.
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