Richard James was a navigator/radar operator stationed
at RAF Digby and RAF Wellingore from 27 Jun 1940 to Apr 1941 before
the
Squadron
moved
on
for fighter
duties elsewhere.
I flew from Digby or rather the satellite strip WC1
at Wellingore, to which
we travelled from the main station where my Squadron No
29 operated from July 1940 to April 1941. Wellingore, or WC1, either
way, was aptly named; it was a sea of mud. We were glad to get back
to a real bed at Digby after ops. One of the controllers
was the Duke of Newcastle, a Squadron Leader who would vector us on
towards the target operating from the bunker. {note - Henry Pelham-Clinton-Hope,
9th Duke of Newcastle, 16th Earl of Lincoln (1907-1988) inherited
the title from his father, the 8th Duke in 1941, but had already inherited
Clumber from his uncle, the 7th Duke. He ultimately retired as
a Wing Commander}
From my log book for March and April '41 you will see that my Pilot
was a certain Guy Gibson who after his tour with me on night fighters
and a tour on 106 Sqn went on to be
awarded the VC for leading the raid on the Ruhr dams.
It was quite an experience flying as NAV/RAD to such a man, and I had
a great time, sometimes frightening but at other ties thrilling.
|