Who do you think you are? BBC 1 on now.

Nice programme…
And shame on the RAFM…this is the sort of human story that the RAFM Wellington should be remembering…the shock of combat and its aftermath to an unsuspecting youngster – totally unprepared for war!

And of course the courage of all the other crews who returned many times into the lottery of Skill/Luck/Chance of however long their combat tour lasted !!

Just watched it on the iplayer as well.
Very interesting programme. Sad that he threw his medal in the Thames. He deserved it, but the loss of the rear gunner must have broke this heart.
On a positive Mini seems a very nice lady.

Thanks for the heads-up on this. I thought it was a lovely programme, Minnie Driver came across as genuinely down to earth and interested in it all and her father could probably have had an entire series devoted to him and his family! Refreshing to see experts picked for their knowledge and not for their ability to spout artificially enthusiastic soundbytes, the Rep Theatre historian being particularly impressive.
Finally, any mainstream TV programme that cares enough to note that the Bf109s that took part in the Battle of Heligoland Bight were 109Ds instead of just generic 109s has to be worth a second look! Having done a fair bit of research into the battle recently for a future painting, I really couldn’t fault it.

Mark P

I think the fact he was sent to Malvern and then to Littleport would indicate they realised he was genuinely ill, rather than LMF (In which case he would have been cleaning the bogs)

Moggy

I did wonder about that but then after his discharge he made his way back in to the RAF and ended up with a commission. Would that have happened if there had been a suggestion of LMF?

Yes, a very interesting programme. No mention was made of LMF but I wonder if that came into the equation.

Just caught up with it on BBC iplayer, well worth watching.

Just seen the inevitable repeat, interesting stuff. I’ve heard stories about the RAF hospital at Matlock and it didn’t sound a nice place.

No weeping but a couple of “gulps” at one stage. I thought the researchers did very well and the shots were of Wellingtons and their crews, not a near miss like Bostons or something. Finding the last survivor of the raid was remarkable and some nice shots of the Brooklands Wellington. All in all a very good programme.

I knew the name, but had never consciously seen her in anything.

She seemed a jolly nice lady. No ‘actressy’ histrionics or weeping.

Moggy

Really? I didn’t know that. I used to work with Ronnie Driver -a right old rascal, allegedly

Fantastic!! Thanks for the heads up. I must catch up on the first 10 mins that I missed.