Shortly before the capitulation of Italy one of the most remarkable broadcasts of WW2 took place – a live recording of a bombing raid on Berlin. Richard Dimbleby’s report of his flight with Guy Gibson earlier in the year, and other subsequent reports, were recorded after he got back to Britain. This time an engineer, and a correspondent flew together on a mission and captured something of what it was really like to be onboard an RAF bomber. According to Wynford Vaughan-Thomas’ memoirs the engineer had even volunteered, – he wanted to give, “my two youngsters something to talk about.” Thirty-five years old Vaughan-Thomas, on the other hand, had been ‘hand-picked’ by his superiors.
The raid took place on the night of the 3 and 4 September 1943 with the BBC men flying onboard a 207 Squadron Lancaster from RAF Langer, nine miles south east of Nottingham. There were 316 Lancasters and four Mosquitos on the raid; the Mossies were there to act as decoys by dropping flares far away from the main bombing force in order to attract the night fighters. The pilot of the Lancaster, EM-F for Freddie, was Flight Lieutenant Ken Letford, a twenty-five year old who had flown over fifty missions. The remaining crew members were Charlie Stewart; engineer, Bill Bray; the bomb aimer, James Fieldhouse; mid-upper gunner, Con Connelly, navigator, Bill Sparkes; the wireless operator and Henry (Harry) Devenish; rear gunner, who shot down the Messerschmitt ME-110.
This raid was the last in a two-week phase of attacks that formed the opening moves in Bomber Command’s ‘Battle of Berlin’. On this raid 22 Lancasters were lost, around 7% of the total, and it was not terribly successful. Most of the bombs fell in Charlottenburg and Moabit, which were predominantly residential areas. Several factories in the Siemensstadt area were damaged, but perhaps most damaging was of all was the fact that one of Berlin’s largest breweries was put out of commission.
I would love to have been on that flight. Particularly as they got home, unlike many other aircraft and their crews.
The recording is available on line, but I’ve lost the link!
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