Taken beside a Halifax day before Arthur’s last operation.

 

RAF Service

 

100 Group SD

Squadron: 192 Squadron (This was considered a good omen being the same address as home!)

Enlisted: Autumn 1940 (volunteer)

War ended in 1945. Was then posted to Ceylon for 12 months to open a new Wireless Communication Unit in Kandy (Camp name). This was to assist in bringing home all Far East members of the Forces. Service Ceased: 1946

 

Ranks (in order of promotions)

 

AC2 VR (Aircraftman Second Class)

AC1 (Aircraftman First Class) – N/A

LAC (Leading Air Craftsman) – N/A

Sergeant

Flight Sergeant

Pilot Officer

Flying Officer

Flight Lieutenant

Duties: Enlisted as a Wireless Operator (W/OP) and an Air Gunner (WOPAG). From there Arthur progressed to F/LT Signals Officer. This rank he kept until he was demobbed in 1946.

 

Medals

 

Aircrew Star - (for Aircrew only)

Atlantic Star – Coastal Command (for naval duties)

Italy Star – (in lieu of the DFC)

Bomber Command Medal

1939-1945 Medal

Good Conduct Medal/Service Medal

 

Squadron Information

 

The Squadron was made up of a fleet of 15 planes:

•        8 Wellingtons

•        4 Halifax

•        3 Mosquito

 

Joining a Crew

 

On joining the RAF, recruits had to go through a 3-day Medical in a building in Edinburgh. At the time, everyone wanted to be a pilot and the one in charge. Unfortunately, Arthur, who would have quite liked to fly a plane, was unsuitable as his mathematics were insufficient. RAF aircrew were amongst the fittest men in the war, so it was a privilege for him to fly with them.

 

All aircrew were volunteers. This was strictly adhered to and no-one was called up to the RAF. The RAF had a unique system of picking crews. After training was finished, aircrew were left on the parade ground. The fully trained men stood until a pilot asked them if they wanted to join his crew. When on operations the pilot was always in charge of the plane and the crew.

 

Training

 

Morse code was taught in the Blackpool tram sheds. There were so many thousands of trainees that most side streets in Blackpool were full of Squads learning all the drills. From there, Arthur went on a six-week Air Gunnery course in Wales. The new crew was posted to an OTU (Operational Training Unit) and finally for more Radio Communications at Yatesbury Camp in Norfolk.

 

 

The Crew

 

Normally a crew consisted of:

 

Pilot

Wireless Operator

Navigator

Rear Gunner

Front Gunner

 

 

The Crew: left to right – Tosh Lines (Rear Gunner), Don Baird (Flight Engineer), Jones (Pilot), Steve Tinkler (Navigator), Arthur Reid (Wireless Operator)

 

Arthur joined 100 Group Special Duties (SD) and was in 192 Squadron. They had another member of crew who was a civilian, highly trained in the job he was doing. In Bomber Command there were only a few Squadrons specially trained to carry out a special duty of Airborne Counter Intelligence which was important top-secret work. This duty involved the seeking out of enemy frequencies (battle ships, planes, submarines) and jamming them. Doing so would nullify the enemy communication. Incidentally this civilian expert was so top secret the aircrew flying with him were separated from him by a black cloth.

 

Arthur was a Communications man. It was on operations he jammed frequencies used by German fighters, battleships and submarines, aimed at co-ordinating attacks on British bombers. Without men like him attached to the highly secretive 192 Squadron, many more bombers would have been shot down before reaching their targets. He admits that, most of the time, missions he flew from RAF Foulsham in Norfolk were so secret he had no clear idea as to their purpose.

 

Coastal and Bomber Command

 

An operational tour consisted of 34 operations.

Bomber Command – flying into enemy territory.

Coastal Command – from Norway to the coast of Spain.

 

Operations

 

On one of the routine searches in the Bay of Biscay, a combined Airforce and Navy operation obtained the surrender of a German submarine. The naval Captain on searching the submarine was intrigued by a strange-looking instrument. He had no idea what this machine was used for, but brought it back to port. When handed over to the RAF, it turned out to be so valuable it became one the main reasons for the war ending. This machine was called the Enigma Machine. At the time no one had any idea what it was used for, but when given to the ‘Back Room’ civilian people, after much testing they discovered this was the machine by which all German Forces were given information. It took a long time to find its purpose, which was the German method of issuing information by code. This meant from then on nearly every German order was decoded by experts in Bletchley Park. At the same time the enemy never found out the RAF had broken their code.

 

It was a Mosquito from 192 Squadron that discovered Peenemunde, the area used to develop the V1 (flying bomb).

 

In total Arthur was credited for 34 operations. Every recruit kept a Log Book of operations. Daylight operations were marked in blue ink and night time operations in red. Arthur’s first operation was with a 1,000 Bomber Raid on Cologne, in which 45 planes were lost.

 

Second operation

 

Flew from Feltwell - Lossiemouth – Thurso.

The crew had dinner at Thurso, then joined another raid of 70 planes to discover a German battleship. The crews had to fly at 50ft off the water, which was the only method of flying under enemy Radar screen. Arthur’s plane broke down halfway, meaning they had to turn back. The rest of the raid continued, but when they arrived in Norway there was no battleship, just a large number of German planes. This resulted in 14 planes being lost.

 

Dresden Raid

 

By this time, the Russians had invaded Germany. They demanded the British were not doing enough, so the RAF were sent on a raid. During this raid the RAF used 450 planes at night, while Americans bombed it in daylight with 250 planes. Dresden was an old city mainly built out of wood. When raids started there were so many Incendiary Bombs it caused a flash fire. After the Dresden raid, which caused so many lost lives, the then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill; who always stated his bombers were the main part of the war effort, turned his back on them. This was probably because a General Election was due, and he needed to distance himself from any involvement. During his victory speech when war ended he highly praised his ‘Battle of Britain Fighters’ but not a word of praise for Bomber Command.

 

Status Raid – Nuremburg (home of the German Army)

 

This was one of the costliest raids in Bomber Command’s history because everything went wrong that night. During the briefing, crews were told there would be heavy cloud to provide shelter, winds would be mild, temperatures normal. But when they arrived, skies were clear, winds had changed direction, and temperatures ice cold. This resulted in the heaviest loss Bomber Command had endured. In total, 97 planes were lost, and a further 100 crashed coming back or crashed on landing. The loss was so heavy that next morning, Bomber Command were in shock. The loss of any raid was felt most in the morning. At breakfast there would usually be 80 or so men, but when so many empty seats were seen, everyone knew a raid the night before had suffered heavy losses. The RAF was so efficient that, by lunch time, these seats were usually refilled. Arthur counted himself lucky to be part of the Special Duties Squadron. Most of their operations were carried out in daylight. Also, the civilian on board could speak German, and on a few occasions, when in close proximity to enemy planes, was able to divert them by giving false messages, which did not please their Controllers.

 

Off Duty

 

Once Arthur finished training, he was posted to Lossiemouth for a year in a ground Radio Station. One thing Arthur remembered, a plane required a test flight for a raid the next day. A pilot and Arthur were detailed to carry out this test. The pilot was anything but pleased with this, and after carrying out the test, decided to fly very low over the Officer’s Mess. This was called a ‘shoot up’. Unfortunately, he overshot the runway, ending up in an adjacent field. The plane started burning; the pilot got out of his escape hatch leaving Arthur on his own. He eventually got out okay and gave a report of what happened. Next morning, the pilot was Court Marshalled and sent back to Canada. One night, one of the planes crashed just off the runway, but did not go on fire. Next morning, ground crews were sent to strip the plane and found the front gunner guns were gone. This was most unusual and puzzled everybody. They were sent to investigate in the village nearby, and eventually discovered them in a cottage mounted in a cross shape above the fireplace.

 

Finally

 

The 1939 – 1945 conflict caused Bomber Command to lose the lives of over 55,000 men, with hundreds more missing. Arthur always said these men were the bravest of the brave and it was disgraceful how their country turned against them.

 

This story was written in August 2010 by Sarah Reid, in collaboration with Arthur Reid, her grandfather, who has done this to keep alive the memory of these brave men.

 

by Arthur (veteran, 192 Squadron) & Sarah Reid

 

 

In addition

 

In addition to the above, something further happened this year, reported in The Mail, 9th September 2017. Boultbee Flying Academy are establishing a new Base in Scotland, and were seeking from the RAF Benevolent Fund a WWII Scottish veteran to assist them. As we do some work with the RAFBF, they approached Dad right away, and after a bit of thought, he volunteered to go for a flight in a Spitfire. It was his first flight since 1st June 1945, 72 years ago. He is 97 years old next month, so it came as an unforgettable day out.

 

For those with access to the internet, they can watch the day’s full events as recorded on:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwRAhU7Pppw&feature=youtu.be

 

At war’s end, Flight Lieutenant Arthur Reid had stepped out of an Avro Anson believing he would never fly again. The date was 2 June 1945. That part of his life was over. He had lost friends, seen things he would never want to see again. Now all he needed was to get back to loved ones and live a ‘normal’ life.  

 

Yet at 96 years old, this 192 Squadron Signals Officer was again airborne … and in the cockpit of a Spitfire!

 

In seven decades, his family had been unable to convince him to return to the skies. So why now? The answer lies in the fact that it was his ‘other family’ who was asking … his RAF Family. The RAF Benevolent Fund asked if Mr Reid would fly in a refurbished Spitfire, marking the launch of an operation aimed at giving Scots the opportunity to fly in classic fighter aircraft from Cumbernauld Airport, Lanarkshire. At first, he declined. But then, because it was on behalf of the RAF, he changed his mind.

 

He had faced appalling odds in wartime. There was a time when he came down with conjunctivitis and had to miss an operation with his crew. All who flew on that operation were killed and never returned home. There was also a time during a training exercise when the crew of a Wellington perished as its wings came off on landing, with the aircraft exploding. When his own Wellington came down moments later, the same fractures were discovered on its wings.

 

 

Veteran Arthur Reid after Spitfire ride

 

Just over a week on from being asked to participate, Arthur Reid climbed into the rear compartment of a two-seater version of the Spitfire. It was raining. But nothing was going to spoil his day. His family watched, wondering what he was thinking and how he felt. Then after a circular tour, he was back over the runway, chuckling, having enjoyed his trip.  

 

Arthur Reid (son)

 

 

This article is from the Winter 2017 issue of Confound and Destroy