Just wanted to record the passing, last night, of a splendid old gent who served on 429 Sqn (Halifax) and 75 Sqn (Lancaster) as an Air Gunner from 1943 to the war's end. I was lucky enough to know Charles through the RAFA Befriender initiative, and will miss his self-effacing humour - typical of his generation of aviators. Interestingly (to me at least), he flew 34 ops trips as a mid-upper gunner on Halifaxes, but on 75 Sqn, he flew as a mid-under gunner (yes, not a mistake - mid-UNDER) on a couple of specially modified Lancs - single, .50 cal ventral gun instead of the H2S.
For those of you who are interested, Charles recorded a interview about his life for the International Bomber Command Centre, here:
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/5756
It was a privilege Charles
DS