BB
To add to the fund of Ben B@(bow stories: I knew him when he was an instructor at CW in the mid seventies and he was one of the funniest and most mischievous men I knew. We got reacquainted when he turned up at Lossie on Shackletons, (a development of the Lancaster and similar looking from the ground). Having completed the Jag OcU I was in the bar at Bruggen on a Friday evening Happy Hour when in walked Ben with his Nav. I bought him beers several and some time later he asked about the Mohne Dam…I explained the Germans were still rather sensitive about it so we had to avoid the Mohnesee and definitely not below 2000 feet. I dragged a map out from somewhere after he insisted on finding out ‘where he had to avoid’ as they intended doing a little local area flying before transiting back to Lossie, a long slow process in the old bird.
A few days later we heard the story….Ben with crew agreement took off on Monday morning, flew across to the Mohnesee….let down to low level, opened the bomb bay doors and flew the same attack run over the dam that 617 Sqn had tried out in the war…….
On landing at Lossie he was met by the Stn Cdrs car, had a one sided interview( not sure if it ended up at AOC level) and was promptly relieved of captaincy and posted back to RAF Germany as the Flight Safety Officer in RAF HQ. The mayor of the local town had rung up the German Government who had complained to the British Embassy who rang the UK …etc etc etc. I met Ben some months later and heard the full story from him. As this happened in 1978 or 79 some details might be slightly incorrect ( apart from my part in the incident which I remember very clearly!) but what a top bloke . Thanks for all the humour, stories and memories Ben.