For anybody interested in early WW2 air gunners.
The Best Of Luck by Dennis Conroy covers his RAF service 1935 - 1946.
He was a pre war armourer,became a part time air gunner (bullet badge),eventually awarded the A/G badge and promoted Acting /Temp Sgt,but the route to being aircrew could be quite tortuous for experienced groundcrew.He was demoted back to Cpl and was (involuntarily) returned to ground duties for a while,but he eventually managed to return to aircrew - later he managed to get trained as pilot and ended up as a Typhoon Pilot.
Another interesting RAF life story was John (Ian) Blair another pre war armourer/Air Gunner - later volunteer Observer.
John Ian Blair. Corporal, Arm/AG / Acting Sgt while he was with the 113 squadron, approx 1939 to Sept 1940. Joined the RAF as a boy entrant and trained as an armourer. Trained & qualified in the UK as a A/G in 1936. Posted to 113 with rank of AC-1 Arm/AG from the date of embarkation from Grantham in April 1938. He was classified as aircrew and flew operationally as Acting Sgt (unpaid) Cpl Arm/AG.
In Sept 1940 113 Ground Crew (acting Observer) Corporal Ian Blair, a non-pilot safely landed the plane he was in after his pilot (P/O John Harry Reynolds) had been shot and killed. Ian was awarded the DFM for the incident and left the squadron to take pilot training. The following is S/Ldr Blair's detailed accounting of the events that day.
DERNA STORY
What follows is the true story of the incident over Derna, Libya which led to the Immediate Award of the DFM to Acting Sergeant John Blair, No. 550006 on 4th September 1940.
The Official Citation is as follows
“550006 Acting Sergeant John Blair ,No 113 Squadron, Middle East Command .
On 4th September, 1940, during operations over Derna , when the pilot of the aircraft was killed instantly by enemy action, Sergeant Blair, the observer, succeeded in getting the aircraft under control and taking evasive action while the air gunner fought off the enemy aircraft. Assisted by the air gunner, he then removed the dead pilot from his seat and, without previous flying experience, achieved a safe landing after a flight of 350 miles. By his courage, devotion to duty and determination he saved the lives of both himself and the air gunner as well as saving the aircraft.”
Blair did become a Pilot and ended up as a Sqn Ldr on 602 sqn