A Nght to Remember -part 7
THE higher we climb the brighter it gets and now the low setting sun glistens on our Perspex and that of the swarm of Lancasters that are gathering around us and all going our way. The sky ahead is a deep indigo with the oncoming night and the coastline is just visible in the grey mist below.
Another crew check and everybody is OK except Smithy the rear gunner who can’t see a thing with the setting sun in his eyes, I tell him not to look at it in case it spoils his night vision. We shall need all the good eyes we can muster to look out for enemy fighters and to avoid collisions with friendly aircraft in the dark. “Navigator to pilot, we’re running about a minute ahead”, “OK nav we’ll slow up a bit, make it 160 mph”
“Pilot to navigator, she’s climbing about 300 feet a minute which should put us about 18,000 ft at the Dutch coast”, “OK pilot I’ll just check”. “Bombaimer to pilot, Skegness coming up now, dead ahead”, “OK, bombaimer tell us when we are right over it”, “OK skipper.” Onward we drone and slowly the night settles in, the sun has gone now and the instruments take on that familiar green fluorescent glow. “Bombaimer to pilot, we’re right over Skegness now”, “Right bombaimer, that’s Skegness at 44 navigator” “OK skipper that’s fine, turn onto 128 compass”, “128 compass it is, navigator”.
The sky grows steadily darker. “Pilot to gunners, keep your eyes peeled for friendly aircraft and enemy fighters, the stream is beginning to bunch up now and it will soon be completely dark”, “ Rear gunner, OK skip”, “Midupper OK skipper”. With a steady drone we climb into the darkness as the outside world fades away with the cold, now invisible, sea two and a half miles below. It’s warm in this part of the aircraft and one could begin to feel that the rest of the world doesn’t exist, just this cocoon of metal with the instruments glowing comfortably on the instrument panel. With this false sense of protection and with the steady drone of the engines one could easily be lulled off to sleep.
“Lancaster, starboard bow, same level skip”, “OK bombaimer I see him” The call quickly shakes me out of my cosy feeling and I make some adjustments to avoid him. It’s not healthy to creep up behind another aircraft, a twitchy rear gunner is likely to think you are an enemy fighter and give you the benefit of his four Brownings and it would seem such a waste to be shot down by a friendly aircraft.
“Navigator to pilot, ETA Dutch coast at 34”, “Pilot to navigator Roger, Dutch coast at 34, I’m holding 128 compass, airspeed 160”, “Nav to pilot the Gee’s good and we’re bang on track”, “ Pilot to engineer, engines look OK, how’s the fuel consumption?” “Engineer to pilot, it looks OK so far skip”. Onward and upwards we drone though the dark, chill space of night, checking this and that and searching the blackness outside for the slightest smudge of blacker black, which might be another aircraft on a collision course.