Again thanks for the reply. It must have been no fun sitting with frozen left side of the body for 7 hours? And poor old 'tail end Charlie'. My dad told me that expression in the 60s.
Another question, if I may?
Obviously when on Ops, the first fear would be being, well, blown to smithereens and not coming home? Especially as you were living with the constant loss of others that had 'gone for a Burton'. Given that a 'lucky' close flak shot by the Germans, or you being 'chosen' by an ME110 as his unfortunate target to 'stalk' that night, was in some ways a random possibility.
What I would like to ask, is was there much concern over what might happen should you have to bail out and land over enemy territory? Were you aware of the way some downed aircrew were (sometimes, not always) seized upon by vengeful locals?
Another quick question. It's been reported, in this forum and elsewhere, that Guy Gibsons Mossie went down due to his unfamiliarity with the fuel tank valve switching arrangements. Being an ex Mossie pilot, what's your take on that? Was it a complex affair in the Mossie? And if so, was it unfamiliarity, or perhaps (as some of your posts indicate on the aircraft of the day, eg all the problems on the before-ops 'test flights') more likely a fault with the fuel valves?
Also from an earlier post of yours I can now figure why Dora got pregnant so easily - you were hiding pounds of streaky bacon in the back cupboard - you rascal
Please keep posting. More pointless questions and a little more background on the time from my dad and my mum (mum grew up and lived in St Helens in WW2 btw - she is now 83) from me later.
Take care