Geriaviator:
There's more if the audience is interested
Well, this audience is, for one. So please let us have more of this tragic and little known part of RAF WWII history. We had a chap in the 30 Sqn Assn who was airman groundcrew on Battles and volunteered as a rear gunner. He still complained bitterly that there were gongs a plenty (and no doubt very well earned) for the pilots and navs but "nothing for us erks that sat at the back". When he complained of his Lewis gun seriously overheating when firing back at attacking 109's, he was told; "Well, don't fire it so much then!". Along with the Blenheims, the Battles paid dearly for not being a match for what they were up against.
Your own childhood recollections are very interesting too, with so many types "under your belt" and yet still in short trousers! The mention of your Polish Hastings pilot is a reminder of how many aircrew from Eastern Europe were then in the RAF. With the very real dangers involved in returning home to suspicious and vindictive Communist regimes, large numbers made the RAF their permanent home instead. Scattered from their wartime national squadrons, they filled slots all over the peacetime RAF. Flt Lt Ignatowski was by no means the only such one on Hastings, and without exception they were all larger than life!
ab, please don't hesitate. Just jump right in. The water's fine, honest!
Danny, I'm a bit confused as to why, having got back into flying in the RAF, you are now busying yourself with the no doubt fascinating business of amending ATC publications. Have I missed something, or is it just another variation of the Service's aversion to idle hands, and the belief that doing something, anything, is better than doing nothing (rather like building boats behind the Squadron HQ)?