Returning ex-POW'S to RAF Little Rissington?

[RAF kid]

After 2 years in Stalag IVB my father thinks he returned to RAF Little Rissington as an RAF ex-POW in early May 1945. He recalls the returning Lancaster they were aboard overshot the end of the runway and crashed through a hedge - luckily no injuries!

I have tried to find more information regarding RAF Little Rissington being used as a repatriation centre for RAF ex-POW's during Operation Exodus but so far without success. Enquiries with the RAF Museum also drew a blank. Even the excellent book about Bomber Command POW's "Footprints on the Sands of Time" has no reference to Little Rissington being used.

Can anyone possibly help with any information please?

[Atcham Tower]

Oakley, a bomber OTU field in Bucks, was one of those used for Exodus. It is possible that Little Horwood, another OTU field in Bucks, was also employed but I can't find any proof of that. Maybe confusion with the much more familiar Little Riss in his memory after so many years. Just a suggestion ...

[Icare9]

Atchams explanation sounds good. There is also the possibility that the Lanc may have developed some problems necessitating an unscheduled emergency landing at Little Rissington. The passengers wouldn't necessarily know (or cared, as long as they were back in one piece!) and that may explain why you can't trace Little Rissington as an "official" repatriation centre.

He was lucky, these wee not so fortunate, but it does show that Lancs did use the field.

207 Squadron Lancaster Mk 1. Serial Number: LL902; Coded: EM-A
Operation Lutzkendorf. 14th /15th March 1945
LL902 was a Mk.1 with Merlin 24 engines and was delivered to 207 Sqdn on 8th March 1944 This aircraft was lost on its first operation. Airborne 16:47 14th March from Spilsby to bomb the Wintershall synthetic oil plant. Encountered poor visibility while returning to base and flew into the ground near Little Rissington airfield, Gloucestershire. All are buried in their home towns. P/O D'Arcy, who came from Athenray, Co. Galway, is buried alongside his skipper in Oxford (Botley) Cemetery at North Hinksey. P/O Boddy was taken to Brookwood Military Cemetery.
F/O M.J.H. Cooke KIA; P/O R. Fairclough KIA; P/O H.B. Boddy RCAF KIA; F/Sgt J.W. Laing KIA; F/Sgt R.G.A. Breach KIA; F/Sgt F.R. Stead KIA; P/O J. D'Arcy KIA.

[RAF kid]

Atcham Tower. Thanks for your information. That's a possibility.

[RAF kid]

Icare 9. Thanks for your reply. That's also a possibility I hadn't thought of.

However I forgot to mention that he also recalls WRVS ladies spraying a de-lousing solution over them on arrival! That tends to make me think that perhaps they were expected and ready for them at Little Rissington. But on the other hand they could have just been there.

[chevvron]

Westcott (Bucks) was also used for this purpose.

[RAF kid]

Thanks Chevvron, I'll investigate further.

[David Layne]

As a returning P.O.W. my father departed Baghurst/Rheine around May 12 1945. I do not know where he arrived at in the U.K.

[Hugh Spencer]

On 6th May '45 we brought back POWs from Brussels to Dunsfold.

[Steve Bond]

Just to add to the mix, Ford and Wing were also used.

[chevvron]

Way back in the '60s when I was a member of the ROC, one of the older members who had been an ATC cadet during the war told me how in 1945 he used to watch a continuous stream of 'Lancasters' landing at Westcott bringing ex-pows home. Course I only remember Westcott as the Rocket Propulsion Establishment where they used to test (but NOT launch -at least intentionally!)rocket motors such as the RZ2 for the Blue Streak ICBM, although when I came to Farnborough, I found that initially it was part of the RAE and was a regular stop for the Farnborough - Bedford ferry.(Dominies in those days although if you were unlucky they'd use the Marathon!)

[AndrewMcN]

Just as an aside, I walk my dog on Oakley Airfield every day and continually wonder what it must have been like in its heyday. You can almost hear the engines some days.

Did you ever fly into Oakley?

[Neptunus Rex]

My mate's dad (MMD) was a 19 year-old Navigator who was shot down in 1940. He spent almost five of the best years of his young life incarcerated in a German POW camp.

When he was 'liberated' in 1945, he was flown back to Blighty, and promptly incarcerated, yet again, in a stately home in Yorkshire. The raison d'etre being that he and his mates had been "institutionalised" for so long, they could not be let out into society. What a crock...

Ironically, alongside them were Italian POWs, who had bicycles, and were allowed to visit the local village. MMD and his mates made it quite clear that if they were not afforded the same privilges as the Italians, their guardians would soon find out what 50 RAF aircrew could do to make their lives a total misery.

They got their bicycles, and, eventually, their freedom.

[jaat61]

My father was a member of a lancaster crew from 61 squadron and was engaged on Operation exodus.
I remember him talking of a time when the aircraft overshot and went through a hedge.
I don't know where or when.
Sorry about the lack of detail but I'll keep woring on it.