The Nazi Fighter Was 100 Yards Off, but He Hadn't Seen Us - yet ; Boysatwar Flames Licked Atmy Parachute
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Summary
At just 18, Russell Margerison volunteered for one of the most dangerous jobs in the Second World War: gunner on a Lancaster bomber. His chances of survival were slim - half of all Bomber Command's aircrews perished. He was shot down, rescued by the Belgian resistance, hidden in the home of a millionairess, betrayed to the Gestapo and marched off to a prison camp in Eastern Europe - all before he was 21. But he lived to tell the tale, and share it with his son, Colin, Production Editor of The Mail on Sunday, who died from cancer in 2007. This is the first part of Russell's story . . . .
The sun shone from a cloudless sky, bathing the airfield at Stormy Down, South Wales, in its warmth.It was 11am on July 7, 1943.Dressed in fur-collared outer flying suit and fur-lined flying boots, I was oblivious to the wry smiles of the pilot and instructor as we climbed aboard the twinengined Avro Anson.See the full content of this document
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The Nazi Fighter Was 100 Yards Off, but He Hadn't Seen Us - yet ; Boysatwar Flames Licked Atmy Parachute
A sickly mixture of glycol antifreeze, petrol and warm oil replaced the clean air I had been breathing. The temperature in the plane would have wilted tomato plants. Sweating freely, I sat on the baking-hot seat next to the pilot.
At the age of 18 years and eight months I had completed my basic training with the RAF as an air gunner and this was the first time I had been near an aircraft, let alone flown in one.My father Bob, who was supervisor of casual labour at Blackburn's Queens Park Hospital, had been very worried when I joined up on my 18th birthday. He had lost his first wife, my mother, and his six other children to illness.I was his only remaining child.The Anson took off for the Bristol Channel, where shooting practice would be carried out.The object of the flight was for the three new gunners to each fire 200 rounds of ammunition at a target drogue being towed by a singleengined Martinet aircraft.At a height of 5,000ft, with the Anson rising and sinking at irregular intervals, the instructor called the first gunner to the mid-upper turret. He quickly rattled ...See the full content of this document
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