Tail Gunner by R. C. Rivaz

Author:R. C. Rivaz [Rivaz, R. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Second World War
Publisher: Arcadia Ebooks
Published: 2016-10-08T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VI

A FEW days after Leonard got back from America—on July the twenty-third, to be accurate—Braddles sent for me…“I’ve some news for you, Riv,” he said. “We’re on a daylight raid tomorrow, and you’re flying with me.”

“Good show!” I replied. “D’you know where we’re going?”

“No, not definitely, but we’re after the Scharnhorst. She’s left Brest and gone south, but I’ve not been told where yet. We load up here and go down to Oxfordshire, to a place called Stanton Harcourt, some time this evening, and set off from there tomorrow. I don’t know any details yet. We’ll air-test as soon as I’ve made out the crew lists: I’m leaving all the gunnery side in your hands. There are nine of us going from here—and we’re leading.”

There was plenty to do that morning and afternoon…In fact, until we moved down to Stanton Harcourt at about 9 p.m. Guns had to be harmonized, ammunition checked, turrets and guns tested; all the usual routine jobs before an operational trip…only even more so.

I suppose a daylight raid is the ambition of most gunners. It is the time when the gunner really comes into his own and really has a chance to prove himself. It is his chance…and he will be of some real importance and use.

On so many night trips he sees nothing except a dark curtain around him, with probably some stars showing; he will probably see searchlights and flashes of exploding shells, but he is powerless to do anything against these. His job so often is one of complete inactivity: of cold and discomfort, when all he can do is to sit and stare and be ready, ready for something that time and again never happens.

But on a day raid it would be different! The whole crew would rely on him for safety: the safety of the crew and the aeroplane would be, to a great extent, in his hands.

To me a daylight raid was more or less an unknown quantity, and something of a mystery. It was a new experience, and an experience I did not want to miss. I knew quite a lot about night bombing and what to expect: I knew the sound and feel and even the smell of flak: I had seen hundreds of searchlights; I had seen storms and ice, bright moonlit nights, and nights black with clouds: I had seen bright sunsets and dawns breaking, but I had not been over enemy country by day. I had my usual bouts of ‘stage fright’; my usual qualms, and that dull feeling in my stomach which with me always goes hand in glove with any operational trip…but, nevertheless, I was glad to be going, glad of a new experience, and I had a feeling of excitement and almost pleasurable anticipation.

As this was to be a day raid and not a routine night trip we had a picked crew. There were Braddles; Blake, second pilot; Nick, navigator; Jerry, wireless operator; Wheeler, engineer; and I chose a Canadian—Berry—as front gunner.

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