Sunday 31 January 2016

RUDOLF MARCZAK (MARSDEN) - FOLLOW UP

 
This was one of the proudest moments of my life.  I was able to get together with the son and grandson of Rudolf Marczak in my own home.  After writing Rudolf's story, it was an honour for me to have them in my home and to hold the framed collection of Rudolf's medals. 
 
Tony, his son, on the left and Gary, his grandson, on the right came to see me earlier this month.  The montage that I am holding consists of Rudolf's medals, his Gapa, his pilot's wings and a photo of  Rudolf, his wife Mona and their son Antoni.
 
Gary and I had to compile the story and the collection of medals in secrecy as a surprise gift for Antoni (Tony)'s 70th birthday.  It took a long time and a lot of effort but it was well worth it.

Friday 29 January 2016

SQUADRON LEADER STANISLAW JOZEFIAK VM


 
I am sorry to have to report the death of Squadron Leader Stanislaw Jozefiak at the age of 96, in a nursing home in Derby.
 
He was one of two survivors of Wellington Bomber R1392, of 304 Squadron, which was badly shot up on a bombing mission to the docks at Boulogne and crashed in Sussex.  After recovering from his injuries, he continued crewing Wellingtons for a long time before re-training as a Spitfire pilot with 317 Squadron.  He then served with that squadron as part of the 2nd Tactical Air Force (2TAF) following the D-Day Landings.
 
After the War he spent 3 years in Greece, flying dangerous missions over Communist territory for the American Central Intelligence Agency.  When the British Government stopped its Nationals from flying with the CIA he was offered American citizenship if he would continue.  He opted to remain British and settled down in Derby where he opened a successful furniture and carpet store.
 
In his eighties he returned to Sussex and built a monument to his dead colleagues from R1392.  He also wrote his autobiography "God, Honour and Country".  In 2010, he featured in another book "Bomb on the Red Markers" by aviation historian Pat Cunningham.
 
As a personal tribute, he was very helpful to me when I started writing this blog.  He gave me a lot of information and photographs and a copy of his book.
 
He lived a long and happy life and the world is a poorer place without him.  May he Rest in Peace.

Sunday 10 January 2016

RUDOLF MARCZAK (PART 2)

Miles Martinet trainer similar to the one involved in the accident at RAF Morpeth
Just a month later, on 24th January 1943, he was involved in an accident with a Miles Martinet target tug, serial no HN910, which he was taxiing from the dispersal area to its blister hanger.  This was a downhill run and the brakes failed, causing him to run into another Martinet, serial no HP132 which was parked up.  Both aircraft suffered damage but Rudolf was unhurt.

 

On 7th February 1943 he had completed the required number of flying hours to be a master pilot and was sent to No 3 School of General Reconnaissance at RAF Squires Gate (part of the Blackpool Depot complex) where he may have been trained in the basics of navigation or may have been a staff pilot flying trainee navigators.  Here he would be flying Blackburn Bothas and Avro Ansons out over the Irish Sea.  I suspect he was training in navigation because, on 15th May 1943 he returned to the Blackpool Depot and a week later was transferred to 6 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit at RAF Silloth in Cumberland.

 
This was the start of his real fighting war; this is where they were sent to form permanent crews and to learn to operate as a coherent unit.  This was essential as a bomber crew's lives depended on flying with men they knew well and could trust.  It was also where they learned to fly together as a team and within the framework of British tactics.
 
The official record of his arrival at 304 Squadron - extract from the personnel book
 
 
 


On 5th August 1943 he transferred into 304 Squadron who were then based at RAF Davidstow Moor in Cornwall.  At this time his crew were F/Lt K Dobrowolski, Sgt K Gluchowski, Sgt J Pasyk, Sgt W Serafin and Sgt S Leski and they flew their first mission together on 16th August 1943.  This was the start of many long  hours flying out over the sea.  There were moments of great excitement and courage but these were later in the war.

He flew 19 hostile missions before transferring back to 6 (C) OTU on 9th May 1944 and he stayed with them until 8th August 1944.  Although separated from the Squadron, he was still technically on their books as he was with his crew on an intensive training mission.  There is no definitive record of this but he would be training on the Leigh Light which helped detect surfaced U-boats at night and/or Airborne Surface Vessel Radar.
 
304 Squadron ID Card
304 Squadron ID Card - internal view




Rudolf's Official Reception Document
into 304 Squadron from 6 OTU
Signed by Wing Commander S.Z. Zurek
 
On his return, with a short break of about two weeks at 8304 Service Echelon for further training, he remained with 304 Squadron for the rest of the War.  During this time he flew 20 more hostile missions including some of the most exciting and dangerous of his War.
On 2nd February 1945, flying out of RAF Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, he had his first chance to attack a U-Boat.  He was senior pilot on a flight over the Irish Sea, west of the Isle of Man, when he noticed a thin wake at a distance of about 3 miles.  He dropped to a height of 400 feet and then saw the exhaust steam of a submerged U-Boat.  He dropped to 100 feet and released six Torpex depth charges spaced at 60 feet and set to explode at a depth of 25 feet below the surface.  He dropped a marker and called a destroyer to the scene.  About two hours later he saw a schnorkel releasing foul air indicating the U-Boat was still in the area and may have suffered some damage or it would not have taken that risk.  The destroyer continued the hunt and dropped further depth charges but the results were assessed as inconclusive.  Short of fuel, he had to land at RAF Limavady in Northern Ireland.
 
Winter 1944/45 RAF Benbecula
Winter 1944/45 at RAF Benbecula - Rudolf is second from the left
 
On the night of 13th/14th March 1945, flying out of RAF St Eval in Cornwall, he spotted a fully surfaced U-Boat which was just about to dive but he was too late to make an effective attack and he called in  surface vessels to take up the search.  Once again the results were disappointing and, after a flight of over ten and a half hours, he was forced to land at RAF Dunkeswell in Devon.  But his big moment was yet to come.
 
On 2nd April 1945, he was patrolling the Irish Sea and the Western Approaches when they spotted what was believed to be a periscope and a schnorkel and a vague shape that might have been a conning tower at a distance of about six miles.  He lined up for the attack and released six depth charges from a height of about 120ft, at the same time firing about 100 rounds of.303 bullets from the forward gun.  There were no apparent results so he dropped markers and reported the incident.  Weeks later, the Admiralty assessed his report and presumably compared it with captured German documents and he was credited with the kill.  U321, captained by Oberleutnant Fritz Berends, went down with all 41 crew and was later found in the right position.  It had made its last radio contact with its home base on the date of this attack.  There can be no doubt that it was sunk  by Rudolf Marczak and his crew.
 
This was the last U-Boat sunk by a Wellington of Coastal Command during the War in Europe and probably the last of all though other claims have been made.  Its sister boat U320 was claimed as sunk by a Catalina on 7th May 1945 but was actually damaged and was scuttled by its crew the day after the War ended.
 
On 10th May 1945, his tour of duty was completed and he was transferred, in a training capacity, to No 25 Elementary Flying Training School at RAF Hucknall in Nottinghamshire.  This was just 2 days after the War in Europe ended.  During his time with 304 Squadron he had served with them at RAF
 
Davidstow Moor (Cornwall), RAF Predannack (Cornwall), RAF Chivenor (Devon), RAF Benbecula (Outer Hebrides) and RAF St Eval (Cornwall).
 
The time he spent flying out for 10 or 11 hours at low levels, often 800 feet or less were dismissed in the Operational Record Books with entries that simply said "Nothing to report."  This does not account for the strain of flying at low level (800 feet or less) over featureless grey seas in wintry conditions.  Nor does it take account of having to keep a constant watch for the long range, twin engine Condor fighters which were faster, more heavily armed and more manoeuvrable than the lumbering Wellingtons.  In addition, a Leigh Light Wellington diving on a surfaced U-boat had only one .303 inch machine gun that could be brought to bear.  Had she chosen to stand and fight, U321 had an 88mm cannon and an anti-aircraft gun.  Diving into that to a height of only 120 feet took considerable courage.
 
As a postscript to his war record, it should be added that he was a highly decorated pilot.
 
Rudolf receiving a medal probably from General Izycki

The medal entitlement was rarely for any specific act, but the reasons for Rudolf's awards were as follows:

Virtuti Militari - Poland's highest award for bravery received for sinking the German U-Boat U321 in protection of British coastal waters and shipping.
Cross of Valour & Bar awarded for sustained periods of stressful flying at very low level for up to 11 hours often at altitudes below 1,000 feet and down to 50 feet in combat situations.


Rudolf receiving his Virtuti Militari, probably from General Izycki
 

Polish Air Medal - campaign medal awarded for war service in one of the Polish Squadrons.

Technically the Poles were not entitled to the British Campaign Medals as these were for British and Commonwealth citizens.  However, they were awarded to all foreign personnel fighting with HM Forces as it was recognised that they were effectively fighting for Britain; this arrangement has never been questioned.  His British awards were:

1939-1945 War Medal - awarded for 60 days minimum active flying service in any theatre of operations.

1939-1945 Star - awarded for 60 days minimum operational (hostile) flying service in any theatre of operations.

Air Crew Europe Star/Atlantic Star - awarded for active (hostile) service over France and Germany or specifically the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Battle of the Atlantic - harassing enemy shipping, convoy protection and anti-submarine warfare.

Defence Medal - awarded to all military, Home Guard and civilians involved in the defence of the realm (war work).

Post War RAF awards:

Korea Medal - awarded for active service in the Korean War 1950-1953.

General Service Medal with Malaya clasp - awarded for active service in Singapore and the Malayan Peninsula for active service during the Malayan Emergency against Chinese Communist forces at any point between 1948-1960.

The French also had issued awards to foreign nationals who fought on French soil, in the Resistance or in the defence of France.  He is probably entitled to one of these but they were not issued until well after the war ended.  Many did not claim these medals as they did not know they were entitled to them - they were not automatically issued and had to be claimed.

There is no surviving citation for his Virtuti Militari but the Poles have a fairer method of judging bravery and courage over time. It is rare that a Virtuti Militari was awarded for a single act and the strain of long hours of active service on hostile missions over the sea was also taken into account.

Having said that, I believe that Rudolf was one of the rarities. The norm was for the airman to be part of a grading system in which the first award was a Cross of Valour followed by three further awards of the Cross of Valour (3 bars). After that the award of the Virtuti Militari was the next step. Rudolf had the Cross of Valour and one bar but jumped straight to the Virtuti Militari, which indicated a significant military achievement. Sinking an almost new schnorkel equipped U-Boat and taking 41 fighting men out of the picture was a pretty significant military achievement and I firmly believe that this was the reason for the award. Especially so late in the war, submarines could not be replaced quickly and trained submariners even less quickly.

It was not uncommon for trainees to be in the crews of bombers loaned to Bomber Command for individual missions and it is quite possible that he flew such missions - although tracking them is well nigh impossible. So he could have received an award even as a trainee. Scores of PAF, RAF, RCAF & SAAF trainees flew in the 1,000 bomber raids which were very destructive but also had a huge effect on German morale - which together were worth more than the lives of a few trainees that were lost but also gave them practical experience of war. That is what earned the Allied airmen the name "Terror Fliegers"
 
Even part trained pilots had to start from scratch as the differences in the control systems on French and Polish aircraft were vastly different from British and American ones. Most Polish aircraft were made with fixed undercarriages and many experienced pilots wrecked or seriously damaged RAF planes by forgetting to lower it when they came in to land. Training typically took 18 months to 2 years - even longer if they had to wait between courses.

Rudolf had to get up to 400 hours before he was let loose on bombing missions because it is clear that he was marked out as a senior (master) pilot. This is why he was flying target tugs and gun platforms (planes with trainee gunners on board) at Morpeth before being placed with 304 Squadron.
 
On 14th November 1946 he was transferred to No 16 Polish Technical Training School, again as an instructor, at RAF Cammeringham  near Ingham in Lincolnshire but this was a short lived move as there was little to do with the Polish Air Force winding down from its war standing.  On 2nd December 1946 he was transferred to RAF Hucknall and on to the Polish Depot at Blackpool but these moves were only on paper and he would be given a few days End of War leave before he was permanently moved out of the Polish Air Force and into the Polish Resettlement Unit as he had expressed no desire to return to the new Communist Poland.

Nominally this was effective from 11th December 1946 and was to last a maximum of two years.  As the name implies, it was to give him a home and employment until he was able to retrain for new work and to give him time to improve his English.  In reality he became a civilian but was actually an employee of the Royal Air Force.  It was also a stepping stone to a transfer into the RAF for those who were considered good enough.

It seems that he was being given some kind of work and an insight into the peacetime RAF as he was not placed in one PRU Centre for his two years.  He was at RAF Dunholme Lodge in Lincolnshire and another Polish Resettlement Camp at RAF Cottesmore PRU numbers 6 and 2 respectively whilst his future in the RAF was settled.  During this time he also appears to have had medical problems as his record sheet indicates several medical boards and gradings.


On 10th January 1946 his wife Mona presented him with the gift of a son Antoni Rudolf.  The family seen together here a little later
 
He remained there until June 1948 when he was officially transferred from the Polish Resettlement Corps into permanent service with the Royal Air Force at  RAF Cottesmore in Rutland where he was at No 7 Flying Training School until 13th July 1950.  During this time, on 9th March 1949 he changed the family name, by Deed Poll, to Marsden and this fact was formally  recorded by an act of Naturalisation on 26th September 1949 and duly recorded in the London Gazette on 18th November 1949.


Naturalisation Announcement in the London Gazette
 
He spent time at RAF Calshot on Southampton Water in Hampshire and this is where his new career really started; this was the main British training centre for flying boats and was the home of 235 Operational Conversion Unit whose function was to train qualified pilots to handle flying boats.  He was there from 14th July 1950 until 13th November 1950 when he was posted to No 5 Personnel Despatch Centre at Hednesford in Staffordshire where he stayed until his transfer to the Far East Air Force Headquarters at RAF Changi, Singapore with effect from 7th December 1950.

Once there, he joined 209 Squadron at their base at RAF Seletar on 31st December 1950.  They worked on a rotational basis flying patrols over Northern Malaya for two months then patrolling the Korean coastline for a month as part of a three Sunderland detachment based at The Royal Australian Air Force base at Iwakuni, Yamaguchi, Japan just 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Hiroshima.  The Korean part was particularly dangerous as they faced the threat of a new genre of fast jets supplied by the Russians to their Chinese and Korean allies.
 
One of the Short Sunderland Flying Boats that Rudolf actually flew seen here at Iwakuni, Japan where he was based
 

The duties were not without their dangers;  on the Korean side they did coastal patrols photographing suspicious ships, keeping track of any Russian submarines and, primarily at night, meteorological flights which took them almost as far as Vladivostock.  At all such times they were fully armed and at readiness; the Anti Surface Vessel Radar was manned at all times and they carried a full load of depth charges and bombs as well as loaded and cocked machine guns.


 
Out of RAF Seletar their patrols were also to photograph suspicious shipping and to harass the Malay pirate junks.  They also flew up to the far North just inside the border with Thailand where they bombed the Chinese Communist insurgents under radio direction from the army and police posts on the ground.  They carried about 40 boxes each containing four twenty five pound bombs which were dropped from retractable under wing racks or simply thrown out through hatches in the fuselage.
 
It was recognised that this method of bombing did not cause a great deal of damage but it was effective in that it kept the insurgents on the move and discouraged them from creating dumps where they could stockpile stores, weapons, ammunition and food.
 
Rudolf's detachment together with one of their Short Sunderlands at RAF Selatar, Singapore

Rudolf in flight - probably photographed from one of the other Sunderlands detached from 209 Squadron out of Singapore or Japan
A break from the fighting - relaxing in Singapore
 

 
A break from the fighting - relaxing in Singapore

Rudolf at the controls of his Short Sunderland - in Singapore or Japan
 
His flying days were cut short when he experienced a recurrence of his gastric ulcers and was admitted into the hospital at RAF Changi from 24th September 1951 until 23rd November 1951 after which arrangements were made to bring him home.  He then spent time in the hospital at RAF Wroughton, Wiltshire from 19th December 1951 until 15th January 1952 when he was transferred the hospital at RAF Ely, Cambridgeshire until his final discharge on 18th January 1952.

He spent the rest of his time in the RAF in a training function at RAF Colerne, Wiltshire; RAF Millom, Cumberland and RAF Woodvale, Formby near Liverpool.  During this final period he was constantly subject to Medical Boards and when his service term expired he was allowed to just leave the RAF. This was an understandable but unfortunate situation because his records were endorsed with a comment that he was recommended for Officer training and a commission.  On 3rd August 1953 he returned to civilian life.
 
Rudolf in the hospital at RAF Changi, Singapore
 

He moved into the licensed trade taking over the Platelayers Arms in Wigan, where his wife had been living whilst he was still in the Air Force.  After a while, he took over the White Lion in Pemberton where he became a highly respected and well liked publican.  He had a reputation for taking no nonsense and for keeping good order in his pub.  He also became one of the first to serve good substantial food and he regularly had entertainment which was extremely popular.


 
A very low point in his life occurred in the late summer of 1960 when his wife Mona died at the tragically young age of 43.  She had been suffering from Leukaemia and this left Rudolf and 13 year old Antoni devastated.
 
A highlight of his peace time life occurred in 1968 when, after a long search through the records of the Salvation Army, he managed to trace his sister Helena Jelen and her six year old daughter Joanna.  He travelled to Dover and met them off the boat.
 
Meeting his sister for the first time Pemberton 1968
 

They were complete strangers.  When Helena was born, he was already in the Polish Air Force and he never got to meet her because the German invasion of Poland happened and he never saw his home or family again.  They spent a happy holiday with him in the White Lion and he was planning a trip to Poland to see his four brothers, two of whom were also born after he left Poland.
 
 
Newspaper report of Rudolf's death

Tragically, on 13th September 1969, Rudolf suffered a heart attack and died aged only 52.  He was highly thought of in his local area and the streets were thronged with people as his funeral cortege passed.  The funeral service was held at St. Johns church in Pemberton and burial was at St Thomas' church Ashton-in Makerfield.
 
Although  he was not in Fighter Command, Rudolf could well be described in Wing Commander Ronald Kellet's words:  "My God they're doing it!"  This was said in the face of disbelief of the Poles' actions.
 
With thanks to Gary Marsden for giving me access to the family archives and photograph collection

 

RUDOLF MARCZAK (AKA MARSDEN)


Rudolf Marczak was born on 6th May 1917 at Magdeburg, Germany, the son of a farmer.  There is little hard information available on his childhood but it seems likely that the family was displaced after the tumultuous wars that tore Eastern and Central Europe apart after the end of WW1.
 
The Poles fought hard to re-create their country, which had been swallowed up by the Austro-Hungarian Empire many decades earlier and the war of 1918-1920 finally re-established the Polish nation.  All seemed set for a settled future in the new land and the ethnically Polish area that became the new Poland.  His family settled in the hinterland of Debowo and built up a substantial farm which certainly appeared prosperous in the available pre-war photographs.
 
                       
             The Marczak family farm near Debowo, Poland before the War


But this hard fought for peace and prosperity was not destined to last as German resentment at the loss of territory and Russian expansionism were soon to result in the devastation and destruction of the newly established Polish state and both nations proved their willingness to be brutal, callous and unremitting in their determination to seize back the lands they had lost.  And Rudolf Marczak's life was about to change forever.


 

He started life as a normal young man and entered military service in 1935 at the age of 18.  He would have to have done so through the normal rules of conscription, but it appears that he decided to enter the military as a career.  On 4th November 1935, Polish records show that he was taken into the aviation branch of the Polish Army and subsequent details show his steady promotion to sergeant and the fact that he was training as a pilot as late as March 1939 - well beyond his normal 2 years of conscription.  This indicates that he was one of the better conscripts and that he had voluntarily opted to continue in the Polish Air Force as a career airman.
 
On the outbreak of war he was still a pilot under training and it is unlikely that he flew aircraft on hostile missions, although it is quite possible that he was flying "second dicky" and may have had battle experience as a gunner - there is no evidence either way.  What is for sure is that he was a part of 5 pulk Lotniczy (5th Air Regiment) and was active in the defence of the city of Lida (now in Belarus).  When it became obvious that there was no chance of Poland winning the battle - after Russia attacked from the rear - his regiment was ordered to evacuate through Romania.
 
The Polish authorities had an incredible network built up to assist their fighting men to get out of the country.  Even after they were disarmed and interned in Romania, provision was made for them to "escape" (bribes to corrupt officials) and they were given fake ID, money and travel tickets to get them to France where the provisional Polish Government in exile was set up and a Polish air force base had been created in Lyon Bron.  It is unlikely that he did any flying in France; the French seemed lethargic towards the Poles and made no effort to get them into fighting mode, nor did they do anything to make the recruits comfortable.  Some were housed in large open areas, sleeping on straw palliasses on the floor and living in the same area and without heating or a hot water supply.  Others were housed in the cheapest rented accommodation and few were happy with their lot.
 
There is no solid evidence but large numbers of Polish airmen were routed to Balcic (now in Bulgaria) on the Black Sea coast and there placed on ships that were taking diverse routes to Marseilles via Syria, Lebanon, North Africa or Greece.  This is all conjecture but many (indeed most) Polish airmen were evacuated this way.  It should also be remembered that, in violation of Romania's neutrality, the Germans had a huge intelligence presence there and were pressurising the Romanians to stop the flow of Poles to France.  In any event, no matter what, he arrived at the Polish Air Base in Lyon-Bron in early January 1940.
 

                    Rudolf's verification as a genuine Polish Airman
 
Only a privileged few qualified pilots were able to fight from that place, basically as fighter pilots defending the French industrial bases from the attention of the Luftwaffe.  Still unqualified, as a fighter pilot, it is highly unlikely that Rudolf was one of these pilots.  However, itching for action, they stayed on until the French capitulation and then made their way to the Mediterranean or Atlantic ports with the intention of reaching what the Poles called the Islands of Last Hope (Great Britain).
 
Document dismissing him from the Polish Air Force and enlisting him into L'Armee de l'Air
 
                    L'Armee de l'Air ID card issued at Lyon-Bron
 

There is no doubt that he was part of Operation Ariel, shortly after Dunkirk, in which almost as many troops were evacuated but far less publicity was generated because there were none of the small boats involved.  However it was no less bloody or brutal and the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine put in an enormous effort to stop it.  From Lyon-Bron, it is most likely that he travelled to St Juan de Luz, just north of the Spanish border from where, under heavy fire and attacks from the Luftwaffe, he would be taken on board ship for England. 



To give some scale to the carnage, the RMS Lancastria was a Cunard liner sent to assist with the evacuation; she had a capacity of 2,200 including her crew.  There were actually up to 9,000 people on board when she was attacked by the Luftwaffe.  She took three direct hits and sank within twenty minutes.  Only 2,447 survived and a D Notice was placed on the event, preventing it from being recorded but some weeks later the British and American press defied this notice and reported it anyway.


Over 55,000 Poles attempted to board ship in this area and those who were unsuccessful, made a fighting retreat to St Jean de Luz.

Once in England he was posted to the Polish Depot which was initially at RAF Eastchurch in Kent but this was soon to become a front line fighter base and the Poles were moved to a complex of RAF sites based in Blackpool and the surrounding area which was out of effective reach of the Luftwaffe.

Here he learned to speak, read and write English, familiarise himself with the King's Regulations and learn the essential differences between Polish and French aircraft and the British ones that he would be flying; controls and handling were significantly different

He remained there until 10th May 1941 when he was moved to his first stage of pilot training which was actually a more intensive form of school room flying - basic and theoretical training.  This took place at No 15 Elementary Flying Training School which was at RAF Carlisle (formerly known as RAF
 
 
 
          Legityymacja - effectively his pilot's licence for British Aircraft
 
Kingstown) in Cumberland (now Cumbria).  He completed this training and was returned to the Polish Depot at Blackpool on 21st June 1941.

Just a week later, on 28th June 1941 he was admitted to the hospital at RAF Weeton suffering from gastric problems, probably ulcers which were to dog him for many years  He was released after thirteen days to No 1 ACD (Air Crew Despatch) where he recuperated until 11th August when he was transferred to No 2 ACD - these were probably just 'on paper' moves to give him a chance to recover.  Finally he was transferred back to the Polish Depot on 22nd August 1941 where he stayed until 17th September 1941 - probably totally bored and with little to do but work on his English.

At this point he was moved to No 3 Service Flying Training School at RAF South Cerney near Cirencester, Gloucestershire for actual flying training on British aircraft.  Here the training was on the Airspeed Oxford twin engine aircraft - this was an early indication that he was destined for a bomber squadron.  On 20th January 1942 his training was complete and he returned to the Polish Depot at Blackpool.

 
On 5th May 1942, he was transferred to No 4 Air Gunnery School at RAF Morpeth (aka RAF Tranwell) in Northumberland.  He was a pilot responsible for flying the target tugs and the gun platforms - the aircraft carrying the gunnery students; these were Blackburn Bothas, Westland Lysanders and Miles Martinets.  Because of the length of time he was there, he was obviously there to develop experience before moving on to flying operational bombers and needed to amass 400 flying hours before he was ready to become a senior pilot - described on his records as a Master Pilot.

During his time there he married Mona Mary Magleave (on 26th December 1942) at St John's Church at Wigan, Lancashire.