William Bishop
Flight Sergeant William Bishop was killed in action on 5th February 1944.
He had joined the RAF in June 1942 and had received his training at Napier Field in Alabama, USA, learning to fly under the auspices of the American Air Force.
He had been married only the previous year and had been posted to 115 Squadron based at Witchford.
He flew his first combat mission on 14th January 1944 – the bombing of Brunswick. 496 Lancasters and 2 Halifaxes took part.
38 Lancasters were lost to German fighters who entered the bomber stream soon after the German frontier was crossed and stayed with them until the Dutch coast was crossed on the return flight.
On 20th January he took part in the bombing of Berlin. This time 769 aircraft – 495 Lancasters, 264 Halifaxes and 10 Mosquitoes took part. 35 aircraft were lost.
On 6th February his Lancaster II took off at 6.26 p.m. for a night bombing exercise but crashed at 8.20 pm at Great Dunmow, 8 miles south west of Braintree in Essex.
His logbook lists the purpose of this flight as ‘fighter assimilation’ and it is possible that his Lancaster was the victim of a collision or ‘friendly fire’.
Sgt Bishop is buried in Barry Cemetery.
View from an RAF Lancaster on a bombing raid
The stories on this page are extracts from a forthcoming book by local Military Historian, Dr Jonathon Hicks of those of Barrians who served in the Royal Air Force.
L. F. ‘Danny’ Daniels
Ex-Barry Grammar Schoolboy L. F. ‘Danny’ Daniels joined the RAF as an apprentice and at the end of his training he volunteered for aircrew, flying in Lancasters with 100 Squadron as a Flight Engineer.
Sitting alongside Pilot Officer J. R. Lake, Danny and the rest of the crew of Lancaster JB564 HW-D2 took off from Grimsby airfield at 5.43 p.m. on the night of 23rd November 1943. Their destination was the German capital city of Berlin.
Danny had celebrated his 21st Birthday just three days earlier, but two miles from target the Lancaster was hit by anti-aircraft fire – ‘flak’ – and one of the aircraft’s four engines was hit and set alight. The fire spread along the wing and the order was given to bale out. Only four of the seven-man crew made the parachute jump safely. They were all captured by German ground troops and Danny spent the remainder of the war in the prisoner of war camp Stalag 4B.
After his release in 1945 he continued to serve as an engineer with the RAF and was later commissioned. Danny was a member of the ‘Caterpillar Club’ – so named because men who parachuted from aircraft were awarded a gold brooch in the shape of a caterpillar, with red or blue eyes. It was an unofficial award but the men wore their brooch under their lapels of their uniform.
RELATED PAGES
New WW1 novel by Jonathan Hicks
All material on this site is copyright and should not be used without the written permission of the site owner.