Knife, for Boots, Flying, 1943 'Escape' pattern: Royal Air Force

Small pen knife style knife with folding blade. Usually inserted into a slit inside the lining of the right boot.

Carried on operations over Europe by Lancaster Flight Engineer Frederick Keith Thompson of 75 (NZ) Squadron, Bomber Command, 1944-45.

Frederick Keith Thompson (b. 1924), formerly an electrical inspector from Liverpool, joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in April 1943 and after training as a Flight Engineer was posted to 'C' Flight, No. 75 (NZ) Squadron at RAF Mepal in August 1944, part of No. 3 Group, Bomber Command. Between September and December 1944, Thompson flew 31 operations over Europe, with over half of these being in Lancaster I HK563 JN-W 'Paper Doll' piloted by Flying Officer Edmund 'Eddie' Robertson RNZAF. At the beginning of his tour of operations, Thompson decided that 'the only way to have peace of mind and not to worry about it was to say to myself that there was no way that I was going to survive 35 operations'. The first few operations flown by Thompson's crew were over France in support of the Allied ground offensive, with targets including Le Havre and Calais. On Thompson's fourth operation, a mine-laying operation in the Baltic Sea near Stettin, his Lancaster was briefly attacked by a Junkers Ju 88 night fighter. Having seen flashes in front of the aircraft on the return leg of the flight, he assumed this was caused by lightning, but upon landing was told by his pilot that the flashes were in fact tracer from the twelve guns and cannon of the night fighter, leaving Thompson considerably taken aback. The majority of later operations flown by Thompson were against industrial targets in Germany, such as Homberg, Cologne and Dortmund. On one operation to Dortmund, Thompson's Lancaster was 'coned' by searchlights, only narrowly escaping after his pilot took violent evasive action. His aircraft was twice hit by flak on operations to Bonn and Heinzberg, while on multiple occasions he witnessed other Lancasters being fatally hit. Other operations included mine-laying in the Kattegat and bombing the coastal guns on Flushing. Following their 31st operation, the crew were told on landing that the number of operations required to complete a tour had been reduced from 35 to 30, thus ending their tour. In later life, Thompson wrote a memoir of his life in 75 (NZ) Squadron, with detailed recollections of each operation flown. This can be found in Documents.27349. For the majority of Thompson's tour, his crew consisted of: Captain: Flying Officer Robertson, Edmund Frederick 'Eddie' (RNZAF) NZ421767 Navigator: Flight Sergeant Herrold, Anthony Charles John 'Tony' (RNZAF) NZ422399 Air Bomber: Flying Officer Richmond, Stuart Hector (RNZAF) NZ425433 Wireless Operator: Flight Sergeant Tibby, Frank Rendall (RNZAF) NZ425469 Flight Engineer: Sergeant Thompson, Frederick Keith (RAFVR) Mid Upper Gunner: Sergeant Maryan, Ronald (RAFVR) Rear Gunner: Sergeant Smith, A (RAFVR)