Knights, Robert Edgar (Oral history)

British officer served as pilot with 617 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1/1944-11/1944

REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and training as pilot with Royal Air Force in GB and United States of America, 1941-1943: reasons for enlistment in Royal Air Force, 3/1941; pattern of flying training in United States of America and GB; opinion of Avro Lancaster and Vickers Wellington. Recollections of operations as pilot with 617 Sqdn, No 5 Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 1/1944-11/1944: background to volunteering for squadron after service with 619 Sqdn; attitude of his aircrew; method of crewing up; age of aircrew; atmosphere in squadron; use of SABS Mk II Bombsight; changes in squadron, 6/1944; organisation of squadron and relations with higher command; characters of Group Captains Leonard Cheshire and James Tait; frequency of raids; moonlight raids. REEL 2 Continues: marking targets; navigation; reasons for constantly moving aircraft in flight; use of Gee and H2S navigational aids; radio silence and role of wireless operator; need to keep busy on operations; character of first precision raid on Limoges, France, 8/2/1944; operational briefing; take off and route to target area; control of bombing at target area; return flight; altitudes flown at; route flown for raid on Limoges, France, 8/12/1944; quality of intelligence and target maps; guidance in target area; further details of briefings; warning time for operations; daily routine; drinking and recreational activities when stood down. REEL 3 Continues: attitude to potential threat to life and growth of confidence; threat of night fighters and anti-aircraft fire; technique for dealing with night fighter attack; anti-aircraft fire during daylight raids; duration of bombing run; problems for navigators being inactive over target; function of flights; squadron loyalty; relations with senior officers; transition from sergeant mess to officers mess; relations with his crew; relative lack of importance of rank with aircrew; social activities of crew; relations with ground crew; squadron morale and discipline. REEL 4 Continues: taking war correspondent Major Anthony Cotterell as passenger on raid on Frankfurt am Main, Germany; sense of loyalty to Air Marshal Arthur Harris; impressions of Air Vice-Marshal Ralph Cochrane; Very Important Person (VIP) visitors; attitude towards casualties; attitude to contrast between station life and operational life; escape and evasion exercise; attitude to morality of bombing; attitude towards Germans; debriefing process; flight to Archangel, Soviet Union for attack on German battleship Tirpitz; Soviet facilities; description of attack on German battleship Tirpitz off Hakoya Island, Norway, 29/10/1944; character of Tallboy Bomb; need to change engine after damage from anti-aircraft whist attacking German battleship Tirpitz; handling of Avro Lancaster on reduced engines; impressions of Soviets; targets before and after D-Day; introduction of new aircraft to mark targets; marking of Brunswick and Munich, Germany for Main Force; targeting submarine pens on French ports; bombing run; use of 'gaggle' formation. REEL 5 Continues: attacks on V-weapon sites; deception operation for D-Day, 6/6/1944; conditions inside Avro Lancaster; sanitary facilities; duration of operations; rations taken on flights; threat of collision; further raids on German battleship Tirpitz off Hakoya Island, Norway; importance of vigilance during operations.