Chatfield, Donald Charles (Oral history)

British NCO and officer served as wireless operator/air gunner with 107 Sqdn, No 2 Group, Bomber Command and No 138 Wing, No 2 Bomber Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force, RAF in GB, 8/1942-2/1944; officer served as wireless operator/air gunner with 88 Sqdn, No 137 Wing, No 2 Bomber Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force, RAF in GB, 3/1944-11/1944

REEL 1 Background in Brighton, GB, 1922-1940: family; education; employment. Aspects of enlistment and training as wireless operator/air gunner with RAF in GB, 1940-1942: volunteering for RAF, early 1940; start of RAF training, 11/1940; pattern of training. Recollections of operations as wireless operator/air gunner with 107 Sqdn, No 2 Group, Bomber Command and No 138 Wing, No 2 Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force, RAF in GB, 8/1942-2/1944: joining squadron at RAF Great Massingham, 8/1942; use of under gunners on Douglas Boston Mk III; crewing up; opinion of Douglas Boston Mk III; character of guns on Douglas Boston Mk III; squadron morale; formation used during Circus operations; Supermarine Spitfire escorts; first operation during Dieppe Raid, France, 19/8/1942. REEL 2 Continues: personal morale during operations; searches for downed Bomber Command aircrew in North Sea; explanation of term 'squealer beats'; damage to aircraft during attack on steel works at Ijmuiden, Netherlands, 27/11/1942; forced landing at United States Army Air Force airfield at RAF Horsham St Faith, 27/11/1942; attitude to participation in low level operations; bombing of goods train in Belgium, 7/11/1942; occasion when his aircraft was attacked by German Focke-Wulf 190 aircraft; low-level operation against power station at Gosnay, France, 27/8/1943; attack on Philips factory at Eindhoven, Netherlands, 6/12/1942. REEL 3 Continues: use of cloud cover for low-level raids; move from No 2 Group, Bomber Command at RAF Great Massingham to No 138 Wing, No 2 Bomber Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force at RAF Hartford Bridge, 8/1943; attacks on V1 Flying Bomb launch sites in France from 20/12/1943; attitude to statutary six months rest period; attitude to attacking German V1 Flying Bomb sites in France. Aspects of operations as wireless operator/air gunner with 88 Sqdn, No 137 Wing, No 2 Bomber Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force, RAF in GB, 3/1944-11/1944: move to squadron, 3/1944; his pilot Flying Officer Lee-White; character of night operations; incident when anti-aircraft fire was very close that he could see the red ball inside the black smoke cloud; forced landing at RAF Manston, 28/5/1944; attitude to completion of second tour, 11/1944.