Bilton, George Henry Albert (Oral history)

British NCO served as flight engineer with 427 (RCAF) Sqdn, No 6 (RCAF) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 9/1943-10/1943; served with 428 (RCAF) Sqdn, No 6 (RCAF) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 10/1943-4/1944; served with 434 Sqdn, (RCAF) Sqdn, No 6 (RCAF) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB in GB, 4/1944-8/1944; officer served as flight engineer with No 29 Operational Training Unit, RAF in GB, 9/1944-5/1945; served with 267 Sqdn, Air Command, South East Asia, RAF in Far East, 1945-1946

REEL 1 Background in Kingston upon Hull, GB, 1923-1939: family; education; employment. Aspects of period as messenger with Air Raid Precautions in Anlaby, 1940-1941: work as messenger boy; bombs that dropped in Anlaby area; German Air Force bombing of Kingston upon Hull; camps built in Anlaby to house bombed out civilians from city. Aspects of enlistment and training as flight engineer in Royal Air Force in GB, 8/1942-8/1942: volunteering for aircrew, 1941; call-up to Royal Air Force, 8/1942; pattern of training as flight engineer; punishment during training; role of flight engineer. Aspects of period as flight engineer with 427 (RCAF) Sqdn, No 6 (RCAF) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 9/1943-10/1943: posting to and character of No 6 (RCAF) Group; opinion of Canadians; reasons for leaving squadron. Recollections of operations as flight engineer with 428 (RCAF) Sqdn, No 6 (RCAF) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 10/1943-4/1944: joining squadron, 10/1943; impressions of first operation to Düsseldorf, Germany; damage to aircraft from night fighter during second operation to Ludwigshafen, Germany and emergency landing, 18/11/1943; operation to Stuttgart, Germany, 26/11/1943; operation to Berlin, Germany, 20/1/1944; work of ground crews; minelaying operations, 2/1944; second operation to Berlin, Germany, 15/2/1944. REEL 2 Continues: destruction of railway marshalling yards at Trappes, France, 6/3/1944. Recollections of operations as flight engineer with 434 (RCAF) Sqdn, No 6 (RCAF) Group, Bomber Command, RAF in GB, 4/1944-8/1944: reasons for transfer of crew to squadron, 4/1944; pattern of attacks on France, 4/1944-6/1944; daylight raid on Boulogne, France, 15/6/1944; problems with bomb doors during raid over France, 1/7/1944; daylight raid on Caen, France, 18/7/1944; question of danger of accidental bombing of aircraft during raid on Hamburg, Germany, 28/7/1944; attack on German V2 Rocket assembly depot, 4/8/1944; failure to concentrate bombs during raid on Brunswick, Germany, 12/8/1944; accidental bombing of Canadian Army troops in Normandy, France, 14/8/1944; last operation, 25/8/1944; end of tour and commissioning. Aspects of period as flight engineer with No 29 Operational Training Unit, RAF in GB, 9/1944-5/1945: duties with training unit; contrast in flight engineer's work in Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax aircraft. Reflections on service with Bomber Command, RAF, 9/1943-8/1944: Lack of Moral Fibre (LMF) case; superstitions and lucky charms; attitude to different types of operations; attitude to criticism of role of Bomber Command; use of The Fleece Public House in Darlington; question of security. REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of operations as flight engineer with 267 Sqdn, Air Command, South East Asia, RAF East, 1945-1946: work of squadron; curfew on Royal Air Force personnel in Saigon, French Indochina, 2/1946; friendliness of Chinese in Hong Kong, 1946; situation in Saigon, French Indochina. Aspects of period as flight engineer with No 29 Operational Training Unit, RAF in GB, 9/1944-5/1945: situation at RAF Bruntingthorpe; reaction of Australian airmen to 'bull'; story of dealing with casualties of crashed Douglas Dakota in Burma, 7/1946; problems dealing with possessions of Australian airmen at operational training unit.