Lummis, Ernie (Oral history)

British NCO served as wireless operator with Sqdn, RAF based in GB and operating over Germany, 1945; served with 45 Air Transport Command in Canada, 1945; served with 206 Air Transport Sqdn in GB, 1945-1946

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Upton Park, Langdon and Grays, 1923-1937: family background and social circumstances; education; breaking leg; work in newsagents, 1937-1941; ignorance of approach of war; story of returning from holiday in Belgium, 2/9/1939; reactions to outbreak of war, 3/9/1939; Anderson air raid shelter; blackout; story of walking back from dancehall during German air raids; view of aerial fighting; German low-level raid over Grays; putting out incendiary bombs; training with Air Defence Cadet Corps, 1940-1941; attending dance hall. REEL 2 Continues: background to volunteering to join RAF, 12/1940; assistance from former teacher in preparing for assessment tests; attending tests and medical at Weston super Mare, 3/1941; acceptance for training as wireless operator; reactions of parents and employer to enlistment; call up, 12/1941. Recollections of period at Air Crew Reception Centre, Padgate, 12/1941: reception; hut accommodation; relationship with recruits; food rations; medicals and administrative routine; kitting out and alterations; identity discs; drill. Recollections of period at RAF Blackpool, 12/1941-3/1942: reception; billets; learning Morse code at Radio School, Winter Gardens. REEL 3 Continues: drill; PT; recreations including dane halls, ice skating and curfew, Recollections of period training as No 4 Radio School, Compton Barset, 1942: hut accommodation; story of raiding huts and punishment; increasing Morse cod speed; training in repairing wireless sets; 'X' and 'Q' codes; wireless procedure; circumstances of transfer to army. Recollections of period at No 1 Headquarters, Royal Signal Corps, Hammersmith Town Hall, 1942: flats accommodation; role as stop gap; training in army wireless sets and codes; duties as wireless operators at Cabinet War Rooms, Whitehall, including atmosphere, role communicating with Army Commands and question of presence of VIPs; story of exercises on Wimbledon Common; visit to Hammersmith Palais dance hall. Period attached to Headquarters, Bomber Command, RAF at High Wycombe, ca 1942-1943: question of attached status. REEL 4 Continues: reception and accommodation; shift arrangements; duties monitoring wireless communications; presence in operations rooom an contacts with Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris; pay. Recollections of period with No 4 Air Radio School, Madley, 5/1943-6/1943: visits to pub; wireless air training in Dominee; first solo flight as wireless operator in Proctor; assessment. Attending emergency gunnery course at RAF Mamby, 7/1943: firing from turret on ground; qualification as sergeant wireless operator/gunner. Cross country flights in Anson with No 1 Operational Training Unit, Wigtown, 7/1943. Period at No 18 Operational Training Unit, Finningley, 9/1943-2/1944: background to formation of crew with pilot Sergeant Larry Westcott, navigator Warrant Officer Andy Matthews, bomb aimer Pilot Officer Bill Johnson, rear gunner Sergeant Don Prescot and mid -upper gunner Sergeant Bob Parry; opinion of Wellington; training flights. REEL 5 Continues: visits to pubs and pubs in Doncaster loss of Larry Westcott from crew due to traffic accident and replacement with Pilot Officer Bill Sinclair; subsequent death of Sergeant Larry Westcott on operation. Opinion of Halifax during conversion course at at 1656 Heavy Conversion Unit, RAF, Lindholm, 2/1944-3/1944. Nature of conversion course to Lancaster at No 1 Lancaster Finishing School, RAF, Hemswell, 3/1944. Recollections of period as wireless operator flying Lancasters with 12 Sqdn, RAF, Wickenby, 3/1944-4/1944: personal and crew morale; reception; hut accommodation; test flight and checking equipment before accepting new Lancaster; first raid on railway sidings, Aulnoy, Normandy, France, 25/3/1944; German anti-aircraft fire during raid on Essen, Germany, 26/3/1944; nature of raid on Nurnberg, 30/3/1944, including prior briefing. REEL 6 Continues: nature of raid on Nurnberg, 30/3/1944, including prior briefing, air crew meal, state of morale, flying kit, journey out to aircraft, final checks, question of role of ground crew, question of superstitions, take off, operation of wireless sets and intercom, use of wireless beacons and H2S high frequency set for navigation, weather reports, use of 'fish ponds' set to identify German night fighters and use of GEE set for navigation. REEL 7 Continues: nature of raid on Nurnberg, 30/3/1944, including use of GEE set for navigation, question of food, ELSAN latrine, atmospheres and location of W/O in aircraft, German anti-aircraft on crossing coastline, effects of change in wind direction on navigation, approach to target, question of possibly having bombed Frankfurt in error, dropping bombs on Pathfinder flares, photograph of target, question of aircraft losses, use of intercom, return flight, landing procedure, handing over aircraft to ground crew, debriefing, question of having bombed wrong target and crew breakfast; landing at alternative airfield due to lack of fuel; story of mission minelaying over Gulf of Danzig, 9/4/1944, including attack by ME110, engine catching fire, question of baling out, use of cloud to put out fire, success of corkscrew evasive manoeuvre, damage to aircraft and reactions of usual crew. REEL 8 Continues: story of early return and emergency due to illness of Pilot Officer Bill Sinclair during raid on Colgne, 20/4/1944; background to acquiring new pilot Flight Lieutenant Hutchinson and new bomb aimer. Period at No 1 Lancaster Finishing School, RAF, Hemsworth, 5/1944. Recollections of period as wireless operator flying Lancaster with 166 Sqdn, RAF, Kirmington, 5/1944-7/1944: hut accommodation; relationship with crew; review of various night and daytime raids; bombing raids in support of military operations; effects of running into electrical storm during minelaying mission over Heligoland Bight, 26/7/1944; final raids and reaction to completing tour, 31/7/1944; question of taking immediate second tour and options for next posting. REEL 9 Continues: options for next posting. Period at RAF Brackla,8/1944: recreational facilities; psychological tests; bckground to selection of posting to Air Transport Command. Period at 105 Operational Training Unit, Bramcote, 11/1944-1/1945: training to increase Morse code speed; civilians 'Q' code; flights in Welington including introduction to Bendix wireless and opinion of pilot Warrant Officer Weston; compassionate leave on death of father; passing out. Voyage aboard Louis Pasteur to New York, US, 1/1945 conditions; reception in New York; train journey to Canada. Recollections of period with No 6 Ferry Unit, 45th Air Transport Command, Dorval, Canada, 2/1945-10/1945: ad hoc crews; hut accommodation at Lachine camp; relationship with Canadian civilians and opinion of Catholic priest; training on US Bendix wireless; attack of jaundice and convalescence; meeting Canadian members of former crew; leave in US; reactions to VE Day in US, 8/5/1945. REEL 10 Continues: reactions to VE Day in Canada, 8/5/1945; flight as passenger, 3/9/1945; familiarisation flights in Michell B25; flight to Reykjavik, Iceland, 16/9/1945; delays due to bad weather; aborted flight due to wireless problems, 21/9/1945; flight and difficult landing at Bluie West I, Greenland, 22/9/1945; use of US officers' mess facilities; Eskimo settlement; flight back to Dorval, 28/9/1945; flight as passenger to GB, 10/1945. Period with 206 Air Transport Sqdn, Oakington, 10/1945-3/1946: opinion of Liberator converted to carry passengers; nature of flights out to collect troops from Mauripur, India, including route, overnight stops, reaction of troops and story of purchasing goods to take back to GB. REEL 11 Continues: question of evading customs duties on carpet; prior promotion to warrant officer. Posting to RAF Uxbridge, 4/1946-5/1946: clerical role; taking morning parades as NCO; demobilisation procedure, 5/1946. Post-war career: question of civilian flying career; effects of mother's lack of pension following death of father; work as newsagent manager; service as volunteer and reserve commission officer with 106 Sqdn, Air Training Corps; membership of RAF Assoc, Air Crew Association and Bomber Command Assoc; opinion of treatment of Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris and Bomber Command.