.

Commonwealth Air

Training Plan Museum

Volume 36 No. 4

Fall 2018

Merry Christmas

RCAF 418 Squadron 1944

CONTACT – Volume 36 Issue 4

Our cover shows members of the RCAF City of Edmonton

Squadron, receiving Christmas parcels on November 1, 1944

while stationed at Debden England. 418 Squadron was the

RCAF’s top scoring unit in terms of air-to-air and air-to-ground

kills during both day and night. Formed in November 1941 in

Debden England, it utilized a number of twin engine aircraft

and achieved great success on missions. The squadron’s

aircraft included the Douglas Boston Mk. III and the de

Havilland Mosquito. The Squadron’s mission repertoire

included Night Intruder duties targeting supply trains, shipping

and factories or dropping propaganda leaflets on Occupied

Europe. 418 Squadron was adopted by the City of Edmonton

in 1944 and changed its name to 418 City of Edmonton

Squadron. For more information see:

https://www.albertaaviationmuseum.com/wp-

content/uploads/2017/05/418-Squadron-history-final.pdf

The source of the cover photograph is Jeremy Newman at:

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/289848926004242477/?lp=true

As a result of our quarterly publication schedule, Christmas

falls uncomfortably two months after our October mailout and

one month before our January mailout. Although retail

advertising of Christmas before Remembrance Day is frowned

upon, we beg your indulgence in publishing some RCAF

related Christmas goodies on the cover and page two of this

issue.

November 11 is Remembrance Day. It is the day set aside by

the Commonwealth Countries to remember and pay tribute to

those men and women who served, and continue to serve, in

their armed forces during times of war, conflict and peace. The

first Remembrance Day was observed, as inaugurated by King

George V in 1919, one year after the conclusion of World War

I. Ceremonies in Canada include remembrance for those who

participated in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and

all conflicts in which members of the Canadian Armed Forces

have served. All are invited to attend a Remembrance Day

Open House on the afternoon of November 11.

Father Christ-

mas and Group

Captain J.A.

Hutchison at a

Christmas

party for the

English

children

located near

No. 4 RCAF

Personnel

Reception

Centre during

WWII.

The Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum

McGill Field, Brandon Airport

Box 3 Group 520 RR 5

Brandon, Manitoba R7A 5Y5

Email - airmuseum@inetlink.ca

Web Page – http://www.airmuseum.ca/

President - John McNarry

Vice President - John Robinson

Past President - Jeff Harwood

Treasurer - Judith Grierson

Secretary - Barb Henderson

Executive Director - Stephen Hayter

Administrative Assistant - Kathy Sheppard

Directors

David Jenkins, Archie Londry,

Angus Sneesby, Greg Sigurdson

Committee Managers

Bricks and Mortar - Gerry Kemp

Flying Committee – Mark Odegard

Adjutant - Judith Grierson

Fairey Battle - David Jenkins

Ladies’ Auxiliary –

Archives - Greg Sigurdson

CONTACT Editor - Greg Sigurdson

Front Desk –

Museum Shop - Jan McNarry

Darkroom - Lyle Gawletz

Motor Transport - John McNarry, Grant Shaw

Security - John Robinson

Webmaster – Bill Hillman

Foundation

Archie Londry, Judith Grierson, Jeff Harwood,

Dave Shuttleworth, Clarence Davis,

Elaine Chisholm

Yearly Commonwealth Air Training Plan members are reminded that membership fees come due in January 2018. The Annual Membership fee is $30.00 which goes to support operating costs at the museum. Thank-you for your support The CATP Museum is always looking for new volunteers. Give our Executive Director Stephen Hayter a call at 204-727-2444 if you are interested in spending time at the museum helping out. All types of skills and knowledge may be useful to the operation of the museum but front desk and maintenance staff are urgently needed at this time. Volunteers are encouraged to donate whatever skills and time they have be it one afternoon a week or full-time Monday to Friday. This was posted on the museum’s Facebook page on September 29, 2018.

Last August my wife and I visited the BCATP museum and I wanted to tell you how impressed I was with the exhibits. I viewed information that I had never seen before such as the training programs for each post in a Lancaster aircrew, the various instruments that each specialty used, and even the

famous R R (Rolls-Royce) Merlin, even if it was a bit beat-up. I also enjoyed seeing many of the training aircraft, especially the Avro Anson that my uncle trained on at No. 5 Service Flying School in Brantford, Ontario.

The highlight of our visit was meeting a young fellow who was guiding his mother and grandmother around the museum. He had come with his class earlier in the year and was excited enough to want to show them what he had learned. As we walked around we ran into them and listening to him explaining things to them. My wife was so impressed she told him he was every teacher's dream as he followed up on what he was being taught and was sharing it with others.

As we were about to leave we met them at the entrance and I asked him if he had ever read a story about one of these airmen. He said no, so I gave him my book "Write Soon and Often" on my uncle's life as a Lancaster pilot. I then took him out to the Memorial Wall and photographed him pointing to my uncle's name. What a delightful memory for us all. Andy Thompson. For the period May 21 to September 13, 2018, the CATP Museum Archives accessioned over 700 artifacts and archival materials into the collection. One donation yielded over 500 archival items of which 400 were photographs. The CATPM Flying Committee had a successful Air Demonstration at the museum on August 10, 2018. Over 400 visitors toured the museum and stayed to watch the evening air demonstration. CATPM Monthly meetings are scheduled for the third Wednesday every month at 1:00 p.m. at Hangar No. 1 at the museum. The CATPM Annual Meeting is scheduled for the third Wednesday in November and will occur after the General Meeting is finished. All are welcome to attend.

RCAF Christmas Memento

Merry Christmas from a participant of the British

Commonwealth Air Training Plan. It is an RCAF Christmas

Card with the air force crest on the cover. Inside the card there

is a photograph of an Avro Anson in flight. As the card is

labelled RCAF and shows an Anson with the number 17 on its

tail, the owner of the card has come to the conclusion that this

card originated at No. 17 Service Flying Training School in

Souris Manitoba.

The back of the card is marked: ``Photography by

Roy Kepron, Winnipeg Manitoba Canada’’ which supports the

idea that it was produced for a Manitoba station.

Also included inside the card is a Christmas message

and quote from Omar Khayyam.

A touching RCAF Overseas Christmas story can be seen at:

\http://www.wartimeheritage.com/storyarchive2/storyairmansch

ristmas.htm

A buffet of RCAF Christmas menus from various BCATP

stations can be seen thanks to the Comox Air Force Museum

at:

https://comoxairforcemuseum.ca/its-christmas-whats-for-

dinner/

During World War II, the men and women of the No. 4 Personnel Reception Centre in Torquay, Devon, England became hosts and hostesses providing Christmas Cheer to thousands of local children. Under the leadership of Group Captain J.A. Hutchison, the RCAF Station provided numerous Christmas parties at the local theatre where boys and girls were treated to movies and cartoons, candy in bags and gifts – many of them crafted in a workshop at the station. We see below, staff members inspecting some of these gifts.

Members of the RCAF Womens’ Division enjoying some Cheer and dinner at their Christmas party. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C0dOL2uWIAAdBYH.jpg

Department of National Defence - Legend H1 Hangar 10 - OR Quarters (136) 26 - Repair Shop 42 - Pyrotechnic Stores

H2 Hangar 11 - OR Quarters (136) 27 - Supply Depot 43 -

H3 Hangar 12 - OR Quarters (Womens( Division)

28 - Workshop 44 - Oil & Dope Stores

H4 Hangar 13 - OR Quarters (WD) 29 - A.M.I Techer 45 - Garage (6 Bay)

H5 Hangar 14 - OR Mess (720) 30 - Turret 46 - Officer(s Quarters (WD)

H6 Hangar 15 - WD Quarters OR 31 - Spotlight Trainer 47 - NCOs Quarters (48)

16 - Civilian Mess (Recreation Bldg. WD)

32 - Gas Chamber - (Camera Obscura)

48 - OR Quarters (304)

1 - G. 1S or GIS 17 - Large Canteen 33 - Watch Office 49 - Stores

2 - Headquarters 18 - Small Canteen 34 - 25 Yard Range & Stop Butt 50 - Spotlight Trainer

3 - Officers Quarters (78) 19 - Hospital 35 - Dental Clinic 51 - Sewage Disposal System

4 - Officers Mess (54) 20 - Recreation Hall 36 - W&B Maintenance 52 - Water Tanks & Pump House

5 - NCOs Quarters (44) 21 - Drill Hall (with Lean To) 37 - Fire Station 53 - Chapel

6 - NCOs Quarters (44) 22 - Guard House 38 - W.D. Quarters (136) 54 - Synthetic Trainer (Cons. Cancelled)

7 - NCOs Mess (50) 23 - Garage 39 - Bomb Stores

8 - OR (other ranks) Quarters (136)

24 - Garage 40 - Detonator Stores

9 - OR Quarters (136) 25 - MT Section - Garage 41 - Fusing Hut

Anatomy of No. 7 Bombing &

Gunnery School Paulson Manitoba

Life at No. 7 Bombing and Gunnery School – Paulson Manitoba In this issue of CONTACT we take a close look at No. 7 Bombing & Gunnery School which was located at Paulson Manitoba. The

focus of this article will centre the site map and daily station reports from this school. Together, both will give a good accounting of

the number and location of the buildings at the school as well as the number of staff and students present and their daily activities

– especially related to the scope of training.

We believe that No. 7 BGS shared many characteristics with most of the schools in the British Commonwealth Air

Training Plan. The major difference in most cases was the size of the infrastructure and corresponding scaling of staff and

students. In all cases, the buildings and style of training were likely similar at most schools.

Due to the condition of original site map, minor retouching of its digital copy was necessary to clarify some of the numbers

printed on the map and delete copy clutter. Some guesswork was involved – hopefully logical and correct. Although copies of the

site map can be seen in various places on the internet, our copy was donated to the museum’s archives.

No. 7 Bombing & Gunnery School (BGS), Paulson Manitoba

was located nine kilometers southeast of Dauphin Manitoba. It

was open as a BCATP school for 1,320 days between June

23, 1941 and February 2, 1945. It was located on 640 acres of

land with access to a highway to the north and a Canadian

National Railway line to the south. Bombing and Gunnery

training often occurred over nearby Lake Dauphin.

The Claydon Construction Company from Winnipeg

was the principle contractor building the school. This company

was also responsible for the construction of No. 5 Air

Observers School in Winnipeg and No. 14 Elementary Flying

Training School and No. 7 Air Observers School at Portage la

Prairie, Manitoba. The cost of construction of No. 7 BGS was

1.25 million (1941) dollars.

The last students to graduate and receive their wings

at Paulson occurred on February 2, 1945.

The site map presents an impressive array of 59

buildings including six hangars, a number of h-huts used to

provide shelter to officer, non-commissioned officers, members

of the ordinary ranks and RCAF Womens’ Division. The

hangars and a number of other buildings of varying sizes and

shapes were used for a number of different purposes as

explained in the map’s legend.

A few words about this station and its site map.

The number in living quarters and messes are noted

on the original map:

(Building) No. 3 - Officers Quarters (capacity 78) 4 - Officers Mess (54)

5 - NCOs Quarters (44) 6 - NCOs Quarters (44) Total occupants in NCO Quarters was 88.

7 - NCOs Mess (50) (Building) 8 - OR (Other Ranks) Quarters (136) 9 - OR Quarters (136) 10 - OR Quarters (136) 11 - OR Quarters (136)

48 - OR Quarters (304) Total occupants in OR quarters was 848,

14 - OR Mess (720) (Building) 12 - OR Quarters (Womens Division) 13 - OR Quarters (WD) Based on the numbers listed in the Daily Reports, the actual

numbers of occupants in the living quarters seems to be

significantly higher than the projected numbers on the site

map. The exception is the Womens’ Division quarters which

were at about 60% capacity. The WDs shared their recreation

building with the civilians at the school who used the building

as their mess. Total actual staff at Paulson are presented in

Table 2 below. Male quarters seem to have been overpopu-

lated while the WD Quarters are below maximum occupation.

We are not sure what an A.M.I. trainer is as shown.

Buildings 46 and 47 do not show up on the site map – listed on

a List of Revisions as sited, but not constructed. Building 54

was sighted but noted as `Construction Cancelled.’

The main entrance to the school was located on the

top right corner of the site map with access via a road from

what is now Highway 20. It went directly to the Guard House

which was the first building a visitor would encounter at the

school. The School itself is located at a 45 degree angle to

Hwy. 20 which runs East-West at that point. The top of the site

map faces north-west.

The Program, Staff, Trainees and Graduates Our story of the men and women at No. 7 Bombing &

Gunnery School is based on the Commonwealth Air Training

Plan Museum project to interpret BCATP Daily Station Reports

as available from Library & Archives Canada. This ambitious

project is the work of the museum’s Harry Hayward who has

completed his interpretation of 14 BCATP Schools so far.

These reports have been posted by our Webmaster Bill

Hillman to the museum web site at:

http://www.airmuseum.ca/BCATPsearch/

The Daily Reports are narratives of the activities of individual

stations as compiled by each station’s clerk. The Commanding

Officer verified the information on the reports to make them the

official record of the school’s activities.

Take a look at the web site – these reports are an

interesting record of the people and `goings-on’ at each of the

schools.

We start with the Daily Report for January 28, 1944 which

reports the status of two training courses at No. 7 BGS

28-Jan-44 A Wings Parade was held in the Drill Hall, when

Wing Commander H.E. Stewart presented wings to Wireless

Air Gunner Course No. 70. The disposition of the Course is

as follows:

- 4 to No. 1 A.O.S., Malton, Ont.;

- 2 to No. 5 "M" (Manning) Depot, Lachine, P.Q.;

- 4 to No. 10 A.O.S., Chatham, Ontario.

The disposition of Air Bomber Course No. 94, also graduating

this date (January 28, 1944), is as follows:

- 30 graduates to No. 5 Air Observer School, Winnipeg

- 13 graduates to No. 7 Air Observer School, Portage La

Prairie, Man.

- 2 airmen transferred to Course No. 96, No. 7 B.G.S.

Paulson.

- 2 airmen transferred to Course No. 95, No. 7 B.G.S.

Paulson.

- 1 Ceased Training

- Remustered Air Gunner posted to No. 3 B.G.S.

MacDonald, Man.

- 3 Ceased Training

- Remustered Air Gunner awaiting posting instructions

- 3 Ceased Training, posted to No. 5 "M" (Manning) Depot,

Lachine, Que.

- 1 Ceased Training, posted to No. 2 "M" Depot, Brandon,

Man.

- 1 Ceased Training, posted to No. 3 Repair Depot

- 1 Ceased Training, held pending decision of

re-selection board.

Table 1 (included in the January 28, 1944 Daily Report)

provides a summary of the outcomes of these two courses.

Summaries of the disposition and outcomes of every course

were included at the end of each month while the school was

training students.

Additional

activities

unrelated to

training are

noted in the

following,

Our

Hockey Team

played Gilbert

Plains in the

Dauphin

arena. S/L J.C.

Johnston,

Senior Medical Officer, at this Unit, gave a lecture in the W.D.

N.C.O.'s Course, subject being "Mental and Physical Hygiene"

.

Table 2 shows number of staff and trainees by ranks

29-Jan-44 P/O E.W. Rech, P/O W.F. Woolgar and P/O R.W.

Randall, left the Unit on embarkation leave prior to reporting to

No. 1 "Y" Depot, Lachine on posting.

30-Jan-44 The Voluntary Church Service (Protestant) was

conducted by F/L V.L. Stewart. Mass was celebrated by R.C.

personnel at 0800 hours. There was a buffet supper held in the

Officers' Mess, to which guests from Dauphin were invited. An

evening of entertainment followed, consisting of bowling,

badminton and skating. S/L Laing, R.W., No. 2 Training

Command arrived at the Unit in the course of duty.

31-Jan-44 P/O R.E. Matthews was S.O.S. this Unit on posting

to No. 1 "Y" Depot, Lachine, P.Q. The R.C.A.F. Concert Party

"Swing Time" under the leadership of F/O C.T.E. Ashdown,

entertained at the Unit. Their performance was greatly enjoyed

by the large number attending. January proved to be an

excellent month throughout for flying, with hardly an

interruption due to weather. There was no snow during the

month, unusually mild weather prevailed. W/C J.E. Sharpe

(PMO) No. 2 Training Command, and F/L W. Mosley, 2

Training Command, arrived on the Unit in the course of duty.

The following tables show monthly statistics that were included

in the station’s daily repor-44 FLYING HOURS Total Flying

Hours flown during the month of January, 1944 - 4,398.30

(As approved by Commanding Officer)

H.E. Stewart W.C. C.O. No. 7 B. & G.S.

Additional information for this article provided by the Manitoba

Historical Society at:

http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/paulsonairport.shtml .

An interesting recollection of memories by Don Stevenson,

who was a staff pilot at No. 7 BGS, can be found at:

https://athabaskang07.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/news-from-

paulson-manitoba/ .

I Am A Trainee… A short muscular

Sergeant gave us bunks and told us to be ready in a short while to be taken to hospital and P.T. So to the hospital and

Table 3 shows Aircraft Strength at No. 7 BGS.

After reading that previous article, you deserve a break. Grab a cool beverage, put in some eye drops and enjoy some airman humor. This story is from the Paulson Post – Volume 3 Number 5 – October-November Issue – 194?, station magazine of No. 7 Bombing & Gunnery School.

I am a trainee…

I am a trainee; an Airbomber trainee. A large number of us were shipped by bus from Paradise in Brandon. We had a jolly time on the way north singing those patriotic songs like ''Bless 'Em All" and "Sweet Violets." We sang particularly loud when

we passed through the towns - thinking we could pass on to the citizens the deep feeling of patriotism we felt. However,

Table 1 Summary of Training Outcomes

Wireless Air Gunner Course 70 - Students Intake 10 Transfers In 0 Transfers Out 0 Wastage 0 Graduated 10

Air Bomber Course No. 94 - Students Intake 49 Transfers In 6 Transfers Out 4 Wastage 10 Graduated 43

Table 3 - No. 7 BGS – Paulson Manitoba Aircraft Strength – January 1944

Aircraft Type

Serviceable Unserviceable

Unit Strength

Bolingbroke 13 10

Lysander 11 2

Anson I 12 8

Stored Reserve

Anson II 3 3

Bolingbroke 6

Anson 1 12

It should be noted that No. 7 BGS utilized the Fairey Battle Aircraft for training earlier in its history.

Table 2 - No. 7 BGS - Personnel Strength – January 1944

Officers Airmen or Other Ranks

Civilians

Staff RCAF 112 831

Staff RCAF WD

4

163

RAF 1 1

RCASC 1 1

CDC 2 1

CPC 4

RNAZF 1 2

RAAF 5

CIVILIANS

Barrack Officer 1

Stenographers 7

General Duties 52

Others 34

TOTAL STAFF

126

1003

94

Trainees

RCAF 93

RAAF 20

RNZAF 27

RAF 234

TOTAL TRAINEES

374

RAF - Royal Air Force, RAAF - Royal Australian Air Force, RNZAF - Royal New Zealand Air Force, RCAF - Royal Canadian Air Force, RCASC - Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, CDC - Canadian Dental Corps, CPC - Canadian Provost Corps.

most of the citizens just stared at us. The ones who could understand English ran into their houses and pulled down the shades.

Eventually we arrived at the guard house and were accosted by a large detachment of S.P.'s (Service Police). The Corporal on duty wanted to know who we were and where our identification cards were. We respectfully told him. He laughed when we told him we were the new course 103. We were taken away down a long line of barrack blocks and ended up in the second last, but next to the W.D.'s. Some of the course lamented the speed of the Air Force. They would have preferred to be course 104.

A short muscular Sergeant gave us bunks and told us to be ready in a short while to be taken to hospital and P.T. So to the hospital and then to the drill hall, where we were addressed by a dour faced W02 who "and furthermored" us dizzy. He explained that we were to be usefully employed until our course started on the 18

th -- 18

th of January.

Thus it came to pass that course 103 A.B.'s (Airbombers) were installed at the efficiency station Paulson and we were usefully employed! We belted ammunition, we cleaned windows. We ran messages. We painted G.I.S. We belted ammunition. We took readings on the bombing ranges. We washed dishes. We moved earth and heaven, too. Laid stones and belted ammunition. Took off screens-put on storms. Made precis-polished floors-and unloaded bombs and belted

ammunition. At night we would sometime discuss how the station ever got its work done before we were created.

Then came the day of days. We started course. Twelve of us were assembled in a group by the same dour

faced W02 and given to understand we would be Class 24 for the course duration. We were given an instructor - or the instructor was given us. The first morning after P.T. we arrived at a classroom designated on detail for us to find three other classes fighting for possession. They, too, were assigned to the same room. However, we were more hardy and closer to the door, so they soon found themselves dispossessed. We sat for half an hour before our instructor came in with an impressive pile of books.

From him we learned Bombing Theory was a piece of

cake. In twenty minutes we had the theory of bombing. The instructor announced a mid-term examination would take place next morning - we could find everything in our precis. Then we went to turrets. It seems the turret section is run much like a hotel. The manager gives us different rooms. His staff then began to praise the merits of this particular room and its furnishings. The furnishings were comprised of a lot of bent pipes in a box of perspex. After a lengthy harangue, this particular member asked one of the boys where the Rotating Service joint was? LAC Stew Pede replied, "On Donald Street in Winnipeg."

The Bombing teacher (machine), while an interesting

place where the ground moves and you stand still, has the added attraction of never letting you know where you are until you come out one of the doors. It seems you are always facing the wrong way.

Of course, we went bombing and dropped bombs and got credit for someone else's. One of our best bombaimers once won a debating contest. He used to say he figured winning that contest took twenty yards off his average error.

We wrote exams and we had orals and we passed. We never found out how. I remember one question on my gunnery oral: If the barrel of a rifle is rifled - what is the barrel of a machine gun? I said machined. I passed, too. Anyway we had a good time and we were glad to graduate.

And we left Paulson with its E's, all four of them crying in the

wilderness.

A minute of intense devastation - Bournemouth's bloodiest air raid Nick Churchill recounts the horror and destruction of the Bournemouth air raid of 23 May 1943 Published in the Dorset Life Magazine It was wartime, but that spring Sunday was bright and sunny, much like any other. By lunchtime the town centre streets and gardens of Bournemouth were teeming and the hotel dining rooms were filling up with people about to sit down to Sunday roast. In suburban back gardens across the conurbation (extended urban area of combined villages and suburbs), young children played as they waited for their mothers to call them in for dinner. There had been incidents before, 47 of them. Bombs had been dropped, civilians killed, homes and businesses destroyed and damaged. The town's air raid sirens had sounded 847 times since the outbreak of war, but nothing could have prepared Bournemouth for the abject horror of 23 May 1943. In little more than a minute, roughly the time it takes to read these opening paragraphs, Bournemouth fell victim to its bloodiest raid of World War 2. In its wake, at least 131 people lay dead, although the grim total may not be known exactly.

Hundreds more were injured, many of them suffering - to use the modem parlance – life changing injuries and some 3359 buildings were damaged, 37 of which had to be demolished adding to the 22 that had been destroyed in the raid including two of the town's landmark hotels, the Metropole at the Lansdowne and the Central at the bottom of Richmond Hill. ``It was a carefully planned,

meticulously executed strategic raid carried out

by pilots experienced in high-speed attacks. The

Germans knew exactly what they wanted to

achieve and bow to do it as efficiently as possible’’ says

Angela Beleznay, whose Southbourne home is under the night

path of the 26 Focke-Wulf 190s that crossed the Channel from

their base at Caen to bomb Bournemouth in the lightning raid.

``By the time the fighters at RAF Ibsley had scrambled all they

could do was follow the Germans out.

The authorities typically expected to give

Bournemouth a full 22 minutes' warning of approaching enemy

aircraft, but on 23 May 1943 the sirens sounded at 12.54 pm

and the time bomb was dropped as the clocks prepared to

strike one. What followed was barely a minute of intense

devastation in which around 25 high-explosive bombs fell on

the town and, with grotesque irony, the Pleasure Gardens were

strafed with machine gun fire.

By 1943 RAF Station Bournemouth was welcoming thousands of aircraft and was home to the (RCAF) No. 3 Personnel Reception Centre for Dominion airmen and No, 11 Australian Personnel Dispatch and Receiving Centre. On 23 May, hundreds of Canadian airmen were staying at the Metropole Hotel and the Central Hotel was similarly full of Australians. The day after the raid, RAF Station Bournemouth welcomed almost 3,000 new airmen to town. The RAF had bombed the Ruhr Valley the week before on the Dambuster Raid and it's still not known how many civilians were drowned in the flooding that resulted. The Germans knew that if they destroyed aircraft those planes could be replaced, but if they killed aircrew it would take longer to train replacements explains Mrs. Beleznay, whose book Incident 48: Raid on a South Coast Town tells the full story of that terrible day.

'It is chillingly obvious why Bournemouth was bombed that day. Even more so when I looked into eyewitness accounts of a significant number of men in dark blue RAF uniforms but wearing red ties. I discovered they were convalescents, so Bournemouth was clearly a major convalescent centre for injured airmen as well.'

The German planes flew in over Hengistbury Head,

picked up the railway line at Southbourne and followed it into

Bournemouth before fanning out across the town. Bombs were

dropped along the way on roads in the Queen's Park,

Bascombe and Springbourne areas. A children’s hostel at 38

Carlton Road was hit, killing the matron Julia Hartin and a four-

year-old boy, Roger Woollard. At 54 Drummond Road,

Florence Hawke, her two children aged eight and ten and an

elderly gentleman all perished.

The Shamrock and Rambler Garage at Lansdown was hit, killing two employees and destroying 15 buses, But by far the greatest devastation at that end of town was wrought on the Metropole Hotel. From Christchurch Road it appeared almost untouched, but the imposing Victorian facade on Holdenhurst Road had been almost completely removed by a single bomb that entered the building about two floors up and exploded on contact with the steel and concrete staircase.

According to the Home Office, 37 were killed there but the exact number is impossible to know. Some poor souls were blown to pieces and the cellar was reportedly littered with body parts. Others would have died weeks, even months, later from their wounds.

One Canadian airman, a body builder named Bud Abbott was identified only because of the size of his torso. Another body was blown clear of the building and recovered from the college clock tower opposite more than a week later when someone was sent to investigate why the seagulls were gathering there. In other accounts, an airman was blown out of a window only to have his descent cushioned by the hot air generated by the blast. He landed on the pavement, dusted himself off and disappeared back into the building to help his stricken comrades.

Among many acts of bravery that day, 76-year-old David Gear, the boiler-room stoker who had worked at the Metropole for 25 years before his retirement and returned for the duration of the war, escaped from the building only to go back in to extinguish the boilers and tum off the gas to prevent fire breaking out. He was later awarded a certificate for gallantry by the Kings Order from Winston Churchill.

As windows were machine gunned down Old Christchurch Road direct hits were taken by Beales department store, West's cinema and Cairns House, the offices of Bournemouth Chamber of Trade, where a 21-month-old baby Michael Geoffrey Wheeler was killed with his grandmother Dorothy Kent Candy, aged 47. Their bodies were recovered on 29 May and buried together in the same plot.

The greatest loss of life was at the Central Hotel where a single bomb was responsible for at least 54 deaths, including seven Australian airmen and six US army personnel in Bournemouth on leave. Several married couples died together as did members of the Civil Defence which had been meeting at the Central to discuss the placement of air raid shelters in schools. The explosion also toppled the spire of the Punshon Memorial Church next door, causing it to be demolished later.

Bobby's department store (now Debenhams) in the Square was also hit in the second floor restaurant and as the bombers flew out to sea they machine gunned groups of airmen in the Pleasure Gardens, also hitting civilians including women and children.

One plane was brought down, hit by gunners on the roof of the East Cliff Court Hotel. It landed flat on the roof of the St. Ives Hotel in Grove Road with its bomb intact. The pilot, 22-year-old Friedrich Schmidt was dead on impact. It was his first operational flight. The remnants of his diary were recovered from the wreckage and gave rise to an enduring local mystery. 130 people died in five minutes during this raid. Twenty-one were airmen of the Commonwealth Air Forces including 10 members of the Royal Canadian Air Force. This article came to the CATP Museum via a donation from the family of Group Captain J.A. Hutchison O.B.E who was Commanding Officer at

the RCAF Personnel Recruiting Centre (later No, 3 RCAF R Depot) in Torquay Devon, near Bournemoth.. Virtually all of the Canadian airmen and airwomen who were deployed to Europe during World War II stopped at this facility - whether coming, or going. The donation contained over 500 artifacts and archival items.

We have a new entrance sign at the museum’s front door.

Based on the signs seen at many of the BCATP schools, our’s

too announces proudly and loudly who and where we are. The

sign itself is an eight feet high by 16 feet wide beauty which will

be festooned with a wooden frame and lattice next spring to

make it a dead ringer for the original signs. Come out and see

it – and stay for a tour of the museum.

Thank-you for supporting

The Commonwealth

Air Training Plan Museum

The next issue of CONTACT will be available in January 2019