Expanded Notes Pages 47&48

Now flying with a Wing Commander. This entry caught the eye of an old RAF pilot who reviewed the log with me. His comment was, " He must have been good, very good."  This proficiency was probably why he'd been chosen for the "Bomb Leader's Course".

Gardening to Laeso  Recalled, Abortive,  At this late stage of the war it became obvious that the Allies were about to win and would soon have to start cleaning up the mess they had made in order to return Europe to peaceful existence. This may have been the reason for aborting this Op.

Various routes flown to lose wt.   Using up fuel to allow safer landing. Modern aircraft can jettison fuel for this purpose but apparently the Lanc could not.
    There were designated areas in the North sea for jettisoning  mines and bombs. These areas were deep enough to prevent these munitions from being a hazard to navigation.

Operation Exodus
   Middlebrook : "Bomber Command Lancasters now started flying to Brussels, and later to other airfields, to collect British prisoners of war recently liberated from their camps. 469 flights were made by aircraft of 1, 5, 6, and 8 Groups before the war ended and approximately 75,000 men were brought back to England by the fastest  possible means (unlike the end of the First World War when some British ex-prisoners were still not home by Christmas, although the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918). There were no accidents during that part of  Operation Exodus which was carried out before the war ended."

    It must have been wonderful to fly in daylight, in good  weather, with no flak or fighters to worry about. And to have a plane load of recently released POWs on their way home must have been the icing on the cake.

    The Vimy Memorial , built to commemorate the Canadian  victory at Vimy Ridge in WWI, is a massive white marble     structure that dominates the surrounding countryside. It would have been a highlight of any trip to view it from the air.

Operation Exodus:  Richards .
"F/L H G Davies wrote 'Some had been captured at Dieppe and others had failed to get away from Dunkirk five years ago. None had ever flown before and several had lost family and friends in that time. It was one of my life's most satisfying experiences and it was the first time that I had seen men cry with happiness as, on a beautiful clear, blue-sky afternoon the white cliffs, the south downs, the green fields, the English villages and church spires were seen from only 1000 ft. as I brought them "home".' 

White Cliffs of Dover