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100-year-old Tom discusses his vivid WWII memories
Sunderland Echo
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06/06/2024
On the anniversary of D-Day, Sunderland Echo reporter Neil Fatkin spoke to Tom Davidson, who served in the RAF.
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00:00
I'm here at Hollyhouse Care Home in Washington to meet Tom Davison, who is 100 years old. He turns 101 in August.
00:06
Obviously it's day-to-day and Tom was actually a bomber during the Second World War with the RAL.
00:11
So I've come along today to find out just what it was like during the war for him,
00:15
and also to remember some of his friends who he lost during that period.
00:18
If you notice some fast cuts in the interview, that is because Tom was kind enough to pause whilst we wrote stuff down.
00:24
I was 16, three days before war was declared. I was an apprentice engineer at a big engineering firm in Hebbent,
00:33
and I was classed as being in a reserved occupation.
00:36
So I couldn't be called up to join any of the armed forces or merchant navy, nor could I volunteer.
00:43
At that time we had no smartphones or TV, but we were aware of the atrocities being committed by the Nazis,
00:49
and I wanted to be able to play some part in defending our country.
00:53
I did get a chance, around Dunkirk, when the Prime Minister asked all able-bodied men over 16 to join the LDV,
01:05
that was local defence volunteers, which became the Home Guard.
01:09
In 1942, because of the heavy losses suffered by Bomber Command,
01:13
the government decreed that men and boys over 18 could volunteer for training as pilot, navigator or bomb-aimer.
01:22
I volunteered for it, went down to a recruitment centre in Doncaster for a week.
01:28
For four days we had various medical and intelligence tests,
01:32
and after four days those who were successful and passed were interviewed by a panel on the Friday
01:39
as to the suitability for training in the RAF.
01:42
I was accepted and I became a member of the Royal RAF Volunteer Reserve,
01:48
given my service number and put on deferred service until there was a vacancy for training.
01:54
At the same time, 1942, the heavy bomber was introduced into the service,
02:01
and they were supposed to have two pilots, but again because of the heavy losses this wasn't possible.
02:07
So they created a new aircrew trade flight engineer, who would be the pilot's right-hand man,
02:13
who would assist the pilot with pre-flight and post-flight checks,
02:18
and with the controls of take-off and landing.
02:21
He'd be responsible for all the systems on board, the hydraulics and that,
02:27
and had to check the fuel being used every 20 minutes, which was very important.
02:34
I received a column of papers to report to St John's, St Lawrence Critter Ground,
02:39
which was an aircrew receiving centre, and then I did a six-week square-bashing course,
02:44
and rifle training and all that.
02:46
- That was the general training level?
02:49
- It was what's called the initial training wing, ITW, initial training wing.
02:53
And then I got seven days' leave. I got home that night at eight o'clock,
02:58
and my mother had received a telegram at six, saying my brother was missing, Frankie.
03:05
He was a flight engineer on Hanny Fax Bombers also.
03:08
It was four years later before they found the remains.
03:11
I didn't know this until months after.
03:13
On the day I got married, she received a telegram saying he was missing, reported killed.
03:18
- Have you found out since what happened to his plane?
03:21
- Yeah, there was four of them buried in one grave.
03:25
They couldn't identify them, it can't be his grave, but it's in Rheinberg War Cemetery now.
03:29
And then I trained as a flight engineer and passed out at, got my engineer's brevi and swords and stripes.
03:39
After training at St. Athens.
03:42
So I finished there, and then I was posted on to what they called the heavy conversion unit.
03:47
We trained on Hanny Fax Bombers with experienced crews, you know.
03:55
And I was considered competent as a flight engineer.
04:00
I went to RAF Acrester Malves with about 40 flight engineers, where we would meet up with the OU crews.
04:10
Selection of crews was a most haphazard.
04:14
When they picked the six, you know, the six crew members trained on Wellington bombers, twin engine bombers,
04:20
and they were just, maybe in a big hangar, there could be hundreds, dozens, hundreds of aircrew.
04:26
They just mingled in and you sorted yourselves out.
04:30
Unbelievable, but it was successful I'd say for 99.9 times.
04:35
- When you met up you arranged your own crew?
04:37
- Yeah, yeah, just mixed.
04:39
So when we went, the crew was already there, we just had to meet the crew.
04:46
And again, all that happened was, I can still remember, we were in the room, about 40 of us,
04:53
and there was a big double door, and the pilots were there.
04:57
And I got my eye on this pilot, like a Billings and Boone love affair.
05:02
And I saw him and I thought, yeah, I hope he comes.
05:06
And he walked straight across the floor, and he said, "I'm Pat Gillis, have you got a pilot?"
05:14
I said, "No." He said, "Would you like to meet my flight engineer?"
05:17
That was Lorry, he was a flying officer, a bomber, a pilot.
05:22
Ray was a warrant officer, a navigator.
05:25
He was, he was a wireless operator, air gunner, and he was with two, that was a...
05:33
- That's you on the other day, yeah?
05:34
- We had a gunner there in the middle, we got that there.
05:37
- Is that you?
05:38
- That's me there.
05:39
- And how old were you then?
05:40
- 20.
05:41
- We just worked on it, it was a job that had to be done,
05:44
but I defeated the Nazis at all costs, and I didn't think about things like that, you know.
05:49
But we arrived on the squadron, did a little training there, practiced bombing, night flying, etc.
05:55
And then we were ready for our first operation.
05:58
We then got a call for our first operation, and I remember it vividly.
06:03
It was a daylight raid on Stirk Road.
06:07
And we were in a crew, in a billet with a crew from C, who would be flying in C Charlie,
06:12
and it was their third last tour of the operation.
06:17
And they said it was, "Fly alongside us, you'll be all right."
06:21
Very nervous, apprehensive.
06:24
And, "Handed in your last letter, got your flying gear and all that."
06:29
And then we took off anyway.
06:32
- When you say, "Handed in your last letter," is that, what, in case you didn't get a flight?
06:36
- My wife, I was married then, was if you didn't come back.
06:41
- So you wrote that as if you weren't going to return yet?
06:43
- Yeah, and you handed in, yeah.
06:45
We took off on our first raid.
06:47
When we came airborne, we flew with C Charlie on our starboard side, ahead of us on our starboard side.
06:54
And flew all the way to Germany, and then when we were about 40 miles from the target,
07:00
I saw a big black box in the sky.
07:03
It was what they called a box barrage.
07:05
Every now and again, Germans would throw everything into a certain area at a certain height.
07:12
And I thought, "Well, that's stupid, they'll just fly around."
07:15
But you didn't, because you had your bomb and run to do.
07:19
As we approached the barrage, saw planes getting hit, planes going down.
07:27
- From your missile? - From where I was, yes.
07:30
And then I saw C Charlie get hit, smoke and flames coming from it.
07:35
I saw two crew leave the plane, the parachute opened.
07:41
The third one who jumped out, must have jumped into a burst of flak or something.
07:50
Because all I saw was a torso.
07:57
The next thing I knew, just after that, the plane blew up actually.
08:02
- There? - Yeah, I saw that.
08:05
The next thing I knew was the wireless operator was calling from his station to me.
08:10
I switched on the intercom and said to Pat, "What's Nev leaving his station for?"
08:16
Because you weren't supposed to.
08:17
And he said, "Tom, are you alright? I've been trying to contact you for five minutes."
08:22
He said, "Is the port in there alright?"
08:27
So I looked at my panel and there was a red light on.
08:30
And I said, "No, switch off, feather it, feather the prop."
08:34
- Which he did. - Had your plane been hit as well?
08:37
- No, yeah. - Alright.
08:39
Anyway, to come back though, I told him to switch off.
08:42
I must have been, as I said, I've been petrified or something, because I'd been physically sick.
08:48
I was sitting on top of the oxygen bottles and I must have been out of it for five minutes.
08:54
The plane had been hit.
08:57
When we got back to base, there was a hole in it, in the port wing, nearly the size of a house door.
09:04
How it missed all the controls and missed us, I don't know.
09:08
But we were flying on three engines, we were dropping our bombs.
09:11
Somewhere over in probably Holland or Germany, I don't know where,
09:14
six Hurricanes spotted us, picked us, flew around us, till we got to the English coast.
09:21
- So they escorted you back, yeah? - And we landed back at Driftfield.
09:24
It sounds like quite a few planes were hit and what have you on this first mission.
09:27
I mean, of the planes which went out, how many actually got back? Can you remember?
09:31
I can't remember, but I know what squadron historians said,
09:34
it was the worst day in the squadron's history.
09:38
Because just after the plane had blown up, there was a plane in front of us.
09:46
The rear turret had been blown away, plus the rear gunner, you know,
09:50
from our squadron, because I was squadron plane as well.
09:53
So that didn't help things.
09:55
I never think about my experience except near, almost this day when it's near my brother's anniversary.
10:01
I get a little bit emotional then.
10:03
But it never, I couldn't... The horrors I saw are still there now,
10:09
but they don't upset me, I don't dwell on them.
10:13
I've had 80 years with my brother that my brother didn't have, you know.
10:19
- How old was your brother when he died? - He was in his 20s.
10:23
It must be a strange feeling to see, you come from the same family, both joined the Air Force.
10:27
You're sat here now at nearly 101, your brother died in his early 20s.
10:31
- Must be a strange feeling. - That's why I never get sad or miserable with life.
10:35
I'm very happy in country. Had a wonderful marriage.
10:39
- And that was your first mission, I mean, how many missions did you end up going on in total?
10:44
- 36. - You did 36?
10:46
- They were all terrifying, there was no doubt about it.
10:49
You saw your comrades being killed, different ways, jumping out of planes,
10:54
go parachute, clothes burning away, they'd jump out, I was doing that,
10:59
jump out, parachute, clothes burning.
11:02
One of the scariest moments was in this country.
11:06
They had switched new landing lights on, but they hadn't been tested.
11:15
And we were the third ones to come in to land.
11:18
The first two crews had just hit the end of the runway,
11:23
reported a flying control above the lights, but before they could change them over,
11:28
we came in to land. It was a new lighting system, but they hadn't tested it.
11:34
It was distracting, they'd never used it again.
11:38
When we came in to land, Pat touched down short of the runway,
11:43
and I just heard a batting on the side of the fuselage,
11:48
I thought it was a little forest which was on the perimeter of the airfield.
11:53
But in actual fact, we'd gone through a fence, Pat opened up, took off,
11:59
and he went through the telegraph wires, and they had battered the side
12:03
and ripped all the side of the fuselage.
12:06
The bomber was injured and he was missing for four operations actually.
12:10
How we didn't tip up.
12:12
I could have come out at any time, we were all volunteers.
12:18
And I wouldn't have been court-martialed, I would have been reduced to the ranks
12:22
and sent back to the railroads actually.
12:25
You felt you needed the steel to do your bit?
12:28
If I'd wanted to, but very few did.
12:32
What was it which kept you going?
12:36
Was it just to defend our country?
12:38
Yeah, I mean, FIA used to leave me when I put the key in the door of the aircraft
12:45
to open up and get in. It had your job, you had to concentrate every second.
12:50
I just wondered which way I was going to catch it,
12:53
whether it would be blown up or I'd be set on fire.
12:56
But it did not tumble, not too often.
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