Corkscrew manoeuvre saved my Stirling

摘要

Reading the article about the Short Stirling bomber in the March 2011 issue has prompted me to write to you. I was posted to the Pathfinder Navigation Training Unit on December 14,1943 and from there to 156 Squadron as navigator on February 8,1944 where I carried out three operations. The pilot was grounded and the rest of the crew was posted to 97 Squadron on April 9,1944 where we were introduced to an RAAF pilot, Pit Off Noel Parker. After exchanging names he said: "I have been shot down once and not again". Noel was the pilot of a Short Stirling when he was shot down over France near the Belgian border in November 1943 and evaded capture, making his way back to the UK with the help of the French Resistance via Gibraltar. We all went on to complete two tours of operations and I was posted from 97 Squadron at the end of April 1945.