The WW2 Diary of Lancaster Pilot Bruce Johnston

DIARY NOTES

Location
RAF Methwold, near Thetford, Norfolk

Assault course - Obstacle course simulating battlefield conditions

Henderson, Murray - Johnston’s navigator

Thunderblast - Firecracker that exploded with a lot of light and noise, to simulate a bomb blast

Peardon - Johnston’s mid-upper gunner

Bob - Livingstone, Johnston’s bomb aimer

Crawls - Crawling flat on the ground to avoid detection or being shot by the enemy

Blueform - A blue coloured combination airmail letter and envelope, developed during the war specifically for use to or from military personnel based overseas

Barb - Johnston’s girlfriend in Ontario

Mrs. Hallam - Mother of Johnston’s friend, in Ontario

Airgraph - Letter written on a special form that was then photographed, sent overseas, developed, printed and placed in an envelope for delivery

April 3, 1944 (Monday)

Put us over the assault course this morning - what a business! I got a lame ankle. Murray got a blast in the eye from a thunderblast. Peardon strained his wrist. Bob got a cut on his thumb and the others were just bruised a bit.

In the afternoon they showed us crawls and the art of camouflage. Then we had this blasted night exercise in pouring rain. Everyone was soaked and mad at the whole thing. Henderson went to bed, apparently his eye isn’t up to much tonight.

Got two blueforms from Barb, one from Mom and one from Mrs. Hallam tonight, and wrote a blueform to Mom, one to Barb, and an airgraph to Mrs. Hallam. Good show all around.

Murray Henderson &
Johnny Peardon

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