The WW2 Diary of Lancaster Pilot Bruce Johnston

DIARY NOTES

Location
RAF Bomber Command, 115 Squadron at Witchford, near Ely

“W” for Willie - Lancaster bomber, with “W” as the final code letter

Kite - Airplane

Turret - Transparent bubble in a bomber in which a gunner was located

LDAs - Landing Distance Available – relates to the weight of the arcraft at take-off, and the speed and length of runway required to get the plane in the air – this would be impacted by last-minute changes to the bomb load

Ops - Operational missions

Scrubbed - Planned flights were cancelled

Bob - Livingstone, Johnston’s bomb aimer

U/S - Unserviceable or unusable, in this case, sick

Folkes - Pilot in 115 Squadron at Witchford

BA - Bomb aimer

Ellisdon - Folkes’ bomb aimer in 115 Squadron at Witchford

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

Wingco - Wing Commander - Head of two or more squadrons

July 1, 1944 (Saturday)

Was in “W” for Willie again – good kite so that suited me fine. Checked it over and they had the rear turret OK now and the bomb load the same as last time with 1,250 gallons fuel. (No changing bomb load in the last five minutes this time – they didn’t put any LDAs on!).

Ops were scrubbed about 4:30 and we were told to be in bed by eleven (they’re going to check that, they say!) in preparation for a big do tomorrow about 5 a.m. Bob is still U/S so we have Folkes’ BA – name of Ellisdon – seems to be a good type.

Got a blueform from Barb this afternoon – I really must write some letters tonight, too!

Big noise on the radio about this affair yesterday – apparently we did a good job! The Wingco spoke on the radio after the eight o’clock news and gave us quite a buildup I hear.

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