The WW2 Diary of Lancaster Pilot Bruce Johnston

DIARY NOTES

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

Butch Harris - Sir Arthur Harris, Air Chief Marshall, Commander in Chief, Bomber Command

Georgius Rex - King George

Churchill - Sir Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister

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

Chatterton - Canadian pilot and friend of Johnston’s in 115 Squadron at Witchford

Tonbridge Wells - Suburb in southeast London

Buzz bomb - Nickname for a German V1 bomb, which was gyroscopically guided and powered by a jet engine – also called a Doodle Bug

Balloons - Large balloons anchored singly or in a series over a potential target to support nets that hindered the passage of enemy planes

Barb - Johnston’s girlfriend in Ontario

Mrs Gough - Friend of Johnston in Great Barton, Suffolk

July 3, 1944 (Monday)

A terrible day! It’s rained steadily (and heavily too) since eleven a.m.

Butch Harris and “a friend” are coming here Wednesday. Rumour has the friend to be everything from Georgius Rex to Churchill with the well informed circles believing the former. Should be quite a day all in all.

Checked over aircraft this morning and found it OK except that the rear turret hydraulic pump needed changing – so I left the poor ground crew bods at it in the rain and came in. Had a haircut and slept part of afternoon.

Chatterton came back tonight (he spent his leave at Tonbridge Wells) and he’s telling us all about the Buzz bomb. Quite an affair I guess. That’s why we can’t fly below 10,000 ft south of London – to avoid the balloons they have up after them.

Got my bank book back today – seventy-three pounds in the bank. Rather a surprise to myself. Didn’t know I had that much.

Wrote to Barb and Mrs. Gough tonight.

Balloons tethered over London

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