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DIARY NOTES
Location
12 Operational Training Unit Chipping-Warden, near Banbury, northwest of London
Cross country - Training flight across the countryside
Northampton - City in central England 100 kms northwest of London
Fishguard - Town on the Welsh coast 300 kms west of London
Bletchley - Town 50 kms northwest of London
Cardigan Bay - Large bay in the Irish Sea off the west coast of Wales
Nav - Navigator
Oxygen height - Planes were not pressurized, so supplementary oxygen was required above a certain
height
Oxygen cock - Oxygen supply on/off valve
Mid-upper - Mid-upper gunner
Morrison - Friend of Johnston’s in Canada
Blueform - A blue coloured combination airmail letter and envelope, developed during the war
specifically for use to or from military personnel based overseas
Barbara - Johnston’s girlfriend in Ontario
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March 3, 1944 (Friday)
Flew a four hour cross country from Northampton to Fishguard to Bletchley and thence to the regular bombing, which we didn’t do because the rear gunner was freezing to death – it was twenty below and his oxygen equipment was full of ice! Great chunks of it in the corrugated rubber tubing.
Did some air firing over Cardigan Bay – I never got warm after the bulkhead door was opened.
What fun we had at oxygen height this morning – the Nav couldn’t find the oxygen cock, the mid-upper turned it on, then the Nav found it and turned it off again – bags of panic! Then the rear gunner couldn’t turn his oxygen on so the mid-upper had to go back and turn his on for him.
Got a letter from Morrison and a blueform from Barbara. What a letter; makes me feel good! Dining in tonight – what an evening.
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© Bruce Johnston, Mark Johnston, Scott Johnston
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