I think this is post No 4,000 so it's a bit different....

This winter is the 60th Anniversary of Bomber Command's 'Battle of Berlin' : winter '43/'44. A battle which the German Nachtjagd and the weather conclusively won, the RAF losing 625 bombers and 2,690 aircrew killed.

One of the squadrons to suffer the highest losses was 97(PFF), operating from Bourn, Cambs and yesterday I made a small pilgrimage up to the old airfield. As I drove up the A1, the weather closed in, with light mist and drizzle turning to sleet and snow flurries from low cloud. But in a way, this was fitting because on the night of 16/17 December 1943 ( 'Black Thursday' ) 97 lost five Lancasters around Bourn, all crashing in the fog trying to find their base.

As I stopped the car on the remains of an old dispersal, the rain dripped onto the windscreen and even getting out of the car was a miserable prospect - what must it have been like to live in Nissen huts here ?

Nearly all the buildings have gone - even the respirator store, still here when I last visited in the Summer, has now vanished - but the perimeter track and runways are still used for light aircraft flying.

No flying today, though - so I walk through the open gate to the end of runway 07/25, its' full 1,960 yards still intact, to take some photos through the drizzle and to ponder on the 60 Lancasters and 24 Mosquitoes which left this runway, never to make it back 'home'.

Back near the car, the area where the briefing rooms, flight offices and other admin functions once stood, is now thick with trees and brambles. I push through the dripping undergrowth and stumble over pathetic heaps of rubble, brick and concrete. Something white is sticking from the ground by a tree root : I pull and twist and half of an old NAAFI dinner plate appears,cracked and caked with earth. I bring it home as a souvenir of RAF Bourn.

The last thought goes to a veteran, not of 97 but of 44 further up the road in Lincolnshire. From Martin Middlebrook's 'The Berlin Raids' , Pilot Officer John Chatterton : -

'The Battle of Berlin that winter was my tour. My mind is full of night takeoffs, climbing through cloud, icing, Berlin flak - the sheer length and breadth of it - not of night fighters; we never saw one of those....no sitting on the grass or playing cricket with the groundcrew for us.
We waited in the dark and cold and rain - that was our tour.'

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Congrats on making your 4000 mate. Good, evocative post [img]smile.gif[/img]

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Der große Stoß Büstenhalter auf Ihrem Kopf!!

GREAT post for number 4000 ! I did have one question, what is a respirator store ?

I can only guess at the mental stress of landing a huge bomber with low fuel in the fog is like. And add to the stress is the odd Ju-88 lurking around the pattern, waiting for anouther kill.

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Glad you enjoyed the posting guys ; it's all true, too....

The respirator store was one of the more unglamorous buildings ; it was where gasmasks were unpacked and hung up regularly to prevent the rubber from perishing and splitting. The only major building left at Bourn now is the combined gymnasium/chapel. I've just found a nice aerial view from the flying club's website ; -

http://www.rfcbourn.flyer.co.uk/bourn.htm

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Great story Martin! Describes really well the remains of the war for us 'enthousiasts'. Reminded me of my own little 'battlefield tours' in the mist...And yes, comparing the relative discomfort of getting out of my car and walk around, to the tour of duty of a BC vet in those wintermonths, living n those Nissen huts and sitting on eggs in the Berlin skies...

Congrats on your 4,000 flying hours!

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Thank you for the wonderful account of your journey to Pathfinder Country, Martin.

[ 03. January 2004, 11:47 PM: Message edited by: Crapgame ]

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"The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." - Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 19, 1863
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"The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." - William Faulkner

Thanx Martin and congrats on the 4,000th posting!

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Good description Martin and definetly congrats on the 4000th.

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Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it- Sun Tzu

Not the same Squadron or airfield, but I like this anyway ; -

' Never Go Back - They Say '

I went back to the old field
At the close of an Autumn day,
To find the tower crumbling,
The hangars filled with hay.

The dead leaves swirled and eddied
And crunched beneath my foot.
This concrete base, complete with plough,
Was once the gunners' hut.

What could it be, what was it
That I had come to find ?
Traces of my vanished youth ?
Or was it peace of mind ?

The shadows darkened, lengthened,
As I slowly strolled around,
Stood and looked and listened
As they crept along the ground.

And then I heard - or did I ?
A faintly mocking laugh,
The tinkle of a spanner,
The chuckle of a WAAF.

The muted sound of Merlins,
Throttles eased by ghostly hands,
Screech of tyres on tarmac,
The lost coming in to land.

For here were ghosts in plenty,
Young ghosts of yesteryear,
But I am young no longer
And am not wanted here.

I went back to the old field
At the close of an Autumn day.
I wish to God I'd listened,
And I had stayed away.

Roy Collins - Air Gunner, 90 Squadron ( Lancasters )

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Hey Martin, I like it. It's a good feeling of what the airfields are like today.

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Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it- Sun Tzu

Went back to Bourn this morning for another look. ALL the buildings have now gone - including the Gymnasium/Chapel and the last aircrew huts, all swept away by the development of a 'new town' just a few hundred yards from the flying field. A new highway slices across one end of the old airfield which has now lost much of its 'remote' character. Inevitably, time marches on.....I'm glad I took many photos when I was here before.

But I still managed to stand at the end of the old main runway, to pay silent respect to all those who took off and wanted only to make it back to this strip of concrete....but never did.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

I'd like to ask a funny type of question so here goes. Martin have you thought about assembling your photos of the old fields and what was left of these buildings, etc. into a small booklet form ? am sure the fields have been covered at length correct ?.....after the battle series or ??

'ATB' have indeed ( with Roger Freeman ) covered 8th AF and Bomber Command bases. I've certainly amassed a few photos of my own over the years for my own amusement but it's been a rather sad exercise...it's like chasing shadows, each time you go back there is a lot less to see until one day there will be.....

.....nothing.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

No.97 Squadron losses 16-17 December 1943.

Target: Berlin

Lancaster III JA963. OF-Q
Lancaster III JB117. OF-C. Crashed NE of Graveley airfield Huntingdonshire.
Lancaster III JB119. OF-F. Crashed on return to base.
Lancaster III JB176. OF-K. Crashed on return to base.
Lancaster III JB219. OF-R. Crashed to the south of Gransden, Cambridgeshire.
Lancaster III JB243. OF-P. Crashed near Graveley airfield Huntingdonshire.
Lancaster III JB482. OF-S. Abandoned out of fuel, crashed North Sea.
Lancaster III JB531. OF-Y. Abandoned, crashed 4 miles NW of Orford Ness, Suffolk.

On their return to England many of the bombers encountered very low cloud at their bases. The Squadrons of 1, 6 and 8 Groups were particularly badly effected. 29 Lancaster's either crashed or were abandoned when their crews parachuted. The group with the heaviest losses was 1 Group with 13 aircraft lost; the squadron with the heaviest loss was No.97 Squadron.

Bomber Command Losses. W R. Chorley / Bomber Command War Diaries. Middlebrook - Everitt.

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It's a terrible story, Liberator - and in fact two books have now been written about the events of that night ; Jennie Gray's marvellous 'Fire By Night' and more recently, Richard Knott's 'Black Night For Bomber Command - The Tragedy Of 16 Decemebr 1943' which I'm reading at this moment.....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson