RAF 12: When the Most Practical Thing is to Simply Live for the Day ~ THIS Day NOT Tomorrow
The Elder Crew ~ 76 Squadron RAF Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire, UK 1943
I
In April, I shall have the chance to visit the Memorial to my father’s brother’s crew.
As I re-read the many books and papers relating to the role of the Royal Air Force in its totality during the Second World War, as with all of us, I am struck by many things, most of which I keep to myself. We all do.
But in doing so, we are also quietly maintaining contact and inwardly expressing enormous thanks for the sacrifices, human lives lost, so often given up with calmness and calculated precision, the sum total of which is why I am writing this now, safe in the comfort of my home and surrounded by a family that, as with millions of families, picked up the pieces, putting into practise that guarantees that regardless of circumstances, we will prevail.
This is so in every age, in every century.
II
We are blessed indeed to have the brilliance of an invention ~ the camera.
An invention that is piecemeal today, regarded as of no particular importance. Our international character has changed considerably, say, from that of the 1970s when there still existed a natural sense of duty when we happened to eyewitness a calamity within our immediate vicinity.
Today, too often do we see the now very established and detestable human characteristic ~ oh! Or OMG! My cam. My iPhone. I must get this!! This’ll go viral!!!
My generation still, of course, have that withering contempt for such an ugly human trait.
III
There are wonderful and also terrifying images from World War II.
Two such images caught my eye today, sitting quietly on the dry side of the French doors, as the rains literally do lash the windows, and the winds so grip the house in sudden torrents that throughout the house, all the doors make their presence felt. But here, in my study, all is well. All is calm.
The lead photograph caught my breath this afternoon when I was re-reading my notes from 2020. It is, of course, the Elder Crew of 76 Squadron based at RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire.
It sums up my uncle’s own approach to life ~ Life is Good ~ even though the Pilsen Mannheim operation on 16-17 April, 1943 took out 59 aircraft and their crews, four crews being from 76 Squadron.
IV
Consulting Volume 3 1943 of WB Chorley Bomber Command Losses, I am very relieved to note that the Elder Crew does not appear. I realise of course that this might be a very temporary thing, when in April 1943, the life expectancy of Bomber Command crews was four operations, a factor that the Webb Crew bore out, going down on their fourth operation.
There is no sadness though. My sadness and frustration is confined to the events of this century and of Ukraine and Israel and Gaza in particular.
But I take huge comfort from this brilliant photograph of the Elder Crew. It gives me hope for the future. Truly.
As does this equally moving photograph of German prisoners-of-war in my local town of Winchcombe in 1946-47.
Here, we see humanity slowly and quietly returning. For me personally it sums up two lessons I learned as a young man, when I was eleven years of age and then when I was around eighteen years of age, from my grandmother and mother respectively, concerning the Second World War.
“Ken, you must remember, dear, that not all Germans were Nazis.”
“Ken, come on! We build bridges, lad. THAT(!) is the only way forward. THAT (!) is what your uncles would expect if they were here now, and remember Ken you wear their uniform.”
German Prisoners of War in Winchcombe in 1947 still awaiting repatriation home to Germany
The caption to the photograph displayed in the Winchcombe Museum reads:
Still not allowed to return home, German POWs were gradually allowed greater freedom - here outside the Greenings House in the Gretton Road.
V
I end by stating my thanks to the 76 Squadron Association. 76 Squadron has a very long and distinguished service, and was not disbanded until 2011. Looking at the history of the Royal Air Force overall, it is well to keep in mind that squadrons can never be a permanent fixture. Yet, the history shows me that time and time again, disbanded squadrons are reformed, in other words, the R.A.F moves with the prevailing winds of Time.
In the dangerous world in which we now live, I would not be at all surprised to see 76 Squadron once again reformed if, God forbid, we should find ourselves in a major NATO war.
In due course, I will complete the names, ranks, citations and also their history of the Elder Crew.
22 February 2024
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LIVERPOOL
© 2024 Kenneth Thomas Webb
Flight Lieutenant RAF VR Rtd