The tour was over but the war was still on and the crew was now chosen to be part of a select group of decorated Lancaster airmen brought together to test bombsights with the Coastal Command Development Unit. The seven crews included four from the celebrated Dambusters 617 squadron; although none had been on the dams raid, it did give an indication of the calibre of people involved. In December 1944 they practised from Angle in Pembrokeshire before the unit was transferred the following month to Thorney Island, near Portsmouth, and renamed the Air Sea Warfare Development Unit.
Angle was an isolated peninsular with a pub on the other side of a causeway. Walking back after a drink one night they had to wade through an incoming tide and hang their trousers up to dry - perhaps an omen for what was to follow.
The airfield was on a slight gradient, falling more steeply away at the edge, just suitable probably for its usual fighter residents but not Lancasters. On January 14, their last scheduled day there, the crew climbed aboard a new Lancaster, PD418, to fly to Thorney Island when disaster struck. The Lancaster is not ready to move until the starboard inner engine, which powers the pneumatic brake motors, has fully started up. Fred or Bill had only just begun to start it when the ground crew removed the chocks. The 16-ton plane began to roll downhill almost completely out-of-control because it had no brakes and could not be steered without engine or brake power. Fred sat helplessly and watched in horror as the Lancaster ploughed through a wire fence and trundled towards cottages at the foot of the hill. Then, after 150 yards, as it picked up speed, the tip of the port wing caught on the top of a blister hangar and the aircraft slewed round to a merciful stop.
Fred said: "I just wondered what the heck I could do. You have to do what you can with the rudder pedals, but whether they would be effective at that speed I don't know. We were fortunate. If the hangar hadn't been there I reckon it would have gone right down to the bottom of the hill and caused mayhem. It would probably have burst into flames."
The crew made a hasty and awkward exit out of the precariously-leaning plane, fearful that it could move again or catch fire, inspected the damage and trudged back. A fuming Fred had a serious word with the ground crew sergeants. The crew was now stranded at Angle for three days. Bill said: "Everyone had gone - there were no cooks, no staff. Gleeson broke up all the furniture in the sergeants' mess for us to burn to keep warm. Eventually someone came to pick us up in a Liberator."
At Thorney Island airmen caught a rickety bus nicknamed the Thorney Killer to drink at the neighbouring fishing village of Emsworth, where fights often broke out between locals and moneyed servicemen, accused of taking "their" girls. It was there that Ginger met his future wife and set up home after his time in the services.
After one Sunday's bombing exercise over the Solent, and with time to spare, Fred asked Bill while still in the air what they should do next. Bill had the answer. They followed the Rivers Severn and Avon to the village of Eckington in Worcestershire for a rooftop pass over the thatched pub The Bell run by Bill's parents. The timing was perfect: it was closing time and the regulars, together with a bobby who was outside, must have wondered what the fuss was about. Unfortunately the pub burnt down 18 months later due to an electrical fault, leaving Bill to wonder whether the low flypast had disturbed the wiring!
Bombing trials continued until the end of the European war on May 8 when Prime Minister Winston Churchill's broadcast was relayed by Tannoy throughout Thorney Island station. The crew then had some difficulty getting rid of their Lancaster, NG406 - no one wanted to take it off their hands! Fred flew to Wickenby but as it was not on their books they would not keep it. Eventually it was accepted by RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, where his Lancaster days ended.
Fred finished military service with Transport Command, ferrying goods and passengers across Africa and Asia in Dakotas with 575 Squadron, leaving in February 1946, after which he was promoted to Flight Lieutenant having flown a career total of 1,828 hrs.
George at the rear turret of a Lancaster at a museum in Hamilton, Canada, pictured in 2008.
Sadly, three of the crew died far too young. Hughie was only 55 when he passed away in 1981. Ginger's son Les said that although his father lost many friends in the war he enjoyed his time in the RAF so much that he never got over having to leave the service and was unsettled in work afterwards, dying at the early age of 59. Lorne was just 60 when he died in 1979, followed more recently by Clair and Bill.As far as Fred was concerned, his fellow crewmembers were first-class. "I was very pleased with my selection. I don't think I could have done better." It was a respect that was reciprocated. George said: "Fred did a good job getting us through all the ops and sure earned the DFC. I felt proud to be a member of his crew and am ever so glad he picked me to be part of it."
You had to be a special sort of person in the first place to qualify to fly, but you needed rare nerves of steel to risk your life night after night on sorties into enemy territory. Fred and the entire crew did so with immense professionalism and bravery.
* Sadly, Fred died on January 25, 2010, at the age of 94
