Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Enlistment : Kevin, a 24 year old hairdresser & tobacconist from Casino, New South Wales, who had previously been serving for two years as a Private in the Citizen Military Force with the 41st Battalion (The Byron Regiment) NSW Militia, enlisted as an aircrew trainee in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) at No.2A Mobile Recruit Centre in Grafton, NSW on April 22, 1940 & was posted to No.2 Initial Training Centre at Bradfield Park

From the recruiting centre the new trainees were sent to a manning depot where his skills for aircrew training were determined, then he was off to the initial training school or posted to an air force station ground school for trades training

Initial Training : Provided an induction for RAAF trainees to service life which would consist of physical training, military training, supervised athletics, as well as additional physical conditioning, technical & academic instruction including mathematics, navigation & the principles of flying, for prospective pilots & aircrewmen to further qualify them for flying duties

The RAAF conditions of aircrew training in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), were patterned after RAF training in United Kingdom, where all trainees were enlisted with lowest rank of Aircraftsmen Class 2. At the initial training school, the prospective aircrewman was given pre-flight instructions & a series of tests to determine his suitability as a pilot or observer [navigator]. The British placed the pilot & observer as the elite among the aircrew & they were the only two positions which advanced to rank of Leading Aircraftsmen (LAC) during training & upon graduation promoted to Sergeants (SGT)

When Britain entered the conflict of WW2, Canada was required to rapidly galvanize to supply the trained aircrews needed for the Allied Air Forces. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was organized making Canada the principle training centre for Commonwealth countries

Kevin was promoted to LAC on November 9 & embarked from Sydney as part of the second contingent of RAAF aircrew trainees bound for Canada on November 28, arriving at Calgary, Alberta & posting to No.2 Wireless School (No.2 WS) on December 24

Wireless Training : The BCATP would train 9,607 Australians & 7,002 New Zealand students in Canada during WW2, with a large majority of Wireless Air-Gunnery training taking place at No.2 WS in Calgary. Australian Wireless Air-Gunners trained in Canada reached 2,875, followed closely by 2,122 from New Zealand

They arrived in groups of 70 to 140 students & after forming up, marched uphill three miles to their new training school. After the long up-hill march from the Calgary train station, the new entry course was greeted by the main gates & proceeded on to their new accommodations

Here they trained for six weeks on the Marconi Radio Receiver & Transmitter along with the Noorduyn Norseman aircraft

Gunnery Training : On May 23 1941, Kevin posted to No.2 Bombing & Gunnery School (No.2 BAGS) located at Mossbank, Saskatchewan. All enlisted members of bombardment crews were required to have gunnery training. Some were designated career gunners & had no other specialty, but for most of the crew members (armorers, airplane mechanics, radio operator mechanics, or other specialists) gunnery was a secondary specialty. Of the officer members of the bombardment crew, only the pilot & co-pilot were exempt from gunnery instruction, the navigator & bombardier were given the training when facilities permitted

The standard gunnery course consisted of familiarization with equipment, ground firing, & air training, as well as the usual military & physical training. Familiarization was a four week programme which introduced the trainees to machine guns, turrets, & sighting procedures

The Arvo Anson was used for the training of bomb-aimers & the Bristol Bolingbroke were used for gunnery training. Each Bolingbroke carried three trainee gunners, each with their own coloured rounds of ammunition. Matching the holes in the drogue with the colours used indicated each trainee's score. In another kind of gunnery training exercise, two Bolingbrokes would fly line astern while a third attacked them from the side & rear, using a "curve of pursuit"

Upon completion of gunnery training on 23 June, Kevin was promoted to the temporary rank of SGT (T/SGT) before departing Canada on July 6, bound for the United Kingdom & the war in Europe

He arrived at No.3 Personnel Reception Centre (No.3 PRC) on August 6 & was posted to No.2 Signals School RAF (No.2 SS) at Yatesbury

Signals Training : Further signals & wireless training was conducted at No.2 SS including instruction on the DH.89 Dragon Rapide & DH.89 Dominie aircraft until he was posted to No.1 Air Armament School (No.1 AAS) at RAF Station Manby on November 3

Air Armament Training : The Role of the Air Armament Schools, was to train Armament Officers, Air-Gunners & Air Bombers in arial bombing & gunnery, using the Coastal Ranges of Lincolnshire & Norfolk, including Theddlethorpe.  RAF Theddlethorpe was a Bombing & Gunnery Range for RAF Manby with a small Emergency Landing Ground.  It was the scene of early 20mm Air Cannon Trials.  During WW2, Manby’s No.1 AAS relied on Theddlethorpe’s Drogues for target practice

The aircraft used were Blenheims & Wellingtons. The Drogue towing planes were Lysanders & Jainey Battles. The Air-Gunners were on weekly courses & after lectures, performed arial gunnery practice. They flew in Wellingtons, the guns of which were loaded with different coloured bullet tips. The Drogue planes flew up & down over a course at nearby Theddlethorpe, each plane carrying three Drogues which were streamed from the plane by a long wire

The gunnery planes flew alongside the Drogues with the Gunners taking it in turns to Fire at them with their different coloured bullets. Afterwards, the Drogues were returned to Theddlethorpe where the holes were counted & accorded to the Gunner who had fired the Colours. Each man had to make a certain number of hits to pass

Resources being scarce the Drogues were then repaired for future use on another occasion in much the same way as parachutes. Eventually, the Blenheims & Wimpys were replaced by the Arvo Lancaster & the Halifax, & the towing plane by the Miles Masters

Kevin passed out from No.1 AAS on November 3 & was posted to No.27 Operational Training Unit (No.27 OTU) on December 16

Operational Training Unit : OTUs were the last stage of training for aircrew before being assigned to an operational unit in the UK or the Middle East. By this stage, individuals had undertaken all their preparatory & qualifaction training, & shortly after arrival the OTU, if they were operating a crewed aircraft, they would then be 'crewed up' with the other men with whom they would go to war. This was done on an almost random basis by men just picking each other out in the crowd until they had got the necessary mix of were skills to make up their crew with whom they would fly, until separated by death, injury, illness, or re-posting

In some cases, OTUs detached aircraft to take part in actual operations, notably the first "Thousand Bomber Raid" on Cologne in May 1942. Loss rates in training were high due to inexperience, crowded airspace, often poor weather, & even enemy action over the UK

Experienced pilots & aircrew were posted back to OTU to train & mentor new crews. Things were no less risky for them

No.27 OTU was formed in April 1941 at RAF Lichfield as part of No.6 Group RAF Bomber Command to train night bomber crews using the Vickers Wellington. No.27 OTU trained a great number of Australian aircrews who were destined for RAAF Squadrons. It was disbanded in June 1945

Kevin was promoted to Temporary/Flight Sergeant on December 23 & upon completion of the final stage of training, he was posted to No.460 Squadron (No.460 Sqn) RAAF on June 1, 1942

No.460 Squadron : The Sqn was formed from 'C' Flight of No.458 Sqn RAAF at RAF Molesworth, Huntingdonshire on November 15, 1941, as a bomber squadron equipped with the Vickers Wellington (Wimpy) Mk.IV aircraft

Originally part of No. 8 Group RAF, Bomber Command, the squadron moved to RAF Breighton, Yorkshire and joined No.1 Group RAF. The squadron made its first raid, against the German city of Emden, on 12 March 1942. The following night, five crews from the Sqn participated in a raid on harbour facilities around Dunkirk, during which the Sqn suffered its first losses of the war when one Wellington was shot down

A six-week "apprenticeship" period followed until the end of April 1942, during which the Sqn was assigned mainly to attack less heavily defended targets on the French Channel coast; nevertheless, the Sqn also undertook several attacks against targets in Germany during this time also

The squadron's first three months of operations saw it carry out 34 raids. For each raid, at least two aircraft were contributed, with some raids seeing as many as 10 aircraft taking part. On May 30, 1942, during a raid on Cologne, 18 aircraft from No.460 Sqn was assigned. A total of six crews were lost during these raids

Kevin & crew joined No.460 Sqn RAAF at RAF Station Breighton on June 1 & after a period of unit induction, they were involved in their first flying mission (sortie) on the night of 18/19 June as part of a “gardening” operation tasked to drop sea-mines around the Frisian Islands in the Netherlands region

Throughout the months of June, July & August, Kevin & crew conducted a further three gardening sorties around the Frisian Islands & five bombing operations throughout various targets in Germany, including Emden, Bremen, Duisburg & Osnabruck, which would sadly be their last mission on the night of August 9/10

The crew of Wellington Z1463 took off from RAF Breighton at 0010 hours on August 10, 1942 to attack Osnabruck

The aircraft formed part of the 192 strong aircraft force, 166 of which were the “attacking force” & were carrying a load of 2 x 1000 lb (pound) (450 kg) & 3 x 500 lb (225 kg) bombs

Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take-off & it did not return to base. The crew were listed as missing in action (MIA), but were later classified as MIA, presumed killed in action (KIA) on August 10, though the cause of the crash was not determined

The crew were laid to rest at the Hengelo (Gelderland) General Cemetery, in the Netherlands

Post-war enquiries established that the aircraft crashed at Hengelo near Zutphen, Netherlands & that all the crew members had been killed

German Fighter Ace, Oberleutnant Reinhold Knacke of the Luftwaffe’s 1st Night Fighter Squadron reported to have shot down a “Wellington” N/E of Doetinchem at Keijenborg near Hengelo (NOT Hengelo near Enschede) in the Netherlands at 0307 hrs for his 33rd aril victory. It is assumed that this was Z1463 given that the other aircraft in the area that day were accounted for - Event noted in the book “Luftwaffe Night Fighter Claims: Combat Claims by Luftwaffe Night Fighter Pilots 1939-1945” by John Foreman and Simon W. Parr

Knacke was later KIA on February 3,1943 over the Netherlands after claiming his 44th & 45th arial victories the same day