BOMBER COMMAND ASSOCIATION IN AUSTRALIA Inc.

window and there, silhouetted against the flares, was a Junkers 88, climbing to attack us from below. I
informed the skipper and told him to ‘get weaving’. Needless to say, he did. But it was about twenty
seconds too late; cannon shells were already ripping into the bomb bay. Never will I forget that moment.
Three shells hit us and then he was away. Our pilot was, all this time, doing all he had been taught and
doing it really magnificently.
“I then had to attend to my wireless set. The next I can recall was, on looking out once again, the
enemy was attacking us from astern and his tracer was streaming through the wing, setting the port
engines and wing tanks on fire. I saw that there was nothing I could do; that it was all up to the skipper
and gunners who were fighting back with all they had.
“Again I had to attend to the set……. The next thing ‘Heck’ flashed me on the call light, saying
‘Abandon aircraft!’ I then clipped my chute on and went to the rear of the aircraft. As far as I know,
nobody had been injured to that time. I clambered over the main spar and was trying to clamber over the
second spar so that I could get to the rear exit when the aircraft went into an uncontrolled spiral dive. In
such a dive, the gravity pressure is so great that you can hardly move. I found that I could not lift my feet
from the floor. So I just sat on the rest bed and stared at the incendiaries which I could see through the
ripped floor of the aircraft. They were well alight. My thoughts at that moment were ‘Well, when the
cookie goes off, it will be quick anyway….I had no means of knowing what the rest of the crew were doing
or how they were faring as my headset was off, preparatory to baling out.
“My last impression was of the aircraft illuminated inside by the blazing incendiaries, every rivet
was indelibly imprinted on my mind and of placing my hand on the grip of my chute. Then I was blown
out, losing consciousness. I woke to hear a terrific explosion as the aircraft exploded with full bomb load
above me. I found myself swinging on the harness beneath the opened canopy of my chute.
“I remember watching one tail fin hurtling down and of thinking, if that hits my chute, it will make
a mess. I must have been blown out when the petrol tanks exploded. At least, that is what the bomb aimer
and I concluded when we met later. The force of the explosion must have pulled my hand on the grip, thus
causing the chute to open as I don’t remember opening it myself.
“Following that tail fin down into the middle of the target, I can only dimly recall what looked
like to me, a puff of white smoke, but which later turned out to be the bomb aimer’s parachute below me.
No other chutes were visible. So, I concluded the rest of my magnificent crew had paid the supreme
sacrifice. ….. I find consolation inasmuch that their glorious but tragic death was instantaneous,
absolutely, as the aircraft exploded with a full bomb load aboard. Any chance of their suffering was very
remote, it was so quick just like a snap of your fingers. No suffering or agony of bullet torn flesh but the
death we all wanted, if it had to come.
“Your son, Mrs Heckendorf, to quote a phrase, I have told my father ‘If I can be half the
gentleman my pilot was, in my future life I shall be happy’. How happy we all were under his leadership
and how highly we regarded him, not only as a good skipper but as a dammed fine fellow. I am saying
this from my heart Mrs Heckendorf, I feel honoured to have met such a man. I know I shall never ever
meet another such fellow who has the sterling qualities, human understanding, firmness and strength of
character my skipper had. ….… I do miss him.
“….I regret that my first letter to you has to be of such a sad nature……. But I felt I just had to
write. I regret the delay in writing after being repatriated but I have visited most of the relatives of the
rest of the crew…. …. Last minute conversations I cannot remember. At the time, they would have been
about the operation that night for at such a time, all other matters are forgotten…….. The memory of
such a fellow I will carry with me all my life for he has set me a standard and example to live up to. I
hope that, when I do go, we shall meet high above the clouds, the clouds over which we had flown so
often together for so long. I apologise if I have rekindled sad memories and also if I have done the wrong
thing by writing. However, it there are any questions you would like me to answer, I shall do my utmost to
do so.“To quote a line or two from David Masters’ book ‘So Few’ – ‘Once a pilot has taken off, he is the
captain of his ship and of his own soul; in no other sphere is it possible for individualism and initiative to
shine so brilliantly’.
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