BOMBER COMMAND ASSOCIATION IN AUSTRALIA Inc.

“….. I send my heartfelt and sincere wishes to all of you. From Arthur.”
Ed - JWF. Many of us had the experience, on return to Australia in 1945/46 of conveying, often face to
face, similar messages to family and friends of colleagues lost on the other side of the planet while flying
with a Bomber Command squadron. Often, having to that time only had the very bland and dreaded
official telegrams, it was the first real enlightening they gleaned of life on Bomber Command operations.
Having had that experience in February 1946 as a confident and very much alive 21 year old, facing, in
the comfort of their lounge room, still grieving parents of an only son lost flying with our squadron on the
raid on Brux in January 1945, in retrospect I am far from satisfied that I handled the meeting well. I
admire the strength and the compassion ‘Arthur Hope’ showed in his letter to Mrs Heckendorf. Recent
contact with the late Jack Heckendorf’s 97 year old very alert sister confirmed that the letter was much
appreciated by the family, even almost two years after the loss of a loved brother.
Whoa Bessie!
Those aficionados of nose art may know JO-F (Whoa Bessie) the
Lancaster nose at the Imperial War Museum London. It has a
strange story. The aircraft was in for maintenance and a fitter
was in the pilot's seat holding the brakes on. Bored he began
working his way around the "Office" seeing a large red toggle
handle he pulled it, dumping fuel. Inevitably there was a fire
which consumed much of the aircraft and only the nose was
salvageable. For some reason it survived to complete the
Waddington Lancaster collection in London. (PO-S JO-F). The
story was related to the Editor by Bruce Buckham in January 2011
The Victory Tests ­ The lull after the storm
A book by Mark Rowe, referred to me by Don Southwell 467-463. Without having read it, I understand it
is mostly aimed at cricket lovers and social historians of the English class system and colonial relations.
Review taken from Mark Rowe's web site.
One minute before 7pm on Tuesday, May 22, 1945 a packed Lord’s roared as Australia beat England in
the last over of the first Victory Test. A fortnight after Victory in Europe, the result did not matter – only
the cricket.
The five matches between a near full-strength England and Australian servicemen, at least one of whom
had just been released from a POW camp, drew huge crowds. Great cricketers played on both sides: Len
Hutton, Wally Hammond, Keith Miller, Lindsay Hassett. Everyone hailed the spirit of sportsmanship.
Even the result – a 2-2 draw – was satisfying.
Yet this story is forgotten today. The only history of the series is a limited-edition Australian book on the
subject. Three "Tests" took place at Lord's, not because of any southern bias but because of transport
problems and also that few other major venues were usable, and even Old Trafford, the scene of the final
match, was being repainted and renovated by prisoners of war on the eve of the game.
For the Australians, desperate to return to their families, it did not end when they left England, either, as
the success of the series led to them being sent on a tour of India and then having to play all the states
when they eventually got back home at the very end of the year.
The story has characters – besides the stars, men such as the Australian Dambusters Squadron pilot Ross
Stanford; the quiet un-Australian, Australian spin bowler Reg Ellis; and the English teenagers Donald
Carr and John Dewes, who were on the wrong end of Keith Miller discovering that he was the fastest
bowler in the world.
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