David Walter Weston DFC Bomber Command

David Walter Weston
Lancaster Bomber Wireless Operator
Distinguished Flying Cross
101 Squadron
7th November 1923 to 21st February 1945

David Walter Weston was born in Chichester on 7th November 1923. He was the youngest son of Victor Claude Weston, grocer of South Street, Chichester. His elder brothers were Cyril and Lionel, and his sister was Gladys.

On 3rd September 1939, when war was declared, David was not yet 16 years old, but would have probably started work already in City Fruit Stores with his father and brothers, working as a greengrocer's assistant. On the radio, as the frequency was tuned to the BBC Home Service, the first voice they would have heard on that day was that of Alvar Liddell as he introduced the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain. What followed is surely the most historic public address of all time. "I have to tell you now that this country is at war with Germany." Inevitably on 3rd February 1942, aged just 19, David enlisted as an Aircraft hand with the RAF reserves. On his service record, he is described as 5 ft 8.5 inches. His chest is 38 inches, his hair is fair and he has grey eyes. He has a fresh vaccination scar on his buttock! He is medical category grade 1 and recommended for training as air crew as a Wireless Operator. The training for wireless operators on Lancasters was the longest of all the crew, even pilots. They had to pass exams in radio and radar theory, blind landing and principles of navigation as well as aircraft recognition.

David was posted initially to Oxford Recruit Centre, then to Cosford and Yatesbury, for air crew training as a wireless operator, where his character and proficiency were categorised as very good. Following this, David also trained as an air gunner. On 1st May 1943, he was qualified as Aircraftman Second Class, but by 3rd June 1943, he was a Flight Sergeant. On 8th November 1943, he was appointed to a temporary commission. He spent a little while at RAF Helmswell, which was the No. 1 Lancaster Finishing School. This was the beginning of his service with Bomber Command on Avro Lancasters.

David was first posted to 6 Advanced Flying Unit and on 6th September 1944 joined 101 Squadron as a Flying Officer, based at Ludford Magna. No. 101 Squadron at Ludford Magna was on the Lincolnshire Wolds. 101 was a three-flight squadron, flying up to 24 Lancasters in the bomber stream, armed and loaded with bombs just like the other heavy bombers but with an extra crew member in each squadron aircraft to do the jamming. It went under the codename 'ABC', which stood for Airborne Cigar. It consisted of three enormous powerful transmitters covering the radio voice bands used by the Luftwaffe. Not all Lancasters on every operation had the extra crew member but many did.

The first record found shows David taking part in a raid on Cap Gris Nez on 26th September, where there were heavy gun emplacements. This was part of the campaign against enemy positions around Calais. They took off just after 11 am from Ludford Magna with 26 other Lancasters. Squadron Leader Warner, also newly arrived, was the pilot of David's Lancaster and one of the senior pilots on duty. They flew down the Sussex coast, joining with 28 other Lancasters, there was clear visibility and no problem in seeing their target, which was successfully hit. They returned by 2.30 pm. Their plane identification on this and all their flights was PB671 and Squadron Leader Warner was always the pilot in David's lane - the rest of the crew also very consistent, drawing from the following - Sgt Roberts, Sgt Harthill, Sgt Hartell, FO Jeffcoat, F Sgt Collis, F Sgt Donaghue, Sgt Stephens, F Sgt Jackson and FO Halsall.

On many of their operations they flew with Pathfinders, specialist target markers to help them with the accuracy of their aim. On 27th September, they took off again, as part of 5 Group, this time at night, leaving at 22.10 and not returning until 04.28 the next morning. This time the mission was to Kaiserslautern, a city in South West Germany, lying within 20 miles of the border with France. Again David was flying with Squadron Leader Warner, senior pilot on duty. On 14th October, they took off for Fort Frederick Hendrick. As usual, he was with his crew piloted by Squadron Leader TJ Warner. This was another daytime morning raid on a steel works. All Ludford crew returned safely, then the ground crew swung into action readying the planes for a return to Duisburg that night.

The night raid on Duisburg meant they left at midnight and only returned at 5.45. 9000 tons of bombs had been dropped on Duisburg between breakfast time on the 14th and the early hours of the 15th. Another night raid followed on 19th October, this time to Stuttgart. On 23rd October, they took part in an evening raid on Essen. The important Bosch factory was hit. 28th October saw them on another daytime raid, this time on Cologne. 733 aircraft were made ready to attack. They destroyed 15 industrial premises but also many blocks of flats. On 2nd November it was another evening raid, this time to Dusseldorf. 26 Lancasters from Ludford Magna took part in this operation, the total number of aircraft taking part was 992. Many important war industry factories were destroyed as well as many homes. 2 days later they were flying again, this time to Bochum, another evening flight.

On 4th November 749 aircraft took part, another 'Hurricane' type attack and the Pathfinders marked the centre of Bochum successfully - this time over 4,000 buildings were destroyed or badly damaged and nearly 1,000 people killed. It was the last major raid on this town during the war, in total it would be visited 150 times. On 9th November, they flew to the oil plant at Wanne Eickel, a daytime flight. It was a small city in the Ruhr between Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen. Its interest to Bomber Command lay mainly in its possession of a Krupps synthetic oil refinery, a GAVEG chemical factory and the Hannibal coal mine.

11th November was an afternoon flight to Hoesch Benzin. Squadron Leader Warner led the mission. The attack was successful despite very poor visibility. November 16th was a daytime raid to Duren to support advancing American ground forces. On the 18th they were in the air again, back to Wanne Eickel to the oil plant and successfully caused damage and destroyed the nearby Hannibal coal mine. November 27th, it was a raid on Freiburg, this time taking off in clear skies over the Suffolk coast. The target was a railway centre in the path of advancing American and French forces.

On the 29th, another raid this time to Neuss with their plane leading the attack.

He had now taken part in 14 missions. They don't appear to fly again until 17th December, this time to Ulm, 26 planes from 101 Squadron, lined up for take-off at 15.00. 2 lorry factories, military barracks and a depot were destroyed or damaged and civilian casualties were avoided due to an evacuation of the city following previous raids. On 26th December, they took off at 13.00, led by Squadron Leader Warner to take part in a daylight raid on St Vith to support ground operations and the record just shows 'Landed in France' - however this is the raid for which David received his Distinguished Flying Cross, after he led the crew in beating out flames after the aircraft caught fire. They force landed near Reims at 16.27. Their rear gunner Flight Sgt Jackson was killed.

It didn't take them long to get home and back to Ludford Magna to be in the air again on January 14th, this time to Leuna, Merseburg, where the target was a synthetic oil refinery, west of Leipzig. This turned out to be one of the most successful attacks on the synthetic oil industry of the war. February saw the British Army heading down to the German frontier near the Reichswald and Kleve and Goch found themselves in the front line. Bomber Command was asked to destroy the towns and a heavy force of 295 Lancasters was assigned, including 22 from 101 Squadron with Sq Leader Warner leading. The weather was good as they headed out over the Sussex coast. The evacuated town was destroyed.

The Churchill-inspired series of raids on Germany's Eastern cities under Operation Thunderclap began at Dresden on the night of February 13th and 14th. 529 Lancasters took part, including 21 101 Squadron aircraft again led by Squadron Leader Warner. The bombs released included incendiaries, which led to a devastating firestorm which swept through the city which had been swelled by an influx of refugees from the Eastern front. Initial estimates were 250,000 deaths but later revised to 25,000. This operation, Churchill distanced himself from in an act of betrayal, having been the architect and sponsor of it.

There was a flurry of plane losses over the next few days reminding all crew that their next operation over Dortmund was still a very dangerous business. A total of 514 Lancasters, including 24 from 101 Squadron took part on 20th February. They took off in phases of 12, with Warner leading the second 12. PB671 failed to return, after crashing somewhere