100-year-old Tom discusses his vivid WWII memories
On the anniversary of D-Day, Sunderland Echo reporter Neil Fatkin spoke to Tom Davidson, who served in the RAF.
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00:00 I'm here at Hollyhouse Care Home in Washington to meet Tom Davison, who is 100 years old. He turns 101 in August.
00:06 Obviously it's day-to-day and Tom was actually a bomber during the Second World War with the RAL.
00:11 So I've come along today to find out just what it was like during the war for him,
00:15 and also to remember some of his friends who he lost during that period.
00:18 If you notice some fast cuts in the interview, that is because Tom was kind enough to pause whilst we wrote stuff down.
00:24 I was 16, three days before war was declared. I was an apprentice engineer at a big engineering firm in Hebbent,
00:33 and I was classed as being in a reserved occupation.
00:36 So I couldn't be called up to join any of the armed forces or merchant navy, nor could I volunteer.
00:43 At that time we had no smartphones or TV, but we were aware of the atrocities being committed by the Nazis,
00:49 and I wanted to be able to play some part in defending our country.
00:53 I did get a chance, around Dunkirk, when the Prime Minister asked all able-bodied men over 16 to join the LDV,
01:05 that was local defence volunteers, which became the Home Guard.
01:09 In 1942, because of the heavy losses suffered by Bomber Command,
01:13 the government decreed that men and boys over 18 could volunteer for training as pilot, navigator or bomb-aimer.
01:22 I volunteered for it, went down to a recruitment centre in Doncaster for a week.
01:28 For four days we had various medical and intelligence tests,
01:32 and after four days those who were successful and passed were interviewed by a panel on the Friday
01:39 as to the suitability for training in the RAF.
01:42 I was accepted and I became a member of the Royal RAF Volunteer Reserve,
01:48 given my service number and put on deferred service until there was a vacancy for training.
01:54 At the same time, 1942, the heavy bomber was introduced into the service,
02:01 and they were supposed to have two pilots, but again because of the heavy losses this wasn't possible.
02:07 So they created a new aircrew trade flight engineer, who would be the pilot's right-hand man,
02:13 who would assist the pilot with pre-flight and post-flight checks,
02:18 and with the controls of take-off and landing.
02:21 He'd be responsible for all the systems on board, the hydraulics and that,
02:27 and had to check the fuel being used every 20 minutes, which was very important.
02:34 I received a column of papers to report to St John's, St Lawrence Critter Ground,
02:39 which was an aircrew receiving centre, and then I did a six-week square-bashing course,
02:44 and rifle training and all that.
02:46 - That was the general training level?
02:49 - It was what's called the initial training wing, ITW, initial training wing.
02:53 And then I got seven days' leave. I got home that night at eight o'clock,
02:58 and my mother had received a telegram at six, saying my brother was missing, Frankie.
03:05 He was a flight engineer on Hanny Fax Bombers also.
03:08 It was four years later before they found the remains.
03:11 I didn't know this until months after.
03:13 On the day I got married, she received a telegram saying he was missing, reported killed.
03:18 - Have you found out since what happened to his plane?
03:21 - Yeah, there was four of them buried in one grave.
03:25 They couldn't identify them, it can't be his grave, but it's in Rheinberg War Cemetery now.
03:29 And then I trained as a flight engineer and passed out at, got my engineer's brevi and swords and stripes.
03:39 After training at St. Athens.
03:42 So I finished there, and then I was posted on to what they called the heavy conversion unit.
03:47 We trained on Hanny Fax Bombers with experienced crews, you know.
03:55 And I was considered competent as a flight engineer.
04:00 I went to RAF Acrester Malves with about 40 flight engineers, where we would meet up with the OU crews.
04:10 Selection of crews was a most haphazard.
04:14 When they picked the six, you know, the six crew members trained on Wellington bombers, twin engine bombers,
04:20 and they were just, maybe in a big hangar, there could be hundreds, dozens, hundreds of aircrew.
04:26 They just mingled in and you sorted yourselves out.
04:30 Unbelievable, but it was successful I'd say for 99.9 times.
04:35 - When you met up you arranged your own crew?
04:37 - Yeah, yeah, just mixed.
04:39 So when we went, the crew was already there, we just had to meet the crew.
04:46 And again, all that happened was, I can still remember, we were in the room, about 40 of us,
04:53 and there was a big double door, and the pilots were there.
04:57 And I got my eye on this pilot, like a Billings and Boone love affair.
05:02 And I saw him and I thought, yeah, I hope he comes.
05:06 And he walked straight across the floor, and he said, "I'm Pat Gillis, have you got a pilot?"
05:14 I said, "No." He said, "Would you like to meet my flight engineer?"
05:17 That was Lorry, he was a flying officer, a bomber, a pilot.
05:22 Ray was a warrant officer, a navigator.
05:25 He was, he was a wireless operator, air gunner, and he was with two, that was a...
05:33 - That's you on the other day, yeah?
05:34 - We had a gunner there in the middle, we got that there.
05:37 - Is that you?
05:38 - That's me there.
05:39 - And how old were you then?
05:40 - 20.
05:41 - We just worked on it, it was a job that had to be done,
05:44 but I defeated the Nazis at all costs, and I didn't think about things like that, you know.
05:49 But we arrived on the squadron, did a little training there, practiced bombing, night flying, etc.
05:55 And then we were ready for our first operation.
05:58 We then got a call for our first operation, and I remember it vividly.
06:03 It was a daylight raid on Stirk Road.
06:07 And we were in a crew, in a billet with a crew from C, who would be flying in C Charlie,
06:12 and it was their third last tour of the operation.
06:17 And they said it was, "Fly alongside us, you'll be all right."
06:21 Very nervous, apprehensive.
06:24 And, "Handed in your last letter, got your flying gear and all that."
06:29 And then we took off anyway.
06:32 - When you say, "Handed in your last letter," is that, what, in case you didn't get a flight?
06:36 - My wife, I was married then, was if you didn't come back.
06:41 - So you wrote that as if you weren't going to return yet?
06:43 - Yeah, and you handed in, yeah.
06:45 We took off on our first raid.
06:47 When we came airborne, we flew with C Charlie on our starboard side, ahead of us on our starboard side.
06:54 And flew all the way to Germany, and then when we were about 40 miles from the target,
07:00 I saw a big black box in the sky.
07:03 It was what they called a box barrage.
07:05 Every now and again, Germans would throw everything into a certain area at a certain height.
07:12 And I thought, "Well, that's stupid, they'll just fly around."
07:15 But you didn't, because you had your bomb and run to do.
07:19 As we approached the barrage, saw planes getting hit, planes going down.
07:27 - From your missile? - From where I was, yes.
07:30 And then I saw C Charlie get hit, smoke and flames coming from it.
07:35 I saw two crew leave the plane, the parachute opened.
07:41 The third one who jumped out, must have jumped into a burst of flak or something.
07:50 Because all I saw was a torso.
07:57 The next thing I knew, just after that, the plane blew up actually.
08:02 - There? - Yeah, I saw that.
08:05 The next thing I knew was the wireless operator was calling from his station to me.
08:10 I switched on the intercom and said to Pat, "What's Nev leaving his station for?"
08:16 Because you weren't supposed to.
08:17 And he said, "Tom, are you alright? I've been trying to contact you for five minutes."
08:22 He said, "Is the port in there alright?"
08:27 So I looked at my panel and there was a red light on.
08:30 And I said, "No, switch off, feather it, feather the prop."
08:34 - Which he did. - Had your plane been hit as well?
08:37 - No, yeah. - Alright.
08:39 Anyway, to come back though, I told him to switch off.
08:42 I must have been, as I said, I've been petrified or something, because I'd been physically sick.
08:48 I was sitting on top of the oxygen bottles and I must have been out of it for five minutes.
08:54 The plane had been hit.
08:57 When we got back to base, there was a hole in it, in the port wing, nearly the size of a house door.
09:04 How it missed all the controls and missed us, I don't know.
09:08 But we were flying on three engines, we were dropping our bombs.
09:11 Somewhere over in probably Holland or Germany, I don't know where,
09:14 six Hurricanes spotted us, picked us, flew around us, till we got to the English coast.
09:21 - So they escorted you back, yeah? - And we landed back at Driftfield.
09:24 It sounds like quite a few planes were hit and what have you on this first mission.
09:27 I mean, of the planes which went out, how many actually got back? Can you remember?
09:31 I can't remember, but I know what squadron historians said,
09:34 it was the worst day in the squadron's history.
09:38 Because just after the plane had blown up, there was a plane in front of us.
09:46 The rear turret had been blown away, plus the rear gunner, you know,
09:50 from our squadron, because I was squadron plane as well.
09:53 So that didn't help things.
09:55 I never think about my experience except near, almost this day when it's near my brother's anniversary.
10:01 I get a little bit emotional then.
10:03 But it never, I couldn't... The horrors I saw are still there now,
10:09 but they don't upset me, I don't dwell on them.
10:13 I've had 80 years with my brother that my brother didn't have, you know.
10:19 - How old was your brother when he died? - He was in his 20s.
10:23 It must be a strange feeling to see, you come from the same family, both joined the Air Force.
10:27 You're sat here now at nearly 101, your brother died in his early 20s.
10:31 - Must be a strange feeling. - That's why I never get sad or miserable with life.
10:35 I'm very happy in country. Had a wonderful marriage.
10:39 - And that was your first mission, I mean, how many missions did you end up going on in total?
10:44 - 36. - You did 36?
10:46 - They were all terrifying, there was no doubt about it.
10:49 You saw your comrades being killed, different ways, jumping out of planes,
10:54 go parachute, clothes burning away, they'd jump out, I was doing that,
10:59 jump out, parachute, clothes burning.
11:02 One of the scariest moments was in this country.
11:06 They had switched new landing lights on, but they hadn't been tested.
11:15 And we were the third ones to come in to land.
11:18 The first two crews had just hit the end of the runway,
11:23 reported a flying control above the lights, but before they could change them over,
11:28 we came in to land. It was a new lighting system, but they hadn't tested it.
11:34 It was distracting, they'd never used it again.
11:38 When we came in to land, Pat touched down short of the runway,
11:43 and I just heard a batting on the side of the fuselage,
11:48 I thought it was a little forest which was on the perimeter of the airfield.
11:53 But in actual fact, we'd gone through a fence, Pat opened up, took off,
11:59 and he went through the telegraph wires, and they had battered the side
12:03 and ripped all the side of the fuselage.
12:06 The bomber was injured and he was missing for four operations actually.
12:10 How we didn't tip up.
12:12 I could have come out at any time, we were all volunteers.
12:18 And I wouldn't have been court-martialed, I would have been reduced to the ranks
12:22 and sent back to the railroads actually.
12:25 You felt you needed the steel to do your bit?
12:28 If I'd wanted to, but very few did.
12:32 What was it which kept you going?
12:36 Was it just to defend our country?
12:38 Yeah, I mean, FIA used to leave me when I put the key in the door of the aircraft
12:45 to open up and get in. It had your job, you had to concentrate every second.
12:50 I just wondered which way I was going to catch it,
12:53 whether it would be blown up or I'd be set on fire.
12:56 But it did not tumble, not too often.