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Jack Liddell
Birth nameJack Robert George Liddell
Nickname(s)"Killer"
Born(1924-06-22)22 June 1924
Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England
Died16 May 1943(1943-05-16) (aged 18)
Heeren-Herken, Rees, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Buried
Reichswald Forest War Cemetery (grave 5, row c, plot 5)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branchSmall image of the Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom Royal Air Force
Years of service1941–43
RankSergeant
Service number1338282
Unit
Battles/wars

Jack Robert George "Killer" Liddell (22 June 1924 – 16 May 1943) was a rear gunner in No. 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF). He took part in Operation Chastise, the "Dambusters" raid of 1943.

Early life[edit]

Liddell was born on 22 June 1924, at Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, the only son of Robert Hardinge Liddell, a kitchen hand,[1] and Winifred Lilian, née Jones.[2]: 206  His father died at Axbridge infirmary when Liddell was aged just eight years old.[1] He had one younger sister, Sheila, and two half-sisters, Patricia and Maureen,[3]: 39  after his mother remarried Thomas William Wride at Weston in 1933.[4] Thomas was killed in action at Dunkirk on 27 May 1940.[5] Liddell was educated at Walliscote School on Walliscote Grove Road, Weston. On leaving school, he worked for a local Weston butcher, Cogle Brothers in West Street, and then for Thomas Percy Wildridge,[6] a fishmonger and poultry dealer at 36 St James Street, Weston.[7]

On 30 May 1941, a few weeks away from Liddell's seventeenth birthday,[8]: 173  he enlisted into the RAF at the Combined Recruiting Centre in Provident Hall on Prewett Street, Redcliffe, Bristol. At that time, RAF recruits had to be at least seventeen and three months old to volunteer,[9] but he was said to be "flying mad",[2]: 206  and like many boys at the time, joining the war effort was seen as a much more glamorous occupation. Consequently, when war broke out, boys were quick to enlist despite being underage.[10] A number of authors have stated he must have lied about his age when he volunteered,[2]: 206 [11]: 130  but as the war progressed, discrepancies on enlistment documents were often disregarded.[10] Notwithstanding the issue with his age, he was posted to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) the day after he enlisted.[8]: 173 [12]

Military service[edit]

Initial training[edit]

Monochrome photograph showing a hall full of recruits sat at tables. They each sit in front of Morse code receiving equipment and shown wearing headphones on their ears. There are a number of instructors shown standing to the left of the picture. All the recruits are dressed in air cadet uniform.
Trainee telegraphists of No. 10 (Signals) Recruit Centre receiving Morse code in the Olympia Exhibition Hall at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool

On 13 October 1941, aged seventeen years, three months, Liddell was sent to No. 3 Recruit Centre at RAF Padgate, near Warrington,[8]: 173  where he attended lectures and was given his kit.[13]: 53  He left Padgate two days later and reported to No. 10 (Signals) Recruit Centre located in Blackpool, Lancashire.[8]: 173  Holiday resorts, such as Blackpool, were selected for training purposes because they were able to offer accommodation on a large-scale especially if use was made of local hotels, boarding houses, and holiday camps. The railway connections to Blackpool were also an important consideration particularly as recruits were moved in large numbers and often stayed only a few weeks at the centre.[14]: 577 

Recruits had to complete two weeks of recruit training followed by ten weeks of telegraphy and science training.[15]: 86  The notion was that a recruit had to be a qualified ground telegraphist before being allowed to join flight crew.[16]: 249–250  A typical day for a recruit would be spent on drill, in aircraft recognition classes, on the rifle range, and being taught Morse code by civilian instructors at the Winter Gardens.[13]: 54  Liddell was selected for air gunner training,[2]: 206  and that meant he had to demonstrate the ability to copy Morse code, complete twelve weeks of technical training at an air school, and pass an air gunners' course.[16]: 249–250 

Operational training[edit]

On 16 December 1941, Liddell transferred to No. 1 AAS, the Air Armament School at RAF Manby, near Louth, Lincolnshire.[8]: 173  During the war, Manby was the centre for training RAF air gunners, bomb aimers, and armament officers.[17]: 173  He qualified as an air gunner on 8 May 1942 and his log book was signed off as "Young, but a killer, and reliable and intelligent."[18][a] He then spent two weeks at No. 7 AGS,[8]: 173  the Air Gunners School at RAF Stormy Down, near Pyle, Bridgend, Wales.[19] Known formerly as RAF Porthcawl, the gunnery school trained over ten thousand RAF and Allied airmen during the war.[20][b]

George VI visiting No. 617 Squadron in 1943

On 26 May 1942, Liddell was posted to his final operational training unit at No. 25 OTU,[8]: 173  that was based at RAF Finningley, near Doncaster. The training unit operated out of nearby RAF Bircotes, located next to No. 1 Group RAF Bomber Command headquarters at RAF Bawtry, Bawtry Hall, Bawtry.[22] The grass airfield at Bircotes was used by Vickers Wellingtons, Avro Ansons and Manchesters, on cross-country exercises, and simulated day and night bombing raids.[22][23]: 46 

No. 61 Squadron[edit]

Main article: No. 61 Squadron

61 Sqdn 8 Sep 1942 Flew 30 operations (already a ).[24]: 24  May 1942 Nov 1943 RAF Syerston (Detached to RAF St Eval on loan to Coastal Command in July and again in August 1942)http://www.no-50-and-no-61-squadrons-association.co.uk/history-of-n0-61-squadron/


Liddell was now a veteran of thirty missions when few bomber crews survived half that number.[24]: 24  Rear gunners had the highest mortality rate of all RAF aircrew as enemy aircraft would likely fire at them first. If one appeared, rear gunners had only seconds to warn the pilot before opening fire. The rear gun turret was also the coldest place in the aircraft as the air stream would blow through the gun slots.[25]: 202 

No. 1485 (Bombing) Gunnery Flight at 24 Mar 1943 RAF Fulbeck - [26] 61 Sqdn 26 Mar 1943

No. 617 Squadron and Operation Chastise[edit]

Main articles: No. 617 Squadron and Operation Chastise
Monochrome photograph a German official standing to the right of an unexploded, British Upkeep bouncing bomb.
Lancaster AJ-E was the third Dambuster airplane to crash. Its Upkeep bouncing bomb was recovered by the Germans.

"which brought him to the end of a full tour of thirty operations with 97 Squadron. Knowing that he would then be entitled to some leave followed by six months working in a non-combat training role ... the whole crew were transferred to 617 Squadron at RAF Scampton, under the command of Guy Gisbon, for a new secret mission and all leave was cancelled." https://dambustersblog.com/2022/12/08/johnny-johnson-1921-2022/ 617 Sqdn 31 Mar 1943

Lancaster ED927 Op.Chastise (Sorpe Dam) Six weeks of intensive training followed, first by day and then later by night. Barlow's last training flight was the day before the raid, on Saturday 15 May. With Vernon Byers as second pilot, they did another test bombing run over the range at Wainfleet.[8]: 173 

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; WWII Defence Medal; WWII War Medal;

An eyewitness, Johanna Effing, gave her account to the writer Helmuth Euler:[27]: 92–93  "We saw the field in front of us blazing fiercely. An aircraft flying from the west had hit the top of a 100,000-volt electricity pylon and crashed into the field. A huge bomb had rolled out 50 metres from where the plane had crashed."

Postwar legacy[edit]

Plane Crash in Herken 70 years ago, a British Lancaster bomber with seven crewmembers crashed here https://oldharveians.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Philip-Burgess-plane-crash-report.pdf

See also[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ This is possibly the origin of Liddell's nickname "Killer".[11]: 130 
  2. ^ Fourteen out of the sixteen aircraft involved in the Dambusters' raid included crew who had trained at either RAF Stormy Down or RAF Saint Athan.[21]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Payne, Graham (19 July 2018). Milton Road Cemetery Burials 1924 to 1942 (Transcription). Book 34. Weston-super-Mare: Weston-super-Mare & District Family History Society. p. 13. 16842. Retrieved 3 December 2022. Page 91 in the PDF.
  2. ^ a b c d Foster, Charles (May 2018). "Crew 10 AJ-E: Crashed on outward flight. Rear gunner: Sgt J. R. G. Liddell". The Complete Dambusters: The 133 men who flew on the dams raid. Stroud: The History Press. pp. 197–207. ISBN 978-0-7509-8808-7. OCLC 1023736610.
  3. ^ Schürmann, Volker; et al. (2007). Uebbing, Bernhard (ed.). Flight into uncertainty: The last flight of Lancaster AJ Easy ED927 (Booklet). Heimatverein Haldern. pp. 1–40. OCLC 1164506894. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  4. ^ D, Les (December 1933). "Marriage record of Liddell and Wride". freebmd.org.uk. Bishop's Stortford: Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022 – via FreeBMD.
  5. ^ "Dambusters hero lied about age to avenge fallen Dad". The Daily Telegraph. London. 9 July 2022. p. 11. ISSN 0841-7180. OCLC 1081089956. ProQuest 2686545470. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via PressReader.
  6. ^ Hase, Pat (3 December 2015). "The Dambusters Raid and Jack Liddell". www.wsmfhs.org.uk. Weston-super-Mare & District Family History Society. 24. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 3 December 2022 suggested (help)
  7. ^ "Bridgwater Borough Court. Motor-Car Obstructions". Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser. 1 May 1935. p. 8. OCLC 749129014. Retrieved 3 December 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Cooper, Alan W. (2013) [First published 1982]. "Appendix III. The Men". The Men Who Breached the Dams: 617 Squadron 'The Dambusters'. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing. pp. 146–195. ISBN 978-1-78383-062-6. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  9. ^ "Be a pilot in the RAF". Western Daily Press. Bristol. 9 May 1941. p. 3. OCLC 949912923. Retrieved 5 December 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ a b BBC History (6 March 2019). "The boys who lied about their age to fight in WW2". www.historyextra.com. London: Immediate Media Company. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022. Article was first published by HistoryExtra in July 2014.
  11. ^ a b Bartlett, W. B. (2011). "7. Fortress Europe Attempts to Repel Raids: 22.51 – 23.59, Sunday 16 May". The Dam Busters: In the Words of the Bomber Crews (1st ed.). Stroud: Amberley Publishing. pp. 119–132. ISBN 978-1-4456-1193-8. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  12. ^ Youngs, Kelvin T., ed. (20 February 2015). "Archive Report: Allied Forces. 16/17.05.1943 No. 617 Squadron Lancaster III ED927 AJ-E Fl/Lt. Robert N.G. Barlow DFC. The Dambusters Raid". aircrewremembered.com. Great Yarmouth: Aircrew Remembered. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  13. ^ a b Bowman, Martin W. (2012). "2. Italy Blitz". Live to Die Another Day (June 1942 – Summer 1943). Bomber Command: Reflections of War. Vol. 2. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation. pp. 53–78. ISBN 978-1-84884-493-3. OCLC 1026720571. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  14. ^ Rexford-Welch, Samuel Cuthbert, ed. (1955). "Technical Training Command. Medical Problems peculiar to the Command". The Royal Air Force Medical Services. History of the Second World War. Vol. 2. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. pp. 576–586. OCLC 872287803. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  15. ^ Royal Air Force (1958). Organisation and Development. Signals (Transcription). The Second World War 1939–1945. Vol. 1. London: Air Ministry. p. 86. OCLC 729589703. Air publication 3237. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  16. ^ a b Jefford, Clive Graham (2014). "25. Wireless Operator Training". Observers and Navigators: And Other Non-Pilot Aircrew in the RFC, RNAS and RAF. London: Grub Street Publishing. pp. 248–250. ISBN 978-1-909808-02-7. OCLC 870426676. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  17. ^ Otter, Patrick (2012) [First published 1996]. "24. Manby and the Ranges". Lincolnshire Airfields in the Second World War. Newbury: Countryside Books. pp. 173–183. ISBN 978-1-85306-424-1. OCLC 36408236. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  18. ^ "The Dambuster AJ-'Easy' Crewmates' Medals, Log Book & Ephemera (K.I.A. on the Dams raid)". www.warandson.co.uk. Leominster: War & Son. 2022. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  19. ^ "All guns are blazing for new wartime website". Bridgend & Porthcawl GEM. 8 November 2018. p. 2. OCLC 1118112058. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  20. ^ Swidenbank, David (6 July 2017). "Stormy Down's role in World War Two is remembered with a flypast". Bridgend & Porthcawl GEM. p. 14. OCLC 1118112058. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  21. ^ Swidenbank, David (16 August 2018). "Porthcawl Museum presented with Dambusters coin". Bridgend & Porthcawl GEM. pp. 1, 8. OCLC 1118112058. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  22. ^ a b "RAF in West and South Yorkshire". thefourprop.com. Leeds: Four Prop. 2022. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022. Cite error: The named reference "Four Prop 2022" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  23. ^ Simpson, Andrew R. B. (2012). "4. A Grand Mob of Fellows. The Crew". 'Ops': Victory at All Costs. Pulborough: Tattered Flag Press. pp. 40–57. ISBN 978-0-9555977-6-3. OCLC 872287803. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  24. ^ a b O'Dell, Nicholas (July 2013). von Wodtke, Carl (ed.). "The Dambusters". Aviation History. Vol. 23, no. 6. Leesburg: Weider History Group. pp. 24–31. ISSN 1076-8858. OCLC 44653516. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via historynet.com. First published online on 16 May 2020.
  25. ^ Bowman, Martin W. (2015). "13. The Night of the Bombs". The Heavy Bomber Offensive of WWII. Voices in Flight. Vol. 7. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation. pp. 189–208. ISBN 978-1-78383-193-7. OCLC 921142180. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  26. ^ Allanby, Richard (2022). "Aircraft accidents in the Central Pennines/Yorkshire Dales. Wellington BK332 at Marston Moor airfield". www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk. Leeds: Richard Allanby. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  27. ^ Euler, Helmuth (2021) [First published 2001]. "Second Wave against the Scorpe". The Dams Raid Through The Lens. Barnsley: After the Battle. pp. 92–99. ISBN 978-1-870067-27-0. OCLC 59531951. Retrieved 7 December 2022.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]


Category:1924 births Category:1943 deaths Category:People from Weston-super-Mare Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Category:Royal Air Force airmen

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