An Ear to the Ground: A Wireless Operator's War with Bomber Command

Bell, W/O Frank,Bell, Ken,Bell, Joan

ISBN 10: 1911255274 / ISBN 13: 9781911255277

Published by Mention the War Ltd., 2017

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: An Ear to the Ground: A Wireless Operator's War with Bomber Command
• Publisher: Mention the War Ltd.
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1911255274
• ISBN 13: 9781911255277
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

As a 17-year-old Frank Bell would leave his Darlington home at about 6pm and cycle to RAF Middleton St. George to watch the Whitley bombers landing and taking off, returning home at 8.30 pm. Joining the Air Training Corps to learn everything he could about the RAF, Frank went to camp at RAF Topcliffe and was lucky enough to experience a twenty-minute trip in a Halifax bomber. At that point, he knew for certain all he wanted to do was fly. With his grandfather’s permission he went to Middlesbrough and successfully volunteered for the RAF. He continued to attend ATC twice a week, concentrating on learning Morse Code. Two weeks before his 18th birthday, Frank was called up for military service in the RAF. From 1944 into 1945, Frank’s crew flew in Lancaster bombers, surviving forty operations over Occupied Europe and Germany. He kept diaries and later transcribed these, along with his additional memories into copious notes. Frank’s story is a personal one, with descriptions of the raids, the narrow squeaks, the hazards, the sadness of losing friends and many nuggets of information not usually mentioned. Illustrated with many black and white photographs, it is also a compelling account of the meticulous planning that went into the planning of the raids, and gives a detailed insight into the life of Wireless Operator in a heavy bomber in the Second World War. Nearly seventy years after his wartime service, Frank was back at Middleton St. George, as an honoured guest at the visit of a Canadian Lancaster, one of only two such aircraft still flying.