CAPTAIN: OWEN

LANCASTER V-VICTOR - JB671
Despite instrument failure, landed safely at Bourn

CREW
Pilot: F/L Charles Owen
Flight Engineer: Sgt DE Lacey
Navigator: F/O William, known as Bill, Shires
Bomb Aimer: Sgt Tom, known as Nigel, Leak
W/Op: Sgt Dougie Knowles
Mid-Upper Gunner: Sgt K Forrest
Rear Gunner: Sgt FB Thomas

For a very striking full-sized version of the Owen photo, see below

CREW: Charles Owen, DE Lace, William Shires, Nigel Leak, Dougie Knowles, K Forrest, FB Thomas



DETAILS
V-Victor landed at five past twelve in the morning of 17th December. There were severe technical malfunctions in the transmitters and navigational aids, but the navigator, Bill Shires, and the bomb aimer, Nigel Leak, managed to get the aircraft home. Owen noted later in his diary:

"Trip was generally quieter than usual. 10/10 cloud over the target and rather less flak than usual. W/T and "Y" and "G" packed up on way home, so homed across North Sea on D/F Loop, which luckily was not jammed. Homed onto base on SBA beam, breaking cloud at 250 feet to find fog, rain and visibility about 300 yards and deteriorating. R/T then packed up, so after circling for ten minutes at 200 feet, landed without permission in appalling conditions. Six other aircraft landed at base, three landed away, three crews bailed out when they ran out of fuel, four crashed when trying to land, and one was missing. Quite a night."
His figures for the fate of the aircraft are not quite correct, but his last comment speaks volumes about the aircrews' general attitude.


Left: Tom Leak, known as "Nigel", the bomb aimer

Right: Navigator Bill Shires

Below: Picture thought to be of some of the crew together with ground crew, probably taken by Charles Owen from the cockpit of the Lancaster.

27th May 06 - the chap second from the left has now been positively identified as Tom ("Nigel") Leak, so this is definitely a crew photograph.

TOM LEAK'S STORY
Tom (known as Nigel to the crew) made a tape describing his experiences in the RAF. A large part of the tape describes the crew's experiences on Black Thursday.

Tom first describes how there was "quite a lull" between 4th and 16th December, when they did not fly any ops due to the bad weather. He continues:

"We were often briefed for trips and then they would be scrubbed at the last moment because of the weather. I think there must have been some agitation because of the Airforce inactivity and someone had said, 'Well, what are the RAF doing?' and finally we would go into action on 16th December."

Tom briefly describes the trip out, the short direct route to Berlin and the long way back via Denmark which was "usually much quieter". Once the crew got over the North Sea on the homeward journey, they were able to feel the worst was over, get out the coffee and relax a bit. They had been told at briefing to expect that the weather would be bad on their return to base, "not ideal", with a ceiling of 1,000 feet, but were reassured that they would be able to land safely. But when they finally reached Bourn, the cloud base was 800 feet and dropping all the time. There were several aircraft stacked up over the airfield, and they joined this group. The story continues in Tom's words:

"There was one aircraft trying to land - F-Freddy - we could hear what was going on over the R/T, he was having difficulty in seeing the runway and he came in to land and then overshot, went round again. Meanwhile we were all stooging around anxiously, hearing what was going on. Freddy came round the second time, and again couldn't make it, overshot. Tension was beginning to build up and cloud base beginning to drop, and we began to wonder if we ever would land.
Then eventually one aircraft got down, but the runway wasn't cleared. By this time our pilot was getting anxious and we were also wondering about the position of the petrol. So he [Charles Owen] said, "Well, look, lads, I'm going to land". The navigator [Bill Shires] got very concerned and said, "If you land without permission, this could be a court-martial". "Yes, and if we don't try to land it could be a coffin for us". So the navigator called out again, he said, "But the runway's not clear, there's an aircraft still on the runway". "Oh well," [Charles Owen] said, "we'll have to take that chance".
The pilot realised that this was a desperate position and that if we didn't do something we never would get down. Meanwhile all the other aircraft were circling around and [Charles Owen] came down low and we could just see one or two of the perimeter lights at a time, but it was very difficult to see much. And he came in and the flight engineer helped him to try and pick out the flare path, and we landed with a terrific bump and shot up in the air, but it was the best landing we ever made." 

On the tape recording at this point Tom Leak gives a small delighted chuckle.

"There was a terrific sense of relief, and we taxied away. Meanwhile it had got so bad that no other aircraft could land and the other aircraft got diverted to airfields nearby with disastrous results ... some flew into trees ... It was very depressing for everybody. We ourselves had a great sense of relief, and terrific gratitude towards our pilot, we realised that without his initiative and skill we would never have survived. And instead of being scolded by the authorities, he was complemented on his skill in landing the aircraft.
We lost crew we knew personally, it was very upsetting, and there was a great deal of indignation in the squadron. Next day they assembled us altogether and the commanding officer [acting C/O, Squadron Leader Dunniclife] came in with a very serious face and did a lot of straight talking.
He said, "Well, men, I know how you are feeling about the events that happened and you've lost colleagues, and it was very unfortunate that the weather changed as it did and brought such tragedy". He said, "No doubt you feel indignant about it, you feel like going out and talking about it", but he warned us that that was the very thing the enemy would want to know, the tragedy that had happened, and we found out that 12 aircraft were lost over the target but 96 had crashed in this country trying to land with great loss of life. We were told that it was a very serious matter and that if anyone spoke about this to the public they were liable to a court-martial.
It took some time to get over this, such a great loss and a great upset, but life on the squadron had to go on of course, and four days later we set off on another trip."


BARRY SUTTON - MEMORIES OF TOM LEAK
When I first met Tom I think in 1942, I was a young boy of 12 so my recollections of him are somewhat hazy
We met at a cricket match in Torquay where my father's company had been re-located out of London because of the bombing.
He was then a young airman under training . My father liked him immediately and at the end of the afternoon suggested that at a later date he came round to our house for a meal and to get away from his billet.
This he did, not sure how many days later, but it became quite a regular thing. We (because of rationing ) kept some chickens in the back yard, fed on scraps boiled up as a mash by my Mother. A most revolting smell never to be forgotten ...
Tom enjoyed the eggs, that I do remember, and he became a bit of a hero in my eyes being in the RAF - following the Battle of Britan, the RAF at that time was the glamour service.
He was of medium height and stocky with a good sense of humour and I feel sure that he teased me. As for his home background I never knew what he did before the service and at that age I never asked . All I do remember is that he came from Lincoln or thereabouts and had a slight Midlands accent. This in itself was unusual for me, as we were from the south of England (Essex).
For how long he visited, I do not know, but either he was posted for further training or we moved back to Essex because in 1943 he came to see us there and brought with him a present for me of several safety pins from small bombs that he had dropped.
Once he started operating in Nov 43, he kept in touch with my parents by writing letters on a fairly regular basis and visiting on occasion when he was on leave. He stayed only a short time (2-3 days) but now, I think, that was because he had other visits to make.
I remember that I had asked and he told me later that he had chalked my name on a large bomb to be dropped on Berlin.
I seem to recall that he said he was on Pathfinders but that meant nothing to me at that stage. He once said that he was the oldest member of the crew and that he was a bit of a father figure. He was also religious which did not go down well with some of the crew when they went into town on a binge.
In later life he was a lay preacher and if I remember rightly, it was a non-conformist Church. He lived at 9 Lincoln Rd, Newark on Trent.
When he finished his tour (and I had no idea how lucky you had to be to do this ) his visits dropped off but he still wrote, and the second picture I have of him (the one shown above) was from 1946.
After that we had no contact until I managed to trace him via the Pathfinders Association in 1981. When I went to see him in about 1981-2, he was a married man with no children. His wife was called Edith, and I remember her as a nice but frail lady who stayed out of the room when we were talking and recording his memories. By then he was getting on but remembered most of his experiences. I am not sure when it was , but he told me that he was invited to visit schools to talk and answer questions about the war and his part in it . This he did for some years.
To my regret I only saw him that once but I was working at the time and it was not easy to take the time off to visit Newark. I do remember that he had his Log Book on the table as we talked and refered to it to confirm details.

Foot Note
As regads his birth and death details, I have been online and also visited the library to check on Births Marriages and Deaths . From all of that, I think the following details are correct but without getting the certificates I cannot be absolutely sure.
Thomas William Leak: Born March 11th 1913. Yarmouth District. Mother's maiden name Fielding. Died Jan 1994 aged 80.
Edith Williams: Born November 27th 1912. Mansfield District. Mother's Maiden name Baker or Barker. Died 2004 aged 91.
Married in Mansfield in 1948.
In this very striking picture, Charles Owen has the DSO ribbon on his battle dress tunic, which he was awarded after completing his last op (on 5th October 1944) and which was gazetted on 15th December 1944. Owen's birthday had been  on 5 January 1944, and so he is still only 21 years old in this picture having lived a lifetime since his arrival in Bourn in late 1943.


Charles Owen's Ops Diary, held at the Imperial War Museum in London, has been a goldmine for historians of the period. At a later date we will be including a scan of a page from this diary.


The Pathfinder Year - 97 Squadron at Bourn