William Walters Story
In The Past.........
1 Index
2 Roy Chadwick
3 William Walters
4 R.A.F
5 Operations Begin
6 Lancaster Bomber
7 "Big City" Berlin
8 Danger all Round
9 No Comforts
10 Bombs Gone
11 Occupied Europe
12 Whirlwind
13 Special Opps
14 Peenemunde
15 Aphrodite
16 30th Mission
17 Final Mission
18 Rescue Attempt
19 Final Chapter
 
 
 
 
August the 14th - The 30th Mission
Lancaster BomberAugust the 14th, was the date that the Lancaster crew had reached it’s 30th mission, at this stage the crew could come off operations for 6 months or they could decide to carry on and commence until they reached 45 missions, then their time would be finished on operations. Half of the crew, 3 members did decide to rest but the other 4 including Bill and his Captain Ian Ross made the decision to carry on hoping to finish their tour of 45 missions…. and then take the rest that they most certainly and surely deserved.
Their operations began again and they were given the order to bomb the U-Boat pens again at La Pallice which they did on the 16th and 18th of August. Another bombing mission was to take them to Ymuiden on the 24th.

On September 11th the crews mission was to take them on a long flight to Yagodnik, Northern Russia, in preparation for an attack on the huge, 832 feet long, 50,954 tonne German battleship “Tirpitz”. The armaments it possessed was eight (380mm) 15” guns, twelve (150mm) 5.9” guns, sixteen 105mm (4.1”) guns, sixteen 37mm guns, and sixteen 20mm guns all for anti-aircraft use, and eight 533mm (21”) torpedo tubes.
The battleship was found to be at anchor in Altenfiord, Norway. This target was far too distant from Britain to make the return trip, so bombers would wait at Yagodnik for favourable weather conditions. But after being in the air for more than 13 hours, and due to the severe weather conditions they were not able to find the airfield, the decision was made that they would have to make a crash landing, so the crew braced themselves for it as the Lancaster hit the ground, as it did so the 12,000 lb “Tallboy” bomb that they were carrying broke its tail off and shot past the front of the crashed aircraft. The crew were uninjured by the crash landing, and a few days later on September 16th, 1944 flew back to England in another aircraft.

 

The fate of the “Tirpitz” was eventually sealed on November 12th 1944, when a force of Lancaster bombers dropped 28 “Tallboy” bombs each weighing 12,000lb, on the battleship, two found it’s target scoring direct hits causing the massive ship to capsize, it was finished.

During the months of October and November, captain Ian Ross and his crew found themselves mainly on flying exercises and bombing practice.

But in December the operation was to return to Ymuiden and attack it on the 15th. Orders were given to the crew to bomb Politz, which was attacked on the 21st, Rotterdam on the 29th, and back to Ymuiden on the 30th. Enemy ships were sighted in a fiord in Oslo, Norway and so an operation was called, and the ships were attacked and bombed on the 31st.