105423 Albert Victor Haig "Smudger" Smith Royal Air Force from:Leyton, London My dad, Albert Smith, told me he was stationed on Isle of Man during the war, I think he must have been at Jurby. He was a Police officer stationed in London and so did not get called up until about 1942/3. He was trained as a pilot/navigator/bomb aimer but mostly did the bomb aiming. He said that he always remembered the boat trip over to the Island because the North Sea could get so bad and so many men were really sick but he was O.K. One story he told always made my blood run cold. He said he was coming back from a raid one night and was feeling so cold that he decided to get up from his bomb aiming position and walk back along the aircraft to get a drink from a flask of tea. Unfortunately the bomb doors had not closed and he fell through them, just managing to throw his arms around a strut and cling on for dear life. He was shouting to the crew but no-one could hear him because of the engine noise and the slip stream was pulling him out. Finally one of the crew realised that he was late coming for his tea and went to see if he was all right and on discovering him managed to pull him back into the aircraft. Thank you unknown friend - you saved my life too, for if you had not pulled my dad back into the plane I would not be around to write this story!! My dad went back to the police force after the war and died in 2001 aged 83.
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