The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War



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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

208946

Sgt. William "Ginger" Bell

Royal Air Force 44 Squadron

from:Doagh, Co. Antrim, N.I.

(d.6th Sep 1940)

This is the story of my Uncle Sgt Willie Bell, wireless operater/air gunner serving on 44 Sqd. RAF Bomber Command, flying Handley Page Hampden medium bombers, the Hampden fuselage was only 36" wide and the crew had little room to move inside. Beginning in May 1940 he flew on night missions on a regular basis. Entries in his log book show five night operations between 15th and 26th May, with numerous training exercises in between. On May 27th he was promoted to Temp.Sergeant. He continued on "ops" through July and August at the height of the Battle of Britain. September 2nd was a raid on Stuttgart with P/O Taunton at the controls in Hampden s/no. P2087.

On the evening of the 6th September 1940 he climbed into Hampden P2087 again with P/O Taunton and P/O Vollmer as navigator/bomb aimer, and New Zealander Sgt. Bracegirdle, their target that night was Krefeld. They succeeded in finding the target and dropped their bombs, then turned for home but near Munster disaster struck in the form of a heavy AA shell which scored an almost direct hit, setting the starboard engine and wing on fire. The pilot ordered the crew to bail out, but all at once the aircraft lurched to starboard and went into a spiral dive of rapidly increasing velocity. Then there was a terrible explosion which blew P/O Vollmer out of the Hampden with his parachute still unfastened, he had been in the process of clipping it on when he was thrown out.

He knew the ground was coming up fast so he pulled the ripcord and prayed. His chute was ripped from his hands breaking two fingers but by a stroke of luck he had managed to secure one clip of the harness which held long enough to save his life. The pilot had managed to bale out to safety, but Sergeants Bell and Bracegirdle were not so lucky and went to their deaths when P2087 smashed into the ground.

An unknown German officer sent home Willie Bell's personal effects, his watch, ring and ID tags, accompanied by a letter to his parents to let them know he had been buried with full military honours and he was very kind to say there were no marks on his body.

Willie Bell didn't win any special medals for heroism but it took a very brave person to do what he did night after night. I would like to dedicate this little article to his memory and to all the men and women in all the wars who made the ultimate sacrifice






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