My name is Philip Gray, born in Ladybank on the east side of Scotland. During WWII I was a pilot with 186 Squadron, Stradishall, Suffolk. This was a heavy bomber squadron using Lancasters Marks I and III. My crew were -
- F/Sgt. Gerry Merrick, navigator.
- F/Officer Jack Marner, air bomber.
- F/Sgt. Harry Jenkinson, Wireless operator.
- F/Sgt. Frank Parkhouse, enginer.
- F/Sgt. Ivor 'Blondie' Foster, mid-upper gunner.
- F/Sgt. Clin Booth, rear gunner
. We bombed Gelsenkirchen four times, the target each time being a coking plant where the Germans made synthetic petrol. These plants were located all over the Reich. In all we took part in 16 raids on Germany.
It's all there in my book 'Ghosts Of Targets Past' published by Grub Street, London, which is now in its third edition and 10th print. I've had favourable reports on this book from all over the planet.
I earned my 'wings', pilots brevet, at Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona, USA.
As the war faded away in 1945 we were occupied with the 'clean up' jobs -
- Operation Mana, dropping food to the people of The Netherlands.
- Operation Exodus, flying back ex-POWs from France to GB.
- Operation Baedeker, low flying over Germany to allow ground crews and admin staff to monitor the bomb damage.
- Operation Post Mortem, testing German radar
. Leaving Bomber Command I carried out two mini tours of duty for Transport Command at Syerston airfield, towing military gliders and dropping food to British farmers.
In the mid 1950s on invitation, NOT AN ORDER, I flew for Fighter Command on the Island of Sylt, West Germany, as a staff pilot. There I flew Hawker Tempests, Mosquitos and Meteors on the four air-to-air firing ranges. For the record we lost more pilots there than on my bomber squadron during WWII. We were under the command of the 2nd Tactical Army on the Rhine. There was an emergency of one kind or another every single day on the Island of Sylt during that time. With club flying in both Scotland and New Zealand I then went on to fly for 46 years in all.
