The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War



This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site

please consider making a donation.




    Site Home

    WW2 Home

    Add Stories

    WW2 Search

    Library

    Help & FAQs


 WW2 Features

    Airfields

    Allied Army

    Allied Air Forces

    Allied Navy

    Axis Forces

    Home Front

    Battles

    Prisoners of War

    Allied Ships

    Women at War

    Those Who Served

    Day-by-Day

    Library

    The Great War

 Submissions

    Add Stories

    Time Capsule

    TWMP on Facebook



    Childrens Bookshop

 FAQ's

    Help & FAQs

    Glossary

    Volunteering

    Contact us

    News

    Bookshop

    About


Advertisements











World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

244622

P/O David Garth Johnston

Royal Air Force 149 Squadron

from:Horizon, Saskatchewan

 

My Dad, Dave Johnston flew with 149 Squadron from RAF Methwold in Norfolk. The crew in the attached photo (L to R):
  • Pilot: Sgt Congdon, R. K. (Bob), Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
  • Navigator: P/O Johnstone, E. (Ed), Alonsa, Manitoba, Canada
  • Bomb Aimer: P/O Johnston, D. G. (Dave), Horizon, Saskatchewan, Canada
  • Tail Gunner: Sgt. Caraher, J. H. (Hugh), Stratford, Ontario, Canada
  • Wireless Operator: Sgt. Briggs, H. (Harold), Mansfield, Notts, England
  • Mid Upper Gunner: Sgt. Terry, H. R., Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada
  • Flight Engineer: Hatcher, T., Haywards Heath, Sussex, England

The following was taken from the personal diary of one of the crew members. Personal diaries were not supposed to be kept, however, this diary only contained the dates and the comments below. The operational mission (Ops) target and flight time notations in brackets have been compiled from the actual Flying Log Book of P/O Johnston, D. G., Bomb Aimer. Refer to the three raid photos attached. Pictures taken by the bomb aimer after dropping the bomb load. Bottom of images show: base MEW, date, altitude, bearing, time, target, bomb load, ?, pilot Congden, plane designation S & T, 149 Squadron

  • 24-11-44: First flight in a Lancaster, a wonderful aircraft.
  • 11-12-44: Second stage - dead tired.
  • 18-12-44: Homings on radar.
  • We get a week's leave and on to squadron.
  • 14-2-45: Photography only.
  • 18-2-45: Our first attempt. quiet. (Ops Wesel, 5:20 day)
  • 19-2-45: (Ops Wesel, no entry, diverted to Bottesford, 5:55 day)
  • 20-2-45: Ferried a crew to pick up aircraft.
  • 22-2-45: Saw one aircraft blow up, a nasty sight. (Ops Oberhausen, 5:10 day)
  • 23-2-45: (Ops Gelsenkirchen, no entry, diverted to Acklington, 6:50 day)
  • 5-3-45: Lost one aircrew from 149 - F/O Williams, Aussie crew missing saw five chutes. (Ops Gelsenkirchen, 5:20 day)
  • 11-3-45: No flak, no fighters. (Ops Essen, 6:10 day)
  • 12-3-45: (Ops Dortmund, no entry, 6:30 day)
  • 19-3-45: Bags of flakm one bomb aimer killed on his first trip. (Ops Gelsenkirchen, 5:45 day)
  • 21-3-45: A fair prang. (Ops Munster, 6:05 day)
  • 23-3-45: Troops invaded an hour after. (Ops Wesel, 5:00 day)
  • 29-3-45: (Ops Hallendorp, no entry, 6:55 day)
  • 4-4-45: Hit several times by flak, very close, holes in a lot of plexiglas. (Ops Mersberg, 8:45 night)
  • 14-4-45: About 10 miles from Berlin. (Ops Potsdam, 8:55 night)
  • 16-4-45: Low level supply dropping practice, used sand bags.
  • 18-4-45: Jettisoned bombs in the North Sea. (Ops Heligoland, aborted, 4:05 day)
  • 19-4-45: Home of new German government. (Ops Munich, 7:25 day)
  • 26-4-45: Have 3 new engines in our aircraft.
  • 1-5-45: Flags waving, people mad. (Spam dropping, The Hague, 2:30 day)
  • 5-5-45: Blew a tire on takeoff, landed at Woodbridge, skipper complimented. (Spam dropping, The Hague, 2:20 day)

 

Dave Johnston with most of his crew mates.

 

Munster 21st March 1945. In Lancaster S, log book shows

 

Wesel 23rd March 1945, 5:30 day raid.

Potsdam 14th and 15th April 1945, 10:50 night raid






Related Content:








Can you help us to add to our records?

The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them


Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area?

If so please let us know.

Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.




Celebrate your own Family History

Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.

Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.














The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items.

The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.



Hosted by:

The Wartime Memories Project Website

is archived for preservation by the British Library





Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved

We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.