230774 WO. Charles Robert Coleman Royal Air Force 180 Squadron Charles Coleman served in the RAF towards the end of the Second World War. He was a navigator bomber and saw most of his friends killed during active service. He trained in Canada and flew in many raids over Europe, crash landed once at the edge of the runway and was shot down by enemy fire once. For a long time he kept his flak jacket which was covered with bullet holes. He was extremely lucky to survive but, until he was an old man, he would not speak of his experiences. When he was about 80 he suddenly started to speak of a cockpit full of blood and it turned out this was another RAF plane flying in formation with his plane which he watched as it was shot down - that pilot paid the ultimate price. I have several precious pictures of his squadron and of the Mitchell bombers he used to fly in.
|