This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this siteplease 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
224684W/O. Mervin Charles Westbrook
Royal Air Force 196 squadron
from:Honister, Fortunes Way, Bedhampton, Havant, Hants
My father Mervin C. Westbrook served on Wellies & Stirlings of 196 Squadron. He talked about many, many supply trips over France and Holland; during one the flak so affected his aircraft that it lurched alarmingly just as he was dispatching a bicycle and other goodies to the Free French. How he escaped following it out of the plane he never knew! He was the Flight Engineer on the craft and was particularly friendly with his pilot Askew (who has a daughter Stella 10 days younger than myself) and Navigator MacFadyean (spelling?) who went to live at Westbrook End near Godalming of all places.His flying stories were told matter of fact with no embroidery; everybody had a job to do and they just got on with it. He was particularly affected by the death of some of his friends who were in a plane that crashed in Norway. Routine early bombing missions were somewhat boring as his responsibilities amongst others were to wind the rear wheel up or down at take off and landing.
After the war he returned to his Civvy job with Portsmouth City Treasurer's Dept but each year he continued to serve in the Reserve; as a small child I recall being taken by relatives to a hilltop at a certain time and watched his flight fly over. He died in 1985 and now that my parents have both passed on to glory and I'm nearly 70 this is a very poignant memory and mental image for me.
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:
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.