One the aircrews that features in my book ‘D-Day Bomber’s’ is that of mid-upper gunner Ferdinand Slevar. Eighty-one years ago tonight, 12/13 June 1944, in support of the Normandy invasion, Ferd, his pilot Bill Brown, and their 427 Squadron crew attacked the railyards at Arras. (A total of 671 aircraft attacked targets in France that night.) Here’s the extract from ‘D-Day Bombers’, which includes Ferd’s moving recollection of the night.
At about 0140 hours Bill Brown’s Halifax made a left turn, the nose of his laden bomber pointing directly at Arras. A few miles to the south the Amiens/St Roch railyards were under attack. On this night the Arras bombers were unusually low; the bombing height detailed as 4,000 feet. Attention to accuracy and a minimising of bomb spread remained a priority. At such low heights, however, the bombers presented an easier target for the ground defences.
Ferd Slevar: Bill received the ETA on target from the navigator Cliff Cameron, as Art Willis the bomb aimer readied himself to guide Bill to the target area. Hugh Mackenzie, the wireless operator, was at his station by his radio and Stan Selfe, the flight engineer, was going about his duties of checking oil gauges for proper pressure. During all this time I was searching the sky above our aircraft and George Percy, the rear gunner was searching the sky below for German night fighters. The intercom was open to all positions. Quietly, in my mid-upper gunner’s position, I was saying the Our Father and the Hail Mary.
Then I shrieked over the intercom as a plane was hit by flak. I increased the pace of my prayers. George reported another aircraft hit by flak. I quickened the pace of my prayers as more bombers were being knocked out of the night sky.
Art Willis sited the target markers and started to guide Bill in order to bring the aircraft over the target. Ferd and George Percy kept scanning the night sky, witnessing the demise of colleagues as the flak claimed more victims. In their ears they could hear Art: ‘Left – left – steady.’
Ferd Slevar: Suddenly a picture focused in my mind of my father with his arm around my mother, standing in the doorway of our home in Canada. He was trying to comfort her – both sensing that their son was about to die. Then in the next instant another picture appeared – the dreaded telegram was flying across the Atlantic Ocean towards Canada. My tempo of Our Father and Hail Mary prayers increased to a very rapid rate. My prayers became a blur, I was saying them so fast, and at the same time I was reporting the devastation that was happening in the sky around our aircraft.
Art reported, ‘Bomb doors open – steady as you go.’
‘We regret to inform that your son . . . ‘The telegram was nearing my sorrowful mother and father standing in the doorway. I could not say the Our Father and the Hail Mary any faster as George and I kept the intercom busy reporting further bombers being blasted into balls of fire. This was turning into a hell.
My poor mother and father received the telegram and he attempted to console her. I said to myself, ‘No! No! The telegram is not right. I don’t want to die.’
Art reported, ‘Steady, steady, bombs away.’
‘Let’s get out of here,’ said Bill.
As we left the target and the heavy concentration of German anti-aircraft guns, we were hysterically relieved as we headed for our home base.
Flak had accounted for three bombers from the Arras force. In addition two bombers fell to flak from the Ameins/St Roch force over the target area. Then the German night fighters arrived. Within 10 minutes three more bombers from the Arras force, now heading north, were blasted out of the sky and two from the Amiens/St Roch force, which had turned south for a few miles then virtually due west. The crew returned to base physically unscathed and proceeded to debriefing. The intelligence officer informed the shaken crew that what they had actually been seeing were German ‘scarecrows’. However the next day the crew were to realise that in fact they had seen numerous exploding aircraft. From the 671 aircraft that took part in operations against French railyards that night, 23 aircraft were lost, of which 427 Squadron lost 3. Three further aircraft were damaged beyond repair. 119 airmen lost their lives, 17 were captured and 29 managed to evade. There is one further strange twist to Ferd Slevar’s experience that night:
Ferd Slevar: Upon completion of my tour of duty, 35 bombing missions over the continent, I was sent home. As soon as I arrived, my happy mother said she had had a horrible dream on 12 June 1944 and asked me if I almost got killed that night.
