Courtesy Kerry Foster
Courtesy Kerry Foster
Courtesy Kerry Foster
‘Sir
I have the honour to report the following information for flying at 8,000ft on the late afternoon of January 1st 1945 on operations.
After take off at 1545hrs acting on met information and entering cloud as 2,500ft I concluded I I would break cloud in the region of 5,000ft. We eventually broke at 8,000ft then homing back to to set course position having insufficient time to descend there we decided to descend on course to Reading. Descending on course to Reading and encountering icing and not breaking cloud at 5,000ft I decided to return again to 8,000ft and descended on route as soon as possible when a break in clouds afforded me this chance.
Just before reaching the English Coast an extensive break in the cloud was observed and noticing the bomber stream on route beneath us we descended down to 5,000ft, reaching this height about 20 miles from the English Coast.
I hereby after conformed with the tactics for the operation laid down at briefing for the operation and completed the mission successfully, returning to base at 2130hrs.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant.
R C Flamank F/O.‘
Courtesy Kerry Foster
Courtesy Kerry Foster
Courtesy Kerry Foster
Pilot Stan Davies DFC was a good friend of Ron Flamank’s, and in his memoirs “Still Vivid” he wrote about an incident that occurred two weeks before the above-mentioned offence:
“16.12.44. Target: Siegen marshalling yards
The meteorological report for this operation was hopelessly wrong. We were told to expect some cloud, which we would soon climb out of. Instead, we found solid cloud up to 15,000 feet. One of my best friends, Ron Flamank, iced up at 5000 feet over the North Sea and his aircraft dropped like a stone. He broke through the cloud at about 900 feet but was down to only 500 feet when he regained control. He had a full bomb load and had been unable to jettison it during the fall because of G-force. After recovery Ron continued on to the target.”
You can imagine that Ron was acutely aware of the dangers of icing with this no doubt terrifying experience still fresh in his mind. It explains his actions on 1 January and makes his punishment appear unnecessarily harsh.
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