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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by a volunteer, on behalf of Gordon Vickers and has been added to the site with his permission. Gordon fully understands the site's terms and conditions

Gordon was a Corporal in the RAF from 1941-1947, servicing Lancaster Aircraft for 8 Group, Pathfinders, 635 Squadron at Downham Market, Norfolk. He also serviced 35 Squadron at Gravelely, near Huntingdon, Cambs.

He was mostly involved in doing instrument repairs, particularly to bomb sights, automatic controls and general instruments.

When he first joined up he had wanted to be in flight crew but he didn’t make it, which at the time was disappointing. But now looking back he realises that if he had been in a flight crew then he probably would not have survived the war. He had 26 weeks training which he felt was sufficient — he pointed out that the five men in his section only had 10 weeks.

Their job was to make sure that the six aircraft in their flight were always serviceable and ready for action.

Sometimes the need for aircraft put enormous pressure on him and his team.

There was one occasion when an aircraft had a faulty automatic valve which they were having difficulty in fixing. His sergeant rang to ask how it was going, and Gordon replied that he thought he would have to register the plane as unserviceable. However the sergeant said that would be impossible — it had to be ready. Gordon went back and had another look at the valve, which had a smaller valve inside that he was not meant to touch. Nevertheless he fiddled around with it and finally got it to work. The plane was OK and the Wing Commander was so impressed that he asked Gordon if he could service his aircraft!

On another occasion they were getting ready for a bomber raid which would need every aircraft. Unfortunately in one plane the oxygen supply for the pilot was not working properly. Gordon tried all sorts of things to make the flow meter work, but still it wouldn’t. Then he realised that it would work when the meter registered 7,000 feet but not when it was at 5,000.

He therefore came up with a rough and ready solution. As the bombing mission wasn’t going to be a long one, he decided to change the meter and move the pointer from seven to five thousand so that the oxygen would flow.

He told the engineer officer about his solution but he said that he couldn’t approve that as it would be against the rules. However knowing how desperately the plane was needed Gordon went ahead regardless, and switched the meter back. As a result the plane was able to be included on the mission, and Gordon just had to remember to switch the meter back when it returned!

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