Fly Past

F LYPOST
FlyPast, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1XQ, UK
email: [email protected]

114 FLYPAST September 2018

Contributions from readers are always welcome

for this column. Views expressed in FlyPost are not

necessarily those of the Editor, or publisher. Letters

may be edited for style or length.

Note that letters sent by e-mail will not be published

unless the contributor includes their full postal

address for possible contact. Letters intended for

FlyPost should be clearly marked as such.

More details on Luftwaffe York raid

Day of the Comet

It was great to read the article

The Day The World Changed in

the July issue, giving a history

of the de Havilland Comet.

I was stationed at Khormaksar

in Aden on the day in November

1956 when Comet C.2(R)

XK695 arrived on what I believe

were tropical trials with 216

Squadron. The Venom jets

of my squadron (No.73) were

miniscule alongside the Comet

but we were delighted to be

designated to stand guard over

it during the time it was with us.

The cockpit of this aircraft is

now on show at the De Havilland

Aircraft Museum in London

Colney in Hertfordshire.

DAVID GENT

KENILWORTH, WARWICKSHIRE

Further to the Three-Star

Blitz article on the Luftwaffe’s

Baedeker raids (July issue),

some years ago while researching

the strike on York I read an official

report compiled by the chairman

of the Civil Defence Emergency

Committee and the ARP

controller, stating that the death

toll was significantly higher.

Both Clifton aerodrome, which

was sited outside the city in

Flaxton, and the army barracks

were targeted with tragic results.

The guardroom at the former

received a direct hit, killing all

seven present, while two bombs

on the cavalry barracks resulted

in the deaths of an officer and five

soldiers. The total death toll was

over 100 and the attack caused

the destruction of 257 houses,

rendering 1,550 people homeless.

A number of deaths occurred

at York railway station which was

almost totally wrecked, although

traffic on the East Coast mainline

was only temporarily disrupted

as the station was easily

bypassed. Among the dead

was William Milner, the night

foreman, who was attempting

to retrieve a medical kit from

a blazing building when it

collapsed on him. This act of

bravery was one of many that

night, and it was recognised

by the posthumous award of

the King’s Commendation for

Brave Conduct. My late father,

then a 15-year-old member of

the Home Guard, witnessed the

raid and was part of the patrol

that captured the navigator of

the Junkers Ju 88 shot down at

Crockey Hill.

MICK BRITTON

ROTHERHAM, SOUTH YORKSHIRE

The memorial plaque to William Milner on platform 8a at York railway station. MICK BRITTON

Map book mystery
I read with great interest the
article on the Vickers Wellesley in
the July issue. The name Sqn Ldr R
Kellett rang a bell with me.
I have a copy of a map book
bearing his name and I wondered
if it has any connection with the
record-breaking trip to Darwin
described in the article? The
first page is stamped ‘Officer
Commanding Long Range
Development Unit’.
I have often considered how
it came to be in my family’s
possession, but I do remember it
being there since my childhood

(I am now in my 70s). My father

had a motor trade business in

Newmarket, before, during and

after World War Two, and as Sqn

Ldr Kellett was OC 149 Squadron at

nearby Mildenhall, there may be a

connection, as I believe my parents

used to provide accommodation

to RAF personnel during the war.

Also, my father’s expertise with

welding lightweight metals meant

that he was frequently in demand

on the nearby bases. Of course,

I know this is all conjecture, but

it does at least make for a

possible explanation.

ROBERT MILWARD

BURWELL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE

An extract from Sqn Ldr Kellett’s map book.

COURTESY ROBERT MILWARD

Dambusters

remembered

I enjoyed reading Steve Beebee’s

article about the Dambusters in the

July issue. My uncle, Ray Grayston,

was Les Knight’s flight engineer

when they made a successful

attack on the Eder Dam.

Several weeks later, on the

Dortmund-Ems Canal raid, they

hit some trees and the crew baled

out. Les tried to crash-land the

Lancaster but it exploded when it

hit the ground and sadly Les was

killed. My uncle spent the rest of

the war as a PoW.

Ray appeared in the 2003

Channel 4 documentary The

Dam Busters. He died in 2010,

and there is a short clip of his

funeral towards the end of the BBC

Two documentary Dambusters

Declassified with Martin Shaw,

originally screened in October of

that year, and repeated recently.

DERYCK HAMPSHIRE

BLANDFORD FORUM, DORSET