We were woken up
early on the morning of the 25th of April 1945 ready to go on a raid,
none of us knew where we were going, it was after all, almost the end of the
war and we didn’t really expect to be doing many more bombing raids, if any at
all. We expected the war to be over within a matter of days. I was a bit put
out because at that time I had a 48 hour leave pass back home to Glasgow via
Manchester to see my family and I couldn’t take it due to the raid.
In the Briefing Room there were a lot of people I didn’t know, and lots of mixed crews that had been clearly been put together at the last minute just for this raid. To this day I don’t really know who our bomb aimer was. The only person on our crew that I was familiar with was my Pilot, and friend, Squadron Leader Sidney Osbourne, although I had flown with some of the others before.
We were briefed for the raid on the Obersalzberg at Berchtesgaden, the home of Hitler’s alpine retreat and his infamous Eagle’s Nest. Intelligence had discovered that a plane had left Berlin heading south and it was believed that Hitler himself might have been on board, heading for Berchtesgaden.
Our flight to Germany went along the German border until we reached Lake Konstanz, also known as the Bodensee, from there we flew further inland. As we approached the Berchtesgaden area, we headed south as if we were flying down towards Italy; this was to give the impression that the Obersalzberg was not our target. The plan was that we would have hopefully fooled the highly defended area into believing that Berchtesgaden was not the target and the alert would have been “stood down” and the security guards would have returned to their barracks. Consequently, we flew away from the target and then came back around again.
As we approached the target area, we flew over a highly defended ridge. Ours was the first plane into this area on this mission. I remember looking out of the window on the starboard side of the aircraft and just to the rear of us was F-Freddy (LM756), their port wing tip was only feet away from our starboard tail fin when I looked over and I could quite clearly see Fred Cole, the flight engineer. Fred and I knew each other, and I gave him a thumbs up, which he returned back to me. Our aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire, but at the time it sounded just the same as when ice had formed on the propeller tips and been flung onto the fuselage of the aircraft so we carried on flying, none the wiser. The next time I looked out of the window, just seconds after having given each other the thumbs up, there was no aircraft to be seen in the sky where they had been.
We dived down into the area, flying low, weaving around to miss being hit from the Germans below and the Allies’ bombing overhead, while at the same time circling around and around to “knock out” the enemy radar. Our bombs were hitting the targets pretty accurately but so was their anti-aircraft fire. We were doing a really good job of scaring the Germans; as we flew low over the SS barracks I saw one German come running out of a building and quickly run back inside for cover. Another ran out of another door, but quickly ran back in again. Our plan to keep the guards in their barracks had worked. At one point, a bomb hit the ground and the door of the building, it hit shot up into the air almost as high as we were flying. This was not a safe place to be.
Squadron Leader Sidney Osborne was an excellent pilot and an incredibly strong man, he flew our aircraft over the Obersalzberg area repeatedly flying out of the valley, turning back and flying into it again and again. The Lancaster was an easy aircraft to fly, but in this situation it took great physical effort and concentration. Sidney did an incredible job of turning and flying back through the valley, time after time. This was a suicide mission, and we knew that. With such accurate gunfire from the ground, we were very lucky to make it out of there in one piece. Our bomb aimer took several photographs during our operation in the area.
Eventually, the aircraft flying over the target area were pretty much all gone and we left the area too. We had been expecting a radio message to tell us when we could leave but after over half an hour, no message came and we departed for home. On our homeward journey, we decided it was best to avoid the large concentrations of American ground forces which were nearby, just in case they mistook us for Germans and tried to shoot us down.
As we flew back, Sidney looked over at me and gave me the nod, I knew exactly what this meant. He had flown the whole journey to Bavaria and then through a long raid and this had taken its toll on him physically; he was exhausted and needed to rest. We had a small bed on board and he was going to get a little rest during the return flight back home. I slipped into the pilot’s position and flew the aircraft towards home. During the flight, several messages came from the navigator to the pilot which I answered. I don’t know if the rest of the crew realised that I was flying the aircraft or not but Sidney needed to rest, so I did what was needed.
As we flew towards the English Channel, I thought I would fetch us in over England before waking Sidney, letting him get the maximum rest possible. We were headed towards Dover and as I got closer I heard the navigator shout “Dive Area”. A dive area was a location of strategic military significance and any aircraft flying into it regardless of friendly or enemy would have been shot out of the sky by coastal air defenses. I gained height as quickly as I could to ensure I was above the 2000ft required to get out of the target area. As I flew over the coast Sidney came back to take control of the aircraft. The remainder of our flight was uneventful and once we got back to Strubby, we were debriefed as normal.
As soon as I was rested and cleaned up, I decided that I was going to take advantage of my 48 hour leave pass and I headed straight to Manchester where I met up with my cousin who was in the Royal Navy. My cousin had to go back to his ship and with the remaining time I had available I went to Glasgow for a visit to my family before heading back down to Lincolnshire. As was the policy of the time I did not discuss the raid with any of my family. Meanwhile, I had bought a copy of the Daily Express, in which there was a report from an American airman who had taken part in the raid after we had left. Don’t believe all that you read in newspapers! I did not recognise much of what was written about the raid.
When I eventually got back to Strubby, we went back to making plans to change role; at that time we were learning all about Avro Lincoln bombers, they were long range bombers not unlike the Lancaster. We were going to be relocated to become part of the Commonwealth “Tiger Force”. The job of Tiger Force was to attack the Japanese mainland from Okinawa Island. During our preparations, I came across Fred Cole who had obviously been repatriated back to the UK and I asked him “Where have you been”? He seemed uncomfortable talking about his exploits and we didn’t discuss them again.
Flight Engineer Ian Kennedy Fraser
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
619 Squadron RAF
Interviewed on 11th of October 2014.
In the Briefing Room there were a lot of people I didn’t know, and lots of mixed crews that had been clearly been put together at the last minute just for this raid. To this day I don’t really know who our bomb aimer was. The only person on our crew that I was familiar with was my Pilot, and friend, Squadron Leader Sidney Osbourne, although I had flown with some of the others before.
We were briefed for the raid on the Obersalzberg at Berchtesgaden, the home of Hitler’s alpine retreat and his infamous Eagle’s Nest. Intelligence had discovered that a plane had left Berlin heading south and it was believed that Hitler himself might have been on board, heading for Berchtesgaden.
Our flight to Germany went along the German border until we reached Lake Konstanz, also known as the Bodensee, from there we flew further inland. As we approached the Berchtesgaden area, we headed south as if we were flying down towards Italy; this was to give the impression that the Obersalzberg was not our target. The plan was that we would have hopefully fooled the highly defended area into believing that Berchtesgaden was not the target and the alert would have been “stood down” and the security guards would have returned to their barracks. Consequently, we flew away from the target and then came back around again.
As we approached the target area, we flew over a highly defended ridge. Ours was the first plane into this area on this mission. I remember looking out of the window on the starboard side of the aircraft and just to the rear of us was F-Freddy (LM756), their port wing tip was only feet away from our starboard tail fin when I looked over and I could quite clearly see Fred Cole, the flight engineer. Fred and I knew each other, and I gave him a thumbs up, which he returned back to me. Our aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire, but at the time it sounded just the same as when ice had formed on the propeller tips and been flung onto the fuselage of the aircraft so we carried on flying, none the wiser. The next time I looked out of the window, just seconds after having given each other the thumbs up, there was no aircraft to be seen in the sky where they had been.
We dived down into the area, flying low, weaving around to miss being hit from the Germans below and the Allies’ bombing overhead, while at the same time circling around and around to “knock out” the enemy radar. Our bombs were hitting the targets pretty accurately but so was their anti-aircraft fire. We were doing a really good job of scaring the Germans; as we flew low over the SS barracks I saw one German come running out of a building and quickly run back inside for cover. Another ran out of another door, but quickly ran back in again. Our plan to keep the guards in their barracks had worked. At one point, a bomb hit the ground and the door of the building, it hit shot up into the air almost as high as we were flying. This was not a safe place to be.
Squadron Leader Sidney Osborne was an excellent pilot and an incredibly strong man, he flew our aircraft over the Obersalzberg area repeatedly flying out of the valley, turning back and flying into it again and again. The Lancaster was an easy aircraft to fly, but in this situation it took great physical effort and concentration. Sidney did an incredible job of turning and flying back through the valley, time after time. This was a suicide mission, and we knew that. With such accurate gunfire from the ground, we were very lucky to make it out of there in one piece. Our bomb aimer took several photographs during our operation in the area.
Eventually, the aircraft flying over the target area were pretty much all gone and we left the area too. We had been expecting a radio message to tell us when we could leave but after over half an hour, no message came and we departed for home. On our homeward journey, we decided it was best to avoid the large concentrations of American ground forces which were nearby, just in case they mistook us for Germans and tried to shoot us down.
As we flew back, Sidney looked over at me and gave me the nod, I knew exactly what this meant. He had flown the whole journey to Bavaria and then through a long raid and this had taken its toll on him physically; he was exhausted and needed to rest. We had a small bed on board and he was going to get a little rest during the return flight back home. I slipped into the pilot’s position and flew the aircraft towards home. During the flight, several messages came from the navigator to the pilot which I answered. I don’t know if the rest of the crew realised that I was flying the aircraft or not but Sidney needed to rest, so I did what was needed.
As we flew towards the English Channel, I thought I would fetch us in over England before waking Sidney, letting him get the maximum rest possible. We were headed towards Dover and as I got closer I heard the navigator shout “Dive Area”. A dive area was a location of strategic military significance and any aircraft flying into it regardless of friendly or enemy would have been shot out of the sky by coastal air defenses. I gained height as quickly as I could to ensure I was above the 2000ft required to get out of the target area. As I flew over the coast Sidney came back to take control of the aircraft. The remainder of our flight was uneventful and once we got back to Strubby, we were debriefed as normal.
As soon as I was rested and cleaned up, I decided that I was going to take advantage of my 48 hour leave pass and I headed straight to Manchester where I met up with my cousin who was in the Royal Navy. My cousin had to go back to his ship and with the remaining time I had available I went to Glasgow for a visit to my family before heading back down to Lincolnshire. As was the policy of the time I did not discuss the raid with any of my family. Meanwhile, I had bought a copy of the Daily Express, in which there was a report from an American airman who had taken part in the raid after we had left. Don’t believe all that you read in newspapers! I did not recognise much of what was written about the raid.
When I eventually got back to Strubby, we went back to making plans to change role; at that time we were learning all about Avro Lincoln bombers, they were long range bombers not unlike the Lancaster. We were going to be relocated to become part of the Commonwealth “Tiger Force”. The job of Tiger Force was to attack the Japanese mainland from Okinawa Island. During our preparations, I came across Fred Cole who had obviously been repatriated back to the UK and I asked him “Where have you been”? He seemed uncomfortable talking about his exploits and we didn’t discuss them again.
Flight Engineer Ian Kennedy Fraser
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
619 Squadron RAF
Interviewed on 11th of October 2014.