Blog No. 303 – A WW2 Story: Cliff’s War Service at Mildenhall, 1st of January to the 30th of June 1941, Part 3 – 11 July 2025

My purpose is to give hope to those who have lost hope. Without hope, we remain lost in the Shadow Lands.

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According to the Service Record, Cliff was stationed at Mildenhall from the 30th of May 1941 until the 13th of February 1944.

In the period Cliff was officially posted to Mildenhall, Mildenhall was home base to RAF Squadrons 15 and 622.  As a tradesman at Mildenhall, Cliff’s main job was to make sure that the planes were kept airworthy and flying.

While the work of aircrew is often seen in retrospect as having been “glamorous” and dangerous, the work of groundcrew is virtually unknown.

The work that Cliff did as groundcrew in the RAF was very exhausting and very dangerous.  When planes returned to base after completing a mission, they had to be completely checked and repaired as soon as possible – often in the part of the airfield where they had finally stopped.

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Work by Cliff and his colleagues often had to be carried out on exposed areas of the airfield.  The country was on its knees and resources were so very scarce.  Limited resources were stretched to the outer limits of usability.

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This article from https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/news/aerodrome/keep-em-flying-ground-support-operations-during-wwii/ makes for harrowing reading, but I doubt it comes close to describing what Cliff and his colleagues really had to endure.

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RAF groundcrew like Cliff had the job of repairing badly damaged aircraft like this Halifax and making it airworthy again as soon as possible.  Although this plane managed to return to base, it was not in a fit state to fly again until extensive repairs had been carried out.

A personal comment - how did planes like this ever make it back to base?  How did the aircrew survive after their planes suffered such catastrophic damage?

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Technically, Cliff’s recognised trades were sheet metal working and copper smithing, but Cliff’s actual skills were so much greater than this.  In the 1960s our family had an old second hand FJ Holden, but the motor on the FJ was irreparable.  That did not deter Cliff for one moment.  There was no money to buy another car, so Cliff bought another FJ with a completely destroyed body, but a usable engine.  Singlehanded, he rigged up a pulley and extracted the engine from the “good” car and substituted the engine from the “bad” car.  Compared to Cliff, I was hopeless with my hands, though I did help with some of the easier tasks involved in the process.

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This is the Wiki war summary for June 1941.

1 June 1941 - Commonwealth forces complete the withdrawal from Crete.  Rationing of clothes begins in the United Kingdom. 6 June 1941 - More British fighter planes are delivered to Malta; Luftwaffe attacks go on. 8 June 1941 - Vichy French-controlled Syria and Lebanon are invaded by Australian, British, Free French, and Indian forces. 9 June 1941 - Finland initiates mobilisation, preparations against possible attack of Soviet aggressor.  The British and Australians cross the Litani River, beating back Vichy French forces. During this battle, Moshe Dayan, leading an Australian unit, loses his eye. He becomes famous when his story is published a day later. 10 June 1941 - Assab, the last Italian-held port in East Africa, falls. 13 June 1941 - The Australians continue to fight through the Vichy French defences and advance towards Beirut, winning the Battle of Jezzine.  Soviets begin deporting Lithuanians to Siberia. Deportations continue for five days and total 35,000 Lithuanians, among them 7000 Jews. 14 June 1941 - 10,100 people from Estonia, 15,000 from Latvia and 34,000 (or 35,000, starting a day earlier from Lithuania are deported to Siberia by the Soviet Union. 15 June 1941 - British Operation Battleaxe attempts and fails to relieve the Siege of Tobruk. The British are heavily defeated at Halfaya Pass nicknamed "Hell-fire pass" 22 June 1941 - Germany invades the Soviet Union with Operation Barbarossa, a three-pronged operation aimed at Leningrad, Moscow, and the southern oil fields of the Caucasus, ending the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Romania invades south-western border areas of the Soviet Union in Europe on the side of Germany.  British general in Libya/Egypt Wavell is replaced by General Auchinleck.  June Uprising against the Soviet Union occurs in Lithuania. 23 June 1941 - In the late evening, Hitler first arrives at his headquarters at Rastenburg, East Prussia, codenamed "Wolf's Lair" (Wolfsschanze). Between this date and November 20, 1944, Hitler will have spent 800 days at Wolf's Lair.  German troops massacre 42 at Ablinga. 24 June 941 - German forces enter Vilnius. Lithuanian militia men go on shooting spree, killing dozens of Jews on the streets, with civilian spectators cheering them on. The Germans kidnap 60 Jewish "Hostages" and 30 Poles. Only 6 return.. 26 June 1941 - Hungary and Slovakia declare war on the Soviet Union.  The Soviet Union bombs Helsinki. Finland pronounces a state of war between Finland and Soviet Union. 27 June 1941 - The occupation of Lithuania by Germany starts officially. 28 June 1941 - Italian-occupied Albania declares war on the Soviet Union.  Huge German encirclement of 300,000 Red Army troops near Minsk and Białystok. 29 June 1941 - Finnish and German troops begin Operation Arctic Fox against the Soviet Union.

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Cliff and his RAF colleagues kept the RAF flying in the most terrible of conditions and while they were paid far less than they would have been paid anywhere except in the RAF.

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By helping others to heal We help ourselves heal Remember those who preceded us. Give abundant Love Always

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Money cannot buy the important things needed to live.  It cannot buy courage or love.

Banish hatred from your heart. 

Bravery multiplies with use.  

We can always find courage; it is free but its value cannot be calculated.  Not one of Britain’s servicemen opposed Hitler because of a desire for money.