Blog No. 304 – Cliff’s War Service at Mildenhall, 30 May 1941 to February 1944, Part 2 – 13 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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In the period Cliff was officially posted to Mildenhall (30th of May 1941 to 13th of February 1944), 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 of Squadrons 15 and 622 were airworthy and able to keep flying.

This picture shows the aircrew of No.15 Squadron in December 1941, standing in front of a Short Stirling I bomber.  The beneath the photo identifies the seated men and marks those who were missing by September 1942.

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Seated in Front Row: F/O [Flight Officer] 'Blondie' Swales, F/O Vernieux, F/O Brian Ordish, F/L [Flight Lieutenant] Keith Deyell, P/I [1st Pilot] Buek Ryan*, F/O Jack Conran*, F/O Pete Boggis, S/Ldre [Sub Leader] 'Shrub' Sellick, W/Cdr [Wing Commander] Ogilvie, S/Ldr [Squadron Leader]  Joels Wilson*, F/Lt 'Adj' [Adjutant] Wright, P/O [Pilot Officer] Dougie Burgess, F/Lt Ronnie Barr*, P/O Roy Leard, P/O 'Dougal' Wright, P/O Don Fink

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Second Row: P/O Fred Kennedy*, F/O Bob Hughes, F/Lt Ian Ryall, F/O Cliff Reeve*, P/O Neville Bennitt*, P/O Alon Young*, P/O Dick Straehan, P/O Ted DeVille, Lt.Noel*, 2nd Lt. Murray*

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Of the twenty six named men, ten were missing by September 1942, a casualty rate of 38% in only nine months.  The casualty rate became 44.4% by the end of 1943.

All of the names marked with * were missing by September 1942.  This means they were either dead or had been made prisoners of war after surviving the destruction of their planes.

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This picture shows the aircrew of No.15 Squadron in June 1942, standing in front of a Short Stirling I bomber.  

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This information about Cliff’s duties comes from my brother Bill Hankin.  Bill has summarised information given to him by Cliff about Cliff’s service in Bomber Command as a groundcrew member.

When a plane returned from a bombing mission, often the first task was to help the wounded into ambulances and then remove the dead. On occasions the dead had been shot up so badly that there were body parts scattered around the interior of the planes. Tail gunners were especially vulnerable. Dad mentioned that on some occasions body parts were hosed out of the planes with fire hoses. After this was finished the repair jobs could be started. Patching holes in the fuselage; repairing cables and wires; repairing fuel lines & engines. Often this took days. Sometimes planes did not make it to their home base. Dad talked about going with an RAF Ground crew team in a truck to a farm field where a damaged plane had landed. And repairing it there in the field. He said that after the repairs were finished it took off again and he flew in it as a "passenger" back to base. Maybe he flew back in the Lancaster to check that all the repairs were properly done.

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This information about RAF 15 Squadron comes from an article by J Rickard published on 24 March 2007; it can be accessed at No. 15 Squadron (RAF): Second World War, https://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/RAF/15_wwII.html 

No. 15 Squadron began the war as part of the Advanced Air Striking Force, making it one of the first squadrons to be sent to France. By the time the fighting began in May 1940, the squadron had returned to Britain and re-equipped with the Bristol Blenheim, with which it made a series of desperate attacks on the German columns, from Wyton. After the collapse of France, the squadron's Blenheims were used to make attacks on the German invasion barges, gathered in the channel ports. In April 1941 the squadron became the second to receive the Short Stirling. Between June and August those bombers were used in the RAF's efforts to "lean over the channel", as bait for German fighters. However, too many Stirlings were lost to anti-aircraft fire, and the squadron turned to night bombing, and then to mine laying. In December 1943 the squadron converted to the Avro Lancaster, and spent the rest of the war as part of the main bomber force. Location 1 June 1934-2 September 1934: Abingdon 2-12 September 1939: Betheniville (France) 12 September-20 December 1939: Conde-Vraux 10 December 1939-14 April 1940: Wyton (U.K.) 14 April-15 May 1940: Alconbury 15 May 1940-13 August 1942: Wyton 13 August 1942-14 April 1943: Bourn 14 April 1943-20 August 1946: Mildenhall Aircraft June 1938-December 1939: Fairey Battle December 1939-November 1940: Bristol Blenheim IV November 1940-May 1941: Vickers Wellington IC April 1941-January 1943: Short Stirling I January 1943-December 1943: Short Stirling III December 1943-March 1947: Avro Lancaster I and Lancaster III Group and Duty 26 September 1939: Bomber squadron with No.1 Group, 71 Wing, Advanced Air Striking Force December 1939: Re-equips with Blenheim August 1940: Begins attacks on invasion barges November 194o: Squadron converts to Wellington April 1941: Second squadron to convert to Stirling

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The aircrew and groundcrew in Bomber Command kept alive the hopes of a Britain that was (for all partial purposes) completely defeated by Nazi Germany.  They kept the RAF flying offensive mission against the seemingly invincible enemy in the most terrible of conditions and in conditions where the aircrew expected to die because that was the fate of so many of their colleagues – they did this for the most miserable pay imaginable.

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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.

Those who fought Hitler while serving in the RAF were astonishingly brave – and so many of them never returned home.