Ron Dawson was born in Chadwell Heath, Essex on 23 June 1924. Ron was a member of the Air Defence Cadet Corp (6F Squadron) and then later became the Adjutant of the 6F ATC. In 1942/3, Ron attended the Air Crew Receiving Centre in London (Stockley Hall) and went on to obtain his ITW (Initial Training Wing) in Bridlington. He attended Elementary Air Gunner School at RAF Bridgnorth, Shropshire, followed by joining Air Gunnery School (12 AGS) at Penross, N.Wales. Ron joined 18 Operational Training Unit (O.T.U.) based at RAF Finningly, Doncaster and had his first taste of flying in Wellingtons while based here.

He was then stationed at RAF Bawtry, where he was stationed with members of the Polish O.T.U and continued flying in Wellingtons up to the fatal day when all of his then Crew were killed in a crash. By fortune, Ron was ill in military hospital when his first Crew perished so avoided a similar fate. Ron was then re-Crewed and was posted to Conversion Unit 1662 at Blighton. His new Crew consisted of:

• Jimmy Green (Pilot) RAF
• Jack Sweet (Wireless Op) RAF
• Pete Thomas (Navigator) RAF
• Ron Dawson (Mid-Upper Gunner) RAFVR
• Johnny Freebairn (Bomb Aimer) RCAF
• Taffy Jones (Flight Engineer) RAFVR
• Vince Yates (Rear Gunner) RAFVR

In March 1944, Ron attended Lancaster Finishing School at RAF Hemsell, near Gainsbrough before being posted to RAF Elsham Wolds as part of 103 Squadron a month later.

Ron's first flight in the Lancaster (XPA985) while stationed at Elsham was a cross-country flight on 29 April 1944, followed by his first Operational flight (an abortive mission to Orleans, France) on 19 May 1944. This was followed by a further sortie two days later to Duisburg and Ron recalls “We arrived at the target a little early and had to circle. While circling, we sighted enemy aircraft for the first time, but thankfully they didn't spot us. We were able to complete our mission and got out of there as quick as possible”.

Throughout their term, the crew had many memorable experiences, but one that remains vivid in Ron's memory is the night of 28 July 1944. On that night, the Crew of XPA985 were on a sortie to Stuttgart when they came under heavy fire. In the ensuing battle, they managed to loose 2 engines and came under attack from 2 enemy aircraft. It was during this battle that Ron and his Co-Gunner, Vince Yates managed to destroy the enemy aircraft and as a result, they were both awarded the DFM (immediate).

Having been badly shot-up, the skipper had no choice but to jettison the bombs and instruct the navigator to head them straight home using the quickest path. Ron recalls that on this perilous journey back to base, while still over Germany, they were surprised to see a German airfield mistakenly turn on the runway lights as they approached. The skipper expressed his frustration that they had previously jettisoned, as it would have been a nice surprise for them.

As they limped back to England, they were told to stand-by to bail out and things were particularly bad over the Channel where the skipper had to radio in using the call 'Darky - Darky'. The Lancaster managed to make it across the Channel as far as RAF Little Horwood.

Upon reaching the runway at Little Horwood, the skipper realised that they were approaching too fast to land and asked the crew whether he should go round & approach again (which given the state of the plane was very risky), or whether he should just get the plane on the ground. To a man, the Crew agreed to get down as quick as possible & the skipper thumped the plane onto the runway without wheels down in order to grind to a halt as rapidly as possible. Ron still recalls the severity of the impact to this day and has a clear memory of the plane scraping across the runway and into a field. All of the Crew survived and amazingly there were no bad injuries, just badly shaken bodies and cuts & bruises. The whole Crew were very lucky to survive this night. The next day, Sgt. Marsh and his Crew flew the Crew of XPA985 back to base. A new Lancaster Bomber (XPD236) was assigned and the sorties continued.

Another mission that sticks out in Ron's mind was that of 12 August 1944. In a daytime trip that saw them bombing the U-boat pens at Bordeaux. Before take-off, the skipper, Jimmy Green, managed to misplace his sunglasses and as Ron already had his goggles, he agreed to lend his sunglasses to Jimmy. Approaching from the Bay of Biscay, they came under intense fire and were badly shot up. During this attack, the skipper was injured when flack shattered the cockpit and glass flew into his face. If it hadn't been for the sunglasses, things could have been a lot worse for Jimmy. Taffy Jones the engineer was also injured in this attack and Ron recalls “the plane dropped like a stone and began losing altitude quickly. One of the mosquito escorts came down with the plane and stayed with it until somehow they managed to get it back on an even keel”. Having managed to get the plane back to base, even though badly shot-up, the skipper was loathed to let Ron have his sunglasses back as he reckoned that he could get at least a few beers on the back of the tale of how they probably saved his sight.

Having completed a full tour, the Crew believes that XPD236 may have been taken over by Squadron Leader Van Rolleghem after they left in September 1944. At the end of 1944, Ron became an Instructor (turrets) at Air Gunnery School (12 AGS) based in Bishops Court, Northern Ireland after having passed his training at RAF Manby, Lincolnshire. One of his pupils during his time here was the now Lord Richard Attenborough. Ron lived in Dagenham, Essex for many years and sadly passed away on the 19th December 2006.

Back Row (L-R): Jimmy Green, Jack Sweet, Pete Thomas, Ron Dawson

Front Row (L-R): Johnny Freebairn, Taffy Jones, Vince Yates

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