Walter A. Barnard

Name : Walter A. Barnard

Rank : T.B.C.

Ser. No. : T.B.C.

Dates at Cranage : Oct 1942 - Mar 1943 & May 1943 - Jun 1943

Navigation course

Taken from a letter to Hugh Budgen.

Regarding your entry in the current issue of Air Mail Magazine. I was stationed there on two occasions during the war. Firstly, I was sent there to wait for the commencement of my course to be a Compass Adjuster, the dates being from 2nd October 1942 until 31st March 1943. During this time I was on ‘General Duties’ which entailed being a dustman for about three weeks and, for a week every month, being a coal man. This latter occupation was somewhat arduous for a skinny eighteen-year-old as I was but gave me a healthy respect for the civilian coal-heaver there who worked tirelessly every day, permanently.

I was then posted to Bridgenorth to begin my course, returning to Cranage on the 1st May 1943 until the 4th June that year. We were flying Avro Ansons as part of the training. From there I went to Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

Subsequent postings found men in India after D-Day, and then back to England in 1946.

I hope this information may be of some interest to you and if I can be of any further help please contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Walter A. Barnard