Night Fighter Navigator

Night Fighter Navigator

Recollections of service in the Royal Air Force, compiled from flying log books and personal records

E G White OBE

Twelve chapters of an RAF navigator’s war, from enlistment in the London Blitz in 1941 to demobilisation in 1947, told from his own log books.

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Studio portrait of E G White as a Leading Aircraftman in RAF uniform and forage cap bearing the white cap flash of aircrew under training, September 1941.
LAC E G White, 1391176

This photograph was taken in September 1941 when I was at ITW in Aberystwyth. It was my father’s favourite picture of me and he kept it on his desk throughout the time I was in the RAF.

The white cap flash was worn by aircrew under training until they qualified and were promoted to be Sergeants or commissioned as Pilot Officers.

View the full-size photograph

Preface

I have compiled this record from entries in my two log books and from notes I made just after the war ended. I have tried to avoid using hindsight and, in general, the events I have written about are not set in their wider context.

I have described some of my flights using as references log book entries. These I have transcribed exactly as I wrote them. In the text they are in the form of:

  • Date: Time of take-off: Aircraft type and number
  • Pilot: Duty: Duration of flight
  • Description of flight including, if applicable, the route followed

I wrote originally only with my grandchildren and godsons in mind, hoping that they would find it interesting to read about my experiences when I was an RAF navigator over sixty years ago. Although a wider readership is now being reached, I have left the text unchanged for it does, I believe, convey something of the reality of those harsh years when so many of us flew the night skies of war.

E G White

Contents

  1. 1EnlistmentLondon, 1940 to 1941
  2. 2Air Crew Reception Centre (ACRC) and Initial Training Wing (ITW)Lord’s cricket ground and Aberystwyth, July to October 1941
  3. 3Air Observers Navigation School (AONS) and Radio SchoolStaverton and Prestwick, November 1941 to March 1942
  4. 4Operational Training UnitNo. 51 OTU, Cranfield, April to May 1942
  5. 51459 Flight and 538 SquadronHibaldstow, May 1942 to January 1943
  6. 6410 Squadron, RCAFColeby Grange, from April 1943
  7. 7RangersLow-level sorties over France, May to June 1943
  8. 8Bay of BiscayPredannack, Cornwall, June to July 1943
  9. 9CombatColeby Grange and West Malling, July to December 1943
  10. 10InstructingNo. 62 OTU, Ouston, December 1943 to October 1944
  11. 11141 SquadronWest Raynham, October 1944 to 1947
  12. 12EpilogueBiggin Hill, 1979 onwards