On the night of September 3, 1943, a Lancaster bomber dubbed F for Freddie took off from Langar airfield in Nottinghamshire, bound for Berlin. Inside was its seven-man crew, drawn from England, Scotland, and as far away as Australia, which was not out of the ordinary.
What was out of the ordinary was that there were also two passengers aboard: Welsh BBC reporter Wynford Vaughan-Thomas and his sound engineer, Reg Pidsley. Vaughan-Thomas’ eye witness account of the mission, recorded in the belly of the plane by Pidsley and broadcast on UK radio the following evening after their successful return (which was never guaranteed), is one of the most remarkable pieces of wartime journalism I’ve encountered.
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What was out of the ordinary was that there were also two passengers aboard: Welsh BBC reporter Wynford Vaughan-Thomas and his sound engineer, Reg Pidsley. Vaughan-Thomas’ eye witness account of the mission, recorded in the belly of the plane by Pidsley and broadcast on UK radio the following evening after their successful return (which was never guaranteed), is one of the most remarkable pieces of wartime journalism I’ve encountered.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...