by Lyn McGettigan
In 2023 I completed Lucky To Be Here the story of my father, Jack Bewes’ wartime experiences as a Bomb Aimer from Lancaster planes. From Waddington Airfield in Lincolnshire, Jack flew 36 missions over Europe from January 1944 to June 1944. I decided to go to England and follow in his footsteps.
On 4 July 2023, I landed in England bound for the North, to Lincolnshire and Waddington Airfield from where Jack had flown his missions. It was an emotional time and as I visited the Airfield and the haunts he frequented in and around Lincoln, I felt Jack walk with me. He certainly didn’t miss out having a whiskey with me in the pubs that were still open in Lincoln and particularly in “The Green Man” in Coleshill.
Jack wrote about hanging the Miraculous Medal of Mary in the cockpit of the Lancaster, so one of the first places I visited was St Hugh’s Catholic Church in Lincoln. St Hugh’s was located close to the centre of Lincoln and was a church that appeared to have an association with the Airforce as one of its stained-glass windows featured a biplane while the ceiling above the altar was a mass of stars. I returned to celebrate morning Mass as Jack would have done on every Sunday, no doubt leaving the bicycle the crew had bought for him to do exactly this, propped up outside. This was a tearful experience. I wandered up to “The Magna Carta Hotel” in Castle Square. Jack definitely went to “The Wig and Mitre” just around the corner so I thought a drink or two in both was called for on this occasion.
The major point of the trip was to visit Waddington Airfield, which is still very much in use. Today it is a base for UK Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR). As it is a security base I had to send my details to Waddington six months before the planned visit for a security check. On the day I was met by Chris Dean, curator of the Museum, outside the base and driven in. At no time did I walk around Waddington.
A photo of Jack’s plane and its crew members was still on display. Each star on the plane represents a mission over to Europe.
I was in the museum for three hours and Chris personalised the whole experience for me saying “Jack would have used this, Jack would have sat there, is he in this picture?” I was shown a picture of Jack’s plane XOJ – J for Joe, and a briefing session he attended. Some buildings he would have been in were still standing so I was driven past his living area, the mess hall, the Administration block and the hangar where his plane was housed. This time a few tears were shed so back in Lincoln I had some whiskeys in the “Wig and Mitre” on Steep Street. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the “White Horse” and “The Saracen’s Head” pubs were no longer operating.
Before leaving Lincoln I “played the tourist” as Jack would have done – Lincoln Cathedral with its many memorials to the airmen who flew from there and never returned, the streets, the famous Steep Street, the castle, all places mentioned in his diaries.
The pub he spent the most time in was “The Green Man” at Coleshill. The family that had “adopted” Jack and gave him a home away from home was the Field family and they drank there. It was quite a large pub and would have been brim-full of servicemen and their friends. It seems much quieter now. I stayed in Coleshill for a few days, drank at the pub where I was made very welcome by the regulars, including a four legged one. I used Coleshill as a base and visited Bacons End where the Field family lived, but a lot of Chester Road and the corner store that the family owned was demolished.
Jack also flew from Litchfield, an Operations Training unit in Staffordshire. The Airforce base is now disused but there are pillboxes, the control tower and air raid shelters, and graves of many airmen. I was the tourist as Jack would have been and wandered around the Cathedral and Frog Lane. I was in Litchfield on 19 July, the anniversary of his death and thought that this was very fitting. This was definitely the signal for a few more whiskeys!
I continued sightseeing – to the Cotswolds, London and, particularly Madame Tussauds and other sights mentioned in his diaries. I made a special visit to St Clement Danes Church – the RAF Church – and the Airmen’s Memorial in Green Park before returning home. (The Church was re-consecrated in 1958 as a perpetual shrine of remembrance to those who have died in service in the RAF, while the Green Park Memorial commemorates 55,573 aircrew of the RAF Bomber Command who died during World War Two.)
Postscript: I travelled with my friend Anna, whose father, also a Bomb Aimer, flew from North Killingholme. We also visited all areas that she wrote about in her book, Charlie – A Journey from the Aussie Bush to Battlefields Far Away.