Pilot Officer Norman Edward West
(170722)
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Pilot
Son of Albert John and Rosa Charlotte West, of Plymouth. Husband of Betty Audrey West, of Plymouth.
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Norman is the father of Antony West who was my first contact in this journey to contact the relatives of the crew of JB141.
Tony left a note on a web site stating "My father was Norman West the pilot of the Avro Lancaster JB141, the subject of the photo. He was a police officer from Plymouth. I never new him as my mother was pregnant with me when he was shot down on this mission."
Having tracked down Tony on Facebook and written to his address he confirmed he was Norman's son and shared the stunning photograph of Norman.
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The site http://www.aviationarchaeology.org.uk/marg/men_of_36sfts.htm states "P/O Norman Edward West 170722 (ex 1339574) 28/09/1943 commissioned P/O; "
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The following is a biographic transcript from Richard James, RAF researcher and is an interpretation of Norman's service records which were kindly supplied by his son, Tony
Norman West was born in Plymouth on 15 May 1919. He attended Sutton High School Plymouth from 1930 – 1935, then Warren College, Plymouth from 1935 - 1936, after which he became a Policeman in Plymouth City Police. This became a reserved occupation from 1938 until the spring of 1941, when the nation was running short of RAF Aircrew.
On 31 July 1941, Norman West volunteered to join the RAF Volunteer Reserve at Weston Super Mare. He passed the tough aircrew medical as an A1 candidate. The Aircrew Selection Board recommended him for aircrew training as a Pilot and unusually also recommended him for Commissioning, probably due to his Police Service. He mustered as an Aircraft Hand/under training Pilot in the rank of Aircraftman Grade 2. He was reported to be 5 foot 11.5 inches tall with a 34.5 inch chest. He had brown hair and hazel eyes, with a fair complexion, he had a vaccination mark on his arm and a number of body scars.
On 15 September 1941 he was sent to No 1 Air Crew Reception Centre (ACRC) at Lord’s cricket ground, London. The purpose of the ACRC was to fill the need for training the thousands of air crew required during the war that the existing flight training system could not cope with. At Lord's, they were assembled into flights, each under the command of a corporal, kitted out and given accommodation in flats to the north of Regents Park. A few weeks later, Norman was posted to No 7 Initial Training Wing at Ballevista Hotel, Newquay for basic military training, and by 31 December 1941, he had been promoted to Leading Aircraftsman (LAC). On 21 February 1942, Norman joined the 51 Group aircrew pool of holding personnel. Although not in his records, Norman would have been sent to the Aircrew Despatch Centre, Heaton Park, Manchester, where crews were assembled before being sent overseas for flying training. Norman boarded a ship for Canada and arrived at No 31 Aircrew Personnel Despatch Centre, Moncton, Canada, a few weeks later. From there on 17 April 1942, he was allocated to No 36 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS), at Pearce, Alberta, Canada, where he started Pilot training.
The 20 November 1942 was a big day for LAC Norman West. He had passed EFTS and was awarded his pilots wings; he was promoted to (War Temporary) Sergeant; and he was posted back to UK, where he arrived on 18 December 1942. After a week’s leave he was sent to No 7 Personnel Reception Centre (PRC) Harrogate, Yorkshire, which processed aircrew returning from overseas training during the Second World War. On 11 March 1943, Norman was sent to No 3 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit, RAF South Cerney, for advanced Pilot training. Whilst at AFU, Norman was detached to No 1531 Flight, a Beam Approach Training Flight, which taught pilots how to land in very bad weather, using the latest technology.
Norman was posted to No 18 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF Finningley, Yorkshire, where he would train to fly Wellingtons. At OTUs, bomber “crews” were formed by putting hundreds of pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, wireless operators and air gunners into a hangar and they were told to form themselves into crews. They were told to report to the Officer at the exit, once they had a full 5 man crew, ready to fly the Wellington. Pilots knew that the next most important crew member on the crew was the Navigator, so all pilots tried to find the best possible navigator.
Norman’s crew were sent to No 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) at RAF Hemswell on 20 July 1943. At HCUs, the 5 man crew would be joined by a Flight Engineer, as they started to train on 4 engined aircraft, usually old Stirlings. They would also be joined by another air gunner. On 26 September 1943, Norman West’s crew were posted to No 103 Squadron, RAF Elsham Wold on 29 September 1943. Two days later Norman West’s official records show that he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer, although this was not in the London Gazette until 29 February 1944. A few days later, Norman flew a “second dickie” mission with an experienced crew, captained by Flt Lt Hopps, which showed Norman West the squadron’s standard operating procedures and how a crew worked on an operational sortie. During their time on 103 Squadron, they had a mixed bag of sorties, when various crew members flew with different captains. This could have been a result of the one of the crew being sick. The crew’s first recorded mission together was on 20 October 1943. Two days later they returned early from a mission to bomb Kassel. Interestingly, the 103 Squadron ORBs still recorded Norman West as a Sergeant or Flight Sergeant.
A few months later, No 626 Squadron formed at nearby RAF Wickenby, so Norman’s crew were posted there on 10 November 1943, probably to give them a fresh start.
Norman West’s crew flew another 8 missions on 626 Squadron, although they continued to have bad luck with technical issues, crew sickness and bad weather. On their 14th operational mission on 15 January 1944, they were shot down and all failed to return. Below is a list of their Op missions.
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Airmen formally lined-up on the grass outside a large building. Given the ‘white-flash’ in the front of their forage-caps these are clearly Aircrew Cadets, photographed at during their flying-training. Specifically, because of the information contained on the photo it can be seen that the eager young lads shown here were hoping to become Pilots under the auspices of the BCATP (British Commonwealth Air Training Plan). Not all were seemingly able to achieve that ambition, and sadly many of the young men featured here were to later lose their lives during WW2; either Killed in Action (KIA) or during training.
The photo is titled “59 War Course”, which together with the names means that the location can be easily identified, via the internet as No. 36 S.F.T.S. (Service Flying Training School) - Penhold, Alberta, Canada
A website gives archive details of 36 SFTS activities and personnel, including “59 Course” which confirms extra details about most of the men pictured here. From that it is clear that “59 War Course” ran from the 6th July 1942 until the 20th November 1942, on which final date the successful trainees received their coveted pilots’ “Wings” - officially the ‘Flying Badge’ awarded to qualified pilots with the RAF and allied commonwealth air-forces.
Note that the photo has some names that have been underlined in ink, whilst others are surrounded by an inked-in ‘box’. These inked additions were seemingly added as a contemporaneous record, by the original owner – highly likely one of the lads actually shown on this photo. After research, it would appear that the underlined names are airmen who were Commissioned as Pilot Officers at the conclusion of the course, 20th November 1942. Those in ‘boxes’ appear to be some of the airmen reported to have left the course early, for one reason or another. (Some of the ‘leavers’, though, seemingly did get to qualify later (having transferred to other pilot courses) or retrained for other aircrew roles.)
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All but one of the lads shown here were reportedly ranked Leading Aircraftman (LAC) at the time the photo was taken (one, ‘Banfield’, was a Corporal).
