Stories

Bomber crews became quite attached to their regular “kites”, relying on them to get them home safely each night. 75(NZ) Squadron historian and NZBCA member Chris Newey tells the story of how a wartime photo posted online by the Air Force Museum of NZ, re-united Doug Williamson with “his” Lancaster – HK601 JN-D for “Dog”, aka “Snifter”, 75 years after jumping from her over Germany.

Image from the RW Russell personal album collection. “A Lancaster from Mepal. The Fighting 75th”.
Air to air view of No. 75 Squadron, ‘C’ Flight, Lancaster JN-D, flying from RAF Station Mepal.
(Credit: Air Force Museum of NZ, Ronald Wynn Russell collection)

Matthew O’Sullivan, the Keeper of Photographs at the AFMNZ, Wigram, had posted a newly scanned album of photos that had been kept by 75(NZ) Squadron pilot, Wynn Russell. One is a beautiful aerial daytime shot of a Lancaster on the way to a daylight target in Germany, with the River Rhine visible below through a break in the clouds.

It had previously been identified as “C” Flight Lancaster, JN-O, however this new scan is sharper and better-exposed than previous copies, allowing Matthew to determine that the code was in fact JN-D, not JN-O. Not only that, but it was possible to make out the shape of the “dog” cartoon on the nose, just below the cockpit.

Close-up of cockpit and “Snifter” nose art (circled) from image from the RW Russell personal album collection.
“A Lancaster from Mepal. The Fighting 75th”.
(Credit: Air Force Museum of NZ, Ronald Wynn Russell collection)

75(NZ) Squadron veteran and NZBCA member Doug Williamson flew as Flight Engineer in the Johnny Wood crew, with my uncle Gerry Newey as Wireless Operator. Their regular “kite” Lancaster HK601 was the only JN-D on the squadron between August 1944 and April 1945. So, this is their Lancaster! Her radio call sign was “D for Dog”, and the boys called her either Dog or JN-Dog.

Doug was very excited to see the newly identified photo, as was I, the only decent one we have ever seen of Dog. Until now, all we had was a photo of another crew, happily tour-expired, taken in front of Dog, where all you can see is a tiny bit of her bomb door and undercarriage behind them.

Unfortunately, we do not have a date for the “new” photo, so can’t confirm which crew was flying her that day. But the Wood crew flew Dog on 19 of their 32 operations, so there is a reasonable chance that it is them. If so, the two heads we can see in the cockpit would be skipper Johnny Wood (left) and Doug next to him.

Doug’s final farewell to JN-Dog was as he bailed out of her, after she was hit by flak and caught fire on the run in to bomb the Leuna synthetic oil plant, near Leipzig, on the night of the 4th/5th of April 1945. Caught in the flames and short on oxygen, he had momentarily passed out, then jumped, thinking his mates had already gone. To his surprise, he looked back up from under his ‘chute to see that Dog wasn’t going down in flames – she was still flying, and his crewmates eventually managed to put out the fire and rescue Jim Hooper, the Bomb Aimer, who had been trapped in the nose and make it home to England.

After evading for three days, being captured by farmers, and then spending five days in a German police cell, Doug was liberated by American GIs and was back in London before the end of the month.

It was Dog’s last op however, repairs to the fire damage and VE Day conspiring to end her impressive tally of 84 operations completed. Sadly, like most other surviving Lancasters, she was scrapped in October 1946.

JN-D Nose Art

There is a nice story behind Dog’s nose art.

“Snifter” was a wartime cartoon dog, the creation of Australian cartoonist Hottie Lahm, and a regular feature in the Australian ‘girlie’ magazine “MAN”. The Wilson crew that regularly flew Dog prior to the Wood boys included three Australians, and they had apparently given a copy of a Snifter cartoon to one of the Lanc’s ground crew, LAC Dennis Jones, to paint on “their” aircraft, sometime around September-October 1944. It was a page torn from the February 1944 issue. JN-Dog became known as “Snifter” to the ground crews. Dennis kept the original magazine page, which his daughter still has in her possession.

Snifter cartoon, “MAN” magazine, February 1944 issue.
(Credit: Dennis Jones collection, thanks to Glynnis Bakker)

Doug even remembered Dennis painting another copy of the cartoon on his flight overalls for him, and when we created a JN-Dog Boys website a couple of years ago to preserve the crew’s story, Snifter became part of the “logo”. And thanks to somebody “borrowing” the artwork for their online product range (without asking), we even have tee-shirts!

Doug Williamson (94) proudly showing off his JN-Dog Snifter tee shirt.
(Credit: Janet Williamson)

The bomber crews became quite attached to their regular “kites”, relying on them to get them home safely each night. How wonderful for Doug to be able to see JN-Dog again after all these years!

Chris Newey

For more about the Wood crew and 75(NZ) Squadron:

• The JN-Dog Boys story: jn-dogboys.com
• 75(NZ) Squadron: 75nzsquadron.com
• 75 (NZ) Squadron (RAF Bomber Command Profiles) (Volume 8):

www.amazon.com/Squadron-RAF-Bomber-Command-Profiles/dp/1911255347