Page 5 - Dennis R. Girling

576 Squadron, Fiskerton

Dennis (Den to his friends) was not at Fiskerton for very long, only a month in fact.
he arrived, aged 19, with his crew in early November 1944, from No.1 Lancaster
Flying School at Hemswell, and logged only 10 flights with 576 Squadron before his
and several other crew’s were transferred back to Hemswell to form ʻAʼ Flight of the
newly re-formed 150 Squadron.

He arrived as flight engineer with the crew he had formed up with in training:

Flying Officer R.J. Callington - Pilot
Flying Officer D. Steiner - Air Bombardier
Sergeant W.P. Hall - Navigator
Sergeant K. Dewick - Wireless Operator
Sergeant C.T. Swinchatt - Mid Upper Gunner
Sergeant J.T. Thompson - Rear Gunner

The crew had formed up at Sandtoft, where they trained initially on Halifax Vs during
September and early October 1944, before converting to Lancasters at No.1 LFS
Hemswell immediately before arriving at 576 Squadron Fiskerton in early November.
Crew photos are on the next page, believed to have been taken at RAF Sandtoft,
between the Officers and Sergeants accommodation Nissan huts. The station was
the base of 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit which undertook conversion training on the
Handley Page Halifax and later the Avro Lancaster "Heavies" of Bomber Command.
The accommodation site whilst now demolished is still visible to the south of the
village of Sandtoft. The site is to the west of the Wroot Road and the concrete
access roads can still be seen on Google Earth.