Page 12 - James Eric Frederick Paton

Donald Morris, the crew’s Navigator seen here in later life. Donald was promoted
twice whilst in captivity.
Donald Morris worked as a Fire Watcher in London before volunteering for the RAF in 1941 aged
18 ½ years. He joined up at the Yorkshire Grey recruiting office in Eltham. He went in to train as a
pilot and learned to fly in Perth, Scotland, before he was sent to flying school in Texas, and then
Ontario, Canada. He went solo in a Tiger Moth training aircraft after five hours. The Lancaster
bomber was introduced during the time Donald was learning to fly and he recalls that ‘the RAF
found that they had too many pilots so a number of men in training like me were diverted to train
as aircrew in the new Lancasters.’