Page 5 - Leonard Tebbenham

THE AIR MINISTARY

His good academic and personal references led in 1939 to an appointment with the Air Ministry.
After completion of specialist training courses starting with basic meteorology he served first as a
Meteorological Assistant until December 1941, then from January 1942 as a Meteorologist II.

He started work for the Air Ministry at RAF Leuchars, a base providing significant assets for
maritime patrol surveillance in WW2. Later he worked at various air stations in Lincolnshire.
Leonard was also instructing others during June 1942. I discovered two rhymes amongst family
papers, some seventy years after they were penned that betray his evident knowledge and no-
nonsense approach.

MARRIAGE

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Leonard married Blodwen Shout on January 24 1942 in North Kensington, London. Blodwen’s
father Arthur was a butler with good connections and arranged the wedding luncheon for fourteen
at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London for the modest cost of 10s/6d per head. I
suspect they had a good time given the cocktails, wine, whisky and port they consumed! My
parents never spoke to me of that day or of any honeymoon: I discovered the menu and bill in
family papers in 2009.

RAF SERVICE IN BRITAIN

Leonard was appointed to an emergency commission as a Flying Officer in the RAFVR
(Meteorological Branch) on April 1 1943. Details on his service record show that he was posted
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to HQ 5 Group (52 Base RAF Scampton) then appointed station Meteorological Officer at RAF
Fiskerton. The station was assigned to No. 1 Group from October 1944. A photo showing him
doing his job hung on our lounge wall at home for as long as I can recall and John Ward, 49
Squadron Association President provided me with the narrative for it.
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The photo was taken just after midnight at Fiskerton November 22 /23 1943. 49 Squadron had
just returned from Berlin, with one aircraft missing. Station Meteorological Officer Leonard
Tebbenham was de-briefing the crew. Flying Officer Wittmer (Navigator) RAAF from Melbourne
had just completed his tour of 30 operations, his pilot, third from left was Flying Officer Eric
Hidderley, and their Lancaster was JB399 H-Harry. On the extreme right is Group Captain G.J.
Grindell RNZAF, DFC, AFC the Station Commander of Fiskerton. Flying Officer Wittmer went on
to fly with 617 Squadron dropping Tallboys and Grandslams. The shot is taken in the operations
block at Fiskerton, just across from the station main gate … pieces of the building still remain.

The Official record (ref TNA AIR27/481) shows that 49 Squadron despatched 17 aircraft and 16
returned. Having read many pages of the RAF Form 540, the Operational Record Book, I
appreciate how vital the Met Branch people were to our Bombers crews’ abilities to inflict damage
to enemy assets and return home safely to fight another day.

The 49 Squadron archive also has the Line Book. This was used to record when someone was
‘shooting a line’, which was endorsed by others present. The guilty party probably had to buy a
round of drinks in the mess.