Page 4 - Peter Brown

The Webmasters would like to thank Petrina, Granddaughter of Peter Brown for
allowing this brave airman’s profile to be displayed on the website.

Peter from leaving school worked in the forests of Perthshire as a tree feller and Saw
Miller. He then volunteered for the R.A.F.V.R in 1943 and having completed his
basic RAF training at an initial training at No. 1 Air Gunners School at RAF Pembrey,
Carmarthenshire, South Wales.
Having successfully passed out as an Air Gunner Peter was then posted on to
No. 30 Operational Training Unit at RAF Hixon, 8 miles east of Stafford in the County
of Staffordshire. It was here Peter met his crew minus the Flight Engineer, (they
would be allocated a Flight Engineer later in the crews training). The process of
crewing up involved all the new aircrew intake to be marched into an empty hangar
and told to sort themselves out into 6 man crews. Thus by this simple and
democratic manner crews formed and bonds were formed that would last a life time.

The main purpose of these Operational Training Units was to integrate the crew into
one unit training on the twin engine Vickers Wellington medium bomber. This aircraft
had been the mainstay of Bomber Commands Main Force squadrons in the early
years of the war but was now relegated with the introduction of the four engine
heavies to the training role within Bomber Command. The crew having converted
successfully to the medium bomber were now posted on to the next stage of their
training and were given train passes and posted to RAF Sandtoft in North
Lincolnshire, 9 miles east of Doncaster.
The training unit stationed here, 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit was tasked with
converting novice crews to the four engine heavy bombers used by Bomber
Command. At this period in mid-1944 the aircraft establishment at Sandtoft consisted
of the Handley Page Halifax Bomber. These ex-squadron worn out airframes, same
as the Vickers Wellingtons at O.T.U were as much a danger to the flying instructors
as the novice crews themselves and it was not uncommon for engines or even wings
to part company with the airframe in flight, such was the degree of fatigue of the
airframe. Sandtoft had another name given to it by aircrew, ‘Prangtoft’, the fields and
villages surrounding the airfield bearing witnessed many fatal crashes.

For a period during this training Peter and the Crew’s Mid upper Gunner were
detached to RAF Ingham just north of RAF Scampton for fighter affiliation training
with No. 1687 (Bomber) Defence training Flight and No 1481 Target Towing and
Gunnery Flight. These two units would refine the gunners skills and train them up on
the Luftwaffe’s latest tactics and methods devised by the RAF to counter them.
After four days at Ingham the gunners returned to Sandtoft to continue their
conversion to the Halifax bomber and the Frazer Nash turrets this type were
equipped with. It was at Sandtoft that the crews Flight Engineer would join them
straight from Flight Engineers school.