Buried our Uncle Harry yesterday (91 yrs old) and found out a little more about his war experience. Thought it might be interesting for some to read.
Leaving a reserved occupation in June 1944 he joined the RAF and became a Flight Engineer on Lancasters, latterly flying out of Wickenby, Lincs.
Flying at least 26 sorties (every other day it seemed in Feb ’45) he left with 31 other Lancasters on March 16th, 1945 to be part of a force of 277, to bomb Nuremburg.
Hit by flak, the Lancaster exploded and crashed, with only Harry and one other crew member managing to get out. The five who died were all Australian. In crawling through the burning aircraft Harry’s parachute snagged and opened and he only managed to attach one clip before jumping.
On the ground he spent four days avoiding capture, walking via Ansbach, stole a bike in Heidenheim, nearly caught in Ulm and made it to Gottmadinger on the Schaffhausen salient (Swiss border), where he was caught – apparently sleeping in a hedge, not realising how close he was to freedom.
He wrote an account of it for archives years ago, which gives a pretty stark picture of Germany at that time. Reaching Ulm, he found it in ruins (he was on a mission that bombed the city three months earlier).
A PoW in Stuttgart and Munich, via a fairly unpleasant forced march, he was released and lived out his time as an engineer in Carlisle. By the time I realised he wasn’t just ‘boring old Uncle Harry’, he was beyond talking about his experiences.
Henry ‘Harry’ Francis Nixon RIP

Thanks for sharing this, I like to read up on other people’s stories.

RIP. If you visit Wickenby now it is hard to imagine all those aircraft flying from there.

Was that photo taken at Wickenby? There is a small museum at Wickenby airfield in the control tower there now. They may be interested in sharing a picture and story like yours.

http://www.wickenbymuseum.co.uk

Also the Icarus memorial.

Pic is 626 squadron in 1944 at Wickenby. Their final mission was to bomb The Eagle’s Nest – Harry missed that one obviously.
Cheers Matthew – he’s listed as a POW and there a pic of his crew in the gallery (20th pic on left column)

Who did he work for in Carlisle?
I served as an apprentice engineer there a number of years back. Pretty much all the blokes in my family have been engineers in Carlisle come to think of it.

Try to find out as much as I can about WWII and the sacrifices those brave people made.

Thanks for sharing, & RIP Harry.

Flatfish – Railways before the war, then Metal Box (if that’s the real name). Three of his apprentices attended yesterday.

Fair to say he never forgave Germany. His father was shot in the head and gassed in WW1, but survived. We’ve a series of telegrams and letters from WW1 describing his wounds and recovery and also to Harry’s parents informing them that he was MIA.
My Dad was out with Harry a few years ago at a cafe and got talking to some Germans. They asked whether they’d been to Germany and my Dad told them that, yes, he’d been on a Rhine cruise and that Harry had been by parachute….. 🙂

My dad and uncle were at botcherby metal box.
Do you know if he was there or James St?

Pretty sure Botcherby. Lived around Greystoke Rd for years

I grew up just a street away from greystone rd.
My parents still live there.
Was he flooded out 10 years ago?
I’ll ask my dad about him tomorrow, see if he remembers your uncle.

Thanks boxelder – great story.

Likewise, my Grandad left the Police late in the war to join up. He became a Lancaster navigator in 630 squadron, but died over Dresden 2 weeks before the war ended. The plane was hit and broke in two, one guy fell out parachute opened and survived, taken POW, released a few weeks after. He went straight back to the crash site, but found no trace of my grandad’s possessions. It was especially sad for my Grandma as in their grief his family accused her of forcing him to join up, she never remarried and was quite bitter and twisted for the rest of her life. My dad says that unfortunately she threw his medals and log book away, apparently on one of Grandad’s birthdays in a fit of grief. I had a childhood with a rather unpleasant Grandma, but on learning this story (edited highlights) in later years I kind of forgive her for the way she was.

Not flooded, no. In a home in Silloth by then, with Dad’s sister. Her first husband was a pilot too. Survived the war, then died flying Welsh rugby party – Busby Babes type tragedy. I think it was the Llandow tradegy – world’s worst air disaster at the time. Must check this! He was called Andy (think I’m named after him) and co-pilot was A Graham (a common Carlisle name)

My Dad has just replied and doesn’t recognise the name but he sent me Harry’s obituary, I’ll ask my uncle too.

http://www.myfamilyannouncements.co.uk/cumberlandnews/view/3661558/nixon-henry-francis-harry

Great stories, thanks for sharing

I don’t know why I get so emotional about people I’ve never met but I get a lump in my throat hearing some of the stories from the wars

It holds endless fascination for me

This deserves a push up.

I remember my mother talking about her WW2 years in the ATS, dad serving abroad – ‘We just got on with it’.

Ad Astra, Harry.

Good story,Evan,my grandad went to Burma with the raf in ww2.
The only thing he “caught”was asthma as he sailed back via bay of biscay. He always used to remind us that he went halfway round the world with barely a scratch,and as soon as they sailed through the bay he started with “th’bastard asthma”
I love to visit the raf museum at Hendon. The Lancasters are amazing looking things.
Rip uncle Harry .

Interesting story – thanks for sharing it with us. It made me wonder if Harry knew before signing up for Bomber Command what the survival rate was – he was bloody brave if he did know that there was a 50% chance of not surviving and he signed up anyway.

Cheers for sharing.

senor j – Member
Good story,Evan,my grandad went to Burma with the raf in ww2.

My Grandad Smith also was in Burma had a Gurkha regiment with them. We don’t know a great deal more as there was some sort of controversy, We think it was something to do with an officer claiming/getting credit and awarded for a heroic act. Whether this was him or a fellow soldier we’ll never know but he never collected his medals so I guess he was pretty pi55ed about something that went on.
Grandad Wright was a Bombadier in the army but was posted onto the merchant boats as there armed protection.

Ace!

I met a Lancaster Vet the other day, I’ve met him before and had a good talk with him previously. Sadly that’s as much as I divulge due it being at work. 😕

There’s fewer and fewer of these great men and it makes me sad and proud to have met so many through out my career knowing that within a decade they’ll be mere handful left.

I use to work with a chap who flew in a Lancater during the war and a bit of searching found this;

Flight Sergeant Arthur Hale

Serving as a Flight Engineer on Lancasters with 463 Sqn as past of the RAAF his aircraft was shot down in November 1944 on a raid to Dusseldorf and he spent the rest of the war as a PoW in Staleg Luft VII. His aircraft on the night of 2nd – 3rd November 1944 was Lancaster PD338 (JO-C) of 463 Sqn. Of the seven crew, two were killed in the crash and the other five were taken prisoner.

Fantastic Chap sadly missed

wonder if Harry knew before signing up for Bomber Command what the survival rate was

I believe he did, as did his parents who weren’t thrilled at the prospect. Reading the telegram to them telling of his aircraft being lost brought a lump to the throat. He was their only child. Harry wrote to the families of the 5 Australian crew killed and we have some of those letters. For some parents, it was “a struggle to go on without our darling boy”. Dusty all of a sudden – time for a dog walk with my kids.