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Bertie Boulter
| Flt Lt Bertie Boulter DFC (deceased) Joining the RAF in July 1941, Bertie completed pilot training in the USA before returning to the UK in 1942, joining Coastal Command flying Ansons and Blackburn Bothas, and instructing on the use of radar. Converting to Blenheims he joined 1655 Squadron at Warboys, and began training on Mosquitos. In early 1944 he was selected for the Pathfinders, joining 128 Squadron flying Mosquitos from Wyton, then becoming part of the Light Night Strike Force with 163 Squadron, completing almost 50 operations. In his book, Mosquito to Berlin, Bertie recalls how they copied the other aircrew as they walked round their planes before the flights. 'We pulled and pushed a few things, kicked the tyres, nodded to each other and clambered aboard.' So with less than 30 hours of solo night flying they roared off down the runway, went to Wiesbaden, dropped their load and returned. 'It must have gone totally to plan because I remember so little of it,' he says. 'We were shot at and I remember a shell burst very close. I went into a hard dive to port before recovering height and heading.' Mission followed mission, with Bertie now a fully-fledged member of the squadron, until one flight over Nuremberg when they were on a diversionary raid designed to fool the Luftwaffe as to the evening's main targets and were carrying huge amounts of aluminium strip to confuse the German radar. They also had a 4,000lb bomb to deliver but things started to go wrong on the return trip to Wyton. The starboard engine was running too hot, so he shut that down and continued on the other engine. Then that began to overheat, so he shut it down and restarted the starboard engine which, by then, had cooled. For around 400 miles after leaving Nuremberg they tried flying on alternate engines and made it as far as Dunkirk, by which time both were heating up too quickly and Bertie and Jim agreed it was time to bail out. Unfortunately, as he was leaving the plane, Jim accidentally pulled the D-ring which activated the parachute, leaving him jammed in the hatch. Bertie delivered a sharp kick on his navigator's shoulder and he promptly popped out of the blazing plane. Bertie followed and a short time later landed with a squelch in a French field. He wasn't certain on which side of the frontline he had landed and thought he heard foreign voices. Eventually he found a farmhouse where the farmer told him the location of the nearest British troops. By the time he had found an old mill where they were stationed it was first light. Bertie wandered in to find them making their first brew of the day and was soon sitting by a fire with a steaming mug of tea. His navigator had been taken in by a Czech sentry and treated to superb hospitality, so that when Bertie caught up with him he was slightly the worse for wear. Bertie had to again bail out of his Mosquito a second time after a mission to Berlin. They found themselves at 25,000ft in a jet stream and overshot Berlin, their intended target. They returned and dropped their bomb but on returning to England the weather had closed in and they were running short of fuel. They made two attempts to land at Wyton, never saw the runway and by this time their fuel tanks were virtually empty. One plane had already crashed because of this. Then the voice of their commanding officer barked over the airways 'This is not a request, this is an order. Climb to a safe height and bail out. Acknowledge.' Bertie and his navigator promptly did so and landed in a muddy field somewhere in Cambridgeshire. In early 1945 he was posted to Canada to ferry back Mosquitos but the war ended. Sadly Flt Lt Bertie Boulter died in April 2010 aged 86. |
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| Text for the above items : |
Winter Ops by Gerald Coulson. Up to 1942 Bomber Command operations were beset by many problems. The means they had to accurately pinpoint the target and assault it were totally lacking, in fact their Commander in Chief, Air Marshall Arthur Harris later wrote : It was glaringly obvious that the average crew in average weather could not find their way to the target. Between February and August 1942 an effort was made to rectify this through the development of a specialised target finding and target marking force, which became known as the Pathfinders. Activated on August 15 this new group was formed under the leadership of their AOC Air Commodore Don Bennett, himself a very experienced pre war pilot with exceptional navigational skills. The aircrews of No. 8 (PFF) Group were tasked with marking out the designated targets but the formation of this group was initially opposed by Harris. He felt that the ranks of his Main Force could be weakened if a high number of experienced and highly skilled crews were taken by this specialist unit, leading to a lessening of skills within the other bomber groups. He agreed however for an alternative scheme whereby complete units were assigned to the Pathfinder Force and the stage was then set for what was to become the Main Offensive of Bomber Command. The first four Squadrons - Nos. 7 (Stirlings) 35 (Halifax) 83 (Lancaster) and 156 (Wellingtons) - were based at a clutch of airfields between Cambridge and Huntingdon. In the absence of any specialist Target Markers the crews were initially forced to operate using standard flares and the early raids produced variable results, with cloud cover often proving the main obstacle in accurate marking. However during the winter of 1942 the introduction of the ground guided marking system, OBOE, marked a quantum leap in accurate target marking and by mid 1943 Pathfinder techniques had been developed for all forms of weather conditions, including nights when complete overcast existed.Pathfinder crews used a combination of personal skill and technical equipment such as H2S to locate their targets. Often flying against overwhelming odds and in appalling conditions they transformed the performance of a bomber force that in 1941 was dropping almost half its bombs on open countryside. This third and final painting in Gerald Coulsons Tribute to Bomber Command depicts Lancaster Bombers of No.8 (PFF) Group returning late after a gruelling operation over Berlin. It is Christmas 1943 and the winter landscape reflects the early morning sunrise as the weary crews approach the safety of their Cambridgeshire base. |
Clipped Signature - Bertie Boulter. Flew the Anson, Botha and Blenheim before joining No.128 Pathfinder Sqn on the Mosquito. Completing almost 50 missions with the Light Night Strike Force, he was forced to bail out twice from his Mosquito after missions to Berlin and Nuremberg. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bertie Boulter died in 2010. |
Victory Over the Rhine by Nicolas Trudgian. Of the many famous combat aircraft to serve their respective countries in the Second World War, two perhaps more than any others, created huge impact and consternation upon seasoned opposing pilots when they first appeared on the battlefront - the Supermarine Spitfire and the Messerschmitt Me262. Both in their day represented enormous advances in aircraft design and power, and both have continued to capture the imagination of aviation enthusiasts ever since. As the war progressed the Spitfire continually upgraded its performance and by the time the Luftwaffes new Me262 turbo-jet arrived on the scene the sleek new Mk XIV, powered by the awesome Griffon engine, was among the fastest piston-engine fighters of the war. The stage was set for a clash between the most powerful piston-engine fighter and the worlds first turbojet, and it was not long before the pilots of these two most advanced combat aircraft met in the hostile skies over western Europe. Ill-advisedly employed by Hitler as the wonder-bomber, the Me262 was initially issued to Bomber Units, one of which being KG51. Tasked with undertaking lightning fast raids upon advancing Allied ground forces, the shark-like jets employed their spectacular speed advantage to surprise, strike and escape. Not to be outdone, the RAF responded with their supremely fast Spitfire XIVs which had already proven themselves highly effective against Germanys V1 flying bombs. In his painting, Nick Trudgian recreates a typical moment: Spitfire Mk XIVs of 41 Squadron have intercepted and damaged a Me262 of KG51 and, with smoke and debris pouring from its damaged Jumo 004 Turbojet, the stricken Luftwaffe jet will be lucky to make it home. A dramatic painting and a fine tribute to the RAFs contribution to the Victory in Europe. |
Coastal Command - Avro Anson Mk.I by Ivan Berryman. An Avro Anson Mk.I from Coastal Command is attacked by an Me109. |
Home Run by Gerald Coulson. It is June 1944 and, as dawn begins to break over East Anglia, Mosquito B Mk XVI bombers of the Light Night Striking Force return from a raid over Berlin. The sun is just beginning to rise and the peaceful tranquility is shattered as these majestic aircraft power in from the North Sea, flying at low level over the Norfolk marshes. |
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