ETA – A Bomber Command Navigator Shot Down and On The Run

Author

Gordon Mellor

Publisher

Fighting High Ltd

Price

£25

ISBN

9780993415258

Published

2017

ETA – A Bomber Command Navigator Shot Down and On The Run by Gordon Mellor

Gordon Mellor joined the RAF in 1940, trained as a navigator in Canada and was posted to RAF Lichfield before joining 103 Squadron at Elsham Wolds. His tour included the thousand-bomber raids on Cologne, Essen, Bremen and Emden. On the night of 5/6 October 1942, returning from Aachen, his Wellington was mauled by a night fighter. Flames engulfed both wings and the crew bailed out. Mellor landed in a tree north-east of Tongeren, Belgium, cold, wet and alone.

Needing help, he chanced upon the Van Meeuwen family who recognised his RAF insignia and took him in, drying his clothes and arranging a hot meal. Vicarie Adons, the local priest, soon arrived with the Comète Line, beginning Mellor’s journey through the clandestine escape network. The memoir tracks each stage: safe-houses across Belgium, a perilous move through Paris to Bayonne, and finally a night ride by bicycle to Urrugne, the last hide on French soil at Bidegain Berri.

There Mellor met Dédée De Jongh and his Basque guide Florentino. The crossing of the Pyrenees is described in vivid detail—the exhaustion, the constant fear of patrols and the relief on reaching Spain. After a hot meal the guides slipped back to France and Mellor continued to San Sebastián, Madrid and Gibraltar. A Dakota eventually carried him home to Cornwall where his debrief began.

Mellor’s story encapsulates the Comète Line’s courage and resourcefulness, highlighting the helpers whose lives were on the line each time they offered assistance. It is a gripping personal account of Bomber Command service, survival and the network that brought so many airmen back to Britain.

ISBN 9780993415258. Fighting High Ltd. £25.