World War II veterans visit RAF Mildenhall for first time in 66 years

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  From when he was a child, Stan Franks wanted to fly.

He got his wish when he joined the Royal Air Force in the early 1940s and became a pilot, flying Lancaster bombers out of RAF Mildenhall, at 15 Squadron, when the RAF was still stationed here.

According to Jim Gooding, another World War II veteran who flew missions out of here in 1945 while in 622 Squadron, Franks was the youngest person to ever complete a tour of operations in the squadron. A tour meant 30 missions flown over Germany. Franks flew 31, while he was only 19.

For the first time in 66 years, Franks and Gooding visited RAF Mildenhall Sept. 14.

The 622 Sqdn started life as a branch of 15 Squadron at RAF Mildenhall, which was made up of three flights - A, B and C. C Flight then transitioned into 622 Sqdn in 1942, and though it flew Stirling bombers when part of 15 Sqdn, the aircrew changed over to Lancaster bombers.

"Two crewmembers were sent over - one was the commanding officer, the other was the flight commander - and they built it up from there," said Gooding. "They formed the extra squadron to increase the strength of the base; by making RAF Mildenhall into two squadrons, it gave the opportunity to have two operational squadrons from the same base."

A second pilot in 15 Squadron, Franks was also a flight engineer.

"My first operation was a dam-busting job - we carried 13 1,000-pound bombs to Duren, on the border of Germany. There and back, it took us four hours, 30 minutes, on Dec. 5, 1944," Franks said, as he read through his original flying log book.

"When I saw the first flag and the first fighters coming up over Germany, I thought to myself, 'Have I done the right thing or not?'" said Franks. "But I just enjoyed it."

"My second trip was a night flight, and I flew with the wing commander. It took us seven hours, 15 minutes to get to an oil works outside Leipzig, Germany, where we dropped nine 1,000-pound bombs," he said.

He added that the esprit de corps among the crew was amazing, and the Lancaster bomber was a wonderful aircraft.

"It could fly on one engine, if necessary, if you dumped everything overboard and flew at 1,000 feet!" Franks said. "I've done it in training - it had a stalling speed of 80 mph, and it used to shake like anything."

Gooding joined the RAF at just 17. After joining, Gooding did his initial training at St. John's Wood in London, and said the former site is now an expensive residential ara.

"When we were there, there must have been 1,000 of us, sleeping all over the shop," he said.

From there, he went on to 12 Air Gunnery School in County Down, Northern Ireland.

Before arriving here, he was part of 1668 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Bottesford, flying in Lancaster bombers, on the Leicestershire/Lincolnshire border. He then moved to RAF Mildenhall in March 1945, where he spent five months as part of 622 Sqdn, before it disbanded in August that same year.

"We spent the last four weeks dropping incendiaries in Cardigan Bay (Wales)," he said, describing the last weeks of the squadron.

Now 86 and living in Essex, Gooding was a rear gunner on bombers for the RAF. After operational training at Desbrough, flying in Wellington and Stirling bombers, his training moved to Bottesford, Nottingham, where he continued to fly on Stirlings.

Back in the 1940s, a crew consisted of a bomber, flight engineer, navigator, wireless radio operator, mid-upper gunner and rear gunner.

Gooding flew nine missions out of RAF Mildenhall, but said his first and most memorable was to Stuttgardt, Germany.

"The thought of going there made me very apprehensive; you didn't know what was in store for you. Regretfully, we saw an awful lot of flack (anti-aircraft guns), which was very frightening. When you were flying over England, you didn't worry about anything, but if the truth be known we were all a bit nervous - maybe even a bit frightened - but having said that, you didn't think about it," he said. "In fairness, I think that applied to all of us. No one was a hero."

As he recalled his days at RAF Mildenhall and in the RAF, Gooding said there was always a feeling of comradeship.

"Crews always stayed together. Officers were in the officers' mess, but the crew was always together in a Nissen hut, so if you went out anywhere, then usually it was with your crew," he said. "But because you were with your own crew all the time, there wasn't the opportunity to make other friends."

Though the U.S. Air Force wasn't stationed at RAF Mildenhall until the 1950s, the RAF worked together with them in the war against Germany.

"I wouldn't have had [the U.S. Air Force's] job for the world, because they flew in the day. Every time they took off, they lost 12 to 14 aircraft in one go; sometimes they lost 16," Gooding said.

"The 100th Bomb Group lost 20 to 30 bombers a day. We had our bad nights, but compared to the Americans, we had it easy. As hard as our job was, they had fighters and flack to contend with; at least we had the darkness - we had a fair chance in a way, but they didn't."

After the squadron disbanded, Gooding moved to Kemball, near Cirencester, where he and other RAF troops were remustered to general duties since they had stopped flying by that time. He worked in the transportation squadron, keeping records of the vehicle fleet.

During their visit here, Franks and Gooding were given a tour of the base, were shown around one of the KC-135 Stratotankers, and met American personnel currently serving in the U.S. Air Force.

Staff Sgt. Calvin Arnold, 351st Air Refueling Squadron boom operator, got the chance to spend time with Franks and Gooding, and compare war stories.

"This opportunity to honor war heroes was a very humbling experience," he said. "With 68 years between our military service at RAF Mildenhall, the relationship between enlisted aviators, then and now, has been seamless.

"They told stories about their missions and we found a common bond of flying, past and present. Sharing the tanker mission and recalling my experiences refueling their RAF units in today's fight, brought joy to their faces," Arnold continued. "We share the proud heritage of our units, the same heritage that is the foundation of the RAF Mildenhall. To experience the legacies of our heritage is something I will forever cherish."