Walter Eacott has written to us as follows -
"I have just received an email from Doreen Burge, a
publisher and daughter of famous Odd Bod Don Charlwood. Her mother Nell died on
22 March, age 97 and three quarters!
Don was a Navigator on 103 Squadron, RAF Bomber
Command, and completed a tour of ops in 1943. He became an author and wrote
many books including “No Moon Tonight”, that detailed his training in Canada
and subsequent ops on reaching England. Don met Nell, a Canadian lass, and
their courtship whilst he was training may have been rather distracting for him!
He died on 18 June 2012. I have attached a copy of his history from wikipedia,
thinking that you may like to publish all or part of same for the website,
especially the Military Section.
Regards,
Walter."
Thanks
Walter. Don Charlwood’s story will certainly be of interest. Here is the
Wikipedia entry.
"Military
service:
In 1940 as war unfolded in Europe and France and the Low Countries fell he signed up for the RAAF and was placed on the reserve. For the
rest of 1940, Charlwood worked at The 21 Lessons – a course to ensure
candidates were fitted for the theoretical work of initial training. In May
1941, after 11 months on the reserve, Charlwood was called up and posted to No
1. Initial Training School, Somers, Victoria. From Somers, he proceeded to
Sydney and then to Vancouver in Canada. Their trip to Canada on the liner SS
Monterey was the first across the Pacific by Australian service personnel on a
ship registered in neutral America. On reaching Vancouver, Charlwood along with
the rest of his group, was sent to Edmonton. In October 1942, they started
their training as bomb-aimer/navigators on Course 35 of No. 2 Air Observer
Training School, Empire Air Training Scheme. Six months, a number of courses
and stations, and around 160 hours of flying time later, initial training was
complete.
In May
1943, Charlwood and his course travelled to England, on the Polish liner MS
Batory anchoring on the River Clyde on the evening of 12 May. Here the course
was split, with Charlwood and half of them posted to No. 3 Advanced Flying
Unit, Bobbington, between the Severn Valley and Birmingham. After completing
Advanced Flying, aircrew were posted to Operational Training Units, their entry
into combat operations. Charlwood was posted to No, 27 OTU, Lichfield – a unit
that fed Bomber Command. He had almost 200 hours flying time.
At
Tatenhill, a satellite airfield of Lichfield, Charlwood, with Pilot Geoff Maddern,
crewed up to form a crew of five – the basis of all his future flying in Bomber
Command. On 1 August 1942 they flew together as a crew for the first time, in a
Wellington Bomber. On the night of 5 September 1942, they made their last
training flight. Charlwood's total flying time was now just under 257 hours.
Training completed, they were posted to fly with No. 103 Squadron RAF, Elsham
Wolds. Soon after joining the squadron converted from Handley Page Halifaxes to
Avro Lancasters. Charlwood completed a full tour of 30 operations and was then
"screened" to training duties with 27 OTU. He was subsequently
mustered for repatriation to Australia via the US where he was to train for
duties in the Pacific theatre on Consolidated Liberator 4 engined bombers.
Following
his return to Australia he was invalided out of the RAAF in July 1945, and
commenced work with the Department of Civil Aviation, initially as an Air
Traffic Controller, and later in training and recruitment. It was while working
at the DCA that he wrote No Moon Tonight relying heavily on diaries he kept
during training and operational flying.
In 1992
Charlwood was made a Member of the Order of Australian in recognition of service
to literature. He died in June 2012."
In 1940 as war unfolded in Europe and France and the Low Countries fell he signed up for the RAAF and was placed on the reserve. For the
rest of 1940, Charlwood worked at The 21 Lessons – a course to ensure
candidates were fitted for the theoretical work of initial training. In May
1941, after 11 months on the reserve, Charlwood was called up and posted to No
1. Initial Training School, Somers, Victoria. From Somers, he proceeded to
Sydney and then to Vancouver in Canada. Their trip to Canada on the liner SS
Monterey was the first across the Pacific by Australian service personnel on a
ship registered in neutral America. On reaching Vancouver, Charlwood along with
the rest of his group, was sent to Edmonton. In October 1942, they started
their training as bomb-aimer/navigators on Course 35 of No. 2 Air Observer
Training School, Empire Air Training Scheme. Six months, a number of courses
and stations, and around 160 hours of flying time later, initial training was
complete.
