Page 8 - Derek Elliott Till

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Derek’s first operation from Fiskerton being on the 2 November to Dϋsseldorf, 18 of the
Squadrons Lancasters taking part in this Main Force operation. The crew completed 36 operations
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with an additional 2 aborted and were screened from further flying duties on 24 March 1945, their
last operation being that day to the German City of Dortmund with 576 Squadron dispatching 10
Lancasters. The Main Force target being the Harpenerweg Oil plant, 173 Lancasters and 12
Mosquitos of No. 1, 6 and 8 Groups attacked the Harpenerweg plant at Dortmund and the Mathias
Stinnes plant at Bottrop. 3 Lancasters were lost on the Dortmund raid.

Derek commented:

‘We took off on two weeks leave the day after our last op on March 24 , thinking we'd have a great
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beer-up when we all returned to Fiskerton. Unfortunately, I was recalled before my leave was up
and was immediately posted to Morecombe, where I drew tropical kit and was on a troopship to
India within a few days. So we never met again. All I recall is that ‘Shorty’ Shorthouse stayed on in
the RAF and was killed in a freak mid-air collision. I was not told why I was sent to India, but
learned much later that I was part of the scheme, ‘Tiger Force’, that was to stage several hundred
Lancasters through India to bases in Okinawa, where they would bomb Japan by night. Of course,
the atom bomb put an end to those plans and I wound up flying DC 3’s out of Rangoon until my
demob from the air forceʼ.