Equipment on the Lancaster

In the front turret and my turret, the mid upper, there were twin Brownings - each capable of something around 1400 rounds a minute and the tail gunner had four guns but they were just .303’s and they were quite, in my opinion, they were quite light. You could have had a .50 calibre because most of the Germans had at least two cannon and two machine guns, usually four machine guns and they were heavier calibre so they, if they could see us they didn’t have to even get in firing distance.

Other than that, our uniforms completed were an inner electric suit and an outer heated suit because we were flying at 20,000 feet and quite often you’d get ice from your oxygen mask right down to your knees. I remember in July on one particularly cold trip and I had a nice icicle frozen right down from my mouth from my breathing.