‘They never pretended to be heroes’
Bill Mallon never spoke about his experiences piloting a Lancaster bomber during World War II. It took an amateur historian to tell his story. Andrew Owen reports.
Their father never pretended to be a war hero, and they never pushed him to elaborate about his experiences during World War II.
But now two brothers from Christchurch, Kevin and Barrie Mallon, have discovered that their dad, Bill Mallon, completed several crucial missions as the pilot of a Lancaster bomber, including bombing key Nazi targets and dropping food supplies to the starving Dutch.
His story has now been told in a new book, The Mallon Crew.
The brothers knew their dad was a pilot, and Kevin recalls one occasion when he was taken to see the Lancaster at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland.
‘‘He took me right into the cockpit and I sat in the pilot’s seat and he talked me through the whole process of taking off.
‘‘That was a fabulous experience. That was probably the closest talk about the war that I ever had with Dad for any length of time.
‘‘That was pretty exciting, really. Something I’ll remember for ever.’’
Bill Mallon had been one of the 6000 Kiwis in Bomber Command’s 125,000-strong aircrew.
‘‘He told us about flying and about it being cold and about wearing his flying suit. Anecdotes like that,’’ says Kevin, who now lives in Christchurch, not far from Barrie. ‘‘But he never told us about flying over a target or dropping a bomb.’’
But five years after their father’s death, and 19,000km away in Britain, amateur historian Vic Jay started researching his own father’s role in the war.
This eventually led to him tracking down the Mallons.
Bob Jay, who died in 1974 aged 55, had been the flight engineer on Mallon’s Lancaster. He was one of three Britons and four New Zealanders in the crew, who served in No. 75 (NZ) Squadron.
Vic has learned the stories of the Mallon Crew, including the fate of Mallon’s two brothers.
There was also Jim Haworth, the navigator, from the South Island. He was the only member of the crew, apart from Bob, who was married, and the only one who had children at the time.
Haworth’s letters proved invaluable to Vic’s research.
Ken Philp, from Wellington, was the bomb aimer, Frank Symes of Wairoa, was the wireless operator. Denis Eynstone, 19, was the rear gunner and fellow Briton Don Cook, 20, was the mid-upper gunner.
The crew flew between March and April 1945 on missions to bomb marshalling yards and the naval port at Kiel, as well as Operation Manna, dropping food supplies in Holland just before VE Day.
They also flew in the Allies’ Oil Campaign, an attempt to stop the Germans’ supply of synthetic fuel.
Kevin and Barrie’s uncles, Jack and Tom Mallon, both died on air operations during the war.
‘‘We never spoke about either of the brothers dying,’’ says Kevin. ‘‘Vic absolutely brought new information.’’
Jack joined the Civil Reserve as a pilot in 1938 and applied for a commission in the RAF in 1939.
His war did not last long. On October 8, 1940, his plane was reported missing.
For decades, all the family knew was that he had crashed and was buried in the town of Guˆınes, in the north of France. Jack was only 24.
It wasn’t until Vic got in touch that the family learned how Jack died.
He had been shot down over France and although he survived the crash, unlike his two crew members, he had been badly wounded and died in a German military hospital three days later.
Tom, meanwhile, trained in Canada and transferred to England in 1944.
He joined No. 488 (NZ) Squadron and within weeks was supporting the invasion forces following the D-Day landings.
He was killed when his plane crashed soon after takeoff in March, 1945.
With two of his brothers dead, Bill’s family applied for him to return home – but by that stage the war was practically over.
‘‘They never pretended to be heroes,’’ says Kevin. ‘‘They were just at war doing what they had to do."
Bill eventually moved to Gisborne, married, and enjoyed a quiet life with his family. He never talked about the war.