‘You just got on with it’: War bomber crewman Chiefy marks 96th birthday
ONE of the last remaining Second World War bomber crewmen who defied the odds to survive 10 perilous missions has celebrated his 96th birthday.
Flight sergeant Colin Hynd joined the RAF just after his 18th birthday, and was part of a seven-strong Bomber Command crew, dropping bombs over Germany.
And, while just 24 per cent of his colleagues survived the war unscathed, he returned home to Scotland to train more than 10,000 air cadets across many RAF bases before he retired.
It is thought he is one of the last remaining members of Bomber Command.
His role in the Halifax aircraft was as a flight engineer, changing fuses and supplying fuel to the four engines by switching between its 12 petrol tanks.
His most daring flights included one during which a 250lb bomb smashed straight through the plane’s tail mid-flight.
And a more comical brush with danger saw him fall asleep during successive missions, only to be woken up by the pilot when the engines ran out of fuel 20,000 feet in the air.
Colin, a bachelor who never had children, attributes his long life to lots of physical training, never drinking alcohol, and good medical care.
He said he thinks he survived the war thanks to focussing on the task and working with other dedicated volunteers, but mostly thanks to a healthy dose of luck.
The nonagenarian – who was known as Chiefy – celebrated his birthday on Thursday by opening countless cards, including dozens from ‘boys’ he trained, from the late 40s, 50s and 60s.
Mr Hynd, from Dunfermline, Fife, said: “You’re a bit apprehensive about the first mission but then you just do it: you become accustomed to it.
“Some of us carried lucky items but I didn’t.
“The daylight trip could be tricky because you can see all the flak-bursts coming up.
“There’s a certain amount of luck to it. I believe there were around 55,500 air-crew killed.
“It happened that whole crews were killed quite often, and you might hear about that just before going on a mission. Once you’re in the air you just act on whatever is happening at the time.
“Being aircrew was voluntary – you’d made a choice, so once you got your stripes, you wanted to go on your first raid.
“When the time came, you put your harness on, went off and hoped for the best. You never gave it a thought, you just got on with it.
“There are very few of us left now.” Colin finished school aged 14 as the war began and took an apprenticeship with an engineering company modifying break drums and tubes for pontoon bridges.
He signed up for the air training corps in early 1940, before joining the RAF in 1943, with training stints in London, Yorkshire and Wales. After time as an instructor, he joined a Halifax bomber crew as a flight engineer in early 1945, with Squadron 158.
He said each mission was up to a seven-hour flight, with as many as three hours in the briefing room beforehand, often at night.
He said: “As a flight engineer most of my work was done in the air.
“You’re the only one who can move around during the flight.
“You don’t get a seat – just a wooden board to sit on.
“If there’s a fire on board, you put it out.”
He described one mission where he managed to fall asleep in the noisy craft. Having had four hours kip between a day and a night mission, he went to the back to wait for two fuel tanks to run out before switching.
He popped a warm air pipe up his flying jacket to ward off the chill, and got so comfortable that he dozed off, only to be woken by frantic shouts from the pilot through his headset to say he was out of petrol.
“The others all thought it was hilarious”, he said.
“We were 20,000 feet up so we had lots of time – we were okay.”
He and the signaller had to physically restrain their terrified rear gunner who wanted to bail out on another flight, he recalled.
After the war Colin, who has six medals to his name, went onto general duties, acting as part of the RAF fire and police services.
He got birthday cards from many of the men he trained.
Colin said: “It feels great to receive something like that.
“I’m quite proud of the fact that even after all this time the boys still send me Christmas and birthday cards.”
“It’s quite something.”
Colin retired from the RAF in 1968 and worked for Edinburgh city council then Fife Council on the Children’s Panel, until taking full retirement in 1985.
When the time came, you put your harness on, went off, and hoped for the best