I’ve recently discovered the Australians at War Film Archive, a massive resource made up of more than 2000 oral histories from people ‘who were there’ in various conflicts ranging from World War One to the current operations in Afghanistan. Included in the collection are transcripts of interviews of a large number of Australian Bomber Command aircrew, and it was in one of these that I found this little gem.
Rod Allcot, DFM, was a bomb aimer with 460 Squadron. After VE Day, Rod was on his way back to Australia to join the rumoured Tiger Force, flying Avro Lincolns against the Japanese. But events turned out somewhat differently:
“[…] When we were half way across the Atlantic, they [the Japanese] must have heard the news that a great team of Aussies was back on its way home to form a Lincoln squadron and fight against [them]. And that’s when they decided to toss it in… some people think it’s because of the atom bomb!”
Always modest, the airmen of Bomber Command.
This will be the last post on SomethingVeryBig for 2011. Best wishes to everyone for Christmas and the New Year, and I’ll be back in mid January.
Something Very Big 
I love those sort of comments from those guys, great.
What a great resource, where did you find that ??
Have a good break, I am working right through so we will have to catch up after Christmas, all the best mate.
G’day Neale,
I got the tip from Michael Caulfield – who did a lot of the work to set the project up, and who was one of the producers of ‘In Their Footsteps’ – when he spoke at the 463-467 Sqn ‘Ladies’ Day’ lunch in November. Talk about a goldmine!!
By mid January I should know what’s going on at work, once we’re at that stage I’ll look for a time to come across and say g’day!
Adam