‘The Real ‘Allo ‘Allo’

A talk by John Pittwood

The Talk – The Real ‘Allo ‘Allo’

This is a fascinating talk about the father of John, also called John. John had volunteered for the RAF and had became a Lancaster bomber navigator with 207 Squadron. On the 3rd/4th May 1944, John and the rest of his crew took off from RAF Spilsby. This was his seventh mission. They were to bomb a French military base at Mailly-le-Camp (south-east of Paris). The military camp had been taken over by the German army after the fall of France in 1940 and was being used as a panzer training camp. The target was part of the softening up process before D-Day. After bombing the target John’s aircraft was shot down by a German night fighter(s).The captain ordered the crew to bail out. John successfully bailed out and this talk tells his remarkable story how he successfully evaded captured and escaped via Spain.

Typical German Nightfighter – Heinkel HE 219

The Speaker

John is a retired Electrical Engineer. One of his interests is photography and he is a volunteer photographer for the National Trust. John is also a Community Presenter for the RNLI, a role he has filled for 40 years. John will donate his fee to the RNLI.