On 12 January 1945, the Royal Air Force's 9 and 617 squadrons attacked the U-Boat pens at Bergen in Norway. On this occasion, 9 Squadron Lancaster PD198/WS-W, 'Willing Winnie' was being flown by Flight Lieutenant Ray Harris, just over 20 years old and on his 33rd operation. The aircraft had departed Bardney, the unit’s base in England, at 08:46, and by 13:01, bomb aimer Jim Parsons (second from the left in the crew photo) had released the Lancaster's 12,000-lb Tallboy bomb from an altitude of 17,600-ft. Harris then turned the plane homeward. A Polish-manned fighter squadron of Mustangs should have been escorting the bombers over the target but they had not turned up. Moments after releasing the Tallboy, the rear gunner, Bill Gabriel, broke intercom silence stating, "Four Mustangs approaching on the starboard bow skipper". "Why bother turning up now," was Harris' reply as he inhaled on his traditional post-objective Woodbine. What the crew did not know was that the Germans had scrambled 9/JG5 in their FW190s from their base on Herdla Island, approximately 30-km north of Bergen. The four 'Mustangs' were now getting closer when mid-upper gunner Mac Williams (fourth from the left) shouted, "Christ, they're 190s, corkscrew starboard go!" Seconds later, Heinz Orlowski, flying his FW190, WHITE 11+0, was on PD198's tail and was putting a salvo of cannon fire into the bomber, which promptly put the hydraulics out of action. The four fighters proceeded to make 15 separate attacks as the big bomber was corkscrewing in every direction it could to evade the deadly cannon shells, ending up at 4,000-ft and descending when the final attack came in. Then, there was silence. All four of the German machines had used up their ammunition. 'Willing Winnie' was still airborne but was down to only 1,000-ft and was in very poor condition, with all of her turrets out of action. Orlowski admired the skill and bravery of the English pilot so he flew along the port side of the stricken 9 Squadron aircraft, smiled and then saluted. Ray Harris, instead of saluting back, drew his service revolver and shot at the fighter that had done so much to try and bring him and his plane down. Orlowski and the other three Germans then headed back to Herdla, landing at 13:45. It had been the only time he had seen a Lancaster during his entire Luftwaffe career.
Meanwhile, Flt Lt Ray Harris, with the help of two of the crew, including Flight Engineer Maurice Mellors (third from the right), had pulled 'Willing Winnie' onto a level course and was making for Bardney. Harris requested a crew report. Bill Gabriel reported that he had been hit by shrapnel and was losing a lot of blood, and Bill 'Jock' Brownlie, the wireless operator (third from the left in the crew photo and pictured at right), replied, "I think I have been shot up the arse skipper." Jim Parsons went to the back of the plane to help Gabriel to the plane's cot. Gabriel was in a very bad way and he was given morphine while bandages were applied to his wounds to stem the flow of blood. Bill Brownlie seemed to have just a slight graze to his lower back, so the crew assumed he had had a near miss. It was becoming obvious that the aircraft was so badly damaged that they would not be able to reach Bardney, so Harris asked the navigator, 'Doc' Young (far left in photo), for a heading to Carnaby. A few moments later, Harris was on the VHF wireless apprising the base of his machine's condition: "Hello Carnaby. Hello Carnaby. This is Rosen William coming in to land. Wounded on board. Stall under 160-mph. May not be able to use under carriage." Fire engines and ambulances were soon waiting on the runway. Harris tried the under carriage and was surprised and relieved when it locked down into position. The crew was told to take up crash positions just in case, but the under carriage held up and the robust Lancaster made a safe landing at 16:04. Bill Gabriel was immediately taken to a hospital in Driffield for an emergency operation to remove shrapnel from his leg. Afterwards, he was informed that the successful operation had been performed by a German POW doctor! The rest of the crew went to a small pub in Lissett and toasted their good fortune to be alive. The crew had survived to fight another day and, apart from Gabriel, were operational again by 3 February. Although it did survive the war, 'Willing Winnie' did not see any further action, although after repair, it did spend time with 103 and 57 squadrons. 'Willing Winnie' was eventually struck off charge on 22 May 1947.
However, in a cruel twist of fate, Bill Brownlie's seemingly minor wound proved more serious. Some years later, after some x-rays, it was discovered that a tiny sliver of shrapnel had in fact penetrated his spine. To the surgical techniques of the day, the wound was inoperable. Over the years, the shrapnel slowly and inexorably moved towards Bill's spinal column, eventually being the cause of his death on the 7 May 1964, almost two decades after that fateful encounter over the North Sea.
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In honor of all her crews and especially Bill Brownlie . . .Willing WinnieLancaster PD198, WS-W, 9 Squadron, RAF, January 1945. Little photographic evidence of 'Willing Winnie' has been discovered, so this scheme is based on other 9 Squadron Lancasters of the late war period. The serial number and code letters are acurate and placed based on the aforementioned reference schemes. The nose art is also accurate and is based on a photo of the original artwork done by Cpl Jack Pattison (who was also responsible for the art on a number of other 9 Squadron aircraft of the period), although the colors are a matter of conjecture. The mission tally is also based on an actual photo of 'Willing Winnie' with the colors based on other aircraft, yellow for day missions, red for night. |
BasePack Usage'Willing Winnie' is designed for the BasePack version of the Lancaster. However, she was in fact a bulged bombay, Tallboy-capable aircraft. The PlanePack Lancaster (Special) is Tallboy-capable, but it is done as a cutout bombay, which is not actually acurate. The 12,000-lb Tallboy bomb was in fact carried internally. The cutout method was only employed for the Upkeep 'Dambuster' mine and the 22,000-lb Grand Slam bomb. Nevertheless, the scheme is fairly compatible with the Lancaster (Special). To use it with said plane, simply move or copy the file Lanc.tif (it does not have to be renamed) contained in the zip file to the directory C:\ Fighter Squadron \ Media \ Aircraft \ Lancsp \ Textures (assuming you installed to the default directory path).
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