Rear Gunner Flight Sergeant Nicholas S. Alkemade, 115 Squadron RAF Witchford (Trail 11)

March 24, 2025January 27, 2024 / Aviationtrails / 6 Comments

There have been many stories about bravery and acts of courage in all the Armed Forces involved in war. Jumping out of a burning aircraft at 18,000 ft without a parachute must come as one of those that will live on in history.

There have been a number of recorded incidents where this has occurred, and the crew member involved has lived to tell the tale. On the night of March 23rd/24th 1944, such a thing happened, and to the astonishment of both the Germans and the crew member, he survived to tell the tale.

Flt Sgt Nicholas Stephen (Nico Stephan) Alkemade was born the 10 December 1922 (believed to be North Walsham, Norfolk, England), and was just 21 years old on that eventful night. He was stationed at RAF Witchford in Cambridgeshire, England and operated as a rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber.

On the night of the 23rd March 1944, the squadron was called to report to briefing to find that their mission for that night would be Berlin, the heart of Germany. They would form part of an 811 strong force made up of Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mosquitoes. This was to be the final run over Berlin.

Later that night, Alkemade climbed into the rear turret of 115 Squadron RAF, 3 Group, Lancaster DS664 named ‘Werewolf’ and prepared himself for the coming raid which was to be his 13th mission.

Once over Oberkochen, nr, Frankfurt, Germany, the aircraft was attacked by a Luftwaffe Ju 88 night-fighters, it caught fire and began to spiral out of control.

Now fearing for his life, the aircraft burning furiously, he looked round for his parachute. Turrets being notoriously small, he was not wearing it and would have to find it from inside the fuselage and put it on before exiting the aircraft.

He found himself surrounded by fire, the heat melting his mask and his skin burning. The fuselage was by now a massive fire. It was at this point, that he noticed his parachute no longer on the rack but burning on the floor of the aircraft. In his recount later in life, he describes how he felt:

“For a brief moment I stared while it dissolved before my eyes. It was not so much a feeling of fear, or dismay, or horror, as a sensation, a sort of twisting in the stomach”.

The fire reached his turret, his clothes scorched, now began to burn. With two options, die in an inferno or jump, he rotated the turret, elbowed open the hatch and fell back, he was 18,000 feet (5,500 m) up. As he fell, he could see the stricken Lancaster explode, then the stars beneath his feet. As he gained momentum, breathing became difficult, again his account reads:

‘Funny, I thought, but if this is dying, it’s not so bad . Then the rushing air, the stars, the ground, the sky, all merged and were forgotten as unconsciousness crept over me…’

Three hours later, Alkemade opened his eyes and looked at his watch, it read 3:25. He had jumped just after midnight. cautiously, he moved each part of his body to find everything was alright, if not a little stiff.

It was at this moment he realised what he had done and that he was lying beneath pine tress in snow. It was these trees and snow that had saved his life. Cold and unable to move, he needed help. Taking out his whistle, he blew hard, and continued with alternate blows and smokes of his remaining cigarettes, until found, unfortunately for him, by a German patrol.

The Gestapo interrogated Alkemade, at first in disbelief of his story, but after examining the wreckage of his aircraft, they found the remains of his parachute and were so amazed by his escape, they (reputedly) gave him a certificate in acknowledgement of his testimony.

He was taken to Stalag Luft 3, North Compound, in Poland, and was given Prisoner number: 4175. On the night he jumped, 76 men escaped from the very same prison, an event that became known as ‘The Great Escape’.

Alkemade’s stay was initially very unpleasant, spending days in solitary confinement for being a spy. He was eventually billeted amongst other airmen in the very same hut that one of the tunnels was dug from. He, like other prisoners, was given a diary which was his only and most prized possession. In it he wrote about the boredom and monotony of prison life. He became friends with the artist Ley Kenyon, who added illustrations to his diary.

Sporadic letters from home kept his spirits up, and eventually the Allies reached the camp and he was set free.

Alkemade found out later that the Lancaster had crashed, killing the pilot Jack Newman and three other members of the crew. Both the wireless operator and Navigator survived being thrown clear on impact. The deceased are all believed to be buried in the CWGC’s Hanover War Cemetery. Alkemade was repatriated in May 1945. Post war he returned to Leicestershire, where he married Pearl with whom he had been sending letters and was employed initially in a chemical works (where he survived 3 chemical accidents) and then as a furniture salesman until his death on June 29th 1987, in Cornwall.

Nicholas Alkemade’s story, along with his whistle, is recorded in the RAF Witchford Display along with artefacts and other personal memorabilia from the crews and staff of the airfield. His diary and letters remain with his son in their Leicestershire home. Pictures from his diary were published in the ‘Leicester Mercury’ Newspaper, November 2013.

For more information about RAF Witchford see Trial 11.

The location of Both RAF Witchford and the Witchford display can be found on the Interactive map, Airfields, Museums and Memorials page.

Sgt. Nicholas Alkemade

P.O William Davis (Eagle Sqn) – March 18th 1941

March 18, 2025March 11, 2025 / Aviationtrails / 6 Comments

RAF Sutton Bridge, was a small airfield on the Norfolk / Lincolnshire border a few miles from the Wash off the north Norfolk coast. Before, during and after the war it served as training camp for new pilots, training them in the art of gunnery, utilising a firing range that had been in situ since 1926.

Many airmen of the RAF passed through Sutton Bridge, many of these were Commonwealth aircrew, some from Czechoslovakia and a few from the United States.

In the church yard behind the church of St. Matthew in the village, lie almost 60 graves of those who died in the fight for freedom, they are also joined by a German airman, foe united in death.

One such airmen is that of American Airman Pilot Officer William Lee Davis s/n: 61459 (RAFVR) who joined as part of the famed ‘Eagle’ Squadron, a group of volunteer American flyers who volunteered for the RAF before the United States joined the war.

P.O. Davis was from St. Louis and graduated at Central High School, before going on to attend Washington University. He was the son of William J. Davis of 4500 Arsenal Street, and a salesman in a cork and insulation firm in the area, when he joined up at the age of 25.

He left his job, signing with the Clayton-Knight Committee, a recruitment company for the Canadian and British Air Forces operating in the United States. He was initially stationed at Love Field in Dallas, where he received four weeks of intensive training in aerobatics, gunnery and combat flying. After qualifying here, he transferred to Ottawa, where he was commissioned and then sent onto England to further his training. He was the first person from St. Louis to obtain a Commission in the Royal Air Force obtaining a deferment of his draft in doing so. When asked about joining the RAF, he told reporters that it was “a matter of sentiment and heritage” citing his English grandfather’s role as an officer in the Boar war.

P.O. Davis was no stranger to flying, having been a flyer before signing up for the RAFVR, achieving a total of 225 hours flying time, a commercial pilots licence and an advanced CAA Licence.

After a four week training course in Dallas, Davis boarded a train for Canada, stopping off briefly in St. Louis to see his father and his girlfriend, before continuing his journey. Records show that Davis didn’t catch the boat other American pilots caught, instead he travelled by Flying Boat, arriving in England on the same day the boat his compatriots landed, March 5th 1941.

He like many others was most likely sent to No.3 Personnel Reception Centre at Bournemouth, before his posting to No.56 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Sutton Bridge. Here they completed their training and were then sent onto their respective operational squadrons.

There were something in the region of 156 American Airmen who found their way into 56 OTU, many passed through with little or only minor mishaps. For P.O. Davis though it was to be the end of his dream, in an accident that would take his life.

On March 18th, a week after his arrival at Sutton Bridge, P.O. Davis took off in Hurricane P5195 on a general map reading flight across the Lincolnshire Fens. This was only his second flight in a Hurricane, already having suffered a minor landing accident in his first. During this second flight he became lost in poor weather and low on fuel, and decided to put down on farm land at New Leake Fen near Boston. Unfortunately, the ground in the Fens was soft causing the undercarriage to dig in and flip the Hurricane on its back. In the resultant crash, P.O. Davis broke his neck killing him instantly. He was not only the first from St. Louis to die, but the first American from Sutton Bridge to die also.

A citizen of the United States, Pilot Officer William Lee Davis is buried in the Church yard of St. Matthew’s Church, Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire, Section P, Grave 56 – a long way from home.