John's story: Destroying enemy E-boats

At age 21, John was a navigator in a Bristol Beaufighter, responsible for spotting and attacking German ships intent on destroying Allied forces.

"Growing up, I was fascinated by aeroplanes. So when war broke out in 1939, the Royal Air Force was always going to be a clear choice for me.

"As soon as I turned 18, I was accepted for training as a navigator. I was posted to 143 Squadron Coastal Command in Lincolnshire and introduced to my aircraft, the Bristol Beaufighter.

"The aircraft was equipped with cannons and machine guns, and our objective was to attack enemy shipping travelling along the coast of Europe."

The missions were fraught with danger.

"We had radar to help us, but we really couldn’t see much. We went out every night but we’d only had a little training in bombing so it was very hit and miss.

"They were shooting at us with anti-aircraft cannons which were quite effective so it was very scary at times.

"I remember one night very vividly, when there was so much fire going off around us that I was convinced there was no way we would make it out alive. But somehow we did."

He went on to witness the famous Nuremberg trials.

"At the end of the war, our squadron was given a very special duty to perform, to provide a courier service for the Nuremberg trials, carrying official reports of the war crimes back to London.

"I was sat in a room adjacent to the courtroom with a huge glass window, so I could see all the Nazi leaders sitting there, like Goring and Hess.

"It was really quite surreal as we’d obviously all read so much about them and how powerful they were. It was amazing to be there and see them being brought to justice.”