Stories

When petrol was scarce, ingenuity was required at times. At the outbreak of the Second World War, petrol was the first commodity to be rationed in Britain as all petrol had to come from overseas. Then in 1942 petrol for private use was withdrawn completely. It was only available for work deemed essential, and a special permit was needed to obtain it. Harry Furner recounted a mischievous tale from RAF Burn ensured both a friend’s visit and an unforgettable prank on an unsuspecting workman. Such was the humour that sustained wartime airmen.

British Petrol coupon from September 1939.
(Credit: H.Kroll)

“Whilst at Burn (RAF Burn, North Yorkshire), Geoff, a crew mate of mine, wanted to visit his sister. She was a WRNS Officer and was on leave at their home in Yorkshire. He hadn’t seen her for some time and wanted to catch up. Geoff managed to get permission to go but couldn’t get any petrol for his motorbike.”

“The only source of petrol available was in a huge concrete mixer next to our billet. The mixer had two tanks on top, one for water and the other for the petrol. You could stand on the framework to access the bottom of the petrol tank which had a wing nut type arrangement with a nipple inside so when the nut was loosened it allowed the petrol to stream out. We used an old pint bottle to collect the petrol needed.”

“It was the job of one of the workmen to check the level of the petrol tank by banging on the side of it with a hammer. It used to wake us up in the morning! So after putting the petrol in the motorbike and getting Geoff on his way, a couple of us peed in the pint bottle and poured the contents back into the tank.”

“The next morning, after the workman was satisfied the tank level was okay, he started up the engine which after a short time began to splutter. He quickly checked, the cause was found and from our billet we could hear him using a great selection of adjectives to describe our parentage!”

Harry Furner, Mid-Upper Gunner, 35 Sq.
(Credit: NZBCA Archives)

Harry Furner was an RAFVR Mid-Upper Gunner who served on Lancasters with 35 sq.

On 23 June 1944, he was in the Marsden crew on an op to Coubronne, France in Lancaster TL-F (ND916), the first time we’d flown in a “F” for Freddy. After bombing the target (a V1 flying bomb launch site) they were attacked by a Junkers Ju88.

The first attack claimed the port inner engine which caught fire. The next attack caught Harry’s turret. The Perspex canopy shattered and he was showered in hot shrapnel.

Dropping from the turret he crawled towards the exit door, effectively uphill as the Lancaster was in a steep dive. He managed to get the exit door open but because of his injuries and the slipstream in the dive, was unable to get out.

The dive put out the flames and were able to struggle back to base and, with both gunners injured, given priority landing, but with the port wheel damaged in the attack and on three engines and it was a rough landing. The crew got Harry onto a stretcher inside the aircraft, sand took him out of the damaged bomber to wait for the ambulance. He recalled that “he had never felt as cold as I did then.”

His flying days were over 3 days before his 20^th birthday!

After recovering at Ely/the Convalescent home, Harry was sent home on compassionate grounds.

On 29 January 1945 he was posted to the 2^nd Installation Unit at RAF Kidbrooke  which was not far from home. It was a stores Depot and also a Barrage Balloon unit. He saw out the rest of the war there until he was discharged from the RAF on 23 May ’45.

He had been given a trade scholarship when the war broke out but that was put on hold. In 1951, despite having lost his left eye, Harry decided to take up the scholarship again and went to the Shoreditch Teachers Training College in Egham. He used to go down the hill in his lunch breaks to watch the stone masons building the Runnymede Memorial.

He and his wife emigrated to New Zealand in 1959 on the ’Ten Pound Pom’ scheme. They settled in Auckland, buying a house which was to be the family home. Harry then worked at Papakura Intermediate School as a woodwork teacher. He was then asked to be a founding member doing woodwork classes at Greenmeadows Intermediate School in Manurewa and became the leading woodwork teacher for the whole of Auckland city, finally retiring in 1989.