A New Zealand Lancaster Pilot’s War
By Sheena Mackay

Gordon William Burness, a New Zealander, was the middle son of Arthur John Burness and his Scottish wife Elsie Fraser MacKay, my great aunt. In 1941, at the age of 20, Gordon enlisted in the RNZAF and was selected for pilot training; first on Tiger Moths and then on Airspeed Oxfords at Wigram, where he qualified as a pilot in June 1942. He was shipped off to England for further training.
 
In December he was posted to 29 OTU at RAF North Luffenham, where he crewed up with four of what would become his full crew: Navigator Sgt D Hawkins, Bomb Aimer Sgt S Jeapes, Wireless Op Sgt I Warren and Mid-Upper Gunner Sgt F Castle. They trained on Wellingtons until April 1943, after which they completed their training at 1661 HCU at RAF Winthorpe on Avro Manchesters and then Lancasters. There they were joined by their final two crew members, Flight Engineer Sgt K Peacock and Rear Gunner J Nicholson. While still at 1661 HCU Sgt Burness had his first experience of a bombing raid on Duisburg. It was his first ‘second dickey’ flight, with Flt Sgt Shneir and crew of 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron.
 
A week later they joined 44 Squadron at RAF Waddington and after Sgt Burness returned from another ‘second dickey’ flight with Sqn Ldr Haywood  and crew, the Burness crew were ready to start their tour of operations. 
 
Their first sortie was a raid on Dortmund, followed in quick succession by Dusseldorf, Essen and Wuppertal. During four weeks in May the Burness crew had completed four sorties and five aircraft had been lost, along with most of the crews. There was no easing into the reality of what they were facing. At the end of May the Squadron moved to RAF Dunholme Lodge.
 
June saw them complete raids on Dusseldorf, Bochum, Oberhausen, Cologne and Krefeld. In July they completed two raids on Cologne, then Gelsenkirchen and Turin. Their Squadron Commander, Wg Cdr J D Nettleton VC, failed to return from this raid. This was the last time Rear Gunner J Nicholson flew with them and I have found no further trace of him.
 
On 16 July 1943 the Burness crew took part in a 5 Group raid from RAF Scampton. The target was  Reggio and they planned to land in Blida for rest and refuelling. However, they were badly shot up and had to make an emergency landing at Maison Blanche. This story is relayed by Navigator Des Hawkins, in Alan White’s book ‘The King’s Thunderbolts’. They would spend much of July in North Africa awaiting repairs and an improvement in the weather back at base. Eight days later they returned to RAF Dunholme Lodge, having taken in a raid on Reggio en-route. Thankfully it seems there were no incidents this time. A raid on Hamburg completed July operations for the Burness crew.
 
Just one raid in August before a rest break; another raid on Hamburg, with poor visibility and severe electrical storms. They failed to bomb the target and in typical laconic style Burness records ‘Weather U/S’. The Burness crew did not take part in the ill-fated Peenemunde raid, but their first Flight Engineer, Tom Weston, was among those lost when three aircraft failed to return. Later in August they took part in three more raids on Leverkusen, Berlin and Nuremberg. 
 
In September there were further raids on Berlin, Munich and Mannheim. In October there was just one op, a raid on Hanover. Their last op with 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron was a raid on Dusseldorf on the night of 3/4 November. Onboard was a new young pilot on his ‘second dickey’ flight, Sgt J Chatterton. In his biography ‘Ploughshare and Shining Sword’ by Richard Underwood, he recalls crouching low in his seat and the Skipper, ‘Ace’ Burness, telling him “Geddup! You are supposed to be enjoying this!” Flt Sgt Burness was awarded a DFC for his actions that night, so it is fair to assume that this was something of a ‘baptism of fire’! 

Soon after, the crew was transferred to the newly-formed 630 Squadron at RAF East Kirkby, where they took part in the first three raids of the Battle of Berlin. Arriving on 15th November 1943 to an unfinished airfield, they completed their tour with three raids on Berlin in five days. Little more than two weeks after joining 630 Squadron, they had transferred out and were gone.
 
Gordon Burness returned to 1661 HCU as a pilot instructor for the rest of the war. He was awarded an AFC for his outstanding services to training. He was just 23. Des Hawkins initially went on to be a Navigator instructor but later joined 625 Squadron where he was part-way through his second tour of duty when the war ended. Sidney Jeapes took on a second tour with 9 Squadron but was killed on 25th April 1944. Kenneth Peacock still had ops to fly to complete his tour. He stayed with 630 Squadron and joined the Allen crew. He was killed on 25th March 1944, his 27th op, aged 21. I have no further information on the rest of the crew, though they all appear to have survived the war.
 
In this 80th anniversary year I am fundraising for the PX611 ‘Just Jane’ wings fund in Gordon’s memory. It seems fitting as he completed his tour of duty at her home. I am aiming to walk 630 km to represent his final squadron between the dates of his tour. If anyone would like to make a donation, I would be extremely grateful. My GoFundMe page is: https://gofund.me/4155e0df

Sheena Mackay

Gordon Buness