There was an air raid shelter behind the guard room
at the entrance to the camp that had
a direct hit from a shell, from a bomb,
and there were some six airmen killed in that,
just one shelter.
A number of the hangars were hit,
I remember seeing the effects of cannon fire
on the end wall of a hangar.
They're reinforced concrete and these cannon shells
had gone right through the 18-inch thickness
of reinforced concrete and you could see
daylight through these holes.
A Women's Royal Air Force driver was driving
across the air field in a vehicle, on duty.
She was killed.
She was the first WRAF personnel to be killed
on active service in the Royal Air Force during that war.
I made a note here that some 12 or so Whitleys
were destroyed or damaged during this raid,
but most were replaced by the next day.
That was the extraordinary thing.
This happened on Monday and replacement Whitleys
were arriving at Driffield that afternoon.
It was as quick and as rapid and as efficient as that.
Most impressive.
