On the 30th of May 1944, just a week before D-Day, a new batch of trainee airmen arrived at RAF Chipping Warden, near Banbury in England. Pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, wireless operators and gunners. It was here at No.12 Operational Training Unit that they would form into crews and begin training to fly the RAF's ‘heavy’ bombers.

Among the new intake were three New Zealanders, two Canadians and an Englishman who somehow found each other and decided to make up a crew. Later they were joined by a young Scottish flight engineer and completed their training to operate the legendary Lancaster bomber. They would go on to fly 32 war operations together with 75(NZ) Squadron RAF, 19 of those in one particular aircraft, Lancaster HK601 JN-D "Dog".

Dog herself would go on to complete 84 operations and survive the war, a remarkable feat. However, on her very last trip, one particularly frightening night over Eastern Germany, Dog and her crew almost didn't come back.

Johnny Wood, Jack Pauling, Jim Hooper, Gerry Newey, Doug Williamson, Jack Cash, Ralph Sparrow, Dennis Jones, Alan Rowe, Ron Schoefield and others.

This website is dedicated to the boys who flew Lancaster JN-D "Dog" and the boys on the ground who kept her in the air.

Start hereIntroduction

The first JN-Dog

Amazingly, pieces of the very first Lancaster to carry the JN-D code have survived. 75 (NZ) Squadron began the long-anticipated conversion from Short Stirling bombers to Avro Lancasters in March 1944. In the first week of April, Sergeant Frank Scott …

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The Nest Builders – Stories & Paintings

The Nest Builders – Stories & Paintings, by Janet Williamson Last year Janet Williamson, wife of the late Dougie, our Flight Engineer, published a tribute to her and Dougie’s life of travelling and home-building together, from Canada to New Zealand, …

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Farewell Phil

Philip Gerald NeweyFebruary 20, 1949 ~ April 26, 2024 Very sad to report the recent passing of Gerry Newey’s oldest son Phil, after a long illness. A larger than life personality, Phil had managed to keep his health issues from the rest …

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A char and a wad

This photo appeared in the book “Lancasters At War 3”, by Garbett & Goulding, but we have just come across a sharper version that tells a more interesting story. Flight Sergeant Tapua (Tap) Heperi was the Wireless Operator in the Doug Clement …

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Maximum Effort – the poem

Kevin King, Chairman of the Friends of 75 (NZ) Squadron Association in the UK recently sent me a copy of this poem, written from the perspective of the ground crews at Mepal, working hard day and night to keep 75 (NZ) Squadron’s Lancasters …

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Woodbridge ‘prang drome’

On the Wood crew’s very first op together, the daylight Duisburg operation on the 8th of December 1944, they experienced engine problems that forced them to fall behind the main bomber stream, arriving over the target well after the others had gone. Coming …

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Bob & Jenny’s day

One of the intriguing entries in Gerry Newey’s 1945 diary refers to him taking leave to be a witness at a friend’s wedding.   On the 9th of March he writes: “Saw Bob Bawden to arrange his wedding which is …

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Gerry in Canada, 1943

Another Newey family photo album has recently been scanned and these “new” images have surfaced, taken during Gerry Newey’s Wireless Operator / Air Gunner training in Canada, in the summer and fall of 1943. Gerry had sent them home to …

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Farewell Dougie

Such sad news, Dougie Williamson passed away last Saturday. He had spent a few days in hospital, then was sent home about 10 days ago. I knew that he was still unwell but it was a real blow to hear …

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Dougie & Janet at home

The last of the JN-Dog Boys, Dougie Williamson, is living a very comfortable life with his wife Janet, here in Auckland, NZ. A recent issue of “Haven” lifestyle magazine featured the stylish Westmere home shared by three generations of the …

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