Flt Lt Bill Spence, Lancaster bomb aimer who became a successful romantic novelist

[Moggy]

Flight Lieutenant Bill Spence, who has died aged 101, completed 36 operations as a Lancaster bomb aimer. Later in life he became a successful novelist, and he had 76 books published under various pseudonyms.

During his bomber training he teamed up with his pilot Mike Wood, a Rhodesian. In August 1944 they were posted to 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, based near Lincoln.

On August 29 1944 they flew their first operation. The target was Königsberg in east Prussia and one at the extreme range for a Lancaster. Cloud cover resulted in a delay over the target of 20 minutes to allow the Pathfinder force to mark the target accurately. The force encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire, and 15 Lancasters were lost, but the raid was one of the most successful by Bomber Command....



https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/ ... -novelist/