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Australia

Eric William Gibson was born in Nhill, Victoria, in 1915. His family were of the Primitive Methodist faith and his father was a  wheelwright in that town. His mother's brother, William Bennie Cochran,  had enlisted in the 21st Battalion,  A.I.F. in the year of Eric's birth, but was wounded and later killed in the 3rd Battle of  Paschaendale, Belgium, in late 1917. The family, Eric, his brother Ian and two sisters Jean and Willis and parents, moved from Nhill to Ararat at the end of that war, his father seeking work in his trade. The children were schooled at Ararat High School and were excellent students, both Eric Eric and Ian coming top of their class in various years. Their schooling was interrupted by the necessity of looking for work during those hard financial times, but work  was hard to find. Eric wanted to become a train driver but only managed to get a job as a 'bridge ganger' on the railways after initially having worked on a sheep station. Eric's father died early and the family struggled financially. Just prior to the commencement of the  Second World War, his mother, brother and one sister, decided to move to the other side of Victoria to the township of Yallourn, which had been set up by Sir John Monash as an electricity generating source next to a large coal mine. Eric gained employment in the power station, but not long after the outbreak of WW2, he initially enlisted in the army with the 114th Reserve Motor Transport Company situated in Caulfield. Both he and his brother had wanted to join the Royal Australian Air Force, but apparently it was not easy to get into in the early stages of the war. As the war progressed, the demand for R.A.A.F. personnel increased and in early 1941, Eric applied for entry into that service and was accepted.

He commenced aircrew training and completed initial training at No. 1 Initial Training School at Somers in Victoria and was accepted for pilot training. His next posting was was to No. 7 Elementary Flying Training School situated at Western Junction, (now Launceston Airport), in Tasmania where he learnt to fly in Tiger Moth Aircraft. Following this training, he and other pilot trainees on 23/06/1942 were conveyed to Calgary in Canada for further training on Cessna Crane twin-engined aircraft at No. 3 Service Flying Training School. Their passage to Canada was aboard a converted passenger ship, the U.S.S. Tasker H. Bliss, which was subsequently later torpedoed and sunk on 13/11/1942 during 'Operation Torch', the Allied invasion of North Africa. Among the Australian pilots onboard that ship enroute to Canada with Eric, was Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, who in later years, became an iconic Australian actor. Eric and 'Bud' met on several occasions later in life on Anzac Day reunions in Melbourne. 'Bud' passed away in 2009. Whilst in Canada, Eric enjoyed Canada and its countryside and revisited there later in life after his retirement. Whilst there, he caught up with his wartime tailgunner, Sgt. W. Dawson RCAF, who presented Eric with the nosepiece of of an incendiary bomb which had been found in, defused, and removed from an engine housing of their Lancaster bomber on return from a bombing mission in 1944. It was not unusual for aircraft to be hit by falling bombs released from friendly aircraft flying above and on this occasion they were extremely lucky that the bomb had not detonated. The inert nosepiece is in the possession of Eric's family as a reminder of how lucky he and his future family were on this occasion.

After completing training in Canada and arriving in Great Britain, Eric attended several R.A.F. operational training establishments and eventually to Heavy Conversion Units, which trained aircrew for operations in heavy bomber aircraft in Bomber Command where the demand for aircrew was very high due to losses. At that stage of the war, the Australian aircrew arriving in Great Britain were generally assigned to British squadrons. Eric's first operational squadron assignement was to 623 Squadron, No. 3 Group, R.A.F. at Downham Market on 23.10.1943. This squadron was equipped with Short Stirling four engined bombers and Eric and crew completed two 'gardening' sorties (minelaying) in November 1943 before the squadron was disbanded at the end of that month. Eric and crew were then put through conversion training to Mk II Avro Lancaster aircraft before being assigned to 115 Squadron at Witchford in Cambridgeshire. Their first bombing raid in a Lancaster, on 28/12/1943, was to the German capital, Berlin at the start of what was to become to be known as the battle of Berlin, at the start of what was to become known as 'The Battle of Berlin' and was the first of seven raids carried out on that target by Eric and his crew in the following months. During the five month operational period of the crew, up until the start of June 1944, they flew a total of 30 operational raids on enemy territory, their last being to Wissant on the 2nd of June just prior to the 'D' Day landings. During their 7 months of raids, their aircraft were attacked by enemy nightfighters on 3 occasions and survived. On the 30/3/1944, they took part  in the infamous 'Nuremburg Raid' when 95 Allied aircraft did not return to their bases, the most costly raid of the war. It was later related that you did not need to navigate to the target on that evening as you could follow the burning wreckage on the ground. On 18/04/1944, after a raid on Rouen, they were returning to base and before landing, were notified that German fighters were in the base area and were attacking returning bombers. Eric and crew diverted from landing at Witchford and successfully landed at nearby Downham Market airfield. Unfortunately, two of the squadron's returning aircraft did not receive the message and had been attacked in the vicinity of the Witchford base and shot down with the loss of all crew members. Eric and crew returned to Witchford the following day.

Having completed their 'tour' of thirty operations, the crew was stood down from combat duties. Eric had been promoted to Pilot Officer and then Flying Officer during his time at 115 Squadron. He was posted to several operational training units as an instructor and was recommended for the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross which was subsequently presented to him by King George VI at Buckingham Palace on 16th March 1945.

On his return to Australia after the war, Eric resumed his occupation with the State Electricity Commision at the Yallourn Power Station and married his pre-war sweetheart, Noella Brown. The marriage pruduced two sons and two daughters, all of who are very proud of their parents lifetime achievements. Eric never flew another aircraft, but did retain an interest in aviation. He rarely spoke of his wartime experiences, unless asked,  and it was only later in life that he did. In these later years, he did attend several 'Tasker H. Bliss No.22 Course Association' and also Anzac Day remembrance services with family members. During his career with the State Electricity Commision, Eric studied and became a Electrical Control Room Operator and then Supervisor, a position he held until his retirement. He always held Sir John Monash in high esteem. Eric died in 1999 at the age of 83 years. At the time of compilation of this biography (March 2022) Eric's younger sister Jean is still alive at the grand age of 103 years.