A Thousand and One: A Flight Engineer Leader's War from the Thousand Bomber Raids to the Battle of Berlin

Flight Lieutenant Humphrey Phillips DFC, MiD (twice) had an exciting war. Originally trained as a flight mechanic, he became one of the very first of the new breed of flight engineers. Posted initially to 103 Squadron, he was allocated immediately to the Conversion Flight, helping to convert new crews from two engines to four. While ‘instructing’, he was flight engineer to many of the famous names of the time – ‘Daddy’ Lashbrook, Peter Robinson, and Harry Drummond – and flew in the first two of the historic, showpiece 1000 Bomber raids against Cologne and Essen as part of a scratch crew of tour-expired instructors. Posted to 1656 Conversion Unit he became the flight engineer leader, flying regularly with the unit’s Commanding Officer, David Holford, Flight Commander, Eric Campling, and two ‘crazy’ Australians – ‘Bluey’ Graham and ‘Shorty’ Fahey who became legends in the RAAF for their flying skills and mad antics. He also survived a number of scrapes with novice pilots (many who went on to have distinguished careers) and was Mentioned in Despatches for inventing two devices to instruct new engineers on the Lancaster’s fuel and hydraulics systems. Keen to operate, he was eventually hand-picked by Wing Commander Philip Haynes to join his crew for a tour with 626 Squadron, at the height of the Battle of Berlin. He was also the squadron’s flight engineer leader. When not flying with the CO, he flew with both Flight Commanders, and on one operation his Lancaster was struck by incendiaries, seriously injuring the mid upper gunner and obliging them to crash land. His crew included the famous naturalist, Eric Simms, who was an early ‘star’ of the BBC. Humphrey survived his tour, was awarded the DFC, and returned to instructing, being once more Mentioned in Despatches with 1668 HCU before the war’s end.