Coals to Newcastle? Cinders to Bradwell Bay

Written by Cliff Adams, former 418 Squadron Association Vice President and Historian

A small front-page entry from Wings Abroad (The Official R.C.A.F. Newspaper) Vol. 1 No. 19 and dated London, Wednesday, August 26, 1942, caught my eye a while ago as I was researching the role of 418 Squadron R.C.A.F. in Operation Jubilee (also known as the Dieppe Raid). It struck me that the folly of carrying coals to Newcastle, like the folly of the Dieppe Raid and the story of cinders to Bradwell Bay made for some irony. The Cinders article is copied below.

Cinders Article

Checking the Operations Record Book, an inconspicuous entry from 22/23 August 1942 showed the minimal information available for some sorties by the crews of 418 Squadron R.C.A.F. Normally more information is provided in the accompanying "Form 541" which is a summary of operations on a particular date. In this case, with the loss of 2/3rds of a Boston Crew and their aircraft only 3 days before Operation Jubilee, the Cinders incident was lost in the noise of the larger battle. The ORB entry is produced below along with the 'translation' to make it easier to read.

Notably, the pilot was RAF and it is somewhat of a mystery and a regret that P/O White was not mentioned in the newspaper article. 418 Squadron crews were integrated with RAF and other Allied Forces personnel throughout the war and fought beside each other for a common purpose.

Written by Cliff Adams, 2020