Personnel Index - Detail
Information received from Gordon McAllan (John's son).
I can readily identify my father, John Clyde McAllan, a member of Groundcrew, seated 9th from the right, in the front row on the 1943 Squadron photograph.
He was then aged 38 and he had volunteered from his home in Glasgow at the outbreak of war receiving his papers in 1941.
I recall his mentioning time at Honiley and Scampton, before moving to Fulbeck for the duration.
My father would talk of some of the technical aspects of Lancaster maintenance, of the occasional fear when an aircraft returned to base with bombs jammed in the bay and of his short-sighted anxiety as he manned anti-aircraft guns at the end of the runway, from time to time!
Of the more disturbing details of his working life in the RAF, however, he - like so many of his comrades - preferred to say very little.
Nonetheless, it was clear that he regarded his time in the service as rewarding, physically (he reckoned that it prevented his developing a middle-age spread!) and in terms of comradeship in shared purpose and determination.