Night Bomber: Colin Bell

Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcast

Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell DFC AE FRICS RAF (retired) served in WW2 as a Mosquito Bomber Pilot. Celebrating his 100th Birthday next March, he talks all about his experiences as a pilot in WW2. His flying training was carried out in 1941 in the United States and he stayed there serving as a flying instructor until 1943. On his return to the United Kingdom in 1943 he converted to twin engine Mosquito Bombers and joined 608 Squadron (Pathfinder Group) based at Downham Market in Norfolk. During his operational tours he carried out 50 bombing raids over Germany, 13 of them over Berlin. He experienced much action and survived many close scrapes. This inspirational talk takes place in the Smoking Room at Highclere Castle, and was recorded for video as well as podcast as part of the History at Highclere weekend.

You can hear more episodes of Lady Carnarvon's Official Podcasts at https://www.ladycarnarvon.com/podcast/
New episodes are published on the first day of every month.

Chapters

1. Night Bomber: Colin Bell (00:00:00)

2. Flying in the war (00:02:56)

3. Close shave (00:11:11)

4. After the war (00:12:52)

5. Meeting his wife (00:14:49)

6. Family (00:19:37)

7. Looking after the ground crew (00:24:38)

8. Flying Fortress (00:26:16)

9. Mosquito engines (00:28:10)