Veteran, 100, remembers D-Day from Normandy skies

Jack Warner, 100, served in the RAF during World War Two and flew over the Normandy beaches on D-Day

An RAF veteran who flew over the Normandy beaches on D-Day has shared his experiences on the 80th anniversary of the invasion on 6 June 1944.

Jack Warner, from Huddersfield, who is now 100 years old, served as a flight engineer during World War Two.

He said he was just 20 years old when he was responsible for looking after a Halifax bomber's engines as it flew over Normandy on the morning of the D-Day landings.

Mr Warner said: “If the pilot got shot, I would have to dodge into the seat and take his place."

The bomber's crew had been tasked with flying over the beaches to attack German gun emplacements just ahead of the biggest seaborne invasion in history.

However, Mr Warner said things did not go quite as planned in the early hours of 6 June.

"We bombed at 20,000ft, it was too high. We couldn’t see the ground," he said.

"We should have been down at 5,000ft, where you could see all the details."

Mr Warner said certain gun emplacements on the Normandy beaches had been missed due to their height.

"They should have gone in low and made sure those gun emplacements were taken out before the lads went in," he said.

Mr Warner logged 37 trips in the Halifax bomber during his time as a flight engineer with the RAF in World War Two

Despite this, Mr Warner said he felt "lucky" to be at that height for his own safety, believing he could have easily died if the plane had been flying lower.

"We were in a safety position at 20,000ft because all the guns were pointing at the ground troops," he said.

"Nobody in the Air Force knew, so it was a piece of cake for us really, we were just watching what was going on below.”

Mr Warner estimated that he was only in the skies above Normandy for around 20 minutes, before he and his crew headed home.

After being interviewed by RAF colleagues, he said he went to bed and was tasked with going back to France the next day.

'Good experience'

In that later mission over France, Mr Warner said he and his crew had to knock out a railway station, which was being used to transport armaments to the Germans.

"We flattened the lot but, unfortunately, nearly at the station, someone dropped a bomb on one of our planes and a lad was lost," he said.

"But we came back home as usual, had our bacon and eggs and went to bed."

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The RAF veteran said he had kept a flight log, which detailed around 37 flights he had made in the Halifax bomber.

He later received the Distinguished Flying Medal for his service in the RAF, where he also met his wife Margaret.

"I thought it was a good experience, I would have done it all again," Mr Warner said.

He added that he would be marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day with a drink.

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