F/O JJ Knowles
FLT. Office John Joseph Knowles - Bomb Aimer


Seyemon Kusumoto exhibited plans for gardens at Chelsea from 1930 to 1939 resuming in 1949. In 1936 and 1937 he designed Japanese style show gardens for Chelsea. He stopped exhibiting in 1952, but continued his garden design practice from offices in Egdware into the late 1950s. 

His most famous garden in England is Cheynes, Cottered, Hertfordshire. Seyemon was engaged to complete the design, incorporated a lake, streams, cascades, stone work, buildings, gates and arches with maples, azaleas, wisteria, bamboo and dwarf conifers. Kusumoto worked periodically over the next three years. The house is on the English Register (GD1545). 

John Joseph Knowles was born at 9 Allen Street, Middlesborough East, in the County of North Yorkshire on the 5th February 1921. John was the only child of John Joseph, an ex Army Soldier and Interior Decorator and his mother Mary Minnie Knowles (nee Blakeburn).

On the 20th July 1943, John married a Japanese lady called Toriye Kusumoto, a Shorthand Typist from Willesden, London NW2. Toriye was the daughter of Seyemon R Kusumoto and Ada Florence Kusumoto (nee Donaldoson, previously known as Busbridge). Seyemon Kusumoto, John's father in law, was a renowned Japanese landscape gardener. He was involved in the development of around 200 gardens in the UK.


Seyemon Kusumoto wrote that the Japanese garden generates "the best of natures handiwork in a limited space."

With the kind courtesy of the RHS, two archived photographs of Seyemon Kusumoto exist from his garden display in 1936 at Chelsea.
We believe the photo of Seymon and a young girl standing on the bridge during the build of the show garden, maybe John Joseph Knowles wife, Toriye, aged approximately 12 years. 
Records show that John Joseph Knowles attended the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) in Sweetgrass, Montana, USA, right is his border entry pass. 

The BCATP was a collaboration between two allied Governments plus the Royal Air Force and Canadian Air Force to safely and intensely train flight crews. It also seems that between travelling out to Montana on 1st January 1943 and marrying Toriye in July 1943, John's father died. 

John's duty on the flight to Stuttgart was that of Bomb Aimer. To take up his position in the aircraft, John would have had to squeeze past the Flight Engineer's station and down the nose. The Bomb Aimer would also man the nose turret when not actually on the bombing run, although he could also be called upon to assist the Navigator by map-reading, always assuming the ground was in sight. 
A Bomb Aimer would lie facing forward, his chest propped on an adjustable support. Beneath him was the forward escape hatch, which would also be used by the Flight Engineer and the Pilot, in the latter case if he could reach it in time before the aircraft went completely out of control. 

To the right of the Bomb Aimer was the bomb fusing and selection panel. It was essential that the bombs were released in a predetermined order from the bomb bay if unwanted changes to the aircraft's trim were to be avoided. 

For this, a selector box was used. The bombs themselves were released by a hand-held "tit" which had a small guard above the button to prevent accidental release of the bomb load. 

Also on the panel were camera controls and photo-flares which enabled a picture to be taken of the aim point. The bomb sight itself was of the vector type, into which the aircraft speed and altitude were set, together with the ballistic data for the type of bombs carried, and the estimated wind speed and direction. 
The sight was gyro-stabilised, which allowed banked turns to be made during the run up to the target. Two lines of light on a reflecting screen form a cross which indicated when the bomb will drop at any given moment. 

Over the intercom, the Bomb Aimer guided the Pilot to a position where the extension of the vertical line passed through the aim point. When the bomber was lined up correctly, the aim point appeared to slide gradually down the vertical line. Then when the cross touched the target, the Bomb Aimer pressed the "tit" and down went the bombs, bringing destruction to the target below. 
When not engaged in dropping bombs, the Bomb Aimer occupied the nose turret, with its two machine guns. At night he probably had little to do; rarely was visibility clear enough to allow the night flights to attack head-on. In daylight or at low-level the situation may well have been different, and it may even have been that the turret needed to be occupied even on the bombing run. This gave rise to a problem; the gunner had no footrest, and in moments of excitement could have stood on the Bomb Aimer's head, to say nothing of showering with hot empties when he fired the guns. 

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