Remembering the Crew of Lancaster ND474
Sgt D B Birbeck
Sgt. Douglas Brigg Birbeck - Mid Upper Air Gunner
We believe that the brass memorial vase that stands on the War Memorial in St. John's Church was commissioned by Douglas' maternal Grandparents. Douglas' had the middle name of Brigg which was also his Grandmother's maiden name.
Douglas Brigg Birbeck was born in the area of north Bierly, in the West Riding of Yorkshire during the last quarter of 1922.
Douglas was the only child of Leonard and Florie Birbeck (nee Smith).
His parents were married on 7th September 1921, at St.John's the Baptist Church, Clayton Lane, Clayton, Bradford, Yorkshire.
Douglas' grandparents were Vincent Smith and Sarah Brigg, William Birbeck and Martha Birbeck (nee Breese).
St John The Baptist, Clyaton
In the 1930's Douglas and his parents owned a newsagents shop in St John's Road, Waterloo, Liverpool and he attended the local Grammar school.
In 1955, Leonard and Florie Birbeck retired to Lytham St Annes but returned to Waterloo three years later.
Florie Birbeck died in 1964 and Leonard Birbeck died in 1972.
Sadly it is not been possible thus far, to find out more information about Douglas Brigg Birbeck, although we are still looking for relatives who may have known him. We do know that he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve and elected to be a Mid Upper Gunner.
In this position, Douglas would have, after stowing his parachute in its place high to the right of him, climbed into his turret via a step on the left of the fuselage. Access was not easy due to the seat design, which forced him to squeeze past before he could enter the turret.
The Mid Upper Gunner had only two machine guns and although his turret could traverse through 360 degrees, it gave him a grandstand view all around. However his field of fire was obstructed, to the rear by the tail of the place and the fine, on each side by the wings, engines and propellers, and straight ahead by the Navigator's astro-dome.
The turret was surrounded by a fairing which contained a cam track. By restricting the movement of the guns, this ensured that he couldn't damage his own aircraft when firing. When the guns were elevated at 20 degrees or more, turret traverse was fast and smooth, but below this it was much slower.
This was to avoid damage to the turret firing at full depression, but in action, it was a serious disadvantage as it made tracking a fast moving enemy fighter very difficult.
In an emergency the Mid-Upper Gunner had to squirm out of the turret, retrieve his parachute from its stowage and depart through the door by which he entered. Just ahead of the mid-upper turret was an escape hatch in the fuselage rood, which was to be used in the event of a crash landing or a ditching at sea.
In the latter event, a dinghy was housed in the upper surface of the starboard wing, which could be released manually from inside the aircraft, and this should have inflated automatically if the Lancaster came down in the 'drink', as the seas and oceans were generally known. The walls in this area of the fuselage were cluttered with fire extinguishers and flame float and sea marker canisters.
When Douglas Brigg Birbeck climbed into his turret on 15th March 1994, he was 21 years old. We continue to search for his family in the hope that they will learn of his bravery and sacrifice for our future freedom.
