(One of the Best Log Books We've Seen, Recording 52 Of The Most Dangerous Sorties Of The War Including No Less Than ELEVEN Sorties as Master Bomber To BERLIN. Also the famous Peenemunde Raid on the V2 Research & Development Site. ) To: LAC-W/O Albert S. Palmer. 97 & 635 Sqds.KILLED-IN-ACTION 20th April 1944.
[BIOGRAPHY]Albert S. Palmer – known in the RAF as “Titch” – was born in Hackney in 1921 and worked as a cabinet maker in Walthamstow before enlisting in the Royal Air Force in 1939. After three years as a fitter, Palmer volunteered for aircrew duties in 1942 and remustered as a flight engineer. Following training at No 4 School of Technical Training at St Athan, in December 1942 he was posted to No 1660 Heavy Conversion Unit at Swinderby to join his crew and convert onto heavy bombers.
On 3 February 1943 Palmer’s crew, skippered by Flight Lieutenant Peter Clayton, was posted to No 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron. 97 Squadron was a No 5 Group unit, based at Woodhall Spa and equipped with Avro Lancasters. Palmer flew his first operation on 27 February – a minelaying trip to the Frisian Islands. If his first sortie was something of a milk-run, his second two nights later was a true baptism of fire. The target was Berlin, and although they bombed the city successfully, on the return trip they were coned by searchlights over Rostock and hit by flak in the port wing.
Albert Palmer’s first crew, Bourn 1943. Skipper Flight Lieutenant Clayton is standing third from the left. Palmer is kneeling with Sandy the spaniel.
In the next six weeks Palmer flew ten more operations, including five to the Ruhr and another to Berlin. Then in April 1943 97 Squadron moved to Bourn and was transferred to No 8 Group – the Pathfinder Force (PFF). Palmer’s crew spent the next few weeks practising target marking techniques, then on 11 June they resumed operations with a trip to Dusseldorf. In the next nine weeks Palmer flew a further eleven operations, including three to Cologne and a series of four to Hamburg, the latter codenamed Operation GOMORRAH and intended to destroy the Reich’s second largest city. Altogether 8,621 tons of bombs were dropped on Hamburg of which half were incendiaries. This high proportion of “fire bombs”, dropped with an unusually high degree of accuracy and concentration owing to the use, for the first time, of Window, caused a firestorm which engulfed 22 square miles of the city, destroyed 300,000 houses and killed 40,000 people.
On 17 August 1943 Palmer took part in one of the great raids of the war, the attack on the V-weapon research establishment at Peenemunde. Widespread damage was done to the workshops and scientists’ living quarters, thereby setting back the V-2 experimental programme by several months and reducing the scale of the eventual rocket attack. On 1 October Palmer completed his 30th operation – an uneventful trip to Hagen. For Main Force crews thirty operations marked the end of their tour, but PFF crews were required to fly fifteen more to make the most of their experience and expertise. This requirement almost cost him his life: three times in the course of the next seven operations his crew was attacked by nightfighters, and on the last such occasion, a trip to Leipzig on 20 October, their Lancaster was so badly damaged that they were forced to abandon the mission.[THE BATTLE OF BERLIN]With the return of the long winter nights, Sir Arthur Harris, C-in-C of Bomber Command, decided on an all-out attack on Berlin. Between 18 November 1943 and 30 March 1944 the RAF delivered sixteen major operations against the German capital, and this became known, retrospectively, as the Battle of Berlin. Altogether, 9,000 sorties were mounted against Berlin, as well as 11,000 sorties against other cities, notably Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hannover and Nuremburg. Bomber Command lost 1,047 aircraft missing – 5.1% of sorties dispatched – and a further 1,682 damaged or written off. For the bomber crews the Battle of Berlin was a nightmare. Night after night they took off, often in appalling weather, loaded to the aircraft’s limits with bombs and fuel for the seven-hour round trip. If that was not bad enough, they were now encountering the German nightfighter force at the summit of its wartime strength and effectiveness.
Flight Sergeant Palmer took part in no fewer than eight operations against Berlin in the winter of 1943-44, as well as seven trips to other targets. Palmer’s crew seemed to lead a charmed life: on several occasions they were shot up by enemy nightfighters, but each time they returned safely to Bourn. On 26 November 1943 they completed a double tour of 45 missions and were not obliged to fly operationally again. Palmer, however, volunteered to join another crew and continue on operations. His new skipper was Squadron Leader Donald Mansbridge AFC, and his first mission with his second crew was almost his last. On 16 December 1943 Palmer’s was one of twenty-one crews from 97 Squadron detailed for yet another attack on Berlin. When the crews returned in the early hours of the 17th they found a treacherous low-lying fog over East Anglia. Only nine Lancasters landed safely back at Bourn, including Palmer’s; four landed away, two crews baled out when they ran out of fuel; five crashed while trying to land; and one was missing. Thirty-five aircrew were killed and a further six seriously injured. The day became known as “Black Thursday”. 
Albert Palmer’s second crew, Bourn 1944. Skipper Squadron Leader Mansbridge is on the extreme left. Palmer is on the extreme right.
By now Palmer had completed 52 operations against some of the most heavily defended cities in Germany, including an incredible eleven trips to Berlin. He was awarded the DFM on 11 February 1944 and promoted to Warrant Officer. He was long overdue a rest from operations, but when in April 1944 his was one of a number of 97 Squadron crews chosen to form the nucleus of a new PFF squadron – No 635 – he volunteered to remain with his crew and continue flying.
In April 1944 the focus of Bomber Command’s operations switched from attacking German cities to assisting the preparations for D-Day. Of critical importance was the need to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the Normandy battle area, and a series of attacks were made on railway marshalling yards in northern France and Belgium. Palmer’s first operation with 635 Squadron was an attack on the marshalling yards at Ottignies on 20 April. Compared with the Battle of Berlin, the trip was expected to be a milk-run. His Lancaster, ND826, (F2-W) took off at 21:28 from Downham Market but failed to return with the loss of all seven crew. It crashed at Dion-le-Mont (Brabant) 4km ESE of Wavre, Belgium. The crew were initially listed as missing. It was subsequently established that the Lancaster had been shot down over the target. All the crew are buried together at Heverlee War Cemetery, Louvain, Belgium. 
Palmer's final Log Book entries (shown above) were written up and signed off by non other than Sqd/Ldr Ian Bazalgette, who, a short time later on 4th August 1944, won a posthumous VICTORIA CROSS.THIS IS A SERIOUSLY GOOD DFM WHICH EXEMPLIFIES THE SHEER EFFORT & STRUGGLE UNDERTAKEN AND THE SACRIFICES MADE BY THE BOYS OF BOMBER COMMAND DURING WORLD WAR TWO.ALL MEDALS ARE PRACTICALLY "MINT STATE"SOLD. With Part Exchanges Welcome