By Gavin McGrath. Topic: World War 2. Supplied: Australian War Memorial, accession no. But 80 years ago, he was a young warrant officer working as a wireless operator and tail gunner aboard a Vickers Wellington.
Bert celebrated his th birthday in January. Supplied: Squadron Association. Much of his time in the air was spent trying to find lone-wolf submarines trying desperately to avoid detection. Originally developed as a medium bomber, the Vickers Wellington also hunted submarines. On the rare occasion a German raider would appear on a bomber's radar system, things would instantly become tense.
It's a scary business knowing you have a fired-up explosive in your aircraft with you. Mr O'Leary, one of three known living Squadron veterans, said he would not attend as he was now in a nursing home. The two others are Bill Wake, another wireless operator-air gunner, and ground crew mechanic Charles Humbles, both of whom live in the United Kingdom.
Bert said it was important to remember not only what happened eight decades ago, but also the people who were involved. It didn't take long for me to realise that it ain't so. I learned to value each day and that's still with me today. Bert enlisted in the RAAF at the age of 18, and admits he was naive. Each Wellington's six-man crew consisted of a pilot, co-pilot, navigator and three wireless-air gunners.
Bert's skipper was experienced former commercial pilot Ken Rosen, the co-pilot was Sydney Cookes and the navigator Daniel Roberts. Bert O'Leary kneeling in front with the rest of his flight crew in But his best mates were fellow wireless-air gunners Syd Hamilton and Frank Reed.
