Local stories: Francis Campbell

Francis (Frank) Campbell was born in Wavertree, Liverpool on 28 March 1913. His civil occupation was 'Tailoring Manager', but during the Second World War he worked as a Royal Air Force Physical Training Instructor, (PTI.)

In 1941 Campbell was stationed at RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland and had direct encounters with aircraft sent over as part of the Lend-Lease Act. Its location made it an important station for RAF Coastal Command during the Battle of the Atlantic, (1939-1945.) From the base, long-range reconnaissance aircraft were able to patrol the Eastern Atlantic for U-boats, (German submarines.) Campbell remembered seeing multiple unarmed American aircraft arriving in Northern Ireland under the Lend-Lease Act. 

He also recalled flying in an aircraft from RAF Aldergrove to Liverpool to see his wife. He only had his RAF greatcoat, cap and scarf to keep warm and he felt extremely cold. He saw a red lever in the aircraft and contemplated moving, thinking it was a heater, but since he had no communication with the pilot or navigator he decided not to. 

On arrival in Liverpool, he thanked the aircrew and mentioned his dilemma with the red lever to the pilot, who said:

If you had moved that, you would have ended up in the Irish Sea because that was the manual release lever for the bomb bay doors.

The lever was used in case the cockpit controls proved faulty. Unbeknown to Campbell, he had been sitting in an empty bomb bay. It is likely the aircraft was a Lockheed Hudson, an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force and lent to Britain under the Lend-Lease Act.

Campbell was stationed at RAF Uxbridge in 1944 and recalled working alongside numerous American service personnel. Numbers had increased across RAF stations after the signing of the Lend-Lease Act and before America's official declaration of war in December 1941.

Campbell's son, John recently recalled some memories that Frank shared with him of his time at Uxbridge. Due to staff shortages on one occasion, he was tasked with guarding the Bunker - Operations Room for Headquarters No.11 Group. Such was the secrecy of the site, that Frank did not have any idea what he was guarding until the 1980's.

Whilst at Uxbridge, Campbell trained personnel from various countries, with Americans representing a large proportion of the trainees. Campbell stated that he would often see United States Air Force (USAAF) aircraft return to RAF Northolt from combat missions badly damaged, with servicemen he had trained injured or killed.

On another occasion he experienced an incident of USAAF personnel refusing to train together due to racial tensions. He went to see the relevant RAF and USAAF officers and the outcome was that according to protocol, because they were training on a RAF base under the command of King George VI, all personnel had to train together.

Frank Campbell was released from the Royal Air Force in 1946 and died in 1997.

Information kindly provided by John Campbell.

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