WAR: RAF U-Boat hunter tells of lucky escapes from death

APRIL 6, 1940 was an important day for 26-year-old Bob Skyrme.

In the morning he joined the Royal Auxiliary Air Force and in the afternoon he married the love of his life, Kathleen.

Bob, who is now 95, became an observer and navigator and later a bombing leader for the RAF’s coastal command.

They would escort convoys delivering supplies across the Atlantic to Britain and target German U-boats.

During the war, Bob was based in several locations including Devon, Wick in Scotland and Reykjavik in Iceland.

Between 1942 and 1946, Bob estimates he went on as many as 200 flights.

Bob, who lives at the Prince George Duke of Kent Court care home in Shepherds Green, Chislehurst, said: “At the time there were about 800 U-boats all over the world.

“The aim was to try and kill the submarines and escort the convoys.

“They used to sink all our ships. U-boats were sinking our ships faster than we could build them.

“Many crews never saw a U-boat, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but we found two U-boats.”

Bob trained for the RAF with 6,000 cadets and then one day six people’s names were called out, including Bob’s.

He said: “I thought what’s going on? An officer said I can’t tell you where you are going, it’s very hush hush.”

The six cadets were sent to Miami, where they were trained in astro navigation by American PanAm pilots.

While sailing to America, Bob got a taste of things to come.

Bob said: “I remember the last ship in a convoy was torpedoed.

“We saw this huge explosion, the ship started listing and went down in the water.

“All the crew went into the sea but we couldn’t stop.

“If we had stopped to rescue them the U-boat would have sunk our ship.

“It was an unwritten rule we never stopped to pick anybody up.”

Bob, who has two great grandchildren, says he had more than one lucky escape from death.

A broken arm sustained during a rugby match kept Bob from flying in one particular practice mission.

The crew he would have flown with crashed into the sea killing all six men on board.

New crews would usually be accompanied by a bombing leader on their first operational flight as a morale booster.

As a bombing leader, Bob was due to fly with one new crew, but the pilot assured him it wasn’t necessary.

Instead Bob went to the mess party and later found out all other crews had returned safely except the one he had nearly flown with.

Bob, who was in the 612 County of Aberdeen squadron, said: “I think they probably spiralled out of the sky and into the sea.

“I could have easily been on that plane.”

Of the 33 crews in Bob’s squadron, only three survived.

With six in each crew, 180 died in combat and practice missions.

Bob said: “You had to shrug it off and say bad luck, or good luck in my case.”