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Sergeant Albert Amos RAF. 166 and 576 Sqdns
Albert Amos 3rd from left above
Albert Amos was born on the 3rd January 1921 and lived with his parents in Ashford, Kent, England with his half brother Elmer and brother Des. In 1937 he worked as a farm hand at a local farm and a year later left to join the RAF and train as ground crew.
Albert was posted to 2 Depot, Cardington in July 1938 and then to 5 Wing RAF Halton No 1 School of Technical Training in October 1938 followed by a move to 1 Wing RAF Hednesford No 6 School of Technical Training in April 1939. He was posted to 48 Squadron, who flew Avro Ansons from Eastchurch in Kent, in July 1939 and returned to Hednesford with the Squadron on the early in 1940. From there he moved on to No 2 Wing of No 2 School of Technical Training at Cosford and then to 150 Squadron which at this time was operating Fairey Battle light bombers from Newton. At this time he held the rank of AC2 and his record shows his trade as Fitter IIA, his character as Very Good and his proficiency as Superior.
A transfer to the Middle East followed in September 1941 and he was posted to Heliopolis, which was a large RAF base near Cairo, Egypt. For a time Albert appears to have been attached to BARU, the British Airways Repair Unit, and in June 1942 he transferred to 208 Squadron which was flying Hawker Hurricanes and based at several desert landing grounds during this period. In January 1943 he went to No 73 Middle East Operational Training School Nile and then to No 73 Operational Conversion Unit which was at Abu Sueir near to Cairo and specialised in fighter bomber training.
Whilst in the Middle East Albert was hospitalised on 2 occasions although the reason for this is not clear. In July 1943 his half brother Elmer, who was a Flight Engineer with 103 Squadron, was killed in action. At this time the RAF had a shortage of Flight Engineers and Albert volunteered for this duty was accepted and returned to the UK on the 15th October 1943.
After attending No 3 ACRC and CRC he was posted to No 4 School of Technical Training at St Athan, South Wales. During this time he spent a few days at one of the Avro factories where the Lancaster bombers were made.
On completion of his Flight Engineers training Albert was promoted to Sergeant and was then transferred to No 11
Base 1656 Heavy Conversion Unit where he joined the crew of Flying Officer A McNeill RCAF. After completion of training this crew were transferred to 166 Squadron at Kirmington in Lincolnshire on the 10th August 1944.
They commenced operations on the night of the 25/26th August 1944 taking part in a night raid on Russelheim and in the next 6 weeks Albert flew 14 operations with this crew. The crew were detailed to fly a daylight operation to Duisburg on the 14th October but for some reason, probably sickness, Albert could not take part and his place in the crew was taken by Sergeant W G Angles RAF. Sadly they failed to return when their Lancaster was hit by bombs dropped from an aircraft flying above and all were killed.
Now without a crew Albert was transferred to 576 Squadron on the 19th October 1944. At this time the Squadron was based at Elsham Wolds but moved to a new base at Fiskerton on the 31st October 1944. Here he joined the crew of Flight Lieutenant G A Campbell RCAF. They started flying operations on the night of the 6/7th December 1944 with a raid on Merseburg and flew operations continually through the winter of 1944/45.
Albert seems to have been in demand as a Flight Engineer because he also flew with the crews of Squadron Leader
B Templeman-Rooke DFC to Wiesbaden on the 2/3rd February 1945 and Wing Commander B D Sellick DFC and bar to Politz on the 8/9th February 1945. Squadron Leader Templeman-Rooke was A Flight Commander and Wing Commander Sellick was the 576 Squadron Commanding Officer. In addition he flew with Flying Officer E J Pollard RAAF and crew on a daylight raid on the 24th March to attack the Harpenerweg benzol plant at Dortmund.
On the 31st March 1945 Albert flew with his own crew in a daylight attack on the Blohm & Voss shipyards at Hamburg. The Squadron records state that Sergeant Amos was officially screened after this operation which means that he had finished his tour of operations. He continued to fly with the crew of Flight Lieutenant Campbell on another 3 operations finally completing his tour on the 22nd April 1945 with a daylight raid on Bremen in preparation to the assault on the city by the British XXX Corps. Flight Lieutenant Campbell and crew were screened soon after.
Albert had flown 14 operations with 166 Squadron and 22 with 576 Squadron, 36 in total.
On the 30th May 1945 he was posted to 1333 Transport Support Conversion Unit at Leicester East and soon after to 48 Squadron which operated Dakotas from Down Ampney. Albert was hospitalised again in August 1945 and returned to 48 Squadron which was transferred to Patenga in Burma in September 1945. He was promoted to Flight Sergeant in December 1945.
He left the RAF in March 1946 and married Sylvia Ellen Farmer at his hometown of Ashford in May of that year and they later had a son called Andrew John. Albert re-enlisted in the RAF in 1947 and served with 61 Squadron and 617 Squadron flying Avro Lincoln bombers. During his period with 617 Squadron he took part in a good will tour to the USA. He finally left the RAF for the second time in January 1950 after giving over ten years excellent and varied service. He remained on the RAF Reserve until 1959.
Albert sadly passed away some years ago.
We are grateful to Des Amos, Albert’s brother, for the information and photographs used in this item. DF
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