Norm - Bomber Command: The Story of Francis Norman Crouch, the first Australian to fly a Lancaster Bomber in WWII

by James Crouch

The touching, true story of the first Australian RAAF airman to fly a Lancaster Bomber in World War II.




As a fifteen-year-old boy growing up in Sydney, Francis Norman 'Norm' Crouch knew he wanted to be a pilot after he saw his first airplane-a low-flying Tiger Moth Biplane. He was so transfixed he crashed his bike into a nearby thicket. It was a fascination that led him to become a trainee pilot in the RAAF where he became notorious for his low-flying antics.




Part of an early group of Australian airmen who went to Canada with the Empire Air Training Scheme, Norm survived the perilous Atlantic crossing to Scotland. He was then sent to Coningsby, England in 1941 to join Squadron 97- one of the many RAF squadrons in the legendary 'Bomber Command'-where he became the first Australian to fly a Lancaster bomber in air raids over Germany.

115 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 28, 2021

Reviews

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Norm Crouch was a RAAF bomber pilot who served in Bomber Command flying missions over Germany in World War 2. He was an outstanding pilot and survived his first block of missions and was transferred to become an instructor teaching rookies how to fly a Wellington Bomber and stay out of trouble. He was red-haired and spoke his mind, something that was not always appreciated by the stuck-up RAF officers. After the war he became a commercial pilot in Australia and became a Captain with TAA. One day at Essendon Airport waiting to be cleared for take-off he was told to wait, which he did for four minutes to see the then Leader of the Opposition Billie Sneddon walking across the tarmac to join the flight. After they were airborne Norm took up the microphone and asked Mr Sneddon to join them in the cockpit. When he arrived, Norm opened the conversation with: "Why did you keep my passengers waiting for four minutes? Norm could be blunt and it makes this book an entertaining read despite the absolute carnage suffered by those gallant young men in Bomber Command.