The
Uncle I Never Knew
By Chris Ashman  Fred
Ashman was born in in Dover the eldest son of Herbert Ashman and Edith (Marsh)
at one time living in Matthews Place, Dover. Herbert took a job in the Civil Service
and was posted to central London. After living at various addresses in South London
the family moved to 129, Ivyhouse Road, Dagenham but the children being in bad
health they all moved back to Dover and moved into a house in Dour St.
Fred attended Charlton Boys School,just off Bridge Street where he earned a scholarship
to The County Boys School at Tower Hamlets.
His
street friends were Doug Whittingstall, Bill Erith, and John and Claud Wilson. After
Fred's death Herbert and Edith presented a cup to the Dover Grammar School. It
is still presented yearly as The Frederick Ashman Memorial Prize for Mathematics.
School
Honours WW2
-
On
2nd of June 1940 With a possibility of invasion Bert and other children of the
town were evacuated to South Wales. Fred was working as a bank clerkto and was
a part of "Dad'sArmy", the LDV (Local Defence Volunteers).in
his spare time   In
1940 Fred gave up his Bank clerks job to join the R.A.F. with many of his friends
such as John and Claud Wilson and his best friend John Walsh.
Initial
Training and Navigation Training In Miami and Canada
During leave in America,
Fred and friends visited New York and went up the Empire State Building In
1943 fred joined the 49 Squadron of the Royal Air Force which coincidently was
formed in Dover, Kent; his home town in April 1916.
In 1943 the squadron was
based at Fiskerton 5 miles East of Lincoln. Fiskerton was opened in January '43,
but by September the concrete of the main runways was showing so much deteriation
that it was judged as unsafe. Flying operation were moved to Dunholm Lodge.There
was not sufficient accomodation at Dunholm for the crews so they were ferried
to and from Fiskerton by crewbus. The
Navigators view
As seen on NX611at East Kirkby - Thanks Roy
 
 
Flight Records for Freds crew (Flt /Sgt. Brunt A Flight
49 Squadron) From August 1943
15
August 1943; Cross Country - Lancaster
JA.690 - @22.00hrs for 4hours 18
August 1943; N.F.T. (Night
Flying Tests) -
Lancaster ED.999 - @15.10hrs for 20Mins. for 55mins 24
August 1943; Practice Bombing - Lancaster
ED.999 - @15.10hrs for 1hr50mins. 26
August 1943; N.F.T. - Lancaster
ED.999 - @11.20hrs for 30mins 27
August 1943; N.F.T. and Bombing - Lancaster
ED.999 - @11.35hrs for 1hr30mins Operations 27
August, 1943; Nuremburg: - Lancaster ED.999 - @21.05hrs
for 8hrs10mins
Of the 12 aircraft sent by the squadron on the long haul
to Nuremburg, four were flown by new crews: F/Sgt Brunt (ED999); Sgt Jones
(JA690); F/Sgt Barnes RAAF (ED448) and Sgt Hodgkinson (ED426). All the squadron
crews including the 'freshmen', had sucessful sorties and safe returns. Bombing
by 674 Aircraft suffered from creepback despite repeated requests from the Master
Bomber: 33 Main Force aircraft failed to return. 30
August 1943; N.F.T. and Bombing - Lancaster ED.999 - @12.50hrs for
1hr. 30
August 1943: Monchen Gladbach/Rheydt:
- Lancaster ED.999 - @00.05hrs for 4hrs55mins. - 9/10 Cloud over Target -
15 Lancasters climbed away fro Fiskerton forming part of a stream containing
600 bombers heading for Germany. The force made a double attack on Monchen/Rheydt,
causing severe damage.
All of the squadron's aircraft returned to Fiskerton.
10th
September 1943 -
Fiskerton's concrete had begun to show signs of deterioration....operational aircrew
would continue the pre-op routine at Fiskerton, but once they had been briefed
and had dressed for battle, instead of being ferried to waiting Lancasters at
their home airfield they were taken several miles by crewbus to Dunholme Lodge...No52
Base's other satellite airfield.
Route:
Fiskerton to
Dunholme past Nettleham to Lincoln then via Greetwell and Cherry Willingham. 11
September 1943: N.F.T. - @11.40hrs for 20mins. 13
September 1943: N.F.T. - @14.50hrs for 20mins. 14
September 1943: Airtest (Special Signals) - @11.30hrs for 1hr20mins. 15
September 1943: Nightbombing - @19.30hrs for 1hr50mins. 20
September 1943: Airtest (Signals) - @19.30hrs for 55mins. 20
September 1943: Demonstration (Special Signals) - @16.49hrs for 1hr54mins. 21
September 1943: Cross Country - @15.20hrs for 4hrs15mins. 22
September 1943: N.F.T. - @12.50 for 30mins.
During the morning
those 49 Squadron crews on the 'Battle Order' flew their kites out of Fiskerton
on Night Flying Tests. They then landed at them at Dunholme where ground crews
loaded the bombs and fuel etc.ready for the evening's operation. In the meantime
the aircrew were ferried back to Fiskerton by motor transport.
22
September 1943; Hannover: @18.55hrs from Dunholme for 5hrs20mins -
Opposition Slight
49 Squadron managed to get 11 Lancasters airborne from
Dunholme by 19.24hrs. All reported successful sorties with 4 landing back at Fiskerton
shortly after midnight, the remainder at Dunholme by 00.48hrs.
This was the first time in 2 years that Hannover would receive a major raid.
Over 700 aircraft were to carry out this, the first in a series of four raids...on
this night 26 aircraft wouls fail to return. 23
September 1943; Manheim: @18.55hrs from Dunholme for 6hrs30mins
After their mid-afternoon trip from Fiskerton, 13 crews had climbed away from
Dunholme Lodge by 18.56hrs. The following morning only 11 aircraft returned.
The Northern part of Manheim suffered bombing from 628 aircraft, It cost Bomber
Command 18 Lancasters, 7 Halifaxes and 7 Wellingtons. Once over the target, fighters
were again much in evidence. The use of searchlights in co-ordination with fighters
accounted for many of the losses.
27
September, 1943; Hannover: from Dunholme @19.40hrs for 6hrs00mins
Faulty wind forecasts used by the Pathfinders resulted in 678 bombers making a
concentrated attack, but several miles away from the centre of Hanover. Again
losses were severe, with 38 aircraft going down. F/Sgt Brunt (JB231)
EA-N Nan) and crew had been hit by flak over the target which set fire to the
starboard outer engine. The fire was soon extinguished, but they were forced to
return on three engines. This aircraft (JB231 EA-Nan) was flown to Berlin
by Sgt Keeling and crew 22/23-11-43 and to Berlin by F/Sgt Edy on 26/27 November
1943 when the rear turret went u/s 2
October 1943; Munich: Poor Attack...... 3
October, 1943; Kassel: Good
Effort
The squadron dispatched 7 Lancasters from Dunholm. F/Sgt
Brunt (JB362) and crew despite having their mid upper turret go u/s on the
way out , decided to continue with their sortie. All 49's aircraft returned without
loss. 6
October 1943: Stuttgart:
18
October 1943 - Reverse gear
Whilst the squadron was operating from Dunholme,
a maintenance flight remained at Fiskerton, servicing and mending the lame ducks.
SNCO Fitter, Trevor Simpson, recalls the following dramatic spectacle, which occurred
on 18 October 1943: "We
had worked on a new aircraft lettered "L". After finishing the checks,
one of our pilots was to ferry it over to Dunholm. I saw it start its take-off
run, and I was just going into the flight office when my corporal shouted 'Look,
look!!' . I was just in time to to see the aircraft swing on takeoff. To our amazement,
it continued its swing and went right through 180 degrees and continued down the
runway backwards at about 90 knots. Even so, it might have got away with relatively
little damage, but there was a drainage ditch along the side of the runway, and
the tail wheel dropped into this and was sheered off. After that, the undercart
collapsed and it became a write off; I don't suppose its flying hours had reached
double figures. Fortunately no one was hurt." The
Lancaster in question was JB411, which had only been delivered to the squadron
on 5 October 1943 and the crew involved was piloted by F/Sgt Ron Brunt.
18
November 1943. Berlin:
 Pic
- Fiskerton: Back from Berlin 18/19-11-43: W/O
Ron Brunt RAAF (JB362) trundles Bandlaw (Aircraft call-sign)
D-Dog back into dispersal after bombing Berlin from 20.000ft with a frosted over
windscreen!
22
November1943; Berlin:
 Pic
- Fiskerton: Back from Berlin 22 November 1943. The time
is 23.30 on the night of 22 November. Pilot Ron Brunt (Extreme right bending)
and crew are glad to be back on terra firma after a seven hour trip to Berlin.
L-R Fred Ashman - ? - ? - Harold Bronsky?- ?Ground staff - John Burrows
(obscured) - (on steps) - Ron Brunt (bending) 
Pic - Fiskerton: Back from Berlin 22/23-11-43 It
is now after midnight and W/O Ron Brunt (second from left next to Waaf Officer)
and crew are being interrogated about her sortie to Berlin; "4th wave over
target 20.12hrs at 21,000ft, 10/10ths cloud up to 15,000ft. Flak light
over target - no fighters. Doubtful Whether TI' were over target acording to H2S"
L-R - ? - Ron Brunt - ? - Harold Bronsky - Fred Ashman
24th
November Daily Sketch
  26/27
November 1943; Berlin:
Shot Down
On the previous trips Berlin had always been cloud covered,
but on this occasion, as 440 Lancasters flew over the target the visability was
clear. Flak defences over Berlin, and fighters on the return leg accounted for
28 bombers and their crews.
.......W/O Ron Brunt (JB362) had failed
to return from Berlin: the 21 year old pilot and crew, flying in D-Dog, were brought
down over Berlin and only the bomb aimer, Sgnt.
Burrows managed to escape with his life; their navigator Sgt Fred Ashman was
only 19 years of age.
See Survivors story EA
- D for Dog JB362 'A Flight' Brought
down on Their 13th operation W/O
Pilot - Ron Brunt
Sgt.Flt Eng - Harold Bronsky
Sgt.Navigator - Fred E Ashman
Sgt. Wireless Operator & Armourer -
R W Norley DFM
Gunner - E D Wilson
F/Sgt Armourer Gunner - R P O'Dea
Sgt Bomb Aimer - J G Burrows (Survivor) was
captured and held as a Prisoner of War in Stalag IVB. Other
crews lost this night
DS712 DS723 DS679 DS814 DV178 DV268 DV285 DV289
DV295 DV297 DV336 DV337 DV339 DV377 DV381 DV388
ED370 ED393 ED417 ED809 ED873
EE111 EE168
JA913 JA961 JB235 JB303 JB350 JB354 JB362
JB423 JB458 JB459 JB464 JB485 JB527 JB538 JB554 JB592 JB597
LM362 LM379 W4198
Chris
writes ....My grandparent told me that Fred had been shot whilst parachuting
down after the plane was hit, and was dead before reaching the ground. That the
survivors' hair had gone white with the horror of it all.(Not correct) These facts
true or not, they believed, were maybe a comfort to them through the rest of their
lives, which were tormented by the grief of losing their eldest son. Their hate
for the German people of any age, complete and unrelenting. This was a difficult
thing to understand growing up as I did, with German exchange students and the
truth of the horrors that we wreaked upon the German cities and civilians. on
returning from Germany in 1945 John Burrows contacted the families of his crew
and got a very mixed reception. He sent a letter to my grandparents .........I
am afraid I can offer you no hope regarding Fred. In fact I saw him next day and
he had been killed before he reached the ground. It came as a terrible shock to
me to learn I was the only survivor. Sometimes I wonder why I should be spared
and the rest taken. All sorts of queer motives & ideas were running through
my head. And how lonely I felt having worked, played, slept and fought with such
a great spirited crew as was ever. I have given over trying to explain these things
it is far too complex a problem for me.................. A
year before he died in 2002, I had managed to trace John, in an emotional telephone
conversation. He said, "The bonds between the crew were strong" and
that he had felt "so very alone since that night" in 1943. The Germans
treated him badly and he was forced to recognised his crew's bodies when they
were found. Bertram
- Fred's Brother writes.....
I discovered that when my brother had an occasional leave, he would not tell my
parents, but travel as far as Maidstone where he would stay with Uncle Arthur
Marsh, who was like an elder brother. He did not want to be paraded around the
village like a conquering hero, but I wished that we could have spent more time
together. When we were at school he had his own friends. Then I went off to Wales,
and he joined the R.A.F. I believe that I saw him twice when he had leave. Now
he rests in a Berlin cemetery.
On
the morning of Wednesday, the 24th November, 1943, the middle pages of the Daily
Sketch were dedicated to the return of Lancaster bomber 'D for Dog' which had
landed around midnight of Monday the 22nd after returning from a bombing mission
to Berlin, and there in the picture was my brother, the Sergeant Navigator, and
tallest of the crew, standing by the aircraft, and later being debriefed in camp
regarding results. I remember him telling me that on one night raid he had asked
the pilot Flying Officer Brunt whether he could leave his plotting table to see
what it was like over the target. He went forward, saw the flack all around the
aircraft, returned to his table, never tried it again, and dedicated himself to
planning the route to the target and back home again. Then a few days after the
photographs, he was killed over Berlin on the night of the 26th November, after
having bailed out with his parachute.
The pilot and one gunner ( a recent
replacement), Bronsky, a Polish Jew, went down with the plane. There was one survivor.(John
Burrows).The bodies were originally buried in the City Cemetery, Comrades
Graves, Gransee, 35 NNW of Berlin, land occupied by the Russians, and not accessible.They
were later disinterred from the Russian Zone, and re-buried in the R.A.F. war
grave cemetery at the Heerstrasse, Berlin, just a short distance from the Olympic
Stadium, where Hitler paraded his masses of troops prior to attacking the countries
of Europe. In that cemetery are the remains of over 3000 British aircrew, and
their graves are carefully tended. In
1947 Bert was transferred to Germany, whilst in Hamburg obtained a folding Ziess-Icon
folding camera, with a 10 second delay self-take lever fitted (on the black market
in exchange for coffee) Bert
Writes.........Some
of the chaps had got word of their demobilisation date and I calculated that it
would not be that long before I would hear about my number which was 68, and I
wondered whether it would be possible for me to beg time to find my brother's
grave before returning home to England.
I had been told that when the
aircraft was hit over Berlin on the night of the 26th November, 1943, the order
had been given to bale out. Consequently, all the crew left with the exception
of the mid-upper gunner, who was a Polish replacement, not one of the regular
crew, and Jewish in faith. From what I was told, it would appear that the mid-upper
gunner would not jump from the aircraft, because he was convinced that he would
be tortured if captured, and he and the pilot remained and crashed with the plane.
It it was the crew's 13th raid, and upon reaching their 25th, they would have
been given a break, before entering a Pathfinder Squadron, which would pinpoint
and mark the target for the main strike force.My
brother came down on his parachute, and was reported to have been hit by a bullet
in the back of the head. He was buried in the Russian East Germany zone. I
went to see the Adjutant, and explained the situation of the grave, and he told
me to forget it, as any soldier who got over the border, would be arrested, as
had already happened in another unit. I put it to the back of my mind, but got
a surprise letter from my father 7 days later, telling me that my brother's body
had been disinterred, and had been transported to a new British cemetery in Berlin
for burial. Again I saw the Adjutant, and on this occasion he was full of hope.
He was happy for me to go on compassionate leave, and informed me that I would
have to stop at a transit camp overnight before passing through the East German
border to get to the British Sector of Berlin, and break the journey on the return.
This would mean that I would be travelling for three days, and did I think that
I could locate the cemetery and grave, if he gave me a 7-day warrant ? I told
him that I was happy with the arrangement, and he fixed the date.
So
it was that I armed myself with the Zeis-Ikon camera which I had bartered on the
black market and got a film from the NAAFI. I had no idea how to use it, so Taffy
gave me a crash course on focal lengths and timing, and I boarded a train for
Hamburg, where I had to change. Having been in Germany for so short a time, I
had made up some phrases to get me from place to place, which I had rehearsed,
and accordingly I got the train to Berlin, which stopped at the station for the
transit camp , where I spent the night, and the following morning the RTO's office
on the platform checked me in for the continuing journey across the border. The
train finally reached Berlin, at the Reichsportfeld station, where I was checked
by a German civilian with an armband, who spoke English. He checked a list, and
asked me to board a 12 seater bus, with a few others, and the bus pulled away
and shortly drove into the main gate of the Olympic Stadium, where Hitler used
to parade his troops and bawl his head off. We entered the main door of the entrance
block, and I was taken to a single room upstairs, which was to be my abode during
my stay. It was part of the athletes' quarters, and there was a chambermaid to
keep it clean. Having
lost some of my leave time, I thought I had better start my search, so I made
my way to the canteen in the basement for a drink, and questioned a Sergeant about
cemeteries. He said that he knew of one within walking distance, and another beyond
it, but he did not know what types were buried there. I found them both, but neither
of them were R.A.F. I
stood at the roadside, wondering what to do next, when a German car, driven by
a German, stopped alongside, and he seemed to be asking me in German whether I
needed help. What could I say ? I stumbled over the language, and said, 'Vo ist
die Englischer soldaten, kaput, bitterschon ?' Somehow he understood, opened the
car door, beckoned me in, and took off. In no time at all he skidded to a halt,
pointed to a long hedge on a wide road without any houses, opened the door for
me to get out, shouted 'Viedersein', and sped off.
I stood there like
an idiot, wondering how I could have trusted a stranger, with whom I could not
carry on a conversation, to drop me in the middle of nowhere. I walked beside
the hedge, and found a part which was not as thick as the rest, and it was just
possible to see metal crosses in the ground. Taking the bull by the horns, as
they say, I forced my way through the hedge. It certainly was a cemetery of some
proportions, and the ground was muddy, and here and there were graves waiting
to be filled. Within 10 minutes I was standing at the grave of my brother, and
his mates, with an open grave adjacent, and I found that Pilot Officer Brunt was
close at hand in another row. I also found the grave of a G.L.Ashman.
I took out the camera, stood it on the ground with the 10 second delay set, and
took a picture of myself behind my brother's grave. I then saw where the main
entrance was, and was making my way there, when I heard a loud shout, and from
a small hut, an army redcap policeman came running over to me, and asked me what
I was doing there as the place was 'out of bounds', and I could be charged for
trespass. I explained my mission to him, and told him that I expected to be returned
to England shortly, whereupon he asked me whether I had taken any photographs.
He could not see my camera as it was inside my battledress blouse, and I lied
and told him that I had not. He said that as far as he was concerned, he had not
seen me, and I left. One could see what the fuss was about as the site was far
from complete, with bodies being brought in from various burial grounds. It now
contains the remains of over 3000 aircrew.
I somehow found my way back
to the Stadium. It has been a puzzle to me for years how I did, but having been
back there, it is quite close, as the Stadium is near to the Heerstrasse, upon
which the cemetery stands. If one heads back towards the centre of Berlin along
the Heerstrasse, one encounters the Victory Memorial, the extremely wide shopping
area of Bismarckstrasse,The Tiergarten, and the Russian War Memorial, which was
built in the British Sector, before I got there in 1948.
 
  |
I
grew up believing that Dad was a Navigator during the war, in fact he told me
that when he failed pilot training, that's what he did as second choice. It was
only later I realised and the logbook eventually confirmed, that he was a bomb
aimer/gunner.It wasn't till 1951, when he re-enlisted that he did his navigation
training. Perhaps, due to all the ill feeling there was after the war, regarding
Dresden and the later firestorm raids (none of which he took part in) he felt
being a bomb aimer was a little too contentious - I don't know.
Dad
only ever once told me the story of the 26th of November and my memory is a little
shaky as it was about 6 years ago, but I'll recount it as best I can. I have to
say though, that I wasn't totally convinced by his story, which may seem very
uncharitable of me but, like you, I've read a great deal about those times and
what happened to him seemed a little exaggerated. I hope I'm not doing him a great
injustice. Here it is as he told it anyway.
He said he had discovered that Ron's plane was one the first Class 5: Four-engined
aircraft that Miss Lettice Curtis of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) delivered
as a ferry pilot. Shall have to read her book. 
Fiskerton was opened in January '43, but by September the concrete of the main
runways had deteriated and was judged as unsafe. Flying operation were moved to
Dunholm Lodge.There was not sufficient accomodation at Dunholm for the crews so
they were ferried to and from Fiskerton by crewbus.
