Royal Air Force, 115 Squadron (VR), Service no. 1684317
Born: 28th October 1922
Story
Leonard Heaton was born in Dial Terrace, York Road, Leeds, but later the family moved to Harrogate. Before the War, Leonard was a Wages & Costing Clerk living at 17 Regent Grove, Harrogate, with his parents Arthur W Heaton (1887-1970) and Clara Greenwood (1890-1983), who married in Leeds on 27th November 1920.
As a member of the RAF Volunteer Reserve, Leonard was called to service in 1942 at the age of 20. Notes on the back of a photograph suggest that from September 1942 to July 1943 he spent short periods of time with squadrons, on training or meetings in London, Brighton, Scarborough, Manchester, Hereford and Ludlow. In January 1943 he was made Lance Corporal.
In September 1943, Leonard left England for Canada, on board the liner Aquitania (drawn left), to train with the Canadian Air force, and he qualified as a bomb aimer in January 1944 at Mossbank, Saskatchewan and as a bomber navigator in February 1944 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was then awarded his wings (right).
Leonard with the Canadian Air Force (front row, 2nd from right.)
After gaining his wings, Leonard returned to England, having short training postings to RAF Staverton, Gloucestershire, serving on Anson aircraft, and at Edgehill and Chipping Warden, near Oxford, on Wellington Bombers, and Bottesford, Leicestershire on Lancaster bombers. Finally, he was attached to 115 Squadron as a sergeant, flying missions in Lancaster bombers from RAF Witchford, Cambridgeshire. His flight log book shows that by October 1945, Leonard had completed a total of 363 daytime flying hours and 134 night-flying hours. The log book records the occasions when the aircraft was hit by flak, including one time when it sustained 73 hits.
Leonard, (first left) with the Lancaster crew.
Their missions were not always to drop bombs. In April 1945, the squadron dropped food supplies in Operation Manna, to starving Dutch civilians in Northern Holland. The German commander cooperated by ordering his gunners not to fire at the food planes. After VE day the planes picked up ex- prisoners of war from France and brought them home.
Below left: Ex-Prisoner-of-War passengers brought home from France in Leonard’s aircraft, in May 1945, after VE Day. Below right: November 1945. The now redundant air-crew, photographed on a course. Leonard is on the front row, second from the left.
On his certificate of release, Leonard’s ground trade as a clerk of Equipment accounts was praised, and it was recommended that he would be trustworthy and reliable for any such future position in civilian life. After the war, Leonard married Frances Dyke, from Glazebrook, near Manchester. The couple had met on Scarborough beach. Leonard worked for the Civil Service in Harrogate. When his department was disbanded, he moved to Shrewsbury, and after retiring, the c0uple moved to Garforth. The couple had three children, Christine, Linda and Malcolm, four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Leonard’s wife, Frances is still living in Garforth and has been able to give Leonard’s story to her great-grandchildren and to tell them about her own life during the Second World War.
Leonard died in Garforth on 28th January 2006, at the age of 84.
Kippax Connection
Leonard’s daughter Linda Barley (née Heaton) lives in Kippax and taught for some time at Great Preston Infants’ School.
Kippax Roll of Honour 