We were originally of Scottish Blood

My life in Pictures

Last Update 22 May 2014

The stories I am trying my best to remember, please correct me if you know better...
The best of Newtownards
Hamilton "Hammy" Cowan
23rd. August 1923 - 26th. July 2008

Hamilton "Hammy" Cowan

  Sjt. Airgunner with the RAF and prior to that on Whit Monday 1938 at the age of 15 he was the caddy for Vonribbentrop the then German Ambassador at the 9 hole Scrabo Golf Club. At the time he said that Vonribbentrop was a nice,polite adn talkative man who spoke perfect English but was only an average golfer. However he did tip Hammy with half a crown (now 25p) which back then was quite a tip. He always maintained that Vonribbentrop was mentally recording all the details he could on the possibility of using Strangford Lough as an acurrate approach to bombing Belfast therefore assuming that war Between Germany and Britain was not unexpected by the Luftwaffe even then.  He recalled watching the German Aircraft carrying Vonribbentrop landing in the grouds of Mountstewart where there was a single runway between the house and the lake. On previous visits he had landed at Ards Aerodrome but it is suspected that the grass runway was built at Mountstewart in order that his "regular" visits would not be so obvious.
His RAF career started when on the 9th. of September 1938 he enlisted at Clifton Street in Belfast and took the "Crowns Shilling". His parents were not at all happy about him joining up and voiced their opinion quite vehemently...  but as the the future was to prove, they were indded wrong and he went on to have an illustrious career in the RAF.  Hammy was firstly sent to 61 Maintainance Unit at the Cheadle Hulme base outside Manchester for basic training and squarebashing as the lads called it, he was given a bicycle and his duties were to carry the paperwork between the various units on base and whilst there his physical training was overseen by such people as Stanley Matthews, Stan Mortensen and Tom Finney, what a line up,.  

His RAF career was ever so slightly marred when he ended up on a charge, minor of course but also funny,..  Hammy couldn't swim but hated to admit it so when the obligatory swimming lessons came around he devised what he thought was an excellent wheeze to get out of it, he ran his towel under a water tap and swore that he'd used it to dry himself,.   pity it didn't work, it was a gem.

When stationed at Cheadle Hulkme he would enjoy nights in Manchester and nearby Stockport and having been billeted for a time in a localk guest house he had the highest of praise for the locals including his landlady.

  Later billeted 32 to a hut on base he made many close friends and was promoted to Aircraftsman 1st. Class but he had a desire to be part of the bomber crew ans sat the examination not knowing that it included algebra and geometry, having failed his 1st. exam the chance was to come again as Bomber Command were suffering heavy losses it was though that a gunner did not need these maths qualifications so he satr the exam and passed...  Then the training began with his first flight in an Anson using Drogues as targets the gunners would go up four at a time using different colours of tracer the ground observers could then tell who had shot down what,.   Hammy admits that he was in no way a crack shot but he succeded to become an Air Gunner after only six weeks training. He does recall a Polish pilot putting the wind up them all when he decided to put the aircraft into a steep dive pulling up just above the ground,  Hammy admits to always being afraid but that this was a terrifying experience but one that set them all up for what was to come.

He was transferred to 625 Squadron (Code CF) in Kelstern Lincs. his 1st. Ops base. Flying Lancaster Mk1 and Mk3 models.

This aircraft was lost on February 20th. 1944 over Leipzeig

His first mission was a leaflet drop over Holland in a Wellington, this was to get them accustomed to flak and higher altitude flying which he describes as, freezing cold, noisy and frightening. They encounterd light flak and no enemy aircraft so returned intact.

He couldn't remember exactly which mission came next but it was either over Berlin,Cologne,Stuttgart or Leipzig. No one liked Leipzig, it was a heavy industry centre and heavily guarded by concentrations of flak.  There was also a problem with these "big" raids with upwards of 500 to 1,000 aircraft during the night. The Lancasters would release their bombs from 28,000 feet and if they were carrying an 8,000 lb. "Cookie" they would immediately gain 3,000 feet of altitude, even worse was the fact that the Halifax would drop from a lower altitude and if they were not on their metal and timed it perfectly it was very possible that a bomb from a Lancaster above would take out a late arriving Halifax below.... 

Hammy admitted to being afraid the entire time up there but for whatever reason he loved it, the comradery was excellent and as everyone was afraid it was well understood and everone looked out for each other... he remembers that some gunnery crew were of a more nervous disposition than others and would report an "enemy" by mistake which hightened the stress levels and fear for all of the crew and admitted that he had once spotted a ME109 off at a short distance but travelling in the opposite direction so thought it better to watch and keep quiet, nerves were already strung out and did not need any unnecessary "strumming".

He also stated that during these "big" raids it was known that aircraft did collide but that it was rare, he added his admiration for those who devised the "decoy" tactic of sending upwards of 500 Mosquitos flying fast onto a target which drew enemy fighters away from the bigger and slower bombers allowing them to get to Berlin and bomb their target with minimum losses, fewer fighters meant and easier sortie... but not an "easy" one... and the Mosquitos had a much better chance of outrunning the enemy.

He never shot down an enemy plane himself but admits that even though in his opinion the flak gunners were not very accurate that when they were caught in a high power searchlight they had to make a 45º dive towards the light then pull away steeply to lose it, all the time having more lights tag on to the first one...  not good on the nerves...  the trip to Berlin took 4 hours 30 mins. + 5 to 10 mins. over the target and the same time on the return trip so altogether 9.30 to 10.00 hours...   quite a shift...

He also admitted that they had no parachute training, just the details of how to pull the ripcord.... they carried no maps but did carry foreign currency... and a suicide pill.... after one mission he suffered ear problems and was sent to hospital and whilst on the return journey and waiting at an airfield he saw a Lancaster of 601 Canadian Squadron explode just prior to takeoff and said that the memory stayed with him all his life, the aftermath was horrific,. he described 601 Squadron as having no luck at all as they would lose 1 out of every three aircraft per mission. 

Whilst stationed at Kelstern with 625 Squadron whos motto was "We Avenge" he said that a lot of what you see in the movies he does not recall, WAFs waving the planes out and back in was never seen by him. He returned to Newtownards on leave via the Heysham to Belfast Ferry and remembers lying on deck wrapped in his overcoat and feeling the cold and the damp getting to him and it was on this leave that he was taken ill and sent to Campbell College Military Hospital base where he was diagnosed with TB and discharged...  he admits also that he never received his logbook or other personal belongings from Kelstern but said it didn't bother him as they had a lot of more important things to think about... 

After the war in 1946 he took up Golf which was to become one of his lifelong loves and became a member of Scrabo and Kirkistown Golfclubs,. he said that when he died he hoped it would be on a Golfcourse and well i suppose you couldn't refuse him that so it wason 26th.July 2008  that whilst looking for a ball he had hit into the rough at Kirkistown that he finally lay down to rest,. 

A footnote:  In 2007 Newtownards Borough Council gave Hammy the freedom of Newtownards,.  a well deserved honour indeed.. 

Below is a small anecdote from his time there:
Most Station Commanders were tour-expired men, who occasionally flew on operations, usually "incognito" and in defiance of orders. Such spirit and example has to be greatly admired. At Kelstern, G/Capt. Donkin, a WW1 veteran, had flown as supernumerary with a 625 Sqdn. [sic] crew on a 1944 Berlin operation, and on return a BBC reporter, broadcasting "live" in the early hours, asked him what it had been like. The great waxed moustaches bristled. "Ai dain't maind telling yew," replied the aristocratic voice, "That Ai was shite-scaired all the way theyah, and Ai was shite-scaired all the way back."

Situated near the old base is this stone dedicated to "625" Squadron