Douglas Haig Palmer mid

RNZAF Service Number: NZ41545
RNZAF Trade: Air Observer
Date of Enlistment: 17 December 1940
Date of Demob:
Rank Achieved:
Flying Hours: 550 hours
Operational Sorties: 33 operational sorties

Date of Birth: 21st of July 1917, in Palmerston North
Personal Details: Doug (as he liked to known) was the second son of William Henry Palmer (originally from Bath, Somerset) and Helen Hudson (originally from Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland.)

The family expanded and moved to Lower Hutt and Doug was educated at the newly established Hutt Valley High School. On leaving school at the age of seventeen he worked at Collier and Beale. This company manufactured radios, sound systems and radio transmitters. When war was declared in 1939, Doug went back to night school classes at HVHS to achieve excellent marks in mathematics and science before he volunteered for Air Force service in 1940.

He married Cecily Torea Grundy in July 1948. He initially opened a small jewellery business in Vulcan Lane Queen Street, Auckland. In 1951, the family moved to Cambridge and Doug again opened a jewellery business in Victoria Street. By 1955, Doug and Cecily made the decision to return to the Hutt Valley. Once again, a jewellery business was opened. In 1975, Doug and Cecily retired to Greytown in the Wairarapa.

Service Details: Doug attended an Initial Training Camp RNZAF Station Wereroa, Levin, in early 1941, and on completion of his basic training he embarked aboard the Aorangi troopship for Canada.

Arriving in Canada in May 1941, Doug was attached to the Royal Canadian Air Force to undergo further training under the Empire Air Training Scheme EATS), which was also known in Canada as the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP).

Destined to become an Air Observer, he trained initially at No. 7 Air Observer School at RCAF Station Portage La Prairie, in Manitoba, with a course of other New Zealand airmen.

Completing that course in navigation, he then progressed to No. 5 Bombing And Gunnery School at RCAF Station Dafoe, Saskatchewan, to undergo bomb aiming and gunnery training.

Next he was posted to RCAF Station Rivers, Manitoba, to complete his trade training with No. 1 Air Navigation School. He completed this and graduated in November as an Air Observer. Aircraft flown during his training were Avro Ansons, Fairey Battles, Bristol Blenheims and Blackburn Bothas.

Upon graduation Doug was commissioned as a Pilot Officer, and embarked for Britain.

After arriving in the UK in January 1942, he passed through advanced training units at Wigtown, Scotland, Bassingbourne and Steeple Norden in the UK. Doug was then crewed up with other New Zealand airmen and this group was posted to No. 57 Squadron RAF.

They flew together on a number of sorties. Their first flight was on the 21st of July 1942, a bombing raid on Duisburg flown in a Wellington Bomber. This date also happened to be Doug’s twenty sixth birthday.

This crew flew together on a number of different sorties to Germany, predominately on bombing raids to the Ruhr Valley. At this time some small experiments with flare markers and a newly developing navigational aid known as Oboe were being trialled. AVM Don Bennett was overseeing these results.

In September of 1942 the 57 Squadron was equipped with Lancaster bombers to replace the Wellingtons and Manchesters they had been using. Doug flew on further raids with other crews as well. These operations included a raid on Essen in January 1943 and four daylight raids across France to Italy.

Doug was then posted to No. 8 Group Pathfinder Force. He assisted in the development of Oboe stations at Worth Matravers and other sites on the east coast of the UK.

In late March 1943 he was posted for a year to Bletchley Park, known also as Station X. Further research is being undertaken by his family to understand his role here. One thought is that he was analysing Luftwaffe messages and receiving training in strategies and tactics to confuse their flying missions against the Allied Forces.

After D Day in June 1944, Doug arrived in Normandy with a Mobile Oboe Unit. This was to support the Allied Forces to achieve bombing accuracy. He was the only New Zealander present at the liberation of Brussels and he was then based in Dinant, Belgium, for a period before advancing into Germany. He described himself often to his children as “an airman who put his boots on the ground “.

Doug was also present at the liberation of Bergen Belsen Camp In April 1945. He was mentioned in dispatches in January 1945. Doug returned to New Zealand on the Andes troopship in October 1945.

Died: 8th of January 1989 at Greytown Hospital, Wairarapa.
Memorial: Greytown Cemetery, Returned Servicemens section.

Connection with Cambridge: Doug lived in Cambridge and ran a jewellery business in Victoria Street from 1951 to 1955.

Thanks to Doug's daughter Liz O'Brien who kindly supplied the information on this page which has been slightly adapted for Wings Over Cambridge, and for supplying the photographs seen on this page from Doug album.

On leave, thought to be at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Doug is first left.

Doug and a friend at RCAF Station Portage Le Prairie.

In the classroom at RCAF Station Dafoe, September 1941.

Probably Dafoe again. Doug is third from left with the dark hair.

Doug as a trainee at RCAF Station Dafoe, September 1941.

Left: Unknow exacly where or when but during Doug's training. Centre: Doug studying the books at Dafoe. Right: Doug's flying logbook.

Pilot Officer Doug Palmer, now a fully trained Observer.

Doug's No. 57 Squadron RAF crew at RAF Scampton, August 1943.

Harold Player, Bruce Davis and Doug Palmer, sometime during their posting to No. 57 Squadron at RAF Scampton. Thought to be consulting a map for the "nearest pub?" in Doug's own words on the photo.

VE Day, 8th of May 1945. Thought to have been taken at Celle Hohne Barracks, close to Bergen Belsen camp.

Post hostilities, somewhere in the UK, in their demobilisation civilian clothing, and big smiles.

Doug with his best mate Harold Player, who was a pilot, onboard the troopship Andes on the way back to New Zealand, arriving October 1945,

Doug and Cecily's wedding, Auckland, July, 1948.

Obituary from The Dominion newspaper, 10th of January 1989.

Doug's Memorial at Greytown Cemetery

________________________________________________________________