First Aid

[wayne]

Hi all,

I'm just wondering if Dennis can remember any details of first aid training given to aircrew ?
I have heard of wounded crew members being given a shot of morphine, so there must have been some form of instruction.
It's something I'd never thought about before.

Thanks,
Wayne.

[Denonline]

Hello Wayne,
Yes we were given some first aid training, some of which I can recall .

On the Lanc, there was a casualty bunk with straps stowed, I think almost opposite the w/ops position. A large first aid kit stowed alongside.
Inside the kit were supplies of ampouled morphine. These were similar in appearance to small toothpaste tubes with protected needles attached. There was also a supply of labels, one of which had to be applied to a casualty giving the time of each injection.

There were also tourniquetes with instructions for use, tubes of gentian violet for burns with instructions not to attempt to remove charred clothing but to smother the area with gentian violet & cover with a sterile wound dressing, eye drops & cream with smaller wound dressings.

Logic apparently being that the charred clothing would have been partially sterlised by heat.
Many crews including ours carried such as one gallon empty cleaned Tate & Lyle cans with the burrs removed from the lid (guess why) . these were used by the up front crew on ops to avoid leaving their posts at critical times.MO's advised that the contents were reasonably sterile if needed to douse burnt clothing where essential.

I had a small first aid kit in a tobacco sized tin containing among other things a supply of morphine.
It fitted inside the flying boot. I cannot recall if these were standard issue or something that some of us had acquired.

Dennis

[wayne]

Thank you Dennis, for a most interesting answer.
I do reall you mentioning the use of the Tate & Lyle cans on the other forum.
I guess a ground crew bod had the job of checking the contents of the aircraft first aid kits ?

Thanks again.
Wayne.

[Denonline]

Wayne, I believe that they were checked by medical orderlies, the kits were sealed.

Dennis.

[wayne]

Thank you Sir

I shall make a note of this for future reference.

Cheers,
Wayne.

[Merlin]

Hi all

I have read somewhere that most W/ops were trained in first aid and as Dennis has mentioned, the sick bed was near to the W/ops position in the Lancaster. My father didn't speak much of the war and never mentioned any first aid training. My parents had a Pub in Twickenham in which I used to help out. One day I managed to cut my left wrist on a broken bottle and this showed my father at his best..... he had me well under control in a matter of a few minutes, with a sterile wound dressing. He then drove me to our doctors, where I was stitched up. Proof to me at least that he had been trained in First Aid!

Merlin

[Denonline]

Paul, I have seen your father at his best so many times. He did not rcognise the word panic, they were just situations needing to be resolved.You discovered quite by chance a couple of such situations.

He was a born & Bomber Command trained excelling leader, admired by all, sadly missed.

Dennis.

[Merlin]

Hi Dennis

Thank you for your very kind comments about my father; I must say I never ever saw him panic. I must copy for you a letter that I received from Freddie Watts a while ago. Freddie being one of the three pilots he flew with in 617.

Paul

[Denonline]

Paul, You may recall that our families (excluding you being at college). shared a holiday to Honolulu. I am not sure how much detail that you have of our trip. In our BA role we had just before our already planned trip entertained in London the chairman & wife of Hawaiian Airways.

He subsequently fixed up a never to be forgotten days flight & car to Kaua. We were involved in so many what some would certainly call real panics & too strange to be true situations , nevertheless they were.

If you are not familiar with the details, let me know & I will email them to you. I am a bit vague on actual dates other than the fact that an astronaut, name forgotten was due to splash down in the Hawaiian area on the day of our trip.

Dennis.

PS.