D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: David Woodrow

David Woodrow, Age 100, RAF

Interviewed 19 February 2024

Died 14 June 2024

Approaching Gold Beach at daybreak on D-Day, Mr Woodrow’s Tank Landing Craft got stuck too far out for those on board to wade ashore.

He and others hid underneath the tanks as shells exploded all around them. Eventually they got onto the beaches. 

Constantly avoiding snipers his team’s task was to find a field where a temporary airfield with a grass runway could be built.

This was in the very early stages of the invasion when the Allies didn’t have access to established airfields.

An Advanced Landing Ground was then set up at Plumetot where Auster spotter planes flew from, finding targets for the artillery guns to fire at.

The planes would carry a pilot and a spotter whose job it was to find places where the enemy was gathering.

David Woodrow and his team were tasked with finding a space where a temporary airfield with a grass runway could be built. Credit: ITV Meridian

As a mechanic Mr Woodrow helped maintain and inspect the aircraft daily.

He said: "I would be working on the engine and keeping them going. We had to see that they could keep flying.

"By being a slow plane they could hover and find the targets.

"They were unarmed so they couldn’t do anything. But you could see into enemy lines. (The Germans) would try to hide up tanks and armour by the side of woods so they couldn’t be seen."

Mr Woodrow went on to be a spotter. He owns an Auster aircraft that flew in Normandy either with his squadron or another.

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