Lance the Piper visits his namesake in his museum in Hartburn

Lance the Piper visits his namesake in the amazing bagpipe museum he has created in his home in Hartburn.

Lance is passionate about the Northumbrian Pipes and won lots of awards for his playing when his fingers were young and supple. He taught many of the best Northumbrian Pipers to play this sweet sounding bellows blown Instrument.

Having found all the pipe bellows too big for him to use, the little sheep spied some old books, brass buttons, navigation instruments and some mounted medals in a glass case, along with a little dog wearing an army hat.

Lance told the little sheep how he had trained as an Astro Navigator and Pilot in Canada and the States during World War 2. He showed him his Training and Flying Log books with details of every Course and flight he made; his first aid triangular bandage printed with pictures showing how to bandage different injuries; his magnetic brass buttons which could be cut off in an emergency and placed one on top of the other to show magnetic north. Lance told how he also had a special pencil which could be broken in half to reveal a compass to help them find their way home if they were shot down behind enemy lines.

The little dog was his mascot, a gift from a friend, who went everywhere with him throughout his time in the RAF.

Lance had many amazing stories to tell.

When he was 23, Lance and his Crew were on a Metorological sortie over the Atlantic when the Pilot suddenly realized their plane was out of fuel.

Because he had trained on Catalina flying boats, Lance was able to talk the young pilot down, enabling him to land the aircraft safely on the sea but as the Halifax landed on the water all the batteries blew up and fire began to rage through the aircraft.

The little dog was on his navigation table when they ditched in the Halifax. As they hastily left the aircraft Lance grabbed his little friend and put him in his pocket.

As he and the Crew crawled along the wing to get into the life raft, Lance realized the Met Observer was missing. He went back into the aircraft now filled with black smoke. Groping around in the dark, Lance felt the Met Observer's hair and shouted to the Engineer who was still on the wing. Together they were just able to pull the unconscious Met Observer out of the burning plane by his hair.

The Crew of seven floated around in their life raft
in the middle of the Atlantic for eight hours before they were rescued.

They had plenty of time to talk about what they
would do when they got back to base. They concluded it was only birds and fools that flew and all agreed they would ask for a discharge as soon as they got home.

They were rescued by the Beyano, a Fyfe's banana boat which had steamed for eight hours to reach them.

When they got back to England, Lance asked the pilot who had been sent from Tiree in Scotland to collect them, to fly three times round the Blackpool Tower at 16 meters, in celebration of their safe return.

They were all awarded Membership of the Goldfish Club and Lance is especially proud of his badge with a golden goldfish signifying that he and his crew had survived both fire and water.

Of the 44 young men who were drafted with Lance, only 6 survived the war.