Conversation with Norman Didwell - photographs 2
Title
Conversation with Norman Didwell - photographs 2
Description
Norman discusses photographs that they are looking through. He mentions Wing Commander Roy Max, various incidents with aircraft and other personalities. He also mentions loan of book and R-Robert. Covers photographs during visit to Canada.
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00:21:11 audio recording
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
SBondS-DidwellNv10007
Transcription
SB: Sitting on the left-hand side.
ND: Up there.
SB: Right. Ok.
ND: And he went on the, with 99 Squadron Transport Command because he stopped in.
SB: Right.
ND: Finished up with Monarch Airlines.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And I didn’t know at the time but when we went to the fiftieth anniversary of the Berlin Airlift to Berlin he was resident ground engineer at Tegel.
SB: Oh, right.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Really?
ND: Anyway, he’d got a German life and he lost his wife some years ago.
SB: Yeah.
ND: But he always came to 99 Squadron do and 75 New Zealand and now we’ve got [pause] now where are you? Group Captain Roy Max, Wing Commander Roy Max. You’re in the middle here aren’t you? I think that’s Roy. Now, he was pre-war. New Zealand. Short term commission.
SB: Right.
ND: Right.
SB: Right.
ND: But he was flying Battles. And he, he was Battles and he got his first DFC on Battles.
SB: Right.
ND: So you can have that.
SB: Well, that’s very kind of you.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Thank you.
ND: Yeah.
SB: I will do.
ND: Right.
SB: What else have you found? You talked about, I’m intrigued by this photograph you said you found of yourself at Mildenhall.
ND: You what?
SB: You said on the phone this morning you found a photograph of a group of you at Mildenhall.
ND: It’s ever so tiny. I’ve got two. We’d better do it in here because it’s lighter.
SB: Yeah. Yeah. Ok. Alright.
ND: Yeah. Would you like to borrow this?
SB: Oh, [Gerry unclear] I would like to borrow that.
ND: Right. Borrow that.
SB: Alright. Thank you.
ND: You have this then.
SB: I’ve got that.
ND: Yeah.
SB: I’ve got that.
ND: Funnily enough its [unclear] because he was one of the, one of the, now that —
SB: That’s Waterbeach.
ND: Yeah. No. That’s Oakington.
SB: Oh, Oakington I mean. Sorry.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And that’s Gerry demonstrating.
SB: Right.
ND: That’s [unclear] Now. A little bit here you’ll want to read. Here, have a look.
SB: “On the following day —" when was this? 29th of April. “Flying Officer [Blackrock?], 7 Squadron took N6003 on a daylight raid and an incident witnessed by bf109s. Seen to go into the sea off [Leeland?] and six, N6003 returned home with its front turret out of action. Luftwaffe claimed their first victim on the 28th of June when three Stirlings visited Bremen and were attacked by a number of bf109s. N3663 claimed one as destroyed but N6007 was seen to be losing height and after being escorted for some way seemed to ditch in the sea. No survivors. J [Bracknell] pilot on 99 Squadron. 3840. First tour on 99, pilot on 99 Wellingtons. Development Flight. Group captain OBE DFC DFN.” Right. Right.
ND: Do that, turn it around it carries on. This time to the, here you are Steve. This is the finish of it.
SB: Oh, so he was in, he was flying N6005 attacked by a persistent BF 109 four times before his crew saw the ME fighter going down. Right.
ND: So there you are Steve. That’s a bit more. You’ve got this.
SB: I’ve got that. Yeah.
ND: You’ve got that. Right. That I’ve got to send to the secretary on that one at the Tempsford Association.
SB: Right. Ok.
ND: So I said look, I’ll send you them and you can copy them.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Right.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Now, let’s [pause] I’ll get the photographs of these down.
SB: Alright.
[pause]
ND: I know what I’ve got here, Steve [voice going into the distance]
SB: Alright. I’m following you in.
ND: I’m calculating my finances today.
SB: Oh ok.
ND: See how much I’ve got left when I’ve sold the house.
SB: Oh [laughs]
ND: Well, it won’t be sold until all the paperwork is done.
SB: Well, no. That’s right.
ND: Have you ever seen, read that —
SB: No, I’ve never seen that.
ND: When Johnny G did his first tour with 99.
SB: Right.
ND: Great supporter of the Association. Got the DFC.
SB: Oh right.
ND: Now, what about that one?
SB: Oh it’s the story of [A Roberton]. No. I’ve not read the book. No.
ND: Would you like to borrow it? I know you’re busy at the moment and I know you will get the books back to me.
SB: Well, of course. Yeah. Well, it might, it might add to the story so if you’re happy for me to do that.
ND: Yes.
SB: Then yes I will. Thank you.
ND: Yeah, anything to help.
SB: That one, no sorry. There’s one. One hiding in the bag.
ND: There you are. There’s a little bit about Johnny G. I can’t find the photograph. I can’t find it anywhere.
SB: Oh. That [pause] what of him with his crew you mean?
ND: Yeah.
SB: That the one? Right. Well, that’s a blow isn’t it?
ND: That I think —
SB: I’ve seen, I’ve seen that. Now, no I haven’t got that.
ND: Right.
SB: Can I have —
ND: That’s back to Robert.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Now, that’s where the top blade came off of [Arthur] Robert. And you know the story of it don’t you?
SB: Remind me.
ND: They had to bale out.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And it went in the, dropped into Wicken Fen.
SB: Oh right. Yeah.
ND: Two of the crew were drowned. Well, he finished up wing commander but at the time Flying Officer Trevor [unclear] was the navigator who then reverted to, was selected for pilot training and commanded a Mosquito squadron at the end of the war.
SB: Oh right.
ND: I think he’s dead and gone because he never came to the last three reunions.
SB: Right.
ND: He never answered the newsletters.
SB: That’s fine. Yeah. Thank You.
ND: I’m trying to think of this bloke’s name. he was a skipper and I can’t think of his name but that was taken on the [Cocos] Islands. You can see. You can see what they are standing on the wing under [unclear]
SB: Yeah.
ND: Right. Landed at Gatow.
SB: Right.
ND: American Globemaster.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Had a [laughs] thought he was going to run off the runway, slammed on the brakes and burst all the tyres.
SB: Oh blimey.
ND: We had the Yanks there for a fortnight.
SB: That’s not you in there in that picture is it?
ND: Yeah. I’m not.
SB: Are you?
ND: I’m in among that lot. Yeah. There’s —
SB: On the nose wheel maybe.
ND: Yeah. We’re by the nosewheel. Yeah. I’m trying to remember the names of the blokes. Yeah. That’s a long time ago. Now, this was taken at Mildenhall. This was taken —
SB: This was the one you were on about on the phone.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Right. Ok.
ND: [unclear] Look at the dog collar.
SB: Oh, blimey. So where are you?
ND: Here is little me.
SB: Oh, sitting. Sitting on the left.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Right.
ND: That’s me.
SB: Well, I’m blown. Oh ok. On the back. Oh, I’ll copy that. Members of Block E, Room 1.
ND: Well, I know for a fact that three of those blokes on that photograph and I’m trying to think of their names were flight mech air gunners and they never came back on December the 14th 1939.
SB: Oh really?
ND: I’m trying to think who they were. I’m trying to think who they were and I can’t remember them. But I know all the names of them. I’ve got a list of them.
[pause]
SB: That’s a cracker that.
ND: You reckon.
SB: Yeah, I do.
ND: Well, well it does [unclear]
SB: Well, yeah. Yeah. No, that’s smashing.
ND: Oh lovely. Well, I’m glad I’ve been some help.
SB: Absolutely.
ND: Alright.
SB: You always are.
ND: Now, when we went to Canada —
SB: Yeah.
ND: We had six weeks there you know.
SB: Did you?
ND: Now, Brantford is a town in Canada. It’s about twenty miles, thirty miles from Toronto.
SB: Yeah.
ND: It might be a bit more and it’s like the Crewe of Canada. We built railway engines at Crewe. Right. They built them at Brantford.
SB: Ok.
ND: And Peter, one of Peter’s sisters married into one of the wealthy sons of the family that built these. They had their own yacht on Lake Erie with a crew of eight.
SB: Oh blimey. Not short of a bob or two then.
ND: Yeah. Pete wasn’t. Now, this —
SB: Let’s just do this one before you start on that. Right. Ok. Yeah.
ND: Right. Now, here’s the date we went.
SB: June ’93.
ND: ’93.
SB: Right.
ND: Now, that was put up years before that. Right.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Here it is. See there’s Joan and Pete.
SB: Right.
ND: That’s a view from Pete’s. He lived in a house at a place called Simcoe about twenty miles from Brantford.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Brantford was his home town.
SB: Right.
ND: His family live at Brantford and so he had a Rolls Royce. Gods’ honest truth.
SB: Yeah.
ND: He had a Rolls Phantom and he’d got a garage at Simcoe but he got a bit bad on his old legs so he decided and his sister’s encouraged him to come and live in Brantford. He said, ‘I’m not living with you birds and that’s it.’ So he bought, he went and had an apartment on the 9th floor.
SB: Right.
ND: And he got rid of the Rolls. There was an old boy that used to collect vintage motors, a very wealthy bloke and he bought the Rolls from Pete and he was using it when we were there the old boy was.
SB: Yeah. Yeah.
ND: And so Pete then bought himself a Chrysler. Right. Now, when you think it’s only a year ago that the Bomber Command Memorial the people back then [pause] they’re life size. You have a look.
SB: Yeah. Oh, yeah, I can see. I can see they are. Yeah.
ND: Right. You wouldn’t —
SB: Yeah. Yeah.
ND: Look.
SB: Oh yeah.
ND: You can see.
SB: They’re good aren’t they?
ND: Yeah, and so I forget when Pete said they put it up. Right. Now, the other one. Do you want to take photographs of that because what we’ll have to do we’ll have to take them.
SB: Oh, that’s ok. I could take them through. I can take them. No, don’t take them out. Don’t take them out.
ND: You’re sure?
SB: No need to do that.
ND: Do you want to take the lot?
SB: Let’s just have a look. I’ll just take a couple. I’ll take, I’ll take that so I know where it is. Get the title in [pause] It’s good isn’t it.
ND: Yeah. You see, at Brantford it’s quite a history there really.
SB: Yeah.
ND: They had a small aerodrome but it’s now they’ve got an airport. It’s an airport.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And of course that was before the war and these young Canadians, there’s quite a lot of fellows from Brantford that joined the royal air, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force at the outbreak of war but Pete was pre-war short-term commission.
SB: Oh right.
ND: Pete was.
SB: Pete. What was his surname? Pete.
ND: Pete Valachos.
SB: Valachos.
ND: Greek. Greek.
SB: Ah.
ND: I’ll tell you how he got he became prisoner of war. That’s Pete. Always a great character [unclear]
SB: Yeah.
ND: We got there in the afternoon and they had arranged for a big party that night at the Golf Club after flying all that way we were a bit knackered.
SB: Oh dear.
ND: There you are look. There’s me in that one.
SB: Oh, very.
ND: You can see its Canadian now.
SB: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
ND: Yeah. Let’s find this VC one. Now, that’s the first woman aviator in the world and she came from Brantford.
SB: Eileen Valachos.
ND: As I say they had a landing strip you know in those days.
SB: Yeah. Yeah.
ND: And that is see Joe Brant, as he was known was the chief of the Mohawks and the Mohawk tribe fought with the British against the French.
SB: Right.
ND: And that’s why that town was called Brantford.
SB: Ah.
ND: And if you read that little bit.
SB: Mohawk [unclear] Indians came up the river to [unclear]. Right. Right.
ND: And [pause] here you are look. That’s at —
SB: Oh nice. Yeah.
ND: At Brantford Airport. There’s the old TC Ford.
SB: TC Ford. Yeah. Nice.
ND: Yeah. Pete wanted to fly but they wouldn’t grant him a licence after seventy.
SB: Oh right.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Ok.
ND: This was the old boy at [unclear] About forty cars in a great big [pause] well it was like a hangar but it was one of these barns. He had a big farm. Old boy. Nice old boy he was and now this is interesting the Old Schoolhouse Restaurant. That was a school and a house long before the First World War.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And the headmaster’s house was bought up. His son was killed in the Royal Flying Corps.
SB: Really?
ND: Yeah.
SB: Blimey.
ND: He was a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. That’s outside Kay and George’s house.
SB: A nice house.
ND: That’s his eldest sister. They’re all dead and gone now. There’s a bit about Joe Brant.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And that’s, we went to where he was born.
SB: Right. It looks like a nice place I must admit.
ND: Our Graham Bell of the telephone because you know he was a Scotsman —
SB: Yeah.
ND: Alexander Bell.
SB: Yeah.
ND: That’s his home.
SB: Oh, is it?
ND: He settled in, yeah. Near Brantford. Yeah. And it’s open to the public.
SB: Yeah.
ND: I’ve got some [pause] Barbara, I know the nineteenth floor [laughs]
SB: Blimey. Good luck.
ND: Here you are Joe Brant’s statue.
SB: Oh yeah.
ND: Brunch at the Old Schoolhouse. He was, he was of Greek ancestry. Gus who planned it.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And he’d, Pete said, and he said when we went for the bill, ‘It’s on the house.’ If you come before you go back it’s on the house.
SB: Very good.
ND: Yeah. Now, this is Pete’s. They had a lot of money certainly and as I say and they, at Port Dover on Lake Erie and that was their summerhouse.
SB: Nice.
ND: Yeah. Oh yeah. Plenty of money. And look.
SB: Barbecue. Yeah. Pete in his youth.
ND: Yes. It’s a hell of a lake you see anyway.
SB: Oh, I know.
ND: It was like a sea.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Like a sea.
SB: Ah, Victoria Cross thing coming up. Here we go.
ND: That’s it. That’s the one I’m looking for for you.
SB: Right.
ND: See, look at those names.
SB: Yeah.
ND: [Milinski.] He come running out.
SB: [Milinski.] Yeah.
ND: And he’s, he I didn’t know Cornell.
SB: Cornell.
ND: And he was, he was pre-war —
SB: Right.
ND: Air force if I remember —
SB: Right.
ND: Rightly.
SB: Well, I was reading about Bazalgette yesterday.
ND: Yeah. Well he was Voluntary Air Force wasn’t he?
SB: Yeah.
ND: Yeah. But Gray I don’t know. I think he might have been Army.
SB: No. No. These, Gray the Battle man. You know, Garland and Gray.
ND: Gray. Of course. Yeah.
SB: Yeah. Maastricht Bridges.
ND: The same squadron that Max flew on.
SB: Right. Right. Well, there you go.
ND: There’s a lot of history we’ve got here, Steve.
SB: Oh, not half. Yeah. Absolutely.
ND: Isn’t it.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Yeah. I don’t think there is much more there.
SB: Of course, their gunner didn’t get anything did he?
ND: No. He didn’t get a penny. He was an LAC wasn’t he?
SB: Yeah.
ND: Yeah. [unclear] There’s old Popeye. He was on 99 and he was at Newmarket.
SB: Yeah.
ND: He finished up a prisoner of war and he helped dig the tunnel.
SB: Oh, did he?
ND: Yeah. And Pop was training for the law and of course he went back and he finished up with QCs. And he was the bloke who formed that crowd of solicitors and QCs from Canada who came over and fought that case about that film about Harris.
SB: Oh, right. Yeah.
ND: Yeah, and had it banned.
SB: Yeah.
ND: The film banned. Some bits, well you’ve been to New York haven’t you.
SB: No, I’ve never been to New York.
ND: Oh.
SB: No. No.
ND: I wouldn’t want to live there.
SB: God no.
ND: Bloody hell.
SB: Yeah.
ND: It’s all rush and go [pause] I think that’s all I’ve got.
SB: Alright. Now, I’ve got, I’ve got a memory test for you.
ND: Yeah.
SB: When I was doing the —
ND: Oh, we went to West Point.
SB: Oh, did you?
ND: Yeah.
SB: Yeah.
ND: That was fascinating and on the day that they graduate.
SB: Yeah.
ND: If they’re engaged to a girl they can marry on that day.
SB: Oh right.
ND: At Newark. We saw this and one of the [unclear] said, ‘Oh, you’re English.’ Etcetera, and they said, ‘Do have a glass of champagne with us.’ Which we did.
SB: Oh, very good. Right. Now —
ND: Very interesting.
SB: Very interesting.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Cast your mind back to 1939.
ND: Yeah.
SB: I’ve been writing up the pre-war stories so the first chapter of the book I’ve done now.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Which goes up to the 3rd of September ’39.
ND: Yeah.
SB: So there’s loads of stuff from you in there. There’s loads of stuff from 9 and 38.
ND: Yeah.
SB: And [unclear] people. Now, one thing I want to see if you have any remembrance of this. August ’39 there was a big air defence exercise.
ND: A big what?
SB: Air defence exercise.
ND: That’s right.
SB: Huge.
ND: Yes.
SB: Hundreds of aeroplanes.
ND: Yeah. That’s —
SB: West Land versus East Land.
ND: Yeah. That’s it. That’s it.
SB: Now, I’ve seen a photograph. A couple of photographs of Wimpies which were West Land. The good guys.
ND: Yeah.
SB: And all the West Land aeroplanes had a big white cross.
ND: That’s right.
SB: Painted on the side over the roundel. Now, was 99 in that?
ND: Yeah. 99 was on that but I don’t think which side. I can’t remember which side we were on.
SB: Well, can you remember seeing big white crosses on your aeroplanes?
ND: Oh yeah. I could see because I’ll tell you what. There’s a photograph somewhere here. Where is it?
SB: Yeah. I’ve see a few photographs of them in various books.
ND: Here, wait a minute this bloke.
SB: Yeah. There’s one in here I know.
ND: I helped [unclear] the publishers put me Normal Didwell.
SB: Oh yeah [laughs]
ND: But see look.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Now, you’re right. There is.
SB: Yeah. Theres a picture of one in here.
ND: But I don’t think 99 was. We didn’t have the cross on ours. That’s, that was taken —
SB: They must have been the bad boys then. You must have been East Land.
ND: We were the bad boys. That’s taken at 149 Squadron that is. The funeral.
SB: Yeah. Yeah.
ND: You’ve got this book have you?
SB: Yeah. I’ve got it. Yeah.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Yeah, you’re right there is a picture of it.
ND: And there’s a picture of [Harvey].
SB: They you are.
ND: There you are.
SB: There you are.
ND: 248 Squadron.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Which was number 3 Group’s training squadron. Right.
SB: Yes, that’s right.
ND: Now, we got one of Harvey Vivian’s aircraft here haven’t we?
SB: Yeah.
ND: I spoke to [unclear] Sunday morning. Rang me up.
SB: Change of ownership [laughs]
ND: Yeah.
SB: Yeah. Good. Righto. So —
ND: Up there.
SB: Right. Ok.
ND: And he went on the, with 99 Squadron Transport Command because he stopped in.
SB: Right.
ND: Finished up with Monarch Airlines.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And I didn’t know at the time but when we went to the fiftieth anniversary of the Berlin Airlift to Berlin he was resident ground engineer at Tegel.
SB: Oh, right.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Really?
ND: Anyway, he’d got a German life and he lost his wife some years ago.
SB: Yeah.
ND: But he always came to 99 Squadron do and 75 New Zealand and now we’ve got [pause] now where are you? Group Captain Roy Max, Wing Commander Roy Max. You’re in the middle here aren’t you? I think that’s Roy. Now, he was pre-war. New Zealand. Short term commission.
SB: Right.
ND: Right.
SB: Right.
ND: But he was flying Battles. And he, he was Battles and he got his first DFC on Battles.
SB: Right.
ND: So you can have that.
SB: Well, that’s very kind of you.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Thank you.
ND: Yeah.
SB: I will do.
ND: Right.
SB: What else have you found? You talked about, I’m intrigued by this photograph you said you found of yourself at Mildenhall.
ND: You what?
SB: You said on the phone this morning you found a photograph of a group of you at Mildenhall.
ND: It’s ever so tiny. I’ve got two. We’d better do it in here because it’s lighter.
SB: Yeah. Yeah. Ok. Alright.
ND: Yeah. Would you like to borrow this?
SB: Oh, [Gerry unclear] I would like to borrow that.
ND: Right. Borrow that.
SB: Alright. Thank you.
ND: You have this then.
SB: I’ve got that.
ND: Yeah.
SB: I’ve got that.
ND: Funnily enough its [unclear] because he was one of the, one of the, now that —
SB: That’s Waterbeach.
ND: Yeah. No. That’s Oakington.
SB: Oh, Oakington I mean. Sorry.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And that’s Gerry demonstrating.
SB: Right.
ND: That’s [unclear] Now. A little bit here you’ll want to read. Here, have a look.
SB: “On the following day —" when was this? 29th of April. “Flying Officer [Blackrock?], 7 Squadron took N6003 on a daylight raid and an incident witnessed by bf109s. Seen to go into the sea off [Leeland?] and six, N6003 returned home with its front turret out of action. Luftwaffe claimed their first victim on the 28th of June when three Stirlings visited Bremen and were attacked by a number of bf109s. N3663 claimed one as destroyed but N6007 was seen to be losing height and after being escorted for some way seemed to ditch in the sea. No survivors. J [Bracknell] pilot on 99 Squadron. 3840. First tour on 99, pilot on 99 Wellingtons. Development Flight. Group captain OBE DFC DFN.” Right. Right.
ND: Do that, turn it around it carries on. This time to the, here you are Steve. This is the finish of it.
SB: Oh, so he was in, he was flying N6005 attacked by a persistent BF 109 four times before his crew saw the ME fighter going down. Right.
ND: So there you are Steve. That’s a bit more. You’ve got this.
SB: I’ve got that. Yeah.
ND: You’ve got that. Right. That I’ve got to send to the secretary on that one at the Tempsford Association.
SB: Right. Ok.
ND: So I said look, I’ll send you them and you can copy them.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Right.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Now, let’s [pause] I’ll get the photographs of these down.
SB: Alright.
[pause]
ND: I know what I’ve got here, Steve [voice going into the distance]
SB: Alright. I’m following you in.
ND: I’m calculating my finances today.
SB: Oh ok.
ND: See how much I’ve got left when I’ve sold the house.
SB: Oh [laughs]
ND: Well, it won’t be sold until all the paperwork is done.
SB: Well, no. That’s right.
ND: Have you ever seen, read that —
SB: No, I’ve never seen that.
ND: When Johnny G did his first tour with 99.
SB: Right.
ND: Great supporter of the Association. Got the DFC.
SB: Oh right.
ND: Now, what about that one?
SB: Oh it’s the story of [A Roberton]. No. I’ve not read the book. No.
ND: Would you like to borrow it? I know you’re busy at the moment and I know you will get the books back to me.
SB: Well, of course. Yeah. Well, it might, it might add to the story so if you’re happy for me to do that.
ND: Yes.
SB: Then yes I will. Thank you.
ND: Yeah, anything to help.
SB: That one, no sorry. There’s one. One hiding in the bag.
ND: There you are. There’s a little bit about Johnny G. I can’t find the photograph. I can’t find it anywhere.
SB: Oh. That [pause] what of him with his crew you mean?
ND: Yeah.
SB: That the one? Right. Well, that’s a blow isn’t it?
ND: That I think —
SB: I’ve seen, I’ve seen that. Now, no I haven’t got that.
ND: Right.
SB: Can I have —
ND: That’s back to Robert.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Now, that’s where the top blade came off of [Arthur] Robert. And you know the story of it don’t you?
SB: Remind me.
ND: They had to bale out.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And it went in the, dropped into Wicken Fen.
SB: Oh right. Yeah.
ND: Two of the crew were drowned. Well, he finished up wing commander but at the time Flying Officer Trevor [unclear] was the navigator who then reverted to, was selected for pilot training and commanded a Mosquito squadron at the end of the war.
SB: Oh right.
ND: I think he’s dead and gone because he never came to the last three reunions.
SB: Right.
ND: He never answered the newsletters.
SB: That’s fine. Yeah. Thank You.
ND: I’m trying to think of this bloke’s name. he was a skipper and I can’t think of his name but that was taken on the [Cocos] Islands. You can see. You can see what they are standing on the wing under [unclear]
SB: Yeah.
ND: Right. Landed at Gatow.
SB: Right.
ND: American Globemaster.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Had a [laughs] thought he was going to run off the runway, slammed on the brakes and burst all the tyres.
SB: Oh blimey.
ND: We had the Yanks there for a fortnight.
SB: That’s not you in there in that picture is it?
ND: Yeah. I’m not.
SB: Are you?
ND: I’m in among that lot. Yeah. There’s —
SB: On the nose wheel maybe.
ND: Yeah. We’re by the nosewheel. Yeah. I’m trying to remember the names of the blokes. Yeah. That’s a long time ago. Now, this was taken at Mildenhall. This was taken —
SB: This was the one you were on about on the phone.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Right. Ok.
ND: [unclear] Look at the dog collar.
SB: Oh, blimey. So where are you?
ND: Here is little me.
SB: Oh, sitting. Sitting on the left.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Right.
ND: That’s me.
SB: Well, I’m blown. Oh ok. On the back. Oh, I’ll copy that. Members of Block E, Room 1.
ND: Well, I know for a fact that three of those blokes on that photograph and I’m trying to think of their names were flight mech air gunners and they never came back on December the 14th 1939.
SB: Oh really?
ND: I’m trying to think who they were. I’m trying to think who they were and I can’t remember them. But I know all the names of them. I’ve got a list of them.
[pause]
SB: That’s a cracker that.
ND: You reckon.
SB: Yeah, I do.
ND: Well, well it does [unclear]
SB: Well, yeah. Yeah. No, that’s smashing.
ND: Oh lovely. Well, I’m glad I’ve been some help.
SB: Absolutely.
ND: Alright.
SB: You always are.
ND: Now, when we went to Canada —
SB: Yeah.
ND: We had six weeks there you know.
SB: Did you?
ND: Now, Brantford is a town in Canada. It’s about twenty miles, thirty miles from Toronto.
SB: Yeah.
ND: It might be a bit more and it’s like the Crewe of Canada. We built railway engines at Crewe. Right. They built them at Brantford.
SB: Ok.
ND: And Peter, one of Peter’s sisters married into one of the wealthy sons of the family that built these. They had their own yacht on Lake Erie with a crew of eight.
SB: Oh blimey. Not short of a bob or two then.
ND: Yeah. Pete wasn’t. Now, this —
SB: Let’s just do this one before you start on that. Right. Ok. Yeah.
ND: Right. Now, here’s the date we went.
SB: June ’93.
ND: ’93.
SB: Right.
ND: Now, that was put up years before that. Right.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Here it is. See there’s Joan and Pete.
SB: Right.
ND: That’s a view from Pete’s. He lived in a house at a place called Simcoe about twenty miles from Brantford.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Brantford was his home town.
SB: Right.
ND: His family live at Brantford and so he had a Rolls Royce. Gods’ honest truth.
SB: Yeah.
ND: He had a Rolls Phantom and he’d got a garage at Simcoe but he got a bit bad on his old legs so he decided and his sister’s encouraged him to come and live in Brantford. He said, ‘I’m not living with you birds and that’s it.’ So he bought, he went and had an apartment on the 9th floor.
SB: Right.
ND: And he got rid of the Rolls. There was an old boy that used to collect vintage motors, a very wealthy bloke and he bought the Rolls from Pete and he was using it when we were there the old boy was.
SB: Yeah. Yeah.
ND: And so Pete then bought himself a Chrysler. Right. Now, when you think it’s only a year ago that the Bomber Command Memorial the people back then [pause] they’re life size. You have a look.
SB: Yeah. Oh, yeah, I can see. I can see they are. Yeah.
ND: Right. You wouldn’t —
SB: Yeah. Yeah.
ND: Look.
SB: Oh yeah.
ND: You can see.
SB: They’re good aren’t they?
ND: Yeah, and so I forget when Pete said they put it up. Right. Now, the other one. Do you want to take photographs of that because what we’ll have to do we’ll have to take them.
SB: Oh, that’s ok. I could take them through. I can take them. No, don’t take them out. Don’t take them out.
ND: You’re sure?
SB: No need to do that.
ND: Do you want to take the lot?
SB: Let’s just have a look. I’ll just take a couple. I’ll take, I’ll take that so I know where it is. Get the title in [pause] It’s good isn’t it.
ND: Yeah. You see, at Brantford it’s quite a history there really.
SB: Yeah.
ND: They had a small aerodrome but it’s now they’ve got an airport. It’s an airport.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And of course that was before the war and these young Canadians, there’s quite a lot of fellows from Brantford that joined the royal air, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force at the outbreak of war but Pete was pre-war short-term commission.
SB: Oh right.
ND: Pete was.
SB: Pete. What was his surname? Pete.
ND: Pete Valachos.
SB: Valachos.
ND: Greek. Greek.
SB: Ah.
ND: I’ll tell you how he got he became prisoner of war. That’s Pete. Always a great character [unclear]
SB: Yeah.
ND: We got there in the afternoon and they had arranged for a big party that night at the Golf Club after flying all that way we were a bit knackered.
SB: Oh dear.
ND: There you are look. There’s me in that one.
SB: Oh, very.
ND: You can see its Canadian now.
SB: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
ND: Yeah. Let’s find this VC one. Now, that’s the first woman aviator in the world and she came from Brantford.
SB: Eileen Valachos.
ND: As I say they had a landing strip you know in those days.
SB: Yeah. Yeah.
ND: And that is see Joe Brant, as he was known was the chief of the Mohawks and the Mohawk tribe fought with the British against the French.
SB: Right.
ND: And that’s why that town was called Brantford.
SB: Ah.
ND: And if you read that little bit.
SB: Mohawk [unclear] Indians came up the river to [unclear]. Right. Right.
ND: And [pause] here you are look. That’s at —
SB: Oh nice. Yeah.
ND: At Brantford Airport. There’s the old TC Ford.
SB: TC Ford. Yeah. Nice.
ND: Yeah. Pete wanted to fly but they wouldn’t grant him a licence after seventy.
SB: Oh right.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Ok.
ND: This was the old boy at [unclear] About forty cars in a great big [pause] well it was like a hangar but it was one of these barns. He had a big farm. Old boy. Nice old boy he was and now this is interesting the Old Schoolhouse Restaurant. That was a school and a house long before the First World War.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And the headmaster’s house was bought up. His son was killed in the Royal Flying Corps.
SB: Really?
ND: Yeah.
SB: Blimey.
ND: He was a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. That’s outside Kay and George’s house.
SB: A nice house.
ND: That’s his eldest sister. They’re all dead and gone now. There’s a bit about Joe Brant.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And that’s, we went to where he was born.
SB: Right. It looks like a nice place I must admit.
ND: Our Graham Bell of the telephone because you know he was a Scotsman —
SB: Yeah.
ND: Alexander Bell.
SB: Yeah.
ND: That’s his home.
SB: Oh, is it?
ND: He settled in, yeah. Near Brantford. Yeah. And it’s open to the public.
SB: Yeah.
ND: I’ve got some [pause] Barbara, I know the nineteenth floor [laughs]
SB: Blimey. Good luck.
ND: Here you are Joe Brant’s statue.
SB: Oh yeah.
ND: Brunch at the Old Schoolhouse. He was, he was of Greek ancestry. Gus who planned it.
SB: Yeah.
ND: And he’d, Pete said, and he said when we went for the bill, ‘It’s on the house.’ If you come before you go back it’s on the house.
SB: Very good.
ND: Yeah. Now, this is Pete’s. They had a lot of money certainly and as I say and they, at Port Dover on Lake Erie and that was their summerhouse.
SB: Nice.
ND: Yeah. Oh yeah. Plenty of money. And look.
SB: Barbecue. Yeah. Pete in his youth.
ND: Yes. It’s a hell of a lake you see anyway.
SB: Oh, I know.
ND: It was like a sea.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Like a sea.
SB: Ah, Victoria Cross thing coming up. Here we go.
ND: That’s it. That’s the one I’m looking for for you.
SB: Right.
ND: See, look at those names.
SB: Yeah.
ND: [Milinski.] He come running out.
SB: [Milinski.] Yeah.
ND: And he’s, he I didn’t know Cornell.
SB: Cornell.
ND: And he was, he was pre-war —
SB: Right.
ND: Air force if I remember —
SB: Right.
ND: Rightly.
SB: Well, I was reading about Bazalgette yesterday.
ND: Yeah. Well he was Voluntary Air Force wasn’t he?
SB: Yeah.
ND: Yeah. But Gray I don’t know. I think he might have been Army.
SB: No. No. These, Gray the Battle man. You know, Garland and Gray.
ND: Gray. Of course. Yeah.
SB: Yeah. Maastricht Bridges.
ND: The same squadron that Max flew on.
SB: Right. Right. Well, there you go.
ND: There’s a lot of history we’ve got here, Steve.
SB: Oh, not half. Yeah. Absolutely.
ND: Isn’t it.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Yeah. I don’t think there is much more there.
SB: Of course, their gunner didn’t get anything did he?
ND: No. He didn’t get a penny. He was an LAC wasn’t he?
SB: Yeah.
ND: Yeah. [unclear] There’s old Popeye. He was on 99 and he was at Newmarket.
SB: Yeah.
ND: He finished up a prisoner of war and he helped dig the tunnel.
SB: Oh, did he?
ND: Yeah. And Pop was training for the law and of course he went back and he finished up with QCs. And he was the bloke who formed that crowd of solicitors and QCs from Canada who came over and fought that case about that film about Harris.
SB: Oh, right. Yeah.
ND: Yeah, and had it banned.
SB: Yeah.
ND: The film banned. Some bits, well you’ve been to New York haven’t you.
SB: No, I’ve never been to New York.
ND: Oh.
SB: No. No.
ND: I wouldn’t want to live there.
SB: God no.
ND: Bloody hell.
SB: Yeah.
ND: It’s all rush and go [pause] I think that’s all I’ve got.
SB: Alright. Now, I’ve got, I’ve got a memory test for you.
ND: Yeah.
SB: When I was doing the —
ND: Oh, we went to West Point.
SB: Oh, did you?
ND: Yeah.
SB: Yeah.
ND: That was fascinating and on the day that they graduate.
SB: Yeah.
ND: If they’re engaged to a girl they can marry on that day.
SB: Oh right.
ND: At Newark. We saw this and one of the [unclear] said, ‘Oh, you’re English.’ Etcetera, and they said, ‘Do have a glass of champagne with us.’ Which we did.
SB: Oh, very good. Right. Now —
ND: Very interesting.
SB: Very interesting.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Cast your mind back to 1939.
ND: Yeah.
SB: I’ve been writing up the pre-war stories so the first chapter of the book I’ve done now.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Which goes up to the 3rd of September ’39.
ND: Yeah.
SB: So there’s loads of stuff from you in there. There’s loads of stuff from 9 and 38.
ND: Yeah.
SB: And [unclear] people. Now, one thing I want to see if you have any remembrance of this. August ’39 there was a big air defence exercise.
ND: A big what?
SB: Air defence exercise.
ND: That’s right.
SB: Huge.
ND: Yes.
SB: Hundreds of aeroplanes.
ND: Yeah. That’s —
SB: West Land versus East Land.
ND: Yeah. That’s it. That’s it.
SB: Now, I’ve seen a photograph. A couple of photographs of Wimpies which were West Land. The good guys.
ND: Yeah.
SB: And all the West Land aeroplanes had a big white cross.
ND: That’s right.
SB: Painted on the side over the roundel. Now, was 99 in that?
ND: Yeah. 99 was on that but I don’t think which side. I can’t remember which side we were on.
SB: Well, can you remember seeing big white crosses on your aeroplanes?
ND: Oh yeah. I could see because I’ll tell you what. There’s a photograph somewhere here. Where is it?
SB: Yeah. I’ve see a few photographs of them in various books.
ND: Here, wait a minute this bloke.
SB: Yeah. There’s one in here I know.
ND: I helped [unclear] the publishers put me Normal Didwell.
SB: Oh yeah [laughs]
ND: But see look.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Now, you’re right. There is.
SB: Yeah. Theres a picture of one in here.
ND: But I don’t think 99 was. We didn’t have the cross on ours. That’s, that was taken —
SB: They must have been the bad boys then. You must have been East Land.
ND: We were the bad boys. That’s taken at 149 Squadron that is. The funeral.
SB: Yeah. Yeah.
ND: You’ve got this book have you?
SB: Yeah. I’ve got it. Yeah.
ND: Yeah.
SB: Yeah, you’re right there is a picture of it.
ND: And there’s a picture of [Harvey].
SB: They you are.
ND: There you are.
SB: There you are.
ND: 248 Squadron.
SB: Yeah.
ND: Which was number 3 Group’s training squadron. Right.
SB: Yes, that’s right.
ND: Now, we got one of Harvey Vivian’s aircraft here haven’t we?
SB: Yeah.
ND: I spoke to [unclear] Sunday morning. Rang me up.
SB: Change of ownership [laughs]
ND: Yeah.
SB: Yeah. Good. Righto. So —
Collection
Citation
“Conversation with Norman Didwell - photographs 2,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 13, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/49111.