Browse Items (48 total)
- Creator is exactly "Dan Ellin"
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Interview with Rudolf Williams about his father, James Raphael Williams
James Williams grew up in an orphanage in Trinidad. At the start of the war, he worked in the stores for an American naval repair station in Trinidad. He trained in an Auxiliary Air Squadron before volunteering to serve in the RAF in the UK. His…
Interview with Peter Sewerin
Peter Sewerin remembers his father Stanislaw Sewerin. He escaped from Poland and fought in North Africa before transferring to the RAF and training as a pilot. He flew operations as a pilot with 300 Squadron. After the war, he flew as a pilot in…
Interview with Gwendoline Thickett
Gwendoline Thickett grew up in Rotherham and was a young schoolgirl when the Second World War began. She was in Sunday School at her local church when the news of the declaration of war was announced. Her parents had already begun to prepare for…
Interview with Rex John Arnett
Rex was born in 1924 and grew up in Toronto, Canada. In 1942,aged 18, he joined the RCAF as aircrew. He initially started training as the second member of a Mosquito crew but was later changed to wireless operator/air gunner. Having completed his…
Interview with Geoff Brown
Geoff was born and lived in the same area of Grimsby all his life, at the date of his interview he was 93. The first part of the interview concentrated on his experience of finding a German butterfly bomb close to his home. Geoff described how, after…
Interview with Patricia Cook
Patricia Cook was born in Lincoln, one of eight children, during the Second World War. She recalls having to sleep four to a bed and having to share their house with complete strangers. They had the Morrison shelter table in their front room. The…
Interview with Keith Toule
Keith was five at the start of the war and lived in a farm adjoining the airfield at RAF Skellingthorpe. He describes the airfield and how the trees were cut down in the farm belt. The airfield was closed soon after the war, bought by the City…
Interview with Jan Albone
Jan was born on a farm in North Lincolnshire and went to school in Brigg. She loved the farm, particularly the horses. Their farm was close to RAF Kirton in Lindsey, which was used as a rest home for men from the Battle of Britain. They worked on the…
Interview with Roy Berrill
Roy was born in Northampton and was evacuated from Becontree in London to Weston-super-Mare. He gained his degree from Queen Mary College, London, which was evacuated to Cambridge. After the Air Training Corps, Roy was called up to be a…
Interview with Laura Hickey
Laura Hickey was living in Tottenham at the outbreak of war and was evacuated to Suffolk. Her brother, Charles Henry Clarke joined the RAF and was shot down, becoming a prisoner of war and enduring the Long March. She tells of her times as an…
Interview with Sidney and Una Ellis
Sidney and Una both experienced the effects of the war in Sheffield as children. When Dunkirk survivors arrived at the nearby Reception Centre, Sidney collected many souvenirs such as cap badges. His aunt also took two soldiers in to her home while…
Interview with Thomas Jordan
Thomas Jordan was born and raised in Hornsea, East Yorkshire, learning to fly privately at Hedon Aerodrome RAF Hull) and joined the RAF wanting to be a pilot. However, after failing the eyesight requirements, he trained as an armourer, dealing with…
Interview with Fred McCullough
Fred McCullough discusses his series of abstract art works which are an homage to his uncle, Sergeant Harry McCullough, a flight engineer with 61 Squadron. He was killed on his 10th operation and is buried at Durnbach Cemetery.
Interview with Janet Denny
Janet talks about her father and her research into his life for her book 'The Man on the Mantelpiece'. Originally a pacifist, he later volunteered and served as a bomb aimer in Bomber Command. Janet talks about her journey discovering her father’s…
Interview with Reg Harrison
Reg Harrison grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada and enjoyed watching aircraft when they flew over. He had his first flight as a youngster after borrowing five dollars from a shopkeeper. He volunteered for aircrew as soon as he was of age and…
Interview with Don Sutherland. Two
Don was brought up in Newcastle and worked there for a number of years. He attended a meeting a year before the war began, talked about alternatives to war and that war should not be accepted as inevitable. Don joined a community which organised…
Interview with Len Harper
Len Harper registered for the air force in April 1939, influenced by the positive experience of his brother, who had joined in January. Upon completing training at the Wireless Training School, RAF Yatesbury, he was posted to RAF Wittering, where he…
Interview with Don Sutherland. One
Don’s father was Scottish and his mother came from the west coast of England. They moved to Coventry, where Don was born. When he was eight, they moved to Newcastle-on-Tyne, where his father worked in armaments. Don left school at 15 and half and…
Interview with Roddy MacKenzie
Roddy MacKenzie’s father, Roland, joined the Canadian Royal Air Force in 1942. He trained as a pilot and worked as an instructor in Canada before being posted to RAF Kirmington, where he joined 166 Squadron and received the Distinguished Flying Cross…
Interview with Hilary Robinson
Hilary Robinson grew up in Yorkshire and volunteered for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. She trained as a driver and served at RAF Elsham Wolds and at 1 Group Headquarters at RAF Bawtry Hall. She married and lived on a farm after the war.
Interview with Richard Overy. Two
Richard Overy discusses how Bomber Command has been remembered. Extracted audio from video interview
Interview with Richard Overy. One
Richard Overy discusses the bombing war. Richard became interested in air power whilst doing doctoral research at Cambridge, studying German aircraft production during World War Two. He started as an economic historian but became a military…
Interview with Maarten Koudÿs
Maarten has a keen interest in the Second World War which he wants to pass onto children. He visits crash sites interviewing elderly people and researching aviation history. Maarten tells of a Halifax which was shot down on 12/13 June 1943 and…
Interview with Ronald Indge
Ronald Indge was a wireless operator on 578 Squadron and became a prisoner of war after his Halifax aircraft was shot down. Upon leaving school, and unable to obtain employment in his chosen career, his father arranged a bound apprenticeship with a…