1 25 4 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/641/32464/BSmithJSmithJv1-2.1.pdf fa99ddac1408d0948f187f5b15dccf96 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Smith, Jack John George Smith J G Smith Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Smith, JG Description An account of the resource Three items. An oral history interview with John 'Jack' Smith (1921 -2019) and his memoirs. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 189 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by John Smith and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-04-08 Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Sparks in the Air These are the wartime recollections of Pinchbeck resident John George Smith known to his friends as Jack. Jack was born in 1921, the son of George and Bessie Smith. George was the keeper of a smallholding, raising Poultry and assisting a local farmer. [photograph of Jack] As a young teenager growing up in 1930’s England, through the newspapers of the day, Jack was aware of events taking place in Germany and of Britain’s own Fascist problems directed by Oswald Mosley. Although still only a teenager, Jack approached the time he would leave school realising that another war in Europe was inevitable. Jack left Donington Grammar School in1937 his parents and relatives asking the question “What are you going to do?” Jack had an ambition to become a Chartered Accountant however this required any potential candidate to pay an indenture however the cost was prohibitive and Jack decided to try and join the RAF instead. Ironically jack encountered the same obstacles as his Father who had been unable to join up to serve his country during the First World War because of the poor state of his teeth. At the age of 17, Jack had 22 teeth removed! Having seen an advert in the Spalding Free Press for “Well educated youth required by Chartered Accountants, Hodgson, Harris & Co”, a national company who had a small office in Spalding over Gibbs shoe shop, Jack applied and got his first job. There was no payment to the company however it only had a low wage of ten shillings a week. There were no girls in the office and as a consequence Jack had to learn shorthand typing to a standard of 100 words/minute, this alongside learning accountancy. [bold] This is Jacks[sic] account of his wartime memories. [/bold] When war broke out on 3rd September 1939 recruiting for the forces had started at 20 years plus however I was only 18 at the time. Accountancy was not a reserved occupation and in the August of 1940 I and my colleague Bill Taylor who was the same age as me and worked in the same office both decided to volunteer for the RAF as we didn’t fancy the Army or the Navy. In September 1940 we were called to the RAF station at Padgate near Warrington to be attested and undergo a medical. Bill and I undertook intelligence tests but we both knew that we wanted to be Wireless Operators. [page break] Although the war was now into its second year, there had been as yet no air raids in South Lincolnshire. Whilst at Padgate we suffered ten air raid warnings but fortunately no damage was inflicted on the airfield. It was my first experience of an air raid. This took place over the 13th, 14th and 15th of September and later became known as the Battle of Britain weekend when British fighters shot down 185 German planes. After my three days at Padgate I returned home to Lincolnshire and on the 4th November 1940 I and my friend Bill Taylor were required to travel to Blackpool. We left from Donington and travelled by train via Manchester arriving at Blackpool in the late afternoon. We were directed to Offices in the centre of Blackpool where we were officially enrolled in the Royal Air Force. Bill and I were then separated and I was lodged at a boarding house at 30 Reads Avenue Blackpool where another 15 RAF personnel were also residing. I was accommodated in the attic where there was a single fanlight, two beds and a wash basin. The next morning we assembled on the promenade near to the Hotel Metropole. Grouped into Units of approximately thirty, we were placed in the charge of an Acting Corporal. We commenced drill training and were marched around Blackpool for exercise stopping around mid morning at a Café for coffee and buns! As we were potential Wireless Operators we were required to attend the Winter Gardens daily where we were given instruction in radio technicalities and morse training. Due to double Summertime being in operation, it was exceptionally dark when we set out for the day at 8am. I was given the role of marker to the squad and marched at the front carrying a lantern. There was no heating in the Winter Gardens where we sat throughout the day in our greatcoats breaking only for refreshments before finishing training at around 4 to 4.30 pm. The food at the boarding house was acceptable being plain in nature but sufficient. In the evenings we were free to enjoy the night life of Blackpool but we had to be back by 10.30pm. After I had been there for several weeks, I joined a harmonica band consisting of around ten or twelve members and we performed at concerts held in various village halls in the area. The highlight was being able to perform at the Opera House on the same bill as George Formby. After three weeks I moved to 45 Ashburton Road along with three other RAF personnel. It was a much more homely atmosphere there, living and eating with an elderly couple who owned the property. After another three or four weeks I moved further down Ashburton Road but only stayed for a couple of nights as it was overcrowded with five to a room. I then moved to 4 Bank Street off the promenade near to the Hotel Metropole and where I had to parade each morning. This was a private hotel and very comfortable as I shared a room with only one other member of the RAF. it was extremely convenient for excursions into town in the evenings and I was happy to remain there until it was time to move on from Blackpool. [page break] Radio training continued everyday and we were tested each week at the premises of Burtons the Tailors. We were required to increase morse speed by one word per minute each week until a speed of twelve words per minute had been achieved at which point the course in Blackpool was concluded. [RAF Radio School crest] We were then posted to radio schools on normal RAF stations. I was posted to No. 3 radio School at RAF Compton Bassett in Wiltshire which was for ground operators. There was another radio school nearby to Compton Bassett, No. 4 at Yatesbury which was for aircrew operators. I enjoyed life here for the first time on a proper RAF station. My day started at 6:30 am with PT on the parade ground square before starting work at 8:00 am. I was at Compton Bassett from the end of March 1941 to the end of June which was when I qualified as a ground wireless operator and was allowed to wear ‘sparks’ on my right arm. Having successfully completed training I was allowed home for two weeks leave. This was my first leave since travelling to Blackpool the previous November. I thoroughly enjoyed the break and whilst there I received a posting to the RAF station at Bramcote near Nuneaton. This was a regular peacetime station however at this time it was mainly occupied by members of the Polish Air Force. This was my first experience of an operational signals cabin and for the first time working for real with a radio set. After several weeks at Bramcote, at the end of July, I was notified I was going on embarkation leave. After three weeks leave I had to make my way to the RAF station at West Kirby in the Wirral Peninsula. On arrival here, I found that several of my fellow colleagues who had been at radio school were also awaiting the same posting. We were all accommodated in tents. [photograph] POLISH Aircrew RAF - Fairey Battle Mk 1 sun L5427 BH*E of 300 (Polish) Bomb Squadron “Mazoviecka Province” - RAF Bramcote August 1940 - [page break] After several days we were moved by RAF transport into Liverpool for embarkation. The docks were very busy with movement of troops. We marched in units towards the vessel we were to leave England on. This vessel was the Orient Liner SS OTRANTO. Otranto was a 20,000grt passenger vessel that had been modified as a troop carrier. Some 500 RAF personnel embarked along with 3000 men of the Yorkshire Regiment. The decks of the ship went from A to H. RAF personnel were accommodated on E deck which was the last level with portholes. [photograph] There were eighteen on each mess table, we slept in hammocks and the toilets were primitive. Ten toilets without doors so there was no privacy. We knew nothing of our destination as security was so tight. On each mess table, two of the men were nominated as mess orderlies and had to bring the food from the galley. I was lumbered with one of these jobs! After being on board for 24 hours, we departed Liverpool. For me this was quite an experience having never been on a Liner before. It was quite a bright day on 31st August 1941 and our course followed the coast of Northern Ireland. We all started to take a guess at our destination and some of us thought we may be off to Canada to start our Air Crew training. For a day or so we headed due what until we were well clear of the Irish coast and out into the Atlantic. We were under escort of a number of Royal Navy vessels including two Battle Ships, the ill fated HMS REPULSE and HMS PRINCE OF WALES. [photograph] Repulse [photograph] Prince of Wales [page break] There was very little to do onboard and very little reading material available. The only book that seemed to be in circulation was ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’. After some time a number of personnel got sick and went off their food. It reached a point that on my table only myself and one other Mess Orderly were eating. A number of the party were literally very green and extremely poorly. The vessel eventually altered to a southerly course from its westward heading, still under escort, many of us spent a lot of time just sleeping and looking over the side watching the waves. Some spent their time writing letters intending to drop them off at the first port of call. All letters were censored prior to posting and in fact one of my associates was identified by the OIC as having referred to the Commanding Officer as bring “nothing more than a broken down commercial traveller”. As a result he was brough before the CO and given 7 days confinement to barracks which in this case was a cell in the depths of the ship on deck ‘H’. Several days later the vessel changed to an easterly direction giving rise to further speculation as to our destination. Eventually we made landfall on the west coast of Africa, berthing at Freetown where we stayed for a week. This was a very boring seven days as we were not allowed shore leave. We amused ourselves by watching the local boys jumping into the harbour to retrieve coins that were being thrown into the water by army personnel. The temperature was extremely hot and the humidity was high. At the end of the week we left Freetown and the vessel headed in a southerly direction. We now assumed our destination to be South Africa. As we were now in a consistently hot climate, some of us erected our hammocks on deck where it was much cooler to sleep. The next sighting of land was that of “Table Mountain” on the Cape however to our surprise we did not call at Capetown but carried on further along the South African coast eventually calling at Durban. We stayed here for a week and during that time were allowed shore leave daily. We were kindly entertained by South Africans who took us to restaurants and hotels for meals and tours in the neighbouring countryside. The weather was perfect and this was a really enjoyable and welcome break. We were extremely surprised that none of us were staying on in South Africa. We Aircrew thought that we may have been going on to Southern Rhodesia to continue air training – no such luck ,,,,,! At the end of this week we once again set sail along with our escort of Battleships heading east into the Indian Ocean. We sailed for several days before Repulse and Prince of Wales left us. No one could have imagined that only a few months later both these mighty ships had been sent to the bottom of the South China sea sunk by land based bombers and torpedo bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy on 10th December 1941. In Japan the engagement was referred to as the Naval Battle of Malaya (Mare-oki Kaisen). We were more fortunate with our destination as the Otranto finally docked in Bombay (Mumbai) India. Once again we were alongside for a week and were entertained on pleasure trips. I found Bombay to be a very exciting and busy place. At the end of this week, we Aircrew were taken off the SS Otranto and transferred to a much smaller vessel, the SS KHEDIVE ISMAIL complete with its Lascar crew. Of 7513 grt, formerly the SS ACONCAGUA, built in 1922 as an Ocean Liner and converted to a troop ship in 1940. [page break] We eventually left Bombay heading West and once clear of India we were advised that we were going to Basrah in Iraq. This revelation was our first indication as to our final destination. There was very little comfort onboard and hammocks were again the order of the day. The Lascar crew were very helpful and attentive and at night whilst in our hammocks they would come around with a bucket of tea or chai as they called it. This was very refreshing especially with the temperature as high as it was. Although the food onboard was quite acceptable, the toilet arrangements were primitive, consisting of a trough the width of the vessel with wood seats where you sat side by side with your fellow airmen – Absolutely no privacy whatsoever …..! We were off into the Arabian Sea without any sight of land until we entered the Straits of Hormuz, being the entrance to the Persian Gulf. We now had no escorts and sailed on alone through the tranquil waters of the Persian Gulf in very high temperatures and daily sunshine. [photograph of SS Khedive Ismail] Land eventually came into sight as we approached the Northern end of the Gulf and we eventually arrived at the Port of Basrah which was a very busy port. After disembarking, we were directed to a very large cargo shed on the dockside where we were to stay for the next few days. We only had beds made from boards and raised off the floor on four empty biscuit tins. The luxury was completed with one blanket and a small pillow. The temperature at this point was most uncomfortable. Whilst awaiting a posting, we were able to go into Barrah itself and sample the local life. The authorities were slightly puzzled as there were some fifty of us qualified Wireless Operators and they were not at all sure what to do with us. This took some time to sort out. Eventually a few of us were posted to Shuaiba which is now the second largest port in the State of Kuwait. At that time it was a camp about ten miles out of Basrah which had been a peacetime RAF camp. The accommodation at Shuaiba was of brick constructed buildings having been built partly below ground to try and reduce the heat as during the height of the season temperatures exceeded 40 deg’s. I spent quite some time carrying out general duties until one morning an order for volunteers for anybody who could type was requested. By this time I was rather tired of filling sand bags and doing guard duty. As I could type and do shorthand, I decided I would risk it and volunteered. I immediately became the Squadron typist and carried out all the office work and correspondence for the C.O. After a week or so the Squadron was posted to Sharjah a British Protectorate which is now a part of the United Arab Emirates. The squadron consisted of 18 Blenheim aircraft all of which were ex OUT and were not terribly serviceable. [page break] The Blenheims were required for anto[sic] submarine patrols up and down the Persian Gulf and out into the Indian Ocean. We were moved to Sharjah by boat and disembarked by dhow into the then village of Dubai. We continued by road transport to Sharjah where we were billeted in huts which had the luxury of fans. On the edge of the airport was a stone built structure known as the ‘Fort’. This was well equipped as it was used by BOAC crew for overnight stops. Because of the very high temperatures, the Mechanics could only work on the aircraft until 10am and then cease until 6pm. It was so hot an egg could be fried on the wings of aircraft. Water was in short supply and the only bathing was done in the sea which was about half a mile away. We only had a small supply of fresh water for shaving and tea was rationed. Food was very repetative with many combinations of risoles you have never seen the like of. Once every fortnight we were allowed American beer which equated to about four half pint cans which were consumed in one night. We used to leave the empty cans outside our billets and by morning they would have been removed by the locals. If you then happened to go into the village of Dubai, these cans could be seen on sale as mugs, having had handles attached. Although I was trained wireless operator, I was still being misemployed as Squadron Typist which mean that I could not be reclassified and so remained an AC2. However, I eventually took the AC1 examination and was upgraded. Like all the other Wireless Operators out there, we all wanted to get back to complete our Air Crew training. The Adjutant suggested I re muster as a Radio Observer which meant I could go to Southern Rhodesia for training or alternatively consider obtaining a commission as a Filter Officer. Whilst at Sharjah I suffered quite badly from ‘prickly heat’ which developed into blisters requiring my admission to the base sick bay. I also had heat exhaustion around the time of my 21st birthday, running a temperature of 106 degs. I was taken to the Fort at the edge of the camp which had air conditioned rooms. My skin problems got progressively worse and I had to have by head completely shaved. I received treatment with bread poultices on my arms and legs which became septic. [photograph of an aeroplane] Eventually I was taken by air to the RAF Hospital at Shuaibah and spent 2-3 weeks there recovering in the dermatology ward. At the end of my hospitalisation, I was posted to Tehran in Iran on sick leave. I travelled by road transport through the town of Ahwaz in Iran and then by train to Tehran. This journey took 24 hours. The train was completely full with people sleeping not just on the seats but also on the luggage racks and corridors. [page break] When the train stopped in the early morning there were many locals selling eggs and bread on the platform which was very welcome. On reaching Tehran we were taken to a rest home on the edge of the city. It had pleasant facilities. We used to go into Tehran in groups of 3 or 4 personnel. Towards the end of the two weeks, I developed tonsillitis which resulted in my being taken to the Sick Bay at the RAF Station at Tehran where I remained for a further ten days. The MO allowed me to remain in Tehran until I felt well enough to travel to Basrah but after about a week, I became quite lonely as all my colleagues had by then left. After arriving back in Basrah I was then posted to Habbaniya, a real peacetime RAF station about fifty five miles West of Baghdad. I was extremely pleased to receive this posting as the climate at Sharjah did not suit me at all. Habbaniya was quite a large base, all brick buildings including two cinemas and a range of shops where you could buy clothing etc. Surprisingly even the food in the Airmans[sic] mess was exceptionally good! There were also facilities for sporting activities including tennis courts. We had local youths acting as what we called “cheekos” who did our laundry and kept the village clean. There were 16 men in each billet and we all paid the equivalent of two shillings per week for this domestic assistance. It was always done promptly and efficiently. Each billet had fans as temperatures were around thirty to forty degrees. I was employed as a Ground operator in a Signals Cabin on a shift system, working stations in the UK and India. I found this to be very enjoyable work. [bold] NOTES ON RAF HABBANIYA, IRAQ [/bold] There were numerous billets, messes and a wide range of leisure facilities including swimming pools, cinemas and theatres, sports pitches, tennis courts and riding stables. It was self-contained with its own power station, water purification plant and sewage farm. Within the base was the Civil Cantonment for the civilian workers and their families and the families of the RAF Iraq Levies. Water taken from the Euphrates for the irrigation systems enabled green lawns, flower beds and even ornamental Botanical Gardens. After World War II the families of British personnel started living at Habbaniya and a school was started. The base at Habbaniya was used by the RAF from October 1936 to the end of May 1959, Not quite a year following the July 1958 revolution. In recent years Habbiniya was used for the manufacture of mustard gas which was used against Iranian troops during the Iran Iraq war. [map of the area] [page break] [centred] The Journey Home (Habininyah to the UK) [/centred] On a February morning in 1943, I was sleeping in the billet after having been on a night shift when I was awoken by some excited discussion. This was caused by a sergeant from the Orderly room reading out a list of names of Operators being posted back to the UK to resume Aircrew training and my name was on the list! It was then necessary to get clearance from the OIC of Signals – so off we went! However the Officer said that as we were all experienced Ground Operators, we could not leave until replacements arrived and this took five months until July. There were six of us with our kit bags that were put on to an open lorry to start our return journey to England. We travelled due west over the Iraqi desert. The temperature was around 40 degs C and after about four hours we stopped for refreshment and toilet relief. The stop took place at a point on the “Oil Line” known as H3. We carried on, passing through the small town of Al Rutbah which was the only sign of any habitation that we had thus far seen. Before darkness we stopped for the night somewhere near to the Syrian/Jordanian border, having to make ourselves as comfortable as possible on our kitbags. The next morning we resumed our journey travelling just north of the Dead Sea until we arrived in a small coastal town in Gaza just South of Tel Aviv. We were in a small transit camp with brick billets, completely unfurnished. We had to sleep on a blanket on a stone floor and in the morning we all had a large number of insect bites! After spending a couple of days on a Mediterranean beach we embarked on a train for Cairo. It was a pleasant journey as it followed the coast and at each station there were vendors of eggs and bread. On arrival in Cairo we were taken by truck to the RAF base at Almaza, a few miles out of town. On this occasion we were accommodated in small (2 person) tents whilst we awaited the Liner which would return us to the UK. After ten days in Almaza, we Wireless Operators were taken to Alexandria where we boarded a large Liner. Unfortunately I never knew its name however it apparently was the first ship to go through the Mediterranean since it was closed at the beginning of the war. We docked in Algiers for two days and the day after we sailed away, the Luftwaffe attacked Algiers. Our next stop was Gibralter where every night depth charges were set off at intervals as a deterrent to U-Boats. However during our five night stay there was no air raid. The last leg of the journey was north into the Atlantic and around Ireland into the River Clyde. This was uneventful but as we sailed into Greenock it was wonderful to once again see all the green vegetation. Something that I had missed in the two years I had been away. It was now the end of August, exactly two years since I had left. There was also good news – Italy had surrendered. I was also very happy now to send a phone message to my folks via their neighbours to let them know that I was back in the UK. I travelled by train to RAF West Kirby on the Wirral to leave my tropical kit and get a three week leave pass. The next day I had arrived home to a very happy reunion with Mother and Dad. I spent the next three weeks meeting relatives and friends recounting my travels. [page break] After three weeks disembarkation leave, I was posted to Number 4 Radio School at Madley near Hereford. This was where I was to resume Air Crew training as a Wireless Operator, flying Dominis and Proctors. [photograph] The [bold] Percival Proctor [/bold] was a British radio trainer and communications aircraft of the Second World War. The Proctor was a single-engined, low-wing monoplane with seating for three or four, depending on the model. [photograph] At the start of the Second World War, many (Dragon) Rapides were impressed by the British armed forces and served under the name [bold] de Havilland Dominie [/bold]. They were used for passenger and communications duties. Over 500 further examples were built specifically for military purposes, powered by improved Gipsey[sic] Queen Engines, to bring total production to 731. The Dominies were mainly used by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy for radio and navigation training. This was my first experience of flying and operating as a Wireless Operator and here we were flying most days for about one and a half hours carrying out various operation exercises on the radio. RAF Madley was also a peacetime Station and the accommodation was quite good and included bunks for two members each in huts containing about sixteen personnel. Whilst I was here, I was with a number of the men that I had served with in Iraq so I was quite happy with the friends that I already knew. We used to go into the local village in the evenings, frequenting the local hostelries where I had an enjoyable time making up the[sic] for the two years I had spent overseas! The course finished at the end of December 1943 and this is when I passed out and was promoted to Sergeant. At the same time I was also presented with my previ, the letter ‘S’ for Signals in the centre. Previously Wireless Operators had been Air Gunners as well but that had by then been discontinued and a Wireless Operator was purely a Wireless Operator and not required to do a Gunnery course. Having qualified, I was kept on for a few more weeks assisting with the training of other personnel. At the end of April 1944 I was posted along with some of the other Wireless operators to No 9 Advanced Flying Unit at Llandwrog in North Wales which is close to the town of Pwihelli and also close to Caenarfon. The drome here was along the coastline and planes taking off the runway immediately across the Irish sea. [page break] At Llandwrog we were training in Anson aircraft doing cross country exercises, out across the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man, back to the Lancashire coast and returning to base in Wales. This was during the month of May 1944 and continued into June until the course was completed on 12th June 1944. By this time, I’d had 43 hours of lectures and about 37 hours of flying time. This had been quite good experience as we had been night flying on a number of occasions and experienced flying in terrific thunderstorms. The whole aircraft having been completely encircled in a blue light including the wings! This was quite an unnerving experience. [photograph] On two occasions whilst stationed at Llandwrog, two of the training aircraft taking off failed to raise into the air and ditched in the sea. Each about 200 -300 metres from the shore. Fortunately the crews survived. During my time there I was kept pretty busy however I did get into the local pub occasionally. There was a bit of a problem in that the pubs closed at 9 o’clock in the evening so you were never late getting back to camp. I was aware that there were certain local farms where airmen could go and have a bacon and egg meal and other enjoyable food but I never managed that. Having completed the advanced w/t course, I was then posted to No. 17 Operational Training Unit at Turweston, Northamptonshire which was also part of RAF Silverstone. Turweston was the satellite drone where I spent my first period operating. It was here at Turweston where we were all selected into different crews which was quite a hit and miss affair. This was because the Pilots were selecting more or less randomly the members of their crew from those present in the room. I was picked by an Australian Pilot, Flight Sergeant Rob Richter. In addition to myself we had a Navigator (Alan Capey) from Stoke on Trent, a Bomb Aimer (Taffy Cross) from Llanelli, an Flight Engineer (Ossy Williams) from New Malden, a Mid Upper Gunner (Price Proctor) from Hartlepool and a Tail Gunner (Paddy McCrum) from Belfast. It seemed strange putting together a crew in such an informal manner but thank goodness it all worked out reasonably well and we all sort of bedded down together in pretty good form. We then started operating together and flew in Vickers Wellington Mk III’s and I was now flying as a Wireless Operator no longer under training. [page break] [photograph] We were accommodated in nissan huts amongst a lot of trees and I was working together with a team for the first time. As we got on so well together we were socialising each evening, visiting the local hostelries in Silverstone and Brackley. The weather at this time was perfect and I was enjoying the experience of flying with a crew in the Wellington aircraft. The flying exercises we were doing began with circuits and landings. We then developed this on to cross country and high level bombing exercises at Wainfleet in Lincs. and also Epperstone in Notts. This included air firing for the benefit of the gunners. At the end of July our crew were moved into the RAF base at Silverstone with more permanent accommodation than we had previously had at Turweston. It was all most comfortable and I was quite content here. We were now mainly doing cross country flights on a regular basis with these being between three and five hours in length. In the middle of August we were sent on a semi operational patrol known as a “Nickel Raid”’ dropping foil paper to interfere with radio in enemy territory. This was a flight to Nantes in France where we unloaded the foil. This was a five hour trip. Two days later we were sent on a “Bullseye” which was a diversionary raid for the benefit of the main force. This was a trip to the coast of Holland to the town of Imjuiden. During the time at Turweston and Silverstone we had experience of 57 hours of daytime flying and 57 hours of night flying. As part of the training we carried out bale out drill, ditching, dinghy and oxygen drills as well as procedures when lost at night. It was the Wireless Operators job to carry the radio transmitter into the dinghy which would be used to transmit any distress signals. I’m pleased to say that this situation never arose. On 24th August 1944 we were sent on two weeks leave after which we were then posted to the Heavy Conversion Unit no. 1661 at RAF Winthorpe near Newark. The planes we used here were Mk III and V Stirlings. We carried out more cross country exercises however we were only here for one month. Our Pilot always likened the Stirling to the equivalent of flying a Double Decker Bus because the undercarriage was so high. [page break] [black and white photograph of a Short Stirling] Short Stirling On the 18th October 1944 we were posted to No. 5 Lancaster finishing school at Syerston, between Newark and Nottingham. This was our first experience of flying Lancasters. We were only here until the 8th November when we were all posted to various squadrons. [Crest of Royal Air Force Syerston] I and my fellow crew were posted to the RAF staion [sic] at Fulbeck which was purely a wartime air station and here we joined No. 189 squadron which is a Base that we shared with No. 59 Squadron. I arrived at RAF Fulbeck on the 9th November 1944. The Station was situated between RAF Cranwell and the villages of Leadenham and Brant Broughton all with good pubs which we visited regularly when off duty. My home in Quadring was only 25 miles away and as I had my bicycle I went home for the evening several times. I left camp at 4pm and by 6pm I was home. At midnight I would return to camp, arriving two hours later. It was a lonely ride but I usually had a pint bottle of beer in my saddle bag for refreshment on the journey! The daily routine in camp commenced about 9am when all crew members reported to their Sections. We were then given the days programme after which it was necessary to check your own particular equipment. At midday we all returned to either the officers or Sergeants mess for lunch. The only flying our crew did in November was a cross country and two high level bombing exercises at Wainfleet and Epperstone. Naturally we were waiting to be called for our first operation and during the month we had the experience of being fully briefed for three trips, all being cancelled before take off which was a bit nerve wrecking. However on the 4th December 1944 when we reported to our Sections we were informed that we would be on ‘Ops’ that night. After lunch the procedure was for all crews to attend the full Squadron briefing between 4pm and 5pm when we were told the target location and purpose of the raid. Depending on the nature of the target, the maximum bomb load was 16,000 lbs and 2,200 gallons of fuel. With a full load of bombs/fuel, the total weight of the plane on take off was 30 tons. The flight plan gave the level at which we would be bombing and could be 8000 to 16000 feet. The more trips you did, then lower was the level at which you bombed. [page break] There were usually several Squadrons - about 200 aircraft on night trips. There was a rendezvous point, either Northampton or Beachy Head, for us to group together. As the whole force would be over the target for thirty minutes, each crew was given a bombing time - H plus 10 or H plus 20 etc. It was an amazing experience in total darkness with no lights on the planes and a complete blackout of all towns and villages below. Our average take off time was 7 to 8pm. As we were not permitted to return to the mess or accommodation after lunch, we had sandwiches and flasks of tea with us. Upon returning to base, often in the early hours of the morning we were first debriefed on the raid. After that we had a very welcome meal of bacon and eggs etc, before going off to bed. Our first trip was to HEILBRON near STUTTGART in the RUHR to bomb the railway marshalling yards. Taking off for your first raid was a rather eerie feeling, not knowing what it would be like or if you would be coming back. However, once airborne your thoughts fall to getting the job done. After three hours we were over the target area giving us a very bumpy ride. Thankfully we were not hit and having dropped our 4000 lb bomb and a load of incendiaries, the yards were glowing with the fires raging. We returned to base safely and satisfied with our first operation. Our next ‘Op’ was GIESSEN near FRANKFURT on 6th December where the target was once again marshalling yards. On the 19th December we went on a long ten hour journey to GDYNIA. All went fairly well until we arrived over the target which was the docks. We should have done a ‘dog leg’ around the target (which we somehow missed!) to enable us to bomb on a northerly heading, coming out of the run over the Baltic Sea. As a consequence we were coned by searchlights and received heavy targeted gunfire from the German Navy below. Fortunately they missed us and we eventually had a successful raid. To avoid the enemy night fighters our Pilot took us down and we flew as low as possible over the Baltic and North Sea, not seeing any other activity although there had been some 200 enemy night fighters in amongst the main stream of bombers on the way home. Two nights later we were sent to POLITZ, not far from GDYNIA which was another ten hour trip. On this occasion we were in heavy gunfire and heavy anti aircraft fire and for the first time we witnessed ‘Scarecrow’ being used by the enemy in order to create panic. Once again we were successful and set out to return home. On the journey back we were informed by radio that Lincolnshire was completely fog bound and we were diverted to RAF Milltown near Elgin. We remained there, as from 21st to 28th December 1944, Lincolnshire continued to be fog bound. Far Right: ‘Scarecrow’ [black and white photograph of a ‘Scarecrow’ exploding] AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL SUK12055 [page break] On the 30th December, we were sent to Houffalize, Belgium which was a town in the middle of the Western Front, south of Liege in the Ardennes. Here we were supposed to bomb the front line which was a rather delicate operation. Although it was a relatively short trip of five hours, we needed a lot of care as to where we were bombing. We learned later that a number of the Polish army had been caught by the bombs on that occasion. On New years Day 1945 we were sent to bomb Gravenhorst for the numerous oil targets that were situated there. Unfortunately we could not return to base and once again returned to Milltown in Scotland where we stayed for a couple of days. On 4th January, I flew with another crew piloted by Flying Officer Martin due to the sickness of their Wireless Operator. On this occasion we went to Royan, a town in the south West of France near to Bordeaux principally to attack the Submarines of the German Navy which were on the river there. This was a seven hour journey to the mouth of the Gironde which was quite uneventful. On the 13th January we were sent to the town of Politz again which was a ten and a half hour trip. We were successful mainly targeting oil and marshalling yards alongside the Navy. Because of the length of the trip, on the return journey the flight engineer indicated that our fuel was not sufficient to get back to base. I made contact with base to establish where we should land given our circumstances and we were directed to make for Carnaby which was the emergency landing strip near to Flamborough Head in Yorkshire. We were fortunate to land there safely as there was virtually no fuel leaf onboard. On the 16th January I was back with my own crew and flew with them to the town of Brux. This was an oil target with a round trip time of nine and a half hours. This was over towards the Polish area. On the 1st and 2nd February we attacked the towns of Siegen and Karlsruhe. Both these trips were bright moonlit nights which made it much easier for the German night fighters to attack us when we were silhouetted against the moon. We did experience interference from night fighters and as always the anti aircraft fire was very intense. On the Karlsruhe trip, out of our 18 aircraft we lost 4 that night. On the 7th February we went to Ladbergen in order to attack the Dortmund-Ems canal. On this occasion we only carried 1000lb bombs with no incendiaries in the hope that we inflicted as much damage as possible to the canal. On the 13th February we had a very long trip to Dresden. This we were told was because the Russians had driven the German Army back and it was encamped in Dresden. This was termed as a “Russian Army co-operation raid”. The American Airforce had been operational during the day and had bombed the target so by the time we were arriving around midnight, the town was ablaze. We were successful over the target but did encounter a lot of the usual anti aircraft and fighter aircraft. On the way back to base over the Alps we were icing up and had to go down as low as possible which was a tricky operation being amongst the mountains. However we were once again able to make it back to base. [page break] Of course after this raid there has been much publicity about it and as the years have passed, the extent of the damage became more apparent and the subject tended to not be mentioned. However being aware of the reasons for the raid, it seemed to me to be a very satisfactory legitimate target and one that was done with extreme efficiency. The very next night on 14th February, we attacked an oil target at Rositz which is near Leipzig. This was another nine hour journey there and back. A few nights later on 19th February we were again in the vicinity of Leipzig over the town of Bohlen and once again it was an oil target. On all these Oil targets we carried a 1000lb’er and a load of incendiaries. On 20th February we went all the way to Gravenhorst but unfortunately the sortie was aborted and we were unable to return to base because of adverse weather conditions and we were diverted to Colerne. On 23rd February we were given a very different target in Horten which were the docks in the Oslo fjord in Norway which had a German Naval base there. This was a comparatively short trip it being only six and half hours and we experienced a lot of intense anti-aircraft fire from the German Naval gunners. On 12th March, we carried out our first raid in daylight and joined a one thousand bomber force. The target that day was the town of Dortmund. This was quite a new experience and rather frightening being amongst so many other bombers, all at the same time and all approaching the same area. However, the raid was successful and we returned without incident in what was a five hour trip. The next trip was to Lutzkendorf, an oil target which was quite a long journey and well into Eastern Germany. This was on 14th March and although the raid was a success, we did lose several aircraft. Once again the weather conditions in Lincolnshire prevented us from returning to base and we were diverted to Manston in Kent where there was an emergency landing strip. Two days later on 16th March we had another oil target to attack in the town of Wurzburg. Here we experienced a lot of fighter activity and heavy anti-aircraft. We were very lucky to get back! On 20th March we returned to raid Bohlen near Leipzig and this was another eight hour trip. On 23rd March we were sent to the town of Wesel to attack the marshalling yards there. This was a mere five and half hour trip which we carried out without incident. On 4th April we were sent on a daylight raid to Nordhausen and this was to attack oil targets and the marshalling yards. On 23rd April we were again raiding in daylight, this time to Flensburg on the Kiel canal. This was to attack the submarine pens there however the sortie was aborted and we returned home without encountering any problems. Three days later we were sent to Brussels to repatriate a group of ex prisoners of war. We managed to pack in twenty four in the fuselage of the aircraft and we flew to Westcott in Buckinghamshire. This made a very pleasant change and the former POW’s were naturally in good spirits. As the war was nearing its conclusion, we found ourselves doing more training exercises for a day or two and on 6th may[sic] we were back in Brussels collecting more former POW’s and this time we brought them home to Dunsfold in Surrey. [page break] We repeated this some six days later on 12th May. On each occasion there were twenty six former POW’s in our fuselage. On 15th April we flew to Lille to repatriate more POW’s. On 16th April 1945 we were sent on a grand tour of Germany to see what damage had been done. This covered the towns and cities of Bremen, Hamburg, Harburg in Bavaria, Brunswick, Cassel, Wurzburg, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Cologne, Osnabruck and back to base. The whole trip took some eight and a half hours. This was a very interesting and exciting flight to see just what effect the bombing had on Germany. On 1st April 1945, the Squadron had been transferred to Bardney which is nine miles east of Lincoln. This is the RAF station from where we operated the two daylight raids and the trips to collect the former POW’s. Also on this Station was No. 9 Squadron. They specialised in carrying very large bombs which they used to bomb the hiding place of Hitler in the Mountains. On most of the raids I was on, the anti-aircraft fire was quite intense in most places and the night fighters were usually very busy. The one frightening aspect that the defenders of certain targets used was to send up “scarecrows” this giving the impression of one of our bombers exploding and crashing in flames. How this was achieved, I am unsure but it was extremely frightening. Our crew had the unfortunate luck of having to be changed after the third trip as our Rear Gunner had been caught sleeping twice whilst we were still over enemy territory. On the first occasion when the Skipper called to him there was no reply and I was asked to go and find out what the problem was. I found that both the turret doors were open and he was lying back on the shute into the turret with his intercom lead pulled out of the socket. I informed the Skipper that he had not replied because his intercom was out. However on the very next trip the same situation occurred again whilst we were still well over Germany. On that occasion I did report to the Skipper that he was in fact asleep. After that he was removed from the Crew and we had to have substitutes for the remainder of our trips. After the raid on Karlsruhe we had lost four aircraft which I have already referred to but in fact on several trips one or two failed to return however I have no record of the numbers lost in my period of Operations. In the May of 1945, the Crews were being dispersed as our tours had finished with the war coming to an end on 8th May 1945. A number of us volunteered to assist with hay making and I spent about two weeks on a farm near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire after which we were all sent on leave for a few weeks. As we completed the tour, we were then given a rest period and at that point we expected to be going on operations in the Far East at the later stage however the war ended there on 15th August. As I was home on leave, I received a posting to RAF Woodbridge which was an emergency landing strip in Suffolk. There I was more or less just operating in the Flight Control Tower and also assisting in the Officers and Sergeants Mess’s with their accounting systems. I had plenty of spare time and the town of Ipswich was close by. This is where [I] and my friends were going most nights. [page break] One of my close friends at Woodbridge was Warrant Officer Bill Patterson, a pilot who had a lady friend called Rena in Ipswich. I was told that Rena had a lady friend who said that she would like to meet me. A date was duly arranged for the 4th November 1945 for me to meet this lady on the steps of the Post Office in Ipswich at 6 o’clock. The person that turned up was a young lady called Avis Fleet. That evening we went with Bill and Rena as a foursome for a drink in Ipswich and we had a very pleasant time. Consequently I continued to meet Avis on a regular basis and was taken to her home on Norwich Road where I met her parents and young brother Geoffrey who was only eleven at the time. We met very regularly most days as I didn’t have much to do at Woodbridge and our friendship grew until by the end of December we had agreed to get married in 1946. Avis and I went to my parents home in Quadring on Boxing Day and spent a few days there before returning to Ipswich. At the end of December, I was promoted to Warrant Officer which made my weekly pay Six Pounds and Eleven Shillings which at the time was pretty good money. I continued to meet Avis regularly whilst the release groups from the RAF were in number order and I was number thirty five. With the assistance of my friend Bill Patterson who was then in the Release Centre, I went for demobilisation on 3rd April 1946. I collected my civilian outfit and returned to Ipswich to meet Avis again. Of course being released at that time meant that I had a quantity of clothing coupons which helped Avis considerably in getting her wedding outfit etc. The wedding was arranged for the 4th May 1946 and this took place at All Saints Church Ipswich. I continued to receive pay from the RAF until the end of Mat[sic] 1946 by which time I had resumed my work as an accountant with Hodgson Harris in Spalding. [wedding photograph] After living with my parents for 4 or 5 weeks, I managed to obtain a furnished flat in Spalding at 13 High Street which was along by the riverside. [page break] In 1950 when war broke out in Korea I decided to join the RAF Reserve and this meant going to No. 9 Reserve Flying School at Doncaster. I would attend there at weekends, taking part in various flying exercises. In August 1951 as part of Reserve Training, I did two weeks camp at Topcliffe in North Yorkshire and flew in Ansons on cross country exercise which also included a trip to Malta. The last trip I did was in an Anson in a North Sea search for the Spurn Lightship. This was on 1st February 1953. After this I was retired from the Reserve as I was over the age of twenty nine. Whilst on Operations we had nine days leave every six weeks and all received Ten Pounds per week from Lord Nuffield (The boss of Ford Motor Co). In appreciation of our services. Returning from leave sometimes could be worrying. In our huts there would be members from 4 or 5 different Crews and returning home some would be missing from raids. On one occasion there were members of 7 Crews in our hut and on our return from one sortie, 5 were missing. This was a huge shock! I thoroughly enjoyed all of my time with the RAF and would say that it was as good as going to a University. I realise that I am very fortunate to be still alive at the age of 92. I now have the medals of my service history including the Bomber Command Clasp for the 1939-1945 Star. I hope my story will be of interest to whoever may read it. [two pages from 189 Squadron Fulbeck logbook] [page break] [photograph of Andrew Gaunt as sub-postmaster at Pinchbeck] Jacks[sic] WW11 story and experiences have been brought together by Andrew Gaunt former Sub Postmaster of Pinchbeck (2000 to 2014), from recordings made by Jack of his time with the RAF and his personal recollections of events and flying missions that he was sent on. Utilising Jacks[sic] log book and researching events that he has referred to. It seemed appropriate that I brought Jacks[sic] recollections together having myself been a fellow Wireless Operator. Being a Marine Radio Officer from 1975 to 1986 and visiting many of the ports of the Middle East that Jack transited on his journey. Ironically Merchant ships no longer have a requirement to carry an R/O. This position disappeared in the 1990’s whilst the requirement to carry a W/O on aircraft was I believe removed sometime in the 1960’s. My own experiences took me frequently into areas of conflict notably the Persian/Arabian Gulf, regularly through the then dangerous Straits of Hormuz during the Iran/Iraq war and I also have my own vivid recollections of the Iranian Revolution. Acknowledgements are made to the following sources whose photos have been used although there appear to be many copies of the same photos on different sites. Polish Aircrew at RAF Bramcote – polishsquadronsremembered.com Troopship SS Otranto – britisharmedforces.org HMS Repulse – historyofwar.org HMS Prince of Wales – dailymail.co.uk Troopship SS Khedive Ismail – cruiselinehistory.com Blenheim Aircraft – spitfirespares.co.uk WW11 map of Iraq – en.wikipedia.org Percival Proctor Aircraft – en.wikipedia.org De Havilland Dominie Aircraft – rafyatesbury.webs.com Avro Anson Aircraft – uboat.net Vickers Wellington Aircraft – aviationresearch.co.uk Short Stirling Aircraft – aoth.17.dsl.pipex.com “Scarecrow” phenomena – awrm.gov.au Whilst the tragic fate of Repulse and Prince of Wales is a well known WW11 event, a lesser known event but equally tragic story lies in the fate of the SS Khedive Ismail which took Jack into the Persian Gulf in late 1941. The SS Khedive Ismail was sunk by a Japanese submarine on 12th February 1944 with the loss of 1,297 lives. The vessel Sank in just two minutes. For more information on this terrible event visit www.roll-of-honour.com/Ships/SSKhediveIsmail.htm The story is also covered in The book “Passage To Destiny” by Paul Watkins. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sparks in the air - Jack Smith's wartime story Description An account of the resource <p>Wartime recollections of John (known to his friends as Jack) George Smith from Pinchbeck. He tells of life before the war, how he went on to volunteer for the RAF in August 1940 and describes his training as a wireless operator. The document includes the radio school crest and a photograph of a Battle aircraft. He describes, in detail, his long voyage from Liverpool via Cape Town, eventually arriving at RAF Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and describes life and work on this station. He tells of medical issues and his subsequent posting to RAF Habbaniya in Iraq. Goes on to describe journey back to England overland via Gaza, Cairo and Alexandria, thence by ship. On returning he continues aircrew training at RAF Madley and Llandwrog in Wales. The document Includes photographs of Proctor, Dominie and Anson. After crewing up and starting operations on Wellington aircraft, he continues with postings to heavy conversion units and Lancaster finishing school before joining 189 Squadron at RAF Fulbeck. He then goes on to describes, in detail, operations from December 1944 to April 1945, including repatriating prisoners of war and Cook's tour to see damage to German cities. He describes life after the war including his marriage. The memoir includes photographs of Wellington. Stirling, night bombing, wedding and a page from logbook.</p> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A Gaunt J Smith Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Twenty page printed book with b/w photographs Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BSmithJSmithJv1-2 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire England--Spalding England--Cheshire England--Lancashire England--Blackpool England--Wiltshire England--Liverpool South Africa South Africa--Cape Town South Africa--Durban India India--Mumbai Iraq Iraq--Baṣrah United Arab Emirates Iraq--Ḥabbānīyah Gaza Strip--Gaza Egypt--Cairo Egypt--Alexandria England--Herefordshire England--Northamptonshire Wales--Gwynedd England--Nottinghamshire Germany Germany--Heilbronn Germany--Giessen (Hesse) Poland Poland--Gdynia Belgium Belgium--Houffalize Germany--Wolfsburg (Lower Saxony) France France--Royan Czech Republic Germany--Karlsruhe Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal Germany--Dresden Germany--Leipzig Germany--Dortmund Atlantic Ocean--Oslofjorden Germany--Würzburg Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia) Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia) Belgium--Brussels Germany--Flensburg Poland--Police (Województwo Zachodniopomorskie) Scotland--Moray Egypt Gaza Strip Germany--Ruhr (Region) Czech Republic--Most North Africa United Arab Emirates--Shāriqah Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1937 1940-09 1940-11-04 1941-03 1941-08-31 1943-02 1943-12 1944-04 1944-06-12 1944-08-24 1944-11-09 1944-12-04 1944-12-06 1944-12-19 1944-12 1944-12-30 1945-01-01 1945-01-04 1945-01-16 1945-01-13 1945-02-01 1945-02-02 1945-02-07 1945-02-13 1945-02-14 1945-02-20 1945-02-23 1945-03-14 1945-03-16 1945-03-20 1945-03-23 1945-04-03 1945-04-23 1945-05-06 1945-05 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource David Bloomfield Maureen Clarke Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive 1661 HCU 17 OTU 189 Squadron Advanced Flying Unit aircrew Anson Battle Blenheim bombing bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945) Cook’s tour crewing up Dominie Heavy Conversion Unit Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School military living conditions Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy Operation Exodus (1945) Operational Training Unit Proctor RAF Bramcote RAF Compton Bassett RAF Fulbeck RAF Llandwrog RAF Madley RAF Milltown RAF Padgate RAF Silverstone RAF Syerston RAF Turweston RAF Winthorpe RAF Woodbridge recruitment Scarecrow Stirling training Wellington wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/641/32465/BSmithJSmithJv1.1.pdf 06d252abf25757870b967f73da7e1fc8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Smith, Jack John George Smith J G Smith Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Smith, JG Description An account of the resource Three items. An oral history interview with John 'Jack' Smith (1921 -2019) and his memoirs. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 189 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by John Smith and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-04-08 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sparks in the air - Jack Smith's wartime story Description An account of the resource Second version. Covers life before the war and volunteering for the RAF in August 1940 and continues with an account of training as a wireless operator. The article includes radio school crest and photograph of a Battle aircraft. He describes his voyage from Liverpool via Cape Town, eventually arriving at RAF Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, having travelled through several countries. He describes life and work on this station. Describes medical issues and subsequent posting to RAF Habbaniya in Iraq. Goes on to describe journey back to England overland via Gaza, Cairo and Alexandria thence by ship. Continues aircrew training at RAF Madley and Llandwrog in Wales. Includes photographs of Proctor, Dominie and Anson. Describes crewing up and starting operations on Wellington aircraft. He continues with postings to heavy conversion units and Lancaster finishing school before joining 189 Squadron at RAF Fulbeck. Describes operations from December 1944 to April 1945. Mentions repatriating prisoners of war and Cook's tour to see damage to German cities. Describes life after the war including his marriage. Includes photographs of Wellington. Stirling, night bombing, wedding and page from log book. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A Gaunt J Smith Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Twenty-eight page printed document Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BSmithJSmithJv1 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire England--Spalding England--Cheshire England--Lancashire England--Blackpool England--Wiltshire England--Liverpool South Africa South Africa--Cape Town South Africa--Durban India India--Mumbai Iraq Iraq--Baṣrah United Arab Emirates Iraq--Ḥabbānīyah Gaza Strip--Gaza Egypt--Cairo Egypt--Alexandria England--Herefordshire England--Northamptonshire Wales--Gwynedd England--Nottinghamshire Germany Germany--Heilbronn Germany--Giessen (Hesse) Poland Poland--Gdynia Belgium Belgium--Houffalize Germany--Wolfsburg (Lower Saxony) France France--Royan Czech Republic Germany--Karlsruhe Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal Germany--Dresden Germany--Leipzig Germany--Dortmund Atlantic Ocean--Oslofjorden Germany--Würzburg Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia) Germany--Nordhausen (Thuringia) Belgium--Brussels Germany--Flensburg Poland--Police (Województwo Zachodniopomorskie) Scotland--Moray Egypt Gaza Strip Germany--Ruhr (Region) Czech Republic--Most North Africa United Arab Emirates--Shāriqah Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1937 1940-09 1940-11-04 1941-03 1941-08-31 1943-02 1944-04 1944-06-12 1944-08-24 1944-11-09 1944-12-04 1944-12-06 1944-12-19 1944-12 1944-12-30 1945-01-01 1945-01-04 1945-01-16 1945-01-13 1945-02-01 1945-02-02 1945-02-07 1945-02-13 1945-02-14 1945-02-20 1945-02-23 1945-03-14 1945-03-16 1945-03-20 1945-03-23 1945-04-03 1945-04-23 1945-05-06 1945-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Maureen Clarke 1661 HCU 17 OTU 189 Squadron Advanced Flying Unit aircrew Anson Battle Blenheim bombing bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945) Cook’s tour crewing up Dominie Heavy Conversion Unit Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School love and romance military living conditions Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy Operation Exodus (1945) Operational Training Unit Proctor RAF Bramcote RAF Compton Bassett RAF Fulbeck RAF Llandwrog RAF Madley RAF Milltown RAF Padgate RAF Silverstone RAF Syerston RAF Turweston RAF Winthorpe RAF Woodbridge recruitment Scarecrow Stirling training Wellington wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1561/34804/SRAFIngham19410620v070001-Audio.mp3 1cdda487d490705f1871c23fb467186a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RAF Ingham Heritage Group Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-11-14 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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 An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RAF Ingham Description An account of the resource 27 items in six collections. The collection concerns RAF Ingham and contains interviews photographs and documents concerning: Andrzej Jeziorski - Pilot 304 Squadron Arthur Hydes - Boy in Ingham Brian Llewellyn -ATC Jan Black - Rear Gunner 300 Squadron Lech Gierak - Armourer 303 Squadron Marion Clarke - MT Driver RAF Ingham Mieczyslaw Maryszczak - Armourer Stanislaw Jozefiak - Air Ops 304 Squadron - Pilot on Spitfires Wanda Szuwalska - Admin 300 Squadron Faldingworth Zosia Kowalska - Cook RAF Ingham Julian Michalski Margaret Smieja The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by the RAF Ingham Heritage Group and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [Other]: Make a start. Int: Right, I’ll just, I will leave it on because this is the rough cut. Obviously what we’ll do is, just give you a copy, on a CD, of the whole recording. And then obviously when we come to do a production side of it, we’ll cut out the bits that are relevant towards the Heritage Centre but we’ll give you a copy for your family, or a couple of copies if you’d like that. [Other]: That’ll be lovely dad! Int: We’ll just leave the camera rolling. If at any time you want to have a break, or you need to use the toilet, or you would like a drink, if we just say and we can stop, because it won’t matter on the film: we’ll just keep it rolling. Because sometimes, we found in the past, that when we’ve interviewed some of the veterans, they’ll say could I just stop now for a cup of water, glass of water or something, so we switch it off, and that’s when some of the very interesting little pieces of information come out, when they’re just chatting, so sometimes it’s worth leaving it on. I did a very, very quick bit of research into you before I came here, so I know a little [emphasis] bit about you, and it is only a very small amount, because I didn’t realise that you were an armourer, um, I probably should have done, and obviously although you’re known as Michael, or Michael now, obviously you had your Polish first name which, would you like to pronounce it for me? MM: [Phonetically] Michislov. [Laughter] Int: Thank you. My pronunciation would be very embarrassing to you. [Other]: I can’t pronounce it, can’t spell it, let alone! Int: M I E C H Z Y S L A W. Yes. [Other]: Miecyzslaw, something like that. Int: How do you pronounce your surname, your family name? MM: [Phonetically] Marishtack. Int: Marishtick. [Other]: [Phonetically] Marishtak. Marishtak, yes. MM: There, you see I was in Gaza at that time, that was, Rommel was, British was worried about that, taking over Suez Canal and I wasn’t in the Air Force yet, but was about hundred fifty Polish boys, we supposed to learn how to repair the tanks, you know, but that Australian say look, its take lot of time to learn, I’m going to teach you how to drive and we going to repair and we going on the desert and test them they okay, on the front because there was hurry, you know, be ready before Rommel attacks the Suez, so I got for that, medals. Int: And how old were you at that time then, in the desert? MM: I was very young, well [pause] about seventeen I think, seventeen. Int: And were you part of the Polish Air Force or the Polish Army at that time? MM: The Army. Int: Part of the Polish Army. MM: At Gaza, yes. Because that was Gaza, was on the Egyptian Palestinian border, that time was, [cough] well, under British rule in Palestine, you know that. I was in Palestine as well. Int: And you’ve obviously mentioned that you were trained in the Polish Air Force to be an armourer. When you were in the Polish Army, in Palestine, did you also deal with the shells and the bullet side of things as an armourer, or not? MM: No. You see after that I was removed, victory was Alamein, and they moved to Egypt, and Egypt er, that was quite lot of boys and was about, volunteers about six hundred fifty, because Polish was, more to, Polish aid for us in England. So there, you know, the examination, you know, doctor, you know, everything was, so six hundred, six hundred forty five, is only sixty five been accepted, and from that time I joined the, to the Polish Air Force. Int: Why did you decide that you wanted to apply to join the Polish Air Force? What was the reasons behind that do you think? MM: Well because Polish, they came round to Egypt and they want some replacement in England for the younger people, you know. Int: I was just wondering why you chose, did they, was there any, was there an incentive? MM: I didn’t choose that. Int: You didn’t choose, oh, okay. MM: They just said volunteers you see! [Laugh] So this stay in Egypt and from Egypt we travelled by Royal Britannia ship round Africa because we going to go through that where U-boat was, German U-boat, and round the Capetown. We stopped in Capetown for about three days and because not only Polish but was Yugoslavian, all different nationalities, Greeks, and they all different, and we arrived to Freetown, and Freetown to Liverpool. And from Liverpool came to Halton. Int: What, what time of year did you arrive in Liverpool? Was it the summer, or the winter, or? MM: That wasn’t winter, no, no, no, that was er, [pause] which date was that, approximately. Int: I’m just thinking that having been in Palestine, and having been in in Egypt, and then even South Africa, coming to Britain, and Liverpool, must have been probably very cold, very wet. MM: No, no, no, that was June or July, something like that, that time, we arrive to England. That was in, practically summer, was that time. Int: What was your, can you remember your first impressions when you landed in Liverpool, in England? MM: Balloons [laugh]. Yeah, there were balloons everywhere. Int: Oh, the barrage balloons. Yes, yeah. And then you went, you said you went to Halton. MM: Halton, yes. Int: For your training. Can you tell me - MM: We travelled during the night, I don’t know why, we actually arrived early and having travelled through the night, and I seem to remember they stop us in Crewe; they give us some cup of tea and sandwiches. [Laugh] Int: That was nice, and was it in the back of a lorry then, that you travelled? MM: No, no, it was train. Int: Oh, on a train, right. MM: Yes. I think it was Crewe which er, and we arrive very late in Halton. Int: And what are your memories of Halton, as a training? MM: Oh, they was very good, you know, because most of the people was coming from the 303 Squadron, from Northolt, for, to Halton, for training. Some of them depends what, some of them just gunnery, you know, three months training and you’re off you know. But you know, was very, very, training was very, very good, you know, was excellent, you know, we got everything. Even remember the Russian er, [indecipherable] Bureau like came round to visit Halton and what happened they, the Brit, they shut us completely! [Laugh] Int: They just, they wouldn’t talk to you, they just ignored you completely. MM: Yes. They said no, no, put in school and then they shut us, the workshop up is completely: all Poles. Int: Shut away. And how long after you arrived, did you hand over your Army uniform and then you got the blue, the blue uniform for the Air Force? MM: Oh yes. When we arrived to Halton I got given blue uniform. Int: Blue uniform. Then you were in the Air Force, the Polish Air Force. MM: Yeah. That’s right. Int: And can you remember the insignia and the badges you wore at all? Were they RAF ones or were they Polish Air Force? MM: Polish Air Force. Int: Polish Air Force. How long, roughly how long did you stay at Halton for, to do your training? MM: Oh, training for, because the, I was for training this time four years, for training. Int: Four years at Halton! MM: Because you know, we supposed to go to Poland, after the war and you know, but they, Polish Government, say you must let every arms they got in Britain, you know, like rockets and everything, you know, and at the time was top secret, you know. Int: So, when your training had finished, at Halton, which RAF station did you go to after Halton? MM: Hah, Lincolnshire. Int: Lincolnshire. Can you remember the name of the station? MM: Cammeringham. Cammeringham. Int: At Cammeringham, you were actually at Cammeringham were you? Right. So that would have been, it changed its name from RAF Ingham to Cammeringham in November 1944, so if you knew it as Cammeringham, you must have gone there from November ‘44 onwards at some point. So, if you haven’t already got them we can get hold of your service records – you’ve got them have you? No. We can get your service records from Northolt. There’s a lady called Margaret Goddard. MM: Oh yeah, I know her, yeah. Int: And she can find your records, which will show the dates you went to each station, which is good for you, and for your family. MM: I remember there used to be NAAFI canteen on that river in Lincolnshire. Int: In Lincolnshire. NAAFI, NAAFI was. Int: Was a NAAFI canteen in the middle of Lincoln was there? MM: Yes, I can remember the river was you know. Int: In the middle of Lincoln, there is a - MM: Yeah. Not far from the Cathedral, you know. Int: Yes, yes I know the one you mean. There’s a big, large, well they call it a pond, but it’s called Brayford, Brayford Pond, with all the barges. MM: That’s right, that was NAAFI. Int: Oh right, okay. What, can you remember much about Cammeringham, RAF Cammeringham? Just to help your memory, the airfield was on the top of the hill and the Station Headquarters was down in the village of Ingham. Does that ring a bell at all? MM: Well you see at that time they knew that we never go back to Poland and a lot of people try to register, go to Argentina, to United States, you know, Canada. Int: Oh, as part of the Polish Resettlement Act, yes, but you decided to stay at Cammeringham for a while. MM: Actually, I was going to [chuckle] Argentina! Int: Right, okay. MM: But I met one chap, he was from Argentina, he was in Polish Army, and he said never go to Argentina! Int: And why was that then? MM: Because is, you got problems over there and he say I wouldn’t advise you to go to Argentina. So I’ve still got the papers, you know! Int: That you could have decided to go there, but instead you stayed in England. MM: Yes. Int: And when you were at Cammeringham did you do any of your armourer jobs, was that with loading the machine guns or were you an armourer that dealt with the bombs? MM: I had a, that was, from Cammeringham and was posted to 48MU, in Wrexham. Int: Okay. Right. MM: That was, I used to, quite lot of, because guns and machine guns, you know, in Wrexham. You know, Holyhead, if you go that way. Int: So in Wrexham it was a big store for machine guns? MM: RAF station! Int: Oh, it was an RAF station was it, at Wrexham, right, okay. Was your job to maintain them or was it more for storage? MM: Sort out, you know, quite a lot of them used to go to the, check them in the temperature and everything, you know. Int: So did that include dismantling, taking machine guns to bits, and refurbish them, change the barrels and things? MM: From the, yeah. Int: Right. So is that a job that you could do with your eyes closed, when, at the time, you became very skilled at that. MM: Well, yeah. Int: Yeah. And did you get a chance to fire any of the guns on the practice ranges at all, or not? Or were you just purely putting the guns together? MM: Not in the air. Int: Was that a bit, was that a good job? Was it a boring job? MM: Oh, you know. Well you know, somebody has to do it! Int: Somebody has to do it. Before you went to Wrexham, if we could just go back one step to when you were at Cammeringham, what did you actually do at Cammeringham? MM: Actually I was doing, there were no jobs, everybody was thinking what I’m going to do, you know. Int: Right, so you were still in the Polish Air Force, but there wasn’t a job for you at the time? So you spent all [emphasis] of that time training and then you got to Cammeringham and there was no job for you. MM: Well that was, you know, that was probably closed that station, you were just only waiting for the different people going different countries, you know. Int: But there was a lot of Polish airmen at Cammeringham at the time, yes? MM: Yes. Some of them they went back to Poland, you know, but. Int: It’s not a good story, no. I’ve heard several accounts from people where they went, [beep] especially if they’d been in the Polish Air Force, and then they were arrested by the Soviets, and the Russians, and some were executed, which is er, just for being in the Polish Air Force. A lot of your colleagues were at Faldingworth, which was just about five miles down the road, a lot of them, and the Polish 300 Squadron were there. So you went to Wrexham and you did the 48MU job at Wrexham, how long did you stay at Wrexham, can you remember? MM: [Pause] No, I said, I was, because my station was er, in Framlingham. Int: Framlingham. Yes. I’ve heard of it, I’ve heard of Framlingham, right. MM: There was er, and I was only been attachment to the 48MU’s just only, you know, so I wrote the letter to them: can you call me back to, on my station. So you know, so they, yeah, I went back and say look, now you have to go to London and you have to look for a job. Int: And that was, so that was the end of your Polish Air Force career. MM: Yeah. And I stay in South Kensington, and for looking for the job because only job they was offering us is coal mine, you know. [Laugh] Int: Or engineering? Did they offer you engineering? MM: Engineering? No, no chance. No chance. Int: No? So what kind of job did you get in the end then? What was your first job, being a civilian after the war? MM: They told me you to go to the coal mine, I said no, I never go to coal mine. [Laugh] But all, so they decided to last, and I was from National Health making glasses. Spectacles glasses. Int: Okay, right, okay, that was here in London was it? MM: Yes, in London yes, in Camden Passage, in Islington. So I said all right, I’ll go that, but I wouldn’t go to the coal mine. [Laugh] Int: And when did you meet your wife? MM: [Cough] Oh, that was [muttering] 19, about 1960 [pause], 1960. Int: And was she Polish or was she English? MM: She’s Polish. Int: She was Polish. And had she been a WAAF during the, a Polish WAAF during the years? MM: No, no, no. She wasn’t, no. Int: She’d just come across from Poland, okay. I notice looking at your medals you have the, is it the Tute Militaire? The very first one that you have here. Can you tell me a little bit about how you were awarded that, that medal? MM: This? Int: No, the very first one, this one here. MM: Oh, that, no, no. Int: This one there. MM: That was Freedom for Polish, Freedom. Int: Oh, that’s the Polish Freedom one is it? Right, okay. So that was awarded in about - MM: At the Embassy. Int: At 1990, or ’91 when Poland got its freedom. MM: I have somewhere, upstairs, the letters, that was yes, was in the Ambassy, in London. Int: Going back to your time in the Polish Air Force again, do you have any funny stories, any funny things, because with your fellow kind of airmen, the Polish airmen, you must have done some funny things then. MM: Well it was funny stories, you know because when it was in Halton you were only allowed to go out for [cough] eleven, you know, well not twelve o’clock, yeah, before twelve you must be. Int: You must be back before midnight, yes. MM: But some of them was climbing through the windows! [Laughter] Int: And did they get caught, or not? MM: Yeah, what happened, and the sergeant was checking every bed, and somebody was going to each bed and was like saying yes, he’s in, he’s in, but he’s out! Int: And then he’s sneaking back to his own bed, good. When you were there, you obviously had the big dormitories, the barrack rooms where you all slept in, what was the food like? Was the food good at Halton? Because it was English food I presume, not Polish food. MM: That was the, actually, no, it was good food there, yeah, sausages, you know. Int: Plenty of food, plenty of food? MM: Yeah. And usually that was prisoner of war working in the cookhouse. Int: What, German prisoners of war or Italian? MM: Italians. Int: Italians. That could be a good thing if you like Italian food! MM: And they was free to go to the cinema, everywhere! Int: Really! MM: Yeah! Int: But you couldn’t go out after twelve o’clock at night! Huh. That’s very strange, isn’t it. Yeah. MM: And they used to sell the jewellery because, well, they had some watches and the you know, they was free, they didn’t want to go back to, escape to Germany. Int: They were happy to stay in England then. MM: Stay. Otherwise they probably go to Russian Front, you know. Yes, they got. Int: If we can go all the way back to the beginning of the story, are you okay, do you want a break, are you okay? MM: It’s all right, yes. Int: Going back to talking about Palestine and the time you were In the desert with Rommel, and fighting Rommel, and you were saying you were allowed you to drive, what was your job, what kind of job did you do? MM: Well I was testing the tanks. Int: You were testing the tanks? MM: On the desert, because that Bill, they repair, because they, mechanics you know, to learn how to repair the tanks was take time, he said look, we going to repair, I teach you how to drive, on the desert, and that’s you know. Int: So as well as repairing the tanks then, as a mechanic, you also did, you had to go and test drive them as well? MM: No, I didn’t repair, I only just test. Int: Oh, you were only doing the test driving then. And was that fun? Especially as you were young. Driving tanks round the desert? MM: Oh yes! And that chap, after the, Alamein, he was going, his name was Bill, and he’s Australian, and he would just say, I got nothing else to give you, he just cut his button from his coat and give it to me. So I kept that all the time. Int: Oh! Did Bill make it through the war? MM: I don’t know what happened, I don’t know, might have been killed, I don’t know. But what happened, in a Polish club in London, I met there, she was Wing Commander from the Australian Embassy, and I told her I got the button which is that Bill give me, and oh, was probably my grandad, so I don’t know. What regiment he was? But I didn’t ask him! Int: But he was in Palestine at that time then was he? Yes? MM: And I give it to her and she says she’s going to find out, you know, the name of that is. Int: That sounds like a needle in a haystack, but you never know, you never know. So do you attend a lot of the Polish events that happen in London, at the Social Club at Hammersmith? MM: Yeah, we go so often. Usually, we usually have the dinners once a month, you know. Int: Well I mean, obviously, I met you, you might remember, in September, at the Polish Memorial, Northolt. It’s great to chat with you, what I was going to do now was just, I was gonna have a rest, just in case you wanted a cup of tea or something, we can talk a little more. Cause I know sometimes it’s, you’re thinking back and your mouth can get very dry, can’t it, especially when we’re just talking and it’s a thing. So I’ll leave the camera on, but if you’re happy, I don’t know whether you’d like a drink of water or a cup of tea or coffee? MM: No, that’s all right, no. [Other]: Dad, but where were you when the war finished? That’s the bit I don’t get. Int: Right. Were you at Framlington? [Other]: Where were you actually, when the actual physically the war finished? Int: When it was VE Day kind of thing? [Other]: Where was he? MM: [Pause] 1945. Int: Where were you actually, where were you stationed, at that time, when it was VE Day? Can you remember which station you were on? MM: 1945, which station, I probably was still in Halton. Int: Did they not have big celebrations? MM: No. Because they didn’t invite for the - Int: For the Polish. MM: For Britain. Int: To go to London, did you have them, if you were at Halton, or Wrexham, or even Cammeringham, wherever you were at, when it was VE Day, did they have a party on the station? MM: Wrexham, we only had one celebration then was when Prince Charlie was born, 1948, and we had a barrel of beer, we had drunk that, you know, on his birthday. Int: So you were still in the Polish Air Force then, in 1948, so that must have been almost the last year, because most of the Polish Air Force, from what I’m led to understand, obviously straight after the war, after VE Day, along with the problems where they wouldn’t let the Polish parade through London because of the Yalta Agreement. MM: That’s right. Int: With Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill, and I know that’s why they had the Resettlement Act and they had to absorb the Polish Air Force into the Royal Air Force properly, just so Stalin couldn’t get - MM: We had the contract two years, Polish Resettlement Course. Int: And I think it was 1948 was the last, when the last Polish squadron was disbanded, so that probably ties all of that in. It would be interesting, you know, if your daughter Joanne’s able to, on your behalf, to get the, your service records from Margaret, or a copy of them. [Other]: Yeah, I can do that. Int: Cause then it’ll show - MM: I know her. Yes, I’ll go and see her in. Int: She’ll be able to photocopy them and then give you a copy and at least you’ll be able to read all the dates on, and if it’s, I think if it’s very similar to the RAF’s one, it’s just a piece of almost brown card, two sides, which shows all of your, all the stations you were at and any courses you did, and even things like when you were on the sick or on leave, it’s all on one card that they did at the time. It’s all handwritten. [Other]: Cause I’m just a bit confused here dad, so you went from Halton to Lincolnshire and then Wrexham, yeah. Int: Yes. [Other]: And then you went to London. MM: To London. [Other]: What year? MM: I came to London to look for job. [Other]: What year? Cause you were saying you were under the RAF until 1948. MM: That was Polish Resettlement Course. [Other]: So I’m just, and I just. It’s all right, I’m getting there. A bit confused. Int: So, if we get things in the right order: you went to Halton, and then from Halton you went to Cammeringham did you, or did you go to Wrexham first, after Halton? [Other]: Cammeringham. MM: No, Cammeringham. Int: Cammeringham. MM: And from Cammeringham I went to Wrexham. Int: To Wrexham, and then to Fram – MM: Framlingham. Int: Framlingham or Framlington? I’ll have to check exactly where that is. And then from Framlington that was it: were out of the Polish Air Force then? MM: Sent us to London for. Int: To find a job. MM: That’s right. [Other]: When they sent you to London, did you stay in an RAF base, or no? Were you private dwellings? Int: Was it a private house, or was it still in barracks in London? MM: No, no, in London that was hostel, South Kensington, was houses was probably very expensive, London houses. That was big hostel over that square, that was square, I would call it square. Int: Straight after the war. [Other]: So dad, where were you when you, when the announcement of the Second World War was over? When Churchill said, we are not at war any more, where were you? [Polish] MM: I said I was still in Halton. Int: You were still in Halton. MM: In 1945. Int: So 1945 you were in Halton. Then you moved to Cammeringham in ’46 because I mean Cammeringham was one of the Polish Resettlement Units. And Dunholme Lodge. MM: That’s right, and they posted us to Wrexham. Int: It was still under the kind of the Air Ministry’s control. [Other]: Umbrella. Int: While they did some training and they did, there was quite a few training: carpentry, electrical. They did all the courses there so they just used it as an RAF station but it was more of a training camp for training purposes. MM: That’s right. Int: And then obviously the MUs, which are the Maintenance Units but they normally store, big store camps, so obviously Wrexham was a big store camp where all the machine guns were coming back and they were being - MM: From there the Wellingtons and all that, big er - [Other]: So really, until the war finished you were based? MM: At Halton. [Other]: Until 1945 and then after that the Resettlement Act came in and by 1948 you were discharged to civilian life. Right, I’ve got that now. Okay. But when the Second World War finished, what happened, because that was a big news! So was there no celebration? Do you remember what you were doing when you found out the war was ended. I mean. MM: I was still at Halton. Int: You were still at Halton. [Other]: But what were you doing? MM: There still was training. [Other]: [Polish] Int: [Beep] Did they have a party perhaps, a big party at Halton, that day? MM: At Halton, even, because what’s his name, Bevan, and he asked, give us a letter and give us, every members of the Polish er, boys, been given, to go to Poland or, or were you going to join the Polish Resettlement Course. Int: Yes. Because of the shortage of jobs, he was the Trade Union, Bevan was the Trade Union man, wasn’t he, and they set the Trade Unions up, and don’t get me wrong but his point of view was, he didn’t want the Poles in Britain. MM: Britain, no. That’s right. Int: And that’s why, I think that’s why they only offered the Polish military – MM: Coal mine. Int: Ex military the coal mine, and some of them got into the steel works, the foundries, almost the jobs that nobody else wanted to do, so it was very restrictive, and obviously because the Trade Unions came in straight after the war, that’s when they were created, and that was very much in the National Health Service and everything else, but that’s when they said jobs for the Britons, you know, it was almost like, Churchill was Conservative, although he led the Coalition through the war years then he was, straight after the war he was kicked out and the Labour government came in and that’s how the Trade Unions came about, and that’s why, the Agreement was obviously made at quite a high ministerial level to have the Polish Resettlement Act. MM: That’s right. Int: Of 1947 I think it was, to protect the Polish servicemen and women that wanted to stay in the UK, or it allowed them to go to the Empire countries, Canada, even America although that’s not an Empire country, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and - . MM: All different countries. Int: Yes, yes. [Other]: But Dad, you misunderstand. I’m going to say it in Polish. [Polish] MM: In Halton. [Other]: [Polish] MM: I can’t remember that. Int: No. [Other]: I was asking him what he was, the moment he found out when the Second World War finished. I remember when Diana died. I can tell you exactly what I was doing. Int: Yes. MM: We didn’t celebrate because was Yalta. Int: Yes, because of Yalta a few weeks before this, and that meant you’d lost Poland. MM: We didn’t celebrate. [Other]: I see, okay, that’s a different side. Int: That’s probably why, yes because I mean Yalta was really more Roosevelt and Stalin; Churchill was just a puppet. MM: Puppet, yes. [Other]: That explains that, yeah. Int: He was part of the three but he had to go along with what the two big powerbrokers wanted and they carved up Europe at Yalta and Poland unfortunately was the one that suffered because it got kind of. MM: Roosevelt was very sick man, he was very sick, he was actually dying and Truman took it over, you know, after Roosevelt. [Other]: But in those four years that you were based at Halton, did you witness bombings in England, you know, saw the active stuff, you know, the active service. Obviously you get the planes ready for them to go off to battle, obviously I’m guessing here. Int: Halton being a training - MM: Training. Int: Was all the four years that you did at Halton, was that all training or were you an instructor then? MM: No, all training. Int: Just all training. And was that just [emphasis] for training to maintain the machine guns or did you do bombs, fusing up the bombs and everything? MM: Bombs, fusing, [indecipherable] everything. Int: So as an armourer you did all the jobs. MM: And then rockets. Int: And the rockets. MM: They been before well, they was first to use the aeroplane. Int: To fire the rockets, right at the end of the war, so you had to be trained up to do all of that. MM: That’s right. Int: Whilst you were at Halton were there any air raids, at night, where the sirens went off and the bombs dropped at Halton, or not? MM: What happened, for about each, because Air Ministry was worried when start bombing London, and they move us to Cosford, RAF station Cosford. Int: Right, okay, yes. MM: And I assume the Air Ministry wants to move to Halton, that’s, so they move and stay at Cosford, Wolverhampton, you know that. Int: Yes. Over in the West Midlands, yes. MM: We stayed there, I can’t remember how many, three months or something. Int: Three months. And did you go back to Halton afterwards? MM: Oh yes. Int: So was just for three months they moved you out of Halton, over to Cosford near Wolverhampton. And did your training continue there, or did you do something special? MM: Yes, it was training. Int: Just normal training. MM: Yes. Int: At Cosford. And was that quieter at Cosford? Was there not as many air raids? MM: No, well, was different was because the Cosford was, because Halton was, had the equipment for training but Cosford, you know. Int: Didn’t have it. So what did you do while you were there then, at Cosford? MM: Still, you know. Int: Yes. And was there an airfield, as in where planes aircraft could land at Cosford or was it just a factory kind of? MM: No, I think that was only for factory. Int: Just like a training, in a factory, yes. [Other]: Dad, sorry, why were you trained for so long, for four years, you know, normally now it’s just for three months off you go to, I just, why were they training you for so long? MM: Don’t forget, we stake everything [emphasis]. [Other]: Yeah, but dad, it’s war, people, they need men. MM: But you don’t. It’s not only that, you’re training each, even, even if you write there how to kill the person, you know, all different things we didn’t know. [Other]: But that’s - MM: Some, if you want to kill the person, if he’s going to start writing and it’s blow up his face and it kill them. Int: I think what Joanne was perhaps meaning was, normally training would be maybe one year, maybe a little bit, but because it was war you would imagine that they wanted to get you trained very quickly and then straight out to the airfields. The question was - MM: But not bomb everything targets, it’s not that simple like that. [Other]: I know dad. MM: It takes, you know. [Other]: But four years in a war’s a long time, in a situation of war. MM: Yeah, don’t forget four years, it’s not only that, guns. [Pause] [Other]: I’ve lost you. Int: So during your time at Halton, as well as going to Cosford, did you have small amounts of time where you went off to other RAF airfields to actually practice what you’d been trained, or not? MM: No. Int: No, you just stayed at Halton. MM: They was trying to get more information, you know, and instructors who came from London and give us all the guns, well guns and ammunition and material which is TNT, you know, and so how to. Int: It sounds a little bit like your training was more experimental training. MM: Yes, yes. Int: Not the standard training so any new bombs or new rockets – am I going down the right road here? MM: Yes. Everything was secret and that’s why the training was so secret. Int: Right, we’re starting to drill down into a little bit now. [Other]: So, did you have to sign the secret service act? Int: The Official Secrets Act. MM: Well, we have to, you know. The service was secret. Int: I meant as opposed to maybe an ordinary [emphasis] Polish Air Force armourer, that did his basic training and went straight out onto a squadron. MM: Oh yes. That’s three month course. Int: Yes, that’s the three months course. So in fact the time at Halton, although you said it was training, was it more, it sounds like it wasn’t basic training, it was specialist training as each new munitions came out, right. MM: Yeah. Int: So you were seeing how things worked and to improve it, so yes, you weren’t so much a student as a team that were there to um, I don’t know how to describe it to you, I’m trying not to put words into your mouth! So were you still in like a classroom situation at Halton? MM: Yes. Int: Oh right. But they would bring something new in and then talk about it. And what job did they give you to do? Was it to see how to make it better, or was it just purely to take it apart and put it together? I don’t want to put words into your mouth, I’m trying to find out exactly what you did at Halton. MM: We usually, they like electrician was coming from London he was going to teach us electrician and some extras you know, which is, came round once a week and teach us electrics; it’s not only guns, everything you must know. [Other]: What I think we’re establishing dad, is that you were, you’re right, you were training but you were given devices, or guns, or whatever, and they wanted you to try it out, it’s more that - Int: Test and evaluation or something. [Other]: Yes. You had your basic training of three months, yes. Everyone does three months. MM: No, three years. [Other]: Yeah, but. No. MM: Basic training that’s only came only there for, for - Int: I think what Joanne’s trying to ask the question is, you had your basic armourer’s training, at Halton – how to be an armourer basically. Your basic bombs and bullets, but then after that at Halton, you obviously specialised, at Halton, with maybe experimental bombs or experimental rockets, and new things; anything that was new. Cause if you had an electrician that came from London specially to Halton, to talk with you and to teach you, it sounds like what you were doing was more experimental work, maybe I don’t know. Hmm. Is it possible? [Other]: How many was there in the class at one time, dad? Ten, twenty, fifty? Do you remember? And was there only one class or was there lots of classes? MM: [Pause] |Well we had, it’s not only that, we had mathematics and everything, turrets, and you know, you have to, how to operate turrets for machine guns for the er, prepare the aircraft to, for the pilot to fly that Spitfire and you know, it’s not simple as. Int: I know, I fully appreciate, it’s a very complicated. MM: We started, you see you have to, to, must, it’s not only one turret you’ve got, all you’ve got different one top and bottom. Int: Different kinds of makes and turret, yes, certainly. It’s interesting, maybe when you get the records from Margaret, it will actually say on there and remind you, you may well have been part, although you did your basic armourer’s training at Halton, perhaps they kept you at Halton, as part of a test and evaluation section and that’s why you stayed at Halton, that’s why you didn’t go to an airfield because the people from London would bring you up, he Air Ministry, would bring new things for you to look at and along with your colleagues. MM: Because some people, some they decided they got enough and they went for the course for three months and came as a sergeant. Int: Oh, okay! MM: They didn’t want to continue. Int: They didn’t want to continue, no. So it does sound like what you were doing there was some kind of specialisation, after your basic armourers training, so. And then that’s perhaps why you went to Wrexham afterwards, although you went to Cammeringham first didn’t you. But that was at the end of the war, so maybe they just used your skills as an armourer to deal with the machine guns and everything else because you were quite. What rank were you, that’s an interesting, that will give us, help a little. MM: Well AC1, you know, when we finished. Int: AC1 when you finished! Crikey. That’s interesting. MM: We didn’t, we had. Int: Right, and that was, AC1 is just aircraftsman first class. So that’s kind of the first or the second rung on the ladder, so after four years MM: After everybody finished at Halton, they was first class. Int: But you said some people could come out quickly and become a sergeant. MM: Yes, they didn’t want to continue. Int: So they didn’t want to do the armourers job. MM: No, no, it’s not only armourers, they didn’t want continue because was different sections at Halton. Int: Right, okay. MM: It was not only the armourer, there was different sections. Int: So they could change to a different section and become sergeant very quickly. MM: Some of them engineer and so on, so that was different. Int: I think it’ll be, it’s certainly worth you trying to get in touch with Margaret and see if you can get your records because that might, you might suddenly find that you were doing a very important job and you didn’t quite realise how important a job it was! [Other]: But from what I’m hearing dad, because I’ve never heard of any of this, what I’m hearing is that, my understanding is that you, your division, whatever, at Halton, you were doing some secret service stuff, you know, you were examining. Int: Possibly, yes. [Other]: And you were probably told [emphasis] that you were under the training umbrella but you weren’t really, I think. [Beep] Int: There’s a little bit more to this that perhaps they didn’t even tell you [emphasis]. They just said oh, you were doing some more training. [Other]: So you were just told training so that if anything happened to you you’d say I was just doing training. In fact you were probably doing some. Int: Some more interesting work. [Other]: Without you realising you were doing. Int: Which might be part of the reason as well, that you actually went to Cosford, to do some more things, but that you would think as just ordinary. Cause Cosford now, Halton and Cosford are still in the RAF now. Halton is the - MM: No, Cosford, the reason we went Cosford because – Int: They were doing something at Halton. MM: They was bombing London. Int: Oh, they were bombing! Right, okay. MM: And the Air Ministry, I think they was trying to move to Halton. Int: Right, that was the reason. MM: That’s probably the reason, they move us from. Int: Just, yes, they just give you some space at Halton possibly. [Other]: Where is Halton, sorry. Int: Halton is down kind of Aylesbury kind of way, that kind of. [Other]: So it’s quite relatively near London still. Int: Yes, it’s part of the old Rothschild’s estate. MM: Yes, that’s right. [Other]: And Northolt is the London base. Int: That’s the one, yes, right just inside the M40. [Other]: And your connections with Northolt is that you just used to go there? Int: No, no, it was Cosford, which is over in the West Midlands. I don’t, did you ever go to Northolt during the war years when you were in the Polish Air Force? Or not? MM: No. Some of them they’re coming from there. Int: It was 303 Squadron that were based there, which is the Polish fighter squadron. MM: They was coming for training. [Other]: To Halton? Int: To you, to Halton. MM: You know for the, not only for me but for different engines or - Int: Yes. So, so from 303 Squadron, the 303 Squadron armourers and the engineering teams for the engines and things used to come to Halton. MM: They had the best in Halton. Int: To get refresher training on new guns or new types of engines for the aircraft. MM: They had special camp in Halton. Int: Within Halton, right. [Other]: It’s all kind of secretive. Int: It’s kind of interesting, yes. [Other]: This is quite intriguing. MM: Sometimes when the cookhouse was closed for some reason, we went to the Polish dinner which is 303 Squadron used to have. Int: Oh, they had a canteen, yes. MM: We some Polish dinner! Int: Proper Polish food, oh good! [Laugh] It’s interesting because as I say Halton is still there now, they use it for the new recruits just in any trade that come into the RAF. So Halton is still there. Cosford is still there and they do a lot of the training. In fact I think the armourers do their training at Cosford now, which is quite funny: that’s the complete circle has moved round. So both those stations are still there. Halton hasn’t really changed much, so if you ever got a chance to go there. [Other]: I think Dad, you’ve been there. MM: I’ve been to Halton, yes. Int: Cause there’s just like the road that runs through the middle and there’s the top half of the camp and the bottom half of the camp. [Other]: Yes, he’s been there. Okay. MM: They use to march, they was calling Polish Avenue, and when they finish, they plant some trees, and they’re great. Int: Huge big trees now, yeah. MM: Polish Avenue. Int: And they called that Polish Avenue did they? I’ll have to go and look. Next time I go to Halton, I’ll look and see if they still call it Polish Avenue. [Other]: Thank you very much. So dad - MM: We used to have, every morning we used to march to that, you know, after breakfast, to, to training. Int: To your training area. MM: At our school. Int: Was it, can you remember now where, your barracks, when you lived in the barracks at Halton, were they at the bottom of the hill or the top of the hill? Could you, you probably can’t remember. MM: The, the barracks, you can’t miss them because Polish Avenue, you’ve got Polish Avenue and that, as you’re walking, on the right hand side, that the barracks. Int: That was your barracks. MM: Two barracks, there was three, two barracks was. All different. Int: And in your room, in your barrack room, it was just all Polish Air Force was it? Or was it a mixture of RAF and Polish? MM: No. There was just two, two big barracks. Int: Yes, but in the actual room, where you had maybe ten or twenty beds, in the room. MM: There were many beds! Int: But they were all Polish in that big room were they, or the English as well as Polish? MM: No, no, no just Polish. Int: Just the Polish. MM: English were different. Int: Yes. And when it came to special occasions during the year, special Polish occasions, including Christmas, did you have a Polish church, at Halton, that you could go to? A military church? MM: Yes, yes. When Hitler declared war on the United States and we had, I remember one Christmas which is, the American came round and we had a big dinner. Int: On the base, and did you - MM: Yes. No, at Halton. Int: Oh, at Halton. And di they bring a lot of extra food, special food from America? MM: They had, you know, all different. Int: Chocolate and things like that, yes. And when you were at Halton did you play any sport? MM: Oh yes, swimming, we must swim, you know, you got, it doesn’t matter which is winter or summer still had to [indecipherable] had to learn must, you know, swim. Int: I didn’t know whether you were perhaps a sportsman and you liked to play either football, or swimming or anything. MM: Oh yes we usually have, used to have I think every Wednesday. Int: Every Wednesday was sports day was it. MM: And that was Mr Brown. [Chuckle] Int: And Mr Brown was what, he was the instructor for sport? MM: Instructor yes, for sport, yes. Was very nice chap. Int: What’s your, what’s the memories, maybe one or two memories that you always have when you think back about Halton, anything to do with Halton at all. What’s the memories that you have, that you remember, if you were going to tell maybe two stories about Halton, what would those stories be? MM: Well you know, the stories is completely different stories for our Wing Commander he was, well at that time he had a car, you know, Wing Commander what’s his name? Newbury. Newbury? And as he was coming to, to the station and two chap was walking, and he say can I give you a lift, you know, it was that station, and says oh yes please. And he say don’t tell the guards I left, don’t go through there, go to the main. Int: And that was you was it? Oh, I thought it was you that he gave a lift to, but he gave a couple of guys a lift! MM: He did. Int: And at weekends, did you get time off at Halton? Did you get time off to go to the local town? MM: Oh yes, we used to go to Aylesbury dancing, you know and also do dancing in Halton as well. Int: And when you went off for your day off, or weekend, did you have to go in uniform? MM: Yes. Int: So uniform everywhere then. You didn’t meet any nice ladies then, when you were dancing? [Chuckles] MM: Well! [Other]: It’s all right dad! Int: Good. Well that’s lovely. The only other thing I probably, we’ve talked an awful lot about Halton and I think there’s probably some more interesting little stories to come out of Halton. Could we, if you don’t mind, could we just go back to Cammeringham, how long do you think you were at Cammeringham for? Was it literally a couple of months, or was it a year? MM: No, didn’t stay long. Int: You didn’t stay very long. MM: No. That’s why we posted. Int: Yes. MM: To the, from Cammeringham been posted to the Wales, you know that. Int: To Wrexham. MM: Wrexham. Int: To Wrexham. So, you were saying that when you were at Cammeringham there wasn’t really a job for you, there was nothing to do. MM: Cammeringham was just only for staying people. Int: For the Polish resettlement. MM: Yes, that’s right. Int: So when you were there what did you do, each day, was there anything to do at all? MM: Not really. No. The one chap he had a nice dog, and people’s giving him, sometimes give the dog penny, goes to the NAAFI, took penny and got the cake. [Laugh] Int: Got the cake! That was the dog brought the cake back! MM: Oh no! Int: No, you got the cake for the dog! MM: No, was for the dog! Int: Ah right, I’m with you, right, okay. Can you remember when you were at Cammeringham, did you live in the village, in the barracks in the village, or up at the airfield? MM: The airfield and the train was stopped, like where I was in the first squadron, and the train stop, you just put the hand, and the train stopped and you just can go to Ipswich or that place. Like bus now! Int: Yes, oh man, that’s interesting. MM: And a lot of people just playing the cards, you know, the cards. Int: Yes. And that’s it that was it really, you played cards all day and then had your breakfast, your dinner and your kind of evening meal so that was it: there was nothing for you to do. Most of what’s, well, there is very little left at Cammeringham, or RAF Ingham now. There are a few, just a few nissen huts, a few buildings. The rank that you were at Cammeringham, I imagine the building that we’ve, that we’re renovating, was the building you would have eaten in because it was the airmen’s mess, um, oops, is it the other side round, wait a minute, yup, there we go, [paper shuffling] it probably looks very, very different, and that’s the thing with the kitchen, there was a dining room, and another dining room the other side, and that would have been the Junior ranks mess, up on the edge of the airfield, so I imagine, and that’s what it would have looked like, a computer drawing, so I imagine that’s where you would have eaten. You can hang on to that because it’s, some of it’s in Polish and some of it‘s in English, it just tells you a little bit about what we are doing at RAF Ingham, and you can see Cammeringham there, because obviously it was Cammeringham at the end of the war. It might jog a few memories. And we’ve got the web site as well which has got more photographs on it. I think, did I give you one of our cards beforehand? Did I? [Other]: I’ve got your card. Int: You’ve got my card, right that’s okay. But we’ve obviously got the web site and we’ve got a twitter now but we just use it purely and simply to put pictures on there and a little bit about what we’ve done the previous week when we’re doing all the works. We don’t use it as a chat room thing. MM: And is another one which is from Halton, Sikorsky, when Sikorsky been killed, Mrs Sikorsky, and she invite me, I don’t know, another two chaps, for dinner to her, you know. Int: To her house. MM: Well, it’s a big house. And actually we came to London, she was in Baker Street, she was waiting for us, and the first thing we went to Madame Tussaud, and Sikorsky was already in Madame Tussaud. From Madame Tussaud we just walk maybe ten minutes, to big house, that policeman was standing in there [chuckle] and they prepare big meal you know, yes, we stay over there. And the evening we went to the, to the Piccadilly which is what er, the place, what you call it, because that Sikorsky had two sons and they was in Navy or you know, and they took us to the Prince of Wales, on Piccadilly, that was: Prince of Wales Theatre. Int: The theatre, yes, yes. So you went there that evening. They took you for a night out. MM: Yeah. The Prince of Wales. I remember that. Int: And why were chosen to go to the evening meal? MM: I don’t know! Int: You hadn’t done something special you were being rewarded for? MM: No, I don’t know! Int: And what did your officers say, best behaviour and? MM: No! It was free over there. Int: That was free, okay, good. MM: Yes, that was Prince of Wales. Int: And when you went for this night, for the meal with General Sikorsky’s wife, and the sons, were you at Halton at that point? MM: Yes. Int: Oh, you were still at Halton. MM: Yes, yes, at Halton. Int: Again, very interesting, very interesting. Mmm. It creates more questions than answers. MM: And Sikorsky, always, he was against the, you know, the Polish Army, and the army in Warsaw. He was against that, he said you not going to win with Stalin and because well, two hundred fifty, two hundred fifty thousand people been killed, or you know; destroyed Warsaw completely. But, and he was completely against that, [beep] Sikorsky. Int: So he didn’t want to fight in Warsaw, he wanted to just - MM: No, because you’re not going to win. Int: Not going to win and it would just wipe out – MM: And they just Ignored that, his advice. Int: What, I haven’t asked you yet, but I should ask you. Where were you born? What’s your town or city you were born in, in Poland? MM: The, in 1939 the Lvov which is [indecipherable] there was prisoner of war, er Russian soldiers taken to, from Lvov northward up to Podlesice and their massive [emphasis] horses and prisoners, you know. My mum, she gave some bread to me and I went over and throw it because I, well was not enough food probably, and their horses, massive [emphasis] horses, maybe some of them been probably killed in Kharkiv that time and when, when, because when they first er, I think they in the country, but first, because I used to live not far from railway station, and there was Polish policemen all, that took over by Ukraine and Jewish people, because of us welcoming the, Stalin in that way. Int: Yes. So you’ve mentioned that you’ve been back to Poland since, did you say you’ve been back to Poland since it’s been free, since Poland was free? In ‘90 or ’91? MM: Oh, yes. Int: In 1990 ’91 was it, ‘91 when it became a Republic again, I can’t quite remember, with Lech Walesa? MM: After that, yeah. Int: So you haven’t been back to your town or your city to see it? No, you haven’t, no. [Other]: Dad’s only been back to my mum’s side. [Indecipherable] Int: Right. [Other]: But can you tell Geoff where you were born dad? It’s what he asked you! Int: Yes, I know, yeah. MM: In the, Bokievka. [Other]: Bokievka, which is on the Russian side. Int: It’s on the Russian side then. Or is it still in Poland? [Other]: It is now - MM: No, that was, that time, when I born we was not Russian. [Other]: It was Poland. MM: No, it wasn’t, it wasn’t even part of Poland. [Other]: What was it? MM: Austria. Int: Oh right. [Other]: What? So when you were born dad, you were born in Austria? MM: Austria. Because – [Other]: Huh? But all the documents it says in Poland. MM: Well, it’s Poland, yeah, it was Poland, but we been under the Austrian. Int: Oh, was it the Austro-Hungarian? MM: Hungarian, yeah. Int: The Austro-Hungarian kind of part of it, it came up before, post, pre Second World War and all that, possibly. [Other]: I think where dad now, the village, I think now is Lithuania isn’t it? Or Ukraine? MM: [Indecipherable] is on the top. Int: But the village, or the town where you were born - [Other]: Is now – Int: Which country is it in now [emphasis]? [Other]: Lithuania. Int: Is it Lithuania? Or is it still Poland? [Other]: What is it then? Ukraine? MM: Ukraine. [Other]: Ukraine. Int: It’s Ukraine, right, okay. So the borders have changed. MM: Ukraine, Ukraine there. Int: Okay. Is there anything else you can think of at the moment that you’d like to tell me about your time in the Polish Air Force at all? Anything you might have, because we’ve been talking about so many different subjects, and different times through your time in the Polish Air Force, did you, did you ever, here’s a question, at the end, when you’re finishing in the Polish Air Force, did you, did they allow you to keep any of your badges, or your hat, or anything at all? MM: Yeah. Int: Yeah? They allowed you to keep some things. That’s good. MM: When the coat uniform, when demob only had one uniform, all the rest of them was RAF. Int: So you kept them for a while. Did you, do you still have any of the badges or did you, have the badges all gone? MM: I think probably got some buttons. Int: From your original uniform. That’s very good. MM: But er, well, we kept the uniform and everything. Int: Well I hope that at some point in the near future, depending on how things go, we’re obviously hoping to open the Centre, maybe not this year, it might be next year now because we’re waiting for Heritage Lottery Fund, but then we’d love to invite you up, with your family, to come and see what we’re doing in Lincolnshire. [Other]: Yeah? Do that dad. Int: We are looking the big Memorial Garden, with the Polish Memorials in it, we’re hoping to open on the 26th of May this next year, with His Excellency the Polish Ambassador’s coming up and it’s going to be that kind of thing. [Other]: Oh let us know. Int: Once we’ve firmed everything up. [Other]: Yeah, let us know. Int: We will yes, we’ll let you know; it’s a Thursday. We thought that’s a little bit easier for people rather than weekends where it kind of clutters things up a bit, so we’re hoping to do all of that and with all the veterans we’ve found and managed to talk to, and what I have [emphasis] got for you, because you are an armourer, I’ve got some footage, it’s RAF footage, but it’s a training, it’s almost like a training video of how to arm up bombs and how to load and unload. MM: [Indecipherable] Int: We’ve got something like that already. [Other]: What I’m trying to get in my head, is how you can train for four years. Int: Oh I know, yes. [Other]: When people dying. Int: They’d be pushing them out onto the squadrons. [Other]: They need the men. I just think my dad was told a certain thing to do but they were actually doing a different type of job, if that makes any sense. Int: Yeah. Test and evaluation in some form, or testing new things, but they were training during that time. Yes, that’d be interesting to dig a little deeper into that. Yes. [Other]: I can’t, I think dad’s been brainwashed by what they told him. Int: Well yes, they would have just been doing more training, and more training, but maybe there’s a little bit more. It’ll be interesting to see, when the records come out, if, while you were at Halton, it says you were actually attached to a special section or squadron, you were doing test and evaluation, you know, for these four years, because it’s - [Other]: So it’s Margaret we need to speak to. Do you have her phone number, dad? Int: If not, I’ve got it. I can email it to you anyway. MM: I know her! [Other]: Well I’m sure you do know her, but we want to get your records. She can send you a copy of your records. MM: We’re going to the [indecipherable] and she’ll be there. [Other]: She’ll be there. And you can ask her. You want to ask her there, okay. All right then, we’ll go to – MM: I’ve got her telephone number. [Other]: He wants to that, okay. Int: You might well have already have done this anyway, have you been down to the Sikorsky Institute and Museum? In London, down on King Street. [Other]: Probably have. Int: Because that’s the main museum for all kinds of things. [Other]: Yeah, I’ve been there a very long time ago, but not recently. Int: If you want to look at any of the archives I think you have to ring them up beforehand and book, to go at a certain time and then they’ll get things out. Once you see what Margaret’s got, it might be a case that they’ve got something to do with that particular Halton thing at, in the Sikorsky Museum. They may be able to bring out photographs, cause they’ve got tremendous, we haven’t even been down there yet to look at stuff to do with the Polish squadrons because we just haven’t had the time, but we know [emphasis] they’ve got film, they’ve got photographs; they’ve got a lot of stuff archived in the Sikorsky Institute. MM: When I been in training the one, what’s his name, he just went you know, trained and was training and he went and shot down the German plane [laugh] and that Squadron Leader he was, I think he was Canadian, and he was very upset because he say you should stick with the, the, all together, anyhow, but later on he say from now on you are in operational; you done very well. Int: So there was a Squadron Leader who shot somebody down and he was just there practicing or testing, and then they made him operational. Right. [Other]: So dad, you were never operational then? MM: Pardon? [Other]: Did you shoot down any planes? MM: No, I didn’t fly! [Other]: No I know you didn’t fly but did you shoot any planes from ground force, from ground level? MM: No, ground is different people was doing that, not shooting. [Other]: So Halton was never attacked? Int: Quite possibly so, yes, I would imagine they would have had some kind of air raids. [Other]: So when Halton was attacked by Germans, where would you go? You know, like London, they used to bomb London. Int: Did you have air raid shelters, under the ground? Were they in the basement of buildings? Or were they separate? MM: We had air raid shelters, yeah. Int: You had the shelters to go in. [Other]: There was a, a drill went, you had to go to air raid, yes, but you didn’t actively shoot down planes. MM: No, no, that was different people. [Other]: I know but I’m asking, I’m just asking. MM: No, there was, you’ve got, with the machine gun you can’t shoot them. Int: No, exactly. they had to be the bigger, the anti-aircraft guns, yes. Oh, okay. Well, if we find out some more information, I’d like to come back maybe, at another time, for a, to have a chat with you again and we’ll put the camera on a second time. Because there might be some other, we might even find some documents or some photographs or something that explain the kind of job that you were doing a little bit more at Halton and it’ll be interesting to see if there’s a hidden story that perhaps you [emphasis] weren’t aware of, that they were getting you doing. [Other]: I think they’ve got a [indecipherable] that he wasn’t aware of, that they [emphasis] were aware of. Int: Because they, you were just, with your Polish colleagues, you were just doing training, but on maybe advanced weapons, and new weapons that were coming out which is why you said it was training because it was new stuff. [Other]: But it wasn’t training. MM: Yes, that’s precisely, there you go. [Other]: But that wasn’t training. Int: So you were doing testing on new [emphasis] types of weapons because you mentioned rockets didn’t you. MM: Oh yeah, rockets. Int: Now rockets didn’t come in until 1944 ’45 and they put them, not under the, not so much under Spitfires, but under Typhoon, the fighter aircraft and Mosquitos. [Other]: But dad, did you put the bombs onto the planes? MM: Well – [Other]: Would you put the bombs under the planes? MM: I didn’t put them, we just I didn’t do the training. [Other]: Forget the training, did you physically put the bombs on to the planes? MM: You don’t understand, that was training only. [Other]: Well that’s what they told you. Int: So when you actually did the training, as part of the training did they show you how to attach the rockets under the wings and things? MM: Yes of course! We were doing that. [Other]: But did you physically do that? MM: That was not operational planes! Int: Yes, I understand, because that was just training, so what they would do is, they would have a plane there, and you would practice putting rockets and things on to. MM: You put the fuses to the bombs, everything. Int: So the aircraft was just really for practicing your training, it wasn’t operational; I understand. MM: Was not operational. Int: So the aeroplane was almost part of your workshop. That you used it to practice putting the bombs and the rockets on. MM: Yes, that’s right. [Other]: But weren’t you kind of interested as to why you were constantly on training? For four years. You know, didn’t you think in your, amongst yourselves, we’re constantly training? Didn’t you think about it? MM: But aeroplanes so complicated. [Other]: Yeah, but dad no [sigh]. MM: Turrets and, you know, it’s not so simple you think can learn that in one day. [Other]: But one year was a sixth of the Second World War! We were only at war for six years so four years is a big chunk. Int: I think you were very lucky, because you were, it does sound like you were on experimental training for all the new weapons, but they told you that it was just training. But to have kept you there all that time I think you have to have been on a very special testing and evaluation. MM: Like I prepare wings, then rockets, we have to calculate the pins which is going to shell that – it’s not simple. [Other]: I’m not saying that dad, but dad. Int: The timing mechanism on a rocket to when it explodes or was it just explode on impact or at a certain distance or height. MM: Yes! And when the pilot pressed the button, they used to have a red, or the TNT burns and that shell, that pins. Int: This, this is an experimental area. They were given rockets, but they’re obviously um, looking, your colleagues knew, they were obviously testing different types of fuse lengths and different fuse, not lengths but timers, for rockets and bombs to work in different ways, so some would be designed to explode above the ground, like an air burst, possibly, ground burst or some other. I think there was a lot of experimental work. [Other]: So, did you think you were getting bombs to dad that were just straight off the, kind of, um tsk? Int: I don’t think so much production, these weren’t production, these were, I think what you had Michael was pre-production. MM: Pre-production. Yes, that makes sense. Int: It was experimental. People who were coming up with the ideas, bit like Barnes Wallis did with the Bouncing Bomb, and you would have scientists that were going: I want to make this and then your bunch of armourers would be there say, working out how they can make that work. [Other]: This pre-production. So really they weren’t training, they were testers. But they were told training. Int: But it was classed as probably training, but they were testing different fuses and different things to work out what would work. [Other]: Before they went into production. Int: Possibly so, I think. [Other]: Right, okay. I think, yes. Int: I think that’s possibly, just listening to what you’ve told us. MM: That’s right. Definitely Int: So I think that’s a very important job, very important. Probably more important than you realised at the time. [Other]: Yes. So basically you were testing all the prototypes and once you’d tried, agreed. So who would sign it off then? Who was it actually, this is gonna work? Who would sign it off, your chief commander? Who was your top man? Wing Commander, or? MM: Yeah, would be the Wing Commander was. [Beep] [Other]: Would have to sign it off. Int: It would be head of that section probably. [Other]: Who was head of sections, dad? Int: Who was in charge of your training area? Would probably have been an officer I presume. [Other]: Do you remember? MM: Yes, that was er – Int: Or a Warrant Officer maybe. [Other]: So he was probably getting information from other agencies, or other. Int: Yes, very interesting. MM: That’s, that’s right. [Other]: Do you remember the name of your head of training? MM: Um, just a moment, I try to. [Other]: Cause I think now, you’ve got your scientists, doing your prototype, next thing. Int: Coming down to Halton, they’re going: right, here’s the basic idea, let’s see how we can make this work. [Other]: These guys, let’s, and then - Int: Look at existing – [Other]: And then someone signs it off. Int: Bombs and rockets they’ve got, and whether they needed modifying from the scientists and then they do the armourers part of putting the whole thing together and making it work from an armourer’s point of view. And [emphasis] how do you then fix that onto the underside of the wings or into the bomb bays, because obviously the, all the connections for the bombs and the - MM: Got some of them, rockets, they’re shooting that, they stick to the tank and exploded. Int: Yes. There you go. So to pierce armour, any, any good project, these days projectiles will go through some serious armour and then they explode inside the tank. So the first charge blows the hole in the tank, the second charge blows inside the tank. [Other]: So dad, when you were doing all this, you were, you’re risking your life, every time! MM: No, I’m testing. Int: Probably not so much cause it was in a research. MM: Research and test. Int: In a research kind of environment so it would be like workshop, laboratory, research and they were working out how to, so that the rockets that were fired – cause they were right at the end of the war – they’d come off fighter planes that shoot, basic, very basic rockets at the end of the forties, but you could hit ground targets, so if you got tanks going across an open ground or something, or something like that, then obviously the fighter planes could get in and then fire the rockets to hit the tanks. But as you were saying, if it hits the outside of the thing and sticks to it, so it’s not going to bounce off, and then it explodes. MM: Otherwise it can slide that, you know. Int: There you go there’s a very interesting little piece of information there. That, and that’s something you’ve now remembered, getting something so they’d hit the target, and stick on it, and then explode. Rather than hitting the target and bouncing off. MM: Bounced, yes. Int: So there we are. [Other]: Right. So that’s where your engineering, cause dad ended up being a production engineer, so he used to. MM: That, you had the people was coming from London and was going teach us, you know. Int: Yeah. It’s starting to come together now! We’re understanding a little bit more about what you actually did. [Other]: Right! Yes. Int: So it was probably - MM: How to drop the bombs as well. Int: Yes. MM: You know, was teaching everything, you know. Int: Which does explain perhaps why – [Other]: You weren’t operational, non-operational. Int: And you didn’t go up through the ranks because you were staying at that experimental, although you think they might have given you another rank or two for a little bit more pay, for the job you were doing! But maybe because that was, it was a shorter time and during the war. [Other]: Four years is a long time in the war! That’s eighty percent out of four years. Int: We can, the records, the main records for what happened at Halton research are probably out in the public domain now if you know where to find them, just to find out, test and evaluation centre that would have been there, or a small workshops as part of the armourers. And to be honest, if you’ve got the armourers there, the people that taught the armourers will be more experienced people anyway, so then they’d use some of those instructors, probably attached to, with your father, they’d be like the managers, the site managers, or the supervisors looking after the team of younger workers that were doing the test and evaluation on things. [Other]: But my feeling is there’s a lot going on behind the scenes here. Int: Oh, probably so, yeah. I mean that happened through the whole of the Second World War. Not just the Air Ministry, but in the Air Ministry would, there would have been a lot of small, trying new things, test and evaluation. I mean nobody had heard about the bouncing bomb, had they, and that just, that was all built. [Joanne] Did you test the bouncing ball dad? MM: No. [Other]: Did you do anything with nuclear war? That nuclear? Int: No. MM: No. They was testing in Wales that, yeah. Int: Yes, I mean the bouncing bomb was all done down at um, Teddington, Teddington Lock, the big old, the big water tanks that they had down there, in towards London. I don’t know what, I don’t know where all the nuclear stuff was done. [Other]: Wales, dad said it was Wales. Int: Wales. MM: Wales, that was in Wales. Int: Probably in and around the old quarries and things like that where you have low population. MM: They was doing some in Wales, testing. [Other]: Oh, very interesting, I didn’t know this. Int: There we are. It’s interesting sometimes, when things, as people relax a little bit when we have the conversations, little things do tend to come out, so, and the nice thing is we’ve captured it all now so we can put it on to a disc so that if you need to look back and remember points that perhaps you’ll forget about, and then you think ‘oh yes, I said that’, so, and that’s, so it’ll help Joanne as well cause if you get the bug and start doing a bit of research we’ve got at least some ground area now. [Other]: So, in your testing evaluation school, how many Polish people were there? Sixty, seventy? MM: No, that was, there was I think six, was five hundred. [Other]: Five hundred? MM: But different sections! [Other]: Yeah, but in your [emphasis] section? MM: In my section er - [Other]: Do you remember dad? MM: No. In my section was [pause]. Int: Five hundred would have been probably for the whole camp. With the standard training for armourers in different points, but then - [Other]: I can’t believe that dad. MM: Thirty or forty. [Other]: Thirty, so it’s quite a small group. Int: Small group, concentrate on certain things. [Other]: Concentrate, yeah. MM: Thirty or forty there was, yeah. [Other]: And all the other groups, you knew all the other groups, yeah? MM: Well one actually, he was instructor, he went to Argentina and I think he passed away long time ago. [Other]: So, so the friends that you see at your monthly Polish Air Force lunch, they used to be in Northolt, Halton, with you, yes? No? Yes? Int: The people that you have lunch with, each month, your friends now [emphasis] when you see them each month now. [Other]: They were at Halton. Int: Are they the people from Halton, or are they just Polish Air Force people that you’ve met since? MM: No, they’re probably different. Int: From different things, right. Okay MM: You know, from different. Int: Well thank you very, very much. MM: Not so many left now [laugh]. [Other]: Very interesting. Int: No! Well thank you very, very much Michael, find where the turn off switch is. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with Mieczyslaw Maryszczak Description An account of the resource Mieczyslaw Maryszczak was born in Bokyivka, Ukraine and served in the Polish Army and then the Polish Air Force. An early memory of the war is of throwing bread to starving Russian prisoners who were being marched from Lviv to Podlesice. At 17 he was in the Polish Army testing repaired tanks in Gaza. After the Allied victory at Alamein he went to Egypt where he joined the Polish Air Force, sailing via South Africa to Liverpool to train at RAF Halton as an armourer. At RAF Halton he met fellow Poles from 303 Squadron who were there for three months training. He, however, was there for four years and received very good training on all types of armament and explosives, possibly in the context of weapon research and development. He was there on VE Day but says the Poles didn't celebrate because of the Yalta agreement. He also recalls how, when some Russians visited, they were locked in a workshop out of the way. He recalls the barrack rooms and how they cheated the midnight bed checks when some were still out dancing in Aylesbury. He also says that the food was cooked by Italian prisoners and was very good. In 1946 Michael went to RAF Cammeringham, pending demobilisation. He was then detached to 48 Maintenance Unit at Wrexham, where he received and checked aircraft guns, before going to RAF Framlingham to await resettlement or repatriation. Some Polish airmen returned to Poland but Mieczyslaw, by then known as Michael, went to London for resettlement. He claimed that trade unions didn't want the Poles and tried to send them into the mines and foundries but he refused and found a job making spectacles. He met his wife, who is also Polish, in 1960. In London Michael attended social events and dinners at the Polish Club. He was awarded the Polish Freedom Medal in about 1990 or 1991. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Polskie Siły Powietrzne Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 01:31:02 audio recording Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SRAFIngham19410620v070001-Audio Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending revision of OH transcription Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Geoff Burton Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Anne-Marie Watson Andy Fitter Maureen Clarke Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1939 1942 1943 1944 1945 1945-05-08 1946 1947 1948 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Egypt Gaza Strip Great Britain England--Buckinghamshire England--Lincolnshire England--Shropshire England--Suffolk England--Lincoln England--London England--Wolverhampton Middle East--Palestine Wales Wales--Wrexham Ukraine Poland Poland--Kraków North Africa 303 Squadron demobilisation ground crew ground personnel military living conditions Navy, Army and Air Force Institute RAF Cosford RAF Framlingham RAF Halton RAF Ingham RAF Wrexham recruitment shelter training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/477/10243/LBrileyWG1586825v1.pdf 1fafc8f88de868c2a3d32e67ebd8d4b0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Briley, William George George Briley W G Briley Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Briley, WG Description An account of the resource Eight items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer William George Briley (1586825, Royal Air Force), his log book, service material and a sight log book containing <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/987">18 target photographs</a>. After training in South Africa, George Briley completed 39 bombing and supply dropping operations as a navigator with 40 Squadron flying Wellingtons from Foggia in Italy. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by William George Briley and catalogued by Barry Hunter,&nbsp;<span>with additional identification provided by the Archeologi dell'Aria research group (</span><a href="https://www.archeologidellaria.org/">https://www.archeologidellaria.org</a><span>)</span> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-10-09 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource William George Briley's observer's and air gunner's flying log book Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource 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. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LBrileyWG1586825v1 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review Review Oct 2024 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike Connock Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Greece Hungary Italy Montenegro Middle East--Palestine Serbia Slovenia South Africa Bosnia and Herzegovina--Bugojno (Opština) Bosnia and Herzegovina--Doboj Bosnia and Herzegovina--Tuzla Croatia--Sinj Danube River Gaza Strip--Gaza Greece--Athens Hungary--Székesfehérvár Hungary--Szombathely Italy--Bologna Italy--Brescia Italy--Bronzolo Italy--Casarsa della Delizia Italy--Ferrara Italy--Foggia Italy--Milan Italy--Susegana Italy--Udine Italy--Verona Middle East--Palestine Montenegro--Kolašin Montenegro--Podgorica Serbia--Novi Pazar Slovenia--Borovnica Slovenia--Cerkno Slovenia--Solkan South Africa--East London Greece--Thessalonikē Gaza Strip Danube River Montenegro--Matesevo Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943 1944 1945 1944-09-02 1944-09-06 1944-09-10 1944-09-12 1944-09-13 1944-09-14 1944-09-17 1944-09-19 1944-09-21 1944-09-26 1944-10-04 1944-10-05 1944-10-09 1944-10-10 1944-10-11 1944-10-12 1944-11-01 1944-11-04 1944-11-05 1944-11-06 1944-11-08 1944-11-10 1944-11-16 1944-11-17 1944-11-18 1944-11-19 1944-11-22 1944-11-25 1944-11-26 1944-12-11 1944-12-13 1944-12-14 1944-12-15 1944-12-16 1944-12-19 1944-12-26 1944-12-27 1945-01-03 1945-01-05 1945-01-15 1945-01-20 1945-01-21 Description An account of the resource Observers and air gunners flying log book for Wiliam George Briley, covering the period from 2 December 1943 to 24 November 1945. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and communication flight duties. He was stationed at, East London, RAF Qastina, RAF Foggia and Athens. Aircraft flown in were, DH82 Tiger Moth, Anson, Empire flying boat, Wellington, Defiant, C-47, Fairchild Argus III and Liberator. He flew a total of 39 operations, 26 night and 13 daylight operations, consisting of 28 bombing operations and 11 supply drops. Targets were Ferrara, Bologna, Milan, Athens, Brescia, Szekesfehervar, Thessaloniki, Borovnica, Danube, Verona, Bronzolo, Tuzla, Sinj, Vragolovi, Predgrao, Zakomo, Podgorica, Novi Pasar, Chiapovano, Szombathely, Bugojno, Matesevo, Casarsa, Susegana, Salcano, Doboj, Circhina and Udine. His pilot on operations was Sergeant Hanson. 40 Squadron Air Observers School aircrew Anson B-24 C-47 Defiant mine laying navigator Operational Training Unit RAF Foggia RAF Qastina Resistance Tiger Moth training Wellington