Browse Items (63 total)
- Spatial Coverage is exactly "Wales"
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John Youngs’ flying log book for navigators, air bombers, air gunners and flight engineers
Royal Air Force flying log book for Sergeant John Young, flight engineer, covering the period 28 June 1944 to 6 January 1945, detailing training, and operations flown. He was stationed at RAF St Athan, RAF Eastmoor. Aircraft flown in were the Halifax…
Interview with William Anderson
Flight Officer William Anderson began his service in the Royal Air Force at the age of 18 when he signed up in Edinburgh. He recalls his training, reporting to Lord’s Cricket Ground in London, being paid at the London Zoo, and having to quickly learn…
Interview with Syd Marshall
Sidney Marshall grew up in Lincolnshire and worked as an agricultural engineer. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force aged 18 and trained as a flight engineer. On his first operation to Duisburg one of his Lancaster's engines was hit by shrapnel and…
Interview with Ron Wade
Ron was born in Stoke-on-Trent. He left school at 14 and tells of his experiences working in a pottery factory doing odd jobs, until he was called up. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1939 at the age of 22 and trained as an air gunner at RAF…
Interview with Ray Charlton
Ray wanted to join Bomber Command but, after going to RAF Paignton, he was re-mustered and went to RAF Eastchurch on the Isle of Sheppey where he decided to train as a flight engineer. He was posted to RAF Bridlington and this was followed by a…
Interview with Mieczyslaw Maryszczak
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…
Interview with Kenneth George McVicar
Kenneth George McVicar was born in Llanelli, South Wales and joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 18, where he qualified as a gunner. He flew in Ansons, as mid-upper gunner turret, but also on Stirlings and Lancasters. He tells of how he went on…
Interview with John Tait
John Tait was American by birth and was prompted to join the Royal Air Force, to avoid having to report to the police station once a month, because he was considered an ‘alien’. He was a wireless operator and gunner, flying in Ansons, Wellingtons,…
Interview with Jack Alexander Cook
Being in a reserved occupation at the outbreak of war, Jack eventually volunteered for the Royal Air Force, although, it would take the majority of the war before he joined. Having finally been called up for Bomber Command in 1944, Jack trained as a…
Interview with George Royall
George volunteered to be a pilot but settled for Air Observer. He talks about his selection and training in London and then in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he enjoyed the theatre and how, at Brighton, illness separated him from the rest of the course.…
Interview with Eric Horsham
Eric Horsham was born in East London in 1923 and, after leaving school aged 14 he was a messenger at the Royal Ordnance factory before working for the railways. In 1937 he joined the Air Training Corps and learned about aircraft maintenance. On his…
Interview with David Sanders
David Sanders flew operations as a flight engineer with 189 and 619 Squadrons. He joined the Royal Air Force as a flight engineer and tells of an operation when they arrived too early over the target; being followed by a night fighter; and having a…
Interview with Cyril Abbotts
Cyril Abbotts volunteered for the Royal Air Force while he was an engineering apprentice with W T Avery at Smethwick. After his reception and basic training at Lord’s Cricket Ground, he trained as a pilot at RAF Bowden and Moose Jaw in Canada. On his…
Interview with Arthur Atkinson
Arthur Atkinson was born in Lancaster, and worked in the local Co-Op until he joined the Royal Air Force. He trained as a wireless operator and served at RAF Ringway before being posted to RAF Coningsby and, later, RAF Skellingthorpe with 61…
Interview with Alun Emlyn-Jones
Alun Emlyn-Jones (known as Grem among his RAF colleagues) was raised in Cardiff and attended boarding schools in Oxfordshire. He was working at an office supplies manufacturer when he volunteered to serve in Bomber Command, hoping to avoid being…
Interview with Allen Geoffrey Gould
Allen Gould grew up in Bournemouth and worked for the Danish Bacon company, until volunteering for the Royal Air Force. He completed 32 operations as a flight engineer with 620 Squadron from RAF Fairford. Post war, he married his wife, who was…
Interview with Allan Ernest Edwards
Allan joined the Royal Air Force in December 1942 as a flight engineer, having been a member of the Air Training Corps before the war. From Blackpool, he went to RAF St Athan for flight engineer training. His first squadron was at RAF Waterbeach,…
Herbert O'Hara's South African Air Force observers or air gunners log book
Log book for Sergeant Herbert O'Hara from 7 November 1942 to 9 September 1962. He was stationed with 12 Squadron at RAF Wickenby, where he flew Lancasters as navigator. The log book shows 14 night operations over France and Germany, with one to…
H Adams memoir - training and operations
Shows maps of North Wales and the Midlands as well as an explanation of the Douglas protractor, along with diagrams of the Dalton computer and photographs of Wellington. Describes training at RAF Lichfield from end of March to 21 June 1944. Includes…
North Wales and Manchester, Air Chart, Sheet 4
Ordnance Survey air chart of North Wales and Manchester, scale 1/4 inch to one mile, sheet 4.
South Wales Air Chart Sheet 7
Ordnance Survey air chart of South Wales, sheet 7, scale 1/4 inch to one mile.
Frank Dennis' memoir
Frank left school in 1937, aged 14 and worked in a local engineering company, which later became an armament factory. In 1943 Frank volunteered as a Flight Engineer in the Royal Air Force. He recalls his training and describes the operations in which…
Fishguard-Le Havre
Gee chain chart, sheet 1 covering the south of England and Wales and the very north of France.
Family photographs
Right page:
Top left - woman sitting in chair in garden.
Top right - woman and a man sitting alongside each other on chairs in garden with trellis behind them.
Bottom left - a man wearing suit and tie and woman wearing dress standing side by side…
Top left - woman sitting in chair in garden.
Top right - woman and a man sitting alongside each other on chairs in garden with trellis behind them.
Bottom left - a man wearing suit and tie and woman wearing dress standing side by side…
David Sanders's flying log book for navigators, air bombers, air gunners and, flight engineers
The log book covers the operational career of flight engineer David Sanders from 5 July 1944 to 29 May 1945. He joined 619 Squadron at RAF Strubby on 28 September 1944, from where he flew Lancasters on two daylight and three night time operations…