1 25 24 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2665/47061/LChadwickF132173v1.1.pdf a2ac73a01d751e1e2d9b46e96cbb68b8 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 Chadwick, Frederick Chadwick, F Description An account of the resource 35 items. The collection concerns Frederick Chadwick (1055894, 132173 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, photographs, documents and objects. He flew operations as a wireless operator / air gunner. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Dr Harold Chadwick and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-02-13 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. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Chadwick, F 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 Frederick Chadwick’s Royal Air Force Observer’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book. Log book one. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-08-12 1941-08-14 1941-08-15 1941-08-16 1941-08-17 1941-08-18 1941-08-19 1941-09-01 1941-09-02 1941-09-03 1941-09-07 1941-09-08 1941-09-11 1941-09-12 1941-09-13 1941-09-14 1941-09-17 1941-09-18 1941-10-21 1941-10-24 1941-10-25 1941-11-05 1941-11-06 1941-11-09 1941-11-27 1941-12-07 1941-12-10 1941-12-11 1941-12-28 1942-01-21 1942-01-22 1942-01-25 1942-01-27 1942-02-07 1942-02-12 1942-02-14 1942-02-15 1942-02-24 1942-02-26 1942-03-03 1942-03-04 1942-03-23 1942-03-24 1942-03-25 1942-03-26 1942-03-28 1942-03-29 1942-04-01 1942-04-02 1942-04-05 1942-04-08 1942-04-09 1942-06-25 1942-04-09 1944-01-20 1944-01-21 1944-01-22 1944-01-30 1944-01-31 1944-02-15 1944-02-16 1944-02-24 1944-02-25 1944-02-26 1944-03-01 1944-03-02 1944-03-15 1944-03-16 1944-03-18 1944-03-19 1944-03-22 1944-03-23 1944-03-24 1944-03-25 1944-04-26 1944-04-27 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Oxfordshire England--Rutland England--Wiltshire Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway Germany Germany--Ruhr (Region) Germany--Aachen Germany--Augsburg Germany--Berlin Germany--Bremen Germany--Braunschweig Germany--Cologne Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Hamburg Germany--Helgoland Germany--Krefeld Germany--Kiel Germany--Lübeck Germany--Magdeburg Germany--Mannheim Germany--Rostock Germany--Schweinfurt Germany--Stuttgart Netherlands Netherlands--Rotterdam France France--Brest France--Lorient France--Paris England--Norfolk England--Cornwall (County) Scotland--Moray Malta 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 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Nick Cornwell-Smith 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 Description An account of the resource Frederick Chadwick’s Flying Log Book as Wireless Operator/Air Gunner from 4th February 1941 to 17th December 1957. Started training at No. 2 Signals School, and then No. 10 Bombing and Gunnery School. Posted to 16 Operational Training Unit. Posted to 144 Squadron for operations in August 1941. In April 1942 posted to 29 Operational Training Unit flying Wellingtons as Wireless Operator. Further operational posting to 83 Squadron in December 1943. Shot down over Germany on the night of 25/26th April 1944. Four crew were killed but three, including Frederick, were captured and made prisoners of war. Served at RAF Yatesbury, RAF Dumfries, RAF Upper Heyford, RAF North Luffenham. Aircraft flown were Whitley, Hampden, Anson, Wellington, Lysander, Martinet, Oxford and Lancaster. Post war the aircraft flown were Proctor, Anson, Lancaster, Shackleton and Neptune. With 144 Squadron he flew 35 bombing, mining and leaflet dropping operations (3 day, 32 night). Targets included Rotterdam, Braunschweig, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Brest, Berlin, Rostock, Helgoland, Bremen, Friesian Islands, Hamburg, Aachen, Hüls Rubber Factory, Mannheim, Kiel, Paris, Lorient, Lubeck and German Railway Lines. His pilot for the majority of operations was Flight Sergeant Woodhead. Other pilots were Flight Sergeants Bland and Lequeax, Pilot Officers Adams and Chrystal, Flight Lieutenant Radly and Squadron Leader Foster. Whilst with 29 OTU he flew one night operation to Bremen. His pilot was Squadron Leader Pim. In 83 Squadron he flew 12 night operations. Targets included Berlin, Magdeburg, Schweinfurt, Augsburg, Stuttgart and Frankfurt. His pilot on these operations was Flight Lieutenant Mirfin, who was killed on the last operation. Recalled to service in April 1951 until December 1957 with various training units including School of Maritime Reconnaissance, 236 Operational Conversion Unit, Maritime Operational Training Unit and 37 Squadron. Served at RAF Swanton Morley, RAF St Mawgan, RAF Kinloss, and RAF Luqa (Malta). Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 144 Squadron 16 OTU 29 OTU 37 Squadron 83 Squadron air gunner aircrew Anson Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) bombing Bombing and Gunnery School Hampden Lancaster Lancaster Mk 3 Lysander Martinet mine laying Operational Training Unit Oxford Pathfinders prisoner of war Proctor RAF Dumfries RAF Kinloss RAF Luqa RAF North Luffenham RAF Scampton RAF St Mawgan RAF Swanton Morley RAF Upper Heyford RAF Yatesbury Shackleton shot down training Wellington Whitley wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2294/41854/PKellettR1930.2.jpg 1ee959f056244da5312773dbeda6baed https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2294/41854/PKellettR1931.2.jpg e930ebc9c55d848fd2b143d523508a63 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 Kellett, Richard Kellett, R Description An account of the resource 31 items. The collection concerns Air Commodore Richard Kellett (Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, photographs and prisoner of war diaries. In 1938 he flew a Wellesley from Egypt to Australia and later flew operations as a pilot and the commanding officer of 149 Squadron. He was captured near Tobruk in 1942 and was Senior British Officer at Stalag Luft 3 at the time of the Wooden Horse escape. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rachel Kellett and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-12-19 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. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Kellett, R Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Publication granted 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 Blenheim Wing, Western Desert Description An account of the resource A group of air and ground crew,. One man is marked in blue ink. On the reverse is handwritten '[indecipherable] Blenheim Wing in the Western Desert 1941' and is stamped RAF no objection 7 Dec 1941. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-12-07 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Egypt--Western Desert North Africa Egypt 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 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PKellettR1930, PKellettR1931 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. aircrew Blenheim ground crew ground personnel https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2294/41851/PKellettR1925.2.jpg 6225518d5c0cdc81afd91461e367b2be https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2294/41851/PKellettR1926.2.jpg 449272dec3c074ce261004c54e26f550 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 Kellett, Richard Kellett, R Description An account of the resource 31 items. The collection concerns Air Commodore Richard Kellett (Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, photographs and prisoner of war diaries. In 1938 he flew a Wellesley from Egypt to Australia and later flew operations as a pilot and the commanding officer of 149 Squadron. He was captured near Tobruk in 1942 and was Senior British Officer at Stalag Luft 3 at the time of the Wooden Horse escape. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rachel Kellett and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-12-19 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. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Kellett, R Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Publication granted 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 Three Airmen Description An account of the resource Two airmen in discussion whilst a third is shaving and looking on. On the reverse is an RAF no objections stamp and 7 Dec 1941. 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 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PKellettR1925, PKellettR1926 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-12-07 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 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. aircrew observer https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2294/41849/PKellettR1922.1.jpg baadbeb2997d21d244bba388935d15d6 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2294/41849/PKellettR1923.1.jpg 1eced2f91877742fa004428114f23abe 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 Kellett, Richard Kellett, R Description An account of the resource 31 items. The collection concerns Air Commodore Richard Kellett (Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, photographs and prisoner of war diaries. In 1938 he flew a Wellesley from Egypt to Australia and later flew operations as a pilot and the commanding officer of 149 Squadron. He was captured near Tobruk in 1942 and was Senior British Officer at Stalag Luft 3 at the time of the Wooden Horse escape. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rachel Kellett and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-12-19 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. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Kellett, R Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Publication granted 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 Three Airmen and a bomb Description An account of the resource Three airmen dressed in flying kit, positioned beside a 250 lb bomb standing vertically on its tailfins. The men are dressed in tropical kit and flying gear. On the reverse is an RAF no objection stamp and 7 Dec 1941. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-12-07 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 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 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PKellettR1922, PKellettR1923 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. aircrew https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2294/41848/PKellettR1920.2.jpg e5ec014ad23b4f551205cd30ac93672e https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2294/41848/PKellettR1921.2.jpg 2e4f8369aabe80f3d4841d8656c940bb 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 Kellett, Richard Kellett, R Description An account of the resource 31 items. The collection concerns Air Commodore Richard Kellett (Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, photographs and prisoner of war diaries. In 1938 he flew a Wellesley from Egypt to Australia and later flew operations as a pilot and the commanding officer of 149 Squadron. He was captured near Tobruk in 1942 and was Senior British Officer at Stalag Luft 3 at the time of the Wooden Horse escape. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Rachel Kellett and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-12-19 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. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Kellett, R Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Publication granted 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 An airman Description An account of the resource A head and shoulders portrait of an airman wearing a helmet. On the reverse is an RAF no objection stamp and 7 Dec 1941. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-12-07 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 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 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PKellettR1920, PKellettR1921 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. aircrew https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1465/38906/MSawKC55612-151102-02.1.jpg 89af86f5c2310f9e878cec857c94ea91 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 Saw, Kenneth K C Saw 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 2015-11-02 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 Saw, KC Description An account of the resource Seven items. The collection concerns Kenneth Charles Saw DFM, (632221, 55612 Royal Air Force). He flew as an air gunner with 97 Squadron before retraining as a pilot and gaining a commission. Collection contains official documents, record of his operation, citation for award of DFM, a squadron crest and a notebook cover for information on German ordnance. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Tony Saw and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. 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 Details of sorties carried out with 97 Squadron Description An account of the resource Lists 35 successful operational sorties between 7 November 1941 and 15 November 1942. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-11-07 1941-12-07 1941-12-18 1942-01-10 1942-05-08 1942-05-19 1942-05-22 1942-05-29 1942-06-01 1942-06-25 1942-07-11 1942-07-23 1942-07-25 1942-07-26 1942-07-29 1942-08-11 1942-08-12 1942-08-15 1942-08-17 1942-08-24 1942-08-27 1942-09-01 1942-09-04 1942-09-06 1942-09-08 1942-09-10 1942-09-14 1942-10-02 1942-10-06 1942-10-12 1942-10-15 1942-10-17 1942-11-10 1942-11-15 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France Italy Belgium Poland France--Boulogne-sur-Mer Germany--Aachen France--Brest Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony) Belgium--Ostend France--Gennevilliers Atlantic Ocean--English Channel Germany--Essen Germany--Bremen Poland--Gdańsk Germany--Duisburg Germany--Hamburg Germany--Saarbrücken Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Wilhelmshaven Germany--Krefeld Germany--Osnabrück Germany--Wismar Germany--Cologne France--Le Creusot Italy--Milan Italy--Genoa Germany--Rostock Germany--Ruhr (Region) Germany 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 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One page typewritten document Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MSawKC55612-151102-02 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 97 Squadron bombing https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1465/38904/MSawKC55612-151102-04.1.jpg 778819d1a261547da223dce2a5cae823 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1465/38904/MSawKC55612-151102-010001.2.jpg a6704f07c3331cb2fc4f4dff47b081cf https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1465/38904/MSawKC55612-151102-010002.2.jpg c7d42f35ab2d82488a5eec007f12fab6 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1465/38904/MSawKC55612-151102-010003.2.jpg 69843dc4e87b096252544f4cb7d3667e 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 Saw, Kenneth K C Saw 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 2015-11-02 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 Saw, KC Description An account of the resource Seven items. The collection concerns Kenneth Charles Saw DFM, (632221, 55612 Royal Air Force). He flew as an air gunner with 97 Squadron before retraining as a pilot and gaining a commission. Collection contains official documents, record of his operation, citation for award of DFM, a squadron crest and a notebook cover for information on German ordnance. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Tony Saw and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document 7 Nov 41 97 Squadron attacked Cologne. Neither P/O Keir or Sgt Saw listed as flying. 7/8 Dec 41 Aachen. L7475 B P/O Keir, P/O Whammond, P/O Hallam, Sgts Shepherd, Jenkins, Wharton, Saw. Up 02:52 Down 06:07. Unable to reach target. Bombed Ostend docks. Bursts observed. Bomb load 1 x 4,000lb, 2 x 500lb. 18 Dec 41 Brest Harbour L7425 G F/O Rodlev. P/O Colauhoun. Sgts Henley, Murralls, Cumming, Saw, Crisp No times given. Successfully bombed target near the "Eugene". Unable to warn "W" when attacked by fighter as T.R.9 was u/s. Diverted to Mildenhall. 10/11 Jan 42 Wilhemshaven L7475 B P/O Keir, P/O Hallam, Sgts Bond, Shepherd, Jenkins, Saw, Wharton. No times given. Port generator switch had been knocked off and this aircraft returned a considerable distance before this was discovered. Owing to time limit for time over target, Emden was bombed instead. 8/9 May 42 Warnemunde Bomb load: 6 x 1,000lb G.P. L7569 A P/O Keir, Sgt Bond, P/O Hallam, Sgts Shepherd, Jenkins, Saw, Wharton. Up 22:10 Down 04:47. Proceeded to target and saw many searchlights and considerable light flak. Rear gunner saw an aircraft in flames and Wireless Operator picked up an SOS. Bombed target position on estimated pin points. Gunners observed three bombs burst in town believed to be Kelding (Denmark). 19/20 May 42 Mannheim. Bomb load 1 x 4,000lb. 6 x SBC R5569 D P/O Keir, Sgt Bond, P/O Hallam, Sgts Shepherd, Jenkins, Saw, Wharton. Up 22:46 Down 01:41 After climbing to 16,00ft [sic] gunners reported lack of oxygen, so docks were bombed at Ostend. 6 SBCs were brought back as they might have dropped in town. 22/23 May 42 Gardening. "Willow" area Bomb load: 5 x Mines R5512 C P/O Keir, Sgt Bond, P/O Hallam, Sgts Shepherd, Jenkins, Saw, Wharton. Up 22:02 Down 05:00 Vegs planted in primary "Willows" area from 600ft. All 5 parachutes seen to open. Pinpointed Rangow and made timed run from there. Light flak at south end of viaduct at Middlefort. Otherwise uneventful. 29/30 May 42 Gennevilliers Bomb load: 6 x 1,000lb R5669 D P/O Keir, Sgts Bond, M.R. Smith, Shepherd, Jenkins, Saw, Wharton. Up 00:25 Down 05:27. Impossible to identify target owing to searchlights and heavy concentrations of flak. Made four attempts to identify target and then outboard starboard engine was hit and failed. Sgt Bond (2nd Pilot) was hit in thigh and died on return journey. Bombs were dropped safe owing to aircraft rapidly losing height. 1/2 June 42 Essen Bomb load: 1 x 4,000lb. 8 x SBC 4lb R5609 S P/O C.Keir, F/S N. Croppi, P/O M.R. Smith, Sgts C. Shepherd, K. Saw, H. Jenkins, E. Wharton. Up 00:11 Down 03:50. 6/10ths cloud over target. Bombs released on TR fix from 15,000ft. Three distinct fires observed. A good trip – no trouble anywhere. [page break] 25/26 Jun 42 Bremen R5572F F/O C.D. Weir, Sgt V.J. Butler (Flt Eng), P/O R.B. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, A.T. Grossmith, Saw, E. Wharton. Up 0006 Down 0540. Bombs released on primary target on TR fix. Unable to identify target. Observed an aircraft in flames and saw five parachutes coming down. Over Heligoland saw a fighter attack a Wellington which burst into flames and crashed. A very disappointing trip. 11/12 Jul 42 Danzig R5572F F/O C.D. Keir, F/Sgt J.M. Smith, P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts L.V. Hellyer, H.H. Jenkins, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 1651 Down 0230. Bomb load 1 x 4000lb. Set course on formation at 1718 hours. Formation lost on climbing into cloud on Danish coast. Ran in from the west, having previously pin-pointed Mele and the river was clearly indicated. On approach to target caught and held by searchlights, evaded them and made second run up, greeted by heavy flak. Bombs aimed at buildings in dock area and bursts seen. 23/24 Jul 42 Duisburg R5502M F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt W. McLeod, P/O R.B. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, L.M. Fleming, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 0041 Down 0503. Approximately 20 flares lighting target area. 10/10ths cloud with breaks over the target whixh [sic] was bombed from 13,000’. Bursts seen by Rear Gunner in built up area. No fires seen. 25/26 Jul 42 Duisburg R5634L F/O C.D. Keir, Sht [sic] W. McLeod, P/O R.B. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, L.M. Fleming, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 0025 Down 0348. Bombs dropped in target area. Fix confirmed by visual and ETA. A good trip but horribly clear. 29/30 Jul 42 Saarbrucken R5548A F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt W. McLeod, P/O R.B. Murphy, F/Sgt C. Donahue, Sgts C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 2354 Down 0412. Visibility moderate. Bombed primary target from 7,000’ on TR fix confirmed visually. Enemy aircraft met near Luxembourg but dived from 12,000’ to 7,000’ and lost fighter. Very little opposition over target but trailing aerial shot away by heavy flak. 31 Jul/1 Aug 42 Dusseldorf R5758D F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt W. McLeod, P/O R.B. Murphy, Sgts S. Brans, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. . Up 0018 Down 0141. Returned early as rear turret was u/s. Jettisoned incendiaries in sea off Wainfleet but brought 4000lb back. 12/13 Aug 42 Mainz R5738D F/O C.D. Keir, Sgts W. McLeod, P/O R.B. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 2244 Down 0459. Built up area in primary target bombed after 10 minutes search, on ETA. Visibility good below 7,000’. Flares were of some assistance but we were not able to pin-point. 17/18 Aug 42 Osnabruck R5738D F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt W. McLeod (F/Eng), P/O R.B. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 2203 Down 0154. Bombed primary from 15,000’ on DR navigation. Bomb bursts seen but exact location not known. Flares dropped by other aircraft no help but 2 flares dropped by our own aircraft were of great help. [page break] 24/25 Aug 42 Frankfurt R5738D F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt W. McLeod, P/O R.B. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton, Up 2146 Down 0321. Bombed primary from 15,000’ by ETA and visual pin-points prior to arriving at target. Very scattered fires burning in area, some very large. Target covered by smoke. Left the target and came down to 3,000’ and bombed all the villages we saw with nickels. 27/28 Aug 42 Gydnia Port R5572F F/O C.D. Keir, Sgts W. McLeod, H.H. Jenkins, P/O R.B. Murphy, Sgts C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 1952 Down 0413. Primary objective believed bombed. Pin-point obtained on Hole and docks seen through break in clouds. Bombs caused an enormous flash and smoke seen to about 8,000’. Returned without incident. 1/2 Sept 42 Saarbrucken R5738D F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt W. McLeod (2nd Pilot), P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 2343 Down 0536. Bomb load 1 x 4000lb 12 SBC. Primary bombed from 7,000’. Visibility good and target was identified visually and Pathfinder flares observed dropping over target. Very heavy accurate flak. Fires observed in target area 90 miles away. 4/5 Sept 42 Bremen R5738D F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt W. McLeod (2nd Pilot), P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins. C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 2356 Down 0459. 1 x 4000lb 12 SBC. Primary target bombed from 11,000’. 4000lb bomb seen to fall and burst on buildings believed to be Focke Wulf factory, Bremen. 4000lb bomb started large fire giving forth while smoke. Successful trip. 6/7 Sept 42 Duisburg R5548A F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt W. McLeod (2nd Pilot), P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 0106 Down 0444. 1 x 4000lb 12 SBC. Duisburg bombed from 17,000’ visually and by pin-point on river. Visibility good with slight haze. Bomb bursts seen. Considerable activity over target. Very quiet trip on way out and back. One engine failed on return over sea. 8/9 Sept 42 Frankfurt R5609S F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt W. McLeod (2nd Pilot), P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 2056 Down 0323. 1 x 8000lb. Bombed Frankfurt from 16,000’. River seen after bombing. 6/10ths cloud in target area. Terrific flash seen in target area. Numerous searchlights and some flak. 16 bundles of G49 dropped over target. 10/11 Sept 42 Dusseldorf R5614G F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt W. McLeod (2nd Pilot), P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 2045 Down 0116. 1 x 4000lb. Dusseldorf town successfully bombed from 16,000’. Definite pin-point obtained from bend in river and bridge. Marker flares seen over town and large fires observed in centre of town. 14/15 Sept 42 Wilhelmshaven L7577T F/L E.A. Deverill, Sgt R. Kay, P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C. H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E.Wharton. Up 2043 Down 0031. 1 x 4000lb 12 SBC. West dock area bombed from 16,000’. Visibility clear, slight haze and about 8/10ths cloud at target. No results seen but glow observed to south of target. Uneventful trip. 16/17 Sept 42 Essen R5572F F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt W. McLeod (2nd Pilot), P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 2047 Down 2310. (no bomb load shown). From take off CEG [symbol] and loops were u/s so abandoned mission. Bombs dropped safe in North Sea off coast of Holland. 2/3 Oct 42 Krefeld R5569B F/O C.D. Keir, P/O J. McCarthy (2nd Pilot), P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts Westwell, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 1920 Down 2322. 1 x 4000lb 12 SBC. Primary target bombed on ETA, Pathfinder Force flares and built up area. Visibility hazy. Bombs seen to explode. 13/14 Oct 42 Kiel R5738D F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt A.V. Airy (shown as Airey), P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 1835 Down 0015. Mission abandoned owing to failure of aileron controls. 15/16 Oct 42 Cologne [page break] W4175U F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt I. Whittaker, P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E.Wharton. Up 1933 Down 2346. 1 x 4000lb 12 SBC. Primary target bombed from 17,000’. Visibility hazy. Small lake three [missing letter]iles from town pin-pointed. Bomb burst observed by Rear Gunner. Many good fires burning. 17 Oct 42 Le Creusot R5538H F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt I. Whittaker, P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 1209 Down 2212. 4 x 1000. Schneider and ???? works bombed from 6,000’. Bombs fell in primary area. Transformer station was observed to be getting a ‘beat up’, large blue flashes were seen. Fires were burning and whole area covered by smoke. 22/23 Oct 42 Genoa R5609S F/O C.D. Keir, P/O R.A. Moyle (2nd Pilot), P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 1720 Down 1840. Mission abandoned owing to W/T failure. 9/10 Nov 42 Hamburg R5569B F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt K.P. Mercer (F/Eng), P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts C.H. Shepherd, H.H. Jenkins, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Bomb load 1 x 4000lb 12 SBC. Up 1809 Down 1915. On becoming airborne found artificial horizon to be u/s so flew out from Skegness and jettisoned bombs in sea before making immediate return. 10/11 Nov 42 Gardening R5917K F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt Pearce, F/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 1753 Down 0153. Cloud in Deodars area. Veg laid in position. One veg exploded on hitting water. 15/16 Nov 42 Genoa R5548A F/O C.D. Keir, Sgt S. Colbert, P/O R.B.G. Murphy, Sgts H.H. Jenkins, C.H. Shepherd, K.C. Saw, E. Wharton. Up 1757 Down 0240. Good moonlight visibility. Built up area clearly seen illuminated by flares. Bursts seen over target. Two very large fires see burning in southern part of town, east of Genoa bay. 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 List of operations Description An account of the resource List of 33 operations between 7 December 1941 and 16 November 1942. For each operation states target, crew, and some detailed comments. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942-06-25 1942-06-26 1942-07-11 1942-07-12 1942-07-23 1942-07-24 1942-07-25 1942-07-26 1942-07-29 1942-07-30 1942-07-31 1942-08-12 1942-08-13 1942-08-17 1942-08-18 1942-08-24 1942-08-25 1942-08-27 1942-08-28 1942-09-01 1942-09-02 1942-09-04 1942-09-05 1942-09-06 1942-09-07 1942-09-08 1942-09-09 1942-09-10 1942-09-11 1942-09-14 1942-09-15 1942-09-16 1942-09-17 1942-10-02 1942-10-03 1942-10-13 1942-10-14 1942-10-15 1942-10-16 1942-10-17 1942-10-22 1942-10-23 1942-11-09 1942-11-10 1942-11-11 1944-11-15 1942-11-16 1941-11-07 1941-12-07 1941-12-08 1941-12-18 1941-01-10 1942-01-11 1942-05-08 1942-05-09 1942-05-19 1942-05-20 1942-05-22 1942-05-23 1942-05-29 1942-05-30 1942-06-01 1942-06-02 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France Italy Germany Poland Poland--Gdańsk Germany--Bremen Germany--Duisburg Germany--Saarbrücken Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate) Germany--Osnabrück Germany--Frankfurt am Main Poland--Gdynia Germany--Wilhelmshaven Germany--Essen Germany--Krefeld Germany--Kiel Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea France--Le Creusot Italy--Genoa Germany--Hamburg Germany--Helgoland Luxembourg Great Britain England--Lincolnshire England--Skegness Germany--Aachen France--Brest Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay Germany--Mannheim France--Gennevilliers Germany--Rostock Germany--Ruhr (Region) 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 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Four page printed document Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MSawKC55612-151102-01, MSawKC55612-151102-04 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 Sue Smith aircrew anti-aircraft fire bombing mine laying shot down Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2180/38360/BBoydKGBoydKGv1.1.pdf 6483ab5533a9a92dc6c4ffa09afe0234 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 102 Squadron Collection Description An account of the resource Thirty-three items. The collection concerns material from the 102 Squadron Association and contains part of a Tee Emm magazine, documents, photographs, accounts of Ceylonese in the RAF, a biography, poems, a log book, cartoons, intelligence and operational reports, an operations order and an account by a United States Army Air Force officers secret trip to Great Britain to arrange facilities for American forces and letters. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Harry Bartlett and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-05-23 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. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 102 Squadron Association Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Page 1 of 13 Report on My Foreign Service Project August 1941 – April 1942 By Lt. Col. Kenneth G Boyd, USAAF (Retired) [italics] Ken Boyd is the brother-in-law of the pilot Wilfred Comrie, who was killed when his Halifax G-George crashed shortly after take-off from Pocklington for a raid on Berlin March 29th 1943. Ken and Wilfred were both born in Fargo, North Dakota. Wilfred crossed the Canadian border to join the RCAF in May 1941, six months before Pearl Harbour. He was subsequently seconded to 102 Sqn. Ken is an Associate Member of the 102 Sqn Association and he himself was also working in England before Pearl Harbour. In his case it was as a lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces. In this article Ken tells the story of his involvement in a top secret joint RAF-USAAF mission to select bases in the British Isles which would be turned over to the United States for their use, if and when they got into World War 2. Ken did not marry Wilfred Comrie’s sister until just after the War, and so they never knew each other. As you will see below, it so happened that Ken also nearly flew with the RAF on a bombing raid to Berlin before the USA officially entered the War. [/italics] December 7th 1941 – “A date which will live in infamy” (President Roosevelt) Pearl Harbour had been attacked. The US Ambassador in London told me to put my uniform on. My mission was no longer secret. I no longer needed to wear plain clothes. We were now at War. I had been in England for four months. Our mission was at that time known only to select Army Air Force people in the United States. Even though Americans were convinced that they had to stop the German Army, our politicians would argue that any other solution was better. This is the reason for all the secrecy in the United States. I was to continue working in Britain for a further four months after Pearl Harbour. How It All Started In August 1941 I was a First Lieutenant in the USAAF, based at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. The USAAF had been formed in June 1941 to strengthen what had previously been the United States Army Air Corps. General H.H. ‘Hap’ Arnold was at its head. Hap Arnold was originally taught to fly by the Wright brothers and was the only air commander ever to attain the five-star rank On August 23rd secret orders were issued by Major General George Brett, Chief of the Air Corps. I was to go [sic] the US Embassy in London as aide to Colonel E.M. Powers, Chief of Production, USAAF. Colonel Powers would be assisted by Colonel James ‘Jimmy’ Doolittle. [page break] Page 2 of 13 In the following April Jimmy Doolittle led the daring raid by B-25 bombers on Tokyo to avenge Pearl Harbour. He went on to command the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa, the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy, and of course, the Eighth Air Force in England. But even before 1941 he was internationally renowned as a record-breaking flier and aviation pioneer. He had become an inspiration to many young men in the early days of aviation. Our Mission We were to make plans for the maintenance, supply and repair of American Army Air Force equipment in the British Isles. On 27th August, 1941 Colonel Powers, Colonel Doolittle and I discussed our mission with General ‘Hap’ Arnold at his office in Washington DC. We then set off from there for London. [Orders to Colonels Powers and Doolittle and to Ken for their London assignment are shown at Appendix 1. Ken’s individual orders for his London assignment are shown at Appendix 2.] Our Journey to London The first leg of my journey was in a military B-24 Liberator from Washington to Gander, Newfoundland with a refuelling stop at Maine. There was then a delay of six days waiting for specific weather conditions across the Atlantic Ocean. Ferry Command began operating the route from Gander to Prestwick earlier in 1941. We had two .50 calibre guns in the tail, but no gunner aboard. If we encountered enemy aircraft during the flight, our only protection was to escape into the clouds immediately above. We were only authorized to use incoming radio, since outgoing signals could be traced. Fortunately, we were to encounter no enemy aircraft during our flight from Gander to Prestwick. After this delay, we started off for England, but three hours out our cloud bank cover suddenly was gone. We turned back to Nova Scotia for the night and returned to Gander the next day. We tried again three days later and this time all went well; we landed at the Prestwick next morning. Our project continued to be classified secret throughout our stay in the British Isles. However, the arrival of Jimmy Doolittle, the internationally known aircraft racer, was welcomed by about 30 RAF pilots. He let it be known that the United States was behind them in their efforts. We took up residence in the Dorchester Hotel, just a short distance from the American Embassy in London. Our special Embassy rate was $4 per day including breakfast. [In August 2005 the lowest rate for a standard single at the Dorchester is about £320, or about $600, per night. Rates go up to £2,500 – about $4,725 – per night for a 2 bedroom Terrace] Later on, when I was spending about half my time in Belfast, and in the military [page break] Page 3 of 13 camps and manufacturing facilities, I moved over to the Cumberland Hotel. I had a lot less trouble getting room accommodations there on short notice. First Assignments Colonel Powers’s assignment was to compile a list of the United States military located in the British Isles. There were many there that were studying the tactics of the countries that were involved in the war at that time. Since they involved different divisions of our military, no one group had that information. Information was forwarded to General Arnold’s office. I was running the Office for Colonel Powers. Colonel Doolittle was visiting the British Air bases I Get My Technical Observer’s Wings In order to provide me access to flying in military aircraft on this assignment General Arnold took special action to award me Technical Observer’s Wings for a period of three months. This was later extended to the full period of my assignment in Britain. Although I was not a pilot, I put in time flying with pilots in the Embassy to comply with the necessary flying time for this award and the compensation that went along with it. [photograph] A consolidated PT-1 [That is not Ken Boyd flying it] The American Embassy had a Consolidated PT-1 – an old relic. It was a primary trainer biplane of a design dating from 1925; it had fixed landing gear and open front and rear cockpits. This was the only plane available for pilots to get in their flying time. The PT-1 had a cruising speed of 78 mph and a maximum speed of 99 mph. We occasionally raced the Flying Scotsman, the first steam locomotive to achieve an authenticated 100mph speed. By putting the PT-1 into a dive, we could wave to the train passengers while they rode past. Many years after the original steam locomotive had been withdrawn from service, my wife and I were travelling on the modern Flying Scotsman train service on the way to York at a speed of 140 mph. [page break] Page 4 of 13 RAF Flights – London to Belfast I made the journey between London and Belfast several times. Langford Lodge in County Antrim was being prepared as a maintenance base for our Air Force. This was known only to select Army Air Force people in the US. Langford Lodge was one of about 50 sites in Britain developed in 1940/41 by the Ministry of Aircraft Production as Satellite Landing Grounds. SLG’s were small, minimally equipped airfields to which new aircraft produced by the factories were flown for temporary storage and kept by RAF Maintenance Units prior to being deployed to operational units. Storage at Langford Lodge commenced on 9th May, 1941 but soft ground conditions quickly caused problems and it was decided to provide tarmac runways. Construction of the runways was well advanced by the end of July that year and RAF aircraft were stored at the site until May, 1942. In the meantime we were having secret meetings with British representatives to build an aircraft maintenance depot at Langford Lodge for the repair of American aircraft operated by British and American forces. It was agreed that the Ministry of Aircraft Production would construct runways, buildings and main services while the United States Army Air Force would take responsibility for operating the depot. The USAAF decided that much of the operation of the depot would be subcontracted to the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in a series of contracts renewable every 6 months. In February 1942, construction of the air depot commenced, the work being accorded absolute priority over all other construction in Northern Ireland. Large numbers of local people were employed to assist with its construction. A new rail track was laid by the Great Northern Railway from Crumlin to a terminus at Gortnagallon, half a mile from the actual airfield. I understand that the pilots on the transports that took us across for our meetings in Northern Ireland were RAF pilots on R & R. There were times when a fighter pilot was at the controls that the ride could be pretty rough. Fortunately, the ride across the Irish Sea to Belfast was just a short hop. Also, we frequently experienced fog at the Belfast Airport in the morning. One morning they opened the hanger doors, front and back, to extend the runway a couple of hundred feet. Needless to say, flying in the war zone, even on an airline, was frequently a risky business, for more reasons than one. Sir Frank Whittle Whittle was the British designer of the jet engine. He had been experimenting with the jet engine since 1937. In May 1941 The first British jet aircraft, the Gloster E28/39 ‘Pioneer’, powered by a Whittle engine made its maiden flight at Cranwell. In October 1941 the USA asked for details of the engine and Jimmy Doolittle visited Whittle. There was a mutual understanding between Whittle and Doolittle. [page break] Page 5 of 13 Powers and I went along for the ride. My memory of the test facility was a mass of tubes, valves and tanks and an ear-splitting noise when it was operating. Although we were about 100 yards away from the test stand and muffled our ears, the noise was still deafening. I did not realise at the time that I was observing the aircraft engine of the future. In June 1942, Whittle was flown to Boston to help General Electric to overcome problems. They built the engine under license in America and Bell Aircraft’s experimental Airacomet flew in the Autumn of 1942. In England work began on the Gloster Meteor and this became the first British operational jet aircraft in 1944, going into action against the German V1 rockets. In 1976 Whittle migrated to the USA, where he became a research professor at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, settling in Columbia, Maryland. Major now completed his assignment, a review of the British airdromes. Secret reports were filed with General Arnold. He returned to the USA on October 13th. Col. Powers and I remained in British Isles. My Planned Bombing Run to Berlin The United States was just getting started in the production of power operated turrets. The British had been in the production of POTs for several years, but theirs were .303 calibre rather than the .50 calibre guns in the United States. When I had completed the tour of the British turret factories, I moved to an air base where I could fire a British turret on a test flight. Following the test, the pilot invited me to make a bomb run over Berlin that night. I accepted the invitation, but the pilot (who was the commander of the plane) decided to cancel me out just before flight time. As he explained, the United States was not even officially in the war. I could be classified as a spy on a British plane. As it turned out, this was just the beginning of my problems. The American Embassy had received news of my contemplated flight over Berlin. Needless to say, the Military attaché was more than agitated. I could be classified as a spy on a British warplane; my diplomatic exemption would not apply. They would have to disown me. I forgot about my secret RAF papers that I carried with me at all times would have had a difficult time trying to explain those papers giving me Northern Ireland Security Clearance. [Shown at Appendix 4] Langford Lodge Project Meetings One afternoon in London, I received a call from Northern Ireland. There was a Lease Lend meeting in Belfast the next morning. Could I make it? A lieutenant does not say “No” to British Generals or Marshals, and so I agreed that I would attend the meeting the next morning. I had a problem the next morning; the car was late picking me up at the hotel. When [page break] Page 6 of 13 I arrived at the airport, they were waiting. I loaded on and we immediately took off for Belfast. I heard later that a Canadian Army Colonel had been bumped off the plane when I arrived. Needless to say, he was more than a little irritated at the delay. I later found out that we were headed for the same meeting in Belfast. He did not make it. This turned out to be the last meeting that I attended in Northern Ireland on the Langford Lodge project. When in Northern Ireland, I frequently visited the RAF Officers clubs, a good place to find out what was going on. Since liquor, other than scotch, was only a dollar a bottle at the Embassy, I frequently donated a bottle at the bar. As a result, I did not have any trouble getting information as to what was going on in the War. Back on the London to Belfast RAF Airline, on my last trip to Belfast the air attendant notified me that my travel bag was leaking. A broken bottle of rum soaked all of my clothes. Luckily, I had an aide assigned to me in Belfast. He took care of the problem. As it turned out, that was my last trip to Belfast. This maintenance facility was transferred over to the Lockheed Corporation in Los Angeles when I returned to the States. Tours of British Manufacturing Facilities Following completion of the first London assignment, Colonel Powers issued orders for me to visit several British manufacturing facilities. This required that I travel to installations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Having no knowledge of the area, I had to rely on the RAF Motor Pool to get me to my destination. For security reasons, most of the signs (highway, building, city and street) had been removed. If the Motor Pool Driver needed directions, she had to ask one of the local residents. If I asked questions, being in civilian clothes, it sent up a red flag to the people. “Notify the authorities immediately, unknown person in the area asking for information” On my first trip on this assignment, I made several visits to manufacturing facilities. All went well, or so I thought. The following Monday representatives from Scotland Yard were at the American Embassy asking for information on an unknown American Officer travelling in England. Somewhere along the line the system had failed. No one had notified Scotland Yard that I would be travelling outside of London. They had received a report on my travels the second day out. They followed me the entire week, but were just far enough behind that they did not make contact. As it turned out, only the top British personnel were advised of my mission. Fortunately, I was not held responsible for the failure to notify Scotland Yard. I was cleared and went on to the next assignment. [page break] Page 7 of 13 French Restaurant – London I had a special contact at a French Restaurant in London. While the menu of lamb, ram and mutton was usually available, beef steak was never on the list. Once a month I could get a ham through the embassy delivered from the States. This I traded for the steak, when available. The owner of the restaurant would let me know when the steak was in. This was the night - the steak was in. I arrived at the restaurant about 6:00 pm. We were all doing fine until the air raid alarm went off about 7:30 pm. As usual, we were locked in awaiting the all-clear signal. We still didn’t have the all clear at 12:00 midnight. I was in the owner’s apartment shortly thereafter when he disclosed to me his special secret. We both had several drinks by that time. It seems that our beef steaks were actually horsemeat. I tried to eat the horsemeat later, but just could not do it. Fortunately, I returned to the States about a week later so I never tried it again. January 26th, 1942 – American Troops Arrive in Northern Ireland On January 9th, 1942 I received orders to report to the RAF Maintenance Base, Belfast. On January 10th, 1942 a USAAF office was opened there and I was assigned a permanent office in it. My duties were to act as the USAAF Representative to the Lease Land Committee. Lieutenant Arthur Rank was assigned to assist me. On 26th January 1942, after a day of meetings at the RAF Maintenance Base in Northern Ireland, I dropped into the local pub. I was talking to the bartender when a large group of officers dropped in. They looked like US officers, but I was the only US officer stationed in Northern Ireland. Shortly thereafter, more officers arrived. Since I was on a secret assignment, I decided to return to the base. When I returned to London the next day, I was informed first group of American soldiers had arrived in Belfast by boat. It was just as well that I was not around to try to explain my classified status to the other officers. The US office in Northern Ireland for the Langford Lodge project remained secret and then closed. The Langford Lodge plans were then transferred to Colonel Powell’s office in the London Embassy. I was then to act as special courier, taking them on to General Arnold’s office on my return to Washington. General Arnold reviewed the plans, and I then took them on to Lockheed in Los Angeles. The plans carried their special classification all this time. After a two week review of these plans, Lockheed took over the operation of the base. [page break] Page 8 of 13 Meeting in Colonel Powers London Office, April 1942 Colonel Powers said to me, “Lieutenant we have a problem. The US Commanding General that has just arrived in Northern Ireland with the first American troops has cancelled all US Military assignments in England and ordered all officers to report to his office for new assignments. Until you report to Northern Ireland for further orders I can still have you returned to the States on you present assignment. If you go, I want you to take a secret letter direct to ‘Hap’ Arnold. He is the only one who can get me back to the States” [Ken’s orders to deliver the document are at Appendix 3] Having been in the British Isles for over seven months, I was ready to return. Two days later, I had my orders and was on my way to Northern Ireland. They say the Irish Sea is rough. I agree! It was the roughest boat ride that I was ever on. We landed somewhere in Northern Ireland while it was still dark. To my surprise, my British aide was there to get me to the West Side of Northern Ireland. It was only then that I was returning to the States on one of the ships that had brought the American troops to Belfast. The ships were returning to New York with an escort of British destroyers. Back Across the Atlantic Shortly before departure, the passengers met with the ship’s Captain. He gave us brief information and instructions, as follows: 1. The Captain was taking all precautions to prevent an attack by a German U-boat 2. All lights that could be seen from outside the ship would be extinguished at night (exception, 5 below) 3. The two passenger ships would travel in a line with about one mile between ships. 4. British destroyers, protecting the passenger ships maintained contact and travelled front, rear and to the sides of the convoy line. 5. At night, each ship in the convoy had a shrouded light mounted on the rear that could only be seen from directly behind. Each ship followed the shrouded light ahead. There were about a hundred children that had been orphaned by the war that were passengers being sent to the United States. They were accompanied by several young nurses. The children were located on another deck. There were a few additional passengers returning to the States. It was rumoured that Lady Astor was on board. If so, she remained in her cabin for the entire eleven-day trip. On the first night out, with lights out, passengers asleep, all was quiet. Suddenly there was a loud crash; the first thought was that we had collided with a German Sub. All [page break] Page 9 of 13 the lights came on and the convoy stopped. Out in the passageway, one of the young nurses in a brief negligee was running down the passageway screaming, “Save the children, save the children”. Remember that this was back in April 1942. The display of a young lady in a brief negligee brought everything to a halt, As it turned out, we had hit an Irish potato boat. Fortunately, our boat had very little damage, but the potato boat sank in a very short time. The British destroyers moved in immediately and were able to save all of the passengers and crew. A short time later, we resumed or [sic] trip. On the third day out the British destroyers left us and returned to Belfast. There were no further incidents on the eleven-day cruise to New York harbour. Back to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio - May 1942 While I was waiting for orders from General Arnold to take the Langford Lodge papers to Lockheed in California, I received a telephone call from Colonel Powers in Washington. He thanked me for delivering his Secret letter to General Arnold. The General immediately ordered him back to Washington. At his Washington DC office Colonel Powers asked General Arnold, “How did Lieutenant Boyd deliver my secret letter direct to you through this maze in Washington?” General Arnold replied, “I asked Lieutenant Boyd the same question”. [italics] 3,819 words (or nearly 6 pages of 102 Sqn Association Newsletter) [/italics] [page break] Page 10 of 13 Appendix 1: Orders to Colonels Powers and Doolittle and to Ken for their London Assignment ADDRESS REPLY TO CHIEF OF THE AIR CORPS WAR DEPARTMENT WASHINGTON , D.C. WAR DEPARTMENT OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF THE AIR CORPS WASHINGTON August 25, 1941. MEMORANDUM FOR: COLONEL E. M. POWERS 1. In compliance with a directive received by the undersigned, you will upon your arrival in England take immediate steps to lay plans for the coordination of the maintenance, supply and repair of American Equipment. Assisted by Colonel Doolittle and Lieutenant Boyd, you will secure all possible information as to the military personnel, that is Army Air Corps officers now on duty in England. Check their location, find out exactly what their duties are, and under whose authority they are operating at the present time. This Air Corps personnel should be available to assist in laying plans for a suitable maintenance establishment. 2. In addition thereto, you will immediately secure the same data pertaining to all industrial men now on duty in England. 3. You will likewise then hold conversations on the possible location of facilities available and equipment available for the establishment of such maintenance and repair shops as are now being requested by the British. 4. Should conversations be held dealing with the possible release of American equipment, you will not under any circumstances commit yourself, or express an opinion as to whether such equipment is available. This restriction also applies to Colonel Doolittle and Lieutenant Boyd. [inserted] 1.Service OPERATION MAINTENANCE REPAIR OVERHAUL 2. Training. 3. Allocation 4. Equipment [/inserted] Geo. H. Brett Geo. H. Brett, Major General, Air Corps, Chief of the Air Corps. [page break] Page 11 of 13 Appendix 2: Ken’s Individual Orders for His London Assignment 3-7752 [stamp] CONFIDENTIAL [/stamp] WAR DEPARTMENT -mjz-1048. THE ADJUTANT GENERAL’S OFFICE WASHINGTON [missing word] REPLY [missing letters]ER TO AG 210.684 (8-22-41)0. August 27, 1941. SUBJECT: Orders. THRU: Chief of Air Corps, [deleted] To [/deleted] Washington, D. C. TO: First lieutenant Kenneth G. Boyd (0-337531), Air Corps. 1. The Secretary of War directs as necessary in the military service that First Lieutenant Kenneth G. Boyd (0-337531), Air Corps, proceed at the proper time from Washington, D. C., via the most expeditious manner to the United Kingdom, reporting upon arrival to the American Ambassador, for temporary duty as Military Observer in connection with aviation training and the production, maintenance and supply of aviation materiel, and upon completion of this temporary duty, he will return to his proper station. He is authorized to proceed to any additional countries, including belligerent countries, that may be deemed necessary in connection with the performance of his duties. 2. Travel by military or commercial aircraft (under the provisions of Section ꞮꞮ, War Department Circular 128, dated November 4, 1940), by belligerent vessel or aircraft, commercial steamship and rail is authorised. 3. In lieu of subsistence a flat per diem of $6.00 is authorized for travel by military or commercial aircraft and for the period of temporary duty outside the continental limits of the United States in accordance with existing law and regulations. An additional per diem not to exceed $4.00 is authorized under the same conditions, as this additional per diem is now prescribed for observers outside the continental limits of the United States. FD 1402 P 5-06 A 0410-2. [signature] Adjutant General. [stamp] CONFIDENTIAL [/stamp] [page break] Page 12 of 13 Appendix 3: Ken’s Orders to Deliver Reports to Washington AMERICAN EMBASSY OFFICE OF THE MILITARY ATTACHE 1. GROSVENOR SQUARE, W.1. LONDON. ENGLAND 12 March, 1942. [underlined] MEMORANDUM FOR: 1st Lieut. Kenneth G. Boyd, A.C. [/underlined] In connection with your appointment and duty as Special Courier for the purpose of conveying official documents from London, England, to the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, War Department, Washington, D. C., the following instructions are given for your information and guidance: 1. You are fully responsible for the safety of the bag of official documents from the time you receive it until it is delivered to the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, War Department, Washington, D.C. 2. Upon arrival in Washington, D.C., it will be the personally taken to the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for receipt and opening. 3. During the travel period between London and Washington, D.C., every means will be taken to safeguard the documents in question. H.G. Learnard Jr. H. G. LEARNARD, JR. Major, A.G.D. Executive Officer 12 March, 1942. Receipt is acknowledged of one (1) sealed pouch addressed to the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, War Department, Washington, D.C., to be delivered as per instructions above. Kenneth G Boyd KENNETH G. BOYD 1st Lt., Air Corps [inserted] [indecipherable initials] FMR Washington 3/25/42 Received one pouch from Lt K.G Boyd. [indecipherable words] [/inserted] [page break] Page 13 of 13 Appendix 4: Authority for Ken to Possess Secret RAF Maps and Documents [RAF crest] Headquarters, R.A.F.N.Ɪ. Home Forces. 17th. January, 1942. To:- Whom it may concern. The bearer of this letter, Lieutenant K.G. Boyd is authorised to be in possession of Secret Maps and Documents, the property of the Royal Air Force. [signature] S/C Air Vice Marshall, Air Officer Commanding, [underlined] H.Q. R.A.F.N.Ɪ. Home Forces. [/underlined] [Date stamp] HEADQUARTERS UNIT 17 JAN 1942 R.A.F.N.Ɪ. 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 Report on my foreign service project August 1941 - April 1942 Description An account of the resource Written by Ken Boyd, the brother-in-law of a Bomber Command pilot, Wilfred Comrie, who was killed in a crash at RAF Pocklington in March 1943. Wilfred was an American who joined the RCAF in May 1941 and served on 102 Squadron. Ken Boyd was a first lieutenant in the USAAF who, in August 1941, was seconded to a secret mission to the United Kingdom to make plans for the maintenance, supply and repair of American Air Force equipment in the British Isles. He tells of his journey to London by air, accommodation in London, and describes his assignments: running his colonel's office; obtaining technical observers wings (for access to flying in military aircraft); journeys; and work in Belfast (Langford Lodge). He mentions jet engine design and a visit to Frank Whittle. He talks about an aborted flight on a bombing run to Berlin. He continues with more on plans for maintenance at Langford Lodge and tours of British manufacturing facilities. Ken gives an account of a French restaurant in London and describes the arrival of American troops in Northern Ireland. He concludes with other meetings and his trip back across the Atlantic. The account includes a memorandum for Colonel Powers, giving him the mission instructions and Ken Boyd's orders and authority to possess secter RAF maps and documents. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lt Col Kenneth G Boyd Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-08-25 1941-08-27 1942-03-12 1942-01-17 1941-05 1942-06 1942-01-09 1942-01-26 1942-05 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 1941-08 1941-08-23 1941-06 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. United States North Dakota--Fargo Great Britain England--Yorkshire Germany Germany--Berlin Ohio--Dayton Washington (D.C.) Canada Newfoundland and Labrador--Gander Maine Scotland--Prestwick England--London Northern Ireland--Belfast Newfoundland and Labrador Ohio 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 United States Army Air Force Royal Canadian Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Text. Personal research Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Thirteen page printed document Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BBoydKGBoydKGv1 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 Sandra Jones Maureen Clarke 102 Squadron B-24 crash Halifax killed in action RAF Pocklington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1903/36295/PSparkesW17010004.1.jpg 1a1b102c87a2df75581c03cded251253 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 Sparkes, Ned William Sparkes W Sparkes 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 2017-07-16 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 Sparkes, W Description An account of the resource 56 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant William "Ned" Sparkes (1601722 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book and an album with photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents including descriptions of his operations. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 431 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Clive Sparkes and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. 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 Air Training Corps - certificate of proficiency Description An account of the resource Made out to William Sparkes on No 219 Sutton Cheam Squadron qualified as "Flt/Mech E". Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource J A Chamier Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-12-07 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Sutton (Outer borough of London) England--Surrey Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One sided printed document with handwritten entries mounted on an album page 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 Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Sparkes, Ned. Album Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PSparkesW17010004 training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1572/33066/LHannathE649545v1.pdf b70ad6eb1490dd2088d1f879681502ee 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 Hannath, Eric E Hannath 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 2020-01-03 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 Hannath, E Description An account of the resource 53 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant Eric Hannath (649545 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2904">album</a>, documents and photographs. He flew operations in North Africa as a wireless operator and was killed 12 July 1942.&nbsp;<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Christine Stanforth and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.<br /> <p>Additional information on Eric Hannath is available via the&nbsp;<a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/109815/">IBCC Losses Database.</a></p> 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 Eric Hannath's flying Log book Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force 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. Log book and record book Text 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. Albania Egypt Great Britain Germany Italy Libya Malta England--Berkshire England--Cornwall (County) England--Oxfordshire England--Suffolk Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway Wales--Gwynedd Germany--Cologne Germany--Essen Greece--Corinth Canal Greece--Ērakleion Greece--Piraeus Italy--Bari Italy--Brindisi Italy--Catania Italy--Comiso Italy--Naples Italy--Taranto Libya--Banghāzī Libya--Darnah Libya--Gazala Libya--Tripoli Mediterranean Sea--Suda Bay Greece Germany--Ruhr (Region) Egypt--Western Desert North Africa Egypt--Kibrit Libya--Al Adm Italy--Sicily Libya--Barce Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940 1941 1942 1940-11-07 1940-11-08 1940-11-13 1940-11-16 1940-11-22 1940-11-28 1940-12-02 1940-12-03 1940-12-07 1940-12-13 1940-12-14 1940-12-15 1940-12-18 1940-12-19 1940-12-23 1940-12-30 1941-01-01 1941-01-06 1941-01-08 1941-01-15 1941-01-27 1941-01-31 1941-05-31 1941-06-01 1941-08-28 1941-08-29 1941-09-02 1941-09-03 1941-09-04 1941-09-06 1941-09-08 1941-09-12 1941-09-30 1941-10-01 1941-10-02 1941-10-03 1941-10-06 1941-10-07 1941-10-10 1941-10-11 1941-10-15 1941-10-16 1941-10-18 1941-10-19 1941-10-29 1941-10-30 1941-11-03 1941-11-04 1941-11-05 1941-11-14 1941-11-15 1941-11-16 1941-11-17 1941-11-19 1941-11-20 1941-12-04 1941-12-05 1941-12-07 1941-12-09 1941-12-10 1941-12-18 1941-12-19 1942-05-30 1942-05-31 1942-06-01 1942-06-02 Description An account of the resource Wireless Operator/Air Gunners log book for E Hannath covering the period from 11 July 1940 to 3 June 1942. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and instructor duties, including search and rescue operations of downed aircraft in the Western Desert. He was stationed at RAF West Freugh (4 BGS), RAF Benson (12 OTU), RAF Penrhos, RAF Stradishall (214 Sqdn), RAF Luqa, Malta (115 & 148 Sqdns), RAF Heliopolis, Egypt (216 Sqdn), RAF Kabrit, Egypt (148 Sqdn), RAF Harwell (15 OTU). Aircraft flown in were Battle, Anson, Wellington, Valentia, Bombay, DC 3. He flew 23 operations (22 at night) with 148 Squadron and 15 OTU. Targets were Brindisi, Taranto, Bari, Naples, Mellaha, Castel Benito, Tripoli, Catania, Comiso, Benghazi, Derna, Barce, El Adem, Corinth Canal, Heraklion, Piraeus, Suda Bay, Albania, Gazala, Cologne, Essen. His pilots on operations were Flight Lieutenant Peroli, Flying Officer Hamman and Flight Lieutenant Rowle. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LHannathE649545v1 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 Mike French Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 115 Squadron 12 OTU 148 Squadron 15 OTU 214 Squadron 216 Squadron air gunner aircrew Anson Battle bombing Bombing and Gunnery School C-47 crash mine laying Operational Training Unit RAF Benson RAF El Adem RAF Harwell RAF Heliopolis RAF Kabrit RAF Luqa RAF Penrhos RAF Stradishall RAF West Freugh training Wellington wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/193/30991/LYeomanHT104405v1.2.pdf 49462f7932270d4426f2cd7505956829 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 Yeoman, Harold Harold Yeoman Harold T Yeoman H T Yeoman Description An account of the resource 31 items. Collection concerns Harold Yeoman (b. 1921 1059846 and 104405 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a pilot with 12 Squadron. Collection contains an oral history interview, a memoir, pilot's flying log book, 26 poems, a photograph and details of trail of Malayan collaborator. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Christopher E. Potts and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. 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 2016-10-28 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 Yeoman, HT 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 Harold Yeoman’s pilot’s flying log book Description An account of the resource Pilot’s flying log book for Harold Yeoman covering the period from 18 November 1940 to 7 November 1942. Detailing his flying training and operations flown. He was stationed at RAF Sywell (6 EFTS), RCAF Moose Jaw (32 SFTS), RAF Bassingbourn (11 OTU), RAF Binbrook (12 Squadron), RAF Moreton-in-the-Marsh (1446 Flight). Aircraft flown in were Tiger Moth, Harvard, Wellington, Anson, Defiant and Lysander. He flew a total of 14 night-time operations with 12 Squadron, targets were Cherbourg, Calais, Le Havre, Paris, Essen, Kiel, Lubeck, Cologne, but was then limited medically to non-operational flying on a ferry training unit. Medical Board 7 January 1943, Category A48 no further flying. His pilots on operations were Sergeant Potts, and Pilot Officer Cook. 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 LYeomanHT104405v1 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. Canada France Great Britain England--Lincolnshire England--Gloucestershire Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Atlantic Ocean--North Sea France--Calais France--Cherbourg France--Le Havre France--Paris Germany--Cologne Germany--Essen Germany--Kiel Germany--Lübeck Saskatchewan--Moose Jaw Saskatchewan Germany Germany--Ruhr (Region) France--Pas-de-Calais Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940 1941 1942 1941-11-25 1941-11-26 1941-12-07 1941-12-08 1941-12-16 1941-12-17 1942-01-18 1942-01-28 1942-01-29 1942-01-31 1942-02-01 1942-02-25 1942-02-26 1942-02-27 1942-02-28 1942-03-03 1942-03-04 1942-03-09 1942-03-10 1942-03-12 1942-03-13 1942-03-25 1942-03-26 1942-03-27 1942-03-28 1942-03-29 1942-04-05 1942-04-06 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 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 11 OTU 12 Squadron 21 OTU aircrew Anson Defiant Flying Training School Harvard Initial Training Wing Lysander Operational Training Unit pilot RAF Bassingbourn RAF Binbrook RAF Moreton in the Marsh RAF Sywell RAF Torquay Tiger Moth training Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1548/30378/LPrickettTO40427v2.2.pdf 54e5c903d13670263adf5bdef6986e6a 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 Prickett, Thomas Other T O Prickett 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 2016-10-11 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 Prickett, TO Description An account of the resource 13 items. The collection concerns Air Chief Marshal Sir Thomas Prickett KCB, DSO, DFC (1913 -2010, 40427 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents and photographs. He served in the RAF from 1937 to 1970 and flew operations as a pilot with 148 and 103 Squadrons. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Lady Prickett and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Access Rights Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies. Permission granted for commercial projects 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 Thomas Other Prickett’s pilots flying log book. Two 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike Connock Callum Davies 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 LPrickettTO40427v2 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. Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Cyprus Cyprus--Famagusta Great Britain England--Lincolnshire England--Wiltshire England--Yorkshire Wales--Flintshire United States Florida Florida--Clewiston Washington (D.C.) Germany Germany--Ruhr (Region) Germany--Cologne Germany--Dortmund Germany--Duisburg Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Essen Germany--Hamburg Germany--Krefeld Germany--Leverkusen Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Peenemünde Germany--Wuppertal Greece Greece--Crete Greece--Ērakleion Greece--Maleme Greece--Piraeus Greece--Tympaki Italy Italy--Sicily Italy--Comiso Italy--La Spezia Italy--Milan Italy--Turin Libya Libya--Ajdābiya Libya--Banghāzī Libya--Darnah Libya--Timimi Libya--Tobruk Malta Greece--Salamis Island Mediterranean Sea--Salamis Straits Zimbabwe Zimbabwe--Bulawayo Libya--al-ʿUqayla North Africa Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940-05-28 1940-06-05 1940-06-15 1941-06-21 1941-10-25 1941-11-26 1941-12-07 1941-12-12 1941-12-18 1941-12-28 1941-12-30 1942-01-05 1942-01-16 1942-01-20 1942-01-30 1942-02-05 1942-02-08 1942-02-09 1942-02-12 1942-02-16 1942-03-05 1942-03-11 1942-03-13 1942-03-23 1942-03-24 1942-03-30 1942-04-01 1942-04-07 1942-04-22 1942-05-27 1942-05-29 1942-06-13 1942-06-25 1942-06-29 1942-07-04 1942-07-13 1943-04-13 1943-04-18 1943-04-26 1943-04-30 1943-05-04 1943-05-23 1943-05-25 1943-05-29 1943-06-21 1943-07-03 1943-07-08 1943-07-12 1943-07-24 1943-07-25 1943-07-27 1943-07-29 1943-08-10 1943-08-12 1943-08-15 1943-08-17 1943-08-22 1944 Description An account of the resource Pilots flying log book two for Thomas Other Prickett, covering the period from 2 May 1940 to 18 June 1944. Detailing his flying training, instructor duties, operations flown and staff duties with the RAF Delegation to the USA. He was stationed at RAF Sealand, RAF Kumalo, RAF Malta, Clewiston, RAF Lindholme, RAF Elsham Wolds, Washington, and RAF Hullavington. Aircraft flown in were Oxford, Master, Audax, Whitley, Gypsy Moth, Magister, Harvard, Taylorcraft, DH86a, Tiger Moth, Lodestar, Moth Major, Rapide, Empire flying boat, Wellington, Hurricane, Lysander, Gordon, DC-3, Clipper, Beechcraft, AT-6a, PT-17, B-17, C-40, Halifax, Martinet, Lancaster, Spitfire, Anson, AT-11, C-45, C-78, Catalina, B-26 and Mosquito. He flew a total of 52 operations, 32 with 148 Squadron and 20 with 103 Squadron. Targets were Benghazi, Derna, Maleme, Piraeus, Crete, El Agheila, Salamis, Agedabia, Heraklion, Comiso, Tympaki, Timimi, Tobruk, Spezia, Duisburg, Essen, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Wuppertal, Krefeld, Cologne, Turin, Hamburg, Nuremburg, Milan, Peenemünde and Leverkusen. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 103 Squadron 148 Squadron 1656 HCU 5 BFTS aircrew Anson B-17 B-26 bombing bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943) bombing of Peenemünde (17/18 August 1943) British Flying Training School Program C-47 Catalina Distinguished Flying Cross Distinguished Service Order Dominie Flying Training School Halifax Harvard Heavy Conversion Unit Hurricane Lancaster Lysander Magister Martinet Mosquito Oxford pilot RAF Elsham Wolds RAF Hullavington RAF Kumalo RAF Lindholme RAF Netheravon RAF Sealand RAF Sywell Ruhr Campaign (5 March – 10 July 1943) Spitfire Stearman Tiger Moth training Wellington Whitley https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1395/28411/MHoneyFWG915946-150421-01.1.pdf b8139724d81c71d42a0f4046e5fa78e3 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 Honey, Fred F W G Honey 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 2015-04-27 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 Honey, FWG Description An account of the resource 15 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Fred Honey (915946 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents, decorations and photographs. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 104 and 101 Squadrons. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Christopher Honey and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Note-Book [Drawing] Amenophis IV [page break] [Map] [page break] F. Honey. F. Honey. F. Honey. Esq. Ops Heraklion. F. Honey. [page break] [blank page] [page break] [underlined] NOVEMBER. 1941 [/underlined] (a) DATE (b) A/B (c) A/C (d) CAPTAIN (e) DUTY (f) REMARKS (g) TIME DAY (h) TIME NIGHT (a) 2. 11. 41. (b) 1815 (c) 'H' (d) Sgt. Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) Ops. Castel Benito A'drome (south of Trip): direct hits on buildings: machine-gunned a/c in dispersal (S.M. 85's & JU 52's): 2 CR. 42's seen by T.G.: circled dinghy 3 hours on return - launch summoned by W/T: crew not picked up (h) 7.00 (a) 7. 11. 41. (b) 2350 (c) 'E' (d) Sgt. Benitz (e) Front Gunner (f) Ops. Brindisi Rly. Station & A/C Works: One S light & some heavy flak: fires started (h) 5.10 (a) 9. 11. 41. (b) 2100 (c) 'H' (d) Sgt. Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) Ops. Messina. (s/e Brindisi, but diverted - weather u/s): 6 hang-ups brought back - faulty wiring. (h) 4.50 (a) 11. 11. 41. (b) 2335 (c) 'Z' (d) Sgt. Benitz (e) Front Gunner (f) Ops. Naples: 1 x 4000lb.: little flak: direct hit on factory. (h) 5.20 (a) 17. 11. 41 (b) 2000 (c) H (d) Sgt. Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) Ops. Naples: some heavy flak. (h) 6.10 (a) 19. 11. 41 (b) 1900 (c) Z (d) P/O Benitz (e) Front Gunner (f) Ops. Naples Rly Station: 1 x 4000 lb. (h) 5.10 (a) 22. 11. 41. (b) 0220 (c) H (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) Ops. Convoy (D.N.C.O): to be carried out with ASV A/C : flares dropped and one ship seen : convoy scattered as result of earlier attack. (h) 5.00 [page break] [underlined] NOV. 1941 CONT'D [/underlined] (a) DATE A/I (b) A/B (c) A/C (d) CAPTAIN (e) DUTY (f) REMARKS (g) TIME DAY (h) TIME NIGHT (a) 25. 11. 41. (b) 0005 (c) 'X' (d) P/O Benitz (e) Front Gunner (f) Ops. Benghasi [sic] dock area : heavy flak : caught 8 min. in s'lights : electrical storm both ways. (h) 5.25 [boxed] SUMMARY FOR NOVEMBER, 1941. DAY NIL. UNIT 104 SQDN. NIGHT 44.05 DATE 30. 11. 41. TOTAL 44.05 SIGNED F.W.G. Honey (Sgt) [/boxed] [underlined] WDWKnight F/L FOR S/L [/underlined] O.C.'B' FLT. [page break] [underlined] DECEMBER, 1941 [/underlined] (a) DATE (b) A/B (c) A/C (d) CAPTAIN (e) DUTY (f) REMARKS (g) TIME DAY (h) TIME NIGHT (a) 7. 12. 41 (b) 1840 (c) 'H' (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) Ops. Castel Benito A'drome : much light and some heavy flak : fired on from Tripoli. (h) 4.10 (a) 11. 12. 41. (b) 0130 (c) 'H' (d) P/O Benitz (e) Front Gunner (f) Ops. Benghasi [sic] harbour : some flak and s'lights (h) 5.30 (a) 14. 12. 41 (b) 1710 (c) 'H' (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) Ops. Benghasi [sic] harbour : 14 s'lights: little flak: 7/10 cloud : cockpit hit. (h) 6.00 (a) 18. 12. 41. (b) 2125 (c) 'E' (d) P/O Benitz (e) Front Gunner (f) Ops. Mine Laying in Tripoli harbour : 100' : much light flak : opened fire on ground defences : s'light put out by T.G., destroyer seen in bay := T.G. returned fire of intruder over base: 3 bullets in main spar (ours) : hydraulics u/s : orbited Gozo 3 hrs on account of raid : landed 1/2 width runway (bomb damage & burning a/c) (h) 6.10 (a) 23. 12. 41. (b) 1750 (c) T (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) Ops. Misurata : Aircrew billets : no opposition or s'lights : some a/c seen : direct hits on buildings. (h) 4.15 [page break] [underlined] DEC. 1941 CONT'D [/underlined] (a) 28. 12. 41. (b) 2305 (c) 'O' (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) Ops. Tripoli : 1 x 4000 lb. : hit on edge of mole : skeleton crew. (h) 3.45 [boxed] SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER. 1941 DAY NIL UNIT 104 SQDN. NIGHT 29.50 DATE 31. 12. 41. TOTAL 29.50 SIGNED F.W.G. Honey (Sgt) [/boxed] [underlined] WDWKnight F/L FOR S/L [/underlined] O.C.'B' FLT. [boxed] FLYING TIMES DAY 1.05. MALTA ATTACHMENT NIGHT 104.25 [/boxed] [underlined] Philip[indecipherable]Beare [/underlined] W/CMDR. O.C. 104 SQDN. [page break] [underlined] JANUARY. 1942 [/underlined] [underlined] 104 SQDN. KABRIT, EGYPT. [/underlined] (a) DATE (b) A/B (c) A/C (d) CAPTAIN (e) DUTY (f) REMARKS (g) TIME DAY (h) TIME NIGHT (a) 29. 1. 42 (b) 1000 (c) Q (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op (f) Local Flying (g) 2.00 (a) 31. 1. 42 (b) 1930 (c) J (d) F/Lt.Brown (e) W/Op. (f) Local Flying - C & B. (h) 1.00 (a) 31. 1. 42 (b) 2030 (c) J (d) P/O Cockroft (e) W/Op. (f) Local C & B. (h) 1.00 [boxed] SUMMARY FOR JANUARY, 1942 DAY 2.00 UNIT 104 SQDN. NIGHT 2.00 DATE 31. 1. 42. TOTAL 4.00 SIGNED F.W.G. Honey (Sgt.) [/boxed] [underlined] WDWKnight F/L FOR S/L [/underlined] O.C.'B' FLT. [page break] [underlined] FEBRUARY, 1942 [/underlined] (a) DATE (b) A/B (c) A/C (d) CAPTAIN (e) DUTY (f) REMARKS (g) TIME DAY (h) TIME NIGHT (a) 11. 2. 42. (b) 1100 (c) 'J' (d) Sgt Bennett (e) Passenger (f) Base - El Fayum (16 in a/c) (g) .45 (a) 11. 2. 42. (b) 1500 (c) 'B' (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) El Fayum - Base (g) .45 (a) 22. 2. 42. (b) 1445 (c) 'R' (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) Base - LG 09. (g) 1.50 (a) 22. 2. 42. (b) 2145 (c) 'R' (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) Ops. Convoy (D.N.C.O.) , more than 100 ships : cooperation by D/F with ASV A/C broke down (time mix up) : Torpedo Wellingtons taking part : Search abandoned - vis. bad and fuel short - 1 overload tank - Benghasi [sic] bombed - very little flak or lights - first squadron trip from M.E. (h) 7.25 (a) 23. 2. 42 (b) 0645 (c) R (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op (f) LG 09 - Base (g) 1.40 [boxed] SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY, 1942. DAY 5.00 UNIT 104 SQDN. NIGHT 7.25 DATE 28. 2. 42. TOTAL 12.25 SIGNED F.W.G Honey (Sgt.) [/boxed] [underlined] WDWKnight F/L FOR. S/LDR [/underlined] O.C.'B' FLT. [page break] [underlined] MARCH, 1942 [/underlined] (a) DATE (b) A/B (c) A/C (d) CAPTAIN (e) DUTY (f) REMARKS (g) TIME DAY (h) TIME NIGHT (a) 1. 3. 42 (b) 1350 (c) 'R' (d) F/Lt Brown (e) W/Op. (f) Base - LG 09 (Ops. Cancelled) (g) 1.40 (a) 2. 3. 42 (b) 0801 (c) 'R' (d) F/Lt Brown (e) W/Op (f) LG 09 - LG 106 Recco - ALG's (g) .15 (a) 2. 3. 42 (b) 0852 (c) 'R' (d) F/Lt Brown (e) W/Op. (f) LG 106 - LG 09 Recco - ALG's (g) .17 (a) 2. 3. 42. (b) 0918 (c) 'R' (d) F/Lt Brown (e) W/Op. (f) LG 09 - Base (g) 1.45 (a) 5. 3. 42. (b) 1352 (c) 'R' (d) F/Lt Brown (e) W/Op. (f) Base - LG 09 (g) 2.10 (a) 6. 3. 42 (b) 0021 (c) 'R' (d) F/Lt Brown (e) W/Op (f) Ops. Bengasi [sic] : 7 x 500 lb : defences quite active - becoming more accurate. no ships seen - camera fitted but no photo taken - no fusing reel for flash bomb. (h) 7.19 (a) 6. 3. 42. (b) 0916 (c) 'R' (d) F/Lt Brown (e) W/Op. (f) LG 09 - LG106. (g) .19 (a) 6. 3. 42 (b) 1043 (c) 'R' (d) F/Lt Brown (e) W/Op. (f) LG 106 - Base (g) 1.21 (a) 9. 3. 42 (b) 1630 (c) T (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op (f) Base - LG 106 (g) 1.45 (a) 9. 3. 42 (b) 2056 (c) T (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op (f) Ops. Convoy (D.N.C.O.) - north west of Bengasi [sic] - cooperation with ASV A/C. callsigns confusion - not picked up : bombs brought back. (One over-load) (h) 9.15 (a) 10. 3. 42 (b) 0721 (c) T (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op (f) LG 106 - Base (g) 1.35 [page break] [underlined] MAR. 1942 CONT'D [/underlined] (a) DATE (b) A/B (c) A/C (d) CAPTAIN (e) DUTY (f) REMARKS (g) TIME DAY (h) TIME NIGHT (a) 29. 3. 42. (b) 1504 (c) Y (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op (f) Base - LG 106 (g) 1.35 (a) 30. 3. 42 (b) 2209 (c) Y (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op. (f) Ops. Bengasi [sic] : flak & s'lights accurate - unpleasantly so -: no fresh ships seen (Operation postponed one day) (h) 7.35 (a) 31. 3. 42. (b) 0703 (c) Y (d) P/O Benitz (e) W/Op (f) LG 106 - Base (g) 1.35 [boxed] SUMMARY FOR MARCH, 1942 DAY 14.17 UNIT 104 SQDN. NIGHT 24.09 DATE 31. 3. 42. TOTAL 38.26 SIGNED F.W.G Honey (Sgt.) [/boxed] [underlined] WDWKnight F/L FOR S/Ldr [/underlined] O.C.'B' FLT. [underlined] [indecipherable] Young S/L for W/CMDR. [/underlined] O.C. 104 SQDN. [page break] [underlined] APRIL, 1942 [/underlined] (a) DATE (b) A/B (c) A/C (d) CAPTAIN (e) DUTY (f) REMARKS (g) TIME DAY (h) TIME NIGHT (a) 11. 4. 42. (b) 1118 (c) 'R' (d) P/O Benitz D.F.C. (e) W/Op (f) Air Test (g) 0.30 (a) 11. 4. 42 (b) 1829 (c) 'R' (d) P/O Benitz D.F.C. (e) W/Op (f) Ops. Heraklion A'drome (Crete) : ground haze over target - 5 flare failures out of 6 - unable to identify runways : Secondary attacked (Kassel Pechadi A drome) - some small fires left : stick across intersection of runways: photo taken. accurate HF/DF fix from Kabrit, Qatafiya & Larnica [sic] (Cyprus) : Landed LG 106 (on instructions) (h) 7.25 (a) 12. 2. 42. (b) 0725 (c) 'R' (d) P/O Benitz D.F.C. (e) W/Op (f) LG 106 - Base (g) 1.35 [boxed] SUMMARY FOR APRIL, 1942. DAY 2.05 UNIT 104 SQDN. NIGHT 7.25 DATE 16. 4. 42. TOTAL 9.30 SIGNED F.W.G Honey (Sgt.) [/boxed] [underlined] WDWKnight F/L FOR S/LDR [/underlined] O.C.'B' FLT. [boxed] TOTAL FLYING TIMES..... DAY 24.59 104 SQDN ATTACHMENT..... NIGHT 145.24[/boxed] [underlined] [indecipherable] Young S/L for W/CMDR. [/underlined] O.C. 104 SQDN. [page break] (a) DATE (b) A/B (c) A/C (d) CAPTAIN (e) DUTY (f) REMARKS (g) TIME DAY (h) TIME NIGHT CAIRO - LAGOS BY PAN - AMERICAN AIRWAYS (a) 19. 5. 42. (b) 0915 (c) N 120103 (D. C. 3) (d) Capt Stoeger (e) Passenger (f) Almaza - Wadi Saidna (nr Khartoum) (land Wadi Haifa) (g) 6.30 (a) 20. 5. 42 (b) 0640 (c) N 120103 (D. C. 3) (d) Capt Stoeger (e) Passenger (f) Wadi Saidna - El Fasher (g) 3.40 (a) 20. 5. 42. (b) 1105 (c) N 120103 (D. C. 3) (d) Capt Stoeger (e) Passenger (f) El Fasher - Maiduguri (g) 3.30 (a) 20. 5. 42. (b) 1500 (c) N 120103 (D. C. 3) (d) Capt Stoeger (e) Passenger (f) Maiduguri - Kano (g) 2.30 (a) 21. 5. 42. (b) 0820 (c) N 120103 (D. C. 3) (d) Capt Stoeger (e) Passenger (f) Kano - Lagos (g) 3.00 [page break] [underlined] OCTOBER, 1941. [/underlined] (a) DATE (b) A/B (c) A/C (d) CAPTAIN (e) DUTY [deleted] (a) 14. 10. 41 (b) 1510 (c) 'H' (d) Sgt Benitz (e) W/Op. (a) 15. 10. 41 (b) 2115 (c) 'H' (d) Sgt Benitz (e) W/Op (a) 19. 10. 41 (b) 2340 (c) 'H' (d) Sgt Benitz (e) Front Gunner (a) 21. 10. 41 (b) 2115 (c) 'H' (d) Sgt Benitz (e) W/Op (a) 21. 10. 41 (b) 2115 (c) 'H' (d) Sgt Benitz (e) W/Op. [/deleted] (a) 25. 10. 41 (b) 0135 (c) 'H' (d) Sgt Benitz (e) Front Gunner (a) 29. 10. 41 (b) 2040 (c) 'H' (d) Sgt Benitz (e) W/Op. (a) 31. 10. 41 (b) 1940 (c) 'L' (d) Sgt Benitz (e) Front Gunner [page break] OTHER END OF BOOK [page break] [underlined] OCTOBER, 1941. [/underlined] 1410 [page break] [blank page] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [unrelated notes] 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 Fred Honey's log book Description An account of the resource A note book used by Fred as a log book. His pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Benitz DFC and Flight Lieutenant Brown. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MHoneyFWG915946-150421-01 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 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941 1942 1941-11-02 1941-11-03 1941-11-07 1941-11-08 1941-11-09 1941-11-10 1941-11-11 1941-11-12 1941-11-17 1941-11-18 1941-11-19 1941-11-20 1941-11-22 1941-11-25 1941-12-07 1941-12-11 1941-12-14 1941-12-18 1941-12-19 1941-12-23 1941-12-28 1941-12-29 1942-02-22 1942-02-23 1942-03-06 1942-03-09 1942-03-10 1942-03-30 1942-03-31 1942-04-11 1942-04-12 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Italy Libya North Africa Italy--Brindisi Italy--Naples Libya--Banghāzī 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 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Text. Diary Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription. Under review Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Babs Nichols 104 Squadron aircrew bombing wireless operator / air gunner https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1395/26925/LHoneyFWG915946v2.1.pdf 3ed9002a723198adf0f6c310ec01983c 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 Honey, Fred F W G Honey 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 2015-04-27 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 Honey, FWG Description An account of the resource 15 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Fred Honey (915946 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents, decorations and photographs. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 104 and 101 Squadrons. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Christopher Honey and catalogued by Barry Hunter. 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 F W Honey’s observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book. Two 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike Connock 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 LHoneyFWG915946v2 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. France Germany Great Britain Greece Italy Libya Malta England--Buckinghamshire England--Lincolnshire England--Leicestershire England--Rutland France--Modane Germany--Berlin Germany--Braunschweig Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Leipzig Germany--Magdeburg Germany--Schweinfurt Germany--Stuttgart Greece--Ērakleion Italy--Brindisi Italy--Messina Italy--Naples Libya--Miṣrātah Libya--Tripoli Libya--Banghāzī Germany--Ruhr (Region) North Africa Egypt Egypt--Kibrit Italy--Sicily Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1941-10-15 1941-10-16 1941-10-19 1941-10-20 1941-10-21 1941-10-22 1941-10-25 1941-10-29 1941-10-30 1941-10-31 1941-11-01 1941-11-02 1941-11-03 1941-11-07 1941-11-08 1941-11-09 1941-11-10 1941-11-11 1941-11-12 1941-11-17 1941-11-18 1941-11-19 1941-11-20 1941-11-22 1941-11-25 1941-12-07 1941-12-11 1941-12-14 1941-12-18 1941-12-19 1941-12-28 1941-12-29 1942-02-22 1942-02-23 1942-03-06 1942-03-09 1942-03-10 1942-03-30 1942-03-31 1942-04-11 1942-04-12 1943-11-03 1943-11-10 1943-11-11 1943-11-18 1943-11-19 1943-11-22 1943-11-23 1943-12-02 1943-12-03 1943-12-16 1943-12-17 1943-12-20 1944-01-14 1944-01-20 1944-01-21 1944-01-22 1944-01-27 1944-01-28 1944-01-30 1944-01-31 1944-02-19 1944-02-20 1944-02-21 1944-02-24 1944-02-25 Description An account of the resource Observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book one, for F W Honey, wireless operator, covering the period from 14 October 1941 to 26 June 1945. Detailing his operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at RAF Malta, RAF Kabrit, RAF Luffenham, RAF Woolfox, RAF Bitteswell, RAF Ludford Magna, RAF Westcott, RAF Oakley and RAF Silverstone. Aircraft flown in were Wellington, Anson, Lysander and Lancaster. He flew a total of 45 operations, 25 night operations with 104 squadron and 20 night operations with 101 squadron as special duties operator. Targets were Tripoli, Naples, Castel Benito, Brindisi, Messina, Benghazi, Misurata, Heraklion, Düsseldorf, Modane, Berlin, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Braunschweig, Magdeburg, Stuttgart and Schweinfurt. His pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Benitz DFC, Flight Lieutenant Brown, Pilot Officer Syme, Pilot Officer McConnell, Flight Lieutenant Collins, Flight Sergeant Bennett, Flight Lieutenant Robertson and Pilot Officer Adamson. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 101 Squadron 104 Squadron 11 OTU 17 OTU 29 OTU aircrew Anson Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) bombing Lancaster Lysander Operational Training Unit RAF Bitteswell RAF Kabrit RAF Ludford Magna RAF North Luffenham RAF Oakley RAF Silverstone RAF Westcott RAF Woolfox Lodge training Wellington wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1405/26420/LRobinsonFA33520v1.pdf 708f1dc7bd64207eea63cd6cffe934ff 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 Robinson, F A 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 2019-06-17 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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Robinson, FA Description An account of the resource Three items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader F A Robinson (b.1920, 33520 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books and a poem. He flew over 130 daylight operations with 1 PRU and 543 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by P A Robinson and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff. 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 F A Robinson’s flying log book for pilots. One 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike French 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 LRobinsonFA33520v.1 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 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium France Germany Great Britain Netherlands Norway Belgium--Antwerp Belgium--Brussels Belgium--Charleroi Belgium--Ostend Belgium--Zeebrugge England--Cornwall (County) England--Hampshire England--Hertfordshire England--Lincolnshire England--Middlesex England--Oxfordshire England--Surrey England--Wiltshire France--Abbeville France--Béthune France--Brest France--Calais France--Cherbourg France--Le Croisic France--Douai France--Douarnenez France--Dunkerque France--Le Havre France--Honfleur France--Lannion France--Lille France--Lorient France--Charleville-Mézières France--Morlaix France--La Pallice France--Poissy France--Rouen France--Toulouse France--Ouessant Island Germany--Aachen Germany--Cologne Germany--Cuxhaven Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal Germany--Essen Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Hamburg Germany--Heilbronn Germany--Leipzig Germany--Lübeck Germany--Stuttgart Germany--Saarbrücken Netherlands--Amsterdam Netherlands--Den Helder Netherlands--Groningen Netherlands--Rotterdam Netherlands--Vlissingen Netherlands--Weert Norway--Altafjord Atlantic Ocean--English Channel Atlantic Ocean--North Sea Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony) Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Saarbrücken France--Saint-Malo France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais) Belgium--Liège France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine) France--Boulogne-sur-Mer Germany--Ruhr (Region) France--Ouessant Island France--Saint-Nazaire France--Cap Gris Nez France--Ploumanac'h France--Belle-Île-en-Mer France--Pointe du Raz Germany--Kiel France--Méaulte Poland--Świnoujście Netherlands--Meppel Poland France--Pas-de-Calais Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1940-05-13 1940-05-14 1940-07-10 1940-07-11 1940-07-12 1940-07-23 1940-07-24 1940-07-29 1940-07-30 1940-08-02 1940-08-03 1940-08-06 1940-08-07 1940-08-10 1940-08-11 1940-08-14 1940-08-15 1940-08-18 1940-08-19 1940-09-11 1940-09-13 1940-09-18 1941-08-10 1941-08-17 1941-08-18 1941-08-19 1941-08-21 1941-08-22 1941-08-26 1941-08-27 1941-08-31 1941-09-02 1941-09-04 1941-09-16 1941-09-21 1941-09-22 1941-09-23 1941-09-26 1941-09-28 1941-10-02 1941-10-06 1941-10-13 1941-10-20 1941-10-23 1941-11-01 1941-11-03 1941-11-06 1941-11-12 1941-11-14 1941-11-18 1941-11-20 1941-11-24 1941-11-25 1941-12-01 1941-12-05 1941-12-07 1941-12-11 1941-12-13 1941-12-15 1941-12-19 1942-01-02 1942-01-04 1942-01-06 1942-01-09 1942-01-11 1942-01-12 1942-01-15 1942-01-16 1942-01-24 1942-01-26 1942-01-28 1942-02-02 1942-02-03 1942-02-05 1942-02-07 1942-02-08 1942-02-10 1942-02-11 1942-02-18 1942-02-19 1942-02-27 1942-03-05 1942-03-09 1942-03-24 1942-03-26 1942-03-27 1942-03-29 1942-04-02 1942-04-06 1942-04-12 1942-04-14 1942-04-16 1942-04-25 1942-04-30 1942-05-03 1942-05-06 1942-05-16 1942-05-18 1942-05-24 1942-05-28 1942-06-06 1942-06-17 1942-06-21 1942-06-22 1942-07-08 1942-07-18 1942-07-30 1942-08-06 1942-08-17 1942-08-18 1942-08-19 1942-08-23 1942-08-28 1942-09-11 1942-09-18 1942-10-04 1942-11-09 1942-11-10 1943-01-18 1943-06-25 1943-09-03 1943-09-05 1943-09-09 1943-09-13 1943-09-14 1943-09-19 1943-09-24 1943-09-26 1943-09-29 1943-10-09 1943-10-16 Description An account of the resource Flying log book for F A Robinson covering the period from 8 September 1938 to 22 January 1951. Detailing his flying training and operations flown, includes flight certificates, congratulatory messages and notes of appreciation from senior officers, a poem about 'Gremlins', newspaper clippings, photograph of a radar installation. He was stationed at RAF Cranwell (RAF College), RAF Old Sarum (S of AC), Abbeville (2 Squadron), RAF Odiham/Hendon (ROC Flt), RAF Hatfield/ Hendon (116 Squadron &amp; 24 Squadron), RAF Benson/St. Eval (1 PRU &amp; 543 Squadron). Aircraft flown in were Tutor, Hart, Hind, Audax, Hector, Lysander, Magister, Master, Roc, Stinson, Proctor, Spitfire, Anson, Wellington, Expediter, Oxford, Gladiator, Blenheim, Harvard, Tiger Moth, Hornet Moth, Meteor, Vampire. He flew over 130 daylight operations with 1 PRU and 543 Squadron. Photographic operations were flown over Le Havre, Honfleur, Cherbourg, Boulogne, Abbeville, Zeebrugge, Cap Gris Nez, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Ostend, Charleroi, Douai, Den Helder, Amsterdam, Lille, Bethune, St Omer, Leipzig, Ruhr, Flushing, Groningen, Meppel, Cologne, Weert, Calais, Dunkirk, Nurnberg, Dortmund-Ems canal, Kiel, Emden, Cuxhaven, Franco-Spanish border, Brest, Bordeaux, St Nazaire, Ploumanac'h, Le Croisic, Ushant, St Lannion, Lorient, St Nazaire, Douarnenez Bay, Pointe du Raz, Morlaix, Toulouse, Saint-Malo, Poissy, Lubeck, Travemünde, North German ports, Dortmund, Cologne, Stuttgart, Heilbronn, Frankfurt, Mezieres, Essen, Amsterdam, Swinemünde, Hamburg, Brussels, Liege, Gironde ports, La Pallice, Martha, Saarbrucken, Méaulte, Aachen, Rouen, Altafjord. The log book also lists his post war flights. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 543 Squadron aircrew Anson Blenheim bombing Flying Training School Gneisenau gremlin Harvard Lysander Magister Meteor Operational Training Unit Oxford Photographic Reconnaissance Unit pilot Proctor RAF Benson RAF Cranwell RAF Hatfield RAF Hendon RAF Odiham RAF St Eval Scharnhorst Spitfire Tiger Moth Tirpitz training Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/886/23429/EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD411207-0001.1.jpg 0ab97c6627ee3143f50e07a09d3e2197 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/886/23429/EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD411207-0002.1.jpg bc297a7eeb60df06b43eab39f8fac8db 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 Hudson, Douglas James Douglas Hudson J D Hudson Description An account of the resource 529 items. Collection concerns Pilot Officer James Douglas Hudson, DFC (755052 Royal Air Force) who joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in June 1939 and trained as an observer. While on route to Malta in August 1940 his Blenheim crashed in Tunisia and he was subsequently interned for two and a half years by Vichy French in Tunisia and Algeria. After being freed he returned to Great Britain and after navigator retraining completed a tour of 30 operations on 100 Squadron. The collection contains letters to and from his parents and from French penfriends while interned in Tunisia and Algeria, newspaper cuttings of various events, logbooks and lists of operations, official documents and photographs. A further 23 items are in two sub-collections with details of navigator examinations and postcards of Laghouat Algeria.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Elizabeth Smith and Yvonne Puncher and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /> <p>This collection also contains items concerning Louis Murray and Harry Bowers. Additional information on <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/202827/">Harry Bowers</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/220410/">Louis Murray</a> is available via the IBCC Losses Database.</p> 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 2015-06-16 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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Hudson, JD Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [postmark] Nelson 343 22/21 6 1017 DEEPLY MOVED Message TWENTYNINTH GIFT UNOBTAINAFLE. [sic] [inserted] ouunobtainable [sic] [/inserted] Repill [sic] [inserted] still [/inserted] EAGERLY AOAIT [sic] [inserted] Await [/inserted] LETTERS ELEVEN WEELS [sic] [inserted] Weeus [sic] [/inserted] ALL LOVE. HUDSON [postmark] Certifications parvenue de Nelson le 13-12-41 [signature] [page break] VOIT RADIO SUISSE CL’E M. R.P.6.95 HUDSON 755052 CAMP MILITAIRE. LAGHOUAT [postmark] [indecipherable sentence in French] [signature] [stamp] 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 Telegram to Douglas Hudson from his parents Description An account of the resource Deeply moved message twenty-ninth gift unobtainable. Still eagerly await letter eleven weeks, love. Letter has corrections in red ink and message in French from post. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-12-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Handwritten telegram form Language A language of the resource eng fra Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD411207 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Royal Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Algeria Algeria--Laghouat (Province) Great Britain England--Lancashire England--Nelson North Africa Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 1941-12-14 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. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Tricia Marshall prisoner of war https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/886/23389/EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD411105-0003.2.jpg f24277df950f6de9741c954badfdb53d https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/886/23389/EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD411105-0004.2.jpg 842df7b90abb774181330e00dfafa7f2 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/886/23389/EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD411105-0001.2.jpg 021c739dab3dd35b2793e35f56aa9940 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/886/23389/EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD411105-0002.2.jpg 92d8cf50ae9165677f9f2ef871d7edd3 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 Hudson, Douglas James Douglas Hudson J D Hudson Description An account of the resource 529 items. Collection concerns Pilot Officer James Douglas Hudson, DFC (755052 Royal Air Force) who joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in June 1939 and trained as an observer. While on route to Malta in August 1940 his Blenheim crashed in Tunisia and he was subsequently interned for two and a half years by Vichy French in Tunisia and Algeria. After being freed he returned to Great Britain and after navigator retraining completed a tour of 30 operations on 100 Squadron. The collection contains letters to and from his parents and from French penfriends while interned in Tunisia and Algeria, newspaper cuttings of various events, logbooks and lists of operations, official documents and photographs. A further 23 items are in two sub-collections with details of navigator examinations and postcards of Laghouat Algeria.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Elizabeth Smith and Yvonne Puncher and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /> <p>This collection also contains items concerning Louis Murray and Harry Bowers. Additional information on <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/202827/">Harry Bowers</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/220410/">Louis Murray</a> is available via the IBCC Losses Database.</p> 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 2015-06-16 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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Hudson, JD Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Prisoners of War Post [postmark] [crest AIR MAIL PAR AVION] [postmark] [four postage stamps] Kriegsgefangener Post 755052 Sgt. J. D. Hudson Interned British Airman Camp Militaire Laghouat Algerie Afrique du Nord [page break] From Mrs Hudson 191 Halifax Road Nelson Lancs England [stamp 17] [postmark] [inserted] 9-12-41 [/inserted] [page break] 191 Halifax Road Nelson Lancs. England. Wed. 5/11/41 My dear Douglas. I will write a few lines to you whilst I try to thaw after my freezing duties upstairs. Winter has come with a rush & as you know I don’t care for it very much. Already I’ve got a nice little chilblain on [underlined] top [/underlined] of my [indecipherable word] toe & its not very comfortable. Dad’s cold is now practically better & I’m at the stage when my head feels like a balloon & my teeth many sizes too big for my mouth. But don’t think I’m ill with it – just one other little thing sent to try us. Well love yesterday afternoon was lovely with bright sunshine so I spent 3 busy hours tidying up the garden & planting strawberry plants & bulbs. The plants were got in Nelson on Saturday but Dad & the weather were neither of them fit for gardening so yesterday was a nice opportunity to plant them with lots of hopes but not a great deal of faith – the plants look very shrivelled little things & its difficult to believe that they [underlined] may [/underlined] produce fine luscious fruit for next summer. The bulbs we got at Yates’s when we were in Manchester nearly a month ago. I think it is the same firm from which (or whom) you bought guano about 3 years ago, but its not the same [page break] shop. That shop just isn’t there but Manchester is still very dear to my heart & I’ve wondered many times if we made a mistake to sell the house at Moorside Rd. Dad & I are quite happy here – the house is so high & we do love the open surroundings but some how I cannot visualize you here at Nelson. Of course there’s the house at Worsley – at least we hope it will be there if we want it, but one never knows these days! Well love I know just how sorry you will be that we are not getting letters from you at present. It is six weeks last Saturday since the last one arrived & if it were not for the precious cables we should be very anxious. I do hope we shall soon have cheery happy news from you. A letter from Mrs Clayton invites us for this weekend but I don’t want to go, for many reasons. Can you imagine Dad & Mr Clayton enjoying a week-end together? On the back of the envelope is written “John home on the 13th. Wants you to come then”. We wouldn’t spoil his precious bit of leave if we knew of it. Poor lad! I feel so very sorry for him with all his hopes & ambitions apparently wasted. Perhaps it will turn out for the best in the end. Now love I must resume my household duties (ironing this time) so Goodbye to you once again. With all our love & thoughts & prayers from Mother & Dad. 755052 Sgt. Hudson Camp Militaire Laghouat Algerie Afrique du Nord. 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 Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents Description An account of the resource Comments on cold weather and their health. Writes of working in garden and of shop in Manchester where they bough bulbs. Likes their new home and surroundings. Six weeks since they got a letter from him and they would be very anxious except for cables. Mentions letter from acquaintance and passes on news. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource P Hudson Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-11-05 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two page handwritten letter and envelope Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD411105 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Royal Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Algeria Algeria--Laghouat (Province) Great Britain England--Lancashire England--Nelson North Africa Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-11-05 1941-12-07 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. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Tricia Marshall prisoner of war https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1281/19701/EValentineUMValentineJRM411207-020001.1.jpg ad1ba52fcc5a54506637c8a444d6d8c4 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1281/19701/EValentineUMValentineJRM411207-020002.1.jpg 734c60b1f61c2ce7c9b7d84e60bc593a 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 Valentine, John John Ross Mckenzie Valentine J R M Valentine Description An account of the resource 674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945. He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. 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 2018-09-06 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 Valentine, JRM Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Lido Sunday 7.12.41 Johnny darling, Here are some of the things you asked for for [sic] the bicycle – the pump connection, spanner, and set of tyre levers. I have also got the oil, but as it is in a bottle I didn’t want to risk posting it but thought it would do next time you come home – but when will that be? It seems such ages. As for the trouser clip. They seem to be very difficult to come by, but I will keep on [page break] trying. I have done a bit more gardening this afternoon after a delightfully lazy morning. I had breakfast in bed, opened my presents, & then stayed on in bed while Ba bathed Frances & brought her to me for her 10 am feed, after which I got up, prepared the lunch, & went off the church, & when I got back Barbara had got the lunch ready even to making the gravy. It was a grand change. So I worked hard this afternoon, & seem to have a stack of small jobs this evening. I’m hoping to go up to the West End tomorrow for a further birthday treat. All my love, Ursula. 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 Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine Description An account of the resource Lists bicycle accessories and mentions gardening and her birthday activities. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-12-07 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Tricia Marshall Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two page handwritten letter Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EValentineUMValentineJRM411207-02 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Royal Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--London Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 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 Ursula Valentine https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1281/19700/EValentineUMValentineJRM411207-010001.2.jpg 09223f10f536cd710521542a4110dd76 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1281/19700/EValentineUMValentineJRM411207-010002.2.jpg 6251dbf7c071df1901c4de9cd88688d2 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 Valentine, John John Ross Mckenzie Valentine J R M Valentine Description An account of the resource 674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945. He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. 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 2018-09-06 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 Valentine, JRM Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Start of transcription Sitting up in bed. Sunday 7.12.41 8.45 a.m. Johnnie my dearest, I decided to have my birthday presents today, being Sunday, specially as tomorrow will inevitably be Monday, which signifies washing, Florence, shopping and all the rest. So Barbara brought me my breakfast in bed, and I opened my presents from you and her, a goodly pile, and now I’m basking in bed with a hot water bottle. So you [underlined] did [/underlined] give me an umbrella after all! May your various white and grey lies be forgiven you! Thank you so much, my darling, its an absolute beauty. I’ve told Frances she’s an extravagant little monkey but that, as she’s got the best father in the world, I’ll let her off this once. It’s just exactly what I wanted, waterproof and yet cheerful and smart, and its certainly worth all my hinting and asking and [inserted] being [/inserted] teased, and your deceptions and double-dealing and clandestine conspiracy! [page break] Then there’s a little matter of a pair of fur-lined boots to thank you for – what a lavish and extravagant husband! I’ve worn them once or twice already, when it was particularly chilly, but now of course I’m positively looking forward to cold wet days when I can swank boots and umbrella at once. Frances gave me another present, via Barbara, a bottle of lovely scented hand cream. Barbara also gave me this exceedingly luscious note paper, (see the magenta envelope lining) specially for writing billets down, such as this, but her main present was of course the material for Frances which I believe you’ve seen – a delightful blue and white cotton print covered with frisking lambs, and some white velvet and swansdown for her Majesty’s best coat. There was also a prosaic envelope from Grindlays which will doubtless be Daddy’s contribution, but I gave it to Peter to keep & he’s with the Hillmans today, so I shall have to wait for that & for his present till this evening. Serve me right for opening my parcels too soon. The only thing that’s missing is you, my darling, but the weather is fine today so I expect you’ll be flying. The sure knowledge of our love means more to me than anything else in the world, in fact it is the basis for everything that is good & lovely in our lives. For ever yours Ursula. 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 Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine Description An account of the resource She writes about the birthday presents she has received and thanks him for the ones he has sent. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-12-07 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Tricia Marshall Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two page handwritten letter Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EValentineUMValentineJRM411207-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Royal Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--London Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 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 Ursula Valentine training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1213/14957/EDonaldsonTDonaldsonDW411207-0001.1.jpg b9803c2d79ec814ac196fc330dc92122 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1213/14957/EDonaldsonTDonaldsonDW411207-0002.1.jpg 68fda7d6f72a8c6654ba99df91c02437 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1213/14957/EDonaldsonTDonaldsonDW411207-0003.1.jpg c90c675dab6076dc23e2c098053fb4cc https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1213/14957/EDonaldsonTDonaldsonDW411207-0004.1.jpg 137fe79c2c7d07dfe489f6585dc4c89f 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 Donaldson, David David Donaldson D Donaldson Description An account of the resource 309 Items and a sub-collection of 51 items. Concerns Royal Air Force career of Wing Commander David Donaldson DSO and bar, DFC. A pilot, he joined the Royal Air Force Reserve in 1934. Mobilized in 1939. he undertook tours on 149, 57 and 156 and 192 Squadrons. He was photographed by Cecil Beaton at RAF Mildenhall in 1941. Collection contains a large number of letters to and from family members, friends as well as Royal Air Force personnel. Also included are personal and service documents, and his logbooks. In addition, there are photographs of family, service personnel and aircraft. After the war he became a solicitor. The collection also contains an oral history interview with Frances Grundy, his daughter. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Anna Frances Grundy and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. 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 2015-06-02 2022-10-17 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 Donaldson, D Grundy, AF Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Fritham Sun 7/12/41 THE ELMS, 42 PEAR TREE AVENUE, BITTERNE, SOUTHAMPTON. Dear David We were so glad to hear from your Mrs that yr Promotion to Actg Squn Lr had been confirmed & I now write to congratulate you on your extra half stripe of which you have every right to be jolly proud. It was very nice having Joyce to launch the boat on Thursday. As your mother says she [page break] looked so nice and dignified & Ian heard what she said right at the other end of the stand. I am afraid I started her off rather soon before they stopped talking but all the same it was a very successful launch & we were both very proud of our daughter-in-law & we only wished you could have been present. Ian is here for the W.E. & went for a ride & we had my birthday lunch [page break] [inserted] Will send you some photos [/inserted] at the Compton Arms I wonder how Norman is getting on at Cambridge & what will happen as regards his going there or what he will do. I gather he wd like to go into signals wk. wd. be all right if he had some one to talk for him [underlined] In Confidence[/underlined] the name of the ship is Nepal & an old general [page break] gave [word deleted] a lecture – but you will have heard all this We had a sandwich [inserted] buffet [/inserted] lunch at the Polygon which was rather a success as one could trot around & talk to people instead of being tied to one or two people all the time. It was also more appropriate to War Time Things look brighter in Russia & hopeful in Africa Yr affect Parent T. Donaldson 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 Letter to David Donaldson from his father Description An account of the resource Congratulates on promotion to acting squadron leader. Catches up with family news mentioning wife Joyce coming to lunch. Writes of his activities. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource T Donaldson Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-12-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Four page handwritten letter Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EDonaldsonTDonaldsonDW411207 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Royal Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Hampshire England--Southampton Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 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 Frances Grundy promotion https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/555/11526/APennyJA170905.mp3 9db10f0125c7c6b7a0fee8e200fdb6da https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/555/11526/PPennyJ1501.jpg fff42be023f2039d6a047d63b00ab006 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 Penny, Jim James Alfred Penny J A Penny Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Penny, J Description An account of the resource Three items. Two oral history interviews with Flight Lieutenant Jim Penny (b. 1922, 1345892 Royal Air Force) and his log book. He joined the RAF in 1940 and flew operations as a pilot with 97 Squadron from RAF Bourn. Targets included Nuremberg, München Gladbach, Berlin, Montlucon Dunlop rubber factory in France, and the Modane Tower Tunnel. His aircraft was shot down over Berlin 24 November 1943 and he became a prisoner of war. He was liberated on 3 May 1945 and retired from the RAF on 19 July 1971. The collection was catalogued by Barry Hunter. 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. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-08-16 Requires A related resource that is required by the described resource to support its function, delivery, or coherence. Jim joined the RAF in July 1940 on his 18th birthday. His ‘Flight’ was sent to the US to train under the ‘Arnold scheme’. He went to a variety of bases to learn to fly (detained in 1st interview), flying the PT17 Stearman biplane, BT-13A, AT-6A Harvard, Vultee-13, and then the Armstrong Siddeley, before returning on the Queen Elizabeth as a newly commissioned pilot with the rank of Sergeant. On returning to the UK, he was posted to RAF Shawbury (Shropshire) Advance Flying Unit. Jim’s next posting was to RAF Tilstock Heath where he ‘crewed up’. Complete with crew he arrived at RAF Sleap (an auxiliary station for RAF Tilstock Heath). On being asking if they would be willing to join the Pathfinder Force all agreed to accept the offer – PFF was elite after all. After HCU training at RAF Blyton je stated, ‘The Lancaster was the finest plane I’ve ever flown’. On 26th July 1943 Jim was promoted to Flight Sergeant. He remembered the RAF casualties and how their work affected their mental state, particularly the Squadron Casualties. However, the awareness that they were regularly striking at the heart to Nazi Germany left the with an enduring pride in being a ‘Armada’. Jim and his crew transferred to RAF Upwood – Pathfinder Navigation Training Unit then to RAF Bourne 97. Jim flew to bomb Nuremberg, München Gladbach, Berlin itself many times, Montlucon Dunlop rubber factory in France, and the Modane Tower Tunnel in France. He was involved in 2 flights that were ‘Boomerang flights’. One of the October operations was to be part of the decoy flight that was to draw fighters away from Kessel onto themselves, and bomb Frankfurt. In November 1943 they were judged to be a competent part of the PFF and were tasked to be a back-up marker crew – the ones with the GREEN flares. They flew to Dusseldorf, Manheim and Berlin. On 24 November 1943 they were hit by flak, managed to survive, became a POW until he was liberated on 3rd May 1945. On 6th October 1945 he reported to No 34 Maintenance Unit at RAF Montford Bridge. A year later he had refresher course at Moreton-in-the-Marsh, as a Warrant Officer. In 1948 Jim joined the City of Lincoln, Lincoln Squadron Bomber Command at RAF Waddington. He left Waddington to join the RAF Central Flying School as a flying instructor which he found very rewarding when he sent a pupil solo. Jim tried for a permanent commission while posted to RAF Ternhill but failed because he was tone deaf. Jim was offered a branch commission at the age of 37. He left RAF as Flight Lieutenant on 19th July 71. He had no regrets about serving in the RAF and was a part of the Shrewsbury RAFA and the Shropshire Aircrew. Claire CampbellClaire Campbell Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document CB: My name is Chris Brockbank and today is the 5th of September 2017 and I'm in Shrewsbury with Jim Penny to talk about his interesting life and times. What’s your earliest recollection of life then, Jim? JP: Say again. My earliest recollections of what? CB: Of life? JP: I haven’t thought [laughs]I have no idea. [recording paused] JP: Well, my earliest recollections when I was four years old we had a Catholic school, a Catholic Church across the road from where we stayed stop and the canon used to walk up and down reading, I think his breviary in the morning and one day I went across there on my little tricycle and I said, ‘Are you the Canon?’ ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘When are you going to be fired?’ And he burst out laughing and we were friends from then on and remained friends until I started school which is why I know I was four years old. That do? CB: Yeah. JP: Well, I was born in 114 Dixon Avenue, Glasgow on the 19th of July 1922 to William Penny and Elsie Ann Harvey who was born, dad was born in 1880 and mum in 1881. Both came from Aberdeenshire. My father had two brothers and five sisters all of whom immigrated to the dominions. My father to New Zealand. His plan was to send for my mother but realised he couldn't afford the passage. He bought his passage home to marry her. My mother had eight brothers but none of the Harveys emigrated. My father, my parents left school at eleven. My grandparents were crofters and in due course my dad became a ploughman. I soon discovered, I had four brothers my memories of them are being much loved and cared for. The twins Tommy and Lorney born [pause] born in 1905 were Scottish [pairs] champions for five years. Sandy, born in 1909 was a good scholar and Bill born in 1914 at one time was the twin’s coxswain. When he was eighteen the four brothers became a crew and I became their cox. I was aged ten and we were known as the Fourpence Halfpenny Crew. My memories are that we won most of the regatta's we entered. Coxing my brothers and sometimes other crews at regattas at their request gave me an early confidence with adults. I still think it was easier for me, easier for me to adapt to service life. Tommy became an engineer. Lorney and Sandy were carpenters and Bill was a draughtsman. When war came along Bill was employed in the shipyards and both Tommy and Sandy were conscripted for the same shipyard. Somehow Laurie who [unclear] was overlooked. He was conscripted for the Army at the ripe old age of thirty eight. I went to Aberdeen, no, Albert Road Academy when I was five years old. It had Infant, Junior and Senior sections. I was very happy there. I remember the great respect I had for Miss Muir, the infant teacher and Mr Wylie the head of the Junior School in a separate building, and the senior headmaster Mr Hamilton. I also had a great regard for three teachers Mr Moffett who taught maths, Mr Crawford who taught history, and Mr Shapiro who taught English. CB: How did your brothers treat you? JP: Well [pause] well, all terribly well. Sandy was the gentlest of them all. [unclear] alright? Bill didn’t like me at first. My mum had an unfortunate failing. She loved the babies and when I turned up he was eight years old and he’d been the apple of her eye for eight years and suddenly there was this little brat and he didn't like me at all to start with. CB: No. JP: But we actually, later on became the best of friends. CB: Yeah. JP: Much later on. CB: Yeah. JP: But at first he was not too happy. I think he started mellowing when he was eighteen and became part of the brother’s crew and I became the coxswain. CB: Yeah. JP: I was ten at the time. CB: Yeah. JP: And he started mellowing then. CB: Right [laughs] Yes. JP: But prior to that and actually funnily enough my [pause] Bill and his wife and Ursula, my wife were, the two wives were great pals and we would warn each of them. My mother, when my mother visited us, my home all she ever did was, to them was to talk about our kids. And when she came here all she did was to talk about their kids. This was, you know she was fixated on children. CB: Yeah. JP: She was lovely. Yeah. But that's by the way. Anyway. Now the next bit is going to be getting into the Air Force. Is that alright? CB: Yeah. JP: Yeah. CB: Why did you choose the RAF and not the Army or the Navy? You’re going to cover that? JP: That's in there. CB: Yeah. Okay. Fire away. JP: Yeah. You’ve got it in there. CB: Yeah. JP: Right. When the war came along in 1930 I was seventeen. I tried to join up and was told to come back when I was eighteen. From an early age I’d always wanted to fly. Probably from reading so many stories of World War One pilots. Instead of going back to school I got a job at Rolls Royce where I thought learning about aircraft engines might be helpful to a pilot. On my eighteenth birthday in 1940 I was accepted for the RAF at the Recruiting Centre. There were many delays before I was, I had had an aircrew medical in Edinburgh and it was the 28th of March 1941 when I was sworn in as a member of the RAF VR. The RAF Voluntary Reserves. I was ordered to report to London Aircrew Reception Centre on the 3rd of June 1941 and I’d be nineteen the following year. On the train to London I met Alec McGarvey and Johnny Thompson who were ex-policemen. Police had been a Reserved Occupation aged twenty four, twenty five, and over and permission being given that between twenty five and thirty could volunteer for aircrew. The number of ex-police I met at my time of entry convinced me that every policeman in the entire country had volunteered. At St John’s Wood the RAF had taken over hotels and blocks of flats. We were given uniforms and our civilian clothes posted home. We had to march, ate our meals at London Zoo restaurant and were vaccinated and had three injections. I need a pause. Can you — [recording paused] JP: Was six weeks in Newquay, Cornwall. In my Flight of sixty forty were ex-policemen. We had drill, PT, rugger, shotguns, skeet shooting and rifle. Lectures in meteorology, Morse Code, aerodynamics aircraft recognition and navigation. This last required maths. The school boys like me helped our ex-police for as one said, ‘You didnae need much maths in the polis.’ From ITW my Flight went to Canada on the Highland Princess. In Toronto we were issued with civilian clothes and went by train into the USA. My memory is that it took the best part of three days to reach Montgomery, Alabama passing no major city or town but six hundred civilians arrived at Maxwell Field near Montgomery. General Hap Arnold commanded the South East Army Air Corps. We were the sixth [pause] no, I beg your pardon we were the fifth [pause] Right. Ok. We were the fifth six hundred to enter the Arnold Scheme. RAF men were also being trained as pilots in Texas at civilian flying schools. Observers as navigators were then called were also being trained and Navy airmen by the US Navy. It has always been a matter of great regret to me that so little has been known to the British public of the invaluable aid when most needed despite the US Neutrality Act. In three weeks we learned American Army drill and customs though we also had an RAF liaison officer wherever we went. I was in the cinema in Americas Georgia on the 7th of December 1941 when the film was stopped. The manager announced that Pearl Harbour had been attacked by the Japanese. They played the US National Anthem. Then the film began again. The next morning we were told we were now allies and would wear RAF uniforms at all times. For basic training we went to Cochran Field, an Army Air Corps base manned by Air Corps ground staff and officer flying instructors. The Vultee was an old monoplane with a fixed undercarriage and a standard instrument panel suitable for night flying. I was in trouble from the start as the controls were heavy and my instructor was no GM Austin. He’d been my instructor previously. He was a brilliant man. With a change of instructor I did well again and the aerobatics with a more powerful engine were as much fun as in the Stearman. We had to fly at night and instrument flying under a hood in the air was also practised on the link trainer. A primitive forerunner of a more modern actual ground cockpits. For advanced training we went to another Air Corps base. Napier Field near Dothan, Alabama. We flew an 86A which the RAF named the Harvard. Again, I was in trouble for not only was it light on the controls but on the approach to landing I let the speed fall dangerously low near to stalling. A stall so near the ground could have resulted in a crash which could have killed both pupil and instructor. I checked [unclear] with three other senior instructors and failed each one for the same fault. I was sent back to Canada with some other washouts. At a Personnel Despatch Centre at Trenton, Ontario, I was interviewed by a flight lieutenant who asked why I had been washed out. I said I’d failed to adjust to the flight controls after the heavy Vultee and I thought it would have been better to go straight to the Harvard from the Stearman. He said an RAF team had been sent to the USA to investigate the large number of washouts that advanced and this was just what they had recommended and he would recommend that I should return to pilot training. So I was sent back to flying but on twin engine aircraft. That flight lieutenant even apologised for realised that like most I wanted to be a fighter pilot. Years later after the war I went to the RAF Central Flying School to become a flight instructor. In a Harvard the first thing my instructor said, ‘Always rest your hand lightly on the trim control to ensure your pupil uses it correctly for it’s very sensitive. And suddenly I remembered in the Vultee on the approach to landing the trim control was wound right back. This I’d done in the Harvard at advanced and this was the real reason of the dangerous fall in speed as the nose eased up on each approach to landing. I wonder how many others had fallen into the same trap. CB: Yeah. JP: At the nearby airfield [pause] Hang on. I missed a bit. Something has gone wrong here. CB: Ok. We’ll just stop a mo. [recording paused] CB: Right. JP: I was then sent to [pause] number 35 SFTS, North Battleford, Saskatchewan which is a long way north. Near there was a nearby airfield. We flew the Airspeed Oxford which was a low wing twin engine aircraft with a single fin and rudder. My instructor, Pilot Officer Henry Shackleton soon to be a flying officer was another excellent instructor. Quiet, patient and with a pleasant friendly manner which put one at ease. The Oxford, for me had no vices. Indeed, at one point Shackleton asked if I would mind if he recommended me to be a flying instructor. In the mood of the time and being young and stupid I said I wanted to go on operations. On the 25th of September 1942 we were awarded our coveted wings and promoted to sergeant. Out of over sixty only six were commissioned. Our next step was at the PDC at Moncton, New Brunswick. We were to return on the Queen Mary but on the 2nd of October 1942 she was , she hit and sunk a cruiser which had tried to pass in front of her. We came home on the Queen Elizabeth. Back in England we were billeted at the Grand Hotel in Harrogate for a month. Not then so grand and we were back to rationing. RAF Shawbury, Shropshire near Shrewsbury was the first English airfield I flew from on the 15th of January 1943. It was to be the last airfield I served at on retirement on the 19th of July 1971. It has a special place in my memories for it was always a happy station blessed with very good station commanders. Right. CB: Yeah. Yeah. JP: We were very popular in America with the civilian population. Despite our civilian clothes they knew exactly who we were and of course when we went into uniform it was even better. And they would collect outside and take us away for the weekend and it’s strange how most of them had nice pretty daughters who also seemed to like us. Will that do? CB: Just right. JP: With a minute. Hold on a minute. CB: Yeah. [recording paused] CB: So, you're in the Deep South really. JP: Yeah. CB: The American bit. So, what’s the reaction from a race point of view? JP: Well, yeah. What I was going to say was the story I've got in here. The negro waiter in the mess. CB: Oh, yes. JP: Would you like that one? CB: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. JP: Ok. While we were at America’s Georgia in the mess we had negro waiters. One day I was writing a letter. Everyone had gone and in a little compartment I was writing this letter but one of the waiters [pause] are you ready? CB: Yes. JP: One of the waiters came in and in a cultured voice asked, ‘Would you care for a coffee, sir?’ I was startled by his tone and choice of words, so different from the usual mess hall language and subservient attitude of the negro waiters. I said I would like a coffee and as he poured I commented on his educated tone and language and asked what he was doing here as a waiter. He said he was a graduate of a negro university and taught school for the local negro children in the evenings. He reminded me most courteously we were in the Deep South and the only jobs for negros were menial. He needed this job to support him while he taught. The white mess hall waiter overseer as you saw it, the white mess hall overseer was standing at the other end of the mess hall. I warned the waiter not to look around but to leave bowing low as he went. I gathered up my letter, drank the coffee and left. As I neared the overseer he asked in a hectoring tone what, ‘That n****r and I had been talking about.’ I told him I’d sent him for coffee and when he brought it I thanked him as was the British custom when someone did us a service. Is that what you were after? CB: Yeah. Very — [recording paused] JP: Another incident. CB: Yeah. Fire away. JP: We accepted an invitation to church services for afterwards we would certainly be invited to a meal which was a way to meet nice girls. Some were the most courteous and hospitable people to us. The church service on Armistice Day we were quite horrified when they read out the names of those who were killed in the last, in the First World War and when they came to a negro name they always put coloured after his name and we thought that was quite dreadful. CB: Yeah. JP: That one. [pause] [recording paused] JP: Back in the UK I first went to RAF Shawbury. We flew the Airspeed Oxford while they checked our competence as pilots and we were allowed to fly over blacked out Britain. Once again, I was asked if I would like to be recommended to be a flying instructor and again turned it down. For Oxford’s training we first went to nearby RAF Tilstock Heath, still in Shropshire. There we crewed up. This was a strange experience. In a large hangar were assembled pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, wireless operators and gunners. The officer in charge said, ‘There you are gentlemen. Get on with it.’ And left. Everyone looked as stunned as I felt. How did one start? Thinking I might try and get a Scottish crew I walked over to a nearby group of bomb aimers and asked if any were Scots. Sergeant Campbell said he was from Glasgow and he knew a navigator from there. He fetched over Sergeant Jimmy Graham another Glaswegian. With him was a red-haired gunner who Jimmy introduced as Sergeant Red Dries, an American from New York who was in the RCAF saying that they wanted to be in the same crew. I was delighted and all I needed was a wireless operator. A little chap nearby said he was from Grimsby but would he do? I liked the look of Sergeant [Carnes] and said yes. I never knew their ages until long after the war. A kind lady at the Air Historical Branch gave me their, gave me these. Jimmy Graham was twenty eight. Bob [Carnes] was twenty three. Bob Campbell was twenty two. And much later from relatives I learned that Red was actually twenty nine. Dicky Fathers was twenty one. He was our flight engineer who joined us later at Heavy Conversion. We were sent to RAF Sleap, a satellite airfield a few miles from Tilstock Heath where we flew the Whitley, a bomber powered by two Rolls Royce Merlins. When we practised single engine landings I thought the Whitley had difficulty holding height on one engine. Returning to Sleap from a night cross country exercise we lost power on one engine and started to lose height. We were approaching the Pennines and with high ground to come, a black night and the possibility of altimeter error I told the crew to stand by to bale out if we fell below three thousand feet. Fortunately, we held height just above three thousand feet and made it safely back to base. That was when I found out that Bob Carne was terrified of having to bale out. It didn’t stop him flying. Now, that is courage. Navigator Jimmy, bomb aimer Bob and I were each assessed as above the average and were asked if we would volunteer for the Pathfinder Force. All the crew agreed for it was an elite force even though we had to agree for a first tour of forty five operations. We went next to Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Blyton. There we were joined by our flight engineer Richard Dicky Fathers who fitted in well with the crew. I flew a Halifax first and then a Lancaster. In this, my diary there is an entry, “The Lancaster is really fine. Much lighter on the controls than the Whitley and the Halifax. The finest plane I’ve ever flown.” On the 26th of July 1943 I was promoted to flight, acting flight sergeant and we left for the Pathfinder Navigation Training Unit at RAF Upwood. There we flew three exercises with a staff instructor aboard. I still remember one when we flew north above the Irish Sea between the Western Isles, around the top of Scotland and down over central Scotland and the Pennines. At ten thousand feet on a clear summer day it was the most pleasant flight I’d ever made. We passed inspection and were posted to 97 PFS Squadron at RAF Bourn in Cambridgeshire. CB: Right. We’ll stop there for a mo. [recording paused] JP: It was, right here we go then. It was customary to send a newly arrived pilot on two operations with an experienced crew as a second pilot. There was no dual control in a Lancaster. The flight engineer sat beside the pilot and the so-called second pilot stood behind him listening to the crew and observing what he could. My first second pilot was Pilot Officer Ken Fairlie, Royal New Zealand Air Force. On the 14th 15th of August Milan was a twelve hundred miles and took seven hours and forty five minutes and I was standing all the way. I was impressed with the crew’s intercom discipline. No chatter. All related to the task. The Alps were awesome in the moonlight. We bombed at eleven thousand feet and the flak seemed light and below us and the long journey home I was even bored. I was soon to find out that a boring flight was most unusual. For the next second pilot I went again with Ken Fairlie. This time to Leverkusen. Five hundred miles in to Germany. We bombed at thirteen thousand feet with both light and heavy flak shell bursts which I thought rather dodgy. We saw lots of flak enroute and I realised the navigator was doing a fine job keeping us clear of turns. The next op was to Berlin. They thought it unfair to send a crew on its first op to the big city so I went with Squadron Leader Savage. The flak barrage was very heavy and we were very conscious of the danger of fighters. I was to learn that flak was very heavy over all German towns with [unclear] getting heavier. One crew failed to return from that Milan, from that raid and five of the Leverkusen, the fifty six were from Berlin and we were distressed to learn that Ken Fairlie and his crew had failed to return from the Berlin operation. In August my crew and I flew three operations. Nuremberg, Munchen Gladbach and Berlin. On every op we flew we also arrived at ETA, Estimated Time of Arrival. This meant we bombed on time and our camera proved bombed on the aiming point the red and green target flares dropped by the leading Pathfinders. We always carried a cookie, a four thousand pound blast bomb, an assortment of a thousand and eight hundred and five hundred HE. High Explosives. Bombs. Some crews carried incendiaries. Circling base on the first return awaiting our turn to land my eyes were sore and blinking. The elsan too was at the rear and not available to a pilot. I solved the eye problem by alerting the crew over the sea, setting George the automatic pilot and closing my eyes for five minutes. It worked and at base my eyes were clear. The ground crew solved the elsan problem by fitting a large funnel to my seat leading to a tube fixed to the fuselage though extracting the necessary member from layers of flying clothing was not easy. A hundred and ninety five crews failed to return from those three raids and one was from our 97 Squadron. It now seems strange to recall that we could ignore the reports of the overall losses but one of our own cast a sharp gloom yet we really did not know any of the other crews. We were sufficient unto ourselves. In September 1943 we flew four operations and a routine air test which turned out to be very dicey. On the third, sorry on the third fourth, we always say third fourth because you took off in one day and landed in the next. CB: Yeah. JP: We went again to Berlin. The flak barrage seemed even more concentrated and we thought even more searchlights. Once again we arrived on time and bombed on the markers. This time we routed home north over the Baltic until latitude 58, level with the north of Scotland and south to base. It took longer but few fighters were reported and the twenty who failed to return were half the losses on previous Berlin raids. On the 3rd, 5th we were again on our way when less than an hour out we had a fire in the port outer engine and a runaway prop. We turned back and jettisoned the bombs in the North Sea. The [drag] created by the runway prop gave a very aching left leg by the time we got home. This is known as a boomerang and does not count as an op. I was rather pleased when I went to see the engineering officer and he congratulated me on landing safely with a runaway prop. On the 9th of September the squadron crews were at briefing but I was not on the list for that night and we were flying an air test. On return to base the windscreen was horizontal and the strong wind at right angles to the runway. Fair request to change the runway with refused and ordered the crew to crash positions before making the approach grabbing and rounding out at the last moment didn't prevent sideways movement and the starboard tyre burst causing the undercarriage to collapse. The undercarriage leg protruded through the right wing and the plane with a right off. Possibly the best approach for landing ever made it was seen by a Group Captain having just come out of briefing. When the duty controller admitted he had refused to change the runway the Group Captain relieved him of his duty and ordered him to leave the station that day. Is that one alright? [recording paused] CB: Right. We're re-starting now. September the 15th. JP: Yes. On September the 15th we were briefed to bomb a rubber factory at Montluçon in France. We were cautioned to be very accurate and there were only four flak guns. What was expected to be a nice safe cooperation turned out to be quite hairy. We were to bomb at four thousand feet but others from six thousand and eight thousand. Some of us might have must have got the timing wrong as on our approach to the target we saw bombs falling all around us. One aircraft was directly overhead. Indeed, some aircraft were hit by incendiaries. The factory was completely destroyed. The next day we went to bomb the Modane Tunnel in an alpine valley. The tunnel was a main route for returning military to France. The Alps seemed to loom alongside as we bombed at thirteen thousand feet. This time the long flight didn’t bore me. I was piloting, not standing. In October a mid-upper gunner Flight Sergeant Morgan joined us for his second tour. On the 2nd 4th and 5th we bombed Munich, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. Always on time and on the PFF flares confirmed by our camera. For us the raids were uneventful apart from the usual hairy time over the targets for the flak was heavy at all three. Losses were fairly light. Seven, ten and four but one was a 97 Squadron PFF crew. We set out to bomb Hanover on the 5th but this was another boomerang for there was an oxygen failure in the mid-upper turret so we turned around and jettisoned our bombs in the North Sea. Briefed again for Hanover on the 18th we bombed successfully. Of the thousand Lancasters seventeen were lost one of whom again was from 97 Squadron. The next target was Kassel but we were briefed to draw off fighters by a spoof target on Frankfurt. There we just entered the camera run when we were caught by a blue master beam and immediately coned by all the slave searchlights. I escaped by doing a stall turn. That’s to pull up the stick up in to a stall and kick full rudder. We dived sideways. The beam went ahead. The coned plane is usually shot down by slave guns. Routed past Kassel we saw a solid oval fire. For the first time I felt rather sorry for the folk below. I regret even more our spoof had failed for forty two were lost mainly to fighters. November 1943 again it was supposed to become a PFF crew, a PFF crew with after only eleven operations. Jimmy’s faultless navigation ensured we arrived over target on ETA and Bob’s accurate bombing was confirmed by our camera. From now on we would carry back-up green TIs as well as the cookies and high explosives. Dusseldorf. [recording paused] CB: Right. Target indicator. JP: The red — Other: I thought that was what you were talking about. CB: Keep going. Can you do that now because — JP: Yes. Yes. Ok. CB: So as Pathfinder then you are marking the target. JP: Yeah. Well, what happened — CB: So how are you doing that with, with coloured flares? JP: I’ve just done that bit we’d become Pathfinders hadn’t we? CB: Yeah. JP: Right. If we can cut in there where I’ve talked about being, becoming markers. Alright? CB: Yes. Yeah. JP: So I’ll explain that now. Ok. Right. The system was that the most experienced pilots dropped red, a red flare. They were the initial marking the target and this was backed up by the newer PFF crews like us. CB: Yeah. JP: With green flares. And the wind some would cause them to drift back so they would re-centre with a further red and then that would be backed up by further greens. Is that ok? CB: Yeah. JP: Is that? CB: Yeah. Yeah. That’s good. JP: Have we got — CB: Yeah. So, we’ve got that. JP: You’ve got that. Some other colours were used but not in my experience. Anyway, that’s ok. So we, we were back up. We were properly PFF crew as it were. CB: Yeah. JP: So, Dusseldorf on the 3rd 4th of November the flak seemed heavier and concentrated around the aiming point but Bob put our greens on the reds. Of five hundred and twenty five heavies eighteen were lost. We then went to Mannheim, Ludwigshafen on the 17th. These were twin towns separated by the Rhine. Eighty three Pathfinder aircraft took part guided by a new navigator aid which only navigators and bomb aimers were trained. Need to know. They didn’t tell the pilots. The raid was successful and only one was lost. On the 18th 19th we went to Berlin. The oxygen connection to the mid-upper turret was again broken. We were well on our way and turning back risked a head on collision for there were some six hundred aircraft behind us still coming. I ordered the gunner to the astrodome where he could at least keep a look out for fighters. On the bombing run I concentrated on my instrument panel ignoring the flak but I still remember Bob’s cool calm voice while looking through the flak shell bursts as he guided me to target. On the 23rd, 22nd, 23rd the Berlin as usual was dicey but Command reported bad weather and grounded German fighters and only twenty five were lost. Aircrew were of this acceptance of losses. The nickname Butch was in the black humour of the time for Harris was held in high regard and they were proud to be the Butcher’s men. Six hundred and fifteen aircraft took part. Two FTR were lost from 97 Squadron. CB: So, as Pathfinders — JP: Why I mentioned, why I mentioned them then was — CB: Yes. JP: When you came back you were conscious of an empty table at breakfast. CB: Of course. JP: Because crews ate as crews. You didn't mix with the other crews. There was one crew we did but I didn't put that in. Mainly because the pilot was from Canada and knew my aunt in Canada. CB: Right. JP: And we became friendly. CB: Yeah. JP: His crew and ours. But normally we didn't mix but I think because you know the empty table. CB: Yeah. JP: Put a bit of a gloom on you. CB: Yes. JP: But you ignored the others. What was happening elsewhere. It was our own squadron that mattered based, well as far as I was concerned anyway. Where have we got to? Oh, this bit about the acceptances of Butch. We’ve done that bit haven’t we? CB: Ok. JP: That was the 18th 19th. [recording paused] JP: Where would we put it? CB: Well, just now because you mentioned a bit earlier that you got a new mid-upper gunner. JP: Yeah. CB: So what happened there? What about the first one? JP: Well [Beattie] was the first one you see. CB: Right. JP: He was the first one we got. CB: A pilot officer. JP: A pilot officer. CB: Right. JP: And then the next day the group captain ordered him off the station because he had, wouldn’t buy a new, he wouldn’t get have a new he could have been given one but he was going to fly in that one. CB: Yeah. JP: And he insisted he was going to fly in that one and the group captain ordered him off the station. CB: So, the origin of this was that — JP: So, that was the origin of that. CB: Yeah. JP: So I then got another pilot officer. CB: Yeah. JP: Pro tem. CB: Right. JP: A mid-upper rather and I had a couple of I can’t remember I had the warrant for a couple of ops and then another for a couple of ops, you know. CB: Yeah. JP: Something different and then this chap arrived on his second tour. CB: Right. JP: And as he was a second tour man they thought they’d give him to us. CB: Yeah. JP: Which we were rather pleased about. CB: Yeah. JP: He wasn’t a bit pleased. CB: Oh. JP: No. He wasn’t a bit pleased. CB: Why didn’t he like it? He didn’t like your crew? JP: He’d done a tour in the Middle East. CB: Oh. JP: And he came back and he only had to do a couple of tours over, trips over Germany and he was experienced enough to know just how bloody dangerous it was. CB: Oh. JP: And I think he didn’t, that’s this is nothing. That’s not going on there but I reckon he disconnected his oxygen. He put his feet through it. CB: Oh. JP: And that’s why twice, the first time we came back but the second time we were on our way to Berlin and we were halfway, nearly halfway there and all these other, I wasn’t going to turn back against that lot. CB: No. JP: So, I went. I carried on without the mid-upper gunner put in the turret. CB: Yeah. What, just going back to Bates though. JP: Sorry. CB: The earlier one. Bates. What, the – JP: Oh Batey. CB: Batey. So he was outside the aircraft you said and the group captain — JP: We were sitting as we did. CB: What happened? JP: We had all gone out the aircraft. CB: Right. JP: And we were sitting around waiting to get on board you know because it was all timed when the group captain came around, saw his, I must admit it was a wreck. I mean there were no sleeves. it was a wreck of a whatsit but it was his lucky battle dress, you know. CB: Right. JP: He’d done his ops on it you see. CB: He’d already done a tour. JP: He wasn’t going to not, he was going to keep on wearing it because it was his lucky battledress. CB: Yes. JP: People were funny that way. CB: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. JP: I mean some chaps used to carry a little, I know one chap had a little — Other: Talisman. JP: A talisman he put at the side of the window, you know. It was a funny old time. Other: Well, it was dangerous wasn’t it? JP: Yeah. It was a funny old time. CB: Yeah. JP: But that’s why I had — CB: So the group captain, what did the group captain say to him? JP: He said, ‘Just, get a new battledress.’ You know. Get a proper, you know, battledress. And Batey, he should have said, ‘Very good, sir,’ and just gone on wearing it, you see. But he said, ‘No, sir. I can’t do that. I can get a new one but I’ll wear this one for my ops. It’s my lucky battledress.’ He said, ‘No. You’ll wear a new one.’ And when he refused the next day he ordered him off the station. CB: Oh. JP: And incidentally only just recently I found he had completed a tour with another squadron, gone out to Australia. It was Australian not New Zealand and he’d only, he died about oh a couple of years back. CB: Oh right. JP: Before I could get in touch with him. I didn’t find out until he’d actually died which was very annoying. CB: Yeah. JP: I would have loved to have met with him. CB: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. JP: But he completed his tour of ops and I bet he wore that bloody battledress. CB: How, how what was the cohesion of the crew like? JP: What was the —? CB: Was there good cohesion in your crew? JP: Brilliant. Oh, the crew were wonderful. My crew were wonderful. I come to a bit where I — CB: Ok. JP: I praise my crew. With the exception I must admit of the new mid-upper. CB: Yeah. JP: He never, he never became a member of that crew. He flew as the mid-upper gunner but he never associated. Basically, he kept himself to himself and none of my crew or myself were able to get through to him at all. CB: Not even on social. JP: Yeah. He was totally unsocial. CB: Oh right. JP: And I think, I think frankly he was intelligent, a very intelligent chap and he knew just how dangerous it was and rather objected to it. He’d rather, in fact, he’d rather, he shouldn’t have been posted to a Pathfinder crew. JP: No. CB: He’d have been better off in an ordinary crew. CB: Right. JP: That was that one. CB: Ok. JP: Anyways, that’s not going on there. CB: Let’s go on to that. JP: Now where did we get to? The third. So, we’ve only done that bit. CB: Right. JP: Right. Well, we know we are now. Ok. Here we go. On the 3rd 4th we went to Dusseldorf. The 3rd and 4th November. The flak seemed heavier and concentrated around the aiming point but Bob put our greens on the reds. Of five hundred and twenty five heavies eighteen failed to return. [recording paused] JP: Towns. We’d done that. CB: You have. Yes. JP: We’ve done the twin towns. We’ll jump a bit. Did we do the oxygen connection for Berlin being broken. Did we do that one? Other: No. CB: Oh. JP: Right. On the 18th 19th we were briefed for Berlin. The oxygen connection to the mid-upper turret was again broken. We were well on our way and turning back risked a head on collision. There were some six hundred aircraft behind us. I ordered the gunner to the astrodome where he could at least keep an eye. Look out for fighters. On the bombing run I concentrated on my instrument panel ignoring the flak but I still remember Bob’s cool calm voice while looking through the flak shell burst as he guided me to the target. On the 23rd , 22nd 23rd Berlin as usual was dicey but the Command reported bad weather grounded German fighters. Only twenty five aircraft were lost. Aircrew were aware of this acceptance, oh we’ve done this. The nickname Butch was in the black humour of the time for Harris was held in high regard and we were proud to be the Butcher’s men. Six hundred and fifteen aircraft took part. Two FTR were from 97 Squadron. On the 23rd 24th of November we want to get into Berlin. Stop. I just want to — [recording paused] CB: Ok. JP: We've done [pause] on the 23rd 24th of November it was again Berlin. This one was to be different and at ninety, I remember as if, oh [pause] perhaps you should say ninety five. At ninety five I remember as if it were yesterday. On approach to the aiming point Bob would say, ‘Two minutes skipper.’ I'd reply, ‘You have control.’ He directs, ‘Port a bit. Steady. Steady.’ As he was about to release the bomb his voice would rise to a crescendo, ‘Steady. Steady. Steady.’ This time he said, ‘They’ve re-centred skipper. It will be another two minutes.’ This time as his voice reached its peak a shell exploded in our bomb bay. A TI exploded and we were surrounded by Greek fire, green fire. All our regs were fused and I’d no intercom to order bale out. Dicky was down by Bob throwing out Window, the metallic strips for deceiving radar and he could see me. I released my seat straps, bent forward and waved to him pointing to his parachute which was behind my seat. I knew the cookie would explode but I’d full control and hoped someone might get out. I counted eighteen seconds and Dicky hadn’t reached his ‘chute. Then I was sitting in mid-air thinking, ‘Where's my bloody plane gone?’ A delayed drop would get me clear of flack but over the aiming point and with some two hundred aircraft still to come I pulled my rip cord to let the wind drift me clear of the bombing. Hanging from my parachute I’d only myself to think about. I remember that a shell exploded nearby could [candle] the ‘chute and make it fold up and I’d drop like a stone. Courage is a strange thing. I had accepted I would die with the thought that my mum would be distressed but hoping some of my crew might get out. Now, with only myself to think about I’d never been so terrified. [recording paused] JP: All my crew died. The impressive skills of navigator Jimmy Graham and Bob Campbell were the main reason we were so successful with the Pathfinders. Always on time and always on target. Robert Bob Cowan our wireless op quietly passed information on radio positions fixes and wind speeds and direction by notes to the navigator. Richard Fathers, our flight engineer was always alert and helpful. When the mid-upper turret oxygen was twice broken he went back using a portable oxygen bottle and was most upset when he was unable to repair the damage. Although our gunners never came into action we had faith in their ability. Red was very much a part of our crew and very popular from when we first came together. The US Air Force tried to recruit Americans serving with RCAF or RAF but Red refused to leave his crew saying he might think about it when our tour was completed. Seventy years later I can see them and hear their voices. Sergeant Mortham had completed a tour in North Africa. He made no attempt to mix with the crew. I thought he didn’t really want to do the second tour. That’s it. [recording paused] JP: Right. I mean, after the war when I crewed up again later on by that time I’d been, just been commissioned and I never had this, could never get the same rapport with my crew as I did during the war where we all, we would even sleep together. I mean Jimmy, they were in a one four bedroom house and a two bedrooms and Dicky shared the two bedroom with me. We were, you know, we ate together, we went out together. You know, we did everything together. CB: Well, you were the family, weren’t you? JP: We were very very close in that short time. It’s difficult to describe. Any ex-serviceman who has been in action can tell you the same thing. You become close to the people you serve with when you’ve been shot at. CB: Yes. JP: When you’re shooting back. The Army is the same thing. Any Army chap you are, they are the ones you are close to. CB: Yeah. JP: The ones you are concerned with. CB: But as the years went by and the months after the war and then the years went by how did you feel about the loss of the crew? JP: I can’t describe it. It’s just it’s there. It’s always with me that I couldn’t save them. I couldn’t do anything. I mean, what happened was out of my control and the fact I was blown out was a, was a sheer fluke. CB: Yeah. JP: As one wag said after the war to me, ‘You invented the ejector seat.’ And of course, I was sitting on a, I was sitting at the pilot’s seat. CB: Yeah. JP: I haven’t put in here that the group captain said they were going to give us cushions because it was uncomfortable sitting on the ‘chute. I said, ‘I don’t want a cushion.’ I explained why. It would mean that the, if I had a clip on tie my and that flight engineer would have had to come back, clip it on me, then clip his on and in the meantime he was blocking the others getting past him to get out. And I said, ‘You know, this is not on.’ CB: No. JP: ‘You’re going to block the crew getting out.’ And we’d have to, probably have to get out in a hurry you see. CB: You got used to sitting on a parachute did you? JP: Oh, it never bothered me anyway. CB: No. JP: No, it never bothered me but it wasn’t that. It was the fact that the idea of having to have a thing that would waste time. CB: Yes. JP: Of the crew getting out. CB: Sure. JP: Which was why I objected. And so he let me carry on wearing. If I hadn’t been wearing, I could have been sitting on a bloody cushion that night. CB: Yeah. JP: Fortunately, I wasn’t. CB: Yes. JP: But there we are. CB: Yeah. JP: Now, where did I get to oh just started — Other: You’d just blown out of the aircraft. JP: I’d just been blown out. Yes. CB: So, you’re falling down with your ‘chute which you’ve opened to drift away from the stream. JP: Yeah. Yeah. We’ve done that bit CB: So what happened next? JP: We’ve done a tour hadn’t we? Other: Did all that come automatically? JP: What’s that? Other: I mean you were, you woke, you woke up in mid-air. JP: In mid-air I was still virtually in a sitting position. Literally. And said, ‘Where’s my bloody aeroplane gone?’ I knew where it had gone actually but that was the thought. CB: Yeah. JP: And then as I say immediately unfortunately remembered that it was a shell burst near me which pulled up my parachute. But before I thought of that I think I thought about it after it was open but sitting there I thought, it’s amazing how your mind works quickly at the time. I was twenty one and I was sharp, shall we say then and I had two choices. To do a delayed drop through the flak or pull the ‘chute straight away to drift me clear because I knew the wind would drift me clear and I was right. Remember I was right smack over the aiming point when we were hit by flak. I knew what was still to come so that’s why I pulled the ‘chute straight away and I did in fact. I was I’m coming to that bit I was blown — CB: You knew what the wind was anyway. JP: I drifted clear of the flak. CB: Yeah. But what height were you? JP: Twenty thousand feet. CB: Right. JP: At the time. Yeah. But — CB: So you were a bit short of air at that height. JP: Hmmn? CB: A bit short of air at that height. JP: I don’t even notice it. Don’t forget I was [pause] you know, I wasn’t, didn’t, I didn’t notice being short of air at all strangely enough. I was probably above twenty thousand. I went upwards I think. Well, I know I did. CB: Yeah. JP: I know from my injuries what, what happened. I worked it all out afterwards. CB: Yes. JP: Sitting in a German cell that night. CB: Yeah. So you were dropping on your parachute. Then what? JP: Well, no. I’m on my parachute now. Right. CB: Right. JP: And we ought, and I’ve mentioned my crew. CB: Yes. JP: Right. CB: Yes. JP: Ok. Here we go. I landed in a suburban back garden well away from the bombing. The top of my head had been cut open. Later I concluded the steel panel on the pilot’s seat which was about there had first broken the Perspex but left enough to split my helmet. This must have been torn off my head when the side panel blew out. I was attached to that side panel with the intercom cord and the oxygen tube and my neck could have been broken. Instead, it was just very painful. I must have hit my legs on the wheel on the way past because my left leg was bruised black but the right leg was unharmed because I had a metal cigarette case in the front pocket which was bent in half [pause] That’s it. CB: Keep going. CB: That was really, I didn’t bother putting this in. I worked all, all that out that night in a police cell. CB: Oh right. Yeah. JP: It was pretty obvious what had happened and this was I was covered in blood because a head wounds bleed terribly. CB: Yes. JP: And on the way down the smoke covered in the sense that I must look as though I was badly burned when, when they saw me. CB: Right. JP: But I know I did because in this civilian house I was taken to by the chap that picked me up there was a mirror and I saw what I [laughs] I was in a terribly state. Anyway, here we go. I was quickly captured and with all too short a time taken by train to Dulug Luft, the Luftwaffe interrogation centre. At the Dulug they had no crew to link me with which confirmed my fear that all my crew had been killed. They thought I was a Mosquito pilot and their interrogation centred around the Mosquito and how much they knew. They kept showing me large folders with information they had on Mosquito squadrons made easy to keep schtum. Just repeat my name, rank and number because I knew sod all about Mosquitoes. I had three investigators one friendly, one neutral and one always threatening to have me shot. In between investigations, interrogations I was in solitary confinement in a small cell. One day my interrogator said, ‘You don’t like the Germans, do you?’ I broke my silence saying, ‘I was taught they were brave men and very clean people. I’ve been here a month and I still have blood in my hair.’ That afternoon a guard took me for a shower. It was a major psychological error for it gave me an enormous boost to have won that concession. A month later a guard took us to the officer’s mess to take tea with my interrogators. I was told I was to be sent to a prisoner of war camp the next day. They told me I had doubled the time spent in solitary confinement without giving anything away. I was puzzled at the time as to why they gave up on me when they did. Many years later I found a rising loss rate in January with three hundred and three POWs arriving from another Berlin bombing simply meant they needed my cell. The final Berlin raid in March cost seventy two aircraft lost with three hundred and seventy killed and a hundred and twenty to be became bombing Berlin was a battle lost. Despite my admiration for Harris I think he should have ended those Berlin attacks much earlier. Preferably before the 23rd 24th of November. CB: When you were shot down. JP: Yeah. Other: Yeah. JP: February 1944 I arrived at my first prison camp. Stalag Luft 6 which was for RAF and later American airmen, aircrew. Luft 6 was well run by Dixie Deans, the elected camp leader and a legend to all who knew him. With Red Cross parcels [unclear] we later lost at the Dulag on the Prussian border in July 1944 were moved as the Russians advanced. On the 8th of July we were at Stalag 357 at Thorne in Poland. An Army camp. The stalag number was transferred which makes me think that the Thorn camp was completely evacuated. Where the Army POW went I have no idea. On the 8th of August the RAF were sent to Stalag 357 at Fallingbostel in Lower Saxony in North West Germany. Another camp. Conditions deteriorated with the destruction of German transport. We ran out of Red Cross parcels, an essential supplement to the limited German rations. In a bitter winter cold we all lost weight and grew weaker. Now with an allied front we were moved again but not the Army. In groups of a thousand the RAF we were moved aimlessly around. My group from the 17th to the 19th of April 1945. On the 19th we reached a small town. We were issued with a Red Cross parcel each. Moving a few kilometres away we sat under the shade of trees to open our parcels. We were attacked by six Typhoons and a Spitfire. After the war I met one of the Typhoon pilots who confirmed as we had thought at the time they thought we were German troops hiding under the trees. Twenty nine were killed and fifty wounded. The wounded were taken to Bosenberg Hospital near [. I weighed between six and a half and seven stone and had diarrhoea. I couldn’t eat solid food for I had gingivitis, an inflammation of the gums. The British doctor sent with the wounded not fit to walk any further. The German doctor was excellent. Although three more died of their wounds he gave them all full care. He soon had me fitter and able to help with our wounded. On the 3rd of May I was sound asleep when a chap in a red beret woke me up. ‘You’ve been liberated lad.’ ‘About time too,’ I replied and promptly fell asleep again. A few years ago I learned that the chap in the red beret had been Brigadier Hill who commanded the [unclear] liberators. That morning there were tanks outside the hospital and we were taken to the Corps Field Hospital and then flew back to England in Dakotas. There’s that there. [recording paused] JP: We were taken to an airfield. CB: Yeah. JP: And flown home in a Dakota. CB: So you came home — JP: Landed somewhere in southern England. CB: Yeah. JP: I’ve no idea where. CB: You mentioned about a bit earlier that you were taken by truck over the Rhine. JP: Yeah. CB: An open truck. JP: Well from where we were to Fallingbostel, at [pause] oh dear. From hospital, from the German hospital. Have a wee second. CB: That’s ok. JP: I forget things. CB: Yeah. But you were in, you, they put you in a truck you said. JP: I gave the name of it didn’t I? CB: Yes. You mentioned it just now. [pause] CB: But what about — JP: I’ve not mentioned it without — CB: The point about you were in the truck and who else was in the truck? JP: Oh, it wasn’t a truck. We were in a sort of I don’t know what it was called but it was an open boat type thing. CB: Oh, yeah. A duck. JP: Quite large across. We were taken from the hospital, the German hospital. CB: Yeah. JP: Boizenburg. CB: Yeah. JP: I got the name, didn’t I? Boizenburg. From Boizenburg we were taken and we had to cross the Rhine and to cross the Rhine we had, went on this. CB: A barge. JP: This barge thing. It wasn’t a barge. It was a big floating thing. Very large. And there was a squaddie there shivering. He’d been in a tank which had blown up and I took my, I had an RAF issue coat, you know — CB: Yeah. JP: What do you call them? CB: A greatcoat. JP: Hmmn? CB: A greatcoat. JP: A greatcoat. CB: Yeah. JP: And I took it off and put it over the poor chap you see. CB: Because he was — JP: As a result it was a very windy cold day. I ended up with [pause] whatever it was I ended up with. CB: Yeah. JP: Flat on my back. CB: Right. JP: But we ended up in this field hospital and I have no idea where that is. CB: Yeah. JP: And from the field hospital we were taken to an airfield. I don’t know where that was. CB: Right. JP: And we were flown home in Dakotas to southern England. I don’t know where we landed. CB: No. JP: But it was in southern England. CB: Yeah. JP: I was put in a hospital near there for a couple of days and then I come to the next bit where — CB: You went back to Shawbury. JP: We went to Cosford. CB: Cosford. JP: RAF Cosford Hospital. Which then was an RAF hospital. CB: Yeah. JP: So where have we got to? CB: Yeah. That’s it. JP: Hmm? So back and yes so we’ve done that bit about the tank outside. Flown home in the Dakota. Yeah. So, ok, we can go then. So back in England after three weeks in RAF Hospital Cosford I was sent on indefinite leave and had a wonderful reception from my family in Glasgow. I knew I had a niece and found I had another niece and two nephews. All four and another nephew shortly arrived are still a loving part of my life. The RAF finally remembered me and I reported to Number 34 Maintenance Unit on the 6th of October 1945 and was there ‘til September 1947. RAF Montford Bridge was a vital posting for it was near Shrewsbury where I skulled with the Pengwern Boat Club. Thanks to another oarsman in 1940 I met Ursula. We were engaged in 1947 and married in 1948. Also in 1948 I was commissioned on the 2nd of February. Back flying and with a new crew we flew the Wellington at Operational Training. Much to my delight I then flew the Lancaster at Heavy Conversion again. September 1949, I joined Number [unclear], City of Lincoln, Lincoln Squadron Bomber Command at RAF Waddington. We flew the Lincoln. An enlarged version of a Lancaster. It flew higher, faster and further and carried a larger bomb load. For me it was not as manoeuvrable. Ursula joined me there in married quarters with our first born. We left Waddington October 1950 for me to go to the RAF flying, Central Flying School to become a flying instructor. My first posting was to southern Rhodesia and from May 1951 until November 1953 we enjoyed a happy country with perfect weather for flying. For flying training. A task I found rewarding when I sent a pupil solo. Our second son was born and we explored the country including Niagara Falls. Back home I was posted to RAF Ternhill. Again, near Shrewsbury. After a short time I went for a permanent commission medical and failed it as I was high tone deaf. I was quite heartbroken for I had loved flying. I was offered a branch commission in the [unclear] branch. I was thirty seven and loved serving in the RAF so accepted this gratefully. It carried the warning there was limited promotion. This turned to be no promotion and I finally left the RAF still a flight lieutenant on the 19th of July 1971 on my forty ninth birthday. I still have the letter offering me a further five years service but I had already decided to become a teacher. The RAF did not leave me. I’m a member of the RAF did not leave me I'll stop by the member of the RAF, Shrewsbury RAFA and the Shropshire aircrew. This can’t be raised because there are fewer, less of us. I went to Teacher’s College and gained my Teacher's Certificate. From 1972 to 1987 I taught English at Meole Brace Secondary School which became a, became a Comprehensive in 1981. From 1948 to 1983 I studied with the Open University and became a BA Hons. Purely an ego trip to prove to myself I could have done it in Glasgow Uni if the war happened intervened. Despite many separations between postings Ursula and I had enjoyed in many parts of our country, living in many parts of the country and also overseas in Germany. When we came home from Rhodesia with the aid of a mortgage we bought our house in Shrewsbury in 1956 and live here still. Aged ninety five and ninety when asked how we are we always reply, ‘We're still here.’ Anything else is boring. Our three sons and daughter have supplied us with five grandsons and seven granddaughters. Two married grandsons have supplied us with two great granddaughters. Another marriage is due next year and we have hopes for two who have partners. Throughout the year we have visits singly or in batches from some of the above. Every summer we have a clan gathering at our Shrewsbury home. All who can come. They all get along so well together the gatherings are joyful occasions. In 2018 we will celebrate our seventieth anniversary at the clan gathering. I am indeed the Lucky Penny. The title of the memoir I wrote and had printed in 2014. CB: Brilliant. Really good. JP: That does it. CB: Excellent. Thank you. JP: Is that alright? [recording paused] CB: What’s the first question? Other: Right. So many. I'm getting slow as well I have to say. [pause] Well I thought the bit about the being blown out of the plane I mean it's such a, not unique but I mean nearly unique experience. Is there anything you'd like to say more about that? People would be fascinated I'm sure. JP: No, it’s — Other: I mean you treat it as though it’s, well, you were trained. JP: Yeah. Other: For it and that’s why I asked you whether [pause] You automatically did the things you’ve been trained for didn’t you? When you were thrown out. JP: Well, I wasn't trained for being blown out. But I just think the mind works incredibly quickly when something like that happens. I had two options. Do a delayed drop to avoid the flak or, or open the parachute straight away to drift clear of what was still to come. Other: Yeah. JP: And that was the best option really. Other: Yeah. JP: Because I did as I say land in a suburban garden. Does that not work it out? CB: It is but I think a supplementary question there is when you landed in the garden what was the reaction of the owner of the house? JP: When I landed in the garden I fell over because I didn’t do the proper thing. I fell over because one leg was so badly bashed and I just couldn’t, could hardly stand on it. CB: Yeah. JP: And I fell over. It’s in my book. CB: Because of the steering wheel in the aeroplane. JP: And there was old Nick, horns and all looking at me against the fires of Berlin. And then the goat moved. I remember that bit. CB: Good. JP: And then I then I saw somebody. I was lying there. I couldn’t, oh my ‘chute was part over a tree so I couldn’t bury it as you should do and I saw a chap and then he went into a shelter. So I managed to get out but I kept falling over and I managed I think about two lampposts falling over and leaning up at the one post and this enormous German with a tin hat on picked me. He was a civilian, probably what do call them when we have them in this country? Other: Sort of a Home Guard. JP: Hmmn? Other: A Home Guard. JP: Probably a Home Guard, something like that picked me up, literally picked me up well I’m not very big. He carried me to an air raid shelter. A little like a little [unclear] you know, a little turning point and there was an older, an old lady, a young woman. The young woman looked like she would cut my throat. The old lady looked sorry for me. I remember her saying, ‘So jung.’ CB: So young. JP: And oh, when we came in he said, ‘Ah, Englisher.’ You know, no, ‘Englander.’ And I said, ‘Nein. Scotsman.’ CB: He’d have been insulted. JP: That was automatic in those days and then when the war you know when the bombing stopped they took me to their house. That’s where I saw the mirror and that was terrible. CB: Right. JP: That’s why they were all so sorry for me. CB: Yes. JP: I looked dreadful. I looked worse than I was in other words. And I was staggered to that. I could hardly walk with this leg. Then a couple of squaddies came along. Oh, incidentally just before I hit the deck the searchlight came on near me and let me see the ground and do a proper, you know pull up. Other: Clear up. JP: And a couple of squaddies came probably from the battery I should think and took me to a police station. At least I think it was a police station because it was a police cell sort of thing. One of them. I was there the night in the police cell. Then, the next day they took me to an airfield where they collected all the aircrew who had baled out that night and then took a train to the Dulag. And that was quite interesting because there was one chap on the way to the station, well, at the station there was a large, they were on the way in to the station. One chap was on a stretcher and three other blokes and me. By that time I was walking, was carrying this chap on the stretcher and the German, one of the civilian at the station came out at that stage and spat at them and the corporal in charge of us with his sub machine gun hit him right in the gut with it and pointed around with it. I don't know what he said but that crowd backed off. They were all civilians waiting to get out of Berlin and they backed off and he wasn’t having it. He took us into a big canteen through the one to the one at the back, sat down at a table. We put the chap, it was up to us to put this chap’s stretcher down. We sat at the table and I still remember to this day the waitress in German type what the waitress in the German type, what the waitress dress whatever it was came up with a dirty great tankard. One of the enormous tankards of beer and I think the four of us must have sat there like this [pause] probably because he laughed and raised his pint and another tankard to be shared between the four of us. And that was the German frontline troops. And at the Dulag apart from their, you know, their routine — CB: Yeah. JP: At the end they gave me this tea party as it were. Took the tea. And Dixie Deans, Dixie Deans incidentally had been shot down early in the war, spoke perfect Germany. He’d worked in Germany and he’d got the very good German senior officer in charge of the place, he’d got him under his thumb. He really, he was brilliant was Dixie Deans. CB: He was a wing commander, was he? JP: No. he was, he was, he was an airman. I don’t suppose he, well he would by that time be officially because you started as a sergeant. CB: Yeah. JP: You got promoted after a year to flight sergeant. I got promoted before then because I was going on to Pathfinders and then you became. a third year became a warrant officer. So Dixie I think by then would have officially been a warrant officer but as far as he was concerned he didn’t know that. He was still a sergeant. CB: Oh. JP: But the NCO aircrew were what’s the, where the officer’s dulag. The officer’s camp was. They were there. The NCO aircrew were there and then they opened this one at Fallingbostel and Dixie was marching. They all were assembled and the group captain who was a prisoner there Dixie had the chaps and gave a, they all marched down, Dixie gave an eyes right and he saluted and the British saluted back and the German in charge of the camp said, ‘They are soldiers.’ And our chaplain said, ‘Of course they are, you fool. They just don’t behave like that to you.’ Or words to that effect. CB: Yeah. JP: I was told this by, Dixie had the committee which were known as the Escape Committee but where we were well there were all sorts of stories there. They, you only want what, three feet down you hit water and we did get a tunnel out through the loo. Some brave bloke went in to this hole in the loo and got a hole in the wall above the water lever and got a tunnel out. And we did get a tunnel out there but I think only one chap got out. Fortunately, very fortunately the guard came who was patrolling outside spotted it otherwise it would mean another one. And when we went to the one in Poland it was an Army camp. Now where at [unclear] you double the whatsit and a long single bar there. Step over that you could [unclear] between the fire. When we got to the Army camp there was only that much difference between there and there and the huts we were in were about from here to there from the wire and there were six huts. There were other ones, but the first six huts and I reckon every hut there had a tunnel going out within twenty four hours of getting there. Fortunately, we were moved before we could finish. CB: Right. JP: Because it would have been a mass break out and they would have just shot them all. CB: Yeah. JP: As they did the officers earlier on. CB: Yeah. JP: So really it was just as well. But the ethos of the time you did your damndest to try and get out. CB: Of course. JP: But a lot didn’t. Some did. I asked Dixie about escaping. He said, ‘How’s your German?’ I said, ‘Non-existent.’ He said, ‘Well, until you can speak German the Escape Committee won’t help you. Only someone who speaks German has a chance of getting away. Anyone else, no.’ So it was very, one chap did get away and escaped and got picked up by the Russians eventually but he spoke fluent German and he was one that Dixie escaped whatsit. They used to, we had our own secret radio there at [Gutersloh]. So well organised and twice a week a couple of chaps would turn up, ‘BBC news chaps.’ And somebody went on the window and watch for safe and they’d read the BBC news which kept us updated with what was going on. It was terribly well [pause] and that radio. How they did it I’m buggered if I know. Mind you, don’t forget we were aircrew which meant we got a lot of wireless ops and also Dixie had the guards organised. First of all, he would or a [unclear] would be briefed. We were not allowed to just [unclear] and eventually got a guard who had taken some [ had got them to bring in some forbidden things like parts of the radio and that sort of thing. And when they got to them they pointed out that he had to do as he was told or they would be reported which meant the Russian Front you see. So Dixie and both these chaps had this all organised. New kriegies like me just ignored it. I mean we just kept schtum. Need to know basis. We didn’t need to know so we kept quiet but I went to a lot of, I know one, at least one chap who got a degree while he was in prison. He’d been shot down at the beginning of the war. He’d been there four years. Or been a prisoner for four years. CB: Yeah. JP: And he got himself organised and he got a degree. So there were chaps who had no interest in escape. They were just interested in surviving. Which was quite understandable. I was interested. Being young and stupid I was interested in escaping. But as I say, Dixie said, ‘No German, you’ve had it.’ Which was probably just as well because I was young and stupid in those days. I mean I turned down being an instructor twice which was a daft thing to do. I often wonder what would have happened if I had. If I’d have taken up in Canada I’d have been an instructor in Canada. Probably. But my instructor in Canada, in Cosford Hospital I met him. He'd come over. He’d done a tour and he’d been shot down. So I met him again. I wish I’d kept in touch. CB: Small world. Yeah. JP: I didn’t unfortunately but I was still an NCO, he was still an officer and there was a gap. I found that out when I became an officer. I could never get the rapport with my crew that I had with my crew during the war. It was, and yet it was quite common for sergeant pilots to have officer members of the crew like my first mid-upper. But the skipper was still the skipper. CB: Yeah. JP: You were still the boss. That was out of the time. CB: Just going back to when you landed. JP: Hmm? CB: Going back to when you landed by parachute. JP: Yes. CB: You said that the young lady was hostile. What happened after you came out of — JP: Well, they took me to, but they took me to, when the bombing stopped they took me to their house and that was where I saw the mirror. CB: Yeah. JP: And I was there, I had a drink of water I think. The big fellow was quite friendly actually. CB: Yeah. JP: And the old lady was quite sorry for the young fella. He said, ‘So jung. So jung.’ CB: Yeah. JP: And we were there for a very short time before the squaddies came to take me to the police station. CB: But did this young lady also go to the house? JP: Oh yes. She was the wife. CB: She was his wife. JP: She was the wife. Well, I don’t know this for sure. CB: Right. JP: But I would say this was a family, local family what we’d have, what would we have had in this country? These little — CB: Well, the Anderson shelter. JP: Yeah. CB: Yeah. It was like an Anderson shelter. CB: Yeah. JP: Very small. I don’t think there were any kids there. I think it was just the two ladies. The old, the old lady and the young lady. I think just the two and as I say the old lady was you know one of the, I remember her saying, ‘So jung.’ And I remember him carrying me in. I saw him in daylight saying, ‘Englander,’ and my immediate reaction was, ‘Nein. Schottelander.’ But — CB: So was this, had you drifted to the outskirts of Berlin. JP: Hmmn? CB: Had you drifted to the outskirts of Berlin? JP: Oh yes, yes that’s why I was — CB: So there was no bombing close. JP: I drifted in to a suburban garden. CB: Yes. JP: Basically, which must have been on the outskirts of Berlin. CB: Yeah. JP: Well away from the bombing. In fact, when I landed as I say I looked up when I fell over and I landed. I released my parachute. It was over a tree and I saw old Nick with his horns and then as I say the goat moved and that was the sort of, oh Nick. CB: Yes. JP: I’m dead. CB: Yeah. JP: And then the goat and I saw that head against the fires. CB: Yeah. JP: Of the fires of, you know — CB: Of the city. JP: Where the bombing was. So I was well away from it. CB: Yeah. JP: So pulling the ‘chute was the right thing to do. CB: It was. JP: But so that was, that was — CB: I’ll stop there. [recording paused] JP: These years with that — CB: With the knowledge of the trip. JP: Terrible regret that I couldn’t save my crew. CB: Yes. JP: I tried at the time. CB: Yes. JP: I knew I was going to die. CB: Yeah. JP: Because I remember thinking mum’s not going to like this or mum’s going to be upset. And the other thought was I wish I’d left a son behind. Which I thought was rather funny. I’d never actually known a woman properly. CB: Did you — JP: I’d courted quite a few but I’d never actually — CB: No. JP: I was still at that, my generation were. CB: Yeah. JP: Or at least a lot of them were. Some of them weren’t of course. CB: No. JP: A lot of my generation. I had four big brothers and they told me sod all. CB: Yes. Other: Yeah. JP: Literally, I knew, you know — CB: Yeah. Nobody enlightened you. JP: There was no sex education in those days and, oh, I remember my brother Sandy. Only one thing he said, ‘Jim, just remember those that would I wouldn’t and those I would don’t.’ That was my advice from Sandy. CB: Right. JP: It took me years to find out those I liked also did [laughs] But that took me a long long time to find out. Fortunately, as I say I met Ursula. CB: Can I just ask you again on this other topic because on a different interview I have done but did you feel in any way guilty in the fact that you were the sole survivor? JP: I think that was part of it. I think that was the — CB: Because you were the captain. JP: Yes. I think that was definitely part of it. That I was the only survivor and my wonderful crew, and they were a wonderful crew really. They were brilliant. I mean, we were good as a crew. We really, we deserved to be Pathfinders but I think now and I didn’t think even when I wrote the book I hadn’t had that thought I’ve had a lot more I know, in fact I do a talk. It’s over there. I do a talk with one of the squad things on the importance of Bomber Command. CB: Right. JP: It started off as a talk in my book. CB: Yes. JP: Which I did to a school and it went very well. CB: I bet. JP: And then with doing research I learned so much more and I learned just how important Bomber Command was. There were two crucial raids. One was that first raid on Berlin. What happened at the time, I’ve got it in my book, what happened was that a Luftwaffe pilot dropped his bombs on London. I don’t think he was meant to. I think the silly bugger got lost probably but this is, anyway someone bombed Berlin. CB: Yes. JP: And Churchill was livid and ordered the RAF to bomb, bomb London rather, the RAF to bomb Berlin. CB: Yes. JP: Approximately eighty odd aircraft set out. About twenty nine of them got there. CB: Yes. JP: The others couldn’t find it. CB: Yeah. JP: But they did bomb it. Hitler was livid and took the Luftwaffe off bombing the airfields and the radar stations to set up the Blitz and set up the Blitz on London. CB: Yeah. JP: If he’d not done that we could have lost the Battle of Britain. CB: Yeah. JP: Because they could have knocked out all those airfields. The Luftwaffe was very powerful at that time. CB: Yeah. Yeah. JP: They could have knocked, you know, it could have cost us the battle of Britain if he hadn’t done that. CB: Yeah. JP: And the second one was the thousand bomber raid. CB: On Cologne. JP: Because, on Cologne. No. It wasn’t Cologne. It was another one. Was it Cologne? CB: Cologne. On Cologne. Yeah. The cathedral. JP: The Luftwaffe immediately realised the significance of that. That we turned Germany in to, the whole of Germany into a battlefield and they had to bring, instead of supporting the troops in the field they had to bring back aircraft, pilots, thousands and thousands of the best anti-tank gun in the war. The German got the, it’s in the book. That that gun was also — CB: The 88 millimetre. JP: Hmmn? CB: The 88 millimetre. JP: Indeed. That 88 gun was a brilliant gun. CB: Yes. JP: I’ve been told. CB: Yes. JP: I’ve been told that even by soldiers as well. CB: Yeah. JP: Anti-tank. But they had to bring all those back and put them all over Germany as we knew because the bastards every time we bombed a city the flak was horrendous so there was lots of guns there. CB: Yeah. JP: And the men to man them. It could be argued but for that the Germans could have put Russia out of the war before our invasion was ready. CB: Yeah. JP: So, Bomber Command was vital. Yeah. Apart from the obvious that they bombed and Harris when he got, he put up that he was going to do area bombing and they were [pause] you see at the beginning of the war Bomber Command crews dropped leaflets on Germany. CB: Yes. JP: Men were lost dropping bloody leaflets on Germany. CB: Yeah. Yeah. JP: And they were also ordered not to bomb with slightest chance of killing a civilian at the beginning. We weren’t ready for war. CB: Right. JP: Mentally or otherwise and those early aircraft were bloody, I know, I’ve flown two of them. CB: Yeah. JP: They were — CB: Nightmare. JP: Hmmn? CB: Nightmare to fly. JP: Yeah. They were alright, but they weren’t, compared to the Lancasters you know they weren’t a patch on those. The Lancasters were brilliant. A really wonderful aircraft but as I say we weren’t, we weren’t ready for war and the same people who had us operating are now, I mean I’ve been asked if I wasn’t ashamed of being a bomber pilot. That’s one of the things that set me off on proving how necessary we were. The first was when I was doing my teacher training. A young, one of the other young chaps on the course said, ‘Weren’t you a bomber pilot? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?’ So I said, ‘Sprechen sie Deutsch?’ And he looked at me. I said, ‘Sprechen sie Deutsch?’ ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I said, ‘I’m asking if you speak German?’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Well, you bloody well would if we hadn’t bombed the bastards.’ That was my attitude at the time. CB: Yes. JP: I was but not so long ago a teacher, a retired teacher at the prep school here, from the prep school here three of us went to, they have a very nice little service at the, Battle of Britain service privately at the school, the prep school and three of us went to that. One was an ex-Battle of Britain pilot, a pal of mine from [unclear] and one who was, who had been involved with Coastal Command on Mossies but was a bombers still. He was a Coastal Command Mossies. And this chap asked us, you know what we’d been doing and Brian who’s the talker amongst the three of us, Brian said, ‘He was a Battle of Britain pilot.’ ‘Oh wonderful. Oh yes.’ ‘What was yours?’ he said, ‘I was a Coastal Command pilot.’ ‘Oh.’ And Brian said, ‘He was a bomber pilot.’ And his face went. Oh. And I looked at him and I thought you don’t approve of me being a bomber pilot. No. Well, of course, ‘Why did we bomb Dresden? ‘I said, ‘I’ll lend you my book on it. You’ll see why.’ CB: Yeah. JP: Which I did. It’s up there. CB: Right. JP: The book on Dresden and it’s a different story. CB: Yes. JP: If you read that. CB: Yeah. JP: One of, one of the things that was so important was it was a [pause] what’s the word for it? A nice pleasant place. CB: Yes. Well, architecturally it was superb. JP: Yeah. But what people don’t know was that the railway feeding the Russian Front, the German troops to the Russian Front passed through there. So far as I know the Russians asked us to bomb. CB: They did. Yeah. JP: The other thing was why did we bomb so near the end of the war. At that time if you’d asked when the war would end they would say imminently, now or ten years, twelve years, twelve months’ time because there was no sign of Hitler giving up. So we didn’t, when I was in, I was in prison camp at the time so I had nothing to do with that but if I’d been flying I would have bombed the place I’d been told to. You just went to where you were told to do. CB: Well, they’d only just had the Battle of the Bulge. JP: Yeah. And also, don’t forget — CB: Yeah. JP: Is that the Americans also bombed Dresden. CB: Yeah. JP: We bombed it at night and the next morning — CB: The Americans did it. JP: The Americans bombed it. CB: Yeah. JP: But this was where the bad things come in and that same attitude which is Bomber Command was Churchill our hero at the time when he was giving his valedictory speech about the forces after the war carefully avoided any mention of Bomber Command. And there was no Bomber Command medal. There should have been. They’ve given us a stupid little — CB: The clasp. JP: The clasp. There should, there should have been a Bomber Command medal really. CB: Yeah. JP: When you think of the casualties that we had and the, there was such, so a few of us really. I was amazed really with how few of us there were overall. Over the whole lot and over a third of them got the chop. CB: Well, forty four percent were killed. JP: Yeah. Yeah. Well, there we are. CB: Good. JP: So Churchill I’m afraid — CB: Let you down. JP: I didn’t really approve of him. CB: No. JP: We’ve been virtually ignored all these years and yet, and yet from my research about Bomber Command played a vital part in the war. Very vital. CB: Absolutely. Yeah. JP: Yeah. CB: Yeah. JP: I think without Bomber Command we could have lost the war. We really could. Germany had enslaved the whole, just about the whole of Europe. There was a story told about, what’s the one part in the Alps there. Oh, what’s, what’s the country? The very [pause] oh God. The one between France and Italy. Not — CB: Not Switzerland? JP: Hmmmn? CB: Switzerland. JP: Switzerland. CB: Yes. JP: Switzerland. My memory is going by the way. CB: That’s ok. JP: Words disappear in mid-sentence. CB: Yes. I know. JP: You know. I’d like a cheese and [pause] and I couldn’t think of the word tomato until I went to the larder and saw it. I’m definitely going gaga. No two ways about it. But Switzerland there was a story told about the Nazi general said to the Swiss general, ‘What would you do if we invaded you with five hundred or six hundred men or whatever.’ The Swiss general said, ‘I would order all my troops to fire twice [laughs] CB: Go on. JP: The Swiss had his own rifle. CB: Yes. JP: Every Swiss was a marksman. CB: Yeah. JP: That’s what he was saying. If you try and invade us we will fight back. CB: Yeah. JP: And incidentally, by the way, again with my research Yugoslavia had a very good Army but the defensive point was there and that’s one, that part is for Germans. Because Germany after the war they lost the Rhineland which Hitler walked into without objection from anybody. They, they lost this part of Czechoslovakia. The name escapes me. It’s in there. CB: Sudetenland. JP: Hmmn? CB: Sudetenland. JP: Sudetenland. The Sudetenland. He walked, because when they lost Sudetenland that was their major defensive area so when he walked in there and took that over when they did go to return they no longer were in a position to defend themselves. CB: No. JP: And he assured before that happened he assured what’s his name? Our prime minister of the time. CB: Chamberlain. JP: Chamberlain. At the time and the French he had no further — Other: Intention. JP: To go any further. And Chamberlain, I heard Chamberlain on the radio saying, ‘And now we are at war with Germany.’ CB: Did you? JP: And I’ll swear that man was near tears because he’d fought in the First World War. CB: Yeah. JP: So, there we are. CB: Well, Jim Penny, thank you for a most interesting interview. Thank you. JP: Is that ok? CB: Yeah. Other: Fabulous. 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 Jim Penny. Two Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chris Brockbank 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 2017-09-05 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. Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context APennyJA170905, PPennyJ1501 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review Pending revision of OH transcription Description An account of the resource After volunteering for the RAF, Jim Penny began his training which also took him to USA. He was present when the announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbour was made and all RAF trainees could openly wear their uniforms as the two countries were officially allies. He found the steering difficult on the two training aircraft and was scrubbed from the course but when he was interviewed by RAF personnel he was reposted back on to pilot training. On returning to the UK to finalise his training he crewed up and was posted to 97 Squadron Pathfinders based at RAF Bourn. On one occasion, during a test flight, the winds were intense and his request to land at a different runway was refused. He ordered the crew to take crash positions and, on landing, the undercarriage collapsed. The CO witnessed the crash and when he found out that the change of runway request had been refused he dismissed the duty controller immediately. The mid-upper gunner was told on one occasion that he had to get a new flight suit because of the bad state of the one he was wearing, but he refused saying it was his lucky flight suit. He was dismissed by the CO and Jim was given a new gunner. Jim flew operations as a pilot with 97 Squadron from RAF Bourn until his aircraft was shot down over Berlin 24 November 1943 and he became a prisoner of war. All other members of the crew were killed. Language A language of the resource eng 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. Canada Germany Great Britain England--Cambridgeshire Germany--Berlin Germany--Cologne France--Montluçon Germany--Ruhr (Region) France Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 1943-11-23 1943-11-24 1944 1945 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 01:30:58 audio recording Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Julie Williams Maureen Clarke 97 Squadron aircrew anti-aircraft fire Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) bombing Lancaster love and romance Pathfinders pilot prisoner of war RAF Bourn searchlight shot down Stalag 357 Stalag Luft 6 strafing the long march training Typhoon https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1009/11194/EMadgettLR-AGMadgettHR411207-0003.1.jpg c59255649323b34b34deb7b9e20c5ac8 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1009/11194/EMadgettLR-AGMadgettHR411207-0001.1.jpg ae4cec114a57e572538b5ce5f19e1f0d https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1009/11194/EMadgettLR-AGMadgettHR411207-0002.1.jpg 4d1fdd31d4bad938479e312701c695e1 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 Madgett, Hedley Robert H R Madgett Description An account of the resource 250 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Hedley Madgett DFM (1922 - 1943, 147519, 1330340 Royal Air Force), a pilot with 61 Squadron. He was killed 18 August 1943 on the last operation of his tour from RAF Syerston to Peenemünde. The collection consists of letters, postcards and telegrams to his parents while he was training in the United Kingdom and Canada. In addition the collection contains memorabilia, documents from the Air Training Corps, artwork, a railway map, diaries, medals as well as his logbook, photographs of people, places and aircraft. Also contains letters of condolence to parents and a sub collection containing a photograph album with 44 items of his time training in Canada'.<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Joan Madgett and Carol Gibson, and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br /><span>Additional information on Hedley Madgett is available via the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/114690/" title="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/madgett-hr/ ">IBCC Losses Database</a><span>.</span> 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 2015-03-17 2019-06-14 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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Madgett, H 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 Telegram from Hedley Madgett to his parents Description An account of the resource Telegram reads 'Hut 14A Course 33 34 SFTS RAF Medicine=Hat Alberta, extremely busy only two days Xmas Love=Hedley.' Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-12-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Printed telegram and envelope Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EMadgettLR-AGMadgettHR411207 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Royal Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Canada Alberta--Medicine Hat Great Britain England--Kent England--London Alberta Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 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 Hedley Robert Madgett https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/709/10107/ABirchallJW170816.1.mp3 ea889d81b3af8f15e94dfed07b1db474 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 Birchall, James William J W Birchall Description An account of the resource An oral history interview with James Birchall (b. 1923, 16062 Royal Air Force). He was shot down and became a prisoner of war. The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff. 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 2017-08-16 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 Birchall, JW Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document DB: This interview is with James William Birchall and it’s on the 16th of August 2017 at 15.50 hours. Also present in the room is Mr Brian Keen. James — or apologies, Jimmy. JB: Thank you. DB: Tell me a little bit about your life before you joined the RAF. JB: The RAF. If I start reading. I left grammar school at sixteen which was the usual time then. I went into a solicitor’s office. At eighteen I wanted to volunteer for the RAF and I was in the Air Training Corps. My older colleagues were volunteering but at that time there were too many volunteers so they put us on what they called deferred service. ‘We’ll call you back in another six months to start your training for air crew.’ I thought if I go in December they’ll call me back in June which would be about the right time to start. But on the 7th December 1941, I remember that date because it was Pearl Harbour, I went to RAF Cardington for medicals. The warrant officer said, ‘You’re one of the lucky ones. Down for immediate service.’ I said, ‘No. I don’t want to come in the middle. I want to come in the middle of the year.’ And he said, ‘Oh, you’ll have to explain that to the group captain and it’s Friday afternoon and he’s gone playing golf. You can’t see him ‘til Monday.’ So, I stayed in this empty camp. Everyone had gone off for the weekend. The warrant officer on Monday said, ‘Write out why you should be given this deferred service.’ He underlined various sentences in red pencil, went into the group captain, came out and said, ‘The group captain’s considered your case and you’re still on immediate service.’ I went to the Aircrew Receiving Centre and that’s ACRC at St Johns Wood. Spent Christmas there on picket duty. Then finally went for the Initial Training Wing at Stratford on Avon where you did initial training. Square bashing, learning aviation law and things like that. Then you did what was called a grading course flying Tiger Moths to see if you had an aptitude because most of the flying training at that time was done in South Africa or Canada or America. Our weather was too bad. Anyhow, I soloed in eight and a half hours. If you hadn’t soloed by ten hours then you were out. I soloed in eight and a half hours. The instant I’d done this I was shipped off to Calgary in Alberta, Canada. It’s rather a coincidence that my son who is a medical consultant he got a scholarship to Stow and then on to Cambridge to study medicine. He’s there now. I won’t carry on about him. He is married and has three daughters. Flying training. I did my elementary flying training in Calgary in PT17s which were like biplanes made by Boeings. They’re still using them today for wing walking. Single-engined. Very good for aerobatics. Very good for training. From there they assessed your aptitude for fighter aircraft or multi-engined aircraft. Bombers. I thoroughly enjoyed instrument flying. We did some instrument flying in the PT17s with the hood up. Then I, we were then moved to Service Flying Training School which was at a place called Penhold, flying Oxfords. And it was parallel to the Rockies. I got my wings on the 18th of December 1942, exactly a year from my start. Sailed back from New York in the Queen Elizabeth carrying fifteen thousand troops. Mostly American. Crossing the Atlantic at the height of the U-boat packs. There were too many of us but at that time the RAF had units that would absorb you. So they gave us a commando course at Whitley Bay. Swimming in the North Sea in January and February wasn’t fun. To assimilate us back in to flying we went on a refresher course and then we did a lot of beam approach flying and then from there on we progressed to OTUs. Operational Training Units where we flew heavy twins. Wellingtons. Lovely aircraft. The pilot had a cushioned leather seat instead of just a metal bucket seat where you sat on your parachute. Wellingtons are much heavier, much bigger than Oxfords. We did a course of about fifty hours flying Wellingtons from Seighford near Stafford. And then here in a big hangar at Stafford men were gathered in groups of aircrew. Navigators, bomb aimers, radio operators and rear gunners. ‘Go and pick your crew.’ That’s how it was done. We then trained as a crew on Wellingtons. Did one or two operational flights at the end of our training over North France. From there we progressed to a Lancaster Finishing School. LFS at Lindholme near Doncaster flying Halifaxes and Lancasters. About the same size as Lancasters Halifaxes were much heavier to fly with a very strong undercarriage. I’ve got here built like a brick shithouse but I don’t know whether you [laughs] Lancasters were a delight to fly. Beautifully balanced. More delicate. But you had to be careful on take-off. If we opened up and then it goes on to say that they would normally swing to the left and you’d got to be ready to correct it. After Lancaster, Lanc Finishing School I went to 12 Squadron in 1 Group at Wickenby near Lincoln. I did three or four bombing trips there. One was to Hanover. And then it’s here where we were shot up by a Messerschmitt 109 and we got the impression, it felt like a bucket of hot coals had been thrown over us because it was a tracer hitting us. I felt a kick in my back and nothing else. And then we were — we lost our mid-upper gunner. He was, his Perspex turret had splintered and part had gone in his eye and he lost his eye. At the time I got — I then went with him to the Medical Centre. We were x-rayed and they found that I’d got a bullet in my back, and a couple of — I’m getting [pause] Then I, when I was in hospital at Rauceby for three months when I was fit again I was a head without a crew because my crew had been cannibalised while I was away. But there was another crew without a head in 103 Squadron. Their captain had gone on a flight as a second pilot with another crew to get experience and he’d been shot down. So, here was a headless crew and here was a head without a crew. That crew had been trained together from the beginning. They were all NCOs, and ultimately when we were shot down they were sent to an NCO POW camp all together. So, I never really saw them again until after the war. Another trip of interest was to Nuremberg on the 30th of March 1944. I think everyone knows that date. And the briefing we got from Bomber Harris said, ‘Very shortly Bomber Command will be called upon to support the invasion of Europe.’ And Sir Arthur Harris is anxious to strike at one last target before this happens. It’s a target he knows is very dear to Churchill’s heart. Nuremberg deserves a maximum effort and that is what it’ll get. Then there will be ten squadrons in one group, eight squadrons 3 Group. Etcetera. In addition there are fifteen Mosquitoes adopting an intruder role. So you will have lots of company but keep a good look out at turning points. And then it says Pilot Officer JW Birchall, Captain, Lancaster ND700 which took off at 22.10, landed at 06.46. Coming back of interest he coasted in at Selsey Bill. We were based south of the Humber. Ninety six aircraft were lost and a further ten were damaged on landing and were written off. I think I’ve got further details separately. The type of German night fighter technique, it was called schrage musik which apparently means slanting music which means jazz. It’s the German for jazz. The twin engine night fighters mounted four twenty millimetre cannon behind the pilot, sticking out of the cockpit at an angle. The ground radar monitored these night fighters in to the bomber stream and using his airborne radar the navigator could direct his pilot towards the target. When he got about two miles away the night fighter could duck down and come up underneath the bomber. We didn’t even rumble it. We couldn’t see underneath in Lancasters. He could then almost read the registration of the aircraft fifty feet above him. They then had the gunsight arranged so they didn’t aim at the middle of the aircraft to kill the crew. They were like ourself. He just wanted to knock out the aircraft. And — no I won’t. So, I think this is getting a bit laboured isn’t it? The next one was Dusseldorf on the 22nd of April. I think I’ll probably try and summarise that. They were, on our squadron there were fifteen aircraft detailed to go to Dusseldorf and we lined up each side of the runway and the aircraft ahead of us, we were still waiting, took off and on take-off he swung off the runway into the soft ground. Undercarriage collapsed. His bomb load exploded and we could see the crew evacuating, rushing off. But instead of cancelling operations the tower said, ‘We’ll change to runway — ’ I think it was runway 22. So it meant that all the ones behind me had all got to turn around with their bomb load on on the perimeter track. And some got off and some didn’t. And we had just got to the stage where we were lined up and then the tower said, ‘Aircraft not airborne return to dispersal.’ Now, at that time we were conscious that the set course time had been and gone about twenty minutes before. So we were going to be twenty minutes late even if — so I said to the chaps, ‘What shall we do? Shall we do as we are told and go back to dispersal or shall we go?’ So, we all said, ‘Oh, let’s go.’ So we all went and tried to catch them up. I asked the navigator to give me a straighter course. He did this, which took us right through the Ruhr up to Dusseldorf and so we, we got hammered going through the Ruhr and by the time we could see the fire of Dusseldorf ahead of us we were still about thirty miles below it err before it so we carried on. We dropped our bombs. And then we turned for home and suddenly something hit us. Just about knocked us on our back. And it must have been one of these night fighters with its four twenty millimetre cannon. It had formated underneath us and bingo. The number three engine, the starboard inner engine was on fire. We put out the fire. The engineer put out the fire with the extinguisher and we feathered the engine and we were going to hope to get home on three engines. But then we saw the fire come back again and it was really burning very intensely and getting very close to our number one tank which I remember was five hundred and eighty gallons. It got to the stage where we couldn’t do anything about it. We used the fire extinguisher. So I had to, told the crew to abandon the aircraft. Well, to abandon aircraft in Lancasters you have got to be dominated by that big spar which goes right across. So, people like the wireless operator, the rear gunner, the mid-upper gunner who were behind, aft of that big spar could go out through the main back door. The people who were in front of that would never stand a chance with parachutes on and all the rest of it so they would go out through a small hatch underneath the chin of the aircraft. It was a padded seat that the bomb aimer used to lie on while he was lining up his sights. So the place was blazing. I was holding it as fast as I could while the other ones got out. I could see the flight engineer went out, the bomb aimer went out. And I managed to see the navigator and he went out but I had a, an impression that his flying boots were on fire somehow. And he was interested in knocking flames out when he went out. And unfortunately the bomb aimer, whose job was to jettison that hatch before he went out he brought it indoor and he’d left it inside. And with the motion and the suction this I could see as the navigator went out wedged cornerways in the hatch. I couldn’t get out myself there. So the only way I thought was to get out through the roof. Now, I wasn’t thinking rightly because the little exit in the glass panelling we used in practices for dinghy drill with the aircraft supposedly floating on the water so we had to get out above it. But if you’ve got a parachute on and your flying gear to get out so I remember I panicked. I tried to rip this metal canopy apart. Couldn’t do that. So then I hit on the idea unhook my parachute, push it through still holding the rip cord and then I could follow it out. And it pulled me out so I was lucky to get out. So, that was how I made my entrance into Germany. Now, I I think I’m, that was a photo, a squadron photograph we had taken. I’ve got an arrow here with me. In the original which the wireless operator got he’d got a little arrow on this side but it’s chopped off a bit so we couldn’t see. So I put a ring around it. But it shows how big a Lancaster was when you see the whole squadron including the bull dog which was the mascot. But then you have the WAAF drivers. You have all the ground crew and it’s a lot of people to man fifteen aircraft. I think that was just on the official records of this ME 741 in 103 Squadron. It was built in April ’44 and it was lost over Dusseldorf on the 23rd of April having only flown thirty one hours. My capture — well I don’t think that’s [pause] I landed. Well, in your battledress you had a kit which gave you foreign currency and of maps of Europe so you could escape. And as was coming down I got all this out and I thought oh, this is alright. I can make a trip now through Germany and Spain. I also noticed that I heard the German all clear because we were so far behind the rest of them once they shot me down there was nothing [laughs] That made sense because we were the last aircraft over the Ruhr and we’d been shot down. So they sounded the all clear and I remember thinking the German all clear is the same as ours. I started to concentrate on where I was going. It was a moonlight night. I could see the River Rhine and thought I was going to land in it. And I could see I was drifting away from the Rhine so I was alright. Then I could see something round coming up in the moonlight and I thought that’s either a round greenhouse or a summer house. I couldn’t make out what it was I was aiming for. And I plonked down and found it was an ack-ack gun emplacement and these were all the sandbags around it. There was only one Luftwaffe man guarding it. The rest had all gone back to their billets having heard the all clear. He was surprised and he called an officer who attempted to interrogate me. He spoke, ‘Some German?’ I said, ‘No,’ I said, ‘English?’ He said, ‘No.’ So we had a bit of French and didn’t get very far. A train took us. We got a train the following day to Krefeld where we were to be taken to a Luftwaffe collection point for shot down POWs. At that time there were a lot of Americans because every time a Flying Fortress got shot down there was a ten strong crew. We got off the train and we walked. Walked to the town centre where a tram car would take us to the collection place. I was with this corporal who made me carry my parachute. I’d landed heavily so my knees were very painful. On the way to the square we made to turn up a little side street when he hesitated and walked past it. I thought oh he doesn’t know his way. But as I walked past that little street I had a glance up there and saw four RAF sergeants hanging from lampposts. Krefeld was part of the Ruhr which had taken an enormous pounding. And I thought this is real, this is happening. When we got to the Square and waited for the tram car people gathered around to see one of the terror fliegers carrying his parachute. They were very volatile. Surged in. Kicked me. Hit me. I remember one big plump fellow with a walking stick shouting that I’d, ‘Bomben my kinder and frau in Dusseldorf.’ He walloped into me. Knocked me down, kicked me, jumped on me. I was losing consciousness when I heard a pistol shot. I think it must have been the guard whose responsibility I was. Four SS men arrived which terrified me even more in their black uniforms with skull, silver skull and crossbone badges. But they held the crowd back ‘til the tram came along. Two of them came on the tram with the guard and for once in my life I was grateful to the SS for saving me from being hung up on that next lamp post. That was a bit of the parachute which I got the crew to sign after the war. I’ll just rabbit on. I don’t want to. Yes? The interrogation — we were at this collection point for a couple of days when they took us, a group of us, mostly Americans to the main flyer’s interrogation centre at Oberursel near Frankfurt. Built specifically for interrogating prisoners. I was in a solitary cell, eight by six. I paced up and down. The walls were all lined with some sort of thick absorbent cardboard and the window had bars on it. It was hot in Frankfurt in April and in the daytime they would switch on a big radiator in each room and close the shutters from the outside so you really cooked. At night the radiators went cold and the shutters were opened so you were exposed to the night and got very cold. That was the only form of torture I suffered. They fed us much the same blah blah blah. After about a week I was taken to a big interrogation office where a Luftwaffe major who spoke excellent English did the interrogating. He was very friendly. He said, ‘I’ve told the German High Command that you are a shot down British airman but they don’t believe me. You are a spy.’ I said, ‘No. I’m not a spy. I’m wearing my uniform. I’ve got my dog tags for identification.’ He said, ‘Yes. But all spies, not knowing where they are going to land put on a uniform so they, they’d be helped by the Geneva Convention. Dog tags. they’re no proof.’ He said, ‘Well, tell me about your aeroplane. If you are a shot down British airman we’ll have the wreckage of your plane with its registration on. Tell us that.’ I said, ‘No. All I can tell you is name, rank and number.’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘Tell us some members of your crew because we will have caught those. That will confirm you are a shot down British airman.’ ‘No. Name, rank and number.’ So, he said, ‘Well, I’m sorry. I can’t convince them that you’re not a spy.’ And then, well they, which is the German High Command I think, ‘You’re not a spy and that orders are that at 8 o’clock tomorrow you will be shot.’ I didn’t sleep much that night. 8 o’clock still no jack boots down the corridor outside my bell. Breakfast came at the usual time. I was there for another week thinking that if they ask me again I’ll tell them anything they want to know to prove that I was a shot down airman and not a spy. Well, it just goes on. But anyhow the next time he interviewed me he had, it was in the same briefing room but he’d got a large map on the back wall and a lot of these manilla folders with the squadron crest on the front. And he thumbed through these and he had his pink tape on the map behind him but he didn’t have our base on it. The tape was just from the English coast. They could monitor where the bomber stream was on the radar. He was thumbing through some brown manilla files on his desk. Each one with the squadron crest on. ‘Oh yes. 103 Squadron. Recently you’ve had quite a few losses on your squadron.’ On such a night so and so was shot down. He had three or four of these but thinking about it they had been shot down. They’d have been interrogated so he'd have got their details. Then he said, ‘Did you know your squadron commander had been recommended for his DSO?’ We didn’t. I didn’t know if it was true. He was looking to see my reaction each time to confirm if what he was saying was correct. I asked him about one of my chums who was shot down and hadn’t come back. ‘No. He probably had to ditch in the North Sea so we wouldn’t have any details of him.’ All very plausible. So, he asked me one question about the funnel. The leading light funnel leading to the runway. And he called this, he says, ‘Out of interest what’s this Christmas tree you have at night along your runway? A series of lights you call a Christmas tree.’ Did he mean the six mile funnel of lead in lights? One aircraft was coming in to the land and unknown to us a night fighter infiltrated. Coming in behind him on final approach. Positioned under him and shot him, shot. The aircraft crashed and they were all killed. This must have been what he was talking about. So it was a different form of interrogation he made. Confirmation of known facts and the Christmas tree question. But he did give me the consolation, ‘We’ve established you’re a shot down airman.’ Can we have a break now? [recording paused] After the interrogation they took us by train to Stalag Luft 3 at Sagan in Silesia. The notorious camp of the Great Escape where seventy six officers escaped on the night of March the 24th ’44. Only three got back to England. The rest were re-captured and on Hitler’s express orders fifty were shot. I arrived in the camp before this fact was known. The senior British officer, Group Captain Massey demanded of the German commandant that their bodies should be returned for a decent internment and perhaps a monument. And although told that they had been shot while escaping the bodies came back to indicate that they had not been shot in the back but in the front. It looks like a firing squad. We tried to find things to do. I read the whole of Charles Dickens. We had one navigator and he set off to run a navigation course up to the standard of the Civil Navigator’s Licence Second Class. You could get documents through the Red Cross and do the final exam through them. It was something constructive to do and I got my licence. We had lots of theatres. There were, there were POWs who enjoyed training for theatre work and they used to put on a play for us every week or two. We, the audience dressed in our best blue which we’d sent from home. I remember Blythe Spirit. And Messaline, which was written in the camp about a Greek prostitute, I think. There was Pud Davies, that was Rupert Davies who later played Maigret on television. Then there was Commander John Casson RN. He was the son of Dame Sybil Thorndike. He worked in the management side of theatre. There was Talbot Rothwell as was known. We knew him as Tolley. Another expert thespian who now produces the Carry On films. And also Peter Butterworth who was also on the Carry On team. There was one effeminate Squadron Leader, Bobby Lomas who always played the female. And the whole camp, starved of female fancied him. There was no rapport with the German guards with strict rules, but when we had a theatre show we invited the commandant and the senior guards to come and gave them the front seat. And we of course dressed in our best blue. So, all very prim and proper. We were still tunnelling. There was one under the theatre hut. And you — the tunnels dug through sandy soil required to be shored up by slats from bed boards, and each bed had eight slats. And when you were called to surrender one slat for shoring up the tunnel you took the biggest slat and split it in two so you gave one to the tunnel but you still had eight. You could see the Germans doing inspections through the windows as you were lined up outside counting the slats. But the slats were getting thinner and thinner and eventually a bed would collapse. If it was the top one of three tiers it would come crashing down on the two beneath. No more tunnels were successful while I was there. Then we met the winter, the bitter winter and the Russians started their offensive across Poland, and they had liberated Warsaw. And at Sagan we heard rumours that we POWs were either going to be shot or taken on a trek. Hitler wanted to hang on to POW officers for possible bargaining at the war’s end. They could let the Russians take other ranks from their camps to Odessa and ship them back to England. The week before we’d seen horses and trailers with big boilers and chimneys. One or two people had been in Belsen or Buchenwald and had even seen these Death Camps. So we started to get a bit twitchy when a dozen of these boilers were lined up outside. Were they going to incinerate us? We decided that if they did we’d make a mad rush for the wire and try to climb over. We’d all be shot but it was better than being cooked. Anyhow, the following morning it had all gone. It was a German field kitchen. On the 27th of January, about 10.30pm we got the call, ‘We are marching out in one hour’s time. Take a blanket, take your overcoat, your greatcoat and gloves if you’ve got any.’ And we left at midnight on that date, the 27th of January where snow had been snowing for the past three weeks. And we marched for two or three weeks in the snow from then. The Germans didn’t know where we were going. We were just wandering aimlessly about. It got really cold and we had one instance where we were sleeping just outside the, on a barn, outside a barn. And in the morning the Germans came, prodded three officers but they had frozen to death during the night. One was Pop Green. He was quite an old one. I was marching on the side when I, with German tanks going past I collapsed having been struck by a tank and I was just hauled out by my buddies. We all pulled together. We marched almost to Hanover where they took us by train. Locked us in cattle trucks labelled forty hommes or eight chevaux. They packed us in as tight as they could and we travelled about Germany for two or three days. Those with dysentery were crowded into one corner and the rest took turns sleeping. Half lying down while the others half stood up. We were occasionally given rations when a field kitchen caught us up. It was barley glop. Boiled up barley but it was nice and hot. We drank rusty water from the tap on the side of the engine. When the train stopped we were allowed to walk about with the guards all around. The spring weather came and we were met very often by Typhoons or Tempests, some of which came out of from Selsey. The — that time they had they, they thought that we were German troops evacuating so they would take pot shots at us. And on one occasion towards dusk we were parked in a field with guards all around and we heard Merlin engines. A Mosquito doing a reccy had spotted a field full of troops so soon, the next thing a Typhoon came and had a go at us. One or two people got injured. Part of our walk finished up in a field by a German autobahn with a bridge nearby. Under it for safety were four or five German horse drawn carts. A couple of Typhoons spotted them and started shooting, annoyingly killing the poor old horses. We felt very sorry about that. As we crossed the Elbe some more Typhoons or Tempests had a go at the ferry. Wasn’t very successful. Nobody was hit. We then stayed at a place near Lubeck and we were told that we need not stay in Lubeck because they had typhus or, or typhoid. Instead we were permitted, we got the German commandant to agree to take over a large estate and he was very cooperative then because he knew the end of the war was in sight and he hoped we would speak up for him afterwards. Anyhow, we persuaded the troops, the German troops to throw hand grenades into the lake. The fish floated to the top and we swam in and got them. We dined well from there. When we got back to England they expected us to be skin and bone but we were fine and fit from living in the open. The, the Germans surrendered on May the 8th. We were, on May the 2nd we were liberated by a jeep with a driver and a British army corporal who stumbled across us. ‘You’re all liberated now. Stay here. Don’t try and wander. We’ll arrange transport to take you back to England,’ So, they took us to a Luftwaffe station called Diepholz where Dakotas or Lancasters took us back to England where we arrived in the afternoon and interrogated to find out what we’d seen in Germany that might be of interest. Any secret weapons or whatever. They gave us money, identity papers, clothing, railway warrants. So, on the 8th of May, VE Day we worked right through the night and I was given a train pass and arrived home the next morning in South Lancashire. No one was at home. They were all at church celebrating VE day. When they came back what a surprise. They’d heard nothing from me since September the previous year. [recording paused] My trip back from Germany was from a place, a German Luftwaffe station called Diepholz and we came back in a Dakota to one of the OTUs, in Oxfordshire I suppose, called Wing. It so happened that my future wife was in air traffic control at a place called [pause] it was at Westcott where the — no. My mind’s gone. Hut in Stalag Luft 3. We had fifteen of us in three tier bunks and in the top bunk there was a New Zealand squadron leader called Len Trent. And he was, used to be sleeping there in the afternoon and we had nothing else to talk about so we used to spend hours arguing who would win the war. Would it be fighters or bombers? And then we heard his voice, ‘For Christ sake shut up. I want to get some sleep.’ And we all stayed together where ever we went. We all stayed together. And we finished up by being interrogated in England. And there was Len and the other fourteen of us and we were all wanting to get cracking so we could get off home but Len was still being interrogated and talked. And we said, ‘Come on Len. Come on. You’re holding us up.’ But, ‘No. No. No. Shut up. No.’ And it was then, just after VJ day that word came out that Leonard Trent, New Zealand Air Force had just got the VC. And he hadn’t mentioned it of course to us. Well, he didn’t know at that time. So, that was Len Trent. I think it was three trips at 12 Squadron at Wickenby and then I got this bullet in my back. So, of course that was, although my crew then, we’d all been trained together I lost them at that time when I had to go in to hospital. They’d been cannibalised and so as I said I had then to take over a new crew on 103 Squadron and we didn’t do very many trips there. Altogether I think it was about twelve, thirteen but this was the time in April ’44 when the Germans had really organised themselves with these four cannon. And they would see where the bomber stream was going. They would then direct the night fighters into the bomber stream. The navigator in that night fighter could see his echoes and he would then direct his pilot on to the targets there. And when he got within two miles they’d duck down underneath and from then on [pause] And I spoke afterwards. Went to a place in London. There was some discussion I vaguely remember. Lord Tedder was there. But this fellow was a night fighter pilot and he said that it was, he regularly shot down four or five Lancasters every trip he did. And the average tour length at that time was about seven because you didn’t stand a chance. Yes. When I was shot down the team at the back got the mid-upper gunner, who was unconscious having had his face shot up. And they hooked his parachute hand over the ripcord which was the you know, the silver thing on the side which, and he was unconscious but they turfed him out thinking well that was the best they could do for him. And apparently he woke up the following day in a cabbage field. Blood all over himself and the parachute there. So he must have automatically pulled his parachute. So, I met them all afterwards and he’d lost his eye so coincidence that I had two mid-upper gunners lost their eye. But there are bits when you’re sitting on top there. There’s any, I’ve got the strip. These were reflections. We were all very young. Initially it was a game. I’ve got the parachute of the trip I was shot down in. I got the crew to sign it. The camp we were in. Fifteen sleeping in three tier bunks. Well, this was on the top bunk was Len Trent, New Zealand accent said, ‘For Christ sake.’ During that week in solitary in the beginning I thought I must think of something. Today, I will think entirely for the whole of the day on my mother, tomorrow my father, then my brother. Dragging up everything I could think about them to keep my mind occupied. How people survive in solitary for months I don’t know. I didn’t have a girlfriend at that time. I didn’t meet Heather ‘til after the war. So, I don’t think — these are just reflections. Then I think you’ve seen this one about when I went from RAF Feltwell. I’d been a little time when I was promoted to fill the squadron leader. Yes. This is about posting Heather to RAF Mildenhall ten miles away. She used to cycle over to see me and we carried on. Feltwell closed and was taken over by the Americans to store Polaris. I was then posted to Mildenhall because the squadron leader was demobbed. Then the group captain came. So I think that is that now. One — and that is in the camp I’d forgotten that I kept a diary. It was on a very thin flimsy paper and it was written in pencil and my mother must have been, at the end of the war she got hold of it. And this then came to my cousin and she said, ‘Oh, this is wonderful. You must make a record of it.’ So, what she did. Well, she wrote to, to the Bodleian Library in Oxford to see how you could preserve these things and what he should do. And then they contacted the RAF Museum at Hendon who were very interested and they have now been given, I think most of these books. But I’ll show you. I won’t go through them because it’s going to take you too long. I can say on this march, this long march we had the guards marching alongside us to see that we didn’t escape, although no one would want to escape in those conditions. But the guards were very old men and they got further and further behind. So they were moving slower than we were and they finished up at the back of the column. So then the guards had vehicles to collect them, take them to the front of the column, put them down and they started on the front of the column and gradually drifted back to the [pause ] but they were very, very old. This June ’46. On the 22nd of June Heather and I were married in Pinner Church after Heather’s demob in May. I applied for a vacancy in Civil Air Traffic Control having had my military experience. When they interviewed me the minimum recruiting age at that time was twenty five. However, when they saw me they reduced the age to twenty three and I was in. I landed up, they posted you nearest your home. I landed up at Speke Airport, Liverpool. Now, I think it’s called John Lennon Airport isn’t it? While there I did a month’s leave relief for a controller at Ronaldsway which was at Douglas Isle Of Man. Both Heather and I enjoyed the holiday although it was so cold that we ironed the sheets to warm them up before getting into bed. In 1947 I volunteered to open up Belfast Civil Airport. At the former RAF airfield called Nutts Corner. I soon devised a new routing coming and going from the Isle of Man direction. At that time the inbound and the departures all followed a common routing between Belfast and the Isle of Man and then further down to Manchester or Liverpool or, or London. So, we had to devise some way of separating them because if you had one aircraft coming in and another one going out you couldn’t climb one and descend one through the other. So, I hit upon the idea that I would, I went to see the Belfast BBC transmitter site which was well south of the inbound route. And departing aircraft then took off and turned south homing on the BBC beacon, and the, my efforts were approved. We had two separate routes and I was rewarded. Some, something else I did on the radar I became fifty pound richer. So, anyhow I must have impressed someone because in 1950 I was transferred to open up the Air Traffic Control Experimental Unit based in the north west corner of Heathrow, and with access to a radar installation. The ATCEU was a small unit. Just four controllers. Two operation officers and a team of radar radio staff at our disposal. The projects in which I was most involved was the use of a third parallel runway for Heathrow. We decided that the introduction of a third runway was not feasible or cost effective and to have a second runway at Gatwick at a later date would be more feasible. Sixty years later, well it’s now about seventy years later the government is still undecided. Another project I had was to visit manufacturers who were providing radars. There was Cossors, Deccas, Marconis and Plesseys. And the three of us enjoyed that project which determined, it was to determine the gappiness, the cover of any new radars coming by using one of our Civil Aviation Flying Unit’s aircraft from Stansted. We could fly slices through radar beams at various heights and thus determine whether a particular envelope was reliable. Then there was another project of new procedures for increasing the landing rate at Heathrow. And that got rather complicated. It involved the use of two radar talk down systems. In fact, later on we tried putting a trial. We arranged to close Heathrow for one night between midnight and 5 am. We borrowed four aircraft from the Civil Aviation Flying Unit plus four aircraft from the Empire Test Pilot’s School at Farnborough and invited any scheduled aircraft to participate if they wished. The second GCA unit was provided and we were all set to go when the minimum weather conditions we’d agreed were right on the lower limits. As half of headquarters had come to watch and Heathrow had been notified as closed and the aircraft and the aircrews were standing by I said, ‘Ok. We’ll go.’ It worked out a marginal success although one Farnborough Canberra aircraft on being guided back to the holding stack for another go, he lost himself and he declared Mayday and we spent some half an hour looking for him. We found him over Manston in Kent. In all it wasn’t a great success but once or twice when conditions were right and I was the watch manager at Heathrow I initiated a system but really it wasn’t a resounding success. There were too many variables which could fail. The other thing which was interesting, a possible high level holding procedure for the newly introduced family of jet aircraft. The Comet was the first jet aircraft coming along and with the Comet of, with the introduction of the Comet as the first commercial jet we worked closely with two BOAC pilots, Captain Rodley DSO DFC, and Captain Majendie DFC MA, ex-Cambridge and he was very much a boffin. And they were taking over the Comet from the manufacturers at Hatfield and they were evaluating it. One of the things we were rather concerned about was how much fuel they would use if they got to hold over Heathrow. And the favourite suggestion was for the Comet to reserve a slot but to hold at high level. When its approach time came the Comet would make a high descent in to the approach phase. I made many Comet flights at the time before the demise of that first and the British passenger jet aircraft. And in 1954 we moved into a newly built house at 40 Gatehill Road, Northwood where Ian was born. Two years later it was decided that I should get more experience in Air Traffic Control Centre work along the airways. And I became the watch deputy supervisor to facilitate travel to watchkeeping hours. We had to buy a three quarter acre plot on prestigious Stoke Park Avenue, Farnham Royal so we could get there by public transport at the later hours. Three years later, 1959 I was promoted to a grade one and transferred to become the D Watch manager at Heathrow. One of five watches. Each with some eighty controllers and twenty assistants. On one occasion and probably from my experience at the EU I was co-opted into the accident investigation branch to help concerning an aircraft crash at Gatwick. I left watch-keeping and became assistant chief controller at Heathrow with operational responsibilities and contact with companies. Ian was just starting at Stow and Heather, having refreshed her secretarial skills had become PA to Mr Robbins, European manager of Johnson and Johnson and then when they moved to South Wales she left there and became PA to Mr Bales, training manager at International Computers Limited at Windsor. And then a memory from my Bomber Command days. Our friend and neighbour at Stoke Park Avenue was Robin Mobbs, widow of Sir Richard Mobbs whose father had founded the Slough Trading Estate after World War One. She invited Heather and me to lunch with a friend of hers who lived about a mile away. That was Don Bennett. Air Vice Marshall Donald Bennett CB CBE DSO and the Chief Executive and founder of British South American Airways flying Lancastrians. We both enjoyed that lunch with that distinguished guest. Concorde was the only regular supersonic commercial flight which caught my interest. The Russian Concordski, roughly modelled on Concorde was briefly operational but sadly came to a tragic end at the Paris Airshow. As the Americans never did develop a supersonic airliner they had a jealous admiration for us Brits. Yet having spoken with various British Airways Concorde crews a common theme arose. Concorde, departing from Kennedy would sometimes be shuffled towards the back of the queue awaiting departure thus burning fuel which may have been critical when it arrived at Heathrow. Another instance — to obtain the maximum arrival rate the radar director was positioned inbound aircraft of various approach speeds at different distances to ensure that the second aircraft would be about two miles out when the first one had landed and cleared the runway. We found that for no obvious reason the runway had not been cleared on one occasion and Concorde had thus to make a missed approach and re-position for other, for another try. The puzzled radar director assured me that they had left adequate spacing when turning Concorde on to final approach. After several of these instances I looked back through the records and found that frequently aircraft ahead of Concorde, having landed were slow to clear the runway. They were often Pan American or Transworld Boeing 707s or 747s. Coincidence? Again, when I was assistant chief ATCO there was one instance where Speedbird 02 had been well placed behind a British Midland prop jet which, having landed and missed its turn off point, was continuing slowly to the next. At six miles out, ‘Speedbird 02 request landing clearance.’ From the tower, ‘Negative 02. Continue your approach. There’s traffic clearing the runway.’ At four miles out ‘Speedbird 02 requests landing clearance.’ ‘Negative 02. Continue your approach. The traffic is still clearing the runway.’ Then at two miles out, ‘Speedbird 02, I’m landing on this approach and if the other buggers are still on the runway I shall spear him.’ ‘Traffic just clearing 02. You’re now clear to land.’ I didn’t put this word on it. I said, ‘If the other aircraft is still on the runway,’ [laughs] but it was obvious that he was getting a bit — Later an apologetic Brian Walpole who was the Concorde flight captain he phoned me to explain that 02 had been much delayed when taxiing out for take-off at Kennedy. Consequently, was very low on fuel. If he couldn’t land off that approach he would have needed to fly to his nominated alternate, Gatwick and land there. Surprised, I asked him why he didn’t declare an emergency as he would have then ensured and we would have then ensured the runway was clear for his approach. He replied that knowing transmissions galvanised the press who monitored our frequencies if Concorde had declared an emergency it would have been headline news. When Brian Walpole invited me to his office upstairs for lunch I was surprised to find that the flight manager of British Airways top flight lived in a small cramped corner office with walls plastered with photographs of prominent people on Concorde flight deck. Each of them had been given a speech bubble with amusing comment. The Queen Mother was saying, ‘I could take to this. It’s much quicker than by train.’ He invited me to join him on a crew training flight in Concorde the next day. We were off just before 8am. Landed at Gander in Newfoundland, refuelled, filed a flight plan and were back at Heathrow a little after 6 pm having spent an hour in Canada. 1970, I was elected to go to the Joint Services Staff College. I became the second controller only to be accepted on to the JSSC course at Latimer which was composed of middle rank officers from the three services plus ten Commonwealth high rankers and a handful of American officers from all services. There were also three civilians. A nautical architect, a Hong Kong police superintendent and myself. Having been security cleared, vetted by two admirals and an air marshal at the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall. I enjoyed that fascinating six months course involving high level lectures from all walks of life. Government, cabinet ministers, diplomats, service chiefs, scientists, heads of security as well as military exercises including Cold War and nuclear exchanges. Being a joint service course we had the choice of outside attachments to each of the services to see how the other service worked. At that point [pause] where are we? Our — for my army visit I opted to go to Berlin which was the prize place, this was when the Wall was still there, because I was interested in their airway system and their traffic sequencing. More like Heathrow. A dozen of us in the team were housed in the brigadier’s residence overlooking the Berlin Lake which had supposedly belonged to Herman Goering, where we were briefed on the interaction with the Russians during the Cold War and the Berlin Wall. As military personnel we were allowed through Checkpoint Charlie to tour East Berlin. We found the methods used by the intelligence services most interesting. Our air force options covered a choice of a week on the Scottish RAF station where their involvement with flights in Nimrods proved very popular with our Naval members. These aircraft flew long range air sea rescues acting as command and control centres. Our Army members seemed to favour attachments to the newer Avenger and Phantom fighter units. I opted for a visit to Brize Norton to see the RAF troop handling which was coupled with a visit to RAF Valley in Anglesey to see pilot training. In Valley I was invited to fly in a Folland Gnat which brings Red Arrows fame, flown by the chief flying instructor Wing Commander Max Bacon. It was fascinating how tiny and so very light on the controls after Lancasters. Having been shown all its capabilities we did some very low flying in the designated low flying area of Snowdonia and we scared all the cattle underneath us too. Wonderful course. I remember one of our social gatherings at Pleasant Corners. Heather pulling out all the stops and Ian, back from Stow was helping. Amongst the sixteen officers at that party were Colonel Nigel Bagnall who became later chief of the general staff, an American commander in the Royal Marines who was OC flying on the American aircraft carrier Nimitz which was, I think the biggest American jet aircraft carrier they had. On which I believe he said they had seventy Phantoms. And the other member was Wing Commander Peter Harding. He was a great friend of mine. Largely of course because he was on this, on the RAF side and who later rose to the dizzy heights of Chief of the Defence Staff. So he was above the military. The lot. I also remember a Group Captain Beausoliel, who was head of Ghana. Now, it turned out that Wing Commander Peter Harding later came to grief. Do you remember his case? You probably wouldn’t. Well, he had a strong liaison with some woman who also was associated with a Russian and she said, ‘No. They couldn’t carry on their alliance.’ So, she said, ‘Well, let’s just have one meal in the Savoy.’ And as they came out she bent over and kissed him and she’d tipped off the press. And from then on that day he gave up his post. Not only as the supreme of all the armed forces but as the RAF. So, I’m sorry for Peter. But then this was the critical bit. Later in 1970, on completion of that Joint Services Staff College Course I was transferred to the Southern Division Headquarters at Heston. They felt that I was more a boffin now rather than just a practicing controller. Under a deputy director one section covered the airways and the other section covered the airfields. I became in charge of airfields and maintaining the level of air traffic control at various units. I was responsible for maintaining that and it includes non-civil aviation units in the southern part of England from — we had to look at the Scilly Isles, the Channel Isles, Bristol, Gloucester, Northampton and Norwich. Across that. And all airfields south. Along the south coast we covered Ashford, Shoreham, Goodwood, Southampton, Hamble, Leigh on Solent, Bournemouth, Exeter, Plymouth, Jersey and Guernsey. So, we had a twin Commanche at our call and what we had to do was when a new controller went to his unit, until he was valid he got his basic driving licence but he had to be checked out. So before he was validated he’d got to be checked by us and then we could sign his licence and then he could go solo. And so we had this twin Commanche and one of us would fly. I didn’t do any flying because I didn’t keep my licence going. But one of our team of four would fly and say, ‘I’ve got — lost an engine. I can’t maintain height.’ Or, ‘I have lost my RT,’ and you’d have to go to a system of one click for yes. Two clicks for no. All that sort of stuff. So — [pause] Test. And Ian had left Stow and was reading for his medical degree at Clare College, Cambridge. I had to occasionally fit in just to sort of keep Ian in the picture. I moved back to Heathrow as the deputy chief, acting as a stand in for the chief controller. Amongst other tasks I covered the oversight of our Radar Training Unit and including the Validation Board. As the Chairman of the Health and Safety Committee I remember we were — on the same floor as my office was the Civil Aviation Medical Centre where pilots were expected to make the grade once a year. And as such I could sometimes see them when they came past my door on the way in or out. And one or two, one I recognised as Douglas Bader whom I had seen very shortly in the POW camp. But then because he was such a naughty boy what with him always wanted to escape they sent him to Colditz. So, we had a talk and I’d got a big conference table, a big mahogany conference table in my office and it didn’t have four corner legs but it had two central legs. And he came in, having a chat and he jumped on the table to sit on the table and of course the thing upended. And I rushed around and I just caught him in time and pushed. Otherwise he’d have been a goner. So, then I said, ‘Would you like to have a look around air traffic control?’ So he said yes. So, I took him and when it came to the very steep steps up to the glasshouse I suddenly realised what a faux pas I’d made because he couldn’t have any legs to walk up there. So I said, ‘Oh, last week the Queen Mother visited us and she walked up those steps.’ So, he said, ‘Well, of course anything she can do I can do.’ Typical Douglas Bader. And he did. He pulled himself up with his arms, trailing his legs behind. And when they got on the next step off he’d go again. So, and the next time I met him was when I had a phone call from the personnel manager of [pause] I’m thinking. Shell Mex, one of the big petrol station. And they had just taken over an HS125 which is a small fast twin jet aircraft and they’d take that over for use by the board when they were going. So, he said, ‘Oh, we’re just doing a route flying stretching this out. We’re doing longer and longer legs to see what the aircraft capability is and tomorrow we’re going to Milan. Would you like to come with us?’ So, ‘Yes, please.’ So we went out there on to the tarmac and who was there to meet us was the flying, the pilot, Douglas Bader. So we recognised each other then. Anyhow, he flew us down to Milan. We stayed in the aircraft. He re-fuelled. He filed his flight plan for the return trip and on the way back this personnel manager for Shell Aviation said, ‘Oh, well let’s sample the [pause] the dish, the spread that they’ve given us.’ They’d got a refrigeration and all the rest of it so out came this on this little table and just the three of us sat down. So, halfway through or toward the end he said, ‘Well, is there anything you can think of that’s missing?’ So I jokingly said, ‘Well the wine you gave us. Those was wine glasses when they’d been used there’s no place to put them again.’ ‘Oh, quite right. The trip’s been worthwhile,’ [laughs] So, he was grateful that I’d found nowhere to store used glasses. So, that was random. There was one occasion where since I’ve often been asked whether I’ve ever needed to make instant life-saving decisions. I had one such memory. As a watch manager at Heathrow I arrived to take over the afternoon watch at 13.00 hours. I checked with my approach control supervisor that his full team had arrived and I went up to the aerodrome control. The glasshouse. One team member from my team had not arrived. And the off-going man was still on duty. Now, partly to retain the respect of my team members and partly to maintain my own validation I periodically took over an operational position. Although I was aware of the other managers policies of why keep a dog and bark yourself. At that time, with an easterly wind Heathrow was landing from the west over Windsor Castle and departures took off to the east over London. Northolt had also been required to take off in the same direction. And if they were routing going south after take-off they’d make a left turn and route around north of Heathrow and down to the west. So, I took over the [pause] the, I let the landing, the last departing man go. I took over his air departure position with six aircraft at the holding point. There was a Turkish Airline Boeing 727 who had just lined up and I had given him clearance to take off and he started to roll. He was halfway along the runway when I heard someone behind me shout, ‘Christ. The Northolt one’s turned right.’ Well, immediately, in a flash I visualised two heavily laden aircraft colliding and crashing right over London. Although almost too late I instructed my aircraft, then close to flying speed, ‘Cancel take-off. Cancel take-off.’ Thank goodness he reacted immediately. Finally stopping at the upwind end of the runway. I thanked him and asked that he clear the runway to his left. He replied, ‘Negative. Can’t move. My brakes are red hot. I require ten, twenty minutes for them to cool down.’ Another occasion the chief and I visited Chicago because they were supposed to have more aircraft flying than we did. We found the reason was that they just packed them in and expecting that they would, some, a lot of them would not make the landing. Would have to overshoot. Well, we took a pride in getting most of them down. And it turned out the, the pilot on that VC10 was, had been in A flight 103 Squadron while I’d been in B Flight. Here we are. Incidentally, in my report I included the fact that on our return Heathrow was landing on westerlies. That is aircraft arriving from the west were required to fly past the airport turning back on to the final approach at about seven or eight miles. I heard the captain, because I was on the jump seat, I heard the captain ask his first officer if he would like to have a go at final approach and landing. Even to my inexperienced eye I thought his turn on in a heavy aircraft would position us on about a two or a three mile final approach. However, he made a turn on whilst still doing his landing checks. Yet he made a spot on landing. In my report I noted his name. First Officer N Tebbit. Norman Tebbit. Barcelona — we went to Barcelona. Shell Aviation. Milan and that I’ve already told you about. The personnel manager. I recognised Douglas Bader, Chopper blades. I don’t think you’d be interested in the chopper blades. Perhaps I, as inspector of Air Traffic Control Standards for the South of England I visited Netheravon one of the several military and Naval units which operated to civil ATC standards. As they had six helicopters on a night cross country when we were there soon after they were due to return we visited their control room. Now, unbeknown to Netheravon, RAF Lyneham were practicing night parachute jumps over Salisbury Plain using C130 Hercules. As it happened the two exercises coincided. The helicopters with downward facing landing lights appeared as did the higher flying Hercules. The paras were dropped about two or three miles away. Visions of paras carving up chopper blades. Being carved up by chopper blades. So I enquired why there wasn’t any coordination. They thought it more really approached military operational standards. I got the system changed. Netheravon or, if closed Middle Wallop would coordinate movements over Salisbury Plain. Another one, Sir Laurence Whistler. He, it appeared that some industrial group were making a royal presentation of a cut glass bowl engraved by Sir Laurence Whistler. It would show Windsor Castle with the City of London and Heathrow Airport in the background. This was required by the company to present to the Queen. He said that he would need to get a perspective involving the use of a helicopter positioned over Windsor Castle. Now, I considered this would need coordination between the helicopter, departing aircraft and that I should fly in the royal helicopter to reflect the coordination. I was suitably impressed by the interior walls and ceilings of quilted with cream plastic insulation. The tables and chairs and book racks had holding copies of London Life, Illustrated London News, Tatler and Vogue. It did however have the characteristic of a helicopter vibratory flight. He was pleased with the sketches and later sent me a photo of the finished engraved bowl. I won’t go on about the time when we’ve argued with the Duke of Edinburgh. So, I could go on but it’s taking too much time. So, that was my civil one. I can’t go on about this. I think I’ve probably have mentioned this diary which I kept. We’ve got mice [laughs] This was a entry from the Royal Air Force Museum. An entry to this it was probably a thing I would get from you isn’t it? It’s 125 towing a small glider. Now, we didn’t know what the glider was. At that time it was secret and it turned out to be a Messerschmitt 163 and it was towed up into the American formations. It only had ten minutes endurance and it would decimate the Americans. And then of course it would glide down. So this was this. We didn’t know what it was. And this was a Messerschmitt 110 towing a very small tubby glider. The wingspan of ten to twelve feet. I don’t know what that was. It was some memorial with a swastika underneath. Well, I was next on the list to get a new aircraft and the fellow ahead, who’d had the last one he was shot down so I got the new one. And I went into the control tower to watch it arriving and out of that when it landed, a lovely landing, came someone in a white overall with a helmet on and then a second person. So, I was waiting for the rest of the crew but there was just these two. They came over to the control tower, came up and then the pilot then took off his helmet and it was a woman. See, we’d never heard of, and beyond that she had no navigator, no radio. She’d just ferried this. And I’ve got the book about, “The Female Few,” and there are pages and pages. And she was quite a bright girl. She went to Oxford. She was head of Somerville College and obviously did a lot of and she did learn to fly before the war. And when I met her again when I was at this Experimental Unit and we were working to see how you could increase movement rates at Heathrow. So we borrowed some civil aviation. Two of them, or four of them, I think for that. And we had a break for lunch and who should one of them? Lettice Curtis. 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 James William Birchall Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Denise Boneham 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 2017-08-16 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. Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ABirchallJW170816 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review Pending revision of OH transcription Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 01:33:02 audio recording Language A language of the resource eng 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 Description An account of the resource James Burchill was in the ATC before volunteering for aircrew training. He expected to be deferred but was told he had been chosen for immediate service. On one operation he was injured and, by the time he was ready for operational duties again, he had lost his crew. He reformed with a crew who had lost their pilot on his second dickie flight. His aircraft was shot down and the crew became prisoners of war. While being walked to the collection point, under guard, he saw four RAF crew hanging from lampposts. When he was seen by the civilian population they set on him and he was rescued by members of the SS. Jim took part in the Long March and saw the bodies of men who had frozen to death. After the war Jim had an interesting career in civil aviation and became involved in the Joint Services Staff College courses and the Air Traffic Control Experimental Unit. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Julie Williams Maureen Clarke Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Great Britain Poland England--Lincolnshire England--London Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Nuremberg Poland--Żagań Germany--Ruhr (Region) Germany--Diepholz Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-12-07 1942-12-18 1944-03-30 103 Squadron 12 Squadron aircrew animal bale out bombing bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944) crewing up Dulag Luft entertainment Halifax Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School lynching Me 109 Oxford pilot prisoner of war RAF hospital Rauceby RAF Lindholme RAF Seighford RAF Valley RAF Wickenby Schräge Musik shot down Stalag Luft 3 strafing the long march training Typhoon Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/87/2205/LWoolgarRLA139398v1.1.pdf 35b154fb1d680686ee063c2241368776 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 Woolgar, Reg Reg Woolgar R L A Woolgar Jimmy Woolgar Subject The topic of the resource World War (1939-1945) Bombing, Aerial Description An account of the resource <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/browse?collection=87">17 items</a>. The collection consists of an oral history&nbsp;<a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/2148">interview</a> with air gunner Reginald Woolgar DFC (1920 - 2024, 139398 Royal Air Force), correspondence to his father about him being missing in action and subsequently rescued from the sea, his <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/2205">log book</a>, <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/854">service and release book</a> and nine photographs.<br /><br /> He flew operations as an air gunner with 49 and 192 Squadrons.<br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Reg Woolgar and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. <br /><br />This collection also contains items concerning John William Wilkinson. Additional information on John William Wilkinson is available via the&nbsp;<a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/125319/">IBCC Losses Database</a>. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Woolgar, R Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-06-04 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. Requires A related resource that is required by the described resource to support its function, delivery, or coherence. Please scroll down to see all X items in this collection. Reg ‘Jimmy’ Woolgar was born and schooled in Hove. He began working life as a valuations assistant and was training to be a surveyor, which was interrupted when, in December 1939, he joined the RAF. Although he had aspirations to become a pilot, he trained as a wireless operator/air gunner instead. His wireless operator training was carried out at the wireless training school, RAF Yatesbury. https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/87/849/PWoolgarRLA1609.2.jpg His air gunnery training on Fairy Battle aircraft was conducted at RAF West Freugh. On 15 November 1940 he was promoted to sergeant and posted to No 10 OTU at RAF Upper Heyford. https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/87/845/PWoolgarRLA1601.2.jpg Initially flying Anson aircraft and then Hampdens with C Flight, he had his first ‘Lucky Jim’ moment, on 6 February 1941, when his Hampden aircraft was forced to crash land in a field near Cottesmore, in Lincolnshire. The aircraft was written off, but he and the pilot survived with minor injuries. At the end of operational training, instead of going directly onto operasations, he spent the next 5 months as a screen operator instructor. Eventually, on 1 September 1941, he was posted to 49 Squadron, Hampdens, at RAF Scampton https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/852 where his very first operational trip (described as a baptism of fire) was to Berlin. With headwinds going out and coming back, and nil visibility, it was likely the crew would have to bail out. Fortunately, the skipper found a break in the clouds and the aircraft landed wheels down in a field near Louth. The aircraft had to be recovered back to base, transported by road, on a low loader. On another occasion, on a mine laying operation to Oslo Fjord, his aircraft was peppered with anti-aircraft fire, it returned to base with 36 bullet holes in the fuselage and mainplane. A bullet had also passed through the upright of his gun sight while he was looking through it, whilst another tore through his flying suit. The nickname ‘Lucky Jim’ was beginning to stick. In February 1942, on an operation to Manheim, the port engine, hit by flak, cut dead. Despite jettisoning all superfluous weight, which unfortunately included all the navigation equipment, the aircraft rapidly lost height, and the pilot ditched the aircraft in the English Channel. Whilst the crew had struggled to keep the aircraft airborne, (on a single engine), it had steered on a massive curve and unbeknown to them was headed down the English Channel, before it ditched. The crew scrambled out onto the wing and managed to inflate the dingy, then had to cut the cord attaching the dingy to the aircraft using a pair of nail scissors, moments before it sunk. In the water for hours, the crew thought they were drifting near the Yorkshire coast, but were rescued by a motor anti-submarine boat, much to their surprise, near the Isle of Wight. Operational flying was intense, Reg would feel wound up before take-off and there was much apprehension on the way out to the target. Often, they flew through intense flak that was sometimes so close they could smell it. There was always a sense of sense of relief once they came away from the target. In between operations, each day was treated as it came along with many off-duty hours spent socialising in the local hostelries https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/853 After his first operational tour (he completed two) he was commissioned and became gunnery leader with 192 Squadron in 100 Group. After the war ended, he signed on for an extra two years and was posted to Palestine as an air movements staff officer. Luck was again on his side when, one day, he was on his way to an Air Priorities Board Meeting at the King David Hotel when the hotel was bombed, resulting in many army and civilian casualties. After a short tour in Kenya, as Senior Movements Staff Officer, he returned to Palestine flying with 38 Squadron until August 1947. In his flying career he amassed over 1000 flying hours. For services to his country Reg was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/858 He was released from the RAF in September 1947. Initially employed as an assistant valuations officer, he studied to become a Chartered Surveyor and secured a job as a senior valuer with the City of London. He later became the planning valuer of the city. After 14 years he was made a partner at the firm St Quintin Son and Stanley. Reg retired in 1971. 08 December 1939: Joined RAF as a wireless operator/air gunner 28 August 1940: 145, 3 Wing, RAF Yatesbury - Wireless Operator training 29 October 1940 - 15 November 1940: RAF West Freugh, No 4 Bombing and Gunnery School, flying Battle aircraft November 1940: Promoted to Sergeant 15 November 1940 - 20 August 1941: RAF Upper Heyford, No 10 Operational Training Unit flying Anson and Hampden aircraft 02 September 1941 - 24 March 1942: RAF Scampton, 49 Squadron, flying Hampden aircraft 28 April 1942 - 24 June 1942: 1485 Target Towing and Gunnery Flight flying Whitley and Wellington aircraft 02 July 1942 – 3 July 1942: RAF Manby, Air Gunnery Instructor Course 4 July – 10 July 1942: RAF Scampton, Air Gunnery Instructor flying Manchester and Oxford aircraft 25 July 1942 – 10 August 1942: RAF Wigsley, Air Gunnery Instructor flying Lancaster aircraft 3 October – 27 October 1942: RAF Sutton Bridge flying Wellington and Hampden aircraft 28 October 1942: RAF Sutton Bridge, Gunnery Leader Course End of 1942: Awarded RAF Commission 09 Nov 1942 – 18 March 1943: RAF Fulbeck flying Manchester aircraft 14 May 1943 – 11 June 1944: RAF Sutton Bridge flying Wellington aircraft 20 June 1944 – 27 July 1945 RAF Foulsham, 192 Squadron flying Halifax and Wellington aircraft 29 April 1946 – 30 August 1946: Palestine, Air Movements Staff Officer 01 September 1946 – 21 January 1947: Kenya, Senior Movements Staff Officer 30 January1947 – 10 June 1947: Ein Shemer, Palestine, 38 Squadron flying Lancaster aircraft 13 July 1947 139398 Flt Lt RLA Woolgar released from Service. 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 Reg Woolgar's observer's and air gunner's flying log book Description An account of the resource Observer's and air gunner's flying log book for Flight Lieutenant Reg Woolgar from 29 November 1940 to 21 July 1947. Detailing training schedule, instructional duties and operations flown. Served at RAF Yatesbury, RAF West Freugh, RAF Upper Heyford, RAF Weston, RAF Peterborough, RAF Scampton, RAF Barrow, RAF Manby, RAF Wigsley, RAF Sutton Bridge, RAF Fulbeck, RAF Catfoss, RAF Foulsham, Levant AHQ, Nairobi AHQ and RAF Ein Shemer. Aircraft flown were Dominie I, Fairey Battle, Anson, Hampden, Hereford, Whitley, Wellington, Manchester, Lancaster Mk 1, Mk 3, Mk 7, Oxford, B17, Master, Martinet, Halifax Mk 3, Tiger Moth, York, Dakota, Lodestar, Hudson and Argus. He carried out a total of 43 operations on two tours with 49 and 192 Squadrons as a wireless operator / air gunner on the following targets in France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden: Aachen, battleships in Channel, Berlin, Bremen, Brest, Cologne, Emden, Essen, Frankfurt, Friesian, Halse, Hamburg, Kassel, Kiel Bay, Le Havre, Lorient, Mannheim, Helsingborg, Oslo Fjord, Rostock, Wilhelmshaven, Flensburg, Frankfurt, Gdynia, Mainz, Munster, S.D. operations, S.D. patrol, St Leu, Stade, Stuttgart, Walcheren and Wiesbaden. His pilots on operations were Pilot Officer Falconer, Pilot Officer Allsebrook, Sergeant Davis, Pilot Officer Ellis, Pilot Officer Hazelhurst, Pilot Officer Thomsett, Wing Commander David Donaldson, Flight Lieutenant Hayter-Preston, Flight Lieutenant Stephens, Flight Lieutenant Ford and Squadron Leader Fawkes. Includes notes on crash landings and forced landings, ditching off the Isle of Wight, infra-red trials and a Cook’s tour in the Ruhr Hamburg area. Reg was assessed as having exceptional night vision, had proficiency record above average and received air officer commanding commendation on second tour. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force 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 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France Germany Great Britain Kenya Norway Poland Scotland Sweden Middle East--Palestine Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Atlantic Ocean--Oslofjorden England--Lincolnshire England--Norfolk England--Nottinghamshire England--Oxfordshire Europe--Frisian Islands France--Brest France--Creil France--Le Havre France--Lorient Germany--Aachen Germany--Berlin Germany--Bremen Germany--Cologne Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony) Germany--Essen Germany--Flensburg Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Hamburg Germany--Kassel Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate) Germany--Mannheim Germany--Rostock Germany--Stade (Lower Saxony) Germany--Stuttgart Germany--Wiesbaden Germany--Wilhelmshaven Netherlands--Walcheren Norway--Halse Poland--Gdynia Scotland--Wigtownshire Sweden--Helsingborg Netherlands Germany--Münster in Westfalen Atlantic Ocean--English Channel Germany--Ruhr (Region) Atlantic Ocean--Kiel Bay Germany--Wettin Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-09-02 1941-09-03 1941-09-06 1941-09-07 1941-09-08 1941-09-09 1941-09-12 1941-09-13 1941-09-16 1941-09-17 1941-09-28 1941-09-29 1941-09-30 1941-10-01 1941-01-13 1941-01-14 1941-11-07 1941-11-08 1941-11-09 1941-11-10 1941-11-23 1941-11-23 1941-11-26 1941-11-27 1941-11-30 1941-12-01 1941-12-07 1941-12-08 1941-12-16 1941-12-17 1942-01-14 1942-01-15 1942-01-17 1942-01-18 1942-01-25 1942-01-26 1942-02-07 1942-02-10 1942-02-11 1942-02-12 1942-02-14 1942-02-15 1942-03-10 1942-03-11 1944-06-30 1942-03-31 1944-07-04 1942-03-05 1944-08-07 1944-08-20 1944-09-13 1944-09-15 1944-09-17 1944-09-19 1944-10-03 1944-11-18 1944-12-12 1944-12-13 1944-12-15 1944-12-16 1944-12-18 1944-12-19 1945-01-16 1945-01-17 1945-01-22 1945-01-28 1945-01-29 1945-02-01 1945-02-02 1945-02-02 1945-02-03 1945-03-30 1945-03-31 1945-05-02 1945-05-03 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 LWoolgarRLA139398v1 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 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 16 OTU 192 Squadron 49 Squadron air gunner Air Gunnery School aircrew Anson B-17 Battle bombing bombing of the Creil/St Leu d’Esserent V-1 storage areas (4/5 July 1944) C-47 Cook’s tour crash ditching Dominie Halifax Halifax Mk 3 Hampden Hudson Lancaster Lancaster Mk 1 Lancaster Mk 3 Manchester Martinet mine laying Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Operational Training Unit Oxford RAF Barrow in Furness RAF Foulsham RAF Fulbeck RAF Manby RAF Peterborough RAF Scampton RAF Sutton Bridge RAF Upper Heyford RAF West Freugh RAF Wigsley RAF Yatesbury Tiger Moth training Wellington Whitley wireless operator / air gunner York