Browse Items (263 total)

  • Temporal Coverage is exactly "1947"

SBondS-RichardsonAv10014.MP3
Jock begins the interview with joining up and first flying on 201 Squadron, with Flying Boats from Sullom Voe. He then, briefly, covers training as wireless operator/air gunner. He was posted to 38 Squadron on Wellingtons in July 1940 at RAF Marham…

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Complete history of the aircraft from 1942 to placement in RAF Museum. Delivered to 83 Squadron at RAF Scampton. Lists all flights with crews and provides details of operations and other sorties. First operation was on 8/9 July 1942. Was founder…

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PPeckP1602.jpg
Peter joined the 74 Air Defence Cadet Corps at a unit at Crayford, before volunteering to join the Royal Air Force. After a recruiting centre at Hither Green, he attended Lord’s Cricket Ground and was called up towards the end of 1943. He went to RAF…

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ATrappSV160405.mp3
Sylvia was born in Mansfield where her father was a miner and her mother had worked at Lawns Mills. She had two brothers and a sister. Sylvia was 15 when she left school to work at the hosiery mills and recalls the German manager being deported. She…

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BBaileyJDBaileyJDv1.pdf
Bill Bailey's wartime memoirs detailing enlistment, training in UK and Canada and details of each of 31 operations in Bomber Command. After completion of his tour he was transferred to RAF Lossiemouth to train Free French aircrew, after which he was…

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AFearnsH170724.mp3
Harry Fearns was born and lived in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. He left school at 16 and joined the Prudential Insurance Company as a door-to-door premiums collector. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1944 as a flight engineer. Following initial…

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PSharrockR1802.jpg
Flight Sergeant Bob Sharrock was born in Digmoor, Lancashire. The son of a miner, he worked as a milkman delivering milk via a hand cart and then as a lab technician for a gas company before he volunteered for the RAF. He trained as a flight engineer…

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PMortensenJC1803.jpg
Born on 27 December 1924 in Aigburth Liverpool, James was 15 when the war began in Europe. He intended to join as a pilot/navigator/bomb aimer in 1943 but, due to the shorter waiting list and training time, he trained to become a wireless operator at…

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SBondS-HobbsCv10001.pdf
Brief details of Cliff Hobbs and service history

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ACollerAS160803.mp3
Alan Coller joined the Air Training Corps in 1941, eventually joining the Royal Air Force in 1943, aged 18. He was sent to RAF Skegness for his initial training, after which he was transferred to RAF Barnham, near Mildenhall, where he was assigned to…

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ADobleRG151117.mp3
Ron Doble grew up in London and joined the Air Training Corps and the fire watchers, when war was declared. He volunteered for the Air Force when he was 18 and trained as an air gunner. He talks about the conditions in his turret and the mishaps he…

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ADunnGC170308.mp3
George Dunn DFC joined the Royal Air Force in June 1941 and, initially, trained as a wireless operator/air gunner, before training in Canada as a pilot. He flew aircraft including Avro Ansons and Airspeed Oxford. He tells of his experiences as…

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PMabeyBC1605.jpg
Bernard Mabey was born in London and experienced the Blitz at first hand. He was a member of the Air Training Corps in 1941, before volunteering for the RAF. He trained as an air frame mechanic at RAF Locking. His first posting was RAF Marston Moor…

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Ken Odell was a schoolboy living in Highgate at the beginning of the war and was evacuated with the school. When he was of age, he volunteered for the RAF and was sent to RAF Sywell for Pilot, Navigator, Bomb Aimer evaluation. Accepted as a pilot, he…

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AShawWH151027.mp3
Bill was a wireless operator/air gunner. He joined the Home Guard in 1941 and registered for conscription to the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1943. He reported to Lord’s Cricket Ground and went to an Initial Training Wing at RAF Bridgnorth. Bill then…

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ADickerV161015.mp3
Violet discusses her late husband Alan Dicker. Alan went to Leighton County High School and aaged 16 he joined the Air Transport Command. Aged 17 he volunteered for the Air Force and became a navigator after doing his basic training at RAF…

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PTownsendE1702.jpg
Ernest was born in Marylebone, London. He tells of his childhood, how he helped his father on his milk round and became a butcher's boy at Shepherd Market before serving in the Air Training Corps. He joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 17 and a…

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MWilliamsJR716832-250707-13.jpg
Two certificates.
#1 Radio 1 (Second class)
#2 Telecommunications (Principles) 1 (Second class)

MFairbanksLW10611800-180215-050001.jpg
Detailing Leonard's birth in Biggleswade, his training history, squadrons served with and aircraft flown in and continued service following 1945. Completed by Leonard's daughter Jean Carter and her husband Clive.

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AAtkinsonG180802.mp3
Gordon Atkinson lived in Flixborough, Lincolnshire. As a young boy he recalls seeing aircraft gathering over the River Humber in the evenings, ready to fly out on bombing operations. In the morning he watched them come back, some with bits dropping…

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PTouleK2201.jpg
Keith was five at the start of the war and lived in a farm adjoining the airfield at RAF Skellingthorpe. He describes the airfield and how the trees were cut down in the farm belt. The airfield was closed soon after the war, bought by the City…

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ATinsleyR150604.mp3
Dick was from a farming background and joined the Royal Air Force in 1944. After going to RAF Bedford, he was sent to Lord’s Cricket Ground. Those passing as a pilot went to a flying school near Coventry to be assessed for pilot training on a Tiger…

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ABeasleyDG180326.mp3
At the start of the war, Doug Beasley left school at 16 to start work. Initially a member of the Air Training Corps, he was sent for aircrew selection when he became 18. There was a 12-month wait to enlist as a pilot, so he opted to become a flight…

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PCullingGC1701.jpg
George Charles Culling’s town struggled constantly during the war due to the amount of bombing, which eventually forced his school to close. Finding an interest in navigation equipment, George joined the Air Training Corps and learned more about his…

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ABurchettHF160222.mp3
Horace Burchett joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 17, rising to the rank of flight engineer, serving in an all Australian Squadron at 1654 Conversion Unit in Wiglsely in Northamptonshire. Posted to 463 Squadron at Waddington, still with the…

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