1 25 63 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1817/32365/BWittyARWittyARv1.pdf a568d561e92d25b45be271b0cecccb86 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 Witty, A R Witty, Ron Witty, Ronald 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 2017-03-23 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 Witty, AR Description An account of the resource 118 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty DFM (1520694 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, navigation charts and logs of all his operations, photographs and correspondence home from training in South Africa. He flew thirty operations as a navigator with 12 Squadron before going as an instructor on 1656 HCU and then 576 and 50 Squadrons after the war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Witty and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document TIME OUT FOR WAR [black and white sketch of Avro Lancaster bomber] A factual account of war-time experiences By Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty D.F.C., B.Sc., A.R.I.C. [page break] TIME OUT FOR WAR A factual account of war-time experiences By Flight Lieutenant Ronald Witty D.F.C., B.Sc., A.R.I.C. [page break] [underlined]Author’s Foreword[/underlined] At the insistence of my family, who are somewhat in the dark as regards what I got up to during World War Two, I have compiled the following account. My memory of the wartime years still remains very clear, helped by some brief notes in diaries, my log book, some letters and, importantly, the navigational logs and charts of all thirty bombing operations in which I took part in 1944. Using them I could still tell you where our Lancaster crew was, within two or three miles, at anytime during those operations of more than fifty years ago. [underlined]Acknowledgements[/underlined] Many thanks to my wife Yvonne and my family for their various contributions in getting the raw material organised, and to Mike Fong for his help with the photographs. [page break] [underlined] CONTENTS [/underlined] [underlined] Chapter. [/underlined] [underlined] Page No. [/underlined] 1. Decisions 5 2. The Stirling Castle 15 3. South Africa 21 4. Back to England 33 5. Operations 1 - 20 43 6. Operations 21 - 30 55 7. Instructing “ferry trips” & crewing up for second tour. 69 8. Lancaster ME 758 PH-N “Nan” 81 9. GEE, A.P.I. and H2S 85 10. The German Defences 87 11. Reflections on Survival 89 12. Postscript 93 Bibliography 97 Glossary of Terms 99 1 [page break] [blank page] [page break] [underlined] PHOTOGRAPHS [/underlined] Following [underlined] Page No. [/underlined] [underlined] East London, 1943 [/underlined] 32 Left to Right - Fred Rolph, Author, Dorita, ? Parker (uncertain) [underlined] ‘B’ Flight, Air Navigation Course No. 12 at 41 Air School, Collondale, East London [/underlined] 32 Left to Right - Bond, Chippendale, Cox, Osborne, Jones, Sadler, Author, Hill, Woodland, Wilson, Marshall, Albans [underlined] Ops Crew, 1944 [/underlined] 54 [italics] Mid Upper [/italics] - Stan Swain, [italics] Bomb Aimer [/italics] - Tom Crook, [italics] Navigator [/italics - Author, [italics] Pilot [/italics] - Fred Holbrook, [/italics] Rear Gunner [/italics] - Tom Tibb, [italics] Flight Engineer [/italics] - John Squires, [italics] Wireless Operator [/italics] - Jock Poyner [underlined] Ops Crew and PH-N (‘Nan’) [/underlined] 54 Poyner, Tibb, Author, Swain, Crook, Holbrook, Squires [underlined] The Author and PH-N [/underlined] 54 [underlined] Second Tour Crew, May 1945 [/underlined] 80 Two Gunners, [italics] Wireless Operator [/italics] - ‘Artie Shaw’, [italics] Pilot [/italics] - Bill Addison, [italics] Bomb Aimer [/italics] - Jack, [italics] Navigator [/italics] - Author, [italics] Flight Engineer. [/italics] 3 [page break] [underlined] The author en-route to Wickenby, June 1945 [/underlined] 84 [underlined] PH-N, June 1945, with the author and member of the old ground crew [/underlined] 84 4 [page break] [underlined] Chapter 1 : Decisions [/underlined] Hull Grammar School - an old established seat of learning, with many famous pupils. I was proud of the old school and here I took the School Certificate Examination in June 1937. I passed in eight subjects with a Distinction in Chemistry. A selected group took Additional Maths, taught by the Headmaster, F. Mayor. This introduced me to differential calculus at the age of fourteen. I spent two terms in the Lower Sixth Science pending my sixteenth birthday, in March 1938. Although Maths was my favourite subject, it was more practical at that time to use the Chemistry. In those days, there were fewer universities and unless ones parents were very wealthy, one left school at sixteen. I started work in the laboratories at British Oil & Cake Mills, H.O.M.Co, Stoneferry, Hull, within easy cycling distance from home. They were part of the Unilever Group, and were a very good firm, with sports and social facilities. I had little spare time for these as I immediately enrolled at the Hull Municipal Technical College, beginning in September 1938. I found that my School Certificate qualification gave me exemption only from the Northern Universities Matriculation and not from the London University Matriculation. This meant that I couldn’t enter for the External London B.Sc. in Chemistry. The difference between the Northern Matric. and the London Matric. was that English Literature was a compulsory subject for the latter. This seemed irrelevant in the context of a Chemistry Degree. However, I entered for the A.I.C. (Associate of the Institute of Chemistry). The A.I.C. and B.Sc. people took the same classes, but instead of taking the Inter-B.Sc. examination, after two years of Evening Classes one was given slips of paper certifying that one was up to Inter B.Sc. standard in Maths. 5 [page break] [NOTE: PAGES 8 AND 9 MISSING] and Physics. (These I duly obtained in May 1940.) Meanwhile, I was fully aware of what was brewing up in Europe with Hitler and his gang making monkeys of the old-school politicians. The ruthless annexation of Austria, followed by that of Czechoslovakia, despite the pathetic delaying tactics of Britain and France, in addition to Hitler’s bellicose threats, made it very evident to me that war was becoming almost inevitable. The facts and figures produced by Winston Churchill underlined the growing military potential of the German forces. The weak capitulation of the British and French diplomats on the matter of the Sudetenland confirmed my belief that it was only a matter of time. I was heartened when at last Britain and France gave their support to Poland, and actually felt relief when, after the German attack on Poland on September 1st 1939, they honoured their obligations and declared war on Germany. I realised fully how terrible a step it was, but there was no reasonable alternative. Sooner or later we had to face reality. It was still very eerie when the first air-raid warning sounded on Sunday, September 3rd. 1939. I carried on with my evening classes (three evenings a week), cycling to and from the Technical College throughout the black-out and occasional air-raid alarms. In fact, I didn’t miss a single class up to the time I went into the R.A.F. in April 1942. I seem to remember that it was during the very first session of evening classes that I first met Walter Suddaby, who lived in North Hull. He was a quietly-spoken pleasant lad and we had similar ideas of humour and became friends for the duration 6 [page break] of our time at the Tech. Of course, having full-time day jobs plus three nights a week at the Tech. and other evenings writing up notes and studying at home, we didn’t get together outside the course. When the war started I was just coming up to seventeen and a half and “Sudd” was about the same age, maybe a month or two older. We followed the events of the war, wondering how it was going to affect us, but with no clear idea what we were about to do in the future. War came to Hull spasmodically but with increasing intensity as the years passed. The German Luftwaffe found the city an easy option. Placed on a distinctive bend of a wide river estuary, it wasn’t too difficult to spot even at night, when most of their attacks were made. Also it wasn’t a great distance for them to travel, reducing navigational problems on the way. There were many air-raid warnings when inland targets were being sought and the “All-clear” didn’t sound until the last of the enemy aircraft cleared the coast on their way home. Hull often received an extra “bonus” if the Germans couldn’t find their original target. As the war progressed the age of conscription for service in the armed forces was reduced to nineteen years but there was provision for students who were within two years of the final exams. to obtain deferment until after those exams. I remember quite clearly discussing the situation with “Sudd” and another Tech. student as we stood with our ‘cycles in the middle of the town. We agreed that we wouldn’t apply for deferment because “our qualifications wouldn’t amount to much if Hitler won the war”. “Sudd” and I would volunteer for the R.A.F. and the other lad (I can’t remember his name now) preferred the Fleet 7 [page break] would be affected by the transition from my mundane earthly existence into the realms of flight. I had at the back of my mind some disturbing recollections of not being too comfortable on fairground rides, so I was just a little apprehensive. On this account I asked my mother not to tell people that I was going as aircrew, so if things didn’t turn out too well I wouldn’t be a public disgrace. At Lord’s the centre of the famous stretch of turf was cordoned off but the perimeter offices had been converted into depots dispensing all the items of kit we were likely to require plus the inevitable kit-bag. Here we had our introduction to authority in the shape of sergeants and corporals, who shepherded us around the establishment until eventually we were marched off to our billets. My lot were in a converted block of flats in Viceroy Court, St. John’s Wood, which had been re-equipped with service beds and lockers. It was all very strange, finding oneself amongst a crowd of strangers from various walks of life. The only thing we definitely had in common was that we were “all in the same boat”. We had so many adjustments to make from our previous individual routines that we more readily accepted our imposed companions and most of their idiosyncrasies. The main exceptions as far as I was concerned were smoking and crude language. I had earlier decided that smoking was bad for the health and ruled that out. After hearing some of my new associates, apparently unable to complete sentences without including at least one “f” word, I concluded that the repeated insertion made both the speech and the user appear idiotic and resolved never to stoop to it. I never did. Various N.C.O.s, mainly corporals, undertook to instil 10 [page break] some military discipline on our “shower” and in a few weeks we were marching around in shiny boots and brand new uniforms with shiny buttons and getting regular hair-cuts so we didn’t get picked out during inspections. Although I was in London there was no scope entertainment-wise. Pay for an A.C.2 was 2s. 6d. a day. I was making a voluntary allotment home of 1s 0d. a day, so when pay day came after two weeks I had to quote my last three numbers, 694, step forward, salute and receive the princely sum of £1. I think I managed to get to a Lyon’s cafe once or twice whilst in London. Most of the “entertainment” consisted of walking around some of London’s famous streets. We all looked forward to getting to an I.T.W. (Initial Training Wing) and acquiring some more useful instruction than the rudiments of drill. Unfortunately, by the time my posting to No. 5 I.T.W. at Torquay came through I had a problem. Due probably to being a little run down towards the end of the evening class session in Hull, combined with swinging arms up to shoulder-level during our marching exercises I developed an abscess under one arm. If I reported sick I would miss my posting and would be stuck in London for another three weeks, so I kept quiet and only mentioned the matter when I got to Torquay on 9.5.42. I was immediately hospitalised with a temperature of 104 degrees F. and operated on the next day. “Home” in Torquay was the Toorak Hotel, appropriately modified with service beds and lockers. We commenced a range of studies including navigation, meteorology, signals, armament, aircraft recognition, hygiene and anti-gas. We continued with drill and physical training in addition to the regular exercise we 11 [page break] got marching along the hilly streets in Torquay. The thing that regularly bothered me, being only five feet six and a half, was the constant effort to keep pace with the taller people at the head of the column, generally six-footers. I seemed to be airborne most of the time! We had as our N.C.O. Sergeant Ditchburn, who was the Tottenham Hotspurs goalkeeper. We found him to be quite a reasonable type and certainly preferable to a pre-war regular. He was firm but genial and had a good sense of humour. As we progressed with our I.T.W. course we were rewarded by promotion to L.A.C. (leading aircraftman) which involved wearing a propeller badge on the sleeve. This embellishment in addition to the white flash worn in the forage cap gave us quite a smart appearance. Pay shot up to 5s. 6d. a day! Much of the time that summer in Torquay we didn’t wear our tunics – it was too warm, particularly when being marched around at 140 paces to the minute. I must admit that marching like that with arms swinging to shoulder height did look impressive and when it was N.A.A.F.I. or W.V.S. break time there was no problem achieving 140 despite the hilly streets, particularly when “racing” other squads. I can remember learning Morse and using the buzzer and the Aldis lamp, also learning to rectify faults in the Browning 303 machine gun. Two other events associated with those days spring to mind. On one occasion we were all on the beach when we got our first sight of the enemy. A couple of Messerschmitt 109s came swooping in at low level to attack the shipping in the harbour. They also opened up with machine gun and cannon fire at random. We lay flat on the beach and had a very good view of the crosses on their wings. Fortunately we had no casualties. The other memorable event was a dramatic introduction 12 [page break] to dinghy drill. An inflated aircraft dinghy floating in the harbour at Torquay was the objective of our escapes from a mock ditching. In turn and singly we had to don a sodden uniform and a Mae West and jump into the harbour and make our way to the dinghy. This was reasonably straightforward for swimmers, but as a complete non-swimmer it certainly presented me with a problem. For a start the water was about 14 feet below the harbour wall so there was no easy option. It was a case of jumping into the unknown or not showing up very well in front of everyone – so I jumped. It seemed a long time before I surfaced and then managed rather laboriously to dog-paddle to the dinghy. I realised that it would not have been a realistic exercise in, say, the North Sea for real. Time passed and we were kept well occupied with lectures, exams and drill (including rifle and continuity drill) and a memorable cross-country run of a mile or two which included ploughing through a duck-inhabited pond. We returned to the Toorak Hotel soaking wet, smelling horribly and legs stinging from nettle contact. On another occasion we were taken by a rather ancient local train and dropped off in small groups at stations along the line skirting Dartmoor and given the task of finding our various ways across country to a pub four or five miles away, somewhere in the middle of the moors. There we downed a pint or two of excellent cider. Fortunately we didn’t have to walk back! [page break] [blank page] [page break] [underlined] Chapter 2: The Stirling Castle [/underlined] Eventually, I think it was about 15.10.42, we were posted to Blackpool after some embarkation leave. We were billeted in typical Blackpool boarding houses complete with landladies. Ours was “Holmleigh”, Crystal Road. When “Sudd.” got my letter with the Blackpool postmark he was surprised but rightly deduced that I was going abroad. He said he wouldn’t mind being in my place. He was completing a wireless course at Cranwell. He had at one time also been billeted in Blackpool and had enjoyed his accommodation. He wished me good luck and suggested that to be on the safe side I should send my future letters to his home address in 5th Avenue, North Hull. I received his letter just before we were moved to Liverpool and transferred to the “Stirling Castle” one of the Union Castle Line’s fleet which had been converted for troop carrying. That was on 26.10.42. Our accommodation consisted of long narrow benches and tables for the day-time and hammocks for sleeping. I recall the awkward and maddening time getting even the blankets to stay in the hammock. At night we must have looked like a tin of sardines. Next day the ship moved out into the river and our time was spent “spud-carrying” (2 hours) and then “fatigues” such as cutting butter, etc. from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Talk about slave labour! On the 28.10.42 the ship turned to face the river mouth and we had our first boat drill. At 1 p.m. the following day we sailed, leaving Liverpool and the Royal Liver Buildings, then passing the Isle of Man and Stranraer as we headed round Northern Ireland. We got used to the hammocks but there was a snag. They isolated us from the movement of the ship and the full extent of the sea movement was not apparent until we 15 [page break] dismounted next morning and hit the heaving deck. By now of course, we were getting into the Atlantic. It was better, if somewhat chilly on deck. I was a little sick and didn’t bother about fish breakfast. The afternoon was pleasant and we were entertained watching Aldis signals from escorting warships and a sister ship, the “Athlone Castle”. There were six ships in our convoy. On the third day our convoy had increased to seven ships with six escorts and we were moving more slowly. Depth charges were dropped during the afternoon. Two days later we were joined by a merchant cruiser but there were now only two destroyers or frigates in sight. The temperature was increasing as we headed in a generally southerly direction and we changed into tropical kit. We wrote letters and listened to the B.B.C. when we could, and were pleased to have good news of the North African theatre. Pontoon was a popular pastime but we also spent some time swotting our I.T.W. notes. In between we watched flying fish and were fascinated by the phosphorescence of the water. One ship left the convoy, with a small gunboat as escort. As the temperature rose and we estimated our position as approximately 28 degrees West we speculated about the possibility of visiting South America. Our thoughts were re-focused when a destroyer Aldis message mentioned U-boats. This was a particularly profitable time for the German submarines, as the Royal Navy had not had time to recover from a series of severe set-backs in ’41 and ’42 and had only the minimum capacity for escorting convoys. On the credit side, the German Enigma Code had been broken, (we, of course, knew nothing about that) and so it was possible using devious routes to 16 [page break] avoid the U-boat packs. On 10.11.42 we were reduced to two escort vessels. Next day, Armistice Day, I bought a poppy – amazing that someone had such foresight! We reckoned that we were now about 4 degrees S. and 28 degrees W. We were now joined by the cruiser H.M.S. London and were also rejoined by the merchant cruiser. On 12.11.42 we spotted a Catalina flying boat so we knew land wasn’t too far away and from then on we saw aircraft every few hours. It reminded one of the dove with the olive branch. On 14.11.42 we were told we would be in port tomorrow. AT 0530 next morning I got my first glimpse through a porthole of a low-lying stretch of land on the starboard with an orange-coloured beach, backed by trees, palm and deciduous. We were in an inlet running roughly north-south. A Brazilian biplane (it looked like an Italian C.R. 42) flew past and I spotted a Grumman Goose (American amphibian) and a Catalina – at least the aircraft recognition was paying off! There was a small harbour vessel with white-dressed pilots and officials to see us in, together with what appeared to be a tug (the “Aquina”). We were surrounded by canoes and skiffs of all sizes, fitted with sliding seats and crewed by handsome Brazilian boys. There were sailing boats looking somewhat like Red Sea feluccas. We saw loads of bananas and pineapples passing by and liberty men going ashore in launches. We had arrived at Bahia. In the evening it was impressive, after weeks at sea and years in blacked-out England, to see all the lights ashore and red flashing street signs, together with the green flashes of trams. The land rose steeply from the sea shore with buildings at the foot and the top with trees in between. 17 [page break] About 5 p.m. the next day our ship took the place of the “Athlone Castle” at the quayside. We had a London fire-engine pumping fresh water aboard and a British-made crane (Bath) loading stores. Some of the firemen threw oranges and bananas up to us. The water replenishment seemed to go on for quite a bit of the next day. Wednesday 18.11.42 was a red-letter day. We went ashore for a couple of hours. (We had the “honour” of being the first Allied troops to land in Brazil after their belated declaration of war on the Axis). We were marched through the colourful streets, being followed by children who were delighted to have coins thrown to them. We halted and dismissed for a few minutes in a local park where there was a monument to the foundation of the Brazilian Republic. Everyone was after drinks and fruit, a complication being the exchange rate. I had a shilling, 100 reis = 1/4d.; 1,000 reis = 1 milreis. We then formed up and marched back to the ship. We left Bahia the following afternoon on the final long leg of our journey to South Africa. We were escorted, presumably as a precaution against loitering U-boats, by a Brazilian “Harvard” fitted with bombs. Our convoy now consisted of three transports, two smaller ships, a destroyer and an armed merchant cruiser. By the next day we were well away from Bahia with no sign of U-boats. Our time was occupied by tests in navigation, signals etc. We played chess and pontoon, and wrote letters (“airgraphs”). We listened to Wing Commander Ritchie, D.F.C., the author of “Fighter Pilot”. We had boat drills at regular intervals. Then on 25.11.42 we changed back into “blues”, and were duly inspected, prior to our second pay parade aboard the “Stirling Castle”. 18 [page break] We estimated our position as roughly 25 degrees South and 5 degrees West, i.e. about halfway from Bahia to South Africa. I have a note on 27.11.42 that I saw the doctor and an albatross! I’d been bothered by bronchial catarrh for about a fortnight, possibly due to the stuffy conditions below decks at night-time. I used to take a book to the stairwell and read to get myself good and sleepy before climbing into my hammock so that I had a chance to fall asleep without coughing and disturbing everyone around. I can still remember the label “Mist. Expect.” on the medicine bottle in the sick bay which I visited at regular intervals! During the next few days we were joined by a merchant cruiser and then saw two Venturas over our convoy. We were obviously in another danger zone and portholes had to be closed during the day as well as at night. On the afternoon of 30.11.42 we sighted Table Mountain and very soon afterwards the wreckage from a ship torpedoed early that morning. By 8 p.m. we reckoned we were well east of Table Mountain when paravanes were brought into use against the possibility of sea-mines in the seas around the Cape. We continued out of sight of land until on 4.12.42 we arrived at Durban. Everyone crowded on deck as we edged slowly into harbour at the end of our 5 weeks voyage. We were told to look out for the “Lady in White”, who made it her business to greet all the visiting troops at the dockside. Suddenly, there she was in a long white dress and picture hat. She began to sing to us, using a megaphone, in a song clear voice several heart-warming songs such as “Rule Britannia” 19 [page break] and finally “We’ll Meet Again”. At the end of her mini-concert the troops responded with cheers and whistles and the ships’ sirens joined in. By 6 p.m. we had disembarked in our khaki uniforms and were entrained, six to a compartment, on our way to 48 Air School, a joint R.A.F./S.A.A.F. base, near East London. The journey was fascinating – I suppose being back on land and away from the ship helped a lot. We were back in civilised surroundings, a comfortable train and enjoyable meals served without us having to move a muscle. The scenery was magnificent, rolling hills with rocky outcrops. We often caught sight of forward and rear section of our train as we negotiated the snaking track. The evenings were notable for the brilliant displays of fireflies. 20 [page break] [underlined] Chapter 3: South Africa [/underlined] We reached Woodbrook, just three miles outside East London, on 6.12.42 after our two-day rail journey and were pleased by the wooden huts provided for our accommodation. We had an excellent dinner, filled in various bits of paperwork and got the bus into East London for the evening. It really was another world, walking through well-lit streets past well-filled shops, rather like a throw-back to 1939. We discovered that new courses began every three weeks so we had quite a bit of time on our hands. In the meantime, I reported sick and got further treatment for bronchial catarrh, but really it was just a matter of time and it wasn’t long before I was O.K. again. It wasn’t long before we were acclimatised, conditions being just about ideal in East London, temperatures being generally about 10 degrees F. warmer than we were used to in England. The coastal situation had quite a modifying effect compared with more inland Air Schools. We had the occasional sharp storm with heavy rain, but generally in short spasms, not enough to inconvenience our exploration and enjoyment of our unexpected “holiday”. Car lifts were readily available to and from the town. The harbour was usually worth a visit – we encountered various nationalities including Dutch seamen from a submarine depot ship. The shops were all set out for Christmas – this seemed at odds with an evening temperature of 70 degrees F. at 19.45 hours. A favourite indulgence was fresh strawberries and ice-cream in a local restaurant. For our entertainment and refreshment there were several volunteer-run facilities including the U-NO-ME Club, Toc H, and S.A.W.A.S., rather like the W.V.S. at home, where you could sit around and chat or play 21 [page break] games. I was quite keen on table-tennis and snooker which I generally played with my pal Fred Rolph (an ardent Brentford F.C. supporter). It was also quite pleasant on the beach, or attending the “Colosseum” cinema. I also caught up with my correspondence, sending airgraphs and receiving letters from my parents, dated October. Christmas Day was spent in the camp with lunch served by officers and sergeants. We went short of nothing. There was turkey, pork, pudding, cake, fruit, sweets, nuts, ices, beer etc. In the afternoon we rested and we had little room for tea. It seemed a life in limbo. There was a world war going on many miles away but we were temporarily detached from it and waiting to get on the conveyor belt. We obviously had some of our time occupied with lectures, drill etc., but were impatient to get on with something more meaningful. We were intrigued by the political situation and the segregation of the white and black communities. The coloured people did the menial jobs and seemed to accept their lot with resignation. They were housed generally in single-room huts on the outskirts of the European city. Quite a few thousands of black South Africans were enlisted in the Army but they served only in menial ways. Strangely enough they seemed quite keen on Army life. One day when I was on police guard near the main gate I witnessed a squad of them being drilled by one of their own N.C.O.s in their free time on the road just outside the camp. They put quite a lot of effort into it and were trying hard to be smart. They didn’t have any firearms, of course, or we might have been anxious! By and large, the R.A.F. lads sympathised with their situation in their own country. 22 [page break] On 7.1.43 there were rumours of our course starting on 25.1.43. We filled in the time attending lectures, carrying out various duties, marching etc., and going into town when we were free. About this time I bought myself an Omega watch (£5.10s.) and a Tissot watch for my brother. The Omega watch is worth mentioning as I relied on it exclusively during all my navigation (training and operational). I got them from a Swiss jeweller’s shop in East London in early January ’43. (I still have the Omega, though it was accidentally broken around 1970). We played a lot of table-tennis and snooker and I wrote home and to Walter Suddaby, and my brother Norman who was also in the R.A.F. (training as a wireless operator). Keeping up with the washing was another regular activity. My wash-day was usually at the weekend and consisted simply of washing my clothes in the wash basin using a bar of “Sunlight” soap, rinsing thoroughly and then spreading them out on large rocks in the sun to dry. Trousers were creased by placing them carefully under the mattress. Eventually, we started our course proper on Monday 25.1.43, with three periods of dead-reckoning (D.R.) navigation, one period on instruments, two periods on signal procedure and one practicing on the Morse buzzer. From this time on we were kept solidly at our studies for the next eight weeks, including examinations to keep us up to the mark. It was during this time, however, that Fred Rolph and I were invited to visit the home of Dr. G.J.C. Smyth of 30 St. Georges Road, in East London. He and his family were most hospitable and regularly entertained us when we and two other R.A.F. lads had a few hours to spare at weekends. 23 [page break] We spent a lot of time in the spacious garden playing tenni-quoits, which was most enjoyable and enabled us to “let off steam”. We maintained this contact until just before we left South Africa. We didn’t see a lot of the Doctor himself, as he was pretty busy, but Mrs. Smyth and the family looked after us very well. For the flying stage of our training I was posted on 27.3.43 to No. 41 Air School at Collondale which, I was pleased to discover, was only about eight miles from East London, thus enabling me to continue having pleasant weekend breaks at the Smyth’s. Fred wasn’t quite so fortunate, in that he was posted to No. 47 Air School near Queenstown, approximately 100 miles inland, which made it more awkward for his journeys to the Smyth’s. Fortunately he could make it by rail. After the minimum time to settle in and only three days into our studies our class of twentyfour trainee navigators, divided into “A” and “B” flights, came face to face with reality by way of the Avro Anson. This was a twin-engined monoplane with a great safety record. I can recall it was already practically obsolete from a military point of view, being far too slow and almost unarmed, but provided a good steady platform for training purposes. Appropriately, my first flight ever in an aircraft was on April 1st. (This by strange coincidence happened also to be the 25th. anniversary of the foundation of the Royal Air Force in 1918). I was first navigator with another pupil as second navigator in Anson “V” (3153) piloted by 2nd. Lieutenant McIndoe of the S.A.A.F. The aim was to give us air experience and to try out our map-reading skills while navigating as best we could from Potsdam, (a nearby village) around a laid-down 24 [page break] cross-country route of about 250 miles. As first navigator I sat at the plotting table carrying out the chart plot and maintaining the log of events. The second navigator armed with a topographical map (i.e. showing the main ground features on the route) tries to identify features passing below the aircraft which are shown on his map. When he gets a positive identification he notes the spot on the map, the precise time of this observation and passes both pieces of information to the first navigator, who then plots them, using the latitude and longitude on his chart. This flight became the first entry in my flying log-book. On subsequent flights the two navigators took it in turns to be first and second navigator. The earlier trips were inclined to be a bit rough and ready technique-wise, but as experience increased we became more confident in our judgement of when to give the pilot an alteration of course. In reality, we had many factors in our favour, navigating in South Africa. The weather was generally very good and so was the visibility. The ground features were easy to interpret, nowhere near as congested as we were to encounter later back in Britain. The aircraft was usually only a few thousand feet up and the pilots were quite familiar with the territory, so although they played the game one was aware that they wouldn’t let things get out of hand navigation-wise. If you spotted a railway track it was a big help because there weren’t many railway lines in the whole of the area. Sizeable towns were few and far between and so were much more readily identified. At this stage we were already encountering the fundamental problem of air navigation – estimating and allowing for the effect of the wind, a continually varying factor. As anyone observing a light aircraft flying in a crosswind will know, 25 [page break] the aircraft doesn’t travel in exactly the direction it is pointing. It drifts sideways to an extent depending on the wind-speed and direction, (wind velocity). If the aircraft is supposed to be travelling from point A to point B it is not sufficient to point the nose directly at point B unless the wind is from dead ahead or dead astern, a most unlikely occurrence. One has to apply a correction to the heading according to the wind velocity. Knowing the aircraft’s heading from the compass and its airspeed from the airspeed indicator the navigator can plot an “air position” according to the time elapsed on that course. If at that time he can identify the actual position of the aircraft relative to the ground by visual or other means and plot that “fix”, the line joining the “air position” with the “fix” shows both the wind direction and the effect of the wind over the time of the plot and hence the wind velocity. This velocity can then be used as the most up-to-date information for use in making any necessary alteration of course to allow for the wind effect. We proceeded with ever more sophisticated exercises as the course progressed, flying mainly with South African but occasionally R.A.F. pilots and included photography, astro-navigation (night-flying), over sea exercises, formation flights, flame-float exercises (also involving night flying), and low-level map reading. Meanwhile we were kept hard at it with our ground studies which involved D.R. (Dead Reckoning) theory, D.R. plotting, compasses meteorology, maps and charts, instruments, radio navigation, reconnaissance, photography, aircraft recognition, signals (both lamp and buzzer) and Astro-navigation. With any subject involving calculations I found no real difficulty because I had always enjoyed Maths. Notwithstanding 26 [page break] the confidence this gave me, I could not see much relevance between the training we were getting and the realities of operating at heights of 10,000 to 20,000 feet on dark nights with the ground practically invisible, under enemy fire. Astro-navigation seemed to be about the only independent means of navigation, but when one thought about what that entailed in practice it didn’t seem such a good idea. Inherently Astro-navigation did not appeal to me as sufficiently accurate. In order to get a fix one needed to take observations by sextant on three stars distributed at reasonable angles in the night sky through the perspex dome in the roof of the bomber aircraft, each observation taking a minimum of 2-3 minutes, not forgetting to note the time of the observation and having to calculate a position line from a book of tables and transfer it along the track on the chart. Then, if one was lucky, one had three lines which crossed producing a sizeable triangle, somewhere within which lay, hopefully, the position of the aircraft. The biggest criticism was the vulnerability of an aircraft flying straight and level at a steady airspeed for up to ten minutes over predicted anti-aircraft fire and being followed by night fighters with radar. At this stage I was puzzled how the job could be done and I just had to hope that all would be revealed in the fullness of time. Meanwhile, I was thankful not to have experienced any ill effects from my encounter with aviation and felt that I should be able to cope reasonably well in the future. It must have seemed very tame for some of our South African pilots after coming from combat in North Africa to spend time “taxi-driving” we “sprog” navigators. We heard strange stories about some of their antics as they tried to relieve the boredom, but the Anson was a most tolerant aircraft and almost flew itself. In my log book I have the names Jooste, Nasmith, Efroiken, Van Rensburg, Moll, Mannheim, Van 27 [page break] Heerden, Steyn and Duveen, along with R.A.F. pilots Cowan and Hill. Suddenly, on 1.7.43 I, with four other members of pour course (No. 12) at 41 Air School was sent for interview by W/C Pettit and two Squadron Leaders. I was genuinely taken by surprise, wearing a somewhat scruffy battledress with two or three buttons missing. I had nothng [sic] to lose and I ran down the C.E.B. exams in general. I noted “it seemed to work”. The following day, more prepared on this occasion, I was interviewed by Group Captain O’Grady. I was stumped by a question on details of the D.F.C. He was very pleasant and at the end I felt I would have liked to have another interview, knowing more about him. It turned out that I was considered O.K. for commissioning, along with John Tebbut from “A” flight. I was somewhat surprised, considering that I had at no time applied for or even thought about a commission at this early stage in my training. More so, because during the first interview I had rejected the possibility of staying in South Africa as an instructor on the grounds that pupils would be likely to take more notice of instructors with operational experience. I omitted to say that I would have felt like the blind leading the blind. [underlined] Results of Courses from 29.3.43 to 10.7.43 Air Navigation Course No. 12 Held at 41 A.S. South Africa [/underlined] 28 [page break] [underlined] Subject – Poss. – Obtd. [/underlined] D.R. Theory – 100 – 63 D.R. Plotting – 300 – 229 Compasses – 100 – 74 Meteorology – 100 – 72 Maps and Charts – 100 – 94 Instruments – 100 – 76 Radio Navigation – 100 – 79 Reconnaissance – 100 – 72/A Photography – 100 – 94/AA A/C Recognition – P. – P. Signals – 100 – 96 Astro-Navigation – 100 – 97 Flying times on Course Day 76.45 Night 17.20 A/C Type Anson Air Exercise Assessment AA (Above Average) [underlined] TOTAL MARKS OBTAINED 81 PERCENT PASSED [/underlined] 29 [page break] Remarks: An Above Average Navigator Signed by W/Commander Pettit There were still three more air navigational exercises to fit in before our graduation day on 10.7.43. To present our brevets we had Rear-Admiral Scott. When it came to my turn the conversation was as follows:- “Where do you come from, my boy?” “Hull, Yorkshire, Sir.” “There’s not much of Hull left is there?” “No, Sir.” etc. The evening celebration was quite informal but the Group Captain did take the opportunity to compliment us on a good parade. A big dampener, as far as I was concerned, was the news I had received from Fred Rolph, about the time I had my first interview for a commission. He’d made a mess of the Astro-Navigation exam and then came up against a problem in the D.R. Plotting. He said in his letter of 29.6.43, “Do you think I could remember how to do it? I sat there cudgelling my brains and thinking of Edna” (his girl-friend back home) ”and the Astro exam and I couldn’t think how to do it.” He tried to remedy the plotting but only succeeded in getting deeper in the mire. In fact he needn’t have worried so much about the Astro exam – he obtained 67 percent, but he didn’t know how. It was worrying unnecessarily about the Astro that contributed to his failure in the D.R. Plotting. The outcome was that nine members of his course, including Fred had to re-sit their D.R. Plotting exam a day or two before I was getting my brevet. This meant a delay of three weeks for Fred but he added a P.S. “Edna won’t mind waiting three weeks extra after nine months. (I hope!)”. 30 [page break] Unfortunately those three weeks meant that he never caught up with me again, and his next letter, posted from the Smyth home on 26.7.43 didn’t catch up with me until four months later, when I had no idea where he would be. I had done my packing and said goodbye to the Smyth’s and boarded the train for Cape Town. Denis Smyth, probably about eighteen or nineteen years old, took me to the station by car, followed the train and saw me again at Cambridge just down the line. I was really sorry to leave the Smyth’s, after all their kindness. Next day, Tuesday, we passed through Queenstown very early in the morning, and on Wednesday afternoon we arrived at Cape Town. We completed the journey to the I.F.T.C. Westlake (Imperial Forces Transit Camp) by electric railway and we were ensconced in Hut 6/26. During the next ten days I explored part of Cape Town and did some shopping. I managed to get items such as 1/2 yd. braid (pilot officer), a badge, some shirts, shoes, socks, gloves, hankies, and a raincoat and posted several small parcels of goodies to the family in England. On Sunday, 25.7.43 I settled up my mess fees, collected my pay and a £15 travelling allowance, packed the little that remained to be packed and was transferred at the last minute to the draft prior to the one I had expected. In a very short time we boarded the “Mauretania”. There were eight of us in a cabin, but it was luxurious compared with the hammocks and benches in the “Stirling Castle”. There were five R.A.F. Pilot Officers, two Navy types and one civilian attached to the R.A.F. Next morning we sailed for England about 11 a.m., after a boat drill at 10 a.m. Like the “Queen Elizabeth”, the “Mauretania” was 31 [page break] constructed just before the war and proved extremely useful in transporting troops throughout the war. The “Mauretania” alone carried more than 380,000 troops during 55 voyages and must have been a high priority target for German U-boats. My brother travelled to Canada in the “Mauretania” for his aircrew training, shortly afterwards. Our accommodation was section C3 on C Deck and our Mess No. 69. Mealtimes were pleasant affairs – I have an autographed menu from the luncheon on Wednesday August 11th 1943 in the Officers’ dining room. Nothing pretentious of course, but a big leap back to civilised behaviour. In contrast, acting as orderly officer one day, accompanied by a corporal I had the job of seeing the other side of life and asking the airmen on the mess decks for “Any complaints?” Thankfully everyone seemed reasonably happy with their lot. So we passed our time in comfort on our fairly direct (apart from a brief call at Freetown), journey back to Liverpool. This took about half of the five weeks of our outward journey on the “Stirling Castle”. By this time the submarine menace had been reduced considerably. 32 [page break] [photograph of three men and one woman] [page break [photograph of the crew with signatures] [page break] [underlined and centred] Chapter 4: Back to England [/underlined and centred] Once we docked in Liverpool we were soon on the train and on our way to No. 7 P.R.C. (presumably Personnel Receiving Centre) at Harrogate on 14.8.43. From there we went on our disembarkation leave. I believe I got most of my officer’s uniform fixed up in Hull and maybe some items in Harrogate, where we had to return before posting. On 8.9.43 my posting came to 3(O) A.F.U., Halfpenny Green, an airfield situated in the West Midlands between Bridgnorth and Dudley. (Today it is a civil airport). There during the next few weeks, I was to take part in No. 138 Air Observers Advance Navigation Course. It seemed an impressive title although a little anachronistic when the replacement of Observers by Navigators had already spread to South Africa and Canada with the Empire Training Scheme. We were already wearing the “N” brevets which replaced the previous observer “O”, as we arrived for the course. The “advanced navigation course” conducted on Ansons served two purposes. It showed us the difference between map-reading over the wide-open spaces of South Africa, where it was relatively easy to pick out significant features such as a main road or a railway line, and the more complex problem in European map-reading. The more densely populated areas introduced a corresponding profusion of ground detail. Secondly, it extended our experience quite logically without the further complication, on a short course, which might have been occasioned by using an unfamiliar aircraft. On the other hand, the disquieting feeling remained over the relevance of map reading from a few thousand feet, half the time in daylight, compared with the coming operational navigation mainly at 33 [page break] night, largely out of sight of the ground and at around 20,000 feet, while covering the ground more rapidly in a four-engined aircraft and with the added distractions caused by the opposition. The thirty-eight and a half hours flying time accrued at Halfpenny Green, brought my total flying time to one hundred and thirty-two and a half hours, roughly one-quarter being night flying. My one recollection of those days was, on the completion of a particular night exercise, walking from the airfield to the hut on a beautiful Autumn night along a narrow country road with not a soul in sight and humming a popular tune of those days. The next posting was to No. 84 O.T.U. (Operational Training Unit) at Desborough in Northamptonshire. That was on 12.10.43. This was a recently established O.T.U. and the roadways had only been laid that Autumn. It was also pretty wet weather during the first few weeks there and we aircrew, marching between our Nissen huts and lectures found ourselves on roads covered with mud from the soil excavated during their construction and piled nearby. The O.T.U. was equipped with Vickers Wellington twin-engined bombers, which had been the main-stay of Bomber Command for some time but was being progressively replaced by four-engined types. However, the Wellingtons, or “Wimpeys” as they were usually called, looked large and impressive and very business-like compared with the Anson to which I was accustomed. Other huts were occupied by other categories of aircrew – pilots, bomb-aimers, wireless operators and air-gunners. Very soon we would have to perform the transition from individuals to aircrews. To this end we were assembled in a large hangar and 34 [page break] told to get ourselves sorted out. This was very much a lottery. We were teaming up with people we had never met before to undertake dangerous operations during which we would be bound to depend implicitly on these strangers being able to do their jobs efficiently. I suppose this was accepted because we were “all in the same boat”. In hindsight, I don’t think anyone could have suggested a rational alternative. I cannot remember just how it came about but I found myself “crewed up” with three sergeants (pilot, Chris Derrick; wireless operator, John (Jock) Poyner; a rear gunner, Tom Gibb from Glasgow), and a Pilot Officer bomb-aimer making up the crew of five for the Wellington. This was the stage at which the division between commissioned and non-commissioned aircrew became apparent. We commissioned “types” were quartered in huts segregated from the huts of the N.C.O.s, and we had separate messes. We attended lectures according to our aircrew duties, e.g. navigator or whatever and only got together as a crew when flying was in the offing. It wasn’t done for officers and N.C.0.s to go around in “matey” groups. On the morale-boosting side, we navigators were soon relieved to learn that our big worry about how we could possibly navigate accurately at night would be considerably relieved by our introduction to an almost magical device known as a Gee box. Basically this measured the aircraft’s distance from each of two ground stations and where these measurements coincided gave the geographical position of the aircraft. On the debit side it was jammable by the enemy and could not be relied upon beyond the enemy coast. Nevertheless it would give us a sound beginning to our task when we went out on operational flights. We flew in a “Wimpey” for the first time on 8.11.43 with 35 [page break] a “screened” pilot instructing our pilot, Sgt. Derrick on the take-offs, circuits and landings, commonly known as “circuits and bumps”. The significance of this dawned on me in the course of time. Our pilot was given his solo check, went solo (with members of the crew) and had three further lots of “circuits and bumps”. Then we took the gunners on an air-firing exercise and did some dual “circuits and bumps”, two thirds of them with six different screened pilots. I think we must have met most of the instructors of “B” flight, some of them several times. Sometimes we were airborne several times a day, four times on three occasions. Our pilot seemed to have some trouble with his steering around the perimeter track and wandered off it occasionally. When this happened we were liable to be bogged down as the ground was so muddy. On a couple of occasions I flew in the rear turret because the gunners were occupied with ground training and the policy was for there always to be a pair of eyes in the rear turret to warn of the proximity of other aircraft both in the air and on the ground. I did not care for the cramped conditions and I cared less about the landings, when my helmeted head hit the turret. In my ignorance I thought it was just one of the things that went with flying heavy aircraft. I was thankful I was a navigator. Now the bomb-aimer had to “get in” a bit of practical work, dropping eleven and a half pound practice bombs at the local bombing range. We had been to the bombing range once at night and once by day, both times with a “screened” pilot. Now we had to carry out the same exercises “solo”. The high-level bombing by day was carried out, apparently satisfactorily but night bombing presented difficulties. We had bomb-sight trouble 36 [page break] on a number of occasions and four attempts were aborted. On the last occasion our bomb aimer was sick and on our return to base our pilot reported “bomb-aimer u/s” instead of “bomb-sight u/s”. At this stage we parted company with Chris Derrick – he was considered unsuitable as the pilot of heavy bomber aircraft. We heard that he carried on flying Oxfords, twin-engined aircaft. [sic] We also saw no more of our bomb aimer, F/O Valentine. I missed listening to his gramophone and classical records of an evening. During these early weeks we were rudely brought up against the realities of the job. One of our Wellingtons was shot down one night by a German intruder aircraft from a height of about 10,000 feet, possibly on a practice bombing exercise. Two members of the crew, including the F/Lt pilot, who had some operational experience on other aircraft, were fellow occupants of the same hut as Valentine and myself. I was one of the bearers at the funeral service in the local church. Within a few days we had a replacement pilot, Sgt. Redman, a rather taciturn character and we were transferred from “B” flight to “D” flight. We also had a replacement bomb-aimer, Sgt. Tommy Crook. Obviously Sgt. Redman had already satisfied the Air Force that he was competent to fly Wellingtons because, without any preliminaries whatsoever, our first outing with him was on a daylight cross-country (i.e. navigational exercise) in the company of a screened pilot. That was on 28.12.43. By the 10.1.44 we were completing our series of navigation exercises (in which we suffered simulated attacks by R.A.F. fighters) in what must have been record time, as the Air Force attempted to 37 [page break] makes us catch up on lost time. Unfortunately the cross-country on Route 92/19 turned out to be a somewhat traumatic experience. (In those days I don’t think the word “traumatic” was part of the vocabulary as it is today). Part of the route during a five and a half hour flight took us about 100 miles out over the North Sea and everything was going satisfactorily and the Gee set was working O.K. when Sgt. Redman suddenly announced that the aircraft had stalled. In front of me on the navigator’s table, was a duplicate altimeter, showing 8,000 feet. I watched, somewhat numbly, as the needle began to “unwind”. I can only suppose the other crew members were similarly afflicted. There was certainly no chatter and no panic. We all knew that the next words from the pilot were most likely to be “Prepare for ditching” which would mean taking up positions to minimise injury when the aircraft hit the sea. The altimeter continued to “unwind”. There was no instruction from our pilot to the wireless operator to try to inform base of our predicament and no word as to what was happening. At 4,000 feet, halfway down to the cold North Sea with virtually no chance of survival, the aircraft levelled off, still without a word of explanation from our pilot. It transpired what had happened was that the pitot tube, which feeds the air pressure for the airspeed indicator had “iced up” so the air-speed appeared to fall. The pilot, partly through inexperience, had feared the worst and informed us accordingly. We were relieved to get “home”. In unanimous agreement the crew decided that we had no confidence in our pilot and did not wish to fly with him again. Because of my commission, I had the unpleasant job of forwarding the crew’s views to our superiors and we did not 38 [page break] meet Sgt. Redman again. However, by the contribution of our two pilots, the rest of the crew were deemed to have completed the O.T.U. course, and after a spot of leave we were posted to a holding unit at Methwold, in Suffolk on 8.2.44. It must have been at Methwold that, whilst puzzling over the fate of our temporarily headless crew, I happened to meet an American lieutenant pilot serving with the R.A.F. He had a very English name, Braithwaite, and hailed from Hollywood and had lots of flying hours behind him before he left the U.S.A. He was waiting to be given a crew. He didn’t have a pronounced American accent and discussing our mutual situation we got on very well together. We both thought it would be the ideal solution if we could join forces, i.e. if he could take our pilotless crew. Unfortunately, the authorities preferred to give him a crew who had lost their pilot doing an operation as second pilot with another crew for experience before operating with his own crew. Our crew was posted on 25.2.44 to No. 1653 H.C.U. at Chedburgh, (also in Suffolk), which was in No. 3 Group of Bomber Command. Here we were in the land of the Stirling four-engined bomber – we would much rather have been on Lancasters. However, looking back on those days, I am certain that it was a turning point as far as our crew was concerned. In addition to acquiring a new pilot, Sgt. G.F. (Fred) Holbrook and a mid-upper gunner, Sgt. Stan Swain, we were joined by our flight engineer, Sgt. Johnny Squires, an extremely useful asset over the next six months or so. Johnny was already serving in the Army when the war started and had got to the rank of Captain in the Black Watch, pretty good going considering he wasn’t much taller than my five foot six and a half inches! Anyway, during the middle years of the war the Army had a comb-out of junior officers of 40 years and more and it was 39 [page break] decided that he would be better employed in his basic occupation, engineering, in civilian life. He was not enraptured with the idea and, knocking ten years off his age, joined the R.A.F. for aircrew training as a flight engineer. He was, of course, much older than the rest of us. I was just coming up to 22, our wireless operator, John Poyner, was just 22 and Fred Holbrook was probably about the same age. The rest of the crew were younger, the gunners probably 19 or 20. You could say he was almost a father-figure, but we daren’t have suggested any such thing at the time. He was really first class at the job, always calm and never at a loss, whatever the circumstances. He was a really steadying influence and, personally, having already “lost” two pilots along the way and now having a third unknown factor taking over, I felt much happier about our future knowing that Johnny was sitting up there alongside Fred. That feeling was reinforced as we progressed steadily with the local flying and then with navigational exercises on Stirlings (Mark I and III). The Stirling, which was the first of the R.A.F.’s four-engined bombers, built to a 1936 specification, gave the impression of a long dinosaur waiting to attack or pounce. The undercarriage was enormous and at first sight made me wonder what the altimeter in the cockpit read! It was a good aircraft but had serious limitations, the main one being its maximum altitude. I understand that this was due to its wingspan being limited by the standard hangar width of the day. Whilst other Bomber Command aircraft normally operated at about 20,000 feet, this ‘plane could barely manage 15,000, so it seemed it would be unwise to get mixed up with 40 [page break] people dropping things from a mile above. After five weeks at Chedburgh we were able to erase such thoughts from our imagination as we went on leave prior to being transferred to the Lancaster Finishing School at Hemswell in No. 1 Group. I still have one souvenir from the Stirling era, a horizontal scar on the bridge of my nose, due to colliding with the rear end of the tailplane whilst walking around a Stirling on a very dark night. Fortunately it was only local flying – not a navigational trip – and I was able to clamp my first aid dressing on to the spot immediately and stop the bleeding until we returned. That was to be the only injury I sustained in the Air Force. 41 [page break] Walter Suddaby I kept in touch with Walter at varying intervals throughout our R.A.F. careers and I knew he’d been with his crew to 1658 H.C.U. (Heavy Conversion Unit) at Riccall (halfway between York and Selby) to train on Halifax bombers. I had plenty of reminders when I later travelled through Riccall on my way to and from work at Selby. I heard when he got onto 158 Squadron at Lissett, near Bridlington and then no more. I cannot remember just how it happened that his brother, Frank, cycled over from their home in North Hull and found me home on leave, but his tidings were terrible and I was shocked. Walter had been killed in extremely unfortunate circumstances. In “The Bomber Battle for Berlin”, Air Commodore John Searby explains what happened on the night of 24/25th March 1944. “Over the Dutch coast P/O Simpson” (Walter’s pilot) “called base saying his port and starboard outer engines were damaged”. (It would be Walter transmitting the message). “and nothing more was heard until he was reported having crashed at the water’s edge at Ingham near Cromer, Norfolk, where a minefield was laid years before against possible invasion. The aircraft blew up and all were killed.” Apparently, having little altitude, the pilot attempted a crash landing on the beach, and had either forgotten about the mined beaches or had little alternative but to take the risk. A later publication, by W.R, Chorley. reported the crash as happening on the sand dunes near Winterton-on-Sea, Norfolk. 42 [page break] [underlined] Chapter 5: Operations 1-20 [/underlined] I can still remember my first close-up encounter with the Lancaster – no, I didn’t bump my nose. Compared with the ungainly appearance of the Stirling, the Lancaster looked sleek and business-like. On entering the cockpit I was greatly impressed by the appearance of the in-line Rolls Royce Merlin engines, of which I had heard so much since I became interested in aviation. My confidence soared. It increased further when I heard about the H2S (air-borne radar equipment) and the A.P.I. (air position indicator). Not that I had any time for practice at Hemswell – the object of the exercise was the transference from one four-engined bomber (the Stirling) to the other (the Lancaster) which mainly meant lots of take-offs and landings for our pilot and familiarisation with the new aircraft and its numerous instrument panels and dials for pilot (Fred) and flight engineer (Johnny). We were airborne for a total of barely eleven hours (some day and some night) during our brief stay at Hemswell and in no time at all we were making the short journey, on 26.4.44, by crew bus I believe, to Wickenby and No. 12 Squadron. At Wickenby, which was a war-time constructed airfield, I was again segregated from the rest of the crew as they were all sergeants. My accomodation [sic] on the officers’ site was in a Nissen hut, similar to that of the crew on the N.C.O.S’ site, which I later wandered over to inspect. I had a distinctly unusual and rather disquieting introduction to my new “home”. There was only one person there when I arrived, P/O Adam (Jock) Varrie, who I believe hailed from Lockerbie. (Currently domiciled in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe). He had lost his crew on operations whilst he was ill, 43 [page break] and had been given the job of assistant to the Flight Engineer Leader. He had arrived at Wickenby in September ’43 and had done quite a lot of ops. before losing his crew. He told me that during his time at Wickenby he knew of only one crew and “one odd bod” who had survived a tour of 30 operations, i.e. from the two squadrons Nos. 12 and 626, operating from Wickenby. I decided there was no point in worrying and to take a limited objective. I had a few science books with me and I did look at them on several occasions but I decided to defer the idea. Instead, I suppose partly in bravado, I decided to read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” which I found in the Library at Wickenby Officers’ Mess. I wondered how far I’d get with it under the circumstances. I did in fact get through the lot, more than 1,000 pages, in instalments! For moral support I said the “Lord’s Prayer” each night as I lay in bed, trying to give full interpretation to the words. Secondly (and rather trivially) I always polished by flying boots before going off to briefings. It was rather foolish in hindsight, because if I’d had to parachute down in enemy territory, polished boots would not have been a good idea, if one was trying to evade capture even if you managed to rear off the leg parts. Looking back, I suppose it was a case of “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition”. At the Navigation Office I encountered F/Lt. R. Stancliffe, our Squadron Navigation Officer and was impressed by his relaxed and friendly attitude. I soon encountered something which I found very inspirational. In some pigeon holes or racks in the Nav. Office there were a few navigators’ logs, one of which left an enduring impression on me. It had been compiled by F/O D.A. Colombo who had gone missing, along with his crew, on the Berlin raid of 24/25 March ’44, i.e. 44 [page break] just over a month earlier and the one on which Walter Suddaby and his crew were lost. His log seemed to me like a work of art, hardly the kind of craftsmanship one would have believed possible, given the circumstances prevailing at that particularly hazardous period in the history of Bomber Command. I decided, then and there, that if I couldn’t make Colombo’s standard I’d have a good try. I never met him but I never forgot him. Our crew was placed in “B” Flight of 12 Squadron and we were airborne just twice, both on 28.4.44, for “fighter affiliation” (i.e. dodging a Spitfire) combined with air-sea firing practice for the gunners and a simulated night attack on Bristol. I don’t remember whether we managed to fit in a short leave but just over a week later we were detailed for our first op. on 7.5.44. The first and second ops. were not very demanding, one on a target near Rennes in France and the second to a target in Belgium. The latter attack was aborted on the instruction of the Master Bomber, due to poor visibility and we were ordered to return with our load. Between our first and third ops. we got in quite a lot of navigational practice (and much needed H2S practice) on five cross-country exercises. This period also helped very considerably in getting us working together as a crew and becoming familiar with our surroundings, both aloft and on the station. Our third and fourth ops. were on German territory, but only just over the border from Belgium. They were attacks on two marshalling yards at Aachen and met with considerable resistance, the loss rates being 6 percent in the first case and 7 percent in the 45 [page break] second. Railway marshalling yards were beginning to assume very considerable importance in view of the impending invasion of Europe by the Allied Armies. Anything that would impede the free transit of German forces to the coast could obviously be helpful to our forces, and Aachen was an important railway junction in that respect. On the second of the Aachen trips we made the aquaintance[sic] of Lancaster Mk.1 ME758, PH-N, the former being the Manufacturers (Metropolitan Vickers) number and the latter comprising No. 12 Squadron’s letters and the aircraft letter. This was to become our regular aircraft, in which we were to do 25 of our 30 ops. The Aachen trip was N-Nan’s tenth. On all night operations and quite a lot of the day ones I travelled secluded from the outer world by my black-out curtain. I sat at the navigation table, which was situated to the rear of the pilot’s armoured back-rest (the only armour in the aircraft), facing the port (left) side of the aeroplane. The reason for the black-out precaution was, of course, the angle-poise light which illuminated my chart and navigation log. Any emerging light would not have been appreciated by the crew as a whole and would not have been good for the pilot’s night vision. I had devised my personal system of navigation in an effort to simplify the calculations. In fact, I had gone decimal and worked in tenths of hours and tenths of minutes instead of minutes and fractions. For example, in the early stages of an operation when I wanted to ascertain the actual wind velocity, which was ever-changing and sometimes considerably at variance with the meteorological information, I took Gee-fixes at 46 6-minute intervals or sometimes 12, knowing it was then simple mental arithmetic to multiply the measured vector from the air position (thank goodness for the A.P.I.) to the fix by 10 or 5 respectively to find the wind speed in knots (nautical miles per hour). This saved a lot of messing about with the manual computer. It was just as essential to keep in touch with the wind velocity as with your actual position so that you had the ability to correct your course in order to hit the next turning point on your route. It was always a case of working with hind-sight. You could only assume that the wind affecting you over the next few miles would be similar to what you had just experienced. Miscellaneous observations such as times of bombs being fused and released, times to drop and rates of dropping of “window” (i.e. anti-radar aluminised strips), times and rough location of the positions of aircraft being shot down (including some alleged to be “scarecrow” devices fired into the air by the enemy to pretend they were R.A.F. aircraft which had been destroyed in mid-air), whether parachutes were seen, sightings of enemy aircraft, target indicators, radio information via the wireless operator, and anything which might be of use to “intelligence”, all had to be logged with time of occurrence and estimated positions relative to our aircraft and its heading. We fitted in yet another cross-country exercise on 29.5.44 for H2S practice. (See page 88. for technical details). The log book entry reads “Window (aircraft) lost and aileron damaged. A.S.I. (Air Speed Indicator) read 360 m.p.h. plus in dive”. The necessary repairs were soon made. With the invasion imminent we got a number of short- 47 [page break] haul trips, including attacks on a radar-jamming station near Dieppe which was later found to have been made “with great accuracy”, a gun position at Sangatte, near Calais, (as part of a deception programme to keep the enemy guessing where the landings would come), and the attack on a coastal battery at St. Martin de Varreville on the Normandy coast on the eve of the invasion. On the latter occasion the H2S screen was covered with numerous luminous pin-point echoes of the invasion fleet on its way across the Channel. On the next evening we were supposed to bomb a railway switch-line at Acheres in the suburbs of Paris, but there was too much cloud for the safety of French civilians so the Master Bomber ordered us to return with our loads. (Not much fun, landing with a full bomb load!) That counted as our eighth operation. The next couple of night operations were also concerned with inhibiting the Hun, one being against a landing-ground at Flers in Southern Normandy and the other attacking the important railway junction of Evreux, about 50 miles west of Paris. So far our ten ops. had not been too stressful and had averaged only about four and a half hours night flying. Targets were marked by the Pathfinder Force (PFF) with various coloured devices which could be varied according to pre-arranged plans during the period of the attack and could be over-ridden by instructions from the “Master of Ceremonies” (Master Bomber) according to eventualities arising during the progress of the raid. By the time I was operating, the P.F.F. system had been developed over the better part of two years into a formidable 48 [page break] system, but there were occasional human errors. When this happened the whole or part of a raid could go awry. On the night of 12/13 June 1944 we took part in the first raid of a new oil campaign, the target being the Nordstern synthetic oil plant at Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr. In addition to my normal duties I was one of a number of navigators on the operation to be detailed for “wind-finding”. The idea was for the force as a whole to have the benefit of the information obtained from selected navigators and apply it to their individual needs. We calculated the wind velocities at successive stages en route and had our wireless operators transmit the coded information back to base for analysis and consideration by meteorological staff, who then reported back to the main force the outcome of their deliberations in terms of up-to-date information on wind vehicles. From my log for the trip I see that I sent back wind velocities from seven stages of the outward and return trips. I was quite happy with the navigation and had given the pilot the final correction to the course to the target, then calculated and given a wind velocity to Jock Poyner, our wireless operator, when our pilot spotted what he believed to be the target markers about 30 degrees to starboard and altered course towards them despite my disbelief, when we were approximately 20 miles from the target. Our clear instructions were to bomb the markers so that is what happened. We bombed just after 0101 hours, i.e. within our allotted range of 0100 to 0104 hours. Many years later I read an illuminating account in “Bomber Command News” in an article spanning “Six months in the life of Bomber Command, a day-by-day account of support for the Allied invasion forces.” This covered the period 23.5.44 49 to 31.12.44, including the attack on Gelsenkirchen. It reported – “Owing to the good work of the Pathfinders the attack opened with exceptional accuracy. Later a rogue target indicator fell ten miles short of target and was bombed by 35 aircraft. All production at the oil plant ceased with a loss of 1,000 tons of aviation fuel a day for several weeks.” On my part, I compared the photograph taken automatically when our bombs were released, with the large wall mosaic in the Intelligence library of photographs taken by R.A.F. reconnaissance aircraft. Not having the benefit of the information which was quoted so many years later in “Bomber Command News”, I estimated from our last alteration of course before the target approximately where to look on this huge map for the place we had actually bombed. From a few distinctive features on our photograph I was able to find the matching spot on the wall map – with a difference. Our picture showed unmistakably a dispersal point on the perimeter of an airfield which must have been constructed during the years since the reconnaissance photographs were taken. So the airfield personnel probably had an exciting night! The probable explanation is that whilst the real target was obscured by thick smoke from burning oil, the markers dropped ten miles away in open country were clearly visible. Seventeen Lancasters were lost, 6.1% of the Lancaster force of 286. For a bit of variation we flew the following night for a couple of hours practicing night fighter evasion (with an R.A.F. fighter). On the evenings of 14th and 15th June ’44 we operated in Bomber Command’s first daylight raids since May ’43. The objectives were the fast German motor torpedo boats (E-boats) and other light German naval forces based at Le Havre and 50 [page break] Boulogne, which were threatening Allied shipping off the Normandy beaches. We flew in loose “gaggles” (there had been no training in formation flying) escorted by Spitfires of 11 Group. The E-boat threat to the invasion beaches was almost completely removed. R.A.F. casualties were very light. We next had an aborted attack on a switch-line at Aulnoye, about 20 miles south of Mons. After a discussion between the Master Bomber and his deputy it was decided not to risk civilian casualties as it was too cloudy to bomb with accuracy, so we set off back with our loads, jettisoning the delayed-action bombs shortly after we left the French coast. On the night of 12/13 June ’44 the Germans began their V-1 (flying bomb) attacks on London. Between 15-16 and 16-17 June, 144 flying bombs crossed the Kent coast and 73 reached London. This stung the British authorities into action and Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the invasion forces, agreed that retaliatory action (code name CROSSBOW) should rank second in priority only to the urgent needs of the battlefield. From mid-June to mid-August attacks on V-weapon objectives became one of Bomber Command’s major concerns, absorbing about 40% of its effort and correspondingly reducing its ability to bomb Germany. Our first involvement came with a daylight attack on a flying-bomb site about 10 miles south-west of Calais. As the promised target indicators were not visible at the stated time we bombed on the Gee co-ordinates. That was on 22.6.44. I think we must have had a week’s leave after our 15th “op”, because “N-Nan” flew five operations with three other crews before we returned to the fray. Then it was back to the 51 [page break] Pas de Calais to attack the Domleger V-1 site, (my log says “flying-bomb supply lines”) in another daytime operation on 2.7.44. It was rather cloudy so again we “homed” to the target on Gee before the bomb-aimer, Tommy Crook, was able to take over and bomb visually. Now followed a trio of fairly lengthy night operations all involving railway marshalling yards at important centres in France. On the nights of 4/5, 5/6, and 12/13 July, we visited successively Orleans, Dijon, and Tours (not exactly Cook’s tours). On the first night the loss rate was 5 percent, on the second nil, and on the third about 3 percent. This was rather strange because the Dijon trip was by far the longer route, taking eight and a quarter hours, compared with about six hours for each of the others. The results were satisfactory, particularly at Orleans. I had cause to remember the bombing of the French railway system just over a year later when involved in flying our forces home on leave from Italy because the French railway system was still in a mess from our efforts in 1944 (see later). There was also an occasion when I was attending a symposium on analytical chemistry at Birmingham University in either 1954 or 1958 when I became involved in a discussion with a young French scientist, whilst queueing at the refectory. When he asked me if I’d been to France, I said “Not exactly” and admitted I hadn’t set foot in France although I had visited during the war. I had no idea what his reaction would be, and was greatly relieved and pleased when he slapped me on the back and spoke warmly of his admiration for the way the R.A.F. had managed to knock out railway goods yards close to the towns whilst causing the minimum of civilian casualties. He did not have such a good opinion of the U.S.A.A.F. with whom he chose to make the 52 [page break] comparison. I wish that I had made a note of his name and address! It was a completely unsolicited testimonial. After a gap of another week we went on our 20th operation to the railway yards and junction at Courtrai (or Kortrijk as the Belgians have it nowadays). Both targets were devastated. Casualties were 3 percent. 53 [page break] 54 [page break] [black and white photograph of 7 airmen in uniform standing in a row in front of a Nissen hut] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [black and white photograph of seven airmen in front of an aircraft, four standing in the back row and three kneeling in the front row.] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [black and white photograph of an airman leaning against the wing of an aircraft] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [underlined] Chapter 6: Operations 21-30 [/underlined] Taking part in the first major raid on a German city for two months, on the night of 23/24 July, we went to Kiel. It was our twentyfirst [sic] operation. The elaborate deception and the surprise return to a German target must have confused the opposition because Bomber Command lost only four aircraft out of 629 taking part. Kiel suffered heavy damage. The bombing force appeared suddenly from behind a Mandrel jamming screen, operated by the Radio Counter-Measures squadrons of 100 Group, and took the defences by surprise. In the space of 25 minutes nearly 3,000 tons of bombs fell on the town and port, inflicting enormous damage to the U-boat yards and many other areas. Rescue and repair was hampered by 500 delayed-action bombs and unexploded duds. There was no water for three days, no trains and buses for eight days and no gas for cooking for three weeks. Looking at my log, I see that I had a fault on the H2S and also that when we were well on the way home I had a dabble with the bubble sextant, taking three star shots for practice. I was glad I wasn’t dependent on them. On the night of 24/25 July we took part in the first of three heavy raids on Stuttgart. This was a more arduous trip, the return trip taking eight hours forty minutes. I had to Sellotape two Mercator charts together to lay down the route which took us via Normandy and south of Orleans to just beyond 9 degrees E longitude, and the majority of two double-sided log forms. Once again, I had the added duty of “wind-finding” for the main force. As it happened, the winds were the lightest I encountered on operations, barely reaching 20 knots at any stage and often less than 10 knots from between west and north-west. 55 [page break] From the intercom. and audible noises off I gathered, in the seclusion of my snuggery, that the reception committee was doing its best to welcome us as we neared the target. Someone spotted a night-fighter immediately ahead of us but fortunately it was crossing our route and was banked away from us, probably after some othe [sic] prey. (See page 91 “The German Defences” for further information on the tactics of the night-fighters). We bombed within half a minute of the time I had in my flight plan and speeded up to the next turning point on our route, just three minutes beyond the target, where we made a sharp turn to starboard on to the next leg of 18 nautical miles, before another starboard turn over the Schwabische Alb range. We had just settled onto our homeward route when trouble arose. The port inner engine packed up, probably due to flak, and had to be feathered. That meant we had ahead of us, all being well and no further complications, a four hour journey on three engines. We hoped we didn’t encounter any night fighters and were thankful for light winds for the next part of our journey. Actually, being relieved of the bomb load, “N-Nan” managed very nicely on its three Rolls Royce engines and I was able to continue the job of sending wind velocities back to base, the first on our return journey being only fifteen minutes after “losing” the engine. Altogether, on this op. I see that I managed to send back ten wind velocities covering various stages en route. We did lose a little time but by the time we crossed the south coast of England we were only ten minutes later than our planned time and we didn’t have to queue for landing back at Wickenby. Casualties amounted to 3.4 percent of the 614 attackers. 56 [page break] Two days later, on 27.7.44 we were airborne locally to air test the new engine and also the replacement for a damaged tail-fin, do some air-sea firing and take a passenger to Sandtoft. Our 23rd operation was much shorter and less exciting. On 30.7.44 we were part of a very large force of 692 aircraft sent to bomb six German positions in front of a mainly American ground attack in the Villers Bocage-Caumont area. Our target was near Caumont. Cloud caused difficulties and we had to orbit and descend to see the target indicators before bombing. Only four aircraft were lost. We were down at Wickenby after four hours. During the previous week I had been greatly surprised to see among new arrivals on 12 Squadron an old acquaintance from South African days. Furthermore, he was the other navigator commissioned at the same time and so we had consecutive Air Force numbers. We had both been on No. 12 course at 41 Air School though he was in “A” flight and I was in “B”. Due to the vagaries of the R.A.F. posting system, he had arrived at Wickenby three months after myself. He was F/O J.A. (John) Tebbut. We were naturally both excited by this coincidence – he could easily have gone to one of the many other airfields and squadrons and I hadn’t encountered any of the other navigators of No. 12 course since I left 41 Air School. I readily agreed to fly with him locally (and unofficially I believe) so that I could help him master the H2S equipment. We flew in “N-Nan” on a local cross-country lasting just over two hours on 31.7.44. When he wasn’t tied up with his crew we had a good natter about things in general and then he asked if I would like to borrow a book he had been presented with at Christmas 1943. I still have the book in front of me as I write, with its 57 [page break] inscription “from Harold and Sylvia”. Operation No. 24 couldn’t have been more brief. It was on a flying-bomb site at Les Catelliers, in the Pas-de-Calais. Navigation was normal down to the south coast near Selsey Bill except that I concentrated on H2S to the exclusion of Gee equipment. After that I relaxed as our formation was led to the target by Mosquitos. (I do not thing the Navigation Officer approved – he scribbled “Average Nav.” at the foot of my log). We were home again after three and a half hours. Next day, 3rd August, we were briefed for a daylight attack on a flying-bomb site at Trossy St. Maximin, not far from Chantilly, about 25 miles north of Paris. The wind was light and the navigation straightforward. This time I relied mainly on Gee and my decimal-hour system taking Gee fixes at 1215, 1221, 1227, 1233, 1239, 1245, 1251, 1257, and 1303 hours i.e. 6 minute intervals and obtaining seven measurements of wind velocity in that time. For the next fix, at 1309, my fix was a bearing and distance from Selsey Bill, using H2S. On crossing the coast the bombs were fused and selected and we proceeded at our eventual bombing altitude of 11,000 feet. We kept “bang on” our route and crossed the French coast within seconds of our predicted time. Other Lancasters were visible all around. At position “H” on our route the time was 1408 as we turned (dead over the turning point according to Tommy Crook, our bomb-aimer, and headed towards Compiegne, our last turning point before the target. Compiegne was only 14 nautical miles (4.3 minutes) away at this time and I thought I would have a look at this historic place as we turned towards our target. It was the place where the Armistice was signed in a railway-carriage in 1918 and the self- 58 [page break] same place where Hitler insisted on reversing things in 1940. I moved forward into the cockpit and was feeling pleased as Compiegne appeared below our banked wing-tip. Then I looked for our accompanying aircraft and eventually spotted them as small specks ahead of us. They had obviously cut the corner, missing out the right-angled bend at Compiegne and were well on the way to the target. There was only one other Lanc. anywhere near us and it was probably half a mile away on the beam. We were now faced with a straight run onto the target of 21 nautical miles, which would take over 6 minutes, at only 11,000 feet in a cloudless sky and with no-one with whom to share the flak. The odds were very heavily stacked against us, but we carried on according to form. No-one panicked – we were all pretty quiet – but that run-in onto target seemed to take an awful long time. We were subjected to very intense anti-aircraft fire – the gunners must have been rubbing their hands in anticipation. The conditions were ideal for them – a large aircraft at moderate height on a steady course in clear visibility. We were surrounded by shell-bursts, to the extent that the crew of the other aircraft thought we’d “had it”. We bombed in the middle of our allotted time bracket for bombing, which was obviously not the case with the vast majority of our companions, who were now miles away. Our aircraft was very fortunate to survive. Our recent replacement port inner engine was hit and had to be “feathered”. One of the other engines was damaged and three petrol tanks hit. Our bomb-aimer, Tommy Crook, and flight engineer, 59 [page break] Johnny Squires, received minor injuries from the “flak” which they later professed to be worthwhile in exchange for the wound-stripes they were then entitled to wear on their sleeves. About 12 minutes after leaving the target and nearly halfway back to the coast, we saw a Lancaster on fire about five miles ahead and counted five parachutes opening as the crew baled out. That Lancaster “hit the deck” two minutes later. It might just as easily have been our aircraft. Once we had crossed the French coast we breathed a sigh of relief and reduced the airspeed to ease the burden on our remaining engines. We were only 8 minutes later than scheduled back at Wickenby. It so happened that our Squadron Navigation Officer had taken part in this operation and he was obviously in one of the aircraft which had taken the short cut, missing out Compiegne. I quite surprised myself by marching into his office later and telling him what I thought about it. I wondered, later, if it wasn’t our pilot I should have had words with, as he should have realised what was happening and stayed with the “gaggle”, or at least told me what was afoot. On the other hand it was possibly a throw-back from the Gelsenkirchen raid when he missed the target by sticking strictly to orders rather than follow my directions. The outcome was that our aircraft “N-Nan” needed extensive repairs, having between 50 and 60 flak holes. (Johnny Squires gave me a piece of German flak found in the Lanc. – I still have it). It didn’t take part in operations again until ten days later, piloted by F/O G.S. Whyte to Falaise on 13/14 August. 60 [page break] In the meantime we were sent on a sea-mining (or “Gardening”) operation in Lancaster PH-W off the French coast to the west of La Rochelle on 10/11 August. This was our 26th op. and in this regard our crew was running neck and neck with another crew captained by F/Lt G.C. Owens, with a Canadian navigator F/O G.L. Wistow, who were both in my hut on the Officers’ site. I didn’t know George Wistow all that well, but I knew he was very well thought of in Canada. Mail delivered to the Mess was generally placed in a pigeon-holed framework but the “W” pigeon-hole was inadequate for the volume of Wistow’s letters so his were tied in a separate bundle placed just below the W’s. Like many Canadians he was a very outgoing type and usually went around with his pilot in his free time. Although only eight aircraft were taking part in this operation, Wistow’s was one of them, PH-X, JB716. The object was to lay mines (or “Vegetables”) in channels believed to be used by U-boats operating from La Rochelle. This was where our H2S was to be of use in determining the dropping points of the mines on a bearing and distance from a feature on the Ile de Oleron. The obvious hazard was the flak we were likely to encounter at our mine-dropping height of only 5,000 feet from both the Ile de Oleron and the Ile de Re. Night fighters wouldn’t have to make much altitude either. Our route took us via Bridport on the south coast, then south across the Channel and the Brest peninsular and descending gradually to 5,000 feet to reach a turning point at 47 degrees N and 4 degrees W over the Bay of Biscay, from where 61 [page break] we headed south-east towards our destination. The islands indicating our mining zone appeared quite clearly on the H2S so I directed our route, map-reading by the H2S for the last few miles. When we reached our release point on a bearing of 335 degrees (true) from Boyard Ville we dropped our mines at 4 second intervals whilst maintaining the same bearing. There was a considerable amount of light flak but we did not receive any damage and were soon climbing back to 10,000 feet on our way home. Our mines had been dropped around 0058 G.M.T., i.e. within the 0050 and 0100 range allotted and we landed back at base at the time our pre-flight plan had calculated for our arrival, all despite a certain amount of apprehension about having to use a different Lancaster from our old faithful “N-Nan”. Unfortunately, PH-X, with F/Lt Owen’s crew did not return. We heard later that they were badly shot up by flak near the mining area, struggled back to England but left it too late to bale out, crashed and caught fire. The wireless operator and the mid-upper gunner were the only survivors. They were both badly injured but fortunately they managed to crawl out without getting burned. They were in hospital for some time but both survived the war. Stan Canning, the wireless operator still lives in Birmingham. (I managed to contact him in 1997). There were continual reminders for me in the post-war years of both George Wistow and Walter Suddaby as I journeyed between York and Selby. On the main road I passed through Riccall where Walter was stationed at the H.C.U. (Heavy Conversion Unit) prior to going on to Lisset and 158 Squadron. On the alternative route I had to pass through the village of Wistow. 62 [page break] I think our crew must have gone on a week’s leave because the next entry in my log book was ferrying Lancaster PH-Z from Wickenby to Ludford for a major inspection on 21st August. Perhaps it was a good job it was only a twenty minute flight! Anyway we travelled back by road. We discovered, on our return from leave, that John Tebbut and his crew had gone missing during our absence, so I was left with the slim blue book on “Cloud reading for pilots.” which he had lent me two or three weeks before. By this time of course, all his kit and possessions had been collected and I couldn’t see a lot of point in trying to catch up with them for the sake of the small inexpensive book which remains among my souvenirs. Very strangely, a couple of years ago, I found John Tebbut’s name recorded on the Wickenby Roll of Honour with the date 24th June 1944 although my log book records my flight with him on 31st July 1944. W.R. Chorley in “R.A.F. Bomber Command Losses in 1944” obviously had the same source of information, reporting the loss of John’s crew “without trace” on 24th June during an operation on Saintes. I know they’ve got the records wrong but how can I do anything about it after 54 years? So many people were involved in making the records of operational casualties that inevitably mistakes were made. One such instance I can point to is the appearance on the Wickenby Roll of Honour of the two crew members who survived the crash which killed George Wistow and four of his crew mates. One of them, the wireless operator, is still alive and the other, the mid-upper gunner died in 1992. I presumed they must have died of their injuries until I came across their names in the Register of Members! 63 [page break] By the time we renewed our acquaintanceship with “N-Nan” she had completed two more missions, her 42nd and 43rd, with two other 12 Squadron crews. We got her back for her 44th and our 27th operation on 25/26 August. This time the target was the Opel motor factories at Russelheim, E.S.E. of Mainz, where amongst other products, components were being made for flying-bombs. Navigation was becoming pretty routine by this stage in my career, and although it was a nine-hour trip I managed to keep my concentration all the way, filling in reams of calculations with no noticeable variation in quality right through the exercise. This was recognised by the commendation “Very good nav.”. from our Squadron Navigation Officer written on the bottom of the log. Wind-finding for the main force was again an extra duty. Our scheduled time on the target was 0106 to 0110 – we actually bombed at 0107. My log included two entries at 0054 and 0126.2 recording aircraft being shot down, with rough bearings relative to our heading. Also noted was a precautionary practice stall with just over twenty minutes to go to Wickenby. Our tailplane had received some damage and it was considered best to try out pre-landing manoeuvres whilst we still had plenty of height (about 8,000 feet). Anyway it can’t have been too bad. One thing I found was that after so many hours of continuous concentration, and then going through de-briefing, I didn’t have any problem sleeping! The verdict on the operation, not immediately available, was that it inflicted very considerable damage and that the forge and gearbox factory were put out of action for several weeks. The attack was considered ”much more profitable, both in 64 [page break] damage inflicted and in the lighter losses incurred” than the visit by a force a fortnight earlier. Operation 28, our second attack on Kiel, turned out to be a rather bumpy ride. On the outward journey we stayed at 2,000 feet, heading E.N.E. until we were three-quarters of the way to Denmark before climbing on the same track to 12,000 feet. At 7 degrees East we turned to starboard and headed almost S.E. as if to attack Hamburg. Navigation was simplified by the fact that Heligoland stood out quite sharply on the cathode ray tube of the H2S with, of course, no confusing signals possible. I obtained bearings at ranges of twenty seven and three quarters and nineteen nautical miles as we passed well to the north of the islands, placing us right on track. At the same time we were climbing to 19,000 feet, and I sent back to base the third of the wind velocities I had dutifully measured. We crossed the German coast dead on track, crossed the Kiel Canal still heading as if for Hamburg, but when about 25 nautical miles short we turned sharply port on a north-westerly heading to Kiel. As we turned we saw red target indicators going down S.E. of us, so it looked as if there was a diversionary attack on Hamburg. Ahead we saw the first illuminating flares going down but it looked as if there would be low stratus cloud over the target. Then we saw red indicators going down ahead of us. Using the H2S I measured the remaining distance to Kiel at 15 nautical miles, or 3.6 minutes time-wise. Then the green target indicators appeared dead ahead and our bomb-aimer, Tommy Crook, took over. The bombs were dropped at 2309.7 so we were very close to our planned time on target of 2310. We turned away at 2310.1 and, looking at the H2S, I reckoned we must have been “bang on” our aiming point. 65 [page break] Our H2S fix at 2312.3 showed us right on track to our turning point over Kiel Bay, from which we turned westwards to cross the narrow neck of Germany roughly 20 nautical miles south of the Danish border. From our next turning point on the western German coast, we were to descend from 19,000 feet to 7,000 feet as we put the nose down and pushed up our airspeed from 160 to 200 knots. We had only left the coast between 10 and 15 miles astern when we saw a burning aircraft falling about five miles away on the port beam. At 2340 all was going well and we were only 2 miles south of track, but only seven minutes later we were encountering static in heavy cloud at about 17,000 feet so Fred altered course, first onto 150 degrees, and then 180 degrees and then 210 degrees, as I could see from my repeater compass, to try to go round to the south of the cumulo-nimbus band. I managed to get a fix using Heligoland which now showed us 14 miles south of track, but we were still heading predominantly south looking for a gap in the clouds. We levelled out at 12,500 feet and turned onto 240 degrees. We were now about 24 miles due west of Heligoland and 20 miles south of track. Fred decided to descend below freezing level on a heading of 270 degrees (west), but we encountered severe turbulence which upset some of our instruments, (apart from the crew!) and without any action by the pilot the aircraft was thrown around onto an easterly heading, all in the space of a couple of minutes! Fred turned south once more and I got another fix on Heligoland which showed that in a period of almost six minutes we had actually made good only 5 miles and that in a southerly direction. We kept on trying to avoid cloud, first on 240 degrees, then 210 degrees and back to 240 degrees. 66 [page break] Another fix at 0010 hours showed us only 10 miles north of Nordeney, in the East Friesian Islands, known to be the outposts of German flak batteries. We weren’t keen on re-entering German territory and fortunately we found a gap in the clouds and altered course, thankfully, onto 290 degrees as an estimated direction whilst I calculated a more accurate course to intercept our originally intended track back home. By 0051 we were practically back on track and hastening homeward at 220 knots. I resumed full navigational control of the aircraft and was soon back in the old routine. We arrived over Wickenby only 15 minutes later than our flight-planned time, thanks partly to using a somewhat higher airspeed than planned over the last hour of our journey, despite a certain section of our route seeming rather like an eternity. The Navigation Officer’s comment written on my log was “Must have been a big, big cloud!!!” I wish he’d been with us to enjoy it! I think we had probably encountered what is know as a “line squall”. The report in Bomber Command News“ (Summer 1988) says “472 aircraft attacked, very heavy bombing in the town centre with widespread fires fanned by strong winds. 17 Lancasters were lost. In W.R. Chorley’s “R.A.F. Bomber Command Losses in 1944” six Lancasters are individually listed with their crews as “lost without trace” and two as “crashed in the North Sea” on that operation. One of the aircraft lost without trace was PH-A from 12 Squadron. I wonder whether they had cloud trouble but fared worse than we did? Looking back on this experience I marvel not only at the robustness of the Lancaster but also that of the gyrocompass and the air position indicator (A.P.I.) which it served. 67 [page break] It was back to routine on our 29th operation, which took us by day over Reading and Eastbourne to another flying-bomb site at Fromentel in the Pas-de-Calais. This was such a short-haul trip, lasting barely three hours, that we were able to take our maximum bomb load of 15,300 lb, or very nearly 7 tonnes in today’s parlance. One innovation this time was that the bomb-aimer took over the navigation from the French coast onwards and map-read us the 21 miles to the target, which was in any case, well marked with red target indicators, (T.I’s). We bombed one minute later than planned, but it was all pretty uneventful. Our final (30th) operation took us on a daylight attack on a V-2 rocket store at St. Riquier, just a few miles from Abbeville. Eight other V-2 stores were being attacked on the same day, involving a total of 601 aircraft. Again things went very much according to plan and we bombed right on time. We did, however, climb to 14,500 feet to avoid flak as we headed back for the coast near Dunkerque. There was some flak damage to the aircraft, just to prove it’s not wise to take things for granted. Six Lancasters were lost. So we ended our operational tour of 30 ops. tidily on the last day of the month (31.8.44). I got an “excellent” proficiency assessment from the O.C. of 12 Squadron, Wing Commander Maurice Stockdale, which is recorded near the end of my log book. That gentleman now lives in Fleet, Hampshire. One outcome of a successful tour of “ops” was my receiving the D.F.C., gazetted on 12 December 1944. I later learned that our pilot Fred Holbrook (who began his tour as sergeant, progressed to warrant officer half-way through the tour, and was commissioned after 23 “ops”) also received this award. 68 [page break] [underlined] Chapter 7: Instructing, Ferry Trips & Crewing up for second tour [/underlined] Just as quickly as our crew assembled in O.T.U. days we were dispersed. We went on leave, (I think it was for a week and I visited the B.O.C.M. laboratory early in September. The only home address I had for a member of the crew was for Johnny Squires. It’s such a long time ago I can’t remember how and when we got our postings, but I can’t remember meeting up again with the others at Wickenby. I was posted to No. 1656 H.C.U. (Heavy Conversion Unit) at Lindholme, near Doncaster, early in September. I found I was amongst a bunch of experienced navigators condemned to instructing pupil navigators in the use of H2S (airborne radar). Part of the instruction we could do using simulators in a sort of classroom but the nitty-gritty part was actually flying with them on cross-countries. The four-engined aircraft at Lindholme were at first mainly Halifaxes (Mk II) but over the time I was there, (nearly eight months), they were steadily being replaced by Lancasters. The one common factor in the flying instructing in H2S was that on each occasion (and there were forty-six of them) I flew with a different trainee crew who were leaving the airfield for the first time in a four-engined aircraft without the assurance of a “screened” pilot aboard. In every case they were all complete strangers to me, with the occasional exception of the navigator who I might have met on ground training exercises, and so there was a considerable element of the unknown when one took off with them on a four or five hour cross-country exercise. This might sometimes be extended to include simulated bombing by H2S or the dropping of small practice bombs at the local 69 [page break] bombing range. When the “screened” pilot flew with a “sprog” crew he at least had his salvation in own hands in the case of emergency – while I knew nothing about piloting an aircraft for real. A “screened” pilot had generally successfully completed a tour of “ops” which was a fair enough way of sorting out the men from the boys. Maybe I shouldn’t have put it quite like that – after all I was now a “screened” navigator, not that I felt all that screened in this situation. Anyway, I did my best to pass on my experience to a succession of navigators and there was never any suggestion of my being “grounded” and someone else doing the job. Generally the H2S simulated bombing was done at the turning points on the navigational exercise. When the bombs would have been released if we were bombing for real, we operated (without looking out of the aircraft) a downward pointing camera to give us a line-overlap series of photographs which could be examined later to check the expertise of the use of the H2S as the sole bombing aid. I still have some line-overlap series as souvenirs of the time we “bombed” Luton, Skomer Island (off S.W. Wales) and the Skerries (just to the N.W. of Anglesey). These were most impressive when the target happened to be largely obscured by cloud that would have made visual bombing difficult and yet there were identifiable points visible through breaks in the clouds on the photographs to prove that the bombing run had been “bang on”. As the H2S was just as effective by night as by day, these photographs helped instil confidence of its effectiveness in the pupil crews. Later we had a more sophisticated camera attached to the H2S set which took pictures of the scene on the cathode ray tube. 70 [page break] Inevitably there were tricky moments. I can well remember coming in to land at Lindholme after a cross-country with one pupil crew. The pilot misjudged his landing and we touched down on the grass some distance from and running roughly parallel to the runway. Ahead of us loomed some large building. The pilot tried to turn the Lancaster and the undercarriage collapsed, so we skidded to a belly-landing. As calmly and unhurriedly as I could, I suggested that we got out quickly in case the aircraft caught fire. (We might have ruptured a petrol tank and the engines were still hot). Fortunately all was well and no-one was hurt. I have a picture in my log book of this unhappy Lancaster lying on its tummy and the succinct comment on the exercise of 15.1.45 – “Last trip by “X”. In another similar incident “Jock” Niven, another of our flying nav-instructors had to leave an aircraft somewhat hurriedly and, in squeezing his rather plump form through the emergency exit, got out either without his trousers or with them in disarray. On another cross-country the powers that be tacked on a fighter affiliation exercise (to practice evading fighters) which upset my stomach somewhat and I had to go back down the fuselage to use the Elsan (chemical toilet) – in my log book I have a minute sketch of myself as a match-stalk man, being sick into a bucket! I survived other fighter affiliation exercises without undergoing that particular indignity. It was just before the half-way stage of my sojourn at 1656 H.C.U. I learned that I had been awarded the D.F.C. for my work on 12 Squadron, and when I went on Christmas leave Mother presented me with a cutting from the “Hull Daily Mail” – I’ve no idea what happened to that. Judging from the gap between entries in my log book I 71 [page break] presume I had another leave after completing my duties as an instructor because the next entry shows me flying as navigator in a crew headed by F/Lt Bill Addison, who had acted as flight commander towards the end of his duties at Lindholme. We were part of a newly assembled crew, each member having completed a tour of thirty operations, preparing for a possible second tour of operations. We had been laid off for a minimum six months (in my case eight months), to rest us from our first tours and at the same time make use of us in the training of further batches of aircrew. In typical inflexible service fashion we found, much to our chagrin, that we were treated as beginners without an “op” behind us. Another possible explanation is that with the ending of the war in Europe, the R.A.F. had to keep us temporarily occupied and this was the easiest way to do it. For a couple of months (May to July ’45) we went through the same routine that our first crew had to undergo at No. 1653 H.C.U., omitting the “circuits and bumps” but making up for this by doing twice as much of the other H.C.U. catalogue. Halfway through this our crew was transferred to No. 576 Squadron, based at Fiskerton near Lincoln. To use a prevalent expression we were all “cheesed” or “browned off” with our lack of recognition. The war in Europe had ended but we were expecting to be sent to tackle the Japanese. On 17.7.45 we had a cross-country with a difference, code-named “Cooks Tour”, visiting Rotterdam, Arnhem, Essen, Cologne, Aachen and Antwerp. The idea was partly to impress the natives and partly to let us see the havoc wrought by Bomber Command during the recent campaign. I believe we carried a few ground-staff personnel as observers. 72 [page break] Then the R.A.F. at last found something to keep a large number of bomber crews occupied. We were used as troop carriers, flying to and from Italy, taking service personnel from and on leave, respectively. This was, I suppose, a kind of poetic justice. We had wrecked the railway system in France so that it was impossible to transport troops by land at anything like a reasonable speed, if at all, so we got the job. On our first trip, early in August, we went to Bari, on the Adriatic coast and brought back on leave twenty members of the 8th Army. It can’t have been at all comfortable for them, sitting on the metal floor of a Lancaster, but I expect the novelty of the situation helped to distract them, and at least they were getting home quickly. Another novelty was that their kit bags were slung up in the bomb bays of the aircraft in place of bombs, but we didn’t drop any. On arrival in England we had to land at an airfield with Customs facilities, where the troops had to display their acquisitions (or loot). The second trip was to Naples on 22.8.45. We had glorious views of Vesuvius on the approach to Pomigliano airfield. The next day was free and we managed to visit Pompeii. In Naples we were beset by bare-footed urchins competing with one another to swop lire for pound notes. Some R.A.F. types took packages of coffee to sell at inflated prices to the deprived Italians. On the following day we were due to carry another twenty passengers back to England. Bill and I had to attend an early morning briefing, ready for a very early start, but take-off was postponed for a few hours and we had to attend a second briefing. Bill was rather tired and asked me to modify our official route by cutting off one of the corners. Instead of taking a north-westerly route running roughly 73 [page break] parallel to the west coast of Italy and then heading due west towards the French Riviera I was to go over the top of Corsica to the French Riviera. As the highest ground on Corsica rose to about 9,000 feet it would be essential to be sure of a good safety margin for our passengers but as we didn’t have oxygen for them we would have to compromise – I reckoned that if we crossed Corsica at 11,000 feet that should be satisfactory. In fact I observed the approach to the east coast of the island on the H2S. We climbed to 11,000 feet and stayed there until we left the west coast behind us and then descended to our authorised height for the rest of the journey. The twenty minutes or so at 11,000 feet had negligible effect on our passengers. (The rule was that you needed to use oxygen if you flew over 10,000 feet for more than one hour). The results of this change of route, whilst not affecting our passengers, remained to be seen. Whilst the pilot and myself were attending our second briefing some of the other members of the crew had wandered off to our aircraft where they were accosted by an R.A.F. groundstaff airman who was on leave in Italy but would rather spend his leave in England. Our crew members didn’t see why not and when the rest of us reached the Lancaster they seemed to have got it all arranged. Bill didn’t like it, but surprisingly, agreed on condition that if this “hitch-hiking” was discovered we knew nothing about it. Our stowaway apparently got away from the Customs airfield at Glatton and went on his way. The trouble began when my chart was routinely scanned by the Navigation Officer and our short cut was revealed. Bill and I were interviewed separately about this breach of discipline but as I was subject to the captain’s instructions it largely devolved on Bill. Whilst the matter was still under consideration our stowaway put his 74 [page break] spanner in the works. He had somehow to get back to Italy before his leave expired. He knew we were from 576 Squadron from the aircraft’s lettering and notwithstanding the fact that he had already put us in jeopardy with his outward flight from Italy, he tried to get to our airfield at Fiskerton, near Lincoln, in the hope of a return trip. Unfortunately, he got mis-directed to our base airfield, where, being dressed in khaki drill whilst everyone else was in blue, the service police soon spotted him and took him for questioning. He told them almost the whole story – the only thing he didn’t give away was with which crew he had travelled. The pilot and I were confronted with this chap and we both denied having seen him – I truthfully didn’t recognise him as I hadn’t paid particular attention to him at the critical time. We could have been right up to our ears in it but for our station intelligence officer withholding a vital piece of evidence. He knew from the time of the ‘bus that our stowaway had caught from Glatton that ours was the only aircraft from our squadron which could possibly have landed him in time, thanks to our cutting the corner on our route and being one of the first aircraft back to England. The intelligence officer told us later how he had worked things out. I suppose one or both of us might possibly have been court-martialled for this serious breach of discipline but nothing happened. Except, one day Bill Addison had to report to Group Headquarters where he saw one senior officer and was reprimanded for cutting the corner, then went (on the same visit) to see another officer to be told that he had been awarded the A.F.C. for his work as an instructor, to add to the D.F.C. he already wore. As it happened, I didn’t fly again with Bill Addison as his demobilisation cropped up very soon afterwards. 75 [page break] The Japanese surrendered that August, so now there was a general feeling of anti-climax. Personally, I knew I couldn’t throw away four years of studying and I couldn’t get out of the Air Force quickly enough now that the “raison d’etre” had been removed. I tried to get back into the habit of studying science at Lincoln Technical College but found the available course too elementary and had to give up that approach. Later on I had a piece of good news from our R.A.F. education officer. He had made enquiries and discovered that London University had modified its regulations, my School Certificate of 1937 now being acceptable and giving me exemption from the London Matriculation exam. This meant that when I did get back to studying I could aim for the London B.Sc. Special qualification, which had the advantage of an intermediate examination (with certificate) en route. Our crew was broken up and despatched to various points of the compass. I received a letter from our wireless operator, “Artie” Shaw a year later, just after I was demobilised, from R.A.F. Seletar, Singapore but never heard from any of the others. However, by strange coincidence I did run across Bill Addison again. I encountered him at Lloyd’s Bank in York somewhere about 1960, and it turned out that he was living in Osbaldwick, barely half a mile from our house on Hull Road, York I was posted to 50 Squadron at Sturgate, a recently constructed airfield near Gainsborough and joined the crew of F/O Titchener. That was in September 1945. We were soon on the Italian ferry trips again, flying to Naples on three more occasions to bring home service personnel. Twice we brought twenty army types and once we afforded the ladies a bit more room to spread themselves by seating only fourteen of them 76 [page break] (A.T.S. and Q.A.I.M.N.S.) in the space normally occupied by twenty army blokes, but it was the same metal floor. After that it was back to routine with plenty of cross-countries thrown in. I see that on one night exercise, operation “Bullseye”, we went via Hamburg, among other places, to a target on the island of Spiekeroog in the German chain of East Frisian Islands. This was very near the scene of our memorable exploits whilst battling with the elements during our return from Kiel about sixteen months previously. This time however, things were entirely different – no cumulo-nimbus and no danger of flak. On the way back to Sturgate there was a problem. Visibility had seriously deteriorated and for the first time in my flying experience our aircraft was diverted to Carnaby, near Bridlington, where there was a special emergency airfield, much used during the war. This had exceptionally long runways to accommodate crippled aircraft returning from ops and also an emergency flare path called F.I.D.O. (Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation) which used containers of burning gasoline down the sides of the runway to cause local dispersal of the fog. We landed safely and found that we would have to stay there till next day. We didn’t think much of the food or the very cold accommodation (it was early January 1946). Maybe there was some problem with our aircraft because another Lancaster from 50 Squadron collected us the following afternoon and flew us back to base. Nissen huts were never warm in the winter. I can well remember a period during the winter at Sturgate when icicles formed on the inside of the door and my bed was one of the two either side of the entrance. 77 [page break] The solid fuel stove was halfway back down the hut and I finished my insulation by piling the contents of my kit-bag on the bed before trying to sleep. Some of the stuff consisted of flying gear which I never needed on operations because the Lancaster was warm enough without it. By late January, 50 Squadron was transferred to the much more hospitable Waddington airfield, just south of Lincoln. Waddington was constructed originally during the first world war and opened as an R.F.C. flying training station in 1916. Now it was a thoroughly modern establishment with permanent accommodation, workshops and offices. I was soon pottering around with various pilots on trivia like bombing at the local range, air-sea firing (for the gunners), four short cross-countries with A.T.C. cadets, air tests (one with an A. V. Roe test pilot who managed to take off in less than half the length of the runway). There was operation “Frontline”, a propaganda tour of the British Zone in Germany. Just for a change we did a couple of meteorological trips (code name “Operation Seaweed”, both lengthy exercises in excess of eight hours, which took us up to latitude 62 degrees North, passing Fair Isle and the Shetlands with a turning point roughly halfway between the Faroe Islands and the most westerly coast of Norway. We carried a meteorological observer to take the required data readings, to which I was able to contribute the locations in latitude and longitude and measurements of wind velocity at our height. It was all rather boring but after seeing such wide expanses of ocean for such a long time it was nice to return to land. 78 [page break] Then there was the novelty of my one and only trip in a Lincoln bomber, the successor to the Lancaster, in which we would probably have done our second tour of operations (against the Japanese). My last flight in the R.A.F. was an abortive air sea mission on which we had to search an area of the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. We did sight an empty dinghy, which was very good going considering how tiny they are from any appreciable height, but no sign of any people or aircraft debris. The lost aircraft was later found in the hills of Northumberland. To fill in a few more weeks before I was demobbed, in August 1946 I was sent, under protest, on an instructor’s course at Finningley. It was interesting in that I got to appreciate more fully the equipment I had been using on a regular basis, but futile from the teaching point of view since I would be leaving the Air Force almost immediately. I suppose our C.O. had been required to send so many persons and it was just a matter of making up the numbers, the Air Force being well into a state of disintegration. 79 [page break] [photograph of the crew in front of their aircraft] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [underlined] Chapter 8: Lancaster ME 758 PH-N “Nan” [/underlined] Whilst I was home on leave, sometime in June 1945, it so happened that my brother Norman was also at home. We took our bicycles and crossed the Humber by paddle steamer, then cycled south to Wickenby. By great good fortune we found my old aircraft, ME 758 PH-N “Nan” still very much in existence. She had eventually completed more than a hundred operations, the latest ones being to drop food to the starving Dutch just before the Germans capitulated. There was also one of our old ground crew in attendance and he told us that “Nan’s” next exercise would be to take part in a fighter affiliation exercise, i.e. manoeuvering [sic] violently with a fighter aircraft. This didn’t seem at all considerate after what that aircraft had gone through! Anyway Norman took a photograph of “Nan”, myself and my ground crew corporal to add to tone he had already taken of me and my bike! I still have both pictures. It was only a few years ago that I learned more about “Nan”. That was when I obtained a copy of “Claims to Fame. The Lancaster.” by Norman Franks. This book celebrates the Lancaster “centenarians” – 34 machines that achieved the remarkable goal of flying 100 or more operations. A Lancaster crew’s first tour of duty stood at 30 operations, but both men and aircraft often failed to reach even half of that total. Skill, training and team work would all increase the chances of survival, but luck played a large part in deciding which Lancaster would be found by a night fighter or hit by flak and which would escape to attack again. Only 34 Lancasters in Bomber Command survived 100 operations, about 1 percent of the number which were lost on operations. “Nan” was the only centenarian from Wickenby which was the base for two squadrons, 12 and 626. Franks, through some meticulous 81 [page break] research has been able to compile a fairly comprehensive narrative for each Lancaster, including crew changes, missions flown and events and incidents during the service career of the aircraft. Our crew flew in PH-N for the first time when we did a two and a half hours cross-country exercise on 26.5.44 after we had completed three ops. on different Lancasters. We did our fourth op. in her (it was her tenth) when we went to the Rote Erde railway marshalling yards at Aachen. The defences were strong and losses 7 percent (12 out of 170). A day later, 29.5.44, we did another cross-country in her and it turned out to be a rather “hairy” experience. My log entry merely states “Window lost and aileron damaged. A.S.I. (air speed indicator) read 360 m.p.h. + in dive”. I cannot remember the cause, but no great harm was done. The damage was repaired and we began a series of eleven ops. in her over the next three weeks up to 22.6.44 covering a variety of targets, including the first daylight raids by Lancasters since 1943, when we attacked the docks at Le Havre and Boulogne, on two successive evenings and virtually ended the E-boat threat to our cross-channel invasion shipping. This took our total of ops. to 15 and “Nan’s” to 22. Whilst we enjoyed a week’s leave, “Nan” did five more operations with three other crews. We then did four of “Nan’s” next five ops., three of them being to the important French marshalling yards at Orleans, Dijon and Tours, bringing us to 19 and “Nan” to 32. “Nan” then managed two more trips without us before 82 [page break] we did three night ops. in five days, returning from Stuttgart on 24/25.7.44 on three engines. Two days later we were air-testing “Nan” with a new engine and tail fin. This damage was not mentioned in Norman Franks’ account nor indeed was there any mention of the operation on Stuttgart, which was our 22nd and “Nan’s” 37th op. After a couple of short daylight ops. to French targets we were scheduled to attack the V-weapon launching site at Trossy St. Maximin. This, as I have already described in some detail, was the worst experience of our tour and which we were very lucky to survive. Once again this was not mentioned in Norman Franks’ account. In fact he summarises “Nan’s” record as follows:- “Nan” was almost totally free of mechanical problems, although towards the end of its career the aircraft’s starboard engine caught fire on 2nd February 1945, causing the crew to abort a trip to Wiesbaden. This particular Lanc. was also lucky to escape serious damage from the German defences: only once was damaged recorded when its hydraulics were hit by light flak at 0612 hours during the attack to support Operation “Goodwood” – the Allied breakout from Caen on 18th July 1944.” This was one of a couple of ops. done by other crews, presumably whilst our crew was on leave after our 19th op. on Tours. That damage cannot have been too bad because the Caen trip was followed, the same evening, by an op. on Scholven! In the aftermath of the Trossy operation we had to do our next op. in PH-W whilst “Nan” was being repaired. “Nan” didn’t get back on ops. until ten days after Trossy – a long lay-off in 83 [page break] those days! We had “Nan” back for the op. on Russelsheim on 25/26th August. Our tailplane was damaged to the extent that we practised landing manoeuvres whilst we still had plenty of height before actually landing at base on our return. With the exception of our op. in V-“Victor” on 28.8.44, when “Nan” was not flying with any crew, possible due to overhaul, we completed our tour in “Nan”, receiving light flak damage on our last operation. So once we’d got “Nan”, after our three “starter” ops., we did 25 of our remaining 27 trips in her, which must be something of a record in itself. Altogether she completed 106 operations, six “Manna” sorties (taking food to the starving Dutch people) and two “Exodus” trips (the flying home of released prisoners of war). Looking back it seems such a shame that after seeing out the war she was “struck off charge” on 19.10.45 and “reduced to produce” i.e. scrapped. 84 [page break] [black and white photograph of airman in uniform on a bicycle leaning against a wall] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [photograph] [page break] [blank page] [page break] [underlined] Chapter 9: GEE. A. P. I. and H2S [/underlined] My work as a navigator was enhanced out of all recognition by three devices put at my disposal over a six-month period. “Gee” was a godsend after the dismal future I had anticipated relying to any extent on str-navigation. It was a system based on the transmission of synchronised pulses from a “master” (A) and two “slave” (B and C) ground stations. The two “slaves” were situated about 200 miles apart, with the “master” in the middle, and the cathode ray display on the “Gee” set in the aircraft showed the respective differences between the times at which the AB and AC signals were received. When these measurements were plotted on a special chart covered with two distinct sets of parabolic lines it was a simple matter to fix the aircraft’s position with great accuracy. This accuracy gradually declined as the distance from the transmitting stations increased and the crossings of the two sets of curved lines became more acute. Furthermore it was susceptible to interference from enemy jamming stations to the extent that it could not be relied upon beyond enemy shores. It still gave us the all-important chance of determining accurate measurements of wind velocity and so getting off to a good start on every operation. It also helped to verify one’s position on the way home after leaving the enemy coast and simplified getting back to the right airfield. The Air Force had understandably kept the information about “Gee” from us until it was absolutely necessary to introduce this master stroke. It certainly “bucked up” we navigators no end. The second of the marvellous pieces of equipment was the air position indicator (A.P.I.). This showed the changes in latitude and longitude of the moving aircraft which would occur 85 [page break] if there were no wind. It was a mechanical device which combined the inputs of the gyro compass and the air speed indicator, keeping a continuous record of the actual courses and speeds flown, including all deviations from the intended, and including “spur of the moment” tactical manoeuvres. This made life a lot easier by removing much of the drudgery in the manual plotting of lines on a chart by means of ruler, protractor, dividers and calculator. The third item was airborne radar, known as H2S. This had a rotating transmitter, known as a scanner, housed in a “blister” beneath the aircraft and a receiver at the navigator’s side, the whole system being self-contained. It produced, on a cathode-ray tube, a rough picture of the ground over which the aircraft was flying, irrespective of cloud or darkness. Water areas, which reflected none of the transmitting signals from the rotating scanner showed darkly on the screen. Land areas (or ground returns) appeared green, but a more reflective area such as a built-up area showed up as a more luminous patch often, but not always approximating in outline to the shape of a town. It was up the navigator to use his other information gleaned en route to decide which town he was observing on the screen. The chief use was navigational for there was a range-finder on the screen and a bearing indicator so one could obtain a bearing and distance from an identified town or feature. It was also possible to carry out bombing attacks without sight of the ground and the equipment could not be jammed by the enemy. Unfortunately, German night-fighters had, for some time before our tour of operations, the capability of homing onto H2S transmissions - more about this later under “The German Defences”. 86 [page break] [underlined] Chapter 10: The German Defences. [/underlined] To counter R.A.F. and U.S.A.A.F. attacks the Germans had to deprive the German forces of 75% of their heavy anti-tank weapons. These 88mm guns had to be used for ant-aircraft purposes, scattered all over Germany and occupied territories because the possible targets were so numerous. 900,000 soldiers manned those guns and, in addition, hundreds of thousands of expert tradesmen could not be used by the German Army because their skills were needed to repair bomb damage. Meanwhile, the increasing requirement for day and night-fighters for defence against the bomber offensive, deprived the German Army on the Russian front of much of its accustomed close support as Messerschmidt 110s and Junkers 88s were drawn westwards. Our most deadly opposition came from the German night-fighters. The German pilots had long known that the blind spot of the British bombers was below the fuselage but had not been able to exploit this fully because the fighter had generally to be aimed at the bomber to make use of its fixed forward-firing weapons and this could be difficult at night. However, in the autumn of 1943, an ingenious fitter at a Luftwaffe airfield devised the prototype of the deadly “schrage musik” - “jazz music” - a pair of fixed 20mm cannons pointing upwards at 60 degrees. Having located a bomber with the aid of radar or using the bomber’s radar (H2S) transmissions, the fighter pilot could then fly unseen and fairly safely manoeuvre below their target and fire incendiary cannon shells into the petrol tanks between the two motors in the wing, being particularly careful to avoid the bomb bay in the belly of the aircraft. It was then only a matter of seconds before the bomber exploded. The victims had no chance. 87 [page break] Using this technique, an experienced night-fighter pilot could account for several four-engined bombers in a single excursion, there being so many targets available. I sometimes wonder if and at what stage our superiors realised the situation and whether they had to decide between warning the crews of the dangers of H2S transmissions and maintaining the advantage of the navigational aid. I am sure a lot of H2S sets would have been little used over Germany if the crews had been presented with the true scenario. To be fair, our leaders would not at the time have been in a position to accurately attribute the proportion of bomber losses due to night fighters as opposed to anti-aircraft fire, but they must have had a rough idea. What other crews saw was a sudden mid-air explosion and burst of flame. Someone put out the story that these were “scarecrows” fired into the air by the Germans with the intention of making the crews believe they were bombers being shot down and thereby affecting the bomber crews’ morale! 88 [page break] [underlined and centred] Chapter 11: Reflections on survival [/underlined and centred] Many factors contributed to my survival, beginning with my decision that I wanted to do the navigation on a bomber aircraft. At the time I volunteered for aircrew this was one of the two jobs of the observer, who was also responsible for dropping the bombs. The latter task was subsequently delegated to a specialist bomb aimer. When I enlisted in November 1941 (after passing the preliminaries three months earlier), there was a bottle-neck in the training scheme for navigators. I was deferred for five months, otherwise I would have been starting my tour in the winter of 1943-44, probably about January. That would have been a rotten time with bad weather and numerous long-distance trips including a high proportion to Berlin. Then there was the length of the training period which took two years from the end of my deferred service to reaching the operational squadron, partially due to the necessity of fitting in to laid-down training schedules at the succeeding stages, notably:- (a) the gap between completing the I.T.W. course and catching the boat to South Africa, (b) five weeks at sea on a circuitous submarine-evading route to South Africa via South America, (c) several weeks between arriving at 48 Air School, South Africa and starting the course there, (d) the return to England, (e) several more weeks delay at O.T.U. whilst the R.A.F. decided that our original pilot wouldn’t make the grade. All these delays took me nearer to D-Day and the invasion of Europe by the Allied Armies. The increasing 89 [page break] diversity of the targets needing to be attacked in order to assist the coming assault meant that there was a greater proportion of shorter range tactical targets and only seven over Germany itself. (Air Marshal Harris would have preferred to keep hammering away at German targets but had to give priority to the invasion requirements.) In the final stages before the landings there were attacks on coastal batteries, and radar stations, but the longer term “softening up” was by attacking a large number of railway centres to seriously impede German troop movements and supplies to the invasion front. We were fortunate in not being “downed” by anti-aircraft fire on a few occasions, particularly near Stuttgart, when we returned on three engines and on the occasion near Compiegne when we got 50-60 holes in the aircraft and two of the crew received minor injuries. We were lucky in our encounter with the severe storm on the way back from our second trip to Kiel. And we were never attacked by a night-fighter, despite getting a close-up view of one on the Stuttgart operation. On the positive side, we had a well-disciplined crew who didn’t waste time on unnecessary nattering on the intercom. What’s more, there was never any visible or audible sign of fear or distress. We kept very close to our scheduled routes and times on almost all occasions, i.e. we kept in the middle of the bunch so it wasn’t quite so easy to be singled out. I am sure that the toughest time for bomber crews was in the six months prior to us joining 12 Squadron. Nevertheless, I was surprised to discover in an “Analysis of Total Losses of Lancasters by Months” in the Wickenby Register Newsletter of 90 [page break] May 1994 that 12 Squadron lost 31 Lancasters in the six months Nov. ’43 to April ’44 and 27 in the four months that our crew was operating. I suppose that might be explained by the ops. not being so frequent during the winter months. 91 [page break] 92 [page break] [underlined and centred] Chapter 12: Postscript. [/underlined and centred] After all these years I cannot remember just when or where I was demobbed and received my “civvy” suit. I know that officially my last day of service was 16.10.46 but I believe I was out a few weeks earlier. I know that I picked up where I left off. I went back to work for B.O.C.M. at the laboratory in Stoneferry and I re-enlisted for Hull Technical College evening classes. As an ex-member of the forces and a background of studying chemistry for almost four years I knew I was eligible to apply for an educational grant of something over £3 a week to proceed on a full time course to a professional qualification. (Out of this, textbooks etc. had to be purchased). This would have meant giving up the day job which paid over £4 a week. I knew that after four and a half years complete absence from my studies I would have to revise from the very beginning, but now that my School Certificate was accepted as giving me exemption from the London Matriculation exam. I decided that I would defer my application for a grant and aim to take the London Inter B.Sc. examination the next June. The Inter B.Sc. course took two years of evening class work so it meant I would have to cover one-half via the 1946-47 evening class course and the other half by swotting up from textbooks and my old notebooks. If I succeeded in passing the exam, comprising Maths., Physics and Chemistry, I would at least have that certificate to my name and I couldn’t have been further on if I’d taken advantage of the grant. Anyway I took the gamble although I found the readjustment rather tough. It was very amusing when attending an early lecture in Physics to hear the same old lecturer, Mr. Robson, repeat the same hoary joke that 93 [page break] Walter Suddaby and I had heard in 1938 concerning his friend’s dog who was christened “Hysteresis” because it was always lagging behind. Back at home there was a problem. My parents had been separated for some years, partially due to the war. The Luftwaffe destroyed Spillers’ flour mill, where my father worked, during a night raid in July 1941. Shortly afterwards, his firm offered him alternative employment at their Wallasey mill, which he accepted. At the tip of the Wirral peninsula he was now well over a hundred miles from Hull, so he wasn’t able to come home every weekend. My brother Norman, although a year younger than I, joined the R.A.F. shortly before I left home, due to my five months deferred service. So by the time I had to report to the R.A.F. in London my mother, in a matter of a few months, was reduced from a family of five to my young sister Hazel and herself. This was very hard for her in the middle of the war, particularly as the air raid alerts still sounded regularly in Hull. It was assumed that we should resume as a family when the war was over, although no-one knew when that would be or whether it would be possible. My father settled in Wallasey and mad regular payments to mother. At one time he tried to persuade her to join him in Wallasey but she declined for two reasons. She had worked hard all her life and used a very small legacy from a relative in New Zealand to enable the family to move into a modest home of our own and she was intent on having it ready for our return. By the time I was “demobbed” things had become more complicated. My father had formed a relationship with his 94 [page break] landlady and had no intention of returning to Hull. Mother’s situation was uncertain unless there was a legal separation, which would obviously take some time to come to court. After passing the Inter B.Sc. exam, in June ’47, I had another decision to make. I could apply for the ex-serviceman’s grant or continue at evening classes for another year and then take the Subsid. Maths qualification, clearing the way to the B.Sc.(Special) in Chemistry. This would mean dropping all contact with chemistry for a year. Being slightly mad, but having confidence in my maths, I carried on at the Tech. evening classes for another session! and continued to work full-time at B.O.C.M. I duly passed the maths exam in June ’48. In the meantime, the legal formalities of my parents’ separation had been formalised on a proper financial basis. When I got my exam results I composed a letter applying for an educational grant as an ex-member of the forces, pointing out that I had already saved the country money by completing part of the course via evening classes. How could anyone resist that? I got a favourable response and I arranged to leave B.O.C.M. and complete my education full-time but still at the Hull Technical College, commencing in the autumn. My two post-war years at B.O.C.M. had been spent on the routine testing of ingredients for animal feedstuffs, a boring occupation which I had now endured for six years altogether, plus six years of evening classes. I knew it had to be full-time or nothing. Fortunately for me those last two years at B.O.C.M. were by no means wasted because it was there that I met a charming 95 [page break] young lady assistant. Yvonne and I found that we had very similar outlooks and much in common and, although I was transferred to the Foster Street laboratory for the latter part of my stay with B.O.C.M., we maintained contact. In subsequent years I must have cycled a few hundreds of miles between North Hull and East Hull!! It was rather odd attending the degree course. There were a couple of other ex-forces students, but the majority of our fellow pupils were about eight years younger. An advantage over attending a university was that the staff and the geography were all familiar and I had great faith in the staff, especially Messrs. L. Balmforth and G. R. Dennis. I proposed to Yvonne on New Year’s Eve ’48 – ’49 with the proviso that I had to concentrate on first passing my final exams in 1950. Fortunately, she accepted! I found those final two years hard going but I took my A.R.I.C. exams in April and the B.Sc. Special in Chemistry (London External) exams in June 1950 and waited in some trepidation for the results. I didn’t wish to go through all that again. I was now 28 and I’d had enough of college for my lifetime! However, all was well and I had both qualifications. Now the way was clear to seek employment and plan for the wedding, which took place on September 30th, 1950. It rained all day! Subsequent events would take another book! 96 [page break] [underlined and centred] Bibliography [/underlined and centred] FRANKS, Norman “Claims to Fame. The Lancaster” (Arms and Armour, 1994) RICHARDS, Denis “The Hardest Victory. R.A.F. Bomber Command in the Second World War.” (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. 1994) HASTINGS, Max “Bomber Command” (Michael Joseph Ltd. 1979) CHORLEY, W.R. “Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War. Vol. 5 Aircraft and Crew Losses. 1944” (Midland Counties Publications. 1997) SEARBY, John (Air Commodore) “The Bomber Battle for Berlin” (Guild Publishing, 1991) HARRIS, Sir Arthur “Bomber Offensive” (Greenhill Books, 1998) 97 [page break] 98 [underlined and centred] Glossary of R.A.F. Terms. (Official and Unofficial). A.P.I. Air Position Indicator A.S.I. Air Speed Indicator “Bang on” Spot on, “Wizard”, 100% “Cheesed off” Browned off, fed up. “Circuits and Bumps” Practice take-off and landing Cumulo-nimbus Thunder clouds D.R. Dead reckoning with a calculated wind Elsan Aircraft toilet Feathered Engine switched off with propellor blades turned to reduce air resistance Flak Anti-aircraft fire F.I.D.O. Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation “Gardening” Laying sea mines GEE Radio navigation aid, grid box H2S Radar navigation and bombing aid 99 [page break] I.T.W. Initial Training Wing O.T.U. Operational Training Unit P.F.F. Path Finder Force Pitot/tube An open-ended tube mounted externally on the aircraft facing directly into the air flow to provide a convenient and accurate measurement of the aircraft’s speed. “Screened” aircrew rested from ops at end of tour and transferred to instructing “Solo” Unsupervised flight Sprog Inexperienced aircrew V1 and V2 Robot flying bombs used by the Germans commonly called “doodlebugs” “Vegetables” Mines laid by the R.A.F. “Window” Aluminised strips used as an anti-radar device. 100 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 Time out for war Description An account of the resource History of wartime experiences of Ronald Witty. Starts with schooling and early employment in Hull, just before the war. Mentions German bombing of Hull and volunteering for the RAF. Describes training in London and Torquay before departing on a troop ship for South Africa. Describes navigator training and activities at Woodbrook and Queenstown. Continues with trip back to England and continuation of training at RAF Halfpenny Green, Desborough (Northamptonshire), RAF Chedburgh, and RAF Hemswell. Goes on to describe his operational tour on 12 Squadron at RAF Wickenby, including accounts of some operations, including some daylight operations during the Normandy campaign and against flying bomb sites as well as mine laying. Tour culminates with award of Distinguished Flying Cross. Concludes with account of subsequent tours as an instructor at RAF Lindholme and other stations and including account of flying on Cook's tour of German cities. Adds chapters about his Lancaster ME758 PH-N "Nan" as well as another on GEE, A.P.I and H2S. Contains many black and white photographs of RAF personnel and aircraft. Pages 8 and 9 are missing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource A R Witty Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 100 page printed book Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BWittyARWittyARv1 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 Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Yorkshire England--Hull England--London England--Devon England--Torquay England--Lancashire England--Liverpool South Africa South Africa--Durban South Africa--East London South Africa--Cape Town England--Staffordshire England--Northamptonshire England--Suffolk England--Lincolnshire France France--Rennes Germany Germany--Aachen France--Paris France--Normandy France--Evreux Germany--Gelsenkirchen France--Le Havre Atlantic Ocean--English Channel France--Calais France--Dijon France--Tours Belgium Belgium--Kortrijk Germany--Kiel Germany--Stuttgart France--Orléans France--Pas-de-Calais Germany--Ruhr (Region) France--Domléger-Longvillers Germany--Spiekeroog Island Europe--Frisian Islands Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943-03-29 1943-07-10 1943-07-27 1943-09-08 1943-10-12 1944-02-25 1944-04-26 1944-04-28 1944-06-14 1944-06-14 1944-06-12 1942-06-13 1944-06-22 1944-07-23 1944-07-24 1944-07-25 1944-07-30 1944-08-03 1944-08-31 1944-12-12 1945-07-07 1945-07-17 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource David Bloomfield Maureen Clarke 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. 1 Group 12 Squadron 1653 HCU 1656 HCU 3 Group 50 Squadron 576 Squadron 84 OTU Advanced Flying Unit aircrew Anson bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944) bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944) bombing of Trossy St Maximin (3 August 1944) Cook’s tour coping mechanism crewing up Distinguished Flying Cross faith Gee H2S Halifax Halifax Mk 2 Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School master bomber military living conditions military service conditions mine laying navigator Nissen hut Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Operation Dodge (1945) Operational Training Unit Pathfinders RAF Chedburgh RAF Desborough RAF Fiskerton RAF Halfpenny Green RAF Hemswell RAF Lindholme RAF Methwold RAF Sturgate RAF Torquay RAF Waddington RAF Wickenby Scarecrow Stirling tactical support for Normandy troops target indicator training V-1 V-2 V-weapon Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28142/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010001.jpg 72e29bb23feb27cba62f1aac885f34ed https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28142/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010002.jpg 433bfeb0667b7c265897617462e6fd57 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28142/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010003.jpg 1007fa79f9e8330f3c605b73edd17370 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28142/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010004.jpg 4e93fbc2d01dd1acc9a8be7585b60b27 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28142/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010005.jpg cd928f9db5d352965eb22e9bd0713110 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28142/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010006.jpg 9cf1533cf7f7dcc3a167fbc88316e666 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28142/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010007.jpg a3a63a5deb2e2e3805980d54a906bb96 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 Green, Alan William A W Green 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 2016-09-19 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 Green, AW Description An account of the resource 58 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Alan William Green (b. 1920, 104402, 1150518 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, photographs, diary and correspondence. He flew operation as a navigator with 218 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Stuart Green and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document 1 [RAF Crest] 1150518 A.W. Green. Flight 13 No 1 Receiving Wing Babbacoombe [sic] Torquay Dear Folks, Did you get my last letter? I posted it in Torquay on Sunday, and have been wondering if you had not received it due to disorganisation of postal services or something. Since I have been here a week, and have talked with many airmen, I am now in a position to let you know a little more of what has happened to me, and what may happen to me. I arrived all OK last Thursday week at about 9-30 pm. It was pouring with rain, and absolutely 'pitch-dark'. I could see only about 20 yds, but managed to get a bus into Torquay, and put up at the first hotel which loomed up. The next morning – ie Friday, I found that I was only about 50 yds from the [page break] 2 sea and quay, although I had not known it the previous night. The next morning was very much more heartening, and I presented myself at the receiving wing in Babbacoombe. [sic] The course at this wing is a fortnight in duration, and involves about a months work in normal times, but now everything has been speeded up of course. We have had inoculations against Tetanus, Typhoid (25% so far, we get the other 75% on Monday) and a vaccination. The day time is taken up by incessant drills, PT's, and lectures. We come off probably 2 hours drill, march straight back to our billets, which are in an hotel, get about 5 minutes to change into PT shorts and pumps, and off again for probably 2 hours PT. By this time we feel pretty fagged, but instead of resting, march straight off [page break] 3 to a maths lecture or something like that. The meals were very poor to start with, but are now considerably improved, and we are not needing to spend quite so much money supplementing them elsewhere. As I told you in my last letter, my next move will be to ITW. (Initial Training Wing.) This will probably be next friday, [sic] if all goes well, and may involve my going to N. Wales, Scotland, Cambridge, or I may stay here, and move only to Torquay. At ITW, I shall have a white front on my forage cap, although this means very little, I shall be an officer-cadet, and regarded as a potential officer. (This latter rank I shall achieve if I am very good, but it will probably take 9 months or more. This course is hard-grind all the way through, in that you have to combine a [page break] 4 high mental and disciplinary efficiency throughout. There are examinations all the way through, on navigation, maths etc, in which you are required to attain 60% or out you go on your heels. In fact, I think I can say that it is much harder to get through now than it was in peace time. This is because there is so much competition, men from universities etc, and they can always get brainy people, and consequently don't bother about the others, they just fail them. We have had a maths grading exam this afternoon, and so have a little more freedom than is usual tonight, although we still have to be in by 9-30 pm. When we leave ITW, we go to EFTS. (Elementary flying training school), where we have to work like hell for another two months or so. We then go on to other training [page break] 5 schools, about which I know very little as yet. When I pass out of ITW (if ever), I lose the cadet band on my hat, and become an LAC. (Leading aircraftsman), when I get the propeller on my arm. This is more or less equivalent to lance Cpl in the army, there being no Lance Cpl in the RAF. Promotion however, is very slow, and you must not expect me to work wonders like Basil has in the army. You see the difference is, that in the army,you get recognition if you have a good education, and general deportment, because the others with whom you get thrown in have possibly not had these opportunities. Here everyone has to be very intelligent to even pass through the interview, and so I think you will quite see what [page break] 6 I am up against. By the way, the pay here is very bad. I get 10/- for the first week, and 2/- a day when I get to ITW. Thereafter I get 5/6 and so on, but for the first two months things are not going to be too easy. With the money you gave me, I have had to pay hotel fees (dinner, bed, and breakfast), for may meals out, for hair cuts, dusters, brasso, boot polish, a buzzer (to learn morse-code) mirror, writing paper, and a score of other things which I cannot remember. Consequently, my financial state is not too comforting at the moment. I wondered if you could approach Pa with a view to him getting the firm to make up my money for the first month or two. This what is happening [page break] 7 in the case of many fellows here, and so they seem to be getting on better. I have just this minute had an order, which makes things a little uncertain for a day or two, so don't send any money until [deleted] everything [/deleted] I confirm things, as, in view of the above, it may have difficulty in finding me. When I do let you know that things are OK, you might try and let me have a cake, a new bar of soap, my multi wrap, and any underpants with elastic tops. Yours Alan. P.S. I would also like some clean handkerchiefs (go through my suits in my wardrobe.) Remember me to Grandmother, and show her my letter. Also, Best wishes to all the staff. P.P.S Have just seen my flight corporal, who has confirmed things OK for the moment, and so if you could post the necessary on [underlined] immediately [/underlined] I think I shall get them as usual. Alan. 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 his Family from Alan Green Description An account of the resource Alan writes from Torquay during his training. He had just arrived in pitch black then the next day turned up at the receiving unit. There are lectures and physical training. He will then move to an Initial Training Wing in about a week. Then he describes the next stages of his training. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alan Green Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Seven handwritten sheets 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 EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010001, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010002, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010003, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010004, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010005, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010006, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo][Date]-010007 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. Great Britain England--Torquay England--Devon 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 Jan Waller aircrew Initial Training Wing military living conditions military service conditions RAF Torquay training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28173/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0001.jpg dce4d32fccb1f25319f29be95bdd14a5 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28173/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0002.jpg e70be308a49fcc4d4740c7c03117a9ab https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28173/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0003.jpg 75546e9053fa4afe7166d1b4013b6587 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28173/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0004.jpg 579159d67eb22408c2603295885526b9 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28173/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0005.jpg 3472fff7464f8cd85b7c428e4ad241e4 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28173/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0006.jpg d0f2065595b17073f40a52a2f3ea4f4c https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28173/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0007.jpg bb388345b036a2f6e8de8d627fbacf5d https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1541/28173/EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0008.jpg b7955b0a910a5c204a260ac53e7ab0bc 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 Green, Alan William A W Green 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 2016-09-19 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 Green, AW Description An account of the resource 58 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Alan William Green (b. 1920, 104402, 1150518 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, photographs, diary and correspondence. He flew operation as a navigator with 218 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Stuart Green and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document 1 [underlined] Alan [/underlined] Nov. 1940 [Royal Air Force Crest] 1150518. A.W. Green. B Flight 4 Squadron 5 ITW. Toorak Hotel Torquay Dearest Ma, Pa & Gwen Many thanks for the letter which I received last night about 7 o clock. It was a great relief to me to know that you were all alive anyway, even if other things have gone. Very few people will have any-thing left after this war, and if we manage to get away with our lives, we can consider ourselves lucky anyway. On Friday night, I heard rumours about here that 1000 people had been killed in Coventry, and natu-rally disputed them, thinking it was absolutely impossible that there [page break] 2 could be such a death toll. On Saturday morning I got a paper and had the shock of my life when I saw that it was true. As soon as I finished at 6.30 on Saturday, I tried to get through, but it was hopeless. On Sunday morning I spent two hours in a telephone box, and got Coventry, but could not get in touch with you or Griffiths or anyone. I spent two more hours on Sunday night, and still could not get through. At last in desperation, on Monday night, I rang Coventry police station, but was asked why I wanted the police. I told them, and they said they would put me through to the enquiries department they had set up at the council house. I spoke to a Mr Grant, who knew Pa, and he said that there were no Greens on the casualty list, but [page break] 3 [Royal Air Force Crest] that 60% of the casualties had not yet been identified. He said that he would try and find something out about you, and get you to wire me. This as you may well imagine did not relieve me much, espe-cially since he told me there were quite a few casualties in the Morningside area. Anyway, I got back to the hotel very worried, and was overjoyed to find your letter on my bed. Grant told me that Earl St was all in ruins (I already knew this from pictures in the paper). I had a let-ter from Basil this morning saying that Pa had been laid up with lumbago, and so, what with one thing and another, I decided to see my Commanding Officer [page break] with a view to getting 48 hours leave, to come and see you. The application has been successful, and so I shall come home either on Saturday night, or Sunday morning, but will have to be back here by Monday midday. The only trouble is that I shall have to pay my own railway fare, so, if we have any money at all, I wish you could wire me a little on immediately to cover it. I understand that E/S shop is completely gone. H/S windows smashed, the wharehouse [sic] gutted, and Cheyles more ruined. Is this correct? I suppose there is something left of my pet shop Stoke Heath. I imagine we have lost £1000’s of pounds worth of stock and other things, and are possibly up to our necks in “__it”. Tell Pa that [underlined] if [/underlined] we get through all this, we can start again, and therefore not to worry himself to death about it all too much — 4 [page break] 5 [Royal Air Force Crest] Its just no good! I have finished my course here, and assure you I am not sorry, for it has been terribly hard work all the time, and I have hardly been out at all in the past 2 weeks what with exams and guards etc. I have never before taken a [sic] exam for instance after being on guard, and having had no sleep for 38 hours. You see, I am generally made guard commander, which entails changing sentries all night, and as such am not allowed to go to sleep at all. On top of this we probably get several hours hard drilling (when they make you sweat like bulls, and sit all the rest of the day in wet clothes - its (sic )marvel-lous!). But it gets you hardened for the time when you meet Jerry. I am not at all sorry I [page break] 6 joined up, because in the not too distant future, I may be able to get my own back on some of the rotten devils. I can assure you that if I continue to go through as an observer, I shall, as navigator and bomb-aimer lose no opportunities to put out a few chemists shops!! If all goes well, I shall be home this weekend, and also home for 6 days leave a week on Monday, but don’t bank too much on this, as I may be posted without leave, even abroad. I have got my flying, but as I think I told you, more about it when I see you. Its [sic] remarkable. The next part of my course, will I understand be mainly flying. By the way, let me know where you are, because I see you posted my last letter in the Warwick - Leamington district. I am on guard again tonight, and [page break] 7 [Royal Air Force Crest] so must go and look for someone to post this letter for me. I have missed one letter post already. Whatever happens keep your pecker up we shall win through yet with a bit luck - thats [sic] what we must consider first. Other things will come afterwards. If you are short of [inserted] ready [/inserted] cash sell my motor bike if it is still whole. Wilmot Evans might take it. But if you can manage, leave it, as I might be able to get a better price for it, or may even be able to use it at my next station. I should become a leading aircraftman in two weeks, although it may be a bit delayed. My pay will then be 5/6 a day with 1/6 extra flying pay I believe. This will be much better. Anyway, I think it is time I closed [page break] now. I am hoping against hope this letter will reach you. If you wire me any money, send it to Lucius (LUCIUS) Street post office [inserted] TORQUAY [/inserted] where I will collect same. Keep smiling. I am your Son Alan P.S Please excuse disjointed letter, and many thanks for thinking about a parcel at a time like this. I know that you have got plenty to occupy your three minds, and so don’t worry about things like par-cels, I will manage without until things get more settled. Alan. 8 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 Alan Green to his Family Description An account of the resource Alan writes during his training at Torquay. He had just heard about the bombing of Coventry, where his family lived. He has arranged leave to visit his family. His course has finished and he has been made Guard Commander. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alan Green Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940-11 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Eight handwritten sheets 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 EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0001, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0002, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0003, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0004, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0005, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0006, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0007, EGreenAWGreenWH-[Mo]-G4011XX-0008 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--Coventry England--Torquay England--Devon England--Warwickshire 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 Alan Pinchbeck Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940-11 aircrew bombing home front observer RAF Torquay training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1122/19947/BSharrockRSharockRv1.pdf f5e83a6a82a0bba9867d936091a72c7f 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 Sharrock, Bob Robert Sharrock R Sharrock Description An account of the resource Six items. An oral history interview with Flight Sergeant Bob Sharrock (1924 - 2019, 2210141 Royal Air Force), his log book, a photograph and documents. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 428 Squadron. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Bob Sharrock and catalogued by Barry Hunter. 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 2018-03-19 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 Sharrock, R Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Bob Sharrock June 1943- Feb 1946 (A brief career in the RAF) l joined the Air Force in June 1943, aged 18, and reported to the Lords Cricket Ground in London. We were billeted in blocks of flats nearby. Here we were issued with uniform, given numerous inoculation pbs,. initiated into drill exercises and introduced to canteen food. Not a bit like home cooking About 2 weeks later we were posted to Torquay for Initial Training Here we endured physical training, some theoretical training into navigation, drill, Morse code, even skeet shooting on Daddy Hole Plain. When we moved from one site to another it was either running or at a marching pace faster than the army used. This lasted for about six weeks and we were fortunate to have good hot weather Most of the time it was very enjoyable The next posting was to St Athan in South Wales Here we started our technical training Most of us were allocated the Halifax bomber, others the Stirling, the Lancaster and a few to Sunderland flying boats. I was disappointed not to be one of the latter. All these were four engined aircraft and it was only these that had a Flight Engineer. Most of the time was spent in lecture groups and my notebooks give an idea of the type of information we were given. We also had drill, P.T., swimming and other recreational activities It was about this time that when on leave, I went to a dance at the Parish Rooms at Prescot and met Dorothy Marsden. The following March (1944) l was posted to 1664 Heavy Conversion Unit at Dishforth. This was where we met up with aircrews that had trained on two-engined aircraft and were moving on to heavy bombers. ln this case they were Halifax bombers. We had further practical training and were attached to a crew. They were all Canadian with a pilot by the name of Willard MacKeracher. The unit was in 6 Group, operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force, which occupied the area of North Yorkshire. We did six exercises of Circuits and Landings. These were a series of take off, fly round the airfield and land. They were mainly to familiarise the pilot and engineer with handling the aircraft. This took about 10 hours A further hour was spent doing three engined landings Three further trips were made to give the Gunners and the Bomb Aimer some practice but it was on this third trip that we crashed on landing. It was apparent and subsequently reported that we had suffered an engine failure which slewed us over to miss the runway. It was a miracle that not one of the crew was killed. All I remember is being knocked about and then opening my eyes to see that I was a few yards in front of the nose of the aircraft. The first person to reach me was an Italian prisoner of war who helped me to get out my parachute harness. Help soon arrived and four of us were taken by ambulance to Northallerton hospital. Examination showed that I had a compressed fracture of the vertebrae in the lumbar region. A plaster of paris jacket was applied which extended from the groin to the neck I had a few days in bed while the jacket hardened and dried and then I was able to walk about fairly normally. The only difficulty was that J could not bend down. I was then given a couple of week's leave, which I spent at home. I was then posted to a convalescent home in Hoylake on the Wirral This was called The Leas and was previously a girl's school. It was provided to recuperate injured aircrew and there were a number of chaps wearing plaster jackets similar to mine 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 Bob Sharrock June 1943 - Feb 1946 A brief career in the RAF Description An account of the resource Bob's memoirs in the RAF. He details his training, starting at Lords cricket ground then RAF Torquay, before Technical training at RAF St Athan, where he met Dorothy. In March 1944 he was posted to RAF Dishforth where his aircraft crashed and he damaged his spine. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bob Sharrock Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One typed sheet Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BSharrockRSharockRv1 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 Royal Canadian Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--London England--Torquay England--Merseyside England--Yorkshire England--Devon England--Lancashire Wales--Glamorgan 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. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943 1944 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource David Bloomfield Maureen Clarke 1664 HCU 6 Group aircrew crash flight engineer Halifax Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing love and romance RAF Dishforth RAF St Athan RAF Torquay training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1122/19948/BSharrockRSharockRv2.pdf 1f7f1c8901c36dd903c87e4757a4c783 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 Sharrock, Bob Robert Sharrock R Sharrock Description An account of the resource Six items. An oral history interview with Flight Sergeant Bob Sharrock (1924 - 2019, 2210141 Royal Air Force), his log book, a photograph and documents. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 428 Squadron. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Bob Sharrock and catalogued by Barry Hunter. 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 2018-03-19 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 Sharrock, R Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Memories and Reminiscences of Bob Sharrock I was born in 1925 at a small village called Digmoor in Upholland near Wigan. My father, Joshua, known as Jos, was a coal miner working at a coal mine in Bickerstaffe. Mother, Alice worked hard looking after the house and the children. I had an older brother called Eric and a younger brother called William or Billy who died when only three years old. I went to school at the age of five. We lived in a small terraced cottage in Spencers Lane, which had two bedrooms, a parlour (front room), a living kitchen and a back kitchen. It had a back yard in which Daddy had a wooden hut in which he carried out his hobby of fretwork and other woodwork. The living kitchen had a coal-fired range, which had an oven on one side and water heater on the other. Alongside the fireplace was a brick built boiler for washing clothes. The back kitchen had a slopstone and a cold water tap. All hot water came from a kettle, which was permanently on the fire or from the wash boiler, which was only used on washdays. Daddy would come home from work covered in coal dust and would wash all over in a galvanised bath in front of the fire or, if the weather was warm, in the backyard. Sundays were spent going to chapel and Sunday school. We had no transport and Daddy went to work on his bike having to go over a fairly large area called the Moss. He fitted a seat on the crossbar of his bike and would take me for rides on it. Times became hard when the Bickerstaffe pit closed and father was out of work. He and some other miners went to work in Kent but the conditions were so difficult that they came back to Lancashire. In 1935 he got a job at Cronton colliery and the family moved to Whiston, renting an end terrace house in Brook Street. I went to a primary school in Prescot, in the final year class. At the age of 11 I went to Whiston Central School until Easter 1939 1 [page break] when I left school at the age of 14. I then started work as an errand boy at the Rainhill branch of the Whiston Co-op Society. I earned 11 shillings per week and gave my mother 10 of these and had one shilling as spending money. I could get to a cinema show for 9 pence. War broke out on the 3rd Sept 1939, and we were then living in a small semi-detached house 121 Dragon Lane. Whiston, from there, over ensuing months, we could see the effects of air raids on Liverpool, about 9 miles away. A few stray bombs fell on Rainhill but did no significant damage. Some communal air raid shelters were built in the streets but as they were brick built and had concrete roofs it was doubtful if they would have been very effective. We were issued with an Anderson shelter, which Dad installed, in our back garden. He dug a pit about 3 feet deep, installed the corrugated shelter in it and covered it with the displaced earth. We only spent time in it when the air raid sirens went off. It was cold, damp and cramped. Men were getting called up to the forces and as a result I changed to milk delivering. This meant being up at 5-30 a.m. 7 days a week. Loading a handcart with half a ton of milk bottles and pulling it around Rainhill. It was hard work but I think it did me some good physically. Eventually I was equipped with a pony and milk float, which made the job easier. One day I met an old school acquaintance who was working for the local Gas Company. He told me that they were short-handed and it may be worthwhile making enquiries about a job. I followed this up and called at the office. The Manager interviewed me, asking a few questions on maths and general knowledge and then asked if I would like to start as a laboratory assistant. I accepted willingly and was soon involved in doing routine lab tests on calorific value, flue gas analysis, retort temperatures and other similar jobs. I started night school classes on maths, physics and chemistry, which lasted for two years until it was time to join the armed forces. With a war going on these early teenage years didn't give much 2 [page break] opportunity for normal teenage activities. In addition to my three nights a week at nightschool time was taken up by joining, with my friends, the Air Training Corps and the Police Auxiliary Messenger Service and it was the A.T.C. that stimulated my interested in flying. 3 [page break] The A.T.C. took up one night per week when we did aircraft recognition, elementary navigation and drill. There were two occasions when we went on a week's camp, once to Blackpool airport and once to Crosby on Eden. One day at Crosby I was hanging around aircraft that were being serviced when a pilot told me that he was taking a Beaufighter on a test flight and did I want to join him. I sat in the observer's seat and we flew over the Lake District, I was thrilled. When it came the time for registering for the armed forces. I made it clear that I wanted to join the RAF as a flier. I was eventually called for interview at the Aircrew Selection Board at Padgate, Burtonwood, near Warrington. I was asked what job did I want to do in aircrew and I said PNB or Flight Engineer. PNB stood for Pilot, Navigator, Bomb Aimer. They all started their training together, the latter part of this in Canada or Rhodesia. As they went through their training selection was made. The best continued as Pilots, the next Navigators and the rest Bomb aimers. When I mentioned Flight Engineer there was little further discussion. I was told I could train for this job. Whether it was because of my vaguely engineering background or because they were desperately short I don't know. I joined the Air Force in June 1943, aged 18, and reported to the Lord's Cricket Ground in London. We were billeted in blocks of flats nearby. Here we were issued with uniform, given numerous inoculation jabs, initiated into drill exercises and introduced to canteen food. Not a bit like home cooking. About 2 weeks later we were posted to Torquay for Initial Training. Here we endured physical training, some theoretical training into navigation, drill, Morse Code, even skeet shooting on Daddy Hole Plain. When we moved from one site to another it was either running or at a marching pace faster than the army used. This lasted for about six weeks and we were fortunate to have good hot weather Most of the time it was very enjoyable. 4 [page break] The next posting was to St Athan in South Wales. Here we started our technical training. Most of us were allocated the Halifax bomber, others the Stirling, the Lancaster and a few to Sunderland flying boats. I was disappointed not to be one of the latter. All these were four engined aircraft and it was only these that had a Flight Engineer. Most of the time was spent in lecture groups and my notebooks give an idea of the type of information we were given. We also had drill, P.T. swimming and other recreational activities It was about this time that, when on leave, I went to a dance at the Parish Rooms at Prescot and met Dorothy Marsden. The following March (1944) I was posted to 1664 Heavy Conversion Unit at Dishforth. This was where we met up with aircrews that had trained on two-engined aircraft and were moving on to heavy bombers. In this case they were Halifax bombers. We had further practical training and were attached to a crew. They were all Canadian with a pilot by the name of Willard MacKeracher. The unit was in 6 Group, operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force, which occupied the area of North Yorkshire. We did six exercises of Circuits and Landings. These were a series of take off, fly round the airfield and land. They were mainly to familiarise the pilot and engineer with handling the aircraft. This took about 10 hours. A further hour was spent doing three engined landings. Three further trips were made to give the Gunners and the Bomb Aimer some practice but it was on this third trip that we crashed on landing. It was apparent and subsequently reported that we had suffered an engine failure which slewed us over to miss the runway. It was a miracle that not one of the crew was killed. All I remember is being knocked about and then opening my eyes to see that I was a few yards in front of the nose of the aircraft.. [sic] The first person to reach me was an Italian prisoner of war who helped me to get out my parachute harness. Help soon arrived and four of us were taken by ambulance to Northallerton hospital. 5 [page break] Examination showed that I had a compressed fracture of the vertebrae in the lumbar region. A plaster of Paris jacket was applied which extended from the groin to the neck. I had a few days in bed while the jacket hardened and dried and then I was able to walk about fairly normally. The only difficulty was that I could not bend down. I was then given a couple of week's leave, which I spent at home. I was then posted to a convalescent home in Hoylake on the Wirral. This was called The Leas and was previously a girl's school. It was provided to recuperate injured aircrew and there were a number of chaps wearing plaster jackets similar to mine. We were made to keep quite active and spent most of the time doing exercises, playing games such as softball, (an easy version of baseball), tug'o war, football, cycling, etc. I was there for just short of three months. I was fortunate in that in weekends off it was quite easy to get home. Whilst I was there the Normandy invasions took place. In August 44 I was posted back to Dishforth and joined another crew. The skipper was R. Anderson. We knew him as Andy. Over a period of about four weeks we did 98 hours of flying time in Halifax Bombers. Then we were told that future flying would be in Lancasters so, after a few lectures and 10 hours flying time in three days we were considered to be fully trained. The next posting was in October to 428 Squadron based at Middleton St George, which was where we were to do our operational flying. In the 6 months that we were operational I did 28 ops and was “screened” on the 17th April 45, some three weeks before VE Day. My flying logbook lists every flight that I made, including training flights and operational trips. The operational flights were mainly at nighttime, bombing German cities. We were fortunate to evade being attacked by night fighters and being hit by flak. Only on one occasion did I find, on 6 [page break] returning, a piece of shrapnel embedded in the fuselage. With the war in Europe ending in May 45 and operational flying finished it was apparent that the authorities had to find something for aircrew to do before demob and I was posted, along with other Flight Engineers, To Credenhill, near Hereford and put on a Flight Mechanic’s course. After that I was posted to Kinloss where we spent time inhibiting engines on bombers in case they were needed again. Whilst I was there the manager of Prescot Gas Company applied for my release from the R A F and I was demobbed on the 1st Feb 46 on a “B”class release. I had served 2years 8months. Some time later I learned that the Institute of Gas Engineers had arranged some courses for employees who had their technical education interrupted by war service and I made application. I went to Aston Technical College for 6 months to get my Ordinary Grade Certificate in Gas Engineering (Supply), then to Liverpool Gas Company for 6 months practical training followed by a further 6 months at Birmingham Central Technical College to get my Higher Grade Certificate. On 19th July 1947 Dorothy and I were married. Soon after finishing the course and going back to Prescott Gas I got an invitation to apply to Liverpool Gas Co. for a job in their Industrial Sales Department. This I did and started with the company later in 48. The job involved visiting manufacturing firms and getting them to use gas for their heating processes. These included space heating, water heating and various manufacturing processes such as furnaces, tank heating etc. From getting married we lived in shared accommodation in various places, usually the homes of widows and consisted of a bedroom, a ground room and shared kitchen and bathroom. Whilst working at Liverpool we bought a small semi in Cable Road, Whiston. This cost 7 [page break] £900 and we lived there for about a year until we moved to Burnley. The Gas Industry at that time was formed from towns having a gasworks run either as private companies or mainly as Departments of local councils. In 1951 the Industry was nationalised and these undertakings, apart from bigger towns like Manchester and Liverpool, were formed into small groups. This gave the opportunity to create special departments specialising in a particular activity. One of these was sale of gas to Industrial and Commercial premises. One of the Groups was known as the Burnley / Colne Group and I got the job of Industrial Engineer, starting in June 51. This also coincided with the arrival of Robert, our firstborn. We bought a house in Sycamore Avenue, Burnley. Finances were tight but we managed. It was here, in 1953, that John was born. My job involved selling gas to Industrial and Commercial customers and I had to get around in a small van but after a while I got my first car, a Ford Prefect. In 1954 The North West Gas Board reorganized and larger Groups were formed. One of these was The Northern Group which took in Lancaster, Morecambe, Kendal, Barrow-in Furness and other smaller undertakings in the Lake District and as far away as Millom. Harry Robinson, the Manager of the Burnley/Colne Group was made Manager of the Northern group and I got the job of Industrial Gas Sales Engineer. Among the customers that I had dealings with were Jas. Williamsons and Storey Bros. of Lancaster, K Shoes of Kendal, Vickers Armstrong, Barrow Steel, Barrow Iron works and Millom Iron works. The Gas Board bought a house, which I rented, in Beaufort Road, Morecambe and I got a decent increase in pay. Life was comfortable. Whilst living in Morecambe Jeremy and David arrived and I got involved in various activities including the Masons, Round Table and Scouts. Also whilst there I bought a second hand dinghy, a GP 14, called 8 [page break] William Younger with the sail number 347. I joined the Morecambe and Heysham Yacht Club and took part in races with Dorothy as crew. This lasted some time and the boys also took part. John and I sailed together at the Southport 24hr race as part of the MHYC team a couple of times, one year using our boat as the team boat. One year we took part in the Race Across the Bay to Gibraltar (the one near Jenny Brown's Point) and managed to come last as our launching trolley had broken the previous day so we were loaded down with the canvas cover and all sorts of other heavy gear. John was the keenest sailor and eventually he decided I was too slow to act as his crew so he got various girls to crew for him, including Dorothy's niece, Patricia. His main crew was Rosemary Cole with whom he won many trophies. We did do some work on the boat, when we first got it it had a jib and mainsail in white cotton, this was changed for red terylene sails including a genoa. I joined the RNLI as crew on the inshore lifeboat and acted as survivor on more than one occasion to give the holidaymakers a thrill. We spent several holiday [sic] at Fell Foot Park a National Trust site on Lake Windermere. We would travel towing the boat with all the camping gear in it and two canoes perched on top of it. We had a wonderful French six berth frame tent which seemed the size of a small marquee. I also had a go at gliding with a club near Tebay. This didn't last very long though. Dorothy, Robert and John used to hang around whilst I was doing circuits. I tried all sorts of activities golf, various musical instruments and even started to build a hovercraft, up to the point where I needed an engine. The church of the Ascension in Torrisholme had a well-organised rambling club. Every month they had a day in the Lake District, travelling by coach, and splitting into three groups. Hard, Medium and Easy. Dorothy and I enjoyed these outings. I was very keen on walking and kitted myself up with light weight camping gear and did a few long distance walks. 9 [page break] After living in the house in Morecambe for 12 years I realised that to be financially secure we ought to own our own property so, in 1963, we bought a house in Bolton-le-Sands. This was an old stone built semi-detached in St. Michael's Lane named Thistlebrake. I spent about 6 months getting it into reasonable shape for living in. I rewired the electrics, and with help installed central heating and got a contractor to install a water closet and drains to a soakaway in the rather big garden. Each bedroom had a sink and there was an upstairs bathroom and a downstairs toilet in the utility room. For a few years we retained the copper under which you could light a fire to do the washing. We put in a solid fuel rayburn which heated the water and did the cooking and it was wonderful producing the most wonderful food, Dorothy helped of course. Robert went to Lancaster Road Primary School as did John. For John's final year we were living in Bolton-le-sands so he was taken there every day. Jeremy and David both went to Bolton-le-sands Primary School. Unusually John and David went to Lancaster Royal Grammar School whilst Robert and Jeremy went to Morecambe Grammar, no-one can remember why this was the case. It would be about 1972 that further reorganisation took place and the Northern Group expanded to take in the Blackpool and Preston areas. The headquarters was based at Blackpool and I was put in charge of a sales department dealing with Industrial and Commercial customers. I was given the title of Technical Sales Manager. I was given the opportunity to be provided with finance for removal expenses but to avoid disruption of the education of the boys I decided to stay ay Bolton-le-Sands and commute. This meant doing about 50 miles a day in the car. It was during this period that Robert, John and Jeremy left to go to university. It would be about 1975 that Dorothy got a job at Preston Hospital as a phlebotomist so we were both commuting, in two cars. We needed to move nearer to our jobs but it would have upset David's way of life so 10 [page break] we continued to live there until he went to university. We moved to Garstang in 1982. At some time in the eighties some of my colleagues invited me to join them on a sailing holiday on a thirty-five foot sailing yacht owned by the British Gas Sailing Association. We set sail from a port on the south coast in the evening for an overnight passage to Cherbourg. The weather deteriorated and progressed into a storm. We sailed under heavily reefed sails, secured ourselves with harnesses and tielines and suffered seasickness. We eventually reached France, about a hundred miles east of Cherbourg, and found a sheltered port where we sorted ourselves out. The rest of the week was in good weather and we visited the Channel Islands. There were many more trips. Later we sailed around the Western Isles of Scotland. I was enthusiastic and attended evening classes at the Fleetwood Nautical College to learn navigation. These sailing trips went on until the Sailing Association folded on privatisation of the industry. In 1986 the Gas Industry was privatised and I was made redundant. I got redundancy pay and could also be paid my pension. Dorothy continued to work for a couple of years. I was not very involved in politics but had voted for the Liberal party. I got to know a few people in Garstang and learned that there was a particularly active Liberal group so I went to their meetings and in 1987 put my name forward for election in the town and borough elections. Five of us gained seats in the Wyre Borough Council and I was elected to Garstang Town Council. The following year, 1988 I was made Mayor of Garstang. Elections were held every four years and I was re-elected on the next two. In the last year, 1998/99, I was Mayor of the Borough of Wyre and with Dorothy, who was Mayoress, had a wonderful time, being entertained by many organisations and making many friends. May 99 saw the end of my time in local politics and, at the age of 74, just as well. 11 [page break] In June of that year Dorothy and I celebrated by taking a lovely holiday doing an Alaskan Cruise. Some three months later I was diagnosed with cancer of the stomach and had a gastrechtomy [sic] at Chorley Hospital. Recovery from this was slow but with great care from my dear wife I made gradual progress. In August 2005 Dorothy died of cancer of the pancreas. The commemoratory address given at her funeral by her sons gives a better record of her life than I can give “Dorothy did many things throughout her life and looking back it seems that nearly all of them carried a sense of public or private duty and that in doing them she gave real pleasure to those around her. She was, perhaps above all, a mother and a wife. She somehow found time even during the busiest years, when she was raising four sons, to channel her energies into other activities. But she never lost sight of a belief that her primary responsibility was to her family. I suppose that everybody believes that they have the world's best mum: and I am no different. Dorothy was born eighty years ago in February 1925, not far from here, in Longridge. She trained as a confectioner – which probably accounts for the fantastic scones which we will all now miss so badly – but with the outbreak of the war she moved into war work. She used to tell us great stories about those times, some of them involving a dashing Lancaster Bomber flight engineer called Bob. She met this young man at a dance in the Parish hall in Prescot while he was on leave from the RAF. They married shortly after the end of the war and, with Dad making his way in his new career as a gas engineer, there began a peripatetic 12 [page break] period during which they lived in Birmingham, Whiston, Burnley, Morecambe and Bolton-le-Sands. Dorothy gave birth to four sons, the first in 1951 and the last in 1962. It's true to say – because she did and why not, she was proud of the fact – that she taught each of us to read and write BEFORE we started primary school. I think that says it all about her determination to give her children the very best start in life, in which she succeeded. Thanks mum. She gave us all a well-rounded view of life and the world and she did it with a real enthusiasm, which was truly infectious. We were all inveterate hillwalkers, often even before we had taken our first steps! Mum must have walked every fell in the Lake District ... and run back down every one of them as well. She was still walking her beloved mountains well into her seventies – and giving her fours [sic] sons, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren a run for their money. But she was also active in other areas, dinghy sailing and scouts among them as well as working as a volunteer with the Citizens Advice Bureau in Lancaster. As her boys grew up and learned to fend for themselves, Dorothy decided she wanted to resume her working career. She trained as a phlebotomist and worked in hospitals in Lancaster, Morecambe and Preston. I think that she got a lot of satisfaction out of this valuable service – especially when she was mistaken in the hospital wards and corridors for a doctor because of her white coat! In the mid-70s Bob and Dorothy moved to Garstang, nearer to Dad's job in Blackpool, and her job in Preston, and a new era began in their lives, now that their sons had all left home for university. David refused to move from Bolton-le-Sands until he went to University so the move to Garstang was delayed. I suppose you might call this their “Golden Age”, because they have had such a wonderful time living here and making such good friends. 13 [page break] She supported Dad in his political and civic roles, becoming Mayoress for Garstang and Wyre Borough Council. She also threw herself into a host of activities, including support for the Leonard Cheshire Home and the St John's Hospice and Meals on Wheels with Cabus WI. Dorothy was active in the bowling club, she swam once a week and she continued to walk. She was fit and active right up until the end, her enthusiasm for life undimmed. As we remember her this morning, the word, which most aptly comes to mind, is “selflessness”, because she always put the needs of others above and before her own needs. She was the least selfish person I know, she was always ready to help in any way that she could. She was – and is – our mum, Dorothy,” That gives a summarised account of our lives, which, on the whole was a happy one. Good fortune, in many respects, came our way. My career started modestly as a youngster from an elementary education but a series of events led to me having a well-paid job and a comfortable retirement. Family life was pleasant, bringing up four boys who have done well in their careers and kept in close contact with us. Another part of my life was my association with Scouting. This started with Robert joining Cubs and me offering to assist with transporting the pack members to their various activities. The Scout Group was attached to Church of the Ascension at Torrisholme and I joined the Parent's Committee. About 1964 the Senior Scout Unit needed some help so I took the necessary training and became the Senior Scout Leader, my scouting career was as follows. March 65 Senior Scout Leader 16th Morecambe Oct 67 Assistant District Commissioner (Venture Scouts) 14 [page break] May 71 District Commissioner – Morecambe & Heysham District April 74 District Commissioner – Lonsdale District June 80 Assistant County Commissioner – West Lancashire In 1984 and then living in Garstang, I had retired from the Lonsdale District and was appointed Assistant County Commissioner (Personnel) for the West Lancashire County Scout Council. The County had two full time campsite wardens and I made arrangements for improvements to their conditions of employment including salaries and pensions. June 93 Assistant District Commissioner (Venture Scouts). I took an active part in training these teenage lads in various outdoor activities such as Rock Climbing, Hill Walking, Orienteering, Sailing and Canoeing, some of them gaining the Duke of Edinburgh Award. My scouting involvement was for about 28 years and I enjoyed it immensely. ROBERT SHARROCK C.Eng .. M.I.Gas E. D.O.B. 12 February 1925 Whiston Central School Left 1939 aged 14 years Started work as an errand boy Whiston Co-op Society. 1941 Started work at Prescott Gas Co. Jumior [sic] on general duties in the laboratory, works and distribution Dept June 1943 Joined R.A.F. Trained as Flight Engineer (Aircrew) complted [sic] one tour in Bomber Command. Attained rank of Flight Engineer then Flight Sargeant [sic] March 1944 Crashed in Halifax Bomber on training flight and ended up with a broken back Sept 1944 Resumed training Posted to 428 Squadron (Canadian) Ghost Squadron at Middleton St George. Flew 28 operational flights Feb 1946 Released from R.A.F. on a B Class Release. Returned to work at Prescot Gas Co. manager of gas works applied for Bob's release Jan 1947 Started intensive course in Gas Engineering at Aston in Birmingham Technical College sponsored by Institute of Gas Engineers Nov 1948 Joined Liverpool Gas Co. 15 [page break] June 1951 Appointed Senior Industrial Engineer – Burnley following Nationalisation June 1954 Appointed Group Industrial Gas Sales Engineer – NWGB North (Lancaster) Feb 1971 Appointed Technical Sales Manager, West Lancs (Blackpool) April 1986 Early Retirement due To impending privatisation of British Gas 42 years' service in Gas Industry FAMILY 16 [page break] Married to Dorothy 19th July 1947 Children – Robert Eden 16th June 1951 John James 18th May 1953 Jeremy Mason 1st June 1958 David William 19th Feb 1962 Stomach cancer Aug 1999 stomach removed Moved to Abbeyfield House 2011 d:\sharrock family\dad bob documents\memories and [inserted] 17 [/inserted] reminiscences\memories and reminiscences of bob sharrock v5 31-8-14.doc 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 Memories and Reminiscences of Bob Sharrock Description An account of the resource Bob Sharrock's life story, from childhood until he joined the RAF. He recalls his training and postings to various RAF stations throughout his service. After the war he continued at RAF Credenhill then RAF Kinloss as a flight mechanic. He returned to his old job at the gas works and married Dorothy. They had four boys and he spent a lot of time dinghy sailing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bob Sharrock Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 17 typewritten sheets Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BSharrockRSharockRv2 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 Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Canadian Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Wigan England--Warrington England--London England--Torquay England--Hoylake England--Hereford England--Liverpool England--Burnley England--Morecambe England--Bolton-le-Sands England--Garstang England--Yorkshire England--Cheshire England--Devon England--Herefordshire England--Lancashire England--Preston (Lancashire) 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 Roger Dunsford Maureen Clarke 1664 HCU 428 Squadron 6 Group aircrew Beaufighter crash flight engineer flight mechanic ground crew Halifax Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing Lancaster RAF Credenhill RAF Dishforth RAF Kinloss RAF Middleton St George RAF Padgate RAF St Athan RAF Torquay recruitment shelter training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2782/49272/LCookeH115312v1.pdf 5e147419a7edc603ddfacd4e1558e652 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 Cooke, Horace Cooke, H Description An account of the resource 34 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Horace Cooke DFC (b. 3 April 1919, 115312 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, training notes, documents, medal ribbons, and photographs. He flew operations as wireless operator and air gunner with 7,49, 99 and 156 Squadrons before training as a pilot. Later he was an instructor with various units. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David Drew and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-06-07 2024-02-24 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 Cooke, 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 Horace Cooke's pilot's flying log book Description An account of the resource Pilot's flying log book for Horace Cooke covering the period 11 April 1944 to 1 June 1945 when Horace served in Canada with 31 Personnel Dispatch, 19 Elementary Flying School, 17 Service Flying Training School and 7 Bombing and Gunnery School. The log book also lists Horace's record of service for the period 2 October 1939 to 19 October 1944 when he was based in England and Scotland. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Canada Manitoba Manitoba--Dauphin Manitoba--Souris Manitoba--Virden New Brunswick New Brunswick--Moncton Great Britain England--Cambridgeshire England--Derbyshire England--Devon England--Lincolnshire England--Manchester England--Northamptonshire England--Northumberland England--Oxfordshire England--Rutland England--Suffolk England--Yorkshire Scotland Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway Scotland--Prestwick 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 Canadian Air Force 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 log book Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Lynn Corrigan Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LCookeH115312v1 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 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944 1945 aircrew Anson Battle Blenheim Bombing and Gunnery School Cornell Flying Training School Hampden Harvard Initial Training Wing Lancaster Lancaster Mk 1 Lancaster Mk 3 Operational Training Unit Pathfinders pilot RAF Acklington RAF Benson RAF Burnaston RAF Cottesmore RAF Cranwell RAF Finningley RAF Heaton Park RAF Hemswell RAF Oakington RAF Polebrook RAF Prestwick RAF Torquay RAF Warboys RAF Waterbeach RAF Wattisham RAF West Freugh RCAF Dauphin Stirling Tiger Moth training Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2731/49514/MAnyanJR1259839-190310-01.1.jpg 86ca6003214b8f755195ec019c5af4bc 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 Anyan, John Richard Description An account of the resource Six items. The collection concerns Sergeant John Richard Anyan (1920 - 1942, 1259839 Royal Air Force) and contains documents and photographs.He flew operations as an observer with 106 Squadron and was killed 28 January 1942.&nbsp;<br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Carolyn MacGillivray and catalogued by Jan Johnstone. <br /><br /><br /> Additional information on&nbsp;John Richard Anyan is available via the&nbsp;<a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/100471/">IBCC Losses Database.</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-03-10 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 Anyan, JR 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MAnyanJR1259839-190310-01 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1920-12-28 1941-04 1942-01-21 1942-01-28 1942-01-29 1947-01-02 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire England--Devon Germany Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony) Germany--Münster in Westfalen Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Kleve (North Rhine-Westphalia) Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Title A name given to the resource Sgt J R Anyan (Observer) 106 Squadron 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 typewritten page Description An account of the resource A summary of the RAF career of Sergeant Dick Anyan (1259839) written by his niece. Details are provided of two operations flown in a Handley Page Hampden (P4398) with 106 Squadron. On an operation to bomb Emden Dick Anyan's fellow airmen were: Sergeants Sporny, Johnson and White. Dick and his crew of Sergeant's Sporny, Young and Dickerson failed to return from an operation to bomb Münster on 28/29 January 1942. All four crew members were killed and buried in Düsseldorf North Cemetery. They were reinterred in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve on 2 January 1947. Additional information about this item has been kindly provided by the donor. 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 Carolyn MacGillivray 106 Squadron bombing final resting place Hampden Initial Training Wing killed in action navigator observer RAF Coningsby RAF Torquay https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/53/416/EBoldyDABoldyAD[Date]-020001.jpg 6080432f497cd12e3f75168fb3113e06 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/53/416/EBoldyDABoldyAD[Date]-020002.jpg c2656e75ffd94b4b1f86adb1d22046d5 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 Boldy, David Dave Boldy D A Boldy Description An account of the resource 334 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant David Adrian Boldy (1918 – 1942, 923995 Royal Air Force) and consists of his school reports, letters from school and photographs of family and locations in India, letters from training and service, and photographs from his social life and time training. It also includes newspaper cuttings and letters about him being missing in action. David Boldy was born and attended school in India and studied law at Kings College London. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force and trained as an air gunner in South Africa. He flew operations in Manchesters and Lancasters with 207 Squadron from RAF Bottesford. His aircraft failed to return from an operation to Gdańsk 11 July 1942. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Boldy and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.<br /><br />Additional information on David Boldy is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/102182/">IBCC Losses Database</a>. 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. 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 Boldy, DA Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [underlined] [deleted] R.A.F Torquay. [/deleted] [underlined] from Boldy. 59, Bathurst Mews. Lancaster Gate, London. W. 2. My darling Dad, Mum tells me that she has sent several of my letters to her on to you so you can regard them as written to you as well. I am getting on very well here & rather enjoying life. Now and again we get rather fed up with the petty red tape in existence but otherwise it is a fine life. I have now been in the R.A.F. ten weeks. Each pay day - & every other Friday - we beat up the town & frequent the local taverns. We have some good fun. I have joined a Tennis club behind our billet - & have had some rather good tennis. I played in the Squadron Singles tournament & was beaten in the first round 2-6, 4-6. I led 4-1 in the [deleted] L [/deleted] second set. The [page break] court was asphalt and I just cannot play on it. There is nothing like a game on lawn. Last week-end I managed to get home. I arrived on Saturday 10 p.m. and had to leave Sunday 4pm. Still it was worth it despite the short time. I had a very nice weekend. Steve had come in from Harefield brought a fellow student. Mum treated me royally. I may be able to go up again pretty soon. We have done a lot of bathing [deleted] p [/deleted] P.T. here and every one I met in London remarked on how fit and tanned I was looking. The subject’s [sic] we have studied lately are, Maths, Armaments – guns on the planes –, Navigation and Signals – Morse Code – I can do 4 words per min. The requisite amount being 6. No more at the moment. God bless you. [underlined] Love Dave. [/underlined] 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/. Subject The topic of the resource World War (1939-1945) Description An account of the resource Letter from Sergeant David Boldy to his father, regarding his initial training and visiting his mother at home. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource David Boldy 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. Correspondence Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBoldyDABoldyAD[Date]-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 Royal Air Force Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1945-08 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. Title A name given to the resource Letter from David Boldy to his father Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. England--Devon Great Britain Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Karl Williams Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy RAF Torquay training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/53/504/EBoldyDABoldyAD400627.2.pdf bcb06d69c1d9954e3bdab1e616e7dc07 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 Boldy, David Dave Boldy D A Boldy Description An account of the resource 334 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant David Adrian Boldy (1918 – 1942, 923995 Royal Air Force) and consists of his school reports, letters from school and photographs of family and locations in India, letters from training and service, and photographs from his social life and time training. It also includes newspaper cuttings and letters about him being missing in action. David Boldy was born and attended school in India and studied law at Kings College London. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force and trained as an air gunner in South Africa. He flew operations in Manchesters and Lancasters with 207 Squadron from RAF Bottesford. His aircraft failed to return from an operation to Gdańsk 11 July 1942. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Boldy and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.<br /><br />Additional information on David Boldy is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/102182/">IBCC Losses Database</a>. 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. 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 Boldy, DA Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [inserted in different hand][underlined] London, W.2. [/underlined]. 59, Bathurst Mews, Boldy - Lancaster Gate London, W.2. [/ inserted in different hand] 27th June, 1940. My darling Dad, I’m awfully sorry I haven’t written for some Time but we have had another change & are working very hard. We spent twelve days at Hasting. It was very pleasant. We did not like the first two days but then got used to it. The programme there was an early morning dip in the sea. This was followed by Parade. We then had maths & signals – the latter is Morse Code – After this P.T. – On Wednesdays we have organised games such as Tennis water-polo, etc . Also a couple of Antigas lectures are thrown in. we have not yet started Navigation but I don’t think it will be long now. After din [sic] we were free to go out. I have acquired quite a habit now of [page break] going in for a swim almost everyday. We are now at Torquay. It is a very picturesque place. I forgot to mention socially Hastings was quite amusing. I did not do much apart from swimming. The programme here is more or less the same as at Hastings. The only difference here is that the R.A.F. have never been here before. The result is that everyone stares at us when we drill or march to the dining Hall. It is very amusing. There are masses of girls here so as soon as the R.A.F. is payed [sic] we shall have to beat the town up. the bathing here is not very good as it is very shallow for a long way. I hear however that there are some very nice places close by. The weather here is supposed to be very hot & tropical. We have [page break] not noticed it so far as we are not having really good weather at the moment. The Political news is terrible. I cannot understand the attitude Taken up by the French government. They could easily have fought on from their colonies and Taken the fleet, Air force and all available men & materials. All this will be hopelessly out of date by the Time you receive this letter. Incidentally Cecil one of my best pals at College was at Hastings under training as a pilot. He is now at Torquay. I met him the other day. As I know where he is I shall be seeing a lot of him. I am here with most of my friends. Half of us our [sic] in the same room. We are billeted in [page break] Hotels, run completely by us of course. Our room faces some Tennis Courts and the bay. The view is lovely. We work very hard here, and am just about all in at the end of the day. I am looking very fit and well Tanned [sic]. At Hastings we had a couple of Air Raid Warnings at Hastings. The night we slept on the Concrete floor of an Air Raid Shelter. Nothing happened & we didn’t here[sic] anything. Anyway we were too sleepy to worry. Don’t worry about us & keep your chin up. No more to-day. God bless & keep you for us. Love Dave. [hand drawn picture of cap] [inserted in different hand] [underlined] P.S. [/underlined] [underlined] 1 [/underlined] [underlined] 8th July [/underlined]. I am afraid this will get over weight for the Air Mail if I add a sheet. Dave came in on Saturday the 6 th at 10.p.m. looking absolutely fine. His cap had a white bit in front something like in my attempt at drawing, this is to show they are Air Crew & are they proud of it! We gave him a very happy 18 hours & were glad to have him that long. Steve & his friend John Porace were here for the weekend too. We saw him off at Paddington, 5 minutes from here & met some of his lot. Nice boys. All the little mothers sporting their R.A.F. brooches (winged), & smiled bravely, grateful for the brief glimpse of their boys. Dave took back plenty of luck, 50 cigarettes & my tooth paste! Love Baby. [inserted in different hand] 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/. Subject The topic of the resource World War (1939-1945) Description An account of the resource Letter from David Boldy to his father about his daily activities at Hastings, and then at Torquay. Comments on the French government, mentions a meeting with Cecil and cadet training Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource David Boldy Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940-06-27 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. Correspondence Artwork Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBoldyDABoldyAD400627 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. Great Britain England--Hastings England--Torquay England--Devon England--Sussex Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940-06 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. Title A name given to the resource Letter from David Boldy to his father Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Steve Baldwin Andy Hamilton aircrew RAF Torquay training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/53/505/EBoldyDABoldyAD400828-0001.2.jpg 0548f06acf1c8e79782da809eb7d9621 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/53/505/EBoldyDABoldyAD400828-0002.2.jpg fecc8fabff2b1e0c610eca72e25a4560 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 Boldy, David Dave Boldy D A Boldy Description An account of the resource 334 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant David Adrian Boldy (1918 – 1942, 923995 Royal Air Force) and consists of his school reports, letters from school and photographs of family and locations in India, letters from training and service, and photographs from his social life and time training. It also includes newspaper cuttings and letters about him being missing in action. David Boldy was born and attended school in India and studied law at Kings College London. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force and trained as an air gunner in South Africa. He flew operations in Manchesters and Lancasters with 207 Squadron from RAF Bottesford. His aircraft failed to return from an operation to Gdańsk 11 July 1942. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Boldy and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.<br /><br />Additional information on David Boldy is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/102182/">IBCC Losses Database</a>. 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. 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 Boldy, DA Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document From D. A. Boldy. D Flight, No 3 Squadron, No 5 I.T.W. R.A.F. Torquay. R.A.F. Torquay. 28th August. 1940. My darling Dad, Thanks for your letter. I am glad to hear you are back at work & hope you have a successful season. About ten days ago I came back from my week’s leave. I had a wonderful time & thoroughly enjoyed myself. Steve also took a week’s leave. Peter my friend who had joined the navy was also in London on 28 days sick leave as he had been wounded. He is quite allright [sic] now. All of us felt terribly tired out when we got back as we had hit the hay, but it was worth it. I have finished the initial course & now await posting to a navigation school. My average for the whole was 90%. At the moment we are still doing the same as before, drill, P.T. & lectures. I am enclosing a photograph of myself in flying kit, I hope you like it. It is rather a good one. I haven’t been up yet but will go up at the next place. The weather has been very good. I have have [sic] had some very good tennis & won two [page break] mixed doubles tournaments at the Torquay Club. I got 5/- each time. We swim now & again. I had a good swim yesterday. We still do a lot of work though & seem to feel perpetually tired. [indecipherable word] everyone remarked how fit I looked. We have had several warnings since I have been back & [deleted] Lodon [/deleted] London is having a number. They don’t worry us at all, we can take it & some day the Jerries are going to get a mouthful they won’t be able to swallow. I only realised a short time ago that Steve had got through more than half his course. Another two years & he should be a qualified Doctor. Good for him. I have now been over 4 months in the R.A F. I am an L.A.C. (Leading Aircraftsman) & earn, £3 10s a fortnight. No more Today. God bless you [underlined] Love Dave. [/underlined] 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/. Subject The topic of the resource World War (1939-1945) Description An account of the resource Letter from Leading Aircraftsman David Boldy to his father about being on leave from the Royal Air Force with his brother Steve and Peter, a friend who was wounded in the Navy. He has completed the initial course and awaits posting to navigation school. He sends a photo in flying kit. Steve is more than half way through his medical training, and they got to play tennis in Torquay. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource David Boldy Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940-08-28 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBoldyDABoldyAD400828 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Torquay England--Devon Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940-08 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. Correspondence 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 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. Title A name given to the resource Letter from David Boldy to his father Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Steve Christian entertainment RAF Torquay training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/53/565/EBoldyDABoldyLM400625.1.jpg 5cdd09b212cea038791e91c0094b38b4 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 Boldy, David Dave Boldy D A Boldy Description An account of the resource 334 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant David Adrian Boldy (1918 – 1942, 923995 Royal Air Force) and consists of his school reports, letters from school and photographs of family and locations in India, letters from training and service, and photographs from his social life and time training. It also includes newspaper cuttings and letters about him being missing in action. David Boldy was born and attended school in India and studied law at Kings College London. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force and trained as an air gunner in South Africa. He flew operations in Manchesters and Lancasters with 207 Squadron from RAF Bottesford. His aircraft failed to return from an operation to Gdańsk 11 July 1942. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Boldy and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.<br /><br />Additional information on David Boldy is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/102182/">IBCC Losses Database</a>. 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. 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 Boldy, DA Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [deleted] 923995, Boldy. A.C.2 No. 3 Squadron, D Flight, RAF, No 5 I.T.W. Room 46, Elfordleigh Hotel R.A.F. Torquay. Devonshire. [/deleted] [inserted] [underlined] from Boldy, 59, Bathurst Mews Lancaster Gate London, W.2. [/underlined] [/inserted] 25th June. My darling Mum & Steve, Just a line to let you know how I am getting on. We moved from Hastings on Monday morning & arrived at Torquay in the evening. We were not allowed out yesterday but are going out tonight for a swim. The R.A.F. was obviously novelty and everyone looked at us. We have to march to the dining Hall about 5 minutes march and everyone just looks It is like a monkey parade. Torquay looks a jolly fine place. The bay is lovely. We left the girls in Hastings well trained. Here there are 1000 girls from the Prudential evacuated from London. We start serious training shortly! More later. God bless You both love [underlined] Dave [/underlined] 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/. Subject The topic of the resource World War (1939-1945) Description An account of the resource Letter from David Boldy to his mother and brother. He let them know that he has moved from Hastings to Torquay and includes some of his observations on his new posting, with references to girls evacuated from London. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource David Boldy Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940-06-25 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text. Correspondence Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBoldyDABoldyLM400625 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Torquay England--Devon Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One page letter 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 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. Title A name given to the resource Letter from David Boldy to his mother and brother Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Andy Hamilton evacuation love and romance RAF Torquay training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/53/679/EBoldyDABoldyLM400627.2.pdf 6d7b4236969468c351eba982bf203eb8 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 Boldy, David Dave Boldy D A Boldy Description An account of the resource 334 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant David Adrian Boldy (1918 – 1942, 923995 Royal Air Force) and consists of his school reports, letters from school and photographs of family and locations in India, letters from training and service, and photographs from his social life and time training. It also includes newspaper cuttings and letters about him being missing in action. David Boldy was born and attended school in India and studied law at Kings College London. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force and trained as an air gunner in South Africa. He flew operations in Manchesters and Lancasters with 207 Squadron from RAF Bottesford. His aircraft failed to return from an operation to Gdańsk 11 July 1942. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Boldy and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.<br /><br />Additional information on David Boldy is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/102182/">IBCC Losses Database</a>. 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. 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 Boldy, DA Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document 923995, BOLDY. A.C.2. D Flight No 3 Squadron, No 5 I.T.W. R.A.F. Torquay. 27th June 1940. My darling Mum & Steve, Many thanks for both your letters. Torquay is certainly beautiful but as I told you in my last letter the bathing is rotten. You never quite know when [one indecipherable word] where you will land up in 2 feet of water. The French certainly seem to have caught it in the neck. Ian is the limit, he simply cannot take it. If he is behaving like that now, God Knows what he will do if he really bumps up against something. We all grouse but that is because we have nothing better to do. But I will say Margaret is enough to get on anyone's nerves. The band leader must have been an interesting chap. I should think you would be fairly safe in the shelter, but of course the trouble is getting to the damn thing in time. Something ought to be done about the woman in the [page break] Mews. People who leave the shelters before time deserve all they get. We have not been disturbed at all so far in Torquay. I'm glad to hear there is another mouse less in the flat. It was bad luck about Pat's boy friend. Perhaps he may still be alive. It would be a good idea if you could get hold of a couple of tin hats for raids as they are a great protection. I am very pleased to hear about [deleted] tin [/deleted] my smashing blonde [inserted] (aged 4.) [/inserted] As a matter of fact to be quite honest she is the only lady I am at all interested in at the moment. I think she deserves a photograph of me. I hope Steve is not being lazy. The message to Dad is perfect. It must be damnable for him, especially as letters take so long these days. I am glad to hear Bill is getting on well after his operation. [one indecipherable word] remark about [page break] [inserted] [underlined] 2. [/underlined] [/inserted] about Uncle Martin talking nonsense is rather amusing. I hope you do well in your surgery. The night suits will do fine. I shall write for anything else I need. Thanks for the £1 you are going to send. In future I shall only take £1 at a time it will then last longer. I hear we will only be paid £1 for the next fortnight - Out of it I have to pay 2/- for a photograph 1/- sports fund, & 1/- for a wireless (radio) raffle. Last evening Scottie and I went out. We had something to eat - very meagre as that is all we could afford. After that we did some morse code. It was very useful as I now know the alphabet. I shall have to work on speed now. We must do six words a minute. We went down to the promenade to-day for [deleted] B [/deleted] Drill, P.T. and [deleted] parade [/deleted] [inserted] indecipherable word [/inserted]. We did Drill & P.T. but had no. [page break] swim for some reason or other. It was very amusing. We all changed on the green adjoining the road & many people were looking on. There was rather an attractive blonde, showing a good bit of leg, who seemed very interested. We were not at all bashful. Our corporals behaved disgustingly when they were changing. The Blonde however was unperturbed. I am on Firepicket tonight, so shall not be able to get out this evening. Perhaps it is just as well as I have no money. I owe 6/- and am owed 6/- so will have all my pay on Friday. Some blokes' [deleted] ha [/deleted] accounts don't balance quite so favourably. The weather has been funny, sun & rain alternately. Will enclose letter for Dad. No more to-day. God bless you both Love [underlined] Dave. [/underlined] 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/. Subject The topic of the resource World War (1939-1945) Great Britain. Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Description An account of the resource Letter from David Boldy to his mother. Speaks about his daily life in Torquay including drill, physical training and fire picket duties. He comments on his social life with the girls. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource David Boldy Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940-06-27 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. Correspondence Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBoldyDABoldyLM400627 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 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940-06 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Devon Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Joy Reynard 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. Title A name given to the resource Letter from David Boldy to his mother bombing RAF Torquay training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/53/680/EBoldyDABoldyLM400628.2.pdf 436851d8e5a3fce28d9fc1e5466dbcfd 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 Boldy, David Dave Boldy D A Boldy Description An account of the resource 334 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant David Adrian Boldy (1918 – 1942, 923995 Royal Air Force) and consists of his school reports, letters from school and photographs of family and locations in India, letters from training and service, and photographs from his social life and time training. It also includes newspaper cuttings and letters about him being missing in action. David Boldy was born and attended school in India and studied law at Kings College London. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force and trained as an air gunner in South Africa. He flew operations in Manchesters and Lancasters with 207 Squadron from RAF Bottesford. His aircraft failed to return from an operation to Gdańsk 11 July 1942. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Boldy and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.<br /><br />Additional information on David Boldy is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/102182/">IBCC Losses Database</a>. 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. 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 Boldy, DA Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [inserted] 923995 A.C.2. BOLDY.D.A [underlined] D Flight etc [/underlined] [/inserted] 28th June 1940. Mum darling, Just a line before I go out for the evening. I didn't post the other letters yesterday as I was flat broke & the others were so broke I could not even raise 2 1/2d. To-day I have £1. We got 26/- pay. I bought some Players and had a much needed haircut & a shampoo. There was no mail for me to-day, so I shall probably get your last letter tomorrow. Fire picket duty yesterday was quite amusing. We had a meal across the road on Tick in a sort of boarding house. Jolly decent of the old girl who gave it to us. I had only 2 1/2 hrs sleep last night & after parade & P.T. was dead beat. I have some what recovered. After a short rest & a shave Ajan and I are going out. It has been a piping hot day [page break] This afternoon we had a gas lecture out in the garden. It was lovely out there. We were supposed to go in for morse code but the C.O. let us stay out as he said we were always been [sic] marched here & there. He is a damn decent chap. I think he was in the Army before he joined the R.A.F. None of us has had a bath for ages & there is no hot water [deleted] her [/deleted] in the hot Taps at the moment so I don't know what we are going to do. I suppose the water will become hot in due course. No more to-day. God bless you both [underlined] Love Dave. [/underlined] [page break] [inserted] [underlined] 3. [/underlined] [/inserted] [underlined] A Longish Post Script [/underlined] I am sorry I only put on 2d worth of stamps on my letter yesterday but that is all I had at hand. At the moment I am in the guard room. D Flight is duty Flight this week. I am on fire picket. We have three hour patrols. Ajan & I are on from 3 - 6 a.m. Pretty awful, but little things like that don't worry us these days. Two of us brought some food for those on duty. We shall have it shortly. I have just seen the Italian terms for the first Time. What a Terrible state of affairs. I can't understand the French government giving in like that. They might at least have handed over their Navy & Air force to us. Also all the soldiers they could evacuate to this country. What amuses me is the way some of these political writers yap about how [page break] we can still win, instead of getting down to the job & doing something for a change. I read in D.R.O. (Daily Routine Orders) to-day that week-end leave or rather 24 hr. leave was being renewed. That is from 6 p.m. on Saturday Till midnight Sunday. Only 25% of the Squadron are allowed out at a Time. It wouldn't leave me much Time at home, but I will see what happens. No more now. [underlined] Love Dave. [/underlined] 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/. Subject The topic of the resource World War (1939-1945) Great Britain. Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Description An account of the resource Letter from David Boldy to his mother. He writes about his finances, the lack of hot water and that he is hoping for leave. He comments on the French surrendering. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource David Boldy Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940-06-28 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. Correspondence Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBoldyDABoldyLM400628 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. Great Britain England--Devon Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940-06 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Joy Reynard 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. Title A name given to the resource Letter from David Boldy to his mother Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review RAF Torquay training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/53/681/EBoldyDABoldyLM400630.2.pdf 2fd906e66298359414ec478c6f9de1eb 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 Boldy, David Dave Boldy D A Boldy Description An account of the resource 334 items. The collection concerns Flight Sergeant David Adrian Boldy (1918 – 1942, 923995 Royal Air Force) and consists of his school reports, letters from school and photographs of family and locations in India, letters from training and service, and photographs from his social life and time training. It also includes newspaper cuttings and letters about him being missing in action. David Boldy was born and attended school in India and studied law at Kings College London. He volunteered for the Royal Air Force and trained as an air gunner in South Africa. He flew operations in Manchesters and Lancasters with 207 Squadron from RAF Bottesford. His aircraft failed to return from an operation to Gdańsk 11 July 1942. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by David Boldy and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.<br /><br />Additional information on David Boldy is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/102182/">IBCC Losses Database</a>. 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. 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 Boldy, DA Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document 923995, A.C.2. BOLDY.D.A. D Flight, No 3 Squadron, No 5 I.T.W. R.A.F. Torquay 30th June 1940. Mum darling, No mail for a couple of days. I dare-say the mails have been delayed. On Friday the R.A.F. really got going and woke Torquay up. We went to a place where they gave us some really potent Cider. We saw one of our corporals and yelled for him in chorus. Eventually two Bobbies turned up but by that time we had really got going and nothing worried us. We had a Terrific evening, all the people in Torquay were literally amazed. Behind our Hotel there is a big Tennis club. A couple of us have joined. We paid 10/6 for the duration of our stay here. The normal fee is [deleted] 2b [/deleted] 21/- a [deleted] we [/deleted] month. We are now fully pledjed [sic] members. I had [page break] some very good Tennis yesterday. The courts are lawn. Two of us played five sets of singles. We then joined up with two girls from the Prudential & had a mixed doubles. After that we all had a half pint of cider and a coffee. These girls are very Classy as the office fellow said. One of them took a very poor view of our dirty buttons, (of course we polish them before we go out. [sic] Please send me my Tennis racket, two pairs of white shorts and two white shirts. Also those old vests of mine to Take in the sweat on parade. We are going bathing with these girls at two oclock. [sic] I can probably get a pass next week end. I can't arrive before midnight Saturday & must leave about 4 on Sunday. The fair [sic] is roughly 27/9. If you think it is worth the expense let me know in your next letter and [page break] [inserted] [underlined] 2. [underlined] [/inserted] I shall come home. I might try to catch the 4.30 train and be in by Ten, but I don't think they will allow that. Anyway I could try. Write & let me know what you think. [deleted] If I [/deleted] I have tried to phone you several times but I just can't get through, There is always a delay of an hour and a half or so. Yesterday in addition to the Tennis we had a three mile run at P.T. I could have run a whole heap more so I must be getting tough. The weather yesterday was Terrific. It is the same to-day, blazing hot. Most of us find the Air [sic] here very relaxing and want to go to sleep at the wrong Time. We have just returned from Church parade. During the service a young girl of 15 sang the Ave Maria. Solo. When she stood up there was a lot of chatting & she [page break] nervous. [sic] When she really got going there was dead silence as she sang [deleted] beat [/deleted] beautifully I don't think she has had much training either. Two of us have just returned from a place called Sandy Cove. We played a set of singles at 11 but packed in as it was too hot. We then went out with the girls I mentioned earlier on. We went to Sandy Cove a beautiful bathing spot & had a swim. We got a rowing boat for two hours & rowed out a mile or two which was very enjoyable. After that we returned to Torquay & the girls went to their place. They wanted to play Tennis at the club this evening but we are too dead beat to do it. It was a very pleasant day. It has been the hottest day we have had here for some weeks apparently. [page break] [inserted] [underlined] 3. [underlined] [/inserted] [page break] At the moment I am completing this letter in my room. All I have on are my short underpants and a pair of socks. There are no cinemas or anything like that here on Sundays. Some places certainly haven't any common sense. To-day for the first Time after Ten or twelve days I had a glorious bath. I put on clean underwear & my civilian shirt and am feeling really clean for the first Time in ages. I don't know how far it is true but I hear we may be leaving here soon as they apparently intend cutting out all this initial stuff and getting down to the navigation & flying training. I don't think there could be much truth in it as this last move was a Terrific affair, though I must admit we could easily do without [page break] the stuff we are doing at the moment, with the enception [sic] of the morse code. I am going out now for half an hour or so and will try & phone through. I don't expect I shall get through. From the papers to-day it looks as if Hitler's invasion of this Island Fortress is in the eve of beginning. I hope [deleted] it [/deleted] this venture fails utterly and Teaches him a lesson he won't forget in a hurry. No more To-day. God bless you both. [underlined] Love Dave. [/underlined] [underlined] P.S. [/underlined] This would be a grand life if we had less work to do. It is a grand life anyway. I feel as fit as a fiddle. Love [underlined] Dave. [/underlined] 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/. Subject The topic of the resource World War (1939-1945) Bombing, Aerial Description An account of the resource Letter from David Boldy to his mother giving details of his daily routine in the RAF and his social life including swimming, playing tennis and meeting girls. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource David Boldy Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940-06-30 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Six 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 EBoldyDABoldyLM400630 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. Great Britain England--Devon Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940-06 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Joy Reynard 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. Title A name given to the resource Letter from David Boldy to his mother Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review entertainment love and romance RAF Torquay sport training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/627/19786/MPettyD189456-160831-01.jpg 5fbeec3b9f2e7eae44e16d68e954b091 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 Petty, Doug Douglas Petty D Petty Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Petty, D Description An account of the resource 11 items. An oral history interview with Flying Officer Douglas Petty ( 1923 - 2023, 189456 Royal Air Force) documents and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 429 Squadron. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Douglas Petty and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-08-31 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. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Flying Officer Douglas Petty. Flight Engineer 189456 Born 11th Jan 1923 in ShiId on Co DurhamVolunteered for R.A.F., called up June 1943, enrolment in London as A.C. 2 number 1592021.Posted to Torquay to No 21 initial training wing, No3 squadron B flight for basic training. Then to St Athan in South Wales to train as a Flight Engineer .Com p leted course in March 1944 & awarded my F.E certificate no 86 entry dated 8th March 1944 with a 71% pass. Promoted to Sgt & posted to 1659 conversion unit at Topcliffe N Yorks. Crewed up with an all Canadian crew F/0 Claridge, Pilot, Bullen navigator, F/0 Mannion, Bomb Aimer, Sgt Tammela , Radio Operator, Sgt Jodrell, Mid Upper gunner & Sgt Hay, rear gunner. Commenced Flying training on 15/4/44 completed on 1/6/44. Posted to Leeming, flew first training flight on 7/6/44. First operational flight with F/0 Lasik on 14/8/44.Lost F/o Claridge,posted back to Topcliffe for new pilot F/o Mitchell. Returned to Leeming & commenced operational flying on 12/9/44 Completed 31 operation sorties Promoted to Pilot Officer No 189456 during tour then to F/0. Completed tour on 31/3/45. The crew then consisted of 6 Officers & one Sgt the Sgt was wireless operator E Tammela, Four of the crew were awarded D.F.Cs These awards were in recognition of the mining operations They were Pilot ,Navigator, Bomb aimer & Mid upper gunner. Aircraft flown during this time were Halifax 2.3 &5 ,Lancaster 1&3 .Engines were R.R Merlin & Bristol Radial. My details are. 13Hrs 35 mins on Link trainer to act as second pilot. Flying training was 165.24 hrs of which 4 were flying the aircraft including two landings. Operational flying191.25 hrs .These consisted of 7 daylight ,15 night & 9 Minelaying . Carrying 58 tons of bombs .36 canisters of incendiaries & 27 mines. Giving an average load of 10,000 lbs or 4.4 tons Incidents during tour includ ed Sept 44 , cross country training , mixed with German raid on Bristol.12th Oct 44, daylight raid on Wanna Eickel, flack damage with pieces in Engineers panel .27th Nov diverted to Woodbridge (fog) landed with the aid of F.I.D.O fog dispersal system. 12th Jan 45 mine laying at Kiel . J.U 88 shot down by gunners on second attack , we were only aircraft to return. 1st Feb 45 night raid on Mainz returned on 3 engines , One damaged by flak. 31st March daylight attack on Hamburg attacked by Me262s I used nose guns to help repel attacks. Completed tour in April 45, me to Air HQ Delhi the Canadians back home. I returned home in March 47 to one of the worst winters on record. I was demobilised in April 47. 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 Flying Officer Douglas Petty Memoirs Description An account of the resource Brief memoirs recorded by Doug Petty during his RAF service, covering the period from June 1943 to April 1947. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Doug Petty Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One typewritten sheet Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MPettyD189456-160831-01 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--Shildon England--Torquay Germany--Kiel Germany--Hamburg Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate) India--New Delhi Germany India England--Devon England--Durham (County) 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. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943 1944 1945 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource David Bloomfield Maureen Clarke 1659 HCU aircrew anti-aircraft fire bombing Distinguished Flying Cross FIDO flight engineer Halifax Halifax Mk 2 Halifax Mk 3 Halifax Mk 5 Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing Ju 88 Lancaster Lancaster Mk 1 Lancaster Mk 3 Me 262 mine laying RAF Leeming RAF St Athan RAF Topcliffe RAF Torquay RAF Woodbridge training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/882/17768/BHorshamESHorshamESv10001.jpg 1498f141e57378d19034478a39f3c1ce https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/882/17768/BHorshamESHorshamESv10002.jpg fa89ca4452609cb8cf940cfdec1f3b52 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 Horsham, Eric Eric Symonds Horsham E S Horsham Description An account of the resource 14 items. An oral history interview with Eric Horsham (b. 1923), 9 photographs, and his memoirs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 102 Squadron from RAF Pocklington. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Eric Horsham and catalogued by Barry Hunter. 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 2017-01-05 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. 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 Horsham, ES 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 Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Eric Horsham - Memories [photograph] [inserted] MU/G ENG NAV P B/A W/OP R/G [/inserted] I was born at Woolwich, part of which was Winns Common, Plumstead on 12 June 1923. Winns Common was the open space at the top of our road, 500 feet above sea level. I well remember the Royal Artillery with gun and limber, drawn by four fine horses, carrying out exercises at speed. 1930 came and at the age of 7, I was now taking note of events, for instance, an unusual noise caused us to look up to the sight of a huge elongated balloon. We knew later it was an R101 airship, on its way to London, guided by the Thames. “What a sight!” By 1937 I had joined the Air Defence Corp, later to be the Air Training Corps, 56 Borough of Woolwich Squadron. The year Len Hutton scored 365 runs, not out. As a junior clerk I was attached to the British Railways Press Office at Westminster. I had started work at the age of 14 in the Woolwich Arsenal but later the railway examination was a must. I was called up in 1942, being vetted A1 at Cardington the onetime home of the R101. Being selected for service as a Flight Engineer, a new trade in those days. The new four engine bombers were now appearing. Joining many others at Lord’s Cricket Ground we soon found ourselves at Initial Training Wing (ITW) at Torquay with other aircrew trades. St Athan in Wales was our next home for six months. The next posting was to Number 56 Conversion Unit, Marston Moor, near York, where I made up the seventh member of a crew, here we got together for the first time. Shortly after which we were posted to Pocklington, the home of 102 (Ceylon) Squadron. We were now in a different world, where the realities of the job were very apparent. Men have their different ways of overcoming unproductive thoughts, we now began operations along with some 30 other crews. People came and went but we [page break] were very aware of empty seats at breakfast. There could have been 7 more casualties on the 16 November 1944. Our target was Julich, Germany to assist the Army’s push into the Ruhr. Leaving the target at 18000 feet we were caught by German radar They were very accurate, the word on the intercom was “Dive, Dive, Dive” at the same time there was an almighty bang which destroyed our hearing, I remember tasting the cordite. The skipper had put the aircraft into a steep dive and down, down we went out of range. How comforting it was to feel the plane levelling off. As a flight engineer, I could move around and now saw large holes in the starboard side of the aircraft’s fuselage. The flaps had also disappeared on that side and vapour could be seen in our slipstream as the large petrol tanks drained away. I had to quickly transfer fuel from the port side to the starboard engines. Our mid upper gunner Jim Finney, who came from Hull, had received damage to his leg and needed immediate attention. It was fortunate that by now we were over our own lines and our skipper Edgar Francis (known to us as ‘Fran’) had taken a direct course to the nearest landing strip, Woodbridge Aerodrome. As we approached the coast fog had closed in, fortunately the runway was lit by FIDO (Fog Incandescent Dispersal Organisation) and Fran made a fast circuit to line up the descent. We were without communication with the ground, therefore it was my job, as engineer, to fire warning flares. I loaded the flare gun in the roof of the cockpit and fired continuously as we prepared to land. I was anxious that flying control should know we were there. We had no brakes but luckily this was a very long runway. We were down. The feeling of relief was palpable. Needless to say Jim was whisked off to hospital. As to the rest of us, we joined hundreds of others who found themselves in the same predicament, in the mess very late on this foggy November afternoon. [inserted] DAMAGED LANCASTER WING [/inserted] [photograph] 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 Horsham - Memories Description An account of the resource Eric Horsham's recollection from his early years in Plumstead, training at Lords, Torquay, St Athans, Marston Moor then 102 Squadron at RAF Pocklngton. Included are two photographs, one of his crew in front of a Halifax and another of the damage sustained to the 'Lancaster's' wing (actually a Halifax). Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Eric Horsham Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two typewritten sheets Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BHorshamESHorshamESv10001, BHorshamESHorshamESv10002 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Cardington England--Torquay Germany--Jülich Germany England--Yorkshire Wales--Vale of Glamorgan England--London England--London England--London England--Bedfordshire England--Devon 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. 1942 1944-11-16 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roger Dunsford Maureen Clarke 102 Squadron 1656 HCU aircrew anti-aircraft fire FIDO flight engineer Halifax Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing Lancaster RAF Cardington RAF Marston Moor RAF Pocklington RAF St Athan RAF Torquay RAF Woodbridge training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/882/17770/BHorshamESHorshamESv2.pdf b71be78eca2ef0e1e40e256ab49eb9c5 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 Horsham, Eric Eric Symonds Horsham E S Horsham Description An account of the resource 14 items. An oral history interview with Eric Horsham (b. 1923), 9 photographs, and his memoirs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 102 Squadron from RAF Pocklington. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Eric Horsham and catalogued by Barry Hunter. 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 2017-01-05 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. 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 Horsham, ES 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 Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document 1 [102 Squadron Crest] ERIC HORSHAM Flight Engineer 102 (Ceylon) Squadron RAF Pocklington [photograph of front cover of Pilot’s and Flight Engineer’s Notes for Halifax III] Handley Page Halifax [photograph of Halifax] I was born in Woolwich on the 12th of June 1923. By 1930 and at the age of seven, I was now beginning to take note of events, for example watching the R101 Airship on its way to London, guided by the Thames. By 1937, I had joined the Air Defence Corp, later to be called the Air Training Corp. In 1942, I was called up and vetted as A1 and selected as Flight Engineer, (A new trade in those days), just as the new four engine Bombers were appearing. Joining many others at Lord’s Cricket Ground, we soon found ourselves at Initial Training Wing (ITW) In [sic] Torquay with other aircrew trades. St Athan, in Wales was our home for the next 6 months and then on to Number 56 Conversion Unit, Marston Moor, near York, where I made up the seventh member of the crew. Shortly after, being posted To [sic] Pocklington, the home of 102 (Ceylon) Squadron. We now began operations along with some 30 other crews. We were always aware of empty seats at breakfast, and losses sustained by 102 Squadron were the 3rd highest in Bomber Command. On The [sic] 16th of November 1944 there were so nearly another seven casualties. Our target was Julich, Germany, to assist the Army’s push into the Ruhr. Leaving the Target at 18,000 ft, we were caught by German radar, the word on the intercom was “Dive, Dive, Dive” at the same time there was an almighty Bang which destroyed our hearing. You could taste the Cordite. The skipper put the aircraft into a steep dive and then eventually levelling out, beyond their guns range. Damage to the aircraft was substantial, I could see gaping holes in the starboard side of the fuselage, flaps had disappeared and vapour trails of fuel could be seen in our slipstream as the fuel tanks drained away. I quickly transferred fuel from the port side to the starboard engines. Our mid upper gunner (Jim Finney) also sustained leg injuries requiring immediate attention. Now over our own lines, skipper, (Edgar Francis) took a direct course to the nearest landing strip, Woodbridge Aerodrome. Coastal fog obscured our approach but fortunately the runway was lit by FIDO (Fog Incandescent Dispersal Organisation). Fran made a fast circuit to line up our descent. We were without communications so I loaded the flare gun and fired repeatedly from the cockpit roof to let flying control know we were there. We had no Brakes, Starboard Flaps, leaking fuel and fog, but fortunately a long runway… WE WERE DOWN, the mid upper gunner whisked off to hospital, and a relief that was palpable. “JUST ANOTHER OP” on a foggy November afternoon. [page break] 2 DAMAGE SUSTAINED TO MY HALIFAX ON THE 16TH NOVEMBER 1944 OPERATION TO JULICH. [photograph] [underlined] OPERATIONAL SUMMARY [/underlined] My Log Book identifies many operations throughout France and Germany and 102 Squadron were often tasked with night time and daytime bombing raids of strategic Industrial targets, such as:- [symbol] Railway Lines, [symbol] Railway Depots, [symbol] Synthetic Oil Plants, [symbol] Storage Depots [symbol] V1 (Doodlebug) & V2 Rocket Launch sites [symbol] Oil Refineries [symbol] Key Industrial Targets [symbol] My Operations included:- [symbol] The Thousand Bomber raid on Essen [symbol] Osnabruck [symbol] Sterkrade [symbol] Cologne, [symbol] Essen (340 Aircraft) Mosquito’s dropped Red Ground Markers, Yellow and Green Sky Markers. [symbol] Duisberg [symbol] Fuel delivery Ops, low level (250 x 5 gallon petrol filled Jerry Cans) for allied troops fighting in Eindhoven and advancing along the Ruhr. [symbol] Raids on V1 (Doodlebug) & V2 Rocket Launch sites In France. (Mosquito Cross beam targeting) [symbol] OPERATION TOTALISE [symbol] Julich (Raid 16th Nov 1944 ([sic] aircraft sustained Flack [sic] damage and mid upper gunner injured). Note:- Flying Officer LEONARD CHESHIRE was posted to 102 Squadron in June 1940 and subsequently awarded the (DSO). Then further awarded the (DFC) with promotion to Fight Lieutenant whilst serving with 102 Squadron [page break] 3 HALIFAX III DY-Q [underlined] Crew- (From left to right) [/underlined] [photograph] Jimmy Finney Mid Upper Gunner From- Hull. Eric Horsham Flt Engineer From- Woolwich. Owen Shirley Navigator From- Carsholton. Edgar Francis Pilot From- Stoke St Michael. John Morris Bomb Aimer From- Highgate, London. Alan Shepherd Wireless Operator From- Ringwood. Ron Alderton Rear Gunner From- London [deleted] 4 [/deleted] [inserted] 5 [/inserted] 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 Horsham Flight Engineer Description An account of the resource Recollection of Eric Horsham from his early years in Plumstead, training at Lords, RAF Torquay, RAF St Athans, RAF Marston Moor then 102 Squadron at RAF Pocklington. Included is a photograph of the damage sustained to the Halifax's wing. He details his operations over Germany and France. He recalls Flying Officer Leonard Cheshire being posted to his squadron. The last page contains a photograph of his crew, with names, in front of a Halifax. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Eric Horsham Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Three typewritten sheets Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BHorshamESHorshamESv2 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Torquay Germany--Jülich Germany--Essen Germany--Cologne Netherlands--Eindhoven England--Hull England--Carshalton England--Shepton Mallet England--London England--Ringwood England--London Germany--Duisburg Germany--Osnabrück Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf) England--London Germany Netherlands Germany--Ruhr (Region) England--Devon England--Hampshire England--Somerset England--Surrey England--Yorkshire 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. 1944-11-16 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Roger Dunsford Maureen Clarke 102 Squadron air gunner aircrew bomb aimer Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard (1917-1992) FIDO flight engineer Halifax navigator pilot RAF Marston Moor RAF Pocklington RAF St Athan RAF Torquay RAF Woodbridge V-1 V-2 V-weapon wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1058/18690/LPackhamG1214349v1.2.jpg b15c3d4aa225bb719740649340d90bbd 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 Packham, Geoff G Packham Description An account of the resource Nine items. An oral history interview with Pilot Officer Geoff Packham (b. 1922, 161076, 1214349 Royal Air Force), photographs and documents. He flew operations as a pilot with 550 Squadron from RAF North Killingholme and became a prisoner of war after being shot down in June 1944. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Geoff Packham and catalogued by Barry Hunter. 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 2016-08-25 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 Packham, G Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document RECORD OF SERVICE UNIT DATES FROM TO [Unit] REC. CENTRE CARDINGTON [From] 18.1.41 [To] 20.1.41 [Unit] BRIDGNORTH [From] 21.1.41 [To] 4.3.41 [Unit] ACKLINGTON [From] 4.3.41 [To] 31.5.41 [Unit] BABBACOMBE [From] 31.5.41 [To] 14.6.41 [Unit] TORQUAY. 3. I.T.W [From] 14.6.41 [To] 1.8.41 [Unit] WILMSLOW [From] 1.8.41 [To] 20.8.41 [Unit] 31 E.F.T.S. CALGARY [From] 20.8.41 [To] 16.10.41 [Unit] 31 E.F.T.S. DE WINTON [From] 16.10.41 [To] 24.10.41 [Unit] 34 S.F.T.S MEDICINE HAT [From] 24.10.41 [To] 30.1.42 [Unit] NO 1 "Y" DEPÔT. HALIFAX . [From] 10.2.42 [To] 28.2.42 [Unit] BOURNEMOUTH. 3 PRC. [From] 10.3.42 [To] 25.4.42 [Unit] HARROGATE. 3 PRC. [From] 25.4.42 [To] 4.5.42 [Unit] 12 AF.U. GRANTHAM. [From] 4.5.42 [To] 29.6.42 [Unit] [deleted] 297 Squadron. [/deleted] AFU HURN [From] 30/.6/42 [To] 7/8/42 [Unit] HGCU. Brize Norton [From] 7/8/42 [To] 12/8/42 [Unit] LONG NEWTON. GLOS. [From] 12/8/42 [To] 20/9/42 [Unit] HGCU. BRIZE NORTON [From] 21/9/42 [To] 13.10.42 [Unit] C.G.S. SUTTON BRIDGE [From] 13.10.42 [To] 31.10.42 [Unit] 7 AG.S. STORMY DOWN. S.WALES [From] 1/11/42 [To] 20/11/43 [Unit] 18 O.T.U. FINNINGLEY [From] 23/11/43 [To] 26/12/43. [Unit] RAF. WORKSOP. [From] 26/12/43 [To] 29/3/44. [Unit] RAF. LINDHOLME. [From] 29/3/44 [To] 8/4/44 [Unit] 1667 CON. SANDTOFT. [From] 8/4/44 [To] 13/5/44 [Unit] L.F.S. RAF. HEMSWELL [From] 13/5/44 [To] 24/5/44 [Unit] 550 Squadron. Killingholme [From] 24/5/44 [Unit] No 61 RESERVE CENTRE DONCASTER [From] 29/10/51 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 Geoff Packham's Record of Service Description An account of the resource A list, taken from Geoff's logbook, of RAF stations where he served or was trained. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Geoff Packham Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed sheet with handwritten annotations Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LPackhamG1214349v1 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Torquay Canada Alberta--Calgary Alberta--De Winton Alberta--Medicine Hat England--Halifax England--Grantham England--Doncaster Alberta England--Devon England--Northumberland England--Yorkshire England--Lincolnshire 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 Angela Gaffney Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review 1667 HCU 18 OTU 550 Squadron Advanced Flying Unit Air Gunnery School Flying Training School Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing Lancaster Finishing School Operational Training Unit RAF Acklington RAF Bridgnorth RAF Brize Norton RAF Cardington RAF Finningley RAF Hemswell RAF Hurn RAF Lindholme RAF North Killingholme RAF Sandtoft RAF Stormy Down RAF Sutton Bridge RAF Torquay RAF Wilmslow RAF Worksop training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/89/876/LCalvertRA1488619v1.1.pdf a4d74b59eb8d89a89607ee6b934e1006 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 Calvert, Roger R A Calvert Description An account of the resource Seven items. The collection consists of an oral history interview with Flight Lieutenant Roger Alfred Calvert (b. 1923, 1488619; 152814), his logbook, navigators training course class book and 3 photographs. Roger Calvert was a navigator with 141 Squadron at RAF West Raynham flying Mosquitos on night intruder operations. For most of his operational career his pilot was Flight Lieutenant John Thatcher. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Roger Calvert and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-04-24 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 Calvert, R 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 Roger Calvert's Royal Canadian Air Force flying log book for aircrew other than pilot 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 Text. Log book and record book Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LCalvertRA1488619v1 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 Royal Canadian Air Force Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Canada France Germany Great Britain Netherlands Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Ontario--London England--Bedfordshire England--Herefordshire England--Norfolk England--Northumberland France--Dieppe France--Paris France--Pas-de-Calais Germany--Bochum Germany--Bremen Germany--Darmstadt Germany--Dortmund Germany--Dresden Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony) Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Gelsenkirchen Germany--Hamburg Germany--Kiel Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate) Germany--Merseburg Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf) Germany--Osnabrück Germany--Rüsselsheim Germany--Schleswig-Holstein Poland--Szczecin Germany--Stuttgart Germany--Wiesbaden Netherlands--IJssel Lake Netherlands--Zeist Poland--Police (Województwo Zachodniopomorskie) Poland Ontario Germany--Ruhr (Region) Netherlands--Steenwijk Germany--Leipzig Description An account of the resource Royal Canadian Air Force flying log book for aircrew other than pilot of Flight Lieutenant Roger Calvert from 25 March 1943 to 6 July 1945. Detailing training and operations flown. Served at RAF Cranfield, RAF Great Massingham, RAF Ouston, RAF Twinwood Farm and RAF West Raynham. Aircraft flown were Anson, Beaufighter, Mosquito, Oxford, Tiger Moth and Wellington. He carried out a total of 32 intruder operations as a navigator with 141 Squadron from RAF West Raynham on the following targets in France, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands: Bochum, Bremen, Darmstadt, Dieppe, Dortmund, Dresden, Emden, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Kiel, Mainz, Merseberg (Leipzig), Nuremberg, Oberhausen, Osnabruck, Plantlunne airfield, Paris, Pas de Calais, Politz, the Ruhr, Russelhelm, Schleswig, Steenwijk aerodrome, Stettin, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Zeist and Zuider Zee. His pilots on operations were Squadron Leader Thatcher and Flying Officer Rimer. The log book is well annotated and contains a green endorsement and several photographs of aircraft flown and attacked. Notes include an air sea rescue sortie, the sighting of a V-2 and one Me-110 claimed. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943 1944-07-18 1944-07-19 1944-07-20 1944-07-21 1944-08-07 1944-08-08 1944-08-09 1944-08-10 1944-08-11 1944-08-12 1944-08-12 1944-08-13 1944-08-16 1944-08-17 1944-08-18 1944-08-19 1944-08-25 1944-08-26 1944-08-26 1944-08-27 1944-08-30 1944-09-11 1944-09-12 1944-09-12 1944-09-13 1944-09-15 1944-09-16 1944-09-17 1944-10-04 1944-10-06 1944-10-09 1944-10-19 1944-10-26 1944-10-29 1944-11-01 1944-11-04 1944-11-06 1944-11-10 1945-01-13 1945-01-14 1945-01-15 1945-01-16 1945-01-17 1945-01-28 1945-01-29 1945-02-01 1945-02-02 1945-02-03 1945-02-04 1945-02-08 1945-02-09 1945-02-13 1945-02-14 1945-04-22 1945-04-23 1945 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 141 Squadron 21 Squadron Air Gunnery School Air Observers School air sea rescue aircrew Anson Beaufighter bombing bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945) Initial Training Wing Me 110 Mosquito navigator Operational Training Unit Oxford RAF Cranfield RAF Great Massingham RAF Ouston RAF Padgate RAF Torquay RAF Twinwood Farm RAF West Raynham Tiger Moth training V-2 V-weapon Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/407/6865/LAnsellHT1893553v1.pdf edfc366bd5e7a30081d45f021fab8420 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 Ansell, Henry Henry Ansell H T Ansell Description An account of the resource 28 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Henry Thomas Ansell, DFM (b. 1925, 1893553 Royal Air Force) and contains his logbook, his release book, a school report, two German language documents and several photographs, his medals and other items. Henry Ansell served as a flight engineer with 61 Squadron and 83 Squadron Pathfinders. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Vicki Ansell and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-07-30 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 Ansell, 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 Harry Thomas Ansell's flying log book for flight engineers Description An account of the resource The log book covers the training and operational duties of Flight Engineer Sergeant Harry Thomas Ansell, from 14 April 1944 to 24 May 1945. He trained at RAF Torquay, RAF St Athan, RAF Stockport and was stationed at RAF Wigsley, RAF Syerston, RAF Skellingthorpe and RAF Coningsby. Aircraft flown in were Stirling and Lancaster. He flew 34 operations with 61 Squadron, 15 daylight and 19 night, and 18 night operations with 83 Squadron. Targets in Belgium, France, Germany and Norway were Limoges, Prouville, Vitry, Doullens, Chalindrey, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, Caen, Revigny, Courtrai, Kiel, Donges, Saint-Cyr, Lyons, Stuttgart, Cahienes, Joigny-Laroche, Pas de Calais, Bois de Cassan, Saint-Leu-d'Esserent, Secqueville, Châtellerault, Bordeaux, Rüsselsheim, Königsberg, Rollencourt, Brest, Le Havre, Darmstadt, Boulogne, Bremerhaven, Rheydt, Munich, Heilbronn, Giessen, Politz, Merseberg, Brux, Karlsruhe, Ladbergen, Dresden, Rositz, Gravenhorst, Bohlen, Horten Fjord, Molbis and Lützkendorf. His pilot on operations was Flight Lieutenant Inness. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium France Germany Norway Great Britain England--Buckinghamshire England--Cambridgeshire England--Devon England--Greater Manchester England--Lancashire England--Lincolnshire England--Nottinghamshire England--Yorkshire Wales--Vale of Glamorgan Atlantic Ocean--English Channel Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay Atlantic Ocean--North Sea Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Belgium--Kortrijk France--Boulogne-sur-Mer France--Brest France--Caen France--Calais France--Culmont-Chalindrey France--Châtellerault France--Doullens France--Joigny France--Le Havre France--Limoges France--L'Isle-Adam France--Villeneuve-Saint-Georges France--Saint-Nazaire Germany--Bremerhaven Germany--Darmstadt Germany--Dresden Germany--Heilbronn Germany--Hörstel Germany--Karlsruhe Germany--Kiel Germany--Merseburg Germany--Munich Germany--Rheydt Germany--Rüsselsheim Germany--Stuttgart Germany--Wettin Norway--Horten Russia (Federation)--Kaliningrad (Kaliningradskai︠a︡ oblastʹ) Germany--Böhlen France--Lyon Russia (Federation) France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine) France--Secqueville-en-Bessin France--Saint-Leu-d'Esserent France--Châtellerault Germany--Altenburg (Thuringia) Czech Republic--Most (Okres) France--Revigny-sur-Ornain Germany--Borna (Leipzig) Germany--Ladbergen Germany--Leipzig France--Pas-de-Calais France--Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole France--Prouville France--Pas-de-Calais Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LAnsellHT1893553v1 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 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944 1945 1944-06-19 1944-06-20 1944-06-23 1944-06-24 1944-06-25 1944-06-27 1944-06-28 1944-06-29 1944-07-12 1944-07-13 1944-07-14 1944-07-15 1944-07-18 1944-07-19 1944-07-20 1944-07-21 1944-07-23 1944-07-24 1944-07-25 1944-07-26 1944-07-27 1944-07-28 1944-07-29 1944-07-30 1944-07-31 1944-08-01 1944-08-02 1944-08-05 1944-08-07 1944-08-08 1944-08-09 1944-08-10 1944-08-11 1944-08-12 1944-08-13 1944-08-14 1944-08-26 1944-08-27 1944-08-31 1944-09-05 1944-09-10 1944-09-11 1944-09-12 1944-09-13 1944-09-14 1944-09-18 1944-09-19 1944-09-20 1944-11-26 1944-11-27 1944-12-04 1944-12-06 1944-12-10 1944-12-21 1944-12-22 1945-01-13 1945-01-14 1945-01-15 1945-01-16 1945-01-17 1945-02-02 1945-02-03 1945-02-06 1945-02-07 1945-02-08 1945-02-13 1945-02-14 1945-02-15 1945-02-20 1945-02-21 1945-02-23 1945-02-24 1945-03-20 1945-03-21 1945-04-07 1945-02-08 1945-02-09 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944 1945 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 1654 HCU 61 Squadron 83 Squadron aircrew Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986) bombing bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945) bombing of the Pas de Calais V-1 sites (24/25 June 1944) Distinguished Flying Medal flight engineer George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952) Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Pathfinders RAF Coningsby RAF Skellingthorpe RAF St Athan RAF Stockport RAF Syerston RAF Torquay RAF Wigsley Stirling tactical support for Normandy troops training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/315/15275/LPayneAJ1315369v1.1.pdf 90d2332a7f81b01d7511af5b65d85690 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 Payne, Alan Alan John Payne Alan J Payne Alan Payne A J Payne A Payne Description An account of the resource Two items. An oral history interview with Alan John Payne DFC (1315369 and 173299 Royal Air Force) and his log book. He completed 18 operations as a bomb aimer with 630 Squadron. 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 2015-08-11 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 Payne, AJ 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 Alan Payne’s South African Air Force observers or air gunners log book Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike Connock Cara Walmsley 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 LPayneAJ1315369v1 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. Egypt France Germany Great Britain Middle East--Palestine Poland South Africa Atlantic Ocean--Kiel Bay Egypt--Cairo England--Devon England--Essex England--Leicestershire England--Merseyside France--Amiens France--Clermont-Ferrand France--Tours Germany--Berlin Germany--Braunschweig Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Magdeburg Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Stuttgart Middle East--Palestine Poland--Szczecin Scotland--Dumfries and Galloway South Africa--Queenstown Wales--Gwynedd France--Mailly-le-Camp North Africa England--Sussex England--Lancashire Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1943-12-02 1943-12-03 1943-12-04 1943-12-29 1943-12-30 1944-01-01 1944-01-02 1944-01-05 1944-01-06 1944-01-14 1944-01-15 1944-01-20 1944-01-21 1944-01-22 1944-01-27 1944-01-28 1944-01-30 1944-01-31 1944-02-15 1944-02-19 1944-02-20 1944-02-21 1944-02-24 1944-02-25 1944-02-26 1944-03-01 1944-03-02 1944-03-10 1944-03-11 1944-03-15 1944-03-16 1944-03-18 1944-03-19 1944-03-30 1944-03-31 1944-04-20 1944-04-21 1944-04-22 1944-04-23 1944-04-24 1944-04-25 1944-04-26 1944-04-27 1944-04-29 1944-04-30 1944-05-01 1944-05-02 1944-05-03 1944-05-04 1944-05-07 1944-05-08 1944-05-19 1944-05-20 1944-05-21 1944-05-22 Description An account of the resource South African Air Force observers or air gunners log book for Alan John Payne, navigator, covering the period from 7 November 1942 to 8 August 1946. Detailing his flying training, operations flown, instructor duties and post war squadron duties. He was stationed at RAF Torquay, RAF Eastbourne, RAF Brighton, RAF West Kirby, Queenstown, Port Alfred, RAF Dumfries, RAF Turweston, RAF Silverstone, RAF Winthorpe, RAF East Kirkby, RAF Husbands Bosworth, RAF Llandwrog, RAF Saltby, RAF Matching, RAF Great Dunmow, RAF Aqir and RAF Cairo West. Aircraft flown in were, Anson, Oxford, Botha, Wellington, Lancaster, Halifax and C-47. He flew a total of 18 night operations with 630 Squadron. His pilots on operations were Flying Officer Probert and Flight Lieutenant McDonald. Targets were Berlin, Stettin, Brunswick, Magdeburg, Stuttgart, Clermont-Ferrand, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Tours, Mailly-le-Camp, Amiens, and Kiel Bay. This was followed by glider, troop carrying duties and prisoners of war transport with 620 Squadron. The log book also contains a menu from 10 February 1943 with signatures of those on the course. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 1661 HCU 1665 HCU 17 OTU 620 Squadron 630 Squadron 85 OTU Advanced Flying Unit aircrew Anson Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) bombing bombing of Mailly-le-Camp (3/4 May 1944) bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944) Botha C-47 Halifax Heavy Conversion Unit Ju 88 Lancaster Me 109 navigator Operational Training Unit Oxford prisoner of war RAF Aqir RAF Dumfries RAF East Kirkby RAF Husbands Bosworth RAF Llandwrog RAF Saltby RAF Silverstone RAF Torquay RAF Turweston RAF Winthorpe training Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1408/25716/LStarkeyR1430566v1.1.pdf 50a4e1aef78ab119040700d7e9c90049 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 Starkey, Richard Description An account of the resource One item. Flying Officer Richard Starkey's log book. He flew operations as a pilot with 106 Squadron. The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Denise Heckingbottom and 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 2016-12-05 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. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Starkey, R Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document OCT 1943 Weather was atrocious on this our first trip, with cumulo-nimbus clouds rising to 25,000 feet. We were continually flying in and out of these clouds at 23000 feet. About halfway to the target from the Dutch coast, the pitot head iced up with a resultant loss of indicated air speed (nothing on the clock.) We continued to the target without I.A.S. and it wasn’t until I was descending over the North Sea on the return journey that the pitot head thawed out and we regained air speed on the indicator. At the debriefing when we arrived back at Syerston, Air Vice Marshal Cochrane C. in C. 5 Group congratulated me on bringing the aircraft back from what could have been a disastrous operation for us. [Page break] OVER LEIPZIG Cloud blankets German flares Express Air Reporter LANCASTERS played a game of hide-and-seek with German flare-dropping fighters and searchlights among thick clouds over Germany on Wednesday night – and won. The clouds were so thick in places on the 600-mile route to Leipzig that the searchlights could not even light them up from below and flares merely glowed feebly. But while the weather hampered the German defences it also made difficulties for the raiders which flew through snow, terrifice [sic] hail, and electrical storms. Great blue flames of lightning glowed round the planes blinding the fliers. Mosquitoes at Berlin Most of the planes got through to Leipzig, aircraft building city of 700,00 people, without sighting a single German fighter. They unloaded their bombs through gaps in the clouds. One Lancaster, however, piloted by Flight-Sergeant F. J. Stuart, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, had to fight off seven air attacks on the round trip. The bomb-release gear was damaged, but the crew delivered their cargo by hand. At least one German fighter was shot down by the Lancasters. Mosquitoes bombed Berlin the same night, causing more damage than is usual in their raids, according to Berlin reports. We lost 17 bombers. [Page break] [Underlined] MAR 30 OPERATION – NUREMBERG. [/underlined] LANCASTER ND.535 SELF CREW NUREMBERG. Attacked three times by fighters at different times. The ill-fated attack took place 20 mins. off of target. Enemy fighter unseen opened fire with cannon & machine gun fire from starboard quarter down. Bursts hit & killed Jock Jamieson in mid upper turret, I think it killed George also. Set port main plane on fire & both engines, controls were shot away & I gave the order to bale out. Wally jumped, heard Joe say “I can’t get out Dick” I was hit in right ankle by shrapnel. Aircraft must have then exploded. [inserted] with full bomb load [/inserted] I cannot remember anything until a few seconds before I hit the ground. The parachute was open above me with holes burnt through here & there. When I hit the ground my weakened right ankle was fractured & my left ankle badly sprained. I was captured & taken prisoner. 5 of crew were killed (4 by explosion) why I was not killed I do not know. Wally was taken prisoner. Jock, George, Johnny, Joe & Colin are laid at rest in Koegnigsberg Church graveyard 60 miles NW of Nuremberg 97 Bombers lost on this operation. (Highest losses of the war) - 30 Nuremburg mission not completed. Shot down by enemy fighter. Wally baled out. Aircraft exploded killing Colin, George, Johnny, Joe, Jock killed by machine gun cannon fire. I was blown clear must have been unconscious. 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 Richard Starkey’s flying log book for pilots 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 Anne-Marie Watson 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 LStarkeyR1430566v.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 Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Canada France Germany Great Britain Alberta--Calgary England--Leicestershire England--Lincolnshire England--Nottinghamshire England--Oxfordshire Saskatchewan--Swift Current Scotland--Perthshire France--Châteauroux Germany--Augsburg Germany--Berlin Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Leipzig Germany--Schweinfurt Germany--Stuttgart Poland--Szczecin Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Hannover Germany--Braunschweig Poland Saskatchewan Alberta Germany--Ruhr (Region) Germany--Essen Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942 1943 1944 1943-08-15 1943-10-18 1943-10-20 1943-11-03 1943-12-16 1943-12-20 1943-12-29 1943-12-30 1944-01-01 1944-01-02 1944-01-05 1944-01-06 1944-01-14 1944-01-15 1944-01-27 1944-01-28 1944-01-29 1944-01-30 1944-01-31 1944-02-15 1944-02-16 1944-02-19 1944-02-20 1944-02-21 1944-02-24 1944-02-25 1944-02-26 1944-03-10 1944-03-11 1944-03-12 1944-03-24 1944-03-25 1944-03-26 1944-03-27 1944-03-30 Description An account of the resource Flying log book for R Starkey covering the period from 26 January 1942 to 30 March 1944. Detailing his flying training and operations flown, includes certificates, instructional notes, newspaper clipping and a personal account of being shot down. He was stationed at RAF Desford (7 EFTS), RCAF Caron (33 EFTS), RCAF Calgary (37 SFTS), RCAF Swift Current (39 SFTS), RAF Perth (11 EFTS), RAF Weston on the Green (20 (P)AFU), RAF Grantham (1536 BAT), RAF Bitteswell/Bruntingthorpe (29 OTU), RAF Winthorpe (1661 HCU), RAF Syerston/Metheringham (106 Sqdn). Aircraft flown in were DH82, Tiger Moth, Oxford, Wellington, Manchester, Lancaster. He flew 21 night operations with 106 Squadron. Targets were Hanover, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Stettin, Brunswick, Stuttgart, Schweinfurt, Augsberg, Chateauroux, Essen. His pilot for his first 'second dickie' operation was Flying Officer Forsyth. On his last operation to Nuremburg he was shot down and became a prisoner of war. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 106 Squadron 1661 HCU 29 OTU Advanced Flying Unit aircrew Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) bombing bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944) final resting place Flying Training School Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing Lancaster Manchester Operational Training Unit Oxford pilot prisoner of war RAF Bitteswell RAF Bruntingthorpe RAF Desford RAF Grantham RAF Metheringham RAF Syerston RAF Torquay RAF Winthorpe RCAF Caron shot down Tiger Moth training Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1346/27054/LHughesCL133498v1.2.pdf 6dbdb18ffd3e62614751663a964af340 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 Hughes, Clarence Clarence Lindsay Hughes C L Hughes Description An account of the resource 34 items and two sub-collections. Collection concerns Clarence Hughes' (1334982). He flew operations as a navigator with 427 Squadron. Collection contains his flying and navigators logbooks, photographs of people and aircraft, documents, correspondence, identity disks, decorations, mementos, and items of uniform. One sub-collection is photograph album covering his time training in the United States and Canada and family back in England, The other contains precis of subjects covered on the officer's advanced training school. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Christina Jones 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 2016-06-02 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 Hughes, CL 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/. 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 LHughesCL133498v1 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 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review Review Oct 2024 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. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942-12-20 1943-01-21 1943-02-16 1943-02-17 1943-02-24 1943-03-03 1943-03-26 1943-03-27 1943-03-28 1943-03-29 1943-04-04 1943-04-05 1943-04-08 1943-04-09 1943-04-10 1943-04-11 1943-04-14 1943-04-15 1943-04-16 1943-04-17 1943-05-29 1943-05-30 1943-06-11 1943-06-12 1943-06-13 1943-06-21 1943-06-22 1943-06-24 1943-06-25 1943-07-09 1943-07-10 1943-07-13 1943-07-14 1943-07-24 1943-07-25 1943-07-26 1943-07-27 1943-07-28 1943-07-29 1943-07-30 1943-08-10 1943-08-11 1943-08-23 1943-08-24 1943-09-05 1943-09-06 1943-09-07 1943-09-22 1943-09-23 1943-10-03 1943-10-04 1943-11-03 1943-11-11 1943-11-12 1943-11-18 1943-11-19 1943-11-20 1944-01-31 1944-02-07 1945-07-18 Title A name given to the resource Clarence Hughes observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Canada France Germany Great Britain Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay Atlantic Ocean--North Sea England--Cumbria England--Durham (County) England--Gloucestershire England--Shropshire England--Yorkshire France--Cannes France--Lorient France--Saint-Nazaire Germany--Berlin Germany--Bochum Germany--Duisburg Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Essen Germany--Hamburg Germany--Hannover Germany--Kassel Germany--Kiel Germany--Krefeld Germany--Leverkusen Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein Germany--Mannheim Germany--Munich Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Stuttgart Germany--Wilhelmshaven Germany--Wuppertal Prince Edward Island--Charlottetown Scotland--Moray Germany--Ruhr (Region) Prince Edward Island Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike Connock Description An account of the resource Observer’s and air gunner’s flying log book for Clarence Hughes, Navigator, covering the period from 8 January 1942 to 18 July 1945. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at 32 Air Navigation School RCAF Charlottetown, 2 (Observer’s) Advanced Flying Unit RAF Millom, 20 Operational Training Unit RAF Lossiemouth, 427 Squadron RAF Croft and RAF Leeming, 19 Operational Training Unit RAF Kinloss, Empire Air Navigation School RAF Shawbury, and 21 Operational Training Unit RAF Moreton-in-Marsh. Aircraft flown in were Anson, Wellington, Halifax, Whitley, and Stirling. He flew a total of 29 and a half operations with 427 squadron. Targets were Lorient, Wilhelmshaven, Hamburg, Duisburg, Saint Nazaire, Kiel, Stuttgart, Mannheim, Wuppertal, Düsseldorf, Bochum, Krefeld, Elberfeld, Essen, Nurnberg, Berlin, Munich, Hannover, Kassel, Cannes, Ludwigshafen, and Leverkusen. His pilots on operations were Wing Commander Burnside and Flight lieutenant Rodwell. 1659 HCU 19 OTU 20 OTU 21 OTU 427 Squadron Advanced Flying Unit Air Observers School aircrew Anson Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943) Halifax Heavy Conversion Unit navigator Operational Training Unit RAF Croft RAF Kinloss RAF Leeming RAF Lossiemouth RAF Millom RAF Moreton in the Marsh RAF Shawbury RAF Torquay Ruhr Campaign (5 March – 10 July 1943) Stirling training Wellington Whitley 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/1293/31004/LBallantyneWM1395001v1.2.pdf f50ada92bc28a33e0a1151c94337ac93 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 Ballantyne, Bill William Morris Ballantyne W M Ballantyne Professor Ballantyne Description An account of the resource Eight items. An oral history interview with Bill Ballantyne (1922 - 2021, 1395001 Royal Air Force) who flew as a pilot with 77 Squadron. Also includes his pilot's flying logbook, service training documents and a photograph of his crew. The collection was 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 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. 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 Ballantyne, WM 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 W M Ballantyne pilot's flying log book 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 LBallantyneWM1395001v1 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 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review Review Oct 2024 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Egypt Germany Great Britain Italy South Africa Tunisia Atlantic Ocean--Flensburg Fjord Atlantic Ocean--North Sea Egypt--Bilbays Egypt--Cairo England--Norfolk England--Oxfordshire Germany--Bonn Germany--Chemnitz Germany--Düsseldorf Germany--Essen Germany--Goch Germany--Hannover Germany--Hamburg Germany--Helgoland Germany--Homberg (Kassel) Germany--Koblenz Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Osnabrück Germany--Recklinghausen (Kreis) Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia) Germany--Wuppertal Italy--Bari Italy--Catania Scotland--Moray South Africa--Polokwane South Africa--Pretoria Tunisia--Tunis Wales--Anglesey England--Yorkshire Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf) North Africa Germany--Ruhr (Region) Italy--Sicily Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate) Germany--Flensburg Germany--Böhlen Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942 1943 1944 1945 1944-12-12 1944-12-13 1944-12-24 1944-12-25 1944-12-28 1944-12-29 1945-01-02 1945-01-03 1945-02-01 1945-02-02 1945-02-04 1945-02-05 1945-02-07 1945-02-08 1945-02-13 1945-02-14 1945-02-17 1945-02-20 1945-02-21 1945-03-05 1945-03-06 1945-03-08 1945-03-09 1945-03-11 1945-03-13 1945-03-14 1945-03-15 1945-03-20 1945-03-24 1945-04-08 1945-04-09 1945-04-11 1945-04-13 1945-04-14 1945-04-18 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 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike Connock Description An account of the resource Pilots flying log book for W M Ballantyne, covering the period from 3 March 1942 to 18 July 1945. Detailing his flying training, Duties with 267 transport squadron, operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at SAAF Wonderboom, SAAF Waterkloof, SAAF Pietersburg, RAF Cairo West, RAF Bari, RAF Bilbeis, RAF Kidlington, RAF Feltwell, RAF Lossiemouth, RAF Marston Moor, RAF Full Sutton, RAF Valley and detachments to Tunis, Francesco and Catania. Aircraft flown were, Tiger Moth, Hart, Hind, Oxford, Anson, Dakota, Beaufort, Wellington and Halifax. He flew a total of 22 operations with 77 Squadron, 14 night and 8 daylight. Targets were Osnabruck, Essen, Koblenz, Hannover Mainz, Bonn, Goch, Bohlen, Chemnitz, Wesel, Reisholz, Hamburg, Wuppertal, Homberg, Recklinghausen, Sterkrade, Nuremberg, Flensberg Fiord and Heligoland. 1652 HCU 20 OTU 77 Squadron Advanced Flying Unit aircrew Anson bombing bombing of Helgoland (18 April 1945) C-47 Flying Training School Halifax Halifax Mk 2 Halifax Mk 3 Halifax Mk 5 Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing Operational Training Unit Oxford pilot RAF Feltwell RAF Full Sutton RAF Lossiemouth RAF Marston Moor RAF Torquay RAF Valley Tiger Moth training Wellington