1 25 24 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47918/PNorthWA2307.2.jpg 5bd35d2172ffb8c12513387093b2db08 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47918/PNorthWA2308.2.jpg 4179ddaef5d32d9f3602295a40f13fe8 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 North Description An account of the resource A three quarter length portrait of Alan standing by a stone wall. On the reverse 'F Sg W Alan 1583475 Bomber 98 Command Wahn Station Please return 1946 W Alan North'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1946 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PNorthWA2307, PNorthWA2308 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. 1946 98 Squadron aircrew navigator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47751/PNorthWA23010028.2.jpg 28d4ffc81ce09b01c66211c8e0d51b9e https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47751/PNorthWA23010029.2.jpg aac23b5097888407eab337a0bade0333 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 Cologne 1945 Description An account of the resource Four photographs on a card captioned 'Koln 1945'. Two are of the main bridges, road and rail, destroyed by the bombing and two views of the devastation around the cathedral. On the reverse 'Morning after! Cologne Photographed by navigator W. Alan North 1583479 139 Wing 98 Squad'. Also stamped 'Gottfried Richrach'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Germany--Cologne Germany--Ruhr (Region) Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Civilian Language A language of the resource deu eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Four photographs on a printed card Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PNorthWA23010028, PNorthWA23010029 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. 1945 98 Squadron aircrew bombing navigator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47748/PNorthWA23010025.1.jpg adfedca3a5db1ed5942f511f799f0609 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47748/PNorthWA23010026.1.jpg d77a68220d03fe8f9483c4f417907684 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 North and Johnny Description An account of the resource Two airmen standing at the nose of a Mosquito. On the reverse 'Flight Sgt W Alan North VR 1583475. Pilot Johnny with Alan & their Mosquito bomber 1942-1946 Operations Pathfinder & 98 Bomber Command 1000 B Raids inc. Demobilised Autumn 1946 at Manston Kent after giving Instruction courses about atomic explosives Louth, returned to BUSM mechanics trainee & salesman Hackney 47'. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PNorthWA23010025, PNorthWA23010026 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 98 Squadron aircrew Mosquito navigator Pathfinders pilot RAF Manston https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47745/PNorthWA23010022.1.jpg 75b0b5cedb03275ca22660fc4611a190 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47745/PNorthWA23010023.1.jpg cf678f988648867c81bc7f0fc50b4213 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 15 airmen and a Mosquito Description An account of the resource 15 airmen. Nine are sitting on top of the aircraft and six are standing under the front. On the reverse '85% W. Alan North 1583475 98 139 Wing.' Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PNorthWA23010022, PNorthWA23010023 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 98 Squadron aircrew Mosquito https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1937/37311/SJolliffeFSW197221v10074-0001.2.jpg c792d97e88a36c860b1e6995b38a3def https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1937/37311/SJolliffeFSW197221v10074-0002.2.jpg 1a2ecf683f19bef44ff3eb9f8002da36 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1937/37311/SJolliffeFSW197221v10074-0003.2.jpg a93b6ad2469c93b23d1d3d7249527de0 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1937/37311/SJolliffeFSW197221v10074-0004.2.jpg bd4063fcf0be94e2b3eb2bc21ac9de62 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 Jolliffe, Frank Sidney Walter F S W Jolliffe Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-09-18 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. 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 Jolliffe, FSW Description An account of the resource 129 items. The collection concerns Wing Commander Frank Sidney Walter Jolliffe (b. 1923, 1314311 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 149 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Margaret Lowe and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. 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 Frank Jolliffe's Annual Confidential Report for 1949 Description An account of the resource Frank was Flight Lieutenant Navigator, Bombing leader flying in the Mosquito on 98 Squadron in Germany. He was assessed as fit for promotion in his turn. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1949-02-01 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Printed form with handwritten annotations Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJolliffeFSW197221v10074-0001, SJolliffeFSW197221v10074-0002, SJolliffeFSW197221v10074-0003, SJolliffeFSW197221v10074-0004 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. 1949-02-01 98 Squadron https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1554/27673/PMcDermottC1612.2.jpg 5a9431a5bb292682326557e8c6b999c6 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1554/27673/PMcDermottC1613.2.jpg 848889315e6d5439558e5775741312a7 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 McDermott, Colin C McDermott Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-11-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context McDermott, C Description An account of the resource 87 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Colin McDermott (1119618 Royal Air Force). He served as an air gunnery instructor and flew operations as an air gunner with 98 Squadron. Contains his log book, papers and photographs and includes issues of 'Evidence in Camera'. <br /><br />The collection also contains albums of photographs from his training at <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1696">Evanton</a> in 1943, taken during his service in <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1699">Denmark&nbsp;</a>and some&nbsp;<a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1698">duplicate&nbsp;</a>photographs.<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Barbara Bury and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 98 Bomber Squadron Crest Description An account of the resource An enamelled badge of the 98 Squadron, both sides. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One enamelled badge Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical object. Decoration Physical object Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PMcDermottC1612, PMcDermottC1613 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 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 98 Squadron https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/770/9390/SDexterKI127249v10015.2.jpg fe611fe255f74dd3302f770beb56e56c 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 Dexter, Keith Inger. Album Description An account of the resource 24 items. Contains newspaper articles and information about Keith and Shelia Dexter while at school. Includes a number of photographs of Keith Dexter's mother's home in Stradishall and of a memorial to men of F Division of the Metropolitan Police lost during 1939-45. Followed by documents from Squadron Leader A N Banks concerning the collision between a Halifax and a Mosquito at RAF Foulsham in a April 1944 with photographs as well as information on Foulsham and 192 Squadron. Finally photographs of Keith Dexter's medals, an escape map and compass and a photograph of a model train built by Keith Dexter with a certificate from the Model Engineering Exhibition 1933. 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 Dexter, KI Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 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 Short history of RAF Foulsham Description An account of the resource History from opening on 22 November 1942 to civilian use up to January 1981. Originally 2 Group with 98 and 180 squadrons flying B-25. Later based 514 Squadron Lancaster of 3 Group then 192 Squadron of 100 Group flying Wellington. Mosquito and Halifax on special operations. Relates incident on 27/28 April 1944 when Halifax landed on top of Mosquito. Finally 462 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force flying Halifax target marking and radio countermeasures. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One page printed document Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SDexterKI127249v10015 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 Australian Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Norfolk Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942-11-22 1944-04-26 1944-04-27 1944-04-28 1981-01 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive 100 Group 180 Squadron 192 Squadron 2 Group 3 Group 462 Squadron 514 Squadron 98 Squadron B-25 Halifax Lancaster Mosquito RAF Foulsham Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/770/9384/SDexterKI127249v10011.1.jpg dc1dfcde1df99ab8b14cadfb4b9cc714 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 Dexter, Keith Inger. Album Description An account of the resource 24 items. Contains newspaper articles and information about Keith and Shelia Dexter while at school. Includes a number of photographs of Keith Dexter's mother's home in Stradishall and of a memorial to men of F Division of the Metropolitan Police lost during 1939-45. Followed by documents from Squadron Leader A N Banks concerning the collision between a Halifax and a Mosquito at RAF Foulsham in a April 1944 with photographs as well as information on Foulsham and 192 Squadron. Finally photographs of Keith Dexter's medals, an escape map and compass and a photograph of a model train built by Keith Dexter with a certificate from the Model Engineering Exhibition 1933. 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 Dexter, KI Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [inserted] Annex ‘A’ to MDB 25 1X [/inserted] ACTION STATIONS 1 House, Gestapo HQ in Copenhagen, on March 21 1945. After the war squadrons of 2 Group began arriving for armament training, No 180 in June 1945 and Nos 605, 140 and 613 in July. Then, on August 1 1945, No 2 Group Disbandment Centre formed from the GSU and through the unit squadrons of 2 Group passed to wind down. No 2 Group Training Flight was also in residence at this time and when it closed in December 1945 Fersfield ended its active days. Flixton, Suffolk [italics] See Bungay [/italics] Foulsham, Norfolk [italics] TG029265. E of Foulsham village, off A1067 [/italics] This was an unconventional operation. Whatever else, the Mitchell was not a low-level strike aircraft, it was too slow and clumsy. Yet when 98 and 180 Squadrons entered battle on January 11 1943, they did so with a roof height attack on Ghent/Terneuzen, from Foulsham. Flak was heavy and, as the bombers and their unusual escort of Mustangs, best at low level, retired, FW 190s raced in. Three Mitchells out of 12 were shot down. Foulsham opened in May 1942, joining 2 Group the following month. It was far from ready to receive its squadrons and not until October did 98 and 180 Squadrons bring their aircraft in from Massingham. Foulsham would always be remembered as the first Mitchell operational station, for here the squadrons worked up, plagued with gun and turret problems. Indeed, these were so bad that the squadrons had to be withdrawn from a share in the December Philips raid, although 180 Squadron managed ASR patrols on December 8, the first operational sorties by RAF Mitchells. Turret and gun troubles retarded Mitchell operations until May. Training had been hindered, too, by the poor state of the muddy airfield where accommodation was primitive. This did not prevent Horsa gliders arriving for storage, where No 12 Glider MU was situated for a year. By May 1943 both Mitchell squadrons were training to fly in box formations and on the 11th six crews of 180 Squadron set off for Boulogne, but were thwarted by bad weather. Next day 98 Squadron successfully raided the same target. On May 15 and 16 they bombed Caen airfield, 180 [inserted][symbol] over [/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 History of RAF Foulsham Foulsham, Norfolk Description An account of the resource History of RAF Foulsham which opened in May 1942 and received 98 and 180 Squadrons in October 1942 with B-25 aircraft. Describes problems getting B-25 operational and early operations as well as an early low level operation on Ghent/Terncuzen where three of 12 aircraft were shot down. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One page printed document Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SDexterKI127249v10011 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--Norfolk Belgium Belgium--Ghent France France--Caen Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942-05 1942-10 1943-01-11 1943-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource David Bloomfield Steve Baldwin Requires A related resource that is required by the described resource to support its function, delivery, or coherence. Workflow A completed 180 Squadron 98 Squadron B-25 RAF Foulsham https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1937/38189/SJolliffeFSW197221v10022-0001.1.jpg b02fb9671c790ce814c1215019a9f885 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1937/38189/SJolliffeFSW197221v10022-0002.1.jpg e936e28c444cebee2058e207a28f2f55 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1937/38189/SJolliffeFSW197221v10022-0003.1.jpg ec7c0da81cf233ce75044a26f8b06827 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 Jolliffe, Frank Sidney Walter F S W Jolliffe Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-09-18 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. 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 Jolliffe, FSW Description An account of the resource 129 items. The collection concerns Wing Commander Frank Sidney Walter Jolliffe (b. 1923, 1314311 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 149 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Margaret Lowe and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. 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 Frank Jolliffe's Annual Confidential Report for 1949 Description An account of the resource Frank was on 98 Squadron flying in the Mosquito at Wahn, Germany. A good report. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Squadron Leader Cook Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1949-01-22 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text. Service material Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Printed form with handwritten annotations Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJolliffeFSW197221v10022-0001, SJolliffeFSW197221v10022-0002, SJolliffeFSW197221v10022-0003 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. Germany Germany--Cologne Germany--Ruhr (Region) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1949-01-11 98 Squadron https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1937/38191/SJolliffeFSW197221v10021-0001.1.jpg 47ad981326886d73e716bd36ab5932fe https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1937/38191/SJolliffeFSW197221v10021-0002.1.jpg 7e328ff38040108021046c72bd9d1e4b https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1937/38191/SJolliffeFSW197221v10021-0003.1.jpg f2c6d7dd80b955b921d5f3b43fb19a50 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 Jolliffe, Frank Sidney Walter F S W Jolliffe Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-09-18 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. 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 Jolliffe, FSW Description An account of the resource 129 items. The collection concerns Wing Commander Frank Sidney Walter Jolliffe (b. 1923, 1314311 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 149 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Margaret Lowe and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. 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 Frank Jolliffe's Confidential Report from Nov 1947 to May 1948 Description An account of the resource Frank had recently arrived on 98 Squadron where as a Flying Officer he flew in the Mosquito as a Navigator /Bomb aimer at Wahn, B.A.F.O. Germany. After a good report he was granted a permanent commission. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Squadron Lader Cook Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1948-05-25 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text. Service material Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Printed form with hand and typewritten annotations Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SJolliffeFSW197221v10020-0001, SJolliffeFSW197221v10020-0002, SJolliffeFSW197221v10020-0003 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. Germany Germany--Cologne Germany--Ruhr (Region) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1948-05-25 98 Squadron https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47636/Invent-0001.2.jpg e61618bf561662ab5e9e05953c0c67c5 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47636/Invent-0002.2.jpg 597337407c59b2b2f789578c7c64fe8d https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47636/Invent-0003.2.jpg 473a9104ad2616d15f30c3efb30c20c8 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47636/Invent-0004.2.jpg 34891c5cad36c22949ff22fb0da83abb 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 North collection inventory Description An account of the resource An inventory of items forming a collection of Alan's RAF memorabilia. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Nigel North Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Leicester England--London England--Cambridge Canada Saskatchewan--Regina Alberta--Edmonton Saskatchewan--Moose Jaw Alberta--Jasper Ontario--Belleville Alberta--Calgary Alberta--Lake Louise British Columbia--Vancouver Ontario--Toronto United States Illinois--Chicago Québec Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh England--Whitley Bay England--Durham Northern Ireland--Belfast England--Huntingdon Germany Germany--Berlin Germany--Rendsburg Belgium Belgium--Brussels France Germany--Cologne Europe--Ardennes Germany--Krefeld France--Orléans Germany--Ruhr (Region) Alberta British Columbia Illinois Ontario Pennsylvania Saskatchewan Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Four printed sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Invent-0001, Invent-0002, Invent-0003, Invent-0004 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 16 OTU 98 Squadron aircrew B-25 bomb aimer Distinguished Flying Cross Distinguished Flying Medal Flying Training School Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984) Initial Training Wing Mosquito navigator Operational Training Unit Pathfinders pilot RAF Barford St John RAF Bishops Court RAF Halton RAF Harrogate RAF Oakington RAF Upper Heyford RAF Warboys sport Tiger Moth training wireless operator / air gunner https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/615/8884/ANeechPRR161013.mp3 b4f50aafc08ff7c8b4aba0c7ac356bbc https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/615/8884/PNeechPRR1601.jpg b18dcb33ac05d88b974e6778658b17de 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 Neech, Peter Rowland Ruthven P R R Neech Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Neech, PRR Description An account of the resource Two oral history interviews with Peter Neech (b.1925, 1851518 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a with 75 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-10-13 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 audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document JH: My name is Judy Hodgson and I’m interviewing Peter Neech today for the International Bomber Command Centre’s digital archive. We’re at Mr Neech’s home and it is the 13th of October 2016. Thank you, Peter for agreeing to talk to me today. Peter, can you tell me when and where you were born? PN: Yes, I was born in London, West Hampstead actually, on the 7th of January 1925. And that’s quite a long time ago [laughs]. JH: That’s right. And what about your family and your early years sort of thing? PN: Yes, well I had a mother and father there you see. My father was in the first world war and he was trained as a marine engineer and then, like all young fellows, he decided that he would far rather be a dispatch rider and got on a motor bike. He was flying about the trenches, all over that kind of thing. That was his - although he was trained as a marine engineer, he did – he’d rather would do the motorbike bit. So that’s what he did and he came through the war alright. Yes, he did alright. Now – JH: Where? PN: Going forward to my years, I suppose if I were to – I think about 1940. I was working in a jeweller’s shop in Hammersmith, and the manager’s son came in one day and he said ‘Oh’, he said, ‘I’ve done it now’ he said, ‘I’ve really gone and done it. I’ve joined the Air Training Corps’ or the Air Defence Cadet Corps as it was then. He said, ‘I’m really in it’. I heard that and thought, I’m going to join that too. So, I promptly looked around near home and I joined the Air Training Corps as it was then as well, and I served in that for two or three years until 1943. And on my birthday in 1943, 7th of January, I went along and I joined the Air Force. I was eighteen and I joined the Air Force then, and I was called up some six or seven months later, and did my training in various places, ITW, Initial Training Wings and then finally – JH: Where was that, Initial Training Wing, where was that? PN: Initial Training, believe it or not, it was at St John’s Wood. It wasn’t the Initial Training Wing there, it was, oh what was the name of the place? It was in St John’s Wood in the various flats that were there, luxurious flats that were there, and they took great precautions to see they didn’t get mucked up. At a reception centre, aircrew reception centre, that’s what it was called. And we were there for two or three weeks something like that, got uniform and things of that sort, and then we were moved then to a reception centre, where was it called? Oh, I think it was at – well we went onto various places like beginning to train, oh yes, at Bridgnorth down in Shropshire. And there we started, started, although we didn’t fly down there, we did do some training, aircrew training down there, and that was three or four weeks down there. It was rather, it was rather strange. We didn’t have sheets to sleep in, we just had blankets and I got well and truly bitten by little buggy wugs, and had to go, I went to sick quarters to get treated for this, and he made sure that I was lathered in a thick coating of sulphur ointment and uniform on top of that. Most uncomfortable. I was straight out of there, went home, I was not too far from home, went home, took, changed my uniform for my best uniform and the rest went in the laundry, and there they stayed until they got cleared of all the sulphur, sulphur ointment. I never went back near them again [laughs]. And from Bridgnorth, I then went on a very long train journey, Bridgnorth, down in Shropshire, right up to just outside of Inverness, which was a long time. And that was at, the place was called Dalcross, and it was an Initial Gunnery School, and it took us quite – it was a troop train and as such we didn’t get changed – we didn’t change trains at all. We stayed on that one train and I thought ‘Right monkey, I’ll get some sleep on here’, and I made sure I got up into the luggage rack and had a good old sleep for most of the time [laughs]. Anyway, we arrived at Dalcross railway station and there the, there was a corporal there to shepherd us up into the local station, RAF station at Dalcross. No er, all just any kind of marching, no smartness at all there, just a shambles going into that station, but that was alright. Some six weeks later we were marched down there, very much in line and very much drilled, having been taught how to drill properly, and indeed, how to deal with guns. And it was very nice, we passed out there as sergeants, and the local WAAF’s on the station were very kind they sewed, carefully sewed, our stripes and our brevets on our uniforms. That was very kind, we would have made a right old mess of it. But they did it and they did it kindly for us. And that corporal who had marched us carefully up to the station, we marched him round the parade ground. He was a corporal, we were sergeants and we chased him round the parade ground at a very good march, and then we marched him down to the railway station too when we went away. And so, we went back to our next station which was in, er not Andover, not very far from London, in fact I went to London. I was able to go home for a day or so because we were going there, and going back, I went from Bakers Street to this station where this – it was a, what was it? An ITW, no not a ITW. Was a training station anyway onto Wellington aircraft, and it wasn’t a very long railway journey and I met a very good friend on that journey, Pat Butler, and he – I’ve got a picture of him there somewhere. He was a very good – we got on great friends, we became great friends. He went onto the same squadron as me. We went onto the Initial Training Wings and various training wings and we went onto the same squadron together, and the third trip that we did was laying sea mines in Kiel Canal, and we got a bit damaged and had to retire. We got one engine shot out and this engine was the one that supplied power to the gun turrets. We turned – we dropped our mines, laid our mines, but we then moved away and went back home. JH: What aeroplanes were you flying? PN: There we were flying Stirlings. JH: Right. PN: Yes, we were flying Stirlings there and we went back, back to our station at Westcott. Westcott, that’s what it was called. Anyway, Pat Butler, I’m afraid he, a fighter plane caught them and shot them down and they were all killed. Great pity, only a third operation, um, so I was very sad to see that. Quite funny we were in the same barrack block, in the same Nissen hut, it was actually together. He was in one corner, and they had a firm called, Air Force people, called the Committee of Adjustments, yeah. And these, this Committee of Adjustments, whenever anyone was shot down or killed or anything like that, they used to come round and collect up all their kit and put it into stores. They collected up his kit and mine too! And it took me several days to get my uniforms back again because I was sleeping in the corner near enough to his bed, so they collected up his stuff and mine too [laughs]. Well, I was very cross with them for that but anyway, I got the stuff back eventually. And from there we went onto Stradishall. Yes, now come to think of it the aircraft that we had been flying in until then were Wellington aircraft, and not Stirlings, was about to say we weren’t on Stirlings until we went to Stradishall. When we went to Stradishall that was when we went onto the Stirlings, the heavy bombers, four engined, and that was the time when I’d got somewhere to go, I got a mid-upper gun turret and that was alright. On the Wellingtons of course, there was no mid-upper gun turret. JH: So what position were you on a Wellington? PN: Pardon? JH: Where did you fit into a Wellington? PN: In the middle of the fuselage. Nowhere much to go except to look out of the bits, the astra dome, things like that, just to keep myself amused. But there we are, as I say, we went onto eventually onto the squadrons and they were flying Stirlings then, and it was on Stirlings that Pat Butler got killed. It was a shame, only on his third operation. I went on to do – I did a complete tour there and somehow or another they managed to – a tour of operations was thirty operations. Somehow or another they managed to craftily get me on and I did thirty-one. I don’t know how I managed, they managed to do that but they did. And they asked me, we’d just come back from a bombing raid and while I was coming away from the aircraft, they asked me if I’d like to continue on that same squadron. And after I’d done an eight-hour bombing mission, I told them where to – what I thought of them. And I did, I got posted away [chuckles]. So, I went to another place then and then I went onto North American Mitchells, which was a twin engined bomber. There, I think that’ll keep you busy for a while, I’ll give you some more a little later on. Yes, that’s how we did it and it was on those five that we were doing on the Stirlings, the third one was when Pat Butler was shot down and he, and all his crew, were killed, and that was a shame. JH: And after those five, you went on? PN: And then, after those five, I went onto Lancasters and we did converting onto Lancasters at Feltwell and did it all in one day. Day and night the conversion onto the Lancasters. Then we came back and we carried on our tour, but I’d done about five or six on the Lancasters when we were flying along one evening when an aircraft flying fairly close to us just blew up. He just blew up without any warning at all and rocketed us all over the sky. We went up topsy-turvy all over the sky. And eventually my skipper, he was a very good skipper, managed to put it into a bit of a dive, and from that dive he could pull us out. And he pulled us out at ten thousand feet. So, we had lost ten thousand feet and he pulled us out and climbed back up to the twenty thousand, which was our normal operating height, and then we went on and did our, that particular bombing mission. Yes, I don’t know – JH: Did you ever know who, which plane it was that blew up? Did you ever know who they were? PN: No, I didn’t, no. JH: No. Or why? PN: No, well I suppose they got hit by anti-aircraft fire, and probably if it hit the bomb, bomb loads, it would blow up. JH: Yes. PN: Yeah, yes, it was er – it really sent us all over the sky. But as I say my skipper was a very good skipper and he eventually put it into a low dive, and from that dive he could pull us out. He could work it out, and we then climbed back up to our normal height again, operating height again. But after that, I went to – when we’d landed, a day or two later, I thought ‘I must have some wax in my ears I think, I’ll go and get them syringed out at the medical centre.’ I hadn’t got wax in my ears, no. I’d got cracked eardrums. And the doctor – I went just to get the wax out of them, but he said ‘Oh, you’ve got cracked eardrums’, and I spent two weeks or more in hospital, Ely Hospital, and then some time in a local health centre not very far from Ely Hospital. I can’t remember their name now but it was an old English country house sort of thing used – it had been taken over by the RAF and people we used to recover from various injuries there. And I was there for two or three weeks and then went back. But of course, my crew carried on their time, and at the end of that tour they carried on and they’d finished their tour some five odd trips before me, and I had to finish my tour with one or two other people, other skippers, and that was a bit of a nuisance. Because my crew, my original crew, then went on to rest period and I had to carry on flying. That’s, I suppose that’s how I got my, how I did the thirty-one operations instead of the thirty because of a bit of a mix up on the number. JH: And then you had leave after? PN: Then I had some leave yes. JH: What did you do? PN: I didn’t have much leave, about two or three weeks or something like that. End of tour leave. And then I went back again and eventually, oh I did instructing for a while. I went up, funnily enough, back up to Dalcross as a flying instructor, and you usually did six months as a flying instructor. I made sure that I counted the – I went there at the end of a particular month and I counted that whole month, and I, and there’s the beginning of another month just after Christmas. I counted that as a whole month so in fact I did four months rest period but it counted as six. And then I went back on flying again and I went back onto 98 Squadron, which was a North American Mitchell squadron. JH: Where was that based? PN: They were based initially in Norfolk and then we went across to France, just outside of Brussels and then up into Germany. Up to a station in Germany near Osnabruck, there, Osnabruck, near Osnabruck, and it was then, soon after, that that the war terminated. JH: So, did you fly with any of your, you know, former mates from the other crews, did you fly with them again? PN: No, I didn’t see – but on the North American Mitchells I did a further seventeen bombing missions. So that made a total around about forty, forty-eight bombing missions I did altogether, which was quite a lot. And on one of them going to a place called Bremen we were quite near a flak explosion, quite near to us, and when we got back I hadn’t, fortunately, hadn’t used my guns on that particular operation. When we got back the armourer came up to me and he said ‘Would you like to keep this souvenir?’ and it was one of the cases, one of the round cases which was fed up by a belt quite near to me and it had got a nice little hole in it. And he said ‘We’ve taken the explosives out’, he said, ‘You’re lucky it didn’t explode’ because the metal, the flak that hit it was white hot and melted. He showed me the piece of flak and it had brass on one side melted onto it, and the iron of the flak shell on the other side. And so it had melted that case, that brass case of the ammunition onto the flak, and there – so it must have been very, very hot indeed. I was lucky it came to me as near to me, and I was lucky I didn’t get a little bit closer to that, I’m glad to say. And the, as I say the armourer came to me later and said ‘Would you like this case?’ with the flak inside it. It was a big hole, I’ve got it still and he gave it to me. Unfortunately, a number of years later, my, one of my sons looked at that shell case and the little bit of flak which was inside it rattled and he thought ‘That’s all very interesting’ and the little bit of metal, the flak, he looked at that and then put it in the ashtray and it got thrown out. I didn’t know for a month or so later that it had been thrown out. And it is a real piece of the interest story of that but it’s a pity, but it was gone. I searched for it but I couldn’t find it. Well, lost that. I’ve got the case, the shell case still but I’ve lost the piece of flak that would fill it, which was a shame. JH: Of all the aircraft that you actually flew in, did you have a preference for any of the aircraft that you were in? PN: Did I? JH: Did you prefer one aircraft to another, did you like? PN: Oh well I would have preferred the Lancaster. JH: Ah. PN: Yes, the Lancaster. The Stirling was quite good, it was bigger in fact I think, bit bigger than the Lancaster and we had some quite interesting dos in them I must agree. Mainly going to Kiel and places like that, and we went down one time to - where was it? Went to the South of France on a bombing mission laying sea mines. Yes, I’d have to look in my logbook and see where we went to on those places. JH: You had some – PN: Coming back from that place, La Rochelle, La Rochelle. It was a tributary of a river there and we laid our sea mines in there and we came back, and we, by a little bit of a mistake I must agree, we came a little bit close to the point of Brest. The part of France Brest, and it was in German hands and they opened up all kinds of fire against us, so we promptly put our guns over the side and fired back at them. They shut up quick. They shut – the firing immediately stopped and we went a little bit further out to sea, and came back home that way. But they, it’s funny to see that they fired several shots at us, going out as we came past Brest, and the moment we started firing back at them they packed up at once, and went quiet, very quiet. JH: You must have had quite, quite a few near misses? PN: Um, yes. JH: Yes. PN: Oh yes. JH: Do you remember any others in particular, do you remember? PN: Now did I? Yes. One of the last ones. Well of course, I told you about that one. He was going, a friend of mine who wrote the poetry, he was going to a place called Darmstadt, and that was fairly near to where I was going at – it’s in my logbook too – down by the South, the South of France. I’ll look it up in my logbook soon and tell you what it was. And we got quite a bit of a hammering there too, um, I forget the – of course it’s seventy odd years ago you see, it is a long time to remember these things. I will look it up and I’ll tell you later on. JH: So really it must have been quite difficult? PN: Yes. JH: Having to go back up all the time? PN: Yes, it was but I didn’t particularly bother about it, it was part of the job that I was doing. But we did have fighters come after us a number of times and we used to employ an evasion method called a corkscrew, and a corkscrew, we used to fly into the direction of the fighter and lose about a thousand foot, and then we’d roll over to the other side and drop another thousand foot. And then we’d climb a thousand foot, and roll and climb another thousand foot, and by that time that fighter was long gone. So, our corkscrew did us the world of good. So, we didn’t have to bother too much with corkscrews a lot. That was our normal tactic for getting out of fighter, fighter attacks. JH: Could all planes do that, or was it only? PN: Oh yes. JH: All of them, it was standard? PN: It was a known tactic. It was a known tactic that aircraft could go into a corkscrew, yeah. JH: What is your experience really of being in the mid-upper turret, you know, what was that like to be in that particular position? PN: Yes, it was quite cold. It was – we used to go there and the outside – there was only a thin – the turret had Perspex, a Perspex cupola and that was only very thin that Perspex. And outside was a temperature of minus forty, something like that, it was quite cold. But we went – while I was doing normal, not an evasion tactic, but we did what we called dinghy drill, learning how to get into a dinghy quickly if we were shot down over the sea, and to do that we went to a local swimming pool at Newmarket, and while there, you dressed up in flying clothing, very – most likely it was flying clothing that the, a crew had used a few minutes ago, and it was soaking wet and cold. But I’d noted that the helmet was one of the old type helmets with the zip earpieces, and it was my head that used to get cold with the thin helmets, flying helmets that we normally had. So, a little case of swapping went on there, and I came away with a heavier, heavier helmet, which I promptly cleaned up and laundered and the – ‘cause it was quite dirty inside really, but I laundered it and polished the brass and I had to resew some of the straps on, the hooks on because they were in the wrong position for my oxygen mask and things like that. But I did all that and very snug and very comfortable helmet I got out of it, and you could, if you could see me on a dark night, you’d see a smile on my face that all the cold outside I was nice and warm in that helmet. I’ve still got that helmet, yes. So, I had done some thirty-one operations on the Stirlings and Lancasters. And then another sixteen or seventeen on North American Mitchells, and that made quite a total. About forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-eight operations. Quite a lot. Quite good fun, quite good fun. JH: And how did you feel about being in the war, was it? PN: Well, it was – I lived in London of course you see. I lived in London until 1943 when I joined the Air Force, and we were often very well bombed. In fact, I remember when I came home, when I first passed out as a sergeant air gunner, that I came, got a taxi because I’d got quite hefty kit bags. I thought, ‘I can’t get on buses and things with those’, so I got a taxi home, and he stopped at one place and I waited for a minute, ‘What have you stopped here for?’ He said ‘Well this is where you wanted to be isn’t it?’ And I looked out and it was. My house a bit dented, a bit well and truly dented, had bombs near it and had got quite well damaged. But my people, my father and mother, they were all right. Of course, they’d been a bit shaken up by all that but they survived it all right, and I saw that things were all right. And that’s when I went back onto flying operations again. JH: Did you hear a lot about Bomber Harris you know? PN: Oh yes, he was a – JH: Yes. PN: Yes, Butch, we called him Butch. Butch Harris, yeah. Yes, we thought he was a great man, a very good man. He was well appreciated and his trips that he put us on. JH: Would he visit your base, your squadrons at all or? PN: I never saw him no. JH: You didn’t see him? PN: I didn’t see him. We did get some people you know quite high up, high up ranks come and visit the station at times, but they never came to see us as well. They would often talk to people up in the front, like the pilot and navigators, but they never came down towards the tail end. Never talked to the mere gunners, oh no [laughs]. Probably wasn’t designed, they probably didn’t think about it, but I couldn’t care, I wouldn’t bother really about that. So, there it is. And as I say I came out in 1946, something like that, and a friend that I’d had at home for a long, long time, we had decided that when the war was all over, we would start up a small restaurant, that kind of business. And so, I came out and I worked in hotels for quite a while, for several years. A particular one was Grosvenor House in Park Lane. Yes, I worked in the kitchens there. And then I got a little bit tired. Well, you worked from early morning, you had a break in the afternoon, and then you worked at night again until about two or three in the morning, and eventually, after doing that for about three or four years, I got tired of that, I went back into the Air Force. And though I went back as a sergeant air gunner and a gunnery instructor so I was quite happy about that, and I spent several more years in the Air Force then. JH: Where were you based then in the Air Force? PN: Then, where was I? I can’t remember the places. Well, we went into – I forget the name but we did some flying there for – I was a gunnery instructor there, we did gunnery instructing. I think up in Scotland somewhere. I think we did some training, you know training gunners up there, who were being trained as gunners, and eventually I came down, eventually I came out of the Air Force and settled down. JH: What planes were you flying, when you were training then up there? PN: Ah yes, I was flying in Shackletons. Shackletons. When I started with them, they were you know, they had two forward wheels and the tail was down on the floor. But afterwards, a little later on, they became tri-planes and they had all three wheels at the front and they were flying on the three wheels you know, they landed on the three wheels, much better aircraft. Shackelton III and we did quite a bit of gunnery training on the Shackletons and they were quite nice. Yes, well that’s taken you over a whole few years. JH: It has. PN: 1950’s. JH: Yes, and did you actually keep in touch with any of the crew after the war? PN: No. JH: No? PN: No, never saw them again. JH: Didn’t see them? PN: Of course, they went back to New Zealand you see. JH: Of course. PN: Mind, later on I did meet up with my skipper’s daughter. In fact, I’ve got some pictures of her there. She was a nice girl and she came and stayed with us one time, and I’ve got a picture, several pictures of her there in my casings there. You can have a look at them some time when you’re ready. JH: What did your skipper do then after the war, she obviously told you? PN: Oh, I don’t know. JH: She didn’t say? PN: Don’t know what he did. JH: No? PN: But not very long afterwards, unfortunately his wife died. JH: Right. PN: And later, little later on he died as well. In fact, I’m the only one of the crew now alive. JH: Right. PN: All – they were as I say, when I joined them, they were all in their thirties, so they were about fifteen years older than me so therefore of course, they didn’t last so long. Now I’ve got a picture here, a book here – my logbook, my flying logbook, and there’s even – when we were flying in Germany, we did a flypast for the Russian leader, a General Zhukov, and there’s a picture of General Zhukov. JH: September 1945. PN: Yes. JH: So that was at the surrender? PN: Yes, yes, we did a flypast for him. That was in the North American Mitchells, I think. JH: I’d like to thank you Peter for allowing me to record this interview today, so thank you very much. PN: That’s OK, my pleasure. JH: Thank you. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with Peter Rowland Ruthven Neech Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Judy Hodgson 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 2016-10-13 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ANeechPRR161013 PNeechPRR1601 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending revision of OH transcription 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 00:44:34 audio recording Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Shropshire England--Suffolk Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943 Description An account of the resource Peter was born in London and recalls his home suffering bomb damage during the war. He served in the Air Training Corps until joining the Royal Air Force in 1943. After reporting to the Aircrew Reception Centre at St John’s Wood, he spent a few weeks at RAF Bridgnorth. Peter then went to the Air Gunnery School at RAF Dalcross. This was followed by RAF Westcott, a training station on Wellington aircraft. Peter flew in Stirling aircraft at RAF Stradishall where he had a mid-upper gun turret unlike in the Wellingtons. He worked as an instructor for four months at RAF Dalcross before joining 98 Squadron on North American Mitchells. He was, initially, based in Norfolk but then went to somewhere near Brussels and Osnabrück. Peter carried out a tour of 31 operations on Stirlings and Lancasters, followed by 17 operations on North American Mitchells. He recounts a few incidents from his tours, describes the corkscrew evasion method and how he coped with the cold in the mid-upper turret. They held a positive view of Arthur Harris. Although he left the RAF in 1946, Peter returned as a sergeant air gunner and gunnery instructor. He flew in Shackletons. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Sally Coulter Maureen Clarke Vivienne Tincombe 75 Squadron 98 Squadron air gunner Air Gunnery School aircrew anti-aircraft fire B-25 bombing Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984) Lancaster military service conditions RAF Bridgnorth RAF Dalcross RAF Stradishall RAF Westcott Shackleton Stirling training Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47575/EGregsonVNorthJFM940318-0003.1.jpg f505e4a9c06b759e53aefb3ef967594a https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47575/EGregsonVNorthJFM940318-0004.1.jpg 36c099fc7e2025d21c67f0215eab30c8 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47575/EGregsonVNorthJFM940318-0005.1.jpg 6ad20ffeb213f3e2287b2f229bdf80e6 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 North's service record Description An account of the resource RAF Form 542A with details of Alan's service. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Three printed sheets with handwritten annotations Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EGregsonVNorthJFM940318-0003, EGregsonVNorthJFM940318-0004, EGregsonVNorthJFM940318-0005 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain 16 OTU 571 Squadron 9 Squadron 98 Squadron Advanced Flying Unit navigator Operational Training Unit pilot RAF Manby training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1554/31054/LMcDermottC1119618v1.1.pdf 660afa7ba9d0f105eeea5889be0a8274 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 McDermott, Colin C McDermott Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-11-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context McDermott, C Description An account of the resource 87 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Colin McDermott (1119618 Royal Air Force). He served as an air gunnery instructor and flew operations as an air gunner with 98 Squadron. Contains his log book, papers and photographs and includes issues of 'Evidence in Camera'. <br /><br />The collection also contains albums of photographs from his training at <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1696">Evanton</a> in 1943, taken during his service in <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1699">Denmark&nbsp;</a>and some&nbsp;<a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1698">duplicate&nbsp;</a>photographs.<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Barbara Bury and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource C McDermott’s flying log book for observer’s and air gunner’s Description An account of the resource Air Gunner’s flying log book for C McDermott covering the period from 7 July 1941 to 28 July 1945. Detailing his flying training and operations flown, includes course results, gunners briefing note and target details. He was stationed at RAF Evanton (8 AGS), RAF Sutton Bridge (CGS), RAF Leeming (419 Squadron RCAF), RAF Mildenhall (75 Squadron), RAF Finmere (13 OTU), B-58/Melbroek and B-110/Achmer (98 Squadron). Aircraft flown in were Botha, Harrow, Wellington, Whitley, Hampden, Anson, Oxford, Beaufighter, Mitchell, Dakota. He flew 1 night operation with 75 Squadron and 24 daylight operations with 98 Squadron. Targets were Kassel, Manderfeld, Wildenrath, Wassenberg, Wegberg, Grevenbroich, Zwolle, Geldern, Xanten, Kevelaer, Weeze, Wesel, Zutphen, Bremen, Dunkirk, Oldenburg, Hamburg, Itzehoe. His pilots on operations were Sergeant Jackson, [?] Marshall, Flight Lieutenant Jelly and Flying Officer Lawrie. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike French Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LMcDermottC1119618v1 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. Belgium Germany Great Britain England--Buckinghamshire England--Cambridgeshire England--Lincolnshire England--Yorkshire France--Dunkerque Germany--Bramsche (Osnabruck) Germany--Bremen Germany--Geldern Germany--Grevenbroich Germany--Hamburg Germany--Itzehoe Germany--Kassel Germany--Kevelaer Germany--Oldenburg Germany--Wassenberg Germany--Weeze Germany--Wegberg Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia) Germany--Xanten Netherlands--Zutphen Scotland--Highlands France Netherlands Germany--Ruhr (Region) Netherlands--Zwolle Belgium--Manderfeld Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1942-08-28 1942-08-29 1945-01-03 1945-01-13 1945-01-21 1945-01-22 1945-01-23 1945-01-29 1945-02-03 1945-02-08 1945-02-09 1945-02-10 1945-02-11 1945-02-13 1945-02-16 1945-03-04 1945-03-30 1945-04-11 1945-04-18 1945-04-19 1945-04-21 1945-04-24 1945-04-25 1945-04-26 1945-05-02 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 13 OTU 419 Squadron 75 Squadron 98 Squadron air gunner Air Gunnery School aircrew Anson B-25 Beaufighter bombing Botha C-47 Hampden Harrow Operational Training Unit Oxford RAF Evanton RAF Leeming RAF Manby RAF Mildenhall RAF Sutton Bridge training Wellington Whitley https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/615/11423/PNeechPRR1601.1.jpg b18dcb33ac05d88b974e6778658b17de https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/615/11423/ANeechPRR180705.2.mp3 71c61783aa88de07a69697151f381f10 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 Neech, Peter Rowland Ruthven P R R Neech Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Neech, PRR Description An account of the resource Two oral history interviews with Peter Neech (b.1925, 1851518 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a with 75 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-10-13 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 audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document GT: This is Thursday the 5th of July 2018 and I’m at the home of Mr Peter Neech born 7 January 1925 in West Hampstead, London, England. Peter joined the RAF on the 7 January 1943 at the age of eighteen, beginning his training to be an air gunner in the July of 1943. Once training completed and fully crewed, Peter completed a tour of Ops on 75 New Zealand Squadron with Stirlings and Lancasters in 1944. Then, after a break, joined 98 Squadron B25 Mitchells until VE Day. Peter continued his RAF career post war as an air gunner on Lincolns, Lancasters and with Coastal Command in Shackletons until retiring in 1956. Peter, thank you for allowing me to interview you for the IBCC Archives. Please tell me why and how you joined the Royal Air Force. PN: Go ahead now. Yes, I joined because I was working in Hammersmith, London in a jewellers’ shop where my brother had originally worked until he joined the Air Force and so I worked there and the son of the manager came along one time and said ‘Oh I’ve really done it now. I’ve joined the, the I joined up, virtually, but it was in the Air Training Corps Cadets and I’ve joined the Cadets.’ And I said ‘Well that’s a good thing. I’ll join up’, and I joined the Hendon Squadron of the Air Training Corps and em I served with them from 1941 something like that until about 1943 when I joined the Royal Air Force on my eighteenth birthday and I started in as an air gunner on training and went through the training and eh at Westcott I selected, I saw eh ‘Hoot’ Gibson and his crew and I thought ‘They look a very steady crew to me.’ And eh he was third in line for picking out air gunners because they, they hadn’t that’s what they’d come to this country for, so I, he looked my way in between the third position and got in his crew. And from there on I was in ‘Hoot’ Gibson’s crew as a mid-upper gunner. GT: Outstanding. So, so em, Peter, when you initially then joined as an air gunner at what bases and places did you train before you joined crew? PN: Before I joined crew? I don’t think em GT: You were in Scotland? PN: Yes. Oh yes, I joined up in Scotland at Dalcross. RAF Dalcross and eh that was about three months and then it was there I passed out as a, as an air gunner. And I was very pleased with the little WAAFs there who very kindly sewed our tapes and brevvies on our uniforms. I wouldn’t have been able to do that but they could and they did. And so they sewed our uniforms up with ah the brevvies and the sergeant’s stripes and we were then sergeants. I came down to London then and eh on leave and eh got a, as I’d got a lot of kit, flying kit, I took a taxi home and eh the taxi stopped suddenly and I thought ‘What are you stopped here for?’ and he said ‘Well that’s where you wanted to be.’ And I looked around and true enough it’s my house had been eh quite badly damaged in a local bombing episode when night bombers had come over from Germany and bombed, laid a lot of bombs, and they had blown up a house only two doors, only two houses away from me, damaging my home quite severely. And eh but it got repaired and I went back then to eh a Wellington OTU at Westcott. GT: So that was late 43 when you eh when you went home to find your house bombed. Was that German bombers or? PN: German bombers. GT: Not the German missiles? Not the V1s or the V2s? PN: No, no, no. They came much later. GT: Much later, okay. So, so then you arrived at 11 OT, OTU at Westcott in December 43. PN: Yes. GT: And, and what aircraft did you join up with there? Or did you go straight to the crew? PN: No. Went in to Wellington bombers there. And eh I had picked out a crew at that time, ‘Hoot’ Gibson, and eh his crew, I became their mid-upper gunner. And we went from there to Stradishall because that was where they had fighting bombers and Stirling bombers, short Stirlings. And eh I had a mid-upper gunner there, and then we went on from there. And we had, there to [unclear] on to Lancasters and once again there was a mid-upper gunner turret, and then from there we went on to 75 NZ Squadron. GT: So in Stradishall, and I’m looking at your notebook here and, and pretty much you only spent one month there on 1657 Conversion Unit. PN: Yeah. GT: Yeah. And that was, that was, now ‘Hoot’s’ crew, PN: Yeah. GT: Can you name, name the crew members and where they were from, please? PN: I, I can, but eh I’ll, no, I’ll have to look it up. GT: No problem. PN: Because I have got them all, but em GT: We, we’ll come back to that. PN: Their all, apart from one Englishman, who came from Brentford in Essex, the engineer, flight engineer, and myself, we were the only two Englishmen. The rest were all New Zealanders, rear gunner, navigator, em pilot and em bomb aimer. They were all New Zealanders and em from various parts of New Zealand. But eh I can’t remember exactly without looking up, where they came from. I have got the information but eh I can’t remember it now. GT: Understood. PN: Who could, who could remember New Zealand words anyway, Maori words [emphasis] at that. [chuckles]. So there you go. GT: [laughs] All right. So you, em you, you arrived in early April on 75 New Zealand Squadron at Mapel? PN: Yes. That’s right. GT: And eh, you eh you did the first month there all on Stirlings? PN: Yes. GT: And then you went to LFS at Feltwell in the April. PN: And changed into Lancasters. GT: Late April into Lancasters. What, what was the difference between the Stirling and the Lancasters to you? PN: Size.[chuckles] I used to stand beside the wheel of a Stirling and I came just to the top of the wheel. The Lancaster was much smaller. It’s a fighting bomber but it’s much smaller somehow. Em in size. [coughs]. Quite a, quite a good size and eh quite a good, neat little bomber. GT: And you were able to fly higher? PN: Yeah. And it’s a fighting bomber just the same as the Stirling, but much smaller than the Stirling. Wasn’t the same size. GT: What was your view like. Em was it, was it better on the Lancaster? PN: Oh yes. It was a, it was a mid-upper gunner turret. Just the same. And em we, we flew on that, on that for twenty six operations. Somehow the tour on one of the things was thirty operations. Somehow or other I managed to do thirty one. [laughs] How I, how I managed to do that I do not know, cos I did. And then I went on to [unclear] GT: Right. Well, let’s stay with Mapel for the moment. So with, with your gunnery actions and your thirty one operations, did you get any squirts away at the enemy? PN: Em, occasionally we had eh little eh squirts at them. But on the last, especially the last day, one German aircraft came fairly [emphasis] close to us on the starboard side and eh I kept my eye very closely on him. Eh but he was just flying alongside me, it was towards the end of the war, and all of a sudden he dropped a wing towards us and I didn’t like that at all. Then we, all of us, the rear gunner and myself we fired at him and we shot him down. And that German plane went down and a few seconds later there was a little explosion on the ground and that was him gone. GT: So you can claim one kill? PN: One kill at least. Certainly. GT: The aircraft type was a ? PN: JU88. A JU88. He probably wasn’t doing any harm but he did, he did drop a wing towards us and I didn’t like that and eh so that’s when we attacked him. I shot him down. GT: So, did you say to the skipper, ‘I’m Shooting.’ Or did he, did you have to get permission? Or did you just do it? PN: We didn’t need any permission, only as we’ve opened and fired our guns away. He was close enough I suppose two or three hundred yards. Something like that. Not all that close but eh close enough for us. But he dropped a wing in our direction, I was, I was going and I was firing. GT: The um, you, you have a little note in your logbook saying that you thought you might have been fired upon from, from below. Was that, was that a rocket? PN: Oh yes, we did see rockets coming up but em we didn’t take much notice of them. We didn’t even know what they were [emphasis] at that time. So eh, we didn’t take much, we thought they were just anti-aircraft fire as far as I know. But they did come up and they went whistling past us and that was eh they didn’t hit us and that was eh quite happy that they were gone. GT: So later on you thought they were rockets? Wow. PN: Later on I did think they were rockets and we learnt about rockets and we suddenly thought probably they were rockets and they had come passed us. GT: Now, there, there, later on 75 Squadron there were some under-gunners. Did you hear anything about under-gunners? PN: Never heard. Never heard or saw any under-turrets. No, didn’t see any of those at all. GT: Did you have any problems with em German aircraft coming up underneath you at night? PN: Well, we watched, we didn’t eh, we got the skipper to bank over well to one side and we searched underneath very diligently either side, and a little later on we, the other side, we turned the other side there, and searched under that side. We searched underneath very diligently, very carefully and em made quite sure there was no one coming up underneath us to attack us from underneath. GT: You had been warned about that type of German attack, had you? PN: Yes, we knew about that kind of German attack. Yes. And eh we were well aware that they could attack from underneath and we took steps to make sure they didn’t attack us [emphasis] from underneath. GT: So em, how many night operations did you complete? PN: Em, thirty one, I think on 75. GT: No, the night time ones though. You did night and day, and day operations. PN: Oh well, I’d have to consult my log book on that. GT: And so, for the, for the raids at night though you did not see the other Lancasters next to you? PN: Em. GT: Could you see them very well? PN: Occasionally you’d see them come up close and they would, yes, I did see one come up and I thought he looked a little bit like a fighter and em so we kept a very close watch on him but eh he turned out to be a Lanc. In fact the wireless operator, he has a little radar screen of his own there. He was shouting and saying that there was a fighter coming up on the port side, and I told him to calm down because I had been watching that aircraft for a good ten minutes and I knew [emphasis] that it was another Lancaster and he couldn’t see that he could see just a dot on his screen. But I had been watching it well and knew that it was another Lancaster. GT: You, you wouldn’t want to be shooting down one of your PN: And I wouldn’t want to shoot at that. [emphasis] GT: Did you hear of that ever happening? That other Lancasters shot other Lancasters? PN: No, no, I didn’t hear any of those. But em there was a time when eh we got eh bombed on the airfield and a lot of air, oh well one aircraft came back with a [unclear] bombs on and he made a very bumpy landing, a very damaging bumpy landing and eh he had [unclear] bombs on board and they kept those bombs on because the aircraft was going to do the same old place again the next day. But about four o’clock in the morning that aircraft [unclear] bombs blew up and blew the aircraft to pieces and quite a number of other aircraft of A Flight as well. And eh they did a lot of damage, but the following morning the replaced an aircraft in the afternoon and we had an aircraft come in to complete the Squadron again. GT: It was that quick they replaced them? PN: They replaced. And funnily enough they came in and em landed at the eh the site for A Flight and out of the aircraft a young women got, a young women came out and she climbed out and she had flown this Lancaster on her own, [emphasis] without any other crew and brought it in from transport. She was an air transport, air transport auxiliary and she’d flown that Lancaster on her own and landed it and delivered it to eh to us. Which was an amazing [chuckles] thing when you think of it. GT: Huge surprise huh? PN: Well we looked around for the rest of the crew and she said that ‘I am the crew’ she said, ‘I am the crew.’ And that was it. She was the crew. GT: And eh PN: And there was no one else, no one else in the aircraft at all. They, they went in and they looked around to find the rest of the crew and eh they came back and they said, ‘Well there’s no one there.’ She said ‘Well, there won’t be. I am [emphasis] the crew.’ And she went back to Air Traffic Control and eh brought the aircraft in and that was it. She just landed it on her own. GT: So those aircraft that blew up? PN: Yes, there was quite a lot of them eh on A Flight and B Flight. They, they all suffered damage from this aircraft that blew up at four o’clock in the, well they had [unclear] bombs on. Four thousand pounders and they all blew up and they damaged a lot of the aircraft. GT: And you, you were in bed at the time? Did you hear it, feel it? PN: I did and I shot out of bed. We thought that we were being bombed and eh that we were being under attack. But eh GT: Pretty much an own goal? PN: Yes. But it wasn’t eh [mumbles] it wasn’t that at all. GT: But no one was hurt. That was the [unclear] PN: No. No. GT: But you managed to find some bits and pieces. PN: Yeah. I did and I’ve collected an axe, an escape axe that there was lying there. It was lying on the ground. So I captured that and eh I’ve got it to this day. GT: You still have it and you’ve just showed it to me. So that’s, that’s very good. That was, that was normally where on the Lancaster? Where did that axe normally sit? What position? PN: Well, there were two, there were two. There was one bolted on to the side, of the starboard side of the aircraft and there’s one on the rear end eh on the stick before they get into the rear turret, there’s another axe. So there are two axes on each aircraft. I’ve got one of them. GT: And, and they’re identical. You don’t know which position this one came from? PN: No. No, no. You don’t know. They’re both identical. But I got one of them. And I’ve got it to this day. GT: So, in the mid-upper turret position em when you were seated in it you could spin yourself completely and just keep going round and round? PN: You could, you could [mumbles] cos I did like that. GT: And, and were the guns positioned so that you couldn’t shoot your own tail? PN: Ah, yes. I did have a, an interrupter gear. The, the raise that the guns, when they came towards the fins as well, they would raise up automatically and down the other side so that they couldn’t fire at their own tail or rear of, rear of the fuselage or any part of the fuselage. When you turned them round to the front they would raise up above the fuselage and down the other side. They couldn’t eh, it’s an automatic interrupter gear. GT: How many rounds did you have per gun available to you? PN: Em, around about three thousand, I think. GT: Each gun? PN: Yes. Each gun. And the rear gunner, he had ten thousand, because he had a track going down the fuselage with rounds in them. So he had lots more ammunition than we had, but we had about three thousand per gun. GT: So the tail gunner had four, three lot threes and you had two. PN: Yes. GT: Okay, and so where was your ammunition stored? In boxes underneath your guns? PN: In a box at the side. Eh, ammunition boxes at either side that fed up to each gun. Yes. Em and the rear gunner he had a track leading down the fuselage and into his turret. GT: So the guns were right next to your shoulders or your head? PN: Em, well, I forget now but they were reasonably close to, yes they came up round one side and into the guns themselves. GT: So you could feel them when they went off, yeah? PN: Yes. Yes. Yes, they were quite close. But not too close. GT: And you, you were sitting in the seat or were you suspended? PN: It was a seat that swung up like em like a [mumbles] swing, that eh you swung it down whilst you were sitting in it. But to get out you would have to swing it up and then get down again to the floor of the aircraft. GT: Was it comfortable? You might have had to have sit in that way for eight hours or so. PN: Yes. Sometimes we did indeed sit there for quite a long period. It didn’t, it didn’t worry us. That’s eh that’s [unclear] rear ends. [chuckles] GT: And, and there was no size restriction, any, any height of a person? PN: No. No height, em sometimes it got a bit cold in the turret. I did at one time get em the perspex shot away and eh I was out in the cold so I slipped down into the turret with just my eyeballs just above the eh turret then where the perspex should have been and I just kept an eye on any, any other aircraft that might be following us. GT: And that was in the Lancaster? PN: Yes. GT: And, and was this anti-aircraft shrapnel or bullets from another aircraft? PN: Who knows? I don’t know. Just the perpex just vanished. It might have been shrapnel. It could’ve been shrapnel and it just vanished. GT: And, and did you em suffer from frostbite on your face? PN: No, fortunately not. I had a oxygen mask on of course and eh goggles, so eh we, we did get a bit of frostbite where it showed but nothing much. GT: On the forehead? PN: Yes. Nothing much. No, the goggles were there and the oxygen mask was there and that protected us a lot. GT: Now eh if you saw a fighter coming in was it your job to tell the pilot to corkscrew? PN: Yes. If I was, if I saw one, I did occasionally see one eh I was wait, wait till they got to six hundred yards and then having warned the skipper that we wanted to corkscrew to port or starboard as the case may be, eh I would give a running commentary and eventually ‘Corkscrew. Go.’ And he would then drop a thousand foot and roll and drop another thousand foot and roll and climb a thousand foot and roll and up into his normal position again and that was a corkscrew. And by then the fighter had gone. Don’t know where he’d gone, but he’d gone and eh glad that he’d gone. That’s it. GT: And Hoot was really good at a corkscrew, was he? PN: He was excellent. He was really excellent at corkscrewing. He used to await my orders and as I said ‘Go,’ he would go [unclear]. GT: You had em, a couple of different pilots. You had Timmons and Williamson as pilots near the end of your tour. PN: Yes, because on D, the D Day I had been off sick ah with those ears. Infected eardrums. GT: Ah, now you thought you had ear wax. [emphasis] PN: I thought I had earwax. But in fact, the doctor, when he looked he [unclear] he said, ‘No, you’ve got collapsed eardrums.’ And I was in hospital for a while having that repaired and that’s why Hoot gives a carry on to this tour and finished early to me. And I had to then go with another crew to finish my tour ah with other, with other pilots, Williamson, Squadron Leader Williamson was one of them and Timmons eh he was the other one. GT: And they were short of a gunner so you stepped in? PN: They, they that’s it, I stepped in then. Yeah. I finished my tour that way. GT: And of your thirty one trips was there any operation that was, that stood out for you besides shooting down an enemy aircraft? Was anything dang – PN: Not that I can think of. GT: Dangerous? Ack ack? Em. PN: It was always dangerous. It was always dangerous. There was flak coming eh and large amounts of flak bursting all around eh but it didn’t hit us and while it didn’t hit us we were happy. And that was it. But there was lots of flak going on, on the ground and flak coming up through the surrounding air, airspace, lots of fires below, where our bombs were going and when the bomb aimer released the bombs it sounded as if someone was slapping the side of a car. If, if you put your arms out of the car and slapped the side door, that’s what it sounded like when the bombs were released. And they left the aircraft, they banged as they left the aircraft. And the bomb aimer said, ‘Bombs gone,’ and the, about twelve thousand pounds worth of bombs a lot of bombs. So the aircraft eh raised a bit, raised up a bit, being the, having lost that much weight, and so eh that’s how it went on. But I suppose we came to expect that. GT: Now if we go back to your, your first month on 75 and, and at that time the Stirlings were, well certainly well overdue to be replaced on a, for a front line squadron, I believe 75 NZ was one of the last front line squadrons to be replaced with the Lancaster since they’d already been flying for nearly two years. That was a bit criminal of Bomber Command to let you guys carry on flying the Stirling on that op. But you, you did quite a few gardening trips. PN: Yes. GT: What was the gardening trips like compared to later on when you were doing high level bombing? PN: Ah well, they were much lower and much [mutters] mainly in the places like [unclear] and down in the south of France we laid mines in the eh estuaries, where U-boats were likely to come and be harboured. That was mainly our job on those. Dropping these mines for our action against U-boats. GT: And what eh, what did the German defences have against you? PN: Oh, they were quite lively. They were quite lively. There were plenty of flak positions, but then I looked at them and I shot down their beams, straight down the em searchlight beams particularly and it’s quite interesting to see, all of a sudden, the searchlights would suddenly switch off very fast and all way down the flight path, that was because they were getting a good sprinkling of eh my guns. [chuckles]. GT: And you, you could give them a good squirt from your mid-upper position? PN: Yes. Oh yes, we, yes, we banked, banked a bit over and gave a good squirt of the guns, the guns at the searchlight positions and the searchlights switched off very quickly and the anti-aircraft fire started up quickly. Yes. GT: So did they have land and sea flak positions, ships, flak ships as well, did they? PN: I didn’t see any flak ships but eh I imagine there were flak ships about. Yes. I didn’t see any though. GT: And you said you lost a very valuable friend on one of those gardening trips? PN: Yes. He was on the third operation to, his third operation to Kiel, laying sea mines like we were. We were on the same operation but em it was our fourth operation and his third operation and he was, they were laying sea mines and a fighter came up from a nearby fighter station and unfortunately shot them down and they were all killed. That was em Megson and his crew, yes, Megson, I think is. GT: Was your bomb loads all the same on the trips you did? They stuck with cookies and GP bombs? PN: Yes, about twelve thousand pounds, about twelve thousand pounds altogether. The cookies and em bombs. GT: What was the furtherest [sic] trip that you remember doing? Was it, was it over to Stettin or Berlin? PN: Stettin was a long way off. Yes, Stettin, Stettin was about fifty miles north, north east of Berlin. Quite a long way away and took about eight hours altogether. GT: And that was your third to last op, so you were, you were stretching it right at the end of your tour. Weren’t you? PN: Yes, that’s quite so. GT: And, what was, what was the morale like on 75 Squadron for you guys? PN: It was good and in fact I came back from that particular operation and eh expected to see eh my particular pal, Pat Butler, he was eh living in a, a bed next to, virtually next to me in our hut and people called the Committee of Adjustments came round and collected up all his uniform and they collected up quite a few of my bits too. [emphasis] I, and they were the Committee of Adjustments and they collected up uniform and things like that to, to put them away. And it took me quite some time to get back to them and get my own bits of uniform back [emphasis]. Because they collected them up as well. GT: So that was a, that was a good idea to make sure before you went on an op all your stuff was packed away nice and neatly, yeah? PN: Yes, yeah. And eh the Committee of Adjustments came along when someone was shot down and they eh collected all of their possessions. Any eh, if they were talking about a man, they didn’t want any letters from his girlfriend eh, falling into the wrong hands as it were. So the Committee of Adjustments had the job of collecting up any letters like that. Making sure they didn’t fall into the hands of wives and eh others arrangements. GT: Very wise that. PN: Yes. GT: Very wise. During July of 44, 75 Squadron suffered seven aircraft loss in one night. PN: Yes. GT: Do you remember that? PN: Yes. Yes, that was a trip to Hamburg, a trip to Hamburg, and it eh took us quite some time and it was em GT: Were you on that raid? PN: Yes, I was on that raid. GT: Particularly, specifically? PN: Yes, on the GT: 20th of July. PN: Yes, yes, on the Hamburg raid and it was quite a, quite a lively bombing mission but we fortunately got back, we got damaged, we got damaged as we did very often on, on them. And em but we, we got back okay. And we came to land alright. But that was quite a hairy operation, to Hamburg. GT: And to lose seven in one night must have been pretty devastating to the rest of the Squadron, yeah? PN: Well, it was em it wasn’t out of the ordinary, we didn’t think too much about it. We, we kept a, we kept a, we expected losses, just as we expected everything else and eh what came, came along. That’s it. That’s part of squadron life. So that’s what you had to do. You might get eh, you might get more [emphasis] than seven going sometimes. Who knows? It was the luck of the draw. GT: Who was your skipper, eh sorry, your commanding officer, on 75 at that time you were there? PN: Maxie. Wing Commander Max. GT: And what was he like? PN: He was a good bloke, yes a good bloke and em we all liked him. And he used to come round to all the aircraft and have a little chat with them, mainly with the pilots and those others. Before they, before they taxied and went off. He used to drive round and have a little chat with them. Wish them good luck I suppose. But he didn’t [unclear] [chuckles] gunners as well. But he didn’t have time for the gunners. We were there that was all right. GT: Wing Commander Max’s medal group was donated by his wife to the 75 New Zealand Squadron Association. PN: Was it really? GT: And they’re currently on display at the Wigram Airforce Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand, but they are, the property of 75 Squadron Association of New Zealand, so, so just to let you know that em, your, your ex-Commanding Officer’s medals are on display. PN: On display. Good old Maxie. He was a good bloke, a good bloke was Max. Now I got em I got another set of medals, a second set for one of my sons who is now unfortunately deceased. So there’s a set of my medals, identical to my medals which are going spare, which eh, I would be quite happy to donate to eh. GT: You eh, you and I can have a chat off microphone. PN: Yeah. Yes. GT: Thank you, Peter. Okay, so your, your time on 75 though, you must have gone to some pubs? PN: What did you say? GT: Some pubs. PN: Well, GT: Go and have a beer or two somewhere? PN: Very occasionally, I wasn’t a, I wasn’t really a drinking man at all. I didn’t, I didn’t like the stuff really, if the truth were known. I would go to a restaurant to have a nice meal occasionally. But I wasn’t really a beer man, I didn’t like beer. Nasty stuff. [laughter] GT: Cos there was, there was three main pubs, the Chequers and the Three Pickerels in your area. PN: Yes, we went to them occasionally but very occasionally, but I wasn’t, I would eh go on the, be there for a, perhaps a few minutes and then nip off back home to bed. GT: So eh, so did you go to any of the churches or cathedrals around Mepal? PN: No, I don’t think I did. GT: There was quite a few of them around there. PN: Yes, there was Ely, of course, Ely Cathedral. GT: And there’s Sutton, one at Sutton as well. PN: Sutton there, yes. GT: Now, the one at Sutton has eh, the complete casualty em, list of all airmen killed on 75 Squadron. PN: Have they really? GT: And they turn the page every day and I do think a copy was made and that is in the Chapel of St. Marks, on my old base, base at [unclear] and the chaplain on that base turns the page every day as well. PN: Oh, yes, good. GT: And so, so all your colleagues that were lost in the five years of 75 New Zealand Squadron RAF are remembered every day. PN: So, Pat Butler’s name would be among them. He was a mid-upper gunner, the same as myself, and he was lost on his third operation to Kiel. Laying sea mines in Kiel canal. GT: His name will certainly be remembered in this, this book, for sure. PN: Yes, he was a great bloke. GT: So next to you was at Mepal, after 75, there was 115 Squadron. PN: Yes. that’s right. Witchford, on the road to Ely. Yes, they were there. I didn’t know much about them. Passed them on the road there. Often they were going, they were taking off at the same, much the same time as we were. On operations. But I didn’t know much about them. GT: They, they were very unfortunate, at least on one night, had one aircraft shot down by a Messerschmitt 14, eh as it was coming in to land. Did 75 Squadron have any trouble with night fighters stooging around whilst you were coming in? PN: We did hear, we did hear, have them occasionally and we had to keep a very close watch out and I can’t recall any being shot down. But eh I believe it did happen on more than one occasion. GT: As the gunner, was it your responsibility to clean and fit the guns, or was that the armourers? PN: No, I did mine, I did my guns. I did. The armourers could, would do them, but I, I used to do mine, look after my own guns and cleaned my own perspex, to make sure that my perspex was cleaned, in the top turrets. GT: How did you clean your outside perspex? Did you have a door through the canopy or did you have to get out on the fuselage? PN: I used to get out. There wasn’t, I think, [mumbles] there wasn’t a place where you could get out on to the front of the fuselage and there was em perspex polish that I could use, and I did, to make sure that my perspex was cleared and clean on the inside as well. If there was a scratch, the searchlight would hit us, a scratch and would split [unclear] effect. It was no good, so I made sure my perpex was clear. GT: Like a prism mm. PN: Mmm. GT: With your training that you did as an air gunner eh, did that, eh when you look back at sitting in a Lancaster turret and doing operations, did that training, was that good enough, did that do the job to prepare you? PN: Oh yes. Oh yes. Em and I used to keep very close watch on all those around me. I used to spin the turret around and make sure I saw, and I used to ask the skipper occasionally as we heard, to dip his wings down one way, or dip down the other way, so that I could search underneath the aircraft in case there was anything creeping up underneath. But eh that’s how you got on. GT: And you had good coordination with the tail gunner? Did you talk a lot between you? PN: We didn’t talk a lot but eh if occasionally em it was necessary to confer we used to. But we didn’t talk a lot really. GT: And if you PN: We were very good friends on the ground. GT: Good yeah. PN: Yes, we were very good friends on the ground [unclear] and myself were great pals on the ground. GT: What was the radio talk like? Was it ‘skipper’, ‘rear gunner’, ‘mid upper’? You didn’t say your names did you? PN: No, didn’t say your names but say, say your position. ‘Mid upper to skipper’, or something of that sort. And he would say, ‘Go ahead, go ahead mid upper’, and you would pass a message to him. GT: And was, Hoot, Hoot was the flight sergeant em when you joined up together as a crew and then he was commissioned, so PN: Yeah. GT: So, so did the commissioning matter to you guys? PN: No, not at all. GT: You were a senior NCO and a, and a pilot officer or an officer. PN: Yes, didn’t make, didn’t make any difference. He was still Hoot Gibson. GT: But you couldn’t go and drink together in the same mess? PN: Oh no, no, no. No. We had that, there was that difference. He was a commissioned officer after all. But it didn’t make that difference. GT: And you were a flight sergeant at that time? PN: Yes. GT: Did you want your, did you want a commission as well? PN: Ah yes I did, but eh but for some reason I didn’t go for it. GT: You weren’t offered it? PN: Yes. I can’t remember what exactly it was. [unclear] he was getting commissioned. GT: As a tail gunner? Wow. PN: Yes, he became commissioned. But I can’t remember just exactly the circumstances. He was like that later on he became commissioned. GT: So, your time with 75, em and, and you thoroughly enjoyed? PN: Oh yes. Oh yes. I was there until I done my, how I, how I had to do thirty one operations I don’t know but I did and I got posted away to, funnily enough, back to Dalcross where I’d done my training. GT: Your training. So, so when you were posted, what did they say? ‘Right you’re off!’ No fanfare. Just PN: Oh no. GT: Called you into the office and said, ‘So right, you’re next, you’re leaving.’ Is that it? PN: Oh yes. Yes. Just you posted. Yes. GT: And that would be at the end of eh August? PN: It would, yes, I think it would. GT: Your last operation was August the 25th and that completed thirty one ops. You had a hundred and thirty six hours during the day and a hundred and twenty hours of night and em that’s a pretty, that’s a pretty great record there Peter. So your, your log book states that you moved on to Dalcross at 2 AGS and there you were flying in Martinets. [emphasis] PN: Yes, that’s right. GT: What were they [emphasis] like? PN: [chuckles] They were a fighter aircraft, they were like a fighter aircraft as far as I was concerned. But we used to em, had to virtually em they had a real [unclear] of you might call cords really. Then we had to almost stretch out of the aircraft to thread through pulleys and fix them on to the drogue for other aircraft to shoot at. GT: And so the Martinet was a drogue towing aircraft? PN: That’s right. Yes. GT: So you didn’t deploy the drogue until you were in the air? PN: That’s right. And then you had to bend and you were half way out of the, of the aircraft hooking the drogue on. GT: This was a hole in the floor of the aircraft? PN: Yes. Yes. GT: So how long was the hoars of the rope? Eh, the PN: About eight hundred, eight hundred yards or something like that. GT: Was that a safe, safe distance? PN: Yeah. Safe enough. Yes. Safe enough. Yes. GT: And what were the gunners and eh, of the aircraft taking the drogue? PN: They, they did occasionally fire and hit the drogue towing aircraft thinking it was, thinking that was what they had to aim at. GT: That’s friendly fire. PN: Yeah. They, they used to do a quick dive away then, but eh mainly that was alright and you could tell in the drogue you could count up the bullet holes because the bullets had got paint under them of some sort. They were coloured. GT: Did they have a fight over who, who was, what hole was [unclear] [chuckles] PN: No, I don’t think so. GT: All good. And therefore you went, that was in eh November? PN: Yes. GT: And so you had a little break in between leaving end of August, so you had September, October off? PN: Yes. GT: Where did, what did you do there? Did you, did you go back home for a bit? PN: Eh, I went, I did, I was, I can’t remember exactly what I did. GT: But you did have a bit of a rest though didn’t you? PN: But em anyway, I made sure that eh I counted the months and eh while there was only four months and then I went back on the Squadron again. GT: Aah. Okay, so, so that was 2 AGS at Dalcross and we’re still on the Martinet and Martinet right through to January and eh and in February you moved on to Number 2 GSU on Mitchells. PN: That’s right. Yes. GT: As an air gunner, so you were, you were ramping up on the B25. PN: That’s right. GT: Were you the mid upper gunner for there too? PN: Rear gunner. GT: Rear gunner on the B25. PN: Rear gunner on the, yeah. And eh you didn’t have a seat to sit on, you sort of eh, virtually on your knees, half on your knees, half sat, sat on the sloping seat. Not a very comfortable position at all. And you had two point fives I think in the rear turret. GT: Now, the point five was a little bit more heavier than the three nought threes. PN: It was indeed. GT: More punch and distance? PN: Yes, and the you see what happened. GT: Well now, obviously for the recording eh Peter had a bit of a close escape here, and I’m holding a fifty cal shell eh minus the head and eh there’s a big hole in the side of it. Peter, what happened to you there and this was in the rear turret of a B25, yeah? PN: Yes, that’s right and it was quite, that, it was quite close to, the bomb was quite close to my shoulder and em the armourer, when we came back, I didn’t know about it, while we were airborne, but the armourer came to me and said, ‘Would you like this as a souvenir?’ and at that time it had a shrapnel inside of it and the, the bullet too. Em but unfortunately, while examining it, my son, the little bit of shrapnel that had caused the hole, put it in the dust, in the ashtray and it got lost. And eh so I don’t, I, I searched for the, I think it was about ten days afterwards that I found it was missing and I searched for the, that little bit of shrapnel, but I couldn’t find it, unfortunately. GT: Well, it’s very fortunate, [emphasis] for you Peter, that you’ve been able to keep the shell and eh it also has an official RAF photograph tucked with it. PN: And the [unclear] at the bottom end you notice that it hadn’t been fired. GT: That’s true, yeah, yeah. The firing element at the base there’s eh, there’s no pin impression so that’s, that’s a special piece of history right there for you. PN: Yes. GT: Fabulous. Alright Peter, now, you, you’re suffering badly from eh, from your knees. PN: Arthritis. GT: And arthritis, but [emphasis] you were talking to me earlier about your kneeling position of a B25 rear gunner. PN: Yes. GT: And can you attribute your current problems with knees back to that? PN: I wouldn’t be at all surprised. I wouldn’t be at all surprised because you were sort of half on your knees, half sitting on a sloping, a sloping seat. GT: Gosh. PN: And it could well have been that em that was the cause of the arthritis. GT: Well you started flying B25s in March 45 and eh you completed more operations in, in the end of April. Now your trips here in your log book for your Mitchell flights are anywhere between one and, and one and two and three quarter hours. So you were flying from em 98 Squadron. Where were they based and, and where did you go from there for more ops? PN: Now. 98. Yes, I, oh I can’t remember the dates. Is it not in the book? On top of the table? The places that we went to? I do know the name of the aerodrome but I can’t remember it. GT: Farfield. So you, so your log book is very well presented, of course, and you’ve got a lot of trips there across to Bremen, em certainly into Germany em and beyond. So, so that’s very impressive. So during your, your flights in the Mitchells, did you have any opposition from the German em Luftwaffe? PN: Em, we did, and eh I can’t remember the exact details, but we, we eh got flak, flak as much as anything. We had to dodge the flack because we’d got anti-aircraft fire bursting near us, a lot of anti-aircraft fire bursting near us. GT: How many bombs did you carry? PN: Eh, oh, I couldn’t say. GT: It wasn’t a very big bomb load for a B25? PN: Eh, no, about, about eight or eight or so five hundred pounders probably. I’m not quite sure. GT: And this was an RAF squadron flying American aircraft? PN: Second Tactical Aircraft, yes, Second tact. GT: So what was it like flying an American designed aircraft compared to the English Stirling and Lancaster? PN: Uncomfortable. GT: Uncomfortable. PN: Yeah. Uncomfortable. GT: It didn’t go very – PN: On you knees, you see. You were on your knees and the seat sloped and you had your bottom on the, on the seat, and you were half on your knees and eh it wasn’t a comfortable position, wasn’t a very comfortable position at all. But there you are, that was, that was hard luck. And em we did quite a, did quite a few to Bremen if I remember rightly, quite a few to eh yes, the city of Bremen and em they were quite lively, a lot of flak coming up. GT: It must have been low level, was it? PN: Em, not really low level. GT: Oh, no? You were still up high? PN: Still, still, yes, fairly high I think. I can’t quite remember these details now. GT: And what was your crew like? For the B25s PN: There was about five members of a crew in the B25s. GT: All English? PN: As far as I know, yes. Ah, yes I think so, yes. They were. Yes. I do mention their names. GT: Now your, your last operation with eh 98 Squadron was the end of April and then you moved through as passengers in May and you, you began a second trip, tour in, in June as the rear gunner and eh also did some trips, through, as passengers to look over Germany and in July. So you certainly got around for a little bit after that. PN: Yes. GT: So tell us a bit more about the eh, okay, the – PN: I was stationed in Germany. GT: Ah, there you go. So VE Day, what happened with you on 98 Squadron on VE Day and what did you do after? PN: So, yes, I remember VE day. GT: You went to Germany after that was it, directly, or did you stay in England? PN: [mumbles] Difficult to remember. I think I was, I think I was stationed in Germany at that time. I think, yes, I think, I can remember we were living in tents and all of a sudden the CO of that Squadron popped down and said, ‘It’s all over, chaps. It’s all over!’ and [unclear] drinking his own champagne. And didn’t invite us in at all. And that was the end of the war. And we were in Germany at that time, living in tents. Aachen [?] Yes. GT: Did you stay on? PN: We went to Brussels. We took, we took, we went by an aircraft. We took an aircraft into Brussels, but I didn’t think much to that. And eh visited a short time and we came back, back to Aachen [?] again, and stayed there. Didn’t think much to it. It was all over as far as we were concerned and that was it. GT: So did you want to stay in the RAF? Or did you look at demobbing or? PN: No, I was demobbed soon after and em I did various civilian jobs and eh basically I got sick of them and went back into the Airforce again after a fairly short time. GT: As an air gunner? PN: Yes, eh I was an air gunner instructor this time. I was instructing. GT: And your log book says in 1951 you were at 230 OCU in Scampton? PN: Yeah. GT: In Scampton? PN: Yes. GT: As an air gunner exercise so em that was from February PN: I was instructing then. GT: And what aircraft were you with? PN: I think Lincolns. GT: Lincolns? PN: I think Lincolns and then Shackletons and finally Neptunes. Yes. GT: Yes, you have a lot of entries here from being in Lincolns. What was the Lincoln like compared to the Lancaster? PN: Bigger. And that’s all, apart from that. [mumbles] Yes, they were bigger. A bigger version of the Lancaster. GT: And the Lincolns had fifty cal? Half inch? Did the Lincolns have the bigger gun systems? PN: As far as I know, yes, I think so. GT: And you moved on from three nought threes. Yeah? PN: Yes. GT: And then you moved on to 9 Squadron at Binbrook? PN: Yes, at Binbrook. GT: And you become crew, you become part of a crew then, were you then? Is that what you were doing? PN: I think so, I can’t remember. It’s difficult to remember. It’s a long time ago, as you know. GT: No, that, that’s fine there, Peter. So we’re just moving through and eh you, you were em just working through on the Lincolns right through to 1952 and em with, with your changes you moved into Coastal Command? PN: Yes, Shackletons. Oh, yes, low flying over the sea doing searches and things like that. GT: What was the Shackleton like, as an aircraft to fly in? PN: It was much, it was something like, something like a Lancaster but fatter. You know, it was a bigger, bigger fuselage than the other one. It was much like a, much like a Lincoln. GT: Now what em, what caused you to finish up in the RAF then? You’d had enough again do you think or? PN: Yes, yes I did instructing for a while. I was instructing on various subjects and then I came out, I think, I think, I came out and took, took my pension. To get a pension and em I came out and got a pension. GT: Well, some of your last entries in your log book eh Peter, are at Kinloss em with, with Shacks and eh and then eh you’ve got a P2 Neptune entry here as well. PN: Eh [mumbles] GT: In mid 56. PN: Yes, it was actually the islands, Benbecula for a while. That’s not even mentioned in there, I think, but I was [pauses] just at Benbecula for a while, which is one of the Outer Hebridean islands. But not for any reason. GT: Yeah. So then you moved down to Singapore for a while. Tell me a, tell me a little bit about that, please, because that was in the mid, early sixties there when you went to Singapore. PN: Ah yes. Yes. GT: Was that with the RAF? PN: Yes, oh yes. And em, Singapore. I think I had a crew there. GT: And you were doing the administrative stuff? You were? PN: Oh yes, I was doing admin as well, yes. Instructing em, instructing. GT: And there was a [unclear] PN: [unclear] yes. Um I think I was doing instructing as well as doing – GT: And so that was after the confrontation eh had finished? PN: More or less I think, yes. Instructing em discip. I was a flight sergeant discip there too. Yes. Various jobs yeah. GT: Various jobs. Now, you, you were married and had children by then? PN: Yes, I had been married, I got married in 1962, think it was 62 and unfortunately em my first wife died in 1969. She got breast cancer and she died in 1969. But see we had a tour in Singapore and she quite enjoyed that. So she did have some good life there. GT: Nice. And you moved back to the UK then? PN: And we came back in 1966 and then eh we were, she was ill for two or three years and she died in 1969. GT: No children? PN: No children. Well, previously we had had four, four sons but long before you know and the eldest which is the one who’s birthday it is today, they were born 50, he was born in 54, 1954 and the last one was born in 1958. Yeah. GT: Pretty tough to lose their mum a little bit later. And so then you, you remarried later? PN: Yes. Two or three years afterwards. Yes. GT: And so, you, you’ve lost two em PN: And I’ve lost her too. GT: Several years ago. PN: Yes. GT: And, and what did you do after the RAF, Peter? How did, how did that go? PN: Em I did do, em, what did I do? I engraved [?] a house, do something, engraved [?] a house. I forget now. I forget GT: Peter, you’ve, you’ve got a lot of memories here and a lot of archives from your time PN: Yeah. GT: Especially with Bomber Command. PN: Yes. GT: And that’s pretty special. And eh now I’ve known you for some years now and popped in to see you from my trips from New Zealand here to the UK so I’m eh, I’m quite honoured today really to sit and chat with you about your [emphasis] Bomber Command time and your life, a bit of history. This recording will go to the Bomber Command archives and eh and I know that they will gratefully receive your information and your recollections and memories. PN: Sketchy as they are. GT: Sketchy as they are. No problem at all, no problem for us, Peter. Is there something that you would like to make one last comment about Bomber Command? Your time, the war, that had to be done, that could have been done any different? PN: I don’t think so. I was very lucky to have eh, to have a skipper, Hoot Gibson. He was a great, a great pal and a great flyer [coughs]. And we got on very well with him, and the crew for that matter. It was very unfortunate that the navigator, Bill [unclear] unfortunately, he was in a hurry to get home to New Zealand, chose to hitchhike with an American crew, which crashed. GT: Wrong, wrong choice. PN: Killing them all. Yes, killing them all. Unfortunately. GT: Peter, look em I think it’s fabulous of you to be able to sit with me today. Thank you for this interview and it’s been a pleasure being in your company and presence in your house today and I’m gonna say thank you from the IBCC for your recollections. And eh I think we, we can close the interview now if that’s okay with you. PN: I think so, yes. Sketchy as it might be in places. You’ll have to pick out the bits and pieces. Of course, I mean I’m ninety, getting on for ninety four and memory does tend to get a little bit sketchy at times at that age. But I’ve done my best. Tried to remember the best I can. GT: Thank you for your service to your King, your country and now your Queen. It is much appreciated. Thank you. PN: Okay. Good. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with Peter Rowland Ruthven Neech. Two Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Glen Turner 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 2018-07-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ANeechPRR180705, PNeechPRR1601 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review Pending revision of OH transcription Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 01:08:10 audio recording Language A language of the resource eng Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Great Britain England--Buckinghamshire England--Cambridgeshire Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943 Description An account of the resource Peter was born on the 7 January 1925, in West Hampstead, London. He worked in a jewellers in Hammersmith and left his job to join the air cadets at RAF Hendon from 1941 to 1943. On his 18th birthday, he joined the RAF to begin training as an air gunner, which took him to RAF Dalcross, Scotland, where he completed his training in July 1943. On arriving home on leave, he found his family home damaged after a German bombing attack. In December 1943, Peter trained on Wellingtons and Stirlings at No.11 Operational Training Unit, RAF Westcott, where he was picked to join 75 Squadron, as a mid-upper gunner, by Sergeant Donald George ‘Hoot’ Gibson. After flying Stirlings for his first month, the crew trained for Lancasters at 1651 Conversion Unit, 75 Squadron then moved to RAF Mepal, and in April 1944 they converted to Lancasters. Peter completed 31 operations with 75 Squadron. In August, he returned to RAF Dalcross, to fly in Martinets, which towed targets for aircraft practice. After taking a short break, he joined 98 Squadron in March 1945, and flew B-25’s as a rear gunner until VE Day. He took part in gardening operations, which involved low flying to drop sea mines on estuaries in France to prevent U-Boat attacks. Towards the end of the war, Peter shot down a Ju 88, after it came too close, his only claimed kill of the war. Peter continued his flying career with the RAF post-war, as an air gunner with Lincolns, Lancasters, and Shakletons, and then joined Coastal Command at RAF Benbecula until he retired in 1956. In the 1960s, Peter moved to Singapore to be an instructor, married in 1962, but his wife passed away in 1969 and he remarried a few years later. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jennie Mitchell Tricia Marshall Maureen Clarke 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 Air Force. Coastal Command 11 OTU 1651 HCU 1657 HCU 75 Squadron 98 Squadron air gunner aircrew B-25 bombing Heavy Conversion Unit Ju 88 Lancaster Lincoln Martinet mine laying Operational Training Unit RAF Dalcross RAF Mepal RAF Westcott searchlight Shackleton Stirling training Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47634/ENorthWAStrongJ460616-Part.2.pdf ef8e7c830c619fdb8228e5c283a87778 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document On Active Service [postmark] [18 JU 40] Miss J Strong, 46 Barkley Road, Leicester, England. [underlined] [page break] F/s north. W. A. 1583475 98 Sqd. 139 Wing B.A.F.O. R.A.F. c/o B.A.O.R. [page break] Pages 1 and 2 missing 3 [underlined] 16.6.4 [deleted] indecipherable number [/ deleted] 6 heck of a lot since I last saw you dear. Arrived in London on let me see, Tuesday afternoon; Fortunately another F/s turned up going to Hamburg so he was “good” for I.C. party and after a bit of “haggling” I got a warrant and permission to make my own was back by any convenient route, so was able to spend the night in London and travel down to Dover on Wednesday morning, where I caught the afternoon boat to Calais. The weather was perfect for [page break] [underlined] 4 [/underlined] the crossing. As we left the harbour I could just see the dim outline of Cap Gris Nez – about 22miles away. It would have been wonderful if only you could have been with me, you would have enjoyed watching the gulls catching pieces of bread we were throwing to them, before the bread reached the water. I spent Wednesday night in Calais and caught a train to Brussels on Thursday morning. It was drizzling on the way [page break] [underlined] 5 [/underlined] up to Brussels but was fine when we arrived there, I spent a very pleasant afternoon wandering round some of my old haunts and in the evening went to the flicks and saw the V Parade, there were some good shots of it passing through Trafalgar Square but unfortunately none of them included our barricade near St. Martins. The train going through Cologne left at some unearthly hour of the morning I didn’t feel like getting up to catch that so caught [page break] [underlined] 6 [/underlined] a later train to Krefeld about 60 miles N. W. Of Wahn. On the way the train passes through the very heavily bombed area around Munchen Gladbach, Krefeld of course is an awful mess as well. In spite of all the recent reports in the papers, I must say I could’nt [sic] see any noticable [sic] deterioration in the [deleted] indecipherable word [/ deleted] health of the people – some of them were still at their old occupation of digging amongst the ruins. One thing that stuck me [Page break] [underlined] 7 [/underlined] was the number of small allotments that seem to have sprung up all over the place, a lot of the people were working on there. They seemed to [missing word] getting on quite well and the crops appear very promising. On arrival at Krefeld I rang up Wahn and found out that one of our trucks was bringing some demob’s up to the transit camp there on Friday night and returning on Saturday. So slept at the transit camp on Friday night and returned to Wahn yesterday. [page break] [underlined] 8 [/underlined] Most of the boys seem to go away for the weekends now – the mess is almost deserted in fact. I saw the Wing Bombing Leader though, who informs me that a lot of the old boys have been demobed [sic] during my absence and on 98 Sqd. now Jackson and myself are the only two left who are qualified to analyse bombing excercises [sic]. As Jacko went on leave last week the work has just been piling up. He wants me to start instructing tomorrow but [page break] [missing page] 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 North to Joan Strong Description An account of the resource [pages 1 and 2 are missing] Alan writes that he has been in London. He travelled back by train and ferry. Then via Brussels and then train the next day into Germany where a lot of the towns had been bombed. [more pages missing] Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alan North Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1946-06-16 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--London France France--Calais Belgium Belgium--Brussels Germany Germany--Cologne Germany--Ruhr (Region) France--Pas-de-Calais Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Six handwritten sheets and envelope Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ENorthWAStrongJ460616-Part 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. 1946-06-16 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Peter Balata 98 Squadron aircrew bombing mess https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47632/ENorthWAStrongJ451202.pdf 557e4ef35d7d91be86540e721780c011 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [envelope] ON ACTIVE SERVICE [postmark] 3 Dec 1945 Miss J. Strong, 46 Barkby Road, Leicester, [underlined] England [/underlined] [inserted] [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] 1[deleted] 5 [/deleted] 8 2-12-45 [/inserted] [page break] F/s North. W.A. [indecipherable word] 475 98 Sqd. 139 Wing. B.A.F.O. R.A.F. c/o B.A.O.R. B.A.O.R. [page break] Sunday Night 2nd Dec. Dearest Joan, Hope you will be pleased to hear that I had a very successful little chat with the Adj. on Wednesday and all being well I should arrive home on the 22nd December 1945 for 12 days leave over Christmas and the New Year, Wizard!! Ken and myself were also called into the”Old Mans” lair on Wednesday morning – to explain the circumstances of our rather extended stay in the U.K. He tried to remain serious about it but we finished up by laughing it off, although he said the A.O.C. thought we should [page break] [underlined] 2 [/underlined] have pressed on, he personally didnt [sic] blame us for not sticking our necks out under the circumstances, but if we thought we were going to dodge our duties we were sadly mistaken – he certainly wasn’t kidding! We had both missed a 24 hour duty during our absence so on Thursday Ken was duty pilot and I duty Nav. we also did a patrol on Wednesday afternoon – Friday morning I spent in bed, I’m not usually a heavy sleeper but Jimmy nearly had to tip me out of bed to wake me up at lunch time, I strolled across to flights after lunch still feeling rather tired, to find we were down for another [page break] [underlined] 3 [/underlined] patrol, we took off about 14.30 hrs with a Vis. of about four miles [deleted] and [/deleted] that was obviously tending to close in, with a cloud base of 2,000’ it was quite clear over Germany but when we returned to base about 17.00 hrs. the Sun was just sinking and the whole area was covered with a low ground haze – we couldnt [sic] see a thing, after five G.C.A.s and much twitching we managed to get in O.K. though. I retired to bed immediately after tea and slept like a log until 08.00 hrs Saturday morning. The morning I spent trying to catch up with a lot of odd jobs that have a nasty habit of accumulating I worked solidly until 2 Oclock [sic] [page break] [underlined] 4 [/underlined] and was quite pleased with my mornings work, I returned to the mess for a late lunch about half past and waited for the mail to come in at 3 Oclock [sic]. There was a whole pile of it but of course nothing for “Joe” I had hoped there might be a letter from you dear, I’m afraid I felt horribly depressed not hearing from you for a whole week darling, I tried to cheer myself up a little with visions of a nice warm shower, but when I arrived I found the water was ice cold – it certainly woke me up, but it didnt [sic] improve the state of my mind. I read “A Study in Scarlet” one of Conan Doyles [sic] Sherlock Holmes novels 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 North to Joan Strong Description An account of the resource Alan writes that he should be getting leave from 22nd December for 12 days. He has been flying patrols despite the weather. [some pages are missing] Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alan North Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945-12-02 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Four handwritten sheets and envelope Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ENorthWAStrongJ451202 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. 1945-12-02 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Robin Fanner 98 Squadron aircrew navigator pilot https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47631/ENorthWAStrongJ451031.1.pdf 8e770ff1e68cb5d4cfd727ffa9200c70 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 North to Joan Strong Description An account of the resource Alan thanks her for two letters. He is missing her. He describes flying through cloud canyons. He describes trips to Bocholt, Germany and Orleans. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alan North Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945-10-31 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Germany--Bocholt France Belgium Belgium--Brussels France--Orléans 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 United States Army Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Eight handwritten sheets and envelope Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ENorthWAStrongJ451031 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription 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. 1945-10-31 98 Squadron aircrew entertainment ground personnel mess Women’s Auxiliary Air Force https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47630/ENorthWAStrongJ451012.1.pdf d17653d6370bed78ea80cbadf921bbea 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 North to Joan Strong Description An account of the resource Alan describes his working day. He saw General de Gaulle in Brussels. He toured around Brussels then went to see a film. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alan North Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945-10-12 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium Belgium--Brussels 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 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Four handwritten sheets and envelope Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ENorthWAStrongJ451012 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription 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. 1945-10-12 98 Squadron entertainment mess https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47627/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460302-0001.jpg 05680f9571e32914fc897f34169d445a https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47627/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460302-0002.jpg 16c62a9679997285947aed814c099c02 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47627/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460302-0003.jpg 393cad39e1b5b008ae7ba062e753c7cc https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47627/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460302-0004.jpg 2d3261d3dc59703b7fb070b3c00bb7f7 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 North to his parents Description An account of the resource Alan writes that it is snowing heavily. He has met friends from his time spent training in Canada. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alan North Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1946-03-02 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium Belgium--Brussels Germany Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two handwritten sheets and envelope Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460302-0001, ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460302-0002, ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460302-0003, ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460302-0004 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription 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. 1946 98 Squadron aircrew entertainment navigator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47626/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460225-0001.jpg 16657f2b4b3a35b4e911249b2bb180be https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47626/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460225-0002.jpg 295dc8b8d991bcf637af749662dd1134 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47626/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460225-0003.jpg 21932c5e96d767773f5a067a6c972e2b https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47626/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460225-0004.jpg 2499ce389a700dc81ac8d7a2da980a05 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 North to his parents Description An account of the resource Alan writes thanking his parents for sending newspapers. His squadron is about to move to Germany. They had a large farewell party. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alan North Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1946-02-25 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium Belgium--Brussels Belgium--Antwerp Germany Germany--Cologne Germany--Ruhr (Region) Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Royal Air Force British Army Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two handwritten sheets and envelope Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460225-0001, ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460225-0002, ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460225-0003, ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]460225-0004 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription 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. 1946-02 98 Squadron aircrew entertainment https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47625/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]451112.pdf 5fc4eca79927ef0e9d8765213d710f5b 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 North to his parents Description An account of the resource Alan writes that the weather has been cold and miserable. They have moved into new accomodation in a former German mess. He asks for food and something to use in hot drinks. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alan North Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945-11-12 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium 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 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Six handwritten sheets and envelope Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]451112 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription 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. 1945-11-12 98 Squadron aircrew mess https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47624/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]451003-0001.jpg 088c50baa297fa5f1941143e2d075a71 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47624/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]451003-0002.jpg 24c6a84fa86f82fa18cf26c4421531c7 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47624/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]451003-0003.jpg a8415f4f57619c2c8d0ba121f18d80c8 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/47624/ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]451003-0004.jpg 58d8a3c02e1d6db39b50cd7e7657413b 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 North, William Alan North, W A Description An account of the resource 147 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Alan North (1922 -1987, 1583475 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 571 and 98 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Nigel Alan North and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-28 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 North, WA 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 North to his parents Description An account of the resource Alan writes that he has arrived at Melabrook, Brussels. Food is excellent and the girls that do the cooking are pleasant. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alan North Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945-10-03 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium Belgium--Brussels 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 British Army Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two handwritten sheets and envelope Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]451003-0001, ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]451003-0002, ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]451003-0003, ENorthWANorth[Fa-Mo]451003-0004 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription 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. 1945-10-03 98 Squadron aircrew mess https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1554/27675/MMcDermottC1119618-161216-12.2.pdf a88a1a12b9d4cda8d3a3bd4ee81f4ed7 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 McDermott, Colin C McDermott Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-11-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context McDermott, C Description An account of the resource 87 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Colin McDermott (1119618 Royal Air Force). He served as an air gunnery instructor and flew operations as an air gunner with 98 Squadron. Contains his log book, papers and photographs and includes issues of 'Evidence in Camera'. <br /><br />The collection also contains albums of photographs from his training at <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1696">Evanton</a> in 1943, taken during his service in <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1699">Denmark&nbsp;</a>and some&nbsp;<a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1698">duplicate&nbsp;</a>photographs.<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Barbara Bury and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 98 Squadron Gunner's Briefing Description An account of the resource Briefing notes for gunners for an attack on Hamburg marshalling yards. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource 98 Squadron Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945-05-02 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photocopied sheet 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 MMcDermottC1119618-161216-12 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. Germany Germany--Hamburg 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. 1945-05-02 98 Squadron air gunner aircrew bombing