1 25 86 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 Hoare, Peter P Hoare 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 2016-10-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Hoare, P Description An account of the resource 36 items. The collection concerns Squadron Leader Peter Hoare (b. 165592 1923, Royal Air Force) and contains his memoir, correspondence, documents, and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 83 and 106 Squadrons and took part a Goodwill Mission to the United States with 617 Squadron post war. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Peter Hoare and catalogued by Barry Hunter. In accordance with the conditions stipulated by the donor, this collection is available only at the University of Lincoln. 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 My First Operation Description An account of the resource Details of Peter Hoare's first operation. In accordance with the conditions stipulated by the donor, this collection is available only at the University of Lincoln. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Peter Hoare Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain Wales--Aberystwyth Canada New Brunswick--Moncton Saskatchewan--Moose Jaw Saskatchewan--Estevan Manitoba--Winnipeg Norway Norway--Bergen Netherlands Netherlands--Walcheren Belgium Belgium--Antwerp 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 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Five printed sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BHoarePHoarePv08 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 106 Squadron 5 Group 617 Squadron Advanced Flying Unit aircrew Anson anti-aircraft fire bomb aimer briefing coping mechanism Cornell fear Flying Training School Gee H2S Halifax Heavy Conversion Unit Home Guard Initial Training Wing Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School master bomber military ethos military service conditions Mosquito navigator Nissen hut Operational Training Unit RAF Cardington RAF Dumfries RAF Heaton Park RAF Lissett RAF Metheringham RAF Silverstone RAF Syerston RAF Wigsley RAF Woodhall Spa RCAF Estevan RCAF Moncton Spitfire Stirling Tiger Moth training Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/3117/58001/PHolderJE1910.jpg e616fdc59b676bcbe309adc8a473a7ee 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 Holder, John Eric Description An account of the resource Eleven items. The collection concerns John Eric Holder and contains ten posters he painted for War Week. He was born in China to British Parents and lived in Cherry Willingham, Lincolnshire. He worked as an inspector of tanks manufactured in Lincoln. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Simon Holder and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-06-14 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Holder, JE 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 War Weapons Week Description An account of the resource A list of the events held at Cherry Willingham. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-04-23 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire England--Lincoln England--Cherry Willingham Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Artwork Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PHolderJE1910 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-04-23 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription firefighting Home Guard physical training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/3117/57993/PHolderJE1903.jpg 3b2562342fcd0860b1a0c14ccf533096 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 Holder, John Eric Description An account of the resource Eleven items. The collection concerns John Eric Holder and contains ten posters he painted for War Week. He was born in China to British Parents and lived in Cherry Willingham, Lincolnshire. He worked as an inspector of tanks manufactured in Lincoln. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Simon Holder and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-06-14 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Holder, JE 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 War Weapons week - Home guard parade Description An account of the resource An event organised to celebrate the Home Guard. Illustrated by a dart board and darts. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941-04-24 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire England--Lincoln England--Cherry Willingham 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 British Army Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Artwork Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PHolderJE1903 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-04-24 entertainment home front Home Guard sport https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2836/57351/BGaddPGaddGEv1.jpg f98d85b14ee62b534e7e4089a9e5cd07 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 Gadd, George Edward Gadd, G E Description An account of the resource Five items. The collection concerns Sergeant George Edward Gadd (b. 1923, 1216729 Royal Air Force) and contains documents and correspondence. He flew operations as an air gunner with 101 Squadron and was killed 3 April 1943. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Philip Gadd and catalogued by Andy Fitter. <br /><br />Additional information on George Gadd is available via the&nbsp;<a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/108281/">IBCC Losses Database.</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-04-16 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 Gadd, GE 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 George Edward Gadd Description An account of the resource Personal research on George Edward Gadd by his younger brother. It describes how he died and how his parents found out about his death on their way to visit him. It also mentions his amateur boxing and engagement to Kathleen Smith, a farmer's daughter. The research includes some details of one of George's brothers, who joined the Royal Navy and took part in the D-Day landings. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Phillip Gadd Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1988 1995 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Yorkshire 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 Navy 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 One printed page Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BGaddPGaddGEv1 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. air gunner aircrew anti-aircraft fire childhood in wartime final resting place ground personnel Home Guard killed in action Lancaster love and romance Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) padre sport https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2633/52524/ATurnerLA101115.mp3 f75e00b1527ac703a3fe91e48773f24a 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 Turner, Leslie Arthur Description An account of the resource Five items. An oral history interview with Leslie Arthur Turner (b. 1922, 189027 Royal Air Force), his log book, and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 10 Squadron. Post war he served as an air traffic controller in India. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert and Angie Lee and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-01-29 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 Turner, LA Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document JL: It’s November the 15th 2010 and this is Julia Letts recording with Les Turner this morning with his memories of and experiences of the war. Les, can I start by getting you to give me your date of birth? LT: Yes. JL: And where you were born. LT: I was born at 24 Hanbury Street, Droitwich. That’s up there. JL: What was your date of birth? LT: 24th of February 1922. JL: 1922. LT: Yes. JL: Ok. Will you give me a little bit of a picture of your early life in Droitwich? What do you remember of it? LT: Yes, I think so. Well, my father was a fishmonger and he had a shop in the High Street and we of course were all involved in that and he was a keen gardener and he had an allotment over the way there. JL: What was his name, Les? What was your father's name? LT: Arthur. Arthur. JL: Arthur Turner. LT: Arthur Henry Turner, and a very good bowler by the way. Played for Worcestershire. JL: And was he Worcestershire born and bred? LT: No. He was born in Stourbridge. He was a Black Country lad. JL: Ok. LT: Yes, and he came to work at the Barley Mow in Hanbury Street and the First World War broke out there and he went off to war and when he came back he met my mother and they got married. JL: So, how on earth did he get into fish? LT: Well, he, well I remember him starting actually when I was a very young lad. He’ got a motorbike and side car. No. He had, he had the horse and dray first of all. I used to go around with him and then he came onto a motorbike and side car. He built a box on the side of the motor bike and then he bought the shop in the High Street. JL: And where did he get the fish from? Was it delivered from a supplier of some sort? LT: He went to Birmingham three mornings a week and he had two lots delivered from Grimsby on the two other days. So that was the five days and one of my jobs when I was a lad was to go from the shop on a, with a truck and pick that fish up and bring it back before I went to school [laughs] JL: Goodness. LT: And I went to St Peter’s School then and drove. JL: Was he the only fishmonger in Droitwich at that time? LT: He was the only wet fishmonger. There were a fish and chip shop down the bottom of the street but they, it wasn’t the same kind of fish that was sold. They didn’t sell the fresh fish. So yes. [recording paused] JL: Right, Les, you were telling me a little bit about St Peters School. LT: Yes. JL: Can you tell me a bit more about that? LT: Well, it was at the top of the Holloway where I lived and as I said there was a Boy’s School and a Girl’s School and there was a big high wall that divided the two between us and there was a junior school there as well and I went — JL: I was just going to ask were you separated from the girls? LT: Oh yes. Oh yes. We weren’t allowed to mix with the girls at all. JL: In class as well as in the playground? LT: We had to keep away from the wall as well at playtimes and things like that [laughs] so, oh yes. JL: So what was it they thought that the girls would contaminate you with? LT: I don’t know and I don’t even think we thought about it at all. I don’t think we ever wanted to go to the girls at that age anyway. JL: It was just the way it was. LT: Because I mean we were only there until we were fourteen years old and that was it. But what were you wanting to know about the school itself? JL: Do you have any particular memories of school? LT: Only the teachers probably. JL: Were they strict? LT: Some were very strict. Some we liked and some we didn’t like and that was when a Mr Fisher was headmaster then and you may have heard of the name Lovell. That’s the father of the lad I was in the theatre with actually and he was my master for quite a long time. JL: What do you mean in the theatre with? LT: When, when I’m sorry I’ve gone on a bit. JL: You’re jumping ahead there. Yeah. LT: I’m jumping ahead there. Yes. Yes. Yes, and but that was Mr Lovell and I knew his son later on. JL: Oh, ok. LT: He was my friend. He still is my friend now. JL: Now, Les I know that you’ve been quite sporty all your life but did that start at school? Were you? Did you do a lot of sport at school? LT: Oh yes. I was. I played a lot of football at the school itself. I’ve got photographs somewhere of the football team. But that really was the only sport that we played at that age because we, I’d moved on from that to play tennis in the park and I played tennis all my life then. That was my life, tennis was really. In fact, I finished up being president of the Tennis Club. JL: In Droitwich? LT: In Droitwich. Yes. Yes. JL: Good for you. LT: Yes, I’ll show you some pictures Iater on if you like. JL: So, that sort of leads us on to can you paint me a bit of a picture of Droitwich in the 1920s early 1930s when you were a lad? What was it like? LT: I don’t really know what to say here. I was in the Boy’s Brigade which was quite a lot of the lads were in it then and the girls were in the Guides and things like that. They were about so, and Droitwich it was quite a quiet place really compared with what it is now. It’s shocking now. JL: So did everybody know everybody so to speak? LT: Oh, pretty well. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. When the war came they had street parties and things like that you know. They all got together and mixed and had their children there. Yes. JL: What about, you’ve mentioned the park. Where were the places that young lads like you hung out? LT: Well, around where I lived there were fields you know which we played in. In the Holloway there’s fields over on the left-hand side and a wood in which we spent a lot of time there and then that field joined up the Hanbury Road with the Holloway so we were all intermingled and we were never stopped playing in there. Yes. And of course we used to play in the street as well quite a bit. Yes. Of course, there weren’t the cars and things like that. JL: I shouldn’t think there were many vehicles at all. LT: There weren’t. There weren’t. No. No. JL: So you would have left school, am I right, in about 1934, ’36. LT: Let’s see. Twenty two, thirty two, thirty six. Yes. JL: Did you have any idea as you were going through school what your strengths were? What you wanted to do? LT: No. No. Nothing was sorted out at the school about what you were going to do after you left school. If you passed the Eleven Plus exam you went on to Bromsgrove and I didn’t do that so — [Recording paused] LT: And, and so I was fourteen when I left school. Then I worked for my father for a little while because there was nothing else to do and then he had contacts and I I he got me a job at Longbridge at the Austin Motor Company. I was about fifteen then. JL: So you didn’t want to stay in the fish trade. You weren’t going to take over. LT: No. Hated it. JL: Did you? LT: No. I hated it. No. JL: Well, tell me about that. Why did you hate it? LT: It was just messy and you were never in charge of things and you were here, there and everywhere and running here and running there and getting nowhere. That kind of feeling you know. You weren’t going anywhere and so I started at Longbridge then. And my dad had a contact with somebody that worked up there and I got me my, I had an apprenticeship. I started an apprenticeship then. JL: And what were you? An apprentice what? LT: Pattern maker. JL: Pattern maker. LT: Engineering pattern maker. JL: Ok. LT: Which was quite a skilled trade. JL: And so did you know anything about that before you started to work there? LT: No. Other than I was good with my hands and I could do this, that and the other. I had the interview of course and I was going to Night School a bit as well then so I was kind of preparing. I didn’t know I was preparing but I was preparing my future really. And so I was there until the war broke out and I needn’t have gone into the war because I was a skilled apprentice pattern maker and all the skilled men were kept back from the war you see. And so I went on until I was about [pause] I was in the Home Guard. JL: So you joined the Home Guard. LT: I joined the Home Guard at Longbridge. They had a — JL: As soon as war broke out. LT: Yes. JL: ’39. LT: Yes. That’s it. Just after that. Yes. JL: And were you told that you weren’t to join up because you were a skilled person? You were a Reserved Occupation. Or wasn’t it as bossy as that? LT: No. No. You had the choice. You had the choice, yes. And of course it was against my parent’s wishes and all my pals had gone off to war you know and there were very few of us left. Then I decided that I wanted to fly so — JL: Where did that come from? Do you know? LT: I don’t know. I don’t know. No. I just, you saw all these things in the paper and things like that and you thought — JL: So we’re just, just going back to September the 3rd 1939. Can you remember actually the announcement of war? Can you remember that day? LT: Yes. JL: What were you doing? LT: Yes. JL: That day. LT: I don’t know but we all gathered in my, in our house and we had a radio there and they announced it then you know and we knew it was coming. I can’t remember what the feelings were then at all. No idea at all. But when I decided to go into the RAF it was quite against my parent’s wishes. They didn’t want me to go. JL: And do you think that was anything to do with your father’s experiences in the First World War? LT: No. I don’t think so. He said very little about that. He got wounded in the First World War and he came out in 1916 so and made up his mind he was never going back again. So he, his joke was he played on that wound. JL: But perhaps subconsciously that was one of the reasons he didn’t want you to go in at all. LT: That probably, yeah. Yeah. I don’t think any mother or father wanted their children to go off to war really. Yes. JL: So it was, were the lads from home, so back in Droitwich the ones joining up or were your fellow apprentices up at Longbridge or a mixture of them both? LT: A mixture of them both really. Yes. Yes. Yes. But if you wanted to go into aircrew it was a volunteering job you see. You volunteered for aircrew and I went down to Worcester and just did that and then from then on it had all started. JL: And that was in 1939 that you actually signed up or — LT: Oh no. No. No. It was 1941. About 1941 that was then. I didn’t — JL: Ok. LT: I was an apprentice. A young apprentice then in the Home Guard. JL: So tell me a little bit about your Home Guard. What was your Home Guard called? LT: Oh, I was in the Longbridge Home Guard and I was in what they called the Battle Platoon. It sounds a bit silly now but we were a platoon of Home Guard that wandered about in various places where we were needed and there was a place named [Oldham] near where they had the four engine bombers there. JL: What? They were building them there. LT: Building them there, yes and we on our, the nights that we were home we were shipped over to it to guard the place you know. JL: So, how many nights a week did you have to do on Home Guard duty? LT: Only one. JL: One night a week. LT: Only one. Yes. JL: And you worked all through that night and then were expected back at work the next morning. LT: Well, you came, you came off. You came from that duty back to the factory and in uniform and you carried on working in uniform. Yes. You just, you had, you did two hours on and four hours off. JL: Wasn’t that exhausting? LT: Yeah. But you’re young and everybody was doing it so it was just something you did. I — JL: Was it, was it, well, do you recall after the Battle of Britain started and the bombing of Birmingham do you recall really terrifying occasions because they were after Longbridge weren’t they? LT: Yes. JL: They wanted to hit Longbridge. LT: Yes, that’s it. Yes. Well, we, from Droitwich you could see the bombing of Birmingham you know and you would see the huge flashes going off. I was, I saw it the next day really when I went up. Like I say I was at Longbridge and then we went off there and it was pretty smoky and horrible. Yes. Yes. JL: And did they actually hit the factory at Longbridge? LT: Not, not on those raids. They didn’t come out. They didn’t bomb Longbridge in those raids. They were north of Longbridge actually but the city of Birmingham. But there were odd daylight raids. Little daylight raids when they, they’d sneak someone over and have a go at it you know and when that happened the sirens went and you burst off and got yourself into a shelter there. JL: So there were shelters. LT: No great damage was done to Longbridge. JL: There were shelters on sight were there? LT: Yes. Yes. Yes. JL: I’m told that Longbridge disguised itself very well. LT: Oh yes. JL: From the air. LT: Yes. JL: In what form did that take? LT: I’m not sure. I’m not sure. No. I know they camouflaged it to a degree but I don’t actually know what the camouflage is worth. JL: And what was going on in Longbridge during this period? Was it taken over to make, manufacture — LT: We were manufacturing war vehicles, you know and let’s — JL: A mixture of war vehicles. LT: Oh yes. JL: Or particular. LT: A mixture of war vehicles. Yes. JL: And what were you pattern makers doing? LT: We made the patterns to get the castings that made the engines. So we, from a blueprint we made that in wood so that they could put it into the sand and cast it. Obviously a very rough idea you know and it became a casting for the various things. JL: So your job hadn’t really changed much apart from what you were now making patterns for were — LT: No. JL: Army vehicles. LT: No. No. JL: Military vehicles as opposed to civilian vehicles. LT: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. JL: And what was life like when you were at home and your friends some of which had gone off to what turned out to be Dunkirk and didn’t come home? What was the atmosphere like in that period? LT: I think [pause] we had our little gangs. You know what I mean. And, but there weren’t many left really. There were so many went. This is what God only knows who we wondered in the end being young like we were and reading the papers and wanting to fly and things like that you wanted to get off and join them really so — JL: Was there a real sense of peer pressure? LT: That’s right. JL: Or peer support? LT: Say that again. JL: Peer pressure. You know your peers had all gone off to fight and you wanted to support them and be there with them. LT: I think there was that. Yes. Yes. Yes. I mean we used to go to the dances and once we got the uniforms on used to have the girls [laughs] JL: But what about when you heard that the first of your friends had been killed? Things like that. LT: Yeah. Well, that I remember that very well because the very first one that it happened to was a chap named Frank Rawlings and he was courting Joan and he was a very good footballer and a leader kind of. You know what I mean. And when that happened it was a shock and you suddenly realised that it was, it was terrible really. Yeah. And then it started happening to various other people that I knew. Yes. Yes. JL: So you carried on in the Home Guard and with your apprentice job until ’41 and then you went to Worcester and signed up against your parents’ wishes. Is that right? LT: Yes. JL: Ok. LT: Yeah. JL: So what did the signing on consist of? Did you just literally get the bus into Worcester and go into the office and say — LT: Yes. Yes. JL: Take me on. LT: Just went into the office and tell them what you wanted, you see. Yes. JL: And what happened at that point? LT: At that point they told me to go back home and join the Air Training Corps and pick up as much as I could because I was going into aircrew you see. JL: So was the Air Training Corps similar to the Home Guard? LT: Yes. Yes. Yes. I don’t think it was so military but they did things for the Air Force and you learned signals and all those kinds of things. I can’t remember exactly what it was now. JL: Where did you do that, Les? Was that in Droitwich? LT: In Droitwich. Yes. Yes. Yes. JL: In the evenings after work? LT: In the evenings. Yes. Yes. But I stayed in the Home Guard until I was called up as well. Yes. And — JL: How long was that, did that take you to be called up after you’d signed on? LT: I’m not sure the exact. Not long. Not long. No. No. Weeks you know. A few weeks. And then I went to, I got called up to Air Force House in London. JL: Do you remember that trip up to London? LT: No. Not really. No. I know I went by train and that was it. JL: A sense of excitement? LT: Yeah. Well, apprehension and excitement. Yes. Very [laughs] it’s hard to explain isn’t it? There were so many other people doing it at the same time you see. You got straight in and talked to each other and that was it. Yes. JL: So what happened after that? LT: Then as I say they sent me back home and told me to join the ATC and pick up as much as I could on the various things which they talked about. And then I don’t think there was many weeks before I was called up and I went to the Aircrew Receiving Centre then in London and there you got your uniform and became a part of a flight of about thirty people and a corporal in charge and you just did walk, marches and walking around and military things. JL: And that was based in London. LT: In London. Yes. For a, for a not more than a couple of weeks it wasn’t and then I went to Initial Training Wing at Torquay and I was there for eighteen weeks and you did all the basics there and — JL: What was that like? Was it a shock to the system or — LT: It was, it was pretty hard training actually. A lot of, a lot of drills and things like that and getting fit. They got you fit. You were off running and they would go and lose you in the dark moor and you had to find your way back and things like that. All little exercises but it matured you up to a standard you know. JL: Oops. LT: To a standard. JL: I’ll just — [recording paused] JL: Sorry, Les. Your book has just fallen on the floor. LT: That’s alright. JL: It got you ready for what? LT: Posting to South Africa. JL: And that came straight on. LT: Straight after. Yes. JL: After your eighteen weeks. LT: Yes. After eighteen weeks we were, I went to Bristol and caught a boat there and then we built up a big convoy which, it was huge and off we went for South Africa and it was a six week trip. A six week trip. It was an old banana boat I was on and there was, I forget how many were on. There were quite a lot of people on and off we went to South Africa. We called at Freetown going down. [phone ringing] Do you want to answer the phone? No. That’ll be Dot. She’ll answer the phone. JL: So, just, just going back to getting on the ship and leaving for South Africa. LT: Yeah. JL: Did you know during your eighteen weeks that you would be going to South Africa or did it come as quite a surprise? LT: It, it was either South Africa or America. One of the two. You hoped it would be America you know. As it was I was glad I went to South Africa really. JL: And what did your family think when they found out you were going to South Africa and would probably be away for about a year? LT: I don’t, well my mother, she, she broke down a few times you know and later on it was a heck of a job to keep it from her you know and, but that’s another tale that is. JL: So you had to pretend you weren’t going. LT: Well, I told her I was just going to South Africa to train. I wasn’t, there was no war down there you know. That comes from the tale. Well, there wasn’t. JL: No, but the getting there was quite hazardous. LT: Oh yes. JL: And were you anxious about, I mean given what was happening in the Atlantic — LT: I don’t think you thought about it that way. I met up with a big, Bill Turner his name was. The same name as me and he’d come out of the Army into aircrew and he knew all the ropes, you know and he said, ‘Look, when we get aboard,’ he said, ‘We’ll volunteer to go into the cook house. Into the cook house or duties that way.’ And I thought why would I do that? You know. And it was the best thing we ever did. We looked after the Officer’s Mess and we ate after them as well. And we had that all the way to South Africa and we had no other kind of duties on board to do. JL: So he was in the know and he secured you — LT: He was in the know. Yes. Yes. JL: A really good position then. LT: We were friends and he failed his exams in in South Africa and came back. JL: Oh, frustrating. LT: And I couldn’t catch up with him again after. JL: So you never — LT: He came from London. JL: You never heard from him again. LT: No. No. JL: What a shame. LT: They just faded you know. There was so much going on. JL: So on the boat what were conditions like? Where did you sleep and where did you eat and what was it like? LT: You were issued with a hammock which you were told to go down and you were supposed to sling this hammock at night, each night you know and oh it was terrible. And him being in the know he said, ‘Right. We’ll find a space on deck.’ Which we did. We found a space. A sheltered space on deck. We bedded down each night on deck. JL: Nobody minded that. LT: No. No. We were all doing it. Yeah. JL: No. I can imagine that might be quite pleasant when you’re further south but when you’re still in — LT: Yes, it did. JL: Northern Europe. LT: Yes. Yes. JL: A bit cold. LT: Well, you worked between the two really. You could work it between the two. When it was very cold you could go down and do it the other way. But most of the time we were on deck curled up in our beds you know. JL: And was life on board quite boring or did the time pass quite quickly? LT: Well, it, doing what we did it passed very quickly. We were so busy and they paid us when we got down the other end. We were paid for doing a job. I didn’t know that was going to happen. It wasn’t much money like but they thanked us and — JL: Well, every little helps. LT: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. JL: So you — LT: We always had good food as well. JL: Well, I bet. LT: Yeah. Yeah. JL: And you disembarked in Cape Town did you say? LT: Cape Town. Yes. Yes. We called in at Freetown on the way down. JL: Was that Sierra Leone? LT: Sierra Leone, yes. And we stayed there a week. We didn’t go ashore then. Oh, we called at Gibraltar. That was it. Called at Gibraltar and so many were allowed to go ashore for the odd day. I didn’t go but, and the same with Freetown and it took six weeks altogether. Yeah. JL: And an adventure. LT: It was. JL: For a young lad. LT: Quite an adventure. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. JL: And you were what? Just under twenty. LT: Twenty. Yes. JL: Twenty years old. LT: Yeah. JL: It must have been — LT: Yeah. JL: I mean you couldn’t ever have hoped to have done that as a civilian. LT: No, actually. No. I was a bit older than that. I had my twenty first birthday when I was in South Africa. That was it. Yes. Yes. JL: So, on arrival in Cape Town was it straight down to business? LT: Well, that’s a little story but everybody they were allowed ashore you see and the first thing they did they went and ate and ate and ate and everybody was sick and ill and things like that because the food was so poor on the boat. It wasn’t for me because I’d got this good job you know and it caused a lot of trouble really. Yeah. JL: So when you disembarked were you straight into some sort of a barracks or camp for the night? LT: Yes, went to, went to a holding camp for a few days and then off we went to a training place which where, which was an aerodrome and it was all set out. We didn’t fly for a little while. JL: While everyone was still being ill from over indulgence. LT: Oh well. That sorted itself out slowly you know. JL: Can you remember the name of the, the camp you were moved to after the holding camp? LT: I’ve got it down somewhere. JL: Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter. LT: Pretoria. [unclear] East London. That was it. 48 Air School I went to in East London. JL: East London. LT: Yes. JL: Ok. LT: And that was when the proper training started. Yes. JL: Ok. LT: Yes. Yes. JL: And at this point I’m trying to sort of get a picture of all you young men who were all training to be aircrew. Did you have a particular role or did you, were you moving towards being a navigator or a bomber or whatever? LT: I was, I was training as an observer which is a bomb aimer navigator you see. Combined with you’d came back on the twin engine aircraft like Mosquitoes and things like that. And I went to, I passed all my exams except one. One, and they gave me a choice. They said, ‘You can either wait and take the exam again.’ They didn’t worry about you at all, ‘But it could mean about six weeks delay,’ you see, ‘Or you passed all your other exams. You can go up to Johannesburg where, go to Johannesburg and become a bomb aimer.’ Of course, I’d done, I’d done the gunnery course. I’d done the bomb aiming course. I’d done quite a bit of the navigation course but I’d failed this one exam. JL: To make you an observer. LT: I thought, right. So I decided to be a bomb aimer. JL: Ok. So just going back over that, Les. When, at what point did you decide you wanted to be an observer? Was that in initial training in the UK? LT: Oh, that was that was from the start that was. JL: Ok. LT: Yes. Yes. JL: What was it about being an observer that caught your imagination? LT: Just, just the aircraft that you would be able to fly on. You’d be on the smaller aircraft you see rather than the big four engine bombers. JL: I’m with you. So, the smaller aircraft. How many crew would there be in? Just a pilot and an observer? LT: A pilot and an observer, yes. Yes. JL: Just the two. LT: Well, that would be like a Mosquito. JL: Yeah. LT: Or one of those. Yes. JL: So you’d already decided at this point that you liked the look of the smaller aircraft. LT: Yeah. JL: You wanted to go off and — LT: That’s right. Yes. JL: Ok. LT: But then I, I wanted to come back home and they were calling up. They told us they were calling for these bomb aimers in Bomber Command you see because they were building up the raids and things like that. JL: So, now talk me through what training you had to do in South Africa and how long each, each course lasted. Things like that. LT: How could I say? JL: Did you have a particular — LT: There was so much you did in the classroom which was the navigation side of it initially and you did quite a few things on the ground before you and then, you went and flew in Oxfords or Ansons. Airspeed Oxfords or Ansons which were a twin-engine plane like. They were the old bombers and there was the pilot who was a pilot. It was his aircraft, you know and there were two of you usually. You sat side by side and you did a navigation exercise or a bombing exercise or did these various exercises and you were assessed on them with, sort of from the paperwork and the results or the bombing results or gunnery results and things like that. Yes. JL: Would that be almost on a daily basis? LT: Yes. JL: You were going out. LT: Oh, yes. Yes. JL: Doing the flight. LT: Yes. JL: Coming back in. LT: Yes. JL: And were you always with the same pilot in the same aircraft? LT: No. No. No. No. No, you weren’t always the same pilot. There was a lot of going on. You know what I mean. JL: Did you have — LT: I don’t know — JL: Sorry. Carry on. LT: I don’t know how many aircraft there were now but there were quite a few and they were all very busy. JL: Like dozens or — LT: Dozens. Yes. Yes. Yes. JL: All lined up on the airfield. LT: That’s right. Yes. Yes. JL: And did you live on the airfield? Were there barracks on the airfield? LT: Yes. Oh yes. JL: So did you get out of camp much? Did you have much interaction with the local population? LT: I went to, people invited the aircrew out to their farms and things like that so you put your name down if you wanted to go. I only went on one and it was wonderful. I went on a pineapple place where they grew pineapples and things like that and you were there for forty eight hours actually over a weekend and they loaded you up with these pineapples when you came back and you brought them back to the base and distributed them. JL: It was like a sort of exeat from — LT: Oh yeah. JL: Bombing life. A bit of normality. LT: It was lovely. Yes. Yeah. But you, you didn’t get many chances to go [laughs] But it was, it was hard work. You didn’t hang about at all. No. JL: And did you make some very close friends during this period? LT: Yes. But [pause] well we were quite close friends while you were there but you knew that when you left you’d split up to the four winds you know. That’s the way it was. You didn’t kind of write to them after and things like that. There was too much going on. Yeah. JL: This is probably a difficult question to answer but did you, did you feel, did you want to get on and to get back? LT: Yes. JL: And be part of the war. LT: Yes. JL: You had a real sense of — LT: Yes. JL: Urgency about it. LT: Yes. I never thought of the other side I don’t think. There were moments when I did but, and then I was posted up to Johannesburg and a big holding camp there and we, we were made sergeants. We were made up to sergeant and got our wing and then we were, went back to Cape Town after a while, all over a period you know and got on another convoy and came home. JL: So the period in Johannesburg was further training. LT: No. It was a holding camp. It was just to make you up to sergeant. You had your Wings Parade and that kind of thing. It was quite huge. Yeah. JL: It was just a great big airfield up there that you were based at for that — LT: No. JL: Camp. LT: No. It was like a holding camp really. JL: Right. So there was no — LT: No air, no flying anywhere. No. JL: No aircraft up there at all. LT: No. JL: So you were just sent up by what? By train to Johannesburg. LT: Yes. Yes. JL: Just for the ceremony part of — LT: And then you were posted home. JL: Oh, ok. LT: And they took over then. JL: And the convoy home was that much the same as the — LT: Pretty well the same. Yeah. Yeah. JL: And did you elect to do the [laughs] do the cooking again for the Officer’s Mess? LT: Didn’t get a chance [laughs] no. But it, you knew what to expect then really. It wasn’t too bad. I remember the one going down but the one coming back is is faded now. It was different and I was a sergeant as well. Yes. JL: I bet you were pleased to get back to the UK and see family and friends again. LT: Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. JL: Because you’d been away for the longest time that you had ever been away. LT: Yes. Nearly a year. Yes. Yes. JL: So what date are we now? I’m trying to work out. It would be about 1943 coming up to ’44 wouldn’t it? LT: Three, six weeks by sea, calling at Freetown, Gibraltar. November the 17th ’43. JL: Yeah. LT: That’s when I — JL: And did you have any idea during the time you were in South Africa what was happening in the war in Europe? LT: Not really. No. Not really. No. No. JL: Did you have a sense that you were, there was a build up to what would be an invasion and that you would be a part of that? LT: I don’t think we thought like that. I think our training was so intense all we were bothered about was the kind of aircraft we wanted to get on when we got home you know and the kind of squadron we’d like to be on [laughs] JL: And you couldn’t choose that. LT: Not really. No. No. I came back to, where are we? Moreton Valence, Worcestershire. I went down there and did a bombing course. That was it. On Oxfords. The Old Airspeed Oxford, you know. JL: You’ve mentioned more than once though this want to get on a particular aircraft. LT: Yes. Yeah. JL: So talk me through the different aircrafts and why you wanted a particular one. LT: Yeah. Well, we knew that we were heading for a four-engine bomber and the main thought was Lancasters you see and the second one was Halifaxes and I don’t think anybody ever thought that’s that really. For four engines anyway. JL: But did you have a preference? Lancasters or Halifaxes. LT: Not really. No. No. It just happened. I just know. Then I went to an Operational Training Unit then and met my crew in Forres in Scotland. JL: So at this point had you been given a squadron? LT: No. No. JL: Ok. LT: No. We were still, we were still, we crewed up there and we became a crew. JL: And obviously that’s going to be an incredibly important part of your training because you were now the team that was going to stick together through — LT: Yes, and they threw you all into a big room and told you to sort yourself out as best you could because there was no other way of doing it really and it’s a wonderful way of doing it. JL: So what do you mean by that? LT: You look. The navigator looks for a good skipper, you know. The bomb aimer looks for a good skipper and the bomb aimer also looks for a good navigator because he understands it and you are part of the navigation team. So you intermingled. JL: So there was a huge room full of — LT: Yeah. Yes. JL: Various persons, various navigators. LT: Yeah. JL: Various bomb aimers. LT: That’s right. Yes. JL: And you just went around chatting. LT: Yeah. JL: And see who you— LT: Yeah. JL: Struck up a cord with. That sounds amazing. LT: It is and it works. Yeah. Yeah. JL: So how many crews did there end up being at Forres? LT: I don’t know. Probably about a dozen crews. JL: And it all worked out. LT: It all worked out yes. JL: You found your — LT: Yes. Yes. Yes, and they were all in little groups. It all kind of, it was amazing. JL: It sounds like the school gym. You know, ‘Do you want to come in my team?’ LT: It is. Yes. Something like that. Yes. Yes. It worked. JL: And so will you tell me about your crew then? Obviously quite special people to you. LT: Oh yes. JL: Right. LT: I don’t, I haven’t kept in contact. Only with the wireless operator and he’s gone now. My skipper. He was a mining engineer he was and a mining engineer and he’d been out to America as a pilot, you know and he’d come back to do a tour of ops. A good looking guy you know. And the navigator was a chap named Jonny [Horry]. He’d got a big black moustache and he was [pause] I’m just trying to think of his job. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. He, they were just standing there and I went over. It’s a memory that sticks with you, you know. We introduced ourselves you know and I told them that I’d been on the navigation course as so the navigator was interested that we team up with the right people and so the pilot and the navigator and the bomb aimer started it off you see. The gunners, they were just wandering around really. They were gunners and that was it so they had to be asked really. JL: And how many gunners were in your crew? LT: Two. JL: Two. LT: A mid-upper gunner and a rear gunner. JL: And anyone else? What about a bomber? Is a bomb aimer and a, the bomb aimer is the bomber. LT: Yes. JL: So you are the person who — LT: You take over the bombsight. JL: Yeah. LT: In the nose. And you’re also part of the navigation team you see. JL: Yeah. Ok. LT: Yes. JL: So we’ve got the skipper, the navigator, the two gunners and the bomb aimer. LT: Yes. JL: Five. LT: Yes. JL: And that’s the crew. LT: No. There was the flight engineer but he came later. He came later. He joined. It didn’t matter with him in the training you know. So who have we missed out? The pilot, navigator, bomb aimer, wireless operator. JL: Oh. LT: Two gunners. What’s that? Six is it? JL: Yeah. LT: That’s it. And seventh is the flight engineer. JL: Yeah. It was the wireless operator we missed out. LT: Wireless operator. Yes. Yes. He was my mate. Jock. JL: So, on this first night in this big hall somewhere in Scotland you got together and were then together for the next couple of years. LT: That’s it. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. JL: So what then happened on your Operational Training in Forres? What did you actually do on a daily basis? LT: Mainly navigation exercises and getting used to the aeroplanes and things like that. For a start off we didn’t have our skipper. We had, they had pilots take you up and then you did cross country exercises. JL: And were you in a Halifax at this point? LT: No. No. JL: What were you in? LT: We were in a Whitley. JL: In a Whitley. LT: A twin-engine Whitley. There was Wellingtons and Whitleys. They were the twin-engine bombers and the Halifax and the Lancaster took over from them. So you trained in those to go in those. JL: Were they quite similar? LT: Smaller of course. Slower. But yeah, pretty well the same. Yeah. Yeah. JL: So what were the conditions like in the plane? Actually inside the plane. LT: Well, there was no kind of softness about it at all. My job, my job if like, you talk about the skipper, sits in his seat all the time, you know. My job I was a general joe. I was a second pilot so I had to do some flying there. I did link training as well. And when we took off the skipper would, you’d start going down the runway and ease the throttles up and I’d follow him up you see. You’d got a heavy bomb load on so at one point he wanted to get his two hands on the stick you see. So he’d shout, ‘Ok,’ you see and I’d hold the throttles like that and he’d get his stick and pull back. Then I pressed those out and set them to a certain amount of revs and locked them and that was my job. Part of my job. JL: So you were sort of a co-pilot in a way. LT: Yes. Yes. It was quite an interesting — JL: And you sat next to him. LT: Next. No. JL: Or one behind him. LT: Only on, only on take-off and landing. JL: Ok. LT: Then you had, you went down and became part of the navigation team then. JL: So you had to sort of squirrel your way back through the, the plane. LT: Oh, it was easier than that. JL: Ok. LT: Yes. Much easier than that. You dropped down on to the steps. Walked down past the wireless operator and then Jonny was sat there. He was our navigator and a long thing and I used to sit by the side of him and I worked at what they called an H2S navigation aid and I kept a track plot on my, and he, he would navigate on the Gee. He’d got Gee so he was getting position lines for navigation because you couldn’t see anything at night could you? And then so I was part of the navigation team and we used to swap results you know. Sometimes he needed me. Sometimes he didn’t. JL: Was it high concentration all the time? LT: Pretty well. Yes. Yes. But and then you came within sight of the target which is usually flashes all over the sky at night and then I had to go down, set the bombsight, select all the bombs, there was a switch for each bomb position you know and the bomb load then. You carry three cans of incendiaries in each wing at six cannon incendiaries and fifteen five hundred pounders. That was a bomb load that was but it varied on the target. Sometimes you’d go on mining trips and things like that you see and you go down and select that, you know and then you’d stay down there and look at this mess coming up at you. And then there were master bombers at the target who dropped flares and he’s going around and saying, ‘Overshoot the red, boys.’ So and so. So and so. Various instructions which you understood. JL: And this was being relayed to you from the wireless operator. LT: No. From a master bomber who was flying down below. JL: How did you hear or know what he was telling you to do? LT: Over our, our my, over the intercom. JL: Right. So — LT: All the crew could hear it. JL: And so all of the planes had an intercom. LT: Yes. They’d all got — JL: Really? I didn’t realise that. LT: Oh yes. Yes. JL: So, you could, you, could you have responded to somebody in another plane? LT: Yes. Yes. Oh yes. JL: Right. Ok. And how many of you were flying? How many bombers were flying together? LT: Oh, that varied as well. There were thousand bomber raids weren’t there? A thousand bomber raid would be in three flights and they would be at three, various. The lower flight goes in first and then the next one comes in second and the high one comes in third and, but usually about five or six hundred bombers. JL: So, we’ve, we’ve sort of leapt ahead actually because we’re probably talking about operations now. LT: Yes. JL: But you were training to do all this. LT: Yes. Yes. JL: With your particular flight crew. LT: Yes. JL: In Forres. Still weren’t based with a squadron. LT: No. We, we, oh no we didn’t go on the squadron until we had to go on to heavy conversion first of all. JL: Heavy conversion. LT: Heavy conversion. We went. We’d done the Whitleys and we flew as a crew and we did various exercises and then we went on to a Heavy Conversion Unit which was Halifax 2s they were. They weren’t Halifax 3s. They were Halifax 2s. They’d got a different type of engine and, but they were the same aircraft and we did quite a few exercises on those which acclimatised all our jobs to the real thing. And then when we’d finished that we got posted to a squadron. JL: So all of that time was in Forres. Was the conversion, the heavy conversion in Forres? LT: No. JL: So you’d moved by that point. LT: We’d moved. Scotland. I went to a place called [pause] where are we? Crewed up. Acaster Malbis in Yorkshire. JL: Ok. LT: And we went on Halifax 2s there but on the conversion this was. And then on June the 30th I went on 10 Squadron. That’s when I started. JL: June the 30th. And we’re now in ’44. LT: ’44. ’44, yes. JL: So, so hang on. Let me get my bearings. D-Day has now been and gone. LT: Gone. Yes. Been and gone. Yes. JL: So do you remember that happening? LT: Yes. JL: And the reporting back and did you feel you wanted to be part of it? LT: Oh. When D, we didn’t know D-Day was happening at all. I was flying that day and didn’t know it was actually happening and most of the people up north didn’t even know there was an invasion going to happen. It just happened D-Day did. It was a fantastic operation. I tell you the amount of stuff that went down there. JL: And you were just on a training exercise. LT: Yes. JL: That day. LT: A training exercise that day and we didn’t find out and when we got down they said, ‘We’re going to bomb you up.’ ‘What for?’ They said, ‘Well, there’s the invasion has started and you’ll stand by in case there is an emergency.’ And that was it. We just thought cor blimey, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Didn’t know anything at all about it at all. But I didn’t go. We didn’t go. They took them all off and we carried on after. JL: And then in June you — LT: My — JL: Went to 10 Squadron. LT: Yes. June I went to 10 Squadron. Yes. JL: Why 10 Squadron? Do you know how that was picked ? LT: No. JL: Or you were picked for them? LT: No. No. No, it was just if, if the squadrons had got to be [pause] you do what they needed. Somebody had been shot down or something you’d got to take their place really. That’s what happened. JL: And where was 10 Squadron based? LT: That was at Melbourne in Yorkshire. That’s just north of York that is. That is. Yes. It was a place we were able to get down to. York. JL: So — LT: I was there from December the 22nd until April the 6th and I completed thirty three operations then in that time. JL: Right. We ought to talk about that next then really. What was the, can you remember the first of those operations? LT: Yes. JL: And what it felt like suddenly to be doing it for real after all these years of training. LT: Yeah. I, we all said the first operation was the one that stuck in our mind and it was a night op and it was, where was it? [pause] Pass me that book and I’ll tell you. JL: I’m just passing Les his red logbook which has all his flights that he’s ever done, training and operations listed in it and he’s just looking up where his first operational flight was to. [pause] LT: Bottrop. It wasn’t the first one. No. We went, I beg your pardon we went to a place called Taverny which was a troop support thing. It was a short trip. And then we went to Caen. This was when the invasion was taking place and we did support bombing then and — JL: So, this was after D-Day and — LT: Yes. JL: Right. Ok. LT: That was it. JL: So, what’s the date of that? LT: That was July the 18th. JL: Ok. So it was just a few months after, after D-Day. LT: Yeah. They were still fighting though weren’t they before they got, kind of got out. JL: Absolutely. LT: Yes. The Falaise Gap. Remember the Falaise Gap? I went to the Falaise Gap when it was a ten miles wide and we bombed down through the centre and we trapped all the Germans in the, in the big gap they were trying to get out of. It was like a pocket. Yes. It’s on that one. But the one I was, was Bottrop on the Ruhr and it was black you know and you kind of approached the target and you knew and then suddenly you’d see all these flecks in the sky and they were all over you know and it looks forever as though nothing could ever get through it. And then as you got nearer it got less but you got bumped about, you know what I mean? And that was, that was a real trying thing. JL: What, what was your feeling trapped inside the aeroplane seeing all this going on around you? LT: Very very apprehensive. Hang on tight. Said a few prayers probably and and then just got on with it. You know what I mean? Yes. And then you, you, I took over telling the skipper what to do on the bombing run and it was, ‘left. Left. Steady. Centre. Too low.’ Yeah. And, ‘Bombs gone.’ Right. And then you could, you could feel the aircraft and you’d got to fly straight and level for so many seconds after so that in theory you, everybody had got a camera underneath and it took a picture of what happened on the ground. At night time it wouldn’t but that was what it was for because you did daylight raids and the photographs came in handy then. JL: So the photograph could show you what, what you had hit. Could you actually see? Was there anybody who could see from the aircraft? LT: No. No. JL: So you didn’t actually know after you’d dropped the bombs. LT: No. JL: What had happened. LT: No. No. JL: It was only when you got back that you could. LT: That’s it. You flew straight and level for so long and then the skipper would say, ‘Ok. Here we go.’ And you’d feel the aircraft turning then and then you started to feel a bit easier. But it was all still happening around you know and then you kept your fingers crossed and [laughs] but everybody was doing a job, you know. JL: So can I ask a couple of sort of questions about routine? You were based in Yorkshire. LT: Yes. JL: Just above York you said. So it was quite a long flight to get even to the coast of France. LT: That’s right. JL: So how long would you be sort of sat there trundling along until any action happened? LT: Well, you, there was a concentration point first of all, you know. Have you ever heard of Beachy Head? JL: Yeah. LT: That was a famous concentration point for Bomber Command that was. JL: So, do you mean that’s where all the bombers would — LT: That’s it. All the squadrons — JL: Would get to — LT: Would meet there at a certain time. JL: And would you circulate there? LT: No. No. No. No. You had to navigate and the navigator and the pilot worked that out actually and so that we would get to Beachy Head at exactly the right time. JL: So if you were a bit early you would just fly a bit further? LT: Fly a bit further. Yeah. Yes. Yes. JL: How amazing. So everybody would come together at the concentration point. LT: Yes. Yes. JL: And then off you’d go. LT: You’d set course then. So all at that point theoretically in daylight it was you could see but at night it really was, but you could see them all around you. Yeah. JL: Well, there must have been accidents. People crashing in the dark. LT: Yeah. Never saw one but I know it happened. Yes. but it wasn’t something that happened because theoretically you should all have been going the same direction at the same time. JL: And talking of crashes and things were you briefed and trained as to what might happen if you did crash land in France? LT: Oh [laughs] yes. Yes. Yes, we were. Yes. And you [pause] you carried so much money in your pocket. Usually a couple of pound. And you did your parachute drill back in the hangar and what you were told really was to try and get away when you dropped down or contact French people or who it was because in Germany it was just too bad. But nobody could really tell you exactly what to do. Yeah. JL: And if you thought about it too much you would have — LT: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was very lucky. I was very lucky. JL: So what was the life expectancy of flight crew in that period of the war? LT: Well, they say that only thirty three percent came out unscathed. Only thirty three percent of flight crews came out unscathed so you can work that out. JL: And did, was that ever on your mind as you were on your operations? LT: No. I don’t think so. No. JL: You just had to get on with it. LT: No. You just got on with it. Yeah. JL: So we’ve mentioned the particular night flight in the Ruhr that you — LT: Yes. JL: Recall so vividly. Were there any others that you can particularly recall of the thirty three operational flights that you did? LT: Yeah. I went to Munster on a daylight raid because the Americans were were doing daylight raids all the time and then it came that they needed more backup in the daylight on various targets. So we were, we started formation flying. It was a bit chaotic but we did do it. Yes. And we went to Munster and Fighter Command could only support you to within so many miles of the target you see and so for a short while we were without fighter cover and the flak was terrible. Yes. It was terrible and we got hit twenty five times. JL: What is flak exactly? Is it — LT: Pieces of shrapnel. JL: Being chucked up. LT: Yes. JL: Into the air. LT: And by one little tale that I’ve got about that raid was I was laid down doing the bombing run. We did the bombing run and all this kind of happening you know and you could hear little clicks and the navigator kicked my foot and I turned around and he was stood up and there was a big hole up above him. You know what I mean and he went like this and I thought oh my God. And anyway that was that and when we got back we we’d been hit twenty four times. Yes. JL: But your plane — LT: And we lost forty other aircraft that day. Yes. JL: But your plane was ok even though — LT: Yes. JL: It had a whacking great hole in it. LT: Yes. yeah. Yeah. Yeah. JL: And was that due to the skill of the pilot getting you back? LT: Yes. JL: Or was it just — LT: And another point, another point somebody shouted to the mid-upper gunner is he alright and he got no answer. Well, I was the general Joe and skipper said, ‘Go back and see what you can find.’ So you strapped the portable oxygen bottle on and went back and he was, he was like this in his turret you know. JL: Looked unconscious. LT: And I thought oh God he’d been hit, you know and there was, there was a hole in his turret. Anyway, I got to him. I pulled him down and he moved. He moved. And what had happened that we reckon was a piece of shrapnel had gone in and ricochet around and bobbed him on the head like that and he fainted we think. Yes. JL: But he was ok. LT: He was ok. Yeah. JL: Lucky man. LT: Yeah. He’d got this bump on his head. Yeah. Well, that’s just a tale. Yeah. JL: But you must have had a tremendous sense of looking after each other. LT: Oh yes. Yes. Yes. We were. we were a wonderful band we were. We went everywhere together when we were there. Yeah. Yeah. JL: How much did you know what you were actually bombing? What you were actually doing? LT: Oh, every bombing raid you went on you reported to the briefing room. All the crews did and they’d have the intelligence officer and the bombing officer and the gunnery officer and they each gave a talk, you know and they’d tell you why you were going. Half of it I didn’t believe. And what difference it would make if it was a success. It was a boost. Boost. And it happened every time. JL: I’m interested in that. LT: You got used to it. Yes. JL: When you say half of it you didn’t believe. So you were well aware that this was a bit of propaganda. LT: Yes. JL: To get you onside. LT: He comes on all jolly you know and does his job. it’s a job you’ve go to do. Make us feel alright. But when you’ve done a few ops you started to feel — JL: You become a bit cynical. LT: Yeah. It’s all going to happen when you get there. JL: So did you ever think for example when you were off to Munster about the people on the ground? Or did you just have to block that out? LT: You’d got to block that out. It’s a terrible terrible thing and I can’t explain how I feel. But you have to shut it all out. It’s a terrible terrible thing. Yes. JL: When you got back from a trip like that what, and you landed safely maybe others didn’t but you had what was the feeling then? I mean you must have been such on an adrenaline high still. Or were you just exhausted? LT: No. You, you went, when you landed you got down to the debriefing room first of all and you got debriefed you see and there was drinks as well and you always had a good tot which helped quite a bit really. And then if it, depending what time it was you know you either go to the Mess or you’d go to bed and that was it. JL: Would you have any — LT: You were, we were altogether in the same billet like. We always lived together. Except the skipper. JL: Were you allowed off? Off the camp for some, some down time whenever you had a night off. LT: Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. We went down to York. We used to get down there. Pocklington we used to go to. To the pubs there. JL: So, how much down time so to speak did you have? LT: Varied. Varied a terrific amount. Terrific variation. Sometimes you’d go quite a long time without doing an op. Yeah. JL: Quite a long time being what? A couple of weeks or — LT: Yeah. JL: Longer than that? LT: No. No. No. It wouldn’t be a couple of weeks. It might be a few days. Yes. Unless the weather was bad or anything like that and you — JL: And if your plane had been hit as yours was on that Munster raid would you then just be transferred into another plane? Or would you wait until your was fixed? LT: We’d usually wait until it was fixed. Well, it depends how bad it was really. I see on here I’ve got the letters of the aircraft. We were allotted to X for X-ray. Oh God. We were allotted to X for X-ray but we were the standby crew. There was an A crew and a B crew you see. Now, the A crew had the choice of the particular aircraft and if they were flying that night you had to go in another plane. JL: So why was there an A crew and a B crew? LT: You’d be allotted to, to a plane. JL: What made an A crew an A crew and a B crew a B crew? Was it just how it was picked that night? LT: No. Just how many operations you had done. The more operations you had you see. We were allotted to X for X-ray. We hardly flew in X for X-ray and then somebody would get shoved down there probably. JL: So X for X-ray is the name of the — LT: That’s the letter on the side of the aircraft. JL: Ok. LT: Yes. XXX. JL: So the flights that you’ve done which don’t have an X by them — LT: Yeah. JL: Are when you were in a different — LT: Yeah. JL: Aircraft. LT: Yes. We’d have been the A crew there and there would have been somebody secondary to us you see. But we’d always had the choice of that aircraft but, and when you start you are always second aren’t you so you don’t get the choice. JL: So did you have favourites of aircraft? LT: Oh, we loved X X-ray. We thought that was a good aeroplane. JL: Now, why was that? Was that because it was a lucky one or was it something about it that — LT: No. You just, we just liked it. I can’t explain it. We were always glad. ‘X-ray? Oh good.’ You know. Yes. And we were friends with the ground crew as well you see. JL: Well, they were a very important part of your team weren’t they? LT: Yes. They were. Yes. There’s a picture of us with our ground crew. JL: So how many ground crew would you have had? LT: Three. JL: And what were their titles or their roles? LT: Oh, they weren’t much rank. Probably leading aircraftsmen or something like that you know but they were allotted to the plane. JL: So they — LT: And they looked after it. JL: And they would always stay with that plane. LT: Yes. JL: So there was a ground crew for — LT: Yes. JL: X for X-ray. LT: Unless it got shot down and then they would get allotted to the next one that came in. Yeah. JL: And did you socialize with them as well? Were they part — LT: Yeah. JL: You lived with them and slept with them and — LT: Well, we could invite them in on a Sunday night. [Hello darling] Other: Hello. JL: Shall we just pause for a sec? [recording paused] JL: We’ve just had a little bit of a break and I wanted to ask you Les a little bit more about 10 Squadron and some real practical bits and pieces like can you remember what your uniform was? LT: Well, we, we, you mean when we were on the squadron? JL: When you were on the squadron. LT: We wore battle dress. JL: Which was what? What did it consist of? LT: Trousers and, blue trousers and [pause] the same as the khaki Army thing only in blue really. JL: What did you have? Did you have flying jackets? What did you have to keep you warm in the aircraft? LT: Oh. Now, the flying material was all kept in a special area and you had a bin. What did they call it? A locker. You had a locker of your own and all your things in your locker and you’d got the key. So whenever you went on an op you went to briefing first. Then you went off to a meal which is well known to everyone how well aircrew used to eat [laughs] We did eat well. And then eventually the time would come when we’d got to go and get dressed. Dressed for the op you see which was all fun. We all wore the underclothes. The keep warm underclothes and you can imagine some of the antics they got up to in those really. JL: So these were sort of Long Johns. LT: Silk lined. Yes. JL: Yeah. LT: I got my dad a set. Well, he wore his forever. Yeah. And then when we were dressed we’d got to get out to the air, the aircraft you see and in time a vehicle would pull up and shout so and so, so and so and you’d pile out and get into the vehicle and they’d take you out to the aeroplane. And there were certain checks you did and it was just a case of settling down and getting yourself in position and all that, you know. JL: And how long would that period be from briefing to in the air? Are we talking a couple of hours? LT: Could be. Could be. Perhaps not a couple of hours perhaps. No. But it could be some time depending on what was happening you know and — JL: And just going back to changing. Getting your stuff out of the locker. On top of your, you had your silk undies and then your flying suit. LT: My flying suit. Yes. JL: And [unclear] LT: No. No. You had your uniform on then. JL: Right. LT: You had a uniform over the top of your undies and then you’d get a top suit as well. It depends. The gunners, they had heated suits they plugged in you know and the mid-upper had a heated half down to his waist you see to keep him warm. But the rear gunner, he had a heated suit all over to keep him because it was pretty cold back there. JL: Which plugged into the aircraft somewhere. LT: Yes. Yes. Yes. That plugged into the aircraft. Yeah. JL: So it had wires or something running through it. Heating elements plugged in. LT: Yeah. Yeah. It was all electrical. Yes. JL: I’ve never heard of that. LT: Haven’t you? JL: No. But you didn’t have a heated suit. LT: No. No. No. JL: Because you had to move around. LT: I moved around. Yes. Yes. JL: So what did you have? LT: Quite a lot [laughs] scarves and, well you got all your underclothes. Then you’d got you’re your uniform on top of that and then you’ve got your parachute harness and things like that on. You kept that on all the time and you wrapped yourself up as best you could really with scarves and things like that. JL: So did you feel a bit like a Michelin person? LT: A little bit. Yeah. Yeah. No. It wasn’t too bad really. JL: And what about on your head? Did you have a flying helmet? LT: A flying helmet. A flying helmet. Yes. JL: And goggles? LT: And goggles. Yes. JL: And big thick gloves or — LT: Yes. Yes. I had. Of course, you when you came to do the bombing run the gloves had to come off because we hadn’t got the little switches and things like that to play with you know. And of course if you were helping the navigator because in a Halifax they had two navigational aids. The one was called Gee which they’d send out position lines from base you know and this thing picked them up and the navigator piddled about like and eventually got a position line. And I was on H2S which is that big bulge underneath on a Halifax and I could get a picture of the ground actually and so I could get fixes and I did a track plot see and we compared whether we were. So it was a backup for, for the navigator really. Yes. JL: Did you use landmarks as navigational aids much? LT: No. No. JL: You always hear about the German bombers used to use the [seven] as a navigational aid. LT: Oh yes. JL: Did you use landmarks on the ground? LT: No. No. No. The navigation was quite good and it took you to the target you know. And then when you got to the target you were being looked after by the master bomber. Pathfinders or master bombers went in first, marked the target and then they were the master bomber flying down underneath talking and saying, ‘Aim two hundred yards to the right of the reds.’ Or the greens, or the blues or something. It was pretty accurate really. JL: And the master bomber was a particular role. LT: Oh yes. JL: You couldn’t be the master bomber. LT: He was, no. JL: One day. LT: Well — JL: No. I don’t. What I mean is they didn’t just pick a crew who today is the master bomber. LT: Oh no. No. No. They were, they were part of the Pathfinding — JL: Squadron. LT: Squadrons. Yes. Yes. JL: Right. And that was a particular squadron of Pathfinders. LT: Yes. Oh yes. JL: And master bombers. LT: Yes. Yes. JL: Who were trained in a slightly different way. LT: That’s it. Yes. Yes. JL: Ok. LT: Yes. JL: So going back to on station. So you’ve got this locker room where you all changed. LT: Yes. JL: So you’d come back, presumably change back. Put everything back in your locker. LT: Back in there. Yes. JL: And then you would go to your debrief. LT: The debriefing was just in the same building you know and there was a table there with the intelligence officers there sitting down and the things used to be going as well. We used to get rum. A glass of rum. JL: And were there any occasions, Les when you came into the debrief and there was a crew that hadn’t made it? LT: Oh, you mean got shot down? Oh yes. JL: Often? LT: There was the odd occasion. JL: Odd occasion. LT: Yes. Yeah. I can’t say — JL: Was it different in that, on that, on those occasions? LT: Yes. Oh yes. Yes. We had our own little way of kind of talking about them and that you know but I don’t think we got upset to, to the crying stage or anything like that you know but we talked about it. Yes. Made you think didn’t it? JL: And did the intelligence officer or any of the officers on the ground did they, was there any form of a ceremony or drinking to your lost comrades or anything like that? LT: No. You, you’d get a drink when you went in. When you went in and then you’d wait ‘til you, ‘til they became available and you’d sit down and then you’d do all the, he’d look at the, ask questions and things like that. JL: Yeah. LT: It was the navigator and I usually do that. JL: Ok. LT: Yes. JL: You’re just crinkling the paper a little bit. LT: Sorry. JL: That’s alright. So going on from that. LT: Yes. JL: Your rooms in your barracks. What were they like? Did you share? LT: No. We each crew had a Nissen hut. A little Nissen hut and that was for one crew. JL: So it would have six beds in it or did you have separate rooms in the hut? LT: No. All the beds were open. A free for all it was. Well, you got your own beds like but, but yes. JL: Was it kept tidy? Or was it quite a mess in there? LT: There was an inspection every so often. Yes. Yes. I don’t think we made, we were dirty or anything like that [laughs] Not for one minute. JL: Was it cold? LT: It had its moments. JL: Was it cold? Because there was some fearsomely cold winters in those days. LT: No. We had stoves in there. Box stoves you know with the thing going up through the top and we got quite a good heat from that. Yes. I can’t remember ever being really cold and uncomfortable and of course there was plenty going on. JL: Well, tell — LT: There was a good atmosphere. JL: Tell me what was going on. What could keep you entertained when you were not actually on duty? LT: Well, it depends. If we could go out we’d kind of more or less go out as a crew to a local pub or something like that. Or if we had any time off we’d perhaps go down to York and just, it just depended on availability. Whether you were stood down or whether you, you’d got to stand by. JL: Some of the RAF bases had things like cinemas on site. Did you have that? LT: We had dance hall. JL: On site. LT: But we didn’t have a cinema in itself. No. But we had, we had the dances on the squadron. Yes. Yes. Yes. JL: And so you would bring in girls from — LT: Could do. Yes. JL: From local towns or — LT: Yes. JL: And did some of your colleagues have girlfriends who were in any of the local villages? LT: I would think they probably did. Yes. JL: I’m sure you were all in high demand weren’t you? Was there a bit of a kudos that went with being flying crew? LT: Well, I think we could make things work in the pubs you know when we went down there if we went down as a crew. JL: I like this phrase make things work. LT: Yeah. JL: What exactly does that mean, Les? LT: Start a, start an atmosphere or something like that. There was no, I don’t think we were ever sorry for ourselves or anything like that. It wasn’t like that. No. JL: Did you have sport going on? LT: Oh yes. We, we played football and things like that and you could take part in training for athletics and things like that. Running and that. It was all available. Yes. JL: And did you get much leave? LT: About, about one every six weeks. A week every six weeks. Yes. JL: And what would you do during your leave? Would you come back down to Droitwich? LT: Oh yes. Always came home. Yes. Yes. Never go anywhere else. Yes. Because my, my mother didn’t even know I was on bombing raids until getting towards the end and I had an aunt who was her sister who knew. Knew everything you know. I didn’t tell. I got right the way through the op, my ops without her knowing and it made a difference to her as well. Yeah. JL: Because she was so worried about you. LT: She was so, yeah. Yeah. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? JL: Absolutely. LT: Yeah. Yes. JL: Especially with the statistic you’ve given me that only a third — LT: Yes. That’s what they reckon now. They’ve got statistics coming out now with [pause] yeah in aircrew. JL: So you were operational throughout ’44 and ’45. LT: No. Not that long. JL: Not that long. When did you finish? LT: Well, what do you mean by operational? Bombing? Bombing Germany? JL: Doing your bombing raids. LT: I was with 10 Squadron. Hold on. I’ll tell you. At one point in India there. 10 Squadron. June 30th to December the 22nd. JL: Right. So — LT: It was six months. JL: End of ’44. Yeah. Yeah. So what happened then in December? LT: December. I had a good leave. JL: I hope it coincided with Christmas. LT: Pardon? JL: It sounds like it coincided with Christmas. LT: It certainly did. I was home for Christmas. I did my last op on December the 22nd. Yes. I got home for Christmas. JL: That was very well organized. LT: Yes. Yes. And then you got to you must have a three month stand down. So you’d got to make up your mind what you were going to train for. You had to train for something and there were these various options. You know what I mean? And I — JL: So just going back very quickly, Les. We’ll come on to that but why were you, why did you finish then? Was that because there was no more bombing raids to do? LT: You finished a tour. JL: It was a tour. Ok. LT: And you got three months rest. JL: So it’s a six month tour and a three month rest. LT: Yes. JL: I’m with you. LT: Yes. JL: Ok. So you had to choose this option of what you were going to do. LT: That’s right. Yeah. So you can see, and I decided I would like to become a flying control officer. I got a commission like when we finished our tour. The skipper was a flight sergeant when he started and he was a flight lieutenant when he finished and he got the DFC. Jonny, our navigator he was a flight lieutenant when we started and he was a flight lieutenant when we finished and he got the DFC and I got a commission and the wireless operator went for an interview for a commission because they said he could and he didn’t pass. So that was it you know. JL: So, did you have to go for an interview for a commission? LT: Oh yes. Yes. JL: What was that like? LT: Quite good really. It was a wing commander. No, it wasn’t. It was a group captain I saw. A group captain I saw you know and he was lovely and I told him I was a fishmonger’s son you know and he kind of asked me questions about being a fishmonger’s son and things like that and and I felt very much at ease because it, I was a bit shaky when I went in. JL: And when you came out did you know immediately that you were going to be recommended for a commission? LT: I had an idea. I had an idea. Yes. By the way he was. He shook my hand very well as I went and then suddenly I was a pilot officer. JL: A pilot officer. LT: That’s the lowest rank. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. JL: Congratulations. LT: And I finished as a flying officer. JL: Right. So did your life then change now you were an officer? LT: Well, it changed because I’d finished flying on ops, hadn’t I and the crew had split up and went to the four winds. JL: And did that happen literally on that December day? You all went off in your own directions never to get together again. LT: Well, no. We, you could apply for various things as a crew and we talked about it and we talked about going as Pathfinders. You know what I mean? Because we were an A crew and we’d got these various well we’d done well and then we decided not to. JL: Can you remember why? LT: No. Not really. Not really. No. I don’t know whether it was something to do with the navigator. Jonny was getting on. He’d got a family you know and I think that was the start of it. I was pretty easy what I did. I couldn’t care less really. But that was it. It was all good. Good what happened. JL: So when you, was — LT: But you’d got to take a three months rest at least. JL: So you weren’t going to see each other during that period anyway. LT: Not unless you stayed together. Yes. Yes. And so I decided I’d like to become a control officer. A flying control officer. JL: And did you see any of your crew again? Did you get together as a group? LT: No. Only, only Jock, the wireless operator. He was my mate and he came to my wedding and we saw each other two or three times after. And then he went to Australia and when I had four months in Australia with my daughter and I tried to find him and I couldn’t. Yeah. JL: So that’s a strange thing isn’t it? That those seven people — LT: People just go to the four winds. JL: That you were as close to as probably — LT: Yeah. JL: Anyone in your life during that period. LT: Yeah. Yes. JL: And then you went your separate ways. LT: Yes. That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think probably it was an attitude more than anything of getting out and away. Yes. I don’t think I wanted to carry on as such. I would have carried on if everyone had kept together. But no. I didn’t want to at the time I don’t think. Yeah. JL: So during your three months did you have to retrain as a flying controller? LT: Yes. You went on a course. You had a leave. A reasonable leave. I forget what the time was now. It was about a couple of weeks or something like that. And then you reported to wherever they told you and went off on a flying control officer’s course. And I did the basic one at Watchfield. I don’t know whether [unclear] in Watchfield but I don’t know where it is now and [pause] what was I going to say? JL: Did you go on to do a further course after the Watchfield one? LT: Oh no. No. I know what it was. You had to apply. You had to apply for a station to go to. Possibly near which was handy for you and I chose Pershore. A little down the road here and I got it. JL: Excellent. LT: So I did my course and got through that alright. Went to Pershore and finished my training there and I started doing watches fully trained. So I became a fully trained [pause] a fully trained control officer. JL: Based at — LT: Yes. And the war finished then. JL: Pershore. LT: The war finished then and I thought, oh great. I’m right near home, you know. And then we got this signal come around to say the following officers will be inoculated and vaccinated to Transport Command standards and report to New Delhi, India. Flying out to New Delhi, India you see. And then we had to report to another place where we all came together and there were seventeen of us and they converted what was the other bomber? [pause] There was a Lancaster and the Halifax and the other one. I can’t think of it. Anyway, they converted this one, put seats in it and I forget where we went from now but we flew out to India in that and we went all along the North African Coast dropping down to get refuelled in various places and eventually we got to Karachi and that was the start of my Indian thing. I was out there a year. JL: So when you got this missive through to say that you had to get your jabs and report — LT: Yes. JL: To New Delhi. What was your first thought? LT: Oh. JL: Absolutely. You’d done all that work. LT: Yeah. Yeah. JL: And you were being sent away again. LT: Yeah. Because it was a lovely feeling when the war finished. You thought when can I get out? And there I was. I was, I know I was number forty four my demob number was and I forget what it was. It was about thirty when I found out about it and off I went and it was the best thing I ever did. JL: Tell me a little bit about your time in India then. So you started off at Karachi. LT: Yeah. Posted to India there. October 26th. I went to Lyneham and we flew to Castel Benito, right and Shaibah. Mauripur and that’s in [pause] we split up then. I went, then we went, no. We went from there to New Delhi. The seventeen of us. JL: So how long did this journey take? LT: October the 26th to November the 2nd. JL: Goodness. When you think they could hop on an aircraft now. LT: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. JL: And be there in a few hours. LT: Yeah. JL: But that must have been quite an adventure. LT: Oh, it was. Yeah. Because they allowed us to go out when we got to these various places. Yeah. Oh, it was very good. JL: And was there a bit of a sense that now the war was over it was more of an adventure. It wasn’t quite so — LT: Oh yes. Yes. We got that feeling. Yes. JL: And as an officer now did you have better — LT: Oh yes. JL: Conditions. LT: Always go to the Officer’s Mess wherever you were. Yes. That was a much better thing. Yeah. And then I went to 36 Staging Post in Hakimpet from November to January. That’s near Hyderabad. JL: And what were you doing there? LT: A flying control officer. JL: Ok. LT: Yeah. JL: So that meant you were based at an airfield. LT: Yes. JL: In charge of everything that came in. LT: Yes. JL: And went out. LT: Yes. That’s right. Yes. I did a few watches because I was fully trained then. A few watches and then I took over and I was alright. And then I thought I was finished there didn’t I and then they posted me to Chittagong in East Bengal and I thought oh my God, you know. But that was another trip. I went down to Madras and I went up to Calcutta. I went down the Brahmaputra River to get to Chittagong. They didn’t fly me at all. I had to go by train and that was quite an adventure that was. JL: I bet it was. LT: And your hotels you were booked in. They let you go in a hotel and — JL: So, you were now mid-twenties. LT: Yeah. JL: A young man seeing the world. LT: That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. JL: And what did you think of it? LT: Marvellous. Marvellous. JL: Did you enjoy India? LT: I enjoyed every minute of it. Yes. JL: And how were you received by the Indian people that you met just locally? LT: Not bad at all. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Not bad at all. And my big tale about Chittagong was that I met Pandit Nehru there. You’ve heard of Pandit Nehru haven’t you? Well, he flew [pause] I was on, on watch, completely in charge of everything and this Airspeed Oxford came into the circuit and asked if they could land you see. And then suddenly cars started coming up from here, there and everywhere and parked here and there. Landed it and it was Pandit Nehru. They’d got a strike on down in Chittagong and he’d come down to do what he could do and it was chaos. Of course, these couldn’t care less. Pandit Nehru was coming. And the CO sent for me you see and he said, sorry he sent for me and he said, ‘You’re in charge.’ He said, ‘Now, go out and put him right.’ You see. So I went out and I met Pandit Nehru and I told him that if he wanted to take off again no cars had got to come near the airfield or else we wouldn’t let him take off. And he said, ‘Ok.’ That was it. JL: Well, I’m sure you said it very politely. LT: I did. Yeah [laughs] And he went and did his thing and he phoned up the next day to say he wanted to take off at a certain time and I said, ‘Don’t forget what I said yesterday.’ And he came up and we were quite good friends when he took off. Shook hands with him and I thought well I’ve met Pandit Nehru now. JL: That’s your claim to fame isn’t it? LT: Yes. Yeah. Yeah JL: Yeah. So ,as the officer in charge of the airfield were you invited by the local population to, I don’t know dinners or golf clubs or, you hear of this sort of colonial lifestyle going on. LT: Yeah. Yeah. JL: Did you? LT: The Gurkhas guarded us while we were there and there were, there were officers there and in my hall you’ll see a kukri. They gave me that when I was, they gave me that kukri. Its falling to pieces now but yes we could go down there to the various places you know. I’d got my own jeep and everything. Quite free when I was off duty and you were near the seaside as well. So, so yes it was quite a good place to be. JL: So you could go down to the beach. LT: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. JL: And what, what was happening in that area at that time? What were you doing there? What were the British doing there? LT: Well, nothing actually. There was loads of vehicles there because they’d put them all there to invade Burma and it didn’t come off did it? It didn’t come off so they were all laid there. So we all had a vehicle if we wanted one and I had a jeep. So, so, well the main job was that there was a through flow of traffic you know through. Through to the other thing. And believe it or not there were a lot of coffin runs they called them and they were American aircraft, Dakotas mainly that were shipping American bodies back to America and they came through Chittagong. JL: Where were they coming from? From the war in the Far East? LT: Yeah. Yeah. From the Far East war. Yes. JL: So you — LT: Because it had finished hadn’t it and they were getting these bodies out and they called it the coffin run and they used to refuel at Chittagong. JL: So you were pretty much a stopping off point on — LT: That’s right. Yes. Yes. JL: On the route. LT: Yeah. Yeah. JL: And that was one of your main jobs. LT: Oh yes. JL: Was to coordinate the passing by of various — LT: That’s right. Yes. Through traffic. Yes. Yes. JL: So what happened towards the end of your time there? Were you aware that this was going to be your last tour? LT: Oh yes. yes. I’d got a demob number. 44 it was. JL: Yeah. LT: And it was posted up, the demob number was and I came up very close and I was offered a job somewhere. It would mean a promotion and I said, ‘No. I’m going home.’ JL: Would that have a been a job out in India? Staying out in India. LT: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. JL: But you wanted to go home by this point. LT: That’s right. Yes. Yes. JL: But you enjoyed India. LT: Oh, yeah. It was wonderful. Yes. Yes. Yes. I went to Calcutta. They made me sports officer there as well and [pause] are we alright for time are we? JL: Yeah. Fine. Fine. LT: And we had a Dakota. Do you remember the old Dakota? The CO flew up with me to Calcutta in this Dakota and they loaded. Oh, this was under orders. They loaded all this sports equipment on so that we could take it back and keep the people occupied because the war was finished you see. So that was another job I had and quite good that. JL: It does sound good. LT: Yeah. JL: So eventually you get, your demob number comes up. LT: Yes. Yes. JL: And can you remember the actual day? The moment that that happened. LT: [unclear] JL: How did it come through? Would it come through just — LT: Oh, it would come through as a signal. JL: Right. LT: Through to the station. JL: And this would have been in 1946 are we in now? LT: 36 Staging Post, Hakimpet. Madras, Calcutta. 27 Staging Post, Chittagong, Bengal. Worli Camp. I went to Bombay to come home by boat. JL: You went by boat. Ok. LT: By boat. Yes. Yes. So that was it. And — JL: What was the journey home like on the boat? LT: Good. Quite good. Quite good. Yes. JL: Now you were in the officer’s — LT: In the officer’s, yes. I had an officer’s duty to do. ‘Any complaints?’ So I was repatriated by sea in the SS Canton and we went through Suez, Gibraltar, Southampton. On August the 16th 1946 I came out. JL: A good moment or a sad moment? LT: No. A good moment. JL: You were ready to move on. LT: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. JL: So, just tell me briefly, Les. What happened then? Did you come home to Droitwich and — LT: Yes. I had a nice long leave and I got married. That was the main thing that happened. JL: So you must have met your wife to be — LT: Oh yes. JL: Beforehand. LT: Oh, yes. Yes. JL: Long distance courting all these years. LT: Yeah. I was, I was engaged to her before I went out to India and we wrote. We’ve got lots of letters we wrote to each other. Yeah. JL: No wonder you wanted to come home. You hadn’t mentioned that you’d met — LT: Oh no. JL: The woman that you were going to marry. LT: Oh yes. We had a good flow of letters. JL: So where did you meet? LT: Meet Dot? JL: Yeah. Where did you meet? LT: Oh, earlier on in my life. She came, do you know [unclear] JL: I do. LT: With the station there, the petrol station there. Well, my sister was married to Doug Miles and his father owned that and they were friendly with Dot’s parents and she came over to Droitwich and we used to meet up there. She was only about fifteen sixteen and we played, you know. JL: So this was before you — LT: Before I went in the workforces. JL: Goodness me. LT: Yes. Yeah. JL: And your relationship survived all those years. LT: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. JL: Well, that’s a lovely story. LT: Yes. JL: So you were married in ’46. LT: Yes. JL: And then settled in Droitwich and have been here ever since. LT: Yeah. Yeah. I went to live, we went to live in Birmingham for two years and then got this house. JL: And how did you move into civilian life? Seamlessly or was it hard? LT: I don’t, I don’t think it was hard at all. I got, I got loads of confidence I felt. Yeah. And I was a red hot Labour supporter then and when I got back they got to find out about that [laughs] So I was, that was another story that was. Yes. JL: What did you do for a job, Les? LT: I went back as a pattern maker. JL: Did you? Back to Longbridge? LT: Yes. Oh yes. They had to keep your job for you. Yes. JL: And had you finished your apprenticeship before you left? LT: Yes. Yes. Yes. JL: So you came back as a skilled pattern maker. LT: Yes. Oh no. I hadn’t. I hadn’t quite finished my apprenticeship. No. I’m sorry. My dad signed me off. I forget what time it was now and in the, in the process pattern makers they did a job evaluation on skilled trades. Pattern makers came top. So I came back to work at Longbridge and I got ten pound a week and that was really something that was. That was a good wage. All my friends they were around about seven, six or seven pounds in various jobs. I came back at ten pounds. JL: So you’d done well. LT: Yeah. Did well. Yeah. JL: And did you stay at Longbridge for a long time? LT: Yes. I stayed there ‘til I was sixty. JL: Man and boy. LT: And then I took redundancy. Yes. They offered the money and that was it. I got out. JL: Les, I’m sure there’s a whole other story there but I feel that I must let you go. But just to sort of sum up what we’ve talked about can you pull out of your wartime memories for me any particular highlights? Anything that you would like to tell you grandchildren or great grandchildren or great great grandchildren in the future. LT: Well, it’s, well I, I could relate quite a lot of various little things you know. I don’t think I’d go into the feelings of [pause] I’d tell them about, you know dropping bombs and things like that and the aeroplanes and that but I don’t think I’d go any further than that. No. Because the one’s at it now. He waits for me when I go over and he wants to talk about the aeroplanes. That’s — JL: A lovely card with an aeroplane drawing. Does that make you feel quite proud? LT: Yes. I’ve got a lovely family. A wonderful family. Yes. Yes. JL: Well, it’s been absolutely fascinating talking to you, Les. Thank you ever so much for your time. LT: Thank you for putting up with me. I didn’t think I was going to stand this. 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 Leslie Turner Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Julia Letts Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-11-15 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France Germany Great Britain Sierra Leone South Africa Atlantic Ocean Germany--Ruhr (Region) England--Birmingham England--Devon England--Droitwich England--London England--Torquay England--Worcestershire England--Yorkshire France--Caen France--Falaise Germany--Bottrop Germany--Münster in Westfalen Sierra Leone--Freetown South Africa--Cape Town South Africa--Johannesburg India India--New Delhi India--Kolkata India--Mumbai Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context ATurnerLA101115 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 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 01:42:15 audio recording 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. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending OH summary Pending revision of OH transcription Description An account of the resource Leslie Turner worked as a pattern maker at Longbridge before he volunteered for the Air Force. He trained as an observer in South Africa and flew 33 operations as a bomb aimer with 10 Squadron. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1939-09-03 1941 1942 1943-11 1944-06-30 1944-07-18 1944-12-22 1945 1946-08-16 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Julie Williams Requires A related resource that is required by the described resource to support its function, delivery, or coherence. Les Turner worked as an engineering pattern maker apprentice at the Longbridge Austin Motor Company factory. Although this was a reserved occupation he volunteered for aircrew and he was released. His initial training was in South Africa. On return he completed his training at RAF Forres. He was posted to 10 Squadron at RAF Melbourne. While on one operational flight the aircraft returned to base with 42 holes caused by flak. After his tour with 10 Squadron he trained as an air traffic controller. He was posted to India. 10 Squadron aircrew anti-aircraft fire bomb aimer bombing C-47 crewing up demobilisation entertainment ground crew ground personnel Halifax Halifax Mk 2 Halifax Mk 3 Heavy Conversion Unit home front Home Guard Initial Training Wing love and romance military living conditions military service conditions Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) observer Operational Training Unit Oxford RAF Melbourne sport training Whitley https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1157/52260/EThomsonGBThomson[Fam]440907.pdf fe0a8656dcc419de149daef2f47ebe3c 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 Thomson, George George Buchanan Thomson G B Thomson Description An account of the resource 629 items. Collection concerns Warrant Officer George Thomson (b. 1924, 1572977 Royal Air Force), he flew operations as a navigator with 15 Squadron and was shot down in September 1944. Contains two oral history interviews, his wartime log, several memoirs giving accounts of being shot down and his time as prisoner of war, family and official correspondence, documents and photographs. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by George Thomson and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-10-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Thomson, GB 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 George Thomson to his family Description An account of the resource Reports arrival of letters and thanks them for sending on his disks. Mentions journey and then comments on their news. Comments of poor weather and rain. Says the crew are all in good form. War news was good and mentions that black out restrictions were being relaxed as well as ARP and Home Guard. Writes that pilot Norman was now a flying officer but still speaks to him. Catches up with news of friends. Mentions coming back from cinema and comments on film seen. Talks of considering buying a car and writes in detail of pros and cons and asking for their opinion. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource G B Thomson Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-09-07 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-09-07 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Suffolk Scotland--Glasgow 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 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 Nine page handwritten letter and envelope Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EThomsonGBThomson[Fam]440907 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 Air Raid Precautions civil defence entertainment home front Home Guard military living conditions military service conditions RAF Mildenhall https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2873/51355/AMonaghanJ240819.mp3 48e3ebeb087c8cafcf26bd5498394ba5 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 Monaghan, John Description An account of the resource One item. An oral history interview with John Monaghan (b. 1925, 1589458 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a wireless operator with 166 Squadron. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2024-08-19 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Monaghan, J Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document SP: So, this is Suzanne Pescott and I’m interviewing John Monaghan today for the International Bomber Command Centre’s Digital Archive. We are at John’s home and it’s the 19th of August 2024. Also present is Andy’s, Andy, John’s son. So, first of all thank you John for agreeing to talk to me today. JM: Okay. SP: So John, can you tell me a little bit about your early life before the war? What you did. JM: Oh, heck [laughs] dear me. Well, I suppose I had a normal childhood if you can call things normal in those days. I was born seven years after the end of the Great War. SP: Right. JM: Sounds boring to record doesn’t it? [laughs] JM: No, that’s — SP: But I had a normal childhood. I, I was brother to a sister. My sister was two years older than me. We just grew up together as best we could in those quite difficult economic times really. The Depression years. But we had good, we had good parents. Just a normal [pause] normal upbringing really. SP: And where was that? Where were you as a child? JM: I was in Levenshulme in Manchester. I was born in Blackpool but I suppose dad was unemployed when he came out of the Army. I think, I think we, we lived on a fairground for a very short time. I was only tiny. But he came to Manchester. Then he moved to Manchester because there was some work here I suppose. He trained after the Army as, as a carpenter and of course there was a lot of building going on at that time in Manchester. We came and got a house in Manchester in, I think it was 1928’ish. Yeah. It must have been. And then we just grew up. Normal children. Nothing, nothing extraordinary really. We went to schools. I finished up at a Junior Technical School and took the technical route. My sister went to a High School. She did very well at school. She went, of course the war came along then. The war had started I think just about when I started Technical School and I did a couple of years there. Then of course left school at fifteen. Went immediately into war work and did war work for a couple of years or so more. I was trained as a switchgear wireman which was wiring electrical panels and things. Important work of course. I volunteered for the RAF in, when I was seventeen. Seventeen and a half perhaps. But I got my number and everything but I didn’t actually join up shall we say until, until I was eighteen. They wouldn’t take me until I was eighteen. So, of course when eighteen came along off I went down to, down to London as a very new aircrew sprog as we called ourselves and went through training as a wireless operator. I volunteered as a wireless operator at the, the post where I signed on, where I volunteered because with being in electrical work I thought it was logical that I should take up some sort of electrical work which I did. I was probably one of the few people that went as an aircrew member chosen and actually became that chosen member and then went through a series of training then. Different places. Different camps. Finished up at Radio School in Hereford. That was, must have been a couple of years there. Possibly. I forget. What else happened there? Nothing much. No, I came from there, carried on from Radio School of course. Then to early flying to flying up in, gosh what was the place? [pause] I can’t think of the name of the place now. It was Advanced Flying School anyway on Ansons. I did that for a bit and then passed on then to, I think we went on to, oh no. From there we must have been trained enough to be looked on as wireless operators at least because I think I was posted down to of all places an RAF station down in Oxfordshire called Wing which was rather appropriate. But anyway it seems that hundreds of other half trained aircrew had been posted to Wing where they were left to themselves in this huge hall to sort themselves out into crews because all the, all the people that had assembled there were different trades. I was wireless operator. There were flight engineers there. Pilots there. Air gunners. Mid-upper and rear gunners and bomb aimers were all there. They just milled around and picked each other out willy nilly and that, and that’s how crews were formed. Seems crazy really when you think about it but it was purely random. As I say I ended up with Bert. Bert. Gosh, Bert. He was from [pause] God. Westhoughton I think it was. Near Wigan anyway. Somewhere near Wigan and I was from Manchester of course and we teamed up with five other aircrew members all of whom were Canadian. So we finished up as a complete seven man crew. Five Canadians and us two Englishmen and from there we went to what do they call it now? Advanced Training College. I forget. I forget the initials but it was on Wellingtons and we did some, a lot of sort of semi-operational ops on Wellingtons. We did a lot of all training of course but I remember we did a lot of Window raids over the North Sea which was quite exciting I suppose. From there we finished up to Advanced Flying School. That was it. On, on Wellingtons. Yes. By Wellingtons at a place called [pause] near Doncaster. Topcliffe would it be? No. Not Topcliffe. I forget the name. Gosh. I shouldn’t forget. SP: That’s okay. JM: Anyway we finished up final training at this Operational Training Unit and from there we were posted to various squadrons all over 1 Group in Lincolnshire. We finished up at a station called Kirmington which was rather nice. An odd thing about Kirmington I remember was that the aerodrome was right bang slap in the middle of the village. It wasn’t on the outskirts or half a mile away. The village streets actually ran through, more or less through the airfield. A peculiar set up really. And that’s it. We did our ops from there. Kirmington on 166 Squadron. That was it. What then? Did ops. Finished up with the raid on Berchtesgaden. Hitler’s hide out. A glorious morning. That was in April I remember. A beautiful morning. Sunshine. Finished that of course then the war finished days, a couple of days after. More. More because after that we did the, did the food dropping raids. Manna. That was I think four or five. Maybe more. Four or five trips to Holland. Rotterdam and the Hague. I remember dropping food parcels. When that finished of course the war had finally finished then and what happened then? Oh, we were sort of in limbo then for a while because what were we up to then? The war finished. Not a lot of celebration as far as we were concerned because we were more or less sidelined on to getting ready to go to Japan supposedly. Sort them out. Of course we’d not quite started training on Lincolns. But anyway as I say the war finished completely in August thanks to the Yanks and then we really were at a loose end because I remember we were sent on indefinite leave from certainly from one station up in Yorkshire then and they were so long. Weeks and weeks at a time it turned out. I I got myself a job [laughs] on the strength of it on and actually worked [pause] worked on plant maintenance or something. I forget now. Until, until I was demobbed of course. Demobbed at some place near Blackpool. Again, I can’t remember the name of it but we came out complete with a double-breasted suit and a raincoat and a trilby. Yes. Everybody [laughs] we looked as much in uniform after the war as we had during the war I think. All dressed the same. So that was that. Got myself a job in civvy street. I was a trainee draughtsman. That lasted a long time. What else? We had one or two squadron reunions during the years after that. After we’d been demobbed. Oh gosh, I can’t remember. Oh, Jim Wright. That was it. Jim Wright organised all that. A chap from Liverpool. And we went to these reunions. Back to Kirmington actually. Yes. That was, they finished eventually but by this time I was a fully trained draughtsman, engineering draughtsman and life just took, took its course. Transferred myself down to London for a spell in ’50, ’51, ’52, was it? At the time of the, the Great London Smog. I think it was ’51. I was there for about twelve months I think. By that time I had got myself a girlfriend. We got married in 1953 and started married life. Married life. That progressed quite normally. Nothing particularly outstanding. My wife bore three children. Two boys and a girl. Steven the eldest, Andrew is the middle one and a daughter, Elsa. They’re all very good to me of course. Elsa particularly. Andrew’s very good of course. And that’s it. I joined [pause] oh, before the war I’d, I’d learned to play the coronet and I played in a local band up until, oh that was it. I’d forgotten that. I joined the Home Guard in, must have been ’38/39 and at that time we formed a brass band. No, a military band because they were clarinet players. Yes, we joined a band. A local Manchester Home Guard band. I think it, we’d formed the only Home Guard band in the country. It was so, so unusual. Didn’t do very much square bashing in the Home Guard. We had been issued with uniform of course and those [unclear] things. Everything. That was that. A lot finished up. Oh, and then of course I went through the Air Force route. But as I say the, we came out of the war and [pause] I’m getting a bit confused now. Soon after we were married I took up brass banding again and since then I’ve always been playing a brass instrument. Played. Played euphonium for a while and finished up locally here in Poynton playing an E Flat base. I played that for about twenty years but age caught up with me not long ago. A couple of years ago and I gave that up. So here I am now spending most of my time pottering about. Luckily I’m still more or less active. I’m getting less and less active as time goes on. I can tell that. And here we are. That’s just about the end of it I think. Well, it’s the end of the story. Not quite because of course what I’m really waiting for is to become a centegenarian [sic] Oh, dear me. SP: So, that’s not long off is it? How many years? JM: I can’t be. It’s next March. SP: Next March. JM: Yeah. SP: So yeah. JM: Yeah, so there we are. SP: That’s the next stage. Yeah. JM: I live. I live alone. Perfectly happy. All self-contained. I’m a bit of an insular sort of a person anyway. I don’t, don’t make a fuss about many things. No things. I’m very philosophical and just take things as they come. So there we go. That’s more or less the end of it. SP: That’s a lovely run through of all of your — JM: Is it? SP: Life through your career. JM: Gosh. SP: And obviously on there. JM: There’s probably all sorts of things — SP: Yeah. JM: I can still remember but — SP: I’m going to go back. JM: It comes in bits and drabs you know but that’s mostly it basically I suppose. SP: Yeah. So if you don’t mind we’ll go back over a few of those details to get a little bit more information. JM: Yeah. Sure. Let me have a drink first. SP: Yeah, you have a drink. You get that first. There. A couple of things on there. You talked about your, your crew. The five Canadians and two from Britain which was yourself and Bert. Yeah. JM: Yeah. SP: Do — JM: His name was Cyril. SP: Oh right. JM: Yes. SP: Yeah. JM: His name was Cyril. Cyril Burton. SP: Right. JM: But — SP: That was his nickname. JM: Everybody called him Bert. He answered to Bert always. Not to Cyril. SP: There weren’t many people on a crew that actually used their own names. So, were there any other nicknames on the crew? JM: No. SP: Oh right. Yeah. JM: Only Bert. SP: Yeah. JM: Yeah. SP: Yeah, Bert was really. JM: There was Bill. SP: Yeah. JM: Oh, and Blackie. Blackie. His name was Glen Black. SP: Right. And what — JM: We called him Blackie [laughs] SP: What did, what was Glen’s role on the — JM: Pardon? SP: What was Glen’s role in the crew? JM: Glen was the mid-upper gunner but we called him Blackie. SP: He was Blackie. Yeah. JM: He, funnily enough he was, he must have been a farmer I think because he came from what you’d imagine was a little one horse town out in the middle of this prairie somewhere because I wrote to him once. I thought I’d try and contact him and all I had was Glen Black, Irricana, that’s the name of the village or whatever it was. I R R I C A N A. Irricana, Canada. Now, how about that for a postal address? Anyway, it must have got there. The others. What happened? Bill. Bill Hunt. Was it Hunt? Yes I think it was Hunt. He was the rear gunner. Bill. Bill. Was it Hunt? Bill, anyway. We called him Bill. SP: Yeah. JM: Bill, Blackie, Trev. Trevor Haines was the pilot. Trev. Jack. Jack Masters. Jack, he was the navigator. Bert of course was the flight engineer and Chris. Christopher. He was the bomb aimer. What was his name? Chris [pause] do you know I can’t remember his surname. It’s in the logbook I think. I can find it. Chris. SP: Yeah. JM: Some of them were really, there was no real outrageous nicknames at all. That was just all the crew just by their first name more or less. SP: And everything gelled. It’s amazing to me when crewing up that people tend to crew up and they stick with that crew and it just works. JM: Oh yes. Yeah. SP: Which is amazing. It’s as it all still — JM: It worked fine. Yeah. SP: Yeah. And they all went to — JM: It worked fine. SP: Yeah. You say you did some training on Wellingtons. JM: Yes. SP: And then you talked about Window. So, do you want to talk a little bit more about your trips dropping Window? What that involved. JM: Oh. Nothing to them really. We just sat there and put these strips of aluminium foil through. You just pushed them through and that was it. There was nothing. Nothing really energetic about it at all. SP: So which routes did you do? Was it anywhere in particular you went to to do the — JM: Oh, there were all sorts of dog leg things. Over the North Sea primily and a lot of probably inland flying as well. Night flying. It was just operational training. SP: Yeah. JM: Yeah. But certainly some we did over the North Sea but could have been quite hairy I suppose but they weren’t. SP: So for anyone who hears your story they may not be aware what Window was used for. So do you want to say about that?. JM: It was to confuse the enemy radar. SP: Yeah. JM: Yeah. Oh yes. We did a lot of that. Window shopping. SP: Yeah. JM: Window shipping. Yes. SP: So, and what did you find it like flying in the Wellingtons because they were a — JM: Oh quite nice. Quite a good aircraft, you know [laughs] we climbed up a stepladder at the front I remember. At the nose. But they were alright. Much the same position as the, in the Lancaster. Yes, it was sort of in between the wings. But I remember on one occasion we had it was my job to fire the Very pistol. There was a Very pistol storage in the roof of the Wellington. It was for shooting a flare off if ever and I was there. I shot this flare off one night. Off it went easy enough but it had somehow set fire to the insulation around, around the storage and it was smouldering away. Anyway, we had an emergency landing because of that. It wasn’t flames. It was just smoulder and smoke so we landed at, I always remember it it was a Mosquito station called Upwood. Down, down south somewhere. Yes. Upwood. It was the first time I’d ever seen a Mosquito. Lovely aircraft. SP: I believe they gave you a little nickname because of that event did they? JM: Oh they did. No. They would have done but my sister at that time had knitted me a little skull cap and she somehow worked into the band around the headband, flames. Nobody ever called me Flames though thank goodness. In fact, I don’t think I ever wore that little skull cap. SP: A good memory of the event though. JM: Oh, I remember the helmet with flames. Yes. Oh, she was, she was an accomplished knitter. Mind you she had lots of time because she, she became a nurse. I went away from home. Nurses went away for training in those days. She was trained at, I think at that time it was called Manchester Jewish Hospital. A very rigid training there but she did well there. Yes. But as I say she may have well had plenty of time to knit on nights possibly. I don’t know. But she made this sort of Fair Isle type of skull cap for me to wear under my helmet. But yeah she worked flames across the front. But I wasn’t called Flames. No. It was just a normal, friendly bunch I suppose. SP: And you did a trip to Berchtesgaden. To the Eagle’s Nest. JM: Oh that. I think that was the last one. The last. SP: Yeah. JM: The last bombing raid. SP: Yeah. You said it was nice weather on that. JM: Oh beautiful. SP: Yeah. JM: It was April. It’s in the logbook there somewhere. But I remember it was beautiful. Oh that was another thing I’ve just remembered too [laughs] I tell you these things keep flitting back. On that particular raid, Berchtesgaden, lots of aircraft took place on that but we bombed and came away. But on the way back, it was deep in southern Germany of course a long way away but on the way back over southern Germany the bomb aimer discovered that we’d still got a hangup. A bomb had, I think it was a big one. Two thousand. I think it was a two thousand. It was a big bomb anyway. Two thousand pounder probably hung up. It was a bit hairy. But it was my job also because of my position in the Lancaster on the floor, on the right hand side of the floor just underneath just by the flight engineer’s panel there was a panel in the floor that had a lot of little sort of lift up switches and it was my job to, and in the case of a hangup on the bomb aimer’s instructions of course to pull a certain numbered little handle on the floor which I doubt he, and we [laughs] we bombed a lake in southern Germany on the way back. And it was my job to when he shouted out, ‘Bomb,’ I had to pull this little lever up. It was only a tiny little lever. Pull it up with my finger and away it went. So in the event as I say we bombed not only Berchtesgaden but we bombed this German lake as well. It was called Lake Würm. W U R M. I’ve looked it up since. A difficult place to find but it was there. It is. It’s there. But I think I don’t know why it’s called a lake because from what I can see from the quite small-scale map actually is that there is an inlet and the river outlet to this Lake Würm. It’s all different now of course. Many many years after that particular time. Nineteen. Nineteen. Just a minute. Yes. 1945 when we bombed — SP: So did — JM: Lake Würm. SP: Did they tell you if you had a hangup where to drop the bombs or was it just — JM: Oh no. The bomb — SP: The pilot decision. JM: Oh no. It was just the bomb, the bomb aimer. Well, he, the pilot and he — SP: Yeah. JM: And the bomb aimer must have — SP: Decided. JM: There was the two of them looking for somewhere to drop it you see. SP: Yeah. JM: Could have been anywhere I suppose but this lake had loomed up in the bombsight and bang. Down it went. SP: Yeah. So looking for somewhere safe to — JM: I didn’t see it explode but it went anyway. That was the main thing and we just came back then of course. Quite, quite thankfully. Yeah. SP: And what about other operations because you did quite a few other operations as well. Are there any other? JM: Oh, not all that many really. I mean compared with some people but there were. There were operations. SP: Any that stood out that were particularly memorable? JM: I think. I think I’m booked in for I don’t know it’s in my logbook there but there’s more than shows in there. I think there’s about fourteen altogether. I think there’s fourteen. SP: Which is a lot. JM: Hmmn? SP: That’s a lot. That’s still quite a lot of — JM: Yeah. SP: Yeah. JM: Let’s have a look. They’re all there. SP: Do you want to, yeah have a look in your logbook and see if there are any that stand out that you’ve got any particular memories of. JM: There’s the crew. Where are we? SP: So, yeah. John has just handed me a picture of the crew which we’ll put on with the recording. So just going through your logbook there to see what — JM: I only wish now that I was more proficient and more sensible when it came to log keeping as I was then. You know it didn’t mean much to me in those days and I just filled it in any old how [pause – pages turning] Oh dear. It’s all here. SP: Yeah. I think all early on in your logbook is all about your training isn’t it that you were talking about. JM: Yes, it was. SP: And then, yeah. JM: And the names of the places of course I should have looked at before. Raid. Oh, there they are. Raids. They were raids here from [pause] they called them raids. Names. They were probably the ones on Wellingtons. SP: Yeah. Early on your, your logbook. Don’t worry. We can, we can go — JM: Raids. High level bombing. SP: Yeah. JM: What have I done with my glasses? SP: Oh, you lost your glasses. JM: Oh here. SP: There you go. JM: I sometimes forget when they’re they’re up here and I go looking all around for them. High level bombing. That’s the east [pause – pages turning] Raid. Raid. 92 stroke 20 those are the ones probably over the North Sea. SP: The ones in the early part of your logbook would be your training. Yeah. JM: The proper destinations. SP: Yeah. JM: Where are we? Oh dear. SP: Your raids will have been in about March. February, March was it? Nineteen — JM: Dortmund. Here we are. SP: ’45. JM: Dortmund. SP: Dortmund. Yeah. JM: Herne. H E R N E. Herne, probably in the, in the [pause] what’s the name of the industrial area? SP: Around the Ruhr. JM: The Ruhr. SP: Yeah. JM: Hildesheim. Hanover. Hanover. Nordhausen. Potsdam. That was Berlin. Heligoland. That was nasty. Bremen. Oh, here we are. Home. Yes, here we are. Berchtesgaden. April the 25th. Just prior to that in [coughs] in April the 11th I notice that was in the middle of two raids. Nordhausen on the 3rd and Potsdam on the 14th. In the middle of those two was practice supply dropping. Gosh. Fancy. I got it here again. That was on the 11th and I’ve got another one here. Practice supply dropping the 24th. SP: Was that getting you ready for Operation Manna? JM: That was Berchtesgaden. Between Bremen and Brunswick. Oh, I wonder if they called those ops. I wouldn’t have called them ops. Anyway, there they are. But after Berchtesgaden came April the 29th. The Hague. SP: Right. JM: So that was the first of the drops. Yes. May the 1st Rotterdam. May the 2nd Rotterdam. May the 3rd Rotterdam. The 4th Rotterdam. The 7th Rotterdam. Good grief. And here we are of course May the 8th Victory in Europe. I’ve put May the 10th we flew to Brussels to bring back prisoners of war. Two trips there. Exodus. Yeah. Yes, we went out to in the Lancasters to Brussels and picked up twenty prisoners of war who had been brought to Brussels as a rally point. They’d been brought from prisoners of war camps and we filled each Lancaster with twenty. Just twenty. It doesn’t seem much but each one brought twenty prisoners of war back. SP: Where did you bring them back to? JM: [unclear] SP: I don’t think that would be in the logbook. I think they brought them back to a central location didn’t they? To, yeah. JM: They might have. SP: Yeah. JM: All I’ve got there is Exodus, Brussels. B58. What on earth could that mean? B58. I’ve never noticed that before. It certainly wasn’t a destination. SP: So what condition were the POWs in when you collected them? JM: Were they in? SP: What condition were they in? Were they — JM: Oh, reasonable. SP: Yeah. JM: Well, did look reasonable to us anyway. SP: Yeah. JM: Although, they weren’t injured or anything like that. They were just glad to get back. SP: Yeah. JM: I don’t recall there being any injured at all. They climbed in and we flew back. SB on that. What could that possibly mean? SP: You talked a lot about Operation Manna flights. So you told me the dates. Do you want to tell me a little about your Operation Manna flights when you dropped them the food? Was it in Rotterdam? JM: Oh, well nothing much to them really. We just flew at low level and dropped them. SP: So what sort of level were you flying at? Do you know? JM: Probably, I’m guessing it might have been three, maybe might have been two. I’ve got some photographs. SP: We’ll have a look at those in a minute. JM: Yes, okay. SP: We’ll record and take some photos. Yeah. JM: Yeah. I’ve got some photographs. SP: So, two or three hundred. JM: That actually show people on the ground and the aircraft. Yeah. SP: So it was — JM: I’d forgotten that. SP: Yeah. So two or three hundred feet is what you were flying at. JM: I would think so. SP: Yeah. JM: Probably less. SP: Yeah. JM: Thinking about it. SP: And do you know what supplies you were dropping? JM: Well, I’ve only learned later. Quite recently at this medal ceremony. SP: Yeah. JM: The sort of things that we were dropping. Basic food things. Salt and flour. Bread sometimes I suppose. I don’t know. We had nothing to with that. We just collected sacks of food and supplies of whatever they were short of but also I remember on all of those by this time we had learned what we were doing and why we were doing it to these starving Dutch people. But on all of those trips I remember certainly all our crew if not all the crews on the station at Kirmington maybe more, probably more but if the, if our crew was typical what we all did was at that time all crews when they went on any trip at all were given, I think we were given a little pack of something but we all had a block of chocolate. Plain chocolate. It was Terry’s Empire Chocolate I remember in a sort of parchment coloured wrapper. Terry’s Empire Chocolate. It wasn’t very nice. It was plain but all the crew got the, saved their chocolate rations and when we were throwing, throwing the food out we threw the chocolate out as well. For kids. We all did that. Yeah. So — SP: That would have been very welcome from the children. JM: Well, of course it would be but I remember doing that. I remember the particular chocolate bars. Terry’s Empire Chocolate. Yeah. SP: And for that I believe you were recently awarded the medal from the Dutch. JM: Well, yes. SP: For those trips. JM: For the whole operation really. Not for the chocolate [laughs] SP: No. No [laughs] the operations, yeah. JM: Yes. Yes, that was quite a surprise really because as I say it was just, just a sort of a routine flight as far as we were concerned but the war hadn’t finished then of course. We were only, we were only able to do this Operation Manna because the, I mean we were still at war then. Sort of tailing off but we were still at war. The local commanders, the German and the British commanders had come to some sort of agreement. Some sort of truce. So we’d gone relying on this more or less word of mouth truce which turned out to be alright and we bombed with all the food successfully. But I remember as we flew, as we flew out and dropped and flew out still at low level I remember peering down. I could see through the windows. Peering down and I saw my first Germans. German soldiers, about five of them were sat all around this big anti-aircraft gun and whilst we passed over I could see them clearly. You know. I thought well that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a German. Yeah. SP: Very low down weren’t you so — JM: Oh yeah. We were. Yeah. I don’t suppose we flew much higher to come back because it was all over then. We dropped the food and come back. Yeah. How long did it take? Yes, these Germans. I suppose they were as surprised to see me as I was them but they didn’t fire at us. That was the main thing. Oh, yes. There’s another name I remember [pause] Bensberg. Bensberg. SP: You talked about Heligoland earlier. You said that was quite a hard trip. One of your operations. JM: Oh, it would have been. Heligoland. I don’t remember a lot about it really. SP: Yeah. I think it was quite fiercely defended around that area wasn’t it? Yeah. JM: I think, I think it must have been. SP: Yeah. JM: Heligoland. SP: So did you get — JM: It was well defended. Yes, it was. SP: Did you see much flak and that as you were flying over? JM: Oh, we saw plenty of flak at night. SP: Yeah. JM: And day. SP: Yeah. JM: Particularly day. Yeah. Some. Yeah, there are some nasty memories really from daytime raids. You see, in the wireless operator’s position we had quite a biggish window immediately on the left-hand side and one on the right-hand side as well. We were right in the middle of the two wings and if I stood up there was a big astrodome. A plastic astrodome which was really there for navigation reasons you know so we could take sextant readings but I could stand up there and just have a look around you know. Like that. Daft as you like. Stood there. But as I say I saw some nasty things in daylight raids. All the flak at night was, yeah it was pretty fierce on occasion. But the daytime ones were heck I saw an aircraft, a Lancaster sort of going down and twisting around, smoke coming out. Another, another one I saw might have been a different raid but daytime saw and counted four parachutes come out at the back and then the aircraft go down. Yeah. Oh yes. It was, it was bombing and anti-aircraft. No mistake about that. They didn’t like us coming [laughs] SP: So, did you find the day flights — JM: Pardon? SP: Did you find the day flights then a lot worse than the night flights? JM: Well, we could see what was going on I suppose. SP: Right. JM: Night time was, had its own peculiarities. Searchlights all over the place and bomb explosions, you know. You could see the black and smoke and orange and red burst all over the place. Yes. And as well on those night time raids we had the, the benefit of Pathfinders. They were particularly good Lancaster crews, well experienced that, that were formed to make preliminary flights to the target not too early of course and pinpoint the target with yellow, with green or red markers. Flare markers on the ground. Dropped flares because the target was lit, isolated by flares. Red or green. And then as we came along in our hordes the Pathfinders simply told us which markers to bomb on. To aim on. So if they told us aim on the red the bomb aimer would, ‘Left. Left. Left. Left.’ Aim on the red and bang. Away they’d go. All on the right. All on the left on the red. Yeah. So whether that helped or not I suppose it did. It must have worked. Yes. The Pathfinder Force. They were the elite bomber crews and they dropped targets for the rest of the raid to bomb. Oh, yes. Funny. Dear me. Yeah. Yeah. SP: So you talked about the searchlights. Did you ever get caught in those? Were you — JM: No. No. Luckily. We could certainly see them. SP: Yeah. JM: Flashing by. I mean they didn’t, didn’t follow an aircraft. They just rolled about randomly until they did land on one and then it was, it was, that was too bad then for the one it had caught because they really got hammered, you know because they could stay on it then you know and bomb. Threw everything at it. Yes. It was [pause] it must have been a nasty experience to getting caught by searchlights. I remember we did come back one, from one raid somewhere, daylight with a tiny little bit of a flak hole in the, in one of the elevator tails. Nothing much. As big as your hand. It was nothing but it was a bit of a flak. We must have floated by and caught it. Nothing really but other than that we were, we were quite safe from all sorts of nasty things. SP: So when you got back then the plane would go to the ground crew would it for them to repair? JM: Oh, yes. They’d go in for maintenance and repair. Yeah. Yeah. SP: So did you tend to have the same Lancaster? One in particular. JM: Well, we tended to. We didn’t, I mean we weren’t, weren’t allocated any particular one but just grabbed one. We had one that that we liked rather a lot we could tell. It was AS-Jig. J, J for John. Yes. AS-Jig. We had that three or four times I think. Oh, yes. Here we are J2. J2. But two or three. Yeah. J. J. J2. J. J. J. J. J. Could you believe it? Yeah. J. April. Yes. We did. We had it fairly frequently [laughs] Would you believe it? SP: Some crews have mentioned they’d have the same plane and if they had another plane they were always a bit nervous. They liked the same plane. They liked the same one. JM: Oh, I don’t know. We never bothered. SP: Yeah. JM: We had all sorts. SP: Yeah. JM: AM ASM-Mike. J2 L Q S K M Q J M N. Oh, we had all sorts. SP: So having a lot of different planes before you got to keep getting J most likely. You didn’t have that same — JM: Well, I don’t — SP: Worry as others. Yeah. JM: I think it was just random. SP: Yeah. JM: But there certainly seems to be a lot of Js there. I never noticed that before. I knew there were one or two but there’s just as many obscure ones. We’ve got A2, F C D. Yeah. T B2. Oh, we picked any old one. SP: That came up, yeah. JM: That just came along. SP: So you did all your operations and there were quite a few of those. And then you did Operation Manna and then Exodus with your POWs so — JM: Yes. SP: So then was it demob did you say? Did you go to anywhere in particular for that? JM: Oh yes. I went to Training Command and I was posted to Training Command as an instructor. Oh, dear me. To a place called Topcliffe. But this, this was after the war. Yes. I was posted to eventually to the Isle of Man. A place called Jurby. But I was only there three or four days I think but everything was in a bit of a turmoil in those days as regards what to do with all the surplus aircrew. You know, what the heck do we do with them? You know, there was literally thousands I suppose. Aircrew can’t be employed. Nothing to do with them so you know as I say early, as I said earlier on we were given indefinite leave which was quite nice for us. Came home and did whatever we did. As I say I got a job and yeah it was fine. SP: You said that job was a trainee draughtsman. JM: Oh no. That was after when. SP: Oh, right. JM: After all this. That was after I was demobbed I became a draughtsman. SP: And you say you spent some time after the war in London. Was that with your job then when you went? JM: Pardon? SP: You said you spent some time in London after the war. JM: Oh yes. Only about a year I think if that. It was only because I suppose a change of jobs I suppose. Just for no reason really. Oh, a friend of mind had gone down. Yeah. So, a very close friend of mine, Eddie he was on the next drawing board to me. You know, spent a lot of time together. He was a great mentor of mine. Yes. I learned a lot from Eddie. SP: And that’s where you met your wife as well. In London was it? JM: Eventually, yes, we did. At the drawing office. SP: Your wife’s name is? JM: It was — SP: Or was. JM: Pardon? SP: Your wife’s name was? JM: Margaret. SP: Margaret. You met Margaret there. JM: Yeah. She was a tracer. In those days the drawing procedure was for the draughtsman to draw the drawings in pencil and then they’d go to the tracer to be traced on to tracing cloth in Indian ink you know. SP: Yeah. JM: So she was a tracer. Yeah, that’s how I met her. Yes. Had quite a long courtship I remember. Lasted about six or seven years [laughs] oh dear me. Broke up once for a spell. Yeah. Quite a good spell really. Yes. SP: Then eventually married and three children. JM: Yes. Yes. We came back together again eventually. Got married soon after. Yes. SP: And during that time you were saying you did a lot of playing in bands. Different instruments. Yeah. JM: Oh yes. Did a lot of, yeah. SP: Yeah. JM: I also learned to drive. Bought my first MG whilst I was single. What else? I did a lot of walking. Country walking. Youth hostelling in the Lake District particularly. North Wales. Mountains. Yes. That was during the time between being demobbed and getting married [unclear – static interference during recording] SP: And then you got to quite big bands and you played with them. JM: Yes I did with Wingates. Wingates Temperance Band was the full title but it was anything but temperance believe me but a very very old established band. Well known and highly regarded. But yeah. Who did I play with? I played with Wingates. I’ve done massed bands with Wingates, Faireys, Gordons. All top bands you know. SP: Did you play at any special events? Any special locations? JM: No [pause] Well, I can’t remember really. We played the Bellevue countless times in competitions. Concerts of course. High class concerts. As I say we competed in the town. In the Albert Hall. SP: That must have been special. At the Albert Hall. JM: Yeah. It was. Oh, it was special that. Yeah. You go down for a couple of days I think. Two nights. Yes. That’s, that’s quite a do. But yes. Yes, I’ve spent a lot of time banding. Well, that’s been my main pleasure really. SP: And it’s not that long ago that you gave up did you say? JM: Well, probably about I should think about two years. Possibly three now. SP: So, in bands until you were ninety-seven. JM: Pardon? SP: So, in the bands until you were ninety-six, ninety-seven. JM: Ninety-eight actually. SP: Wow. Yeah. Ninety-eight. Yeah. JM: Yes, ninety-eight. Ninety-eight when I gave up. So, two year, a good two years ago. SP: Excellent. There we are. So, that’s a fantastic summary of your war years and your life before and after. Is there anything else important that you think you want to mention or add to the interview? JM: I’ll probably think of it when you’ve gone but it’s more or less the bulk of what’s happened to me I think. SP: On behalf of the International Bomber Command Centre I’d like to thank you John for taking the time today to record all those really important memories of your important life. A real honour to meet you and a huge thank you for everything you did. SP: Oh, that’s fine. I bet it sounds a bit funny on replay [laughs] Oh, dear me. 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 John Monaghan Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Susanne Pescott Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2024-08-19 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 00:58:30 Audio Recording 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 AMonaghanJ240819 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Maureen Clarke Julie Williams Carolyn Emery Description An account of the resource John Monaghan was born in Blackpool but grew up in the Manchester area. He played coronet in the Home Guard Band. He volunteered for the RAF and trained as a wireless operator. He was posted to 166 Squadron at RAF Kirmington. Amongst his operations was the bombing of Berchtesgaden in the final days of the war when they discovered they still had a bomb onboard so they bombed a lake on their way home. He also took part in Operation Manna and Operation Exodus. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain Germany Netherlands Atlantic Ocean--North Sea England--Lincolnshire Germany--Berchtesgaden Netherlands--Rotterdam Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1945-05-01 1945-05-02 1945-05-03 1945-05-04 1945-05-07 1 Group 166 Squadron aircrew bombing entertainment Home Guard Lancaster Operation Exodus (1945) Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945) RAF Kirmington Wellington wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2492/49677/SClarkeBE18567619v10119.2.pdf 53d0b563b0f0a909de0468ed041315e5 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 Clarke, Brian Edward Description An account of the resource 165 tems. The collection concerns Sergeant Brian Edward Clarke (1867619 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, correspondence, documents, objects and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 576 Squadron and was killed 14 January 1944. <br /><br />The collection was donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by <span>George Henry</span> Clarke and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Brian Clarke is available via the&nbsp;<a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/104293/">IBCC Losses Database.</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-08-01 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Clarke, BE 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 Brian Clarke biography Description An account of the resource Brian's story told by his brother, Geoffrey's grand daughter. Louise goes into detail about his last operation. There are photographs taken at school and Brian in the Home Guard. Also there is a copy of his school report. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Louise Clarke Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Germany--Berlin Poland--Szczecin Poland Poland--Szczecin Germany--Frankfurt am Main 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 eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Ten page printed booklet Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available SClarkeBE18567619v10119 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SClarkeBE18567619v10119 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-01-14 1944-01-15 576 Squadron air gunner Air Gunnery School aircrew bale out bomb aimer final resting place flight engineer Home Guard killed in action Lancaster missing in action navigator Operational Training Unit Pathfinders pilot RAF Elsham Wolds RAF Finningley RAF Morpeth target indicator training wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2492/49676/SClarkeBE18567619v10118-0001.1.jpg 3076ba9b20f573c604a27dac7dd44542 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 Clarke, Brian Edward Description An account of the resource 165 tems. The collection concerns Sergeant Brian Edward Clarke (1867619 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, correspondence, documents, objects and photographs. He flew operations as an air gunner with 576 Squadron and was killed 14 January 1944. <br /><br />The collection was donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by <span>George Henry</span> Clarke and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Brian Clarke is available via the&nbsp;<a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/104293/">IBCC Losses Database.</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-08-01 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Clarke, BE 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 Brian, Home Guard, Geoff Air Training Corps Description An account of the resource Two photographs of the Clarke brothers, dated 1943. #1 Brian sitting with Geoff standing behind. Annotated 'B.19'. #2 Geoff standing, annotated 'G.17'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1943 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant British Army Civilian 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 Two b/w photographs Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SClarkeBE18567619v10118-0001 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain home front Home Guard https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2669/47502/SBoxDC1578987v20037.1.jpg 97edd9e39121268c4d3e83825cdcb9ba 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 Box, Douglas Charles Box, D C Description An account of the resource 219 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Douglas Charles Box (b. 1922, 1578987 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, correspondence and photographs. It includes&nbsp;<a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2677">an album of prisoner of war photographs.</a><br />He flew operations as an air gunner with 75 Squadron and became a prisoner of war. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Ian Box and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-11-06 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Box, DC 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 Special Order of the Day Description An account of the resource The commander of the local Home Guard thanks the Guard for their loyalty and service. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource 2nd Herefordshire Home Guard Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-12-04 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Herefordshire Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Service material Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SBoxDC1578987v20037 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 home front Home Guard https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2669/47501/SBoxDC1578987v20036.jpg 07a7cddb8782df5f376c197496225d38 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 Box, Douglas Charles Box, D C Description An account of the resource 219 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Douglas Charles Box (b. 1922, 1578987 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, correspondence and photographs. It includes&nbsp;<a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2677">an album of prisoner of war photographs.</a><br />He flew operations as an air gunner with 75 Squadron and became a prisoner of war. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Ian Box and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-11-06 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Box, DC 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 Home Guard Certificate Description An account of the resource A certificate awarded to Doug Box's father for serving in the Home Guard between 7 June 1940 and 31 December 1944. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource George VI, King of Great Britain (1936-1952) Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Physical object Physical object. Decoration Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SBoxDC1578987v20036 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. 1940-06-07 1941 1942 1943 1944-12-31 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain civil defence George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952) Home Guard https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2658/46498/MShepherdGC3030576-180525-070007.2.jpg 7f48dae77ba8ac4c7134d865a131dce8 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 Shepherd, George Charles. The war years Description An account of the resource 24 items. Correspondence, documents, and photographs of George Shepherd's service. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-05-25 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 Shepherd, C 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 Diary of events as member of air training corps -2 Description An account of the resource Continues to describe events taken part in in 1942 from July to December. Includes: camps, visiting aerodrome, flying (DH86), swimming, talks, cadet dance, home guard , rifle drill, church parade, fire watching, boxing, football, pictures, dancing and social. At bottom - b/w photograph of a large group of air training corps cadets sitting and standing in five rows. Officer commanding seated in middle of second row. Captioned 1481 Squadron ATC'. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--London England--Buckinghamshire England--Kent England--London 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 Photograph Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photocopied sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MShepherdGC3030576-180525-070007 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. civil defence firefighting Home Guard RAF Biggin Hill RAF Halton sport training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1875/46438/SHarriganD[Ser -DoB]v070002-0002.mp3 5fa6f78c70bdc7d65611eb16871b5784 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 Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire 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 2017-06-19 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire Description An account of the resource 34 items. Interviews with veterans recorded by Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire.<br /><br />Interview with Bertie Salvage <br />Three part interview with Dougie Marsh <br />Interview with Terry Hodson <br />Interview with Stan Waite Interview with John Langston<br />Interview with Nelson Nix <br />Two part interview with Bob Panton <br />Interview with Basil Fish <br />Interview with Ernest Groeger <br />Interview with Wilf Keyte <br />Interview with Reginald John Herring <br />Interview with Kathleen Reid <br />Interview with Allan Holmes <br />Interview with John Tomlinson <br />Interview with Cliff Thorpe and Roy Smith <br />Interview with Peter Scoley <br />Interview with Kenneth Ivan Duddell <br />Interview with Christopher Francis Allison <br />Interview with Bernard Bell <br />Interview with George Arthur Bell <br />Interview with George William Taplin <br />Interview with Richard Moore <br />Interview with Kenneth Edgar Neve <br />Interview with Annie Mary Blood <br />Interview with Dennis Brader <br />Interview with Les Stedman <br />Interview with Anthony Edward Mason <br />Interview with Anne Morgan Rose Harcombe<br /> <p>The following interviews have been moved to the relevant collections.<br /><span>Interview with&nbsp;<a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46454">Kathleen Reid</a></span><br />Interview with Wing Commander <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46467">Kenneth Cook DFC</a><br />Interview with&nbsp;<a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46456">Colin Cole</a><br />Interview with <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/46464">Charles Avey</a><br />Interview with <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46470">John Bell</a><br />Interview with <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46459">Les Rutherford</a><br />Interview with <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/items/show/46460">James Douglas Hudson</a></p> Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document Interviewer: Ken, good afternoon. I’d like first of all could you please give us your full name and your date of birth. KN: Kenneth Edgar Neve, and that’s N E V E. I was born on the 30th September 1925. Interviewer: Ok. Thanks very much. And what I’d like to do to start talking about your military career really we’ll go right back to the very beginning and talk about the time that you were involved with the LDV and you were a runner I believe. KN: I was a runner for my father who was made captain of the Home Guard. He worked with a big factory making aircraft instruments and when war was declared they said well you have, we’ve got four or five hundred people working in the factory and we’re going to give, the LDV will be that unit there. That was the first one in Basingstoke and so he would, because he retired from the, from the Army in 1936 so when was [pause] war was declared 1939. So, war was declared and they said, ‘Well, crikey you’re the guy to do the job ex-colour sergeant major, you know.’ He was retired. So they employed him as captain of the LDV which became the Home Guard of course. And because I was brought up in the Army obviously and he said, ‘Well, look —’ he said, I said, ‘Can I join dad?’ He said, ‘Well, we’ll have to call you the captain’s runner.’ They gave me little khaki things and I used to be in there throwing grenades and all this stuff [laughs] And so anyway after, after a while I decided to join the Cadet Force so they made me a sergeant believe it or not. And then eventually I thought well it’s time now to decide whether I’m going to wait until eighteen to be called up or should I do it on the, on my seventeenth. So I did that and I don’t know how far you want me to go but when I went to Reading to say yes I’m fourteen and the guy says, ‘Well, what service do you want to go?’ Army, Navy, Air Force whatever. I said, ‘Well, I really wanted something with, with ships. I thought, I thought that would be rather nice.’ He said, ‘Well, do you mean the Royal Navy? I said, ‘No. No.’ I said, ‘It’s to do with aircraft as well.’ ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘You mean the Fleet Air Arm?’ So I said, ‘Yes, that’s fine.’ So anyway, I went to RAF Henlow for six months and qualified as an engineer and I just came back to my first unit which was, which is now the, which is now the first unit of the Fleet Air Arm was where the Southampton Airport is now and we had Walruses and all sorts of things, you know. Interviewer: That was at HMS Raven. KN: That was my first one there look. Interviewer: Ok. Yeah. KN: And so anyway, so I suppose I’d only, I was not far from Basingstoke you see and so I used to get home every other weekend. That was fine. So all of a sudden I was just going to breakfast one morning and there was a notice board which said I had to go and report and they said, ‘Oh,’ He said, ‘Yes. Well, they’ve got problems with the RAF. They haven’t got enough people with your qualifications and, —' and he said, ‘We’re going to loan you to them.’ The next thing I know 190 Squadron’s Stirlings. Can you imagine looking at Stirlings after one of those bloody things? Interviewer: Must have been massive. Was it? Yeah. KN: I mean the main wheels were over six, six foot six high they were. Interviewer: Yeah. KN: And so because I used to wander around there and nobody said, ‘Who are you and what are you doing?’ You know. I’ve got a Navy uniform by the way you see. So eventually I joined one of the units there and, and of course then I was there until after D-Day. I stayed with them all that time. Interviewer: So, what did, what were your duties then on the squadron? KN: Just aeronautical engineer. That’s all. Interviewer: Ground or air? KN: Ground. Ground. Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you just, so it was general servicing and — KN: Yeah. Well, because I’d done quite a big study and I was, I used to do the electrics, instruments, oxygen all those sorts of things. So that was my job. Interviewer: Yeah. Did you find it a good aircraft to work on? KN: Fantastic aeroplane. Yeah. Whenever I could get a ride in it I did you know. I’d had probably dozens of rides. We were testing after major work in the, you know. I’m not saying the right word. Interviewer: Servicing. KN: Yeah. Yeah. When they did ground, the servicing up to a certain degree you ought to have a test flight afterwards and I was always on that you see and so any way one, and I enjoyed it. It was wonderful life and, and then of course we painted all the white lines and three whites on each on the fuselage all ready for and there was all these soldiers coming on the day that we left with all the parachutists and — Interviewer: This was ready for the D-Day invasion. KN: Gliders and everything like that. Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. KN: On the day it happened and there were people were killing themselves. I don’t know whether you know this but all these Army guys here they couldn’t face it and I think there were two or three committed suicide. Interviewer: Really? KN: Waiting to be boarding on to the aircraft which I just couldn’t — Interviewer: The fear of the unknown. KN: Couldn’t take it. I was only a young lad really still you know. Interviewer: Yeah. That’s incredible. KN: It was. Interviewer: That’s the first I’ve ever heard of that. KN: Yeah. Yeah. Interviewer: That’s amazing. I mean obviously then the Stirling had been employed on bomber duties but obviously when you saw it it was towing the gliders etcetera. Is that – KN: Well, that was just before D-Day. Interviewer: Yeah. KN: Oh no. We were, we were doing normal bombing runs. Interviewer: Normal bombing runs. KN: And all sorts of things you know. Yes. Interviewer: So did the squadron lose a lot of aircraft? Or – KN: Well, fortunately not. I had two aircraft to look after and, with 190 and we never had any problems at all. We had the odd person who was shot up, the navigator or gunner you see and we used to have, well I didn’t have to do it but it was horrible inside, you know. Interviewer: Clearing the mess. Yeah. KN: And my, my job also was on the bomb release down in the front there you see. So I used to make sure everything when it was all loaded that it was ready for dropping you know. Interviewer: Yeah. KN: I just loved it. Interviewer: From what I hear you know I mean you must have had a great affinity with the air crew then. The planes you were on. KN: Oh yeah. Oh, yes. Interviewer: Were they a young happy bunch? KN: Yeah. Well, I was sort of left alone because I was this old man out you know. Who is this guy? You know. He must be something special the job he’s doing here you know. He’s dressed different and, oh yeah. Interviewer: Did you live in a billet then on the station? KN: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Interviewer: How was that then? The after hours. What did you do in the NAAFI etcetera? KN: Not a lot. Generally just a NAAFI you know and then of course the old wagons used to come around with the coffee and tea and — Interviewer: Yeah. KN: Various things. Yeah. It was fantastic. And, and of course after that once D-Day took place we carried on. We were dropping people all over left, right and centre. And then eventually the senior, well from Daedalus in Lee on Solent was their headquarters. Interviewer: Right. KN: For the Fleet Air Arm. And this guy used to come up every so often. He was a flight lieutenant sort of type you know and he said to me, he said, ‘I think you’ve had enough here haven’t you?’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve enjoyed it.’ If you know what I mean. So he said, ‘I want you, we’ve now got a Technical College.’ The Fleet Air Arm. Which we never had before. That’s why I had to do my initial training at RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire. Six months was the first one I did. So they wanted me so I did extra, a lot of extra study and don’t forget I left school at fourteen. Interviewer: Yeah. KN: And so I went to the new college and I did ever so well and so when I, it was time for me to go I joined BOAC which was at Aldermaston. What was an aircraft unit. And so I worked for them and then they sent me to America and Canada to study the new aircraft that was going to come over for London Airport when it was made. It wasn’t even made then you see. Interviewer: Right. What was the name of this aircraft? KN: Well, there were, there were two or three kinds but they were all American. All American. Nothing English at all. I’m sorry I can’t remember that now. Interviewer: That’s ok. KN: I mean, so after, after that I decided, I went to Montreal for a year to study. When I came back we were at Bristol and our aircraft was in in Bristol and they said I’d done such a good job over there and we were going to do this. Well, it never happened because there were seniors coming in from all over the place to Bristol getting ready to go to London Airport. So I didn’t have quite the seniority that they’d got and eventually, so I said well to heck with this because I said, ‘Look, this guy in Montreal said I’m going to send you a good report. You’ve done ever so well.’ He said, ‘Well we can’t because there’s people been in longer than you have and yet you are expecting me to teach them what to do, you know with these new American aircraft.’ So, one thing led, so I happened to go home at the weekend and I went and got “Flight” magazine and there was a firm wanted somebody like me, aeronautical engineer at Blackbushe near Camberley. And I did about four or five years there. They made me, I was in charge of five units there you know. Radio, electrics, this, that, and the other thing and they said, and all of a sudden somebody said to me, ‘The Canadian Air Force are looking for people you know.’ So it was in West London so I wrote to them and I got an interview and all the rest of it. I mean the thing that we, they couldn’t believe was because I did have all these wonderful things. I’d done it. Studied well and I got. So this, what was it? He was quite a senior officer and he sat down. He said, ‘Right, Mr Neve,’ he said, ‘We’re quite amazed at how much you’ve done in the aeronautical world.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve had the opportunities and I’ve enjoyed it.’ So he said, ‘Right, let’s just take some, I’ve got to send all this off to Ottawa before to say yes we’d like to have you and, of course [laughs] I’d like to tell you this story if you don’t mind. He said, he said to me, ‘Ok. Right. Now, let’s talk about education, shall we? University?’ I said, ‘No.’ ‘What? Technical College or – ?’ ‘No. No.’ He said, ‘Well, where did you finish up?’ I said, ‘At Fairfield School, Basingstoke. Fourteen.’ He said, ‘You’re having a joke, aren’t you?’ You know. Sort of thing. I said, ‘No. I left 1939 at Basingstoke.’ And so he said, ‘No. I can’t, I can’t send this to Ottawa. It’s ridiculous. They might think oh he’s done ever so well and he left school when he was fourteen.’ That is grade five or something in Canada. You know whatever it was you know. So, he said, so he said to me, he said, ‘Is there any way you can get somebody to write from your school to say that, ‘Yes, you did attend,’ at least, you know. So, Mr Pill, I was in the top grade when I left at fourteen and his name was Mr Pill. He was a Yorkshireman and he was brilliant with bits of chalk. Right between the eyes if you were nodding off you know. So, I wrote a letter to Fairfield School and he’d left there and he’d gone to another big school. But eventually I had a letter to say, “To whom it may concern. Yes, I would like to confirm —” Da da da and all the rest of it. So I sent it off. It went to Ottawa and they accepted it. The next thing I know I’m four years with Sabre aircraft in Germany. Interviewer: Wow. KN: Without getting to — Interviewer: They posted you straight to Germany on a fighter squadron. KN: Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. That must have been marvellous because the Sabre obviously was just for the enemy — KN: Well, we had more prangs than whatever. Interviewer: Really? A lot of crashes. KN: Terrible. Their engines used to suck out you know. Interviewer: Big problem. KN: If you went down too low. If you didn’t keep up a certain speed when they, if they went off looking for people or looking for an object or all the rest of it and they used to get and then the engines just used to go, ‘pfft’ like that. And we lost so many. Interviewer: Really? KN: Believe me. So after, after four years they sent me to Prince Edward Island, Summerside and had a wonderful time there, you know. I enjoyed every bit. That was my aircraft there. Interviewer: That’s a, is that some sort of an Electra or [pause] it looks like an Electra. KN: No. It’s an Argus that one is. Interviewer: Oh, is it Argus we’re looking at? We’re looking at a photograph now of a Canadian four piston engine — KN: Yeah. Interviewer: Obviously, a Maritimes because it’s got a boom tail on it. KN: Yeah. Yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. KN: Well, what, you see this what our job was it was equipped in the front there with looking for submarines which we should have had during the war. We used to fly six foot over the water. I used to go on all the crews because I used to, well there were various reasons I did and because I was crew chief. They made me crew chief you see. So we used to leave, we used to leave Summerside, go right down the east coast of America right down to the bottom then we’d cross over and we were working with the RAF. They had submarines and we had to find them and if the weather was right we were only so many, thirty feet above the water and this was a fantastic machine. Anything within twenty miles it would pick it up. Anything metal. So then we’d go across to South Africa and we would play. We’d do the same thing for other units and we’d go all the way up through Europe and we ended up in Iceland and that sort of thing. It had thirty five flying hours. We had double crews. Interviewer: Amazing. I mean that, it’s such a story that’s not been told really about what, what fledgling Air Forces after the war did. I mean the Canadian Air Force obviously as you know was quite small at the outbreak of war and was a huge Air Force when they finished. KN: Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Interviewer: And yeah. That’s wonderful to recount those stories. I mean I’d just like to think of you, looking back really just to go back to we talked about you ended up working on world breaking machines really but you started off there working on what was affectionately known as the old Stringbags when you first started. KN: Oh yeah. Yeah. Interviewer: Did you feel working on that aircraft you had a particular affinity for working with such an old aircraft? Was it something special? KN: If I tell you something it can be taken off of there? So, I’m working on one of the old Swordfish you see and I’m right down and I’m looking at all the instrument panels behind the flying panel alright. There was something wrong with this one. It wasn’t working. So I worked on that and got it right. So I’m there laying down here and I’m doing all this with just a torch you know. And the next thing I [laughs] a pair of legs come in the cockpit and all I’m looking at is a pair of legs and some knickers. [laughs] So, I said, ‘Who the hell is that?’ You know, and she says, ‘Oh, it’s me.’ Because they were having girls then in the Fleet Air Arm, you know learning instruments and various other things. So I thought that was rather different. Interviewer: Well, that will always stay with you won’t it forever. Yeah. A lovely little story. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Ken thank you ever so much for just recounting some of the tales there. I mean, I think you can honestly say that your time in the military was certainly and working with the military was certainly varied. To think that you started off before the war really and finished up as part of a NATO operation in Germany. KN: I’d like you, when you, when you decide you’ve had enough I’ve got something I’d like to show you up behind you. Let me just — Interviewer: Ok. Alright. Well, you know that’s that done but thank you ever so much as I say and we look forward to putting this on to our Archive and thank you very much, Ken. KN: I had a wonderful war and you know I, everything just I never worried. I mean the house next door at Beaconsfield Road in Basingstoke you know all those flare bombs they used to drop there? Well, they burned out next door to me. There was a bomber, a bomb, a bomb had dropped, a German bomb had dropped one three hundred mile, three hundred yards away and that was a sort of a hospital thing for women you know I think it was and all. And I used to I mean at fourteen I used to go out at night with all the lads because all the big [pause] you know when there was a, when the siren went we knew there were aircraft coming over from the coast and that and of course we used to have all the big lights, the searchlights and we used to go up by the church if not the school where I went was not far up the road and I’d go and I would be with all the men all the time. It was just something to do you know. Interviewer: Yeah. KN: And we’d pick it up. Not we but where they were doing it they’d pick it up and then of course then would drop and they would release sort of bombs going left, right and centre and it didn’t bother me one little bit. Interviewer: You’ve no fear at that age. KN: No. Interviewer: Yeah. It’s amazing. KN: It was excitement. Interviewer: Yeah. KN: It was lovely. Interviewer: Well, thank you so much for recounting that. KN: Well — Interviewer: And I hope you’ve enjoyed telling the story to us. KN: Yeah. Ok. 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 Kenneth Edgar Neve 1004,1005-Neve, Kenneth Edgar Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SHarriganD[Ser#-DoB]v07 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 Navy Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 00:19:49 audio recording Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending revision of OH transcription Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dave Harrigan This Interview was recorded by Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Description An account of the resource Before the outbreak of war, Ken Neve (b.1925) served as the captain's runner with the Home Guard, under his father who was the captain. Ken joined the Fleet Air Arm, which he chose as he wanted to work with both ships and aircraft. After training to be an aeronautical engineer at RAF Henlow he was posted to HMS Raven to work with Walruses. Due to a lack of suitable RAF engineers, he was posted to 190 RAF Squadron, where he worked on Stirlings. He remembers painting the white stripes on them prior to the D-Day landings and the reaction of the army personnel when they were told about the coming invasion of France. After the war Ken joined BOAC. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Bedfordshire England--Hampshire Atlantic Ocean Atlantic Ocean--Solent Channel Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Julie Williams Claire Campbell Maureen Clarke ground personnel Home Guard Swordfish Walrus https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2679/46293/YNorthWA1583475v1.1.pdf 05e1b1bd501dc90b52aca7bfb700b8ae 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 William North's 1940 diary Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alan North Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940 Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Diary Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context YNorthWA1583475v1 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Description An account of the resource Contains notes about work, cadets and Local Defence Volunteers, the weather and films seen. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain 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 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription bombing entertainment home front Home Guard https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2510/43800/NMartinWF191020-05.1.jpg 0f7d20b494a156527b0cd54e25cb9087 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 Martin, William Fisher Martin, W F Description An account of the resource 37 items. The collection concerns William Fisher Martin (b. 1914, 1554690 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book documents and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 50, 57 and 617 Squadrons. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Wendy Rothery and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-10-20 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 Martin, WF 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 Ocean Daily News, 29 June 1943 Description An account of the resource A news sheet sold on the troopship returning to the UK. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1943-06-29 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France Italy Italy--Messina Germany France--Orléans Tunisia Tunisia--Tunis United States New York (State)--New York Russia (Federation) Russia (Federation)--Moscow Russia (Federation)--Karelia Russia (Federation)--Orel Region (Orlovskai︠a︡ oblastʹ) Russia (Federation)--Bri︠a︡nsk Greece Papua New Guinea Burma Pennsylvania France--Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais) Germany--Ruhr (Region) Italy--Sicily Atlantic Ocean North Africa New York (State) Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context NMartinWF191020-05 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943-06-29 B-17 bombing civil defence Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945) Home Guard https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1173/42565/BTurnhamKTurnhamKv1.pdf cafcf14fe39f6423c06eaa44b0735613 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 Turnham, Ken K Turnham Description An account of the resource 11 items. An oral history interview with Flight Lieutenant Ken Turnham (1924 - 2018, 1850743, 197068 Royal Air Force) his log book and documents. He completed 29 operations as a wireless operator with 115 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Turnham and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle. 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 2017-10-09 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 Turnham, K Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document My Life and Time (Dedicated to Peter, my son) [RAF emblem] [115 Sqd. Badge] [photograph] By Ken Turnham (1924 - 2018) [page break] [italics] My Life and Time (Dedicated to Peter, our Son) (By Ken Turnham) [/italics] Born in the year 1924, and brought up with my family of two brothers and two sisters in the village of Tyttenhanger, St Albans, Hertfordshire, I can recall that I had a very happy childhood, with very fond memories of rural life in our village community. In those days, school days were happy days, something which I looked forward to eagerly, especially the summer holidays, which I invariably spent with my relations down on the farm in Weeden outside Aylesbury, other times down in Weymouth also with relatives. My early recollections of my youth, living in Tyttenhanger were very happy times. My father was a great gardener, he grew almost every conceivable vegetable you could name, peas, beans, marrows, onions, celery and we even had a brick building where he cultivated mushrooms, plus a 22 pole allotment for potatoes only, the harvest of which he claimed for our supplies, in addition our soft fruits raspberries, strawberries, red and black currants, gooseberries, apples, pears and plums were plentiful. We also had plenty of livestock, goats, hens, rabbits, pigs, geese, ducks, we were truly self supporting. With a deep well at the bottom of our garden, a lovely supply of cool water but a bit of a job for my mother on washdays, when all had to be brought up and the old copper boiler put into operation. The same procedure was carried out on bath nights, fetching the water from the well, heating by the copper boiler and filling the tin bath in the kitchen, this was a great treat. I remember I used to help with the harvesting at haymaking time, it was great fun. The local farmers used to employ some of the inmates from the local Hill End Hospital (mental). My reward was enjoying the large wedge of fruit cake and a mug of tea at the end of the days work. I can recall two inmates in particular who were named 'Jesus', always singing hymns and 'Dusty' who was always playing the Jews harp. My eldest sister Rose, nearly poisoned my father, one day Mum told her to go to our store shed and collect some onions to prepare a stew for Dad, but she collected daffodil bulbs from the wrong sack. There was another time my father, out walking his dog Tiny, a greyhound, (really he used to use her for catching rabbits and hares) when he caught me smoking. I had just turned nine. My eldest brother Len who was in the Navy, regularly sent home tobacco for my father, which my other brother Billie and myself used to help ourselves to, and roll our own cigarettes. My father's remarks were "So you think you can smoke, son?" he then promptly filled one of his clay pipes with his combined 'Digger Flake' and 'Twist', a mixture which he rolled in the palms of his hands, then lit it for me. Naturally, I turned all shades of green and felt sick – but unfortunately it didn't cure me, and 67 years later, I'm still smoking. Having completed my school days, Camp Road Junior, then Hatfield Road Boys and finally Beaumont Old Boys School, I started my career as an apprentice Draughtsman (office worker) with a builders, named Tacchi and Burgess; Mr Tacchi, Senior, being a past Mayor of St Albans. It was due to the outbreak of the war 1939, that the son Steven Tacchi decided to join the Armed Forces, and at that same time reduce staff to lighten the burden placed upon his father, therefore I never was able to finish my apprenticeship, but sought further employment which took me to travelling to and from Radlett each day. I can remember vividly the day 'War on Germany' was declared. I was having a bath (not in the tin one!). We had moved into Prospect Road, St Albans by then, when my sister Rose shouted up to me "Hurry up", as we were at War. I don't know if she expected them to arrive within the hour or not. My eldest brother, Len who is nearly 14 years older, was already in the Navy, having joined in the Boys Service at the age of 14 1/2. Billie joined the R.A.F in 1940, I also tried to enlist, but was told I was too [page break] young and to come back when I was 18. I then joined the L.D.V. later to become the Home Guard, carrying out duties guarding the Cell Bames Hospital, very much like the comedy programme 'Dad's Army', with rifles from the First World War. It was on my 18th birthday that I returned to Oxford for my attestation, joining the R.A.F. on completion and being accepted, I started my initial training via St Johns Wood, Regents Park, London, then onto Bridgenorth, Yatesbury before becoming a fully fledged member of aircrew. Having passed my initial tests and being accepted for training to be a member of Air Crew by 13th December 1942. (Hitler must have been quaking in his jackboots, knowing that a third member of the Turnham clan was after his blood). I was over the moon and eager to serve my country. In the meantime, I had progressed from St. John's Wood, London, onto Bridgenorth for square-bashing and training, then onto No. 2 Radio School at Yatesbury, nr Calne, Wiltshire to begin extensive training for aircrew flying in De Haviland 'Dominies' and Percival 'Proctors', progressing onto Avril [sic] 'Ansons'. Having passed out and obtaining the rank of Sergeant, I was then posted to No.20 O.T.U. Lossiemouth, Scotland flying in Wellingtons operating local cross-country bombing-fighter affiliation - air – air firing – stick bombing tactics. My next move was to No. 1669 Conversion Unit flying Halifaxes. Then, just as we had settled into a routine as a crew on Halifaxes, we were again posted to No. 3 Lancaster Finishing School and given just 12 hours conversion only before being posted to No. 115 Bomber Command Operational Squadron at Witchford nr. Ely, Cambridgeshire. All this had taken 12 months of basic training and a further 12 months of flying training before reaching the ultimate – of being on an Operational Squadron, so naturally one was excited, apprehensive and the adrenalin flowed, waiting for the first op. After waiting two weeks it came. The target was Siegen, taking just under six hours flying time – this was quickly followed by trips to Trier (twice), then Cologne and Vohwinkel. These were all carried out in my first two weeks – all daylight raids. My first night operation was on Nuremberg[symbol] which took 7 1/2 hours, then quickly followed up by Ludwigshaven and the following day Neus, after which a break for two weeks. Next one was Duisberg then came Wiesbaden – Dortmund and Hohenbudberg, followed by two very large targets on consecutive nights. The first being Dresden, which apparently was a very beautiful city, this raid by over 1,000 bombers dropping incendiary and high explosives, was completely gutted. You could see the fires raging miles away from the first wave of aircraft's attack. It was reported over 60,000 people lost their lives in this one raid – it took over eight hours flying, most of the time over enemy territory, in fact we were instructed that if we were shot down – it would be easier for us to continue eastwards to escape as we were so close to the Russian frontier, rather than try to make our way home through enemy territory. This also applied to the following night's target of Chemnitz, again over eight hours flying time. Two days rest and back again on two consecutive daylight raids on Wesel. This was followed up with a target of Cologne, a place I had been before, but this time, we managed to get shot-up slightly, a matter of 47 holes in our fuselage and wings and to cap it all, a burst tyre on landing – finishing up with a quick exit and a complete write-off. During the next three weeks, targets were Saltzbergen, Dessau, another eight hour night job, then Essen, Hallendorf followed by Kiel and finally Potsdam, which also was over eight hours night raid. What a relief after landing to be informed that you had completed your first tour of operations. What a celebration we had also before leaving the Squadron. I had been recommended and received my commission, which was a great honour. Looking back on my squadron days, I recall vividly the feelings of myself and the rest of the crew members, that on each return from an operation, after debriefing – coffee, laced with rum and the usual supply of cigarettes, great relief – that one was over, wondering whether we would survive and be able to complete our tour. [page break] Then when you went for breakfast in the mess the following morning, you looked around to find a batch of new faces replacing those you had lost on the last op, but life had to go on. The feeling one experienced when taking off from the airfields – heavily loaded with bombs, possibly 12-16 planes from your squadron, depending on the availability – flying down to the crossing point of our coastline, joining up with other squadrons, especially on the 1,000 bomber raids, planes milling around you like a swarm of bees - steadily increasing one's height, we usually flew in 18 - 9 [sic]-20,000 feet waves; all of a sudden it's dark – you look around searching, thinking where are they all? – suddenly you find the skies are illuminated with searchlights, the enemy had a radar operated main beam and when this picked you up, it was very difficult to break off – the best way was to dive directly towards it and veer off sharply, or as in many cases one of your comrades would fly between you and the beam to break it, then the antiaircraft guns would start all the way to and from the target area. Enough praise cannot be given to the members of P.F.F, the Path Finder Force of the R.A.F. who flew mainly Mosquitos (and unarmed), courageously operating over the target area, marking the designated target with either red or green flares which were constantly altered by them – depending on wind changes and drifting, broadcasting instructions for our bombing runs. One always felt apprehensive when you opened your bomb door and slowed down as you approached the target to ensure a good bombing run – you felt more exposed. Our skipper, as soon as we had left the target area, just put the nose down and dived, flying as low as possible, hoping to avoid the ack-ack searchlights and fighters – he had a reputation on the squadron as 'First Back Briggs'. The main crossing of the Rhine under Field Marshall Montgomery took place on the night 23rd/24th March. British Commando troops had been sent over on the 23rd, before the main crossing began, to capture the key town of Wesel, probably the most strongly defended of German positions of all across the Lower Rhine. A target which I had bombed on two consecutive nights earlier. Then about an hour later the air attack opened against Wesel, the town was pulverised to a heap of rubble, with only the shells of a few buildings left standing. April 10th, 1945, the American Ninth Army occupied the great German industrial city of Essen, to find that the home of Krupps armament works, the most famous arms centre, had been completely destroyed. This had been one of my targets on 11th March, the heaviest attack of over 1,000 bombers, we had finally destroyed it. On completion of my Operational Tour, the crew members went their various ways. I personally went on to the Administration and Accountancy School at Credenhill, nr Hereford. Then a further posting and promotion to Flying Officer, taking up duties of Release and Resettlement Officer for the personnel leaving the forces after having served their country. My next posting was to Germany operating from Hamburg, Bielfield [sic] and Guterslow [sic] and then to No.2 MREU at Rarlsrue [sic]. During these postings, I was able to see at first hand the devastation caused to these cities by our bombing raids. The duties of Missing Research and Enquiry Units (MREU) was a very rewarding and satisfying job. Air Ministry supplied information of aircraft missing from specific targets. It was my job then to investigate each case, to ascertain what had happened to the crew members, whether they had been taken prisoners, escaped or killed – where they were buried, and if so, to carry out exhumations for identification purposed – then to make the arrangements for reinterment to the War Graves Commission cemeteries. Having operated in the British and French zones. I then moved to the American zone stationed at Regensburg and Kelhelm [sic], north of Munich, continuing this investigating work and leading up to Nuremburg with any atrocities that had occurred. It was a very stressful experience, but the reward was more satisfying, knowing that the families back [page break] home knew the final resting place of their loved ones. During my travels throughout Germany, I had the great pleasure and honour of meeting Madge (now my wife). She was working in Heidelberg, as chief cashier for all the Pxs (Post Exchange) of the American Services under Colonel Aitken, a position she obtained after serving with the American Red Cross in Manchester, London and Paris and eventually in Heidelberg – the romantic city. Having successfully completed my investigations throughout the three zones in Germany, British, French and American, by which time I had attained the rank of Flight Lieutenant (F/LT) and was second in command to the S&DR, I was requested by Air Ministry to go to Paris to continue this work, but as that meant separating from Madge, I persuaded another officer, Ray Smith, to accept the posting on my behalf (a couple of bottles and cartons of cigarettes did the trick). He was at the time engaged to an heiress from the North West. Unfortunately for him, she flew over to Paris to surprise him – but he was out on a date! Needless to say, the engagement was broken off! I had a second posting to Brussels, which once more I managed to wangle out of, same tactics used. The final posting arrived for me to Warsaw, Poland, one which I could not get out of this time, so after lengthy talks with Madge, we came to the decision of me resigning my commission in the R.A.F. and Madge leaving her position, rather than be separated and return to the United Kingdom 1948. Later in life, I met up with S/LDR Chic Riddell (who took my place in Warsaw) at one of our reunions in London, only to find out that he had been awarded the OBE for that particular job. Going back in time of the war, my father, (who had served in both the Boer War and the First World War) had passed away with cardiac failure and my eldest sister Rose had lost her husband Henry who was a Staff Sergeant in the army, having served in the Middle East battles.. He came home on compassionate leave to attend to Dad's funeral and on this return to Italy he was taken ill with rheumatic fever leaving Rose with a small child, Joan, to bring up on her own. Later in life she bought her own house in Camp Road, naming it Milan, in memory of where Henry had passed away. Having left home at the age of 18 and returning six years later to the United Kingdom, I never really went back home to live. I was determined to have six months on holiday – one month for every year's service. Madge and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves before settling down in Manchester – her home town. It was in the early 1950's that I returned to my home town, St Albans when my mother was taken ill. Madge and I moved south and lived at St Michaels Court, off Fishpool Street, close to Verulaneum, the ancient Roman city. Mum, in the meantime, improved in health and went to live with Rose. Billie also came out of the R.A.F. and after a couple of years of managing the White Swan Hotel in Moorgate, London, he decided to join the New Zealand Air Force, with June his wife and Susan, their daughter, following on out six months later. Len was still serving in the Navy after doing a half years boys service, then 22 years senior service, which he also extended further before finally leaving. Rose, who had met and married George, also decided to emigrate to New Zealand with Joan and my mother as well – they also had a daughter Julie, born in New Zealand. Madge and I in the meantime, had already returned to the north and after several jobs, I joined Renold Chains Engineering Company, on production control, where I remained until retirement. At the age of 41, Madge had given up the idea of ever having a family, she always wanted four – it wasn't for the case of not trying – then one morning, she said to me, "I think I had better stop having this porridge for breakfast – it keeps on upsetting me – making me feel sick". Yes! you are right – she was pregnant. We were both happy and excited. Peter was born on 8th July 1961, by caesarean section, due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around his neck. A great day in our lives. He has since enriched our lives so much and I am very proud of his success and achievements in life. Looking back on his childhood days, Madge really enjoyed every moment and with pride ferrying him to [page break] and from schools and sharing little secrets, a natural bond being established between them. We all shared a mutual love of golf and had some wonderful times together, something which we all had great success in. After completing his education at Stockport Boys Grammar School, Mile End, he took up an apprenticeship at Renolds, going onto college and obtaining his HND in Mech Eng. Reflecting back on my like, I know that my mother who passed away in New Zealand, was very proud of her three sons who had served their country in time of need – she used to say that we were her "war effort". Shortly after Peter was born, Madge unfortunately had to have a hysterectomy, which didn't go right to plan and she finished up being transferred to Christies cancer hospital for radium treatment and whilst there she also had an overdose of radioactive iodine which destroyed her thyroid gland, for which she now has to have medication to control. During the past six years to date, Madge has been suffering from dementia problems. I have taken her to the top neurological specialist at the M.R.1., Professor Neary, who has carried out various tests and scans of the brain, both nuclear and magnetic. The end result being that of Alzheimers, for which at present there is no known care. She has completely lost her memory and no powers of recall, a general deterioration which is very sad to sit around watching someone who has been so active in life, just wasting away in front of you, followed up by being incontinent. Having nursed Madge to the best of my capabilities, I eventually finished up having a stroke, ending up in hospital for a period of two and a half months. On my discharge, I still carried on nursing Madge until approximately 18 months ago, when she was eventually placed in a Residential Care Home for those suffering from Alzheimers. My life with Madge, which began when we met in Germany in 1946, has been a wonderful experience, which we lived to the full, enjoying each and every moment. Times we spent in Heidelberg, with Madge living at the Reichspost Hotel, whilst I was at No.28 Peter Snellsbackstrasse, across the river Neckar, evenings spent in the Red Ox, a favourite haunt, the student's local Bierkellar, trips up in the cable car to the Mulkenkukr restaurant for an evening meal. Christmas 1946/47 we went to Prague, what a fabulous city – something which can never be wiped from one's memories – other times, virtually every other weekend were spent in Garmisch, Partenkirschen, Bavaria skiing on the Zugspitz and Ibsee mountains, or boating on the Reisersee and Ibsee lakes. I remember having the pleasure of dining with Monty Woolley (American actor) at the Schorinbrun Palace, Vienna on one of my many visits to the Palace as liaison officer, in conjunction with the American Ambassador and War Graves Commission conferences. Madge and I travelled extensively whilst living abroad and also on return to the United Kingdom, visiting Portugal several times, Tunisia, Canada and America. During the past two years, I have visited New Zealand on three occasions. The first was Christmas 1998 with Peter on a short flying visit of 3 1/2 weeks, to the South Island, visiting Bill and Susan in Blenheim. We hired a car and toured approximately 2,000 miles, taking in a 'whale watch' at Kaikoura, then onto Christchurch, calling in to see young Billie and Lexi, whom I had never met, a breeder of horses in his spare time – further south to visit 'Noddy' and his family, who worked in the gold mining industry, another of Bill's sons. Then driving to Queenstown, a place of activity – staying there for four days over the Christmas period, taking in the Shotover Jet and with Peter doing a bungee jump. During this period we also drove to Milford Sound and enjoyed the boat trip. The beautiful scenic routes are somewhat breathtaking – in parts reminiscent of Scotland and Wales. We also sampled the nightlife or Queenstown before leaving on our journey along the coastline, taking in Greymouth and one or two other stopovers, before returning to Blenheim. Peter, having planned the itinerary, included a trek and horse riding for New Year's Eve, so I decided to fly up to see Rose in Auckland on New Year's Eve and return on New Year's Day – not having seen her [page break] for over 20 years, but I promised to return to meet all of her family, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My second visit was in June 1999, arranged for a period of five weeks, whilst Madge was in care for six weeks and assessment, when they decided that she should become a permanent resident. I started off my second visit with Bill and Susan for a couple of weeks, then flew up to Rose in Auckland, with the intention of spending the next three weeks with her and family. With Peter constantly informing me of Madge's progress and the fact that she was having to stay as a permanent resident, I continually postponed my departure date, extending my stay for 5 1/2 months. This really enabled me to meet up with all the family, whom I had never met, but if which I now feel part of. Rose and George had arranged a trip to Rotorua with Joan and Julie – we had a splendid time – the home of the thermal volcanic springs – boy, what a smell! Sulphur – just about the same as rotten eggs but apparently good for you. The sort of place one could walk down the main street, break wind, and people would think you were wearing a new aftershave. We took in the local 'hangi', a Maori custom of cooking in earth, also a visit to a Maori village and tribal customs, plus a traditional concert of folklore dancing, etc. Also rides on the luge, tenpin bowling, in fact, the works. Joan and Jim arranged a trip up north to the Bay of Islands, visiting many beauty spots on the way. Jim and I went for the boat trip through the Hole in the Rock, whilst Joan enjoyed her favourite hobby – shopping. During this visit, I really got to know everyone, including many of the family's friends and really felt at ease, and at home. It was during this time that George, who had been waiting a long time for a hip replacement joint, was taken in, and the operation was a success, but unfortunately complications set in and he passed away. A sad loss to a great family. After everything settled down, I returned home with the intention of returning. My third visit began in November 2000. This time I booked for six months, sharing my time equally between Rose, Joan and family. Annex Written By Rod Mountney 2018 The previous writings are Ken's own words transcribed on his behalf by John Payce and tells some of Ken's story from birth to 2000. The following tells of the key major events in Ken's life from 2000 to 2018. During Ken's visit to New Zealand he lived with family members. He would bet on the horses and shared his winnings by treating the family to slap up dinners. He joined in normal day to day life, sharing time with the extended family, who all have fond memories of his stay. Ken returned home to Burnage Lane, Stockport, in 2001 to continue a quiet retirement. Madge remained in a residential care home unable to remember anything of her life with Ken. In 2002 his son Peter was diagnosed with a debilitating spinal cancer which required surgery and rehabilitation. Although the treatment was initially successful the cancer returned in 2004 and Peter passed away at Christmas 2014. Peter asked his wife Melanie and her family to keep a lookout for Ken. In March 2005 Ken took part in the Heroes Return Initiative One major objective was to try where possible to link these 'Heroes Returns' to the related scheme of 'Their Past – Your Future'. An initiative to encourage awareness of young people of all the aspects of WWII. For his return Ken chose not to [page break] revisit the towns and cities it was his task to bomb during conflict, but to the villages, towns and sites where he carried out the valuable and humane duties for his fallen comrades and their families while working for the RAF – MRE Unit, in Southern Germany. This is also where he met his wife Madge in 1947. As Madge could no longer recall any of these places or times the visit also had very important personal reasons for Ken to make his return. John Payne (Melanie's father) acted as companion and carer for Ken and they were able to relocate many of the places that Ken had lived and worked immediately after the war ended. Madge passed away in May 2006 after a long illness. Ken was suffering from a number of health issues himself but continued to live independently and enjoyed going out for family events and meals. His next door neighbours Val and John helped him with shopping and cooking him a dinner most days right up until he went into hospital in 2017. Ken had a bad coughing fit in 2011 and decided to quit smoking after 78 years saying it wasn't doing his health any good! By this time Ken had limited mobility and mainly relied on his wheelchair for moving outside of his house. In 2012 the Bomber Command Memorial commemorating the 55,573 men who lost their lives during the war was opened in Green Park London. Ked attended the event with Rod acting as carer and was seen by family and friends as the TV cameras panned in from long range, ending in a close-up of Ken smiling enjoying a chat with other veterans while waiting for the Queen to arrive. Ken wishes to visit the Aviation Heritage Centre East Kirby [sic] Lincolnshire where it's still possible to see and hear the privately owned Lancaster Bomber NX611 using it's four engines on a 'Taxi Run'. In October 2015 all WWII RAF veterans were invited by the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) to the opening of their Canwick Hill Spire and Walls Memorial. A tribute to Lincolnshire's Lancaster Bomber Crews. By good fortune it was possible to attend both events on consecutive days, Thursday 1st for the 'Taxi Run' and Friday 2nd for the opening of the Memorial. John again acted as carer and Ken was photographed alongside the rear turret of the Lancaster, as well as meeting the dignitaries opening the Memorial. By this time Ken was a regular visitor to local hospitals with increasingly debilitating health conditions. In 2016 he had the news that he needed a heart operation to treat a failing valve. The operation was a success but the valve remained poor and it was determined too dangerous to attempt to replace it. After the operation Ken's health improved considerably for a while but it was always known that the fix was temporary. Ken continued to live independently, visiting family and enjoying a game of snooker playing from his chair while advising his fellow players how they should line up their shots. His health again started to deteriorate in the autumn of 2017 leading to hospital admission in November following a fall at home. After a period in hospital and the rehabilitation home in Gorton, Ken eventually passed away on 27th February 2018. On his last day in hospital Ken had 8 visitors in person – a measure of the regard and esteem felt for him. All of the above provides context for Ken's personality: Above all Ken was an optimist with a huge sense of fun. He focused on what he could do, finding enjoyment wherever and whenever he could. He loved to play games, golf, snooker and cards and would "help" his opponents with advice and encouragement whenever he could. Ken got his face painted as a tiger at an armed forces day and went round in his wheel chair roaring at people behind their back. He also led the conga at Ian's and Rachel's wedding in his wheelchair with a lady (no names, no pack drill) draped across his lap. Ken had a sense of playful mischief and a sharp wit. He would deliberately and blatantly look at the bottom card when he shuffled or cut a deck of cards pretending innocence if questioned. He thanked Julie for her last present referring to the "Red Cross parcel" and would ask John about his troublesome caravan with the face of an angel while being shouted at to shut up by everyone else present. These days the term "wind-up merchant" would be used but everyone enjoyed Ken's teasing and it was always in fun. A hearty dinner, a few drinks and good company was very valuable to Ken throughout his life. Although [page break] he was not a wealthy man he was rich in his love of family and friends and their love for him. An evening with Ken always ended too soon and left you waiting for the next time. Ken took a genuine interest in others, took time to know them by name and would enquire on their lives and concerns. He had a superb memory recalling events, places and people with startling accuracy. People found Ken engaging and easily made friends with him. He was able to connect with all ages and treated all equally. He quietly helped others when they needed it most and never asked or expected anything in return. 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 My Life and Time by Ken Turnham Description An account of the resource The majority of this document is an autobiography of Ken's life. After his death a family friend offers a summary of Ken's life. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ken Turnham Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1924 2018 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Typewritten document Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BTurnhamKTurnhamKv1 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 Maureen Clarke Sue Smith 115 Squadron 1669 HCU 20 OTU aircrew Anson bombing bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945) civil defence Dominie Halifax Heavy Conversion Unit Home Guard Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School military service conditions Mosquito Operational Training Unit Pathfinders Proctor RAF Lossiemouth RAF Witchford RAF Yatesbury recruitment training Wellington wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2198/40182/BNeilsonJFNeilsonJFv1.2.pdf dcaeed662d00c7fb69a5c420288b3f26 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 Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association Description An account of the resource 97 items. The collection concerns Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association and contains items including drawings by the artist Ley Kenyon. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert Ankerson and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-01-29 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 RAF ex POW As Collection 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 JF Neilson's memoir A Love/Hate Relationship with a Halibag Description An account of the resource Growing Up -The Hard Way WAR -1939 James joined the Local Defence Volunteers at first then realised he did not want to become infantry. He did mount road blocks and fire watches. He applied to join the RAF and was accepted. Training was at Blackpool, then Bicester, then Fairoaks. At RAF Training - Heaton Park he was assessed as a future Navigator and was sent to Canada, via New York, on the Queen Elizabeth. Then they were sent by train to Three Rivers, Manitoba via Moncton. On completion of that stage of the training he returned via Liverpool. Further training was at RAF Lossiemouth then operations at RAF Leconfield. His aircraft engines started losing power on the way to Stuttgart and he bailed out. After some time they were captured by Germans. They were sent by train to Frankfurt for interrogation then onwards to Stalag Luft VII. As the Russians advanced they were marched to Stalag III. They were eventually helped to escape by the Americans and he ended up in Brussels before being flown to the UK. This section ends with photographs taken during his training. The Long March. A document written by a Senior British Officer to the Russian authorities. Food supplies were inadequate and the Russians refused to allow the Americans to release the prisoners. Report of a Forced March made by Occupants of Stalag Luft 7, Germany. The report describes in detail the miseries endured by the POWs on a daily basis. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource JF Neilson Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Blackpool Scotland--Gourock United States New York (State)--New York Canada New Brunswick--Moncton Manitoba England--Liverpool Wales--Anglesey Ireland Atlantic Ocean--Firth of Clyde Germany--Berlin Germany--Stuttgart Scotland--Edinburgh France Germany--Hamburg Poland Belgium--Brussels England--London Scotland--Airdrie Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Nuremberg Europe--Elbe River Scotland--Stirling (Stirling) Germany New Brunswick Belgium New York (State) Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BNeilsonJFNeilsonJFv1 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 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 eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 28 typewritten sheets Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Maureen Clarke 4 Group 640 Squadron air gunner aircrew Anson anti-aircraft fire B-17 bale out Blenheim bomb aimer bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944) C-47 civil defence crewing up Dulag Luft entertainment evading firefighting flight engineer Flying Training School ground personnel Halifax Hampden Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984) Home Guard Initial Training Wing Lancaster Manchester Me 110 Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy navigator Operational Training Unit pilot prisoner of war RAF Bicester RAF Church Fenton RAF Cosford RAF Heaton Park RAF Leconfield RAF Lossiemouth RAF North Luffenham RAF Padgate RAF Riccall RCAF Rivers Red Cross Spitfire Stalag 3A Stalag Luft 7 the long march Tiger Moth training Wellington Whitley wireless operator Women’s Auxiliary Air Force https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2200/40080/EDarbyCAHWellandJ440805.2.pdf af0c5c60314c852d9763b5bf792084c5 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 Darby, Charles Arthur Hill Darby, CAH Jack Darby Johnny Darby Description An account of the resource 203 items. The collection concerns Charles Arthur Hill Darby (1915 - 1996, 154676 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, photographs, documents and correspondence. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 186 Squadron. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Richard John Darby and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018-02-02 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Darby, CAH Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [postage stamp] [postmark] [inserted] 5-8-44 [/inserted] Miss J. Welland, 7. Queens Drive Surbiton Surrey. [page break] F/O. C. Darby, 154676. Officers Mess R.A.F. Station Barford Nr Bloxham Oxon 5/8/44 Dear Jean, Thanks so much for birthday card, also the one your Mother & Father sent, they both came together, in fact the only two cards I received. I made the train O.K. at Paddington, actually had an hour to wait, however I met my skipper in the Tube and we both got a couple of seats, the train was’nt very crowded and we slept [page break] 2/ most of the way, we were in Banbury at 3 o/c and in bed by 4 o/c. of course next day they decided to have exams, we had three, Aircraft Rec, Tactics and Armament. I must have passed O.K. as I've heard nothing further, if you don't you usually are on the carpet before the C.G.I and have a strip torn off. Am glad we have’nt had any luck in getting a W/op, we hav’nt been off the deck for 9 days and am very much afraid I've had my leave, at least it will probably be put back, the trouble [page break] 3/ is nobody knows anything definate [sic], our skipper keeps haunting the squadron commander and he will probably do something drastic out of sheer self-defence soon, however we must wait and see. We had [deleted letter] a defence exercise last night, the Home Guard were attacking the camp, it was due to start at 10 o/c but as the locals don't close until 10.30 nothing much happened until 10.45. All the hedges were guarded, we had a couple of kites up on recco, apparently no lights were to be shown, but as usual the exercise ended up [page break] 4/ in complete chaos, one chap on the control tower fired off a signal rocket and when he'd located the enemy, he fired some verey cartridges at them, they fled in disorder and then some keen type started up the station searchlight, this floodlit the ground and the result looked like the Aldershot Command presenting the Battle of Hastings, also we captured a Home Guard type who was carrying the complete plans of the exercise. At 1.30 AM we all packed up and up to the moment nobody knows who won, apparently the Home [page break] 5/ Guard are finding about our battle tactics being too unorthodox for them. Its damed [sic] funny last month we had an accident free month, the Group Captain had just got his telegram of congratulations when they had three crashes in two days, some keen type baled out by mistake and his skipper was so worried that when he landed he retracted his undercart instead of his flaps! The weather seems to have taken a turn for the better, hope it continues as when we do get cracking we [page break] 6/ can finish straight away. Well, must pack up now, hope you are doing what you told me to do at Surbiton, by the way, I did’nt get any petrol, apparently you have to be 10 miles from the nearest railway or bus route, the W.A.A.F. officer was very sympathetic but it was an order from higher up. Cheerio for the time being, take care of yourself. Yours Jack 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 Jack Darby to Jean Description An account of the resource He thanks he for his birthday card. He describes his return trip to camp. The next day he had exams which he thinks he passed. They have had no luck getting a new wireless operator. They had a home guard training attack on the base. They had a couple of accidents after a spell with none. Weather has improved. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jack Darby Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-08-05 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Banbury (Oxfordshire) 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 Civilian 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 Three double sided handwritten sheets and envelope Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EDarbyCAHWellandJ440805 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-08 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Sue Smith aircrew civil defence crash crewing up ground personnel Home Guard RAF Barford St John training wireless operator Women’s Auxiliary Air Force https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2222/39868/PAlboneJM2201.jpg 61544c80dfefd3838ae77117eccf71b9 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2222/39868/AAlboneJM220922.mp3 dd0b6a60a633b2562eb786b56f3ed0ee 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 Albone, Jan Janet Margaret Albone J M Albone Description An account of the resource An oral history interview with Jan Albone (b. 1930). She grew up on a farm in Lincolnshire. 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 2022-09-22 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 Albone, JM Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document DE: So this is an interview by Dan Ellin with Jan Albone. I’m at her house in Scawby in Lincolnshire. It’s the 22nd of September 2022 and also present in the room is her son Alex Albone. So, Jan could you start by telling us a little bit about your early life and where you grew up? JA: I was born at Redmond Grange which is only five miles from where I now live and I lived on the farm there with my parents and sister. Went to school in Brigg which is only up the road. So I’ve always lived in this district all my life except for ten years when I lived at Binbrook. So I know a bit about the local area. DE: And what was, what was your early life like? What was school like? Your home life. JA: Oh, my school. Early life was a bit grim actually because I was born on a a very sort of isolated farm in those days. It was still two miles from the nearest village but it was a long way from there. So I was born and brought up and I was very cherished. And I think my first memory was the fact that somebody when I was three, I’d been very protected and loved by everybody on the farm and then suddenly somebody came and took me upstairs and said, ‘You have a little sister.’ And I can remember seeing this thing. That’s one of my earliest memories. This thing in this cot and it was my sister so I was going to have to share things. I didn’t like that much at all. And my mother had been a schoolteacher and so she taught me at her school and I could read and write very early in life. And then it was decided that I would go to school. Well, it was a bit difficult to go to school in those days from there where, and so it was decided that I would go and live with my aunt and grandmother in Scunthorpe and my aunt was the headmistress of a school in Scunthorpe and I would go to school there and go as a weekly boarder with my parents. I hated it. I absolutely hated it because I loved the farm. I loved being outdoors and to go into a big school where your aunt was the headmistress and all the people in the school were children from, well it was a backstreet school in those days. Henderson Avenue. And it was, I just was so lost. I wanted to make friends but I couldn’t because I was the headmistress’s daughter. Anyway, it was then decided after that that I think they could realise that I was unhappy and so I came home and then was sent up to the nearest school, primary school which was at Kirton Lindsey which was two and a half miles away. It wasn’t a lot better I have to say because I was the only farmer’s daughter at the school. The rest of the people at that time were farm labourer’s children. Extremely nice children and I again I wanted to make friends but it was not the children it was the parents saying of course, ‘She comes from the, farmer’s daughter.’ So therefore, then my sister was ready to go to school by then. She was five and I was eight and so we then went to Brigg. To the prep school at Brigg and it was heaven. Absolute heaven then. But we went by bus to Brigg and I had to look after my little sister which I didn’t like much. But anyway, it got better. But I’ve always loved being at home and I can remember so many times going back to school at the beginning of term hating going into school because I wanted to be at home. And it wasn’t home. It wasn’t parents. It was being outside. It was being mainly with the horses. Loved, loved horses. DE: Did you have many on the farm then? JA: Well, of course the only work when I was a child there were no tractors. There wasn’t such a thing. Well, there was but we didn’t have tractors ever. All the work on the farm was done by horses and my father grew fifty acres of potatoes and all the work was done by horses and man power. So, but I always loved them you see. I mean I, and I could do things with them that other people, even when I was very small I could go and feed a difficult one when one of the men wouldn’t like doing it because I was quite relaxed of course. So anyway, that was how I started. DE: Okay. And then, and so and then what happened? JA: Then I got my eleven-plus and went to the local high school which was a grammar school in those days and that was fine. You know. I was reasonably clever. I loved history, loved reading and writing and everything else. But then I left school at sixteen because you see the war was over. The war finished in 1945 and it was so wonderful to be free and I didn’t want to be at school. I didn’t want to be restricted and of course afterwards I think my parents should have insisted I stayed and did A levels but never mind. I didn’t so that’s that. So it was an interesting life living at Redmond Grange where I was during the war. DE: So what was that like? JA: Interesting. In fact, that we, Kirton Lindsey aerodrome was only three miles away and Kirton Lindsey aerodrome was a fighter ‘drome in those days and it was the fighters were, it was mainly a rest home for people that came from the Battle of Britain. And they would come to Kirton Lindsey to rest. And we had father there. We always knew he was there when he came because he would take his plane up on a Sunday night and do all sorts of performances. And my father really got on well with the CO there and it was funny around my father really in many ways but he got on with the CO and he decided, he and the CO whether it was the CO‘s idea or not I don’t know that the men that were coming from, to rest from Battle of Britain they were traumatised. Extraordinarily traumatised, and so father said the worst thing they can do is to sit and mope and of course on the farm we were desperately short of labour. We desperately needed food in those days. And so they used to come down. I don’t know how they got there. It wasn’t so very far away. I can’t remember any vehicle bringing them but something must have brought them and they came and they helped him with the harvest. And they worked on the land and a lot of them hadn’t got a clue about well land work but they soon learned and my mother cooked enormous great meals every day and so in this kitchen there was a huge kitchen table and all these men would be. There would be six or seven and they would change. I remember one particular one. He was so young. He couldn’t have been more than eighteen. He probably was but he was so young and he was so frightened but I could see even as a child. I was, you know I was only eleven, twelve I could see that hard work, it was a hot summer, the hard work kept, made him sane because he went home and he slept. DE: Right. Yeah. JA: But it was, it was terrible with those young men because we never knew them anymore. They became quite friends but then they went. Did they die? I don’t know. DE: So did that happen just just the one year or was that the — JA: That was really only the one year of the Battle of Britain but it’s very significant that was for me because all these, I’d never seen young men. I didn’t know what they were like. And I mean I was only [pause] but and they also treated my sister and I a bit like mascots. You see, we knew about the horses and and they didn’t but it I’m I’m sure it saved the sanity of quite a lot of young men. DE: Excellent. JA: It was nice. It was good. DE: Okay. Anything else you’d like to tell me about that, that time? JA: I think the funniest thing it always makes me laugh now but at the beginning of the war my father, it was the old DV in those days. It was before Home Guard and he decided of course we had again another hot summer that first year of the war and Hitler was going to invade. And I understand later on that Hitler’s soothsayer said it wasn’t appropriate for him to invade but if he was my father was quite convinced if he invaded he was going to land at Skegness on that east coast and actually could have done. Walked across. So my father was in the LDV and he used to go and stand on the top of Waddingham Church which is only two miles away. My father had a twelve bore gun and he always took one of the farm men with him but the farm man only had a pitchfork. My father [laughs] I mean it was terribly serious at the time I mean it was. I can remember being so frightened and father took it so seriously. But in hindsight there was my father with a twelve bore shotgun and a man with a with a pitchfork. They were going to defend the nation. But I was frightened. I was terrified and of course you see in 1939 I was nine when war broke out. I was ten when this all happened and I was so aware then. I was quite grown up for my age actually and I kept, I said to my mother, ‘What is going to happen to me? What will happen?’ Because as a child you only think about what’s going to happen to you don’t you? ‘What’s going to happen to me?’ So my mother said, ‘If the Germans come you’ll be absolutely fine, dear,’ she said, because at that time I was very very fair and I had long long plaits and I could sit on them. It was long and thick as that. ‘You’ll be absolutely fine. The Germans will take you and they will look after you and they will put you on a breeding farm.’ Well, I knew about breeding because I mean I would breed these horses if I had a breeding farm. ‘And then you will breed wonderful fair haired Aryan children.’ I should actually to be honest. You know. At that time she was quite right. But that comforted me. I was going to live. DE: Crikey. Did, you said you were, you were frightened and needed that reassurance. JA: It was reassuring actually. DE: Where did you get your information from? Did you listen to the radio or read the papers or — JA: Oh yes. The radio was always on you know. And of course, my mother had been a school teacher and father was very sort of articulate and we, we had got contact. We had aeroplanes flying over us all the time and we were all very conscious of the Lancasters at the, you know only down the road there’s Scampton and we knew that a lot of the fighter planes were here to defend them. So we knew what was going, we knew what was going on. DE: So, I mean yeah you — JA: I had to take my gas mask to school in its cardboard container. DE: Did you have anything to do with any evacuees? JA: Yes, we did. But I can’t really remember very much. I know they were fairly awful. They were two girls and they came from Sheffield and they didn’t stay very long. They were not happy. They were town children landed on an isolated farm. They didn’t like the food. They didn’t really like anything and their mother came and took them home. I don’t think they were, they came to school with us but I don’t think they stayed for more than about three months. But it was, it was interesting. It was the fact that that work on the farm was so hard in those days. DE: And you, you helped with the horses. Yeah. JA: Oh, all the time. Yes. I remember sitting when I was twelve sitting at the back of the school, at the back of the class in school in a maths lesson. I hated maths. And early in the morning, it was a September morning when, you know I was at school and they were picking potatoes at home and I wanted to be there with, with the horses. DE: I see. JA: I wanted to help. DE: So you listened to the, to the radio. Did you ever hear what’s his name? Haw Haw. JA: Oh yes. Oh yes. Oh yes. We had to listen to him. It was always because father always made, we got to listen to him because it was a joke. Father always said it was. I mean, we had to be amused by him. DE: I see. Right. What about the, what about the newspapers? JA: Newspapers. I don’t really remember much about newspapers. I think it was mainly the radio you know. It was the wireless was, wireless in those days of course and of course, father would listen to the news. I was always, I always remember later on when war ended and all the news came out about Auschwitz and you know the camps I always remember my father being so horrified by it and unbelieving to begin with. He could not believe that anything could have happened. There were a lot of people like that. It was quite quite horrendous that, well he didn’t. Well, I didn’t. We did not know anything about prisoner of war camps. Well, the Jews being in camps like that. DE: Were there any prisoners of war camps around here? I know there was some Italians in Lincolnshire. JA: Yes, we had. Yes, we had the Germans to start with. Big Hans and Little Hans. They came to work on the farm. They came from Pingley which was the other side of Brigg. A big, big camp there and it was mainly Germans and these two Big Hans and Little Hans they were very poor. A little man. I should imagine they were homosexuals or whatever. They came and they worked for us and they were, they were little farmers in Germany and we got very fond of them because they were just ordinary men like ours. DE: Yeah. How long did they work on the farm for? JA: I should think they worked for us for a good year. They were dropped off. Pingley used to take them and drop them off and we were very grateful to have them because we were desperate you see. You know, today on a farm you only have one man. In those days we needed ten because everything was done by hand. DE: But they were never there at the same time as these British pilots. JA: Oh no. No. This was towards the end of the war. DE: Yeah. JA: No. No. No. No. No. British pilots it was definitely, that was 1939 1940. When we had the prisoners of war was ’45. DE: Right. JA: ’50. DE: Okay. JA: Yes. DE: Yeah. JA: I remember my husband because he lived at Spridlington and they had Italian prisoners of war and he always remembered that they had one officer, well that he said. His boots were always immaculate all the time and he helped him break in a horse and he said he knew how to ride. He definitely was from, you know. It worked. DE: Yeah. And you got on fine with them. JA: Yes. DE: Yeah. JA: Oh, well yes. Yeah. We were pleased to have them and they were pleased to work. DE: Did they, did they get their meals around the table? JA: No. No. DE: No. JA: No. No. No. No. It was only the — DE: Okay. So you said you know you had lots of aircraft flying around because there was, you know Lincolnshire known as Bomber County. JA: Oh and of course — DE: There was Hemswell before. JA: Well there was either a landing ground or or a airport every few miles. DE: Yeah. Yeah. I mean you’ve mentioned Scampton but in between Scampton there’s — JA: There’s Hemswell. Yes. DE: Hemswell and Ingham. JA: Yes, yes, exactly. And they were mainly sort of landing grounds in case main the main airport had been bombed. DE: So did you get to recognise the different aircraft flying over? JA: Yes. I mean we knew the difference between a Spitfire and a Hurricane and a Lancaster and a, and a cargo thing. Yes. I wasn’t particularly interested but but my father was of course. DE: Did you know of any, any of the Luftwaffe aircraft flying over? JA: No. We didn’t. I don’t think they, as far as we were concerned I don’t think they ever came. They came to Hull of course because they bombed Hull. But that didn’t mean they came over here. DE: No. JA: No. DE: Were you, were you aware of Hull being bombed? JA: Oh yes. Yes. Yes. If we stood on the, you know on the farm we could actually see the, you know, what was happening. Very much aware of that. But then you see for when you lived here and you only had horses and you did have a car and a bicycle whatever Hull was a long way off. You know, it seemed, and it was the other side of the river. Yeah. Still in a way it is. DE: Yes. Yes. JA: In those days the only way to get to Hull was on a ferry. DE: Yeah. Or the long way around. I know that — JA: Yeah. Well, when you went then you always went across on a ferry. DE: Yeah. JA: But you did. You had to choose the time of day to go or else you got stuck on a sandbank. DE: Of course. Yeah. I know the, the Auxiliary Fire Service from Welton. JA: Yes. DE: Went to Hull during the Blitz. JA: Oh, did they? I didn’t know that. DE: Yeah. I mean it must have taken quite a while to get there. JA: Yeah. Yes. Well, I think you know because the fires were very very bad you know. We could see that. DE: Yeah. JA: Yes. DE: How did it make you feel seeing the fires? JA: Well, it just was there. You know when you’re a child, you must remember I was a child as long as you were safe with your mummy and daddy and you were in your own home it was [pause] it was a bit, in a way it was a bit like a film I suppose to us. DE: Yeah. JA: You know it wasn’t, it wasn’t reality really. It was very sheltered. DE: So, what did, what did you do for entertainment then? JA: Not a lot. I was thinking about it this morning because I thought this was one you were going to ask me. Where? Entertainment. You went, you went to school. I mean we had to leave because we had to catch, we had to leave the house at ten to eight in the morning and we walked for half a mile on the main road to catch a bus. Then we didn’t get home until ten to five at night. And then we ate and did our homework. In the wintertime it was a matter of keeping warm. And the days went by. In the holidays I was outside all the time. We didn’t actually think of entertainment actually. DE: What about when you got older? JA: Well, I was fifteen when war ended but that was wonderful you know because we could then, I could then be a member of the Young Farmers’ Club and I was allowed to to go. I had an autocycle. My father bought me an autocycle. That was a bicycle with a thing and I used to come in to Brigg. I was allowed to come to Brigg in the dark, it was safe in those days, to Young Farmers’ Club meetings which were absolute bliss after being caged as we were. But we didn’t know anything else. So it was lovely to be there. DE: So what happened at these? These Young Farmers’ meetings then. JA: Oh, that was fun. I mean we used to go to the local pub and I mean we had talks and we had [pause] I can’t remember a lot about the talks but we had competitions and of course we were allowed to go to other farms with with our friends judging cattle. It was so exciting actually, you know when you think of the young people today but it was so exciting having had nothing to have this. That’s how I met my husband. DE: And do you want to talk a bit about that? JA: Well, if you like. I mean he, it was exciting because he lived at Spridlington which was on the road to, you know where Spridlington is? DE: Yeah. JA: On the road here and all our courtship right up to us being married to come and see me he had to have a chain in the back of the car and the chain was to bring the chain from his father to my father or, and when, when going home it was to take the chain back from my father because you were not allowed to travel with petrol at the end of the war you see. You had to have a reason for using petrol. DE: Oh, I see. Right. JA: So to come and to come and see me he had to have a genuine farming reason to come and see me. DE: Oh, I see. Oh, that’s clever. JA: So this chain would have lived in the back of the car if any police stopped him he was taking the chain from his father to mine. DE: I see. JA: Backwards and forwards. DE: Right. Yeah. JA: And then he could pick me up and we could go to the Young Farmers’ Club and then there were dances then. But you see I always think people are not wise enough. When I went into the nursing home to have my first baby who is seventy next birthday I took my ration book with me. Times were so much worse after the war. DE: Right. JA: I don’t think people realise that. DE: Yeah. JA: How we had to pay back and we were very hungry and rationing was very strict after the war. DE: And there was, that was worse after the war. JA: It was. Yes. It was. Everybody was happy and glad to be able to do it but food was so important. DE: So in one way you had this freedom that you were, you know — JA: I had the freedom to go. Well, a certain freedom. It felt like wonderful freedom but it was still restricted to the fact that it had to be rural. It had to be, you know it had to be sort of [pause] and then then it became and then you see I was fifteen when war ended. Sixteen I started at the Young Farmers’ Club. By the time I was eighteen then we could have dances and we could go out and be much more social. And tennis parties. And my husband went away. He was older than me. He went away to agricultural college and I was going to go but of course I went but when it was picked that I was to go I couldn’t I couldn’t because all the ex-servicemen coming back from the war they all had priority. DE: Sure. Yeah. Of course. JA: And we met some and my husband was there at the Agriculture College at Sutton Bonington with a lot of the people, men who were ex-soldiers. He was a lot younger than most of them because he’d started and they came back and we had some wonderful friends actually who had been in the war. A lot of tragedies. DE: So your husband was a little bit older than you. JA: Yes. DE: What — JA: He was two years older than me. DE: What did he do during the war? What were his — JA: Well, he was a farmer you see. He was a farmer and he was working. He was working on the land to produce food. It was. It was work and sleep. DE: Right. JA: And, and that’s what [pause] that’s all we, if you don’t know anything else you accept it. DE: Yeah. So I’ve mentioned it before we started recording but I believe you had a couple of links to RAF stations in Lincolnshire. JA: He had a lot more links because he, living at Spridlington they were more or less in the flight path from Scampton and he and his father used to stand and count Lancasters going out at night and then they would count them coming back in the morning. And you know he always said how dreadfully tragic it was. DE: And I understand your sister in law was in, in the WAAF. JA: No. DE: No. JA: No. No. I haven’t got a sister in law. DE: Oh, it’s [pause] was there somebody who was a driver? JA: No, I don’t know where you got this from. DE: No. Okay. Never mind. JA: No. No. No. AA: Guy Gibson’s driver. That’s Fred Albones. JA: Oh, yeah. That is a relative of my husband’s. DE: Oh I see. Right. JA: Yes. Yes. Yes. Which was over there. But it was, it was a strange upbringing but the whole point I’d like to emphasise is the fact that because we knew nothing else it was acceptable and what was so wonderful and we appreciated it so much was the freedom afterwards. When by today people have freedom from the day they’re born we, I now look back and I still think we had some wonderful times when I was seventeen and eighteen which today the youngsters would just think was stupid. But we hadn’t had anything else. DE: Yeah. JA: And then of course which was the most exciting I left school and my father decided that because he had no son that would I like to be a farmer you see and take over the farm. So that’s why I really began to work on the farm and so then when I was seventeen, I’d be nearly eighteen he bought a tractor. DE: Wow. JA: And I had the tractor and it was a little grey Fergie but it didn’t have a cab but I could go plough where I’d been actually ploughing with horses and I mean ploughing. Not many women of ninety two can say they’ve ploughed a lot of land with two horses. And then I had a tractor to come plough with. DE: Okay. So I mean you said that you really loved working with horses, you know. JA: Yes, I did. DE: What was it like swapping over to having a tractor then? JA: Well, it was you were just sat on a seat. You weren’t walking behind. DE: Oh right. So it was — JA: But it was always cold. No, but I still I love the horses as horses but I realise that I could do a lot more work in a day with a tractor than I could with two horses. DE: So how, how long did it take before the the horses had gone and — JA: Well, I don’t know. Gradually tractors, things began to go so quickly when war ended you know because tanks had been in the war and tractors soon were invented. You know from the little grey Fergie we got another tractor, another tractor and within a couple of years it was amazing how quickly — DE: And I suppose they just kept getting bigger and more powerful and — JA: Exactly. DE: Yeah. JA: And less labour was necessary. DE: How many acres did you have? JA: My father had, it was interesting he had three hundred and forty acres and he also had another rented another forty acres of pure grassland which was in those days was a very good living for a farmer. You would need three, four times as much today to get the same benefits. DE: So, so it was mostly potatoes was it? JA: It was. It was arable. DE: Right. JA: And then we did have cows which were bought for me because I wanted, I liked animals so we had a bit, we had a small dairy herd which was mine which was very nice. I thoroughly enjoyed them but the trouble is I soon found out that cows don’t differentiate between Fridays and Saturdays or Christmas Day and Boxing Day. DE: Yeah. JA: And I found it rather tiresome but I had to do it because this was what was decided because when everybody else was going out on a Saturday afternoon I had to milk the cows. DE: Sure. Yeah. JA: Good discipline. DE: So what happened when you, when you were married then? JA: When I married. Oh, it was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful to be married. I mean I loved my husband but it was so wonderful to get away. I was free. I was free to make my own decisions. Free to decide what we were going to have to eat. Free to decide when I was going to go shopping. It was marvellous. It was a good job I married him because I really needed to get away. DE: So what happened to the farm? JA: Oh, the farm. Father carried on of course. I had a sister came in then. A younger sister. DE: Right. JA: Whom had got a boyfriend who hadn’t got any land and he came and sort of took over. Took charge. But I was so pleased to get away. It was wonderful. DE: So where did you live? JA: I lived at Hackthorn. In the rectory. I don’t know whether you know Hackthorn. We lived in the rectory for a time and God it was cold. There wasn’t such a thing as central heating. But we stayed there and then we went to live up at Binbrook. By then I’d had a baby of course and life moved on. DE: So, can you tell me a bit more about, you know your life after the war? JA: Oh, well as I said after the war I got married in in 1952 and then we moved. My husband was a farmer. We lived up at Binbrook. I had another baby. Then then another one and then he came along. That was it. It was hard work but but then I I’d been used to living in the country. I’d been used to being on my own. I’d been used to discipline. So it was great. DE: Did he ever, did he ever travel? JA: Oh yes. All the time. As we got, as we got older we got freer when the children were grown up and we came to live down here. We travelled a lot. All the time. And we made the most of it and we still do actually. It was because my husband he got leukaemia. He started when he was only fifty seven and he died at sixty five and so we made the most of those years because he’d only been given three years to live and he actually managed to live nearly ten. DE: Wow. Okay. JA: Crossing our fingers. Very good. And so we made the most of it you know. It was each year, ‘Come on. We’re going to go.’ DE: Explored. JA: Make the most of it. And I don’t regret a single thing. DE: No. Where did you go? JA: Oh, we travelled all over. We went, we went to and travelled to and all over been to Australia. We travelled around New Zealand. We went to Europe. We went to America. I went later to the Galapagos. He didn’t go to the Galapagos with me but we did. And we had a wonderful doctor and when we wanted to go to New Zealand he said, ‘Oh, that’s alright.’ We had to see the consultant said, ‘I’ve got a colleague in the Auckland. If you turn ill you can ring him in Auckland.’ So we had a camper van and and travelled all the way around the New Zealand for the month. DE: Wow. Okay. JA: Making the most of it. DE: Yeah. JA: If you know that the end is near you. So, I’m still travelling. DE: But you know you didn’t fancy ever settling down anywhere else that you — JA: Actually, when we went to New Zealand my husband loved it so much the first time we went if he hadn’t, he was an only child and if he hadn’t had elderly parents who were still alive it was like that. I think it wouldn’t have needed much for us to to emigrate because he loved New Zealand. Thought it was the ideal place but there it is. Times change. DE: So how, how much do you think Lincolnshire has changed? JA: Oh, well it’s unbelievable how it’s changed. I mean it’s still an arable county and even when I was a child there were, there were cattle but it was beef cattle. Sort of single herds but nowadays it’s now all well of course with the war all the grass had to be ploughed up to produce food for people and so it was never laid down back again and so it is much more an arable county and of course the tracks are just huge. The machine. But the machinery is, it’s enormous. I mean progress. I mean even in this last, even since my husband died I mean the the mere fact of the television and the iPads and all those sort of things I mean he would have a fit if he came back [pause] So life moves on but it always does. DE: Yes. Yeah. JA: But and I think every generation has said we’ve seen the best of it. But I don’t know. I’m just in a way I’m just sad that I’m getting old because I want to know what’s going to happen in another ten years. You’ll see it. I shan’t. DE: I don’t know. JA: That’s what, I don’t think I want to live to be a hundred and two. DE: I’ve interviewed someone who was a hundred and two. JA: Have you? DE: Last year. Yeah. JA: Oh, come again in when I’m hundred and two and see what I’ve done in the last eight years! DE: I just, you know I’m just wondering if you have any other stories that you’d you’d like to tell me that you might have thought about when you heard I was going to come and meet you. JA: No. Life, I think life has been, it sounds a bit monotonous as though you know I’ve not been almost killed in an air raid or anything like that but I can’t. I can’t think of anything that there are so many bits aren’t there in life. I think the most important thing is to make the most of everything and not to be too critical. [dog growling] That’ll be the post coming. No. I, of course when you’ve gone I’ll think of all sorts of things. DE: Oh, yeah. But if I switch the machine off you’ll think of something. JA: That’s sods, that’s sod’s law. I mean I do regret not getting [pause] The only thing I think that I wish that my parents had insisted that I carried on with further education. It’s alright that I loved the horses and I loved the land but I had a good brain and I should have used it. But then my life wouldn’t have been the same as it is today. DE: And then you couldn’t go to agricultural college because there wasn’t — JA: I missed out on that. DE: Yeah. JA: Mind you I didn’t really mind because by then I I was realising that I was in love with my husband and that we would get married and you did get married in those days you know. You didn’t live together and that sort of thing. You got married and I mean literally I had a baby nine months after I was married. DE: Right. JA: And, and that was the way my life went. But I do regret whenever like I said I try to do it occasionally, you know. I loved to read. I love history. I’m interested in in everything that goes on. I wish I’d had more of a trained brain. But [pause] but it’s no good. It’s no good regretting because it’s happened. DE: Yeah. Yeah. And I dare say you’ve educated yourself. JA: Yes. DE: By the things you were reading. JA: Yes. Yes. DE: And the places you’ve been and things so — JA: The places I’ve been and I’ve always been a great embroideress and a great sewer and I’ve done things around the Pony Club for twenty years. I’ve always done things but but not for money if you like. DE: Yeah. JA: Otherwise, I’d, and I was also a marriage guidance counsellor for forty years which was interesting. DE: Wow. Okay. Can you tell me about about those things and the Pony Club? And working in marriage guidance. JA: Yes, if you like. DE: That sounds fascinating. JA: Oh yes. Well, Pony Club I loved because I, I love kids. I don’t like, I don’t like small children very much but I do like teenagers. There aren’t many people that actively like teenagers [laughs] and I used to love running the Pony Club. It was, it was great. Well you know there were kids and ponies and again it was the horses wasn’t it? And when I look back when I I see the rules and regulations now that there are about having children in groups and I mean we used to have Pony Club Camp and I would quite happily have twelve, have thirty twelve and unders sleeping in farm buildings with their ponies and I would be the only one sleeping the night with them but I never thought anything about it but if something had happened. But it didn’t, did it? DE: No. JA: So, I loved running that. That was okay. But so many, and even today somebody in the supermarket only last week you know came up to me. She said, ‘I think I know who you are.’ So I said, ‘Oh yes?’ she said, ‘You’re Mrs Albone aren’t you?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ She said, ‘I was one of your Pony Club girls.’ So I said, ‘Yes.’ She said, ‘I’m fifty next week. Do you remember me?’ Well, I had to talk myself through it but she was slightly different at fifty than she was when she was seventeen. DE: Of course. Yeah. JA: And as for marriage guidance well I just, I like people you see and I like people. I like to be able to listen and help people. I mean it worked for me. And you see my generation in those days because I hadn’t got a career in inverted commas so many of my friends if you like didn’t either. They came home from school to help mother or came into their own farm home. So they either sort of played a lot of golf, or a lot of us did a lot of social work and, you know we ran the Pony Club or we did other things for other people because we had to do something that was away from the farm and it’s sad nowadays because but everybody now has a career and they earn money. So that is why I think a lot of social things they find it difficult to get volunteers. So this is why I went in to doing my marriage counselling. Then it became Relate and then I became a sex therapist which was great fun I have to say. It was because there was, no it wasn’t fun. It wasn’t because so many people had so many sadnesses and if you could help them through that it was fantastic. But — DE: No. But I suppose you had to keep a bit of an open mind and I suppose a sort of farming background would help a bit with that would it? JA: Well. Yes, well it was just the fact that I mean I had a lot of experience in the fact that I had been, you know I’d been alive. I’d had a family. I’d had parents. I’d had you know. I’d lived in many ways. DE: So it’s a sort of passing down your experience. JA: Yes, and actually you know when all is said and done with all counselling work it isn’t what you say it’s, it’s being able to listen. It’s what they say to you is what, you know, or they sound off against you. DE: Yeah. JA: Which I found very interesting. Quite traumatic at times but good and my husband was always cooperative. He didn’t want to do it but he was very happy for me to do it. I mean he was busy farming wasn’t he? DE: Sure. JA: And fishing. DE: Fishing. JA: Yes. DE: Okay. JA: Farming and fishing. DE: So did he, did he not get involved with the Pony Club then either you were saying? JA: No. No. He didn’t like horses. DE: Right. JA: Didn’t like anything to do with horses. DE: Right. JA: But — DE: It was tractors and machinery. JA: Tractors, machinery and going fishing. DE: Right. JA: But no but you see he was fishing and shooting and I was riding horses and hunting and so but we knew the same sort of people so we always used to say on a Saturday night we had an awful lot to talk about because we came from different angles. DE: Yeah. JA: I don’t know what you’re going to do with all this. DE: Well, you know we will if you sign the form saying you’re happy for us to use it we’ll, we’ll put it as part of the archive. JA: You want to say something Alex. AA: Well, I was, I was just thinking that you could, you could enlighten a little bit more about, about father’s experience of being in the Home Guard and shooting rabbits during the Second World War and raising enough money to — JA: Oh yes he did. That’s how we got married. AA: That, that’s the story you should talk about. I think you could also could talk about having chickens in the, in the drawing room at Hackthorn when you first got married. JA: Yes. AA: In order that you had enough money and I think you could expand upon that. JA: Yes, I certainly, yes. AA: And also expand a little bit on, a little bit about what community was like during the war years. I think you’ve mentioned it but I don’t think you’ve really talked about how you actually entertained yourself just after the war. How, rural life was up to and around. JA: Funny boy. AA: Wartime. JA: Okay. I, I liked about my husband he had a wonderful dog and he would shoot rabbits and he would take rabbits to market to sell and we actually got married on his rabbit money savings. DE: Right. Okay. JA: Yes. We went to local sales and bought furniture. The bed cost ten pounds I remember. But it was, it was a very comfy bed and, but, that’s, that’s how it moved because he had to work. So, you know. Well — DE: So, what was the going price for a brace of rabbit? JA: Oh, for goodness sake [laughs] I don’t, not a lot but there again well oh yes one thing is when I first got married I was you see when I, yeah that was interesting. When I, when I did get married I had in my bank account I had thirty two pounds because all my father ever paid me was four pounds a week even when I had the cows and driving tractors. Mind you I did get all my food and everything else. And I’d thirty two pounds in the bank and when I got married my housekeeping allowance was five pounds a week and five pounds a week in 1952. And out of that my husband always paid for the meat. Farmers in those days always paid the butcher’s bill and, but I managed to dress myself and feed a baby on five pounds a week. DE: That’s inflation for you then eh. Yeah. JA: That’s inflation. DE: So, chickens. JA: Oh, chickens. When we first got married we were desperately hard up and we had this enormous rectory which had a drawing room, a dining room, a sitting room, a kitchen, you know. So we thought what were, what were we going to do with the dining room? So we had, we put an incubator in and we had baby chickens. And then and then put them in the walled garden and produced eggs to help with our income. It was quite interesting when people came to the door when they’d hear the chickens in the dining room but still never mind. DE: And Alex said something. A bit more about the sort of community life. JA: Yes, I think the community life as far as we was concerned were dances once a week when there was, you know freedom. Tennis parties in the summertime. Grass courts when we had to cut the grass. You know, lined. No hard courts. We had to line, you know. Do it all ourselves. And that’s how we met our friends. And we did. And of course, the Young Farmers’ dances and then it got to be people’s twenty firsts and in those days it was so funny. I mean we went the ballroom at Brigg we always used to invite [laughs] for your twenty first you always invited the young people but you always invited their parents as well. So the parents would sit around the outside of the room watching the young people dancing you see. We were, we were accustomed to it. That was the way it was but looking back on it you know you couldn’t be a bit naughty or anything else because somebody was going to see. But it was the way it was and what I’m trying to say is you accepted the way it was. And that was it. Where today you know everybody has so much freedom. It’s fine. But that’s today, isn’t it? [pause] I don’t know what else to tell you, you know. DE: So you’ve sort of painted a picture of of what, what happened in, in the summers. It was tennis and dancing. JA: Dancing in the winter of course. DE: Oh, there was dancing in the winter. JA: We went dancing in the winter. Yes. DE: Right. JA: Yes, there were dancing in the winter. There was usually a dance every Friday night, you know. And yes, yes that’s reminded me. And I had a particular way of my mother made me, she was a most wonderful seamstress and she made me some wonderful clothes to wear to these dances because it was very important we had something new all the time. And when the New Look came in I had a New Look outfit which was extremely smart but when it was a dance a lot of the, they were ballgowns you see. Off the shoulder and I had a small pin had been given to me. A small pin of a fly and in the first place Sellotape. I used to manage to get this fly pinned on to my skin with Sellotape so I was always known as the woman with the fly. That was my — DE: Well — JA: Different to anybody else. DE: What an odd thing. JA: It was. DE: Yeah. JA: It was very interesting. Yes. But you had to have, you had to look different. You had to look special. DE: Right and it obviously worked because — JA: Oh yes, obviously it worked. Oh yes. DE: You met your husband. Yeah. JA: Yes, it worked. DE: So, I mean you said it was a bit hard when you first got married and you had to have the chickens in in one room. JA: Oh it was hard but then I was used to hard. Are you with me? I mean we we we were all of us used to hard work but we, we had each other. We had privacy. We were away from our families. And then of course I had a baby and it was a natural process but it was, it was good. It was really good. DE: Okey dokey. Thank you. JA: And then my husband got the opportunity of having a farm up at, up at Binbrook and so we moved up there and I always remember he was, whether this is applicable but he was, he was a lovely man my husband and he was very much liked by a lot of people and the local auctioneer who had no sons took him under his wing and I always remember him coming and said, ‘We’re going to get you a farm, Ted.’ And he did. He got this. He got this farm for him and we accepted it. And he said, ‘But you must remember,’ I’ve always remembered this, ‘Always remember you’re going to be successful but you will lose friends.’ DE: Right. JA: And we laughed about it. Ted laughed about it. He was right. We did. Some of his school friends never spoke to him anymore. DE: Because he’d— JA: Because he’d suddenly become successful. DE: Right. JA: That was quite a powerful feeling actually in those days because when you’re young you like to be liked don’t you? DE: So what did success mean then? JA: Well, success meant that we moved. We moved into a bungalow that was built for us. We had another child by then. Success didn’t necessarily mean a lot more money. I mean we were still always hard up. But it meant that we were, well equity had increased. There was more opportunities. We were making a lot more friends up on the Wolds there. Completely new people. But we were still always hard up. We always seemed to be hard up actually. DE: Well, I suppose that part of that’s, you know needing the next new tractor or bit of machinery or whatever. JA: Well, yes. In farming one, one has stuff but you don’t have cash. I think it might apply today in many people. DE: Yes. JA: You have things but no — DE: Yeah. So it’s investments. Yeah. JA: You have land and it’s worth an enormous amount of money but it’s not much good having fifty acres of land that’s worth ten thousand pounds an acre if you haven’t got enough money to buy lunch is it? DE: No, I suppose not. JA: So that’s why I learned to sew and make things. Make things for my home and make things and I’ve sewed ever since. Oh and yes probably the main thing is which is not many people when I was eighty I had an exhibition of all my handiwork in the local village, in the local church because I had a friend, I always said that when I died I didn’t want a particular funeral. I would like to have an exhibition because I’ve always sewed and made things. Cushions. Everything in this house I’ve made. And so she said, ‘Don’t be silly. Do it now when you’re eighty.’ And I did and I had eighty eight pieces of from curtains to wedding dresses to embroidery to whatever that I have done all my life. I’ve collected it and never sold anything in my life but and made things for family and friends and everything else. Collected it all up and had an exhibition. It was fantastic. Raised a lot of money. DE: Really? JA: Yes. DE: What charity did you choose? JA: I gave it half to the church and the other half to, to Leukaemia Research because my husband died of leukaemia. DE: Yes. Of course. Yeah. JA: But he was I was glad I did it because you know, if I’d been dead I should never have enjoyed it should I? DE: No. No. Were there many people came? JA: Oh yes. Well, you see all my friends knew it was my eightieth birthday and it was and thanks to Alex he got it publicised in a local magazine and actually so many people have said, it was open for three days have only said to me the other day, ‘Well, let’s do it again?’ I said, ‘No way. Thank you. No way. Thank you.’ There we go. DE: Smashing. Thank you. JA: So what, there are lots of bits aren’t there? So what do you, do you put the bits together? DE: No. We don’t edit anything. Shall I press pause for now. JA: Yes. [recording paused] DE: So just started recording again. Electricity. JA: Electricity. We, okay even as a child we had only electricity because we had a generator and it had a an engine but it only generated enough electricity for light. It was always going wrong I have to say but we were definitely one up on the local population who only had oil lamps. So electricity would come. I can’t remember when electricity, when we got to be on the electricity but the most important thing was the water because we had our own borehole as children and we dug a borehole. And we had cattle in the, we always had cattle even if we didn’t have cows. But we children kept saying to our parents, ‘This water tastes horrible.’ Because we drank water and those who didn’t drink the orange and this water tastes horrible. We would be eleven twelve. It would be sort of during the war but getting on in the war. Eventually my father decided to have the water tested. Of course, we lived on limestone ground and the cattle in the in the crew yards the water had, the effluent had filtered into the borehole hadn’t it. So we were actually drinking water that should have caused us illness. At that stage father decided right so we had to have water. We had to fetch it from a local bore, a local pipe two miles away with a, with a [pause] and my father and he said, right, we could still bath and everything still in this dirty water but he would never do. So my mother had to carry water from well was boiled in pans on her, the pure water for him to bath in. But we could bath in the dirty water. DE: Right. JA: So my father was an odd man. But this how we didn’t get any I do not know because the water was disgraceful. And that is I think both how my sister and I to be honest I wouldn’t like to say but I don’t think we’ve ever had a tummy upset. DE: Right. It’s sort of inoculated you to everything. JA: Inoculated us for life. Yeah. We’re both very tough. DE: Crikey. JA: And and and I honestly believe that it was because we were sort of — DE: So when did you get the water better water supply? JA: Oh, I don’t know, It would be around about, it was towards the end of the war. It would be about in 1943 ’44 when, when we [pause] No. I think we had water right to the end of the war. It would be 1945. Things began to go ever so fast once war was over. When we got mains. Mains water. DE: What about electricity? JA: Electricity. About the same time. About the same time we got electricity. But everything seemed to happen together. The war ended and we seemed to suddenly move up into the twenty first, twentieth century. And it was. But we didn’t die did we? DE: No. And then you had to, you watched the Coronation on a, on your — JA: Oh yes. A little box set. Yes. And my mother in law had bought it. Terribly expensive at the time I remember. I think about the same price as they are now. It was a lot of money in those days. And so half the village came and sat and watched it. But I was so because I loved clothes and I loved the Queen’s dress and everything else. And then later in life it was only after my husband died my daughter took me to London to see the Queen’s clothes and the Coronation dress was there in this exhibition in the ballroom at Buckingham Palace. I’d never been so absolutely amazed. It was so beautiful because on television it was only black and white and silver but in real life the embroidery on it was all in colour. It was, I’ve never seen anything more exquisite in my life as that dress. DE: Wow. JA: A bit disjointed. DE: No, it’s wonderful. Thank you. JA: Going from sewerage [laughs] to that dress DE: Yes. Opposite ends of the spectrum. Yeah. Right. I shall press stop. JA: Right. I think you’ve had enough. DE: Thank you. JA: I think you’ve had enough. 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 Jan Albone Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dan Ellin Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-09-22 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 00:57:11 Audio Recording 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 AAlboneJM220922, PAlboneJM2201 Description An account of the resource Jan was born on a farm in North Lincolnshire and went to school in Brigg. She loved the farm, particularly the horses. Their farm was close to RAF Kirton in Lindsey, which was used as a rest home for men from the Battle of Britain. They worked on the harvest, to help their recuperation. Jan was aware of the Lancasters at RAF Scampton. They had two evacuees from Sheffield for a short time. Towards the end of the war, Jan also recalls having two German prisoners of war from the camp in Pingley, near Brigg, to help on the farm. When the war ended, Jan enjoyed being a member of the Young Farmers Club, where she met her husband. There were dances and tennis parties before her husband went to agricultural college and became a farmer. After marrying in 1952, they lived in the rectory at Hackthorn where they incubated chicks in the dining room. They moved to a farm in Binbrook. Jan helped with the Pony Club and was a marriage guidance counsellor for 40 years. Jan talks about the changes in farming and how change accelerated after the war. At the age of 80, she put on a three-day handiwork exhibition in the church. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940 1952 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Lincolnshire England--Binbrook England--Hackthorn Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Civilian Language A language of the resource eng Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Sally Coulter Julie Williams Carolyn Emery Maureen Clarke childhood in wartime civil defence evacuation home front Home Guard Lancaster prisoner of war RAF Kirton in Lindsey RAF Scampton https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1908/36266/BPerryWRPPerryWRPv2.pdf 2d9a332b2c7e70c15dc51d7c6351a683 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 Perry, Pete W R P Perry Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-07-19 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Perry, WRP Description An account of the resource Sixty-nine items and an album sub collection with twenty-four pages of photographs. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant WR Pete Perry DFC (1923 - 2006, 1317696, 146323 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, photographs, correspondence, memoirs and documents. He flew operations as a pilot with 106 Squadron. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Helen Verity and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [postage stamp] [postmark] [underlined] Me – W.R.P.P. [/underlined] Mr & Mrs P Perry [censored] [inserted] [circled 23] [/inserted] Keep out until publication! [page break] [underlined] Me – William Roy Peter Perry, DFC. [/underlined] I was born at 57 Hill View Rd, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells, Kent on March 25th 1923, My father, Walter William was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire & his father worked at Aylesford Paper Mills. Dad was Manager of w.H.Smith's bookstall on Tunbridge Wells West railway station. My mother (Dinks) Hetty Emily nee Mercer was born at Ditchling, Sussex the youngest of 12 children. Her father was Foreman Stockman on a farm: When old enough she went in to ‘Service’ in London & also worked as a childrens Nanny. She & Dad married in November 1914. I attended Rusthall Infants School followed by St. Pauls Rusthall boys School. The latter situated beside St. Paul's Parish Church, both being about 1/2 mile outside the village across Rusthall Common. A lovely walk in [underlined] fine [/underlined] weather! We had so much freedom in those days. I spent a very happy childhood playing cricket, soccer & exploring the Common. I belonged to the Cubs & then the Scouts. When I was 10 I joined the choir at St. Paul's. St. Paul's day is 25th January. This is etched in my memory because the School marched the 100 yds to the Church for a Service & then we had the rest of the day off! I know too that the weather in Kent was seasonal – good hot summers & hard winters. Quite a bit of snow & freezing. On the half day holiday the ritual was to go skating or sliding on the disused marlpit as the Common. (The ice was very thick!) On summer days my mother would take me to the escarpment overlooking Happy Valley towards Crowborough Beacon, site of one of the old beacon warning systems. Some Sunday mornings I would walk through Shadwell Woods with my father to the 'George & Dragon' at Speldurst where he would buy me a ginger beer whilst he supped his pint. Our summer holiday was usually spent with some cousins [page break] (2) (honorary 'Uncle’ John & 'Aunt' Sally, they being so much [inserted] older [/inserted] than I.) at Crowhurst, Sussex. The nearby farm had two boys, one of them my age & I spent many happy hours with them – & 'Brock' the tame badger they'd raised from a cub. I'd walk with my parents through the fields (where Dinks was terrified when a herd of heifers followed too closely to look at our little dog who was on her lead!) & through Hollington Wood to Hastings. It was about 4mls & there was the day on the beach to look forward to. On the way home Dad would buy a quart of winkles which he & Uncle John would enjoy back at Crowhurst. If there were any left over they'd be put in a basin & that put in the well bucket lowered down to the waters edge to keep fresh. No 'fridge – no electricity! If the wind 'blew over Nichols' closet’ (the earth & bucket WC at the bottom of their garden next door) it meant rain. You couldn't mistake the forecast! Then there were the 'outings'. The choir outing, Sunday School, Cubs. These varied between Hastings, Brighton – wonderful Aquarium, Eastbourne, Whipsnade Zoo, all exciting. Seasonal activities included whips & tops; hoops – boys had iron ones which you controlled with a 'skid' whilst girls had wooden ones with a stick; 'cops & robbers'; conkers & always the Common which led to Toad Rock at Denny Bottom; the High Rocks in Happy Valley; Langton Estate – private but we knew how to get in & never got caught! Following the world-wide financial crisis in the early thirties W.H. Smith closed a number of their shops & agencies & Dad lost his job. He did a variety of things. Literally 'got on his bike' & went 'repping' for various newspapers, magazines & periodicals. It was whist working for the 'Farmer & Stockbreeder' in Cornwall he [page break] [inserted] 2a [/inserted] At St. Paul's school, Rusthall we, along with all the other schools in Tunbridge Wells, used to celebtate [sic] 'Empire Day', May 24th. The natural amphitheatre of Calverly Park in the middle of town was the venue & all schools used to march in in the morning & sing ptriotic [sic] & traditional songs from all the Empire. A proper orchestra accompanied us & thousands of proud parents would sit around on the slopes & enjoy the concert. I cannot recall it not being a fine, warm sunny day. (We also had the rest of the day off!) A cousin in Sussex brought me a newly hatched magpie chick kept in a cotton-wool nest in our scullery. It was fed every three hours with a mixture of maggots, meal & milk – using a slate pencil! Christened Percy he thrived. (Despite [underlined] nearly [/underlined] swallowing the lead pencil on one occasion!) Dad made a cage & when Percy was old enough he was moved outside & work was commenced on an aviary. He was a lovely bird & soon developed his adult plumage. He was let out when we were around & he'd walk around the garden & we'd lift stones to reveal woodlice a favourite [sic] delicacy of his. If we stood too long or sat down he would undo our shoe-laces by pulling on the metal tags. When we moved to Cornwall he was put in his travelling cage & his aviary dismantled. He broke his tail feathers en-route but soon recovered them once he'd settled down. His aviary was rebuilt against the side wall of the 'linney' – a stone outbuilding used for storing coal, paraffin, potatoes, garden tools etc. One morning, a couple of years on, he was excitedly calling us & displayed his trophies – three dead baby rats that had wandered in to his aviary! He was very pleased with himself! The following morning we found him dead, half pulled through a tiny hole in the wall at the back. The parent rats had got him during the night. Dad put down some rat poison & we later found one dead rat. We missed Percy who'd been part of the family for seven years. [page break] (3) saw this small, run down village shop for sale in Tideford, nr Saltash, Cornwall. He was fed up with travelling around, wanted to get settled again & saw this as a chance to get back in to business again & also possibly build something up for me to take over in due course. It was about this time that my Headmaster at St Pauls' wanted to enter me for a Scholarship to Judd's School, Tonbridge. This was now out of the question with our move to Cornwall. This took place in December ‘35. We of course were 'vurriners' from other side of the water (River Tamar!) & Dinks was very unhappy at first. Running the shop helped to make contacts & she soon made friends, some of them very strong. I went to St German's School – a daily walk of 2 1/2 miles each way. I used to take a 'Cornish Pasty' for my lunch – no such thing as school. meals. In the summer of '37 I left school & worked for my father – in the shop & I also took over the newspaper delivery round. (They'd not had this service in the village before Dad started it!) He also introduced greengroceries & a variety of fresh fruit. At Xmas we had a Xmas Bazaar complete with fairy lights & decorations! The villagers loved it! (No I was not Father Xmas neither was Dad!). Previously they'd had to go to Saltash or Plymouth – on the three buses a day service but never on a Sunday! Then just as the business was was [sic] beginning to show a profit Dad died of heart failure. He was 52. Our close friends there were farmers & Herman Bond rang Dad this Saturday lunch-time to say that thunderstorms were on the way & he was anxious to 'save the corn’ & needed as many men as he could get. My father got his bike out & rode to Heskyn Farm a mile away. He died that evening pitching a 'stook' of corn up on to the wagon. He'd not had a days illness in 20 years. Aunts & Uncles from both sides came for the funeral. Those we couldn't put up stayed with friends. The villagers were very [page break] (4) supportive both then & afterwards. Being then 15 1/2 I was able to take my share of the work but of course my mother had all the responsibility. Xmas that year we went up to Dartford to spend it with family. We didn’t ‘do’ Sunday papers so we caught the Saturday night express Plymouth to Paddington. Xmas Day & Boxing Day (no papers then) gave us the three day break. (The first one Dinks had in four years.) The business continued to do well, Dad had laid a good foundation. I lengthened the paper round to 12 miles & delivered groceries or whatever en-route – carried in pannier bags. It was a hot summer in ’39 & in Cornwall the gathering war-clouds had little effect until early August when as shop-keepers we received first details of rationing. Customers had to ‘register’ with their chosen supplier & were given books of ‘tokens’ which had to be surrended [sic] for each purchase. The shopkeeper had to return these tokens to the local food office in order to obtain fresh supplies! They had to be sent in their own groups; butter, sugar, lard, tea etc. The form filling was a time-consuming task & very fiddling with all the tiny coupons! It was a good cricket season – we won most of our matches. Socially we were quite active. Some of us used to cycle to neighbouring [sic] villages for their dances – Polbathic (3mls), St. Germans (2 1/2mls), Landrake (1 1/2mls). Home around 0200 & up again at 0630 to cycle to St Germans to collect the papers! “. . . we have not received any reply & therefore a state of war exists between ourselves & Germany”. Prime Minister Chamberlains words broadcast at 1100 on Sunday 2rd September 1939. The next eight months became known as ‘the phony war’ for not a lot happened. Rationing was introduced & some shortages became apparent. Candles were very scarce – people started hording in case of electricity cuts & fresh fruit from abroad was not available. [page break] (5) Then came the German blitzkrieg. Breaking through the 'impregnable' Maginot Line the the [sic] Panzers quickly overran the Allied defences [sic] & 'defensive action’ (retreat!) was the order of the day. This culminated in the evacuation at Dunkirk & less publicised [sic] at Cherbourg & St Nazarre). The son of a friend of ours was involved at Dunkirk & came on leave with his wife to see his mother in the village. we let them have our spare bedroom for five days. Frank looked terrible but made a full recovery. He was later killed – N Africa I think. Invasion imminent the Local Defence [sic] Volunteers were formed. (The 'Look Duck & Vanish' !!). Age limit 16 to 65. I joined our local platoon & we started off with pitchforks, staves [underlined] & [/underlined] 3 shotguns! Some months later we were issued with rifles – obsolete American – 300 from World War One! We had 10 rounds of ammunition each but couldn't practice as there was no more & we [underlined] might [/underlined] need it!! The ‘Battle of Britain’ then took place & we were victorious – just. We did not see any of that down in South West England. Our war was to patrol each night looking for enemy parachutists. The only excitement we got was when Plymouth was bombed one night & a stick of incendiaries & a couple of stray bombs landed in the woods & fields around Tideford. I had my 18th birthday on March 25th '41 & on the 26th (my half day off!!) I went in to Plymouth & volunteered for Aircrew. Paperwork completed I retuned [sic] home to await developments. Dinks was obviously not keen on my action but we had talked it over & knowing how determined I was to fly, she did not try to stop me. Mid April '41 & I was required to attend the RAF recruiting office in Plymouth for further instructions. Report in the afternoon with overnight kit. Arriving there I & six others were given rail passes & told to catch the 0800 train the next morning & go to Oxford for apptitude [sic] [page break] (6) tests, medical & attestation. Since five of us lived in Cornwall we could not get to the station in time so we were given 'chits' for accommodation at 'The Royal Sailor's Rest' (otherwise known as ‘Aggie Weston's') in Devonport two miles away. The previous night Plymouth had. been 'blitzed' so city transport was virtually nil & all the phones were down. We started walking, nice sunny afternoon, when halfway along Union St a delayed action bomb went off nearby & blew one of our members through a shop window. He picked himself up – unhurt not a scratch – & we carried on walking. A while later he put his hand in his hip pocket for some money & found that the glass window had cut his trouser pocket & all the coins had fallen out!! We checked in at 'Aggies' &, the phones still being 'out', I wrote home & posted [inserted] it [/inserted] it in the piller [sic] box just outside the hostel. After a meal I turned in for an early night. After about an hour the air-raid sirens sounded so we all went down to the shelter in the basement. About an hour later we received a direct hit so "everybody out" & we were directed to the nearest street shelter. This was against a high wall which had the dockyard on the other side. Fairly soon a bomb landed nearby & the blast took the roof off our shelter. We all moved on to to [sic] the first available shelter (all hell still breaking loose around us!). This refuge proved a bit crowded & since an anti-aircraft gun was just the other side of [underlined] that [/underlined] wall also somewhat noisy. By 0430 the 'all clear' had sounded & we made our way on 'Shank's Pony’ to Millbay Station, three miles away. The streets were awash with water, strewn with with [sic] rubble, glass, burning wood – buildings on fire & a horrible stench all around. Obviously many hundreds had been killed or wounded. It was as if we had descended in to Dante's Inferno. We got to Millbay station around 0700 & surprisingly that had not been damaged. I tried again to phone home but of course to no [page break] (7) avail. We cleaned ourselves up & lo & behold the train arrived on time! All aboard for Oxford – change at Slough. I remember the bteakfast [sic] I had on the train. Porridge, grilled calves liver with onions, toast, marmalade & tea. It was delicious. Arrived at Oxford, reported & was given first interview & aptitude tests then an address to night stop. Next morning the aircrew medical (including the blowing up the mercury!) followed by more aptitude, maths & English tests & the final in-depth interview. (Why don't you want to join the Tank Corps? How about the Submarine Service? You had to convince them of your single-mindedness for the RAF & flying.) Finally the coveted chit – medically 'Fit all Aircrew', suitable P, N, B. (Pilot, Navigator, Bomb-aimer). I tried to ring home again but the Phones were still out! Next morning back to Tideford to the sheer relief of my mother who had received my letter from Plymouth but in a charred state – singed & scorched in the letter box outside 'Aggie Westons'. She had no way of knowing whether I was alive or dead. Back to normal. Work, newspapers, cricket, Home Guard – we had a new title, no longer the LDV. [inserted] 7a [/inserted] Then August. Report to ACRC (Aircrew Receiving Centre) at Lord’s cricket ground. Check in; another medical (including FFI in the Long Room (!) & then march off to Bentinck House, a requesitioned [sic] block of luxury flats in St John's Wood. (Except that we were packed in like sardines!). Next morning, fall in outside & march through Regent's Park to the zoo where [underlined] all [/underlined] feeding would take place. (No comments, please!). Back to the Stores block for kitting out, more documentation – I am now an AC2 (Aircraftsman second class the lowest form of animal life in the RAF.). March off for lunch & then in the pm the medical Centre for a variety of 'jabs' & vaccinations. No one wanted to eat in the evening – just bed. (bed? three biscuits square hard mattresses, [page break] [inserted] 7a. [/inserted] Out walking one day with a girl friend by the River Tiddy we heard cries & saw a little five year old girl being swept away. we jumped over the low wall & into the river. I couldn't swim (!) but I could wade & it only came up to my knees. Gwen ran down on the bank & dived in where it was deeper & held the child until I arrived. The youngster had suffered no harm apart from a wetting so we took her home. Her mother was very grateful! We went to our respective homes to dry out & get changed for it was late autumn & a bit chilly! During the London `blitz' the daily papers were often late & if they were going to be hours late I would cycle back to Tideford & return when they’d arrived. One day it was mid afternoon when I set off for St. German's station in the rain. The approach to the village was down a fairly steep hill with a sharp bend at the bottom. I was in a hurry & knew the road (!). Of course in the wet my brakes didn't function well & I came into violent contact with a stone wall. When I came around I was on a sofa in the District Nurse's house & being ministered to by said Nurse – she lived there! No serious damage – just my four front teeth & a cut on my chin. The papers weren't delayed much longer. [page break] (8) Three blankets & a pillow. Two weeks of drill, Zoo, PT, lectures on the RAF, the pitfalls of life – especially 'loose women', night vision tests & early to bed & early to rise for more drill & PT! Occasionally a visit to the Odeon cinema at Swiss Cottage if there was a decent film. Then off to ITW (Initial Training Wing) – number 10 at the Grand Hotel, Scarborough. Les Ames the Kent & England cricketer was the CO & the PT instructors were generally sportsmen of some sort. Documentation, draw your bedding – three more 'biscuits', blankets, sheets(!), pillow slips(!!) & a pillow. This time there was a bed! (It had been the floor at ACRC). Training consisted of drill, PT, first steps in navigation, radio – including morse code both 'buzzer' & Aldis lamp, armaments – Lewis & Browning guns – stripping them down & then re-assemble against the clock (the rear seer retainer keeper – a never to be forgotten piece of equipment!), bombs – types & fuses, meteorology, Airmanship, theory of flight. Fire watch duties in the round turrets of the hotel once a week, plus guard duties also once a week. We had a pretty full six weeks there. They passed quickly, then final exams, promotion to LAC (Leading Aircraftman) & pay up to four shillings a day (20p). Next stop No 9 EFTS (9 Elementary Flying Training School) at Ansty, nr Coventry. Pay now increased by a further three shillings & sixpence a day flying pay! Rich – nearly beyond the dreams of avarice! I was put in the section scheduled to train in this country. The other half were on 'Grading' (to test their aptitude for flying as a pilot) before going overseas to train. (Canada, America, South Africa, Rhodesia) They had priority in flying – they had a boat to catch! I got Xmas leave (4 days) which I spent with Dinks. Reporting back on the 28th l found that the panic button had been pressed. [underlined] All [/underlined] [page break] (9) of my course were to go overseas, Hand in all flying kit, etc, get more 'jabs' & then on the train in 48 hours to Heaton Park, Manchester, (A holding Unit). BilIeted out; report each morning to see if we were on our way, then ‘get lost' until next morning! Six days of this – & it rained on five of them! Finally on the train again to Avonmouth, Bristol. Marched on to the troopship the SS Volendam, a Dutch liner that had been converted to a troopship. We were on the the [sic] very bottom deck complete with hammocks. The FAA (Fleet Air Arm) cadets were above us on a slatted deck & all sorts used to drop through! Kit stashed & back up on deck to see the land going by-adieu to England. Then a firm hand on my shoulder & a stentorian voice saying "you, airman – galley". I had been 'Volunteered’ by the Flight Sergeant for cookhouse duties. I don't know how many spuds, carrots & turnips I peeled on the first two days before we hit our first storm. I do know that from thereon I was not capable of peeling any more! Worse was to come – we broke down & wallowed for for [sic] 24 hours in one damn storm after another! (I should have said that when we left dock we had another troopship the SS Montcalm & two destroyer escorts with us. One destroyer broke down & limped off on day one. When [underlined] we [/underlined] broke down the Montcalm carried on & the remaining destroyer did its best bustling between the two troopships as long as feasable [sic], but then gave up & (sensibly) left us to our fate. By now I had reached the stage whereby if a U-boat had sunk us I'd have been happy. l felt proper poorly!!) Repairs were effected & we made our way to Halifax on our tod! Only took us thirteen days! Straight on to the troop train – sleeping cars & all. Off we go – Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, the Great Lakes. On the second evening out we were were [sic] approaching Winnipeg & the Flight Sergeant orders everyone to smarten up boots & buttons polished, shave if necessary etc. At the station we disembark, 'get felled in’ & are marched through the passenger tunnels to the Concourse [page break] (10) where a band is playing, buffet food & drinks (soft) laid on & lots of girls (with their chaperones) waiting to dance & talk to us.! [underlined] What [/underlined] a lovely surprise. The party, organised [sic] by the RFC (Royal Flying Corps) veterans lasted less than an hour & then we were back on the train. The RFC Vets used to meet every troop train arriving or going through Winnipeg to welcome the lads from the old country to Canada. A lovely gesture & typically Canadian. Another two nights & a day & we arrive in Calgary, Alberta at 0700hrs. On to coaches & off to No 31 EFTS De Winton, some 30 miles away just in time for breakfast. Lashings of orange juice, bacon, eggs, hash browns, tomatoes, beans – & maple syrup! Training alternated between flying & ground studies. The latter as before but more advanced & also introduced Flying Control (as it was in those days!). We flew Canadian Tiger Moths with perspex canopies – very necessary in that cold weather (40 below?!!). The airfield snow was rolled flat & firm & off we went. I caught conjunctivitis halfway through the course, was grounded & subsequently put on the next course when I was fit. Finishing EFTS in May four of us went to Banff in the Rockies for a week & had a wonderful time. (Not so good for one of them – he broke a leg skiing & was put back I don't know how many courses. Back to De Winton to find that Calgary SFTS (Service Flying Training School) was not ready for us – & De Winton had no space as the next course had arrived! Another weeks leave – but short on cash. Having a cuppa in the 'Willow Tea Room' in Calgary A Canadian introduced himself & during our conversation elicited the fact that I was at a loose end. He asked where I would like to go if I had the opportunity. I replied Drumheller & the Red Deer valley. Whereupon he asked the waitress for some notepaper, told me to be at a street rendezvous at 0900 next morning when I would be picked up by some friends of his who were going through Drumheller. Arriving I was to present myself & his note to a Solicitor friend. [page break] (11) This all worked out as planned. At Drumheller I introduced myself to Mr Sanderson who immediately asked how long I could stay & then rang his wife & told her she had a guest! I was made [underlined] most [/underlined] welcome. Taken around – the Red Deer Valley (Mr Sanderson was an amatuer [sic] geologist & gave me those pieces of petrified wood); two parties where I met Sarah Burpington Jones (true!) a spritely girl of some seventy-odd summers who said that she got her middle name because of her fantastic ‘burps' as a baby! Eventually back to De Winton & then off to 37 SFTS at Calagary [sic] Airport where I was introduced to Oxfords – twin engined trainers. We were left under [underlined] no [/underlined] illusions as to our fate if we interfered with any scheduled or civilian private planes! (I forgot to mention my practical 'hangar flying' at EFTS. Doing cross wind take-offs & landings with my Instructor when he spotted another Tiger Moth drifting over on top of us! He took over & as he opened the throttle to full power a gust of wind caught us & turned us toward a line of parked aircraft & the hangar. We avoided the aircraft & [underlined] nearly [/underlined] got over the hanger but ended up in the window as the photo shows! We were lucky the 'kite' did not catch fire as we were trapped in the cockpit & had to be cut free!) Back to Calgary. Hard but satisfying work, 'ground school' alternating with flying. I enjoyed flying 'twins' & hoped to go on to 'multis' (four engines) at the end of my training. We did formation flying; cross country flights for navigation training (a doddle really because if you were ‘unsure of your position’ – lost in other words – you flew along a railway line until you came to the station & there in large letters on the grain elevator was the name of the town!), a lot of night flying – again easy as there was no blackout there! By July we were the Senior Course at Calgary & the Calgary Stampede was due. The RAF had been given the honour [sic] of leading the Parade through the town to the Show Ground – bands playing, flags flying, cowboys & Indians in full regalia, chuckwagons, majorettes, broncos – a real North [page break] (12) American Barnum & Baily show. (Still goes on). Being the Senior Course it fell to us to take the pole position – & it meant free entry to the Stampede Arena! Trouble was our SWO (Station Warrant Officer) considered that we were an ungainly shower not fit to be let loose at anytime & especially not fit to lead a Parade! However he would alter that & make us the perfect example of RAF smartness & efficiency. Brigade of Guards – eat your heart out! This would not come easy, so we were taken off flying & lectures for four days of intensive drilling. This did not appeal to us for we knew that we could 'put on the bull' with the best of them when the time came. In retrospect I feel sorry for that SWO. He had us on the parade ground at Calgary – he shouted, he roared, he jumped up & down, went purple in the face – damn near had an apoplexy but still couldn't smarten us up to his standard. Talk about 'dumb insolence’ & 'idle on Parade'!! In the end the CO, Group Captain Irons, was called in to restore some semblance of order & sanity. He said very little. In a quiet, modified voice he said "Gentlemen I promise you that each & everyone of you who fails to respond to drill orders will be removed immediately from his Course & remustered in some menial ground capacity. Good day". Two days later we proudly led the Stampede Parade through Calgary receiving the plaudits of the crowds lining the streets – & we [underlined] were [/underlined] smart! The Stampede was quite a spectacle & we enjoyed the rest of the day. (I did not know then how the broncos & steers were 'cinched' to make them buck.) All previous courses had received two weeks leave after their Wings Parade & I had made arrangements to visit relatives in Minneapolis. Mamie Goodrick – she who had compiled the Mercer 'Family Tree in 1934 – had sent me 70 dollars for my fare & I was to 'visit with my kin'. [page break] (13) Came graduation & the 'Wings, ceremony. We ‘turned on the bull’ again – no one better than us! Dinks told me later that she sat up in bed at 2200hrs (1500hrs Calgary time) & toasted Sgt Pilot Perry in Ribena. We were then told to be ready the next evening to board the train for Halifax & we might get a 48hr pass in Montreal – If we were lucky! So much for USA and my kinfolk. I wrote to Mamie & sent the money back. Ce la guerre. After two days leave in Montreal we had a week at the RCAF holding unit at Moncton then on to Halifax to board the SS Awatea, a New Zealand boat with a reputation for 'rolling'. We joined an enormous convoy – ships as far as the eye could see. The weather was perfect & we landed at Greenock eight days later. What a contrast to our outbound journey. On the train again – straight to Bournemouth where we had three weeks of not much to do before we moved on to No 14 AFU (Advanced Flying Unit) at Ossington, Lincs, to renew aquaintance [sic] with Oxfords. Flying in England was [underlined] very [/underlined] different from aviating in Canada. Weather, black-out, weather, crowded skies, weather, intruders, weather, no straight railway lines with place names on their buildings & of course weather!! At least the aircraft was familiar. We soon adapted. Then came the move to No 29 OTU (Operational Training Unit) at North Luffenham. This was more like it. We would 'crew up' with the other aircrew categories, become a special team & fly [underlined] real [/underlined] aeroplanes. In our case Wellingtons that had seen their better days on ops but still performed a very useful function in training. 'Crewing Up' was a sample task. On the second day at North Luffenham all categories of aircrew were assembled in one of the hangers, doors closed – & left to get on with it!! You knew nobody outside your own category [page break] (14) so eye contact, bearing, stature – charisma (didn't call it that then) was all you had to go on. About 90% were NCO's & the remainder Officers – the brainy ones Commissioned 'off [sic] course'! I spotted a tall gangly Sgt Navigator, had a word & we seemed to strike a chord. He was a Scot & my first crew member. A quiet pleasant Wop/AG hove in to view. Another word or two (another Scot) & Doug Cunnison was with me. A quietly spoken F/O wearing an Observer brevet wandered over. "My name is Dick Toogood, do you fancy me as your Bomb-aimer?" "Yes" I replied. (An Observer was trained as a Navigator & Bomb-aimer. The RAF by this time was training navigators ('N' brevet') & bomb-aimers ('BA' brevet) s[inserted]e[/inserted]perately. Observers had been told that they were now Bomb-aimers but they could keep their 'O' brevet. I should think so too!!). Dick said a long, long time later that he thought "what am I doing entrusting my life to this boy?". He was the ‘old man of the crew – 24 – & I was still 19! All l needed now was a rear-gunner. (Wimpys had a crew of five). Amongst the gunners group I noticed a smallish, pugnacious looking lad, contacted him & in no time 'Shorty' Groombridge was destined for my rear turret. We went for a drink that night in Colley Weston to cement our team. Only a few days later we lost our Navigator due to a severe bronchial problem. In his place we had Johnny Boaden who was back from Heavy Conversion Unit for re-crewing, his pilot having failed. Most of our flying was done from Woolfox Lodge, a satellite to North Luffenham. Still some ground studies but mostly flying, day & night. Fighter affiliation exercises, lots of practice bombing at Wainfleet & Donna Nook, air/sea firing, navigation exercises day & night. The latter included 'Bullseyes' – simulated ops whereby we 'attacked' various of our cities whose defences [sic] responded with searchlights & night fighters. (They had to be trained as well!), We were also 'attacked' en route to let us practice the various defensive action to be taken. Occasionally, we got the code that German intruders were around – that smartened us up a bit! [page break] (15) Finally a 'Nickel' raid on Limoges. No bombs but thousands of leaflets encouraging sabotage. Ration coupons for petrol, clothes. Counterfeit money (very good forgeries) – all designed to create havoc with the economy & thus upset the Germans. The AOC (Air Officer Commanding) 5 Group, Air Vice Marshal the Hon. Sir Ralph Cochrane, KCB, (etc) known as 'Old Cocky', decided that his aircrew were unfit (?) & needed toughening up. Before we could proceed to the Heavy Conversion Unit we were to undergo a week on a 'Commando Assault Course'! It is debatable if we [underlined] were [/underlined] unfit before that course – It is a fact that we [underlined] were [/underlined] unfit after it!! Sprains, bruises, aching muscles – one bloke broke his ankle & had to leave his crew. Eventually commonsense prevailed & after three months the idea was dropped. We eventually arrived at 1654 HCU Wigsley where Manchesters & Lancasters awaited us. Disembarking from the gharry at our billet we saw a Manchester making its approach with its port engine on fire! I had to restrain the crew from climbing back in to the gharry to go somewhere else – anywhere! The Manchester was a delight to fly – empty. I’m glad I didn't have to operate on them. I only know of one crew that completed a full tour on them! They were underpowered and had a terrible habit of engines catching fire. However from that disaster A.V. Roe stretched the wings, stuck two more engines on & gave us the 'Queen of the Skies'. We progressed to the Lancaster & immediately felt at home. Handled a treat & the four ‘mighty Merlins’ gave gave [sic] fantastic power & reliability. I collected Les Blood as my Flight Engineer & 'Taff' Davies as mid-upper gunner. In next to no time we were back on the gharry en route to Syerston & 106 Sqdn. On this way we stopped in Newark – glorious sunshine, market day – we bought punnets of strawberries & ate them strolling around the stalls. War? What war? Back on the bus & a five mile trip to RAF Syerston a permanent, peacetime Station 15 miles from Nottingham & sited above the [page break] (16) 'oxbow' of the River Trent. It was at that time the home of 61 & 106 Sqdns. We reported to the 106 adjutant given our joining 'chits' to be completed & took our kit to our respective Messes. After lunch we took our 'chits' to the various sections, got them filled in & presented ourselves back to the 'Adj'. We were invited in to the CO's W/C Ronnie Baxter's office where he welcomed us to the Squadron & said that we were to be in 'B' Flight. The other 'sprog' crew that arrived with us was in 'A' Flt. (They were lost on their first trip,) My crew went to their appropiate [sic] sections & I reported to 'B' office to be greeted by F/Lt 'Ginger' Crowe DFC, DFM – a second tour pilot & acting Flt Commander. (The S/Ldr had been shot down the night before. I then met the few pilots in the office, had a chat & that was it for the day. The next morning we did an hours local flying to familiarise [sic] ourselves with the terrain & then practice some three engined overshoots & landings. That night I did my first op as 2nd pilot with F/O Gene Rosner (an American in the RAF). Krefeld in the Ruhr was the target. Two nights later I took my crew to Wuppertal, also in the Ruhr, & after bombing had my windscreen smashed by flak. The chunk of shrapnel passed between Les Blood's head & my own & exited through the upper canopy! The cockpit became very cold (we were at 19500ft) & I used my goggles for the one & only time whilst flying. Next night Gelsenkirchen (Ruhr again) followed by two trips to Cologne (still the Ruhr!) the second carrying an 8000lb 'cookie'. (The normal Cookie was a 4000lb & carried in conjunction with an assortment of 1000lb, 500lb high explosives plus a variety of incendiary bombs. Following that session my Commission came through & I got 48hrs leavre [sic] to get kitted out. Dinks was well pleased to see me. [page break] (17) Back to Syerston where a very different trip awaited us. Turin. As it was mid-summer we couldn't get there & back in darkness & Northern France was not a healthy place to be in daylight. So the experts devised 'a plan'! After bombing head due West across Southern Central France, daylight across there was safe, coast out over the Bay of Biscay 'twixt La Rochelle & St, Nazarre then due north to Plymouth & then home. Ther [inserted] e [/inserted]’ s something about 'the affairs of mice & men gang oft aglee'. All went well until we approached the Alps. 'Met' had forecast a cold front North of the Alps but then clear over the target (the Fiat works). I've never seen such appalling weather. The cold front was so active & vigorous – the 'cu-nims’ (cumulo-nimbus) tossed us all over the place. We couldn't go up – no more power, & we daren't go down – the Alps not all that far below us! We iced up -it was being flung off the propellers & rattled all down the fuselage. St. Elmo's Fire was dancing around the props & wireless ariels [sic]. The controls got sluggish – ice acretion [sic]. Not nice at all. We eventually got through it & the target appeared – beautifully clear, identified, an easy bombing run – the defences [sic] were typically Italian – not enthusiastic(!) 'flak' sporadic; we saw a biplane fighter but he was not interested. Setting off to the West we were halfway across France when dawn came up behind. There was 10/10 cloud (full cover) at 7000ft & 'gin clear' above us. I descended to just above the cloud – easy to drop in to if we were attacked by fighters but we weren't. Oxygen masks off & enjoy a cup of coffee from our flasks. This cloud was a mixed blessing for we could not see the the [sic] ground to maps read & we were out of range of our home based navigation aids & the sun was too low for an astro shot. So press on & in due course Johnny said "5 minutes to the coast Skipper". The words were hardly out of his mouth when all hell broke loose – we were slap bang over La Rochelle & had the undivided attention [page break] (18) of all the German flak guns! I twisted & turned to avoid predicted flak, opened throttles to full power to get out of the barrage flak quickly & we eventually crossed the coast with our port engine on fire & some damage to the wing & fuselage. We extinguished the fire & feathered the engine which left us with three – no real problem [underlined] except [/underlined] that we now had no rear turret as that was driven by the port outer. By now, all cloud gone, I descended to 200ft for the 'Bay' was not a healthy place in daylight due to the FW Condors & JU 88s that used to patrol out there. Flying low would prevent a fighter coming up beneath us. After about twenty minutes a 'plane appeared way behind us & gradually caught us up. It was another Lanc &, seeing our predicament, it slowed down & formated on us until we were clear of the Bay. Nice gesture. We eventually made it back to base – with very little petrol in the tanks. The trip had taken 11hrs 20mins, the longest I ever did. The next three months saw us doing a variety of trips. Milan & Nuremburg twice each. on one of the latter ones 'Shorty' shot down a JU 88 that attacked us as we were on our bombing run. Berlin, Hanover (where we got well & truly 'coned' by searchlights), Leipzig where we lost both the inner engines en route to the target (had a Group Captain just back from the Middle East as a 2nd dickie that night – He wanted to get the 'feel' of operating over Germany!!). Back to the Ruhr & then it was November & our move to Metheringham. (You can read all about that in the article I wrote for The 'Friends of Metheringham' news-letter '106 Sqdn – Happy days & others!) [inserted] 18 on [/inserted] I finished my first tour on 16th February with my seventh trip to Berlin the night before. My DFC had come through four days earlier. Back to Syerston, an Instructors Course & I'm [inserted] now [/inserted] imparting my knowledge & experience to others. I've still a month to go for my '21st' [page break] [inserted] 18a [/inserted] Over Berlin one night we had bombed, got our photograph & had just turned for home when we were hit by flak & the starboard inner engine set on fire. Les & I were taking the appropiate [sic] action when he felt a push in his back – Johnny our navigator, parachute strapped on, was tring [sic] to get to the front escape hatch! "Where do you think you're going?” roared Les. "Out" says Johnny, pointing to the flaming engine. "Oh no you're not " shouts Les, picking Johnny up & putting him back in his seat & re-connecting his oxygen tube & intercom. I'd finished my emergency procedutes [sic] by now, the fire was out, propellor feathered, aircraft re-trimmed. I checked the crew for casualties – none – so set course for home on three. Johnny could not remember his actions, & still can't to this day. I think that his oxygen tube had become disconnected & he was suffering from oxygen shortage – it didn't take long at those altitudes. Another night the target was Bochum, in the Ruhr. I had a 'second dickie' with me for his experience 'op'. It was gin clear & the approach to the target was lit up with searchlight beams & the sky full of bursting flak. Brock's benefit night. (Brock being famous firework manufacturers before the war). Joe Latham beside me took his mask off & shouted "Are we going through that?” "Yes" I replied. "How?" he asked. "With luck" I shouted! A moment later a Halifax bomber just ahead & below me was coned by searchlights & of [inserted] course [/inserted] got the full force of flak. It was only moments before it was hit & went into a dive before it exploded. We flew past unscathed that time. In December we won the 5 Group monthly bombing competition. On the Wainfleet bombing range we dropped eight practice bombs from 20000 ft & had an average error of 19 yards!! Nice work Dick. (American 'pickle barrel’ bombsight – eat your heart out!) [page break] (19) The Lancasters of 5 LFS were older ones that had seen cosiderable [sic] operational service & were no longer quite up to tip-top standards. Perfectly adequate for training though. They were modified by being fitted with dual controls & the Instructors flew from the right-hand side. That felt a bit peculiar at first but one soon became 'ambidextrous'. Came [sic] early March & we had quite a snowstorm that lasted all night. As soon as it stopped it was [underlined] all [/underlined] hands to the pumps or rather brooms & shovels clearing one runway & the perimeter track. By [underlined] all [/underlined] hands I mean all – every ablebodied man & women of all ranks on that airfield! Kept us warm though. At least we had the comfort of a peacetime Mess to return to. It took two days before the Station Commander said it was "safe enough – land & taxi with care”! I was on a night flying detail with a young (sez he being still 20) New Zealand pilot as my pupil. We'd been doing circuits & bumps for an hour & a half & conditions were worsening so whilst on circuit I'd decided to dall [sic] it a day (or night!). A bit of a cross-wind was developing & as we levelled out (flared out in modern jargon) & the wheels about to touch an extra puff of wind caught us & turned us into the two feet high snow banks lining the runway. I couldn't correct soon enough & the port wheel hit the snow bank & we spun around sheering the port undercarriage, bending the port outer prop, damaging the port wing tip. Nobody hurt though. We were the last aircraft working – the other instructors had already packed it in for the night! I had an ‘interview’ with the Station Commander next day & after a sound telling off the matter was finished. I enjoyed my new duties & soon realised [sic] that whilst teaching others I was learning more & more about the 'Queen of the Skies' which which [sic] was of some considerable benefit to me. The crews coming through were all qualified in their own crew categories. Our job was to convert them on to Lancs; how to handle [page break] (20) them in various situations, especially the 5 Group 'corkscrew' – very effective against fighters & improve their crew co-operation. My star pupil was F/Lt Peter Lines. He had been an Instructor at SFTS for two years & had amassed a fair bit of experience – & it showed. He took to the Lanc like a duck takes to water & I showed him a number of manoeuvres [sic] that normally weren't demonstrated at that stage of their experience. He was posted to 106 Sqdn & soon aquired [sic] my old MUG Sgt Mo Singh who was nearing the end of his tour. The Sqdron [sic] was on a daylight to a French target when they were re-called due to the target being obscured by bad weather & sent on a cross-country around England to burn up fuel & reduce their landing weight to a safe level. F/lt Lines a/c crashed at Salford with its full load of bombs. There was no apparent reason or emergency radio call. The F/E had relatives living at Salford; the cloud base was very low – & the rest is history. Another day I returned to my Flight Office after instructing & my Flight Commander broke the news to me that I was Officer i/c a fineral [sic] party that afternoon. (A pupil pilot had crashed the week before – all killed). The Pilots parents wanted their son buried in the village churchyard. I had to meet them & escort them through the ceremony. Apart from never having done anything like that before (& no briefing – commonsense prevailed) the worst moment was when the lad's Mother asked if she could see her son for the last time. I knew what was in the casket & & [sic] no way was l going to let her see inside. I told her to remember him during his life with them & on his last leave. Rostered for night flying details or, the third of June '44. Just finished dinner in the Mess when the Tannoy goes "All night flying is cancelled". Puzzlement – the weather is good; the aircraft serviceable – what’s up? No information forthcoming so - - - let's have a party! (Impromptu ones are always the best!). Early next morning report to Flights. Instructors to select one of their trainee crews & stand-by [page break] (21) for ops – the invasion has started! We hung around until mid afternoon when Group decided that our services were not needed. Back to normal. Another day, circuits & bumps – an unusual aircraft landing ahead of me. It has four Merlins & a Lancaster wing but it has a box fuselage & three fins!! Ah a York. What's it doing here? only 511 Sqdn have Yorks – are th [inserted] e [/inserted] y looking for new pilots? I sent my pupil off solo in double quick time (he was ready anyway) & whipped around to the Flight Office. Too late, the York was taxying out for take-off. A quick word with the Adjutant (a friend of mine) revealed that the CO of 511 had called on the CI (Chief Instructor) at 5 LFS to see if any of his experienced Lancaster pilots would like to join 511!! Our CI (a new replacement only two weeks earlier) had replied that none of his pilots would be interested, (The lying so-and-so!!) "Good-day". (It took me another seventeen months to get on to Yorks; but that comes later. The new CI was not well liked nor respected so the ‘screens’ (instructors) started seeking ways to escape. No one wanted to transfer on to other 'heavies' (Stirlings) or go to an OTU (Wellingtons). A glimmer of hope appeared. If a pilot & flight engineer did a short stint as Squadron Instructors (a new post just created) then you could get back on ops on completion. Les Blood & I volunteered (as did Steve Stephens & his F/E. We were not alone.) There were three Squadrons available & Steve & I got two of them! I went to 227 Sqdn Raf Balderton just outside Newark. The CO, W/Cdr Millington, Stood as the Commonwealth Candidate for Parliament & got in! Having set up a training & checking schedule my new duties got under way & were progressing well when I was smitten by Shingles on my fore-head. Packed off to RAF Hospital Rauceby for a seven day treatment of medicated shampoos & liver injections! During that week there had been quite a bit of snow & on return to Balderton I was 'accused' of arranging to have a week off in comfort whilst the rest of [page break] (22) the Station had been snow clearing! One day a new Lancaster required an 'acceptance test' – a flight of some three hour during which [underlined] everything [/underlined] was tested at varying altitudes from 1500ft to 20000ft. I took a new crew with me to check them out too. On the way back to base at about 5000ft a B17 'Flying Fortress' came alongside & formated on me. Now the Yanks really formate – far better than us. After a few minutes the pilot waved to me & invited me to formate on him. I had a go but could not match him. I pulled away, feathered my port outer & invited him back in formation. He took up the challenge & we did some three engined turns left & right. I then feathered my port inner – & he copied me but in the first turn to port he 'fell away' – couldn't maintain his position. I then feathered my starboard outer & waved to him. He waved a rude sign back & declined the challenge! A Lanc, empty, would fly on 'one' & maintain height around 3500 – 4000ft. Truly the 'Queen of the Skies'. The Mess speciality at Balderton was 'Liar Dice' – a game with Poker Dice that involved outrageous 'calls' & the ability to bluff convincingly. Most enjoyable of an evening after dinner!! It was here that I met F/O Dixie Dean, Nav; & F/O 'Sandy’ Sanford, MUG. Both DFCs & One tour behind them. By this time I was itching to get back on ops. Les Blood said that he'd come along as did Doug Cunnison & 'Shorty' Groombridge, W/OP & RG respectively so that made three of my first tour crew coming back. I asked 'Dixie' Dean & 'Sandy' Sanford if they fancied a second tour with me – they too were keen. All i needed was an experienced Bomb-aimer. A phone call to 5LFS down the road & F/O Pete Lynch, DFM was recruited. I then contacted the current CO of 106 & asked him if he [inserted] would [/inserted] like an all commissioned all second tour crew on his Squadron & if so would he pull some strings at his end? He would. He did & we all reported back to Metheringham & 106 at the end of March '45. [page break] (23) 'Twas a different world. The sun shone & the ground was firm. We reported to the Squadron Adjutant & received our 'arrival chits' to be completed. (All the different sections we’d be using). Then an interview with the Station Commander, G/Cpt Heath. He got a bit of a shock when F/Lt Perry & Crew entered his office – all commissioned, all second tour & in view of our experience all in line to be in charge of the various Sections. Les was F/E Leader; Doug Signals Leader; Dixie deputy Nav Leader; Sandy deputy Gunnery Leader & myself deputy Flight Commander & earmarked for promotion to S/Ldr when my Flight Commander finished his tour – he only had three to do. This wealth of talent in one crew was frowned upon 'cos if you were shot down the Squadron suffered a heck of a loss! The G/Cpt said "I'm sorry but we can't all you experts in one crew there will have to be adjustments". Whereupon my crew all said "Sir, we volunteered to came back with F/Lt Perry & we wish to fly with him & not get split up" After a bit of to-ing & fro-ing the Boss said that we could continue for the time being, BUT - - -! Our Squadron Commander was overjoyed – & kept his thoughtts [sic] to himself! We only managed three ops (including our one & only 'daylight') before the war finished whereupon I applied for Transport Command & Yorks. My Sqdn CO gave me a very good write-up & then consternation – 106 was to be one of the twelve Squadrons selected to make 'Tiger Force' – Bomber Commands contribution to the Far East war. The Sqdn was re-organised with a mixture of experienced & sprog crews. No prizes for who was one of the experienced!! We lost our Flight Engineers & were given P/FEs – Pilots who were surplus to requirements were given F/E courses, sent to ‘Tiger Force' Sqdns to be trained up as second pilots by their own Captains. They were very young & inexperienced. (Me, an old man of 22!). We would also fly without mid-upper turrets so one gunner would suffice. Shorty left us for a ground job & Sandy went in to the rear turret. Training commenced – umpteen lectures on the hazards of the Orient (& that's before we started ops against the Japs!); 'radio range' flying – the Yanks had them everywhere but they were new to us! Low level sorties – very enjoyable – & even some attempts at formation flying. (Not our speciality [sic], really, that was USAF style! As a change we did the odd 'Cooks Tour' of the Ruhr taking various ground personel [sic] with us as passengers to let them see (& us) what we'd done. [underlined] Very [/underlined] impressive. The desolation was grim. Then I remembered Plymouth, Coventry, London, Liverpool etc. At least Cologne Catherdral [sic] was still standing! [page break] (24) We also did a few runs to Southern Italy bringing troops back home for demob or urgent leave. 20 'Brown Jobs' squeezed into a Lanc fuselage & a 7 1/2/8 hour flight – better than days in a train struggling across Europe! (We used to take a variety of 'trade goods' down with us – soap, chocolate, cycle tyres & inner tubes – flog 'em on the black market & buy 'hooch' from the Yugoslav Liquor Store in Bari & in turn sell that to a couple of publicans we knew!) Then in August came VJ. Quite a relief. Another go for Transport Command & this time lucky. A new Navigator Freddy Jeggo came with me & our first destination 242 Sqdn at RAF Stoneycross in the New Forest – they flew Stirlings!! They were awaiting delivery of Avro Yorks so to pass an hour or two I got myself an hours 'dual' on the long legged monsters & then put in a little [inserted] time [/inserted] looking at Southern England from the air. Thank goodness I never had to fly these damn things on ops! Next to RAF Merryfield in Somerset to convert to Yorks. Not only a new aircraft but a new concect [sic] of flying for we were to carry passengers on Scheduled Services & violent manoeuvres [sic] were greatly discouraged. Climb & descent at no more than 500 feet per minute (no pressurization!), no 'split arse' turns – everything not more than rate one & vey [sic] smooth & gentle. Fully crewed-up – F/O Norman Duck, 2nd Pilot; F/O Freddy Jeggo Nav; F/Lt 'Taff' Baynham, W/Op; W/O Johnny Lohan, F/E; Sgt 'Trader' Horn, Airquartermaster. We did one trooping run to Karachi to 'get the feel' of the route then on to Scheduled Services UK – Malta (Luqa) – (or Castel Benito, Tripoli); Almaza Airport Cairo; :RAF Shaibah, Iraq; Mauripur Airport, Karachi; Palam Airport, New Delhi; Dum Dum Airport, Calcutta; Changi Airport, Singapore. Return flight via Negombo, Ceylon, instead of Calcutta. Excellent carpets were available in Karachi – order on the way out & collect when homeward bound. They always found good homes in England! It wasn'nt [sic] worth the candle to try & smuggle anything in. One chap stuffed the inspection chambers in his mainplane with nylons – he was caught & court martialed. We flew through the Monsoon but although unpleasant & requiring a bit of skill & knowledge it wasn't as bad as the Turin trip two years earlier. Cambridge Airport (Teversham) a very small grass field in those days, asked for a York to display on the first Battle of Britain celebration. My Flight Commander detailed me & added that it would be even better if a York landed there & people could walk through it! [page break] (25) We rang the Airport. They offered us lunch so we drove over. I 'sussed' the airfield – bit small but no high obstructions so a few days later a sparkling, spotless Avro York made its appearance at Teversham. The authotities [sic] had cut the grass & of course it clung to footware [sic]. By the time hundreds of people had looked around the York half of the airfield remained inside! We departed in the late afternoon & I cleared with Flying Control (as it was then!) to give a demonstration of what a York could do – without passengers of course! Three, two & single engined low level 'passes' showed the merits of Rolls Royce 'Merlin' engines when attached to a very good aircraft! Freddy got married during our time at Oakington & bought a surplus naval landing craft to convert into a house-boat & moor it on the Cam. Said boat was in Chatham. Freddy, his new bride Helene, Johnny our F/E & 'Trader' the AQM went to Chatham, paid for & took delivery of the vessel & set out for the Wash hugging the coast & then to go down the networks of rivers to Cambridge. Freddy said that his only worry was crossing the Thames estuary with so much traffic up & down it. That went well & they were nearly ready to go 'left hand down' in to the Wash when coast hugging at low tide the bottom of their craft was ripped out by the submerged wreck of a Halifax. They waded ashore, found a holiday chalet to rent & rang me at Oakington. I with another pal made our way to Hunstanton. Freddy had hired lifting buoys so we 'boys' dived & swam around trying to lift the boat but in vain. It just joined the other wrecks littering the coastal waters. Disconnected jottings from my 'York' time. Serried ranks of cumulonimbus thunder clouds against blue skies as we flew from Malta to Cairo on summers evening. Vipers around the Mess at Dum Dum. Sitting on the balcony of my bedroom at the Heliopolis Palace Hotel, Cairo, watching "State Fair" at the open-air cinema across the road. Barracuda activity outside the swimming stockade at Changi Beach. (We found out later that some of the fencing was missing below the tide line!) The hot sun causing the rubber dinghy to inflate & burst out of the wing at Delhi Airport with an ensueing [sic] delay of three hours 'cos the metal was too hot for the mechanics to work on it. [underlined] Large [/underlined] spiders being pushed out of our room at Negombo by ou [sic] bare-footed Bearer. [page break] (26) Flying over the Bay of Benghazi & listening to the Derby – the race being won by 'Airborne', the horse I'd drawn in the Mess sweep. Drinking 'Tiger' beer on the verandah at Changi whilst watching terrific thunderstorms over the mainland. Eventually my service neared its end. Posted to Full Sutton, York, to await my de-mob. One day some of us were asked if we could collect some staff cars & small vans from Dunkerly in Devon & deliver to Shepton Mallet in Somerset. So by train to Devon (pouring rain) to discover that the cars & vans were in fact Queen Marys, travelling cranes & 10 tonners!! What a waste of time & money. Back to Full Sutton. York, as you my Family know well, is a beautiful City with beautiful girls; & as you also know well – I married the prettiest of them! The rest, as they say, is history. With one eye a bit wonky my hopes of flying in civvy street were nil – too much competition from fully fit types with comparable experience. Demobbed in January '47 I joined MCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) as an Air Traffic Control Officer & reported to Liverpool (Speke) Airport. I'd been there ten days before I saw the other side of the Mersey – we had fog & smog in those days! Next stop Belfast Nutt's Corner Airport where I was greeted by a snow storm. Next day [underlined] ALL [/underlined] hands to the pumps (or rather shovels & brushes, no snow clearance vehicles in those days). Three months later posted to Belfast Sydenham Airport & Sub-centre. I'm trying to court Audrey in York all this time & it wasn't easy. Night ferries & trains helped – no car then – but eventually I was posted back to Liverpool. We got engaged during a holiday in Hastings in August '47 & then of course on July 17th '48 were married in Heslington Church, honeymooning in Newquay & returning to Liverpool to our first home 88 Mossville Rd. The following year in October Stephen was born & the next year I was posted to the Northern Air Traffic Control Centre, Barton Hall, Preston, moving up there in October 51. Having done Aerodrome, Approach & Approach Radar control at Liverpool I next had to do an Airways course for the Centre. I spent fourteen years at Preston on my first tour there during which time my Mother came to live in the town to be near her family. She loved to spend Xmas & holidays with us & the children. (Helen had joined us by then in May '54). Next an Area Radar Course, then to the Joint Air Traffic [page break] (27) Control Radar Unit at RAF Lindholme where I was in charge of our civil unit. Just prior to this however after countless chants of "We want a dog", Oscar a Heeler or Ormskirk Terrier joined our family at Xmas '63. A lovely, lively pup he, having gorged himself with turkey & trimmings on Xmas Day, decided that he was on to a 'good thing' & he would stay! The next Xmas he walked with us through 'Squaggs’ (Squire Anderton's Woods) on Boxing night after a snowfall. Full moon, gin clear, owls hooting – we all five enjoyed it. Working at Lindholme we first of all lived in a furnished house in Edenthorpe whilst we house-hunted, eventually having one built at Hatfield. Dinks came to live with us at Edenthorpe but she died before the house in Hatfield was finished. Pity we did not give her more of our time. Promoted & posted again back to Barton Hall where I was now a Supervisor. I commuted to & fro for a year while Stephen did his pre-Dip course prior to going to the West of England college of Art, Bristol. Then a quick move back to Preston (& another temporary furnished house in Barton) for Helen to get her 'O' & then 'A' levels at Penwotham Girls Grammar School. We bought our house in Beech Dr in November '69 &, after many improvements, moved in in May '70. In '72 Stephen joined the Hare Krishna movement & Helen went off to Loughborough University for her Teachers Training Course, taking her BE degree. in '76. By now I was Deputy Centre Superintendent at Barton Hall & plans were already afoot & work progressing for the new Centre at Manchester Airport, complete with computors [sic], systems, new radars & displays all linked up to London & Scottish Centres. January '75 & Barton Hall controlled it's last aircraft – an Aer Lingus from Dublin to Manchester. Farewell to a Unit that had had an eventful life starting with the RAF during the war. (At one time the house had belonged to Booths, the grocers). It saw many changes in its time. When I first went there in '49 most of our communication was by W/T (wireless telegraphy – Morse code) using the ‘Q’ code system of instructions, questions & answers. For instance - -. - .- . . . . (QAH What is your height?). We had wireless operators to send & receive these signals from their counterparts in the aircraft. Not many of them had R/T (radio telecommunication) then. The 'Q' code messages were written on duplicated 'chits' & hung from small hooks on the 'Control board' underneath the red 'chit' giving the aircraft details – call-sign, type, route, destination etc. As [page break] (28) the flight progressed & more & more messages exchanged quite a few 'chits' would hang from the hooks & when the door opened at the same time as a window the `chits’ would fly around like confetti giving rise to same choice language! Fortunately nothing untoward happened. To Manchester. Operational proceedures [sic] were already in place so my main task at the outlet [sic] was Pe[inserted] r [/inserted] sonel [sic] & Training. The move had brought about the merging of three Units – Manchester Aerodrome, Approach & Approach Radar; Preston Airways & Preston Radar. The target was to have all Controllers & Assistants qualified in two of the three functions – Aerodrome/Approach/Area, thus giving the Staff a variety of skills & Management flexibility in providing the Service. As all of these functions required a licence [sic] to operate, to make us one Unit a lot of cross-training had to be achieved with no loss of operational efficiency. This achieved, Manchester became the only Unit in the country to house [underlined] all [/underlined] ATC sevices [sic] under one roof & management. It made work very interesting & rewarding. Commuting daily was made possible by the connecting of the Motorways so we decided to stay in Fulwood. By leaving promptly at 0730 I could make the 45 mile journey in 45 minutes – the dreaded Barton Bridge being only two lanes then & the time of arrival there was critical to catch the 'gap' in the traffic twixt ‘blue & white’ collar workers. (The lorries were always there!). 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 William Roy Peter Perry DFC - Memoir Pete Perry's memoir Description An account of the resource The memoir starts with early life and education in Tunbridge Wells before moving to Cornwall. He describes how he volunteered for aircrew in Plymouth shortly after his 18^th birthday, his early induction and training in the RAF. He travelled to Canada to continue his pilot training. On return to the UK he undertook advance flying training at RAF Ossington, and operational training and other activities at RAF North Luffenham. He was posted to 106 Squadron at RAF Syerston and the memoir describes activities and operations while on the squadron, including a long description of an operation to Turin. He was awarded DFC at end of his first tour. He records his activities as an instructor at 5 Lancaster Finishing School, before going to 227 Squadron at RAF Balderton as an instructor. He eventually returned to 106 Squadron for a second tour in March 1945 where he carried out a further three operations before the end of the war. The memoir also covers Tiger Force, Cook's tour and bringing troops back from Italy. It concludes with life in transport command after the war and his life after demob. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource W R P Perry Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-03-26 1941-04 1942 1943 1944 1945 1945-03 1957-01 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Kent England--Tunbridge Wells England--Cornwall (County) England--Devon England--Plymouth England--Oxfordshire England--Oxford England--London England--Yorkshire England--Scarborough England--Warwickshire Canada Alberta--Calgary England--Lincolnshire England--Nottinghamshire England--Rutland Germany Germany--Krefeld Germany--Gelsenkirchen Germany--Cologne Italy Italy--Turin Germany--Berlin Germany--Bochum Alberta 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 Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Air Force. Transport Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Thirty-two page printed document Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BPerryWRPPerryWRPv2 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 Peter Bradbury Maureen Clarke 106 Squadron 1654 HCU 227 Squadron 29 OTU 5 Group Advanced Flying Unit aircrew B-17 civil defence Cook’s tour crewing up Distinguished Flying Cross Flying Training School Heavy Conversion Unit Home Guard Initial Training Wing Lancaster Lancaster Finishing School Manchester Operation Dodge (1945) Operational Training Unit Oxford pilot RAF Ansty RAF Balderton RAF hospital Rauceby RAF Merryfield RAF Metheringham RAF North Luffenham RAF Ossington RAF Syerston RAF Wigsley RAF Woolfox Lodge Stirling Tiger force Tiger Moth training Wellington York https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2103/34735/PMercierCG2101.jpg c2cff2ce423cc0e51f1583845e734850 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2103/34735/PMercierCG2102.jpg b622b7155acd89d066aa0e556c65e3d1 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2103/34735/AMercierCG211021.mp3 dc7381a51cc49e7f7356f9dc4718b402 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 Mercier, Gordon Cyril Gordon Mercier C G Mercier Description An account of the resource An oral history interview with Gordon Mercier (1924 -2024). He flew operations as a mid-upper gunner with 171 Squadron. The collection was catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-10-21 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 Mercier, CG Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document HB: It’s Harry Bartlett interviewing Gordon Cyril Mercier on behalf of the International Bomber Command Centre at Lincoln. It’s the 21st of October 2021. Gordon is ninety six and three quarters old, and he served from 1943 through to 1947 in Bomber Command and Gordon was a mid-upper gunner. Now, Gordon, now we can make a start? Can you, can you tell me a little bit about your early life please? GM: Yeah. I was born in Jersey in 1925 and I had a very bad childhood. I was always ill. Always ill. I spent so much time in hospital it was unbelievable. My mother used to say when I was born, the doctor said, ‘You won’t have him long mother but he, but treasure him while you’ve got him.’ And here I am [laughs] ninety six. I came, I went to school in Birmingham, High Street Harborne in Birmingham and I was fourteen at the start of the war. And the moment the war started I helped the ARP people. I used to carry the stirrup pumps for them when I was fourteen. When Mr Churchill came on the phone, on the radio in 1940 to ask for volunteers to join the LDV which was the Local Defence Volunteers sixteen and over. I was fifteen and I went and joined the Home Guard. And I was in the Home Guard until I joined the RAF in 1943. My nickname in the Home Guard was Sealevel, and I spent all those years, and I was a very very good shot. It was amazing. I just, it didn’t matter. I could hit anything. Not with a revolver but with a rifle I could hit anything. HB: I think just, just to explain your nickname. Do you want, do you want to tell us how tall you are? GM: [laughs] I’m only about [laughs] I’ve shrunk. I was only about five foot two. HB: Right. GM: And I was — HB: That explains Sealevel. GM: I was eight stone. I used to, I was eight stone. I boxed at eight stone in the RAF. Anyway, I joined the Home Guard. And then I was in a Protected Occupation so I couldn’t join the forces. The only forces you could join in those days was the submarines or aircrew. HB: What was your Protected Occupation, Gordon? GM: I was, I worked in a factory making munitions. HB: Was that, was that in Birmingham? GM: In Birmingham. Yes. I worked in factory. From fourteen, I worked in, I was a fitter in the factory. HB: Do you know the name of the factory? GM: Belliss and Morcom. HB: Ah right. Yeah. GM: Belliss and Morcom. The factory. And I, I decided that I wanted to join the Air Force. I’d always been interested in the Air Force from the very, I’d always had the comics and everything all about the Air Force. I had, “Flight,” every week and all this sort of thing but, so I went to Cardington in March 1943 to take the exam to join the Air Force. I believe there was two hundred of us who came through and fifty two of us finished. And, and as we’d gone, as we’d gone through all the exams, exams, medicals and psychology and you had written exams, and all this sort of thing and you passed at the end. You passed and there was fifty two of us. We took the King’s Shilling on that day, and on that day I joined the Air Force in 1943 at seventeen and a quarter. I was called up very shortly afterwards and I started in the RAF in London. We, it was my first posting to London where we got kitted out and all this sort of thing. Three weeks in London. I did some boxing, got knocked out and decided I didn’t want to do any more boxing after that [laughs] So, and then I was posted to 14 OTU at Bridlington which was the Operational Training Unit at Bridlington, as an aircrew cadet. I believe we had about sixteen weeks there and you passed out [pause] You passed out and I was posted to Bridgnorth for a fortnight. Because it was Bridgnorth I used to come home at nights, at the weekends, and I got seven days jankers for being back late. But I never did the seven days jankers because I was posted the next day to Stormy Down in South Wales. And I’d been there a fortnight when they called me in to the adjutant’s office and said, ‘You were on jankers and you never did it. You start now.’ [laughs] HB: Oh no. HB: So, I had — HB: A long memory. GM: Yes. I did that, and I don’t know how many trips we did but we flew in Ansons and there were three of us in training. One sat in with the pilot and winded the undercarriage up, one sat in the rest position, and one sat in the turret and you fired two hundred shots. You had collected your two hundred bullets and you painted the bullets a colour. Red, blue and green. And you put your bullets in, and the plane would fly out and you’d shoot the drogue. And you all had a go and you swapped over until you all three had fired and then they dropped the drogue and you had to collect it on the, on the airfield and count your shots, because the, how many red bullets holes, and blue bullet holes, and green bullet holes there were. HB: Right. GM: And you got a, you got a score from those bullet holes and we did a lot of flights. They didn’t stint of the training. We did an awful lot of flights. I don’t know. It’s in my logbook but I did an awful lot of flights. HB: Yeah. Your logbook does list a lot of training flights. GM: Yeah. HB: Right, right through. GM: Right through. HB: All through the — GM: Yeah. And after training you passed out as a sergeant, and I passed out and I had passed out at Christmas. Christmas ’43. I came home on leave as a sergeant. HB: Right. GM: And then I had a week, a fortnights’ leave, and I was posted to 14 OTU, Bridlington. No. Not Bridlington. Abingdon. 14 Operational Training Unit where you got crewed up. The system for crewing up was very strange. All the officers and men shared the same dining room. You were given a fortnight to form a crew. It was the pilot’s job to find a crew, and I met a fellow called Ken Adams who said, ‘Shall we go and find a pilot?’ And we walked round, and we met Warrant Officer Digby. He was the pilot, and said to Mr Digby, ‘Would you like a pair of gunners?’ He said, ‘Certainly.’ And when you’d finished, after the three weeks they had a crewing up meeting in the hangar. Seven seats. Rows of seven seats all the way along. All the way through the hangar. Pilot, bomb aimer, navigator, wireless operator, flight engineer, mid-upper gunner, rear gunner, and those were the, and you sat in those seats as a crew. But not all the seats were full. All the people who were standing at the back that hadn’t crewed up had to fill in the places. HB: Right. Yeah. GM: To fill in the places. But we were. We had formed a crew. HB: So, you’d got the full seven. GM: We’d got the full seven. Yes. My skipper’s name was Warrant Officer Digby, the bomb aimer was named [Wamm] and he was a southern Rhodesian, white. The navigator was Johnny Dibbs. The wireless operator was Brown. I can’t remember his first name. The flight engineer was [pause] oh dear. HB: Robertson? GM: Robertson. Yes. Robertson, and he was quite, he was forty so he was quite old. The rear gunner was Ken Adams and, have I missed anybody out? HB: Well, there’s one missing. Yeah. GM: The bomb aimer. HB: He’s a bloke who used to stay in the middle of the aircraft and man a gun there. GM: No. The mid-upper. Me. HB: Exactly [laughs] GM: Yes. And then there was me. HB: You remembered everybody bar yourself. GM: That was me. HB: [unclear] GB: Yeah. HB: Yeah. GM: Then we started flying in Ansons, in err Whitleys, and on our second trip in the Whitley, I think it was our second trip we went, we bombed the, the hill in the middle of the Irish Sea. What’s that mountain called? Rockall. HB: Rockall. Yeah. GM: We bombed it with, with nine pound bombs, and on the way back an engine packed up so we landed in the Isle of Man. HB: Oh right. GM: At Jurby. HB: Yeah. GM: We landed in Jurby. So that was the first time that we didn’t get back to camp. This happened a lot of times, and we were known as, ‘Land away Digby and his crew.’ We finished our training at 14 OTU, and we were posted to Riccall for conversion to Halifaxes. And, so you went from two engines to four engines and you all flew together. And we weren’t at Riccall very long, and we passed out at Riccall, and we were sent to 51 Squadron, Snaith, and we started our bombing career on the 9th of June. And our first trip was Amiens. Is it there? HB: Yes. Yes, it’s there. GM: And our second trip was a disaster. HB: Oh, no. Sorry. You’ve, on your logbook you’ve got Massy Palaiseau. GM: Massy Palaiseau, oh that’s, sorry. HB: That was your first one. Yeah. GM: That’s right. That was Paris. HB: And it was Amiens. GM: Paris. HB: Amiens. That was your second. GB: Paris. HB: Yeah. GM: Amiens was the second. HB: Yeah. GM: And on my second trip, Amiens, we were flying over, towards the target and I said to the skipper, ‘There’s a plane being attacked below us,’ because I could see tracer, and that plane that was attacking the plane below us, as he broke away, he must have seen us and he managed to get one shot in to our nose. The bomb aimer was sitting in the nose, and it blew his behind off. And the plane was flying like this [pause] because it was gulping air in. HB: Yeah. GM: Due to its form. HB: So, the nose. GM: Yeah. HB: The nose having disappeared. GM: Yeah. Yeah. HB: It was sucking air in. GM: Yeah. HB: Yeah. GM: We got back to England and that was the first time I’d ever heard of Darkie. The pilot used Darkie. ‘Hello Darkie. Hello Darkie.’ And all the amateur radio operators in the country was, were called Darkie, and they had to listen out every night, and if you got a bomber you were fifteen miles away from him. HB: Right. GM: Because he couldn’t hear more than fifteen miles. And he had all the aerodromes in his book. ‘Hello Darkie. Hello Darkie. Can you find us an aerodrome please?’ And an aerodrome lit up over there, and it was called Dunsfold, and we landed at Dunsfold. They didn’t bother about us. I had to run to the control tower to ask for a doctor and an ambulance and the bomb aimer was very badly injured and the navigator had got a bit of shrapnel. A bit of stuff, metal in his leg but he, no not the bomb aimer. The navigator had got a bit of stuff in his leg. They were seen to. So, we had to go back by train. HB: Right. GM: Which was quite an experience in those days. HB: Yeah. GM: We got to London and we got in the Tube with all our gear, and they had a collection for us on the train and they gave us about a hundred fags. They’d been all the way down the train collecting for a crew that had crashed and they gave us the hundred fags we got. Packets of fags. HB: Blimey. GM: And then we got back to Snaith. HB: Yeah, that was in [pause] that was C6 E-Easy. Yeah. What happened to the, what happened to the aircraft? GM: Oh, I don’t know what happened to the aircraft. HB: So, you never, that never — GM: No. No. HB: You never saw that back again. GM: No. HB: No. GM: He put the wheel in, he put the wheel in a trench so, but the plane was fine. HB: Yeah. GM: Except for this one hole. HB: Yeah. GM: You know. HB: Yeah. GM: And the bomb aimer went to McIndoe’s hospital. HB: Right. Yeah. GM: Had sixty skin graft operations and he lived. He came back to visit us. We went for a drink in the pub. Put him on a, put him on a bike. Took the pedals off, put him on a bike, his crutch went through the wheel and he fell off and broke his arm. His name was [Wamm]. HB: Yeah. GM: And he was the bomb aimer. We had a new bomb aimer. Eventually we got a new bomb aimer called Smith. Ted Smith. Oh no, I can’t remember his first name. Smith he was, and he flew all the rest of the trips with us. I flew spare. That’s why I did more than the rest of the crew. HB: Right. Yeah. GM: I flew with a Flight Lieutenant Gilchrist, I think. HB: Yeah. GM: Like that. Yeah. I flew a couple of spare trips because we hadn’t got a crew and then when we got a crew we, because in those days you get a weeks’ leave every month you know because there was, two crews to every plane. HB: Oh, right. Yeah. GM: But only if you lost a crew. You didn’t get your leave. If you lost a crew, you didn’t get your leave. HB: Yes. So that’s, that’s around June. You’ve got Gilchrist as your pilot. GM: Yeah. HB: That’s, that’s towards the end of June. GM: Yeah. HB: That one. But, blimey. Yeah. Right. GM: What? What happened? HB: It’s alright. You just have that and then at the end of June you fly a daylight operation to the Maquis at Mimoyecques. GM: Mimoyecques. Mimoyecques. HB: Yeah. And you’re hit by flak again. GM: Yes. We got hit by flak but only hit. Nobody was hurt. Just holes. There was, always holes in our plane. And then we came to the fateful day of our last trip. No. Something nasty happened. We were due to fly to Kiel. We were due to fly to Kiel and there was something wrong with the plane and we turned back. The CO was very, very angry about us turning back and we went to bed and they woke us up at half past six in the morning. We’d only just, we didn’t get to bed ‘til about two. They woke us up at half past six and said, ‘You’re flying.’ And we were briefed to go and attack the Gneisenau ship in Brest Harbour. As we took off, we hit the bump on the end of the runway. The plane wouldn’t come off the runway, we went through the trees. An engine, engine went rogue. It wouldn’t stop. Got faster and faster. The plane was shaking to bits. We asked for an emergency landing. We dropped the bombs in a reservoir and we came down to land on the runway. Because we were, the plane slewed off the runway and we were heading for the petrol dump and so the skipper opened up another engine and turned the, slewed the plane around and we hit the bomb dump, the side of the bomb dump. Right there. The big, they’d got a big [pause] We hit the side of the bomb dump. The CO came out in his, in his [pause] ‘You’re all posted. Get off my ‘drome.’ That was his exact words, and there were three people injured. Only slightly. Only slightly. They all went to the, they were taken to the, but they all came back with no problem. The only time a clearance chit got signed in one hour. It used to take two days to get a clearance chit signed because you had to sign. It had to be signed. HB: Yeah. GM: You had to hand your bike in. You had to do this and do that and you had to find everything and our, our clearance was and we were at, by 2 o’clock in the afternoon we were at the bus stop waiting for a bus to take us somewhere. HB: And the whole crew. GM: The whole crew. Yes. Because the ones that were, they were only slightly injured. We were all in the rest position when we crashed. We were all in the rest position, you know. Ruined the aeroplane anyway. HB: Do you know that in your logbook? GM: Yeah. HB: This is purely for the purposes of the tape. GM: Yeah. HB: For people listening to this. In your logbook on the 17th of August 1944. GM: Yeah. HB: You did an operation to Brest. DNCO. GM: Not carried out. HB: And it says, “One engine u/s [pranged].” GM: That’s all. HB: That’s all it says in your logbook. GM: Yeah. HB: And that is the story you just told me. GM: Yeah. Anyway, he sent us back to Riccall again. HB: Right. GM: To the Conversion Unit, and the skipper said, the CO said, ‘Oh, it’s nice to have a crew that have got experience. Do a couple of trips for us.’ And we, we flew a couple of trips, I think it was, at Riccall. I don’t know. They were only training trips. HB: Yeah. GM: And the pilot, the CO said, ‘You’re fully trained. There’s nothing wrong with you. You can go back on ops. Where do you want to go to?’ ‘51 Squadron,’ we all said because we’d got friends. He picks the phone up [laughs] speaks to the wing commander. No. Group captain he was. Speaks to the group captain, ‘I’ve got a fully trained crew that want to come back to you.’ ‘What’s the pilot’s name?’ ‘Digby.’ ‘Don’t send him here. Send him somewhere else.’ HB: No. GM: He said, ‘You can’t go there.’ So, he sent us to Breighton. 78 Squadron, Breighton. HB: Yeah. GM: And our first trip at Breighton, believe it or not was Kiel. It’s almost, it’s almost poetic. HB: Yeah. GM: And I can remember the skipper saying, ‘We’re going. We’re not turning back.’ And we went to Kiel, and we were the last wave and you could see the, you could see the fires for miles. You could see the fires from two hundred miles back, on the way back, because the whole place was, the whole of Kiel was ablaze. We got, we, the Master Bomber told us to bomb on the edges. ‘Bomb on the edges. Bomb on the edges. Don’t bomb in the middle. Bomb on the edges.’ And we went to Kiel. We did five trips at Snaith. I think it was five, and the CO called us in the office and sat us down and said, ‘You’re posted.’ And the skip, I can remember the skipper saying, ‘What have we done wrong?’ He said, ‘You’ve done nothing wrong but you’re the, you’re the, most experienced crew and we’ve been told to choose the most experienced crew to send them to a new squadron being formed called 171 Squadron in Norfolk. HB: Can I just ask you — GM: Special duties. HB: Can I just ask you something Gordon? GM: Yes. HB: In your logbook. GM: Yeah. HB: I’m, I’m just curious really. You’ve done the Kiel operation on the 15th of September. GM: Yeah. HB: Which was a night op. GM: Yeah. HB: And then on the 17th of September you do a daytime op to Boulogne. GM: Yeah. HB: And you’ve got a little note in your book saying — GM: We saw a dinghy. HB: Gun positions which are obviously Boulogne. GM: Yeah. HB: And then you’ve got dinghy sighted and reported. GM: That’s right. We found, we sighted a dinghy. We went around and around it. Got it and sent a message back. HB: And did you know, did you ever find out what happened? GM: No. No. We never found out. HB: No. GM: But we did report it. We found a dinghy. HB: Right. GM: You know. HB: Yeah, you, yeah you were at, you were at Breighton ‘til the end of September. You’re right, you only flew — GM: Yeah. HB: Five ops. GM: Can I tell, tell you a very special story now? HB: Of course, you can. Yeah. GM: This is absolutely, I used to live with my aunt. I did not live with my father. I used to live with my aunt and she had a brother. His name was Jack [Elson], and he flew in Lancasters as a gunner and I had a weeks’ leave while we were at Breighton, and he had a weeks’ leave, and he came to his aunt’s and I went to my aunt’s and we had a weeks’ leave together. On the first day we went to the pictures and the girl that took us to the seat, her name was Mona, he chatted her up and they were friends. And by the end of the week, they were in love. We both went back to camp on the Friday. Both. He left on that platform and I left on that platform. We were both flying on Tuesday and he was killed. He was killed on the Tuesday and he’s buried in Lyons, in France. HB: Oh, sad. GM: Yeah. But that’s just by the by. HB: Yeah. GM: Yeah. HB: But that’s there, you know. GM: There but by the Grace of God go me, you know. Yeah. Anyway, then we were sent to special duties, 171 Squadron and all brand new aircraft. Never been flown other than their delivery with this very special wireless equipment in the, in the, in the middle. Two great big things, and we had a new wireless operator. A special wireless operator and his name was [pause] HB: A Scottish name. GM: A Scottish name. Yes. Yes. He lived in — HB: MacDonald. GM: MacDonald. That’s right. HB: Can I just say for the purposes of this interview — GM: Yeah. HB: You have written some brilliant notes and I’ve abandoned doing notes. I’m following yours because they are far better than mine. Yes. Sergeant Macdonald who operated the — GM: Well, I did that a long time ago. HB: Yeah. GM: Because I thought I might forget. HB: Yeah. Well, you’ve got him down as he operated the secret wireless jamming equipment. GM: That’s right. And the operations we did were the strangest operations you ever flew because you flew out in to the North Sea and you flew around an oblong course for two hours. And there would be two planes, two planes, two planes, two planes, two planes, two planes, and we always flew at eighteen thousand feet and the other plane flew at eighteen thousand five hundred feet so that you didn’t, and you were both in the same place going up and down while he operated the Mandrel. I know the name of the one equipment was called Mandrel, and he operated these jamming, and while these formed on the screen that the Germans could not see the planes lifting off from England. The first time they’d see them was when they went through the screen. So, all, all the people were told not to fly at eighteen thousand or eighteen thousand five hundred feet. And then when our stint was finished, we used to go and bomb a place. We had a, we had a small bombing. Some, a few bombs to take and we used to go and bomb. I think a lot of them were holiday places on the coast although we went to Monchengladbach once I think. And the, we did thirteen trips and our last trip, which was our worst trip was Leipzig. Why we were sent to Leipzig I do not know. HB: It’s alright. I’m just having a quick look to see if I can find that [pause] Leipzig. Leipzig. Oh sorry. Was that your last trip with 171? GM: That was my last trip altogether. As we approached the target at Leipzig, we were coned by about fifty searchlights and all hell broke loose. The skipper chose one searchlight and we went straight down it. Straight down the searchlight. When we were at about three thousand feet from the ground I started firing my guns at the searchlight, and believe it or not it went out. There was no side of the plane left. All the side, the whole side of, the whole side of the plane was missing. It was draughty and the skipper said to the navigator, ‘Give us a trip home, and we don’t want to go near any mountains.’ He said, ‘I don’t even know where we are.’ And we got back. Got back to camp and we landed and the CO came out and he looked at the plane. He said, ‘You’ve ruined another one.’ He said, ‘Digby, you’ve finished.’ He said, ‘You’re finished. Don’t do any more.’ And so that was — HB: That was your stand down. GM: That was our stand down and we finished. HB: And that was, sorry that was the whole crew stood down then. GM: Yes. No. Except for, except for the flight, the special wireless operator. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: Because he had to carry on. HB: MacDonald. Yeah. Yeah. GM: He got another crew. He died. He died at Christmas. HB: Oh. GM: This Christmas just gone. Last Christmas. Yeah. HB: And did you, did you keep in touch with him? GM: No. No. But my flight engineer’s son did. HB: Oh right. Yeah. Yeah. GM: Kept in touch with him. I kept in touch with my skipper’s daughter, and I know his granddaughter and his grandson. They kept in touch with me. HB: Did the whole crew survive the war? GM: Oh yes. We all survived. HB: Right. GB: We all finished. I got a cracking job. I was posted to Number 1 Squadron. Spitfire squadron at Hutton Cranswick as a flying controller assistant. HB: Well. GM: I did that for about a year and then one day, I became a flight sergeant and one day they called me in to the office. They said, ‘You’re posted.’ And I said, ‘I’m posted?’ He said, ‘Yes. To Llanbedr.’ I said, ‘Where’s Llanbedr?’ He said, ‘In North Wales. They have, they want a controller.’ I said, ‘I can’t be a controller. I’m a near beginner.’ He said, ‘They’ve got nobody else to send.’ So, I went home for the weekend and got arrested when I got there because I should have been there two days earlier. And the CO, the CO he was only a, he was only a wing commander and you won’t believe this [pause] he’d, he’d been, he’d disgraced himself fighting or something and he’d been brought down from group captain to wing commander and he was in charge at Llanbedr. And it was being closed. And they used to fly Martinets. HB: Oh yeah. Yeah. GM: And they used to fly Martinets. They used to have a drogue a mile away. A mile away. And these drogues used to fly over to a place called Tonfanau in Wales where there was an Anti-Aircraft Gun School and the anti-aircraft used to fire at the drogues. I flew a couple of times. I had a couple of rides just for fun and that. Martinets they were. HB: Oh no. GM: Yeah. Anyway, there is one or two little, little stories in between that I’ve missed out. When I was stationed at Snaith one of the officers came from Birmingham and he said to me one day, ‘Gordon, do you want to go to Birmingham?’ ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘We can go for the weekend, you know.’ I said, ‘Can we?’ He said, ‘Yes. I’ll fly you there and I’ll fly myself there.’ So, he flew us to Castle Bromwich. HB: Right. Yeah. Yeah. GM: He flew us in a, in a Tiger Moth. I was supposed to be the navigator [laughs] HB: Yeah. GM: We got lost the one day. In the end he said, ‘I’ll fly down and see if you can see the name of the station.’ [laughs] So I looked at it, and they’d started putting the station names back because they were all obliterated in the war but they started putting them back and I said, ‘Oh yes.’ I gave him the name of the station. He said, ‘Ok. We’re going this way,’ and we got, we got to Castle Bromwich. HB: No. Yeah. Because, yeah Castle Bromwich there was a factory there wasn’t there? GM: Yeah. There was a factory at Castle Bromwich. HB: That made the, made aircraft, didn’t they? They constructed them. GM: Yeah. Did parts of them. HB: Yeah. Well — GM: My mother, my mother made Spitfire parts at Fisher and Ludlow at Castle Bromwich. HB: Right. GM: And she was a lathe operator. HB: Oh right. GM: In the war. HB: Yeah. That’s good. So, just, just going back because, because we’ve got you, you know getting in trouble. GM: Yeah. HB: When, you said to me before we started the interview about you somewhere down the line you went from flight sergeant to sergeant. GM: No. I went from sergeant to flight sergeant, and then I became a warrant officer. HB: Oh. GM: Yeah. HB: I wondered if you’d got busted down you see. GM: No. No. No. HB: Ah, no. I misunderstood what you said. GM: No. No. I made a mistake there. HB: No. I was going to say. No. That’s fine. That’s fine. GM: Yes. HB: Yeah. GM: No. I got to warrant officer. HB: Oh great. Yeah. GM: I was the actual controller at Llanbedr and — HB: When would that have been Gordon? That was — GM: After I’d left Hutton Cranswick but of course I’d got, I’d got no dates for those. HB: Yeah. So that, so that, we’re now in to late ’45. GM: ’45. HB: Yeah. Late ’45. GM: About ’46. Probably ’46. HB: Yeah. So, so how long, so you, you said to me earlier that you stayed in ‘til ’47. GM: That’s right. HB: So, what, so did you just carry on as a controller? GM: Yeah. At Llanbedr. HB: All the way through. GM: All the way through. Yes. HB: Til ’47. GM: Yeah. And it was being closed. I can remember the, I walked in to the office and the CO said to me, threw me a folder, ‘Mr Mercier, here’s your first job.’ I said, ‘What is it?’ He said, ‘I want an inventory of the WAAFs quarters. Everything in the WAAFs quarters. I want to know exactly what’s there in the WAAFs quarters because it’s all being shipped away and we want to know what we’re going to ship. So, here’s all the, you go around. Five hairdryers. There was a half a one. Eighteen barrels. None. HB: Barrels? GM: Barrels. Yes. Eighteen barrels. None. I don’t know what the barrels were for or where they came about but there were all these sort of things on the list. Sort of bedding for, I think the bedding was about thirty three sets of bedding and thirty three beds. Those were all there, you know. Pillow cases. None [laughs] Because the WAAFs had gone and they left shortly after. They all left after I got there, and I gave him the list back. He said, ‘We can put it in a van.’ He could practically, he said, ‘I thought we’d have to hire a pantechnicon to take it all away.’ HB: Good grief. GM: Anyway — HB: Good grief. GM: He was, he was a smashing bloke. He used to say, ‘Don’t forget to come on my parade on Sunday unless you’ve got something better to do.’ HB: It sounds as if it was starting to get a little bit relaxed in 1947. GM: Oh, it was more than relaxed. HB: Yeah. GM: And he was, he was, he’d been brought down in rank. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: Because he’d disgraced himself. When I came back to work I worked at Triplex. When I came back to work. HB: Yeah. GM: I worked at Triplex making aircraft windows and the first, my first boss, no, my second boss was Wing Commander Duncan Smith. He was a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain. HB: Was he? GM: And his son is the MP. His son’s the MP. Duncan Smith. And when he was sixteen, he had a mini on our car park when he was sixteen, and he used to drive it around like a mad thing. Around and around the car park at night. HB: Yeah. GM: That was Duncan Smith. HB: Wow. GM: And his dad was a wing commander. Duncan Smith. HB: Can I, can I just you know if you’re happy to carry on for a while. GM: No, it’s alright. HB: Can I just take you back to, you did your training. GM: Yeah. HB: And your OTU, your Operational Training Unit. GM: Yeah. HB: And you get posted to your first squadron. 51 Squadron. GM: Yeah. HB: And it’s a question I always like to ask. What was the social life like? GM: Oh, it was great. Marvellous. We used to have a dance every week and the girls used to come from factories all around and they’d bus the girls in. The girls used to come from factories all round. There would be about six or seven buses full of girls coming from factories and you used to have a great big dance in the big hangar. We used to have great, absolutely great time, and you made friends with the ground crew and all that sort of thing. HB: Yeah. GM: It was, it was a grand time. I’ve got to admit that on my second trip I was terrified. I really was. I was really, really terrified. But I must say that I was never frightened again. Never. It didn’t frighten me at all, and I don’t know why that was but it didn’t because I gave, got to the point where if it happens it happens. HB: Yeah. I can understand that. So is, you’re lucky enough to do all of your ops — GM: Yes. HB: As one crew apart from losing Sergeant [Wamm]. GM: That’s right. HB: You’re lucky enough to do all your ops with the same guys all the way through. GM: Yeah. HB: And you come, you come to the stage when you’re flying your last few operations and you’re going to end up at Llanbedr. How, how did, how did you cope? Well, not cope that’s not the right word. How did you see the crew reacting as you come off to finish? GM: You didn’t. You didn’t because we finished. We finished on that day. The next day we were posted to Kirby and at Kirby we were reassigned our posts. The next day we were reassigned our posts and we were given a weeks’ leave. We were given a weeks’ leave and a chit, and then you’d be told where you were going. They’d send you a message. Send you a letter. HB: So, literally within three days the guys — GM: Within three days we were split up. HB: The guys you had spent — GM: All that time with. HB: Two years with. GM: Were gone. All different places. HB: All gone to different places. GM: Yes. HB: Right. GM: I don’t know where any of them went. HB: Yeah. GM: Not one. HB: That’s, yeah. Did you, did you meet your wife while you were still in the services? GM: No. HB: Or was that when you came out to work? GM: We met after that. HB: Right. So, what, so you’ve, you’ve been told you’re finished. You’ve gone to Llanbedr. GM: Yeah. HB: You’ve tried to resolve where all the stuff from the WAAFs quarters have gone, and the place is closing and you’re going to be demobbed. What, was what was your feeling at that time? GM: Well, you didn’t. You were given a number right at the beginning, and all the people that were in the Air Force before the war were number one. They were released. All the people. The ones that had been in the Air Force longer were number one. The ones that were, and number two and number three and I was about number 178. And your number, your number came up. You heard what number it was each, sometimes it says number 111. Oh. I’ve only got another sixty eight. HB: Yeah. GM: Until your number came up and the CO had got a big parade, and he called me into the office and he gave me this slip of paper. He said, ‘Are you coming to my parade on Sunday?’ I said, ‘Yes. Yes, of course I am.’ He said, ‘No, you’re not. Read your piece of paper. You’ve been posted to demob.’ HB: Wow, where did you actually demob? Do you remember? GM: I think it was West Kirby. HB: Right. And what, what was that process like? GM: Very strange. You handed your uniform in. I wish I’d, you could have kept it and I wish I’d have kept it but it was a lot of stuff and I didn’t want to carry it but I’ve regretted it ever since that I didn’t bring some of it back with me. And you were given a suit. You were given shirts, underpants and a suit. Shoes. Socks. Everything. And it was all in a, it was all put in the box, and you were given a ticket home. And you went through the gate with your box in your arm and there was about fifty spivs outside the, outside the airfield. ‘Buy your box.’ ‘Buy your box.’ ‘I’ll buy your box for you.’ ‘I’ll buy your box off you.’ ‘I’ll buy your box off you.’ And they were sending, I think they were getting five pound for a box. And some of them, you know, ‘Here you are. Here you are. I don’t want it. I don’t want it.’ I said, ‘No. I’ve got nothing else.’ But a lot of them sold them to these spivs. HB: Oh right. GM: I think it was a fiver they were getting for them. And they were white fivers in those days. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: And on D-Day we were all given a white fiver, a fiver and sent home. Only kept a, kept a skeleton staff on the aerodromes on D-Day. On VE Day. HB: VE day. Yeah. Right. GM: VE Day. HB: Yeah. GM: I got home just in time for the evening festivities. HB: And what was that like? GM: Well, the whole, the whole country was mad. HB: Where were you living then? Had you gone back to your — GM: In Harborne. I was living in Harborne and I was on my way to my auntie’s but I got dragged into a party on the way. HB: Dragged in. GM: Yes. I, I was never a drinker. HB: No. GM: But I used to drink but I was, I couldn’t hold my liquor very well but there was a lot of booze that night. And they kept stuff. They’d taken food out that they’d been saving for years. You know, tins of these, tins of that. I went into this one house in Harborne. I knew the people and they said, ‘Come in, Gordon. Come in Gordon. Lovely to see you.’ Put my box down. And then when I went I took my box with me to my auntie’s. HB: Yeah. GM: Just up the road. HB: Yeah. GM: Yeah. HB: And how, how long did it take you to sort of come to, because it’s obviously we all know that was, that two years or so was very very intense. GM: Yeah. HB: You know, and you know like you say you, you just reached the stage where you thought, well if it happens it happens. GM: Yeah. HB: But how sort of long or what sort of, what sort of period of time do you think it took — GM: Well — HB: To get yourself back to Civvy Street. GM: Well, you went back to Civvy Street straight away because your firm was obliged by law to take you back. HB: Right. GM: They made a law that every firm had to take back for six months. They had to guarantee you six months work or six months wages and I went back to Belliss and Morcom’s. But I didn’t like it in the factory and I, I left to be, I became a milkman. I became a milkman with a horse and cart delivering milk. HB: Did you enjoy that? GM: Well, I’ve got a story. I don’t know whether you, are you still taping this? HB: Absolutely. Yes. This is, it’s important we know. GM: Well — HB: How your feet came back down to earth basically. GM: I got, I got a job at [pause] that’s Alexa telling me to take my tablets. HB: Do you want to have a break to take your tablets? GM: No. HB: No. Crack on then. Crack on. GM: Yes. I I got a job as a milkman and had a horse called Ginger, and Ginger didn’t like nuns, GPO huts in the road, shadows. He didn’t like them. He used to shy at shadows. I’d been delivering. I’d been working for them about three months and we’d, he knew the round better than me. He used to stop at everywhere and we used to do, we used to do Knowle, and then Dorridge and then back to Knowle which is near Solihull. And we used to have to go, after we’d finished Knowle we’d turn around the corner from the pub and we’d go up a hill. Up a great big hill to the other half of the route and this one day [laughs], one day we turned the corner there was an elephant [pause] The horse took one look at this elephant and he went berserk. I had a girl with me because she used to deliver. There was two of us delivering milk. He, he galloped and I got the reins and I got my feet and I said to her, ‘Jump off. Save yourself. Save yourself.’ And the crates of milk were falling off the back all the way down, up this hill and of course by the time he got to the top he was absolutely shattered and I managed to stop him and I tied him to a tree and I lit a fag. I can remember lighting a fag. And the woman came out. ‘Shall I ring the Dairy for you.’ ‘Yes, please.’ I’m smoking this fag and the Dairy bloke, and he looked at all the milk in the road and he kicked the horse. HB: Oh no. GM: So, so sorry. He really, he kicked the horse and he shouldn’t. He was the, he was the, the boss of the Dairy and the farm and all the horses and everything. It was most unkind. HB: You’ve got a visitor. GM: Oh, it’s my paper coming. Other: Paper boy. GM: Come in John. I’ve got the interviewer here. Other: Oh, sorry. HB: Do you want me to, do you want me to, no it’s alright. I’ll just pause the interview. Bear with me. [recording paused] HB: Resuming the interview that was paused so that Gordon could take his tablets and speak to his, his visitor. Right. So, we’ve got the elephant frightening a horse. Frightened horse. Blimey. So, you went to work as a milkman, and then obviously you started to get right back into civilian life. GM: Yeah. Yeah. HB: And what not. GM: Then I went to work. Decided I wanted to go to work, and I went to, I applied for, my uncle worked at Triplex and he said, ‘There’s some jobs going at Triplex. Do you fancy doing that?’ And so, he got me an interview. HB: Right. GM: And they took me on at Triplex. HB: You know, when we go right back to the beginning. GM: Yeah. HB: I’m just a little bit intrigued. You were born in Jersey. GM: Yeah. HB: And obviously your mum and dad were in Jersey. Did they [pause] Oh right. Obviously. GM: There’s a very strange thing I’ve got to tell you. My father was a Francophile. He loved France. And when he was a lad in Jersey, when they were eighteen, they had to join the Jersey militia. It was an army. Because of the unruly going on with the eighteen year olds. But he and his friends decided to join the French Foreign Legion. He was stationed in Aleppo in the French Foreign Legion, and he went, and when war was declared on the Monday morning, he had a letter from the French Foreign Legion calling him back to France and he went. HB: Right. So, when did you leave Jersey to come to England? GM: I was about three, I think. They brought me back here. HB: So that would be like the ‘30s. GM: Yes. It was the ‘30s. HB: Mid ‘30s. GM: Early ‘30s. Yeah. HB: Right. So, so your mum and dad were separated then. GM: No. No. No. HB: Sorry. GM: Then he went. When he went on the 3rd of January err the 3rd of September he went back into the French Army. HB: Right. GM: Yeah. HB: But by that time, you were obviously living over here. GM: Yes. HB: Yeah. GM: We didn’t hear from him at all for, ‘til 1942. And in 1942 a man came to the door. He said, ‘I’m from Special Branch. You’ve got a husband named Jack Mercier.’ She said, ‘Yes. He’s dead.’ He said, ‘No. He’s not dead. He’s alive and he wants to come back to England.’ She said, ‘Well, I hadn’t heard anything so I assumed he was dead.’ In 1942, by then you see. And he said, ‘No. He’s alive and he wants to come back to England.’ We had a lot of interviews. Wanted to know all about him and everything, and then we had to give him forty five pounds which was a lot of money in those days for his fare back from Spain. And he’d got to get to Spain on his own so he walked about six hundred miles from France down to Spain and then he got a ship from Spain to England. And they came from Special Branch again and said, ‘We want seven pounds please.’ ‘What do you want seven pounds for?’ ‘For his fare.’ ‘His fare from where?’ She said, ‘Oh, he’s been in Scotland six weeks. He’s been interrogated as a spy.’ HB: Right. GB: But they decided that he’s not a spy and he can come home.’ So, we had to give the seven pounds for his fare to bring him home. I never got on with my father. The moment he came home I left. My auntie took me straight away and she said, ‘Come and live with us.’ Never got on with him. HB: That’s a shame. Yeah. GM: He was quite brutal. HB: So, he’d been, so he’d obviously been a prisoner of war. GM: No, he got, he was in unoccupied France. HB: Oh, he was in Vichy. Right. GM: He was in Vichy France. HB: Yeah. Right. GM: Yeah. HB: Oh yeah. Of course. ’42. GM: Yeah. HB: Yeah. That explains it. GM: Yeah. I think he was somewhere, somewhere in the middle of France somewhere. HB: What, just going back to your time, you know. GM: Yeah. HB: If you could just put your mind back to when you did your training and what not. GM: Yeah. HB: And you became part of Bomber Command. What do you think? It’s quite, it’s almost a bit too specific but what do you think was the best part? If there was a best part of your time. GM: Well, you felt as though you were hitting Germany. And because I came from Jersey which was occupied by the Germans and badly treated by the Germans and, and I wanted to, I wanted to fight, and we really did. I mean we, Bomber Command, Hitler should have packed it in. I mean we just kept on destroying. I mean all these cities were destroyed totally. In this country we lost six hundred and fifty thousand houses to the bombing. In this country. They must have lost six million. HB: Yeah. Yeah. And how, when you look back now do you, do you have any strong feelings about when you look back? Or — GM: No. No. It had got to be done. It had got to be stopped. HB: Yeah. GM: And you, you really felt as though you were really taking the war to them because we were, I mean London was bombed sixty seven nights in a row. So, you, you really felt as though you were doing your bit. HB: Yeah. It’s, it’s something that a lot of people are interested in because, you know in some cases a lot of people think it’s so long ago. GM: Yeah. HB: But all of the people who were involved they, they do have very different views when they look back as, as to what they contributed. How they, how they, how they — GM: Well, of course. HB: Were involved. GM: Dunkirk. Dunkirk was the pivotal point. We were beaten. There’s no doubt about it. If he’d, if he’d have attacked then we couldn’t have defended ourselves at all. But as I say when I joined the Home Guard I had a, we had a stick. A broomstick and a knife on the end. That was our first weapon. We used to practice arms drill with the stick until we got, finally we got one rifle, and we all were allowed to touch it [laughs] And then we got we all had a rifle and every night we went out we took our rifle out with us every night. HB: And then you then went back to work the following day. GM: Went to work the following day. Yes. HB: Yeah. GM: I was on, I was on duty, Home Guard duty when Coventry was bombed and we were taken by, by a lorry that would be shovels to, to Coventry and our job was to clear the roads. Make the roads passable. And we spent three days in Coventry where we had, we had tents. We were just tidying up. That was the first time I’d ever seen a dead body. The very first time. Probably the only time I’d ever seen a dead body. HB: Yeah. Yeah that’s, yeah — GM: That was Coventry. HB: Yeah. GM: And we all our job was to make the roads passable for transport. Shifting great big pieces of, you know six of us moving great big pieces of concrete out of the way. HB: Yeah. GM: Yeah. HB: What [pause] what we’ve talked about that side of it. What, what do you think was your, your sort of happiest memories of, of that time? If, you know, I mean because there must have been some fun. GM: Yes. HB: You must have had fun. GM: I was always happy in the Air Force. I loved it. Couldn’t cope with it sometimes. They made me take a parade once which was [laughs] which was horrible because my voice isn’t that loud. I could shout a bit but because you’re a sergeant you had to take a parade, and I got them marching up against the wall of the hangar and that. Hit the wall of the hangar in front of them. I couldn’t say turn around or anything. That, that was one moment that I remember where I regretted being a sergeant. I also made the cook do another dinner because the dinner they’d put out that day was vile and I was on what do you call it? Mess duty. HB: Yeah. GM: And my job to go around the mess for any remarks about the food and anything. The whole place was, ‘This food’s rubbish.’ ‘It’s rubbish.’ ‘It’s rubbish.’ I made the chef prepare something else. HB: I bet you checked your food after that for a while, didn’t you? GM: I had to be careful where I went, I must admit. I didn’t go anywhere near the cookhouse I’ll tell you. But that was when I was flying control at Llanbedr. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: But with 21 Squadron they flew Spitfire 21s at Fifty, at One Squadron. There was one squadron and there was another squadron called the Baroda Squadron. All Spitfire 21s, contra rotating props and they used to take off like that. Go straight up. They were a fantastic plane. HB: Did you ever get to go in one? GM: Four hundred and fifty mile an hour. HB: Did you ever get to sit in one? GM: No. No. No. I don’t think. Never sat in one. But I was there a sizeable length of time. HB: Yeah. Yeah. It was — GM: I was there a long time. HB: Well, well ’45 through to ’47. GM: I’d never done any office work and I walked in to the office and they said, ‘Your first job is to do the Wilmotts.’ I said, ‘What on earth is a Wilmott?’ ‘A Wilmott is the station, the readiness of all the aircraft stations in the country,’ he said,’ And if there’s anything wrong with the aircraft, with the aerodrome, they issue a Wilmott and that Wilmott has to be plotted so that every station knows if there is anything wrong with any other station.’ So, I’d got this pile of, little pile of Wilmotts they’re called and I’d had to look and find the aircraft and put number one runway is out of action because they’re resurfacing the [unclear]. Put it back and then take the next one. Leuchars. Leuchars. Flying control is not operating today so no planes in or out of Leuchars, and write it down so that if anybody was sent to that they’d put out a Wilmott to see — HB: Right. GM: What the status of the station was. HB: Status was. GM: And I remember it took me all day. The whole day, I think. Morning, sort of morning, dinnertime, afternoon and evening you know, I was still doing these Wilmotts. Putting it in. HB: I’ve never heard of a Wilmott. GM: No. Wilmott it was called and, and then a job I did like doing was on the waggon at the end of the runway. HB: Oh yes. Yes. I’m with you. Yeah. GM: Yeah. And you used to have two aldis lamps, and two verey pistols. A green and a red. A green and a red. And you had to, and I can remember watching the planes landing and watching them and then all of a sudden, this Spitfire came and he’d got his wheels up. He hadn’t got his wheels down. Prang, I fired off, moved and it went off. HB: Blimey. GM: And he was only a few feet from the ground by the time I’d fired it. I thought to myself I’d nearly blotted my copybook there. HB: Yeah. GM: He hadn’t put his wheels down. HB: That, that would have been expensive. GM: Yeah. Another thing that happened which was most amazing was I was on the waggon this one day and it had been raining very heavy and the sun came out and a flock of swans, about six swans flew over and they thought it was water and they all flew down to land on the runway and of course they crashed. Every one of these swans. Because they thought it was water and I’m watching these swans and all of a sudden, they crashed. All these swans rolling around. They got up and they waddled around and then they started running and took off again. HB: Blimey. GM: A load of swans. HB: Yeah. GM: Yeah. About five or six swans crashed on the runway. HB: You know if, if you go back to 171 Squadron. GM: Yes. HB: And you were, you were flying these special operations. GM: Yes. HB: With this special jamming thing did they, did they use the aluminium strips? GM: Yes. HB: At the time. GM: Yes. HB: Was your aircraft doing that as well? GM: We, we had special ones. When we’d finished our flight we didn’t put any of the aluminium strips out until we’d finished our flights, and then we’d go, some of the targets. I can’t remember the targets. We did go to Monchengladbach once I think while we were at [pause] I don’t know, give me a target from 50, 171 squadron. Give me. HB: Right. That would be [pause] Liege. GM: Liege. Yes. So, so, we were not far from France that day. Going round and round. Then as soon as your stint had finished we bombed Liege. HB: Right. GM: And as we went out we had very special strips of foil. Ours were fifteen feet long. The ones that the bomber, the main force took were, were only strips like that. HB: What was that? GM: Ours were fifteen feet long. HB: What’s that? About three feet long. GM: Something like that. HB: Yeah. GM: And they stayed in the air longer. HB: Right. GM: They didn’t fall so flat. They stayed in the air longer so, so our, our two planes would look like thirty planes heading for Liege. HB: Right. Right. Yeah, that, that sort of makes sense now to me. Yeah. It’s alright. I was just looking back because you were on 51 Squadron when it was D-Day weren’t you? GM: Yeah. We just arrived at 51 Squadron just before D-Day. HB: Yeah. Yeah. [coughs] excuse me. Oh yeah, because that’s when, that’s when Sergeant [Wamm] got injured, weren’t it? GM: On our second trip he got wounded. HB: Yeah. Yeah. Gordon, I can only thank you really. It’s, it’s, you know, I’m not just saying this it really is interesting. It’s really interesting you know and to know that it wasn’t all deadly serious all the time. GM: No. Oh no. HB: That’s — GB: No. I can, I’ll tell you something. You’re not recording this now? HB: Yeah. Yeah, we are recording you. Yeah. Yeah. GM: Oh right. Well, when I was stationed at Stormy Down as a cadet with a white flag in my hat, we had a visit from Anna Neagle, a film star. HB: Oh right. Yeah. GM: And she did a show for us. It was a show and she came in to the airmen’s mess and she said, ‘I will dance around with the youngest airman in the room.’ And it was me. HB: Oh lovely. GM: So, I [laughs] danced with Anna Neagle. I don’t know whether, she was in, who wants to sing in Barclay Square film. HB: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. GM: Yeah. And that — HB: Oh yeah. She was a big star. GM: Yeah. HB: She was a big star. GM: Anna Neagle. Yeah. So, I danced with Anna Neagle. HB: Ooh, now, there’s a memory for you. GM: Yes. Yes, it is. HB: Yeah. GM: Funny things happen. HB: Yeah. Oh, that’s great. Right. So obviously you got your job at Triplex. GM: Yeah. HB: And life moved on and you got married. GM: Yeah. HB: And you got your family. GM: Yeah. HB: And eventually you ended up here in Alvechurch. GM: Yes. It was all fields. This was all fields. HB: Yeah. GM: And there was a hut at the end of the road and we were given a number. We got there at 7 o’clock and were given a number. The hut opened at ten, and I think we got in for an interview at about 12 o’clock and as we walked through the door he said, ‘There’s only one property left. It’s a bungalow, a two bedroom bungalow at the beginning of the site. Do you want it?’ And my wife said, ‘Yes, please.’ HB: Wow. GM: And that was number 2, Rise Way. HB: Brilliant. Right. Well, I think we’ve sort of come to a bit of a conclusion for the interview Gordon. GM: Yes. Thank you. HB: And I really do appreciate, and thank you very much on behalf of the IBCC. GM: I hope it — HB: But more on behalf of myself. GM: [Unclear} HB: Oh, yes. I think it’s great for you to do this. I’m going to end the interview bit now. GM: Yeah. HB: Because obviously we need to have a break and get something to eat, but as I say I do thank you for that. GM: Do you want to come down the pub for a pint? HB: The time is now coming up to half past twelve. [recording paused] HB: This is recommencing the interview at twenty to two in the afternoon, having had our lunch, a very nice lunch and still interviewing Gordon Mercier. In a chat over lunch, we’ve had two or three things, little things have cropped up, but I think Gordon it would be nice to tell us about it, Gordon. GM: Yes. HB: You were telling me about a training flight where you shouldn’t have been over the sea but — GM: That’s right. We, we were doing, we were going a compass swing and — HB: Who’s, oh that’s right because you had somebody in the aircraft with you, didn’t you? GM: We had a WAAF. We didn’t have a WAAF this time. We had one of the air, one of the ground crew. HB: Right. GM: But we were out for a compass swing and an engine, engine test but my skipper decided to do some low flying and we went over a field full of German prisoners of war putting hay, taking hay, and they made a lot of rude signs at us and so the skipper turned the plane around. We flew towards the prisoners of war again and as we got there we went straight up in the air and blew them all over. But by then we were facing out to sea and there was a ship, a ship down and we hit a flock of birds and one engine went out. Immediately went back to base and asked permission to land, emergency landing, three engines. We landed and we were called in to the office to explain ourselves and the skipper said, well, we were doing this, ‘We went out for an engine test and a compass swing and we hit a flock of, a flock of starlings,’ he said, and just a flock of starlings. And the CO said, ‘Why is my engineering officer holding two, two seagulls?’ And another story, we were going to bomb Dunkirk Castle, and there were about two hundred planes and we took off as normal but the wheels wouldn’t come up and the skipper asked the flight engineer if we’d have enough petrol to go and get back. He said, well we could get back but we couldn’t get back to camp. We’d have to land somewhere in the south of England. So, we, we went on but we were very slow so that by the time we got to the target all the other planes had finished bombing and we crossed the target on our own and the German, Germans occupying the Castle were firing rifles and pistols at us. But our bombs went straight through the middle of the courtyard and broke down one of the walls. And then we got back and we had to land at Manston because we hadn’t got, and Manston was the most amazing sight. It was the first time I saw a jet plane take off. They’d got them at Manston. I’d never seen, didn’t know we’d got any jet planes. That was at Manston. HB: Were you on the ground or in the air at this time? GM: We were on the ground. HB: Yeah. GM: And we, we heard this noise and we saw this Gloster Meteor take off. We didn’t know what it was. It was a jet plane. HB: That’s just [pause] I don’t know. GM: They used to use them for catching the flying bombs. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: Because they were faster. HB: Yeah. And was it, was it, was it Manston you were telling me about where you had FIDO? GM: No. HB: Or was that — GM: That was at Carnaby. HB: Right. GM: There was a very severe fog one night when we were coming back, and all the, all the ‘dromes were fogged out and so we had to land with FIDO at Carnaby. Carnaby aerodrome. And I believe they landed ninety six planes at that aerodrome using FIDO. HB: And what was it like coming in to land then with FIDO? GM: It was like going into hell because all you could see was flames. HB: Yeah. GM: Flames. Just, it was just flames. You couldn’t see the ground until you were about twenty feet from the ground. HB: Well, yeah. GM: But you could land the plane. HB: Just, just mentioning jet aircraft towards the end of your operations in ’45. GM: Yeah. HB: Did you ever come across German jet fighters? GM: No. HB: Didn’t. You never saw them. GM: Never saw them. No. Never saw any. HB: Because you did quite a few daylight operations, didn’t you? GM: Yeah. HB: Before, you know by then. No. I was just curious because obviously at that time they were flying the Messerschmitt jets, weren’t they? GM: I will mention one other target we attacked. We attacked an airfield called [unclear]. But on that day, it was a Sunday morning and on that day, there were four thousand five hundred allied planes over Germany. All bombing and fighters. Fighters and bombers. There were four thousand five hundred planes in the air over Germany. HB: That’s the allies. Yeah. GM: Yeah. HB: Yeah. GM: We saw two lots of Boeings in, in convoy, you know. HB: Wow. GM: And we, we bombed [unclear] airport and our bombs went straight down the runway. You couldn’t miss. HB: Yeah. GB: It was one of those. HB: Yeah. That’s, yeah that’s interesting. When we were chatting over lunch you were saying about the jobs the WAAFs used to do. GM: Oh yes. They used to do. We used to have a WAAF come with us sometimes when we did a compass swing. HB: Could you, can you explain what a compass swing is please Gordon? GM: Well, the compass had to be checked that it was doing its job properly, and there were compass operators and they were nearly all WAAFs and they used to come with us when you’d fly straight line, straight line, straight line, straight line and she would make sure that the compass was working properly. HB: Right. Right. GM: It was called a compass swing. HB: Yeah. So, you obviously that was something you really did appreciate once you were in the air. GM: Oh yes. Got the compass for just in front of the pilot, wasn’t it? HB: Yeah. GM: She was fiddling with the — HB: Yeah. GM: Set, set, calibrate it I think it was called. They used to calibrate the compass. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: And the WAAFs did that job. One of the jobs that they did. HB: Yeah. Well, that’s, that’s lovely. That’s lovely. Well, Gordon thanks. Thanks for that extra bit. I’m pleased we had lunch and we had a chat. GM: Yes. Thank you. HB: That was really nice and I’ll, I’ll finish the interview now because I just need to work through some of the paperwork. GM: Yeah. HB: So, the time is coming up to ten to two. So, we’ll terminate the interview now. [recording paused] HB: This is a further interview with Gordon Mercier. It’s Tuesday the 23rd of November. GM: Yes. HB: And we’re at Gordon’s house near Birmingham and we just wanted to go back over a few things, Gordon. We’ve just been chatting because obviously as an air gunner you were in that small group of people who, an awful lot of air gunners were lost and you survived. So, we thought we’d like to know what the life of an air gunner was like from, you did your training and that was fairly arduous but, but you know we just wondered what it was like day by day to be an air gunner on a, on a Halifax. GM: I found it very satisfying. I, I had the best view of anybody in the aircraft. I was sitting on the top. I never flew, I only flew once as rear gunner and I hated it and all the other times I flew mid-upper gunner. The only trouble with being a mid-upper gunner was when you were facing forward the wind came through the holes where the guns are and you absolutely froze. So, if you turned forward it was uncomfortable. Other than that, it was a very comfortable seat and it was easy to get in. Up a little ladder and hung your parachute on the hook just by the seat where you get in and it was very comfortable and the view was fantastic because in daylight you could see for miles and miles and miles. HB: Did you, did you have any extra duties when you were in there? To, to tell the pilot about things. GM: No. But I, I told, you had to keep your eyes open. Especially for other aircraft in the, in the stream. That was the most important job actually because all of a sudden you’d realise there was a bomber sitting just on top of you and you’d got to get out of that without hitting him. And we had that several times, and that was the important job that you did that wasn’t written in to the contract [laughs] HB: Yeah. GM: And also, when we went, we went to Villers Bocage we’d been told to bomb at ten thousand feet and if you couldn’t see the target you were to come down to five thousand feet. Some went down. We went down. And some didn’t go down. So, the bombs were coming down from above us which was a very, very tricky moment and I can remember one bomb being very close to us as it went past. A stream of bombs. And that was when we bombed the panzer division in Villers Bocage and — HB: It’s nice you used to word tricky. GM: Pardon? HB: It’s nice you used the word tricky. GM: Oh yes. HB: For that situation. GM: Yes. Yes. HB: I can think of other words. GM: Yeah. I must, I’ve got to admit very humbly that I was terrified on our second trip. I was really, really terrified. The bang when they hit the nose of the plane, and the getting the bomb aimer out. I heard all about it and I was terrified but I’ve got to admit that I was never frightened again ever and we had some very tricky situations. HB: Yeah. GM: But it was very satisfying being a gunner. You felt as though you were doing a good job. HB: Yeah. GM: You just had to keep awake and keep warm. HB: How did you keep warm, Gordon? GM: The Halifax had a good heating system in the fuselage. It was, it was quite good and we had electric boots which you plugged in. You plugged into the aircraft and it warmed your feet. And you had fleecy boots of course and you were as warm as toast except when you went forward. And I can remember my eyebrows froze. Eyelids froze because of the cold when it was minus fifty, and that was the coldest day I flew in and the engines, the oil went into lumps and you could hear the engine rumbling. HB: Oh. GM: With these lumps of oil. HB: Blimey. GM: It was, it was minus fifty degrees it was. HB: So, what height would you be when that was happening? GM: Twenty two thousand feet. HB: Yeah. GM: At twenty two thousand feet we could get to twenty two easily but the Lancaster could get further. HB: Yeah. GM: It was lighter than us but it could carry more. We, we carried a lot of bombs. I think twelve five hundreds’ we could get in. Or two four thousand and some smaller bombs and mines. They were, they were big. The mines were big. HB: Yeah. GM: I hadn’t, I had to, on two occasions I had to get out of my turret and close the door which had come open. HB: The side door. GM: The door you went in to the aircraft. And it was up in the air and me being small I could hardly reach and the skipper said, ‘Don’t forget to put your parachute on in case you fall out.’ [laughs] The wind coming through from that door. And I closed the door for him. And twice that happened. HB: How had it come open? GM: Well, just vibration, I think. HB: Oh yeah. Yeah. I suppose. GM: Just vibration. Yeah. HB: So, what, what sort of clothing did you used to have to put on, Gordon? GM: Well, we had fleecy boots, four pairs of gloves, a gauntlet, a mitten, a woollen mitten. No. A gauntlet, a glove, a woolly mitten and next to your skin surgical, like a surgical glove. Silk. Silk glove. So that if you had to do anything with the guns you took the three pair off and just left the silk glove. HB: Right. GM: Because if you touched the guns your fingers stuck to the guns. HB: Right. GM: Because it was so cold it would fetch your fingers, the skin off your fingers. HB: So when, so after you’d, after you’d taken off for an operation obviously everybody talks about as you’re flying towards. GM: Where ever. HB: Perhaps the Dutch coast. GM: Yes. HB: Or whatever, you used to test fire your guns. GM: Yes. We used to test. HB: How did everyone look on that? How did they do it safely when you were taking off in a bunch. GM: Well, we used to fire down. Fire down at the sea. And the rear gunner used to fire down at the sea. We [laughs] went on a, we went on a trip when we were converting into Halifaxes, and we had to go and bomb Rockall. That little mountain in the middle and we had to go and bomb Rockall and on the way we’d to test our guns. That was in the exercise. The skipper said, ‘Are we ok navigator to test the guns?’ And the navigator said, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘What do you mean, Titch?’ I said, ‘I can see land in front of me. Down there. I can see land.’ He said, ‘No. The navigator said we’re over the sea.’ I said, ‘We’re not over the sea. It’s land.’ And he’d missed a leg out on his plan [laughs] He’d missed a leg out on his plan, so his plan showed us over the sea and we were still over the land. HB: Oh dear. GM: And Liverpool. Nearly fired my guns at Liverpool. HB: Blimey. GM: Yeah. HB: I suppose he got in trouble for that did he? GM: Who? HB: No? GB: No. No. No. No. The only time we got in trouble was when we went to North Creake. Our first trip at North Creake. Familiarisation they called it. New planes, and we flew, flew anywhere. We just flew round swinging the compass and one thing and another. We went out to sea to fire my guns and there was a trawler and there was a crowd of birds around it and I was firing my guns and we hit this crowd of birds. One engine packed up so we asked permission to land immediately and we landed and we went in front of the CO. ‘What happened? How did you come to hit a flight of birds?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘We were flying over the coast and we just hit this flight of birds.’ He said, ‘Oh yes. Really birds.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ The skipper said, ‘Yes. Just birds. Just a flight of ordinary birds’ He said, ‘How come [laughs] the engineering officer has got five seagulls in his office.’ How come he’d got five seagulls in his office. HB: You shouldn’t have been there. GM: No. We shouldn’t have been there. HB: I don’t know. GM: Yeah. HB: I don’t know. GM: But they used to, the clothing was adequate. Really good clothing we had. HB: Yeah. GM: We had a bomber jacket and extra long johns. HB: Yeah. GM: And very modern vests. Very warm. HB: Yeah. GM: They came up to your neck and everything. But you used to get cold here and here, under your chin and your eyes used to get cold. Especially if you were looking forward, which you had to rotate the turret. HB: Yeah. GM: And — HB: So, so on a normal, so how would it work then? How would you be told as an air gunner that you’re going to be flying on operations? GM: Oh, we, in the morning the skipper would tell us, ‘We’re flying tonight, lads.’ HB: Right. GM: And he, they used to go to the, the navigator and the flight engineer and the pilot used to go to a briefing. And then before the op the whole crew went to a briefing and the chair, there were seven, seven seats and seven seats and everybody and then there was a big map of Europe on the wall and the CO would come out with a big stick and say, ‘Your target for tonight is Monchengladbach, and your route is this way — ‘’ This way. ‘Be careful of this area here because there’s a lot of flak there. Do a dog leg here.’ The navigator had got all the details and they told us, and then the weapons officer used to come in and say you’re carrying so many bombs, and so many of this, and we used to carry Window which was strips of silver paper and the strips of silver paper were about a foot and a half long. But when we were flying with 100 Group our, our silver paper was fifteen feet long. We didn’t have so many of them. HB: Yeah. GM: And you used to, before you hit the coast the [pause] I’m sure. I think the wireless operator had to put the, the silver paper in in through the — HB: And that went down a chute. GM: A chute. Yeah. It went down a chute and, so that fifty planes would look like five hundred planes on the radar. HB: Yeah. GM: Because each piece of silver paper would have been lit as a blip. HB: Yeah. GM: And, and when, when we used to fly with 100 Group our fifteen feet long stayed in the air longer, but it didn’t say there was that many. HB: Yeah. GM: But and they were all a distraction. Used to usually drop the silver paper just before you changed course. HB: What was it? As a sort of a deception sort of thing? GM: Well, yes. That’s right. HB: Yeah. Yeah. So, you’ve been in. You’ve had your briefing. GM: Yeah. HB: Did you have, did you do anything separate as an air gunner? GM: No. HB: Or was that it? GM: No. No. HB: That was just it. GM: You were altogether. HB: Yeah. GM: And then after briefing you used to go for a flying meal. HB: Yes. GM: Bacon. Eggs. Bacon and eggs. Sometimes there was chips but we always had bacon and eggs. And big portions as well. HB: Right. GM: We used to collect our escape kit and our parachute and an orange and a block of chocolate which you distributed in your pockets. HB: Yeah. GM: And you’d wait for the, the bus, the waggon to take you out to the aeroplane about an hour before you took off. You used to go the, and sit on the grass or play football or something like that altogether. HB: Yeah. GM: And the ground crew were just finishing off. HB: What was, can you remember what you had in your escape kit, Gordon? GM: Oh yes. There was a map. It was only a small box. There was a map. There was a compass. There was some nutritious bar of stuff. I don’t know what it was but they invented this bar of stuff to eat. And there was a whistle, I think. No. We used to carry the whistle. We used to have the whistle always with us. We always had the whistle in case you fell in the sea. [unclear] a compass. Pipe smokers had a pipe and the pipe converted to a compass. Just broke it open and the compass was inside the barrel of the pipe. But the main thing was the map. It was a big map of Europe and all on silk. A silk map. Very posh. HB: Yeah. GM: We, it was just a small box which you just slipped in to your pocket. Into your breast pocket as it were. HB: Did you, did you carry, did you carry photographs of yourself with you? GM: No. No. Oh, that was one thing you did before you took off and before you collected your parachute. You collected your parachute. You had to empty your pockets so that you’d got nothing to identify yourself with at all. HB: The reason I ask was I did interview somebody once who showed me some photographs they took. They had. And they took them with them in case they were shot down so they could be used on false papers. GM: Oh. Well, I hadn’t heard of that. HB: No. GM: We, we were, we were told to clear everything out. Especially bus tickets. HB: Yeah. GM: And all that sort of stuff. Anything that could identify you or your squadron. HB: Yeah. GM: You know, like postcards from the family with your address on. You don’t. All that had to be taken out and put on the — HB: So, you’ve had your briefing. You’ve been to dispersal. GM: No. We’ve had our briefing. We’ve had our dinner. HB: You’ve had your dinner. GM: We go and collect the parachutes HB: Yeah. And then you’re waiting at dispersal and the truck comes. GM: The truck comes, and they’ve usually got two or three crews, and it takes you all the way around the perimeter and drops them off at each plane. HB: Yeah. GM: And usually the CO comes around. Just a little chat. And then at a certain time the skipper says, ‘Time to get aboard lads.’ And you just get in and of course I, I only sat in the rest position. I didn’t get in to my turret until we’d taken off. HB: So that was sort of in the middle of the aircraft. GM: Yes. HB: Yeah. GM: And there was a lot of room in the Halifax. HB: Yeah. GM: There was room for eight of us to sit in. Or seven of us to sit in. HB: Yeah. Yeah, so you, you’ve gone into the plane. You’ve gone to the rest position. GM: Yeah. HB: Did you have, did you have any duties at all for take - off? Or was it just — GM: Just I’d cock my guns HB: Yeah. GM: No. I couldn’t cock my guns until we were over the sea in case there was a mistake. We used to cock the guns. We were soon over the sea anyway. HB: Yeah. GM: So, that’s the only thing I had to do was make sure that my gunsight was working. Cocked the guns. Make sure that all four were all cocked. HB: Yeah. GM: And ready to fire. HB: Did you, did you always have the same turret? I think you said to me in the last interview that you were comfortable in the Boulton Paul turret. GM: Yes. HB: Because it was big and you, you know you fitted in. You had plenty of room. GM: Yeah. HB: But did, did you always have the same turret or did you have to change? GM: It was all, I only flew in the Boulton Paul turret. HB: Right. GM: When I did the one in the rear it was a Frazer Nash turret. HB: Yeah. GM: The rear gun had a Frazer Nash turret. HB: So how, so when you were in that turret, what, what guns had you got? GM: Four. Four 303 Browning machine guns. HB: Right. And I presume they were calibrated to, to converge, were they? GM: It was one of our jobs on the ground to calibrate the guns so that it didn’t hit any part of the aircraft. HB: Right. GM: That was one of our jobs. We had to calibrate the guns. HB: Because that’s one of the questions a lot of people ask is how did you manage to not shoot your own tail off? GM: No. They’d been calibrated so that you used to turn your gun round at the plane and press the, I think we used to press a button. I think it was a button, and so that when, when it was revolving, and when you’re firing, when it hit the, looked at that, the bullets didn’t fire. It stopped the guns from firing. HB: Right. Right. Yeah. Ah that, that’s, that explains it then. GM: Yeah. Because you could hit the front of the aircraft quite easily. HB: Yeah. GM: And you could hit the tail quite easily as well. HB: Yeah. I can believe it. Yeah. GM: But you, you calibrated. That was one of your jobs. To calibrate it. When you did a, if you did a pre-flight flight, used to do that. HB: So, when obviously, when you’re flying at night your vision is, is, is absolutely essential. Your, you know, your skills at looking out into the night. How did you protect your eyes when you were flying at night? GM: One thing we used to do was we used to have a pair of goggles which we used to put on while we were waiting if it was daylights or, and we were going to be flying at night we used to wear these goggles. A pair of like sunglasses. HB: Yeah. GM: So that when you, you took them off and put them in the plane you’d stopped your eyes from going. HB: Yeah. GM: Suddenly in to dark when you wouldn’t be able to see anything. HB: Yeah. GM: But wearing these glasses, which you were given they, they were very useful. HB: Yeah. So once you, once you were up and you’re flying. You were flying towards the target. GM: Yeah. HB: Would you get much of, much information from the pilot or the navigator or anybody else to tell you what was happening? Where you were going or — GM: There was always conversation going on. The skipper was asking the flight engineer if all the engines were ok. He was asking the wireless operator if he still had contact with his wireless. And the bomb aimer used to sit next to him and he only used to go in to his position when we were getting, getting close to the target. HB: Yeah. GM: And the navigator had his little, he had a curtain all round him and he was, he was giving the skipper instructions of a course to fly. Every, all, every, all the time he was chatting. HB: Yeah. GM: The flight engineer and the navigator were doing most of the talking and the skipper was asking questions and everybody else was in their own thoughts as it were. HB: Yes. Yeah. So as, as you come in you’re coming in towards the target. Obviously, we know the risks were flak and night fighters. GM: Yeah. HB: And that sort of thing. GM: And other planes. HB: Yeah. And the other planes are all around you. Your own side. GM: Yeah. HB: What, can you, is it possible to describe or to tell me what it was like to fly towards a target through the flak? GM: Well, one of our trips we went was Hazebrouck it was called, and it was a railway. A railway marshalling yard in France. And that was the worse flak I ever saw and the flak was just coming up before. The flak was firing when the planes weren’t there and we were flying along this flak and then we had to go in to it and that was a bit scary, you know. You couldn’t help it. Suddenly you had to go through it because the target was there and if you didn’t turn in to the target you wouldn’t. The flak was, was enormous, the amount of flak there was. Hundreds of flak bursts. HB: So, sitting in your position in the, you know. GM: You could see it all. HB: Yeah. GM: Yeah. HB: Yeah. So, and, and so that that would be like I suppose flying through a giant firework display. GM: Yeah. HB: Almost. But with quite nastier consequences. GM: Well, you could smell the smoke from the, as you flew through it. The ones that exploded you didn’t worry about because they missed you. It was the one that you didn’t see that hit you. HB: Yeah. GM: But it was the amount of flak they threw up, the Germans was enormous. Absolutely hundreds, hundreds of bursts of flak. HB: Yes. GM: And nearly always at the right height as well. They’d, they’d got good range finders. HB: Yeah. What, what were the, what were the searchlights like? GM: Well, on our last trip we were coned. HB: Yeah. GM: By searchlights. About fifty on us. This last trip was our worst trip ever and we were coned and the only thing you could do was to dive down one of the, one of the searchlights which is what the skipper did because they couldn’t change the, where the shells were bursting quick enough because we were going down. And in actual fact I fired my guns at a searchlight. The one we were flying down. It went out. HB: Oh right. GM: And that saved us. HB: Yeah. Was the — GM: The moment it went out the skipper said to navigator, ‘Which way?’ He said, ‘How the hell do I know?’ HB: So, was that what, was that something you trained for or just something you did? GM: Something happened. It was — HB: Yeah. GM: It had never happened before. HB: Yeah. GM: We’d never been hit by searchlights before. HB: Yeah, because when I’ve talked to others they always talk about the corkscrew. GM: Yeah. The corkscrew is for fighter. HB: Yeah. What was, what was the corkscrew manoeuvre then? GM: It was depending which, where the plane was. You, I, the gunner or the rear gunner had to tell the skipper, ‘Corkscrew right.’ ‘Corkscrew left.’ And if you said, ‘Corkscrew right,’ he turned the plane that way, that way, that way, and that way, and raised, went up and down while he was corkscrewing. HB: So, he was constantly changing left to right. GM: Left to right. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: So that the pilot, if the plane was behind you he’d have to readjust every time. HB: Yeah. What was that like to experience? GM: Ah, it was like being in a merry go round. You were thrown this way and that way but it only happened to us twice and I don’t think it was necessary actually but the rear gunner called it the two times we did it. And corkscrew right or corkscrew left. Down. Right. Down. Right. Up. Down. Right. HB: So, so this was — GM: With, with the Halifax you could do it like. It would behave like, like a merry go round. HB: Yeah. GM: It was a marvellous plane for that. HB: So, so the tail gunner had called it. Were you ever actually attacked by night fighters? GM: No. The only time we were attacked was on our second trip and that’s when we lost our bomb aimer. I’d, I reported to the skipper there was a plane below us being attacked. He said, ‘Keep your eyes open.’ And I could see the tracer going and I couldn’t see the other plane that he was firing at. And then the tracer stopped and at that moment the one shell hit us right in the nose. Blew the nose off. HB: Right. GM: And the bomb aimer was sitting with his legs like that and it exploded under his bum. And the plane was, was doing this all the time then because it was filling with air and then it couldn’t take any more air, so the plane was going like that all the time. It was really uncomfortable. That’s was the only time I was really terrified. HB: Yeah. Did, I don’t suppose you ever saw the aircraft that — GM: No. HB: That did the attack. GM: No. Never saw the aircraft. HB: No. GM: I thought it was a Fokke Wulf 190 that I saw a shape going away but I reported it as a Fokke Wulf 190. HB: Did you lose, did the other plane, did we lose the other plane? The other aircraft. The first one that was attacked. Did we lose that one? GM: I don’t know. HB: Oh right. GM: I mean he was way below us. HB: Oh right. GM: He was way below us. HB: Right. Right. Yeah. GM: And I saw the tracer but it didn’t see the plane he was firing at. HB: Yeah. So, so you’ve been out there and you’ve gone through the flak and the searchlights. GM: Yeah. HB: You’ve done, or you’re doing your run to the target. GM: The bomb run. It was called the bomb run at that time. HB: What, did you have a job to do while that was going on? While the bomb run was going on? GM: No. The only job we had to do was keep our eyes open. HB: Yeah. GM: For everything. At that moment the bomb aimer, the bomb aimer took over the plane. HB: Right. GM: ’Steady. Steady. Steady. Left. Steady. Right. Steady. Steady. Left. Right. Bombs gone,’ and the plane would go wumph. HB: Yeah. It would jump up in the air. GM: It would be up in the air. HB: Yeah. And what would, because obviously you used to take photographs as well. Was that done automatically? GM: It was done automatically. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: When the bombs were released, it was done automatically. We had some very good photographs of our bombs. HB: Yeah. GM: Especially in the daylight ones. HB: Yeah. So, you’ve, you’ve dropped your bombs. You’ve turned away. You’re heading back. GM: Yeah. HB: You’re heading back home. So, what, what are you, what are you sort of experiencing now? What are you feeling now? GM: Elated actually. HB: Yeah. GM: To think you’ve gone over the target, and you’re on the way home but you’ve still got to keep your eyes open. HB: Yeah. Was that a bit, a bit risky? GM: Well, believe it or not I think it was when we went to Monchengladbach, we [pause] we went over the coast and there was a flak ship firing at us. All of a sudden, the flak started out of nowhere. Flak in the night, and of course they were a burst of colours. They were sort of glowing, and this flak ship was firing at us, and you didn’t know that it was there until it happened. HB: Right. GM: So — HB: And obviously they moved them about. GM: Yeah. HB: So, yeah you could never really predict where they were. GM: No. No. HB: Yeah. So then — GM: Then — HB: Yes. So, so you’re on the way back. GM: Yeah. HB: You’re feeling elated and you come in. You know you’re coming back to your airfield. GM: Yeah. HB: What was, what was your procedures for landing then as, as an air gunner? GM: No procedure for me other than to keep, keep my eyes open because there were intruders at that time. There were intruders. You could be fired on as you were landing by the German, especially they used these JU88s as intruder aircraft and you had to keep your eye open right until, right until the moment you landed. But we didn’t. We were fortunate. We didn’t have it. HB: Yeah. GM: We did land on the FIDO twice which was a very, very strange and frightening procedure. I think Carnaby took in ninety six planes in about half an hour. HB: Blimey. GM: Because everybody was running out of petrol. HB: Yeah. And of course, Carnaby was FIDO fitted, wasn’t it? GM: Yeah. HB: Yeah. GM: There was three. HB: Yeah. GM: Woodbridge, Carnaby and Manston were the three aerodromes that were fitted with FIDO. HB: Yeah. Blimey. Yeah. GM: It was like diving into hell. HB: Yeah. GM: Because you couldn’t see a thing because of the fog. You couldn’t. Until you were fifteen feet from the ground you couldn’t see anything. The pilot just dived in to the, you could see the lights under the fog. And then when you got to fifteen feet you could see the ground. HB: That’s low, isn’t it? GM: It is low. Especially if the ground’s not your runway. HB: Yeah. GM: Yeah, but — HB: So, just going back a little bit when, when you did all your training and, and all that sort of thing one of the things you would have probably have been trained to do was the procedure for ditching. GM: Oh yes that was, we did that. HB: Ditching over water and that sort of thing. GM: We did that at 14 OTU which was at Bridlington. HB: Yeah. GM: And it was November. It was cold. It was snowing. And we went, got in the bus for dinghy training. We were taken to the harbour and there was a pile of Mae Wests on the floor. They said, ‘Right. Put your Mae Wests on. What we want you to do is to jump into the sea. Swim to the dinghy. Get in the dinghy. Turn it. Get out of the dinghy and turn it over.’ The next crew was, next ones would jump in to the sea. Turn the dinghy right way up. Get into the dinghy. Turn it over and come back. And I’m sitting there. I’m standing there thinking I’m going to be first. So, I grabbed the Mae West and I put it on. He said, ‘Who’s first?’ I said, ‘I am.’ And I realised that they’d got to put the wet, wet Mae Wests on when they came out. The people after us had to put the wet Mae Wests on and it was freezing cold. Of course, the Mae West was dry and I was a good swimmer, so jumping in and swimming out to the dinghy was no problem. One of the fellas with me doing it wasn’t a very good swimmer but he managed it, you know. HB: Yes. GM: He, he couldn’t help turn the dinghy over. Tricky to turn the dinghy over in the water, and it was cold. HB: So, at what, if you were in an operations or doing this training. GM: Yeah. HB: At what stage would you actually inflate your Mae West? How would you do that? Or when? GM: Oh, not until you were out of the plane. HB: Right. GM: You couldn’t, if you inflated your Mae West I wouldn’t have been able to get out of your turret. HB: Yeah. GM: No. HB: So how would you inflate it? GM: Pull a toggle. It had got a little lever. A little button like a, like a Boy Scout’s toggle. HB: Yeah. GM: It was on the Mae West and you just pulled it, whoosh. HB: So, was it gas filled then? GM: Gas filled. Yes. HB: Yeah. Because so the Mae West must have changed because I think early on they must have blown them up didn’t they? With a tube. GM: Well, you could blow it up yourself. It had got a tube on it so that if you were in the water any length of time you could top up the air in the Mae West. It was sticking out on the side. HB: Yeah. GM: You just grabbed it and blew in to it. HB: Right. GM: It was — HB: So, I mean I mean you’ve got a crew of seven. Did, could everybody swim? GM: I don’t know whether everybody could swim. Everybody was taken for swimming lessons to make sure. HB: Oh right. GM: One of the things we did at OTU we did was the swimming baths. We had, but I think most people in our days in school you all went to swimming every week at school. HB: Yeah. GM: You know, when you were nine, ten you all went swimming. HB: Oh right. GM: I was a good swimmer. HB: Right. Ah. So on, so on operations on the Halifax. GM: Yeah. HB: I presume the pilot, the skipper would actually call for, you know warn you that you were going to ditch. GM: That’s right. HB: What would, what would then follow? Who would do what? Do you know? GM: We would, everybody would, I would get into the rest position and the rear gunner used to get in the rest position and we used to brace ourselves. You had to put your arms, your arms, your head used to close your fingers and put it behind your head and sit like this in the rest position. HB: You were crouched over. Yeah. GM: Crouched. Well, sitting down. HB: Yeah. GM: And you would tightly hold your head. I can’t put my arm up there now. HB: Yeah [laughs] GM: Used to put my head down and hold it. When we, when we pranged, that’s one thing we had to do, because you was careering across the runway and then you stopped dead. HB: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. GM: You know. HB: So that, so if you were going to ditch then you would be in the rest area. GM: That’s right. HB: I presume the bomb aimer and navigator would then obviously have to come back away from the nose. GM: Yes. Everybody would come back away from the nose or as many, and I think there was about six of us [pause] No. Five because I think the bomb aimer used to stay with the pilot to help the pilot on the crash landing. HB: Yeah. GM: But everybody else came to the rest position in the middle of the aircraft. HB: Yeah. And you would have come out obviously if everything went right. You’d try and come out the door I presume. GM: Yes. The door and then you’d have to swim. HB: Yeah. GM: Because the door was away. Was the nearest the tail. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: And the idea is you got on to the wing and the [pause] the dinghy used to throw itself out. HB: Oh right. Yeah. GM: The dinghy used to self-eject with the smash and the dinghy would, and it was tied and it was, we’d all got knives, and you had to, you had to make sure you’d got the dinghy tight, but you had to free it from the aircraft in case the aircraft went down. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: And then you’d pile into the dinghy. All of you. HB: Is that something you wanted to avoid? GM: Definitely. We, we never got, we never, never, never got near to ditching in the sea at all. Never. HB: Yeah. So, yeah, I was, I was interested in that because a lot of people have talked about ditching, but how you actually got to that level of training and expertise is of interest. GM: Yeah. HB: Because some guys I’ve spoken to have talked about doing what they called dry dinghy training. GM: That’s right. Dry. HB: On the airfield. GM: Dry dinghy training. We did that. That was at Conversion Unit. HB: Right GM: You did. It was one of the things you did when you converted from, we flew in Whitleys believe it or not. Whitleys [laughs] and changed to Halifax. HB: Yeah. So, as, as the war, you know you came into the war sort of ’44/45. That time. GM: Yeah. HB: What, what changes, what were the biggest changes you saw, Gordon happen, happen? GM: Master bomber. HB: Yeah. GB: That was the biggest change. The master bomber orchestrating the raid. He would bomb to the left of the green indicators. Bomb to the right. Take the bombs forward. And he did the instructions. ‘Don’t bomb in the middle two. Waste of bombs. Bomb on the edges. Bomb on the edges.’ HB: Yeah. GM: Which spread the target area. HB: Yeah. GM: They used to put target indicators down as well which was marvellous. They would tell you what the target indicator colour was every day. Every time you went, ‘The colour of the day is green,’ so that the Germans would light up fake targets. HB: Oh right. Yeah. Yeah. GB: But if the, they used to change the colour of the target indicator. Sometimes green, sometimes red, sometimes yellow. GM: And — HB: And they were and the master bomber would call the height as well I presume. GM: No. No. We were all the height we were given. We were told to fly at such and such a height which was between eighteen and twenty two thousand feet usually, at night. The master bomber, if the target indicator wasn’t on target he’d called up the backers up would obliterate that target indicator and they’d put another target indicator down and he’d say, ‘The new colour is — ’ HB: Right. GM: Made up a different colour for the next target. HB: Yeah. Yeah. That’s, yeah. Yeah that’s — GM: The whole time you were on the bombing run the master bomber was talking to you. HB: Right. GM: Every minute. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: ‘Bomb to the left of indicator.’ ‘Bomb to the right of indicator.’ ‘Bomb forward.’ ‘Bomb forward.’ ‘Take it more forward.’ HB: Yeah. GB: In fact, on one of our trips we had to go round again because he moved the target and we’d already passed it. HB: Oh right. Right. GM: So, the skipper said, ‘We’re going around again.’ We only did it once, and that was a bit hairy because you had to go around and join the bomber stream again and come back in again. HB: Yeah. Yeah. That’s doesn’t sound nice. GM: No. It wasn’t. HB: No. So, so obviously the majority of the bombing that you did was at night but on daylight you must have done some daylight operations, well I know you have because there’s a couple in your logbook. GM: Yeah. I did a lot of daylights. HB: Yeah. What, what was your feeling? This might sound a bit strange, but what was your feeling about being able to see clearly what you were bombing? GM: Well, there was, you could see the target. Especially if it was marshalling yards like Hazebrouck. It was, the target was very plain, you could see it entirely but the master bomber was there as well. He’d say, ‘Bomb to the right. Bomb to the left again.’ HB: Yeah. GM: But — HB: And what did, what was you, what was your overall feeling then as you’re seeing this target clear as day and the bombs are going down? What, what was your overall feeling on that? GM: Well, the minute the bombs were going down you felt as though you had done your job. HB: Yeah. GM: You’d actually done your job so it was all you had to worry about was getting home. From the moment you dropped your bombs you already knew your course you had to take. The skipper and the navigator had all, had got that, were told that so that you immediately went on to that course, and then did a couple of dog legs before you crossed the coast again. HB: And when you got, when you got, you obviously you, you end up with your end of tour, you know. You’re told that you’ve, you’ve come to the end of your tour. GM: Yes. That was our last trip. HB: Yeah. GM: That was the worst trip we ever did. There was no side left of the plane, on the one side. All gone. I was just looking at looking at, just looking at metal. Bits of metal, and — HB: So, so you had a bit of an escape there then. GM: Well, yes because my, I hadn’t fired my guns so that the bullets saved me from damaging. It saved me from my leg getting damaged without a doubt because there was damage to the bullets itself because it took the whole, took the whole lot of the left-hand side of the plane out, from the front nose and there was a great big hole all the way to the tail and they, they hit us a lot of times. But the searchlight went out. We were still flying. I think if a Lancaster had had what we’d had it wouldn’t have made it, but the Halifax was, was so rugged, and it really was. HB: Yeah. GM: A very strong aircraft. HB: Yeah. So how, when you say the ammunition saved you. GM: Well — HB: I hadn’t thought of this. GM: Ammunition. HB: How did, how did the ammunition get to the gun? GM: The ammunition was here and here. HB: Either side of your legs. GM: Like four. And you used to feed the ammunition into the four guns. There were four panniers of bullets. You feed it into the guns, cock it and so you’ve got the first gun done. Then do the second gun, do the third gun, do the fourth gun. And these, these troughs as it were where the bullets were coiled up, and they were all here. Right here. And all the damage was there and the — HB: So, yeah. So, from your thigh down you’ve got the bullet panniers. GM: Yes. When, when we got home it was obvious that the bullets had saved my legs because I never had a scratch. Never had a scratch. HB: So, the shrapnel obviously that ripped through the side of the aircraft was bouncing off the, it’s amazing they didn’t go off. GM: Yes. Well, no because they were facing that way. HB: Oh, of course. GM: So yeah. HB: Yeah. GM: They were facing the point. HB: Yeah. Yeah. GM: They then made, the bullets were facing outwards. HB: I see what you mean. So, that the angle of the bullet — GM: Yeah. HB: The shrapnel didn’t hit the explosive bit. It hit the nose. GM: It hit the nose. HB: Wow. GM: Yeah. HB: Well, that was a lucky escape surely. GM: Yes. It was. HB: Yeah. GM: The CO came. Came out in his car. He took one look at the plane and he said, he said to [unclear] and Digby, ‘Well, Digby you’ve had enough. Call it a day. You’ve finished your tour.’ HB: Just like that. GM: He said, ‘Because you’ve ruined another plane.’ [laughs] He said, I can remember him saying that. HB: Yeah. GM: And the next day we were, we were posted. HB: But did you, did you actually get to go out for a last end of tour drink? GM: No. Not really because we went to briefing and next morning we handed our, all our stuff in. The bicycles had to be handed in and everything. I think it took two days to get to, you had a, a leaving chit to fill in. HB: Yeah. GM: And you had to go to the MO. You had to go to the, all sorts. You had to go to all of these actions handing in this, that and the other thing. HB: Yeah. Yeah. And that was it. GM: That was it. HB: That was it. Finished. GM: We went to Kirby. HB: Yeah. GM: Never saw each other again. HB: Yeah. GM: We just, ‘Cheerio chaps. Have a good — ’and I was very lucky. I was posted to 1 Squadron. Spitfires. HB: Yeah. GM: Flying control. HB: Yeah. Well, Gordon, I’ve got to say I could sit here all day. You know. GM: Yeah. HB: We’ve had a, we’ve had, you know well over an hour. GM: We haven’t. HB: And I really do thank you for that, because — GM: I haven’t bored you to tears. HB: No. You could never bore me, Gordon. But I’ve really appreciated it. It’s been a really good interview. I mean we’re coming, we’re coming up towards quarter to twelve so I think we’ll perhaps finish the interview there. GM: Ok. One thing I would say to you, on our training there was one part of our training that we did when we were posted to Driffield and we were taught how to escape. HB: Oh right. GM: We were arrested at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. We were searched. We were given dungarees. Only dungarees. We were given a meal, and at 8 o’clock at night when it was dark, we were taken out in a truck and we were dropped two at a time in the countryside. This was on the Thursday and we’d got to get back to camp on Friday on Saturday. Get back to camp and Sunday was the day we should have been back by. And we were in Yorkshire. In the Dales. And you had to get, you had to fend yourself. You’d got no money. You’d got nothing to eat. Get back to camp. Teach you how to escape. We got on the bus and said to the bus driver, ‘I’m ever so sorry. We’ve got no money. Can we have a lift?’ He said, ‘Of course you can, lads.’ He took us. He took us to Scarborough. Took us to Scarborough. We slept under the, slept under the, slept on the beach. It was warm. It was summer. HB: Yeah. GM: We slept on the beach. We went to a, we went to a café and said, ‘Have you got any scraps that you want to throw away because we’ve got, we’re in the Air Force and we’re, we’re trying to escape and they’ve given us no money. And have you got any — ’ ‘Of course, you can. Come in’ We had a meal. A proper meal. We did that twice. Did that twice, and we got back on the Saturday. So, we got back. We had a, got on the bus again. HB: You must have had some very caring bus drivers. GM: We went to the bus driver and said, ‘Look, I’m ever so sorry. We’re in the RAF and we’ve been told that we’ve got to, got to get back to camp without any money. Is there any chance you can let us on the bus?’ He said, ‘Course, you can.’ And he dropped us at the gate. HB: Oh no. GM: And that was our experience of learning how to escape. HB: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder how many buses there were in Germany and Belgium. Yeah. Yeah. GM: Oh, well, you couldn’t ask for a ticket [laughs] HB: No. GM: Yeah. The only, only German I knew at that time was, ‘Hände hoch.’ ‘Put your hands up.’ HB: Yeah. That would come in handy I suppose. Yeah. GM: That was the only German I knew. HB: Yeah. I tell you that’s lovely. A lovely bit to finish on that Gordon. GM: Yeah. HB: Thanks ever so much. I really do appreciate it. GM: Now, are we going to the pub? HB: Well, the tape’s still running. Do I have to admit I’m taking you to the pub? [laughs] GM: No. No. HB: On the tape [laughs] GM: We can close the interview if you like. HB: I’m closing the interview now. GM: Yeah. HB: It’s a quarter to twelve. GM: I wouldn’t mind — 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 Gordon Mercier Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Harry Bartlett Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-10-21 2021-11-23 Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 02:15:42 Audio Recording Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending review 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 AMercierCG211021 PMercierCG2101 PMercierCG2102 Description An account of the resource Cyril Mercier was born in Jersey in 1925. He joined the Home Guard in 1940 and the RAF in 1943. After initial training, and training on gunnery at RAF Bridgnorth he joined 14 Operational Training Unit at RAF Abingdon, where he crewed up. He trained on Halifax, eventually joining 51 Squadron at RAF Snaith. On his second operation to Amiens his aircraft was damaged and the bomb aimer was injured. The pilot made a Darkie call and landed the damaged aircraft at RAF Dunsfold. On their journey across London on the Underground dressed in their flying gear, the passengers had a collection for them of 100 cigarettes. He and his crew joined 171 Special Duties Squadron which operated Lancasters using Mandrel jamming equipment. His last operation was to Leipzig. Their aircraft was coned by searchlights and badly damaged. He was posted to RAF Hutton Cranswick as a controller’s assistant with 1 Spitfire Squadron. After being posted to RAF Llanbedr he was demobbed from the RAF. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943 1944-08-17 1945 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France Germany Great Britain England--Surrey England--Norfolk England--Yorkshire Germany--Leipzig 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 eng Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Julie Williams Maureen Clarke 100 Group 14 OTU 171 Squadron 51 Squadron 78 Squadron air gunner Air Gunnery School aircrew animal Anson anti-aircraft fire bombing civil defence crash crewing up demobilisation FIDO Halifax Home Guard Lancaster master bomber military discipline Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Operational Training Unit RAF Abingdon RAF Breighton RAF Bridgnorth RAF Bridlington RAF Dunsfold RAF North Creake RAF Riccall RAF Snaith RAF Stormy Down searchlight tactical support for Normandy troops take-off crash training Whitley https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1837/32695/PDammesJ1703.2.jpg 63e3f82009cb78b2dbf08d0bd377ca82 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1837/32695/PDammesJ1704.2.jpg 866aaed84e9a4155ded72b27b5bf3aa5 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 Dammes, Janet J Dammes 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 2017-04-24 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. 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 Dammes, J Description An account of the resource Seven items. The collection concerns Bill Dammes And Gladys Monks. It contains photographs. Bill Dammes served in the Home Guard and Gladys Monks served in the Land Army. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Janet Dammes 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 Bill Dammes Description An account of the resource Bill Dames in uniform. On the reverse 'Dad Bill Dammes During War 1939-45 Home Guard Normanton' Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PDammesJ1703, PDammesJ1704 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 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Yorkshire Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive civil defence Home Guard https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1815/32692/PCrawfordHF1704.2.jpg b85a46cb5853493b7b6fc4cc001cec7a https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1815/32692/PCrawfordHF1705.2.jpg fe06a7458f6587d2c737e7291b410ebe 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 Crawford, Jean Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-22 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 Crawford, HF Description An account of the resource 7 items. The collection concerns Jean Crawford (nee Taplin) and Hector Crawford and contains photographs and memoirs. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Jean Crawford 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 Home Guard Edgcott Description An account of the resource Ten men arranged in two rows. On the reverse 'Home Guard Edgcott U. Hall 1940's Tug of War Team'. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PCrawfordHF1704, PCrawfordHF1705 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 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Buckinghamshire England--Aylesbury 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 civil defence Home Guard sport https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1815/32691/PCrawfordHF1703.1.jpg 88febd201764e46932a64075ff125b73 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1815/32691/PCrawfordHF1708.1.jpg d933db98da8db2bbd2eac08eb34f96b1 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 Crawford, Jean Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-22 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 Crawford, HF Description An account of the resource 7 items. The collection concerns Jean Crawford (nee Taplin) and Hector Crawford and contains photographs and memoirs. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Jean Crawford and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document EDGCOTT HOME GUARD c. 1940 George Rawlings Dickie Holt Not known Albert Herring Ron Edmunds Alf Smith Walter Herring Johnnie Jones Eric Carter Ted Herring Harry King Don Hodges George Campbell Ted Baughan Les White Bunny Hill Bill Burgess Reg Herring Fred Herring Jess Hodges Percy Campbell W. Carter Bob Butler Cpl Seymour Cpl George Shaw MO Marley Walker 2nd Lt George Judge Capt Sydney Herbert Major Woolf Lt Lawrence Broome Sgt Maj Court Sgt Jack Macer Sgt Hickman Pvt Griffin 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 Edgcott Home Guard c 1940 Description An account of the resource A formal group of 34 men arranged in four rows. In the second image each man is named in a printed caption. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two b/w photographs Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PCrawfordHF1703, PCrawfordHF1708 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 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Buckinghamshire England--Aylesbury Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Tricia Marshall Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1940 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 civil defence home front Home Guard https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/722/31020/NBradfordS170703-02.2.jpg a041ac3ceb5d498539551da8156857b3 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 Bradford, Stanley S Bradford Description An account of the resource Nine items. An oral history interview with Stan Bradford DFM (1923 - 2017, 2216040 Royal Air Force) also includes his flying log book, service and release document, investiture ticket, newspaper cuttings and squadron photograph. He flew operations as a mid-upper gunner from RAF Scampton. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Stanley Bradford and Matt Ashamall and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-10-31 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Bradford, S Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [Photograph] Photograph taken at Astley, on Wednesday, when a presentation was made by Lieut. A. W. Hartley, Commander of No. 2 Platoon “D” Company Home Guard, to one of the platoon’s former members, F. Ser[missing letters] Stanley Bradford, High=st., Astley who recently won the D.F.M. 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 Award to Sergeant Stanley Bradford by home guard Description An account of the resource Nine home guard men and an RAF flight sergeant standing in line. A home guard lieutenant is making a presentation to Stanley Bradford in the middle. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One newspaper cutting with b/w photograph Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context NBradfordS170703-02 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Civilian Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource David Bloomfield Anne-Marie Watson Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive civil defence Distinguished Flying Medal Home Guard