1 25 18 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56082/PMarsdenJ25020021.jpg 682e4e01f4807f28cf0fad75e20f8453 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56082/PMarsdenJ25020020.jpg 6453d6a96f7d7bf54290575fc0645df0 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56082/PMarsdenJ25020022.jpg 4c4805ba89145ec1e5d65bc3c049ca1a 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 Marsden, Jack J Marsden Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-10-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Marsden, Jack Description An account of the resource 89 items. The collection concerns Jack Marsden (1591984 Royal Air Force) and contains documents, objects and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 166 Squadron and was shot down 3/4 May 1944. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Janet Marsden 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 "J-Jig", 550 Squadron damage to port wing Description An account of the resource Belly landed Lancaster showing damage sustained during an operation. On the reverse '30 Film 44' Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PMarsdenJ25020020, PMarsdenJ25020021, PMarsdenJ25020022 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Sussex 550 Squadron crash Lancaster RAF Ford https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56052/PMarsdenJ25020010.jpg acefdcc4b2f97bef415378ae415a076f https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56052/PMarsdenJ25020012.jpg ed0f1c93f76811ae5a74877dad512cb1 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56052/PMarsdenJ25020009.jpg 1a62f0f096d1e10865a317113f4ca300 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56052/PMarsdenJ25020011.jpg 1382351a6caf7a65d7caad52fa76b47f https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56052/PMarsdenJ25020013.jpg 3bb4201aa85a51803ec80e175bd5e4af 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 Marsden, Jack J Marsden Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-10-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Marsden, Jack Description An account of the resource 89 items. The collection concerns Jack Marsden (1591984 Royal Air Force) and contains documents, objects and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 166 Squadron and was shot down 3/4 May 1944. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Janet Marsden 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 "J-Jig" damage to port tailplane Description An account of the resource Two differently exposed images of the damaged port tailplane. On the reverses 'Film 48 2' and Film 30 24'. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two b/w photographs Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PMarsdenJ25020009, PMarsdenJ25020010, PMarsdenJ25020012, PMarsdenJ25020011, PMarsdenJ25020013 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Sussex 550 Squadron Lancaster RAF Ford https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56051/PMarsdenJ25020007.jpg 052ff34d899a2534f59656070fd6dd12 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56051/PMarsdenJ25020006.jpg ec2f3dc16c224131bc5aa7c2304fd3c5 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56051/PMarsdenJ25020008.jpg d0041083225178c063d75c50c07bbe5d 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 Marsden, Jack J Marsden Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-10-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Marsden, Jack Description An account of the resource 89 items. The collection concerns Jack Marsden (1591984 Royal Air Force) and contains documents, objects and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 166 Squadron and was shot down 3/4 May 1944. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Janet Marsden 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 "J-Jig" 550 Squadron crash landing Description An account of the resource J-Jig at RAF Ford after a successful wheels-up crash landing, 5th May 1944. On the reverse '29 Film43'. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-05-05 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PMarsdenJ25020006, PMarsdenJ25020007, PMarsdenJ25020008 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. 1944-05-05 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Sussex 550 Squadron crash Lancaster RAF Ford https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56050/PMarsdenJ25020004.jpg fd47ad9374e015b310679ec8868cce21 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56050/PMarsdenJ25020003.jpg 5643e1782c9d10dd021f93d67d3a5d46 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56050/PMarsdenJ25020005.jpg 3f119143b8f40645efbe597f9f070244 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 Marsden, Jack J Marsden Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-10-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Marsden, Jack Description An account of the resource 89 items. The collection concerns Jack Marsden (1591984 Royal Air Force) and contains documents, objects and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 166 Squadron and was shot down 3/4 May 1944. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Janet Marsden 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 "J-Jig" 550 Squadron - Damage to port wing Description An account of the resource A photograph of BQ-J Lancaster showing wing damage. On the reverse '10 Film45'. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PMarsdenJ25020003, PMarsdenJ25020004, PMarsdenJ25020005 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Sussex 550 Squadron crash Lancaster RAF Ford https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56049/PMarsdenJ25020001.jpg f16f5877469c888a78ed8636edfd350b https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1451/56049/PMarsdenJ25020002.jpg cffa42752571324ea6229812014a7ca2 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 Marsden, Jack J Marsden Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-10-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Marsden, Jack Description An account of the resource 89 items. The collection concerns Jack Marsden (1591984 Royal Air Force) and contains documents, objects and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 166 Squadron and was shot down 3/4 May 1944. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Janet Marsden 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 Envelope with details of photographs Description An account of the resource An envelope with a list of four names. On the reverse 'from M.R. Cook'. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One handwritten envelope Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context PMarsdenJ25020001, PMarsdenJ25020002 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive 50 Squadron 550 Squadron RAF Ford https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2924/55480/BMilsonGWMilsonGWv1.pdf 8f34f02a38b3e3793de663de1cf0bfc7 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 Milson, George William Description An account of the resource 203 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant George William Milson DFC (b. 1916, 937875 Royal Air Force) and contains correspondence, documents, and photographs]. He flew operations as a pilot with 18 and 84 Squadrons and became a prisoner of war of the Japanese. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Elizabeth Jane McElwee and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2024-01-19 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 Milson, GW 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 Milson's memoir Description An account of the resource George Milson joined the RAF in September 1939. After receiving his wings, he was posted to No. 18 Squadron, flying night operations to Dunkirk, Duisburg, Wilhelmshaven, and later carrying out low level shipping sweeps and “Circus” operations over northern France. George completed thirty operations before being posted to the Middle East, joining No. 84 Squadron at Mosul and later serving in the Western Desert. There he flew repeated daylight strikes on enemy troops and shipping during the advance across Libya and took part in formation work, desert flying and intensive operational activity as the squadron moved forward. In January 1942 he flew as part of a six aircraft ferry flight from Egypt to the Far East, travelling via Habbaniya, Bahrain, Sharja, Karachi, Calcutta, Rangoon and finally Sumatra. He carried out both day and night attacks on Japanese landing forces, fleet units and positions around Palembang and Java, often in difficult conditions with poor facilities and heavy losses. During the collapse of Java he escaped on foot from Kalidjati with a small mixed group before being captured near Tjilatjap. He spent more than three years as a prisoner of war, first in solitary confinement and then in camps at Tjilatjap, Bandoeng, Changi and Kranji, taking part in work parties and camp duties until liberation in 1945. After repatriation he returned to Britain and was demobilised later that year. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource George Milson Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Singapore Great Britain England--Torquay England--Paignton England--St. Leonards (East Sussex) England--Stoke-on-Trent England--Skegness England--Boston France France--Dunkerque Germany Germany--Duisburg Germany--Wilhelmshaven Netherlands Netherlands--Texel France France--Brest France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine) Germany--Norderney Malta Gibraltar Italy Italy--Pantelleria Island Egypt Egypt--Marsá Maṭrūḥ Egypt--Heliopolis (Extinct city) Egypt--Cairo Egypt--Ismailia (Province) Iraq Iraq--Mosul Iraq--Baghdad Egypt--Suez Israel Israel--Tel Aviv Israel--Haifa Iraq--Karkūk Iran Iraq--Baṣrah Israel--Tel Aviv Malaysia Malaysia--Butterworth (Pulau Pinang) Sudan Bahrain United Arab Emirates Pakistan Pakistan--Karachi India India--Mumbai India--Hyderabad Burma Burma--Akyab (District) Burma--Toungoo Burma--Rangoon Indonesia Indonesia--Sumatra Indonesia--Palembang Indonesia--Medan Singapore Indonesia--Bandar Lampung Indonesia--Batavia Sri Lanka Sri Lanka--Colombo Indonesia--Bandoeng Indonesia--Tjilatjap England--Liverpool New Zealand England--Langham Europe--Frisian Islands North Africa India--Kolkata United Arab Emirates--Shāriqah England--Torquay Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Air Force. Fighter 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 41 printed sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BMilsonGWMilsonGWv1 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Maureen Clarke Claire Campbell Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending text-based transcription Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1939-09 1942-01 1942-02 1945 13 OTU 18 Squadron 2 Group 211 Squadron 84 Squadron air gunner aircrew Anson anti-aircraft fire B-17 Blenheim bomb aimer bombing Catalina Distinguished Flying Cross Distinguished Flying Medal ditching escaping Gneisenau Hampden Harvard Hudson Hurricane Initial Training Wing Magister Me 109 mess Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy navigator observer Operational Training Unit Oxford pilot prisoner of war RAF Abu Sueir RAF Bicester RAF Bodney RAF Boscombe Down RAF Cardington RAF Coningsby RAF Cosford RAF Cranfield RAF Farnborough RAF Ford RAF Great Massingham RAF Halton RAF Hendon RAF Hinton RAF Horsham St Faith RAF Little Rissington RAF Lydda RAF Oulton RAF Polebrook RAF Portreath RAF Skegness RAF Upwood RAF Watton RAF West Raynham Red Cross Scharnhorst sport training Wellington Whitley wireless operator wireless operator / air gunner https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2763/48860/SBondS-BromfieldJv10020.2.pdf 31957f789d33d43813d4ff88724160e2 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 Bromfield, Jack J Description An account of the resource Seventeen items. Concerns Warrant Officer Jack J Bromfield who flew operations as a Wireless operator / air gunner with 158 Squadron until shot down in January 1945 and made a prisoner of war. Includes his log book, transcription of interview, prisoner of war book, documents and photographs. The collection was licensed to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Dr Steve Bond and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. This collection was provided, in digital form, by a third-party organisation which used technical specifications and operational protocols that may differ from those used by the IBCC Digital Archive. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-01-18 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 SBondS-BromfieldJv1 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 Transcript of conversations with Jack Bromfield Description An account of the resource Jack talks in detail about joining the RAF, initial induction and training as a wireless operator and air gunner. He crewed up with an otherwise Canadian crew (pilot, navigator, bomb aimer and air gunners) at OTU and describes some of them, as well as relating training and other activities and experiences. He notes arrival of the flight engineer. Jack was eventually posted to 158 Squadron and recounts his first operations with the squadron. He goes on to describe in detail being shot down by a Ju88 flown by Hauptman Heinz Rökker, describes crew, him being wounded and baling out. He talks about the fate of others in the crew including the engineer who he though had not baled out. He goes on to describe evading, being captured and subsequent treatment, including journeys to Dulag Luft and prisoner of war camps. He describes life as prisoner of war and being liberated by the Russians, and talks about his return to Great Britain and subsequent activities and experiences. Jack describes his post war activities. His second discussion continues with thoughts on life as operational crewman with stories and anecdotes. Finally list crews and noted that Jack died on 13 September 2012. Ends with b/w photographs of his pilot Robby Robertson, air cadets marching, all 7 of his crew and one of 4 members of the crew. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource S Bond Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-06-02 2005-05-15 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-11-16 1945-01-05 1945-03 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--London England--Shropshire Scotland--Ross and Cromarty Scotland Scotland--Highlands Scotland--Inverness England--Herefordshire Northern Ireland England--Gloucestershire England--Yorkshire Germany Germany--Jülich Germany--Mannheim Germany--Cologne Germany--Koblenz Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf) Netherlands Netherlands--Twente England--Shropshire England--Wiltshire Germany--Ruhr (Region) England--Sussex Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Canadian Air Force 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 Twenty-five page printed document 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 SBondS-BromfieldJv10020 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 158 Squadron 1659 HCU 21 OTU 6 Group Advanced Flying Unit air gunner aircrew Anson anti-aircraft fire bale out Blenheim bomb aimer bombing Bombing and Gunnery School crewing up Dominie Dulag Luft evading flight engineer ground crew ground personnel Halifax Halifax Mk 2 Halifax Mk 3 Halifax Mk 5 Heavy Conversion Unit Initial Training Wing Ju 88 military living conditions military service conditions Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy navigator Operational Training Unit pilot Proctor RAF Bishops Court RAF Bridgnorth RAF Cosford RAF Dalton RAF Evanton RAF Ford RAF Lissett RAF Madley RAF Melksham RAF Moreton in the Marsh RAF Topcliffe RAF Yatesbury recruitment Red Cross shot down Stalag Luft 1 training Wellington wireless operator wireless operator / air gunner Women’s Auxiliary Air Force https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2763/48785/SBondS-BromfieldJv10019.1.pdf b692d583f6900235a6f766d44763f7f5 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 Bromfield, Jack J Description An account of the resource Seventeen items. Concerns Warrant Officer Jack J Bromfield who flew operations as a Wireless operator / air gunner with 158 Squadron until shot down in January 1945 and made a prisoner of war. Includes his log book, transcription of interview, prisoner of war book, documents and photographs. The collection was licensed to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Dr Steve Bond and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. This collection was provided, in digital form, by a third-party organisation which used technical specifications and operational protocols that may differ from those used by the IBCC Digital Archive. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-01-18 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 SBondS-BromfieldJv1 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 Lost over Hanover Description An account of the resource Concerns crew captained by Flying Officer A Robertson RCAF including Flight Sergeant Jack Bromfield as wireless operation. Lists crew. Gives account of their 12th operation to Hanover where their Halifax was attacked and shot down by a Ju 88 flown by Hauptmann Heinz Rökker. The crew all baled out, apart from one (George Dacey) after the pilot lost control. Gives account of Jack Bromfield's parachute descent and evading capture for eight days before capture. Covers the experiences of other crew members, including George Davey who they did not see bail out, and covered incarceration, hospital treatment and journeys to eventual PoW camps Stalag VIIA in the others in Stalag Luft 1. The latter were liberated by the Russians and the former by Americans. All returned to hometowns after demobilisation and The captain was subsequently killed flying a B-25 in the late 40s. Includes several b/w photographs of crew, the captain, Heinz Rökker, Luftwaffe pilots and elderly gentlemen. Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1945-01-05 1945-06 1944-11-16 1945-01-09 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany Germany--Hannover Germany--Frankfurt am Main Germany--Nuremberg Germany--Moosburg an der Isar Germany--Barth Great Britain England--Yorkshire England--West Sussex Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Canadian Air Force Wehrmacht Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe 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 Seven page printed document with b/w and colour photographs 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 SBondS-BromfieldJv10019 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 gunner aircrew B-17 bale out bomb aimer bombing Dulag Luft evading flight engineer Halifax Halifax Mk 3 Ju 88 navigator pilot prisoner of war RAF Ford RAF Lissett Schräge Musik shot down Stalag 7A Stalag Luft 1 wireless operator https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2686/47843/LKimberleyTHF1286586v1.1.pdf b4ed57aa93f606d69bb71e4a4ff58433 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 Kimberley, Thomas Henry Frank Kimberley, THF Description An account of the resource 17 items. The collection concerns Thomas Henry Frank Kimberley Collection (b. 1916, 105979 (Army), 1286586, 177918 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book documents and photographs. He flew operations as a cameraman and air gunner with 88, 101, 320, 467, 617, 463, and 9 Squadrons as well as the Bomber Command Operational Film Unit. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Paul Richard Kimberley and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-07-06 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 Kimberley, THF Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Thomas Kimberley's observer's and air gunner's flying log book Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Lynn Corrigan Terry Hancock Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LKImberleyTHF1286586v1 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943-07-12 1943-07-29 1943-07-30 1943-07-31 1943-08-12 1943-08-13 1943-08-14 1943-08-15 1943-08-30 1943-08-31 1943-09-03 1943-09-04 1943-09-09 1943-10-25 1943-11-23 1943-11-25 1944-01-21 1944-01-22 1944-03-25 1944-03-26 1944-03-27 1944-05-06 1944-05-07 1944-05-09 1944-05-10 1944-05-12 1944-05-13 1944-05-14 1944-05-15 1944-06-15 1944-06-16 1944-06-21 1944-06-22 1944-06-27 1944-06-28 1944-07-04 1944-07-05 1944-07-18 1944-07-19 1944-07-25 1944-07-31 1944-08-07 1944-08-08 1944-08-14 1944-08-15 1944-08-19 1944-09-11 1944-09-12 1944-09-15 1944-09-19 1944-09-20 1945-05-06 1945-05-08 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Belgium France Germany Germany--Ruhr (Region) Great Britain Italy Netherlands Norway Russia (Federation) Belgium--Brussels England--Buckinghamshire England--Hampshire England--Lincolnshire England--London England--Norfolk England--Nottinghamshire England--Sussex France--Audinghen France--Aunay-sur-Odon France--Brest France--Caen France--Châtellerault France--Creil France--Joigny France--La Pallice France--Limoges France--Lyon France--Paris France--Poitiers France--Quesnoy-sur-Deule France--Rouen France--Sablé-sur-Sarthe France--Vitry-le-François Germany--Berlin Germany--Essen Germany--Gelsenkirchen Germany--Hamburg Germany--Magdeburg Germany--Mönchengladbach Germany--Rheine Germany--Rheydt Germany--Wuppertal Italy--Milan Netherlands--Tilburg Wales--Carmarthenshire France--Secqueville-en-Bessin France--Quesnay France--Thiverny France--Châtellerault France--Laroche - Migennes Germany--Remscheid Russia (Federation)--Yagodnik France--Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer France--Pas-de-Calais France--Pas-de-Calais Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Australian Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Description An account of the resource Observer's and air gunner's flying log book for Thomas Kimberley covering the period 5 March 1943 to 25 September 1945. Details his training and operational duties. He flew 35 operations, 20 night time and 15 daylight, as cameraman / air gunner with 9, 88, 101, 320, 463, 467 and 617 Squadrons. He was stationed at RAF Pembrey (1 AGS), RAF Swanton Morley (88 and 180 Squadrons), RAF Ludford Magna (101 Squadron), RAF Hartford Bridge (88 Squadron), RAF Lasham (320 [Dutch] Squadron), RAF Waddington (463/467 RAAF Squadrons), RAF Bardney (9 Squadron), RAF Woodhall Spa (617 Squadron), RAF Fulbeck and Syerston (Bomber Command Film Flight Unit) and Soviet Air Force Yagodnik (617 Squadron). Aircraft flown in were Blenheim, Mitchell, Boston, Lancaster, Oxford, Anson and Mosquito. Targets, in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Norway were the power station at Le Grand-Quevilly, Hamburg, Remscheid, Milan, Mönchengladbach, Rheydt, Berlin, Pas de Calais as part of Operation Starkey, Brest, Audinghen, Magdeburg, Limoges, aircraft factory Lyon, Essen, Sablé-sur-Sarthe, Paris, Poitiers, troop concentrations at Aunay-Sur-Odon, ammunition dump at Châtellerault, Gelsenkirchen, marshalling yard Vitry-le-François, bomb storage depot Creil, Caen, bomb storage depot Thiverny, St. Cyr, marshalling yard Loigny, Laroche, German troop concentration at Secqueville-en-Bessin, Quesnay, night fighter airfield at Gilze-Rijen and an oil storage plant at La Pallice. Tommie also took part in Operation Exodus to Brussels and Rheine, U-boat convoy escort, Operation Starkey, and Tirpitz via Yagodnik airfield. Pilots on operations were Flight Officer Riseley, Flight Lieutenant Hull, Flight Lieutenant Mackay, Flight Sergeant Fawcett. Flight Lieutenant Pushman, Sergeant Laamens, Lieutenant Commander Breedveld, Second Lieutenant Manschot, Flight Officer Durston, Wing Commander Cheshire DSO, DFC, Flight Lieutenant Marshall, Wing Commander Tait DSO, DFC, Wing Commander Petty, Wing Commander Kingsford-Smith DSO, DFC, Flight Lieutenant Schultz, Flight Lieutenant Merrill DFC, Flight Lieutenant Buckham, Flying Officer Anthony Bowen Loftus Tottenham (418209), Flight Lieutenant Skelton DFC. This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available. Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 101 Squadron 180 Squadron 320 Squadron 463 Squadron 467 Squadron 617 Squadron 88 Squadron 9 Squadron air gunner Air Gunnery School aircrew Anson B-25 Berlin Campaign (23 August 1943 – 25 March 1944) Blenheim bombing bombing of Hamburg (24-31 July 1943) bombing of Luftwaffe night-fighter airfields (15 August 1944) bombing of the Creil/St Leu d’Esserent V-1 storage areas (4/5 July 1944) Boston Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard (1917-1992) Hudson Lancaster Mosquito Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Operation Exodus (1945) Oxford propaganda RAF Ballykelly RAF Bardney RAF Farnborough RAF Ford RAF Foulsham RAF Fulbeck RAF Hartford Bridge RAF Lasham RAF Ludford Magna RAF Northolt RAF Pembrey RAF Swanton Morley RAF Syerston RAF Waddington RAF Woodhall Spa tactical support for Normandy troops Tirpitz training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2664/47073/SBattleJ2004710v10033.2.jpg c094b2628d3133f62983a0ea6e39a78e 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 Battle, Jane Battle, J Battle, Jenny Gordon, Jane Description An account of the resource 55 items. The collection concerns Leading Aircraftswoman Jane "Jenny" Battle nee Gordon (b. 1921, 2004710 Royal Air Force) and contains a notebook, documents and photographs. She served as a clerk and watchkeeper. The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Michael Baxter and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-02-12 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 Battle, J 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 Operations Board 7.7.44 Description An account of the resource An operations board detailing aircraft, pilot and timings for a raid on Caen, 7.7.44. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944-07-07 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France France--Caen Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Photograph Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One b/w photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SBattleJ2004710v10033 Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-07-07 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive bombing Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) operations room RAF Ford RAF Kelstern tactical support for Normandy troops https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/2200/40143/EDarbyCAHWellandJ450516.1.pdf a541f630fe0d1cb2a29b4536074accb8 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] Miss J. Welland 7. Queens Drive Surbiton Surrey [inserted] 16.5.45 [/inserted] [page break] F/o. C. Darby, 154676 R.A.F. Station Stradishall Nr Newmarket Suffolk. Tuesday My dearest Jean, Thanks so much for your letter received yesterday after I had returned from Juvincourt with P.O.W's. On the journey out we crossed over the North Foreland and I noticed our pillbox was still there although it looked rather lonely. [page break] 2/ in the morning sun, they have moved all the iron tank traps from the beach at Broadstairs and there seemed a few people on the front, did'nt see Aunt Lill or Uncle George althought [sic] could see their house, we came back over Eastbourne then along past Brighton and Worthing to Ford near Littlehampton, there we dropped our passengers and got back to Base at 7 o/c. makes quite a long day. [page break] 3/ Glad to hear the building effort is going O.K, if you have'nt ordered the paint I believe Dad knows a firm that sells quite good enamel, still if you are getting it cheap I would carry on, as regards the colour, well I'll leave it to you. By the way, my holiday has been put forward to 2nd June, it will be 9 days this time, we are having a VE 48 thrown in, this should give me two weekends. [page break] 4/ Enclosed are two snaps Jack has taken with his camera, he found an old film at home. we are negotiating [sic] with the camera section for some films but don't think we will have any joy. I can get some more towels if you need them perhaps you will mention in your next letter, hope the list was O.K. Well, dearest, this is all for now, only another fortnight and I'll be seeing you, remember me to Mother & Dad. All my love darling, 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 has been collecting POWs from Juvaincourt. He has been flying low over south England and describes changes to spots they have visited. He is expecting to get nine days leave. 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 1945-05-16 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. France--Mirecourt Great Britain England--Broadstairs England--Brighton England--Worthing England--Littlehampton England--Eastbourne (East Sussex) England--Suffolk France Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Correspondence Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two double sided handwritten sheets and envelope Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EDarbyCAHWellandJ450516 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1945-05 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Sue Smith aircrew Operation Exodus (1945) prisoner of war RAF Ford RAF Stradishall https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1953/36946/MHitchcockJS740899-170926-33.2.jpg b311e5e5f185a4c0b4a15d51694f3698 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 Hitchcock, John Samuel J S Hitchcock Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-09-26 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 Hitchcock, JS Description An account of the resource 87 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant John Samuel Hitchcock (740899, 106813 Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, log books, uniform jacket, sunglasses, parachute logbook, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 37, 57 and 78 Squadrons. The collection also contains <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2142">an album</a> from his training in North Africa. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by P J Hitchcock and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [photograph] Wellington Bomber [photograph] Halifax Bomber Enclosed are extracts from "Guv's" two log books kept during his service with Bomber Command during WW2." The first group of extracts in 1941 is all we have from his Wellington Bomber days. There must have been an earlier log book but it has always been missing. He completed his first Operational Tour on 19th April 1941 and on 25th April the entries showed that he "ferried" a Wellington to Egypt – a perilous task. His brother, Uncle Con (also a Wellington Bomber pilot) had been killed in action over Kiel on 8th/9th April 1941. In Egypt Guv was on Communications and there are entries showing that he flew General Wavell twice (he was Commander in Chief Middle East) and on 26th June 1941, he crashed whist [sic] flying a Lysander. He also told us that he had transported King Farouk of Egypt on more than one occasion. The second group of extracts in 1942/3 relate to his second tour of Operations following his return from Egypt, flying Halifax Bombers from Linton on Ouse, Yorkshire, with 78 Squadron. His first Operation was on 25th November 1942 and his last on 8th March 1943. Of particular interest is the entry for 17th December 1942 when he landed at Elsham Wold, probably due to a shortage of fuel or some other problem. On 14th January 1943 he landed at Ford on the South Coast, probably for similar reasons following a raid on L'Orient. On 7th February 1943 he records that the "port outer engine was u/s," again during a raid on L'Orient where U boat pens were the target. The remaining subsequent entries in that log book recorded his activities training or himself acting as Instructor. The back page shows his postings and the aircraft he had flown. 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 John S Hitchcock DFC AFC Description An account of the resource A brief extract of John's service life. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Egypt Germany--Kiel France--Lorient Germany England--Lincolnshire England--Sussex France North Africa Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One printed sheet Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MHitchcockJS740899-170926-33 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1941-04-25 1941-06-26 1942-12-17 1943-01-14 1943-02-07 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Sue Smith 78 Squadron aircrew Distinguished Flying Cross Halifax killed in action Lysander RAF Elsham Wolds RAF Ford RAF Linton on Ouse Wellington https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/837/34465/BMarshCGoldbyJLv10001.2.jpg f146f8cca2766075acad1b451a03bbf1 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/837/34465/BMarshCGoldbyJLv10002.2.jpg 6d8cac2dc2c8a7dd95d26aaa8c02fba7 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/837/34465/BMarshCGoldbyJLv10003.2.jpg cd7f176ae1972d3e966f2ffc1dab672a 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 Goldby, John Louis J L Goldby Description An account of the resource An oral history interview with John Goldby (1922 - 2020, 1387511, 139407 Royal Air Force). He was shot down and became a prisoner of war in December 1944. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by John Goldby and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-10-25 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Goldby, JL Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document JOHN LOUIS GOLDBY SERVICE NO. 1387511 and 139407 Version dated 21 July 2020 [inserted] Corrected August 2020 [/inserted] John joined up on 31 May 1941 at Babbacombe in Devon. He completed ground training at the Initial Training Wing at RAF Kenley. He then went to Air Observer School at Jurby in the Isle of Man from October 1941 – May 1942. For some of his fellow volunteers it was the first time they had been in an aircraft. He completed navigation and gunnery training on Blenheim aircraft and bomb aimer training on Hampdens whilst at Jurby, using air-to-air towed targets. He gained 3 stripes as a Sergeant Observer. He then went to Stanton Harcourt (near Abingdon) to 10 Operational Training Unit in June 1942. He became part of a crew under pilot Captain Watson RE, seconded onto Whitley aircraft in the role bomb aimer. Captain Watson was a 2nd pilot on the first 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne on 30 May 1942. The second 1,000 bomber raid targeted Essen and John flew on the third 1,000 bomber raid in a Whitley bomber to Bremen on 25 June 1942. This was a 5-hour round trip. Bomber Command then extended the number of crew needed on 4 engined aircraft from 5 to 7 crew members, adding a bomb aimer and flight engineer. No. 10 Operational Training Unit Detachment at St Eval was led by Wing Commander Pickard who was portrayed in the film 'F for Freddie' which detailed the raid on Amiens prison, in which Wg. Cmdr. Pickard was killed. Twin-engined Whitley aircraft of Bomber Command were being used on anti-submarine duties because of the U-boat threat. The unit was based at St Eval in Cornwall using black-painted Whitleys (Coastal Command aircraft were painted white). Flights involved a 10-hour flight dropping depth charges over the Bay of Biscay. It was a deafening experience as the crew had no hearing protection. The unit completed 6-8 operations. John then moved in September 1942 to Marston Moor (Yorkshire) and completed a conversion course on to 4 engined aircraft – the Halifax 2. These were notoriously difficult to handle, with original tail fins and Rolls Royce engines. John took part in a number of mine-laying operations off Heligoland, which counted as a 1/2 operation. These were called 'gardening' trips – planting mines at low level. On 11 December 1943 John was a crew member in a Halifax 2 aircraft of No. 78 Squadron which took off from Linton-on-Ouse with a heavy load of fuel on board, bound for Turin. An engine caught fire on take-off and the aircraft had to ditch in Filey Bay. The crew were rescued by local fishermen. By February 1943 he had completed 8 operations which was very stressful. He received news of his commission and went to London to get his uniform, but he developed a very bad throat infection and ended up in an Army hospital in York with an abscess on the carotid artery, and then had his tonsils removed. He spent his 21st. birthday in June 1943 in hospital at RAF Northallerton. His commissioned service number was 139407. His mother came up from Sidcup for the commissioning ceremony – a very difficult journey in wartime. John was posted as a Bombing Instructor to Moreton-in-March (Gloucester) from winter 1943 until late Spring 1944 (???) on Wellington aircraft. He then moved back to Bomber Command Operations and completed a Bombing Leader course at the Armaments School at RAF Manby in January 1944 at the beginning of July 1944 at RAF Riccal (York). He was posted to No. 640 Squadron at RAF Leconfield In Yorkshire on Halifax 3 aircraft as a bomb aimer with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. In his position as a Bomb Aimer leader, John was supposed to complete only 2 operations per month, but if a crew lacked a bomb aimer then John would go on the operation to complete the crew. For his actions when his aircraft was damaged during a raid over Germany in September 1944 John was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (although he did not receive the actual decoration until June 1945 (see separate piece). [page break] On 6 December 1944 John's aircraft – a Halifax III with radial engines – was hit whilst returning from a bombing raid over Osnabruck in Germany. John thinks his aircraft collided with a German night fighter. He was fortunate to escape from the falling aircraft – he still does not know how he got out of the fuselage), and landed by parachute in a field full of water. He sustained various injuries, and recovered in a hospital run by nuns at Neemkirchen in northern Germany until 20th January 1945. He was then sent to the interrogation centre at Dulagluft at Frankfurt-an-der-Oder near Barth near Stettin in Pomerania. The camp had an airfield alongside it. The camp was divided into 2 parts – an American section for USAF personnel and a British RAF Group Captain commanded the British prisoners. You were placed into the appropriate section according to which air force you had flown with. The camp was liberated by Russian forces on May 1st. 1945. Shortly afterwards members of the American Army appeared and took over the camp. 2 Group Captains from the camp managed to get through to the Allied lines at Lubeck and arranged for the camp prisoners (all RAF men?) to be flown back to the UK on B17 Flying Fortresses, 25 men to each aircraft on 13 May 1945. John's aircraft landed at Ford, and he then caught a train to (RAF) Cosford. He underwent a rehabilitation course in Air Traffic Control at RAF Henlow. He was demobbed in late 1946. POST-WAR CAREER John re-joined the RAF in 1949, and completed a 9 month Navigator and Bombing refresher course at No. 1 Air Navigation School at Topcliffe and RAF Middleton-St-George respectively between 1 June and 15 August 1949 on Anson and Wellington aircraft. This was followed by training at No. 201 Advanced Flying School at RAF Swinderby, flying Wellingtons with pilot Wing Commander Oxley, between 29 September and 30 November. Wing Commander Oxley (known as Beetle), was quite dangerous as he did not like to use his instruments. On one operation John's aircraft was diverted to Anglesey and Beetle overshot the runway. John then posted to No 236 Operational Conversion Unit at RAF Kinloss in Scotland, flying Lancaster aircraft, until 5 April 1950. It was a very cold experience as they lived in unheated tin (Nissen) huts. John then was posted to 38 Squadron at RAF Luqa, Malta, flying Lancasters on Maritime Reconnaissance Operations, including exercises with various Navies and Air Sea Rescue duties), until 19 July 1952. During this period he was seconded to RAF Masirah located on the island of Masirah in the Indian Ocean as Commanding Officer of the staging post between Aden and India. There were frequent visitors, to the RAF base, especially the top people from the Defence College. Back in Malta, on 12th May 1952 John flew with 6 Lancaster aircraft from No. 38 Squadron which set of [sic] on a goodwill visit to Ceylon (Sri Lanka.) They flew via Luqa (Malta), Habbaniya (Iraq), Mauripur (India) to Negombo. They returned leaving Negombo on 31st May via Mauripur, Aden and Khartoum (Sudan) reaching Luqa on 4 June 1952. On leaving Malta in September 1952 John was posted to No. 1 Maritime Reconnaissance School at St Mawgan in Cornwall as a Navigational Instructor, flying Lancasters until the end of September 1954. During this period John had two breaks, one being in the procession at the Queen's Coronation in 1953, and the second at the Queen's Review at RAF Odiham. In October 1954 until September 1956 John was posted to HQ 64 Group Home Command, at Rufforth in Yorkshire, as PA to the Air Officer Commanding (this was a non-flying role, apart from accompanying the Air Commodore on internal visits). [page break] From September 1956 until 23 January 1957 John attended Bomber Command Bombing School at RAF Lindholme, Yorkshire, for navigation training for the V-Bomber Force. In summer of that year he was posted instead to the Air Ministry, London Intelligence Branch. During his term at the Air Ministry he had a spell of 2 weeks at St Mawgan, flying as Navigator on Shackleton aircraft with the Air Sea Warfare Development Unit. This was to qualify him to receive flying pay. From October 1960 until May 1962 he served as Assistant Air Attache at the British Embassy in Paris. John was promoted to the rank of Wing Commander and liaised with the French Air Force for participation in air shows. John retired from the RAF in May 1962, as there was only a 1 in 4 chance that he would be posted to a flying role, and by then he had 2 small children at home. In September 1962 he joined Shell-Mex and BP Ltd, soon to become separate companies. He stayed with Shell until his retirement in June 1982. 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 John Louis Goldby Biography Description An account of the resource A biography covering John's training and service in the RAF. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-07-21 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Great Britain England--Devon Germany--Cologne Germany--Essen Germany--Bremen Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay Germany--Helgoland Italy--Turin England--Filey England--Northallerton Germany--Osnabrück Germany--Barth Malta Oman--Masirah Island India Yemen (Republic)--Aden Sri Lanka Iraq--Ḥabbānīyah Pakistan--Karachi Sri Lanka--Negombo Sudan--Khartoum Germany--Lübeck Italy Sudan North Africa Germany Iraq Pakistan Yemen (Republic) Oman Germany--Ruhr (Region) England--Kent England--Lancashire England--Yorkshire 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 Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Air Force. Coastal Command Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Personal research Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Three printed sheets Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BMarshCGoldbyJLv10001, BMarshCGoldbyJLv10002, BMarshCGoldbyJLv10003 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Sue Smith 10 OTU 38 Squadron 78 Squadron air gunner aircrew Anson B-17 bale out Blenheim bomb aimer bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942) Distinguished Flying Cross Dulag Luft Halifax Halifax Mk 2 Halifax Mk 3 Hampden Lancaster mine laying navigator Nissen hut Operational Training Unit prisoner of war RAF Cosford RAF Ford RAF Henlow RAF Jurby RAF Kenley RAF Kinloss RAF Leconfield RAF Lindholme RAF Linton on Ouse RAF Manby RAF Marston Moor RAF Middleton St George RAF Moreton in the Marsh RAF Odiham RAF Riccall RAF Rufforth RAF St Eval RAF St Mawgan RAF Stanton Harcourt RAF Swinderby RAF Topcliffe Shackleton Stalag Luft 1 training Wellington Whitley https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/837/34464/BGoldbyJLGoldbyJLv1.2.pdf a2af61ec805d86ca71c6b1c21464bd57 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 Goldby, John Louis J L Goldby Description An account of the resource An oral history interview with John Goldby (1922 - 2020, 1387511, 139407 Royal Air Force). He was shot down and became a prisoner of war in December 1944. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by John Goldby and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-10-25 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Goldby, JL Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document JOHN GOLDBY THE LAST DAYS IN STALAGLUFT 1 30 APRIL – 13 MAY 1945 Monday 30th April 1945 All to-day the Jerries have been demolishing detector installations and equipment in the Flak School. By this evening most of the items have left the Camp and it looks as though we shall be left here in the care of the S.A.O. Many heavy explosives in the Flak School and on the aerodrome beyond. There was no count on parade tonight – but the Jerry Major appeared to be tight. At 9pm the W/O told us that from 8am tomorrow we should no longer be P.O.W.s as the Kommandant was officially handing over. We had an extra biscuit, butter and marmalade to celebrate. Tuesday 1st May 1945 Today the guard posts are occupied by Americans wearing M.P. armbands, instead of the usual old goons. A white flag flies over the camp. The rumours are flying thick and fast, and everyone is wondering when we shall get away. The Russians are supposed to be pretty close, the latest is that they are 2 kms. south of Barth. The Burgomeister of Barth is said to have shot himself. At 1pm. we heard the BBC news and now at 14.20 hours we are listening to Variety Bandbox. Tonight at 22.15 approximately a Russian lieutenant and either a civilian or Russian soldier arrived in Camp. Cheers echoed throughout the compound. We have been waiting for this for some time! Good old Joe! The main Russian body captured Stralsund today. Hear the 9 pm. BBC news. Public house times to be extended on VE Day – good show, I hope we’re home for it! At 22.30 it was announced that Hitler is dead – I hope it was one of Berlin’s sewers. Perhaps the B……ds will capitulate now. Light on until midnight by order of Colonel Zenke. Special cup of hot milk at 23.15 to celebrate Joe’s arrival. More Russians expected tomorrow. Water shortage. Wednesday 2nd May 1945 The Russians said we were to march out and we packed in preparation to leave at 6 pm.. One Red Cross parcel issued to each man for the journey. We ate several meals in quick succession to get rid of c…… stocks and shared out as much as we had left. Then we were told to be ready to march in the morning, and a little later we heard that the march was not definite. Most of us left camp in the evening to have a look round – some even got into Barth. Rumours of flying out – ‘Hope it’s true!’. British and Russians are supposed to have linked up in the north. Chaos reigned all day. Poor water situation. [page break] - Page 2 - Thursday 3rd May 1945 German armies in Italy and Austria surrendered to Alexander. Monty’s boys in Lubeck. Russians in Rostock. Both captured. Berlin fallen. Hamburg declared an open city. Have been told that the airfield is being cleared of mines so that we may be flown out. Hope it’s true and that the kites arrive pretty quickly. Heard earlier today that we were in contact with London, Washington and Moscow to see what they intended us to do. Ate colossal (comparatively speaking) amounts all day. On K.P. – a hell of a job today. Water situation better. From midnight to-night we use Russian time! An hour in advance of our present time. Friday 4th May 1945 Airfield expected to be clear by 2.00. All Germans in North-West Germany, Holland, Denmark, Heligoland and …….. were ordered by Admiral Donitz to surrender unconditionally. This is to take effect from 08.00 hours tomorrow, Saturday May 5th. 1945. Saturday 5th May 1945 A Russian general inspected our barracks in the morning. In the afternoon Marshal Rokotovsky came to report with Colonel Zenke. Very tough-looking bunch. One of the generals made a speech to some of us – in Russian. An American colonel arrived by jeep from our lines to make final arrangements for our evacuation. Wish they’d get a move on. Listened to radio recording of the signing of the unconditional surrender by the German staff. The commentary was by Monty. Sunday 6th May 1945 Still waiting. The Colonel reported his former broadcasts saying that things were being done for our evacuation. Johnnie evacuated himself. Monday 7th May 1945 A Lt. Colonel of the 6th Airborne Division came from Weismar today to reassure us – and we needed reassuring too – that we could expect to be flown out within the next few days. He could not state which day it would be but it would definitely be only a matter of a few days. Question: How long – or short – it is a few days? Apparently we shall be flown direct to England. Good deal! Other P.O.W.s are still being flown back by Lancs. Have just heard that …. are passed ‘thro Reception Centres on 48 hours. Daks and Commandos are being used – 25 in a Dak and 40 in a Commando. Most P.O.W.s have to be helped into an aircraft – they’ll get a shock here. We shall run like stink when the kites come. Heard that tomorrow is VE Day and the following day a holiday. I am bloody annoyed that we are going to miss he [sic] celebrations and so is everyone else. [page break] - Page 3 - Sunday 6th May 1945 (continued) Saw a Russian concert this afternoon and it was damn good. No-one – or very few – understood a word, but what the hell !!! Monday 7th May 1945 (continued) At the moment 21.50 Russian time a bod (I think it’s Alfredo Campoli) is playing a composition on the violin which I heard at one of the St John’s Socials. It may be called “The Canary” – I’m not sure. The chap who played it at the Social was Mr Butwick I think – will check up in a few days time when I get home. It has just been announced that the BBC have broadcast a message to the effect that Stalag Luft 1, Barth, Pomerania has been liberated and that next of kin are informed. Goebbels, his wife and daughters took poison apparently. War ends after 5 years and 8 months. Unconditional surrender made at 2.41 am. French time today to FM Montgomery. Location – Rheims. Tuesday 8th My [sic] 1945 Have just heard the Prime Minister’s speech declaring that the European war is at an end. The cease-fire officially takes place at 00.01 tomorrow Wednesday May 9th, but fighting – except for some resistance in Czechoslovakia – ceased on Thursday morning. It is VE Day and this morning I spent some time sun-bathing on the peninsula north of the camp. I hope soon to be doing the same thing in England very soon. Listened to the King’s speech and I guess the family were listening too. Do they know where I am I wonder and did they hear the announcement on the radio at 22.00 last night to the effect that we had been liberated by the Red Army? Lancs. landed in Germany for the first time and flew back with 4,500 P.O.W.s. Come on boys – let’s get out of here? Wednesday 9th May 1945 Sun bathing again today. Allied parade this morning. A Russian officer made a speech to us – same old story. Be patient for a few more days. Plenty of rumours floating around. Was the ……. message re Russian transport to Weismar gen? I doubt it……took out P.O.W.s from the Lubeck area. At 08:00 hours on BBC radio – ‘All men at Stalag I. Both near Stralsund, Pomerania, Germany are to remain in the camp and not make for the allied lines’. [page break] - Page 4 - Thursday 10th May 1945 On KP again today. 10,000 more P.O.W.s flown out by 500 BC aircraft – and we’re still here. Col. Zenke made an appalling speech again tonight. He is going to get us all souvenirs etc. !! The rumour is that all British personnel are going to be taken by transport ro [sic] Weismar and flown home from there. Also that we should have been there (Weismar) yesterday. C/O Weir is supposed to have gone there today to try and get us out. He may have split with Col. Z. I hope so as Z hasn’t a bloody clue. Listened to ITMA 21.30 – 22.00. Last time I heard it was on Wednesday 6th. December 1944 from 14.30 – 15.00. I was changing in my room for the op. and could hear it on someone else’s radio. Friday 11th May 1945 Sun bathed again today. There is a meeting of the wheels to-night. Final arrangements for our evacuation are said to be the subject for discussion. C/O Weir seems to have been arranging with the Russian Commander of this area, Col. Gen. Butow, for aircraft to land here to take us out. Col. Zenke has just announced that aircraft are expected here tomorrow or on Sunday. Russian passports are being signed up in preparation. It really looks as if we are going soon. S/L Evans had us fill in forms of interrogation which he signed. This gives us a clearance chit to be presented on arrival in England which should hasten our departure from the receiving centre. A Cabinet order says that all P.O.W.s are to be with their families within 24 hours of arriving in England. Length of leave is uncertain. Some reports say 56 days, some 42 days and others a month. Nearly 80,000 P.O.W.s have been returned to England so far. There can’t be many more! Eisenhower has just repeated his ‘Stay put’ message. Saturday 12th May 1945 G/C Green on parade this morning said that evacuation was due to start this afternoon. Sick Quarters are first on the list, then come the British Personnel in the following order – Blocks 8, 9, 10, 11 etc. so we are in a good position. What’s the betting I click for a clearing job which will mean a delayed departure? At 2 pm. the first U.S. aircraft arrived at Barth aerodrome. Two Daks for hospital cases and the rest Fortresses. Joe here is in charge of mopping-up operations in the block so I shan’t get away until tomorrow. The rest of the boys in the room buzzed at 3 pm.! Six lads and I stayed from 3 pm. until 9 pm. clearing up – what a bloody awful job. Managed to get a shower at the end of it. Packed for the morning, nearly losing my fags as the Yanks still in the compound were on the prowl and almost swiped them. [page break] - Page 5 - Sunday 13th May Paraded at 6.30 am. And after a roll-call we marched out to the airfield. At 7.30 am. the first Forts arrived. We have spilt into groups of 25 and as each Fort came round the perimeter track we embarked. We were airborne at 8.30 am., and flew fairly low direct to England, having a look at Bremen and Hamburg on route. As we were using Russian time we had to put our watches back 1 hour to correspond with DBST. We landed at Ford in Sussex at 11.30 DBST. This completed the trip I set out on on the Dec. 6th last. It took too bloody long for my liking. I have recalled the following dream I had some time during my incarceration. Obviously it was prompted by my fear that my family did not know my fate. I returned home to reassure the family that I was safe, in reasonably shape, and in a German P.O.W. camp. Having told the family this I prepared to leave, much to their puzzlement – ‘Why,’ they asked, ‘ since you are now home do you propose to leave?’ ‘Because I am still a P.O.W. and my place is a German P.O.W. camp’ I replied. 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 The Last Days in Stalagluft 1 - John Goldby Description An account of the resource The long drawn out wait for John's return to the UK from the camp - 30 April - 13 May 1945 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource John Goldby Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany--Barth Germany--Stralsund Germany--Rostock Germany--Berlin Germany--Hamburg Germany--Wismar Germany--Bremen Germany--Lübeck Germany Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. 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 BGoldbyJLGoldbyJLv1 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1945-04 1945-05 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Georgie Donaldson Maureen Clarke B-17 C-47 entertainment Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945) Lancaster prisoner of war RAF Ford Red Cross Stalag Luft 1 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1732/30436/MBeislyJWT1593305-200929-010001.1.jpg 1c0303a02e84a0105ae624cb92fbc851 https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1732/30436/MBeislyJWT1593305-200929-010002.1.jpg 4faf834d74c1c59653e21e64a7fedc1d 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 Beisley, John John W T Beisley J W T Beisley Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-09-29 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 Beisley, JWT Description An account of the resource Three items. The collection concerns John Beisley (b. 1925, 1593305 Royal Air Force) who flew 30 operations as a flight engineer on Halifax and Lancaster with 433 Squadron. Collection contains a summary of his operations, official documentation and a memoir. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by GA Thompson and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Record of John Beisley's 30 operations Description An account of the resource Summary of bombing operations with 433 Squadron from 11 August 1944 to 26 March 1945, Flew as flight engineer on Halifax and then converted to Lancaster December / January 44/45. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Two page printed document Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MBeislyJWT1593305-200929-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Royal Canadian Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Germany France Atlantic Ocean--North Sea Atlantic Ocean--English Channel France--Le Havre Germany--Dortmund Germany--Wilhelmshaven Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Germany--Kiel France--Boulogne-sur-Mer France--Calais Germany--Duisburg Germany--Bochum Germany--Essen Germany--Homburg (Saarland) Germany--Cologne Germany--Jülich Germany--Münster in Westfalen Germany--Castrop-Rauxel Germany--Neuss Germany--Bonn Germany--Goch Germany--Dresden Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate) Germany--Chemnitz Germany--Dessau (Dessau) Germany--Elbe River Estuary Germany--Dithmarschen Region Germany--Bottrop Germany--Hannover Great Britain England--Sussex England--Norfolk England--Suffolk England--Cumbria England--Cambridgeshire Germany--Ruhr (Region) France--Pas-de-Calais Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1944-08-11 1944-09-12 1944-09-14 1944-09-15 1944-09-17 1944-09-20 1944-09-23 1944-09-25 1944-09-27 1944-09-28 1944-10-09 1944-10-23 1944-10-25 1944-10-28 1944-09-30 1944-10-31 1944-11-04 1944-11-05 1944-11-16 1944-11-18 1944-11-20 1944-11-21 1944-11-27 1944-11-28 1944-11-30 1945-02-04 1945-02-07 1945-02-13 1945-02-14 1945-02-21 1945-02-27 1945-03-02 1945-03-05 1945-03-06 1945-03-07 1945-03-08 1945-03-16 1945-03-21 1945-03-24 1945-03-25 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. 433 Squadron aircrew bombing bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945) flight engineer Halifax Lancaster mine laying RAF Ford RAF Foulsham RAF Waterbeach RAF Woodbridge https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1372/26594/LBiscoeAE129587v2.pdf 423bcc555984d5168dfc77b24232e0dc 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 Biscoe, A E Biscoe, Arthur Ernest Description An account of the resource 126 items. The collection concerns Arthur Ernest Biscoe (b.1922, 129587 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, letters, photographs, and two albums. <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1373">Album One</a> <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1374">Album Two</a> He flew operations as a pilot with 605 Squadron The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David J Biscoe and catalogued by Barry Hunter. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2019-10-26 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 Biscoe, AE 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/. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Canada France Germany Great Britain Alberta--Red Deer Region Alberta--Fort Macleod England--Oxfordshire Germany--Aachen Region Germany--Borken (North Rhine-Westphalia) Germany--Papenburg Germany--Steinfurt (North Rhine-Westphalia) Nova Scotia--Debert Ontario--Quinte West Saskatchewan--Estevan England--Sussex Ontario Saskatchewan Alberta Nova Scotia Title A name given to the resource A E Biscoe’s Pilots flying log book. Two Description An account of the resource Pilots flying log book two for A E Biscoe, covering the period from 3 August 1942 to 28 February 1945. Detailing his flying training, Instructor duties and operations flown. He was stationed at RCAF Estevan, RCAF Trenton, RCAF Penhold, RCAF Pearce, RCAF Debert, RAF Harwell and RAF Ford. Aircraft flow were, Anson, Menasco Moth, Cornell, Cessna, Fleet, Harvard, Oxford, Crane, Liberator and Mosquito. He flew five night and one daylight operations with 605 squadron. Targets were Borken, Dülmen, Papenburg, Hormagan, Burgsteinfurt and Zandon. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Great Britain. Royal Air Force Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike Connock Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource One booklet Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Log book and record book Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LBiscoeAE129587v2 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1942 1943 1944 1945 1945-02-10 1945-02-15 1945-02-20 1945-02-22 1945-02-26 1945-02-27 1945-02-28 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Review Oct 2024 13 OTU aircrew Anson B-24 Cornell Flying Training School Harvard Initial Training Wing Mosquito Operational Training Unit Oxford pilot RAF Ford RAF Harwell RCAF Estevan training https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/1041/11414/AMunroKW160522.mp3 b281050359604d4fa350d7a3b662ec59 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 Munro, Kenneth William K W Munro Description An account of the resource Eight items. An oral history interview with Kenneth Munro (Royal Air Force) and seven photographs. He flew operations as a night fighter navigator with 456 Squadron flying Mosquitos. The collection was catalogued by Barry Hunter IBCC Digital Archive staff. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-05-23 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Munro, KW Transcribed audio recording A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document KM: I was not in Bomber Command. You know that of course. AP: Well, you were, you were Mosquitoes. KM: Yeah. Yeah. AP: That’s close enough. KM: Night fighters, is it? As Bob, he wasn’t, wasn’t the CO. He was next door to him. And the fellow Baz Howard, he came from Queensland and he, we were down at Bradwell Bay. Down Essex. Down there, and he said one day, we were all sitting down in the mess down there [coughs] and he said, I’m going up to see a friend up in Yorkshire.’ And Peter said, ‘Well, I’ll go with you in a Mosquito,’ and he said, ‘No. I’ll do it on my own.’ And he went up there and saw his mate and came back and he got just about back to Bradwell Bay and one of the motors conked out. And so just coming in and just landing it because they were putting all the things that went into the North Sea and taking them home and putting them in there and he, he went down and he said he couldn’t get in in a tight turn because one motor was gone. So he went around again and about just as he got over the, what’s it called, the Black Sea I think it is, and all of a sudden the other one went as well and he just sailed along. We could see him. He hit the water bumped his head on his forehead here and sank in about five feet of water. And we tried to get out because there was probably about sixty of us, probably a hundred guys from the [unclear] walk out to find him. But it was quite a big current was going like that and we couldn’t get out ourselves. Even if we turned the clocks off and walked and went out there but so he drowned in a Mosquito and just sank there. So it was a great shame but he was a very nice fellow too. But it just shows you. If you didn’t have to do the right thing and you didn’t get in the first landing, went around again. He should have just put it down. AP: Regardless. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. I’ll ask you about accidents and things later on I think. So, we may as well if you’re, we may as well kick off the proper interview. KM: Yeah. AP: And it’s recording now. I can see it jumping away there. So what I normally do I start with a little, a little spiel at the beginning. Just to sort of set the time and place. KM: Yeah. AP: And then I dive in. Ask a couple of questions. We’ll just have a chat. KM: Yeah. AP: For an hour, two hours. However long it takes. KM: Yeah. AP: Until you run out of stories. KM: Yeah. AP: Or one or the other of us begs for mercy. Right. So this interview for the International Bomber Command Centre is with Ken Munro who was a 456 Squadron Mosquito navigator during the Second World War. The interview is taking place at Ken’s place in Doncaster in Melbourne. KM: Yeah. Applewood it’s called. AP: Applewood it is called. KM: Yeah. Yeah. AP: That’s right. It is the 22nd of April err I’ll try again it’s the 22nd of May. KM: Yeah. AP: 2016. My name’s Adam Purcell. So Don, you’re not Don. You’re Ken. Sorry. KM: Yeah. AP: Ken, tell me something of your early life and what you were doing before the war. KM: I got a job in nineteen, on the 24th of January 1938 in a chartered accountant’s called Wright and Roberts. Mr Wright died and it became MG Roberts. A well-known chartered accountant. And I stayed there until I got half way through the exams. Sort of half of the heart of it done and I was going to join the air force then. And he, Mr Roberts said why don’t you do your intermediate exam and then go? So I said ok. And by that time they didn’t want any more in the air force at that stage up in Russell Street and so I joined the Victorian Scottish. You know, you’ve probably seen my photograph over there. But I’ll show it to you later on but — so I was down there. Mount Martha was a beautiful spot down there in summertime. And after a while when the Yanks came in we had to go down to Back Beach at Ryde Down there. So we packed up. Went down there and we were there until about February I think it was. And then the word came around we were going to Fremantle and join the general who got out of Malaya. You know, when the Japs came. He got back to Australia. They didn’t like him doing that but he got there and we were to join up with him over there in the army at a place called Bushmead just out of Midland Junction there in Perth. They came around and there was a big van said, “Would you like to join the air force?” So I said, ‘Yes. I’d like to join the air force.’ So anyrate had to go, had to stay with the army. Went to Moura which is halfway to Geraldton. And at, finally they got in touch with me at Geraldton and said you can come down now to Busselton which is down near Bunbury. Down there. And so I was in the air force down there. And I was there probably for about probably about four or five weeks. I did a course down there. AP: So that was your Initial Training School was it? KM: Yeah. Then — AP: Yeah. KM: We went up to Pearce. You know, north of Perth. And we were there on guard you know. Still doing a job there. And there was Ralph White of course. Ralph White was the same thing. He was in the Victorian Scottish and so we got out. I came back to Somers in about [pause] September I think and then I did a course down there. Then Hubert Opperman, you know was our flight commander. He was, he was a teacher really. He was very good and he had another man called Ginger Markham, you know. And he came on top of the exercise we had to do and I was about second I think and he said. ‘We’re going to make you navigators.’ Which we didn’t want to be but [laughs] we sort of did well at arithmetic and that sort of thing. So anyrate, he said ‘Would you like to go to Canada?’ We both looked at one another. He said, ‘Well, if you’re not quite sure go to bed and sleep on it and come and tell me tomorrow.’ So we came back and said we’d like to go. So away we went and I went up to Bradwell, was it Bradwell Bay? Brad Park? Up there. AP: Bradfield Park in Sydney. KM: Yeah. AP: Yeah. KM: In to Sydney. And we were there. There for probably about three weeks and we were going on the Queen Elizabeth. And then somebody said there’s submarines outside there so they cancelled that and we had to stay back. Went across on the [pause] starting to forget things now. On an American very old steamer. What was it called? I’ve forgotten now. Anyway, we started from Sydney on, in March I think and it took us twenty eight days to get across the Pacific to — we were going to go to Vancouver but halfway across all of a sudden they could hear the throbbing of the motors going. Deathly quiet and the engines wouldn’t go and we were stuck there [laughs] about halfway across there. And anyway, they got them fixed up in about a day and we carried on. It took us twenty eight days to get us across the Pacific and they decided to go to San Francisco which, we had a day there. Bought a lot of chocolate and that sort of thing. People were very good there. The Yanks met us with cars and drove us all around ‘Frisco. And then we were only about a day and a half and then we got a train up to Vancouver which was marvellous. Beautiful scenery. And went to Vancouver and I think we stayed there a day or so and went out to Edmonton. That’s where I did my course there. So that was about all I think. AP: Alright. Why did you want to be in the air force? KM: Well, my father was in the barracks at St Kilda Road there and he knew the man who was the civil aviator. Sort of pilot you know. And he got this German three engine one with one there, one in the front sort of thing and he said, ‘Would any of your sons like to have a flight?’ I was about thirteen or fourteen and I said, ‘Yeah. I’d like to have a go at that.’ So a friend of mine who was, who was finally joined, [unclear] actually, he was a very clever bloke so he couldn’t join the forces because he was needed elsewhere. So, anyway we had all around Melbourne and he came back and he said to my father, he offered me to go down to Cerberus down there in the Mornington Peninsula as a cadet. I was about thirteen. I said, ‘No thanks. I don’t want to go to the Navy,’ so, ‘I want to go to the air force.’ So that was about how I got in the air force. And I did a course at Edmonton. I think it was about six months I think. And I was made an officer off course. And we went up to Halifax and got on the Aquitania and went to, to what’s that in the Clyde? What’s the name of it again? In the Clyde. That’s where we landed in there. I forget the name of the place but, and then had a train down to Brighton and that’s where we decided, want me to carry on? AP: Yeah. Keep going. KM: Yeah. Well — AP: Keep going. I’ll come back and fill in the gaps later on. KM: Yeah. Well. We got there. We got on the train. A little, little kid by the train line as you went to slide out to get out and he said in his Scots, ‘Have you got any gum mister?’ [laughs] And we said, ‘No. We haven’t got anything.’ So, anyway we went down to Brighton which was, we had a very nice hotel there. Just on the corner where the boulevard goes all along. Just around the corner down there. Near the Grand. You know, where Mrs Thatcher and they got — just away to the east from there. But it was very nice. We had a nice room there. And Focke Wulfs used to come across and shoot them up a bit occasionally. And at any raids that came we had to get down in to the, in to the bowels of the, of the hotel. And one day I I couldn’t be bothered. I thought I’d just stay in my room. And this Wing Commander Swan I think his name was, a bit of a nasty sort of fellow he came around, found me and he said, ‘I’ll let you off this time but you’ll be on a charge next time.’ Yeah. Anyway I went in to, in the, in the lounge one day and I sat down at a table like this. A man was reading a paper next door and he said, ‘Have you just arrived?’ and I said, ‘Yes. I just came in yesterday.’ And he said, in another two days he came and said, ‘I don’t know whether you know but I’m the posting officer from Brighton.’ And I said, ‘Oh. I think I’m going to Bomber Command.’ He said, ‘Well, they’ll probably take about three weeks before you can do that. But,’ he said, ‘There’s a new course.’ And I said, ‘Well, what is it?’ And he said, ‘Radar.’ I said, ‘I’ve never heard of it.’ He said, ‘Well, you have to do an exam.’ With another friend who came across so three other fellows came with me and we got, did the exam and got passed and so he said, ‘Well, you’re going up to Ouston which is up near Newcastle on Tyne.’ In there. ‘You’re going to learn all about radar.’ So, so anyway we waited about a week and away we went. And that’s when we, we — it was quite a nice station too. It was about October then I think and there was snow all around up there. And we started flying in Ansons you know. They had all the gubbins in there. And that’s how we learned how to operate radar and later on in [pause] first of all what did they call it? Radial engines. Oh God. Bomber. I’ll think of it later on. But it wasn’t a Mosquito, it was in. It was easier to sit back. The pilot’s up the front and I used to sit back there. Bomber — AP: Beaufighter perhaps. KM: Beaufighters. Beaufighters. I liked them. What did they call them? The creeping death, I think. You know. AP: Whispering. Whispering death. KM: Whispering death. Yeah. AP: It took all the [unclear] sort of thing. KM: They had plenty of power down below. I used to just sit back. There was a swivel chair. I used to face the back like that and then they put the power on and away it goes, and whirr like that. They were a very good aircraft. And down low they were very good indeed. But I did that for a while. And, I can’t remember. We had fellows that was going to do a camera thing, sort of thing and he got in one and went up and I was down the back and he, he did all sorts of things. Turned this and turned this and went over and back again. And I said, ‘How long are you going to be on this?’ And he said, ‘I won’t be that long.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m going to be sick in a moment.’ [laughs] and, which I was. And when I got down a WAAF came out and said, with a bucket and said, ‘You can clean it up yourself.’ [laughs] But so that was my and from then on we did mostly all sorts of things. It came behind an aircraft and it dropped down below them so they looked up and fired a bullet sort of thing. And then, then they had to do one, one coming straight to you and you had to go. You could see them coming. You had to do that left hand turn to come below. And if you could go, catch him again and again shoot him down sort of thing. So we learned all about that there. As a matter of fact Keith Miller was up there. AP: Ah. KM: Yeah. He was flying ones you know. Doing what we were. Trying to get behind him sort of thing but [pause] So, I think I was there ‘til about the beginning of February I think. And then we went down to Bedfordshire. At Cranfield. And that’s where I met my wife down there. And we did a lot of more work on, we used to get behind the [pause] I’m forgetting aircraft. Wellington. Yeah. We used to get behind them and do the same thing, sort of thing. And that went on for about in February ‘til late April I think. And then I was going to go to Bomber Command as an escort. And I had packed everything up and I was going to get the train down to London and go out to Coltishall. Out in Norfolk. And the signal came through from the air vice marshall from Australia — all people are going as night fighters. Going to 456 down in, in Arundel. Down south, And Arundel’s just near little, little Hampshire I think it was. Near Worthing. Down there. And so here we had to come back and finally get a train down there and that’s how I arrived at Ford which was a marvellous station. AP: Sorry. Ford, did you say? KM: Ford. F O R D. AP: Yeah. KM: But from Arundel we used to come down the road and over the railway line and a winding road down into the, into Ford which was a very good ‘drome, you know. And I think I finished up in B flight. B flight I think. There were two in the squadron And, and that was about it I think then. Do you want me to carry on? AP: Please carry on. A whole story we want. KM: Well, I met a wing commander. God, I forget things now. Big fellow and of course I think I’ve got, no I lent Bob Cowper book to a friend. Any rate the wing commander said, How do you do,’ and he told me what pilot I was going to be on and everything like that. And he, he was a good pilot but wasn’t very popular because he thought everybody, thought, he thought everybody was not up to his standard you know. So, but any rate I went down in the [unclear] I think it was and we had to do quite a few exercises at night, you know. And, and it was beautiful weather down at Ford down there because the summer was from, from June onwards. Right all the way to Christmas time. It was good weather down there so, so my first thing was to go up and shoot down the buzz bombs you know. And one day we had to go to — there were searchlights. S for Sugar and T for something else. T for Tear or something like that. And the ground control said to the wing commander, he said you need to go to — is it, what’s the name? Tearing or something like that. And he said to the wing commander you’ve got to go to tear west or something. He said, ‘I’m tearing west,’ he said. Which was a great big joke and he got the wrong thing altogether. But we went to S for Sugar and stayed there. And he could, he used to get up about, say about eight thousand feet you know. Angels height you know and look towards the French coast and you could see them coming because the fire out the back of them used to light up. And he said, ‘There’s one coming towards you.’ So up at eight thousand feet he said, ‘When it gets close enough you start to go down behind him.’ Like that. ‘Get right behind him and just press the trigger you know.’ And we were just about to do it on one thing and a Canadian fellow in a, in a single engine aircraft got in front of us and shot it down himself and he was put on a bad books. And the fellow was very cross about that but, but anyrate so we didn’t get any more from then. But, but one fellow in 85 Squadron, they were on Ford with us as well and Cat’s Eyes Cunningham was in 85, and his name was Mellish. And strangely enough I read in the paper one day and it had a thing about things in Great Britain. Quite a size. About that size in the paper and said he finished up a wing commander. He was, I think he was flight lieutenant then but he shot down eight when he was up for three hours. Eight of them. God. But he died probably about, oh about five years ago I think. But — AP: Sorry. When you were shooting down, when you were chasing the buzz bombs. KM: Yeah. AP: You were in a Mosquito at this point? KM: Yeah. In Mosquitoes. Yeah. AP: And you were obviously talking to ground control. KM: Yeah. Yeah. AP: So they would, they would tell you that they could see one coming on the radar. KM: Coming. Yeah. That’s right. Yeah. AP: And just sort of, did they give you like vectors towards it? Or did they say it’s over — KM: Yeah. Yeah. We — I think [pause] my memory’s going but yeah it’s one’s coming. Go to vector say to the right hand. Like that usually. So they, they would come down like that behind. Yeah. They go to a vector but it’s just forgotten. It was to the right. Usually to the right so we could do the left hand turn and come down. So we enjoyed all that. It was great so, and then what happened after that? [pause] Oh, we went down to B Flight and we used to get — they had a — what did they call it? On a slate or something. And they would be first say about 8 o’clock at night for three hours. And we’d go into France. Go into Le Touquet. There was a little inlet in there. There’s as I say Beachy Head about there. About here. Le Touquet’s across there. Used to go across and then go up to Lisle. Again, a man on the ground used to tell you what to do sort of thing. But did you know Fred Stevens at all? He, funny he’s got a friend down here I was talking to last night. He was one of the best pilots on 456 and the just natural to fly and, but my pilot was Karl McLennan. He was a very experienced pilot who [pause] he was 3 Course out of Australia and he did a lot of, as a to teach pupils you know. And finally came to, to Cranfield. I remember I was reading the paper one day and he came in. The bar was across there and he said, he looked around and he saw me with an Australian uniform on. He said, ‘Oh g’day. ‘G’day.’ He said, ‘Want to have a beer?’ I said, ‘I don’t drink.’ ‘Oh,’ he said, and after a while I was reading this and I thought I should do something and he said, ‘Are you sure you don’t want a drink?’ I said, ‘Oh ok. I’ll come over and have one.’ So that was my first beer. AP: [unclear] KM: So anyway, he said, ‘Are you going to crew up with anybody?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘What about me?’ and I said, ‘That’ll do me.’ He told me all about 3 Course. And I said, ‘You’re much more experienced then I am,’ you know but at any rate he said, ‘No. We’ll go together.’ So we did and he said, he talked to me, he said, he said, ‘Look, I’m what you’d call a live coward,’ he said, ‘So no fancy stuff. I’ll do exactly what I’m supposed to do,’ you know. Any rate he was a very good pilot you know. So we did, we did some cross countrys’ over as I say, over to Wales and back to High Wycombe. Up to Lincoln. Up there. And then back to, to Cranfield. And then there when we went down to Ford just before D-Day we were — I had, they had to show me as a navigator on Mark 10 radar which was a different sort of thing. So I had to go to Twinwood Farm which was a satellite of Cranfield for a month. So I missed out on Normandy. And [pause] but I learned all on how to work all the gubbins in a Mosquito. The pilot got in first across there. Quite small you know. He was rather chubby because he drank a lot [laughs] Mac. But, and I, I had the set there on a sort of a pulled out sort of thing and he sat there and I sat here. I used to pull it out when he got in. Pulled it out here and have it on the radio sort of thing which is with a dividing line down like that. That’s left or right sort of thing. And one for height sort of thing. Across like that. So it had a range of a hundred miles so if you, say you were coming back to England you just, and every aerodrome had a code you know. Say BA and AB or something like. And you wanted to go to that destination you knew what their code was and he just turned the aircraft around so it was dead in front of you like that. Whatever height you wanted to do. You either go up or down. And just sit there. And when you come to almost there you just knew exactly where you were and, and so when you got to say, Ford it was going beep beep beep and down you go. And that was great you know. Coming from say Germany there you just, just set it for where you want to go and a range a hundred miles so, you know — AP: So this is Gee? KM: Eh? AP: Is this the Gee system? KM: No. We had the Gee later on. AP: Oh ok. KM: Yeah. When we went for longer trips in Germany and you need that to — you had two. Two maps as a matter of fact. You had one that was going to certain distance about there. Then you’d get the other one would go further on. In fact one of our senior navigators he kept on using the first one and he [laughs] his pilot, Smithy said, ‘I don’t think we’re going the right way.’ And he said, ‘I’m in charge. I’ll tell you where you’re going.’ Anyway, he was going to Germany and, Smithy we called him, he was a pilot, he said, ‘I can see lights down there,’ he said, ‘It looks like Switzerland.’ Oh he got a black mark for that [laughs] But but he had to use his second one but they were very good. AP: So the — sorry the first radar you were telling me about. That’s a navigational radar or an airborne like interception radar? KM: In the aircraft yeah. Yeah. AP: Yeah. It’s in the aircraft but — KM: Yeah. AP: Sorry. Was that for navigation or for finding fighters or something? KM: Yes. Yes. Yes, a blip would come up. AP: Yeah. KM: A blip. Yeah. We were one, not that far from Berlin. We used to go over there until the petrol. Had to watch out that we had enough petrol to get back again. We used to circle the aerodrome. And it was a bright moonlight night. I remember that. And we were going around like that and I said to Mac, ‘I think we’d better go home in a moment because, you know the petrol is getting down a bit.’ So, you know, I just spoke to him. I just, like that, and I saw an aircraft about a hundred yards away sort of thing. I said, ‘There’s a German right there,’ and I said, I said, ‘Lose height. Left hand turn,’ which we used to do. Lose height. Went down like that. Ok. And then of course all of sudden they had the lights on the fellow. All the lights went out you know. And it came back and we couldn’t see too well then but we could see the runway and that sort of thing and it had all the, you know the, what do they call them? Sort of the pens where the aircraft went into and we went up and down the runway shooting all those things that we could see. We’re not quite sure whether we hit this aircraft. But at any rate the next one to start firing back at us so we did another run too and did all what we could about what we could see on the ground. And then we decided to go home after that because we were getting short on the petrol. So that was a bit of an unfortunate thing but just seeing that bloke but he just appeared. I can see him now just out there. But anyrate we went home again and we used to do that sort of thing, you know. Quite often. Circle the aerodrome and see what’s coming. AP: So — KM: They were getting short on their for petrol. The Germans. You know. And, but I’ll tell you about the last thing that we did. Bob Cowper picked us to go with him down to a place call Linz on the Danube. Way down. Almost to Budapest sort of thing. Down there. And the river came down like that and it went down like that down south a bit. About twelve miles down was an aerodrome and we were going to go. And we had a squadron leader from the, the, what are they called? It was all the big wigs down at Ford. And it was going to drop a napalm bomb on the aerodrome down there. Anyrate, he, it was a bright moonlight night and we went all the way. We went to Juvencourt, just out of Paris and we got more petrol and carried on down to, to Linz down there. And we had just arrived and I could see it in the moonlight. We got there right on ETA. I could see them in front of us. And then we had to go to the right hand side, down south and go to the aerodrome. Drop these bombs sort of thing. And anyrate this squadron said, ‘I’ll lead down,’ you know. And he went down then. About half way down he put a flare out and we said, ‘Oh, you’ve put it in the wrong place.’ You know. And all he could see was a farm, cows and everything else. And we said, you’re only halfway down there so he went on down there and he said, he went round an aerodrome and he said, ‘I’ll take the in charge. I’ll do the first run in now.’ And he went down then. He went down because they were ready for him I think. He said, ‘I’ve been hit already,’ he said, ‘I’m going home.’ So that was all he did all night. So, we said we, we were going down so we went down once. Did a left hand turn over the river there and came back again like that. And just as we got around to go down again on the aerodrome some tracer bullets came right past my ear. My hair went up like that. And it just missed us actually. And anyrate we, I mean say that that’s the river down there. We went down like that we came back like that. Came down. Did another run in again and that’s when the tracer bullets came across there. But we did it again and again they were ready for us again because somebody — I don’t know who did it, it must have been on the other side of the river there. It’s quite high up there because I can remember it seemed to be coming down like that you know. But anyrate, we did the same thing again you know, circled. They were ready for us again. But anyway came back and Bob Cowper said, ‘What a mess up that was,’ you know. Bob Cowper was going to do everything and did nothing you know [laughs] But strangely enough Bob Cowper went down to Ford one day and he went down to the intelligence and saw what this fella said. Said it was a great success. Which was [laughs] we were very upset about that but so that was about it and then back to Bradwell Bay and on May the 8th, you know, the Germans decided they’d had enough. And, and then on — Mac had been getting into the liquor all the time and he got, what do you call it? Like jaundice. Sort of thing. Had to go to hospital. And then they asked 456 and another Mosquito squadron to go to the Channel Islands where the Germans were going to fight on. And so they went. Three — two, two lots went down. Went down to quite low and first said if you don’t we’ll give you, we’ll shoot the whole lot of you, you know. So they finally decided. So the war finally finished on the 9th of May. So you know that was about it I think. But so we went, we were supposed to come — the rumours said we were probably going up to Burma, you know, when we get back. But we went back to Brighton again and stayed about a week I think. We had a little car. I’ve got a photograph of it over there as a matter of fact. And we had to drive up to post this out in the east end of London and we had to go across — was it Dartmoor or something? Where there’s a ferry used to go across and you go up the hill like that to this place where they had all, they got a whole new or old cars He came from nowhere. He was a [unclear] actually. We saw it. We went up there and he said well go back to that fella and see what he’ll give us for the car, you know. We bought it for thirty seven pound and went up there. He came around and he went all through it like this looking. And said, he said, ‘Eighty pound.’ So he said ok. We said, ‘Can we have for it about a week because we’re going to Brighton.’ He said ok. We came up here in a week’s time. He came up and John Darling who was a great mate of mine he was, he was driving and he came across this thing. This ferry or something. And as he came up the hill that. It was hard to get. I think I said, ‘Put your foot down.’ He said, ‘I am,’ he said. Going up the hill he said to me, ‘It’s just about gone. The engine.’ So anywhere we got that, this [unclear] came around. He went all over it. He looked up, he said, ‘Well, there’s a mark on the ceiling.’ And he said, ‘No. I won’t give you eighty. I’ll give you seventy five.’ So we said ok. We got our seventy five. Rushed like mad and got on a bus and went back and went to the very posh hotel. I can’t remember the name again. I was trying to remember it this morning. And we had a night there and spent the whole seventy five [laughs] Oh dear. But so that was the end of our story really but — AP: So, I might go back and fill in a few gaps. You mentioned a few little bits and pieces that I’ve sort of — KM: Yeah. AP: I’ve grabbed hold of there. KM: Yeah. AP: You said you met your wife at Cranfield. Can you tell me that story? KM: Well, I went to Cranfield and that’s as I said where I met Margaret. My wife. And well, no we just, we just carried on with that was Cranfield. I’m forgetting things now but [pause] it was, is it the second one that was at Ouston. Number one. It was, what would you call it? The EFTS or something like that. There was a name for it and then you did all that and then you went to the squadron. AP: Operational Training Unit perhaps. KM: Yeah. AP: OTU. KM: The word. That’s right. AP: Yeah. KM: Yeah. But Cranfield was a lovely station. A peacetime station. And, and we had a beautiful cricket ground there and we had married quarters, you know. You used to go out two story ones and that’s how I met Margaret actually. AP: Did you get married in the UK? KM: No. No. She was still in the air force down in Benson near Oxford. And she was still in the air force but we’d gone then from Liverpool back home again. And no, she came out in September 1946. Yeah. And we were married on the 15th of, of November. So we’ll be seventy years married in November. AP: Wow. Wow. So was she, she was in the WAAF? KM: Yeah. AP: What was she doing in the WAAF? KM: She was one of the managers of the, of the officer’s mess. AP: Ok. Cool. KM: Margaret. Yeah. AP: Yeah. Margaret. Cool. KM: Yeah. AP: Lovely. You also mentioned something about when you, when you were young. When you were thirteen, I think. KM: Yeah. AP: That triplane. KM: Yeah. AP: Or the tri motor thing. KM: Yeah. AP: Tell me about that. KM: Well, I don’t know why it came out here but this man was a very experienced pilot. He was a civilian sort of chief sort of thing but, no I always sort of wanted to go into the air force but but that flight it was a lovely day. Went all around the bay and that sort of thing, you know. That’ll do me, you know so, but at that stage was in Russell Street they had the air force sort of recruitment place. But they had enough at that stage and couldn’t take any more you know. In fact another thing. When I went on leave in England I think every six weeks you used to get a leave and that Lady Ryder’s Scheme that said do you want to go to the country or a town? Do you want to play golf or, you know. I said, ‘I want to go to Scotland and I want to play golf,’ and everything else. So anyrate I got up to Aberdeen and I got a train out to a place called Stewartville and I think I’ve got a map there. And I got out and we were with another fellow. This one from Somers, you know who was a navigator with me and there was a horse and cart there and where we were going. He took all the bags and he said, ‘I’ll drive you to the general’s place.’ He was the number one general in the UK at the beginning of the war. A very nice old man he was. And, anyrate, he had, I got it in my photographs in my album there. So, we went there and he welcomed us in. His wife and so forth. At about 5 o’clock or about half past five, it was summertime and he said, ‘Come down and we’ll have something to eat.’ So we had some cookies as they do. And we had to get them out of the cupboard sort of thing and I said to [unclear] ‘Is that all we get for dinner?’ You know [laughs] Never had — what do you call it? High tea. That’s right. High tea. I went upstairs and I wrote a letter to my mother, “This is a very nice place and I’ve got to know a leading general but we don’t have much of a dinner here.” [laughs] And all of a sudden there was a gong went and down we went down. We had jugged hare. I can remember it to this day. But he was a very nice bloke and he understood. He said, ‘Look I’m old and you’re young.’ He said, ‘You want to play golf go to Peterhead.’ He said, ‘You can have a game there.’ So we got on our bikes. And the wind we could hardly get past it. It was just blowing like one thing and we got there and then we were allowed most of the golf clubs that people from abroad would be allowed to play you know. So we got there and he came around and he said, ‘Yes. Well, you can go around here. he said this way we can go out here and I said, ‘I’m a left hand.’ ‘We haven’t got any left handed.’ Oh God [laughs] they’re like that, particularly in Scotland. They didn’t like left handers so we went all the way there and did nothing. So [laughs] but no, there was, in fact he had a brother I think it was. Sir Charles Burnett, I think. Down at Crathes Castle just on the way to Ballater out of Aberdeen. You know, along the river there. And a beautiful castle. We had a lot of pleasure whilst we were there. And he was the chief of the Gordon clan, you know. And in fact part of the castle that he had was used as a hospital for people in from the war. And we went down there. We had lunch down there. And he came [laughs] he had a, he bought a great big bulldog in one day and we were fooling around like this, ‘Come on here,’ and doing this. And he could see the dog wasn’t too pleased about it and Bob like, it bit him on his wrist. He wasn’t too pleased about that either but, but it was a lovely place. They had gardens. There was. They had like a purple one. A yellow one. Green one. Red one. One, two, three, four going down the hill sort of thing. It’s a lovely place. We’ve been back there quite a few times. Crathes Castle. I’ll show you where it is. Have you got a minute? AP: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I’ll give you a hand if you want. KM: Yeah. [unclear] AP: Oh where am I going? Ok. I can go and get it if you want. KM: In the bottom drawer. On the right hand side there. No. No. No. Back here. Over here. Right hand side on the bottom one. There’s a map there. AP: “Road Atlas of Great Britain.” KM: It’s, yeah, that’s right. That’s it. That’s it. Yeah [pause] probably need my bloody glasses. AP: Where are they? KM: There. Right on [ pause ] AP: Here. These ones? KM: No. That’ll do. Yeah. AP: That’ll do. KM: I’ve got one. Another one. When I’m here it’s always over there so I’ve got two of them. That story. There’s Aberdeen. We went up here to — I’d better get this one but there’s Peterhead there. That’s about there this. The [unclear] yeah. Going out from there but what’s that? ’83. [Pause. Pages turning] KM: It’s been a marvellous book this one. I’ve kept it all those years. [pause] KM: There. AP: Ah yes. KM: Aberdeen. Went up in a train. Up here I guess. Stewartville. There we are. We went from there in a horse and cart. About there. That’s where he lived. About there. So, and then we got on our bike. Went to Peterhead there but no, there isn’t a station there but no I know quite a bit about Scotland. I’ve been about seven times now. AP: Lovely. KM: I’ll show you where Ford is. [pause] AP: Oh yeah. There’s Beachy Head there. Yeah. KM: Yeah. Beachy Head. There’s a marvellous spot there. And living about here I think [pages turning] [unclear] See there’s Brighton and, and you see that’s a lady down there. She was at, she lived at Carshalton which is up towards London and she was, we used to stay with her. She had two hundred and fifty seven colonials. Australian, Canadians and that sort of thing at her house during the war. She was a marvellous lady, and anyrate at Carshalton Beeches two storey place. And the buzz bombs used to come over and she was out putting clothes on the line, and had a big fig tree there near the clothes line and she could hear the buzz bomb brrrrrr like this and didn’t worry to peg the things out. All of a sudden the sound finished. So she went for her life towards her dugout down there with steps on it and just got to the top and bang it landed in the back yard and blew all the leaves off the tree. And blew her down to her dugout down there. And she was bruised and that sort of thing. But it moved the house about a foot you know. So they had to move out of that and went down to Seaford. Down here. But she was a marvellous woman because she took it all in her stride. I would say [pause] Littlehampton. [Pause. Pages turning] Here’s Brighton. Came down to Worthing. Little Hampton. Now there’s Arundel. That’s where the big castle is. Played the first game of cricket there. Inside that thing is a cricket ground in there. And we used to have dances in his dining room once every a month you know. Because he knew, he knew the queen as a matter of fact. He was a cousin or something. But, but we used to ride down here. We used to have a swim down there. And but there were barbed wire along there as well but and our ground station was at Angmering, that’s right Angmering, that’s it. About there. That’s our ground station there and Ford was just, you just crossed the railway line there and just about there. That’s where the aerodrome was. There. That’s it. AP: Oh yeah. I can see it says Ford there. Yeah. KM: Yeah. Yeah. But, and then, and then we had [laughs] used to play cricket down at Middleton Sports Club. There’s a cricket ground down there and 456 had a — I’ve got something about that over there. I’ll show you my book later on but we beat them down there. You probably don’t know about Charlie Kunz. A marvellous pianist. He was a Yank who came to Britain before the war and stayed on. He used to have a programme on the BBC. Playing the piano. It was called, “The Hot and the Cold.” He used to play softly and then louder. Softly and louder. Very nice. But he had a son who played in a team against us. He was only about seventeen I think and the fellow that opened the bowling was the captain of the other side. His name was, I’ve got it over there. He played for England actually and a medium fast bowler and I opened up with another fellow and he got three wickets or something straightaway but I stayed on. I made fifty. And I dropped one a bit short note went bang. Was almost six. This young kid stuck his hand out and caught it. He came in after the, after the match. Very nice clubhouse there. Two storey place with two squash courts there. And he said, he came and he said, ‘Would you boys,’ Don Darling and myself, ‘Would you like to go and see my father?’ And I said, ‘Who’s your father?’ He said, ‘He’s a pianist. He’s at the Hippodrome at Brighton.’ So he said, and he gave us the tickets and everything. So we went to see and that’s the first time I heard beautiful piece. Fairly old, you know. It was getting a bit grey. And at any rate the lead at the Hippodrome with Arthur Askey. Do you remember Arthur Askey? He was a comedian, you know. Little fellow. And he had a, he had on a stage. He was in front of it. Behind it I think a ladies toilet like that and he came on and he said, ‘I’ll now play for you, “By the waterfall,” you know [laughs] Oh dear. That was a good night. So anyrate we had we got quite friendly with his son and I went over there one day and I wrote a letter to him and he was back in London by that time. But he got an OBE because he — I think he might be dead now I think because he wasn’t too well the last time I got a card from him, you know. But yeah so that’s about the end of my story I think. AP: I’m sure there’s more in it. What, what other things did you get up to while you were on leave in England? KM: Well, it all came back and said, ‘If you want to go to this places. This is a beautiful spot,’ kind of thing. So this fellow by the name Luke. Luke I think. He came from Tasmania. He went, ‘Oh you ought to go. He’s got four cars. He’d got two squash courts, he said he’s got a cricket ground and he’s got a three storey house.’ I said, ‘Well we’ll go to that.’ I got one of my brothers to go there. Mr [unclear] — he had a brewery in the east of London. Mr — God, I’m forgetting names. Old fellow with a moustache, you know. And Mr [pause] he had a younger wife and he had gout and I said to him one day, ‘Do you mind if my brother,’ who was in the navy, ‘Comes up to see me?’ ‘Oh no. that’s ok. He can come up.’ So anyrate he came over and he stayed the night. And he had a butler as well. He used to come and say , ‘Your bath is ready, sir.’ You know [laughs] I forget his name. This was very posh this place. His wife was very nice. And one night we were having dinner one night and he used to sit at the top of the table there, I was here and she was over there and she said, ‘I’ll bring the grandchild in now to say goodnight to him. He came and said goodnight to him and when she went out of the room he went down and he had a whicker sort of thing. Almost to the table. Opened it up and he had a gin or something with like this [ laughs] pushed it back before his wife came in. But it was a lovely place. I stayed there about a week, you know. I don’t know whether you know about Bill Edrich . He was the opening bat for the English Test Team. Came out to Australia in 1946 I think. And he was a flight lieutenant in the air force and his father was the manager of the estate where this Mr what was his name? I can’t think of his name but anyway when he stayed at his estate he he had an aerodrome on one part of his estate. A Yank aerodrome. And across the road was a place called [unclear] I think it was. And the fella in there was, came from Lancashire and he was a sir something. Sir Humphrey. Sir Humphrey his name was and he owned quite a bit of Lancashire up there. I think the, the Yorkshire ground was one, was on his land as a matter of fact and [laughs] we had, we had a pheasant shoot down at the one I was staying at. And they had all the men in the estate going beating to the, to get the pheasant out you know. Going around like that. He had to get in turn. He said, shoot when I, when you want them to fly. Bang. Knock one down. At any rate we both knocked one down and Humphrey, you know, Sir Humphrey [unclear] and this this fella from Tasmania, ‘Come on Humphrey. Come on. Get one,’ you know. Took him about five shots to get one. We didn’t know he was Sir Humphrey. Whatever. And he was the one we stayed with. His wife said, ‘I’d like to introduce Sir Humphrey.’ So we found out he was Sir Humphrey. So, but yeah but that lady, Lady Ryder used to do it for everybody. You could go down to to Devon or, I went down to to Predannack. Right down at the end of England. Right down. Right down there. In fact 456 were going to go down there but they didn’t go. Somebody else took our place I think. So that’s how they came to Ford actually. From there. That’s about all I think. AP: A couple more questions. A couple more questions. So you, we haven’t spoken that much about your operational side of things. What you actually did as a navigator and a radar operator. Did you have, in the — well first of all what sort of trips were you actually doing in the Mosquitoes? KM: Intruder trips. We used to go usually quite often on a bright moonlight night you know and yeah, you’d go up and down their, what do you call their roads again. Not the freeways. Anyrate you could see them to go like that. Two or three of our fellas used to see a train, you know. You could see that when they opened it with the coke or something in there. And they were sitting ducks. They used to go down and knock them off. We didn’t see any of those but Ron Lytton who lives, used to live out near Essendon and — how long have you been out there Adam? AP: Three years now. KM: Oh no. He’s probably dead about ten. He was a, he was a plumber out there. And his, his and he’s still alive actually Geoff Reeves was his pilot. A very good pilot and he knocked over about two trains I think, you know. But we used to do those things. Anything we could see. And the Arnhem. You know the one bridge too far. We were on that day. It was foul night. God it was blowing like mad, you know. And we got on to there was one in front of us. I could see one and I said to Mac, ‘Turn left,’ you know,’ And drop height,’ and everything like that. And then as he went around and around and we were behind him going there there and there and he, Mac my pilot, he said, ‘I think he must be one of ours,’ he said because we could turn inside a JU88. You know, get in beside him. He said, what about it? He said what was our call sign [pause] oh God I’ve forgotten that but he called out, ‘Is that one of our crowd?’ He said, ‘Yeah B,’ he said [laughs] and he said, ‘I’ve been chasing you,’ he said. ‘No. You’ve got the wrong one.’ So, but, but on Arnhem the [pause] oh yeah. We had a fellow called Woodhouse or we called him Woody as a matter of fact who was a leading ground controller. And they ,they took him over and they were going to parachute him down and then and he had some, a glider or something there put down what he needed to contact us in the air. So anyway he got down there but the Germans were waiting for him. Grabbed him, you know. So, so we never got any call about the Germans at all in the air. But, but we went up to, to Arnhem. Now, what happened there? Oh that’s right. As I say terrible weather. So we were going along and got St Elmo’s Fire. Have you heard about that? All along the wings. What’s going on here? You know. Anyway, we got out of that. But anyroad we got off course and everything else. We didn’t do much about that but after doing that chasing that bloke and this thing I didn’t know exactly where I was. And going home to England Mac said, ‘Well, where are we now?’ I said, ‘Well, about the time we went home now I think.’ I said, ‘Just go to the west. We’ll get to England someway.’ So in fact we got up to The Wash, you know. And we were down at Ford you know. In fact we started our flight at Manston which is down, down in Kent. Down there. It’s a very big aerodrome. Three runways you know. So big aircraft down that one. The middle one was ok. Anyone in trouble be on the right hand one. But we got, when I got back we were at The Wash which was probably about a hundred miles up to the north. And we turned down. I said to Mac, ‘Turn down south again.’ We got down there and then the, the, what was it? He couldn’t get the wheels down or something. The hydraulics didn’t work. So I had to get down and I had to pump it myself. I finally got them out after about half an hour but so we landed back there. So, but that was quite a night actually. But I’ve seen that. We’ve seen that film about one bridge too far. AP: I haven’t seen it but I am aware of it. KM: It’s very good. AP: [unclear] Yeah. KM: How did I get it? I don’t know where I’ve got it. It was over there. It had all the well-known actors in that one. Sean Connery’s in it and a lot of them. It’s a very good film actually. But I went to see it too as a matter of fact. There’s a bridge over the, where the they stopped the Germans actually there. But I went over to Normandy with a friend of mine. A cousin of Margaret’s actually. And they’ve got a sort of a museum there as well but there’s— have you ever been to Normandy? AP: I have. KM: Yeah. AP: I have yeah. I spent a few years over there so — KM: We went together and was over. And that was good too. AP: But you said you missed Normandy because you were in a training programme. KM: Yeah [unclear] on that but — AP: What did, what did you think of the Mosquito? KM: Beautiful. Nothing wrong with it at all, you know. I said that Don McLennan said the Halifax went, loaded up went to the left and then the right, you know. This went straight down. A very good pilot Mac. Once we were going down I used to go, he would drop it down. H would just go [unclear] very good. He was a good pilot Mac. Poor old Mac. He died probably about twenty years ago. He had Parkinsons Disease you know. I think it might have been all the beer he drank. AP: How did you find adjusting to civilian life after the war? KM: Eh? AP: How did you find adjusting to civilian life after the war? KM: I didn’t mind it. I I went into work. I was still in uniform. I didn’t have a suit. And Malcolm Roberts said to me, ‘Do you want to come back to work?’ And I said, ‘Oh yes,’ you know. And he gave me five pounds worth of salary [laughs] per week. And so I went to a place in, in Flinders Lane. He was one of our clients and I went in there and strangely enough he was the son of the chief there. Wade. You know. Evan Wade. And Terry Wade is over here in Doncaster. He’s still alive as a matter of fact. His wife’s dead unfortunately. But anyway so I did work there and I went back and forth until about 1948. Then I became a chartered accountant then. I went to RMIT to finish my course and so after a while he said to me, ‘Do you want to come over and be the secretary up here?’ So I went home and said to my wife what about — I’m not quite sure about it but anyway decided to give it a go and I was there for twenty one years. So, well worth it. So was that about it? AP: Any, any final thoughts on your air force service? KM: Eh? AP: Any final thoughts on your air force service? KM: No. No. AP: What you got out of it. KM: No. I got the, I got the Legion of Honour over there. AP: Oh excellent. KM: Yeah. But that was, that came later on, you know. AP: Of course. KM: But it was mostly the intruder trips that are as I say we’ve got the lady up in Canberra and had them all put down where I went to and that sort of thing. And then I was surprised to get it but I’ve got it over there as a matter of fact. You see the one, the blue one there on the [unclear] AP: This one here. KM: Pop it on there. My sister did that for me. Take the top one. That one. Yeah. AP: Oh yeah. KM: That’s it. [pause] KM: Is that? Is that — AP: Oh this is the presentation is it? KM: Yeah. AP: Yeah. Ok. KM: That’s [unclear] AP: Yeah. I see that. KM: That’s the man who put them on. He gave you a big hug [laughs] AP: Of course because he’s French. I see Gerald there as well. KM: Yeah. Yeah. Gerald. Funny. He came in the same day as I. His son came out of Norway for it. AP: Fantastic. KM: But yeah. But — yeah. AP: Alright. Well — KM: Well — AP: Well, I think we’re done. Thank you very much. KM: Thanks Adam. It’s very good of you to come all this way. AP: Oh it’s alright. I love it. KM: [unclear] AP: I really do. I’ll just turn the recording off. 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 William Munro Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Adam Purcell 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 2016-05-22 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. Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AMunroKW160522 Conforms To An established standard to which the described resource conforms. Pending revision of OH transcription Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 01:25:28 audio recording Language A language of the resource eng Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Australian Air Force Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Australia Austria Austria--Linz Canada England--Bedfordshire England--Northumberland England--Sussex France Great Britain Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Channel Islands Netherlands Netherlands--Arnhem Victoria Victoria--Mornington Peninsula Victoria--Mount Martha Western Australia Western Australia--Bunbury Western Australia--Busselton Western Australia--Geraldton Western Australia--Moora Description An account of the resource Ken was a 456 Squadron Mosquito navigator. He initially joined the Army’s Victorian Scottish regiment but changed to the Royal Air force. He was selected to be a navigator and sailed to Canada. Ken did a course at Edmonton and was made an officer. He then sailed back to Scotland and went down to Brighton. After undertaking a new course on radar, he went to RAF Ouston to learn how to operate it. He flew in Ansons and Beaufighters before going to Cranfield to fly Wellingtons. Ken met his wife there, a Women's Auxiliary Air Force who managed the officers’ mess. He was due to join Bomber Command but eventually became night fighters aircrew and joined 456 Squadron. Ken was stationed at RAF Ford. Ken describes how he met his pilot. They initially shot down V-1s flying Mosquitoes. They went to northern France and did cross countries. Ken missed D-Day as he was training on Mark 10 radar at RAF Twinwood Farm. They did intruder raids. He describes going to Linz and their encounters with fighters. His squadron, along with another Mosquito squadron, were sent to the Channel Islands and was instrumental in the surrender German forces stationed there on 9th May 1945. Ken was a recipient of Lady Ryder’s Dominion and Allied Services Hospitality Scheme and describes some of the hospitality and leisure pursuits he experienced. After the war, Ken received the Legion of Honour. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Julie Williams Sally Coulter Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1945 456 Squadron 85 Squadron aircrew Anson Beaufighter love and romance Mosquito navigator Pippo radar RAF Cranfield RAF Ford RAF Ouston RAF Twinwood Farm training V-1 V-weapon https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/files/original/689/9430/MBarkerR[Ser -DoB]-151001-01.pdf b48880a1d568ec27ce83eae2a8005d70 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 Barker, Reg R Barker Description An account of the resource Two items. The notes for a talk given by Reg Barker to the Haywards Heath Historical Society on 24 June 2014 and an account of his Lancaster being shot down during an operation to Kiel on 20 August 1944. Reg Barker flew as pilot on Halifax with 76 Squadron and Lancaster with 635 Squadon. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Reg Barker and catalogued by Nigel Huckins Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-11-23 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Barker, R Transcribed document A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Transcription Text transcribed from audio recording or document [underlined] TALK TO THE HAYWARDS HEATH HISTORICAL SOCIETY at FRANKLANDS HALL by REG BARKER – JUNE 24, 2014 [/underlined] As a veteran of Bomber Command I am very lucky to be alive. As you know, more than 55,000 of our less fortunate colleagues lost their lives in WW2. At last, we have a superb memorial in Green Park in London to remind everyone of their sacrifice. I like to think that the Memorial also recognises the 55,573 families who lost a son, or a brother, or a father, or an uncle. These families still grieve today for the loved ones whom they lost. In December 1943 I was a guest at two weddings attended by 3 other Bomber Command Air Crew. In the following months, all 4 of us were shot down over Germany. 2 of us were killed and 2 of us survived as Prisoners of War. [underlined] THAT WAS THE REALITY for us Air Crew! [/underlined] In spite of the losses, our Morale [sic] was very high, because we knew we were doing an important job to help bring an end to the long struggle to defeat Hitler and the Nazis and to [underlined] win the war! [/underlined] If we had [underlined] LOST [/underlined] our Country would have been INVADED, the Jewish population would have been rounded up and sent to CONCENTRATION CAMPS – where they would have been worked to death – or starved to death – and Men & Boys between the ages of 16 and 6 would have been sent to Germany as SLAVE-WORKERS, producing weapons of war, GUNS, AMMUNITION, AIRCRAFT and TANKS for HITLER’S GERMANY. [page break] [underlined] 2 [/underlined] I volunteered to join the R.A.F. as Air Crew on my 19th Birthday. After initial training in this Country, I was sent across the Atlantic to Canada. There I was issued by the Canadian Air Force with a grey flannel suit. Was I going to spend the War playing GOLF in Canada? No, the plan was for me to travel to the United States, supposedly as a CIVILIAN, because at that time the U.S. was a Neutral Country. Neutral? Their President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a great friend to this country and the U.S. Air Force was training R.A.F. Pilots. How neutral was that? So I was fortunate in being sent to the Southern States of Georgia & Alabama to be trained as a PILOT! After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States entered the War and needed to expand their Air Force. So after I had completed my Pilot Training and been presented with my Silver Wings, I was told by the R A F that I was to serve with the US. Air Force as a Flying Instructor at Napier Field in Alabama, where the sun shines throughout the year! During the following 12 months, I taught 26 American and R A F Cadets to fly the HARVARD, a advanced trainer which was great to fly and fully AEROBATIC! As an Instructor, I was allowed to take to the skies in a Harvard at any time. So I gained a lot of extra flying experience. [page break] [underlined] 3 [/underlined] I have always felt that I was extremely privileged to be the right age to be trained as a PILOT – and to end up flying the AVRO LANCASTER – The most successful R A F bomber of W W II. The Lancaster’s performance, its ruggedness, its reliability and its sheer charisma endeared it to its crews, who felt proud to fly this famous aircraft. In a letter which he wrote to the head of AVRO after the War, our Commander in Chief, Sir Arthur Harris, said: “Without your genius and efforts we could not have prevailed, for I believe that the Lancaster was the greatest single factor in winning the War.” More than 7.000 Lancasters were built- and half of that number [inserted] 3,500 [/inserted] were lost on operations against the enemy. Sadly, there are only 2 still fling in the whole world – our own Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster – and the Canadian Lancaster which flew here in August [inserted] 2014 [/inserted]. They have [inserted] been [/inserted] flying together at Air Shows around the country. Did any of you managed (sic) to see them flying together? I saw them at Eastbourne - & I must say they did look like 2 elderly ladies compared with aircraft of today! [page break] [underlined] 4. [/underlined] In September 1940 – when the Second World War had been going for a whole year – and the R A F FIGHTERS had fought off the German Luftwaffe in the BATTLE of BRITAIN – our PRIME MINISTER – Sir Winston Churchill – stated :- “The FIGHTERS are our Salvation – but the BOMBERS alone PROVIDE THE MEANS OF VICTORY.” • Bomber Command was the only FORCE which operated against the enemy from the day war broke out, right to the very end of the War. • Bomber Command played an [inserted] ESPECIALLY [/inserted] important part in weakening the enemy in the run up to D-Day, by bombing their AIRFIELDS, damaging their RAILWAYS, destroying their wireless and RADAR stations and attacking their heavily fortified GUN BATTERIES on the coast. • Bomber Command also played a very import part in deceiving the enemy, making Hitler believe that our Armies would invade the French coast near Calais; and thus give our Armies tune ti get asgire & establish themselves in Normandy. • We were very effective in putting an end to the VIs, the DOODLE-BUGS which caused so much damage to London & the South-East in 1944. [page break] [underlined] 5. [/underlined] Our four engined heavy bombers – Lancastsers Halifaxes and Stirlings – all carried a crew of 7.All 7 members worked closely together and we became a TIGHTLY-KNIT TEAM. As PILOT and CAPTAIN, it was my job to [underlined] fly [/underlined] the AIRCRAFT, but I depended on all the other members of my CREW to play their part. We depended on our [underlined] Navigator [/underlined] to work out the course for us to fly – and the speed – to ensure that we would arrive at each night’s TARGET on time. The [underlined] FLIGHT-ENGINEER’S [/underlined] task was to monitor the behaviour of our 4 engines. Our [underlined] WIRELESS OPERATOR’S [/underlined] job was to keep in touch with our base in ENGLAND.\our [underlined] BOMB AIMER’s [/underlined] vital role as we approached the target was [inserted]to [/inserted] peer through his BOMB¬SIGHT and call instructions to me to ensure that he could release our BOMB LOAD at exactly the right spot:-“LEFT-LEFT, RIGHT, STEADY.” When SEARCH LIGHTS were coming dangerously close or our 2 [underlined] GUNNERS [/UNDERLINED] thought we were about to be attacked by an ENEMY FIGHTER THEY WOULD SHOUT “CORK-SCREW PORT GO”. Having carried out this manoeuvre, the Pilot realised that the gunner was rather agitated, so in order to calm him he said “It’s alright Ginger, keep calm, GOD IS WITH US”! In a desparate (sic) voice, the Gunner replied “God may be up your end, but there’s a blasted Junkers 88 Fighter up this end!” [page break] [underlined] 6. [/underlined] When I was flying 4 engined bombers – if a violent manoeuvre was needed to keep us out of trouble, I pretended I was doing aerobatics in a HARVARD. On one such occasion, a cannon shell from the ground hit our rea turret, but because our air craft was tilted at 90˚ with our wing vertical to the ground, a cannon shell went sideways through our rear turret without exploding! It made a large hole, the size of a dinner plate in the Perspex on each side of the turret. My rear gunner saw a blue flash as the shell passed in front of his face, but he was unhurt. If the shell had hit the rear turret from beneath, it would have exploded and sent us all to our deaths. On Operations we flew Halifax Bombers with 76 Squadron based at HOLME – or – Spalding Moor in Yorkshire and later we were chosen to fly Lancasters with a Pathfinder Squadron, No.635, based at Downham Market, in Norfolk. It was when we were flying as Pathfinders, five minutes ahead of the MAIN FORCE, that we were eventually shot down. That happened on Aug. 26th 1944, the day after the Allied Armies in France had liberated Paris, after it had been occupied by the German Army for more than 4 years. Our target that night was the German Naval Base at KIEL. [page break] [underlined] 7. [/underlined] [underlined] KIEL was an important TARGET because it was where the German SUBMARINES were based. [/underlined] Much of Britain’s FOOD came from other countries in SHIPS. Enemy submarines sank so man ships that there was a severe shortage of some foods. The Government therefore had to introduce FOOD RATIONING, which meant that each person was allowed to buy a fixed amount of food each week In 1941 the RATION was 1 egg a week, and TEA, SUGAR, BUTTER and MEAT were also rationed. Lots more foods were rationed later, including SWEETS! There were NO BANANAS at all throughout the War. Not only were German submarines such a serious threat to our FOOD SUPPLIES, after D.Day when our Armines in France had to be supplies with EVERYTHING by SEA, they were a serious threat to the ships which had to cross the Channel each day. [page break] 8. After we had successfully bombed our target, we set course for home. Suddenly there was an explosion, a vivid flash and the aircraft was thrown onto it’s back. I managed to regain level flight, but soon realised that the cables to the tail plane were damaged and that I could no longer control the aircraft, so I gave the order to bail out. At almost the same moment, the nose of our LANCASTER plunged [inserted] VIOLENTLY [/inserted] downwards and the aircraft went into a vertical spinning dive. Our four Rolls Royce Merlin engines were now driving us at a very high speed headlong towards the earth. The reason for this calamity, as I learned later from our Rear Gunner, was that the whole tail section of our aircraft had broken away from the fuselage. His turret was still attached to the TAILPLANE, but he had NO ENGINES – and NO PILOT! Fortunately he was able to climb out of his turret and descend to earth by parachute. Because the aircraft was spinning furiously, I was lifted out of my seat and pinned hand up against the cockpit roof along with 3 other members of my crew. Such was the “g” force, that it was impossible to move so much as my little finger – and it quickly caused me to black out, to become unconscious. [page break] [underlined] 9. [/underlined] THEN A MIRACLE HAPPENED! [underlined] I found myself in the Sky [/underlined] – regaining consciousness in the cold night air – and I could see my blazing aircraft close by! Instinctively IO tugged at the RIPCORD and as my parachute blossomed above me, I could see that I was about to drop into the tree tops, which were FLOODLIT by my BLAZING Aircraft. As I landed in the TREES, my LANCASTER crashed a short distance away. I climbed down through the branches and landed safely on a cushion of leaves. Overhead I could hear the main force of bombers making their way home to England and wistfully – I thought of the air-crew breakfast of eggs & bacon to which they were returning! An excited crowd quickly surrounded me, each and every one of them grabbing my tunic or trousers, holding me as tightly as possible, no doubt so that each of them could claim to have captured the English “terror flyer” which they called me. After being captured I spent five days and nights in solitary confinement. I was interrogated each day and I was subjected to various threats, but I stuck to the rule of disclosing only my name, rank and number – and this was eventually accepted by each of my interrogators. [page break] [underlined 10. [/underlined] How did the enemy manage to shoot us down without our having any warning? Years later I learned that [inserted] JU88 [/inserted] German fighters were able to hone in on our H2S Rader Transmitter. I also learned that they were equipped with upward firing guns. Instead of attacking us from above and behind [inserted] AS WE EXPECTED [/inserted], they were able to position themselves directly below us, where they were completely hidden from our view. The Germans gave this system the code name “Schrage Music” [sic], meaning Jazz Music. Many of our Bombers were lost this way. It has always been a great sorrow for me that while 5 of us survived [symbol] as Prisoners of War, 2 members of my crew lost their lives – my Bomb Aimer and my Upper Gunner. THAT NIGHT, my Squadron lost 3 LANCASTERS of the 16 which they had sent to bomb KIEL. This was a loss rate of almost 20%, together with 21 experienced Pathfinders. The remaining mystery is how the 4 of us who were trapped UNCONSCIOUS under the cockpit roof could have had such a miraculous escape from certain death. Perhaps the centrifugal force, the “G” force, created by the spinning aircraft caused the Perspex roof to give way under the combined weight of our 4 unconscious bodies – and to hurl us out into the sky. We quickly regained consciousness in the cold night air, just in time to be saved by our parachutes. [page break] [underlined] 11. [/underlined] I spent the last 9 months of the War in a prison camp – STALAG LUFT 1 – where there were 9,000 air crew from many nations – Americans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Poles, Czechs, - as well as huge numbers of R.A.F. from this Country. During the early months of my captivity, we POW’s received a Red Cross Food parcel every week. They were a real life-saver! However during the last 4 months of the war, we received [underlined] NO [/underlined] parcels! We had to survive on the German ration of 1 bowl of thin potato soup each day – with 2 or 3 slices of Black bread. By the time the Russian Arrived to liberate us on May 1st 1945, we were really starving! That was a day of great rejoicing! The Russians found a huge store of Red Cross parcels and issued each of us with 4 parcels! So for the next 2 weeks that it took to organise our return to England, every day was like Christmas Day! Having flown to German in a Lancaster, I was flow home in an American B.17, a Flying Fortress. We landed at Ford Airfield, just along the coast in Sussex. [page break] [/underlined] 12. [/underlined] After the War the Irvin Parachute Co. presented me with a gold caterpillar brooch. This is a constant reminder that I owe my life to the caterpillars which had spun the silk thread from which my parachute was manufactured. I wear my caterpillar brooch with Gratitude and Humility! If you have been to see the Memorial, you will have noticed that in W W 2, we Air Crew were 9 feet tall. We have all Shrunk a bit since those days! 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 Talk to the Haywards Heath Historical Society Description An account of the resource These are notes prepared by Reg Barker for a talk he gives to Haywards Heath Historical Society. He opens by mentioning the Bomber Command memorial in Green Park. He recalls being a guest at two weddings in 1943, along with three other members of Bomber Command and that all four were later shot down with two killed. He recalls his training in both UK and USA and his experiences of operations throughout the war, including being shot down.  He goes on to describe his life as a prisoner of war and his subsequent repatriation. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Reg Barker Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014-06-24 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Twelve page handwritten document Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Text. Memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MBarkerR[Ser#-DoB]-151001-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Royal Air Force Royal Air Force. Bomber Command Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. United States Great Britain England--Sussex England--Haywards Heath Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea Germany Germany--Kiel Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1943 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available IBCC Digital Archive Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Sally Des Forges Maureen Clarke 635 Squadron 76 Squadron air gunner aircrew B-17 bale out Caterpillar Club H2S Halifax Harvard Ju 88 killed in action Lancaster memorial Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944) Pathfinders perception of bombing war prisoner of war RAF Downham Market RAF Ford RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor Red Cross shot down Stalag Luft 1 submarine training V-1 V-weapon