Browse Items (254 total)
Sort by:
Interview with Harry Parkins. Two
Harry shares several memories of his time as a flight engineer in the Royal Air Force. He describes their initial accommodation in luxury London flats, and dinghy training at the local swimming pool. He recounts how, in June 1944, their aircraft was…
Interview with Sidney and Una Ellis
Sidney and Una both experienced the effects of the war in Sheffield as children. When Dunkirk survivors arrived at the nearby Reception Centre, Sidney collected many souvenirs such as cap badges. His aunt also took two soldiers in to her home while…
Interview with Keith Toule
Keith was five at the start of the war and lived in a farm adjoining the airfield at RAF Skellingthorpe. He describes the airfield and how the trees were cut down in the farm belt. The airfield was closed soon after the war, bought by the City…
Interview with Geoff Brown
Geoff was born and lived in the same area of Grimsby all his life, at the date of his interview he was 93. The first part of the interview concentrated on his experience of finding a German butterfly bomb close to his home. Geoff described how, after…
Dan Nash memoir
Born in 1916, Dan spent his early childhood in Kent with his grandmother before moving back to his parents in Fulham. He left school aged 16 to undertake a job with the Hudson's Bay Fur Company, where he met Joyce, his future wife. At the outbreak of…
Book 5, Return to UK
Fifth and final diary kept by David Geach chronicling his time training and on operations. He writes about his return from Canada on the Queen Elizabeth then his training in England which began with arriving at the Posting Centre in Pannal Ash,…
Interview with Jeff Gray
Jeff Gray was a farm labourer in Aberdeenshire when he volunteered for the Royal Air Force. He trained to fly in Texas and completed 30 operations as a pilot with 61 Squadron. After leaving the RAF he worked for BOAC flying Yorks and VC10s.
Interview with Bert Mason
Bert Mason was born in Germany and worked in light engineering and driving ambulances before joining the RAF in 1942. He started training as a navigator then joined a crew and became an air gunner on 195 Squadron at RAF Wratting Common. He tells of…
Interview with Taff Owen
Aneurin ‘Taff’ Owen was born neat Dolgellau, near Penmaenpool in Wales, and joined the Royal Air Force in 1942, aged 18. Taff was a farmer’s son and, as such, was put into a reserved occupation, so some of the areas of the Royal Air Force were not…
Interview with Ernest James White
James White worked as a wages clerk for the Co-op before volunteering for the Air Force. He had intended to join the navy but, when he saw some recruits being shouted at, he turned around and crossed the corridor to join the RAF. He had always had an…
Interview with Bert Hammond. Two
Upon volunteering for aircrew, Bert Hammond completed basic training and formed a crew at 26 Operational Training Unit, RAF Wing. He joined 514 Squadron based at RAF Waterbeach and completed 30 operations, before instructing at RAF Manby. Despite…
Interview with Douglas Arthur Smith
Douglas Smith grew up in Bressingham, Norfolk. He joined the Royal Air Force in October 1940, at the age of 19, and trained as a wireless operator. He joined a crew on Wellingtons at No 10 Operational Training Unit, RAF Abingdon, before converting to…
Interview with John Cox
John Cox grew up in Lincolnshire and worked in banking before he joined the Royal Air Force. After training as a pilot in the United States, he served as an instructor for almost three years. He flew 20 operations as a pilot with 626 Squadron, from…
Dr Maurice Brook Interview
Maurice grew up Rothwell in Yorkshire, joined the Air Training Corps, and then joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 18, after spending time with Cambridge University Air Squadron. He completed his pilot training in Canada before going to the…
Interview with Mervyn Jones
Mervyn Jones is a miner's son from Wales. His father wanted a different life to that of a miner for his son and the family moved away to Slough where there was plenty of work. Mervyn had always had trouble with his ears and so his father assumed he…
Interview with Peter Liddle
Peter Liddle was living in Falkirk when he and his twin brother both volunteered for the RAF. Peter became a bomb aimer and was posted to 460 Squadron at RAF Binbrook. He was shot down and, as he was descending by parachute, he could see his burning…
Interview with James Albert Dellow
James ‘Jim’ Albert Dellow had to register the start of the war he as he was 18 years old. On being asked which service he would prefer, he opted for the Royal Air Force as a pilot. Whilst waiting for his call up, he worked in an insurance office in…
Interview with Harry Hacker
Harry Hacker first came into contact with aeroplanes at the age of 16, whilst working as an apprentice for Rootes Motor Group who were making Wellington aircraft. He was a member of the Home Guard and, after applying to join the RAF, went for basic…
Interview with James Sampson
James Sampson volunteered for the RAF, trained as a navigator and became a specialist on H2S. He survived three write-offs of his aircraft, including once when the wheels had been shot away. His bomb aimer had a very near miss when shrapnel hit the…
Don Nicholson audio recording. One
Don was a flight engineer with No 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron in 1944-45 at RAF Dunholme Lodge and later at RAF Spilsby, and completed 31 operations, which he lists. He recounts how, having arrived for the briefing for his first operation, he was grounded…
Tribute to a Pathfinder captain
Tribute to Squadron Leader William G Neal, Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross, Croix de Guerre, 1912-2001. It describes how Don Briggs met and was crewed with Bill Neal’s crew who, having completed one tour, had been selected for…
Donald Cochrane's memoir
A detailed hand-written account of when his Lancaster 'Q', ND392, was attacked by an enemy aircraft and how he assisted the air gunners in the aftermath. The second part describes an operation when a great number of aircraft were lost, although his…
Donald Cochrane's operations
A handwritten list of Don Cochrane's first tour. It comprises a short paragraph for each of the 29 operations he undertook. Included are four maps with bombs indicating his targets.
WO Donald Keith Fraser
Memoir describing his life and service career in the RAF, listing 29 operations in which he participated, along with notes on specific operations, and recounting a brief history of the Lancaster.