Cruickshank, Gordon

Title

Cruickshank, Gordon

G Cruickshank

Description

76 items. Concerns the life and wartime career of Flight Lieutenant Gordon Cruickshank DFM who joined the Royal Air Force in 1938. After training as an air gunner he flew 52 operations on Manchester and Lancaster with 50, 560 and 44 Squadrons. Collection consists of a 1956 memoir with original photographs donated separately, a memoir of his life on squadron from December 1941, his logbooks. a further notebook with memoir, playing cards annotated with his operations, official documents, lucky mascots, medals and badges, dog tags, memorabilia, crew procedures, as well as photographs of aircraft, targets and people.

The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Linda Hinman and catalogued by Nigel Huckins

Date

2015-04-28

Publisher

IBCC Digital Archive

Rights

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

Cruickshank, G

Collection Items

The Lancaster which knew its way home

Story of Lancaster Number R 5868 once the gate guard at RAF Scampton. Relates that it flew 137 operational sorties and suffered only minor damage. Served on 83 Squadron in 1942 at RAF Scampton and mentions some of its operations including…

German news sheet about Italians

Front with photographs of Mussolini, General Bergonzoli, Graf Galeazzo Ciano and Oberburgermeister Fiorello La Guardia. On the reverse left a map showing Italian positions in Mediterranean and article. On the right a headline (in German) 'The…

Citation for award of Victoria Cross to Flying Officer Leslie Thomas Manser

Relates actions of Manser as captain of Manchester during the first 1,000 bomber operation on Cologne on 30 May 1942. After damage to aircraft Manser persisted in efforts to save aircraft. Once crash was inevitable he ordered his crew to bail out,…

Japanese money note

Japanese government one cent note - in English and Japanese.

Cruickshank - service and release book

For Flying Officer G Cruickshank. Release 15 February 1946.

Ticket to investiture

Ticket to investiture at Buckingham Palace - admit one.

This stone was unlaid at Duisburg by 50 Sqdn

A cartoon with image of destroyed building and large stone with inscription saying: 'This stone was unlaid at Duisburg by 50 Sqdn, followed by names of crew (F/O Calvert, F/Sgt Stevens, Sgt Gray, Sgt Branch, Sgt Austin, Sgt Cruickshank, Sgt Conner)…

This stone was unlaid at Wilhelmshaven by 50 Sqdn

A cartoon with image of destroyed building and large stone with inscription saying: 'This stone was unlaid at Wilhelmshaven by 50 Sqdn, followed by names of crew (F/O Calvert, P/O Sears, Sgt Gray, Sgt Branch, Sgt Austin, Sgt Cruickshank, Sgt Conner)…

This stone was unlaid at Bremen by 50 Sqdn

A cartoon with image of destroyed building and large stone with inscription saying: 'This stone was unlaid at Bremen by 50 Sqdn, followed by names of crew (F/O Calvert, P/O Sears, Sgt Gray, Sgt Branch, Sgt Austin, Sgt Cruickshanks[sic], Sgt Conner)…

This stone was unlaid at Dusseldorf by 50 Sqdn

A cartoon with image of destroyed building and large stone with inscription saying: “This stone was unlaid at Dusseldorf by 50 Sqdn, followed by names of crew (F/O Calvert, P/O Sears, Sgt Gray, Sgt Branch, Sgt Austin, Sgt Cruickshank, Sgt Connor)…

Lancaster gate guard with Vulcan overflight

A Vulcan flying over the Lancaster gate guard at the entrance of RAF Scampton with trees behind. Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs are also visible beneath the Lancaster. To the right the gate posts, people and a bus. On the reverse 'Lancaster at Scampton…

Bremen 4/5 Sept. 1942 50 Squadron

Lancaster dropping bombs annotated with the names of the crew: 'F/O Calvert, F/Sgt Stevens, Sgt Gray, Sgt Branch, Sgt Austin, Sgt Cruickshank, Sgt Connor' on each bomb- captioned 'Bremen 4/5 Sept. 1942 50 Squadron'.

Lancaster airborne

Air-to-air view from front below of a Lancaster with bomb doors open.

Lancaster airborne

Air-to-air view of front quarter of a Lancaster airborne with clouds below. Squadron letters PG - 619 Squadron. "B" on reverse.

Damage descriptions for post operation photographs

Damage descriptions to go with photographs of Rostock, Genoa, Milan (24 October 1942), Berlin (October 1943 and 8 March 1944) and Munich (24/25 April 1944). Some of the photographs described are not in the collection. Also a description of photograph…