Browse Items (133 total)

  • Contributor is exactly "Carolyn Emery"

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Talk with Mollie Caunt, Michael Bassett and Professor David Stocker about the origin and publication of the Freiburg letters.

Dorothy May was a British woman living in Germany during the war. Her husband was conscripted into the Germany Army.…

AHutsonB171030.mp3
Brian Hutson was a child during the war. He remembers his father, who worked on building airfields and delivering air raid shelters. He remembers his childhood, sleeping in a shelter and listening to aircraft, air raids, blackouts, playing with…

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Douglas Reed was working in the Town Clerk's Department at Goole when he volunteered to serve in the RAF. After completing operational training at RAF Peplow he was posted to 166 Squadron at RAF Kirmington. He flew operations over Germany before…

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Emmanuel Alexis Elden grew up in Jamaica. He joined the Royal Air Force and trained at RAF Hunmanby Moor. He served as an air traffic controller and when he was not on duty he used to enjoy travelling to dances in London. He stayed in the RAF until…

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AHyndC171115.mp3
Colin Hynd joined the RAF in November 1943. Upon completing initial training, he was posted to RAF St Athan, where he trained as a flight engineer. He struggled to bond with his first crew, so instead worked as an instructor, before joining a…

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Jack Brown was born and spent his early life in Australia, leaving school at fourteen doing odd jobs before joining the civil service and then the RAF. He talks about his initial training before travelling to England and joining 69 Squadron. Jack…

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ATrumanEG170315.mp3
Ernest Truman completed his initial training in Australia as a navigator before arriving in the UK. He was posted to 460 Squadron at RAF Binbrook. One of his ops was to destroy the oil refinery at Merseburg and he recalls the explosion was so bright…

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Max was born in Beaufort, Victoria and grew up on his parents’ dairy farm. Gaining a scholarship led to him becoming a student teacher and attending training college. He was called up when he was 18 and applied to become a reserve in the Air Force,…

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Alan was born in Parramatta, Sydney, in Australia. After going to the Middle East with the army, he returned to Australia, when Japan entered the war, and transferred to the RAF in November 1942.
Alan was posted to Bradfield Park for training and…

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AArmstrongGR170720.mp3
George Rex Armstrong served in the RAF as a flight engineer. He was born in Belfast and grew up in Donaghadee. He decided to join the RAF because he wanted to follow his brother Ted, who flew 40 operations with 617 Squadron. He mentions being in the…

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John Norrington was a lorry driver when he volunteered for the Royal Air Force. After initial training, he went to RAF Sandtoft on Lancasters and Halifaxes; he crewed up with Flying Officer James, then was at RAF Hemswell for the Lancaster Finishing…

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AHolthamJ180522.mp3
At the age of 15, John ran away from home, lied about his age and joined the British Army. In 1917 he joined the Royal Flying Corps, qualified as a pilot and volunteered to join the Royal Naval Air Service. When the Second World War broke out, he…

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AScottSO150904.mp3
Seymour Owen Scott (usually referred to as Owen) served as a Lancaster pilot during the war. He mentions always having a passion for flying since he was a little boy. Owen remembers training, in Canada and the United States, to become a flying boat…

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Philip James was a valet to Captain Fletcher at Margham Castle before joining the Royal Air Force. At the age of 19 he trained as a flight engineer at RAF St Athan, working on the Halifax. At RAF Dishforth in Yorkshire crews were formed and Philip…

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Bob Smith was born in Brisbane, Australia. He recalls moving to the family farm in 1932 and being a member of the Air Cadets during his school years. Upon leaving school, Smith undertook training as a bank clerk. Following the events of Pearl…

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John Taylor grew up in Nottingham and was evacuated before he went into sixth form. He left school and started working as an analytical chemist at Boots and although this was a reserved occupation he volunteered for aircrew. After his initial…

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Leslie Curtis describes how, when flying from Gibraltar to Malta, his Wellington (Z8773) experienced engine failure and he was forced to ditch in the Mediterranean Sea. The sole survivor, Leslie was picked up after four days by the destroyer, HMS…

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Kenneth Locke was born in 1923 and wanted to join the Royal Air Force, following in the footsteps of his father, who was a First World War Pilot. Between leaving school and joining the Royal Air Force, Kenneth worked as a bank clerk, before signing…

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Charles Parker was part of the Fast Night Striking Force of Number 8 Group, Pathfinder Squadron in Bomber Command, flying in Mosquitos. He tells of “crewing up” in September 1943 as a 21 year old, his near miss with a Mosquito from 1409 Met…

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Roy Hill joined the RAF wanting to be a pilot but became a wireless operator air gunner. On his eighteenth operation, in a Lancaster flying over the Ruhr he was shot down by a German night fighter. He was captured and incarcerated in Stalag Luft 1…

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AHooperH151117.mp3
As a child, Harry Hooper enjoyed watching the planes at Heston Airfield. He volunteered for the RAF in 1939 and began training to be a pilot. He flew with 115 Squadron and undertook operations over Northern France and Germany using Gee, including…

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Douglas (Jim) James was born in India and returned to England when he was nine. After school, he joined the RAF as an air gunner, forging his father’s signature on the application. Jim carried out twenty nine operations on 460 Squadron, flying in…

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AVanRielJF150825.mp3
Coby Van Riel was aged about six when the Germans invaded Holland. She lived in a fishing port area of The Hague, where her father had numerous jobs to make ends meet in the difficult days before the war and her mother ran a chemist shop. She…

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Gwyneth Stratten was born in London in 1934. She was briefly evacuated during the war but wrote to her mother to say if she didn’t come and collect her, she would walk home. On a visit to a museum in London with her mother she saw a group of badly…

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Jack Wakefield grew up in New Zealand and volunteered for the Air Force and the Army. He trained as an air gunner on Defiants before being posted to 75 Squadron at RAF Feltwell where he completed a tour on Wellingtons, flying operations to locations…

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