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- Contributor is exactly "Julie Williams"
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Memoirs of an Air Gunner
![ABedfordRG[Date]-01.mp3](/omeka/application/views/scripts/images/fallback-audio.png "ABedfordRG[Date]-01.mp3")
Ron Bedford planned to volunteer for the RAF as an air gunner but the recruiters believed he had the aptitude to be a pilot. However, while waiting for his training to begin Ron received a letter to say that if he chose to be an air gunner rather…
Interview with Charles Meacock
Charles responded to a newspaper article for motorboat crew and joined the Royal Air Force in July 1941. He was eventually called up to Cardington and kitted out at Penarth, with an Initial Training Wing at Weston-super-Mare. From Great Yarmouth, he…
Interview with Terry Lloyd
Terry Lloyd’s older was a wireless operator in Bomber Command and became a prisoner of war. Terry was also determined to join the RAF as aircrew. However, he was rejected due to his eyesight and served on Air Sea Rescue launches. Terry was posted…
Interview with Eric Haynes
He served at the Marine Aircraft Research Establishment
Interview with George Griffiths
George served as a wireless operator on Air Sea Rescue launches.
Interview with Ken Done
Ken served as a wireless operator on an Air Sea Rescue launch.
Interview with Bill Bilton
Bill Bilton served as Motorboat Crew in the Mediterranean.
Conversation with Hamish Mahaddie. Two
Hamish Mahaddie was selected during a tour of operations to become the recruiter for the Pathfinders working closely with Don Bennett. He discusses the changing technology of aircraft during the war years. He personally flew the Whitleys, Stirlings,…
Interview with J Taplin
J Taplin of Stevenage worked at Stevenage Lodge as a gardener associated with Six Hills Nursery before he was called to the Army at the start of the war. Within a week of enlisting he was in France where he spent the months of the Phoney War as…
Conquest-Hospital Radio interview with Jack Newton
Jack Newton joined the RAF in 1938. He trained as an air gunner and was posted to 12 Squadron at RAF Binbrook. Just before midnight on the 5th of August 1941 Jack and his crew set off for Cologne. They were attacked by a night fighter. One engine was…
Interview with Iris McClements. One
Iris McClements was a member of the Women’s Junior Air Corps and then the Royal Observer Corps. She met her husband on one of his visits to York.
Interview with Peter Offord Davies. Part Two
Peter volunteered in 1942 and was accepted early in 1943. He outlines the combat training they received. Talks of the rations he received early in the war and on the RAF station. He describes the autonomy of his anti-aircraft unit. Reflecting on…
Interview with Peter Offord Davies. Part One
Peter was born in Coventry. Although in the army, Peter was stationed on RAF airfields and joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in October 1938, aged 16, transferring to the Royal Artillery. He then joined the Army Air Corps (AAC) and was part of…
Interview with Fred Hooker. Two
Fred Hooker was a mid-upper gunner on 102 Squadron at RAF Pocklington, where he flew three operations before being shot down. Born in Hartley Wintney in 1924, Fred’s first experience of the RAF was visiting RAF Odiham as a member of the Air…
Interview with Alan Coburn
Alan Coburn’s father was killed in the First World War when he was one year old and his brother was not yet born. He attended a prep school in London and then Rugby before gaining a degree at Oxford University. The insurance brokerage associated…
Interview with Francis Burtenshaw
Francis grew up in Teddington. After school, he went to Hawker Siddeley Aircraft, where working conditions improved with modernisation. He learnt about Hurricanes, designed by Sydney Camm. They started to build smaller aircraft units over the country…
Interview with Harold Allen
Harold Allen’s parents travelled to the UK to escape the pogroms in Europe. He lived in London during the Blitz. When Harold volunteered for the RAF he trained as a wireless operator on the ground. He did not want to join aircrew because he was…
Interview with Jan Black. One
Jan Black flew operations as an air gunner with 300 Squadron. He was badly burned when his aircraft crashed on a training flight and he became a member of the Guinea Pig Club. He underwent ten operations at East Grinstead Hospital. He describes his…
Interview with Harry Irons. Two
Harry was under age when he joined the RAF in 1940 after witnessing bombing in London. He went to Blackpool in August 1941 and became a rear gunner. Gunnery school for six weeks at RAF Manby followed, and Harry joined 9 Squadron at RAF Waddington. He…
Interview with Les Rutherford. One
During this interview Les describes his experience as a despatch rider in France in 1940 before escaping from Dunkirk and returning to the United Kingdom, eventually joining the Royal Air Force. He also describes his training in South Africa and his…
Interview with Bertie Salvage
Bertie Salvage joined the RAF in 1939 as an apprentice and initially began his technical training at RAF Cranwell before training was transferred to RAF Halton and also shortened because of the start of the Second World War. Bertie was present when…
Interview with Dougie Marsh
Interview in three parts.
Part 1.
Doug Marsh was the son of a Royal Navy officer and moved around quite a bit as a child between Kent and Lincolnshire. When his father retired from the Navy his parents bought a fish and chip shop in Grimsby but…
Part 1.
Doug Marsh was the son of a Royal Navy officer and moved around quite a bit as a child between Kent and Lincolnshire. When his father retired from the Navy his parents bought a fish and chip shop in Grimsby but…
Interview with Terry Hodson
Terry Hodson was conscripted to the RAF towards the end of the Second World War. He started in the airfield construction team doing work as and when needed. He was involved in preparing the area in London for the Victory Parade. He left the RAF…