Browse Items (149 total)

  • Contributor is exactly "Peter Schulze"

PSmithJ1601.jpg
When war broke out, Jean was working in the Ministry of Aircraft Production. She joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1942 and did two months’ training at Innsworth camp. Jean was posted to 27 Operational Training Unit at RAF Lichfield, as…

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Don Southwell grew up in Australia and worked for RKO Radio Pictures and as an Air Raid Precautions Warden, before volunteering for the Royal Air Force. After training in Australia and Canada, he flew nine operations as a navigator with 463 Squadron…

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PSpenceMA1502.jpg
Max Spence grew up in Australia and worked in a hardware store before volunteering for the Air Force. He recalls his training in Canada and England, and life on an operational station. He flew 18 operations as a navigator with 460 Squadron.

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AHughesWH151021.mp3
Harry Hughes volunteered for the Royal Air Force in 1940 and trained in America, where he was washed out as a pilot and then retrained as a navigator in Canada, flying Ansons and Wellingtons. In 1942, he converted to Halifaxes and flew operations…

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PBencinaA1601.jpg
Angelo Bencina recalls wartime memories in Monfalcone: a cave being modified as a shelter; the descent of bright red and white target indicators at night; a bomb which narrowly missed him but did not explode; Window radio countermeasures being…

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PToccacieliG1701.jpg
Guido Toccaceri remembers his wartime experiences as a schoolboy in Milan: the day war broke out; food shortages; his father working at an airfield near Bergamo; train strafing; basements used as makeshift shelters; being evacuated outside Milan,…

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PSmithLeachGP1801.jpg
George was born in Chelmsford, Essex. He then moved to Clacton-on-Sea where he went to school before going to a seminary catholic college. When war broke out, he and two other boys aged 15 or 16 ran away from college and went to Ipswich to join the…

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ARogersH150409.mp3
Hugh Rogers was a cameraman during the war and remembers filming the sinking of the Tirpitz in November 1944. He gives a vivid and detailed account of the operation, describing the briefing, the technical modifications to the aircraft and the…

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PFellowesD1501.jpg
David Fellowes tells of how he used to build model airplanes and fly them in the fields when he was a boy. The son of an engineer, he first joined the Air Training Corps and then volunteered for the Royal Air Force at the age of 17. David describes…

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AOttawayM161121.mp3
Margaret Ottaway lived in Louth, the sixth of seven children, and tells of her childhood there. She describes an air raid shelter they had in the house. As a seven-year-old, Margaret witnessed an enemy air raid on 19 February 1941, which caused…

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AInkpenH160712.mp3
Harry Inkpen joined Bomber Command in November 1944 and flew 33 operations on Mosquitoes as a pilot on 162 Squadron. Harry tells of how, in his view, his squadron suffered more losses due to bad weather conditions than encounters with the enemy. He…

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PTrappSV1602.jpg
Sylvia was born in Mansfield where her father was a miner and her mother had worked at Lawns Mills. She had two brothers and a sister. Sylvia was 15 when she left school to work at the hosiery mills and recalls the German manager being deported. She…

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PPayneG1702.jpg
Geoff Payne has his first experience of the Royal Air Force with the Air Training Corps, at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire, where he had one of his first experiences of military humour. He joined in 1943 at the age of 17 and a half hoping to become a…

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AHarrisNG160128.mp3
Neil Harris wanted to join the RAF because he was looking for an exciting life experience and an opportunity for further education. He started as a flight mechanic before training as a pilot. Neil remembers being trained in different locations across…

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ABerrieD161031.mp3
David Berrie joined the RAF and served as a wireless operator. He flew six operations with 576 Squadron from RAF Elsham Wolds and shares his experience of living on the station with Polish crews. David remembers crashing twice in 24 hours and, on…

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AHolmesEA160129.mp3
Ernest Holmes joined the RAF and served as a pilot, flying operations first with 76 Squadron and then on Pathfinders. Gives a vivid and detailed account of when he was shot down over Holland: how he was given shelter by a farmer’s family and moved…

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AMcPhersonWhiteR150901.mp3
Roy White was born in Perth, Scotland but grew up in London. He joined the Air Training Corps, went on as a volunteer reserve and then served as an air gunner in the RAF. He tells of his brother serving in Coastal Command and surviving an aircraft…

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PBarnettWE1701.jpg
William Edwin Barnett talks about his experience of living on the edge of RAF Westcott, near Aylesbury. He remembers starting work on a farm at the age of 14 and describes his everyday life and duties. He tells of being conscripted into the Home…

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ABellGW161221.mp3
Gerald Bell worked on a poultry farm before being called up in the RAF, where he served as ground personnel. He remembers his training at RAF Finningley and RAF Balderton. Gerald tells of his posting to North Africa in 1942, where, initially, he was…

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AJacksonDM171130.mp3
David Jackson tells of his father, Norman Jackson VC, born in Ealing, London in 1919 who was working in an engineering company when the war broke out. After initially trying to join the navy, he then joined the RAF and classified as a fitter on…

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AMackieGA171222.mp3
George Mackie served in the RAF as a pilot. He flew 44 operations, 15 as a second pilot. He was posted to 15 Squadron in 1941 and critically examines the state of Bomber Command at the time. He was posted to RAF Waterbeach for 18 months, where he…

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APeelPAG170831.mp3
Mike's son Phillip gives a detailed account of his father's RAF career, using logbook and letters, as well as recalling his father's anecdotes. Mike Peel was a Lancaster pilot and served on two squadrons before becoming a prisoner of war late in…

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PSchneiderT1702.jpg
Tim Schneider lived at Westcott before, during and after the construction and occupation of RAF Westcott as 11 Operational Training Unit. He tells of feeding the rabbits when he was four years old; leaving school at fourteen to help working on the…

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ASindallTH170801.mp3
Timothy Sindall is the son of James Herbert Sindall DSO, whose career as a pilot in the Royal Air Force started in the mid-1930s. Following the discovery of all of James logbooks, personal letters and newspaper cutting, Timothy has put together a…

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PSwaffieldJ1703.jpg
James Swaffield was born and grew up in West London and flew as a navigator in the RAF. He discusses his life before, during and after the war. Highlights include: remembering his father, who served during the First World War and was awarded a…

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