Browse Items (956 total)

  • Contributor is exactly "Sue Smith"

NColeFIG170709-05.jpg
Four photographs of Johnny - as a baby, a nine year old, a teenager and on his wedding day. The article gives brief details about his life.

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NBakerP161128-01.jpg
Relates story of Lancaster on operation to Berlin being hit by night fighter fire which wounded crew and damaged aircraft. Returning home with wounded crew and belly landed.

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PSutherlandD1901.jpg
Don’s father was a Scot and his mother came from the west coast of England. They moved to Coventry, where Don was born. When he was eight, they moved to Newcastle-on-Tyne where his father worked in armaments. Don left school at 15 and half and…

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PSutherlandD1901.jpg
Don was brought up in Newcastle, where he worked for a number of years. He attended a meeting a year before the war began, about alternatives to war and that war didn’t have to be accepted as inevitable. Don joined a community which organised…

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Henry grew up in Bradford and left school just before the outbreak of war. He had various jobs like working in the mill, a greengrocer’s shop, the dye works and then garment cutting for the army. At 17 and a half was called up in London where he…

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ACookJ150709.mp3
Jack Cook was born in Mexborough. He left school at 14 and went to work at a Gentlemen’s Outfitters. At 16 he worked on the footplate for LNER. At the age of 18 he volunteered for aircrew and trained as a wireless operator/air gunner; joined 100…

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PLovattP1701.jpg
Peter enrolled in the Air Training Corp before joining the Royal Air Force. He went to Walney Island, the Air Gunnery School, and was given the option of becoming a Bevin Boy or an air gunner choosing the latter. Following training on Ansons he…

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PReptonB1801.jpg
Betty (nee Jackson) worked in a library in Macclesfield before the war. When the war broke out, she went to Manchester to volunteer for the Air Force and trained as a telephonist. She did a course at Sheffield General Post Office before being…

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ASmithJ180111.mp3
Before the war Joan worked as a hairdresser. At 17 and a half she applied for the Land Army and was interviewed in her home town of Sheffield. Her first posting was to a farm in Fulbeck. She and about fourteen other girls stayed in a hostel with…

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Sydney’s father died when she was a baby. Her mother remarried and had another daughter and son. The son became ground crew in the Royal Air Force.
Sydney lived a few miles from London and attended Byron Court School in Webley. She was five when…

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ASquiresJW180407.mp3
John was living on a farm and working there when he left school at fourteen. The family of five lived in a two-bedroom cottage and John remembered hearing a plane crashing near Westborough one evening, all but one of the crew being killed. The…

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MLutwycheCE561197-170703-01.pdf
A report by Bill's son about the accident when his father died. He describes the details and the airmen involved.

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ACopeM181127.mp3
Mike is the adopted brother of James (known as Sonny) who was in the Royal Air Force with 460 Squadron. The crew were all English apart from the Australian pilot. James was a wireless operator/mid-upper air gunner. Mike was seven in 1943 when his…

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ADavisRC170818.mp3
When the war broke out Ronald was a solicitor’s clerk, then got a job with in Portsmouth. Whilst there he volunteered for air crew and went to London to join the Air Force. After about six months he was called up for training. He went on a…

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BMooreDMooreDv1.pdf
Dennis Moore's autobiography, compiled and edited by his son, Terry Moore.

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The letter is from the Estates Branch of the Department of National Defence. It asks for information about Sam. Part of the form is attached.

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MWeedenRC153661-170409-020001.jpg
Ceremony for air navigators and air bombers from No 1 Air Observers School RCAF. List graduates including R C Weeden form air navigators course 75.

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BBriggsDWBriggDWv1.pdf
Describes wartime service from 1939 to 1945. Joined as Halton apprentice in September 1939. Posted as fitter engine to RAF Wittering working on Wellington Hampden and Manchester aircraft. Followed by tour at RAF Upper Heyford working on Wellington…

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BBriggsDWNealeWv1.pdf
Tribute to Squadron Leader William G Neal Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross, Croix de Guerre, 1912-2001. Describes how Don Briggs met and was crewed with Bill Neal’s crew who having completed one tour had been selected for a…

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ESawhurstDRiding[Mo]440727-0001.jpg
The letter expresses shock that Ron is missing. She feels he is safe and will come back.

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EBrametteDRidingGH-[Mo]440619-0001.jpg
The author expresses sympathy over the disappearance of their son.

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EBostonEWakefieldHE441022-0001.jpg
Sends congratulations on Harold Wakefield's award of Distinguished Flying Cross which author had seen in the papers. Catches up with and other family news.

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EBalydowEGWareingJ450319-0001.jpg
Edwin thanks Mrs Wareing for her recent letter and writes of losses to his family. He also encloses a photograph of his late brother.

EBlaydowEGWareingJ450119-0001.jpg
He sends his sympathy to Mrs Wareing on her husband’s capture. He mentions that his brother was the wireless operator in her husbands crew and was killed in action. He would appreciate if anything her husband could tell them about his brother was…

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BBascombeEJBascombeEJv.pdf
Flight Engineer Ron Jones 61 Squadron, killed in action 25 April 1944. Details of his early life and service career. Some information how he met his wife, then their brief marriage. Initially he was declared missing but on January 1945 he was…

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