3
25
949
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/144/1384/PPOConnellDA16010027.1.jpg
50aee76ef4375af68a66d4026b23913c
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/144/1384/PPOConnellDA16010028.1.jpg
b7304bfb324bd1ca2e9e4fe59d44de60
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
O'Connell, Desmond
D A O'Connell
Des O'Connell
Description
An account of the resource
32 items. The collection relates to Flying Officer Desmond Anthony O’Connell (b. 1919, 754811 199137). He was badly burned when his 502 Squadron Whitley crashed in Northern Ireland and he became a patient of Archibald McIndoe and a member of the Guinea Pig club. The collection contains an oral history interview, two telegrams, four religious cards and Royal Canadian Air Force photographs taken at a formal the inaugural Guinea Pig Club dinner. Guests at the dinner include Charles Portal, Archibald McIndoe, Harold Whittingham, Alec Coryton and Albert Ross Tilley. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Desmond O'Connell and catalogued by IBCC staff.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-08-09
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Alec Coryton's speech
HQ1523
Mac Lord Portal
Description
An account of the resource
Sir Alec Coryton delivering a speech with Sir Charles Portal, Archibald McIndoe and Wing Commander Albert Ross Tilley seated at the top table. Captioned 'HQ1523' and on the reverse 'Mac Lord Portal'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPOConnellDA16010027
PPOConnellDA16010028
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Sussex
England--East Grinstead
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
O'Connell, Desmond. Guinea Pig Club Inaugural Dinner
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Guinea Pig Club
McIndoe, Archibald (1900-1960)
Portal, Charles (1893-1971)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/144/1385/PPOConnellDA16010029.1.jpg
5db1d7c2092e6e1f644ffe10af8500fb
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
O'Connell, Desmond
D A O'Connell
Des O'Connell
Description
An account of the resource
32 items. The collection relates to Flying Officer Desmond Anthony O’Connell (b. 1919, 754811 199137). He was badly burned when his 502 Squadron Whitley crashed in Northern Ireland and he became a patient of Archibald McIndoe and a member of the Guinea Pig club. The collection contains an oral history interview, two telegrams, four religious cards and Royal Canadian Air Force photographs taken at a formal the inaugural Guinea Pig Club dinner. Guests at the dinner include Charles Portal, Archibald McIndoe, Harold Whittingham, Alec Coryton and Albert Ross Tilley. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Desmond O'Connell and catalogued by IBCC staff.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-08-09
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Airmen having their menus signed by top table guests
HQ1524
Description
An account of the resource
Four top table guests seated, Wing Commander Ross Tilley signing a menu. Three airmen standing, waiting. Captioned 'HQ1524'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPOConnellDA16010029
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Sussex
England--East Grinstead
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
O'Connell, Desmond. Guinea Pig Club Inaugural Dinner
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Guinea Pig Club
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/144/1386/PPOConnellDA16010030.2.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/144/1386/PPOConnellDA16010031.1.jpg
732554c65a12167b3741c31366dbc8a8
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
O'Connell, Desmond
D A O'Connell
Des O'Connell
Description
An account of the resource
32 items. The collection relates to Flying Officer Desmond Anthony O’Connell (b. 1919, 754811 199137). He was badly burned when his 502 Squadron Whitley crashed in Northern Ireland and he became a patient of Archibald McIndoe and a member of the Guinea Pig club. The collection contains an oral history interview, two telegrams, four religious cards and Royal Canadian Air Force photographs taken at a formal the inaugural Guinea Pig Club dinner. Guests at the dinner include Charles Portal, Archibald McIndoe, Harold Whittingham, Alec Coryton and Albert Ross Tilley. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Desmond O'Connell and catalogued by IBCC staff.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-08-09
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Charles Portal addressing the dinner guests
HQ1531
Lord Portal
Description
An account of the resource
Sir Charles Portal speaking, on his left Archibald McIndoe and Sir Alec Coryton. On his right an unnamed civilian. Captioned 'HQ1531' and on the reverse 'Lord Portal'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPOConnellDA16010030
PPOConnellDA16010031
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Sussex
England--East Grinstead
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
O'Connell, Desmond. Guinea Pig Club Inaugural Dinner
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Guinea Pig Club
McIndoe, Archibald (1900-1960)
Portal, Charles (1893-1971)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/144/1387/PPOConnellDA16010032.1.jpg
e52704232770c30e02a29a1c119e9ef0
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
O'Connell, Desmond
D A O'Connell
Des O'Connell
Description
An account of the resource
32 items. The collection relates to Flying Officer Desmond Anthony O’Connell (b. 1919, 754811 199137). He was badly burned when his 502 Squadron Whitley crashed in Northern Ireland and he became a patient of Archibald McIndoe and a member of the Guinea Pig club. The collection contains an oral history interview, two telegrams, four religious cards and Royal Canadian Air Force photographs taken at a formal the inaugural Guinea Pig Club dinner. Guests at the dinner include Charles Portal, Archibald McIndoe, Harold Whittingham, Alec Coryton and Albert Ross Tilley. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Desmond O'Connell and catalogued by IBCC staff.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-08-09
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Airmen shaking hands with Ross Tilley
HQ1529
Description
An account of the resource
Wing Commander Ross Tilley shaking hands with airmen whilst behind an Air Chief Marshall signs a menu. They are seated at the top table with a vase of flowers and after dinner coffees. Captioned 'HQ1529'
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPOConnellDA16010032
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Sussex
England--East Grinstead
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
O'Connell, Desmond. Guinea Pig Club Inaugural Dinner
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Guinea Pig Club
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/144/1388/PPOConnellDA16010033.2.jpg
3a12769abb92d276b06ec56104357722
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/144/1388/PPOConnellDA16010034.2.jpg
427328c8b776b07ba35dd46d99a37f64
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
O'Connell, Desmond
D A O'Connell
Des O'Connell
Description
An account of the resource
32 items. The collection relates to Flying Officer Desmond Anthony O’Connell (b. 1919, 754811 199137). He was badly burned when his 502 Squadron Whitley crashed in Northern Ireland and he became a patient of Archibald McIndoe and a member of the Guinea Pig club. The collection contains an oral history interview, two telegrams, four religious cards and Royal Canadian Air Force photographs taken at a formal the inaugural Guinea Pig Club dinner. Guests at the dinner include Charles Portal, Archibald McIndoe, Harold Whittingham, Alec Coryton and Albert Ross Tilley. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Desmond O'Connell and catalogued by IBCC staff.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-08-09
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Ross Tilley addressing the dinner guests
HQ1528
Ross Tilley RCAF
Description
An account of the resource
Wing Commander Ross Tilley standing and speaking, Archibald McIndoe and two others are seated at the top table. Captioned 'HQ1528' and on the reverse 'Ross Tilley RCAF'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPOConnellDA16010033
PPOConnellDA16010034
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Sussex
England--East Grinstead
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
O'Connell, Desmond. Guinea Pig Club Inaugural Dinner
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Guinea Pig Club
McIndoe, Archibald (1900-1960)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/144/1389/PPOConnellDA16010035.1.jpg
801b917e01ffb2c5f760ddc341066059
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/144/1389/PPOConnellDA16010036.1.jpg
80ab8d3649033c1ccfcddb1d22e9916a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
O'Connell, Desmond
D A O'Connell
Des O'Connell
Description
An account of the resource
32 items. The collection relates to Flying Officer Desmond Anthony O’Connell (b. 1919, 754811 199137). He was badly burned when his 502 Squadron Whitley crashed in Northern Ireland and he became a patient of Archibald McIndoe and a member of the Guinea Pig club. The collection contains an oral history interview, two telegrams, four religious cards and Royal Canadian Air Force photographs taken at a formal the inaugural Guinea Pig Club dinner. Guests at the dinner include Charles Portal, Archibald McIndoe, Harold Whittingham, Alec Coryton and Albert Ross Tilley. The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Desmond O'Connell and catalogued by IBCC staff.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-08-09
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Archibald McIndoe addressing the dinner guests
HQ1545
Archie
Description
An account of the resource
Archibald McIndoe standing and speaking. The top table guests are seated. In the foreground are the backs of several airmen seated on one of the long tables. Captioned 'HQ1545' and on the reverse 'Archie'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPOConnellDA16010035
PPOConnellDA16010036
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Sussex
England--East Grinstead
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
O'Connell, Desmond. Guinea Pig Club Inaugural Dinner
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Guinea Pig Club
McIndoe, Archibald (1900-1960)
Portal, Charles (1893-1971)
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1334/20639/PSearleROJ17060006.1.jpg
49e4d96e01286c7ad65c0e0f70fa78b8
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Searle, Rex. Album 2
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-07-25
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Searle, ROJ
Description
An account of the resource
24 items. The album contains photographs and papers relating to Rex Searle's wartime and postwar service.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Target Token Emden
Aiming point certificate
Description
An account of the resource
A card with an aerial photograph taken during an operation. The target was Emden and the crew members are listed.
‘F/O Potter
F/O Rutherford
F/O Mjolsness
F/O Reid
Sgt Taylor
Sgt Tuer
Sgt Searle’
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-09-06
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed card
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Physical object
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSearleROJ17060006
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-09-06
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
6 Group
aerial photograph
aircrew
bombing
Halifax
target photograph
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1334/20642/PSearleROJ17060009.2.jpg
2ee7419cd45bf58ef4c32d756dbbf3e5
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Searle, Rex. Album 2
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-07-25
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Searle, ROJ
Description
An account of the resource
24 items. The album contains photographs and papers relating to Rex Searle's wartime and postwar service.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Target Token Osnabruck
Aiming point certificate
Description
An account of the resource
A card with a target photograph of an operation at Osnabruck. The crew is listed.
‘F/O Potter
F/O Rutherford
F/O Mjolnese
F/O Reid
Sgt Taylor
Sgt Tuer
Sgt Searle’
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-09-13
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Physical object
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSearleROJ17060009
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Osnabrück
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-09-13
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
6 Group
aerial photograph
aircrew
bombing
target photograph
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/810/22707/MEdwardsF1805103-180314-080001.2.jpg
bb60f3f660f373852c143cfecfa249c7
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/810/22707/MEdwardsF1805103-180314-080002.2.jpg
3101ce30b4f818f453f9f594714c27c6
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Edwards, Frederick
F Edwards
Description
An account of the resource
26 items. The collection concerns Frederick Edwards (b. 1923) and contains his log book, maps, navigation charts, service documents, and photographs. He flew operations as a navigator with 101 Squadron. There is also an oral history interview with his son, Martin Edwards.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Martin Edwards and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-03-14
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Edwards, F
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Weather Observations by Aircraft Crew
Description
An account of the resource
Observed weather during a cross country flight (training?).
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-10-19
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One double sided printed sheet with handwritten annotations
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MEdwardsF1805103-180314-080001,
MEdwardsF1805103-180314-080002
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-10-19
aircrew
ground personnel
meteorological officer
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1497/28865/MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-130001.2.jpg
71bb542b75fe67792f525494b3c0c0af
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1497/28865/MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-130002.2.jpg
1c1b6f3c1a8c481060a0863a3220ba7c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Leadbetter, John
J Leadbetter
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-21
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Leadbetter, J
Description
An account of the resource
166 items. The collection concerns John Leadbetter (1549105, 163970 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, photographs and documents. <br /><br />There are four sub-collections:<br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1725">Leadbetter, John. Aerial Photographs</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1721">Leadbetter, John. Aircraft Recognition</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1723">Leadbetter, John. Canada</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1718">Leadbetter, John. Maps and Charts</a> <br /><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Keith Henry Leadbetter and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
John Leadbetter's Inoculation Card
Description
An account of the resource
A card used for recording John's inoculations.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One double sided printed card with handwritten annotations
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-130001, MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-130002
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
aircrew
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1497/28867/MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-160001.1.jpg
d1576fc05c2f823d808ce8f9491e7846
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1497/28867/MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-160002.1.jpg
44d03aab5e835b61178fef74cb1fc642
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Leadbetter, John
J Leadbetter
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-21
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Leadbetter, J
Description
An account of the resource
166 items. The collection concerns John Leadbetter (1549105, 163970 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, photographs and documents. <br /><br />There are four sub-collections:<br /><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1725">Leadbetter, John. Aerial Photographs</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1721">Leadbetter, John. Aircraft Recognition</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1723">Leadbetter, John. Canada</a><br /><a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1718">Leadbetter, John. Maps and Charts</a> <br /><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Keith Henry Leadbetter and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
John Leadbetter's Bomb Aimer's Form
Description
An account of the resource
A form used to record John's bombing practice.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-11-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One double sided printed sheet with handwritten annotations
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-160001, MLeadbetterJ163970-160421-160002
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-11-15
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1794/35941/MWilsonRC1389401-170113-24.2.jpg
f6721dc30b6e13cc8c549450f513a5e3
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Wilson, Reginald Charles
R C Wilson
Description
An account of the resource
166 items. The collection concerns Reginald Charles Wilson (b. 1923, 1389401 Royal Air Force) and contains his wartime log, photographs, documents and correspondence. He few operations as a navigator with 102 Squadron. He was shot down on 20 January 1944 and became a prisoner of war.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Janet Hughes and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-01-13
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Wilson, RC
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Charles Dupueis Attestation Paper
Description
An account of the resource
Charle's RCAF service paper.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-10
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Saskatchewan--Regina
Saskatchewan
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet with typewritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MWilsonRC1389401-170113-24
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
air gunner
aircrew
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36131/MMcCronSLW191097-170817-060001.2.jpg
1b0ee0b8427693b4b0a42c60b746fd64
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36131/MMcCronSLW191097-170817-060002.2.jpg
40d3c9102881eabcd42434d44bd4e2e6
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
McCron, Samuel Lorne Wilfred
S L W McCron
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
McCron, SLW
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron (R/191097 Royal Canadian Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He was training as a wireless operator / air gunner and was killed 30 November 1944 when his Wellington crashed. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Proteau and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/115416/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Sam McCron's Report on Pupil Pilot - Flying and Ground Training
Description
An account of the resource
Sam's training results. Not suitable for pilot, navigator or bomber. Remustered as wireless operator / air gunner.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One double sided printed sheet with typewritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MMcCronSLW191097-170817-060001, MMcCronSLW191097-170817-060002
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
aircrew
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36132/MMcCronSLW191097-170817-080001.2.jpg
75b3d8ae20ed2ba31d51e5e0b507214f
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36132/MMcCronSLW191097-170817-080002.2.jpg
8247c514a4090d19ac17d16107dc7699
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
McCron, Samuel Lorne Wilfred
S L W McCron
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
McCron, SLW
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron (R/191097 Royal Canadian Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He was training as a wireless operator / air gunner and was killed 30 November 1944 when his Wellington crashed. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Proteau and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/115416/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Sam McCron's Personal Record
Description
An account of the resource
Sam's exam results and employment history plus an assessment of his health and airforce potential.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-09-30
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Manitoba--Winnipeg
Manitoba
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One double sided printed sheet with handwritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MMcCronSLW191097-170817-080001, MMcCronSLW191097-170817-080002
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-09-30
aircrew
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36133/MMcCronSLW191097-170817-090001.2.jpg
452fd6e804a5b809fe9a2ef193b303db
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36133/MMcCronSLW191097-170817-090002.2.jpg
855c12cee3267278e8d583f92250a757
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
McCron, Samuel Lorne Wilfred
S L W McCron
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
McCron, SLW
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron (R/191097 Royal Canadian Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He was training as a wireless operator / air gunner and was killed 30 November 1944 when his Wellington crashed. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Proteau and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/115416/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE R.C.A.F. M.42
MEDICAL O]missing letters]CER'S REPORT ON CEASED TRAINING [missing letters]SES 885-M.42
No. R191097 Name McCron, S.L.W. Present Station No. 7 I.T.S. Course No. 78
Now Being Trained as Aircrew "S" Basic Training at: No.7 I.T.S. Course 78 No. W.S. Course
Previous Failures: Pilot ... A.O. ... A.N... A.B... W.O.A.G... AG...
PART 1
ALL C.I.T. CASES
A PRIMARY
1. Flying
2. Ground X
3. Airsickness
4. Medical ApBp
5. Medical A4B
6. Discipline
7. Deserter
8. Death
9. Language
10. Requests own C.T.
B. SECONDARY
1. Flying
2. Ground
3. Airsickness
4. Medical
5. Discipline
6. Language
PART II
FLYING, GROUND AND DEATH SUB-CATEGORIES
FLYING SUB-CATEGORY 1
1. Cannot fly level
2. Cannot do steep turns
3. Cannot take off
4. Cannot land
5. Cannot do forced landings
6. Cannot do aerobatics
FLYING SUB-CATEGORY 2
1. Overcontrols
2. Undercontrols
3. Erratic
4. Rough on controls
5. Slow on controls
FLYING SUB-CATEGORY 3
1. Reckless
2. Poor judgment of height & distance
3. Lacks orientation
4. Unable to grasp principles of flying
5. Lack of confidence
6. Lack of application or interest
7. Poor airmanship
FLYING SUB-CATEGORY 4
1. Good emotional control
2. Partial lack of emotional control
3. Little or no emotional control
4. Others than 1, 2, & 3
GROUND SUB-CATEGORY
1. Unable to grasp principles of ground subjects X
2. Lack of application or interest
DEATH SUB-CATEGORY
1. Flying accident
2. Other accidents
3. Natural causes
Hours flown: Dual ... Solo ... Hours to go solo ...
Accident data:
Disposal of Case:
(a) Reselected for training as pilot ...
(b) Remustered for training as: A.O. ... A.N. ... A.B. ... W.O.A.G. ...X... A.G. .......
(c) Remustered to Ground ... (d) Elected discharge ... (e) Disch. Medical Grounds ...
REMARKS
[underlined] Chief Supervisory Officer [/underlined] [underlined] Chief Flying Instructor [/underlined]
Mature, coscientious [sic] type. First choice Pilot, Navigator but not Pilot, Navigator or Bomber material. Made low average mark. Anxious for Overseas service. Failed Navigation and signals – passed the supplemental.
Signature ...
[underlined] Flying Instructor [/underlined]
Signature ...
[underlined] Flying Instructor [/underlined]
Signature ...
[underlined] Medical Officer [/underlined]
(a) Accident Experience Prior to C.T.: Nil
(b) Medical History (sickness during training): Nil
[stamped JAN 31 1944]
(c) Medical Officer's Remarks: Medical category A1B-A3B (Tur)
Pleasant alert. 32 years old. Married before war, 1 child. enlisted for patriotic reasons – sense of duty.
Sr. Matric. Ont. age 17 years. Bro. Sgt. AG killed over Germany Oct. 1942
Bro. C.T. as pilot trainee now in maintenance, A.E.M.
He has long nterest [sic] in flying. 2 or 300 hrs in air in north. Worked on aircraft in spare time.
Signature ... M.O. i/c
(R.G. Taylor) Flt/Lt
[page break]
D E F I N I T I O N S
[underlined] PART 1A [/underlined] –
1. Flying: Failure to reach required flying standard for any cause. Include voluntary C.T. cases who would probably have washed-out because of poor performance.
Check also flying sub-categories.
2. Ground: Failure to obtain required standing in ground subjects. Check also ground sub-categories.
3. Airsickness: This is only to be checked in Part 1A when it is the primary cause.
4, 5. Medical: Self-explanatory. To be dealt with fully under medical officer's remarks.
6. Discipline: Gross misconduct.
7. Deserter: self-explanatory.
8. Death: Check also in death sub-category.
9. Language: To be checked when it is the primary cause.
10. Requests own C.T.: Flying to date warrants a "pass" but requests own C.T. Flying sub-categories will not be checked.
[underlined] PART 1B [/underlined] –
1. Flying: To be checked where inadequate flying performance is a contributing reason for C.T. Flying sub-categories 1 to 3 should also be checked. This column will also be checked for trainees at A.O.S. who do poorly on flying exercises.
2. Ground: Failure to obtain required standing in ground subjects, if a contributing reason for C.T. Check also ground sub-category.
3. Airsickness: To be checked in Part 1B when it is a contributing cause to C.T.
4. Medical: Self-explanatory. To be dealt with fully under medical officer's remarks.
5. Discipline: Gross misconduct.
6. Language: To be checked in those cases in which language difficulty is believed to have contributed to C.T.
[underlined] PART 2 [/underlined]
[underlined] FLYING SUB-CATEGORY [/underlined] 1 – 1. The items are self-explanatory.
[underlined] FLYING SUB-CATEGORY 2 [/underlined] – 1. Overcontrols: Trainee moves control column or rudder farther or more often than manoeuvre demands.
2. Undercontrols: Trainee does not move controls sufficiently far or often.
3. Erratic: Combination of 1 and 2.
4. Rough on controls: Unnecessary force or violence.
5. Slow on controls: Sluggish.
[underlined] FLYING SUB-CATEGORY 3 [/underlined] –
1. Reckless: Flying in a dangerous manner not justified by the stage of training.
2. Judgment of height and distance: Re landings, approaches.
3. Lacks orientation: Lacks the correct perception from moment to moment of the attitude of the aircraft and its position relative to the horizon or ground.
4. Unable to grasp principles of flying: Cannot organize his knowledge and impressions to improve his flying.
5. Lack of confidence: Little or no confidence in his ability to fly.
6. Lack of application or interest: Lacks interest in flying and/or will not apply himself to the best of his ability.
7. Poor Airmanship: Poor on the rules and regulations of flying.
[underlined] FLYING SUB-CATEGORY 4 [/underlined] – 1. Good emotional control: This designates those trainees who are unable to control an aircraft but who show no signs of emotional upset over their poor flying (e.g. satisfied with poor performance, apparently no realization of errors).
2. Partial lack of emotional control: To the degree that it interferes with the trainee's neuromuscular (nervous and muscular) control of his actions, and therefore with his flying performance (e.g. cannot keep from getting tense, the "nervous type").
3. Little or no emotional control: Control so completely lacking that trainee is prepared to wash-out either voluntarily or on advice (e.g. admits fear and requests wash-out).
[underlined] GROUND SUB-CATEGORY [/underlined] – 1. Unable to grasp principles of ground subjects: This item is self-explanatory.
2. Lack of application or interest: Lacks interest in the subjects and/or will not apply himself.
[underlined] DEATH SUB-CATEGORY [/underlined] – 1. The items are self-explanatory.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Sam McCron's Medical Officer's Report on Ceased Training Cases
Description
An account of the resource
A report stating that Sam is not suitable for Pilot, Navigator or Bomber.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-01-31
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One double sided printed sheet with handwritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MMcCronSLW191097-170817-090001, MMcCronSLW191097-170817-090002
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
aircrew
bomb aimer
navigator
pilot
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36160/OMcCronSLW191097-170817-010001.2.jpg
bc78fb06bf6edfaf8a51b4d763009e76
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36160/OMcCronSLW191097-170817-010002.2.jpg
3dd1bf668172ac3511d1e01cc7c4f0f2
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
McCron, Samuel Lorne Wilfred
S L W McCron
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
McCron, SLW
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron (R/191097 Royal Canadian Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He was training as a wireless operator / air gunner and was killed 30 November 1944 when his Wellington crashed. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Proteau and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/115416/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Sam McCron's Record of Service
Description
An account of the resource
A record of Sam's service in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Ontario--Geraldton
Manitoba--Brandon
Manitoba--Winnipeg
Saskatchewan
Alberta--Calgary
Alberta--Lethbridge
Québec--Montréal
Ontario
Québec
Alberta
Manitoba
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two printed sheets with handwritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
OMcCronSLW191097-170817-010001, OMcCronSLW191097-170817-010002
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
82 OTU
air gunner
aircrew
killed in action
Operational Training Unit
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36161/OMcCronSLW191097-170817-020001.1.jpg
f4ab8b5f52caf1e0f2de60f7c974aa89
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36161/OMcCronSLW191097-170817-020002.1.jpg
74df424bbfdae52145def16322f9491a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
McCron, Samuel Lorne Wilfred
S L W McCron
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
McCron, SLW
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron (R/191097 Royal Canadian Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He was training as a wireless operator / air gunner and was killed 30 November 1944 when his Wellington crashed. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Proteau and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/115416/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Sam McCron's Record of Service
Description
An account of the resource
Sam's record of service.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Manitoba--Winnipeg
Manitoba--Brandon
Saskatchewan--Saskatoon
Alberta--Calgary
Saskatchewan
Alberta
Manitoba
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One double sided printed sheet with handwritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
OMcCronSLW191097-170817-020001, OMcCronSLW191097-170817-020002
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
aircrew
killed in action
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36189/EMurrayJMMcCronF451017.1.jpg
376b79f8ba16f1448bfb7eeb05c1080d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
McCron, Samuel Lorne Wilfred
S L W McCron
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
McCron, SLW
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron (R/191097 Royal Canadian Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He was training as a wireless operator / air gunner and was killed 30 November 1944 when his Wellington crashed. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Proteau and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/115416/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE [/underlined]
File: R91332(DAF/F-2-5)
Date: 17th October, 1945.
Mr. L.W. McCron,
Box 202,
Geralton, Ontario.
Dear Sir:
We have received an application for the war service gratuity in respect of the late Flight Sergeant W.G. McCron, from Mrs. Florence M. McCron.
In the case of death of a member of the forces, regulations provide that the gratuity on his behalf is to be paid either to a person who was dependent upon him at the time of his death or, if there was no dependent, it is then to be paid into his service estate for distribution in accordance with the terms of his will or, in the absence of a will, to the person or persons legally entitled to his estate.
Records reveal that pay was assigned to you by the deceased at the time of his death, which may or may not indicate that a state of dependency existed. Therefore, before we can deal with the claim which has been received, and in order to hasten settlement of the gratuity payable in respect of the deceased, we must first ascertain whether or not you were dependent upon the assignment received.
If dependency is claimed, your case will be referred to the appropriate authorities for investigation. On the other hand, if no dependency is claimed by you, further steps will be taken to deal with the application submitted by Mrs. Florence M. McCron, to determine whether or not that person could classify as a dependent. Finally, if it is determined that no one is dependent, the gratuity will be paid into your brother's service estate.
Since the advice requested will be of distinct assistance to us, an early reply will be appreciated.
Please forward your letter to the Secretary, Department of National Defence for Air, Ottawa, Ontario (Attention: DAF/War Service Gratuities Section) quoting the above file number.
Yours truly,
[signature]
(J. MacL. Murray)
Air Commodore
for Chief of the Air Staff
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter to L W McCron
Description
An account of the resource
The letter from the RCAF was trying to determine if he was a dependant of Sam's since his widow was claiming his war service gratuity.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1945-10-17
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Ontario--Ottawa
Ontario--Geraldton
Ontario
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Civilian
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typewritten sheet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EMurrayJMMcCronF451017
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-10-17
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
aircrew
killed in action
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36190/ESullyJAMcCronSH441208.1.jpg
c9e4ceab531f586a8b4e492be7536097
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
McCron, Samuel Lorne Wilfred
S L W McCron
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
McCron, SLW
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron (R/191097 Royal Canadian Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He was training as a wireless operator / air gunner and was killed 30 November 1944 when his Wellington crashed. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Proteau and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/115416/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
R191097 [symbol] (R.O.4)
OTTAWA, Canada, 8th December, 1944.
Mr. S.H. McCron,
Box 221,
Acton, Ontario. [symbol]
Dear Mr. McCron: [symbol]
It is with sincere regret that I must confirm the telegram recently received by you which advised that your son, [symbol] Sergeant Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron, [symbol] was killed on Active Service. [symbol]
The Royal Canadian Air Force Casualties Officer, Overseas, has informed me that your son [symbol] lost his life during flying operations at 11:39 A.M. on November 30th, 1944, at Crow Park, Nottinghamshire, England. [symbol] The aircraft, of which he was a member of the crew, fell to the ground. [symbol] His funeral took place at 12:00 noon on December 4th, at the Royal Air Force Regional Cemetery, Brookwood, Woking, Surrey, England. [symbol] May I assure you that when any further information is received it will be communicated to you immediately. [symbol]
I know the sorrow this news has brought you, and I know full well how weak and fruitless are any words of mine in the overwhelming loss of your two gallant boys. [symbol] I extend to you my deepest sympathy and may the Great Architect comfort and strengthen you.
Yours sincerely, [symbol]
(J.A. Sully)
Air Vice-Marshal,
Air Member for Personnel. [symbol]
MS
[signature]
[inserted] [indecipherable word] 7/12 [/inserted]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter to S H McCron
Description
An account of the resource
The letter confirms that Sam McCron died during flying operations.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-12-08
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Ontario--Acton
Great Britain
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Woking
Ontario
England--Surrey
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typewritten sheet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ESullyJAMcCronSH441208
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-12-08
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
aircrew
final resting place
killed in action
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1922/36193/MMcCronSLW191097-170817-15.2.jpg
1a1a0d40b69ae58a8c43f8fc1885a4ed
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
McCron, Samuel Lorne Wilfred
S L W McCron
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
McCron, SLW
Description
An account of the resource
39 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron (R/191097 Royal Canadian Air Force) and contains documents and photographs. He was training as a wireless operator / air gunner and was killed 30 November 1944 when his Wellington crashed. <br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Ken Proteau and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Samuel Lorne Wilfred McCron is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/115416/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Sam McCron's Personal Details
Description
An account of the resource
A card created after Sam's death with personal details and wife's and mother's addresses.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1945
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Ontario--Acton
Ontario
Ontario--Thunder Bay
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Canadian Air Force
Civilian
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typewritten sheet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MMcCronSLW191097-170817-15
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945
aircrew
killed in action
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1918/45592/MCrawfordJ416818-170808-13.2.jpg
986e8da1c92e18cc153f44587d697a66
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Crawford, Jack 416818
John Crawford
J Crawford
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
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Crawford, J
Description
An account of the resource
18 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer John "Jack" Crawford (416818 Royal New Zealand Air Force) and contains his diaries, documents, correspondence and photographs. He flew operations as a wireless operator/ air gunner with 189 Squadron and was killed 4 March 1945. <br /><br />The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by john Herbert and catalogued by Lynn Corrigan.<br /><br /><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW220471175 BCX0">Additional information on John "Jack" Crawford</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW220471175 BCX0"> is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/105207/">IBCC Losses Database.</a></span>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
No. 2 Wireless School
Description
An account of the resource
A list of the 48th entry graduates including John 'jack' Crawford.
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
Creator
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Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force
Date
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1943-02
Temporal Coverage
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1943-03
Spatial Coverage
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Canada
Alberta
Alberta--Calgary
New Zealand
New Zealand--Hamilton
Coverage
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Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Service material
Format
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One leaflet
Conforms To
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Pending text-based transcription
Contributor
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MCrawfordJ416818-13
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
aircrew
training
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/535/8770/AWarrenH160325.2.mp3
c0949f59001de6d690534559594a5b34
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Warren, Harold James
H J Warren
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
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Warren, HJ
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. Two oral history interviews with Harold James Warren (1921 - 2017, 619608 Royal Air Force) service material, a note book, diary and photographs. He Joined the RAF in 1938, and after training as ground crew but remustered and after training in Canada, became a flight engineer.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Harold Warren and catalogued by Peter Adams.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-22
2015-10-30
2016-07-12
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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CB: So, my name is Chris Brockbank. Today is the 25th of March 2016 and I’m xxxxx with Harold Warren who was an RAF rigger in the war and before and he’s going to talk to us about his experiences of life and particularly in the RAF. So, Harold what’s the first thing you remember about life.
HW: Yes. I have to jog my memory quite a bit I’m afraid. [laughs] Well, my father was a blacksmith and a farmer as well as my grandfather. They had to go in to farming because they were full time blacksmiths and it affected their [shifts?] so they had to pack it up. But they kept it on part time for themself. [To work on.] And they bought a farm and they kept the blacksmiths going for their own use and I remember that well because when I come home from school had to blow the, keep the fire going in the blacksmiths shop. [Pumping the old fire all day.] Yeah. Yes, they wanted me to take over the farm when I left school but I didn’t want to have any of that. So I thought I’d join the air force and I did as soon as soon as I left school. Yeah. That’s right. That’s it. And er let me see. I have to think a bit.
CB: So where was it you were living then?
HW: Eh?
CB: Where did your parents live?
HW: My parents lived at, they lived at [pause] near [?] Yeah. Near Exeter [?] and all that sort of thing
CB: Right.
HW: So as soon as I was old enough I joined the air force. I was quite young then.
CB: So you joined straight from school.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Where did you go to join the RAF?
HW: Debden, I think.
CB: Right
HW: I think it was.
CB: And what happened there?
HW: That’s where I done my basic training. [Foot slogging] and all that sort of thing. And then I went to technical school in the air force and I was, I forget where I was now. Mildenhall I think. Spent quite some time there.
CB: So what did you learn there?
HW: Eh?
CB: What did you learn at Mildenhall?
HW: I was on engines and airframes.
CB: Ahum.
HW: Yeah.
CB: And which year are we talking about now?
HW: Pardon?
CB: Which year are we talking about?
HW: Well, it was just before the war started because I remember they shortened the course so that, you know, you could go on to active service sort of thing. ‘Cause the first day of the war I was in France.
CB: Oh were you?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Right.
HW: 218 squadron. Fairey Battles we had. Which was a waste of time.
CB: Because -
HW: No nothing at all. No armaments of any good. The Germans could do what they liked with us. So anyway we carried on doing that sort of thing and then we got evacuated via Dunkirk.
CB: Did you have to queue to get on to a boat at Dunkirk or did you get straight on to a boat?
HW: Eh?
CB: When you came out from Dunkirk -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Did you have to queue to get on or did you get straight onto a boat.
HW: Well I queued. A lot of people trying to get on boats and everything. Yeah. We eventually made it and we landed, where did we land? Dover I think. And then I was moved to Bicester doing maintenance there on aircraft. And er let me see -
CB: So Bicester was an Operation Conversion Unit at that time.
HW: Eh?
CB: Bicester.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Was an Operation Conversion Unit.
HW: An OTU.
CB: At that time.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Number 13.
HW: 13 OTU.
CB: That’s it. Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So what were you doing there?
HW: Same thing.
CB: Which aircraft?
HW: Engine airframes.
CB: Ok.
HW: Yeah.
CB: On what aeroplane?
HW: Eh?
CB: What was the aeroplane?
HW: Bristol Blenheim’s then. Still had Fairey Battles as well of course. They sent various aircraft into us because we were classed as a maintenance unit and we were supposed to be able to sort everything out. All sorts of aircraft which we had to do then. That was alright. Quite interesting.
CB: What sort of things did you have to sort out? Was it mechanical or battle damage or what was it?
HW: Both. Both, yeah. Both. Yeah.
CB: And er did you stay? How long did you stay at Bicester?
HW: Quite some time I think.
CB: And then up the road -
HW: Eh?
CB: Up the road is Hinton in the Hedges.
HW: Yeah.
CB: You were there as well so how did you divide the time?
HW: I don’t know. We had to [set it out I think?]. Some of the time was at Bicester and some at Hinton and Hinton carried on as an OTU and I forget where I went then.
CB: So what was the accommodation like at Bicester?
HW: Very good, Bicester. Yeah. It was a peacetime place you see.
CB: Right.
HW: It was very, well very good for, what do you expect. You don’t expect [Hilton?] but it was alright. Alright.
CB: So there were barrack blocks.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. They’re still there now.
CB: Yeah. Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So what was your working day? What would you do on a working day?
HW: Oh 8 o’clock start usually.
CB: Ahum.
HW: It depends on what work came in to be done. If you had to put extra time in you had to put extra time in. And that was it. You didn’t, you didn’t get much free time. There was always a hell of a lot to do.
CB: Was there? Yeah.
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: And most of the work you were doing was on the air frames or on the engines. Which?
HW: Oh both.
CB: Right.
HW: Both.
CB: So when you had to deal with an engine what was the main task on an engine.
HW: Well it depends on what was wrong with the engine. Sometimes it, it warranted a complete engine change. Sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes you could do it with the engine still in the aircraft and you could still do it. Such as running repair like a car. Ignition trouble or something like that.
CB: Right.
HW: Carburettor or something like that. Yeah, that was that.
CB: So if you had to take the engine out -
HW: Yeah.
CB: What happened then?
HW: Well we had a replacement engine if possible. Sometimes you couldn’t. Sometimes there was one ready to put straight back in but that would depend on supply and wherever they come from. Sometimes they come from the maker, sometimes they come from a maintenance unit which was over all the engines to start with but depends on supplies really.
CB: And that’s the engine. What about the airframe. What sorts of things did you have to do with airframes?
HW: Well there again sometime it was enemy action damaged flying controls and that sort of thing. You could do that alright when it was all metal fabric. Yeah.
CB: So the aircraft had a basic metal structure covered -
HW: Yeah.
CB: With fabric.
HW: Yeah.
CB: When you put on new fabric what did you have to do to it?
HW: The fabric replacement. We never did fabric work. There was a special ganger does fabric work and there was a special process to do to carry on fabric work so we never did much of that. Well I didn’t. But er it was a, it was an all metal thing. That’s where we came in you see. There was hardly any fabric attached to that. The only fabric attached to that was the control surfaces. The ailerons and the rudder and that sort of thing. Sometimes you could just get a complete unit like an aileron or something and change that completely if you could get hold of the thing. That was usually the trouble. Hadn’t got it. Wasn’t about. So made do as best we could with it.
CB: And what was the covering on the fuselage and the wings?
HW: Ah. Yeah. Some. Well depends on the aircraft. Some were metal covers which is, they were mainly metal come as the aircraft become modern and that sort of thing and we used to get a lot of American aircraft you see, we were equipped with that sort of thing and they were metal covers and you had to patch them if it were broken and you know, could have been a crash damage or gunfire damage. Whatever. You had to do your best you could with it and that was it. Get them in the air again quick as possible.
CB: And when you put on a metal patch.
HW: Yeah.
CB: How did you secure that?
HW: Eh?
CB: How did you secure the patch?
HW: Metal patch.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. They were riveted on. Yeah. They were riveted on. Yeah, you had a riveting gun to put them on and er yeah. That was alright. That was alright.
CB: What about Perspex?
HW: Eh?
CB: How did you deal with the Perspex?
HW: Perspex, yeah. There again Perspex was a difficult job because you had to replace the whole thing. The windscreen and that sort of thing and the gun turrets and that sort of thing. You had to replace the whole thing. There again if you could get it. It was very often you couldn’t. Short supply.
CB: Ahum.
HW: So there we are. Nothing you could do with that.
CB: What were the American, what were the American aeroplanes that were being fixed?
HW: Oh the first of all we had, I forget what we had first. We had um what the hell was it?
CB: They were bombers were they?
HW: Yeah. Yeah. Four engine bombers.
CB: Oh, the American ones were four engine bombers -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Were they?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Yes.
HW: Yeah. Our four engine ones didn’t come along until after. Well made the same time as the American four engine ones. Yeah.
CB: So how many hangars were set aside for repair? ‘Cause there were four hangars at Bicester.
HW: Bicester had quite a few hangars Yeah. Yeah. It depended what sort of jobs was needed. They got lifting equipment and that sort of thing. You had to have them to lift the engines in and out and all depended what the demand was to do.
CB: So you had busy times and on your time off what did you do?
HW: You never had no time off, poor devil. No. You’d always find something to do.
CB: So where did you meet your wife?
HW: Oh, Hinton I suppose. Or Bicester. Brackley. Somewhere like that.
CB: Was she in the RAF at the time?
HW: No. I was. She wasn’t.
CB: No.
HW: No. She worked in the local hospital. Yeah.
CB: In Banbury or in Bicester?
HW: Brackley.
CB: Oh in Brackley.
HW: Yeah. It was only a small hospital.
CB: Right. What did she do there?
HW: I forget now what she did. She was, um, I think she was a nurse. General sort of nurse. Yeah.
CB: So, how did you manage to see her regularly? Did you cycle over or what did you do?
HW: Well you couldn’t see that regular. There were jobs always come first. Anything else had to wait. Whatever. Yeah.
CB: And how long after you met her did you marry her?
HW: I don’t, not long, I don’t think. Not long, I don’t think.
CB: So we talked about Bicester.
HW: Yeah.
CB: At Hinton, you weren’t, were you repairing aircraft there or was that just the OCU?
HW: Still the same because Hinton came under Bicester. Bicester was a bigger place and it was adapted to that sort of thing. Yeah. Bicester was quite a big place then. It had no runways of course. Level grass which was no good for heavy bombers.
CB: Right.
HW: They used to get stuck and I don’t know what. Caused more damage.
CB: Well they’d sink in.
HW: Eh?
CB: They sank in to the earth -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Would they?
HW: Yeah. Yeah. ‘Cause when they were loaded they were heavy and that was it. Yeah.
CB: So, did they fly them to Hinton instead?
HW: Eh?
CB: Did they send them to Hinton instead?
HW: Well they started building runways at Hinton. I don’t think Bicester never had runways always had Bicester on grass just the same. It was just an OTU you see. They were never loaded, the aircraft. Not heavy enough to sink in so they didn’t use it for that.
CB: Now before you went to Bicester.
HW: Yeah.
CB: You were at St Athan.
HW: Yeah.
CB: What happened there?
HW: Well that was a training school. A technical school. Yeah.
CB: And what did you study particularly?
HW: Engines there. I think it was. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: So after Bicester and Hinton you went somewhere completely different.
HW: Yeah. 218 squadron then.
CB: Ahum.
HW: At Boscombe Down.
CB: Oh, right.
HW: And we went to France then, of course.
CB: That’s before the war er the early part of the war.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So that was, that was before Bicester.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Right. So you left Bicester.
HW: Left Bicester.
CB: And you went to Canada.
HW: No. That was later than that.
CB: Oh, was it?
HW: Yeah.
CB: So after Bicester where did you go?
HW: Oh various places I think. I can’t remember all of them. We had to have a course on these American engines you see.
CB: Oh right.
HW: I don’t know where we had to go for them. Not America [laughs] worse luck, at the time.
CB: Yeah.
HW: I didn’t go to Canada till after that. A long time after. After I came back from the war well, not quite but nearly. Went to Canada on the Queen Mary.
CB: Did you? Right.
HW: From Scotland.
CB: Right.
HW: Greenock. And we docked in New York ‘cause they hadn’t got anywhere big enough to dock it in Canada so we docked in New York and we had to go from New York up to Saskatchewan, Canada by train. Yeah. That was alright. Very good place Canada. Nice people. Would do anything for you. They were very good. I nearly went back to Canada after the war.
CB: Did you?
HW: Yeah. Yeah. But circumstances didn’t allow it so that was that.
CB: So when you were in Canada, where did they send you in Canada?
HW: Yeah.
CB: You’ve got Saskatchewan and then what?
HW: Moose Jaw.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Moose Jaw and I forget where the other one was.
CB: These, these were the Service Flying Training Schools.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So the ones I’ve got a note of here are Moose Jaw, La Prairie -
HW: Eh?
CB: La Prairie. Did you go there?
HW: Yeah.
CB: And Bagotville.
HW: Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. That brings back a memory now. Yeah.
CB: So when you were there what were you doing?
HW: Same work I was doing.
CB: What aircraft?
HW: Same work.
CB: What aircraft were you on?
HW: Um training aircraft. They were American aircraft. Some were single engine some were double engine, twin engine. I forget what sort they were now. They were American built ones I know that.
CB: Including the Harvard.
HW: Yeah. Harvard. Yeah. Harvard. Oh yeah. Harvard. Yeah. A lot of Harvards sent over to this country.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: So that’s single and then the PT17 was it? What about twin engine? What planes were they?
HW: Um I forget now what they were.
CB: Ok.
HW: I can’t remember. Yeah. I can’t remember.
CB: So did they have Ansons also out there?
HW: Eh?
CB: Did they have Avro Ansons where you were operating?
HW: I think there was a few but not many. They were used for training you see. I mean they were used for training in this country at the start soon as the war, well before the war, Ansons. They were at Bicester at one time. Ansons. Yeah. And they were at Hinton as well.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Yeah. So you were out in Canada -
HW: Eh?
CB: You were out in Canada. What were the conditions like?
HW: Very good.
CB: So take us through a day.
HW: Oh well.
CB: In Canada.
HW: Usual day.
CB: Ahum.
HW: Usual day. Yeah.
CB: What was the food like, compared with being in Britain?
HW: Very good. Very good. In fact, I even sent some food home Yeah. There was plenty of food there and I got in touch with a farming family in Canada and it so happened that their son was in the air force and he was at Croughton.
CB: At Croughton.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. But he had an accident in the road, on the road in Canada, er in Croughton and he was invalided home. I met him and you know you got together and they used to take us out for weekends and that sort of thing. They were very good, the Canadian people. Yeah, and I tried to get back. I’d have liked to got back there to a job ‘cause I’d got two or three jobs lined up on the assumption that I could do it. In those days I couldn’t do it. I could do it that was nothing to do with it. It all depended on, you know, family and that sort of thing. My wife’s father was [head of the house] so that knocked that on the head. Yeah. Yes, I would have like to have went to Canada.
CB: What sort of jobs would you have done in Canada?
HW: Pardon?
CB: What sort of jobs would you have done in Canada?
HW: Oh yeah I’d have gone on to agricultural machinery. That sort of thing. Like they had, some of the farmers had an aircraft for getting about it was that big. Yeah. So, I was going to look after that one I think. It was only a twin engine. Two seater and used it for getting from one part of the farm to another. You wouldn’t think it possible would you. Aircraft to get somewhere on the farm [laughs], ‘Oh I’ll catch an aircraft.’ Yeah. And there were combines going around the fields. Well they weren’t fields they were just as far as you could see. Big areas growing grain and about half a dozen combines following one after the other so quite a job. It didn’t come to nothing but I’d have liked that but it didn’t come to anything so that was it.
CB: So when you came back to the UK -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Where did you go after returning from Canada?
HW: Back to Bicester again I think.
CB: And were they always training units that you went to?
HW: Eh?
CB: Were they always training units -
HW: Yeah.
CB: That you went to or
HW: Yeah.
CB: Did you go to any –
HW: Oh I went to, well of course when I came back, I mean the war was finished more or less so they didn’t need any heavy bombers then. I went back to, to Lancasters for a little while and American heavy bombers. Yeah.
CB: Where were those? Where were those? Where?
HW: East coast somewhere. Forget where it was now. Mildenhall. Might have been Mildenhall. [?]
CB: Did you deal with Stirlings as well?
HW: Pardon?
CB: Were there Stirlings as well as Lancasters?
HW: Lancasters.
CB: Stirlings?
HW: Went on to Sunderlands for a while.
CB: Right.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Where was that?
HW: We were based in Scotland and we used to patrol the North Atlantic looking for submarines.
CB: Right.
HW: We used to patrol from Newfoundland to Scotland. And a Sunderland would stay in the air for twelve, thirteen, fourteen hours you see so it could do that journey alright. No problem. Yeah. I remember we, because we couldn’t take any prisoners off the U-boats we had to, to call up the navy to. I remember calling up, we sent one, well we forced it to the surface the U-boat and [?] on board and we had a good look around and there was a nice big box of onions. [laughs] Yeah. Germans and German U- boats used to look after, I always wanted to go on U-boats so we collared them.
CB: So how did you get those?
HW: Eh?
CB: How did they get hold of them?
HW: oh no, well they got them when they, rations I suppose.
CB: No. No, what I meant was, the U-boat was forced to the surface.
HW: Yeah.
CB: How did the aeroplane get, the Sunderland, how did it get hold of the onions?
HW: Oh they got them easy enough. We could land alongside and we were the first ones on board, the aircrew, we were the first ones board so we got the first pick. Yeah. Then we had to call up the navy ‘cause we couldn’t take any more people on, on the Sunderland. There wasn’t room.
CB: How long did it take for the navy to come?
HW: Not long. They were, they’d been warned beforehand that, you know, we were on the track of a submarine so we told them where we were, roughly and we read the report to the navy that there’s, we’d forced one up to the surface and then they come along and took the prisoners. Took them. That was it.
CB: You said we -
HW: Ahum.
CB: So, you mean the crew or were you there?
HW: Yeah
CB: Did you get on that flight?
HW: Yeah. Oh yeah.
CB: Why were you on that flight?
HW: It was my job.
CB: Right.
HW: Flight engineer.
CB: Right, on the, so where did you become a flight engineer?
HW: Scotland.
CB: In Scotland.
HW: Greenock.
CB: When you joined the Sunderlands.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So how did that happen? ‘Cause you were previously servicing aircraft on the ground.
HW: Yeah.
CB: How did you then become a flight engineer?
HW: Well there was very little difference in the job. You’re doing the same job.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yet you were flying. Yeah.
CB: How did you do it? Did they ask for volunteers?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Or did they say you must do it?
HW: Sometimes they did. They couldn’t get enough volunteers so they said, ‘You, you and you.’ [laughs] As usual.
CB: Yeah. So a forced volunteer.
HW: Eh?
CB: A compulsory volunteer.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I didn’t mind that.
CB: So what did that do for you? So you were converted on to the Sunderland were you?
HW: Yeah.
CB: At Greenock.
HW: Ahum.
CB: Or somewhere else?
HW: Used to go from Greenock, across the north of England and across to North America. Turned around and come back again.
CB: Right.
HW: That was that. All the time we were searching for submarines. Keeping a look out for submarines all the time and the depth charges there if we could and get them one sided.
CB: So as a flight engineer on a Sunderland what were you doing most of the time?
HW: Making sure the engine kept going. Had to check them ‘cause I mean they were they’d done a lot of hours a day you see. That was more than the manufacturers recommended so you had to be very careful with them, look after them, nurse them if you could. Which you couldn’t.
CB: How many times did you have situations where the engine stopped?
HW: Eh?
CB: How many times did the engines stop?
HW: Not very often. Not very often. They were well maintained while they were in operation and while they were on base and they were given good care. I don’t think I ever had one stop.
CB: Now the Sunderland is a big aeroplane. So -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Where was your station -
HW: Yeah.
CB: On the Sunderland?
HW: Oh I had to go from one and keep an eye on the airframe instruments and that sort of thing. The instruments would tell you a lot of stories then of what this one’s doing, that one’s doing, this is not working and that sort of thing. You could check on the fuel and oil and that sort of thing.
CB: How many fuel tanks were there?
HW: I forget now.
CB: But your job was to do what with the fuel?
HW: Just make sure we got, we were refuelled every time we got room for some. I forget how many tanks there were. Quite a lot.
CB: Did you transfer, was it your job to transfer fuel?
HW: No. It wasn’t -
CB: From one tank -
HW: My job, no -
CB: To another?
HW: No.
CB: Or did they not get transferred?
HW: That was to do with the ones who refuelled them. The tankers
CB: But in the air -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Did you need to change fuel supply from one tank to another?
HW: Yeah. Sometimes. Yeah, sometimes. Not very often. They were, they used to be pretty even consumption so you never had a lot of trouble with that. We had to do a lot of manoeuvring about. That used more fuel so had to be careful. Yeah.
CB: So on take-off and landing what would your job be?
HW: Well it had floats. Didn’t have to worry about the undercarriage or anything like that. So that was that. That was to do with the flying crew. The pilot. Yeah.
CB: Were there one or two pilots on?
HW: Two pilots.
CB: Right.
HW: First and second pilot but sometimes they’d do without the second pilot and that was where the flight engineer come in. Yeah.
CB: And in that circumstance what happened?
HW: Eh?
CB: So when, when there was no second pilot what did the flight engineer do?
HW: Well he had to, well keep an eye on the first pilot and make sure he was doing everything he was supposed to do. And he did, else he wouldn’t be there.
CB: And who controlled the throttles on take-off?
HW: Throttles? Pilot. First pilot. Yeah. And the flaps and everything like that.
CB: Because on the Lancasters and Halifaxes -
HW: Yeah.
CB: The flight engineer operated the throttles. That’s why I asked the question. On take-off.
HW: The pilot used to do the throttle just the same.
CB: Right.
HW: On any four engine job.
CB: So what was the point that made the decision about whether there were two pilots or just one?
HW: I don’t know.
CB: Was it the length of the flight?
HW: Something do with that I should think. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: ‘Cause thirteen hours is a long time for a single pilot.
HW: Certainly is.
CB: But did they do that?
HW: Yes.
CB: They did. But how many crew were there on a Sunderland?
HW: Well there used to be first pilot, sometimes second pilot, flight engineer, navigator and the bomb, gun turrets were manned, front, mid turret and the front turret they were manned all the time.
CB: And the rear turret.
HW: Yeah. Rear turret, mid turret and then the front turret. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: And there was a signaller and a bomb aimer.
HW: Radio operator.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. Bomb aimer.
CB: Any more?
HW: No. That was about it I think. As far as I can remember.
CB: Right. So how long were you based with that squadron? What was the squadron? What squadron was the Sunderland squadron?
HW: [?] I think.
CB: Right.
HW: I’m not sure about that.
CB: And how long did you stay with them?
HW: Not all that long. Not all that long. That was about it then.
CB: Was that, had the war finished when you left?
HW: Just about. Just about. Yeah.
CB: So did you, when you left the Sunderlands -
HW: Yeah.
CB: What did you do?
HW: Went back to Bicester again.
CB: Right.
HW: Yeah.
CB: And what were you doing then?
HW: Well there weren’t so much to do then.
CB: No.
HW: Not so much aircraft damaged. Not by enemy action. Generally run down.
CB: What, when you became a flight engineer what happened to your rank?
HW: You what?-
CB: What happened to your rank when you became a flight engineer?
HW: I don’t know. Stayed the same I suppose. Got no use for us then anyway then when we’d finished.
CB: No. No. What I meant was that during the previous postings -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Your rank was LAC.
HW: Leading Aircraft that was.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. That’s right.
CB: So as soon as you -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Did you keep that rank all the time?
HW: Oh Yeah.
CB: What happened when you went on to Sunderlands?
HW: Still a leading Aircraft man.
CB: Right.
HW: Yeah. But um, yeah, that’s right. Yeah.
CB: Was it an official or an unofficial arrangement because did you get a, a brevvy?
HW: Yeah.
CB: To show that you were a -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Flight engineer or not?
HW: Yeah. Yeah. You got the cross on your sleeve.
CB: Yeah.
HW: To indicate a leading aircraft man.
CB: Yeah.
HW: [Coughing]
CB: Hang on. I’m going to stop for a minute.
[pause]
HW: You were made up to a sergeant.
CB: Yeah.
HW: When you were flying.
CB: Right.
HW: To prevent, so as you get better treatment supposedly if you were taken prisoner.
CB: Yeah.
HW: That didn’t always work.
CB: Which didn’t work? Getting promotion or -
HW: Eh?
CB: Yeah. But you did get promoted when you became -
HW: Yeah.
CB: When you went on to Sunderlands.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. You automatically made up to sergeant -
CB: Right.
HW: When you were [flying.]
CB: Right.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So as soon as you stopped flying -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Did you remain a sergeant?
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: Right.
HW: Yeah.
CB: And so you came back as a sergeant to Bicester.
HW: Yeah.
CB: What were you doing? Because you were a sergeant now.
HW: Yeah.
CB: What were you doing in your role at Bicester?
HW: More, more sort of keeping a check on what people were doing and that sort of thing. Testing and that sort of thing. Yeah.
CB: So now from an accommodation point of view you moved to the sergeant’s mess.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: What was that like?
HW: That was, that was alright. I had a house. I was living at Hinton then.
CB: Ah Hinton, right. And where was your wife at this time.
HW: She was at Hinton.
CB: But she wasn’t on the airfield.
HW: No. She was doing her job in the hospital just the same.
CB: What did she do? Live with her parents or did she live in rented accommodation?
HW: Living with her parents all the time.
CB: Where were they?
HW: Hinton.
CB: Oh they were in Hinton.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Right.
HW: And I lived with them.
CB: Right. Rather than in the officer’s er the sergeant’s mess.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. I used to cycle from Hinton to Bicester every day.
CB: Right.
HW: Which wasn’t far really.
CB: No.
HW: No.
CB: So then how, what happened after that?
HW: Then the old demob come along I suppose.
CB: From Bicester.
HW: Aye.
CB: Were you demobbed from Bicester or did you have to go somewhere else?
HW: Oh yeah. You went to er not far from here. Forget where it was now. Wasn’t far from here. I know that.
CB: When you were demobbed what they do? Did they give you clothes or what did they do?
HW: Oh yeah. You had to go civilian suit and all that sort of thing. Get all, everything sorted out and that was that.
CB: So now you’re a civilian.
HW: Yeah.
CB: What did, what did you do then?
HW: Well, two or three of us started a garage. Three of us. No, two of us and me started a garage in Brackley. Yeah.
CB: And how long did you run the garage?
HW: For a while I think um I forget how long. Not all that long I don’t think. But er – [?]
CB: So who were the other two people?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Who started the garage with you?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Who were they?
HW: They come out the air force. One was a flight lieutenant, an engineer. Flight Lieutenant [Capping] and the other was a, a driver. Forget what he did in the air force. Well, he was a driver in the air force.
CB: What was his name?
HW: Jefford. Jefford. J E F F O R D, yeah. Yeah, we started this garage together you see.
CB: In Brackley.
HW: Eh?
CB: In Brackley.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: Did you sell new cars as well as old cars or did you not sell any cars?
HW: No. There weren’t many cars around then.
CB: Right.
HW: Had to make new cars out of old ones.
CB: How long did the garage continue to work?
HW: Well, I don’t know. I think I, we’d split up I think for family reasons and one reason or another. I forget now what happened after that.
CB: How well did it operate when you started because you had a flight lieutenant, a sergeant and a driver.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So, we’re now in civilian life. How did the balance of power operate?
HW: Well you had to put that behind you.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So who was the senior -
HW: And we did.
CB: Right.
HW: We did very well in that respect. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: Who was the senior person in the partnership?
HW: Well, I would say the flight lieutenant.
CB: No. No. In practical terms.
HW: Eh?
CB: In civilian life who was the senior person?
HW: Just get on with it it was the obvious thing to do.
CB: Yeah.
HW: And well you never sort of threw your weight about.
CB: No.
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: Where abouts in Brackley was that?
HW: Out by the old fish shop. Behind the fish shop. On the High Street.
CB: Right.
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: So was it difficult or was it successful?
HW: Difficult to start with trying to start a business from nothing really. Yeah.
CB: And then did you eventually do something on your own or what did you do?
HW: Yes I think I did. Forget what. Oh yeah, I went looking after agricultural machinery at Twyford Seed. Looking after that. That was a very big plant and we had a lot of tractors and combines and that sort of thing there. Nothing like Canada of course.
CB: And you did that till you retired or what did you do?
HW: Yeah. I think so. Stayed with them for quite some time. Yeah.
CB: Did the garage keep running in the meantime or had that -
HW: No. It folded up.
CB: What caused it to fold up?
HW: I think everybody got fed up I think. Didn’t make money and people were not paying you for the work you’d done and that sort of thing.
CB: Ok. What do you think was the most memorable experience that you had in the RAF?
HW: I had a lot of them. Some I’d rather forget. Well, I suppose Dunkirk. I should think was one of the worst.
CB: In what way?
HW: Well trying to get on board boats and getting shot at by the Germans and bombed and Christ knows what, which was not a very nice thing to happen.
CB: What else?
HW: Hmmn?
CB: What else? What else was memorable, do you think?
HW: Oh [pause] I don’t know. I can’t think of anything else much.
CB: At Dunkirk -
HW: Yes.
CB: Did you all, as a squadron, arrive together?
HW: No. No, we got together after we’d come back and landed in England ‘cause we, we got there on all shapes and sizes of boats you see. I mean you couldn’t get everybody on one boat. You just had to get on the boat that you could and that was it but we got together afterwards of course.
CB: Was everybody there or had some people been killed on the way?
HW: No. As far as I remember everybody survived it.
Other: Can I just collect the cups?
HW: Hello there. Yeah. [pause] thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
CB: So you all got together in the end.
HW: Pardon?
CB: Did you say everybody survived?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. Some were wounded of course.
CB: Were they?
HW: Yeah.
CB: What, some seriously or just -
HW: Eh?
CB: How serious was that?
HW: Under supervision as far as I know. I don’t think anybody was seriously hurt.
CB: You said that some of the memories you’d rather forget.
HW: Yeah.
CB: What else would you rather forget?
HW: [?] I’d rather forget the lot.
CB: Well, it’s been really interesting to talk to you again, Harold.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Thank you very much indeed.
HW: Alright. Thank you.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Harold James Warren. One
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Chris Brockbank
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-03-25
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
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AWarrenH160325
Conforms To
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Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Pending OH summary
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Civilian
Royal Canadian Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Interview in which he describes joining the RAF in 1938 and worked as ground crew. After training in Canada, he became a flight engineer and worked on Sunderlands flying from RAF Greenock.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Great Britain
England--Oxfordshire
Scotland--Greenock
Wales--Vale of Glamorgan
Saskatchewan
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1938
Format
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00:58:23 audio recording
13 OTU
218 Squadron
aircrew
Battle
Blenheim
fitter airframe
fitter engine
flight engineer
ground crew
Harvard
Operational Training Unit
RAF Bicester
RAF Greenock
RAF Hinton
RAF St Athan
Sunderland
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/535/8771/AWarrenHJ160506.1.mp3
786b70fc2ba766c2181f927d741ffae6
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Warren, Harold James
H J Warren
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Warren, HJ
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. Two oral history interviews with Harold James Warren (1921 - 2017, 619608 Royal Air Force) service material, a note book, diary and photographs. He Joined the RAF in 1938, and after training as ground crew but remustered and after training in Canada, became a flight engineer.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Harold Warren and catalogued by Peter Adams.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-10-22
2015-10-30
2016-07-12
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
CB: My name Is Chris Brockbank and today is the 6th of May 2016 and I’m back with Harold Warren in Brackley and his children Mervin and Carol and we’re just doing a re-run on a number of items. So, what I want to talk about is when you were in Canada then you met various people one of whom suggested you might like to fly, I understand. And so on leaving Canada what did you do? If you could just take me on from there please.
HW: Same sort of job that I was doing in this country. Maintaining aircraft mostly.
CB: And what about flying?
HW: Yeah. Got air testing of course.
CB: Yes.
HW: When you done the job they like you to go up in the aircraft that you worked on.
CB: Yeah. Why was that?
HW: Well keep everybody a bit more happy. They’d think, ‘Well if he worked on it he would do the job properly.’
CB: Right.
HW: Which I did in any case.
CB: Yes. But it was a sort of incentive.
HW: That’s right.
CB: In a way.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So when you came back to the UK -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Where were posted to when you returned?
HW: Come back to Bicester, I think.
CB: Yeah.
HW: I reckon so.
CB: And you mentioned that you went on to flying boats.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Where was that? So where did you go on to flying boats?
HW: Scotland.
CB: Right.
HW: Yeah. Greenock.
CB: Greenock. Ok.
HW: Yeah.
CB: And what were you doing with the flying boats there?
HW: Same job.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Flight engineer on those.
CB: So you were flying on them.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Ok.
HW: Yeah. Used to from Greenock -
CB: Yeah.
HW: Flew up the north of England.
CB: Yeah.
HW: To Canada.
CB: Right.
HW: Which you had to landing in there.
CB: Yeah.
HW: To refuel.
CB: Yeah.
HW: But er -
CB: And then come back again.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. We couldn’t, we could force the U-boats up.
CB: Yeah.
HW: But we couldn’t take any on board because we hadn’t got room for them.
CB: Right.
HW: So we kept them covered.
CB: Yeah.
HW: And they had a navy ship to come along and take them off, take the prisoners off. Yeah.
CB: So, this particular U-boat, how did you come to capture that?
HW: Well I really, I don’t know quite. It wasn’t my job that. All I know is we made them surface.
CB: Right.
HW: They found some way. I don’t know they did, they had sort of a radar thing [I believe] in those days. It was not a very complicated thing but I mean it was early days then.
CB: Yeah.
HW: And mainly I think they were forced up you see because we dropped, we’d located them someway. I don’t know. That was not my job.
CB: No.
HW: It was the navigator’s job and we forced them up and we dropped the depth charges and they thought they’d better come up and they did. So we kept them covered till we got a navy escort to take them away from us.
CB: So the depth charges made it come to the surface.
HW: Yeah.
CB: How did you know that it was surrendering?
HW: Well I don’t know quite. I think they, when they surfaced I think they were covered by gunfire.
CB: Your gun fire.
HW: Yeah, our gun fire. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: Ahum.
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: So you had several turrets on the plane.
HW: Eh?
CB: You had several machine gun turrets.
HW: Oh yeah. Yeah.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. One, two, three. About four at least.
CB: Yeah. So the submarine is on the surface. Then what did you do? Did you fly around it or did you land next to it? What did you do?
HW: We landed, we alighted next to it.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Kept them covered by rifle fire and that was it.
CB: And how close did you get to the submarine?
HW: Very close.
CB: Did anybody go on board?
HW: Yeah. I for one.
CB: Oh did you?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Right. So when you got on the submarine -
HW: Yeah.
CB: What did you do?
HW: Just had a good look around.
CB: Ahum.
HW: I found a great, a lovely box of apples [laughs]. So they didn’t stay on the submarine long.
CB: No. What about equipment? Was, what equipment did you find in there that you wanted to remove?
HW: Well we didn’t er see much of that really because we weren’t, we didn’t stay there long on board as we had to come back, still keeping them covered -
CB: Right.
HW: Till we got the navy escort to take them away.
CB: How long did it take for the navy to come?
HW: Not long.
CB: Roughly.
HW: Not long because it was, we, we radioed that we’d got a submarine on the surface.
CB: Yes.
HW: Well before the surface.
CB: Right.
HW: And they had to come and take them off quick.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Because we couldn’t er we couldn’t delay flying.
CB: No.
HW: ‘Cause we hadn’t got enough fuel to take all that, too much mileage so we had to, we had to take off again.
CB: Yeah. So you landed next to it.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So that you could wait for the destroyer. Was it a destroyer or what was it?
HW: Any what?
CB: What kind of ship was it?
HW: I don’t know um I forget the name.
CB: Ok. Do you remember the number of the U-boat?
HW: No.
CB: Right.
HW: No.
CB: And -
HW: [Nearly all U something.]
CB: Yeah, so when you got on the U-boat who, who else came with you?
HW: Um the navigator I think. [knock?] Come in.
Other: Sorry I’ve just got your cups. Sorry. Sorry.
HW: Thank you.
Other: I’ll shut the door for you.
CB: Thanks. The navigator -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Yeah. What was his name?
HW: Um I think you’ve got me now. I don’t know.
CB: Ok.
HW: Forget.
CB: Ahum.
HW: Wilson I think.
CB: Ok and how well -
HW: Flying officer Wilson, I think.
CB: Pardon? Flying Officer Wilson.
HW: Ahum.
CB: Ok. And what did he do when he went on the submarine?
HW: Had a look around and we didn’t stop on the sub long. Just had a quick look and come back off it again.
CB: Apart from the apples what else did you remove from the submarine?
HW: Very little. [Nothing at all].
CB: No electronic equipment.
HW: No.
CB: Right. Charts?
HW: Eh?
CB: Did he pick up any charts? What did he pick up?
HW: Maps, I think he got. The navigator picked up.
CB: Yeah.
HW: A compass. [coughing] Yeah. A compass.
CB: A compass.
HW: From memory, he got a compass.
CB: Because, did you, were you able to watch the submarine as soon as it, yourself, as soon as it came to the surface?
HW: Yeah.
CB: And did you see the Germans get out of the submarine?
HW: No. Not as I remember. Not as I remember, ‘cause we had to get ready for another, for our take-off.
CB: Yeah.
HW: And everything.
CB: Do you think -
HW: We had to do checks for take-off.
CB: Right. You had to do your checks for take-off. And did they throw anything overboard? Do you know?
HW: I don’t know. I didn’t see it.
CB: No.
HW: If they did I didn’t see it.
CB: Yeah.
HW: I suppose they did. I don’t know.
CB: Because –
HW: A common thing.
CB: Well, all the submarines had an enigma machine in.
HW: Yeah.
CB: And I just wonder -
HW: Yeah. So I believe.
CB: Yeah. So what date are we talking about now?
HW: Eh?
CB: What date? Roughly
HW: I don’t know.
CB: No.
HW: That’s a long time ago.
CB: Yes. And that, you’ve got a picture of a Sunderland on here.
HW: No. That wasn’t, that’s not a Sunderland.
CB: Oh. Isn’t it?
HW: No. That’s a conversion from a civilian -
CB: Right.
HW: Thing. That was.
CB: Yeah. But you were on Sunderland’s.
HW: Yeah.
CB: And what squadron were you?
HW: Eh?-
CB: What was the squadron number? Yours.
HW: Er pretty low number er eight, eighty four, no. Not as high as that. Eighty something.
CB: Was it?
HW: Eighty one or two.
CB: Ok.
HW: I think.
CB: Ok. And the crew, were they all British or were they a combination?
HW: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: Right.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Ok. And you were flying from Scotland.
HW: Yeah. Greenock.
CB: Greenock. Yeah. So when you got back -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Then what happened?
HW: Well, just made our report and everything. Carried out a service on the aircraft ready for the next trip.
CB: Right and um did you get interviewed by the intelligence officer when you returned?
HW: Oh yeah. Yeah. He wanted to know all sorts of things.
CB: Right.
HW: What you saw and, you know, all that sort of thing.
CB: And this was all in daylight.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Did you see the destroyer come alongside the submarine?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Did it arrive while you were there? Did it?
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Ok.
HW: Yeah. They soon, they soon took the German crew away.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: And do you know what they did with the submarine?
HW: I think they took it back to Greenock or somewhere.
CB: Oh did they?
HW: Yeah. I think so.
CB: They towed it?
HW: Because they wanted to poke about and find different things on it you see. They took it somewhere. I’m not sure where.
CB: But they were able to tow it?
HW: Yeah. They -
CB: Ok.
HW: They had a crew that could understand it, the German submarine -
CB: Yeah.
HW: It was kept on the surface and we just took off and that was it.
CB: Yeah. Right
HW: We didn’t see it anymore.
CB: No. And how -
HW: Took it some experimental place and all that sort of thing.
CB: Right, and can you remember roughly when this was?
HW: [laughs] I can’t. Not really.
CB: Was it the summertime or was it the winter or what?
HW: Er winter I think. Autumn time, something like that I reckon it was.
CB: Ok. And after you’d been on that -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Sortie, did you fly much more after that?
HW: Not a lot. No.
CB: Because they posted you somewhere else? Or what happened?
HW: No. I came back to Bicester.
CB: Came back to Bicester.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Yeah ok. Right.
HW: It was time for demob then of course.
CB: Oh right. Soon after. Yeah. Well, you were demobbed in, a year after the war finished weren’t you?
HW: Eh?
CB: You were demobbed in -
HW: Yeah.
CB: 1946.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Yes.
HW: Yeah.
CB: What else do you remember about these trips on the Sunderlands?
HW: Well, all I know, I had a job to do. Make sure, check all the instruments frequently.
CB: Yeah.
HW: To make sure the aircraft engines were working correctly.
CB: Right.
HW: And you’re going from one side of the aircraft to the other. Took you a little while. You had to have a chat on the way of course with everybody else.
CB: Absolutely. Coffee break.
HW: And make a cup of tea. [laughs]
CB: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: How long did it take to fly from Greenock to Canada?
HW: Er a long flight and the Sunderland was about the only aircraft that could do it. About six hours, seven hours, something like that I would think. No. Longer than that. Further than that. If the Sunderland could stay airborne eight, nine hours. It didn’t take quite that long but you had to have a safety margin.
CB: Yeah.
HW: In case you had trouble.
CB: Yeah.
HW: That sort of thing.
CB: How many people in the crew?
HW: Er two pilots, navigator, bomb aimer, flight engineer and two or three miscellaneous people. Gunners and that sort of thing. About eight or nine, I suppose.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So your tasks were to monitor the instruments.
HW: Eh?
CB: Your task -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Was to monitor the instruments.
HW: Yeah.
CB: What else?
HW: Yeah. Yeah. Oil pressure and all that sort of thing.
CB: What about transferring fuel from tanks.
HW: Eh?
CB: Did you have a task to move the fuel between tanks? Did you move petrol from one tank to another?
HW: Yeah. You could do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That er, that applied to most aircraft -
CB: Did it?
HW: During the war. You transferred fuel from one to the other -
CB: Right.
HW: In case you got a leak and you could change it over.
CB: Right.
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: So where was most of the fuel stored?
HW: Wings. Yeah. All depends where the tanks were. Some were in the fuselage. Mainly in the wings.
CB: What sort of things went wrong? With the -
HW: Eh?
CB: What sort of things went wrong with the aeroplane?
HW: Oh various things. As I say oil pressure for one thing was a deciding factor whether you could carry on or what. Yeah. There was nothing you could do about oil pressure and that sort of thing if you was out at sea although we did have one or two that were carrying out maintenance. Sort of if you had a snag you could report it back and if you were lucky you might be in flying distance of the servicing aircraft so you’d done very well. Yeah.
CB: So, on these flights you were the only engineer.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Were you kept busy all the time or did you get a bit of a rest?
HW: Yeah. You got a bit of rest but you asked one of the others to keep an eye on things. You were pretty, they all sort of knew what was going on and, you know, you could work with one another and that sort of thing.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. Well you couldn’t, you had to have a bit of a rest.
CB: Yeah. And when you were flying -
HW: Yeah.
CB: And doing this flight engineer job.
HW: Yeah.
CB: What rank were you?
HW: Yeah, I was a corporal then.
CB: Right.
HW: Promoted to a sergeant.
CB: Oh you were. Right.
HW: You had, you had to be a senior NCO
CB: Yeah.
HW: In case you were taken prisoner ‘cause you were supposed to be taken care of better then.
CB: Right.
HW: Which I doubt [laughs]
CB: So you had the engineer’s brevvy on did you?
HW: Eh?
CB: Did you have on your uniform the -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Engineer’s -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Brevvy?
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: Yeah. And when you went back onto ground work.
HW: Yeah.
CB: You kept your brevvy did you?
HW: Yeah.
CB: And what about your rank? Did you keep your rank?
HW: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: So, for the rest of the war you were a sergeant.
HW: Yeah. It wasn’t for very long. Soon demobbed.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Ok. So how many flying hours do you think you did roughly?
HW: More than I care to think about [laughs]. A lot of them.
CB: Ok. How long were you flying in these aircraft, in the Sunderlands? How many months?
HW: About three I think. Something like that. Maybe more. I don’t know. Maybe less.
CB: Ahum.
HW: Yeah.
CB: And when you started had you volunteered to do it or did they just send you there?
HW: Well depends on what qualification you had and I’d been used to four engine aircraft. Sometimes Lancasters and that sort of thing. Sunderlands. And they had American aircraft, four engine bombers. Worked on those so that’s probably why I ended up like that.
CB: Yeah. When you were in Canada.
HW: Ahum.
CB: Did you start flying there? Or did you -
HW: No, not a lot, only testing aircraft. [testing of course]
CB: Yeah. Yeah.
HW: Yeah. Similar job.
CB: Yeah. So how many big aeroplanes were there -
HW: Yeah.
CB: In Canada?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Were there big ones there?
HW: Er –
CB: Lancasters?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Or American?
HW: The American. Yeah. Yeah. I liked working on the American aircraft.
CB: Why was that?
HW: Well, you had all the tools and everything to do the job. On the RAF you were lucky if you found a screwdriver or a spanner. [laughs] Yeah.
CB: They were that -
HW: Short of equipment and all that sort of thing. The Americans were geared up for that sort of thing.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: There was, was there a general shortage in the RAF of tools to do the job was there?
HW: Eh?
CB: Was there a general shortage of tools?
HW: Yeah.
CB: In the RAF.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s err you had to get your finger out and put in a lot of hours.
CB: Yeah. What about the weather?
HW: Weather. Yeah. [Canada was the nicer part of it] and part of it was bloody awful but we carried on just as normal. They didn’t, they ignored the weather over there. They had to carry on. No matter. I mean you couldn’t stop for three or four months while it was bad weather could you?
CB: No.
HW: No. They didn’t.
CB: How deep was the snow?
HW: Oh it varied quite a lot. Depended where you were. Yeah.
CB: And when you were flying, going back to your flying time -
HW: Yeah.
CB: What was the balance between daylight and night flying in the Sunderland?
HW: Quite a difference really. I can’t tell you any [details?] of it but -
CB: Which did you do more of? Daylight or night time flying in the Sunderland?
HW: It varied quite a bit. I mean you might take off in daylight. You end up flying, end up in the dark and then might be the other way about. Yeah.
CB: When you landed next to this submarine because you’d disabled it -
HW: Yeah.
CB: Was that daylight or was that in the night?
HW: Daylight. Yeah.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah.
CB: And how long did it take you to eat all the apples?
HW: Eh? Oh not long [laughs] yeah. Very good.
CB: Ahum.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So what would you say was the highlight of your time in the RAF?
HW: I don’t know. I had a lot of them I think. That was one of the highlights, I suppose.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Bringing the submarine to the surface.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. We all cheered then [laughs]. Yeah.
CB: What did the Germans do? Did they stand on the deck or did they keep inside the submarine?
HW: Er well we took them off the submarine.
CB: Oh did you?
HW: Ahum.
CB: On to the Sunderland.
HW: On to the Sunderland. Temporary so that the naval escort could come and pick them up.
CB: Yeah.
HW: ‘Cause they’d already taken the German submarine away.
CB: Oh had they?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Oh right.
HW: Yeah.
CB: Right. So what did you do? Stack them one on top of the other did you in your submarine, in your, in your Sunderland? How did you get them all in?
HW: Get what?
CB: How did you get all these German sailors in your -
HW: Oh.
CB: Sunderland?
HW: Oh there was just room.
CB: There was?
HW: Yeah. They were packed in mind you.
CB: Yeah.
HW: I mean, in one, in one crew and somebody had to cover them with a rifle and machine gun.
CB: Right.
HW: That was it.
CB: Ahum.
HW: Until they were picked up by the navy.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. Yeah.
CB: ‘Cause, their, their officers carried lugers.
HW: Yeah.
CB: So they were confiscated were they?
HW: Yeah. Of course.
CB: Yeah.
HW: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
CB: And how long were they on your Sunderland would you say?
HW: Not long. A matter of hours.
CB: Ahum.
HW: Yeah.
CB: But you didn’t let them have any of the apples.
HW: Managed two or three [laughs]
CB: Right. What was the worst thing that happened to you in the RAF?
HW: I don’t know. I can think of quite a few.
CB: What, in those early days? Or -
HW: What?
CB: Later.
HW: I think the worst one is when we, the first job we went, we went to France early -
CB: Yeah.
HW: In the war. Well about the first day of the war and it was a waste of time. We’d got nothing to, no airc, couldn’t, as I say we got nothing. No armaments. Hardly anything. But we, gradually, we were about stationed mid-France, can’t think of the name now. No end of them. And we were gradually forced up to the north towards Dunkirk which we had to be evacuated and I think that was about the worst bit I come across. Yeah. We were evacuated Dunkirk. Come back to this country on a little boat.
CB: Oh, did you?
HW: Yeah.
CB: Did you have to wade out to that or did you get on to it or from one of the moles?
HW: Eh?
CB: Did you have to wade out through the water to the boat or were you put on -
HW: Some did. Some didn’t. It just depends. Yeah. I didn’t. In fact a boat come in to the shore more or less and got them on board but some had to wade out to them. ‘Cause there weren’t many rescue boats about then.
CB: Yeah.
HW: No.
CB: Ok. Harold, thank you very much indeed.
HW: You’re welcome.
CB: That was really helpful.
HW: You’re welcome.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Interview with Harold James Warren. Two
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Chris Brockbank
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-05-06
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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AWarrenHJ160506
Conforms To
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Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Pending OH summary
Rights
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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.
Description
An account of the resource
Continuing of interview with H J Warren. Includes descriptions of encountering submarines when flying from RAF Greenock.
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Air Force. Coastal Command
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Oxfordshire
Scotland--Greenock
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1945
1946
Format
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00:27:35 audio recording
aircrew
flight engineer
ground crew
RAF Bicester
RAF Greenock
submarine
Sunderland
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/739/10740/PChubbWF1814.2.jpg
9ad96adf799e34984e84b6082e705c18
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/739/10740/AChubbWF180417.2.mp3
cf5c51719b9aae0d055855609fbf4424
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Chubb, William Frederick
W F Chubb
Description
An account of the resource
Twelve items. An oral history interview with Flight Sergeant William Chubb (b. 1925, 1890485 Royal Air Force) his log book and photographs. He served as a flight engineer with 432 Squadron RCAF.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by William Chubb and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-04-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
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Chubb, WF
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
CB: My name is Chris Brockbank and today is the 17th of April 2018 and I am in Polegate near Eastbourne, talking with Bill Chubb, flight engineer, about his life and experiences. So Paul, so Bill, what were your first recollections of life?
BC: Well I must have started school at five years old. I hadn’t been at the infant school very long when I fractured my thigh and I was in Lewisham hospital for fifteen weeks, in South East London, with me leg strung up for the fifteen weeks. When I left, when I came out of the hospital, it was quite some time before I could actually walk again. So, and then that, I go on to when I was twelve years old, my father, who had rheumatic fever during the First World War, he finished up with a weak heart, and at twelve years old, 1938, he dropped to the floor in front of me. Well, that was 1938, at twelve years old. So 1939 war was declared, so there was just me mother and I, my three sisters, and the oldest one [clock chiming] was fifteen years old when I was born and they were married. I started work at the, how I got the job I don’t know, but I started work at the British Ermeto Corporation, which was government sponsored, and the main offices were in Victoria, London, with a warehouse and works not far from there. I started that job and they was doing AID inspection, learning me how to use a chrom, um -
CB: Chronometer.
BC: A chronometer and another one, what was the other one? I forget the other one, and then war was declared so the whole of the firm, lock stock and barrel, was moved down to Slough and I went with them, and I only used to come home of a weekend. Well after we’d been there a few weeks the firm was moved on again, into Maidenhead, further away from London cause the firm was getting bigger and I, I stopped coming home and I, one particular week cause me mother was on her own I wanted to stay with her, so I wouldn’t go back and my mother had various letters from that firm, hoping that I would return, because they offered me a permanency in the draughtsman’s office, but I still didn’t go back. So I left and I got a job in Hatton Garden, in a silversmiths. Now the war was at its height then with the bombing so at times I couldn’t even get there. I didn’t like the job but for the sake of, you know, bringing a bit money into the family, the two of us I stayed there for a while. But then my future brother-in-law, he was a butcher and he knew a lot of people and he got me a job in the County of London Electric Supply Company with, I stayed training as a electrician and I was still keen on the Air Force anyway, so eventually my papers came through and I left and started ground crew. What happened then?
CB: Where did you report?
BC: Pardon?
CB: Where did you report?
BC: Um, oh, er I’m getting confused now.
CB: We’ll just take a pause.
BC: Time I’ll always remember, we was working at a factory the Old Kent Road and all hell broke loose around about lunchtime, and we were being sprayed by in Focke Wulf 190s, going up and down Old Kent Road, spraying everything and they bombed the childrens’ school at Hither Green and killed many, many children. But there was a rumour back that they actually got him before he hit the coast, actually brought him down. Well then after that I was called up, and I went to, for me training, as a um, I was in for a armourer’s assistant, but course I had to do me foot slogging first, before I started. And er, hold on I’m getting a bit confused. I did make some notes.
CB: Okay, fire away.
BC: When I was finally called up for aircrew, I went to Skegness, and, to do my training.
CB: Initial training.
BC: Oh, I got posted from there after that, and I went to Cullerton Cross in Devon: Number 1 Balloon Centre. I always remember the Station Commander was, Captain, Group Captain Pendlebury he was about four foot high [laughter] and every Monday morning, cause I was wearing a white flash, cause I’d been accepted for aircrew, he asked me who I was and what I was doing. Well then I got posted from there and I went to [pause] 158 Squadron at Lissett and that was operational. But I was only there a matter of, a matter of weeks and I got my posting and I went to St Athans, I went to St Johns Wood, for ACRC.
CB: That’s it. Yup.
BC: From there I posted to No 1, No 4 S and TT, St Athans for my engineering training. [Pause] From then, after me training, and I passed out as a flight engineer, I went to the 1659 Halifax Unit and that’s where I met Bill Miller.
CB: This is the Heavy Conversion Unit.
BC: Heavy Conversion Unit, where I met Bill Miller and his crew. There was an objection to me joining the crew, by one of the crew.
CB: Because?
BC: Because I wasn’t Canadian. But he was over-ruled, and I remained with the crew. The skipper, never, ever [emphasis] heard of that, otherwise he’d have told him he can go. But I remember going to Heavy Con Unit because, to meet the crew, and there were so many men there and the flight engineers were mostly English anyway, they were, being associated with a Canadian crew. And there was this guy, who the, who’s this, hell, Bill Miller, who’s this hell Bill Chubb, a flight engineer? And of course he was a Flight Lieutenant, and I’m saying that’s me sir, it’s me sir! [laugh] And me and Bill were pals till we left the air, till it was all over. That’s how we got on; we done twenty six trips. One of them was not counted because we came back early, so.
CB: In general, the Canadian squadrons seem to have used British flight engineers because they weren’t training flight engineers.
BC: No, in Canada, were they. When they went from two engine stuff to four engine. There was a, one or two, not many.
CB: No.
BC: And I think they must have been engineers, ground staff, that knew a lot about aircraft and they remustered to, and that’s how they came over. Because many people have asked me why was it that you flew with a Canadian squadron, so many people, even when I went to Aces High, there was a lady there who asked me that same question.
CB: It’s because they didn’t train them. So how was the crew?
BC: Spot on. I’d do it all over again, if I was with that crew.
CB: Which was the one who objected?
BC: The wireless op, because his ancestors were French. The rear gunner, the rear gunner was Polish and I still correspond with his niece and I can show you a picture of that that I’ve got because I still contact the bomb aimer, er the navigator, Barry, he lives in Vancouver. He must be about ninety, ninety six or seven, I think, Barry. He got married, he remarried again at eighty six [laugher] and he’s still going strong.
CB: Such energy! We’ll pause there for a mo.
BC: There’s only the two of us left now.
CB; Now what about the pilot?
[Whisper] It’s recording.
CB: What about the pilot, what was he like?
BC: Bill Miller? Well after the war he went back to Canada, and he married an English girl, they got married and he wasn’t, flying was in his blood and he didn’t like the job he had, so they saw an advert for the RAF wanting pilots. He came back to England, re-joined the RAF and he stayed on until he retired.
CB: Did he.
BC: And then he done quite a time with the MOD.
CB: Right.
BC: That’s what Paul was, MOD.
CB: Yeah. Your son Paul. Your son Paul, works for the MID, MOD. Now who’s the, you are one of two survivors, who’s the other survivor?
BC: Is Barry Hall, the navigator. [Background talking]
CB: Where does he live? Vancouver?
BC: Vancouver.
CB: Right.
BC: He lives on Vancouver Island.
CB: Okay, we’ll pause there for a bit. So just two of you left, but over the years, how many reunions have you had?
BC: Our first reunion was in 1988, in Winnipeg and that’s where I re-met all of the crew except for the wireless operator and the rear gunner, anyway the rear gunner had passed on, anyway. But the wireless op, he just didn’t want to know anything about, you know, after the war.
CB: Didn’t he?
BC: Didn’t. Then the second one was four years afterwards and same place, Winnipeg and we had really, cause the bomb aimer’s daughter lived in Winnipeg so she supplied all the you know, all the private stuff. The parties and that while we was out there. And that second one, we booked another holiday while we was in Canada and the wife and I, we had eight days helicopter flying over the Canadian Rockies!
CB: Amazing!
BC: And It was quite an expensive holiday because all those what were in there were either Americans or Canadians, they were solicitors, doctors and all that, and one of them, when we first met he asked me you know, a lot about what I’d done and why was I in Canada and I said well cause of the reunion, and he said, oh, well he said I’m a DA, he said being English, you wouldn’t know what that was. So I said I do. So he said what’s that? I said a duck’s ass! [Much laughter] It shook him rigid.
CB: But he really meant District Attorney.
BC: But we were friends for the rest of those eight days, believe me. [Laughter] But it was a hell of a holiday. It really was.
CB: Yes. Fantastic.
BC: It was the holiday of a lifetime. And I still correspond with one of them ladies that was on that holiday, even now, every Christmas. They really, you know.
CB: Can we just go fast backwards to the interesting situation of the French Canadian wireless operator. He vetoed your joining the crew but was over-ruled you said. What was his attitude after that?
BC: Naturally enough, eventually he got his commission and that made him even a bit more, against me, I don’t know, but with this throwing out of the Window, you know, the silver paper lark, I always found that when we was going, that was always piled up in my position where it was only a foot away from his position in the aircraft. And I have a book, I still don’t know who was responsible for putting out that Window. Cause when we was on leave once, when I came back they said oh the position for throwing out the Window is in a new position. Well what we had to do, there was a kind of a funnel, but cause it was in the floor when you go down into the nose of the aircraft, and it was in the floor. Well for me to do it, it meant I kept on picking up the bundles and bending down to put them down through the floor. Well while we was on leave, someone thought of the idea of if they made a funnel that went into the hole in that floor, it would save that purpose. But it had to be stored. Well, being on leave, I didn’t hear all, any of this so when we came back, we were flying that night. So, and I was showed where the funnel was, strapped up, well I thought that was the permanent position. But it wasn’t the permanent position and when I started throwing out that stuff, I was jamming it down this funnel that was strapped on the bulkhead behind my position and eventually it became full up with silver paper and the whole lot collapsed, and we had an aircraft full of silver paper. [Laughter]
CB: This is a Halifax, yes.
BC: I didn’t know. But I wasn’t involved, I wasn’t told because of being on leave. And that’s where it was. Actually, cause I thought the hole was in the side of the aircraft, so where they put it, and it was quite, you know, quite large, but the idea was to get that funnel and put it in the floor of the aircraft. And that would have been another [emphasis] obstruction for actually getting out fast.
CB: So we’re talking about a Halifax. Moving from the front to the back, the bomb aimer’s right in the nose, who is nearest next? [Clock chime]
BC: Who is?
CB: Which. Who’s comes after the bomb aimer, moving backwards, who’s behind him?
BC: Navigator.
CB: Right. And behind him?
BC: The wireless op.
CB: And the pilot’s upstairs.
BC: Over the, over the wireless op.
CB: Right.
BC: And then my position was behind the pilot, or on the wall.
CB: Upstairs.
BC: Yup.
CB: Okay, right. We’ll pause there.
BC: It’s used in all phases of war, where the Lancaster wasn’t. It was a good aircraft, I’ll give you that. [background talking] But I still think the radial engines were one over on the Rolls Royce. I do. And I think if the war had gone any longer that would have been more so. Because the engines on the Halifax, fourteen cylinder Hercules, was being changed to eighteen cylinders on the two, on the two inner engines. So you had two eighteen cylinder engines, either side the fuselage, and then the two original fourteen cylinders, and that would have, I think it would have run rings round the perishing Lancaster, as well as the ceiling and the climbing ability but of course it never came to that because of the war ending. [Sounds of cups and saucers] But one of the reasons why I did choose the Halifax, I thought there was more chance of getting out of a Halifax than there was a Lancaster and I proved it time and time again by reading these books, about that, and they all say the same. In this particular book I’m reading, that Paul gave me, they reckon the ability to get out [emphasis] of a Liberator was sixty percent, and a Fortress. But when you come to the Lancaster it was down to fifteen percent. That’s in black and white, and I’ve marked that book for anybody reading that book later on.
CB: So is that to do with the size of the hatch, the placing of the hatch or what? The location of the hatch.
[Other]: Think it was the wing spar.
BC: I think the placing of the hatch, because the one near the pilot on the Lancaster was only very small, for anybody in trouble, trying to get out, probably quite easy normally, but in an emergency, like that, they’d, it would be a hell of a job, it was a hell of a job anyway, [emphasis] but to, you know, to get out of an aircraft like that. That was one of the reasons why I plumped for the Halifax, after the PBY, cause that’s the one I really wanted to fly.
CB: Catalina.
BC: I’ve never flown in one. it’s a beautiful aircraft, that Catalina. I’ve never actually seen it flying.
CB: Now the challenge for the bombers was not just flak, it was attacks by fighters, so you practiced dealing with fighters: fighter affiliation. How did that work? You were on the lookout.
BC: I was on lookout, out in the astrodome, yeah, you know.
CB: So where’s the astrodome in the Halifax?
BC: It’s just, it would be above the engineer’s position. The instruments are, the pilot’s there and that’s the astrodome.
CB: And when the navigator needed to take a fix then he’d come along with his sextant.
BC: Sextant.
CB: Yeah. Right. So how did the fighter affiliation work then? What were the responsibilities of the crew and what did the pilot do? The fighter comes in -
BC: It was mostly controlled by the, by the two gunners, wasn’t it, you know, [clock chimes] cause Pete was very good, he was extremely, you know.
CB: But you’d have your head in the astrodome looking out for the fighters, wouldn’t you, giving an added pair of eyes. [Clock string]
BC: Yeah, it was you know: corkscrew port go, and all this business.
CB: So that’s called, then what happens with the aeroplane, when they corkscrew, what happens?
BC: Well you have to hold on tight to start with, especially with Bill! Cause I always remember, we had, I don’t know why they was changing, but there was a crew that flew on Lancasters, and it was Squadron Leader MacMurtry, and he wanted an engineer to be with his engineer when they first flew in a Halifax. So of course dear Bill, being friends, said my engineer will come with me, I will fly with ‘em. When we came back I said I don’t want to bloody well fly with him no more, I think he thought we had a ruddy Spitfire! [Laughing] Yeah, he really, you know, he was doing, I suppose okay, it’s a, whether a Lancaster done that what he was trying to do with that Halifax, but my skipper wasn’t, you know, wasn’t that, he probably could do it if he wanted to but he didn’t. But when this MacMurtry bloke, oh mate, I thought I’m not flying with him no more. they all laughed their heads off. That was one. Another thing I remember, when we took off on different trips according what type of day it was, all circled the drome and all set course at the same time. If took off early and you were circling the drome quite a bit, I tell you what I did notice, I’m sure I saw the rockets being fired from wherever they were, cause I seen the vapour trails going up, when we was up there, and we was up in Yorkshire. I saw that quite a few times.
CB: So when they were going up, this was in Northern Europe you could see, in the dark.
BC: Yes, you see the vapour trails of the, I suppose V -
CB: V2s. Because we’re talking about later in ’44.
WB: Yeah. Well most of my stuff was in ’44.
CB: Indeed. Now there are all sort of hazards in flying aeroplanes and sometimes bombs didn’t go when they ought to.
BC: Oh yeah, we had that on our third trip, I think it was on Bochum, I think that’s how you say it, and we got diverted coming back, but before we got diverted we had a terrific crash [emphasis] and we thought we’d had a collision and I was going round with a, an oxygen holder, a portable oxygen with a torch taking out the floor panels, you know, trying to find what could have caused that, and we didn’t find anything, and I didn’t find anything but everything was still okay. It was okay, so we came back and I got diverted. I can’t remember where it was, it’s in there somewhere.
C: In your log book.
WB: Castrock Rock Salt, That’s the name of the trip we had, we were diverted to Wombledon coming back, with this terrific crash, which I never found out what it was. So we landed at the place allocated for us and switched off the engines, dropped the flaps, opened the bomb doors and a thousand pounder fell out, [clap] boom, on the ground!. It had iced up on the racks of course, coming back dropping low and, you know, that finished up on the floor. Thousand pound bomb!
CB: So the bang was the bomb falling from its, onto the bomb doors.
WB: Well we realised that, that was the big bang we heard, with it falling on the bomb doors, you know.
CB Lucky to hold them. Right, now what about shrapnel?
BC: Pardon?
CB: What about shrapnel? Was there lots of flak? How often did you get caught?
BC: Not too large lumps, but smaller stuff, specially one bit that came through, I think it was the Perspex above the skippers head, missed him, luckily, came back and walloped me on the floor, on me boot, but no damage. But talking about damage, the rear, the mid upper gunner, he had an injury, but it wasn’t through enemy action. We came out, it was around about our twenty second trip, I think it was, twenty second or twenty third, and we came out and we nearly always had Q Queenie, we came out, done the necessary and the skipper wasn’t happy with the main compass. So we were picked to go a second aircraft. We piled all the stuff onto the truck and we went to the second aircraft, but when we started up the port inner engine, which the hydraulics were worked off of, as we started off, so the hydraulics blew and I was covered in hydraulic fluid. So that was number two aircraft: unserviceable. So we all piled out again, piled out and went round to the third one. Well, time was getting a bit short, so we put all the stuff on the truck, the truck came, the WAAF took us round to the next aircraft. In the panic of jumping off the truck, it was one of those that had a tarpaulin cover, with down the side of each lock, truck, had these hooks, one up and one down. Arnie, the mid upper gunner, he jumped, but he caught his finger where he had a ring, on that, and pulled his finger off and we were just standing there looking and the WAAF driver came round, said what was we doing and we said looking for his finger on the floor and she went [sound effect], she passed straight out. Anyway. He, we still wanted to go. Well I think it was Wing Commander France, I think that’s who it was, said after all the trouble we had had, we could scrub that, but Bill, the skipper, still wanted to go. I mean took Arnie off in the blood wagon down to York, Bill wanted to go so we went. We all volunteered to go, but we needn’t have done because of the problems we had had. I think that was our twenty second trip, I thought that was our twenty second, what that was. But um, it was Harburg, Harburg Runinia, yeah Harburg Runinia. That was that trip. We never saw Arnie any more, and later on, it was only a few years ago, that he wrote about going back to Canada. He went back on the liner, the Aquitania. Well the Aquitania, when I was at school, they took us on a school journey, to Southampton and we went to Southampton and that was the boat that took us on, the Aquitania, and it took Arnie back to Canada after the war, before it was broken up. But he never did [indecipherable] was a character on his own, Arnie. He had ancestors that were Scottish. And when we went to the reunion, the first time, that was 1988, in the convention centre in Winnipeg, you know, there was over, there was five thousand at that reception, including the wives and Arnie disappeared and I knew what was going to happen. And when he appeared, he had his, all his regalia on for a Scotsman, you know, and his kilt and all that and he used to be able to get a balloon, used to blow, and they were what, anything, massive length and he used to play a mouth organ and how he worked it, I don’t know, but he was using the air of the balloon to, for the mouth organ like a, you know, and he really had ‘em going, he rally did, he was funny, that way. He always had something, and we, not at this house, but the other house we were, in Bromley we had ‘em cause we went to see the plaque in the, in London, the, what church was it? It was the RAF Church.
CB: St Clement Danes.
BC: That’s it. We had a plaque put in the floor. They all came back to us, in Bromley, you know. That’s where he, up and down the garden with his kilt, [indecipherable] he was a real character, I say that book of poems, that’s what he used to do. When he wasn’t when he was in the mess of a night, when we weren’t flying, he was either writing poems, cause his whole [emphasis] family wrote poems, his father and his, and it was either writing to them, or sitting there, with a poem, it was brilliant. Oh, another thing he done, we had a reunion up in York and a coach of Canadians come over here and all stayed in a hotel, but Arnie stayed with us and he, I’m talking to him about the Old Kent Road and he had an ambition to be able to talk like a London Cockney. And he used to drive barmy while he was here just coming up the Old Kent Road! I took him up there in the car when we went up to York once, but he was a real character. We got on well together the two of us, you know, but he really, [clock chime] he could certainly write poems, as I say. If you want to borrow that book, you can borrow it.
CB: Looks very interesting. Let’s pause there for a mo. So the aircraft on their hardstandings have got the ground crew looking after them. What was the relationship between the crew of the aircraft, the aircrew, and the groundcrew?
BC: Extremely, well, they worked all hours, you know, to get those aircraft going. In all weathers. I mean some of the weather up in Sc, Yorkshire is atrocious. I mean I remember clearing the runway, you know, with picks and shovels, to enable us to fly off into Germany, you know. And that was, talk about kind of rubbing it in, you know but if you couldn’t take off, you couldn’t fly, but they had us all out there, and we did, when, this business of the Halifax bearing off to starboard when you first take off.
CB: Ground swing.
BC: Yeah. I often wondered, did that apply to Lancasters? Did it?
CB: Well I think it applies to all aircraft where the torque is taking it round, but it’s worse on a Stirling because it has no airflow over the fin because it’s a single fin, until you get the tail up. Better on the Lancaster and the Halifax.
BC: I’ve often wondered that.
CB: So on, that’s a point, on take off: what was the role of the flight engineer on take off?
BC: Assist the skipper as regards to counteracting that business of the starboard engines being opened up slightly before, you know, at an angle to counteract that swing.
CB: So you put your hand on the throttles at an angle so the take up on some of them is slower than the others.
BC: Just keep that bit from going that way.
CB: So for take off how much responsibility did the flight engineer have for controlling the throttles?
BC: With Bill, he was always there, he was always there to kind of, you know, cause he was always looking for, you know, things that might happen, you know. He was a good pilot, a really good pilot. I think that, because I always remember a letter from Barry that he wrote to me once, cause I’ve got arthritis, in me spine, and Barry made the comment cause we were talking about it you know, I’ve had it so long, and he said well don’t blame it on Bill’s landings because you never knew that you was down!
CB: So gentle.
BC: He was so gradual old Bill, the perfect pilot as well as being a very nice bloke. My wife, she liked Bill and they got on very well together.
C: So where did you meet your wife, and when?
BC: Well I belonged to the ATC, Air Training Corps, and that was even before I went in to the Air Force, and with the dances that used to, you know, of a weekend at the Artillery House in Bromley Road and that’s how I come to meet Freda. But at that particular time, when we first met, Freda was with a friend of mine, a Ron Miller, who was also in the Air Force, and I took Freda away from Ron Miller [chuckle] and never saw Ron Miller at all after that, once they parted. Cause they always seemed to finish up arguing, until I came along.
CB: You were their salvation. So how did you keep in contact after that? Because she was in London when you joined, so you joined up in the RAF and what happened then?
BC: Well Freda had her sister who was four years older than her, and her sister used to look after her as regards stockings and things like that because the Yanks were around for you know, for the stockings and that.
CB: They were big on stockings.
BC: They wanted to go to this dance, and it was in London. So Freda went with her sister, Elsie, to this dance, and while the dance was taking place a raid developed, so they couldn’t make it home, so they had to go into one of the underground shelters, which was, for her mother and father, it was absolutely horrendous. But they came home the next day, thinking you know, and they wouldn’t let them go again, not, you know, those sort of things happening. Course when the war first started, Freda, her mother, and her sister, they moved to Guildford; they had an aunt in Guildford. And of course her sister being four years older than Freda, she was eighteen, so Freda was only just fourteen to start work, and her sister got a job in, it was a brewery, she got a job in the brewery, in automation with the bottles going round and sticking the labels on the bottles. Well Fred worked in a firm, they got her a job in the to do with tablets, you know. And these tablets were affecting her in a, of a night.
CB: What, purifying tablets were they?
BC: Yeah, they couldn’t, she couldn’t keep awake, so they made her leave. So Elsie spoke for her in this brewery, so she got the job in the brewery. Well evidently, the girls working there had to take turns in getting the glue for the bottles, and they showed Freda where the glue was kept, and you know, when she started working there, when her turn came round where she had to go to pick up the glue and it was in a large barrel. So it came to the time when it was Freda’s turn to go and get the glue, so she went, she toddled off to get the glue, and she was gone a long time. Well evidently, this glue was in this large barrel you had to [indecipherable] down to ladle the glue out and I’m afraid Freda went head over tail into the glue pot, into the glue barrel and that’s why they couldn’t make out where she was! And she was upside down in the bloody pot! [Laugh]
CB: Lucky to survive I should think.
BC: And they had to cut all her hair off, to get the glue, because they never, with her hair they would never get it out so that’s what they had to do, but she was only fourteen years old. [Laugh] And the few times, that I, you know, we were married for sixty five years.
[Other]: Were you?
CB: So when did you marry?
BC: And that was a, you know, [indecipherable]. We, Sixty five years we was married.
CB: When did you get married?
BC: When?
CB: Yup. And where?
BC: 1947, at St Lawrence’s Church, Catford, South East London [pause] and there’s my son.
CB: How many children? Number one son.
BC: Number one son. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without him. Honestly, I just .
CB: Brilliant. So how did you keep in touch with your wife to be throughout the war while you were in the RAF moving about?
WB: Well only when I came home on leave. Letters were the only thing we had. And when we came, actually when I finished flying and they disbanded 423 Squadron same as they did with the other Canadian squadrons.
CB: Yeah, because they were repatriated.
BC: I was sent on a driving school, up to Blackpool and I finished that, when I came, when I passed out, I got me driving licence, I was put on embarkation leave and I’ve got a picture here somewhere, of us. I was on embarkation leave and er -
CB: Stop there for a mo. We’ve just been talking about how you got together. When VE Day happened on the 8th of May 1945, the squadron was about to be disbanded because of that, but what happened? What was the general feeling around at the time? Were there celebrations?
BC: Well to start off with [indecipherable] they burnt the flag pole, they set light to the flag pole. [Laughter] I think the Canadian Air Force was a bit different to the RAF, you know, they were a bit more relaxed. And then it was after that that I was sent on this driving school. Cause what else could we do.
CB: Of course. When, after the driving school, what did you do after that?
BC: Well I was put on embarkation leave.
CB: Yes, you went on embarkation leave, but you never actually went to the Far East, did you.
BC: No, no. I went down to, I was given embarkation leave and I went down to Torquay because Freda was staying with an aunt who lived in Torquay,, how long we stayed there I don’t know, then of course we came home, but then when I went back I went into hospital because of me ears and I went in about three times, but I still, so finally I was taken off the draft and let go, and I was discharged. Now being discharged medically, failing to fulfil RAF physical requirements, I thought I’d be entitled to a pension, which I applied for, but it was taken, it was turned down. So the matter was taken up with the British Legion and again it was turned down; so that was it. Well after a while I kept on going to see my doctor, a Doctor Hopman, and one day he turned round to me and said Mr Chubb, I cannot attend to your ears any longer, he said you’ve got a problem. And he sent me to the Ear, Nose and Throat hospital in Gravesend Road and I’ve had trouble with me ears ever since. Well we moved down, I don’t know how it started, oh, we went, when we went to Canada first time for the reunion, they couldn’t make out why I never got a pension, and so Bill, me skipper, he took it up. He took it up and when we came home, cause he lived over here then, he lived in Buckden in Cambridgeshire and we hadn’t been associated together very long, when we came back here and he gave me an address and they sent me some forms. I filled them forms in and sent them back and in a year’s time I got a pension and that was forty odd years after I left the RAF.
[Other]: Blimey.
BC: I got a twenty percent pension. Well then we moved here in ’95, 1995 and we hadn’t been here very long and I got a letter, to go to Brighton, they had one of these caravan efforts, you know, with, they moved around the country and I had more tests and that’s when this ear was involved as well. I don’t wear this one, it’s a bit, you know, noise it’s, you know, but I can’t, I can speak to you normally as we’re talking now and I can understand what you’re saying, but if it’s coming from that or on the telephone, I don’t stand a chance. When, where there’s electricity involved in speech, even with me hearing aids, I can hear it, but I can’t understand what they say. So, I watch the news, I watch the news, but unless their diction is so, I don’t hear what they’re saying. Yes please! Cup of tea?
CB: Fascinating. Can I go back to other times when you’re flying and before then. Nowadays it’s called something different, but in the war, where people failed to perform as required they were banded LMF. Lack of Moral Fibre. Did you ever come across or hear of any of that?
BC: Not once. Not once, cause I don’t think there was any. Not that I knew of, really.
CB: And did the crews, did the squadrons know about it?
BC: I think so, must do, but I never heard of anybody being, you know, court martialled. Oh, in a book I’ve got, there is a story of that, it’s about the RAF at East, not East, was it Eastbourne, probably, anyway it’s in this book. It was about this chappie who flew on his first, he was in the squadron and he’s written in, and he flew on his first trip and he felt as though the aircraft was lop-sided all the time, so he couldn’t remain in his seat. He was a rear gunner I think, he couldn’t remain in his seat and he said that he would like to change crews, but they said no, we could not do that. So they took him to the CO and the CO said you, you’re refusing to fly. He said I’m not refusing to fly, he said I just want, don’t want to fly with that particular crew. But they wouldn’t give in and that crew went on an op that night, with a spare gunner, and he was put in the guard room for overnight. Well then the next morning he had to go and see the CO, where he was going to be all rigged up for a court martial. But when he went into the CO’s office, his attitude had changed and the CO couldn’t have been nicer and the reason why: that crew ever came back. And he got, at the end of his tour, which he finished.
CB: With another crew. He finished it?
BC: Yeah. He got the DFM.
CB: Did he.
BC: But he was going to be treated, the CO wouldn’t have that he didn’t want to fly with that crew. He said you’re refusing to fly. He said I’m not refusing to fly, I’m just refusing, I want to fly with another crew, I don’t feel happy with that crew. They didn’t come back that night, so next morning, it was, he said the CO couldn’t have been nicer to him. Other than that, I don’t really know anything about, you know, cause I never met anybody. But I did, whether I read it or not, I don’t know, but if somebody did go LFM they were sent to, to um, Sheffield. I know they was stripped of all, you know, rank and everything, yeah. What was actually Sheffield, what was it?
CB: It was a prison in the middle of Sheffield.
BC: It’s a?
CB: A prison.
BC: Oh, was it. Cause on the First World War they got shot didn’t they. They used to shoot them. But I mean I always think, you know, I can’t remember I was, it was one particular trip I think that I was very dubious about on the run in, and that was Magdeburg, when we were in, and that was a long trip, where it was really going when we actually got there and that’s about the only trip I really thought about, you know, but we were lucky, I think we just, we weren’t more skilful than any of the others, but we were just lucky that we got away with it each time.
CB: So you’d arrive at the aircraft at dispersal in a truck or a bus?
BC: Hmm?
CB: You’d arrive at dispersal, before an op, in a truck, or in a bus, which did you arrive in, in a bus?
BC: A truck.
CB: Right. And so you got out of that, what did everybody do before they got to their stations? Any rituals?
BC: Can’t say really.
CB: Did you keep any mementos, souvenirs, keepsakes?
BC: No I didn’t.
CB: Or did you water the fence and the rear wheel?
BC: Pardon?
CB: Did you water the fence or the rear wheel?
BC: Oh yeah, there was all that in it, you know, we were quite a, especially when you got all keyed up for a trip – scrubbed. And you start over again the next day. I think that was one of the worst things.
CB: What effect did that have on the crew?
BC: Well good in a way, because the, you know, yeah, thank Christ for that, kind of thing, that’s one we got away with. But I think it’s been such a long time ago that you tend to, you forget how you felt each time, but as I say, I think my skipper was an inspiration to me. I was the youngest one of the crew. The rear gunner was there with us, Pete, Pete Potaski, and being the youngest one in the crew, I don’t know whether they, I didn’t feel as though I wasn’t doing me bit, cause I was, you know, but they were all.
CB: Now when you joined the RAF it was in a ground mechanic engineering role. What prompted you to volunteer for aircrew?
BC: I wanted it right from the very beginning. Because when I went to Ennisdale Road, to the recruitment centre, later on I had a medical and I had an aptitude test and I was approved, okay, pilot, navigator, bomber. But of course I was too young, my age was, I think I must have been about sixteen and a half or seventeen, my age was against me I couldn’t do nothing about it, that’s when, I did hear that there was a more chance of getting in the Air Force, cause I definitely didn’t want the Navy and I definitely didn’t want the Army, [chuckle] but that’s why I, you know, I really wanted aircrew, but as I say I always thought that by the time, if I’d have stuck with that and waited until I got, I wouldn’t have got anywhere near, I wouldn’t have done ops. Cause I reckon, I mean I’m ninety three in couple of days, well if you’re any younger you didn’t actually do operations. [Clock chime] Cause there is, in the High Street there’s Archers, the Estate Agents. Now I got involved with the chappie in charge down there and I took some photographs down there and asked if they’d reprint them for me and we got chatting and he said my father was a pilot on Liberators, Coastal Command. I said oh. He wasn’t in the war, it was just after the war, whether he’s alive or not now, we got chatting, we got quite friendly, you know. I said have you got any kind of memories, only he said, you know, he’s got no mementos, nothing like that, I thought ah! I wrote to these chappies who send all these photographs to me and I said could you possibly get a photograph of a Lancaster, of a Liberator and he sent me not one, but an airfield full of ‘em! So what I done, I went down to the Salvation Army place and I bought a frame for this picture and I framed it and I put it in a box, and took it down there. And I said I know you don’t believe in Father Christmas, this was just before Christmas, I said I know you don’t believe in Father Christmas but there’s a Christmas present for yer, open it if you want to, so he did. And he was absolutely, you know, he couldn’t thank me enough.
CB: Gobsmacked.
BC: Anyway, on the Christmas, Christmas week I was there on me own, thinking about just, you know, and the bell rang. So I went to the door and there was this man standing there and I looked at him and I thought, do I know you. I didn’t, so he said Archers, in the High Street. I said h yeah! He said, here y’are, present for yer, gave me a bottle of whisky!
CB: We’re going to take a pause there.
BC: We see him a few weeks ago, didn’t we, in Sainsburys, yeah. He don’t do so many days now.
CB: Right. It’s time for your cup of tea. When we, you had a mixed officer and NCO crew, so how did that work, socially?
BC: Quite, it was very good, we got on very well, extremely well together, the only thing, the problem was, the wireless operator, wasn’t, we weren’t kind of against one another, cause he knew his job and you know, we kind of, I still don’t know now, it’s in this book I’ve got about flying with Eastmoor, whether it was his job to throw out, because his position was right next to where this chute was and I think it was him, and there’s a chappie who was a flight engineer, I did ring him last year, I think meself, he’s gone a bit. Cause when we finished, we started up the Eastmoor Family, and he was that one who that done all the necessary and got a write up every three months or something like that, course he’s now ninety odd and course he’s not writing now, but, you know, he really, mean skipper was involved with it as well and they called it the Eastmoor Family and our, what’s his name, Ivan, Ivan Mullet, he was good at his job, what he was doing and you know, he was so interesting and this book that he’s written that, where I got a lot of information from. It went on for quite, about four years, he’s so old now he’s had to pack it in. So we haven’t got anything. Course Bill’s passed away, as I say I was hoping to show you them photographs.
CB: I’m pausing again. Can you just explain, clearly in the aircraft having officer and sergeant ranks was not a problem because there’s a cohesion in the crew with their individual tasks, but when you go out into the social environment, first of all on the station, socialising on the station but also outside. How did that work? Was it different, socialising on the station from outside?
BC: No, don’t think so because it seems with the Canadians, they, I mean when I first met Bill he was a Flight Lieutenant and I was a made up Sergeant, but, you know, they didn’t want to know. They didn’t want to know anything like that type of thing [indecipherable]. Bill did, I did hear that he would have liked, he would like to have had, he wanted, eventually an all officer crew, but I’m afraid I let him down. But the rear gunner, he was made up Warrant Officer. But as regards, you know, I didn’t, I think it was due to the situation, the VE Day and all that business that I wasn’t granted, and I’ve never got over it really, because I really [emphasis] wanted the RAF as my, what I wanted to do, cause I would have, probably would have stayed in the Air Force. But I had no choice.
CB: So what did you do, when you left the RAF?
BC: Well I went back. There was a government scheme, that if a chap working for a particular firm, went into the services, if and when he came back, [clock chiming] his job would still be there. And that was put in operation, but in my case, when I came, course I came back slightly early being discharged medically and the Electric Light Company were getting the work coming in so they wanted, so I didn’t, I can’t remember how many days’ leave I was given, you know and I actually started back to work rather early to what I need have done. So, I got me job back. But the point was, as the weeks went past, other chaps were coming back, so therefore, at first of all, when it was you know, not many coming back and then it kind of, more were coming back because more had left who’d gone in the services, and so they finished up with more staff than what they wanted, so therefore, one night I just got me cards. But the point is, that applied to all electrical firms that they were getting back far too many, you know they couldn’t cope those who came back early were getting their cards back and take on the others that were just coming back. So I lost me job and I worked for London Transport for quite a while and I drove a London bus! Well then, I didn’t like the job, so in 1960, or ’59, I joined Post Office Telephones before, it, well before it became British Telecom, that’s the worst thing that could have happened to it, because I enjoyed my job, and I was there till I retired. Normally it was sixty five, retirement, but as I was a civil servant they said I would have to go at sixty, which I didn’t want to do, so at fifty five I was given forms to fill in to the fact that when I arrived, when I was sixty, I would carry on. Well this did happen, but not until I was sixty five. At sixty three they said, you’ve got to go. So that’s when I retired; that was 1988. But matter of fact, a few weeks, a few, couple of months now ago, I had a letter from BT to confirm that I am who I am, and I’m still around, because of my pension.
[Other]: He’s drawing his pension longer than he worked for them.
CB: Is that right! Fascinating.
BC: I had to confirm that I was, you know, cause I mean it does happen, no one says anything, chap passes on and they still pay the pension, so that had to be confirmed.
CB: Diverted to Hardwick, an American base.
[Other]: [indecipherable] Brake, brake, brake.
BC: We landed at Hardwick, diverted. It was an American, was an American base. Well, they sent an Anson out to repair our hydraulics, for the next day. So after that they [clock chime] took us up in a Liberator to fly, you know, so naturally enough we had to do the same, so when the hydraulics were repaired, we piled a few of them into the Halifax.
CB: Americans.
BC: And up we went, circling the drome and what happened the hydraulics went again, and burst! So we was there another couple of days when the weather turned out, so all together I think we was there five or six days. Well of course they ripped, they ripped our stripes off everything we wore -
CB: As a souvenir.
BC: As a souvenir, and also so we could use the, we was using the Officers Mess. That was the idea.
CB: Officers Cub
[Other]: That was very good.
BC: We was there five days. They really looked after us.
CB: What about the food. What was that like?
BC: Eh?
CB: What about the food?
WB: We found it quite good. I’ll tell you what we, I did like, I personally did like, and that was the, what they call them? Square.
[Other]: Waffles
BC: Eh?
[Other]: Waffles.
CB: Waffles.
WB: Waffles. Piles of ‘em! And every night,
CB: With syrup. Fantastic.
BC: Actually really, really great. And course, when we finally did leave there, after five days, the skipper really shot that drome up, he really did, he really went to town. He knew, whahw!
CB: Put it right down.
BC: I never really, thinking about it, I never thought he had it in him to do that sort of thing! But he was.
CB: He was a Canadian, so he was trying to make a point. How did, as the crew and the squadron was Canadian, how did they get on in the countryside with British people?
BC: Well we had a farm right near us, and I always remember a couple of the chaps went down there, to help that farmer get his machine going again, cause they, you know, they were really and also, I never went meself, but they got well in with the, one of the, in the village, one of the families and that and they used to go in there and play cards of a night, you know, when we wasn’t flying. It was really, another thing, a chappie, not with the crew, but on the course, we wasn’t far from York. So I didn’t know what pretty girls were made of, so, we went into York, because there was, it was Phyllis Dixie, the first stripper in England, or Great Britain, the first one, they took me to show me. This chappie I was with, took me to show her.
CB: You were quite young, weren’t you.
BC: Yeah. Phyllis Dixie, the first stripper in London! Yeah, I remember that.
CB: But you didn’t have anybody to report to in those days. [Chortling] Bill Chubb, thank you very much for a most interesting conversation. Much appreciated.
BC: I didn’t know what to expect, what was what, you know. Cause trouble is, like now, I’m all right for a while, I go to say something and I’ve forgotten it. Cause I looked after my wife, who developed dementia, for six years. She died seven years ago, my dear Freda, she really is. I looked after her, as much as I could, never want to go through that again.
CB: No. I can imagine.
BC: Six years. We started off down here, we came up ’59 and at 2001 we was involved in a major road accident.
CB: Were you?
BC: I always wanted a Rover car and that’s what we bought. We had a brand new Rover and I hadn’t it that long. Complete write off, and it’s a wonder we weren’t written off as well and it wasn’t my, none of my fault. But they blamed me for one third of the accident.
CB: So what happened?
BC: Some law, cause they reckon my blinkers were still working when we, when I went straight on. And that was the get out. Who invented that I don’t know. But that Rover car, a Rover 200 was a beautiful car. Anyway the one I’ve just got rid of, was a VW I’ve had seventeen years.
CB: Brilliant.
BC: Paul got it. Sold it for me, yeah, very good.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with William Frederick Chubb
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Chris Brockbank
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-04-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AChubbWF180417
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:26:52 audio recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Bill Chubb had several challenges in his early life and his father died when Bill was 12. After several jobs he joined the RAF as a flight engineer. He became part of a Canadian crew, despite some objection! Bill tells many tales of his RAF time, fighter affiliation, bombs that failed to drop and dealing with aircraft swing on take off. He had to press for his pension after he was medically discharged and went to a number of reunions with his wife of 65 years.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Germany
Great Britain
England--London
England--Yorkshire
Germany--Magdeburg
Manitoba--Winnipeg
Wales--Glamorgan
Manitoba
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anne-Marie Watson
158 Squadron
1659 HCU
432 Squadron
aircrew
flight engineer
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
military service conditions
RAF Lissett
RAF St Athan
training
Window
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1183/11755/PWalkerS1702.2.jpg
babc0b9cbc0985d587cfa6760ef2ed9b
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1183/11755/AWalkerS170108.2.mp3
014f1bb7f6bf67b33c2a981c28d2f46c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Walker, Stephen
Stephen Michael Walker
S M Walker
Description
An account of the resource
40 items. An oral history interview with Stephen Walker about Ronald Cecil Walker (b 1924) photographs and documents.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Stephen Walker and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-01-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Walker, S
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
CB: My name is Chris Brockbank and today is the 8th of January 2017 and I’m here with Stephen Walker to do a proxy interview for his father, late father, Ronald Cecil Walker. And they lived in the Salisbury area. So in practical terms what are the earliest recollections you have of your father and what he did?
SW: Well my first memories are really as a young boy. Mainly standing by or sitting by the back door watching dad walk up the garden path in his long grey raincoat having finished his day at work and looking forward to seeing him there. So that’s really my first memories of him as a boy. He was a keen sportsman. He liked his football and his badminton which he very much did in his early days as a lad and then through to being an adult as well. I did go and see one movie with him as a young boy which obviously would have stuck in my mind because it was the Battle of Britain. But that’s the only movie we ever saw as a father and son team. But he, those are my memories really initially as a small boy.
CB: Right. So the question next is what did father do? Where was he born and when? And what did the family do?
SW: He was born on the 19th of October 1923 in West End, Southampton. He was one of four boys and two sisters. Born to Frederick Austin Walker and Lillian Maud Walker. And Frederick’s — his father’s occupation was a shopkeeper. And again in Southampton. So that’s his father’s role. With regard to Ron in his early days he attended, school wise, he was at the Deanery School in Southampton. He spent, in fact all of his schooling time at the Deanery School. Whether it be the junior school or the senior school.
[recording paused]
SW: With regard to when dad left school. That was in December 1937. He left the Deanery Senior School and he went out into the workplace and secured work with an accountancy firm as a junior clerk. So that was his first steps in to the workplace which, I guess is probably linked to the fact, in some way that his own father was dealing with figures and shop-keeping and retail. That, that type of thing so, and that’s what he did. And then in 1941 he joined the Air Training Corps. Number 424 Squadron in Southampton.
[recording paused]
SW: So after joining the Air Training Corps in December 1941 he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and he joined the RAF because two of his other brothers — family wise they decided that one would join the army, one would join the navy and one would join the RAF. And so Ron joined the RAF in December ‘41. He formed part of a process that was pilot/navigator/bomb aimer. So he was assessed as being most suitable for the bomb aimer role.
[recording paused]
SW: From Southampton, having joined the Volunteer Reserve he went on to ACRC at Lord’s. And then, I believe, on to Scarborough for his initial training. And post that initial training he was then sent out to Canada. A place called Defoe which was a Royal Canadian Air Force, 5 Bombing and Gunnery School. Exactly how much time he spent out there I’m not sure but on his return from Canada he went to the Climate Assimilation School and then to the Heavy Conversion Unit at Marston Moor. And from there on to 102 Squadron at RAF Pocklington in 1942.
[recording paused]
Both Marston Moor and Pocklington are in Yorkshire which is where he spent his time and then moving on from there as a bomb aimer flying Halifaxes with 102 Squadron. With regard to some of the missions they are currently being researched to get finer detail with regards to his ORBs and exactly what happened. I’m waiting for results. The information from Cranwell. But he did his full tour and the information that I do have would have included operations to Cologne, Osnabruck, Sterkrade, Nuremberg, Witten and Mainz and I have some details with regard to the Halifax that he would have flown on those occasions which would have been PP179. And MZ426 on the operation to Mainz. But subject to receiving more information from Cranwell I should be able to fill in a lot more details with regards to his ORBs.
CB: Do you have any information about whether the aircraft was hit by flak or fighters?
SW: I don’t. No. There is nothing that I have by way of the personal scrapbook that I made when he passed away that shows any aircraft that he was either in at the time but it could quite be possible but I don’t have anything that can confirm that.
CB: So accompanying this on a memory stick we’ve a lot of pictures and narrative.
SW: Yes.
CB: Which can be matched up and we’ll top up later.
SW: Yes. Yeah.
CB: Good.
SW: A lot of further information to come with regard to that. That background.
CB: Now, when he ended the war — what rank?
SW: He ended the rank as a warrant officer which we’ve identified from his uniform and the hats and in the photographs that I have. So yeah that was his leaving rank.
CB: Good. Thank you very much. Thank you Steve.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Stephen Walker
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Chris Brockbank
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-01-08
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AWalkerS170108, PWalkerS1702
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:06:50 audio recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Second generation
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Canadian Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Stephen’s father, Ronald Cecil Walker, was born in Southampton in 1923. On leaving school he worked as a junior clerk with an accountancy firm. In 1941 he joined the Air Training Corps, 424 Squadron, in Southampton and in December the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve where he was accepted to train as a bomb aimer. He trained with the Royal Canadian Air Force, 5 Bombing and Gunnery School, at Dafoe in Canada. His next posting was to the Climate Assimilation School and then to the Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Marston Moor. In 1942 he joined 102 Squadron at RAF Pocklington where he flew Halifaxes with the same squadron. His full tour included operations to Cologne, Osnabrück, Sterkrade, Nuremberg, Witten and Mainz. He finally left the RAF as a warrant officer.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Steph Jackson
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Oberhausen (Düsseldorf)
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Witten
Germany--Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Germany
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Saskatchewan--Dafoe
Saskatchewan
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941
1942
102 Squadron
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
RAF Marston Moor
RAF Pocklington
training