Browse Items (59 total)
- Coverage is exactly "Second generation"
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Interview with John Charles McAllister
John McAllister tells the story of his family connection with Bomber Command through his uncle who was killed on operations. John is a musician and movingly explains how, through writing songs and putting them on the internet about his uncle and the…
Interview with John Fisher
John Fisher was born six weeks after his father was killed on an operation over Germany. He became more and more curious about what had happened to his father and finding out more about him and the events leading up to his death as he got older.…
Interview with John Usher about Bob Burns
Bob Burns trained as a navigator and was posted to 106 Squadron at RAF Metheringham. His aircraft came under attack from a night fighter and the centrifugal force pinned the crew down and making an escape impossible.
Suddenly the aircraft broke in…
Suddenly the aircraft broke in…
Interview with Ken Hayton
Ken Hayton’s father, George Stanley Hayton (Stan), worked worked for Lloyds Bank. In 1940 Stan left his post to join the Royal Air Force; Ken recalled going to Durham station to see his father off, travelling to start basic training at RAF Padgate.…
Interview with Malcolm Francis Morris
Malcolm Francis Morris, who was a child when war broke out, remembers joining the RAF as a boy entrant and then serving as an armament technician during the Cold War. Describes his training at St Athans and being then posted to Aden, where he was in…
Interview with Mark Johnson
Mark Johnson reminisces about John Blair. He discusses family life in rural Jamaica as a mixed-ethnicity person, highly respected by everyone. He was a qualified teacher, a lawyer, and a farmer. Reminisces other Caribbeans who volunteered and served…
Interview with Martin Edwards
Martin Edwards recounts the war-time stories of his father, Frederick Edwards. Frederick was born in Kent in 1923, and lived on the family farm. He joined the RAF in 1943 as was posted to Canada for training as a navigator. On his return to England,…
Interview with Michael and Ann Akrill
Michael and Ann Akrill talk about their uncle, William Akrill. He grew up in Lincolnshire, and studied art in London and under the tutelage of Robert Kiddey. He considered becoming a contentious objector, but volunteered for the RAF and after…
Interview with Mike Cope
Mike is the adopted brother of James (known as Sonny) who was in the Royal Air Force with 460 Squadron. The crew were all English apart from the Australian pilot. James was a wireless operator/mid-upper air gunner. Mike was seven in 1943 when his…
Interview with Neville Shenbanjo
Neville Shenbanjo was born in 1945, the son of Akin Shenbanjo. Flying Officer Akin Shenbanjo DFC was born in Nigeria and served as a wireless operator/air gunner with 76 Squadron. His crew named their Halifax 'Achtung! The Black Prince' after him.
Interview with Oluwole Hyde
Oluwole Hyde’s father was Adesanya Hyde, who served as a navigator with 640 Squadron. He was badly injured but continued to navigate the aeroplane on operation. It was only when they were over the UK that he accepted the morphine for the pain.…
Interview with Oluwole Hyde. Two
Olu Hyde continues his interview by describing his experience as the son of a Bomber Command veteran.
Interview with Penny Turner
Penny Turner’s father, Flight Sergeant Albin John Turner, pilot of a Wellington bomber was killed in action during the first bombing operation on the 4th September 1939. Years later, when she was five years old, her mother told her that her father…
Interview with Peter Andrew Hopgood
This interview is with Peter Hopgood, who relates the experiences of his father, Sergeant Pilot Phillip Hopgood. Philip Hopgood lived in Liverpool and, after matriculation and having been a member of the Air Training Corps, he registered for the…
Interview with Peter Charles Hearmon
Peter was born in London and evacuated for part of the war. For National Service, he was taken on by the Air Force for a short time engagement and subsequently accepted a permanent commission.
After RAF Padgate, Peter was selected as…
After RAF Padgate, Peter was selected as…
Interview with Peter Jones
Peter William Arthur Jones (b. 1954) speaks about his father Thomas John Jones DFC (b. 1921, 1640434 and 184141 Royal Air Force). Peter Jones discovered a memoir written by his father, Thomas Jones, a flight engineer, just after he passed away. Peter…
Interview with Peter Steward
Peter Steward was born in 1933 and talks of not seeing his father during the war due to his father's service in the RAF. His uncles and cousins also served. After leaving school at 15, Peter worked at the Woolwich Arsenal factory and joined the RAF…
Interview with Peter Thompson
Peter Thompson is the nephew of Fred Denzel James Thompson. Fred’s father was Churchill’s bodyguard. In 1936 Fred joined the Metropolitan Police Criminal Investigation Department and, following a meeting with Winston Churchill, volunteered as a…
Interview with Philip Peel
Mike Peel was a Lancaster pilot and served on two squadrons before becoming a prisoner of war late in 1944. He was an active sportsman and played tennis in his eighties but unfortunately is no longer with us. Using his logbook, letters, and…
Interview with Rachel and John Gill
Peter Hazeldene joined the RAF from Wales when he saw a poster to see the world from a different perspective. He trained as a wireless operator and during training suspected a couple of incidents of sabotage on the base. Peter was posted to 106…
Interview with Richard Hollis
Richard’s father, Arthur Hollis, went to Dulwich College as a day boy. He left at sixteen to join the Home Guard , then worked for a firm of accountants for a couple of years before joining the Royal Air Force. He was sent to Manchester University…
Interview with Richard Overy. One
Richard Overy discusses the bombing war. Richard became interested in air power whilst doing doctoral research at Cambridge, studying German aircraft production during World War Two. He started as an economic historian but became a military…
Interview with Rita Brooks
Rita’s late husband was Flight Lieutenant Edward Brooks DFC, DFM. He was in the Home Guard before enlisting with the Royal Air Force in February 1941, and sometime later went to RAF Uxbridge. Following training at Blackpool, the recruits were…
Interview with Robert Andrew Percival
Robert Percival was the son of a Second World War pilot and so grew up with an interest in aviation. His application to join the RAF as aircrew was not successful so he chose the engineering / technician route in to the service. He was seconded to…