Browse Items (164 total)

  • Creator is exactly "Chris Brockbank"

WardM [Pesaro].jpg
Roy Ward joined the Meteorological Office when he was 18 and served as a Meteorological officer with 517 Squadron. He returned to the Meteorological Office as a civilian after the war and his final job before retirement was as a weather forecaster at…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ;

WardM (Pesaro).jpg
Mary Ward grew up in Bloxham. She joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1940 and was posted to RAF Driffield, on general duties in the officers’ mess. She describes a German daylight attack on RAF Driffield on the 15 August 1940 and the…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

WardM (Pesaro).jpg
Mary Ward joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1940. She served briefly at RAF Driffield but mostly at RAF Linton on Ouse. She trained as a cook before being moved to duties as a map officer. She prepared maps for briefings and debriefings.…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

Matthew Adams’ family farmed the land around the site and once covering the site taken over by RAF Westcott. He describes the reaction of landowners, the details of the takeover and the building of the site for use by the RAF.

In accordance…

Tags:

PMarriottMW1701.jpg
Interested in aircraft through the Air Training Corps, Maurice joined the Royal Air Force in 1942 and went to Cardington. In July 1943 he went to the Air Crew Reception Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground, followed by 17 Initial Training Wing in…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

AStachiewiczM170119.mp3
Mieczysław describes his military training from his Polish secondary school before volunteering for the Polish Air Force. He was evacuated to Warsaw but the railway lines were cut by the Germans. His squadron reassembled on the Romanian border…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

ABoddingtonNK-JCA171208.mp3
Nancy Boddington worked with her husband at the Pipewell Ploughing Company who had the contract to level the ground for the construction of several airfields. John worked with his father in later years and so is able to provide information about the…

Tags:

PGomersalO1605.jpg
Oliver went for selection to Cardington and joined the RAF in 1941 as an observer (navigator and bomb aimer). He was called up to the Aircrew Receiving Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground and sent to Aberystwyth. He was posted to the Elementary…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

AHollowayPM171023.mp3
Pauline Holloway grew up in Harrow and turned eighteen one month before the end of the Second World War. She recollects listening to Churchill’s speeches on the radio, sheltering during air attacks in a purpose-built extension to her house, and…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

ACourtPR171211.mp3
Percival Robert Court joined the Air Training Corps in March 1941, volunteering for the Royal Air Force at the earliest age of seventeen and a half. Training at RAF Cardington, he became a flight mechanic. He then moved to Skegness to continue into…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

AHopgoodPA160215.mp3
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 he registered for the Royal Air force as he was a member of the Air Training…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

PBellinghamPF1602.jpg
Peter Bellingham worked as a post office engineer before volunteering for the Royal Air Force. He trained in Rhodesia and South Africa and completed a tour of operations as a bomb aimer, dropping supplies with 138 Squadron from RAF Tempsford. He…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

AHearmonPC160317.mp3
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…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

AJonesPWA171207.mp3
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…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

ALathamPA160203.mp3
Peter was an only child and grew up in the centre of Birmingham. His father was a plumber. He recalls the bombing. He joined the Air Training Corps at his Grammar School and was a corporal when he finished school. He was offered a place at the…

Tags: ;

AWoodardP160512.mp3
Peter was in the Air Training Corps and joined the Royal Air Force on deferred service as a wireless operation/air gunner. He was soon called to the Air Crew Reception Centre at Lord’s cricket ground. He went to the No. 2 Radio School at RAF…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

APeelPAG170831.mp3
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…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

AClarkeRC180130.mp3
Posy Clarke had an idyllic childhood in the house her parents renovated in Kingshill. They were very great friends with Air Chief Marshall Harris and his family who lived next door and who often visited for meals and drinks. Posy and Jackie Harris…

Tags: ;

AGillRA-JT170930.mp3
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…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

PBarrettR1703.jpg
Raymond Barnes worked in factories before he joined the RAF. He trained as an engine fitter. He was posted to the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Far East. He was servicing Spitfires for 242 Squadron and then Dakotas for 267 Squadron. He was…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

PGossRG1701.jpg
Raymond Goss lived on the family farm at Westcott before, during and after the construction and occupation of RAF Westcott as 11 Operational Training Unit. One evening a Lancaster collided with a Wellington on the field and both exploded. The Goss…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

AFreethR160531.mp3
Reg Freeth grew up in Wales and worked for the Civil Service in the Labour Exchange before he volunteered for the Royal Air Force. He trained as an observer in South Africa and flew operations served as a bomb aimer with 61 Squadron from RAF…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

PSearleROJ1709.jpg
Rex Searle joined the RAF in 1938 as an air frame fitter. He was based at Hendon and then at Biggin Hill with 601 Squadron before the squadron was split and he moved with them to France. He was evacuated back to the UK via Boulogne as the German army…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

PSearleROJ1709.jpg
While Rex Searle was an air frame fitter with 601 Squadron he was evacuated from France at the start of the war. He returned home for a short leave but didn’t want to wake the family so waited patiently from 4am until 6am when his mum started her…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

PHollisAN1801.jpg
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…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

Output Formats

atom, dc-rdf, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2