Browse Items (26 total)

  • Creator is exactly "David Meanwell"

PSouterKP2131.1.jpg
Kenneth Souter was born in Sunderland. His father ran a business importing wooden pit props. Kenneth learned to fly at Cambridge, and his first air experience flight was on the 5 July 1939 and, after training, he went solo on the 31st July 1940…

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

AWicksteadE180621.mp3
Elizabeth Wickstead was born in Brighton, in 1928, and moved between villages in the Sussex area. Elizabeth remembers the announcement of the war in September 1939, and remembers the arrival of evacuees from London and the schools being separate from…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ;

PRichardsSJ1701.jpg
Sydney James Richards was born in Greenwich, London and was working in a drawing office in the Arsenal before joining the Royal Air Force. He originally intended to join the Navy but changed his mind, as he decided he preferred aircrew. He did his…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;

PMcRaeER1701.jpg
Ted McRae volunteered for aircrew and trained as a gunner. He was usually in the mid-upper turret but would sometimes swap places with the rear gunner. On one trip, repatriating ex-prisoners of war, his aircraft crashed. He and the other gunner were…

Tags: ; ; ; ; ; ;

AThompsonPJ181122.mp3
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…

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

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

Tags: ; ; ; ; ;

PLiddlePAF1601.jpg
Peter Liddle was living in Falkirk when he and his twin brother both volunteered for the RAF. Peter became a bomb aimer and was posted to 460 Squadron at RAF Binbrook. He was shot down and, as he was descending by parachute, he could see his burning…

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

PLawrenceJ1701.jpg
Jack ‘Lawrie’ Lawrence planned on making a career in the RAF and joined in 1938. He enjoyed those early days when it felt like he belonged to a flying club. This was interrupted by the start of war and operational flying. He flew in Blenheims and…

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

PJonesMH1601.jpg
Mervyn Jones is a miner's son from Wales. His father wanted a different life to that of a miner for his son and the family moved away to Slough where there was plenty of work. Mervyn had always had trouble with his ears and so his father assumed he…

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

AHughesJ171123.mp3
After flying as a spare, Reginald Wilson (Hughes’ father) formed a new crew and completed their first operation to Berlin on the 29th December 1943. During their second operation to Berlin on the 20 January 1944, the aircraft was shot down. Upon…

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

AHughesJ171102.mp3
Janet Hughes’ father, Reginald Charles Wilson, volunteered for the RAF in August 1941. In January 1942, he was posted to America under the Arnold training scheme and was later re-mustered to train as a navigator in Canada. After forming a crew at…

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

PGoldbyJL1701.jpg
John Goldby was born in Kent but the family moved to London the year after. He was inspired to join the RAF when a schoolfriend joined and became a Spitfire pilot. John believes that it was a mid-air collision with a night fighter that led to his…

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

PGardnerHS1701.jpg
During the final months of World War 2, Harold Gardner was a navigator on 106 Squadron based at RAF Metheringham. Known throughout his RAF career as Stan, he was born in Brighton. In 1937 aged 14, his father arranged employment for him with the…

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

ADowardLA171026.mp3
Len Doward was in the army when he saw an advertisement for aircrew so he volunteered. and trained as a pilot. On one operation he saw a Lancaster alongside hit by bombs from a Lancaster above. After his operational tour Len was posted to India and…

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

PdiPlacitoLH1701.jpg
Lawrence di Placito served as a second-class coxswain on the RAF Air Sea Rescue launches during the Second World War. Henry gives further details of his experiences in rescues, both successful and those with a tragic ending. He also tells of Ealing…

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

PdiPlacitoLH1701.jpg
Lawrence di Placito served as a second-class coxswain on the RAF Air Sea Rescue launches during the Second World War. He was born in Chertsey and attended Egham grammar school where he was a member of the cadet force. Upon leaving school in 1936 he…

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

PDeanJEH1701.jpg
John Dean’s childhood memory of watching a Spitfire and a German aircraft having a dogfight in the sky above him spurred him to want to become a Spitfire pilot. He didn’t achieve his aim of becoming a Spitfire pilot and instead became a…

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

ABaileyCE180424.mp3
Cyril Bailey worked in a garage before he volunteered for the RAF. He considered being a mechanic but was told there were no vacancies and he was encouraged to become a flight engineer. He joined 625 Squadron at RAF Kelstern and became the only…

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

PRichardsonF1626.jpg
Fred signed up for the Royal Air Force as a pilot at RAF Cardington. After RAF Bournemouth, he went to the Aircraft Receiving Centre in London and, subsequently, to Canada. He trained at the No. 1 British Flying Training School in Texas on Stearmans,…

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

AGardR160601.mp3
After Air Training Corps membership, Ron joined the Royal Air Force. From Oxford, he went to Lord’s Cricket Ground, followed by RAF Bridlington. He was posted to No. 7 Air Gunners School at RAF Stormy Down and passed out as a sergeant air gunner. …

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

AHookerFJ160525.mp3
Fred’s talks about life before being called up for service, including his brother being captured in Hong Kong and becoming a prisoner of the Japanese. Fred joined the Boy Scouts, aged 11, and then the Air Training Corp when it was formed in 1941.…

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

PBurchettHF1602.jpg
Horace Burchett joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 17, rising to the rank of Flight Engineer, serving in an all Australian Squadron at 1654 Conversion Unit in Wiglsely in Northamptonshire. Posted to 463 Squadron at Waddington, still with the…

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

PBrookM1702.jpg
Maurice grew up Rothwell in Yorkshire, joined the Air Training Corp, and then joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 18, after spending time with Cambridge University Air Squadron. He completed his pilot training in Canada before going to the…

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

ABantingP160315.mp3
Peter Banting grew up in London and was a member of the Air Training Corps before volunteering for the Royal Air Force. After training, he flew operations with 75 Squadron from RAF Mepal and 7 Squadron RAF Oakington. After the war he trained to be…

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

PCoxJ1606.jpg
John Cox grew up in Lincolnshire and worked in banking before he joined the Royal Air Force. After training as a pilot in the United States, he served as an instructor for almost three years. He flew 20 operations as a pilot with 626 Squadron, from…

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

Output Formats

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