Browse Items (22 total)

  • Creator is exactly "Denise Boneham"

AMaxwellMI190904.mp3
Margaret was almost twelve years old at the outbreak of World War Two and living in Romford, Essex. She remembers the announcement made by Neville Chamberlain on the radio on September 3rd 1939. Margaret recounts being issued with a gas mask and how…

AHattG180817.mp3
Gladys Hatt was working in Manchester as a teenager when it was bombed. She recalls her life was a sequence of work, shelter, work and there was no teenage life for her. She worked as a machinist sewing uniforms which was a big change from her…

AStandenFC170218.mp3
Frank Standen always wanted to fly. He volunteered for the RAF hoping to become a pilot. Sadly, an eye defect was detected. He volunteered for motorboat crew and took part in air sea rescues. On one occasion he was involved in rescuing the crew of a…

ASeckerFE170815.mp3
Frances Elizabeth Secker is a lifelong resident of Feltwell. She was still at school when RAF Feltwell opened in 1937, and she remembers the Harrow being the first aircraft to arrive, followed by Wellingtons.
Elizabeth has clear memories of…

ASaundersR160616.mp3
Ron Saunders joined the RAF as a wireless operator rear gunner and served on 114 Squadron during the war. Remembers, as a little boy, seeing the airship R 101 and the Hindenburg flying in the distance. Describes his training in England and in Egypt…

ASampsonJ150821.mp3
James Sampson volunteered for the RAF and trained as a navigator and became a specialist on H2S. He survived three write offs of his aircraft including once when the wheels had been shot away. His bomb aimer had a very near miss when shrapnel hit the…

ARogersLC160822.mp3
Lawrence Rogers joined the Royal Air Force at 17, and trained to become a wireless operator. He served with 218 Squadron at RAF Woolfox Lodge and then with 75 Squadron, flying in both Ansons and Lancasters, He eventually completed 32 operations with…

AOttewellJA161230.mp3
John Ottewell was a member of the Air Defence Cadet Corps and volunteered for the RAF when he was eighteen. While undertaking initial training he was present when a Fw 190 attacked the town of Babbacombe. He took part in the clean-up at the church…

AMasseyJI170520.mp3
Joan Ilma Massey was born in India where her father served with the British Army. She joined the WAAF in 1940 at the age of seventeen. She did her initial training at West Drayton and worked in Whitehall for a time. After she was demobbed she went to…

ALonghurstWJ180407.mp3
William Longhurst served as an engine mechanic through the Second World War. He was a member of the Hackney Wick Air Defence Cadet Corps before volunteering to enlist in the RAF after his seventeenth birthday. Following basic training at Skegness,…

AHarrisIR-SW180324.mp3
Pat Harris’ brother John ‘Jack’ Harris joined the RAF straight from school as an apprentice. During the war he volunteered for aircrew and trained as a navigator. He was reported missing when Pat was serving in the Wrens. His death was finally…

AHackerHA170819.mp3
Harry Hacker first came into contact with aeroplanes at the age of sixteen whilst working as an apprentice for Rootes Motor Group who were making Wellington aircraft. He was a member of the Home Guard and after applying to join the RAF went for…

PFlynnRA1601.jpg
Ron Flynn was living in London before he volunteered for the RAF. He trained as a flight engineer and joined a British / New Zealand crew. He was posted to RAF Mepal. There was at least one occasion when a fire in the engines was extinguished by the…

AFerdinandoP151005.mp3
Pauline Fernando, widow of Harold William Fernando, reminisces her late husband. His father was posted in Germany after the First world War, where he met his wife. During the war he was stationed at Binbrook, Bath, and other stations, carrying out…

ADellowJA170617.mp3
James ‘Jim’ Albert Dellow had to register the start of the war he as he was 18 years old. On being asked which service he would prefer, he opted for the Royal Air Force as a pilot. Whilst waiting for his call up, he worked in an insurance office…

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

ABoutcherFL180318.mp3
Frank Boutcher worked as a junior clerk for Southend Borough Council before the war. He wanted to join the Royal Navy but they only required able seamen on a long commission, so he joined the RAF instead to train as an engine fitter. After passing…

ABirchallJW170816.mp3
James Burchill was in the ATC before he volunteered for aircrew training. He was expected to be deferred but was told he had been chosen for immediate service. On one operation he was injured and by the time he was ready for operational duties again…

ABeckettPC180317.mp3
Peter Beckett grew up in Mildenhall village. He attended the local Air Training Corps which enabled him to visit the airfield and take the opportunity to have air test flights with operational aircrews and help the ground staff with their work. He…

AFosterHG160821.mp3
Harold Gordon Foster (known as Harry) tells of his childhood, passing the eleven plus exam and his enjoyment of learning, and the need for him to earn money for his family rather than going to grammar school. He first worked for CL Equipments,…

AGoldstrawBJ160827.mp3
Basil Goldstraw was classed as medically unfit for aircrew and following training as a fitter, he was posted to 75 Squadron at RAF Mepal. He discusses aspects of his work as a fitter, being bombed, and life on and off the station. He was posted to…

ABrownlieDL161227.mp3
Daphne Brownlee joined the Royal Air Force and joined a Bomber Command Operational Training Unit at Kinloss, and worked in Flying Control.
She tells of the hours she and her colleagues worked and also what life was like on the base, including her…
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