Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Canadian Air Force]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> Scotland]]> Atlantic Ocean--North Sea]]> England--Yorkshire]]> 1943-07]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Peter Schulze]]> Steph Jackson]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Canada]]> Great Britain]]> Germany]]> Italy]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Northamptonshire]]> England--Nottinghamshire]]> Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal]]> Italy--Pomigliano d'Arco]]> 1945]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Vivienne Tincombe]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> Zimbabwe]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> Zimbabwe--Bulawayo]]> Zimbabwe--Harare]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Ian Whapplington]]> Tricia Marshall]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Norfolk]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Hampshire]]> England--London]]> Atlantic Ocean--English Channel]]> Atlantic Ocean--North Sea]]> Norway]]> Norway--Bergen]]> Belgium]]> Belgium--Ostend]]> 1941]]> 1942]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Ian Whapplington]]> Tricia Marshall]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Fighter Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Middlesex]]> England--London]]> England--Shropshire]]> 1942]]> 1944]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Canada]]> Great Britain]]> England--Essex]]> England--London]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Staffordshire]]> France]]> Netherlands]]> Belgium]]> Germany]]> Germany--Berlin]]> United States]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Vivienne Tincombe]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> Germany]]> Poland]]> France]]> England--Essex]]> England--Tilbury (Thurrock)]]> Poland--Szczecin]]> Germany--Duisburg]]> France--Pas-de-Calais]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> 1943-08-03]]> George sailed from Liverpool to Freetown, where he enjoyed seeing sailors and WAAFs in their whites, the green landscape and the locals selling their wares. He had some free time in Durban and received great hospitality from expats but felt embarrassed by apartheid. He began flying at No. 48 Air School and here his trade changed from air observer to air bomber, so he describes the navigational support role played by air bombers. He received his brevet and while 20 of his course were sent to North Africa, he and four others returned to England. George says he went to an OCU in North Wales and then describes crewing up, going onto Lancasters and being posted to 166 Squadron at RAF Kirmington.
While at Kirmington George married and his wife would come to visit, staying with a local family and making life-long friends.
George describes two memorable operations: Kiel, where he saw a Lancaster hit by falling bombs and Nuremberg, where his aircraft was coned by searchlights. He recalls how, on returning to Kirmington, the sight of the village church and a field of poppies was a beautiful welcome home and that he used to climb a hill near his billet to relax and look at the view.
At the end of the war George flew several trips on Op. DODGE and says that they flew at 2,000 feet because the passengers had no parachutes and so the aircrew did not carry them either. He also describes a visit to East Kirkby, where he was made to feel very welcome. He was asked what it was like to fly in the Lancaster and how it stood up to corkscrewing.
Sadly, George's lasting emotion of his service is of how quickly the closely-bonded crews were split up and sent back to their home countries at the war's end, often without time to exchange addresses or even say goodbye.]]>
Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Andy Fitter]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> Sound]]> Germany]]> Germany--Kiel]]> Germany--Nuremberg]]> Great Britain]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> England--Abingdon]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Grimsby]]> England--Warwickshire]]> England--Stratford-upon-Avon]]> Sierra Leone]]> Sierra Leone--Freetown]]> South Africa]]> South Africa--Durban]]> South Africa--Port Elizabeth]]> Wales]]> Wales--Anglesey]]>
Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Vivienne Tincombe]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--London]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> Germany]]> Germany--Kiel Canal]]> 1944]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Carolyn Emery]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Canada]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> United States]]> Oklahoma--Ponca City]]> England--Nottinghamshire]]> Oklahoma]]> Poland]]> Poland--Żagań]]> Germany--Spremberg]]> 1940]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending OH summary]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> England--Kent]]> England--London]]> 1940]]> 1947]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending OH summary]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> Germany]]> Norway]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> Germany--Karlsruhe]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending OH summary]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Nottinghamshire]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tracy Johnson]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> Wales]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> Wales--Vale of Glamorgan]]> Gemma Clapton]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England]]> France]]> Spain]]> England--Northamptonshire]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Germany--Essen]]> Pyrenees]]> Netherlands]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> 1942]]>