Steve Cooke]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Cathy Brearley]]> Carolyn Emery]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Polskie Siły Powietrzne]]> Great Britain]]> Poland]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> 1939]]> 1940]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> Stanley joined the Air Training Corp after hearing a broadcast from the Air Ministry asking for volunteers. He tells the stories of the other 3 who joined up with him. He was an apprentice fitter with Celanese and had to break that apprenticeship to sign up for the Royal Air Force at the age of 18.
On joining up, he helped form 1117 Squadron, before moving to Burnaston where they had Tiger Moths and Miles Magisters and then moving on to 16 AFTS Flight Training School. He also flew Whitleys, Avro Ansons and Bristol Blenheims from Ashbourne Aerodrome. He also tells of his experiences with the Vickers Wellingtons and the Avro Lancasters.
Stanley was posted to 54 Maintenance, Repair and Salvage unit at Cambridge and was tasked with salvaging aircraft that crash, no matter whose aircraft they were. He tells of his experiences in his line of work, some good and some bad.
After the war, Stanley returned to Celanese and finished his apprenticeship before moving to Royces, where he spent 10 years building jet engines, before working at Chilwell, working on the Rolls Royce engines for the Comet tank. He returned to work at Celanese until he retired.
]]>
Steve Cooke]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Vivienne Tincombe]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]>
Steve Cooke]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tina James]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Bangladesh]]> Great Britain]]> Burma]]> India]]> Vietnam]]> Bangladesh--Chittagong]]> Burma--Rangoon]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Vietnam--Ho Chi Minh City]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> Steve Cooke]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Carolyn Emery]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Canadian Air Force]]> Royal Navy]]> Great Britain]]> England--Yorkshire]]> 1941]]> 1943]]> 1945]]> Steve Cooke]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Carolyn Emery]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> Alps]]> Steve Cooke]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Peter Schulze]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Germany]]> Lithuania]]> Russia (Federation)]]> 1942]]> 1945]]> 1947]]> Jack was posted to the Second Anti-Aircraft Workshop at Callington and then the 469 Searchlight Battery ‘A’ Troop headquarters at Clovelly. Jack also went to 335 Battery at South Molton. Describes a homing beam system to guide aircraft back to the airfield noting that many pilots came to thank the searchlight crew after the first thousand bomber raid. A searchlight detachment normally comprised 12 men with specific roles, but each could do the other’s job. The searchlights were 90cm or 150cm and the latter were normally mounted and mobile.
Jack was also stationed with the 470 Battery in Norfolk where he believes he was one of the first to see Window’s effect on radar. He was posted to East Walton and one site was on the Sandringham estate.
Jack was then stationed at Hemel Hepmstead, was posted back to Arminghall and subsequently Hucknall. He became part of a new unit, 469 Advanced Base Workshops, and went to India and Singapore. His return home was on the record breaking run on the Andes and was demobilised in 1947.
Jack then worked as a power station chemist in Nottingham. He recalls seeing the first jet propelled engine in 1941 in Hucknall where there was a test centre.]]>
Steve Cooke]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams ]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Burma]]> Great Britain]]> India]]> Singapore]]> England--Nottinghamshire]]> 1940]]> 1941]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]>
Steve Cooke]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Adalberto Di Corato]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Second generation]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Lincoln]]> 1939-09-04]]>