Browse Items (1333 total)
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Interview with Betty Welton
Betty Welton was born in 1924. She left school at the age of 14 and, at the age of 17 and a half, joined the Women’s Land Army. She saw this as an opportunity to escape her home circumstances. On receiving her papers, she travelled from her home…
Interview with Jeff Mackay
Jeff Mackay was born in 1922 in Ballarat, Australia and was working as a cadet engineer. He joined the Army but decided to join the RAAF when the Japanese entered the war in 1941. After boarding a ship he trained as a navigator in Canada and then…
Interview with Frederick James Bark
Frederick was born near Lincoln and grew up about two miles from RAF Scampton. He was five years old at the beginning of the Second World War. He recalls waving to crew as they left. He also recalls going with soldiers from the Lincolnshire regiment…
Interview with Nora Hailey
Nora Hailey was born in Portsmouth, and then the family moved to Eastney. Before the German bombing she was evacuated to her Auntie’s in Worthing. After a few weeks nothing happened so they went back to Portsmouth. When the bombing began she and…
Interview with Jack Harris. Three
Jack Harris resumes describing his post-war career in the Royal Air Force. In October 1955, he became the commanding officer of 542 Squadron, a special duties squadron responsible for sampling radioactive fallout produced by American and Soviet atom…
Interview with Jack Harris. Two
After completing 37 Bomber Command operations during the war, Jack Harris remained in the RAF. In February 1949, he was posted to Singapore, where he joined 48 Squadron and undertook transport command services on C-47s. He describes evacuating…
Interview with Jack Harris. One
Jack Harris was born in Gillingham, Kent. At sixteen, he undertook employment as a clerk in the intelligence department of the Air Ministry. He describes the brief evacuation of his department to Harrow in 1939 and receiving permission to leave his…
Interview with Frank Stafford
Frank Stafford grew up in a small mining village in Creswell, Derbyshire. After leaving school at 16, he went to work for the Inland Revenue, from here at the age of 18, he volunteered for the Royal Air Force. He was sent to London to begin physical…
Interview with John David Pennington Cotter
John was born in London, Hendon. His family fell on hard times in his early years. John and his brother, Paul, joined the RAF in 1941 as a pilot and wireless operator respectively. After initial training at RAF Brize Norton, John was trained in…
Interview with Tom Rogers
Born in Fulham, Tom Rogers joined the RAF in 1943 as an air gunner. After training he was posted to 207 Squadron in RAF Spilsby, carrying out 26 operations, shooting down two enemy aircraft and being awarded the Legion d’Honneur. He tells of the…
Interview with Ernie Tillbrook
Ernest Hector Angelo Pedrazzini was the son of an Italian father and an English mother. After the war he changed his name to Tillbrook. Ernie’s father escaped from a prison camp during the First World War and finding his way to Russia and…
Interview with Dinah Smith
Dinah Smith was born in Bamford, Derbyshire in 1937, moving to Darley Dale when her father found a new job as an aqueduct linesman. Dinah outlines her experiences of school, friends, foraging for food, and celebrations during the war. She also…
Interview with John Plendeleith
John Plenderleith was in the Air Training Corps before he volunteered to join the RAF. He was posted to 626 Squadron at Wickenby and when the crew were allocated their hut they were surprised to find it was still occupied with another crew’s…
Interview with Kenneth George McVicar
Kenneth George McVicar was born in Llanelli, South Wales and joined the Royal Air Force at the age of 18, where he qualified as a Gunner. He Flew in Ansons, as mid upper gunner turret, but also on Stirlings and Lancasters. He tells of how he went on…
Interview with Grace Bradley
Grace Bradley lived on Boothferry Road in Hull and remembers the bombing of Hull during the war. She was a shorthand typist and worked for a local timber importer. She joined the WAAF and as a typist she typed the reports given by the returning…
Interview with Danny Walker
Wilberforce Emmanuel Walker, known as Danny, was born in Jamaica and he joined the Royal Air Force in June 1944.
After becoming a Junior Clerk at the Post Office in Jamaica, Danny arrived in England in 1944 was based in Filey in Yorkshire, where he…
After becoming a Junior Clerk at the Post Office in Jamaica, Danny arrived in England in 1944 was based in Filey in Yorkshire, where he…
Interview with Lillian Margret Bailey
Lillian Margaret Bailey volunteered for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and after a brief time in RAF Balloon Command was trained as a driver. She served at RAF Elsham Wolds driving aircrews out to their aircraft.
Interview with Arthur Spencer
Arthur Spencer joined the Royal Air Force after leaving school. He began pilot training in Florida but then re-mustered as a navigator and trained in Pensacola. He completed two tours of operations as a navigator with 97 Squadron at RAF Woodhall Spa…
Interview with Harold Yeoman
Harold Yeoman volunteered for the RAF hoping to become an air gunner and was surprised to find he would be trained as a pilot. He describes a crash landing in a Wellington returning from an operation to Cherbourg and being sent to Essen twice within…
Interview with Sheena Staves
During the war Sheena lived in Cottingham, a village close to Hull. She lived with her mother and father (who was a fire watcher). He fought in the Far East during the first world war. She had two elder brothers, one in the Navy and one in the Royal…
Interview with Sheila Rankine
Sheila Rankine wanted to become a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force but was conscripted to be a munitions factory worker. She worked at Rose's in Gainsborough making the hydro-static fuses for bombs including the Upkeep bouncing bomb. She met…
Interview with Joan Raettig
Joan Raettig (nee McGuire) was born in Hull and at the age of fourteen was evacuated to Scarborough, the day before war broke out. She experienced the bombing of Hull and spent nearly two years sleeping in an air raid shelter because they were fed…
Interview with Alfred Marshall
Alfred Marshall volunteered for the Royal Air Force and was called up to serve with two others from his hometown of Birtley, neither of whom survived the war. He flew operations as a navigator with 192 Squadron from RAF Foulsham, including Special…
Interview with Hugh Lorimer
Hugh Lorimer skipped school to see a flying circus and won a flight in one of the aeroplanes. He later volunteered for the RAF and began training as a wireless operator. He was, initially, posted to Special Duty Flight test flying in India. However,…
Interview with Victor Gregg
Victor Gregg joined the army on his 18th birthday. He was stationed in the Middle East when the news came that war had been declared. His first major battle of the war was at Beda Fomm. He later volunteered and was posted to 10 Parachute Battalion…