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25
11
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/252/3438/PJohnsonGL1703.2.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/252/3438/AJohnsonGL170801-02AV.1.mp3
eb39e14f9d84e850e2bbb56162504c34
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Johnson, Johnny
George Johnson
G L Johnson
Description
An account of the resource
Three oral history interviews with Squadron Leader George Leonard ‘Johnny’ Johnson MBE (1921 - 2022). Johnny Johnson flew operations as a bomb aimer with 97 Squadron from RAF Woodhall Spa and with 617 Squadron from RAF Scampton. On 16/17 May 1943 he took part in Operation Chastise to attack German dams with bouncing bombs. He served in the RAF until 1962 and then had a career in education. He was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Lincoln in 2017.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-01
2015-03-25
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Johnson, G
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
GJJ: On 106 Squadron was known as the arch bastard.
[Laughter]
Other: Good. [pause] That part I got on camera.
DE: I did press record before.
HH: We were told a very funny story about how Gibson and his new wife booked into some inn in Lincolnshire on the night of their wedding and they had this rare, rare commodity of smoked salmon and they handed it to somebody who was kitchen staff to put it, to serve it up and it came all fried [laughter] And he was apparently absolutely livid that the smoked salmon had been fried.
Other: You would be slightly upset, wouldn’t you?
HH: Someone had told me that story.
GJJ: I gather she was quite a lady too. She was one of the Windmill Dancers, wasn’t she? I think.
[pause]
Other: I must [pause] Ok.
[pause]
Other 2: May I take it out? May I take it out?
DE: Can he, can you remove that thing behind you?
[pause]
Other: Ok.
GJJ: How tall are you?
Other 2: Six two.
GJJ: Have you stopped growing?
Other 2: Not yet.
[Laughter]
Other 2: Ok. Right.
[pause]
Other 2: Ok.
[pause]
Other 2: Ready to go.
Other: Ok.
Other 2: Switched off.
DE: Switched off?
Other 2: Ok.
HH: Do you want me to come and hold that?
[Noise in background]
DE: That’s just to make you jump.
[laughter]
GJJ: The last time that happened I had a coffee and dozed off. The telephone rang. Ahh all down my trousers.
DE: Oh dear.
Other: That’ll teach you.
DE: Yeah. Johnny, I wonder if you could tell me what your feelings were, what your thoughts were when the Dam Busters film came out?
GJJ: Some of it has to be disappointment. I’m afraid the author didn’t get everything quite as right as he might have done. He didn’t mention the Sorpe at all. And the film was based on his book. Didn’t mention the Sorpe at all, either in the introduction or the attack on the Sorpe. So as far as that was concerned we had done nothing at all. I was amazed, I saw recently, saw a copy again where Gibson is looking at one of these now manufactured bombsights on the, on his desk. They didn’t exist. At least as far as I’m aware they didn’t exist. I think the only one that he really accredited to the squadron was that of Dave Maltby’s. His father was headmaster of a big school and I think he had it made. I’m not sure. I know it does say on the thing as used by Flight Lieutenant David Maltby’s crew. That one had done the circle. And Fred Bateman who recently was committed to two years in jail for basically stealing people’s logbooks more than anything else. He auctioned that particular one and I think he made something like forty thousand pounds. Where he got it from I don’t know but it was supposed to have gone back to the family. But these things now have appeared quite frequently in all sorts of areas. I have, I signed two for Nigel the other day. They’re both going to IBCC I think. But, no the other thing about Paul Brickhill is that I know that Johnson is a popular name . Notice I say popular, not common but he managed to get Ted Johnson, flight lieutenant on Joe’s crew and me on Johnson’s crew in the crew list that he produced. I was looking through quickly his latest book in which he deals with the squadrons throughout the war and when he’s talking about the attack on the Sorpe, McCarthy made three attempts and then gave it up. Where he got his [mentions?] from I don’t know. I would have to say that I think the greatest author is John Sweetman. And the thing I like about John is that whatever he’s writing about he researches it thoroughly and then he just writes what he’s found in his research. He doesn’t say this should have happened, that should have happened or could have happened or might have happened. Doesn’t believe in that at all. So, what he produces ultimately is a very factual book and his Operation Chastise which was produced shortly after Paul Brickhill’s book is absolutely accurate from the beginning to the end. And it goes right through from the first thoughts during the early thirties about the dams being used in an attack, as a target right through to the actual completion of the whole thing. I got to know John very well and I do find him a very interesting and pleasant character and I do much appreciate that what he writes is purely factual and nothing more. There are a few of the other authors that might take example from that, I think.
DE: Do you think sometimes perhaps that Operation Chastise has sort of over- shadowed some of the other work that Bomber Command did during the war?
GJJ: I can’t see, quite frankly any reason why it shouldn’t be because the work that Bomber Command did during the war was certainly something that everybody has to be extremely grateful for. And that, I find is another of my moans at the moment — trying to get recognition for those. I think the figure as I know at the moment is fifty seven thousand six hundred and eighty one, something like that, who were killed. Over eight thousand that were injured, some permanently, and the over nine thousand who spent some time in German prisoner of war camps. No recognition of that comes up on anywhere. Particularly from the politicians. The senior politicians in particular. And I have moaned about this and the non-appearance of a Bomber Command medal. And the last time I did this was, strangely enough at the IBCC’s annual dinner two years ago. I was asked if I would say a few words about Bomber Command and about the museum itself, the centre itself and I really went to town on the Bomber Command bit. Particularly Churchill. Because he, to my mind, had no time at all for Sir Arthur Harris, the chief of Bomber Command who was so much respected by the air crews of Bomber Command. And the one particular instance that sticks out is the operation against Dresden. Arthur Harris didn’t want to do it. It had no military achievement. All we would be doing is creating fire but Churchill insisted that it was done. And when it was done and it became virtually a holocaust at Dresden Churchill blamed Harris for it. He had wanted to do it. He striked me as being the type of man who if he had an idea which he thought would help end the war he’d go to the senior colleague in that particular area and suggest it to them. If it came off it was my idea. If it doesn’t it’s your fault. It shouldn’t have gone like that. And that was the sort of thing I found so annoying about his attitude generally. It may sound a bit off-side, an Englishman talking about Churchill in that matter but that’s the way I feel about him. I found that on that particular dinner meeting I mentioned senior politicians all the way through and when it came to the IBCC I was as full of praise as I possibly could be and stressed the personal effect it could have. And at that time my MP, my local MP, [Catherine Lesser?] at Bristol [?] I had met on a couple of occasions before, I’d done a brief interview with the Daily Express, shortly before the dinner and the Daily Telegraph journalist was sitting in the dinner making notes as I spoke and they both printed the next morning. And oddly, Catherine read it and then she wrote a letter to David Cameron which suggested why didn’t he do something about it? Why couldn’t he even invite me down there and discuss what might be done between us to put this on. And then I got a copy of his reply to her letter and a more political letter you couldn’t wish to see. Everything that could be done had been done. You can’t afford two medals for the same business and there’s already the 1945 [pause] sorry the ’39 ’45 Star and the Air Crew Europe and now they’ve got the clasp which I had said at my talk I thought was an absolute insult. A tiny bit of copper with perhaps Bomber Command, if you can read it, across it. It has to be fitted to an existing medal and [pause] but then, that’s the way it goes. And so far, we’re still no nearer to a Bomber Command medal than we were then but at least it doesn’t stop us from trying. Anyway, when I get the opportunity, I belly ache about it and I will go on to.
DE: What do you think about the memorials that there are to Bomber Command?
GJJ: I think the park, the Green Park one is very good. I think the, I take my hat off to the sculptor that designed it. I think that you can see the look of expectation in that crew’s eyes as they’re waiting for their comrades to come back. And you can also see in some the tiredness in their eyes. And if — I’ve got a picture down there. If you can. The one behind the one in the front.
DE: We’ll have a look at it in a minute if you —
GJJ: That shows [pause] That shows the model, the memorial in the background behind that aircraft with the, “Never forget,” notice underneath. I think it’s tremendous. But yes, a very good model. But again, it’s not, not as personal as the IBCC and that I think is the finest memorial to Bomber Command that there is in this country in that it is so personal and reflects so much the work that Bomber Command did. And of course, includes the Bomber Command county of course as we say Lincolnshire was known. Others, I think, where they’re placed, I think the people that have done it have done it with every good intention and I think they make a point but the dominance in my mind comes from the IBCC and I have yet to see anything that will really overtake it.
DE: Smashing. Thank you. Just, as I think as a final question what are your feelings about the campaigns to give you some personal recognition?
GJJ: I am absolutely completely grateful to all those people that have worked and prepared to sign the petitions and those who have worked so hard to get them signed. I’m grateful for the award that has resulted from that. Very grateful. But I have to remember that this is not me. I’m the lucky one. I’m still alive. This is representation of what the squadron has done and that is the way it needs to be looked at. I will always regard it as such. Again, but still with great gratitude for, for the recognition. And that is why I find that my recognition from Lincoln [pause] Lincoln [pause] I’ll try that again, from Lincoln University is so special to me because it not only deals with my wartime stuff but it deals more specifically or I think highlights more specifically my work and life after my service life. And I think that I’ll always be extremely grateful for that. Absolutely. A great deal.
DE: Thank you very much. I think that’s, that’s absolutely wonderful. We’ve got, got all we hoped to get and more. Thank you.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AJohnsonGL170801-02AV
PJohnsonGL1703
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Johnny Johnson.Three
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Type
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Sound
Moving image
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
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00:18:57 audio recording
00:15:33 video recording
Conforms To
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Pending review
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dan Ellin
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-01
Description
An account of the resource
George ‘Johnny’ Johnson comments on Paul Brickhill's book and on the 1955 film of the same name, expressing disappointment that there was no mention of the Sorpe Dam. He voices contempt for the unscrupulous people who have made money by selling log books taken from veterans’ families. He notes that not all authors writing about Bomber Command are reliable. He criticises Winston Churchill for the way in which he held Arthur Harris responsible for the Dresden attack of February 1945. He explains his part in the campaign for Bomber Command to receive a medal, and his disappointment about the clasp. He mentions his correspondence with David Cameron. He praises the Green Park memorial but feels the finer one is the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln. He acknowledges the recent recognition given to him, but stresses that gratitude is due to all those who fought and died.
<p>This content is available as embedded video:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B87JkF-HJlg?rel=0&showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Germany
Germany--Sorpe Dam
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-05-16
1943-05-17
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
106 Squadron
617 Squadron
bombing
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
Eder Möhne and Sorpe operation (16–17 May 1943)
Gibson, Guy Penrose (1918-1944)
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
memorial
perception of bombing war
RAF Waddington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/537/8773/Vera Willis.1.jpg
8d1fedc2c1660f17d81c02f7d9ea19c7
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Willis, Vera
V Willis
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Willis, V
Description
An account of the resource
Two oral history interviews with Vera Willis (2136822 Women's Auxiliary Air Force).
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-15
2015-08-28
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Vera Willis
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Heather Hughes
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-28
Format
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00:35:41 video recording
Type
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Moving image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AWillisV150828
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending OH transcription
Description
An account of the resource
<span>Vera Willis volunteered for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force because she wanted to be a driver. Her driving career in the RAF involved driving driving aircrew to dispersal. <br /><br /></span>This content is available as embedded video:<br />
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8eb8qnsPpPM?rel=0&showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
Language
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eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
207 Squadron
dispersal
ground personnel
RAF Dunholme Lodge
RAF East Kirkby
RAF Spilsby
service vehicle
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/545/8776/PSmytheE1701.2.jpg
742a20ab96dbb7a32a4f6a88b5935e69
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Smythe, Eddy
Eddy Smythe
E Smythe
Description
An account of the resource
Four items. A photograph and two oral history interviews with Eddy Smythe about his father, John Henry Smythe (1915-1996, 144608 Royal Air Force) who served as a navigator in Bomber Command.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
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Smythe, E
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Good afternoon. My name is Eddy Smythe. My father was John Smythe. He was a Sierra Leonian who came over from Sierra Leone to join the RAF in 1941. At that time Sierra Leone was part of the British Commonwealth and he had absolutely no hesitation in volunteering to join the war effort to fight for his country and to fight for his Queen. He saw service for two and a half years. He was shot down and was a prisoner of war for two years. When he was finally released he went back to London and he studied to become a barrister. He qualified and went back to Sierra Leone and set up a legal practice there. He went on to act for most of the embassies in Freetown at that time being as his firm was one of the largest practises at that particular time and he quite often attended cocktail parties and various other functions held by these embassies, most notably the British Embassy. And there was one particular occasion when he was at a party and ended up chatting to the German Ambassador. They both established that they were in their respective Air Forces during the war. My father was in Bomber Command and the German Ambassador was in Fighter Command. So they chatted for quite a while and they shared various stories and my father said his flying came to an end when his plane was shot down over Germany on a particular day, a particular month and a particular year. And the German Ambassador went silent and he said, ‘Can you tell me the exact date again and the exact time?’ Which my father did, and he said, ‘Can you tell me exactly where the plane was shot down? Are you able to tell me the coordinates?’ And of course, my father did. You know, he’d never forget those sort of details. And at this point there was silence and the German Ambassador paled visibly and he said, ‘You’re not going to believe this but at that exact time I was flying in that location and I shot down a British bomber and it is logged as a kill to me.’ And my dad said they both looked at each other. They were both speechless for a few seconds and they threw their arms around each other, hugged each other, went off and had a drink and celebrated the event. When he told me this story I was much younger and of course and I thought, ‘Well, how could you react like that? Surely you were cross being shot down.’ He said, ‘No. Not at all. He did what he had to do. I did what I had to do.’ He said, ‘We actually celebrated the circumstance.’ So, as I said I could have told you a few stories but that’s one which I think is quite a nice story to tell and I am really pleased to have the opportunity to tell the story. Its not very often that I can do and I think it is important that the story is told because it helps to demonstrate the significant effort that was made by people like me dad from all over the Commonwealth towards the war effort. So thank you very much.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Eddy Smythe. Two
Description
An account of the resource
Eddy Smythe reminisces about his father, John Henry Smythe, who was from Sierra Leone and served in Bomber Command during the Second World War. John flew as a navigator until his aircraft was shot down in November 1943. He became a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 1 until 1945. After his release John went to London and trained as a barrister. Upon completion of his professional training, he returned to Freetown, Sierra Leone and set up a legal practice. He rose to be Sierra Leone’s Attorney General. One evening, he met the German Ambassador at a reception. They realised they were aircrew on opposing sides, and the Ambassador shot down an aircraft on the same date and time and in the same location that John’s aircraft had been shot down. This prompted the two men to hug each other and to note that the conditions of war meant that such aggressive acts were not personal. Eddy adds final remarks on the value of remembrance and reconciliation.
<p>This content is available as embedded video:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qii8uexPQXE?rel=0&showinfo=0&start=2" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Heather Hughes
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:04:04 video recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving image
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone--Freetown
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-08-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSmytheE1701
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
aircrew
bombing
navigator
perception of bombing war
prisoner of war
Stalag Luft 1
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/176/8779/PFrostB1501.1.jpg
421cb1de4770c3cda2c64d9ccdc2e35c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Frost, Bob
R Frost
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Frost, B
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07-07
Description
An account of the resource
Four items. Two oral history interviews with Robert Frost (1383682 Royal Air Force), and two photographs. Sergeant Bob frost flew as a rear gunner with 150 Squadron from RAF Snaith. Shot down on an operation to Essen, he was helped by the Resistance and evaded through the Netherlands and France to Spain. The story of his evasion is available in video form.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Bob Frost and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. Some items have not been published in order to protect the privacy of third parties, to comply with intellectual property regulations, or have been assessed as medium or low priority according to the IBCC Digital Archive collection policy and will therefore be published at a later stage. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collection-policy.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Bob Frost. Two
Description
An account of the resource
Bob Frost flew on a night operation on 16/17 September 1942 as a rear gunner on Wellington BJ877, 150 Squadron, from RAF Snaith. Before reaching the target at Essen, the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and the port engine was damaged. He describes how, during the flight home, the aircraft was completely disabled and all the crew bailed out, landing in Belgium. He narrates the experience of being helped by the resistance, from his first encounter with a Flemish family through to Gibraltar, via Kapellen bij Glabbeeck, Tillemont, Brussels, Paris, St Jean De Luz, San Sebastián, and Madrid. He praises the resistance for the support they gave him.
<p>This content is available as embedded video:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LWv-48NHlUM?rel=0&showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Spain
Belgium--Brussels
France--Saint-Jean-de-Luz
Gibraltar
Germany--Essen
Spain--Madrid
Spain--San Sebastián
France--Paris
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-09-16
1942-09-17
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Heather Hughes
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-05
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:17:55 video recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving image
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PFrostB1501
150 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
bombing
crash
evading
RAF Snaith
Resistance
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/547/8800/PWynneH1824.2.jpg
8a14525fb55b64ede6852cb55b521a3c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Wynne, Helga
Description
An account of the resource
10 items. Includes family photographs and two oral history interviews with Helga Wynne (b. 1926) who reminisces her childhood in Kiel, the death of her future fiancé when the train he was travelling on was bombed, and her coming over to Great Britain in 1948.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Helga Wynne and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Wynne, H
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Helga Wynne
Description
An account of the resource
Helga Wynne was born into a family of twelve in 1926 in Kiel, Germany. She describes her childhood and her father working as a shipbuilder in the dockyards. She left school at 14 and went to work on a farm. She fell through the hayloft opening, fortunately onto a bale of hay. She was seriously injured and spent six months in hospital. She then trained as a nurse in a children’s hospital in Kiel. She describes the hospital being bombed and being buried under the rubble. She was saved by two doctors who dug her out. She talks about her meeting her fiancée, Wilhelm, a submariner. She became pregnant and they decided to marry at Wilhelm’s home in Westphalia. The train on which they were travelling was bombed and Wilhelm was killed. She describes the birth of her son and living with Wilhelm’s parents. In 1948, back in Kiel, she met Harold Wynne, a British paramedic doing his national service. He returned to the UK with her. They married in Burton, near Scunthorpe, and settled in Flixborough. She describes a happy family life and working on a farm as a tractor driver. Harold worked at the steel works in Scunthorpe until retirement. She describes her family life today, her three sons with Harold, her first-born son in Germany, and her partnership with Gordon. She reminisces about the explosion that occurred in Flixborough in the 1970s and the effect it had on the local community and the damage to her home and personal belongings. She recalls her emotions whilst visiting the exhibition at the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln and stresses the importance of reconciliation for all those involved in the bombing war.
<p>This content is available as embedded video:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/glKvoVJYj54?rel=0&showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Heather Hughes
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-02
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:24:29 video recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving image
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Wehrmacht. Kriegsmarine
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
England--Lincolnshire
Germany--Kiel
England--Flixborough
England--Scunthorpe
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1948
1974-06-01
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
VWynneH180802
PWynneH1824
bombing
childhood in wartime
perception of bombing war
submarine
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/168/8803/PRutherfordRL1501.2.jpg
17763d820255b635d062100fd6e3ecdc
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Rutherford, Les
R L Rutherford
Robert Leslie Rutherford
Description
An account of the resource
Ten items. The collection contains four oral history interviews with bomb aimer Robert Leslie "Les" Rutherford (1918 - 2019, 146263 Royal Air Force), his prisoner of war diary, material about entertainment in the Stalag Luft 3 Belaria compound and a photograph. Les Rutherford served as a despatch rider in the army, he was evacuated from Dunkirk and volunteered to transfer to the RAF. He became a bomb aimer with 50 Squadron and completed 24 operations. He was shot down over Germany on 20th December 1943 and became a prisoner of war.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Les Rutherford and catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-09
2015-10-05
2015-06-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Rutherford, RL
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Les Rutherford. Four
Description
An account of the resource
Les Rutherford talks about the prisoner of war diary he compiled while an inmate of Belaria compound at Stalag Luft 3. Two months after arriving, he exchanged three chocolate bars for the notebook which became this personal memoir. He recollects memories of daily life, people he met and why he started his diary. Some pictures have been drawn by him, others by fellow inmates. Drawings and descriptions cover various aircraft, camp catering and entertainment, including a hut used for concerts, shows and band practice sessions. Various incidents are mentioned, notably the Great Escape, which took place at the Sagan compound of Stalag Luft 3 in March 1944. He comments on pieces of text copied into the diary, including Noel Coward’s ‘Lie In the Dark and Listen’ and Winston Churchill’s reflections on being imprisoned during the South African (Anglo-Boer) War. He describes the bartering system between the Germans and inmates and reminisces about the Long March to a new camp and the arrival of the Russian Army. Conditions were extremely poor and promises of food were not kept, although they did receive two radios. He explains that some photographs that had been part of the journal have since gone missing.
<p>This content is available as embedded video:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oY5CQIvtrao?rel=0&showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dan Ellin
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:37:32 video recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving image
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Poland
Poland--Żagań
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1945
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PRutherfordRL1501
aircrew
arts and crafts
bale out
bomb aimer
entertainment
prisoner of war
shot down
Stalag Luft 3
the long march
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1279/17558/VPearceAT[Date]-0001.mp4
d7a4ea44980e63c9886296d31da9f03d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Pearce, Arthur
A T Pearce
Description
An account of the resource
140 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Arthur Pearce (1874945 Royal Air Force) He served as an air gunner with 12, 170 and 156 (Pathfinder) Squadrons and completed a 44 operations. After the war, on 35 Squadron he took part in the June 1946 Victory flypast over London and a goodwill visit to the United States. It contains his diaries, memorabilia and photographs.
The collection also contains an album concerning his post war activity with the Goodwill tour of the United States.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Steve Allan and catalogued by Nigel Huckins
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Pearce, AT
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Air to air gunnery film
Description
An account of the resource
Compilation of air-to-air gunnery films against Miles Martinet target aircraft.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w film
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
VPearceAT[Date]-0001
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
air gunner
aircrew
Martinet
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1279/17559/VPearceAT[Date]-0002.mp4
6f636b0ba575d05cddfc4c9e8116051e
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Pearce, Arthur
A T Pearce
Description
An account of the resource
140 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Arthur Pearce (1874945 Royal Air Force) He served as an air gunner with 12, 170 and 156 (Pathfinder) Squadrons and completed a 44 operations. After the war, on 35 Squadron he took part in the June 1946 Victory flypast over London and a goodwill visit to the United States. It contains his diaries, memorabilia and photographs.
The collection also contains an album concerning his post war activity with the Goodwill tour of the United States.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Steve Allan and catalogued by Nigel Huckins
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Pearce, AT
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Air to air gunnery film
Description
An account of the resource
Headed 'Sgt Pearce, 23.6.44, Ex 1, Course 99B'. Air-to-air gunnery film with Miles Martinet target aircraft. Taken from Wellington from RAF Ingham.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-06-23
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w film
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
VPearceAT[Date]-0002
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-23
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
air gunner
aircrew
Martinet
RAF Ingham
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1279/17560/VPearceAT[Date]-0003.mp4
8b498b6a5ee6cf2475cc96201ebffb99
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Pearce, Arthur
A T Pearce
Description
An account of the resource
140 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Arthur Pearce (1874945 Royal Air Force) He served as an air gunner with 12, 170 and 156 (Pathfinder) Squadrons and completed a 44 operations. After the war, on 35 Squadron he took part in the June 1946 Victory flypast over London and a goodwill visit to the United States. It contains his diaries, memorabilia and photographs.
The collection also contains an album concerning his post war activity with the Goodwill tour of the United States.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Steve Allan and catalogued by Nigel Huckins
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-12-17
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Pearce, AT
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Air-to-air gunnery film
Description
An account of the resource
Headed 'Sgt Pearce, 24.6.44, Ex 2, Course 99B'. Air-to-air gunnery film with Miles Martinet target aircraft. Taken from Wellington from RAF Ingham.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-06-24
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-24
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w film
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
VPearceAT[Date]-0003
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
air gunner
aircrew
RAF Ingham
training
Wellington
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Mawdsley, Ted and Ethel
Edward and Ethel Mawdsley
Edward Mawdsley
Ted Mawdsley
E Mawdsely
Ethel Mawdsley
Description
An account of the resource
One oral history interview with Edward "Ted" Mawdsley (1920 - 2016). He served as ground personnel with 103 Squadron.
The collection has been catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-05-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Mawdsley
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Ethel and Ted Mawdsley
Description
An account of the resource
Relates how they met and courted and continues with description of work and life in wartime while in Deptford in London. Mentions being bombed out and going to shelters. Continues with their marriage in Sidcup and details of life and family after the war.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Colour video recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
VMawdsleyE150502
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending OH transcription
Pending review
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Heather Hughes
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-05-07
bombing
home front
love and romance
shelter
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/329/34152/VSmithNG[Date].mp4
0888bd07d7449d0751f52edf2dd2e13c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Smith, Norman George
Norman Smith
Norman G Smith
N G Smith
N Smith
Description
An account of the resource
Two items. An oral history interview and a video interview with Norman George Smith (b. 1924, 427226 Royal Australian Air Force). He flew 10 operations as a pilot on 463 Squadron.
The collection was catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-12-03
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Smith, NG
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
NS: Norman George Smith.
I: Beautiful.
Other: Great.
I: Yeah. And can you tell us a bit about your background? What was your position? Like, what were you doing in World War Two?
NS: Well, I went through training to be a pilot from Clontarf up to [unclear] and then up to Geraldton. I finally got my wings as a pilot after quite a while. I was training and then I hopped on to a plane, or a train and went over to Sydney. Boat to America and after a while we finally managed to get on a boat to go to England. And at Hednesford, England we went, eventually went to a squadron, 463 Squadron and started bombing Germany. I managed to get ten in before the Yanks [pause] and everybody else would have said well ok the Germans had enough of us so I switched from 463 to 467, got rid of all my five English crew and got another five Australians then. So I had an all Australian crew and we were waiting for our ground crew to go out to start on Japan. The Yanks dropped that silly little bomb and that finished the whole lot so I had to come home. And I still stuck in the Air Force until 1947 when I had a bit of an argument with the CO and he reckoned I was going to go on a Court Martial and I said, ‘No, I’m not.’ He said, ‘What are you going to do?’ And I said, ‘Take my discharge.’ Which I did. Within a week I was out of the Air Force and from then I’ve just had quite a few different jobs. Farming and all the rest of the place. Hotel trade and I bought a pub and here I am. Retired here at Meadow Springs.
I: Beautiful. What aircraft were you flying?
NS: I started off on Tiger Moths, Ansons, Amberleys, Lincolns, Stirling and finished up on Lancasters.
I: So was that when the final —
NS: That was the final one in the Air Force. Yes. I’ve had a few flights since but not taken off. A friend of mine had his own little aircraft and I used to go with him and he’d take off and hand over to me and he’d start taking photographs everywhere. Coming back he’d say, ‘Ok. We’ll land.’ So I went down to Bunbury once and I started coming in, got within about fifty yards of landing and he said, ‘I suppose I’d better take over.’ And I said, ‘Well, you’d better.’
I: Yeah.
NS: But I’ve been, I went inland. They tried to get an aircraft flying from [Mandurah] I went up on that about three times. But they wouldn’t let him. They reckoned it was too dangerous with all those boats and that flying around, floating around in [Mandurah] so they stopped him from taking cruises. So that stopped that one.
I: That’s it. Just bring us back to World War Two and your deployment there. Could you like, could you, how would you describe your time there? It was obviously a very tense time.
NS: Well, did quite a few different tests and things like that before before I got on the squadron. But I thoroughly enjoyed it over in England and bombing the Germans. I think over, sort of Cologne which I bombed after the war finished in Europe, got a new aircraft and went up the river. I finished up in the mountains and managed to get back home alright with a new navigator but he wasn’t too good so I had to get another one. But by this time of course I was experienced and I could get rid of anybody that hadn’t come up to my standard.
I: Yeah. Ok.
NS: I managed to get ten. Ten trips over Germany. France and Germany. Dortmund. One of them was up the bowl of Norway. One was up really, pretty near in to Russia and the aircraft was turned for home after doing the bombing trip and after a while I said to the navigator, ‘You’d better find us a new place because we’re not getting home. We’re not going to get home on this course.’ And we, when we, after we landed we found out that the navigator, the aircrew had been told the wrong air speed and direction and that’s why it took us so long to get home. We just landed and the blooming navigator, no the engineer came up from the ground crew after a while and asked us how we got home. And I told him and he said, ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘Well, you couldn’t have flown any more. You had no more petrol left in the tank.’ So —
I: Lucky.
NS: Oh, we had quite a few days it was a bit dicey but most of the time we enjoyed it.
I: What was the most dangerous part of your, like obviously like bombing trips? Did you have to —
NS: Oh, over the Rhine. I suppose it would be around about the area south of Germany into France. More or less where they had all the aircraft making manufacturers and things like that and that was one of the target places except when the [pause] we were flying one night or one day, no. One night. We saw a plane come up, whizz past us. And the next morning we went over Germany in daylight and we spotted what it was. It was a German fighter plane that was going straight across us speeding. It was one of their new jets and that was a bit troublesome because everybody that saw it went like a beehive and were trying to get into the middle of all the others on the outside were trying to get into the middle again once this fella got. But they only had about a half an hour flying time so after a half an hour they disappeared which was quite exciting that we were still flying.
I: I couldn’t even imagine it. What [pause] how, how important do you think, you know your role was? You know, being the pilot and enabling this kind of thing.
NS: Well, I had to make sure that the crew behaved themselves of course and being an officer anybody beneath me had to salute me and all the rest of it. But every now and then I used to borrow my navigator, I used to borrow his jacket and go into the sergeant’s mess and have a few beers with him. So one day in the Officer’s Mess they, one of the officers brought a plane over from Canada with a big bar of cheese from Canada so we had a real cheesy night. But oh, I enjoyed it actually and the ladies were very nice too. A lot of young girls used to know as soon as they saw an Australian airman they tried and get on with him and we used to have quite a few pals having a drink with the girls. But oh no I finished up marrying a lass after the war finished in England and she came out and I had five daughters with her before I kicked her out one day. Oh well, she was a very, wasn’t [pause] she was more interested in other men then me. After five kids the best one of the lot, five daughters is the youngest one. She’s looking after me now. Doing all my blooming office work and looking after my money and what have I.
I: It’s good to have.
NS: So I’m having a good retirement.
I: Beautiful. Can I just ask again how, were there any close calls while you were up in the air?
NS: Oh.
I: Like other planes trying to take you down or —
NS: Just about every night we used to have to dodge the spotlights, the searchlights and every now and then the German planes would attack us and we had to dodge them by doing a corkscrew away from them. But well one day we did a daylight over Germany and we came back and landed and just as we landed a German pilot in his single engine aircraft shot up the aerodrome we landed at and he come to shoot up the plane I’d just got out of. And I was standing behind it with the driver, the bus driver that was picking us up to take us into the briefings and I knocked her over and jumped on top of her underneath the truck and the bullet came through between my navigator and the wireless operator sitting in the truck. They were sitting and the bullet came in behind them. And he got, I believe he got the, whatever it was, gold medal or some blooming thing from the Germans. And he, he deserved it because he shot up a flew planes and they hit our bomb dump and set a few bombs off in that, in the aerodrome and shot off home and oh no, he was a, as far as I was concerned he was a blooming nuisance. But he was a real pilot with a great deal of energy and guts.
I: That was the German one.
NS: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
I: So did the plane, your plane actually get shot up then?
NS: Only once and that was a couple of bullets through the wing, one of the, starboard wing but it didn’t do a great deal of damage. It just played a bit of funny games with the slats and when we got home the navigator, the engineers on the ground looked at it. There wasn’t much damage.
I: That’s good.
NS: But they managed to be able patch it up and fly again the next day.
I: Beautiful. Not a close call then.
NS: But —
I: Yeah. Did you want to continue?
NS: Pardon?
I: Did you want to continue? Sorry, I interrupted.
NS: Oh, I could carry on for hours and hours but I suppose but —
I: It’s all good.
NS: I think it was a pretty good idea of what it was like. Everybody used to look up to the airmen. The ground crew used to whistle and whistle when they were around anywhere and, but over some German soldiers and English soldiers lining up each other in the trenches and our boys used to stand up and wave arms at us. But they reckon we were pretty good.
I: I’m sure you guys were. Can you go through again the last, the last mission I guess that you guys had before you got sent back home?
NS: Yeah. Well, you see I had to transfer to a different squadron to go out to have a go at Japan but of course while we were waiting for our ground crew the Yanks dropped that bomb and that finished the Japs off too. So we hadn’t much to do so we came, they sent us home. I arrived home on New Year’s Eve and my father shook hands with me and he said, ‘Hello Norm.’ And I said, ‘Hello Dad.’ He said, ‘The first thing you’ve got to do here is get rid of that bloody Pommie accent.’ So I said, ‘Oh, rightio. I’ll try my best.’ But I must have, the time I spent in England I must have learned how to talk English instead of Australian.
I: And how long was that? How many years?
NS: Where? In England?
I: England. Yeah.
NS: Well, I joined up in ’43 in the Air Force and started. Spent about five, six months in the Air Force in Australia getting to learn all about it and then the rest of the time I flew over, went over when I went to England. I managed to fly a few different aircraft in England and then I got, then I got on the squadron. But then I had time to do ten operations over Germany when they knew we were too good for them. They handed in their blooming battle powers to everybody. So that’s when we decided to come home. Aye, I had a good time in the Air Force. Obviously, we didn’t have much idea what was going on out there and when they told us that the Japs had given up the ghost I didn’t, for a while we didn’t know why. But then we were told by engineers. Blooming people that knew more about it than we did. Then we were told all about dropping the bombs on Japan and they turfed it in.
I: Was that Hiroshima?
NS: Yeah.
I: Was that Hiroshima? Yeah.
NS: That’s right. Yeah.
I: Ok.
NS: We didn’t know that the Yanks did it until about a week later. Then they finally told us what had happened but like all blooming big bods in whatever you are, wherever you are in any business all the big bosses don’t tell the young ones what they were doing or how they did it and we just had to guess what was going on mainly. That’s about all. But we had, I had a good time and enjoyed life until I got out of the Air Force and from then on I really had a good time.
I: That’s great.
NS: I’ve had a, just came back from three weeks holiday going flying at Darwin. On the Ghan from Darwin down to [pause] up the Murray River cruising back down to Adelaide on a boat there. A liner. Come home. It took six days to get home on the liner to Fremantle and it was a good trip.
I: Sounds beautiful.
NS: I’m looking for another one now.
I: Yeah. That’s what you have to do now don’t you? If I could just ask you quickly you had your photo taken a few weeks ago.
NS: Yeah.
I: As part of this for the National Archives. What do you think about something like that? I mean it’s —
NS: Well, I think that us survivors from the war should have a bit more say and a bit more kudos you might as well say and a lot more people should know about us than just the First World War. And I admire them because they put up with a lot of blooming trouble. More than we had to do. But most of, from what I can gather the Army and the Navy in the Second World War were a little bit better off than the First World War but at the same time there hasn’t been much said about the Second World War. It’s all about the First World War and I don’t agree with that but still —
I: Do you feel left out that all the focus is on the centenary of the ANZACS that’s coming up? You know this is the seventy fifth anniversary of World War Two but no one is really talking about that. It’s all the focus is on —
NS: Yeah. Yeah. I, I appreciate that and notice that most people nowadays they can’t go back to the First World War. They just say, ‘Oh yeah.’ And ignore it really but the Second World War, well they had a lot of sons and brothers and uncles and aunts and all the rest of them were in the Second World War and they come home and they told a lot of stories that a lot of people don’t know about. I think that’s the right thing to do. Get to know that the Second World War was just about as bad as the other wars. Although Vietnam and all those other wars they were the wars that shouldn’t be [pause] but I don’t know. I don’t like this present Australian government. Extra fellas going over to the East now. He just allowed another three hundred and eighty. Three hundred and eighty odd extra with the so called last lot.
I: Yeah.
NS: The old bosses, our bosses, the Prime Minister is not too good at that. When is he going to let some more go over?
I: I know. Yeah.
NS: Nobody knows but he will. I can guarantee you whatever the Yanks tell him he’ll do.
I: Could you tell us a bit about your medals?
NS: Well, a lot of medals I’ve got at the moment but there are another two that are missing. They’re trying to get them. My daughter particularly is being, and the lassie here she’s been telling my daughter about it and my daughter is ringing up everybody trying to get them to present me with the other two medals that supposedly might make an appearance someday. It’s like everything, the parliament, it takes people ages to get people to listen.
I: That’s it. Is there anything, is there anything you wanted to add at all?
NS: No. No. I don’t think so.
I: All done. You’ve covered everything.
Other: I’ll just get some [unclear]
I: Yeah. Right. So we’ll just keep chatting.
NS: Yes, give it away.
I: Yes. How old are you?
NS: Ninety one.
I: Ninety one.
NS: That was in March this year.
I: Oh, happy birthday for last month.
NS: 8th of March.
I: Happy birthday for then. We’ll keep talking for a little bit. It’s not, yeah it’s just to get different shots of you. So if you, what are you planning to do for the rest of the day?
NS: Pardon?
I: What are you planning for the rest of the day? Do you have any plans?
NS: I’m going to get out of these glad rags and get some washing —
[recording paused]
NS: And after that I met this lassie and went out to Tasmania together. And since then we’ve been together every, she’s in the caravan park. Tonight she’ll be here with me and have tea and all her meals and I usually do that for the weekend and she just sits back and watches television.
I: Oh, beautiful. That’s really cute. Yeah. It’s Friday today, isn’t it? I forgot. Yeah.
NS: Oh well. Anyway, it’s an interesting life and I reckon the next eight nine years until our seventy five I thought another twenty five years and I’ll be a hundred. And every time I knock a birthday off I think that’s one less, one more.
NS: Counting down.
I: Navigator, wireless operator and mid-upper gunner.
NS: Yeah.
I: Would, so, so you’re the pilot.
NS: That’s me there.
I: Would that be like, what was the operation called?
NS: So that, that was taken out of the unit. I’ve got a bigger one of the whole squadron.
Other: Which one you are? Captain.
I: Ok.
NS: That was the bomb aimer that made a mistake. It was one of our own planes and we both would have gone down.
I: Yeah.
NS: It was fortunate that we survived it. The navigator was very good. The rear gunner he spotted a plane coming up on our tail one day. No, once we, I used to borrow his coat and jacket and go into the Sergeant’s Mess. I was an officer.
[pause]
[unclear] was one of them. Twice Berlin. A couple more down there.
I: Ok. Let’s find some —
NS: You can see whether you hit the target. Over in the unit over there I’ve got [unclear] they might drop it at, ok they might do it at about ten thousand feet.
I: Yeah.
NS: But at a hundred thousand feet if there was a mistake if you —
I: Yeah.
NS: Were suddenly going down.
I: Yeah. What, what height were you flying when you were dropping the bombs? Depends?
NS: Usually about ten thousand [pause] I’ve got another two yet.
I: Yeah.
NS: It had been mislaid.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Norm George Smith video interview
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Australia
New South Wales--Sydney
United States
Great Britain
Germany
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Dortmund
France
Japan
New South Wales
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Australian Air Force
Language
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eng
Type
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Moving image
Format
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Twenty nine minute colour video
Conforms To
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Pending revision of OH transcription
Identifier
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VSmithNG[Date]
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1947
1943
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Creator
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N G Smith
Requires
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Norm Smith gives very brief description of his career. He trained as a pilot in Australia then on to England and 463 and later 467 Squadrons, post war, remaining in RAAF until 1947. Flew Tiger Moths, Ansons, Wellingtons, Stirlings and the Lancaster. Describes some of his ten operational sorties, being strafed by German fighter on landing after an operation and sighting one of the German jet fighters. Towards the end of video briefly discusses three pictures of his crew. Video recorded in a formal setting, Norm head and shoulders, in civilian clothes with medals wearing his fore and aft aircrew training cap.
Description
An account of the resource
Norman George Smith completed his Australian training as a pilot before being posted to the UK. He was posted to 463 Squadron where he completed ten trips before the war ended. Although he was an officer Norman would borrow his navigator’s jacket to be able to join his crew in the Sergeant’s Mess. On one operation the crew were told the wrong windspeeds and direction which meant the journey home was longer than expected. When he landed he was told they were entirely out of fuel. He witnessed the German jet fighter speeding past his aircraft. He was then posted to 467 Squadron to bomb the Far East.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
463 Squadron
467 Squadron
aircrew
Anson
bomb dump
bombing
flight engineer
Lancaster
Me 262
military living conditions
navigator
pilot
Stirling
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
wireless operator