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Interview with Kenneth William Trueman
Kenneth Trueman was working as a carpenter before he volunteered for the RAF and trained as a navigator in South Africa He flew operations with 640 Squadron. On their twenty fifth operation his aircraft was attacked by a night fighter. He baled out…
Interview with Sylvia Trapp
Sylvia Trapp remembers serving in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force during the war. Describes her training in various stations and her duties as a wireless operator, service life and leisure time at Waddington, how she met her future husband, a…
Interview with Anthony Tompson
Anthony Thompson worked as an engineer for the Post Office before he volunteered for teh Air Force. While training as a pilot in Canada it was discovered he had a difficulty with perception and he trained instead as a navigator. On return to the…
Interview with Frank Tilley
Frank Tilley was a flight engineer with 617 Squadron. He took part in the raid to sink the Tirpitz. On their return they had an engine problem affecting the power and fuel consumption. As they were perilously short on fuel they diverted to RAF…
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 John Foster Thorp
John Thorp was born and raised in Manchester where he attended North Manchester Grammar School. At seventeen he joined the Home Guard. When he was eighteen he volunteered for the RAF with dreams of becoming a pilot. While waiting at Heaton Park to…
Interview with Sam Thompson
Sam Thompson grew up in Northern Ireland and volunteered for the Air Force. After training he completed two tours as an air gunner with 103 and 9 Squadrons. He took part in operations against the Tirpitz and served in Germany after the war.
Interview with Katherine Thompson
Katherine Ellen Thompson remembers her time in Rotterdam during the war and particularly during Operation Manna. Mentions various episodes: food shortage, bartering linen and silver for food, members of the Dutch fascist party paraded through the…
Interview with Eric Horsham
Eric Horsham was born in Plumstead, London. He worked initially as a messenger for the Royal Ordnance before following the family footsteps in to the railways. He volunteered for air crew and began training as a flight engineer. He flew operations…
Interview with Mary Stopes-Roe
Discusses her father’s designs work and remembers both skipping stones on a river during holidays with her father and catapulting marbles over a washtub in their garden. She goes on to discuss the Eder Möhne and Sorpe operation, the bouncing bomb…
Interview with Ted Stocker. Two
Ted Stocker began his RAF career at Halton in 1938. He went on to have a varied career as a flight engineer with several squadrons and as an instructor. He was a member of Pathfinders and accompanied the master bomber on a number of operations.…
Interview with Peter Steward
Peter Steward worked at Woolwich Arsenal factory but volunteered for the Air Force when he was seventeen. He trained and served as a radio and radar engineer and served post war in Germany the Middle East and Australia.
Interview with Walter Raymond Stevenson
Walter Stevenson lived in a village where the only employment was at the local mine. He was working as a blacksmith there when he volunteered for the RAF on his eighteenth birthday. Walter trained as a wireless operator/air gunner with Coastal…
Interview with Maureen and Sidney Stevens
Sidney was inspired to join The Air Force when he was working as an Air Raid Precaution Warden and one night his own home was bombed. The house next door was also destroyed and the lady who had offered him a cup of tea only hours earlier died. He…
Interview with Rex Statham
Rex Statham was born in Luton. His father died in a motorbike accident when he was very young. Although Rex had been very keen to join the Navy he volunteered for the RAF as a flight mechanic. When he realised that many trained mechanics were being…
Interview with Frank Stanney
Frank Stanney was working on the land before he volunteered for the RAF. After training he flew operations as a wireless operator with 61 Squadron. One day his pilot took off as a twenty year old and returned as a twenty one year old as it was his…
Interview with Leonard William Sparvell. Two
Leonard Sparvell lived in Bexley Heath until he joined the RAF in 1944. He remembers the stress of returning home particularly after long flights to/from Stettin. He also stresses that he was one of the lucky ones and many did not return. After the…
Interview with Leonard William Sparvell. One
Born in Bexley, Leonard Sparvell volunteered for the Air Force. He completed 30 operations in Lancasters as a flight engineer with pilot Bill Capper. After the war he married and worked in London Stock Exchange.
Interview with Eddy Smythe. One
Eddy Smythe’s father, Johnny Smythe was a navigator on a Lancaster. He was originally from Sierra Leonne. On one operation he was injured when anti-aircraft fire damaged the aircraft but they continued to target. One engine had been damaged and so…
Interview with Norman William Smith
Norman Smith was a rear gunner on Lancasters operating from RAF Kirmington. His most vivid memory is of the cold of long journeys. On one occasion he blinked and felt ice in his eyes. On one occasion they missed their airfield and went to Elsham…
Interview with Owen Scott
Owen Scott served as a Lancaster pilot during the war. Mentions always having a passion for flying since he was little boy. Remembers training in Canada and the United States to become a flying boat pilot in Coastal Command and then surprisingly…
Interview with Ron Saunders
Ron Saunders joined the RAF as a wireless operator rear gunner and served on 114 Squadron during the war. Remembers, as a little boy, seeing the airship R 101 and the Hindenburg flying in the distance. Describes his training in England and in Egypt…
Interview with Geoff Rushton
Geoff Rushton worked as a bank clerk before he volunteered for the Air Force. He trained as a navigator in Canada and after crewing up flew 20 operations with 15 Squadron from RAF Mildenhall. He and his crew were then posted to 186 Squadron at RAF…
Interview with Harry Rossiter
Harry Rossiter grew up in East London but his family moved to Essex which gave Harry a “ringside view” of the Battle of Britain. He volunteered as a bicycle messenger and tried to join the Royal Navy as a telegraphist. He was encouraged to join…