1
25
483
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2357/45500/BFoskettPFoskettWv10003.1.pdf
f96fe0569c8740c9bcd697a2994bc199
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
Foskett, William
Description
An account of the resource
104 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant William Foskett (b. 1921, 13230505 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, correspondence, documents, and photographs.
He flew operations as an air gunner and navigator with 214 Squadron. After the war, he was stationed in Italy, France, Germany and North Africa.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Peter Foskett and catalogued by Barry Hunter with the assistance of Roberto Bassi of the Aeroclub Friulano Campoformido.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2021-04-07
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Foskett, W
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
Bill Foskett Biography Chapter Three
Description
An account of the resource
The third chapter of Bill's wartime experiences.
The first two chapters used Bill's words but the third is written by an anonymous friend.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shellingford
United States
Georgia--Atlanta
Georgia--Macon
Georgia--Albany
Florida--Arcadia
Canada
Ontario--Picton
Ontario
France
France--Biarritz
Germany--Karlsruhe
Belgium
Belgium--Antwerp
France--Gennevilliers
Germany--Kiel
France--Saumur
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Netherlands
Netherlands--Goes
Netherlands--Hoek van Holland
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Ostfriesland
Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)
Germany--Darmstadt
France--Wissembourg
Germany--Karlsruhe
Netherlands--Heerenveen
Germany--Traben-Trarbach
Germany--Fischbach
France--Bischwiller
Germany--Bochum
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Koblenz
Germany--Gladbeck
Germany--Mönchengladbach
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal
Germany--Giessen (Hesse)
Italy
Italy--Udine
England--Newquay
England--Great Yarmouth
Slovenia--Log pod Mangartom
Slovenia
Germany
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
United States Army Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Memoir
Text. Personal research
Format
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25 printed sheets
Identifier
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BFoskettPFoskettWv10003
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.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Foskett, William. Biography
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
100 Group
15 OTU
214 Squadron
617 Squadron
Absent Without Leave
Advanced Flying Unit
air gunner
aircrew
Anson
anti-aircraft fire
B-17
Battle
Bolingbroke
bomb aimer
Bombing and Gunnery School
bombing of Cologne (30/31 May 1942)
flight engineer
Flying Training School
Gee
H2S
Halifax
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Harvard
Initial Training Wing
Ju 88
lack of moral fibre
Lancaster
Me 110
mine laying
Mosquito
navigator
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Operational Training Unit
Pathfinders
RAF Chedburgh
RAF Downham Market
RAF Feltwell
RAF Harwell
RAF Honington
RAF Methwold
RAF Millom
RAF Oulton
RAF Ridgewell
RAF Sculthorpe
RAF Shipdham
RAF Stradishall
RAF Woodbridge
Stearman
Stirling
superstition
Tallboy
target indicator
Tiger Moth
training
V-2
V-weapon
Wellington
Window
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2357/45499/BFoskettPFoskettWv10002.1.pdf
63ee71caea19161d74b1e97eaf35dd1a
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
Foskett, William
Description
An account of the resource
104 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant William Foskett (b. 1921, 13230505 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, correspondence, documents, and photographs.
He flew operations as an air gunner and navigator with 214 Squadron. After the war, he was stationed in Italy, France, Germany and North Africa.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Peter Foskett and catalogued by Barry Hunter with the assistance of Roberto Bassi of the Aeroclub Friulano Campoformido.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2021-04-07
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Foskett, W
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
Bill Foskett Biography Chapter Two
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Gourock
India
England--London
Germany
Germany--Berlin
England--Shellingford
United States
Georgia--Cochran
Canada
Ontario
Ontario--Picton
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
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Two printed sheets
Identifier
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BFoskettPFoskettWv10002
Description
An account of the resource
The second of three chapters of Bill's wartime service.
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
Is Part Of
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Foskett, William. Biography
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
Anson
Flying Training School
H2S
lack of moral fibre
Operational Training Unit
pilot
RAF Millom
Stearman
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2357/45498/BFoskettPFoskettWv10001.2.pdf
1e32f0979d6f8582065d5bcd7478fb75
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2357/45498/BFoskettWFoskettWv1.1.pdf
5e4f3f62707e45d0d483e2322db61d69
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
Foskett, William
Description
An account of the resource
104 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant William Foskett (b. 1921, 13230505 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, correspondence, documents, and photographs.
He flew operations as an air gunner and navigator with 214 Squadron. After the war, he was stationed in Italy, France, Germany and North Africa.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Peter Foskett and catalogued by Barry Hunter with the assistance of Roberto Bassi of the Aeroclub Friulano Campoformido.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2021-04-07
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Foskett, W
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
Bill Foskett Biography Chapter One
Description
An account of the resource
The first of three chapters of Bill's wartime service.
There is a second copy with handwritten edits.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Oxford
England--London
England--Newquay
United States
Georgia--Macon
Canada
Ontario--Picton
Germany
Germany--Berlin
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
10 printed sheets
14 printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BFoskettPFoskettWv10001, BFoskettWFoskettWv1
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
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Foskett, William. Biography
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Absent Without Leave
aircrew
Initial Training Wing
lack of moral fibre
military discipline
observer
pilot
RAF Northolt
Spitfire
Stearman
Tiger Moth
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2563/44399/MParryWE1172401-220531-05.2.pdf
9c27676d60f8395688b050b0f63a7ddd
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
Parry, William Edward
Parry, W E
Description
An account of the resource
34 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer William Edward Parry DFC (1912 - 1996, 1177401 Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 9 Squadron.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Frances Lee and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2022-05-31
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.
Identifier
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Parry, WE
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] "HOLTEN IN OORLOGSTJD (1984)
HOLTEN IN WARTIME [/underlined]
[underlined] LANCASTER CRASHED IN HOLTERBROEK. [/underlined]
In the evening of Saturday Septenber [sic] 23rd 1944 244 Lancasters, nine Mosquitos and one Lightning of a number of squadrons of No. 5 Group of the British Royal Air Force took off from their basis [sic] in central England. In the surroundings of the town of Lincoln. Only a short time before their take off the flyers had come to know which for that night would be the objects of attack and details about the routes to fly and aims were given. Like with other attack flights, also this time not all planes should be able to execute their missions successfully and return safely to their bases. At the end of the attack it appeared that fifteen planes of No. 5 Group were missing. One of those Lancasters crashed that night near Holten. We'll trace the flight of this machine.
After they had occupied themselves with things like briefing, distribution of the flyers' outfits, the filling up the planes with some 5900 litres of fuel, the loading with bombs and ammunition and finally the tests and checks of the engines, at last the signal 'take off' was given that evening. One after another twelve Lancasters of No. 9 Squadron R.A.F. which were employed that night, flashed along the runway on Bardney base. At 19-02hrs exactly (British time) the Lancaster LL901 WS-V for Vic' took off. Snorting the engine went up with it's heavy load of bombs and joined the planes, which in the evening light formed a formation. For the crew of seven members it was to be the 26th operational flight they flew together. They flew for the seventeenth time in this old but reliable and safe 'box', which had already 368 flying hours. A very large number, which were flown during about 50 operational and many test flights. Among the members of the crew who knew each other already since the training, a great friendship had grown the course of months. In June 1944 they had been placed in this squadron and almost immediately used in the bomb attacks on the continent of Europe. In the night of 12 to 13 June 1944 they executed their first operational flight at the French town of Portierd. The following attacks were for the greater part also aimed at French territory to support of the marching allied forces and further at some German towns, while one time the Dutch airfield Gilze-Rijen was bombed. Their last flight was a remarkable one. They had taken part in the operation 'Paravane' at which the famous German man-of-war Tirpitz was attacked. The ship was lying heavily defended in the Norwegian Altenfjord, just beyond the radius of action of the Lancasters. A cute plan, however, was executed. In the evening of September 11th 1944 they had taken off from their base and after a stop in Scotland, where the fuel tanks were refilled, they flew non-stop to an airbase in north Russia near the town of Archangelsk. From that place the Lancasters of No. 9 and 617 Squadron R.A.F. with full tanks performed attacks on the 45,000 ton war-ship. Though at these attacks the Tirpitz was heavily damaged, they did not succeed in sinking the ship and the aircraft flew back to their bases in England.
For this night the attack was aimd [sic] at Dortmund-Ems canal, near the town of münster. The intention was to destroy hereby the enemy supply lines between the German industrial areas upon the Ruhr and the front near Arnhem where some days before large allied airborne units were dropped. The aircraft were equipped with 12 ton bomb with time ignition, a so-called 'Tall boy', which had to be dropped on the market target. In the beginning the flight went quietly. Flying eastward in fact they flew up to the darkness and when they passed the Belgian coast at a height of about five kilometers [sic] it had already grown completely dark. From this height the heavy battle near Arnhem was clearly to observe. Glowing bullets and grenades drew bowlines though [sic] the sky and there were fiercely burning fires. When they reached the German frontier shellfire on the formation was opened. The aircraft, however could manage to reach the target area undamaged. They flew in onto the target from about 7500 metres and the bomb was aimed at the place, which was indicated with red burning markers. After that they immediately left the area. Because of the time ignition of 30 minutes it was not visible for the crew of the WS-V whether their bomb had hit the target or not.
(1)
[page break]
F/Lt Charles Scott from Glasgow flew the Lancaster back home. The German flak was still very bad, but as soon as they had reached Holland, it soon diminished. Though it was quiet now, they kept on the alert. The gunners were behind their machine guns and peered into the dark night. Suddenly there was a loud crack. It was clear that the plane was hit, but nobody had seen or heard anything. Because they did not see any flak, the crew was convinced that it had been a German night-fighter, which had attacked them. The right inside engine proved to be hit and soon licking flames came out of it. Very quick the man came to action and tried to put out the flames, unfortunately without any result. Shortly after the second engine caught fire too at the starboard side. F/Lt Scott realised that now nothing could be done about it anymore. The plane could hardly be controlled and a quick decision had to be taken. He suggested to try to make a forced landing in the liberated area, soth [sic] of Arnhem. Suddenly the Lancaster lost much height and was not under control anymore, where upon Scott ordered the crew via the intercom to bail out. Probably at that moment the right wing burned through, whereafter the bomber swung round and tumbled down. The crew found their way to the escaping hatches. Only F/Sgt Leslie Langley succeeded in opening the hatch, leaving the plane and reaching the ground safely, he, however, sprained his ankle. "It was as if it took me two hours before i [sic] managed to open the hatch, which was underneath me, after which i [sic] jumped immediately", Mr. Langley told, when we visited him summer 1979 at his home in one of the suburs [sic] of London. He went on: "That i opened it at the very last moment, is clear from the fact that i came down in the meadow next to where the plane crashed. The parachute must have opened very shortly before i touched the ground. Of the jump i don't recall anything. Immediately i put off my parachute, hid it in a small trench and on my knees i drank some draughts of water from a ditch, to come to myself again. Fof [sic] a short time i looked around if i saw anyone of my comrades. Because of the extreme heat of the burning plane, I could not approach to it very close. I was aware of it that the Germans would appear and that i had to take my heels very soon. Limping i ran off, on course of my compass, in a southern direction.
As a matter of fact all this had not gone totally unnoted [sic] by the Holten population. The heavy sound of the formation flying over had enticed a few people to go outside even though time during which people had to stay in had already begun at 8-00p.m. It always was fascinating view. The eastern sky was lighted red, caused by fires in the Ruhrgebiet; searchlights scanned the sky for planes, while Very lights and flares, flakshells and tracer bullets flickered up against the nightly darkness. Not seldom planes crashed and this night too several of them were seen coming down in the surroundings. In the meantime it was around 23-30 hrs. when from the east a plane became visible which burned heavily and approached the village dangerously. The sound of the roaring engines pierced everybody to the very marrow, as if it were the last cry of a dying animal. Some people went into a panic. Sleeping children were waken up. A few people ran up to the falling plane, according to the advices of the Civil Defence. Fortunately the plane flew over the village, but crashed at the Populierendijk in Holterbroek. Far in the neighbourhood the shock could be felt and the surroundings were lighted up by the glow of the fire, so that see the cows in the pastures, while the trees cast their shadows on the sinister lighted land, that was frightened up so sudden in this autumn night.
Immediately after the group commander of the constabulary, Hallink, charged a number of his men with the garding [sic] of the plane. Mr. H.J. Holterman, deputy commander of the CD came to the spot personally and stated that a more [sic] engined English plane had crashed and was fully splintered and that several flyers were killed in the crash. An airman was lying at the way in to a meadow. (This was top-turret gunner F.A. Saunders.) Both apparently had bailed out too late and smacked the earth before their parachutes could open. Later one more dead airman was mentioned, found at the Evertjesweg. In the afternoon the latter was transported to the mortuary at the old cemetery by the nearest farmer, Aanstoot 'De Grieze', with his cart.
(2)
[page break]
On Tuesday morning September 26th the dead bodies in the burned out plane were collected and coffined by municipal workers. Then it became clear that in and under the wreckage were the mortal remains of four young men who were badly mutilated by the fire. So six victims were recovered in total.
The very morning at 11-20hrs they were buried on [sic] the cemetery.
Bomb aimer F/Sgt Leslie Langley had walked on in a wearisome way, in spite of his sprained ankle. When he arrived at the Schipbeek, he followed it in a western direction. Only when it was nearly morning he knocked at a house and presented himself with the words: "Ik bin English", one of the phrases which were on an information leaflet all allied flyers had, to make surviving and escaping in occupied area more easily. The people, however, didn't dare to let him come in and Langley continued on his way. Near Deventer, where the Schipbeek flows together with the Ijssel, he followed the Ijssel in a southern direction, in the supposition that somewhere in the neighbourhood of Zutphen he would meet the british army which would march on from Arnhem. He didn't know that the situation in Arnhem was very bad for the English at that moment. Leslie had walked on for three nights, sleeping in the daytime, when one early morning he knocked at the door of the family Gradus Visser in Gorssel. Only a few words were needed to make clear what had happened and what his plans were. They let him in and explained to him the bad situation of the English at Arnhem. There was no use going on. He however, could not stay at the Visser family. Too many Germans were arround [sic] Father Visser nevertheless arranged contacts with the underground movement and a safe shelter was found for Langley at the Koeslag family in Laren, a family extremely active in helping allied flyers. From Koeslag, Langley was conveyed by 'Kees' of the Holten underground group to the farm 'Buisweerd', from where he was taken by some persons in hiding there to Reterink in Zuidloo. This was about three weeks after the crash. Langley stayed here for nearly seven months, together with John Miller who, the same night, was shot down in the enviroment [sic] of Zelhem. The latter still wore his uniform and had his pistol with him. He wanted to defend himself and refer to the convention of Geneva in case he would be taken prisoner. After New Year they were joined by the Norwegian flyer Kare Herfjord of No. 332 Squadron R.A.F., who had made a forced landing on January 4th, 1945, in the Rijssenseveen behind the farm of the family Lindenberg. In an ingenious way shelters were made for the persons in hiding in a strawstack. In the daytime they mostly were in the farmhouse. Sometimes there were very dangerous situation when two German friendly policemen from Bathmen came to the farm's kitchen for coffee, while the flyers were playing Monopoly in another room. A game in which Langley clearly gave proof of his past as a bank employee when it came to counting money. That Monopoly game helped them through the long months they had to await the liberation.
When on April 6th 1945 an armoured car of the Canadian 8th Reconnaissance Regiment came near the farm, the three airman [sic] jumped in and were brought – without having time to say good-bye- behind the lines. For interrogation they went on to Breda. After their identity had been checked, they were flown to England and on April 10th Langley arrived already at his parents and fiancee in London. You can easily guess what a joy it was for everybody. The Langleys in London had lived in anxious suspence [sic] during all those months. Via the Red Cross organization they knew there was only one survivor. Who he was could not be determined, because not all victims could be identified.
After the war Leslie Langley, now working at an insurance firm in London more than once visited the Reterink family and also the spot where his plane crashed.
(3)
[page break]
In 1947 he was back for the first time and visited the family J. van Schooten, living about 200 metres from the place of crash.
Just at that moment a house painter worked there. Painter and ex-airman stood together and recognized each other without knowing at first who exactly the other war. Soon it became clear. Leslie Langley stood face to face with Arend Schipper, during the war commander of the resistance movement in Holten and it was him who had conveyed Langley from Koeslag in Laren to Buisweerd. Later on Langley was taken to the farm of H. Reterink in Zuidloo, where he was liberated at last.
[underlined] A flyer is missing. [/underlined]
A short time after the liberation there were some problems with regard to the identification of the fallen airmen. There has been some talk on the missing of the British F/O C.E.M. Graham, navigator of the Lancaster NF 923 of No. 617 Squadron R.A.F. (known as the Dambuster squadron which had the destroying of the German barrages to their credit) The plane had also taken part in the attack on the Dortmund-Ems canal near Münster, was, however, attacked by a German nightfighter and lost it's course and had flown high over Holten. It appeared that this airman was severely wounded in an airfight over Twento and had got a shock. Because the plane was heavily damaged and could not effect a normal landing anymore, Graham probably was thrown out of the plane on his parachute by his comrades to save his life. The other members of the crew could manage to leave the plane with the exception of the pilot F/Lt G.S. ('Geoff') Stout. He lost his life when the plane crashed at the Vordensebinnenweg in the municipality of Lochem.
An enquiry after the location of the F/O Graham's grave had no result. In Holten nobody knew about a flyer with this name and an extensive investigation by the municipality of Holten in which many places in the neighbourhood were summoned, didn't help to make this case clear. It was suspected that the flyer in question should be among those airmen buried in Holten of whom some had not yet been identified. It was most evident that it concerned the victim found at the Evertjesweg. The mortal remains were disinterred on November 6th 1945 and interred on [sic] the military cemetery at Oosterbeek in square IV, row C, grave 13; later a tombstone was placed with the indication C.E.M. Graham, Flying Officer, 159937.
In the opinion of a member of the Holten CD at that time, there was still no proof that it reaily [sic] concerned the flyer mentioned above. It reaily [sic] concerned the flyer mentioned above. It seemed as if they had passed off the matter to satisfy the victim's father, Major-General Sir M.W.A.P. Graham, KBE, CB, MC, – a high officer in the staff of Field-Marshal Montgomery – to appoint the exact place of his son's grave. It was the more peculiar, because now in Holten in fact they missed a dead man from the plane which had crashed the same night in Holterbroek. After it was accepted that the mortal remains of two different, severely mutilated flyers should be buried in one grave. They then thought that it concerned the flyers Hayward and Harding, resting in a joint grave, as to be seen to this day at the cemetery regarding the little space between the two tombstones.
Yet it is to accept that the identification was correct and that it really concerned the flyer who came down at the Evertjesweg. After inquiries in the surroundings we had a talk with Mr. H.J. Bosschers. He remembered having seen that night a plane approaching from eastern direction. Over Holten the plane, however, had turned to the south. Mr. Bosschers also rememberd [sic] that at some distance behind his house 'something' came down with a thud. Only the next morning he learned that it should have been an R.A.F. man who had fallen down at the Evertjesweg. It appeared to be dark, slightly built person with small hands.
(4)
[page break]
Mr. G.J. Huisman, inhabitant of Holten, at that time hidden for the Germans at the family Jansen 'Menum', also living in this area, also remembered the dead flyer who was found in the mornining: [sic]
"Evidently he had come down hard, because we could see an imprint of the body in the soil. On his collar he had a badge in yellow and red with sickle and hammer, while there was a ring on one of his hands with a picture of a red Indian's head. Blood ran from his mouth. I could see that i was not the first person on the spot, for the parachute had been cut off and was hidden under some brushes [sic] by the road side. I took it home with me. Later i saw that the parachute cloth had been shot through in different places. In my opinion that was the cause of the flyer's death."
At attempts to trace how it all came to pass why F/O Graham had come down in Holten and was found dead, we succeeded in contacting the, at that time F/O R.H. ('Reg') Petch, who belonged to the same crew and took part in the flight as tailgunner. In spite of that his information gave no useful clues. Because of his position in the tailpart, Mr. Petch said not to be well informed of what was going on in the cockpit. Probably F/O Petch bailed out first, when his gun-turret had been eliminated and the plane burned. He came down in the municipality of Hellendoorn and kept covered for two days, observing sharply the bustle around a farm. When nothing suspicious happened he went up to the farm. The farmer warned the resistance movement; they helped him with addresses where he could hide for the coming period.
F/O Petch was liberated on April 10th 1945 in Nijverdal.
Flight-engineer P/O A.W. Benting landed severely wounded in the municipality of Markelo, a few metres behind the farmhouse of the family Tempelman of the Borkeldweg, near the municipal frontier with Holten. With the firing of pistol-shots he drew the attention of the family. He, however, had a shot wound through his head and through his calf of a leg; they could not help him in the right way. They took him a short time afterwards to a hospital in Enschede, but there he died a few days later.
F/O Graham had also taken part in the attack on the Tirpitz and probably had gotten this badge in Russia.
The other members of the crew were more fortunate. F/Sgt F.L. ('Peter') Whittaker, top turret gunner, came down not far from P/O Benting behind the farmhouse of J.W. Ebbekink 'Peurtje' – very active in the resistance movement where he was helped further.
Bomb aimer F/O W.A. ('Bill') Rupert, a canadian, landed safely on the Markeloseberg, hurried away from there and also came in touch with the underground. Together with his fellow crewmember Peter Whittaker he too was an enthousiastic [sic] co-worker at the droppings of arms, etc. For the resistance. In chapter 9 about the resistance movement more will be told about.
About the wireless operator F/O R.J. Allen nothing is known, except that he survived the war. Just like Petch, Rupert and Whittaker he probably was liberated at last at a hiding address in Eastern Holland.
Many thanks to the author Martin Hols for the translation from Dutch to English from the book HOLTEN IN OORLOGSTJD (1984) from the Saunders family.
(5)
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
Holten in Oorlogstjd (1984) - Holten in Wartime
Lancaster Crashed in Holterbroek.
Description
An account of the resource
A detailed account of the night's events leading to the shooting down of a Lancaster over the Netherlands.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Netherlands
Netherlands--Holten
Great Britain
England--Lincoln
France
Netherlands--Tilburg Metropolitan Area
Norway
Russia (Federation)
Russia (Federation)--Arkhangelʹskai︠a︡ oblastʹ
Germany
Germany--Dortmund-Ems Canal
Netherlands--Arnhem
Scotland--Glasgow
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
Civilian
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five typewritten sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MParryWE1172401-220531-05
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.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1984
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-09-23
1944-09-24
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
5 Group
617 Squadron
9 Squadron
air gunner
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
bomb aimer
bombing
crash
evading
final resting place
killed in action
Lancaster
Mosquito
navigator
P-38
RAF Bardney
Resistance
Tallboy
target indicator
Tirpitz
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1807/44140/MKilburnG[Ser -DoB]-170310-01.pdf
79c2d3b0ae7f020f56459b76e79d5870
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
Kilburn, Gerard
G Kilburn
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
2017-03-10
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Kilburn, G
Description
An account of the resource
6 items. The collection concerns Gerard Kilburn (Royal Air Force) and contains a memoir about the bombing of Liverpool and photographs.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Gerard Kilburn and catalogued by Benjamin Turner.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underline] Some memories of the war (1939-1945) [/underline] from a woman who was a teenager then.
War broke out on 3rd September 1939. This was a hot sunny Sunday in Liverpool where I lived.
[underline] Evacuation [/underline].
That week the [underline] Evacuation of children [/underline] began. Children were sent away from the big cities to the countryside for safety.
Lime Street Station was filled with children of all sizes and ages with gas masks in cardboard boxes over their shoulders; labels pinned to their lapels gave their name and identification number.
Everyone had to carry an identity card.
I wasstaken [sic] was taken by train into the country- the journey was long. The whole school was taken on arrival to a church hall, and we waited to be collected by ‘someone’. We did not know who it would be. Those children who were not taken by someone were taken by bus to a house or cottage for the duration of the war.
Not all children stayed that long. The cottage I was sent to had no gas, no electricity, no running water or indoor toilet. The toilet was in a hut at the very bottom of a long garden. There was no bathroom- we had our baths in a tin bath in front of the kitchen fire. My mother was not happy about me being away from home and she came to collect me after one week. She said that if we were going to die then it would be better to die together. It so happened that we all lived safely through the war.
[underline] Sounds of War [/underline] – [underline] An Air Raid [/underline]
The sounds of war were very different from the sounds of a country at peace. When there was an air raid the sirens wailed loudly and eerily. We would look at the clocks quickly before running to our Anderson shelter in the garden. If it was 10 or 12 o’clock pm we knew there would be a long night of bombing to come. If it was 2 or 3 a.m. then maybe it would only last a matter of hours.
Sometimes there were two or three air raids in the same night and some in the day-time too.
As we ran we would see the searchlights scanning the sky for the enemy aircraft.
[page break]
The sound of enemy aircraft was different from our own planes.
They used to switch their engines off to avoid being detected. We would then hear a drrm…drrm…drrm…drrm…. This was an ominous sound.
You could also hear the scream of the bombs as they fell through the air. First there would be a ‘descending’ whine, then an explosion which was sometimes louder than thunder and at other times a dull ‘crump’ in the distance.
We would listen hard for the comforting sound of our own anti-aircraft guns and rockets fighting back at the enemy. Sometimes, however, these were silent-especially during the May Blitz in Liverpool, when the bombing was long and incessant for ten nights from 1st -10th May.
The most wonderful sound of all was that of the ‘all clear’. The siren would sound again but this time it did not wail but gave out a long, clear, steady note to announce that the ‘raiders’ had passed. Maybe, though, we would return to bed, only to hear the air raid siren again and so rush back to the shelter.
[underline] Sights in Liverpool [/underline]
Incendiary (fire) bombs were a real danger. Huge metal tanks full of water were positioned on almost every street corner. These were called [underline] E.W.S tanks [/underline] Emergency Water Supply tanks.
More E.W.S. were carried in huge pipes. (about 35cm in diameter) which were on the edges of the pavement and had to be stepped over.
People in uniforms could be seen too. [underline] Air Raid Wardens [/underline] wore overalls and tin hats; [underline] soldiers [/underline], sailors and airmen were often in Liverpool en route between North America and Europe. Liverpool was the Western approaches port and the town was always busy. There were Americans, Canadians, Poles and Norwegians. The French sailors wore little ‘pom-poms’ on their hats.
[underline] The Black Out [/underline]
For fear of air raids it was necessary to ensure absolute darkness at night. This would make places less easy to find. At first no torches could be carried. When it was eventually allowed they had to have black tape over them so that only a little light would show. Torches always had to be carried pointing downwards. Car lights also had to be covered.
[Page break]
(A few cars had huge ‘balloons’ full of gas on top of them to save petrol).
At the windows you could see blackout curtains or windows with nets of tape pasted over them to prevent glass shattering.
People never moved about without their gas masks- these had to be carried elsewhere.
In the sky were huge barrage balloons.
We didn’t see a banana for over six years.
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
Some memories of the war
Description
An account of the resource
Memoir detailing a teenage girl's experiences of the war. The document details experiences of evacuation, the blackouts, sounds of the war during air raids and what they saw on the streets of Liverpool.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1939-09-03
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lancashire
England--Liverpool
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three page type written document
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription. Under review
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MKilburnG[Ser#-DoB]-170310-01
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
William Cragg
Air Raid Precautions
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
childhood in wartime
evacuation
home front
incendiary device
shelter
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2513/43540/MDavyFR1108748-190530-020001.2.jpg
12add1de8fd334aed045d4036e4cf14f
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2513/43540/MDavyFR1108748-190530-020002.2.jpg
550d3a381a7db7daced5487267f23233
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
Davy, Frederick R
Davy, F R
Description
An account of the resource
21 items. The collection concerns Frederick R Davy (b. 1912, 1108747 Royal Air Force) and contains his log books, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 625 Squadron.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Frederick Popoff catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-05-30
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Davy, FR
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
The Fate of Lancaster PB158
Description
An account of the resource
A document detailing the end of the Lancaster and its crew over Cologne, 2nd March 1945.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-03-02
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Germany
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Neuss
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Chemnitz
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MDavyFR1108748-190530-020001, MDavyFR1108748-190530-020002
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.
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
625 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
bomb aimer
flight engineer
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 3
Lancastrian
navigator
Oxford
pilot
RAF Kelstern
shot down
training
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1564/43465/MCurtisA1579599-161130-02.1.pdf
6ade64adf230bddeecdea07af9f1c55d
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
Curtis, A
Curtis, Len
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
2016-11-30
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
Curtis, A
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. The collection concerns "Len" Curtis (1579599 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and a manuscript. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 106, 630 and 617 Squadrons.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Cary Curtis and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
LANCASTER J B 139
[drawing]
DARK VICTOR
[Page break]
[Photograph]
Don Cheney’s crew (photograph taken in London circa December 1943).
Back row (L-R): R. Pool, J. Rosher, W. N. Wait, McRostie. Front row (L-R): R. Welch, D. Cheney, A Curtis
L’équipage de Don cheney [sic] (photo prise à Londres vers décembre 1943).
Debout, de gauche à droite: R. Pool, J. Rosher, W. N. Wait, McRostie.
Assis, de gauche à droite: R. Welch, D. Cheney, A Curtis.
[Page break]
617 Squadron’s campaign against the V-Sites in the Pas de Calais had concluded with the final assault on the V-1 site at Siracourt on 1st August, 1944. The Pas de Calais had been over-run by various units of the Allied Armies, positively breaking out from the consolidated beach-head area, and sending the German forces into headlong retreat along the whole front, save for the various French coastal redoubts, which the Allies initially by-passed without making any strong effort to subdue them.
617 Squadron, in company with other squadrons of Bomber Command, had pulverised the enemy’s E-Boat flotillas in the French harbours of Le Havre and Boulogne, forcing the remnants to retreat to the comparatively safer harbours of Holland, notably Ijmuiden. These units now had a much longer voyage to oppose the invasion support convoys and this, together with the short summer nights, had rendered their efforts against these convoys almost innocuous and very costly in the casualties inflicted by the convoy escorts.
With the underlying threat of the V-Sites firmly removed, 617’s efforts were re-directed against the French Biscay ports of Brest, Lorient and La Pallice. The aim was to deny these ports and their facilities to the ocean-going U-Boats and to drive them to other, and more northerly lairs. There was an additional purpose in the matter of Brest. Strong American forces had broken out of their bridgehead area and were deploying rapidly and with great purpose through the “bocage” country of Normandy and Brittany. American units had isolated the German garrison in Cherbourg, one of the planned redoubts, whilst other motorised and armoured columns were making all speed towards Brest. The Allies needed to capture a large established
[Page break]
deep-water port as soon as possible. Thus, the German garrison in Brest, with their numbers greatly increased by the many other German units which had sought refuge from the American advance, needed to have demonstrated to them just exactly what the total Allied air supremacy would bring to them during any period they might resolve to hold out. “Drive out the U-Boats and intimidate the garrison” . . . these were the deadly purposes of the assaults about to be launched from the air on Brest.
Flying Officer Don Cheney eased Lancaster “KC – V“ (JB 139) into the air at 0949 hours on Saturday, 5th August, 1944, from RAF Woodhall Spa. The squadron effort was sixteen Lancasters, each armed with a Tallboy bomb, and “V – Victor” was the ninth aircraft to get airborne. Beside the pilot, Flight Sergeant Jim Rosher prepared to ease back the throttles and later set the “revs and boost” his captain would request for the climb to height, once the full take-off procedure had been fulfilled. Flight Sergeant Len Curtis prepared to take his Bomb Aimer’s position in the nose from his perch on the step immediately below the flight engineer’s position. At the navigation table Pilot Officer Roy Welch was busy “setting out his stall” . . as was the wireless operator Flight Sergeant Reg Pool at the W/T set. In the mid-upper turret Warrant Officer Ken Porter settled himself comfortably, whilst Pilot Officer William Noel Wait did likewise in the rear turret. Both gunners prepared to unlock and test their turrets when the engines were throttled back and it was safe to do so.
The aircraft circled the airfield until the navigator warned that it was almost time to set course. Don brought the Lancaster round on to the
[Page break]
required heading over the airfield and commenced the long, unhurried climb to the operational height of 18,000 feet.
It was a beautiful summer’s day . . . very warm with almost cloudless skies affording continuous sunshine. The mighty Merlins lifted the heavily-laden aircraft effortlessly and without one discordant note. Don checked with each member of the crew that all systems were operational and that there were no snags. He actioned the occasional slight course correction offered by the industrious navigator. When the aircraft had reached the operational height, Don called for the necessary cruising “revs and boost” to be set on the dials, checking the readings when he had Jim Rosher’s assertion that this had been carried out.
Don felt quite elated that another operational phase was beginning for the squadron against the U-Boat pens, with formidable Brest as the first target. He had found the tasks on 617 much more self-satisfying than those long, and very demanding, hauls in the enemy darkness, to bomb Target Indicators laid by other unknown crews. In the daylight raids of 617, captains were required to identify their aiming-points visually and to aim their bombs at this point . . often able to observe the success of the squadron’s effort before the confirming reconnaissance photos were available. Even on the 617 night operations, the Lancaster crews knew that the target had been identified and marked with meticulous accuracy by the squadron’s Mosquito marking force, so that the red spot fires could be bombed with the certain knowledge that they were on the aiming point. Don’s mind slipped back to the attack on the Watten V2 site in the Pas de Calais on July 25th, when the very accurate flak defences had knocked out one engine of his aircraft and so severely damaged the hydraulic system that all turrets became inoperable: the bomb doors hung limply open and the
[Page break]
availability of the undercarriage became a matter of conjecture and prayer. The fuselage was awash with hydraulic oil and filled with the acrid smell of cordite. Miraculously, the intercomm was working and Don had raised all the crew, save the mid-upper gunner, the Aussie “Mac” McRostie. Don instructed the wireless operator to investigate the silence, in case the gunner was in need of assistance. A shaken Reg Pool appeared beside him some moments later, puled Don’s right earpiece aside and yelled “Mac’s gone!”. Don banked the aircraft, to bring it round course back to the UK, at the same time surveying the area below. His eye picked up the white silk of a parachute against the background of green countryside. It was about four thousand feet below the Lancaster and drifting gently inland. Mac’s prisoner-of-war status had been reported to Allied sources within a few days by the Resistance network. Don had taken stock of the damage to the aircraft during the return flight, and was greatly relieved to discover that no fires had started and that no member of the crew was injured. Some desultory heavy flak was aimed at them as they neared the French coast, but it was inaccurate and did no damage. Jim Rosher called Don’s attention to something overhead and there, sitting some thirty feet above the Lancaster, and sliding gently across and back again, was a Spitfire. The Spit then perched just off the starboard wing, with he pilot giving “Thumbs Up”, until the English coast was reached and then, with a salute of farewell, it peeled off to starboard and was gone. There was a temptation to “drop in“ at one of the many ‘dromes en route, but dogged persistence drove them on to Woodhall Spa. Fortuitously, the emergency air bottles “blew down” and locked the undercarriage and “T for Tare” flopped in without ceremony or waste of time, on clearance from the Control Tower.
[Page break]
It was this series of events that had introduced Ken Porter into the crew. Ken had finished his first tour with 619 Squadron at Coningsby and had immediately opted to join 617. By coincidence, Don Cheney had been the pilot of the Lancaster which had flown the short distance from Woodhall Spa to Coningsby to pick him up and effect his transfer to his new squadron. Don was very pleased to have a fellow Canadian in his crew, for all the other members were from the United Kingdom and . . . Len Curtis’ voice broke in on his musings. “English coast coming up, navigator . . . we look to be OK on track and I’ll give you “crossing coast” when we’re overhead”. Roy Welch duly acknowledged the message and Don alerted himself for the passage across the Channel and into enemy territory. Once over the sea, both gunners performed the ritual test of the turret guns and reported all guns serviceable. ”V – Victor” crossed the enemy coast without any opposition manifesting itself, with the promised Spitfire escort ranged above and around the assembling 617, as they marshalled at the rendezvous point. Don took his allocated position in the “gaggle”, which proceeded on its stately and irrevocable purpose. The bomb-sight data passed between the navigator and the bomb-aimer, to be re-checked once it had been fed to the bomb-sight and before the aircraft was committed to the bombing run. Then the formation swung sharply to starboard, denying confirmation to the defenders of Brest that the port was really the objective of the operation until the last possible moment., The campaign against the U-Boat bases had begun in deadly earnest.
The run-up to the target was some twenty miles in length. As always, the Stabilised Automatic Bomb-Sight demanded the closest tolerances of height, course and airspeed from the pilot and Don Cheney’s total concentration was
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on these three factors. He knew from Len Curtis’s calm voice and quiet, unhurried directions that the bomb-aimer had the target well and truly lined up in his bomb-sight. Sweat trickled into Don’s eyes and down the side of his face, soaking into the collar of his shirt . . . not much longer now, and the Tallboy would be on its lethal way and he would have the luxury of drying himself with his handkerchief . . . not much longer for that blessed relief . . . not much longer. Suddenly, the voice of the rear gunner broke into the intercomm. “Looks as if some quite heavy barrage fire is coming up, skip!”. Don did not answer, his whole being concentrated on the final crucial moments of the bombing run. Ken Porter swung his turret to check the rear gunner’s observation. A second string of black bursts appeared above the black cotton-wool of the initial salvo and his experienced eye could see that the salvos were creeping higher and nearer. Don heard the dulled explosions . . . under the nose and to each side, he surmised, but the bomb-aimer’s directions held him in thrall. Then came the memory-stirring clangs and thumps as direct hits struck the aircraft with giant hammer-blows. A gasping cry came over the intercomm but still the bomb-aimer continued his relentless commentary. The cockpit filled with cordite fumes and again fiery red bursts erupted around the aircraft. Another involuntary cry came over the intercomm, almost drowned by the triumphant cry of “Bomb Gone!” from the bomb-aimer. With the main duty now performed, Don began the task of extricating the crew from the serious situation in which they obviously were. He banked and dived the Lancaster to port to elude further predicted bursts. Jim Rosher folded his seat and moved towards the navigation table. Don was still holding the dive from the danger zone when Jim came on the intercom. “Roy and Reg are both hurt, Don” he reported. “I’m attending to Roy . . . Ken and Noel have come forward
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and are attending to Reg”. “Any idea of the damage, Jim?” asked Don. “All the gauges on the Engineer’s panel are wrecked, Don” replied Jim. Ken Porter came on the intercom. “I got down from my turret after the first strike, Don, to see what the score was . . and then the second shell struck home, just aft of the main spar, I figure. I almost choked on the fumes from the explosion of that shell! The damage seems to be confined to the starboard side of the kite, in the wing-root area”. “There’s a large hole in the nav table” interjected Jim “and the radio compartment is pretty badly smashed!”. “Thanks both” replied Don. “Could Roy give me a course for Base when he’s ready?”. Jim Rosher realised that Don did not quite know the extent of the navigatgor’s [sic] wounds. Shrapnel had struck him in the face, tearing away the oxygen mask and removing his upper teeth and gums. Jim had just applied a field dressing to the area . . . despite the pain he was suffering, Ron had managed to smile crookedly when the pad was put in place. When Don’s request came over the intercomm, and to Jim’s utter amazement, Roy sat up in his chair, pored over his log and wrote some figures on a clip-board pad. He then stood up with a great effort. Aware of movement on his right, Don turned quickly. Roy was standing by the pilot’s seat, one hand grasping the high, armour-plated back and the other carrying the clip-board. His face was covered from nose to chin with a large antiseptic pad. There were large spots of blood on his shirt collar and on the side of his head. He was unable to speak but relinquished his grip on the seat-back, to hold the clip-board where Don could read it, indicating with his pencil the message he had written. “Heading 060”. . Don gave him a grateful nod and set the course on his compass repeater. Roy tottered back to his seat for Jim Rosher to continue to minister to his wounds. Len
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Curtis had switched off the SABS and all the bombing gear and brought the First Aid kit to assist the two wounded members.
Don continued the descending turn to port, aiming to bring the Lancaster on to the course so gallantly proffered by the navigator. He had noted that Ron was not on oxygen and assumed that Reg was in the same predicament, so he had increased the rate of descent in order to get down below oxygen height as quickly as possible. The compass needle was nearing a southerly heading in the continuing turn, when he felt a poke in the side. He looked to his right and saw Jim Rosher pointing to the starboard wing. Don looked along the raised wing and was appalled to see a large jagged hole between the two engines. It looked large enough for a man to crawl through! Beyond this chasm, was a number of smaller holes, from which were emerging small light blue flames and wisps of smoke. He continued the diving turn to port, to keep the possible fire hazard away from the fuselage. He mentally summed up the prospects and gave the order “Prepare to abandon aircraft! Prepare to abandon aircraft!”.
Jim Rosher checked that his ‘chute was readily to hand. He saw that Len Curtis was still busily engaged, ministering gently to the badly-wounded Wireless Operator, who had sustained wounds in the chest and legs from large jagged pieces of shrapnel. Jim lowered himself into the bombing well to prepare the escape hatch for abandonment, a duty which normally Len would have performed. He was lifting the hatch from its location when he noticed that Len Curtis’s ‘chute was lying loose on the floor. Fearing that the slipstream might suck it from the aircraft when the hatch was jettisoned, Jim let go of the hatch, which by this time was half-way out of the aircraft. The impact of the slipstream jammed the hatch across the
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escape exit. Jim crawled carefully around the partially-blocked exit and secured the rogue ‘chute in its proper stowage. He then endeavoured to deal with the recalcitrant hatch cover. He managed to budge it a few inches but that was all. He gave up and returned to his post beside the pilot.
On receipt of the captain’s order, Ken Porter and Noel Wait immediately went back to their ‘chute stowages to clamp their parachutes on their chests, leaving Len Curtis still ministering to the wireless operator. Noel Wait was having some trouble with his ‘chute pack and Ken Porter went to help him. Noel must have thought that Ken was on his way to the rear door, for he called urgently “Wait for me!” . . . which Don heard on the intercom and he sought to reassure the rear gunner that the order was only preparatory at that time. Suddenly the starboard inner engine failed and began to belch flames and black smoke. Jim Rosher quickly feathered the engine and threw the appropriate graviner switch to quell the flames in that engine. This seemed to deal effectively with the situation. “Both wings are holed, Don” reported Jim “and the fuselage is badly holed and torn in many places!”. Don could see a blue flame burning ominously in the No 2 fuel tank. It seemed to be growing even as he watched. He could feel heat building up from the starboard side of the cockpit. There was not a moment to Lose! . . “ABANDON AIRCRAFT! ABANDON AIRCRAFT!” he ordered.
At the rear of the aircraft, Noel Wait had plugged into the intercomm socket whilst Ken Porter had secured the rear door open. Ken saw that flames were streaming back from the starboard wing, almost the length of the fuselage. The flames and smoke dispersed suddenly, but hard on the heels of this Ken received a visual signal from Noel that the order to
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abandon aircraft had been given. He signed for Noel to go first, but Noel indicated for Ken to lead the way. Ken sat on the door sill with his legs dangling in the slip-stream. He leaned back and then tried to roll himself forward, as had been so easy in the practice drills. But due to the aircraft’s “starboard wing up” attitude, the roll forward took a great deal of effort and Ken found himself leaving the aircraft much closer to the fuselage than he might have expected. However, that seemed to ensure he was well clear of the tail assembly. He had no doubt that Noel would quickly follow him.
Jim Rosher slid forward into the bombing well and tried desperately to free the jammed hatch. Suddenly he was aware that Roy Welch was beside him, ‘chute clipped on and a large dressing still strapped across his face. In spite of his injuries, Roy assisted Jim to such effect that, although their efforts failed to free the hatch cover, it was moved sufficiently to allow a somewhat cramped escape route. Roy waved his hand in farewell to Jim and, with some difficulty, launched himself from the aircraft. Jim turned to see that Len Curtis was now in the bombing well. He put his mouth close to Len’s ear and said “How’s Reg?” “He’s right behind me!” replied Len “You leave now and I’ll follow you!” Immediately Jim manoeuvred himself through the restricted escape exit and was gone. Len edged his way around to his ‘chute stowage, clamped the ‘chute on to his harness and returned to the jammed hatch cover. He could see that he was not going to be able to negotiate the exit as he constituted at the moment, being, in his own words, “somewhat portly”. He tried without success to budge the jammed cover. Reg Pool was sitting dazedly on the fuselage floor, above the step leading into the bombing well. Len signalled Reg to retreat a bit, to give Len more
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room, but it was obvious that Reg just did not understand what Len was indicating. Len released the ‘chute straps from his main harness, whilst keeping the ‘chute secured in the clamps. He used both hands to raise the pack above his head and sat down at the escape exit with his feet through the narrowed opening. Gripping the pack above his head as tightly as his fingers would allow, he uttered a silent prayer and thrust himself into space. His stratagem worked and he cleared the aircraft without difficulty.
Don Cheney had ceased turning the aircraft to port on issuing the order to abandon and held it at height on a southerly course whilst his crew got out. He could see that the aircraft was just out to sea and felt that his crew would have a better chance of escaping capture in the area south of Brest, if the surge of the German retreat had been pell-mell northwards towards Brest once Wehrmacht units had been appraised of the American “break-out in great strength” some days previously. One of Jim Rosher’s last acts before leaving the aircraft had been to lay a ‘chute pack under Don’s seat, to expedite Don’s own departure from the Lancaster. Don had been fully informed of the situation with the jammed hatch cover. He was aware of the departure of the navigator, flight engineer and then his bomb-aimer. He knew that the two gunners had left by the rear door and appreciated that the badly-wounded wireless operator and himself were the sole remaining aircrew. He climbed down from his seat and, holding the aircraft as steady as possible by keeping his left hand on the control column, he strove with his right arm to help Reg to his feet. Slowly he managed to raise Reg and used both hands to steady the weakened aircrew. As soon as he had taken his hand from the control column, the aircraft began to wallow ominously from side to
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side. Don was forced to regain his seat and settle the aircraft again. Reg clung precariously to the side of the seat whilst this was happening. When he was satisfied that the aircraft was on even keel again, Don left his seat and clipped his wireless operator’s ‘chute on to Reg’s harness. Reg had been holding the pack, but was obviously too weak to do this task for himself. The Lancaster insisted on nosing into a steep dive each time Don took his hand from the controls and repeatedly Don had to regain his seat to bring the aircraft out of the dive. Eventually, Reg had been prepared for abandoning the aircraft. In one of the Lancaster’s “behaviour lulls”, Don was able to lead him down to the escape exit. Reg dangled his feet through the escape exit and, with Don’s help and guidance, was able to grasp the silver D-ring. Again, Don had to leave him to “recover” the aircraft from a dive. As soon as he could, he returned to Reg’s side. Don had some misgivings about Reg’s capacity to act correctly once he had left the aircraft and sought to reassure himself, although there really was no alternative to what had to happen. Don removed Reg’s helmet and, putting his mouth close to Reg’s ear, he said urgently “You will be OK, Reg, won’t you? . . . once you’ve left the aircraft?” The injured man nodded a couple of times. Somewhat reassured, Don continued “Keep hold of the ring, Reg and don’t pull it until you are well clear . . . understand?” Again he was answered with nods of the head. Don put his hands under Reg’s armpits, lifted him and eased him gently through the exit. Suddenly, Reg was gone without any further hurt or hindrance. Don peered through the exit but failed to pick up any sign of a parachute. He became aware that the aircraft was diving again and hurried back to regain control and to prepare for his own departure.
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Don had scarcely retrieved the situation when there was a surge of heat from the starboard side of the fuselage. Instinctively he turned to the engineer’s panel and was aghast to see bubbles appearing in the yellow paint of the panel. He climbed down from his seat and stooped to retrieve his ‘chute pack and clipped it to his chest. He had to remove his hand from the controls to effect this and immediately the Lancaster went into a steep dive. A noise like a roaring tornado developed as the slipstream tore in through the escape hatch and ravaged through the battered fuselage to escape at the open rear door. The engine noise was rising to a crescendo! . . . he fought his way back into his seat and with a superhuman effort, brought the nose up . . up . . up . . and then pushed the column forward until a semblance of “straight and level” flight was assumed. His mind had been racing ahead . . . no way was he going to be able to get down into the bombing-well and launch himself into space before the stricken Lancaster went into its final death-dive . . . no way could he reach the rear door exit, either! No, it HAD to be through the ditching hatch above his head! He turned in his seat, so that he was able to kneel on the seat cushion and jam his rump against the control column. He gave the release handle a firm twist and the hatch cover windmilled off into the slip-stream. The wind-noise increased ten-fold! Don removed his helmet and sun-glasses and tossed them towards the floor, but they were immediately whisked off down the fuselage. With his feet now on the seat, he forced his head and shoulders through the hatch opening but found he was unable to clear it. Urgently, he sought to get first one foot and then the other on the seat armrests . . . and then was shattered to find that the ‘chute pack prevented him from getting through the hatch! He crouched back again inside the cockpit. The
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aircraft was in a steep dive and his best efforts could only bring the nose up slightly. He knew he HAD to get out NOW! He resumed his attempt to get through the dinghy hatch, but this time was able to flip the pack upwards and clear of the hatch before beginning to wrestle the rest of his body through the opening. He stood on the armrests again and managed to get his right knee on the edge of the hatch. His left foot groped frantically for additional purchase below. Miraculously, he made contact with the back of the seat . . . felt his way upwards until his foot was at the top of his seat which provided a promise of firm leverage. He paused to gather all his reserves of strength and then gave a tremendous push on his left foot. He bulleted out into a roaring cacophony of sound. The blurred hump of the mid-upper turret flashed past and, with that peculiar human sense that allows one to observe the innocuous in moments of great personal stress, he gave mental thanks that Ken had remembered to depress the turret guns. The two large tail fins loomed and went safely by and with them the W/T aerials that could have cut through him like a wire through cheese . . . and then he was tumbling in space, with his knees drawn up to his chest. In his gyrations he saw blue sky and white clouds framed between his flying boots . . . then water . . . then land . . . then the sky and clouds again to complete the cycle. His consciousness was no longer dominated by the roar of the aircraft. Instead, there was a rushing of air past his ears. He felt around the pack for the release handle and seized it thankfully. He waited a further five seconds and gave it a very firm pull. It gave with incredible ease and he was conscious of holding the D-ring in his hand, with a two-feet length of wire attached to it and not the slightest slackening of his speed of fall! “Hell!” he thought “I’ve pulled it too
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hard and the “chute just isn’t going to work! What an ending after all I’ve escaped!”. A definite “whumpf” halted these thoughts in their tracks . . . his headlong fall was arrested . . . he assumed an upright position . . . no more rushing air in his ears. He was floating gently aloft, with only the gentle flapping of the beautiful white canopy above him to break the silence of that lovely summer afternoon. He heard the drone of an aircraft and looked around to see “V for Victor” in its death throes. It had reared from its downward plunge, with its nose rising until the Lancaster toppled over. For one frightening moment Don felt that there was a distinct possibility of the aircraft banking round and perhaps striking him, but then it went into a gentle spin towards the sea. An eternity seemed to pass before it finally struck the surface with one final roar. A great burst of red flames and thick black smoke was followed by a boiling circle of churning sea. The Don saw a series of smaller splashes as lesser debris hit the water, but finally nothing remained to mark the grave of “V for Victor” but a column of spiralling smoke which the sea breeze quickly dispersed.
A dull, muted droning of aircraft engines became faintly audible. Peering into the distance, Don could make out the specks of other 617 aircraft which, having delivered their bomb-loads, were now haring back to Woodhall Spa. Soon they were gone and an unbroken silence descended. Don could see no other ‘chutes in the sky around him. To all intents and purposes he was completely alone.
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Len Curtis was greatly relieved when the billowing silk canopy of his parachute arrested his headlong fall through space. He became aware that, whilst he had been wrestling his way through the narrowed escape hatch, the racing slip-stream had torn off his right flying boot, and for a few moments he was non-plussed . . . why hadn’t his left flying boots joined its companion? But he was swiftly dragged back to reality when he saw the Lancaster turning towards him in a shallow dive. For a few agonising moments, he was sure that it would hit him, but suddenly it resumed straight and level flight and the danger passed, but too close for real comfort. Len examined the area around and below him but failed to pick up the ‘chutes of Roy Welch and Jim Rosher. He began to assess his own situation and estimated that he would enter the waters of the bay some two miles from land. The sensation of rapid descent increased as he neared the water. He prepared himself for the plunge by unlocking the quick-release unit of the ‘chute. When he judged himself to be about fifteen feet above the surface of the sea, he struck the unit with his clenched fist, at the same time operating the automatic inflation lever on his Mae West. He fell out of his ‘chute and harness, which drifted away, clear of the spot where Len eventually hit the water. He went down only a few feet before rising buoyantly to the surface. He surveyed the geography of the bay and found himself in the broad base of its sweep. Undaunted, he commenced to swim towards the shore, deflating his Mae West slightly to allow himself to assume a comfortable swimming posture. He was glad to find that the water was quite warm and felt that, under less intimidating circumstances, it would have been quite a pleasant way to spend a summer afternoon. He glanced at his watch . . it had stopped at 1220 pm.
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He made steady progress towards an outcrop of rock and estimated that he had been in the sea for about two hours, when a burst of automatic fire split the silence. He heard the hiss of the bullets as they passed overhead and he turned to face the direction from which they had come. He made out a knot of German troops on the beach. About half-dozen had their weapons trained threateningly on him, whilst one beckoned him imperiously to change his direction towards them, making it plain what would happen if he refused. Cursing his luck, Len swam towards them and soon he was standing on the beach, dripping wet, surrounded by Germans. They expertly removed all his valuables and possessions, which they pocketed with great satisfaction, but the reception was generally cordial. Obviously, they remarked between themselves on his missing boot. Len discarded his Mae West, and it was immediately examined by the interested troops. Len was disgusted to find that they were armed with Sten guns . . . the guns that the supply squadrons regularly dropped to the Resistance! His captors were obviously a platoon under the command of a Corporal, but quite soon a car appeared from which emerged a Wehrmacht officer. He strode across to Len, who stood to attention, as military etiquette demanded. The German studies Len for a few moments. “Ah, Feldwebel” he said and motioned Len into the car. With Len flanked in the rear by two “Sten-armed” soldiers, and the officer in the front passenger seat, the car moved off. It sped through a town which Len was to learn later was Douarnenez and on for some way until it reached a small military camp. Len was escorted to a cell and a meal of German field rations and hot black erzatz coffee was provided, again with the same cordiality that had reigned on the beach. He rested for an hour or so, when the door was unlocked and a Feldwebel beckoned him out. He was taken to an office block and escorted into a room where a different
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Wehrmacht officer sat at a table. Len saluted as he entered and the officer indicated the chair which faced him across the table. Len sat down and prepared himself for the interrogation. “Number . . . rank and name” he was asked, in quite reasonable English and Len provided this information, which was entered on the form in front of his interrogator. “Unit?”, came the next question. Len shook his head “I am afraid I cannot give you that, sir” he replied. The officer looked at him quizzically and after a few moments, pushed himself back from the table and left the room through a door behind his desk . . . Len heard a muffled conversation between perhaps three or four voices and then the officer returned. “Sergeant, you will be taken to Quimper airport tomorrow and handed over to the Luftwaffe. The information you have given us will be forwarded, as required, but we have more important things to do at this moment than to interrogate RAF prisoners.” He called for the Feldwebel and soon Len found himself back in his cell. Relief allowed him to sleep quite soundly that night.
In the morning he was given a meal and transported under guard to Quimper airfield. Before he left the camp, he was handed a pair of German Army issue boots. Len took a grip on the leg and boot of his flying boot with a few swift jerks, separated them by breaking the stitching, as provided by their design. He tore out the silk linings of the legging, folded them into small packs, and put them in the back pockets of his battle-dress trousers. He managed to have some conversation with his guards on the drive to Quimper and discovered that the majority of the troops holding this part of France were Austrian and Czech formations. There was an awareness of the American break-out from the invasion beaches and Len was left with the distinct impression that his guards wanted nothing more
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than to be captured in one piece and get out of this war! This cheered him no end, and went a long way in explaining the cordiality with which he had been received.
At Quimper airfield, he was placed in the custody of a Luftwaffe corporal, who seemed to be the only Luftwaffe representative left. His Wehrmacht guards and driver insisted on shaking hands with him before they left, and Len was becoming more and more at ease with his situation. The Luftwaffe corporal turned out to be a conscripted Czech who had a few similar Czech troopers under his command. He was quite amenable and spoke some English. Len gathered that the corporal was hourly expecting orders to evacuate the airfield and this would mean moving a band of about two hundred French Algerian prisoners-of-war . . and Len! He spent a not unpleasant day at Quimper and could see that morale amongst the German “mercenaries” was plunging.
The following day, Monday 7th August, the Luftwaffe corporal informed Len that orders had come through to evacuate the airfield and move all prisoners into the Crozon Peninsular. It was estimated that a march of some 45 kilometres lay ahead, which Len interpolated as around 28 miles. The corporal added that the march would be accomplished at night, since the Allied Air Forces had made the roads in Brittany very dangerous for the movement of large formations in daylight hours. Len rested most of the day in preparation for what lay ahead. At about 1700 hrs, the corporal and his troop began the thankless task of assembling their French-Algerian prisoners, many of whom had so many large packages draped about them that they looked like pack-mules! Just before 1800 hrs the party, in some fifty
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files of four abreast, trudged out of the camp, en route for the Crozon Peninsular, with the corporal pushing his beloved bike. It was a warm clear evening, with the guards anxiously scanning the skies and straining their ears for the first possible warning of an air attack. Fortune favoured the column in this respect and dusk fell with no interference from marauding Allied fighters. Dusk turned to night, with bright moonlight effectively lighting the road. The party, which had had a degree of compactness at the outset, was now strung out over a distance of some four hundred yards. Consequently, the escort became ever more thinly spread along the length of the column. They passed through what appeared to be sleeping French villages, although Len was certain that curtains were raised in darkened upstairs windows to observe their progress. He wondered if “underground” radios were passing the information on to Maquis squads and fervently hoped that no clandestine ambush would be laid against the party before its identity had been checked.
Occasionally a halt was called for a short break, generally in the area of a village pump, or public water supply. The dispersal of the marchers had one advantage, in that it made for less crowding around the drinking area. It also allowed the mass to coagulate somewhat, although the more lightly-weighted elements were soon ahead of the “beasts of burden” once the march was resumed. Len’s feet became blistered, and so he sat down on a grassy bank, removed his German field boots and put his feet in the cool water of the brook that ran past. He soaked some of the linings from his flying-boot and carefully bound up his blistered feet, revelling in the relief that the silk pads immediately afforded. He became aware that many of the Algerians now passing him were limping badly. Ignoring the guards, Len called to them, indicating for them to sit on the bank and bathe their feet as he had
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done. They did this gratefully. Len set to work to minister to as many as he could until his lining stock was exhausted, but he still signalled to others to bathe their feet. The guards shrugged their shoulders . . . some even joined their charges in their ministrations.
Still the trek dragged on its weary way. Fruit trees and occasional root crops gave sustenance to the prisoners, for no ration provision had been made for them when the march was ordered. Len quite understood when he saw them stuffing items into their baggage after each “windfall” . . . they were providing against what might lie beyond their next camp.
Len was padding along beside the bike-pushing corporal, who was becoming quite concerned about the spread of the column, now that their destination was about two hours walk ahead. The corporal called a halt for the prisoners at the head of his party and indicated to Len that he would be going back to “chivvy along” the stragglers. He left his bike in Len’s charge and strode back down the road. When he was out of sight, Len mounted the cycle and pedalled off towards the squad of prisoners ahead. Some of the Algerians thought he was escaping and gave him encouraging cheers, but Len felt his best bet in the obvious chaotic battle situation was to accept his present captivity until a genuine opportunity presented itself to make contact with Allied troops. In the meantime, using the corporal’s bike would take the weight off his blistered feet! When he was almost upon the leading batch, he dismounted and rested by the roadside. When the first file of the laggards hove into hearing and view, he remounted the bike and caught up with the leaders once more. He continued this routine of “riding and resting” for an hour or so before actually riding through the ranks of the pace-setters and finally making the guards understand that their batch should wait for the remainder of the prisoners
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to catch up, so that the party could arrive as a whole unit at their destination, which could not be all that far ahead. The prospect of a break appealed to the guards and the prisoners and they were quite content to rest for the hour it took the whole of the rear party to catch up. The corporal was pleased with Len’s arrangements but took the precaution of reclaiming his bike, so that Len finished the trek on his own two well-rested feet.
It was just after 1100 hours on Tuesday, 8th August that the whole party arrived at their destination in the Crozon Peninsular, some eighteen hours after leaving Quimper airfield. The Algerians were marched on to a makeshift camp, but Len was taken by the Czech corporal to a house that had been commandeered by the Wehrmacht. Len was accommodated in a bedroom converted into a cell and was asleep almost as soon as his head touched the rough pillow.
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Len was kept in this location for two days, with very little restriction on his movements. His corporal “friend” accompanied him on exercise walks in the immediate areas and Len was “on the ration strength” of the guard-room staff, eating the same food as they did. Len observed that the Wehrmacht were just as opportunist at supplementing rations as any other army in the field and included him in the share of the “extras”.
On the evening of the third day, a small Wehrmacht lorry stopped outside the guard-room. The driver produced orders for Len’s transfer to Brest and Len was duly handed over, after hand-shakes all round, much to the amazement of the lorry driver who proved to be a genuine ”German” German! Two Wehrmacht soldiers with fixed bayonets watched over him in the body of the truck, but they also showed great concern about the almost-continuous aircraft engine noise that accompanied that nocturnal journey to what proved to be Brest, but, to the great relief of all, they made the journey without incident. Len was initially kept in a small school, barricaded with barbed wire, along with mainly American Army prisoners, although he did come across two more RAF aircrew during his stay.
Yet again the Germans decided to move him and he was transplanted within the Brest boundaries to a castle which housed some one hundred and fifty American soldiers. He was occasionally included in the fatigue parties that were roughly assembled and marched down into the dock area to help clear the rubble-strewn streets, the legacy of the many bombing raids that the port was enduring. Low-flying and dive-bombing American fighter-bombers strafed and bombed the port’s defences continually throughout the daylight hours, with great effect. Len was crossing a street when he heard a bomb coming down that he knew was going to be very close. He dived into the
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gutter, with his face turned in towards the kerb and his hands clasped behind his neck. He sensed more than heard the explosion but felt the blast on his hands. He leapt to his feet and headed for a shelter like a scalded cat. He literally dived into the shelter which was mainly filled with German personnel but they made room for him and no-one objected to his presence.
On another occasion in the dock area he took shelter when the Air Raid sirens screamed their warning and an ominous silence descended on the port for a few minutes, until the heavy flak began to spit in anger. Instinct told Len this was a “heavies job” but he didn’t stand in the open to decide whether it was the RAF or the Eighth Army Air Force. A few minutes later the walls of the shelter trembled as salvos of bombs plummeted into the harbour area, although Len was pretty sure they were not Tallboys!
The Germans decided to move the prisoners from Brest. The military situation was becoming extreme for them and they could no longer spare the considerable number of front-line personnel needed to maintain the prisoner-of-war organisation. These guards were now needed as replacements for the defenders killed by the Allied Air Forces. The column of prisoners was moved out at night and marched, via the town of Le Fret, to the small seaside resort of Rostellec, in the Crozon Peninsular.
The days passed, with the food stocks dwindling. All French civilians had long been cleared out of Rostellec and Len and his immediate companions began to scavenge for food to supplement their meagre fare. It was a great find to discover onions in the overgrown wilderness of what had once been a lovingly tended vegetable garden of one of the village houses. The military population of the Crozon Peninsular grew each day, as the German troops
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retreated before the American mobile forces. Rostellec provided Len and the other Allied prisoners with a grand-stand view of the bombing of Brest by RAF and American aircraft. Soon the concentrations on the Peninsular were bombed heavily and regularly by light bombers and fighters, inevitably causing casualties among the American prisoners and some of the members of the French Resistance confined with them. Over fifty were wiped out in one raid alone.
Eventually, on Monday, 18th September, six weeks after he had been shot down, liberating forces of the American Army rolled into the Crozon Peninsular. The bottled-up Germans had had enough and the surrender was swift and unanimous. With magnificent perception, among the early arrivals with the US Army were large lorries liberally laden with “PX supplies” and soon field-kitchens were providing almost “peace-time” meals for the hungry hordes of prisoners. Len ate and drank his fill before slipping off to find a comfortable billet for the night. He found himself in a house that had been an impromptu Mess for Wehrmacht officers. The beds were clean and comfortable. He lowered himself thankfully into the depths of the most inviting of them and was soon sleeping that sound and deeply refreshing sleep which was known in the Air Force as “a short course of Death”.
The sun was well up when he surfaced again. He lay luxuriating in the bed, gathering his thoughts and making plans for the day. He would have to make contact with some US officer who could arrange transport . . or offer help . . to get him back to England and Woodhall Spa. Eventually he sat up and began to dress, when suddenly he became curious to know what might be contained in the furniture with which the room was furnished. The chest of drawers
[Page break]
revealed nothing of interest but the wardrobe yielded a pair of German officer’s field boots! The leather was beautifully soft and shiny. Len drew them on, scarcely daring to breathe, and he almost shouted with delight at their perfect fit. He drew his battledress trouser-legs down over them which served to make it appear that he was wearing normal shoes. He finished dressing and made his way to the nearest field-kitchen where he was supplied with food by the American cooks without demur. When he was finished, he approached a huge sergeant-cook and asked where he could find a US officer. The sergeant stared at him for a moment “A god-dammed Limey!” he said “Jeez, they had one of everything in this place!” “Officers? Boy, they’re as thick as flies around here” he continued “Just walk around and you’re sure to find one!”. Len took his advice and soon saw a jeep with an American officer and two sergeants aboard. He approached the jeep, threw up a smart salute and said “Excuse me, sir!”. The dust-covered American looked quite startled but Len pressed on. “I am a bomb-aimer in the RAF. I was shot down six weeks ago and am anxious to get back to my unit in England. Can you help me?”. “Not personally, sergeant” replied the officer. “You see, there’s this war on and we’ve got to gather in all the Kraut prisoners and ship out all our own captured personnel for assessment and re-allocation . . and that’s quite a job in any man’s army!” He paused for a moment and then went on “Just down there, on the right, they’ve established an MT compound and Mess. Your best bet is to speak to one of the quartermasters. The lorries are running supplies from the dump at Rennes and the boys from up in the wild blue yonder have a makeshift airfield at Rennes . . chances are you can thumb an aerial lift there”. “Thank you, sir . . very helpful” replied Len, saluted and turned away. He heard one
[Page break]
of the sergeants say “These Limeys! Always correct and military, even when they’ve been six weeks adrift!”.
Len found the compound and watch [sic] the activity for a while. He saw that the drivers of lorries arriving with stores vacated their seats to the Camp personnel and hurried off to the large marquee which was obviously a temporary Mess. German prisoners-of-wat supplemented the American Army personnel in the unloading of the vehicles. Once a vehicle was unloaded, it was driven off the site and parked in a lager where it was refuelled and checked. After some ten minutes or so, drivers came to reclaim their vehicles which were driven off westwards at a fair rate of knots. Len wandered over to where the top-sergeant was standing and occasionally bawling. “Excuse me, sergeant . . . how can I get a lift to Rennes?” The sergeant wheeled at the sound of Len’s voice and in a voice heavy with amazement said “A god-damn Limey! I heard you were all still stuck on the beaches!” “No, I’ve been here six weeks, sergeant” replied Len innocently. “Six weeks, eh?” rejoined the sergeant “Guess you want to get back to Limeyland real quick. Best you can do is go over to the chow tent and ask around . . . most of the trucks are running from Rennes”. Len thanked him and turned towards the marquee. “Limey” called the sergeant “Make sure you take some of the hard-tack for the journey. There are no roadside cafes along that road now!”.
Len sauntered into the marquee and marvelled at the quality of the food that was being offered to the drivers. He approached one driver who seemed to be almost finished eating. “Excuse me . . any chance of a lift back to Rennes?”. The American surveyed him for a few moments and said “Who are you?”. “RAF aircrew, shot down over Brest six weeks ago. I want to get back
[Page break]
to England and an officer out there said the best way was to hitch a lift back to Rennes, with a chance of getting an air trip from the airfield there”. “Your luck’s in, fellah” smiled the American “My orders take me to Rennes airfield, to load up and return to this Base. I’ll be glad of the company!”. Len waited until the driver had finished his coffee and followed him out of the marquee. From a table close to the entrance, the American grabbed two bags and tossed one to Len. “Hard tack for the journey” he explained, at the same time lifting a large Thermos flask from the side of the table. The lorry was quickly located and soon they were heading westwards, on the 150 miles journey to Rennes. The driver was most anxious to hear about Len’s previous six weeks in France and that conversation, together with the “chow break”, made the five hours journey pass reasonably quickly. It was getting quite dark when they pulled into Rennes airfield. “No night-flying from this field, Limey” said the American. “Best plan is to find yourself somewhere to sleep for the night and try your luck in the morning”. Len thanked his for his help and descended from the truck near a group of airfield buildings. He found a camp bed and a blanket in one of the rooms and settled down for the night.
Len awoke around 7 am on what promised to be another fine day. There was no sound of flying activity from the airfield as he dressed. He found a stand-pipe tap between the buildings and had a refreshing cold-water wash which revived him no end. He looked across the airfield and saw what appeared to be Dakota aircraft on the farther side and began to walk around the grass perimeter towards this dispersal. Suddenly a wonderful small of cooking assailed his nostrils and reminded him that he was quite hungry. He followed his nose, somewhat like the kids in the “Bisto” advert, and came
[Page break]
upon an underground air-raid shelter from which the aroma was issuing. He called down “Anyone there?” which immediately struck his as trite, since obviously some-one had to be cooking the food! His call brought the head and shoulders of an American sergeant into view. He looked questioningly at Len, without saying a word. “Any chance of some grub, sarge?” queried Len hopefully. “What’s a Limey doing here at this time of the morning?” countered the American. Len gave him a rapid potted history of the past six weeks, which seemed to satisfy the soldier. “Anything to trade?” queried the sergeant. Len offered him the choice of the few German badges and insignia he had gathered during his sojourn in France and the satisfied sergeant withdrew into the shelter. He appeared some minutes later with a huge sandwich, which Len found to contain a large portion of beautifully cooked Texas longhorn steak, topped with two eggs, to be washed down with as much coffee as he wished. Len did not rush this meal . . . such a feast needed to be savoured and appreciated to the last crumb! Finally he took his leave of his benefactor and made his way to the dispersals, which were now a hive of activity.
A study of the area revealed to Len what appeared to be the Administrative centre. He made his way over to this hut and explained his position to the top-sergeant seated in a smaller office inside. “Yeah” said the sergeant “Plenty of flights to England! Where are you heading?”. Len explained that he needed to get to London. “Fine!” came the rejoinder “Got one flight for London due to leave in about thirty minutes! Come with me, Limey”. He escorted Len across the tarmac and introduced him to two fur-jacketed American officers. “One returning Limey prisoner-of-war to be added to your manifest, sir” said the sergeant to one of the officers and sauntered off. Len found himself outlining the last six weeks to the two very interested
[Page break]
Americans. Before long, the Dakota was taxying to the take-off point with Len comfortably settled in the fuselage.
The flight took a little over three hours and the aircraft landed at what is now Heath Row [sic]. Len thanked his hosts for the lift and made his way to a cluster of huts, to locate some RAF authority to report to and from whom to obtain instructions. He explained his circumstances to a sergeant who said “Follow me, Chiefie! There’s been quite a trickle of aircrew through here this past fortnight. I’ll take you to the officer who has the “drill” off pat now!”. Soon Len was on his way to the Central Hotel in London, where returning former P.O.W. aircrew were required to report for debriefing. He arrives at the nearest station to this Central Hotel and was walking the final stage when he heard behind him “Excuse me, Flight Sergeant”. He turned round, to find himself confronted by two Service MPs, beautifully turned out and burnished. He had time to note that one was of Warrant Officer rank, while the other, a flight sergeant, began to berate him for his appearance and threatening a charge for being improperly dressed. Mentally, Len could only agree with him, for his wardrobe consisted simply of his battledress blouse and trousers, the legs of the trousers still covering the German officer field boots . . . no socks, shirt, tie, pants or vest. However, his resentment welled up within him and he explained forcefully, with many epithets thrown in, just how he had come to this pass, and advised the SPs to allow him to continue on his journey to report his return to Higher Authority. Speechless, and suitably chastened, the SPs stood mute as Len turned his back on them and arrived at his destination.
[Page break]
Once his identity had been checked and proved, Len was allowed to have a bath and provided with a shaving kit to make himself presentable for the programme which followed. First, he was given the full stringent aircrew medical, which he passed without any trouble. He was then given the items of clothing he needed to assume a “smart, airmanlike appearance”, although he retained the field boots as a souvenir of his exploits. He was given a meal and then subjected to a thorough debriefing, covering the period from the moment the Lancaster was hit until his arrival at “Heath Row”. He was required to stretch and search his mind for any detail that he had observed that might prove of value to Intelligence sources. Special interest was shown in his report that the Czech and Austrian elements he had encountered appeared to be looking for the opportunity to surrender and get out of the war whole. Eventually, when he had run the full course of the Central Hotel, he was again fed, given six weeks leave, with free warrant home and the appropriate ration cards, and two pounds in cash for subsistence on the journey home . . . most of which disappeared “down the hatch” by the time his train left London.
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
Lancaster JB139 Dark Victor
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
France--Pas-de-Calais
France--Le Havre
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
Netherlands
Netherlands--Ijmuiden
France--Brest
France--Lorient
France--La Pallice
France--Brittany
France--Normandy
France--Cherbourg
France--Watten
France--Douarnenez
France--Quimper
France--Crozon Peninsula
France--Rennes
Great Britain
Heathrow Airport (London, England)
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 Canadian Air Force
United States Army Air Force
Wehrmacht
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
33 printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCurtisA1579599-161130-02
Description
An account of the resource
A memoir of an operation involving Len Curtis and his crew members. During the operation his aircraft was shot down and Len was captured. However, he was liberated by American soldiers and returned to London six weeks later.
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
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.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1944-08-05
1945
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anne-Marie Watson
617 Squadron
619 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
bomb aimer
bombing of the Boulogne E-boats (15/16 June 1944)
bombing of the Le Havre E-boat pens (14/15 June 1944)
C-47
flight engineer
Lancaster
mess
Mosquito
navigator
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
pilot
prisoner of war
RAF Coningsby
RAF Woodhall Spa
Resistance
Spitfire
Tallboy
target indicator
target photograph
V-1
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2487/43390/PTeasdaleA2203.1.pdf
cecc8e2ab19923ad1a9e07320a097c4a
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
Teasdale, Audrey
Audrey Pitts
Description
An account of the resource
21 items. An oral history interview with Audrey Teasdale (b. 1923, 2135963 Royal Air Force) and photographs. She served as a WAAF in the officers' mess at RAF Waddington.
The collection was loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Audrey Teasdale and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2022-12-20
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Teasdale, A
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
467 Squadron (RAAF) Waddington 1943
Description
An account of the resource
A brief story about the crew of 'M for Mother'. It includes details of the crew and a photograph of the crew in flying kit at the nose of their aircraft.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Berlin
Australia
Victoria--Ballarat
New South Wales--Sydney
Queensland
Victoria--Rutherglen
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
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
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PTeasdaleA2203
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
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.
467 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
Distinguished Flying Cross
killed in action
Lancaster
nose art
RAF Waddington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2283/41919/SCarterR1620578v10005.2.jpg
79583ad7854a8c6774488fbd6e40d398
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
Carter, Ronald
Description
An account of the resource
32 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Ronald Carter (1924 - 2014, 1620578 Royal Air Force) and contains his biography, research, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a rear gunner with 44 Squadron before becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Susan Margaret Perrow and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2021-12-06
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Carter, R
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
Memoirs by Crew Members' Family of the Collision with Ron Carter's Lancaster
Description
An account of the resource
Brief memoirs by two members of family of the Halifax crew that collided with Ron's Lancaster over Caen.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
France--Caen
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SCarterR1620578v10005
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
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
420 Squadron
44 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
Halifax
Lancaster
mid-air collision
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
prisoner of war
RAF Dunholme Lodge
RAF Tholthorpe
tactical support for Normandy troops
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1523/41481/BLoveGLoveAIv1.2.pdf
80cbfc6ec80ea829173b9674b152e1d5
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
Love, Ikey
Albert Ivon Love
A I Love
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
2016-07-10
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
Love, AI
Description
An account of the resource
15 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Albert "Ikey" Ivon Love (1922 - 2016, 1815027 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, items, and photographs. He flew operations as a flight engineer with 90 and 7 Squadrons before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by G Love and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
Memories of Past Times
Ikey Love 1922-2016
Description
An account of the resource
A biography of Ikey Love. Covers pre and post war life as well as training, operations and time as a prisoner of war during the war.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Bedfordshire
England--Kettering
England--Leicester
England--Sileby
Egypt
England--Ashbourne
England--Coventry
England--Redcar
Wales--Llandudno
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Lithuania
Poland
Poland--Szczecin
Germany--Dresden
England--Thurmaston
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Mannheim
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Schweinfurt
England--Cornwall (County)
Germany
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
Royal Canadian Air Force
Civilian
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944-03-22
1944-03-23
1945
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
33 printed sheets
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BLoveGLoveAIv1
90 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
B-17
bale out
bomb aimer
bombing
bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945)
C-47
Caterpillar Club
flight engineer
lack of moral fibre
Lancaster
Lancaster Mk 3
Me 110
military service conditions
mine laying
missing in action
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
RAF Oakington
RAF Upwood
RAF Warboys
sport
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 6
Stirling
the long march
Tiger Moth
V-1
V-2
V-weapon
Whitley
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1913/41125/MHoldenJ1521290-170725-17.2.jpg
f96f205c672cdbc5973d1ade36cec027
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
Holden, John
J Holden
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
2017-07-25
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
Holden, J
Description
An account of the resource
30 items. The collection concerns Sergeant John Holden (1521290 Royal Air Force) and contains photographs, documents and correspondence. he flew operations as a wireless operator with 49 Squadron and was killed 10 June 1944.<br /> <br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Andrew Whitehouse and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on John Holden is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/110983/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
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
The Hemmens Story
Description
An account of the resource
A complicated story of how Hemmens was mixed with four aircrew who survived a Halifax crash. They were all arrested on their way to Paris. They were sent to Fresnes prison then Buchenwald where Hemmens died due to medical neglect.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France--Eure
France--Paris
France--Lyons-la-Forêt
France--Fresnes (Val-de-Marne)
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MHoldenJ1521290-170725-17
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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
102 Squadron
aircrew
crash
Halifax
Lancaster
Resistance
shot down
Stalag Luft 3
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1913/41110/MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080001.1.jpg
36228c8fdfebaafac8bd7c5b6e3ca647
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1913/41110/MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080002.1.jpg
c67158832da2237a9776d2218d33ca2b
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1913/41110/MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080003.1.jpg
73e3c8d37508b53f14a67e33185e7c69
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1913/41110/MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080004.1.jpg
ae894ecb3da8a4c27f14815e4746e799
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
Holden, John
J Holden
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
2017-07-25
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
Holden, J
Description
An account of the resource
30 items. The collection concerns Sergeant John Holden (1521290 Royal Air Force) and contains photographs, documents and correspondence. he flew operations as a wireless operator with 49 Squadron and was killed 10 June 1944.<br /> <br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Andrew Whitehouse and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on John Holden is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/110983/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
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
Pierre Madry raises his Hat to the Crew of a British Bomber
Description
An account of the resource
An account of the crash of Lancaster ND533 written by Pierre Madry. It is followed by an address given by Air Commodore Eustace at a ceremony for the crew of the Lancaster.
Finally there is an address by Abbe Plante, parish priest of Lyons-la-Foret, in English and French.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-09
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France--Normandy
France--Lyons-la-Forêt
France--Fresnes (Val-de-Marne)
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
Civilian
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080001, MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080002, MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080003, MHoldenJ1521290-170725-080004
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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
49 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
bomb aimer
bombing
crash
escaping
evading
Lancaster
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
prisoner of war
RAF Fiskerton
Resistance
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2251/40651/PBirdJH18010037.2.jpg
041ede8cea5182fcb008bf15f2b724ec
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
Bird, JH. Photo Album
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-02-15
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Bird, JH
Description
An account of the resource
The album contains images taken during his service in Italy and includes target photographs and descriptions of bombing operations.
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
Verona Marshalling Yards, North Italy and Wellington crew
Description
An account of the resource
Five men posing in front of a Wellington aircraft. At least four are in uniform and one, in the centre, is wearing a shirt. The man on the left is a Flying Officer and pilot, at the rear, right is an aircrew member and on the front right is a Flight Sergeant aircrew member. They are all smiling and squinting into the sun. On the opposite page is hand printed the description of an operation to Verona Marshalling Yards
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Italy
Italy--Verona
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Photograph
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PBirdJH18010037
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Andy Fitter
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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
aircrew
bombing
target indicator
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2251/40650/PBirdJH18010036.1.jpg
4b7fc560dd9a8d2117b3d62b27c1e938
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
Bird, JH. Photo Album
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-02-15
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Bird, JH
Description
An account of the resource
The album contains images taken during his service in Italy and includes target photographs and descriptions of bombing operations.
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
River Danube and Kalamaki Aerodrome
Description
An account of the resource
Handwritten descriptions of two operations. One to lay mines in the River Danube, near Gyor in Hungary and the other to bomb Kalamaki Aerodrome near Athens in Greece.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-10-04
1944-10-09
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-10-04
1944-10-09
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Hungary
Hungary--Győr
Greece
Greece--Athens
Danube River
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Handwritten notes on an album page
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PBirdJH18010036
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Andy Fitter
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
mine laying
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2198/40571/MAnkersonR[Ser -DoB]-180129-77.jpg
89e3c31d39ccbef2650a4853452ebb5e
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
Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association
Description
An account of the resource
97 items. The collection concerns Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association and contains items including drawings by the artist Ley Kenyon.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert Ankerson and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-01-29
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RAF ex POW As Collection
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
Gresse Church Chronicle Extract
Description
An account of the resource
The pastor describes the burial of prisoners and guards who were shot by low flying RAF aircraft. The pastor officiated at the burial with an English padre.
In the second part he describes damage to the cemetery during a bombardment from the other side of the Elbe.
There is a handwritten annotation '18 April 1945 NB The writer of this was probably Paster Stuwe whose drawings of the occasion are no longer at Gresse. Now the border is open D.Uwe Wieben, I 3 the Heimatmuseum, Boizenburg (Elbe) might be worth a try.'
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1945-04-18
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Boizenburg
Germany--Ludwigslust (Landkreis)
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
United States Army Air Force
Wehrmacht. Luftwaffe
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One typewritten sheet with handwritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MAnkersonR[Ser#-DoB]-180129-77
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-04-18
final resting place
killed in action
prisoner of war
strafing
the long march
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2198/40354/MAnkersonR[Ser -DoB]-180129-01.pdf
543adc7e687241fb89b76505a55c8ec6
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
Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association
Description
An account of the resource
97 items. The collection concerns Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association and contains items including drawings by the artist Ley Kenyon.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert Ankerson and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-01-29
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RAF ex POW As Collection
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
One Day in May on a Bomber Station
Description
An account of the resource
A detailed description of an operation to Mannheim on 19 May 1942. He describes the preparation, the operation and their safe return to the UK.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-05-19
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Sri Lanka
Great Britain
England--Sheffield
Australia
Queensland--Brisbane
England--Yorkshire
Chile
England--Tunbridge Wells
England--Ashington (Northumberland)
England--Birmingham
Canada
Germany--Mannheim
France--Paris
France--Vichy
England--Flamborough Head
France--Givet
Belgium--Brussels
England--Lowestoft
England--Norwich
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
France--Saint-Nazaire
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Germany
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 Navy
Royal Australian Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
13 printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MAnkersonR[Ser#-DoB]-180129-01
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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
102 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
Blenheim
bomb aimer
bombing
briefing
flight engineer
fuelling
ground personnel
Halifax
incendiary device
mess
meteorological officer
navigator
Pathfinders
perception of bombing war
pilot
RAF Dalton
RAF Horsham St Faith
RAF Topcliffe
superstition
target indicator
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2198/40202/EBatchelderHE[Recipient]C920907-0004.jpg
94dbe58aeaa956669ba3eafb6a53af11
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2198/40202/EBatchelderHE[Recipient]C920907-0005.jpg
f4366e8f54ff8e5a8d10c8b125a94c57
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
Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association
Description
An account of the resource
97 items. The collection concerns Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association and contains items including drawings by the artist Ley Kenyon.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Robert Ankerson and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-01-29
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RAF ex POW As Collection
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
16/17th June - Target Essen
Description
An account of the resource
An operation to Essen with HE Batchelder pilot. Main force bombed Bonn but three aircraft from 102 Squadron were diverted to Essen to bomb using Gee. The aircraft was damaged and everyone baled out successfully. All were taken prisoner.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-06-16
1942-06-17
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany--Essen
Germany--Bonn
Netherlands
Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Germany--Krefeld
Germany--Duisburg
Germany
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EBatchelderHE[Recipient]C920907-0004, EBatchelderHE[Recipient]C920907-0005
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
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
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Royal Air Force ex-Prisoner of War Association. Batchelder, HE
102 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
bombing
flight engineer
Gee
Halifax
navigator
pilot
prisoner of war
shot down
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2191/39805/BReidKReidKv4.1.pdf
66df4b2fa31ae8be83a82369463a6990
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
Reid, Kathleen
Reid, K
Reid, Kathryn
Reid, Katy
Description
An account of the resource
92 items and a <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2219">sub-collection with thirty-seven poems/songs</a>. The collection concerns Kathryn (Katy) Reid (Royal Air Force) and contains memoirs, correspondence, poems and photographs. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David Stuart Miers Reid and catalogued by Nigel Huckins
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-01-23
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Reid, K
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
Draft life story
Description
An account of the resource
Starts with birth and childhood and description of living conditions. Discontinuous pages follow. Description of training instruction. Next page describes invitation and participation to American celebration. Mentions hangers with B-17s and Glen Miller band. Next page mentions facing charge for not wearing a cap in York. Continues with account of activities at Church Fenton. Mentions acting after leaving the WAAF. Subsequent pages have various notes with poem: 'I look down from high balcony of flying control', and other notes giving descriptions of people and events.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Norfolk
England--Yorkshire
England--Tadcaster
England--York
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
Royal Air Force
United States Army Air Force
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Ten-page handwritten document
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BReidKReidKv4
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
B-17
entertainment
ground personnel
military discipline
RAF Church Fenton
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2191/39803/BReidDReidKv1.1.pdf
bcdd51b528126f5177ba903df415d985
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
Reid, Kathleen
Reid, K
Reid, Kathryn
Reid, Katy
Description
An account of the resource
92 items and a <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/2219">sub-collection with thirty-seven poems/songs</a>. The collection concerns Kathryn (Katy) Reid (Royal Air Force) and contains memoirs, correspondence, poems and photographs. The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David Stuart Miers Reid and catalogued by Nigel Huckins
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-01-23
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Reid, K
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] Life Story Work – Kathleen (“Katie”) Reid
Katie’s time working as a flying controller, World War 2 [/underlined]
Katie decided to join up during the war as the result of her only sister’s death at the early age of 21 years. Due to the job that she was doing at the time, there was no need for her to join up, as it was not a requirement. Katie was working in the office in a Co-op establishment in Leeds. Katie considered joining both the air force and the land army. However, they stated that she was too small and delicate for the land army, so she joined the WAAF instead. Katie later thought that it probably caused her parents a lot of worry as a consequence.
Katie initially went to flying control at Grimsby, where the officer in charge was very kind to her. She spent approximately a year working there without training. All the men at Grimsby were very protective of her and used to warn others off her. For the first few nights at Grimsby Katie sat and listened to the other girls working. When they realised that she was competent enough, she was then allowed to begin her work there. Therefore she was quite knowledgeable before she went to Cranwell College. The officer in charge at Grimsby was keen on her going to Cranwell.
When Katie went to Cranwell, she trained in flying control. She was in the last group of girls to train there. She wished that they had also been taught more technical issues, to enable her to help the young men when they were in trouble, especially on their first flights. Katie remembered that they were sometimes inclined to panic, which Katie described as very distressing to witness. Katie felt that they really needed somebody with them who had already flown, so that they could relate to the experience.
1
[page break]
Katie described her job as holding no real danger in itself, though acknowledged that some girls in flying control had been injured when the returning planes had been pursued and attacked by Germans and they had been caught in the attacks.
Katie was initially stationed with Bomber Command, Grimsby and then Fighter Command, Norfolk. Katie remembers that Grimsby was not a negative place to work, even though everyone knew that every day could be their last. She remembers it as having a very positive atmosphere.
Katie was nick named “half pint” as she was the smallest WAAF at the stations. Katie described the bombers and fighters as being carefully and cleverly selected according to their personality types; the bombers being good team players, some being not so young, whereas the fighters in their Spitfires were often very young, wearing moustaches to make them look older. Katie said that the fighters worked alone, appeared relatively carefree in their approach and used to boast how many planes they had shot down. They always had one button on their coats undone to show they were fighters. Katie describes the fighters as wanting to look like “thoroughbreds” although they were still very young. By contrast, the bombers had to be good team workers. They trained in various areas and were therefore able to multi task, so that they could take over if one member of the crew was injured or killed.
The younger men, 17 – 18 years of age, were always at the back of the plane. They were hooked in and had difficulty getting out sometimes. They were very vulnerable in that position. Katie remembers that they were sometimes very pale, with “faces as white as chalk” on return, as they were often shocked. On return they would have to go up to the room to be questioned and would sometimes stagger up the stairs like old men.
2
[page break]
[two missing pages]
[page break]
colliding with the row of three trees near the airfield. More were lost on the landing return than on the outward run to Germany. The Medical Officer wept because he did not even have a chance to save them.
Katie visited Bernard’s parents after his death. She helped a local farmer to design a memorial for the men in his field, which still stands there. Bernard is buried in his uncle’s grave in Lincolnshire. Katie has a miniature memorial to Bernard, which has remnants of his aircraft on it. On the plaque, it states “Bernard – crew of Avro Lancaster JB 596. Crashed on return from Berlin, Dec. 16/17 1943.”
Katie had met Bernard at a dance. He was drunk with a bottle under his arm. He asked her to teach him to dance. Katie remembers that she could not dance very well. When she left for Cranwell, he saw her off on the bus, carrying her kit bag up the hill for her, asking her to write to him. He said that she was the nicest WAAF that he had ever met. In the last letter that he sent to her, he had been drinking with the boys in the crew. He was not happy with the pilot, who Katie says was married with children and had responsibilities. Katie says Bernard used to grumble about him and make fun of him, because he was stern and so on.
On one occasion, a training session was planned for air crew. 60 aircraft were lined up ready to go. Usually in her role as flying controller, Katie was the one to give the instructions and her colleague would record everything that was said on all sides, for evidence in case of errors. On one particular occasion, there were 60 aircraft lined up at night, ready to be involved in some training involving circuits and bumps. The officer in charge of the station wished to take over and give the instructions, believing that it may be too much for Katie. However, Katie asserted herself, stating that she was trained
5
[page break]
at Cranwell. The officer let her get on with it and she ensured that she did it perfectly. The training took approximately two hours. At the end of it the officer just stood up and said “thank you” and left.
Katie remembers that some men were killed during the initial tests. Many of them were from New Zealand and Australia. They panicked during the initial training and were killed. Katie states that there was a shortage of flyers, so they did not get the training that they deserved. They used to be taken to the flat fields to train, where there were a limited number of hazards, such as water.
Those men that refused to fly were stripped of their ribbons in front of everyone and publicly humiliated. Katie never attended, as she “could not have born it.” The men were put in to an army prison with the bare essentials. Katie described them as “weak as kittens” when they came out. Their first cigarette on release would make them sick.
Katie remembers that some men could not take the pace, which was not their fault. She says that money and time had been spent on their training, however, people cannot tell what they can bear until it happens. Katie remembers that there was a very strict army prison in Scotland. There were nets to catch the men if they tried to jump and commit suicide.
Katie remembers that at the dances, anyone there who could play an instrument did. The aircrew used to drink, so they did not know if the women could dance or not, which Katie described as an advantage to the women!
6
[page break]
[underlined] Katie’s life after the war. [/underlined]
After the war, Katie gained a scholarship for an acting academy in London. She was there for approximately one-and-a-half years. She has four medals for the four different areas of study which she completed. As a child, from about ten years of age, she had gone to a “lovely woman” in Leeds, who gave her private acting lessons. Therefore, she had been interested in acting from an early age.
After Katie and her husband married, they moved a lot. He was a Mason and the Masons helped them to settle into the different towns that they moved to. They used to go to the associated dances. Katies used to enjoy dressing up and the food and the company. The last Masonic Lodge that he belonged to was the London one.
Katie said that her husband never though anything of moving. They had a few houses built. Katie was always happy to follow on. She remembers that it was always nice to go somewhere new.
Katie’s husband was a Scottish orphan. His grandmother had brought him up. She describes him as very strong. He was from a mining village, but decided that he was not going to go down the mines. He ‘got on his bike’ at the age of fourteen and got himself a job in a large house as a butler. The house was owned by an MP. The job ceased at the start of the war when the MP returned to London. Her husband was in Africa and Egypt during the war. He had no leave for several years. His first job post war was via a friend of Katie’s father and was based in London.
Katie lived in Cyprus for ten years. She had a house built out there. She really enjoyed her life out there and they had a
7
[page break]
full life with lots of parties. Katie remembers that the Greek men used to have many affairs, however, when the divorce laws were introduced she said that life was better for the women, as the men had to be more careful!
On return from Cyprus Katie and her husband owned shops and employed on average two assistants. The first shop was in the south by the seaside. Each shop that they ran incorporated a post office. She remembers that they never stopped working. Katies used to do the balancing of the books every Friday evening.
Both Katie and her husband used to work within the shops. They had shops in four or five different locations, including the south and in Scotland at different times.
They used to sell up and then move. They sold their Torquay business to a man who later stole money and ended up in prison. They used to specialise in books, pens and fruit. Katie misses that life. She used to enjoy chatting to the customers.
At one stage Katie lived in a village near Blackpool. She used to go to a lady for sculpture classes in the evenings. She had some free time as she was not working at the time and her husband was often away helping out in the post office that they had. Katie has photos of her at the night class. Katie has a very accomplished sculpture (bust) of a black male model that she created. She has an accompanying photograph of the model at the class which indicates how accurate the likeness is.
Katie has other beautiful sculptures that she has created both in clay and wood. She has several wood carvings, including a large one of a bird of prey and an Elizabethan style carving of a lady, reminiscent of a child’s doll of the time. Katie states that the theme is linked to slavery. The woman is a carving of a lady from a very religious family, near to the crown. The lady
8
[page break]
and her brother were slave dealers and prominent in English society. They were involved in bringing black men over from American and dumping them in the sea. Katie made the sculpture as she was interested in the combination of social status and the acts that they committed which horrify Katie.
Katie made the sculpture of the nude reclining figure first, followed by the bust of the black male model, then the bird, followed by the Elizabethan style lady.
Katie made the clay bust of her son herself at home after the classes had finished. In it he is portrayed as being approximately four years of age, with curly hair. They lived near someone with a forge, so they partly baked it for her.
At one stage, when Katie was living in Stirling, she operated as a councillor. She was also a Bailey for the council of Stirling. She nearly became Mayor, but they moved house before this could happen. She lived in Stirling for about ten years.
Katie used to teach at Leeds College of music and after she married, she taught at different schools in Scotland and England. She used to teach English and acting. At one stage she used to travel from Stirling to Glasgow by train every day and then take a bus. Her husband used to give her a lift to the train. She initially taught in three infant schools and then in taught at three secondary schools, including one serving the Goebals. [sic]
When Katie taught in the Goebals [sic] in Glasgow, she remembers that the houses were being pulled down and there was water everywhere. She taught there for about five years. She describes the children as “lovely”, some being not very strong, but Katie remembers that there were lots of good mothers who worked hard to keep things going. There were many
9
[page break]
immigrants from Africa places in the Goebals. [sic] Katie had to teach them English.
Two of Katie’s students from the Goebals [sic] won the yearly prize for public speaking, run by the local newspaper. She used to get the children to do a lot of choral speaking, where they were in choirs but spoke the words. The children would get a certificate for their participation.
During the last few years of her husband’s life, he and Katie gave up the shops and went abroad for holidays a lot. He was unwell, but they had a lovely time.
[underlined] Katie – general [/underlined]
Katie attributes her small stature, leading to her nick-name of half-pint, to the lack of food in Yorkshire after the Great War.
Katie’s sister was younger than Katie, but they were very Katie remembers that her sister went on holiday with her friend. They slept in the same bed, which was usual then. Her friend, unbeknown to her, had TB. Katie’s sister contracted it. Her sister refused to go into hospital, so the family acquired a cottage in Yorkshire. Katie’s mother nursed her. The doctors used to visit from Harrogate. Katie and her father used to visit at weekends. Katie used to cook and take her chicken. She died by the age of 21.
10
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
Life story work - Kathleen ("Katie") Reid
Description
An account of the resource
Covers early life and reasons for joining up. Mentions initial posting to flying control at Grimsby followed by posting to Cranwell for training in flying control. Postings to Grimsby and Fighter Command Norfolk. Goes on with Katie's description of aircrew and their reaction to operations. Missing pages 3 and 4. Page five start halfway through description of aircraft that cashed on return for operations. Describes her relationship to Bernard a member of crew who was killed. Mentions memorial to 'Bernard - crew of Avro Lancaster JB596 crashed on return from Berlin, Dec 16/17 1943'. Gives account of Katie's highly competent work as aircraft controller. Adds comments on inexperienced aircrew who were killed and treatment of aircrew who refused to fly. Mentions dances. Continues with Katie's life and marriage after the war. Ends with description of Katie.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-12-16
1943-12-17
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
Germany
Germany--Berlin
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
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Eight-page printed document
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription. Under review
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BReidDReidKv1
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
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
arts and crafts
crash
ground personnel
killed in action
Lancaster
medical officer
memorial
military discipline
RAF Cranwell
RAF Grimsby
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2179/38378/BCuthillCRCuthillCRv20001.2.jpg
9bae4318bbfa4638c405f17765100fd1
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2179/38378/BCuthillCRCuthillCRv20002.2.jpg
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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
Cuthill, Charles
Cuthill, CR
Description
An account of the resource
27 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Charles 'Charlie' R Cuthill (574146, 56121 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, photographs, documents and dog mascot.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Matt Nichol and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-18
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Cuthill, CR
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
Account of emergency in Wellington
Description
An account of the resource
Draft and final versions. Written by an instructor 20 AFS at RAF Swinderby with account of engine fire after take of in Wellington and successful emergency landing. Draft version had drawing of map of Swinderby on last page.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1947-09-08
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One, two page handwritten document and one three page handwritten document
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending text-based transcription. Allocated
Identifier
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BCuthillCRCuthillCRv1
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
aircrew
Flying Training School
forced landing
pilot
RAF Swinderby
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1354/38125/MPorterB[Ser -DoB]-150527-02.pdf
1b9fbacb164c326e459e80edfd2596e4
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
Porter, Barry
Porter, B
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. The collection concerns the crash of Lancaster LM100, PO-D in France on 2/3 February 1945 and contains a photograph and research.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by C. Porter 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
2015-05-27
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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Porter, B
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Axe Retrieved from Field at Thin-le-Moutier, France
Lancaster LM100, PO-D took off from Waddington on 2nd February 1945 en route to Karlsruhe. The starboard engine gave trouble and it was decided to feather it but on pressing the button all four engines feathered. The aircraft lost height and the pilot ordered abandon aircraft.
Rear gunner and bomb aimer baled out. The aircraft crashed and exploded. The rear gunner was killed when he hit the ground.
The bomb aimer hit the ground 20 seconds after his chute opened. He was hurt but survived, the villagers assisted him and he was eventually flown back to UK 460 Squadron and then back to RAAF 467 Squadron at Waddington.
The Crew:-
F/O. A.N.C. Robinson RAAF
Sgt. L. Ginno RAF
F/Sgt. B.H. Elliot RAAF
F/Sgt. K.J. King RAAF
F/Sgt. R.F. Cross RAAF
F/Sgt. W.T. Paine RAAF
Sole Survivor:- F/Sgt. J.C. Jarrett RAAF
F/Sgt. J.C. Jarrett in 2000 returned to Thin-le-Moutier to present an engraved plaque to the village. It bears the names of the crew and remembers also the priest and choirboy who were killed when the wall of the church later collapsed due to the explosion. It also thanks the villagers for their help and comfort.
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
Axe Retrieved from Field at Thin-le Moutier, France
Description
An account of the resource
A brief description of the crash of Lancaster, LM100, 'PO-D'.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
France--Charleville-Mézières
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
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MPorterB[Ser#-DoB]-150527-02
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.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-02-02
1945-02-03
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
460 Squadron
467 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
bale out
bomb aimer
crash
killed in action
Lancaster
pilot
RAF Waddington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1354/38124/MPorterB[Ser -DoB]-150527-01.pdf
a7e21867514b77bf5976d7ae98946935
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
Porter, Barry
Porter, B
Description
An account of the resource
Three items. The collection concerns the crash of Lancaster LM100, PO-D in France on 2/3 February 1945 and contains a photograph and research.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by C. Porter 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
2015-05-27
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
Porter, B
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
An Arial Drama
February 1945, for nine months the Allied troops that had landed in Normandy and in Provence had been slowly driving back the Germans towards the Rhine. The Ardennes, having been liberated in September, certainly trembled once again when von Runstedt's counter offensive gave rise to fears of a new invasion, but this time, fortunately, the Panzers have not got across the Meuse.
At Thin, as in entire region, life resumed its pre-war tempo. Of course the prisoners, those interned in concentration camps, a few volunteer fighters as well as several "evacuee" families have not yet returned home but the oppression, which weighed down upon all during the years of occupation, has vanished. Far from the front the tangible signs of conflict have almost disappeared. The echoes of the aerial war, noisy and spectacular, can alone be heard. The phenomenon even has a tendency to increase during these last weeks, with the return of the dry cold spells and the cloudless sky. The people of Thin are often able to witness U.S. formations flying over at high altitude on their way to the Reich. A gripping sight, these hundreds of aircraft implacably towards their objectives. The spectacle is impressive and the inhabitants that have been subjugated can only think of watching at first. It is only when the last plane has disappeared that they try to realise the object of this deployment of forces; it leaves them wondering. . . .
The daily raids of the Americans give way to the night-time operations of the British air force. Those on the ground can only hear the muffled rumbling of the heavy R.A.F. bombers that cause doors and windows to vibrate.
It was 9.30p.m., so night had fallen on this day of the third of February 1945 when an explosion of extreme violence shook the sleepy village of Thin. The inhabitants, aroused from their first hours of sleep and hastily getting dressed, ran out of their houses asking one another what had happened. A large whitish glow lit up the sky beyond the hill to the south. This couldn't be one of those ridiculous V1s of which a crippled version had crashed on the countryside at "Gravelette" a short while ago. No, this was something else, this could only be a stricken aircraft . . .
The first ones to react were the young people who set off along the Potence and Piedcochet roads towards the source of the glow. Soon they heard the noise of multiple explosions; no longer were there doubts, as ammunition was exploding in the inferno. As they reached a spot not far from the intersection of the four roads they could make out, through the pale light to the right, a figure lying stretched out on the ploughed soil. It was a dead body. In the direction of the fire, at regular intervals, other bodies had fallen, six in total, gruesome "stepping stones" leading to the disaster site. Around the bodies, disembowelled by the impact, bits of equipment and parachutes lay scattered about. Finally the eyes of the searchers caught site [sic] of the carcass of the burning aircraft. The plane had crashed at the locality known as "Les Fosses Huguette" a few metres from the by-road.
The fire was raging, fed by the fuel and ammunition; a fair number of incendiary bombs were exploding, sending up dazzling jets of phosphorus.
From a distance the powerless onlookers gazed for a long time at the catastrophe; at last the fire died down, the detonations became less frequent until eventually there was just the odd explosion. It was then that calls broke one of these moments of silence, punctuated with whistles; they seemed to be coming from the direction of the "Religieuse". A few people, breaking away from the group, moves off in this direction, calling out in their turn. They didn't have to go far: walking with heavy tread, a man was approaching, cramped up in his flying suit and his inflatable life-jacket. He carried a lamp in his hand. Faced with all these strangers he remained silent, at the same time dazed and anxious . . . .
Everything had happened so quickly that he was having trouble setting his mind back into order; the notion of time had abandoned him. Life on one of those bases in the south of England seemed at the one time so near and yet so far away . . . from where for months now R.A.F. squadrons had regularly been departing to bomb strategic targets in Europe. All the British dominions were represented there, not counting Frenchmen, Belgians, Poles; he and his mates were Australians. He could see them all again, scarcely a few hours ago, when the name of his crew had appeared on the service board:- Mission of the 3rd February 1945, and then as they carried out practical details, and then the assembly time in the tactical room to receive their final orders.
The hours preceding the night mission were always trying times; rare were those who could find sleep. The time to go into action had come as a relief to them, but after the heavy plane had taken off with its dangerous cargo of bombs, it had still been necessary to circle for ages to allow all the aircraft to integrate into the plan of action. Coming on top of the risks of night flying was the fear of enemy reactions, fire from dreaded German flak or attack by night fighters. The radio silence imposed on all made the atmosphere on board even more tense.
The plane had been flying for more than an hour when one of the engines gave signs of a fault. Could it be accidental misfiring or the forerunner of complete failure? Muscles tensed as the whole crew was alerted. . . For a few a moments every thing returned to normal, then suddenly a new alert and all at once the voice of the flight engineer rang out: "Right engine stopped"! It was a cruel blow, making it impossible to continue in those conditions. "Inform the leader that we are leaving the formation"! said the commander, and the pilot banked away.
[page break]
The heavy four-engine plane, its speed reduced and loosing [sic] altitude, was flying back towards its base when a second engine started to splutter. The gravity of the situation escaped no one on board. The orders came bursting over the intercom: "Where are we?" asked the commander. "About 250 kilometres from the coast", answered the navigator. On this inky black-night it was impossible to dump the bombs in order to lighten the aircraft without the risk of wiping out a village or an entire district of a friendly town. . .
"We're losing altitude!" announced the pilot.
"Prepare to jump, open the exit door!", replied the commander.
"I can no longer control the plane, we're falling!" shouted the pilot.
"Jump . . . Go o o".
The wind slapped their faces, a sudden jerk on the shoulders and then silence . . . very quickly broken by the din of a huge explosion that had shaken the air like a tornado.
The bomb aimer of the Lancaster MC [sic] 100 had jumped first, no doubt because of his position in the cabin, and his reflexes had saved him. Three of his companions, whose parachutes had not had time to open, crashed to the ground. The last three were unable to try anything; thrown out of the aircraft, they now lay mutilated and disfigured not far from the blaze.
Breaking the deep silence that had settled came a young voice [symbol] asking in English: "Who are you?" On hearing these words the aviator brightened up a little and there began a laborious conversation. His first words were to ask where he was, then he wanted to know the fate of his mates. The news that six bodies had been found filled him with dismay. Overwhelmed, he followed those who guided him towards the corpses. He quickly identified the commander, then two other victims, but refused to continue the gruesome task. Walking with his young escort back along the village road, the survivor briefly answered the questions she asked him. "Yes, he was an Australian, a little over 20 years old, and had been a student before enlisting. He had already taken part in other war operations but couldn't say what was the target of his latest mission." Emotion, coupled with the language barrier, had him say little, so he seemed relieved when Mr. & Mrs. Quinart offered him hospitality. [two symbols]
After a short, refreshing sleep he scarcely had time to pour out his feelings, for two American military policemen, alerted during the night, came to pick him up and convey him back to Charlesville. Not long afterwards a U.S. truck came and picked up the bodies of the victims, which were not all intact.
By the light of day it was an awesome sight. Around the point of impact, remnants of the plane were as though pulverised. A propeller blade remained embedded in the road embankment, but in contrast one of the engines, a huge mass, was found at the top of the "Potence" hillside, almost 600 metres away. The shock wave caused by the explosion shattered a number of window-panes in the village, knocking in barn doors and lifting off a few roofs. By a quirk of fate, even though was found as far away as Neufmaison, the farm of la Vaux Gravier on the other hand, situated 1500 metres from the disaster, suffered not a scrap of damage.
Alas, this accident was to provoke yet another, two days later. Weakened by the effect of the blast, the chancel wall in the Thin church came toppling down during mass. The officiating priest and his choirboy were killed instantly. One tragedy followed another.
[symbol] This was Ms Nelly KELLER, primary school teacher at Thin.
[two symbols] A few months later, in a letter to Ms Keller, the young man told her that he was leaving with his unit for the Far East.
Ms. Keller went to Australia in 2001 following her appearance in the TV film, and stayed with Chris.
An article, taken from a French magazine. It was translated by the Australian Colonel who accompanied Chris and the TV Crew to Thin-le-Moutier and acted as interpreter.
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
An Arial Drama
Description
An account of the resource
The end of Lancaster LM100, PO-D, at Thin, Charleville-Mézières, France 2/3 February 1945.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
France--Charleville-Mézières
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
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MPorterB[Ser#-DoB]-150527-01
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-02-02
1945-02-03
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bale out
bombing
crash
killed in action
Lancaster
V-1
V-weapon
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1997/37471/BAllamAJAllamAJv1.1.pdf
aa84424c9cd592bce1ba40f764d48c97
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
Allam, A J
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
2017-12-06
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Allam, AJ
Description
An account of the resource
33 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Albert John Allam (657570 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, memoir, documents and photographs. He flew operations as a pilot with 227 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Peter Stuart Allam and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
Memoir
Description
An account of the resource
Chapter 8 - Overture and Beginners. Gives account of time on OTU at RAF Lossiemouth. Includes ground instruction, crewing up and description of station and training on Wellington. Writes about a fatal crash he sees and about some of his sorties. Gives details of crash crew. Chapter 9 - learning the trade. Writes of short time at RAF Acaster Malbis and then on to 1669 Heavy Conversion Unit a RAF Langar flying Halifaxes. Describes station, activities and training sorties. Notes at the end give details of aircrew and list of operations flown by aircraft Halifax W7928 (EY-R) during its time on 78 Squadron. Chapter 10 - last days in Europe. Starts with arrival at No 5 Lancaster Finishing School at RAF Syerston. Writes of training on Lancaster and giving their preference for operational posting and arrival on 227 Squadron at RAF Balderton. Gives short history of squadron and design of squadron crest. Describes station and loss of pilot colleague on his second dicky trip. Covers arrival on squadron, personalities and detailed description of first operation as second pilot. Continues with squadron move to RAF Strubby. Comments on 5 Group targets and describes subsequent operations to Lutzkendorf and losses. Mentions Operations Manna and Exodus. Describes land actions in Europe and air force operations and the goes on to cover some activities after the end of the war including an Operation Exodus sortie. Notes at the end with information on aircrew casualties and crashes of aircraft on Exodus sorties. Chapter 11 - the odd job men. Description pf post war activities including dumping dangerous incendiaries into the North Sea, preparation for Tiger Force and move to RAF Graveley, Concludes with move to 582 Squadron including sorties on Operation Dodge.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Scotland--Moray
England--Yorkshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Cambridgeshire
Germany
Germany--Leipzig
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Italy
Italy--Bari
Italy--Naples
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Text. Personal research
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Ninety page printed document
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Pending text-based transcription
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BAllamAJAllamAJv1
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944
1945
1669 HCU
227 Squadron
4 Group
5 Group
582 Squadron
78 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
crash
crewing up
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
military living conditions
military service conditions
Operation Dodge (1945)
Operation Exodus (1945)
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
Operational Training Unit
RAF Acaster Malbis
RAF Balderton
RAF Graveley
RAF Langar
RAF Little Staughton
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Strubby
RAF Syerston
Tiger force
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2154/37407/B[Author]RidingRHv30001.jpg
c921d5e4d46059d6cceef4f9053f4cdd
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2154/37407/B[Author]RidingRHv30002.jpg
87f2766dd1a5ebd36eebaa552e29e369
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
Riding, Ronald Holford
Riding, RH
Description
An account of the resource
45 items and five photograph albums. The collection concerns Ronald Holford Riding (b. 1921, 1525125 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, correspondence, documents, photographs, and service material. He flew operations as a navigator with 69 Squadron before he was shot down in France. He evaded and worked with the resistance before crossing the Allied lines in August 1944.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Lyn Elizabeth Jolliffe and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2021-09-23
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Riding, RH
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] I OWE MY LIFE TO YOU [/underlined]
At two o’clock in the morning of the 6th. June, 1944, a German shell shot down F/Lt. Ronald Riding’s Lancaster. He was twenty-two years old and his mission, on that night prior to the bombardment, was to locate the German 21st. Armoured Division. Three members of the crew were killed when the bomber was hit and four others survived by baling out of the aircraft.
Ronald found himself alone on the ground somewhere near Mailleraye and quite close to Caudebec. He lost his flying boots when his parachute opened so he was in his stockinged feet. Thus began his great adventure. “I walked in my bare feet, which wasn’t very easy, and then I saw a farm. The man did not want to let me in, but his wife standing behind him said “Yes, yes, we must give him something to eat’,”. At daybreak Ronald set out again but he decided to hide up during the day and walk during the night. The following evening he knocked at the door of Mme. Guegan. “She simply told me to come in and she gave me something to eat and drink.”
He stayed at Mme. Guegan’s home for a few days during which time the Maquis, of which Mme. Guegan’s son Jean was a member, were informed by London that Ronald was an English flyer and not a German spy. “In order to establish my identity I had to state where I lived in Manchester and I had to list the names of several London Underground stations.” His identity now verified, Ronald was now accepted by the Robert Leblanc Maquis near Port-Audemer. Infortunately [sic], one of the band was arrested and fearing that he might reveal the whereabouts of their hide-out, his comrades dispersed: Ronald remembers that this occurred on the 14th, July.
After staying for some time at the ‘Maison Blanche’ (a code name?), Ronald and another flyer, John, decided to leave to try to join the Allied lines. Then at the end of July they met M. and Mme. Jules Joigne at Brevedent.
“My father has spotted them late that evening. They were consulting a map printed on a piece of cloth. My father came back into the house and said to my mother, “They are English”. The next day he came across them again and brought them back to the house. I was four years old at the time and my sister was sixteen.” said Guy and Eliane, the children of M. and Mme. Joigne. It was at their house that Ronald and his friend John, were hidden for some time. Then they made contact with the escape network.
MM. Jean Dufay and Jean Breard came to fetch them in a horse-drawn carriage and brought them to Thiberville. “I rode ahead on my bicycle,” recalled M. Prévost. “We came across two German policeman [sic] and I can tell you I was dead scared.” But nothing more untoward happened before they arrived at the home of M. and Mme. Prévost who took it upon themselves to hide them. However, their house was very exposed so Ronald and John decided to continue on their way. They were taken into the convent in Thiberville for several days where their best hiding place was in a cupboard, but Ronald and John kept in good spirits in spite of their misfortunes.
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
They were then lodged at the home of Mme. Sénéchal, first of all at the butcher’s shop in town and then in a small, isolated house where they made the acquaintance of the Vandamme family and of André l’Hotelin: “the children were going to play football with them to pass the time” recalled one who remembered them. The liberation of Thiberville was now near and Ronald and John waited for the arrival of the Canadian troops on 24th. August, and shortly afterwards they returned to England. John was killed on another mission and Ronald continued his operations until the end of the war.
[underlined] MY DEAR FRENCH FRIENDS [/underlined].
On Tuesday, at the time of the ceremony organised in his honour at the Thiberville Town Hall, Ronald Riding could not conceal his emotion. “Thank you all. It has been wonderful to return to Normandy to take part in the ceremonies marking the 50th. Anniversary of the Liberation and to be re-united with my dear French friends. I received the same welcome as I did fifty years ago when I knocked on a door and you said to me, “Come in Monsieur.” I must express my gratitude to the French families who gave me food and concealed me at the risk of their own lives. I owe my life to you. Thank you and Long Live France.”
[underlined] REMEBRANCE AND FRIENDSHIP [/underlined]
In his speech, the Mayor of Thiberville, M. Bessirard, surrounded by his Council, representatives of the Police and Fire Brigade, emphasised the honour for the members of the community to receive a liberator on the day following the 50th. Anniversary of ‘the longest day’. And he added, “It was due to thousands and thousands of people like you M. Riding, and like your parents Mme. Guerin, and like you M. Prévost and you M. Dufay, that we reached this longest day whose success regained for us our honour and liberty and gave us our future.”
Then the Mayor presented the town medallion to M. Riding, M. Dufay, M. Prévost, M. Joinge and posthumously to M. Bréard: “that it shows to all of us a sign of gratitude, remembrance and friendship.
M. Bessirard then invited his guests to join him in a toast to the friendship that was so evident today. Ronald posed for photographs and answered the many questions that were put to him. Ronald’s feelings were a mixture of joy and sadness, but more than this understandable emotion, he was carried away by the joy of finding himself in France again among his dear friends.
May this day remain forever engraved on the hearts of all of us.
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
I Owe my Life to You
Description
An account of the resource
The events after Ronald was shot down on the morning of D-day.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-06-06
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
France
Great Britain
England--Manchester
England--London
France--Caudebec-en-Caux
France--Eure
England--Lancashire
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
B[Author]RidingRHv30001, B[Author]RidingRHv30002
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
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-06-06
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
bale out
evading
killed in action
Lancaster
Resistance
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2145/37394/MTrevaynePR1291380-191205-02.2.pdf
44fa207a52b7c679dc332b9116bae631
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
Trevayne, PR
Trevayne, Paul Rodney
Description
An account of the resource
Nine items. The collection concerns Sergeant Paul Rodney Trevayne (1291380 Royal Air Force) and contains photographs and documents. He flew operations as an air gunner with 75 Squadron and was killed 4 February 1943.<br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Karen Suzan trevayne and catalogued by Barry Hunter. <br /><br />Additional information on Paul Rodney Trevayne is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/228479/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-12-05
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Trevayne, PR
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.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
On the 3rd February 1943, following a mid-afternoon flight briefing, our aircraft Stirling BK/604 with its crew of eight left is [sic] base, Newmarket, England, and headed on course on a bombing mission to Germany. The target was Hamburg and take-off time around 6.30 p.m.
The mission was a full scale Bomber Command operation involving several hundred aircraft.
At briefing we were advised weather conditions would be severe, heavy turbulence, continuous rain and possible icing conditions almost to the target area.
And so it proved to be. As our aircraft continued on its scourse [sic] towards the target, I maintained a listenning [sic] watch on radio, always aware there could be a sudden cancellation of the mission with a recall to base. Though no such thing happened I was aware of the intended return to base of many aircraft unable to make headway because of the severe weather conditions. Unhappily for us (and for many other aircraft too), we did not experience this problem and BK/604 continued its climb towards its bombing height of, from my memory, approximately 17,000 feet.
At a height of approximately 12,000 feet we suddenly flew out of the turbulence we had experienced thus far and settled down on the last leg of our run in to the target, some 20 – 30 minutes flying time distant.
Within a very short time of breaking into clear weather, (in actual fact it seemed only minutes) our aircraft was suddenly attacked by a German fighter. So severe was the attack, and then the second one, our aircraft soon became a mass of flames and it seemed totally out of control. My memory of this is of screaming engines, the plane diving earthwards with physical movement being impossible because of the centrifugal force being applied during the aircraft's plunge earthwards. You can understand I truly believed the end of my days had come.
Events which followed are somewhat hazy in my memory, suffering from smoke inhalation I was dimly aware of a sudden lessening of pressures and an urgent order from the aircraft captain to bale out, it was an every man for himself situation. Unable to see for the smoke, I located and affixed my parachute and groped my way to the front escape hatch, and jumped. I was hazily aware of my parachute opening with a hell of a bang (I had no recollection of ever pulling the ripcard [sic]) and soon after hitting the ground very heavily. (I later ascertained from the navigator that bale-out height was less than 1,000 feet which would account perhaps for some crew members parachutes not opening in time).
Events which followed included my being arrested in a farm-house by the Germans, being held overnight, I believe it was in Borne, and then ultimately being transferred to Queen Wilhelmina Hospital in Amsterdam to recover from leg injuries received as a result of parachuting.
Subsequent dates are not clear – I do recall spending my 21st birthday in solitary confinement in Dulag Luft, Frankfurt. That was March 2nd 1943.
Later I and some fifty or so other airmen were transferred to Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf in Silesia where we remained until early January 1945. At this time the whole camp strength, in excess of 10,000 prisoners of war were taken by the Gestapo on what was to become known as the Death March, because of the number of P.O.W.'s who died during that time. This march was to last many weeks, in the most appalling weather conditions, with little or no food and many of us suffering most debilitating illnesses, such as dysentry [sic], malnutrition, pneumonia, pleurisy and many others.
...../2
[page break]
For myself I was perhaps a little fortunate in that suffering seriously from dysentry, pneumonia and malnutrition I was admitted more dead than alive, to a hospital in Germany, its whereabouts I know not. I remained there until rescued by the American Army and was returned to England in early April where I remained hospitalised until September before finally returning to New Zealand in November 1945.
Memories I have of Borne include the kindess [sic] extended to me by local people and the assistance given to me in Amsterdam by a member of the Nederlands Red Cross a SETTY or JETTY VAN BLANKEN of DELFT, HOLLAND.
This person was able and kind enough to send a message to my parents. A copy of this message is attached.
[page break]
BASE – NEWMARKET
BRIEFING TIME – 3.00 P.M. – 3.30 P.M.
DEPARTURE TIME – 5.30 P.M.
DATE – 3/2/43
AIRCRAFT – STIRLING BK/604
TARGET – HAMBURG – GERMANY
COURSE – EAST-SOUTH EAST TO HOLLAND THEN NORTH/NORTH EAST TO HAMBURG
VISIBILITY – WEATHER – NIL CONDITIONS STORMY
BOMB LOAD – MIX OF INCENDIARY AND HIGH EXPLOSIVE BOMBS
FIGHTER ATTACK – APPROXIMATELY 8.00 P.M.
HEIGHT – 12,000 FEET (APPROX)
BALE OUT HEIGHT – 700 FEET (APPROX)
CREW – EIGHT (8) PERSONS – PILOT, CO-PILOT, NAVIGATOR, WIRELESS OPERATION – AIRGUNNER (MYSELF), ENGINEER, MID-UPPER TURRET GUNNER, BOMBAIMER – FRONT GUNNER, AND REAR GUNNER.
KILLED – PILOT, BOMBAIMER – FRONT GUNNER, ENGINEER AND REAR GUNNER.
PRISONERS OF WAR – CO-PILOT, NAVIGATOR – WIRELESS OPERATOR – AIRGUNNER and MID-UPPER GUNNER.
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
Last Flight of Stirling BK604
Description
An account of the resource
A detailed account of the last flight of a Stirling operation on Hamburg.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02-03
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Poland
Germany--Hamburg
Poland--Łambinowice
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three printed sheets
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MTrevaynePR1291380-191205-02
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02-03
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
aircrew
bale out
Dulag Luft
killed in action
prisoner of war
RAF Newmarket
Red Cross
shot down
Stalag 8B
Stirling
the long march