IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> eng]]> Text]]> Physical object]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> 1944]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Pending OH transcription. Allocated]]> eng]]> Sound]]>
Part 1.
Doug Marsh was the son of a Royal Navy officer and moved around quite a bit as a child between Kent and Lincolnshire. When his father retired from the Navy his parents bought a fish and chip shop in Grimsby but shortages meant that the business could not succeed and Doug had to find other work. He had secured a place as a trainee with the local authority but the start of the war cancelled the scheme he would have joined. He worked for the Prudential Insurance Company until he volunteered for the RAF aircrew and began training as a navigator in the UK and then in South Africa. Following training in South Africa Doug returned to the UK to continue his training. During part of this training a German plane dropped a bomb on the local railway station and on the hotel where recruits were billeted. He was posted to RAF Bruntingthorpe for his OTU where he joined up with his crew and the trained together after training flights on Manchesters and on to the Lancaster.

Part 2.
Doug Marsh continued his training on H2S at RAF Scampton before being posted to 57 Squadron for operational flying. During that time the flight engineer on the crew had gone up on an operation and failed to return. On the day of their last operation the wireless operator was in hospital and so received the news there that his crew had crashed. On the morning of the last flight the ground crew told the pilot to remember not to land at their usual dispersal because the aircraft was due for an overhaul. In the air the crew heard a bang and the plane was soon on fire. The crew baled out. Doug was knocked unconscious and came to in a field with the parachute in a tree. He hid until he was discovered by French prisoners of war who hid him in the expectation of him finalising his escape plans. He was caught and assumes his capture was due to betrayal by one of the French.

Part 3.
Doug Marsh was was captured and taken to Frankfurt on Oder where he was treated well. One night his German cell mate alerted him to the red glow outside of the window which Doug recognised as Pathfinder flares followed by a single explosion as a bomb fell. Doug just went back to sleep much to the surprise of the youth with him. On his journey to Stalag Luft 6 he passed the towns where he had hidden before his capture. Doug remained a prisoner of war until the POWs were moved away from the Russian advance. On one occasion during the march they came under attack from Allied fighters. Dougie was a small distance from a POW who was killed outright who had been a prisoner from the beginning of the war. ]]>
This Interview was recorded by Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire.]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> Lithuania]]> South Africa]]> England--Leicestershire]]> Lithuania--Šilutė]]> South Africa--Queenstown]]> South Africa--Cape Town]]>
IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Pending review]]> Pending OH summary]]> eng]]> Sound]]> He then went back to Yatesbury for an aircrew wireless operators course then on to Penrhos for an Air Observers and gunners course. From there John went to 10 OTU at Abingdon, while there he flew on one of the 1,000 bomber operations in a Whitley flying from Stanton Harcourt.
Having finished his course John was posted to 10 Squadron at RAF Leeming, still on the Whitley, the squadron converted to the Halifax, John flew in the Halifax II fitted with Merlin engines. The squadron then moved to RAF Melbourne, in Sept/Oct 1942 John’s crew were posted to Leeming to a new squadron No 408 (RCAF) as part of 6 Group.
On an operation to Hamburg 2/3 February 1943 John’s aircraft was badly damaged and the crew baled out, he recounts the difficulties of bailing out from an out of control aircraft. He landed in a tree and evaded capture for three days.
As a prisoner of war, he exchanged identities with a soldier. He was also on one of the long marches from January to April. ]]>
Stevenage Heritage Project]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Trevor Hardcastle]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> England--Norfolk]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Wiltshire]]> Germany--Hamburg]]> 1940]]> 1942]]> 1943-02-02]]> 1943-02-03]]> 1945]]>
Don Nicholson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> 1944-07-13]]> Don lists his 31 operations and recounts how having arrived for the briefing for his first operation, he was grounded by the medical officer and sent to hospital. His crew did six operations without him and did not return from the last one. Having done some operations as a spare flight engineer he describes how he was recruited by a captain who wanted to replace his engineer. He was impressed by his new captain landing a Lancaster with a punctured tyre, ending up on the grass but the aircraft was intact.
He then goes on to describe a number of incidents during his operations. These include bombing the German battle cruiser Lutzow which turned out to be a decoy. Being diverted to Kinloss and the airfield was not open but they had to land as they were out of fuel, they also had a bomb loose in the bomb bay. Returning from an operation below cloud over the North Sea and one of their Lancasters bounced off the water. One of his last operations to Hamburg he did not think that they would survive, they were coned by searchlights, ended up in a power dive when corkscrewing and having recovered flying round to gain height to eventually bomb.]]>
Don Nicholson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> 1944-08-09]]> 1945-04-07]]>
Zeno Gaiaschi]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> ita]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Italy]]> Italy--Milan]]> 1940]]> 1941]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1944-10-20]]> 1945-04-30]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Exton Wallace, Joyce. Interview]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Exton Wallace, Joyce. Interview]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Balloon Command]]> Great Britain]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Exton Wallace, Joyce. Interview]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Exton Wallace, Joyce. Interview]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Balloon Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--London]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Exton Wallace, Joyce. Interview]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Balloon Command]]> Great Britain]]> Wales--Vale of Glamorgan]]> Wales--Barry]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Exton Wallace, Joyce. Interview]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Balloon Command]]> Great Britain]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Exton Wallace, Joyce. Interview]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Balloon Command]]> Great Britain]]> Wales--Vale of Glamorgan]]> Wales--Barry]]> D Jones trained as a wireless operator. He learnt Morse code, the construction of the wireless and how to operates it.
Jones went to RAF Church Lawford, Warwickshire, before going to Wiltshire. Although he enjoyed it, he recalls how cold the winter was. Quite a few aircraft came back damaged, and some did not return.
D Jones refers to the droves of aircraft passing overhead on D-Day. After the war had finished he looked after German and Italian prisoners of war. He mentions the spectacular victory parade in London.
Attitudes to the West Indians were mostly good. They were pleased not to have much contact with American forces.
After the war, D Jones studied and went to teacher training college. A lot of West Indians worked in England after the war. He returned to Jamaica where there was not much recognition for his service. He reflects on his war experiences and his attitude to war now.

This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.]]>
Johnson, M]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Warwickshire]]> England--Filey]]> England--London]]> Jamaica]]> 1944-06]]> 1946-06-08]]>

This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.]]>
Johnson, M]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Cambridgeshire]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> Germany]]> Germany--Berlin]]> Malaysia]]>
Miles, R]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Air Force. Transport Command]]> Great Britain]]> Northern Ireland]]> Northern Ireland--Antrim (County)]]> England--Broadstairs]]> England--Buckinghamshire]]> England--Cornwall (County)]]> England--Kent]]> England--Liverpool]]> England--Merseyside]]> England--Shropshire]]> South Africa]]> South Africa--Bloemfontein]]> Deployed to 61 Squadron, he flew as second pilot ("second dickey") on a number of daylight operations before undertaking night time operations. He feared the intense anti-aircraft fire but considers the German fighter with its upward firing cannon as the most dangerous.
Frank describes in detail the various exit ports used in an evacuation of the aircraft and the difficulties for some crew members.
He recalls that a tour was 34 operations, which was followed by six months as an instructor then required to carry out a second tour, except for the pathfinders who did 35 operations but were not required to carry out a second tour. Of his own tour, Frank carried out nine area bombings, twelve rail yard bombings, six primary target bombings and seven army support missions and dropped two hundred and ninety tons of bombs. One of the memorable missions was in February 1945, the bombing of Dresden which he bombed at 23.00 hours. On his return flight he could see the flames from 120 miles away. During the German offensive in the Ardennes, he flew missions in support of US troops.
After VE day he was trained for the Tiger Force and assigned to Okinawa but VJ day prevented his deployment. After his return to Australia he kept in touch with his former crew and his last reunion with them was in Lincoln.

This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form: no better quality copies are available.]]>
IBCC Digital Archive]]> Terry Holmes]]> Pending OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Royal Australian Air Force]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> Germany--Wilhelmshaven]]> Germany--Dresden]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945-02]]> 1945-05]]> 1948-08]]>
]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Polskie Siły Powietrzne]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> Heather Hughes]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Moving image]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> England--London]]>
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available. ]]>
Johnson, M]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> Cyprus]]> Egypt--Suez Canal]]>
Zeno Gaiaschi]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending OH transcription]]> ita]]> Sound]]> Italy]]> Italy--Gualtieri]]> Italy--Milan]]> Helen Durham]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending review]]> Pending OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]>
Howell discusses the change from Bomber Command to Strike Command, and feelings around the RAF giving up its nuclear strike capability to the navy. He examines the role of captaincy and piloting. Howell outlines how crews came together and describes target study. He also relates his experience of Quick Reaction Alert. Howell describes low level flying in North America and the United States and flying to Libya, Cyprus and Malta. He was trained to do air-to-air refuelling.

Howell enjoyed teaching people to fly and trained the first women at RAF Swinderby. He delineates the training he co-ordinated at RAF Bawtry and the RAF Staff College, Bracknell. His final posting was to RAF Support Command at Brampton. He was also involved in Royal Navy elementary flying training at RAF Topcliffe.

In retirement, Howell spent 20 years restoring a Hawker Demon.]]>
Nigel Moore]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending OH transcription]]> Sound]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> United States]]> Libya]]> Cyprus]]> Malta]]>