Browse Items (109 total)

William Longhurst served as an engine mechanic through the Second World War. He was a member of the Hackney Wick Air Defence Cadet Corps before volunteering to enlist in the RAF after his seventeenth birthday. Following basic training at Skegness,…

After leaving school, Bertram Yeandle joined the RAF apprentice scheme and trained as an engine fitter at RAF Halton. After completing his apprenticeship at RAF Cosford, he was posted to 148 Squadron, RAF Harwell, where he serviced Wellingtons. In…

The letter acknowledges that Les is a prisoner of war in Tripoli. It advises the procedure of sending mail and parcels to Les.

A sketch map of locations where Bill served in the RAF: Bari, Benghazi, Cairo, Calais, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Karlsruhe, Lille, London, Marseilles, Montmédy, Munich, Naples, Roma, Saarbrucken, Stuttgart, Trieste, Tripoli, Udine, and Venice.

Brian Robert Southwell was born in Sydney and lived during the Depression which saw him have to set aside his interest in aircraft in order to secure a steady wage with an office job. He spent eighteen months making a model aircraft with the support…

Jack Bell joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a wireless operator/air gunner and joined 216 Squadron, at Heliopolis, near Cairo. He flew in Valentia and Bombay aircraft in a transport role. On an operation over Libya, his aircraft was shot down…

A commemorative poster with a map of Southern Europe and North Africa. Around the outside is a list of locations where operations were carried out. There is a paragraph with details of the operations.

The writer informs Les' mother that Sergeant Hyde died of his wounds in Tripoli. He has had no news of the pilot, Wing Commander Pepper.

Extract from "But Not in Anger". Story of a Hastings of 53 Squadron on route from El Adam to Castel Benito Tripoli which shed a propeller blade which struck the fuselage injuring the co-pilot and cutting the tail control rods. Relates story of crew…