2
25
432
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/167/2326/PAllenDJ1532-0046.1.jpg
6d4668ce98a9771868dc00a55bd2824b
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/167/2326/PAllenDJ1532-0047.1.jpg
266408b512245c99c5fbfea31cfcfe04
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
Allen, Derrick
Derrick Allen
D J Allen
Description
An account of the resource
75 items. The collection covers the career of Flight Sergeant Derrick John Allen (1880966 Royal Air Force) who was a mid-upper gunner on 467 Royal Australian Air Force Squadron at RAF Waddington in 1944-45. Collection contains his logbook, Royal Air Force documentation, notes on air gunners course and photographs of various aircrew. Collection also contains maps and photographs covering the loss of his Lancaster near Spa in Belgium from which he successfully bailed out on 2 November 1944. There is also an oral history interview with his family.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Judy Hodgson and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-30
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. 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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Allen, DJ
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
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 DV396 crash site
Description
An account of the resource
Aircraft wreckage in the edge of a woods. Behind is a field and a road with a vehicle. In the background wooded hills. On the reverse '2-11-44, Lancaster B DV396, Ops Dusseldorf crash site at La Reid, Belgium'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PAllenDJ1532-0046, PAllenDJ1532-0047
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Belgium--Spa
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-11-02
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
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-11-02
467 Squadron
crash
Lancaster
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/167/2331/PAllenDJ1532-0056.1.jpg
1ee2a08995eaa042a131847fcfca98dd
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/167/2331/PAllenDJ1532-0057.1.jpg
d2389e2d9203eac14ac4b732f1a1b302
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
Allen, Derrick
Derrick Allen
D J Allen
Description
An account of the resource
75 items. The collection covers the career of Flight Sergeant Derrick John Allen (1880966 Royal Air Force) who was a mid-upper gunner on 467 Royal Australian Air Force Squadron at RAF Waddington in 1944-45. Collection contains his logbook, Royal Air Force documentation, notes on air gunners course and photographs of various aircrew. Collection also contains maps and photographs covering the loss of his Lancaster near Spa in Belgium from which he successfully bailed out on 2 November 1944. There is also an oral history interview with his family.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Judy Hodgson and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-30
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. 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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Allen, DJ
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
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
Aircraft wreckage
Description
An account of the resource
A pile of aircraft wreckage at the edge of a woods. Behind a field and a road with a vehicle. In the background wooded hills. On the reverse 'Burnt out wreckage at crash site 1944'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PAllenDJ1532-0056, PAllenDJ1532-0057
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium--Spa
Belgium
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-11-02
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
467 Squadron
crash
Lancaster
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/167/2352/SAllenDJ1880966v10006.1.jpg
cbff43c5c63ae2b472698a19c80f87fa
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
Allen, Derrick
Derrick Allen
D J Allen
Description
An account of the resource
75 items. The collection covers the career of Flight Sergeant Derrick John Allen (1880966 Royal Air Force) who was a mid-upper gunner on 467 Royal Australian Air Force Squadron at RAF Waddington in 1944-45. Collection contains his logbook, Royal Air Force documentation, notes on air gunners course and photographs of various aircrew. Collection also contains maps and photographs covering the loss of his Lancaster near Spa in Belgium from which he successfully bailed out on 2 November 1944. There is also an oral history interview with his family.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Judy Hodgson and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-30
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. 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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Allen, DJ
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Post Office crest]
POST OFFICE TELEGRAM
[Post Mark]
9.40 Huntingdon 16
Mr & Mrs Allen
Ermin Lodge Stilton Peterborough
Best Wishes for your future Happiness.
Mon and Mary
[Bank Note]
[Post Office crest]
POST OFFICE TELEGRAM
[Post Mark]
12.40 Yardley 20
Mr & Mrs Allen
Ermin Lodge Stilton
Wishing you Happiness and best of luck.
Mr & Mrs Dale & Pamela
Saved Trapped Gunner
Heroism in Blazing Bomber
An R.A.F.V.R. sergeant who freed a comrade trapped in the rear gunner’s turret while their blazing aircraft was falling rapidly, and jumped to safety just as the plane broke in toe, has been awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.
He is Sergt, Derrick John Allen, whose home is near Peterborough.
Allen was the mid-upper gunner in an aircraft detailed to attack Dusseldorf. The plane was struck by a burst of machine-gun fire from an enemy aircraft and one of the engines caught fire.
The crew struggled to put out the flames, but the plane lost height and dived out of control. As the position had become hopeless, the captain ordered his crew to abandon the aircraft.
The rear gunner was unable to open his turret doors and Allen ignoring the danger, hacked away at the turret doors with an axe and freed the gunner. Just as Allen got ready to jump the plane broke in two, but he managed to make a safe descent.
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
Newspaper account of Derrick Allen's heroic actions leading to award of Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, congratulatory wedding telegrams and banknote
Description
An account of the resource
On the left a newspaper cutting with an account of how Derrick Allen freed the rear gunner from his jammed turret while his Lancaster was going down. On the right top and bottom, congratulatory wedding telegrams wishing future happiness. Between the telegrams a Belgian 20 Franc banknote.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Newspaper cutting mounted on an album page
Two telegrams mounted on an album page
One banknote mounted on an album page
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Physical object
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SAllenDJ1880966v10006
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
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Peterborough
Belgium
Belgium--Spa
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1946-09-21
1944-11-02
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
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Claire Monk
467 Squadron
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
crash
Lancaster
love and romance
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/167/2388/MAllenDJ1880966-150901-05.1.jpg
e19d754082c6715909b976ac35cd11b6
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
Allen, Derrick
Derrick Allen
D J Allen
Description
An account of the resource
75 items. The collection covers the career of Flight Sergeant Derrick John Allen (1880966 Royal Air Force) who was a mid-upper gunner on 467 Royal Australian Air Force Squadron at RAF Waddington in 1944-45. Collection contains his logbook, Royal Air Force documentation, notes on air gunners course and photographs of various aircrew. Collection also contains maps and photographs covering the loss of his Lancaster near Spa in Belgium from which he successfully bailed out on 2 November 1944. There is also an oral history interview with his family.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Judy Hodgson and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-30
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. 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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Allen, DJ
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
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
Map of La Reid area Belgium
Description
An account of the resource
Map of the area near La Reid, Belgium annotated to show the area of the farm at Vioux Pre near to Bois de la Reid.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Single page map
Language
A language of the resource
fra
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Map
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MAllenDJ1880966-150901-05
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
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
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/167/2444/AAllenFam150830.1.mp3
ce07037bb8d36ffda5d4554b7041cdb7
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
Allen, Derrick
Derrick Allen
D J Allen
Description
An account of the resource
75 items. The collection covers the career of Flight Sergeant Derrick John Allen (1880966 Royal Air Force) who was a mid-upper gunner on 467 Royal Australian Air Force Squadron at RAF Waddington in 1944-45. Collection contains his logbook, Royal Air Force documentation, notes on air gunners course and photographs of various aircrew. Collection also contains maps and photographs covering the loss of his Lancaster near Spa in Belgium from which he successfully bailed out on 2 November 1944. There is also an oral history interview with his family.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Judy Hodgson and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-30
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. 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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Allen, DJ
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
JA: Just say Lavinia Allen. My name -
JA: My name is -
MH: Ok. Good afternoon to the persons listening to the tape. The tape today is going to be an interesting one for everybody to listen to. The date today is the 30th of August 2015. I’m Mark Hunt. I’m one of the volunteers that works for the International Bomber Command Centre at Lincoln. I’m here interviewing a family. I’m going to get them in a second to introduce themselves but just for the tape’s purpose the time now is 1408 hours. And that’s my bit done so I’m going to hand it over to the family now.
LA: Right. My name is Lavinia Allen. I am the wife of Derrick Allen and I first met him when I worked in Timothy Whites and Taylors at Peterborough. He was in the RAF. He called in at the shop and that was when I first met him and then every six weeks he had leave and then he used to come in and always buy toothbrush, toothpaste, and a shaving cream and of course it was quite a joke because the girls, the rest of the girls all used to have a good laugh and say, ‘Here he comes,’ but anyway that was how I first met him and then later on I used to go to the village dance at Stilton and I went to this particular dance not knowing but he arrived at the dance and he was very chatty with some other girl that was there but I happened to be there as well and that was our first meeting and from then on, well, it was a case of we just carried on meeting each other and gradually we got engaged and then we were married and then we had our family.
MH: And for the tape’s purpose now the children from that marriage are going to all introduce themselves. I’m going to walk this around just to make sure that we can pick up the signal.
JA: Sandra Allen. Derrick Allen’s daughter.
JA: I’m Judith Allen and I’m his youngest daughter.
DA: This is David Allen. Dad’s son and the oldest child in the family.
MH: Great. Thank you very much. I’m going to turn the tape on over now to the family to give their recollections of Mr Derrick Allen.
JA: Yeah I was just thinking about when you were saying about obviously you met dad but at the time the war was going on so I was just thinking of what happened then as well.
LA: Yeah well when, when my husband came on leave he then said when he went back he would write to me but I did not receive a letter and I, at the time I thought, ‘Oh another one of them,’ ‘cause that’s what young men used to say, ‘I’ll write to you when I go back,’ but unfortunately that is when the plane crashed and so I didn’t hear from him because he had crashed and he was out in Belton. Eventually he came back and of course he had, I can’t remember how long but he had a small leave and then he went back again and he went flying again but that’s all I can remember.
MH: Ok. Ok.
JA: And also the story that he would have told you at the time of what might have happened at the crash. Why it happened. With his -
LA: Well -
JA: Colleagues in Spa.
DA: When did you get married? When did you get married mother? Was that during the war or it was after the war, wasn’t it?
LA: Yeah.
JA: Yeah. 1946 wasn’t it? September the 26th
LA: Yes we were married in 1946. But -
JA: And he didn’t really talk -
LA: But –
JA: Did he? About -
LA: He did not -
JA: Certainly not to us as children.
LA: Talk about that crash to anyone really and for quite a number of years he did not talk about it at all.
DA: Wasn’t the story printed in the papers at that time ‘cause you did, it did go, you did go, he did receive the CGM because of his actions at that time.
LA: He was awarded -
DA: We knew about that so -
LA: He was awarded CGM, yes.
DA: And when did he go for -
LA: Which is -
DA: The investiture.
LA: Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.
DA: Yeah. What year was that? He went to Buckingham palace.
JA: It was March ‘46.
DA: Before you were married.
LA: Yes. I wasn’t married but I did go to the palace with him.
DA: Yeah.
LA: To receive it.
DA: Yeah.
LA: And –
DA: And his brother.
LA: Him and his brother yes. And -
JA: All three.
LA: Of course it wasn’t like going to the palace now. It was a very very cold day in November that we went and I always remember how cold it was and when we came out there was only a few people that had been decorated. It wasn’t like the decoration now.
DA: And that was the medal was given by the King.
LA: King George the fifth, the Queen’s father, presented him with the medal and I sat in the audience.
DA: Yeah.
LA: And watched the whole ceremony.
DA: Fantastic.
LA: That’s all.
JA: And we didn’t know about that as children. I mean I don’t, didn’t know, growing up.
LA: Not many people even knew about it.
JA: No.
DA: And from then on we went to the musters in London and we used to spend the weekend up in London because each year they had a muster at different places and we went to the Chelsea Barracks and different places.
But he didn’t actually stay in the RAF after the war at all. He was demobbed and -
LA: Well he was later demobbed and that was when we got married. That September.
SA: He became a carpenter.
LA: Hmmn?
SA: He became a carpenter.
JA: His first work after that.
SA: Carpentry was it?
DA: He came back to his building trade.
SA: Yeah.
LA: Yeah. Which he loved and we are now living in the house, I am living in the house which we have been in sixty, over sixty years.
DA: Which he had a hand in building didn’t he?
LA: He did help.
DA: As a young man.
LA: He did help.
DA: You told me as a young man, this row of properties that we’re in now he was, he built the rooves on these properties. He did the timber work. He was a carpenter and joiner.
LA: Yeah.
DA: And his skills were tremendous in building rooves and he did that -
LA: He loves housebuilding.
DA: Yeah.
LA: Yeah.
DA: And that was in the days before electricity and no pre-constructed roofing joists. He just had planks of, planks of timber on site and your hand tools, your hand saws and bradawls and braces and bits and you had to go up on top of the brick work and build a roof out of timbers so he spent a lot of his life balancing on nine inch brick work. Hopping about.
LA: And -
SA: He did fall through didn’t he?
LA: He carried on -
SA: He did fall through didn’t he?
LA: Building work.
DA: Yeah.
LA: And in the end he went and retired. He was working for the NHBC.
SA: Yeah.
JA: That was before he retired. Yeah, he worked for the NHBC but he also when he was working he was obviously bringing up three young children and he worked, I remember having to go back out to work in the evenings and he then set up, with a group of other likeminded men of the village they set up an ex-servicemen’s club which was, he was a founder member which you obviously had a lot to do with mum didn’t you?
DA: That was about ‘63 I think. ‘62/’63?
JA: ’64 it was.
SA: ’64.
JA: When it first opened anyway.
SA: It was fifty years last year. Since it opened.
JA: And you had a lot to do with that didn’t you?
DA: From what I remember of him.
SA: [There was twelve men?]
DA: He was a man of duty. He considered his duty to his family first and then his duty to his work which supported his family and then to the community within the village where he lived and then to ex-servicemen and also to supporting the RAF which he was instrumental in becoming a member of the Royal Observer Corps in the ‘50s until I think the Royal Observer Corps was disbanded and from then on he went to -
LA: ATs.
DA: On to become a leader in the village for the Air Training Corps. Now that lasted several years. But he was always involved in community work.
LA: It was always voluntary. It was always -
DA: It was voluntary. Yeah.
SA: Yeah. It wasn’t paid.
DA: Yeah.
LA: He was a standard bearer for the -
DA: For the British Legion.
LA: British Legion.
DA: Standard bearer. Yes. Yeah.
JA: For many years.
SA: He also helped people in the village through the British Legion. He would go and help them. He helped a gentleman get a phone who was in dire straits financially didn’t he?
DA: Yeah.
SA: He was always helping people.
JA: And also he did the, you know over the years and when he was getting older he was actually in voluntary services. He was on doorsteps.
SA: Yeah.
JA: You know service, Meals on Wheels.
SA: Yeah.
JA: He always was having to help somebody you know and obviously once the family had grown up and he didn’t have, you know, wasn’t have so much I suppose to do with them then he was always looking for other things to do to help people really.
SA: Once his grandchildren had grown up. I mean when he had his grandchildren small he was too be found outside in the paddling pool with them or whatever was necessary. My son particularly loved to mow the grass with him and he was only about two and he would hold on to the motor mower and we would watch as dad would go down to the bottom of the garden, turn and lift the mower and my son used to go up with it ‘cause he would never let go and then come down when he put it back down again. We used to be hysterical because wasn’t it funny to watch? They all loved grandad.
JA: The first time that I ever heard anything about his exploits really was in 1977 by which time I was married with a two year old and I think he probably, he used to pop in as a, as a grandparent on his way around from work and come and see his grandson but I think he probably did feel then that, you know it all came back to him really I think just from what he had got not just from myself but by being saved and that sadly his pilot and rear gunner tragically died in the crash in 1944 and he always, obviously it was always carried with him that –
DA: Yeah.
JA: Yeah, memory and the gratitude he had and I think it was at a point when both my brother and sister had got grandchildren. I was the last one to have, you know, a grandchild for him and I think he really started to think about just what he had got and what these men had lost at that time and on that particular day he, he came around for his cup of tea and we sat and chatted and really I don’t know how we got around to it but suddenly he was telling me about what happened and how on that particular fateful night when he came back from the raid that they got shot down. The pilot was saying, ‘Get the crew out.’ You know, ‘You can all go, get out,’ sort of thing and so they all did but at that point dad, who was the mid upper gunner was actually getting down to get his parachute on because of the position you couldn’t wear it so he found in fact there was a gaping hole and it was just teetering on the edge of that so that was obviously pretty horrific I’m sure, at the time, but he did get his parachute on and then he heard, he actually he told me, which he found very sad, that he heard the rear gunner screaming that he was stuck and so, so dad, the pilot sorry, the pilot said to dad, you know, ‘Help him, you go back and help him,’ which he obviously did and he did get the rear gunner out and at that point they were like, ‘Oh gosh,’ you know, ‘I think, I think we’re going to be ok,’ but sadly the plane went into a spin so they were all caught and they thought that’s it, we’ve had it now. And then miraculously that plane did break apart and they all fell to the ground as such, pulling their, obviously pulling their cords and they were really so close to the ground that in effect they all really didn’t have a chance and by some, you know, miracle, fate, whatever it was he, his parachute got caught in a tree and it saved his life and obviously the two, other two there was, you know, it was just straight down to the ground and that, that was it. They died sadly and it’s always been obviously I didn’t know up until that point but I knew from the telling of it how much it meant and how sad he was for the lives that these, these young boys haven’t had which actually inspired me to write a poem at that, on that occasion. Can I just read it for you? So, because it was in Belgium and we didn’t really know where, well which, a tree you know something saved his life but we know it was near to Spa. It was in the [Laride?] area and I called it A Tree Somewhere in Belgium. So it goes -
‘There were many fine airmen of the war
Many were lost forever more
But one in particular concerns me
A survivor because of the Belgian tree
A young lad he was, aged seventeen
Tall, and handsome smart and keen
To do service for his country, like many more
He joined the air force and so the war
That fateful night with a start he awoke
Time to scramble, no time to smoke
The sirens were blaring, the battle was on
Just five seconds more and his squadron was gone.
They were flying high and flying fast
Soon land and trees, all were passed
And over the sea to foreign land
They were a brave and courageous band.
The shout went out, ‘enemy ahead,’
A sudden flash, the sky went red
Relief shone through on every face,
For they had scored another ace
But high above at 12 o’clock
The enemy prepared to give them a shock
The plane was spotted but it was too late
They had been hit, it was their fate
The plane lost height, they were knocked about
All but three of the crew baled out
While the pilot fought to keep the plane steady
Our lad rescued his mate and got ready
To jump.
But suddenly the plane began to spin
They couldn’t move, the force kept them in
Then miraculously the plane broke apart
They pulled their ripcords fear in every heart.
They fell to the ground, there was a loud thud
Two laid dead where they fell in the mud
But our lad was lucky, he was caught in a tree
And lived to tell his tale to me
Oh where would I be were it not for that tree?’
Signed his daughter.
DA: And if I could add to that on a subsequent visit of eighty years to visit this part of the Ardennes near Spa we, we found the Memorial which was placed above the spot where one of them died and with the gathering of people from the area they asked father, having known his, heard this story where, which tree is it that saved you and I remember him, we walked across this field, this pasture, towards a group of trees and he’d got his walking stick with him at the time and and he said to me quietly he said, he said, ‘When I came down it was midnight. I don’t know what tree I hit,’ he says, ‘Because all I heard was what I thought loud running footsteps of the enemy coming for me, which I subsequently heard or realised that were a herd of cattle running away from the burning Lancaster in the meadow,’ and so he said, ‘I don’t know which tree it is.’ I said, ‘Look. Just pick a big one,’ I said. He said right and he picked his walking stick up, looked knowingly across the woods and said, ‘That’s the tree,’ and everybody was satisfied that we’d got a tree there and on that now is a plaque commemorating where the incident happened and it’s, it’s there as a Memorial too. That time of the crash and the landing, his landing, he ran away in the woods and hid in a building and that, after a few minutes lights and noise were heard coming across towards the aeroplane that was burning and he heard American voices which told him that he’d landed on the allied side and so he kind of pronounced himself there and there from there they took him back into Spa and in Spa he was kept overnight and checked out medically and then he was then transported to Brussels and back to England. This being November. And he was given some leave as mother said earlier. He was given some leave and then he had to go and join another crew because he hadn’t finished his operations and he joined another crew and then continued flying to finish his sortie.
JA: Actually the only other thing I can think well subsequent to that having in later years found his logbook then obviously he, as you say had to keep flying but it came to a particular date in the book and he has just written in, “No more war.” Which was, you know -
DA: Yeah.
JA: Said so much. It was, you know something that they went out and had to do but -
DA: Yeah. I know in conversations subsequently I said to father, ‘Look why don’t you, do you want to go on holiday abroad? Do you want to fly somewhere?’ He said, ‘I never want to get in an aeroplane ever again.’
JA: No. Never.
SA: He didn’t.
LA: He never did.
DA: He never did. He never set foot in an aeroplane again. It was so, so traumatic for him and just as an aside I often wondered where in his day to day work when I was with him on building sites when he may have, something may have unexpectedly happened and he was never a person who swore. He did not use bad language ever. The strongest term I ever heard him use was strewth and I thought well that’s not Lincolnshire or Cambridgeshire and I realised that’s an Australian slang word and it took me a little while to figure that out but I figured it out now and so, so -
JA: He flew with the Australians.
DA: As he was an aviator with the Royal Australian Air Force that’s where it all come from.
[pause]
LA: We ended up going to Belgium.
JA: Yes, I mean we, we’ve been back.
LA: We all went to Belgium.
JA: Yes.
LA: And -
DA: I think father’s interest or his ability to recall the past and be more open came about maybe when he was in to his sixties because it was beginning, the trauma had subsided but the history of it was, began to take on an importance to him that what he’d been through and what his colleagues had been through it became important and it coincided with a letter he received from a young Belgian man who was interested in surveying, researching allied aircraft crashes in Belgium and he had found details of this, father’s plane that had crashed in the Ardennes and wrote to father to say are you, you know, ‘Are you one the crew?’ That was the start of his, his resurgent interest in the history and from then on that was back in the nineteen -
JA: 1990 wasn’t it?
1990 roughly.
JA: Yeah. Yeah.
DA: And that was the start of many visits we’ve had as a family to Spa and the site where the monument is. We, we’ve been totally surprised over the years to receive warm welcomes from the people of Belgium and particularly that area. We’ve been overwhelmed with kindness and their fondness for, you know, the British aviators. They suffered a lot and they have Memorials to their own resistance fighters throughout the Ardennes and they understand, you know the terror of being occupied and the work and the lives that were lost by the allies in saving them and every visit is quite heart-warming.
JA: It’s so appreciated. Yeah.
DA: And he was appreciated and his memory is still appreciated.
JA: But mum you actually went over didn’t you that first time?
LA: Yeah.
JA: Because you, again with obviously yourself and dad you’ve never flown. It had been something that dad had never wanted to do and you, so it just never happened but obviously with the ferries but then with the channel tunnel it all actually improved didn’t it and again meant you could travel over there and you were there, it would have been the, well you were certainly out there in 2004 weren’t you which was the sixty year anniversary and we all went as a family didn’t we?
LA: Yeah.
JA: Do you remember that?
LA: Yes.
SA: We had a lovely meal they gave us didn’t they? And they presented dad with a -
LA: Gave us a great reception, yeah.
JA: Do you remember that they -
LA: And the school children.
JA: Made the Lancaster.
LA: If you remember, all made aeroplanes, you know.
SA: The Lancaster.
JA: Lancasters.
SA: Made Lancasters.
LA: Lancasters.
JA: Yeah.
LA: And dad had to pick one.
JA: Yeah, that’s right.
DA: That he liked out of all these children’s -
JA: And they were so grateful.
DA: The whole school.
LA: And all the whole school went to the monument.
JA: They did yeah.
LA: Didn’t they?
JA: Yeah they were part of that.
LA: And then it was -
JA: And it was filmed as well wasn’t it?
LA: Oh yeah.
JA: By Australian, the Australian TV were there weren’t they?
SA: Yeah.
JA: On that particular occasion because -
LA: Yes. Yes.
DA: The embassy attaché, the Australian Embassy attaché.
JA: He come from Brussels, was there.
DA: From Brussels.
LA: He had a meal with us didn’t he?
DA: Came because it was the sixtieth anniversary of father’s crash and as it was a memory of the Royal Australian Air Force it was deemed appropriate.
JA: We were there on the day weren’t we? Which was lovely. Very good and of course we, another person we had who became a very close friends was François [Barotte?] and his family and you had -
DA: [?]
JA: Over the years you know he was somebody who also was interested in the history of the, through the wars and everything.
SA: Well he was an architect anyway -
JA: Yes, that’s right.
SA: Wasn’t he?
JA: But that was his sort of hobby and we even had, well you had didn’t you, what about when you had [Valerie?].
LA: The children came over here.
JA: Yeah. Yeah.
LA: I had their children over here.
DA: Come to stay here.
LA: For a fortnight’s holiday and we have become good friends and you all went over -
JA: Yes.
LA: For your dad’s ninetieth birthday.
JA: Yes what would have been his ninetieth birthday?
LA: It would have been his ninetieth birthday.
JA: Last year we -
LA: And -
JA: Us, yeah the children went again didn’t they and yes every time we go over we always make sure we see them.
LA: Always make sure, I mean obviously like us they’re all getting older.
DA: There was one thing that puzzled me was why father who was an Englishman was in the Royal Australian Air Force. I couldn’t understand that until one day he explained that I said, ‘How did this happen?’ He said, well when you were selected, at that time when you selected a crew you all, all the various crew members mixed in a big hangar at Waddington for instance and they all got, had a drink of beer with them, you know, a glass of beer and they would all talk among themselves and they knew, you know, they all had their different trades you call it air gunners, navigators, pilots, bomb aimers, engineers and it would seem to me that a pilot would probably start this ball rolling and say talk to different members and they would form their crews out of just socialising, you know, maybe of an evening within this environment.
LA: Yes.
DA: Which I thought was quite strange but that’s how it was so you know, after father’s crash and his return to Waddington that would, he would have gone through this same route again in that he would be, they were all pushed, they all met together in a large group and make another, make another flight crew in that way.
JA: But you and you do see that they actually ended up with two or three same names again because they obviously had a bond.
DA: Yeah.
JA: And so.
DA: Yeah.
JA: There was that started to happen obviously over the different sorties that -
DA: Yeah.
JA: You know there’d be three or four -
DA: Yeah.
JA: Were, had been together at the last one.
DA: Yeah.
JA: And they kept on.
DA: He said you lived together in a nissen hut as a group but you were friends but you couldn’t be too friendly because too many times coming back after a raid you would go back to your quarters and find that one or two of the beds were empty and it was someone who you’d been speaking to the night before and they were no longer there and then new faces arrived so there was a certain amount of friend, there was a friendliness and bonding but not too strong. They daren’t become too strong in their bonding.
JA: He did have one very good friend didn’t he, who you would have known at the time, Bob Harvey.
LA: Bob Harvey.
JA: And they both, obviously Bob did survive the war as well and -
LA: He did. Yeah.
JA: You -
LA: And we visited Bob who lived next, near Blackpool and we went to the house and visited him and his wife and he had two children as well but many years later, I can’t remember what Derrick was reading, some paper or some book, and he said, ‘Oh my goodness.’ What was his name? Up the road -
SA: Terry.
DA: Terry.
LA: No.
SA: Are we talking about Richardson?
LA: Oh dear.
SA: You found someone else. Bob. No. No, not Bob? What was it?
LA: The one who went to Belgium with you.
SA: Oh we’ve all got to think now. This is what age does to you.
DA: Jack.
SA: Jack. Yes.
LA: Jack Halstead.
DA: Jack Halstead.
LA: Yes.
DA: He was his colleague.
LA: And he had been flying with that man.
DA: On that mission yeah. Jack was with father on that particular mission.
LA: Yes. Yeah.
JA: On the crash.
DA: He was a engineer I believe.
LA: Yeah.
DA: And he was told to bale out before the plane got into serious difficulty.
LA: And he went. Yeah.
DA: Yeah.
LA: He was ok.
DA: Yeah.
LA: But he only lived near Grantham.
DA: Yeah.
LA: And Derrick, I can’t remember what he read it in but anyway he got in touch with him and we all went up near Grantham and met at a pub.
DA: Yeah.
LA: And that was.
DA: He reunited with his old comrade wasn’t he?
LA: Yeah.
JA: And Jack came over at one point on one of the trips.
LA: Yes.
JA: With myself and my brother with dad and he actually came and saw, to the site which was the first time.
LA: But he –
He had seen it since obviously been over since then.
DA: Yeah, he left the air force. When he was demobbed he joined the police and he was in the Metropolitan Police in London for most of his career.
LA: That’s right. Yeah.
DA: I think he was a detective but -
LA: He died before dad.
JA: But it was lovely that he actually and also, I can’t remember, what was his first name? Richardson.
LA: Yeah.
JA: He was also one on the crew wasn’t he?
LA: No.
JA: No. He wasn’t on that crew.
LA: He wasn’t on the crew.
JA: Not his one.
LA: And Terry Bradley.
JA: Terry Bradley was.
LA: He was.
DA: The second crew.
LA: He was in the RAF.
JA: Yeah that’s right.
LA: He wasn’t with dad but they all knew each other and he was the mayor of Grantham.
JA: So I mean in later years you know you all were meeting up. You were having reunions regularly weren’t you?
LA: We, yes because every year they have Anzac day he’d go to –
SA: RAF Waddington.
LA: Waddington. They fly the Lancaster which Judith has carried on doing. And they fly the Lancaster over the monument in Waddington.
JA: But we used to go didn’t we and go to the sergeants mess and he’d go on the camp and -
LA: Yeah we used to do all that.
JA: It was nice. That’s right. You did it for as long as you could didn’t you and that was part of it as well.
DA: After the war, father, as we say became a carpenter and joiner didn’t he and worked for building companies in -
JA: Fryman’s.
DA: In Peterborough for his life and -
LA: Fryman’s
JA: That’s what I said.
DA: For most of his life until he became a site foreman and there’s many, there are many properties and schools that have built in Cambridgeshire. St Peter’s school in Huntingdon was one that he was site foreman for and assorted schools.
LA: St Peter’s, yeah.
DA: And he did one or two private jobs for the local headmaster.
LA: He built a bungalow.
JA: In Glatton.
LA: Well he didn’t build it but he got -
DA: The site. The project.
LA: He organised it.
DA: Yeah.
LA: At Glatton and he was always interested. He used to go to work all day, come home, have his -
DA: Tea.
LA: Meal and then he’d go to Glatton to work but then those days he needed the money.
JA: And then in later years you, Sandra were part of the club weren’t you?
SA: Yeah.
JA: That dad founded in 1964.
SA: Yeah. I did seventeen years as a stewardess in the club and because it was my interest as well as his.
DA: His name’s up there isn’t it?
SA: Yes, yeah my name’s up there on the wall as well.
JA: And dad was the president wasn’t he?
SA: Yes, he was. Yeah.
JA: For many years.
SA: Yeah he did everything there through the years right down to the last time he was able to work there was my first time there and he did all the building control maintenance. Every time anything happened a bulb or anything I would say to him so and so and he would deal with it. He always -
LA: But in those days you did it voluntary.
SA: Yes it was all voluntary, yeah.
LA: But I think that’s -
JA: Then another thing that obviously happened and luckily it was talked about before dad passed away that he because of the connection obviously with Spa and the men he had put his wishes down that he wanted his ashes to be taken to that Memorial site. And so -
SA: And we did.
JA: And we actually did that.
SA: We all went.
LA: They all went and I didn’t go ‘cause I, well I can’t walk.
JA: The journey would have been a bit much wasn’t it? That was 2009 wasn’t it?
LA: They all went onto there and I’ve got the picture.
JA: Yeah. Yes, and again -
SA: [Took him?] back.
JA: The [Barottes] you know François and Rudy who was the historian.
SA: Yeah.
JA: And researcher and all these people came yet again.
LA: Yeah.
JA: Because they so respected -
LA: It was very nice really.
JA: They respected very much, you know, what he and all the men did over those years and then obviously as I say last year we went again just in a memory on actually on dads birthday that time because he would have been -
SA: Ninety
JA: Ninety on the 13th of October and it was just something that as a family that we, but again these people came and showed their respect as well didn’t they? So -
LA: Yeah. It’s marvellous really.
JA: But it’s also opened up such a lot, brought so much also into his life because of that tragedy but these, all these people he would never have known. He wouldn’t, you know, there wouldn’t have been a connection with someone in Belgium when dad anyway was no going to get on a plane again you know. So, but it just brought it all, it brought a lot of people into his life and he did a lot for a lot of people didn’t he, so -
SA: I think I’m one of the few people that’s been up a Belgian motorway the wrong way.
JA: Yes I remember that.
SA: Yes. With a Frenchman driving. It was -
JA: A Belgian.
SA: Yes with a Belgian. It was very scary because he suddenly decided to, that he’d gone the wrong way so he turned around and went back up the same motorway. Luckily we didn’t meet any traffic. We were very lucky to live that but they all said the look on my face was quite something as I drove past, went past them all with horror on my face. They were all, they all stopped they didn’t follow us thankfully but -
JA: He was leading the way originally.
SA: He was leading the way so they could have done but they didn’t luckily and they suddenly realised what he’d done and he turned around again. It was quite hairy though. It was a motorway. It wasn’t just a little country lane. It was -
JA: And that was [Adelaine?] was driving who was -
SA: Yeah.
JA: The young man, had been the young boy who had seen the plane come down.
SA: From the farmhouse that he lived in. He was hiding in the cellar.
JA: And so again he was another, another contact there.
SA: It was quite hairy.
JA: Yeah so but again he was lovely because he actually gave us parts.
DA: Memorabilia.
JA: Yeah, to bring home from the plane. Things that we could get, you know in our cases or whatever so we’ve obviously got those now and -
DA: Yeah on one trip [Adelaine?] showed us in Belgium in the farm buildings. Near the farm buildings near the Memorial site in some rough ground of nettles, laying amongst the nettles were two of the original Lancaster suspension legs, oleo legs I think they’re called and we were amazed to see them there and they’re very long and very heavy and, but he was willing to offer them to us as mementoes to take to bring back with us in our car to England. This was a kind gesture but totally impractical because we only had a small car and there was already four people in that car. Subsequently, they’ve been cleaned and preserved and mounted next to the original monument wearing the brass plate on each suspension leg with the names of the two aviators who died. It’s -
JA: It’s Bill Lemin.
DA: Bill Lemin.
JA: And Les. Les Landridge.
DA: Les Landridge. Sorry, I don’t remember what their title is.
JA: Well the pilot and -
DA: Yeah, pilot.
JA: And one was the rear gunner basically, wasn’t it?
DA: Pilot and rear gunner. Yeah.
SA: But the rear gunner shouldn’t have been there that day because he was a replacement -
JA: Yeah.
SA: For the man who was, should have been, who was off sick.
DA: That’s right.
SA: And he died. So, very sad.
JA: And in fact we’ve had a letter in or obviously dad did and I hadn’t actually seen that in fairness you know until after he died but we’ve come across a letter from another one of the Australians who in fact said when the rear gunner had gone, the one they were going to have, had gone sick there were actually two Australians and one, I can’t remember his name, Don, I can’t remember his surname but he was a rear gunner and the rear gunner that they had, they got, they had chosen in the end he was actually a mid-upper gunner and they said in this letter it sort of says that although Don was the obvious person to have it was something to do with the crew and the newness of the crew, I don’t quite understand, you know, the background of that but he in fact then was also spared if you like because in fact the mid upper gunner took that position because he wasn’t able to so also, you know that’s somebody else who was sort of saved on that day, in a sense, by fate really.
MH: What’s nice is though through one tragic spot of history families, connections etcetera have all flourished.
JA: Absolutely. Yes.
MH: Which is lovely.
JA: Yes. Yeah. That’s it. I mean, you know, there were, there were letters from, was it Bill Lemin’s sister or Les?
LA: Yes yeah she was [eighty] -
JA: That’s right you know so -
LA: And she wrote to Derrick because she’d found out he was on the crash and she wanted him would he tell her exactly what happened to her brother and so he answered it. I’ve still got that letter.
JA: That’s right.
LA: And he did. He answered it.
JA: ‘Cause he -
LA: But I mean she was eighty years ago so -
JA: But I remember in the letter it was saying because that was way back when that first one was sent and she was concerned that she had got the girlfriend there of the, you know, Australian and they were just like well has he really died because you can imagine all those miles and thousands of miles away it’s like hopefully they’re wrong you know so they actually said, would you tell us? You know, did you see this happen or do you really know this has happened or, which he obviously did and they were again just very grateful for the information and put their minds at rest that sadly it, you know had happened.
MH: That was posted that if you if you couldn’t be accounted for that you’d be put on the missing list, presumed killed in action or whatever for three months. Then after that brief short period you were declared dead. If, because you had the British Red Cross, sorry not the British Red Cross but the European Swiss Red Cross.
JA: Right.
MH: Used to go to the prisoner of war camps noting down who had been taken prisoner of war and of course with dog tags on and everything of the air crew.
JA: Yes.
MH: That they were able to name who you know if they found guys in the wreckage and whatnot. So they were able to complete a fairly good list of who, you know and who but because of wartime it took time of course because you were in a non-computerised age and everything was recorded paper wise and everything and letters not emails and that sort of thing.
LA: Yeah.
MH: But he was a young man when he met you then. Seventeen. A very young dapper chap.
JA: Yes, yes about, I think he was probably eighteen to nineteen wasn’t he by the time you met him. I think he was about nineteen when he met you. Dad. About nineteen.
JA: Yeah.
JA: Yeah, I think he was because then he -
LA: Yeah ‘cause we were, I got married on the Saturday. I was nineteen on the Wednesday. I was twenty on the Wednesday.
JA: Oh right.
LA: I was twenty.
JA: Just twenty. And you managed to get a wedding dress.
SA: Yes she did. Yeah
JA: So close after the war you had a lovely wedding dress, yeah, didn’t you? Beautiful.
LA: Down the arcade at Peterborough. No fuss. No.
SA: Borrowed the veil.
LA: And he was wearing his demob suit because the suit he was having wasn’t ready so he was wearing his demob suit.
DA: How did he afford that car? ‘Cause I know I know was born in 1948 and I remember you had an Austin Ruby and I remember him telling me, I said, ‘Did you have lessons?’ or did, have you, ‘Did you get a license?’ and he said, ‘No. We didn’t have driving licences.’
LA: No. Didn’t then.
DA: No. That’s it. He just went out. So did he use his demob money to buy this Ruby.
LA: Yes. You’re right.
DA: Austin Ruby.
LA: You’re right.
DA: Yeah now there’s another, there’s another story there. I remember you telling me, or us.
SA: All of us, yeah, I heard that story.
DA: In Peterborough, in Bridge Street
LA: Yeah.
SA: Yeah I know.
DA: In this Austin Ruby. Now the Austin Ruby motor car has forward opening front doors and the handles, the door handles.
LA: The handles.
DA: Point forward and I remember him telling us that -
LA: He did [?]
DA: That he was at the traffic lights.
LA: Yeah. A chap -
DA: Looking at the traffic lights.
LA: Yeah.
DA: And then, and then while he was at the lights two people, two men were having a conversation on the nearside pavement and chattering away and as the lights turned to green he went to move off. They finished their conversation. One of the gentlemen stepped off the pavement and the handle of the door, the passenger door, slid into his trouser pocket.
LA: It did.
DA: And took off one whole leg of his trousers as he, as father moved away.
LA: It don’t sound possible but it happened.
DA: And that’s a true story.
SA: And the policeman stood there in shock.
DA: And there’s a one of his work colleagues at the time did a sketch of this story and I think that’s gone now. Another incident I remember is that he told me that, again in Peterborough is turning right and the wheel fell off and as a carpenter he didn’t really have a lot of mechanical knowledge but when he looked under the wing he noticed a pin had dropped out, a king pin, and he looked at it and he thought I know what and he got a punch, a big punch and he used this punch to substitute for the king pin and he whacked it into place in the stub axel and carried on.
LA: But the point was -
DA: And one more story, one more story about the Ruby, down on grandfather’s farm. They needed -
LA: Yeah.
DA: To move, my grandfather at the time had a pig, his own pig and as a young pig that needed to be moved and I don’t remember to where but the only means of transport was the Austin Ruby to move this pig.
JA: Were you in it then mum? Were you in it?
LA: No.
JA: You weren’t in it.
DA: And I remember, I remember.
LA: I know about it.
DA: That pig was put on the back seat and held in held steady in the back street while they moved it from one farm to another. So they were very resourceful in those days.
LA: Our Tilly.
DA: Yeah. Father never had a driving lesson did he? And he never, I don’t think he ever had a licence.
SA: He didn’t have to. No.
LA: Well you didn’t have driving licence.
DA: You didn’t have to have a driving licence in those days. It was that period of time that it didn’t matter.
LA: I drove around during that wartime when you could drive anyway. Then I had to go back and have lessons and –
DA: Yeah.
JA: And you well late thirties I think when you passed your test weren’t you?
SA: I remember you taking the test.
DA: How long did you keep your Austin Ruby for then? Was it till the 1950s?
LA: I can’t remember.
DA: Yeah. Well I don’t you know I remember that but it must have been after the 1953 Queen’s coronation because -
Oh we had some -
DA: Because I remember that in the High Street in our village when you hung out the Union Jack and strung it between the two top bedroom windows on a piece of string and decorated the house and in the, there was lots of these cardboard cut-outs of the royal coach and horses and we were busy making all those things. As a five year old I was busy making these little coaches out of cardboard and I remember the coronation. That’s about my biggest most vivid memory really.
JA: But you remember don’t you. Your first home up the street.
LA: Yes.
JA: What was that like?
LA: Well when we first, that’s how we got a home because the baker offered it and -
DA: In the high street.
LA: A little cottage in the high street but it wanted doing up and he said to Derrick, ‘If you do it up you can have it.’ So that’s how we got our first home.
SA: But what was it like inside though? What about the toilet? That’s -
LA: Oh don’t. The drain was right near the back door. We had a good flood and it went straight through the house and out the front door.
SA: At least it didn’t stop it did it?
JA: And the thunder box in the back garden.
DA: It had been -
JA: Yes. Of course it had. That’s what they were.
LA: Oh don’t.
JA: Well that’s what it was in those days wasn’t it? Zinc baths.
LA: Anyway, we managed to get through to our diamond wedding
JA: Yeah.
LA: So it couldn’t have been too bad could it?
SA: And you told us about when dad was young. How he used to ride a bike and deliver and because he wasn’t a very big person the wheel used to [laughs] used to -
JA: Once it was loaded.
SA: Loaded the back wheel used to go up in the air because it wasn’t heavy.
LA: He worked for Mander Brothers of Peterborough.
DA: This is, this is as a young teenager just out of school at fourteen wasn’t he?
LA: Yeah.
DA: He had a delivery round in Peterborough.
SA: Not a very big person.
DA: From a paint and decorating company.
SA: Yeah.
DA: And his job was to deliver paint and wallpaper to -
LA: Yeah.
DA: Customers around the village, around Peterborough and he was very light and the basket on the front when it was loaded.
SA: It was so heavy.
DA: Was very heavy and it would tip up unless he sat up on the saddle and he had to keep on the saddle all the time otherwise the paint fell off. So his knowledge of Peterborough was very thorough.
LA: So that’s -
MH: I’ve seen in the collection that you’ve lent the Memorial etcetera there’s a picture. I think it might be by the Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham palace with three -
JA: Yeah that’s the one. That’s the coronation isn’t it?
MH: What day was that? Do you remember that being taken?
DA: The investiture.
MH: ‘Cause, there were three, yeah. There were three of you.
JA: Yeah, there was you, dad -
DA: The medal.
SA: You, dad and Aubrey.
DA: Dad’s brother.
JA: Do you remember mum? Do you remember that? Going.
LA: Yes.
JA: Do you remember that picture?
LA: Yes.
MH: Was that something that the palace organised or was that something that just ad hoc as such?
LA: Oh no it’s not organised. Not the photography part. No. Well the photographers are there. They know it’s going on and obviously they’re outside taking people ‘cause obviously he wasn’t the only one to be decorated but we just came out and they just took you. I mean it wasn’t like it is -
MH: It’s a very fine photo. It’s a lovely photograph.
JA: Yes it is.
LA: I think I was eighteen there.
MH: Standing in the middle.
JA: Yeah.
LA: Saying something.
MH: Well you had two men on your arm.
JA: Yeah.
MH: So you had your pick.
DA: Can you imagine at eighteen. Did you go by train?
LA: I had, I had an aunt who lived in Croydon.
DA: Yeah.
LA: And we stayed, I stayed there.
DA: Yeah.
LA: I do remember going from Croydon to, Kings Cross I presume. I don’t know now.
DA: Yeah.
LA: I’ve forgotten. And he was at one, wherever it was, he was at one station and I was at another and he was supposed to be meeting me so we didn’t meet and I thought well what do I do now ‘cause I mean we didn’t travel about like they do now and I got on the bus, rode all the way back to Croydon because I didn’t know what else to do.
He had to come to find you, did he?
LA: He came to Croydon and found -
SA: Well I suppose he was resilient. It shows he wanted to you to be there and he was determined wasn’t he?
LA: Oh dear.
DA: You weren’t late then for the -
LA: No. No.
DA: Meeting at the palace.
LA: The next day I think.
DA: Yeah. Good.
LA: But that’s so long ago I really -
DA: Yeah.
LA: Can’t remember.
MH: I gain the impression from the memories of your dad and your husband that he was a very committed individual and what I mean by that is through riding his bike and doing wheelies if he didn’t sit on it correctly, through to his time in the air force, through to his time when he became a joiner and then moved on to become eventually a foreman and then through his retirement where he became club work and the observation and everything he strikes me as a very devoted man as you rightly pointed out right at the start. Very committed and devoted man.
DA: He had, he had clear views on life and I think it was reinforced with his war experiences that he had a strong sense of morality and help for people worse off than himself and but it was all done in a very quiet and unassuming way.
LA: Oh you never heard him shout about.
DA: No. I mean I worked, when I was sixteen, out of school, in holidays working with him on school holidays working with him on building sites where he’s been the site foreman he’s had, he’s been able to handle all kinds of building trades which includes lots of big strong angry, sometimes angry men.
LA: Irishmen.
DA: And he could handle all those, all those kinds of personalities very very comfortably and he didn’t have an ego in such a way that he was trying to be top dog. What he did was he let, he allowed, he was so, he had such a self-confidence, self-belief that he would allow others to be in the limelight knowing that he knew the answers as it were. I’ve seen it demonstrated. He knew the answers to the problem but he would get the other, he would drop hints so that the other person would find the answer and say and then would shout from the rooftops how clever they were and he would know that it was his word helped them and then the magical thing is those, those, especially on those building sites those tough guys would realise after maybe a few hours or two days what had happened and they would look at him with respect because they’d realise that he’d helped them and they’d been shouting, you know and they’d done their job successfully because of him and they turned and they found him, they relied on father and so it has happened all through his life.
SA: Well he’s always had respect hasn’t he?
DA: People have relied on him.
JA: Respected him.
DA: After knowing him. The initial meeting, you know well this is a very quiet chap but later on when people really knew him.
LA: He was strong.
SA: Yeah.
LA: Very strong.
SA: I can say that the Sawtry Club Committee definitely knew he was there. He -
LA: Yeah.
SA: He definitely ruled.
LA: He, but he was quiet.
SA: But he was quiet.
LA: He never, he never what I would call shouted the odds, you know.
JA: No. He was very fair so he -
SA: Oh yeah.
JA: And he would see both sides and he wouldn’t influence that if it was a situation where he didn’t need to he would actually, he could always listen to both sides.
SA: Oh yeah and put them straight.
JA: He wouldn’t fall out with anyone but if he had to be strong and if he had to be, ‘Well sorry it has to be like this or,’ you know he would be firm but I really don’t think anyone ever actually fell out with him. They -
DA: No.
JA: They –
SA: No.
JA: Respected him at the end. So he could, he could tell them if he needed to.
DA: Well mother you always had knocks on the front door when situations arose at the club or in the village, or buildings, ‘Is Derrick there? I need his guidance,’ you know but that would happen quite regularly over the years asking for his guidance and he’d just take them in to the other room and listen and say, well, he’d never say, ‘You will do this,’ or, ‘You will do that,’ he would just say, ‘I think maybe if you try this it might help.’ It was all couched in gentle words so that you would take that advice because it wasn’t pushed at you. You would listen and I’ve learnt from that personally and I’ve used that in my life in situations in my workplace and I found it, you know.
JA: Well he had [?] didn’t he?
DA: My father’s with me all the time in recent times when I’ve done renovation work on my own property I’ve come up against situations at making some people decide something and I just think look at it and I think, ‘How would dad tackle that?’ And then I’d think oh yeah he’d probably do it like this and that’s what I do. I do that now. I think I try to think how he would think because he always got it right, you know.
JA: Because he was so helpful the thing that he always would do, you could always rely on him to help you and of course because of his carpentry skills and things he was always the person to turn to to get your door hanged, you know, hang the doors. All these little things.
SA: I was going to say about that.
JA: And he just revelled in it. So he loved it so he wanted always to help. I mean he and he did for as long as he could.
SA: We all got him in for doors.
JA: As long as he was able.
JA: Yeah.
SA: Swollen doors was his thing. Definitely. You’d fetch him in.
DA: Chelsea.
JA: Oh yes that was something he did as well. We, my husband was part of the Chelsea Flower Show and working for them and he had a design of designing a garden and they had, you know a particular it was a verandah was it?
DA: Yeah, the design of -
JA: It was a greenhouse and a verandah and it was a big construction anyway and so it was all designed but then they needed someone to make it.
DA: [?]
JA: And, of course what they, what they did, Ian said, ‘My father in law’s good at carpentry,’ etcetera etcetera and he literally did make it here.
LA: Made it out the back.
JA: Out here at this house out at the back and he built it up into sections ‘cause it was really massive. I mean I don’t know what the length of it is it’s -
DA: Thirty foot.
JA: Thirty odd feet yeah you know so I mean we had big big lorries coming in with just pieces of wood and he made that into this absolutely and it was at the Chelsea Flower Show and it was produced wasn’t it, taken -
DA: Yeah.
JA: There, put up and it was -
DA: Yeah, well again.
JA: But he loved it.
DA: Father built it in the back garden so it could be knocked down. It was bolted together, all this timber construction and come the day, the week before the show a lorry arrived to take all the parts away and deliver it to site and then father and I went down on the Monday, I took a day off work and we went down and found the location for the site for our construction and we spent the day putting it together and it was amazing because there was father, a retired carpenter, his eyesight was going a little bit and myself not a carpenter, let’s leave it at that and near us were famous names. Garden centre names and newspaper names were there.
JA: [?]
DA: With the construction workers in matching uniforms and jumpers and things and just father and I doing ours and we spent all day building this and then when we drove away at night I thought, ‘No, this isn’t smart,’ you know, ‘This doesn’t look right,’ and, you know, ‘It’s not as smart as those people over there,’ you know this is but it was designed to be an old verandah that had been that was supposed to have been an old tin with a corrugated tin roof that was supposed to have been there for fifty, sixty years and it kind of looked like that but then when we went back, I went back a week later just to help with some planting and finishing touches I actually drove past it because I didn’t recognise it because it was so fabulous. The designer’s work with the planting and the finish painted finish it was an absolutely a brilliant exhibition.
JA: It’s just wonderful that it all started here and –
DA: Yeah.
JA: His enthusiasm and he’s able to put his, into practice what he had done all his life. You know the carpentry and everything so and again all his own time. He just, you know he would help everyone.
DA: He did get the silver gilt medal. It didn’t get gold.
JA: No it didn’t get gold.
DA: It got the silver gilt and the royal family were on that verandah.
JA: Yes.
DA: Briefly.
JA: Dad was really proud of it. I mean he really felt and again it was an achievement. It was something again that he had done and so there were little things through life that you know, he enjoyed doing it didn’t he? Always helping.
MH: What did he think of the way Bomber Command were treated after the war? The way the veterans were treated. Did he have any views on it?
[Pause]
LA: Well it’s quite good isn’t it really? I mean they’re constantly doing things aren’t they?
JA: Oh that’s, I don’t think he actually, I don’t remember ever hearing anything about what he thought about -
DA: I think he kept those thoughts quiet, I think, you know. I think, you know I know that we now know that there are there are some thoughts about how terrible it might have been that we, we carried out this bombing but we can’t talk because we are not in the context of the time.
LA: No.
DA: And when you’re trying to second guess that we’re out of context now. It’s only those -
JA: But he was a man doing, he was just a man doing his job.
DA: It was only those during the environment of that time can answer that and, you know.
JA: I don’t think, I don’t think, you know, I don’t know because he hasn’t said but from how he was to me it was there was a job to be done. He went and did it and they had to do, you know, what they did and whatever the environment they were in was was it at that time. And I think, I think it’s the only thing I probably, I do vaguely think, remember him sort of talking a bit about the fact that of them not having the recognition so I think that was something and yet now that is starting to be sort of redressed and I’m trying to think when did they do the London?
DA: Well I know that if he was here now -
JA: Memorial.
DA: He’d be very pleased.
JA: He’d be -
DA: With what’s going on.
JA: Yeah.
DA: With the Memorial.
JA: Yeah, he would.
DA: Absolutely chuffed to bits.
JA: Definitely. Yeah.
DA: He was very proud of
SA: What they did.
LA: He was real
DA: His colleagues. Very proud.
JA: Really proud.
LA: Yeah he was a real RAF man really.
DA: Personally very proud. Yeah.
MH: Good.
JA: Definitely.
DA: Good. I’m pleased.
JA: Yeah, he would love, and I mean he went to the, well I took him a couple of times I think to that, The Arboretum. You know the one over -
MH: Oh the one over at Staffordshire.
JA: Yeah.
MH: Yeah.
JA: And we went over to there and I mean all of that always meant an awful lot to him so although he obviously didn’t know about this.
LA: That was when they started it wasn’t it?
JA: Well we went right at the start yeah but he, so you know that anything anyone is doing to sort of you know say what these men did and he would have approved.
MH: Good.
JA: A hundred fold.
DA: I think.
JA: You know.
DA: You can point it up by the number of visits we subsequently made to Belgium to the people of Belgium and their welcoming and their recognition because they were in the middle of a terrible situation and because of their recognition he found that their respect for him was the answer to it all. That was -
LA: When -
DA: That gave him, that gave him, you know some kind of peace to know that, that what we suffered, what my colleagues did was worth it, it which is not looked for or even had in the UK because he didn’t look for it because he wouldn’t but no one ever since 1945 has come to, come and said and done things that they do in, they do in Europe for you. I’ve heard stories about the Dutch were the same. Those who were really really at the wrong end of the stick appreciate what we did. I mean we’ve had terrible times in England of course during the World War 2 but we probably, we probably haven’t, well we haven’t suffered, well we haven’t suffered as much as the Europeans.
LA: We haven’t, we didn’t suffer.
DA: No.
LA: As much as -
DA: Yeah.
LA: The [Barotte’s] suffered.
DA: Yeah.
JA: No. [The Belgians there?].
LA: No way.
SA: [Mr Barotte].
LA: You wouldn’t have thought, when we went over there, you wouldn’t have thought anybody else was in the RAF. Only us.
JA: Dad, dad actually won it all didn’t he? Dad won the war.
LA: He’d done the lot.
JA: He did. Yes, he was singlehandedly.
LA: By the way, their reaction.
DA: Their appreciation.
LA: To him I mean.
JA: Yeah.
MH: Sure.
LA: I mean you wouldn’t have thought anybody else was in it. But -
JA: But Mr [Barotte’s], so that -
DA: Which was a big surprise to us all wasn’t it?
JA: Yeah. It was.
DA: It was marvellous, you know.
LA: Yeah.
SA: It must have been very pleasing and obviously was for dad, you know so -
MH: That he’d had due recognition.
SA: Yes. Definitely.
MH: From the very people.
LA: It really was, yeah.
SA: And in fact it was more important because it was from the people in the sense that you know you can have too much celebrity can’t you.
MH: There was no, there was no twist on it. As such.
DA: It was just wholehearted.
SA: Pure and honest and it was.
DA: Even to the point -
SA: Respect what you do.
DA: Do you remember in that restaurant after one visit we were having a meal and there was a young teenage lad who was waiting on us and he realised that we were a group of English people and he said what are you here for because their English is no problem and we said well father here has come back to see, to the cemetery where his two airmen had died.
LA: Yeah.
DA: And were buried and he said, you know, we said you know we said he was in the RAF and the young Belgian knew the history immediately and his attitude changed and he was only maybe fifteen, sixteen his attitude and respect went up a couple of notches and I thought that’s quite significant the way that the history is taught and understood and passed down and that was, that was a nice moment. Yeah. A very low key moment but a very nice moment which we noticed.
MH: Whose idea was the Memorial at the site? The lovely Memorial that has been. Whose idea was that?
DA: Theirs. The people in Belgium. In Spar.
JA: Yeah what was there originally was the site was where, this is where the pilot landed. This is well -
LA: [all over Belgium?]
JA: It’s about the size of this room -.
MH: Right.
JA: Really isn’t it?
DA: Yeah.
JA: And there’s a tree at the back and, but it was all, it was just really there wasn’t a lot there at all when we first were going over there.
DA: No but do you remember seeing the photograph [the Barottes] whether the [Barottes] got it or someone. I’ve seen a photograph and in, in of that moment just after the next few days after that crash there is -
JA: Yeah but -
DA: An imprint -
JA: Yes. That’s in -
DA: Of a body in the ground.
JA: Yes.
MH: Right.
DA: And it’s that spot that’s been chosen for the -
As I say that’s the pilot’s, that’s where he -
DA: I don’t know, was it the gunner?
JA: No. it was the pilot.
DA: Ok.
JA: Where he landed.
DA: So there’s an imprint and literally on that spot.
But they’ve now put those, what I call -
DA: Yeah.
JA: The legs on that, you know.
MH: Right. Yeah.
And they had a tree. I think they did ask dad about the tree didn’t they and anyway they’ve got the tree growing there.
LA: I mean it’s all planted. Well on that picture it is isn’t it?
DA: Yeah.
JA: Yes I mean well obviously when we go back we usually are taking some wreaths from the Legion.
LA: I know we take our wreaths and things like that.
SA: We did last year.
LA: But it’s planted.
SA: With the Legion.
LA: I mean it’s all in the middle of a meadow.
MH: Right. Yeah.
LA: But I mean and it’s looked after.
JA: They put that piece of stone there originally.
MH: Right. Oh wow. Oh that’s lovely.
JA: So of course, so it’s sort of built up from that slightly but it’s still, it’s still very sort of basic. It’s not fussy and fancy it is just -
LA: Yeah.
MH: I will say one thing about your dad in this one. He never put on any weight did he?
JA: No. No. Not at all.
SA: No he didn’t.
MH: ‘Cause I’ve seen the photographs of when he was young.
SA: Yes. Yeah.
MH: He’s very slim.
JA: Yes.
MH: Very slender built.
JA: Yeah definitely.
MH: He’s carried that for -
JA: Yes, yeah.
MH: I wish I could say the same I must admit.
JA: Yes exactly. And that’s actually the site where his ashes were.
SA: Yeah. He’s scattered around the back.
JA: Actually on -
MH: Well it’s lovely.
DA: He insisted that his ashes were laid there which we did in 2009.
MH: But what’s interesting in that photograph is that he’s stood by the Memorial but he’s not there. If you look at his face. His thoughts -
JA: Oh yes.
MH: In the photograph.
JA: Yeah.
MH: Are back -
JA: Absolutely.
MH: Back to nineteen -
SA: Yes.
MH: That’s what that photograph -
SA: Yes. Yes.
MH: Conveys to me. That his thoughts -
SA: Oh yeah.
MH: You know.
JA: It always meant -
MH: Which is lovely.
JA: Yeah. Meant that to him.
MH: And there’s his -
SA: Tree.
MH: Duly pointed out tree.
SA: Yeah.
MH: With the target on it. That’s a bit –
SA: Yeah
JA: Oh right, yeah.
MH: Someone’s put a RAF roundel above it.
JA: They did didn’t they? And then we -
MH: It’s lovely that they all come out.
JA: Yes they did. It was lovely.
LA: Oh it’s unbelievable.
MH: And young children there as well.
LA: Oh yeah.
MH: Which is good.
JA: The whole school.
LA: The whole school.
MH: Which is right.
JA: Yeah and of course we always when we go then we like to go across to the cemetery where the two are laid to rest so there’s you know where the pilot and rear gunner are. That’s at Hotton, Hotton Cemetery.
SA: And they’re mainly all twenty year olds. There were very few that are older.
JA: Well that’s it. We walk up and down.
SA: Very few. Occasionally there’s the odd one in his thirties or something but mainly twenties.
JA: That’s right.
MH: And the gentlemen are laid side by side which is nice.
DA: Yeah. Yeah.
MH: ‘Cause I did a personal trip earlier in the year as I said, going across to visit the dams and where the dams crews are laid and some of the dams crews aren’t laid together.
JA: Oh.
MH: There’s you know some of them are [it’s a picked spot?]
JA: Yeah.
MH: As such in a cemetery but it’s nice when I think the Commonwealth War Graves haven’t done that deliberately. That’s just what’s occurred.
JA: Yes. Yeah.
MH: When the bodies have come from other cemeteries and whatnot and that’s where the thing -
DA: [?]
MH: Has occurred there.
JA: They’ve actually -
MH: But it’s nice where they do have -
JA: Absolutely. Yes.
MH: The crews together ‘cause they lived each other’s lives as you rightly pointed out and they were in nissen huts, you know, normally nine times out of ten two crews per hut living side by side as you rightly pointed out so that you know one day they could come back and effects would be being loaded up by the warrant officer and you could have had a conversation with, you know, whoever, the day before and it’s just I don’t think it’s a fact that a lot of young people today could grasp. I think they would struggle to grasp that fact that you could have a conversation with somebody because if you said to them, ‘Ah, you know, your friend, tomorrow is going to, you know, not going to be there.’
JA: Yeah, they can’t really.
MH: They’d go well, no, you know
JA: No.
MH: They wouldn’t comprehend that.
JA: Not at all.
MH: That the people you lived -
JA: That was every day.
MH: Lived side by side.
MH: It happened didn’t it?
LA: Yes.
MH: Side by side.
JA: It was –
MH: You socialised side by side.
LA: Yeah. Yeah.
MH: You were literally -
JA: It was going to happen.
MH: You were hand in glove the whole time.
JA: That’s right.
MH: And I don’t think today that that it’s only sort of corresponding -
No.
MH: Sort of scenario really.
LA: I think that’s what he found. He was one of their, the group and when they had a leave I mean before my time they’d go to London but they’d all go together.
JA: Did he do anything naughty at all?
LA: Well I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.
MH: Not naughty in that way. Naughty as in have a few jars and get up to some hijinks as such.
LA: Well, I don’t know. They used to go to the palladium I think but that’s all.
DA: Am I right in thinking that when he was being demobbed he had to go, he went for training as a telephonist. He went -
LA: No I -
JA: That was before, before the -
DA: When he went to London.
JA: Wasn’t it?
DA: On a skills training course to learn how to use -
LA: To be a telephonist.
DA: The switchboard system.
LA: They did all them sort of things but -
DA: What, what I always found must have been a tough thing to do for him and for well all air crews in that you’re in, at home you could be off base celebrating and in perfect safety and in a few hours you were in maximum danger. Now that is unique. Other armed forces had their terrible times too so that’s not to decry any other out of the armed forces ‘cause it’s each had their own horrors but to actually be safe psychologically to be safe and then have to step forward and get in to a machine that’s going to take you somewhere unknown and you probably won’t come back. That takes a heck of a kind of bravery to do that. To accept that you know and to not just turn away and say sorry I can’t do it, you know.
LA: You have to go.
DA: It’s a unique -
LA: Whether you wanted to go or not.
DA: Yeah it’s a unique bravery to go from safety to certain, well not certain death but it’s there and then back again and that’s now, we’ve completed that journey. Once is enough. We got away with it we’ve got to go back again. You do that. Oh got away with it and got to go back again and keep repeating that night after night weather permitting.
MH: I think, I think you’re right in saying that the RAF were unique.
DA: I find that very difficult.
MH: In that position with both with Fighter Command and with Bomber Command in that you could, he could have been visiting you and getting his toothpaste and his shaving stick but then said that he had to be back -
LA: No he have to have Morny cream.
MH: Oh. Oh. Sorry.
LA: You don’t have an ordinary shaving stick. Not when you’re in the RAF.
MH: But you could go from that, you could go from that and go back to base.
LA: Yeah.
MH: Done briefing.
DA: Yeah.
MH: Had his egg and bacon.
DA: Yeah.
MH: And as you rightly say, within a few hours, be flying -
DA: Yeah.
MH: Above Germany.
DA: Yeah.
MH: With the unknown knowledge of course -
DA: Yeah.
MH: Whether -
LA: You don’t know.
If you’d be returning.
MH: Whereas with the navy etcetera the wives and sweethearts used to say most probably, goodbye to them at the docks.
DA: Yeah for -
MH: And the vessel would, after a day or so depart.
DA: Yeah.
MH: And with the army you were either away or you were home.
DA: Yeah. Yeah.
MH: But the RAF, I think, in those
DA: Yeah.
MH: In those sort of circumstance was quite unique.
DA: Well I think that’s a maximum stress you could get isn’t to be safe, not safe -
MH: To go from a peaceful life into ultimate stress.
DA: Yeah.
MH: And have to flick between the two.
DA: I think it’s been underestimated.
LA: Yeah but what you’re not working out you’re young -
DA: Yeah.
LA: Seventeen, eighteen you don’t think like you are thinking today.
DA: Yeah.
JA: That’s true. It’s just -
MH: But having, I must admit I have spoken to a number of people. I know a number of people -
LA: Yeah.
MH: That are of that age group that we’re talking about. Late teens to early twenties and if you said to them by the way seven of you are going to go in a plane tomorrow and you’re going to fly it technically over Germany and they’re going to be throwing eighty eight millimetre flak shells up at you where if one absolutely you know gets a good shot and comes through –
JA: That’s it –
MH: Your bomb bay -
JA: Game over.
MH: And you’ve got a four thousand bomb cookie on board, sorry that’s, sorry, kiss you’re backside goodbye.
JA: That’s exactly, yeah.
MH: You know if you said that to your average late teen, twenty year old he’d say, no thanks, I’m not doing that.
No. No.
JA: That’s right. They would.
MH: You know I think that’s what makes the people of your generation a different, totally different breed.
DA: Oh yeah.
MH: To today. You had ethics, morality, courage -
DA: Yeah.
MH: By the spade load.
DA: Yeah.
MH: Today. Nah. Do it on a video game where I can’t get hurt.
DA: Yeah.
MH: I can do that.
That’s right.
MH: But if you actually asked them to put, I think to put -
SA: Put themselves on the line.
SA: No.
MH: They wouldn’t do it.
SA: No.
MH: So that I’d take my hat off if I was wearing one.
DA: Yeah.
MH: I’d take my hat off to your generation because that’s what you went through.
DA: You see father’s birthday is October the 13th and he was nine, he went from nineteen to twenty on October the 13th, November the 2nd he was shot down.
MH: Yeah.
DA: So that’s just into his twenties.
MH: Yeah.
DA: And the pilot was twenty one, twenty two.
MH: He was twenty.
SA: Yeah. Twenty one then.
MH: He was twenty.
LA: They were -
JA: They all were weren’t they?
LA: They were all that age weren’t they?
MH: Yeah.
DA: Can you imagine the skills needed to actually fly, how about the navigating, the skills needed to navigate?
MH: They went through lot. A phenomenal amount.
LA: Have we had our three hours?
SA: No, I wouldn’t, no.
MH: I hope I haven’t bored you.
SA: Not at all. I’ll get you another cup of tea.
MH: If you would wish anything. If, say this was a normal project to specifically define your husband and your dad what do you think he would want you to say about him? What do you think? How would you sum him up?
LA: I think he’d be really quite honoured really to think so much was being done now after all those years. I mean it’s all so long ago isn’t it?
MH: In some ways, my personal feeling, it’s too long ago as in it it should have been done a lot earlier.
LA: Yeah.
MH: Because then the very people we are commemorating.
LA: I would have like him to have been here today.
MH: I’d have loved it.
JA: Oh yes.
MH: If I could have met him, I really would -
LA: Yeah.
MH: And I know he is here. He is here because the building that we are sat in he he had, you know, so, and you three, you are him.
SA: Oh yeah.
MH: So, you know, you are part made up from your mum but you’re part made up from your dad as well so you know you are him. So he is here.
SA: Oh yeah.
JA: Always.
MH: He is here with you because –
LA: Yeah.
MH: You had all that time with him.
LA: Oh yeah.
MH: So -
LA: Yeah.
MH: And, you know, I think it’s lovely. I do really.
DA: I think -
MH: Because I think this is important. People should how know families etcetera, you know.
LA: Well life is incompletely different isn’t it I mean I’m [I’m?] aren’t I?
JA: Yeah.
LA: Oh -
MH: No.
JA: Carry on.
MH: One thing I forgot to say to you, ok, is these are non PC interviews, ok. If you say something and you want it to be on there it stays on there because this is, you know -
DA: Yeah. Our -
MH: We’re not up to airy fairy -
DA: Yeah.
MH: Up and down sort of politics etcetera because this was this was one thing I asked right at the start when I was being taught, you know, how to do the oral histories, how PC did we have to be? And I said -
DA: How correct.
MH: I hope, I hope it’s not that way because -
DA: Yeah.
MH: People will say things on tape and they’ll call a spade a spade and they’ll call a banana a banana, you know. Let them just talk. Sorry. And I interrupted you there.
LA: No it’s alright. I was going to say life is completely, well I can see life completely different and the friends I’ve got that are my age, there’s only a few of us left but we think the way the young ones are going on now -
SA: They have no respect.
LA: Is terrible. The children from the playschool which is over here. They only live around the village but they’re coming in great big cars where I used to I don’t know whether along the road there is a garage.
[distant voice?]
LA: I lived at a farm just beyond that and I used to bike to Peterborough every day.
MH: Of course.
LA: To work, work all day and bike home again but I mean now they have to have a car to get them from just up the road.
SA: Well I worked obviously in an environment where I had to deal with -
LA: Oh you -
SA: Drink and young people and -
MH: Don’t mix.
SA: And their behaviour is disgraceful but I always saw myself as a headmistress they never had and they got it and I got great respect because I had boundaries and they weren’t allowed to cross them and they didn’t because -
MH: Comes from your dad.
SA: Yeah I’m very much like him.
MH: That’s one thing he very much instilled in you then.
SA: Very much. Yeah.
DA: Yeah.
SA: When, I mean, I mean what I say and he did and -
DA: I think father’s influence travelled far. I think he’d be proud that his influence has travelled far and wide in the family and in the community. His thinking –
MH: And overseas.
SA: Yeah.
MH: And overseas.
SA: Yeah.
MH: And overseas.
DA: Yeah, his influence and it’s been a settling -
LA: Well he didn’t have to make a fuss.
DA: No. No. I mean.
SA: No.
LA: He would give a look.
SA: I know
MH: Yeah. By his -
SA: I’ve had that look.
MH: And you knew about it.
SA: I’ve had it lots of times.
LA: No, but the look was enough. He didn’t have to -
SA: No he didn’t have to do anything. He just used to look at me and I used to, I used to be like behave but now they don’t.
MH: No.
SA: The young ones don’t have any respect.
LA: It’s terrible. Schools are terrible.
MH: Thank you very much. Thank you.
SA: The language and -
LA: I think schools are terrible but -
DA: Yeah. I think his legacy is his influence. His, his definite morality. Knowing right from wrong and we get to much fuzziness nowadays about what’s right and wrong, what’s wrong and this is we’ve not talked about it but he was not a religious person in the sense that we know religion as in a church goer but I know from the work he did with people he was totally committed to helping people in a no fuss way which would, could put him amongst the best of any religious genuine Christian person.
MH: Help they neighbour.
DA: Could have put him there but he chose not to go there. His selflessness you know was, was there.
MH: Didn’t need to be a practicing person to actually just hold those thoughts.
DA: Yeah.
MH: And those moralities.
DA: Yeah. He kept those thoughts to himself about his religion. Religious beliefs.
SA: But I don’t think any of us are but we’re very respectful of others and so we’re very like him in that way. We all know how to behave. Unfortunately, most of them don’t now.
MH: The generations continue.
LA: But now I mean children run riot don’t they?
DA: Oh I don’t know I think you find that teenagers always have. You know. To a certain extent. You know there’s always a wild moment in any young person’s life otherwise they’re not pushing the boundaries.
JA: Oh but -
SA: No. It’s worse.
DA: You get to the stage where we all pushed the boundaries.
SA: It’s worse now. Sorry.
DA: Which was another thing about -
JA: You know as a policeman don’t you? It’s worse.
SA: It’s worse. I mean how many drugs did we used to push down our throats? I’ve never taken one in my life. Not that kind of thing. You know, I mean paracetamols.
JA: The worst of that is that they don’t mind -
LA: Oh I’ve got piles there.
JA: Doing things. They don’t respect. Now, I wouldn’t have done things because I would think oh if my dad saw me doing that.
SA: Yeah, exactly. Or the village policeman.
JA: They don’t think that anymore because we’ve seen all these things on telly where the parents see these children brought their children doing things home or whatever.
SA: Exactly.
JA: And there’s no respect anymore for themselves.
DA: Yeah you’re right, you’re right because as a teenager.
SA: Wouldn’t have dared. Wouldn’t dare.
JA: You still wouldn’t want your dad to know.
DA: I had many temptations.
JA: That, you know, right if you -
DA: Yeah.
JA: Went off and you were drinking and you shouldn’t be or whatever, you know -
SA: I would not have dared.
MH: Your dad’s influence is conveyed through you.
JA: Absolutely.
SA: Yeah.
JA: Yeah.
MH: And through you -
JA: Yeah. Yeah.
MH: To your children.
JA: We have yeah, yeah.
MH: So his influence is just like the ripple on the pond.
DA: Yeah.
MH: It will reach out and out and out and will continue.
JA: Yes.
DA: Like I said early when I’m doing DIY stuff and I’m working with wood and I think, what do I do now? He’s my reference point but that applies to some of the morality questions and some of the logical thinking that I’ve had to do in my life.
MH: Yeah.
DA: With my family and have him included in those thoughts because I know that I can’t go too far wrong. It’s like a back stop. You know -
LA: That’s why -
DA: It’s a safe rock to come back to, well, ‘What would dad do?’ Well I’ll default to that. You know, maybe we’ll use that as a rock and spread out and do something more exciting but that’s always a backstop.
LA: That’s why when your dad died you bought him a saw. I haven’t forgotten that.
DA: What? The wreath?
JA: The wreath.
LA: A wreath was made in a saw and you said, ‘I’ve got a saw of my own now, dad,’ because dad’s saw was important and he didn’t let him mess around with it.
SA: No. No. None of us touched any of his tools. They were precious weren’t they?
DA: I’ve kept them. I’ve got them all.
JA: Yeah.
DA: I’ve kept them.
SA: I’m no good anyway I can’t DIY. Well I have just wall papered for the first time but only my bedroom so nobody knows.
DA: Sometimes I look, I kept his tool roll with his tool roll with his brace and bit and sometimes I look at it and I think, ‘How on earth did you,’ like you say he’s not a terribly big person, ‘How on earth did you use this, balancing.’ you know on somewhere on some brickwork to build a roof, you know, manually using a drill. No electricity and get some momentum, you know to –
MH: He must have had a good sense of balance.
DA: Except for once.
MH: Because of his position in the aircraft he was in.
DA: Yeah.
MH: Where he was sat in the aircraft wouldn’t have been, I mean, yeah, you would have been sat there on a [slung?] seat.
DA: Yeah.
MH: But he’d have still been, he’d have been like a [?]
DA: Yeah.
MH: He would have been like a baby’s rattle.
DA: Yeah.
MH: Because -
DA: All the movement.
MH: I mean even with his flying kit on.
DA: Yeah.
MH: Due to his build being slight he’d have still been able to be moved around in the turret.
DA: Yeah.
MH: As such.
DA: Yeah.
MH: So -
SA: It was very cold. Very cold. Even with the suits on.
LA: Very cold.
SA: He used to say how cold.
LA: He said how the icicles used to hang down his face, you know.
DA: There was, there is a rule.
SA: Very cold.
LA: Well he was up in that -
MH: Yeah.
LA: Top.
MH: Yeah.
DA: Yeah if you remember mother that there’s a rule he said there’s a notice somewhere in the aircraft or it’s in their rulebook, it was in their rulebook that it’s a punishable offence to grow icicles on the oxygen mask through the hours that you flew without any action an icicle from your breath will start to form.
LA: Yeah.
DA: And they were tempted to have a competition, you know, to grow a long icicle. He said there is an actual a rule you shouldn’t do that, you know. You’ll be punished, you know, should you be found.
LA: Snap it off.
DA: Yeah.
MH: Well it’s understandable.
DA: Yeah.
MH: As I said I had the good fortune to talking with Syd Marshall the other day who was a flight engineer on Lancasters and he was explaining that up at high altitudes twenty, twenty five thousand feet certain bits used to freeze and things like that.
DA: Yeah.
MH: You know and I’ve certainly read about, from the air gunner’s side of things when they were chipping ice off the inside of the Perspex.
DA: Yeah.
MH: You know, and try and see the enemy fighter let alone shoot it down. To try and see it first.
DA: Yeah.
MH: You know, and it was a very cold period of time.
DA: Yeah. Always night flying.
MH: Especially during the winter ops as well and things like that as well.
DA: Yeah. Always night flying there’s no there’s no sun, heat from the sun.
MH: No. No, you’ve got no thermal heat as such but, no. But I will ask anybody now.
LA: Is that Judy?
DA: Yeah.
MH: Is there anything else anybody would like to add regarding your late husband and your late dad that you’d like people to know about him?
DA: Well I think it would be useful if we all were to say that we owe, we owe him a big debt for our lives. There’s a certain tree in Belgium that we owe our lives to. Without that we wouldn’t be here.
JA: No, that’s for sure.
DA: And he was, you know a very sincere, quiet, strong, brave man.
LA: He was certainly strong.
SA: A very special man.
LA: But not, he wasn’t -
SA: In a quiet way.
LA: [an ebullient person?].
SA: No. He was quiet.
LA: He was quiet but he was strong but we’re both strong.
MH: Yeah.
SA: And so are we.
JA: I think we -
LA: And they’re strong.
JA: I think we he lived his life the way he wanted to live it.
LA: Yeah.
JA: I think he lived it to the full. He did all the things that he wanted to do.
LA: Yeah.
JA: You know he had his own limitation on flying.
SA: Yeah he didn’t like -
JA: But that was from an experience, obviously that was the experience during the war.
SA: That is, we can’t -
JA: But I think he, you know, did good.
SA: Yeah. Yeah.
JA: Really.
MH: He seems to have lived life to the full.
SA: Yeah.
MH: Following the second chance with the tree.
JA: Absolutely.
SA: That’s right.
JA: And that was -
MH: The tree.
SA: The tree saved his life.
MH: That’s when the tree said –
SA: Yeah.
MH: I’m giving you your life back.
SA: Yeah.
JA: Exactly.
SA: Oh yeah.
MH: Go and, you know, do -
JA: He had to do something with it because, you know -
MH: I think he gained strength from that tree. You know, you know so trees -
JA: Yeah.
MH: Trees are invariably strong but -
SA: Yeah.
JA: Yeah.
MH: You know, possibly that you could say, you know, in that tree saving him -
LA: Well, it definitely -
JA: It gave him another sixty three years of life.
MH: Yeah.
LA: I mean you just wonder, why did his parachute catch in the tree, don’t you?
SA: Well, it was just fate.
LA: Yeah.
JA: All down to the, literally, timing.
MH: Somebody rolled the dice.
SA: Yeah.
JA: Exactly.
MH: And the dice came up for him that day.
SA: One lived. Two died.
MH: Yeah.
LA: But he certainly didn’t get over that.
SA: No.
LA: Well you have to live on don’t you?
JA: That’s it and it coloured his life and it made him probably a better person.
SA: Yeah.
MH: Made him. Yeah he gained strength from it.
JA: Exactly, you know.
MH: Albeit, as I say, in that photograph, where he stood.
JA: Yeah.
MH: You can clearly see he’s not there.
JA: No.
MH: He’s physically there as I say but -
JA: Yeah but -
MH: His mind, his mind is elsewhere -
JA: He’s back with the boys.
MH: He’s back with his boys.
JA: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
MH: Yeah.
JA: And that’s the pinnacle of all of it really.
LA: Well he made that decision that he wanted to go back there didn’t he?
SA: Yeah.
JA: Oh yes with his ashes.
SA: Ashes, yeah.
MH: I think, yeah.
LA: Which -
JA: He had to, yeah.
MH: I think that, yeah.
JA: Yeah.
SA: He wanted to be there with them again. That’s really, he wanted to be back with them.
LA: Yeah. Which again -
SA: The only way he could.
JA: ‘Cause he would always have felt really sad that they didn’t get that life that he’s had, you know.
SA: Yeah.
JA: But they’re the things you have to live I suppose on those sorts of occasions aren’t they?
SA: Yeah.
JA: Those things that happen.
SA: Many, many did.
MH: In some ways you could say as well that in him being saved he then lived a life for them.
JA: Yeah. Oh yes. Yeah.
MH: And in memory of them as well you know it happens quite often where you’ve got crew members they lose crew members and things like that because the many times and unfortunately your dad’s position in the aircraft was right above where the roundel was so it was like giving the German night fighter a target to aim at.
SA: Oh yeah.
JA: Absolutely.
MH: Just aim for the roundel.
JA: I’m here.
MH: ‘Cause there’s a man there.
JA: Yeah. Absolutely.
MH: And tail end Charlies of course, you know -
JA: Gosh.
MH: Being lonely at the back and, you know, detached.
LA: Oh yeah.
MH: From, you know, from the rest of the crew.
LA: You are.
MH: Connected by intercom you know and having to sit in the turret.
LA: Yeah.
MH: Open the back doors behind you to extricate your parachute from there and then re-shut and turn it around and open them again.
JA: Yeah. That’s right. And then when they don’t open.
MH: The aircraft doing, you know, did an almighty spin because a lot of them used to spin because of the damage etcetera but -
LA: You’re clearly on your own aren’t you?
MH: Very isolated. But you -
LA: But I think when you went up in the top, not knowing but I think you were alone really and you’re very in line of a shot.
SA: I’ve watched all the old war films and –
MH: Yeah.
LA: Someone else.
SA: It’s really, I mean I know they’re only films but they are very good and they show you, you know what happened and I -
MH: What I would recommend to you if you haven’t seen it is basically Bomber Command station commander at RAF Hemswell videoed, not video, they didn’t have video then but he cinecamera’d.
SA: Yeah.
It’s the only colour film they have of Bomber Command during the war and it’s, as I say, RAF Hemswell prior to them doing a raid and it takes you through all the stages where the briefing and the pilot comes in. He’s got his little dog there and everything.
SA: Yeah.
And it takes you all the way through but it’s the only documentary that you can see and that’s on YouTube so it’s well worth having a look at because it really will put you in the seat you know because this particular crew ended up completing their raid but they were late out and then late back and by the time they were coming back fog had descended on their home airfield.
SA: Oh no and they –
MH: So they then had to try and find another one because they’d had some damage caused to the aircraft and then they had to find one with what they used to call FIDO which was of course the burning off of all the petrol to try and lift the fog.
SA: Oh right.
MH: And they ended up landing on a FIDO field as such but it’s well worth, well worth having a look, you know and it will give you an insight.
JA: Yeah.
MH: To what, you know your dad had gone through and everything.
JA: That’s right. He did actually go back in a Lancaster fifteen years ago.
MH: Right.
JA: Where it goes from. Is it East Kirkby?
MH: Oh he went for a taxi ride.
JA: Down the taxi -
MH: Yeah.
JA: Because I -
MH: Yeah.
JA: It happened to be my son’s, it was his twenty fifth birthday and we all went for that so that is myself and my husband and dad and, but anyway we, you know got him in there. He was in there and he went right through to the front and sat in the pilot’s seat and everything and, I mean, you know, like he said from when he was a young lad in there I mean there isn’t much room in them.
MH: No.
JA: They are so tiny.
MH: Very tiny. Yeah.
SA: He didn’t want to be a big person.
JA: He didn’t at all, you know and I stayed in the mid upper gunner position, sort of thing because there’s nothing there but you just stand and you can look out, sort of thing. I think my daughter was the rear gunner, you know. We just, yeah taxied up and down. That was the first time he’d gone back in.
MH: How did he feel when he came out?
JA: He was -
LA: He also wanted -
JA: Thrilled. He loved it. He was absolutely, yeah, just really pleased that he’d done it. He also spoke to the pilot. They obviously, you know ‘cause it was a very special day for dad and everything and they, he’s got a picture somewhere with him and he was yeah he couldn’t believe in a way I think how it had sort of shrunk because of course you know that sort of happens doesn’t it? When you -
MH: Yeah.
JA: You forget how small it -
MH: I always relate -
JA: How tight it all is.
MH: Relate things to Wagon Wheels.
Yeah [laughs] Yes, they’ve shrunk haven’t they?
MH: They were bigger. I’m sure they were bigger.
JA: Yeah they have.
MH: They’ve definitely gone in for a shrink but you were going to say sorry.
JA: Yes.
MH: You were going to say.
JA: What were you going to say?
LA: Well I was going to say his picture and bits and pieces went to Elvington. Do you know Elvington?
MH: Yes. Yes.
LA: In Yorkshire. We used to go there because we had a good friend who was in charge of the gunnery room. I’ve forgotten now what but he put some things in there and he put some things in -
JA: East Kirkby.
LA: East Kirkby. Bits and pieces.
JA: Yeah the air gunners room. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
LA: Yeah.
JA: In the air gunner’s room.
LA: That right.
JA: But, yeah there’s some artefacts there really as well which -
LA: Yeah but I mean that’s we’re going back -
JA: Years ago.
LA: A long way. Anyway -
MH: Right. Got this. Ok. Before I turn this tape off then is there anything anybody would like to add?
[Pause]
JA: No.
SA: No.
LA: No.
MH: Ok the time is now 1555 and I’m going to turn the tape off.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
interview with Derrick Allen's family
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Mark Hunt
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-08-30
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
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.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
01:47:44 audio recording
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AAllenFam150830
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
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Description
An account of the resource
Derrick Allen was the mid-upper gunner on a Lancaster that crashed near Spa in Belgium. He had been making his way to bale out when the pilot asked him to help the rear gunner who was trapped in his turret. He managed to do this but the plane broke apart giving them no time to escape. Three members of the crew had already successfully baled out, the pilot and rear gunner died but Derrick Allen fell into a tree and survived. He went on to marry and have a family but only told his daughter about this incident in the 1970s. He later visited the site of the crash and found that the local people had created a memorial and he became close friends with many locals. His family describe the quality of his post-war life and praise their father for his courage.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Great Britain
Belgium--Spa
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-11-02
467 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
animal
bale out
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
crash
memorial
military service conditions
RAF Waddington
shot down
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/189/2492/CCaseyJ-151119-010001.1.jpg
702685146973f52f62ec0246c3efb00d
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
Casey, John
J Casey
John Casey
Description
An account of the resource
14 items. Collection contains an oral history interview with Sergeant John Casey (- 2016, 2217470, Royal Air Force), an escape map, logbook, service documentation, a wallet and photographs. John Casey served as an air gunner on 61 Squadron in 1944-45.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by John Casey and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-06-10
2015-11-19
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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.
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Casey, J
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Silk escape map
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Escape map for France Germany and Switzerland on the left and Belgium and Germany on the right.
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Silk map
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Map
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CCaseyJ-151119-010001
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
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IBCC Digital Archive
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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.
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Belgium
France
Germany
Switzerland
evading
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/217/3357/ABrownJM170405.2.mp3
8f4fa77e938c5a0b3f81064e719677af
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Title
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Brown, John M
John M Brown
Jack Brown
John Brown
J M Brown
J Brown
Description
An account of the resource
One oral history interview with John "Jack" Brown (b. 1921, 423662 Royal Australian Air Force).
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IBCC Digital Archive
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2017-04-05
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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.
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Brown, JM
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Transcription
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JM: This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is Jean McCartney, the interviewee is John, or Jack as he is better known, Brown. The interview is taking place at Mr Brown’s home in Sylvania, New South Wales, on the 5th of April 2017. Also present is Mr Brown’s daughter, Jan. Okay Jack, let’s start at the beginning, you were born in July 1921 I believe.
JB: Right.
JM: At Carlingford. Now was that at a hospital or at a home?
JB: At home.
JM: At home. I thought it might have been. So how long did the family live around Carlingford for? Any rough idea?
JB: No.
JM: No, okay.
JB: They lived there a long while.
JM: A long while.
JB: Yeah.
JM: And is that where you grew up? Did you go to school round there?
JB: No, I went to school at Rose Bay.
JM: Oh, Rose Bay, right. So did you travel from Carlingford to Rose Bay?
JB: Oh, actually I grew up around Rose Bay.
JM: Oh, so you moved over.
JB: They, my parents moved.
JM: Moved, right.
JB: So I just was with them.
JM: Yes, that’s okay. So you moved to around Rose Bay and what primary school did you go to?
JB: The one at Rose Bay.
JM: Rose Bay, okay.
JB: They had the place opposite, and it was run by brothers. And so, I got, had a twin brother and so we went to school there.
JM: Right. And did that also have High School, or did you go somewhere different for High School?
JB: No, I went to school there, I remember going to school there and then I joined the Air Force when Japan came into the war.
JM: Yes. Did you finish school, erm, did you do your Intermediate Certificate?
JB: Did I do?
JM: Do your Intermediate Certificate, at high school.
Jan: High School.
JM: My what?
JB: I studied after I left school.
JM: No, no I’m asking you did you finish at school. And you left at fourteen did you?
JB: Yes.
JM: Okay, and when you were at school, did you do anything in particular there, you know, sort of sporting teams or get involved in anything?
JB: Tennis.
JM: Tennis?
JB: I was a very good tennis player and we, I won a championship there, but then I left there and went into the Air Force.
JM: Right, I think you actually did some work after you left school. I think you were in at, telegram boy. And then -
JB: Ah yes.
JM: And then that’s when you -
JB: Well you’ve got most of my history.
JM: I just want to hear your recollections to see what you have to say. It’s different hearing it from a person as opposed to reading about it. Because what we’re talking about here is that Jack’s life has been written up in a book called “The Sitting Duck Squadron” by Andy Larson, but as I say, it’s one thing to read about it, but it’s more –
JB: More intimate.
JM: More intimate if I can actually hear the words from you and what your recollections are. So, I mean there’s a couple of things about this time as well, is that you were living through the Depression years, and your parents obviously were having to cope with you.
JB: Yes. They weren’t well off.
JM: They weren’t well off. And you had one brother did you have any other?
JB: And three sisters.
JM: And three sisters. So you had a fairly -
JB: And the three sisters, actually they’re Gary’s daughters, and they’re now three owners here with me of this establishment and the one up in the top corner there.
Jan: That’s his daughters.
JB: That’s my granddaughter, she drew that.
JM: Goodness me!
Jan: No, she’s taking about whether you’ve got sisters and brothers, dad. You’ve got auntie Gloria, she was the only sister you had.
JM: Right. Okay.
JB: I’m finding it hard to remember.
JM: Yes, well it’s a long, long time ago. Okay. So what, after you left school, which I guess you left school early at fourteen because of the Depression.
JB: At fourteen.
JM: And everyone needed to try and get some work, so you went into, became a telegram boy, with the Post Office, and then you did some study and you went into the public service, you passed your public service exams, and became a public servant and you were, that’s when you first started with the Department of Interior.
JB: Right.
JM: Right? Yes, so and then after that is when you enlisted.
JB: In the Air Force.
JM: In the Air Force, and you had a gap between when you signed on.
JB: I had a what?
JM: A gap. You had to wait. You signed up in -
JB: Ah yes, I waited a few months.
JM: You signed up in December 1941 and.
JB: I think that, is that written in the book?
JM: Book, yes. And then you actually started your ITS in July 1942.
JB: What’s ITS?
JM: Your initial training.
JB: Ah yes.
JM: At Bradfield Park.
JB: Yes, that’s it. You’ve got it all. Well it’s in the book I think.
JM: Yes, and then after you did your initial training you went to Temora for your, when you started to fly, to do, start your pilot training.
JB: I did.
JM: So you were flying Tiger Moths at this point.
JB: Yes. You’ve got it all. I think it’s all in the book is it?
JM: Yes, but not everyone is going to be able to read the book.
JB: Oh, I see.
JM: So we need to have a little chat to be able to –
JB: To recognise.
JM: To have it available to other people because, as I say, it’s not possible for everyone to read the book.
JB: No, that’s right, I had to wait a few months. When I first joined, I joined the day Japan came into the war, but I didn’t get called up until a few months later and then I went to, I went to Temora.
JM: Yes. And do you remember anything, before you went to Temora, Sydney Harbour, the Japanese submarines in Sydney Harbour, do you remember anything about that?
JB: Ah yes, I do. We were living at Rose Bay then and so we were quite close to what was going on and I remember the fact that they got into the harbour and they sank the ship.
JM: The Kuttabul, yes.
JB: Yes.
JM: Did you, were you around at the like, did you hear, were you at home, did you hear any noises at any time? You can’t remember that.
JB: I can’t remember. Oh no. I remember them being there.
JM: Yes, yes. Well when you then went off to Temora and started your training, flying then on Tiger Moths, that was the first time you had been in a plane, I would assume. How did that feel?
JB: Well, the first time, they take you up and they put you through all these exercises and after that I thought oh, what am I doing here, like it was something that I hadn’t expected and I thought oh, I wasn’t happy. But I was tied up to the Air Force, so I just went through my course at Temora and then from there I went to Point Cook. I think that’s in the book.
JM: Yes, that’s right. And were there any scary experiences when you were flying around in the country there, or what?
JB: Oh it was no fun [much laughter].
JM: No? And why was it no fun?
JB: It was bloody dangerous! [Laughter] It was no fun, and you know, when I got my wings, I was kept back in Victoria for an extra, er, extra study for about a week or a fortnight, and then, I left then, I was going, I don’t know where I was going, I think I was going on leave and I got pulled up by the Commonwealth Police and, I had a jacket on, and they questioned me and blah, so that was no trouble and then I took my coat off and they saw that I was an officer and oh, they were horrified because they shouldn’t be interrogating me, as an officer. So they took me in hand and oh, they really looked after me and so, and then I finished up going to England. Went through, went through the United States.
JM: Yes, you went, you had an interesting trip, you went via the Panama Canal. Yes.
JB: Yeah. That’s right. You’ve got it all.
JM: Yes. But again it doesn’t really tell me about what you saw, what you, what sort of conditions were on the ship. Did you have to do any watches on the trip? Or anything like that?
JB: Oh no, it was just a holiday.
JM: Just a holiday. How many were in each cabin?
JB: It was packed with ex Army people, Americans, and they were being sent home because they were ill, or something, and it was twenty four hours a day, but I had a room to, I had an area to myself, which was very good, because I was an officer, and so that was a bit of a trip with me, but I had somebody with me. I think I had one of my family.
JM: No, you wouldn’t have a family member, no.
JB: Oh, I wouldn’t. Anyway.
JM: So what do you remember about going through the Panama Canal? Does that bring back any memories for you at all, or not?
JB: That was most interesting because you’d go along and then you’d stop, and then they’d have to fill the.
JM: The locks.
JB: [Door shutting] The lock again, to get through. So that happened and er, hang on, one time I had another person in the, in my room I think. Well no, I think that was when I went back and she fell out and hurt her head. That’s another occasion.
JM: Yes, now that’s another occasion, right. So then you went from, so did you have some leave in New York? Did you have some, after you arrived in New York did you have a little bit of leave to look around before you left again?
JB: Ah, they sent us out on leave to a particular area and there was a sergeant with me, and we went to this place, and he was a Colonel, and he was involved in some way with the Forces, and the chap who was with me wasn’t happy, so he left, but I stayed and they had a, they used to have a tennis competition. Did I mention this in the book?
JM: I don’t remember that bit, no.
JB: So they had this tennis organisation and I was a pretty good tennis player, and so I trounced them and they, they were shocked because they’d, they had a group that used to meet and play tennis and what have you, and they thought they were pretty good, but oh, they were no hope with me! So they got astounded at that. But I forget how long I was there. And then from there I went to Kidlington.
JM: Well went to Brighton to start with –
JB: Ah, Brighton, yeah, but then -
JW: And then after Brighton you did go to Kidlington, that’s right.
JB: That’s right. Alhough was it Kidlington that I was just talking about.
JW: Oh okay, right.
JB: Where I stayed.
JM: Right, right, okay. And so, and it was here that you were doing your advanced training, advanced flying training.
JB: At Moreton in the Marsh?
JM: That was when you got to OTU. So anything about Kidlington that stands out, any particular memory about Kidlington?
JB: About Kidlington? Oh, Kidlington was very interesting. The er, ah, what can I say? I was involved in an organisation at Oxford and the, Kidlington was just a training, er from Kidlington I went straight into the Air Force, into the battalion.
JM: From there you went to the OTU at Moreton on Marsh.
JB: From Moreton in the Marsh I went to Uxbridge.
JM: Yes, but let’s go back for a minute to Kidlington, ‘cause when you were there you had some leave at times, didn’t you, and you went up to Scotland, with a couple of other Scottish.
JB: Ah, well I did, you’re bringing back memories to me. I went up to Scotland and, actually, I met my wife there, only I didn’t marry her there, it was after the war.
JM: That’s right, but that’s where you first met, your wife Rita.
JB: Yes.
JM: Yes, in Edinburgh. What did you think of Edinburgh when you first got there, sort of?
JB: I liked Edinburgh.
JM: You liked Edinburgh?
JB: Yes, it was a fascinating place. It had, it’s got the castle up on the top and then they used to walk from there to, well barracks I call it, but it was a castle, Uxbridge Castle. And ah, I liked it.
KM: Yeah, Edinburgh. That’s good. Okay, well let’s go to, so then you got to OTU at Moreton on Marsh. And this was, I presume you did a conversion course to Wellingtons just before you went to OTU because you were flying Wellingtons when you got to OTU.
JB: We were flying Wellingtons at Kidlington.
JM: Ah, okay, alright, Wellingtons there as well, right.
JB: So from there I went to Moreton in the Marsh and then from Morton in the Marsh I was sent to Uxbridge and that’s where the Prime Minister operated, from there. We flew off from there on operations for a while and then I went over to Europe.
JM: Okay, well we’ll come to that in a moment. But just, the OTU is, where you crewed up, so, well at least I’m assuming that’s where you crewed up because that was the normal place for the crewing up to happen, so how did you choose your navigator and your bomb aimer and your gunners?
JB: There.
JM: There. How did you know any of these other chaps, or did they have friends, or?
JB: I did, I, they, queued people up and then I would select them.
JM: On what basis, what, you know, because you liked the look of them, or did you have a few words with them and wait to hear them speak, and then?
JB: I forget now.
JM: You forget now, right.
JB: I selected three people, and one of them, I think he was a sergeant, and he flew with me on one occasion and I thought I can’t, I’m not going to have this bloke, so I dumped him. I said I, ‘you can’t fly with me’ and so then they lined up other people and that’s, I finished up with three officers and oh, we became great pals.
JM: Great pals, that’s right.
JB: We survived the war and I got in, kept in touch with them afterwards. I still keep in touch with a couple of the sons of one of the.
JM: One of the chaps.
JB: One of chaps, yeah.
JM: Now I’m interested that you had fewer crew, that you didn’t seem to have a wireless operator in your crew, that seemed a little different to me, that you didn’t have a wireless operator.
JB: Well I think, I did have a wireless operator, but he didn’t operate as a wireless operator, he operated down below, as an observer.
JM: He was the observer was he, right?
JB: Yes, and he used to take the photographs. I think I explained in the book that we used to fly out about eight o’clock at night.
JM: Yes, well we’ll come to that in a mo. Well, in fact we will come to that now, because after you completed your training at OTU you went, you were posted to 69 Squadron. Now you said that you were posted straight off to this squadron which was flying Wellingtons, and didn’t go off to, posted off to a Lancaster Conversion Course which was what a lot of the chaps did, do you know why you were selected to go to 69 Squadron?
JB: No, I don’t.
JM: Or did you choose, did you put your hand up for it?
JB: No!
JM: You just got told you were going - Brown you’re going to 69.
JB: I was told I was going there and I didn’t know what it was or anything. And when I got there, I found that we operated from there, over, in connection with the invasion force. [Pause] And well, with the invasion forces, I never expected to survive the war. Most of the crew who I trained with down at, in Victoria, they were all killed, except one fellow who flew with me, and we used to get shot to pieces, and he got wounded and he went to hospital. He got wounded down below and his, and I saw him after the war. He came from Newcastle, but he, oh he never flew again, no. On our operations we’d get shot to pieces.
JM: Yes, and let’s, because it is a very different activity to what most other people were doing because they, 69 Squadron, wasn’t a very big squadron as I understand it.
JB: On no.
JM: No. And what 69 Squadron was doing was photographic reconnaissance, is that right? And to do that photographic reconnaissance you had to fly in very low?
JB: No.
JM: Drop flares?
JB: Oh, yeah. We used to fly about eight thousand feet, but when it was good weather I used to get down lower and then rise when I got to the target, then we’d drop flares, at eight thousand feet. Then we’d come down and photograph at a thousand feet and the activity, and you mentioned about, that church, at Lincoln was it?
JM: Lincoln, yes.
JB: Lincoln. I operated, I went through that church, and I operated from there. I was to photograph it later on, which I did, but it was a well known church and we, anyway I photographed that but, now where are we up to? Where I went to the squadron?
JM: Yes, so when you were in the squadron and we were just talking about what the squadron actually did in terms of having to drop the flares. The flares provided enough light for you then to do the photographing, because you were photographing troop movements mainly was it, or what else?
JB: I’ll tell you why it was established. The Wellington had a certain speed and it worked with the camera. They could, they knew what was going on during the day because they could see and they operated, but they didn’t know what was going on at night. So they established this squadron and, to establish the activities at night. And we used to fly out at eight thousand feet, drop flares, and it was just like daylight. Then we’d come down to a thousand feet and photographed what we saw and that’s how we operated. But I survived that war; nearly everybody on the squadron, they were all killed because it was, when you came down to a thousand feet, you were so well lit up.
Jan: Vulnerable.
JB: And we’d get hit, but the Wellington could take a lot of activity because of its construction, and I used to get hit many times and we got hit this time and he got wounded, this chap, and he never flew again. And I saw him after the war but he was a mess. But I survived the war.
JM: You did, that’s right. And in fact, to start with, you were based in England, but then, after about eight or so missions, you got moved over to Belgium and you were based in.
JB: Ah yes, we were stationed at Kidlington was it?
JM: Oh that was, that was for your earlier training. No, you were based at Northolt, near, where Heathrow is today.
JB: From Northolt, yeah, yeah, and from Northolt, well I left.
JM: The squadron was moved over to near Brussels, to Melsbroek.
JB: Yeah, that’s right, we went over on the continent. And then after the continent, I think I came back to England didn’t I?
JM: You did, after you finished your thirty five missions.
JB: You’ve got it all there.
JM: Yes, but again, I’m interested to hear you talk about it, and particularly as I say, that you had, you know, some very hairy experiences.
JB: Oh yeah. Well one night in particular we were flying over Germany or somewhere and I saw all this flak and what have you, oh, it was like daylight, and I thought oh, isn’t that good, we’re not going there [phone rings] next minute we turn right and we headed right over it and then up on top is an aircraft. It was hit by searchlights and we were way down below, it was way up, twenty thousand feet, and next thing, they all baled out, up there; they got hit and they all baled out. I don’t know what happened to them, but they would have landed, but the activity down below, oh, was really. And I was down below in all that activity, but I got out of that and survived.
JM: You survived, that’s right. And then on the tenth operation, your tenth trip was particularly hairy, wasn’t it?
JB: Was that the one I was just talking about?
JM: Well, it could be, because you ended up having -
JB: Most trips were very dicey because we dropped the flares and it was like daylight and we came down at a thousand feet, which is nothing. So we’d get a lot of activity, lot of ambushing, the plane would get hit but the Wellington construction was such that it could take it.
JM: It could take it, that’s right. But on the tenth flight you had a lot of, for some reason the camera didn’t want to be very cooperative and you ended up having to do three runs before you could actually get the -
JB: That’s the tenth trip was it.
JM: Well that’s what the book tells me, yes.
JB: But the book wouldn’t tell you much.
JM: No. It doesn’t that’s why I’m trying to get a few more little details of your personal memories of it.
JB: Well they were all dicey because it would be like daylight and we’d come down and a thousand feet is nothing so we would get hit, but the Wellington was a plane that could take a pasting.
JM: That’s right, so on this trip you had, you had to go round three times, and so you got hit every time you went through when you were, because the camera wasn’t taking the photos and then you, on the third run, you finally got there and then you had to go off to another area and you had exactly the same problem, the camera didn’t, still took a while.
JB: That’s recorded is it? Well that’s true.
JM: Yes, and then when you finally were able to turn for home you ended up only having one engine to fly on ultimately.
JB: [Laugh] That, what was in that book was correct. And that was one trip that I came back on one engine.
JM: Which with the Wellington only having two engines that doesn’t leave you with much, but yes!
JB: Well I wasn’t sure it would fly us on one engine, but it did.
JM: It did.
JB: And we got back home and I landed, but I landed at the wrong ‘drome! Did I mention that?
JM: Not really, no.
JB: Well when we came back, they had organised a strip that we [emphasis] knew and only the pilots that were operating knew that they could fly on this trip, and so I came back on that, but what had happened was another crew, they came in but they were followed by a German plane. And the German plane shot them down, they were all killed, and then he, the German plane was left over Brussels. And I was contacted, and it was ready to attack me, well it did, but it got shot down and the rear gunner, he got a decoration for that and er, but the plane, the German plane, couldn’t get out because it didn’t know the route out. It got in because it followed the plane, but once it got in was saddled, so we shot it, they said to me ‘what do we do with it?’ and I said ‘shoot it down!’ So we shot it down and he was killed; he was one of their best pilots. So I rang the, I got in touch with [indecipherable] and said ‘look, I’ll bring his body back’, and they said oh great. So I did. But I also had two young girls on it, who had said to me, ‘oh look we want to come on your trip as observers’, and I said ‘oh, I’m not happy about that.’ Anyway, they got on the plane, and so when I flew the German back to Germany, I dropped his body and two, the two girls came out too, but they were dead of course. And they got on the plane and they didn’t have any oxygen so, you know, they didn’t survive. So the two girls, I dropped the German and then the two girls’ bodies came out and they were returned to India – they were, they came from India.
JM: Goodness!
JB: And they were recognised as being very efficient, you know, but stupid, for sneaking on the plane, and anyway, that was an interesting story.
JM: Story, yes.
Jan: That’s wild!
JB: Hey?
Jan: That’s wild!
JM: So, the point is that, with that trip, that you ended up having to do three attempts to get the photographs, not once but twice and because the plane was so damaged and bringing it back on the one engine, meant that you ended up being awarded a DFC. For that particular trip.
JB: I forget exactly what I, was awarded the DFC for what trip.
JM: Well that, and everything, and all the other experiences.
JB: And afterwards the Queen, I got awarded the Victoria Cross.
JM: No, I’m not sure that you, that happened.
JB: No, it didn’t happen then.
JM: No.
JB: It happened later. The, what happened, my crew, or you know, were awarded not the Victoria Cross, the highest award that a civilian could get, although I wasn’t a civilian and I was awarded that and the Queen, she knew this, she said, I was getting some other award, and she said that I was the bravest sergeant in the Australian Army.
Jan: Air Force.
JM: Air Force, right.
JB: World War Two. And she said so I’m going to award him the Victoria Cross. So I’ve got that now. Did I mention that in the book?
JM: No. You’re confused.
Jan: You got the DFC, but you never got the VC.
JB: No, I’ve got a –
Jan: The DFC, Distinguished Flying Cross.
JB: Then I’ve got another award which was given to me by the British Army and then the Queen, she had read everything, and she gave me the Victoria.
Jan: No, dad, you didn’t get that one, you’ve got the DFC, and you’ve got a couple of other ones, but you don’t have the Victoria Cross.
JB: Not, I only got that recently, not recently, I mean you know.
JM: Anyway, after you finished your thirty five missions, um, or ops, you finished, that finished your tour and so you ended up having some leave, in Paris.
JB: Having to what -
JM: You had some leave.
JB: Ah, right.
JM: After you finished your thirty fifth op, [throat clear] pardon me, you took some leave in Paris and had a look around Paris, and went to quite a few shows there.
JB: Yeah, and I got involved with the girls, they used to put on a show, they would see these girls, and the girls used to strip off and [laughter] and I went on one of these trips and I saw the girls, and I, the couple of girls that I saw were Australians! And anyway I didn’t have sex with them or anything, no [laughter].
Jan: I’m glad! Thanks for that information dad! [Much laughter]
JB: I don’t know why I didn’t! But.
Jan: Too much information!
JM: So after your leave you got posted to Newcastle, to assist with some training up there. You became a trainer -
JB: Ah, yeah.
JM: Which didn’t impress you very much like that, no.
JB: I didn’t like that and I finished up there.
JM: Yes, you did. Well the only saving grace to that was you were near, much closer to Edinburgh and so could go and see Rita more often, or more easily I should say.
JB: I wasn’t married then.
JM: No, no, you weren’t married but you just were still just good friends and you would go and visit her and her mother.
JB: I did. I visited, yes.
JM: The two of them.
JB: Her mother, I forget now.
Jan: Nana Cullen, your favourite.
JB: Yeah. [Much laughter]
Jan: Don’t you say a word!
JB: You know more about it than I do!
JM: Anyway, let’s, you finished up there and you came back to Australia, and you were discharged in December 1945 and so you went, because you had been working with the Commonwealth Department of Interior, you went back into the Commonwealth Department of Interior. You at no stage contemplated going into private sector, you decided to always be a public servant?
JB: Ah, well I don’t know, but I thought oh well, I’ll just go back into the public, and I, the head of the, that department, he really [emphasis] liked me, and he was going, well he supported me to become the head of the whole department and then, but he got married again and his wife made him leave the government. So he left the government, so I was sort of left on my own.
JM: Yes. So you had a very long career with the Department of the Interior. You moved around: you went from Sydney to Canberra, for a very brief stint, and then back to Sydney, and in amongst all of that Rita came out and joined you and you got married and had a happy ending there after all there.
JB: You’ve got it all.
JM: And then you went ultimately back to Canberra for, in the late fifties and the early sixties and then down to Melbourne.
JB: And from Melbourne I was to become the head of, I was brought back to Canberra and I was to become head of the department, but it didn’t happen because the head of the department, he got married and his wife made him leave the Air Force so I didn’t have a supporter.
JM: Mmm. That’s right. So, but anyway you ended up back in Sydney and that’s where you retired from, in 1973, so then that gave you and Rita a chance to do a bit of travel. You went trotting around here and there did you?
JB: Yeah, went all round the world. Went to, back to Edinburgh, and to that place that you mentioned, and then on the continent, went to this place where, that the girls used to operate, you know.
JM: Into Paris, into.
JB: Over in Europe. Went there, went and saw the girls there, and it, I had a most interesting time.
JM: And it meant that you’ve ended up with a pretty full life one way and another.
JB: Oh, absolutely. Most interesting life, and I never really expected to survive the war, never [emphasis]. I was one of the few who survived, and now I’m, how old am I?
Jan: Ninety five.
JB: Ninety five now, and they reckon I will live to be a hundred and get a letter from the Queen if she’s still alive. [Chuckle]
JM: Well that would be good. And you mentioned that you did stay in touch with some of your crew members, after the war.
JB: Oh well they, my own crew, they’re dead, but one of them had two sons.
JM: Sons, yes. Were all of them - there were no other Australians, they were all English, Scottish chaps that were on your crew?
JB: Oh, they were all English, all English.
JM: Yes, yes.
JB: Although this chap that got wounded, he was an Australian. What happened was, we didn’t drop bombs or anything.
JM: No, that’s right.
JB: We used to just photograph. Then they decided that we would drop bombs, and I said ‘oh, I’m not going to drop any bombs, I‘ve nearly finished my tour and I’ll just do the normal thing’ and that is exactly what happened. I didn’t drop any bombs, but they did. I should [emphasis] have, because, oh, I could have caused havoc, but I went to that church that you’re talking about, and went through that and my operations were most interesting, but most dangerous.
JM: Most dangerous, that’s right, exactly. And the sons of that crew member, are they still in touch with you? Yes?
JB: Yes, yes. Every year I get a card - I think that might be one there. I get a card from them and I send them a card: the two sons. And one of them, his wife, I used to communicate with her, and when I went back in England, used to take her around, but she’s passed away.
JM: Right. Well, that’s certainly been -
JB: That’s about the end.
JM: Yes, it is about the end. It’s been a very, very full life and a very significant number of events occurred for you during your, particularly your war service, it was a very tough time.
JB: Well the war service was very difficult, and very dangerous.
JM: Very dangerous, that’s right.
JB: Very dangerous. I think, I think I was the only survivor of, of that area and it was most interesting, but you know, very dangerous, and I, one of my last trips, I flew out and I was, used to fly low [machine noise] if the weather was good, and I got fired on and I found the headquarters and said, told them that I’d got fired on, on the way out, and I said and ‘what I’m going to tell you is, that is where the bombs are.’ That’s, they had bombed the place and they hadn’t hit the target, and I said ‘that [emphasis] is where the target is.’ And so the next day when I’m flying, they had blown the place up, they’d hit the target and I was told and I was given a photograph. They had taken a photograph during the day, and it had been devastated and so that was most interesting. I got credit for that. Then, but, I came back from that, from the training flight and they.
Jan: It’s noisy.
JM: It's terrible!
JB: I got [indecipherable] injured on the training flight and I thought oh, I don’t think, I lost control of the ailerons, and I thought I don’t know that I can fly this plane home. So anyway, ah well, I’ll try, and I did and I landed at a terrific speed and you know, I survived and straight from that flight I was put on a special flight with the C, Commanding Officer and we went up in this plane and it was one of the jets that had just come out and he hadn’t flown that one before and he said ‘you’re the best pilot I’ve got’, nobody had ever told me that before, ha! And he said ‘so I’m taking you on this trip’ and he said ‘And I’ve never flown this plane before’ , it was one of the jets that had just come out, with the jet engines, so we come down in that and he said on the way down, he said, ‘now you’re my co-pilot, I’ve never landed this plane before but I want you right alongside!’ [Laugh] So I, jeez, what am I doing with this bloke? He’s never flown this plane before, he’s now going to land it and he’s never landed it and he says to me if something happens to me, you land it! [Laugh] I had a most interesting life.
JM: Mmm. That’s right.
JB: Anyway, he landed it all right.
JM: Well, he must have because you’re here to tell the tale today, so that’s all good.
JB: I know, I am!
Jan: He still is! You still have got an interesting life. [Laugh]
JM: Anyway, well I thank you very much for spending some time with me and sharing your stories, and I do appreciate it very much. So I thank you Jack, indeed.
JB: Oh no. That’s no problem. You’ve got one of those books have you? At home?
JM: No, I don’t have it at the moment, but we can sort that out shortly.
JB: I’ll give you one.
JM: Okay. Thank you very much, Jack, we’ll finish up there, thank you.
JB: Can you get one?
Jan: Yep.
Dublin Core
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ABrownJM170405
Title
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Interview with John "Jack" Brown
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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.
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IBCC Digital Archive
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Sound
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eng
Format
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01:00:12 audio recording
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Jean Macartney
Date
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2017-04-05
Description
An account of the resource
Jack Brown was born and spent his early life in Australia, leaving school at fourteen doing odd jobs before joining the civil service and then the RAF. He talks about his initial training before travelling to England and joining 69 Squadron. Jack describes carrying out operations taking photographs in difficult circumstances and being awarded the DFC, as well as more relaxing times on leave. After the war Jack returned to Australia but did return to Europe as a tourist after his retirement.
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Australian Air Force
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Australia
Belgium
France
Great Britain
England--Gloucestershire
England--Oxfordshire
Contributor
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Anne-Marie Watson
Carolyn Emery
aircrew
bombing
Distinguished Flying Cross
Operational Training Unit
RAF Moreton in the Marsh
searchlight
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/260/3406/PGardinerEF1701.2.jpg
3d1d6163b01832b82e5e90e52d7d1125
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/260/3406/AGardinerEF170809.1.mp3
344ed80f38814e93bb28e5aed249c0bb
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
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Gardiner, Ernest Frederick
Ernest Frederick Gardiner
Ernest F Gardiner
Ernest Gardiner
E F Gardiner
E Gardiner
Description
An account of the resource
One oral history interview with Ernest Frederick Gardiner (1923 - 2019, 1322805 Royal Air Force).
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2017-10-04
2017-08-08
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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Gardiner, EF
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
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PL: My name is Pam Locker and I am here in the home of Mr Ernest Frederick Gardiner [address redacted] and Mr Gardiner’s daughter, Lynn Moult, is also with us. So I would just like to thank you again, Fred, very much indeed, on behalf of the Bomber Command Digital Archive for agreeing to talk to us.
FG: My pleasure.
PL: Thank you. So Fred, I guess where would, a good place for us to start is perhaps your childhood and a little bit about your parents perhaps, and how you eventually became part of Bomber Command, so.
FG: I was born in Banbury, 1923, and I went to a local Church of England school, called St Leonards, when I was five, until I was fourteen. And my father worked for Morris Motors at Cowley, Oxford, and my mother didn’t work, out, but she died when I was just coming up to ten years old and I was then looked after, supposedly, by my father’s spinster sister, but I think we looked after her rather than she looking after us; she was a bit useless! [Chuckle] Anyway by the time I was fourteen I went to work in a furniture factory and I was trained mainly as a french polisher. Then the war started when I was sixteen, and I thought, the job I had wasn’t reserved because it was furniture making, although they were changing over to making gliders, but I wouldn’t have escaped being called up, so I jumped the gun as it were, and joined the RAF rather than finish up in the trenches, haha. So I was called up after that, after I registered. I was called up in November 1941 and went through usual training processes. I went to initial training place at Padgate, near Warrington, where I was kitted up and then went on to Blackpool. I was in Blackpool in digs, civilian digs, for four months doing the usual military training plus initial learning of Morse code and signals. After that, I, after a spell of leave, I was posted to Number 10 Signals School at Madley near Hereford and that was to complete the course as a wireless operator which meant training on radio equipment, continuing Morse code training, we had to reach a speed of twenty words a minute. After that, another little spell of leave and then I spent four months in Leconfield, near Beverley, Yorkshire, and my job there was to fly as a wireless operator with trainee pilots. So we had a trainee pilot and an instructor pilot and myself, the wireless operator, and my job there was to collect bearings from different stations, so that they could be used by the trainee pilot, and that was quite a nice job, I liked that job, for four months and I had to go back to Madley for another three months to take what they called the Aircraft Facility, the aircraft level of training which, until then I was supposed not to have been flying, but that was very nicely ignored I think. And after training there and I was sent to do an air gunnery course, that was at Walney Island, Barrow in Furness, and we flew on Boulton Paul Defiants, sing, two seater fighters, to do our training and we had to fire Browning machine gun from the turret at targets being towed by other aircraft. That was quite exciting, and from there I went back to Madley, did a further course and from there I went to an Operational Training Unit, an OTU, where I was crewed up, and that was an interesting experience. We, there were I think twenty pilots, twenty navigators, twenty of all the categories, and forty air gunners, because there were two air gunners in a crew. And we were mixed up in a hangar and told to sort ourselves out into crews. It was a bit strange, but I think it was a very effective, very worthwhile because you couldn’t really complain after that you see, it was your choice. From there, after we finished OTU, which was a three month course, and flying Wellingtons and doing practice, all sorts of practice flights, short distances, doing short take offs and landings and longer trips up to about eight hours, flying from A to B to C all round the UK, at night as well, to gain experience, did all the job, each one of us doing our job. So, after that we went to train on Manchesters and Lancasters and we were then given a flight engineer join the crew, so there were seven of us. A short course and we went on to Bomber Command which was then at Syerston, near Newark, and we were there and did, well we did, we were shot down on our fifth operation. We did, the first one we did was to Essen and then we did three in a row to Hamburg and then we were on our way to Mannheim, Mannheim Ludwigshafen, its full title, and that’s where we were shot down, by Oberleutnant Petrich, I’ve got a photograph of him, so [pause] from being, being shot down, I was picked up in Belgium by the Belgian Resistance. I’d come down right in the far south east corner of Belgium, very nearly into Luxembourg, and I landed in the dark. It was, to be shot down was about the most horrifying experience I ever had, or likely to have and that’s quite terrifying, sitting there minding your own business and suddenly you’re surrounded by tracer bullets and things coming whizzing past you. In fact that attack killed three of the crew, they missed me and fortunately they missed the pilot and the bomb aimer escaped and the navigator escaped, and we all managed to bale out. Then, as I say, I was picked up by the Belgian Resistance and after five, five weeks of being taken from house to house, village to village, town to town, into France and finished up in a place called Fismes, F I S M E S, Fismes, near Reims, Reims, Reims. And I’d then met another Air Force chap, a New Zealand pilot, he’d been shot down, well he crashed, he crash landed and so the two of us finished up the last week or two in France and then the RAF sent a Lysander aircraft which landed just outside this town of Fismes and picked up myself and this sergeant pilot, New Zealand pilot, and a Belgian agent. This was a night time job, we were escorted up to a lonely field, torches were placed out to make up a flare path. The Lysander came in and landed over a haystack, which was rather unfortunate, because the field that it was coming in had been ploughed up, but where the haystack was, they’d left that strip. Fortunately the pilot managed to do a reasonable landing, and the pilot was Group Captain Verity and he’s written a book on this, these adventures, called “We Landed By Moonlight”. His name: Hugh Verity. I’ve got a copy. So we were picked up there and made a decent take off, came back to England in broad moonlight. Fortunately I don’t think the Germans were interested in one little plane, so we weren’t molested all the way back and we landed at Tangmere, which is near Chichester, and went into an RAF house, on the airfield, and the next day we were taken up to Air Ministry to explain where we’d been [chuckle] and kitted out again, rekitted out. So, back to normal again. But I went back, had some leave - month’s leave. I was a bit annoyed that my New Zealand colleague, he got six weeks and I only got four weeks, and he couldn’t even go home, to New Zealand. And after that I was posted as an instructor in radio, Morse code and also the Browning gun ‘cause I was an air gunner as well. And I served, I was sent down here to Southampton, to the University Air Squadron and I was there until I was demobbed which was a couple of years. Nice job that, very nice job that was. So back home and I didn’t want to go back into factory work – it was hard work, not very well paid, no pensions or anything like that - so I studied and got a commercial wireless operator’s qualifications and with that I got a job with a local firm here in the Channel Islands, Channel Islands Airways, and as a wireless operator, radio officers we were called now, and I did that job for a couple of years to and fro the Channel Islands and then eventually I was posted up to first Northolt, and then Heathrow and transferring from de Havilland Rapides, which were old fashioned two, bi-planes, bi-plane, and went on to um, Vikings, Vickers Vikings, and then - Viscounts - and I did, I think it was thirteen years, and did most of that on the Vikings, er Viscounts, but then they made the radio officers redundant, technology advanced [interference] and they didn’t need a wireless operator and so I was made redundant when I was forty, but that took me up to finding another job, which I managed to do as a technician with IBM at Hursley, and I stayed there till I was retired at sixty, and from there went, with my wife, to live in Chandlers Ford, how many years, er, well, until I was, until I was -
[Other]: Ninety.
FG: Yes, until I was ninety and then we both, my wife and I, both came to Sunrise Care Home and my wife was only here for a few months and she passed away so left me here on my own ever since. That’s nearly four years ago. I think that brings up right up to today.
PL: Well Fred, [Clear throat] that’s a wonderful story. Can I take you back to when you were in Bomber Command and ask you to describe your escape? You’ve talked a little bit about being shot down, which was very interesting, but can you tell us about, you know, once you’d landed and this extraordinary escape that you had, in a little more detail?
FG: Yes. Okay. I remember the horrifying moment when these bullets and shells came through the Lancaster, absolutely terrifying. And you think, I thought to myself it’s our turn, because you knew all the time all the raids were going on, quite a lot of aircraft shot down. Lancasters, quite a lot of those went and this feeling suddenly, when it happens to you, you think my turn, it’s our turn. Anyway, the Lancaster caught fire. It was my job to go back to a position in the fuselage on the floor of the aeroplane, where there was a handle which you could pull which released a big bomb, we had a four thousand pound bomb, that released it, in case the bomb aimer either wasn’t able to, or his equipment was damaged, so he couldn’t drop it from his position so it was my job to dash back and pull this handle and the bomb went down. By then the Lancaster was so well alight I thought well I’m not going back to my seat, I’m getting out. In fact the mid upper gunner was getting down from his turret so I thought oh well, the captain’s probably told us to abandon ship, so I went back to the rear door, which was my escape hatch, escape exit, and I, we’d never done a parachute drops as practice, but we’d been told just what to do, especially in a Lancaster where the tailplane is right up alongside the door and if you didn’t do it properly, it would hit you as you went out. So all these, this training, these lessons, came, came sharply to mind and I managed to get the door open, kneel on the, kneel on the door sill, head down, I’d already clucked my parachute on to the harness, put my arm across the parachute, not my hand on the rip cord. Now some people lost their lives by pulling the ripcord too soon and sometimes in [emphasis] the aircraft, that dead loss, so I thought no, you’ve got to be careful, put my arm across the parachute to cover the handle so that I wouldn’t pull it too soon, so I put my head down to miss the tailplane. When I think about it, I think I did quite well there, I was with it all the time, sharp, sharply thinking what I’d gotta do, so I went out head first, did a couple of somersaults, let the Lancaster get clear, pulled the ripcord, big jolt [emphasis], then it was all peaceful. Lovely, a lovely calm night, and a little bit of moonlight I seem to remember. Anyway, the starlit sky above, but looking down, trying to see the ground, was absolutely black. You can’t see a thing on the ground at night. And I was trying to see where I was gonna land, looking down, focussing several thousand feet, couldn’t see a thing, absolutely black and wallop, hit the ground! Parachute came gently down over me and got myself sorted out and I was just a few feet away from an electric pylon. [Laugh] So nothing to do then, but I rolled myself up in the parachute until it got light. And we had an escape pack, so I opened that. I had some Horlicks tablets and some tubes of cream and few other useful things: a compass and some maps, which were printed onto silk, like handkerchiefs. I sorted all that out and I was just going to make my mind up to move, there was a little track alongside where I‘d dropped and along this track came a chap leading a horse and cart, and I thought oh, well, I didn’t know whether I was in Belgium, Luxembourg France or Germany, they all come down there and very close together, so I stood up and I took a handkerchief out to wave, as a surrender [laugh] and I think this chap leading the donk, leading the horse. thought I was going for a gun and he dived under his cart! [Laugh] Anyway, when he saw I was harmless, he came out and shook my hand, ‘Comarade’. I thought is that French, German, comarade, sounds could be either, play safe. So he pointed back to where he come from and said ‘Comarades, Comarades’. I gave him a handshake and I set off in the direction he pointed. I had bare feet. When the parachute opened, the jolt takes your flying boots off and the socks come with them ‘cause it was fur lined so I was in bare feet [chuckle] so I managed to stagger down in bare feet, in the direction this chap had pointed, and I went down, I remember I had to go under a railway bridge and I came, quite quickly, came to a road with a signpost on it which said Rulles, R U double L E S, so I thought well, I don’t know where Rulles is, never heard of it, but this is probably where I’ll go so I got onto this little roadway and I saw some cottages about a hundred, two hundred yards away, so I set out, I thought well I’ve got to get some footwear before I do anything else, whether I can steal some or be given some, I don’t know, I didn’t know what really was going to happen at that moment, and then I heard a lorry engine coming down the road and I thought there’s only Germans got motor vehicles here: they’re Germans. And I’d just got to the first cottage and I thought I’d better get out of sight so I opened the door, fortunately it wasn’t locked, I just opened the door, stepped inside and closed the door behind me and looked out the window at the side of the door, and the truck went past, open truck with a covered, canvas covered top, but the back was open: German soldiers sitting in there, with their rifles! I though ah, they’ve missed me – only just! So I turned to see where I was and there was an elderly lady in the room, all in black I remember, and she burst into tears and I never knew, then or now, whether it was due to fright or sympathy, bit of both perhaps, very startled, must have startled her for that to happen. Anyway a chap came in from a room at the back, he shook hands with me, he realised who I was, and gave me a black raincoat and some boots, socks and boots! Thought doing very well here and told me to follow him, and I went with him and across the road and I remember, over a little bridge I think it was, to another house, and took me in there and several people gathered – I was an object of curiosity - and I said where am I in English, but nobody could understand me, and I couldn’t understand them very well, but eventually one chap said, ‘Ici Belgique’ – I was able to translate that, Belgium, that’s good. [cough] Am I going on too long?
PL: No, not at all, it’s fascinating. Keep going.
FG: So. Can we switch off a moment?
PL: Just pausing for a moment. Recommencing.
FG: I was now taken to another house where several people had gathered, and one chap could speak a little English, and eventually they found some civilian clothes. [Coughing] So I changed into these civilian clothes and I was then taken by bicycle and escorted by a young, another young cyclist to the next village, which was about two miles away, and when we got there I was taken to a priest’s house [background music] and he took me in and er, I was given a room, and I was pretty tired, this was, I’d had no sleep all night, and he took me up to a room, little room, with a very soft bed, and I went out like a light. I don’t know how long I was asleep, some time I think, and when, later on, when I was awakened, taken down to his study, he and his housekeeper were there and they had a radio which they had to, they could listen to English radio but they mustn’t let Germans hear them, so very quietly put the radio on and put the English news on, BBC, from where I learned that seven RAF bombers were missing that night. That was six plus me. So they gave me some food and so called coffee which I was told afterwards it’s made partly of acorns, it was, I found it was drinkable, and black bread. That sounded nasty but I’m not fussy, food has never been a problem, I don’t turn anything down, so I was very pleased to get some food and I was taken to another house where the lady was in the kitchen, and I was taken into the kitchen and she had a huge [emphasis] plum pie and she cut me a big slice of plum pie and that was rather nice! From there I did this bicycle trip to the next village and I was taken into a room and shown to a bedroom. And I, although it was daylight it must have been then about ten o’clock in the morning, I was absolutely whacked, tired, and they showed me into this bedroom, so I got undressed and I got into bed, and I remember nice, soft bed, and just about to, within seconds to go to sleep and a chap burst in and he said, ‘you are in the house of a collaborator, you’ll have to get out, come with me!’ So having just trying to go to sleep I had to get out of bed quickly, dress quickly and follow him out the back of the house and across into some pretty wild countryside in fact we walked across what must have been a First World War battlefield, it was all hillocks and undulating ground and my ankles I remember playing me up a bit. Anyway we plodded on until we came to this next village, that’s [emphasis] where I was taken in by the priest and I stayed there till the next evening and he said ‘oh, you’ve got to go on now.’ By the way, while I was in the priest’s house, I was sitting there with him, in his study, looking out the window, and two gendarmes came up the path, oh, what do we do now? Anyway, they came in shook my hand and Comarade, Comarade! They didn’t speak English, but very pleasant. I remember their names, and er [pause]. So later on, I was given this room and went to bed because I was needing sleep. And then when I got up later on, more food, and then the priest said oh, ‘you’ll have to carry on, go on from here, you come with me’ and off, we left his house and it was raining and I’d got, I was still in, I’d got these civilian clothes, but no, nothing to keep the rain out, I think somebody had taken this raincoat away from me, wanted it themselves I expect, so he put his cassock round me, and somebody had given me a little black beret, so I had this black beret and this cassock right down to my ankles, absolutely invisible in the night, good thing perhaps. So we set off from his house, getting dark, in fact it was quite dark when we came to the edge of some woods and the priest gave a whistle, which was answered by another whistle and a chap came forward and he was going to be my guide, and he had a pistol, he gave me one, showed me how to take the safety catch off, ‘put that in your pocket’ he said. So the priest left me with him and we set off through these woods, and we got a little way in, in darkness, and he said we must be a bit quiet, there’s a German encampment here nearby and we were just going past like a Nissen hut, a military hut, when the door burst open and a couple of German soldiers came out with their rifles and my colleague pushed me into the ditch and came in with me, and we lay still in the ditch and these two Germans came out and got on bicycles, and rode past us about as far as my daughter is to you, and of course they’d come out from a lighted room so they were a bit, not very, couldn’t see very well in the dark, but we could see very well, we’d been out in the dark for some time, but it was a little bit scary because my companion pulls his pistol out and trains it on the Germans, as they went past. [Motor noise]
PL: [Sharp intake of breath]
FG: I thought oh, don’t want a gun battle here, we’re not going to win against rifles. Anyway the Germans went away and we stayed put for a little while and went on with our journey to the next village where he introduced me to another family and things went more or less satisfactorily from there and I was there for a couple of nights, in fact I stayed there with this chap who’d rescued me, and then he disappeared and I had another guide, a lady this time and [motor noise] she took me, escorted, by bicycle, we both had bicycles, and we went through woodland on our bikes, a little track through the woods, and we came to another village where I was taken into the house of the Burgomaster, and I was sheltered in there and when it became evening I was taken down the road a little way to another house which was, I think a relative’s house, [motor noise] where I was given a bed for the night. The next day the Burgomaster’s sister, turned out to be, nice lady, and she again escorted me on the bike, quite a long way through woods, and we came out at a little town in Belgium called Bouillon. B O U I double L O N, Bouillon. I think it’s the place where the soup comes from. I went up a little track down, between the woods, to a little detached house situated nicely, quiet position, alongside a river, and it was a tobacco farm and my lady companion took me into this house, introduced me to the people there, they took me over and found me a room on the top floor, I remember it, and because it was a tobacco farm, this room I was given was lined with little cupboards and I was quite curious to know what was in these cupboards and they were packed full of cigars, hand made cigars, from the tobacco farm, but I didn’t try one because I’d tried the cigarettes and they were ghastly enough; I smoked then. And I was there for a fortnight and it was quite pleasant, out of the way, no traffic, no roads nearby, and alongside the river, and I went for a walk alongside the river, people across the river walking about on the path, but quite a wide river, River Semois, and so I stayed there for a fortnight and then one day a taxi turned up, and he just managed to get down this little track, to the house, and beckoned me, come with me, so I said goodbye to these people, got in the car and he took me into the village, into the town, at Bouillon, took me in to a hotel, dropped me off at a hotel, in fact once he’d dropped me off he shot off like mad, get rid of me, got rid of me quickly. I went into the hotel, into a room, there were several people, they were all Resistance people and one of them there was Flight Sergeant Herbert Pond of the Royal New Zealand airline, Air Force, so that was rather nice, I was able to speak fluently to somebody and have a little chat, and he said ‘they’re suspicious of me, they think I’m a German plant, can you help sort this out?’ So at least one of these Belgians or Frenchmen, I think one was a French Canadian, and he said ‘can you vouch for him?’ So I said ‘got any experiences you can remember?’ And he said ‘I remember I was on one station and there were some Australian crews’ - and they were always getting up to trouble -and they’d hijacked some chickens, live chickens, taken them up to their room in the barracks and thrown them out across onto the parade ground at night, you know, evening time, night time, and they had bets on which chicken could get furthest along, that’s Australians for you, so he said ‘I remember that!’ He said ‘I saw that!’ So I said to these Belgians, or French people, he’s, ‘no German knows what he saw that night so he’s a genuine.’ And he said ‘I think you may have saved my life there’ he said, ‘they held a gun against my head!’ [Laugh] I still get Christmas cards from him. New Zealand. So from there the taxi driver turned up again and took us across the border into France. In fact, we [emphasis] walked across the border and he took his taxi round through the official entrance and picked us up the other side, at a pub I remember, haha, and from there we were taken to a little town. Oh, we were taken first of all to, to this little local town, and we did a train, we were given a train ticket, some train tickets, yeah, this helper was a French Canadian, that’s right, he took us over there, and of course he could speak English and French, and bought us some rail tickets and we sat on the station, outside the station, while he went and got these rail tickets and Herbert Pond, the New Zealander, myself sat on opposite sides of a table, long table, and he brought us, he went to buy us some beer and while he was gone to get this beer from a kiosk, some bloomin’ German soldiers came down, propped their guns up against the table and sat down next to us, [chuckle] so we weren’t able to speak after that. But then he came back with the tickets and just indicated us, come with me, didn’t say anything, off we went, followed him onto the platform, he said ‘they’re your tickets, when you get to Reims’, is it Reims? Yes, Reims, he said ‘you’ll be met outside the station, at the station exit, by a lady dressed all in black and she’ll be wearing a red flower.’ So the train came in and we separated, myself and Herbert Pond, he said separate on the train, so Herbert went off on his own and I watched where the door was, went across the platform, and in most of the carriages there was a notice up: ‘Reserve Pour Les Troops d’Occupation’. I could read that, even though I didn’t know French, I could read that. Anyway, I could see that somebody was, a civilian, was standing in the corridor and I thought well if he can stand there, so can I, so I went to get on the train but a porter shouted at me and pointed at this notice. I ignored him, I got on the train and went and stood in the corridor and then, from nowhere, goodness knows where, a load of German officers came in and came aboard the train and came past me, the reserved coaches for them, so they took their places in the carriages and one even said excuse me in French, ‘excusez moi’, as he squeezed past me. I thought you don’t know I’m wearing an RAF vest! [Chuckle] Anyway, I stood in the corridor, quite a long journey from this place to Reims, yes, from Bouillon to Reims, and when we got there, got off the train and Bert Pond was, he got off as well, and there was the lady waiting for us, oh skulduggery, I thought this is, this is kids’ comic stuff that we’re doing, this, and followed her at a distance and she led us to a flat where we were given some refreshments and then, after a little while, we were taken to another place, where we stayed I think it was two nights, and that was actually in Reims. By now, we’d got to know this French Canadian and him telling us what was going to happen, he hoped. He said we’ve got to do another train trip so when the time came, two days later I think it was, and we went and got on this particular train and it was a suburban train, wooden seats, bit backward, you know, bit elementary. Anyway we got on the train and I remember we sat together, with our guide, and on the opposite row of seats, facing, were several French women and it looked as though they’d been shopping, they’d all got shopping bags and stuff. So again we couldn’t talk, but it wasn’t too far to go and when we got off we were taken to, er, now where were we taken to, another house in this village called Thiem, welcomed there by the family, I was trying to remember their names, I can remember their names given time. We were looked after well there and I remember lots of white wine was provided for us, bottles of white wine, all the time. So Herbert and myself, we settled in there for a couple of days and I remember being taken from the house into the yard at the side, there was a yard, with doors opening into big open spaces, I think they’d been stables or something, and in one was a Flying Flea. Did you ever come across or heard of Flying Fleas? [Cough] Excuse me. [Pause] Well the Flying Flea was a little home made aeroplane, that could, a real miniature aeroplane, very tiny, stubby little stubby wings and little stubby tail and it would only carry the pilot and I’d seen these flying at Portsmouth when I was a lad and they were highly dangerous of course! And I remember that these people had got one of these strung up on a wall, and the guide said ‘I think these people like to think they’re gonna fly to England in that but they’ll be lucky!’ But I do remember that Flying Flea. So we were looked after there for a couple of days and then we were told that the RAF was hoping to send a plane in to pick us up. Oh gosh, possible, and they said it may be any evening, any night, depending on the weather and other circumstances, so we just had to sit around and wait but after two or three days this French Canadian, he’s still looking after us, he said ‘the plane’s probably coming in tonight’ he said, we’ll set off at a certain time, in good time. So a party of us set off, there were about four or five Belgians, and I remember one of them was carrying a rope, in case the aircraft got bogged down, which had happened, in the past. So off we went following in a single line, no talking, had to keep quiet, until we came up to this field, level field, bit of consternation because it had been ploughed! But there was a strip left, strip of grass, with a haystack at the end, which was a bit tricky, and I being the signaller, I was told to give the signal, think it was the letter R I had to flash. And we had to, well we didn’t have to wait. The aircraft had already arrived and was circling round, and we had to run the last few hundred yards, I remember through mud, and we got there, put the torches out quickly, gave him the signal to land, signal came back. How he found that field, in the middle of France, in the dark, well he wrote a book about all this, as I say, I’ve got a copy. So we set up torches as flare path, gave him the okay signal, came in and landed, over this little haystack – marvellous pilot. Came to the end, turned round, came back to where we were waiting and I’d been instructed to take some parcels off the back seat. There was a little ladder fixed to the aircraft on the outside, I had to climb up two or three steps of the ladder, take these parcels out, hand down to the party below, and he kept his engine running of course and I thought oh, you know, Germans are going to come rushing out from all angles! But of course it was a very lonely spot, and I think he made a record afterwards, he was only on the ground for two minutes and myself and the New Zealander and the Belgian agent all piled in to a single seat at the back. It had one seat, I never got the use of it, I think I sat on the floor, no parachutes of course, or anything like that, and off we went, fingers crossed, and we came across in lovely, lovely clear weather, few searchlights about, but of course it was over France, not over Germany and I don’t think anybody was interested, Germans weren’t bothered about one little aeroplane. So we ploughed a nice trip back and landed at Tangmere near Chichester and went and thanked the pilot for coming to pick us up, Hugh Verity, yes, got his book up there. And we were taken into a, this RAF house and given a bed, the night, and the next day we were taken up to London, to Air Ministry Headquarters, go in there to be interviewed, and rekitted, new uniform, and sent home for a month, month’s holiday, so that was that.
PL: Can you remember what happened during the interview? Can you remember what happened during the interview? Did they, what did they want to know from you?
FG: Well, they wanted to know which towns and villages I’d been to and the names of the people, so I said ‘well I’m not too happy about giving names’, but as it was I think a Wing Commander or somebody senior, RAF man interviewing me, in fact I think there were two or three officers there, and so I had to cough up, should be all right, unless the Germans win the war! [chuckle] And so I was able to tell them, gave them all the details, seemed to be interested and then said ‘off you go for a month’s leave.’
PL: What an extraordinary story! How old were you when this happened, Fred?
FG: Twenty.
PL: And can you remember, I’m just curious, I mean how did you feel about all of this. I mean were you frightened, were you excited, were you? How did you feel?
FG: I was, when the bullets came through the Lancaster I was terrified! I wasn’t too bothered about baling out, and the funny thing was, I was looking down to see where I was gonna land, couldn’t see anything on the, it was all black, but I wasn’t, I wasn’t particularly scared, I can honestly say I wasn’t particularly scared, I was just getting on with it, as you can say.
PL: And during your escape, this extraordinary escape where, you know, every so often you would come in close contact with the Germans, what about then, did you sort of?
FG: No I just held me breath a bit.
PL: Held your breath a bit.
EG: Kept me fingers crossed. No, I wasn’t scared, no. Because at the back of my mind I thought well, if I’m exposed enough to give myself up, they’re not going to stand there and shoot me in cold blood, surely. I don’t think they would have done, and I’d have finished up as a POW, prisoner of war. But these people who were helping myself and Bert Pond, they were risking their lives, in a concentration camp, whereas we would have just been put in a prisoner of war camp. So they were the ones, they were the heroes, they really were.
PL: And did you find out what happened to them?
FG: Yes, um, [sniff] with my wife, we went back to Belgium, and France, and went round to see these all these people and they were absolutely delighted to see us, and see me.
PL: How old were you then? When did you go back?
FG: After the war, when was it, 1947? ‘46 ’47, yes, in fact, we were invited to go back any time and we actually had two or three holidays over there and I took the car over a couple of times. There was one, there was one family who sheltered me for a fortnight, well there were two families who sheltered me for a fortnight each. one family were the tobacco growers and the other family was a chap who spoke perfect English, he’d lived in England previously for several years, and he was an insurance man and a very nice, a very nice character [engine noise], I admired him very much and he was very pleasant, really nice man, and his wife was a very nice, very nice looking woman, and they had a daughter, same age as me, and they sheltered me for two weeks and they’d got some English books, which was very nice, Dickens books, which I was able to sit and read, and they put me up in a little room in the top of the house, in the attic, and I could go down and have breakfast with them and then they said right, ‘the housekeeper’s coming in to clean and you’ll have to go back and hide and keep quiet’, which I did, and she came in several times while I was there, apparently, and she never heard a thing. And she was ever so surprised after the war, when they told her that they’d got a British, a British airman had been hiding up in the loft. They never told her of course, daren’t trust anybody.
[Other]: About your hat.
FG: Oh, yes.
[Other]: Just tell the story of the hat. Tell the story of the hat.
FG: Oh yes, my wife and I were out in Belgium one day, visiting the people in this town, very nice little town called Floranville, where I was looked after for a fortnight in this very nice house and there was an article printed in the local paper giving my name and details, and it was read by a Belgian policeman, and he rang up our host, hostess, and said I know, I’ve got the cap belonging to this airman, could you pop over and get it? And he said er, [pause], ‘I’ve got your cap’, he said ‘I picked it up near where the bomber crashed’, he said, ‘and your name and number and rank is inside’ he said ‘and when I saw your name in the local paper’, he said ‘I realised that was you’, so he rang my hostess and told her, would we go and see him and if we did he would present me with my cap. Which he did.
PL: How wonderful! That must have been an emotional moment for you.
FG: Yeah. It was all quite an adventure. Yes, we went back to Belgium, my wife and I, several times, [cough] looked after us, ever so happy to see us and we had one of the couples back to stay with us for I think a week or ten days, and we were living up in Greenford at the time, but they came over and stayed with us. I thought it’s the least I could do, but I’m afraid most, if not all [emphasis], of the people I knew out there have all died ‘cause I had contacts with several of them for many years, several years, Christmas cards to several people, France as well. I didn’t feel I wanted to give people up like that, give them up casually, when they’d done what they’d done for me. So I kept in touch.
PL: Did they all survive the war? Did everybody that helped you, did they all survive the war?
FG: Um, a chap I met at one house, who’d taken my photograph for my passport, identity card, he was very careless the way he talked, spoke, and he’s partly, I was told, it was his own fault, he was picked up by the Gestapo and he was sent to a camp somewhere, but he died of typhoid and I was told afterwards it wasn’t due to what he did for you, it was because he had so much to say [emphasis] to everybody, let himself down, so he said that was just too bad. One of the ladies, she had a, she was discovered as helping, she was in the, what the Belgians called, the Secret Army, and she was sort of a member of these people and she’d been, I don’t know whether she was betrayed by somebody but the Germans came to pick her up, and in some way, she got up on to the roof of the house she was in and she was standing up by the chimney stack and one of the German soldiers shot her, in the leg. And when, they took her prisoner then of course, and she went to a concentration camp but they fixed her leg and when mum and I went over one time, she showed us this nasty scar in her leg where this bullet had gone in, but otherwise, the man who’d organised the flight out of France, organised the escape line, Belgian, and he was betrayed, and he was tortured and I learnt afterwards he threw himself out of an upstairs window to avoid this torturing, and killed himself. But as I was told, not particularly due to you, I’d have felt a little bit awkward, bit shocked really, didn’t want to think I was going to cause other people trouble like that, but apparently he was betrayed, by a so called friend. [Sniff] [Pause] Trying to think if there’s anything as a follow up.
PL: Going back to Bomber Command, what are your feelings about how Bomber Command has been treated over the years?
FG: I don’t know how to think about it to be honest. I don’t try to think about that. It was all done at the time, it was thought it was necessary and you know at the time, everybody’s saying, oh you know, course we were dropping bombs on civilians as well as on industry: ‘oh never mind, kill a few of them off’, that was the attitude, didn’t think much of it otherwise, and I must admit when I looked out at Hamburg burning I thought it must be terrible down there and it was. We learned after the war how terrible those raids were for the Germans. Six hundred bombers raided Hamburg three nights running. Then I went back as a civilian, because British Airways did a run, London to Hamburg, and I did those. [Laugh] Yes. Long time ago, it’s all in there and I’ve got a good memory.
PL: You have a fantastic memory. It’s been the most extraordinary experience, listening to your story, and is there anything else at all that you would like to mention or talk about as part of your interview?
FG: Well I’d like to give credit and thanks to all the people that really helped me, especially the Belgians and French, otherwise, I think that wraps up the war story.
PL: Well Fred, I’d just like to thank you again.
FG: That’s all right.
PL: For sharing your story.
FG: Pam isn’t it?
PL: It is.
FG: Do you mind if I call you Pam?
PL: Absolutely! It’s been just fascinating and it’s just I mean it’s like the most extraordinary story really of survival and of huge, huge value to the Digital Archive, so thank you very much indeed.
FG: You’re welcome. I quite enjoy talking about it still.
PL: Lovely.
FG: Some people who’ve had experiences like that don’t want to talk about it. Whether or not it’s because they can’t talk about it, haven’t got a very good vocabulary, and I’m not too bad at that am I?
PL: Very good.
FG: I don’t know what sort of accent I’ve got because it’s a mixture, but it’s northern Oxfordshire and it’s a little bit sort of rural, but apart from that have to live with it.
PL: It’s a wonderful accent, Fred Gardiner, thank you very much indeed.
FG: You’re welcome, Pam.
PL: So sorry, we’re restarting.
FG: You switched off.
PL: I’ve just started it again, so that we can hear about your work with the charter company. And you were flying?
FG: Yes, Halifax freighters. And I’ve written an account of my four, three or four months with them. I’ve got it written down the if you’d like to borrow it and read it at any time. That was interesting, very interesting, and quite dangerous.
PL: So that was after the war?
FG: Yes, immediately after the war.
PL: So what made it dangerous Fred?
FG: The way the aircraft were operated. [Throat clear] [Pause] Yes, it was a bit dangerous, in fact one of the aircraft had to ditch in the sea. They were coming back from Italy with a load of fruit, they got low on fuel or something, and I think they’d got a pretty poor wireless operator, and they had to ditch. Because on one trip I had to send a distress call because we were running out of fuel, in bad weather, over Norway, that was, that was a bit dodgy, I could see us ditching. [Cough] The aircraft was full of stockings, boxes of stockings, made in Britain, exported to Norway. And when we got to Norway there was low cloud, very low cloud, and Oslo is situated in some, between some nasty hills, not, I don’t know whether you’d say mountains, but pretty steep hills, and I flew with a very good pilot, he was really super, and it was my job, as the wireless operator, to get him bearings, radio bearings, that he could follow in to land, and the idea was I got lots of bearings from the ground station as fast as I could, one after another so that he could keep lined to the runway and come down until he could see it and you’d know if you were on the right course that there weren’t any high hills in the way, so that was satisfactory, but the weather was so bad that he overshot twice because he couldn’t quite make it. Up and round again, same procedure again, I think on the third attempt, third trip he managed to touch down. No, wait a minute, no, that wasn’t, that’s not true, on the third trip he didn’t make it and he said ‘I’m going to have to divert somewhere’ and - I don’t know why had a slip of memory there - so we set off going south from Oslo and we were getting low on fuel, and it was low cloud, everywhere, so I said ‘shall I send a distress call?’ ‘Yes’, he said, ‘you might as well.’ I sent a distress call and it was answered by a station, all in Morse code of course, this station’s callsign was S E A, I remember, Sea, S E A, and I didn’t know where SEA was so I had to ask the operator on the ground where are you, who are you? And they sent me a stream of stuff back and it proved to be a Gothenburg airfield, so we headed for that and I continued to get these bearings and give them up to the captain and he carried on flying towards them until in the end we got down quite low over the sea and Gothenburg people fired up some search rockets and a searchlight and Very cartridge lights because the weather was still very bad, and being over the sea we weren’t likely to hit any hills and when we got very close to Gothenburg and the pilot could see where he, just see where he was, he did a circuit round and he lost sight of it in the circuit, that was how bad it was, so he had to do that sort of approach again, using the radio. Anyway, after a couple of runs at it, he touched down, fortunately the runway was right on the edge of the coast and he flew over a sandy beach, onto the runway which we were able to do, and when we came to the end of the runway and sorted ourselves out and they got some people up to fill up the tanks and they came back and they said your tanks are more or less empty! I think I saved that, I think I saved that Halifax that day.
PL: Well, to have survived the war and everything that you went through then, you know, to have been lost in that way would have been just so terrible, wouldn’t it.
FG: Yes. Yes, I had a quite interesting time in flying. One or two little hiccups in BA, BEA actually, with engine trouble, engines failed two or three times I was on, engine failure. Very good pilots all the time, got us down on single engine. [Pause]
PL: Are you happy for us to end there?
FG: Happy?
PL: For us to end there?
FG: Yes.
PL: There’s nothing else you want to say? Is there anything else that you would like to say?
FG: Just have a quick think. [Pause] I don’t know if you like to, I’ve got a copy of my time with that charter company and I think it makes an interesting story, all in all, I don’t know if you’d like to read it?
PL: I’d love to read it, let’s end there then. Thank you very much.
Dublin Core
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Identifier
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AGardinerEF170809, PGardinerEF1701
Title
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Interview with Ernest Frederick Gardiner
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
Type
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Sound
Language
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eng
Format
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01:25:04 audio recording
Creator
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Pam Locker
Date
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2017-03-01
Description
An account of the resource
Fred Gardiner grew up in Oxfordshire and worked in a furniture factory before volunteering for the Royal Air Force. He flew five operations as a wireless operator / air gunner from RAF Syerston before his aircraft was shot down. He gives a detailed account of having to bale out of his Lancaster at night, of meeting civilians who sheltered him in various locations whilst he and others avoided German soldiers prior to their rescue. After the war, he and his wife returned to thank those who had helped him escape and remained in touch with many of those who he came across.
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Great Britain
New Zealand
Norway
Sweden
England--Nottinghamshire
France--Reims
Germany--Mannheim
Norway--Oslo
Sweden--Göteborg
Temporal Coverage
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1941
Contributor
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Anne-Marie Watson
Carolyn Emery
aircrew
bale out
crewing up
Defiant
evading
Halifax
Lancaster
Lysander
Manchester
Operational Training Unit
RAF Syerston
Resistance
shot down
Special Operations Executive
training
Wellington
wireless operator / air gunner
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/282/3435/AJenkinsAE160709.1.mp3
d7f55b2a9645816ec63b14a23072b635
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
Jenkins, Alexander Elliott
Alexander Elliott Jenkins
Alexander E Jenkins
Alexander Jenkins
A E Jenkins
A Jenkins
Description
An account of the resource
One oral history interview with Alexander Elliott Jenkins (430033 Royal Australian Air Force).
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-09
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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Jenkins, AE
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
RG: Preamble to the interview with Alex Jenkins of 6 Belton Place, Orange, New South Wales, Australia. Alex was a Lancaster pilot in 460 Squadron who was shot down and although he spent some time in a German hospital it was only a matter of a short, a fairly short time. He wasn’t ever in a prison camp. He was returned to the UK and resumed operations in 1945. Interviewers are Rob Gray and Lucie Davison. Also present at the interview was Alex’s wife, Pauline.
AJ: In fact one of my colleagues coming in clipped the top of Lincoln Cathedral and he went, he could have really cracked. Clipped the top and he had to, after that to just, for some reason or other he couldn’t continue but he continued, lost height slowly and finally belly landed [laughs] not all that far from where he’d come down. But he went clean through the biggest chicken farm [laughs] in the whole of England. Can you imagine all of the, all of the God-damned chickens. We renamed him after that for obvious reasons.
RG: Chook.
AJ: Chook.
LD: Do the intro.
RG: Hmmn?
LD: Do the intro.
RG: Yeah. I’ll just do a quick intro, Alex. This is an interview with Alex Jenkins. Former pilot with 460 Squadron.
AJ: Yes.
RG: And survivor of being shot down. Interview. The date is the 8th of July. Interviewees are Rob Gray and Lucie Davison. So do you want to lead off?
LD: Yeah. Look, I’ve basically, I’ve kind of, you know compiled just a little order of service but it’s really just to make sure that we try and cover all bases.
AJ: Yes.
LD: You know.
AJ: Yeah.
LD: It’s certainly not meant to be definitive. So —
AJ: I know. You’ve got to have some guidance.
RG: Yeah.
LD: Yeah, it’s —
RG: But on the other hand also this way, because you’ve done interviews and things before haven’t you?
AJ: Yes. Some time back I had an interview. Pauline. My memory, by the way is, short term memory, is very, very poor now. I’ve been a bit ill and so on and I can’t remember accurately even some of the simple things.
RG: Oh yes.
AJ: So Paul, when she comes in, if there’s something that I can’t remember she knows a fair bit about it.
RG: She’ll know about it. Yeah. Ok. I was going to say though that we were particularly interested in, like your personal recollections.
AJ: Yes.
RG: So if something comes to mind.
AJ: Right.
RG: Please feel free to divert from the original question.
AJ: Yeah. Right. Right.
RG: So Lucie do you want to —
LD: Yeah. Just interested in your background and, you know, where you grew up.
AJ: Right.
LD: And why you joined the air force initially.
AJ: Yeah.
LD: And so on.
AJ: Yes. That’s rather interesting because it starts really with the history of my father who was terribly knocked around in the First World War. In the, in France. He wasn’t at Gallipoli, but he was in France. In the gunnery groups. And he was gassed and terribly injured. Came back home. And from the time he arrived home just before the war finished in France, he was in and out of military hospitals. Never really recovered enough long term and as a result of that — and my mother was born way up in the Kelly country of North Eastern Victoria with the, her surname was Cann. C A N N. Now, C A N N.
LD: Cann River.
AJ: Now, Cann River and all those things were well documented. The Canns were horse breakers and they were rabble rousing. And in fact William Cann, and this is not apocryphal, William Cann was the principal horse breaker and roustabout in the Kelly gang.
RG: Ah ok.
AJ: And William Cann, he was actually jailed after the shoot-up and so on and served his time. And as my dear mother used to say, ‘Don’t you mention that you’ve got a relative — ?’ [laughs] Most people were very interested. Particularly since he was the one who used to, they had a little tin with a bit of wire around and, and make the fires. It was nicknamed — billy can.
RG: Billy can. yes. Yeah.
AJ: Billy can.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: That’s where the term first started to be used. Used. It’s in —
RG: Of course. Yes.
AJ: The Billy can.
RG: William Cann. Yes.
AJ: Anyway, my father was in and out and he, on my eighteenth birthday I was one of the first Legacy awards. We were raised in the slums of Toorak. Toorak, you know, down by the railway lines in those days was a cut-throat area. It was criminals, and God knows.
RG: That’s like Surry Hills in Sydney at the same time. That sort of —
AJ: Yeah.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: That was my raising. We were very, very poor. I was brought back from the country where my mother was — she went there I think after they got together. I’m not quite sure how they got together straight after the war. But I was a sort of lad that was caught up in the Samuel McCaughey whip around in the north. I think, darling that if you wouldn’t mind when we have the tea that you sit here too with me as I —
PJ: Why. I’ve heard it all a thousand times before [laughs]
AJ: I mean, I was saying my memory is pretty terrible in various things. Anyway, she [pause] I was brought down under the state government’s attempt to round up these uneducated wild kids.
LD: Right.
AJ: Of which I was one. And we were forcibly removed from the family in North Eastern Victoria, black books, and brought to Melbourne for our own good. Shades of the roundup of the aborigines.
LD: Yes. Absolutely.
RG: Oh yes. There was more than one stolen generation.
AJ: As a result of that I was often in sort of foster care. And my mother was ill. Etcetera etcetera. And dad had had such a terrible life that —
[background chat]
AJ: It was impossible, it was quite impossible for me to forget that sort of thing. And my dad finished up, when I’d turned, was approaching eighteen I was fortunately a gifted kid in education. And I finally got to Melbourne Boy’s High and had an excellent career there and my legacy guardian was none other than Bill Woodfall. The great cricketer.
RG: Oh ok.
AJ: And they, oh they were wonderful people and they looked after me. And I, as 1942 turned over I found myself at Melbourne University in first year. So —
RG: What, what discipline?
AJ: In engineering.
RG: Engineering.
AJ: Engineering yes. And metallurgy. Materials. So I, at the time when I’d completed first year university at Melbourne that would be ’42. I felt, on my eighteenth birthday, dad was in Bundoora Mental Asylum, behind the wire.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Terrible.
RG: As a result of the war.
AJ: Yeah. And I said I’m going to get even for dad and so I joined up at eighteen. On my eighteenth birthday. 29th of October 1942. Well, all hell broke loose because that was a protected profession.
LD: Yes.
AJ: You weren’t allowed to join the service.
LD: Yes. I was wondering how you could join up.
[background chat]
AJ: I got as far as Somers camp and the university and the government people forced, came down and said, ‘You’re coming back. You’re man-powered. You can’t join the services.’ I went back to Melbourne Uni and I stood before the enquiry group of the profession and some of the representatives of the professorial board at Melbourne University and the government official who was man-powering people. I said, ‘I’ve got news for you. You can all get stuffed. I’m not going to continue my course. I’m going to join the service.’ Prof Greenwood was the professor. An English don of the old school.
RG: The old school.
AJ: He was a wonderful bloke. He was called the pink professor simply because he spoke out, you know, more on moral social issues.
LD: So pink as in shades of communist.
AJ: Yeah.
RG: Shades of red.
AJ: Yeah. And he fought for me and he won. He said, ‘This man must be allowed to serve. And join and serve. He has had such provocation. And we will see him on his return when he can resume his course.’ Well, that was it then. I joined the air force. Went in to training at Benalla and went solo and so on there. And after a lot of argy bargy after I’d completed the conversion on to Wirraways at Deniliquin. The great Australian fighter. We graduated to get our wings. You know, to become young sergeant pilots. Well, in the interim, just briefly I had been leading a small group of three on our last, final flight before graduation. Now on a long cross country to be twenty, fifty feet above all obstacles. Low flying exercise. And as part of that low flying exercise by tradition we used to bring the Wirraway down. You could imagine at nearly two hundred miles per hour and the great wheat fields, if they were in that stage —
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Which they were when I was ready for graduation you’d bring it down, you’d look in your rear vision mirror and when you were cutting a furrow along the top of the wheat.
RG: You were low enough.
AJ: You were low enough. But —
LD: So, six feet will do.
AJ: Three of us. And the trouble was that the farmers, they hated this practice.
RG: I can’t understand why.
AJ: Because, you know this was low. We had to get the low flying experience. And the air force had the horror of seeing me charged by the civilian.
RG: Authorities. Yeah.
AJ: They appealed you see, and I was made an example. I was the leader of that flight. And so instead of just rapping me over the knuckles and saying, ‘Don’t do it again because you’re so close to graduation,’ I got sentenced to twenty eight days in the Geelong jail.
RG: My God.
AJ: As a civilian. As a young man in training. It caused such a colossal outcry. You know, here what the hell is it coming to.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: If a guy can’t train for war and the civilians say he can’t do that.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Anyway, it was famous. People went through all the business and when I got out.
LD: So you did have to serve the time.
PJ: Oh yes.
LD: The RAF wasn’t able to —
AJ: Oh it was terrible because they brought all the rapists and the murderers down from the Queensland coast. They were frightened of the Jap invasion up there. And they were all, all of the worst types. And myself at eighteen and another young lad. A young bloke. I don’t know what his offence was. We served, but we served, and you could imagine what those nasty bastards. I didn’t know anything about male practices on other males. I was innocent. But finally we turned around and the other bloke and myself and we were young. Fit. And we belted some of these, some of these vicious saddoes and guards up. And they took it out on us and really did us over. Anyway, the end of the twenty eight days came, and I got back to Deniliquin, and graduation. Another month. I was a month behind after my internment. And the graduation came, and everyone, step forward so and so, sergeant so and so, step forward so and so such. And the Hs, you were doing it. And the I’s. The J’s came and went, and my name wasn’t mentioned. K L M N and right through to the end. And then there was a bit of a drum roll and the commanding officer and the big wigs thing there then said, ‘Step forward Pilot Officer Alexander Jenkins.’ They commissioned me of course. And that —
RG: And that’s, that would have been extremely unusual.
AJ: Oh that did. That caused. Anyway it was so bad in many ways. The whole history of the event. The parliament had gone crazy about this sort of stupidity.
LD: So you’d be there [unclear]
AJ: Two weeks later I was on a troop ship. Fast troop ship.
PJ: Just to digress so you can have another mouthful and another piece of cake or a biscuit or something. This went into limbo as far as Alex was concerned. He had to appear in court on a driving, a possible driving offence. He was not convicted but the barrister representing him said, ‘Alex, you didn’t tell me you’d already been in jail.’ And it was still on the records.
RG: Records. Yeah.
PJ: That he’d been in jail. So that was then. They did the right thing and removed it but you know he’d forgotten all about it at this stage.
RG: You would wouldn’t you? After, you know, you would.
PJ: He was sixty or something, you know and anyhow —
AJ: Being an officer and two hundred and fifty airmen. Sergeants, you know. Navs, pilots and so on, on this troop ship which took us solo straight over to the —
PJ: San Francisco.
RG: Oh.
PJ: You went to —
AJ: Coast up to San Francisco. And from there —
PJ: You went over. You were based in that. You know there’s that big base on that island there by the harbour of San Francisco.
AJ: Past Alcatraz. Yeah.
RG: Oh ok. Yeah.
PJ: San Francisco.
AJ: But from there on —
RG: Yeah.
AJ: As an officer I, it was fortunate that I suppose I was because we did our training.
PJ: But at your exercise in New York he was billeted out with the McGraw-Hill, the McGraw-Hill book people.
RG: Oh yeah. The publishers. Yes.
PJ: The millionaires. So he was billeted with them and they carted him around and he ended up meeting people and singing with Jimmy Durante and —
LD: Oh wow.
AJ: Lena Horne.
PJ: Lena Horne.
AJ: Lena Horne and I became very firm dance partners etcetera. It was quite a, quite a business and then —
RG: Quite an adventure for a young man from —
PJ: That’s right. From the bush in Victoria.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: It was fascinating.
RG: Yeah.
LD: Do you remember the name of the ship that you went on?
AJ: No. I don’t, darling.
PJ: On the ship. Let me think. Was it the Mariposa?
AJ: No. It wasn’t a —
PJ: It was —
AJ: I think it was the Lurline.
PJ: Yeah. Well the Lurline, wasn’t the Lurline the one that came across? It will be there in your, in your book.
AJ: Yeah.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: I’ll have a look and see if it’s there.
LD: Well that’s alright. It was just —
RG: It was just —
AJ: But anyway —
PJ: I’ll just have a look and see if it’s in his history there.
AJ: Eventually after about a month in New York the great convoy was formed and off we go. And that was —
LD: So, you did go across as part of a convoy.
AJ: A tremendous convoy.
LD: Right.
AJ: And accompanied by American flat top battleships. You know, the ones that had no structure on top.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Just guns.
RG: Yeah. Yeah.
AJ: Things like that. We lost an awful lot of boats.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Of course. It was submarine attacks.
RG: So this was the end of ’42 wasn’t it?
AJ: This would be —
RG: What? Early ’43?
AJ: ’42 I joined. ’43. ’43.
RG: [Unclear] Battle of the Atlantic. Yeah.
AJ: And I got to Britain and my first thought as I saw Liverpool and all these barrage balloons. I said, ‘God almighty if they cut those balloons the bloody island would sink.’
LD: So, so did you arrive directly in Liverpool?
AJ: Hmmn?
LD: Did you arrive directly in Liverpool?
AJ: Yes.
LD: Or did you go around through Greenock.
AJ: No. No.
LD: Ok.
AJ: Directly in Liverpool. And from there the Australian contingent was taken down to, eventually down to Brighton on the south coast where we [pause] I did various training things. Learning to — how to get out of parachutes if you landed in water and all that sort of thing.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: I wouldn’t call it nonsense but it was very very tough.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Activity. And I had.
RG: So that was sort of survival training.
AJ: Yeah.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: Eventually I was.
LD: Sorry, was that done at Brighton or was that done —?
AJ: Yes. That sort of introduction to survival and elementary training in use of parachutes and things like that was all done at Brighton.
LD: Wow.
AJ: And then you were, well I was eventually posted up to places. I had completed first year uni and therefore in training I had a good mathematical background etcetera.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: And so they fast-tracked me in training in the centre part of England for eventual allocation to the famous Mosquito high flying.
RG: Yeah. Yeah.
AJ: PRU. Photo reccy unit.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: And I was completely just flying so high, so fast.
RG: Did you have a multi engine licence at this point?
AJ: I was trained.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: I went on first on Oxfords and that kind of.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Standard training for me. But that PRU interval — I thought this is great. Flying that fast and no one could see you or shoot you. That only lasted a couple of weeks because they said, ‘Look, we’re now Bomber Command.’ This is coming through now. The year would be ’44. And they said, ‘You’re, Bomber Command for you lad.’
RG: So when did you arrive in Britain, Alex? When was that?
AJ: I arrived in Britain in December ’43 and spent all of ’44.
LD: Yes.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Right through ‘til the end of the war.
RG: Yeah. Ok.
AJ: Ok.
RG: Just trying to get a sort of timeline on it.
AJ: Yeah.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: That’s right. I was rapidly put into the Bomber Command thing. They were taking pilots from anywhere they could get them because the losses from Bomber Command were so —
RG: Well they had, the losses were, well the Battle of Berlin was just running down then wasn’t it and —
LD: Horrendous.
AJ: And I actually joined the squadron, 460 at the very last part of December ’44. So I, fortunately missed out on the Battle of Berlin and all that sort of thing. But I’d been flying at that time up and down the coast in our training, dropping aluminium foil and trying to assist in the confusion.
RG: The deception for D-day.
AJ: Yes.
RG: Was that, was that in Mosquitos? Was that in Mosquitos you were doing that? Or in —
AJ: No. No. Lancasters.
RG: Lancs. That was Lancs. Yeah.
AJ: Lancasters.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: That was part of the training. So that that went through. D-day came and went and by that time I had not joined a squadron but aircraft like ours were deployed on all sorts of weird jobs. You know, we would fly way up to, right along the French coast, over the North Sea, dropping this aluminium foil.
RG: Yeah. The Window.
AJ: And D-day came and went. And then the awful business of starting to do, being injected into the bomber stream with, before the squadron. Before I joined 460.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: I’d completed all of about half a dozen raids into the German areas near the coast.
RG: While you were under training.
AJ: While training.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: They were —
RG: They had the spoof.
AJ: We were losing so many aircraft.
LD: I know.
AJ: And of course when the jets came in, the ME262 jets came in around about October, I think of 1944. And our losses were just so, there was no answer to it. And so by the time I was finally allocated to 460 Squadron myself and my crew were well versed in some of these dangers. And the —
LD: So was this a crew that was set up within the OTU or —
AJ: I beg your pardon?
LD: The crew that you joined the squadron with.
AJ: Yes.
LD: Did you guys set up within the OTU or —
AJ: Yes.
LD: Right. Ok.
AJ: That’s right.
RD: Yeah.
AJ: It was a fairly standard practice that I went through once I was on the, on to the heavy aircraft.
RG: Can I ask you, Alex, how did that crewing up occur? Because we’ve spoken to other veterans and it’s a mixed bag between people actually just finding oh we need a pilot. There’s someone over there. We’ll just grab him. And a bit more formalised.
LD: Some people even meeting in a pub.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Yeah.
RG: So how did yours work?
AJ: Actually that was quite strange the way that crews were formed. Now let me think. The crew that I finally, my first crew it would be at [pause] let me think.
PJ: This is Campbell in all this lot.
AJ: Yes. That’s right. Now where the devil did that take place? But the system was, I might remember where it was. Somewhere in central England. Firstly, you’d get up, the officer group and there were only a few officer, officer pilots because the pilot was the, was the first. He was the senior man.
RG: Yeah. Yeah.
AJ: Crew captain.
RG: Captain. Yeah.
AJ: The pilots that were officers, firstly stood up on this platform and there was all these —
[background chat]
PJ: Alex is deaf. Very deaf. So he wears a hearing aid but you might have to speak up a bit.
RG: Yes. OK.
AJ: Yeah.
PJ: Anyhow, I think it was the Lurline, Alex. I can’t find it, but I think it was —
AJ: At Lichfield.
PJ: No. The Lurline. The ship you went out on.
AJ: Oh the Lurline. Yeah.
PJ: The Lurline. But —
AJ: Anyway, the pilots, officer pilots would stand up first and give a bit of a spiel saying, you know, where they’d trained. Because a lot of them had trained in Canada.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Some in South Africa.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: And I stood up and said I was trained fully in Australia and commissioned off the course. Which was most unusual.
RG: Yes. Yeah.
AJ: I didn’t go into the fact that I was in jail [laughs]
RG: It might have scored points with you Alex.
AJ: Yeah. And after that, you know the other pilots would get up and do the same and then the meeting in the great hall would dissolve from formalities and you’d just wander around. And then you’d have groups of guys. Gunners would tend to, they tended to stick together. And the navigators and the w/op wireless operator blokes. They’d all, they’d be talking and some of them had teamed up with another group. And they’d come up and talk to the pilot. Many of the pilots. And after a while things sort of settled down and I got, in my crew, I got, there were two Englishmen, ‘cause the first Englishman had to be the bloke sitting at the front with you on the right.
RG: The engineer.
AJ: Not the pilot.
RG: The engineer.
AJ: Hmmn?
RG: The engineer.
AJ: Yeah. Flight engineer. Because they weren’t trained out here. They were almost invariably Englishmen.
RG: Oh. Were they? Oh. Ok.
AJ: And the man who I, who came up to me had been in the army and was highly skilled. He was thirty two years of age. An old man.
RG: Yeah.
LD: That was an old man.
AJ: But his rank, I think was oh, major I think.
RG: Wow.
AJ: Frank Stone was his name. A real gentleman.
RG: Was he a sergeant then or was he still commissioned?
AJ: No. He’d re-joined —
RG: Yeah.
AJ: The air force as a pilot officer.
RG: Right. Ok So that’s a big come down though from major to pilot.
AJ: A big come down. He was, I remember he was the first guy. So I had, as the pilot, the flight engineer, Pilot Officer Frank Stone. And he had, for some reason or other known this rear gunner and he, those two joined me. And then the other group of Aussies — the mid-upper gunner, the navigator and the wireless operator were all Australians. A couple of them were, one of them was commissioned. Now, who would that be? Anyway, one was commissioned. And so that’s the way the crew was formed. Well, we went finally, as a crew. We got posted to 460 Squadron which was, you know, we all thought oh that’s it because 460 had a great reputation and what’s his name? The VC.
PJ: Hughie Edwards.
AJ: Hughie Edwards.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Was at that time the 460.
LD: Apparently, he was the world’s worst driver.
RG: Oh was he? [laughs]
LD: Yes. He had a Mercedes.
RG: He was a pilot. Yeah [laughs]
AJ: He was a shocking pilot. Oh my God.
PJ: And then he had a Mercedes and apparently, he had more dents in it because there was a 460 Squadron —
AJ: But everybody said that you fly with Hughie [laughs] at your own risk. But he was charismatic.
PJ: Yeah.
AJ: How he could instil wonderful, wonderful feelings amongst his squadron.
PJ: One of those, one of those sort of pulling off bays, you know, along the highway. In Canberra.
LD: Yes.
RG: Yes. Hughie Edwards bay.
PJ: There was a Hughie Edwards there and his brother that was, that must have been put in, I suppose seven or eight years ago. I can’t remember but we were down there.
AJ: Yeah.
RG: It’s been a while.
PJ: And his brother was there, and he was telling a story of what a frightful driver. He had a Mercedes and he had more dents in it than you could poke a stick at.
AJ: Anyway, I’m probably getting too far ahead for your questions.
LD: No. No. We’re actually.
RG: No. No. it doesn’t matter. We’re actually ticking them off as we go. Just carry on Alex.
AJ: I started flying in combat from 460 right on [pause] almost New Year’s Day of ’45. When the, I’d been flying in, in to but not in to direct combat. We were doing interjections before that as a crew.
RG: So was that the sort of the spoof raids?
AJ: Yeah.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Those sorts of things. Anyway, the first real operation was either New Year’s Day or immediately after. And —
PJ: Weren’t you involved in that Battle of the Bulge? Where, you know, there was such terrible weather.
AJ: Yeah. Yeah.
PJ: That was New Year’s. That was Christmas Day.
AJ: Yeah. Well that’s —
RG: Oh that’s right. Christmas.
PJ: It was terrible weather.
AJ: It was awful weather.
PJ: Nobody could have — the Germans couldn’t come in and the —
AJ: Yeah.
PJ: What’s the name of the town?
AJ: We were all grounded.
PJ: I’m trying to think of the name of the town.
AJ: The bomber force was grounded because of the weather.
PJ: Because there’s a memorial to the Yanks.
AJ: And then it lifted and oh God they launched everything including training aircraft against the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. Anyway, my first raid was done as what they called a second dickie.
LD: Oh yes.
AJ: That’s a senior pilot and his crew would take you. You’d sit there in the flight engineer’s seat.
RG: Little seat. Yeah.
AJ: And you went through the raid and learned that whatever and if you were lucky you’d return. They didn’t like second dickie trips. I’ve taken a few too on when I was skilled.
RG: Yeah. When you were — yeah.
AJ: And you never liked them because for some reason or other they seemed they were cursed.
PJ: Bring you bad luck.
AJ: Bring you bad luck. Yeah. It was a fair few. Well, ok I started after that with the crew and we had a series of raids which I won’t go into but near the, on about the 20th or something of February we went to Dresden. Awful. Awful. You know the story of Dresden and so on. How we, most of us just made it back because the tremendous long trip to Dresden and the awful conflagration. I’ve often been back to Europe with Pauline.
PJ: Well, when we were in Prague. He wouldn’t go to Dresden.
AJ: We’ve had opportunities to go back to Dresden.
PJ: That was only a couple of years ago.
AJ: Just over the border and I just said no. I just can’t. I’ve never returned to Dresden.
PJ: One of the most interesting things I find with history is its very one sided. It depends who’s telling the story.
RG: Absolutely.
PJ: And you get an enormous amount and when I, ‘cause this is the second marriage for both Alex and I but we’ve now been married thirty two years so it’s been a long, a long hard road [laughs
AJ: I lost my first wife, the mother of my kids to cancer. Breast cancer.
PJ: Anyhow, the thing is that when I first married Alex he was still having nightmares about the Dresden raid etcetera and so forth and you hear a lot about the horror of the Dresden raid, but you seldom hear about the horrors of Coventry. You know, if you go to the cathedral and you see walls left and that amazing cross and so on.
RG: Been to the cathedral. Yes. Yeah.
PJ: You seldom hear this. You seldom hear. And when I was first in Europe in, because I wasn’t in the war, I’m younger than Alex but I was first in the Europe in ’54 ’55. So I was there for the tenth anniversary of the end of the war and so on. And I went through Hamburg. I went through Germany and I couldn’t believe it. You wouldn’t know there was a war there because the Marshall plan had rebuilt everything.
RG: Rebuilt. Yeah.
PJ: But London was still derelict.
RG: Yes.
PJ: All around St Paul’s was still flattened and so on.
RG: Yeah. In fact, just last night we were watching a film which was made in London in — 1953 was it?
LD: ‘51
RG: ‘51. Yeah It was in —
PJ: Still all the bomb damage.
RG: It was in the city and there was buildings down everywhere
AJ: Well, I’d better continue hadn’t I?
PJ: Oh yeah. Sorry.
PJ: That was my fault Alex.
AJ: No. No. It was —
PJ: The history is interesting.
AJ: It is interesting.
RG: It is.
PJ: Interesting.
AJ: After the Dresden we got home and the, the three nights later we went to Dortmund. A bombing raid which was pretty rough. Pretty terrible. And coming home it was midnight. Snow on the ground. And the worst possible conditions for bomber aircraft because it was heavy cloud low down. Full moon. And just above the top of the cloud which was at our return flying height, so we were in and out.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: But often silhouetted.
RG: Yeah. Silhouetted.
AJ: Against the white cloud below. We were caught by — over the German Belgian border by a Messerschmitt 262. Jet.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: They were so fast. Fully armed with cannon.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Not just machine guns. And it blew the starboard wing of my Lancaster clean off. I mean there was no, no, you know, pilot stay in his seat, hold it until the rest of the crew baled go.
RG: Just go.
AJ: And the poor crew of course who were serving. They were at their desks and so on. Never. Their parachutes were strapped to the side of the Lancaster.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: So they always had to somehow get to them, put them on.
RG: And then get out.
AJ: While I held the aircraft.
RG: But you couldn’t do that.
AJ: Theoretically in a position where they could bale out. Well there was none of that because the cannon blew the starboard wing right and the aircraft just disintegrated at twenty two thousand feet. We all went out. I never saw my crew again. Naturally. They fell to their deaths. And I, being a pilot, occasionally you’ll see this in the record in such a case the armour plated bucket seats, which I’m sitting on, sitting on your parachute went out like a cork out of a champagne bottle.
RG: The whole seat.
AJ: The whole seat. Yeah. And I don’t remember anything of that naturally. Just the disintegration. Nothing. I must have fallen. Well, I obviously did because I came to at about two thousand feet. And there’s no steel seat. Somehow that had got lost in the fall down and the parachute harness was still on me but the parachute was unopened. There’s a stick sort of thing.
RG: Handle. Yeah.
AJ: And on fire just above my head.
RG: On fire.
AJ: Yeah. And this great hero at that stage looked down and here’s a church. And we were in a little a place called Lummen in Belgium. And I looked at that and so help me, this is written up and it’s quite true. There’s no exaggeration. You know, I’m a few seconds from death. What do you think the great hero thought at that time? Christ, if I don’t bloody do something that, that’s going to go up my arse. True [laughs]
LD: [laughs] Well it would have looked very small from that height too wouldn’t it?
AJ: Talk about anti-climax. I think people who ask me what’s my, my biggest memories. I said that little thing [laughs] I thought oh gawd. So I gave the rip cord a tug and so help me this burning sticker top opened up just sufficient because I landed in the church yard.
RG: Yeah.
LD: Not on the steeple.
AJ: Not on the steeple. And I think, they say I landed in the peach tree, somewhere near, in the gravestones and so on. In any event I survived the fall. It was in no man’s land. And the Luftwaffe were in charge at that time around that part and of course we had some respect for the, or a great deal of respect actually for the massed combatant. Combatants of the Luftwaffe and there wasn’t —
PJ: And he was also quite seriously injured.
AJ: Wasn’t particularly, if you’d seen the Wehrmacht or something they would have slit my throat. I believe, quite soundly, I was finished in a field hospital of which the Germans were in charge and they saved my life. And all things went on in there and I won’t go through that but some time later —
PJ: They were retreating. The Germans were retreating and left him behind.
AJ: Eventually the Canadians moved through the area and I remember being interviewed there. I spoke up for the Luftwaffe nurses and staff.
RG: Did they leave staff there? Just for interest’s sake, some staff?.
AJ: Yeah. They didn’t want to get back with the, because they didn’t want to go to Russian front.
RG: Oh. Ok. Yeah.
AJ: And I said these people had treated me very very well. I honoured them and they wished to be taken in charge as prisoner of war ectera. ‘Yes. Yes. That can be done. But you’re under arrest.’
RG: Alex, this is becoming a habit [laughs] you know that don’t you?
AJ: And this was, this was a pommie colonel.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Oh did I give him hell.
RG: Why did he say you were under arrest though?
AJ: Good question. You know, I said the same thing, ‘What the f’ing hell are you talking about?’ Anyway, he went out and about an hour later he came back.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: And he confirmed some of the basis of the story that I was saying.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: And the point was that he raised that issue early because such was the loss, terrible losses of our crews.
RG: Yeah. Yeah.
AJ: I must have to be sorry to say that it’s not often mentioned in the records. Many of our bomber crews cracked under the strain.
RG: Yeah. Yes.
AJ: And they used to fly over such places to become prisoners.
RG: Yes.
AJ: Or even better to get into Sweden, Switzerland or something and save themselves. They’d had enough. They were cracking.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: And really the Germans were winning the air war. There was no doubt about it.
PJ: Yeah. If Hitler wasn’t such an idiot, he would have won.
AJ: He would have. He would have won. All he had to do was keep on going a little bit longer, you know. But anyway as a result of that I was pulled back to Britain some, a week, or ten days. I forget the length of time, later. And instead of being repatriated home immediately which was the usual thing the wonderful base commander, also an Australian. And that was —
RG: Don’t ask me what his name was. I can’t remember.
AJ: Binbrook was —
RG: This was the base commander not the squadron commander.
AJ: That’s right.
RG: Yes.
PJ: [unclear]
AJ: I was flying with the Australian commander at that time. I forget his name now. But the base commander was an Australian too.
PJ: Cowan. Wasn’t it? The base, not the base commander but Cowan.
AJ: No. Cowan was the guy who came in. His crew I finally picked up.
PJ: I can’t remember the name of that fellow. I met him at that —
AJ: No. Anyway he said Alex I’m going to ask you a pretty terrible thing. He said we now have, because of the losses being brought about by the jet aircraft which Churchill refused to allow our air force commander Butch Harris to try and describe to we, the crew because Churchill believed that we’d all surrender.
LD: So did you not —
RG: Did you know about those?
LD: You were not informed that these aircraft —
AJ: No. We were kept in the dark about these engineless things.
PJ: Aircraft.
AJ: That were shooting us down. It was deliberate by Churchill because he had no faith in Bomber Command. He hated the bloody air force. Anyway, he said, ‘I want you to stay here and to pick up the new squadron commander, Wing Commander Cowan.’ He had no experience anyway. He was barred from flying. Anyone above the rank of full squadron leader was barred from flying, because of our losses. And he said, ‘We can’t, we have his crew who were perfectly ready to take over, but they won’t have a pilot. We want you to volunteer to continue in action.’ I said, well I thought about it for about one second and said, ‘Yes, I’ll volunteer.’ So, I was appointed the pilot and commander of the new untested crew. Mainly Aussies. And —
RG: I wanted to ask. Can I just ask, how did that, so they worked up that they were the wing commander’s, Wing Commander Cowan’s crew. They’d worked up with him, trained with him and whatever. And then he goes and you, you jump in.
AJ: Yeah.
RG: How did it work out with them? How did you —
PJ: He’s still friendly with — there’s one in Melbourne.
AJ: Yeah. Well the camaraderie within the squadron was absolutely tremendous. Even though we were being shot to ribbons. And people respected me because they all believed I was dead. When I turned up [laughs] I just rescued my tin in the steel box of personal goods from the, that’s called the graveyard down in London. They used to take —
RG: Sorry, what was that? They used to take the stuff down to what was known as the graveyard.
AJ: When crews went missing or were killed in action. And there were many. Their personal belongings were generally put in a big steel trunk. Sent down to London to the, ‘dead meat factory.’
PJ: Then to be shipped home.
AJ: And then shipped home
RG: We were going to ask you about that if you don’t mind. The Committee of Adjustment term that we’ve heard which is very little information on.
PJ: Never heard of it.
LD: These were the people who picked up —
PJ: Oh yes.
RG: It’s an old term from the nineteenth century. It’s an old British army term and I’ve heard it in Bomber Command. That how, when a crew went missing, were killed that process of who, who did it. And it varied in different squadrons and stuff.
AJ: Yeah.
RG: Who came and picked their kit up.
AJ: Yeah.
RG: And we’ve also heard about censoring. That they’d go through and —
AJ: It was the same committee that — I’ve heard of it. I don’t know much about their operations because they were — you didn’t want to know.
RG: No. No. You wouldn’t.
AJ: But they were the ones too who used to pick up the belongings of people who cracked up in combat. Many of us did, you know. Many, many guys would return and they’d be [pause] and they were sentenced. Sentenced. Think of the modern treatment of such people. LMF. Lack of moral fibre.
RG: Lack of moral fibre.
LD: That’s another —
AJ: That was the worst term in the air force.
LD: Yes. Yes.
AJ: Lack of moral fibre.
RG: So what happened, again LMF is naturally there is very little information because no one wants to —
LD: And what you read is so inconsistent.
RG: Yeah. And different squadrons, different groups seemed to do this different in different, well the Canadians did it differently from us.
AJ: That’s right. They all had their certain people that looked after that. And they were ostracised. It was almost too, too much to bear to talk to such people. You know, you’d be, even as an officer in the permanent quarters where my room were because I was a pretty senior officer, combat officer. And, you know, you’d be at breakfast or something after a raid or [pause] and, you know, ‘Where are they? What’s happened?’ And they these people would take over. And when you saw them I could recognise them, but they never socialised with any of us.
RG: Who were they?
AJ: I don’t know.
RG: Were they officers?
PJ: Were they part of the air force?
RG: Were they officers or were they —
PJ: Were they part of the air force or civilians?
AJ: Oh yes. They were air force guys.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: They would dress just like the rest of us but from memory now, that’s right, they had a tag. A tag up here and if you saw them we used to, well we had various words for them. Death heads or something or other. I forget now. But there was no camaraderie with such people. They were terrible around. They had an awful job to do.
RG: They did didn’t they.
AJ: But in my case, I got back. I take over Wing Commander Cowan’s crew and away we go. And from thereafter I think we did another ten or fifteen combat bombing trips. Some finished up in daylight with the American Forts. I admired them, the Yanks. Even though they were bombastic bastards [laughs] we used, we used to fight like hell in the pubs. They were always, we reckoned chasing our women. Our women. We used to call the ladies from Grimsby that we’d invite out to the officer’s mess, famous mess out there called the Village Inn, the Grimsby night fighters. For obvious reasons. But they were, they were lovely, lovely lasses. And strangely enough it wasn’t a sexual trend although that obviously went on. But it was, they were, they seemed to accept their role in a beautiful manner. They’d calm you down when you were dancing, and these are the memories now that are very strong in my mind.
RG: Yes.
AJ: Since the horrors and the trauma of my experience after my recent illnesses for some reason has faded away.
RG: Faded away.
AJ: And I am now touching ninety two and as Pauline says I have a, I don’t have the awful trauma. Only the funny things
RG: The good ones.
AJ: Of the Grimsby, of the Grimsby girls.
PJ: In your second stint, that was when you did Operation Manna.
AJ: Yeah, that’s interesting. As Pauline has just said. After [pause] no. Before the war finished the — a group of Germans and the whole of Belgium and Holland was grounded. It was sealed by Montgomery’s army. And Hitler being Hitler refused any suggestion that these people, that the German and there was a hell of a lot of Germans there, should surrender. And therefore the Red Cross and International Red Cross I think it was mainly who organised a cease fire in order that Lancasters, because of their great load carrying ability would be used to drop food to the starving Dutch.
PJ: Yeah. All the dykes had been busted.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: So Holland was all flooded so there was no production of food.
RG: Yeah. Yeah. It was impossible to get any other way.
AJ: That was amazing. I did about three. Three or four of those.
RG: That was amazing thing, wasn’t it?
AJ: And the worst thing about it was that there were only certain areas that you could drop this food and the stuff we were dropping, you know. Big two hundred pound bag of potatoes and bulky packets.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Of all sorts of food wired up in our own bomb bays. And we’d release those at about, to nearly two hundred mile an hour. We had to fly no higher than a thousand feet over all of the approaches to this area. And the German gunners were, this was unofficial trips.
RG: Yeah. Yeah.
AJ: You could see, you could set the watches on the —
RG: 11 o’clock. We’ll, yeah, it’s over.
AJ: And we I remember so well the time when the plane in front of me in this great field that was up above the flood waters fence. And all around the fence would be the German troops keeping the starving, and they were starving.
RG: Yeah. Starvation.
AJ: Ordinary folk away. Well the plane in front dropped successfully and suddenly, terribly the German troops, they laid down their arms and raced to get the food. They were starving too.
RG: Yeah. Yeah.
AJ: And then followed by the people. Can you imagine it? I’m approaching.
LD: Oh and you’re coming.
AJ: And suddenly dropped them as you came in.
LD: Carrying two hundred pounds of potatoes.
AJ: I’ve got to drop. I’ve got to drop. The plane is ready to drop. So I dropped my load and so help me God. You could see them. You know. if you get hit in the head with a two hundred pound bag of spuds at two hundred miles an hour.
RG: Two hundred miles an hour.
AJ: There’s not much of you left. Well I did about three. Three or four of those. And in there I have a plaque that was issued to those of us on Operation Manna. And on the way back, trying to recover our sanity we went on, going past these great windmills with great Lancasters — four engines. You approached the windmill [boom] and the wheels — vroom [laughs] We had photos of that which have gone missing now. That was Operation Manna. And then, after the war, some three days after the war, Churchill ordered the air force to provide a skilled crew. A pilot, with the facilities in this Lancaster for photography. For the record over all of Germany.
RG: The destructed. The destroyed cities. Yeah.
AJ: And hence my first long range. I was selected, and you had, I had on board about eleven or twelve senior people, photographers, ladies, WAAF chiefs. Some of them were very senior people. And at a thousand feet we flew all over Germany taking those. They were quite famous photographs.
PJ: These are the negatives we gave to the War Memorial last year.
AJ: The negatives we gave. We have the copy. Particularly that famous one.
RG: Of the bridge.
AJ: The bridge of Cologne.
AJ: Over Cologne. And the funniest thing of all I guess was the fact that those long trips the ladies of course, it wasn’t set up for ladies in a Lancaster.
LD: From what I’ve heard the elsan wasn’t very well set up for men either.
AJ: The elsan. I had strict instructions I gave to my rear gunner that he wasn’t to switch. I could sense when he moved his turret.
RG: Turret. Yeah.
AJ: I said, ‘You keep that bloody turret looking out.’ But a couple of times there I could sense what was going on. And he was laughing like hell there. So there was some funny things.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Then further on we joined the new force.
RG: Tiger Force.
AJ: Single Australians with very long, highly experienced crews.
PJ: Tiger Force.
AJ: Tiger Force. At the home of east, at East Kirkby which is famous anyhow.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: And we started to bring back, we’d fly tremendous distances all over Europe doing various tasks to get experience for when we were to be based in Iwo Jima.
RG: In bombing Japan.
AJ: That had just been taken by the Yanks. To bomb Japan. Can you imagine these long range Lancs up against the Japanese Zeros defending their own land? Over Tokyo. But the worst thing about it was that we would not have enough fuel to return to Iwo Jima.
RG: So what was to happen? Land in China?
AJ: We were too overfly. Think of this for a crazy bloody.
RG: Planning.
AJ: Arrangements made by that idiot Churchill and others to overfly Tokyo in to deep Soviet Russia and to land at a field of opportunity.
LD: Oh because it would all just be sitting there.
AJ: There were no maps. We were just told that you overfly if you survive. You can overfly, land where you’ll be refuelled and rearmed and you could come back. There was no way we would come back. It was a flight to death. But that’s what we were up for. But before we got down on to that level we were, we did a lot of flying down to the south of Italy to the coast. Bari.
RG: Oh yeah.
AJ: Because that Bari became the central point for the collection of all the poor darned prisoners of war.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: From all around that area.
RG: From right up through Europe. Not just to Italy. Everywhere.
AJ: Down. Yeah. All the prisoners that were to be returned to Britain were to be, as far as possible collected from Bari.
RG: Brought back through Bari. Ok.
AJ: We’d fly down and bring them back.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Ten on each side of the Lancaster, strapped.
LD: Of course I’ve heard this, and I’ve wondered where they put them and how they put them.
AJ: Well that’s it because the Lanc became, of course almost unmanageable with twenty people. It’s centre of gravity was all over the place.
LD: Yes.
AJ: It was highly dangerous work.
LD: Yeah.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: But we did quite a few of these trips and on one trip — this is quite a funny story really. We had realised and so had the people down in Bari that a nice little trade could be organised. We’d take down the, we’d bring back the prisoners but what do we do?
RG: Come back empty.
AJ: About taking them down because you can’t sort of turn up an opportunity to load up your Lanc bomb bay. In a station like Binbrook there were hundreds, literally hundreds of push bikes.
LD: Of course. Of course. Yes.
AJ: Pushbikes were, of course, used by everyone. When a crew went missing no one’s interested in the pushbikes. The bicycle dump was bigger than the bomb dump. And we, a lot of us got our little heads together and said if we take down bikes wired up in the bomb bay and then exchange them down there for fruit, Italian jewellery, you know. For all the goodies that were missing in England. Ah, great. So this trade started. Well we’d done quite a few of these trips bringing back the prisoners itself was —
RG: Key thing.
AJ: A very emotional experience. But mid-way through this exercise the bloody military police down in, our own coppers —
RG: Yeah. Yeah. The crushers.
AJ: Down in Bari. They had a racket or two going too and we were undercutting them, you know. And so they decided that they were going to stop us.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: By arresting a few of the crew and causing mayhem.
RG: You didn’t get arrested again did you Alex?
AJ: What happened was that I got, to there was about six or eight in this flight. I happened to be leading it, of Lancs from Binbrook with our bikes. And we’re flying at about fifteen thousand feet down the Med. We get a call from base saying, ‘Get rid of those bloody bikes. The cops are waiting for you in Bari.’ How do you get rid of bikes fifteen thousand feet over the Med? Obvious.
PJ: It is really.
AJ: I opened the bomb bays and wired them, and at my command, ‘Bombs away. Bikes away.’ And so that’s what happened. And can you imagine suddenly out of the [laughs] hundreds of bikes?
RG: You’ll see them down there on the floor of the Mediterranean there is all this piles of bikes.
AJ: That’s it. in the future, five thousand years away there will be some stupid palaeontologist saying these are unusual.
LD: There’ll be some child who was down on the beach that’s going, ‘Mum, can we go out and get some of those bikes that fell in to the sea?’ ‘Oh, you stupid boy.’
PJ: Wouldn’t believe it.
AJ: Oh dear. But when we got down there and the cops raced into the aircraft. Nothing there. Bomb doors open. Opened the bomb doors. Nothing. I can still see [laughs] they knew they’d been beaten.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Didn’t find anything.
LD: What did you do with those bloody bikes. What bikes?
RG: What bikes?
LD: They didn’t find anything else to arrest anybody for instead did they?
RG: I’ve just got this mental image of all these people riding pushbikes in these 1950s and ‘60s Italian movies.
PJ: That’s right.
RG: And they’re all RAF bikes.
PJ: Of course they had no transport so —
RG: Yeah. Yeah.
AJ: So there was some funny stories amongst the tragedies.
PJ: What else is there? I can’t think. Actually now there’s, in Lummen, where Alex came down.
RG: Sorry what was the name of that town again?
PJ: Lummen.
RG: Yeah. How do you spell it?
AJ: L U M M E N.
RG: Ok.
AJ: Lummen.
PJ: They now have a street, an Alexander Jenkins Street, Strasse in the new subdivision there.
RG: Oh truly. Oh wow.
PJ: Yeah. The mayor wrote last year.
AJ: Yeah. What happened was oh about 1983 or thereabouts.
PJ: It was ’83 because that was when I was going through those things for the Department of Foreign Affairs.
AJ: ’83. They, the local people in Lummen. The younger men and women who had no real experience of the war decided that they knew all of them now. They knew the history of that terrible night. The number of aircraft shot down over their, over their area on the night of the 20th.
PJ: Very close to the German border.
AJ: And they decided that they knew that there was somewhere in this rhododendron swamp. Beautiful rhododendron forest but there were bits of my aircraft that had been in that swamp. Had not been discovered and taken away in the great clean-up straight after the war had finished. And they were just resting in pieces until then. And a number of them, the patriots decided they’d find the remains of my Lanc. Which they did. They were amazing the way they did it. And anyway —
PJ: They didn’t find much.
AJ: No. They didn’t find much. The heavy undercarriage survived of course. A few other bits and pieces. So at about ‘83 this occurred, and they finally had got through the ID markings on the, on the remnants. They knew that it was a bomber from Binbrook. The records showed that that was the site of the Lanc. And they decided that they would try, they knew there was one survivor. The pilot.
PJ: They didn’t know that at the outset did they because that young, the young girl that looked after the graves, first of all they had all of you.
AJ: Oh yeah that’s right.
PJ: Lost.
AJ: It took a long time.
RG: For everyone.
PJ: For them all. And we met this young girl who, she was a twelve year old when she used to look after the graves.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: Because they were buried in the village.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: Now they’re in the war cemetery.
RG: War cemetery. Yeah.
PJ: But in the small war cemetery.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: Not in any major ones.
AJ: No.
PJ: Because they said, you know, their our guys. So it’s a small war cemetery.
AJ: They decided that they would get this, these bits and pieces and build a memorial. And the identification — they searched everywhere. Records and so on to try and find the name and the whereabouts of the surviving pilot. Me. Well, officialdom, particularly in Australia and for good reasons you make at that time, you make an enquiry like that and — no comment. Because of the threat of retaliation and bribery and things. People getting even if they handed out that sort of information.
RG: Yeah. Yeah. Fair enough.
AJ: Where Joe Blow was, who was doing this at that time in the war. Where is he now? I want to go over and shoot him.
RG: Yeah. Yeah.
AJ: So they didn’t pass any info at all. They couldn’t get anywhere with it. But in any event, they finally did, through the university system. See, I was a professor in the, I was a foundation professor at the University of New South Wales and eventually also a professor in charge of the Department of Materials and Metallurgy at Sydney University. And Sydney, the university has this international academic thing over and they, apparently there was a publication in England about me.
PJ: Well there —
AJ: And they found me.
PJ: Apparently, yeah, apparently, there’s a university magazine that goes out and this fellow in Belgium put an ad in this university magazine seeking the whereabouts of this Alexander Jenkins.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: And Alex had already retired so the registrar of the Sydney Uni rang Alex and said, ‘I don’t know what you’ve been up to.’ And also the Department of Foreign Affairs got in touch.
AJ: Yeah. They said, ‘What have you been up to? You’re wanted.’
RG: Again. Get stuffed.
AJ: Well we were —
PJ: It was.
AJ: Planning to go back at that stage.
PJ: Well, I was working and when I married Alex he said I’d like you to retire in five years. So, ok, because he didn’t know what he was going to be doing. So by the time I retired he was on every rotten board in the country and he was never at home so I could have killed him. But that’s beside the point. So the people I worked for, they, they knew I was going to retire so this was ’86. It must have been. And they said, ‘Look you’ve done a good job for us. We think you should get a new car. We’re suggesting you get BMW and we suggest you go to Munich to pick it up.’ So I was quite happy to do that. So we knew we were going to be in Europe. And we took a house about fifteen kilometres out of Florence for about six weeks or something. So we had all this in place. Well then when they finally got hold of Alex we said we could be there etcetera and so forth. So we went, and we drove into this town and there were thousands of people and Alex said, ‘It must be market day.’ It wasn’t market day it was us and him.
LD: It was Alex Jenkins day.
PJ: And it was incredible.
RG: Yeah. Yeah.
LD: Did you go by car and wave like the queen?
PJ: It was a big deal.
AJ: It was a big deal.
PJ: The head of the NATO forces for Belgium was there. Colonel [unclear] And there was the Australian Ambassador to France, I think he was. And there was the British Ambassador to somewhere or other. They were all there and it was interesting and we, and Colonel [unclear] said to me they were going to unveil a memorial to Alex’s crew.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: Outside the church. So, and Colonel [unclear] he said, because it was a Flemish area. There was a book written about Alex, but it was in Flemish. Have you ever tried to get Flemish translated in this country? It’s almost impossible.
RG: I know one person who can do it.
PJ: Well, I found one person who could do it and she was in Adelaide. And it was interesting. My daughter was working for the Commonwealth Bank and the girl at the desk next to her, she was saying, because Alex was coming up for his eightieth birthday and I was trying to find some way to get this translated so he could, so that I could give it to him for his eightieth. Well, so Louise was helping me. And somehow, she said something to this girl and she said mum, she’s a translator. She’s married to an Australian but she’s from the Flemish region of Belgium. Anyhow, Colonel [unclear] said it in Flemish and then he said it in English and so on. And there was a guard of honour drawn up for Alex and they were all the Resistance fighters. And they were all old, and they were gnarled and they were a tough looking bunch. And they made him an honorary member, his medal’s in there, of the resistance. Well then Colonel [unclear] had said to me, ‘Be prepared for a bit of a surprise.’ So they go through all this and then they gave him a flypast of F16s.
RG: Wow.
PJ: They came over the top of the church.
RG: Yeah. To recognise.
PJ: It was quite amazing. It was a very emotional day. We’ve been over a couple of times since. But —
AJ: It was quite something. I’m standing there and in front of the dais and the colonel and there’s all the Resistance. Wartime blokes. God [laughs] they were a rough bunch with their berets and so on and when he said that there would be a celebration and he didn’t really describe it except that I thought, you know this is something to do with this air force business.
PJ: No. He didn’t tell you. He told me. You didn’t know anything about it.
AJ: No. I didn’t. And anyway, the, I’m standing there and just waiting. And, in the background, I heard vroom vroom vroom and I thought, My God. that’s a bloody aircraft on full power, flaps. It’s a, there’s a word for it in some tactical approach. Supersonic aircraft flying as slow as possible with flaps down.
RG: Flying down.
AJ: And undercart still retracted.
RG: Ok.
AJ: But flying as low and as slow.
RG: Slow as possible.
AJ: It takes tremendous power for a plane like that to do that.
RG: Yeah. Yeah.
AJ: And they were revving the engines. Vroom. Vroom. Vroom.
RG: Virtually standing on the tail. Yeah.
AJ: I thought, oh my God, I think I know what might be coming because that’s the first part of a ceremonial, highly meaningful but seldom performed performance by aircraft in the honour of a fallen or a number of fallen comrades. Prince of Wales Feathers it called. Anyway, sure enough and low on the horizon was that. How many were there? About six weren’t there? I think so.
PJ: No. I think there was four or something [unclear] to make the Prince of Wales Feathers.
AJ: No. Six it would have been.
PJ: Anyhow, whatever.
AJ: Anyway just over the top just above the ground really and I’m looking at that and I thought I know what’s coming now because what happens is that they move away. That’s meant to be the sound of the human heart.
LD: Yes. Yes.
AJ: Vroom vroom vroom. Then they move away. Get out, away from the crowd and everything else. They reassemble and this time —
RG: Come back.
AJ: They come in with full power as an arrow group.
LD: Yeah.
AJ: And then vroom just above and straight up and then they.
LD: That’s where they get the name the name the Prince of Wales Feathers. Just spreading.
AJ: Prince of Wales Feathers.
LD: Spreading like the feathers.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Yeah. The beating of the human heart first and then the departure of the soul to heaven.
RG: Yeah. Ok. I didn’t realise the significance.
PJ: These, we were guests of this —
AJ: Gosh it was so impressive.
LD: What a wonderful thing for your crew isn’t it.
AJ: I had tears in my eyes.
PJ: The pilots took us to dinner. Their wives took us to dinner that night and one of the wives was saying that she, she, they used to hide under the table during the war. And she said her mother used to say she could hear the Lancasters going over and she’d say, ‘There goes the sound of freedom.’ So —
AJ: Yeah.
PJ: She’s but she —
AJ: What a story that —
PJ: This Colonel [unclear] was the air attaché to the Belgian Embassy.
AJ: He was a wonderful bloke.
PJ: Embassy in Washington. And his wife told the story that when they went over there they had three daughters and the youngest, the littly really spoke no English at all. The other two were bi lingual. Anyhow she gets her there and she didn’t know whether to send her to school or not and so on. So she sends her to kindy and when she gets home her mother said, ‘How was it? How did you like American kindy?’ She said, ‘Mum, it’s quite good but, ‘she said, ‘You know none of the kids could understand a word I said.’ So she said it took her a while. But they were delightful people. When we were there a couple of years ago he was too ill to meet us but no this first trip we went one of the, oh well there’s a, there’s a little memorial. Alex has photos there and it’s made of the, the what do you call the big straps that the wheels go in.
AJ: The oleo legs.
PJ: Ok. And they made a chapel of them.
AJ: And then on top there’s this —
PJ: But then they, and there was an ink drawing of Alex falling out of the sky with his parachute on fire and so on. And there were a whole stack of kids. There was just so many people there. And I tried to, I was saying to these, trying to explain to these kids that that old guy, he didn’t have a beard then but that old guy over there was the guy falling out of the sky. They looked at him. They looked at it. But this bloke from the Australian Embassy had very kindly brought a pocket full of little gold kangaroos, you know so they dispensed these out to the kids.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: And they thought it lovely fun. But at the same time there was a dinner that night a reception that afternoon and a fellow gave Alex, this father and his son came out and the son spoke very good English as they all do. The father wasn’t [unclear] but he had a gold watch he had which belonged to one of Alex’s crew and he asked if we could try and return it to the family. Well I was still working, and I tried and as Alex said earlier you can’t get any information. People don’t give you any information. So when I retired I couldn’t find out where this guy had come from or anything, by the name of Campbell. Anyhow, when I retired I tried again and I struck. I told the lass this story, you know, what was going on and she was quite helpful and said he came from Mudgee. So we did some research. It was very hard. You know, it was a long time ago and people change and die and move on and so on.
LD: Yes.
PJ: Anyhow, we eventually found his three sisters and we gave them back the watch that apparently their mother had given to their brother for his twenty first birthday and so we were able to give them that.
AJ: By the way we have been back several times and I think the last time that we were in contact the people the people in Lummen because we are, we have the freedom of the city and so on.
RG: That’s one place in the world you’re never going to be arrested. You know that [laughs]
AJ: Yeah. That’s right.
PJ: The last time we went —
AJ: Well, the last time we were there they had the signs up.
PJ: But we said, ‘Very low key please. Very low key.’ So we arrived, well first of all they picked us up from the railway station in Brussels. And they described, there would be three guys and they described themselves and their description was absolutely spot on. There was a short guy, a tall guy and a fat guy. Three guys. So they picked us up and we drive into town and there was all these, “Welcome Alexander Jenkins.”
AJ: And since then —
LD: So it was lucky it was low key was it?
AJ: They have, there was a big estate.
PJ: Yeah. Well as I said your name.
AJ: That’s been formed. The principal avenue was named after me. Alexander Jenkins Strasse.
PJ: Strasse but they, you know we were.
AJ: So I’ve got my name in that part of Belgium.
PJ: And we had a reception. And all these kids. A group of kids I think they were probably eleven. Ten or eleven. Something like that. And their job was to draw the story they knew and to draw what they thought of this fellow coming out of the plane. Well, they all stood there literally and came forward and presented Alex with their, their drawings. Which was all very nice. But the only thing, you know, because I worked in the not for profit sector and I used to bring people from overseas as speakers I was very conscious of the luggage that people had to take back, but jeez you know, when we were there last time they presented Alex with a beautiful crystal vase about so high and about so big with everything engraved on it. It weighed three tonnes.
AJ: Yeah.
PJ: And how on earth we were going to get this home, but we did but, no its —
AJ: Anyway that’s the —
PJ: That’s his story. Is there anything else you want to know about?
AJ: That’s my story basically. I know I’ve rambled.
RG: No, that’s, that’s fine.
LD: Oh no. No.
AJ: But the funny parts about it are when I think the last couple of weeks, so we went down to this function which we generally go to once a year.
LD: Yes.
AJ: Of the 460. Under G for George.
PJ: The 460 under the wings —
LD: I was going to ask you to talk about your connection with G for George.
AJ: Yes. Well G for George is of course a Lancaster from 460 Squadron. One of the most weird aircraft we ever had in the squadron. Long before my time. Ninety eight trips. Combat trips. And it’s still in one piece. The C flight, there were various flights on 460 Squadron. A B C D. Twenty six aircraft actually to the squadron, six commence of the four and two spare, and C flight always has G for George, And I finished as the command of C flight of 460 Squadron. And therefore, and I’ve flown of course during the war when this one had returned to Australia. Peter Issacson and others for the, brought that plane back for the — raised funds at the time. I’ve flown G for George. G10, G11, G12 because the average life of the Lanc was only three months.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Before it would be shot down. So I’ve flown quite a few G for George’s but I’m also the ex-commander of that one, C flight which is —
PJ: The one there in Canberra is the one that flew under the Harbour Bridge.
RG: Yeah. Yeah. On that.
PJ: When Peter Issacson was flying.
AJ: They let me in to that aircraft as a special dispensation.
PJ: This was last Friday.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Last Friday. I’ve often said to Pauline and others I’d just love to, once before I go to —
PJ: I’d heard —
RG: Seriously.
AJ: To get back in to my plane.
LD: That would be a wonderful experience.
AJ: It was so lovely.
PJ: I’d heard that you could do this. So when we were talking about taking stuff down, well first of all to give something to the War Memorial isn’t that simple.
RG: No.
PJ: You’ve got to go through a terrible lot of rigmarole. They don’t want you to bring stuff there and so on. I was talking I just left a message and this young man rang me back. And I said look we’re going to be there. I said, ‘My husband is elderly. It doesn’t matter if we bring the stuff. You have a look.’ ‘No. We’re not interested. We’ve already got that.’ ‘That’s fine. But at least then we know.’ And I said, ‘While I’m calling you I understand that if you were a pilot of a Lancaster you can have a sneaky inside.’ And he said, ‘Oh I’ve never heard of that.’ Anyhow, they rang back and said there was this special thing etcetera etcetera. So, there was a message waiting for us when we got to Canberra last week and they said to ring so we rang, and they said well we’re not supposed to. We’ve had to get authority from the highest but as a very special thing and the big thing is apparently a couple of years ago there was an old pilot was up in there and he had a bad fall and severely gashed his head.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: So now it’s totally taboo.
LD: And it’s a good long way up.
PJ: Yeah. So what they had there was two delightful young men. One went in front and one went behind and they had one, of course they used those ladders, you know, those wood ladders, flat on the top.
AJ: My ambition was to get in.
PJ: Anyhow, he got there.
AJ: I knew I wouldn’t be able to get and sit in the front, in the pilots seat because it’s all wired up with dummies, but what I wanted to do, and any Lanc crew member would understand what I’m saying. I wanted to get over the main spar.
RG: Yes. Yeah.
AJ: That main spar was the continuation of the wing structure through the middle of the plane. It used to cause tremendous problems to us. Particularly if you were in combat and you needed to bail out.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Oh. It was awkward. Anyway, I got in, struggled along the plane and I came to the main spar. And I think the bloke said, ‘Do you think you can?’ Because I’ m pretty weak. ‘Do you think you can get over there?’ I said, ‘I’ll do this or die.’ And I got over it.
LD: So does it look like, I’ve seen people climb over it. It doesn’t look like there’s much room.
AJ: Oh yeah. Once I was over there I could see the cockpit and everything else.
PJ: He was a very happy chappy.
AJ: I was a happy chappy and I came back over again. Top of this great ladder and I looked down and opposite in the recess were the two aircraft. One of them the ME262.
RG: Oh yes. Of course there is.
AJ: The one that shot me down.
LD: Yes. Of course you were —
PJ: That’s right.
AJ: And the other was what we called the chase me Charlies. They were the rocket ships that used to go.
RG: ME 163.
AJ: Straight up. And the trick about them was that they had this great cannon which if you were hit with that you didn’t, what I got, blown to bits. You go, it goes up and then it levels out. It levelled out in the stream and selected a target and that was the end of the target. But when you could see it going up we thought oh my God, you know. You watch. You watch. If you see a, the thing stop and then the trail continue you breathed a sigh of relief because it’s going away from you.
RG: Yes.
AJ: Because of the jet at the back. But if it went up.
RG: And vanished.
AJ: And there was darkness it was. ‘Oh my God.’
RG: Coming towards.
AJ: It’s coming to us.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: So those two planes. I looked down and the blokes with me knew what I was thinking.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: I said, ‘Yeah, I remember those two,’
PJ: Are you going to see David Griffin?
RG: No. We haven’t been able to get back in contact with him. I’ve tried ringing all week.
LD: We did want to try and see him.
RG: And his phone’s been ringing out. He may have gone away. I’m not too sure.
PJ: He’s got a daughter here. David is ninety five or ninety six.
RG: Yeah. So ninety six. Yeah.
AJ: Very weak.
LD: We were kind of a bit concerned that the phone just kept —
RG: Yeah.
PJ: Well do you want me to ring a friend who is quite close to them. Literally living close but they have a lot to do with David. He also was a headmaster of a school but David was the headmaster of Orange High. But if you like I can just find out if they know whether he’s there.
RG: That would be nice Pauline. Yeah. Because we thought what we might do is we’ve got his address. We might just pop around because I said we’d come today.
PJ: Yeah.
RG: We hadn’t organised a time And I haven’t been able to do that, so I thought we’d pop in and say look we’re —
PJ: His daughter’s here. You had no trouble with the Belubula River. There was a flood. Did you come down through, down it.
RG: No. It’s up but it was no trouble though.
PJ: And where is it in Cowra that you like to stay?
RG: There’s a — you know where the airport is? And then the Grenfell Road. The road that just goes up and up
PJ: Oh yes. Yes.
RG: Well just before Grenfell Road there’s a little road called Back Creek Road that goes back the other way.
PJ: Yeah. Back by the racecourse or whatever it is. Is there a racecourse out there? Yeah.
LD: Yes. There is.
RG: Is there? Oh. As you go down Back Creek Road there’s through a bunch of vineyards and there’s a little vineyard down there.
PJ: Oh yeah.
RG: And there’s a little cottage in the vineyard right up against the creek which is now just about running a banker.
PJ: That’s right.
RG: And it’s beautiful. It’s just a quiet little spot.
PJ: I went, I went to boarding school in Cowra, so —
RG: Oh ok.
AJ: Well, that’s been a rambling thing. I’m sorry.
RG: Can I just ask you. You said something and I’ve kind of lost context of what but it was to do with jinx. That’s right. The second dickie runs, and the second dickie runs , and you said you hated them because the jinx thing. Did you have a talisman or a token or anything that you — ?
AJ: No. I did not and a lot of guys, you’re quite right, a lot of guys swore by them. See it’s strange you know. You were a very old man at twenty five in Bomber Command.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Very few guys older than twenty five. It was a business for very young and hopefully very fit. Yes, we were very fit. Even though we drank like fish. The one reason I have never smoked in my life I can put down to my service as a Lancaster bomber bloke because we drank, naturally. And we all, we had very strict rules though. We used to police ourselves. We didn’t need the service police who used to be around for all sorts of reasons on a squadron.
RG: Yeah. I know.
AJ: They used to pick up every now and then. Spies and so on.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: And we drank, and I found that if I had a cigarette then nothing would happen on the ground but as soon as I used to have to go on to the oxygen mask which is at eight thousand feet, or —
LD: Yes.
AJ: I’d give the command to, ‘Masks on.’ I’d become violently ill. Now, if you’ve got to sit in the pilot’s seat strapped in, its bad enough to have a wee because you couldn’t get out.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: And the poor bomb aimer, you used to have to butter him up because he used to carry a peach tin or urine bucket they called it and you’d have to struggle and have a widdle if you could into there. And he’s down there and you’re up so sometimes a splash [laughs]
LD: He’d want you flying straight and level while you did that.
AJ: That’s one thing. But to be absolutely sick in your oxygen mask.
LD: Yeah.
LD: Which you couldn’t take off.
LD: Yes. Yes.
AJ: And spend eight, ten hours.
LD: Oh God.
AJ: So naturally I never smoked.
LD: No.
And it’s served me so well in my life.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Being a non-smoker.
RG: Yeah. I agree. I was smoker.
AJ: I wouldn’t say that I was a non-drinker but I’ve cut that down now, obviously on medical advice to just red wine.
PJ: They don’t, they don’t, haven’t heard that he was going away or anything but he’s terribly deaf so —
RG: He may just have not heard the phone. Yeah.
PJ: So I’ll give you the address.
RG: I’ve got that. I’ve got his address.
PJ: Got it. 90 Gardener Road.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: You know Gardener Road.
RG: Oh we use the sat nav. It’ll get us there.
PJ: So I suggest you go and knock on his door.
RG: Yeah. That’s what we thought we’d do because he said he’d written a book which has never been published.
PJ: Oh yes.
RG: He’s got the manuscript and Lucie checked. Because I wrote a book about a friend of mine’s father who was in the 2nd machine gun, 1st Machine Gun Battalion during the war.
PJ: Oh yes.
RG: So, and it’s just a little personal thing for her.
PJ: Yeah.
RG: But Lucy checked with the National Library and they said yes, they’d be happy to take a copy of that.
PJ: Oh yeah.
RG: And a copy of David’s if it’s, providing it’s typed. And if not, we can do that for him if he wants.
AJ: Because he’s an English fellow who was in the RAF.
PJ: But he’s, he’s very deaf. He almost yells. He has good days and bad days. Some days he’s not terribly with it and sometimes he’s fine.
RG: When I called him, you know, he said, ‘Oh look I don’t know.’ He said, ‘I’ve done a few of these interviews I don’t think I could contribute any more,’ and then an hour and a half later I was still trying to get off the phone [laughs]
AJ: [laughs] Yeah.
PJ: He’s a bit of a hoot you know. He comes. Well the people I’ve just spoken to, Bill he won’t wear — because he’s got a service medal but he did, because he didn’t, he was too young. Bill is just ninety. He was too young to actually, he was in the air force, but never got anywhere.
RG: Didn’t go on ops. Yeah.
PJ: He said, ‘I’m too embarrassed to wear the medal I’ve got.’ Whereas David comes, and he has every conceivable pin that he’s ever got, and said. Well the Russians do.
RG: Yeah. Or the Americans. Oh yeah.
PJ: All the bits and pieces. But no, Actually one of my nephews was in the navy. He went through [unclear]
RG: What was his name, just for interest sake?
LD: My brother was at [unclear]
PJ: Was he?
LD: Yes.
PJ: Well me nephew is now, because he is exactly twenty years younger than me. So, we share a birthday so he must be sixty three. But —
RG: Well that’s almost my age. What was his name. We were in at the same time.
PJ: Mark Dowd.
RG: Do you know what he did?
PJ: Yes. He was a diver.
RG: Oh I didn’t know any divers really. Yeah.
PJ: And it was interesting. It was very interesting because you know there was something like twenty of them in this diving class for starters. So I think there was twenty one or something finished.
RG: Very few get through.
PJ: They were either psychologically unsuited. Physically unsuited. There were a few deaths because of accidents and so on but the navy did Mark a great service because he was [unclear] whatever he was. He went to Vietnam. I think they had to make sure there were no mines. They had to clear.
RG: Under the ships.
PJ: Under on the ships and so on. But then he came back and started his own diving business. I don’t mean sort of leisure. It’s like —
RG: Professional diving.
PJ: Cables and this sort of thing. Dams.
RG: They were very well trained. The navy divers were very extremely well trained.
PJ: I’d say Mark has done very well. The navy did him a big favour but no, so his two sons. Neither went into the navy. One’s an engineer. The other one is doing something. I think science at CSU so, not CSU ANU, in Canberra. Alright. Ok.
LD: Just a couple of really short things.
AJ: Yes, love.
LD: One is do you know what a command bullseye is?
AJ: A command.
LD: A command bullseye.
AJ: Command bullseye.
LD: That’s in the diary that I have and it’s from the context it seems to me like it’s the, it’s like the kind of last exercise you do at the OTU before you go on ops. So, you know ,you go out, you fly at night. But I just haven’t actually been able to find the term anywhere.
RG: [unclear] crew, they did, “Did their command bullseye today” was pretty all what they said and they went to London.
LD: Yeah, they went to London.
AJ: Yeah.
RG: They did it over London. But other crews we’ve heard of doing it over France as well.
AJ: No. I don’t think I came across that.
LD: It’s alright. I know It could have even been a local term.
RG: Well Ken was a little, a fraction before you. he went down in December ‘43 and I noticed that terms and practices and things came and went.
AJ: Oh they sure did.
RG: Yeah. There was no consistency.
AJ: I went to Lindholme — and in the final set up. Yeah. Command bullseye. No.
LD: No. That’s fine.
RG: Might have been a local.
LD: Yeah. And just the other thing. I don’t know how you would feel about this but I, in Katoomba I met a man who was busking. He had the most beautiful voice. This baritone and he was busking in a shopping centre. And he was so well-presented. Anyway, I got to talking to him and he was from Dresden.
AJ: Oh dear. Came from Dresden.
LD: Yeah.
RG: Yes.
LD: He was born and grew up Dresden. Middle aged man.
AJ: Oh dear.
LD: And he busks as a professional and he said he busks in Dresden. And he said he goes to the old city and he sings to the old people. And I thought that was really lovely that —
AJ: Yeah.
RG: Yeah.
LD: You know, that he, you know this is his contribution.
PJ: Well the world moves on. I mean this is —
AJ: I have a horror.
LD: No. No. I mean he sings to the people.
PJ: Yes.
AJ: In relation to Dresden no man who bombed Dresden will, he will never be the same because it was such an awful set up in execution that, you know it scarred any conscience. And the worst thing about it was that it was specifically ordered by Winston Churchill to impress Stalin. And when the British public quite rightly revolted in revulsion even in the wartime and admittedly there was some technical reasons why Dresden had to be bombed because they were concentrating German troops and so on there. But Churchill just wiped his hands. He said, ‘I never.’ He blamed Sir Arthur Harris. Better known as Butch Harris. Sir Arthur Harris never, was never recognised except just before his death. And above all Churchill was so furious with the outcry that in blaming Sir Arthur he never forgot that Bomber Command, in his view needed to be brought to heel. And in that way, I don’t know if you know that story that when the great Victory Parade was organised Bomber Command was the only command refused permission to march in the Victory Parade, and yet Bomber Command was the only service for quite a while that was able to take the —
RG: To Germany. Yeah.
AJ: Oh God. We have the clasp. Have you ever seen that clasp that was awarded?
RG: No. No. I haven’t. No.
AJ: I’ll show you. The clasp was for those in Bomber Command.
PJ: Do you want your medal?
AJ: Yeah. Just the main medal because the other one hasn’t got it.
PJ: It’s not exactly a big deal.
AJ: The British government, queen and parliament eighteen months ago passed a motion of condolence and regret and apology to Bomber Command for the insult delivered to us in the peace. The processions etcetera and by command of the government and the queen a special clasp, a gold clasp was awarded to those of us who served in Bomber Command. When the papers came here and to my colleagues and so on almost to a man, here in Australia we initially refused. In fact I was ready —
PJ: That’s all it is. That’s the bar.
RG: Bomber Command.
AJ: Ready to rip it up. Put it in the application envelope and send it back.
RG: Send it back.
AJ: You know, with the words, ‘Get stuffed,’ but I had second thoughts.
PJ: It was interesting, like last Friday we were at this thing and there’s all these young people there.
RG: It is late but it’s the least they can do now.
PJ: Twenty six or something but every time they go away they get a medal.
RG: It is recognition finally isn’t it? It’s late and it’s long overdue but —
PJ: Always. Every one’s is a different tour of duty, so.
LD: Yeah.
AJ: They’re campaign medals.
PJ: They’ll have five or six medals and they’re about twenty five and, ‘Where did you get all them?’ ‘Oh well, you know I’ve been to Afghanistan. I’ve been to Iraq.’ Or something. But anyhow.
RG: Yeah. There is that.
PJ: Did you know, I’m trying to think? What’s, what’s the naval bloke here. Harris, Harris?
AJ: Yeah.
PJ: Harris.
AJ: Yeah.
PJ: His wife’s name is —
AJ: I can’t remember.
PJ: He was actually the naval attaché to the [unclear] of Paris. What’s his name? I saw him on Anzac Day. Kim. And he’d be older than you.
AJ: Not many. Not many people.
PJ: I was one of eight. And there was a boy, then six girls and then a boy. So the three youngest girls that’s me, my sister. Monica and my sister Dot. We’re the only survivors. But we did very well because until the last two years. My younger brother died, I don’t know probably fifteen, twenty years ago. And my elder sister died when she was only about fifty one but the rest of them, they’ve all been well in to their eighties. I’m eighty three. The next one’s eighty four and the next one’s eighty five.
AJ: You don’t look eighty-three.
PJ: Well thank you. In a good light.
AJ: Now I’m getting nice.
RG: Indeed. Alex. One other question I’d like to ask. VE Day. What was —
AJ: VE day.
RG: Do you have any remembrance of that? Do you remember it?
AJ: Yes. Yes and no. VE day the crew and I were in London. Naturally. I think we all descended on it, and I was actually, I’d been somewhere around Australia House in the morning, early. And they had up on the thing a little notice that guys from certain squadrons and so on represent for, and they had a sort of a bus, open topped bus and I put my name down for 460. I was the one who was chosen to sit on the bus and we got very close, you know, to the royal family. Waving away. And the celebrations though. The Aussies had a number of bars whose names now I forget but we, we descended on the bar in this particular place and we’d actually used the time and time again with the darts that they had for the dart board. We, after a celebration or a particular bomb raid that had gone well and, you know we were proud of it we’d put a few details and twing.
RG: Threw them up on the ceiling.
AJ: Anyway, we decided that they should come down.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: And so we got ladders and things and I remember being fully inebriated trying to get up these ladders to pull darts out of the roof.
PJ: It’s a wonder you survived all the things you got up to.
AJ: Well, I mean basically we were young and stupid.
RG: Yeah.
AJ: Yeah. So VE day was quite a day.
RG: I had to ask because the chap in Canberra Arthur Louden we said to him you know where you on VE day when the war ended. He said I was in bed with the wife up in Scotland. Someone knocked on the door and said, ‘The war’s over.’ I thought, good. And went back to bed again.
AJ: Oh dear that last raid that our squadron was involved in on Berchtesgaden. Hitler’s retreat. We blew the side off the bloody mountain. 460 Squadron was involved in it. It was Anzac Day. I remember that. Anzac Day they blew the side off the bloody mountain. When Pauline and I went back there I remember somewhere. We looked across, ‘I blew the side off that mountain’.
LD: ‘See that landslip there. I did that.’ Wow.
PJ: It’s interesting. I think it’s a shame that more, whilst still there’s people like Alex around that school kids aren’t given more information about the Second World War.
LD: Yes.
RG: Yeah.
PJ: At the present time of course it’s a hundred years —
AJ: That’s a moot question.
PJ: Yeah. But at the present time it’s all a hundred years of course of the First World War and so on.
AJ: The First World War.
PJ: But they don’t get a lot of indigenous history in school but very little about the Second World War.
AJ: Yeah. It is a shame. I’m ambivalent about that.
PJ: You know it’s a bit like —
AJ: I don’t know whether it’s good or not.
PJ: I don’t know if you have children, grandchildren or whatever, but, you know kids today like I said to me granddaughter who will turn up in a few minutes, ‘What are you going to do this year?’ You know. She said, ‘Well, grandma, I can’t decide whether I’ll go to Japan or Italy again this year.’ She went to Italy last year. But she’s never been to Cooper’s Creek or Cameron’s Corner or out in to the outback of Australia or where the various explorers went or even around here which was Mitchell’s territory. You know, she knew nothing about it. I do think it’s a shame. I think there should be more of, yes ok the indigenous. My next-door neighbour, his daughter married an indigenous, and. I keep saying, ‘Don’t blame me I, my I had three Italian and one French grandparent so it’s nothing to do with me,’ but —
LD: It’s a question of getting the whole story isn’t it?
PJ: But how do they ever give you the whole story?
LD: And not, you know, eschewed to one side.
PJ: But we’ll become so politically correct.
LD: Yes.
PJ: That it’s ridiculous and —
LD: My daughter went to Munich.
PJ: Oh yes.
LD: Last year. A couple of years ago. Whenever it was, Brother in law was married in Norway so they did all that. And she came back, and she said, ‘Oh mum. Munich’s beautiful.’ And then she said to me, ‘Did you know it was bombed during the war?’ I thought, ‘Hello.’ Would you like to tell? I could tell you, ‘I could tell you the name of people who did this if you like Polly.’
PJ: It’s very interesting.
LD: And I was just gobsmacked that my daughter who I thought was.
PJ: Yeah. But they don’t.
LD: She’s not a silly girl.
PJ: No. But it’s not, it’s not a part of their scene. It’s a bit like oh well, you know once again I’m not indigenous bashing but alright so the indigenous were here. So Captain Cook arrived so they established colonies etcetera, etcetera [unclear] I think was the first bod that arrived up on the West Australian coast, but yeah. Like, who’s going to grab England? Who are you going to go back to? The Gauls?
RG: Well exactly yeah. Yeah.
PJ: Or France or anywhere.
RG: I’ve got, I’ve got a Norwegian skin problem. So where did my family come? We’re from the north of England, ok.
AJ: Oh yeah.
RG: Originally.
LD: With the Vikings.
PJ: So it’s crazy you know.
RG: Yeah.
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Interview with Alexander Elliott Jenkins
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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
Type
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Sound
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
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02:00:55 audio recording
Conforms To
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Pending review
Pending OH summary
Creator
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Rob Gray
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-09
Description
An account of the resource
Alexander Elliott Jenkins grew up in Melbourne, Australia and joined the Air Force aged eighteen. He flew operations as a pilot with 460 Squadron from RAF Binbrook. His aircraft was shot down by a Me 262 over occupied Belgium.
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Australia
Belgium
Great Britain
Germany
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1944
1945
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Julie Williams
460 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945)
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
Cook’s tour
final resting place
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
lack of moral fibre
Lancaster
Me 262
memorial
Operation Manna (29 Apr – 8 May 1945)
perception of bombing war
pilot
RAF Binbrook
shot down
Tiger force
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/348/3516/PWaughmanR1501.1.jpg
ea7d7d15f3b9f96826258b16ff6e1ae6
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/348/3516/AWaughmanR150401.2.mp3
55b93fe44cab5a19fbaf370e4af18862
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
Waughman, Rusty
Russell Reay Waughman
Russell R Waughman
Russell Waughman
R R Waughman
R Waughman
Description
An account of the resource
Two oral history interviews with Russell Reay "Rusty" Waughman (1923 - 2023, 1499239 and 171904 Royal Air Force). He flew operations as a pilot with 101 Squadron.
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
2015-04-01
2015-08-03
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Waughman, R
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
AP: This interview is being conducted for the International Bomber Command Centre. The interviewer is Andrew Panton. The interviewee is Rusty Waughman. The interview is taking place at Mr Waughman’s home in Kenilworth on the 1st of April 2015. Mr Waughman was a Lancaster pilot in 101 Squadron.
RW: The old Lanc was a remarkable aircraft to fly. On one occasion I was going on a transport plan target. We were going to Hasselt in Belgium, Northern Belgium, German borders and we were about ten minutes from the target when another aircraft crashed side wards into us and the, the engineer, Curly was looking out of his window. Of course, it was dark and night time, cloud was about and all he saw was this aircraft just closing in and approaching and clout, clouted straight into the side of us. His engines cut through our bomb, bombing position when he was just six inches behind his feet. It cut off our starboard wheel. The mid upper turret which sticks up on top of the other [unclear]. It was Another Lancaster, a mid upper turret carved just behind our bomb bays, cut right through the fuselage, cut a big hole in the fuselage. Most of our tail was damaged. All our electrics went. And there we were, we were sitting on top each other all very closely linked and my controls was just like sitting on the ground, like driving on ice. I had no control of the aircraft whatsoever. The controls just went limp in my hand. I just couldn’t, couldn’t respond at all. It seemed like for, long time but it was only for seconds, only for seconds really and then the other aircraft fell away in pieces. I didn’t see it but the bomb, the navigator and the wireless op said they saw that his top canopy is all gone and he was just falling to pieces. We didn’t see any parachutes opening. So he crashed on the ground. We found we could still — didn’t affect our engines, we found we could still fly. So we got Norman, the bomb aimer, to check the bomb bays and the bomb doors. He’d lost control of the bombs but, er, all the bombs were still there and we could open the bomb doors and seeing as we were only ten minutes from the target so he said we’d press on and we’ll bomb the target. Not realising that having lost our electrics the master bombers had said don’t go in and bomb so we, we [laughs] roamed off on our own. We did hit the bomb, hit the target all be it, it was 4 ½ miles north of where we should of gone. But anyway we hit it, we hit a railway line and of course we had to come back and we were in such a hurry we realised that the major damage had happened at the back end of the aircraft. We realised later that two of the main [unclear] were damaged and had we had to take evasive action we could well of broken up. So I said to Harry, the rear gunner, come up front Harry, bring your parachute just in case but he said ‘no I’ll stop here and keep a lookout.’ These are the sort of lads they are. Anyway we had to do a crash landing when we got back and there was a casualty sadly that night. It was skidding towards the control tower in the dark and all the people in the control tower came out on the balcony to watch this idiot land his aeroplane and one of the little girls jumped back and sprained her ankle and that was our casualty for the night. But the reaction of the crews, I gave the crews the chance to bail out but they said no they wouldn’t do it and they all stuck with me and you realise as a pilot, and a very young pilot for having that reaction from the crew, you know, they were wonderful. And I was so lucky with the crew, all from various parts of life. School boys, council workers, a gunner, myself as I was a little, I was student.
AP: And the age group, average age?
RW: Yeah.
AP: Your age?
RW: Yeah. Well many, many years later for our eightieth birthday we had a reunion in Lincoln. They were sitting in the pub and about four or five of us were sitting round and he said we’ve all had our eightieth birthday. When’s your eightieth birthday Alec and he said it’s not for another two years yet. So he actually joined us when he was seventeen and he was operating with us when he was eighteen. Mind you I was getting on a bit, I was twenty, the bomb aimer was nineteen he had his twentieth birthday, the engineer had just had his twentieth birthday. The navigator was eighteen, Taffy was nineteen, twenty. My mid upper gunner, he was the old man of the crew, he was twenty-six and Harry the rear gunner he was twenty and but you know, it’s, it’s as though we all gelled and we all got on so well together. So much so that we still meet even now. There’s five of us left, our two gunners and the special duty operator had died but there’s five of us left and we still meet every year. And we’ve kept this going all these years and it’s been a wonderful experience. And like most of the crews you end up like a band of brothers. Yes, when you, when you got up in the morning and had your breakfast which was fairly relaxed because most of our, well all of our operations were at night so we were either sleeping late or having a normal day but when you went up to the crew room and looked at the notice board, there on the notice board was pinned the battle order and that, you looked to see if your name was on the battle order. If you saw your name on the battle order you went and changed your underwear. It was a very, tense, tense little situation and just seeing your name there was quite something. But then of course you had to go and, the battle order told you that you were flying, what aircraft you’re flying, the crew you — the crews name and the time of the briefing and the time of the meal, the flying meal. So after you — going off late in the evening you had a flying meal late afternoon which was bacon and eggs, you know, and really had bacon and eggs and sometimes we had beans and they were not the best of things for when you’re flying at altitude when you’re not having any compression in the aircraft. So you, you had your flying meal and then of course you had to go and have a special time to go for briefing. So all the crew assembled, except the navigator went off on his own little special briefing drawing up his chart and then he joined us at the main briefing. And you all sat in a big room, it was smoky, you smoked like a chimney, it was just like, almost like a church with all the benches round about and a big high table at the front, where all the section leaders came and gave the information about the raid. The intelligence officer, the met officer the arms officer, all gave their instructions for what you’re going to do on the raid itself. So, and then on this particular raid the, the uncertainty of the whole thing left a little bit of a, a nervous tension. There was always a bit of tension anyway, so, but this was even more so and having just had to go out to the aircraft, not expecting to go at all you were a little bit tense. And of course you went outside and had the crew bus which drove you out to the aircraft and it was quite a contrast. in the crew room, sitting in the crew room waiting for the — to get onto the crew bus people were sometimes were just silent, just couldn’t talk, didn’t talk at all and others were just the opposite or a little bit hilarious and out of character completely. My little wireless operator said he was always going to come on operations drunk ‘cause he couldn’t stand the atmosphere in the crew room and this particular, a particular night we were waiting to go off and it was — we were all a bit on, on edge and he came up behind me pretending to be drunk he said [imitates someone slurring words] and I turn round and said a very rude word to him but he disappeared and left two little WAFs standing behind me. So this is the sort of thing that the atmosphere that it created. And that was quite a tense little period waiting, so some over expressing themselves and some absolute silence and going out on the crew bus you tend to be a little bit over excited and some over talked and when you got out the aircraft it was the usual system of some chaps had little ideas of getting over the stress and getting through the raid, whereby they’d have a little wee by the tail wheel and some used to sit, kneel down and have a séance, kneel down and have say a pray beside the aircraft. And the — all very, very tense. on this occasion we weren’t expecting to go so we weren’t really expecting to have to get onto the aircraft until the green [unclear] light went up and we had to get going and that was, that was a little bit stressful but you had a job to do and you went and had to go off to do it. The age of my crew we were all very young except one, my mid upper gunner, Tommy he was twenty-six and he was the old man of the crew and all the rest of the crew were nineteen, twenty. I was twenty years old. My navigator lied about his age to join up and he joined us when he was seventeen. He was operating when he was eighteen. But the tension didn’t relax everybody. Norman my bomb aimer, a very dapper little man, he used to come on operations with a crease in his trousers and he, he, he, he liked the sight of the aircraft and the dogs going off and the searchlights. He thought that was great, isn’t that lovely isn’t that nice, isn’t that nice and the crew used to go for Christ sake Norman shut up and this was on — the same effect on the Nuremberg raid where we saw him, mayhem and chaos going on all round about, and he, he wouldn’t say he thought it was nice but he, he thought it was quite spectacular and it was very spectacular and in reflection it was frightening. When you think of our ages, at that age for I was twenty, having been a very naive and sheltered youth, a sickly youth at that, how on earth I got in the air force I don’t know but we were very naive, most of us at that age were very naive. We didn’t have the background or experience of life so we were just doing a job. And it did become frightening. How, how I felt — my first recollection of this being so when you went to learn to fly in Canada it was a big gun hall and you came back and you went onto an Operational Training Unit and picked up a crew and then you went onto the squadron and we went to a Heavy Conversion Unit first and there, er, I was not getting on terribly well because I’ve got little short legs and I had a little bit of a problem keeping these black monsters straight down the runway. My friend who I’d trained with had been parallel for a long, long time he was posted to 101 Squadron and when my turn came a couple of days later when I’d mastered these beasts, er, I said can I go and join the squadron with Paul and the flight commander said well it’s a Special Duty Squadron we only send the best ones there. I said oh thank you very much and that was a bit of a come down but a couple of days later he said right Waughman off to 101 Squadron. So off I went to 101 Squadron. I said have you had a change of heart he said no, he said it’s a squadron with the highest attrition rate in the service and you’ve got the first call on the availability of aircrew. The day I arrived on the squadron my friend Paul had been killed the night before. Then it started to sink in, it really was quite an alarming experience. And, er, the first five raids, first five operations on raids that’s when I had the most casualties, causality rates for new crews, could be anything up to forty percent particularly on our squadron with the special duty operating. But it was, er, quite [unclear] you certainly realised this stuff was serious and of course when you went on operations people used to shoot at you, you know, and you used to think well this is, this is really, this is really something and most raids you nearly always had searchlight activity and on one occasion we were flying over, towards Hanover and we had, we were picked up by the searchlight, the cant really [unclear] control [unclear] searchlight and we were in the searchlight for something like twenty, twenty-five minutes trying to get out of it. With fighters flying all round the place and with the gunners we managed to get out but that was, that was quite alarming and the German night activities were brilliant they really were very, very good and particularly round the Ruhr area where the concentration of industry was and they had their Vicksburg radar which could, could get fighters into the bomber stream and we were attacking the Ruhr this particular night and as we approached the flak was so thick it looked as if you could get out and walk on it. This was one of the old expressions they used. And for the first time, you were always a bit apprehensive and frightened at times, but at this time I, I experienced terror and I’d never experienced terror before and I was, my knees were shaking, I was shaking, I think I was sweating with all that gear, which you did anyway but I really was terrorised. So I dropped my seat so I couldn’t look out and funnily enough, I don’t know why, but I said a little prayer that my mum and dad used to say when I was about six years old by the side of the bed, but I’d never ever said it before and I’ve never said it again until then. it was a little prayer that went ‘now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul will keep’ and the important bit is ‘if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul will take’ and I said this little prayer. I don’t know why, it just came to me and you know the terror disappeared. I was still apprehensive and frightened but the terror went. And I raised my seat and we carried on. And we had experiences like this later on the operations on the tours but I was never terrorised again so power of prayer, makes you wonder, but I’m sure this affected no end of aircrew like that and sadly some of the aircrew getting into these situations just couldn’t cope and the, one navigator just walked down to the back of the aircraft, he wanted to jump out and the crew had to strap him. He couldn’t talk, he couldn’t speak and when he got back he never spoke and he went to a psychiatric hospital at Matlock and eventually one of the nurses clattered a trio of instruments and he woke up and he said ‘oh Christ they’re shooting us, they’re firing at us, we’re on fire’ and they sorted him out. And that’s the sort of thing that used to affect some of the lads. Sadly the little engineer that I had first of all, he was like that and on our first raid he, he just couldn’t do a thing. He just sat on the floor and shook and sweat, sweated, and on our second raid we had our problems and he just couldn’t do a thing. On the third raid we had engines on fire, particularly the starboard outer, and he just couldn’t do a thing, he couldn’t do anything to help at all so I had to get out, half out of my seat because the [unclear] buttons were down on the left hand side, right hand side and operate them myself. He just couldn’t do a thing. So when I got back I reported it to the wing commander and he said you know he’s got to go and he left that day. we never saw him again. Whether he was made LMF, lacking moral fibre, we don’t know but he should never of been — and people who suffered like this but carried on operating, they were really the heroes of the aircrew ‘cause they knew they were frightened and they were frightened but they carried on. And it says a great deal of credit for them and there was no end like that as well. You see the experience of arriving at a target, you usually saw the target ahead because it had been marked by the Pathfinders and this was where about a couple of them before you actually dropped your bombs, the bomb aimer would take over control, not the actual physical control of the aircraft but you were still flying it but he told you what to do and where to do, and what to do and for that while you were flying pretty well straight and level , it was left, left, right, right, and then as you got up the target you had something like two minutes or a minute and a half dead straight flying with the bomb aimer controlling you and that was quite an alarming time because you are over the target with searchlights, fighters round about, bombs dropping round about you. You’d occasionally see the odd bomb drop past your aircraft with [unclear] and you couldn’t do a thing about it. Or you shouldn’t do a thing about it and you didn’t until the bomb aimer said ‘bombs gone’ but that wasn’t the end of it. To get a photograph of where your bombs burst you carried a photoflood, a multimillion [unclear] little explosive which dropped out of the flesh out of the back of the aircraft which exploded in the air when your bombs burst, so you had a picture where your bombs burst. And at one time they said well unless you got a photograph of where your bomb burst the raid won’t count, but that didn’t always apply. But you had that couple of minutes in the last bit of flying, straight and narrow [coughs] and you couldn’t, you shouldn’t take any evasive action at all and you were just sitting waiting and all round about you’d see all this activity going round about you because on the ground the ground was lit up and [coughs] the ground, ground was bright, quite bright and that’s one of the things the fighters liked because the fighters would get up above you and see your silhouette on the ground.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AWaughmanR150401
PWaughmanR1501
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Rusty Waughman. One
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
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
00:21:05 audio recording
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Andrew Panton
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-04-01
Description
An account of the resource
He discusses a mid-air collision during an operation with 101 Squadron. to Hasselt. He describes what it was like prior to a operation and the feelings experienced by the crew, from seeing the battle orders on the notice board, the pre-flight meal, the briefing and the tension and atmosphere on the crew bus out to the aircraft as well as the rituals that some of the crew undertook.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Great Britain
Germany
England--Lincolnshire
Belgium--Hasselt
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tracy Johnson
101 Squadron
aerial photograph
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
bombing of Nuremberg (30 / 31 March 1944)
briefing
coping mechanism
faith
fear
flight engineer
lack of moral fibre
Lancaster
mid-air collision
military ethos
military service conditions
navigator
pilot
RAF hospital Matlock
RAF Ludford Magna
superstition
target photograph
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/184/3574/LSandersDS1869292v1.2.pdf
c6d8981948ad019c01c5ab80b2140bb0
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
Sanders, David
D S Sanders
Description
An account of the resource
19 items. The collection contains an oral history interview with Sergeant David Stuart Sanders (1925 - 2022, 1869292 Royal Air Force), his logbook, engineering documentation, operation schedules, a personal record of all his operations, a Dalton computer, a number of target and reconnaissance photographs. David Saunders was a flight engineer on 619 Squadron and 189 Squadron at RAF Strubby and RAF Fulbeck in 1944-45.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by David Sanders and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-03-05
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Sanders, DS
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
David Sanders's flying log book for navigators, air bombers, air gunners and, flight engineers
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Germany
Great Britain
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Wales
Belgium--Brussels
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Flensburg
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Munich
Germany--Sassnitz
Germany--Steinfurt (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Germany--Wesel (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Netherlands--Veere
Norway--Bergen
Norway--Tønsberg
Poland--Gdynia
Poland--Police (Województwo Zachodniopomorskie)
Wales--Vale of Glamorgan
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1945
1944-10-06
1944-10-11
1944-10-14
1944-10-15
1944-10-28
1944-10-29
1944-10-30
1944-11-21
1944-11-22
1944-11-26
1944-11-27
1944-12-09
1944-12-12
1944-12-18
1944-12-19
1945-02-02
1945-02-03
1945-02-08
1945-02-09
1945-03-03
1945-03-04
1945-03-05
1945-03-06
1945-03-07
1945-03-08
1945-03-12
1945-03-14
1945-03-15
1945-03-20
1945-03-21
1945-03-22
1945-03-23
1945-03-24
1945-04-23
1945-04-25
1945-04-26
1945-05-06
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.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One handwritten logbook
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LSandersDS1869292v1
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
The log book covers the operational career of flight engineer David Sanders from 5 July 1944 to 29 May 1945. He joined 619 Squadron at RAF Strubby on 28 September 1944, from where he flew Lancasters on two daylight and three night time operations before being transferred to 189 Squadron at RAF Fulbeck in November 1944. From 21 November 1944 he flew a further four daylight and 14 night time operations, again in Lancasters. The majority of the targets his operations were over Germany, plus two to Poland, two to the Netherlands, and two Norway: Bergen, Bohlen, Braunschweig, Bremen, Dortmund, Flensburg, Gdynia, Hamburg, Heimbach, Karlsruhe, Lutzkendorf, Munich, Police, Sassnitz, Steinfurt, Tønsberg, Veere. His pilots on operations were Flying Officer Carter and Flight Lieutenant Barron. Later log book entries are about Operation Exodus (Brussels).
1661 HCU
189 Squadron
619 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
flight engineer
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
Operation Exodus (1945)
RAF Bardney
RAF Dunholme Lodge
RAF Fulbeck
RAF St Athan
RAF Strubby
Stirling
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/371/6141/SCavalierRG1264567v10024-0001.2.jpg
e64e9616a6442b2402a3f956d5110924
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/371/6141/SCavalierRG1264567v10024-0002.2.jpg
66c78be02c364334761ccc2a7a5b9222
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
Cavalier, Reginald George. Album two
Description
An account of the resource
35 items. The album contains service material, Christmas cards, and propaganda leaflets in German, French and English.
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
2017-04-10
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Cavalier, RG
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Belgian railway ticket
Description
An account of the resource
3rd class railway ticket valid for two weeks. Issued in Gent.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1931-09-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two sides of a printed ticket
Language
A language of the resource
fra
nld
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Physical object
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SCavalierRG1264567v10024-0001, SCavalierRG1264567v10024-0002
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
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.
1931-09
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Belgium, Chemin de fer de l'etat
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/378/6795/PDawsonSR16010390.2.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
Targets and A&AEE Boscombe Down
Description
An account of the resource
Left page title 'Targets'
Top left - a note 'got to here'. Top right - an aerial oblique view of a city-scape with some large buildings and some damage visible. Captioned 'Essen' on the reverse 'Essen'.
Middle - an aerial oblique view of a town with open farmland beyond. Bottom right an aircraft propeller. Captioned 'Aachen'. On the reverse 'Aachen'.
Bottom - an aerial oblique view of a city with a large church centre left and large buildings in the centre. Captioned 'Antwerp'.
Right page title 'A&AEE Boscombe Down'.
Top left - head and shoulders view of two aircrew wearing battledress and side caps. Stephen Dawson is on the left. In the background part of an aircraft. Captioned 'E/O Paddy Riley'. Top right - head and shoulders view of two aircrew, one wearing battledress and the other a flying jacket. Stephen Dawson is on the right. In the background two men and part of an aircraft. Captioned 'Cliff Whatmore (bomb aimer)'. On the reverse a sketch map of location of the Savoy Hotel.
Centre - full length view of four aircrew in battledress or flying suits, all wearing side caps standing in front of an aircraft. Captioned 'Before dropping the first live "Tallboy large" - 22000 lbs'.
Bottom left - two aircrew viewed through the side cockpit window of a Lancaster. Below the cockpit a row of bomb symbols. Captioned 'Pilot Shaw, engineer Barrowman'. Bottom right - head and shoulders image of Stephen Dawson in shirt and tie. Captioned 'I.F.F. Photo for forged identity card for escape purposes'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Left page a note and three b/w photographs oriented with tops towards centre of page. Right page five b/w photographs. All mounted on two album pages
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PDawsonSR16010390, PDawsonSR16010391, PDawsonSR16010392, PDawsonSR16010393, PDawsonSR16010394, PDawsonSR16010395, PDawsonSR16010396, PDawsonSR16010397, PDawsonSR16010398, PDawsonSR16010399, PDawsonSR16010400, PDawsonSR16010401
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
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Geolocated
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Germany--Essen
Germany--Aachen
Belgium
Belgium--Antwerp
Great Britain
England--Wiltshire
England--Salisbury
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
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.
1945-03
aerial photograph
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
Cook’s tour
evading
flight engineer
Grand Slam
Lancaster
pilot
RAF Boscombe Down
Tallboy
-
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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
Hourigan, Margaret
Margaret Hourigan
M Hourigan
Description
An account of the resource
158 items. An oral history interview with Margaret Hourigan (1922 - 2023, 889775 Royal Air Force) and 156 target photographs taken by 50 and 61 Squadron aircraft during 1944. Margaret Hourigan served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force as a plotter with Fighter Command before being posted to RAF Waddington and RAF Skellingthorpe with Bomber Command.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Margaret Hourigan and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
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
2019-04-16
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
Hourigan,M
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
Brg Leopold
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-05-11
1944-05-12
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHouriganM18030005,PHouriganM18030006
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Belgium--Leopoldsburg
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-11
1944-05-12
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
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.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Target photograph of Bourg Leopold. Partially obscured by smoke and light streaks, two aircraft silhouetted below, rural area. Captioned '7B', '791 SKELL. 11/12.5.44. //NT 8" 15750 [arrow] 179° 0015 BRG.LEOPOLD RD.J.1X4000.6X1000.8X500.27secsP /O IRVING U.50.'. On the reverse '[underlined] BOURG LEOPOLD 11/12.5.44 P/O IRVING[/underlined]'.
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Hourigan, Margaret. Folder PHouriganM1803
50 Squadron
aerial photograph
anti-aircraft fire
bombing
RAF Skellingthorpe
target indicator
target photograph
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/366/6846/SCavalierRG1264567v10029.2.pdf
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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
Cavalier, Reginald George
Reginald George Cavalier
R G Cavalier
RGC
Description
An account of the resource
Eleven items plus two sub collections. The collection concerns Corporal Reginald George Cavalier (1264567 Royal Air Force) and consists of two albums, documents and one loose photograph. Reginald George Cavalier served in the RAF between 1940 and 1945. He trained as a photographer and served with 76 Squadron stationed at RAF Middleton St George before being posted to 2 Group and serving in mainland Europe with 2nd Tactical Air Force in late 1944 and 1945.
Album one contains photographs of his service and includes target photographs, station visits by VIPs, Allied and German aircraft, and scenes in liberated Europe.
Album two contains a collection of propaganda leaflets, service documents and Christmas cards.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Denise Cavalier-Jones 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
2017-10-04
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
Cavalier, RG
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
Malcolm Club Guide of Brussels and accommodation ticket
Description
An account of the resource
Contains information on Brussels including entertainment, city map, places of interest, things to see, clubs and canteens and the history of the Malcolm Club. Includes an accommodation ticket 16 May 1945.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Malcolm Club, 5-15 Rue Leopold, Brussels
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
12 page booklet and one ticket
Language
A language of the resource
eng
fra
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Physical object
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SCavalierRG1264567v10029, SCavalierRG1264567v10028
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Belgium--Brussels
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
1945-05-16
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-05
entertainment
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/407/6865/LAnsellHT1893553v1.1.pdf
edfc366bd5e7a30081d45f021fab8420
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
Ansell, Henry
Henry Ansell
H T Ansell
Description
An account of the resource
28 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Henry Thomas Ansell, DFM (b. 1925, 1893553 Royal Air Force) and contains his logbook, his release book, a school report, two German language documents and several photographs, his medals and other items. Henry Ansell served as a flight engineer with 61 Squadron and 83 Squadron Pathfinders.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Vicki Ansell and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-30
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. 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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Ansell, HT
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
Harry Thomas Ansell's flying log book for flight engineers
Description
An account of the resource
The log book covers the training and operational duties of Flight Engineer Sergeant Harry Thomas Ansell, from 14 April 1944 to 24 May 1945. He trained at RAF Torquay, RAF St Athan, RAF Stockport and was stationed at RAF Wigsley, RAF Syerston, RAF Skellingthorpe and RAF Coningsby. Aircraft flown in were Stirling and Lancaster. He flew 34 operations with 61 Squadron, 15 daylight and 19 night, and 18 night operations with 83 Squadron. Targets in Belgium, France, Germany and Norway were Limoges, Prouville, Vitry, Doullens, Chalindrey, Villeneuve-St-Georges, Caen, Revigny, Courtrai, Kiel, Donges, Saint-Cyr, Lyons, Stuttgart, Cahienes, Joigny-Laroche, Pas de Calais, Bois de Cassan, Saint-Leu-d'Esserent, Secqueville, Châtellerault, Bordeaux, Rüsselsheim, Königsberg, Rollencourt, Brest, Le Havre, Darmstadt, Boulogne, Bremerhaven, Rheydt, Munich, Heilbronn, Glessen, Politz, Merseberg, Brux, Karlsruhe, Ladbergen, Dresden, Rositz, Gravenhorst, Bohlen, Horten Fiord, Molbis and Lutskendorf. His pilot on operations was Flight Lieutenant Inness.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
France
Germany
Norway
Great Britain
England--Buckinghamshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Devon
England--Greater Manchester
England--Lancashire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Yorkshire
Wales--Vale of Glamorgan
Atlantic Ocean--English Channel
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Belgium--Kortrijk
France--Boulogne-sur-Mer
France--Brest
France--Caen
France--Calais
France--Chalindrey
France--Châtellerault
France--Creil
France--Doullens
France--Joigny
France--Le Havre
France--Limoges
France--L'Isle-Adam
France--Paris
France--Saint-Nazaire
Germany--Bremerhaven
Germany--Darmstadt
Germany--Dresden
Germany--Heilbronn
Germany--Hörstel
Germany--Karlsruhe
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Merseburg
Germany--Munich
Germany--Rheydt
Germany--Rüsselsheim
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Wettin
Norway--Horten
Russia (Federation)--Kaliningrad (Kaliningradskai︠a︡ oblastʹ)
Germany--Böhlen
France--Lyon
Russia (Federation)
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
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.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Log book and record book
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LAnsellHT1893553v1
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944
1945
1944-06-19
1944-06-20
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
1944-06-27
1944-06-28
1944-06-29
1944-07-12
1944-07-13
1944-07-14
1944-07-15
1944-07-18
1944-07-19
1944-07-20
1944-07-21
1944-07-23
1944-07-24
1944-07-25
1944-07-26
1944-07-27
1944-07-28
1944-07-29
1944-07-30
1944-07-31
1944-08-01
1944-08-02
1944-08-05
1944-08-07
1944-08-08
1944-08-09
1944-08-10
1944-08-11
1944-08-12
1944-08-13
1944-08-14
1944-08-26
1944-08-27
1944-08-31
1944-09-05
1944-09-10
1944-09-11
1944-09-12
1944-09-13
1944-09-14
1944-09-18
1944-09-19
1944-09-20
1944-11-26
1944-11-27
1944-12-04
1944-12-06
1944-12-10
1944-12-21
1944-12-22
1945-01-13
1945-01-14
1945-01-15
1945-01-16
1945-01-17
1945-02-02
1945-02-03
1945-02-06
1945-02-07
1945-02-08
1945-02-13
1945-02-14
1945-02-15
1945-02-20
1945-02-21
1945-02-23
1945-02-24
1945-03-20
1945-03-21
1945-04-07
1945-02-08
1945-02-09
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944
1945
1654 HCU
61 Squadron
83 Squadron
aircrew
Bennett, Donald Clifford Tyndall (1910-1986)
bombing
bombing of Dresden (13 - 15 February 1945)
bombing of the Pas de Calais V-1 sites (24/25 June 1944)
Distinguished Flying Medal
flight engineer
George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952)
Heavy Conversion Unit
Initial Training Wing
Lancaster
Lancaster Finishing School
Normandy campaign (6 June – 21 August 1944)
Pathfinders
RAF Coningsby
RAF Skellingthorpe
RAF St Athan
RAF Stockport
RAF Syerston
RAF Torquay
RAF Wigsley
Stirling
tactical support for Normandy troops
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/376/6868/PHouriganM18030031.2.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/376/6868/PHouriganM18030032.2.jpg
2b19e50a06875d8a237fbb03393f7078
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
Hourigan, Margaret
Margaret Hourigan
M Hourigan
Description
An account of the resource
158 items. An oral history interview with Margaret Hourigan (1922 - 2023, 889775 Royal Air Force) and 156 target photographs taken by 50 and 61 Squadron aircraft during 1944. Margaret Hourigan served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force as a plotter with Fighter Command before being posted to RAF Waddington and RAF Skellingthorpe with Bomber Command.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Margaret Hourigan and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
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
2019-04-16
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
Hourigan,M
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
BG Leopold
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-05-11
1944-05-12
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHouriganM18030031, PHouriganM18030032
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Belgium--Leopoldsburg
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-11
1944-05-12
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Geolocated
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.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Target photograph of Bourg Leopold. Very dark photograph, appears to be urban area, one light streak. Captioned '7B', 795 SKELL.11/12.5.44.//NT 8" 15000' [arrow] 183° 0023 BG LEOPOLD RD.T.1X4000.6X1000.8X500.26secsP/O MILLIKIN T.50'. On the reverse '[underlined]BOURG LEOPOLD 11/12.5.44 P/O MILLIKIN. [/underlined]'.
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Hourigan, Margaret. Folder PHouriganM1803
50 Squadron
aerial photograph
bombing
RAF Skellingthorpe
target photograph
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/380/7012/LHattersleyCR40699v1.1.pdf
099f001bc26b394fc0440d57cacdb995
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
Hattersley, Peter
Peter Hattersley
C R Hattersley
Charles Raymond Hattersley
Description
An account of the resource
77 items. The collection concerns Wing Commander Charles Raymond Hattersley DFC (1914-1948, 800429, 40699 Royal Air Force). Peter Hattersley served in the Royal Engineers between 1930 and 1935 but enlisted in the RAF in 1936. He trained as a pilot and flew with 106, 44 and 199 Squadrons. He completed 32 operations with 44 Squadron but had to force land his Wellington in France on his first operation with 199 Squadron in December 1942. He became a prisoner of war. He married Miss Kathleen Hattersley nee Croft after the war. The collection contains his logbook, notebooks, service material, his decorations and items of memorabilia in a tin box and 39 photographs.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Charles William Hattersley and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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. 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.
Date
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2016-05-06
Identifier
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Hattersley, CR
Access Rights
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Permission granted for commercial projects
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/.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Bermuda Islands
Canada
France
Germany
Great Britain
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
England--Berkshire
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Kent
England--Gloucestershire
England--Leicestershire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Middlesex
England--Norfolk
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Oxfordshire
England--Rutland
England--Shropshire
England--Wiltshire
England--Yorkshire
Ontario
Scotland--Ross and Cromarty
Wales--Vale of Glamorgan
Belgium--Liège
France--Soissons
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Dessau (Dessau)
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Leuna
Germany--Lingen (Lower Saxony)
Germany--Magdeburg
Germany--Sylt
Germany--Münster in Westfalen
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Format
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One booklet
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
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Text
Text. Log book and record book
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
Title
A name given to the resource
Peter Hattersley's pilot's flying log book
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
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LHattersleyCR40699v1
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1945
1946
1947
1948
1940-05-17
1940-05-18
1940-05-19
1940-05-20
1940-05-23
1940-05-24
1940-05-25
1940-05-26
1940-05-27
1940-05-28
1940-06-01
1940-06-02
1940-06-03
1940-06-04
1940-06-07
1940-06-08
1940-06-09
1940-06-10
1940-06-11
1940-06-12
1940-06-20
1940-06-21
1940-06-25
1940-06-26
1940-07-01
1940-07-02
1940-07-05
1940-07-06
1940-07-09
1940-07-10
1940-07-20
1940-07-21
1940-07-22
1940-07-23
1940-07-25
1940-07-26
1940-07-28
1940-07-29
1940-07-31
1940-08-01
1940-08-03
1940-08-04
1940-08-07
1940-08-08
1940-08-11
1940-08-12
1940-08-13
1940-08-14
1940-08-16
1940-08-17
1940-08-21
1940-08-22
1940-08-25
1940-08-26
1940-08-28
1940-08-29
1940-08-31
1940-09-01
1940-09-03
1940-09-04
1940-09-06
1940-09-07
1940-09-08
1940-09-09
1942-12-09
1942-12-10
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Pilot's log book for Wing Commander Peter Hattersley, covering the period 10 April 1937 to 24 September 1948. It details his flying training, operations flown and other flying duties. He was stationed at Hanworth Park, RAF Reading, RAF Netheravon, RAF Little Rissington, RAF Catfoss, RAF Manston, RAF Thornaby, RAF Evanton, RAF Cottesmore, RAF Finningley, RAF St. Athan, RAF Waddington, RCAF Port Albert, Darrels Island-Bermuda, RAF Bawtry, RAF Blyton, RAF Upavon, RAF Shawbury, RAF Bircham Newton, RAF Wymeswold, RAF Syerston, RAF Oakington, RAF Cosford, RAF Stanmore and RAF Abingdon. Aircraft Flown in were, Blackburn B2, Hart, Audax, Mile Hawk, Magister, Battle I, Anson, Hampden, Tiger Moth, Lysander, Catalina, Wellington, Oxford II, Hudson, Harvard IIb, Proctor and Dakota. He flew a total of 32 night operations in Hampdens with 44 Squadron from RAF Waddington, and one operation with 199 Squadron. Took part in Berlin Airlift (Operation Plainfare).Targets in Belgium, France, and Germany were Hannover, Hamburg, Lingan, Rhine, Leige, Keil, Frankfurt, Duisberg, Soisson, Rhur, Sylt, Dessau, Leuna, Magdeburg, Berlin and Munster. Some navigation logs and correspondence concerning the award of his Distinguished Flying Cross are included in his log book. He became a POW in late 1942.
106 Squadron
14 OTU
199 Squadron
44 Squadron
aircrew
Anson
Battle
bombing
C-47
Catalina
Distinguished Flying Cross
Flying Training School
George VI, King of Great Britain (1895-1952)
Hampden
Harvard
Hudson
Lysander
Magister
navigator
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
pilot
prisoner of war
Proctor
RAF Abingdon
RAF Bawtry
RAF Bircham Newton
RAF Blyton
RAF Catfoss
RAF Cosford
RAF Cottesmore
RAF Evanton
RAF Finningley
RAF Little Rissington
RAF Manston
RAF Netheravon
RAF Oakington
RAF Shawbury
RAF St Athan
RAF Syerston
RAF Thornaby
RAF Upavon
RAF Waddington
RAF Wymeswold
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/407/7070/MAnsellHT1893553-160730-01.1.pdf
bc52255c5b798cbee3f035a21d2b59d6
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
Ansell, Henry
Henry Ansell
H T Ansell
Description
An account of the resource
28 items. The collection concerns Sergeant Henry Thomas Ansell, DFM (b. 1925, 1893553 Royal Air Force) and contains his logbook, his release book, a school report, two German language documents and several photographs, his medals and other items. Henry Ansell served as a flight engineer with 61 Squadron and 83 Squadron Pathfinders.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Vicki Ansell and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-07-30
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. 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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Ansell, HT
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
LEBENSGEFAHR!
W.G.2.F.
[page break]
[underlined] Gibt es wirklich keine Brücken mehr …. [/underlined]
zwischen dem deutschen Volk und der freien Welt?
Die Antwort auf diese Frage bestimmt in diesen Stunden das Handeln oder Nichthandeln aller deutschen Menschen. Von dieser Antwort hängt DEINE Zukunft ab!
Goebbels sagt: [italics]„ Das Deutsche Volk hat alle Brücken hinter sich abgebrochen ...“ [/italics]
Für Goebbels, Hitler, Himmler und Co. ist das kein Problem. Für die besessenen Fanatiker und zum Untergang verurteilten Führer der deutschen Tragödie gibt es in der Tat keine Brücke. Weder eine Brücke zur europäischen Zivilastion – noch zu einer besseren deutschen Zukunft.
Für die Partei und SS-Fanatiker gibt es nur den UNTERGANG.
[page break]
Aber Hitler ist nicht Deutschland und der Deutschland ist nicht Hitler
[italics] Deutschland muss sich in dieser Stunde entscheiden[ /italics]
[illustration]
WEITERKÄMPFEN MIT HITLER BIS ZUM VERRECKEN UND NATIONALEN UNTERGANG
oder
[/underlined] SOFORTFRIEDE UND WIEDERAUFBAU? [underlined]
[page break]
Sie handelten, weil sie die wirkliche Lage Deutschlands besser kannten als irgend jemand. Sie wussten, dass der militärische Zusammenbruch des Hitlerregimes zum Untergang Deutschlands wird. Sie entschieden sich gegen Hitler und für Sofortfrieden, weil sie wollten, dass Deutschland lebt.
Jedoch: sie scheiterten und versagten im entscheidenden Augenblick, weil sie auf eigene Faust, ohne Verbindung mit der Masse des Volkes handelten.
Generalsrevolten allein können die Entscheidung nicht erzwingen. Die zum Sofortfrieden und zum Abbruch des verlorenen Krieges bereiten Führer den deutschen Wehrmacht brauchen die aktive Unterstützung der gesamten Nation – dass heisst: DEINE HILFE!
DIE AKTIONSBEREITSCHAFT JEDES EINZELNEN !
[underlined] Die Entscheidung des Einzelnen [/underlined]
Mit diabolischer Beredtheit sucht der Reichspropagandaminister Joseph Goebbels dem deutschen Menschen einzureden, dass jeder deutsche Arbeiter, Bauer und Bürger auf Gedeih und Verderb, auf Leben und Tod mit dem Schicksal der wahnsinnigen kriegsschuldigen Führung verkettet ist. Fieberhaft sucht er Dich zu überzeugen, dass nicht die nationalsozialistische Führung, sondern das ganze deutsche Volk die Brücken hinter sich abgebrochen hat.
[page break]
Das ist nicht wahr !
Nur eine Brücke ist unwiderruflich niedergerissen: Die Brücke zum deutschen Sieg.
Ob es Brücken geben wird aus der unsagbar grauenvollen Gegenwart des Hitlerkrieges in eine bessere deutsche Zukunft, das hängt nicht von Hitler, Himmler und Goebbels ab -
das hängt ab, einzig und allein, von der Entscheidung jedes Einzelnen – von der Entscheidung, durch persönlichen oder organisierten Widerstand gegen die Kriegsverlängerung das Schlimmste zu vermeiden.
[underlined]Das Schlimmste![/underlined]
DAS SCHLIMMSTE ist nicht die militärische Niederlage. Es ist auch nicht die geordnete Besetzung Deutschlands durch alliierte Garnisonen. Das kommt auf jeden Fall.
DAS SCHLIMMSTE IST KRIEG AUF DEUTSCHEM BODEN, Krieg in jedem deutschen Dorf und jeder deutschen Stadt, bis am Ende ausgebranntes, ausgeblutetes Deutschland in Chaos zusammenbricht.
[underlined] DAS [/underlined] IST DAS SCHLIMMSTE !
[underlined] Den Krieg überleben…. [/underlined]
Aber ist es nicht sinnlos, von einer deutschen Zukunft und einem deutschen Wiederaufbau zu reden, wenn noch
[page break]
mehr Millionen fünf Minuten vor Zwölf Gesundheit, Gut und Leben opfern müssen, und wenn die Nation physisch zusammenbricht, ehe die Zukunft beginnen kann?
Für jeden Deutschen, dem das eigene Leben – und das ÜBERLEBEN DES KRIEGES – das Leben seiner Familie und Kinder und die menschenwürdige Zukunft seiner Heimat einen Pfennig wert ist, kann es in diesem Augenblick keinen Zweifel und kein Wanken geben:
ER MUSS SICH DURCH DIE TAT FÜR DIE SCHNELLSTE BEENDIGUNG DES KRIEGES EINSETZEN, - DENN DIE ALLIIERTE INVASION DEUTSCHLAND HAT BEGONNEN!!
[underlined] „Ein Mann gegen die Macht des N.S.-Staats ...“ [/underlined]
[italics] „Was kann der Einzelne schon tun? Der Einzelne ist doch machtlos...“ [/italics]
Millionen Deutsche haben seit Jahren so gesprochen. Sagen es nicht immer noch Millionen?
Solange die Macht des Hitlerschen Diktaturstaates ungeschwächt war, solange deutsche Soldaten von Sieg zu Sieg marschierten, solange die Führung geeint und der Polizeiapparat mächtig war – solange konnte die Welt wenig vom Widerstand des Einzelnen gegen diesen verbrecherischen Krieg erhoffen.
[page break]
Heute aber ist das Hitlerregime tödlich verwundet. An allen Fronten sind deutsche Heere in Auflösung. Zu Zehntausenden haben deutsche Offiziere und Soldaten die Konsequenz gezogen und sich ergeben. Die Führung ist in sich gespalten. Gestapo und Polizei erweisen sich als machtlos gegenüber dem „unbekannten kleinen Mann“ des besetzten Europas. So wie die Bürgerarmee der französischen Maquis den deutschen Besatzungstruppen den deutschen Besatzungstruppen erfolgreich Widerstand leistet, so wie Millionen von einfachen Arbeitern, Bauern und Bürgen sich in allen Ländern Europas den nationalsozialistischen Machthabern erfolgreich widersetzen – so kann heute auch der „unbekannte kleine Mann Deutschlands“ wirksamem Widerstand leisten und dabei helfen, sein eigenes Leben, seine Zukunft und die Zukunft seiner Heimat durch schnellste Beendigung des Krieges zu retten.
FÜRCHTEST DU DEN N.S.-STAASTAPPARAT?
HAST DUE HEUTE NOCH ANGST VOR IHM?
Vergiss nicht: ER UND SEINE HANDLANGER HABEN VIEL MEHR ANGST VOR DIR!!
[underlined] „Unmöglich …?“ [/underlined]
Das Gebot ist nicht Revolution, Bürgerkrieg und Barrikaden. Das erste Gebot ist: HERAUS AUS DEN STÄDTEN! HERAUS AUS DEN FABRIKEN! Bringe DICH und die DEINIGEN in Sicherheit! Die
[page break]
letzte kommende Phase des Krieges bedeutet akute Lebensgefahr für die Bevölkerung der Städte und die Belegschaften der R-Betriebe.
Das zweite Gebot ist: ORGANISIERTER WIDERSTAND ALLER! PASSIVER WIDERSTAND ALLER ARBEITER IN DER KRIEGSINDUSTRIE!
Widerstand der Bauern, die Hundearttausenden von „untergetauchten“ Fremdarbeiten Unterschlupf gewähren können und so gleichzeitig, durch die zusätzliche Arbeitskraft, ihre letzte Kriegsernte voll einbringen können! Widerstand der Beamten, Angestellten und Spezialisten!
Jeder Einzelne kann an seinem Platz dazu beitragen, die Weiterführung eines verlorenen, sinnlos gewordenen Krieges auf deutsche Boden zu verhindern.
Die entscheidende Aufgabe fällt dabei auf die deutsche Arbeiterschaft!
[underlined] Deutsche Arbeiter! [/underlined]
Ihr wisst, das bereits heute Zehntausende von ausländischen Zwangsarbeiten in deutschen Betrieben in Aktions-Zellen und Widerstands-Gruppen organisiert sind. Morgen werden Hunderttausende – vielleicht Millionen - bisher passiver Fremdarbeiter in die Reihen der grossen Widerstandsbewegung strömen.
Deutsche Arbeiter! Übt Solidarität! Verbrüdert Euch mit Euren ausländischen Kollegen unter der Losung:
SCHLUSS MIT DEM KRIEGE!
STÜRZT DIE KRIEGSVERLÄNGERE!!
[page break]
BRÜCKEN BAUEN ZU EINER BESSEREN ZUKUNFT NACH DEM KRIEGE HEISST HEUTE ZUSAMMENARBEIT DER DEUTSCHEN ARBEITER MIT DEN WIDERSTANDGRUPPPEN EURER AUSLÄNDISCHEN KOLLEGEN.
[illustration]
[underlined] GEMEINSAME AKTION GEGEN DEN GEMEINSAMEN FEIND, GEGEN DIE KRIEGSVERLÄNGERER HITLER, HIMMLER, GOEBELLS & CO.[/underlined]
[page break]
PRENEZ CONTACT AVEC LUI
et par lui, avec ses camarades qui pensent comme lui.
Les ouvriers allemands anti-nazi seront des alliés de valeur.
Quant au Nazis, les vrais de vrais, les brutes et les bandits, les quislings et les corrompus – qu'Ils soient Allemands ou vos compatriotes – faites-leur savoir dès MAINTENANT que le moment des brutalités est passé.
Faites-leur savoir que les ouvriers français et belges en Allemagne n'entendent pas prolonger l'agonie de la lutte dans une guerre perdue.
Faites-leur savoir que VOUS n'entendent pas vous faire tuer cinq minutes avant la fin et que vous avez l'intention de survivre à la guerre et de rentrer chez vous sain et sauf.. Ceci est donc
VOTRE LIGNE GENERALE DE CONDUITE SI VOUS NE POUVEZ PAS ALLER A LA CAMPAGNE: ORGANISEZ DES CELLULES D'ACTION! RALENTISSEZ LA PRODUCTION! RESISTEZ A TOUTE EXPLOITATION PAR UNE RESISTANCE PASSIVE ORGANISEE! COLLABOREZ AVEC LES ALLEMANDS ANTI-NAZIS! OUVREZ UNE LISTE DES NAZIS ET DES QUISLINGS !
[page break]
REPANDEZ LA VERITE SUR LES DEFAITES ALLEMANDES SUR TOUS LES FRONTS ! ECOUTEZ LES NOUVELLES DIFFUSEES PAR LES POSTES ALLIES! OBEISSEZ AUX INSTRUCTIONS DU COMMANDEMENT SUPREME ALLIE !
[box surrounding text]
SURVIVEZ A LA GUERRE!
[/box]
[page break]
la tâche immédiate dan se dernier stade de la guerre. Ne l'oubliez pas: Les Nazis ont besoin de vous! Partout où ils soupçonneront, où ils sauront que les travailleurs français et belges d'une usine sont en contact organisé, ils accéderont à la majeure partie de vos revendications car ils craindront que dans la négative il se produira des troubles.
Le réseau des cellules d'ouvriers français et belges doit s’étendre à travers toute l'Allemagne. Tous les trous doivent être bouchés; les travailleurs français et belges qui sont rendus volontairement en Allemagne au cours des années de 1940 à 1942 – et même plus tard - doivent maintenant être recrutés pour joindre le grand mouvement de la résistance passive et de la défense organisée. Faites bon accueil dans vos rangs à ceux qui désirent réellement coopérer. Mais fermez vos rangs à ceux qui sympathisent ouvertement avec les Nazis. Avertissez le Gau et les Kreisverbindungsmaenner et leurs petits collaborateurs quislings au moyen de messages directs ou anonymes que toutes dénonciation ou que tout mesure prise contre les ouvriers français ou belges sera notée et vengée.
[underlined] DEENDEZ-VOUS MAINTENANT![/underlined]
Les ouvriers français et belges déjà organisés en cellules ou en groupes doivent dès maintenant inaugurer une vaste campagne d'agitation et de propagande parmi leurs compatriotes. Ils doivent leur expliquer que la résistance et la défense DES MAINTENANT et la protection et le rapatriement après la défaite de Hitler ne peuvent être
[page break]
efficaces qu'au moyen de l'organisation massive des cellules d'ouvriers français et belges dans tous les établissements industriels du Reich.
Mais quoi que vous tentiez de faire – LE CONTACT ORGANISE avec vos camarades, la confiance mutuelle, l' information mutuelle et L'ACTION ORGANISEE ET COLLECTIVE SONT LES SEULES GARANTIES DU SUCCESS. LE TRAVAILLEURS ISOLE EST IMPUISSANT.
[underlined] VOUS ET L'ÁLLEMAND A VOS COTES [/underlined]
Un problème est soulevé. Comment tout ce qui précède affectera vos relations avec les ouvriers allemands ordinaires qui travaillent à côté de vous? Il n'y a pas de règle générale. Peut-être est-il bon gars … qui en a tout autant marre que vous. Peut-être même est-il un anti-nazi endurci. (Comme vous le savez il existe de nombreux anti-nazis parmi les hommes plus âgés). Mais peut-être es marre-il simplement un salopard, un lâche, qui s'est servi de tous ses privilèges aux dépens de ses camarades étrangers. En conséquence il n'est pas possible de donner de règles générales sur la façon de traiter vos co-équipiers allemands.
IL Y A CEPENDANT,
[underlined] UNE REGLE: [/underlined]
Où que vous trouviez un ouvrier allemand qui a clairement démontré son attitude anti-nazie et son honnêteté personnelle par sa conduite et ses actes
[page break]
[underlined] COMMENT S'Y PRENDRE? [/underlined]
Une condition du succès C'EST L'ORGANISATION.
Dans la défense de ses DROITS, ou dans la résistance passive contre la continuation d'une guerre perdue … tout homme agissant seul sans le soutien de ses camarades ne peut obtenir que le maigres résultats.
Vous serez d'accord avec nous: l'action individuelle est, la moins efficace des formes de la résistance; et la défense individuelle offre le moins de protection.
[underlined] VOUS N'ETES PAS SEULS! [/underlined]
Un homme qui combat une puissance supérieure comme celle de la police d'état des Nazis a besoin d'alliés. Chaque ouvrier étranger – sont vos alliés naturels et VOUS êtes un allié des forces combattantes de la Grande-Bretagne, de l'Amérique et de la Russie, ainsi que toutes les Nations Unies.
[underlined]TOUS POUR UN ET UN POUR TOUS [/underlined]
Une alliance ne tombe pas du ciel. Elle doit être négociée et conclue. Elle comporte l'action. Elle comporte surtout le contact mutuel, la confiance mutuelle et l'information mutuelle avant que les millions d'hommes isolés, qui ont tous le même but, puissent agir ensemble en une grande fraternité.
[page break]
[underlined] VOUS SOUFFRIREZ [/upnderlined]
Si vous ne reconnaissez pas ce fait au dernier moment possible.
[underlined] QUEL GENRE D'ORGANISATION? [/underlined]
Ne vous effrayez PAS du mot ORGANISATION. Il ne signifie pas la création d'une organisation vaste et compliquée de tous les ouvriers étrangers; ni la création d'un mouvement syndicaliste illicite. Le temps nécessaire manque pour cela. La fin de guerre est trop proche. Le devoir de passer à l'action immédiate et à la protection d'heure en heure, est trop pressant. A l'état actuel des choses l'organisation et l'action organisée signifient l'action d'accord et en combinaison avec des collègues sur lesquelles vous pouvez compter. Elles signifient que vous devriez discuter de ce que vous entendez faire avec de trois à cinq camarades en qui vous pouvez avoir confiance. Il est possible qu’ils pourront vous aider, il est possible qu’il pourront participer et agir comme vous. Il est possible que l'un d'entre eux aura un meilleur plan.
[underlined] CELLULES D'ACTION [/underlined]
Il existe déjà de milliers de cellules d'action d'ouvriers français et belges mal organisées dont on ne sait rien. Au cours des semaines qui vont suivre tous les ouvriers français et belges doivent soit former, soit se joindre à des cellules de résistance passive de protection. Voilà
[page break]
prendre " les instructions qui vous sont données, ou bien veiller à ce qu'un article presque achevé soit abîmé "accidentellement", - peu importe pourvu que vous parveniez à abaisser la production. "QUE PEUT FAIRE UN SEUL HOMME CONTRE LA PUISSANCE ARMÉE DU RÉGIME NAZI?"
UN SEUL HOMME PEUT FAIRE BEACOUP.
Cela peut sembler de faible envergure et insignifiant mais l'action de dix, de onze, ou de douze millions d'hommes et de femme peut briser les reins à Hitler.
IL N'EXISTE AU MONDE AUCUNE PUISSANCE QUI PUISSE AVOIR RAISON DE VOTRE FORCE COMBINEE.
[underlined] ROMPEZ ISOLEMENT! [/underlined]
Le "Betriebsleitung", le D.A.F., l'ensemble du régime nazi entendent vous maintenir dans l’isolement. Ils peuvent avoir raison de vous tant que vous êtes SEULS. Tant que vous êtes seuls ils savent qu'ils peuvent vous bousculer. Mais ils ont la frousse dès qu'ils sont confrontés par votre force combinée.
LA RESISTANCE PASSIVE DOIT ETRE UNRE RESISTANCE ORGANISEE. Pour votre propre protection il faut combiner, dès aujourd'hui et partout, la résistance passive avec la DEFENSE COLLECTIVE DE VOS DROITS EN TANT QU'OUVRIERS FRANÇAIS ET BELGES.
[page break]
[underlined] RECLAMEZ VOS DROITS [/underlined]
Le slogan PROTECTION PAR L'ORGANISATION veut dire que vous devez défendre vos DROITS dans toutes les usines, les camps, les ateliers, et où que vous vous trouviez. VOS DROITS concernant.
LA NOURRITURE DANS LES CANTINES: LES RATIONS: L'HEURE DES REPAS: LES AMENAGEMENTS DES CAMPS ET DES CANTONNEMENT: LES HEURES DE TRAVAIL: LES CONDITIONS SANITAIRE: LES SOINS HYGENIQUES: LES MESURES PREVENTIVES CONTRE LES ACCIDENTS: LES PERMISSIONS: LES CONGES DU DIMANCHE: LES ABRIS CONVENABLES CONTRE LES ATTAQUES AERIENNES: VOTRE DROIT DE VOUS RENDRE AUX ABRIS, NON PAS SEULEMENT QUAND IL Y A DANGER AU-DESSUS DE VOUS, MAIS AUSSITOT QUE L'ALERTE A ETE DONNEE DANS VOTRE REGION.
Tous ces DROITS doivent être vigoureusement défendus car en raison du manque désespéré de main-d'oeuvre les Nazis tenteront le liquider TOUS ces droits aux dépens de VOTRE SANTE ET DE VOTRE SECURITE.
[page break]
ET POUR CEUX QUI POUR UNE RAISON OU UNE AUTRE NE PEUVENT PAS S'EN ALLER? VOUS AUSSI, VOUS POUVEZ VOUS PROTEGER !!
[underlined] COMMENT? [/underlined]
Parlons tout d'abord de sabotage actif industriel et militaire. Toutes les formes de sabotage sont un moyen de faire la guerre. Le saboteur doit agir avec le même courage et la même discipline qu’un troupier de choc.
Dans cette brochure nous ne donnons pas d'instructions de sabotage. Elle ne s'adresse pas aux cadres clandestins des mouvements actifs de résistance et de sabotage. Cette brochure s'adresse à tout travailleur français ou belge en Allemagne.
[underlined] QUELLE ACTION PRENDE ? LA RESISTANCE PASSIVE !
Chaque ouvrier français ou belge en Allemagne quels que soient son âge, son sexe ou on [sic] métier, peut pratiquer la résistance passive – qu'il soit membre d'une cellule dans dans [sic] une usine, d'une organisation secrète, ou qu'il soit indépendant.
[page break]
Chacun d'entre vous peut contribuer à réduire la puissance et l'efficacité de la machine de guerre de Hitler de mille façons en pratiquant la RESISTANCE PASSIVE. Dans l’intérêt de votre propre protection et de votre survie; LA RESISTANCE PASSIVE EN MASSE est l'ordre donné a tout ouvrier français ou belge en Allemagne à partir de maintenant et jusqu'à la fin de la guerre. Mais nous n'entendons pas vous donner des instructions précises concernant ce que vous avez à faire – comment vous devez le faire et où. Tous ce que nous vous demandons c'est de vous servir de votre intelligence et de votre bon sens, d’étudier les conditions et les possibilités de résistance passive dans votre usine, dans votre bureau ou là où vous travaillez.
Nous allons vous donner une définition très simple de résistance passive. La voici :
TOUT CE QUI PEUT ABAISSER LA QUALITE OU LA QUANTITE DE LA PRODUCTION
[underlined] LA FAIBLESSE DE HITLER [/underlined]
La puissance combattive [sic] de Hitler peut être décisivement affaiblie par les tactiques de le résistance passive. Dans toutes les catégories d'usines ou dans toutes les branches de l'industrie il y a toujours mille et un moyens d'abaisser et la quantité et la qualité de la production. Vous pouvez faire ''la grève perlée'' ou ''mal com-
[page break]
phase cruciale de la guerre qui pourrait amener le combat au coeur du territoire du Reich.
SOUVENEZ -VOUS: Que de nombreux fermiers allemands et qu des paysannes allemandes isolés seront prêts à vous donner asile et nourriture en échange de quelques semaines de travail sain en plein air. Des milliers de FERMIERS ET DE PAYSANS ont tellement besoin de votre travail qu'ils ne parleront pas et qu'ils ne vous dénonceront pas.
Mais souvenez-vous aussi de ces principes généraux.
1. Préparez un ALIBI avant de quitter la ville. Dites par exemple, que vous avez entendu parler d'un vieil ami à vous qui travaille comme ouvrier agricole dans une certaine région. Dites que vous avez passé votre journée de repos à essayer de le retrouver. Tout ALIBI est bon – mais vous devez avoir une histoire convaincante à raconter. Servez-vous de votre bon sens.
2. Quand vous croisez un Allemand, soit dans une ferme ou dans un village, ne manquer pas, de faire ''votre récit''. PRETENDEZ TOUJOURS avoir perdu votre chemin, - avoir manqué votre train, etc., etc. Demandez asile et nourriture et offrez de payer en travaillant pendant quelques jours sur la terre. Si votre offre est acceptée demandez le jour suivant à rester encore quelques temps.
3. Soyez très prudent et tâchez d'être courtois quand vous rencontrez des femmes seules. Elles s’effraient
[page break]
facilement car on leur a dit que tous les ouvriers étrangers sont des meurtriers, des voleurs, et qu'ils violent des femmes. Essayez de prendre contact en premier lieu avec des vieillards.
4. D'une façon générale évitez les grandes propriétés ou les grandes fermes. Elles sont susceptibles de renfermer trop de témoins et d'espions.
5. N'oubliez pas que vous devez rester à même d'entrer en contact avec vos camardes de la libération.
Bref : La terre allemande a besoin de bras. Elle a besoin de vous ! Il y a de la place et la SECURITE pour des centaines de milliers d'ouvriers français et belges dans les villages de l'Allemagne. ALLEZ-Y POUR VOTRE PROTECTION ET POUR RACCOURCIR LA GUERRE. DES USINES DE GUERRE ET DE MINES VIDES HATENT LA FIN ET SAUVGARDE DES VIES
[page break]
[underlined] QUITTEZ LES VILLES !! [/underlined]
'' Il est souvent arrivé... ''
… (écrivait en juillet un journal allemand – le NDZI 21.7)
…'' [italics] que des ouvriers étrangers qui ne parlent l'allemand se sont perdus accidentellement et sont arrivées là où ils n’avaient rien à faire. Des gens – des gens allemands – ont profité de cette occasion et ont tout simplement permis aux ouvriers isolés de travailler dans leurs entreprises ou dans leurs fermes. Nombreux sont ceux qui croient qu'il y a là un moyen facile d'obtenir de la main-d’œuvre supplémentaire. [/italics]''
Eh bien, voilà un moyen facile à adopter ! Camarade, vous pouvez '' vous perdre accidentellement '' tout aussi facilement que des dizaines de milliers d'ouvriers étrangers qui, suivant des déclarations allemandes officielles, '' ont tous simplement disparu ''. Beaucoup d'entre vous se souviennent de camarades qui un jour travaillaient avec vous et le lendemain – pour ne jamais revenir. Betriebsleitung, Betriebsverbindungsmaenner, Werkscharführer et les S.D. locaux s'agitèrent, maugréèrent, posèrent de nombreuses questions qui ne reçurent aucune réponse … et le tour était joué. Un autre ouvrier étranger avait rejoint les '' UNTERGETAUCHTEN ''. Les déclarations officielles ou semi-officielles allemandes ne concordent pas quant au nombre de cette population flottante d'ouvriers étrangers '' UNTERGETAUCHTE ''. Elles
[page break]
parlent de 60.000, de 80.000, de 100.000. En vérité leur nombre a été beaucoup plus important au cours des dix-huit derniers mois.
[underlined] UNE GRANDE OCCASION SE PRESENTE A VOUS ! [/underlined]
Peu importe les statistiques . Ce qui importe c'est que l'occasion ''de se perdre accidentellement '' est mille fois plus favorable aujourd'hui. La dernière mesure désespérée '' de mobilisation totale '' a eu pour résultat, entre autres, de diminuer les effectifs de la police, des S.D., de la Gestapo, du personnel du D.A.F., et, par la même occasion, ce dernier appel d'urgence a encore augmenté la disette incurable de main-d’œuvre dans les régions agricoles.
'' Disette de main-d’œuvre '' est devenue aujourd'hui une expression sans signification. La vérité c'est qu'il existe à peine un seul village à travers l'Allemagne qui dispose d'assez de bras pour faire la récolte cet été et pour faire les préparatifs les plus élémentaires en vue de l'ensemencement de l'automne. Les vieillards, les femmes et les enfants triment jusqu'à ce qu'ils tombent de fatigue. Les paysans allemands ordinaires et les grands propriétés clament pour avoir de la main-d’œuvre - ET NE PARVIENNENT PAS A L'OBTENIR.
Telle est la position. En ce moment il se présente une occasion in espérée à des dizaine de milliers d'ouvriers français et belges de '' se perdre ''.
DONC – PERDEZ-VOUS ! ! Quittez les villes ! Cachez-vous et mettez-vous en sûreté pendant la dernière
[page break]
Ils vous craignent …
Les Nazis le savent bien. Ils CRAIGNENT les travailleurs français et belges, sachant parfaitement que chaque heure de la continuation de la guerre dépend autant de votre obéissance du peuple allemand.
… et ils vous menacent
Du fait que le régime de Hitler vous craint, les dirigeants allemand feront tout, et toute méthode leur sera bonne vous effrayer, pour vous terroriser, pour empêcher que vous vous protégiez en vous organisant.
Les dirigeants nazis sont au désespoir et ils agissent tel un rat pris au piège. Pour eux, la paix équivaut à la mort. Des êtres tels que Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler et ses bandes meurtrières de S.S. n'ont que faire de votre vie.
[underlined] NOUS VOUS DISONS DONC : [/underlined]
SI VOUS VOULEZ SURVIVRE A LA DERNIERE PHASE DE LA GUERRE, LA PHASE LA PLUS DANGEREUSE ET LA PLUS VIOLENT, AGISSEZ DES MAINTENANT ET ASSUREZ VOUR VOTRE PROTECTION.
Nous savons fort bien qu'il n'existe pas de protection complète contre le danger des bombes ou contre la terreur nazie, MAIS NOUS SAVONS AUSSI QU'IL EST POSSIBLE D'ASSURER UN DEGRE ELEVE DE PROTECTION - PROTECTION PAR L'ORGANISATION.
[page break]
[underlined] QU'ALLEZ-VOUS FAIRE ?
QUE POUVEZ-VOUS FAIRE ? [/underlined]
Si vous voulez survivre à la guerre, eh bien c'est maintenant qu'il faut vous en sortir! Nous savons parfaitement que 99% d'entre vous n'ont que peu de chances de s’évader de l'Allemagne actuellement . L'invasion alliée de l'Allemagne a commencé. Mais nombre de vous on cependant l'occasion de
SORTIR DE LA GUERRE
ce qui revient à dire QUITTES LES CENTRES INDUSTRIELS – mettez-vous HORS DE PORTEE des bombardiers alliées EN VOUS RENDANT A LA CAMPAGNE.
Si vous ne pouvez pas effectivement vous esquiver, le moment est venu pour faire tous les efforts possibles pour vous protéger, vous et vos camarades dans les camps et dans les usines, contre la violence croissante de la guerre et contre la furie croissante des gangsters nazis battus.
Dans les deux cas vous prendrez certains risques, mais ces risques seront insignifiants comparés aux dangers que vous serez appelés à confronter au cours des jours et des semaines à venir si vous vous contenter au cours des jours et des semaines à venir si vous vous contentez de rester passifs sous les ordres des bureaucrates du D.A.F., sous la corruption les Verbindungsmaenner ou sous les espions couards et les brutes de la Werkscharen.
[page break]
pour combler les rangs ravagés de la Wehrmacht vaincue. Des milliers d'hommes, qui ne sont pas ressortissants allemands, ont déjà été précipités sous la mitraille des canons et des escadrilles de bombardiers britanniques et américains. Beaucoup d’entre eux n'eurent même pas l'occasion de se rendre.
Comme du bétail vous pourrez être contraints à construire à la dernière minute des fortifications le longs des frontières menacées de l'Allemagne où les S.S tenteront de ''maintenir l'ordre et la discipline'' en fusillant des otages et en passant à tabac et à la torture les ouvriers français et belges dans des camps spéciaux de concentration.
HEURE PAR HEURE ET JOUR PAR JPOUR CES DEUX DANGERS QUI MENACENT CHACUN DE VOUS GRANDISSENT. Et ces dangers grandissent au moment même où la FIN de la guerre et de toutes vos souffrances approche.
Mais [italics] vous-même [/italics vou pouvez contribuer [italics] à hâter la fin [/italics] de la guerre.
[underlined] VOTRE FORCE EST IMMENSE ![/underlined]
L'action organisée de millions de travailleurs français et belges pourrait mettre fin à la guerre demain. Des grèves en masse et une résistance organisée ont fait crouler la régime de Mussolini avant que les armées alliées n’envahissent l'Italie en 1943.
[page break]
Une grève générale des ouvriers de Copenhague déclenchée en juillet 1944 a forcé les Nazis et les armées d'occupation allemandes à s'avouer vaincus et à donner satisfaction à toutes les revendications de travailleurs.
[underlined] COMMENT VOUS POURRIEZ AGIR ! [/underlined]
Vous êtres environ douze millions de travailleurs étrangers en Allemagne aujourd'hui. Si seulement la moitié d'entre vous prenaient la décision demain de faire la grève et de refuser, à tout prix, de continuer la guerre de Hitler.
VOUS POURRIEZ TOTALEMENT L'EFFORT DE GUERRE ALLEMAND, VOUS POURRIEZ IMMOBILISER TOTALEMENT TOUTE LA PRODUCTION ET LES TRANSPORTS ALLEMANDS, VOUS POURRIEZ EN QUELQUES JOUR METTRE FIN A LA GUERRE DE HITLER – BIEN AVANT QUE LES RAVAGES DE LA BATAILLE NE DEFERLENT CHEZ VOUS.
L'ACTION ORGANISEE POURRAIT ATTEINDRE TOUS CES BUTS EN QUELQUES JOURS
[page break]
[underlined] Aux Travailleurs Alliés en Allemagne ! [/underlined]
La guerre tire à sa fin inévitable.
L'Allemagne sur le territoire de laquelle vous avez été déportés doit bientôt devenir un champ de bataille.
Ceci implique des dangers encore plus grands pour vous si vous continuez à obéir aux ordres de vos négriers et si vous leur permettez de vous envoyer là où bon leur semble.
Mais ceci vous fournit des occasions plus grandes que que jamais pour la fin de votre captivité.
Le travail de vos compatriotes dans les mouvements de résistances à l’intérieur a apporté une contribution de grande valeur au succès de nos armes.
Vous, également, avez une contribution à apporter si vous suives leur exemple.
Gardez présents à l'esprit les trois points suivants :-
1) Il est de votre devoir de dérégler la machine de guerre allemande.
2) Il est de votre devoir d'aider à la libération de votre propre patrie.
3) Il est de votre devoir de veiller à ce que vous soyez sauvegardés pour rentrer chez vous le plus rapidement possible et ainsi aider au travail de reconstruction qui nous attend tous quand la victoire sera gagnée.
Dans cette brochure vous trouverez des directives qui vous indiqueront comment vous pouvez atteindre ces trois objectifs.
Vous recevrez de nouvelles instructions par voie de la T.S.F. et par tracts.
LE HAUT COMMANDEMENT INTERALLIE
[page break]
[underlined] UN APPEL AUX TRAVAILLEURS FRANCAIS ET BELGES EN ALLEMAGNE [/underlined]
L'Allemagne a perdu la guerre !
La fin de la plus grande guerre de l'histoire approche – mais ….
[underlined] VOUS ETES EN DANGER ! [/underlined]
A mesure que la guerre tire à sa fin le régime nazi deviendra de plus en plus impitoyable. Chacun de vous dorénavant est sous le coup d'UN DOUBLE DANGER. Le DANGER émanant des terroristes nazis qui, pour obtenir le maximum de rendement de votre part, useront contre contre vous de tous les moyens. Et le DANGER – chaque jour plus grand – des ATTAQUES AERIENNES.
Vous serez contraints à vivre et à travailler dans les régions qui renferment les plus dangereux des objectifs choisis par les Force Aériennes Alliées – tandis que les adolescents allemands de seize ans et les vieillards de soixante ans et de plus seront dirigés vers le front pour servir de dernières réserves de chair à canon dans les batailles de Hitler acculé. Ne dites pas: Nous savons ce que sont les bombardements.
[underlined] VOUS N'AVEZ ENCORE RIEN VU À MOINS D'AVOIR CONNU L'EXPÉRIENCE DES NOUVELLES BOMBES INCENDIARES QUI ONT ÉTÉ LANCÉES DNAS LES RÉCENTES ATTAQUES SUR DARMSTADT, FRANCFORT ET D'AUTRES CENTRE ALLEMANDS. [/underlined]
Vous serez versés de force dans l'armée allemande
[page break]
DANGER de MORT!
[underlined] et comment l'éviter [/underlined]
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
Lebensgefahr
Danger de Mort
Description
An account of the resource
The first part is targeted at the German population and argues, with illustrations, for passive and active resistance against the regime. It uses the image of Germany’s many broken bridges to argue that the only bridge open to the German people is that leading to peace and reconstruction.
The second, much longer, part warns foreign workers in Germany (particularly French and Belgian) that they are in grave danger as the final conflagration of the war is inevitable. Urges them to take action to lessen the danger and hasten the end of their captivity, and gives guidance and instruction as to how they should proceed.
It says that workers are in danger from Germans and from air attack from Allied Forces, the like of which they have never seen before. They will be forced to live and work in areas where Allied attacks will be at their fiercest (such as Darmstadt and Frankfurt), sent to the front, or forced to work on the fortifications. Hostages are likely to be shot or beaten and tortured in special concentration camps.
Claims that workers are in a powerful position, and should consider the successes of the Resistance organized against the regime of Mussolini before the Allies invaded in 1943. A workers’ general strike in Copenhagen in July 1944 had similar success and the workers triumphed in their demands. The 12 million foreign workers in Germany could paralyse the production of goods as well as all transport links and all this could be done in a few days.
Workers should get out the industrial centres - which are likely to be bombed by the Allies - and go to the countryside. They can hide there taking advantage of widespread labour shortage. Workers should have alibis ready, pretend to have lost their way, avoiding to rouse suspects, and steering clear from big farms as these may have spies.
Stresses the importance of sabotage and passive forms of resistance which will reduce the quality and quantity of production, either by deliberately misunderstanding instructions or damaging an almost finished article. The combined effect of these actions may be massive.
Workers should band together to ensure that their rights in the camps, workshops, or wherever their work is, are meticulously protected. Rights include food in the canteens, rations, mealtimes, facilities in the camps and cantonments, working hours, sanitary conditions, hygiene, accident prevention, permissions, Sunday leave arrangements, protection from aerial attack, and the right to get to a shelter.
Stresses the importance of acting together forming or joining cells of passive resistance or protection rights; also claims that some anti-Nazi Germans can be valuable allies provided their intentions are sincere. Concludes urging foreign workers who cannot go to the countryside to organize resistance cells, slow production, resist exploitation by passive resistance, collaborate with anti-Nazi Germans, set up a list of Nazis and their minions and spread the truth about German defeats in battle on the different fronts. They should also listen to the news broadcasts from Allied sources and obey instructions from the Allied High Command.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed booklet
Language
A language of the resource
deu
fra
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Artwork
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MAnsellHT1893553-160730-01
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
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.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
France
Belgium
Denmark
Denmark--Copenhagen
Italy
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Darmstadt
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
1945
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Gilvray Williams
Frances Grundy
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
bombing
Goebbels, Joseph (1897-1945)
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
propaganda
Resistance
shelter
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/376/7106/PHouriganM18030135.1.jpg
4976b290a0715f6be44fb76e0ff9984c
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/376/7106/PHouriganM18030136.1.jpg
a22a2c25250cfc2eddc2758b42c315c5
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
Hourigan, Margaret
Margaret Hourigan
M Hourigan
Description
An account of the resource
158 items. An oral history interview with Margaret Hourigan (1922 - 2023, 889775 Royal Air Force) and 156 target photographs taken by 50 and 61 Squadron aircraft during 1944. Margaret Hourigan served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force as a plotter with Fighter Command before being posted to RAF Waddington and RAF Skellingthorpe with Bomber Command.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Margaret Hourigan and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
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
2019-04-16
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
Hourigan,M
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
Courtrai
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-07-20
1944-07-21
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PHouriganM18030135, PHouriganM18030136
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Belgium--Kortrijk
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-07-20
1944-07-21
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Geolocated
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
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.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
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
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Description
An account of the resource
Target photograph of Courtrai. Partially obscured by smoke, dust and bomb explosions. Urban area, street patterns visible. Captioned '5°F', '7B', '14 SKELL.20/21.7.44//NT.8" 10500 [arrow] 230° 0100 COURTRAI RD.U.11X1000.4X500.21secs.F/O DAVIS.W.J. U.50.' On the reverse '[underlined] F/O W.J. DAVIS 20/21.7.44 COURTRAI [/underlined]'.
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Hourigan, Margaret. Folder PHouriganM1803
50 Squadron
aerial photograph
bombing
RAF Skellingthorpe
target photograph
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/408/7146/SChattertonJ159568v10068.2.jpg
5366c919adf3a16883ded592011d5210
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/408/7146/SChattertonJ159568v10069.2.jpg
f2b095d20f2bb134a1402f368179286e
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
Chatterton, John. 44 Squadron operations order book
Description
An account of the resource
Collection consists of 521 items which are mostly Operations orders, aircraft load and weight tables and bomb aimers briefings for 44 Squadron operations between January 1944 and April 1945. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by M J Chatterton and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. <br /><br />This collection also contains items concerning Dewhurst Graaf and his crew, and Donald Neil McKechnie and his crew. Additional information on <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/109020/">Dewhurst Graaf</a> and <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/115642/">Donald Neil McKechnie</a> is available via the IBCC Losses Database.
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
2016-03-14
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
Chatterton, J
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Underlined] BOURG LEOPOLD [/underlined]
DATE 11-5-44
AEYOXPRFC JMQL TGS.
[Table of bomb loads]
1250 GALLS Distributor .175
T.V. 1440 1440 1440
[Table of bomb weights and all up weights]
[Table of Preselect]
Flash 16000’ 27 secs.
TIME OFF 2210 ZERO. [deleted] 0005 [/deleted] 0010
WINDOWS. 13 CGC NICKELS NIL. EFFORT. [underlined] 600 approx [/underlined]
TIME TO TARGET. 1 1/2 hrs. TARGET HEIGHT. 165
EFFORT. 210 Lancs – V GP – own marking.
ROUTE - Base – 5210N x 0330E – TARGET [boxed] 5108 x 0517E [/boxed] – 5104N x 0521E
5108N x 0528E – 5210N x 0330E - Base.
170-180°T. METHOD. Yellow TI. proximity markers will be dropped on the centre of the target at Z-8. Flares if necessary & then over marking point – the NE sector will be marked with [underlined] Red Spot Fires [/underlined] & if necessary Red TI. The other marking point – the SW sector will be marked Green spot fires & if necessary Green TI.
NB. Other attacks near our target using Red & Green TI’s. [indecipherable]
[Page break]
40 mls west Lauvain at 0100 hrs. attack with Red & Green TI’s or Yellow & White TI’s.
[Calculations]
Bombing WS & D will be teleprinted as soon as latest forecast wind is known.
This WS & D is to be set directly on to the bombsight by all A/C.
52 Base bomb between headings [deleted] 160°T - 190°T [/deleted] 170 – 180.
|| A.B’s are to aim first bomb in stick at the markers. Release of bombs to be delayed by 1 second. Essential as soon as marker on graticule.
A/B’s to say “GO” Nav to count delay.
[Underlined] Say “GO AND BOMB”. [/underlined]
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
Bomb aimers briefing 11 May 1944
Description
An account of the resource
Shows three bomb loads for squadron. Includes preselection settings, timings, route, target indicators and bombing method. Annotated 'Bourg Leopold'. On the reverse bombing notes.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-05-11
Format
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Two sides of form document filled in
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SChattertonJ159568v10068, SChattertonJ159568v10069
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Belgium--Leopoldsburg
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-05-11
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
Anne-Marie Watson
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
briefing
target indicator
Window
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/408/7293/SChattertonJ159568v10234.1.jpg
b9e56c73d2d331400a8da40ac398dbfa
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/408/7293/SChattertonJ159568v10235.1.jpg
d3039711e8a6b2dcecf6c468fb73c98d
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
Chatterton, John. 44 Squadron operations order book
Description
An account of the resource
Collection consists of 521 items which are mostly Operations orders, aircraft load and weight tables and bomb aimers briefings for 44 Squadron operations between January 1944 and April 1945. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by M J Chatterton and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. <br /><br />This collection also contains items concerning Dewhurst Graaf and his crew, and Donald Neil McKechnie and his crew. Additional information on <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/109020/">Dewhurst Graaf</a> and <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/115642/">Donald Neil McKechnie</a> is available via the IBCC Losses Database.
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
2016-03-14
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
Chatterton, J
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
29 – 12 – 44
R S
[Table of Bomb Loads)
[Table of Bombing Instructions]
[Preselection Table]
[Aircraft Height Table]
Nav 2030
Capt. 2200
Main 2230
[Page Break]
Warn crews allied troops are at BASTOGNE – 4 ½ miles SSW of △.
G Co –ords 4mls short of △ – put on Master Bomb Switch then & off again at Poan. D,
Bombs are not to be dropped unless crew are positive in extreme that RED TI’s are identified as Red TI’s and not spoof flares.
To destroy enemy troops & Supplies in and around △
[underlined] markup [/underlined] A/PT Red TI cascading 5000’ H-5 to H+2
NB. Careful runs – centre at TI’s If in slightest doubt as to whether Red TI is absolutely clear bomb are to be brought back.
Bombs are not to be aimed at glow of Red TI’s through cloud
Troops may be nearer than 4 ½ miles.
May be low status. If there is a flare it must be next to a cascading TI.
[underlined] Window [/underlined] Anti –fighter to be dropped at rate D, from 0500E° through to △ to Prsa .E. homewards.
[underlined] WS &D [/underlined] H-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
Bomb aimers briefing 29 December 1944 - Bastogne
Description
An account of the resource
Shows three bomb loads, the first two are 1500 and 1850 parachute mines but these are crossed through. The third load is 11 x 1000 pound and 4 x500 poned medium capacity with 50% instantaneous and 50% TD 025. Includes preselection and distributor settings as well as heights and false height settings, window, timings and other details. On the reverse note to warn crews that allied troops are at Bastogne four and a half miles SSW of target, Objective to destroy enemy troops. Includes marking tactics and bombing instructions. Warns crews not to drop unless 'positive in the extreme' that they identify red Target indicators not spoofs. If not aircraft are to return with bombs. Notes on anti fighter Window.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-12-29
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two sided form document partially filled in on front and handwritten on reverse.
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SChattertonJ159568v10234, SChattertonJ159568v10235
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Belgium--Bastogne
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-12-29
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Claire Monk
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
briefing
mine laying
target indicator
Window
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/408/7296/SChattertonJ159568v10239.1.jpg
1870570c56537f1b5742ba28534296d4
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/408/7296/SChattertonJ159568v10240.1.jpg
7f457dc77ae6a6294b97ec7102a43a1e
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
Chatterton, John. 44 Squadron operations order book
Description
An account of the resource
Collection consists of 521 items which are mostly Operations orders, aircraft load and weight tables and bomb aimers briefings for 44 Squadron operations between January 1944 and April 1945. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by M J Chatterton and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. <br /><br />This collection also contains items concerning Dewhurst Graaf and his crew, and Donald Neil McKechnie and his crew. Additional information on <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/109020/">Dewhurst Graaf</a> and <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/115642/">Donald Neil McKechnie</a> is available via the IBCC Losses Database.
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
2016-03-14
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
Chatterton, J
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Underlined] ST. VITH. [/underlined]
DATE 26/12/44
C. D. H, J. X R T H O S
[Table of bomb loads]
PETROL. 1600
DISTRIBUTOR .15
T.V. 1660
BOMB WEIGHT 14826 13208
ALL UP. WEIGHT. 66,826 64,408
[Table of Preselect]
[Table of aircraft heights]
ZERO. 1530
Target height. 450’
BOMBING HEIGHTS. 10-14,000
H+4 – H+9.
W S & D NAV. Reduce by 0./ of W/S.
[Page break]
H-5 Oboe Red T.I.
Backed up by Greens. Yellow scrub.
From H-15 Controlled by MASTER BOMBER.
G – co-ordinates set up for posn. 5 miles short of Δ.
NO – orbitting. Own troops 10 miles due N.
Callsign – MASTER BOMBER – PLATO
Deputy – PLATO II
MAIN FORCE – BOMB LOW
ABANDON MISSION – WRAP IT UP
NONSTOP – BLACK LEG.
[Deleted] Δ Hd. 4 [/deleted]
Δ. Met. Clear but haze
Vis 1-2 miles.
Fighter cover – Spits. & Mustangs.
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
Bomb aimers briefing 26 December 1944 - St Vith
Description
An account of the resource
Indicates two bomb loads for operation, one for two aircraft the other for eight. Includes preselection, distributor and false height settings, zero hour and other details. On the reverse marking and bombing instructions including that attack controlled by master bomber and callsigns.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-12-26
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two sided form document partially filled in on front and handwritten on reverse
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SChattertonJ159568v10239, SChattertonJ159568v10240
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Belgium--Saint-Vith
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-12-26
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
Anne-Marie Watson
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
briefing
Master Bomber
Oboe
P-51
Spitfire
target indicator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/408/7297/SChattertonJ159568v10241.1.jpg
d422c772bdcfeda9ba48d206c431a7ec
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
Chatterton, John. 44 Squadron operations order book
Description
An account of the resource
Collection consists of 521 items which are mostly Operations orders, aircraft load and weight tables and bomb aimers briefings for 44 Squadron operations between January 1944 and April 1945. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by M J Chatterton and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. <br /><br />This collection also contains items concerning Dewhurst Graaf and his crew, and Donald Neil McKechnie and his crew. Additional information on <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/109020/">Dewhurst Graaf</a> and <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/115642/">Donald Neil McKechnie</a> is available via the IBCC Losses Database.
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
2016-03-14
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
Chatterton, J
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[inserted] A/B [/ inserted] [inserted] [underlined] ST. VITH. [/underlined] [/inserted]
[underlined] NO. 44 (RHODESIA) SQUADRON. [/underlined] [underlined] 26TH. DECEMBER, 1944. [/underlined]
[underlined] OPERATIONAL FLYING PROGRAMME FOR NIGHT OF 26/27TH. DECEMBER.
SERIAL NO. 235/44. [/underlined]
[underlined] NG.195.C.(I). [/underlined]
F/L. Mangos.
Sgt. Fitzpatrick.
Sgt. Finlayson.
F/S. Sheehan.
Sgt. Harvey.
Sgt. James.
Sgt. Jones.
[underlined] PB.283.K.(III). [/underlined]
F/O. Jory.
Sgt. Fox.
Sgt. Crang.
F/O. Pooley.
Sgt. Butcher.
W/O. Oates.
Sgt. Hunt.
[inserted] [diagonal line across crew and plane] [/inserted]
[underlined] PB.190.J.(III). [/underlined]
F/O. Jetson.
Sgt. Florence.
Sgt. Smith.
Sgt. Stevens.
Sgt. Silson.
Sgt. Cazaly.
Sgt. Bosley.
[underlined] NF.991.D.(I). [/underlined]
F/O. Freeland.
Sgt. Nelson.
F/S. Roper.
F/S. Gardiner.
F/S. Ockerby.
Sgt. Watson.
Sgt. Watts.
[underlined] LM.625.H.(III). [/underlined]
F/O. Peterswald.
Sgt. McShane.
F/O. Temple.
Sgt. Turner.
F/S. Tulloch.
Sgt. Horne.
Sgt. Howells.
[underlined] LM.655.U.(III). [/underlined]
F/S. Spencer.
Sgt. Bishop.
F/S. Sinclair.
Sgt. Mitchell.
Sgt. Seabridge.
Sgt. Cobley.
[underlined] PB.417.R.(III). [/underlined]
F/L. Gallivan.
Sgt. Balloch.
F/O. Armstrong.
Sgt. Beaumont.
Sgt. Bowden.
Sgt. Judd.
Sgt. Johnson.
[underlined] PB.733.T.(III). [/underlined]
F/O. Irving.
Sgt. West.
Sgt. Bilsland.
F/O. Cooper.
F/S. Brandli.
Sgt. Simpson.
Sgt. Groenewald.
[inserted] [diagonal line across crew and plane] [/inserted]
[underlined] STANDBY. [/underlined]
[underlined] PB.380.S.(III). [/underlined]
F/O. Smith.
Sgt. Dent.
F/O. Winter.
F/O. Long.
F/S. Pugh.
Sgt. Hall.
Sgt. Jones.
[underlined] STANDBY. [/underlined]
[underlined] PB.251.O.(III). [/underlined]
F/O. Parkin.
Sgt. Green.
Sgt. Rowbotham.
F/S. Henry.
F/S. Kelman.
Sgt. Barker.
Sgt. Bredenkamp.
[inserted] [diagonal line across crew and plane] [/inserted]
[underlined] RESERVE. [/underlined]
F/L. Sutherland.
Sgt. Collington.
F/S. Jensen.
F/S. White.
F/S. Clow.
Sgt. Petersen.
Sgt. Merola.
[underlined] RESERVE. [/underlined]
F/O. Coventry.
Sgt. Shuttleworth.
Sgt. Ayre.
F/S. Gibson.
Sgt. Wood.
Sgt. Perkins.
Sgt. Lewis.
[underlined] DUTY CREW. [/underlined]
F/O. Wood.
Sgt. Ingham.
Sgt. Edmonds.
F/O. Spence.
Sgt. Castle.
Sgt. Pepperdine.
[underlined] COMMUNICATIONS. [/underlined]
Sgt. Thornton.
Sgt. Moore.
Sgt. Hance.
[underlined] BRIEFING. [/underlined]
NAVIGATORS :
SPECIALISTS :
CAPTAINS :
MAIN :
Officer i/c Flying : W/Cdr. Newmarch.
Duty F/E. Officer : F/L. Hayward.
Duty Air Bomber : To be detailed.
Duty Sigs. : Cpl. Johnstone. LAC. Leonard.
Duty. Photos : Sgt. White.
Duty Flight Engineer : To be detailed.
Duty Gunnery : F/O. Cranswick.
Duty Signals Officer : To be detailed.
Duty Flight NCO’s : Sgt. Brock. Sgt. Le Blanc Smith.
Duty Clerk : LACW. Schofield.
[signature]
[underlined] Flight Lieutenant, for Wing Commander,
Commanding, No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron. [/underlined]
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
Operations order 26 December 1944
Operational flying programme for night 26/27 December 1944 Serial 235/44
Description
An account of the resource
Lists crews and aircraft for operations on night 26/27 December 1944. Crews second from left top row, right hand side second row and second from left third row have been crossed out. Includes duty personnel. Annotated 'St Vith'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-12-26
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SChattertonJ159568v10241
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Belgium--Saint-Vith
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-12-26
1944-12-27
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
E O Collcutt
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Andy Hamilton
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One-page typewritten document
44 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
flight engineer
pilot
RAF Spilsby
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/408/7632/SChattertonJ159568v10552.1.jpg
50175350ec3089ab8c8a796abf83cb03
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/408/7632/SChattertonJ159568v10553.1.jpg
b02d1b2859412ceb23a5943c89385f1d
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
Chatterton, John. 44 Squadron operations order book
Description
An account of the resource
Collection consists of 521 items which are mostly Operations orders, aircraft load and weight tables and bomb aimers briefings for 44 Squadron operations between January 1944 and April 1945. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by M J Chatterton and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. <br /><br />This collection also contains items concerning Dewhurst Graaf and his crew, and Donald Neil McKechnie and his crew. Additional information on <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/109020/">Dewhurst Graaf</a> and <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/115642/">Donald Neil McKechnie</a> is available via the IBCC Losses Database.
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
2016-03-14
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
Chatterton, J
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
COURTRAI
DATE 20-7-44
G.O.L.
FTQSJY A.P.K.V.H.EZ
[Table of Bomb Loads and Preselect]
[Table of Aircraft Height]
BOMBING HEIGHT. 10’ – 14,000’ BOMBING HEADING.
H+1 – 3 H+3 – 5 H+5 – 7 H+7 - 9
[underlined] WAVE 1. WAVE 2. WAVE 3. WAVE 4. WAVE 5. [/underlined]
COLOUR FILM: V. [deleted]R[/deleted] P.T.S. [deleted]O[/deleted]K.G.J.L.
RESET W S & D.
[page break]
PFF Prelim. oboe TI. Red bombing 7 mins. Cascading from 4000’
H – 6 .H – 5. H – 4. (Point SW of [symbol] – may be
3 A/C flares H – 5. Dropping 9 – 6 & ? clusters flares.
3 Mosq. mark AP- long burning TI Green (1000lb) + 1 Mosq. with a 36 minute burner.
If correct will be backed up by similar TI’s Green.(5) by SABS
Yellow TI’s cancel
When main force come in they should see GREEN TI’s on AP & possibly Remains of Red TI’s down to the SW of [symbol]
Aim at MPI of all markers not cancelled or as directed by the controller.
All A/C to carry photo flashes.
[underlined] Spoof [/underlined] Flares & TI’s 25 mls East of B at H-7 to -10. {H-10 – H-9 6 Lancs – [undecipherable]}[sic] 4 Mosq. TI’s Spoof Controller on VHF.
[symbol] No a/c to bomb before H+1 unless ordered by controller.
Mosq. Cannot possibly work properly.
[underlined] Bombing Winds [/underlined] By H-5 for mean height.
Weather recce by H-30 (Mosquito).
Wave
F 1 13,000 [tick] x
H 2 11,000 x
G 3 11,000 x
E 2 13,000 x
A 3 12,000’ x
J 3 13,000’ x
L 1 11,000’ [tick] x
Y 1 10,000’ [tick] x
Z 1 12,000’ [tick] x
V 4 10,000’ x
P 4 11,000’ x
T 4 12,000’ x
Q 4 13,000’ x
S 3 14,000’ x
O 2 14,000’ x
K 2 12,000’ x
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
Bomb aimers briefing 20 July 1944 - Courtrai
Description
An account of the resource
Shows two bomb loads for operation, one for six aircraft the other for seven. Details distributor, preselection and false height settings as well as Window, timing, bombing heights and wave H+ times for four waves. On the reverse Pathfinder marking, Mosquito marking, bombing instructions, spoof attack and other information. Lists aircraft letters with wave and height.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-07-20
Format
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Two sides front form document partially filled in on the reverse handwritten
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
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Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SChattertonJ159568v10552, SChattertonJ159568v10553
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Belgium
Belgium--Kortrijk
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-07-20
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.
Contributor
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Steve Baldwin
aircrew
bomb aimer
bombing
briefing
Lancaster
Mosquito
Oboe
Pathfinders
target indicator
Window