]]> Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Peter Schulze]]> Carolyn Emery]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Egypt]]> Great Britain]]> Middle East]]> Egypt--Ismailia (Province)]]> Egypt--Alexandria]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending OH summary]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Transport Command]]> Royal Air Force. Fighter Command]]> Africa]]> Egypt]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> England--Buckinghamshire]]> England--Kent]]> Germany--Berlin]]> 1939]]> 1940]]> 1948]]> After an unsuccessful attempt to run his family business, he applied for the civil service and worked until 1985 on radar development, auto triangulation, Cathode-Ray Direction Finder, Identification Friend or Foe, infrared devices, laser and chain radar stations.]]> Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Coastal Command]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> England--London]]> England--Lancashire]]> England--Blackpool]]> Algeria]]> Austria]]> Austria--Mauthausen]]> Egypt]]> France]]> Germany]]> Rhine River]]> Netherlands]]> Netherlands--Arnhem]]> Tunisia]]> North Africa]]> 1944]]> After a transit camp in Ismailia, Bill went to Jerusalem and attended a wedding in Bethlehem. He proceeded to an Operational Training Unit at Attiyah where they trained on Wellingtons. He was posted to RAF Shallufa for conversion onto B-24s.
Bill eventually joined 37 Squadron, No. 205 Group, at Tortorella, near Foggia. He went on two operations: one to bomb a railway bridge in the north of Italy and the second to attack marshalling yards near Salzburg in Austria. After the Germans surrendered, he flew up supplies from the south to the north of Italy. The squadron then disbanded, and Bill was sent to a maintenance unit just outside Cairo, delivering aircraft. Bill left the RAF in 1947.
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Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Shropshire]]> England--Wiltshire]]> England--Cheshire]]> Scotland--Ross and Cromarty]]> North Africa]]> Egypt]]> Italy]]> Italy--Foggia]]> Austria]]> Austria--Salzburg]]> West Bank--Bethlehem]]> Middle East--Jerusalem]]> 1941]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> 1947]]>
Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Burma]]> Burma--Rangoon]]> France]]> France--Corsica]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Skegness]]> Scotland--Gourock]]> Wales--Glamorgan]]> North Africa]]> Algeria]]> Algeria--Algiers]]> Egypt]]> India]]> India--Imphāl]]> Syria]]> Syria--Aleppo]]> Italy]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945-02-02]]> 1945-08-15]]> 1946-08-19]]> Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Andy Shaw]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Navy]]> Egypt]]> Great Britain]]> North Africa]]> England--Buckinghamshire]]> England--High Wycombe]]> England--Portsmouth]]> England--Wiltshire]]> Egypt--Cairo]]> England--Hampshire]]> 1940]]> 1942]]> 1945]]> Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> Pending OH summary]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Egypt]]> France]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> England--Yorkshire]]> France--Boulogne-sur-Mer]]> Germany--Dresden]]> 1940]]> 1943]]> 1945]]> Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Egypt]]> France]]> Great Britain]]> North Africa]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Germany--Chemnitz]]> Germany]]> 1945]]> Victor completed 28 operations, including Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Cologne, Essen and Frankfurt, but he missed out on his 30 operations when he contracted rubella. He tells of his experiences on his operations, and supporting the D-Day operations when he and his crew were sent to attack the gun emplacement at Le Havre. He mentions how he saw all the ships heading for the beaches. Victor also recalls being put in charge of training with Lancasters, Halifaxes, Sunderlands and Stirlings, before heading out to Malaya to work on supporting the Army.
He served during the Suez Crisis helping with issues concerning radar. Back home he served at multiple stations before becoming commanding officer at RAF North Luffenham. He mentions an incident at RAF Marham and joining Task Force Grapple which was involved with nuclear testing.
Victor retired in 1977 and then he became a parish councillor for West Norfolk Council, before becoming mayor of West Norfolk from 1990 to 1991. At the local Royal Air Force Association he takes part in events helping to organise the acts of Remembrance every year.
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Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Vivienne Tincombe]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Essex]]> England--Yorkshire]]> England--Norfolk]]> England--Rutland]]> France]]> France--Le Havre]]> Germany]]> Germany--Cologne]]> Germany--Essen]]> Germany--Frankfurt am Main]]> Germany--Nuremberg]]> Germany--Stuttgart]]> Christmas Island]]> Egypt]]> Malta]]> Singapore]]> Malaysia]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1956]]> 1957]]> 1944-03-30]]> 1944-03-31]]> 1944-06-05]]> 1944-06-06]]>
Walter Raymond Stevenson volunteered for the RAF as soon as he was eighteen and trained as a wireless operator/air gunner, learning Morse code at RAF Yatesbury. He flew with 'sprog' pilots as they trained and was posted to Number 3 Air Gunnery School at RAF Mona. He was flying in Bothas, which he disliked, before converting to Wellingtons. Despite hating the sunshine, he was posted to a number of locations in the Middle East and Africa. He served with 621 Squadron whose role was to prevent German submarines from attacking shipping. He details the operation where he sighted submarine U852 which the crew bombed with depth chargers, visibly damaging the submarine. The commander of that submarine was later executed for the war crime of firing upon the survivors of the sinking ship, The Peleus. After demobilisation Walter returned to blacksmithing before switching to car repair work. 

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Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Carolyn Emery]]> Walter was ‘called up’ to RAF Squires Gate, Blackpool for ‘square bashing’. Despite being informed that blacksmiths and joiners were desperately needed, but Walter was equally fixed on becoming aircrew. Here he learnt Morse code. Next was RAF Yatesbury to learn wireless telegraphy, before qualifying as a radio operator. He was then posted to 608 Squadron RAF Thornaby, Yorkshire, a Costal Command station. After a year there, Walter went to No 3 Air Gunnery School RAF Mona, Anglesey. Walter trained using the Botha which he thinks is a ‘horrible one’ and became a qualified air gunner. Then came RAF Hooton Part, Wirral Peninsula and OTU RAF Silloth, Cumbria. At Silloth Walter was a W/op AG flying in Wellingtons. Here he met ‘the bravest and daftest pilot in the RAF’, called Bond, James Bond. Walter was now sent to 303 FTU RAF Talbenny, Pembrokeshire.
Walter was sent to RAF Hurn, Bournemouth. From Hurn he flew to Gibraltar and then to RAF Rabat, Cairo, Middle East Command, Egypt. He whole crew then flew via Juba to Mogadishu. Before he could arrive, they were diverted to RAF Eastleigh, Mombasa, Kenya. Walter was to fly from Scusciuban, Somaliland on detachment from the squadron. He feels that this location was ‘diabolical’. There were three W/op AGs in the crew, and they rotated the wireless operator’s role with two hours on the set. The set was technically known as the IT but amongst the crew as ITV.
The navigator knew the U-852 was surfacing and its possible location. The plane was unable to fly high due to low cloud cover, so Walter was able to visually sight the U-Boat from the second dicky seat. He moved to the front air gunner’s position, and after firing on all those in or moving to the U-Boat’s conning tower, it submerged. The plane circled the area thinking that the U-Boat was ‘Whacko’ and saw it re-surface, so depth charges were dropped in a ‘stick’. The gunner aboard opened fire with 37mm. Walter feels that they were poor gunners as the plane was never hit and they were the only aircraft in the sky. After the attack to U-Boat was guided to the shore and breached. The captain was executed with two other officers from the crew as war criminals for their behaviour earlier in the war.
Walter was sent on with his squadron to assist 8 Squadron in Ade, where they received ‘red hot’ gen about the shipping. He was posted to Khormaksar then Transjordan. He was there for about six weeks for the RAF Aircraft instructor’s course, before returning to England.
Walter was never confronted with a case of LMF but is both annoyed by it and understands that it was something never discussed. He describes the differing treatment to NCOs and Officers with LMF as NCOs were punished for it, but Officers were not.
Walter was posted as a warrant officer to RAF Scampton to be the Sports Officer. He was demobbed at either RAF Conningsby or RAF Scampton in August 1946. He returned to blacksmithing, married Lilian at the Town Hall in Wycombe in 1947. Walter is in the Royal British Legion and the RAFA. He no longer attends meetings as he is without a car.

Claire Campbell]]>
eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Coastal Command]]> Egypt]]> Great Britain]]> Kenya]]> Somalia]]> Middle East]]> Indian Ocean]]> Egypt--Cairo]]> Kenya--Mombasa]]> Somalia--Mogadishu]]> North Africa]]> Africa]]> South Sudan]]> South Sudan--Juba]]> Sudan]]> 1940-10]]> 1941]]> 1942-05-02]]> 1943-02-24]]>
Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> William Evans]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Great Britain]]> England--Suffolk]]> England--Wiltshire]]> Atlantic Ocean--North Sea]]> North Africa]]> Egypt]]> Persian Gulf Region]]> 1938]]> 1939]]> 1940]]> 1941]]> 1939-12-14]]> Chris Brockbank]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Tilly Foster]]> Jean Massie]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Egypt]]> Great Britain]]> Italy]]> Libya]]> North Africa]]> Egypt--Suez Canal]]> England--Buckinghamshire]]> England--Cornwall (County)]]> England--Norfolk]]> England--Somerset]]> England--Oxford]]> England--Shropshire]]> Italy--Naples]]> Libya--Tripoli]]> England--Oxfordshire]]> 1940]]> 1941]]> 1942]]> Chris Johnson]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Chris Johnson]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Egypt]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> Netherlands]]> Poland]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Poland--Żagań]]> 1941]]> Clare Bennett]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Emma Bonson]]> Heather Hughes]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Warwickshire]]> Croatia--Rijeka]]> Danube River]]> Egypt]]> Italy--Foggia]]> Poland--Warsaw]]> Italy]]> Poland]]> Romania--Ploiești]]> Croatia]]> Romania]]> Danube River]]> 1944]]> Commanding 63/General Hospital]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> eng]]> Text]]> Text. Service material]]> Royal Air Force]]> Egypt]]> Egypt--Cairo]]> North Africa]]> 1946-09-20]]> Dan Ellin]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Carolyn Emery]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Canada]]> Manitoba--Brandon]]> Manitoba--Virden]]> Manitoba--Winnipeg]]> New Brunswick--Moncton]]> Egypt]]> Egypt--Cairo]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> England--Cambridgeshire]]> England--Westward Ho]]> England--Yorkshire]]> Israel]]> United States]]> New York (State)--New York]]> North Africa]]> New York (State)]]> New Brunswick]]> Germany--Ruhr (Region)]]> England--Devon]]> Manitoba]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]>
Geoff was born and lived in the same area of Grimsby all his life, at the date of his interview he was 93. The first part of the interview concentrated on his experience of finding a German butterfly bomb close to his home, Geoff described how after an air raid the local children would explore the local area looking for shrapnel. On this particular day when he was about 13, he and a friend found this device which looked different, he asked a soldier what it might be but he didn’t know. His friends father did not want it in their house and Geoff’s father said the same thing although they did not know what it was. Geoff was standing outside their house when a bomb disposal team came by probably looking for the bomblets. They told Geoff to drop it they then surrounded it with sandbags and detonated it with a small explosive charge which blew out some of the house windows. Geoff considered himself to be lucky as although they had mistreated the device it had not exploded, he also made the point that no one knew what they were as the authorities decided not to issue any information about the bomblets. He could not remember any anti aircraft guns locally but did remembers a large gun nearby.
Geoff described how his father a fisherman had build an Anderson air-raid shelter in their back garden and when the sirens alerted them to a raid the whole family gathered there. He described how one night a German aircraft caught in the searchlight beam dived down and dropped their bomb quite close to the house. He made the point that air raids on Grimsby were not that frequent unlike Hull just across the river, although Grimsby at that time was a major fishing port where literally you could cross the harbour stepping from one trawler to the next. Geoff remembered that early in the war the aircraft they saw were German but later on the large formations of Lancasters were evident.
Having left school at 14 he went to work at the local Rolls Royce dealership as an apprentice but disliked the work. Just post the European war conscription was still in place but Geoff volunteered to join the army for five years as you could choose your job and were paid more. He was trained as a signaller, his initial posting was the army headquarters in Paris which as it was just post war Eisenhour and Montgomery were there. Geoff was then posted to Egypt which was very different to Paris, living in tents awful food. Another lucky escape happened there, with a group of soldiers they were digging trenches by hand to be used as latrines, a fellow corporal told Geoff take your troops and go for a break then come back and relieve me, but the trench collapsed and killed them as Geoff and his group were on break.
Having completed his time in the army Geoff became a lorry driver during the week and a taxi driver at the weekend and he remembered the filming of Memphis Belle at RAF Binbrook.
Almost as a postscript Geoff remembered another lucky escape, early in the war in many towns and cities the school children were evacuated to safer areas to escape the German bombers. He remembers being gathered at school expecting to be told that they were being evacuated to Canada but a ship carrying evacuees had been sunk near the Canadian coast so the plan was abandoned. ]]>
Dan Ellin]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Trevor Hardcastle]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> Pending review]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Grimsby]]> France]]> France--Paris]]> North Africa]]> Egypt]]> 1943-06]]>
David Kavanagh]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Hugh Donnelly]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Canada]]> Great Britain]]> Egypt]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> After returning to England, Dick did a flying course at RAF Burnaston. In February 1945 he went to 1669 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Langar with Lancasters. He helped to put out an engine fire on a training trip over Wales. Dick then joined 115 Squadron at RAF Witchford. He recalls a daylight operation to an oil refinery in the Ruhr. A target was also missed in Heligoland. There were two operations to Kiel. He was involved in Operation Manna to The Hague. Dick was sent to RAF Leicester East after the war had ended and flew C-47. He was sent to Cairo. Dick left the RAF in Spring 1947.]]> David Kavanagh]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sally Coulter]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Cambridgeshire]]> England--Coventry]]> England--Derbyshire]]> England--Leicestershire]]> England--Nottinghamshire]]> Canada]]> Saskatchewan]]> Saskatchewan--Regina]]> Germany]]> Germany--Helgoland]]> Germany--Kiel]]> Great Britain]]> Netherlands--Hague]]> North Africa]]> Egypt]]> Egypt--Cairo]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> 1946]]> 1947]]> In February 1946 three of the crews took Lancasters to RAF Abu Sueir in Egypt. After a few weeks they moved to RAF Shallufa, in the Canal Zone, when 104 Squadron was formed. Jack finished up on Ansons doing VIP and mail runs. He flew back in a Lancaster to RAF Kirkham via RAF Silloth, where he was demobbed. Jack flown in Domine, Proctor, Anson, Wellington and a Lancaster.
Jack married in 1951 and had two children, went back to the footplate until 1961. After that he worked as a manager of a fancy goods shop and eventually moved to Bridlington.]]>
David Kavanagh]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sue Smith]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Great Britain]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Lancashire]]> England--Cumbria]]> Egypt]]> Egypt--Suez Canal]]> North Africa]]> 1945-04]]> 1946-02]]>
David Kavanagh]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Sue Smith]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Egypt]]> Germany]]> Great Britain]]> England--Norfolk]]> David Kavanagh]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Ian Whapplington]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Coastal Command]]> Royal Air Force. Transport Command]]> Civilian]]> Great Britain]]> Wales--Pembrokeshire]]> England--Cumbria]]> Mediterranean Sea]]> India]]> Canada]]> Alberta]]> North Africa]]> Morocco]]> Morocco--Rabat]]> Italy]]> Egypt]]> India]]> 1942]]> Denise Boneham]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Julie Williams]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Egypt]]> France]]> Great Britain]]> Italy]]> Kenya]]> Romania]]> South Africa]]> North Africa]]> Egypt--Cairo]]> Egypt--Suez Canal]]> England--London]]> France--Marseille]]> Kenya--Mombasa]]> 1943]]> 1944]]> 1945]]> Denise Boneham]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Anne-Marie Watson]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Royal Air Force. Bomber Command]]> Cyprus]]> Egypt]]> Great Britain]]> Libya]]> North Africa]]> Cyprus--Nicosia]]> Egypt--Cairo]]> Egypt--Port Said]]> England--Bedfordshire]]> England--Essex]]> England--Hertfordshire]]> England--Lincolnshire]]> England--Surrey]]> Libya--Banghāzī]]> 1945]]> 1947]]> Denise Boneham]]> IBCC Digital Archive]]> Peter Schulze]]> Pending review]]> Pending revision of OH transcription]]> eng]]> Sound]]> Royal Air Force]]> Egypt]]> Great Britain]]> Italy]]> Oman]]> Mediterranean Region]]> Egypt--Alexandria]]> Egypt--Suez]]> Egypt--Cairo]]> Italy--Naples]]> Oman--Masirah Island]]> North Africa]]> 1942]]> 1943]]> 1944]]>