An Airmans Tale
By Geoff Payne
Geoff Payne's autobiography divided into five chapters.
Chapter 1. Under Training.
Having been assessed in Birmingham Geoff sets off to London in August 1942 for training, at Lords. Initial training was at Bridlington then gunnery school at Andreas on the Isle of Man. After a short leave he was posted to an operational training unit at Chipping Warden followed by intensive training at Edge Hill. Finally he went to Feltwell for Escape and Evasion training before joining a Heavy Conversion Unit at Wratting Common then Waterbeach.
Chapter 2. Operations RAF Witchford. After seven days leave he commenced operational flying in a Lancaster. Their first target was Augsburg and he reports being waved off by WAAFs and airmen. On the next operation the navigator had a breakdown and refused to help. He continues with details of several operations.
Chapter 3. Return to Ops RAF Waterbeach. Initially this proved to be a very relaxing posting but after his recovery he was back on operations. After 30 operations he was posted to RAF Brackla, Nairn.
Chapter 4. Grounded. He was unhappy at Brackla which was remote and cold. Next was a transfer south to RAF Weeton where he learned about motor transport and learned to drive. He was then posted to RAF Halfpenny Green, followed by RAF Croughton and South Cerney. He then went to Hornchurch before being sent to Germany where he joined a micro film unit at Frankfurt. On completion of photographing relevant factory installations his unit headed south to Triberg in Bavaria.
Chapter 5. As Time Goes By. He reflects on his letter from the Secretary of State from Air, Bomber Command losses and life after the war. he discusses Labour minister John Strachey, a pre-war fascist then Communist Party , who belittled the work of Bomber Harris. and the refusal to allow a thanksgiving service to honour the ex-Prisoner of War Association at Coventry Cathedral.
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2010
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56 page memoir
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Bognor Regis [place]
This page is an entry point for a place. Please use the links below to see all relevant documents available in the Archive.
Family scenes
Left page:
Top left - Joy Dawson in fur coat standing in front of a tree.
Top right - Stephen Dawson in raincoat standing in open countryside.
Caption for top left and top right photographs 'The first of us and the last of winter, February 47'.
Middle - Stephen Dawson in raincoat standing in front of car.
Bottom left - Joy Dawson sitting with female child in a conservatory.
Bottom right - Stephen Dawson wearing a sleeveless jumper and Joy Dawson standing with a female child held between them.
Caption for bottom left and bottom right photographs 'Jumping the Gun, At "Lawn Lodge" and Highcliffe'.
Right page
Caption 'Bowood House April 19th 1947.
Top left - four women in dresses, coats and hats sitting on a wall. In the background a building. Joy Dawson is second from the right. Caption 'What real nylons?'
Top right - group of five men, four in uniform, one in suit and three women in dress, coats and hats on the steps of a building with columns either side. Caption 'The Boozy Mob'.
Middle - four women wearing coats and hats posed in the formal garden of a house. Caption 'Frightened Fillies'
Bottom left - Two women wearing coats standing either side of a man in suit in front of iron railings by the sea.
Caption 'Bognor Regis May 27th, "Uncle" and "Mum" with "Tawney"'.
Bottom right - Two women wearing coats, the left woman is sitting on railing and the right women is standing. In the background the sea.
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1947-02
1947-04-19
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Ten b/w photographs mounted on two album pages.
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PDawsonSR16010006, PDawsonSR16010007, PDawsonSR16010008, PDawsonSR16010009, PDawsonSR16010010, PDawsonSR16010011, PDawsonSR16010012, PDawsonSR16010013, PDawsonSR16010014, PDawsonSR16010015, PDawsonSR16010016
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Letter from Pat Hogan to his father
Thanks him for cable and that he had just finished the last of his leave. Mention staying on base until the rest of his crew apart from one were buried at Harrogate. The other crew member's body was sent to Dorchester for a private funeral. Writes of his activities on leave mostly around London and Surrey looking up relations, friends and girl friends of his crew. Mentions visits to Brighton and Bognor Regis. Mentions that hanging around waiting for funeral was detrimental to his nervous system. Speculates on his future assuming he would be sent to a training unit to pick up a new crew. Catches up with news of colleagues and says that they should not worry about him and that he was convinced that the business was a matter of luck and that he would have another go without the slightest complex.
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1945-03-17
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Four sided handwritten airmail letter
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EHoganPJHoganDH450317
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Part of letter to David Donaldson from his mother
Writes of activities and family
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One page handwritten letter
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EDonaldsonFIDonaldsonDW[Date]-02
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The Eulogy for Squadron Leader Anthony David Lambert
A biography of Anthony David Lambert. He joined the RAFVR at age 19. He was shot down over the Baltic Sea and was able to swim ashore, where he was captured. He took part in the Long March. After the war he remained in the RAF.
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2006-07-14
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Three printed sheets
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