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25
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/104/981/EEdwardsEDEdwardsM[Date]-010001.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/104/981/EEdwardsEDEdwardsM[Date]-010002.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/104/981/EEdwardsEDEdwardsM[Date]-010003.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/104/981/EEdwardsEDEdwardsM[Date]-010004.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
Edwards, Ellis
E D Edwards
Description
An account of the resource
Six items. The collection concerns Sergeant Ellis Drury Edwards (1236492 Royal Air Force) and consists of his logbook, memorial booklet and four letters. Ellis Edwards was a bomb aimer with 149 Squadron and flew operations from RAF Lakenheath. He was killed when his Halifax crashed on an operation to Berlin 30 March 1943. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Pauline Harkett and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br />Additional information on Ellis Edwards is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/208271/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
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
2016-05-17
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
Edwards, ED
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Sgts Mess.
Stradishall.
Sunday
My dear Maggie
No doubt by now you are calling me all the names under the sun for not writing before, but I suppose by now you know me well enough to realise how very [underlined] good [/underlined] I am at letter writing
Well firstly thanks for the parcel which I got quite safely. and thanks for putting in my photo, good job it didn’t print too well what do you say it was really a terrible effort. Well you say you are busy well so am I. I was up in Yorkshire for 4 days last week took a plane & two passengers up to Doncaster & spent two whole days there and had a
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
very good time, since coming back have been down for early flying, so that means getting up at 6 o/clock
So with that & flying you can guess that bed called very early in the evening today we flew all morning & this afternoon we had a Trial football Match to pick out the better team to play the regular station team on Xmas Day. Well our side won 3 – 2 I scored one goal What do you think about that? So I don’t know if we will be playing Xmas day or not yet I cannot imagine it is Sunday here each day is the same we work all day & every day now we are flying
[page break]
[underlined 3 [/underlined]
but as yet have done no night flying here. How long will you get at Xmas we of course get none officially so it remains with the CO whether we fly or not on Xmas day I hope we don’t there will be some moans & groans if we do, because I guess most of the crowd will have had more than one over the eight. We are so isolated here, miles away from anywhere & cannot do any shopping so don’t be surprised if you don’t get a card at Xmas. I know you will understand.
Well I think that is all for now so will finish off now
[page break]
4
& toddle down to post with it so that it can get off at 6 o clock [sic] tomorrow morning, also I shall have to go & see if I am on early flying in the morning & if so get the Guard room to give me a shake or otherwise I shall be here in bed all day because now after my first game of football for 3 years I feel as if I had been kicked all over & my eyes are refusing to stay open
So cheerio, tell Dad I write him tomorrow, kind regards to Jim & Bertha
So Thanks again
Your loving brother
Ellis
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
Letter to his sister from Ellis Edwards
Description
An account of the resource
Apologizes for not writing and relates daily goings on at RAF Stradishall. Mentions a visit to Doncaster, having to get up early for flying almost every day, a football match, not night flying yet and the fact that they are very isolated.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Ellis Edwards
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four handwritten pages
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EEdwardsEDEdwardsM[Date]-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
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Suffolk
England--Doncaster
England--Yorkshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-12
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
Dianne Kinsella
Sally Des Forges
Emily Jennings
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Stradishall
sport
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/474/8381/MClydeSmithD39856-160919-04.2.pdf
f7527bdcc9b68b15110a25b101935993
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
Clyde-Smith, Denis
Clyde-Smith, D
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains 26 items and concerns Squadron Leader Denis Clyde-Smith Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross, who joined the Royal Air Force and trained as a pilot in 1937. He flew in the anti aircraft cooperation role including remotely piloted Queen Bee aircraft before serving on Battle aircraft on 32 Squadron. He completed operational tours on Wellington with 115 and 218 Squadrons and Wellington and Lancaster with 9 Squadron after which he went to the aircraft and armament experimental establishment at Boscombe Down. The collection consists of two logbooks, aircraft histories of some of the aircraft he flew, photographs of people and aircraft, newspaper articles and gallantry award certificate.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by John Clyde-Smith 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
2016-09-19
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Clyde-Smith, D
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
The enclosed aircraft histories are all in respect of Tiger Moth aircraft flown by you while undergoing ab-initio training at Sywell. I have commenced the breakdown of their service life as from the date of their impressment into RAF service. However, prior to this, the Tigers in question were operated under a Type ‘A’ Civil Contract which was put into use under the Expansion Scheme of the 1930 era. Then on the 30th of November, 1939, the Air Ministry took over command and RAF roundels were applied to the Tigers, although their civil markings were retained until 1940/41. The Tigers at Sywell were impressed under two Contracts, each issued on the 17th of September, 1940, as follows:
BB693-706 allocated to 6 E.F.T.S. under Contract No. All3015/40 dtd 17/9/40.
BB788-793 allocated to 6 E.F.T.S. under Contract No. All3015/40 (2nd part)
G-ADGF c/n 3345 impressed as BB704
Used at Sywell until 9/8/42, when it was transferred to 10 OUT at Abingdon. Released to 6 MU Brize Norton on the 9th of February, 1943, and later issued to 16 E.F.T.S. Burnaston. Here BB704 was coded ‘7’ later taking the code FIP:A (the four letter codes were issued to Flying Training Command, circa 1945/46). On 31/7/46, BB704 was flown to 9 MU Cosford, and stored until released to 21 E.F.T.S. Booker (near High Wycombe) on 25/3/48. Coded FIW:O, BB704 remained with 21 E.F.T.S. until transfer to 7 F.T.S. Cottesmore on 30/3/50. On June 19th of the same year it was transferred to Station Flight, Feltwell, taking the code ‘W’. However, it’s active use was now rapidly drawing to a close, and on 30/11/50, it was allocated the instructional airframe serial 6805M and delivered to No. 664 ATC Squadron, St. Walter & St. John’s Godalming County School (Surrey Wing).
[page break]
G-ADGG c/n 3346 impressed as BB695
Used at Sywell throughout it’s entire career and was destroyed in a landing accident on 12/5/41.
G-ADGT c/n 3338 impressed as BB697
Continued in use at Sywell until transfer to 26 E.F.T.S. Theale on, 15/7/42. Coded B26, BB697 remained in use at Theale until it was released to store at 12 MU Kirkbridge on 18/7/45. It’s next move was overseas to Germany and 652 Squadron where it served from 17/10/45 to 9/5/46. Following a year spent at No. 151 Aircraft Repair Unit, BB697 was flown to 5 MU Kemble for disposal.
On 27/8/47, BB697 was sold to a civilian operator, and was restored to the Civil Register, and during the early 1960’s it was still in use, registered to Westwick Distributors, Foulsham.
G-ADGV c/n 3340 impressed as BB694
Used by 6 E.F.T.S. until transfer to 29 E.F.T.S. Clyffe Pypard on 15/7/42. Released to 5 MU Kemble on 14/8/46, BB694 was eventually released to the Royal Navy. In RNAS service BB694 served at Stretton, Lossiemouth, and Arbroath before transfer on 17/11/60, to the Britannia Flight at Roborough (Plymouth).
G-ADGW c/n 3341 impressed as BB706
Sevred at Sywell throughout the war years, and was eventually released to store at 10 MU Hullavington. Struck off Charge on 22/5/50, BB706 was disposed of to W.A. Rollason Ltd., who in turn sold it to the D.H. Technical College for ground instruction purposes.
[page break]
G-ADGX c/n 3342 impressed as BB698
Continued in use at Sywell until 9/8/42, when it was flown to RAF Doncaster. Following a brief spell at Taylorcraft, BB698 was released to 5 MU Kemble on 24/6/43. From Kemble BB698 was transfered [sic] to the Royal Navy and delivered to RNAS Hinstock. Attached to 758 Squadron and later RNAS Lee-on-Solent, BB698 went on to serve with B Flight of 798 Squadron, Station Flight Lee-on-Solent, RNAS Evarton, and 727 Squadron RNAS Gosport, in that order before being sold to the Wiltshire School of Flying on 5/2/51. Restored to the Civil Register it was lost in a crash at Thruxton on 11/7/53, when it’s pilot overshot the airfield.
G-ADGY c/n 3343 impressed as BB699
Served for it’s entire life at Sywell, and was lost in a crash during a low flying exercise near Turvey, Bedfordshire, on 25/7/44, when it struck some power cables.
G-ADGZ c/n 3344 impressed as BB700
Used at Sywell until transfer to 7 A.G.S. Stormy Down on 13/8/42. Delivered to Towyn U.A.S. in 1943, and damaged beyond repair taxing [sic] at RAF Towyn, 10/2/44.
[page break]
G-ADIH c/n 3349 impressed as BB789
While in use at 6 E.F.T.S. BB789 took the code ‘89’. Released to 5 MU Kemble on 9/8/42, and then to RAF Speke on 31/10/42. However, by 6/12/42, BB789 had found it’s way back to 5 MU, where it was eventually converted to an instructional airframe. Bearing the serial 3654M it was delivered to 2006 ATC Squadron at Cheltenham on 2/4/43.
During 1946 this Tiger was handed over – without Air Ministry approval – to the Gloucester Flying Club, who promptly spent £425 in restoring G-ADIH to flying condition, and naturally thought the Tiger their property. However, the Air Ministry then stepped in and requested the return of their aircraft – the matter being eventually settled by a payment by the Gloucester Flying Club of £50 to Air Ministry. G-ADIH remained on the Civil Register until 20/11/52, when it was destroyed during a landing accident near Ramsgate.
G-ADII c/n 3350 impressed as BB701
Served with 6 E.F.T.S. throughout the war years, and was released to 9 MU Cosford on 30/8/46. Remaining in storage until 6/4/49, when it was delivered to 9 R.F.S. Doncaster. Destroyed on 22/4/50, when it spun into a sports field near Hansworth.
G-ADIJ c/n 3351 impressed as BB788
Used at Sywell throughout the war, and taken to 9 MU Cosford on 19/7/45, for disposal. Sold to Marshalls of Cambridge in 4/46, and restored to [crossed out]the the[/crossed out]
[page break]
to/ [sic]
the Civil Register as G-ADIJ. In December 1952 G-ADIJ was sold abroad to New Zealand as ZK-BBS and was converted for crop spraying. Used in this role by Northern Aviation Limited, ZK-BBS was destroyed in a crash near Dargaville on, [sic] 15/12/55.
No details at present for G-ADEZ – may have been lost prior to 1939. Further information on the aircraft that you flew will be passed in due course.
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 histories of Tiger Moth aircraft flown by Denis Clyde-Smith
Description
An account of the resource
Histories of twelve Tiger Moth aircraft flown by Denis Clyde Smith while undergoing ab-initio training at Sywell.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five page typewritten document
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Personal research
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MClydeSmithD39856-160919-04
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 Navy
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Oxfordshire
England--West Midlands
England--Wolverhampton
England--Lincolnshire
England--Stamford
England--Norfolk
England--Thetford
England--Cumbria
England--Carlisle
England--Berkshire
England--Theale (West Berkshire)
England--Northamptonshire
England--Northampton
England--Buckinghamshire
England--High Wycombe
England--Surrey
England--Godalming
England--Norwich
England--Wiltshire
Scotland--Moray
Scotland--Angus
Scotland--Arbroath
England--Cheshire
England--Warrington
England--Devon
England--Plymouth
England--Yorkshire
England--Doncaster
England--Hampshire
England--Gosport
England--Bedfordshire
England--Bedford
England--Gloucestershire
England--Cheltenham
England--Cirencester
England--Chippenham (Wiltshire)
England--Shropshire
England--Shrewsbury
Scotland--Ross and Cromarty
Scotland--Invergordon
England--Andover
Wales--Mid Glamorgan
Wales--Bridgend
Wales--Dyfed
Wales--Aberystwyth
England--Kent
England--Ramsgate
Germany
New Zealand
New Zealand--Dargaville
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Cambridge
England--London
England--Hounslow
England--Cumberland
England--Middlesex
England--Staffordshire
England--Royal Wootton Bassett
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1955
1960
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending review
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
Steve Baldwin
Flying Training School
RAF Brize Norton
RAF Clyffe Pypard
RAF Cosford
RAF Cottesmore
RAF Feltwell
RAF Kemble
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Stormy Down
RAF Sywell
RAF Towyn
Tiger Moth
training
-
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.
England--Doncaster
Title
A name given to the resource
Doncaster [place]
Description
An account of the resource
This page is an entry point for a place. Please use the links below to see all relevant documents available in the Archive.
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/528/8762/ARayWBJ161126.1.mp3
29b9bbf1c7e6e524e9b6ba51ed3c1f8e
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
Ray, Joan
W B J Ray
Winifred Beatrice Joan Ray
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Ray, WBJ
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Joan Ray. She worked in a factory producing panels for Lancasters.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
AM: So, for the second time, my name’s Annie Moody, and I’m here on behalf of the International Bomber Command Centre and Lincoln University. I’m in Wheatley Hills near Doncaster at the minute, with a lady called Joan, and Joan’s son’s here and some friends as well, and we’re going to talk about Joan’s experiences in the war, if that’s alright. And your full name Joan is?
JR: Winifred Beatrice Joan.
AM: Winifred Beatrice.
JR: Me single name was McGuire.
AM: McGuire. What was your date of birth Joan?
JR: 11th March ‘25.
AM: 1925. Where were you born?
JR: In the hospital that used to be in Wood Street but it’s not there no more. Do you know Doncaster at all?
AM: No. So, in Doncaster?
JR: You know where Wood Street is, don’t you?
Other: No.
JR: Well you know where you go down to Waterdale, if you’re going on the bus you come down Moorgate, turn round and it’s just up there, Wood Street, there’s a nice café and that in there, where we go.
AM: Right. So?
JR: So if you come from Gaumont, well there used to be a Gaumont there, didn’t there? And cross over and you come past that theatre that they pulled down as well, and it’s just across from there, that’s Wood Street.
AM: But you’re a Doncaster girl then, and you said that you’re a twin?
JR: Yeah.
AM: Yeah, so what about brothers, any other brothers and sisters?
JR: Yes, I had two more brothers and a sister.
AM: Younger or older than you? What were the age ranges?
JR: Well I were oldest, then me brother that lived at Banbury, he’s died, he was next, then there was me sister, then me other brother.
AM: Right. So they were all younger than you. What did your, what did your Dad do, what?
JR: He was a bus driver and a lorry driver, carried bricks around for builders.
AM: Right. And what about your Mum, was your Mum at home looking after you lot?
JR: Aye, and she used to work in a hairdressers and we used to wash all towels. I used to go and help her, and we used to have to wash all, fetch all towels and things home, wash ‘em, get ‘em dry, and we’d got no driers and take ‘em back [laughter] and then tidy hairdressers up.
AM: Right. Tell me a little bit about your childhood then, what sort of schools you went to and -
JR: Well I didn’t go to -
AM: And what you got up to.
JR: I didn’t go to school a lot because of me eyes, I were walking round with a pad round a lot of time.
AM: Tell me a little bit about this, about your eyes then, about what, what happened.
JR: Well it sounds as though when my brother died, I had a fit and when I come round, me sight had gone and they brought it back a bit in this eye, I’ve had loads of operations, but they couldn’t bring any more back.
AM: Right, and your brother died when he was four, I think you said, from meningitis?
JR: I can remember him ‘cause they had coaches and horses them days for funeral, can remember it.
AM: Right, and then you just completely lost your eyesight in both eyes at first?
JR: Yes, but me Mum paid for a specialist to sort me out, paid for me, and I had all these operations, and he lived on Thorne Road, you know near church, lived in one of them big houses, and used to climb all steps to go to top, and he was a coloured man and he was a specialist and he did a lot for me but they couldn’t, couldn’t come back.
AM: So what was your childhood like then if you, effectively, were blind?
JR: Well I were at ‘ome a lot and I couldn’t go out and play a lot ‘cause I’d got this pad round me, had to wear it most of the day, and I couldn’t have a bike and I couldn’t go to pictures on a Saturday morning with all others ‘cause it’s no good for your eyes.
AM: So you literally had to wear a pad right round your eyes?
JR: Yeah, it was like a thick pad, cotton wool pad. I had to walk around with that, I can remember that.
AM: So when did, what happened then, how you said you got some sight back in one eye, so what sort of age are we talking about there?
JR: I can’t remember.
AM: Ish, were you still little or would you have been a teenager by then?
JR: I was little. I was four I know when I started wearing glasses. When I went to school, I were only kid in school with glasses.
AM: Oh crikey, and this is in?
JR: It’s different now they tell me.
AM: In the twenties, so it was before National Health as well?
JR: Oh yeah.
AM: So your parents were able to pay for you to see someone?
JR: Yeah, they were very good really doing that.
AM: So what did you do if you weren’t at school?
JR: Help me mother, do washing, all sorts.
AM: Even though -
JR: ‘Cause she’d got bronchitis me Mum, I used to do washing and clean up and all sorts of things, and it were washing them days with a dolly tub, not just putting in a machine.
AM: And a mangle?
JR: Yeah, a wooden one.
AM: Pulling it through, pulling the sheets through the mangle?
JR: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I used to do.
AM: So what age were you when you did finally get to school then, ish?
JR: I’d be in juniors.
AM: Right.
JR: So it’d be about seven or eight wouldn’t it?
AM: Seven or eight. So how did that work then given that you hadn’t been to school so the other kids would be able to do things that -
JR: I couldn’t do.
AM: That you couldn’t, so what was that like?
JR: Well I can’t really remember but I didn’t do a lot of writing or anything like that. And I didn’t read, I couldn’t read much, can’t read much now.
AM: Can’t imagine.
JR: I can’t sew, I can knit, spend money [laughter].
AM: So then -
JR: I do voluntary work and that.
AM: Right.
JR: Been in voluntary work a long time.
AM: Oh, I’ll ask you about that in a bit. So how old were you when you left, when you finally left school then?
JR: Fourteen.
AM: And then what? What?
JR: I got a case packed and put on a bus and sent into service.
AM: Tell us about -
JR: I worked in kitchen.
AM: Yeah, tell us a bit more about, where to?
JR: Hesley Hall, that’s in Doncaster, I don’t know if you know. There were thirteen servants and this was a lady and her companion, and I were in kitchen. I used to have to go and wring chickens’ necks, bring ‘em in, let ‘em cool off, clean ‘em, pull feathers out of ‘em and then cook ‘em, and now I don’t eat ‘em.
AM: I’m not surprised. How did, you said you got your case packed and off you went, so how did your, did your parents find that job for you? Well they must have done mustn’t they?
JR: They probably took me to Employment Centre and that.
AM: Right.
JR: And when I could talk to me Mum, ‘cause you didn’t talk to your parents much them days did ya? It’s all different now, and I asked her and she said, ‘we thought it were best for you because of your eyes’. Anyway, war was on then, weren’t it?
AM: Well when you were fourteen, what year were you born again?
JR: ‘25.
AM: ’25, so yeah so the war would be just starting when you were fourteen.
JR: Yeah, we had, it’s a big house, Hesley Hall, and it’s got its own church, we had to go to church every morning with a clean cap and apron on, and if you hadn’t got a clean cap and apron on you got told off, and we had to go to church on a Sunday and all, they let you put your own clothes on them days for Sunday. Yeah they let you put your own clothes, go in your own.
AM: What hours did you work?
JR: I got up at five o’clock to black-lead a fireplace and put kettle on, ‘cause we didn’t have electric cookers or anything, we just had one of these big fireplaces with two ovens.
AM: A range, a big range? Black-leading the whole thing then?
JR: Then I had to go and get myself cleaned up and start doing breakfasts and stuff. Anyway, when I was there, the war was on and a lot of soldiers come to live at Hesley Hall, they had all the tents and everything, the officers lived in Hesley Hall and we had to look after them an’ all.
AM: Where did you, where did you sleep?
JR: In Hesley Hall, right up top.
AM: Up in the - shared rooms?
JR: No, I had me own.
AM: Shared beds, shared beds I bet?
JR: No, I had me own room, me own bed.
AM: You did have your own, oh right.
JR: Yeah, I were on me own.
AM: Did you enjoy it?
JR: Well I didn’t, to think going back looking at it, I don’t know how I did, but you didn’t know any different did ya?
AM: Yeah.
JR: But there were thirteen servants and we used to do these long meals at night, seven or eight courses, some of courses were only like a slice, two fingers of toast with sardines on and things, asparagus on a bit of toast, but there used to be six or seven courses.
AM: Um, right.
JR: But we didn’t have to wash up, butler did that.
AM: You got away with that? So what was your title, kitchen maid?
JR: Yeah.
AM: Did you get -
JR: I used to make butter, I used to go and help milk cows, come back and make butter, then I made two stone of bread.
AM: Tell me about making butter.
JR: Oh it’s good making, well it’s hard, it was in a machine not like now, you had to turn it all the time, but it were good patting it up in ‘cause all the people that worked at Hesley Hall, we had their ration cards so we had to make butter and take it round to all these houses, the gardeners and all them sort of people, ‘cause we had the ration book. It’s good knocking it out into pounds.
AM: It was in a big square, weren’t it?
JR: Yeah, but you used to have to knock it down into rations, you only had so much, about six ounces, two ounces a person.
AM: Did they not get a bit more because you were there making it rather than having to go to the shop?
JR: I had to weigh it out, didn’t I?
AM: Oh right, into greaseproof paper.
JR: Um.
AM: So when they sold.
JR: And this kitchen I worked in, it were bigger than my downstairs, and I used to have to scrub floor.
AM: Right, were you good?
JR: And I had to scrub all floor as well, what led to other rooms.
AM: And when you say scrub?
JR: I meant scrub with a brush [emphasis].
AM: On your knees?
JR: Yes.
AM: So you’re up at five?
JR: And then I worked in the scullery, in the scullery a lot as well, doing vegetables and all that, then I’d come with cook in kitchen.
AM: So you’re up at five, black-leading the grate, clean yourself.
JR: And I wanted to go to bed.
AM: So what time did you go to bed?
JR: It were late, about, ten, half past ten something like that, ‘cause we had to clean kitchen up and everything.
AM: So you’re working literally the whole way through?
JR: I got one day off a week to take me money home to me Mum.
AM: I was going to ask how much did you get paid?
JR: Eight shillings a week.
AM: Eight shillings, that sounds quite a lot actually for then, but you divvyed it up to your Mum, the whole lot. Were you allowed to keep any?
JR: Yes she gave me a bit back, I remember buying me first pair of shoes, nineteen and eleven.
AM: Did you get your uniforms, so you got your uniforms off, you didn’t have to buy?
JR: No you had to buy your own.
AM: You had to buy your own uniform?
JR: Um, we used to go to a shop in Doncaster that sold all uniforms and that.
AM: Right.
JR: Um.
AM: Crikey.
JR: And they were long dresses and these aprons right down to the.
AM: What about on your head?
JR: A hat on.
AM: Like a mop cap thing? Crikey. So we’re at the beginning of the war, there’s soldiers there, are they actually, so they’re in the house?
JR: The officers were, the soldiers were in the tents and things outside.
AM: What were they doing? Were they square bashing and stuff or-
JR: Well they used to go off and do different things so I don’t exactly know what they did. I had a boyfriend, he were called Les, a soldier.
AM: Where did you meet him?
JR: Hesley Hall.
AM: You actually met him there?
JR: Um. Used to have to take these dogs for a walk that belonged to lady and sort of started talking, he were called Les.
AM: What was the, the relationship, if there was any, between the upstairs and the downstairs?
JR: Well I hardly ever saw the lady, only when we went to church, and her companion. They never came to kitchen or anything, the housekeeper did all the ordering and stuff.
AM: Right.
JR: Um.
AM: And did you all have your own pews in the church?
JR: Yes, we were right at the top.
AM: Right [laughter]. So you’d been doing this for, so how many years were you doing that?
JR: Well the lady died, I must have been about sixteen. So, her son offered me a job to go and work at his house but I wouldn’t go. So then I went to employment place and they sent me to work at ‘ospital and then that’s where they called me up, from ‘ospital. I were a ward maid there.
AM: You were a ward maid at the hospital? So when you say they called you up, how did that actually happen?
JR: Well everybody was called up at seventeen and a half, you just got your papers didn’t you?
AM: Yeah, girls, if they weren’t married got, were called up weren’t they? So you got your papers calling you and where did you have to go with them?
JR: To employment place.
AM: Right, and what were your choices, were you given any choice of what you did?
JR: Not really.
AM: So what, what did they do, interview you, talk to you, ask you or just -
JR: No they didn’t interview you, ask you what you wanted to do or anything, they just give you a job, and that were it.
AM: And that was it?
JR: Probably got that sort of a job to go to ‘ospital because I’d been in service you see. But we used to, in war, we used to help make beds and all sorts, clean them wards, move all beds, they don’t move beds now.
AM: Did you get paid for it, Joan?
JR: At ‘ospital, yeah.
AM: Yeah, so it’s war work.
JR: Yeah, yeah I got paid for that. I can’t remember what I got paid, but I got paid.
AM: Yeah. So, you’re seventeen and half now, so how long were you at the hospital for?
JR: Oh not so long.
AM: No.
JR: ‘Cause they called me up and they sent me to Brigg’s. No choice then.
AM: They called you?
JR: They called me up and sent me to Brigg’s to do Lancasters.
AM: Right, Briggs did you say?
JR: Brigg’s that’s what the place was called.
AM: Right, where was that?
JR: Bottom of Carr Hill.
AM: In Doncaster again?
JR: Well it’s just outside a few miles, in’t it?
AM: Yeah, so tell me about what you did then. When you first got there and they said, ‘Joan, this is what you’re doing’ .
JR: Um. I were a riveter.
AM: You were a riveter?
JR: On the side panels, you know, the side panels?
AM: Yeah.
JR. We used to have to lift them up, put all these metal strips across and put rivets through ‘em all.
AM: How did you learn how to do it?
JR: Well you just got on with it, just told you what to do, and you got on with it, and I did a bit of welding, but not a lot ‘cause of me glasses.
AM: Right.
JR: But these panels were heavy to lift up to put on a stand and long [giggles].
AM: And did you know what, I’m just trying to think of phrasing me question, so it’s a side panel on the Lancaster?
JR: Yes.
AM: What’s there at that point, has it got wings or anything like that?
JR: Oh no.
AM: So it’s the body of it?
JR: It was just blank.
AM: Right.
JR: And we’d put all these metal strips and riveted them on, it strengthens them don’t it sort of thing?
AM: Yeah. So when you say ‘riveted them on’ describe, describe that to me.
JR: Well there was two of you working together, one had to hold a block to hold this rivet in then the lady on the other side, or whoever it was, hammered it in.
AM: Right. So it’s not with like electric machines like we’ve got now, it was just sheer hard work. What were you dressed in, what did you look like?
JR: We used to have an overall and that’s where I started wearing trousers. Yeah we had an overall and very often had to wear a turban ‘cause of your hair.
AM: Yeah, tied up.
JR: ‘Cause I used to use the drill as well you see, to drill all these home and one day the drill fell off, it fell, it dropped, and it stuck in me foot.
AM: Oh, tell me a bit more about that.
JR: I had to pull it out, and all this blood.
AM: So you pulled it out, no health and safety in them days then, you just got on with it?
JR: Yeah. There was a nurse there I had to go and see her and she said, ‘You’d better go home’.
AM: Crikey, you know when you say you wore a turban, what was your hair like then?
JR: Curly like it is now.
AM: Yeah. How did you wear it though, was it?
JR: Well you had to tuck it up didn’t you?
AM: So it was long, all pushed up into the scarf?
JR: It’s always been curly.
AM: Yeah. So tell me a bit more about the Lancasters then, what you got up to.
JR: What do you mean, what we got up to?
AM: Well, anything [laughter]. Were there any -
JR: Didn’t have time to get up to a lot, we were working all the time. We used to have a, the only good thing was, you used to be able to get a good dinner and things and used to be able to buy cakes and things to take home for your Mother, and that which was good, and we used to have an ENSA concert every dinner time.
AM: Right.
JR: Um yeah.
AM: How many of you were working there was it?
JR: Hundreds.
AM: Hundreds, it was big then?
JR: Yes, it’s a big place isn’t it? Hundreds, thousands, men and women, ‘cause they made the engines there as well you know.
AM: Right.
JR: And they sent them to Hatfield in London. Yeah, we were at this side riveting and the men were doing engines and that on the other side, but it’s quite a big place.
AM: Um. Would you, were you aware, kind of thinking back, were you aware of just what it was you were making?
JR: No not really, not ‘til I got older, no.
AM: No.
JR: And when I saw a Lancaster, I was surprised how big they were.
AM: When did you actually get to see one, full-fledged with its wings and everything?
JR: Er, I saw, Tony took me didn’t he, where did he take me down South somewhere?
AM: Oh so much, much later than?
JR: Yeah.
John: She didn’t see one in the war, that’s what the lady’s asking you.
JR: No, no.
AM: Did you see any of them actually flying, were you bombed, were you?
JR: Yes, but Doncaster was bombed, yes.
AM: So what was that like?
JR: Bentley was worst.
AM: Right, which is, yes so we’ve just come up through Bentley to get here, off pass.
JR: Yeah that was worst ‘cause a lot of houses were bombed and me husband had a friend called Josh, and he went to pictures and when he come home his house weren’t there, they’d all gone, and Balby got bombed a lot.
AM: What was it like?
JR: Awful, it were terrible.
AM: Where you ever outside or, so where did you go, did the air raid sirens go off and you had to -
JR: Well you had to go in your shelter, we used to go in coal house. It was, well I were in a council house, there was a house there and a passage, in the passage there was a coal house, and a coal house on the other lady’s side, we used to have to go in there.
AM: Right I think we’ve jumped a bit now haven’t we, is this when you were married?
JR: No.
AM: Oh right, hang on, ‘cause you mentioned your husband.
JR: Yeah, well that was after, when I were at home, that’s what we did we went in the coal house.
AM: Right, got you, got you.
JR: I weren’t married when Josh got bombed in Bentley, I weren’t married then.
AM: Right, so when you say in the coal house, was it, that’s not underground though is it?
JR: No, no, it were just through the kitchen, you went through the kitchen and the door there, and they used to have like a shutter that pulled out, the coal used to be delivered through it.
AM: Through a chute into it, yeah. So how was that going to save you then, when being in the house wouldn’t?
JR: That’s what we used to do.
AM: Did you sleep in there?
JR: Yeah, sometimes.
AM: And the coal was still in there?
JR: Aye, coal were at that end and we were all at this end where we’d put some seats and things.
AM: And how many of you were there then, ‘cause you’ve got your younger sisters and brothers?
JR: There were six of us when I -
AM: And the whole lot of you, there in the coal house?
JR: When I were fourteen and the war was still on when I went to Hesley.
AM: How long, going back to the Lancaster factory, how long did you work there for?
JR: From seventeen and a half to twenty-one.
AM: So four years. Riveting, always riveting?
JR: Welding a bit.
AM: What were your fingers like? I can’t -
JR: You didn’t have gloves or anything. These rivets are not very big [laughs].
AM: Did you ever whack your fingers?
JR: Oh aye, yeah.
AM: What other sort of people worked there, was it all girls or were there any?
JR: There were lads, older men and older ladies but with ‘usbands in the army and things.
AM: Yeah.
JR: They used to come, they worked there as well.
AM: And the older men were the ones who were too old?
JR: For the army and that.
AM: Okay, so what did you do for entertainment?
JR: Well I used to go dancing a bit and then I joined a youth club and went there. A lot of us, a few of us from the factory went to this youth club, it was down off Hallgate, it’s a church, there used to be a youth club in it.
AM: Right.
JR: The church is still there, it’s called Free something, yes went to this youth club, and we used to have to walk home at night ‘cause all buses finished at nine o’clock, you could walk home them days. Couldn’t do that now can you?
AM: Well not, no, I wouldn’t want to. Where did you go dancing?
JR: Schools in Balby.
AM: And who were you dancing with?
JR: Anybody who asked me to dance.
AM: But if all the young men were in the army?
JR: Well Jack wasn’t in the army. He was, I met Jack at this youth club, he used to go dancing.
AM: Right, so was Jack, did Jack become your husband?
JR: Yes. He was a Bevin boy, they called him up because his Mum had a, didn’t have an husband, she had a lot of young children, they let Jack go into be a Bevin boy instead of going into the army.
AM: Where did you meet Jack?
JR: In this youth club.
AM: You met him at the youth club?
JR: He took me thru’pence off me to get in [laughs].
AM: So he was a Bevin boy, how old was he, was he the same age as you or younger?
JR: A couple of years older weren’t he?
AM: A couple of years older and what?
JR: An he were secretary, take your money off you and all that.
AM: Right, so you gave him the eye, or he gave you the eye?
JR: Well me friend, Irene, well we went, they asked, Jack and this friend of his Josh, asked us to go to pictures with ‘em. And we went to pictures at Bentley, and I went with Jack, and Irene went with Josh, yeah. Went to pictures in Bentley, that picture place is still there now and it’s awful, right up in Bentley.
AM: And how long were you going out with each other then, before you got married?
JR: Oh that’s a sore point, innit?
John: Um.
AM: Oh.
JR: I wanted to get married at nineteen, and me Dad says, ‘There’s no weddings here’, oh dear, and then when I got to twenty one he said, ‘You’re not getting married’. I said ‘Well I’m twenty one’, he said, ‘Well we’re not having you getting married’, anyway he wouldn’t let me get married, so I went off and got married.
AM: So you just did it anyway?
JR: I lived with Jack’s Mum for a couple of years and Tony was born about a year after, and Jack’s Mum lived in this terraced house and there were no bathroom, no hot water, just a copper in the corner where you had to boil hot water, toilet right down road, garden, and when I had Tony, me son, the doctor come to the ‘ouse, they used to them days and he says, ‘You can’t stop here with a young baby’ so he got me a prefab in [indistinct] and I was the last prefab in that street. I saw all these others go up, yeah, he says, ‘You can’t live here’, and I’ve been up here over sixty odd, seventy years.
AM: Seventy years. So he was a Bevin boy, what was that like then?
JR: Awful. He had been in the pit because you, a lot of the boys went in pit straight from school especially if their fathers and that worked there, and then he trained as a decorator and then he was, when the war finished and that he went back to his decorating and that, and then he run his own business.
AM: Right. ‘Cause they didn’t really get any recognition either did they, the Bevin boys, ‘cause they weren’t in the army or the RAF or in the forces.
JR: No, well they did get some recognition later on didn’t they?
John: Um.
JR: But me, Jack had died and they wouldn’t give it him would they?
John: No.
AM: So they wouldn’t do it posthumously? Had to be younger, crikey.
JR: And it’s ten years last weekend that he died.
AM: Yeah. Were you happy though?
JR: Yeah.
AM: Good, and you got your two.
JR: It were brilliant. Going from Jack’s Mum to this prefab, ‘cause with having no bathroom, going down garden for toilet and everything, I come to that prefab, it’d got a lovely bathroom, central heating, own toilet.
AM: I was just going to say I know what a prefab is but for anybody coming along, describe what a prefab is.
JR: It were them double-deckers not the single ones it were.
AM: And they were literally made out of prefabricated?
JR: Yeah, yeah. Paper stuff, the walls were paper, with Jack being a decorator, he couldn’t strip them or anything that’s why we moved here, ‘cause he couldn’t strip the walls or anything.
AM: But they were?
JR: They’ve altered them all now.
AM: But they were built directly after the war weren’t they, when there was a big housing shortage?
JR: They were ever so warm with central heating and everything, it were brilliant.
AM: And that was a long time before most houses had central heating?
JR: Yeah.
AM: Kitchen?
JR: Yeah, nice kitchen.
AM: Well everything, inside loo?
JR: Yeah.
AM: How long did you live in the prefab for then?
JR: About eight year. Eight or nine years.
AM: Right, ‘cause initially they were supposed to be temporary weren’t they? For maybe I don’t know.
JR: Ten years. They are pulling some down now aren’t they?
AM: A lot, a lot, funnily enough, there was a big prefab estate where I lived and we all called it Tin Town, everybody lived in Tin Town.
JR: There was a lot at Balby, a lot of prefabs the single ones, but these were all double-decker but they were lovely.
AM: Yeah.
JR: I got the key on Christmas Eve, we couldn’t move in though ‘cause there were no electric.
AM: Right.
JR: So we had to wait ‘til after Christmas.
AM: Bet you loved it though, didn’t you?
JR: Yeah. It was brilliant.
AM: Have you guys got any questions?
Other: Did you ever see your Mum and Dad again?
JR: Yes, when Tony, well I kept in touch with me Mum, but when Tony were born, I thought he ought to see his Grandma so I took him.
Other: Ah.
AM: Why did your Dad -
JR: And I went, I went, when I were there and me Dad turn up with his lorry, ‘cause he used to go all over, he’d drop in for a cup of tea, there’s me in back kitchen, him in lounge ‘cause he didn’t want to see me.
Other: Oh dear.
AM: Forgive me for asking but why, why did he not want you to get married, why?
JR: I don’t know but he’d stopped it. I’d booked it at a church and he went to stop it, we had to go somewhere else, but when he died he said to Jack ‘You’d took me little’, we were sat with him ages before he died and when he died he said ‘You took me little girl off me’, just before he died. He’d had it on his mind all that time.
AM: All those years.
JR: And I’d had, me Mum died and we used to go and look after me Dad, didn’t we? Take him baking, his dinners and everything for years, um yeah, and me Dad were lovely when I were a kid, he used to take us shopping and buy stocks and things for us but -
AM: We’ll never know.
JR: Yeah so I went back home and I used to have ‘em here, didn’t I, for Christmas and everything?
AM: And have you, you just got your two boys, Tony and John. Grandchildren?
JR: Yeah, I’ve got four grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
AM: Five great grandchildren, crikey.
JR: [Laughs] That’s where Tony is this weekend.
AM: Right. Oh of course you said.
JR: ‘Cause Rose is two tomorrow.
AM: Have I, have I missed anything, John?
John: She’s not two is she? I thought she were one, but she’s probably two.
JR: Eh?
John: I thought she were one today or tomorrow.
JR: Two, she’s two tomorrow.
John: Two by -
AM: Time flies.
John: It does.
AM: Have I missed anything John, that you know that your Mum’s should be telling?
John: Well she’s told me lots of things over the years, most of which she’s sort of told you but there’s various bits and pieces that she hasn’t.
JR: [Laughs].
AM: Oh, come on.
JR: What haven’t I told ‘em?
John: You what?
JR: What haven’t I told ‘em?
John: Well you told me you wanted to go in the navy.
JR: Yeah.
John: And they wouldn’t let you go in the navy.
JR: No and then they wouldn’t let me go into ATS.
John: Well there you are, you didn’t tell this lady that.
AM: When you say they wouldn’t, who’s they?
JR: The, who interviews you and the medical and all that.
AM: At the Labour Exchange?
JR: And you have a medical when you go in army or navy, ‘cause there were no dressing gowns, and I used to be walking round with no clothes on most of the flipping day, when you went out to different people, no dressing gowns!
AM: All girls I hope?
JR: Aye [laughter].
AM: No boys. Was that because of your eyes?
JR: And you had to go to Sheffield for that. Pardon?
AM: Was that because of your eyes that they wouldn’t let you do that?
JR: Yes, I could have made tea in ATS, worked in kitchens.
AM: Did you resent it then, having to go doing the riveting, or were you happy there once you were, once you were doing it?
JR: Well you didn’t think about it did you, you were just [indistinct].
AM: Did as you were told?
JR: You just had to go.
AM: Yeah.
JR: Um.
John: You told me that you used to do overtime and finish about ten o’clock at night and there were no buses.
JR: Yeah.
John: So you had to walk ‘ome.
AM: Yeah you said you had to walk home, yeah.
JR: I didn’t walk on me own, there used to be a few of us going the same way.
AM: Yeah.
John: And who did you see in these concerts then at dinnertime?
AM: Oh at the -
JR: Betty Driver and all them sort of people.
AM: Yeah, what did Betty Driver do, was she a, she was a singer?
JR: A singer um.
AM: Anybody else who became famous?
JR: I just can’t remember now, but Betty Driver, I can remember her, and there used to be a couple, a man and a lady who used to come, and I can’t think of their name.
AM: Was it Workers’ Playtime or did that come afterwards?
JR: Well we called it ENSA concerts, so I don’t know about Workers’ Playtime.
John: You weren’t on the radio?
JR: What?
John: The concerts were never on the radio?
JR: No.
AM: No, ‘cause I think some of the ENSA ones were the Workers’ Playtime ones weren’t they?
JR: Um, yeah.
AM: Kept you all entertained then?
JR: Sometimes we worked seven days a week, sometimes we got a weekend off.
AM: Going back to the big house, this is just things jumping into my mind now, if you were all, if all the servants, were all the servants called up? And if so who then looked after the -
JR: No they were all different ages, the butler and that was older and the chief cook was older, yeah, you know.
AM: Right.
JR: Yeah.
AM: Right so it was just you.
JR: And a lot of the servants had their houses round them, they had a house. Housekeeper and top servants had houses.
AM: ‘Cause life in houses like that pretty much changed completely after the war didn’t they, when once you’d all been out working and doing other things people didn’t want to, go back to domestic service.
JR: No, no.
AM: It’s fascinating.
John: You used to tell me about cockroaches in the ‘ospital.
AM: Oh go on.
JR: I used to help in wards and that, and I used to clean nurses’ bedrooms and I worked in kitchen. Before you could go in kitchen to start cooking, you had to sweep cockroaches up and that.
Other: Ugh.
AM: Live ones?
JR: Yeah and I lived in nurses’ home when I worked there and we had to walk from nurses’ home, right across to old ‘ospital and yeah, we used to have to pick, sweep cockroaches up and all that and get in kitchen to see what any bats flying about.
AM: Bats?
JR: These cockroaches were awful though, ‘cause they’re that flipping quick.
Other: [Laughter].
AM: It doesn’t, I’m lost for words [laughter]. I can’t imagine that now.
John: So what did you do, how did you find out that you weren’t going to work at Briggs anymore. Was that after the war finished?
JR: When I got married, I finished.
AM: Yeah, once women got married then that, that war work could come to an end then, but for -
JR: That were ’46 when I got married.
AM: Yeah, ‘cause yeah you were called up for war work whatever form that took, and that could be anything from scrubbing floors, riveting, you know, depending where you were sent. Did you ever think about, oh you did think about joining the forces and they wouldn’t let you would they? Well.
JR: Me brother was in the navy, he went in the navy, me older brother, the other two were too young.
AM: Yeah. Did he come through it alright?
JR: Yeah, he’d had a nasty time, he were in sea for hours sometimes and that, but he come through it.
AM: It is a completely different way of life, and then to move and then to get your house and be married and - did you ever work again after that, did you go back to work after you’d had your children?
JR: Jack used to go and decorate, they built all these new houses ,all round at Hedlington and all over, he’s built all these new houses. He worked for a Mr Moisey who was a, had a building business, didn’t he? And Jack were decorator for him and he used to say, ‘Joan’ll clean ‘ouse up when I’ve finished!’ [laughter].
AM: And did you?
JR: ‘Course [emphasis].
AM: You did?
JR: Got Tony in a pushchair and when he went, after it all got, that is he started on his own, you’d be about five when he started on his own, wouldn’t you? And he used to tell ladies, ‘Joan’ll come and clean up for ya’, so I used to go and clean houses [laughs].
John: You’d clean Moisy’s office.
JR: Yeah.
John: Used to take me there Mum, used to play in the sandpit.
JR: Yes in the pushchair.
AM: So your memories then were going round all the houses? Gosh.
JR: Yeah, started on his own, ‘Joan’ll come and clean up after me’.
John: What did you do at Evening Post?
JR: Worked in kitchens, in canteen rather, not kitchens, where they all came for their meals.
AM: So back to cooking again?
JR: And that closed didn’t it?
John: Um.
JR: I lost me job.
John: Then you went to the hotel.
JR: And then I went to work at a hotel on Thorne Road. That were [indistinct]. I were in kitchen there doing breakfasts.
AM: So that domestic service has got a lot to answer for. Apart from -
John: Then you went to prison, Mum.
AM: Oh come on, to prison? [laughter].
JR: I didn’t have handcuffs on! [emphasis]
AM: Come on, you have to tell me now [laughter].
JR: I went as a volunteer.
AM: Oh you said you’d done a lot volunteer work, yeah. Tell me about that.
JR: Well I was working at ‘ospital as a volunteer and it come through that they wanted volunteers at prison, that new prison that opened. So me and me friend, I had a friend called Eleanor, we used to go out and what, and she said, ‘We’ll go there’, and then we went voluntary in this prison, new prison in Doncaster.
AM: When you say volunteering, what did you do then?
JR: Made tea and made sandwiches, and served bacon sandwiches and all sorts we made in prison, served prisoners, seen loads of tea being thrown at people. They used to, prisoners, they used to, family used to go and buy a tray of tea and go back to table to prisoners and if they didn’t want it they just chucked it at ‘em, and another thing that was bad in prison as well was drugs. Used to put in babies nappies and anywhere they could put ‘em.
AM: How long ago are we talking here? What, what, round about when would this be?
JR: I’ve got a plaque, it’s got a date on [laughter]..
John: Can you manage?
JR: Go and fetch my plaque?
John: Where is it?
JR: It’s in kitchen.
AM: So how many years did you do volunteer work for?
JR: I done it.
John: She’s just finished.
AM: A long time.
JR: When John went to university, I started at, I started at Oxfam first.
AM: Right.
JR: Then that closed, then I went to Shelter and that closed.
AM: There’s a pattern here isn’t there?
John: Yeah [laughter].
JR: I went to, I was still at Shelter when I worked, the ‘ospital had just opened a coffee shop and I went when it were brand new, and that’s when I went there, and I’ve just retired from there.
AM: You’ve just retired from there, how long ago?
John: I can’t find your prison one.
JR: It’s on the shelf.
John: Have a look.
JR: It’s silver.
AM: So the, what I’m looking at now, is a certificate of appreciation awarded to Joan Ray, in recognition of her valuable contributions to Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trusts and that is 2013, so that is only three years ago. So, you were still volunteering there up until your late eighties?
JR: Yeah. That’s right I was there twenty eight year.
AM: Blimey. Oh here we are here’s the prison one. So Joan worked at HM & YOI Youth Offenders Institute at Doncaster from June 1994 to June 1999, in recognition of your five years valuable service as a volunteer.
JR: Yes, I retired from there when Jack was ill.
AM: Yeah, and then went to the hospital? I’ll tell you a story about Doncaster and Bassetlaw when I’ve switched my thing off. In fact, I’m going to switch off now, but that was so interesting and useful.
JR: Interesting.
Other: That was hard. That was so -
AM: It is.
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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Interview with Joan Ray
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Annie Moody
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
2016-11-26
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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ARayWBJ161126
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.
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Civilian
Format
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00:42:30 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Joan Ray was born in Doncaster on the 11th March 1925.
Joan suffered problems with her eyes in her early life and tells of the impact it had on her life, including problems with reading and writing.
She spent time in domestic service, working at Hesley Hall in Doncaster, which became a temporary home for soldiers, and she tells of her daily tasks, both for looking after the lady of the house and when the soldiers arrived.
Joan then went to work for Brigg’s and became a riveter, working on side panels of the Avro Lancaster, doing some welding as well.
After the war, Joan married and spent time working with her husband who was a decorator. She also used her skills she learnt in domestic service to help out various charities, the local hospital and also in a prison kitchen.
Contributor
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Vivienne Tincombe
Carolyn Emery
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944
1945
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Doncaster
entertainment
home front
Lancaster
love and romance
sanitation
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/685/9232/PBainH1602.1.jpg
4d26cdaaef8b0dc19f50caf8afa14fff
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/685/9232/ABainB160621.1.mp3
3b630711e99201ce7186dbc025872749
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
Bain, Bettie
Helen Bain
H Bain
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Betty Bain. She served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during the war.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
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
2016-06-21
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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Bain, B
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
HH: It is Tuesday the 21st of June 2016 and I’m Heather Hughes for the International Bomber Command Centre. And I’m talking today in [buzzing noise] with Mrs Helen Bain. Bettie Bain.
BB: Helen Bain.
HH: Who lives [buzzing noise] also present at the interview is Andy Bain, Bettie’s nephew. Thank you, Bettie for agreeing to talk to us today.
BB: Not at all.
HH: I wonder if we could start off with you just telling us a little bit about your very early life. Where you were born and grew up and how you came to be in the ATS during the war. But start from the beginning.
BB: The very beginning.
HH: Yes. The very beginning.
BB: Well, I was born in Wakefield of Yorkshire parents and I lived in Wakefield until I was eleven and then they moved to Doncaster. And I lived in Doncaster with my parents until I was twenty one. And at twenty one I joined the ATS. I couldn’t join the RAF which I wanted to because I’d already met my husband and I wanted to be in the RAF but they were not taking any new recruits. They were full up at that time. Mind you they were looking for them later on but they wouldn’t, wouldn’t take anybody in to the navy — into the what, the WRNS. And they weren’t taking anybody in to the RAF but they were taking place people for the army because that was the least glamourous of the, of the three you see. Or the uniform was the least glamourous. So I went into the army when I was twenty one and not before then because my parents weren’t very keen. And when I was twenty one I could do as I liked so I went in the army. And three weeks basic training.
HH: And where was that?
BB: In York. And then several of us we had to fill in lots of not certificates, lots of [pause] come on what is it?
AB: Forms.
BB: This is where my memory goes.
AB: Forms.
HH: Forms.
BB: Forms. Yes. Forms. And you were chosen for what you were thought to be more suitable for. And so they picked out certain of us and we were sent to Trowbridge. To the barracks in Trowbridge where they had SOBs. They had the Training Centre for the special wireless operators. And that took five months. After which I was, I could instruct in what I was doing to squads of girls. And some squads of men too which was rather nice. What next?
HH: So what was your rank, Bettie?
BB: Before I, before I left Trowbridge I was corporal and then I was sent to the Isle of Man. We all were. For six, for six, I was there about six weeks I think. And while I was on the Isle of Man I was put up for a commission. So I went off to Leeds and to this house in the depth of the country where we were put through absolute, it was hair raising. It was called a WOSB, which was War Office training board thing. And we were put through all sorts of things that we, I never expected. Anyway, I got through that and went back to my unit on the Isle of Man waiting for a call for when the next whatnot started. The next, you know lot of training started. And while I was there, oh in between then I got married. I’d forgotten about that bit. I got married when I was in the ATS and there’s the picture.
HH: Oh, that’s your wedding day.
BB: Yeah. Yes. And that’s when I first met Jim. That one there. When he looked so young. Yes. That one.
HH: And what was the date of your marriage, Bettie?
BB: It was the 19th of September 1942. And when I was ready to go to one of the new what do they call it — course, started for my training for, to be commissioned I was pregnant. Wouldn’t you know. So, I never quite got to the, to that stage. And then three months later I think my husband was sent to South Africa because he was a, he was a wireless operator in that one. But when he came from South Africa he was a pilot.
HH: Pilot officer.
BB: Which he’d always wanted to do. And where were we now?
HH: So, how had you met your husband?
BB: Oh, that was interesting. When I was, before I went into the army I used to work in an office doing dictaphone typing and invoicing and things. You know. General office secretarial work. And in order to do something to help the war effort, it was all war effort in those days, everybody had to do something for the war effort we used to go to — the YMCA had a café. It wasn’t a restaurant. It was a café. Near the station. Near Doncaster station. And I used to go twice a week with my friend and make cups of coffee and egg and chips and all this business for them or whatever they wanted. Sausages and things we used to cook. And the evening I was there, one of the evenings I was there Jim and his crew came in to Doncaster station about, I suppose it would be about 9 o’clock. And he, his transport to take him out to Finningley where they were going didn’t turn up so the five of them trooped into the YMCA which was next door to the station to get some food and drink. And there I was. And there he was. Love at first sight I’ll tell you. Boom. Just like that. And that’s how we met.
HH: And how did you manage to keep up contact and a relationship under wartime conditions when you were in the ATS and he was in Bomber Command?
BB: I was in Trow, I was in Trowbridge in [pause] I’ve lost the county. Not Dorset. Somerset.
HH: Somerset.
BB: In Somerset. And he was flying. He was on flying duties from Finningley. Well, I don’t know how we kept it up. He wrote to me at Christmas. Sent me a Christmas card. Wrote to me at Christmas. Well, we saw each other from that night. And I was having a difficult time because I was engaged to somebody else.
HH: That was a bit complicated.
BB: I was a quite presentable at that time [laughs] and I got engaged to this man. And I’d known him for four years and we had the ring since July and it was September and I didn’t want to be engaged really. I was enjoying myself too much. So I [pause] what happened next? Wait a minute. Oh, so we were having tea at my fiancé’s house one Sunday afternoon and I said to him, ‘Is this what you want?’ No. That’s not what I said to him that’s what I’m saying to you.
HH: Yes.
BB: ‘Is this what you want?’ And so, I said to him, ‘Let’s have a look at the ring,’ because it was an absolutely gorgeous ring. It was a lovely big [pause] not square. I was going to say perpendicular. I’ve lost the word.
HH: Oblong. Rectangular.
BB: No.
HH: Diamond shaped. I wonder what other —
BB: No. Like this you know.
AB: Oval. Oval.
BB: No. What was the other word you said? This is where you can tell I’m ninety six.
HH: Well, you’re doing better than I am.
BB: You know. The square. And then there’s — is that rectangular? Was it?
HH: Yes. It’s a rectangle.
BB: Rectangle. Yes. Rectangle.
HH: Which is longer in —
BB: Yeah.
HH: Longer —
BB: Longer going upwards than downwards.
HH: Yeah. Yeah.
BB: It was a beautiful ring and I thought, oh gorgeous. You see. We were lucky. And he said to me, ‘Why don’t you keep it on?’ So I’d got nobody else in tow and so I said, ‘Well why not? I might as well.’ He said, ‘Well then we’ll have to get engaged properly.’ So, I put it on and I kept it on. But the very next day I met Jim and it was a coup de foudre I’ll tell you.
HH: Wonderful.
BB: And so we had to struggle along with two. One was working in Peterborough and one was in the air force.
HH: You were in the middle.
BB: I was in Somerset. But it worked out anyway. And I had a bit of a job with my parents because they kept saying, ‘You don’t know this man. You don’t know this man. You don’t know this man from Adam. He could be married with three children,’ Blah blah blah and so on. And they weren’t very supportive but they were when they, once met him. You know, once he came. They were so nice, you know, ‘Come in James. Have a coffee James,’ Oh yeah. Having put me through agony. So, that was the difficult bit. That was the difficult bit. After that it was fairly straightforward after I’d got my engagement broken off and we sort of got properly together.
HH: And then after your marriage. How did, how did you manage?
BB: Well, we were always apart.
HH: Yeah.
BB: Apart from when we had leave.
HH: That must have been very tough.
BB: For quite a while while the war was in the early stages if your husband had leave you were allowed to have leave at the same time. But it didn’t last through ‘til the end of the war when things got more and more difficult. That’s, that’s how that happened. So, well we managed. We managed to get leaves together. Or Jim, if Jim had, he got more leave than I did with being on Bomber Command and he used to come down or get a flight down that was flying down to Trowbridge or somewhere near Trowbridge and hitch lifts to come and we used to see each other like that. And I was still doing my job and we sort of met in the evenings when he was on leave but it wasn’t easy.
HH: No.
BB: But then it wasn’t easy for anyone.
HH: No. But it must have been especially difficult having a husband in Bomber Command.
BB: It was.
HH: Because everybody knew how dangerous it was.
BB: Oh, it was terrible. It was terrible. Every single — Jim did fifty four trips. Sorties. Fifty four over Germany or occupied France or where ever and every single trip I thought was his last. Truly. I thought that was the last trip. Every good bye we said in the evening.
HH: Yes.
BB: I didn’t think he’d be here the next day. And he always turned up. And he used to say to me at night when we left each other. ‘My lucky.’ I used to cry you see. And he used to say, ‘Come on. Cheer up. My lucky star is always shining.’ And it was.
HH: Yeah.
BB: Now, you’ll probably want to cut this bit out. Am I telling you what you want to hear? Or is this —
HH: This is wonderful. No. This is absolutely perfect.
BB: Is this what you wanted.
HH: Yes.
BB: Oh. That’s alright then.
HH: And what about after you had had your child, your first child?
BB: Yeah.
HH: Where did you then settle?
BB: Well, I was settled in —
HH: To make your home.
BB: Doncaster with my father and mother.
HH: Ok. So you went back to Doncaster did you?
BB: Yes. I went back to Doncaster.
HH: Ok.
BB: I had Christopher while I was with my mother and father and when the war ended, of course first of all Jim got back from South Africa and he went to Harrogate for some leave. So I left the baby with my mother and father and went up for a week or a fortnight or a weekend. I know they thought it was too long for me to have stayed away and that didn’t go down very well. But anyway and then after some time when he got to a permanent station he found some rooms for us in the local [pause] what do you call the house that is attached to a church? Not the monastery.
HH: A sort of rectory.
BB: Rectory. Yes. A local rectory. And she was a widow in this rectory and I stayed there for about, oh it must have been six weeks or a couple of months while he was at a place called Blakehill Farm. That was the name of the station. Blakehill Farm it was called. And while I was there he was getting up at four and five in the morning. Getting to the station for six. And I had Christopher with me. I had the little boy with me. Getting to the station for six and he was in the air at seven picking up twenty or so — as many prisoners of war as he could cram in to this Dakota and bringing them home again. Most of them in tears when they saw the White Cliffs of Dover. You know. It’s quite true what you see on the, on the thingy. You just can’t take it in today. And anyway eventually he was demobbed.
HH: Was that at the end of war?
BB: He then went on. After he’d brought the prisoners of war home and the war was nearly at an end he [pause] what did he — oh he flew long range to India. Bringing soldiers back also and taking stuff out and bringing stuff back and whatnot. And he was demobbed while he was doing that sort of work.
HH: And what then?
BB: And what then? Well, he had a job you see. He worked for BP. British Petroleum. And they kept his job open for him so when he came back he had, we had some leave together with Christopher and what did we [pause] I’m just trying to think of the sequence. We had some leave together in Doncaster and then we went down to Ashford where Andrew’s grandparents were living. Where Jim’s mother and father were living and we got —there was no houses. I mean anywhere near London was bombed to bits and there just weren’t. You couldn’t buy a house. We had some money to buy a house. We’d saved up to buy a small house. Anyway, the local council gave us a prefab. And that was a, that was an experience in itself.
HH: That was in, was that in Ashford?
BB: It was in Stanwell, which is the next village to Ashford. But it really was quite a super little place. It wasn’t really big enough for four. But we had, we had everything. We had a wonderful kitchen. Three dish kitchen. And we stayed there for eighteen months. And then Jim was, got some promotion and was sent up to Nottingham. And then from then on we, he was not in the forces anymore and I was out of the forces of course when I had my first baby. But I did have another one. I had another one when we were [pause] when we were living in Peterhouse. Do you remember Peterhouse?
AB: No. I don’t, Bettie.
BB: No. I’m thinking. I’m thinking that you’re Christopher and you’re not are you?
AB: No. No [laughs]
BB: You’re a generation down.
AB: I am. Yes.
BB: Or two.
AB: Yeah.
BB: Is it one or two?
AB: It’s one generation.
BB: One generation down. Yeah.
HH: One generation down.
BB: And then, you know it was just an ordinary civilian life. But we went slowly up the ladder until he was administrative director for BP.
HH: Gosh.
BB: At the refinery in Scotland.
HH: Is that up near Aberdeen?
BB: No. No. It was in —
AB: Grangemouth.
HH: Grangemouth.
BB: Grangemouth. That’s right.
HH: That’s Edinburgh way.
BB: Grangemouth. Yeah.
HH: Yeah. Yeah.
BB: And so on and so on.
HH: Yeah. And so you moved around quite a lot did you?
BB: Yes. We did. Yeah.
HH: In your, in your civilian life after the war.
BB: Yes. We did. We were in — where did we start? We started in this prefab and then we went into a house in Ashford. And then when he got this promotion he was sent to Nottingham where they have — in Kirklington Hall in Southall. Near Southall. They have [pause] they used to have, not a research station. They used to have, you know where they had all the nodding donkeys?
HH: Oh yeah. The little kind of oil wells. Yeah.
BB: Oil wells. Little oil wells. Yes. And he was sent up there and he never really looked back after that. We went from there back to London and then we went from London, that was Purley. Then we went from Purley to Libya.
HH: Wow.
BB: And we spent nearly five years in Libya. And then we came back and [unclear] to Scotland.
HH: You’ve been around.
BB: Yes. And then when we left there we went back to London and back to Purley and it was about just, Jim had got to his pension time by this time. I mean this didn’t happen in a tiny space of time.
HH: Yeah.
BB: And he decided to leave BP and he was offered a job with an American company in England. And he decided to leave because he had got his pension thing and he left and he went to this company and it was called the Ralph M Parsons Company. And he became administrative director there.
HH: Wow. Did that involve travelling?
BB: And then he got fed up.
HH: Oh. Did that involve travelling to the states at all? Or was that —
BB: No. No. He didn’t. He would have done if he’d stayed much longer. He stayed with them about six years I think. And then he thought he’d had enough and he would pack up.
HH: So, how did you find your way to Lincoln?
BB: Well, you see we were, when Jim retired from civil life, civilian life — no. Do I mean that? Yes. And he retired completely we were living in Purley where we’d lived twice before and liked very much at the time. I had a good circle of friends. But just a minute. I’m getting lost. But he retired. We didn’t want to stay in Purley when he retired, we wanted, it was too near to Croydon and so on and so on. Although I liked it there. But we went to Dorset. And we had a lovely house in Dorset didn’t we?
AB: You did. Yes.
BB: A lovely house in Dorset. And we stayed there for ten years. And then we had a brainstorm. Both of us. And we sold the house and all the furniture and everything and we took off for Majorca. And we, that was when I was, I think I was sixty seven then and Jim would have been sixty eight. I wouldn’t swear to that but I think that’s about what we were. And we lived there for five years. And then I very much wanted to come home and I had to have — I had two knees which needed completely replacing and we didn’t fancy Spanish hospitals. Either of us. And we got a good offer for the house and, the villa they called it. The villa there. And we didn’t know where to go because I never believe in going back although I love Dorset. It’s a lovely county. And we were sitting one night wondering what we were going to do and I said, ‘Well, I’d like to live in Harrogate. I’ve always wanted to live in Harrogate.’ ‘Oh. Harrogate.’ Hmmn. You know the, you know — yeah. Anyway, he said, ‘Well, I’m not going any further north than Lincoln.’ You know. Foot down. ‘I’m not going any further than Lincoln.’ I said, ‘Oh. Lincoln. I have very happy memories of Lincoln because you were there. That’s where we were married and that’s when you were flying.’ ‘Well then,’ he said, ‘Why don’t we go to Lincoln?’ So, we came to have a look and we had a look at all the villages and what not but we couldn’t find a house. But eventually we found a house. You came to the house didn’t you?
AB: Yes. Yes.
BB: We found a house in Lakelands. Where all the lakes are. And we were in that house for ten years. Then I got itchy feet and I got tired of the traffic so we moved again. And we only moved about a mile away to a house that backed on to one of the lakes. A really nice house and it backed on one of the lakes and I could really have stayed there forever. Until my husband died. And that was all very sad. I think that’s about all I can tell you.
HH: Well, it’s, it’s an, it’s an interesting life you lead.
BB: A very interesting life.
HH: Well, you’ve lived a lovely life and it sounds like you know you’ve got fantastic memories.
BB: I have.
HH: Yeah.
BB: Yes. I have.
HH: Wonderful memories.
BB: And I’ve still got the memories. I mean I’ve still got enough to remember them.
HH: Wonderful. Yeah.
BB: But I do lose my way occasionally. You know, I am ninety six.
HH: It’s remarkable. Yeah. Well, I hope I am as fit and as in control of my memories as you.
BB: As I am.
HH: If I ever get to ninety six which I doubt.
BB: Well, I never thought I would. Never did I ever think I would.
HH: Yeah. It’s wonderful. It’s a real achievement. Yeah. You must be very proud.
BB: I’m not. I don’t even think about it really. I don’t think about it really.
HH: Yeah.
BB: But that’s how it happened. I may have left some little bits out but that’s, that’s how it was.
HH: Did you —
BB: We had, you know after all that, after that, after all that we had sixty seven years of marriage.
HH: Happy marriage it sounds like.
BB: Happily married weren’t we?
AB: Sixty seven years.
BB: Jim worshipped the ground I walked on.
HH: Sixty seven years.
BB: And I thought there was nobody on earth like him.
HH: You see that’s, that’s a very high recommendation for love at first sight isn’t it?
BB: Yeah.
AB: Yes.
BB: Yeah. My parents were very concerned about him though. Until they got to know him a bit more. They thought well you see I was a northerner and he was very much a southerner and they’d never met him. And I’d never met him really until that night. But it was just like a bomb.
HH: You just knew.
BB: Yeah.
HH: Did he ever talk about his experiences in Bomber Command after the war?
BB: Not very much. No. Not very much. I think that was one of the things that Christopher didn’t like. That he never sort of sat down and told him all about it. But then they didn’t. Nobody did.
HH: No. It wasn’t. People didn’t. People didn’t.
BB: The soldiers and the Dunkirk people and the people who went to you know get us back from France and all this business. They didn’t talk about it.
HH: No. No.
BB: You know it was over and done with and —
HH: And I think people —
BB: And I think that’s one of the things Christopher resented.
AB: Yeah.
HH: I think people had also just seen too much.
BB: We seemed to have had enough of it.
HH: Yeah.
BB: After all before you got settled down again it was seven years really. Because it was, I mean there was rationing after the war for a long time.
HH: Did he enjoy being in South Africa?
BB: Oh yes. He loved it. He wanted to go and live there. And now, we did go, when he retired and we went to Dorset we went to South Africa for a month and, because he was always talking about it and I thought we’d get it out of his hair. So we went for a month and I didn’t like it. Well, I mean I wouldn’t say I disliked it but it did nothing for me at all. And I caught every bug that was going.
HH: Which doesn’t help does it?
BB: No. No. No. It was very nice. I’m sure it’s very nice but I didn’t like, this sounds racist and I don’t mean to but I didn’t like living the rest of my life in a country full of black negroes. It sounds racist doesn’t it? But I’m not really. I mean I’m not anti them at all but I just didn’t. I just didn’t like that for one thing and I didn’t like the way they treated the blacks at that time. You know there was all this apartheid business. And you got on a bus and there was these seats for blacks and those seats for whites and all this business. And I really didn’t like the atmosphere. The whole atmosphere.
HH: No.
BB: In that country. I didn’t care for it.
HH: No.
BB: No.
AB: Jim wasn’t meant to go to South Africa, was he?
BB: No. He was meant to go to Canada.
HH: And how come he went to South Africa then?
BB: Yeah. And we bought, I said, ‘You’ll need some long johns you know, for Canada. It’s very cold in the winter.’ So, we bought him some sort of woolly vests with little sleeves. He thought they were dreadful. With little sleeves in. Little, fine wool you know. And some long johns and heaven knows what we thought would be for a cold climate. And they got to the middle of the Atlantic turned left and went straight down to South Africa. So, when he came back your father had those. All that underwear because he used to feel the cold. Not your father. No. Your grandfather.
AB: Grandfather.
BB: Yes.
HH: Yeah. I don’t think he would have needed it in South Africa.
BB: He wouldn’t need it in South Africa.
HH: No.
BB: No. No. He rather liked it but then they were an English bomber crew in South Africa and they were feted and looked after and you know, all the rest of it. And he thought it was great. Well, it probably was but it wasn’t for me. And in any case there was no BP. And there was no BP in South Africa. He would have gone there without a job. So, there’s one country that didn’t have any, you know, BP in all the countries you can think of but they didn’t have any at that time in South Africa.
HH: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was born and brought up in South Africa.
BB: Were you? Oh. I shouldn’t have said I didn’t like it.
HH: No. No. No. No. Well, I mean I spent a lot of my young adult years on the streets fighting apartheid. Because I didn’t like it either.
BB: I didn’t like it.
HH: No.
BB: I —
HH: No. And coming to Lincoln was our big adventure.
BB: Your big adventure.
HH: Yeah. Just recent. In recent times.
BB: You left South Africa.
HH: Yeah.
BB: You were living in South Africa.
HH: I was but now we’re living here.
BB: Now you live here.
HH: Yeah. So people find it very strange us coming to Lincolnshire and us calling that our big adventure after being in South Africa. But it is a big adventure for us and it’s been a really enjoyable one.
BB: Of course it is. It’s just as it was for us.
HH: Yeah.
BB: As we went the other way.
HH: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
BB: Yeah. But I really didn’t care for it. There was a certain atmosphere there.
HH: It’s awkward. And —
BB: Yeah.
HH: Yeah. Just an unhappy atmosphere I think.
BB: Yes. Yes.
AB: Especially during that time.
BB: And the way they seemed to —
HH: In that time. Yeah.
BB: I won’t say push the blacks around. Not that they did really —
HH: Well, it wasn’t, it wasn’t a good system.
BB: It wasn’t a good thing to see.
HH: No.
BB: And Jim would say to me, ‘Don’t interfere.’
HH: He would be quite right.
BB: ’Don’t interfere.’
HH: Bettie, thank you so much for telling all of those wonderful stories. They’re wonderful. It’s just lovely to hear them all and I think that, I think you’ve worked quite hard and I think you deserve a little visit outside now. In the garden.
BB: It would be lovely to have a trip around the garden.
HH: Let’s do that.
BB: Shall we?
HH: Thank you so much. Thank you, Bettie.
BB: Oh, it’s a pleasure. A pleasure.
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 Bettie Bain
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Heather Hughes
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
2016-06-21
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.
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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ABainB160621, PBainH1602
Format
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00:29:08 audio recording
Language
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eng
Coverage
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British Army
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Description
An account of the resource
Bettie was born in Wakefield. The family moved to Doncaster when she was eleven and at 21 she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service. While in Doncaster she helped at the YMCA café as part of the war effort and that is where she met and married Jim, who was in Bomber Command.
After training in York, Bettie was promoted to corporal and became a wireless operator. Following her posting to Trowbridge in Somerset she then went to the War Office Training Board in Leeds and then back to her unit on the Isle of Man. She was due to begin training for a commission when she became pregnant. Jim was posted to South Africa as a wireless operator and on his return became a pilot. Jim did 54 operations with Bomber Command.
Bettie lived in Doncaster with her parents when she had her first child, while Jim was away bringing prisoners of war back home. He was demobbed during that time and went back working for BP. Bettie and Jim lived in Stanwell for 18 months before moving to Nottingham for Jim’s work. He was promoted to administrative Director for BP at the refinery in Scotland. After spending time in Scotland they moved back to Purley, London. Jim left BP and worked for an American company in England until his retirement. The family then lived in Dorset, Minorca and finally Lincoln.
Contributor
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Sue Smith
Julie Williams
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
South Africa
England--Somerset
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Yorkshire
Great Britain Miscellaneous Island Dependencies--Isle of Man
England--London
England--Nottingham
England--Doncaster
England--Trowbridge
England--York
England--Leeds
England--Wiltshire
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Pending revision of OH transcription
aircrew
bombing
love and romance
Operation Exodus (1945)
pilot
training
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/769/9373/YDexterKI127249v2.1.pdf
2d53dfb3dee22d09f210ebd4ef599380
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
Dexter, Keith Inger
Dexter, Dec
K I Dexter
Description
An account of the resource
33 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Keith Dexter (1911 - 1943, 127249, 1387607 Royal Air Force ), a policeman before the war, he flew as a pilot with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds. He was shot down and killed with all his crew on 16/17 June 1943 on operations against Cologne. Collection contains a dozen letters from 'Dec' Dexter to Phyllis Dexter,There is an extract from the 103 Squadron Operational Record Book on the loss of his aircraft and crew, maps of where his aircraft crashed, official Royal Air Force personnel records, Netherlands official documents, document about his aircraft as well as a photograph of a Lancaster over Lincoln and a crew. There are photographs of his grave as well as a group of people, including Keith Dexter being interviewed as a pilot trainee by the BBC at RAF Hatfield. There are two detailed daily diaries covering his time in the Royal Air Force from from 3 April 1941 to June 1943 which relate activities while training and on operations. There are some memorabilia, a photograph of a Lancaster over Lincoln, a painting, and an <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/770">album</a>. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Lieutenant Colonel Monty Dexter-Banks and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.<br /><br />Additional information on Keith Inger Dexter is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/106139/">IBCC Losses Database</a>.
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
2017-08-30
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. 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
Dexter, KI
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[book front cover]
[page break]
[book lining]
[page break]
P/O K.I.DEXTER.
DIARY CONTINUED FROM
8TH DECEMBER 1942
TO
[page break]
[underlined] Nov 1942. [/underlined]
M. 9 11/. N/F.
T. 10 11/. N/F.
W. 11 11/. No N/F. Changing from Akeman St. to L. [inserted] K. [/inserted] Risington. 3 days off.
Th. 12 11/. 11.55 home. Can delighted. Repaired stove. Quiet evening. Heard Tiny’s brother killed.
F. 13 11/. Got up [indecipherable] with Hampstead modelling. Eldin Clark came to supper. To mess for drink with Tiny.
S. 14 11/. no transport. Started to walk to Stn. Picked up by m/bike, a road foreman, drink in “Cock” at Thurlow. On to Haverhill in another road foreman’s car. [inserted] K [/inserted]
Sun 15 11/. 10.10. Didn’t fly – clamp.
M. 16 11/. N/F improving – better on runways.
T. 17 11/. N/F .45 Solo O.K.
W. 18 11/. N/F quite confident now.
Th. 19 11/. N/F with [indecipherable] – good – he was pleased.
F. 20 11/. N/F.
S. 21 11/. N/F icing on wings – blew off in air!
Sun 22 11/. Got 24 hrs off. Caught posting’s bus to Cheltenham. 11.8 (1.15 late) to Bristol.
[page break]
change to G.W.R for Exeter – lunch in Restaurant Car! met Syd – nice to see him. Went to Scadding’s place – good collection of [indecipherable] L.M.S models. Layout worked well. Talked over Syd’s excellent design with traversers. Brain wave of working together! Went to Hotel in Seaton for a drink.
M. 23 11/. Had a look over the works saw Will & had a coffee with Gladys. Nice little cottage. After lunch to Exeter. Just missed the 2.45 train. Had tea with two girl friends of Syd’s (one after a job) – caught 5.25. Rang up from Cheltenham to find I’m on day flying to-morrow. Excellent caught last bus.
T. 24 11/. } Clamp.
W. 25 11/. “
Th. 26 11/. Had touch of belly ache – to bed with castor oil.
F. 27 11/. Up & all right again now – still clamp.
S. 28 11/. Hodgkinson & Gabbie to 14 O.T.U. (Cottismore) lucky devils. Clamp.
[page break]
[underlined] Nov 1942 [/underlined]
Sun. 29 11/. Full day flying – excellent. Soon got the hang of day landings.
M. 30 11/. Clamp morning. Told in afternoon that I’m on N/F again tonight. Flew badly – no solo soon get out of it after only one week. Ldgs [sic] good at the end though.
[underlined] December 1942 [/underlined]
T. 1 12/. No N/F. mist – spot of luck.
W. 2 12/. Rumour of posting. Saw F/L Parry. Came on early. Gave Barkworth an excellent circuit – ldg [sic] shuffle! Got in 3.45 solo. Landed at Windrush by mistake – taxied round & took off again – no one the wiser! Parry recommended my return to day flying. Bed 3.30am tired.
Th. 3 12/. Up early 10am. Posted to 24 O.T.U. at Honeybourne. Whitley’s – Halifax to follow. log [inserted] K [/inserted] book up to date. Leave.
F. 4 12/. 11.55 home. Felt rather heavy & tired.
S. 5 12/. Feel rotten saw M.O. at [indecipherable] – bed – chill.
Sun. 6 12/. Still bad & in bed. Tiny came up to see me.
[page break]
[underlined] Dec. 1942 [/underlined]
M. 7 12/. Still in bed. Glad I’m at home. Saw Ass. M.O. Sent another message can’t go till Thurs. Temp. 100.
T. 8 12/. Still in bed stiff feel rather rotten
W. 9 12/. Still in bed. Came down to fire in the evening. Con wizard nurse. Temp down.
Th. 10 12/. M.O came down. Got up quiet day in cottage – spot of modelling.
F. 11 12/. Walked over to see Sheila, feel a bit weak. Am to return tomorrow.
S. 12 12/. To L. Rissington. Felt tired, had to wait at Kingham for transport.
Sun. 13 12/. Saw M.O. he says I returned too soon. Let me go to Wellers. Off flying 24 hrs. flew to Weston. Throat a little painful. Wellers glad to see me.
M. 14 12/. Throat more painful. Kept me awake last night. Took things easily.
T. 15 12/. Throat really painful. Another bad night. Took early train. Saw M.O. sent straight to bed. Feel rotten but good treatment. Batwoman very helpful.
[page break]
[underlined] Dec. 1942 [/underlined]
W. 16 12/. Still in bed – throat bad. Con phoned, hope she’s not worried.
Th. 17 12/. Throat better. Doing some inhaling. Temp. Normal. Wrote to Wellers, Con & Syd.
F. 18 12/. Throat heaps better today. Doc says I can get up tomorrow.
S. 19 12/. Got up after lunch. Made huge fire in Lady’s Room & sat over it with a book. Feel a bit feeble.
Sun. 20 12/. Up after breakfast. Spent the day in the warmth of the mess & huge fires. Feel much better, throat no longer painful.
M. 21 12/. Allow out today. Went over to 8 M.U and climbed over a Mk III Wellington. Went down for some [indecipherable] treatment with the Doc.
T. 22 12/. J.M.O won’t give me any Sick [inserted] K [/inserted] leave – rotten tyke. Fiddle a 48 with two days added on! Doc O’Brian disappointed.
[page break]
[underlined] Dec. 1942 [/underlined]
W. 23 12/. Saw Cyril for lunch at the R.AC Club. Grand to see him again. 2.15 to Cons – got lift with S/LDR from Stead in buggy with handcuffed prisoner! Con delighted to see me & I her. Felt better already. Saw Phyl [sic] for few minutes hope she’ll be able to get down.
Th. 24 12/. Nice day walked over to Sheila’s with Con & [indecipherable]. Feel better. Did some modelling this morning. Tiny came into supper – nice girl – Phyl came in later and good evening was had by all.
F. 25 12/. [underlined] CHRISTMAS DAY [/underlined]
Got up late. Spot of modelling in the morning. Went over to Sheila’s to feed the cats with Phyl. Grand lunch of jugged hare given to us by the [indecipherable]. Quiet afternoon and evening over the fire with Con & Phyl – sort of thing I dreamed of this time last year – So restful & does you much more good than rushing about. Con very poorly.
[page break]
[underlined] Dec. 1942 [/underlined]
S. 26 12/. Very reluctant to leave on the 9.20 this morning. Arrived at Cyril’s in time for an excellent lunch. Had a grand talk & got some good advice re insuring Cons furniture. They walked down with me to Swiss Cottage & I caught my train to Oxford. After an hour’s waiting the bus arrived & took us to camp and bed. Tired though my throat seems to be quite recovered.
Sun. 27 12/. Saw the S.M.O this morning and was pronounced fit for flying. Good show. Here there’s to be a posting for 200 pilots next weekend! C.O staged a “quiz” between 5 & 6 Groups in the Intelligence Library – good fun. Few beers – bath – bed.
M. 28 12/. Clamp. Another quiz – this time on BAT flying. Free for all basketball in gym – somewhat amused.
[page break]
[underlined] Dec. 1942 [/underlined]
T. 29 12/. Clamp lifted but damned cold. Flying on but did not T.O this morning. Did not fly today. Saw “Son of Fury” at the Stn. flicks.
W. 30 12/. Flew all day – bit rusty at first but all right later on. Bright day but colder than yesterday,
Th. 31 12/. Defence Day. New Years Dance – not bad fun. Good drinking.
F. 1 1/43. [underlined] 1943. JANUARY. [/underlined]
Havers recommended that I should take a Sgt’s place on a posting to 30 O.T.U as they had kindly left me off both lists this week. Hung around waiting for it to come up. it did – good show shall now join Frazer – Hollins. [inserted] K [/inserted] off on 48.
S. 2 1/43. Haircut at Davis’ then to Phyl’s. Pip & Lew there. Later to F.D. for a pint or two with Watson. [indecipherable] A/L – slept in their flat.
Sun 3 1/43. Rang Con from F.D. told her the news. Phyl’s for an excellent chicken
[page break]
[underlined] JAN. 1943 [/underlined]
lunch – after to the Classic to see “Dangerous Moonlight.” Couldn’t get to the Box office for the 1st. House before it was full up but Pip talked to the manager who let us book seats for the 2nd. I had to run for the 8.5 still arrived back & soundly slept.
M. 4 1/43. Dreary round of getting clearance chits signed up. Havers very decent – seemed sorry to see me, the last of the Akeman St. Boys, go. Had a letter from Bob & L/C Pike last night.
T. 5 1/43. Stn. bus late so we missed our connection to Cheltenham from [indecipherable]. Adj. wouldn’t authorise transport direct [indecipherable] to [indecipherable] clearance. Eventually caught the 12.48 meant a rush. Just managed to transfer the luggage on [indecipherable] barrows from the G.W to L.M.S. Stns at Cheltenham. Same at B’ham [Birmingham] where I had to get Guard to
[page break]
[underlined] JAN 1943. [/underlined]
hold the train. Long tiring journey with 4 changes. Arrived O.K. Dispersed aerodrome billet about 1/2m. from mess. Living in concrete & brick huts. Wizard supper including an egg. Mess party. To bed early.
W. 6 1/43. Reported to usual round afternoon off. Met F. Hollins & saw Charles Holmes, whom I did not recognise at breakfast! Appears to be a good spot. Whimpeys Mk. III & X with Lancasters to follow – good. Had a bath. F. Hollins who already had 7 days now off for 7 or 14 more. Bad flying district with Industrial [indecipherable].
Th. 7 1/43. Ground School. Found Navigator W.Op & Rear gunner.
F8 1/43. Ground School. Intelligence makes you gasp. Still searching for Bomb aimer. 1/2 day off.
S 9 1/43. Ground School. Get B. Aimer not too satisfactory, looks dirty & unreliable type. Will try to change him. Parcel [indecipherable] to U.S.A.
Sun 10 1/43. Parade in morning – damned funny. Ground School. Wrote Con & Tiny. Letter from Phyl yesterday enclosing 10/- for flicks. She’s a brick
[page break]
[underlined] JAN 1943 [/underlined]
M 11 1/43. Ground School. Query on Caps. [inserted] LK [/inserted] Tried to get another B’ Aimer – no luck so decided to give O’Brian a try out anyway. Feel sorry for the lad, think he feels no one wants him so he will probably be a trier – whether successful or not? Much warmer.
T. 12 1/43. Ground School. E.N.S.A Concert – didn’t go. Had a chat to O’Brian I think my impression correct. Good material to work on. Letter from & rang Geoff.
W. 13 1/43. Ground School. Interesting lecture on Russia by bloke who was Adj. to the fighter boys there 1941. Letter from Syd.
Th. 14 1/43 ground School. Lecture on flak. F/O WOP/AG. had the nerve to describe us as “Stooge bus drivers” – wow! All up in arms & shot him down.
F. 15 1/43. Ground School, and half day off. Went for a short walk with Con. Letter from Tiny. Evidently ours have crossed so rang up tonight – she was out. Left message with her mother.
[page break]
[underlined] JAN 1943 [/underlined]
Went to the Camp Concert “Riff Raff No.2” it was damned good. I believe the producer was one in real life.
S. 16 1/43. Ground School. Collected a hefty cough so rather expect I’ve caught a cold there are tons about. Early to bed tonight. Found a new B’Aimer who arrived on Tuesday with two more. He’s about 30 & steady type much more suitable than O’Brian. Told the latter I was changing him & he did’nt [sic] seem to mind much so got C.G.I’s permission to get the new bloke who would otherwise have hitched onto 11 course. Names of crews taken today by the W/O.
Sun 17 1/43. Decided to go on C.O’s parade felt rotten. Stuck out lectures went to bed at 6pm.
M. 18 1/43. Went up to see M.O. told him I did’nt want to go sick got dosed up with pills. Spent day in Mess. Hot whiskey made me sweat 100%.
[page break]
[underlined] JAN 1943 [/underlined]
T. 19 1/43. Saw M.O again. Felt a little better. Another day in the Mess, and another sweat with hot whiskey.
W. 20 1/43. Saw M.O., feel a little better still. Went into lectures this afternoon, the smoke made me cough rather a lot. Coughed all night.
Th. 21 1/43. Feel awful this morning. Went into lectures but coughed myself inside out. Went to Sick Bay this afternoon & to bed. Nice to be in a day room etc. Slept mostly all day. Temp 103!
F. 22 1/43. Feel better today. had a good night’s sleep. Temp down to 99. Bed & rested all day. Letter from McKeckine.
S. 23 1/43. Feel better today though rather weak. Temp N. if same to get up tonight. [inserted] WK. [/inserted] Got up for an hour or so. Hot bath then bed.
Sun. 24 1/43. Feel better this morning. Up after lunch. Feel a bit groggy but Doc says O.K for discharge tomorrow Wrote Syd.
[page break]
[underlined] JAN 1943 [/underlined]
M. 25 1/43. Tottered out at lunch time [inserted] K [/inserted] drew more flying clothing – under wear this time.
T 26 1/43 Went to see G.W.T.W very striking. On 7 days to Cons tomorrow.
W 27 1/43 To Cons. Sheila came in for the evening. Rang Geoff.
Th. 28 1/43. Pottered around the garden. To Stead for pint or so with Geoff. Afterwards back to Cherry Tree & to Sheila’s for bread & cheese.
F. 29 1/43. Modelling this morning. Geoff in for [indecipherable] & the evening. Phyl came down on last train.
S. 30 1/43 tried to get into Bury got left off the bus. So went to Newmarket lift in by O.D. Chaplain – nice bloke. Missed last bus had to take taxi. Anyway got Con some seeds.
Sun 31 1/43. Sheila came in to share the chicken for lunch. Phyl went back this evening. Put S.B together got corners wrong.
[page break]
[underlined] FEB 1943. [/underlined]
M 1 2/43. Did’nt go back as suggested so modelled most of the day. Took S.B to bits & did it up again – much better. Nice to have an extra day with Con.
T. 2 2/43. Got lift in with S/L [indecipherable] got to Town at 2pm. to Stafford at 7pm. rang [sic] into Thomas, Jock & Heslop so we all went for a few pints.
W. 3 2/43. Over to Seighford. Cheery Mess fair billets.
Th. 4 2/43. Over to Hixon for new type flying [inserted] K. [/inserted] kit – the Taylor suit. After snow.
F. 5 2/43. Got to town at 10.30am. to watch people then to NC. saw [indecipherable] & all the gang. After to FD for booze up with three musqueteers [sic] – saw Mary.
S. 6 2/43. Got some pork pie etc & down to Cons lovely to be back again. quiet evening.
Sun 7 2/43 Went over to Sheila’s for lunch & tea. Geoff & the Corporal came in Got into trouble with Sheila for not playing cards. Left Pepys behind.
[page break]
[underlined] FEB 1943 [/underlined]
M 8 2/43 Cut up the up-rooted plum tree with help of Hempstead. Went over for Pepys.
T 9 2/43. Modelled in the morning. Quiet day all round.
W. 10 2/43. Took Con into Bury. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Went to flicks.
Th. 11 2/43. Modelled in morning. Quiet day.
Fr. 12 2/43. Modelled mostly all day. Got inside roof of S.B done O.K.
S 13 2/43. Caught a lift to Newmarket via [inserted] K [/inserted] 4.12 train. Better than 10/- for taxi. Party in evening.
Sun 14 2/43. Went up to see Phyl but found her out. Another party in evening.
M. 15 2/43. Went down to F.D Williamson did not keep date at [indecipherable]. Caught 4. O/C to Stafford. A few beers in the Bar & on to Seighford by bus.
T. 16 2/43. Compass swinging.
W. 17 2/43. Over to Hixon – fuselage section. Got an Irvin [indecipherable]!
[page break]
[underlined] FEB 1943 [/underlined]
Th. 18 2/43. Over to Hixon – handed in all my flying clothing except Irvin glad to get rid of it.
F. 19 2/43. Link this afternoon. After to Stafford for a spot of beer with Tom & [indecipherable] – others on duty. Good evening.
S. 20 2/43. Quiet day – afternoon off. Fixed up for dingy drill Monday. Bed early.
Sun 21 2/43 quiet day – wrote to Con.
M. 22 2/43. Spent a day at Hixon and dingy drill & bale out procedure. Quite a good show by the lads.
T. 23 2/43 climbed over A/C. Went to Lighton’s place in evening – good time.
W. 24 2/43. Dingy drill – beat Lighton’s crew by 2 Secs (17 – 15 Secs) on Emergency Bale out. Very pleased with my lads.
Th. 25 2/43. Climbed over A/C in morning. Went for walk in afternoon & got talking to local signalman and spent an hour in his box. Four Track main line requires thought – I found.
[page break]
[underlined] FEB 1943 [/underlined]
F. 26 2/43. Link. Wrote to Dan and took over O.O. from Lighton.
S. 27 2/43. O.O. Parcel to Con. Orderly Officer. Went to Seighford for a drink good beer – but sour-faced landlord.
Sun. 28 2/43. Link otherwise nothing all day wrote to Barbara Cole.
[underlined] MARCH 1943 [/underlined]
M. 1 3/43. They’ve started us on circuits [inserted] P.K [inserted] at last. Not my turn yet. Link. Parcel from Con – socks & toffees the darling. Seighford for a beer – landlord Ok.
T 2 3/43. Flew this afternoon – as usual on a new type I did’nt do well first time – so damned slow to learn. Wizard kite to fly though a bit heavy on the stick. Went into Stafford for a Concert by the B’mouth [Bournemouth] Philharmonic Orchestra – very good. They played Tchaikovsky’s 6th. (my favourite.)
W. 3 3/43. To Hixon for dingy drill. My crew are damned good – 26 Secs on the Emergency bale out with full harness. (Lighton 27). To Woodeaves [sic] by cycle for a few pints.
[page break]
[underlined] MARCH 1943 [/underlined]
Th. 4 3/43. No kites available. Took afternoon off. To Stafford for a spot of shopping with Lighton. Went in by bike – enjoyed the exercise.
F. 5 3/43. Link. No kites. Went to [inserted] PAR K [/inserted] Woodseaves for a cheery evening.
S. 6 3/43. Link. No kites. Over to Gnosall to the “Dukes Head” – good pint. [inserted] L.K. [/inserted]
Sun 7 3/43. Did link in morning. Flew in afternoon but viz. bad so only had 20 mins. Wrote to Phyl. Parcel to Con yesterday.
M. 8 3/43. Did’nt fly today. quiet [inserted] LK [/inserted] evening in Mess.
T. 9 3/43. To Hixon for a spot of “groping” in grope box. Crew did well. Letter from Syd – he’s got engaged!
W 10 3/43. Orderly Officer. No flying – Link. Got a cold. Parcel from Con.
Th 11 3/43. Went SOLO after 1 1/2 hrs dual this morning. Coped quite well Landings O.K. wizard A/C to fly, tho’
[page break]
[underlined] MARCH 1943. [/underlined]
a bit heavy of course. 2 1/2 hrs Solo circuits in the afternoon. Hard work. Made me sweat with this damned cold.
F. 12 3/43. Advanced dual. Front bulkhead door blew open on T/O – that B/F Kyall (Screw) flew on with it open until it seemed like an icebox – me with a cold & he would’nt let me shut it!
S 13 3/43. No flying. Parcel to Con.
Sun 14 3/43. No flying. Quiet day. Cold better.
M 15 3/43. No flying. Went into Stafford [inserted] LK. [/inserted] for shopping & hair cut in afternoon. Letter from Con. Beer party.
T. 16 3/43. Flew this afternoon. Hydraulics shaky Semi-flapless landing. Upset my left ear a bit – guess its due to this damned cold. Stood in for Lighton as O.O. got to take 8.30am. parade tomorrow.
[page break]
[underlined] MARCH 1943 [/underlined]
W. 17 3/43. They’ve started an 8.30am parade – B/S. had an argument or rather discussion with F/LTs Helmore & Metcalfe. Went to Woodseaves in battle dress. The above officers with Roberts & Lester came in too & did’nt like us not being in tunics. Metcalfe got a bit snotty about it. In my opinion purely taking the rise because we stood up to them. Some people – small minds! Orderly Officer.
Th. 18 3/43. Link X Country. G/C making [inserted] WK> [/inserted] us clear up the camp – extra ordinary idea.
F. 19 3/43. Finished circuits – solo – in bad vis. Could’nt see the drome at 600’. Hard to make good landings. Sent parcel to Con & spent afternoon is S.B. on the block – very good form.
S. 20 3/43. Bad vis. To Hixon. Afternoon in S.B. quiet compared with yesterday
[page break]
[underlined] MARCH 1943 [/underlined]
To Woodseaves in the evening. Travelled so fast there did’nt enjoy 1st pint!
Sun 21 3/43. Still clamped. Wrote to Bob, Charlie, S/L Havers and Syd. Quiet evening. Doc says ear not yet right – hope its not going to be troublesome. Listened to Churchill’s speech – good as usual.
M. 22 3/43. To Hixon for a spot of [inserted] LK [/inserted] dingy drill. Quiet day. Ear fit.
T. 23 3/43 Bad vis no flying. Cycled out to RG just to have a look at the country. To Woodseaves for a drink. Letter from Con.
W. 24 3/43. Dual X.C. vis very poor so navigation not so good as to map reading. Good out to sea.
Th. 25 3/43. To Hixon for A.M.L & to give B’Aimer some practice at map reading.
F. 26 3/43. Not flying today. went [inserted] WK [/inserted]
Into Stafford for swimming & beer after.
[page break]
[underlined] MARCH 1943. [/underlined]
S. 27 3/43. First solo X.C. To Isle of Man & across the Welsh Mts. Lovely day & lots of low Cloud over the Mts. Crew did much better & we did quite well. To Lighton’s afterwards – tired.
Sun 28 3/43. 2nd. Solo XC. To Peterboro [Peterborough] Cottismore & out to sea this time weather fair. Oakham looked good also Burley Hall. Crew O.K. Dropped sea marker went down to 250’ to give gunners practice. Quite a good effort.
M. 29 3/43. Not flying today. photos of our Day trip through – fair, though did not pass, for 1st attempt.
T. 30 3/43. No flying. Parcel to Con. Cycle round finished up over fields. Early night.
W. 31 3/43. Set off on 3rd. Solo XC. After bombing at Cannock S/C Peterboro viz so bad that we got lost. Pp. March marshalling yards eventually
[page break]
[underlined] MARCH 1943 [/underlined]
got to Peterboro’. Tried to climb thro’ cloud but still in it at 9000’ & beginning to freeze up so let down over the Wash and S/C base. Raid abandoned – viz nil on return. Cloud base about 500’.
[underlined] APRIL 1943 [/underlined]
Th 1 4/43. Did not fly today. photos for 27th. March through not too bad. Two passes Sim bombing. Can’t arrange leave at Stead. Phoned Con.
F 2 4/43. Not required today for flying [inserted] F.K. [/inserted] duties.
S. 3 4/43. No one started work before lunch! Must have been a good party. Heard rumours of re-organisation & that we’re going to A flight at Hixon. No flying today.
M. 5 4/43 live bombing & Sim at Stert Flats Passed quite near Bath & flew all over
[page break]
[underlined] APRIL 1943 [/underlined]
the mendips. Sim bombed lighthouse on Flatholm & generally enjoyed the trip. Bombing good. Hellish drift on return.
T. 6 4/43. Rumours true we’re for Hixon tomorrow for our M/F. Did some bombing at Cannock to finish off our day work in foul weather.
W. 7 4/43. To Hixon by lorry & bus. Got a billet with McGuin & we’re all N/F together. Scheme is for each flight to be doing one exercise at a time for a fortnight. E.g. A. N/F Conversion, B Day XC & so on. At the end of each fortnight you go on with the next. We use both ‘dromes for N/F conversion.
Th. 8 4/43. To flights at 7pm. N.F.T. Dual later but cloud 500’ so stooged round and we came in. Bed at 3.30am.
F. 9 4/43. N.F.T but no N/F. Bed 4.am.
S. 10 4/43. N.F.T then 2 1/2 hrs C&L at Singhford started in daylight! Whimpy a bit difficult to control & keep lined up
[page break]
on the flarepath. Afterwards two hours dual at Singhford when [indecipherable] bagged Kite & so spoilt some solo for me. Got in 20 mins but on landing the starb’d [starboard] tyre burst (probably due to the bagging earlier) & we careered onto the grass before we could do much about it. No one hurt no fire.
Sun 11 4/43. N.F.T. dual check then 2hrs solo. Difficult at first in levelling off correctly. Get it now O.K.
M. 12 4/43. N/F. Solo tonight at Singhford. Coped alright.
T. 13 4/43. Waited after kite had gone U/S but did not T/O.
W. 14 4/43. Got off on dual X/C tonight. Could’nt see much but got round O.K. F. Hollins also on. Letter from Con – bless hera nickel.
T. 15 4/43. Off 2nd. Period but got to the kite & it was scrubbed for weather.
F. 16 4/43. Did our dual IR & bombing. Good results on the latter. [indecipherable] said we were
[page break]
[underlined] APRIL 1943. [/underlined]
quite a good crew. Got tomorrow night off.
S. 17 4/43. Night off. Went to the “Cock” at Stowe for a pint or so with Gillam & Metcalfe. Good evening.
Sun. 18 4/43. Up for bacon & egg breakfast then back to bed till lunch. 6hr screened X.C. Worry re balloons at Hull otherwise good trip. [indecipherable] says we’re a good crew.
M. 19 4/43. Down for IR but [indecipherable] mucked about with the kites so much that we only got in H.L.B. Good results.
T. 20 4/43. Long Solo XC with IR stage at end. Could’nt find Goole – in fact all the targets were difficult to see. Recalled whilst at Newark. Rather disappointed that Nav & B’Aimer got a little het up when we were lost.
W. 21 4/43. Sent on IR in appalling vis. Decided to return & got recall message whilst returning. H.L.B.
[page break]
[underlined] APRIL 1943 [/underlined]
Navigator etc. better on this trip. Has unfortunately a good opinion of himself & needs keeping in his place.
Th. 22 4/43. No nickel or bullseye as we hoped. Two H.L.B’s. mistake re bombing we’re not getting our own bomb plotted. Worrying for the B’Aimer.
F. 23 4/43. Stand down – bad weather Went to the Cock & H for a spot. McGuin left to go to a Whimpy Sqdr.
S. 24 4/43. Scheduled for a Nickel on Paris – scrubbed due to weather. To the Cock for a spot.
Sun. 25 4/43. Weather still U/S. blowing like nothing on earth – met say wind 75m/h at 10,000’! No nickel.
M. 26 4/43. Still blowing but met gave good. N.F.T 3pm. Briefing 5.30pm. Took off in ‘D’ Don at 9.35pm. Vis. Difficult still I think we crossed the French coast at the right place but could see
[page break]
[underlined] APRIL 1943 [/underlined]
very little of [indecipherable]. Did square search thought we identified the [indecipherable] so dropped the load. The photo flash did’nt work. S/C Home. About two miles from the French coast someone ahead loosed off a photo-flash which brought up heavy flak at us! Put the nose down & weaved. Crossed our coast at Brighton and had to alter course to miss London. Evidently a bull’s eye in progress & the searchlight display was wizard. Landed O.K trifle [indecipherable], but called up our “Half back” instead of “Lodger” & in the bother with Control over Q.F.E forgot my nose and downward lights. Slept like a log. Did’nt feel half as nervous as I thought – especially re flak.
T. 27 4/43. Spent all afternoon getting cleared from the flight. Shot of beer in Mess.
W. 28 4/43. Got cleared. To Cons tomorrow. [inserted] K [/inserted]
[page break]
[underlined] APRIL 1943 [/underlined]
Posted to Lindholme on the 5th. May for conversion to Lancasters.
Th. 29 4/43. To Cons arrived at 3pm. Lovely day & the garden looks wizard. Turned colder & clouded over in the evening. Paul got measles.
F. 30 4/43. Rained after lunch all day. Messed about the house & wrote to Syd.
[underlined] MAY [/underlined]
S. 1 5/43. Cleared for a spell in the morning. Cut the hedge. Rained in the afternoon. Walked to [indecipherable]. Paul came home by ambulance.
Sun 2 5/43. Cleared today so set to & made an inside Lav out of an old lavo[sic] seat, which we pinched yesterday from a ruined cottage & a lot of wooden boxes. Quite a fair effort. Con delighted. Spot of hedge cutting in the evening while Con did some gardening. Felt tired Slept like a log. Paul came home from Newmarket yesterday – sounds better.
[page break]
[underlined] MAY 1943 [/underlined]
M 3 5/43. Lovely day with fair weather cirrus. Hampstead came up & we staked up the porch & some of the rose arches. Finished off the hedge. Quiet evening with Con feel heaps refreshed for my few days in the country, Cons cooking & some good grub including eggs.
T. 4 5/43. Got a lift into Newmarket on an heavy lorry with wind [inserted] K [/inserted] screen! Bit draughty. Saw Cyril for a spot of tea at his club and Phyl for half an hour before that.
W. 5 5/43. Got a room to myself in the ex-married quarters at Lindholme Pre-war camp. Frazer – Hollins here do a spot of flying on the Halifax as well as the Lancaster.
Th. 6 5/43. P.T. Course appears to be a false alarm. Hung around all day. Went to [indecipherable] quarters in the afternoon.
F. 7 5/43. Decided to try for tomorrow
[page break]
[underlined] MAY 1943 [/underlined]
off and to get to Branston’s or Auntie Edith. Worked O.K. could’nt get Aunt E on phone so stayed with Branstons who were really glad to see me. Lashings of eggs & we went to the Volunteer for a drink, Bob, [indecipherable], Mr B & me. I slept on the couch in the front room.
S. 8 5/43. Went into Nottingham with Charles who was going to Market. Rang up & was invited to lunch with Aunt E. Saw Buddy Hawthorne & “Bill” who’s got much older & matronly.(5 kids) Auntie Edith same as ever and really delighted to see me. Had a long chat before lunch. Enid could say nothing but “oh my” 3.pm to Lowdham & 6.48 to Doncaster via Newark where I saw Sanderson. Had to run like stink to catch the 10p.m. bus just made it.
Sun 9 5/43. Mooched about getting ready for Blyton tomorrow. Did’nt have to get cleared after all. Troops had to draw
[page break]
[underlined] MAY 1943 [/underlined]
electric flying kit etc. We were supposed to but decided my Irvin was quite enough.
M 10 5/43. Went by lorry & bus to Blyton, which is cold miles East near Gainsborough. Dispersal not unlike Singhford, billets good (Lighton & I share a small room) but the Mess is dull in comparison.
T. 11 5/43. Talks by various people and some lectures. Letter from Con.
W. 12 5/43. Flying this morning – dual, with screens & another pupil who halved the flying with me. Coped successfully though the Halifax II is rather heavier, higher of the ground and floats a longer than the Whimpey. Had the afternoon off. Went for a pint into the village with Lighton.
Th. 13 5/43. Ground school – lectures. Spot of beer in the Mess – quite a cheery do. Letter from Con.
F. 14 5/43. Went over to Wickenby [sic] (No. 12 Sqdn.)
[page break]
[underlined] MAY 1943 [/underlined]
in the Halifax II and after a spot more dual went solo with my Flt/Engineer. Coped all right and made one really good three pointer. Had quite enough after 3 1/2 hours. Flt/Eng. Seems capable but rather a surly type. Afternoon off.
S. 15 5/43. Ground school all day, also duty offices. Some of the Sgts in 7 course tried to do a spot of fooling about so of course they were sat on. Clay pidgeon shooting in afternoon also kite hoisting (by Very pistol) for use in a dingy. Letter from Mrs Branston – also from Con, bless her, yesterday. Wrote to Geoff.
Sun. 16 5/43. Local map reading. Flew to Oakham, Nottingham (found Auntie Edith’s House) & to Caythorpe (for the Branston’s). good shout. P.F.F demonstration in the evening. Good pub call on the way. Wrote to Con & Auntie E.
M. 17 5/43. Ground school & link. Wrote to Uncle Billy.
[page break]
[underlined] MAY 1943. [/underlined]
T. 18 5/43. More map reading. Flew to Stradishall and had a look at the college from 1500’. Wizard day and did wish I could have landed in the garden! Did not see anyone about.
W. 19 5/43. Ground school. Cheque etc to Con.
Th. 20 5/43. More map reading to Henley on Thames this time to find B’Aimers girl’s place of work. Good practice & his map reading has improved. Lovely weather. Borrowed a bike and went to East Ferry for an odd pint or so. Good evening.
F. 21 5/43. Ground school. Letter from Uncle B.
S. 22 5/43. Still ground school.
Sun. 23 5/43. Still ground school. Borrowed a bike & rode into East Ferry for a pint or so. Got 3 eggs from an old cottager on the way back. most welcome. Wrote to Con.
[page break]
[underlined] MAY 1943 [/underlined]
M. 24 5/43. Still doing ground school. Rang up McGuin at Rimmington. Hope to meet him at Scunthorpe someday when he’s not operating. Some beer in the Mess, after an E.N.S.A. show which was’nt bad.
T. 25 5/43. Letter from Con. Spot of gro0und Sch.
W. 26 5/43. They’re still not ready for us in the Lancaster Flight but we’re finished with lectures after today. wondered if we could get tomorrow off but we’re to do dingy. Got roped in for a spot of beer in the CO.’s party. Most uncouth bloke in front of his wife – left party as soon as I could.
Th. 27 5/43. Dingy drill this morning. Went to Gainsboro’ [Gainsborough] with Lighton re cycles. His luck in spite of a copper who does some up in his spare time. He was too expensive.
F. 28 5/43. Soloed in the Lanc after 1.30 hrs. wizard kite to land & fly – very satisfied. Beer locally.
[page break]
[underlined] MAY 1943 [/underlined]
S. 29 5/. Dinghy out in one of the Kites. Did not fly today. to East Ferry for some beer. Bought Pyjamas & Shirts.
Sun. 30 5/. Pouring rain today. cleared before lunch so did a spot of solo check. Lost cap in Mess Party damnation. Jock sick with VD.
M. 31 5/. Cross country to Reading – Bury – Alston (Yorks) – lovely down South but ran into icing and cold front up North.
[underlined] JUNE 1943. [/underlined]
T. 1 6/. Spot of gunnery today. Drogue U/S out at sea. Landed in a rainstorm. Jock out of crew. We’re for 101 Sqdn.
W. 2 6/. No flying today or tonight. Hitched to Nottingham via Newark only took 1.30 hrs. looked up Aunt E went down to see Rene with her. Stayed overnight came back by bus to Retford.
Th. 3 6/. Bus to Retford then hitch to Blyton
[page break]
[underlined] JUNE 1943 [/underlined]
Still not flying so got tomorrow off. [inserted] K. [/inserted]
F. 4 6/. To London. Phoned Mac had [indecipherable] done & looked up Phyl. Back via Gainsboro’. Letter from Geoff.
S. 5 6/ Still not flying can’t afford to dash about anymore otherwise should be tempted to go to see Con. Pity they could’nt have given us three days off. Parcel from Con & letter from Mrs Weller. Wrote to Con, Jacko, Sam & Mr. Wells. Went down to local for a pint with the lads.
Sun. 6 6/. Got a new W/OP & did dinghy to get him into the scheme. Seems all right. Winston back from America via Tunisia – good show – we don’t want anything to happen to him. N/F landings rough at first.
M. 7 6/. Up midday. Invitation to Syd’s wedding on the 24th. Don’t expect Con & I can go. Blooming RAF [indecipherable] deducted I.T again. wrote to Stroud. N/F landings spoilt by the screen who nattered.
[page break]
[underlined] JUNE 1943 [/underlined]
T. 8 6/. Down for XC but it was scrubbed did C+L’s instead. O.K. solo without a nattering screen.
W. 9 6/. Six low X.C. all round England & here via Bury. Icing in high cloud at 20,000’ so climbed to 22,000’ & got over it. Low cloud on return but found aerodrome O.K. Came in too fast did small bounce – 3 point half way down the runway and – brakes would stop us. [sic] Charged off end of runway through a hedge and came to rest in a field! On examination no damage to A/C – extraordinary.
Th. 10 6/. Got cleared and packed off to Squadron to make room for the next lot. Going to 103 not 101 so they are moving South. Arrived by bus after a stop in Brigg for a pint. Much nicer Mess than anywhere dispersed before. Been going longer &
[page break]
[underlined] JUNE 1943 [/underlined]
better organised. Good billet – room with two other blokes.
F. 11 6/. Usual round. Might get a bike Posted to ‘C’ flight. Sqdn operated to Dusseldorf. Scholes led it.
S. 12 6/. Messed about in morning. X.C. in [deleted] Sqd [/deleted] Flight Commanders ‘R’ Robert. Wizard kite. All around England at 21,000’. Thought we saw a blitz on Swansea or Pembroke Docks. Good landing but W/OP did not wind in the trailing aerial. Bacon & eggs. (Sqdn – Bochum)
Sun. 13 6/. Flight Commander complained that we left the I.F.F & Oxygen on – damn thought we’d gone over the kite on landing Supposed to be a flight affiliation [inserted] WK [/inserted] but scrubbed. Wrote to Con. Stand down.
M. 14 6/. Ops tonight. Flight affiliation arranged but scrubbed. OBERHAUSEN in the Ruhr. Got off O.K. to a good take off. Climbed over ‘drome to 21,500’.
[page break]
[underlined] JUNE 1943 [/underlined]
and away. Got South of track avoiding flak etc. at Antwerp and we were 10 mins. late at the target. Saw P.F.F markers O.K but thought they were nearer than they were. Terrific barrage over target. Coned in searchlights all the way through. Bombed the biggest fire. Did not see any fighters but got hit several times by flak. Glad to get back – landing good.
T. 15 6/. Stand down. Over 50 holes in A/C! Photo good – 80%. Rang McGuin and saw Dunton.
[page break]
[book lining]
[page break]
[book back cover]
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
Keith Dexter diary. Two
Description
An account of the resource
Day by day diary covering events from November 1942 to June 1943. Describes flying at Little Rissington and illness over Christmas 1942 which delayed posting. Eventually posted in January 1943 to 30 Operational Training Unit. Describes events at Stafford, RAF Hixon and RAF Seighford. Posted to RAF Lindholme for conversion to Lancaster, describes training and flying Halifax as well. Posted to 103 Squadron in June 1943 and describes operation to Oberhausen on 14 June 1943 and stand down on 15 June 1943 (last entry).
Creator
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Keith Dexter
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
43 page handwritten diary
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Diary
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
YDexterKI127249v2
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Gloucestershire
England--Stow-on-the-Wold
England--Staffordshire
England--Stafford
England--Doncaster
England--Lincolnshire
England--Yorkshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
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
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IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
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Steve Baldwin
Anne-Marie Watson
103 Squadron
30 OTU
aircrew
entertainment
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Lancaster
military living conditions
military service conditions
Operational Training Unit
pilot
RAF Hixon
RAF Lindholme
RAF Little Rissington
RAF Seighford
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1011/11449/OStavesME203137-160226-060001.1.jpg
7bee6c5a505cd0f5cee4f5a2a0d9173f
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1011/11449/OStavesME203137-160226-060002.1.jpg
2bdf814ed036111f3a7580e4d0ac49ee
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
Staves, Malcom Ely
M E Staves
Description
An account of the resource
77 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Malcom Staves (1924 - 2012, 1591418, 203137 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, items, documents, photographs, and training notebooks. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 207 Squadron. <br /><br />There is also a sub collection concerning Flight Lieutenant <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1020">D A MacArthur.</a><br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Christina Chatwin and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
2016-02-26
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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Staves, ME
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 Staves' Enlistment Notice
Description
An account of the resource
A document requiring Malcolm Staves to enlist in the RAF on 16 February 1943.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-02-12
Format
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Two printed sheets with handwritten annotations
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Service material
Identifier
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OStavesME203137-160226-060001,
OStavesME203137-160226-060002
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Doncaster
England--Yorkshire
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
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IBCC Digital Archive
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-02-16
Creator
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Great Britain. Ministry of Labour and National Service
aircrew
recruitment
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1011/11576/OStavesME203137-160226-17.1.jpg
b739a1eda81fc610b6b8e7f0ddeb1612
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
Staves, Malcom Ely
M E Staves
Description
An account of the resource
77 items. The collection concerns Flying Officer Malcom Staves (1924 - 2012, 1591418, 203137 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, items, documents, photographs, and training notebooks. He flew operations as a wireless operator with 207 Squadron. <br /><br />There is also a sub collection concerning Flight Lieutenant <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/1020">D A MacArthur.</a><br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Christina Chatwin 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
2016-02-26
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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Staves, ME
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
NSA
Service Trade. ACH/WOP. AG.
R.A.F. Form 2150
ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE
ENLISTMENT FOR DURATION OF PRESENT EMERGENCY
POSTPONEMENT OF CALLING UP FOR SERVICE
To
No. 1591418 Name. STAVES. M. E.
Address [Blank]
Nearest Rly. Stn. N/A
In connection with your enlistment in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve for service during the present emergency, you will be required to report for permanent service in accordance with the instructions contained in a notice to be issued to you by the Air Officer in Charge Records, Royal Air Force.
In the meantime you will remain on the Reserve and no pay or allowances will be issuable to you for the period during which you are not called up for permanent service. It is important therefore that you should not leave your present civil employment until you are required to report for service. Where practicable you will be notified at least ten days before the date on which you will be required to report.
The Air Officer in Charge Records, Royal Air Force, Wantage Hall, Reading, Berks, must be informed of any change of address and any correspondence must quote your R.A.F. No. rank and name.
Station. DONCASTER
Date. 16/2/43
V. FOSTER
For Air Officer i/c Records,
Royal Air Force.
6/41 (55825) (56527) Wt. 22893/1091 200M 8/41 Hw. G.371
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
Postponement of Calling up for Service
Description
An account of the resource
A document issued to Malcolm Staves advising him that his calling up is postponed.
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
1943-02-16
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet
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
OStavesME203137-160226-17
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Doncaster
England--Yorkshire
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
Temporal Coverage
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1943-02-16
Contributor
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Roger Dunsford
aircrew
recruitment
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1207/11780/AWrightE180422.1.mp3
fd181733cc2437feb991f53462171948
Dublin Core
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Title
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Wright, Eric
E Wright
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Eric Wright (b. 1933). He accompanied his father on fire watching duties and witnessed bombing.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2018-04-24
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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Wright, E
Transcribed audio recording
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
MS: My name’s Michael Sheehan. I’m at [buzzzzz] and I’m interviewing Eric Wright. Is it ok to call you Eric?
EW: Yes.
MS: Thank you. Right. My name’s Michael. The date of the interview is the 24th of the 4th 1918. The time is five to eleven. 2018 not 1918 [laughs] I’m a hundred years out, aren’t I? Right, Eric.
AS: Also present —
MS: Oh, yeah. Also present, thank you very much, I’m being corrected by my beautiful assistant, is Audrey Wright who’s here, who is Eric’s wife on his behalf. And also with me is Anita Sheehan who is one of the other interviewers for the IBCC. So, are you happy to be interviewed, Eric?
EW: Yes.
MS: Basically, recordings of these interviews are intended to pick up the stories of people who administered the damage such as the bomber crews, the people working for the Bomber Command and also most importantly people who themselves suffered as a result of the bombing or who witnessed the conflict. And you were —
[recording paused]
MS: The recorder, because it’s doing some strange things. It’s actually flashing as we’re talking which is not what it should be doing so I do need to stop. Sorry about this —
[recording paused]
MS: Yeah. The recorder appears to be working ok. So what we’ll do is we’ll continue with the interview, Eric. Ok. Right. So, now then, as I said before would you like to tell me a little bit about your recollections prior to war?
[recording paused]
EW: We lived at Rotherham and —
[recording paused]
EW: Fought in the First World War, got me and —
[recording paused]
EW: [unclear] Drive, at Rotherham. And we got all the blackouts up and everything and it was quite keen, you know. They used to come around and make sure there was no –
[recording paused]
EW: Dad was by this time in the Civil Service and he was appointed as manpower services manager.
[recording paused]
EW: I suppose at that age you took it all in your stride. You, you took it in but basically there was no immediate effect so you didn’t sort of worry about it as a young kid. You know. It was as simple as that. You went to school.
[recording paused]
EW: Other youngsters were talking about it. But it didn’t register that you could have a bomb dropped on you or things explode, you know and all the rest of it. It just didn’t register and life went on.
[recording paused]
EW: Anyway, we moved to Nottingham. We moved to Gordon Road at West Bridgford.
[recording paused]
EW: And then things started to happen there because mother had got rheumatoid arthritis and although they built a community shelter on —
[recording paused]
EW: So they equipped us with a table shelter. A Morrison table shelter. There was two —
[recording paused]
EW: Morrison but I came across a lot of people who, who had an Anderson table shelter. It replaced the, it replaced the living room table and was most peculiar and it was quite a plaything for me because we used to have a big mattress in there, you know [laughs] We used to go in there.
MS: Can you describe it to us?
EW: Yes. It was four very solid steel legs with a steel sock and right around the outside of it was a mesh arrangement with a door where you could get in.
[recording paused]
EW: Peculiar really. It was very cold, you know with it being metal but once you got the mattress in it was ok.
[recording paused]
EW: At this time having been transferred to Lincoln.
[recording paused]
EW: We got a number of air raids in Nottingham but we, if we didn’t go to the communal shelter —
[recording paused]
EW: There was one or two bombing raids and you know being a young kid and that you were, we could hear the bombs whistling down and the bang at the end of them and I used to say, ‘Oh, that was a good ‘un.’ [laughs] It wasn’t. Far from it [laughs] And then one night the roof came in and it came through the, it came through the bedroom floor immediately above and there was a lot of slates and dust and what have you.
[recording paused]
EW: ‘Still. Don’t move. There will be somebody here in a minute.’
[recording paused]
EW: And about an hour after that. I would think it would be a quarter of an hour somebody came.
[recording paused]
EW: ‘Are you all alright?’ And mother shouted no so the door was forced and in they came and they started moving all the rubble that was down in order to get the door open to get us out and we got out. And mother said to me, she said, ‘Come on. Get ready for school.’ You don’t, [laughs] didn’t happen. She said, ‘Get ready for school. You’ve got to meet Michael.’ Michael lived across the road and we went, you know every morning we walked to school. So I got ready for school and I said to mother, ‘Ok, I’m going.’ She said, ‘Alright. Be careful. Don’t pick anything up.’ [laughs] Of course, we was encouraged at this time to pick up any shrapnel up we found and it used to be put in a bin at school. And of course it used to go back and melted down and made into ammunition [laughs] to be sent back to Germany.
MS: Return to sender.
EW: Yeah. So I went out the front door for school and I looked across the road and I just couldn’t believe it. Michael’s house was flat [pause] And I just went back in. I said, ‘Mother, I’m going to school on my own.’ I said, ‘Michael’s flat is just a heap of bricks.’
[recording paused]
EW: She said, I didn’t know about that. I said, ‘Anyway, I’m going.’ So I went to school and we was both in the same class and something that I’ll never really —
[recording paused]
EW: Roll call in the class and they missed Michael Cousins off completely. She just went through the list, called, ticking the register off and all the rest of it. And then a little girl, she said, ‘You haven’t called Michael’s name out.’ So, she said, ‘No. Michael won’t be at school today.’ And she said, ‘He’s going to another school.’ Right.
[recording paused]
EW: We knew what it meant. I mean there was no two ways about it. We knew what it meant. But we, well it just carried on, you see. They kept us occupied with the lessons and all the rest of it. Also, the school was damaged. This was one of, most probably the good part [laughs] because we hadn’t the class rooms and consequently we couldn’t go to school every day. We went to school about two and a half days a week and they used to use people’s front rooms as classrooms. So you might be on one street one day and another street the next, you know, and you had to find your way. You was expected to find your way.
[recording paused]
EW: And then it was just over a year we was at Nottingham and then dad came home. He came home from Lincoln and he said, ‘We’re moving.’ So, I said, ‘Right. Where are we going?’ And he said, ‘You’re going to Lincoln.’ ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘Where’s that?’ [laughs] I hadn’t a clue where it was. So, we came to Lincoln and we came, he rented a property on Crane Grove at Western Avenue. I don’t know whether you know it.
MS: I know Western Avenue.
EW: Yeah. Well, it’s —
[recording paused]
EW: At the time Skellingthorpe Aerodrome was operational and when they took off at night they used to come straight over us and we used to stand in the upstairs bedroom window and count them out at night. And quite often we used to count them back in, you know and it was always a talking point because one was —
[recording paused]
EW: I suppose really in Lincoln with having so many aerodromes all the way around us we didn’t, didn’t suffer an awful lot.
[recording paused]
EW: Raleigh bikes and Boots at Nottingham because I think at that time —
[recording paused]
EW: Raleigh was making these fold up bikes which the troops used to use.
MS: Paratroopers. Yeah.
EW: Yeah.
[recording paused]
EW: We was lucky in Lincoln to a certain extent but we had one incident where —
[recording paused]
EW: Came over and it crashed on Highfield Avenue which is just off Skellingthorpe Road.
[recording paused]
EW: I think we’ve gone through this haven’t we because there’s some, there’s some paperwork in there that was written up by somebody from the Echo only a short while ago. Not that one.
MS: No.
EW: It’s another one that’s in there. And I said we was on the Skellingthorpe Road School field playing football like and named was a lot of other lads who were there at the same time.
[recording paused]
EW: I went down. We weren’t allowed down then because the street was, Highfield Avenue was shut off.
MS: Yeah.
EW: So —
[recording paused]
EW: I believe Dave lost his sister. His younger sister. And there was quite a few people —
[recording paused]
EW: And that was a training exercise where that bomber came down. So —
MS: There were a lot of training accidents.
EW: So that was that. And then of course we got the situation where dad was going —
[recording paused]
EW: Watching duties and ARP duties and all the rest of it. Telling people that [laughs] blackouts weren’t working.
MS: I understand that on one occasion you accompanied your dad.
EW: Yeah.
MS: To Lincoln Cathedral which was a fire watching position.
EW: Dad being one of a group of W’s where they were rota’d for fire watching was the last Friday in every month.
[recording paused]
EW: The place of fire watching was on top of the Lincoln Cathedral.
[recording paused]
EW: I ate at him for weeks and weeks and weeks to take me up there when he went fire watching. And then one Friday night he came home and he said, ‘You’re coming with me tonight. I’m taking you up on the Cathedral.’ And I think —
[recording paused]
EW: There were four. There used to be four of them go and they were all W’s and I think one of them wasn’t fit to go.
[recording paused]
MS: What was that?
EW: Wright. Walton. Wooton. Right.
MS: Right.
EW: Now what the fourth name was I don’t know but I knew Tommy Walton very well because he was a very good fisherman and he taught me how to fish in the River Witham.
[recording paused]
MS: Good pike river.
EW: Oh yeah. We mustn’t go in to this.
MS: No. Go on. You were poaching. Never mind.
EW: No. We weren’t poaching. We had licenses.
MS: Yeah. I’m only pulling your leg. Tell us about the Cathedral.
EW: Anyway, we got up on to the Cathedral and it was absolutely fantastic you know. I think my mind was oohh just the vista and everything. A young lad, never been up as high as that before I don’t think. I mean I’ve been down collieries and I’ve been down pits. Of course, grandad worked in, well he worked on the winding gear at Wath Main colliery.
MS: Oh.
EW: And no, it was absolutely wonderful. Wonderful night and all the rest of it and dad just said, ‘You make yourself scarce while we get on with what we’ve got to do.’ And that, if I remember right they had to log out from the various sections where they could see and it was section —
[recording paused]
I went in to the shed and I was reading. There was a little bit of an oil lamp in there.
[recording paused]
EW: The sirens went and I got up and I thought well, I’m going out to watch what was happening.
[recording paused]
And then this German bomber about all over the sky and there was some tracer bullets. Now, I’ve queried this. Would they have been, would they be using tracer bullets at that time?
MS: I don’t know about the time but I do know tracer bullets were used.
EW: Yeah.
MS: It depends on the state of the aircraft.
EW: Right. Anyway, there was bombs dropped and they sort of catalogued this on a sheet. Where the bomb flashes went. You know, the explosions were.
MS: Could you tell?
EW: Well, I more or less knew the direction from up, up there where they were falling and then of course there was quite a few on Monks Road and that area. And —
[recording paused]
EW: Report, it tells you that the plane flew down the High Street.
MS: We’re referring here to a report from the Echo. Lincoln Echo. I’m not sure what date it was.
[recording paused]
EW: Disappeared sort of south and it was chased from there. And I do know there was two bombs dropped in Boultham Park but nobody mentioned them because there was no damage.
[recording paused]
EW: There was, there was also the damage done on Dixon Street and I remember the plane going down. I hadn’t a clue where, where it was going down. Of course, it’ll have that —
[recording paused]
EW: Elevated. You was more or less —
MS: Yeah.
EW: Level with the top of the ridge, you know and it went down. It was shot down.
[recording paused]
EW: That was that and when they come to the end of the stint of course that was it. We went home. On the [laughs] on the Monday morning at school I happened to say to someone, they were on about this, you know, the bombs that had been dropped, all kids as they were. And I happened to say that I was on top of Lincoln Cathedral with my dad who was fire watching and that was the wrong thing to say and it went through the school, you know. I was mobbed. ‘What did you see?’ ‘Did you see the plane shot, shot down?’ And at assembly I had to go on stage in front of the full school [laughs] tell them what happened. And when it got to the point where I say I saw the plane when it was shot down and disappeared, and the explosion when it landed, you know. When it hit the ground and all the rest of it every body cheered like mad. You know.
MS: Yeah.
EW: All the kids at school. Cheering like mad.
MS: How do you actually, what were your, what were your feelings when you were on the roof? What —
[recording paused]
EW: I wasn’t all that happy quite honest because you didn’t know what was going, I mean they avoided the Lincoln Cathedral. You know, there was no, there has always been this thing about Dresden and I’ve been to Dresden anyway, but there was always this thing about Dresden but they did an awful lot of damage in this country so I don’t worry too much about Dresden. You know, I just don’t worry. It was bombed.
[recording paused]
EW: Everybody’s attitude hardened you know. Even us. Even us as young kids.
[recording paused]
EW: I think a lot of people of my age who went —
[recording paused]
MS: I just want to check that the thing’s counting up [pause] Yeah. It’s, the recorder I believe is behaving in a very strange way. I think what it’s doing is when we go quiet it goes on to a different —
EW: Oh, it will do.
MS: It starts. Yeah. I’m going to, this is something I’ll look at later but it’s recording properly anyway. I want to ask you about something which is not a very pleasant time in your life. 1943 was when you were on the, the top of the —
[recording paused]
EW: Mother [pause] went to Sheffield to see her mother and father and she had quite —
[recording paused]
EW: Had a shelf around the room with a lot antiques on it.
[recording paused]
EW: And at the time she said, ‘I’m going to Sheffield.’
[recording paused]
EW: She said, ‘You and Linda — ’
[recording paused]
EW: She went to Sheffield and —
[recording paused]
EW: She wasn’t in a good way at all and the doctor moved her in to Lincoln County Hospital. And —
[recording paused]
EW: From what I remember of course they used to shelter things from you as kids, they used to shelter things from you, was that there was another raid while mother was in Sheffield.
[recording paused]
EW: She got an injury and that’s why doctor put her, when she managed to get home. Don’t ask me how but she did.
[recording paused]
EW: The doctor put her in Lincoln County Hospital and —
[recording paused]
EW: Then of course there was another raid. A bad one in Sheffield. Grandad was injured but grandmother lost her life.
[recording paused]
EW: My sister agrees with me on this because we have talked about it.
[recording paused]
EW: She used, prior to that she used to tell us, ‘I shan’t be long before I’m home. I’m feeling —'
[recording paused]
EW: Point of sixty years afterwards we was all in Devon weren’t we having a bit of, sort of a bit of a family reunion and we was talking about this and she said, ‘Yes —'
[recording paused]
EW: I said, ‘I don’t even know where she was buried and — ’ I said, ‘Because I wasn’t allowed to go to the funeral.’
[recording paused]
EW: My sister, who isn’t Linda really. They called her Rosalind but she got Linda as a shortening.
MS: Well short [laughs]
EW: So, she said, ‘Well, she’s in Burngreave Cemetery at Sheffield.’ So, I said, ‘Right.’
[recording paused]
EW: Finally, I don’t know who I we got in touch with. Did I get in touch with the Sheffield Bereavement Services?
AW: That’s right.
EW: Yeah.
[recording paused]
EW: By return of post they gave me all the information.
MS: This one we’re seeing here?
[recording paused]
EW: There’s that.
[pause]
[recording paused]
MS: Out here. What’s that then? That’s Burngreave Cemetery Summary Report.
EW: Yeah. That’s summary report.
MS: Yeah.
EW: There’s also, it’s a wonderful place. It really is.
MS: Was this war graves?
[recording paused]
MS: Chapel, Cemetery, Victims of the Great War 1914-1918. Remembered in Burngreave Cemetery.
EW: No. What is in here —
MS: Not the Great War obviously.
EW: No. What is in here is a lot of reference to the East Yorks Regiment which dad served in in the First World War.
MS: Right.
[recording paused]
EW: No. But as the years have gone on, you know and really —
[recording paused]
EW: Disabled daughter and another son and daughter that she’s —
[recording paused]
EW: I said about this. The funeral. I was at Doncaster when the funeral was held and my auntie and uncle went to the funeral and I said, ‘Why can’t I go?’ And I was told —
[recording paused]
EW: You get babes in arms at funerals now.
[recording paused]
MS: Can I ask you a question? It’s a bit personal. You lost your —
[recording paused]
EW: It was difficult. I mean Auntie Marie does —
[recording paused]
EW: For me and a lot for my sister. And it wasn’t until dad employed a housekeeper —
[recording paused]
EW: And she moved in and sorted everything out and then —
[recording paused]
EW: When I was in Doncaster I went to another school and this was a lot of problem with my education. I chopped and changed that many schools you know and you had to make fresh lot of friends and all the rest of it but no it was just that I was told, ‘You’re not old enough to go to a funeral.’ You know.
[recording paused]
MS: What I want to do now is I want to —
EW: My sister went.
MS: Oh yeah.
EW: And it was a very bad day apparently and Burngreave Cemetery is, I regard it as being a little bit of a unique set up because as you’re going —
[recording paused]
EW: In to the cemetery, goes between those two chapels. Now, one of the chapels was where all services was held for —
[recording paused]
EW: Chapel was where services was held for other denominations as it were.
[recording paused]
EW: And it’s more or less derelict today.
AW: Shame.
EW: Yeah.
[recording paused]
EW: There which we have done, haven’t we?
AW: Not for a while though.
EW: Not for a while.
[recording paused]
EW: Difficult drive to get there quite honestly. It’s alright. We do —
[recording paused]
EW: Grandad bought the plot and they’ve all gone in there.
[recording paused]
EW: It’s difficult.
MS: Because?
EW: Well, it’s consecrated ground of course and the strange thing about this, my sister said that when she was alive she said —
[recording paused]
EW: ‘When you go to Burngreave,’ she said, ‘Take a Rosemary bush and plant it on the grave. She said Rosemary was mother’s favourite plant. So we took this little Rosemary bush, didn’t we? I took a trowel with me and all the rest of it and I thought, I’m digging down and I thought this is —
[recording paused]
EW: I didn’t know what to do about this, you know. I thought well I have to plant the Rosemary bush but what’s that canister?
[recording paused]
MS: Not far down.
EW: No.
MS: Very odd.
EW: Virtually on the top, isn’t it?
AW: Ahum.
EW: Because it’s quite stony ground. And anyway, I mulled this over for quite a while about this and finally I got in touch with Sheffield Bereavement Services and we arranged to meet the people who looked after the cemetery and —
[recording paused]
EW: It was round.
MS: Yeah.
EW: And it was some sort of plastic. Or like plastic material.
MS: Was it grey?
EW: A greyish yellow.
MS: I’ve seen an urn for a —
[recording paused]
EW: The, the people that looked after the cemetery. They came up and they dug it up and they said, well there’s no reference to who it is, but they confirmed that it was ashes.
[recording paused]
MS: Propose to do at the moment is just pause the interview if that’s ok to give you a break. Yeah. And for me to also check that this is still working. Is that, ok? It had better be.
AW: Would you like a cup of tea?
[recording paused]
MS: I’d love a cup of tea please. The interview is paused at half past eleven. Eric, thank you very much so far. I’m just going to make sure this is working.
[recording paused]
MS: I’m from Lancashire. Anita’s from Bristol. Thanks Audrey. Right.
[recording paused]
MS: Right. Resuming the interview with Eric Wright. It’s now twelve minutes past twelve. Eric, thank you and Audrey for the tea and biscuits and the laugh in the interim. Let’s [pause] I wanted to just ask you about something. You showed me some photographs just now and they were of Belsen camp. The place where—
[recording paused]
EW: We used to have church services at Belsen. Belsen. And we used to go down there and do whatever we could do to clear the place up because it was in a very rough state of course. It’s not like it —
[recording paused]
EW: Walk through the woods and even see the gas chambers which were in a more or less in a semi-derelict condition. Tumbled down. But you know the sort of shower rows? They were still there which were told, or they told people that they were going to get a shower and the shower went in and the gas actually went through them. But walking through the woods you never heard the birds singing or anything. There was uniform buttons and buckles off belts and that sort of thing.
[recording paused]
EW: You know, how? You know, why did they do this? And it was really even for a young man sort of eighteen, nineteen it was very depressing.
MS: Was that the age you were at the time?
EW: Yeah.
MS: So, this was just six years after the war ended.
EW: Well, I was nineteen at the time when I was at Belsen. Yeah. Yeah.
[recording paused]
EW: We was there basically to do cleaning up. It was mainly fatigues which the regiment did periodically and had a church service there on a Sunday.
MS: You were in the Royal Artillery, I understand.
EW: Yeah.
[recording paused]
MS: You just told me a second ago about the, your smiling, the disposal of ammunition in Hartsholme Lake just outside Lincoln.
EW: Yeah.
MS: What happened there then?
EW: When they closed Hartsholme Lake down, Hartsholme, sorry Skellingthorpe Aerodrome down, all the ammunition, or a lot of the ammunition was dumped in Hartsholme Lake, at the north end of the island. And there must be a massive amount of scrap copper down there or brass.
MS: Yeah.
EW: Brass cartridges. If anybody dares, dare dredge it out but also the schoolkids at Skellingthorpe Road School we used to go down there and we used to persuade the man who was dealing with the ammunition to take the business end off the, off the cannon shells and give us the cordite strips that was inside. Once we got these we used to wrap them up very tightly in brown paper and bind them up with string and then stick a little bit of cordite in the end and light it and it used to run all over the school playground. And it was what we called scarlet runners. And we used to do this until the headmistress [laughs] headmistress found out where we was getting it from and all the rest of it and then it was very quickly stopped.
MS: Who actually taught you how to do it?
EW: I don’t know. I know who the main ring leader was. It was a chappie called Tony Patten. He could be [laughs] Tony Patten was in to everything but you didn’t get in to trouble during the war. You didn’t get in to trouble at all. You didn’t cause any problems. They’d got enough problems with Hitler. And the park keepers at Boultham Park, I’ve been chased by them. I’ve had my earhole warmed by them. And the police. It used to be the flat of the hand, you know and then they used to say, ‘Where do you live?’ You used to tell them where you lived and they used to go home, tell your dad. He used to stop your pocket money. And you used to get another good hiding. And I’m still here at fifty, at eighty five [laughs] none the worse for it.
MS: It’s not affected you at all has it?
EW: No. No [laughs] No. No, you didn’t. You just didn’t cause any trouble at all.
MS: What was the best thing you remember about the war years as a child?
[recording paused]
EW: Occasion. I can’t let this go. On Boultham Park Road there was a shop called Brancasters. It was a general store.
[recording paused]
EW: Information that they got some chocolate bars in there which was as scarce as rocking horse droppings of course.
[recording paused]
EW: Coupons so, which we produced them. He said, ‘Well, with the coupons you’ve got,’ he said, ‘I can let you have a Mars bar to share between you.’
[recording paused]
EW: Others, we used to go fishing.
[recording paused]
EW: And we used to make our own jam butties and take them down and we used to down on the Witham at the back of what is now Walker’s Crisps and we used to fish and that river was crystal clear. You didn’t need, the rods we made ourselves and all this sort of thing and we used to fish until we got fed up with it and then it used to be a case of take our clothes off and in the water. Anyway, one day I was fully dressed and I went home wet through and dad said, ‘What you have you been doing?’ I said ‘I fell in the river.’ He said, ‘You’re not going fishing again,’ he said, ‘Until you’ve learned to swim.’ So I was sent to learn to swim to a friend of his who was in the Yorkshireman Society with dad because he was in to that and he, on my first lesson he said, ‘You’re not going to take long to get going.’ So, he said, ‘You can swim.’ He said, ‘Where did you learn that?
[recording paused]
EW: I said, ‘I learned in the river with the others.’ [laughs] You know. And they were, they were really good times. We used to go down there with you know possibly a bottle of pop which was a glass bottle with a charge on the bottle which we used to take back and get the money. And we used to just while away the time fishing or swimming until the girls got to know.
MS: Ah.
EW: And they came, the girls used to come down from, you most probably knew them, I don’t know they used to come down from Russell Street and all the rest of it because they knew we were swimming in the nude like. So, we used to get in the water and we wouldn’t come out.
AW: Oh dear.
MS: Do you think they knew that as well?
AW: It’s a wonder they didn’t pinch your clothes.
EW: Well, I don’t know. I think we had, we had a good system all around really. But no, we used to make all our own amusement, you know. We, we used to go to football occasionally and it was a leather football with a blow-up bladder inside it.
MS: Yeah.
EW: And it had to be laced up and one of the masters at Sincil Bank School, that was Eric [Jobley] who, I think he was the science master there. I’m not sure.
[recording paused]
EW: We used to take it to him and he used to repair it and put it all back together and lace it up.
[recording paused]
EW: So, football. Cricket was a little bit different because you weren’t dependant —
[recording paused]
MS: You’re a Yorkshireman. You should be able to play cricket.
EW: Yeah. I know. Play on the, on the mining ground where they used to use a lump of coal as a ball.
MS: Makes you hard [laughs] I need to ask you now, if it’s alright about, you told us a little bit. You told us about Belsen. You were in the Royal Artillery. How long were you in the Royal Artillery for?
EW: Officially two years.
MS: Was it conscription?
[recording paused]
EW: Conscript, this was another story.
MS: Yeah. Go on.
EW: I don’t —
[recording paused]
EW: I went in —
[recording paused]
EW: There was quite a few of us. I mean I knew one or two of them that was with me at the time. We got kitted out which was —
[recording paused]
MS: They tell you you’ll grow into it.
EW: Yeah. That’s right. Anyway, the common gag is and you’ve got to have heard this before. The only thing that fit me was my tie.
MS: Yes.
EW: So, when we, when we got in to barracks at Oswestry we were saying, ‘Hey, this doesn’t fit me. Does it fit you?’ [laughs] and all this. Some people with trouser legs that short [laughs] Oh, it was crazy. It was. Anyway, we was shipped out, on from there to Tonfanau in Wales. And that was training. That was the start of training and I can always remember Sergeant Feint, Bombardier Routledge, and Lance Bombardier Spalding. They got us all altogether and they said, ‘We’ve got a job to do on you lads. We’ve got to smarten you up and get you trained up and you’ll not like what we’re going to do but you’ve got to put up with it. You’re now in the employment of the Queen.’ [laughs] What have you. And I shall never forget them as long as I live and they told us that. ‘You’ll not forget us three for the, you know for the rest of your life.’ And I didn’t. It suited me. Tonfanau. In fact, we went back didn’t we?
AW: We went on holiday, didn’t we?
EW: Yeah. And the camp’s not there. Its, it’s a shame really but it’s not there.
[recording paused]
EW: But it was, you know in the mountains and all the rest of it.
MS: Is it South Wales?
EW: Yeah.
MS: It’s lovely down there.
[recording paused]
EW: And [unclear] and all the rest of it and the firing range on there and all that so —
[recording paused]
EW: We’d finished training.
[recording paused]
EW: It was a competitive thing. There were three batteries. A, B and C and they used to do it as competitive. The one who gets, one who wins out of the three batteries there was a prize.
[recording paused]
EW: I got with a right set of, you know, I got with a right set of good lads. They really were and we won it. So, what’s the prize? ‘You’re going to get Christmas holiday. ‘So that’s alright. I had to go half way across Louth. Seventeen hours it took me across to get there. We got the travel warrants and all the rest. We’d one lad with us from Ireland. A chappie called McRory.
[recording paused]
EW: Kit with me. He said, even my rifle. He said, he said, ‘My brother’s been in the Irish Fusiliers,’ or whatever it was, ‘And said he’ll show me how to bull it all up and get it all done.’ And he said, ‘The only trouble is,’ he said, ‘My warrant’s going to take me as far as Liverpool.’ He said, ‘To get across to Ireland from there,’ he said. ‘I can’t afford it.’ So we had a whip around and he got his money to get him home.
[recording paused]
EW: Never came back.
MS: Rifle and all.
EW: No rifle. I always used to say it was the start of the IRA.
MS: Was it a Lee-Enfield?
EW: Yeah.
MS: They’ve got plenty of their own.
EW: But from there we went down to Woolwich on embarkation leave and we was in Woolwich for, I don’t know for about three weeks but we got eighteen day leave before that.
[recording paused]
EW: I was told I was going to the 12th light ack ack. You know, where all the small blokes went to the light. Big blokes went to the heavy ack ack. And we went to Trieste but fortunately I wasn’t there for very long. It was a mucky filthy place
MS: Trieste.
[recording paused]
EW: We had, one of the bad things about Trieste we had biscuit mattresses on the beds.
[recording paused]
EW: We had to throw them out the barrack window on to a trailer and if they were left there too long you could see the fleas jumping on. You know, it was grim. Anyway, we left. We left Trieste and we was on board ship and I’ve still got to look at the map and work out just exactly where we went —
[recording paused]
EW: For four days and then we went from —
[recording paused]
EW: I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed Wales mainly.
[recording paused]
EW: And I saw the monkeys at Gib.
[recording paused]
EW: Was on Malta. And we was at Malta for five weeks for a firing camp and the thing I —
[recording paused]
EW: All the rest of it and the one thing that I always remember was the open sewers.
[recording paused]
EW: The black flies. They didn’t bite you or anything like that but they were big.
[recording paused]
EW: Moved on. Being the youngsters in the regiment we moved on as the advance party to Germany and we went to Celle.
[recording paused]
EW: Extra training. We got our Christmas leave and when we got back to camp they said, ‘You’re behind with your training. You’ve had Christmas leave so we’re going to give you further, further training.’ And I didn’t know what this meant at the time. I don’t think the others knew what it meant so we had extra —
[recording paused]
EW: Weeks, I think, training which was very hard.
[recording paused]
EW: Anyway —
[recording paused]
EW: I was in Germany. They got a group of us together.
[recording paused]
EW: If you look at my Army records and you’ve got them in number there’s no mention of the five months I had in Korea.
MS: Is that right?
[recording paused]
EW: Records.
MS: And yet there’s nothing on it.
EW: Nothing on.
MS: That’s devious.
EW: Exactly. As I say there’s no record of that time. Just a straight two year National Serviceman. When I applied for my veteran’s badge and they said yes you were so and so —
[recording paused]
EW: For that five months we were paid as regulars which was alright for us. You know. We used to take, you know, very thankful. We’d nothing. Nothing to spend it on.
MS: No.
EW: So, I came out with eventually when I came out because it took us I would think nearly a month to get to Korea and it took us more or less the same period of time to get back and during that time my father didn’t know where I was. All my letters home, he used to write me a letter and chew me off for not writing but I used to write and the letters used to go to Germany and then from Germany they used to be posted on to Louth and they used to have BAOR 23 on them. But I wasn’t and the letters were vetted. We weren’t allowed to say where we were.
MS: Did you do any live firing in Korea?
[recording paused]
EW: Right. If you look at that eyebrow.
MS: Yeah.
EW: Right. It’s a lot thicker.
[recording paused]
MS: Eyebrow.
EW: Yeah. I was lucky wasn’t I?
MS: Yeah. Shrapnel?
EW: No.
MS: A bullet.
EW: A live round, that was. Yeah.
MS: Strewth. Were you married at the time?
EW: No. It was before I even knew Audrey.
MS: So, you should have been called Lucky, not Shorty [laughs]
EW: [laughs] No.
MS: That is lucky.
EW: But the lad who was stood next door, well he wasn’t stood, he was under camouflage next door but one to me like I was saying to him, ‘Whatever you do, when you’ve fired, move, because your muzzle flash —
MS: Yeah.
EW: Gives you away.’ Anyway, I said, ‘What’s up George?’ I said, ‘Have you heard me?’ You know.
[recording paused]
EW: Whether it was the same bullet or not I’d like to know.
MS: Did it fracture your skull or —
[recording paused]
EW: Well, the, the problem was we hadn’t a reliable wireless operator. We was forward, you know. Moving up and passing the info back.
MS: Yeah.
EW: And blood was running down, you know. Down in to my eye. I couldn’t see what I was doing with my right eye at all because of the blood in it. Right. And —
[recording paused]
EW: And got through. We could do with a bit of a system see. There was just eight of us up and I think this was something to do with the number. Eight. Six and we’d got one man injured and another man out of this world like. Anyway, they eventually —
[recording paused]
EW: I don’t think we would have got out of it. The worst issue I ever had in Korea was when I first got there. I was on guard one morning and the sergeant came out. He said, ‘Is there much happening?’ I said, ‘There’s some blokes up there on the ridge.’ And there was this one chap, he said, ‘Take him out.’
[recording paused]
EW: And I come to the conclusion, the same as a lot of the others you did what you was ordered to do. Not what you would have done by choice.
MS: Yes.
[recording paused]
EW: Done a bit of shooting before I went in the Army. I was with Louth Old Mill Small Bore Club and all they, every time I went on the range it was done competitively like.
MS: Yeah.
EW: We used to be firing and I used to be doing pretty good with that and then it was sort of a couple of bob in the kitty and the winner took it. Well, I knew how to rig, rig the sights, fiddle the sights and all the rest of it so —
MS: You knew what you were doing.
EW: I knew what I was doing. And the strange thing at the end of all this, when I got back home I’d been home about a fortnight and I’d gone back to my old job and one of the lads there was in the Small Bore Club the same as me and he said, ‘You haven’t been down yet.’ I said, ‘No. I’m coming down.’ Anyway, I said to my stepmother, I said, ‘I’m going down to the Old Mill tonight.’ ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘We’re not going to start with that again are we?’ She said, ‘We’re not going to start again with the police visiting to check your guns and check your gun covers and all the rest of it.’ I said, ‘No. We’re not.’
[recording paused]
EW: That’s what we’re about.
MS: Yeah.
EW: You’d got a job to do and you did it but, no.
MS: Didn’t rejoice in it.
EW: No.
MS: No.
[recording paused]
EW: It was nothing really looking back. I’m lucky to be here talking to you to be quite honest
MS: From that you are.
EW: Yeah.
MS: I’ll say. Yeah.
[recording paused]
EW: I’m not sure Audrey knows about it, do you?
AW: No. No. You’ve never said anything. I mean, it’s been quite enlightening.
[recording paused]
EW: Well, they, the thing, the thing about that you have remarks about it when I put the electric razor across my eyebrows.
MS: I could do with it on mine.
EW: I put that across. If I take too much off it does show. But no. No.
MS: Lucky man.
EW: Yeah. A lot luckier than —
[recording paused]
MS: Yeah.
EW: Now —
MS: Was he a close friend?
EW: He [pause] well, no. He wasn’t. He was, he’d got in as a National Serviceman. He was from Northampton and, you know you always get one and he was absolutely crazy that lad. He was —
MS: Comedian.
EW: Oh God, yeah. How rude can I be?
MS: As rude as you like. Close your ears ladies.
EW: Well, when we first went in, when we first got to a regiment one of the officers came in one day and he’d got us all in a lecture room and he was going around us all, ‘What did you do in Civvy Street?’ You see. Well, at that time I was in horticulture and that’s what I intended going back to.
[recording paused]
EW: He said, ‘What did you do?’ George Panther, they called him. He said, ‘What did you do?’ He said, ‘I made manhole covers, sir.’ So, he said, ‘Oh, you worked in the foundry did you?’ He said, ‘No. I wasn’t in the foundry.’ He said [laughs] ‘I worked in a ladies underwear factory cutting, cutting gussets out for ladies knickers.’ Now, you can imagine. You can imagine what that went down with the, with the other [laughs] other young lads. I shall never forget George for that.
MS: His card was marked.
EW: And no, he was, he was good fun to be all the, with all the time really, George was. Well, another one called Jeff [House] he was from Wiltshire. He was farming. And the camp where we were in Germany or the barracks where we were in Germany was an old German hospital and it had got very long corridors. And we used to be coming up from the cookhouse and Jeff used to be way down the corridor and I used to say to one of the lads, ‘Shout a number out.’ He used to shout a number out and I used to shout, ‘House.’ [laughs] He would turn around and say, ‘One of these days.’ There was such a lot of banter.
MS: Do you know, the guys you were working with in the regiment, I imagine a lot of them had service from the —
[recording paused]
MS: Did it make any difference to them? How they were?
EW: No. They with the sergeant that went out to Korea with us, he’d been through a lot of the campaigns during the war. They called him [Brogden] Irishman.
[recording paused]
EW: He would be telling you something and he would say, ‘Have you got it, lad? If you haven’t got it, get it. Got it?’
MS: That’s a catchphrase.
EW: But he was a super bloke to be with. You couldn’t have wanted to be with anybody else better than him.
[recording paused]
MS: Or tell us I should say.
EW: There will be something I remember. There’s been such a lot.
MS: Yeah. A long period of time. Anita, can you think of anything that needs covering that I’ve not covered?
[recording paused]
AS: The vehicles that you learned to—
EW: Oh, the vehicles.
AS: Operate in the, yeah.
EW: When I first got to Germany they said, ‘Have you —', ‘Can you drive?’ I said, ‘No.’ They said, ‘Do you want to learn to ride a motorbike?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, if you like.’ And then because I was doing a lot of cycling I thought I might as well. That is just one point there with you being RAF. And I was dispatch riding and like the other three mates I had who was all non-smokers. That’s something you might be interested in. I was asked to go to Oldenburg with a load of paperwork all in the pannier on the bike and all the rest of it and it was very bad weather and the German roads very much like that. Cobblestone. And there was snow on them. I had a very hairy ride to Oldenburg. And when I got to Oldenburg the chappie on sentry duty lifted the barrier and I got halfway underneath it and he let it go and it dropped across my shoulders.
MS: Oh.
EW: So, I got, got back to camp and I went in to see the MOT officer the following morning. I said, ‘I want to come off of bikes.’ And I told him why. And he said, ‘Good. You’re just the man I want.’ He said, ‘You’re on a driving course from Monday.’ Right. So it was jeep.
MS: Yeah.
EW: With the canvas top where you put it in four wheel drive and then got out of it and walked up the square and started [laughs]
MS: What was this? Oh, you actually brought it with you. You just kept it going.
EW: Yeah.
MS: Oh right. I see. So you walked next to the vehicle.
EW: Yeah. We just used to get it going and then get out of them and walk in front of it.
MS: Right.
EW: Did all sorts of crazy [laughs]. It was jeep, fifteen hundred weight, a three tonner, three tonner with a water carrier on the back which was about three or four hundred gallon, wasn’t it? GTB which was an ammunition carrier. And half track which was possibility one of the best vehicles I’ve ever driven.
MS: Did you drive those on the —
[recording paused]
EW: Pass on all of them. And you only had a week on each. And I had a little sergeant at the side of me. Sergeant Warren. And if your hands weren’t in the right place on the wheel the swagger cane came over.
MS: Ten to two.
EW: Yes. Oh yeah. I still do, don’t I?
MS: Its very safe.
EW: So, then we used to get, after we passed, I passed them all. Passed all of them. All the lot. And then we used to get manoeuvrability trials and it was down to Celle, RAF and they used to have all sorts of obstacles fitted up and we had to reverse these three tonners with trailers on, on the, you know with the water carriers.
MS: Yes.
EW: And every so often they used to pick on you at parade. Manoeuvrability trials this afternoon. We had to drive the, which were Morris trucks I think with forty millimetre bofors on the back. We had to drive them because we were all part of a detachment. And what it was when I was trained up as, trained up as a limber gunner there was two limber gunners between two gun detachments. So you had two guns to look after on the —
[recording paused]
EW: Yeah. So, the sad thing is I came out and I was given my pink slip to take and get my suit.
[recording paused]
EW: They wouldn’t accept it would they because I hadn’t taken it soon enough. I should have took it in straight away.
MS: After you’d driven in all the other stuff.
EW: Yeah. So, dad wasn’t very well at the time and I think he’d had his first heart attack.
[recording paused]
EW: At Louth quite a lot so I’d go there and come back again.
[recording paused]
EW: That little scooter. Well, it wasn’t little. It was an NSU 175.
[recording paused]
EW: I took my test on that and straight afterwards I bought a little car. A little Austin A30.
MS: Nice little car.
[recording paused]
MS: Is there something we should know?
EW: Well, it took her to Sheffield to see Louis Armstrong anyway, didn’t we? And I straight away put in for my test and my test came through and the lads at work were saying, ‘Who have you got?’ I said.
[recording paused]
EW: Oh God. You’ve got the Mad Major you have.
[recording paused]
EW: In fact, it was the Highway Code. It’s not like it is now which is a load of rubbish I think.
MS: I agree.
EW: And he said, ‘Have you driven? Have you been in the Services?’ I said, ‘Yeah. I’ve been in the Army.’ He said, ‘Have you driven?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘I thought so.’
[recording paused]
EW: ‘I’m going to pass you.’ He said, ‘And you’re the first person I’ve passed for thirteen weeks.
[recording paused]
MS: Done and dusted.
EW: Yeah.
MS: Yeah. Eric, we must stop now because we’ve got an appointment to go and look at a house.
[recording paused]
MS: In about an hour’s time. Yeah. I’ve got some paperwork to go through before we finish. Is that, ok?
[recording paused]
MS: We finish. Normally we thank you right at the end but I’ve actually enjoyed this conversation.
[recording paused]
MS: I haven’t had such a laugh for a while.
[recording paused]
EW: Well, it’s, it’s simple. The four lads, or the four of us were all non-smokers.
MS: Yeah.
EW: Right. And we got two hundred cigarettes a week ration.
MS: To sell.
EW: And we used to take them down Celle.
MS: Yeah.
EW: And we used to sell them to a delightful little Jew. A German Jew. And he really was, he was a super bloke.
MS: Yeah.
EW: He used to make a lot of money, we used to make a lot of money and it used to make the difference between civilian salaries and, and Army pay.
MS: So, it was obviously very healthy not to smoke.
[recording paused]
MS: What I’m saying —
EW: Dad used to enjoy it. I used to take him four hundred when I went on leave. ‘What did you pay for these?’ You know.
MS: I’m leaving the tape recorder on while I go through the last bits with you if you don’t mind. Yeah. A couple of things I need to check with you. First of all you’re happy with everything. It’s always the same. There’s always loads of paperwork. Right. First of all I’ve got to ask you a couple of questions. Do you confirm that you consented to take part in the interview?
EW: Yes.
MS: And are you happy to assign to the university all copyright in relation to this and in all and any media. And do you understand it won’t affect your own moral right to be identified as the performer in accordance with the relevant law?
EW: Yeah.
MS: Basically, it’s copyright.
EW: Yeah.
MS: Now are you happy? Do you agree that your name will be publicly associated with this interview but you understand that all personal details will be stored under strict confidential circumstances and will not be shared with —
[recording paused]
MS: Your name but nothing else.
EW: Yeah.
MS: Ok. Do you grant me permission to take a photo of you in a minute? A little portrait of you. You look lovely [laughs] What are you running out the room for?
AW: He’s got to put his make up on.
MS: I’m not there yet. I’m just saying [laughs] All right then.
AW: Don’t be long [laughs]
EW: I shan’t be long.
MS: Right. I am going to put the recorder off. Ok [laughs] Bear with me a second.
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 Eric Wright
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Michael Sheehan
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
2018-04-22
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.
Type
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Sound
Identifier
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AWrightE180422
Format
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01:00:30 audio recording
Language
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eng
Coverage
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Civilian
British Army
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Doncaster
England--Sheffield
England--Rotherham
Germany
Germany--Bergen (Celle)--Belsen
Korea
Description
An account of the resource
Eric Wright in lived in Rotherham at the start of the war. As a school child he says that he did not really understand the implications of it. The family moved to Nottingham and he describes life there, with the air raids and sheltering under the Morrison table shelter in the living room. He recalls one air raid in which his house was damaged, and he had to be rescued but his friend on the other side of the street was killed. After a year they moved to Lincoln where his father became an air raid warden and fire watcher. One night in 1943 his father took him up to the roof of Lincoln Cathedral, from where he saw a German aircraft drop bombs on Lincoln before it was shot down. During an air raid on Sheffield, his mother was seriously injured and subsequently died. Being a child he was not allowed to go to the funeral. Later the family moved Doncaster. He explains that after the close of RAF Skellingthorpe, live ammunition was dumped in the lake at Hartsholme Park. He also describes how they managed to get cordite from cannon shells to make 'scarlet runners', a type of firework they let off in the school playground. After the war, Eric did his National Service with the Royal Artillery. After training in he was posted to a light anti-aircraft unit. During his service he was based in Germany where he helped to clear Belsen Concentration Camp. He became a driver using a variety of vehicles. He also served for five months in Korea, where he was injured.
Temporal Coverage
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1943
Conforms To
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Pending review
Pending revision of OH transcription
Contributor
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Julie Williams
bombing
childhood in wartime
civil defence
Holocaust
home front
RAF Skellingthorpe
shelter
-
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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
Wynn, Ian Archer
I A Wynn
Description
An account of the resource
146 Items. Collection concerns Pilot Officer Ian Archer Wynn (1908 - 1943, 146838 Royal Air Force). After training as ground crew he remustered as a flight engineer and flew operations with 100 Squadron. He was killed 25 May 1943 on an operation from RAF Grimsby to Düsseldorf. Collection consists of a diary, a memorial book, an official report on what was his final operation, photographs of his crew, his family and the squadron as well as official correspondence from Air Ministry and British Red Cross, letters of condolence and a large number of letters from Ian Wynn to his wife Kathleen. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Patrick Anthony Wynn and catalogued by Nigel Huckins. <br /><br />Additional information on Ian Archer Wynn is available via the <a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/126116/">IBCC Losses Database.</a>
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
2015-07-13
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
Wynn, IA
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Envelope
[Postmark]
LINCOLN
16 DEC 1942
[/Postmark]
Stamp torn off.
Mrs K. Wynn,
Sunny Brae,
Norley,
Frodsham,
Warrington,
Lancs
[page break]
Reverse of envelope, no marks
[page break]
Sgts Mess
Wickenby
Lincoln
16-12-42
Dearest
Many thanks for your note to hand this morning. I am glad to hear that you have written the WSG people.
I expect I will get your other letter tomorrow giving me the dope on What I asked.
I am afraid also I cant [sic] stop now to write much dear [corrected] because [/corrected] I am going on an X country trip this afternoon & I have dash off any time now.
On Sunday, I was listening to the 1.o clock news and passing over Skiddaw. It looked grand. I shall be glad when we can have our trips there again.
I was over there again on Monday night
[page break]
but we were above the clouds & couldnt [sic] see a thing.
It is marvellous above the clouds in the moon light.
Yesterday we were “dive bombing” Doncaster & Gainsborough. It was good to see the folks gaping up at us I would hate to be a crowd of Germans when we go down at em. [sic]
The other day we were hedge hopping & scared a horse pulling a plough which bolted [corrected] across [/corrected] the field left the ploughman on his backside. I bet he wouldnt [sic] be pleased.
Oh please dont [sic] send any parcel to here at Xmas because we have Exclent [sic] Xmas fare in camp.
Roll on the 5th,
All my love,
Ever Your,
Ian
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
Letter from Ian Wynn to his wife
Description
An account of the resource
Writes of flying including cross country and over Doncaster and Gainsborough as well as scaring farmers ploughing with horses.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-12-16
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter and envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EWynnIAWynnK421216
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
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Lancashire
England--Warrington
England--Gainsborough
England--Doncaster
England--Yorkshire
England--Cheshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-12-16
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Ian Archer Wynn
aircrew
flight engineer
RAF Wickenby
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15921/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401004-0001.1.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15921/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401004-0002.1.jpg
5c89486e5748cf90922b02128a022b76
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15921/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401004-0003.1.jpg
8e8a85f4488a5555a0bccfa001191f1d
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
Redgrave, Henry Cecil
H C Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
187 items. The collection concerns Henry Cecil Redgrave (743047, Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, letters and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 207 Squadron from RAF Waddington. He was killed 13/14 March 1941. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Pam Isaac and catalogued by Barry Hunter.<br /><br /><span>Additional information on Henry Cecil Redgrave is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/119457/">IBCC Losses Database</a><span>.</span>
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
2015-10-02
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Redgrave, HC
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[RAF Crest]
Sgts Mess
Finningley
Yorks
4. 10. 40
Dear Jessie,
Its [sic] a most miserable night and I have just returned from Doncaster having gone in to get some shopping and am sitting round a big fire in one of the lads [sic] billet
Being pay night I had hoped to go and get your present but as I have not heard from you since Tuesday I do not know what you want and have got [inserted] back [/inserted] early to have a read and [smudged] write [/smudged] you this letter. The [deleted] whe [/deleted] weather has been very bad from a flying point of view and have spent most of the time sitting around in the crew room.
My hopes of [smudged] next [/smudged] week end [sic] leave have had rather a shock as a number of observers have been posted to Scotland without doing their Crew Training Course
[page break]
and maybe that’s [sic] what will happen to us with the result no crew training course and [no] week end pass. Never mind hope for the best. Last night I went and saw “Bill of Divorcement” at the Gaumont and enjoyed it very much. As a stage turn was the R. A. F. Swinglette composed of players from Ambrose and other top line dance bands who gave a first class performance of some of the finer jazz classics such as Rhapsody in Blue. As it happened I had seen them the night before in a Mess dance in which the WAAFSs were invited. The dance went off very well. Going back to last night after the pictures we had fifteen minutes to wait for the bus so off down the street we went and had a threepenny and a pennorth [sic] which
[page break]
we ate out of the paper going back to the bus. It was pouring with rain but how we enjoyed our supper. Theres [sic] something about the way they cook fish and chips up this way that makes you want to go on eating them. I suppose its [sic] proximity to Grimsby gives us such fresh fish.
That’s all I tell you [sic] just now and I am looking for a letter from you tomorrow
Your devoted husband
Harry xxxx
xxx for Pamela
P. S. included P./O for £1.
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
Letter to Jessie from Harry Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
Three-page handwritten letter from Harry Redgrave to his wife Jessie. Harry writes about life in the RAF at his station in Yorkshire including observers being posted to Scotland, training and his social life in Doncaster.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harry Redgrave
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-10-04
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401004-0001,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401004-0002,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401004-0003
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Doncaster
England--Yorkshire
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.
1940-10
aircrew
entertainment
ground personnel
military living conditions
observer
RAF Finningley
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15923/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401009-0001.1.jpg
6c7a52beb9d3ccae2fcf038304e89c0c
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15923/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401009-0002.1.jpg
691e7192d17217397b71a59f60233ddd
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15923/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401009-0003.1.jpg
c50970e32e2e1f809785990aac2f35f6
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
Redgrave, Henry Cecil
H C Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
187 items. The collection concerns Henry Cecil Redgrave (743047, Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, letters and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 207 Squadron from RAF Waddington. He was killed 13/14 March 1941. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Pam Isaac and catalogued by Barry Hunter.<br /><br /><span>Additional information on Henry Cecil Redgrave is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/119457/">IBCC Losses Database</a><span>.</span>
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
2015-10-02
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Redgrave, HC
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Envelope]
[postmark]
[postage stamp]
Mrs. H. C. Redgrave
155 Fletton Avenue
Peterboro’
Northants.
[page break]
[RAF Crest]
Finningley
Wed. 9-10-40
Dear Jessie,
After your unhappy letter of yesterday I hope you have heard from Gladys & have found another place in Peterboro’. I went into Doncaster last night to see if I could find you anywhere to stay but was unsuccessful in the short period of daylight at my disposal. On Thursday the local paper is published and I will get a copy and hope to find you some digs. If I do I will send you a wire telling you where and when to go. My pass has gone in for this week end [sic] and if you do not here [sic] from me I should get to Fletton Avenue about tea time Saturday and will have to leave about one o’ clock Monday [corrected: was Sunday] Morning.
Glad you told me about your little escapade with the corporal and I think
[page break]
we have known each other long enough now for me to know you can use your discretion and know how far to go for your own safety. As you say it gave you a break and under the circumstances I don’t mind a bit. I only wish I was there to [deleted] th [/deleted] take you out myself which I know we should both prefer. I have been very good in Doncaster and not spoken to anyone, When I see you this week-end I will give you your present money and would be very pleased to receive your silver chain which I am glad you have looked out for me.
Well sweetheart I hope we can solve your troubles before or over this week - end and have a few happy hours together
Longingly. Harry xxxxx
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
To Jessie from Harry Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
A letter and envelope from Harry Redgrave to his wife Jessie. Harry writes that he is trying to find her somewhere else to stay in Doncaster as she is unhappy living in Peterborough and is looking forward to his leave.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harry Redgrave
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-10-09
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets and an envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401009-0001,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401009-0002,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401009-0003
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Doncaster
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.
1940-10
aircrew
RAF Finningley
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15925/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401015-0001.1.jpg
5c9ed3f689a1c25ac6aec75b437070a0
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1230/15925/ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401015-0002.1.jpg
6f7f267ff5965c58f65b1e1529e4edca
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
Redgrave, Henry Cecil
H C Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
187 items. The collection concerns Henry Cecil Redgrave (743047, Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, letters and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 207 Squadron from RAF Waddington. He was killed 13/14 March 1941. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Pam Isaac and catalogued by Barry Hunter.<br /><br /><span>Additional information on Henry Cecil Redgrave is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/119457/">IBCC Losses Database</a><span>.</span>
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
2015-10-02
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Redgrave, HC
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[RAF Crest]
Finningley
Tues. 15. 10. 40
My Dear Jessie,
My journey back went off all right and I have not heard any more about not being back by 2359. When I got to the station to catch the 1216 I found that the 1015 had not got in then and when it arrived about 1210 I got on and arrived in Doncaster at 3.20. On arrival I went in the YMCA and had two cups of tea with Mrs Garton's jam turnover. Gee it was good. Bill Smith turned up about 4.30 and I had some bacon and tomatoes with him and at half past five had an hours [sic] sleep on the reading room floor. You can bet I did not feel very brisk on Monday and unfortunately had to work until half past eight in the evening when I came straight to my billet and went to bed.
[page break]
Today I have been in the Ally Alley and did a night raid on an oil refinery at Osnabruk. [sic] Every went [sic] off well and my navigation earned the praise of the Flight Sergeant Observer in charge. It’s a wonderful thing this crew trainer and simulates the whole thing. Tonight I have been to Donnie and seen [sic] The Westerner and as its [sic] now nearly midnight I must pack up. We must look forward now to the next time we are together and during that week we will recall our happy week-end. Goodnight darling love and kisses to you and Pam from
Your loving husband
Harry xxxx
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
To Jessie from Harry Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
A letter from Harry Redgrave to Jessie. Harry writes about life in the RAF including returning from his leave to Doncaster and a simulated night attack on an oil refinery in Osnabruck.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harry Redgrave
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-10-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401015-0001,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM401015-0002
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
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.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Doncaster
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-10
aircrew
navigator
RAF Finningley
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1279/17566/YPearceAT1874945v4.2.pdf
a2351da247af3b1b94f5f4679bb41f42
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
Pearce, Arthur
A T Pearce
Description
An account of the resource
140 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer Arthur Pearce (1874945 Royal Air Force) He served as an air gunner with 12, 170 and 156 (Pathfinder) Squadrons and completed a 44 operations. After the war, on 35 Squadron he took part in the June 1946 Victory flypast over London and a goodwill visit to the United States. It contains his diaries, memorabilia and photographs.
The collection also contains an album concerning his post war activity with the Goodwill tour of the United States.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Steve Allan 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
2015-12-17
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
Pearce, AT
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Bank Holidays, 1944
[page break]
PERSONAL MEMORANDA
Sgt PEARCE
[page break]
Bank CITY 6001
G.T. HOP 1293
N.S.D. CITY 3623
G.W.R PAD 7000
Parry G.I P 3832
TENY KIN 5052.
[indecipherable word] EUS 6292.
MESS Seiford 61.
K.C. SER 4200.
Club TEM 3135
[page break]
1944 JANUARY
1 SATURDAY
[deleted] GIP 5852, KIN 3032, UES 6292 [/delete]
7412
Stalag XX13 (84)
Germany
2 SUNDAY
J.W. Simmonds
3 Malmesbury Road
South Woodford
E. 18
SG Parry
189 Gipsy Road
West Norwood
S E. 27
GIP 3832
[page break]
3 MONDAY
FX.115112. LDG AIR. PALMER JJ JEa/AG.
825 R.N.A. SQDN.
c/o GP.O LONDON.
Joan White
238 New Kent Road
London SE. 1.
[underlined] 4 TUESDAY [/underlined]
14423672
4th Batt C. Coy.
No.1. IR.T.D.
C.M.F
[page break]
5 WEDNESDAY
letter from home, wrote home.
Irene Hudd,
28 Upper Kenton St
Thorne
Nr Doncaster
Yorks.
6 THURSDAY
letter from Flo
[page break]
7 FRIDAY
[blank page]
8 SATURDAY
letter from Flo.
[page break]
9 SUNDAY
letter from Mum
10 MONDAY
went to Belfast good time.
[page break]
[blank page]
[page break]
13 THURSDAY
[blank page]
14 FRIDAY
Leave. Sgt. Tapes Belfast
[page break]
15 SATURDAY
arrived at home
16 SUNDAY
London. Pleasant surprise good time
[page break]
17 MONDAY
good time
18 TUESDAY
good time
[page break]
19 WEDNESDAY
good time
20 THURSDAY
good time
[page break]
21 FRIDAY
good time
22 SATURDAY
saw Bill.
Ring. Lovely night
Cable
[page break]
23 SUNDAY
good
24 MONDAY
good
[page break]
25 TUESDAY
good
26 WEDNESDAY
good
[page break]
27 THURSDAY
good
28 FRIDAY
good
[page break]
29 SATURDAY
good
30 SUNDAY
Cable
good week end
[page break]
31 MONDAY
very good time
FEB. 1 TUESDAY
Worried browned off
[page break]
2 WEDNESDAY
still worried and browned off
3 THURSDAY
good tan
[page break]
4 FRIDAY
good time in county
5 SATURDAY
browned off
[page break]
6 SUNDAY
things going wrong.
7 MONDAY
Birthday [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted]
Smashing time
[page break]
8 TUESDAY
went to Parry.
Good time Joyce
Silvia
9 WEDNESDAY
Flos Birthday
not so good
[page break]
10 THURSDAY
[boxed X] trouble
Bad
11 FRIDAY
County. not so good
[page break]
12 SATURDAY
[deleted] Four indecipherable words [/deleted]
13 SUNDAY
still felt bad.
[page break]
14 MONDAY
Cable.
good leave untill [sic] last few days
15 TUESDAY
Hixon 2-45.
[page break]
16 WEDNESDAY
Met pilot [indecipherable word] and crew. O.K.
Wing/Co. Caulson
P/O Stevens
P/O Soo.
P/O Davies
17 THURSDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
18 FRIDAY
[blank page]
19 SATURDAY
Wals Birthday
[page break]
20 SUNDAY
[blank page]
21 MONDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
22 TUESDAY
[blank page]
23 WEDNESDAY
Marina Birthday
[page break]
[pages missing]
28 MONDAY
Roses Birthday
29 TUESDAY
Leighford
1 WEDNESDAY
[blank page]
2 THURSDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
3 FRIDAY
plenty of cloud Bashing
4 SATURDAY
still cloud bashing
Stafford good time plenty of fun.
[page break]
5 SUNDAY
bags of flying,
good crew.
6 MONDAY
still bags of flying and doing grand job.
[page break]
7 TUESDAY
grounded.
Very good time
8 WEDNESDAY
plenty of cloud Bashing and Bombing
[page break]
9 THURSDAY
more Bombing
10 FRIDAY
went to Stafford with crew. very good time. plenty of fun.
[page break]
11 SATURDAY
dingy [sic] Stafford plenty of fun
12 SUNDAY
Cloud Bashing
[page break]
13 MONDAY
more Cloud bashing no time off
14 TUESDAY
went sick. Hospital
[page break]
15 WEDNESDAY
Hospital
16 THURSDAY
Hospital
[page break]
17 FRIDAY
Bombing.
Not so good Hospital
18 SATURDAY
Hospital
[page break]
19 SUNDAY
Hospital
20 MONDAY
[author indicates he’s in hospital]
[page break]
21 TUESDAY
[author indicates he’s in hospital]
22 WEDNESDAY
[author indicates he’s in hospital]
[page break]
23 THURSDAY
Hospital
24 FRIDAY
flying
[page break]
25 SATURDAY
Bombing
26 SUNDAY
Cloud bashing
Bombing
Pilot hurt.
[page break]
27 MONDAY
48 hours leave
3-31 Stafford
dispointed [sic]
Pilot in Hospital
28 TUESDAY
good time in county
[page break]
29 WEDNESDAY
Cluston 5.38
Pilot Bad
30 THURSDAY
easy time
[page break]
31 FRIDAY
pressure test
48 hours. Leave
5.48 Stafford
APRIL 1 SATURDAY
Good time.
hard going
[page break]
2 SUNDAY
Uaston 12.00
all was well
3 MONDAY
Browned off
[page break]
4 TUESDAY
[deleted] Met New Pilot Sgt [indecipherable word] [/deleted]
5 WEDNESDAY
nothing to do no pilot or Wireless/opp
[page break]
6 THURSDAY
[blank page]
7 FRIDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
8 SATURDAY
flew with madman.
9 SUNDAY
[deleted] almost killed [/deleted]
[page break]
10 MONDAY
very easy day.
A good night out.
11 TUESDAY
nothing to do.
[page break]
12 WEDNESDAY
Volenteered [sic] to go on Balls eye.
Good things
13 THURSDAY
easy time
[page break]
14 FRIDAY
still nothing to do.
15 SATURDAY
good time in town bags of fun
[page break]
[missing pages]
20 THURSDAY
good time at Dance
21 FRIDAY
end of long rest
Posted
[page break]
22 SATURDAY
back to Hixon New Pilot Sgt Keeler.
23 SUNDAY
plenty of flying
new Pilot O.K.
[page break]
24 MONDAY
cloud Bashing
25 TUESDAY
cloud Bashing Bombing
[page break]
26 WEDNESDAY
grounded bad weather good time in town
27 THURSDAY
Cloud Bashing bad Crash
[page break]
28 FRIDAY
felt bad. No flying.
29 SATURDAY
flying again
[page break]
30 SUNDAY
Bombing
MAY 1 MONDAY
Cine Bombing
[page break]
2 TUESDAY
Bombing
3 WEDNESDAY
night off. good time Plenty of fun.
[page break]
4 THURSDAY
grounded
5 FRIDAY
grounded
[page break]
6 SATURDAY
grounded
7 SUNDAY
grounded
[page break]
8 MONDAY
grounded lost leave.
9 TUESDAY
48 hrs leave. Stafford 9-48.
[page break]
10 WEDNESDAY
disapointed [sic] but had good time
12 + 13 11 THURSDAY
Claston 8-30 a.m. Met new “Wop” Flt. Sgt Stricket
[page break]
12 FRIDAY
Cloud Bashing
13 SATURDAY
Cloud Bashing
[page break]
14 SUNDAY
long trip bombing plenty of trouble every [deleted] the [/deleted] thing wrong. I was nocked [sic] out. Pilot in trouble but all ended well Balls eye.
15 MONDAY
lots of flying
[page break]
16 TUESDAY
busy night Mick killed
17 WEDNESDAY
hopes of leave. Steve got F/O.
[page break]
18 THURSDAY
13 days leave. Stafford 5.48.
19 FRIDAY
Joe home. very good times
[page break]
20 SATURDAY
plenty of fun [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] Flo. old feeling again but held my own.
21 SUNDAY
pleasent [sic] time
[page break]
22 MONDAY
good time with Sal. good time with Joan
23 TUESDAY
Stepney good time Good time with Joan, plenty of fun
[page break]
24 WEDNESDAY
went to Totenham [sic] took Joany out from bank. Plenty of fun.
25 THURSDAY
County plenty of fun
[page break]
26 FRIDAY
Stepney, baby. Good time
27 SATURDAY
took Joan and Betty out. Stepney. Party. good time but worried
[page break]
28 SUNDAY
went out with Flo. Jess and Joe, hard time trouble
29 MONDAY
Bad time
[page break]
30 TUESDAY
Bad for me
31 WEDNESDAY
Kings Cross 12-45 Doncaster 4.10 Boston Park.
[page break]
1944 JUNE
1 THURSDAY
Bill Charlie O.K.
2 FRIDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
3 SATURDAY
day off, Thorne Plenty of fun.
4 SUNDAY
day off Thorn More fun.
[page break]
5 MONDAY
Stones O.K.
6 TUESDAY
The day.
[page break]
7 WEDNESDAY
on Charge. got away with with it
8 THURSDAY
Fred got his Comision [sic] Thorne. Morends [sic]
[page break]
9 FRIDAY
Irene. Smashing girl a very good time plenty of fun. Pleasant suprises [sic]
10 SATURDAY
Background danger. Irene. Smashing time More fun Wally went home. Charlie, Bill Posted
[page break]
11 SUNDAY
“P/O Keeler”
12 MONDAY
Stones O.K.
[page break]
13 TUESDAY
Posted Sandtoft Pool
Epworth. good time bags of fun.
John got Married
14 WEDNESDAY
Epworth O.K. bags fun
Whiteheart Raynor.
Doreene
[page break]
15 THURSDAY
Hopes of Posting
Epworth good time Joan. Plenty of fun.
16 FRIDAY
Bill & Charlie Posted.
[page break]
17 SATURDAY
Epworth. good time Plenty of fun Peggy.
18 SUNDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
19 MONDAY
[blank page]
20 TUESDAY
Posted to Blighton
Met Engineer JOE.
[page break]
21 WEDNESDAY
Posted Ingham.
Bill and Charlie again
Castle
22 THURSDAY
Went to Lincoln good time bags of fun.
[page break]
23 FRIDAY
flying.
24 SATURDAY
flying
Lincoln good time plenty of fun
[page break]
25 SUNDAY
flying
26 MONDAY
flying
[page break]
27 TUESDAY
flying
28 WEDNESDAY
flying
[page break]
29 THURSDAY
flying
30 FRIDAY
flying
Lincoln good time
[page break]
JULY 1944
1 SATURDAY
Posted to Blyton
2 SUNDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
3 MONDAY
[blank page]
4 TUESDAY
[blank page]
5 WEDNESDAY
[blank page]
6 THURSDAY
flying Bombing
[page break]
7 FRIDAY
Gainsborough. good time fun.
8 SATURDAY
Gainsborough. good time plenty of fun.
[page break]
9 SUNDAY
[blank page]
10 MONDAY
Lincoln. Gainsboro [sic] photo
[page break]
11 TUESDAY
flying
12 WEDNESDAY
flying Geordy killed
[page break]
13 THURSDAY
flying
14 FRIDAY
[deleted flying [/deleted]
Gainsboro [sic] good time
[page break]
15 SATURDAY
Lost Navigator
16 SUNDAY
Gainsboro [sic]. good time
[page break]
17 MONDAY
New Navigator. Flying. F/O. Yule.
18 TUESDAY
flying New Nav O.K.
[page break]
19 WEDNESDAY
Gainsboro [sic].
20 THURSDAY
flying
[page break]
21 FRIDAY
flying Bombing.
22 SATURDAY
flying
23 SUNDAY
flying Ballseye.
24 MONDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
25 TUESDAY
[blank page]
26 WEDNESDAY
Posted Hemswell 6.25. Lincoln
[page break]
27 THURSDAY
[blank page]
28 FRIDAY
11.15. Kings X.
[page break]
29 SATURDAY
[blank page]
30 SUNDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
31 MONDAY
Gainsboro [sic].
AUG 1 TUESDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
2 WEDNESDAY
Gainsboro [sic]
3 THURSDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
4 FRIDAY
[blank page]
5 SATURDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
6 SUNDAY
flying
7 MONDAY
Gainsboro [sic]
[page break]
8 TUESDAY
flying
9 WEDNESDAY
flying Dingy [sic] 8.30
[page break]
10 THURSDAY
[blank page]
11 FRIDAY
Posted to Squadron No 12. Wickenby
[page break]
12 SATURDAY
No.1. O.K. Cornfield “Falaise”
13 SUNDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
14 MONDAY
7. days leave Lincoln 1.55 Kings Cross 6.15
15 TUESDAY
good time
[page break]
16 WEDNESDAY
good time
17 THURSDAY
good time
[page break]
18 FRIDAY
good time
19 SATURDAY
good time fun
[page break]
20 SUNDAY
good time fun
21 MONDAY
Kings Cross 5.40
[page break]
22 TUESDAY
Guns OK.
23 WEDNESDAY
year.
[page break]
24 THURSDAY
[blank page]
25 FRIDAY
No 2. O.K. “Russelsheim”
[page break]
26 SATURDAY
[blank page]
27 SUNDAY
flying guns O.K.
[page break]
28 MONDAY
[blank page]
29 TUESDAY
No. 3. Cornfield O.K. “Stettin” Paddy killed good fellow real Pal
[page break]
30 WEDNESDAY
Lincoln good time
31 THURSDAY
[blank page]
1944 SEPTEMBER
1 FRIDAY
Lincoln good time
2 SATURDAY
flying
[page break]
3 SUNDAY
No.4. O.K. “Eindhoven”
4 MONDAY
Lincoln
[page break]
5 TUESDAY
No 5. O.K. “Le Havre”
6 WEDNESDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
7 THURSDAY
Lincoln good time
8 FRIDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
9 SATURDAY
Lincoln
10 SUNDAY
No. 6. O.K. “Le Havre”
[page break]
11 MONDAY
[blank page]
12 TUESDAY
No 7. O.K. “Frankfurt”
[page break]
13 WEDNESDAY
[deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] flying
14 THURSDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
15 FRIDAY
[blank page]
16 SATURDAY
No 8. O.K. “Rheine Hopsten”
[page break]
17 SUNDAY
[blank page]
18 MONDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
19 TUESDAY
[blank page]
20 WEDNESDAY
No 9. O.K. “Calais”
[page break]
21 THURSDAY
Lincoln
22 FRIDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
23 SATURDAY
No. 10. O.K. “[deleted] Calais [/deleted] “Neurs”
24 SUNDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
25 MONDAY
No.11. bombs back not so good. “Calais”
26 TUESDAY
No 11 OK. “Cap Griz Nez”
[page break]
27 WEDNESDAY
[blank page]
28 THURSDAY
Lincoln 6.25. 7. Days leave.
[page break]
29 FRIDAY
Watch Bill good time Ted
30 SATURDAY
good time
[page break]
OCTOBER 1944
1 SUNDAY
Bill Home good time
2 MONDAY
Bank good time
[page break]
3 TUESDAY
good time
4 WEDNESDAY
good time
[page break]
5 THURSDAY
Reggie good time
6 FRIDAY
Kings X. 5.50
[page break]
7 SATURDAY
[blank page]
8 SUNDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
9 MONDAY
[blank page]
10 TUESDAY
flying F.A.
[page break]
11 WEDNESDAY
flying A.F.
12 THURSDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
13 FRIDAY
flying F.A.
14 SATURDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
15 SUNDAY
Posted to. [indecipherable word] Lincs
Binbrook.
16 MONDAY
flying Picked up new kite 190. Squadron.
[page break]
17 TUESDAY
Grimsby. good time
18 WEDNESDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
19 THURSDAY
No 12. O.K. “Stuttgart”
20 FRIDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
21 SATURDAY
Louth good time Watch.
22 SUNDAY
New Squadron. 170 Dunholme Lodge
[page break]
23 MONDAY
[blank page]
24 TUESDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
25 WEDNESDAY
No. 13. O.K. “Essen”
26 THURSDAY
Lincoln
[page break]
27 FRIDAY
[blank page]
28 SATURDAY
No 14. O.K. “Cologne”
[page break]
29 SUNDAY
[blank page]
30 MONDAY
No 15. OK. “Cologne”
[page break]
31 TUESDAY
No 16 OK. “Cologne”
NOVEMBER 1 WEDNESDAY
Party. Black Bull good time
[page break]
2 THURSDAY
No.17. OK. Dusseldorf
3 FRIDAY
Lincoln
[page break]
4 SATURDAY
P.F.F. ?
5 SUNDAY
Posted Warboys P.F.F.
[page break]
6 MONDAY
Warboys. 2.9. Kings X. 4.2. Joe. Good time
7 TUESDAY
Kings X. 6.40.
[page break]
8 WEDNESDAY
[blank page]
9 THURSDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
10 FRIDAY
test OK. Dinghy Cambridge
11 SATURDAY
flying
[page break]
12 SUNDAY
flying
13 MONDAY
flying Huntingdon
[page break]
14 TUESDAY
Post. Upwood. Squadron. 1.5.6.
15 WEDNESDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
16 THURSDAY
[blank page]
17 FRIDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
18 SATURDAY
[blank page]
19 SUNDAY
flying
20 MONDAY
[blank page]
21 TUESDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
22 WEDNESDAY
[blank page]
23 THURSDAY
flying
[page break]
24 FRIDAY
[blank page]
25 SATURDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
26 SUNDAY
[blank page]
27 MONDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
28 TUESDAY
[blank page]
29 WEDNESDAY
No 18. “Essen”
[page break]
30 THURSDAY
No 19. “Duisburg”
DECEMBER 1 FRIDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
2 SATURDAY
[blank page]
3 SUNDAY
No. 20. “Urfurt [sic] Dam”
[page break]
4 MONDAY
[blank page]
5 TUESDAY
No 21. “Soest” ears bad
[page break]
6 WEDNESDAY
No. Grounded ears bad.
7 THURSDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
8 FRIDAY
[blank page]
9 SATURDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
10 SUNDAY
[blank page]
11 MONDAY
leave Peterboro [sic] 3.58 Kings X. 5.25
[page break]
12 TUESDAY
good time Bank. Ted home Flo
13 WEDNESDAY
good time
[page break]
14 THURSDAY
good time County Flo. Dolly O.K.
15 FRIDAY
good time. Dolly
[page break]
16 SATURDAY
Ted good time. plenty fun
17 SUNDAY
good time Ted ship Dolly.
[page break]
18 MONDAY
Kings X 5.50 Peterboro [sic] 7.30
19 TUESDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
20 WEDNESDAY
[blank page]
21 THURSDAY
No 22. “Bonn”
[page break]
22 FRIDAY
Mess Dance Audrey O.K. Pat.
23 SATURDAY
Peterboro [sic].
[page break]
24 SUNDAY
Sqd Dance Audrey OK
25 MONDAY
Dance Ramsey Audrey. O.K.
[page break]
26 TUESDAY
[blank page]
27 WEDNESDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
28 THURSDAY
No 23. “Opladen”
29 FRIDAY
[blank page]
[page break]
30 SATURDAY
No 24 “Cologne”
31 SUNDAY
No 25. “Osterfeld”
[page break]
Flight 8/113
RAF. Stockleigh Rd
Regents Park
London. S.W.1.
E Flight
6 Squadron
18 I.T.W.
Bridlington
Yorks.
Hut 55.
D. Squadron
N.1. E.AGS,
R.A F Bridgnorth
Salop
[page break]
11 Course
12 A.G.S.
R.A.F.
Bishops Court
N. Ireland.
Sgts Mess
R.A.F. Hixon
Sgts Mess
R.AF. Leighford
Sgts Mess
R.AF. Hixon
Sgts Mess
R. A. F. Boston Park
Lindholme
Yorks
[page break]
Sgts Mess
R.A.F. Sandtofts
Yorks
Sgts Mess
R.A.F Blyton
Lincs
Sgts Mess
R.A.F Ingham
Lincs
Sgts Mess
R.A.F. Hemswell
Lincs
[page break]
Sgts Mess, Red
Wickenby,
Lincs.
Sgts Mess
[indecipherable word]
Lincs
Sgts Mess
Dunholme Lodge
Lincs
Sgts Mess
Warboys
Hunts
[page break]
Sgts Mess
Upwood
Hunts
Sgts Mess
Wyton
Hunts
Sgts Mess
Warboys
Hunts
Sgts Mess
Wyton
Hunts
Sgts Mess
Graveley
Hunts
[page break]
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
Arthur Pearce Diary 1944
Description
An account of the resource
Memorandum items addresses of friends and acquaintances, mentions many days/evenings out and what sort of time he had in Belfast, Lincoln, Gainsborough and many others. Mentions various journeys and postings, lists birthdays. Jots down daily activities and feelings. Mentions crew and other he flew with and comments about them. Entries for days flying and activity. Entries for news of acquaintances and colleagues, some of whom were killed. Mentions posting to 12 Squadron at RAF Wickenby, 170 Squadron at RAF Dunholme Lodge and to RAF Warboys for Pathfinders. mentions many targets from August to December 1944.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
A Pearce
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Multi-page booklet with handwritten entries
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Diary
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
YPearceAT1874945v4
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.
Great Britain
England--London
England--Yorkshire
England--Doncaster
England--Lincolnshire
England--Cambridgeshire
Northern Ireland--Belfast
England--Staffordshire
France
France--Pas-de-Calais
France--Calais
France--Le Havre
France--Falaise
England--Lincoln
Netherlands
Netherlands--Eindhoven
Germany
Germany--Cologne
Poland
Poland--Szczecin
Germany--Bonn
Germany--Essen
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Neuss
Germany--Soest
Germany--Rheine
Germany--Rüsselsheim
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Düsseldorf
Great Britain
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-08-11
1944-08-12
1944-08-25
1944-08-29
1944-09-03
1944-09-05
1944-09-12
1944-09-16
1944-09-20
1944-09-23
1944-09-25
1944-09-26
1944-10-19
1944-10-25
1944-10-22
1944-10-28
1944-10-30
1944-10-31
1944-11-02
1944-11-30
1944-12-21
1944-12-05
1944-02-16
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Christian
David Bloomfield
12 Squadron
170 Squadron
air gunner
aircrew
bombing
Pathfinders
RAF Dunholme Lodge
RAF Hixon
RAF Sandtoft
RAF Warboys
RAF Wickenby
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1058/18690/LPackhamG1214349v1.1.jpg
b15c3d4aa225bb719740649340d90bbd
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
Packham, Geoff
G Packham
Description
An account of the resource
Nine items. An oral history interview with Pilot Officer Geoff Packham (b. 1922, 161076, 1214349 Royal Air Force), photographs and documents. He flew operations as a pilot with 550 Squadron from RAF North Killingholme and became a prisoner of war after being shot down in June 1944.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Geoff Packham 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
2016-08-25
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
Packham, G
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
RECORD OF SERVICE
UNIT DATES FROM TO
[Unit] REC. CENTRE CARDINGTON [From] 18.1.41 [To] 20.1.41
[Unit] BRIDGNORTH [From] 21.1.41 [To] 4.3.41
[Unit] ACKLINGTON [From] 4.3.41 [To] 31.5.41
[Unit] BABBACOMBE [From] 31.5.41 [To] 14.6.41
[Unit] TORQUAY. 3. I.T.W [From] 14.6.41 [To] 1.8.41
[Unit] WILMSLOW [From] 1.8.41 [To] 20.8.41
[Unit] 31 E.F.T.S. CALGARY [From] 20.8.41 [To] 16.10.41
[Unit] 31 E.F.T.S. DE WINTON [From] 16.10.41 [To] 24.10.41
[Unit] 34 S.F.T.S MEDICINE HAT [From] 24.10.41 [To] 30.1.42
[Unit] NO 1 "Y" DEPÔT. HALIFAX . [From] 10.2.42 [To] 28.2.42
[Unit] BOURNEMOUTH. 3 PRC. [From] 10.3.42 [To] 25.4.42
[Unit] HARROGATE. 3 PRC. [From] 25.4.42 [To] 4.5.42
[Unit] 12 AF.U. GRANTHAM. [From] 4.5.42 [To] 29.6.42
[Unit] [deleted] 297 Squadron. [/deleted] AFU HURN [From] 30/.6/42 [To] 7/8/42
[Unit] HGCU. Brize Norton [From] 7/8/42 [To] 12/8/42
[Unit] LONG NEWTON. GLOS. [From] 12/8/42 [To] 20/9/42
[Unit] HGCU. BRIZE NORTON [From] 21/9/42 [To] 13.10.42
[Unit] C.G.S. SUTTON BRIDGE [From] 13.10.42 [To] 31.10.42
[Unit] 7 AG.S. STORMY DOWN. S.WALES [From] 1/11/42 [To] 20/11/43
[Unit] 18 O.T.U. FINNINGLEY [From] 23/11/43 [To] 26/12/43.
[Unit] RAF. WORKSOP. [From] 26/12/43 [To] 29/3/44.
[Unit] RAF. LINDHOLME. [From] 29/3/44 [To] 8/4/44
[Unit] 1667 CON. SANDTOFT. [From] 8/4/44 [To] 13/5/44
[Unit] L.F.S. RAF. HEMSWELL [From] 13/5/44 [To] 24/5/44
[Unit] 550 Squadron. Killingholme [From] 24/5/44
[Unit] No 61 RESERVE CENTRE DONCASTER [From] 29/10/51
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
Geoff Packham's Record of Service
Description
An account of the resource
A list, taken from Geoff's logbook, of RAF stations where he served or was trained.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Geoff Packham
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet with handwritten annotations
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
LPackhamG1214349v1
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.
Great Britain
England--Acklington
England--Torquay
Canada
Alberta--Calgary
Alberta--De Winton
Alberta--Medicine Hat
England--Halifax
England--Grantham
England--Doncaster
Alberta
England--Devon
England--Northumberland
England--Yorkshire
England--Lincolnshire
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
Angela Gaffney
1667 HCU
18 OTU
550 Squadron
Advanced Flying Unit
Air Gunnery School
Flying Training School
Heavy Conversion Unit
Initial Training Wing
Lancaster Finishing School
Operational Training Unit
RAF Bridgnorth
RAF Brize Norton
RAF Cardington
RAF Finningley
RAF Hemswell
RAF Hurn
RAF Lindholme
RAF North Killingholme
RAF Sandtoft
RAF Stormy Down
RAF Sutton Bridge
RAF Torquay
RAF Wilmslow
RAF Worksop
training
-
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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
Redgrave, Henry Cecil
H C Redgrave
Description
An account of the resource
187 items. The collection concerns Henry Cecil Redgrave (743047, Royal Air Force) and contains his decorations, letters and photographs. He flew operations as a bomb aimer with 207 Squadron from RAF Waddington. He was killed 13/14 March 1941. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Pam Isaac and catalogued by Barry Hunter.<br /><br /><span>Additional information on Henry Cecil Redgrave is available via the </span><a href="https://internationalbcc.co.uk/losses/119457/">IBCC Losses Database</a><span>.</span>
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
2015-10-02
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Redgrave, HC
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Mrs H. C. Redgrave,
155 Fletton Avenue,
Peterboro’,
Northants.
[page break]
[R.A.F Crest]
Sgts Mess
Finningley
27-9-40
My dear Jessie,
Thanks for your letter today and now you are away I look forward to every other morning for your chatty little notes. It was rather late Tuesday to write you much so I will try and make up for it tonight.
When I arrived here on Monday tea-time I met a W.O.A.G. who came here a week before and he offered to go with me to Doncaster to fetch my kit so off we went and after unsuccessfully searching for the kit-bags we had a stroll round the town. There are bags of cinemas and seems
[page break]
2
to be quite a spot of night life about in the town. I should think it is a [deleted] but [/deleted] bit bigger than Peterboro [sic] but is more or less just another provincial town. As Frank had to be back for night flying we left on the 8.45 bus. Its only 10d return and there are buses every thirty minutes. On Tuesday we reported to accounts and various other people and in the afternoon to the Flight Commander of 106 Squadron. As there was nothing for us to do that day we got off sharply at five o’clock and went into town to see Spencer Tracy in “North West Passage” which I thoroughly enjoyed. Its an all colour film of the war in Canada between the French and ourselves each side being aided by various Indian tribes. If it comes your way you
[page break]
3
[R.A.F Crest}
should try and see it. The next morning saw us in the crew room at 0830 and after sitting around all day I was suddenly detailed for some practice bombing. In the Hampden they use the automatic bombsight about which I know nothing so I had to scurry around and collect some gen before I could start. The target is in the shape, and of the size of a submarine and I was surprised to learn that seven out of my eight bombs would have sunk it. Pretty good eh. In the evening I started to take my byke [sic] engine down preparoty [sic] to fitting new rings and after supper went to bed. This morning I was supposed to be going to a lecture on this automatic b.sight but just as I got to the Armoury I was sent for to
[page break]
4
navigate a machine down to Hendon. Gee was I in a flat spin. I’d never done any work in aHampden and I was being sent down to London with all those hundreds of balloons and fighter boys Visibility was very poor but I got the plane there O.K. although we were several times challenged by fighters and on arrival found that we were there to show the Observer Corp what a Hampden looked like from the ground and the air. The night before the aerodrome had been bombed up with dozens of incendiary bombs and the Franco sign works on the North Circular Road had been demolished and also a Tube Station near by. There were two warnings while we were there but nothing happened. Incidentally was I proud
[page break]
5
[R.A.F Crest]
of myself when all these civvie chaps came around asking me about my machine. They are fine jobs for navigation and have bags of guns for defence. I feel very happy about my chances in them and prefer them to any machine I have been in. At Hendon I ran into a Southend lad who I met a Prestwick and he was there demonstrating a Battle oh boy did he envy me. I found he was stationed Binbrook which is not far from here and that they had come from Eastchurch in the Thames Estuary from where they had been bombed out. Withal the weather was bad we made the journey back without incident and on landing the pilot said ”simply wizard navigation”; did my chest swell.
I’m glad you sent off Millys [sic] and
[page break]
Patty’s birthday cards. You will have to decide yourself about Mansfield as [inserted] it [/inserted] seems unlikely I shall even get a day off here to see you where ever you are. Were Gwen & Agnes keeping well? Send me one of the photos of you and Pam as soon as they are ready. Darling, don’t you ever think for one moment that you are a nuisance as having you near makes all the difference to this war, and I am looking forward to when you are near again.
Give my best wishes to Mr & Mrs Gorton and always remember that you and Pam are always in the thoughts of
Your devoted husband
Harry xxxxx
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
Letter to Mrs H Redgrave from Harry
Description
An account of the resource
Harry writes to Jessie telling her of elements of his service life & duties including navigating a Hampden from Finningley to Hendon, and his input to their domestic life.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harry Redgrave
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-09-27
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Envelope and six handwritten sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400927-0001,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400927-0002,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400927-0003,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400927-0004,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400927-0005,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400927-0006,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400927-0007
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
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Kent
England--Yorkshire
England--London
England--Peterborough
England--Doncaster
England--Southend-on-Sea
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Essex
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Christian
David Bloomfield
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.
1940-09-27
106 Squadron
aircrew
Battle
entertainment
Hampden
navigator
observer
RAF Eastchurch
RAF Finningley
RAF Hendon
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22570/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-017.1.pdf
71c89cd5622fbbb2f0ce3a1b16012534
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
Curnock, Richard
Richard Murdock Curnock
R M Curnock
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Curnock, RM
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-04-18
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.
Description
An account of the resource
92 items. An oral history interview with Warrant Officer Richard Curnock (1924, 1915605 Royal Air Force), his log book, letters, photographs and prisoner of war magazines. He flew operations with 425 Squadron before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Richard Curnock and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
The Kriegie August 1986
Description
An account of the resource
News-sheet of the RAF ex-POW Association. This edition covers the large Canadian reunion of 1985 at Calgary, the Annual Dinner at Lords, Recco report of ex-POW activities, requests for help, Alan Bryett's lectures, the Association's AGM and annual reunion, Book reviews, advance notice of the Southampton reunion, two donations from the Larry Slattery Memorial Fund to a County Primary School band and to Merida - a 17 year old from Wiltshire, a reunion at RAF Hendon, news and photograph of the Blenheim restoration, the newly formed RAF Historical Society, the Dedication Parade and Service held at Windsor, a story about a German girl from Heydekrug who had moved to Brazil and a cartoon exhorting members to pay their subs.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
The RAF ex-POW Association
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1986-08
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
12 printed sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MCurnockRM1815605-171114-017
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 Canadian Air Force
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Alberta--Calgary
Alberta--Banff
Alberta--Lake Louise
England--London
Australia
Victoria--Melbourne
Queensland
England--Manchester
England--Great Yarmouth
England--Taunton
Ontario--Cornwall
Lithuania--Šilutė
England--Doncaster
England--Brighton
England--Pulborough
England--Kingston upon Thames
Scotland--Aberdeen
England--Fordingbridge
England--Bristol
England--Nottingham
England--Princes Risborough
England--Olney
England--Southampton
England--Cheshire
United States
Texas
Poland--Żagań
Germany--Bad Fallingbostel
Victoria
England--Windsor (Windsor and Maidenhead)
Poland
Great Britain
Ontario
Alberta
Germany
Lithuania
England--Berkshire
England--Buckinghamshire
England--Gloucestershire
England--Hampshire
England--Norfolk
England--Somerset
England--Surrey
England--Sussex
England--Lancashire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Yorkshire
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.
10 Squadron
158 Squadron
7 Squadron
aircrew
arts and crafts
bale out
Blenheim
entertainment
Halifax
Lancaster
memorial
mess
navigator
Pathfinders
prisoner of war
RAF Duxford
RAF Hendon
RAF Melbourne
shot down
Stalag 8B
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 4
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1627/25334/BThickettPSaundersEJv10014.2.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
Saunders, Ernest John. Album 1
Description
An account of the resource
A history of Sam Saunders RAF experiences complete with a biography. It is presented in an album.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Penny Thicket
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-02-13
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Saunders, EJ
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
In August and September 1943 Daddy was with 512 Squadron and there were more transportation flights in Dakotas but the routes had changed a little, Telergma (Constantine), Tunis, Monastir, Sfax, Maison Blanche, La Senia, Blida and Gibraltar. He occasionally flew as a 2nd pilot. There was a single flight to Reykjavik from Hendon via Prestwick on the 27th of August but no details are given.
Then in October he went to 271 Squadron. This involved flying in a lot of different planes around the British Isles; Harrows, Oxfords, Dominies, Tigers, Dakotas and Proctors...flying to Doncaster, Tollerton, Dunfries, Renfrew, Errol and Donibristle. There were circuits and 'bumps' and weather tests.
He talked about being given a role of instructor during this time, which he really disliked and it appears that he asked to return to active service and so there was the move to Bomber Command.
On the 12th of December he joined 627 Squadron, Oakington Cambridge, no doubt with apprehension and excitement, flying new planes and being fully involved in this decisive phase of the war.
627 Squadron had been formed just a month earlier and was part of Pathfinder Force (PFF) within Bomber Command, famous for reconnaissance and plotting the routes to be taken by bombers. 'Bomber' Harris was their Colonel in Chief.
The fast, unarmed manoeuvrable Mosquitos were initially taken through many air tests and landings. Daddy's last war operation had been in December 1942 and it's hard to imagine how he felt at this point but he always said that he had a”...really good war”...and as a young man excited by flying, to be part of this elite group must have been everything that he wanted.
The de [sic] Havilland Mosquito Mark 1 was a twin-engine fighter-bomber, the fastest and most agile plane in the sky. It was unarmed, to reduce weight and was sent to take photographs or drop bombs and get away quickly. Despite being make of wood and canvas this was the plane all the young airmen wanted to be in.
Two weeks after joining the Squadron, on Boxing Day he carried out War Operations 46 and 47, bombing Duisberg and Cologne with 4 x 500lb bombs.
[page break]
[black and white photograph]
Members of 627 Squadron in front of a De Havilland Mosquito. Flight Lieutenant Navigator Ernest Saunders is 7th from the right, back row.
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
Sam Saunders 627 Squadron
Description
An account of the resource
After a spell with 512 squadron mostly transportation flights Sam returned to the UK, flying as an instructor.
A the end of 1943 he returned to Bomber Command, 627 Squadron.
There is a photograph of the squadron grouped in front of a Mosquito.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Penny Thickett
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2013-10
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed sheet and one b/w photograph
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Text
Text. Personal research
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
BThickettPSaundersEJv10014
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.
Algeria
Algeria--Algiers
Algeria--Constantine
Algeria--Oran
Gibraltar
Germany
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Duisburg
Great Britain
England--Doncaster
England--Nottingham
Scotland--Cowdenbeath
Scotland--Errol
Scotland--Renfrew
Iceland
Tunisia
Tunisia--Sfax
Tunisia--Tunis
North Africa
Iceland--Reykjavík
Tunisia--Munastīr
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Yorkshire
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
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jan Waller
627 Squadron
aircrew
bombing
C-47
Dominie
Harris, Arthur Travers (1892-1984)
Harrow
Mosquito
navigator
Oxford
Pathfinders
pilot
Proctor
RAF Dumfries
RAF Oakington
RAF Prestwick
Tiger Moth
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1596/25340/LSaundersEJ924532v1.2.pdf
c78158eb8860fddc9d2b39689fa6731e
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
Saunders, Ernest John
E J Saunders
Sam Saunders
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
2020-02-13
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
Saunders, EJ
Description
An account of the resource
Nine items. The collection concerns Ernest John Saunders (924532 Royal Air Force) and consists of his log book, photographs and correspondence as well as two photograph albums of his service and family life. He flew operations as a navigator in North Africa in 1942 with 40 Squadron and with Bomber Command in 1943 - 1944 with 692 and 128 Squadron on Mosquito.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Penelope Thicket and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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
Sam Saunders's flying log book
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
Description
An account of the resource
Detailing his flying training and operations flown as navigator 16 January 1941 to 9 January 1946. He was stationed at RCAF Winnipeg (6 AOS), RCAF MacDonald (3 B&GS), RCAF Rivers (1 ANS), RAF Harwell (15 OTU), RAF Shallufa (38 and 40 Squadrons), RAF Upper Heyford (16 OTU), RAF Hendon (24 and 512 Squadrons), RAF Doncaster (271 Squadron), RAF Marham (1655 MTU), RAF Oakington (627 Squadron), RAF Graveley (692 Squadron), RAF Wyton (128 Squadron), RAF Crosby-on-Eden (109 TCU), RAF Almaza (216 Squadron).
Aircraft flown in were Anson, Battle, Wellington, Hudson, Tiger Moth, Dakota, Sparrow, Oxford, Proctor and Mosquito.
He flew 3 night operations with 38 Squadron, 42 with 40 Squadron, 8 with 627 Squadron, 45 with 692 squadron and 9 with 128 Squadron, a total of 107. His pilots on operations were Warrant Officer Brodie, Sergeant Le Brog, Squadron Leader Booth, Wing Commander Lockhart, Flight Lieutenant Grainger, Squadron Leader Saunderson, Wing Commander Birkin, Wing Commander Watts, Flying Officer Page, Pilot Officer Burnett, Flying Officer Richardson, Flying Officer Goodwin, Wing Commander Burrough, Flying Officer Boyer and Flight Lieutenant Gallanders.
Targets included Benghazi, mining, Tobruk, El Daba, Alamein, Ras el Manatis, Fuka, Cagliari, Tunis, Bizerte, Duisburg, Cologne, Hamburg, Magdeburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Schweinfurt, Augsburg, Hannover, Dusseldorf, Koln, Osnabruk, Stuttgart, Friedrichshaven, Leverkusen, Cologne, Gelsenkirchen, Bremen, Homberg, Weisbaden, Saarbruchen, Wanne-Eichel, Castrop, Kiel, Kassel, Brunswick and Cochem.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Terry Hancock
Cara Walmsley
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Egypt
Great Britain
Italy
Libya
North Africa
Egypt--Alamayn
Egypt--Cairo
Egypt--Suez
Egypt--Tall al-Ḍabʻah
England--Cambridgeshire
England--Cumbria
England--Doncaster
England--London
England--Norfolk
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Braunschweig
Germany--Bremen
Germany--Castrop-Rauxel
Germany--Cochem
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany--Friedrichshafen
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Homberg (Kassel)
Germany--Kassel
Germany--Kiel
Germany--Leverkusen
Germany--Leverkusen
Germany--Osnabrück
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Schweinfurt
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Wanne-Eickel
Germany--Wiesbaden
Italy--Cagliari
Libya--Tobruk
Manitoba--Winnipeg
Tunisia--Bizerte
Tunisia--Tunis
Germany--Augsburg
Germany--Magdeburg
England--Oxfordshire
Libya--Banghāzī
Tunisia
Germany
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Yorkshire
Egypt--Fukah
Manitoba
Manitoba--Rivers
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1942-05-24
1942-05-25
1942-05-26
1942-05-27
1942-05-30
1942-06-05
1942-06-06
1942-06-08
1942-07-11
1942-07-12
1942-07-15
1942-07-16
1942-07-18
1942-07-19
1942-07-20
1942-07-21
1942-07-23
1942-07-24
1942-07-25
1942-07-26
1942-07-27
1942-07-29
1942-07-30
1942-08-01
1942-08-02
1942-08-04
1942-08-05
1942-08-18
1942-08-19
1942-08-22
1942-08-23
1942-08-26
1942-08-27
1942-08-28
1942-08-29
1942-08-31
1942-09-01
1942-09-06
1942-09-07
1942-09-13
1942-09-14
1942-09-18
1942-09-19
1942-09-20
1942-09-21
1942-09-24
1942-09-25
1942-10-09
1942-10-10
1942-10-12
1942-10-13
1942-10-18
1942-10-19
1942-10-20
1942-10-21
1942-10-23
1942-10-24
1942-10-25
1942-10-26
1942-10-27
1942-10-29
1942-10-30
1942-11-02
1942-11-03
1942-11-04
1942-11-05
1942-11-06
1942-11-07
1942-11-08
1942-11-09
1942-11-10
1942-11-11
1942-11-14
1942-11-15
1942-11-18
1942-11-19
1942-11-20
1942-11-21
1942-11-24
1942-11-25
1942-11-27
1942-11-28
1943-12-28
1944-01-02
1944-01-06
1944-01-14
1944-01-21
1944-01-22
1944-01-29
1944-02-01
1944-02-07
1944-02-19
1944-02-24
1944-02-25
1944-02-26
1944-03-06
1944-03-11
1944-03-13
1944-03-14
1944-03-23
1944-04-04
1944-04-12
1944-04-13
1944-04-20
1944-04-21
1944-04-24
1944-04-25
1944-04-27
1944-04-28
1944-05-08
1944-05-09
1944-05-10
1944-05-11
1944-05-26
1944-05-27
1944-06-12
1944-06-13
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-17
1944-06-21
1944-06-22
1944-06-23
1944-06-24
1944-06-25
1944-06-26
1944-06-28
1944-06-29
1944-07-04
1944-07-08
1944-07-10
1944-07-11
1944-07-14
1944-07-15
1944-07-16
1944-07-17
1944-07-18
1944-07-19
1944-07-20
1944-08-05
1944-08-06
1944-08-07
1944-08-08
1944-08-09
1944-08-11
1944-08-12
1944-08-13
1944-08-14
1944-08-15
1944-08-25
1944-08-26
1944-08-27
1944-08-30
1944-08-31
1944-09-01
1944-09-02
1944-09-13
1944-09-14
1944-09-27
1944-10-01
1944-10-02
1944-10-19
1944-11-27
1944-12-05
1944-12-06
1944-12-11
1945-01-01
1945-01-18
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Royal Air Force
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
LSaundersEJ924532v1
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
128 Squadron
15 OTU
16 OTU
216 Squadron
38 Squadron
40 Squadron
627 Squadron
692 Squadron
Air Observers School
aircrew
Anson
Battle
bombing
Bombing and Gunnery School
C-47
Hudson
mine laying
Mosquito
navigator
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
Proctor
RAF Graveley
RAF Harwell
RAF Hendon
RAF Marham
RAF Oakington
RAF Shallufa
RAF Upper Heyford
RAF Wyton
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1629/25371/PNichollsJEK20010004.2.jpg
6146dbd94bdee07e3c7135d04faf85d1
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Nicholls, Jill Ethel Kathleen. Album
Description
An account of the resource
21 Items. Album with 12 double pages containing newspaper cuttings, photographs of aircraft and people and documents. Includes individual photographs of servicemen and women.
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
2020-02-01
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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Nicholls, JEK
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Inserted] [indecipherable] Smith RF. [indecipherable] 10/4/43 [/inserted]
DUISBERG THE MAIN TARGET
8 Bombers Missing
ANOTHER raid was made by Bomber Command on the Ruhr last night, Duisberg and other objectives being attacked in weather that was rather better than on Thursday.
Fires were left burning by our force, eight of which are missing, as well as two Coastal Command machines which hit a tanker during an attack on enemy shipping off the Norwegian coast.
An Air Ministry communique stated today:
“Last night our heavy bombers attacked Duisberg and other objectives in the Ruhr.
“Yesterday evening aircraft of Coastal Command attacked enemy shipping off the Norwegian coast. A tanker was hit with a torpedo.
“Eight bombers and two aircraft of Coastal Command are missing.”
Not a Large Force
The force over Germany was not a large one, writes a Press Association air correspondent, and the weather experienced, although very cloudy, showed a slight improvement upon conditions encountered the previous night.
Pilots saw fires break out in the target area.
Duisberg, largest inland port in Europe, was last attacked on March 26 when a strong force of heavy bombers caused fires and explosions.
Last night’s was the 58th attack on this important target.
British bombers last night dropped H.E. and incendiary bombs on several localities in Western Germany, says German radio.
“The population suffered casualties,” it adds. A number of enemy bombers were shot down by A.A. fire and night fighters.
Torpedoed Tanker
The large enemy tanker torpedoed off the Norwegian coast was anchored in a Norwegian fjord.
It was attacked by a Hampden of a Coastal Command New Zealand Squadron. A second smaller vessel is also believed to have been hit and damaged, says Air Ministry News Service.
The captain, a flight lieu-
(Continued in Column 4.)
[Inserted] 6/2/40. [/inserted]
AIRMAN TO WED AIRMAN’S WIDOW
ALEX HENSHAW, 27-years-old test pilot, is to marry the widow of his best friend, Count de Chateaubrun, who was killed in an air crash in Paris eight months after his marriage in December 1937.
Notice of marriage has been given at Southampton Register Office. The wedding will take place at Westminster Cathedral. “But the date is a secret,” Mr. Henshaw said yesterday.
Alex Henshaw a year ago yesterday set out from Gravesend to win the England-to-Cape-and-back flying record. He is now test pilot of Spitfire fighters.
The countess, who is 24, was formerly Miss Barbara Maude Wenman. She was the only British competitor in the Sahara Air Rally of 1938.
Window on East Anglia
James Stewart at war
THIS photograph – interesting enough and old enough, I suppose, to be classified as “historical” – was loaned to me by Mr. John Archer, of Earsham, near Bungay, who has an abiding passion for and interest in the activities of the U.S.A.F. during the second world war.
It shows, of course, James Stewart, disembarking from his B-24 Liberator following a mission from Hethel in 1944. Stewart was well known then for his screen appearances, but he is even better known now. He paid a sentimental return to some of his old Norfolk haunts several years ago.
Stewart arrived at Tibenham in 1943. He was then a Squadron Commander, and after being at Old Buckenham for a spell he finally took over at Hethel as Wing Commander. His Liberator, incidentally, was named “Ten-of-vus.”
[Photograph]
[Page break]
Midlands Farm Fired by Crashed Plane
One of the three planes which crashed in a Midlands village lying among the wreckage of farm buildings which it set ablaze. A large building housing cattle, a Dutch barn, and ten stacks of corn were completely destroyed.
[Photograph]
Three Planes Crash in One Village
R.A.F. Men Killed
THREE planes crashed with heavy loss of life to R.A.F. personnel at the village of Hatfield, near Doncaster, on Monday night.
The crashes were unconnected with each other, and occurred within an hour and a half in a radius of a mile and a half.
The first plane hit the end of the house of Mr. and Mrs. T. Platt, in Coppice-avenue, Hatfield, sending a shower of bricks over the bed where two young daughters were sleeping, but the girls and the other occupants of the house all escaped injury.
The plane landed on a poultry farm and caught fire. Some of the men were dragged from the blazing wreckage by Mr. Platt and a neighbour.
25 Cattle Killed
The second plane struck buildings on the farm of J. C. Wright and Son. A large building in which cattle were housed was set on fire, and a Dutch barn and 10 stacks of corn also became involved, all being destroyed by fire. Twenty-five cattle were burned to death or otherwise killed.
The plane missed the farmhouse by inches. One of the crew [missing letters]ped, suffering from shock.
The third plane crashed into a field on the farm of Mr. George Brown and killed six sheep sheltering under trees. None of the crew escaped. There was no damage to the farm in this case.
There were no civilian injuries in either of the three accidents.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Four newspaper cuttings
Description
An account of the resource
Left page. Top - Duisburg the main target, 8 bombers missing. Account of operation.
Bottom left - Airman to wed airman's widow. Alex Henshaw (test pilot) to wed widow of Count de Chateaubrun killed eight months after wedding in December 1937.
Bottom right - James Stewart at war. Account of actor flying with United States Army Air Force in 1944. Includes photograph with B-24. Right page. Top - newspaper cutting showing photograph of wreckage of one of three planes that crashed in a midlands village. Followed by article concerning crashes with loss of life near Doncaster.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-04-10
1940-02-06
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four newspaper cuttings mounted on two album pages
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PNichollsJEK20010004
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
United States Army Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Doncaster
Germany
Germany--Duisburg
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-04-10
1940-02-06
1937-12
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
David Bloomfield
Anne-Marie Watson
B-24
bombing
crash
love and romance
propaganda
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1414/28044/SWareingR86325v10012.1.jpg
1ffcaf4284f8470ea4e2bf6e66220ff2
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1414/28044/SWareingR86325v20003.1.jpg
15b9cd7d7006f97cddc3fb73fb4b0be1
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
Wareing, Robert
R Wareing
Description
An account of the resource
258 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Robert Wareing DFC* (86325 Royal Air Force) and contains his flying logbooks, prisoner of war log book, memoirs, photographs, extensive personal and official correspondence, official documents, pilots/handling notes, decorations, mementos, uniform badges and buttons. He flew operations as a pilot with 106 Squadron. After a period of instructing he returned to operations on 582 Squadron but was shot down and became a prisoner of war.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Andrew Wareing 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
2016-10-05
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
Wareing, R
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Telegram from Robert Wareing
Description
An account of the resource
Arrive Doncaster 6pm love Bob
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
R Wareing
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1945-05-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Printed telegram form
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SWareingR86325v10012, SWareingR86325v20003
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.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Doncaster
England--Scunthorpe
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-05-15
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/1414/28214/EKeyWWareingJ[Date]-01.jpg
7078c4f83b6795e47723eb1720c5c448
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
Wareing, Robert
R Wareing
Description
An account of the resource
258 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Robert Wareing DFC* (86325 Royal Air Force) and contains his flying logbooks, prisoner of war log book, memoirs, photographs, extensive personal and official correspondence, official documents, pilots/handling notes, decorations, mementos, uniform badges and buttons. He flew operations as a pilot with 106 Squadron. After a period of instructing he returned to operations on 582 Squadron but was shot down and became a prisoner of war.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Andrew Wareing 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
2016-10-05
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
Wareing, R
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
W. Key
44 Nelson Rd
Edlington
[underlined] Nr Doncaster [/underlined]
Dear Lady
I do Sincerly [sic] Hope you Heard. Sq Leaders Message at 6 PM Oct 24TH 1944. Well Here is What I managed for you He says He Feels Much Better Now. Also Says Sorry about Leave, But Hopes it Wont be Long, Before He his on Longer Leave for good Next Time. Also He Ask For You to Write Now, And This is His Present Address For Sure Pehaps [sic] you Know it. [underlined] Stalag Luft 1 [/underlined] Also Sends
All His Love Bob,
Sq Leader Waring 86325,
Kind Regards [underlined] W. Key
God Bless Him
You and All [/underlined]
I x Soldier Last War.
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
Letter to Joan Wareing from W Key
Description
An account of the resource
Writes hoping that Joan heard her husband, Squadron Leader Bob Wareing’s message on 6/20/44. He conveys the message as best he remembers it saying that Bob feels much better now and is sorry about the leave and asks for Joan to write to him at his new address Stalag Luft I. The writer states that he was a soldier in the previous war.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
W Key
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
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One page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EKeyWWareingJ[Date]-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
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Doncaster
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
prisoner of war
Stalag Luft 1
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1743/30222/EAirMinMillsGA620309-0002.2.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1743/30222/EAirMinMillsGA620309-0001.2.jpg
6acdc24bd25866bb08404a852b26a53e
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
Mills, Gordon Albert
Albert Gordon Mills
G A Mills
A G Mills
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
2020-10-28
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
Mills, GA
Description
An account of the resource
25 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Gordon Albert Mills (b. 1921, 1448361, 196610 Royal Air Force). He volunteered for aircrew as air gunner and completed operations on 149, 218 and 75 NZ Squadrons on Lancaster and Stirling in 1944/45 and stayed in the RAF after the war. The collection contains his log book, documents, photographs and decorations.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by L A Barker and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AIR CREST
AIR MINISTRY
WHITEHALL
LONDON, S.W.1.
9th March, 1962
Dear Flight Lieutenant,
I have it in command from the Queen
to convey to you, on leaving the Active
List of the Royal Air Force, the thanks
Of Her Majesty for your long and valuable
services.
Yours sincerely,
[signature]
Flight Lieutenant G. A. Mills.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Letter to Gordon A Mills from secretary of state for air
Description
An account of the resource
Thanks him for his service on leaving the active list of the Royal Air Force
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1962-03-09
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page typewritten letter and envelope
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EAirMinMillsGA620309
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
England--Yorkshire
England--Doncaster
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1962-03-09
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
David Bloomfield
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Britain. Air Ministry
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/2175/38142/SWilliamsonF1311249v10003-0015.2.jpg
3c9f683b297151574a84f4bf4af69912
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Williamson, Frank-249
Description
An account of the resource
24 items. The collection concerns Frank Williamson (b. 1912, 1311249 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents and newspaper clippings. He flew operations as an air gunner with 106 Squadron.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Lyn Williamson and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
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
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Williamson, F
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-01-30
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
HANOVER A BLAZING RUIN
[inserted] No 10 22/3 9-42 [/inserted]
Fires Visible to R.A.F. 150 Miles Away: Hundreds of 'Cookies'
A NEW record for concentrated bombing was set up by the R.A.F. in the raid on Hanover on Wednesday night. One of the heaviest weights of high-explosives was dropped in a cascade attack lasting only half an hour. Though by no means the biggest onslaught the R.A.F. is able to make, it was one of the heaviest raids of the war.
Several hundred 'planes, with a large proportion of four-engined ones, took part. [missing word] smashing attack followed an enforced lull of 16 days, caused by bad weather.
When the last wave of 'planes left the target deep red fires were glowing in many parts of the city, while several smaller ones were rapidly gaining a hold, according to pilots and aircrew members returning from the raid.
Many of them reported that they could still see the fires when they were between 140 and 150 miles from Hanover on the way home. One pilot reported a big sausage-like column of thick black smoke giving the impression that the rubber works had been hit.
Hundreds of 4,000lb. "cookies" crashed down in the target area. Pilots and crews reported huge billowing flames where these hit.
Wing-Commander P. Burnett, from Doncaster, who led a big formation from this station, said: "The raid was most successful."
Two Birthday Raids
Flight-Lieutenant A.C.A. Patten, who was born in Lambeth, bombed Germany on his birthday for the second time in succession. He hopes to do it again next birthday if the war is not over by then. Patten has taken part in 64 raids so far.
"It was interesting over the target, where the weather was very clear and we could easily see a built-up area," said First Lieutenant E.G. Roberts, of U.S.A.A.F. now attached to the R.A.F.
"We were in the first wave and saw the start of the raid. There were bags of incendiaries raining down, with plenty of 'cookies.'
"On the way back we had two encounters with German fighters, but after our gunners gave them a burst they sheered off without answering our fire.
Lieutenant Roberts flew in C for Charlie, a veteran Lancaster which has taken part in 31 raids.
Important Works
Hanover was last raided by Fortresses on July 27, when the rubber factory which is the main target there was considerably damaged. It is a city of about 450,000 people, and in the course of 1938 and 1939 the Germans made it a kind of second Ruhr, though on a smaller scale.
Besides the important rubber works there are a large number of small factories making aircraft components and a very large number making armoured fighting vehicles.
The rubber factory makes about 90 per cent. of the tyres serving the German war effort. There is also a large oil refinery.
The Air Ministry also reported that small forces bombed Oldenburg and Emden. Several enemy fighters were destroyed.
Fighters on intruder operations attacked enemy airfields in Holland and North-West Germany, and destroyed one enemy aircraft. Twenty-six bombers and one fighter are missing. – B.U.P.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Hanover A Blazing Ruin
Description
An account of the resource
A newspaper article describing an attack on Hanover. It is annotated 'No 10 22/3 9/43'.
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Germany
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Doncaster
England--London
Germany--Emden (Lower Saxony)
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Oldenburg
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two newspaper cuttings
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
SWilliamsonF1311249v10003-0015
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943-09-22
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
Sue Smith
B-17
bombing
Lancaster
propaganda
-
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/208/38381/MBellJE425763-210415-030003.2.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
Bell, Joyce
Joyce Bell
J Bell
Description
An account of the resource
12 items. An oral history interview with Joyce Edna Bell nee Langdon (b. 1921 Royal Air Force), Jim Taylor's RAF Memoirs 1932-1939, documents, clippings, correspondence and photographs. Joyce Bell served served as a clerk in 1 Group Bomber Command and Married <a href="https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/show/17">Oliver Bell</a>. <br /><br />The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Joyce Bell and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-11-27
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
Bell, J
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
Joyce Bell National Identity Card
Description
An account of the resource
A card issued to Joyce.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
HM Government
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Yorkshire
England--Doncaster
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
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
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One double sided printed card with handwritten annotations
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MBellJE425763-210415-030001, MBellJE425763-210415-030002, MBellJE425763-210415-030003
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