Browse Items (369 total)

  • Spatial Coverage is exactly "England--Wiltshire"

BSmithJSmithJv1-2.pdf
Covers life before the war and volunteering for the RAF in August 1940. Continues with account of training as a wireless operator. Includes radio school crest and photograph of a Battle aircraft. Describes voyage from Liverpool via Cape Town then…

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BSmithJSmithJv1.pdf
Second version. Covers life before the war and volunteering for the RAF in August 1940. Continues with account of training as a wireless operator. Includes radio school crest and photograph of a Battle aircraft. Describes voyage from Liverpool via…

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BGambleATGambleATv1.pdf
Part 1. "By the Seat of his Pants". Covers from Alan Gamble's years as a schoolboy in Worthing in the late 1930's, up to joining the RAF in 1943, where he trained as a wireless operator in Blackpool. He joined 620 Squadron, which was equipped mainly…

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EWoolfASWoolfC-[Mo]440924.jpg
Advises them he had arrived back in England at RAF hospital Wroughton.

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EWoolfASWoolfC-[Mo]440926.pdf
Writes that he is glad to be back in England and to catch up with news. Asks if they received any of his letters from German prisoner of war hospital. Relates his last days as prisoner and liberation by American forces and journey home. Continues…

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PBarrJ1506.jpg
Jim joined the Royal Air Force after an engineering apprenticeship. He learnt navigation in South Africa at Oudtshoorn, followed by gunnery training at Port Alfred. After Dumfries, he went to an Operational Training Unit (OTU) at RAF North Luffenham…

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AFittP150519.mp3
Peter was born in Norwich. His father was a head gardener and wanted him to follow that occupation and so refused to let him join the RAF. With the advent of war, the situation changed and Peter volunteered at a recruiting station and, after…

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PStockerEE1601.jpg
Ted joined the Royal Air Force in January 1938 and went to RAF Halton. He became a fitter at RAF Boscombe Down, experiencing many aircraft. He did an air gunners’ course and became a flight engineer on Halifaxes. Ted’s first operation was to…

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PStockerEE1601.jpg
Edward Ernest Stocker (Ted) began his service with the RAF as a flight engineer on Halifaxes. He came to the attention of his Commanding Officer on his second operation when, before departure, he warned that they were carrying insufficient fuel to…

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AFarrC160524.mp3
Colin was born in Ilford in 1920 and, at the outbreak of war, was working in a London warehouse. Seeing the bomb damage around him he wanted to join the RAF and seek revenge, so he volunteered. Unfortunately, following an accident, he had a plaster…

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BRhodesG-KPayneAv1.pdf
A description of their time during the war by their daughter. Her father joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in September 1940. He was captured by the Japanese in Singapore, 1942. He was released on 12 September 1945 and came home on…

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AClarkeE150817.mp3
Eric was born in Doncaster and had a difficult childhood. He was attracted by nearby RAF Finningley and decided he wanted to join the RAF, when war was imminent. He was registered as an aircraftman second class and trained to be a wireless operator.…

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PTrappSV1602.jpg
Sylvia was born in Mansfield where her father was a miner and her mother had worked at Lawns Mills. She had two brothers and a sister. Sylvia was 15 when she left school to work at the hosiery mills and recalls the German manager being deported. She…

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MBartlettA[Ser#-DoB]-150520-040001.jpg
Describes events during a mine laying operation in a Stirling to the Gironde River near Bordeaux. Relates how the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire which damaged the tail and an engine as well as wounding the flight engineer. Describes the…

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PPattersonGE1901.jpg
Before joining the Royal Air Force on 4 February 1942, Ernie worked as an apprentice joiner. On being called up he went to RAF Blackpool for training, which included Morse code. Following training at different places he then attended the advanced…

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PHarrisonEW1903.jpg
Eric William Harrison joined the RAF in 1943 and trained as a flight engineer at RAF Locking, RAF St Athan, and RAF Chedburgh. He flew Stirlings and recollects that they were a terrifying aircraft compared to Lancasters. Harrison formed a crew at the…

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PJoyJ1701.jpg
Joy Joy was evacuated from Hull at the start of the war, returning home for Christmas. She was again evacuated as the bombings began. She took responsibility for her younger sister, although she was only six years old herself, and she says that from…

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BSaundersCFSaundersCFv1.pdf
An account by Charles Saunders of his service in the RAF during the war. He served as a mid upper gunner flying in the Halifax with No 102 Squadron at RAF Pocklington and carried out 18 operations. VE day ended his flying career and he was retrained…

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AWoodardP160512.mp3
Peter was in the Air Training Corps and joined the Royal Air Force, on deferred service, as a wireless operation/air gunner. He was soon called to the Air Crew Reception Centre at Lord’s cricket ground. He went to the No. 2 Radio School at RAF…

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WardM (Pesaro).jpg
Mary Ward grew up in Bloxham. She joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1940 and was posted to RAF Driffield, on general duties in the officers’ mess. She describes a German daylight attack on RAF Driffield on the 15 August 1940 and the…

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WardM (Pesaro).jpg
Mary Ward joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1940. She served, briefly, at RAF Driffield but mostly at RAF Linton on Ouse. She trained as a cook before being moved to duties as a map officer, where she prepared maps for briefings and…

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ACarringtonJ170207.mp3
Jane Carrington joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in 1942 at the age of 18 because it sounded more exciting than the Army or Navy and she like the colour of the uniform. She served as a cook, and volunteered to join the band as a drummer. She…

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ADobleRG151117.mp3
Ron Doble grew up in London and joined the Air Training Corps and the fire watchers, when war was declared. He volunteered for the Air Force when he was 18 and trained as an air gunner. He talks about the conditions in his turret and the mishaps he…

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PMabeyBC1605.jpg
Bernard Mabey was born in London and experienced the Blitz at first hand. He was a member of the Air Training Corps in 1941, before volunteering for the RAF. He trained as an air frame mechanic at RAF Locking. His first posting was RAF Marston Moor…

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AWarrenH160325.mp3
Harold joined the Royal Air Force just before war started. After basic training, he went to a technical school to learn about engines and airframes. He spent some time at RAF Boscombe Down. When war started, he was in France as part of 218 Squadron…

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