Sergeant William Richard Hunt's grave
Sergeant William Richard Hunt's grave. The cross details William Richard Hunt's rank, service number and date of death. Other gravestones can be seen in the background.
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One b/w photograph
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PHuntWR2003
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Notification of death
A letter sent by the Air Ministry detailing the death of Sergeant William Richard Hunt. The letter includes the date of William Richard Hunt's presumed death and where he is buried. It is signed by a Flying Officer.
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1943-02-06
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Single page typewritten letter
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MHuntWR520376-200127-02
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Letter to Mrs Hunt
A letter written in French, with accompanying English translation sent to Mrs Hunt. The French letter was written by an Auguste Bally, an Adjudant in the Gendarmerie. The letter is sent as a reply to Mrs Hunt, thanking Bally for information on her son's death and details of his burial. Bally reminisces his time with British soldiers. Bally later asks for some tobacco. The reverse of the English translation details various times and locations handwritten.
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1945-09-19
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Type written double sided letter with accompanying translation
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EBallyAHuntH450919-0001, EBallyAHuntH450919-0002, EBallyAHuntH450919-0003, EBallyAHuntH450919-0004
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John Martin's memoir
A Raid Over Berlin
The story of John Martin's last operation, how he was shot down, escaped the aircraft and was captured. He was interrogated at Dulag Luft in Frankfurt then transferred to various Stalg Luft camps. His story covers in his life until he was repatriated in 1945.
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71 printed sheets
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EMartinESBatchelderHE20170502
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Hastie DFC: The Life and Times of a Wartime Pilot
A biography of Roy Hastie.
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2003-10
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142 printed sheets
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BLovattPHastieRv2
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My Prisoner of War Days
Reg's account starting when he was shot down on an operation to Berlin. After Berlin he was transferred to Frankfurt for interrogation then by train to his camp. Camp life involved food, the preparation and acquisition of extra food by theft, trading or Red Cross parcels. The theatre was very popular as was sport. Trading was a large part of camp life, using cigarettes as currency. Plans to escape and tunneling were active at all times. Mail was very important, as were parcels from home. Once the Germans found out Reg was now an officer he was transferred to an officer's camp in Bavaria where conditions were better. Finally he relates the arrival of the Americans at the camp and his repatriation to his home.
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2008-10
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39 printed sheets
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MWilsonRC1389401-170113-100001
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The Story of Flight Lieutenant John J Blair, DFC
102 (Ceylon) Squadron and 216 Squadron
A 52 page document detailing the history of John Blair's RAF service from 1942 to 1963, and his childhood in Jamaica. Introductory note says it was based on a taped interview with John Blair by his nephew in 1997.
John was born in 1919 to a poor but educated family. He was the youngest of eight children. At the age of 17 he started training as a teacher but war had broken out. He was accepted by the RAF as aircrew and after brief training in Jamaica was shipped to New Orleans then onward to Canada.
He trained as a Navigator and after crew selection at Kinloss, training on Whitleys he was sent to Pocklington, Yorkshire.
He completed 33 operations - there is great detail about the operations.
After the war he transferred to Transport Command and flew Hastings and Comets around the world. He was a successful athlete for the RAF.
Included is a eulogy for John written by his nephew, Mark Johnson.
An appendix covers a colleague, John Ebanks who served as a bomb aimer at RAF Oakington. He undertook 50 operations.
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2008
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52 typewritten sheets
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MBlairJJ[Ser#-DoB]-160509-01
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Interview with Kenneth William Trueman
Kenneth William Trueman volunteered for the RAF and was called up in 1941. After training in South Africa, he served as a navigator with 640 Squadron and speaks of his preference for the Gee navigation aid rather than H2S. His operations included bombing the site of V-1s. He describes how on his twenty-fifth operation his plane was one of the first to be shot down by a German night fighter with a gun pointing upwards (also known as schräge musik). He baled out and he and four of his crew were rescued by the Maquis resistance forces and he tells of going on raids with them and evading German forces. He was repatriated by American forces and then served as an instructor. After the war he returned to carpentry. He later visited the area of his crash and met with a surviving Maquis leader and also visited the War Graves Cemetary where his other two crew members are buried.
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2015-09-21
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01:42:40 audio recording
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ATruemanKW150921
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Interview with Eric Horsham
Eric Horsham was born in East London in 1923. Leaving school at 14 he was a messenger at the Royal Ordnance Factory before working for the railways. In 1937 he joined the Air Training Corps and learned about aircraft maintenance. On his first attempt to join the Royal Air Force he failed the medical but a year later was accepted for flight engineer training.
Eric describes his basic training in London and Torbay then recollects his technical training at RAF St. Athan. He then went to 1652 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Marston Moor and joined his Halifax crew. In 1944 they were posted to 102 Squadron at RAF Pocklington where there were told that they wouldn't last three weeks.
Eric and his crew carried out a vast range of strategic bombings including daylight operations on V-1 sites, night operations on The Ruhr and Essen, night and daylight operations to oil targets, minelaying in the Baltic. They also provided tactical support in support of Allied troops near Caen and in the Ardennes, where they were badly damaged by a fighter and the mid-upper gunner received serious injuries. After landing at RAF Woodbridge in fog using FIDO he was hospitalised and did not fly again. The crew also supplied petrol to troops in Belgium, enjoying the low-level flying on these trips
Eric describes the sound of shrapnel hitting the aircraft, recalls a bomber exploding in flight, but dismisses the Scarecrow theory. He describes the use of Schräge Musik against the bombers; how search lights in the Ruhr operated, the use of H2S and how the master bomber controlled the rest of the formation.
At the end of his tour Eric remustered and was posted at RAF Jurby as airfield controller. From there he went to RAF Topcliffe and was demobbed in January 1947. Eric went back to the railways for ten years before working in local government. He retired in 1978, moving to Cornwall. While at RAF Pocklington he dated Cora noting that her parents made feel like a son. But he then ended the relationship because, with his own life in such jeopardy, he thought it was unfair on her. After the war he married Ellen, who he had met when starting his first job with the railways.
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2017-01-05
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02:07:40 audio recording
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ASymondsHorshamE170105, PHorshamES1602
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Interview with Ron Dawson
Ron Dawson flew over 40 operations with 429 Squadron as air gunner. He joined the Air Training Corps at the age of sixteen. He trained on Ansons and Boulton Paul Defiants and remembers flying in the Whitley. He crewed up at Leicester airport. Tells of being attacked by enemy fighters twice. Gives a vivid and detailed account of when he was shot down on the way back from Nuremberg. They all bailed out but while the rest of the crew was arrested, he found his way to the Luxembourg border and was taken up by the Resistance. He was then taken to the house of a man called Ferdie Schulz and he stayed there from May 1944 to the 7th of June 1944. From Luxembourg he went to Belgium, where he hid in the Ardennes forest with other people from different countries, until the invasion started and they were then liberated by the Americans, who after questioning them regarding their identity, let him go to fend off on his own. After the war, Ron became a police officer.
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2017-11-07
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00:43:44 audio recording
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ADawsonR171107
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George Toombs’ flying log book for navigators, air bombers, air gunners and flight engineers
Flying log book for navigators, air bombers, air gunners and flight engineers for George Toombs, flight engineer, covering the period from 1 May 1944 to 7 October 1944. Detailing his flying training and operations flown. He was stationed at RAF Sandtoft, RAF Hemswell and RAF Binbrook. Aircraft flown in were Halifax and Lancaster. He completed a total of 31 operations with 460 squadron, 19 Daylight and 12 night operations. Targets were, Ardouval, Bois de Jardin, Stuttgart, Foret de Nieppe, Trossy, Pauillac, Fontaine le Marmion, Aire, Aachen, Douai, La Pallice, Volkel, Stettin, Ghent, Raimbert, Le Havre, Frankfurt, Rheine, Sangatte, Neuss, Cap Griz Nez, Calais, Kattegat, Saarbrucken and Emmericht. His pilot on operations was Flying Officer Lester.
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One booklet
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LToombsG1590211v1
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Was it all a Dream
The memoirs of Wartime Bomb Aimer Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey's wartime memoirs, from enlistment, training in UK and Canada and detail of each of 31 operation in Bomber Command. After completion of his tour he was transferred to Lossiemouth to train Free French aircrew. After successful progress he was offered a commission. Later he trained for Tiger Force ops at RAF Wigsley and Swinderby. When the Force was cancelled he became an Equipment Officer at Bicester then Cosford, Brampton and Kimbolton.
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45 typewritten sheets and two b/w photographs
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BBaileyJDBaileyJDv1
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