Browse Items (142 total)

  • Spatial Coverage is exactly "Germany--Dortmund-Ems canal"

BSmithJSmithJv1-2.pdf
Wartime recollections of John (known to his friends as Jack) George Smith from Pinchbeck. He tells of life before the war, how he went on to volunteer for the RAF in August 1940 and describes his training as a wireless operator. The document includes…

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BSmithJSmithJv1.pdf
Second version. Covers life before the war and volunteering for the RAF in August 1940 and continues with an account of training as a wireless operator. The article includes radio school crest and photograph of a Battle aircraft. He describes his…

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BRobertsRFKittridgeAv1.pdf
Describes enlisting in the aircraft apprentice scheme, recruitment and training. He flew 23 operations, one as wireless operator/air gunner, 12 as navigator/bomb aimer and ten as pilot. Pilots were Squadron Leader Allen, Sergeant Stretton, Pilot…

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PVarneyE1501.jpg
Eric Varney completed 28 operations as a mid upper gunner with 207 Squadron from RAF Spilsby. After the war Eric worked as a bus driver, coal miner, long distance lorry driver and coal merchant.

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SSmithRW425992v10003-0002 copy.pdf
Covers his operational tour and bombing operations.

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NBrooksGW200813-02.jpg
Glenn's obituary. Mentions that Glenn was previously reported missing and is now presumed dead. It mentions his birth and schools attended, training and marriage to Dora. He completed 29 operations but was shot down on an attack on the Dortmund-Ems…

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PEvansE1602.jpg
Eric Evans was born in 1923 in Liverpool and was 16 years old when war broke out. He served in the Royal Air Force, serving with 463 RAAF Squadron, starting from the rank of sergeant and rising to a warrant officer on leaving the service, before…

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EBarryCGDuwellA450702.pdf
Comments on recent rheumatism and that she was currently writing while on duty. Continues with news that WAAF watchkeepers were now allowed to fly on cross country flights over the continent. Recently this was done on the quiet. Mentions two routes…

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APeelPAG170831.mp3
Mike's son Phillip gives a detailed account of his father's RAF career, using logbook and letters, as well as recalling his father's anecdotes. Mike Peel was a Lancaster pilot and served on two squadrons before becoming a prisoner of war late in…

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PCookJH1701.jpg
Having completed school and moved on to work at 20th Century Fox Films, Joe worked as a fire watcher at the beginning of the war, before joining the Royal Air Force. He states that he did so because he always wanted to fly and did not want to join…

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SWatsonC188489v1-1.pdf
A memoir written by Cliff Watson divided into 20 chapters.

The Earliest Years.
Born in Barnoldswick, then in Yorkshire, now in Lancashire in 1922. His father ran a wireless business until 1926. He describes his years at schools and a move to…

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SGillK1438901v20027.pdf
Gives service history of Kenneth Gill including training in Canada as navigator, training in England, operations on 9 Squadron with list of his crew. Details targets attacked. Commissioned and awarded Distinguished Flying Cross. After tour on…

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PFawcettK1701.jpg
Ken Fawcett worked for the Post Office and served in the Home Guard for two and a half years, having signed up at 16. He joined the Royal Air Force at Lords Cricket Ground in September 1943. He initially requested pilot training but, realising the…

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AStanneyF160212.mp3
Frank Stanney was working on the land before he volunteered for the RAF. After training, he flew operations as a wireless operator with 61 Squadron. One day his pilot took off as a 20 year old and returned as a 21 year old, as it was his birthday…

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MSandersDS1869292-160314-07.pdf
Contains details of 22 operations where David Sanders flew as flight engineer. Includes all up weights, bomb loads, fuel loads, snags, numbers of aircraft, defences, remarks and number of aircraft missing on operations.

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MFalgateD136896-160407-040002.jpg
A handwritten account of Don Falgate's tour between 10 September 1944 and 7 April 1945. The account includes his observations and calculations about the percentage of aircraft lost. He carried out a total of 32 day and night-time operations on…

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ANicholsonD151002-01.mp3
Don was a Flight Engineer with No 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron in 1944-45 at RAF Dunholme Lodge and later at RAF Spilsby, and completed 31 operations, which he lists. He recounts how, having arrived for the briefing for his first operation, he was grounded…

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ANicholsonD151002-02.mp3
The recording starts with the sound of Merlin engines. Don Nicholson lost his first crew when he was grounded on medical grounds and they were killed in action. He became the spare flight engineer on the squadron. He flew with different pilots until…

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BHookingsEWHookingsEWv2.pdf
Describes operations as Lancaster pilot. Detailed description of last sortie to attack Dortmund-Ems canal on 6 November 1944. His aircraft was attacked by FW 190 which was driven of and then set on fire by another fighter attack. Describes bailing…

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YProbynEA1896412v1.pdf
A diary kept by Ernest throughout 1944.

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BCruickshankGCruickshankGv3.pdf
Describes life with family from 1918. Joined Army – 4th Queen's Own Hussars on 2nd January 1936. Joined RAF 1938 and trained as balloon operator then applied as air gunner, arriving at RAF Swinderby in December 1941. Took part in 50 Squadron…

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PWoodC1601.jpg
Colin Wood grew up in Sheffield and worked as a plumber until he volunteered for the RAF. He trained in Canada and flew operations as a navigator with 106 Squadron from RAF Metheringham. On arrival at the station, his pilot and three others made…

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ANeedleR171004.mp3
Ron Needle, from Birmingham, flew operations as a rear gunner on 106 Squadron Lancasters at Metheringham, including Norway, Dortmund Ems Canal and Munich. He was one of two survivors after his aircraft crashed in France. Ron was aided by local…

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ATyrellLR150929.mp3
Leonard Ralph Tyrell mentions always being keen on aircraft since he was a boy. He was sent to RAF Syerston near Nottingham for Lancaster Finishing School, and then an advanced flying unit near Wolverhampton, before heading to number 17 OTU at RAF…

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MMcDermottC1119618-161216-04.pdf
A magazine of aerial photographs of incindiary bombs dropping, a formation of Fw 190s, the bombing of Aachen, Turin, operations over Sicily, the port of Taranto, a gas factory and colliery, a railway junction, a coastal battery, combat film of the…

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