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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/711/17279/MBlairJJ[Ser -DoB]-160509-01.pdf
e2e9d8182bf6e54b5b01c95e7baedfa6
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Title
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Blair, John
John Jericho Blair
J J Blair
Description
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38 items. The collection concerns John Jericho Blair DFC (1919-2004). He was born in Jamaica and served in RAF from 1942-1963. He flew a tour of operations as a navigator with 102 Squadron from RAF Pocklington. The collection includes numerous photographs of him and colleagues, several photographs of Jamaica, a document detailing his life and an interview with his great nephew Mark Johnson.
The collection also contains three interviews with Caribbean veterans including John Blair recorded by Mark Johnson.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mark Johnson and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2016-05-09
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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.
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Blair, JJ
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Transcription
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The Story of Flight Lieutenant John J Blair, DFC 102 (Ceylon) Squadron and 216 Squadron Royal Air Force
1942 to 1963
Author’s Note
This story is primarily the transcript of a taped interview with my Uncle John Blair that took place in 1997. Following the creation of the raw transcript, I researched several aspects of the story to fill in some gaps. Very sadly, Uncle John began to suffer the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease soon after I spoke to him, and he was unable to review this text. Any errors of fact contained in the story are therefore mine.
Mark Johnson
London, 2008
Chapter 1: On the Pedro Plains
Let’s start the story from the beginning, bearing in mind the fact that I was born way back in 1919. This was in the Pedro Plains district of the Parish of St. Elizabeth, in south‐western Jamaica – a real country parish where families barely got by on farming and fishing.
There were eight children in my family and I happened to be the last one. In fact, I really came out of the blue because the sibling I followed was seven years ahead of me. So I was the “little last one”, what they used to call in those days a “wash belly” child. Well anyway, there I was and so off I went, trying to catch up with the rest of my family.
Life in rural Jamaica had a very slow pace back then, there being no motor vehicles around, no television or radio, no electricity in fact, nor anything else that depended on that. Our farming and fishing community was labour intensive and used techniques that go way back to the olden days. Life followed the seasons; not those of the northern hemisphere, but ‘rainy season’, ‘hurricane season’ and even ‘mango season’!
We experienced long, dry, hot periods in Pedro Plains and rainfall has always been scarce there. The soil is very red and it’s a dusty place, with few trees. At many points sharp limestone rocks stick up out of the ground like little mountain peaks. When I was a child, most people still lived in thatched cottages. You made do and you recycled everything.
One of my brothers and two sisters, as well as my brother‐in‐law were all teachers, and in time the two men rose to prominent positions in the field of education in Jamaica. In those days, teachers were amongst a group of people who were held in high esteem within the community, as were nurses and doctors, veterinarians, police constables and the local postmistress. Nowadays it’s all about lawyers, politicians, musicians, gunmen and drug dealers, but back then, in Jamaica at least, we still lived by the old values.
As I was so much younger than my brothers and sisters, I didn’t have the opportunity to go to school at the same time as them. In fact, when I eventually started school one of my sisters, Jemima Blair, was already the teacher there. In the 1920s these country schools were tiny places with only a single class made up of children of all ages, and just the one teacher. This was old style primary education. The teacher stood at the front of the class and taught, while we sat at our little wooden tables and recited. When you weren’t supposed to be reciting, you kept quiet or else you would know what was coming next; a good hiding! You didn’t raise your hand and ask questions; questions were asked of you, and you had better know the answer.
I actually started school before I had reached the required age at that time, which was seven. I started at the age of five, and this created some interesting problems. One day there came a visit by a School Inspector. (In those days of British colonial government, the Inspectors were all Englishmen – we would have called them ‘white men’.) I recall that I was literally pushed out of the back of the building by my sister when the Inspector arrived so that questions about my age would not arise!
I remained in school in St. Elizabeth until I was ten years old and then my parents were forced to move away for work for a while, and my eldest sister, Clarissa, took me in. She was also a teacher and had married yet another teacher, a Mr. Enos Bertram Johnson, or ‘E.B.’ Johnson as he was called.
They lived in a teacher’s cottage in the parish of St. Mary, almost at the other end of the island. Mr. Johnson was a serious and imposing figure and a respected educator. He also led the local scout troop and I can remember the boys parading, all smartly dressed in their khaki uniforms, but barefoot – most of them could not afford shoes in those days. I spent about a year and a half with the Johnsons until my brother Stanley returned home from the Cayman Islands. Stanley was the other teacher in my family, and he later became a School Inspector himself. I moved to live with him where he was teaching in St. Ann and eventually, after yet another move, Ocho Rios is where we ended up.
Stanley’s teacher’s cottage was a ramshackle affair and in very poor condition. There was little in it in the way of furniture or fittings and things were so tough for the pair of us that as soon as my parents had returned to Pedro Plains, I was sent home. In reality, home was not much better than my brothers’ cottage that I had just escaped from. Nevertheless, I spent the rest of my time in elementary school there and, all in all, I can say that I received a good basic education.
When I reached the age of seventeen, I decided to become a teacher like many of my siblings and I made an attempt to enter the Mico Training College in Kingston as a trainee. Mico was highly regarded and competition for places there was intense. It took two attempts, but eventually I was successful and I spent three years at the College, and experienced life in the ‘big city’. I left there as a qualified teacher in elementary education and I soon joined the Greenwich School near Tinson Pen, Kingston where I taught for about a year and a half.
By now the Second World War had been in progress for a year and many local people were volunteering to serve in uniform, irrespective of their qualifications. Some were selected to do manual labour and others were considered capable of more sophisticated activities. Although we lived far from the centre of things, we all knew about what was taking place in Europe. In those days our educational curriculum was set by the Colonial Government, and it was essentially the same as that studied by English children. We were therefore more familiar with British history than we were with our own, and goings on in the war with Germany had been well publicised. I recall that a couple of my younger Johnson nephews in Kingston (E.B. and Clarissa’s sons) kept a map of Europe on their bedroom wall, and plotted the course of the war from the information they heard on the BBC news broadcasts. Their hero was the Soviet general, Zhukov.
The general view of Hitler was that he was a man who needed to be stopped. Although a lot of Jamaicans resented colonial rule, I don’t think anyone was confused about the difference between that and what the Nazis stood for. We felt that we were all in it together – all the small countries of the world.
So, it was with this attitude that I applied to the Royal Air Force (RAF) as ‘aircrew’, and I was accepted for training. Up until this time the official British policy was that only 'British born men, of British born parents, of pure European descent' could receive officer’s commissions in any of the services. The RAF was the first to relax the restriction as their officer casualties had been so high in relation to the other services, but the colour ban was not lifted in the Navy or the Army until 1948. It was for this reason that so many of the West Indian volunteers opted for the air force. Altogether, I understand that about a thousand West Indians served as RAF aircrew during the Second World War, while thousands also served in various ground staff capacities.
Having returned home briefly to bid farewell to my family, I left St Elizabeth on the fish truck that ran to Kingston regularly from in front of the old Post Office. My nephew George Henry was amongst those gathered to see me off and he told me much later that his earliest childhood memory is of me coming to say goodbye to his mother Jemima – my sister and former teacher. George was about three when I set off and he remembers that behind the Post Office fence there was a lot of broken glass lying on the ground. He thought at the time that this was where the war was!
That trip to Kingston on the fish truck was no small affair – it took hours. When we left St Elizabeth and started the long climb up Spur Tree Hill towards the town of Mandeville, the truck would begin to overheat. The brakes were so poor that when we stopped to top up the radiator, we had to jump down quickly and ‘cotch’ the rear wheels with large stones, otherwise the thing would just roll backwards down the hill and a lot of fish would be lost! In those days, by the time you got to Kingston you were in need of a vacation.
After a short period of orientation at Up Park Camp in Kingston about thirty of us, all RAF volunteers, left the island by ship in October 1942, bound ultimately for Canada. We were off to commence our training for war. So there I was, a 23 year old elementary school teacher from Pedro Plains, St Elizabeth, Jamaica, on my way to fly against the Nazi war machine.
Chapter 2: Cold Like the Devil!
Our journey from Jamaica was really quite comical at the outset. We were ordered to board an American ship and I remember the crew just looking at us coldly and pointing below decks, saying ‘You all go down there’; remember that in most parts a black man couldn’t even vote back then! When we descended to the first level, we saw a lot of empty bunks, so everyone selected a bed and we started to make ourselves at home. However, we did not have time to get too comfortable because within a few minutes an officer appeared and shouted, ‘No, not here, go down two more levels!’ And so we volunteers spent the rest of our time on that ship sitting in the hold!
This was my first time on the open sea, and my first time out of Jamaica, so I was fortunate to be in a good group. That ship pitched and rolled like crazy, and it was dark, hot and damp down there in the hold. Several men were sick and the smell in that confined place got quite bad, which didn’t help.
We stopped for a short time in British Honduras, as it was known then (now Belize) where we took on board some forestry workers who had volunteered for labour duties, as well as a few more RAF fellows. I chatted with some of the workers as our enlarged group squatted down below decks, and they said they were going to Scotland where they would be working in the forests, cutting timber – or so they believed. They probably ended up loading cargo, in the rain, in an English port somewhere.
We travelled together as far as New Orleans where we all disembarked, with a great deal of relief. The RAF party then travelled up to New York and spent about two weeks there waiting to be told where we should go next. This was an opportunity to have a good look around, and we made full use of it. Leo Balderamos from Belize joined me on a trip to the top of the Empire State Building, then the tallest structure ever built. Now that was something! Finally our orders arrived and we set off once again, bound for the largest RAF station in Canada, Monkton in New Brunswick.
That camp covered many acres and held a large number of trainees. I don’t know how many people were there in total, because all students coming from various parts of the United Kingdom to do their Air Force training came through there. Whether you were bound for training in Canada or in the United States, you would be shipped through this base, so it was a very, very large place indeed, swarming with recruits. Before we left Monkton, we got our first issue of uniforms and we were given our basic training.
This ‘basic training’ activity had nothing to do with flying; it was just the initial qualification for getting into any of the services. A lot of our time was taken up with morning parades, and this parade and that parade, and saluting here and saluting there, stamping your feet at every chance, and using rifles, which I had never touched before in my life. It was quite an initiation.
Our first uniforms were uncomfortable and they made you itch. In addition to the trousers and jacket, we had a heavy greatcoat and great big, black leather boots, with nails in the sole. These made a crisp sound as you marched and you felt as though you were already set to jump on the Germans. We had brass buttons to clean every night, as well as our boots, and lots of brass bits all over our belts and webbing. A lot of cleaning and polishing had to be done and the evenings were generally spent sitting on the edge of our bunks in the barrack room, shining our gear, and telling jokes or speculating about the future.
We left Monkton at the end of November 1942, there being twenty‐one of us remaining in our group now, and we were sent to an RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) training base. We spent more time there being familiarised with the Canadian military and Air Force systems.
Our group was what we would today describe as ‘multi‐cultural’. There were only two Englishmen and the group covered all shades from black to white to grey! One of the Englishmen was a teacher like me, although he taught at a college in the UK, and the other had been living in Belize. In those days it was common practice to describe a man by his colour, and it wasn’t necessarily derogatory – it depended on the tone and context. We all travelled together and lived together without tension.
After about three weeks of further basic training we were sent to Toronto. It was here that we would be classified for different roles, so this was a critical period for anyone who had ambitions to fly. We had lectures and exams on a variety subjects and the results determined which end of the airfield you were destined for. This was our ‘ironing out’ phase.
Those who failed to qualify for flight training went off to be trained for ground staff roles while those who had qualified were assigned to the next phase of training, in preparation for flying school or navigator’s training. The process really was conducted purely on the basis of qualifications, not race. Our two Englishmen were selected for preliminary flight training from our group, as was Arthur Wint (the famous Jamaican athlete) LO Lynch from Jamaica (who later won the prestigious) RAF Air Gunner’s Trophy) Leo Balderamos from Belize, and myself.
We spent quite a long time in this stage of training, and this was in the deep, dark Canadian winter, which I had never experienced before. I can remember that the snow was up around your knees if you were not careful where you went walking. Once they had broken us down into groups, those of us who were selected for flying were sent to McGill University, where we spent about 4 weeks in the classroom. Suddenly, myself
and Arthur Wint were sent to a special school up in Ottawa. Whatever unearthly reason there was for this was not explained at the time – it seemed the authorities had just pulled our two names up out of a hat. They hadn’t even made provision for our accommodation and we had to sort that out ourselves. Anyway, off we went as ordered, and on arrival it dawned on us that the Canadians had somehow got the idea that we didn’t know anything about maths.
When these special classes started, we realized that we were being taught the most basic levels of algebra and trigonometry and on the very first day we looked at each other and said, ‘This is a joke!’ Arthur said to me, ‘Look, let’s try and see what we can do to show these people who we actually are’.
When the teacher came into the room for the second session he set up a simple algebraic calculation on the blackboard and Arthur spoke up and asked him to set us a tougher challenge. The fellow looked at Arthur and said ‘Alright’; you could see that he thought Arthur was going to make a mess of it. Arthur got up and solved the problem on the board, and I recall that it was quite a complex one. Well, all I can tell you is that in no time flat we were back in training with the rest of our group!
Not long after this, almost as compensation, Arthur and I were sent on another special training course. This time we arrived at our destination to find that the course was an advanced flying course for experienced pilots. Once again, we were sent packing! Confusion reigned!
We now went to what was known as the Initial Training Wing. This was more advanced than anything we had done before and the place had a very modern feel to it. We knew that when we finished this stage of training we would be assigned our area of specialisation, becoming trainee pilots, navigators or bomb aimers. Although Arthur and I were joining a week late we joined forces and quickly caught up with the group.
Not long after we arrived, we were told that we had to attend a flying medical, which is more difficult to pass than the basic medical all servicemen and women had to take. At this stage, my flying career almost ended before I got off the ground.
We’d been out drinking up in Montreal, and we got back to base by train at about four o’clock in the morning. Almost as soon as we had arrived I heard a voice call out, ‘Blair! Medical!’ It took them all of ten minutes to ‘wash me out’ of aircrew!
I was now an outcast, sent away to what was known as the ‘Holding School’ in Toronto. This was an old exhibition hall, made up of several huge buildings with a variety of strange fixtures here and there (now empty) for the displays. I was alone as I left my group behind, and I arrived at the Holding School alone. It was a horrible feeling and when you walked into the place there were bunk beds stretching away as far as you could see ‐ nothing but beds! Anyway, at least I got a bed for myself this time.
Within this facility there was a holding office specifically for RAF people who had failed their courses and were going back to England without doing flight training. So it appeared that I too would go to England without any training, and with all these strange Englishmen! And boy, let me tell you, I had never seen so many of them in one place before. There were about five hundred men in my area alone, and if you take into account the whole compound, there were probably several thousand men there waiting to be shipped home. But I was there now on my own as I didn’t know anybody else in this large assembly.
After about three weeks cooling my heels, feeling rather low about my plight, I went and saw the Canadian Medical Officer. I told him what the problem was, and he said ‘Alright, we’ll give you another try’. He ran a series of tests, most of which involved looking at various coloured pictures and telling him what I saw. It was a hell of a job to do but I just told him what I saw and the very next day I was given a full medical. Two days later everything was cleared up and the MO called me to his office and said
‘Alright, we are going to send you back to the training school.’ That was a relief, I can tell you.
However, as I had missed almost a month of classes, I was now placed in a new group, and I was the only Jamaican, the only coloured man there; all my coloured friends had gone on ahead. This was a new experience for me, but as it turned out it was not a problem at all. I was treated just like another member of the team. In fact, I never had any problems with racism or unfair treatment throughout my career in the Royal Air Force, right up to 1963. This might be because I felt I knew what the dangers were and I didn’t expose myself to them. But I believe that one’s attitude was the most important factor.
I focused on the task at hand, and towards the end of this period I was informed that I had been selected for Navigator training. This was quite a responsibility because after the Pilot, the Navigator is the key man in the crew. I would have to navigate the route to and from the target, normally at night, using some complicated scientific aids, and often while under attack.
I was told that I had to know my aircraft’s position at any time, regardless of bad weather or enemy action to ensure the survival of aircraft and crew. This would all involve working constantly during any flight to keep my aircraft and its crew on track and on schedule. With my head down over the maps and instruments I would always be aware of the fact that any deviation from the prescribed course can take the aircraft across the path of the hundreds of other craft in the stream behind me, or leave us prey for enemy night fighters. Great concentration would be required, and for much of the flight the only contact I would have with the rest of the crew would be a few instructions and remarks on the intercom.
At flight school we flew a total of sixty four hour’s day flying and thirty eight hour’s night flying between 5th September 1942 and 28th January 1943, before we took our examinations and attempted to qualify. I passed the Navigator’s Course, which included
Navigation, Signals, Aircraft Recognition, Photography, Armament Training, and Day and Night Flying. It was intensive as we worked seven days a week, and very comprehensive, but enjoyable, and we were feeling increasingly confident about our potential. However, at this stage you were not yet ready for operations, no matter how cocky you might be feeling. In operational terms, you were just a baby that’s learning to walk, only half ready for the real thing.
We trained on Ansons, twin‐engine things, and the only navigational equipment we had back then was a map, a compass and a radio you had to tune in order to obtain your bearings. You had nobody else there to help you. The Anson only had room for the pilot, myself sitting behind him, and a second trainee Navigator who would sit in the co‐pilot’s seat. The other trainee and I would alternate, and whoever was navigating would scribble directions on course and airspeed for the pilot onto message pads and pass them forwards. The second Navigator would practice map reading as well, and also wind the landing gear up after takeoff and down before landing.
I remember my first flight as though it were yesterday. We squeezed into the aircraft, weighed down with all our gear, and sat there a while waiting for things to start. I was looking out of one of the windows at the little strip of runway beside me and thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ The Pilot goes through his procedure, flicking a few switches and calling out the steps on his checklist. Then the port engine makes a kind of whining sound, then a splutter with lots of black smoke being whirled around by the propellers, and finally the engine roars into life and the whole aircraft starts to vibrate. That black smoke is worrying the first time you see it, but you soon get used to it.
The Pilot goes through the same procedure for the starboard engine, and before you realise what’s happening you are rolling down the runway. You speed up slowly, bumping along, and finally the Pilot heaves back on the stick and the aircraft seems to claw its way into the air. Looking out of the window, I could see the buildings, roads and fields diminishing in size below me until they looked like little toy structures.
You didn’t really go anywhere, each flight being a set piece event lasting between two and three hours, navigating from waypoint to waypoint. We also had to do of bombing exercises against dummy targets, so it was starting to feel like the real thing. I still have a picture of that particular course with only one black man in it! The rest are all Canadians and there’s that old Anson behind us.
Once I had completed this phase of training I was sent back to Monkton. On the way I stopped off in Toronto to visit one of the people I got to know there when I was at the Holding School, and who should I see while I was sitting at the railway station but Arthur Wint! Out of nowhere, there he was, big and tall, walking up to me. I was surprised, but happy to see him. Like me, he was now wearing a little white flash on his cap, to indicate that we were now ‘Flying Trainees’.
So after a long period without the company of my countrymen, I was able to travel with Arthur, back to Monkton. And we were big men now! Qualified! Arthur was a Pilot and I was a Navigator – it was a good feeling and we knew that we were part of a small group who had achieved something unique for that period in history. I remember that when we got to Monkton it was cold like the Devil! Oh man, the snow was falling, let me tell you, and I can still see Arthur and I struggling through it with all our bits and pieces. We were reminded that we were Officers now, and so we went to live in the Officers’ section of the base. We were well taken care of there and we met up with more Jamaicans who had also qualified. I recall that one of them was a Navigator and the other was a Bomb Aimer, but I no longer remember their names.
Although we were officers, we didn’t hear very much more about the progress of the war than we got on the news and in the papers. So, with all the training and preparation we had been doing we were just hoping to get into the front line before it was all over. It was now January 1944, and we knew that the Allies were winning. We were ordered to board ship once more, but this time we were bound for the UK and the war. There were still three of us from the original group travelling together, Arthur Wint, myself and one other.
We didn’t sail as part of a convoy although submarines were still active at that time. We sailed from Halifax on a huge troopship full of Canadians and landed in Glasgow. On this voyage we weren’t stuck in the hold, but space below decks was very limited all the same because of the large number on men on board. During the entire voyage I didn’t see another vessel and I know that we went far to the north, close to Iceland before turning south again. This route was the best for avoiding enemy submarines, although nobody mentioned that threat.
On arrival we were given forms to take to the local tailors, and there we were fitted for our new Officer’s uniforms. These were a great improvement on the kit we had been wearing up to that point. We were due some leave, but before we could head out into public view we had to get ourselves properly dressed.
There was no negative reaction to us at all from the people we met around our base ‐ they were glad to see us. For us, however, it was a very strange feeling at first to put on our new uniforms and walk into an English pub, although a few pints gave us some relief from the great pressure we felt. People expressed gratitude when they saw us. We would walk into a pub full of strangers and within a few moments someone would walk over and say ‘Please have a beer with me’. These were Yorkshire men and I will always have fond memories of those kind and friendly people.
It took us a fortnight to get fully kitted out, and as soon as we had achieved that we all headed in to London to enjoy our three week’s leave. The RAF had reserved hotels for its personnel in the city, and we were given free accommodation in one of these. We spent the next three weeks touring the city and seeing its famous sights for the first time, and of course drinking occasionally.
When we returned to our base in Yorkshire we were sent on a Battle Course which included the use of weapons in combat and many other aspects of infantry training – this was done in case we were shot down over enemy territory and had to fight to survive. Next it was back onto the Ansons for familiarisation flying over the UK. There
was a big difference between navigating in the wide open spaces of Canada where you really can’t lose your way, and England, where there is a new town every few miles which makes it much more confusing and challenging.
We were closer than ever to the day when we would have to go to war and once the familiarisation was finished we were posted to RAF Kinloss in Scotland. This was the stage when Pilots, Engineers, Gunners, and Bomb Aimers would be teamed up to form the crews who would fly and fight together. We were assembled in a large group in a cold hangar, and I don’t think any of us knew more than five or six of the other people in the group. Each Pilot was simply told, ‘Pick the rest of your crew’ from the group, and he would just walk around and pick people he liked the look of. Now, I was the only coloured man there as neither Arthur Wint nor the other Jamaican fellow who had come with us from Monkton had been posted to Kinloss.
So, I just stood there in this cold, noisy hangar and eventually a Canadian Pilot who was older than the average and who turned out to be very quiet person, came up to me and asked, ‘Will you come and fly with me?’ This was Ralph Pearson who would be my Pilot for the duration of the war. He then selected the two Gunners, one of whom was named Morris, and the Flight Engineer, Laurie Wilder, as well as his Wireless Operator. The Bomb Aimer would join us later, and he also turned out to be a Canadian. We were all strangers in this crew of seven. In a sense it’s an effective, if haphazard process, but at the same time you are now going off to war with a group of strangers, without so much as a formal introduction. Of course, we would soon get to know each other much better, and the strangers would become human, with good points and bad like any other person.
To start the process of building crew spirit and cohesion we were assigned a rather old aircraft now, a twin‐engine Whitley. We spent four weeks flying that old Whitley, and when I look back on it now I can only say that we must have been mad! That was an old aircraft! But it was tough. The Whitleys were solidly built because they were
designed just before the start of the war when the British realised they would have to fight, but it was built with pre‐war knowledge and this was by now a modern war.
Looking at my flying log today, I realise that we had to learn very quickly; fifty hours flying is not much time to prepare to fight with a new crew. As the Navigator, I was now using a radio system called Gee. This gave me directional readings from a beam transmitted from the ground. We had none of the new radar systems that some of the heavy bombers were equipped with. We only had the radio bearing from various points, a look out of the window to plot our track on the ground when the cloud cover allowed, and the Met reports – if you could actually find the wind blowing in the right direction that would put you on track and help you to stay on track.
Chapter 3: The Real Thing
Finally, our long and exhaustive training was over and we were considered ready for posting to an operational squadron – we were off to war. I was posted to 102 (Ceylon) Squadron, based at Pocklington in Yorkshire. During the Second World War the Squadron flew bombers, first Whitleys, and then the Halifax 2 from 1942 to 1944. In 1944 they were upgraded to the Halifax 3 and then with the Halifax 6 in early 1945, and I flew the last two Halifax models during my tour of duty.
The addition of the word ‘Ceylon’ was granted to the Squadron after the inhabitants of what we now call Sri Lanka adopted the Squadron and set aside some of their savings towards its maintenance. The squadron was made up of men from Great Britain, Canada, Ceylon, the West Indies, Australia and New Zealand, among other places.
The squadron history says that 102 (Ceylon) saw non‐stop action over Europe from 1939 to 1945. In 1944 the Squadron flew its highest number of sorties. (A sortie means one aircraft on one operational mission). 2,280 were flown of which 308 took place in August. The Squadron supported the D‐Day landings in June 1944 in Normandy, bombing a coastal gun battery that could have opposed the Allied operation. Other major targets during the war included Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, and the Ruhr industrial area, Turin, Genoa and Milan, all of which were struck from our base in Yorkshire.
I arrived at the squadron in December 1944 and if you just look at a sample from the list of 102’s losses for that period you can get a hint of what we were about to face. We lost eight aircraft out of a total of twenty four in just the first three weeks following my arrival, and six of those went down over Germany – that’s 50% losses in less than a month, and I still had five months of wartime flying ahead of me!
24 Dec 1944 – Halifax MZ871DY‐G, target Mülheim, crashed near Neuss, Germany, two crewmembers killed, one missing, four taken prisoner.
24 Dec 1944 – Halifax LW168DY‐O, target Mülheim, hit by flak and crashed near Krefeld, Germany, one crewmember killed, one missing, five taken prisoner.
29 Dec 1944 – Halifax MZ426DY‐D, target Koblenz, damaged in combat, one crewman wounded.
01 Jan 1945 – Halifax LW158DY‐P, target Dortmund, undershot on landing and hit house, entire crew injured.
02 Jan 1945 – Halifax NR186, training, overshot and crashed, crew uninjured.
05 Jan 1945 – Halifax MZ796DY‐M, target Hannover, hit by flak and crashed at Neustadt, Germany, five crewmen killed, two taken prisoner.
05 Jan 1945 – Halifax LL597DY‐X, target Hannover, shot down over Germany, five crewmen killed, three taken prisoner.
05 Jan 1945 – Halifax NA602DY‐Y, target Hannover, shot down over Germany, seven crewmen killed, one taken prisoner.
16 Jan 1945 – Halifax LW179DY‐Y, target Magdeburg, shot down over Germany, all eight crewmen killed.
So, this was it. We had a short familiarisation course on the Halifax, just twenty one daylight hours and eight at night and then we were thrown into the thick of it; “There’s your plane, there’s the target, now get on with it”!
Our first flight was a bombing exercise with the new aircraft, because it was even more sophisticated than the one on which we had done our training. We also did some cross‐country flying to ensure that we were familiar with the country around our base. This was on a Halifax Mark III. The crew was all lined up by now, and a good crew it was too! Together we would survive the next five months of battle, and thirty three bombing missions over Germany, without a single casualty.
Sixty years on, I am embarrassed to admit that I can’t recall all the names. However, the Pilot was the Canadian from Vancouver, Pearson, who had first picked me
out of the crowd in that hangar in Scotland. I remember that the two Gunners were Englishmen, one for the mid‐upper turret, and one for the tail. The Wireless Operator or Radio Operator was a Scottish fellow, the Engineer was an English gentleman from around Liverpool, the Bomb Aimer was from Canada, and of course there was I –all the way from Jamaica! It was an international crew all right, but we all got on well together, and worked as a tight knit team.
We all had to learn the special language of the air force. Many people, particularly the more senior officers, really did talk in the fashion that you only hear in old war films today. By now, this manner of speech had become a habit for me also, and I recall that when I returned home it caused some amusement.
On the 21st of December 1944 we took off for the real thing. The target for our first operational mission was Cologne, classified as an ‘Industrial Target’ and the scene of many casualties on both sides during this stage of the war.
A lot goes on during a mission, both before and after takeoff, and much of it is just a blur now. I had been afraid of feeling fear, if you understand what I mean, but when the time came I found that I had so much to do that I simply didn’t have time for feelings. I experienced this on all the operational trips I made ‐ you just don’t have time for it. During the flight you have to make sure that you stay with your group and your timing must be absolutely right. There is simply no room for error.
During our briefing we were told when to get to each waypoint, one after the other, and finally the time to be at the bomb release point, which was absolute and inflexible. You see there was not just one aircraft on missions like this; there would be hundreds of planes up there with you, sometimes as many as a thousand. We would typically have two hundred or more aircraft attacking any on one target at a time. We would fly to the target in a long column of aircraft, called the ‘bomber stream’ and you needed to know exactly which section you were in, where you were in relation to the
other sections of the stream, and where you needed to be next, to avoid colliding with any of the hundreds of planes in the air around you.
Collisions were commonplace and they caused many casualties. It wasn’t unheard of for the bomb load to detonate as well, and I know of at least one case where this happened and three nearby aircraft were brought down, along with the one that exploded first.
Let me try to describe the experience of setting off on my first mission. I had finished an intensive and extended period of training and I felt ready for this first operational flight, but let me tell you, it’s not an easy thing to do; it’s a hard, hard thing. That first morning we were all told that we were scheduled to fly that night. ‘On duty tonight’ they said. We were given this warning at about ten o’clock in the morning, and the mission took place between ten that night and two o’clock the following morning. In that four hour period we would have had to complete the total course to the target, drop our bombs and get back to the UK, but as the Navigator I also had a lot of work to do in the time remaining before takeoff.
We had lunch, and then, clutching our navigational charts, the navigators from each Squadron aircraft headed off to our briefing, where we were told the identity of the target and the track to be flown. Most of the crew was still in the dark, and didn’t yet know where we were going, so they had more time to ponder. I took out my maps and drew in the route. This zigzag course is designed to confuse the enemy. It was made up of a series of legs, each ending at a waypoint, and each going in a different direction, because if you just fly straight to the target, the enemy will be fully prepared, ready and waiting.
Walking out to the aircraft for that first operational flight was like walking through deep mud, or a strong wind. I felt as though we were moving in slow motion and my legs didn’t seem to want to carry me out there. Mentally though, I wouldn’t say I was afraid as such. I was just unusually aware of my surroundings and completely focused
on the task at hand to the exclusion of all other thoughts. The time for thinking was past; it was time for action now.
I sat at my little table with the charts laid out before me, and listened to the talk on the intercom as the Pilot went through the now familiar procedures for takeoff. Then we were trundling over the surface of the airfield towards the runway, the four engines drowning out all other sounds. A brief pause at the end of the runway followed, while we awaited clearance to takeoff from the Controller. Then the engines went to maximum power as Pilot Officer Pearson set the throttles to full, and we started to bounce and vibrate our way down the runway, gradually picking up speed, before straining into the air. The vibration ended, the undercarriage came up with a heavy ‘thunk’ and we were airborne. Eventually the engines settled to a steady drone, and we turned and climbed to form up with the rest of the Squadron. The takeoff and ensuing climb allowed us to gain the prescribed height, but the real action began when we crossed the English coastline and headed towards Europe.
The pilot didn’t have the vast array of gauges and instruments that the pilots of a modern bomber possess. There was an altimeter, to show the current height above sea level, a tachometer to display airspeed, an attitude indicator that showed the angle of the aircraft relative to the horizon, RPM indicators for each of the four engines, a compass and a few other dials. Flying a heavily loaded bomber in congested airspace with none of today’s tools required real skill and could be physically demanding.
In those old Halifax’s and even in the Lancaster I flew in later, the Navigator couldn’t see or hear much at all. I sat behind a little curtain because I didn’t want to expose a light that might attract a night fighter. We kept red lights on to read the maps and the fighter would be on the lookout for any little flash of light in the black sky. Initially, he would have used radar to find your approximate location, but in those days radar wasn’t yet accurate enough to guide him precisely to you. The Germans had jet fighters in the air as well at this stage of the war, and let me tell you, they didn’t waste time – quick as the devil those things were.
The two gunners had a different perspective. The Mid‐Upper Turret Gunner had his head literally protruding from the top of the aircraft, protected from the elements by a Perspex cone. This gunner would be constantly revolving his turret throughout the flight, scanning 360 degrees for any sign of enemy aircraft. The Tail Gunner sat alone at the rear of the plane and he had a more limited field of view. His mount was a ball‐ shaped device that also protruded form the body of the aircraft, and he could swivel his guns left and right, but to a limited extent.
As I said, I couldn’t see a great deal from my position and for most of the journey I had my head down over my charts and instruments, working hard to keep us on track. In addition to several maps of northwest Europe and a collection of odd bits of paper, protractors, rulers and various coloured pencils, I had repeats of the altimeter, airspeed indicator, and the compass in front of me. I recall that next to these in a Lancaster was also a device called the Air Position Indicator which indicated our latitudes and longitudes, but I don’t recall whether we had this tool in the older Halifax bombers. Occasionally, I would get up to take a quick look outside to check the Met and get a fix on our position, but while we were over the target I couldn’t see the effect of our bombs or indeed any of the flak that was exploding outside the aircraft.
So, the work of guiding the pilot there and guiding him home again, is the navigator’s, and it’s is hard work I can tell you. And while we were doing this twisting and turning there were hundreds of other aircraft in the black night sky beside us, above us, below us, everywhere, but you couldn’t see a single one. This entire thing was done at night!
I recall that for this mission we were divided into three waves, and these were further broken down into flights of aircraft. Our wave, the first, would be over the target at midnight, and we would take ten minutes to pass over it, releasing our payload of bombs as we went. The first flight would bomb at the appointed time precisely, while the flight behind would bomb a minute later, and the next flight a minute after them until the entire wave of bombers had finished and the second wave would start. So it
stretched on over a fairly long period of time, and a large slice of the sky, and in order to be on time you had to work out exactly what your speed needed to be with great accuracy. Getting that right was very important indeed.
The first thing we noted as we approached the enemy coast was the searchlights and we knew that German night fighters were out there in the dark looking for us. Then, as we approached Cologne there were more searchlights and lots of flak (anti‐ aircraft fire) over the target. The actual bombing run, the last leg leading in to the target, only took about ten minutes between the time we turned onto it and the time we released our bombs. When the bombs fell from the bomb bay, in the belly of the aircraft, the plane leapt upwards as it was now much lighter. I felt my heart leap upwards as well, happy to be rid of all that high explosive. After the bombs were safely away, we twisted and turned as we left the target in case there were enemy fighter aircraft waiting to hit us, and then we made our way home through the dark, back to our base away over the sea.
Once we had cleared the target and cleared the zone where we could expect to meet enemy night‐fighters, I felt quite relaxed. I think that my experience was shared by many other crew members. We had too much work to do and everything you did had to be re‐checked, because you can’t make mistakes. A mistake in those conditions could be fatal.
Throughout the flight I could hear the other crew members talking on the intercom. When the gunners spotted a fighter they would call out its position and the whole crew would be aware of the threat. If you were some distance from the target you could manoeuvre up and down, but not sideways. Once in the bomber stream you can’t go left or right, and if you were to turn in there, across the path of the stream, God help you!
On that first night we had attacked the important Cologne/Nippes rail marshalling yards which were being used to serve the final German offensive in the Ardennes. No
aircraft were lost and the target was cloud‐covered, so only a few bombs hit the railway yards but I later read that these caused the destruction of 40 wagons, a repair workshop and several railway lines.
I don’t know if photographs of the results of that raid are still available, but the picture below, showing the Giessen yards in March 1945 will give you some idea of what was involved. In the centre you can just make out the railway tracks with several trains on them, and all around you can see the craters made by the bombs when they detonated.
Three days later, on the 24th December, Christmas Eve, we set out on our second operational mission (‘Ops II’ as it’s called in my log book) to bomb Mülheim. There were ‘bags’ of flak waiting for us and the attack was what we called ‘a complete hang up’; a nasty business. Altogether there were 338 aircraft on this mission, attacking the airfields at Lohausen and Mülheim (now Düsseldorf and Essen civil airports).
Three Halifax aircraft on the Mülheim raid were shot down, two of which were from my squadron. I later learned that of the fourteen men who went down in those two aircraft, three were confirmed killed, nine were taken prisoner and two were listed as missing. I think the missing men eventually turned out to have died.
You see, the danger we faced was not just in the air. Even if you were shot and down, managed to escape the aircraft and parachute to the ground you were still in a great deal of danger as you were descending on the very people you had been engaged in bombing only a few minutes earlier. When you think about it, it’s really amazing that anyone was ever taken prisoner.
While I flew that second ‘Op’, Sergeant Arnie Coope and his crew from 102 Squadron were among the three crews shot down. This is what he later wrote about his experience on that night.
“As I hung suspended, (in my parachute) frightened and all alone, I watched the rest of our bombers complete their mission and head back home for the Christmas festivities and at this stage I looked at my watch – it was only 1430 hours.
“As I neared the ground, I could see people converging towards where I was expected to land and I got the distinct impression that I was shot at several times. I thought that I had better do something about this so I jerked around in the harness and just hung limp until I hit the ground with a thump. I was immediately surrounded by a hostile crowd, but before they could do something to me, soldiers arrived.”
It’s a very sad thing, but the truth is that some of 102 (Ceylon) Squadron crews shot down on the same mission were lynched by angry mobs of German civilians. You can only speculate on the chances of survival for a Jamaican airman landing in Hitler’s Reich! Luckily for me, I was in one of those aircraft that Arnie Coope could see, still flying overhead.
Ops III and IV saw us heading to Koblenz on the 29th, when Halifax MZ426DY‐D was damaged in combat and one crewman was wounded, and then back to Cologne on the 30th of December. In spite of the damage to one of our squadron aircraft, no aircraft were lost and at least part of the bombing of each raid hit the railway areas. The Koblenz‐Lützel railway bridge was out of action for the rest of the war and the cranes of the Mosel Harbour were put out of action by our group.
Our attack on the 30th December, 1944 was directed at the area of the Kalk‐Nord railways yards, near Cologne. There was heavy cloud cover over the target and we could not observe the effect of our bombing, but later reports indicated that two ammunition trains had blown up, and that we had badly damaged the yards, two railway stations and the nearby Autobahn. The cumulative effect of these raids, and many of those that followed, was to severely hinder the German’s ability to move troops and critical supplies to the battlefront.
Between 2nd and 22nd January, 1945 we flew another six missions (Ops V to Ops X) dropping our bombs on Ludwigshafen, where we destroyed the IG Farben chemical works (this company produced the gas used in the Nazi extermination camps); Hanau where the wind scattered our bombs over a wide area of the city; Saarbruken railway yards which were hit accurately; Dulmen Luftwaffe fuel storage depot, where our bombs landed in open fields; the city of Magdeburg, an area target; and Gelsenkirchen where residential and industrial zones were targeted.
Our crew didn’t fly on the 5th January, but the Squadron did attack Hannover and had a rough night, losing three aircraft at the cost of seventeen men killed and six taken prisoner. I believe that at least one of our squadron aircraft was shot down by a night fighter piloted by Hauptman Georg‐Hermann Greiner, who shot down a total of four of our bombers in only ten minutes that night, the other three being Lancasters. Greiner was a Luftwaffe Ace, who shot down a total of 51 allied aircraft during the war. At the time we didn’t know much at all about the identities of the enemy pilots, but later I was able to learn that several hardy and highly skilled German night fighter aces continued to engage us right up to the end of the war and some of the top enemy pilots survived the war.
On the Magdeburg run, on 16th January, our compasses stopped working, and we had to navigate without them (quite a challenge) but we got home in one piece. We suffered heavy losses during this attack, which also destroyed 40% of that city. Altogether, 17 Halifax aircraft were lost, representing 5.3% of our attacking force. Halifax LW179DY‐Y from our own Squadron, and flown by Squadron Leader Jarand, was shot down over Germany on this mission with all 8 crewmen killed, bringing the total number of men killed in 102 Squadron to 29 in just 4 weeks. Nevertheless, although we didn’t know it then, we were through the worst. In the last months of the war our squadron lost only another 5 aircraft. Other squadrons were less fortunate and continued to lose men and aircraft right up to the end.
The effect of our bombs on the target was devastating, particularly when large cities were struck. Later in the war when daylight raids were more frequent, I had the chance to observe some of these targets from the air, and as the photographs show, there was almost nothing left standing in most German city centres.
On 29th January 1945 we headed for Stuttgart on Ops XI. This time our bomb load ‘hung up’, meaning that the bombs wouldn’t release and we had to release them manually. This was a difficult business at twenty thousand feet, the crew labouring over the high explosive cargo with the bomb doors open and the screaming dark rushing by beneath their feet. We finally got the bombs away and landed at Tangmere. A combination of cloud, dummy target indicator rockets set off by the Germans, hilly terrain and dummy target fires, also started by the enemy meant that our bombing was very scattered and in this final RAF raid against this city, and casualties on the ground were relatively light on that night.
I continued to feel as though a great weight had been lifted off me each time the bombs were released. We still had flak and fighters to face, but at least we were rid of all the explosives we had been carrying. There was a collective sigh of relief, because if we had been hit with the explosives still on board – oh Christ! A hit in those circumstances means that there is a chance that the whole aircraft would simply blow up before we even hit the ground. Even if we did hit the ground in one piece, we would certainly explode.
Only a third of my way through the tour, I was already a veteran. Our squadron had already lost 8 aircraft out of a full strength of 24 since I joined. Of course, each loss was replaced as it occurred, so we were generally at full strength. And so the sequence repeated itself, night after night. Sitting in the briefing room with my fellow navigators, listening to details of the weather and the target, noting the details of flak positions on my charts and trying not to think about enemy fire. Walking to the aircraft in the evening twilight with the rest of the crew, clambering aboard through a narrow hatch
and sitting at my navigation table, listening to the nervous chatter on the intercom. The aircraft engines starting, belching that black smoke, their whine rising to a roar, the aircraft lumbering and jolting down the runway, taking me with it regardless, straining to lift itself off the ground, clawing at the cold air and climbing up into the night sky. The long, bumpy flight over dark countryside and black waters, turning this way and that. The long hours of waiting and then the enemy night fighters coming out of nowhere at high speed, guns firing all around, other aircraft burning as they fall, their crews dying, beyond any help I could offer. Then the flak and searchlights over the target, the aircraft leaping upwards as the bombs fall away, the steep dive to low‐level flight, and skimming over the trees and the black water back to base, for hot tea and eggs and bacon, and sleep, and trying not to think about the comrades who would never come home again.
On 2nd February, our bombing was again frustrated by cloud and it is reported that we did not hit the oil refinery we were trying to get at. We then lost an engine due to enemy fire over Wanne Eickel, and once more we flew home on three engines. There was the usual crack of flak going off around us, and then we heard a sudden loud bang and the aircraft was shaken violently. Our starboard outer engine died immediately and we lost some altitude before the pilot was able to level the aircraft. A mission over Bonn followed, and then we had a tough time with the flak over Goch on Op XIV and at Wesel, where cloud forced us to abort the attack, on Op XV.
The anti‐aircraft fire was always extremely unpleasant, but we soon learned that we just had to live with it. On most missions, our commanders would attempt to route us around known enemy flak concentrations so that our route through the air to the target would depend on the position of the gunners on the ground. But many of those guns were mobile and the Germans would switch locations so that at least some of their fire simply couldn’t be escaped. In those circumstances you had to fly on through the shell bursts and hope for the best. Of course, there was always plenty of flak
surrounding the target. We knew that wherever the target was, it was going to be loaded with flak, and once we got there we just had to say, well, ‘Here goes!’
The Goch raid comprised 464 aircraft and was intended to prepare the way for the attack of the British army across the German frontier near the Reichswald; the Germans had included the towns of Goch and Kleve in their strong defences there. Our Master Bomber ordered us to come in below the cloud with the rest of the Main Force and as the estimated cloud base was only 5,000ft the attack was very accurate at first. However, the raid was stopped after 155 aircraft had bombed, because smoke was causing control of the raid to become impossible. We didn’t bomb for this reason, but our course took use through the smoke and directly over the target, nevertheless.
Considerable damage was caused in Goch but I read later that most of the inhabitants had probably left the town. Kleve was also attacked, and the photograph of that town below shows the effect. One of our aircraft was lost during this attack, and although several of the crew parachuted to safety and returned to Pocklington, the pilot didn’t get out in time and he burned to death in the crash.
On the 21st, while hitting the city of Worms, of which 39% was destroyed, we had an extended tangle with German fighters. Several of these infiltrated our formation and made good their attacks and 25 bombers were shot down over various parts of Germany that night, 8 of them from our mission. Hauptmann Greiner was active again, shooting down two of our aircraft. Flying with him that night were three more German aces; Gunther Bahr, Heinz Schnaufer and Heinz Rökker who between them accounted for 24 of the 25 bombers downed. So you see, some of these enemy pilots were coming up at us and shooting down 6 or 7 bombers each in one night, single handed. You can read about the fellows I named here in the Appendix.
I judge that the stress put on a German fighter pilot must have been much greater than that put on the crew of one of our bombers, simply because we had more eyes watching the night sky around us. We were flying in such massive formations that, as
long as we stayed on course and on schedule, the odds of a fighter targeting our plane specifically were relatively low. At the same time, as we were flying a big, heavy bomber, we would never go off chasing the enemy.
So, if he chooses to attack the main bomber stream, the fighter pilot finds that he’s operating at a major disadvantage. If he does come close (and many did) and picks a target, all the nearby aircraft would swing their guns towards the single fighter and he would find himself facing very heavy fire. It took great courage on the enemy’s part. At the same time, all of our gunners, excluding the ones in the aircraft actually being attacked, would know that they were in no immediate danger and they could operate without that pressure. They knew that they had a chance to get the fighter while it hadn’t a hope in hell of hitting them.
What this meant was that, nine times out of ten, the fighters would go after the stragglers and ‘strays’ – aircraft that had dropped out of formation due to damage or poor navigation. Imagine, if you can, a huge, dense stream of aircraft, with the odd wayward fellow off to one side, below, or lagging behind. These were the ones who would most likely be picked off by the night fighters, who would come in like sharks, nibbling at the edge of the ‘fish’ in the bomber stream.
The majority of the German night fighters were actually modified fighter‐bomber and light bomber aircraft that were no longer effective in daylight. These twin‐engine planes had been fitted with radar and extra armaments to enable them to find and destroy allied bombers in the dark. The crews were specialists who flew only at night, and they belonged to elite ‘Nachtjagd’ or night fighter units.
Most of those enemy fighter pilots would attack us from behind and below, because that was our blind spot. The enemy aircraft often had special gun mountings, fitted to point slightly upwards to support this direction of attack, in a configuration the Germans called ‘Schräge Musik’. This meant that the Tail Gunner was critical to our defence and he had to be constantly alert. Many tail gunners were killed during the war
and it wasn’t unknown for the whole tail gun assembly to be shot off, with the gunner in it. That was a hard way to go and there was no way to bail out of a tail gun position as it spun to earth. As soon as either of the gunners saw an enemy fighter coming in they would call out, and the whole crew would know that we were under attack.
We rarely had prolonged engagements with the enemy fighter pilots. They would come in fast and try and get in close, but our gunners were very good and the enemy would generally be chased off after one or two passes, because for obvious reasons they were not for pressing forward when our fire was accurate. Navigation was an important factor in this. If you could stay on course you would have the company of many other aircraft with all the tail gunners and top gunners in your vicinity firing simultaneously. The enemy didn’t approve of that. You needed steady nerves and lightening reflexes to survive however, and the wayward paid a heavy price.
Below is one of the claim forms the enemy would fill out if they shot you down, so that their victory would be recorded against their name. I am happy to say that I was never referred to on any of these!
The month of February 1945 came to a close with attacks on the huge Krupps armaments works at Essen where the Germans recorded that we were very accurate, dropping 300 high explosive and 11,000 incendiaries on the target. We also made an attack on the synthetic oil plant at Kamen. In the final week of the month we were upgraded to the Halifax VI bomber, which had better engines and a longer range, and on the 25th we flew a cross country to familiarise ourselves with this aircraft.
We returned to Cologne for the third time on Ops XIX on 2nd March 1945. That city really took a hammering from us and others during this period, and the damage was very extensive, as the picture shows. There really was almost nothing left in the centre of most of these German cities. Four days after this raid, American troops captured what remained of Cologne.
Another trip to Kamen the following night saw us being hit by intruders once again, this time on the return leg as we crossed the coast of England. The enemy had adopted a new tactic that involved attacking our forces as we were preparing to land, and on this first occasion it caught us completely by surprise. Once again we had been forced to fly home on three engines owing to a technical problem. I don’t know if Greiner was in the air near us, but Luftwaffe records show that he shot down three more Lancaster bombers on that night. This time, however, we had hit the synthetic oil plant without suffering any losses in our squadron, and that plant never went back into production after that attack.
In the week that followed we struck Chemnitz and dropped mines in Flemsberg Fjord. The Chemnitz raid required us to takeoff in icy conditions, and one squadron lost several aircraft due to mid‐air collisions.
One of my 102 Squadron pilots, Flight Lieutenant Jim Weaver, wrote this account of a raid on Stuttgart in July 1944, which gives a good idea of what the experience was like for most of us.
“It was a nice run up to the target with instructions from the Master Bomber, then ‘Bomb doors open’, ‘Left, left’, ‘Right, right’, ‘Steady’, ‘Bombs gone!’ The Halifax jumped up, relieved of its burden and now there was the long 25 seconds while the photo was taken and then ‘Bomb doors closed’. This whole procedure was not long in time but seemed to be the most intense part of the trip, especially over the most heavily defended targets.
“Leaving Stuttgart, it gradually became quieter, but exceptionally dark when suddenly, all hell broke loose. Tracers and cannon shells were tearing into the tail assembly and port wing. Almost instantaneously, I reacted with a dive to starboard, away from the tracers as, obviously, the fighter was astern. I shouted to the rear gunner ‘Paul – get that guy!’ It was a Junkers 88 astern, below and to starboard. The defensive
action we took brought him up in full view of the rear gunner who shot him down, seeing it break up with a fire and explosion around one of its engines.”
I was lucky as I was too busy to be frightened. But there were others who weren’t busy enough! I wouldn't have wanted to be sitting down there all alone in the tail of the aircraft as a tail gunner, waiting for a night fighter to come in and take pot shots at me. Nor would I want to have been a pilot, forced to hold the aircraft straight and level while flying into flak, able to see everything that was coming up at me. With all that twisting and turning and with the need to be accurate at all times I was simply too busy to worry. As I told you before we never seemed to fly in the same direction for more than 50 miles. Every five minutes we would turn left or turn right, descend or ascend in order to make sure that the enemy couldn't train their guns on us.
It was the same on every mission and I was always just three or four minutes from the next turn, working like crazy to get everything ready. Some of the other crewmembers really had nothing to do, unless the fighters came in to attack us. They were the men who suffered, you see, because they were just sitting there waiting, and that is a hell of a lot of pressure to put on anybody. We navigators were too busy to think about what could happen, and fortunate to have this responsibility.
We hit the shipyards in Hamburg on the 8th March, and then on the 11th we took part in the last ‘thousand bomber raid’ on Essen. Essen was a major target in the heart of Germany’s industrial centre, the Ruhr, and large raids had headed this way repeatedly. RAF reports said later that 1,079 aircraft of all bomber groups attacked Essen this night. This was the largest number of aircraft sent to a target so far in the war. Three Lancasters were lost but 4,661 tons of bombs were dropped through complete cloud cover. The reports stated that the attack was accurate and that this great blow virtually paralysed Essen until the American troops entered the city some time later. This was the last RAF raid on Essen, which had been attacked many times. Most of the city was now in ruins. 7,000 people had died in the air raids and the pre‐war
population of 648,000 had fallen to 310,000 by the end of April 1945; the rest had left for quieter places in Germany.
Wuppertal, Bottrop and Witten were attacked by us between the 13th and 19th March. The flak over Bottrop on 15th March was very bad and one Halifax was shot down. The Witten raid was an area attack and it destroyed 129 acres of the city, or 62%, including both industrial and residential districts.
We then had two dream missions, with almost no enemy action being observed, over Dulmen and Osnabruck at the end of March, although we lost an engine due to technical problems on the 25th and had to return from Osnabruck on three. I was getting used to that by this time. These were both area attacks, and we could see large fires and lots of dust and smoke as we flew away from the target.
With only four Ops to go to complete my tour, and counting down, we returned to Hamburg for the last time on 8th April, 1945 to attack the shipyards. Altogether, 3 Halifaxes and 3 Lancasters were shot down that night, and this also turned out to be the final RAF raid on the city. The following night we dropped more mines into the Flemsburg Fjord.
On 13th April we bombed Nuremburg, the future site of the war crimes trials. This city had a special meaning for me as a black person. It was here that the huge Nazi rallies were held, and here that the German race laws were created in the 1930s. I could recall hearing mention of this place many times in my late teens and early twenties. To be flying in one of the aircraft assigned to bomb the city provided a reminder that the journey I had taken and the risks I had shared were in a just and important cause.
Finally, on 18th April, 1945 we flew our last mission of the war, Op XXXIII, thirty three operational flights being the compulsory allotment. On this final mission we attacked a fortified island near Heligoland called Wangerooge, and that was a hell of a
‘prang’, I can tell you. This place was armed and defended like no other place in the world, but we really gave them a hammering, although 3 Halifaxes were also lost.
I don't recall exactly how many aircraft were committed for this attack, I think it was a hundred, but I can tell you it was a large force because of the heavy fortifications on that island, which included thick reinforced concrete bunkers and many antiaircraft batteries. It was one hell of a blast and the attack was made in daylight. We carried very heavy bombs specially designed to pierce the thick ceilings of the enemy bunkers, and there were also fighter‐bomber aircraft involved, smaller than the heavy bombers, that carried rockets to attack and suppress the antiaircraft positions.
On that final raid, after we had dropped the bombs, we did something that was totally wrong; for the first and only time we went around and circled the target. We knew that there was nothing left down there to touch us. In fact there wasn’t a single gun firing, just lots and lots of smoke. We could see explosions as well from bombs being dropped by aircraft that had flown in behind us and secondary explosions caused by munitions or fuel stored on the ground being hit. Following our assault two more squadrons went into that target and essentially wiped it out militarily ‐ there was just nothing left.
Of course you know by now that Heligoland was just one small military target while many of our missions were directed at industrial targets and large cities; this was what they called ‘total war’. It had been declared as such by Hitler and we were now paying him back.
The massive quantities of bombs that we carried and dropped on a target were bound to cause large numbers of casualties on the ground. You would try your hardest to navigate accurately and to bomb with precision but you can never be right on target every time. You think you have the right wind direction, you think you have the right wind speed, and that there won’t be any deviation between the wind at your height and the wind nearer the ground, but at the end of the day if you're going to drop that kind of
weaponry from that sort of height you know that you're really just going to wipe out whatever is on the ground below you. Remember, we were bombing from 30,000 feet which meant that there were several miles of air beneath us, with winds blowing this way and that, and we were unable to observe or measure any of those deviations.
On many occasions we were confident that we had the aircraft perfectly aligned, just as it should be; the bomb aimer had his sights on the target, all his calculations had been completed and the aircraft was ready for a perfect bomb run, but when he released the bombs they just didn’t fall where he intended because of a wind shear somewhere beneath us. The wind would just take the bombs off target and they would land some distance away, often on civilian areas that were not being targeted. You would do your best, but there were just too many factors to take into account, many of them out of your control. That’s the nature of the beast. You tried your best.
So, that was that. Thirty three operational missions, all of them over Germany at the climax of the air war, with just over 197 operational hours and 25 non‐operational hours, for a total of 223 hours aloft with no casualties amongst our crew.
Sadly, many of our comrades were not as fortunate. In the course of the war 102 Squadron had the third heaviest losses in Bomber Command. We lost over 1,000 men out of a Bomber Command total loss of 55,000, suffered the heaviest losses in Number 4 Group (shared with 78 Squadron) and had the highest percentage losses in the Group. As I explained earlier, these heavy casualties continued almost to the end of the war.
It’s also important to bear in mind the fact that, although we were only four or five months away from the end of the war in Europe, 46% of the total tonnage of bombs dropped by Bomber Command during the entire war was dropped between September 1944 and May 1945. It’s very sad, but with a strength of 120 or so aircrew on the Squadron more than a third (47) had been killed during the last six months of the war, 2 were missing and 18 had been taken prisoner.
The courage of my comrades is reflected in the fact that a total of 74 Distinguished Flying Medals (DFM) and the Distinguished Flying Crosses (DFC) were awarded to squadron members between 1939 and 1945, along with one CGM. I was one of the recipients of the DFC, awarded for my service with 102 Squadron, although it was not presented until after the war had ended and I had transferred to another unit. I also received the 1939 to 1945 Medal, the France/Germany Cross, the Defence Medal and the War Medal. I don’t know specifically why they gave me the DFC. They kept that secret from me.
Our commitment was limited to those thirty‐three operational missions. A few fellows got really worked up about the length of it, affected by the stress of constant flying and exposure to danger. In those cases the RAF would quickly pull them off flying duty and put somebody else into the crew. The affected person would be given a rest and in most cases he would eventually be put back on duty once he had recovered. There was a pretty modern attitude towards that kind of thing, even in those days, and we felt that we were fairly treated.
My operational tour ended before the end of the war. After I finished my tour it was time to go and get drunk! It was a big relief to come through that alive, yet I am sure that if the war had continued I would have signed up for another tour of duty straightaway. I can't really explain why, it's just something to do with the way I felt at the time, that we were doing the right thing, that it was important.
I know there were people who would go up for their first flight and then decide that they weren't ready for this at all, that they were not going back. I have to admit that I don't think that what we did was something that most people would do in the same circumstances. Without meaning to sound conceited, I believe that the process of selection and the intensive period of training brought a special group of people to the top of the pile.
Ralph Pearson, our pilot, one air gunner and I all volunteered to join the Pathfinder Force. The Pathfinders were an elite force trained to arrive at the target first and to drop flares and incendiaries to mark it for the main force bombers. Our applications were approved and we were posted to the Pathfinder training school to train on the Lancaster bomber. However, after about two weeks of this familiarisation the war in Europe came to a close as the Germans surrendered.
Well, with that our pilot Pearson just disappeared; in fact I tried to contact him before he left, but he was going straight back to Canada as the Canadians were being taken home very quickly by their authorities. Pearson was more or less engaged to a girl up in York, so he rushed off to join her about three days before the actual end of the conflict, while I was stuck at the training centre cooling my heels.
As soon as the fighting had ended I hopped on the first train to York, but I couldn't find Pearson. I visited everybody I knew trying to get some information about his whereabouts but I wasn’t able to contact him. Eventually I gave up and, as I couldn't get a room in a hotel anywhere, what with everyone returning from overseas, I ended up spending the whole night sitting in the railway station. Thank God it wasn't too cold. The next day I caught the first train back to my base and I never saw Pearson or heard from him again. He left so quickly, you see that I never got his address.
Chapter 5: My World Tour
I actually stayed with the RAF until 1963. I transferred to Transport Command and I even ran for the RAF track team, my events being the two‐twenty and four‐forty. I was formally entitled to wear the RAF Athletics Blazer, something that required written approval. At the end of my career I was serving as the Chief Navigation Officer for 216 Squadron, which operated the De Havilland Comet, a brand‐new jet aircraft suited to carrying passengers. The Comet was really the first genuine passenger jet.
In 1959 or 1960 I flew out to Vancouver, where Ralph Pearson had lived before the war, as a navigator in the Comet. While there I wrote several letters to various addresses in an attempt to contact Ralph but I still couldn't find him in spite of sending letters here, there and everywhere. I don’t know if he eventually married that girl from Yorkshire.
I did stay in touch with Laurie Wilder, our Flight Engineer. He was posted to the Middle East for a time, but when he came back he took ill and he died a few years ago. Of the others in my crew, I met only one after the war. I was walking along a street in London and I heard someone walking behind me. I knew it was a policeman but I didn't worry about that as I knew they were just walking past me. Suddenly, one of these policemen turned around to face me and said, ‘Excuse me, sir’. I thought he was going to arrest me, but as it turned out it was Morris, one of the mid‐upper gunners, who had now joined the police force. I exclaimed, ‘My God!’ I had a shock you know, as I just heard this uniformed gentleman say ‘Excuse me, sir’ and when you hear that from a policeman you know that the next words coming are, ‘You are wanted for questioning down at the Station’!
I used to work on the de‐mob ships coming back to Jamaica with Jamaican servicemen from the UK. I was on duty, in my uniform, and it felt good to walk the streets of Kingston and to meet up with members of the family, dressed as a flyer returned from the war. On the first trip, I took sixty days leave and went home to see my family for the first time in four years. I was proud of what we had done, and I’m not ashamed to admit that. I also believe that people really looked up to us and appreciated our efforts.
I did about three de‐mob trips out here, and we actually had some serious trouble on a few occasions because of the long drawn out demobilisation process for Jamaican servicemen, and the rough conditions they were forced to endure. Men from other nations appeared to have been given priority treatment when it came to repatriation, and our men felt that they had been badly treated.
I was down in Middle East in November 1945 and for some unearthly reason heavy rain started to fall. In addition, at this time in England they had one whole month of fog, and we were supposed to fly via Italy to pick up some passengers and carry them home to the UK. When we were ready to leave Italy the controllers told us, ‘Well you can’t move because you can’t get in; you can’t get into any airfield in England’. After sitting there for two full weeks, we were told to fly over to Naples. We then spent about two weeks flying over to the heel of Italy, and bringing people over to Naples to catch a ship home from there.
We finally got back to England in December 1945, after almost a month of trying. They must have had a hell of a lot of fog there. We left Naples with about twenty‐five soldiers on board, which was the standard load, and believe it or not, we got as far as the Channel and then we had to go all the way back to Marseilles, as we still couldn’t fly in.
Finally, the following morning, with the wind against us, we were able to get into our UK base and drop off our passengers. This was a Saturday with Christmas right around the corner. As I climbed down from the aircraft I saw three or four staff cars and a gaggle of senior officers standing there waiting for us. I said to myself, ‘What the hell did we do wrong?’ That’s the first thing that comes to mind when you see a gathering like that ‐ something must be wrong! Well, they stepped away from the cars, and I saw the Wing Commander at the head of the group. He said ‘John Blair come here!’ So I went over, trying to work out what kind of trouble I was in when he handed me something and said, ‘This is yours! You’ve been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross! Well done!’ And I said, ‘For what?’
There were no less than three Squadron Leaders standing there with the Wing Commander, and one of them said, ‘What the hell is this? You won a DFC and you didn’t say anything to anybody! But here you are; you have been awarded the DFC for the work done during your tour with the bombers in 102 Squadron.’ There was no
particular mission or event that caused them to give me that award, just my overall performance during the whole tour.
So that was it – I was surprised, I can tell you. There was a citation and a short letter from the King enclosed with the medal, but I have lost those unfortunately. All I can say is that I did the best job as a Navigator that I could have ever done. Well, we came through thirty‐three missions and many, many crews did not.
Of course, that night after they gave me the medal was a terrible night! From whisky to beer to whisky again! Beer by the barrel‐full and whiskey by the bottle! That was after suffering in Italy for a whole month, and since I had even had to go and buy new shirts down there, money was tight. I really couldn’t afford that medal.
With Transport Command I went all around the world, flying as a Navigator in Hastings aircraft and also the Comet. I met my future wife Margaret on an aircraft flying into Hong Kong. I was navigating and she was idling! She was the Senior Flight Sister but with nothing to do as there were no patients going outbound, although we would take patients on the journey back, mostly army personnel. That aircraft was actually a hospital ward with stretcher patients and seated patients. The Sisters were kept busy when they had casualties to attend to, but fortunately for me we were empty on that flight.
Later, I was based out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean dropping off cargo destined for Christmas Island in the period leading up to the British nuclear tests. I went fishing before the tests and caught a few really big ones.
In 1995 I was invited to represent Jamaica at the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the end of the war, held in London. Several of us represented Jamaica, including my friend John Ebanks, who had been a Navigator/Bomb Aimer in a Mosquito Squadron. Well, that was quite something. It was very well attended indeed and I had never before seen the streets of London with so many people on them. We marched from Greenwich up to big, old Buckingham Palace. On both sides of the street all the way to
the Palace, people must have been standing more than twenty deep. It felt as though there were millions of people there on that day.
While we were fighting we never thought about defending the Empire or anything along those lines. We just knew deep down inside that we were all in this together and that what was taking place around our world had to be stopped. That was a war that had to be fought; there are no two ways about that. A lot of people have never thought about what would have happened to them here in Jamaica if the Germans had won, but we certainly would have returned to slavery. If a youngster today should ever suggest that we had no business going to fight a ‘white man’s war’ I would just throw my foot at him where it hurt him the most!
EPILOGUE
Flight Lieutenant John J Blair, DFC, 1919 to 2004
Remembrance for
Flight Lieutenant John Jellico Blair, DFC 1919 – 2004
Read at his funeral service by Mark Johnson, nephew
What motives led John Blair to tread the path he did and what must he have felt as he travelled from the dusty plains of southern St Elizabeth, Jamaica, to the air over Germany in 1944; from educator to Royal Air Force navigator, to lawyer and air accident investigator; from poor rural roots to a Distinguished Flying Cross and a career as one of the first West Indians to serve in the officer’s ranks of His Majesty’s Forces?
Uncle John went to school in Pedro Plains, to be taught by his elder sister Jemima; what a fate that must be, to be taught by one’s sister! There was a single class for children of all ages and he was actually told to start school two years early. When the English schools inspector came to visit, Aunt Jem would push him out of the one‐room school by the back door, so that she wouldn’t get into trouble.
As a child, John was moved around between his home, his brother Stanley’s teacher’s cottage in St Ann and his sister Clarissa’s house in St Mary. In the latter, John used to watch his brother‐in‐law, Mr E.B. Johnson, leading the local scout troop. The troop was smartly dressed, with uniforms and scarves, just like their English counterparts, but they were all barefoot! None of them could afford shoes for day‐to‐day use.
In the late 1930s, John left St Elizabeth to study at the Mico Teachers Training College, and he graduated as a teacher in elementary education after the 2nd World War had already started and in the words of Uncle John’s lifelong friend and RAF comrade, John Ebanks, ‘Hitler was a bully who had to be stopped’. John Blair decided that he would be one of those who would do the stopping.
So this reserved, 23 year‐old school teacher from the countryside volunteered to join the Royal Air Force, and in October 1942 he was put on a ship in Kingston harbour along with twenty other Jamaican volunteers and sent to Canada for training, by way of Belize, New Orleans and New York. This was a man who had never held a gun, never before left Jamaica, and never once flown in an aeroplane.
That experience on board the American ship stayed with Uncle John, and he found it both ironic and amusing. When his group went on board, they were told to go below. As they arrived on the first deck they found empty bunks waiting for them, so they started to unpack. However, an officer soon appeared and told them that their proper place was two decks further down; in the hold! And that’s where they travelled all the way to New Orleans, via Belize!
John trained in Canada as a Navigator in bomber aircraft, and he said it was “Cold like the Devil!” As the navigator, John Blair was responsible for telling the pilot how to get to the target and how to get home again after the bombs had been dropped. This was done mostly at night and with very limited technical assistance, just maps, compasses, a radio signal for taking bearings, star sightings and a regular look out of the window at the ground below, when you could see it. No radar. No computers. And no lights!
And while doing all this, with hundreds of other aircraft all around them in the night sky, the bombers were under attack by enemy fighters and anti‐aircraft fire. Understand this – Uncle John’s squadron (102 Ceylon Squadron) possessed 16 Halifax bombers, each with a crew of 7 men taken from many nations. During the first 3 weeks of his service with the Squadron, 8 of those 16 planes had been shot down over Germany; that’s 50% of his squadron in less than a month, with most of the crews being killed. John Blair would fly for a total of 5 months, and fly 33 bombing missions in that period.
Imagine, if you can, just a few moments in this long period of strain and tension; John Blair sitting in the briefing room with his fellow navigators, listening to details of the weather and the target, noting the enemy flak positions on his charts and trying not to
think about the effect of their fire; John walking to the aircraft in the evening twilight with his crew, clambering aboard through a narrow hatch and sitting at his navigation table, listening to the chatter on the intercom. The aircraft engines starting, belching black smoke, their whine rising to a roar, the aircraft lumbering and jolting down the runway, taking him with it regardless, straining to lift itself off the ground, clawing at the cold air and climbing into the night. Imagine a long, bumpy flight over dark countryside and black waters, turning this way and that, long hours of waiting and then the enemy night fighters coming out of nowhere at high speed, guns firing all around, other aircraft burning as they fall, their crews dying, beyond any help he could offer. Now picture the flak and searchlights over the target, the aircraft leaping upwards as the bombs fall away leaving it so much lighter, the steep dive to low‐level flight and then skimming over the trees and the water back to base, for hot tea and eggs and bacon, and sleep, and trying not to think about the comrades who would never come home again, or the fact that it would all need to be over again the following night, and the next, and the night after that.
That is what this man did.
He admitted that this was a hard, hard thing to do; there was fear and danger, and there was discomfort. Thousands of airmen died on both sides, and his Squadron suffered the second highest losses of any RAF squadron during the entire Second World War. The enemy was expert and resolute and many of the German pilots who attacked John’s squadron were combat aces with years of experience.
For example, Hauptman Georg Hermann Greiner, who downed an aircraft from 102 on 5th January 1945 was a Luftwaffe Ace, who shot down a total of 51 allied aircraft during the war. Major Heinz‐Wolfgang Schnaufer, who attacked the squadron on 21st February 1945 bringing two planes down, shot down a total of 121 allied planes during his career. In fact, on that night Schnaufer, Greiner and two other German pilots accounted for a total of 25 allied bombers in less than 30 minutes.
So this was serious business; it was life and death, and more often death than life for the allied aircrews.
What did John Blair do when he had completed this tour? Well, he volunteered for a second tour with the elite Pathfinder Squadron, and he was accepted. He also went out and got drunk with his crew, and I wonder if he didn’t get drunk first and volunteer afterwards! For his service with 102 Squadron Flight Lieutenant John Jellico Blair was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the 1939 to 1945 Medal, the France/Germany Cross, the Defence Medal and the War Medal.
At the end of the war in Europe, Uncle John stayed in the RAF and transferred to Transport Command, flying all over the world. It was on one such flight to the Far East that he met his future wife Margaret. She was the Senior Flight Sister on board and they were on their way to pick up British casualties and ferry them home. As Uncle John put it, ‘I was working and she was idling!’
He also flew as a navigator in the Comet aircraft, the first passenger jet, and he remained in the RAF until 1963, a total of 21 years. John and Margaret Blair had two children, John Julian and Sarah, both of whom now live in the UK but who are here with us today. The family returned to Jamaica in the 1970s, and John Blair practiced law, worked as Deputy Director of Civil Aviation and tried his hand at farming.
Severe illness struck Uncle John in the late 1990’s. Throughout his long illness his wife Margaret and their children demonstrated the incredible devotion and strength that John himself had displayed throughout his life. How should we remember that life? In keeping with his own style, I propose just a few simple words; devotion to duty, to his country and to his people; love for his wife and for his children; compassion and humility; respect for others and concern for all mankind; self‐sacrifice. Let us remember him thus, let us thank him and his comrades for risking their lives to secure our freedom, and let us hope that each of us can be just one tenth the human being that was John Jellico Blair.
Appendix A
Transcript of an Interview with John Ebanks July 1997
I was a very religious young man and even now I can't understand my motivation for going to fight in the services. In 1940 I was the youngest lay preacher in the Anglican Church in Jamaica. But I was just annoyed when I listened to the news and heard how Hitler was just bulldozing his way through those little countries like Poland and Czechoslovakia. I was hurt ‐ he was just a dammed bully using his strength to dominate those people, and that triggered my decision.
I had five brothers and six sisters and came from a very traditional family background but I didn't tell my parents what I was planning to do until I had already been accepted by the RAF. I waited till the last minute to tell them.
My father was a teacher from St Elizabeth in Jamaica. In fact, there's a story in the family that states that by rights we should be in the owners of the whole of Treasure Beach where my good friend John Blair comes from. There were two brothers from Scotland call Eubanks (Ebanks is a corruption) who decided to leave their father’s carpet making business and follow in the footsteps of Columbus. Well they set sail and they reached as far as the Cayman Islands, where one of them settled. The second brother continued but his ship ran into a storm and they were shipwrecked on the South West coast of Jamaica at what is now called Treasure Beach. And so that's how the family came to Jamaica, and up to 40 years ago anywhere you heard the name Ebanks you could be certain that you were talking to someone who hailed from St Elizabeth. In 1954 there were only two Ebanks in the telephone directory and now there are about 30.
In 1939 I was a teacher. One day I was sitting with the headmistress listening to the radio when suddenly Churchill came on and we heard that amazing speech, “We will
fight them on the beaches”. I was very moved. The Germans were just rampaging across Europe, and these people were going to stop them.
So the following day I made an application to the RAF. That was in 1940 but I didn't hear from them until the middle of 1941 when they told me to report to Kingston for medical and mental tests. Incidentally the educational tests we got out here were much tougher than the ones we received when we arrived in England. We didn't actually join up here in Jamaica. There was a committee here and they were very strict because at that time all the fellows who applied were applying for aircrew duties ‐ no one was applying for anything else. My first choice was to be a pilot but I received a 100% score in the mathematical aspects of the test and apparently the English school system wasn't turning out as many good mathematicians as were required. So I was asked to become a navigator, given my skill at math. I didn't mind because I already knew that this was a critical job and that many aircraft were lost not because of enemy fire, but due to errors in navigation. It was common to hear of planes going off course and flying into mountains or heading far out to sea never to return.
After a few months in England I was posted to Canada for training. We had a good time in Canada. There was no blackout, there was plenty to eat and the girls were very nice, but that didn't interest me! What disturbed me was the comment that people trained in Canada as navigators were very poor in their performance operationally, because there was no blackout and so navigation was easy compared to Europe.
When I joined my squadron I was the only non‐commissioned officer on the station so I was stuck in a great big, big building all by myself. Eventually I was transferred to a place named Oakington.
I recall that during our bomb aiming training, on my first flight with live ordinance, I believed I had dropped the bomb on the target, but as we were returning to base we realised that the aircraft wasn’t handling properly and indeed the bomb was still attached! I said to my pilot, ‘I don't believe the bomb is gone!’ Now at this stage we
were at 30,000 feet and I said let's go down another 10,000 feet because I suspected that ice was the cause of the problem. When we had descended to 20,000 feet I pressed the button again and the aircraft jumped up about 4000 feet as the bomb left us. After that experience we never had any doubts as to whether or not the bomb had gone.
All in all I flew 50 sorties during the war. I think my most dangerous moment was over Hamburg. We lost one of our engines hit by flak, the starboard engine as I recall, and that occurred at 25,000 feet. Then suddenly the second engine packed up apparently because of an airlock. So we were just gliding with no engines at all. By now we were over the North Sea and the pilot told me to prepare to bail out. I said ‘Master, you can bail out but I not bailing out’. This was one time I was not obeying any instructions, because when you looked down below you know it was as black as pitch, it being two o'clock in the morning. No way was I going to bail out at night in the winter over the North Sea ‐ I would prefer to die in my plane.
When we got to 5000 feet the blockage cleared up and engine started and we were able to land on an emergency strip on the east coast of England. You see no matter how bad things get there is always a chance something will happen and you will scrape through. I just wasn't prepared to bail out because you had no chance of surviving you would freeze to death in two minutes in the water.
I also recall another occasion when we lost an engine and had to turn back to the UK. Now, each squadron leaving the UK had a designated re‐entry point at which you could fly back in to the UK. As long as you flew on the correct course you were expected, but if you were tempted to return on another route there was always a chance that the gunners on the ground will treat you as an enemy aircraft. As we hit the coast on this flight the English antiaircraft batteries, or ‘ack‐ack’, opened fire on us. But fortunately we always carried a Verey pistol with the flare of the day, a specific colour that everyone knew, and as soon as I fired that thing the anti‐aircraft firing stopped as though by magic.
I remember that I flew as part of a force of 30 mosquitoes to mark the target at Cologne for one of the thousand bomber raids. Well I'll just let you imagine what happens when 30 aircraft attack a target that’s defended by 600 guns. And yet, as we left the area weaving and turning violently to avoid the enemy fire I saw one aircraft circling the target, taking a look. It turned out to be one of the squadron commanders. Of course, he was shot down and killed.
When I got back to Jamaica I didn't find the adjustment difficult, but I had a hell of a time getting a job. At every interview I was told that I had a brilliant war record and that they had no place for someone like me.
I was at a gathering recently when a fellow came up to me and said “Oh! So you are one of those who went to fight for King and country.” I got very angry and I told him in no uncertain manner that I did not go to fight for King and country, I went to fight for myself. I went to fight for freedom, for Jamaica, and for all the little countries of the world that would otherwise be controlled by bullies.
John Ebanks 1997
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Title
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The Story of Flight Lieutenant John J Blair, DFC
102 (Ceylon) Squadron and 216 Squadron
Description
An account of the resource
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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Mark Johnson
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2008
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52 typewritten sheets
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eng
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MBlairJJ[Ser#-DoB]-160509-01
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Civilian
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Royal Air Force. Transport Command
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Great Britain
England--London
Jamaica--Pedro Plains
Cayman Islands
Jamaica--Ocho Rios
Jamaica--Kingston
Belize
United States
Louisiana--New Orleans
New York (State)--New York
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
Ontario--Ottawa
Québec--Montréal
Ontario--Toronto
Nova Scotia--Halifax
Iceland
England--Yorkshire
Sri Lanka
West Indies
Australia
New Zealand
Germany--Berlin
Germany--Cologne
Germany--Hamburg
Germany--Munich
Italy--Turin
Italy--Genoa
Italy--Milan
Germany--Mülheim an der Ruhr
Germany--Koblenz
Germany--Dortmund
Germany--Hannover
Germany--Magdeburg
British Columbia--Vancouver
England--Liverpool
France--Ardennes
Germany--Düsseldorf
Germany--Essen
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Saarbrücken
Germany--Dülmen
Germany--Gelsenkirchen
Germany--Stuttgart
Germany--Wanne-Eickel
Germany--Goch
Germany--Bonn
Germany--Reichswald
Germany--Kleve (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Germany--Worms
Germany--Kamen
Germany--Chemnitz
Germany--Flensburg
Germany--Wuppertal
Germany--Bottrop
Germany--Witten
Italy--Naples
France--Marseille
Europe--English Channel Region
China--Hong Kong
Germany--Frankfurt am Main
Germany
Jamaica
Italy
France
Germany--Osnabrück
Jamaica--Saint Elizabeth
Germany--Nuremberg
Germany--Wangerooge Island
Louisiana
New York (State)
Ontario
Québec
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia
China
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
England--Lancashire
Jamaica--Saint Ann's Bay
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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.
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IBCC Digital Archive
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David Bloomfield
102 Squadron
216 Squadron
4 Group
78 Squadron
African heritage
air gunner
aircrew
Anson
anti-aircraft fire
bomb aimer
bombing
bombing of Helgoland (18 April 1945)
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
crewing up
demobilisation
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Medal
entertainment
Gee
ground personnel
Halifax
Halifax Mk 3
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945)
incendiary device
Ju 88
killed in action
Lancaster
medical officer
mid-air collision
military service conditions
mine laying
missing in action
Mosquito
navigator
Pathfinders
pilot
prisoner of war
radar
RAF Kinloss
RAF Oakington
RAF Pocklington
RAF Tangmere
searchlight
sport
training
Whitley
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1236/17393/PThompsonKG15010035.1.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
Thompson, Keith G
K G Thompson
Description
An account of the resource
95 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Keith Thompson DFC (1238603 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, photographs and training material as well as his navigation logs. He flew operations as a navigator with 101 and 199 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mark S Thompson and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
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
2015-09-07
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
Thompson, KG
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
John F. Stafford. Kenneth W. Flowers
W Williams.
[signature]
J Wilcox.
MENU
Christmas Dinner
1942
[symbol]
[RAF Wings]
Number 31 R.A.F. Personnel Depot
MONCTON
CANADA
[page break]
MENU
FOR CHRISTMAS DAY
SOUP
Cream of Tomato
ROASTS
Roast Turkey and Pork
VEGETABLES
Baked and Creamed Potatoes
Green Peas
Apple Sauce and Sage and Onion Stuffing
SWEETS
Xmas Pudding & Brandy Sauce
Jelly and Blanc Mange Mince Pie
Cheese & Biscuits
Beer, Minerals, Cigarettes and Coffee
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
Menu Christmas Dinner RCAF Moncton 1942
Description
An account of the resource
Printed menu, some signatures on the front, from No 31 RAF Personnel Depot, Moncton, Canada.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-12-25
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One printed menu
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
PThompsonKG15010035, PThompsonKG15010036
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.
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
New Brunswick
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-12-25
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.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Baldwin
aircrew
military living conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/879/17963/LHolmesWC176554v1.1.pdf
29e3cee2edc803e9e01554858534d3c3
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
Holmes, William
William Cyril Holmes
W C Holmes
Description
An account of the resource
Ten items. An oral history interview with Flying Officer William Holmes DFC (b. 1921, 131013, 176554 Royal Air Force), his logbook, a memoir by his bomb aimer, official documents, Guinea Pig Club memorabilia, photographs of him and his crew and a memoir of his time training in Canada. He was a Stirling pilot on 149 Squadron in 1944. He flew 17 operations before crashing his aircraft at RAF Thorney Island 18 June 1944 and subsequently becoming a member of the Guinea Pig Club.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by William and Bill Holmes 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
2015-11-05
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
Holmes, WC
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
William Holmes' Royal Canadian Air Force pilot's flying log book
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.
Description
An account of the resource
Royal Canadian Air Force pilots flying log book for W C Holmes, covering the period from 18 August 1942 to 18 May 1945. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and post war flying with 512 squadron and transport command. He was stationed at RCAF Moncton, RCAF Bowden, RCAF Estevan, RAF Harrogate, RAF Shawbury, RAF Condover, RAF Holme, RAF Chipping Warden, RAF Wratting Common, RAF Lakenheath, RAF Methwold, RAF Morecambe, RAF Broadwell, RAF Northolt, RAF Leicester North and RAF Syerston. Aircraft flown in were, Tiger Moth, Stearman, Anson, Oxford, Wellington, Stirling and C-47. He flew a total of 17 night operations with 149 squadron. Targets were, Laon, Kiel, Brest, Friesland, Ile de Rea, St Nazaire and Lens. Five of these were special operations. His pilots for his first 'second dickie' operations were Pilot Officer Coates and Flight Lieutenant Wooley.
This item was provided, in digital form, by a third-party organisation which used technical specifications and operational protocols that may differ from those used by the IBCC Digital Archive.
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
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
Royal Canadian Air Force
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Mike Connock
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LHolmesWC176554v1
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
France
Germany
Great Britain
Netherlands
Alberta--Red Deer Region
Atlantic Ocean--Baltic Sea
Atlantic Ocean--Bay of Biscay
England--Lancashire
England--Leicestershire
England--London
England--Norfolk
England--Northamptonshire
England--Nottinghamshire
England--Oxfordshire
England--Shropshire
England--Suffolk
England--Yorkshire
France--Brest
France--Isle of Ré
France--Laon
France--Lens
France--Saint-Nazaire
Germany--Kiel
Netherlands--Friesland
New Brunswick--Moncton
Saskatchewan--Estevan
New Brunswick
Saskatchewan
Alberta
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944
1945
1944-04-22
1944-04-23
1944-04-26
1944-04-28
1944-04-29
1944-04-30
1944-05-01
1944-05-02
1944-05-05
1944-05-06
1944-05-22
1944-05-23
1944-05-29
1944-05-30
1944-05-31
1944-06-01
1944-06-02
1944-06-03
1944-06-06
1944-06-07
1944-06-15
1944-06-16
1944-06-17
1944-06-18
1944-07-04
1944-07-05
1944-07-06
12 OTU
149 Squadron
1651 HCU
Advanced Flying Unit
aircrew
Anson
bombing
C-47
Flying Training School
Heavy Conversion Unit
mine laying
Operational Training Unit
Oxford
pilot
RAF Holme-on-Spalding Moor
RAF Lakenheath
RAF Methwold
RAF Morecambe
RAF Northolt
RAF Shawbury
RAF Syerston
RAF Wratting Common
RCAF Bowden
RCAF Estevan
Stearman
Stirling
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
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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
Thompson, Keith G
K G Thompson
Description
An account of the resource
95 items. The collection concerns Flight Lieutenant Keith Thompson DFC (1238603 Royal Air Force) and contains his log book, documents, photographs and training material as well as his navigation logs. He flew operations as a navigator with 101 and 199 Squadrons.
The collection has been loaned to the IBCC Digital Archive for digitisation by Mark S Thompson and catalogued by Trevor Hardcastle.
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
2015-09-07
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
Thompson, KG
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Lincoln
LN4 4LE
Tel. 01526-342092
[underlined] 24 MARCH ’98 [/underlined]
[underlined] EMPIRE AIR TRAINING SCHEME [/underlined]
[underlined] 24 FEB ‘1942 [/underlined] We left HEATON PARK, MANCHESTER with it’s snow turning to slush at 3 AM. Our kit bags marked with the code FAUNA C SPRAT loaded with us, the train pulled out at 5 AM After [deleted] seral [/deleted] several stops, including CARLISLE we arrived at 330 PM at GOUROCK, SCOTLAND where we climbed aboard the S.S. ORBITA a 15,000 TON – CANADIAN PACIFIC LINE ship (she’d carried troops in 1914 – 18 and was scrapped sometime in the 60’s)
[underlined] 25 FEB ’42 [/underlined] moved out into the river about 6 PM and sailed at 10 PM.
We had drawn hammocks but there were not enough hooks for all – we slept on the mess deck – so unless you slung your hammock early you ended up on the floor or table!
Being FEBRUARY and the N. ATLANTIC the sea was a bit rough, most of the time The fire buckets [underlined] we [/underlined] had to empty frequently and refill with fresh WATER!!! Despite this I do remember sitting on an empty Biffo box on the stern to look at the moon and it’s [sic] reflection on the sea and to watch the phosphorescent glow of the wake as we pitched & rolled.
Being bored with nothing to do I volunteered to BAT for some RCAF aircrew returning home
On our last day the wind and sea “got up” and we slowed to about 2 KNOTS with the [indecipherable word] being lifted right out of
[page break]
4 PM. landed 630 PM. Train overnight to MONCTON. N.B. arriving 2 AM.
We were warned to beware the COLD – children were ice skating on the pavements, most houses had a small rink, a banking of snow filled with water, in their back garden. A parade ground on camp had been made into a large rink.
[underlined] 11 MARCH 1942, [/underlined] two days later, we left, by train at 1030 PM. with two blankets & our kit bags to sleep with & on, a bare wooden drop-four bunks on HARD unpadded slats.
A half hour stop at WINNIPEG brightened up 14 MARCH at 4 PM – coffee, “cookies”, “cigs and candy bars were given [inserted] to us [/inserted] by the town. A RCAF band played dance music while we danced with local “talent” on the station platform
Another night we ground to a jolting halt – an axle box was overheating – a hose cooled it down & a new shell bearing was slotted in & off we went.
After 4 days & nights we arrived on 15TH MARCH at CALGARY – at 3 PM. A 30 mins bus ride took us to 31 EFTS, DE WINTON, RAF STATION, where TIGER MOTHS fitted with cockpit canopies awaited us. You needed the canopy in winter – it was COLD!!
(All that was left in [underlined] 1983 [/underlined] was the rifle range butt, concrete bases of the buildings and the GUARD ROOM!!)
[page break]
of the air – the wind was so strong
My powers of control when sitting in the cockpit I found & my instructor agreed were not good enough to continue pilot training so I was “WASHED OUT.” I continued with ground school and was put forward to remuster to U/T. Nav. While awaiting my posting I also worked as “runner” in the station orderly room I also had two weeks leave on a farm at HARMATTON, OLDS.
[underlined] 27 MAY ’42 [/underlined] left DE WINTON, - 830 PM train pulled out at 9 PM – No not B.R. but CNR or CPR – to go the [sic] TRENTON, ONTARIO.
One loco driver was [indecipherable word] – LIVERPOOL and let me have a 50 mile, or so, ride on the foot plate. The engineer (fire man) didn’t have a shovel but a lever to control the automatic feed.
[underlined] 30 MAY [/underlined] Trenton, ONT, RCAF – remustered to U/T. Nav. 8TH JULY we were issued [deleted] whith [/deleted] with RCAF K D – the climate was quite warm.
[underlined] 16 JULY [/underlined] – moved to TORONTO, RCAF MANNING DEPOT TRENTON was full to the slams so 3 large parties were shipped out – about 40 went to TORONTO
The unit was for RCAF new recruits to be kitted out & given a bit of drill like ACR.
We were housed in CANADIAN NATIONAL EXHITION [sic] buildings – huge halls had rows & rows of 2 tier bunks – mine is 4 down and 12 across, I think!
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
DRUMMING OUT ceremony.
The man concerned had been caught & found guilty of stealing from his comrades. He was DRUMMED onto the parade – his tunic buttons and eagles were stripped from his uniform then he was DRUMMED OFF parade – a sight and sound never to be forgotten.
On some of our route-marches, the rest of the band, RCAF, joined the drummer to try to keep us in time. I took a ferry across LAKE ONTARIO to NIAGARA one Sunday PM where I bumped into a fellow YORKSHIRE man from SHEFFIELD I was from ROTHERHAM – 7 miles centre to centre.
[underlined] 16 AUGUST 42 [/underlined] – MALTON, TORONTO, NO 1 AOC. RCAF – we were the first RAF they had had and were “pre-warned” about some/most of our antics. The SWO took us off camp on the odd route-march & he was most upset when we started up with the old marching songs when outside the camp but wondered what had happened to us when we went silent & marched to attention on re-entering the camp gates.
[underlined] 31 AUGUST [/underlined] – visited and saw our first LANCASTER – I think it was the first one built in the factory on the airfield
[underlined] 4 DECEMBER ’42 [/underlined] – WINGS PARADE – with a layer of snow on the ground.
[underlined] 8 DECEMBER [/underlined] – Back to MONCTON.
[page break]
-
at TORONTO. Snow did hold them up – the winds were high & with the snow & cold temperature the LOCOS were freezing up.
After Christmas several of us helped sort mail in the Post Office.
[underlined] JANUARY 2ND 1943 [/underlined] – paid – UK £1 NOTES – going HOME.
[underlined] 4 JAN [/underlined] – MONCTON – left by rail – 1 PM
[underlined] 5 JAN [/underlined] – NEW YORK – arrived – 5 PM
Boarded [underlined] QUEEN ELIZABETH (MARK I !!!) [/underlined] 7 PM.
[underlined] 6 JAN [/underlined] – Sailed 6 AM –
2 MEALS PER DAY – breakfast and late tea – in shifts.
US ARMY “SNOW DROPS” (MP’s) were “IN CHARGE”!!! We were 6/8 to a [deleted] cold [/deleted] cabin, U.S. troops in multi-storey bunks – packed like sardines
There was no smoking below decks and the promenade deck was, shuttered, blacked-out & out of bounds after dusk so I volunteered for GUN (.5 BROWNING) CREW. These were up on the top lifeboat deck – a bit wet & windy at times The ship rolled & pitched too – the dining tables were [indecipherable word] so it was as well to hang onto your plate or it [deleted] th [/deleted] would end up in a pile at one end or the other – grab it on its way back!!!
[underlined] 11 JANUARY [/underlined] – dropped anchor at 6 PM. – saw the harbour lights from my privileged place by the guns – 5 days at sea.
[page break]
train. Smooth track, stops and starts – after CNR/CPR! We left GOUROCK at 6 PM and arrived in HARROGATE at 3 AM.
Mail too & from CANADA was a bit erratic as we might expect and was of course all by sea.
We were able to order “food parcels” from stores to send direct to UK – I think we were rationed to one per month.
Cable and Wireless Co. had a system called EFM’s. (Expeditionary Forces Messages) They had a list of about 30 phrases and you could choose 3, writing the number for each on the form. You could add a birthdate or address but nothing else. They cost about 2/0d.
At times we did sit around, doing nothing, for long periods but in view of the numbers of us it was well organised.
The Canadian people were great and still are!!
I hope the above will help the story along. Sorry to be so late in compiling it – tempus fugit (as the scholars say)
Keith G. Thompson
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 Empire Air Training Scheme
Description
An account of the resource
A handwritten account by Keith Thompson of his time training in Canada from the time he left England in February 1942 until he returned to Scotland as a navigator in January 1943.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Keith Thompson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1998-03-24
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six photocopied sheets
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MThompsonKG1238603-150907-010001, MThompsonKG1238603-150907-010002, MThompsonKG1238603-150907-010003, MThompsonKG1238603-150907-010004, MThompsonKG1238603-150907-010005, MThompsonKG1238603-150907-010006
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
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
Ontario--Malton
Ontario
New Brunswick
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-02
1943
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
Tricia Marshall
aircrew
military discipline
Tiger Moth
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/834/18821/YGeachDG1394781v1.2.pdf
dcac3c4a3517c0ecd4c5eaaca961c4aa
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
Geach, David
D Geach
Description
An account of the resource
<a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/218400/"></a>52 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer David Geach (1394781 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, correspondence, photographs of his crew, his log book, cuttings and items relating to being a prisoner of war. After training in Canada, he flew operations as a bomb aimer with 623 and 115 Squadrons until he was shot down 24 March 1944 and became a prisoner of war. He was instrumental in erecting a memorial plaque to the Air Crew Reception Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. <br />The collection also contains a scrap book of photographs.<br /><br />Additional information on his crew is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/218400/">IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Harry Wilkins 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
2016-03-14
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
Geach, DG
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Book cover
[page break]
[deleted word]
[deleted word]
[deleted] 106/10 [/deleted]
[deleted word]
[underlined] BOOK 4 [/underlined]
CONTINUING MY
OVERSEAS TRAINING
[page break]
[underlined] 12th December. 1942 [/underlined]
Back the Gunnery Exams are now over, that means that all our exams are completed [four indecipherable words] the aircraft [indecipherable word] & as I have always been pretty sound on that I have no fears in that direction. The final was on the 10th & the written on the 11th, the written wasn’t a bad paper a few tricky maps but we all made it O.K. I think the James Backward Movement of the ‘Breech Block,” cropped up. Looking back now upon the hours of binding on our précis, I wonder if it was all necessary. Still, maybe, it kept us out of marching, but I can’t help thinking of superfluous binding, I bet this thing is all forgotten on ‘ops.’
[page break]
[photograph]
[page break]
They found the missing ‘Boley’ today, it was at the side of 6 mile Lake, after all, that farmer had been right when he said he heard the crash there. It must have gone straight in from a fair height, because the largest piece left of it was only about 4 feet square, so I guess there was some excuse for the aerial search party not finding it. The fellows could hardly have had a chance they must have gone straight in. It is a fact that one hasn’t a chance of getting out, what with that tiny escape hatch, & the comparative low height they fly, no, I guess you just go & hope for the best. I feel terribly sorry for those fellows parents back in England, just to receive a brief telegram – its [sic] very hard.
[page break]
We were down on the 25 yd range the other day with the Browning, it runs a hellish waste of ammo at that short range. It was hellishly cold, except for the brief period when we were outside firing we were huddled in the hut around the stove. It was really grim if there was a stoppage. That is one disadvantage of the Post Office being right down by the Guard Room. We have to tramp all the way down there then through the Snow, & this bitter cold wind covering our ears with our hands as they still wont give us winter caps. Then when we get down there, we receive invariably the answer, “What name? Geach? No, sorry,” I wish it didn’t take so long to come across. Airgraphs are pretty quick, but they are read in a minute.
[page break]
[underlined] Tues 15th December. [/underlined]
Our worries are now all over at least as the exams are concerned. We took our last one today, Aircraft Rec, and that was O.K, poor old Taffy was never a Gen man in that line, nor was Norman & I was hard put whispering the answers to both of them. However whatever the results may be thats [sic] the end of the written & theory side of B & G. There only remains the practical to get in now. On that side we are slightly behind due to bad weather, I’m afraid, just lately I’ve had some incomplete exercises. Yesterday I tried to get a Low Level in the first time up there was a U/S bomb release & the exercise was incomplete. The second time up though everything went O.K except the exercise
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I got 96 yards for that, pretty grim for low level. Last night I was up twice trying for a High Level, the first time it was an incomplete exercise, because of icing up and the second time it was [indecipherable word] films. I was really cheesed, after hanging around the crew room most of the night, & go up twice, then not be able to get an exercise in.
One good thing over here, everyone has 4 days leave for either Xmas or the New Year which is better than at home so that is one benefit we’ll have. We certainly have put in some work at this place, and now I can see the advantage in having the station so isolated. There are no outside attractions to take our minds off our work.
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[underlined] Friday 18th December [/underlined]
Today was the coldest day I have ever known, & I hope I dont [sic] experience any more. The temp was 54˚ below zero, it seems incredulous to me that it could go so low. We were on our first gunnery flight, camera gun exercise. but of the whole gunnery flight they were only able to get one Blenheim started, it was so cold that it was impossible to get any life out of the others. It seemed an effort to breathe on the ground the air seemed so thin. Cross & I were on the camera gun trip, how I wished we werent [sic]. Clad in full cloths with a sweater then outer & inner flying suits on top of that, & two pairs of gloves we staggered out.
I was first in the turret, we had tossed & I had lost so I was ‘Joe.’ The Bristol turret, in ordinary conditions an abortion
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for anyone above 5ft 6ins didn’t react very favourably to my efforts to climb in. At last after a hell of a struggle I made though every time I rotated it, my feet were jammed. I saw the target Blenheim, and went to open fire, obviously he was in a playful mood, because he sat in the blind spot just under the tail, & would suddenly slide out, until he saw me struggle with the turret, my frozen hands gripping the controls, when the guns were almost bearing on him, he would pop back under the tail. Consequently I hadn’t had a chance to fire at all. He repeated the manoeuvre about 4 times, & I was nearly freezing with cold, because one is almost sitting in the open in those turrets.
Suddenly I got a bead on him and pressed the triggers holding in down, then
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looking at the counter dial, I saw it wasn’t moving, no film was being wound over. I cursed & swore like a madman, the cold had sapped at my strength so much that any little thing almost made me scream with frustration. Smashing at the cover I eventually lifted it & hauled out the magazine. I thrust it behind me into Cross’s hand & shouted for another. He was rather a long while & I shouted & swore, then he handed it up & I thrust it in. After getting it all set up I found that didn’t work, so utterly exhausted I almost fell out of the turret & thrust poor Crossy willy nilly in there screaming in his ear, what I know not. It wasn’t long before he was in the same state and scrambled out, trying to push me in, but I had had enough & told the
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pilot to land. By this time the cold had seeped through into our very marrow, & our bodies were shaking in uncontrollable spasms, apart from the absolute numbness, of our hands & feet.
Looking back in the warmth of the hut it seems incredible that cold could make us act like demented beings. Yet, so much did it eat at us, that everything going wrong made us swear & shout into the empty air & struggle hopelessly our fingers so cold they couldn’t grasp a thing. It was such a feeling of frustration that I would have thrown the gear overboard, had I been able. As it was the gun was so frozen up it was impossible to operate. I am surprised that they sent us up in that weather, with only one kite serviceable.
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Yesterday I was up with Smithy for a High Level, he went in first to, but gave a good few dummy runs, then said the windscreen was iced so much he couldn’t bomb. P/O Cheye the pilot asked me to try & ‘em so I went in & found it was iced up right to the line of sight & no corrections were possible. Anyway I tried as best as I could dropping bombs on the turn & all sorts of things. When we landed I told the pilot to come over to the plotting office & bear out my statement of the lousy conditions I had bombed under . When the result was worked out it was only 156 yds & I only needed 150yds or under to have a pass, so bombing under those lousy conditions I was only 6 yds over. The little English P/O that we didn’t like was in charge & when my pilot told
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him the score he hummed & hawed, then finally said, come back & see it later & it will be different. When I went back expecting about just under 100 yds, as in good conditions it would have been that easy, I found he had taken 6yds off, & I had 150 yds, a bare pass, what a concession it must have broken his heart to give it away. I also got a Low Level in & got 56 yds pretty nice. Last night I had a wizard exercise, to catch me up I went up alone, with Jake [indecipherable word] for pilot, he is a smashing guy. I had 12 bombs on & had to complete two exercises in, we got them off O.K. & the results were 79 yds & 85 yds, boy! Was I happy. What was better still we were down early enough for the film show, & as I was the only one in the class on night bombing, I was able to nip over, & go in the show with them. Truly a happy night.
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[underlined] Monday December 21st [/underlined]
They are certainly cracking on with this flying now, getting exercises in on every possible occasion, if only this keeps up we might finish on time yet. On Saturday I went up on High Level and got 105 yards, which was O.K. There is only one fault with there [sic] bombing exercises and that is bombing up, especially in this blasted cold weather, I don’t know a bigger torture. We go out to the Anson before take off & find the 12 bombs laying under the aircraft. Under the kite we crawl & lay down in the snow & hammer away at the frozen butterfly nuts, trying to pull the [indecipherable word] down to grip the bombs. It is deadly cold & even though we wear two pairs of gloves our hands get numb. Ramsay a New Zealander split
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his glove once & happening to get hold of the bomb with his bare hand tore all the skin off it.
After we have put the bombs on we get back in the kite, & wait till the pilot says the kite is serviceable, (which it often isn’t). Then out we scramble dive under the kite & start to pull the pins out. This is the worst part of the whole business, both engines are running & we crouch there in the slipstream, with the snow being whipped in our faces like a miniature blizzard. Once all the side of my face went right numb & a ground staff chap rubbed snow on it & it went O.K again. The copper wire holding the pins in, is generally too tough to break & we turn our gloves on it & twist & pull in vain. Then
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if that goes, more often than not the split pin is frozen or rusted in. We twist & pull, curse & swear, then eventually they are out & back we crawl. Quite often we are only up for a few minutes & the exercise is [indecipherable word] out, or sometimes we haven’t even left the ground before flying is scrubbed. Then back we crawl & push the pins back & vainly try & wind the copper wire around the safety plunger, [indecipherable word] the [indecipherable word] switch gently, so the plunger wont spring out. Then if it does you fumble around, cursing for all you are worth. Ah! [indecipherable word] what a mugs game this is.
We also went up Saturday night to try to get a High Level in but it was scrubbed owing to icing up, the old story, they ought to
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have something to keep the [indecipherable word] free from ice, a guard or something. I got the exercise in last night though, it wasn’t a particularly brilliant one, 141yds but it was a pass
Today was my first actual gunnery exercise & after all the tales I had heard I was surprised that everything went off without a hitch. I was in the turret first, I& was enjoying bashing away at the old drogue so much that when I thought it was about time to let Jamison fire his rounds I looked down and saw I had fired all mine and all of his except for about 20. There was nothing else to do but pop them off. Still he didn’t mind because with his height it is a work of art to get in & out of the turret.
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[underlined] Thursday 24th December [/underlined]
The exercises are gradually being completed, we have all completed bombing & have only the rest of the gunnery [indecipherable word] to do. We are not graduating on time though, they knew we wouldn’t a while ago, but were going to send us on leave for Xmas & on to AONS without bothering to complete the rest of our gunnery exercises.
This has all been squashed on the head though & we have to stay to finish them. The worst part of all, our leave has been cancelled, & we have to fly over Xmas, Taffy & I have had to cable the people in Surhatoon, who invited us to stay there & tell them its off. Poor old Chiefy Oliver he was really cut about us not getting it.
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The Navigation School we are going to is No 1 CNS Rivers Manitoba, & all the English fellows are going there. Most of the Canadians wanted to stay out West, so we let them apply for Regina, because it would be a rotten trick for us to try & keep them from their homes, we don’t mind where we go actually. I do wish we could have leave though.
I went up on two trips yesterday the first one, I had a really u/s gun, neither of us could do anything with it, so we had to land with the exercise incomplete. Sometimes if there is a stoppage that can’t be cleared & there are only about a hundred rounds left, we throw them over the side into Quill Lake so we can
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get in a complete exercise. Today I got an exercise in with Sgt [indecipherable word] a New Zealand pilot he is a mad guy, a good flier but a regular binder, he drives me to the point of turning the gun on him.
We all have to belt our own ammunition, heaven knows how many thousand rounds our class has made into belts, but it number quite a few. Every individual has to do a certain number, & there are always arguments about personal scores or somebody skiving off & not doing his share. Well its getting on so I must join the boys in the bar they are having a Xmas Eve party there, & we have invited the Aircraft {indecipherable word] Corporal & the Cpl in charge of our hut they are both decent fellows.
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[underlined] Sunday December 27th. [/underlined]
Xmas has come and gone and our Bombing & Gunnery course is now completed, at least mine is with a few others, there are still some that have to get another one or two gunnery exercises in. The Xmas was the worst I have ever spent, I make no bones in saying that, & it was entirely the fault of the C.O & powers that be on the station. Xmas eve we had a marvellous time, because we organised it ourselves. We all had a good beer up in the canteen, at our party, then bowled down to the WAAFs recreation room. They are allowed to invite one fellow each but the whole crowd of us just swarmed in there, & took the place over. We started a dance with the juke box & it was bang on.
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I think I got to bed about 3AM. On Xmas morning but got up rather [indecipherable word] for the Xmas dinner. This was rather a nice meal, but what a fiasco it was. The officers & NCO’s were serving us & it wouldn’t have been so bad if they had laid off the liquor before hand. Instead of that we had to sit at the tables for about three quarters of an hour before they finally rolled in. Boy! They were certainly well heeled, the officers had NCO’s tunics & vice versa, the little Sgt B/A who came back from England was wearing one of the large fur hats we could just about see his face. Anyway they tried to serve it, the meal, I mean, & there was nearly a riot. They dropped quite a few & were playing about the rest of the
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time.
As everyone was nearly starving, the boys began to eat up, an officer jumped up to try to make a speech but was howled down. Then the Orderly Officer & Orderly NCO came in, & the NCO tried to shout at us, & someone hit him in the eye with an apple, & he hit him good & hard. That started the fun there was a shower of apples that were provided on the tables. It was great while it lasted, then things quietened down & we finally got our meal, which was good, although my taste was rather spoilt by the effect of the previous nights hang over.
Xmas night what a night, there was no tea, because the mess was still in the shambles it was from the dinner, so we had to forage around
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& get what food we could. Then we looked for some amusement, the officers were having a hell of a party with bags of liquor, lots of women. The N.C.O were doing likewise in their mess everyone was having a whale of a time – except the airmen. We drifted along to the WAAFs recreation hall to see if there was a dance, but it was practically deserted, all the WAAF’s had been invited to the parties. After disconsolately playing a couple of records on the juke box, we thought , oh! Well we’ll go in the canteen & just sit there drinking, so off we went. When we went there, we found a notice to say it wasn’t opening as there was no beer. No drinks to be had on Xmas night at least for the airmen, NCO’s & officers were gorging it down & there wasn’t a
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drop for the other ranks. Pretty poor arrangements on the CO’s part, in fact the whole attitude was let the airmen take care of themselves. Some said there should have been 12 barrels of beer for the airmen, but it mysteriously disappeared into the other parties, whether, this was true or not I don’t know, anyway we were out in the cold.
The YMCA took pity on us & screened a couple of travel films in Norway, & the place was full, it shows what a degree of apathy had sunk to. On the wireless we could hear the fellows at Mossbank having a marvellous party & the English fellows broadcasting home to their families, & we were going to bed at 10P.M – Merry Xmas.
Today I did my last two gunnery exercises, one with [indecipherable word], everything went O.K. so my B & G course is now over.
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[underlined] Thursday Dec 31st. [/underlined]
1942 has almost gone & it has been quite an eventful year for me, I guess we will be up when the – New Year arrives. Speaking of new things we are now at our new station, Rivers Manitoba No 1 Central Navigation School. Back at Dafoe we kept binding the others to get their gunnery exercises in as there might be a chance of leave. They finally got them in & our graduation party was set for Tuesday the 29th. We spent the day packing our things & getting everything ready for our journey. Then in the evening we assembled promptly in the YMCA hut for the proceedings. The C.O & the officers arrived & after a few speeches & the usual bull about being one of the best courses etc, though this time they quoted figures and
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we had beaten all previous courses records. Then came the awarding of the certificates, old Smithy came top, everyone expected that, it shook me that when the final results were out, of both practical & theory work, I had come fourth in the course, I didn’t expect that.
Afterwards there was some drinking & a sing song but we didn’t get canned or anything, then around midnight we bowled along to the mess for a special supper that was provided. I had two lots of toast eggs bacon tomatoes & chips, with wizard coffee, I was really starving. When that was over some of the boys [indecipherable word] off to a recent cache of beer they had & were certainly heeled. We got to bed around 2 A.M. & we were hardly asleep when we were awakened at 5A.M. to get moving.
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After a quick breakfast we bundled our kit bags in the back of the lorry, then found we had to climb in on top of them. The back of the lorry was open, there was a blizzard raging & we had a 30 mile drive across the prairies to Raymore where we were to catch the train. So we said cheerio to all our Canadian friends on the course who were going to Regina & off we went.
I find it impossible to describe that ride, no mere words on paper can conjure up the intense cold we suffered. Cold is a thing that always strikes me & it nearly did them. We were laying there on the kit bags huddled together like sheep for a little warmth. Before long my feet had gone dead & I couldn’t move them so I had to
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get Taffy to punch & pummel them, because I was frightened of frostbite. About every five minutes he did this, & I think that was all that saved them. I was in agony with the bitter cold, & thought the ride would never end, on & on we jolted until at last we reached the little township of Raymore. I fell out of the lorry & so did quite a few of the others, & got into the bare waiting room of the railway station for warmth. When we had unloaded the kit & placed it on a truck, we found out our train which [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] was then due was snowed up & hadn’t left [indecipherable word]. There was only one hotel in the place so we went there, to have coffee. After a while we decided to have breakfast as well, & got cracking.
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The hotel appeared to be devoid of customers but us, & I didn’t see any people staying there, heaven’s knows how they made it pay. The old chap who owned it didn’t appear to take to us at [deleted word] first, but he thawed out [deleted word] later. We plunged back through the driving snow to the station to see what the position, but the train still hadn’t started out, so we ordered dinner at the hotel. As it turned out we spent all the day there & never have I experienced such complete boredom. There was nothing at all in the hotel, just one room with an old piano, which Smithy banged on, but as he played mainly by music & the pieces there were pretty old & grim, there wasn’t much amusement in that direction. In the town there wasn’t one shop we could
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look in, or a cinema, dance hall, absolutely nothing. Some of the boys discovered an old barber’s shop with a pool room in the back & played there for a while, but that was deadly.
After dinner the bar was opened, & we sat there most of the time drinking, then the station rang to say the train would be in at 5P.M. Pat Smithy & myself wandered off & found a little café The lady came from London Eng [sic], & we had quite a chat. Then there was a panic because we found the boundary of Mountain Time & Central Time ran between the café & the station, so we didn’t know whether the station had meant 5P.M. their time or what was in the café, what a topsy turvy town. As there was an hors difference we dashed to
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the station in a panic. There we found the train still hadn’t arrived& would be later than they thought. Back to the hotel for tea & we were sitting in the bar when we heard the whistle, the train was coming through we dashed out & there she was in the distance her headlight glaring and her whistle screaming how we cheered it. She was 13 hours late.
Soon we were heading away from that desolate spot, & one step nearer to England again. When we reached Rivers there was a truck waiting & out we went. We had to book in at the guard room, it was then 1.30am. they gave us a light meal & then tried to find billets for us. The fellow who knew where they were, was apparently away & the
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Cpl. Who showed us didn’t. We stumbled into huts in the pitch black switched on lights got furious howls from the occupants & dived out. Eventually we found the hut we had had odd beds amongst a flight of navigators that were sleeping there. They had only just moved in for weeks they had been sleeping in hangars, & we had to wake the poor devils with the lights.
We were in bed about 3AM. & they sorted us out at 8A.M. to get weaving on the schedule of signing in FFI’s & the usual routine. With hardly any sleep for two nights we certainly feel tired now. Today we met our instructor had a look round at the place & received the usual welcome address, and so have begun our Navigators course it lasts 6 weeks. Ah! Well it has just struck midnight so Farewell 1942 & Greetings 1943 – Happy New Year.
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[underlined] Sunday 3rd January. [/underlined]
I’m afraid this place isn’t as good as Defoe though it is a fair bit easier for us, being as Air Bombers aren’t taken seriously, it is almost purely and simply a Navigation School. Our huts are O.K. only I wish the blasted heater in our room would work constantly, when it fails, & it invariably does in the night the place is like an ice berg come morning & a supreme effort is needed to leap out of the sheets. The kit bags arrived the day after we did & mine was missing, it’s the one with flying kit, I’ve bound about it, but so far without result. I think the biggest laugh is our classroom, it is in a huge drill hall, that is still under construction, & I guess our classroom isn’t constructed yet. It is a ramshackle
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affair of wood, all knocked together. The floor is rough planks, & ends before it reaches the far wall, there lies a large hole in which all sorts of rubbish is dumped. There is no heating & not much electric light, the one bright spot is that the walls are literally covered, with women that themselves are far from covered. Represented are the Queens of Hollywood in their most glamorous & revealing poses and photographs from various nudist magazines, it is a superb collection. A Flt / Lt bought the Sqdn/Ldr along see them and have them removed. Gesturing he said to the Sqdn/Ldr “you see what I mean,” the latter surveyed them in silence & said “yes, but mind you, they’re damn fine women.” The best part was when the padre came to the room for his chat, but even he couldn’t keep his eyes off them.
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The food as whole is pretty grim here, & the mess isn’t so hot, although we had a really smashing dinner on New Years Day & didn’t bother to go to classes in the afternoon. Our instructor is a decent chap, he’s only been a P/O a couple of weeks was an LAC like us then. He is rather easy going, keen, & tries hard, I’m afraid we take advantage of him. When looking at some out of date reconnaissance books the other day, there was a diagram of a battle fleet at sea. It was obviously pre-war with the destroyer screen in a beautiful Vic ahead of the rest & four aircraft carriers bunched together all on their lonesome at the rear. I remarked “They’d be a sitting target for U. Boats,” at which he gazed hard at the diagram & rather vaguely said “I don’t see any U Boats.” Before I realised it I said ‘no, they are under the water.” I couldn’t resist it, he really asked for it, guess he has drawn the bead on me now.
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[underlined] Thursday January 7th [/underlined]
We have commenced our flying here, I went on one trip Tuesday, ostensibly we are there for Map Reading, but actually we are ballast. Nobody bothers about us we sit up by the pilot & heroically wind the undercart up & down, every now and again the Navigator pushes us aside to read the astro compass. Should we be very conscientious & map read diligently all the way, then offer the Nav a pin point, he looks at you with deep suspicion, still I guess they have every right to be they get so many duff pin points. Their cross country trips last about three hours & we are supposed to drop one bomb at the end. What good one will do I don’t know, but most pilots hate it, & will do anything rather than carry out the bombing, they find wizard excuses too.
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P/O Grand gives us logs to keep in the air, pin points recce reports etc, I blush to say most of them are cooked. We have to prepare flight plans too, actually though we don’t do a lot of ground work here, the photography is the most binding I think. Certainly there isn’t the study at night like at Dafoe, the navs [sic] work hard though, I pity the poor guys. The cinema is the same as Dafoe though not so clean & it is more crowded, not bad though. There is a fair sized canteen opposite with a bar one end divided by the partition. They sell hot dogs for a nickel each & I generally get a quarters worth I love them. Generally they have a good selection of commercial goods, shirts and everything. There is a small YWCA by the gate where they sell lovely coffee, we don’t do so badly.
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[underlined] Tuesday 12th January [/underlined]
I have been on two more cross countries here we are gradually getting our hours in. My flying kit bag turned up after all so, I didn’t have to wear borrowed kit again, God knows where it had been, halfway across Canada again I reckon. We had a 36hr which we were going into Brandon for, over the weekend. After queuing at the gate & in a mad rush we arrived in there safely, but after back & forth along Main Street we figured we had seen [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] [inserted] everything [/inserted]. I splashed out & bought a Rolex wrist watch for $65 (£15) it really is a lovely thing though. Afterwards we went to a cinema to see “My Sister Eileen,” quite a funny film. Although we had been in two cafés for snacks already, we were still able to wade through a large dinner in the Hotel.
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After that we were absolutely at a loss so we went to a cinema again. It was a grim little dive really & the films were pretty poor. I happened to be sitting next to a Canadian Flt/Lt. & his wife, & she noticed my ATS cap badge, that I had worn ever since somebody stole my badge at Manchester. I could hear her whispering to him “ask him what it is,” & I was all set to [indecipherable word] out Air Training Scheme as I told an S.P previously, but he didn’t. after the show we figured there was absolutely nothing to stay for, Jock, Butch & a couple of others stayed & went off to find some women, but we caught the last bus back to camp.
Our Wings Parade is due the beginning of February, the day we have waited for all this time is getting pretty close now. Ah! Well I’ll be glad its [sic] all over.
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[underlined] Sunday January 17th. [/underlined]
Life is still the same, fairly uneventful, some days it snows, & some days it doesn’t some days we fly & some days we don’t - [indecipherable word]. We went into Rivers this afternoon, we started to walk but hell! It was so cold that we were mighty glad when we got a lift half way. A good hot meal in the drug store & we felt like new again. That’s the thing I like about Rivers it may small & dead, but boy! You can get a good meal pretty cheap. We generally come in on the bus, straight into the drug store, & there have, coffee, rolls & butter, steak, two eggs, green peas, French Fries, with lemon pie that just makes my mouth water all for 65 cents. Afterwards we see a film at the tiny “Four Star Theatre” or the other one, then time for another meal, & just time to catch the bus back it really is a pleasant evening.
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There is only one general store to wander round but they stock almost everything, what a thrill it was when we first had bananas there, they really tasted good. The new snack bar on the camp is now open, its [sic] a real flash affair, red leather stools, with chromium fittings & red leather settees, some café for an Air Force camp. The drill hall or games hall is nearing completion, its [sic] a wizard floor & quite a size, the Canadians certainly look after their men.
I went on the open air skating rink the other night to try my hand, the chaps who could skate said it was pretty grim, but I’m no judge. As I have done a fair amount of roller skating, I was able to maintain my balance & not fall down at all, & whip up a little speed on occasions, but it really made my ankles ache, afterwards.
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[underlined] Thursday 21st January. [/underlined]
It really has been cold lately, and we have had to cease lectures over in the class room, because there is no heating, and one simply can’t pay attention. So just lately we have moved the classroom to our billets because they are warm, at least the one next to us is, our own heater keeps breaking down.. On Monday the temp. was 48˚ below zero, boy! That’s getting down some, I hope never to experience cold like it again. One has difficulty in breathing, & your eyelids gum up, every tooth in my mouth aches, & the skin on the face feels as though it is being torn off in strips, its [sic] really grim. I never thought I should see the day when it got warmer when it started to snow. We also flew Monday, luckily there was an inversion, & it was only -32˚ but that was cold enough.
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The other day on a day cross country our track took us across Winnipeg, it was well worth seeing from the air. The tall buildings, I dont [sic] think they are big enough to be called sky scrapers, stood up very clean & the mass of cars in the streets looked [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] like hundreds of beetles crawling along, in fact the whole place resembled a large ant hill. Easily the most fascinating part was the railway station & goods yards, they looked like little toy trains puffing in & out of each other, it was well worth seeing. We spent our 48 hrs. there & had a good time, apart from the fact I collected a frost bitten ear, which became the size of a young foot-ball. I was able to see May’s Aunt & was made very welcome. We went in on the “flyer” Friday afternoon & came back Sunday night, it is a nice town, & it made a break, I really enjoyed myself.
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[underlined] Tuesday January 26th. [/underlined]
The flying programme really has been moving these last few days, I have flown three days running now, as there was a good break in the weather. Lets hope the weather continues to be O.K. & then we wont be held up after Wings Parade to complete our flying hours. The results of our Mid Term Exams, which we took last Wednesday came through, & we all passed, it was pretty easy so I guess we all should. Our final exams come off tomorrow & Thursday, & we will all pass by hook or by crook & mainly the latter. The whole class will be cribbing most of their written exams, & I make no excuses in fact I say its [sic] the right thing. The stuff they teach us is all obsolete, & we will never use it when we leave here, both the instructors & pupils know it consequently there is no effort made to learn it.
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We have done a couple of night cross – countries & I can’t see they are much training. If the trip is East it is invariably by Winnipeg & as soon as we climb to 6,000ft the glow of Winnipeg can be seen in the distance there is no chance of losing it. Even if the navigator gives a duff course the pilots fly towards it, so they don’t have to stay up longer than they can help. It is pretty cheesing for us, we just sit there in the cold, see a town lit up on the ground, shine a dim light on our map then on our log to make an entry. Invariably the pencil or log falls on the floor and we grope around for it, whilst the pilot curses about the light flashing. The other night I saw the pilot laughing heartily at something so I crawled into the bombing hatch & put the ear-phones on, they were listening to Bob Hope, so I discovered a way to relieve the boredom.
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[underlined] Sunday 31st January. [/underlined]
Well our last exams are over & passed, we have no more to take now before we get our wings, that should be pretty soon now. The exams weren’t too bad, & we didn’t have to do a lot of cribbing, the aldis & a couple like that we couldn’t possibly crib, still we all made the grade. Now we are trying to get our 30 odd flying hours in I thought it would be a rush for them. We flew yesterday & today & only need three trips now & our flying programme will be completed. 65 course who were at Defoe with us, left for Moncton except one chap who had to stay behind to get his flying hours in. Riches the chap I used to work with has gone on the 4th Vector course so I guess hell [sic] do his OUT over here.
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I don’t think we shall get any leave after our course, the last lot of fellows didn’t, they certainly have twisted us out of the five days leave we should have had for Xmas or the New Year. Our life is the essence of laziness now, as there is nothing for us to do in the way of lectures. We write, read & yarn most of the day, & toddle along to the cinema at night. It gets rather packed now & we have to queue about a quarter of an hour outside to make sure of getting in for a seat. ‘Red’ Sollis and the rest of the navigators that are passing out with us have just about finished wading through their pile of exams, they certainly have some to get through. More & more I thank my lucky stars that when I washed out as pilot I wasn’t made a navigator I just wouldn’t have stood it.
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[underlined] Sunday February 7th. [/underlined]
Its [sic] arrived at last, almost a year to the day of entering the R.A.F we have our tapes and I am now Sgt Geach. The big day was yesterday & it was about three days overdue, we flew Thursday, & twice on Friday in order to get our flying finished in time. Old Grand wanted us to fly on the first night cross country on Friday, come down get into another kite & fly on the second one in order to get our time in, that was on top of flying 3 hrs. in the day time. It would mean 10 hrs flying in about 16 hrs, anyway when I returned from my first night cross country I told him what he could do & walked off, so did some of the others, a few flew again. When we got to the mess for a midnight meal they wouldn’t serve us because we were wearing flying boots. So we all took
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them off, one of the Canadians had red & yellow hooped socks, some of us had blue & some grey, it was quite a sight, anyway they had to serve us.
They sprang this wings parade on us the day before and we were frantically bulling for it. It took place at 2P.M. yesterday, & there were two flights of navigators passing out beside we Air Bombers. There was bags of bull, a terrific long march out to the Groupie, I wasn’t looking forward to it. Suddenly my name was called, & like a robot away I went, “attention, one pace back, turn left, march smartly, head up, left, right, bags of bull. Getting near the Groupie now, get ready for a smart halt not too near him, & not too far away.” Then horror of horrors as I came to a real crashing halt the steel tips on my heels made me
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slip, the whole room held its breath as I tottered & even the Groupie smiled when I managed to regain my balance, it shook me. A handshake, pin on the brêvet, a few words, then it was all over & I was marching back. So I had graduated at last into a trained Air Bomber.
That afternoon we were all queuing up at the parachute section getting our tapes and brêvet sewn on, they certainly made some money there. Now we have been packing all the time & throwing out all the unwanted junk. We leave tomorrow to Moncton & should have a two day break, at Montreal I guess. That is a start of our journey back to England, & home again, this place doesn’t seem so bad now, stations never do until you are on the point of leaving them, anyway cheerio! Rivers.
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[underlined] Sunday 14th February. [/underlined]
Here we are back in Moncton, as some wit put it “Brother, this is where I came in.” We had quite a pleasant trip back here, we left on the Monday, the train was a few hours late owing to snow storms. It wasn’t too good a coach but at Winnipeg we changed onto the train that was taking us across to Montreal, and we climbed into our bunks there. On the whole we slept fairly well, the one thing that cheesed me was every time the train stopped there was a colossal clanking & jarring as each coach hit the other. The Canadian railways lead ours in many ways, but I certainly think they would be wise to use spring buffers. Our coloured attendant was quite a good sort & cleaned our shoes if we left them out.
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Our journey back across Canada was quite a lot different from the journey out. Before it had been summertime and maybe just a tinge of autumn creeping in, but now the country was really in the grip of the winter. Snow storms would rage & the fine powdered snow would filter in under the edges of the doors. The scenery was really lovely in its majestic beauty though. The pureness and [indecipherable word] of the snow is certainly something & as we raced through forests along the edges of frozen lakes one couldn’t help but be impressed. Although our coach on the train was the old wood & leather type, the meals were everything one could wish for, with excellent service. To cap it there was a tourist car next to it, at least I believe that was what it was.
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It had huge soft armchairs on swivels, with enormous windows allowing the maximum vision. Such a lazy existence to sprawl back & gaze at the panorama flitting by. We had a little break at Ottowa and took a few snaps, & then on to Montreal. The snow had been very heavy around there & was up above the fence tops, quite a few telephone wires were down as well. I don’t think I’ve ever got over Canadian telephone poles, having twists & bends in them, whereas ours are dead straight & creosoted! No doubt it is because so many come down that it is only worth while lopping the branches off trees and sticking them up. However at about 6 P.M. on Wednesday we came rolling into Montreal. We reported to the RTO, got everything fixed up, dumped our kit & set off for a place to stay.
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Ronnie Clureman & I set off for the YMCA but got lost & had a hell of a job finding it. I was surprised to find the pavements and roads were coated with a solid sheet of ice a foot thick. To make matters worse the temperature rose suddenly & it rained forming pools everywhere, then just as suddenly it froze. It was exactly the same as walking on an ice rink. At the YMCA they said they hadn’t rooms there but they could fix us up. I’m afraid we were more out for a spree than anything, consequently we didn’t want to stay in a persons house and come in pretty early, So mumbling excuses we crept out & started to look for rooms, we soon got fixed up, in a place owned by a Frenchman, a decent chap though. Following this we went back to the YMCA for a meal.
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Jack Benny was in town with his show Rochester, Don Wilson, & the rest, they were giving a show in the Y.M. that night so we went, it was pretty good. Afterwards there was a jam session we were able to stand it for a while but with our heads absolutely splitting we tottered out. The next day we were mainly sight seeing and shopping during the day. Gangs of men were chipping the ice off the side walks, because people had been going down like ninepins the night before & I guess there were a few bones broken. We lunched at Dinty Moor’s we had nearly all our meals there, & I saw Noel Cowards ’In which we serve,” it was very good. The Y.M.C.A gave us free seats for any film show that we wanted to go to. After tea we started a real round of the various night clubs & dives.
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Our first call was at the Beaver Club, because that was the only place we could find where the price of beer was reasonable. It was 45 cents a quart, so we would quaff a goodly sum, & then bowl off to the dearer places, well heeled. The Beaver really was a dive though, the grimmest excuse for a cabaret I ever saw & a really grim lot there at times. Still it served its purpose then off we would trot to the Astor or Music Box, we hovered around both places, but I know we finished at the Astor. Harry Jamieson & Corrie were really gone & had a couple of women with them, as up came a photographer & snapped them & charged them $5 a copy. The cabaret there wasn’t too hot, anyway we remained till the end around 3A.M. and we wended our way back rather staggeringly to our bed.
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The next day was much the same as the previous ones, silk stockings & cosmetics, being purchased at Eaton’s, & a general tour around. We went to Lochi’s to see a film, & then wended our way to the station, we were very sorry to have to leave, I should have liked a fortnight there, two days was far too short. The train journey to Moncton was pretty uneventful, the sun was shining brightly on the snow, & we took quite a few photographs.
At 4P.M. yesterday afternoon we drew into the familiar station at Moncton, & took a taxi to the camp. They hadn’t been expecting us which annoyed us, because we could have had a few days more leave, Jock Creighton hasn’t come back yet anyway. Now we are settled in our billets and are getting quite comfortable again, I love this central heating.
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[underlined] Wednesday February 17th. [/underlined]
The weather has taken a turn for the worse now when we arrived the streets were clean but we’ve had a couple of snow falls since. Things have tightened up here since we were last staying, there is more of a check on you. We parade in the morning after breakfast, if we can get up for it. The trouble is we have to queue right round the hall, because there are quite a few N.C.O’s here, it shook us having to have our own knives & forks again, most of us had thrown them away.
After parade they march us to lectures they have just started, they are more or less a farce, not a lot of gen given us. There is quite an amount of square bashing on a huge parade ground they have built, what a life, could be worse.
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I have been into town once, everything is much the same, a new restaurant has opened, & is packed out always. As there has been no troopships leaving for a few weeks there are tons of RAF chaps & the town is crowded. Once I went to the Camp Cinema its [sic] really is the finest I’ve seen a real luxury effort. Red plush armchairs, covertly staggered, velvet curtains, everything done in modern style. Beside this there is an ordinary camp cinema, which is free. The bar is a good one, and we have a decent café, with oranges & milk available, so we are pretty well off. Our food isn’t too bad, the majority of our meals are ate in the town though. On the whole Moncton must get 50% of its business from the RAF.
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[underlined] Sunday 21st February [/underlined]
A week of waiting has passed, with bags of rumours flying around regarding postings home. Never before has the camp been so crowded, owing to the active U Boat campaign no RAF chaps have sailed for [deleted] [indecipherable] [/deleted] six weeks, & the camp is jammed, all the huts are full. The other day a huge bunch of Aussies & Canadians arrived from Halifax as they were overflowing there as well. It is really grim in town trying to get in at a café or cinema, its [sic] air force air force everywhere, & we vainly hunt for a place to eat. On a course one doesn’t notice the time passing but here on the last lap home, it just seems to drag. Another thing we don’t get mail now because we told everyone at home to cease writing when our course was finishing at Rivers. In this way
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it obviates bundles of old letters chasing you to England. However we tramp hopefully to the Post Office each day just in case, & sometimes there is an old one that has been chasing all over Canada.
We are in a different hut now, it was a bind lugging all the kit across. The old ‘F’ flight at Manchester, (65 course at Defoe) are in the next room, its [sic] funny how after all this time we are still together. It has just come through who are getting commissions, they are Stan Cross, Pat Kinsella, Smithy, Wade, Jock Crighton, Hunter, & a quiet chap in another class Walker I believe his name is. Most of them were expected, Jock Crighton was a shock he had had more detentions & charges than all the course put together, he arrived here quite a few days leave. Some of them deserve their commissions thoroughly though, its [sic] a pity we are split up now.
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It was a humorous but tragic sight here the other day. The weather was quite warm when most of the fellows went into town around 5P.M. at 8P.M. it dropped terribly in temperature, & as they only had thin RAF caps, there were well over 50 fellows walking about with a bandage on their head & two great pads over their ears. After my dose of it I was truly sorry for them. They try to put in an amount of square bashing here, its [sic] a bind, W/O Libby is one big b- & thats [sic] no lie as the Canucks say. He is the station W/O & really likes aircrew – I don’t think.
It is May’s birthday today, but I’ll have to deliver her present when I arrive home. These various items have travelled some miles already, & will be travelling a good few more before they are ultimately delivered.
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[underlined] Monday March 1st. [/underlined]
One more week gone & it really seems as though something big is moving now and I sincerely hope so. Some of us popped of to New York for a few days leave. We managed it by forging letters from imaginary people down there, as this was necessary, I think everybody knew they were faked including the officer, still we had a fine time. Lots of times we have been warned of the Fifth Column over here, & we have had ample evidence of it. From bags of people we have had “authentic” gen regarding our ship, port & sailing date. Most of them seem to favour the Queen Elizabeth from New York, I hope they are right from the point of comfort. Regarding the sailing date it is sometime during the next fortnight, and that seems feasible enough.
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The Fleet Air Arm chaps had a party last night a regular beer up, they finished up with women in the billets, one could hear them shrieking of laughter all over the camp. So a few officers were Joe’d to go along & turf them out. Our hut has a real handy location for getting out of camp, instead of walking right across to the main gate, we have a hole in the fence at the back of our hut. Here we slip through & catch a bus right into the centre of the town, it is most handy returning at night [deleted] bef [/deleted] being dropped off almost at the doorstop.
Some of the commissioned lads are acquiring their kit, seems strange to see them in cheese-cutters. I don’t exactly know if I wanted one or not, so can’t tell if I’m disappointed. I know I wouldn’t take that commission Grand spoke of to go on the 4th Vector course.
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[underlined] Wednesday [deleted] 4th [/deleted] 3rd March. [/underlined]
Things definitely are moving and its [sic] homeward bound we’ll be in a few days, it seems too good to be true. Not much has happened but we have been warned to stand by & get all our kit assembled together, & chase round to the various places, if we have any boots or shoes etc. anywhere. We came across here with webbing & two kitbags although we didn’t need it all, we kept the webbing with us, & the kit bags were stowed in the hold. Now we are only allowed one kit bag & webbing & we keep these with us all the trip there being nothing stowed in the hold, I don’t know why. We are handing in our flying kit here, but we still lose a lot of room, as flying kit could go in 3/4 of a kit bag and the rest of the room could be used for something else.
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So it has come to the question of room for service stuff or for our presents, & the answer is emphatically presents. After lugging them this far we certainly aren’t going to leave them behind now for some service gear.
We had the job, one night of waiting up through the night for an intake arriving here from England. They were pretty late & we kept waiting in the empty huts listening for the whistles of the trains in the sidings. We found a tramp fast asleep in one empty hut in the old RAF blankets. He said he had been sleeping there every night for a fortnight, we told him to beat it in case the S.P’s came along & boy! Did he move. The intake arrived at 7A.M. full of questions, about training & everything, we were exactly the same when we got here.
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[underlined] Sunday March 7th. [/underlined]
We have said our last goodbyes to the part of Canada we are in, not that Moncton is representative of Canada thank heavens but that is the only place available. Tomorrow morning will see us moving off heavily laden, bon voyage & then England & home yippee! This has been a pretty frenzied week on the whole, hurried rushed parades for some new gen. Being put into our embarkation flights, roll calls over & over again, tramp around in a huge straggling column, continual threats that offenders will be “taken off the draft” it really is a hustle. I met Fred Price the other day, a chap I knew back at the YMCA club in civvie [sic] street. He is a [indecipherable word] Nav/W. we had quite a chin wag over the old times, I was pleased to see him.
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There was an enormous pay parade we had to wait a hell of a time before we collected the filthy lucre. Most of us went into town & bought up bags of things that will be unavailable in England. Chief among these was cosmetics, the manager in Eaton’s was saying he had never seen anything like it, three days running now he has had his complete stock bought up. That is one of the most obvious signs that there is a draft moving out, this terrific orgy of last minute spending. Also all the chaps that are well in with their girls in town will be saying goodbye, yes! If there’s a person in town who doesn’t know we are all moving out tell me. Still I guess the powers that be are fully aware of this fact & have taken it into account, I hope so anyway.
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Jock Crighton put a fast one over on some of the boys, he owed quite a few of them packets of money. When he first arrived he kept putting them off, & now the draft is going he has suddenly gone sick, got moved into hospital, & refuses to see anyone. Consequently he is missing the draft & his creditors, he never had any conscience in those matters though.
Tomorrow morning we have our final parade with full webbing, I really hate the stuff now, I’ve put it on & off so much lately. Every available inch of it is crammed with presents, it is a masterpiece of packing, bags of 664B though on the next clothing parade.
Naturally I shall be very glad to get home, but I would have liked time to have looked around Canada more. Although one thing I shan’t be sorry to leave is the snow, I’ll never want a ‘White Christmas.’
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[underlined] Tuesday March 9th. [/underlined]
Once more I am writing afloat, though we aren’t under way, we are on the boat but she is still moored to the dockside. The old grapevine was pretty bang on with their ‘gen’, the boat we are on is the Queen Elizabeth & just outside stretches Lil’ ole Noo [sic] York. Their date of sailing wasn’t so far out either, we leave tomorrow.
We paraded yesterday morning in the drill hall at Moncton, with all regalia. The customary period of waiting ensued, during which we sagged with our webbing & finally threw it on the floor. At last we began to move off flight by flight, down past the buildings along the huge drill square & to the railway siding where we sat & waited for the train. Hell! It was cold my ear nearly froze again, still the train hove into sight just in time.
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A wild rush began for seats with chaps getting entangled with each other’s kit, everyone settled down O.K. though. I could have wept for one chap. Like a lot of fellows he had bought a large blue kit bag in the town so he could get more stuff in it than the service kit bag permitted. It’ was made of inferior material however & split right down the side as he ran along. Presents fell out right & left cosmetics strewn around, and silk stockings in abundance. It looked grim, but when it was collected he had only lost two small jars of cream broken, and one box of powder. All the train journey he was busy sewing it up with string, & lashing it with straps.
Off went the train with the customary lurch & series of bumps, then became lost in a maze of sidings around Moncton
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before beginning its southward journey. On & on we went with the afternoon lengthening into evening, then with the dark out would come the cards & the groups would get going. There couldn’t be much security about the movement, because all along the way, even when it was dark, lots of people would come out to their doorways to wave at us passing. We were the fifth troop train to go through so quite a few people must have known. That is one pleasant thing here, the hospitality & friendliness of the people, everyone turns out to wave at you passing. At one place there was a long stop and we all streamed out to get something to eat, but they chased us back again. Cooked meals were served in the old dixies [sic] & steel plates while we were travelling, they were a bit grim though.
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When we awoke in the morning we were well on our way, the sun was shining it was much warmer, & wonder of wonders the good earth was showing without a snow covering. Yes, we had crossed the border & were in the States again. We followed the banks of the Hudson River for a while, taking bags of photographs. The guard warned us about taking snaps of a submarine yard further on, as he said a guard fired at a chap with a camera. It was quite a large place, with several sleek black shapes around. The Hudson was really broad here & later we crossed an enormous bridge & pulled up in Newhaven. There was a wait of over an hour an hour here, and all the other troop trains were also standing there. At this point the electric trains came into use with the overhead trellis & cables like our trolley buses, they were lovely jobs.
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On we went & clattered into the suburbs of New York, everyone waved & we waved back, all were happy & life was grand. There was a brief halt in Pennsylvania Station, then back & forth across Long Island until we drew up at the dockside. Then we were right on East River, with the skyscrapers towering above, to proclaim Manhattan. No doubt about it, it certainly does impress you, I guess we Londoners get used to the five storey buildings etc. as the main thing. It really does look thrilling from the river to see the Empire State, the Woolworth, Rockefeller Centre, Chrysler, & others towering up to the sky, certainly better than they look when one is underneath. The ferry boat pulled in & on we went, I could never stop thinking of the old Mississippi days & old Man River, when I saw these. They were so identical in shape to the old paddle steamers that plyed [sic] back & forth.
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We slowly moved up East River, past the skyscrapers, wharves, docks & shipping, I know one thing struck me that I hadn’t noticed before. That apart from Manhattan, New York is pretty flat. There was the hulk of the old Normandie [sic], at the French wharf, she was lying over on her side, half submerged with wooden islands all around & over it,& gangs of men swarming like industrious ants. The Cunard Quay was next & there towered the Queen Elizabeth in her sombre grey war paint. We docked & filed up a narrow gang plank with our kit bags, one chap had one so heavy he overbalanced & fell into the water. It was crammed with presents & with stoic determination he refused to let go, but gripped on it tightly. With that & full webbing he was nearly on the point of drowning till a lively boat man secured him with a boat hook.
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After being checked in carefully at the gate we filed on board received our berth & meal cards & set off to our room. I was unlucky enough to get a bottom berth again, but it wasn’t so bad. We dumped our kit & set out for our meal. The mess isn’t so decorative as the Queen Mary, none of the boat is, because she is finished as a troop ship, & the Mary was completed in peace time. I’ll say more about the ship later. Tonight we sneaked up on deck though we weren’t supposed to for the last look of New York by night. Although it has a supposed black out it still resembles peace time Piccadilly. Late workers in the skyscrapers had various windows lit, & now & again, one would go out as they packed up and went home. Multi coloured lights were visible up & down the river with hurrying craft, whilst on the roads streams
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of taxis whizzed back & forth. Bright lights were twinkling everywhere, & I would have given anything to just be starting a months leave there, still if [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] wishes were horses –
They were loading some cargo or something in the forward hold, & it seemed strange to see the huge arc lamps glaring down on the ship. It seems funny that after this time we are at least going home. Tomorrow morning we shall be under way to England, in a way I shall be sorry because I have enjoyed myself over here. Still I got a bit homesick and had to come down from the deck, & there being nothing doing I decided to write this. I wonder how long we will be aboard, before we dock again, it all depends on the route. Well, I’ll turn in now, & see if I can sleep, so farewell States & Canada.
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[underlined] Thursday 11th March. [/underlined]
Once more we are afloat on the Atlantic, & it is no smoother than it was before, a little rougher if anything. At about 10A.M. yesterday we cast off from the quay, & a small flotilla of tugs nosed us out into the river and slowly took us out to sea. There is nothing like the freedom, on board this ship, that there was on the Queen Mary. They wouldn’t allow anybody on deck & all portholes were supposed to be shut. Naturally everybody was jammed at the narrow opening to get the last glimpse of New York & the States. It was a pretty cold morning & there was some ice floating around. After a bit the famous Manhattan skyline faded into the mist & the next land we would see would be good old England. Suddenly came the beat of our engines the tugs cast off tooted a last farewell & we were on our way.
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They allowed us up on the Boat & Promenade Decks then, the land was completely out of sight. We still had an escort about five coast guard cutters or something & up above cruised us a U.S. Navy Blimp. Backwards & forwards she went, but after a while it ceased to be a source of interest & was taken for granted. We went down to the cabin for awhile, & when we came back on deck the escort had gone, we were on our own. Then certainly isn’t so much freedom on board we cant [sic] go to a lot of places, all the decks around the guns are out of bounds. With all the troops on board, they estimate there are 25,000 it gets a bit crowded especially at the canteens. There are two one for cigarettes etc and the other for chocolates, sweets & oranges. They open at selected times during the
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day and long before opening time arrives, there is a large queue stretching right down the corridors & up stairs. Quite a few go over an hour before & sit & play cards, naturally we are all buying chocolate to take home, the bar takes American, Canadian & English money & must make a hell of a packet.
We certainly need to patronise them, because owing to the number of troops aboard, they can only give us two meals a day, though they are serving all the day. Our two meals are 8 A.M. & 5 P.M. & boy! We certainly get hungry in between. There is a terrific queue for each meal up the staircases & along the corridors with everyone shuffling forward. They scrutinise the meal cards very carefully at the door, because they just haven’t enough for seconds. The water is also rationed, fresh water only being obtainable before 9 A.M. & after 5 P.M. guards are posted at water ports.
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[underlined] Saturday March 13th. [/underlined]
We thought as we were N.C.O’s we wouldn’t have to work this trip, but they had other ideas. Our gang of chaps were made guards two hours on and six off, it was a bind at first but I rather like it now. The main reason being that at night it is really sweltering down in the troop decks, & I have a wizard post on the sun deck. This is reserved for Wing Cmdrs. & above, & is situated craftily between the two funnels, there are vents in the front smoke stack, allowing the warm air to blow back along the deck, so it is never cold. I love standing there at night with the wind blowing & the old ship racing along it really streams at night, & the sparkling phosphorescence shows up marvellously. It certainly is better than being down below.
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I think if anybody is sea sick it is beneath decks, with the heat & crowding for meals, there staircases are jammed, when it is time to eat. Also there is a queer sickly smell like linoleum inside the ship. Looking along a terrific long corridor it gives every impression of being on land, then suddenly heels over it really is queer. This ship rolls terrifically, because there is no ballast in the hold, they have temporary troop quarters there, every piece of space is utilised, that is the reason that we had to keep our kitbags with us.
I would like to see the route this ship takes across the Atlantic I bet it certainly goes places, way south then up again. It is fascinating to watch the wake as the ship zig zags about every couple of minutes, we have seen no action by day however.
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[underlined] Monday 15th March. [/underlined]
We must be best part of the way across now I thought the journey would only take four days. The other night they said we came up with a convoy that was being attacked & we had to turn right round & beetle back, I don’t know how true it was. Yesterday the weather was fairly squally & the strength of the wind was phenomenal, it absolutely drove the rain against the ship. From the height of the boat deck the grey waves didn’t look so large, but by jiminy they were, I should just hate to be in an open boat. It is a funny thing but looking around the horizon with the waves rising one could swear they were ships on the horizon. I think it is quite a significant fact that a huge ship can cross the Atlantic unescorted in the middle of a big U Boat campaign.
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This afternoon I was up on the [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] sun deck on guard watching the gun crews, when the Tannoy blared for action stations at the guns. They often used to have dummy practises with imaginary aircraft, and I though this was another one. However there was an aircraft way out on the horizon very small but distinct. All guns were trained immediately, swivelling around & following it. When it came nearer we were able to distinguish the shape of the good old Sunderland, coming out to escort us. What a welcome sight she was it meant we were approaching home at last. She started to search all around in case there was a lurking U Boat. It would have been a sight, should it have been an enemy, there are 73 guns aboard, that helps to make the ship roll as she is so top heavy, & with no ballast in the hold.
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This ship certainly has a variety of armaments, the 6 inch in the stern should give any U Boat a hot time. For ack ack, there are the 40mm. Bofors & 20mm. Oerlikon, & they also have two sets of 12 rocket guns, it would be quite a sight, in air attack.
Well I guess with the Sunderland reaching us today we should be docking tomorrow sometime, that makes 7 days, the same as our outward journey. Twice crossing the Atlantic that isn’t bad I never dreamt before the war I would ever cross it. Out of the two journeys I think I enjoyed the outward one more, mainly because there was more comfort I think. The next time I write I will be in England once more, as I won’t be writing tomorrow so one more stage of our travels’ are over & tomorrow we will be saying ‘Hello England’.
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15th MARCH 1943
CONCLUDING BOOK 4
AND ENDING MY.
EXPERIENCES IN.
CANADA.
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Title
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Book 4, Continuing my Overseas Training
Description
An account of the resource
Fourth of David Geach's diaries describing the final part of his training in Canada. He writes of his service and personal life training as an air bomber. He describes his ground and flying training experiences, social life both in camp and in local Canadian towns and New York. He details train travel across Canada and the United States and his homeward voyage across the Atlantic in the troopship liner Queen Elizabeth. Covers the period 12 December 1942 to 15 March 1943.
Creator
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David Geach
Date
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1943
Format
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Handwritten diary
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Diary
Identifier
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YGeachDG1394781v1
Coverage
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Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force. Bomber Command
Spatial Coverage
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Canada
United States
Saskatchewan
Manitoba
Saskatchewan--Regina
Manitoba--Winnipeg
New Brunswick--Moncton
New York (State)--New York
New York (State)
New Brunswick
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
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.
Contributor
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Steve Christian
David Bloomfield
Temporal Coverage
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1942-12
1943-01
1943-02
1943-03
air gunner
aircrew
Blenheim
Bolingbroke
bomb aimer
bombing
entertainment
ground personnel
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/834/18876/YGeachDG1394781v4.1.pdf
39c216bf0756b27bd489400728cd3c46
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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Geach, David
D Geach
Description
An account of the resource
<a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/218400/"></a>52 items. The collection concerns Warrant Officer David Geach (1394781 Royal Air Force) and contains his diaries, correspondence, photographs of his crew, his log book, cuttings and items relating to being a prisoner of war. After training in Canada, he flew operations as a bomb aimer with 623 and 115 Squadrons until he was shot down 24 March 1944 and became a prisoner of war. He was instrumental in erecting a memorial plaque to the Air Crew Reception Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. <br />The collection also contains a scrap book of photographs.<br /><br />Additional information on his crew is available via the <a href="https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/218400/">IBCC Losses Database.</a><br /><br />The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Harry Wilkins 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
2016-03-14
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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Geach, DG
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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[underlined] R.C.A.F.16 [/underlined]
300M-2-42 (1686)
H.Q. 1062-13-15
ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE
NOTE BOOK
[page break]
[underlined] BOOK 3 [/underlined]
COMMENCING MY ADVENTURES OVERSEAS
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[underlined] Saturday Oct 10th [/underlined]
For my first entry in this book, I am settled on the rolling deck of the Queen Mary, somewhere in the mid-Atlantic. I should think our voyage is about half over, of course one hears bags of gen that various members of the crew let slip, which invariably turns out wrong. If the ship was travelling at her normal speed we would be almost there by now, on her previous trip, i.e. from America to England she only took 3 1/2 days. Unfortunately when she was near England an old ack ack cruiser attempted to cut across her bows. He misjudged the distance and was promptly cut in two by the “Queen Mary”, I don’t think there were many survivors. A huge chunk was torn out of the “Mary’s” bows, consequently reducing her speed, I understand that she is going into dock for repairs in the States and expects to be there for about 3 months or more. I believe her destination is Boston or New York, the latter, I hope.
[page break]
She certainly is a lovely ship and a hell of a size, too, she must have been lovely in peace time. Now her exterior is covered in a drab grey paint, and all her cabins have wooden bunks in, and the huge ornate dining hall, is the men’s mess. I am on ‘B’ deck in a cabin, which I should say would be a single second class cabin, there are twelve of us in it. There are four lots of wooden bunks in these tins, naturally quarters are rather cramped but we expected that. We have a bathroom attached & its rather a scramble in the morning. Now I generally awaken well before the hour for rising, owing to the fact, the time keeps going an hour back each night. The meals are pretty good, bags of butter, sugar, & cheese & other things, the only trouble is, most of the cooks are American, & they fry a lot of things in sweet oils, which taste very sickly to us. All of us have been assigned a duty, mine should be messing orderly in the sergeants mess, when I can manage to get there.
[page break]
Fortunately I haven’t been sea-sick (so far), a fair number of the fellows were on the first day or so, when we were travelling through the Irish Sea & the Eastern waters of the Atlantic. Our life on the whole is pretty easy just a parade in the morning, and hardly anything to do all day. Today, I was hoping to be at Don and Betty’s wedding, today, they are being married sometime this afternoon, in Broxbourne, ah! well I’m far away from there now.
One of the standing jokes on this ship I think is the forbiddance of gambling. There are lots of merchant seamen on board & most of them have just been paid £100 or more, & boy! they certainly gamble. The canteen in the evening looks worse than Monte Carlo, it is a solid mass of sweating bodies, packed tightly around the crown and anchor tables, there is a hell of a lot of money backed too. Only fruit drinks are sold on the ship, quite a wise precaution, too, I think.
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[underlined] Wednesday Oct 14th. [/underlined]
Today we dock at Boston, I am sorry it isn’t New York, as I would have liked to have seen the city. Still I might get the chance whilst I am over here. During the last couple of days we headed practically due South, and must have been fairly well down, because it became unbearably hot. In the troop decks we fairly lay and sweltered, upon going to bed I used to lay down in the nude, with no covering and still sweat with the heat. In the canteen it is almost impossible to breathe, the perspiration, simply streams off me, & the bankers in charge of the crown and anchor schools are literally exhausted. Their never ending flow of patter intrigues me, they have various slang phrases and names for the different squares. Such as “How about the old fireman’s friend?” this is the spade, or the old “sergeant-major”, being the crown, the “church window”, the diamond, or the “ships ‘ork” being the anchor. Then stock phrases such as, “I’m here to hide ‘em, you’re here to find ‘em”, “If you can’t find your way,
[page break]
on my board, you can’t find your way home”, their voices would crack & become hoarse, but they would never cease. It was fascinating but tiring to watch a cooler spot, was on ‘A’ deck, where two darkies would perform the old slight of hand with three jacks, & invite you to bet on which you fancied was the jack of clubs. The called him Joe Louis, (pronounced it Jo Loo), & would repeat unendingly, Who seen Joe?, Where’s Joe huh! “How about that gen’lman steppin’ & makin’ his lil’ bet?” Where the real money was lost swiftly was in the black jack schools, I hadn’t seen this game before, although I had played pontoon scores of times. This was very similar except that one betted blind on the first card, I watched a fellow place £5, on a blind card & lose, then £7 next time & lose, he lost £24 in four hands, some going. We spend quite a lot of time sitting on the darkened promenade deck and singing to the accompaniment of a mouth organ or anything, there isn’t much in the way of amusement though.
[page break]
It is lovely on deck however, in this weather, we just lounge in the sunshine and lazily watch the gun crews at drill. There certainly are a good few guns on board this ship. Everywhere we look one just sees nothing but water, not even another ship. For the Queen Mary being fast enough to out distance any U Boat, travels unescorted. One marvel in the canteen are the thousands of oranges, one can buy as many as they like, believe me, there’s some queue. When I think that the same number of oranges were sold going across I think it a shame. They could all be landed for the children at home , I wouldn’t mind going without them for a few days, nor would anyone else, so that the children could benefit.
Although this has been an easy and a pleasant voyage I am not sorry it is over, for I want to get on with the course. Well, I guess the next entry I make in here, will be on Canadian soil, at a place called Moncton, for I understand that is where we go first.
[page break]
[underlined] Sunday Oct 18th. [/underlined]
We are now in Canada, I am penning this entry in Moncton, New Brunswick, which is the big receiving and posting depot over here. We should return here upon completion of our course (whenever that might be) for posting back to England. I must say that Moncton itself is fairly deadly, it is commonly known as the (to put it politely) the parson’s nose of Canada. The actual camp is as big as the town I should say, not that the town is small, but this is a huge camp. However I’m rambling I’d better note down what happened since my last entry when I was on the boat.
It was about dinner time last Wednesday when we first saw land, it was a low peninsular with a few towns, & it certainly was good to know we were nearly there. A few planes had been out to take a look at us, diving down low over the decks. Some types appeared very strange to us, they had a huge single float underneath, American Army machines.
[page break]
The water was as calm as a milk pond, and we were sliding through it smoothly when without warning a thick yellow fog closes in upon us. The ship slackened speed until she was just about under way, and sounded her siren every few minutes. I forgot to mention she had ceased her zig-zagging tactics, all throughout the journey, every five to ten minutes she would alter course one way and then back, & so on. This zig-zagging was so that no lurking U Boat would be able to take a good aim, at least that was what one of the sailors told me. After a couple of hours the fog became patchy and finally lifted. For a while before we had been hearing other ships sirens and now we were able to see them, there were a huge crowd of them, off our starboard bow, it was a good job we hadn’t run into them, and more funny looking boats on our port. This later turned out to be a small sized collier or something towing three huge barges, if they were barges, a devil of a size, a lot of American ships we have seen
[page break]
are types I haven’t seen before. After some further progress two fast motor gun boats or launches, came out, & travelled alongside, a sailing yacht appeared and hove to and rowed the pilot across, when he was on board, away we went again. Soon we began to pass the numerous islands that dot the water harbour of Boston, most of them had buildings on, and causeways joining them to the main dock.
At this moment we were ordered onto the promenade deck to be assembled in our various drafts, so we continued to watch out of the port holes. We were checked through and got up onto the boat deck just as we watched the boom defence that guards the harbour against U Boats. As we slowly moved our way through the boom, the tugs came out to meet us. They were larger but not so sturdy as the English ones, a lot of them had dough boys on board. Gradually we moved forward and inch by inch we slipped into the bend, parked and pulled by the tugs. At last we were wayed alongside the dock, and
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a realisation of the immense size of the ship was borne upon us. She towered way up above the wharves & buildings and we were able to look [underlined] down [/underlined] upon the city of Boston. The decks were packed with troops and alongside were the tugs, & on the other lots of women clustered at the doorways. There were some pretty hot numbers, typists, office girls etc. very smartly dressed too. We were throwing English coins down for them & the doughboys, a good few pounds sterling went I’ll guarantee. One thing that impressed me were the cars, or automobiles as they are referred to here, there were tons of them on the streets and all huge streamlined glittering models, certainly superior, in appearance at least to the British models.
We went down to tea and then began to get ready to leave the ship, at about 9 P.M. we marched down the gangway and onto the quayside. It was the first time I had seen the lights at night for three years and it was a grand sight. The Queen Mary was lit, & floodlights on her, everywhere both
[page break]
on the quay & on the ship, firemen patrolled, with portable fire extinguishers, dangling on their belts, they were taking no chances after the Normandie episode.
Our draft number was called and we fell in and marched round to the railway siding which was still inside the docks. After about 45 minutes waiting the train arrived, the coaches over here certainly are larger than ours. We managed to get into a nice one, with green plush double seats and chromium fittings, an interesting feature were the iced water containers, with cardboard cartons, in each coach. After a while the train moved off and we tried to doze. At one crossing where we pulled up an American jumped out from his car and came over and chatted to me. On again we rattled past little places with the streets lit and cars parked here and there, and once we roared past a huge night club, or road house, it was brilliantly decorated with neon lights & was well patronised, judging by the cars outside.
[page break]
Dawn came, & it gradually became lighter, and the sun began to pour down so much that we opened the large observation windows and sat in our shirt sleeves, it was great. The crossings were interesting to us, a black & white striped pole came down to stop the traffic and a bell kept ringing whilst we were passing. The stations intrigued me too, owing to the distances covered by the railways no fences bordered them. The railway ran straight into the town & there were no raised platforms, like at home, one stepped straight off the train onto the main road, all there [deleted] was [/deleted], happened to be, were the station & platform, & different stops we would stream across into the towns. The first place we set foot on Canadian soil was at McAdam. On and on we went through different little towns, until we finally arrived here at Moncton at 8.30 P.M. that day. Well, I have written far more that I intended this time so I guess I will continue the tale in my next entry, from where I’ve just left off.
[page break]
[underlined] Monday Oct 19th [/underlined]
The train didn’t stop in Moncton itself, but went straight on along a siding into the camp. We climbed out, with our personal kit [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] bags & webbing & marched a fair to the brilliantly lit buildings of the camp. It was a large draft and we had to stand out there for a good while. Of all times they had to pick that for a mock air raid, the sirens wailed and hoarse voices bellowed for the lights to go out in the different buildings. Apparently nobody cared a cuss about us, we were just left standing there. Naturally we resented it and began to sing & shout to try & get things moving, our efforts succeeded in bringing an officers wrath upon us, but that was all. Luckily the lights came on again then, & shortly after we were in the drill hall filling in the age old realms of forms. From there we were marched to another drill hall & paid $11, and there we met “Swannie” for the first time.
[page break]
This was an affectionate nick-name for P/O Swanson, the best officer I have ever met in the R.A.F. He has a bubbling irrepressible sense of humour and really speaks to you man to man. Last night he came into the barrack block three quarters of an hour after the lights should have been out, and caught some of the boys playing pontoon. We sat tight & waited, but instead of a frantic outburst he asked what the stakes were. He remained for half an hour chatting, and cracking rank jokes, then calmly said, Well, lets have the lights out sometime eh, that ginger haired b- of a corporal keeps blowing his whistle, & we don’t want to disappoint him & away he bowled.
The camp is a fairly deadly place though, & one could get cheesed easily, luckily we haven’t got to worry about that. They split us up into two drafts and the one I am in, is leaving tomorrow, so we haven’t had long to wait. Our weekend was spent mainly in Moncton, in drug stores and
[page break]
cinemas, the latter have lovely wooden seats in the circle, when we sat, being L.A.C’s a good canteen, or restaurant is the Music Box, which is for the airmen. On this station we are allowed out till midnight each night & 2 a.m. on Sunday morning. There is a cinema on the camp but I haven’t bothered to go [deleted] any [/deleted] to it.
This is the first camp I’ve been on, where I have actually been in barracks, usually it has been in a room of a hotel or something. There [sic] long wooden huts are built pretty well, there are four barrack rooms, in each hut, with about 20 beds in each. These are arranged one above the other, one luxury over here we have mattresses, not the English “biscuits”. We have already sent off our first airgraphs to home, they told us they would be best as cables are generally delayed, ah! well we will see. I think I’ll go into town for our last night here, & see what films are on, then tomorrow we will be on our way West.
[page break]
[underlined] Thursday 22nd Oct. [/underlined]
Half our journey is behind us with the other still to come. On Tuesday we paraded in the morning and received the equivalent in dollars for the sterling bank notes we had handed in on the boat, then at midday we paraded again packed and ready to move off. The train was in the camp’s siding and we boarded it there, the coach wasn’t so good as the one we had from Boston. This was an old style tourist or something, with hard worn & black leather seats, we had a fair amount of room though. After the usual hanging around we were off, and how glad we were. The other half of our fellows, who were on another draft, are still in Moncton, I don’t know when they will leave. As night approached we played cards & read, & then pulled out the seats (they were in four collapsible sections) for beds, and also pulled down the wooden beds that folded up into the top of the carriage. We may not have slept comfortably “but we did” sleep.
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We rose pretty early yesterday morning, had breakfast in the dining car, and cleaned up for the day we were to have in Montreal. At 10 A.M. we drew in at the C.N.R. station, & marched up the road to the C.P.R. and dumped our kit, after that time was our own. Everyone [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] wandered around the various large stores Eaton’s especially, they are easily as large as Gamage’s or Selfridges I should say. The number of [inserted] the [/inserted] population who were French surprised me, I hadn’t thought it would be so many. In the afternoon we went up to the Lookout on Mount Royal and took some snaps of the city from there. Time wore on and it was now 7 P.M. and we had to report back to the station. Our kit was collected & we boarded our new train, & we certainly were crowded, twice the number in a carriage as there had been before. We left around 8 P.M. and dozed on and off until this morning, when we began another day. Tomorrow we will arrive at Winnipeg & spend a day there.
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One thing about the RCAF, they are far superior to the RAF in their treatment of men on railway journeys etc. The Canadians seem to realise that we are human beings, even though we all wear the same uniform, & they treat us accordingly. The meals we have in the dining car are really tip top, eggs, bacon etc, pork chops. I know they couldn’t possibly do that in England, but the meagre rations we used to get then when travelling were disgraceful I think. The scenery has been pleasing, it is mainly all timber, I never imagined there were so many trees. At this time of the year the leaves are multi coloured, cinnamon, brown, green, a really lovely sight. Now and again one flashes out alongside a lake of deep blue, with a few log cabins around the shore. Once we passed a lumbering camp with a huge raft of spruce logs floating in the river. There certainly is a lot of natural beauty in the country, & its vast size is borne more upon us, the farther we travel.
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[underlined] Sunday 25th Oct. [/underlined]
Our journey is over and we are now settled in at No 5 Bombing & Gunnery School Dafoe, where our first course takes place. To resume from where I left off in my last entry, we were pretty packed in the train, & it wasn’t very comfortable sleeping, but the food maintained its high standard. As we travelled West the forests began to grow less dense, and after the first day and night, we found ourselves in true prairie country. It seemed very odd to us to see the earth stretching away flat and unbroken mile upon mile.
We arrived in Winnipeg about 10 AM. on Friday 23rd. and had the day free in there. As we went upstairs from the track into the foyer of the station we were met by a brass band, and lots of women from the Airmen’s Club, who gave us cigs. chocolate & fruit. Hell! I thought for a moment the war was over, they paid such overwhelming attention to us that I felt embarrassed at
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times. They certainly do a lot of fine work for the airmen and go out of their way to make us welcome, it was a good show. Unfortunately the day was marred by the fact that we experienced our first snow out here, it was pretty consistent too. Most of the day was spent in touring the shops and large stores. We encountered our first bananas for God knows how long, and also saw the new octagonal ‘nickel’ that has just been produced it is very similar to our threepenny piece.
One thing that seemed unusual to me were the terrific amount of drug stores, grills’ restaurants etc. there is one every 50 yards or so. It isn’t too [sic] be wondered at I guess with the profusion of food out here. We certainly [deleted] are [/deleted] make the most of that, for it is good food & pretty cheap, too. The day finally came to a close and we assembled at the station at 10.30 P.M. for the last stage of our journey to Dafoe in Saskatchewan.
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Our party didn’t have sleepers like the rest of the airmen on the train, & it wasn’t a tourist coach when the seats could be converted into beds. Consequently we lifted the backs of the seats out, and made do that way. It was a fairly slow train and [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] ambled along coming to a halt with terrific jerks & crashes (I don’t know why they don’t have spring buffers like English trains) until we finally arrived at Dafoe at 1.30 P.M. yesterday. My God! we had been warned that it was small and quiet but I have never visualised it as it actually was. There were about 30 shacks or homes and that comprised the whole of Dafoe – and the camp was 14 miles from that. One fellow wittily remarked to the conductor, “When the war’s over don’t forget where you left us, old man.” A lorry took us out to the camp and we found ourselves on our first Canadian station (Moncton was RAF). All the buildings were wooden, and laid out in lines, I guess there isn’t much to describe a
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station like this. The barrack blocks or huts are one long room, with no upper storeys, there are about 70 – 80 fellows in each one.
This morning we paraded, and had the usual addresses filled in the necessary pro formas and were allotted to our various classes. Our course is No 66 and there are three classes, 16 of the 19 are in one class, under our instructor F/Sgt Oliver, we meet him tomorrow. Most of us spent the afternoon in the YMCA reading & writing room, sending off Airgraphs with our new addresses, I wonder when we will receive some mail from home. The YMCA is a very nice place, ever so cosy and I guess I’ll spend quite an amount of time in here. There is a cinema show every night in the Recreation Hall, except Friday, & it is very good so I hear, they charge 20 cents. So far it hasn’t snowed but I bet it won’t be long before it does, I understand it gets hellish cold out here. Ah! well, I guess I’ll turn in and see what the course is like tomorrow.
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[underlined] Wednesday Oct 28th. [/underlined]
Three days are all that have elapsed and already we are up to our eyes in the theory of bombing and binding more than we did at I.T.W. The hours on this station certainly startled us, parade is at 7.30 AM. and classes commence promptly at 8-0 AM till 12 noon, an hour for dinner then classes again from 1 – 5 P.M. that is eight hours a day solid classes. Our instructor is a really decent fellow, he bowled into the classroom Monday introduced himself and immediately handed out the précis. For there is so much theory to get through in such a short time on this course, that any notes that are wanted are all typed out in this (in my opinion) far too bulky précis. This should eliminate all note writing and save lots of time.
F/Sgt Oliver certainly is a go getter he has whizzed through the précis at an enormous rate, and we have found it necessary to come over to the class room
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each night and bind. Our heads are swimming with the “Principles of an Ideal & Real Bomb”, “Bombing Errors & Analysis”, & heaven knows what else. All the chaps who were in ‘F’ flight at Manchester, & then left Hastings a fortnight before us, are here on 65 course, naturally they proceeded to shout some b- wicked lines. Surprisingly enough the food isn’t so good here, a Canadian station too, I thought it would be pretty good. There is hardly any bull though and that’s a blessing.
As we expected it has begun to snow, and winter is setting in, I guess we came over to this country at the wrong time. I can quite understand the authorities putting a training station out in the wilds, for there is absolutely nowhere for us to go outside the camp, except a couple of snack bars in Boom Town (a collection of wooden houses that have sprung up round the camp, consequently we have to bind on the course for the want of something better to do. I have been to the Camp Cinema and
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the shows are very good, the films are new ones too.
Tomorrow we are trying our hand at finding a wind on the bombing tracker. This is a mechanical device that syntheticaly [sic] produces the same effect as flying and bombing from an aeroplane. As our first exercise in the air when we go up will be to find four 3 course winds we want to get a good bit of practise in on the ground. This coming weekend we have a 48 hr pass, our instructor told us, that practically everyone goes into Saskatoon for the weekend. A special train is run on Friday evening and reaches Saskatoon, about 100 miles away, at 8.30 P.M. or so. Then it leaves on Sunday evening around 9.30 P.M. and reaches the camp about midnight. The Y.M.C.A. told us to go to the Airmen’s Club and we will be given an address of a family, who are willing to have airmen for the weekend. Ah! well, I’m getting cheesed with this writing, so I’ll close & dive over to the canteen.
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[underlined] Sunday 1st [deleted] Sept [/deleted] Nov. [/underlined]
I am writing this in the United Services Club in Saskatoon, we are in here on our 48 hr pass. We got through the weeks work, satisfactorily for our minds certainly were on this 48, on Friday morning we were due for a progress test but “Chirpy” Oliver put it off till the beginning of next week, an act to be commended. Dashing off after classes on Friday evening, we hastily changed and cleaned up, then rushed off to the gate to catch the lorry. Anxiety to procure a seat on the train getting the better of prudence we climbed into an open lorry and were soon wishing we hadn’t. We were standing up exposed to a vicious wind that was sweeping across the prairies, and the country being so hellishly flat and devoid of trees there was nothing to counteract the blast. By the time we reached the station we were wishing we hadn’t been so dim, but we managed to totter down & grab a seat in the train which was waiting there, and then dash over to a café for a cup of coffee to put some warmth in our bones.
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The journey took about 2 1/2 hours and around 8.30 we reached Saskatoon, we found our way to the United Services Club, where we were to meet the people who were taking us for the weekend. Everything had been arranged and we met the lady who was letting Taffy & I stay with her. We caught a street car, I think they are pretty deadly efforts, and reached 6th Street where we are staying. She put us ease immediately & very soon we were settled in cosy and comfortable. Yesterday morning we meandered around the different stores and shops, buying things here and there. Saskatoon is quite a pleasant little town, although I guess it isn’t so little over here. This and Regina are the two biggest cities in Saskatchewan, Saskatoon being the educational centre, having a very fine University, & Regina is the Government Centre. One of the Saskatchewan Rivers (I believe it’s the South) runs through the City here, although at present it is partly frozen. Yesterday afternoon we went to the cinema and saw “The Moon & Sixpence”, there was some very good
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acting by George Saunders. In the evening we went to another cinema, then after that visited the ice rink.
One of the things that surprises me is the late hour everything goes on till, dances start at 8.30 & 9 PM. things finish a lot later than in England. There are no cinemas at all on Sundays but a show starts at one minute past midnight for its Monday then, I guess some people do go at that hour. We are taking full advantage of the eating facilities and are certainly getting through some meals. Yesterday we had a lovely dinner at [blank] it’s a nice hotel, so is the Berrborough. Last night was Halloween & there was lots of dances, kids running around with blackened faces, it is kept up quite a lot over here. This morning we met Mr. Guild with whom we are staying he travels around a lot being in the wheat business, some of the figures he told us of the amount of wheat grown amazed me. Ah! well work again tomorrow and a fortnight before we are able to get out here again, such is life.
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[underlined] Wednesday 4th Nov. [/underlined]
Back at the grind again, we certainly felt shaky on Monday, on ordinary days I find it hard enough to keep awake in class, let alone then. The train reached Dafoe around midnight & we piled in lorries, I made sure I entered a closed one this time, and off we went. By the time we queued up to sign in at the Guard house, then reached the barrack block, made our beds etc. it was around 1.30 AM, then one has to rise fairly early at this place – still I’ll catch up with some sleep tonight.
We had our progress test and our class did remarkably well, easily the best out of the 3 classes that comprise 66 course. “Chirpy” was pretty bucked, the lowest mark being about 85%, this looks like turning out to be a “gen” class. I wonder when we will commence our flying, 65 course have only done Wind Finding so far, apparently the courses are a bit behind on account of the weather breaking I guess. All we
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seem to do is practise on the Bombing Tracker. This is a fairly good device, one lays on a platform, with a bombsight mounted, as it is in a plane then a moving film of the ground from 10,000 ft is projected onto a screen below. The slide can be made to turn, thus giving the appearance that one is in an aircraft and that is turning, by another fellow using a rudder bar. It is a quite useful piece of machinery, but there are a good few things that go wrong with it, causing conditions that never [indecipherable word] in the air.
It snows on and off frequently, the winter certainly has arrived. The snow looks a great deal prettier (if the term can be applied) than it does back home, for there it rapidly goes a dirty grey, or turns to slush. Here it stays really white and is a lot crisper and driven than I have experienced before. When a fine day arrives, too, with a blue sky and the sun shining down on the snow, one feels really great, and its perfect bombing weather, too.
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All the class regularly binds at night, it appears necessary in view of the amount of work we have to cope with, and the speed at which “Chirpy” hurtles through it, he sure moves, that boy. Either before or after binding, usually after we dive in the canteen, it is a pleasant one, modern chromium tubular chairs in crimson leather, one can get grand fruit pies etc. but no tea or coffee, apparently no canteens on the stations in Canada function like the NAAFI, in respect of tea & hot meals.
There was a good laugh the other night, a chap up on night bombing, couldn’t see the target when the pilot turned on his bombing run. Suddenly he saw the white light of the target, or so he thought, & headed the pilot there and let go the bomb, it was a good one about 10 yards. Imagine his surprise when the “target”, shot away at a helluva speed, it later turned out to be a fellow & his girl who had parked in his car, for a little love making and had forgotten to put his head lights off. Good job it was only a 11 1/2 lb practice bomb, I bet it shook him though.
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[underlined] Saturday Nov 7th. [/underlined]
For the first time, since I’ve been in the RAF I believe I shall be working on Sunday. This unfortunate happening occurs tomorrow, it appears that the weekend we are not on classes we work right on without a break, how deadly. That makes it a fortnight without a stop, it made us quite indignant, we always look forward to Sunday as a day of relaxation, and a lay in if possible in the morning. This is positively sordid getting up and continuing classes on a day that means so much to us, sacrificing our rights & privileges, all that bunk y’know. Still in the service the words “Ours not to reason why”, comes to apply in so many cases, that one understands the true significance behind the phrase.
Life still drags uneventfully on here, each day practically a repetition of the former, I can see myself disappearing in a rut. I seem to have struck a bad spell for binding, in class I can’t concentrate and constantly fall asleep, Pat Kinsella, who sits next to me is constantly prodding me into wakefulness. In the evenings I glance idly
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through the précis for about 5 minutes and then sling it, I really must snap out of it. We visit the cinema every other night for each film runs two nights, they continue to have decent films. The food here also continues to be fairly poor, the Canadians with us complain as well, so evidently it is just an isolated case, this camp. I think the term isolated describes the camp quite amply, too, I have never been anywhere quite so remote in all my life. All we can do outside the gate is to have a meal in the lunch bar or take our laundry. It surprised me that Canadian stations have no full laundry facilities, like they do on English stations it came quite a blow. The water here is deadly, it is an evil sooty looking colour they say it is caused, by the nature of the ground which is thick with alkali, anyway it tastes lousy. Damn! I’m beginning to get cheesed with writing this now, I’ll have a drink in the canteen & then go to the show I guess.
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[underlined] Wednesday 11th Nov. [/underlined]
Armistice Day – it seems to have lost the significance that it held pre war, I wonder if they will have another Armistice Day for this war. It was the first time I have been anywhere when two minutes silence was observed for in England the practise is discontinued I was in the Boulton Paul Turret on turret manipulation at the time. We get quite a lot of turret manipulation in the Frazer Nash, Boulton Paul, & Bristol Turrets, the latter we will never handle after we leave this station. Being as we fire from Blenheim IVs or Bolingbrokes as they are called in Canada, we are required to know them, I don’t think much of them as a turret though.
A fortnight remains before our bombing exams and the first vestiges of panic are beginning to show. Some of the stuff really is deadly and can only be learnt parrot fashion, quite an amount of it we shall never touch after we leave here, the majority of it in fact.
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I’m beginning to wonder when we will start on flying the time is ticking by and there are no signs of it yet – 65 course have done a couple of bombing trips, and naturally short, heaven knows how many times. This is quite an intensive course when one thinks of it, we take Theory of Bombing, which includes tons of different subjects such as Bomb barriers, Pyrotechnics etc. Then Theory of Gunnery, including Theory of Sighting & Air Firing, Signals (8 w.p.m. Aldis) and Aircraft Rec – they are surprisingly keen on the latter. We have a fair number of lessons and in the test we have about 70 slides and 30 photographs, and 10 wingspans, we have to know the wing spans of all enemy aircraft. 90% must be obtained for a pass mark in Aircraft Rec. Besides all these we have the practical side of our training to worry about. Tonight we are belting ammunition down the 25 yd. range, this is making it into belts ready for firing by the different Brownings on the station. Its a bit of a bind at
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times, but theres [sic] nothing hard on strenuous about it.
There’s a dance on in the WAAF’s canteen tonight but after two dances over here I have abandoned the idea of being able to learn the Canadian style of dancing. They seem to jog around with any steps they please, paying no attention to the orchestra, which rarely plays in dance tempo anyhow, so! I’ll wait till I arrive back in England before I go dancing again.
I’m beginning to feel a little washed out, & so are the others, a fortnights binding all day & most of the evening, without a break soon makes one stale. “Chirpy” is mad ‘cos there is a delay on flying schedules and we are unable to relieve the monotony of our lectures with actual flying. Its a good job we have a 48 hr again this coming weekend, I am beginning to see why they have to give them every fortnight on a camp like this, I guess people would go mad if they were unable to get away.
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[underlined] Sunday Nov 15th. [/underlined]
I’m writing this in Saskatoon again, and another 48 is nearly over, worse luck, we really have enjoyed it. The train pulled in at the station here around the same time on Friday evening, and Taffy and I went straight out to the house we are staying at, for the people invited us again. They really are very kind to us, we have a nice room, and the food is great, our only complaint being perhaps that they press too much of it upon us. Our dinner today was a wonderful effort, and a cream pumpkin pie we had for sweet, made me feel like a bursting balloon. This afternoon we were taken out in the car and drove around the university, it is an extensive place, and a very fine one. They certainly give us a great time here. As usual yesterday we went shopping and then to a cinema, I saw Forest Rangers & liked it, good technicolour. Just before we left Dafoe on Friday a locker lid fell down on Harry Jamieson’s head, splitting a cyst he had, consequently he
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had to have a minor operation, which prevented him coming on this 48 hr – he was already packed and changed too, hard lines.
I shan’t mind going back to work next week, for its highly probable that we are starting our flying and its about time that came along. One gets cheesed with the bombing tracker time and time again, I only hope my bombing in the air is better that it is on that affair. We have to do turret manipulation in the evenings as well now so that lecture time wont be wasted. I wouldn’t mind so much if it didn’t take long but with two turrets & a whole class to have a [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] [inserted] turn [/inserted] on each, it takes around two hours to get everyone on each for five minutes or so. The Frazer Nash seems the easiest and best to handle, but I think that if one got really expert with the Boulton Paul it would be pretty accurate, for the centre column is very delicate and doesn’t require much pressure to deviate the direction of the turret.
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[underlined] Thursday 19th Nov. [/underlined]
Its getting pretty close to the exams now, they are next Tuesday or so, that is the Bombing Exams. “Chirpy” has been putting us through it just lately, but there is such an amount to learn that my brain doesn’t seem to be able to absorb it all at once. I know the others feel the same, in a while if we don’t get these exams over will be telling them what to do with them. We have been in the bombing room a lot lately on practise work, such as firing and loading a 250 lb bomb on a universal carrier. Loading light series carriers and working the automatic bomb distributors. The bombing oral is divided into four parts and four different officers take it. One takes Bombing Theory, another Bombs and Components, a third Bomb Carriers & practical stuff, and the last the Course Setting Bomb Sight & Bomb Errors. On the following day we should have the written exam, I would rather have that than the oral, some of the officers are bound to be binders.
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On Tuesday we went down to the 25 yd range for firing with the Browning Gun, we all belted 200 rounds each and fired them. It was quite a row when it fired and it was surprising the amount the gun vibrated. Chunks of casing and [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] pieces of links would fly backwards in to one’s face, so I guess it is necessary to wear goggles when flying. We do a couple of exercises on the Browning here and one on the 200 yd range. Also there are a required number of rifle exercises to get through, the only trouble is its ever so cold, I pity the Russians in the winter, though I guess they are used to it.
At last I have had some mail, the other night when we were belting ammo. down at the range when a couple of fellows came in with Airgraphs they had just received. So off I dashed, the Post Office unluckily being the other side of the camp. It was freezing cold and as I only had battle dress on it penetrated that pretty easily. Still it was worth it, I had an Airgraph from home and one from Mary,
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it was good to hear from them after this while. I had already had a letter from a friend but that was one that had been re-directed from Manchester. Airgraphs are fairly speedy about 12 – 15 days, they generally take around that, the trouble is they are so short, one hardly starts reading them, when the end is reached; I’ll be glad when a couple of letters come trickling along.
It is fairly definite we will start flying here the beginning of next week, and its none too soon, otherwise we will be here longer than we should. I wonder what it will really be like, one hears so many tales, that one can’t attach any truth to anything. Apparently it matters quite an amount, whether the pilot is a “binder’ or not, I hope mine isn’t. We have been polishing up our wind finding on the bombing tracker, so we won’t boob anything, somehow I think somebody will drop one though.
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[underlined] Sunday 22nd Nov. [/underlined]
True to schedule we worked today, but none of us minded in the least for at last we have commenced our flying here. We went up on Wind Speed & Direction Finding on the C.S.B.S. this afternoon, and I quite enjoyed it. Luckily I flew with P/O Witney the best pilot on the station, so everything was just dandy. I remembered all my ‘patter’ perfectly & didn’t make a mess of anything, and managed to get some pretty accurate winds. There certainly isn’t much room in the nose of an Anson, in the bomber’s position, and I found we had to become an expert contortionist, to slide in and out rapidly without hitting the dummy controls, the tail trim, or any other projecting gadgets.
The flatness of the prairies struck me many times from the train but it is not until one is up in the air that they can really see it. With the snow on the ground now, the landscape stretches miles
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away in all directions with just small clumps of trees here and there, looking for all the world, like a gigantic sheet of white cardboard that someone had laid down. The roads are all dead straight, unbroken ribbons, running either North to South, or East to West. There certainly was plenty to look at on our first trip up, for everything was vastly different from the English countryside that we had flown over before. Looking down the aerodrome looked like a lonely little outpost in a vast desert. We are supposed to do one more Wind S & D exercise and commence our bombing, bags of fun then. Our pilot didn’t take us over the targets today, some fellows did, there are 3 targets spaced out along the edge of Guill Lake. No 1 being at the North end near the aerodrome, and No 3 at the South End fairly near Dafoe itself (too near maybe with our bombing) then No 2 target in between, the latter is the most difficult to pick up.
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Our bombing exams are destined for Tuesday & Wednesday, but tomorrow we are scheduled to go down the 200 yd. range for the whole day. So that doesn’t give us much chance for last minute swotting I’m afraid. They have a Fraser Nash & a Boulton Paul Turret down there, and we have to wear full flying kit, so that we get into the way of climbing in and out of the turrets and operating the guns, as we will on ‘ops’.
As for the exams, I am suffering under the insane attack of last minute panic, and consider I know practically nothing, and franticy [sic] ‘gen’ up on any little thing I can think of. Funny how a way before the exam I am always confident of passing and yet when it approaches, fellows always seem to know different things I have never heard about, & this rapidly convinces me I haven’t a chance in the world. Ah! well when I make the next entry they will all be over and will I be glad. Being tired I lay this down with a thankful sigh & so to bed.
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[underlined] Wednesday 25th Nov [/underlined]
A premature feeling of relief and happiness prevails over 66K, the bombing exams being over and everyone reasonably sure they have passed, I shall think we ought to, after the work we put in. The Oral came first we had that, yesterday, in my opinion it was the worse of the two. We started off right into it, first thing in the morning and it was my misfortune to have to go in the Bombs & Components Room first. The officer in here was a real binding P/O, he had only been an LAC four weeks previous himself, yet he would bind about things like a fellow’s tie not straight, a button undone, as if we were on a pukka parade instead of an examination. It certainly is funny how some of these fellows let a commission go to their head, and think they’re heaven knows what. To return some of the questions he asked would have required a pharmacist to answer, the various ingredients in an incendiary mixture,
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stuff we had never touched. Anyway my encounter with him was brisk & lively, I got a trifle heated, & he got more so, which ended with me making my exit with very little marks to my credit I know. The next two rooms, the C.S.B.S. Bombing Errors, & Bombing Theory were cake, for I had that stuff all wrapped. I dropped a couple in the Bomb Carriers, trying to tug a 11 1/2 lb bomb off the carriers without having unscrewed the nose & tail switches, still he was a decent chap & it wasn’t so bad. On the whole I daresay I got through with about 70% a fair show.
The written exam was this morning, we had it in the lecture hall, it was a fairly tricky paper, & I made the usual mistakes through not reading the paper correctly. Its marvellous the times I do that, come [inserted] out [/inserted] of the exam room, & as usual discuss the questions with other fellows, & find I have given the wrong answer to a question just because I didn’t read it. Sheer carelessness, but still I think I got through O.K.
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On Monday we went to the 200 yd Range for turret firing, it wasn’t bad. We all wore flying kit and were taken out in a lorry, it was about 5 miles away. As we stayed out there all day we took a snack with us. It was fairly interesting, but for the small amount of ammunition we fired it really wasn’t worth it. We had to separate all the links and cones & push them into containers too. Being as it was the day before the exams we all took our précis, in the hope of getting some last minute binding in, but with the guns firing there wasn’t a lot of chance. A fair few photographs were taken as it was a fine day, & we had one hell of a snow ball fight at dinner time, it warmed us up. We walked out and took a look at the target, machine guns certainly chew wooden beams to pieces. A fellow firing wildly sent a bust up into the air just under the tail of a low flying Boley, did that boy climb, that was the only excitement of the day, though.
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[underlined] Tuesday 1st Dec. [/underlined]
Practically a week has passed since I last made an entry, but nothing, to speak of, has turned up. When one thinks of it practically every day here is a repetition of the former – with only something unusual happening to break the monotony. It is better now that we are cracking on our practical bombing, I have completed my Wind Speed & Direction Finding trips, & my 1 direction & 4 directions bombing exercises, yesterday I did my first High Level Application exercise and managed to get a decent blue of 84 yards. This was pretty good for that exercise at this station.
On the days that we fly, we only do so for half the day, either fly in the morning & lectures in the afternoon or vice versa. If we are flying in the morning we report at 8 A.M. & in the afternoon 12 P.M. going to lunch at 11 P.M. It always is a rush in lunch time,
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getting only an hour for lunch each day. The first thing upon reaching the Bombing Flight Crew Room is to draw our parachute, harness, & intercom from the stores, and clip our T 32’s on the boards. The T 32 is a form with a diagram of the target & rings round it a scale of 25 yds distance from each other, there are also spaces for gen, such as W/S & D, A/S, Mt. No of Bombs Dropped, etc. As we see the bombs burst on the ground we plot then in the diagram on the T 32. After all these preparations are completed we squat in the Crew Room drinking “Cokes” till our name is chalked up opposite a pilot, & an aircraft. Hastily collecting our gear out we go to begin the exercise.
Two Air Bombers fly in each aircraft & drop 6 bombs each, the 12 bombs are on the ground under the aircraft. One of the fellows [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] climbs into the “kite” and wriggling into the nose gives the C.S.B.S. a visual inspection and tests the bomb switches. The other crawls under the
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aircraft and begins to load the bombs. These are 11 1/2 lb practise smoke bombs, and are loaded singly onto a Light Series Carrier. This is a hell of a job at times, after cocking & testing the carrier one chips on the bomb, & then lowers “steadies”, or catches which hold the bomb into place. The worst job is pulling the safety pin out, there are held in place with copper wire wound round the bomb, & which is often frozen. One sits there pulling, & cursing & desperately twisting the wire, with fingers absolutely frozen, the trouble is the engines are running all the time and we are directly in the slip stream. It will often whip up powdered snow which lashes into ones face, & before long all the skin on the face goes dead, I certainly hate bombing up at times.
At last its over, however, and into the aircraft we climb test our intercom with the pilots, then when all is O.K. away we go. It is not long before
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we near the target, and the first chap climbs into the bombing compartment, or squeezes is a better work in an Anson I think. If there is time he finds a 3 course wind, then comes out, & the other fellow climbs in and takes his 3 drifts & finds his wind (unofficially compares it with the other fellow, & takes what he considers is the most correct) and announces he is ready.
The pilot then calls up the quadrant shelter and announces he is commencing to bomb and what his heading will be. Next he generally informs the bomber of the heading & then the patter commences. “No 2 Bomb Fused & Selected”, the bomber does this & repeats the order, “Turning On”, & the pilot turns the aircraft and commences the bombing run. “Master Switch On”, pilot & bomber switch on their respective switches & observe if the Jettison Light lights. Then target comes into view and the bomber announces “Target” & then the pilot says “Attack”, which the bombadier repeats then the fun begins.
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If the pilot is a good one he will have put the aircraft accurately onto the target on the heading stated. Red will be almost on Red & only minor corrections will be necessary. Should the target be a good way off the drift wires, the bomber gives the necessary correction, “Left-Left”, or Right and the pilot turns the plane accordingly. When the target comes into the drift wires the bomber yells “Steady”, & the pilot flies straight & level again. The pilot may be flying left wing low, & the levels are all out, so the bomber hastily twiddles those. Next he notices Red isn’t on Red, turns the Bearing Plate so that this is O.K. finds the drift wires have moved off the target & gives a hasty last minute correction. He most probably drops the bomb while the ‘plane is turning and to his horror sees the white burst of smoke about 250 yds from the target. Sometimes one has a good run up with the little yellow [symbol] coming down the drift wires all the way, then when the target, back right & fore right
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are in line [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] presses the bit, and the bomb lands about 30 yds out, he eagerly plots this on the T 32. Quite often one gets in a flap, everything goes wrong, frantic corrections are screamed into the inter com, and then the words Dummy Run are heard. The pilot sighs and informs the quadrant shelter and round they go again. Most of these exercises are carried out at 5 or 6,000 ft. Eventually both fellows have bombed and the aircraft heads for home, and lands disgorging two bombadiers with mixed feelings depending upon how this exercise went.
A swift look at the Bomb Carriers to see if there were any hang ups, sign for the bombs dropped, have the flying time entered on the T 32 in the flight office then off to the Plotting Office. This is where Bombing Exercises are made and marred, I am biased of course, for there is always a feud between Air Bombers & the plotters in the Plotting Office. Apprehensively we hand in the T 32 and in a little while receive a large chart
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with a graph on it & the target in the centre and our bombs plotted as they saw them at the Quadrant Shelter. In different columns, errors are entered for each bomb, & then the average error converted to 10,000 ft. Should this be under 150 yds it is a ‘blue’ or pass, & if over 150 yds a ‘red’ or fail. The bombadier gazes aghast at a bomb he has plotted at 50 yds & which the Quadrant have at over 200 yds & raises an indignant moan. It rarely has any effect, nobody takes any notice of us & we have to make the best of what we are given. I must say its rather cheesing to see a bomb burst clearly inside the 100 yd. mark & for them to plot it double the distance out. It is easily done for the two Quadrant shelters take bearings on the smoke burst. They don’t stand with their eyes constantly glued to the window, & often don’t look out till the pilot calls over the radio telling them the bomb has been dropped. If there is a strong ground wind the smoke will have
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drifted a fair distance in this short while & consequently the bomb is plotted farther out than it should be. Sometimes there are errors owing to readings being incorrectly given over the phone but this can be checked. There certainly is a lot to be despised in the plotting, though I guess a good deal could be said for either sides point of view. Its binding to have a hell of a trip, frozen loading the bombs, cold as charity in the air, perspex iced up, yet manage to get some good bombs away, then return & find some guy in the quadrant shelter has spoilt the exercise in a minute with bad plotting. Their argument is that we can’t see as well as them for we are in the air – maybe they’ve never heard of serial reconnaissance. Still its like that on all B & G’s I guess.
The rest of our exams take place very shortly, Gunnery, Signals, Aircraft Rec. I think I had better pack up and get some binding in.
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[underlined] Sunday Dec 6th. [/underlined]
The Signals Exam is over, thats [sic] the first of the list, ticked off, we took it this afternoon. We are required to do 8’s on the lamp, as it is far too cold to go outside in the open with an Aldis we work in the classroom. The Signals Room is fitted with a small light let into the table at each man’s position, the lights are controlled & operated by the instructor operating an ordinary Morse key. Most of us got through the exam O.K. & a few failed, Norman amongst them, he never could master signals, he will get another try I believe, maybe he can do it with some practise.
Some time at the beginning of next week we take both our [deleted] signal [/deleted] Gunnery Exams these are very similar to the Bombing Exams, the Course divided between 3 or 4 instructors. The written will contain a question or two on Turrets we have had 3 or 4 lectures on the F.N, B.P.s and Bristol, and
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there being so much gen to swallow in a short time, well we just didn’t try, so are hoping for the best.
We haven’t flown for 5 days, owing to the bad weather it has been ‘washed’ every day, its delays like this that put the course behind when we are due to graduate. Either at Xmas or the New Year we will get 4 days leave, and as long as we don’t lose that I shan’t worry. Tomorrow night we are belting ammo, they are behind with their number of rounds & have to catch up, it’s a bind but can’t be helped. I hear that when we do air firing now we have to belt our own ammunition. We have this station completely wrapped, & can’t remember when we last went on a morning parade, we always twist off it with some excuse or other, things on this station are definitely looking up. Ah! well I think I’ll pop along to the cinema & relax, though that’s rather impossible on the wooden seats.
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[underlined] Thursday 10th December [/underlined]
We are gradually finishing the course now, those that had failed Signals took it again. Taffy passed O.K. but Norman didn’t stand a chance so ‘Butch’ Rogers took it for him, so everyone is through now. Today was our Gunnery Oral Exam and that was pretty straightforward, most of the instructors examining us were sprog P/O’s just passed put from LAC’s the same as us. They were decent chaps but we knew as much as them easily. On changing the feed of the Browning, there were quite a few points I mentioned, that one of them hadn’t heard of at all. Anyway I think we all got through without any trouble.
The cold is still as bad as ever, worse if anything, there hasn’t been much flying, owing to the snow storms and poor visibility. There is a Bolingbroke
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missing from a Gunnery trip yesterday. They have had no news of it at all, and have been organising a square search today. Lots of Ansons with crews came over from the Navigation School at Rivers to assist. I only hope they find the chaps O.K. they may have come down up north in the bush. The trouble with these Boleys is that they aren’t fitted with any radio. A farmer reported hearing a crash in the direction of Quill Lake yesterday, but they searched over there without any success. The pilot is a Canadian I believe, but the two pupils are English on 65 course, the chaps that were in ‘F’ flight at Manchester, I hope they are safe. They say these Boleys are pretty grim in cold weather and ice up in no time.
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I am not looking forward to our gunnery much it will be hellishly cold in those turrets I bet. We are looking forward to our leave very much after all this binding & swotting, I only wish I could get across to Vancouver to see my uncle but there isn’t time. Mr. & Mrs Guild have invited Taffy& I down to Saskatoon, for Xmas, still I dunno what will happen yet everything is very much in the air. Anyway I’ll think I’ll do one little bit more gunnery now as the Gunnery Written is tomorrow
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CONCLUDING BOOK 3
MY ADVENTURES IN CANADA ARE CONCLUDED IN BOOK 4
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
Book 3, Commencing my Adventures Overseas
Description
An account of the resource
Third of David Geach's diaries describing his service & personal life training as an Air Bomber in Canada. He describes his ground & flying training experiences, social life both in camp and in local Canadian towns and New York. He details train travel across Canada and the United States and his homeward voyage across the Atlantic in the troopship liner Queen Elizabeth. Covers the period from 10th October 1942 to 10th December 1942.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
David Geach
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One 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
YGeachDG1394781v4
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
Royal Canadian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
United States
Massachusetts--Boston
New York (State)--New York
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
Québec--Montréal
Manitoba--Winnipeg
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan--Saskatoon
Massachusetts
New York (State)
Québec
New Brunswick
Manitoba
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
David Bloomfield
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-10
1942-11
1942-12
aircrew
Anson
Blenheim
Bolingbroke
bomb aimer
bombing
entertainment
ground personnel
mess
military living conditions
military service conditions
Morse-keyed wireless telegraphy
training
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
-
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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
Davies, Dave
D Davies
David Howell Davies
Description
An account of the resource
26 items, including 22 letters, three photographs, and a service and release book. The collection consists of correspondence sent by Sergeant Dave Davies (1923 - 1984, 1653015 Royal Air Force) during his pilot training in Canada to his fiancée, Betty Hughes, who lived in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales. It also includes photographs of Dave Davies in Royal Air Force uniform, one with his bride, Betty, in wedding dress; and his service and release book. Dave Davies served with 48 Squadron from 28 January 1942 to 1 October 1946.
The collection was digitised on behalf of the IBCC Digital Archive by Edward Davies and catalogued by Monica Emmanuelli with additional contribution by Natalie Brimecome-Mills.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-10
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
Davies, DH
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[postmark]
Miss Betty Hughes
50. Portland Street
Aberystwyth.
Cardiganshire WALES.
1653015 LA.C Davies DH.
Room 37 A I Squadron
31 P.O.C. Moncton
New Brunswick
Canada.
x
[page break]
[underlined] 1 [/underlined]
1653015 LAC Davies DH.
Room 37 A I Squadron
31 P.O.C. Moncton
New Brunswick
Canada.
9/8/42.
My Dearest Darling,
Well here it comes at last darling. It has’nt [sic] been too long has it? I have written to you twice before, one from the train. and one from the boat. I also sent you a cablegram when I arrived in Canada. I hope you received them all. I wish I could tell you all about the journey we had, but I’m afraid that is impossible just yet. I’ll tell you all abot it when I come back. I’m sure you will be surprised when I tell you where we landed.
We arrived here in the middle of a thunderstorm. and we got soaking wet on the way to the camp. I thought they only had heavy rain in Aber. [sic] I have seen parts of the town already. It looks pleasant enough, but there’s too many cadets here to be comfortable. It’s built of wood entirely by the way, but there’s not much difference between it and the towns back home, exept [sic] that they are all lit up by night, and stay open longer.
I’m afraid that’s all for now darling. I’ll write again soon and wait patiently for your letter. I love you as much as ever and I miss you terribly.
Your sweetheart.
Dave
xxxx
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
Letter from Dave Davies to Betty Hughes
Description
An account of the resource
Dave informs Betty that he wrote to her on the journey, both from the train and from the boat. He arrived in a thunderstorm and compares similarities between Canada and the towns near home.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dave Davies
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-08-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Monica Emmanuelli
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
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
EDaviesDHHughesB420809
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.
Wales--Aberystwyth
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
New Brunswick
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942-07
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.
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1318/19796/EDaviesDHHughesB430903-0001.2.jpg
f24112808826737d9d30213617dbf3db
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1318/19796/EDaviesDHHughesB430903-0002.2.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
Davies, Dave
D Davies
David Howell Davies
Description
An account of the resource
26 items, including 22 letters, three photographs, and a service and release book. The collection consists of correspondence sent by Sergeant Dave Davies (1923 - 1984, 1653015 Royal Air Force) during his pilot training in Canada to his fiancée, Betty Hughes, who lived in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales. It also includes photographs of Dave Davies in Royal Air Force uniform, one with his bride, Betty, in wedding dress; and his service and release book. Dave Davies served with 48 Squadron from 28 January 1942 to 1 October 1946.
The collection was digitised on behalf of the IBCC Digital Archive by Edward Davies and catalogued by Monica Emmanuelli with additional contribution by Natalie Brimecome-Mills.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-10
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
Davies, DH
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[postmark]
MISS BETTY HUGHES,
50. PORTLAND STREET
ABERYSTWYTH.
CARDIGANSHIRE. WALES.
1653015 L.A.C. DAVIES DH.
R.A.F. Station.
Assiniboia Sask.
Canada.
x
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
1653015 LAC DAVIES D
R.A.F. STATION.
ASSINIBOIA.
SASKATCHEWAN.
CANADA.
3/9/43
My Dearest Darling,
Well I’m still waiting patiently for a letter darling, but I expect I’ll hear before you receive this. It seems such a long time since I heard from you. I would give anything just to receive a letter just now. I miss you ever so much. It w’ont [sic] be long before I’m back though. I’m hoping to be back by the end of January. I sha’nt [sic] be here [underlined] more [/underlined] than eight weeks, and there is no waiting to be done between E.F.T.S and S.F.T.S. We were very lucky to be posted so quickly from Moncton. It’s raining heavily here today, - the first drop of rain we’ve had since we’ve been here. I have done more than twelve hours flying by now including 2 hours solo. That means I’m safe now until my 20 hour test. One of the Aberites [sic] was taken off the couse [sic] this week [deleted] before [/deleted] because he failed to solo before 10 hours. So that brings us down to three of the old gang left now, on this station anyway. I went to the station cinema on Wednesday to see "Pardon my Sarong". I had seen it twice before. I enjoyed it all the same though. I am going tomorrow again to see "Cabin in the Sky". I still hav’nt [sic] been to Assiniboia. I hav’nt [sic] been out of camp in fact, we have some much to do at night, - I mean swatting. [sic] The course is much harder than I thought it would be. I think I can manage it though. The trouble is we have such a lot to do in a short time. We get some time off for recreation though. I’ve just come back from the drill hall after a game of ping-pong. It made me think of you, when I was in there and the fun we had together. There’s a Juke Box in there, and they played a record of Dearly Beloved on it. Do you remember when you used to sing it SO [sic] often? I told Nappy [sic] that it was your favourire song, and funnily enough he said that was his girl friend‘s favourite song. I’m afraid that’s all this time darling. Think of me sometimes o [sic] remember I love you so very much.
Your darling.
Dave
xxx
xxx
xxx
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 Dave Davies to Betty Hughes
Description
An account of the resource
Dave confesses that he was waiting for Betty's letters and he was missing her. He talks about weather, flight hours, colleagues and free time.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dave Davies
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-09-03
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Monica Emmanuelli
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
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
EDaviesDHHughesB430903
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.
Canada
Saskatchewan
Canada--Assiniboia, District of
England--Westmorland
New Brunswick--Moncton
Great Britain
New Brunswick
Canada
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.
1943-09-02
love and romance
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1318/19810/EDaviesDHHughesB440203-0001.2.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1318/19810/EDaviesDHHughesB440203-0002.2.jpg
871d587be245e38644f4a1ecb830e493
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
Davies, Dave
D Davies
David Howell Davies
Description
An account of the resource
26 items, including 22 letters, three photographs, and a service and release book. The collection consists of correspondence sent by Sergeant Dave Davies (1923 - 1984, 1653015 Royal Air Force) during his pilot training in Canada to his fiancée, Betty Hughes, who lived in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales. It also includes photographs of Dave Davies in Royal Air Force uniform, one with his bride, Betty, in wedding dress; and his service and release book. Dave Davies served with 48 Squadron from 28 January 1942 to 1 October 1946.
The collection was digitised on behalf of the IBCC Digital Archive by Edward Davies and catalogued by Monica Emmanuelli with additional contribution by Natalie Brimecome-Mills.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-10
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
Davies, DH
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Miss Betty Hughes
50. Portland. Street.
Aberystwyth.
Cardiganshire Wales
1653015 SGT. DAVIES. D.H.
R.A.F. STATION.
Estevan. Saskatchewan
Canada.
[page break]
1653015 SGT DAVIES. D.H.
R.A.F. STATION.
Estevan.
Saskatchewan.
3/2./44 [sic]
My Dearest Darling
Well darling I made it. Did you notice any change in the first line of my address? We had our wings parade this afternoon, much to our relief. I’ve just sent you a cable. I hope you received it.
[page break]
I had four letters from you today, the first batch I have received for over a fortnight. Everyone has been complaining about the mail lately. I hope you are receiving mine alright. We’re all getting ready for our graduation party now, it starts at eight. I think we’ll have a good time, they usually do at these parties. I’ve been busy all afternoon sewing my wings and stripes on. I wish you were here to sew them on for me, I’d never make a tailor. Well darling I suppose I should have told you this first. I'm coming home soon, we’re being posted to Moncton from here, we’re due to arrive there on the 15th February. Those of us who have been posted to Moncton just with joy when they told us. It was a better occassion [sic] for us than it was to have our wings. That's all you can hear from the boys now is “Roll on the Boat”. Darling I'm longing so much to see you. I miss you terribly. [missing] thinking of you, and love you more than [missing] they sha’nt [sic] keep us long in Moncton, [missing] us more than 5 days to come over, [missing] have some leave with you darling. [missing] nice. You better prepare yourself for there [missing] darling. I suppose I should too. I should'nt [sic] send any more letters after you receive this one darling. I should’nt [sic] think they would send them across a second time. I'll send you an address to write to as soon as I can. Well I’ll have to close now and get ready for this party of our. Please do’nt [sic] worry about those sherries you had darling I'm afraid I sha’nt [sic] stop at two tonight. Give my love to all the folks and tell them I hope to see them all soon.
[page break]
Until I see you darling remember I still love you and ever will. Think of me sometimes and love me always.
Your darling (husband to be)
Dave.
xxxx
xxxx
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
Letter from Dave Davies to Betty Hughes
Description
An account of the resource
Dave announces that he has passed the final exam and is preparing for the graduation party. He believes leave will soon be granted and hopes to see Betty soon.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Dave Davies
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1944-02-03
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Monica Emmanuelli
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
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
EDaviesDHHughesB440203
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.
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.
Canada
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan--Estevan
New Brunswick
New Brunswick--Moncton
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-02
love and romance
promotion
RCAF Estevan
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/585/22112/BHopgoodPMHopgoodPDv1.2.pdf
203120b2a2c630e6d7ab6e236fc028bf
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
Hopgood, Philip David
P D Hopgood
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Hopgood, PD
Description
An account of the resource
Four items in main collection, plus photograph album in sub-collection. An oral history interview with Peter Andrew Hopgood about his father, Flight Sergeant Philip Hopgood (1924-1999, 1673132 Royal Air Force), his memoir, log book, service record and photograph album. Philip Hopgood trained as a pilot and later as a flight engineer.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Peter Hopgood (1673132 Royal Air Force) and catalogued by Barry Hunter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-02-15
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.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[inserted] Airmen Aircrew Market Harborough[/inserted]
[underlined] Dad’s (PDH) RAF/RCAF flying service in WW11 [/underlined]
[1) Background [/underlined]
With the threat of war looming in 1939, the British Government was keen to ensure that the country was in a state of readiness.
Utilising emergency powers, it introduced a series of voluntary and mandatory schemes aimed at ensuring that there were sufficient resources available for: the armed forces; civil defence; vital industries; and essential services.
These schemes provided a background to Dad’s story, and so are summarised below.
Voluntary National Service
In January 1939, a forty-eight page “National Service” pamphlet was issued which was described as “a guide to the ways in which the people of this country may give service”.
Its aim was to encourage men and women to volunteer for some form of service in the armed forces or in civilian services such as: nursing and first aid; air raid precautions; women’s auxiliary; police; and fire service.
[National Service Pamphlet]
The “National Service pamphlet (Issued in January 1939)
[Page Break]
A message in the pamphlet from the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain read “The desire of all of us is to live at peace with our neighbours, but to secure peace we must be strong. The country needs your service and you are anxious to play your part. This guide will point the way. I ask you to read it carefully and decide how you can best help”
Schedule of Reserved Occupations
In conjunction with the pamphlet, the government published a provisional [underlined] “Schedule of Reserved Occupations” [/underlined] which identified occupations where age restrictions would be applied to anyone that volunteered for any form of full time “national service.”
The aim was to limit the number of volunteers so that appropriate resources could be retained in key industries and services.
The provisional list was published in the Times on 25th January 1939.
[Extract from The Times]
An extract from the Times Listing – Anyone on or over the age in brackets was “reserved in their occupation”
[Page Break]
The National Service (Armed Forces Act 1939
On the 3rd September 1939, the government introduced the [/underlined] National Service (Armed Forces) Act. [/underlined]. This superseded the Military Training Act (1939) and stated that male subjects, between the ages of 18 and 41 years, were liable to be called up for service in the armed forces of the Crown.
The Ministry of Labour and National Service immediately set up a mandatory registration procedure for men in this age range.
They issued posters and notices in the press and in the BBC stating that men with specific dates of birth had to registers at their local Ministry of Labour and National Service office (Employment Exchange) on a given date.
The first registration session, which was held on 21st October 1939, requires all men born between 2nd October 1917 and 1st October 1919 to register (excluding those that had previously registered under the Military Training Act).
This process was repeated on an irregular basis throughout the war.
Registration for National Service (April 1940)
Throughout April 1940, posters and notices in the national press and o the BBC stated that men born between 1st January 1913 and 31st December 1913 were required to register for National Service on 27th April 1940.
[Page Break]
[Requirement to Register Extract]
An adapted extract based on a post-war “Requirement to Register” Poster
Our story starts just before 25th January 1942 when Dad, who was born on 18th November 1924, then 17 yrs and 2 months, was recommends for training as Pilot/Observer – entry on his for 543 was F1271. Mo. ACSB, this would have been by attending a two-day assessment at an Aviation Candidates Selection Board (ACSB) and shortly after that, he volunteered to register for National Service.
Dad would have attended his local Employment Exchange at around that date, where a clerk recorded his personal details including age, address, occupation and current employer; he was issued with a Certificate of RegistrationNS2.)
[National Service Acts, certificate of Registration Card]
An example of a Certificate of Registration [NS2] (Post 1941)
[Page Break]
2) Volunteering from service (For Dad, some time before 25th January 1942)
Dad was always keen on aeroplane, had been in the ATC, had a (flying) Proficiency Certificate Part 1., and was keen to join the Royal Air Force. On the 21st Feb 1942, he had a medical assessment by a medical board, which he passed Grade 1. He was enlisted on 24th February 1942 at Padgate 3RC, and was put on Reserve.
Normally 18 was the first time volunteers wold have been accepted. He would have been in upper 6th form at the time taking his matriculation, after which he had hoped to go to university to study chemistry.
During the time on Reserve, Dad would have finished his matriculation, and then went to work as a Clerk, for the ministry of supply in the Liver building after leaving school, whilst awaiting his posting. He would have seen and heard the damage caused by the Liverpool Blitz air raids by the Luftwaffe between 1940 and 1942. In fact there were tales from his Mum and Dad, of incendiary bombs dropped near his home at 45 Mapledale Road, in the allotments opposite the end of the road.
Dads service number was 1673132, which from
[underlined]http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?-RAF-RAF-OR-Service Numbers[/underlined] showed that service numbers 1670001 to 1692488 were recruited at Padgate, Warrington, between Liverpool and Manachester.
1649901 to 1650000 Apr 1 Dutch
1650001 to 1670000 Nov 1941 Penarth
1670001 to 1692488 Nov 1941 Padgate
1692489 to 1692500 Nov 1941 Dutch
1692501 to 1700000 Jun 1942 Padgate
[underlined] 3) AIR 29/497 No. 3 Recruit Centre, (3 RC) Padgate 1939 Apr.- 1950 Feb [/underlined]
Padgate Camp, Warrington, was a national training centre for the RAF recruits No. 3 RAF Depot Padgate opened in April 1939 (before Britain was officially at war.) Its role was to provide basic training to raw recruits to the Royal Air Force. By 1943 the camp’s weekly intake was 1,500 as the RAF stepped up its bombing campaign on Germany.
[Page Break]
Dad was given deferred entry, as I have seen an RFVR (RAF Volunteer Regiment) silver badge somewhere, (but can’t find it at the moment) this was worn in the lapel to show that people of age weren’t shrinking their call up and weren’t a conscientious objector. He would only have been able to sign up from age 18 i.e 18-11-1942, but was still at school. I think because of the fact he had been in the ATC, he was accepted for early volunteering on January/February 1942. Once he had finished matriculation, he went to work for the Ministry of Supply where he worked as a clerk in the Liver Building, Liverpool. Deferred entry for Dad was possibly due to the fact that there may not have been room to train him at the time, or that they didn’t need pilots at this stage of the war which had been raging for 3 years already.
When he was called to Padgate (near Manchester) to appear before the Selection Board. He would have taken the Oath, and enlisted as an Aircraftman, Second Class (AS2 or “erk”) – the lowest form of life in the RAF – “u/t” (under training) as a Pilot or Observer (at their options). To seal this bargain, he would have been given the “King’s Shilling” (a day’s pay), (actually it was a “florin” – two bob – inflation had already set in!)
He was officially in; a full member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.
Dad signed on the dotted line and took the Oath. Now the RAF had to decide what to so with him. Flying schools were often full up for months ahead. He would have had a choice: come in right away for ground duties as an “erk” (ACH/GD – Ground Duties – i.e. dogsbody) until your flying course comes up. Or go home and wait; we’ll call you when we’re ready for you. This was really a waiting list, and as he was still as school, he would continue on to matriculation. Once he had finished that he took a job at the Ministry of Supply, which suited him much better as he only wanted to be a pilot. He would have been given a little silvery RAFVR lapel badge to show that he had volunteered, in case there was a question of cowardice.
Following his medical he was classified as Grade 1 (one) and the information was recorded on his Grade Card (NS55). He would have been interviewed by a recruiting officer from the RAF before returning home to await further instructions.
[Page Break]
[Grade Card]
An example of a Medical Grade Card [NS55] (1944)
As directed, on 25th January 1942, he packed a small suitcase, his civilian respirator and the requisite paperwork and travelled to Padgate on the 24th February 1942
Over the next couple of days he undertook a series of tests which assessed his aptitude for the six aircrew categories, namely pilot, navigator, bomb aimer, air0gunner, wireless operator and flight engineer.
The standard suite of tests included: essay writing; elementary maths; general intelligence; coordination; and fitness.
On the second day he would have been interviews by an Aviation Candidate Selection Board (ACSB), and at the end of the process, the board recommended him “for training as a pilot”.
[Page Break]
Dad was sent before the Attestation Officer where, after formally signing his [underlined] Notice Paper [/underlined] (Form 2168), he was asked to swear allegiance to his King and Country:
[Notice Paper]
[RAFVR Pin]
Having completed his assessment, Dad was enlisted in the RAF “for the duration of the present emergence” (d.p.e) and placed “on reserve” which was standard RAF procedure at the time); once again, he returned home to await further instruction.
He was given a silver RAFVR lapel badge to shoe that he was “on reserve” but they use of these badges was being phased out during 1943.
He would have received a [underlined] letter [/underlined] from the Secretary of State for Air, which welcomed him into the RAF and advised him that he would be called up as soon as he was required; he now had to patiently await that call up.
[underlined] 4) Air Crew Reception Centre, (ACRC) London 29-3-1943 to 24-4- 1943 for 4 weeks: aged 18 years 4 month and 11 days. [/underlined]
Reporting for service at No1 Aircrew Reception Centre, RAF Regent’s Park (August 1943)
Dad’s call up notice finally arrived with instructions to report for service at No. 1 Aircrew Reception/Receiving Centre (ACRC), at RAF Regent’s Park, on 29th March 1943.
[Page Break]
The notice stated “you will be taken on strength from the date you report for duty and will also be issued with uniforms etc as soon as possible thereafter. You should therefore bring with you the minimum of personal requirements”.
He packed his small suitcase, said farewell to his family and made his way to the ACRC assembly point, which was at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
RAF receiving wing (No 1 Aircrew Reception Centre), London for the issue of his kit and inoculations. Here he was given the rank of AC2. That night the first in his RAF service, he may have slept under the Members Pavilion at Lords cricket ground! They were here receiving initial training for 4 weeks.
The weekly intake was separated into “flights” of sixty men, each under the command of a NDC; each flight was identified by a flight letter and intake number (eg A Flight, 130 intake).
RAF Regent’s Park would be Dad’s home for the next four weeks and he was marched from the cricket ground to start the training process.
[Photographs]
Roll call and start of Training Process
[Photographs © IWM CH 10987/CH 10988]
RAF Regent’s Park
RAF Regent’s Park consisted of an area in north-west London, which has been requisitioned by the Air Ministry for the purpose of accommodating and providing training facilities for up to 5,100 recruits.
[Page Break]
[Photograph]
An aerial view of “RAF Regent’s Park” (1945)
Each recruit had a “bed space” comprising either an iron framed, wore mesh bed or the equivalent space on a carpeted floor in a “dormitory” room in one of the many blocks of requisitioned flats in the St John’s Woods area.
Local Offices, shops and garages were used as communal areas for kitting out, eating and training. Local amenities, such as parts of Lord’s Cricket Ground and the canteen at Regent’s Park Zoo, were also utilised.
[Photographs]
Billets and Bed Spaces
[Photographs © IWM CH 10989/CH 10990]
[Page Break]
Training and Assessment
During the first two weeks of training, Dad was registered, given a haircut, had dental checks, was inoculated against diphtheria, typhoid and smallpox and has a “very personal” examination to ensure that he was “free from inspection”. He was issued with his identity documents and tags : [underlined] RAF Identity Card (Form 1250) [/underlined]
[Royal Air Force Identity Card]
[Page Break]
• [underlined] Airman’s Service and Pay Book (Form 64 Parts I and II) [/underlined]
• 2 Identity discs (with cord)
[Pay book and discs]
He was also kitted out with his basic equipment and service dress uniform which consisted of:
Basic Equipment:
• “Irons” (Knife, Fork and Spoon)
• Enamel Mug
• Towels
• Bedding (3 mattress “biscuits”, blankets, pillow)
• Greatcoat
• Woollen Gloves
• Jersey
• Steel Helmet (“Brodie”)
• Respirator
• Anti-Gas Cape (ground sheet)
• Kitbag (with D rind and padlock)
• Holdall (for small kit)
• Webbing Kit (including mess tin and water bottle)?
• Housewive (“Hussif”) [needles, thread, darning wool, buttons]
• Brushes (Blacking, Brass, Clothes, Hair, Polishing, Shaving)
• Buttonstick
• Clasp Knife
• Physical Training Kit (Canvas Shoes, Shorts, Vests)
Service Dress (“Best Blues”) uniform:
[Page Break]
• Jacket
• Trousers
• Field Service Cap (with badge)
• White Cap insert (to denote aircrew under training)
• Shirts (with collars)
• Tie
• Boots (with laces)
• Socks
• Drawers (pants)
• Vests
The quantity of each item that was issued to each recruit was detailed in the [underlined] Scale of Issue. [/underlined]
He was instructed to mark each item of kit with his service number; he now has the arduous task of ensuring all item were kept spotlessly clean and that they were precisely laid out for both the daily bed inspection and the weekly kit inspection. Air Diagram 1385 showed how the kit should be laid out for these [underlined] inspections. [/underlined]
[Air Diagram 1385]
Air Diagram 1385
[Courtesy of RAF Museum, London]
[Page Break]
Any lost or missing kit had to be recorded on a [underlined] Kit Deficiency Form [/underlined] (Form 1383)
The diagram also showed the recruits how to wear the various pieces of equipment with the “Best Blues” uniform.
Over the next four weeks, Service No. 1673122, Hopgood PD, faced a rigorous daily routine of fatigues, inspections, swimming, training drills, lectures (RAF Law, Administration and Organisation/Mathematics/Signals/ Use of Weapons0 and aptitude tests.
[Photographs]
Inspection and Drill
[Photographs © IWM CH7519/CH7522]
Rank and Trade
Dad entered the RAF in the rank of Aircraftman Second Class (Grade A) and in the trade of U/T Pilot, although his service records shows that he was a LAC on the 31st November 1942.
His pay would have between around 3/- per day (plus 6d per day war pay) which he collected (minus any allowances) at the fortnightly pay parade.
Completion of Course
On 24th April 1943, Dad successfully completed this stage of his training and he was posted to No.1 Initial Training Wing (ITW) at RAF Babbacombe.
Someone else’s story:- (“having been set on deferred service, I returned to the Bank, until May 20, 1944 when I was called to active service and reported to No3 Aircrew Reception Centre at St. John’s Wood. This was actually a block of luxury flats at Regents Park (Viceroy Court) not far from the Zoo and which
[Page Break]
we pass on the bus each time that we go to the Zoo. From here we were all kitted out, given more tests at Lords cricket ground and put through swimming tests (at the swimming baths near Whiteley’s before being sent off to further training in our various categories, Pilot, Navigator, Bob Aimer, Gunner, Wireless Operator etc. I had volunteered as a Pilot but was obliges to change to “PNB” scheme [Pilot, Navigator, Bomb Aimer] as this was compulsory – the alternative would have been t be released and conscripted into the Army – not my wish.
It was on my birthday, June 13th 1944 when I was nineteen that we all watched the first of the Flying Bombs or “buzz-bombs” (so called because of the noise they made) pass over whilst being shot at by the Anti-Aircraft guns. It was a hot summer and we were sleeping on double bunks in what had been the living room of one of the lovely flats with a veranda looking out over Regents Park. I had actually put my “biscuits” [mattresses in three square sections] on the veranda to sleep and before night fell we heard the characteristic drone of a V1 and saw it flying low over London and headed North over the Zoo. We all through that it was an enemy aircraft which had been shot down as the guns were firing at it and we saw it nose down and disappear before a clout of black smoke rose up behind the trees. We cheered, but learnt later that is was really a pilotless aircraft, loaded with explosives, which had fallen North of us.
I passed various tests as a Pilot and was pleased and proud to have achieved this, as it was not easy to do because the surplus or aircrew meant that standards had been raised. One particular test was to sit in front of a machine in the Long Room at Lords Cricket Ground, which had a joystick and a cathode ray tube in front of you; a spot of light moved at random across the screen and the task was to keep it centred by using the joystick. At very primitive device by today’s standards but new in those times.
We had out inoculations, at [I think] the White House, near Regent’s Park and for the first time I had to line up with shirt off and arm akimbo awaiting the needle. I found that the apprehension was enough to make me feel quite faint and one or two men did pass out!”)
http://rafgen.iconosites.com/000_vsg_user_files/site_uploaded/3140/training%20-%20%20ph-mkd.pdf
[Page Break]
[underlined] 5#1 ITW, Babbacombe, Cornwall, 24-4-1943 to 30-7-1943 [/underlined]
(“ I remember a long, crowded train journey from Liverpool down to Torquay. Somewhere in the Midlands we passed an airfield close to the line. Tiger Moths were buzzing around it, obviously it was an RAF elementary Flying School. It was exciting to think that I’d be there – or somewhere like it – before I was much older (for fortunately the RAF has chosen “pilot” option for me).!)
“per Ardua ad Astra” – Ardua first! Everybody knows what Service Reception Centres were like: they’ve been lampooned on film and TV often enough. We were bawled at, marched about all over the place from dawn to lights-out, kitted out (some of it fitted) and inoculated against everything known to medical science.
The sleeping arrangements left a bit to be desired! Straw paillasses on the bare boards of a stripped –out Babbacome boarding house ! What most of my intake – never been away from mummy in their lives- thought, I can’t imagine. Their wails met the old sardonic RAF response: “Serves you right, shouldn’t have joined if you can’t take a joke!
Babbacome was an ITW (initial Training Wing). Fist [sic] step in becoming aircrew. Accommodation usually seaside hotels. Square bashing, initial courses with exams to pass before going on to EFTD or technical course
Torquay’s[sic] provided hotel buildings for the [underlined] RAF [/underlined] to train aircrew. In addition to the previously mentioned RAF Hospital at the Palace Hotel, No 1 ITW (Initial Training Wing) was formed at [underlined] Babbacome[/underlined] in June 1940. Headquarters were at the Norcliffe Hotel, the Sefton, Oswalds, Trecarn, Foxlands and Palermo Hotels being used for sleeping, etc. Postings were made from Babbacome to Elementary Flying Training Schools (including overseas in Canada and [underlined] Southern Rhodesia [/underlined] where they became pilots, observers, W/T operators and wireless operators/air gunners.
He was posted to No 1 Initial Training Wing (ITW), which specialised in basic service training of pilots. Other ITW’s specialised in training the other aircrew categories, namely Flight Engineer, Navigator, Bomber and Wireless Operator, Air Gunner (WOP/AG)
As a consequence of a reorganisation on 14th September 1943, the training wing was redesignated as No 3 Initial Training Wing.
RAF Torquay
[Page Break]
Much like RAF Regent’s Park, RAF Torquay was an area in Devon which had been requisitioned by the Air Ministry for the purpose of providing large scale accommodation and training facilities.
Dad was allocated the usual “bed space” in a room in one of the hotels that had been allocated to 1 ITW (believed to be the Park Hall, Regina, Dorchester and Devonshire Hotels and smaller hotels in Beacon Terrace.
As trainee aircrew, he was now [provided with sheets and pillow cases for his bed, along with the standard “mattress biscuits”, blankets and pillow.
[Photographs]
Billets and Physical Training
[Photographs © IMW CH1970/CH10992]
Training and Assessment
The six week training programme at the ITW was designed to improved discipline, physical fitness and mental alertness and provide a sound basic knowledge of the Royal Air Force.
The approach was explained in the pamphlet “YOU are going to be a PILOT”
Dad was issued with his War Serve (“Battledress”) uniform, which consisted of tunic, trousers. This could be worn in place of the “Best Blues” jacket and trousers whilst “working on station” (“Best Blues” had to be worn on parade, at formal occasions and whenever the trainee was “off station”).
The “Initial Training Wing Syllabus” and the supporting “Aircrew Lecture Notes” show that recruits were taught:
[Page Break]
• anti-gas
• aircraft recognition
• armament
• drill and physical training
• engines
• hygiene and sanitation
• law and discipline, administration and organisation
• mathematics
• meteorology
• navigation
• principles of flight
• signals
[Lecture notes]
Flying Clothing, along with a second kitbag, was issued later in the course for use in some of the training exercises. It consisted of:
• helmet, with oxygen and communication mask
• goggles
• flying suit (one piece or separate jacket and trousers)
• leather gauntlets
• gloves (silk, wool, chamois)
• socks
• boots
• Mae-West (life jacket)
• emergency whistle
• parachute harness
All flying kit issued was recorded on the [underlined] Flying Clothing Card (Form 667B) [/underlined]
Fatigues, inspections, physical training, lectures and assessments continued to form part of the daily routine, which was timetabled as follows:
[Station Routine]
Swimming and [underlined] dinghy practice [/underlined] were actively encourages to ensure that trainees were prepared for emergency ditching in the sea.
[Page Break]
[Photographs]
Drill and Anti-Gas Training
[Photographs © IWM CH1973/CH1801]
Rank and Trade
Dad’s rank should have been that of AC2, U/T Pilot during this stage of his training, but his service record shows LAC, possibly because he had been in the ATC. His service record shows “Ex member of ATC Prof Cert Part 1 Rec. for commission”
Completion of Course
Trainees were assessed through the course and examination has to be undertaken and passed prior to further posting.
[Page Break]
[Examination Paper 125]
An examination paper
Anyone who “failed” the course was either provided with additional training or was posted to other roles (e.g. ground staff)
From the first intake of 579 recruits in July 1940, almost a further 27,000 airmen were trained there before the Wing left Babbacombe.
Subjects studies:
RAF history, structure and law;
hygiene (including “infectious diseases”);
theory of flight;
basic navigation (using maps, charts and astronomy);
aircraft recognition;
[Page Break]
armaments;
meteorology;
mathematics;
morse code (using keys and light).
instructions on polishing boots
precision drill. Think we had one hour a day drill , and one hour a day P.T. at I.T.W Torquay. During the drill sessions we had to learn precision drill, which meant we had to go through the every move in the drill ‘book’ with only an initial command. This lasted fifteen minutes. and [sic] we were told it was very impressive to watch.
Clay pigeon shooting at Babacombe. Five mile cross country runs. 20 mile march from Bovey Tracy ? to Widecombe on the moor and back. Dinghy drill in Torquay harbour.
After two months “Square bashing” and further flight related training etc. he was posted with the rank of LAC to 3 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) RAF Shellingford , near Aston Sandford, the overflow airfield for Watchfield at Shrivenham.
[underlined] 6) FLYING TRAINING STARTS! [/underlined]
[underlined] RAF#3 EFTS, Shellingford, 30-7-1943 to 2-9-1943[/underlined]
[underlined]http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/shellingford [/underlined]
[underlined] http://www.stanford-in-the-vale.co.uk/history¬_ww2.shtml [/underlined]
[underlined] http://em.m.wikipeadia.org/wiki/RAF_Shellingford [/underlined]
In his time here Dad got his hands on Tiger Moths and ran up some hours in flight, as shown in his Flight log. (He recorded it on a single log sheet, the, stuck it into the front of his RCAF pilots flying log book, and then entered the hours in the RCAF log after 1651 conversion unit a late date) From the 4th to the 25th August inclusive he completed 12.05 hrs dual flying in Tiger Moths (T6773, T6456, T6593, T6564, T5377 and T7129) in 23 outings, taking exercises 1 to 14, a Flight Commanders test, and a C.F. 1’s test, always as 2nd pilot/pupil with F/S Perry, F/L Wenman, F/O Ingles and F/O Page
[underlined] 7) RAF ACDC Manchester, 18-9-1943 to 31-10-1943 [/underlined]
After [deleted] ITW[/deleted] [inserted] #3 EFTS [/inserted] Dad went to ACDC (Aircrew Dispersal Centre) at Heaton Park, Manchester where I arrived on 18th September 1943. This was a camp where aircrew were held between courses and postings. It was in rainy Manchester, in the middle of a Park and was not at all comfortable – he would have been in Nissen Huts again.
[Page Break]
These Nissen huts were made of half circles of Corrugated Galvanised Iron about twenty-five feet wide and which accommodated some thirty men. Heated only by a coal stove n the centre they were bitterly cold in the winter but I suppose that they did provide easily erected shelter for troops.
e.g. Aircrew Despatch Centre, Heaton Park,
Manchester
Remustered as U/T Pilot (2) as a result of my performance at ITW. Only two out of every five recruits were selected for pilot training and probably half of these were allocated to fighter training so was to consider himself fortunate to have passed the recruiting board, passed the ITW training and finally been selected for pilot training. I guess that Dad had some time on leave before being posted to Canada, as he had to pass through Liverpool anyway!
[underlined] 8) OFF TO CANADA [/underlined]
[underlined] HMT W43, 31-10-1943 to 8-11-1943 [/underlined]
This was either His Majesty’s Troopship, or Hired Military Transport. It usually took about 5 days to sail to the US/Canada and usually landed at Halifax Nova Scotia
[underlined] 9) RAF 31 PD, Moncton New Brunswick, 10-11-1943 to 11-1-1944 [/underlined]
Dad arrived in Halifax on 10th November 1943 at the start of a Canadian maritime winter. They caught a train destined for 31 TAF Personnel Depot (PD) at Moncton, New Brunswick. (Called Piccadilly 31 PD in Dad’s photo’s) There is also a photo of Dad with some other recruits, Harry Hoyle, Geoff Bell, and Doug Kelsall with the A. Freedman & Son factory behind them at St. Jon N.B. in 1943
[underlined] 10) RCAF #6 Elementary Flying School, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada, 15-1-1944 to 25-3-1944 [/underlined] [inserted] Tiger Moth & Cornell [/inserted]
From Moncton near the Canadian Eastern seaboard, Dad took a train to get Prince Albert in Saskatchewan. There is a photo in his album of the type of train they took, and also photos of the trip ‘Charging through Maine’ alongside Lake Superior, where whey were travelling through snow, and with views of icy lakes and rivers. One was taken at Quebec across the frozen St Lawrence River.
Dad was on course 98 at Prince Albert, and their course photo was taken in front of a Tiger Moth in front of a hanger. There were 24 trainee pilots in the photo with four sergeants, ‘Chiefy Nicol, and Len Gilhome, Cliff Hoe, Ron Harrison and a flat capped George Whitlam in the middle of them
Dad learned to fly in Tiger Moths here, taking his pilot role in Tiger Moth 4293 on the 26th January 1944, exercise 15. First solo probably on 2nd Feb in Tiger Moth 5010 exercises 10 to 13 inc. total flying time in Prince Albert was 33.25 hrs dual; 38.30 hrs as pilot; 4.30 hrs dual night flying; and 0.30 hrs night
[Page Break]
Flying as pilot. Last flight here was on 17th Feb 1944. (Night visual acuity was assessed as A17.)
There was quite a lot of time spent on a Link Trainer, nicknamed the ‘Blue Box’ – a flight simulator.
[Photograph]
Fairchild PT 19 ‘Cornells’ were also flown here, but are not listed on Dad’s log, so I suspect that they were taken up in them to show them how to so a particular duty, before letting them loose on the Tiger Moths, which had open cockpits, and it would have been more difficult to communicate.
[Photograph]
[inserted] See Canadian Training Schools [/inserted]
[Page Break]
[underlined]http://en.wikipedia.org.wiki/List_of_British _Commonwealth_Air_Training_Plan_facilities_in_Canda [/underlined]
[underlined] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Albert_(glass_Field) _Airport[/underlined]
There appears to have been a time of R&R in Senlac between 26th March and 7th April before moving on to the next posting.
[underlined] 11)RCAF #4 Service Flying Training School, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, 8-4-1944 to 30-10-1944 [/underlined]
This further training was on Crane twin engines aeroplanes, where he first flew in one on the 9th May 1944, and went solo on 17th May 1944.
[Photograph]
He then went on to fly Avro Ansons on 29th June 1944
[Photograph]
[Page Break]
Summary of flying and assessments on an R.95A, at #4 SFTS, Saskatoon, Canada on 27th October 1944 showed dual flying time total of 157.55; pilot hours of 120.20; and 20.55 hrs as a passenger, and assessments:
As A.T.E pilots – average;
As pilot-navigator/navigator – average;
In bombing – High average;
In air gunnery – N/A;
Signed by A.L. Anderson T/D for the C.O No 4 SFTS
No points of flying or airmanship were listed as needing to be watched.
[underlined] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatoon[/underlined]
[underlined] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCAF_Station_Saskatoon [/underlined]
[underlined] 12) RAF 31PD Moncton NB, 3-11-1944 to 24-11-1944 [/underlined]
Mustering for return trip/possibly some R&R or this might have been the time that relates to Dad’s photos from when he was sight seeing in New York
[underlined] 13) RAF MNT L54, 24-11-1944 to 6-12-1944 [/underlined]
Back across the Atlantic from Halifax, Nova Scotia, November 1944, boarded HMT Andes, five days sailing to Liverpool.
[underlined] 14) RAF Harrogate, 6-12-1944 to 10-1-1945 [/underlined]
No 7 Personnel Reception Centre (PRC) formed here in March 1942 and used the Cecil, Majestic , Majestic , Queen and Spa Hotels before disbanding in July 1943 . (1945?)
After the RAF/MOD vacated the site it was purchased by ICI who established a research department there.
R29/479 No. 7 Personnel Reception Centre, Harrogate, (Later Market Harborough) 1942 Mar.-1946 Sept.
There were 1,408 staff here at the end of WWII. The site was also used by the Post Office. By 1956 the Air Ministry has just 787 staff in the area, now relocated to the Crown Hotel and Harlow Manor.
[Page Break]
[Photograph]
I note that there was also a 26 Signals Group station at RAF Harrogate.
[underlined] http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm?lat=53.97756820070049&Ion1.5412374411947671&gz=17&oz+9>=1[/underlined]
[underlined] 15) No. 4 SofTT, RAF St.Athan, Nr Cardiff, S.Wales, 10-1-1945 to 16-3-1945[/underlined]
Their standing quickly improved over the next year or so and as the war progressed it was recognised that FE’s didn’t all need to be fully qualifies fitters or riggers. As a result, direct entry civilian were accepted in mid-1943. By this time there was a big demand for them, as there were now far more heavy bombers & other 4-engined aircraft in service and of course, crews lost in action had to be replaced. No 4 School of Technical Training (No 4 S of TT) at RAF St Athan was the hub for FE Training, with entrants going through courses of varying lengths, according to their expertise on joining. Flying training time was very sparse and from mid-1943 onwards it was quite normal for them to qualify for their [inserted] FE [/inserted] flying badges without ever having flown in an aircraft!
[underlined]http://flighteng.org/news/115-royal-air-force-another-significant-milestone [/underlined]
[Page Break]
[underlined] http://rafww2butler.wordpress.com/flight-engineer-training/[/underlined]
Posting to 4 School of Technical Training, RAF St Athan (Jan. 1945)
Dad was posted to 4 School of Technical Training (4 SoTT) at RAF St Athan in readiness for his 24 week “trade” course which started on 10th January 1945.
The school had been set up by the Air Ministry in 1942 to provide specialist training for the flight engineers needed for four-engined heavy bombers and flying boats.
It is understood that the intake was split into groups of eight to ten men, based on surnames.
RAF St Athan
No. 4 School of Technical Training was based in the East Camp at RAF St. Athan, in Glamorgan.
The camp included:
• 20 Bellman hangers and 4 brick0built workshops (used as training facilities)
• a large equipment store
• a large amenities building with swimming pool, gym, cinema and chapels
• living quarters (for up to 4,000) instructors and trainees)
It is understood that the camp also included a parachute training facility, a tethered airframe (where engines could be run at full throttle) and a decompression chamber (to enable trainees to experience the loss of oxygen at altitude); it has not been possible at this stage to establish where these were housed.
[Page Break]
[Photograph]
Annotated aerial view of East Camp at RAF St Athan 919450
Based on an original Crown Copyright photograph: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.
The standard “bed space” was in one of the hundreds of wooden accommodation huts which were laid out in lines. Each hut accommodated up to 16 trainees and included latrines and showers, along with a small room for the billet’s NCO.
[Photograph]
[Page Break]
Training and Assessment
The aim of the 24 week technical course was to ensure that flight engineers could carry out their specified duties on the ground and in the air.
The preliminary phase of the course was:
• Preliminary Airframes (1 week)
• Preliminary Engines (2 weeks)
• Carburettors and Magnetos (2 weeks)
• Electric and Instruments (1 week)
• Radial Engines /In-Line Engines (2 weeks)
• Hydraulics 91 week)
• Propellers (1 week)
After a week’s leave, trainees continued with the intermediate phase of the course which incorporated:
• Merlin Engines (2 weeks)
• Typical Airframes (1 week)
• Typical Hydraulics (1 week)
• Propellers/Instruments/Electrics (1 week)
• Aerodrome Procedures 92 weeks)
The following are some of the original notes and diagrams from a former
[Training Notes]
Training Notes [Courtesy of the late Clifford Leach]
[Page Break]
After a further weeks leave, the trainees progressed to the final phase of the course which provided specific training o the aircraft and engines that they would be assigned to as they progressed into operational squadrons.
This phase consisted of:
• Airframes (2 weeks)
• Electrics/Instruments (1 week)
• Fuel Logs/Fuel Systems (1 week)
• Engines (1 week)
• Engine Handling (1 week)
Salvaged cockpits were used to provide a simulated flight environment to enable trainees to practice pre-flight checks, take off procedures, “flying for economy” and landing procedures. In addition, a tethered airframe enabled the trainees to run engines up to full throttle, although the constant noise caused severe problem and St Athan became one of the early pioneers of “flight simulators”.
Trainees were also required to continue with their fitness programme, practice emergency drills and maintain their skills in subjects such as morse, navigation and armaments.
[Photographs]
Flight Engineer Training
[Photographs © IWM CH12466/CH 112467]
As part of this section of the course, Dad was probably required to spend a week at an aircraft manufacturers ("Makers “Course") to gain a better understanding of how the aircraft was constructed.
[Page Break]
On 1st April 1944 he was sent to “Rootes Securities Ltd”, probably at their “Shadow Factory” at Speke Airport, where they manufactured the Handley Page Halifax.
[Photograph]
[Courtesy of the Handley Page Association Collection]
Rank and Trade
Dad continued in the rank of two stripes on arm. It is believed that this promotion was upon completion of the first part of the training course and that his pay was increased to 5/- a day (plus 6d a day war pay).
Completion of Course
Dad completed his course and undertook a series of written and oral examinations, which he passed with a mark of 62.7%.
At his passing out parade on X, he would have been (?) promoted to Sergeant, the minimum rank for aircrew, with salary of 10/- a day (plus 6d a day war pay).
After intensive training, Dad was qualified in the trade of flight engineer as well as pilot; the next stage was to apply his knowledge and skills in flight.
[Page Break]
[Flight Engineers Course Exam]
[underlined] 16) RAF 1651 Conversion Unit, Woolfox Lodge, Rutland, 23-3-1945 to 12-6-1945[/underlined]
[underlined]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Woolfox_Lodge [/underlined]
[underlined]http://wcnhistory.org.uk/sqn1651.html [/underlined]
Similar to:- [underlined] http://rafww2butler.wordpress.com/operational-training/ [/underlined]
Having completed his technical training, Dad was posted to Woolfox Lodge in Rutland on 23rd March 1945 to convert his flying and Flight Engineer training from twin engine light planes to train as part of a seven man crew on a four-engined heavy bomber.
These airfields had the standard [underlined] Bomber Command layout[/underlined]
It had three Heavy Conversion Units (HCU’s) which were responsible for teaching crews how to fly the four-engined heavy bombers:
• 1652 HCU, based at RAF Marston Moor
• 1663 HCU, based at RAF Rufforth
• 1658 HCU, based at RAF Riccall
“Crewing Up”
The heavy bombers needed a crew of seven; pilot, flight engineer, navigator, wireless operator, bomb aimer, mid-upper gunner and rear gunner.
Each member of the aircrew has been taught their trade at specialist schools, either in the UK or overseas. Having completed their basic training, five of the
[Page Break]
trades, (pilot, navigator, wireless operator, bomb aimer and one of the air gunners) “crewed up” at an Operational Training Unit (OUT) and trained as a five man crew on two-engined medium bombers. [inserted] Wellingtons [/inserted]
Once they were competent, the five man crew would transfer to a Heavy Conversion Unit, where they would be joined by a flight engineer and an additional gunner (for the mid-upper turret position) to form a seven man crew for the heavy bombers.
[underlined] Flying Log Book [/underlined]
Some of the early Flight engineers who trained during this period confirm that they would not have had any flying experience up to this point, although he may have spent a small amount of time at St Athan on a [underlined]”link trainer [/underlined](flight simulator)
The log, which had to be countersigned by the commanding officer, provided a record of:
• The date
• The aircraft used
• The pilot
• The duty performed on the flight
• The purpose of the flight
• The flying time (split day/night)
[Log Book]
An extract from a Flying Log Book
[Courtesy of Paul Herod]
[Page Break]
Training and Assessment
The four to six week Heavy Conversion course consisted of group instruction, along with approximately 40 hours of flying, probably in a Handley Page Halifax.
Experienced instructors, normally crew who had completed their operational tours, would fly “dual” with the crew and them the crew would repeat the exercise “solo”.
The [underlined] HCU Training Schedule, [/underlined] included the following training exercises:
• Familiarisation
• Circuits and landings
• Bombings
• Fighter affiliation
• Cross-country
With the help of instructors, FEng was able to out into practice all the things that he had been taught in the classrooms at RAF St Athan.
FEng’s first job was to work with the pilots to check outside the aircraft.
[Page Break]
The [underlined] external checks [/underlined] included ensuring:
• That there was no visible damage, in particular to the working parts and leading edges of the airframe
• That the tyres were in good order
• That there were no coolant or oil leaks
It is understood that once these checks were complete, the pilot signed Form 700 to confirm the handover of the aircraft from the ground crew.
FEng then clambered into the aircraft, with his parachute and “emergency repair” tool bag (spanners, pliers, wire, string etc) in his hands.
His next job was to carry to the [underlined] internal checks [/underlined] including ensuring:
• That the oxygen supply was functioning
• That the internal latches were all secure
• That the fire extinguishers, axes etc were properly stowed
•
Having completed the internal checks he settles at his station, which on the Handley Page Halifax was behind the pilot; he would then vary out the pre-flight checks in conjunction with the pilot and ground crew.
Information regarding some of the checks and the fuel loads, pressures etc was recorded in the [underlined] four page flight engineer log [/underlined].
[Page Break]
[Flight log sheet]
The first page of the flight engineer’s log
[Courtesy of RAF Museum, London]
[Page Break]
[Photograph]
[inserted] synchronised Props - V Practice [/inserted]
[inserted] Sequence [/inserted]
One by one, the four engines were started up and the FEng monitored the instrument readings on the flight engineer panel. When all four were warmed up, the pilot checked with the crew to ensure they were all happy with the equipment and that their oxygen and intercom systems were working. [inserted] Aldis lamp [/inserted]
He then taxied onto the perimeter track (“perimeter track”) and awaited the signal for take off.
FEng would either be sitting or standing beside the pilot, ready to assist him with the throttles, undercarriage and flaps; between them they ensured that they fully laden heavy bomber got off the ground and climbed to its allotted cruising height. [inserted] Assemble over? eg Reading [/inserted]
Having reached cruising height, he ensured that the aircraft maintained its optimum cruising speed, utilising the minimum amount of fuel (“flying for economy”). He also synchronised the propellers to minimise engine vibration and noise.
[Page Break ]
Throughout the flight, he monitored the fuel consumption, engine revs, oil pressure, coolant temperatures etc and logged them “at every change of flight or engine conditions and at thirty minute intervals”.
He monitored the amount of fuel in each of the wing tanks and used the fuel cocks to ensure that is was evenly distributed across the tanks; this ensured that if one leaked or was hit by enemy flak, there was sufficient fuel in the other tanks to keep the aircraft in flight.
The Perspex astrodome above his head enabled him to ensure that they were clear of other aircraft (and to monitor for enemy aircraft during operational sorties).
Having competed their assigned exercise or sortie, the Flight Engineer assisted the pilot with the landing, shutdown and post-flight checks.
Any issues were reported to the ground crew using the Form 700 and the four page flight engineer log was handed in for review and signature.
[Form 700]
An example of a Form 700 (date unknown)
Completion of Course
Having successfully completed their HCU training, the crew members were deemed competent enough for operational duty
Other interesting info on Lancs here:-
[underlined]http://rafww2butler.wordpress.com/operational-service/ [/underlined]
[Page Break]
You’ll understand I’m sure that the residents were rather transient and many did not stay long. It was very sad to see the adjutant emptying the lockers of those who would never return.
The huts at most site were of the wood and asbestos variety like those now used for battery chickens [Laing Huts]. They were “heated” by a stove (red-hot in the middle of freezing in the corners). They were nevertheless far better than nissen huts. Each held out 16 or so aircrew and when newly arrived you were assigned a bed in one of the artic corners (as well as the usual routine). As the losses mounted one graduated to beds nearer the centre, until you had a bed with your feet towards the stove (very cosy).
[photograph]
An example of a wood and asbestos Laing Hut
Training and Assessment
It is understood that training consisted of ground training followed by three daytime exercises and one nighttime exercise aimed at improving their target marking techniques. Total flying time was about 16 hours.
Exercises mimicked typical operational sorties, with the crew required to fly long distance, accurately mark a target and return to base within a very tight time schedule.
[Page Break]
[Photograph]
The Avro Lancaster
The crew positions on the Lancaster differed to those on the Halifax:
[Photograph]
(Pilot) sat on the port side on a raised section of the floor.
(Flight Engineer) sat next to the pilot, on s fold down seat, which was hinged to enable the bomb aimer to access his compartment in the nose of the aircraft. His position enabled him to observe and access the instruments on the pilot’s panel as well as those on the engineer’s panel, which was attached to the fuselage behind the seat.
(Navigate) sat behind the pilot/flight engineers, facing the port side, with the navigational equipment and a large chart table on front of him.
[Page Break]
(Wireless Operator) sat facing forwards, with his radio equipment mounted on the left hand end of the navigator’s chart table.
(Bomb Aimer) was stationed in the nose of the aircraft.
(Mid-Upper Gunner) was stationed in the dome shaped mid-upper turret which provided a 360 degree view over the top of the aircraft.
(Rear Gunner) was stationed in the rear turret.
[Photograph]
A Lancaster aircrew, showing pilot and flight engineer forward of the navigator and wireless operator
Operational Life
For Cecil and the hundreds of office staff, ground staff and aircrew at RAF Graveley, daily life was a mixture of training, recreation and operational sorties.
Aircrew were permitted six days leave every six weeks.
[underlined] 17) 7PRC Harrogate, 27-6-1945 to 17-7-1945 [/underlined]
7 Personnel Reception Centre (Harrogate, Yorkshire)
August, September, October 1943
[Page Break]
(The Majestic Hotel was host of hundreds of RAF non-commissioned Pilots, who with no immediate knowledge of their future roles in the RAF, were held there at what was known as No. 7 Personnel Reception Centre)
I have a Harrogate Public Library General Ticket which has the number 51751 and the date of expiry of 10th July 1947 for Sgt. PD Hopgood, Majestic Hotel and service number 1673132 on it.
[underlined] 18) RAF ACNCOS Locking, 17-7-1945 to 14-8-1945 [/underlined]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Locking
RAF Locking was opened as a training unit in 1937 [3] The Technical Site of RAF Locking, as distinct from the airfield about a mile away and called [underlined] RAF Weton-Super-Mare, [/underlined] was the home of the RAF’s No.1 Radio School
[underlined]http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw002963[/underlined]
War ended 8-5-1945 VE day; and 15-8-1945 – VJ day)
[underlined]19)7PRC Harrogate, 15-8-1945 to 28-8-1945 [/underlined]
Back to the Personnel reception Centre to see where next!
[underlined]20) RAF Cottesmore, Rutland, 23-8-1945 to 8-9-1945[/underlined]
[underlined] http://en.wikipeadia.org/wiki/RAF_Cottesmore[/underlined]
[underlined] http://virualglobetrotting.com/map/raf-cottesmore/view/?service+0[/underlined]
[underlined] 20) 7PRC Harrogate, 8-9-1945 to 19-10-1945[/underlined]
Back to the Personnel Reception Centre to see where next!
[underlined]21 29EFT Clyffe Pypard, nr. Royal Wotton Bassett, Wilts., 19-10-1945 to 19-2-1946 [/underlined]
Flying Tiger Moths around, and on one occasion ran out of fuel and landed in a farmers field! Oops!
[underlined]http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/clyffe-pypard[/underlined]
[underlined] http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcom.php?id=63[/underlined]
[underlined] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyffe_Pypard [/underlined]
[Page Break]
YPRC 50 Grp Pool
[underlined]22) 21(P) AFU Wheaton Aston, nr Stafford, Staffs, 19-2-1946 to 9-3-1946 [/underlined]
‘Pilots Advanced Flying Unit’
21(P) AFU Wheaton Aston 28 January 1944 Seighford 26 January 1945
[underlined]http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/wheaton-aston[/underlined]
[underlined]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TbLfmvtlzE&feature=related[/underlined]
Here are a few of this former station, this is a former PAFU unit (Shawbury Oxfords main users)
not much left, but here’s a few of the tower
[Photograph]
[Photograph]
[Page Break]
[Photograph]
[photograph]
[underlined] 23) 7PRC Market Harborough, Leics, 9-3-1946 to 19-3-1946[/underlined]
Actually at Husbands Bosworth airfield 5 miles [deleted]SEE[/deleted] [inserted]WSCO [/inserted] from Market Harborough
[underlined]http://wikimapia.org/24398523/Former-RAF-Husbands-Bosworth[/underlined]
[underlined]http://www.husbandsboswoth.info/index.php?=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=46[/underlined]
[underlined] 24) ACAC Catterick, 19-3-1946 to 22-3-1946[/underlined]
Air Crew Allocation Centre – At end of war in 1945 the station became an air crew allocation centre Air Crew Allocation Centre [sic] where airman were sent for a month whilst final postings were found for them where they would be most valued.
[Page Break]
In January 1945, the station transferred to RAF Flying Training Command, to become Aircrew Allocation Centre during February, Being close to the training areas around Catterick Garrison,
RAF station finally closed on 1 July 1944.
[underlined]http://airfieldresearchgroup.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/RAF-catterick.pdf [/underlined]
[underlined] 25) 4 ACHU Cranage, 22-3-1946 to 10-4-1946[/underlined]
AIRCREW HOLDING UNITS AIR 29/508 No. 4 Cranage 1945-1946 July
Between Knutsford and Sandbach near M6, near village of Byley
[underlined]http://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/cranage-byley[/underlined]
[underlined]26) 1GTS, Croughton, 10-4-1946 to 25-4-1946[/underlined]
No 1 [underlined]Glider Training School /underlined] (No1 GTS) – this is on the A43 near Brackley.
You can see the big early warning globes from the road.
[underlined] 27) 4S of AT Kirkham, Lancashire, 25-4-1946 to 11-6-1946[/underlined]
Midway between Blackpool and Preston.
School or Airframe (?) Training – was a demob centre to Dec 1945, then trained boy entrants to 1957
..my demob centre at Kirkham in Lancashire, September 1946.
[underlined]http://en.wikipeadia.org/wiki/RAF_Kirkam#History[/underlined]
[underlined]28) 251 MU Bristol, 11-6-1946 to 14-8-1946[/underlined]
A SHORT HISTORY OF No.11 BALLOON CENTRE AT PUCKLECHURCH 1939 TO 1945 AND R.A.F.STATION PUCKLECHURCH 1945 TO 1959
John Penny
A Brief Chronology
09/08/1939 – Opened as No11 Balloon Centre.
22/04/1945 – Became a sub site of No.7 Maintenance Unit, Quedgeley nr Gloucester for storage.
[Page Break]
19/0701945 – Became No251. Maintenance Unit (Mechanical Storage).
on July 19th 1945 the site was re-designated No251. M.U. a Mechanical Storage Unit dealing with motor vehicles. No.251 M.U. continued as a M.T. Store until December 31st 1946 when all its operations were taken over by No.7 M.U. at Quedgeley. The station was now turned into an instructional facility, and on February 25th 1947 was re-named No.22 Reserve Centre, officially transferring to 62 (Southern) Group, Reserve Command, which also controlled the nearby Filton airfield.
On August 1st 1945 No 251. MU became fully self-accounting, and work went ahead to build up the formation as a Mechanical Storage Unit under the command of Squadron Leader F.H.Farthing. They were ready to accept their first vehicles on August 22nd, and by the end if the month had 9 officers (including 2 WAAF’s) and 243 ‘other ranks’ (including 34 WAAF’s) on their strength. No 251 MU continued as a MT Store until December 31st 1946 when all it operations were taken over by No7. MU at Quedgeley
[underlined] 29) 30 MU Sealand, 14-8-1946 to 20-2-1947[/underlined]
http://www.ronaldv.nl/abandoned/airfield/gb/wales/clwyd.html
Sealand, near Chester on the Wirral Peninsula, 20 KN IMMEDIAELY South of Liverpool
No. 30 M.U. (Maintenance Unit) R.A.F. Sealand near Chester. The next day after doing the rounds of the different departments, and being taken on the strength, we were assigned to one of the hangers carrying out major servicing on Wellington twin engine bombers
[underlined] 30) 101 PDC Warton 20-2-1947 to 21-2-1947 – End of service.[/underlined]
101 PDC (:-101 Personnel Despatch Centre), RAF Warton (being “demobbed”), Lancashire
Warton Aerodrome ([underlined]ICAO: [/underlined]EGNO) is located near to [underlined] Warton[/underlined] village on [underlined]the Flyde[/underlined] on [underlined]Lancashire, [/underlined] England. The aerodrome is 6.9m (11km; 6.9mi) west of [underlined]Preston, Lancashire, [/underlined] UK.
Warton Aerodrome (IATA: N/A, ICAO:EGNO) is located near to Warton village on the Flyde peninsula in Lancashire, England. The aerodrome is six nautical miles (11.1km) west of Preston, Lancashire, UK.
In 1940 new runways were built at Warton so that it could act as a “satellite” afraid for the RAF Coastal Command station at Squires Gate airfield in Blackpool
[underlined] http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/showthread.php?3707-RAF_Freckleton_Lytham-(Warton) [/underlined]
[Page Break]
List of websites from which taken:
[underlined]http://www.pprune.org/archieve/index.php/t-329990-p-10.html[/underlined]
[underlined]http://rafww2butler.wordpress.com[/underlined]
[underlined]31) References[/underlined]
[underlined]http://rafww2butler.wordpress.com/acknowledgements[/underlined]
Acknowledgements
Copyright©
Wherever possible the information on this site has been obtained from original documents held by the author or supplied by contributors.
I have attributes all copyright material as far as I am able; however if there is any material on this site which infringes your copyright, please contact me using the contact form and I will be happy to correctly attribute it or remove the item.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks go to the following individuals/organisation that have provided their time and/or resources for this project:
The families of crew members GB Thomas and R Neale (Sue Dobson, Garrie Ferguson and Ray Neale)
Uwe Benkel, Christian Koenig and his team in Bonn
The family of Eric Hargreaves (102 Squadron)
The many contributors on the RAFCommands, WW2Talk, Lancaster-Achieve, AIX and PPRuNE forums, especially:
Paul Herod
Stan Instone (419 Squadron)
Peter Leeves (35 Squadron)
The late Clifford Leach
Alan Wells
Malcom Barrass
Sources:
RAF Flying Training and Support Units since 1912; Ray Sturtivant Observes and Navigators; CG Jefford
The Bomber Command Diaries; Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Manpower, History of the Second World War; H M D Parker
ABC of the RAF
Aircraft Q failed to return
Dedicated to CA Butler and the crew of Lancaster ME334 (TL-Q)
BACKGROUND ENLISTING TRAINING OPERATIONS COMMEMORATION RESEARCH
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CONTACT
Acknowledgements | Aircraft Q failed to return
[underlined] http://rafww2butler.wordpress.com/acknowledgements[/underlined]
RAF St Athan: A history 1938-1988 by S J Bond
Bomber Intelligence; W E Jones
The Royal Air Force 1939-1945; Andrew Cormack
[Page Break]
The Bomber Command Handbook 1939-1945; Jonathon Falconer
Haynes Avro Lancaster Owners Workshop Manual; Jarrod Cotter/Paul Blackah
Aircraft Cutaways; Bill Gunston
The National Achieve
Flight Magazine
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The RAF Museum
The Royal Air Force Air Historical Branch
The Handley Page Association
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
Philip Hopgood's Second World War Biography
Description
An account of the resource
The detailed biography begins with government measures at the start of National Service. Philip Hopgood volunteered and enlisted at Padgate, Warrington. He was classified as medically Grade 1. Initial training was at RAF Regent's Park (Lord's Cricket Ground) London, then Babbacombe, Torquay. There are details of his kit and daily routine. Philip was then transferred to RAF Shellingford to train on Tiger Moths, followed by training in Canada. On returning to UK he was posted to RAF St Athan for technical training as a flight engineer. After this Philip went to RAF Woolfox Lodge for conversion to heavy aircraft. Peter Hopgood describes his father's role on a flight. Each transfer is detailed with dates until Philip's service ended in February 1947.
Creator
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Peter Andrew Hopgood
Format
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49 page document, with text and images
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Memoir
Identifier
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BHopgoodPMHopgoodPDv1
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
Royal Canadian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Liverpool
England--Warrington
England--London
England--Torquay
England--Manchester
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
Saskatchewan--Prince Albert
Saskatchewan--Saskatoon
England--Harrogate
England--Wheaton Aston
England--Catterick
England--Knutsford
England--Chester
England--Warton
New Brunswick
Saskatchewan
England--Devon
England--Oxfordshire
England--Lancashire
England--Staffordshire
England--Wiltshire
England--Yorkshire
England--Royal Wootton Bassett
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1942
1943
1944
1945
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
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.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Claire Monk
1651 HCU
1652 HCU
1658 HCU
1663 HCU
air gunner
aircrew
Anson
bomb aimer
bombing
Cornell
crewing up
flight engineer
Flying Training School
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Initial Training Wing
Lancaster
military living conditions
military service conditions
navigator
Nissen hut
pilot
RAF Catterick
RAF Cottesmore
RAF Graveley
RAF Kirkham
RAF Locking
RAF Marston Moor
RAF Padgate
RAF Riccall
RAF Rufforth
RAF Sealand
RAF St Athan
RAF Torquay
RAF Woolfox Lodge
Tiger Moth
training
V-1
V-weapon
wireless operator
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1344/22123/PHopgoodPD16010016.2.jpg
34180c37940c8725ee941293df51f6be
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Hopgood, Philip David. Album
Description
An account of the resource
Photographs of Philip Hopgood's family and friends and then his training in Canada and Great Britain.
Publisher
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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
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Hopgood, PD
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
Moncton N.B. and Maine USA 1943-1944
Description
An account of the resource
Four photographs from an album.
Photo 1 - a street view, captioned 'Piccadilly No 31 P.D.'.
Photo 2 - three men and a locomotive, captioned 'C.P.R. "Iron Horse"'.
Photo 3 - a locomotive, captioned 'More Metal Monster'.
Photo 4 - a view out of a carriage towards the locomotive, captioned 'Charging thru Maine'.
Format
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Four b/w photographs on an album page
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
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PHopgoodPD16010016
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
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Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
United States
Maine
New Brunswick
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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1943
1944
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.
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1943
1944
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1360/22528/PRobertsM2001.1.jpg
8807da74335bcda436a16157b4b0b803
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1360/22528/ARobertsM200219.1.mp3
4c037fe59803bd6d7d0272b3b5beb8d7
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
Roberts, Maurice
M Roberts
Description
An account of the resource
An oral history interview with Pilot Officer Maurice Roberts (1920 - 2020, 1095576 Royal Air Force), who flew with 51 Squadron.
The collection was catalogued by IBCC Digital Archive staff.
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
2020-02-19
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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Roberts, M-2
Transcribed audio recording
A resource consisting primarily of recorded human voice.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
HB: This is an interview with Maurice Roberts whose service number is 1095576, who was a sergeant pilot and later a pilot officer during the Second World War with, he did his operational tour with 51 Squadron. The interview is being conducted by me, Harry Bartlett on behalf of the International Bomber Command Centre at Mr Robert’s home address on Wednesday the 19th of February and the time now is 11:15. Mr Roberts, or can I call you Maurice?
MR: Yeah. Maurice.
HB: Thanks ever so much for agreeing to this interview. It’s, it’s a pleasure to be here to do this with you. We’ve had a bit of a chat before the interview so I’ve got a fair idea and I’ve obviously got your logbook but before we get to the actual war can you just, would you mind just telling us just a bit about yourself Maurice?
MR: Yeah.
HB: Where were you born?
MR: I was born in Manchester actually. And when I was twenty years of age I joined the RAF. That was in 1940.
HB: Yeah.
MR: When I joined the RAF. I never went back to Manchester because I met my, we used to, I was flying at which is now an industrial estate, was a flying field at Braunstone and I was flying Tiger Moths there. Met my wife and we got married in ’45 after I finished my tour and I, you know I’d known her for many years, but I decided that I wouldn’t marry. We wouldn’t get married until I finished my tour. So we married in ’45. So we’ve been married seventy five years now.
HB: Wow.
MR: And I went to South Africa. After I, after I’d met her and we became friends I went to South Africa and did my EFTS and SFTS there.
HB: Can I, can I just stop there Maurice?
MR: Yeah.
HB: When you, when you were in Manchester.
MR: Yes.
HB: Obviously you, obviously you were part of a family.
MR: Yes.
HB: What, how big a family did you come from?
MR: Well, there were five children. I was the latest one out of the five. They’re all dead now. And my eldest sister who was the first was twenty years older than me.
HB: Wow.
MR: And I have a niece now who’s over ninety, still living in Manchester. I’m in touch with her by telephone and I’ve been to see her, and we get on well together. We have a big family out there.
HB: Yeah.
MR: But I’ve no family here in Leicester.
HB: Yeah. What about schooling Maurice?
MR: Well, I went to Manchester Central High School, a grammar school and I was, I was a scholarship boy.
HB: Right.
HB: I was a bit out of my depth really socially because they were all fee paying members of this school and I was a scholarship boy.
HB: Right.
HB: And there was two of us actually who’d got to school, eleven plus. And, I presume I did very well in the eleven plus and I went to this school. But I didn’t go to university. I left at fifteen and got a job and started work really.
HB: What, what did you do for a job before the war then Maurice?
MR: Well, before the war I was, I was in, I worked for a firm called Salford Electrical Instruments. They were part of GEC.
HB: Right.
MR: It was a reserved occupation, but because I volunteered for aircrew I could get out of this, this you know being a reserved occupation. So I, and I left. Left the firm.
HB: So, yeah what was your process then for, because obviously you’re in a reserved occupation and you’ve decided you want to do your bit, or you want to join the Air Force, I presume? So what was your process for joining?
MR: Process? Well, I —
HB: How did you come to join?
MR: Well, I just wanted to, you know. Young men did.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And I went to the Recruiting Office and said I wanted to join. I wanted to go into aircrew and they accepted me.
HB: Right. Right.
MR: Twenty years old and I was only a clerk actually in this firm of Salford Electrical Instruments.
HB: So, so you’ve gone down and you’ve joined the RAF.
MR: Yes.
HB: Right. And you’ve, you’ve got to do some training somewhere.
MR: Right. And my first training was at Babbacombe. Well, I joined up. Seven days I spent at Warrington.
HB: Right.
MR: Where you got a uniform and all that but what they call Initial Training Wing, ITW, I went to Babbacombe near, near Bournemouth.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And I was about, there about six weeks, I think.
HB: Is that, was that you all square bashing?
MR: That’s right.
HB: And marching and all that sort of thing.
MR: Yeah, and getting our, yes there was no flying. It was just —
HB: Yeah. Yeah.
MR: It was just as you say square bashing.
HB: Yeah. And then you went from Babbacombe. Did you do an assessment for flying or —
MR: No. I, no I had a medical exam.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And I had an interview by several men. About five I think. I was interviewed for aircrew and they asked me questions like, ‘What is seventeen multiplied by thirteen?’ And I had to think about it in my head, what the, what the answer was, you know. Mentally.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And then they found, obviously they found out I was pretty, my mental ability was quite good and they, I, I passed the exam.
HB: Right.
MR: I had a medical exam apart from that. That was sort of to see that you were quick mentally I suppose.
HB: Yeah. So, so where, where did you, where did you progress from there after your interview? You’ve obviously been accepted for aircrew training.
MR: Yeah.
HB: At what stage did it become apparent you were going to be training as a pilot?
MR: Well [pause] well, at ITW. They were all potential pilots at ITW. Had the little flashes in your beret.
HB: Right.
MR: A little, little white flash in your beret so that you were, you were potential aircrew people.
HB: Right. And you went from the initial training wing, the ITW —
MR: Yes. I went to Canada first of all. To Canada.
HB: How did you get to Canada?
MR: Well, we went by ship.
HB: Wow, from, from —
MR: From, well the Gourock in Scotland. Gourock, I think.
HB: Right. Right. So you go off to Canada.
MR: Yeah. And then from Canada down to Florida.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And I had some training with a civilian because they weren’t at war then. The Americans weren’t. And I had, and I spent some time flying with the Americans. Didn’t go very well though and we came back via Canada. Had to go back to Canada and then I came back to this country.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And I had this Braunstone Aerodrome where I met my wife. My potential wife.
HB: Yeah. So when, when, when you first went to Canada did you go to one of the flying schools there?
MR: No.
HB: Before you went to Florida.
MR: No, no no. I went to just outside of Toronto.
HB: So you went to Toronto first.
MR: Yes. And then, and then from there to America.
HB: So just within a matter of weeks.
HB: That’s right. Yeah.
HB: You were off down to America. Yeah.
MR: And they were all civilian. Civilian pilots.
HB: Yeah.
MR: The instructors were civilians. And nobody was in, it was an American Air Force base but they were civilians who were, who were instructing you to fly.
HB: Right. What sort of aircraft were you flying Maurice?
MR: Well, the PT17s they were. They were like a Tiger Moth. Overgrown Tiger Moths they were.
HB: Yeah. Yeah. So you were down there learning your flying skills.
MR: Yes.
HB: And you said it didn’t go all that well.
MR: Well, they used to curse and swear and things like that, you know. So some of us went, went, some, I have a friend who was an air commodore. He died only last year actually. Lived in Glenfield, and we used to play golf together and he, he was there too and he went on the Empire training. He went to Canada to train. He went from Canada to Florida. Then from Florida went back to Canada and was trained in Canada flying. Real, real flying in Canada where I went, I came home and went to South Africa.
HB: Yeah. So, so when you did your basic flying training in America.
MR: Yes.
HB: Whereabouts in America was that?
MR: In Lakeland. A place called Lakeland in Florida.
HB: In Florida.
MR: Lakeland. Yeah.
HB: Right. And that was all in civilian clothes.
MR: They were. Yeah.
HB: Yeah.
MR: They hadn’t gone to war then.
HB: Yeah. And then you went back to Canada. Did you do any flying training in Canada?
MR: No. No. I didn’t. No.
HB: None at all.
MR: No. No. I went to a place called Moncton.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Under canvas.
HB: Oh blimey.
MR: Below, under forty degrees. Ten degree temperatures. Terrible. And then I came back to England and I did some more flying in, as I say Braunstone Aerodrome which is now an industrial estate. Braunstone isn’t, is no longer an aerodrome. But in 19 — I forget what year it was I met my wife in a tea dance.
HB: Right. I’m just curious. When you went [coughs] you went to Moncton and Trenton.
MR: Yeah.
HB: From, well according to your book —
MR: Well, Trenton —
HB: You were only there [pause] you were only there for two months.
MR: I forget what Trenton was really.
HB: Yeah.
MR: The name sounds familiar but it’s a long time ago. I don’t know why I was at, I remember Moncton but Trenton I don’t.
HB: In, in your, in your logbook it says something like if I’m looking at this right Riccall. R I C C A L L.
MR: R I C P?
HB: Ah. Could be P. Yes. Could be P.
MR: I don’t know.
HB: And that’s, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It just, it just sort of, just for two months.
MR: Yeah.
BW: There. And then you came back and you went to, you went to Bournemouth.
MR: Yeah. That wasn’t near Bournemouth.
HB: Right. Because so when you first came back. Is that when you went to Braunstone?
MR: Yeah. Probably. You know, I can’t remember really very well.
HB: No. No. That’s fine.
MR: It’s a long time ago. It’s seventy years ago.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And I remember being at Braunstone Aerodrome and meeting my wife.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And then from there we went to [pause] Where did we go? I went to South Africa. To Clairwood where we were under canvas there. We had about three months there doing nothing. Not doing anything really. Then went to Potchefstroom for EFTS. From Potchefstroom to Vereeniging for SFTS. And I got my wings when I, at Vereeniging.
HB: What was, what was the SFTS?
MR: SFPS?
HB: Yeah. SFP?
MR: In what context was that?
HB: Sorry. Oh sorry. I thought that was just initials. I do apologise. I thought that was just some initials you’ve given me and I hadn’t heard them before. Yeah. I’ve got Clairwood, Lyttelton, Potchefstroom.
MR: Vereeniging.
HB: Vereeniging.
MR: Then I came home.
HB: Yeah. Came back via Cape Town.
MR: Came back with my wings.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Got my wings there. Came back. Then I went on to, well, we went to Airspeed, to Chipping Norton flying Airspeed Oxfords.
HB: Right.
MR: Twin engine aircraft. And Wellingtons. And later on Wellingtons. Then Lossiemouth four engine aircraft. From Lossiemouth I went to the squadron when I picked up my crew. And then went to Lossiemouth trained up there on four engine aircraft, on Halifaxes. Then I was posted to a squadron. 51 Squadron.
HB: So your crew formed up at the Operational —
MR: No, before.
HB: Conversion Unit.
MR: Before I went to Lossiemouth.
HB: Right.
MR: I, I, you formed a crew. You went into a room with navigators and gunners and pilots all in this room and you chatted to people and eventually you got a navigator and a couple of gunners and a bomb aimer.
HB: Right.
MR: And then you went up to Lossiemouth and we all trained together on these, in Lossiemouth on these four engine, four engine Halifaxes.
HB: Yeah. So, so the crew that you ended up doing your tour with was that same crew that you formed up with?
MR: Well, apart from one young chap who came. He was, now what was he now? A flight engineer. That was it. And he was only about eighteen and we were only twenty, in early twenties but he was eighteen but somehow he seemed much younger. And he put me, on the Halifaxes, the first Halifaxes you had to go back and change the engines. You had four, four, four fuel tanks, you know in your wings and when one was empty it had to be changed to a full one on your trip. And this chap had to go and you used to say, ‘Right,’ Well, I told him to go back and change. Well, we’re on our way back from a raid and he put me on empty tanks and all engines cut out. We dived down. And he was too nervous. Ever so nervous this chap was. So, I said to him, he went back and I said, ‘This chap is no good. This flight engineer.’ And he went back to training school, this lad. But other than that I had the same crew.
HB: Right.
MR: Other than that one.
HB: Yeah.
HB: I got another flight engineer.
HB: So you went to the Conversion Unit and then you were posted to —
MR: 51 Squadron in Snaith, South Yorkshire.
HB: Yeah. I just had a quick look in your logbook and the, we are starting in —
MR: Well, I go. The first trip was I went with another crew as a pilot to see what it was like on a trip to Germany. That was the very first thing. I went with another crew to see. The very first thing and then I came back and then I flew an aircraft with my own crew.
HB: So I’ve got, I’ve got you down as 25th of October 1944 and that was with a Flight Lieutenant Ripper.
MR: Right.
HB: And you went that, well it’s in black, it’s in black ink so it looks like a daytime thing to Essen.
MR: Yeah. Well, I think —
HB: And you were second pilot as you say.
MR: Yeah. That was it. Well, I went —
HB: Yeah.
MR: Just to see what it was like, you know.
HB: Yeah.
HB: It was part of the training really.
HB: Yeah. Because, because I was interested in this. It’s one thing and again it’s something I’ve not seen before. On the 30th of October you’ve got yourself as the pilot. And then where it says second pilot or passenger you’ve got six people in there.
MR: Well, the bomb aimer used to act as second pilot. The bomb aimer.
HB: Yeah.
MR: He was a Canadian actually. And he acted, when you took off he acted as second pilot when you took off.
HB: Yeah.
MR: When you opened, when you open the four throttles he put his hand behind them to hold them firm.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Not to slide back when you took off. But —
HB: Because that was —
MR: But he wasn’t a second pilot. He was a bomb aimer. That was his job was bomb aimer.
HB: Because that was an operation.
MR: That was an operation.
HB: To Cologne. And it just says landed away.
MR: Landed away.
HB: Yeah. It says landed away.
MR: One, there was one thing where a lot of fog was on when we came back and we landed at Manston where they had a, they had three in the country, great long, a hundred, a hundred yards wide flare path. Yeah. You know, where you took off on the, on the flare path.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And a hundred yards wide, it was great and about a mile long and they had, when you had the fog they had a long on the edge of each side of the flare path. They had burners with the heat so the fog would rise you know with the heat.
HB: Right. Yeah.
MR: And that’s when you couldn’t land at your own airport.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And there was one time when I landed at Manston which was south of, I forget where it was. In Kent somewhere, I think.
HB: Yeah.
MR: At Manston. They had three around the coast for people coming back where you couldn’t land on, or if the aircraft was damaged so badly you could, you could land on this thing because it was so, it was so big. The flare path was so big. It was a hundred yards wide.
HB: Because you got I mean you’ve, you are really in to, you know November.
MR: Yeah.
HB: 1944. You’re really into a lot of operations there.
MR: Yeah.
HB: And on the 2nd of December you, you did an operation to Hagen.
MR: Yes.
HB: And all you’ve got in your logbook is mid-upper injured.
MR: Well, we got back from a raid and we’d been, we’d been hit several times but this chap was a mid-upper gunner sitting in the thing, and the hydraulic behind exploded because —
HB: Right.
MR: It had been hit you see. It exploded. This, the hydraulic thing. Cylinders of hydraulics.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Where the crew sat on your landing because we all left our stations and sat in the body of the aircraft. The crew did when we landed. And it blew the top of his head off.
HB: Oh blimey.
MR: The mid-upper gunner. And he never came, he went to, he was in hospital for twelve months but he survived. They put a plate in his head and he lived ‘til he was about seventy. I met him again two or three times after the war in 51 Squadron reunions. Yeah.
HB: What, can you remember what his name was?
[pause]
MR: He was from Manchester actually.
HB: Oh right.
MR: No. I can’t. I can’t think of his name now.
HB: No. I understand. So, and yeah and then you, as I say you really did do an awful lot of operations then. You’re going through what six, seven, eight. And you’ve got January the 2nd 1945. You’re going to Ludwigshafen.
MR: Ludwigshafen. Yeah.
HB: And you’ve got in your plane you’ve got Sergeant Brown, Warrant Officer Stone, Flight Sergeant Swan, Sergeant Haywood, Sergeant Tovey and Sergeant Smith.
MR: Say them. The last three. Sergeant —
HB: The last three. Sergeant Haywood.
MR: Yes.
HB: Sergeant Tovey.
MR: Yeah.
HB: And Sergeant Smith.
MR: Well, Smith was the rear gunner. The mid-upper gunner must have been Haywood, I think.
HB: He’s the one that replaced the guy who was injured.
MR: No. The flight engineer was replaced. Not a gunner. A flight engineer.
HB: Right.
MR: Oh yes. Sorry.
HB: Yeah.
MR: You’re quite right.
HB: Yeah. Yeah.
MR: He replaced the gunner. Yeah.
HB: So I’m, you see that, that one gives the list of the names. And then from then on again we’re back to just saying crew. So —
MR: Right.
HB: So would that have been your crew then for the next —
MR: Yeah.
HB: Set of operations.
MR: That would be. Yes. Yes.
HB: Right.
HB: That would be until the end of my tour. Yes.
HB: Right. Sorry about this. The pages are a little bit on the sticky side.
MR: Yeah.
HB: And you get through to February and you’ve, you’ve again you’ve landed away after you’ve done operation in March to Chemnitz [coughs] excuse me.
MR: There’s one —
HB: In your crew here you’ve got a Flight Sergeant Brewitt.
MR: Who?
HB: Brewitt. Brewiss.
MR: He was the, must have been the flight engineer I think.
HB: Right. Right. But, but as I say you then you really do a lot of operations in a very short space of time.
MR: Yeah. Well, there was one time when we came back from a raid, had a meal and went off again.
HB: Blimey.
MR: And we slept for, the rear gunner slept for thirty six hours after we got back. And they gave me wakey wakey pills when we, yeah we went off again. We did two trips.
HB: Blimey. So —
MR: A meal in between that’s all.
HB: Tell me about the wakey wakey pills then.
MR: Well, every time you went. Before a raid you had a good meal. Egg and bacon and chips or something like that.
HB: Yeah.
MR: We had good food. I know that the country as a whole didn’t do very well for food but they fed us very well and before we walked in they always gave us a wakey wakey. I think they were benecon or I forget the name. Benedrine. But the wakey wakey pills were so when you went on a trip you were wide awake you know.
HB: Yeah.
HB: They kept you going. The wakey wakey pills we called them. And as you went in for your meal before the trip there was a girl there used to give you these two tablets.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And we called them wakey wakey pills.
HB: Did you always take them Maurice?
MR: Oh yes. You had to.
HB: Yeah.
MR: You had to have them. Keep you, I mean one time I went to Chemnitz which was near Dresden. It was an eight hour trip.
HB: Yes. Yes. A long trip that one. Eight hours thirty five.
MR: Yeah. Eight hours.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And the funny thing is coming back from one of those trips we went between Ludwigshafen and Mannheim and Ludwigshafen was full of searchlights and Mannheim was full of searchlights but if you went in between them going to Chemnitz the searchlights couldn’t catch you. On the way back I was, my navigator was, my navigator was a good one and we were on track in between these two. But on the left hand side I saw a bomber, another bomber, this was in the dark but I just saw him and he was going over Mannheim and all of the searchlights swung through and caught him. This chap.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And you couldn’t get out of this. There were about thirty or forty searchlights and they were harnessed to the ack ack and we, they used to have then what they called flaming onions. Not your normal ack ack gun. These flaming onions were like five things that rose up briefly and they were harnessed to the, the searchlights. But this chap, I saw these bombs explode on his height about thirty yards behind him and I saw another about fifteen yards and a third lot caught him and the aircraft was just blown sky high. And when, everyone inside it. Seven. There were seven, they were off track. And you were talking about the Germans. You know, they got their technical, Dresden and that. These the technical thing. They were just as good as we were in their technical ability.
HB: Yeah.
MR: The Germans were.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And they didn’t, if they could, they got the height speed and direction of the aircraft from the searchlights attached to the end, and the bombs you know the flaming onions caught you, you know they were sent up to catch you. And I was caught in searchlights over one target but fortunately the, after the bombs went there was some cloud and I went over the cloud and the searchlight lost me. I was fortunate to get away.
HB: Yeah. So in, as I say you flew an awful lot of operations in a relatively tight sort of time.
MR: Yeah.
HB: What, what, what would you think when you, when you think back, what do you think was your worst, your worst operation?
MR: Well, the one that really stuck in my mind I was, I had several bad ones but the one that really stuck in my mind I got back to the base, to Snaith in Yorkshire after a raid, and they said we’re, the fog, ‘You are diverted to Lincolnshire.’ To RAF so and so. I said to the navigator, ‘Give me course for this air base.’ And there was a bit of silence. Then he said, ‘I haven’t got the maps for it.’ So, oh dear. We’re in trouble now. So I thought, well we, I went due east towards Lincolnshire from Yorkshire and towards the North Sea and when I felt, and it was all black down below you know with the blackout and I thought now what’s going to happen now? I called up, ‘Hello Darkie. Hello Darkie.’ And somebody answered down below but that didn’t help me [laughs] And I thought now what am I going to do? Am I going to get the crew to bale out and then I’ll bale out and I’ll set the aircraft for the North Sea and when all the fuel runs out it’ll drop out in the North Sea. And as I, as I was thinking this I was, you know I was in a bit of a state really and I saw a light. One light. So I went, I flew towards this one light and as I got near it there was three lights and what it was I don’t know if you know but during the war all the aircraft, the aerodromes they had hooded, they were all hooded so you had to be in the right position to see the lights.
HB: Yeah.
MR: If you came the other way it was black because they were, there were all these lights around the aerodrome were hooded, hooded lights. And anyway, when I got to this one light I was telling you about I saw two others, and what it was it was a ring of light around the aerodrome. They put their lights on for me, this aerodrome. It wasn’t the one I was supposed to be [laughs] but it was one near there. So I followed the lights around the aerodrome and they took me down to the flare path and I landed and we were okay.
HB: Yeah.
MR: But it was, it was a terrible, because you’re in a situation where you don’t know what to, you don’t know what to do really. I mean the obvious thing was to bale out and send the aircraft in the North Sea.
HB: Yeah.
MR: But it was a bit drastic. But I happened to see this one light and having seen this one light I saw the others and then I saw the, the circle of lights around the aerodrome and they took me onto the flare path.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And we landed.
HB: So you obviously, you obviously as you say you’d had a bit of a rough going over on that one and, and —
MR: Well, you know I had one trip when I had a two thousand bomb wouldn’t, wouldn’t release in the body, or the incendiary and the wheel went off but this this two thousand pound bomb wouldn’t go. So I was a bit worried about it because I tried to shake it off over the North Sea coming back but it wouldn’t go. So I had to land with it. And I thought now landing it might set it off. I told them when I, but fortunately we had a very good, good, in fact the crew said it’s the best landing I’d ever done [laughs]
HB: I think there was an incentive there.
MR: A two thousand pound bomb on board on landing. It didn’t go off.
HB: So so you’d got that bomb hung up and you said you tried to shake it off.
HB: Yeah.
HB: How did, how would you have done that Maurice?
MR: Well, just shake the aircraft. You know. With the wheel. Just shake it. You know, shake the aircraft and let it go. But it didn’t go.
HB: So whose job was it to take the bomb off?
MR: The armoury when we got back. The armoury took it off. The ground staff. Armourers.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And it, it must have got tied up somehow. I don’t know. I don’t. I didn’t ask.
HB: I’ll tell you one of the things you mentioned earlier on Maurice was you said about coming in to land.
MR: Yes.
HB: When the crew gathered in —
MR: In the centre of the aircraft.
HB: In the centre of the aircraft.
MR: Yes.
HB: Would that be where the main spar went through on the Halifax?
MR: Well, the main spar was just behind the pilot.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And the two pilot’s seats. Then, then the spar, the main spar. Then there was a seat on, a seat for three or four on this side and a seat for three or four on that side. And then the door to get out of it was a bit farther down and a chemical toilet somewhere.
HB: Yeah.
MR: You know.
HB: So, so obviously I’m presuming that at some stage you’re fully in position in the aircraft. Everybody is in the right place.
MR: Yeah. Yes.
HB: And at some stage you’ve got to decide that it’s safe for the rear gunner and the mid-upper gunner to leave their positions. When would you —
MR: We were home. We’re home now. We’re going around the, around the perimeter.
HB: So it’s, so it’s as you were doing your circuit to land that you would do that. Yeah.
MR: Something like that, yeah. I’d tell them, alright we’ll be landing in about ten minutes or five minutes or something like that.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Will you, now you can go. I’d instruct the crew to go and sit down.
HB: Right.
MR: As we landed. Yeah.
HB: And that was a safety thing I presume.
MR: Well, it was a thing we had to do. We were told that’s what and, yes.
HB: Yeah. Yeah, so —
MR: You wouldn’t want the rear gunner sitting in the rear, when you landed, would you?
HB: No. No. No. So you, you’re doing your operations. You’re based out at Snaith.
MR: Yeah.
HB: In Yorkshire.
MR: Yeah.
HB: Because you weren’t far from Goole.
MR: Well, Goole had got the lake. That was, Goole was the, that was a big lake there near Goole and that was a very good spot to follow you to get back to.
HB: Oh right. Yeah. As a obviously as a sighting thing.
MR: Yes.
HB: Yeah. So, what, I mean you’d met your wife or your future wife some time ago so, what was your social life like when you were on, on at Snaith? Did you have much a social life?
MR: No. We had, we had what they called a stand down, and you had to leave. You could, when you had a stand down you could leave the aerodrome until midnight.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And you would probably get a lorry or something to take you in to Pontefract which was nearest big town. We used to go and I think we had two. Two stand downs in my nine months I was operating. Only two. Other than those two we were stuck in and when there was a raid on, because my wife used to, she was in Maidstone in Kent. She used to ring up actually. She wasn’t my wife then but she used to ring. Yes, was she? I don’t know. Anyway. She used to ring up and to see if I was alright you know. And if, if she couldn’t get through she knew there was a raid on because when there was a raid on they, they stopped all the communication with the outside world. The station did.
HB: Right.
MR: The bomber station. And then she’d ring the next day and when we’d, to see if I was alright. If I’d got back alright. You know.
HB: So, it was quite a bit of a long distance relationship then.
MR: Oh, yeah. Well in —
HB: Yeah.
MR: Mind you she was in the ATS for two years.
HB: Yeah.
MR: She was called up actually. She had a choice of either munitions or the ATS because the WAAF and the WRNS were full and so she only had the ATS to go in.
HB: Right.
MR: So she went in the ATS.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Rather than go in munitions. Yeah.
HB: Yeah. So you, so you’re coming towards the end of your tour.
MR: Yes.
HB: We know you’d lost a flight engineer.
MR: Yes.
HB: Which is probably understandable from what you’ve described. You’ve lost a mid-upper gunner.
MR: Yes.
HB: So the bulk of the crew were still there towards the end of your tour.
MR: Oh yes.
HB: So how, how close had you become by then?
MR: Well, fairly close but then of course like many things in the RAF you, I go to 10 Squadron on my own and I pick up another crew.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Of four.
HB: Yeah.
HB: Different people, you know. And the RAF is like that. You don’t, it’s not like the Army where you’re with them all the time and you’ve lost them. They’ve gone. Although strangely enough I went out to, I think it was India. I met my navigator. He’d been posted to a place in, in India too as a navigator. Teaching you know. Something like that.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Yeah.
HB: So that was, that was obviously that was the follow on question Maurice.
MR: Yes.
HB: Was did you manage to keep in contact with all of them?
MR: Well, after the war the navigator was a member of the 51 Squadron Association.
HB: Yeah.
MR: And I and I joined it too so we met there two or three times with our wives. We came to dances and all that but now of course when, I three or four years ago I resigned from it because all the people were new. I didn’t know. They were all young people.
HB: Yeah.
MR: All the, all the old people that started this Association in 1944, this 51 Squadron Association you know for ex-people and they were all wartime people and we used to chat and all that. But now, later on, they’d all, they’d all died and — [laughs]
HB: Yeah.
HB: There was no point so I resigned from it.
HB: Yeah. It’s sad. So, so you’ve had your contact with your navigator. You’ve just mentioned there you then moved from 51 Squadron to 10 Squadron.
MR: Yes.
HB: But before you actually went there and this intrigues me because again it’s something I’ve not seen before. In May 1945 you flew two, four, six, eight, ten. You flew twelve operations in May from the 13th to the 21st and all it says is bomb disposal.
MR: Yes. Well, what happened we used, we went out and dropped bombs, the bombs that we had in the North Sea. The war had finished so we spent a lot of time carrying bombs out to the North Sea and dropping them in the water. In the North Sea. Bombs that they didn’t want.
HB: Right. And that was, was that just from where you were or did you have to go and sort of pick them up?
MR: No. Driffield or somewhere like that.
HB: Yeah. Yeah.
MR: I was posted to, I think it was Driffield.
HB: Yeah. And then as I say you moved, you moved across to 10 squadron at Melbourne in Yorkshire.
MR: Yeah.
HB: And you were still, you were then flying. You changed in the June ’45.
MR: Yeah.
HB: To the Dakota.
MR: Yeah.
HB: Did you have, did you have to do a conversion course?
MR: No. I—
HB: Or was it just a case —
MR: Well, I went down to Witney. No. I didn’t have a conversion course. Only the fact that this itself was a conversion course flying these Dakotas. We just got in the aircraft and flew them. Twin engines aircraft. They were ever so easy to fly and out of the four engine bombers they were very easy, the Dakotas were to fly. Twin engine little, they weren’t very powerful but they were a very, very good aircraft and the brakes were much better. Brakes, than on the old four engine bombers.
HB: Yeah. Yeah.
MR: And we were, we were flying paratroops, and towing gliders. We were training, we were all training, both the paratroopers and we were training for going out to the Far East, you know.
HB: Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned that to me before we started the interview about going out to the Far East because you know it’s, we’ve got to September.
MR: Well, the war finished I think very soon after.
HB: Yeah.
MR: The Far East war.
HB: Yeah. But you did actually get out to —
MR: I went out there because, we went there because it was all laid on to help the 14th Army but they’d driven the Japs out and we spent most of our time, well first of all we carrying troops back home to Karachi where they we were picked home and taken home on demob. Then we, then we all went to [unclear] where we dropped rice. Free drops. We dived down. They made a dropping zone with the aircraft and we dived down on a free drop. Couldn’t put them in parachutes because they might go into the ravines you see. So we had to, down to about fifty feet. The crew threw the half-filled bags of rice out of the aircraft then we, when they’d gone we had to climb. I had to climb like mad to avoid the peaks around. And we lost three aircraft actually the squadron did on that.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Because, you know it could be a bit dangerous really.
HB: So you went down to how, how low?
MR: To where?
HB: How low were you when you were dropping them? Fifty feet?
MR: Yeah. Well, they had, the crew had to drop them on a DZ. Dropping zone.
HB: Yeah. Yeah.
MR: Throw them out. Yeah. Throw them out because we couldn’t, they couldn’t go in parachutes because there was ravines, deep ravines and they’d never get them.
HB: Yeah. Yeah.
MR: So we had what we called a free drop. We had to dive down, the crew threw out the bags of rice and then we’d, when they’d thrown them all out we’d climb like mad to avoid, and go back.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Turn around and climb. But you couldn’t, couldn’t turn around because of the peaks on either side. We had to go over the top and turn. They were sixteen thousand feet high these peaks.
HB: Yeah.
MR: In the Himalayas.
HB: And as a pilot was it, was it a difficult flying experience?
MR: Well, that was but that was only six weeks dropping that rice. But other than that it was quite an easy job. It was just taking troops back to, well, we picked them up from the east, Madras and at an aerodrome called Arkonham. Flew across to Poona and then took them up to Karachi in the north and they were picked up in Karachi by some other aircraft and taken home.
HB: Yeah. And you, and you were doing that all the way through until you ended up in Burma.
MR: Well, yes and when I got back. When we finished in Burma I went back to Poona [pause] and what happened then? Oh, I was on a troop ship. My demob came up fairly soon but they, I had to fly an aircraft back. A lease lend. On a lease lend the Americans in Munich. So, a little twin, a lovely little aircraft. They were used as like taxies for the important people in India and that you know. They didn’t, they didn’t go by rail and that. These marshals and generals and people like that. So they had these aircraft the Americans supplied. Then they had to go back to the Americans after the war in Munich. And I flew an aircraft across India, across the Indian Ocean, up the Persian Gulf and then across, across the Med and across to Marseilles and then to Paris. Then Paris to London to Munich. And I got in there, I think I’ve got it somewhere, one Dakota one aircraft, you know signed for by an American staff sergeant. One aircraft delivered.
HB: So, then that would have been, that would have been May 1946.
MR: Yes.
HB: Was that the Beechcraft?
MR: That’s right. Beech.
HB: It was a Beechcraft.
MR: I can remember the aircraft.
HB: Yeah.
MR: It was a Beechcraft.
HB: Yeah.
MR: A little twin engine, twin engine Beechcraft. A lovely aircraft.
HB: I can just, just about read it. It’s the one, it’s the last page.
MR: All electric. The undercarriage, you just put a switch up and the undercarriage came up. You didn’t have to put a lever down or anything like you did in the old Halifaxes.
HB: Yeah.
MR: You just switched up. Knocked this switch up and the undercarriage came up.
HB: Yeah. Because it, because it’s on this page here and it’s the only page you’ve done in pencil and it’s just starting to fade a little bit.
MR: Yeah. When I, and it’s not in the logbook but this trip I made from, from, I went up to north west India and flew this Beechcraft home. Well, I didn’t fly it home. I flew it to Munich. Not in. It’s not in there.
HB: Oh no. It’s in here.
MR: What? All the trip?
HB: It went, you went from Chopta.
MR: Where?
HB: Chopta to Bahrain. Bahrain to Kuwait. Kuwait to Haifa. Haifa to Cairo. Cairo to Tel Aviv.
MR: That’s it. Yeah. That’s it.
HB: Tel Aviv to Castel something.
MR: Castel Benito.
HB: Castel Benito. Then you went to —
MR: Marseilles.
HB: Marseilles.
MR: It’s there is it? Oh.
HB: Paris, Munich.
MR: That’s it. Yeah.
HB: And you finished at Bovington [laughs]
MR: Well, my mate flew me back home to Bovington for —
HB: Yeah.
HB: I had my demob there. I got a suit from them.
HB: From the Americans?
MR: No. it was in this country.
HB: Oh [laughs] Yeah. I was joking Maurice.
MR: When I was, when I was demobbed.
HB: Yeah. It’s, no it’s, now that’s interesting because it’s, a Beechcraft is quite a small aircraft.
MR: Oh yes. Well, it was I say it was used as a taxi.
HB: Yeah. Yeah. Flying backwards and forwards in that.
MR: There were only about four seats in it. Behind the pilot was a, there was no dividing thing you know. Just four seats behind you when you flew it.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Four or six. I forget now whether it was four or six seats for people to sit there.
HB: Yeah.
MR: It was a tad silly really but the Americans it was on a lease lend and they had to go back to the Americans when the war finished.
HB: Now, when I spoke to you to arrange the interview and having spoken to your son.
MR: Yes.
HB: You’ve sort of skated over something that happened to you involving being torpedoed.
MR: Oh, that was, that was in, yes, when I left Canada to come back I came back, it was in January. When I came back there was, there was three troopships and two destroyers in the North Atlantic, and I think there was someone in the Canadian customs who was a German sympathiser and he was in touch with the U-boats. So when we left this Halifax place to come with these troopships with these two destroyers the U-boats waited for us. And the first night out we had I don’t know how many alarms we had with U-boats. And then we, a bit later on apparently one of the torpedoes was heading straight for a troop ship, I’m talking about five thousand troops on board, heading for this troop ship and a Dutch destroyer sailed in the way of it. The captain, he arranged for the destroyer to sail in the path and the torpedo blew up the destroyer and they had two survivors. And then the one, the one destroyer was circling round and round and round. And when they had [pause] when we got back to Liverpool they had a collection for the crew which is most unusual in wartime. Having a collection because they were so grateful to this destroyer. You know looked after them so well.
HB: Yeah.
MR: The crew.
HB: It’s sad. It’s sad losing all those guys.
MR: You don’t hear about these things do you really? Generally.
HB: Well, it’s because people like you Maurice don’t talk about them.
MR: Yes.
HB: Or haven’t talked about them until now.
MR: Yeah.
HB: Yeah. I mean you’re right, you know a collection for a crew of a destroyer, you know.
MR: And, and that, it could be quite a bit of money. All these troops. They weren’t just troopships. There were important people on board too you know.
HB: Yeah.
MR: People who were going home to England. Important people who travelled. I don’t know.
HB: Yeah. Yeah. So, we’ve, we’ve got you back to Bovington.
MR: Yes.
HB: You got married in 1945.
MR: Oh yes.
HB: So that would have been before you went out to India.
MR: Before I went to India. Yeah.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Yeah. I had one week’s leave [laughs] I got married. One week’s leave and then I was away for nearly twelve months in India and Burma.
HB: That’s, now, that is a long distance relationship.
MR: [laughs] Yeah. The only communication we had were by, I used to write her letters and I think there’s still some that’s upstairs.
HB: Yes.
MR: I must, I must get rid of those too. Those letters. I don’t want other people reading them.
HB: Well [laughs] but so you’ve, you’ve come back. You’ve gone to Bovington.
MR: Yeah.
HB: To be demobbed.
MR: Right.
HB: And ⸻
MR: I’ve got to get myself a job after.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Had a fortnight’s leave and then I’d got to find a job. I went to Jones and Shipman.
HB: Which is an engineering company.
MR: Yes. It is.
HB: In Leicester.
MR: It was.
HB: Or was.
MR: It’s gone now.
HB: Yeah. And what did, what sort of engineering did you do there, Maurice?
MR: I wasn’t an engineer. I was on the commercial side and I only had three years with Jones and Shipman. Then I went to Perry Parkers, and they were [laughs] they were a family firm. I was on exports there. Commercial again. Then I went to Richard’s and I spent thirty years with Richard’s and I retired from Richard’s.
HB: And what did Richard’s do?
MR: Well, they were structural. They were structural engineers. They used to have these structures with, you know RSJs and beams and things, and also they had a foundry too. What they called meehanite foundry. It was like a superior cast iron. Cast iron thing they made in the foundry.
HB: Yeah. And you were there for thirty years.
MR: Yeah. I was commercial manager actually.
HB: Yeah. So —
MR: All the buying and all the commercial side.
HB: Yeah. When, when, when you look back now you know not having really talked much about the war but you’re looking back now from being one hundred years old.
MR: Yeah.
HB: What, what do you think you took into your life from your wartime experience?
MR: Oh well, it made a man of me actually I think. I was only a boy when I went in and I had led a fairly sheltered, although not a, we weren’t, we weren’t particularly wealthy. We were, well we were poor really in Manchester but it, it made me a leader. It did me a lot of good really being in the RAF. In the fact, that it built my character I think to not worry about, it doesn’t bother me about people or anything really. I wasn’t, I wasn’t afraid of dying. I didn’t want to get wounded but I was never afraid of dying, not even on trips. I wasn’t scared of going on trips.
HB: Right.
MR: I don’t know why that was. I never felt frightened at all because I didn’t, it didn’t worry me if I got killed really before, that was before I was married of course.
HB: Yes. Yes. Of course. And, and, and that experience obviously took you through. You mention leadership.
MR: Yeah.
HB: And, and that sort of brings you back to how close you worked with your crew.
MR: Yeah.
HB: And you led them and you took that forward but with your crew as a group of men together do you think that worked for them as well? Having you as the pilot.
MR: Well, it could do but you were the boss actually. There was no question. Whatever you said went. If you said, ‘Bale out.’ They’d bale out. Or anything, you know. You, you were like a captain of a ship really, I suppose. Your word was law and there was no, they never questioned it. I remember coming back from a raid once and the rear gunner said, ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘I think there’s a fighter. I can’t, can’t quite see it.’ So he said, ‘I’m not sure.’ So I did a corkscrew you see and he said, ‘Oh you’re alright. No. Don’t worry. Don’t get bloody mad.’ Something like that. I said, ‘Who the bloody hell are you talking to?’ [laughs] And of course he shut up then.
HB: Yeah.
MR: But that’s just an instance of your life you know.
HB: Yeah. I can, yeah I can understand that. I can understand that. So you marry.
MR: When I finished my tour I got married.
HB: You married Sylvia.
MR: Had a week’s leave and then to —
HB: Yeah.
MR: I went to India.
HB: And you set up home here in Leicester.
MR: Well, yeah. I lived in Braunstone actually for, when my, there was houses being built. Twelve hundred pound they were. Houses being built, two up and two down and I had one of those in, just off Braunstone Lane and I lived there for about two years. And then I, in this area, this is in 1952 I think I bought this plot where the house is built. I had an architect and we built the house. We built this house and I’ve lived here for sixty odd years. My wife and I have had sixty years in this house. She’s now in Kirby House.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Care home. But we had sixty, and I’ve lived here for sixty eight, excuse me sixty eight years. And the house was built with the architect and I mean things like the picture window there and the hatch was ours. You know. We wanted that.
HB: Yes.
MR: Sylvia and I. And he, you know was a good architect. All his, every window in the house looks out on the back garden. Three bedrooms. Three bedroom windows. And the architect was very good.
HB: Yeah. That’s lovely.
MR: And we’ve liked this house. We’ve always been very happy in it.
HB: Yeah. Well, we’ve sort of naturally come to an end —
MR: Right.
HB: Of the interview, Maurice and I thank you.
MR: Well, thank you for coming any way.
HB: Well, it’s, and I don’t say this lightly it’s, it’s a privilege really to be able to get you to tell your story and to have your story recorded.
MR: Yeah.
HB: And I thank you for that and I’m sure in the future when people look in to what Bomber Command did in years to come somewhere in there, there will be this little comment from —
MR: Yeah.
HB: From Maurice Roberts.
MR: Well that’s nice to know, you know.
HB: Yes.
MR: And I’ve got this this thing. This aircrew medal plus.
HB: Yeah.
MR: That David Cameron, well it would be, and bar that’s it.
HB: The clasp. Yeah.
MR: The aircrew. And I’ve also got the medal from the French government. The Legion d’Honneur.
HB: Yeah.
MR: Have you seen that?
HB: No. What, what I’ll do now is I will terminate the interview if I may —
MR: Yes.
HB: And we’ll go on to the other bits, because there’s bits of paperwork.
MR: Right.
HB: So, thank you again Maurice.
MR: Ok.
HB: And we’ll just stop the interview.
MR: Right.
HB: I normally say the time but I can’t see the time. So, it’s twelve something I think. Oh dear.
MR: That’s not going that clock. The time. Look at my watch. That’s the correct time.
HB: It’s ten minutes past twelve.
MR: Right.
HB: Thank you.
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 Maurice Roberts
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Harry Bartlett
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
2020-02-19
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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ARobertsM200219, PRobertsM2001
Format
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00:54:47 audio recording
Description
An account of the resource
Born in Manchester, he was 20 years old in 1940 when he joined up and volunteered for aircrew. He trained in South Africa, Canada (Moncton and Trenton), the Unites States (Lakeland), and was torpedoed in the Atlantic on his way back. Maurice flew Tiger Moths, Oxfords, Wellingtons, and Halifaxes. After being stationed at a Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Lossiemouth, he was posted to 51 Squadron at RAF Snaith. He recollects operations to Essen, Cologne, Ludwigshafen and Chemnitz, mentioning 8-hour trips made possible by amphetamines ('Wakey-wakey' pills), heavy anti-aircraft fire, FIDO, and bomb-struck aircraft. On another occasion they were diverted to a Lincolnshire airfield for which they had not got the maps and couldn’t locate it. Having resigned to the fact that they would have to set a course out over the North Sea and then bale out, at the last moment Maurice spotted a light on the airfield and was able to land safely. They once had to land with a 2000 lb bomb still on board, which his crew considered the best landing he had ever done. In May 1945, he did 12 operations for bomb disposal in the North Sea, taking off from RAF Driffield. In June, with 10 Squadron and a new crew at RAF Melbourne, he flew C-47s training for operations on Japan, then was posted to the Far East. While stationed in Karachi, Maurice dropped supplies in the jungle. Demobilised in 1946, he pursued a career in engineering retiring as a manager – Maurice maintains that wartime service helped built his character. He stayed in touch with other 51 Squadron veterans through their association. In addition to his decorations, he was awarded the Legion of Honour.
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
Scotland--Moray
England--Yorkshire
Canada
Ontario
Ontario--Trenton
New Brunswick
New Brunswick--Moncton
United States
Florida
Florida--Lakeland
South Africa
Germany
Germany--Essen
Germany--Cologne
Atlantic Ocean--North Sea
Pakistan
Pakistan--Karachi
Germany--Chemnitz
Germany--Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Germany--Ruhr (Region)
South Africa--Vereeniging
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1944-10-25
1944-12-02
1945-01-02
1945-05
1945-06
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Graham Emmet
Steve Baldwin
Julie Williams
Carolyn Emery
10 Squadron
51 Squadron
aircrew
anti-aircraft fire
bomb disposal
bomb struck
bombing
C-47
FIDO
Halifax
Heavy Conversion Unit
Oxford
pilot
RAF Driffield
RAF Lossiemouth
RAF Snaith
searchlight
submarine
Tiger force
Tiger Moth
training
Wellington
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/501/22545/MCurnockRM1815605-171114-013.1.pdf
02ecffc5d25beadfdc92ed9105027c18
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.
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION
NEWS SHEET
[Drawing]
President
MRS J. O . ASSELIN, M.B.E.
Vice-President
E. A. MACNUTT, C.B.E.
Hon. Secretary
MRS. E. I. BAROTT
Hon Treasurer
MAJOR F. S. MOLSON
Honorary President
MRS. VINCENT MASSEY
Honorary Vice-Presidents
Wing Officer W. WALKER, M.B.E.
HON CHARLES G. POWER
R. A. LAIDLAW
Editor – HAZEL WANKLYN
News Sheets No. 42 150A Sun Life Building, Montreal, P. Q. May 1945
VICTORY IN EUROPE
In September 1939, Europe was plunged into a war of unprecedented destruction and brutality. A war fought not between armed forces alone but bringing devastation and death to civilians and unprotected cities.
To combat an enemy such as Germany, prepared for war in every phase both material and mental, the Allied Nations were forced to reconstruct in the shortest possible time their production programmes, their economic system and the entire point of view of their peace-loving populations. During this period of change-over, many European countries were over-run and dominated by the enemy. Then, the Allied war machine started moving relentlessly, resolutely and undefeatable it assaulted the fortressed European shores; France, Belgium, the Netherlands were freed and our victorious armies moved forward into Germany. Today their task is done, in the midst of ruined cities that once were proud European capitals, Germany lies, defeated – utterly and irrevocably.
What does Victory in Europe mean to the world? It means the end of the first phase of World War II, the liberation of hundreds of thousand [sic] of Allied prisoners of war and civilian internees; it means the end of fear and anxiety for the families of these prisoners; it also means the tragic realization that thousands of Canada’s finest young men will never come home. It means a moment of jubilant rejoicing before the full Allied recourses are brought into force in the Pacific area to crush the Japanese with the same unconditional thoroughness. Mr. Churchill has told us that “this is only time for a momentary pause” which is an apt reminder of the task still ahead of us, for no Victory can be complete until our men in the Far East are restored to their homes and World Peace is no longer a dream but a reality.
[Page break]
2 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
EDITORIAL NOTES
All Correspondence to the Association should be addressed to the Secretary, Mrs E. I. Barott, C.P.O.W.R.A., 150-A Sun Life Building, Montreal. Relatives are invited to submit their problems and difficulties which will receive prompt and sympathetic attention.
[Underlined] IN MEMORIAM [/underlined]
With the death of President Roosevelt which came as a tragic shock to the world, the United States has lost a great leader, the Allied Nations a great champion of the cause for which they are fighting, and Canada a well-loved friend.
To the family of the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt and to the American people, we offer our deep and sincere sympathy.
R.C.A.F. TO WELCOME LIBERATED P.O.W. AIRMEN IN ENGLAND
According to a Reuters despatch, when the 2,500 Canadian airmen who have been prisoners of war in Germany are released, they will find a warm welcome waiting for them in England, organized by the R.C.A.F., a forerunner of the one they will receive in Canada.
They will be provided with a double ration of food while convalescing in Great Britain as well as new clothing.
Entertainment will not be lacking at the south coastal town of Bournemouth, the headquarters of the “Welcome Project”.
Liberated prisoners will recover their personal belongings at a reception and distribution centre, and finally they will be given two weeks furlough with free rail transportation to anywhere in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
CANADIAN PRISONERS FREED
All Canada rejoices at the news of the liberation of Canadian prisoners of war in Germany. The number of freed prisoners increases daily until now almost all camps have been heard from either through individual prisoners escaping or the entire camp being liberated.
The total number of Canadian prisoners freed by May 1st was over a thousand but this number is growing so rapidly that it is reasonable to hope that before long all allied prisoners of war in Germany will be free men.
The Department of National Defence has announced that all available information is wired to next of kin within a matter of hours after it is received at Defence Headquarters but that since all information is carefully checked before being relayed to relatives there is in some cases an unavoidable delay and the prisoner himself is able to communicate with his family before the Government has sent an official notification.
There are still many Canadian prisoners who have not been heard from and to their families we would point out that as the number of freed prisoners increases the transmission of news becomes slower.
PRISONERS OF WAR AT DUNKIRK RECEIVE SUPPLIES
On the 26th of March, during the fighting around Dunkirk, a truce was arranged, with a delegate of the International Red Cross as intermediary, so that supplies of food, medicine and clothing could be sent to 105 civilian allied prisoners of war in that city.
Canadians numbering 48 were amongst the prisoners; parcels were distributed to all allied prisoners without discrimination and sufficient supplied were sent in to last until the end of May.
[Page break]
May 1945 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION 3
ASSEMBLY CENTERS [inserted] I was there [underlined] Eugene [/underlined] [/inserted]
Many prisoners evacuated from camps in eastern Germany have already reached Stalag VII A. This camp and Stalag [underlined] XIII D, near Nurnburg, [/underlined] appear to be two of the main points of assembly for prisoners of war evacuated along the central route. The prisoners moved along the central route were from camps in the Leipzig-Berlin-Dresden areas. Stalag VII A is accordingly being used as an assembly center for Red Cross supplies going in by train and truck convoys from Switzerland, whence it is planned to transport them by truck to camps and hospitals throughout central Germany. Each American truck carries approximately 6 tons of food packages, medical supplies, soap, and shoe repairing materials.
All shipments of prisoners of war relief supplies into Germany in the past (except those warehoused in Lubeck) have been specifically earmarked for particular camps, as well as for prisoners by nationality. Under the conditions now prevailing, however, this method of operation is no longer possible. In camps and on the roads, Allied prisoners are now all mixed up, and the impelling need is to get food and medical supplies to them as promptly and in as large amounts as possible, without regard to nationality. All Allied governments and Red Cross societies, as well as the Swiss and Swedish authorities, are cooperating wholeheartedly in meeting the emergency.
GERMAN RECORDS SEIZED
On April 19th it was announced through the Associated Press that the American Third Army had captured the complete records of all Allied prisoners taken by the Germans since the outbreak of the War.
The records contain the latest whereabouts of Allied war prisoners, their dates of capture and other data. Prisoners who have died in camp are listed as are those wounded when taken.
At the time of going to press, the list was still in Europe and had not yet been made public.
STALAG LUFT I
“THE EASIEST CAMP IN GERMANY”
According to a prisoner of war recently repatriated from Stalag Luft I, this was the easiest camp in Germany. Thanks to the Red Cross, all the prisoners at Luft I were adequately clothed, having winter underclothes, shirts, uniform and an overcoat. The food situation was also good, again thanks to the Red Cross.
Living quarters were cramped but even so conditions were better than in most camps. Clean sheets and pillow cases were issued about every three or four weeks.
The Library, containing both fictional and technical books, was constantly being augmented from personal book parcels which, owing to the ease of censorship, got through fairly regularly.
The biggest grouse in the camp was over the length of time mail took to get through. The average being 8 to 12 weeks, with 12 to 16 weeks not uncommon. Personal parcels and cigarettes also took a long time, but quite a large proportion did finally arrive.
PROPOGANDA BROADCASTS
The closing of camps in eastern Germany and Poland since the middle of January has revealed that broadcasts from Berlin of messages from American prisoners of war are, in many cases at least, collected several weeks before broadcasting. Many messages from American prisoners of war in Oflag 64 were broadcast from Berlin late in February, although the man from that camp were moved on January 21. None of these messages gave any indication that the camp might soon be closed.
Any next of kin receiving a broadcast message, therefore, should assume that us was written by the prisoner at least a month or six weeks before being put on the air. It is also well to keep in mind that these messages are broadcast for propaganda purposes.
[Page break]
4 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
[Photograph of a Memorial to airmen]
MEMORIAL AT STALAG LUFT III
By
F/Lt. John R. Mason
Since my return to Canada from Stalag Luft III last February, I have learned of the many articles written about the “big break” in that camp little more than a year ago. Those who wrote the articles seem to have had first hand information, they may have been participants, probably bystanders. What information I could glean came from those who had planned and worked; even then I could get it only with much reticence on their part.
Having been part of this gallant gesture, these same boys were not content to forget their comrades but carried their names to posterity in a very edifying memorial. In the accompanying photograph you will realize the amount of work and skill that entered into this cairn. The tablets standing on top of the cairn bear the names of each of those heroes of Sagan. I was unfortunate enough not to know the story from the beginning, but fortunate enough to see the cairn built, the stones carved and to learn of the finish of the monument followed later by a very impressive memorial service.
Every man in camp wanted to be present but only a few were privileged to attend the service. Seven officers from Belaria, seven from the East compound, and sixteen from the North compound, including the Senior British officers, the Senior Canadian officer, two Padres and a bugler were there. The cemetery is about 1 1/2 miles from the camp and the parade marched there after assembling from the various compounds. The procession moved into the cemetery, around the circular path and paused before the memorial, where after a service by both the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Padres, and the playing of the last post, the three Group Captains placed wreaths. A rather nice gesture was that by a member of the Swiss Legation who also placed a very large wreath on the Cairn.
Up to this time the entire camp had been in mourning and each man carried a black silk diamond on his sleeve. After the ceremony these were removed. This was December 4th, 1944.
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NEWS FROM ENGLAND
We are indebted to the Scottish Branch B.R.C.S. and the B.P.O.W.R.A. for the following information.
P.O.W.’s WELCOME R.A.F. RAIDS “SWEET MUSIC”
A picture of how our prisoners of war react to Allied bombing of Germany is given by a repatriated New Zealand pilot, Flight-Leut. Wally Mulligan, in an interview in the New Zealand Free Lance.
“The boys get a terrific kick out of it,” was this young airman’s description of hearing our bombers roaring past Stalag Luft III, where he was imprisoned. “Actually the first daylight bombers we saw were Americans. And how the chaps cheered as they swept by to attack a nearby Focke-Wulf factory! They did a beautiful job on it too.”
“Stalag Luft III is in an area approximately a hundred miles from the German capital”, continues the Free Lance interview, “and Wally Mulligan told me that in the big night-bombing raids by planes of the R.A.F. Bomber Command the prison huts would shake and tremble, and mirrors dance, from the vibrations set up as Berlin crumbled under the terrific hammering it received. “And you can guess how the boys just loved that.” grinned Mulligan. “It certainly was sweet music to our ears.”
Speaking of the road to Berlin, which he saw on his way home, he described scenes of desolation. “There’s not much of the city left to reach. For miles and miles we saw nothing but complete devastation, just piled heaps of rubble, and we didn’t go through the worst parts. You could practically call it a ghost city.”
MORE PENICILLIN FOR P.O.W.’s
Further supplies of penicillin and blood transfusion apparatus are now being sent by the Red Cross and St. John to prisoner of war camps in Germany (states Prisoner of War News). The Penicillin packs and blood transfusion sets, including plasma, are supplied by the Medical Department of the War Office, and are forwarded by the Invalid Comforts Section of the Red Cross and St. John Prisoners of War Department. As far as practicable, the supplies are sent to those hospitals which are believed to contain newly-captured men, who would be likely to receive the greatest benefit from this form of surgical treatment.
SUPPLIES SENT TO RUSSIA FOR LIBERATED P.O.W.
It was announced in the House of Commons in London that, some time ago, preparing for the eventuality of British prisoners of war being liberated by the Soviet armies, the British Red Cross War Organization sent supplies to Russia. Upon their arrival in Russia from German camps, British liberated men were consequently provided with clothing, medical supplies, cigarettes etc., from home. Similar supplies were also sent to Odessa, where a party of Red Cross Welfare Workers went to meet the freed prisoners.
“WELCOME HOME” FUND TARGET DOUBLED
To have raised £1,300 in one day is the achievement of Richmond (Surrey) P.O.W.R.A., which held a bazaar recently as part of a three months’ drive to raise funds out of which each returning prisoner of war could be given a money gift with which to celebrate his release.
The target was £1,000, but this was more than doubled by the end of the period, £2,240 being raised by a variety of schemes organised by members.
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AMERICAN RED CROSS NEWS
We are indebted to the American Red Cross Prisoners of War Bulletin for the following information.
LATEST INFORMATION ON CAMP MOVEMENTS
(By cable from Geneva)
Red Cross trucks operating out of Lubeck in the north and Moosburg in the south succeeded, during March, in getting substantial quantities of food packages to the prisoners of war evacuated from camps in the east who were still hiking across Germany. These marching columns were scattered over very wide area, in the middle of March for example, an advance group from Stalag 344 was 30 miles east of Carlsbad while the rear of the column was in the vicinity of Bohmisch Leipa – the distance between these two points being nearly 60 miles. Likewise, the Stalag VIII B column was spread from Schlan, near Melnik, to the Koniggratz region – a distance om [sic] about 75 miles. British prisoners constituted a large part of the southern columns, but they also contained Americans.
Similar situations existed in northern Germany, where about 100,000 American and Allied prisoners evacuated from camps in the second military district (particularly, in the case of Americans from Stalags II B and II D and Stalag Luft IV) were walking across Germany to camps in the tenth military district. It was reported at the end of February that these men “were grouped in the vicinity of the Stettiner Haff, whence they will be conducted to Aflag X D (at Fischbeck), Oflag X C (at Lubuck), and Stalag X B (at Bremervorde).”
The Red Cross trucks delivering supplies to the marching columns had to search for men not only on main highways but on secondary roads. The trucks operated under German escort, and, considering the chaotic transportation conditions which must now exist inside Germany, the authorities there have manifested a cooperative spirit in getting food, medicines, and other relief supplies to the men. It is an entirely new development in warfare to have Red Cross trucks, supplied and serviced by one belligerent, operating far and wide in the territory of an enemy belligerent.
Airmen from the Dulag Luft transit camp area are now being assigned to “the new Stalag Luft at Nurnburg-Langwasser,” according to a cable received in the middle of March. This new Luft Stalag has not yet been designated by number.
Stalag Luft III at Sagan was evacuated on January 27. The men were given Red Cross food packages and were furnished some additional food by the Germans en route. The men were marched for three days, on secondary roads, to Spremberg – a distance of about 40 miles. They slept in barns along the roads. At Spremberg, the prisoners from the south and center compounds were divided into groups of 2,000 and sent by train on February 1 to Mossburg (Stalag VII A), except for a few who were sent to Stalag IIIA at Luckenwalde. Americans from the west compound were dispatched by train from Spremberg to Nunrnburg, [sic] and thence to Stalag XIII D, about eight miles from the city, which is probably “the new Stalag Luft” previously referred to. All letter mail from the airmen, however, should continue to be addressed to Stalag Luft III until new directions are given.
A cable from Geneva on March 10 stated, “Oflag 64 proceeding by rail towards Hammelburg.” An earlier message had reported that about 500 (ground force) officers from Oflag 64, “travelling by rail, were near Parchim (southeast of Wismar on a line between Wismar and Berlin), awaiting transport for Hammelburg.” Oflag XIII B and Stalag XIII C are the only prisoner of war camps known to be in the vicinity of Hammelburg. Several hundred American officers formerly at Oflag 64 were liberated by the advancing Russian armies and ave [sic] returned to the United States.
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FAR EAST NEWS
CAMP STANLEY
According to an address given by Mr. D.G.E. Middleburg, Netherlands Consul-General, who was present at the fall of Hong Kong, the policy of interment of civilians as practiced by the Japanese in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaya and the Netherlands Indies is something quite new. They have interned all white nationals of countries that have declared war on Japan. Chinese, Indians, Javanese, even Eurasians though nationals of belligerent countries were left alone. This must of course be seen as a logical consequence of the anti-foreigners, that is anti-white movement of Japan in their so-called “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”. “Asia for the Asiatics” is the slogan that takes for them the place of our “Fight for Democracy”.
Neutrals such as Swiss, Danes and Russians, however, have not been interned. The food situation for the noninterned residents soon became so bad, that many neutral nationals and Eurasians applied for admission to the Civilian Internment Camp, which applications, I believe, were all refused.
The Allied Europeans were rounded up and billeted in Chinese boarding houses, awaiting removal to the proper internment camp at Stanley. Stanley is a peninsula, a sort of appendix of Hong Kong Island. On it are situated Fort Stanley with the long range coastal artillery, an English protestant boarding school, an excellent modern prison and warders quarters. The military barracks and the prison building were not used, but the 3,000 internees were divided over the schools and warders quarters.
The location of the camp is not bad. It has plenty of sun, air and room between the buildings. The buildings themselves, however, are terribly overcrowded. People are practically packed together with hardly enough room to stretch out at night. Furniture is practically non-existant. [sic]
Fortunately there is water, electricity and a good sewage system. The buildings are new and well built but built for maybe one fifth of the number of their present occupants.
The food situation is definitely bad. As you know, an active adult person required 3,000 calories a day. The food supplied to the civilian internees has according to the Japanese a calorific value of 2,000. European doctors amongst the internees, however, maintain that not more than 1,500 calories are supplied. The food is moreover often of bad quality and it lacks variety and vitamins. It is very hard to convince the Japanese on this point, as they feed very badly themselves.
HONG KONG CIVILIAN CAMPS
On December 22nd the Civilian Internment Camps at Hong Kong were visited by Mr. Zindel, International Red Cross Delegate. Mr. Zindel reports that the general conditions at Shamshuipo Camp were much the same as his preceeding visit on August 10th, 1944. Of the many hundred men interned in this camp, 300 were hospitalized in the eight barracks which serve as a hospital. An adequate medical staff was in attendance, including 8 British doctors. Internees had previously been breeding pigs and poultry, but this has had to be curtailed due to the lack of food with which to feed the animals.
Camp “N” where prisoners from Argyle Street Camp were transferred to in May 1944, has been improved by the building of additional barracks, the vegetable garden was enlarged but here also the breeding of poultry was curtailed.
The Military Hospital at Bowen Road contained 150 patients at the time of the Delegate’s visit: the medical staff consisted of about 60 doctors and nurses. Patients were not serious cases, most of them suffering from weakness. In general the Delegate reports that the state of health in these three camps is improved although the lack of vitamins and of food containing proteins and fats is still felt.
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8 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
INTERNMENT CAMP LIEBENAU
by
SONIA ROSKES
The following article was written for the News Sheet by a young Polish woman who recently arrived in Canada and who, with her father, mother and sister, is starting a new life in a new country. During her two years of internment at Camp Liebenau, Miss Roskes learnt to speak English from the British women who were her comrades in captivity.
I was only half awake when after four day’s journey our group, consisting of 30 women and children, arrived at the little station of Meckenbeuren about 11 miles from the Lake of Constance and only 2 miles from our final destination. It was a cold but sunny morning of New Year’s Day 1943. In my complete exhaustion following the three dreary weeks I had spent in the worst German jail of Gracow, and in a peculiar state of mental apathy which usually accompanies the feeling of being cold and hungry. I had no eyes for the beauty of my new surroundings – the snow-covered pinewoods and meadows at our feet, the majestic Swiss Alps in the background.
Suddenly my consciousness was roused by a man’s rough voice – it appeared to belong to one of our escorting guards – explaining to some of my companions that in our new place we would feel more at home as it was an internment camp for British and American Women. “Your own people will take care of you.” He concluded with a sarcastic smile, “and I hope you will like the change.”
“Your own people…” These words stirred something in our hearts some secret wish which had lain there concealed and supressed throughout the misery of the past three years. Was it possible that the camp we were going to was not just another of the concentration camps where innocent people were being killed daily by the thousands, but a place offering a chance of survival? Was it really true that in a couple of hours we would meet American and British women?
After a short while we were loaded on to a large horse-cart, including our meagre hand-luggage (all we were allowed to have according to the German order on the day of our internment) and driven in the direction of Liebenau. It was noon and the snow was dazzling white under the bright sun, when we arrived in the village in the middle of which was a block of two-storied buildings and a double-towered church which was separated from three neighbouring cottages by a high stone fence. An iron gate was flung open by an elderly German policeman, and our wagon rolled past a small guards-house to come to a standstill in front of one of the three buildings.
In a second we found ourselves surrounded by a large group of women of all ages, whose eyes smiled at us in a warm welcome and whose numberless questions, asked in about ten different languages, we in vain tried to answer. All we gathered from the chaotic conversation was that we had nothing to be afraid of any more, that as subjects of enemy countries we fell under Geneva Conventions which secured protection for prisoners of war and civilian internees on German territory, and that, though life was pretty tough and miserable in camp at times (which we would find out for ourselves very soon), the worst part of our internment was over. The appearance of the women who were gathered around our cart confirmed their reassuring words: there was nothing about them to remind us of the haunted looks of all those many thousands of underfed and persecuted beings we had known so well in Poland; their clothes, consisting in most cases of slacks and thick woollen pullovers, were in fairly good condition and except for a trace of bitterness in their voices when ever they spoke about “being locked up in a cage” they did not sound too depressed.
It was only in the evening when, after my first bath and supper I lay down in the first clean bed I had known for many a month, that I became aware of the change in my life. “However hard it may be to live for months and perhaps years under a lock,” I said to myself, “however gloomy and monotonous it may become to be herded with different people under the same roof, I shall
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try to make the best of it: the main thing is that my mother, sister and myself are alive and that we shall not know the fear of a German bullet, the fear which became a part of our inner selves in Poland, any more.”
It took me about a month to become acquainted with the daily routine of camp life, to learn something about my fellow internees and to come into closer contact with some girls of my own age. I another few weeks’ time it seemed to me that I had been there for many years – so familiar appeared every face, every voice, every room.
Liebenau became an internment camp for women, holders of British and American passports who happened to live in various European countries before the outbreak of the war. Originally an asylum for mentally deficient German children and grown-ups, with an adjacent convent of German nuns in charge of the sick, it contained at the time of my internment over 600 interned women and children – a number of which by far exceeded the usual capacity of the place. The mentally deficient Germans (or “lunies” in the slang of the internees) still occupied a few wings of the camp buildings. Employed by the German nuns at field and garden work, they were a common sight within the camp boundaries; their disfigured bodies and faces did not make the prison atmosphere any brighter.
In the three years previous to my arrival, the camp had been gradually developed into a fairly well organised community. In order to keep the necessary discipline and to carry on all the official negotiations, a camp captain had been elected. That 60 year old Englishwoman, who enjoyed the greatest respect and confidence of all the internees, performed her duties with iron energy and never-failing efficiency. Mrs Violet Froom, camp captain, was always ready to solve difficult problems, to give advice and to step in whenever intervention was necessary. Assisted by six floor captains, each chosen by the members of her floor, she ran the administration, registered newcomers, reported them to the Swiss Legation – the Protective Power over all the Allied prison camps in Germany – and arranged the distribution of Red Cross food and clothing parcels. It was due to her great character, broad-minded attitude towards all the problems of the world and to her sincerely democratic ideas that a couple of hundred women, all coming from different countries, speaking different languages and having different habits of their own, could lead a relatively peaceful community life under extraordinary circumstances.
The floor-captains’ main duty was to keep order on their floors. As internees were supposed to perform all the domestic task within the camp, they compiled special working lists, all the instructions of which had to be followed strictly. The harder jobs, such as cleaning corridors, carrying food from the German kitchen, and being air raid wardens in case of raids, were done by young and strong girls; others had to keep diningrooms and bathroom tidy, to wash up dishes and attend to the boilers – our only source of tea water. Some of the most reliable and the professionally trained internees were given more responsible work; they became the organizers of schools and educational courses, shows and other small entertainments, discussion circles, and groups of literature lovers.
The head of the camp’s Educational Committee was another English-woman, Mrs Vidakovic, formerly a professor of English at the University of Belgrade, Yougoslavia. [sic] With the help of a large group of voluntary teachers and librarians, untired in her efforts to give every internee the possibility of studies and warmly interested in each individual case, she was the soul of the spiritual life within the camp – the inspiration of various courses in English and other languages, the supervisor of the library and the adviser in all matters concerning general education.
The more official part of the administration was carried out by the Germans. The six German guards gave us our mail, next-of-kin parcels and German newspapers (the only source of our political information): every evening they made roll-calls in all the rooms occupied by the internees who were not allowed out of doors after 6 p.m. They escorted the daily afternoon walks in the surroundings. An old German paymaster who had his office in one of the camp buildings dealt with
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money questions, received various petitions and inflicted all kinds of punishment on those who broke “the law”. A staff of German nuns supervised the food.
It is when speaking about the food provided by the German [sic] that I am approaching the subject of the most important factor in our camp life. Though our living accommodations and sanitary conditions were a great deal better than those in other prisoner-of-war and civilian internment camps in Germany, the food received from the Germans would not have been sufficient to prevent us from starvation. Breakfast consisted of a slice of sticky and often mouldy bread, jam and an absolutely undrinkable coffee substitute; lunch of thin soup and some vegetables floating in a dark gravy; supper of a few potatoes, the same sticky bread and an identical “coffee”.
This is where the Red Cross comes in. Big consignments of Red Cross parcels, British and American, would arrive in the camp at frequent intervals, where they would be unloaded and unpacked with enthusiasm by the internees. Their regular weekly distribution by the camp captain secured our food situation and shut off the danger of hunger. Besides food parcels the Red Cross provided us with various clothing articles. Many an English or American woman who had been dragged out of her house by the Germans at a moment’s notice without being allowed to take the most essential items, was, after some time, dressed from top to toe in clothes sent by the Red Cross. The foundation and constant increase of our liberty was rendered possible by Red Cross book supplies. The chool [sic] for the 60 interned children could function systematically and successfully thanks to the Red Cross delivery of text-books and stationery, games and toys for the Kindergarten and various instruction leaflets for the teachers of the camp. Shows and other performances could be put up from time to time in our more than primitive theatre hall because the Red Cross always responded to our artists’ requests for theatrical costumes, paints for the scenery, and musical instruments. Many women who, not having anything particular to do, would have broken down as a result of boredom and lack of occupation, were kept busy knitting and doing all kinds of other handwork, owing to the Red Cross delivery of knitting wool , cotton and embroidery silk. Health service in the camp, naturally handicapped by shortage of trained nurses and the utter ignorance of an old German doctor, would have been ever more inadequate had it not been for the regular supply of Red Cross invalid comfort parcels and all the medicines required.
The two years which elapsed between my arrival in Liebenau and my final release from the camp were marked in the history of the place as abounding in happenings and extraordinary events. In fall 1943, when the monotony of camp life was becoming unbearable and when phrases like “I am fed up,” “I am bored stiff,” and “I wish to Goodness something would happen” were inseparable from our daily vocabulary, a great change took place. A department of the German Foreign Office arrived in the camp, where it made its permanent residence.
The cowardly officials who had fled from Berlin where they were exposed to the daily danger of becoming the victims of Allied bombs and who hid shamelessly under the protection of internees who were relatively safe from this fear, took possession of one of the buildings by removing all the internees from it. We were shaking with helpless rage and indignation when, after being crowded in our small rooms more than ever before, we began to suffer from al [sic] the restrictions made by “Berlin across the garden path” as we ironically nicknamed the Foreign Office. The small amount of freedom which had been our greatest treasure up to that point was considerably cut down: two gardens, one behind and the other in front of the camp buildings, were closed to the internees; only three walks weekly were permitted; room arrests, stopping of mail, and even deportations to other camps became a frequent punishment for crimes like picking apples on country roads, waving at the Allied planes flying over Liebenau, attempts to offer a package of cigarettes to Serbian prisoners-of-war working in the village, or not greeting the German guards.
General depression and even feelings of hopelessness reached their climax in 1944 when first exchange transports on a larger scale began to leave the camp.
The first one to take place was an American repatriation transport, in February 144 [sic], including about 80 U.S.A. citizens from our camp. Anxious
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speculations and wild rumours as to who was going to be chosen – the usual symptoms in every internment and P.O.W. camp whenever “something is in the air” – were put an end to by the publication of the official list of names, accompanied by a notice signed by the departmental chief of the Foreign Office to the effect that the names listed had been received from Washington. How great was our indignation when, about half an hour after the publication of the first one, another list of about 20 persons was added! It was then that we realized how great was the power the Germans had over us; for it was the German Foreign Office that had selected the people for exchange, and from which the repatriation of each one of us depended. Complaints addressed to the Swiss Legation in Berlin were censored by the German paymaster; and if he disapproved of their contents, our letters ended in his wastepaper basket.
During the next four repatriate transports which took place successively throughout the same year we had to experience yet another injustice. Whenever a number of repatriates, whether to England or the United Stated, was about to leave the camp, only a very few of our internees were included. The Germans completed the number they were supposed to give in exchange for their own prisoners by taking people from outside the camp, people who had been free all during the time the 600 Liebenau internees were slowing losing their physical and mental strength in the long years of captivity. A few days before the departure of a transport dozens of these “outsiders” would stream in; and by a special order of the Foreign Office they had to be treated like guests, which meant that they were free from all the duties we had to perform and not compelled to obey the regulations we were subject to.
At the close of the year the atmosphere in the camp became gloomier and our spirits lower than ever before. As there was a big American exchange in sight, and the small rooms could not hold any more persons, all the dining rooms where we used to gather for meetings, to study, and to take our meals, were turned into bedrooms for the “guests”: on account of bad railway connections within Germany and the Allied successes threatening the Ruhr district, our usual supply of coal was cut down, so that we were forced to pick wood on our walks in order to have boiling water at least once daily : a few weeks running not one letter reached the camp and even the German newspaper stopped arriving regularly. The schoolroom was half empty in the hours set for adults’ educational courses: the internees, for many of whom it was the fifth Christmas away from their homes, lost all their desire for the continuation of their studies and their power of concentration over books.
It was soon after New Year 1945, that the rumours about a great repatriation transport to the U.S.A. which had been very persistent for some weeks past, were officially confirmed. On January 19th a list of about 115 persons included in the exchange was put op [sic] on the notice board. Three days later, just before the transport was about to leave Liebenau to go via Switzerland to Marseilles and sail from there on the “Gripsholm” an additional list of names was published, my mother’s, sister’s and my own among them.
The happiness which filled my heart at the moment I saw our names on the list was beyond control. All jobs that remained to be done in the last day of my internment, the hectic packing, ceding my duties to some of my remaining friends, taking our luggage down to the canteen to be searched and sealed, I performed without being conscious of what I was doing. My heart was singing with mad joy while I was saying to myself, “It is really, undeniably true; it is true that in a month’s time I shall be in a free country which does not know the Gestapo and the German methods of cruel persecution; it is true that at last the misery of three and a half war years in Poland and the two years of internment are over; it is true that our family has been granted the happiness of survival.”
Over 300 British women have remained in Liebenau. It was when I was saying goodbye to these less fortunate friends of mine at the gate of the camp that I suddenly knew my happiness would never be complete until they were finally released too; it was then that I felt, with an intensity I had never known before, how deeply attached I had become to each one of them and how much their friendship had meant to me in the period of my greatest need for human understanding.
On board the Gripsholm, which we took in Marseilles and where we met American and Canadian wounded soldiers being, like ourselves, on their way home after long years of captivity, I once exchanged my experiences with a Canadian ex-prisoner-of-war. “I don’t agree with those who maintain that happiness makes one forget past sorrows and worries,” he said. “Happy as I am to have left the gloom and hardships of my prison years behind me, I know that for a long while yet I shall not be able to tear the memories of the camp out of my mind and heart. Only when I hear that all my fellow-prisoners, who have still to go through the ordeals of this final war stage in Germany,
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have safely reached the shores of Canada, will these memories give way to an undisturbed enjoyment of my new freedom.”
The Gripsholm landed in New York on Jan 21st; on the day following her disembarkment our family arrived in Canada. In the first six weeks which I have spent in this splendid free country, the broadminded, generous-hearted people of which I have already learned to love, I have often recalled the words of that wounded Canadian soldier. All I can add to them is that though Internment Camp Liebenau belongs to the past, I shall always remember the lesson I was taught there that – in order to become a useful member of any community one has to develop an attitude towards one’s fellow creatures based on understanding and goodwill; not on selfishness and prejudice!
P.O.W. AT KOBE
Air Raid Precautions
Air Raid Precautions have been taken at the Prisoner of War Hospital at Kobe, in Japan, which was visited by the International Red Cross Delegate on 18th August of this year. The report of the Delegate’s visit has just reached Australia.
The hospital is attached to the Osaka Group of camps on the main island of Japan, Honshu. At the time of the visit there were altogether 101 patients, of whom 15 were Australians and there were three Australians on the Hospital, but not Medical, Staff.
Location is said to be on a quiet, sunny hillside, in seven foreign-style wooden buildings with tiled roofs. Ventilation, drainage, water supply are reported to be adequate.
Bedding consists of straw mats on a wooden floor with five blankets for each patient, and pyjamas, Food consists mainly of rice, barley and vegetables, with very little meat and fish. There are no eggs, milk, fat, cheese, sweets, coffee or canned foods. The kitchen equipment seemed adequate, reported the delegate, but there was no refrigerator or ice-box.
(Australian P.O.W. Magazine)
AID FOR BRITONS IN FRANCE
A new Red Cross and St. John Sub-Commission has been set up in Paris to care for British Civilians, particularly children and the sick and aged, who need help in France. A considerable number of Christmas parcels as well as clothing and blankets have already been issued.
Persons eligible to receive relief include all children under 18 with British fathers and dependents of all men killed or captured while serving with the British forces. Distribution arrangements for the children include a system whereby they can be referred to the out-patients department of the Hertford Hospital, Paris, for future preventative treatment against such diseases as tuberculosis and rickets. This hospital, which will shortly be re-opened by the Red Cross and St. John, will receive supplies for this purpose of cod liver oil and Adexolin from Great Britain. The British Consuls in Lyons, Bordeaux , Nantes and Rouen have been asked to supply lists of all British subjects in their care, especially of children and aged and sick persons, so that appropriate supplies can be sent for distribution. Relief parcels have already been sent to Marseilles and Nice.
Colonel Gielgud, who has a long and intimate knowledge of the country, is at present touring France in the hope of tracking down all British subjects in the country who may be in need of help. Opportunities for extending this relief work for the British in France are also being examined.
A similar organisation to help Canadian citizens has been set up in Paris by the Canadian Red Cross, while civilians from other dominions and Colonies will come within the scope of the British scheme.
PRAISE FOR FPRISONERS [sic] OF WAR WORK
Mr. H. B. Burdekin, who is the examiner in Accountancy subjects at New Zealand University, has written to London saying:
“I am in the middle of my University exam. marking again. Curiously enough the best ones I am getting are coming from members of the armed Forces. Three batches that I had towards the end of last year from prisoner of war camps in Germany were all of high quality, some very good indeed.”
(Kincardineshire Branch B.R.C.S.)
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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Question:- Would you please tell me where the reports of Japanese camps come from and how they are relayed?
Answer:- Reports on Japanese camps are written or cabled to Geneva by International Red Cross Delegates in the Far East who have visited the camps. It is well to remember that these reports are sent in writing and are subject to Japanese censorship, whereas reports on camps in Germany are made verbally by the delegate who has personally visited the camps and talked with the prisoners.
Question:- My son is a prisoner of war in Germany and his wife lives in England. If he is liberated, will I be notified?
Answer:- Only the next of kin of prisoners receive official notifications; if your daughter-in-law is registered as your son’s next of kin and has been receiving Government labels for his personal parcels, she will receive all notifications from the Government. We believe however, that by applying to the Director of Records, Ottawa, it is possible for a close relative to obtain such information as is available regarding a prisoner of war.
Question:- Is there an ordinary mail and parcel service established to the Channel Islands?
Answer:- The United Kingdom authorities have been trying for some time, through the International Red Cross, to arrange for Red Cross postal messages to go to the Islands, but the Germans cannot arrange for censorship of incoming mail at a censorship office in the Channel Islands and it is therefore necessary for all the Red Cross postal messages which the United Kingdom authorities hold to be sent to Geneva so that the International Red Cross Committee can arrange with the German Government for censorship there or in Germany. This, of course, makes the process rather slow, and so far no news has been received of any of the Red Cross messages which the United Kingdom authorities started sending to Geneva last year, having been sent on the Red Cross relief ship. These difficulties apply to ordinary mail and parcels, and there appears to be no hope of an ordinary mail and parcel service being established.
Question:- I heard on the radio that the camp where my son has is has been freed. How soon will I hear whether my son is free?
Answer:- It is impossible to give an exact length of time, but in many cases relatives received cables direct from their prisoners in England or France, approximately a week or ten days after the news of the camp liberation. There is no cause for anxiety if this news takes longer to come, since the number of liberated prisoners is reaching large proportions which will of necessity delay the transmission of messages.
Question:- Is the C.P.O.W.R.A. continuing to send cigarettes either in bulk consignments or to individual prisoners in Germany?
Answer:- No. The last regular shipment of cigarettes made by the association was sent in March, since when conditions have made it impossible to continue shipping to P.O.W. Camps. Should the situation change, the sending of cigarettes will be resumed.
REMITTANCES BY POSTAGE STAMPS VIOLATE POSTAL LAWS
Contrary to postal regulations, postage stamps are continually being used as remittance for small amounts. We receive them daily at the Headquarters office of the Association. The postal authorities point out that Post Office Money Orders, Postal Notes and Postal Scrip are provided at all Post Offices for just this purpose and the public is urged to make use of these facilities, the intention of which is to guard against loss.
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14 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
PROVINCIAL HEADQUARTERS
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Mrs. R. Thistle
1013 Government St.
Victoria, B.B.
MANITOBA
Mr. W.S. King
Paris Building
Winnipeg, Manitoba.
ONTARIO
Mrs. Gordon Weir,
Bank of N. Scotia Bldg.,
79 Queen St. East,
Toronto, Ont.
QUEBEC
Mrs. H.E. Plant,
718 Sunlife Building,
Montreal, Que.
NEW BRUNSWICK
Mrs. George Filliter,
68 Portledge Ave.
Moncton, N.B.
NEWFOUNDLAND
Mrs. A.C. Holmes, M.B.E.,
Caribou Hut,
St. John’s, Nfld.
NOVA SCOTIA
Mrs. W.A. Black,
30 Ivanhoe Street,
aHlifax [sic], N.S.
SASKATCHEWAN
Mr. C.A. Cunning,
303 McCallum Hill Bldg.
Regina, Sask.
ALBERTA
Mrs. H. Thom,
10222, 118th St.,
Edmonton, Alta.
NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
150A Sun Life Bldg.,
Montreal.
MANITOBA BRANCH
The March meeting of the Manitoba Branch was attended by approximately 200 members. The Chairman announced that twenty-two new next of kin had been approached since the last meeting and welcomed any that might be present.
Two repatriated prisoners, F/Lt. Bruce McKenzie and Pte. Bud Moody, spoke to the members and answered questions.
MONCTON BRANCH
At the March meeting of the Moncton Branch, a busy month was announced by the president. A number of new prisoners of war from New Brunswick were reported and their next of kin were written to and sent copies of the News Sheet.
It was decided not to ship medical parcels from this district until such time as the situation became more clear.
ONTARIO PROVINCIAL BRANCH – TORONTO
The following slate of officers of the Ontario Provincial Branch for the coming year was recently elected:
President Mrs. Gordon Weir
Vice-President Mrs. Wallace Floody
Vice-President Mrs. R.E. McLaren
Vice-President and Treasurer Mrs. R.A. Laidlaw
Honorary Vice-President Mrs. W.E. Sprague
PURCHASING COMMITTEE
Mrs. W.E. Floody
Mrs. A. Hayward
MEN’S COMMITTEE
Mr. R.A. Laidlaw
Mr. Kelso Roberts
Mr. Avery
Mr. Norman Copeman
OTTAWA BRANCH
At the April meeting of the Ottawa Branch, it was agreed to send $50.00 to National Headquarters for the General Fund.
Guest Speaker at the meeting was Mr. M. Gratton O’Leary, well known newspaper man, whose son is a prisoner of war in Germany.
Mr. T. Campbell-Rogers was elected Chairman.
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May 1945 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION 15
SASKATCHEWAN BRANCH
Forty-five members attend the [sic] the March meeting of the Saskatchewan Branch. The Food Committee reported having packed and sent 49 parcels of food for next of kin throughout the Province. The Welfare Committee reported having sent 8 personal parcels, 2 medical parcels, 2 sports parcels and some cigarettes direct to prisoners on behalf of their next of kin. Several parcels were returned, having been destroyed in a fire on board ship last December and the Association is paying the cost of food items in the re-issue parcels.
VICTORIA BRANCH
At the April meeting of the Victoria Branch the sum of $300.00 was voted to be sent to the Association Headquarters to be used at the President’s discretion for the benefit of prisoners of war.
It was reported that since the beginning of the year, blankets, clothing and food parcels to the value of $265.00 had been sent to war prisoners.
Lt. V C. Moore, who was repatriated last September, spoke about life in a German prison hospital.
VANCOUVER BRANCH
Monthly meetings of the Vancouver Branch held in March and April; at the former, Cpl. Earl Buck, recently repatriated from Stalag 2D, spoke on his experiences while, at the latter, Col. Scott, Canadian Red Cross Commissioner, addressed the meeting. Both meetings were well attended.
NEW WESTMINSTER BRANCH
The regular meeting of the New Westminster Branch was held April 9th. 22 members were present. The meeting voted $$200.00 [sic] to be sent to Mrs. JJ. O. Asselin to be used as she thinks best for our boys arriving in Canada, also $500.00 to be sent to W.A. McAdam, Agent General B. C. House, London, to be used for B.C. boys arriving in London from the prisoner of war camps in Germany.
Plans were made for a Tag Day to be held April 28.
[Boxed] LETTERS
In future issues of the News Sheet, only letters from the Far East and recent ones from Germany will be published. With the mass movement of prisoners in Europe, it is felt that letters written from camps which no longer exist will not be of general interest to our readers. We will be glad to publish any letters, however, that contain news of transit or temporary camps which would be helpful and informative to other prisoners’ families. [/boxed]
GERMANY
OFLAG VII B
December 5th, 1944 Rec’d February 26th. 1945.
Firstly, many thanks for your letters of Sept. 11, and Oct. 3 & 10. All very welcome indeed. Secondly, we are not allowed copying pencils now, I am telling you this because with your customary acute powers of observation you would notice the change and wonder. There is nothing I want in the food or clothing line; we are limited by the Germans in the amount of clothes and food we can have in our possession.
New Year’s Day 1945 Rec’d March 29th, 1945
When I look at the date above it gives me a bit of a start I assure you. 1945 and the shades of Prison Walls still around us and the forms of many disappointed and “Browned Off” Kriegie’s still conspicuous by their presence. I might say that many a Sawback has been lost or won on the War not being over. Have personally never been one of the optimists, to say nothing of the Super O’s, but am, more or less, hoping for my next Birthday out of the “Shaft” (Kriegsgefangschaft) as we call it. However as I told you in what must have been a most confusing letter, we have had an excellent period of “Bashing” (good eating) due to O.K.W. order forbidden reserves. It really has been terrific and as far as that goes we are right on top of the world and if the Germans live up to their promise of supply to us and I believe they will, a parcel a week, we will be O.K. Cold clear weather has enabled us to get some hockey. A lot of the old speed gone and not much cunning evident yet to replace it. A lot of fun tho’. No mail recently. By the way we have practically a language of our own here and as the years roll by I find it harder than ever to
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16 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
STALAG LUFT III
[Photograph of a man with a bucket and a pole] Wash Day. A tin can on the end of a stick is the most modern washing machine.
[Photograph of a group of men gathered around a notice board] above, - representatives of 2,000 P.O.W. crowd around the loud speaker to translate the news.
[Photograph of men standing and sitting by the side of a field] right, - Sports Day.
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May 1945 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION 17
THEATRICALS AT LUFT III
[Photograph of two men at a table with a microphone] Sound effects for the plays go over the mike
[Photograph of men playing musical instruments] Orchestra
[Photograph of a man in a female costume] One of the boys plays the lead in Pygmalion
[Photograph of three men on a dressed stage] “Thark” by Ben Trains
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18 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
explain myself in plain English. Trust you are all well and celebrated New Year’s properly. I was asleep by 10.30 but thinking of you. Everything is fine with me. In better health, better spirits than ever before and full of the old confidence; so look after yourselves because this is the year.
January 4th, 1945. Rec’d February 26th, 1945.
Many thanks for letters Oct. 24 and Nov. 3, 7 and 14. Yours came thro’ better than from England. Thanks very much for snap, you look well. Skating is going strong at the moment, even I have been attracted. Party of Grans Blessés leave here tomorrow. The Germans made us eat our reserves of food over Xmas. Am feeling fit!!
January 25th, 1945.
More reprisals! We are now without mattresses, tables or stools! I will tell you how this came about. Last Monday we had the usual check parade at 9 a.m. and while in the middle of it, a large number of Germans were marched into the camp and surrounded the parade. We, of course, thought it was just another search until we were told that the S.B.O. (Senior British Officer) wanted to address the parade. He started by reading out a German order which was that – owing to the fact that German prisoners of war in Egypt were living in tents without any mattresses or furniture – we were to be treated alike and have ours taken away. The S.B.O. then went on to make some very appropriate remarks which are better left out here. This is my third lot of reprisals; first in Poland, then chains and now this. Fortunately we are able to see the funny side of it and having meals off the floor is at least a change and saves laying the table for meals! I have won an extra piece of pudding. As we are seven in our mess it is much easier to divide things into eight and cut a card for the extra piece. It adds great excitement to the meals!
STALAG II D
December 25th, 1944.
I’ve put this letter off a week so I could write it tonight and let you know how we spent Christmas. Yes, it’s been a day I’ll not forget for a long, long time. I’ve drawn a Xmas Card with the menu of the day on the inside, and the autographs of my ten best buddies; I’ll get it home for you if this war lasts for another five years, but don’t worry about that. I honestly don’t expect to see another Xmas here. The Christmas dinner was lovely, the out-standing thing among many, was a real custard pie, the first many of us have had in 2 1/2 years. I also have a photograph for you; as soon as I can get it censored I’ll send it, which shouldn’t be more than a week or two. The Red Cross sent us a little Xmas decoration so we’ve got the room looking quite cozy. There’s about 3 lbs of Canadian chocolate in Stalag per person, but we haven’t received that yet. Hope you all had an enjoyable Xmas.
January 1st, 1945.
Well we’ve had Christmas and New Year again; they sure do seem to slip by fast over here, maybe it’s a good thing too. I imagine it would get pretty dull if it didn’t. Well I finally got the picture you’ve been waiting for so long, you can see by it that this life isn’t doing me any harm. I hope you receive it alright. We had a very good Xmas, one of the things accomplished was the ten of us in our room have pledged to have a yearly reunion, each year it being in a different city. There are five from Windsor, two from Toronto, two from Winnipeg, and one from Hamilton. This is the best bunch of fellows I’ve ever been with and we really have some swell times.
STALAG IV A
November 26th, 1944.
Hope this letter finds you all well, as it leaves me quite well. We had a little snow storm the other day, bet you people haven’t had any yet. Although I suppose it’s quite cold. I’m working inside so I don’t mind it much. I’m expecting a letter any day now, as it’s been a very long wait. We haven’t started getting ready for Xmas yet, suppose you have your baking all done. Will see you next Fall, anyway, if not before, so hope this letter arrives alright, also the others. We got Sweet Caporal cigs. this week from the Red Cross. Hope everybody is well.
December 10th, 1944.
Haven’t received any letters yet. Hope to get some soon, hope you’ve got all of my letters. It’s quite cold here, now, but very little snow. Hope you people are all well. And also enjoyed Christmas, which I expect to. Guess I’ll be home for next Xmas if everything goes well. There isn’t much to write about, just now. So will close until I get a letter.
December 31st, 1944.
Hope this card finds you all well, as it leaves me quite well. Expecting a letter any day now. Hope you all enjoyed your New Year. Will be seeing you, soon.
January 13th, 1945.
Just to let you know that I’m well and in fair health. Hope you and the rest are all well. I hope to hear from you soon, and better still be back with you all again.
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May 1945 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION 19
STALAG IV B
December 12th, 1944.
Christmas certainly came early to Stalag IVB in the form of your Christmas shipment of chocolate. With the shortage of Red Cross parcels this chocolate has certainly put a very different outlook on our Christmas festivities. You cannot realise how much we appreciate this gift and other excellent work you have been responsible for. Thank you very much and our best wishes for the coming year to you and your fellow workers. Any chap who goes out on a working Kommando before Christmas will receive chocolate and cigarettes, before he leaves this Camp, as a gift from the Canadian Club. The cigarettes are as a result of a collection from the chaps who have received parcels from home. All in all it should be a fairly decent Christmas. The next one back home should more than make up for what we have missed in the past few years. May the ski trails be covered with snow and good skating be prevalent. For Pete’s sake, tell some of the girls to stay single until we get home.
January 3rd, 1945.
Greetings and best wishes for 1945 to you and the Canadian people. The Canadian Club, 400 strong sends this message on behalf of its members. Christmas in our Stalag went off with a bang. It started early with the arrival of your gift of chocolate, of which we were able to issue 2 1/2 bars to each Canadian. Then, as a bolt from the blue, and in the nick of time, American Xmas parcels arrived sufficient for the issue of four between ten, over and above food parcels. Many Canadians received personal parcels in the same week: so you see, there is a Santa Claus! Most old “Kriegies” consider it the best Christmas spent in captivity. Not to mention entertainments would be to portray an incomplete picture of our Christmas celebrations. The number and variety of projects were such as were never seen before. Productions for Theatre and Hut presentation were in evidence the whole week. They included drama, comedy, variety, musical, dances, pantomimes, and radio plays (behind curtains). Since most of our members were occupied in either theatre or local hut activities, we engaged in no formalities as a Club. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for all you and we hope in this new 1945 of ours. Au revoir. Many thanks. Good luck!
January 3rd, 1945.
Happy New Year! and may the next one fine me wishing you all the best, etc. in person. Now before I forget I’d better tell you what we had for Xmas dinner. Xmas week we got 1 Can. parcel between 2. 2 American between I and 1 Yank Xmas parcel between 10. Plenty of variety anyhow! Our Xmas dinner consisted of turkey, spam, boiled potatoes, diced carrots, peas, turnips and onions, with noodle soup starting things off. For dessert we had our own steam pudding with thick cream, and chocolate sauce, followed by coffee and biscuits. Pretty good, what? The pudding was really perfect altho it took about 20 hours boiling to get it that way. The ingredients were:
[Photograph of a group of four rows of men outside a hut] Group taken at Stalag 344. Pte. H. C. Turner is marked with an X. Kindly lent by Mrs. Ernest Turner of Montreal.
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20 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
German flour, mashed Can. biscuits, egg powder, butter, sugar, milk, raisins, creamola powder plus other stuff I can’t recall. Dec 27 got an Artie Shaw record and Dec. 30 300 cigs arrived, both from the Squadron. I can’t thank them, but do you think you could S.V.P. Celebrated New Years with another big dinner altho not so somptuous [sic] a one as at Xmas. New Year’s Eve, we had a grand show lasting 5 hours in our hut. A few days ago quite a few Yanks arrived but we don’t expect them to be here for very long. Thanks a million for the pictures you sent Oct. 24. Got letter of Nov. 17 on Dec. 30 too.
January 19th, 1945.
Another month and the Canadian Club in IVB send their greetings. (censored) parcel shortage, the boys remain cheery. Another branch of club fonctions [sic] now getting under way in the formation of a system of reference groups to pass on information and to answer questions for those wishing to “gen up” on prospective trades for postwar period. Our recently formed club library is to be the central hub of a series of groups classified according to trade or information available. Will you please do us the favour of asking our Canadian correspondents especially non-relatives, not to lay too much stress on mention of our palatial holiday surroundings or luxurious comforts. Letters are very wine and bread; but such remarks tend to cause some slight dissension in the ranks. I think you will understand our point of view, and be able to tell them in such a manner as we are unable, without causing misunderstandings. Many thanks also for the cigarettes sent by your Association, which the boys are receiving regularly. It certainly helps a lot to be able to smoke regularly; and there’s nothing like good old Canadian cigs. Many thanks.
January 25th, 1945.
Well it has been some time since I’ve heard from home. Hope you had my letters O.K. I am in good health and hope you are the same. We are very cold at present as there is very wintry weather and not much heat. We have (censored) that is to say we haven’t had any Red Cross Aid for ages, which makes things very unpleasant. I received some more cigs., and boy they are worth their weight in gold here, now. I hope it will soon be over though. News is good. Joe is on his way.
STALAG VII
January 13th, 1945.
How are you? Am feeling fine and in the best of health. Was captured Dec. 13, 1944. Give friends and relatives my address so they can write to me. How is Dad? Can only write two letters a month. Don’t send cigs. Am thinking of you all the time. Write soon. Love to all.
STALAG VII A
November 8th, 1944.
Just a few lines to let you know I am getting along fairly well and am in good health. But I could do with a lot more to eat. The last two weeks my boy friend and I have been out harvesting spuds and believe me we’ve ate so many spuds that we almost look like a couple of spuds! When we come home at night we cook up two nice big dishes full for supper – and another for breakfast. I don’t know what the heck we’ll do when we are finished with the spuds! I guess my tummy will have to shrink a little bit more. I hope the war is over soon. I don’t like this life a bit. Write soon.
January 2nd, 1945. Rec’d March 17th, 1945.
A few lines to say I am fine, hope both there the same. Don’t worry, am getting plenty to eat and a good bed. Contact Red Cross about parcels and cigarettes. Hope you had a good Xmas. I attended church to celebrate our anniversary.
P.S. Send socks, towel, tooth brush.
STALAG VIII B [inserted] was in camp VIII-B for awhile [/inserted]
December 24th, 1944.
Well here it is Christmas Eve, again. I am still feeling fine, had a Red Cross parcel last night, been cooking and eating all day today. Hope everybody is fine at home. Hope to get the parcel you sent, soon. There was a ban on parcels for a while but it has been lifted since about the middle of October, so they should be coming through again alright.
STALAG IX C
November 5th, 1944. Rec’d January 16th, 1945.
Your cheering letters have still been arriving regularly. It is difficult to find things of interest that can be written but as usual I am keeping very well. The time keeps flying by, it is just a race closely run as to which will last longer this year or the war. With this letter goes my best wishes to you for the Merriest of Christmases. You say you have seen the movie “Going My Way”, with Bing Crosby, and here we have a record very popular in the camp, being one of our newest arrivals, with Bing singing the hit song from the picture. We are still not so very far apart, your letters have been arriving about one month after being sent. Still looking forward to receiving your books; they do take so long going through the censors. We have at last been granted a privilege of having a loud speaker in the camp. The commentary of the direction the boys are coming over is most interesting.
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May 1945 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION 21
November 25th, 1944 Rec’d Jan 26th, 1945.
Lately I have been most fortunate in hearing from you. Your mail and the June parcel which you sent me have arrived safely. What a grand selected parcel; and what a grand and novel idea you had in replacing the Christmas card, the snaps do carry my thoughts back to dear old Toronto and bring back many happy memories, and I do like having your picture here. Wishing you one of the Happiest of New Years.
January 15th, 1945. Rec’d March 23rd, 1945.
Everything is going allright [sic]] with me here. Receiving your mail regularly. It was also fortunate to have your books arrive safely during the holiday weeks. By the time I will have finished reading “The Robe”, “Moby Dick”, and “Mutiny on the Bounty”, I should be on the way home. What a cheerful bit of news to have heard that H. is back home. We did have some good times in hospital. Your blankets are bringing me a great deal of comfort these nights. To continue with my letter after a two and half hour interruption! During these intervals is a good opportunity for reading, many a book I have finished in this way. The greater part of my spare time is still spent plugging at my studies but the conditions in our camp are not the best for real concentration, often I do get fed up, still I try to keep at it, as I feel that progress enough has been made to see the task to a successful completion.
STALAG XI B
December 2nd, 1944. Rec’d Feb 22nd, 1945.
Today is December second. I hope that you all have a very nice Christmas although my first Xmas away from home won’t be all it is cracked up to be. Don’t worry as I expect to be out soon as the war should soon be over. Also we know that the Lord looks after his own. I wrote a letter once before but I have my doubts about it ever reaching you. This will be quite an experience to tell about. You never appreciate the Red Cross until you get in a position like this. Remember me to D. and everyone in fact, all the kids. This is about all I can write so I send all my love and don’t worry as I am okay.
December 16th, 1944. Rec’d March 8th, 1945.
Here it is December 16th and the war is that many days nearer an end. I suppose I will have to tell you all about my experiences when I get home. They say these take about two months to travel so I hope to be free once more that is before you get this. But you live in hopes in these places. You will have some souvenirs if these ever get through. I have a lot of time to read my Bible.
[Photograph of a group of men standing in a sports field] Photograph of a Ball Team at Stalag Luft III. Back Row, left to right: Lt. M.L. Taylor, (Eng.); Flt/Lt. L.A.E. Osbon (Eng.); F/O F.N. Scott (Hespler, Ont.); F/Lt. R. Coste (Toronto); F/O J.S. Acheson (Winnipeg); F/O A.R. Wallace (Toronto); G/C Larry Wray (Ottawa); Front Row, left to right: F/Lt. S. Pozer (Duck Lake, Sask.); F/O H.H. Beaupre (Waterloo); F/O E.R. Soulliere (Roseland, Ont.); F/Lt. D.W. McKim (Lynedoch, Ont.). Kindly lent by Mrs. Larry Wray of Ottawa.
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22 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
the thing is there is a lot you don’t really understand in it. I suppose D. and you are getting along alright. The dog should be fairly well grown by the time I get back. I estimate I will be home by July, we will see how close I have guessed. Well I will close this hoping for the best, putting my trust in God.
January 3rd, 1945.
Another issue of paper so will write every time they come through with it. Been under the weather for the past few days but much better today. Got a Red Cross box of food for New Year’s so made the day much nicer than Christmas was. I could sure use a pair of socks as I’ve been using the same pair since coming here, almost afraid to wash them as they may fall to pieces. I often wonder if you have my first letter yet. It will be three months on the 16th since being trapped. No use me asking you to write as I know you do. Please send cigs. Maybe I’ll be out of here by the time they get, but in case not could sure use them.
STALAG 357
January 17th, 1945.
I received five parcels today. 1 personal and 4 cigarette parcels. The personal one was sent last June and was in perfect order; everything complete and undamaged. The cigarettes were re-addressed from Italy.
STALAG LUFT III
November 6th, 1944.
Well, here’s my first letter for this month and my twenty-third since arrival in Lower Silesia. I’ve been sending home a couple of letters and a card per month for the last couple of months. Rec’d quite a bit of mail lately, latest around mid-September. Glad all O.K. at home and that my mail is getting there. Things are O.K. here; weather getting somewhat damp and cold, and I fear winter is almost upon us once more. Got both lots of snaps now – they’re always welcome. Thank everyone for writing for me. Received book parcel lately, also parcel from Toronto, books, etc. Also receiving cigarettes. Slippers, suspenders and a kitbag are items I could use in next parcel. If sending sweaters, make them vee-neck or sweatshirt style as I now have a sleeve-less and turtleneck type, please.
November 8th, 1945.
I really feel ashamed of myself. For three years I have felt as though I have known you very well and this is the first letter I have written to you. In the summer of 1941, we Canadians were very short of food, blankets, clothing and sports equipment. Due to your remarkable efforts in organizing the P.O.W. we now stand well ahead of any other nationality. For the past two years, I have seen thousands of Canadian Red Cross parcels arriving, as well as all kinds of sports equipment. You can well imagine the effect of all this work upon the morale of the “Kriegies”. The fact that we are allowed food in our clothing parcels in an achievement in itself! Group Captain Wray of the R.C.A.F., who was here last summer, was very impressed and immediately dispatched a letter to the P.O.W. and Red Cross for their excellent work. So, on behalf of all the boys at the receiving end – many, many thanks for everything.
November 25th, 1944.
One month to go to the third Christmas of the Captivity, that’s what there is to go to. This year, in contrast to last, when I became quite petulant at the prospect and wrote a letter quite unworthy of One of Our Brave Boys – I am prepared to accept it philosophically. Christmas comes but once a year, and when it comes it brings a “bash” if at all possible. We are greedily hoping that despite every obstacle the Red Cross Christmas Food parcels may arrive in time, and speculating wildly on what the Canadian Government’s Christmas Cars was hinting at – “a small Christmas present for your personal use.” Now do you think that would be something to eat? Life here is interesting. I am back at the trumpet again. (Somehow I can’t think of the sound I make during practice is giving pleasure to any ear other than my own, no matter how many yards of Lake Simcoe should lie between). I have a very small part (Prof. Willard), and a great interest in my friend’s production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town”, with an all-Canadian cast. I am a book reviewer for “The Circuit”. – And I announce the public programs of recorded Swing and Jazz music.
November 28th, 1944.
This is a mere P.S. to the letter written a couple of days ago, provoked by the receipt of 3 letters from you yesterday – including one of Oct 17 – the fastest in a long time. The “in touch” feeling in boosted by your receiving my July letter.
December 6th, 1944. Rec’d March 15th, 1945.
Received a couple of September and October letters from you. As you can no doubt guess I am definitely brassed off at the idea of spending my fourth Christmas here, and I have warned everyone against wishing me a “Merry Christmas” – it will be far from merry. However, once it is over, we can always get optimistic again and reiterate the cry home by Christmas 45 (?). The main thing I want to tell you is that, on December 4th, there
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May 1945 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION 23
was a dedication service at the new memorial for the … (censored) … It is in the little cemetery about 1 1/2 miles from the north camp. Seven officers were allowed to go from the compound, the East, and sixteen from the North, including the two Padre’s, and the bugler. I was one of the seven from here. The memorial is in the form of a large altar table with three scroll-like stones sweeping up at the back with the … names on it. We all lined up around it while the R.C. and C. of E. padres read a burial service, then the last post, after which the three Group Captains put wreaths on and then the Swiss Legation also put on quite a large one. It was well done and the memorial is really very nice.
December 7th, 1944.
Delighted to receive your two letters of August 14th and September 29th. Once again we were warmed to the heart by the news of all you are doing for us. It makes us feel very humble, but it is that humbleness born of pride. You make us realise how glorious a heritage it is to be a Canadian, and everyday we are here we become more aware of what that really means to us. Out of this experience we will return to Canada far better citizens than we were, for we have truly awakened to what we previously took very lightly for granted. Typically, our Canada has far surpassed all other countries in the help given to us Ps. O. W. and we regard you as responsible for a great part of that. The winter weather has made life slightly less pleasant here, and the reduction of our Red Cross food by half but we are getting by cheerfully and not too unpleasantly. Impatient, certainly, but always hoping that our return to you is just around the corner. Our theatre is averaging one production every 10-12 days, each running for 7 days, providing us with excellent entertainment. Educational program is going very strong and I am sending you under separate cover a routine report on that branch of our activities. The health of the camp, generally, has been excellent, really amazingly so. Regular hours are probably very good for us, although we do yearn for a little of the less regular. First chocolate has arrived so hope remainder will be here in time. A thousand thanks, a grand Xmas gift for us. All have been saving a bit here and there for months for Christmas, so we hope to have a grand day of it. We will be thinking of you all at that time particularly and sending in spirit our cheeriest greetings. From all the lads and myself our thankful thoughts and regards to you.
December 9th, 1944.
Received five letters from you to-day also two from friends. These are the first received in six weeks. Many thanks for them. Very sorry to hear about F.D. being shot up but I suppose it is much better than being shot down. I have been a little under the weather for a few days but am O.K. now. There is a touch of “flu” in the camp but nothing serious. We had a film last week which was a big event in the camp. It was called “The Spoilers”, a whooping, roaring gold-rush
[Photograph of a group of men on a field] Group taken at Stalag Luft III showing amongst others: F/Lt. G.H. Rainville, D.F.M. (Port Henry, Ont.); F/Lt. R.R. Smith, D.F.C. (London); F/O J.E. Loree (Guelph); F/O L. Stevens (Rosser, Man.); F/O W.V. Ransom (Ottawa); P/O T.E. Jackson (Vancouver); F/O J.A. Hawtin (Beaverton, Ont.); F/O G.P. Gardiner (Merlin, Ont.); F/O E.R. Soulliere (Roseland, Ont.).
[Page break]
24 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
picture and everyone enjoyed it very much. We had a play called “The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde. The boys did very well. The food situation is about the same on the camp and we are managing O.K. I am afraid we won’t have a Xmas as I did last year. The people there (missing in France for 6 1/2 months) were very good to me. The Germans are giving us potatoes, cabbage and swedes at present, which are very helpful. That blanket you sent which arrived on the hottest day of the year is surely useful now in this cold weather. To think that I was not very happy when I received it that day! I am still studying but am afraid I am like everyone here unable to concentrate on the subject for long.
December 10th, 1944.
My uniform arrived a few weeks ago and is a very good fit. Thanks very much. It was really a good idea sending it here instead of London because it could so easily have been lost and anyway I might not have been able to use it before moths got into it, tho’ I still think that we will not be here that long. Mail has been pretty good lately. I’m still doing a little work tho’ I have finished all the books from the Canadian Legion Educational Service which you or Dad sent. Neither of the ones on the soya bean or hydrophonies have arrived yet tho’ and I am looking forward to their arrival any day now. It’s a little late for Xmas Greetings but nevertheless Merry Xmas to all the family.
December 11th. 1944.
Mail is coming in fairly regularly, latest around mid-October. Glad to receive those snaps. This morning was surprised to receive an old July letter, but it was extremely welcome, containing as it did, snaps. All O.K. here and glad to learn that parcel is on the way. I’ve been very fortunate in that line so far and haven’t missed any. Could use pyjamas and summer underwear shorts in next parcel – but no Red Cross type or whatever they’ve been so far. They were far too large. Jockey shorts if possible, if not, the broadcloth type, but please a medium size. Also could use a bath towel, preferably a large and heavy type, like those ones we used to have at home. I’ve mentioned slippers already, I think, also shows.
December 23rd, 1944 Rec’d March 24th, 1945.
Two more days until Christmas. About all Christmas means here is an excuse for a big food dash. We have been on reduced rations for weeks, saving food for Christmas day, when we are going to have a gargantuan meal, or rather a series of meals. We have made a Christmas cake from ground biscuits. We have also decorated the room with painted toilet paper streamers and coloured and silvered paper from cigarette packages – it looks quite gay – we only wish the news was as cheering. Have not had mail since the beginning of the month. Am overdue a parcel from home – hope they concentrate on food – particularly chocolate – worth its weight in gold here – and spices which are valuable to relieve the monotony of our diet. Will be able to get to Mass on Christmas day.
December 26th, 1944.
I’ve written you a previous letter earlier this month, but haven’t received much mail since that time, only a couple of slightly overdue September letters. Still O.K. here, but the weather’s gotten really cold in the last week or so. The German papers came out with a met. forecast a few weeks ago, predicting the coldest winter in the last century, and it seems to be coming true. A good point about it, however, is that it guarantees a certain amount of skating and hockey, something that was altogether missing last winter, which was rather mild. There aren’t many skates around, and they are mostly the clamp-on type, but I’ve been out a few times already. Xmas was featured by American Christmas parcels, quite a large bash of food resulting therefrom, and a certain amount of slightly forced and artificial gaiety, which was dissipated fairly quickly. No Kriegie brews this year, as I think I’ve already mentioned, worse luck. So while the Merry Christmas theme was problematical, the Happy Returns motif is still uppermost in most kriegies’ minds. The Canadian chocolate was received – many thanks to the C.P.O.W.R.A. I’ve already mentioned requiring shoes, any type, preferably fairly husky pair of brogues or walking shoes, not necessarily black, also gym shoes. By the way, the sweater is a great blessing these days.
December 26th, 1944.
A Happy New Year to you my Censor.
A Happy New Year to you all at home. I received your letter of Sept. 25th and the snaps, also three other letters. We had a very nice Christmas indeed. The American Red Cross parcels arrived and they were very good. We had turkey, Xmas pudding, nuts and candy and it sure was a grand feeling to get up fully satisfied for once. In fact some of the boys did not manage to do so. We received the Canadian chocolate from the P.O.W. R. Ass., and it was very much appreciated by all the boys. Please thank them from us all. The Canadian and English Xmas parcels did not arrive in time, but will probably arrive any day now. Hope you all had a happy time together. My best to all friends.
[Page break]
May 1945 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION 25
December 26th, 1944.
‘Twas the night after Xmas, everyone well fed – some too well fed – thanks to the American Red Cross, Can. Red Cross, Can. Relatives Ass’n (who are to be congratulated on their efforts on our behalf and we really do appreciate it) Xmas day was quite a success as for as we are concerned in these circumstances – dry yes – but it made us appreciate culinary efforts of our room cooks the more. We are having a cold season but it is excellent for ice skating – already we are well under way and have opened the season with two good games. Our equipment is good thanks to Can. Rel. Ass’n. Unfortunately the equipment D.M. sent has not turned up but we do appreciate your efforts and know what must have happened to it. Do hope you all enjoyed a good time and we feel that it just must be our last (said that now five times) but still one must be right some time if one tries often enough. Do pay my own hearty respects to the above mentioned organizations – they have certainly earned our respect. Say Hello to all and sundry – do ask them to write – getting that lost feeling with so little mail coming in. Photos are more than welcome.
December 26th, 1944.
Christmas has come and gone again without the five of us being together, but I do hope you were all home and carried on as usual. I’m curious to know what Mother got for each of you from me. The day before Christmas a Simpson parcel arrived. Haven’t had any mail since November 25th so Mother’s October 15th is my latest. It has been cold here for the last fortnight, so we have been able to freeze a good hockey and skating rink. It’s fun watching chaps who have never seen ice, learning to skate. Hope my skates get here in time. It was very thoughtful of you to think of sending them. Our Theatre is producing “The Drunkard” now and it is excellent. The American Christmas parcels arrived in time, so we had turkey and pudding for dinner. The Canadian chocolate also came in good order. You’ve no idea how we all appreciate the work you folks are doing for us. I only wish I could thank everybody personally. Perhaps some day I can. Well, with a bit of luck and hard work, we will be together this time next year, but in the meantime, don’t let things get you down and take good care of yourselves. I may be going on twenty-eight now but you will think you have a fifteen-year-old on your hands when I get going. I have just found out that we do not have street cars in London now. I’m still in good health and spirits, but I do get homesick once in a while, about every minute.
December 27th, 1944.
Another Christmas has come and gone, and here’s hoping it is the last one here. Our Christmas was not too bad considering the circumstances. We had turkey, plum pudding, etc., from the Red Cross parcels. Ginger worked overtime the week before, and we still have some of his home made mince pies to eat. We had intended having mince pies at our Christmas dinner, but after the plum pudding, we found we couldn’t eat anything more. We have had some cold weather lately, and we
[Photograph of a group of men] Group taken at Stalag Luft III. F/O J.L. McKeown is marked with X. Kindly lent by Mrs. Jas. McKeown of Smith’s Falls, Ont.
[Page break]
26 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
were able to have an exhibition hockey match on Christmas Day. We were all able to get a turn at skating also. There was also an England vs. Scotland soccer game, and there was a big “fun fair” in the canteen to raise cigarettes for new arrivals. Our room entered a “horse” in the horse race, and were able to raise fifty cigarettes for each of the new arrivals in our room. I have been out skating the last four or five days. A hockey schedule is being drawn up and I am looking forward to a few games. I have been giving skating lessons to the others in our room, who are all English, with the exception of one. I am only allowed three letters and four post cards a month, so this is the last letter this month. I have been sending my post cards to some of the gang.
December 28th, 1944 Rec’d March 14th, 1945.
Sunday evening, church service just over and it is letter time. Received five letters this week and a Christmas card from Prime Minister McKenzie King on behalf of Canadians everywhere – a very kind and appreciated gesture. I am doing a bit of writing in our Quill club we have organized on the camp. Received parcel of gramophone records. Bing Crosby and T. Dorsey – a very good selection, and I am very grateful. Please thank the Sask. P.O.W. Relatives Association for sports parcel which was useful and practical. We play a little hockey and do some studying. Here’s hoping ’45 will see us all united once more.
December 29th, 1944 Rec’d February 26th, 1945.
We were quite busy Xmas week – grinding biscuits and barley for flour, breaking prune stones to use the inside for our cake. Ours must have weighed about 10 lbs with a chocolate icing. We also had four American Christmas and four ordinary parcels so we had a big bash; but I ate too much and couldn’t hold it. Suppose to be the coldest winter in 100 years so we have made a good hockey rink and three other surfaces for skating. We opened on the 24th with East vs. West Canada game. I played and we won 4-0. I wished I had known we would be here this winter I’d have asked for my skates. We have about 350 for 2,000 men. Clamp on skates!!! A few private jobs, but we manage. Have been fairly warm at nite with socks on and greatcoat over bed. Don’t know why the R.C. wouldn’t let J. send blankets: too late now, I really have no complaints!!!
December 29th, 1944. Rec’d March 14th, 1945.
I guess Happy New Year will be late but I can’t remember that it takes a couple of months for these things to get home. We had a magnificent “bash” over Christmas – thanks to the American Red Cross Christmas parcels. They had turkey, plum pudding, butter etc. We were hoping the British of Canadian ones would arrive in time to give us a big feed on New Years but we still have that to look forward to. Incidentally we Canadians in the camp are surely proud of the Prisoners of War Relatives Association and the Canadian Red Cross, they have done so very much for us. Had a letter from you today with snaps enclosed – they were really swell to get. We are having cold weather here and the skating is really good. B. et I are on the same hockey team and the games are a riot. I’m one of the stronger players so you can guess the standard of the team. Thanks for the menthols.
STALAG LUFT VII
Christmas Day 1944.
The day started at 8:00 with a parade. We are having only one today. Chief interest is eating the Red Cross food that we have saved. Aside from that it’s a normal day. Church Services and carol singing are a plenty; went to Welsh Club party last nite. Big soccer game this afternoon. We have stew, pudding, cake trifles and bread. All in good spirits. Red Cross Xmas parcels not here yet. Hope you aren’t worrying about me.
MARLAG UND MILAG NORD
December 26th, 1944.
Things are pretty quiet tonight – most of the boys from our room have gone to see the pantomime “Robinson Crusoe”, so I’ll take advantage and drop a few lines. Well, to begin with our Xmas here wasn’t bad, I think we all managed to get that usual stuffed to the brim feeling somehow and on the whole spent a fairly enjoyable day behind the wire. I think the odds are in favour of spending the next one at home – what do you say? I went to the Nativity Play, Carol Service and Watchnight Service and it was very well done. It is the first time I have seen such a service – believe it is more of an Anglican Service. The R.C.’s also held their various Services and masses too. Believe it or not I had a skate on Xmas Day. We haven’t got proper skated, but several of the old “gufangs” made them out of old hinges and any piece of scrap metal they could get their hands on. It really is funny to see them – all shapes and sizes. We skate on water ponds, which are near our huts in case of fire. So much for camp life. Mail is good lately – some of the boys getting five or six letters at a time. Latest letter in November.
[Page break]
May 1945 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION 27
January 1945
This is the letter I promised in my Jan. 4/45 card of a few days ago, and without further preamble, would say Milag is the Merchant Navy and Marlag the Naval section of this camp which is located in country district on N.W. Germany. In former compound a small town in itself, save for appearance, we have everything a community should have (save liberty) and many things it should not. Of first mentioned there is Administration from Chief Confidence Man (Mayor) right thru to Sunday, and street depts. Good theatre (produced from farce to light opera) “Pirates of Penyance” [sic] – Christmas attraction – 8 day run – Cinema, English and German films – library – school – C. of E. and R.C. Chopes, all sports, baseball, football, hockey, indoor, debates, talks, lectures, gardening. Our present population is 2,500 – mostly U.K. men. 100 Canadians, 70 N.Z. and Australians, Egypt, Indo-China, etc. represented. Colors, white black, brown, yellow. Opposition interests begins and ends in keeping us inside. Administration, all activities, our own work. Self? To sea before war search local color – became embroiled in conflict – 1st ship torpedoed Sept. 15/40 lost 23 men – joined another ended up here Mar 25/41. Experiences many and varied. Interests – Lit. & Art – Government social reform. Now reading up Mills “Political Economy”. Like helping others but resources limited. Dream dreams but in this materialistic world many go unfulfilled. Abhor strife. Believe in state ownership, national resources. International viewpoint necessary to just and sound peace. Future in lap if Gods but believe prospects good.
December 29th, 1944. Rec’d March 14th, 1945.
I guess Happy New Year will be late but I can’t remember that it takes a couple of months for these things to get home. We had a magnificent “bash” over Christmas – thanks to the American Red Cross Christmas parcels. They had turkey, plum pudding, butter etc. We were hoping the British or Canadian ones would arrive in time to give us a big feed on New Year but we still have that to look forward to. Incidentally we Canadians in the camp are surely proud of the Prisoners of War Relatives Association and the Canadian Red Cross, they have done so very much for us. Had a letter from you today with snaps enclosed – they were really swell to get. We are having cold weather here and the skating is really good. B. and I are on the same hockey team and the games are a riot. I’m one of the stronger players so you can guess the standard of the team. Thanks for the menthols.
DIRECTORY
Subscribers are urged to buy from the companies listed here as they are helping to defray the cost of this bulletin.
[Advertisements from Burton’s Limited, Diggon’s, Wm. Collins Sons & Co. and F.E. Osborne]
[Page break]
30 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
[Advertisements from British Consols, Sweet Caporal, Charles Ogilvy, Hudson’s Bay Company]
[Page break]
May 1945 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION 31
[Advertisement from Molson’s Brewery Limited]
[Page break]
33 THE CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR RELATIVES ASSOCIATION May 1945
[Advertisement from Dawes Black Horse Brewery]
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
News Sheet No 42 May 1945
Description
An account of the resource
The News Sheet of the Canadian Prisoner of War Relatives Association. This edition covers Victory in Europe, the death of President Roosevelt, the liberation of Canadian POWs, assembly centres for released POWs, the seizure of German POW records, Stalag Luft I "the easiest camp in Germany", propaganda broadcasts, the memorial at Stalag Luft III, news from England, the American Red Cross news, Far East News, Internment camp Liebenau, Questions & Answers, Canadian branch news, news from German POW Camps and adverts.
Creator
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The Canadian Prisoners of War Relatives Association
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1945-05
Format
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32 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
MCurnockRM1815605-171114-013
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
Royal Canadian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Bournemouth
Germany--Lübeck
Germany--Moosburg an der Isar
Germany--Fischbach
Germany--Bremervörde
Germany--Luckenwalde
Germany--Spremberg
Switzerland--Geneva
China--Hong Kong
Germany--Liebenau Site
Japan--Kōbe-shi
France--Paris
France--Nantes
France--Rouen
France--Nice
Canada
Manitoba
New Brunswick--Moncton
Ontario--Toronto
Ontario--Ottawa
Saskatchewan
British Columbia--Victoria
British Columbia--Vancouver
British Columbia--New Westminster
France--Lyon
France--Marseille
France--Dunkerque
Germany--Barth
Poland
Poland--Żagań
Poland--Tychowo
Poland--Łambinowice
Czech Republic
Czech Republic--Karlovy Vary
Germany--Nuremberg
France--Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine)
France
Ontario
New Brunswick
Germany
China
Japan
Switzerland
England--Hampshire
Germany--Parchim
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
Anne-Marie Watson
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1945-05
aircrew
Churchill, Winston (1874-1965)
Dulag Luft
entertainment
faith
fear
memorial
prisoner of war
Red Cross
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (1882-1945)
sport
Stalag 8B
Stalag Luft 1
Stalag Luft 3
Stalag Luft 4
Stalag Luft 7
-
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1375/23738/PEdgarAG19010076.2.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1375/23738/PEdgarAG19010083.1.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
Edgar, Alfred George
Edgar, A G
Description
An account of the resource
83 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Alfred George 'Allan' Edgar DFC (b. 1922, 172180 Royal Air Force) He flew operations as a pilot with 49 Squadron.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Pip Harrison and Sally Shawcross nee Edgar, 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
2018-07-04
2019-10-01
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
Edgar, AG
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
Alan Edgar Flying
Description
An account of the resource
A blurred image taken from a rear cockpit. On the reverse 'My head obscures everything as usual. Diving on Shack on the bank of the PetitKodiak [sic] SFTS 42'.
In a second image his head is turned towards the camera.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PEdgarAG19010075,
PEdgarAG19010076,
PEdgarAG19010083
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.
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
New Brunswick
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.
1942
aircrew
Harvard
military service conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1375/23742/PEdgarAG19010088.2.jpg
af0d9f1342077f6c22e2795febaf47b2
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1375/23742/PEdgarAG19010089.2.jpg
72638b7216cf3a2df572315cf6bdeac7
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
Edgar, Alfred George
Edgar, A G
Description
An account of the resource
83 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Alfred George 'Allan' Edgar DFC (b. 1922, 172180 Royal Air Force) He flew operations as a pilot with 49 Squadron.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Pip Harrison and Sally Shawcross nee Edgar, 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
2018-07-04
2019-10-01
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
Edgar, AG
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
Moncton Airfield
Description
An account of the resource
An oblique aerial photograph of Moncton airfield in the snow. Seven hangars and many aircraft are visible. On the reverse 'We see Moncton 'Drome from the air. A marvellous sight. Dec 42'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-12
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PEdgarAG19010088,
PEdgarAG19010089
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 Canadian Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
New Brunswick
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.
1942-12
Conforms To
An established standard to which the described resource conforms.
Geolocated
aerial photograph
hangar
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1375/23745/PEdgarAG19010094.1.jpg
b1ea5686f8ec52ec950901d712836334
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1375/23745/PEdgarAG19010095.1.jpg
3141e63ff7d13c92da1d2d172805c98f
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
Edgar, Alfred George
Edgar, A G
Description
An account of the resource
83 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Alfred George 'Allan' Edgar DFC (b. 1922, 172180 Royal Air Force) He flew operations as a pilot with 49 Squadron.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Pip Harrison and Sally Shawcross nee Edgar, 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
2018-07-04
2019-10-01
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
Edgar, AG
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
DC-3 Double Image
Description
An account of the resource
A double exposed image of a C-47. On the reverse 'A DC-3 proves that you can be in two positions at the same time. Edgar does the impossible!!! Mocnton 42 SFTS'.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PEdgarAG19010094,
PEdgarAG19010095
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.
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
New Brunswick
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.
1942
C-47
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1375/23756/PEdgarAG19010111.2.jpg
7f5e9b5dbb7b1c5fa6248160eeec4d76
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
Edgar, Alfred George
Edgar, A G
Description
An account of the resource
83 items. The collection concerns Pilot Officer Alfred George 'Allan' Edgar DFC (b. 1922, 172180 Royal Air Force) He flew operations as a pilot with 49 Squadron.
The collection has been licenced to the IBCC Digital Archive by Pip Harrison and Sally Shawcross nee Edgar, 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
2018-07-04
2019-10-01
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
Edgar, AG
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
Harvards at Moncton
Description
An account of the resource
A postcard of 14 Harvards in a line with a parade of airmen marching past. It is captioned 'Greetings from Moncton, N.B.'
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One b/w photograph
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PEdgarAG19010111
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
New Brunswick
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.
aircrew
Harvard
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
Ford, Terry
Ford, T
Description
An account of the resource
135 items. The collection concerns Terry Ford. He flew operations as a pilot with 75 Squadron. It contains photographs, his log book, operational maps, letters home during training, and documents including emergency drills. There are two albums of photographs, one of navigation logs, and another of target photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Julia Burke 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
2017-03-13
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
Ford, T
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[underlined] Airmail. [/underlined]
1585520 LAC Ford. T.A.,
4 Sdn. RAF.
31 P.D., Moncton,
New Brunswick,
Canada.
Saturday, 17-10-42.
[circled 1]
Dear Mum, Dad, Yvonne & Maria,
This is my first airmail letter, & I should be glad if you would tell me how long it takes, as it costs 30c. & I don’t know that it is worth it. The best is airgraph I think & as I probably shan’t be able to say much about the flying, I shall send them more often.
As I said in the airgraph we shall probably be here 3 weeks or a month getting used to the different currency, customs, driving on wrong side of road, & all the hundred & one differences over here. We shall then go on to a training school somewhere.
Pete, Mac & I went into Moncton last night, & it was amazing, on looking into the shops, to see what we have been doing without. I bought a lighter for a dollar (4/6) & several other small things.
[page break]
We then went into Duke’s Grill & had chips, tomato, bacon, 2 eggs, four pieces of b& b & coffee for 1/2 $ (2/3).
I should grow into a strong boy out here as the air is marvellous, & the grub beautifully cooked & plentiful. Everything seems so well organised, & near. We are in 2 storey huts only a few yards from dining room, Drill Hall & orderly room, instead of having to walk miles.
There are quite a lot of French-Canadians in this town & about one shop in three seems to be a barbers.
There is a terrific lot I should like to buy, but I shall leave it for a bit, as I don’t want to have to lug damageable stuff in kit-bags all over the country.
Winter appears to come much later here, as it is still cloudless & sunny & quite warm here, I think its called Indian summer.
One can see a tremendous way here. Looking out of my window
[page break]
I can see the trees brown, red, yellow & green stretching for miles into the hills in the background.
Denis is on the same camp, but he must be in a different squadron as I haven’t seen him, or a lot of chaps I know. They seem to have disappeared.
Well I’ll stop writing about Canada now, although I could go on for a long time.
I hope you are all fit & happy at home & don’t forget to look out for that pub. How is Yvonne getting on?
Remember me to every one, won’t you.
Love
[underlined] Terry. [/underlined]
[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
Letter from Terry Ford to his family
Description
An account of the resource
Terry Ford writes home telling his family about his experiences of Moncton, Canada and the differences there from home.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Terry Ford
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-10-17
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
EFordTAFordAG-[Mrs]-Y-M421017-0001,
EFordTAFordAG-[Mrs]-Y-M421017-0002,
EFordTAFordAG-[Mrs]-Y-M421017-0003
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
New Brunswick
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.
1942-10-17
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Steve Christian
aircrew
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1376/23905/EFordTAFordAG-[Mrs]-Y-M421119-0001.jpg
08b5cbca172427d5de91cb8766dddb33
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1376/23905/EFordTAFordAG-[Mrs]-Y-M421119-0002.jpg
620fc60f2b7376d7cbd6fee0e2e2e4f6
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
Ford, Terry
Ford, T
Description
An account of the resource
135 items. The collection concerns Terry Ford. He flew operations as a pilot with 75 Squadron. It contains photographs, his log book, operational maps, letters home during training, and documents including emergency drills. There are two albums of photographs, one of navigation logs, and another of target photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Julia Burke 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
2017-03-13
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
Ford, T
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
CANADIAN LEGION
WAR SERVICES
1585520 LAC Ford T.A.
A2 Flight, 67 Course,
35 EFTS,
Neepawa
Manitoba
CANADA.
19-11-1942
Dear Mum, Dad, Yvonne & Moira,
Sorry I have not written for a few days but I was on 3 days “Jankers”. I didn’t turn up for “Link” trainer, as I didn’t see the notice. Unfortunately on the 3rd day, I was late for a Janker parade & was “admonished” & given an extra day. Still I’ve finished now.
All I have heard from you so far is the cable. Thanks for that, but do you know it took [deleted word] a fortnight to arrive.
I have posted my Christmas cards. I could only get 9 so I had to spread them a bit. I meant to send one to Yvonne [deleted] to [/deleted] but I’m afraid I have lost her address. I sent one to Gran Ford after all. I was going to send one to John, Charlie & Basil, but they would have been hopelessly late. I hope Auntie Lot & Gran Chandler get [deleted] there [/deleted] theirs as I am a bit shaky on the address. Also ‘Auntie Cis’
By the way I see on your cable that you thank me for my airgraph. I sent a cable as soon as I arrived at Moncton. Did you receive it?
I am going to Winnipeg this week-end, & have been invited to Don’s friend’s house to stay. Don is also going to try to get there.
I’ve got plenty of solo hours in now, & am now doing a certain amount of aerobatics – I always do them at a safe height, & they are very enjoyable.
We had a very good show here this week. The company was the “Lifebuoy Jollies[?]. Advertising the soap, of course.
However, they were very good, indeed. In fact, it was in watching them that I got my extra dose of Jankers. Defaulters are not allowed to see camp entertainment, but I had to give out programmes & so was allowed to stay. I was so interested in the show that I forgot to parade again until too late.
By the way Mum, I haven’t seen any Hiltone[?] over here yet, but I’ll look out for it.
The radio programmes have been very interesting lately. They are as you probably know, all sponsored by advertising companies, but we have heard Veronica Lake, Lana Turner, Don Ameche, Ray Milland, Irene Dunne, Edgar Bergen & Charlie MacArthur, W. C. Fields & Jack Benny, in various plays. The plays are not improved by being cut off in the middle, while the announcer tells you that your liver is out of order & you need “Stinko”.
I hope you’re studying for your exams, fishy, & if you pass I may manage to get you something else beside a watch.
Any news of the pub. yet, Dad? I hope you get your wishes soon. When is the old dame at the Lion going to snuff it?
The local butcher in Neepawa used to live in Bristol & a friend of his has asked me to go & see him as he is very interested in the old town, still. There are really a tremendous number of chaps who came from England & they all introduce themselves & yarn about the Old Country.
Well, I think that’s all the news for now so Cheerioh[sic]
[name and P.S. cut short due to inadequate scanning]
[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
Letter from Terry Ford to his family
Description
An account of the resource
Terry Ford writes to his family that he has plenty of hours solo flying. He also writes that he has had two spells in jankers.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Terry Ford
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1942-11-19
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
EFordTAFordAG-[Mrs]-Y-M421119-0001,
EFordTAFordAG-[Mrs]-Y-M421119-0002
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
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Canada
Manitoba--Neepawa
New Brunswick--Moncton
New Brunswick
Manitoba
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.
1942-11-19
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
aircrew
entertainment
military discipline
pilot
training
-
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fef7385b26d8df2bf5bf133e0a28e080
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1376/23932/EMacfarlaneFordTA[Date]-010003.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1376/23932/EMacfarlaneFordTA[Date]-010005.jpg
a1a6eb7281fb0a95072252ded5f825b5
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1376/23932/EMacfarlaneFordTA[Date]-010006.jpg
6730519d0bda496a479c0b161ae6c761
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
Ford, Terry
Ford, T
Description
An account of the resource
135 items. The collection concerns Terry Ford. He flew operations as a pilot with 75 Squadron. It contains photographs, his log book, operational maps, letters home during training, and documents including emergency drills. There are two albums of photographs, one of navigation logs, and another of target photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Julia Burke 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
2017-03-13
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
Ford, T
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
1567042 LAC MACFARLANE
Course 68. 31 E.F.T.S.
DE WINTON ALBERTA.
Sun.
Dear Terry,
Thanks very much for your letter & so sorry I havent [sic] answered it before now but I have been very busy!!!.
I was in Moncton for a fortnight after you left, & I quite enjoyed myself as I got to know some people who had a very charming daughter who I got on quite well with. I eventually got posted to here along with Jack
[page break]
Major & Ted Morgan so I was more fortunate than you. Also on the journey we wer [sic] with John Paterson & Dave Pask[?] right up to Calgary. Our journey was identical with yours a day in Montreal and a reception at Winnipeg. This is a smashing place, civilian run and plenty of smashing women running around.
We are 26 mls from Calgary but I have only been there once as I can enjoy myself
[page break]
a lot better out here. I have been out horse riding every weekend and I have enjoyed it immensely every time. After riding we get invited into the ranch house & have a cup of tea & something to eat also a warm up which we badly need usually.
Yesterday I got an Indian horse which hadn't been ridden for 3 mths as it had escaped from the Indian Reserve & had been wandering
[page break]
around before it was caught & bought by these people. Once I was on I managed to stick on but I had a helluva job getting there. It was a marvellous horse could gallop at a good speed. When I brought it back it was lathered in sweat.
I managed to solo in 6 hrs which was [deleted] preety [/deleted] I thought pretty bad but old Pete said he didn't solo until 10 1/2 so I wasn't so bad.
Two of our course have been chucked off, one of them is
[page break]
Mic[?] Vey[?], you remember him at Stratford & the other is Mac Kellar I dont [sic] know if you know him, both of them couldnt [sic] land. By the way how did you enjoy the Link pretty bloody wasn't it, thank God I have done my 10 hrs. I managed to do 13 exercises goodness knows how but there it is.
This is one of our washout days, it is blowing a blizzard just now, & it was a marvellous day
[page break]
yesterday I got 2 hrs solo in & had a marvellous view of the Rockies which are only 80 mls away which isn't very far in this country as I am sure you have found out. I must close now for lack of news.
All the Best of Luck.
Mac.
P.S. Excuse the scribble but the table is shaky.
End of transcription
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 Terry Ford from Mac MacFarlane
Description
An account of the resource
Letter from LAC "Mac" Macfarlane to T A Ford, outlining how he is doing on his training course in De Winton and mentioning what he has been doing in his free time.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Mac MacFarlane
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
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
EMacfarlaneFordTA[Date]-010001,
EMacfarlaneFordTA[Date]-010002,
EMacfarlaneFordTA[Date]-010003,
EMacfarlaneFordTA[Date]-010004,
EMacfarlaneFordTA[Date]-010005,
EMacfarlaneFordTA[Date]-010006
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.
Canada
Alberta--Calgary
New Brunswick--Moncton
Manitoba--Winnipeg
New Brunswick
Alberta
Manitoba
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
Joy Reynard
aircrew
training
-
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824c6627f04d3b05cd5225f9b038ce39
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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
Ford, Terry
Ford, T
Description
An account of the resource
135 items. The collection concerns Terry Ford. He flew operations as a pilot with 75 Squadron. It contains photographs, his log book, operational maps, letters home during training, and documents including emergency drills. There are two albums of photographs, one of navigation logs, and another of target photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Julia Burke 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
2017-03-13
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
Ford, T
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[Royal Canadian Air Force Crest]
Sgt Stockbridge
RCAF
Bagotville
7.7.43.
Dear Terry.
Well, I suppose I should apologize for not having written for such a time, but as you know I am pretty shocking @ writing letters @ the best of times even to Girls!!!
How are you getting along on your Course? I expect you have nearly finished by now. We are finishing in 2 weeks from last Saturday & I am hoping to go on leave to New York for a few days before reporting to Moncton!! Oh boy. I have now completed 48 hrs on the a/c & honestly they are wizard machines
[page break]
especially now that we have started firing the eight machine guns, my word do they roar!!!! Its an absolutely marvelous [sic] feeling sitting in the cockpit behind a solid stream of bullets!!!! We do all sorts of things here including [underlined] bags [/underlined] of low flying & also low level attacking of islands in the lakes around here: its wizard!!!! I went up to 35000 ft the other day with another in formation & then @ that height we had a dog fight & my word I was shagged when I landed, as you can quite imagine. I would love to go back to Weyburn now & show them a thing or two about [underlined] close [/underlined] formation & my word is it close. Whew!!!! Old Kendall & another bloke were up dog fighting the other day & had a mid-air collision but luckily the a/c were landed OK & no injury to the pilots, but the wing-tip of Kens plane was badly smashed in &
[page break]
there was a large rip on the underside of the other fellows wing!!!! Such fun!!
Received a letter yesterday from my girl in Weyburn & she says that there have been two serious accidents @ 41 SFTS. One mid-air collision where one of the fellows was killed & another crash where a fellow was doing stunts over his girls house & his wing came off!!!! He was of course, killed.
When will you be going to Moncton? I may see you there! I hope so!! How are the rest of the lads getting along? they are all doing fine here. We are officially [indecipherable word] as fighter pilots now & as you can guess we are all bucked about it!!!! By the way, how did you get on in your ground subjects. I expect you came through with flying colours as you did @ Weyburn
[page break]
Well! Must close now as I am going to bed!!! Give my kindest regards to all the boys when you see them & ask Cox to let me have the photos of Bradshaw & me standing by an a/c as I would like them very much.
Cheerio for the present
your old pal.
John
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 John Stockbridge to Terry Ford
Description
An account of the resource
The letter contains news from Bagotville.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Stockbridge
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1943-07-07
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four 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
EStockbridgeJFordTA430707-0001,
EStockbridgeJFordTA430707-0002,
EStockbridgeJFordTA430707-0003,
EStockbridgeJFordTA430707-0004
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.
Canada
Québec--Saguenay
New Brunswick--Moncton
United States
New York (State)--New York
Saskatchewan--Weyburn
New York (State)
Québec
New Brunswick
Saskatchewan
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.
1943-07-07
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jan Waller
aircrew
crash
pilot
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1383/24046/PFordTA17110003.2.pdf
b374d795be1da5c730928bdc0d54ef44
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
Ford, Terry. Album Two
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
Ford, T
Description
An account of the resource
67 items. Photographs concerning Terry Ford's training in Canada wartime and post war service. It contains some images taken inside an aircraft during operations.
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
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
Moncton - The Beginning
Description
An account of the resource
Two photographs from an album.
Photo 1 is two airmen sitting in a booth having a meal, captioned 'Mac & Self in Duke's Grill'.
Photo 2 is an Terry and Mac standing outside a wooden hut, captioned 'Outside the Billet'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs on an album page
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PFordTA17110003
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.
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
New Brunswick
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.
aircrew
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1383/24047/PFordTA17110004.1.pdf
171fdcd143764facc98053189a605fbf
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
Ford, Terry. Album Two
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
Ford, T
Description
An account of the resource
67 items. Photographs concerning Terry Ford's training in Canada wartime and post war service. It contains some images taken inside an aircraft during operations.
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
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
Pete Lamb, Mac and John
Description
An account of the resource
Two photographs from an album.
Photo 1 is Pete Lamb in flying kit standing amongst a snow bank. Behind is an Anson. It is captioned 'Pete Lamb (at Carberry)'.
Photo 2 is three airmen standing outside a wooden hut, captioned 'Mac, Pete & John'.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two b/w photographs on an album page
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Photograph
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PFordTA17110004
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.
Canada
Manitoba--Carberry
New Brunswick--Moncton
New Brunswick
Manitoba
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.
aircrew
Anson
pilot
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1383/24048/PFordTA17110005.2.pdf
ef2d85652766b007a8da45eb06819ffe
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
Ford, Terry. Album Two
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
Ford, T
Description
An account of the resource
67 items. Photographs concerning Terry Ford's training in Canada wartime and post war service. It contains some images taken inside an aircraft during operations.
This item was sent to the IBCC Digital Archive already in digital form. No better quality copies are available.
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
Posted to Neepawa
Description
An account of the resource
Three photographs from an album.
Photo 1 is Terry and Cyril Day leaning out of a carriage window whilst the train is at Moncton Station.
Photo 2 is some airmen in a carriage compartment.
Photo 3 is Pete Lamb lying in his bunk on the train.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Three b/w photographs on an album page
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PFordTA17110005
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.
Canada
New Brunswick--Moncton
Manitoba--Neepawa
New Brunswick
Manitoba
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.
aircrew
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1376/24340/NBurkeJC170308-07.1.jpg
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https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1376/24340/NBurkeJC170308-08.1.jpg
7c4cc5fc87338ec3e934d87bed36bcba
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
Ford, Terry
Ford, T
Description
An account of the resource
135 items. The collection concerns Terry Ford. He flew operations as a pilot with 75 Squadron. It contains photographs, his log book, operational maps, letters home during training, and documents including emergency drills. There are two albums of photographs, one of navigation logs, and another of target photographs.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Julia Burke 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
2017-03-13
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
Ford, T
Access Rights
Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status. Access Rights may include information regarding access or restrictions based on privacy, security, or other policies.
Permission granted for commercial projects
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Neepawa Serves The Wings of the R.A.F.
[photographs]
Many girls from the Neepawa district, employed as civilians, are helping to operate the big R.A.F. elementary flying school which is training student pilots drawn from many parts of the British Commonwealth ranging from Cardiff to Ceylon. Here are scenes on the airport, pictured by George Young, a Free Press photographer. Top, Miss Mabel Morley, of Riding Mountain, wheels her cart of oil bottles from one plane to another, greasing them up so that they are ready for flight. Bottom left, a Ceylonese student pilot, Leading Aircraftman Chelliah Pathy, 26, a law student selected by the Ceylon government to be a flier. Bottom right, Leading Aircraftman David Lewis, 19, from South Wales, just about to take off in a Tiger Moth.
[page break]
FLIERS WELCOMED
Salt-Water Men in Neepawa
This is one of a series of articles dealing with the training establishments of the three armed services located in Manitoba.
By LESLIE G. BISHOP
New Brunswickers – not Blue Noses, please – set down in the heart of Manitoba to operate No [inserted] 35 [/inserted][deleted] 33 [/deleted] elementary flying school for student pilots of the R.A.F., miss their buckwheat pancakes and salt-water fish, but they are delighted with the way in which the people of Neepawa have taken them into their homes.
This was the report of J.W. Humphrey, managing director of the Miramichi Flying Training school, who formerly ran an automobile business in Moncton, N.B., and now is operating a big flying taxi business over Beautiful Plains.
The Moncton civilian company, which previously for 15 months operated No. 21 E.F.T.S. at Chatham, N.B., came to Neepawa two months ago, and ever since, R.A.F. men say, the food at the air school has greatly improved. On the food question, John Fallow, an airman from Devonshire, said he was surprised by the number of Canadians who are cafe-minded. He likes home cooking.
One of the founders and for some time president of the Moncton Flying club, Mr. Humphrey gave a business-like statement. The company has come to Neepawa for the duration. It brought a staff of 142 men from Moncton and, since arrival, has employed approximately 200 men and women from the Neepawa district. It still needs some 40 automobile mechanics who can be trained as aircraft mechanics. The town of Neepawa is helping to solve the New Brunswickers’ housing problem by sponsoring construction of 40 prefabricated houses through Wartime Housing, limited, Toronto.
While expressing some uneasiness on the buckwheat pancakes question, Mr. Humphrey said that the whole company was well pleased with the hospitality and friendliness of the people of Manitoba. He admitted that flying conditions were better here than in the maritimes “The weather is more suitable and the west seems to be one large landing-field,” he said.
Comfort Arrangements
He outlined the arrangements made for the comfort and relaxation of the airmen, which include organized sports, a Canadian Legion library, a theatre, canteens, a post office, a hospital and a barbershop. A classical music club is active under the direction of Flying Officer H.L.V. Tubbs.
Looking after the welfare of the R.A.F. airmen is Captain J.A. Banville, Saint John, N.B., Canadian Legion auxiliary services representative, a veteran who won the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal while serving in the ranks during the last war.
Key men in the civilian operating company include: Mr. Humphrey, operating manager; R.C. Mills, assistant manager; C.C. Dryden, comptroller; C.J. Fitch, chief ground instructor; Ian Saunders, chief air engineer; W.H. Randall, station superintendent; F.H. Peacock, supply manager; W.J. Bergin, civilian personnel supervisor; and H.L. Bailey, quartermaster.
Squadron Leader G.E. Thompson, of Winchester, Hampshire, England, who is officer in charge of R.A.F. personnel and chief flying instructor at No. 35, received George Young, a Free Press photographer, and this reporter at the air school. He eloquently praised the kindness of Neepawa citizens to the R.A.F.
The air station increased its size by one-third in July. Unlike R.C.A.F. elementary flying schools, R.A.F. schools of this type use only air force men as instructors. Key men in the R.A.F. staff at Neepawa, Squadron Leader Thompson reported, include Flight Lieut. Eric Bradley, of Perth, Scotland, assistant chief flying instructor, and Flight Lieut. W.H. Brett, Northwood, Middlesex, England, administrative officer.
Squadron Leader Thompson has seen a lot of country since he started his travels in a tank, as a subaltern officer of Britain’s small tank corps in 1934. “When you close up the tank as you have to sometimes, the heat inside is terrific.” He joined the R.A.F. and became a pilot of Blenheim bombers.
Stationed at Medicine Hat
Before coming to Neepawa, he was stationed at the Medicine Hat R.A.F. school for 15 months, and he confessed that Alberta to him looked like one vast expanse of desert. Manitoba’s countryside, with its trees and green fields, seems much more like home to him.
He took us out to the flying field, where scores of little Tiger Moth planes were sailing about in the golden sunset sky. Miss Mabel Morley, of Riding Mountain, Man., a civilian employee, who used to serve maple syrup in a Neepawa cafe, was wheeling a tray full of bottles of a more precious amber fluid – oil – to a plane that stood on the tarmac. She was thrilled to be working with the air force.
We met one of the student pilots, Leading Aircraftman Chelliah Pathy, a Ceylonese law student, who was selected by the Ceylon government as one of a group of men to be trained as fliers. Asked what he thought of the Indian question, he said he was interested in flying, not politics. One of his classmates is a Hindu, Leading Aircraftman Vijayendra Kumar, of New Delhi, India, who won a B.A. degree in political economy at the University of Leeds, England.
The student pilots include eight officers who have transferred from the British army to the R.A.F.
Instructor Lands
Just landing was an instructor, Flying Officer Richard Magginson, 26, a rosy-cheeked Yorkshire farmer, who won the Diistinguished [sic] Flying Medal. As the pilot of a Blenheim, he dropped bombs on the Nazi tanks advancing to Dunkirk. “When we came back we could see tiny destroyers zig-zagging across the Channel. A trail of smoke extended up the east coast of England for 300 or 400 miles. It was the smoke-screen from Dunkirk.”
He told us a story, backed, he said, by the word of a reliable correspondent: In the early days of the war a British bomber, based on an airdrome in France, made a leaflet raid on Germany. As it flew back over the French border, the air gunner sat happily in his seat at the back. The plane, whose engines were behaving in a strange manner, made a pancake landing. The gunner got out and waited for the pilot and observer. They did not come. They had bailed out half an hour before, but as the speaking-tube had been shot away, the air gunner didn’t know about it.
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
Neepawa News Cuttings
Description
An account of the resource
Two cuttings referring to RAF Neepawa.
Item 1 shows a Tiger Moth, a ground crew woman and two airmen.
Item 2 is an article about local businesses supporting the RAF. It also describes Commonwealth and British pilots.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two newspaper cuttings
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
NBurkeJC170308-07, NBurkeJC170308-08
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.
Canada
Manitoba--Neepawa
Sri Lanka
New Brunswick--Moncton
Alberta--Medicine Hat
France--Dunkerque
India--New Delhi
France
New Brunswick
Alberta
India
Manitoba
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
Steve Baldwin
Requires
A related resource that is required by the described resource to support its function, delivery, or coherence.
Workflow A completed
aircrew
Asian heritage
Blenheim
crash
ground crew
Tiger Moth
training